RP: OIF Atuan [OIF Atuan] Episode 7: Mine

[ShotJon]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

"Ja, Ja. I am coming." Viki said and checked the surroundings. It was quite a battle and Atuan team emerged victorious. Those were the best battle's of them the all. There were some damage, but no one was hurt and that good. Machines can be repaired, repairing people is harder.

Viki set out to check the mechs others defeated for either workable arm or leg. She decided to check Lucien's first, thought she was sure they won't have much luck there. That man was very thorough in his work after all.

 

[Luca]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

Lucien might not have been the sharpest mind to consult when it came to fixing frames, since he left the work to other more experienced people. It was sort of like his previous acting career, if there was something the actor couldn't do, chances were that someone was on set to pick up the slack.

But, if there was one thing he could do now that he'd switched careers, it was to keep a watch on things and to cover the more damaged frame of Mark and Yoshiko. He stuck to them while trying to coax his AI into being able to scan and keep an eye on where he couldn't for any movement.

Passive Watch Engaged

"Gud." Lucien smiled while Viktoria checked out his busted shoulder. He would've taken the opportunity to reload, but if he moved his shoulder around it'd make Viktoria's job harder. He could at least still keep a lookout whilst being tended to.

 

[CadetNewb]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

Yoshiko's hand danced across the display, but the moment Mark asked for his helmet, she went about grabbing for it. "Sure!" she replied. The Ex-Neko was soon holding the item for Mark to grab, turning about in her seat and holding it out for him. However, Yoshiko had gone oddly quiet as she narrowed her eyes, staring at him for a long, silent moment. The way she looked at him, how her eyes locked onto and settled on his - it as almost as if they were peering into Mark through his own eyes.

Right into his soul.

"So you like bumpy rides then?" she asked him at last, the atmosphere of seriousness utterly shattered.

Meanwhile, Kelly could only manage a "Tch," as one of his eyes winced at the sight that Taela had so...'energetically' created earlier. The local-made Ashigaru did have it's arms well enough intact, but one of it's legs was missing, and what's worse, it's chest had been riddled with numerous holes. The Neko had really gone to town on it too; she had gotten on top, straddling the hapless frame before impaling it over and over again with her massive sword until...That, that doesn't sound right, even in my own head, Kelly inwardly admitted.

Either way, the end result was her stabs finally hitting something vital - the sensors showed it was the cockpit. Kelly wasn't even going to bother trying to look inside. It as just better that way. "No, it's no good - try another one. The arms on this one are fine, but sensors show we can't operate the frame to have them eject," the dark skinned Nepleslian explained, making sure to skirt the details as to why it wouldn't work. "Speaking of - can you check the sensors Mark? You might have to fiddle with the settings or something, because it's too quiet."

At that, a geyser of red hydraulic fluid came bursting out of Lucien's mech's shoulder in a comical fashion, splashing over Victoria's Blitzkrieg as she moved to check on his frame. Inside, a small alarm went off, incessantly telling the former actor that his frame was lubricating Victoria's frame, smearing her secondary sensors in the hull and obscuring a bit of her vision.

Kelly merely rolled his eyes at the scene.

I guess it's better that then another group of frames showing up...Oh shit...I hope that thought doesn't jinx us.

*****

Off somewhere else, a person in an Impulse hoped his current boss-lady was going to say or do something good, and if he'd be able to get out from the dead giant that was on top of him soon. He was waiting patiently of course, but boredom was already taking it's toll, so he had to find a way to pass the time, considering he was mostly immobile while she actually had some leverage to move due to being under the shoulder, and not the chest.

This same person then idly wondered what his current boss-lady looked like sans armor. And uniform. He then crossed out that idea - the boss-lady struck him as a distant ice-queen now that he thought about it. Plus, he knew he wasn't the hottest stuff around.

No way he was going to do the melting if that guess about her was right!

 

[Lamb]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

"Let me put it this way, chickie." Markus put his hands over Yoshiko's to grasp his helmet and leaned in, as cool as a cucumber despite the shattered tension. "So long as it's you, baby, you can make this here machine as bumpy as you like."

