vietmyke

Falling Skies

...Into the fire.

Skogsrå, Gelcastre City Outskirts, LZ Delta_
101st Special Forces Legion. Local Time: 1215_

---

<<Oh lucky me!>> Sabine remarked sarcastically enough that Kilmer could practically feel her eyes rolling from behind her polarized faceplate. <<I'll just say it now- just because one of us is a Communist doesn't mean I have to like sharing my toys.>>

Sabine's head pushed into her seat as the G forces began to take over, pushing the Sparrowhawk faster and faster as she began to seek out targets to cover the boys on the ground already. She'd barely had time to get herself into position when she heard Commie's voice crackling on the comm. She sighed, banking the Sparrowhawk's wing down and breaking into a sharp turn, a pair of sledgehammer missiles screaming after her. <<Breaking right.>> her reply automatic as she turned away from the LZ, dropping chaff and flares to intercept the missiles before turning back to take another pass at the LZ. <<Oh Kilmer, you sure know your way to a girl's heart, who told you I love flowers?>> Sabine's laugh soft and lifted as she observed the pair of blooming fireballs below them, taking the Sparrowhawk on a wide orbit around the LZ, observing the carnage below from on high.

While command may have chosen LZ Delta as the insertion point for the 101st, seeing as it would have relatively fewer defenders, making it easier for the 7th to break away and get started on their own tasks, it hardly meant the point was undefended. By this point, basically the entirety of the planet's surface had been configured into an anti-air emplacement, or at least, that's how it may have seemed from up above. The suburbs and side streets that made up LZ Delta hardly seemed as idyllic as it may have some days ago, as heavy machines and cannonfire ripped through wood and brick. Smoke and dust from exploding buildings, asphalt and dirt kicked up in a near constant haze, as UEE regular forces rallied around the elite squad.

Radio chatter garbled in a near indecipherable mess, the Venator's sensors picking up a half squadron of Sentries landing behind them, thrusters flaring. Each mech was painted with the bright red and orange stripes of the 111st Helldogs, the 5th fleet's premier assault unit- aside from them, of course. As close to elite as it got, while still being considered a 'regular' unit, each of these Sentries were equipped with a large, rigid backpack, which they quickly set down onto the ground after landing, turning the soccer field that they had landed into an impromptu staging area. The backpacks opened up with a mechanical hiss as a dozen marines climbed out of each, a pair of mortar sections, and a command unit, along with several teams of assault infantry. One of the marines made eye contact with the Venator's ocular sensor, and the man quickly snapped off a casual salute at the mech before grabbing the mic on the side of his helmet.

<<Appreciate the assist- we were getting chewed up, out there. Watch your step will ya? Don't wanna get lost underfoot.>>

Conversation was quickly cut short as the marines- along with their Sentry escorts, and the Secutor and Venator by proximity began taking return fire. An explosion ended the short run of a few marines as the rest rushed forward to occupy cover, and the Sentries took up the positions conveniently manned by Fenrirs a few short moments ago as Coalie forces began to push back against the advance that the 7th had built. Down on the ground, combat was considerably less 3 dimensional than fighting up in space, there was still up, but there was no more down to worry about, not to mention plenty of cover as squads of enemy infantry crouched behind burnt out cars for cover and an advancing pack of Fenrirs used the ruined remains of a few nearby houses as cover to fire at the 7th from as they began to counter their advance.

<<AT! AT! Look out!>> The same marine's voice crackled into the Venator's comms as Braide's warning sensors simultaneously tracked a pair of heat signatures exiting the 5th story of a nearby apartment building, streaking towards his flank. The rest of the building began to light up like a rave as muzzle flashes began to appear from several windows on the same floor, peppering the marines' position. The same apartment building rumbled as a Garmr dropped from the sky and landed on top of the building, its rifle and launchers traded out for a mech sized rocket launcher, using the vantage point to line up a shot at the Secutor's cockpit.

A blue-green beam of plasma streaked down from the sky, almost completely vertical as it pierced the Garmr's launcher, causing it to explode in its hand, shaking the foundations of the building and shrouding the roof in smoke and fire. A second and third beam punched through the smoke a moment later, coring the poor bastard as it ruptured a fuel line and exploded, taking the building's roof off with it.

<<You're welcome Rhino, buy me a beer after, 'kay?>> came Sabine's unprompted demands as the Sparrowhawk, now a bright pink, streaked past overhead, plasma rifle taking potshots at another pair of Garmr flying towards the Secutor and Venator to harry their advance. A blast of plasma clipped one of the Garmr's thrusters, causing it to flame out and crash to the ground- down, but not out just yet. The other Garmr broke off from the engagement and began evasive actions as another flight of Garmr broke from their previous engagements to chase after her.

In the burnt out husk of the second AA position, the Blackout had a clear vantage of the forces approaching the Secutor and Venator, as well as the Watchdog not far off. Some number of different units were converging on their location, totaling some dozen Fenrirs, 8 approaching the Venator and Secutor from the north, and 4 preparing an assault on the Watchdog from the northeast. They carried a mix of weapons, though mostly regular autocannons and AT launchers. Of note however were several of the support vehicles the Coalies had with them, a half dozen infantry fighting vehicles were advancing ahead of the Fenrirs, and a battery of mobile missile artillery- likely stuck a bit too close to the fighting for comfort- were in the final stages of reangling themselves some few miles away. Alongside with the artillery, Sköllr and Garmr were getting set up as well- the Garmr no doubt acting as a spotter as the Sköllr had traded its weapons for a heavy cannon emplacement.

