OOC: long post below, prepare yourselves. -Before Briefing- While Veronica and Morain were having "sister bonding time," holding bay 03 had been transformed into something that almost look like a refugee camp for one. A single military folding bed was set up under a tent cover draped down from the control station above to shade a small portion of the holding bay. In there was also a desk with a computer and a light on it, Kelley's luggage uncharacteristically laid open on the floor with clothing hanging out of it. Deeper into the shaded area there's a makeshift bathroom with a toilet (with TP), a sink, and a shower (think decontamination showers, but with shampoo, conditioner and soap and stuff. Outside on the side of the lower floor a bench press has been added, along with weights for it and a complete dumbbell set. By them were a punching bag and a wing chun wooden dummy. However all of these took up along with walking space only 5% of the holding bay's space. Around 30% was made up of containers, all marked with what the contents inside were. Some were opened, others not. Another 10% of the holding bay were covered with massive wires and minor tools and such, along with the necessary consoles controlling the larger tools like cranes, and FRAME stabilizers, which took up another 15%. The last 40% of the space was made in the middle, where right at this moment was void of all things, except for a half built rider's chamber, or at least it looked half built from the outside. In reality it was fully operation along with the rider system installed. Kelley was currently typing along the console, his eyes tired but alert, his face sported a very handsome 5 o'clock shadow that was unusual for him as he shaved every morning according to regulation. He sighed, then put on his new rider armor. Taking a line lift up, he entered the chamber and connected himself into the simulation. ____________________________ Elsewhere the two girls were having a coversation about him. {You wouldn't happen to know where he is? I got a message that I was allowed access to Hangar 03, which he commandeered... I'm worried, Veronica.} Veronica, finishing her soup and moving to ice cream now, looked at her sister with a spoon in her mouth. [I know he wasn't in his quarters, checked there to wake him up this morning but found a note saying to find you as he had a surprise for the both of us. I guess I got so caught up about the projectors I forgot to find him.] She looked down, embarrassed. Then she got an idea and her smile returned. [Let's go find him now!] She said at the same time as Morain's data-speak. {Well, let's go get him some food. I'll teach you to braid hair later}. The two girls nodded and moved to grab some food for their man at the synthesizers before heading towards their only lead on where Kelley was: holding bay 03. ______________________________ Kelley could see everything. The new system was unlike anything he had experienced before. Every tactical and strategic data in the simulation, every ounce of intel that could be gathered from allies and enemies, every single relevant piece of data from the field flooded into his mind at a speed unmatched by even Veronica's info feeding. He set the simulation similar to the last mission, and the planet of Y'coren spread out in front of him as though he was back on the planet. He set the program to simulate the FRAME that will be finished as his unit, and then fed the battle data from last mission into the simulation. Instantly Ioren, his railgun FRAME partner, and their trooper escort appeared in front of Kelley. He watched as they turned and registered him as his enemy with wide eyes, not because of what the rider saw, but because of how he saw them as they attacked. When Kelley first entered into Void Riptide during its prime, he could see every piece of armor moving as enemies turned and strafed around. With this new system, he could see every shot's trajectory as they sail through the air at him. He could dodge them. Kelley pushed his FRAME forward, and it blasted with speeds that Void Riptide couldn't much at the enemy, he actually slipped in the closing spaces between each shot by the rifleman, and the maneuver that worked with Railgunner, this time he completed the move without using a shield, flying along the blast and impaling the enemy FRAME with the right sword. As Ioren's copy came up, it was still fast, but comparing it to the new FRAME was like comparing a snail to a sports super car. The left arm's sword came up, overcharged and plunged straight through the hardlight shield into the head of the FRAME, exploding it. Kelley then soared towards the city, not noticing blood had trickled out of his actual nose. There, the massive units plus the Twin empty FRAMEs and the Pugilist was there. In a flash of light Kelley's FRAME soared past all the of trooper's formation, it looked like it simply flew right past the troopers. Right after the pass, every trooper in the city exploded. One of the twins turned, only to get its head smashed in by one of Kelley's fists, the other tried to shoot Kelley, only for the whip sword to wrap itself around the gun and pulled the entire FRAME at the UTC rider. The right hand grabbed the head of the last twins FRAME before crushing it. The Pugilist, with its unexpected speed, flashed towards Kelley, punching one at the UTC rider. Kelley FRAME turned, and it missed. Cleanly. Another fist from Kelley came up in an uppercut, and punched straight through the midsection of the Pugilist, exploding it. By now the blood flowing from Kelley's nose increased and joined the flow from his mouth. Still the rider didn't noticed. "More..." He whispered, and instantly 60 riflemen and 60 bladesmen appeared in front of him in the simulation. The FRAME disappeared in a flash, cutting through them. As he struck down another suddenly the enemy, so cleared before him, began to split into double in his vision. Then as his eyes defocused, and his plunged his blade forward, Morain suddenly appeared in place of the enemy and Kelley's FRAME impaled her body, blood gushing from her midsection. Kelley screamed. The world came rushing back, Kelley was suddenly inside the spotty rider's chamber. A wave of nausea hit him, and his