Sunny D
🌟 Site Supporter
- RP Date
- 46.1
- RP Location
- YSS Resurgence VR room.
"Targets spotted and within range, ready to engage."
Chiheisen whispered into the comms as she laid belly down at the edge of a ruined building, peering down the scope of a Ke-W5-1A LATR, aided by the augmented reality systems of the MINDY she was operating. She had been sneaking up there for quite a bit, long enough for her rifle and armor to be slowly gaining a pile up of snow and frost from the cold environment outside. The scopes crosshairs were hovering over a.. rather nondescript power armor, one of several in the area, completely generic and bland in its design. The second the confirmation order came through via a rather generic sounding command, that first armor found itself falling to the ground, with a rather clean hole right through it's head. The rest of the enemies below were sent into a scramble, quickly spotting the winged Mindy perched above the tall ruined building a bit of a distance away, that coat of built up snow blown off by the LATR's excessive recoil. It didn’t take long before another enemy power armor received a lovely early Christmas gift in the form of a hole right through its chest. The last of the enemies began to fly up, returning fire to Chiheisen as she pulled back into cover, the elysian grunting in annoyance as the enemy dodged the next few shots. As the enemy came closer, she gave up and switched to her rifles SMG fire mode, mauling the armor apart the second it got too close to the building. She sighed as she watched the armor fall down...
"Pause program"
The room around her froze as the armor was just about to hit the ground, the elysian stepping out of the now static simulated MINDY, ultimately a simple hologram. This was her 15th attempt at shooting all three armors with the sniper mode, but that last one always seemed a little too elusive for her to clip consistently.
"Having trouble with the last one, huh?" Erika's voice chimed in from the doorway, a teasing lilt in her tone.
Her observation was entirely based on the Elyisan's body language. The operative walked over, dressed in a standard issue physical activity uniform. The Star Army issue trainers she was wearing making hardly any sound as she approached the edge of Chiheisen's perch and looked down at the fallen simulated enemy frozen below.
"You got him though, no hits scored on you." Erika's inflection changed to curiosity, turning back to Chiheisen. "Why do you look like you're about to lay an egg?"
Chiheisen's eyes momentarily widened, the Elysian pivoting around on her heel in just a moment. For a moment she thought the simulation was still somehow running, that was atleast until her eyes focused on Erika. The sudden rush went away as quickly as it came, her feathers only a little ruffled. Erika had clearly startled the Elysian...
"...Noted... How did you get in here without pausing the program. . .Have you been in here this entire time?" She grumbled, a with a hint of disbelief mixed into her voice, her eyes fixed on the sly neko in front of her. She definitely recognized Erika, from the new years party from before!
Erika grinned widely “I’m SAINT. We’re all places at all times. You’re never truly alone.” She said with a wink, followed but a chuckle “No but, really, I had the VR room booked from 1400. We’re currently 1410, so the MEGAMI let me in. I walked in about the time you mag dumped the guy jumping up. You had a bit of tunnel vision going on I imagine.”
“I was going to run some scenarios anyway, if you want to join in.” The operative then took a deep breath “So what’s the scenario? What’s got you flustered? Aside from my ability to teleport.” She said with a shrug off to one side before continuing. “Maybe we can share notes?”
She blinked as she realized just how long she had been holed up in the VR room, to the point where she had gone over into Erikas session! She had been obsessing over sharpening her aim so badly, she had forgotten about time... Oops... "Right. . . Apologies for delaying your session in the room. Computer- end program"
The room around them faded away back into its regular state as the program was disengaged. The Elysian turned to Erika, raising an eyebrow at her offer. "Perhaps. I was simply attempting some aim training. If you wish for me to participate in your training, i will not object to it" She replied rather monotonically.
“Not at all.” Erika replied with a cheerful smile “There’s a good chance we’ll be supporting each other on away missions, so it will be good for both of us to see how each other operates. Unfortunately, I like to abuse the 4003 teleporter, which is very hard for the simulation to keep up with if there’s more than just me, so you won’t get to see that.”
The operative walked over to a console near the door and began tapping at the screen. “So, a bit of background with this scenario. The analysts say that any major breach in Yamatai’s defences of the core worlds is unlikely without a protracted battle to break through. What they are primarily concerned about is a small team of NMX Nekovalkyrja getting in and covertly infiltrating a major infrastructure project. The NMX Nekos look close enough to current generation Type 33s, like me, that they might be able to pull off such a feat. SAINT’s been working on a few scenarios to simulate.”
She finished her commands and the room changed again. A large building formed in the distance, utilitarian with little in the way of traditional architectural flourishes. Close to them was a warehouse loading dock, yellow lines formed on the ground around them with symbols saying loading zone and arrows for traffic flow. Adjacent to the main building is a series of imposing domes, their large, curved structures hinting at the advanced technology housed within. These domes gave away the purpose of the facility, being the outer containment housing for a series of power generators. Directly to their left was a Kuma Shuttle with Star Army markings and the side hatch ajar. Inside a locker could be seen with a set of Type 40 plate carriers on display.
“Take what you want from the shuttle.” Erika said, approaching the small oval ship. “Scenario is based around being the first team in so PA and heavy weapons aren’t readily available Just stuff the police have access to. Getting a Mindy in a civilian area can sometimes take a bit of red tape. We’re not expecting much more than NMX Nekos in similar protection. Though they may have managed to smuggle in a Ripper or Advanced Type, so be wary of that.”
She took the Type 40 vest and placed it over her sports clothes. She then took a Type 41 Rifle along with 5 magazines which she slipped into pouches on her chest. The sleek rifle clipped to the front of the vest and dangled down while she collected the rest of the gear she wanted. She attached some grenades and explosives kit to a belt and wrapped it around her waist. To her thigh she strapped a Model 38 Special duty revolver. Finally she grabbed a EM-j5-1a disc drone, a nondescript frisbee looking device in Star Army colours. She looked at it for a moment disappointedly.
“Computer, can you change the specs of the EM-J5-1A to the modified version I have?” The operative asked.
The purple disc vanished, replaced by a pink and black drone. It had a body that was egg shaped in the centre which linked to an outer antigravity generator ring by three arms. At the bottom of the main body was two protrusions that looked like the stripped barrel of an NSP. The drone came to life and took a position over Erika’s shoulder.
"Understood"
Chiheisen nodded as she scanned the surrounding area being generated before her very eyes, until they finally fixed on Kuma supply shuttle standing ready for them to gear up. She followed Erika inside to make her own equipment selections. She picked up her own Type 40 vest, frowning as she realized all her options were neko variants that wouldn't accommodate for her wings... at least not comfortably. Fortunately, the words "Computer, swap for Elysian Variant" fixed her little predicament.
The Elysian then picked up a Type 33-B Star Army Rifle, inspecting it momentarily, before clipping it onto her vest. She grabbed some SLAP ammo for it and slipped it into her vest, then grabbing a Service pistol and slipping it into her waist side holster, just in case. The Elysian also grabbed some throwable explosives to boot, though she didn't choose to grab a drone. She had a nasty habit of accidentally swatting them with her wings from time to time.
"Ready. How are we meant to identify these NMX? Are there any specific tells?" She asked as she unclipped her rifle, loading it and standing by.
"They're generally mistreated or neglected. So gaunt features, hair isn't as shiny, that kind of thing." Erika said, sliding the magazine in and racking the bolt. "They're also likely the only ones armed, though these facilities do have armed security so we need to be careful."
The operative then took a quick look at the equipment Chiheisen decided to take, her eyes fixating on the long barred type 33. "You know its a CQB environment? I know you're a sniper, but you might struggle with such a long rifle." Erika sighed, before chuckling "I guess I'm on point then. Just make sure you're ready to switch to that NSP if it gets a bit to tight."
Erika wrapped her hands around the rifle and looked up to the sky for a moment. "Computer, begin simulation." She said before looking down at the Elysian. "Chi, on me." she said, her inflection and demeanour changing almost instantly, becoming more professional. She about faced and headed towards a service door to the side of the rolling shutters in the loading bay. Her drone shot forward as she wordlessly gave it a command to approach the shutter and scan beyond it. As the operative ran to the door her foot falls were almost silent.
Chiheisen nodded along to the information she was receiving, and at the very least seemed to acknowledged Erika's recommendations! While she seemed a little annoyed by the shortened name, she lowered her rifle ever so slightly into a more casual position as she turned and proceeded to follow the nekovalkyria along to their destination. The Elysian tucked her wings neatly behind to reduce their profile as she inspected the area around them for any potential hostiles. She held her position as she watched the operatives EM-J5-1A proceed further into the area to scan.
The Elysian patiently waited for the drone to report back to Erika, so the pair could proceed with their mission.
It didn’t take long for the drone to report back. It held position some distance away and sent a feed of its scan directly to Erika’s mind. The operative’s instinct was to simply share the feed with her companion, but Elysian’s didn’t have the same integrations other forms in the Empire had.
“Two on the other side; one watching the door the other patrolling the area. Any ideas on how you want to play this?” The Erika asked.
The Elysian considered the situation for a moment, before glancing down at her Type 33 Rifle, pulling it up a bit for a better grip in her arms. "You can take the closest one, ill eliminate the patrolling one, which i assume is furthest away." Chiheisen opined as she scanning her surroundings and looking for any areas she could possibly climb up to and have a better vantage point, without revealing herself that is. Perhaps another entrance or a window...
"Are we sure these are our designated targets and not just regular nekovalkyria?" She asked, out of an abundance of caution, clearly taking this fictitious scenario to be as real as she possibly could...
Erika nodded. “Ones facing the exterior, whereas internal security would be looking to defend against an external threat. The way the other one is searching is for hiding contacts. I am highly confident they are not allied.”
The operative then lifted her rifle at the roller shutter and fired, the black tip rounds punching through the thin steel to the target beyond. The Neko on the other side spun around with the impact and fell to the ground in a lump.
