You are CPO Kukyendall, and you are in the middle of a jailbreak. You now find yourself in the middle of a gargantuan, underwater room, with a transparent ceiling. In the center, the floor opens to water and piers to which numerous small and agile alien submersibles are roped. Above, there are numerous vehicles that you fear might be Martian aerial fighters. Though you and your group are only at the edge of the room, you can easily see through the transparent ceiling at daylight streaming through the water above. What is most unsettling is the impression you're getting from that ceiling; it looks like you're moving. You turn to look at Socks, your Martian turncoat and guide. You begin to ask him a question with your mind before you remember you're cut off by a rather large and oddly-shaped helmet. It's the only thing preventing you from succumbing to the vast waves of psionic energy flowing through the alien facility. Seeing your party's confusion, Socks turns and points. Miranda, fellow radio witch and the one currently linked to Socks, turns as well. "Um, over here," she says, not entirely confident that she's properly interpreting the information Socks is relaying via mental link. From what you can tell, her link is much weaker than yours.
>>19279671The five of you run around the perimeter of the room for about 125m, spurred forward by the urgency of your escape. Socks guides you all into a room in the corner of the massive hanger, closing the door behind you. As you enter, you can see numerous bits and pieces of equipment strewn about, most alien in both form and purpose. Two things catch your eye as you scan the room. There are a few pieces of equipment that seem suspiciously like aerial Strikers, though obviously not of human make. Additionally, there are three Martians working at the benches holding the Strikers, and they've just turned to look at whoever just entered the room. They don't look happy...or armed.>Action?
>>19279677Guns up, but don't shoot.Socks has said that his cooperation is dependent on us not killing technicians or engineers. Soldiers are fair game, though. And these look like the former, and not the latter. Ask Miranda to ask Socks if these Strikers are usable.
Without being linked to Socks, I say we wait for him or Miranda to do something. He obviously has a plan, I'd hate to mess it up.
Destroy the damn strikers and plans. THEY AINT GETTIN MAH TECH!
>>19279889Damnit, no! We could possibly use these to make our escape!And it's obvious that Socks has a plan, we need to let him enact it.
>>19279677 Henrieta jerks, swinging her gun towards the aliens not 3 meters away. Startled, you reach out and push her aim down towards the floor, trying not to focus on her poor trigger discipline. "Wait, Yetta," you say, "I think Socks can take care of this." You look at Socks, wishing you could communicate with him. However, your look seems to be all he needs. Socks walks forward (as best as a Martian can), making noises no human mouth could without some serious training. The others answer back, trembling. Fascinated, you watch as they gesture and vocalize, audience to something very few if any other humans have ever seen. After a few minutes and what you think was some heated words, the others head to the far side of the room and rest on the Martian-equivalent of chairs. They make no more motions or sounds, though they watch your group closely. You breathe a sigh of relief. And then Socks removes your helmet.
>>19279922DAMMIT SOCKS
>>19279922Well, shit.Mentally tell Socks "You'd better have a damn good reason for this."Actually, if we can even think that, then that means that we're not being bombarded by psionic signals and didn't need the helmet.Huh.
>>19279671>>19279671YES! WE SUB SAMMICHES NOW!
>>19279922"What the hell are you doing!?" you yell, bracing for a sudden onslaught of psionic energy. Socks looks at you curiously, then rocks back and forth in place. He's laughing, you realize. [I'm sorry for being so sudden, but I didn't think you'd react quite so violently.] No torrent of thoughts, no emotional assault reaches your mind. There is only the familiar feeling of Socks' mind connecting with yours as he sets your helmet down on the table next to him. [What the hell, Socks!? That wasn't funny!] [If you say so.] "Cleo! Are you ok!?" asks Rae, worried. The distress on her face is only exacerbated by the scrunched look of fury on your face. "Yeah, I'm fine. One sec, I'm trying to figure out what the hell is going on." As you focus your efforts on Socks again, Rae begins to explain to the curious other two witches that you and Socks can communicate. [Alright. I've got about a million questions for you right now. Let's start with the first: where the hell are we?] you ask. [We're inside a psionic clean room, designed for maintenance work on sensitive components that need to be back up and running quickly. Right now it's also serving as a kind of test room for research into your pseudo-psionic qualities.] Well, that explains why you're not in pain right now.>Questions?
>>19280024"Alright, second question: How do we get off of this mobile base?"And third: Can we use those Strikers to get us out of here?"
Where is the ship and where is it headed?How are we all getting out of here?What happens after that?
>>19280024It's like my witches are moving on their own~Also ask what the escape plan is
>>19280024Why the hell are there strikers down here at all?
