Kai
Retired Staff
Before reading the following it is recommended you read This page, as otherwise you'll be completely lost.
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Shaoran stood in front of his 13 foot-tall ExoFrame, the Ganesa Thera, and looked over the new recruits. Each had chosen themselves a frame from the three beginner units, the Martina Nekane, Lander Onida, and Kali Pazia. The units were extremely technologically advanced, and each held the power of a much larger conventional weapon, However, they were no mere playthings, and a pilot needed to have skill and dedication to fly one. Training was extensive and difficult, and failure was common, with death a real possibility. The commander gazed into the eyes of each recruit, and then smiled. "Welcome to training. This is what we call the baptism of fire, your first sortie in a MAGE unit.
Approaching the Martina Nekane Neaw didn't think the MAGE's looked that impressive. Thinking that not that much could be different about the units, despite their names, he jerked his finger at the MN. "I'll just take this one then, Chief. So, do I just hop in and we start going at it or-?" The recruit left his question hanging, an expectant look on his face.
"Well, you've taken the proper classes, right? You should know how to do basic maneuvers in a MAGE unit." Shaoran answered, looking at Recruit Neaw's choice. the Martina Nekane was the first type of MAGE unit ever made, and while revolutionary at the time, was a very simplified and altogether mediocre unit. Still, it was more reliable and easy to pilot than any other unit around, due to several decades or so of tweaks to the basic unit. "Once you've chosen an ExoFrame, Mount up and do some walking around the tarmac to get used to moving around."
Neaw shrugged and mounted up,climbing in through the back. While the recruit hadn't really payed attention to each unit's details he believed that he could pilot one rather easily. Following the instructor's orders he walked the ExoFrame down the walkway. It was rather easy, even if he didn't push the unit any, he got if up to a decent trot and stopped again in front of Shaoran's Ganesa Thera.
"Anywhere I can pick up a spear Chief? I would rather practice movements with my weapon than without." As he spoke Neaw made the MN salute the instructor.
"There are training weapons inside the hangar, Recruit." the Commander said, pointing to a nearby hangar. "They are all non-lethal against MAGE units, but because they are balanced and weighted like real weapons, they can do a lot of harm to unarmored people." The Commander looked over at the other recruits, to see if any were progressing as quickly as Neaw was.
Marcus stepped up from the rest, and decided it was better to have initiative than to just sit it out and gain no experience. "I'll have a shot at it." He finally spoke out from the ranks. He was surprised he had been the first to speak out of all of them, considering they all needed training and Marcus wasn't really a very gutsy guy to start them off like that. "I'll take the Martina and a double-handed sword." There wasn't much more to choose from, and the Lander was going to be a bit too specialized for the job. Since he was completely new to this, he might as well start out with something that was balanced, regardless of what kind of weaponry he chose.
It seemed that a couple of the other recruits had chosen their units, the recruit Marcus having chosen another Martina Nekane, and a female recruit, Zali, haven chosen a Kali Pazia unit. A couple of others sat around the ExoFrames, intimidated by the machines. Shaoran smirked, knowing they would either flunk here and now or get in a unit soon, and so he mounted and activated his Ganesa Thera. "Alright, you two. since you've decided to grab melee weapons and identical units, you should spar. There are a few ground rules, namely, do not go for the head, and you win a round by knocking your opponent down. For now your in-built weapons are locked so you cannot use them." the Commander announced.
Inside his ExoFrame Neaw smiled as he hefted his spear. "How about a little demonstration first Chief, both me and him against that fancy unit of yours." He had the MN point towards the group of recruits milling about. "Give 'em a bit of motivation or so, if you wouldn't mind that is?" Neaw turned towards the other pilot's Martina Nekane as he spoke.
An eyebrow raised, Marcus walked out on the ExoFrame and took hold of the padded zweihander resting against the wall. This Neaw guy was a bit too excitable for his tastes. Why would anyone go out of their way to challenge the boss? Did he really want to get his ass kicked? Regardless, he wouldn't complain. He walked up to both of them, ExoFrame towing the great sword in hand, and then looked at their superior. "I'll do whatever is ordered of me. It's your call, Chief."
Shaoran smirked at the two recruits, then looked at the third whom had mounted her unit. "Zali, what do you say about joining these two in an exercise against me?" the Commander asked.
Zali paused in her movements for a moment and asked "My weapons will work, correct?'
"Yes, but on a reduced power setting for training." Saoran answered.
"Then I will fight."
"There you have it. Three against one should be fairly even." The Commander simply stood his ground, and his unit's head slowly looked at the three recruits "Well? Are you going to start?" the Commander taunted.
Neaw took a good look at both his partner's ExoFrames. "Well, you both seem to be of a good sort. Do whatever comes to mind, but I think I'm gonna charge him." Getting his suit to move was easy enough and charging wouldn't be too hard.
Gripping the spear the recruit rushed at the Chief, stopping just out of what he thought was his target's range and sweeping out at its legs, hoping that either the Commander's ExoFrame would be knocked down or that the rest of the team had started their attacks too.
As Neaw moved to the their Commander, the ExoFrame with the zweihander moved carefully to the right of the spear-wielding one, running while keeping an eye at the Commander's movements. "Kind of a newb move to go for, Neaw!" The Martina Nekane raised it's arms and made the blade of the huge sword be perpendicular to the floor, and then wound up for a slice. Once the Commander was in the air, should the Commander jump, Marcus had set himself to unwind the powered armor to have the last few feet of the padded oar-like weapon against the airborne ExoFrame. If the Commander didn't jump, then Marcus would proceed with a different tactic...
Zali, behind the other two Exoframes, had raised her arms and begun firing the built-in weapons on her forearms, attempting to hit the Commander with the low-powered training blasts, but as the Commander moved faster than she and the other recruits did, her shots ended up hitting the great sword and knocking it out of the way, as Shaoran avoided the spear's swipe by simply hopping backwards.
"You'll have to try better than that." The Commander said, simply, once again standing in place, and waiting for the other three to move.
Zali apologized profusely to Marcus "I'm so sorry I didn't see you there!" she stumbled, feeling bad for messing up.
Neaw pushed the attack feinting a stab at the Commander and then pressing forward, attempting to grab one of the enemy's arms. Then, once more trying to bring the commander to the ground, he kicked out at the other frame's leg.
"I hope you find this a bit more than our last try Chief." The recruit said as he inwardly cursed the Commander for being a much more effective pilot than the whole team combined.
Thought so, now all I have to do is-- THUMP. The sword was literally shot knocked to the side, making the ExoFrame pilot inside become somewhat frustrated. Zali eventually put the blame on herself, and then he realized what had happened. "Ah, great. There goes my plan." Marcus sighed and began to stalk after the Commander.
As Neaw moved toward the Commander, Shaoran was more than ready for the recruit. As the Martina Nekane tried to grab at him, Shaoran grabbed it instead, and then kicked a foot up to Neaw's torso, completely turning the recruit's attack around on him, flinging him up into the air, which, with a stroke of luck, he managed to be used as a shield from Zali's blasts, and then Neaw found himself flung over the Commander's head and onto his back, behind the Ganesa Thera.
"Christ woman!" Neaw yelled as his ExoFrame slammed into the ground. With a sudden burst of anger he forgot the rules and pushed his MN back to its feet and came behind the Commander, trying to attack him with a giant bear hug so the others could - well at least hopefully with Zali - hit their target.
"Now! Hit him!" He roughly yelled to the rest of the team, refusing to give up.
Zali timidly tried to fire again, so far she hadn't been too useful and knowing her luck, she would knock Neaw off of Shaoran, freeing him to take out Marcus, too. However, the girl finally made up her mind, and shot- the blast hitting Shaoran's Ganesa Thera straight in the chest and pushing him and Neaw back a few feet.