“Got the other’s attention.” Erika said, relaying what the drone telemetry was telling her. “She’s looking at the roller shutter.” She then turned on the laser pointer on the rifle for a moment, marking a point on the shutter. “You fire on that point you’ll hit her.”
"Copy" The Elysian whispered, before pivoting from her crouched position towards the roller shutter, standing up in one smooth motion. She stood up right next to the nekovalkyria operative and lined up her shot on the marked point on the shutter, using her scope for just a moment to make sure it was aligned properly. Without hesitating, a perfect little hole was punctured through the shutter, and presumably through several other items in between the rifle and its intended target. Chiheisen stepped back just a little as she took the recoil from the Type 33-B in stride, lowering the barrel as she glanced to Erika.
"We need to come up with some way to share that data." Erika commented as she pushed forward. "I can send it to a Mindy, but as we can see Mindy's aren't always an option. Maybe some smart glasses or something."
She confidently approached the door and waved a hand over the ID reader before it opened with a hiss. She then held for a moment before the drone came to life once more and quickly hovered through the door. It held position over the closest target, ensuring she was downed before moving to the next one. Still breathing, so Erika approached and bound the NMX neko's hands with zip ties. As the Operative had said, the NMX Nekos had a malnourished appearance.
The main floor of the loading dock was wide open to allow logistics vehicles to move back and forth, while the outsides were lined with shelves and large stacked crates. Erika moved towards the other downed enemy "Cuffing." Erika said as she stood over the body, the drone hovered overhead covering her. "Take point and push to the next door."
"Understood"
Chiheisen proceeded along towards the next door, holding her rifle up to ensure she could quickly take aim and shoot if another NMX happened to come up. The birb examined the wooden crates and equipment surrounding her in the strage facility as she carried onto the door, making sure to clear every nook and cranny where someone could be hiding in. her eyes fixiated upon one of the crates as she moved to check it, scanning down the wood as it seemed to shine under the storage rooms skyli-
The realization hit Chiheisen just in time, The Elysian quickly dropping to the floor as she spotted the light shining onto the barrel of a gun peeking from just behind the wooden crate. A shot rang out over her head, almost clipping the birb's wings as she rolled behind cover, propping her rifle onto a smaller wooden crate she had ducked behind. The Elysian quickly aimed and pulled the trigger towards the hostile behind cover, wood splinters shooting out as the SLAP round punched through the very edge of the crate. It impacted the NMX Nekovalkyria, the target letting out a cry as they dropped their weapon, making a distinct thump as it hit the ground. The Elysian quickly moved to verify the kill, being wary of any other NMX prescence around her, just in case. She had only managed to hit the hostile through her arm, they were definitely still conscious and reeling after having tanked that hit... which the Elysian quickly rectified by slamming the anguished NMX's head in with the butt of her firearm, knocking them out cold.
Erika had dove into cover behind one of the crates as she heard the gunshot. "Chi, you good?" She asked as she got her bearings, using the drone to take a peak.
She reached for her comm, sending Erika a message as she proceeded towards the door. "One more down, be wary of other targets. They may be hiding behind cover and they are definitely aware of our Prescence"
"Copy that. The crates must contain reactor parts, they must be shielding my drone's scans. Cover me while I secure them." Eirka replied as she moved over, pointing her rifle down range as she checked her corners as she went.
Meanwhile the drone conducted a more through sweep of the room, making sure every avenue was clear while the Operative secured the third enemy. "Okay, I can confidently say the room is clear." She said after it was done.
They moved up to the doors at the far end. There were two options, in the middle there was another roller door which lead to a hallway used to transport heavy items, the other one was much smaller. "Corridor down that one is too long for my drone to scan it." Erika said pointing at the roller door. She then pointed at the other "That one is an office, probably for monitoring stock. Drone says its clear, and I don't expect there to be anything blocking it. Corridor is likely faster, office is safer. Have a preference?" She asked.
"The office seems like the wiser option, there could be enemies waiting out in the hallway, and it don’t imagine it has much cover to slip behind" She responded to Erika as she motioned to the way for the office. "If we can avoid that encounter and potentially get them from the other side, it would be most optimal compared to risking it by just going in there blind." She blinked as she noticed a wooden splinter hanging off of one of her hair strands, quickly pulling it out after her eyes focused on it. The Elysian reloaded her rifle and stood by, following Erika's lead.
"Agreed." Erika replied heading up to the door. She pressed up against the wall and waved her hand over the key scanner again. The door hissed open and she had the drone sweep across the door before entering. The pair made their way behind it. The room consisted of about 16 cubicles, all with a terminal and some personal items to make their workspace more comfortable. A large bay window was at the other end to let some natural light in, but the blinds were down. There were some bodies on the floor from the NMX's initial assault.
Erika checked the corners as she passed, but the drone was correct; there was nothing in the way of resistance. That wasn't the case with the next room however.
"Looks like a kitchen and commissary next." Erika said, relaying her information. "At least 6 hostiles. There are a couple of Civilians in there too with hands up. We'll come out into the main commissary area, fortunately the civvies are all in the far corner. Hopefully they stay down. How you think we should tackle it?"
"Perhaps if they’re all close to each other, we could attempt to take out all 6 of them at once. If we were to try to draw them out, some would no doubtedly attempt to threaten the hostages to try to prevent our advance." Chiheisen thought out loud for a moment, before looking at the SAINT operative. "Are there any alternative exits or entrances the enemy could try to escape through? And how close are they to the hostages?"
"I've got breach charges and concussive grenades. Breach and bang?” Erika replied. "As for other entrances, there is one leading from the main hallway we avoided, another on the other side which we'd likely have to clear another room. They are fairly far away too. Unlikely to use one as a shield if we pin them down. The only cover they have in the commissary are tables. Your 33, even my 41 with black tips should be able to penetrate. main thing we need to concern ourselves with is the kitchen. Rounds will struggle to punch through all that concrete." She explained. "My drone can keep the kitchen suppressed while you and I clear the com. Then we move on to the kitchen. How does that sound?"
The Elysian nodded as Erika finished explaining her plan, walking to the door, and sliding into position, her wings against the wall as she stood next to the door, she unclipped one of her own Stun grenades from her vest, ready to breach in unison. "I’ll stun them, you can spray them down with your 41, likely the fastest way to take care of that first group". Chiheisen waited for Erika to come along to begin their little scheme!
Erika nodded, pulling out a small eight block of type 31 explosive from a pouch and attached it to the door before attaching an electronic receiver. She didn't need a detonator; the device was linked to her mind already. She pressed herself against the wall next to the door and grabbed her rifle.
"Fire in the hole." She said.
The door was blasted from its track with a concussive puff of smoke and pyrotechnics.
As soon as the opening was clear of the pesky door blocking their advance, Chiheisen yanked the brown string preventing the flash grenade she was holding from activation. The Elysian quickly threw it straight into the room full of a platoon of likely very confused NMX, slowly rolling to a stop at their feet. Chiheisen stayed flat against the wall next to the door, a hand covering the side of her face which was next to the door, just in case, waiting for the SAINT operative to light up the enemy once the grenade had gone off. She held up her rifle with one hand.
The drone lead the way, ducking down beneath the threshold, the twin linked energy blasters on the other side filling the service window with fire. Napkins and codoment containers went flying, splattering their contents over the floor. The pair of Nekovalkyrja on the other side ducked for cover behind the window while Erika moved in. A blast of automatic fire cut one of them down, her body crumpling under the hail of black tips. Erika then moved her aim to a second, ripping into her with quick succession. The other two had recovered enough to lift their rifles in Erika's direction and began spraying in her general direction. The operative heard the rounds whizz past her head and evaded. She dropped to the ground and slid along it, using her Inertial Control System to propelled her along the floor to the more solid cover of the counter in front of the service window. The NMX Nekos took cover behind overturned tables, attempting for a moment to shoot down Erika's drone before the operative began reminding them she was there.
The NMX were given a very unfortunate lesson in picking better places to hide behind, as the barrel of a Type-33-B peeked out through the entry door. The Elysian peeked just a little bit to line up her shot, before putting a hole through one of the toppled cafeteria tables one of the NMX Nekos were hiding behind. She didn’t know whether she had actually taken them out, but hoped the shot would at least scared the nekos into attempting to run for better cover, preparing to fire again the second she saw one of their heads pop out...
The Nekovalkyrja in the Elysian's crosshairs took the round in the shoulder and was knocked back. From Chiheisen's she could see the Neko's arm splayed out on the floor. With there only one target still active in the cafeteria, Erika came around the counter to get a better angle. She tilted the rifle on its side and used the recoil to spray the length of the table the fourth NMX Neko was covering behind.
As she moved up to secure their weapons the pair in the kitchen began firing out the service window. There was a staff door around the corner that would leave Erika and Chiheisen exposed if they attempted to approach the fallen Nekos. Erika instead instructed her Drone to move out of the line of fire and check the bodies while she posted up on the corner.
The Elysian stayed in her position next to the first door to the room, peeking into it with her rifle! Her eyes tracked the drone as it went to check the bodies, ready to shoot if another NMX came into view. She clicked on her communicator for a second as she glanced behind, just in case.
"Status on the remaining hostiles?" She whispered into the communicator, her gaze returning to scanning the room religiously, wings twitching a little in their folded position. Something was giving her a bad feeling, and she couldn’t put her finger on it. The computer was making this scenario painfully easy for them, and she was beginning to have her suspicions...
Return fire energy bolts continued to stream out of the service window. "Give me a moment." Erika lowered her weapons so she could pull another concussion grenade from her vest. She swiped her hand over the staff door which slid open and tossed the grenade in. There was a loud bang while she raised her weapon once more. Her drone pivoted to provide a scan of the room so as Erika rounded the corner she knew exactly where to point. Two bursts of fire came from her rifle, knocking down the staggered Nekos.
"Contacts down." Erika said. "I'll secure these, if you want to get the civilians."