>>19280024 [Alright,] you say, [next question: Where the hell are we?] Socks seems confused by your repetition, but only for a moment. [Ah. Welcome to the latest foolish decision by the commander. This is his personal project, a great giant fortress residing beneath the waves of alien oceans. Its name is Martian, but I think...] he says, searching your mind yet again. [Yes. Harbinger is an appropriate name. It is a massive staging point, carrying untold military assets and traveling at depths beyond what we believe your own aquatic weapons cannot reach. The commander has invested much in the project, developing and implementing numerous technologies even we have yet to perfect.] Though his tone is derisive, you can easily imagine how threatening a massive staging point capable of launching attacks anywhere on the planet could be. Add in its ability to dive deeper than any human military and... [...Can we destroy it?] [Destroy it? Are you making jokes now? Perhaps if you had Martian weapons, but as it stands there's nothing we can do but hope it was rushed too quickly and is sinking around us already.] That's not good.
>>19280136You promised attractive Sakamoto. That is not it.The Miyafuji is pretty cute though.
>>19280260Ask about these Strikers.Are they hybrid tech, or repurposed Martian technology?What's the plan to get out of here? And can we use these Strikers?
>>19280264Eh I lied, Eye of the beholder and all that jazz. In person she was a lot cuter~>>19280260How bout them strikers
>>19280260About what is the size of the Martian armed forces?Why the fuck are you invading at all?Why cant you just request peaceful negotiations?What the hell are "PSIONICS" exactly and why can i hear them?
>>19280260[Alright, alright. So you guys have an invincible supersub. Got it. Next question. What the hell are those?] As you gesture to the Strikers, you notice that your comrades and the other Martians in the room are staring at each other uneasily. They'll have to deal with the awkward silence for a while longer. [...We're very confused by your...powers. They echo our psionics greatly, but besides the more obvious manifestations you are capable of, there are subtle differences. I wasn't involved in their creation, but I suspect that these are our latest attempts at understanding or copying your pseudo-psionic devices.] He turns to the other Martians, again speaking to them. After a few moments, his attention returns to you. [Yes, apparently these are a few different attempts. One is just a straight copy, testing to see if we understand enough of the engineering to replicate a working device. Another is an attempt at enhancing their performace. The other is incomplete, but an attempt at replacing whatever engine drives it with psionics.] Interesting.
>>19280362Do you have a plan to get us out, and to make contact with Human forces?And that Striker that's just a direct copy, would these engineers mind if I took it for a spin?
>>19280392I'd be a BIT more careful about telling the engineers that they understand Striker Tech by showing them their clones work.
>>19280362Arright, let's take those with us if we can. If not, trash them.Now for the big question: why the fuck are they invading AT ALL?
>>19280362 [...Did they work?] Socks shakes his head. [No. The psionic version isn't working at all, and we haven't had anyone that could test the copies.] [Any possibility of us using them to escape?] [These are the only units. Unless you plan on leaving us behind, no.] You frown. [So how the hell are we getting off this monstrosity?] [As you saw out there, we have a few options. Being a massive carrier, we have numerous attack craft on board. The submersibles are large enough for all of us to escape on one craft, but we would be pursued by not only other submersibles but by the Harbinger itself. On the other hand, we have small aircraft we could commandeer. We might be able to fit all of us in two of them, but this is the commander's pet project; he has only the best of the best pilots here, and there are more than enough fighters for them to sortie in force.] Damn.
>>19280448 You pause for a few moments, taking in this information. It's all good and relevant to your current situation, but even being pressed for time, you can't help but wonder. [...Why did you guys start the war, anyway?] Socks sighs. [There are more than you might think asking the same question. I believe it is a mistake by those in charge.] He stops, trying to focus on exactly what to say. You get the feeling he's trying to hold something back. [The war-] Clang. A sudden knock on the room's wall reminds you that you are in the middle of an escape. Hurriedly, you turn to Rae, Henrieta, and Miranda. "We've got two ways out of here, let's go!" Jumping to your feet, you grab the Martian Strikers, shoving them into your bag as you ignore the protests of the alien engineers. "Move out of my way, squids!" you yell as you wave your gun at them. Unlike Henrieta, you maintain proper trigger discipline and have no intention to fire...but the engineers don't know that. They back down quickly. Everyone scrambles to the opposite door, ready to charge out. "Cleo, what's the plan?" asks Rae. >Take to the skies!>Head to the depths!>Other?
>>19280573Head to the Depths. We'll be safer there.
>>19280573Really Kotters? REALLY!?!?!!?!!? Has PF not come up with a reason yet or are you just holding out on us too?
