RP: YSS Miharu Prologue, Day 2

"The pain feedback is set to 'training mode', not 'realistic'." The other neko replied to Yukari, flicking a brown lock of hair back behind her shoulder. "The worse 'pilot wound feedbacks' you should be suffering are muscle spasms, light uncomfortable tinges and at worse a sharp stinging sensation if it was really bad... well, aside from accidentally biting your lips, tongue or being knocked breathless and getting light bruises from some excessive jostling on the simulation suit's part."

It occured to the Juni that she hadn't answered Yukari's question and added. "You might feel some mild discomfort from where you were 'wounded'. That's all." The Juni graciously avoided making any reference to how Yukari had convinced herself she had been on the verge of death in a simulated training exercise.

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A lance of plasma shot away from Tom and nailed the Super Phalanx just under the left knee. The NDI armor jerked away from the hit, its offensive totally abandonned as it tried to draw an evasive pattern to avoid being hit and identify who had tried to take it down. The armor cover where Tom had struck it was badly scorched and somewhat warped.

The tactical drones of the Phalanx tracked Tom and returned fire, but Tom's AIES uttered "Defending." and the shots only marginally decreased the shield power of Tom's Daisy.

Tom's distraction allowed James to rush out and attack the Kairyuu without having that menace gliding over his head, though he was open to the Golem II. Just as he let loose the Golem II also opened fire on him with another weapon that was part of its large arsenal, the Phased Pulse Rifle. The C7 sent extremely rapid streams of phased enregy bolts at him. At first, the cloak shield held, but the attack sliced through and cut into the armor at his flank.

It was worth it though: James attacks slashed at the Kairyuu's barrier, substancially decreasing it with his plasma rifle before his two mini-missiles smacked against it too. The AIES showed that the NDI Kairyuu's shield had reached midline and was attempting to regenerate. Just a bit more and it'd be breached.

However, what followed next was the AIES' damage report: "Class-C damage, Capacitor System. Class-D damage, Cloak Shield Projector." The torso armor shone orange on the armor diagram as his suit's power output dropped, making it obvious that power management was going to be an issue now: his plasma rifle recharge would be slower, his cloak shield, in the state it was in and the power available, was probably disabled for the rest of the battle. Luckily, he still had enough power feed to move around though, which was good, and the plasma rifle had a capacitor with thirty or so shots.

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With Nyton and Masako having boarded their simulation suits, the units closed around them and adjusted to their body measurements before going over a system diagnostic and starting the emulation of the M6 Daisy power armor. It wasn't long before they both ended up in a devastated urban area. The sky and clouds were colored by a setting sun and it look to Nyton as if someone had gone and rampaged over in some downtown area in Funky City.

"Friendly AIES network found. Connecting." Both AIES chirped and suddenly their sensor displays were filled with several contact. Green dots presenting 3 Daisy power armors and four other red dots representing enemies identified as Taurus Two, Three, Four and Five. The latter was a bit distant, but closing in fast.

To the others, the connection to their AIES network confirmed the inclusion of two fresh Daisy armors labelled 'CLAYMERE' and 'KUROHOSHI', both with a small warrant officer rank insignia to the left of their names. They were about 500 meters north of Morita's position behind a set of three-stories tall devastated appartment buildings.

James grunted and set down, cutting off the anti-gravity drive in hopes that it would cut down on energy usage. He had very little time to react stuck between two armors.

Facing the wounded Golem, he fired several plasma blasts as he juked for cover, hoping that Morita could keep the Kairyuu pilot's attention for a little longer. He noted the arrival of the new power armors with a small, grateful sigh.

"Claymere-Juni, Kurohoshi-Juni, looks like you're just in time! Yukari-Chui has been wounded and the rest of us have taken some hits."

With the Super Phalanx withdrawing for the time being, Tom focused his efforts on the damaged Golem II, firing a plasma shot, followed by two of his missiles.

"I got your back, James!"

The arrival of Claymere and Kurohoshi relieved him as well. He could feel the rage subsiding...

"Good to see you Claymere, sir," Tom said to him. "We're in a bit of a pickle here!"

The Yamataian allowed himself a smirk.

Just a VR mission, yup.

Yukari nodded. "Please start the training simulator then, Juni." She paused. "And thank you for relaying those words."

She prepped herself for some minor discomfort, but felt a little better. If Kotori believes I must do this ... then I will respect her desires.

But I hope I am rewarded for that respect. She managed a small smirk.