"...Copy"
The Elysian pivoted from the wall she had her back on, into the room, letting her wings expand a little for comfort. She proceeded down to the area meant to be housing the civilians, still holding her rifle up, remaining on alert in case of any enemy presence attempting to catch them off guard. Chiheisen pushed on towards the hostages and checked on them for any apparent injuries, before helping them out into the already cleared area behind them.
"Any word on additional backup to get these people out?"
"No word." Erika replied as she bound the arms of the downed NMX Nekos. "Your choice of whether to tell them to shelter in place or run to the exit."
"We should at the very least get them to a safer location. If we tell them to stay and we keep going, they could get caught in crossfire if were pushed out." She thought to herself outloud, before looking at Erika as she motioned with her gun. "Lets quickly escort them out the back and return. They are a priority here after all, we should make sure they get out safely"
"Thats a policy decision" Erika started as she finished up securing the downed hostiles. "In my experience the mission would take precedence. In this case, they've assaulted an infrastructure project. We have no idea if a fatal flaw was discovered in the power grid, or if they intend to destabilise the Aether generator and cause a detonation, but in such a case the stakes would be high. Higher than two Nekovalkyrja civilians." She thought for a moment about mentioning that they almost certainly had ST backups as well, but decided against it with a grimace. "We also can't back track every time we encounter a few civilians. I think we should secure them in place or give them directions to the way we came."
"Understood" The Elysian stood corrected, but she did not mind. This is what training was for anyways, that’s why they were there! She walked to the civilians, before giving the Nekovalkyria instructions on how to leave the building safely through the areas they had already cleared out and advising them to leave to someplace safe. She still had concerns about letting them stay in place, they didn’t know what was ahead of this room and didn’t want to have to care about two civilians if they did get pushed back into the room. She glanced back to Erika as she sent them off, reloading her gun to be ready to tackle the next room. "Let’s keep moving then"
“You’re not as cold as you appear on first glance.” Erika said, breaking from her professional cadence with a smile as she too pulled the half-consumed magazine from the side of her rifle and replaced it with a fresh one.
They pushed through the next few rooms, the architecture getting more industrial as they approached the reactor. They passed through a room dedicated to cooling, with pipes leading in twisting paths around the room to massive heat syncs, then through another with computer control systems with power and communications wires crossing the ceiling like a very organized spider’s web. Finally, through a locker room that contained a sealed area with Hazardous Environment Suits to protect against the exotic particles that might be produced in the Aether reactor if anything went wrong. Each room had between two and half a dozen NMX Nekovalkyrja which the pair quickly dispatched.
Now they came up to the core however they had an issue. They had to cross into the long corridor they had long been neglecting in order to access and secure the reactor. Erika had preformed a scan of the corridor and discovered the NMX Nekos had established a fortified position, dragging crates filled with reactor parts in front of the large re-enforced bunker doors which lead into the main reactor. Behind them there was a group of 10 Nekos taking cover behind them. Erika verified there were no more by sending her drone down the length of the locker room to a point in the wall behind the crates.
“it’s a fatal funnel and a half.” The operative said after she relayed the image the drone had provided. She then placed her hand against the wall as though testing in. “Got any ideas?” she asked, leaning against the wall.
The Elysian seemed to think about it for a moment, her eyes trailing around the room... until they landed on the drone. She fixed her eyes on it momentarily, It was a pretty useful piece of equipment, capable of getting into places they couldn’t. Bingo, the Elysian’s eyes widened a little as she came up with a rather dumb but effective idea, she scuttled back around the room they were in until she found a covered up vent, one of many around the entire facility.
"How attached are you to that drone?" She asked, grunting as she pried off the vents cover plate, leading into a rather large network of interconnected tunnels, too small for them to fit through, but perhaps large enough for a EM-J5-1A to hover on through, with a little room to spare.
"Fairly," Erika said, turning away from the wall to face Chiheinsen, "Why, what do you have in mind?"
"Perhaps if we strap it with several explosive grenades and send it through, it could exit through a vent behind the fortifications and take at least most of them out. We would just need to pick off any remaining, confused stragglers. We would lose the drone, unless we were to figure out a way to have it drop the payload without needing to sacrifice it, but we would be able to get through the hallway rather unscathed..." She sighed; a bit upset she hadn’t thought of grabbing her own drone to sacrifice. She wasn’t really a big fan of them anyways.
Erika gave a thoughtful exhale, her eyes darting to her drone. "Could work, though we loose a lot of tactical advantage doing that." The operative said. "Still, don't see another way around it. Why it’s useful to run these scenarios, you see where your equipment doesn't stack up."
Erika commanded the drone down as she reached into her satchel. The putty like explosive moulded and adhered to the drone. She wrapped it around the external AG ring and stuck a remote detonator to the central chassis. When she was done, she ripped the grill off the vent and commanded the drone inside. It didn't have to go far to find another, larger grill overlooking the defensive emplacement the NMX nekos had set up. Erika gave a nod to Chiheisen and the pair of them stacked up on the door, Erika instructing the Elysian to take point as she was focused on the drone.
In a moment Erika overcharged the inertial rings of the drone, giving it a bit of an extra boost to breach the vent at the cost of damage to the device, the last of her concerns at that moment. There was a loud crash as the grill crashed to the ground. The NMX Nekos practically jumped out of their skin, some of them turning around on instinct. A few shots were able to be fired before Erika detonated the explosives, causing a shockwave to rattle the door.
The Elysian nodded silently as Erika motioned for her to take point, watching out for any incoming pushes as the Nekovalkyria worked on the... 'Impostor Offensive'. She took cover behind the wall as she saw the vent pop out from the ceiling, the drone descending onto the nekos. Chiheisen Winced as the explosion rang out, before gripping the barrel of her gun and peeking back into the hallway, beginning to pick off anything she saw moving through the plume of smoke the explosives left behind. While the equipment sacrifice wasnt Ideal, not needing to deal with that wall of enemies was nice...
Erika rounded the door and followed the Elysian, casting a glance at the downed and affected Neko’s behind the barricade. Normally she’d have a drone keep tabs on their six o’clock, but that was no longer an option, and she kept her weapon trained down the corridor while Chiheison cleaned up.
The NMX Neko’s were either all severely concussed or killed outright, and those stirring in an attempt to recover quickly fell under the Elysian’s sights. Erika had to turn around momentarily so as not to trip over the mangled bodies. Despite the fact she was fairly certain they were all down, she began securing them by binding their arms together, providing they still had both. As she did, the large blast door leading into the primary reactor loomed in the corner of her vision.
"Hallway clear" The Elysian lowered the barrel of her rifle a little after pumping one last round into the remaining NMX Neko that was still moving, watching them slump on the ground. She reached the blast door on the other end, glancing back to Erika. She reloaded quickly and stood by the blast door, offering the Neko cover fire in case more NMX came at them from the back while the operative secured the unconscious. "How should we proceed?"
Erika looked at the remains of her drone on the floor then back up to Chiheisen. “I don’t have my drone anymore, so we’re going in blind.” She said, making sure her body and rifle was hidden against the wall.
She waved her hand against the ID reader and the door began to open, along with flashing lights and blaring kalxons. Erika trained her rifle down the corridor; in case their activity drew the attention of any remaining NMX hostiles. Once the door was open enough the operative slowly crossed the threshold with her rifle raised through it, clearing the room as best she could. It was enormous, a large dome made from a single formed piece of concrete lined with metal cross bracing further supported by large pillars. The floor was made of metal grating with pipes and cables running seemingly haphazardly underneath. There were several service vehicles, cranes and forklifts, and, strangely, some large container crates that dotted the floor. Finally in the centre was the reactor, two large metallic tapered tubes intertwined in a helix. Where each ended, they held one side of a large cylinder which hummed with energy.
“Room clear. Obscured by vehicle, left, vehicle right and central reactor.” Erika said.
Chiheisen rotated into the room from her cover once Erika gave her the All-clear, Rifle still raised as she visually scanned the room, stepping inside. She examined the room, mainly looking for any nooks and crannies where she reckoned hostiles could be perched and ready to attack, or alternatively, good sniping positions where she could perch up and make a little.., 'nest'. The Elysian's eyes fixed on the operative momentarily, before sticking next to her and covering her 6, just in case anyone tried to pull a sneak...
"We should move. That door was far too loud. If there’s anyone in here, they definitely know where we are"
A low rumble reverberated throughout the dome, causing Erika’s attention to shift towards the reactor. The sound of something large tapping on the metal grid of the ground came next, and the operative could see a tread poking out the side of the reactor. The vehicle had four independent treads attached via a hinge to a rectangular body. Atop the body was a large semi-circular turret, its outside circumference covered by a layer of explosive reactive armour and either side was a set of missile tubes. In the centre, offset to one side was a massive laser canon, and atop it was a smaller laser on its own gimbal. Erika automatically sent an image to the Res’ MEGAMI system which reported back it was a Shasta No Sekai All-Terry tank.
The operative heard a new hum from the machine as it flashed her with the muzzle of its main gun. She dived out of the way, using her ICS to slide across the ground as the main gun fired behind her, melting the grating behind her in a wide line. Erika hit one of the pillars and took cover behind it, the concrete absorbing the energy of the beam.
As the main weapon system was focused on Erika, the smaller laser turret swivelled around to point at Chiheisen. The aperture began to glow angrily as it locked on.
Chiheisen blinked as she watched a Tank just.. casually roll out like no ones business! The Elysian immediately regretted having thought that this exercize was too easy, fearing the computer had read her mind. Her feathers soon became a little ruffled visibly as she noticed the secondary gimbal aiming and charging directly at her. The Elysians wings quickly extended to their full wingspan of seven feet, pushing down on the air molecules surrounding Chichi and propelling her up into the air like a torpedo, the Elysian seeking worthy cover to preferably avoid becoming a bucket of KFC for their hostiles to enjoy. She gripped her gun as she looked at the tank, grunting out into the comms...
"Can our guns pierce its armor?!"
As the main weapon system was focused on Erika, the smaller laser turret swivelled around to point at Chiheisen. The aperture began to glow angrily as it locked on.