>>19280573Head to the skies! Fight like a real witch, and our souls shouldn't be weighed down by gravity
>>19280573Go towards the submersibles and escape. The small craft are just asking to get us killed.
>>19280596Hey, if you want to know, find a way to bring Planefag back to life.
TAKE TO THE WATERYOU ARE SUBWITCHEN. GET DIVING.
>>19280598>>19280599I wonder if plot armor extends beyond the perspective character's vehicle?
>>19280573Go for the subs, we've got no idea how far away land is and also no idea what the range of their fighters are. At least a sub can float if it runs out of fuel.
Socks is going to blow a gasket when we get him out of here and we tell him its all magic.
>>19280573SUBS!
>>19280573"We're hijacking one of those subs. Come on!" The five of you burst through the bulkhead. You trip, just barely remembering to put the helmet back on in time. Getting back to your feet, you find yourself on a walkway following the right side of the room relative to your entry point. As you run, you hear Martians get agitated. That can't be good, you think. Indeed, it is not. The Martians that were trying to enter the clean room spot your group and open fire. Rae opens up a shield, protecting the four ahead of you. You do the same, deflecting a few well-placed shots that would have ruined your day. Their rounds are carrying surprisingly large punches for this distance, draining your shield more quickly than you expected. "There! Take the stairs!" you yell, pointing to a staircase that leads down to the subs. A quick glance shows that most of the workers have fled at the sound of gunfire, leaving them bare and unguarded. "Ow!" you cry as a bullet manages to break through your weakened shield. It lost most of its power, but it still stung. "Cleo!" yells a worried Henrieta, half-way to the submarines. Your shield isn't holding back the bullets anymore, and you're awfully exposed on the outer walkway. You need another plan. >Action?
>>19280906The Strikers we stole: Sub or Air Strikers? Also, either way, having the focus unit should let us get more effectiveness out of what little magic we have left. Have two of the Witches open fire on the guards shooting at us, one to fire and the other to shield. We'll use the distraction to get to the sub.The other pair get into a sub with Socks, and get it started.
>>19280906Fling walls at them.
>>19280906>Forget my trip>Fail greentextoh god how did this get here i am not good with computer
>>19280906Dive into the water?
Get those strikers on us or one of the other witches. That'll give us a huge magic boost.
>>19280906Quickly, you duck behind a conveniently-placed control console of some sort. It's not much in the way of cover; a lucky shot could ruin your day by hitting your legs. Still... As a few rounds ping off the metal console and your friends' shields, you glance around the hanger. It really is quite spacious. Almost spacious enough to... No. You don't know how. You're afraid of flying. This is insane. This is your only choice. You open your bag, pulling out the Martian copy Striker. Though you've never used an aerial Striker, you've seen them up close. This one is differently shaped, more smooth and rounded. Quite frankly, it looks like it was made by someone with better technology. Shaking your head, you put the untested Martian unit on your legs, blue light emanating from the top of the unit as the magic engine starts up. Suddenly, your magic is much more focused. Like when Socks controlled your healing, you feel little in the way of wasted effort as you project a test shield in front of you. You smile as you say "The hell with it," and leap off the walkway. "Cleo!?" exclaims Miranda as you clumsily take flight inside the hanger. Martians that were trying to circle around from other positions in the hanger suddenly fire their weapons, finding a clear shot at you now as you dart through the enclosed space. Unfortunately for them, your shields again hold back their bullets, doing little to you. I hate flying I hate flying I hate flying I hate flying you think to yourself. Adrenaline rushing, you rush forward and plow into the original trio of Martians that were trying to break into the clean room. Your impressive acceleration combined with your sturdy shield leaves only a splattered mess behind as you fly back off the walkway, dodging some equipment attached to the ceiling.
>>19281188As you crash through equipment your assailants lunge out of the way, having learned from their now flatter fellows that shields tend to win in collisions. They panic, several accidentally dropping their weapons on the ground several floors below, if not into the water. You are a blur of havoc, no longer in proper control of your flight, smashing into equipment and walls that were not designed to stop a witch. They rush out of the room, several pointing to the ceiling of the hanger as they do. A few minutes later, exhausted, you manage to land next to your stunned group. "Is...the sub...ready?" you pant, tired. "Y-yes. Socks set it all up," responds Miranda. "What were you doing?" "Flying," you answer. "Or learning to." Taking advantage of the lull in the fighting, you all stumble into the awkward Martian sub, ready to depart. You look at Socks, and he nods. Cautiously you take the helmet off. Only a faint psionic signal reaches your mind as the submarine starts up. [Let's get out of here.] The sub dives beneath the massive Harbinger, heading to the depths. As you escape, the force-field in the ceiling holding back the water fails, letting a rush of water flood the hanger. "I guess you did a little more damage than we thought with your test flight, Cleo," laughs Rae. "Hopefully that'll stall their pursuit." [Submersibles at...200m, behind us,] says Socks, once again linked to your mind. [They appear to be following us.] "They're not the only ones here, Rae," you say. Rae's smile disappears.>Action?
