RP: NSS Acadia [Post Mission 3]: R&R (Rest and Rations)

Anselm silently chuckled inside his armored shell, still testing the fingers on his cybernetic arm acquired in just such a bout of melee against what he could only guess might have been a commander type.

"Ungainly, maybe, but some of them know how to move in those things," the marine wiggled his fingers in a little hello to his squadmates.

"In a one on one fight, which shouldn't happen if you're being smart, I might add," he continued, obliquely admonishing himself for doing justsuch a thing and having the video records to prove it, "I'd go for the pilot, those blades don't have the momentum or angle they need to slice at ya if you're inside their arms," the albino pulled the chainknife off of his chest and rolled it sideways in one hand, "make it short, sharp, sweet, and then you'll be having squid patte for mid-noon snack... it's a bit harder with longer blades though, despite the depth they give ya..."

His glorious speach seemed to tail off as flashes of the last mission caught up with Anselm's recounting.

Chad, after being called out on, quickly proceeded to Armors and picked a very shiny AIR2 for his suit of choice. He had scored well in this suit during training and was partial to the the quick movement and the "Lance" attachment that came with it.

He decided that It would be best to sometime claim a stake on a particular AIR2 and soup its weapons and place a few Assault style firearms where the Lance should be, due to his inability to use weapons very affectively in melee combat.

But this was for another time.

He then sauntered into the training room and got caught up on the briefing of the training excercise as fast as possible, (although he mainly just guessed at where they were at).

"Sorry to interrupt again," Chad blatantly stated, "but judging by standard Brain Slave reaction time, wouldn't the best thing to do would be to avoid close quarter combat, or if unavoidable, get behind them and try to go strait for the pilot?. They don't seem to be very fast or flexible suits, so in my experience, shouldn't you just go for the spot where they have no ability to reach?"

Phaedra listened intently to the ongoing discussion and looked forward to testing her close-combat skills against the Ripper. That was when an unfamiliar marine immediately began voicing his opinion on the current matter. She did not know who he was, but she raised an eyebrow at his suggestion.

"Killing a lone Ripper from behind quickly and quietly would be a viable strategy; but the Mishhu send Rippers to attack in large waves with superior numbers. Trying to get behind a single Ripper while exposing your back to the rest of them is suicidal."

Alex looked at new guy. He must have been fresh from bootcamp. Well it was not like Alex was some kind of veteran but she has her experiences on Rok'Veru. She waited for Wolf to finish with her speach.

"Well it is all just peachy mate," she said. "But do you think that Ripper will just stand there and let you get behind him? It is not that easy. They look stupid, but their armor and all is still strong. Unless you take them by surprise it is no walk in the park fighting those bastards." Well in theory what he said was true. It was true that it is easier to kill ripper from behind. But isn't it always easier to kill something from behind?

Chad sighed.

" The only reason I could think of to even begin to aproach something that big and stupid while it had a big ass sword thing, man, would be if it was alone and you were a hell of a lot faster." He said this, and pointed to an Aggressor suit. "That suit is the only one here that couldn't out maneuver one of these baddies. Although I still have no substantial reason why anyone would even want to not just shoot the fucker. This lesson has no relevance to teach us to fight hand-to-hand with this dude. They have three weak easy weakspots as long as your not just standing still. First I would attempt to get behind it. If I can get behind the man then I have a blow to at least two, first the underarm, then the socket joint on where the thigh reaches the torso."

He smiled, although it was pointless while in the armor.
"But like I said, I'd rather just shoot 'em"

Viktor smiled. "This is exactly what this exercise is all about, folks," he interjected once more. "You can baptize your theories in the fire, and experience firsthand the results, and I imagine with slightly less gruesome answers should you fail." The smile was still lingering; he was glad to have a conversation with his fellow soldiers about something other than booze or women.

"I like the idea of baptism in fire. Flaming Misshu is a satisfying image. But I still have to agree. So far as I can tell, you best defense is to stay away from it's front side, and if you're in front of it, move." He paused, rubbing his shoulder in memory. "Because just for reference, their shields are stronger then ours. So unless you catch them with their pants down, figuratively speaking, you don't want in close with them. Ask my buddy over there," and Sean pointed at Kel, "how well tackling one of those things worked."