<<Rabbit here, coming around for another pass. Commie, hurry up and get these guys off my->>

Sabine blinked as she saw a lock-on warning out of the corner of her eye, her hands barely throwing her mech into a dive as a blast of yellow energy arced past where her cockpit was at a split second earlier, streaking out from, apparently the sun. Just the heat wash from the near miss was enough to shatter her shields. The blast must've also possessed electromagnetic properties as the Sparrowhawk's systems shut off mid air, thrusters cutting out and mimetic paint disabling as the Sparrowhawk tumbled out of the sky. Suddenly surrounded by darkness, the idea of the Sparrowhawk becoming her coffin flashed through Sabine's mind at least once before her systems finally began to reboot themselves, her engines and sensors blinking to life just in time to watch herself crash into the remains of a burnt out apartment building. Warnings blared as airbags deployed. Despite the roughness of the impact, the angry stream of profanity- mostly french- broadcasting across the squad comms informed the rest of the 7th that Sabine was, unfortunately, still alive.

<<J'en ai ras de cul- Fucking garage à bites- Ta mère aurait dû t'avaler- Somebody fucking core that motherfucker! >>

ᵗʰᵉ Last Avatar.

_______________________________........

Location · |@vietmyke] Location: Tu Zin, West Gate ____________________________________________________________________________. Tu Zin was definitely larger than Jin had anticipated. He could've spent the entire week exploring, and still would've barely scratched the surface. At the very least they weren't unwelcome. It was hard for anyone to frown for too long when Sumire was chatting them up, and it turned out that being a technically minded and properly educated mechanic was quite useful out here in the Wilds. Not that the folks out in Tu Zin didn't do okay for themselves, but stopgaps and experience could only go so far without foundational knowledge to help out- and Jin, while not exactly used to the tech of Tu Zin, had both the foundations and experience to hit his stride easily enough. Sumire had more or less press-ganged Jin into becoming a handyman and mechanic, helping locals fix up whatever bits of machinery wasn't running quite right, in return for goodwill and beer. For all his grumbling, Jin didn't mind too much. It was strange being in a single place for so long, stranger still that it was safe place for people like him. In a city like Tu Zin, Jin could actually play around with his bending to do more than just lift a coin in the air without fear of being arrested and sent to who knows where. Add to it the fact that he was now unofficially unemployed- he'd not gotten in contact with, nor had he tried to reach out to contact Vyska and SynEn- Jin found himself with a surprising amount of free time on his hands. Time that he could use to really start exploring what his abilities that he'd hidden away for so long could do. That well of mysterious potential yielded only some faint results- apparently controlling air was harder than he expected to, especially without any sort of reference or teacher- the only they had even remotely similar to that were Chu Hua's firebending tapes- not exactly applicable to Jin, but he figured the basic fundamentals were probably the same. In lieu of proper education, Jin stuck to what felt 'natural', well, as natural as all of this was anyway. Between training and helping out, Jin actually found very little time to explore the city at his own leisure. At least working with people helped him check out some parts of the city- though there were still areas they as newcomers weren't allowed into, like the town hall. Not that Jin wanted to go check the town hall out anyway, he still hadn't forgotten their first meeting. Unye seemed fine enough a man, but something about his very large shadow Tenet felt off to him. Jin still hadn't forgotten the weird heebie jeebies he'd gotten when the man first walked in, and wasn't entirely keen on experiencing it again, and thus gave Unye and Tenet a fairly wide berth during the week. Keeping away didn't necessarily stop them from finding him, unfortunately. Rather, they found Sumire, who then found him, though not before volunteering him for an expedition to investigate some strange creatures in the nearby forest- with hopes that that would shine some insight on the case of the disappearing people. Jin of course, made a big show of grumbling, but agreed to go along anyway- he wouldn't let Sumire go off without him, nor did he trust her safety in the rickety rust buckets the people of Tu Zin called 'cars'. The Kyoshi, for all intents in purposes, was basically as good as new, save the booster, which Jin had disabled for the time being- the damage it would cause to the engine was a bit too extreme to be easily repaired out in Tu Zin, nor did they have the fuel for it anyway. Cleaned, patched up, and topped off, in no small part thanks to the generous amount of spare parts granted by Sumire cashing in the enormous amounts of goodwill she'd earned in just that week. ”Don't listen to her, Mire's a barnacle on my boat.” Jin retorted to Feyi as he heaved one last case of supplies onto the rack on top of his car and securing it all with cables, having conveniently missed all of Sumire and Feyi's previous conversation, save for her calling him an idiot. Sumire responded by sticking her tongue out at him. Somehow, Jin was in his element here, preparing for an expedition- it was not unlike what he was used to for work, though granted their vehicles and supplies were considerably lower tech than he was used to. His dust poncho billowed lightly in the wind, the high collar of his shirt hiding the snarky grin he shot the two women speaking below him. Settled against the hood of the Kyoshi was his rifle and a chunky heavy pistol- courtesy of Feyi and Tu Zin, as well as a pair of helmets, one red, its shattered faceplate replaced, one white, bunny ears repaired and whole. "Yo! Reman!" Jin drawled as he slid off the top of the Kyoshi, using a blast of air from his palms to slow his descent. "Packing always starts before dawn, otherwise we're wasting daylight." he replied, though not without Sumire elbowing him for his troubles. "You say that like you weren't sleeping on the bench while I was packing half of the cargo." Sumire whined. "Perks of having a passenger princess, I guess- besides, you had no trouble lending me out to every neighbor all week." Jin remarked, shooting a wry grin at Reman as they waited for the others. "Get settled Reman, we're still waiting on the others." "Funny. I sure don't feel like a princess..."

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Galahad Caradoc

---

"As long as you vouch for her, that is good enough for me." Galahad nodded towards Izayoi, as the samurai confirmed her familiarity of the ninja, before giving her a quick rundown of the situation and reminding her that technically, this operation was under his command- though it hardly felt like it nowadays. Not that Galahad had any particular need to domineer and control the group as though they were pawns on a board or anything. He offered the Osprean ninja a quick, curt nod. "I have some... firsthand experience of how Osprean ninjas can influence a campaign- so I have an idea of your capabilities. Still, if you have any preferences to how your abilities are best deployed, please do not hesitate to speak up. You know your talents better than I."

