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  • 📅 February and March 2024 are YE 46.2 in the RP.

[OIF Karakoram- Pre Episode one] Saving Destiny

Kai

Retired Staff
RP Date
YE 40
RP Location
Great Southern Nebula
Destiny shuddered as she sat down heavily to the floorplates of her shuttle. It was a older Origin Mule, and in the shape it was in now, it would probably be a coffin soon enough unless she could get over to the other ship. All around her were bodies, four in total, all with burned through slash marks. Her sword lay at her side, the plasma quenched from the blackened metal. She was panting and letting her arms resting over her knees before she gingerly touched her shoulder where blood seeped down.

Thankfully she had been able to dress quickly enough in some semblance of armor. Gauntlets that led up to her shoulders, a battle skirt with metal plates sewn into it, and metal leggings, the only real unarmored part of her was her torso. The men aboard her ship had boarded her ship as she had drifted through the Nebula to visit her old home, trying to capture and probably enslave her. Little had they known what they would run into.

Yet they had done a number on her ship, enough for it to automatically send out an SOS signal for anyone else to find her.

Though a ways away, a small ship received the distress signal. It was a craft that belonged to Origin Security, an older type, small and specialized, out on a training mission. The OIF Atlas was on a routine long-distance training mission when it heard the SOS. Changing their plans, and diverting course, the Justicar-class mecha carrier headed toward the signal, and sent one of its own in return. "This is the OIF Atlas, We have received your signal. Hang tight and we will come to get you." was all the message said. It didn't give any more information, no time, or speed, nor direction or distance. The captain of the ship knew Pirates operated in this area, and was wary of traps, but it was company policy to investigate all such signals, and determine whether they were real or false before making a rescue effort.

Destiny groaned aloud as she heard the message, her hand dragging the sword back into her hand as she took up a position to face the same entrance the bandits had entered at. While she had only suffered one gun shot, she was still decently messed up. She hadn't realized the ship had sent out an SoS and so assumed this group was just another slaver party.

She would be ready this time as she waited to activate her sword.

in a surprisingly short amount of time, the OIF Atlas popped out of faster than light travel, about 1 AU away from the distressed ship. from this distance, long range sensors picked up two vessels- one was heavily damaged, and sending out the SOS, and the other was in operable condition and had attached itself to the other ship with some sort of connecting tunnel. Except, it wasn't connected in a normal spot- the Mule-class didn't have a door at that part of its construction. The Atlas swiftly began to open the armored bay doors on either side, and three Mecha popped out, two Gekido frames and one Garuda II.

The pirate ship, having noticed this new arrival, would also notice the three frames which had been deployed. they would soon receive a message. "To the ship docked with the mule freighter; state your intentions, stand down, or be targeted." was the only message sent by the crew of the Atlas.

"Sh-She needed help! Said her airlock was frozen!" The nervousness in the woman's voice was evident from the attached ship, though nothing came from the Mule. The attached ship was unattaching it's docking arm fairly quickly, or at least attempting to. In her nervousness, the frames would hear lock on signals as the ship's weapon systems were coming to life.

The two Gekido mecha would swiftly begin to close the distance to the two vessels, as the Atlas did the same, the Garuda frame keeping pace with its mothership. once the artillery frame came within range, it blasted off several Gauss rounds from the heavy rifles on its back, aimed at the enemy ship's weapons. the first few rounds hit the shields, causing them to fall rapidly, and then rounds from the Gekido frames began to patter rapidly over the shields as well, before a final blast from the Atlas' Ion cannons rang the death knell for the energy barrier protecting the docked ship, followed swiftly by rounds from the Garuda singing true and removing the enemy ship's weapons from existence.

"Ahh! Nononononono! Don't shoot don't shoot!" Came the frantic call over the radio channel as the woman started to pull back on the controls of the ship in an attempt to run. "Don't kill me I swear I didn't want to do this they made me ohgodthey'regonnakillmewhentheygetbackireallydon'twannadie!" The girl began to cry over the radio.

"Take that as a warning, then, and get out of here as quickly as you can," the Atlas told the woman on the pirate ship, the Gekidos coming into close range and hovering ominously near the ship's bridge, their monoeyes glowing as they scanned the ships. "Our sensors only detect two living thins nearby- yourself, and one person inside the other ship. If you wouldn't mind, we'll take care of things from here," the Atlas messaged. The green ship slowed to a stop, sitting in space about a kilometer from the other two.

"Yeayeayeayea I'm gone!" She called along over the radio before she finally uncoupled and turned the ship which took off fairly quickly.