Mark flashed a wide grin, his already white teeth blinding against his dark skin, and took his helmet gently. After flicking all of his eyebrow piercing to make sure they weren't overlapping, the former journalist slipped into his helmet with little issue and leaned back in his seat, content.

 

[Moogle]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

As if on cue, Taela said, "Stop thinking weird things," To Kelly when he let out the "tch". She dropped the mech like it was made of a thousand bags of bricks when he told her that it was useless. Then, she scrounged around for another, less destroyed unit. It wasn't that hard, given the comparison between psychotically attacked ones versus regularly attacked ones. Calling Kelly over, she asked "This fine?" gesturing to another unit that had a few smoking holes in the chest.

 

[Cora]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

There was more silence.... When suddenly there was the sound of metal scraping on metal and grunting from his radio.

"Uhhh, Sorry for the wait friend." Camellia voice said through their radio, obvious strain in her infliction. "But this pile of dead weight is heavier then it looks." She said while raising it enough for him to crawl out. When he got out, she dropped it to the ground and allowed it to make it's loud booming noise.

"Freaking thing weights tons after all." She finished as she tapped his shoulder after he got up. "Now we got a mission to finish." She said while checking a digital map of the area with the rest of her team highlighted.

"This way." She said, motioning for him to follow along.

 

[Luca]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

"Erk, sorry." Lucien tried to cover his backside as hydraulic fluid spurted onto Victoria's frame. The untimely leak was soon dealt with as redundant systems forced valves to close and stop the leak, redirecting the fluid.

The uneasy calm that'd descended over the group didn't sway the Scot's emotions that much. Instead he was nervously looking ahead for the next fight if there was one. If there wasn't he'd be happy to sit down with the others and have a few drinks to forget about it all.

Still, his passive sensors were still searching for something, and so was he as the others regrouped and pieced themselves back together.

 

[ShotJon]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

Viki was checking the ripped of arm, to make sure that new would even be possible to attach.As she was looking suddenly a hydraulic fluid shot out and gave her a face-full sort off. Viki had to laugh a little as her sensors were covered in the fluid.

"Ja, ja." She started still laughing. "Das ist like giving a blowjob to eine teenager. They always fire into your gesicht when you don't suspect it too." She laughed once again and went to check the pile of robots destroyed by Lucien to see if one them has usable arm. She meanwhile activated her wipes to clear the sensors of the fluid.

 

[CadetNewb]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

As Mark spoke, the expression on Yoshiko's face could only be described as 'Suspicious'. It was sincere mix of curiosity, distrust and a hint of incomprehension as the Ex-Neko turned Yamataian looked and listened to him. As she settled back into her seat however, the man could hear her pout. "Anata wa hendesu," she went, the words half muttered, half spoken in the cockpit that they shared together.

Meanwhile, Kelly's mech briefly stumbled. "I am not thinking anything like that at all!" he exclaimed, lying to the Neko. Pushing forward in an attempt to keep her from saying more, he pointed at the mech. "Yeah, that one looks like it just had its fuel lines cut by the penetrations and such," the team leader explained, eyeballing the holes punched through the armor. "Guys, found one!" he called over to the others. "Ok, set it down and I'll get to work," he added to Taela. At that, he had his own frame kneel down low and opened the cockpit to clamber out.

*****

Hungry, thirsty, he laid there under who knows how many tons of armor for who knows how long. It felt like an eternity to him - so many things crossed his mind during this time. What could he have done differently here? Hell, what was his pet dog doing right now? What was better, pancakes or waffles? The meaning of life?

Just as he neared the edge of a life shaking - no - Universe shattering epiphany, light came shining in! "Sweet! I can move again!" he cheered, quickly dropping that train of thought. Clambering out with the way clear, he brought out his gauss rifle with him. "So what now boss? The team's likely headed deeper into the city already and those HiGA guys know we're present - we're not exactly being the smoothest sneaks here."