Tuning back in to their original discussion, as much as Galahad agreed with the sentiments of others that Isolde deserved to be put down for betraying them as she did- it was, as Esben and Izayoi had repeatedly said, not a course of action they could recklessly pursue. The fallout of such an action would likely have unintended and unforeseen consequences, and as much as Galahad hated to let her go, personal thoughts of revenge would have to be put aside for the time being. That being said, if the group happened to come across her in their run at the other grovemasters, Galahad wasn't entirely sure how well they'd be able to leash themselves and not put her down on the spot- an issue to address when the time came, he supposed.

The task before them were daunting- they had to sneak back into the city, and then get to the Grovemasters, and this time, unlike Kugane, the guards would be actively looking for them, their likeness at the very least on posters to keep a look out for. A troubling situation through and through. Rudolf had a thought about approaching by river, but as he quickly pointed out, it would be likely there would be checkpoints along the water- likely there would be checkpoints by any entrance to the city.

"If we wanted to get into the city through typical entrances and by traditional means, we may need to split our group- the 8 of us together are far too conspicuous. It might be possible to get past guards if we create situations where there are too many faces for the guards to inspect all at once, either hidden among trade caravans or the like- a possibility, but with a lot of variables."

"A less than savory option to get into the city is through the sewers," Galahad offered, though the look on his face definitely implied that it was an option he'd like to avoid if given the opportunity. "I know we said we wanted to be less visible... but we do have an assassin with us now. If we didn't mind being a bit more kinetic, we could have Chisato and maybe Esben incapacitate the guards by an entrance and just walk right in. Sneaking a sleeping poison or sedative into their provisions for the night might be enough to convince their commanders that this was just a case of lazy guards and not an active infiltration attempt."

If they found a quiet spot along the borders of the city, it also wouldn't be difficult for them to climb or have Galahad jump them over one at a time... There were various approaches to getting into the city, enough that Galahad didn't have any doubt that they'd find some way in one way or another, the main difficulty was getting to the Grovemasters, preferably without causing an alarm, and get the information they needed out of them. Both Esben and he had both agreed that Zacharias was the easiest Grovemaster to start with, so their first task would be finding something out about him that they could exploit.

"Grovemaster Zacharias is out first target. Whether we decide on strong arming him or persuading him into aiding us, in an ideal situation we'd get to him alone and without the ability to call for help- which also means nullifying any magic he may have access to." Galahad glanced at the others, particularly Esben, Miina and Chisato. Izayoi, himself, Rudolf and Eliane were more suited to direct applications of violence, the other three had access to magic and more subtle skills that he did not.

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Galahad Caradoc

---

"Well, she's not trying to kill us, yet, so I suppose that counts as good news." Galahad mused aloud as he observed the newcomer that entered their midst. Had this been a week or two ago, perhaps Galahad might've been more readily welcoming of a new ally, even one sent by Hien. But perhaps because of their very recent betrayal, none of the Kirins seemed particularly ready to fully throw the surprisingly diminutive viera their trust right away. With Esben's recent lecture in mind as well, Galahad refrained from welcoming the ninja right away. The ninja they had met in Osprey seemed none to fond of Edreni, and it appeared this ninja shared similar sentiments, not that Galahad could blame her. The bad blood between Osprey and Edren ran deep- even if Galahad could keep things cordial with Izayoi, Ciradyl and Hien. Fixing such bad blood would take a long time, likely longer than Galahad's lifespan, if they even got to that point after fighting back Valheim.

"Or Ciradyl." Galahad added as Rudolf questioned Izayoi if she knew the newcomer, a confirmation from one of their two Osprean representatives was as good of an identity check as they could hope for at the moment- though whether or not shew as aligned with their ideals as well would remain to be seen. "She would know better than any of us."

Until the matter of her identity was verified, their current line of discussion would have to remain vague. Galahad found it perhaps ironic that they didn't have this level of operational security when the rest of their party joined: Rudolf, Esben, Miina, Robin, even Eve- a Valheimr pseudolon- were welcomed into their fold with little question. It had gotten to the point where the newcomers outnumbered the original party. Times were simpler a figurative lifetime ago, he supposed. Unfortunately, nowadays it felt like trust was no longer a commodity that they could afford to give out freely.

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Esben Mathiassen, Ranbu no Izayoi, Galahad Caradoc, and Éliane Laruelle

---

After a night’s rest and a fast breakfast, Esben did not waste any time pursuing the furtherance of his conversation with Izayoi the night before. Izayoi—despite any of her grousing and protestations—was easy enough to gather, dragging her along in tow behind him as he swept through the Mystrel tribe’s camp. The first of his targets to round up was the pink-haired woman that he shared a homeland with, though more and more often recently he’d had to wonder whether or not her bombastic, distinctly un-Skaeller demeanour meant she’d somehow been swapped shortly after birth with a changeling or someone from a different country.

Luckily, she seemed to be looking for him as well, if her expression suddenly running into them after he and Izayoi rounded past one of the tents was anything to go by. ”Come with us,” he demanded, not wasting a step as he continued on past—one hand grabbing at her elbow to pull her along and make sure she didn’t stay rooted to the spot out of either shock or stubbornness.

”Have you seen Galahad? I need to speak with the both of you.”

Éliane had come straight from her wholesome discussion with Miina and had indeed been directly looking for Esben. “Oh, Esben. I was looking for you…” She frowned as the spy grabbed her elbow and began to pull her along. It didn’t take her long for her to tug away and then smacked at his hand with her other hand to free herself from his unwanted clinginess. “Rude. I haven’t seen Galahad… but as I was saying, Miina and I came up with a strategy. We must remove the Grovemasters and you are the person that can help with this.”