Destiny inside felt the ship shake as she gripped her sword tighter, the blade lighting up with plasma along its blade as she activated her searing blade, ready for more combat...

suddenly, she heard another clank, followed shortly by another similar clank, and the ship shifted, though the unidirectional gravitational plating in the craft kept her sense of up and down relatively the same, she could tell that some momentum had been imparted on the mule that hadn't been there before. A small sound could be heard from the front of the ship, particularly the hatch within the boarding ramp that served as a basic airlock. first one side opened, and then closed again, and some emergency systems on the ship ran the cycle of oxygenating the small chamber, before the handle on the inside hatch began moving. slowly it opened, and a small energy pistol could be seen, but it was pointed down in a defensive manner rather than up in a threatening one.

"H-Hello? Is there anyone in here?" the voice of a young man called, before the person made a slow and cautious entrance into the cargo bay. the young man could be seen wearing a black armored pilot suit, with blue and green trim, and an Origin Industries logo painted on the armor plate on the chest. "I've come to help, I'm Ensign Johan Kasuri of Origin Security." he announced

"Then put your weapon down and kick it away! The last to come aboard gave me the same story before they shot me!" Johan would see Destiny enter the bay slowly, her tall frame filling the doorway as she held one hand on the grip of her sword. The other held the wound in her shoulder as she blinked her swollen eye open a little bit.

"You'll excuse my reluctance... but I don't know who you are and my last guests were rather rude..." She would reach down and turn behind herself a little and use her free hand to drag a body out and toss it before Johan. There was a large burned slash down his chest.

the helmeted man would glance at the body, though all the woman would notice was the helmet shifting slightly she would not hear the somewhat nervous gulp as Johan tried to decide whether or not it was a good idea to put down his gun when faced with a giant woman carrying a plasma bladed sword and dragging a dead body. "Well, Uhh, can I just holster it? I'll even lock the clasp. I'm not that good with guns and I don't want to mess this one up or it'll come out of my pay..." he asked, walking so he was completely out of the doorway of the airlock and holding one hand up, as he slid the energy pistol into the holster and clicked the snap button in place, securing the weapon, before holding up his other hand.

"I'm just a mecha pilot, not some kinda super soldier or anything, so I think you could probably take me even with the gun, but I really am here to help, I promise!"

Destiny watched him, watched as he seemed unwilling to fight, and nodded a little. The blade losing its plasma edge as she sunk back to the deck of the ship. With a deep sigh she let the sword down and waved him down too.

"I apologize... Just well." She nodded to the body before she rolled her shoulder a bit. "Got anyone on board that can patch up a bullet wound?" She asked with a small smirk.

The young man sighed as the tall woman seemed to stand down, and relaxed his hands at his side for a moment, before taking off his helmet to reveal a Yamataian face with short brown hair and brown eyes. "Well, uhh, yeah, I think the doc can patch you up, but we'll have to get back to Sunrise station or something before we can heal it properly." Johan seemed to be really looking at the woman for the first time as he spoke, and seemed to notice something while he did.

"Oh, hey, you're a Lorath, aren't you?" he asked, pointing a finger at the woman in a casual sort of way. "Don't see too many Lorath though I know quite a few work up on Dawn Station in the galactic north"

"Dawn station? Where is that?" She asked as she tilted her head a little. She looked a little sheepish after a moment and chuckled. "Uh... I've been... well away for a while and I've missed quiet a bit."

"It's about..." the man counted on his fingers as he recalled the navigational maps of the Kikyo sector "About a hundred lightyears north of here, navigationally." Johan answered looking proud that he had remembered that much. "You must have been gone for a while, it's been there nearly a decade!"

"Well... about six or seven years yea." Destiny said with a shrug.

"Well, either way, it's probably not a good idea to stay here. We can't take your ship with us, ours is too small, but, we can bring you back with us. Just, uhh, do you have a normal suit? we've kinda gotta go out into space to get into my Gekido" Johan motioned to the airlock he had come out of, and presumably into the space in front of the ship, where this 'Gekido' he mentioned must likely be. "Also even though it's a two seater there's not too much room so probably just grab a keepsake or two if you have any."

Destiny considered it for a moment before she stood and put on an environmental suit before she went to gather her armor..an ornate chest plate and a open faced helmet with a large diamond in the forehead, she lugged that, along with her sword, and rejoined him back at the cargo bay. "Got enough room for this?" She asked as she held up the items.

