RP: YSS Miharu Prologue, Day 2

Yukari was huddled against the lip of the roof she was on top of. The moment she confirmed the missiles smashing into the Kairyuu, she swung her rifle back over the lip and took aim. Automatically the rifle regauged itself for maximum muzzle velocity -- 6,000 meters per second.

As she pulled the trigger, she hoped it would be enough.

James tried to peer through the dust that enveloped his Daisy. He could hear the sounds of combat and hoped that the enemy was on the recieving end.

"I think my legs aren't quite broken yet, ma'am. Though, my LASR's gone and I'm running on batteries for my plasma rifle."

The green haired black-suited nekoalkyrja clerk's smile turned into a frown as she picked up the papers Leutre had 'dumped' on her and her eyes scanned over them.

"Veressis-Hei, you are to head to the quarters your CO rented for you. Take the elevator there," She pointed into the busy airport-like complex to an elevator shaft on his far right. "Direct KAMI - this station's main computer - to lead you to the quarters of Ketsurui Kotori and it should bring you to the right level. Get outm walk up to your room, deposit your luggage there, and then seek out your commander's room: it should be somewhere nearby. Don't knock, she won't hear you. Use the door chime instead."

The neko handed back the papers to Leutre.

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The Kairyuu tried to jump away from the trio of grenades Nyton had thrown its way, but wasn't entirely successful. He was still too close and the first explosion criss-crossed the NDI armor with gouges. The second explosion jarred loose armor plates which fell to the power armor's feet like molting feathers. the third was too far away to harm it much, but the blast was still strong enough, along with the momentum that the two other detonation had given it, to make it lose its balance.

Taurus Three collapsed on its back. It was easy for Yukari to put an end to it, pumping the ammo-piercing round into the neck instead of the better armored head. The AIES announced the armor's demise.

However, there was still the Ocelot. Nyton's LASR firing streams of killing darts didn't seem to significantly weaken the mecha's barrier shield as each shot inneffectively fizzled from the rapid, repeated impacts. The mobile frame skimmed over to the build Masako and James were located at and large vibro-blade sprung from its forearm.

The 35-ton machine crouched and swiped through the first floor of the building, its weapon making an awful grinding noise as it cleaved through brick and cement, aiming to turn the two armors inside into significantly shortened chunks.

"Don't you ignore me!" Nyton snarled as he swooped about and began to bear down on the Ocelot. He holstered the LASR and swapped for the plasma weapon. "Kurohoshi, the Ocelot is closing in on you and James! Take defensive postures!" he shouted at them. Nyton placed his damaged shield in front of him and stuck the tip of the plasma rifle through one of the holes created by the Phalanx earlier. With intensifying speed he charged the Armor while firing at it from behind. "Maybe this will teach make it clear not to ignore me." Nyton chuckled as he closed in. He expected a counterattack any moment as his assault was meant to either divert the attention of the Ocelot away from his crewmates or cause it to disengage. Either way he was ready to either avoid or follow through.

James felt the Ocelot tearing through the building more than he could actually see it. He cringed as the vibroblade passed over his head and even more debris rained down.

"My shield arm's either buried or gone and my generator is shot to pieces. There's not a whole lot I can do right now!"

The Geshrin started shoveling debris, freeing most of his left leg from the junk surrounding him.

Yukari ducked back down behind the lip of the roof she was on and let her brain scramble. They were burning too much time at the moment. The Ocelot wasn't going to leave anyone alone ... it had to be removed from the battlefield. They could not escape as long as it existed.

"AIES ... are there any weapons at our disposal that could damage the Ocelot quickly?"

The computer replied in the negative.

"Anything at our disposal at all? An enemy weapon, causing a structure to collapse onto it, any method at all?"

"I cannot do your thinking for you," the computer replied with a small amount of sarcasm.

Yukari had little time to argue as she heard rather than saw the Ocelot attacking James and Masako. Her leg felt slightly numb from the dull pain the simulator had given it, and her chest felt as if it had been pressed down on by someone. She shook her head.

"AIES, what ... could self-destruction work?"

"Not enough power," it replied.