”Somehow, I doubt that she had as much input as you make it sound,” Esben replied drily. ”I’ve been planning what to do about the Grovemasters since we spoke in front of them. Isolde has only somewhat changed that. I’ve got something else I need you and Galahad for.” He stopped in his tracks suddenly, turning back to Izayoi. ”I imagine you found a good spot to exercise last night, ja? I wouldn’t put it past him to be doing similar or to find much the same spot. Care to lead the way?”

A wordless nod was Izayoi’s only response, followed by a gesture to follow her. Two minutes of walking through camp and slightly outside of it led them to a clearing she’d found the night before, well suitable for training. It was where Miina had come across her previously, and still just within view of camp.

The Mystrel tribe's camp was a welcome reprieve to their thus far chaotic journey. No one looking to betray or attack them, and the din of bustling civilization had given way to the quiet solitude of nature. Galahad had spent much of his time here recuperating from his injuries in silence, reflecting on past events- not quite brooding, most of the time anyway.

The Dragoon glanced over as Izayoi, followed by Esben and Éliane entered the clearing. His eyebrow lifted in mild surprise, he'd expected Izayoi to return at some point- she'd been the one to show him this spot in the first place, though the two Skaellers were an unexpected sight.

”Quite the gathering.” Galahad mused, nodding his head as he turned towards the collected group. ”I'd ask what I could do for you all, but I suppose you're about to tell me.”

“I thought we were gathering to discuss how to get rid of the Grovemasters,” came Éliane’s simple reply as she sideyed Esben.

”The most I have for either of you on that topic is that I want you to keep out of my way,” came the spy’s placid reply. ”What I wish to speak with the both of you about is two-fold: Our methodology going forward, and your diplomatic skills.” He paused, finally returning Éliane’s glance.

”And gauge your governing skills, if the worst should come to pass, though ideally it won’t.”

Éliane gave Esben another look as Galahad answered. “We’ll talk about that later.” She wasn’t dense enough to miss the obvious dig and had bristled slightly at that comment, but made a gesture for him to continue at what he was leading at.

A beat passed as Esben returned his stare to Galahad. ”How did you sleep, Galahad?”

The Dragoon in question raised an eyebrow at the Skaeller's question. He sighed, given the absolute shit show their time in Drana Asnaeu had been thus far, he supposed he should've figured they'd be having this discussion sooner rather than later.

”As well as I could, given our circumstances.” Galahad replied evenly. ”You've never hesitated to speak your mind before, I doubt the quality of my sleep will affect it now.”

”For the love of the gods, get on with it.” Izayoi scoffed to Esben, rolling her eyes. ”And here I was under the impression that men were supposed to be better at speaking frankly.”

She turned towards Galahad and Éliane, her exasperation still evident.

”He wishes for the both of you to restrain yourselves from making any sort of threats or overt actions the next time we must needs take any diplomatic action.”

Galahad shrugged, but nodded in agreement. ”Fair enough. I lost my composure. Done.”

The corner of Esben’s mouth twitched as Izayoi jumped in, though whether it was momentary frustration or amusement was almost impossible to determine. ”Yes, dear,” came a sarcastic mumble, in response to one of the two that had just expressed their displeasure with him—though he left them to determine. ”Just figuring your mood before we dive in, Galahad; that helps me decide just what level of the topic has to be broached with you. If you’re back to the form I expect, that makes this so much simpler.”

Éliane gave a glance at Esben’s comment. It lingered there for long enough to send a message. “I still don’t see anything wrong with my brand of diplomacy. But I’ll check in with you more,” she conceded. At least, on the surface.

For all that the dragoon’s festering frustration had given him cause to worry, he at least hadn’t been given any reason not to take Galahad at face value when he admitted to it. ”More than that, though—from the moment we stepped off the boat, we’ve been far too loud here. Our first chance for a diplomatic solution was when we were faced with those guards on the dock.” While Galahad hadn’t been the one to let the cat out of the bag there—and the one who had done so had already caught an earful about it—it was clear enough to Esben that contributing to it then had only set the stage for the continued failures the party had experienced trying to navigate Drana Asnaeu’s tangles.

The pink-haired Skaelan gave an innocent look at that.

”Might I have your assurance that you’ll encourage everybody to take more precautions in that realm?” he asked, before continuing: ”And, for the benefit of this conversation, could I also ask you to give your personal take on the consequences of a failure of diplomacy? Because as things stand, if I can’t make the right appeal, I’m afraid we may be pushing Drana Asnaeu headlong into them, both internally and externally.”

”Might as well have brought everyone here to have this conversation then, but yes, I’ll tell them.” Galahad replied, not necessarily happy, but not arguing otherwise. ”I’m aware of the consequences. As you say, we risk pushing Drana Asnaeu into conspiring with Valheim. At best, they refuse to aid us. At worst, we find ourselves fighting a conflict on multiple fronts, while also trying to stop Valheim from taking the crystals- and facing the end of the world as we know it.”

Galahad sighed and the dragoon brought a hand to his temple. While not an outright accusation, it certainly felt like the blame for the debacle at the Grovemaster’s chambers and beyond were being heaped onto his shoulders at the present moment. ”As I said, I lost my composure- Normally I maintain it, this time I didn’t. Hells, even without me losing my temper, half of our party- present company included-” The dragoon’s eyes glanced towards his two longest running companions, “-has no issue antagonizing practically everyone we come across. As far as the Grovemasters go, they were already set against us from the start.“

”I antagonize people by remaining alive in their presence, Caradoc.” Izayoi sighed in exasperation, more at the situation than any bother at the actual concept. ”I exchanged no hostilities to the Grovemasters that their old wretch did not initiate. Regardless, while I don’t share his evaluation on the severity of our situation, I do agree that we could stand to be somewhat less open as a group.”