Johan looked at the items for a few moments, trying to judge dimensions in his head before giving an answer. "I think so, but, uh, it'll probably be cramped in there and you'll probably just have to hold your stuff on your lap," he said, grabbing his own helmet and reconnecting it to his pilot suit before looking back at the tall Lorath woman (Easily a foot taller than himself) "Just get ready to go EVA and push yourself directly in toward the cockpit- I'll follow right behind you since I take the front seat, got it?" He once again motioned to the airlock door, but this time it was more of a chauffeuring motion than anything else.

Destiny nodded a little as she listened to him, moving to the airlock in front of him, she went ahead and made sure it was ready and after he walked in, she cycled the air lock after double checking everything and waited for him to give a thumbs up before she opened the door to space and stepped out. She pushed off and headed toward the mecha.

She would be greeted with an almost eight meter tall mecha, that was somehow both a bit sleek and a bit bulky, to either side of the nose was an arm, with a mechanical hand gripped on the edges of the Mule, and just above them was a head dominated by the single, glowing sensor eye, with two small cannons instead of ears to either side of the eye. The cockpit was open, showing off a pair of seats crammed into a relatively small space. Off in the distance, beyond the Gekido, was a second, identical frame, and then even further was a somewhat spindlier frame floating next to a green brick of a starship.

"Just grab the handle on the hatch and then spin yourself around, and push back down in, I'll be in right after you," Johan instructed watching the woman from the airlock door.

Destiny felt a shiver of familiarity run up her spine as she saw the larger mecha as it reminded her of the old Bringer of Thunder mecha her people used to use. She followed the instructions regardless and spun herself and pushed down and back in. He wasn't lying when he said it was a tight fit as she put her chest piece and sword across her lap and tried to scoot herself in as far as possible.

Not much longer after Destiny had sat down, than Ensign Johan made his appearance, swiftly and smoothly spinning almost simultaneously with reaching the cockpit hatch, he thing automatically pulled the hatch down over himself with a practiced ease that showed he'd done it hundreds if not thousands of times. He settled down into his forward seat, pressing a few buttons which resulted in a gentle clanking of the armored cover placing itself over the hatch, and then the mecha's viewscreens blinked to life, brightening up the small cockpit and giving its occupants a nearly 360 degree view of space, including the little freighter.

Destony would see the arms of the Gekido release from the freighter, and the small craft swiftly got smaller as the Gekido boosted backwards. Once clear, Johan spun his mecha around gracefully, without the normal jolts and shudders associated with vernier thrusters on a fighter or shuttle, the frame's AMBAC abilities making it very graceful despite its rugged appearance. "We'll be there shortly. how's your shoulder doing? It did look like you were bleeding pretty bad," The man asked, glancing back at the Lorath woman.

Destiny marveled at the view as she took it in, she was never allowed in mechs before after all. Once they had taken to the skies she was relegated to her office and truthfully, the first chance she had to get out in a ship of her own... well it had led to a cryosleep for almost a decade...

She heard him ask his question though and nodded with a smile. "I appreciate your concern, though I am made of tougher stuff."

The pilot took his hands off of the controls for a moment, giving the woman a thumbs up, before asking. "Think you can handle a few gees? We usually do a victory flight pattern on return from a successful mission, so I figured you might have some fun with that." He put his hands back on the controls, and had the Gekido's arm (which was visible through the cockpit, yet seemed naturally so) point to one of the other mecha that had been deployed and watching as it began to fly in an almost aerobatic pattern, a trail of golden sparkling dust behind it as the fusion reactors shed microscopic particles to help cool themselves while operating at high capacity.

"Showing off for a VIP? I can appreciate that." Destiny said with a grin but gave him a nod. She steadied herself, eyes a little wide at the show she was getting and couldn't help but let the smile take over her face. In the short time she had been awake again, this was one of the more magical scenes she had seen and it sent another shiver down her spine.

"This is amazing..." She muttered aloud as she watched the sparkling dust trail.

"Okay, hold on to your stuff!" Johan warned, suddenly tilting the Mecha back on its axis and then hitting the thrusters, boosting the frame 'upwards' compared to the previous plane of travel. They felt a force of a couple gee's, purely from acceleration as no meaningful gravity existed at this point in space, and the mecha shook a little as the computers moved the thrusters tiny amounts to keep the machine on its route of travel, then suddenly the direction the force came from shifted as the mecha made another maneuver, pushing closer to the glowing dust trail of the other mecha. If she looked behind, Destiny could see a similar dust tail billowing behind the Gekido she was in, swirling through space as it followed the path that the frame took to catch up to its counterpart. again, the force shifted and the fram spun around backward, the main thrusters cutting out and small verniers all over the front of the mecha popping out from behind armored shutters and propelling the mecha backward, then once more, a shift, and the mecha rolled around again, this time going into a headfirst dive toward the mecha carrying ship that it had come from, it followed the other two frames in, and then came to a sudden halt, systems keeping the occupants from being crushed by the rapid change in momentum.

