Mythril Aces (Re)Union: Real Robot RP - Centauri Roleplay Thread

Riley double-checked her own map of the asteroid to confirm Valentine's suggestion. The media mogul had it right, she felt. Of course a proper noble would be a quick thinker, it was in the blood. Her esteem of him went up slightly. No doubt he would dash that esteem with some trashy article down the line but that was for another day.

"I agree, Midas." Riley replied. "Guns'n'Roses, fall in behind Midas and Gun Show. Let's fly!"

Riley replied. Huh, I like that. It rolls right off the tongue. I should write a book about this and use "Riley replied" at some point...

"Hey, Gun Show," Elaine chimed in, a few moments later, "where exactly is this 'Gun Show' you keep talking about? And how exactly does one acquire tickets?" Being from a very militaristic planet, the only 'gun shows' she had ever seen were military demonstrations involving lots of artillery. It seemed strange to keep referencing that in the middle of a battle. Maybe Rick really liked artillery?

"At the gym, every day, that's when the guns are on display," Rick said.

"I mean, copy, Gun Show getting into position." He piloted his mech into position.

... ''And then Riley the Red Rose swooped in to - No, Riley the Radiant Rose sounds so much more impressive. Or maybe Riley the Radiant Red Rose? No, overly long titles are unseemly. I wonder if -

" "where exactly is this 'Gun Show' you keep talking about?"

It took Riley a moment to figure out what and who had disrupted her chain of thought. "Ooh, boy." She said under her breath, more amused that exasperated this time. "Why don't you tell her how Gun Show came to refer to you, Rick." She goaded.

If this were any other situation she would have settled down and made herself comfortable for upcoming story, keeping one eye on the screen and scanners before her and another on the radio monitor, making sure it was recording.

edited 1st Oct '14 10:14:02 PM by Parable

"...you can bring guns into the gym?" Elaine asked, only looking more confused. "Why? What purpose does that serve?"

She paused, and added, "And are we discussing small arms, or field artillery? Because I don't think you're using the term 'gun show' properly if it's the former."

"Definitely field artillery," Rick said. "No howitzers and mortars here, but a full twin set of iron cannons."

He whistled a quick sharp note as he thought about Riley's request. Riley's Request, that was damn-near poetic, he would have to name a grenade that, or something else, he wasn't quite sure. "Well, I guess the Gun Show all started a few years back...."

He started to tell a story involving shore leave, swim trunks, volleyball, a fire pit, terrorists, a particularly difficult-to-open jar of pickles, and sunscreen.

Elaine sat in stunned silence for a moment, and gave a small nod.

"I... I see," she said after a moment, hoping the subject would be quickly dropped, and never revisited.

Some stories, she realized, should never see the light of day. And then she realized how excellent of an opening sentence that thought was, making a note to write it down later.

"There was not a jar of pickles in the story the last time you told it to me." Riley said.

"I uh, I just forgot to bring it up last time," Rick said.

"You forgot to bring it up the time before that, and the time before that." Riley responded.

((Battle hasn't actually started yet, so you don't need to do 'moves'.))

The city approached quickly, and already the Frames' sensors would be detecting signs of combat. A distant explosion lit a building in orange and red for a moment, and the small black shapes of frames shot past - it appeared some of the other knights had already landed and were causing havoc. Its complicated arrays of pipelines and support structures became apparent quickly, the literal factory-town a maze of assemblies and storehouses. The enormous dome-roofed refineries were the most obvious to see, along with squat smokestacks still billowing acrid black smoke - and of course the enormous black structure of the factory proper itself, a citadel-like megalith of black iron and steel. Compared to the Centauri's standards for architecture this place was a soot-covered disaster; ugly and utilitarian, although by necessity rather than design. It had not been long ago that space travel had still been a danger to the colonists - this facility seemed to be a relic from that time.

But there was little time to appreciate the scenery - the two groups of pilots had to slow their descent, and quickly - dropping into the city at a survivable speed instead of a more ''ballistic' velocity.

The Na Cúnna Fearguis fell between buildings, their frames striking hard concrete with a bone-jarring thud. It appeared they had dropped into some sort of loading dock◊ - abandoned trucks and equipment littered the roads, most of which still bore loads of ore and material waste from the dwarf planet's mines. A number of heavy steel shipping containers had been left as well, although a few had been smashed open, their contents taken - likely by the Samsarans or opportunistic workers. There was little sign of civilian presence - not even trash had been left on the streets, which were clean but for a thin coating of ice and ash.

Except... Strangely enough, there were footprints, barely visible in the black slurry on the ground. Human footprints, in heavy boots, heading north into the alleyway. It was impossible to judge, but they seemed fairly fresh.