Yukari found herself shortly afterwards back on the battlefield, lying on her flank as the Harpy was trying to recuperate. There was an uncomfortable ache in the side of her chest, but she could also see the measures the Harpy was taking to preserve her life: pushing oxygen through her skin, sealing up the wound and starting helping her own hemosynthetics cope with the damage done as the AIES itself was working to get her out of her state of shock.

Of course, it was all fake, but still, there could be something reassuring of seeing how a power armor worked to preserve its user's life. A system diagnostic scrolled by, showing the Fusion thruster pack was considered to have sustained 'Class-C damage' from all the jostling and banging it had sustained so far.

The 'incapacitated' timer in the upper corner of her display reached 00:00. Her HUD returned to normal military settings. "System set up complete. " The AIES told her - she wasn't sure if the subtle tone of satisfaction in the computer's voice was genuine or imagined. "Friendly units detected. Reconnecting to local AIES net." Quickly, her sensors registered he new arrivals as well as the current position of the opposing units.

She was as ready as she was ever going to be.

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James' and Tom's combined assault put the already damaged Golem II in a bad posture. Although it quickly moved to evade and that its barrier was erected to protect against the assault, one of James' shots mangled Taurus Two's forearm armor while Tom's own plasma rifle blew off most of the shoulder armor on the opposite arm, plainly revealing burnt circuitry and actuator components.

The twin missiles Tom had launched also spiraled the Golem II's way, forcing it to flee into the building James had disappeared into in favor of being a standing duck to the homing mini-missiles. The NDI assault armor hurtled through the doorway and slammed itself against James' suit, causing them to ram themselves both into a hardy brick corner. The mini-missiles streaked closely by, both exploding against the nearby wall.

The structure shuddered and some debris crashed down around the both of them. The Golem II lurched up and, since its current handheld weapon lost in the debris, it began pummeling at its dust streaked Daisy partner with armored gauntlets.

Since there was little helping the Golem II inside the building and with Morita eluding it, the Kairyuu turned its SIAR Tom's way and launched its anti-armor grenades, intent on quickly finishing off its opposition.

In the meantime, the faster Super Phalanx took over the pursuit of Morita's Daisy and swiftly flew over him, lashing out with twin tongues of plasma energy from its palms. The two attacks lanced into the top of the Daisy, forcefully parting the cloak-shield before severely burning away at the armor over the head, shoulderpads and a good part of the back.

Morita was roughly shoved down on all fours by the impact, his AIES blaring sensor malfunctions as well as showing him yellows and oranges over the head, shoulder and rear torso armor. There was little respite to be had though, as the Super Phalanx switched back to its twin EM-9L Carbines and aimed down, defenitely intent on adding to the yamataian man's misery.

Nyton looked around quickly as he tried to get used to the new Armor. He brought up his LASR and ducked behind one of the three devastated buildings for some cover while he gathered his surroundings. This is definately different from my PHALANX. Good thing I read the dossiere on this thing. he thought to himself while he deployed his tactical drones to sweep around his surroundings. Reports were coming in from the crew members quickly along with all the AIES data.

"Claymere-Juni, Kurohoshi-Juni, looks like you're just in time! Yukari-Chui has been wounded and the rest of us have taken some hits."

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"Good to see you Claymere, sir," Tom said to him. "We're in a bit of a pickle here!"

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We're in Funky City. Home turf advantage. Nyton pondered before he began to move. "Kurohoshi we're going to rendezvous with the others. AIES, analyze the tunnel system underneath the streets, see if there is a route we can take to approach the battle unseen by the enemy." Nyton then pointed to Masako. "I want you to assist Yukari Chui. Get her out of there if she's too heavily damaged to fight. I'll try and organize the others and fall back to a more secure position." Nyton quickly annotated a spot on the map that was approximately 300 meters southwest of their current location. There were several buildings that could be used for cover along with narrow entries, and a sewer passage that afforded a quick escape underneath the streets. "I want you to take Yukari to that spot to recuperate. Just don't stay there long if you start taking potshots at the enemy." Nyton then followed the map and highlighted another area 250 meters northeast of where the others were located that appeared to still have electrical power available. "We're going to try and maneuver the enemy here. Try to remain unseen so we can maintain some element of surprise against them." he said urgently to Masako.

"Ow! Hey! That would probably be a lot worse if this were real!" Not exactly having the best of times, finally having the equivalent first blood drawn for him was something of an eye-opener. Or, rather, it drew Morita closer to that certain mindset that let him handle intense situations.