The smaller laser fired, cutting the air behind Chiheisen as its tracking attempted to compensate for the Elysian’s movement. As she continued in the same direction it began sizzling off her boots.
Erika was about to answer when she heard the hiss of a missile. She dove out of the way just in time before the pillar was engulfed by flame. She was thrown back by the concussive blast, only able to catch herself with her ICS just before slamming into the side of the dome. She still hit, but only with a thud rather than a splat.
“It has medium mecha class armor. My rifle will be practically useless. You might get lucky in some areas with yours.” Erika replied as she recovered. “Still things like optics will be vulnerable. I still have some explosives left too.”
The main turret pivoted once again to face the operative, who kicked off the dome wall and dropped to the ground. The large laser struggled to track, cutting through the metal supports and leaving a molten mess in its wake.
"Copy. Ill try to blind it!"
She grunted as she began to feel the heat of the laser fire getting closer. The Elysian suddenly swooped down towards the ground and slid behind a pillar for cover like Erika had done before. Having seen the missile attack that flushed the SAINT out of her position, Chiheisen knew is was only a matter of time until it did the same here. She gripped her Type 33 and peeked out from the pillar, firing as many rounds as she could aimed at the tanks visible optical sensors, mainly the ones on the main gun which were targeting Erika, so she could make a move. The Elysian was ready to shoot out again into flight the second she saw missiles being fired.
Chiheisen's shots rang out, each round aimed with desperate precision at the tank's optical sensors. The bullets sparked off the armored shell, some glancing off harmlessly, others finding their mark and obscuring the lenses with smears and cracks. The tank's main gun twitched erratically; its targeting disrupted by the damage.
It turned its attention to the Elysian, the main gun swinging around, aligning with the optics aboard the smaller weapon atop its turret. It began firing its main beam in a wide arc as it neared Chiheisen's vector, at the same time it loosed a missile at the base of the pillar. Erika saw the gun had turned away and capitalised, dashing towards the All-Terry. She made an ICS assisted jump, leaping the full height of the tank.
The Elysian was able to barely get away from the tanks volley, shooting up into the air with her wings, perhaps with a couple of singed feathers. She grunted as the sudden rush of air moving away from the explosion destabilized her flight, almost sending her straight into the wall like an unfortunate pigeon nosediving into a glass window. She barely recovered and kept flying, knowing that another mistake like that could end up with disintegration- or rather, not being able to participate in the training program. Chiheisen was getting tired regardless, although she was rather strong compared to the typical Caelisolan, she wasn’t particularly used to intensive flying like this. Glancing over and noticing Erika getting onto the tank, the Elysian quickly sent a message into the communicator, muddied by exhausted panting.
"Whatever you’re going to do, do it fast- I can’t keep outflying its weapons for long!"
Erika landed atop the tank’s flat turret, sliding along its surface foot first. She grabbed a hold of the top antipersonnel laser and caught herself, using the momentum to come to her feet. The gunner would have seen her pop into frame from below, with her rifle held in one hand, braced in the crook between her arm and body as the muzzle was pressed against the glass of the optic. A burst from the rifle pelted the glass, not shattering it but warping its surface and the housing, causing it to misalign.
The smaller turret rotated, slamming into Erika’s side and knocking her back. The operative managed to catch herself on the ERA panels on the side of the turret as the laser attempted to fire upon her, missing by a few degrees. It could recalibrate though, and she had to capitalise while she could. She swung her body in a wide arc, using her ICS to assist in a leap over the gun, exceeding its elevation and landing on its other side.
Meanwhile, the tank still some of the driver optics. Though not designed in any way to take up the slack if the gun optic was destroyed, the pilot attempted to rotate the body, so its front lined up with the turret. It then fired in another wide arc in Chiheison’s general direction, hoping to catch the elysian with its broad attack.
Chiheisen grunted as she glanced towards the tank momentarily, noting how it was still very much focused on her. The Elysian was quickly losing ground to it, and she had no choice but to get behind cover momentarily, hoping Erika just needed a little more time to distract the tanks operator. She quickly dove back down, aiming behind one of the larger pillars to avoid being caught by the laser continuously firing at her. The let out a loud grunt as she lost a bit of control at the end of the dive- likely due to exhaustion and smacking into the ground. The Elysian barely pulled herself together and slipped behind the pillar as the laser swung by, wincing as she propped her back up against the pillar. Ow.
The beam swung across the pillar, then back over it. The concrete began to heat up and ablate away under the assault. Erika reached into her explosives pouch, grabbed a block, and almost slapped it on the smaller turret. She only used as much care as was required to attach the detonator before jumping off the top, the smaller weapon being torn apart by the ensuing explosion. Its gun optics and primary anti infantry weapon destroyed, the driver had little other option but to charge the pillar. Erika narrowly avoided getting crushed by the All-Terry’s treads as it sped off to slam into the weakened pillar.
Chiheisen prepared to jump out into the air again, knowing she might just end up getting shot once she took to the skies, until she heard a satisfying pop behind her! The Elysian peeked out of the pillar as she heard the telling sound of the firing laser stop.. sighing loudly in relief as she saw the tank had taken considerable damage to its weapons thanks to Erika's explosives. That relief didn’t last long as she scrambled back onto her feet and booked it, using her wings to boost herself the fuck out of the way of the incoming tank pulling a kamikaze attack on the pillar.
Dust and debris were flung wide as the tank cleaved through the thick concrete pillar. The damage the main gun had done caused the pillar to snap at the point, and one further up. The pillar fell backwards, over the tank. The weight pushed the tank’s body to the floor, pinning it against the metal grating while the rest continued to come crumbling down. Erika dove out of the way, taking cover away from the pillars fall. The pillar crushed components and structures alike and hit the ground exploding into more concrete shrapnel. The rebar that ran through the pillar became an exposed tangled mess on the ground.
As the dust settled the All Terry began attempting to extricate itself, however it was now surrounded on all sides by debris. It moved, slowly against the stacks of broken concrete, though it began to get purchase. Erika rushed the tank, once more leaping on top of the turret.
Several SLAP rounds flew towards one of the tanks track joints in an attempt to further immobilize the hulking beast! Chiheisen huffed as she replaced the now spent magazine of her Type-33, gritting her teeth as she watched Erika hop onto the struggling tank's turret. The Elysian aimed a little lower this time and began to fire again, wary of her teammates position on the tank, mainly shooting for any of the tanks exposed leg joints to attempt to keep it from moving too much while the operative took it out for good...
“Chi, get a grenade ready!” Erika called out, throwing an explosive block upon the tanks hull. She then reached back into the satchel and pulled out a Shaped Charge Case. The Case adhered to the tanks top hatch. The tank heaved again, causing Erika to stumble and the brick of explosive to slide. She dived after it and returned to affixing the charge as though it was nothing, pressing it into the casing.
“Fire in the hole!” The operative said, rolling away from the hatch. The charge detonated in a large conflagration, but the majority of it was directed downwards. The casing was vaporized and in its place was a fist sized hole.
The Elysian nodded as she held onto her rifle with just her right hand, using her now free hand to unclip one of the explosive grenades she had equipped back at the shuttle the duo had begun their mission in! With one swift wing flap she propelled herself up to the top of the tanks blown in hatch, activating the grenades timer, and throwing it into the hole. Whoever was inside was about to get an unpleasant surprise, as Chiheisen jumped off of the tank to put some distance between herself and the incoming ka-boom.
"Watch out!" She yelled back just in case, though she assumed Erika had also moved away from the tank when she chucked that in.
Compared to the shaped charge Erika'd just used, the Grenade was considerably less powerful. She stayed where she was, simply staying low on the off chance some of the fragmentation came out of the hole. The detonation was deadend by the hull of the tank, and a puff of smoke came from the hole shortly after. The operative got to her feet and placed the muzzle of her gun in the hole and dumped an entire magazine into the turret.
Shortly after the computer announced the simulation was over with a chime. A scoreboard with points appeared, tallying up the number of combatants eliminated, and civilians saved. It also listed their simulated injuries. Erika had a broken rib from where the small turret struck her, and the pair of them had minor barotrauma from the explosions. Nothing that would stop a Nekovalkyrja filled with adrenaline, but it still lost them a few points.
Admittedly, Chiheisen was expecting a much larger explosion considering the tanks armaments, but she simply looked back at the disabled tank and her teammate. The Elysian let out an audible sigh as the simulation ended, her wings stretching a little now that she didn’t have to worry about them being shot off by a simulated NMX. She shrugged as the scores popped in holographically, wishing the holodeck had a water dispenser of some kind...
"That was... interesting."
Erika was panting as she sat at the edge of the tank’s turret "It was good. We got to see how each other operates and identify weaknesses." She took a breath. "My done needs a clamp so it can carry and drop ordinance. In a Mindy you're probably adequitely linked into our network, out side of it though it would be helpful if you had some way of accessing it, like some smart glasses or something to that effect."
She jumpped off the turret and rolled her neck around. "I'm hopping in the onsen after that. I need a soak. You coming?"
The Elysian hesitated at the invitation, her wings becoming a little ruffled. A soak sounded great after all that combat and training, but she wasn’t a very social creature.. especially not in a bath with a neko. Her face turned a little pink, not too much, but enough to be noticeable to a good eye as she responded. "Perhaps I'll go later in the day. Thank you for the training.." Chiheisen offered the nekovalkyria a small, courteous bow, her wings folded neatly behind her back. "Computer, end program"
"Thanks for spotting me." Erika said with a smile before releasing a sympathetic exhale. "Look, I'm not going to pressure you too hard, but right after a difficult session is the best time to go." She brought both her hands together and clasped her fingers over her palms. "I promise, no small talk from me, just a soak."
The Elysian hesitated as she approached the VR room door, glancing back towards Erika as the nekovalkyria reiterated her offer. She seemed to think about it momentarily, pretty apparent on her face. She finally gave in, somewhat, her wings idly swaying as she turned back to the door, walking across it as she gave her final answer. "Alright, I suppose.. I'll be there momentarily". As she walked out, the door closed behind her with a satisfying hydraulic hiss...