"Holy shit. You fuckers better turn all this talking into action real quick before you have a Ripper and a Hostile trying to ride your asses all day." The Chief had been circling the group in his Hostile, not unlike a shark circling a school of very slow fish. Marching up behind the newcomer, Chad, the Chief put one hand on his shoulder. "Says in your report, P3C Skwigle-"

The Chief paused at that. "The fuck kind of name is that, greenhorn? Fuck it." The Chief immediately shut down the weapon systems of Chad's AIR, leaving only the lance functional. "It says in your report that you don't like getting up close and personal. I don't like that too much. I also don't like newbies who don't know their COs!" The Chief pointed a finger at the Master Chief.

"Now, getting back to the question of your lack of experience in close rang-"


Instead of finishing the sentence, the Chief kicked the rear of Chad's AIR, sending him stumbling towards the Ripper.

Sean's request for Keladrian to explain his close combat encounter with a Ripper pod was met with self-serving silence, that other P3C was comatose in the Medibay as a result of the last mission.

"Melee attacks have the advantage of bypassing shields, ranged attacks would have to chip at that first." Fian explained. "And depending on where you hack or stab, the battle can be over real quick so you can focus on the next pod coming at your ass."

"And besides, from the Wazu Nebula to Rok'veru, trust me when I say our defensive battles are not over by a long shot." The MC solemnly continued. "You will not have much freedom to move around if you are tasked with holding a position or defending something." Around this time the Chief stopped hovering around to give the disciplinary action the Master Chief requested of him earlier, it was a little delayed but suitable nonetheless. Fian concentrated hard on the mind probe, all three Ripper pods responded with a click and whirr.

Mike entered into a couch and then lunged at Chad with forward thrusters a blazing. It looked to be a top-down attack with a straight parabolic path, with the right blade arm held high above the head and the other buckler equipped left arm held protectively close to the chest. It was a simple and devastating attack... If it hit.

Anselm narrowed his eyes with more a little suspicion as his Precipice notified the marine that all the Ripper pods were now active. "Well, shit, time to give the tech sentries more work, huh?" he grinned, holding his chain knife in a reverse grip as the teeth spun up.

Sean settled himself into a more balanced position, drawing his own blade, his computer having just informed him of the same thing as Anselm's. "Well now. Guess the rest of us get to play too."

Chad already had a grasp of what was about to happen. It was always the same thing, jump and cut down. Chad wasn't going to out fight him though, he couldn't, and didn't have the experience with hand-to-hand, and to make matters worse, everyone now knew that as well. But sure as hell he could move a lot smoother than a Ripper, especially one being tele-operated.

So he did the first thing that came to mind. Beat simplisity with simplisity. He took one step forward, letting the Ripper get as high as it would then let the thrusters eat. He went clean under the Ripper and as the Ripper hit the ground where Chad was just standing, the P3C reversed the thrusters slaming into the Rippers back.

Chad was able to stay on his feet after the blow, but with the momentum already in the Ripper, it didn't stand a chance of doing the same. It wasn't really melee, but Chad had disoriented the Mishuu armor and was proceeding towards it while the Ripper lay, and stabbed clumily through the Rippers unprotected backside.

Seeing that the Rippers had been activated, Phaedra quickly donned her helmet, ensuring that the neck ring was sealed. She then pulled the VCS from the sheath on her chest, holding it at the ready in a defensive stance.

The Vel Steyr's eyebrows shot up when he saw the other Marines unsheathing their melee weapons, the surprise was meant for Chad but he didn't count on the others catching on so soon. "Aah jeez, stand down!" He quickly ordered, he shut the other two pods down as well.

In the meantime he was distracted enough to miss following up on the Ripper's landing. The greenhorn had taken advantage of this by using his momentum against it, toppling it over. The MC quickly mitigated damage to the captured pod by the deadly Fusion-Cutter infused lance by boosting the pod upwards relative to it's current body alignment, that is, forward to slide along the hangar floor till it shot out of the hangar doors itself. The teleoperation link was lost when it continued boosting into the horizon of space, fast becoming a speck of light like the many stars beyond the containment field.