"How was that?" the pilot asked, smirking within his helmet. He watched as lights blinked in the mecha bays, signaling the Mecha to dock, and then he began chatting with the controller, who helped guide him in, the Gekido gently twirling on its axis before gently shaking to a halt as it came to rest in its cradle inside the cramped mecha bay. The last views of space Destiny would see were of the vastness of nothing, with the great southern nebula to one side, and then the armored bay doors beginning to close before the cockpit feed cut out.

Destiny's grip tightened as the first pulsing pound of force slammed her down into her seat. Eyes wide and mouth wide in a grin, she kept herself locked in her seat as her knuckles went white with her grip. Every twist, spin, curve and sudden change in direction only made her heart beat faster and faster. As the flight came to an end, she let out a little groan but soon enough realized her shoulder was throbbing in pain for her grip.

"That...was...amazing..." She said with a deep breath as she finally loosened her grip on the seat and sat back a little. Silently she wished for that view just once more.

"Quite the show for a VIP. Thank you. I'll make sure they know you took such good care of me..."

"No problem, Miss, it was fun for me too, I guess," the young man said, as he took off his helmet and looked up to see that the hatch was being opened from the outside by the servicing crew. Inside the hangar bay, there was a normal amount of gravity, and Destiny would find it a little harder to simply get up and out of the cockpit, though there was a short ladder integrated into the wall that she could use to ascend and make her way out. Johan was up and out of the hatch in a flash, again practiced ease coming into play, but once above, he held out his hand for the woman he had just helped rescue. "I'll grab your things, miss, so you can climb out easier. Medical is on their way, so you'll be patched up in no time."

Destiny wasn't one to turn away help as she held out her items. The chest piece was fairly heavy. It wasn't made of lighter metals like most ornamental armor. Johan would see that this was in fact used armor, apparent from the worked out dent in the right ribcage area. She would hold her sword out next, the blade heavy as well, though it seemed in place with the larger woman as she began to exit after him.

"I do appreciate the help, you've been very kind, and the ride was wonderful. I apologize for the rude behavior back on the ship." As she finally climbed down the ladder and straightened up, she did look impressive. Even injured as she was she had a regal air about her. The way she stood, her chin up slightly, shoulders back, the confidence and way she carried herself, it all screamed that she was above him, but she didn't seem to flaunt it. Like it was a determined station at birth but not one she held over others like a taunt. She held her hand out to the man for her things and offered him a warm smile as her fingers uncurled to offer an open palm to him.

"Like I said, Miss, it's no problem," Johan said, handing her back her belongings. before much more could be said, one of the movable catwalks extended to the shoulder of the Mecha, and a group of people, including one who was clearly the medic carrying a trauma kit, showed up. "Well, Miss, it was nice meeting you, but I think you should go get patched up now. I've got a report to file and some other stuff to take care of, but you take care, alright?"

"Come find me when you are finished ok? I still need to give my knight a reward..." Destiny offered with a wink before she turned to the medic with the trauma kit. She listened to what he asked and followed whatever instructions he asked of her. It wouldn't be long before she was patched up and fine. She rolled her shoulder a bit and waited, wondering if Johan would return at all...

Soon, the group would overtake Destiny, the doctor beginning to tend to her wounds, and several people would offer her help, and guide her toward the main walkway, and toward a door that would lead her into the main part of the ship. Destiny would see Johan grab out a datapad from somewhere, and start talking at it, making a recorded report of what had happened. He paused as he saw Destiny being taken away, and gave her a friendly wave and a smile, but soon Destiny would lose sight of the young man, the pilot who was so skilled at flying his mecha but not quite as skilled at being a heroic savior in dire situations.


**********

It had been several weeks since Destiny's rescue by the crew of the OIF Atlas, most memorably the young Mecha pilot Johan Kasuri whom had shown the former Lorath queen the simple joy of flying in an armored frame. However, now, Destiny was in a different situation. Once again in the cockpit of a Gekido, she was instead sitting in the pilot's seat, as she was now receiving training on how to be a pilot, instead of simply being chauffeured around. She would find that, thankfully, the system used in the Gekido frame was quite intuitive, however, it wasn't quite enough. the Gekido was basic, and easy, and could do lots of things just fine, but, it wasn't the best. It was almost as if something were stopping Destiny from reaching that next step.