=====
JP by Lizalopod And Sunny D
Chiheisen whispered into the comms as she laid belly down at the edge of a ruined building, peering down the scope of a Ke-W5-1A LATR, aided by the augmented reality systems of the MINDY she was operating. She had been sneaking up there for quite a bit, long enough for her rifle and armor to be slowly gaining a pile up of snow and frost from the cold environment outside. The scopes crosshairs were hovering over a.. rather nondescript power armor, one of several in the area, completely generic and bland in its design. The second the confirmation order came through via a rather generic sounding command, that first armor found itself falling to the ground, with a rather clean hole right through it's head. The rest of the enemies below were sent into a scramble, quickly spotting the winged Mindy perched above the tall ruined building a bit of a distance away, that coat of built up snow blown off by the LATR's excessive recoil. It didn’t take long before another enemy power armor received a lovely early Christmas gift in the form of a hole right through its chest. The last of the enemies began to fly up, returning fire to Chiheisen as she pulled back into cover, the elysian grunting in annoyance as the enemy dodged the next few shots. As the enemy came closer, she gave up and switched to her rifles SMG fire mode, mauling the armor apart the second it got too close to the building. She sighed as she watched the armor fall down...
"Pause program"
The room around her froze as the armor was just about to hit the ground, the elysian stepping out of the now static simulated MINDY, ultimately a simple hologram. This was her 15th attempt at shooting all three armors with the sniper mode, but that last one always seemed a little too elusive for her to clip consistently.
"Having trouble with the last one, huh?" Erika's voice chimed in from the doorway, a teasing lilt in her tone.
Her observation was entirely based on the Elyisan's body language. The operative walked over, dressed in a standard issue physical activity uniform. The Star Army issue trainers she was wearing making hardly any sound as she approached the edge of Chiheisen's perch and looked down at the fallen simulated enemy frozen below.
"You got him though, no hits scored on you." Erika's inflection changed to curiosity, turning back to Chiheisen. "Why do you look like you're about to lay an egg?"
Chiheisen's eyes momentarily widened, the Elysian pivoting around on her heel in just a moment. For a moment she thought the simulation was still somehow running, that was atleast until her eyes focused on Erika. The sudden rush went away as quickly as it came, her feathers only a little ruffled. Erika had clearly startled the Elysian...
"...Noted... How did you get in here without pausing the program. . .Have you been in here this entire time?" She grumbled, a with a hint of disbelief mixed into her voice, her eyes fixed on the sly neko in front of her. She definitely recognized Erika, from the new years party from before!
Erika grinned widely “I’m SAINT. We’re all places at all times. You’re never truly alone.” She said with a wink, followed but a chuckle “No but, really, I had the VR room booked from 1400. We’re currently 1410, so the MEGAMI let me in. I walked in about the time you mag dumped the guy jumping up. You had a bit of tunnel vision going on I imagine.”
“I was going to run some scenarios anyway, if you want to join in.” The operative then took a deep breath “So what’s the scenario? What’s got you flustered? Aside from my ability to teleport.” She said with a shrug off to one side before continuing. “Maybe we can share notes?”
She blinked as she realized just how long she had been holed up in the VR room, to the point where she had gone over into Erikas session! She had been obsessing over sharpening her aim so badly, she had forgotten about time... Oops... "Right. . . Apologies for delaying your session in the room. Computer- end program"
The room around them faded away back into its regular state as the program was disengaged. The Elysian turned to Erika, raising an eyebrow at her offer. "Perhaps. I was simply attempting some aim training. If you wish for me to participate in your training, i will not object to it" She replied rather monotonically.
“Not at all.” Erika replied with a cheerful smile “There’s a good chance we’ll be supporting each other on away missions, so it will be good for both of us to see how each other operates. Unfortunately, I like to abuse the 4003 teleporter, which is very hard for the simulation to keep up with if there’s more than just me, so you won’t get to see that.”
The operative walked over to a console near the door and began tapping at the screen. “So, a bit of background with this scenario. The analysts say that any major breach in Yamatai’s defences of the core worlds is unlikely without a protracted battle to break through. What they are primarily concerned about is a small team of NMX Nekovalkyrja getting in and covertly infiltrating a major infrastructure project. The NMX Nekos look close enough to current generation Type 33s, like me, that they might be able to pull off such a feat. SAINT’s been working on a few scenarios to simulate.”
She finished her commands and the room changed again. A large building formed in the distance, utilitarian with little in the way of traditional architectural flourishes. Close to them was a warehouse loading dock, yellow lines formed on the ground around them with symbols saying loading zone and arrows for traffic flow. Adjacent to the main building is a series of imposing domes, their large, curved structures hinting at the advanced technology housed within. These domes gave away the purpose of the facility, being the outer containment housing for a series of power generators. Directly to their left was a Kuma Shuttle with Star Army markings and the side hatch ajar. Inside a locker could be seen with a set of Type 40 plate carriers on display.
“Take what you want from the shuttle.” Erika said, approaching the small oval ship. “Scenario is based around being the first team in so PA and heavy weapons aren’t readily available Just stuff the police have access to. Getting a Mindy in a civilian area can sometimes take a bit of red tape. We’re not expecting much more than NMX Nekos in similar protection. Though they may have managed to smuggle in a Ripper or Advanced Type, so be wary of that.”
She took the Type 40 vest and placed it over her sports clothes. She then took a Type 41 Rifle along with 5 magazines which she slipped into pouches on her chest. The sleek rifle clipped to the front of the vest and dangled down while she collected the rest of the gear she wanted. She attached some grenades and explosives kit to a belt and wrapped it around her waist. To her thigh she strapped a Model 38 Special duty revolver. Finally she grabbed a EM-j5-1a disc drone, a nondescript frisbee looking device in Star Army colours. She looked at it for a moment disappointedly.
“Computer, can you change the specs of the EM-J5-1A to the modified version I have?” The operative asked.
The purple disc vanished, replaced by a pink and black drone. It had a body that was egg shaped in the centre which linked to an outer antigravity generator ring by three arms. At the bottom of the main body was two protrusions that looked like the stripped barrel of an NSP. The drone came to life and took a position over Erika’s shoulder.
"Understood"
Chiheisen nodded as she scanned the surrounding area being generated before her very eyes, until they finally fixed on Kuma supply shuttle standing ready for them to gear up. She followed Erika inside to make her own equipment selections. She picked up her own Type 40 vest, frowning as she realized all her options were neko variants that wouldn't accommodate for her wings... at least not comfortably. Fortunately, the words "Computer, swap for Elysian Variant" fixed her little predicament.
The Elysian then picked up a Type 33-B Star Army Rifle, inspecting it momentarily, before clipping it onto her vest. She grabbed some SLAP ammo for it and slipped it into her vest, then grabbing a Service pistol and slipping it into her waist side holster, just in case. The Elysian also grabbed some throwable explosives to boot, though she didn't choose to grab a drone. She had a nasty habit of accidentally swatting them with her wings from time to time.
"Ready. How are we meant to identify these NMX? Are there any specific tells?" She asked as she unclipped her rifle, loading it and standing by.
"They're generally mistreated or neglected. So gaunt features, hair isn't as shiny, that kind of thing." Erika said, sliding the magazine in and racking the bolt. "They're also likely the only ones armed, though these facilities do have armed security so we need to be careful."
The operative then took a quick look at the equipment Chiheisen decided to take, her eyes fixating on the long barred type 33. "You know its a CQB environment? I know you're a sniper, but you might struggle with such a long rifle." Erika sighed, before chuckling "I guess I'm on point then. Just make sure you're ready to switch to that NSP if it gets a bit to tight."
Erika wrapped her hands around the rifle and looked up to the sky for a moment. "Computer, begin simulation." She said before looking down at the Elysian. "Chi, on me." she said, her inflection and demeanour changing almost instantly, becoming more professional. She about faced and headed towards a service door to the side of the rolling shutters in the loading bay. Her drone shot forward as she wordlessly gave it a command to approach the shutter and scan beyond it. As the operative ran to the door her foot falls were almost silent.
Chiheisen nodded along to the information she was receiving, and at the very least seemed to acknowledged Erika's recommendations! While she seemed a little annoyed by the shortened name, she lowered her rifle ever so slightly into a more casual position as she turned and proceeded to follow the nekovalkyria along to their destination. The Elysian tucked her wings neatly behind to reduce their profile as she inspected the area around them for any potential hostiles. She held her position as she watched the operatives EM-J5-1A proceed further into the area to scan.
The Elysian patiently waited for the drone to report back to Erika, so the pair could proceed with their mission.
It didn’t take long for the drone to report back. It held position some distance away and sent a feed of its scan directly to Erika’s mind. The operative’s instinct was to simply share the feed with her companion, but Elysian’s didn’t have the same integrations other forms in the Empire had.
“Two on the other side; one watching the door the other patrolling the area. Any ideas on how you want to play this?” The Erika asked.
The Elysian considered the situation for a moment, before glancing down at her Type 33 Rifle, pulling it up a bit for a better grip in her arms. "You can take the closest one, ill eliminate the patrolling one, which i assume is furthest away." Chiheisen opined as she scanning her surroundings and looking for any areas she could possibly climb up to and have a better vantage point, without revealing herself that is. Perhaps another entrance or a window...
"Are we sure these are our designated targets and not just regular nekovalkyria?" She asked, out of an abundance of caution, clearly taking this fictitious scenario to be as real as she possibly could...
Erika nodded. “Ones facing the exterior, whereas internal security would be looking to defend against an external threat. The way the other one is searching is for hiding contacts. I am highly confident they are not allied.”
The operative then lifted her rifle at the roller shutter and fired, the black tip rounds punching through the thin steel to the target beyond. The Neko on the other side spun around with the impact and fell to the ground in a lump.
“Got the other’s attention.” Erika said, relaying what the drone telemetry was telling her. “She’s looking at the roller shutter.” She then turned on the laser pointer on the rifle for a moment, marking a point on the shutter. “You fire on that point you’ll hit her.”