He brought his plasma rifle to bear on the Super Phalanx, switching it to dual-shot mode and rocketing towards the suit as fast as he could, rifle ablaze with superheated concentrarted energy. Close quarter combat was what he was good at before he joined the army, and now that the Super Phalanx had gotten close enough, it was time to show the others what he was really made of!

It was very soft at first, but as he drew closer, it was becoming apparent - his tone of voice was rising in a song. One that had a very pronounced feel of definite power. It was almost like a pledge - in fact, in Japanese, it was an old song of a man singing of protecting someone until the end of time. Each beat, each stanza, was marked by a very pronounced move. Morita was finding that all-too-familiar rhythm that has carried him through fights before.

Yukari's eyes fluttered a little. The pain was, oddly enough, uncomfortable but tolerable. AIES made short work of updating her of the situation; she was glad to have a secondary memory handy for such things. Why she hadn't used it before wasn't worth contemplating now.

Her primary focus right now was Morita. Anti-gravity brought her to her feet immediately and then some. Letting out a small grunt, she hoisted her rifle up and slowly floated to the corner of the building she'd been brought to. It was the southwest building, where Tom had been holed up for a short time. As she peered around the corner, she looked up and saw the Super Phalanx.

I cannot damage much, but I can certainly distract.

Backing away from the corner, Yukari took a deep breath. She'd thought about this while lying down in prone position earlier.

"AIES, activate tachyon communication system. Please use standard transmission methods. Send this message -- "

She had to think a moment. She then grinned.

" -- 'Bravo Squad Leader requesting immediate air support. We have an Ocelot-class mecha and one Super Phalanx. Surgical fire from aether shock cannon only, please.'"

The AIES gave the electronic equivilent of a blink. "There is no air support available, Suzuka-Chui -- "

"Please do it anyway, AIES. As you do that, run hyperwave doppler radar in active mode, two pings only. You are searching for any communication satellite beyond the atmosphere that will reflect a tachyon transmission."

The computer obediently did so. The ear on the left side of Yukari's helmet rose up a bit and began transmitting the message, while the hyperwave doppler radar switched on and fired one pulse, followed one second later by another pulse.

Yukari sent up another silent prayer to Chiharu as went back to the corner and brought up her rifle as the Super Phalanx switched to its carbines. Morita was on the ground, looking worse for the ware -- then, brilliantly, he was in the air! His plasma rifle was in front of him, glowing with some kind of energy. No time to aim!

With a general bead on the Super Phalanx's right shoulder, she fired.

As the grenades launched his way, Tom knew his only option was to shoot them all down. With his anti-grav function mangled, there was no way he could manuever to complete safety.

Besides, the last thing he wanted to do was expose his critically-damaged backside to the barrage.

In an instant, Tom deployed his tactical drones, fired 6 more missiles in an attempt to intercept the attack, and leapt as hard backwards as he could, drawing his forearm shield and bracing it in front of him.

Maybe, just maybe, the resulting explosion would not be his own.

Not good!

The SIAR-launched grenade tumbled toward Tom's position almost too fast for him to even think about counter-measures. Luckily, the Daisy Tom was in could operate at the speed of thought: while the missiles were wild off and shot ineffectually in the air, his tactical drones managed to nail the grenade before it got too close. Tom's jump didn't leave him enough space not to be buffeted away from the explosion, but it kept him alive and that was what was important.

Without his anti-gravity properly working, though, he didn't manage a graceful landing and almost comically fell on his butt. The Kairyuu suddenly loomed out of the smoky plume rising from the crater made where Tom had been standing a moment ago, its Suit Integrated Assault Rifle spitting 150mm rounds his way.

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The Super Phalanx had plenty of time to fire on the Daisy that was making a beeline toward it. Both carbines fired along with the tactical drones, the combined attacks smashing through the meager shielding left on Morita's Daisy and knocked him away hard to smash over the roof of the ruined building. The smoking, battered Daisy was just about to be finished off by an additional attack from the Super Phalanx's feet plasma projectors, but Yukari's shot was his saving grace and noisily clanged against the NDI armor, jarring it enough to not complete the kill.

The Phalanx's drones quickly aimed for the offending Harpy, though, and opened fire as their pilot darted away under the cover of some buildings to avoid any other ranged attacks.