Her gaze shifted towards Éliane.

”That would mean no threats of war that you cannot fulfill. While I doubt that refraining from doing so would have changed the outcome, it certainly did not aid us. Frankly speaking, I care less about the results of what happened with the Grovemasters and moreso how we treat with Skael and Edren from here on out.”

“Fine,” Éliane replied sharply. “I might not have the absolute authority to make those threats, but I don’t have any doubt it’s a decision that Skael will be prodded towards even without my opinion if the Grovemasters continue acting as they are now.” She smacked a fist into her open palm. “If the Grovemasters are the problem –and they are!- then we’ll just have to get rid of them. As I mentioned earlier, Miina and I were working on a plan to assassinate all three of them. We don’t have any other choice if you think my warmongering is unfeasible.”

Esben remained silent, looking back and forth as Izayoi and Éliane spoke up in turn before he could reply to Galahad. The stubbornness of the latter was exactly what he’d expected, and exactly why he wanted the other two present to help rein it in. ”We were going to get pushback from them regardless,” he conceded at Galahad’s final point, echoing exactly what he’d said to Izayoi the night before. ”Nor do I think I made the right decision holding my tongue, hoping someone else would share my definition of judicious...and we all made our unhappy remarks to their faces. This certainly isn’t only about you.”

Hopefully that would assuage the dragoon’s pride, or cut through his frustration enough that he could see what was actually going on.

”Assassinating all three of them is exactly what I was talking about, asking Galahad to give some personal insight on the stakes we’re facing. We don’t know the playing field here well enough beyond the Grovemasters to take that option easily. Who to back, how to ensure a useful continuation of government—if all we do is cut the head off so that we can get to our target, that leaves Drana Asnaeu ripe for exploitation by our enemies, not to mention the potential for local unrest. That should be saved for the absolute last resort.”

Exactly why he’d said that he’d already been working on his own plan, and he didn’t want the others getting in the way. Trying to execute a coup was messier than any story presented it as—combining that with outright assassinations even more.

”We would also—sorry, Éliane,” he added as a fast aside, ”Be served by making ourselves less conspicuous if we can. Less open, as Izayoi said, should extend to trying not to be so identifiable. Valheim could have eyes and ears anywhere, and it’s safest to assume they do. Even in otherwise friendly locations.”

He shot a glance at the woman to his side. ”You heard what Kayliss said about Loki, ja? If her reports haven’t been coming in, that can’t mean anything good. I’d just as soon play it safe and assume they’re onto quite a bit.”

”First, whomst? Second, assassination is also pointless should they die before giving us the Water Crystal’s location.” Izayoi gave Esben a sharp look at the random names he’d thrown in.

”We are here for one thing and one thing only: to secure the crystal. All else is immaterial. To that end, we’ll need to either interrogate the Grovemasters or find some way to cajole them to our side. As much as I would far prefer to drench my blade in the blood of obstinate fools and be done with it, we cannot. Yet.”

”I’d go so far as to say we should expect some pushback for every crystal, no matter our personal connections to whoever is in charge of each. We can afford this even less with our allies than with our supposedly-neutral opposition here.”

”Indeed. I can imagine certain members among us each would far prefer not to kill Skael’s overseer, King Leonhart, or Lord Hien. In that sense, Drana Asnaeu at least affords us the luxury of none of us giving a bent copper about the Grovemasters.”

Esben stared flatly at Izayoi. He was joined by Éliane.

”I think assassination would be less than ideal.” Galahad agreed with a short cough to break the growing tension. ”Even if I might agree that Isolde at the very least deserves retribution, I think that cutting the head off of Drana Asnaeu’s leadership would be more detrimental to our efforts. Though Neve is no longer physically with our group, I doubt she’d look very fondly upon us if we started uprooting her nation’s government with nothing to show for it.”

”I’ll agree that we should make ourselves less visible moving forward. It may be a bit late for us to start concealing our presence here- but perhaps making it worse would be less than ideal.” Galahad frowned, ”How ought we go about getting this information out of the Grovemasters then? They consider Cid to be a false idol- a pretender of sorts, perhaps there is a way to use that to our advantage?”

”One of them believes that,” the SEED countered. ”We don't know that for the other two. It may well be that Isolde was concealing her motives from them as well in that meeting. If Zacharias believed exactly as Isolde does, I doubt he would have been able to hide his rage—instead, he was shocked to speechlessness. That's hard to convincingly fake.”

Which left Alambert, the one who hadn't reacted at all, and who Isolde felt could have been swayed if they played along with her, as the ever-present wildcard.

”They value their country's relationship with the spirits and elementals that populate it, do they not? That may be something I'm able to leverage.”

”Supposedly.” Izayoi cut in, a cynical expression upon her face. Which was no different from her usual expression, really. ”But Isolde certainly had no issue enacting what Leviathan perceived to be a betrayal. Perhaps we may be best off judging the temperament of the other two before we proceed down this path.”

Éliane looked unhappy at this turn of events, with the conversation and planning straying away from military invasion and assassination, but she knew they were right. Looking as if she swallowed a bitter pill, she nodded. “Fine. We’ll investigate the other two. But once we get that information…” she trailed off, her intentions obvious.

”I feel like one of the key takeaways of this conversation was that we wouldn’t murder the Grovemasters.” Galahad mused. ”Even if I’d hardly call them agreeable. Zacharias might be a good place to start. He’s simple minded in his indignation- yet that makes him more predictable.”

“Yet,” Éliane emphasized.