" ... " Yukari peeped over the rail. The Ocelot's head was no more than ten feet or so below her and about twenty meters away. She shook her head again and thought. Something ... a large blast. That is what we need. She reviewed everyone's weapons quickly and found their was a dedicated lack of firepower. A concentrated attack, assuming one could be mounted, was not likely to be enough.

What has enough energy? It would take spacy-grade weapons -- Yukari paused.

"Freeman-Hei!" she shouted over the radio as she got up from her perch to the west side of the building, toward where they were first dropped into the simulation. She hopped off and gently glided down to the road. "Lock on to my position and follow me."

She peeked east around the corner of the building. The dead carcass of the Kairyuu glinted in the dusty air. "AIES, the Super Phalanx -- show me where it went down."

Accepting the papers Leutre gave her a nod and a smile, "It will be done." Slipping them back into his bag he turned and made his way into the elevator, which shut it's doors as soon as he had entered. He spotted a small monitor imbedded in the elevator wall, but could not see anything that looked like a control console. After searching the elevator for a few moments came to the realization there was no direct interface.

"I wonder..." Leutre cleared his throat and in a loud voice called out, "Entity KAMI, I request to be taken to the residence of Kotsu-- Erm, Ketsurui Kotori. Take me to Ketsurui Kotori at your soonest convenience. Make it so." He looked up expectantly at the roof of the elevator, hoping for some sort of acknowledgment.

Following Nyton's warning, Masako dove to the floor with Morita coming with her. Gritting her teeth as the blade passed through the building's first floor and over their heads, the young neko maneuvered her body to look towards James. "Dige-Hei, we're leaving out the back way," the warrant officer said. "Suzuka-Chui, Claymere-Juni, Freedom-Hei, I'll be taking Dige-Hei and Kamiyama-Hei to the waypoint. If there would be some way for you to draw the Ocelot's attention away from us, I'd be very appreciative," Masako informed the others of the group as she began to float again.

Moving to James, she placed her rifle in her back slot for a moment to reach her hand out to help him up. "How operational is your suit, Dige-Hei? Think you can make it?"

James grabbed Masako's hand and managed to pull himself free. His left arm dangled limply at his side, somehow still attached.

"Well, other than being shot, scorched, battered and bruised, I can move. I've got a couple missles left and about 18 or so shots for my pulse rifle."

He grabbed the rifle off his back with some difficulty and began moving towards the exit, watching the cielings for any danger of collapse.

"Shall I take point, or would you like the honors, Kurohoshi-Juni?"

Masako couldn't help but frown at James as she slowly moved towards him. "Gomen, Dige-Hei, but I can't allow you to fight now," the young neko replied as she slowly took his weapon and placed it on his back slot. "I think you should carry Kamiyama-Hei," she said as she readied to give Morita to James. "I'll take point and cover you as you head to the waypoint," she explained as she sent James the relevant data via the AIES.

"Think you can handle him?"

James took Morita from Masako and nodded, shifting the other armor into a more comfortable position.

"Don't expect me to be able to run too quickly, but I can take care of him."

He kept his concerns about the Ocelot to himself. There was a fair bit of cover for them to maneuver in, but the enemy frame had already proven that cover didn't matter too much.

"The name's FREEMAN, ma'am, not FREEDOM. KSSSSSSH. Although I do consider myself KKKKSHHHH pretty free-spirited in all regards. Thanks for the KSHHHH compliment Matoko... KSHHHH I mean Masako-juni."

Tom chuckled over the radio static.

"KSSSH but I'm currently following KSHHHHHH superior orders from Yukari ma'am. KSHHHHH cannot acknowledge orders."

With that, he ran as fast as he could behind Yukari, invigorated.

"Ma'am, KSHHH my anti-grav isn't functioning. KSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I may not be able to keep KSHHH up. But KSDFKSDFJKHSSSSSSSSS may I be the first to SKSDKFJSDK say that I'm happy to see you back."

Yukari remotely activated Tom's helmet radio antenna. It boosted his signal enough that, in this range, the two could talk without static. She tried to focus to avoid blushing at Tom's comments.