Morita was not in good shape. Reaching the Phalanx while not using his best ranged weapon had left his enemy with plenty of time to mow him down even before he got into effective range. The entiriety of his left arm armor along with his chest were shown in red on the armor diagram and his energy cloak projector was out of commision along with the forearm pulse energy weapon. To add to the fun, his shoulder and the left side of his chest stung like hell, probably indicating the pilot was being 'considered' wounded by the attack - while the Daisy was treating him, his whole left arm was considered disabled for the next four minutes.

James gave up all pretense of defense as the Golem struck him repeatedly, instead lashing out violently with the butt of the plasma rifle to get some room. Responding with fists of his own, the Geshrin added the pulse weapons into the mix as well, followed with a hastily-aimed kick to try and bring the Golem to its knees.

There was a dull sensation around his stomach. James figured that one of the hostile armor's punches hit something important.

I have to end this.

Pressing back against the brick wall, he drew a bead on the Golem II and fired.

Making a mental checklist of her systems operational status, Masako couldn't help but blink in surprise at the armor's loadout. Sure, she had read the information they had on the Daisy, but it was still a bit overwhelming. Of course, it didn't have an Aether Rifle in its standard loudout, but then it really didn't need one on a planet.

"Kurohoshi we're going to rendezvous with the others. AIES, analyze the tunnel system underneath the streets, see if there is a route we can take to approach the battle unseen by the enemy." Nyton then pointed to Masako. "I want you to assist Yukari Chui. Get her out of there if she's too heavily damaged to fight. I'll try and organize the others and fall back to a more secure position."

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Suddenly pulled from her thoughts, Masako listened intently to Nyton's plan. She would be on her own until she got to the Chui and vunerable if any patrol decided to attack her in a group, but what difference was there from her first combat experience ever? She memorized the location Nyton pointed out before he went on.

"I want you to take Yukari to that spot to recuperate. Just don't stay there long if you start taking potshots at the enemy."

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She then followed Nyton's map to his next location as he explained the plan on his end. It all seemed pretty straight forward in her opinion, rescue the XO and lead your enemy to slaughter. The only problem was, would the enemy be lured. "Understood, Claymere-Juni," Masako replied as checked her LASR's magazine. Seeing ball ammunition, she made a small hiss of dissappointment before checking another for AP rounds. Finding what she was looking for, she loaded it up and readied the rifle for combat.

"I'll proceed on anti-gravity to minimize any sound I make and stay low to the ground as well," she said as her suit's active camouflage came up. "With a bit of luck, maybe I can get Suzuka-Chui out of combat before anyone notices....if she needs to that is," the young neko amended the last bit before she floated off the ground and began to follow her AIES towards the XO's position. "Good hunting."

Clamors of metal ringing against metal resounded within the building as both Daisy and Golem II struggled for dominance over the other.

A quick retreat and press of a trigger turned thing decisively in James' favor. The Golem was struck right in the chest by the plasma rifle and staggered back, a hole smoldering in its chest armor. It shuddered once and tried reaching for another weapon, but a second flash from the geshrin's plasma rifle cored through the Golem II and the NDI power armor was swallowed and consumed by the plasma, leaving only a warped carcass on the floor.

"Taurus Two, destroyed." His AIES needlessly confirmed and then listed the nearest targets he could engage: Taurus Three, the Kairyuu battle armor that was going after Tom; or Taurus Five, the Super Phalanx that Yukari was trying to distract before it could finish off Morita's badly damaged Daisy.

Of course, by then, anyone whom had tangled against the Taurus squad from the beginning were pretty banged up.

Given a moment of respite, James opted to switch to the LASR and give his plasma rifle a moment to charge. Opting to handle the Kairyuu, he clicked over to burst-fire and leaned out into the open.

One grenade left. Here goes nothing.

Taking aim at the Kairyuu's back and legs, he fired several bursts to try and force the armor to a less-mobile position and draw its attention.

Crap! No time!

That was all Tom could think while he scampered up and jumped around the edge of a building, running as hard as he could to get away from the assault.

He wondered what was taking Claymere and Masako so long.

"AIES, what's the probability of destroying the enemy unit with my current firepower?"

"Roger that. Be careful." Nyton replied to Masako and took off right as she departed to find an entrance to the underground sewage network. He left a drone to fly on the surface while he went below to give him a view of the action above. After he did so he followed his AIES guidance towards the three dots of Freeman, Morita, and James. The tunnel network was vast but he allowed the AIES to guide him, letting it do most of the work as fast as he could fly with the anti-grav to produce as little signature as possible. Based on the status readouts from the other Armors, Nyton decided that Morita would be the one in most need of assistance and progressed towards him. The target marked Taurus Five was classified as a Phalanx Armor. A grim smirk of irony crossed Nyton's lips but it quickly vanished as his face had become stern and determined.