As this happened, Marcus saw his chance and charged at Shaorin, pointing his sword for a powerful stab at the commander.- He was interrupted by a series of warning alarms going off, signaling that an enemy Exoframe was approaching the base. In fact, there were several enemy Exoframes approaching, but, oddly enough, one of them was being fired upon by its supposed allies. A number of the recruits ran back to the barracks, abandoning their training in favor of safety, but a few mounted MAGE ExoFrames, ready to help defend from any invaders.
"Crap crap crap crap!" Tristana kept cursing as she fled from her former allies as fast as her frame could possibly take her. Fleeing for as far as she had, her ExoFrame wasn't in particularly good shape, but the nice thing about the Ramla Ivar is the prediction software. Any time the enemies were about to do something big and nasty, she would be able to get out of the way, if only just barely. "How much further are those freaking MAGE people anyway?" The defector took a moment to turn, firing a couple salvos of missiles, before doing another 180 to resume her flight.
Neaw quickly let go of the Chief as the alarms went off and they continued to skid backwards from Zali's shot. As soon as they stopped his Frame was running towards the armoury. "Moving Chief, I assume we'll be sallying?" He asked as he replaced the practice spear and claimed a real one.
Checking over the inbuilt weapons, all of them were loaded and ready but still locked. "I promise I won't shoot you if you let me go fight Chief." The recruit stated jokingly.
"Of course. All recruits, your weapons are now live. Do NOT try anything more than you think you can handle, these may be real enemies!" he warned, setting in the commands to unlock weapons. The Commander's next priority was to hail the incoming ExoFrames
"Unidentified Exoframes, State your identity and purpose!" he demanded, in a very authoritative voice over the radio, moving from the tarmac toward the base's fence, which looked out onto the field outside; they could just see the three Frames in the distance, growing dots moving toward them.
The Neci Mara frames pursuing Tristana fired their spread-fire rifles at the incoming missiles, knocking most of them down, but one still took a minor hit and slowed down for a moment before regaining its composure and rejoining the chase. The two HARM ExoFrames ignored the commander's hail, so intent were they on their prey. The nearer one launched a small sphere from a cannon on its back, which landed near Tristana and exploded in a shower of small fragments of metal and phosphorous.
"Thank you! This is Tristana, requesting assistance against these two Neci Mara pursuing me. If you want information on HARM emplacements, I suggest helping me!" Tristana replied over the comm, before letting out a grunt and stumbling due to the mortar, taking some damage, and falling to all fours. She quickly righted herself, took aim, and let loose her own retaliation from the cannons built into the RI's forearms.
"Recruits. Guard the base, I will go out and assist this person." Shaoran informed his charges, running toward the fence and vaulting it, making his way toward the HARM ExoFrames. "Miss Tristana, this is Commander Shaoran of MAGE. I am coming to assist you." still, it would be more than a couple of moments before he made contact with the girl.
Speaking of which, the NM unit that had hit her with its mortar closed in, the spread-fire rifle on its forearm pointing at her, while the other took its time avoiding the shots fired at it. The closer of the two showed signs of obvious damage, but the pilot seemed to be skilled at holding it together. "Just give up, Girly." the man in the suit demanded showing his dominance over the defector. However, Tristana's ExoFrame informed her that he was going to shoot her in four, three...
"Chief, you can stick your orders where the sun don't shine and then stick a court martial on me. But, for now, all I see is business in front of us." Inside the cockpit the recruit was smiling savagely, an odd look on Neaw's mule-like face as he following the Commander and even trampled over a section of the fence to get outside.
Looking back as he started towards the enemies, he saw the timid KP pilot Zali loitering around where he had exited. "Get out here and show that you can be even slightly useful!" He yelled as he turned and continued to move.
Tristana's frame reached down to the ground, one hand digging into the dirt, the other digging up dirt. With the system giving its prediction, she threw the clod of dirt at the visual sensors of the NM in front of her, while pulling and jumping to the side to avoid the inevitable shots that would come from the shotgun.
Her move came just in time, as the sudden clod of dirt threw the NM's aim off just enough that her desperate move was successful, and the closest NM suddenly became helpless as the helmet sensors were clogged and he couldn't for the life of him get the dirt off. One foe incapacitated, the other realized what was going on and made his move toward Tristana but she already knew that, thanks to her ExoFrame's predictions.
Shaoran nearly stopped to force Neaw back into the base, but thought better of it. He continued on, making his way close enough to face a standoff with the two NM frames, who both stopped moving when they realized he was there.
Zali nearly jumped when Neaw yelled at her, but did as he said anyway, following after the MN and trying desperately to adjust her sights so she didn't miss and hit an ally.
Neaw moved forward, running in front of the one different Frame out of the three HARM units and taking up a guard position with his spear. "Chief, I assume killing these two would be bad? What about the defector, do we defend her or-?" Realizing this could end being a particularly sticky political problem the grin slipped from the recruit's face.
Turning towards Zali, Neaw tried to quickly grasp the situation. "If you have to shoot try to just disable them." This time his voice was much less rude, remembering that she had pulled through at the end in their match with the Commander.
Back in the armory, where many had recruits fled for safety, one unlikely man was clambering into an Isaac Risa. This man was Roland Gilly, a 32-year old technician and janitor. He'd never before been inside a MAGE, but his job had brought him within their vicinity every day of his life. He fixed them, ran diagnostics, and everything else... except piloting. He had failed the entry tests more times than he had fingers, but still he believed he was perfectly capable. Now was his time to prove it.
So he ran the start-up procedure, made sure everything was running in the green, and started moving. The feeling was... phenomenal, and brought a huge grin to his face. He even vented a small, irrepressible giggle. Thankfully the communications weren't open or his moment of glory would've come to an end before its beginning.
Now came the choice of weapons. He opted for a automatic rifle and a one-handed sword. Then he was out the door, looking eager as ever.
"Nice and timely, I suppose. Could've been better, but good enough." Tristana's frame slowly stood, as the pilot herself kept a close eye for any predictions regarding any stupid moves that her former colleagues might make. She grumbled at bit as her frame made some not-very-good sounds from all the damage she's taken thus far. She really hoped that these MAGE pilots wouldn't just kill her, and would let her join them.
Shaoran looked down at the frame they had saved, it was a Ramla Ivar, a rather uncommon enemy frame. Why its pilot might have defected was beyond the commander, but he supposed it was something that would have happened anyway. The NM that had been blinded was finally able to clear its sensors off, and leered threateningly at Shaoran.
"Give us the girl, MAGE Fool" he began "and we won't kill you. We'll even let you train your little morons in peace" he sneered.
"You're not all that polite." Shoaran answered calmly.
Unfortunately, all was not well with the MAGE pilots, and Zali, in her mussing with her unit, accidentally shot off a blast; it was harmless, only hit the ground, but it was a trigger that caused much worse happenings. The far NM frame fired a blast off at Neaw, the Spread-fire rifle pelting his frame's armor with small metal balls, and the other NM rushed forward to attack at Shaoran; who was for once off guard. The Commander was pummeled to the ground, and the choice was made. "Disable them if you can!" he ordered his recruits, grappling his immediate foe.
Neaw heard the familiar discharge from behind him, and the next thing he knew he had found himself on the ground and hurting. He didn't even have any words to say to Zali, at least not yet. Struggling to get up, he found it much harder than when he had been tossed by the Commander, and understandably so as he hadn't been shot that time.
"Zali, don't shoot, not again today at all! Just surge and grab the bastard!" He yelled to his fellow recruit as his MN's leg gave out and he collapsed again.
"Idiots," Tristana mumbled to herself, as she took a step back, away from the pilot who had just fallen, and drew out her bow and fired off an arrow. A nice, explodey arrow, but an arrow nonetheless. And, this explodey arrow was trained on the far NM. There was no kill like overkill and it would also be a bit of revenge after the number of shots they'd taken at her.
