Re: Chapter 1: Heat Lightning
ON
The last thing Nitô Hei Baek SeonJi could remember as she regained consciousness was a flash and a thunderous rumble as the Type 31 Dropship that carried her century was hit by Mishhuvurthyar fire. Her eyes opened and blue engulfed her vision along with the whipping howl of atmospheric winds and a sudden, grave falling feeling. They must have been hit about 12 kilometers up, based on the orange warnings flashing on her HUD readout that bombarded her with vital mission information and danger signs.
Looking down her torso and back out to the sky above, the Neko soldier could see the burning shell of the dropship that carried her streak away while other soldiers and loose debris fell from its burning mass. If she looked toward HX-13's surface she'd see the beach below and the battle that raged on it and the thousands of NMX and Star Army warriors fighting like countless scattered bugs, still so far off.
SeonJi-hei's
Type 35 Automatic Grenade Launcher was, thankfully, still mag-locked to her Daisy. It was good that she came to when she did and not closer to the ground, in time to regain control and avoid an impact at terminal velocity. She was still high up enough that the surface was getting bigger, but not very quickly.
Firing a quick burst from her fusion thrusters to slow her descent, SeonJi engaged her suit's Inertial Redirection System to turn herself upright. It struck her at how beautiful the lush green jungle looked from this height, even with the flashes of ground combat that peeked through the canopy near the forest's edge. With a brief check to see if the Daisy had suffered any damage, the red-eyed Neko broadcast to her commanding officer that she was still alive.
As the fight below drew closer, so too did its bloody details: war machines rising from the water and marching onto the beach, armor falling by the dozens, and sparse NMX air support crossing the sky between her and the war. No reply came from her commander, but an alert flashed on SeonJi's HUD that projected a trajectory for the nearest rally point — not that any of them weren't out of reach if she chose to go to them. Thrusting forward, she pointed herself where she was told, just as a wing of
NMX battlepods crossed her path as they strafed helpless Star Army infantryman in the fight.
Releasing the lock on her firearm, SeonJi gripped it tightly as she turned towards the attacking NMX pods. "Engaging enemy forces," she reported as her finger pulled on the AGL's trigger, the targeting computer on the weapon interfacing with her suit's HUD as she directed the propelled grenades toward different targets at the front of the wing. At the same time, she increased her speed, aiming for one of the trailing battlepods and attempting to land right on top of the thing. It felt good for the Nekovalkyrja to be able to support those already on the ground, turning her previously bad luck around.
Her first salvo passed over the pod she was trying to mount and one grenade connected with its target further off ahead of it. Just as SeonJi landed on the battlepod as the one she'd hit exploded, her Daisy's boots engaging their magnetic locks with its hull. Shrapnel and flame and smoke engulfed her for a moment as the enemy wing kept its present course. It wouldn't be long before she was engaged — the pod she was now riding clearly knew she was there, given its sudden jarring maneuvers — and two of the formation's ships broke off to make a pass.
"Whoa there," SeonJi laughed as she felt the pod try and jerk her off. "I just wanted to catch a ride," she commented as she knelt down atop of it and ejected her Daisy's
Impactor into her gauntleted hand. "Let's see what's inside." With a flick of her wrist, the baton extended and slammed into the hull battlepod. She knew these things could have a variety of pilots inside and silently she hoped it was a computer and not an enemy body.
Slamming its spiked end over and over into the armor proved effective, and after a few strikes the pod's outer layer gave way. From there, it was easy enough to fold the thin aerospace shielding back like the top of a fish can and reveal the NMX machine's innards. What SeonJi found inside was neither a computer nor fully a pilot. Rather, a glistening brainlike organ jostled and sloshed around in a glass and metal container within. Wires sprung from it every which way, connecting the brainslave to the battlepods controls and functions. The two other pods, now locked onto their ally that the Daisy infantrywoman was riding, looked ready to come about and finish her off. SeonJi would need to act quickly.
Gagging as she looked at the mess controlling the small craft, the red-eyed Neko slammed her Impactor down one more time to get the glider under control before turning her attentions back to the rest of its comrades. "I don't know if that's better or worse," she grumbled to herself, disgusted at the lengths the Mishhuvurthyar went through to control their weapons of war. Noticing that the other pods were making their way around, SeonJi stood her Daisy back up and began firing more concussion grenades at her opponents from her spot on the back of the pod, preparing to leap from the damaged wreck as they returned fire.
Its brainslave now mush, the battlepod evened out and stopped fidgeting around as its computerized autopilot took over. When SeonJi leveled her grenade launcher and began to fire so did the pods. Heavy anti-fighter cannon tracers lit up the air around her, grazing the now-inert machine she knelt atop. Soon, though, the Neko's explosive payload met their marks — it wasn't hard to hit a big chunk of metal and biomass coming straight at you — and sent the two assailants down in flaming blazes. One of them, though, kept its course and would imminently collide with the battlepod she'd de-brained.
Blasting up into the air off of the battlepod, the infantrywoman decided that she'd caused significant damage to the wing and didn't want to outstay her welcome — or tempt them into bringing something heavier. So with the nearby rally point centered on her HUD, SeonJi sped closer to the surface. It wasn't without effort, though, as a squad of Neo Mishhuvurthyar crabs on the ground took notice and began firing on the descending Nekovalkyrja.
Swooping down above them in her Daisy, SeonJi blasted at the Mishhu crabs with her AGL on fully automatic.
Thwoomp thwoomp thwoomp it went as the compressed air bursts shelled the alien crustaceans with heavy anti-material ordinance. As the grenades detected they were near their targets, they exploded automatically and filled the air with concussive blasts that ripped into the enemies' heavy shells. The red-eyed Nekovalkyrja grinned in her suit as sloppy chunks of tentacle meat fell from the sky, splattering on the sand and rocks of the surrounding area.
"Sorry I can't stay," she remarked glibly as she passed as swiftly as possible past any survivors, hurrying toward the rally point. She would approach from the opposite side as Sakura, Aoi, and Kaede, coming up on the dropship with less fanfare and firefights. Of course, SeonJi had seen quite enough action in the air.
END
