RP: OIF Atuan [OIF Atuan] Episode 3: The Terror Attacks at Dawn!

Re: Episode 3: The Terror Attacks at Dawn!

Async climbed up after Yoshiko, a small cut leaking a crimson tear from her forehead, determination or perhaps concern plastered on her face. 'I'm going to have to look out for this one, she's like a newly crafted servo, uncalibrated, but they're energetic to inputs, something older devices lose once they break into routine...'

"Wait up, Miss Tachibana!" the woman called up to her new comrade with no lack of excitement, clambering up the Kirin's face almost as easily as the yamataian-bodied neko, "I'll be your EWO, okay?"

Re: Episode 3: The Terror Attacks at Dawn!

"Ehhh?!" Yoshiko was inside the cockpit first, but didn't notice much until Async spoke up. The Ex-Neko looked about and noticed that the cockpit was oblong, not a sphere like her previous Frame was. Hell, there was even a seat behind her. 'I'm starting to think drinking that stuff was a really bad idea now!' she thought in slight panic. She was a little clumsy, but she was able to sink into the form fitting foams and gels of her seat, eventually clicking the 5 point harness over herself. "Sure, sure! That'd be great Async!" The truth was different than that, and of course, Yoshiko lied to herself about it being great; now she was responsible for someone else' life even more so than usual!

Re: Episode 3: The Terror Attacks at Dawn!

The explosions hardly phased Taela - she was built for this sort of thing, and as long as she wasn't in it, then there was nothing to react to. She let out a silent cheer as Kelly came in on the Atuan, happy that she would get her Frame. But, as she predicted earlier, these were newer models. Much shinier. Two mecha like Kelly's from the previous battle were revealed to her. The Neko swiftly headed for one of those; They were one-seaters, and she didn't really know the others (besides Yoshiko) well-enough to work with her. Taela hurriedly entered the Asura, quick to boot everything up.

Re: Episode 3: The Terror Attacks at Dawn!

Kelly sighed, shaking his head as the pilots swarmed about. Activating his loud speakers, he saw fit to get them in line.

"Hey! What're you all doing running around and boarding a frame without a piloting suit on? Get out, and change into the pilot suits, we're expected to force the invaders out into space and fight them there, to minimize damage to the station! I have the list of assigned frames right here, now hold up." The loudspeakers shut off for a brief instance, as Kelly searched his frame's cockpit for the list.

"Alright, here it is. Taela, Yoshiko, you two are both reliable, so I need you both to pilot Asura's for me. I know you wanted otherwise, but this is how it's got to be. I'll make it up for you both when we get done here, okay? Async, you're good with machines, and should be able to handle all of the Kirin's functions by yourself, so you get your own, sorry. Meena, if Shinji was here, he'd be the co-pilot for your Kirin. I know you don't have Async's advanced processing power, but can you handle it for now, please? Lucien, You get an Asura as well, I need you to be up front with me and the girls, to keep us alive. Now suit up, and get out here. I'll be keeping an overwatch to make sure we don't get attacked with our pants down." The nepleslian ensign smiled, and added in one last thing.

"I'm proud of all you. I'm sorry your day off had to be ruined."

Re: Episode 3: The Terror Attacks at Dawn!

"Aye Kelly!" Lucien responded with gusto, but then, he remembered that he was told to fetch himself a piloting suit. "Now, wot does a pilotin' suit look like?" Lucien asked himself aloud as he waddled over to his locker, the noticed the skin-tight suit hanging nearby. Somehow, this had been made to fit his form, even from a distance he could tell.

"You're jokin', roight?" Lucien stammered, as he didn't have a thing for skin-tight suits, unlike a lot of others he knew of, "The whole skin toight dealy was never me dig, even in actin'."
But then, he remembered that he signed up for this, and he had to do as he was told.

"But wotever," He sighed as he took his uniform off, leaving him in a pair of jocks, and then getting the suit on, and he was reminded somewhat of medieval-era metal armour. He then walked towards his Asura with a helmet under his arm, "It's me job,"

He slid the helmet on before getting inside the Asura's cockpit, managing to get his entire beard inside the suit, and then taking the controls, just as he did with the Ashigaru back at HiGA.
"Kelly, Lucien 'ere, let's go kick us some arse," He was pumped, his previous encounter had gotten his adrenaline flowing, and it wasn't all spent yet.