"Freeman-Hei, I need your help." She waited at the corner of the building she jumped from. "I will need the power of two AIES units to do this." She noticed Freeman coming closer. "As soon as the computer locates the downed Super Phalanx armor, we will have our work cut for us."

The elevator hummed to life and swiftly brought Leutre to the requested floor. It smoothly came to a stop and slid its doors open, revealing a long corridor with a plush red carpet and several adjoining rooms.

(OoC: Look up Masako's arrival to get an idea of how things are.)

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The building James, Morita and Masako were in groaned and shuddered, raining dust and light debris over them. The Ocelot stood outside: it was hardly time to chitchat at length.

Fortunately, the mobile frame turned its attention from the crumbling building and turned, uncannily swift, to grant Nyton his wish. Even though the Ocelot dwarfed the Nepleslian's Daisy, the vibroblade sword swumng true, smacking Nyton hard enough to send his Daisy tumbling head over heels to solidly crash against the edge of the rooftop of a two-story building.

Luckily, Nyton's zesuaium shield had saved him from being sawed in two. What it didn't save him against was the pure force behind the disdainful swat. Without further preamble, the Ocelot shifted feet and brought up its powerful plasma rifle to put an end to the Nepleslian's virtual life.

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As Yukari scanned around, she saw the Ocelot's barrier shield take a solid hit from Nyton's plasma rifle before the mecha made its stunning riposte. The rifle's blast had dented the Ocelot's shielding, but it had the time to almost entirely regenerate by the time Nyton could fire a second shot. And even if a combined assault could crack the shield, there was still the resilient armor of the mecha to deal with after that.

The AIES finally spotted the carcass of the Phalanx. The doomed power armor had lost most of its lower torso and legs to the 18 mini-missiles Nyton had killed it with. The rest of the body was mostly scorched with jagged rents all over - not a happy sight. What was of interest, however, was the weapon lying on the opposite side of the street: the Phalanx's optional Longinus rifle (which it had probably not deemed being worth using before Nyton proved the Taurus Five wrong).

MBR-01 Longinus Energy Projection Rifle had capacitors of its own: it might still function if the fall hadn't jarred it too much. All they had to do was cross 220 meters of open terrain through the Ocelot and it was theirs.

The Longinus, once an AIES would have cracked its anti-tampering failsafes, would surely be able to blast through even the mobile frame's shielding!

As Yukari zoomed on the rifle, the statistics for it came up in a narrow column on her screen. She gulped as she read the notice.

Phoenix Arms Corporation said:

While this weapon can be used in an atmosphere, its power is equivalent to a multi-megaton nuclear detonation and thus isn't suited for the surgical situations for which infantry are used.

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"Aiyaa," Yukari whined quietly. "That weapon will destroy the Ocelot and us with it. We cannot use it!" She turned to Tom, holding her rifle out. "I know it is much to ask of you ... but you must distract the Ocelot while I retrieve the Super Phalanx torso. Do what you can -- but be cautious."

She looked around the corner again, gulped, pushed the rifle into Tom's hands and took to the air on her anti-gravity, as fast as she could. She would try and go higher above the Ocelot, then "dive" on the torso.

The clock was ticking.

"Incoming danger! Evasive action recommended!" the AIES had warned Nyton but a few seconds before he was suddenly sent flying. He thought he would have been able to react in time but obviously this thing was a lot faster then it looked. As the virtual internal cushioning buffered Nyton from his tumble he made a mental note to study NDI Armor ratings a lot closer next time. The crash upon the rooftop came next and he again felt his world shudder with the impact. "Danger! Follow up attack imminent!" Nyton didn't even think but made a quick estimation of his situation and let the instinct take over as he pushed away from the building's roof and leapt for another one. The area behind him was instantly destroyed and he was forced to keep jumping away from the blast as well as a repeated barrage from the Ocelot.