Way to lose control of the situation. Fian mumbled to himself. He quickly clambered aboard his AIR-R. "I'm going to go after it. In the meantime I'm turning on Melee Training Mode. Pick a partner and take turns to be Mishhu. P1Cs and P2Cs, take care of the P3Cs." In record time the MC had strapped himself in and P/p-ed himself through the containment field in persuit of the runaway pod.

A yellow marquee under the HUD of each of the marines announced TRAINING MODE ON. PA strength was halved and all blades were rendered non-lethal (ie: Vibroblades will not vibrate and Sawblades will not saw). PPG attacks by Hostiles and AIR-Types will produce no force, but the receiving PA will simulate a reaction as though the attack was real. Any contact of sufficient speed or force will trigger a shutdown on the receiving suit.

Stopping to grab a bite to eat hadn't been the greatest idea, P3C Jack Hayden thought as he made his way through the ship. He had been trained with other ID-SOL to be on time, respectful to military code, and lethal in the field so how the hell had he gotten held up? He had figured that given the time upon his arrival that he would have had time to grab a quick snack before heading for the bay in which he was told his new squad was training: he had forgotten to ask where that was exactly until after his meal...when the fact of his not knowing actually dawned on him.

Jack felt like a total moron as he made his way through the many halls of the ship. He had a feeling that when he got there his squad leader would probably make his boot camp standards look like heaven. Jack paused outside the entrance to the bay at this thought and took a deep breath, puffing out his muscled chest briefly in an attempt to alleviate his concern over the matter. It didn't help him.

Stepping through the door the ID-SOL was able to watch as a Mishu PA went flying across the floor, sending sparks where it met the floor, producing a rather unpleasant sound, and leaving a few nasty-looking marks on the floor as it flew out in to space. A fellow Marine promptly followed it without giving him a second glance but thankfully Jack's face didn't show his sudden surprise. He watched what he could only assume to be a training exercise in absolute silence from where he stood just within the doorway.

Rather than activate his weapons, as his colleagues had, P1C Kingston's response had been to take a single step back, putting him in a more appropriate fighting stance. He'd rather keep his choice of weapon secret until combat. Instead, things fell apart rather quickly. Viktor was a little dismayed, but Master Chief Vel Steyr earned a few points in his book with the speed and organized thought with which he had responded. It was fairly impressive.

Now, though, he wanted the upper ranks- which was rather a small statement here- to keep an eye on the new guys. Fair enough. If he was going to play the big bad Misshu, though, he needed a proper blade- meaning something other than his CFCs. After grabbing a VCS, he put some distance between himself and the others before turning to face them. "Private Masson, let's go! You and me."

In the brief interlude, Viktor disabled all his suit's thrusters save for the forwards. He took a deep breath, preparing himself. It'd be interesting to see just what he could do with only forward movement and a blade.

An agitated Aggressor pointed its chain knife at P3C Hayden, the marine's voice booming over the loudspeakers as Anselm stomped over "YOU! Fresh Meat!" the albino growled.

"Grab yourself an armor below decks," the rock-grinding rumble continued, "we're gonna have a little sparring session."

Inside the multi-ton suit, Anselm grinned, fighting teleoperated ripper pods would have been fun, if only to relieve some pent-up boredom and trash some NMX hardware, but sparring with a pilot was better, Anselm got his jollies and the newbie received valuable training and a few bruises of honor.

'This is gonna be fun,' he thought, staring Hayden down with the M9's cyclopian features.

Lucas stood attentively as the Master Chief explained the enemy suit, then had it attack one of the others marines, then as it flew off into space. He quickly stifled a chuckle into an awkward cough, then gulped as the Master Chief's last order sank in. A sparring session?! Lucas thought, suddenly nervous at who he would have to fight with. Practice or not, these other marines were way more experienced than him. Swallowing his anxiety, however, he readied himself; after all, he might still make this interesting.

"Sounds like fun to me." Sean made his way out of the group, testing out his armor's current settings. "Nice to try this stuff out in person, though trying it at full power would be even better." Shaking his leg out to settle in, he spread his feet, balancing himself. "So, you start or me."

As Chad watched the MC take off after the suit, he decided he would take this practice session and turn it into a "Chad-sits-on-his-arse-and-watches-everyone-else-beat-eachother" session. So to follow up on this thought, Chad, while still in his armor, walked over to wall, sat down, and proceeded to watch everyone else beat on eachother.