Does this thing have any weapons? If so, put Socks on the control.Can we project our shields outside the hull? If so, we could push the water out in front of us and make the sub supercavitate.
>>19281336Pop seafloor at them. Thatll throw them off our trail.
>>19281336Ask Socks if this thing has any weapons that can fire back, or any kind of defensive system.
>>19281336If we pump magic into the hull, will that make it any stronger? If so, dive reaaaaally deep. Obviously we won't out-dive the supercarrier, but that thing probably handles like a brick.
>>19281371>>19281439If we could do that, then human submarines would have already done that.
>>19281336"Well, do something!" Rae yells. "Alright, alright!" you respond. You try to ignore Henrieta cowering behind Miranda. [200m? Socks, that's practically on top of us!] [Yes. I have no clue where they came from.] [Well, do we have weapons? Can we fire at them?] [Yes, but...I'm just a researcher. It's all I can do just to figure out all these movement controls.] Dammit. You did not come this far just to get caught here. [Socks. How deep can we dive?] He blinks. [Deep? These vessels can withstand pressures of several kilometers depth; they needed to be able to go wherever the Harbinger could, and seeing as we don't have accurate maps of your oceans, we planned fo-] [How about here? How deep is the ocean?] [Plenty. You want to try and out-dive them?] [Exactly.] He stops and thinks for a moment. [Well, if they're a standard submersible, then we can out-dive them and reach deeper depths...but if they're in a vessel like ours, we'll just be sealing our fate.] [...It didn't look like any others launched from that hanger.] [That's not the only hanger.] This keeps getting worse and worse. [Wait, wha-] Boom! An explosion echos through the hull, though it doesn't rock the sub. Boom! Another explosion. [New targets, they appear to be of alien origin.] You stare at Socks. [That means they're yours.]>Surface and greet your fellow humans; the cavalry is here!>Dive and avoid the battle; you're still in an enemy ship.>Other
Ho boy.See if we can channel our magic through Socks and telepathically communicate with the human subs? I doubt we'd be able to surface and expect to be rescued. Submarine warfare was pretty cutthroat. They'd shoot us down before we could get out. Dive and avoid.
>>19281691>Surface, have a white flag prepped and ready to go.Surfacing is probably our best bet, with Depth Charges above, Subs below and the captured sub stuck in the middle. All it takes is one lucky Depth charge to ruin the day...
Wait just a tick, we have a radio witch with us. The answer should be obvious.
>>19281691>OtherHave Miranda transmit to the human submarines that we're human Witches in a captured Martian sub, and to not kill us.Then surface.
>>19281725>>19281738Then again, this fellow does raise a good point. Subhunting during WWII was rather nasty. Hell, when one Uboat commander radio'd British ships that there were sailors (or civilians, maybe both) in the water that needed help, they tried to sink him.All though to be fair, he did put them in the water....
>>19281691>>19281741yeah that
>>19281772If that happens, then we will personally get out there in a Sub-Striker and kick in that captain's shit.What's he gonna do to us? We're a Witch, we're mostly untouchable.And this would be one of the few times that Kukyendall would feel justified in abusing Witch privileges.
>>19281810We don't have a substriker. We have Martian-built aerial strikers.
>>19281810It's more that it'll happen like this:>"Captain! Enemy sub surfacing!">"Open fire!"Followed by them shooting/launching torpedoes/fighters/depth charges, whatever, before you can really get much of a word out. Subs are kind of fragile too, IIRC.Also, IIRC, subs in WWII had to surface to send Radio Messages. Still do, I think. Water is pretty absorbent of radio waves and all. Not a good medium for them to travel through like Sonar does.
>>19281810Assuming we survive.Let's not try our luck.
>>19281845Radio witches can communicate through water; it's magic, etc.Still, that means they'd have to have a radio witch on board if you wanted to contact them.
>>19281859Aw. I wanted to wait to spring that particular tidbit until someone said "But we have magical radio witches!"
>>19281859Well, let's try it first, and see if we make contact.
>>19281691Surface. Fuck diving. Get to that (Presumed) destroyer, and get aboard with all haste.