Re: Episode 3: The Terror Attacks at Dawn!

Async frowned, hopping off the Kirin's knee, landing sloppy and stumbling to stay up under the higher than usual gravity of the station. She stripped off her uniform quickly, shoving the clothes into a nameless locker and dragging out the APS that was hanging inside, dragging it on before grabbing the accompanying helmet and scurrying back to the Kirin, her Kirin.

"This is much slimmer than my voidwalker- Ensign, what's the enemy?" she asked Kelly, the jocularity in the Freespacer's voice was gone, one could almost hear the numbers crunching in her head.

Re: Episode 3: The Terror Attacks at Dawn!

Taela garrumphed (the noise being only able to be described by that) in annoyance, but kept to herself. She was annoyed at herself for not remembering this, but even more so at Kelly just for stalling her when there was god knows how much damage being done to the station at the moment. But, she had to comply - orders were orders. And so, with the fastest speeds she could achieve, she rushed down to the lockers and switched out of her uniform for the piloting outfit and hurried back to the Asura.

Re: Episode 3: The Terror Attacks at Dawn!

Meena hurried off and changed into her APS, rather disappointed that she did not have a backseater ro help her in the battle. She knew it was stupid to be mad at Shinji; he probably saved all of them with his actions, but she found herself annoyed that he had taken such a risk and hurt himself like that.

She pushed her anger into the back of her mind and cleared it as she climbed up into the Kirin frame; the same kind that Shinji and Kelly had destroyed just a few minutes ago. As the girl started the frame up, she noted that it was already on and starting up, which was odd, because she should have been the first to touch it, and yet the systems were running. Confused, the girl looked into the backseat to find... a small girl?

A small girl, with dark chocolate skin and deep purple hair, wearing an APS, the helmet hanging off of the seat precariously. The little girl had Neko ears, and seemed to be playing with the computer, but as Meena looked she could see the settings coming up and the EWO station adjusting itself to the girl's much smaller stature. The girl seemed, after a moment, to notice the spellbound Meena and tilted her head up, grinning brightly at her.

"Don't be so quiet. I broke into your mecha, didn't I?" the girl said, giggling as if it was funny.

"What are you doing here?" Meena asked completely taken aback "Why are you in here?"

"I figured you guys would need backup." the girl said, pulling out a Lieutenant commander rank patch from somewhere and showing it off to Meena. "Don't worry about the hows, Just get in the front and drive me around so I can play with the feathers~"

Awestruck by the tiny girl that was ranked considerably higher than her, Meena climbed into the pilot's seat without even asking for the girl's name. As the cockpit closed up, the young Nepleslian girl found herself calling to Kelly over the comms. "Kelly, It seems we have a, uh... Guest in my frame she seems to be one of us but, I'm completely lost as to why a child would know how to operate a frame."

The 'Child' spoke up after that. "I have more training than you guys do, especially in this model!" she piped in, before continuing "And Kelly. Don't tell Anyone or I'm having you demoted." Her childish voice seemed for a moment to carry great authority, before returning once again to that of a small kid. "Now let's go get these baddies!"

Re: Episode 3: The Terror Attacks at Dawn!

Though glad about not having to have responsibility for keeping an EWO alive, another problem came up. As she slipped into her Armored Pilot Suit, Yoshiko started to get a little sleepy; in typical Yamataian fashion, her body was using up precious energy to burn away the little alcohol she had imbibed. And then there was her headache. The Ex-Neko reached a hand up and felt the back of her skull, poking through her thick hair, only to suddenly pull away at a sudden sting. Her finger had a little blood on it; Yoshiko was bleeding, but not enough to show through her hair. 'I bet it's already healing up anyways. No biggie.' she thought. In order to stay awake, Yoshiko tired to force a small conversation with Lucien as she walked over to her Asura.

"I've never really thought about it being skin tight and all. What's the big deal about that anyways?" she asked. Out of curiosity, she traced her hands down her waist and hips. "And look, we got plates!" Yoshiko exclaimed, rapping her knuckles against her breastplate.

The brunette slid her helmet on before following Lucien partway to his frame; she quickly hopped into hers and began the start up sequence. "This is Unit Zero Two, on standby."

Her own words echoed painfully in her head.

Re: Episode 3: The Terror Attacks at Dawn!