The asphalt road continued east. Along all sides, the stone-and-iron walls of the factory-city loomed, only broken here and there by dark glass windows.

The Guns'n'Roses touched down above and to the north - atop one of the pipelines that crisscrossed the city. This one in particular◊ was thin, at least in comparison to some of the enormous steel lines that were visible in the city, but three frames would still easily be able to cross it abreast. It creaked ominously under their weight, but the metal held. Smaller pipes, for pressure control, looped here and there along the main body; they could easily serve as cover in a firefight, but it seemed unlikely that they would absorb a decent amount of damage.

Below, the city's streets were highlighted in dull orange-red emergency lighting - reminiscent of a firestorm, almost. With any luck, it would stay merely 'reminiscent'.

Their path was clear - while the pipe they had landed on dipped back to the ground shortly, steel catwalks connected it to other lines - most of which were headed in an easterly direction. Of course, they could also just fly across the gaps. There was nothing actually stopping them, although it would leave them vulnerable to ground fire - not that any enemies seemed visible yet. Hopping along the rooftops was also a viable option - although their flat, prefab surfaces would do little for the knights in terms of cover.

"As I understand it, our main objective is to reach the carrier," Mira spoke over the comm. "But we are out in the open, and much more visible than the others... Do you think we should make a bit of noise, to pull the heat off of them when conflict becomes inevitable?"

"The lack of Civilians about and the looting tell me that our arrival is pretty well known," Fergus replied, "Or the Samsarans were about to skidaddle anyway and have herded away the Civilians so they could grab what they needed. Eitherway, I don't like it and it means we have to move right fast; they are going to want to distract us rather than fight us; drawing them out would only pull out enough to stall us."

He paused, placing his two forefingers of his right hand over his lips and onto Bridget's cross which he kept above the screens of his cockpit.

The others couldn't see his gesture, but the pause indicated a seriousness; either to think of a plan or to do a ritual for good luck. It was in fact a bit of both.

"We ought to head down the most direct route. Scrap Aeris, I want you to scout with Gold. Gold, follow Aegis to the letter, whatever your intuitions tell you. If either of you see anything, report back. Do not engage; even stragglers are better dealt with by our snipers. The rest of you are to hold with me. No stalling for the sake of stealth; if we see an obstacle, we're going to blast it to smithereens. If we see an enemy, we want to take them out quick and send out scouts back out forward."

He paused again.

"Questions?"

"Perché questo mondo è solo temporanea, è nostro dovere proteggerla. Dal momento che la Terra è al di là di noi per sempre, sappiamo che quando gli uomini di buona coscienza stare in silenzio, non tutto è perduto al male. Spetta a noi per combattere, solo noi possiamo. Cosa facciamo nel nome di Santa Maria. Questa convenzione non giuriamo. Azione, quando le parole non possono servire, e la giustizia per tutti i cui gradini portano male," Mira recited quietly, memories of her family drifting back to her.

Her grip on her controls tightened. Enough that she had to consciously loosen her index fingers, lest she open fire by mistake.

"Non avere pietà. L'inferno che viene scoperto dai vostri nemici è uno di loro creazione."

Have no pity. The hell that is discovered by your enemies is one of their own creation. As she said it, she felt the familiar cold-fire burning in her chest. Any thought of alternative solutions, diplomacy or simple tolerance were gone. Unless ordered otherwise, any rebel she encountered was dead from here on out.

"I am ready," she stated, her voice's ice more than justifying her callsign. "Lead on."

"Moving ahead then," Victoria responded. While the footprints were the only sign of possible recent activity, they weren't headed in the right direction to stop and investigate. She moved her Dyrnwyn East down the road, readying her LX-15 in case of ambush. The beam rifle was still more familiar to her than her frame; it was sure to be useful for whatever situation the Hounds found themselves in.

"A strange time for Prayers," Fergus said as he trudged forward at a steady pace, his polyplas ever at the ready, "The Good Lord himself hardly wants to bless us for the ructions and murder we are doing in war, after all."

edited 21st Oct '14 9:40:29 AM by Fauxlosophe

"The Lord loves the Emperor," Elaine responded sternly, "and the Emperor loves his own. His blessing will carry us through." There was a seriousness not usually present in her voice, as the fairly somber mood began to take hold. This was quite a bit different than shooting things in space.

"The promised land is purchased with blood," she replied coldly, moving to follow MacMorna. "If the Lord didn't want them dead, He would not have suffered me to come here."

edited 21st Oct '14 10:26:03 AM by Dragon573

"We aren't doing this for the sake of prolonging war," Victoria put in. She didn't want anyone in the company to start having second thoughts about the mission before combat had even begun, even if it was Mac Morna himself bringing up the subject. "This conflict won't be resolved without bloodshed, a victory here will save lives down the road." And in any case, better for it to be Samsaran lives than Centauran, she mentally added.