”The continuation of Drana Asnaeu’s government serves us better than the opposite, and we don’t have enough information to know who to replace them all with if we kill them all,” Esben replied flatly, stubbornly repeating himself. ”If we can maintain both Alambert and Zacharias, turn them against Isolde, then that is the absolute ideal—certainly if we can convince them to bring Neve in to fill the vacuum. Even if only one of them can be convinced to work with us, that is a better option than having to replace them all.”

He nodded at Galahad once. ”Zacharias was, in fact, the one I was planning to start with. For that reason and others.” His gaze shifted over to Izayoi, wondering just which side she was inclined to vocally agree with on that particular point. ”As it stands, though—we are all in agreement about the rest of what we discussed, ja? It may be best to conclude this there, then, and get on with our other preparations while we still have this camp to rely on.”

”Yes, fine.” Izayoi grumbled, folding her arms across her chest at the thought of dealing with that unpleasant curmudgeon again. ”Should he raise his voice to me again, though, I cannot guarantee he will leave his captivity unblemished.”

“...” Éliane was looking increasingly irritated, but she nodded slowly, darkly agreeing with Izayoi. “He better cooperate then.”

Falling Skies

Out of the frying pan...

Orbit above Skogsrå_
101st Special Forces Legion. Local Time: 1155_

---

"I love a good fireworks show," Sabine drawled over the squadnet. "I even brought some party favors! Me~" Sabine was cackling over the comms as the last of their squadron set onto their drop plates. All around them, some hundreds of twinkling thrusters indicated that they were not alone in the skies. A line of UEE warships floated in place above them, their massive bulks shrouding some of the light around them, the barrels of cannons pointed at the planet beneath them. In the distance a trio of flares exploded. Green, green, green.

<<Orders from central command:>> Eva's voice called out to the squad. <<Second wave is to commence drop.>>

In unison, the thrusters mounted to their drop plates flared to life, propelling the 7th the last short distance out of zero G and into the atmosphere. The thrusters quickly burned out as gravity began to take control of their descent, drop plates and MAS alike shuddering as tons of heavy metal began to force its way through the upper layers of the planet's atmosphere. The drop plates slowly began to turn red as their absorbed most of the friction, though the residual heat was enough to turn the interior of most MAS into a veritable sauna. 'Hot Dropping' pilots liked to call it- instead of the comparatively more cushy experience of riding a ship into the atmosphere. Sweat beaded inside of helmets- sealed and unable to be wiped off, and even the typically chatty Sabine was relegated to controlled breathing instead of mouthing off like she usually did.

Eventually temperatures would regulate as they dropped into the planet proper, the red flares surrounding the drop plates giving way to the clear blue of the planet's stratosphere. Below them was the spotty cloud cover and the ground far in the distance below. They were still out of range of most of the planet's MAS defenders. But Skogsrå was far from helpless. At this distance, the flashes of light weren't visible to the naked eye, but they didn't need to see barrel flashes to know they were being shot at. The air exploded around them as rocket propelled munitions streaked up to meat them, exploding in large clouds of flak. Sabine winced as she heard the sounds of pinging against her drop plate, luckily far enough away that it wouldn't tear the thing apart.

<<Oh fuck!>> A panicked voice cut in through the local tacnet, from one of the squads directly next to them. Sabine's eyes opened as she glanced at the comms. A rookie from the 223rd, one of the reg' units, must've accidentally hit the wrong broadcast channel in her panic. <<I'm hit! Shit! Shit! Drop plate's breaking up- the seam!>>

<<Disengage!>> Another strained voice called out in reply, <<Ditch the plate!>>

<<Which one do I?- Its not respond- Fuck!>> One of Sabine's proximity warnings flared as a Sentry beneath her began to spin and spiral wildly, half a drop plate flying past her as the other remained struck to the MAS' foot, sending it into a violent spin. <<Somebody help me! AAAAAAAHHHH->> Sabine grimaced as someone muted the rookie, silencing her bloodcurdling scream as her MAS quietly spun out in the sky, MAS rifle, spare magazines and bits of armor flying off like confetti. Unlucky shot, lack of training, freak accident, or some combination of the three. On the bright side, the force of the spin would knock her out long before she blew up or crashed.

<<Check drop plate integrity.>> Sabine called out to the squad, <<Coalies are rolling out the welcome mat!>>

The MAS felt like it was picking up speed as the dropped through the cloud cover, though it was more likely because of all the rattling. As they cleared the clouds, they could see the city of Gelcastre beneath them. The battle for the city was already underway. Explosions and tracers flew across the ground, up into the sky and beyond. The fleet's first wave had already made landfall and were engaging the defenders, as the Coalies shot at them and the second wave as they careened through the sky. From their vantage point in the sky, the 7th could already see localized firefights breaking out between small units of UEE MAS and Coalition forces. The city itself might as well have been a massive gun emplacement with the amount of flak fire they saw coming towards them. Already, UEE forces in the air were taking hits, some few unlucky SOBs exploding before they could even release from their drop plates.

<<Rabbit, disengaging plate.>> Sabine called out as her machine kicked off the drop plate, quickly folding into flight mode as she burst away. She wasn't planning on sticking onto those target skeets for any longer than she had to in an environment like this. Already a squadron of Garmr and Naginata fighters were breaking away towards them, though it wouldn't be hard to find all manner of Fenrir or Garmr no matter which direction you faced. Even miles away from the city- the area around Landing point Delta seemed to be engaged in a pitched fight. A unit of hunkered down Fenrirs engaging a squad of UEE Sentries, holding them away from a anti-air installation. <<Heads up, LZ looks just as hot as the rest of the city- call it a target rich environment.>>

A rapidly flaring warning yanked Sabine's eyes away from the LZ, throwing her mech into a wild spiral as a pair of heavy lasers blasted through where she just was, settling instead for coring a trio of unlucky Sparrows through their drop plates above her. It appeared the Anti-air installation had some serious teeth on it, which meant that once again, the 7th was in for a big fight.