>>19281937And remember to inform them of our friendly status as soon as we can get in radio contact.
>>19281691 "What was that!?" yells Henrieta. "Depth charges," you answer. "Our ships are attacking." You turn to Miranda. "I know the USN tries to keep at least one radio witch to a task force. Do you know about foreign forces?" She shakes her head. "No, I don't. I imagine they'd try to; we make communications a lot simpler with submerged vessels." Raising her hand to her chin, she continues. "It couldn't hurt to try, though, could it?" You nod. "No, it couldn't." You turn your attention to the general direction of the continuing explosions, concentrating. <Attention Human Vessel. Attention Human Vessel. Please respond.> You cross your fingers for a response. <This is CPO Kukyendall of the USN. If able, please respond.> <CPO Kukyendall, this is Lt. Cmdr. Ito Naomi of the Yukikaze. Acknowledging message. What is your situation?> "Oh thank god, they responded," you say. "The Japanese, huh?" Miranda wonders aloud. <We are aboard a captured Martian submersible. We are four witches and one Martian turncoat. We are being pursued and request assistance.>
>>19282149 There's a brief pause and you wonder for one terrifying moment if you just imagined the response. Then Ito responds. <Requesting you repeat your message.> <We're on a captured sub and we have a friendly Martian! We need help!> you say, exasperated. <Please, believe us,> adds Miranda. Again, there is a pause before Ito responds. <...Keep clear of the combat area until operations are completed. We will retrieve you afterwards.> You nearly lose your temper. < WE ARE A COMBAT AREA!> you yell. <WE NEED HELP, NOW!> <...Surface immediately. Approach our ships at a 45 degree angle. If you do not, you will be identified as a Martian target and attacked.> Ito pauses one more time. <Good luck.>
>>19282155>WE ARE A COMBAT AREA!True, so true...
>>19282155Well, tell Socks to begin to surface and to approach the human ships at the specified angle.
Well, follow their instructions.And form up around Socks. We don't want anyone shooting him for having tentacles.
>>19282195Anyone tries to shoot a willing turncoat Martian, especially one of the Martians' top researchers, is going to get a facefull of magic shield. We break people's bones if they do stupid shit.
Oh Kotters? Just to let you know, this thread is in autosage and is on page 14.
>>19282249Wait, what?
>>19282270Some mod or janitor is setting any quest thread they find to autosage. They're only using a text search though, so if you create an initial post without the word "quest" in it, it should be fine. You may have to keep it out of the subject field, too. Zerg Quest got hit with it today, and they had to make a new thread because of it.
>>19282270the new quest thread autosage funcion: all quests autosage AS SOON AS TAGGED BY A MOD to keep the front page clean for meta-threads. just make another one soon , this one's already archived with the usual tags and title.
>>19282308Where does moot hire these mooks?
>>19282337Be careful. If you disparage a mod, you'll get banned. And if you complain, you'll get banned again. Hell, I'm risking ban just by talking about bans.
>>19282337they're FBI interns under the pretense of training to spot CP,bomb threats and piracy. or maybe just random fags he picked up from the boards.
>>19282155"What did they say?" asks Rae. "Surface and do as they say, or they'll blow us up," you answer. "Awfully kind, those Japs," Rae comments. [Socks, they'll help us out, but we need to be careful or they'll target us as enemies.] [Oh joy. Being shot at by both sides. This is not what I expected when I left Mars,] he complains. [What do I do?] [Surface, and do it quickly. Those other subs are still on us. When we spot the friendly ships, we approach at a 45 degree angle. Don't screw this up. None of us want to die here.] He grunts and takes the controls. A sudden pressure tries to force everyone to the floor and towards the rear of the small submersible. It's much more powerful than anything you've felt on a human sub before, reminding you of the remarkable performance of Martian technology, even in areas they're not familiar with. As your sub breaks the surface, panels at the front of the sub slide open, revealing windows and a bright, sunny day. On the horizon, you can see several destroyers.
>>19282363it's just an automated (th global 48 hour ban, we would be free on time by next scheduled thread on Friday.
Stand out on the hull and start waving like a lunatic.
>>19282377We'd better get in touch with the Jap radio witch again, and get them to give us some protection before those Martian subs try to fire a torpedo at us from below.Maybe we should get out in the aerial Strikers to show them that yes, we're human?
>>19282377Thread 2 - Electric Boogaloo>>19282404
>>19282377wave anything white we may have as a flag, like our fancy sailor shirt or Yetta's panties or anything
From /a/ http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2012-05-29/strike-witches-takamura-launches-vivid-red-operation -anime