"Hang in there Morita, back up is on the way." Nyton said quietly as he attempted to approach the battle from underground. With the drone above he triangulated his position until he was ten meters away before he looked for an opening where he could catch the Phalanx off guard. He created an entrance through a building from where he could take aim at the Phalanx while it was firing upon Yukari. Nyton used his eyes to keep track of all the hostiles, allowed corrections with the AIES system and his tac drone, and opened fire with a three round burst from his LASR which was quickly followed by a grenade round from the SLAG, and then a volley of three missles from the launcher on his leg. Nyton was familiar with just how much defense a Phalanx possessed and he hoped the combined output by all the weapons should be enough to either kill or cripple it.

"Ah!" Yukari saw the drones point her way after Morita crashed down. She flew backward as she was fired upon, heading back toward the original drop point where they entered the scenario. She wanted to try and shoot down one of the drones, but they were on to her; she wouldn't catch the S. Phalanx off guard again unless it was utterly distracted by something other than her.

The arrival of Nyton, however, brightered her spirits some. "Claymere-Juni, Kamiyama-Hei's armor is severely damaged. Do your best to protect him!"

She went back to AIES. "Did you find a communication satellite yet?"

The Kairyuu's barrier shield fizzled in the back as it registered the rapid impacts of James' railgun. The NDI armor fired yet another grenade Tom's way in parting and quickly turned to aim its light plasma cannon toward James' feet: it fired a white-hot plasma disc which would - on impact - explode and consume much of what would be in its several meters wide blast radius.

"The Kairyuu's protective barrier is not only very strong, but also recovers over time. For best results, continuous, powerful attacks must be applied." Tom's AIES answered him as the yamataian raced away from the grenade. One of his drones fired on the grenade just as it was overhead - causing it to violently explode.

While the explosion itself only forced him to flex his legs to maintain his footing, it also shook appart parts of a structure he had been adjacent to, causing large chunks of debris to drop in his vicinity.

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Nyton had hovered up to the second story of the building where Morita was resting over the roof and saw the Phalanx flash past in the many holes - some rather large - that pitted the structure. The first LASR-launched darts fizzled against the barrier shield rather ineffectually, but the grenade impacted against the energy globe and made an impressive explosion that shook the ruined structure to it's foundations. Missiles crashed through and billowing smoke from the ensuing explosion filled the air.

"Defending!" The AIES declared as the Phalanx counter-attacked, pushing two powerful gouts of plasma Nyton's way. The Nepleslian saw them burn through the haze and impact on his suit's protective barrier, leaving him just enough time to raise the forearm shield and block the attack as it cleaved through the protection and slashed into the additional layer of protection the nepleslian had quickly brought up.

Then, as quickly as the exchange had been, it was over. The Super Phalanx had flown up and above, streamers of smoke wreathing its damage-blackened armor as it rose over the roof and returned to the task of eleminating Morita.

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"Negative." The Harpy's AIES responded to Yukari. "I have, however, located a C-IES unit in orbit of Nepleslia. It identifies itself as NJ-X1-00 Hoshi, Kansashi-class auxiliary ship." There was no data provided on what a Kansashi-class auxiliary ship was supposed to be, but it showed the craft attaining a low, geosynchronous orbit with them.

The Ocelot mobile frame ran down a street, shaking dust from the buildings in its wake, and made a hard turn, crunching its feet into the pavement for stability as it stopped and turned around a corner to finally join the battle in the street.

James had no choice but to retreat deeper inside the structure, putting as many obstacles between himself and the explosion as he could.

With a sick feeling of dread in his stomach, he noted that the Ocelot had finally stopped moving. That would definately make the next few minutes much harder for the Miharu's crew.

He raced out the other side of the building and scanned the skies, searching for the Super Phalanx.

Nyton cursed a bit but he expected the Phalanx would possibly survive the barrage given how many times he had done so. He used his drones to scan outside the building, the one already outside keeping tabs on the Phalanx as it flew upwards. When he found that the coast was clear he cleared out from the side of the building and began to fly up. With his damaged shield in one hand and the LASR in the other he charged up. His defenses had been scorched but he knew he was still in good shape. With the drone that was already tracking the Phalanx he used it to guide his missles at the Phalanx as he fired them off while flying up to Morita. Even if they didn't hit they would at least occupy it long enough for him to reach Morita.