She would find herself continually bested by a Yamataian man named Shinji Inakura, one whom had been piloting mecha for nearly as long as Destiny had been frozen, and whom had a penchant for removing limbs from Destiny's mecha, though thankfully only in the simulations, and not in the actual live practice. The man was nearly the total opposite of her former savior- brusque, brash, and confident, he didn't mince words and never went easy on the former queen. "Eeyya, c'mon Lady, Yer Makin' me look like a shitty teacha, yannow?" the brown-haired man quipped to her over the communications as his Gekido stood in front of hers, looking to be in a bit better shape than the former Xiaah's. "Yah sure yah can be ah good pilot? Ain't ya tryin' a bit too hard?"

Destiny punched the console of her Mecha with a heavy fist as she growled into the channel. Something felt off about the way the Mecha controlled, like it wasn't strong enough for what she wanted to do. She could see what she wanted in her head, yet it just seemed... Slow. She took a deep breath before she answered back.

"This is just... It's too slow, too weak. It doesn't feel right. It feels like it is lagging behind in everything I want to do." She admitted to both herself and Shinji. Again in the simulation as she had her mecha fixed she launched herself back at the man, attacking with the stock weapons in the simulation. Even the act of firing felt wrong to her. She had always hated ranged weaponry but that was neither here nor there just now.

Shinji's Gekido dodged out of the way of the fire, its forearm mounted shield easily blocking what few rounds made contact, the frame almost dancing with the ease with which the man was able to pilot it. "Yannow. I don' think it's neccessarily you. I mean, Ya've got all tha basics down and yeh can make it move alright, but, Early on in trainin I saw ya struggling with tha controls. Ya might not actually suck as bad as yer scores say, ya might just not be compatible wit' the interface" the man responded, spinning his mecha around in such a way that it made it harder to target, before lashing out with a shotgun blast that took out destiny's rifle arm from close range.

"I'll ask tha bosses an' see if we can't get ya in one the fancy frames. The Knight."

"The Knight? What in the name of Ifmir is that?" She asked as she grunted at the damage. She still growled, frustrated with her weakness and how tough it was to pilot the frame. She sat back in her seat and took a few purging breaths and thought on just what he was talking about.

"There are more types? Whats the difference?" She asked.

The instructor paused for a moment, stopping just shy of bashing Destiny's simulated mecha in the face with his forearm shield, and thought on the question, though it honestly didn't need much, he just found it odd that no one had bothered to tell her- perhaps it was her insistence on piloting the same kind of frame that had rescued her, likely due to the nostalgia of the event.

"Yeah, there's more types, there's the whol' M1 series, that we don' make no more then there's the Gekido, liike what we got here, next, there's the Garuda, the long skinny one that's fer artillery work an' stuff, then there's the Knight. We wanted ta call it tha Kishi but I think there was some sort of copyright issue or somthin' I dunno. Anyway, the Knight is a bit bigger, and a whole lot stronger, plus, iss' got a completely different control system. granted i'm used ta th' M3 control system an' that's what the Garuda uses, too, but the Knight's system is supposed to allow a pilot to expand their abilities beyond wha' th' M3 can as it's more of an extension o' yerself rather than just sumthin yer inputtin commands to, yeah?"

the explanation over, Destiny's respite went away, as Shinji's mecha's arm reeled back and then finished off a punch to Destiny's Gekido's face, causing the primary visual sensors to go black as well as pushing her unit over the simulated damage cap and ending the trial combat.

She knew she was beaten. She had felt the sensation many times in her fights with Fate and knew that there wasn't much she could do in terms of using this frame nor at fighting back against him. Instead she just used the chance to learn and understand. And she understood as much as she felt for this frame, she knew it just wasn't right...

"I want to try one of those Knights." She admitted. It felt wrong, yet she knew somehow it would be a better fit. It was stronger and faster if he was to believed, it would be better for her, especially if she was going to stay and do this.

Well, if that's what ya really want, I'd say ya should prolly get outta that simulator pod, an' move over to pod 15 or 16. Those two're set up as M5 units, so you can try 'em out, yannow?" Shinji let the former queen know, as the whole simulation in her pod shut down and it went dark inside except for the dim glow of the egress lighting, which showed her the handle to pull to open the pod. Whenever she did open said pod, a bit of a pneumatic hiss could be heard, followed by a rush of cooler air- the air outside of the simulator pod was much cooler due to the fact that she had been generating a lot of heat on the inside. When she got out, Destiny would see the man she had been facing leaning against one of the two pods he had mentioned, beckoning her over without moving a muscle.

Destiny ducked as she exited the pod, and eyed the man. With a sigh, she walked over and stood next to the pod looking at it. It felt strange to think she was going to get into a different mech but knew it was for the best. She gave the pod the command to open and stepped back as the pod hissed open before she looked to Shinji to see if he had anything to say.