*****

As the others loitered around, Mark's sensors clear of contacts, Kelly clambered out of the frame. "Hey guys, can you all keep watch? I'm kinda feeling naked out here!"

 

[Moogle]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

"Be nice to just have to watch for a change," Taela muttered under her breath as she diverted more power to the sensors from the weapons systems. She figured that she'd need to move before anything else if an enemy was detected, so the weapons could wait.

 

[Cora]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

"We'll just have to do the best we can." Camellia responded as she followed the blips on her map as she and the trooper dodge about in the back alleys avoiding what patrols they could.

"Figures my first command would go to the sticks again." She muttered with her radio off.

 

[CadetNewb]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

Kelly clambered down from his kneeling frame and quickly crossed the threshold to the fallen Ashigaru, and soon enough, he was on top of it himself. The damage looked even worse from where he was standing, but the key was that the arm and leg they needed were all fine. As his feet took him to the cockpit, he pulled out a small datapad.

There was a small access panel beside the cockpit whiche he could hook it up to. While the dark skinned Nepleslian started the hack sequence, the team of Impulses keeping point defense gathered around, eyes sharp and on the lookout. "Alright, let's see what's inside this little gift box," the team leader declared, drawing his pistol and aiming it at the hatch.

*****

"So, what's the plan?" the squadmate with Camellia asked. Despite all the circumstances, being sent in without proper stealth equipment, being discovered, ending up chased by giant mecha, fighting said giant mecha, and then getting stuck under said giant mecha, she had a surprising amount of options. There was the idea of catching up with the rest of the 'infiltration' team, but it she only had a rough idea of where they went - ahead. She could of course, double back and possibly rendezvous with the 'test' team too.

Considering the bad run of luck, nobody would blame her for that either. Hell, she could even -

The crack of a single rifle echoed off in the distance.

*****

The Frame team watched as a rupture suddenly appeared on Kelly's suit, the fabric and armor plating bursting off of him as the bullet struck him square in the back - the cockpit cycled open as the hack finished, and the man simply fell into the unknown without so much as a word. "Shit! Sniper!" the nearest Impulse shouted.

"W-what? What just happened out there?" Yoshiko asked in a panic, uncertain as to what just occurred.

 

[Moogle]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

Taela's reaction snapped into place, military instinct and training leaping to the fore.

"Long range fire, infantry strength, possibly PA. Too small to read on radar, unlikely to be armor. Bird's Nest likely. Solution: Raze everything."

It couldn't be seen from the outside, but Taela was white-knuckled as she sat in her Garuda's chair, her teeth clenched in a snarl.

Her cannons aimed close to the bottom of the nearby trees and fired with the intent on levelling the nearby area. She made careful not to fire when her teammates were in the way, obviously, but nothing else was spared.

The neko kept tight rein on her emotions this time, in an obvious inverse of what had happened earlier. But this was different. Kelly could possibly be dead and there was a threat out there that hadn't been eliminated. That had to be amended in the most brutal fashion she could think of. Namely, with two massive cannons levelling everything in sight.

 

[ShotJon]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

Viki swore and moved out, to the mecha Kelly was climbing in. "Everyone! Circle around Kelly! Mark find that bastard for me! Schnell!" Viki shouted into comms. She could see where the round came from, it hit Kelly right into the back. What she wanted was to jump out of the suit and check up on him, but there was nothing she could do to help him. That sniper needed to die first. She looked where the shot could come from.

Enemy could be PA or just even infantry-men. Viki went to work with her scanner suite. First she activate thermographs looking for hot spots, second was Unified field mass/energy sensors. If the enemy was PA, he most likely had some sorts of shields and even cloakin device needed energy. Those scanners were made to look for energy. And in the end she activated her optical motion detection on wider scale. Good sniper relocates after the shot if he can.

 

[Luca]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

Snipers. Goddamn Snipers. Lucien rued the day they made their existence known upon this already blasted universe. Between Squids and bad acting contracts, Snipers were his other massive hate. Professionals were able to make their kills up close and got away with it.