The order to disable the enemy rang loudly and clearly in technician Gilly's head. He'd never been called single-minded, but as soon as an objective had been implanted, Roland already felt like he was a soldier. The adrenaline was flowing, his face was contorted into a determined grin, and he was sprinting full speed to close the distance. He considered taking shots, but that would just be stupid, especially at this range. Neither of his weapons was meant for anything like this, especially with friendlies in the mix. He'd just have to work something out once he was closer. [SPRINT ROUND]
The NM tried to take a shot at Neaw's falling unit, but was interrupted when his world exploded. The HE-tipped arrow made a deafening sound as it caused a concussive blast that blew the unit a few yards back and peeled and boiled away some of its armor, causing the suit's HUD to read the entire front half of the suit as red. systems began to shut down, but the suit wasn't all the way out, and stood back up.
Zali tried to stop it, but her attempt ended in failure as her nervous shots missed, she apparently hadn't heard Neaw, but at least she didn't hit a friendly this time.
Shaoran continued to grapple his foe for a moment, but the Ganesa Thera came out on top, the slightly larger ExoFrame gaining an advantage and throwing the NM off, landing it on is posterior. Both units got back up, but didn't immediately go for one another. Shaoran fired a bolt of plasma at his enemy while the NM fired a mortar, trying to do as much damage to the group as he could.
Supporting his ExoFrame with his spear, Neaw finally got up off the ground. Snarling at the badly damaged suit that had tried to attack him he attempted to target the enemy right when the other NM's mortar went off; flinging him back a few yards and back onto the ground.
As he landed he felt a sharp pain in his leg where shrapnel had pierced the Martina Nekane's damaged leg and lodged itself into the flesh of his. Wincing and gritting his teeth against the pain the recruit tried to both push himself up and find his fallen spear.
A pained grunt escaped from Tristana's mouth as her frame was thrown to the ground from the explosion. A few curses also came from her lips. "Why can't things STOP BLOWING UP AND BEING BAD?!" She tried to get up, but all the punishment her RI had taken up until this point was catching up to her. It hardly moved. "Come on!"
It seemed things were turning rather sour. Up until now, nothing serious had happened, and then BAM! Some fool blasted them all with a mortar! They really needed help, and Roland was entering the proper range now. His right arm came level with the mortar-carrying Neci Mara, and he squeezed the trigger tight, with no intention of letting go until the clip was empty. However, that NM was not the target of his charge; the other was, and the Isaac Risa came into melee range with a mighty battle cry and the shortsword primed for a bull rush stab. "RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" was what came out of Roland's mouth, although he had been thinking something more along the lines of, "You all die now!" In retrospect, neither was quite as eloquent as the mechanic had hoped he would be in the line of fire.
The closest NM unit went down, first as Shaoran's plasma bolt took out its shoulder, and then as a small auto rifle was unloaded on it. The damage to the unit was about equal to what had been spread about the NM's enemies.
Shaoran was blasted forward, landing on his frame's front end, a few shrapnel holes in the legs showed signs of leaking blood, but aside from that the Ganesa Thera seemed okay.
Zali was thrown backward, but the stronger armor in the front saved her from taking much of any damage.
However, the farther Neci Mara, damaged as it was, was helpless against the Mechanic's rage-induced rush, and the sword sliced right through the unit's side, cutting two neat holes in the armor, both of which leaked crimson. Without Roland telling the Isaac Risa what to do, however, it began to punch at and brutally maul the now deactivated NM.
Staggering and barely supporting himself with his spear, again, Neaw was surprised to see one of the enemy frames being savaged by a new ally. The pain in his leg cooling him down, the recruit decided that this was probably on the list of unwanted outcomes. Limping over to where the Isaac Risa was butchering his target he ground his staff into the dirt and clutched it tightly before grabbing the other ExoFrame and attempting to pull him off his victim.
"C'mon now, Chief's orders, stand down pilot." Neaw tried to keep his voice as friendly as possible, as he wasn't quite sure whether or not the pilot wouldn't turn on him next. Then looking back towards Zali he remembered that the Commander had been fighting the other unit. "Support the Chief girl! I got this side under control!" He yelled to her.
"Move, you piece of-" Tristana grumbled, making rather futile attempts at getting her frame to move. "You MAGE guys better not be screwing everything up...."
Roland's plan was executed flawlessly. He gunned down the one NM, and tackled the other just as he had expected. Then the strangest thing happened. The hand that once clutched the sword rose and fell repeatedly upon his opponent, and without his direction. Feeling his limb act of its own accord was quite simply the most bizarre sensation to ever experience, but he knew it had to stop even before Neaw tried to intervene. He could feel his other hand dropping the gun and rising to join in on the fun. Immediately he recalled from the myriad of manuals he'd devoured over the years that the Isaac Risa was prone to acting of its own accord. So he began bellowing commands. "Stop! STOP! The fight is over! We have won! Stand down, Isaac Risa!"
Salvation came in the form of Shaoran using command codes to lock down the Isaac Risa Exoframe, and then open the back of the unit, exposing its pilot. "Who are you?" the commander questioned over the radio, as he made his way to the less-damaged NM, his face scrunched in pain with every step. Zali made her way to Roland, then to the Ramla Ivar. "Umm, Miss. do you need some help?" the recruit asked, her unit's hand stretching out to help the RI up.
Shaoran grabbed the damaged NM unceremoniously, turning it around and forcing the back of it open. He roughly pulled out the pilot; thankfully alive; and held him up by the scruff of his pilot suit. "Miss Tristana. I believe we have held up are end of the deal. Shall we take you into the base so you can hold up your end?"
As the Commander spoke, a transport could be seen making its way through the hole that Neaw's Martina Nekane had made. it bounced across the field, and behind it two smaller vehicles with the Military Police Insignia followed.
Neaw was relieved to see Roland's unit deactivate, but when he had managed to slowly turn back around all that stress came back two fold. He looked from the hole in the fence, to the MP vehicles, and then at Commander Shaoran. Gritting his teeth, shrugging, and then limping over to the Chief's unit he - just like when had first stopped after the walking exercise - pulled off a crisp salute.
"Reporting some, I would like to stress that word, damage to all units but no fatalities Chief." After he spoke the recruit paused for a second then begun again, not as loud as before. "I see you'll be talking to the MP's..rather hope the discussion goes well, Sir." Then, trying to force a bit of humor into the situation he forced a chuckle and shook his head. "The base was needing a new gate anyways."
Tristana finally got her frame to move. A bit late, but better late than never. The hand reached up to grab Zali's. "That would be lovely," she replied to Shaoran.
Roland was at first elated, thinking the IR was responding to his commands. After a couple seconds, however, he realized it wasn't moving at all. Then the hatch popped open, and with a sigh, technician Gilly climbed out. It was obvious what he was by the jumpsuit he wore that signified his position as part of the Engineer Corps. Once both boots were on the grass, he turned, offered a salute that would have made any drill sergeant proud, and answered curtly. "Mechanical Petty Officer Roland Gilly, sir. I heard your... call for assistance, and responded." That was obviously stretching the truth quite a bit, but he already knew he was in trouble. What the hell did it matter now? "Is there anything else I can do for you, sir?" This was mostly to change the topic, but Roland figured it was probably pointless by now. Still, here's to hoping...
The Transport and the MP's arrived soon, and a crew hopped off the large vehicle and used its forked crane to pick up the destroyed NM that had been shucked of its pilot. Another group freed the unconscious pilot from the second NM. Although unconscious was rather a weak description. The poor man was bleeding from one side, had all sorts of broken ribs, and if his mother had been present she wouldn't have been able to recognize his face, mangled as it was by the Isaac Risa's mechanical fists. Needless to say, he was rushed to emergency medical attention. The other, far luckier pilot was immediately taken into custody for interrogation and the Machines moved onto the transport. All of the MAGEs were ordered by Shaoran to dismount aboard the transport's suit bay. Shaoran personally escorted Tristana, despite his injuries, while the rookie pilots and technician were ushered onto the transport by military police, where a couple medics began treating injuries with temporary remedies until they returned to the base for proper care.