That worked better than I had hoped on the distraction side of the house. Nyton thought as he ducked behind a building to avoid more plasma. He dashed to another structure and gave off a quick spray of fire from his own plasma rifle. With more distance between him and the larger armor he could use his speed and size to more his advantage. "Yukari, forget about fighting this thing! Get the others dug out and run to the rendezvous point while I keep it distracted! Once you're all a safer distance I'll follow. Use the tunnels! There should be a way there through the sewer system to the parking lot but you need to hurry before we run out of time and the enemy encircles us!" Nyton shouted quickly before he juked out of the way of another shot. He sent out for a signal for his remaining drone and tried to use it to help him plot out his terrain for the battle and escape.

"No problem, ma'am."

He didn't mention that this course of action would most likely result in his unit being wiped out.

Them's the breaks, though.

"Yukari, forget about fighting this thing! Get the others dug out and run to the rendezvous point while I keep it distracted! Once you're all a safer distance I'll follow. Use the tunnels! There should be a way there through the sewer system to the parking lot but you need to hurry before we run out of time and the enemy encircles us!" Nyton shouted quickly before he juked out of the way of another shot.

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Wooooo! Stuff is going NUTS!

But maybe he'd have fun and help Nyton in his noble task. Tom ran a few blocks forward, knelt at the corner of a building and took aim at the Ocelot.

"Hey, AIES, make sure I nail this thing in a spot that's sure to piss it off."

He fired Yukari's rifle.

About the same time as Tom pressed the trigger, a loud, brilliant deflagration erupted over the Ocelot's barrier that faced his Daisy. The AIES had picked up one of the reactor exhaust ports for him to fire in and the dart Yukari's LASR spat slid inside the vent at just the right angle, quickly eliciting a muted explosion at its eventual impact inside.

Smoke began to billow out from that reactor's end.

The mobile frame shook from the attack, though it was probably due to the pilot's shock at the feeble attack spearing through its barrier instead of harmlessly bouncing off. Even now, a good part of the barrier covering its flank was bare and not regenerating.

Leaning on the side of caution, the NDI mecha bounded away, landing 180 meters away (with a massive crunch) before firing both its mortar launchers around Nyton's position.

"What a pleasant AI entity. Rather quiet, though," Leutre mused to himself as he made his way towards his designated room with the directions he had been given. "I'm surprised it hasn't gone mad. If I were a superintelligent non-corporeal entity, all I'd do is talk. Looking over data your entire life, knowing that you would continue to do so for until eternity's end-- Ah, here we are."

Entering the room, he let out a gasp. "Wow, a real bed! And look at the size of this room! On a starbase no less! I don't know if I should be horrified and the impractical use of space or impressed with this degree of luxury..." He mumbled to himself as he dropped his bag. Gazing over the inviting pillows, he quickly turned about face. Without hesitation he left the room afraid that he would give into his urges and proceed to jump on the bed.

Remembering KAMI had told him that Kotori wasn't in her quarters, he turned back towards the elevator and continued, "Ah, where was I? Ah, yes. Being non-corporeal, I would probably question my reality. I'm perfectly aware that the sense can be deceived, the eyes fooled," he stepped into the Elevator. "KAMI, could you take me to Kotori's housing unit?"

Leutre lowered his head in thought as the elevator began to move. After a moment, he raised his head and said, "Say, KAMI, how can we be sure our senses are not being deceived at any particular time, or even all the time? Do our lives gain or lose meaning based on our reactions to such solipsism?"

KAMI answered, "In sentient life, all sensory information is interpreted based on instinct and the memory of previous experience and the emotions it created. Because emotions are, similarly, based on socially contextual experiences and all memories of both emotions and sensory data are subject to possible misconception through ignorance or assumption, the entirety of all knowledge and actions by sentient life-forms is suspect. That is to say that their perceptions of the world are likely to contain falsehood; remember that all of the world around you is not the real world, but rather your interpretation of the data that your senses provide you. The only thing you can be truly certain without relying on your senses is that you are a thinking being."

"Meaning of one's life," it continued, "is not an easily defined or quantifiable quality; it is a matter of a opinion that varies according to each individual judging the person Perhaps your life's meaning to you might be enhanced by a more thourough investigation of philosophy. I have copies of the works of ancient philosophers that are directly related to your queries, if you care to read them."