ripped off all the connectors to his body and his helmet off of his head. He fell head first 10 feet from the rider's chamber on to the floor below, hitting it with a thud. All of his muscle seized up and his entire body shook as blood continued to dripped from his nose and mouth on to the floor. After a moment of paralysis, the rider dragged himself over to the shaded section and into his bed, just as Veronica and Morain walked in. They took in the view, though be quiet as they saw Kelley in his bed once more. They left the food on the table, but as they left Morain noticed the thin trail of blood on the floor from directly underneath the rider's chamber to the bed. _______________________________ Some time later a shuttle arrived on the super carrier and was directed straight to holding bay 03. It unloaded several containers and moved out. Over the course of several days no one could persuade Kelley to leave holding bay 03 except for Morain and Veronica. Morain especially got very suspicious of the new FRAME, even as it was coming along, and strove to take Kelley out of that holding bay as much as possible. To the two sisters surprise, Kelley didn't protest, instead going with them to the movies put up by the carrier's crew or to the rec room or just to spar between them. He was even laughing and enjoying himself with them, though in the back of Morain's mind it seemed like he was just looking for a suitable excuse to get away from the FRAME. Every other time he could be found inside the new completed rider's chamber running simulations with the new FRAME. A new addition to the holding bay, not unnoticed by the two ladies, was a medical robot in the living area. With a first glance it looked sort of similar to Void Riptide, with the exception of color, which was now a pale grey with white lights. However upon closer inspection the only thing it had resembling the old FRAME was its weapon systems. Void Riptide looked like it was designed by a combat engineer from the front line. This new FRAME looked like it was made by a modernist artist who has a Ph.D. in physics and engineering. Where as the overlaying armor of the Riptide made jagged points and sharp angles, everything was smooth and without crests. Where there were shifting plates and moving parts on the Riptide, nearly every piece of armor was sealed and where it already should be on this new FRAME. On its back it had added two more main thrusters that will fold into the FRAME itself when not used under the harpoon attachment, this too was reshaped along the exterior to match the elegance of it. Along the it's arm and legs, a side banner print painted the name of the FRAME on to the pale grey armor for all to see in white paint: Fate's Edge. ____________________________ -After Briefing- By happenstance when the commotion occurred on the bridge, Kelley had finally accepted Morain's challenge to spar with her. They both took ready stance in the training room, with Veronica looked nervously between the two, each waiting patiently for the other to make the first move.
< @Xanxas > The azure glow of Yalei's Technomancy appeared, grew, and then stuttered, disappearing. "Wh-what? I-I can't... What's going on!?" The Splinter Soldiers laughed as they took cover from Kyras' haphazard bullet sprays. Behind them another 3 Soldiers had snuck around through a side passage, aiming their rifles at Kyras, who was to distracted to notice. Yalei wasn't, though. "Kyras!" She yelled, grabbing him and throwing him back into the room, pulling out a small shield generator... too late. A volley of bullets spat through the air, hitting her in multiple places. "Guh..." She fell limp into the room, bleeding heavily. "I...said...I'd protect you. I'm glad I could..." She said. It did not look like anything vital was hit, but the rapid blood loss was dangerous. If she didn't get help soon...
"YALEI!" Kyras lunged forwards again, ignoring any wounds he took and pulled her into cover.He slanted and locked the door, bra king as much furniture against it as he could. He began desperately looking around, perhaps there was some ventilation or something? Seryu on the other hand was torn between concerned horror and morbid amusement. While she was worried for Yalei's safety, it seemed like they couldn't leave her alone for five seconds without her nearly dying. Twice in the previous battle, last night, and now this! It was like the universe itself was trying to kill her.
< @WanderingJester > Morain was ecstatic. Loren had finally agreed to spar with her. She threw a few testing blows just as the bombs exploded. "God... what? Damn, Hold on, Loren." She pulled up holo-panels, scrolling through one while the other held the face of Williams. "Willams, SitRep, my panel says all the guns are gone. Rader... Oh shit." She said, it was easy to see why. The Radar showed a good number of FRAMEs surrounding the StarRunner. That's when the report came over the intercomm. "Lieutenant! All system's are offline, a bomb damaged our systems!" Williams reported "Captain! Gun systems are offline. Which is bad, we're surrounded! Williams! Get working on a bypass!" Just then, the boarding parties landed. "Ma'am!" and her screen disappeared. Morain then pulled up a map of the area, leaving the arena and readying her pistol. "Loren, it seems we have friendlies pinned down in the living quarters. I recommend we meet up and head towards the armory. The Hangar has been blockaded, we'll need better weaponry to get through." She sighed. "Another time then, I suppose." < @Xanxas > Kyras would see his intercomm system. Yalei said it was blocked but... there were no other immediate options. "Get a charge on that door! No one stays alive." A voice said from beyond the door.
"Loren, it seems we have friendlies pinned down in the living quarters. I recommend we meet up and head towards the armory. The Hangar has been blockaded, we'll need better weaponry to get through." Kelley nodded, he turned to Veronica. "Veronica, be her shield." Veronica nodded, then disappeared. Suddenly a hardlight shield appeared, with a firing hole on it in front of Morain. [I'll keep you safe sis!] Kelley, seeing the shield, nodded and pulled out his side arm, and moved to the entrance of the training room.