Tales Of Endoroth (A Slice Of Life MMO Roleplay) (CLOSED)

All good, I still had fun

Tamashī no Samuraitachi

Jack 'Frost' Shkaev

---

"More goodies for me? You shouldn't have." Frost chuckled quietly, one of the horns on the side of her head lightly tapping at Michi's. Frost frowned as Michiko spoke, finding herself reminiscing about one of the tests Tsuki had put her through when she first joined. A trial of Frost's patience- and she was never particularly good at sitting still, even years later. Ren never struck Frost as particularly patient either, so she wasn't entirely surprised he'd failed. In some ways, being part of Tsuki's gang meant more stringent rules than when she was a part of the Jaegers. "To be fair, the stress tests are... stressful." Frost murmured in quiet agreement.

For someone in a leadership role, Ren was a bit more hotheaded than Frost might've preferred, but she'd learned long before joining the Kurotori that questioning Tsuki's methods didn't typically fare well. A bit like her, Ren trended towards reckless and forward- a bit like a bull in a china shop. To be fair, Frost was not much better, and it wouldn't have been a problem if he was just one of the guys, but he wasn't just one of the guys- he held a position of leadership, which meant Frost expected more of him than Akane or Enrique. Still, Tsuki saw something in him, which meant there probably was- so Frost left well enough alone.

Shoshiku was a strange one, the large woman glancing over at the smaller figure as she- it? sat down next to her. Frost couldn't help but feel uncomfortable around Shoshiku- not because of anything they did themselves, just the thought of the woman sitting next to her not really being the girl, but rather a construct piloting her body. It gave her the shivers more often than not- how someone more human looking than someone like Mumeiki was somehow less at the same time. At least Mumeiki, for all his oddities, was relatively more easy to understand. Mumeki felt closer to human than the other one too- the personified lightning bolt they liked to call Akane. The armored shogun was somehow both more human and less human than the two 0-Percenters combined. Frost was almost certain the woman was actually an alien- and had disclosed such suspicions to Michiko on more than one occasion.

Frost couldn't complain too much- she was hardly the spitting image of a typical herself, the reinforced couch creaking and groaning in pain underneath them as the large woman readjusted her weight. She really had no room to be judging the others as normal or weird. Tsuki seemed to have a taste for bringing into her gang the weird ones of society, which meant Frost, by extension, was also a weirdo. Frost sighed. It was times like this when she missed having Enrique around.

The briefing itself wasn't too out of the ordinary: a pair of targets, smash and grab, torch the operations. This wouldn't have been the first time Frost clashed with the Korobei- either hunting them as a Jaeger, or knocking heads with gangsters in an alley outside a club. Frost never had a particularly high opinion of the Korobei, so she was more than happy to go knocking some heads in.

"Both sites are fairly large, extensive. Do we have enough manpower for two simultaneous hits?" Frost asked aloud as she leaned forward, getting a closer look at the projections. "They're far enough away that if one group gets into trouble, the other won't easily be able to provide backup. A lot of innocents to potentially get caught up in the crossfire as well."

"I don't imagine Korobei will just sit idly by once we start hitting the sites either- probably expect more goons to get in behind us after we start, so we'll want some sort of eyes on the outside once we go in." Frost's eyes flashed as she glanced over at the Losseum again. It was a bit of a guilty pleasure, but she liked watching the gladiator fights from time to time whenever someone managed to acquire a copy of one of the fights. Almost a shame they had to shut it down- Almost.

"How are we splitting?"

Falling Skies

Before the Drop

Orbit above Skogsrå_
INS Roanoke, 101st Special Forces Legion. Local Time: 1150_

---

"Bad news, Brandt." Sabine whined as she skipped into the briefing room- less room, and more an empty space in the hangar. The smaller pilot was seemingly content to use the relatively larger man as a shield to keep between her and Hex. "Looks like Hex's gonna make it, so I couldn't grab you her stuff- so no cigars." Her eyes found Elliot's, though quickly dropped to the sides of his seat- zero cases of beer in sight garnered him a disapproving frown, though Kodos beginning his briefing seemed to silence any reprimands from her for the moment.

Despite still being the busiest section of the ship, at the moment it was surprisingly clean and empty- relatively speaking anyway. Gone were the brigade of engineers and techs, only a skeleton crew left in place. Ammo and gear stocks had been practically cleaned out of the hangar, leaving the open space considerably larger than what the pilots were used to. The only things still in place were their mechs, patched up and reloaded as best they could be, what remained of the crew currently applying heat-treated gel coatings for the burn in. A vast amount of the materials- and crew- the 7th would need to perform their duties were currently already stowed on the Roanoke's transport shuttles: A pair of heavily armored TS-220s. Relatively nimble for their size, but generally ungainly at the best of times, and heavily laden with the addition of the Roanoke's marine platoon and a dozen ultra-light infantry support and loader MAS, the shuttles could take a fair amount of flak, even a SAM or two- but were practically sitting ducks should it get down to a dogfight. Luckily for all of them, the shuttles weren't making the same drop as the 7th, instead they'd be dropping much further out of the area of operations, before converting into a vehicle convoy and hoofing it to the rendezvous.

The briefing went as expected, the 7th of course weren't here to do grunt stuff- even if that's basically what their first sortie had been about, though defense of their carrier was generally considered every pilot's task. Unfortunately, special unit tasking often meant making unsavory choices- or decisions that might go against what they grew up learning. Sabine frowned a bit as Braide spoke up, it was understandable if he felt uncomfortable about it, especially since he was new to the special units, but unfortunately it was just how things panned out. Brass at the top ultimately deemed the nanoforge as more important than any individual life or unit.