"Plates 'er not," Lucien replied to Yoshiko over the radio, since he hadn't had time to reply whilst getting his system ready, "I still feel loike the suit's huggin' me tight most 'o the time."

He then paused for a moment, and remembered seeing Yoshiko outline herself to him. He gurned somewhat for having those thoughts, then smiled and nodded, "I could get used to it, though, roight?" He added.

The frame was now fully powered and ready to go, with the Scotsman making a quick look at what he was armed with before launch: A Graser Rifle, two Chain-Straights, four frame-sized plasma pistol/sabres as backup and a Targa shield. Then there was all the secondary equipment, which paled in comaprison, but could be useful in a pinch.

"This 's Unit Oh-Four, on standby 'n ready when ye are."

Re: Episode 3: The Terror Attacks at Dawn!

Hearing the voice of the childlike Yamataian, Kelly could only facepalm, his Asura's hand actually covering the frame's monoeye. Shaking his head, Kelly opened a group com to the rest of the pilots... and [DATA EXPUNGED].

"Meena, don't worry about the nine year old girl in your cockpit. She's an old 'friend' of mine, and she's been piloting frames from the start. Anyway," Kelly cleared his throat, bringing up the mission plans for the frame team.

"The enemy, now confirmed to be Neo Mishhuvyathar infiltrators who somehow sneaked onto Dawn Station, and have stolen a number of powered frames. At latest counts, we have confirmed ten Asura, fi- I mean four Kirin, at least twelve prototype civilian models, and a experimental transformable model. The enemy forces are, as of now, holed up in an industrial sector nearby our current position, and have support from unarmored infantry carrying disposable missile systems. We will be moving in along with Origin Security infantry, and we have strict orders to avoid killing anyone unless absolutely necessary."

Kelly's Asura turned away, enhanced optics highlighting the area of Dawn where the battle was supposed to take place. The small area was barely a single kilometer, and was mostly occupied by narrow streets and factory buildings.

"This is going to be a tough fight. Meena, Async, can you two be snipers for me? I want you two to be long range support for the rest of us. Infact, Async. You like big guns, go take that Gauss Cannon and use that as artillery."

Re: Episode 3: The Terror Attacks at Dawn!

The freespacer clambered into her Kirin, starting up the machine's systems with a touch before she sat in the pilot's chair and deftly fastened her restraints, relaxing into the control points and running through the data and slaving EWO controls her Silhouette with an easy sigh. "Roger wilco, Ensign, what's my callsign?"

Sifting through the Kirin's diagnostics, Async checked each system as the Kirin stowed its carbine and hefted the gauss cannon onto its shoulder, almost casually.

Re: Episode 3: The Terror Attacks at Dawn!

As Yoshiko was climbing up and into her frame, she heard Kelly's orders; if the others were staying back for support, she was probably front and center. "Woot! I'm going to the front lines!" the Ex-Neko cheered. As she pumped her fist up into the air, her other hand slipped, and the Ex-Neko almost fell. 'Damn. If anything's going to keep me awake, it's got to be fireballs and plasma!' she thought to herself. When Yoshiko was finally seated and securely fastened in, she couldn't help but remember how Kelly's frame's hand reached up to it's head. She cued her comm link. "Kelly-sama!" Her voice chimed. "Is there something wrong with your optics? I noticed you had your frame reach up to touch the head or something."

The frame Yoshiko piloted simultaneously reached for the nearest Grazer rifle she could place her hands on.

Re: Episode 3: The Terror Attacks at Dawn!

"Frontlines fer me, eh?" Lucien recounted as he drew his Graser rifle and took a gander at it, with its statistics appearing on screen, "Y'could set these things tae 'Magnum mode' 'n snipe with 'em. Apparently ye kin punch holes in ships!"

He also considered that since he was in melee combat, keeping his other hand on his left Chain-Straight in a draw position whilst keeping the rifle braced against his shoulder would be a reasonable idea.

Even though his usual talent was with knifeplay, he just quietly told himself that, "A sword is jost a bigger knife," as his fingers gripped the handle tightly.

Re: Episode 3: The Terror Attacks at Dawn!

Once she was safely tucked into her harness in the Asura, Taela booted up the thing as fast she could. Every second wasted is another second of damage, so there was no time to lose. The Neko, once the Frame was online and ready for action, she scrambled for her weapons posthaste.