< @WanderingJester > Morain took point, which was good. A single bullet pinged off of Veronica, Morain firing a single shot that blasted through the head of the offender. The Quarters was 2 levels above, and the lifts were disabled. "Looks like we have to take the long way. Let's move!" [Emote your journey, you can move unharmed all the way before you get to the Crew quarters. Stop before the crew quarters. Be sure to use Morain and UTC Soldiers as support. I can deal with another long one ]
Kyras sighed. This just reall wasn't his day huh? He stashed the bleeding Yalei in the closet and flipped his bed, then put the portable sheild generator in front of it. He winced due to a not small amount of bullet wounds. While he may have saved Yalei, diving into enemy fire was never a good idea. He covered behind the bed and waited. Perhaps reinforcements would show up, or perhaps he would bleed out before they arrived. Either way, he didn't see this going well.
OOC: it won't be too long like the last one. Kelley fired his sidearm down the hallway past Morain. If she didn't noticed before, she'll certainly know now. The hardlight projector wasn't only for Veronica to be able to shower her sister with hugs. If anything happened to him, the SOUL will be able to continue to protect her long after he was gone. His shots, while inaccurate, managed to pin the enemy behind their cover. He remembered the days where he had practice with Henry, an old classmate of his at the academy. A shot was fired, the target remained untouched. "No. Don't pull the trigger, squeeze it. And do it when you exhale, not when you're inhaling." Henry instructed his classmate. A younger Kelley concentrated and fired, missing another rebel again in the present. Kelley muttered to himself. "Screw this." He was much better with his fists than a gun, that's why Henry when to UTC special forces and he became a FRAME rider. Sprinting down the hallway at the pinned rebels, the first one looked up to get a flying boot to the face. The next two tried to swing their rifle around only for one to get backhanded by the back of Kelley's fist and be thrown into the other guy, knocking them both out on the floor. Morain seemed impressed, but before she could say "Good job" Kelley yelled back at her. "Get to the armory and get better weapons with Veronica! I'll meet you by the crew's quarters!" With that he grabbed a grenade off the knocked out rebels sprinted off. Bursting into a nearby emergency stairs, he heard rapid footsteps and echoing shots above his current level. Taking them two at a time, he reached the rear of one of the rebel patrols just as the man turned around, shocked at how fast the rider was coming at him. Within a moment he was tumbling down the stairs with a few missing teeth. Another punch and kick send two more guys over the railings and Kelley was off again. Arriving on the floor of the crew's quarters, he peeked out of the doorway just to see several rebels exchanging fire with someone. He rolled the grenade forward and closed the door, waiting for the explosion to happen before sprinting in. Just his luck, they were flashbangs. Still the three rebels were all disoriented, and with several kicks and punches and elbows and knees they collapsed on the floor knocked out for a while. He ran to join the UTC forces outside the crew's quarters.
The woman, feeling much better and in a much better mood was training with a metal Lance she had the Engineers rig up, that was of course before the ship showed signs of attack, "Agalia! What the hell?!" She groaned getting back to her feet. The little girl appeared, "Miss Oracle says we are under attack. We're ordered to board our Frames. Several explosions have disabled key areas of the ship including shields. Also there are boarders please exercise caution. Freya groaned, "Are you... Ugh that must have been Killian's imposter's doing, unless there was another spy aboard? Honestly, whoever did Access Control for this ship in the last month should be investigated for a court marshal. Freya returned the Lance to the rack, she wasn't confident in using it like this in these sorts of close quarters and grabbed her pistol. Even if there were boarders she imagined she could take several down with the pistol and borrow their weapons on the way. There was no alternate destinations for her, since after all she knew what happened when a good FRAME had its way with an exposed ship. Freya chirped, "Remember Freya, a shot is going to hurt A LOT more! Don't even consider taking one you'll probably not be able to pilot your FRAME if you do take one." Freya looked at her blankly, "How detached from reality do you think I am?" and with that the two of them moved Freya began to interface with ORACLE searching for info like safe paths and boarder positions. Of course any intel the girl herself would discover would naturally be freely shared as she acted as her sister's Mission Operator.
< @WanderingJester > Kelley arrived at the blockade and a Corporal saluted "Rider Kelley, sir!" We are holding them here! All men accounted for!" Just then a volley of shots impacted their cover. "Not all. Riders Arcadia and Miribo are pinned in a room ahead. Corporal, stay here, hold the line." Morain said from behind. She carried a large, customized rifle and had also grabbed a shield projector and Stun-club, which she tossed to Kelley. "I'll give you some cover. Move up." She said, moving to the next corner they'd have to turn. "Eight enemies forward. They're setting a charge." < @Andraina > Oracle quickly relayed information to Agalia: {Lieutenant Killian is spearheading an assault on the blockade of the Hanger. Recommend rendezvous.} As she said that, two soldiers ahead turned and opened fire on Freya, forcing her into cover.