Shinji stared at the tall woman for a bit, his much shorter stature becoming apparent as she towered over him by nearly a foot, though he was roughly average height for a Yamataian. "Ya look like yah want somthin'. Ya gonna ask or just stare?" he toldthe former queen, seeming not to care much for her royal pedigree or at least not treating her any different than a normal person. "Like I said, Ya need ta get in one o' these pods an' see if tha' makes a difference. if it don't well, maybe ya just suck at piloting mecha, yannow?"

Destiny didn't understand the warm feeling in her stomach as she watched him look at her with such an utter lack of care for her old title, for her upbringing. It bothered her for a multitude of reasons, none of which she could really put a finger to, but she just glared and ducked inside into the pod. After she secured the pod shut, she went about bringing up the systems and turned it on, letting the simulation start. She tried to move about a bit as her view screens brought up the inky black of space all around her.

The movement felt... Right. It felt good, it seemed to react better then the other frame had. There was less of a lag between what she wanted and what happened. She snapped out a punch to experiment with before she marveled at how quickly the suit reacted. A grin spread across her face and already she took a look around for Shinji to try and find him.

It took a few moments, but eventually the familiar Gekido that had been basically taunting Destiny for the last week had materialized within the simulation once more. "Awwwwright how's tha' one feelin? Ya think it migh' help ya? Hell, maybe ya can beat mea, an' like i've said before, I aint the greatest pilot so ya've been suckin' it up pretty bad so far," Shinji's voice called to her over the comms, taunting her even more. The man's subtle disrespect and loud mouth just driving home that she wasn't exactly the Xiaah anymore, and that there were people and things in this world with more power than her, at least for now. The Gekido before her began mimicking a stretch routine, dancing a bit on it's toes and hopping in place a bit, responding easily to the Yamataian man's inputs, something that the taller Lorath had been unable to do so far.

"Why doncha try some easier stuff first, eh? get some stretches in, get used to the harness, and the way that the Knight moves, and take care to figure out how the controls work. you've got a lo' more inputs than tha Gekido, so it's a bit more ta handle, but at the same time, if ya can coordinate, it'll handle better than any Gekido ever could."

Destiny, begrudgingly, went about a few stretches and small systems checks as she got used to the mech. She moved a bit around where she was, allowing herself to become accustomed to the way the mech moved and flowed. She could already tell with how seamlessly it responded to her, this would be a much better fit. She took another few looks over the weapon compliments she had and all the while rocked back and forth and shook out her arms and legs as if she were warming up.

With a deep sigh, she raised her fists up and grinned inside of her new cockpit before she slammed both herself and her mech forward suddenly. She was excited to try out this new mech, to see just how it would handle, but it was easy to see she was still thinking she was in her old frame. The punch came a few seconds too soon as she still had the muscle memory of compensating for the slower response time. The punch would happen far too early and miss more than likely as a result of it, along with the scrambled backhand as she attempted to cover her retreat.

Shinji's Gekido swiftly brought its shield up, parrying the block and the backhand and throwing Destiny's frame off balance, but unlike how she had been in the Gekido where she would have been already on a trip toward the rear, she could feel that she still had some time to react to it, although Shinji wouldn't give her much, pressing the attack by moving forward towards her and shooting at her frame with a Gauss SMG, the relatively small explosive shells impacting against her taller frame's shields but still causing her seat to rumble, some feedback from the rapidfire of the Gauss weapon. "C'mon, ya quicker but tha' don' mean ya better yet. Ya gotta keep on top of it, yannow? Don't jus' figger ya better 'n me juss cause ya bigger an' fasta'"

Destiny pushed her suit to the left to move out of the attack and she was shocked at just how quickly her new suit moved. It messed with her timing a bit as she tried to recover but regardless it was refreshing to feel the suit move as soon as she made the input. She grit her teeth and opened fire with her own guns mounted to her suit to try and throw him off a bit.

Again, the shield on Shinji's Gekido's forearm came up, expertly blocking most of Destiny's shots. While the man claimed he wasn't that good of a pilot, he was one of the managers partially in charge of the Mecha program, and was still experienced. However; everything that he did was just basic, practiced moves that any veteran should be able to pull off. Indeed- The Gekido was doing the majority of the work for Shinji, he was just telling it what to do ahead of time. "Not too bad, but ya gotta try harder'n that ta get ta me. I did say I wasn't very good but I also aint a slouch, niether. I did my time on the battlefield and aint died yet."