"It appears we have some new weaponry in addition to mecha." She remarked quietly, looking up the statistics. "I suggest we hurry, lest we lose more time."

Re: Episode 3: The Terror Attacks at Dawn!

As Meena got ready to get the Kirin moving, wondering why Kelly would know the little girl. Thinking back to the skin color of the two, she figured the girl might be Kelly's daughter or something. In any case, from the speed the system was operating, it seemed she was very busy and good at what she was doing. Then the little girl spoke up, piquing Meena's interest.

"I've found them, we got five contacts three kilometers to or right!" she squeaked happily, overjoyed that she found their enemies. The Kirin's feathers suddenly began ejecting themselves from Meena's frame, and heading off in the direction of their enemies, taking a stealthy route and trying to hide behind or between buildings when they could. It almost seemed as if she was playing a game of cat-and-mouse with the feathers.

Re: Episode 3: The Terror Attacks at Dawn!

Async grinned at the blare of contacts on her displays, her silhouette launching its own feathers as fast as the other EWO pilot. The drones made high-speed passes over the contact area, jinking constantly with their stabilisers to put off any targeting solutions. The Kirin loaded a magazine of net rounds into its gauss cannon, attaching two more spares to its binder points before heading out of the Atuan and towards the contact zone.

{Objective is to neutralize as many units as possible with minimal damage to property and hardware, correct?} The wired-in Freespacer queried Kelly and the Captain.

Re: Episode 3: The Terror Attacks at Dawn!

As Yoshiko tentatively followed the Kirin Feathers, something occurred to her when glancing back at Async. The other pilot was using net rounds. The ex-neko immediately thought about it and didn't like what the conclusion was. 'Oh no! We're inside Dawn! This isn't some ground bound city! If I'm not careful, I could end up blowing a hole in this place or something...Oh, what to do, what to do?' Yoshiko gulped down her apprehension and fears the best she could.

Despite her worries, her Frame covertly marched forward towards the hostiles, rifle at the ready.

Re: Episode 3: The Terror Attacks at Dawn!

Kelly sighed, as he found his Asura leading the charge, the mecha hovering just inches off the ground on a skirt of hot air. Thanks to the quick thinking of his.... Yeah, lets just call her his cousin for now. Thanks to the quick thinking of his cousin and Async, sensor data, and accurate enemy positions were now being fed into the computers of all of the team's frames.

Kelly took the lead, drawing both of the chain-blades his Asura carried at it's waist. Because of the, er, state of the pilots of the stolen frames, the long range fire coming from them wasn't hitting anything. Nonetheless, Kelly felt that it would be good to come up with some sort of plan. Taking cover behind a building, Kelly keyed up the squad com.

"Alright. I have faith in you all, but we still need a plan. Our goal is to disable the enemy with minimum casualties, as Async ascertained. Meena,her co-pilot, and Async will be our long range support, and keep us informed if anyone tries to get the drop on us. Yoshiko, Lucien, Taela, and me will be going in to the thick of it. Yoshiko, I want you to take point, Lucien and Taela, I want you two to be right behind her. I'll be taking up the rear on this one. Don't let yourself get flanked, and remember, we're a team." Kelly smiled, and added in one last thing. "When this is over, I'll make a nice homecooked meal for all of you, before we leave Dawn again."

Re: Episode 3: The Terror Attacks at Dawn!

"Aye sir, let's engage 'em!" Lucien responded as he followed Kelly's lead closely, taking cover behind the same building, but peering around the other side to get a different look at the situation.

"Hmmh," Lucien wondered, quietly, to Kelly, "Oi'll see if I can get this great big beastie to flank 'em while ye 'n Yosh'ko take tha front." He, as quietly as he could walk in the frame, moved around the building he and Kelly were hiding behind, kept as low as he could as he continued forward and got a quick glimpse at one of them tearing things up, who'd not noticed him yet, he was only about a hundred or so metres away.

"Orright, Kelly, be ready tae back me up," He then charged forward, with blade in hand, and made a stabbing slice, appearing to miss the NMX Asura's midsection, but the Scotsman deftly moved around his enemy and put the blade to its belly from behind.
His next move was to use it as cover against its own allies.

It was a brutal strategy, with the Scotsman's Chain-Straight around the midsection of the NMX Asura, and appearing to hold it hostage as he made shots at another enemy with his Graser rifle, further away.