"Copy" The Elysian whispered, before pivoting from her crouched position towards the roller shutter, standing up in one smooth motion. She stood up right next to the nekovalkyria operative and lined up her shot on the marked point on the shutter, using her scope for just a moment to make sure it was aligned properly. Without hesitating, a perfect little hole was punctured through the shutter, and presumably through several other items in between the rifle and its intended target. Chiheisen stepped back just a little as she took the recoil from the Type 33-B in stride, lowering the barrel as she glanced to Erika.
"We need to come up with some way to share that data." Erika commented as she pushed forward. "I can send it to a Mindy, but as we can see Mindy's aren't always an option. Maybe some smart glasses or something."
She confidently approached the door and waved a hand over the ID reader before it opened with a hiss. She then held for a moment before the drone came to life once more and quickly hovered through the door. It held position over the closest target, ensuring she was downed before moving to the next one. Still breathing, so Erika approached and bound the NMX neko's hands with zip ties. As the Operative had said, the NMX Nekos had a malnourished appearance.
The main floor of the loading dock was wide open to allow logistics vehicles to move back and forth, while the outsides were lined with shelves and large stacked crates. Erika moved towards the other downed enemy "Cuffing." Erika said as she stood over the body, the drone hovered overhead covering her. "Take point and push to the next door."
"Understood"
Chiheisen proceeded along towards the next door, holding her rifle up to ensure she could quickly take aim and shoot if another NMX happened to come up. The birb examined the wooden crates and equipment surrounding her in the strage facility as she carried onto the door, making sure to clear every nook and cranny where someone could be hiding in. her eyes fixiated upon one of the crates as she moved to check it, scanning down the wood as it seemed to shine under the storage rooms skyli-
The realization hit Chiheisen just in time, The Elysian quickly dropping to the floor as she spotted the light shining onto the barrel of a gun peeking from just behind the wooden crate. A shot rang out over her head, almost clipping the birb's wings as she rolled behind cover, propping her rifle onto a smaller wooden crate she had ducked behind. The Elysian quickly aimed and pulled the trigger towards the hostile behind cover, wood splinters shooting out as the SLAP round punched through the very edge of the crate. It impacted the NMX Nekovalkyria, the target letting out a cry as they dropped their weapon, making a distinct thump as it hit the ground. The Elysian quickly moved to verify the kill, being wary of any other NMX prescence around her, just in case. She had only managed to hit the hostile through her arm, they were definitely still conscious and reeling after having tanked that hit... which the Elysian quickly rectified by slamming the anguished NMX's head in with the butt of her firearm, knocking them out cold.
Erika had dove into cover behind one of the crates as she heard the gunshot. "Chi, you good?" She asked as she got her bearings, using the drone to take a peak.
She reached for her comm, sending Erika a message as she proceeded towards the door. "One more down, be wary of other targets. They may be hiding behind cover and they are definitely aware of our Prescence"
"Copy that. The crates must contain reactor parts, they must be shielding my drone's scans. Cover me while I secure them." Eirka replied as she moved over, pointing her rifle down range as she checked her corners as she went.
Meanwhile the drone conducted a more through sweep of the room, making sure every avenue was clear while the Operative secured the third enemy. "Okay, I can confidently say the room is clear." She said after it was done.
They moved up to the doors at the far end. There were two options, in the middle there was another roller door which lead to a hallway used to transport heavy items, the other one was much smaller. "Corridor down that one is too long for my drone to scan it." Erika said pointing at the roller door. She then pointed at the other "That one is an office, probably for monitoring stock. Drone says its clear, and I don't expect there to be anything blocking it. Corridor is likely faster, office is safer. Have a preference?" She asked.
"The office seems like the wiser option, there could be enemies waiting out in the hallway, and it don’t imagine it has much cover to slip behind" She responded to Erika as she motioned to the way for the office. "If we can avoid that encounter and potentially get them from the other side, it would be most optimal compared to risking it by just going in there blind." She blinked as she noticed a wooden splinter hanging off of one of her hair strands, quickly pulling it out after her eyes focused on it. The Elysian reloaded her rifle and stood by, following Erika's lead.
"Agreed." Erika replied heading up to the door. She pressed up against the wall and waved her hand over the key scanner again. The door hissed open and she had the drone sweep across the door before entering. The pair made their way behind it. The room consisted of about 16 cubicles, all with a terminal and some personal items to make their workspace more comfortable. A large bay window was at the other end to let some natural light in, but the blinds were down. There were some bodies on the floor from the NMX's initial assault.
Erika checked the corners as she passed, but the drone was correct; there was nothing in the way of resistance. That wasn't the case with the next room however.
"Looks like a kitchen and commissary next." Erika said, relaying her information. "At least 6 hostiles. There are a couple of Civilians in there too with hands up. We'll come out into the main commissary area, fortunately the civvies are all in the far corner. Hopefully they stay down. How you think we should tackle it?"
"Perhaps if they’re all close to each other, we could attempt to take out all 6 of them at once. If we were to try to draw them out, some would no doubtedly attempt to threaten the hostages to try to prevent our advance." Chiheisen thought out loud for a moment, before looking at the SAINT operative. "Are there any alternative exits or entrances the enemy could try to escape through? And how close are they to the hostages?"
"I've got breach charges and concussive grenades. Breach and bang?” Erika replied. "As for other entrances, there is one leading from the main hallway we avoided, another on the other side which we'd likely have to clear another room. They are fairly far away too. Unlikely to use one as a shield if we pin them down. The only cover they have in the commissary are tables. Your 33, even my 41 with black tips should be able to penetrate. main thing we need to concern ourselves with is the kitchen. Rounds will struggle to punch through all that concrete." She explained. "My drone can keep the kitchen suppressed while you and I clear the com. Then we move on to the kitchen. How does that sound?"
The Elysian nodded as Erika finished explaining her plan, walking to the door, and sliding into position, her wings against the wall as she stood next to the door, she unclipped one of her own Stun grenades from her vest, ready to breach in unison. "I’ll stun them, you can spray them down with your 41, likely the fastest way to take care of that first group". Chiheisen waited for Erika to come along to begin their little scheme!
Erika nodded, pulling out a small eight block of type 31 explosive from a pouch and attached it to the door before attaching an electronic receiver. She didn't need a detonator; the device was linked to her mind already. She pressed herself against the wall next to the door and grabbed her rifle.
"Fire in the hole." She said.
The door was blasted from its track with a concussive puff of smoke and pyrotechnics.
As soon as the opening was clear of the pesky door blocking their advance, Chiheisen yanked the brown string preventing the flash grenade she was holding from activation. The Elysian quickly threw it straight into the room full of a platoon of likely very confused NMX, slowly rolling to a stop at their feet. Chiheisen stayed flat against the wall next to the door, a hand covering the side of her face which was next to the door, just in case, waiting for the SAINT operative to light up the enemy once the grenade had gone off. She held up her rifle with one hand.
The drone lead the way, ducking down beneath the threshold, the twin linked energy blasters on the other side filling the service window with fire. Napkins and codoment containers went flying, splattering their contents over the floor. The pair of Nekovalkyrja on the other side ducked for cover behind the window while Erika moved in. A blast of automatic fire cut one of them down, her body crumpling under the hail of black tips. Erika then moved her aim to a second, ripping into her with quick succession. The other two had recovered enough to lift their rifles in Erika's direction and began spraying in her general direction. The operative heard the rounds whizz past her head and evaded. She dropped to the ground and slid along it, using her Inertial Control System to propelled her along the floor to the more solid cover of the counter in front of the service window. The NMX Nekos took cover behind overturned tables, attempting for a moment to shoot down Erika's drone before the operative began reminding them she was there.
The NMX were given a very unfortunate lesson in picking better places to hide behind, as the barrel of a Type-33-B peeked out through the entry door. The Elysian peeked just a little bit to line up her shot, before putting a hole through one of the toppled cafeteria tables one of the NMX Nekos were hiding behind. She didn’t know whether she had actually taken them out, but hoped the shot would at least scared the nekos into attempting to run for better cover, preparing to fire again the second she saw one of their heads pop out...
The Nekovalkyrja in the Elysian's crosshairs took the round in the shoulder and was knocked back. From Chiheisen's she could see the Neko's arm splayed out on the floor. With there only one target still active in the cafeteria, Erika came around the counter to get a better angle. She tilted the rifle on its side and used the recoil to spray the length of the table the fourth NMX Neko was covering behind.
As she moved up to secure their weapons the pair in the kitchen began firing out the service window. There was a staff door around the corner that would leave Erika and Chiheisen exposed if they attempted to approach the fallen Nekos. Erika instead instructed her Drone to move out of the line of fire and check the bodies while she posted up on the corner.
The Elysian stayed in her position next to the first door to the room, peeking into it with her rifle! Her eyes tracked the drone as it went to check the bodies, ready to shoot if another NMX came into view. She clicked on her communicator for a second as she glanced behind, just in case.
"Status on the remaining hostiles?" She whispered into the communicator, her gaze returning to scanning the room religiously, wings twitching a little in their folded position. Something was giving her a bad feeling, and she couldn’t put her finger on it. The computer was making this scenario painfully easy for them, and she was beginning to have her suspicions...
Return fire energy bolts continued to stream out of the service window. "Give me a moment." Erika lowered her weapons so she could pull another concussion grenade from her vest. She swiped her hand over the staff door which slid open and tossed the grenade in. There was a loud bang while she raised her weapon once more. Her drone pivoted to provide a scan of the room so as Erika rounded the corner she knew exactly where to point. Two bursts of fire came from her rifle, knocking down the staggered Nekos.
"Contacts down." Erika said. "I'll secure these, if you want to get the civilians."
"...Copy"
The Elysian pivoted from the wall she had her back on, into the room, letting her wings expand a little for comfort. She proceeded down to the area meant to be housing the civilians, still holding her rifle up, remaining on alert in case of any enemy presence attempting to catch them off guard. Chiheisen pushed on towards the hostages and checked on them for any apparent injuries, before helping them out into the already cleared area behind them.