"You love to hear yourself talk huh?!" Destiny said as she raised her arms up at Shinji. She unleashed her forearm mounted cannons and fired a string of shots to pepper him with the rounds, just to keep him occupied as she started to strafe to his side. She scrambled over the weapons systems again and activated her ultraviolet laser nodes in an attempt to overload his suit's shield system.

The suit felt so much more right to her, even as she was still trying to get the hang of the Mecha. Slowly she started to close in on him.

Shinji continued blocking with his forearm shield, his Gekido reeling to keep the shield between himself and Destiny, but it was becoming apparent how much quicker the Knight was than the Gekido, and showing that Shinji's combat experience kept him working to try and be one step ahead of the Lorath woman. Suddenly, Shinji tapped the thrusters of his frame, bringing himself up and over, dropping him directly in front of Destiny's frame, causing her previously aimed shots to miss- but only just. "Now, ya gotta keep ya head on a swivel in tha real battlefield. Nobody's gonna stand nice an' still an' jus' let ya shoot at e'm yannow?" the man chided, swinging the pointed end of his shield toward Destiny's mecha.

Destiny fired her own thrusters forward and down for a moment as she tried to duck under him, firing her flares as she did before she turned and attacked again with both her forearm mounted weaponry as well as her nodes. She regretted not having some sort of real weapon as even her Vulcan cannons began to fire. Hopefully, if she got around the back of him she could attack him with some punches.

As Destiny rocketed underneath Shinji, the man turned his Mecha in mid-air, using the momentum of the now missed swing to help with the spin, settling his mecha down in a defensive pose and taking the shots. Unfortunately for Destiny, pretty much everything she had was for fending off smaller targets, or as a last resort to keep someone's head down. "Awright, ah'll give ya that move!" he shouted at the Lorath woman, popping the smg into one of his frame's MAGS grips, and pulling a plasma rifle from the other one. "Ya gonna have ta make me get all serious now, yannow? And that's kinda a pain." He leveled the larger rifle at Destiny's M5, and began to take careful aim while strafing his mecha to the right to prevent her from easily targeting him in return.

Destiny cursed herself for being too excited when she had started the simulation up and taking no real weaponry in with her. Instead, now she had to struggle and scramble for any real offense. She took aim on the rifle and used her ultraviolet rays in an attempt at damaging the weaponry to the point where it couldn't be used. She just continued to track and attack and always try to close in. Maybe she could even try and steal a weapon at this point.

The more senior pilot caught on to destiny targeting his weapon quite quickly, and withdrew it behind his shield, placing both directly in front of himself, and then boosting the frame up and backward, in an attempt to get some distance, which would hopefully hamper Destiny's aim. "Jus' keep it up. Ya almost look like a real pilot now, Jes' gotta keep pressin or ya'll never get me" Shinji goaded, letting off a few potshots from beneath the shield as he flew backward, the plasma bolts landing all around Destiny's M5, and even showing damage to the shields. However, everything that Shinji's armor did was negligable, and it was obvious by how her systems were tracking the man that in a one on one match, her suit would have no trouble defeating his. She just had to make sure she could tell the Knight what it needed in order to defeat the Gekido.

Destiny took the advice of pushing forward a little to literally and slammed her thrusters forward with max power as she shot straight at Shinji. As she did she fired her flares from her legs forward to try and disrupt his vision before she shot to the shield side and continued to fire her weaponry, circling faster and faster as she pushed her suit as hard as she could. Without her weapons, she wanted to see just what she could do and how far she could push.

The flares did little to blind Shinji, or even obscure Destiny's movements, although they did make nice vibrant marks on the sensor readouts, however, it was the M5 Knight's speed that did the most. Very swiftly, Destiny found herself on the Gekido's shield side, which was a poor choice, as all her rounds simply bounced off the thick plate mounted to the Gekido's forearm, not doing much more than denting the piece of equipment. However, she did get Shinji reeling, having him spiin his frame faster than he would normlaly have to. Thankfully, the computer took care of balance for him, so he wasn't likely to fall over, and being in a simulator pod, he didn't have the physical spinning feeling either, but his displays were spinning quickly enough to disorient him a little. "Awright, I know there's a way ta counter all this spinny business but I think I straight up forgot..." Shinji let Destiny know, working his Mecha hard in order to try and keep up with Destiny's though it was futile, and his shots all missed, passing harmlessly behind her, however, the shield was kept up giving Destiny no real opportunity to damage Shinji's Mecha. Plus, warnings would arise in the M5's displays- she was running dangerously low on ammunition.