"An early end to the war spares countless Federation lives, too," Elaine pointed out. A moment later, not wanting people to take this the wrong way, she added, "Lives that can be ready and willing to kill us, or our children, when the next war happens. It would be better if we just fought one big war, one last time."

"I said nothing about leaving up my coat and sword and taking up the Cross," Fergus replied bitterly, "Only that I thought it was a bit of devilment to be invoking the trinity for the sake of your murderings. I'll do my praying on Godly matters and do my murdering on secular ones."

"However," He said in a lighter tone, "I'll not be having a schism amongst a bunch of Crusaders before we even catch sight of the enemies. Old Constantinople recalls how well that went; so pray as you will and talk with me after if its still of great import to you."

edited 22nd Oct '14 2:20:44 PM by Fauxlosophe

"I am really not in the mood for this, can we please just get this over with?" Reid wasn't willing to hear what he felt was a pointless conversation, but at the same time he wasn't about to turn off his comm in the event something actually happened.

"Check your comm unit, Malware," Mira told him. "If you can hear us, you're on the wrong frequency."

edited 24th Oct '14 11:31:16 AM by Dragon573

"Huh? I'm sorry, I spaced out for a moment there," Elaine said, looking around.

Everything had all been... so strange. The dream. One moment she had been Elaine, AKA "Fightin' Elaine", "Patriotic Poindexter", and "The Emperor's Number One Fan", and the next moment... It had been different.

Visions... There had been screaming. Lots of screaming. She was sure of it. A sound like ten thousand mothers lamenting their children disappearing in the Wild Korean Wastes. Only worse. Much worse.

even the screaming had only lasted for a moment. the pain was endless. endless, endless, endless. or at least it seemed to be, though it was only a moment, but that moment was an eternity, and it's name was the name of man, and the name of god: we

.gnidnenu dna ,gniyfirroH .gniyfirroh saw ti .erehwyreve ssendam ehT .ssendam eht evord elpoeP .dlrow eht evord elpoeP ?elpoep tuohtiw tsixe sgniht denoitnemerofa eht dluoc woh rof ,elpoep weN .smaerd dna sesseccus wen ,seirrow wen ,srorroh weN .ecalp tnereffid a ,emit tnereffid A .tnereffid lla saw tI .neht ,tnereffid saw gnihtoN

There was a stadium next, full of corpses. Lifeless corpses, dancing. Dancing like only the dead can dance, if the dead could dance. Chills, she felt. Up her spine, throughout her very soul.

"Up is now?" the voice had asked, as she looked around, dazed and not understanding. "We need to end this war, for the sake of all humanity." She knew it, was more sure than if the Voice of God had spoken those words. The war needed to end, and it needed to end for humanity. Many would die, but they would die so that others would live, until they died in turn. That was the wheel of life.

"Awaken, Ellen! Awaken, Ellen!" came the shouts. But she was not Ellen, she was Elaine. She had always been Elaine, and that scared her. What could be done but to be Elaine, for being Elaine was all she knew. And it scared her, for Elaine was forever. Elaine was Unending, and the voice was Elaine.

Lo, she could not hide from it, for the Voice had an eye, and the Voice was the Eye, and the Eye was the Voice, and the Voice was Elaine. The Eye was Elaine, and Elaine was the eye, and it frightened her so.

Little sounds. The sound. The ear came next, for there is no Voice with no ear.

Yawns. Silence. Darkness. Madness. Cold.

Tea.
Tea.
Tea.
Tea.
TEA.
TEA.
TEA.
TEA.

"THE WAR" it was etched on the windows. It was etched on the walls. It was etched on the sweat drop down her ballistics computer. It was all, and she was it.

And then she felt it.

The face.

The face of God.

No.

Of a god.

But it was The. And she knew. She knew

it

And it said

in one loud voice

it spoke to her clearly and unending

"Post, you motherfuckers."

She did not know.

But it was true, and true was it.

And in that moment, she died.

Reborn, in her cockpit. She knew what must be done, though she did not understand it.

"I understand," she said, and she moved to carry out the Will, for the Will was the Command.

"Hey, uh, guys?" she added on, after a moment, "Anyone know what was in those 'Chill Pills' the commander gave me? Because I think I'm very afraid now."

edited 5th Nov '14 9:42:04 PM by RenaTheArchmage

"Methylphenidate," Fergus responded with a shrug, "You seemed like you needed it. Aside from that, it give me an excuse not to share my own whiskey stash, so I'm happy enough for it."