Zali was curious as to the big fuss, and asked Neaw "Do you know why they're making such a huge fuss?" idly, she waved at Roland, not really knowing who he was, but not wanting to be rude. For now, the pilots were being left alone, but they would not be spared interrogations, reports, and all the funny business that went on after an event like this happened...
"Well, I'm sure they are reviewing all of our personal actions in this incident, purely for official reasons mostly." The mule-faced recruit stated nonchalantly as he breezed over both his and Roland's less than approved of actions. Eying his bound wound and giving it a few experimental taps with his other foot, Neaw winced from the sharp pain and put that on the "don't do" list for now. "But, the main big to do getting them all stirred up is that we found ourselves a defector. Pretty nice ExoFrame too, not sure how good but I'm hoping it is enough for them to excuse what damage we did to our frames." Then, nodding confidently he continued. "Yep, don't you worry nothing got done wrong here and benefits can come from all this." At least for you, the recruit thought as he watched an MP out of the corner of his eye.
Roland offered a meager wave back to Zali, but otherwise kept staring at the floor of the transport. He sat forward, his hands were clasped before him, elbows resting on his knees, his mind deep in thought of all the possible consequences. Mostly he thought about the answers he'd give to certain questions. MPO Gilly thought that maybe-- just maybe!-- this might be his unorthodox way into the MAGE Corps. Yes, extremely unorthodox to be sure, but he couldn't help all the hoping and praying. This had been his dream since he was a little boy, as early as he could remember, and any possibility of him finally getting in- however slim- was a glimmer of hope in Roland's eyes. Every so often his thoughts were speckled with the fresh memories of what it'd been like to be a pilot: the surge of adrenaline, the split-second combat, the sudden end. It had been the best ten minutes (had it even been THAT long?) of his life.
"Oh, Okay." Zali said, looking down at the floor for a moment. She looked back at Roland once more, wondering about the strange glimmer in his eyes. Curious, the girl asked "Hey, are you a MAGE Pilot?" She had seen him in the hangars during their training sessions, but had never really seen anyone other than Shaoran and the recruits piloting the MAGE units. of course, that had only been today, as before they had only taken tests and gone through classes on the subject.
Neaw remembered the man saying he was a Mechanical Petty Officer, but he didn't see that it much mattered anymore. "Course he's a pilot girl, you saw him pilot, so did I and did the Commander, he can't be nothing but a pilot." Then he shook his head. "Now, that HARM man he beat up on for trying to kill us, well he did him right and I'll doubt he'll be a pilot again even if he gets back." Then he stopped and paused for a second, his voice came out hostile. "Now you -" He stopped, calmed himself down and just shook his head, chuckling. "I'm gonna see you get work, yah hear me Zali? Just like him," Neaw pointed towards Roland for emphasis. "All of us pilots gotta do our best or otherwise you might never see the inside of your cockpit again."
He looked up and laughed awkwardly, obviously a little nervous. What the IR had done, while shockingly gratifying and empowering, had also made him realize just how careful he needed to be in the future- that is, if he had a future with the ExoFrames. "I didn't mean to beat him into a pulp," Roland answered. "The Isaac Risa has a habit of acting on its own, based on prior user input, however little. Without stern commands, it can be rather wild and unpredictable, and I didn't remember that soon enough." He sounded apologetic and a little upset, but that was mostly due to the fact that MPO Gilly's mind was elsewhere still. It was hard to focus on the here and now when something so amazing had happened to him.
It took a second for the girl to take all the talking in, but she finally understood it, and felt uneasy about the Isaac Risa, she never wanted to pilot it if she had the choice. "Well, hopefully they'll let us continue to be pilots... I don't think we failed, did we?" she seemed a bit scared for the moment, partially because of what Neaw had said, and then it dawned on her that the whole confrontation could have probably been solved peacefully if she hadn't goofed up. "It's all my fault..." she muttered, and suddenly broke into tears.
Putting a hand on the girl's shoulder Neaw lowered his voice and tried to make it as comforting as possible. "In no way was this your fault. Them HARM pilots aren't good men to nobody, they would have attacked when we had our backs turned if not sooner." Then looking up he eyed Roland too. "That goes for you too, you ain't killed nobody yet and you've managed to permanently put an enemy pilot out of action. We've all done good to boot is what I say and I think it is what the Chief believes too." Then, chuckling, the recruit shook his head. "Now, after saying that I'm expecting him to ride us every minute of training he can get in, so you might not be thinking kindly of his approval in a few days."
Roland offered a gentle smile and reached across the small aisle to pat Zali's knee. For a brief moment she reminded him of his younger sister. "No reason to play the blame game. Besides, you can't let a little something like that hold you back; if you want to keep flying, you've got to keep improving. If you really want it, it'll be yours." Then he sat back, withdrawing his hand. "And thank you, pilot...?" he was looking at Neaw as he spoke now. "I appreciate that."
Zali's tears slowed and quieted, finally stopping as the other two assuaged her. "Thanks guys..." she sniffled, wiping her face on her shirt, a slight smudge of light makeup showing up on her pilot suit. "It's just that all I've done today is mess up... But I guess you're right. that doesn't matter right now..." she tried to smile, and gave a weak one, sitting up a little straighter. The Transport Bumped into a hangar, and all of a sudden the doors were opened and people were offering to help the occupants out, a few more MP's and another commander or two standing outside as a sort of welcoming committee.
"Alright, alright. They've put out the red carpet for us, dry that face, hold that head high! Your gonna do yourselves and the work you've done today proud when you step out of this door, eh?" Then stepping out the door, Neaw gave the nearest MP a casual nod and a friendly smile before moseying over to a clear spot and waiting for the others.
"No, it certainly doesn't," Roland reassured Zali. "What matters is learning and living. If you've done your learning, well we've got a bit of living to do." He stepped down from the transport of and offered a helping hand to Zali, and Tristana as well. She wasn't a member of the squad- hell, she wasn't even a MAG- but mother had raised Roland right, and respecting the women-folk was second nature to him. Then the MPs moved forward, looking their menacing look- you know, the one they use to intimidate folks into cooperation. It worked well enough on MPO Gilly who was already anxious about the near future and what it might entail. "Sir, allow us to escort you to debriefing," one said. "It's critical we debrief you immediately."
"Sure. Sure, sirs. Lead the way." He gestured forward, and they led on. Rather, one MP led the way, while two followed Roland- probably to make sure he didn't get any funny ideas.
Seeing the MP's lead Roland away and another group forming, most likely to come pay him a visit, Neaw quickly scanned the small crowd for Zali. Finding her just as the group of MP's approached him with a hard, expectant look on their faces he gave the men a slow nod and then motioned towards his squad mate. "Mind if I take a second?"
The leading MP hesitated a second before nodding, following the recruit closely as he closed the gap between himself and Zali.
"Zali, they seem to have some pressing questions for me and -" Neaw stopped to recall the name that had been on the mechanic's coveralls. " - Gilly, you go find the Chief and then get some food or some sleep. And remember what the both of us said, you did good and with a bit more training you'll be even better." Turning away he walked with the MP's, who like their companions who had attended Roland quickly took up a cage like formation around Neaw.
As it went, people were being rushed about, all of the pilots whom had been engaged in the combat were sent to either debriefing or interrogation rooms, depending on the circumstances of their participation in the event. The ExoFrame suits were unloaded from the truck, the MAGE units to be inspected and repaired, the HARM units to be studied for their secrets. Tristana, the 'guest' had been ushered into the base, with Shaoran following to ensure his promises would be upheld. An investigation committee would be sent to look over the field of battle, to add to the understanding of what had gone on.
The recruits whom hadn't taken part in the fight were ushered into their barracks, to be debriefed later as many had observed it, but were for the most part left alone and unaccosted. Little did everyone know, except perhaps the insightful Commander Shaoran, that this small skirmish would be the beginning of a much larger conflict.