"Any word on additional backup to get these people out?"
"No word." Erika replied as she bound the arms of the downed NMX Nekos. "Your choice of whether to tell them to shelter in place or run to the exit."
"We should at the very least get them to a safer location. If we tell them to stay and we keep going, they could get caught in crossfire if were pushed out." She thought to herself outloud, before looking at Erika as she motioned with her gun. "Lets quickly escort them out the back and return. They are a priority here after all, we should make sure they get out safely"
"Thats a policy decision" Erika started as she finished up securing the downed hostiles. "In my experience the mission would take precedence. In this case, they've assaulted an infrastructure project. We have no idea if a fatal flaw was discovered in the power grid, or if they intend to destabilise the Aether generator and cause a detonation, but in such a case the stakes would be high. Higher than two Nekovalkyrja civilians." She thought for a moment about mentioning that they almost certainly had ST backups as well, but decided against it with a grimace. "We also can't back track every time we encounter a few civilians. I think we should secure them in place or give them directions to the way we came."
"Understood" The Elysian stood corrected, but she did not mind. This is what training was for anyways, that’s why they were there! She walked to the civilians, before giving the Nekovalkyria instructions on how to leave the building safely through the areas they had already cleared out and advising them to leave to someplace safe. She still had concerns about letting them stay in place, they didn’t know what was ahead of this room and didn’t want to have to care about two civilians if they did get pushed back into the room. She glanced back to Erika as she sent them off, reloading her gun to be ready to tackle the next room. "Let’s keep moving then"
“You’re not as cold as you appear on first glance.” Erika said, breaking from her professional cadence with a smile as she too pulled the half-consumed magazine from the side of her rifle and replaced it with a fresh one.
They pushed through the next few rooms, the architecture getting more industrial as they approached the reactor. They passed through a room dedicated to cooling, with pipes leading in twisting paths around the room to massive heat syncs, then through another with computer control systems with power and communications wires crossing the ceiling like a very organized spider’s web. Finally, through a locker room that contained a sealed area with Hazardous Environment Suits to protect against the exotic particles that might be produced in the Aether reactor if anything went wrong. Each room had between two and half a dozen NMX Nekovalkyrja which the pair quickly dispatched.
Now they came up to the core however they had an issue. They had to cross into the long corridor they had long been neglecting in order to access and secure the reactor. Erika had preformed a scan of the corridor and discovered the NMX Nekos had established a fortified position, dragging crates filled with reactor parts in front of the large re-enforced bunker doors which lead into the main reactor. Behind them there was a group of 10 Nekos taking cover behind them. Erika verified there were no more by sending her drone down the length of the locker room to a point in the wall behind the crates.
“it’s a fatal funnel and a half.” The operative said after she relayed the image the drone had provided. She then placed her hand against the wall as though testing in. “Got any ideas?” she asked, leaning against the wall.
The Elysian seemed to think about it for a moment, her eyes trailing around the room... until they landed on the drone. She fixed her eyes on it momentarily, It was a pretty useful piece of equipment, capable of getting into places they couldn’t. Bingo, the Elysian’s eyes widened a little as she came up with a rather dumb but effective idea, she scuttled back around the room they were in until she found a covered up vent, one of many around the entire facility.
"How attached are you to that drone?" She asked, grunting as she pried off the vents cover plate, leading into a rather large network of interconnected tunnels, too small for them to fit through, but perhaps large enough for a EM-J5-1A to hover on through, with a little room to spare.
"Fairly," Erika said, turning away from the wall to face Chiheinsen, "Why, what do you have in mind?"
"Perhaps if we strap it with several explosive grenades and send it through, it could exit through a vent behind the fortifications and take at least most of them out. We would just need to pick off any remaining, confused stragglers. We would lose the drone, unless we were to figure out a way to have it drop the payload without needing to sacrifice it, but we would be able to get through the hallway rather unscathed..." She sighed; a bit upset she hadn’t thought of grabbing her own drone to sacrifice. She wasn’t really a big fan of them anyways.
Erika gave a thoughtful exhale, her eyes darting to her drone. "Could work, though we loose a lot of tactical advantage doing that." The operative said. "Still, don't see another way around it. Why it’s useful to run these scenarios, you see where your equipment doesn't stack up."
Erika commanded the drone down as she reached into her satchel. The putty like explosive moulded and adhered to the drone. She wrapped it around the external AG ring and stuck a remote detonator to the central chassis. When she was done, she ripped the grill off the vent and commanded the drone inside. It didn't have to go far to find another, larger grill overlooking the defensive emplacement the NMX nekos had set up. Erika gave a nod to Chiheisen and the pair of them stacked up on the door, Erika instructing the Elysian to take point as she was focused on the drone.
In a moment Erika overcharged the inertial rings of the drone, giving it a bit of an extra boost to breach the vent at the cost of damage to the device, the last of her concerns at that moment. There was a loud crash as the grill crashed to the ground. The NMX Nekos practically jumped out of their skin, some of them turning around on instinct. A few shots were able to be fired before Erika detonated the explosives, causing a shockwave to rattle the door.
The Elysian nodded silently as Erika motioned for her to take point, watching out for any incoming pushes as the Nekovalkyria worked on the... 'Impostor Offensive'. She took cover behind the wall as she saw the vent pop out from the ceiling, the drone descending onto the nekos. Chiheisen Winced as the explosion rang out, before gripping the barrel of her gun and peeking back into the hallway, beginning to pick off anything she saw moving through the plume of smoke the explosives left behind. While the equipment sacrifice wasnt Ideal, not needing to deal with that wall of enemies was nice...
Erika rounded the door and followed the Elysian, casting a glance at the downed and affected Neko’s behind the barricade. Normally she’d have a drone keep tabs on their six o’clock, but that was no longer an option, and she kept her weapon trained down the corridor while Chiheison cleaned up.
The NMX Neko’s were either all severely concussed or killed outright, and those stirring in an attempt to recover quickly fell under the Elysian’s sights. Erika had to turn around momentarily so as not to trip over the mangled bodies. Despite the fact she was fairly certain they were all down, she began securing them by binding their arms together, providing they still had both. As she did, the large blast door leading into the primary reactor loomed in the corner of her vision.
"Hallway clear" The Elysian lowered the barrel of her rifle a little after pumping one last round into the remaining NMX Neko that was still moving, watching them slump on the ground. She reached the blast door on the other end, glancing back to Erika. She reloaded quickly and stood by the blast door, offering the Neko cover fire in case more NMX came at them from the back while the operative secured the unconscious. "How should we proceed?"
Erika looked at the remains of her drone on the floor then back up to Chiheisen. “I don’t have my drone anymore, so we’re going in blind.” She said, making sure her body and rifle was hidden against the wall.
She waved her hand against the ID reader and the door began to open, along with flashing lights and blaring kalxons. Erika trained her rifle down the corridor; in case their activity drew the attention of any remaining NMX hostiles. Once the door was open enough the operative slowly crossed the threshold with her rifle raised through it, clearing the room as best she could. It was enormous, a large dome made from a single formed piece of concrete lined with metal cross bracing further supported by large pillars. The floor was made of metal grating with pipes and cables running seemingly haphazardly underneath. There were several service vehicles, cranes and forklifts, and, strangely, some large container crates that dotted the floor. Finally in the centre was the reactor, two large metallic tapered tubes intertwined in a helix. Where each ended, they held one side of a large cylinder which hummed with energy.
“Room clear. Obscured by vehicle, left, vehicle right and central reactor.” Erika said.
Chiheisen rotated into the room from her cover once Erika gave her the All-clear, Rifle still raised as she visually scanned the room, stepping inside. She examined the room, mainly looking for any nooks and crannies where she reckoned hostiles could be perched and ready to attack, or alternatively, good sniping positions where she could perch up and make a little.., 'nest'. The Elysian's eyes fixed on the operative momentarily, before sticking next to her and covering her 6, just in case anyone tried to pull a sneak...
"We should move. That door was far too loud. If there’s anyone in here, they definitely know where we are"
A low rumble reverberated throughout the dome, causing Erika’s attention to shift towards the reactor. The sound of something large tapping on the metal grid of the ground came next, and the operative could see a tread poking out the side of the reactor. The vehicle had four independent treads attached via a hinge to a rectangular body. Atop the body was a large semi-circular turret, its outside circumference covered by a layer of explosive reactive armour and either side was a set of missile tubes. In the centre, offset to one side was a massive laser canon, and atop it was a smaller laser on its own gimbal. Erika automatically sent an image to the Res’ MEGAMI system which reported back it was a Shasta No Sekai All-Terry tank.
The operative heard a new hum from the machine as it flashed her with the muzzle of its main gun. She dived out of the way, using her ICS to slide across the ground as the main gun fired behind her, melting the grating behind her in a wide line. Erika hit one of the pillars and took cover behind it, the concrete absorbing the energy of the beam.
As the main weapon system was focused on Erika, the smaller laser turret swivelled around to point at Chiheisen. The aperture began to glow angrily as it locked on.
Chiheisen blinked as she watched a Tank just.. casually roll out like no ones business! The Elysian immediately regretted having thought that this exercize was too easy, fearing the computer had read her mind. Her feathers soon became a little ruffled visibly as she noticed the secondary gimbal aiming and charging directly at her. The Elysians wings quickly extended to their full wingspan of seven feet, pushing down on the air molecules surrounding Chichi and propelling her up into the air like a torpedo, the Elysian seeking worthy cover to preferably avoid becoming a bucket of KFC for their hostiles to enjoy. She gripped her gun as she looked at the tank, grunting out into the comms...
"Can our guns pierce its armor?!"
As the main weapon system was focused on Erika, the smaller laser turret swivelled around to point at Chiheisen. The aperture began to glow angrily as it locked on.
The smaller laser fired, cutting the air behind Chiheisen as its tracking attempted to compensate for the Elysian’s movement. As she continued in the same direction it began sizzling off her boots.