Destiny was just using the movement to get closer. Closer and closer until she could reach out and grab at the shield. Should she get there, using that side as it made it tougher for Shinji to aim, she would tear the shield down and throw a solid straight punch at the mech's head.

As Destiny got closer, Shinji's shots became more and more sparse, finally ceasing altogether as the M5 got too close for the plasma rifle to be utilized effectively. That weapon went back onto its holder, and was swiftly replaced with another- A chain-straight which Shinji's Gekido pulled off an armature attached to its left shoulder, the blades spinning up and whirring loudly as Destiny attempted to grab at the shield, but was instead met with the rage of what was probably the best weapon made in conjunction with the older M1 series Mecha. The weapon slashed down, batting her Mecha's arm down and out of the way- the Endurium armor took the force, breaking several rows of teeth off the rapidly spinning blade, at the cost of several deep gouges in the forearm armor. Shinji's Shield was swing back around at Destiny, loudly clanging off her armor as it met the M5's head, causing the sensors to flicker momentarily, beforethe mecha found itself facedown on the ground, however, SHinji had been unable to easily decapitate or dismember the much larger, faster, and tougher Mecha.

"Looks like this one suits you a lot betta' toots," Shinji told Destiny. "But ya tried a little too hard in a bran' new unit ya unfamilia' wit. Howeva', I'm deffo gonna recommend they put ya in one fer the real world."

Destiny grunted and winced as the pod shook a bit to mimic the damage and impact. The unit powered down as she lost yet again, yet it wasn't anger that filled her, but excitement. She breathed heavier than usual as her hands gripped the controls tightly. Her body screamed for another time through the simulation, dying to go again and keep working, keep pushing herself yet she knew she needed to study and learn, to see what the suit was capable of instead of doing what she had just done and go charge into battle. It took her a minute to speak again as she sat back in the seat.

"What can I do in terms of weapons? What can I do in terms of custom jobs? Different load outs?" Destiny asked, already ideas formed in her head in terms of different tools she could use to make this suit better. With the power and speed this suit was capable of, Destiny wanted to make full use of it. If she had such a large suit that seemed fairly strong and durable, she would be a shield for the team just as the Goddess Voxphine had been for her people.

"Mosta tha's stuff ya hafta figger out on ya own," Shinji responded, kinda bluntly. "The M5 can carry damn near anything we make for the Mecha, although it prolly wouldn't work with any of the old M1 plasma stuff, tha' stuff was specialized fer the M1 but didn't work with other stuff," He continued, thinking on it. "But seriously, iss' not like I can tell ya wha's gonna work fer ya an' wha's not. That's personal. Howeva-" He paused at this, and Destiny heard a knock on her pod's hatch followed by Shinji's muffled voice saying something that sounded like 'openin' up!' before her simulator pod's hatch started moving upward seemingly of its own accord, before revealing the man whom sported both a short almost military cut and a long, thin braid from the back of his head. "Ya came ta tha righ' guy ta ask about gettin' custom stuff made. I AM the head of the Mecha Development department, afta' all, yannow?"

Destiny listened to Shinji's explanation about the different accessories that could be equipped and nodded as she thought on it for a moment, and was lost in that thought as Shinji opened the hatch behind her. She turned to look at him with a grin before she turned fully in the simulation pods seat.

"A Hammer, and a shield. Big enough to put two mechs behind and cover them, eat up damage, and let them fire. And a hammer big enough to crush enemies. Think we can make a mock-up in the simulation? Oh, and something to make me move faster? I want to be able close the distance between myself and enemies or teammates quickly." She relaxed back in the pod, arms crossed under her chest as she watched to see what he came up with.

Shinji leaned on the edge of the pod, and put a thumb and forefinger to his chin, thinking a bit. "Tell ya what. I can try and grab a coupla guy who aint too busy, an' we can start workin' on somthin. I ain't good enough to think up everythin' on tha spot, but I can see if it's somthin' we can do. Fer now, I'd suggest takin' a break and doin' some studyin' on tha M5 before ya try an' take me on again, kay? Once ya can beat me, ya'll prolly do pretty good out in tha real world, got it?" And with that, the man was upright once more, and walking away from the pods. "Don' work yaself too hard though, it won't do no good ta wear yaself out or get sick got it?" the man waved at the woman behind him, and walked off, heading out the door to the simulator room and disappeared down a hallway, leaving Destiny alone to think about what the man had just shown and told her.

Destiny nodded gratefully to the man and listened to him speak. She knew it would do her little good to get sick and hurt, but she still knew so little. There was still a need to get familiar with the suit and familiar with the systems so she could protect her crew. She had failed her people once before, failed to protect them, and she wouldn't fail again.
 
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