******
Shaoran stood in front of his 13 foot-tall ExoFrame, the Ganesa Thera, and looked over the new recruits. Each had chosen themselves a frame from the three beginner units, the Martina Nekane, Lander Onida, and Kali Pazia. The units were extremely technologically advanced, and each held the power of a much larger conventional weapon, However, they were no mere playthings, and a pilot needed to have skill and dedication to fly one. Training was extensive and difficult, and failure was common, with death a real possibility. The commander gazed into the eyes of each recruit, and then smiled. "Welcome to training. This is what we call the baptism of fire, your first sortie in a MAGE unit.
Approaching the Martina Nekane Neaw didn't think the MAGE's looked that impressive. Thinking that not that much could be different about the units, despite their names, he jerked his finger at the MN. "I'll just take this one then, Chief. So, do I just hop in and we start going at it or-?" The recruit left his question hanging, an expectant look on his face.
"Well, you've taken the proper classes, right? You should know how to do basic maneuvers in a MAGE unit." Shaoran answered, looking at Recruit Neaw's choice. the Martina Nekane was the first type of MAGE unit ever made, and while revolutionary at the time, was a very simplified and altogether mediocre unit. Still, it was more reliable and easy to pilot than any other unit around, due to several decades or so of tweaks to the basic unit. "Once you've chosen an ExoFrame, Mount up and do some walking around the tarmac to get used to moving around."
Neaw shrugged and mounted up,climbing in through the back. While the recruit hadn't really payed attention to each unit's details he believed that he could pilot one rather easily. Following the instructor's orders he walked the ExoFrame down the walkway. It was rather easy, even if he didn't push the unit any, he got if up to a decent trot and stopped again in front of Shaoran's Ganesa Thera.
"Anywhere I can pick up a spear Chief? I would rather practice movements with my weapon than without." As he spoke Neaw made the MN salute the instructor.
"There are training weapons inside the hangar, Recruit." the Commander said, pointing to a nearby hangar. "They are all non-lethal against MAGE units, but because they are balanced and weighted like real weapons, they can do a lot of harm to unarmored people." The Commander looked over at the other recruits, to see if any were progressing as quickly as Neaw was.
Marcus stepped up from the rest, and decided it was better to have initiative than to just sit it out and gain no experience. "I'll have a shot at it." He finally spoke out from the ranks. He was surprised he had been the first to speak out of all of them, considering they all needed training and Marcus wasn't really a very gutsy guy to start them off like that. "I'll take the Martina and a double-handed sword." There wasn't much more to choose from, and the Lander was going to be a bit too specialized for the job. Since he was completely new to this, he might as well start out with something that was balanced, regardless of what kind of weaponry he chose.
It seemed that a couple of the other recruits had chosen their units, the recruit Marcus having chosen another Martina Nekane, and a female recruit, Zali, haven chosen a Kali Pazia unit. A couple of others sat around the ExoFrames, intimidated by the machines. Shaoran smirked, knowing they would either flunk here and now or get in a unit soon, and so he mounted and activated his Ganesa Thera. "Alright, you two. since you've decided to grab melee weapons and identical units, you should spar. There are a few ground rules, namely, do not go for the head, and you win a round by knocking your opponent down. For now your in-built weapons are locked so you cannot use them." the Commander announced.
Inside his ExoFrame Neaw smiled as he hefted his spear. "How about a little demonstration first Chief, both me and him against that fancy unit of yours." He had the MN point towards the group of recruits milling about. "Give 'em a bit of motivation or so, if you wouldn't mind that is?" Neaw turned towards the other pilot's Martina Nekane as he spoke.
An eyebrow raised, Marcus walked out on the ExoFrame and took hold of the padded zweihander resting against the wall. This Neaw guy was a bit too excitable for his tastes. Why would anyone go out of their way to challenge the boss? Did he really want to get his ass kicked? Regardless, he wouldn't complain. He walked up to both of them, ExoFrame towing the great sword in hand, and then looked at their superior. "I'll do whatever is ordered of me. It's your call, Chief."
Shaoran smirked at the two recruits, then looked at the third whom had mounted her unit. "Zali, what do you say about joining these two in an exercise against me?" the Commander asked.
Zali paused in her movements for a moment and asked "My weapons will work, correct?'
"Yes, but on a reduced power setting for training." Saoran answered.
"Then I will fight."
"There you have it. Three against one should be fairly even." The Commander simply stood his ground, and his unit's head slowly looked at the three recruits "Well? Are you going to start?" the Commander taunted.
Neaw took a good look at both his partner's ExoFrames. "Well, you both seem to be of a good sort. Do whatever comes to mind, but I think I'm gonna charge him." Getting his suit to move was easy enough and charging wouldn't be too hard.
Gripping the spear the recruit rushed at the Chief, stopping just out of what he thought was his target's range and sweeping out at its legs, hoping that either the Commander's ExoFrame would be knocked down or that the rest of the team had started their attacks too.
As Neaw moved to the their Commander, the ExoFrame with the zweihander moved carefully to the right of the spear-wielding one, running while keeping an eye at the Commander's movements. "Kind of a newb move to go for, Neaw!" The Martina Nekane raised it's arms and made the blade of the huge sword be perpendicular to the floor, and then wound up for a slice. Once the Commander was in the air, should the Commander jump, Marcus had set himself to unwind the powered armor to have the last few feet of the padded oar-like weapon against the airborne ExoFrame. If the Commander didn't jump, then Marcus would proceed with a different tactic...
Zali, behind the other two Exoframes, had raised her arms and begun firing the built-in weapons on her forearms, attempting to hit the Commander with the low-powered training blasts, but as the Commander moved faster than she and the other recruits did, her shots ended up hitting the great sword and knocking it out of the way, as Shaoran avoided the spear's swipe by simply hopping backwards.
"You'll have to try better than that." The Commander said, simply, once again standing in place, and waiting for the other three to move.
Zali apologized profusely to Marcus "I'm so sorry I didn't see you there!" she stumbled, feeling bad for messing up.
Neaw pushed the attack feinting a stab at the Commander and then pressing forward, attempting to grab one of the enemy's arms. Then, once more trying to bring the commander to the ground, he kicked out at the other frame's leg.
"I hope you find this a bit more than our last try Chief." The recruit said as he inwardly cursed the Commander for being a much more effective pilot than the whole team combined.
Thought so, now all I have to do is-- THUMP. The sword was literally shot knocked to the side, making the ExoFrame pilot inside become somewhat frustrated. Zali eventually put the blame on herself, and then he realized what had happened. "Ah, great. There goes my plan." Marcus sighed and began to stalk after the Commander.
As Neaw moved toward the Commander, Shaoran was more than ready for the recruit. As the Martina Nekane tried to grab at him, Shaoran grabbed it instead, and then kicked a foot up to Neaw's torso, completely turning the recruit's attack around on him, flinging him up into the air, which, with a stroke of luck, he managed to be used as a shield from Zali's blasts, and then Neaw found himself flung over the Commander's head and onto his back, behind the Ganesa Thera.
"Christ woman!" Neaw yelled as his ExoFrame slammed into the ground. With a sudden burst of anger he forgot the rules and pushed his MN back to its feet and came behind the Commander, trying to attack him with a giant bear hug so the others could - well at least hopefully with Zali - hit their target.
"Now! Hit him!" He roughly yelled to the rest of the team, refusing to give up.
Zali timidly tried to fire again, so far she hadn't been too useful and knowing her luck, she would knock Neaw off of Shaoran, freeing him to take out Marcus, too. However, the girl finally made up her mind, and shot- the blast hitting Shaoran's Ganesa Thera straight in the chest and pushing him and Neaw back a few feet.