He remembered most of his friends and gang members starting with the rifle first and staying there, whilst Lucien started with the knife. His dad always told him that the closer you can get, the harder it'll be, and the more professional it can become.

His sensors had been scanning the area, and all they managed to notice was a sudden increase in heat and noise from somewhere in that direction. He pointed it out to the others before raising his shield and covering Kelly, "I think its somewhere over there!" He yelled, "Stomp on 'im!" He sounded genuinely furious. He pulled out his Gauss pistol and started firing in that general direction, hoping to flush out the little bastard.

 

[CadetNewb]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

The treeline which they departed from burst into flames enthusiastically from the sheer glare from Taela's beams - thick, burly trunks simply vanished as the columns of light themselves endlessly pierced through the entire forest. Meanwhile, massive 40mm shells tore through an apartment building and turned its facing front into cheese. A glimmer of glass from an open window drew Victoria's attention - lasers and gamma vulcans riddled the building and burned through the walls. Fire sprinklers in the building were set off, but soon abated as the cut off water supply ceased.

In the end however, nobody knew if they truly got the sniper - such was the nature of things.

As one of the Impulses covering the frames clambered up to where Kelly fell in, the leg and arm the team was after ejected off the damaged mech. "Damn, I don't think I'm in any shape to pilot right now," a familiar voice rasped from inside the cockpit. The Impulse gave a thumbs up to the Frame pilots, but quickly reached into the belt around his or her waist before pulling out some bandages and other things.

"Ugh," he grunted in pain. "Victoria, grab that arm and help Lucien stick that on. Taela, same with you and Yoshiko - help her put on her shoes," Kelly's voice crackled over the comms. Even though they couldn't see him, they could practically all feel him giving a pained grin over the radio. "Meena, Shinji, keep an eye out, yeah?"

"After that, gotta figure out what I'm going to do - need to swap with someone in a copilot seat or som - AW F***," He yelped. "That shit stings!" After a moment passed, Kelly got on the horn again, voice more weary and tired than before. "I'm a bit dizzy and lost some blood - I might have to pass the baton to someone else too."

 

[Moogle]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

Taela hopped to her task, not wasting a moment. She worked quickly in aiding Yoshiko's repair effort. Every second unused was a second on Kelly's clock, so the Neko was determined to get this done efficiently as possible.

 

[Lamb]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

"Do we have anyone here who knows anything about medicine?" Mark sounded. He wriggled in his seat, feeling very useless at the moment. While he thumbed every key he could and twisted all the proper knobs, the sensors just weren't made for pinpointing tiny men with large rifles.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Mark said again, this time eyeing his SEP II slung between his legs on the bottom of his seat. He didn't relish the thought, but maybe another unarmored target scooting around could improve Kelly's chances of hoofing back to a working frame.

 

[Luca]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

"I dunnae much 'bout medicine but I do know 'bout makin' sure a job ain't half done!" Lucien said as he moved towards where he fired. To him, Snipers also had the uncanny habit of surviving most of what you threw at them for better or worse. They were like mute cockroaches with rifles.

And Lucien didn't like cockroaches. He made his way towards where he fired and had his scanners on full alert, looking for any sign of life, heat or . However, he underestimated the fact that the falling building had generated a lot of heat as everything produced friction while it fell, effectively masking the Sniper from a heat scan search.

He had to do an eyeball search for the little bastard. But, he wondered - since he was separated from the group, he couldn't help but imagine that without an extra layer of protection on Kelly, he was forgetting something.

Something just felt off to the Scotsman.

 

[ShotJon]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

Viktoria felt relief that Kelly seemed to be okay. She put her rifle on her back and picked up spare arm, they took off enemy mecha. She then notcied Lucien stormed off somewhere.

"Lucin, du schweinhund," She shouted at him, irritated. "Komm back hier! Schnella!" As always when irritated she tended to mix more of her native language into her speech. She meanwhile let her scanners on. The sniper might still be out there.