"If it makes you feel any better you don't have to like it- you just have to do it." Sabine chimed in, though her voice, while still light lacked its usual mocking or sarcastic quality, "Boss is ordering it because the brass is ordering it. We're all just one big cost-benefit analysis on a spreadsheet as far as they're concerned."

"I won't stop you from playing hero though," Sabine winked at him, her voice hushed to vaguely- if likely unsuccessfully avoid Sagan's ears. The 7th, or at least individuals within the 7th, were never particularly well known for their strict adherence to orders. As long as they got the job done, anyway. "Just don't include it in your after-action report."

As Kilmer chimed in with his own questions, the briefing projection switched over to a tactical battlemap for them to view. The city of Gelcastre was as heavily defended as the briefing suggested, satellite images updating in realtime showing the city as a hub of activity, though the heavy smoke from previously attacked sites didn't give them the clearest picture in some areas. Tanks and vehicles could be seen rolling through the streets and towards defensive points. Flak batteries and SAM sites were nestling themselves throughout the city. The fleet would be able to blast some of the sites from orbit, but the desire to keep the city as intact as possible meant that they wouldn't be dropping any space grade ordinance on the city centers, where a decent amount of the defenses were concentrated.

As far as aerial threats went, the landing forces would be up against a bevy of Fenrir IIs primarily, with a decent number of Sköllrs in the mix. Most were currently on the ground, and Fenrirs were nowhere near as capable as any of their units in an air battle, but a few squadrons of Garmr were making regular patrols across the sky along with what appeared to be a few squadrons of commandeered Naginata aerospace fighters. None of their scans had spotted anything similar to the Fafnir that had jumped them earlier- but of course, that didn't mean the Coalies didn't have another wundersuit hidden somewhere amongst the mess.

As the briefing wrapped to a close, the launch alarm went off, the two shuttles taking off before the squadron did to begin their long voyage. Moments later the pilots were in their suits and preparing to launch.

---

Their launch this time would be far less hectic than their previous sortie. The space above and around them was clear- and while there were still pockets of Coalition forces in orbit, battles taking place on the far ends of the line, space was relatively clear enough for them to launch without trouble. Their visual sensors would be greeted with a field of twinkling blue lights, thrusters from some untold number of MAS, and aerospace craft prepping their assault on the planet of Skogsrå itself.

Low enough that the black of space had just begun to pick up a tinge of color from the planet itself, the 7th would find their blast shields waiting for them. Round, almost conical plates of alloy for MAS to mount their feet on. It would aid in atmospheric entry before being shed as the MAS entered the combat area- it could presumably soak a few hits from weapons fire in a pinch, but were generally not meant to be a ballistic shield. The first wave was already beginning their descent, flares of red and orange tails already visible on their monitors as mechs streaked through the atmosphere and towards the cloud layer.

"I've never liked these things." Sabine groaned as she set down on hers, her mech's feet maglocking to the drop plate's foot pads. Clamps lifted to wrap around the suit's feet and lock them in place, faint lights on the inside of the plate lighting up to denote the left and right in green and red, along with a set of bisecting lights to denote the plate's split points. "Rabbit, set." The added weight made maneuvering thrusters considerably less effective, and until it was shed, the suit was an easy target- but it beat trying to make planetfall alone.

"Hey Rhino, remember Targovo? Vulture made us drop planetside without plates to go swoop up some VIP. That was fun." The pink haired pilot's lilted voice dripping with sarcasm. "Think Skogsrå's got giant lizards too?"

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Galahad Caradoc

---

Had it been a close fight? Galahad couldn't say for sure. Miina had dispelled enough of Isolde's protections for him to get a solid strike in. Of course, Isolde was quick to reapply her protections and the knights at her service were quick to rush to their defense. However, any question of whether they could win the fight or even escape to safety was literally washed away as Leviathan attempted to take its revenge on the traitorous Grovemaster. Well, at the very least they know whose side the primordial fell on- kinda.

Falls generally didn't threaten the Dragoon, but it was a miracle they didn't drown- or get separated after the fact- for the most part, anyhow. A small mercy to be sure, but Galahad wasn't ready to thank the fates just yet, they'd certainly done their damned best to screw them, so it was about time something went their way. In a more peaceful time, Galahad might've enjoyed a few days of break at a beach, fishing and hunting, but recent events had left him in an undoubtedly sour mood. His legs ached like hell, jumping as much as he had that fight- especially after hitting his limit would do such a thing. As antsy as he was, Galahad had to keep his movement to a minimum to let them rest and heal. A pile of recently cleaned armor laid in a bundle by the open flame, wrapped in cloth to prevent more sand and grit from getting into it, and the dragoon sat by the campfire with the rest, rotating a large fish on a stick on a makeshift stand over the fire.

Goug was a welcome sight- especially with their birds in tow. How the moogle managed to find them, Galahad had no clue- but unfortunately it meant that if the Grovemaster and her lackies wanted to, they'd be able to find them again soon as well. They had to start moving sooner rather than later. Galahad was particularly happy to see Korin again, the silver chocobo quickly warbling a chipper tune as it returned to its master. Galahad glanced over as Izayoi asked Miina about her tribe, idly patting the chocobo's feathered head and leaned back against the bird as it settled in behind him. "Safer than this cove." Galahad agreed, "We'll have to move out soon. If Goug can find us, I have no doubt that conniving Grovemaster and her knights can too. Will your people mind?"

Back towards Osprey was not exactly the right direction, but they could hardly be picky at this point. A plan to force their way to the Crystal would have to wait, for now they had to recoup after Isolde's treachery. What to do about the Grovemasters and the Crystals was, unfortunately, a headache for another time. Right now, they needed to find relative safety.