As this happened, Marcus saw his chance and charged at Shaorin, pointing his sword for a powerful stab at the commander.- He was interrupted by a series of warning alarms going off, signaling that an enemy Exoframe was approaching the base. In fact, there were several enemy Exoframes approaching, but, oddly enough, one of them was being fired upon by its supposed allies. A number of the recruits ran back to the barracks, abandoning their training in favor of safety, but a few mounted MAGE ExoFrames, ready to help defend from any invaders.
"Crap crap crap crap!" Tristana kept cursing as she fled from her former allies as fast as her frame could possibly take her. Fleeing for as far as she had, her ExoFrame wasn't in particularly good shape, but the nice thing about the Ramla Ivar is the prediction software. Any time the enemies were about to do something big and nasty, she would be able to get out of the way, if only just barely. "How much further are those freaking MAGE people anyway?" The defector took a moment to turn, firing a couple salvos of missiles, before doing another 180 to resume her flight.
Neaw quickly let go of the Chief as the alarms went off and they continued to skid backwards from Zali's shot. As soon as they stopped his Frame was running towards the armoury. "Moving Chief, I assume we'll be sallying?" He asked as he replaced the practice spear and claimed a real one.
Checking over the inbuilt weapons, all of them were loaded and ready but still locked. "I promise I won't shoot you if you let me go fight Chief." The recruit stated jokingly.
"Of course. All recruits, your weapons are now live. Do NOT try anything more than you think you can handle, these may be real enemies!" he warned, setting in the commands to unlock weapons. The Commander's next priority was to hail the incoming ExoFrames
"Unidentified Exoframes, State your identity and purpose!" he demanded, in a very authoritative voice over the radio, moving from the tarmac toward the base's fence, which looked out onto the field outside; they could just see the three Frames in the distance, growing dots moving toward them.
The Neci Mara frames pursuing Tristana fired their spread-fire rifles at the incoming missiles, knocking most of them down, but one still took a minor hit and slowed down for a moment before regaining its composure and rejoining the chase. The two HARM ExoFrames ignored the commander's hail, so intent were they on their prey. The nearer one launched a small sphere from a cannon on its back, which landed near Tristana and exploded in a shower of small fragments of metal and phosphorous.
"Thank you! This is Tristana, requesting assistance against these two Neci Mara pursuing me. If you want information on HARM emplacements, I suggest helping me!" Tristana replied over the comm, before letting out a grunt and stumbling due to the mortar, taking some damage, and falling to all fours. She quickly righted herself, took aim, and let loose her own retaliation from the cannons built into the RI's forearms.
"Recruits. Guard the base, I will go out and assist this person." Shaoran informed his charges, running toward the fence and vaulting it, making his way toward the HARM ExoFrames. "Miss Tristana, this is Commander Shaoran of MAGE. I am coming to assist you." still, it would be more than a couple of moments before he made contact with the girl.
Speaking of which, the NM unit that had hit her with its mortar closed in, the spread-fire rifle on its forearm pointing at her, while the other took its time avoiding the shots fired at it. The closer of the two showed signs of obvious damage, but the pilot seemed to be skilled at holding it together. "Just give up, Girly." the man in the suit demanded showing his dominance over the defector. However, Tristana's ExoFrame informed her that he was going to shoot her in four, three...
"Chief, you can stick your orders where the sun don't shine and then stick a court martial on me. But, for now, all I see is business in front of us." Inside the cockpit the recruit was smiling savagely, an odd look on Neaw's mule-like face as he following the Commander and even trampled over a section of the fence to get outside.
Looking back as he started towards the enemies, he saw the timid KP pilot Zali loitering around where he had exited. "Get out here and show that you can be even slightly useful!" He yelled as he turned and continued to move.
Tristana's frame reached down to the ground, one hand digging into the dirt, the other digging up dirt. With the system giving its prediction, she threw the clod of dirt at the visual sensors of the NM in front of her, while pulling and jumping to the side to avoid the inevitable shots that would come from the shotgun.
Her move came just in time, as the sudden clod of dirt threw the NM's aim off just enough that her desperate move was successful, and the closest NM suddenly became helpless as the helmet sensors were clogged and he couldn't for the life of him get the dirt off. One foe incapacitated, the other realized what was going on and made his move toward Tristana but she already knew that, thanks to her ExoFrame's predictions.
Shaoran nearly stopped to force Neaw back into the base, but thought better of it. He continued on, making his way close enough to face a standoff with the two NM frames, who both stopped moving when they realized he was there.
Zali nearly jumped when Neaw yelled at her, but did as he said anyway, following after the MN and trying desperately to adjust her sights so she didn't miss and hit an ally.
Neaw moved forward, running in front of the one different Frame out of the three HARM units and taking up a guard position with his spear. "Chief, I assume killing these two would be bad? What about the defector, do we defend her or-?" Realizing this could end being a particularly sticky political problem the grin slipped from the recruit's face.
Turning towards Zali, Neaw tried to quickly grasp the situation. "If you have to shoot try to just disable them." This time his voice was much less rude, remembering that she had pulled through at the end in their match with the Commander.
Back in the armory, where many had recruits fled for safety, one unlikely man was clambering into an Isaac Risa. This man was Roland Gilly, a 32-year old technician and janitor. He'd never before been inside a MAGE, but his job had brought him within their vicinity every day of his life. He fixed them, ran diagnostics, and everything else... except piloting. He had failed the entry tests more times than he had fingers, but still he believed he was perfectly capable. Now was his time to prove it.
So he ran the start-up procedure, made sure everything was running in the green, and started moving. The feeling was... phenomenal, and brought a huge grin to his face. He even vented a small, irrepressible giggle. Thankfully the communications weren't open or his moment of glory would've come to an end before its beginning.
Now came the choice of weapons. He opted for a automatic rifle and a one-handed sword. Then he was out the door, looking eager as ever.
"Nice and timely, I suppose. Could've been better, but good enough." Tristana's frame slowly stood, as the pilot herself kept a close eye for any predictions regarding any stupid moves that her former colleagues might make. She grumbled at bit as her frame made some not-very-good sounds from all the damage she's taken thus far. She really hoped that these MAGE pilots wouldn't just kill her, and would let her join them.
Shaoran looked down at the frame they had saved, it was a Ramla Ivar, a rather uncommon enemy frame. Why its pilot might have defected was beyond the commander, but he supposed it was something that would have happened anyway. The NM that had been blinded was finally able to clear its sensors off, and leered threateningly at Shaoran.
"Give us the girl, MAGE Fool" he began "and we won't kill you. We'll even let you train your little morons in peace" he sneered.
"You're not all that polite." Shoaran answered calmly.
Unfortunately, all was not well with the MAGE pilots, and Zali, in her mussing with her unit, accidentally shot off a blast; it was harmless, only hit the ground, but it was a trigger that caused much worse happenings. The far NM frame fired a blast off at Neaw, the Spread-fire rifle pelting his frame's armor with small metal balls, and the other NM rushed forward to attack at Shaoran; who was for once off guard. The Commander was pummeled to the ground, and the choice was made. "Disable them if you can!" he ordered his recruits, grappling his immediate foe.
Neaw heard the familiar discharge from behind him, and the next thing he knew he had found himself on the ground and hurting. He didn't even have any words to say to Zali, at least not yet. Struggling to get up, he found it much harder than when he had been tossed by the Commander, and understandably so as he hadn't been shot that time.
"Zali, don't shoot, not again today at all! Just surge and grab the bastard!" He yelled to his fellow recruit as his MN's leg gave out and he collapsed again.
"Idiots," Tristana mumbled to herself, as she took a step back, away from the pilot who had just fallen, and drew out her bow and fired off an arrow. A nice, explodey arrow, but an arrow nonetheless. And, this explodey arrow was trained on the far NM. There was no kill like overkill and it would also be a bit of revenge after the number of shots they'd taken at her.