Erika was about to answer when she heard the hiss of a missile. She dove out of the way just in time before the pillar was engulfed by flame. She was thrown back by the concussive blast, only able to catch herself with her ICS just before slamming into the side of the dome. She still hit, but only with a thud rather than a splat.
“It has medium mecha class armor. My rifle will be practically useless. You might get lucky in some areas with yours.” Erika replied as she recovered. “Still things like optics will be vulnerable. I still have some explosives left too.”
The main turret pivoted once again to face the operative, who kicked off the dome wall and dropped to the ground. The large laser struggled to track, cutting through the metal supports and leaving a molten mess in its wake.
"Copy. Ill try to blind it!"
She grunted as she began to feel the heat of the laser fire getting closer. The Elysian suddenly swooped down towards the ground and slid behind a pillar for cover like Erika had done before. Having seen the missile attack that flushed the SAINT out of her position, Chiheisen knew is was only a matter of time until it did the same here. She gripped her Type 33 and peeked out from the pillar, firing as many rounds as she could aimed at the tanks visible optical sensors, mainly the ones on the main gun which were targeting Erika, so she could make a move. The Elysian was ready to shoot out again into flight the second she saw missiles being fired.
Chiheisen's shots rang out, each round aimed with desperate precision at the tank's optical sensors. The bullets sparked off the armored shell, some glancing off harmlessly, others finding their mark and obscuring the lenses with smears and cracks. The tank's main gun twitched erratically; its targeting disrupted by the damage.
It turned its attention to the Elysian, the main gun swinging around, aligning with the optics aboard the smaller weapon atop its turret. It began firing its main beam in a wide arc as it neared Chiheisen's vector, at the same time it loosed a missile at the base of the pillar. Erika saw the gun had turned away and capitalised, dashing towards the All-Terry. She made an ICS assisted jump, leaping the full height of the tank.
The Elysian was able to barely get away from the tanks volley, shooting up into the air with her wings, perhaps with a couple of singed feathers. She grunted as the sudden rush of air moving away from the explosion destabilized her flight, almost sending her straight into the wall like an unfortunate pigeon nosediving into a glass window. She barely recovered and kept flying, knowing that another mistake like that could end up with disintegration- or rather, not being able to participate in the training program. Chiheisen was getting tired regardless, although she was rather strong compared to the typical Caelisolan, she wasn’t particularly used to intensive flying like this. Glancing over and noticing Erika getting onto the tank, the Elysian quickly sent a message into the communicator, muddied by exhausted panting.
"Whatever you’re going to do, do it fast- I can’t keep outflying its weapons for long!"
Erika landed atop the tank’s flat turret, sliding along its surface foot first. She grabbed a hold of the top antipersonnel laser and caught herself, using the momentum to come to her feet. The gunner would have seen her pop into frame from below, with her rifle held in one hand, braced in the crook between her arm and body as the muzzle was pressed against the glass of the optic. A burst from the rifle pelted the glass, not shattering it but warping its surface and the housing, causing it to misalign.
The smaller turret rotated, slamming into Erika’s side and knocking her back. The operative managed to catch herself on the ERA panels on the side of the turret as the laser attempted to fire upon her, missing by a few degrees. It could recalibrate though, and she had to capitalise while she could. She swung her body in a wide arc, using her ICS to assist in a leap over the gun, exceeding its elevation and landing on its other side.
Meanwhile, the tank still some of the driver optics. Though not designed in any way to take up the slack if the gun optic was destroyed, the pilot attempted to rotate the body, so its front lined up with the turret. It then fired in another wide arc in Chiheison’s general direction, hoping to catch the elysian with its broad attack.
Chiheisen grunted as she glanced towards the tank momentarily, noting how it was still very much focused on her. The Elysian was quickly losing ground to it, and she had no choice but to get behind cover momentarily, hoping Erika just needed a little more time to distract the tanks operator. She quickly dove back down, aiming behind one of the larger pillars to avoid being caught by the laser continuously firing at her. The let out a loud grunt as she lost a bit of control at the end of the dive- likely due to exhaustion and smacking into the ground. The Elysian barely pulled herself together and slipped behind the pillar as the laser swung by, wincing as she propped her back up against the pillar. Ow.
The beam swung across the pillar, then back over it. The concrete began to heat up and ablate away under the assault. Erika reached into her explosives pouch, grabbed a block, and almost slapped it on the smaller turret. She only used as much care as was required to attach the detonator before jumping off the top, the smaller weapon being torn apart by the ensuing explosion. Its gun optics and primary anti infantry weapon destroyed, the driver had little other option but to charge the pillar. Erika narrowly avoided getting crushed by the All-Terry’s treads as it sped off to slam into the weakened pillar.
Chiheisen prepared to jump out into the air again, knowing she might just end up getting shot once she took to the skies, until she heard a satisfying pop behind her! The Elysian peeked out of the pillar as she heard the telling sound of the firing laser stop.. sighing loudly in relief as she saw the tank had taken considerable damage to its weapons thanks to Erika's explosives. That relief didn’t last long as she scrambled back onto her feet and booked it, using her wings to boost herself the fuck out of the way of the incoming tank pulling a kamikaze attack on the pillar.
Dust and debris were flung wide as the tank cleaved through the thick concrete pillar. The damage the main gun had done caused the pillar to snap at the point, and one further up. The pillar fell backwards, over the tank. The weight pushed the tank’s body to the floor, pinning it against the metal grating while the rest continued to come crumbling down. Erika dove out of the way, taking cover away from the pillars fall. The pillar crushed components and structures alike and hit the ground exploding into more concrete shrapnel. The rebar that ran through the pillar became an exposed tangled mess on the ground.
As the dust settled the All Terry began attempting to extricate itself, however it was now surrounded on all sides by debris. It moved, slowly against the stacks of broken concrete, though it began to get purchase. Erika rushed the tank, once more leaping on top of the turret.
Several SLAP rounds flew towards one of the tanks track joints in an attempt to further immobilize the hulking beast! Chiheisen huffed as she replaced the now spent magazine of her Type-33, gritting her teeth as she watched Erika hop onto the struggling tank's turret. The Elysian aimed a little lower this time and began to fire again, wary of her teammates position on the tank, mainly shooting for any of the tanks exposed leg joints to attempt to keep it from moving too much while the operative took it out for good...
“Chi, get a grenade ready!” Erika called out, throwing an explosive block upon the tanks hull. She then reached back into the satchel and pulled out a Shaped Charge Case. The Case adhered to the tanks top hatch. The tank heaved again, causing Erika to stumble and the brick of explosive to slide. She dived after it and returned to affixing the charge as though it was nothing, pressing it into the casing.
“Fire in the hole!” The operative said, rolling away from the hatch. The charge detonated in a large conflagration, but the majority of it was directed downwards. The casing was vaporized and in its place was a fist sized hole.
The Elysian nodded as she held onto her rifle with just her right hand, using her now free hand to unclip one of the explosive grenades she had equipped back at the shuttle the duo had begun their mission in! With one swift wing flap she propelled herself up to the top of the tanks blown in hatch, activating the grenades timer, and throwing it into the hole. Whoever was inside was about to get an unpleasant surprise, as Chiheisen jumped off of the tank to put some distance between herself and the incoming ka-boom.
"Watch out!" She yelled back just in case, though she assumed Erika had also moved away from the tank when she chucked that in.
Compared to the shaped charge Erika'd just used, the Grenade was considerably less powerful. She stayed where she was, simply staying low on the off chance some of the fragmentation came out of the hole. The detonation was deadend by the hull of the tank, and a puff of smoke came from the hole shortly after. The operative got to her feet and placed the muzzle of her gun in the hole and dumped an entire magazine into the turret.
Shortly after the computer announced the simulation was over with a chime. A scoreboard with points appeared, tallying up the number of combatants eliminated, and civilians saved. It also listed their simulated injuries. Erika had a broken rib from where the small turret struck her, and the pair of them had minor barotrauma from the explosions. Nothing that would stop a Nekovalkyrja filled with adrenaline, but it still lost them a few points.
Admittedly, Chiheisen was expecting a much larger explosion considering the tanks armaments, but she simply looked back at the disabled tank and her teammate. The Elysian let out an audible sigh as the simulation ended, her wings stretching a little now that she didn’t have to worry about them being shot off by a simulated NMX. She shrugged as the scores popped in holographically, wishing the holodeck had a water dispenser of some kind...
"That was... interesting."
Erika was panting as she sat at the edge of the tank’s turret "It was good. We got to see how each other operates and identify weaknesses." She took a breath. "My done needs a clamp so it can carry and drop ordinance. In a Mindy you're probably adequitely linked into our network, out side of it though it would be helpful if you had some way of accessing it, like some smart glasses or something to that effect."
She jumpped off the turret and rolled her neck around. "I'm hopping in the onsen after that. I need a soak. You coming?"
The Elysian hesitated at the invitation, her wings becoming a little ruffled. A soak sounded great after all that combat and training, but she wasn’t a very social creature.. especially not in a bath with a neko. Her face turned a little pink, not too much, but enough to be noticeable to a good eye as she responded. "Perhaps I'll go later in the day. Thank you for the training.." Chiheisen offered the nekovalkyria a small, courteous bow, her wings folded neatly behind her back. "Computer, end program"
"Thanks for spotting me." Erika said with a smile before releasing a sympathetic exhale. "Look, I'm not going to pressure you too hard, but right after a difficult session is the best time to go." She brought both her hands together and clasped her fingers over her palms. "I promise, no small talk from me, just a soak."
The Elysian hesitated as she approached the VR room door, glancing back towards Erika as the nekovalkyria reiterated her offer. She seemed to think about it momentarily, pretty apparent on her face. She finally gave in, somewhat, her wings idly swaying as she turned back to the door, walking across it as she gave her final answer. "Alright, I suppose.. I'll be there momentarily". As she walked out, the door closed behind her with a satisfying hydraulic hiss...
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JP by Lizalopod And Sunny D