The order to disable the enemy rang loudly and clearly in technician Gilly's head. He'd never been called single-minded, but as soon as an objective had been implanted, Roland already felt like he was a soldier. The adrenaline was flowing, his face was contorted into a determined grin, and he was sprinting full speed to close the distance. He considered taking shots, but that would just be stupid, especially at this range. Neither of his weapons was meant for anything like this, especially with friendlies in the mix. He'd just have to work something out once he was closer. [SPRINT ROUND]
The NM tried to take a shot at Neaw's falling unit, but was interrupted when his world exploded. The HE-tipped arrow made a deafening sound as it caused a concussive blast that blew the unit a few yards back and peeled and boiled away some of its armor, causing the suit's HUD to read the entire front half of the suit as red. systems began to shut down, but the suit wasn't all the way out, and stood back up.
Zali tried to stop it, but her attempt ended in failure as her nervous shots missed, she apparently hadn't heard Neaw, but at least she didn't hit a friendly this time.
Shaoran continued to grapple his foe for a moment, but the Ganesa Thera came out on top, the slightly larger ExoFrame gaining an advantage and throwing the NM off, landing it on is posterior. Both units got back up, but didn't immediately go for one another. Shaoran fired a bolt of plasma at his enemy while the NM fired a mortar, trying to do as much damage to the group as he could.
Supporting his ExoFrame with his spear, Neaw finally got up off the ground. Snarling at the badly damaged suit that had tried to attack him he attempted to target the enemy right when the other NM's mortar went off; flinging him back a few yards and back onto the ground.
As he landed he felt a sharp pain in his leg where shrapnel had pierced the Martina Nekane's damaged leg and lodged itself into the flesh of his. Wincing and gritting his teeth against the pain the recruit tried to both push himself up and find his fallen spear.
A pained grunt escaped from Tristana's mouth as her frame was thrown to the ground from the explosion. A few curses also came from her lips. "Why can't things STOP BLOWING UP AND BEING BAD?!" She tried to get up, but all the punishment her RI had taken up until this point was catching up to her. It hardly moved. "Come on!"
It seemed things were turning rather sour. Up until now, nothing serious had happened, and then BAM! Some fool blasted them all with a mortar! They really needed help, and Roland was entering the proper range now. His right arm came level with the mortar-carrying Neci Mara, and he squeezed the trigger tight, with no intention of letting go until the clip was empty. However, that NM was not the target of his charge; the other was, and the Isaac Risa came into melee range with a mighty battle cry and the shortsword primed for a bull rush stab. "RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" was what came out of Roland's mouth, although he had been thinking something more along the lines of, "You all die now!" In retrospect, neither was quite as eloquent as the mechanic had hoped he would be in the line of fire.
The closest NM unit went down, first as Shaoran's plasma bolt took out its shoulder, and then as a small auto rifle was unloaded on it. The damage to the unit was about equal to what had been spread about the NM's enemies.
Shaoran was blasted forward, landing on his frame's front end, a few shrapnel holes in the legs showed signs of leaking blood, but aside from that the Ganesa Thera seemed okay.
Zali was thrown backward, but the stronger armor in the front saved her from taking much of any damage.
However, the farther Neci Mara, damaged as it was, was helpless against the Mechanic's rage-induced rush, and the sword sliced right through the unit's side, cutting two neat holes in the armor, both of which leaked crimson. Without Roland telling the Isaac Risa what to do, however, it began to punch at and brutally maul the now deactivated NM.
Staggering and barely supporting himself with his spear, again, Neaw was surprised to see one of the enemy frames being savaged by a new ally. The pain in his leg cooling him down, the recruit decided that this was probably on the list of unwanted outcomes. Limping over to where the Isaac Risa was butchering his target he ground his staff into the dirt and clutched it tightly before grabbing the other ExoFrame and attempting to pull him off his victim.
"C'mon now, Chief's orders, stand down pilot." Neaw tried to keep his voice as friendly as possible, as he wasn't quite sure whether or not the pilot wouldn't turn on him next. Then looking back towards Zali he remembered that the Commander had been fighting the other unit. "Support the Chief girl! I got this side under control!" He yelled to her.
"Move, you piece of-" Tristana grumbled, making rather futile attempts at getting her frame to move. "You MAGE guys better not be screwing everything up...."
Roland's plan was executed flawlessly. He gunned down the one NM, and tackled the other just as he had expected. Then the strangest thing happened. The hand that once clutched the sword rose and fell repeatedly upon his opponent, and without his direction. Feeling his limb act of its own accord was quite simply the most bizarre sensation to ever experience, but he knew it had to stop even before Neaw tried to intervene. He could feel his other hand dropping the gun and rising to join in on the fun. Immediately he recalled from the myriad of manuals he'd devoured over the years that the Isaac Risa was prone to acting of its own accord. So he began bellowing commands. "Stop! STOP! The fight is over! We have won! Stand down, Isaac Risa!"
Salvation came in the form of Shaoran using command codes to lock down the Isaac Risa Exoframe, and then open the back of the unit, exposing its pilot. "Who are you?" the commander questioned over the radio, as he made his way to the less-damaged NM, his face scrunched in pain with every step. Zali made her way to Roland, then to the Ramla Ivar. "Umm, Miss. do you need some help?" the recruit asked, her unit's hand stretching out to help the RI up.
Shaoran grabbed the damaged NM unceremoniously, turning it around and forcing the back of it open. He roughly pulled out the pilot; thankfully alive; and held him up by the scruff of his pilot suit. "Miss Tristana. I believe we have held up are end of the deal. Shall we take you into the base so you can hold up your end?"
As the Commander spoke, a transport could be seen making its way through the hole that Neaw's Martina Nekane had made. it bounced across the field, and behind it two smaller vehicles with the Military Police Insignia followed.
Neaw was relieved to see Roland's unit deactivate, but when he had managed to slowly turn back around all that stress came back two fold. He looked from the hole in the fence, to the MP vehicles, and then at Commander Shaoran. Gritting his teeth, shrugging, and then limping over to the Chief's unit he - just like when had first stopped after the walking exercise - pulled off a crisp salute.
"Reporting some, I would like to stress that word, damage to all units but no fatalities Chief." After he spoke the recruit paused for a second then begun again, not as loud as before. "I see you'll be talking to the MP's..rather hope the discussion goes well, Sir." Then, trying to force a bit of humor into the situation he forced a chuckle and shook his head. "The base was needing a new gate anyways."
Tristana finally got her frame to move. A bit late, but better late than never. The hand reached up to grab Zali's. "That would be lovely," she replied to Shaoran.
Roland was at first elated, thinking the IR was responding to his commands. After a couple seconds, however, he realized it wasn't moving at all. Then the hatch popped open, and with a sigh, technician Gilly climbed out. It was obvious what he was by the jumpsuit he wore that signified his position as part of the Engineer Corps. Once both boots were on the grass, he turned, offered a salute that would have made any drill sergeant proud, and answered curtly. "Mechanical Petty Officer Roland Gilly, sir. I heard your... call for assistance, and responded." That was obviously stretching the truth quite a bit, but he already knew he was in trouble. What the hell did it matter now? "Is there anything else I can do for you, sir?" This was mostly to change the topic, but Roland figured it was probably pointless by now. Still, here's to hoping...
The Transport and the MP's arrived soon, and a crew hopped off the large vehicle and used its forked crane to pick up the destroyed NM that had been shucked of its pilot. Another group freed the unconscious pilot from the second NM. Although unconscious was rather a weak description. The poor man was bleeding from one side, had all sorts of broken ribs, and if his mother had been present she wouldn't have been able to recognize his face, mangled as it was by the Isaac Risa's mechanical fists. Needless to say, he was rushed to emergency medical attention. The other, far luckier pilot was immediately taken into custody for interrogation and the Machines moved onto the transport. All of the MAGEs were ordered by Shaoran to dismount aboard the transport's suit bay. Shaoran personally escorted Tristana, despite his injuries, while the rookie pilots and technician were ushered onto the transport by military police, where a couple medics began treating injuries with temporary remedies until they returned to the base for proper care.
Zali was curious as to the big fuss, and asked Neaw "Do you know why they're making such a huge fuss?" idly, she waved at Roland, not really knowing who he was, but not wanting to be rude. For now, the pilots were being left alone, but they would not be spared interrogations, reports, and all the funny business that went on after an event like this happened...
"Well, I'm sure they are reviewing all of our personal actions in this incident, purely for official reasons mostly." The mule-faced recruit stated nonchalantly as he breezed over both his and Roland's less than approved of actions. Eying his bound wound and giving it a few experimental taps with his other foot, Neaw winced from the sharp pain and put that on the "don't do" list for now. "But, the main big to do getting them all stirred up is that we found ourselves a defector. Pretty nice ExoFrame too, not sure how good but I'm hoping it is enough for them to excuse what damage we did to our frames." Then, nodding confidently he continued. "Yep, don't you worry nothing got done wrong here and benefits can come from all this." At least for you, the recruit thought as he watched an MP out of the corner of his eye.
Roland offered a meager wave back to Zali, but otherwise kept staring at the floor of the transport. He sat forward, his hands were clasped before him, elbows resting on his knees, his mind deep in thought of all the possible consequences. Mostly he thought about the answers he'd give to certain questions. MPO Gilly thought that maybe-- just maybe!-- this might be his unorthodox way into the MAGE Corps. Yes, extremely unorthodox to be sure, but he couldn't help all the hoping and praying. This had been his dream since he was a little boy, as early as he could remember, and any possibility of him finally getting in- however slim- was a glimmer of hope in Roland's eyes. Every so often his thoughts were speckled with the fresh memories of what it'd been like to be a pilot: the surge of adrenaline, the split-second combat, the sudden end. It had been the best ten minutes (had it even been THAT long?) of his life.
"Oh, Okay." Zali said, looking down at the floor for a moment. She looked back at Roland once more, wondering about the strange glimmer in his eyes. Curious, the girl asked "Hey, are you a MAGE Pilot?" She had seen him in the hangars during their training sessions, but had never really seen anyone other than Shaoran and the recruits piloting the MAGE units. of course, that had only been today, as before they had only taken tests and gone through classes on the subject.
Neaw remembered the man saying he was a Mechanical Petty Officer, but he didn't see that it much mattered anymore. "Course he's a pilot girl, you saw him pilot, so did I and did the Commander, he can't be nothing but a pilot." Then he shook his head. "Now, that HARM man he beat up on for trying to kill us, well he did him right and I'll doubt he'll be a pilot again even if he gets back." Then he stopped and paused for a second, his voice came out hostile. "Now you -" He stopped, calmed himself down and just shook his head, chuckling. "I'm gonna see you get work, yah hear me Zali? Just like him," Neaw pointed towards Roland for emphasis. "All of us pilots gotta do our best or otherwise you might never see the inside of your cockpit again."
He looked up and laughed awkwardly, obviously a little nervous. What the IR had done, while shockingly gratifying and empowering, had also made him realize just how careful he needed to be in the future- that is, if he had a future with the ExoFrames. "I didn't mean to beat him into a pulp," Roland answered. "The Isaac Risa has a habit of acting on its own, based on prior user input, however little. Without stern commands, it can be rather wild and unpredictable, and I didn't remember that soon enough." He sounded apologetic and a little upset, but that was mostly due to the fact that MPO Gilly's mind was elsewhere still. It was hard to focus on the here and now when something so amazing had happened to him.
It took a second for the girl to take all the talking in, but she finally understood it, and felt uneasy about the Isaac Risa, she never wanted to pilot it if she had the choice. "Well, hopefully they'll let us continue to be pilots... I don't think we failed, did we?" she seemed a bit scared for the moment, partially because of what Neaw had said, and then it dawned on her that the whole confrontation could have probably been solved peacefully if she hadn't goofed up. "It's all my fault..." she muttered, and suddenly broke into tears.
Putting a hand on the girl's shoulder Neaw lowered his voice and tried to make it as comforting as possible. "In no way was this your fault. Them HARM pilots aren't good men to nobody, they would have attacked when we had our backs turned if not sooner." Then looking up he eyed Roland too. "That goes for you too, you ain't killed nobody yet and you've managed to permanently put an enemy pilot out of action. We've all done good to boot is what I say and I think it is what the Chief believes too." Then, chuckling, the recruit shook his head. "Now, after saying that I'm expecting him to ride us every minute of training he can get in, so you might not be thinking kindly of his approval in a few days."
Roland offered a gentle smile and reached across the small aisle to pat Zali's knee. For a brief moment she reminded him of his younger sister. "No reason to play the blame game. Besides, you can't let a little something like that hold you back; if you want to keep flying, you've got to keep improving. If you really want it, it'll be yours." Then he sat back, withdrawing his hand. "And thank you, pilot...?" he was looking at Neaw as he spoke now. "I appreciate that."
Zali's tears slowed and quieted, finally stopping as the other two assuaged her. "Thanks guys..." she sniffled, wiping her face on her shirt, a slight smudge of light makeup showing up on her pilot suit. "It's just that all I've done today is mess up... But I guess you're right. that doesn't matter right now..." she tried to smile, and gave a weak one, sitting up a little straighter. The Transport Bumped into a hangar, and all of a sudden the doors were opened and people were offering to help the occupants out, a few more MP's and another commander or two standing outside as a sort of welcoming committee.
"Alright, alright. They've put out the red carpet for us, dry that face, hold that head high! Your gonna do yourselves and the work you've done today proud when you step out of this door, eh?" Then stepping out the door, Neaw gave the nearest MP a casual nod and a friendly smile before moseying over to a clear spot and waiting for the others.
"No, it certainly doesn't," Roland reassured Zali. "What matters is learning and living. If you've done your learning, well we've got a bit of living to do." He stepped down from the transport of and offered a helping hand to Zali, and Tristana as well. She wasn't a member of the squad- hell, she wasn't even a MAG- but mother had raised Roland right, and respecting the women-folk was second nature to him. Then the MPs moved forward, looking their menacing look- you know, the one they use to intimidate folks into cooperation. It worked well enough on MPO Gilly who was already anxious about the near future and what it might entail. "Sir, allow us to escort you to debriefing," one said. "It's critical we debrief you immediately."
"Sure. Sure, sirs. Lead the way." He gestured forward, and they led on. Rather, one MP led the way, while two followed Roland- probably to make sure he didn't get any funny ideas.
Seeing the MP's lead Roland away and another group forming, most likely to come pay him a visit, Neaw quickly scanned the small crowd for Zali. Finding her just as the group of MP's approached him with a hard, expectant look on their faces he gave the men a slow nod and then motioned towards his squad mate. "Mind if I take a second?"
The leading MP hesitated a second before nodding, following the recruit closely as he closed the gap between himself and Zali.
"Zali, they seem to have some pressing questions for me and -" Neaw stopped to recall the name that had been on the mechanic's coveralls. " - Gilly, you go find the Chief and then get some food or some sleep. And remember what the both of us said, you did good and with a bit more training you'll be even better." Turning away he walked with the MP's, who like their companions who had attended Roland quickly took up a cage like formation around Neaw.
As it went, people were being rushed about, all of the pilots whom had been engaged in the combat were sent to either debriefing or interrogation rooms, depending on the circumstances of their participation in the event. The ExoFrame suits were unloaded from the truck, the MAGE units to be inspected and repaired, the HARM units to be studied for their secrets. Tristana, the 'guest' had been ushered into the base, with Shaoran following to ensure his promises would be upheld. An investigation committee would be sent to look over the field of battle, to add to the understanding of what had gone on.
The recruits whom hadn't taken part in the fight were ushered into their barracks, to be debriefed later as many had observed it, but were for the most part left alone and unaccosted. Little did everyone know, except perhaps the insightful Commander Shaoran, that this small skirmish would be the beginning of a much larger conflict.