>>1159652
As she lands to applause from all currently present, she bows like a showwoman and shucks off the backpack device. “It’s really quite the lifesaver in many situations. Can’t imagine leaving without one- every pilot gets their own personal-issued emergency Hoverpack.” And that’s when her face turns slightly regretful. “And that’s why I’m not exactly certain we can just hand them over. Considering the scenario, I’d like to think we can make an exception, but…” she just shrugs. It’s annoying, but you can see where she’s coming from.

“They might be able to take some raft belts,” Avery notes. “Seein’ as how THOSE are pretty commonplace.”

“Ah! You’re quite right,” Icey notes with a thoughtful look. You’re about to ask, but she catches the expression on your face and starts before you can. “Raft belts are kind of EMERGENCY emergency devices. They won’t let you fly around like a jetpack, but if you fall, it’ll just bubble you and very very slowly let you down. Kind of like a parachute! This being a skyworld, though…I imagine we’ll have to try and be quick with rescues.”

“We can probably get ‘em one or the other. Both if they don’t ask for nothin’ else...” Avery shrugs.

“Yeah, we ain’t got infinite supplies.” the other guy looks back at the shelves. “I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to bring your own stuff-

You all show forward your bags of holding that currently have your weapons and devices whatnot.

“-but I’m pretty sure we can give ya SOMETHING.” He goes on as if he didn’t notice your unison. So lemme know and I’ll see what we got.” He leans back on a shelf, waiting for a decision.

>I think if you had an extra armor set for us, that’d be nice.
>Got any specialized guns?
>Actually, I think we’re good with the Raft belt and hoverpack.
>Other

>>1159655
>I think if you had an extra armor set for us, that’d be nice.

We have enough weapons and firepower in general I would think. Armor is always nice especially if it's Outgoer-Military Grade.

>>1159655
>>Actually, I think we’re good with the Raft belt and hoverpack.

>>1159655
>Actually, I think we’re good with the Raft belt and hoverpack.

>>1159655
>>Got any specialized guns?
>>Actually, I think we’re good with the Raft belt and hoverpack.

We didn't get any explicitly anti-air weapons, I imagine one or two wouldn't be unwise

Seems like we're good to go barring the floaty stuff.

Writing!

>>1159676
>>1159682
>>1159685

It takes you a bit of thinking, and you, Lorelei and Izumi quickly mutter to each other, but ultimately, you shake your head. “Nah. I think we’re good with the Raft belt and hoverpack if you don’t mind.”

The guy just shrugs. “If you say so. Avery, go let the big guy know and we’ll get everything set up here.” Avery gives a half-jokey salute, and moves out.

“Right. I’m fairly certain he’ll give the go-ahead, so if you’ll excuse me…” Icey quickly retrieves 3 sets of both hoverpacks and Raft belts, and you all make certain to equip them. “We might want to get to the UnderHang now. We spent a bit more time in the VR chamber than you might’ve thought, and it’d be a good thing to get you three to pick planes before we deploy so you don’t have to choose at the last minute in the carrier.”

With that, she and her friend both begin walking off, and you're quick to follow her.

>...Wait, we get planes?
>Hold on, what’s this about a carrier?
>How are we all leaving, incidentally?
>Other

>>1159777
>>...Wait, we get planes?

>>1159777
>>...Wait, we get planes?

>>1159777
>Hold on, what’s this about a carrier?
>...Wait, we get planes?
Seems like the logical progression

Also, nice trips.

>>1159777
>...Wait, we get planes?

also, checked

>>1159777
>Wait, we get planes?

>>1159777
Yeah, no, you ALL heard that one. “Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Lorelei stops in front of her, as do you. “We get planes? Like, all of us?”

Icey looks at you like you’re crazy. “Well, not any of the GOOD stuff, no. While Miranda was in the VR sim, I got a call from boss. He said you’re authorized to utilize our basic planes. Also known as the Tier Ones. For TRANSPORT AND EMERGENCIES.” She makes sure to fix all three of you with a good, hard look. “You’re our ground support, and we can’t expect to always be able to ferry you. So you’re going to be permitted three planes capable of air to air combat. Anything else is too expensive for you guys to use.” She focuses on Izumi and Lorelei for the next bit. “Once you pick your your planes, we’re hoofing it back for a quick primer. Miranda’s exempt. You are NOT to engage in any air to air battles unless the General himself gives you clearance, understand?!”

All three of you nod. “Understood.”

With that, Icey relaxes a bit. “Good. No offense, but it’s all about the pilot, not the vehicle. We don’t want anyone inexperienced doing anything boneheaded in an expensive plane, so what’s likely going to happen is that you’ll be flown in under cover, via escort most times. We’ll drop you in, let you do you business, then exfiltrate. We’re just anticipating that sometimes that’ll be in a pitched battle where all hands will be needed. That means that you’ll get escorts, but we won’t have time to land and drop you off.”

“I guess that makes sense enough…” Lorelei agrees.

“Fair, although I certainly wish we could perhaps try something a bit more…hm.” Izumi wonders.

“Don’t worry, even our basic stuff is pretty good!” Icey laughs. “Come, you’ll see.”

cont.

>>1159867
It takes some time to reach the UnderHang, and you can see why. The place is IMMENSE. A four level hangar, with a massive, massive door at the end that’s closed shut. A gigantic carrier airship sits near the middle, already being primed and readied for takeoff as flight crews and pilots scuttle around it and the various planes on its sides.

There’s a wide, massive variety of ships and planes, of all types and all models. Icey leads you to the far end of the first floor, where you can see a number of similar planes all in rows, a good distance down the hangar.

“These are our Tier Ones…” Icey announces. “The E-10 Beagle, multirole striker. Decent all-rounder. Got missiles if you really need them, but don’t use them willy nilly. Energy loss is serious. The TX-8 Viper, good defense, best used in groups. The MT-8 Wolfen, also multirole, no missiles, pretty solid turning, though. Can actually keep up with some of the Tier Twos on that front. Armor’s kinda meh, though. And the R-1A Screamer. Good speed, decent air-to-air.” She looks over at all of you. “Like I said, this is largely still for transport, but it depends on what you think might happen out there. We’ll leave this choice to you since your guess is as good as ours on that front.”

“No kidding...I dunno which one to pick!” Lorelei gushes. Izumi seems similarly paralyzed.

Well, in that case...

>Time to pick planes!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaNrBHIJqDQ
>Choices for easy copy/paste:
>E-10 Beagle
>TX-8 Viper
>MT-8 Wolfen
>R-1A Screamer

>What plane will you pick?

>What plane is Izumi going up in?

>What will be Lorelei’s aircraft?


Will be away for a couple hours. Will be back later tonight as is common.

>>1159868
>What plane will you pick?
R-1A Screamer
>What plane is Izumi going up in?
E-10 Beagle
>What will be Lorelei’s aircraft?
MT-8 Wolfen

>>1159868
>What plane will you pick?
E-10 Beagle
>What plane is Izumi going up in?
R-1A Screamer
>What will be Lorelei’s aircraft?
MT-8 Wolfen

>>1159868
>What plane will you pick?
R-1A Screamer
>What plane is Izumi going up in?
E-10 Beagle
>What will be Lorelei’s aircraft?
MT-8 Wolfen

>>1159868

>What plane will you pick?
R-1A Screamer
>What plane is Izumi going up in?
TX-8 Viper
>What will be Lorelei’s aircraft?
TX-8 Viper

We want to be hayai in case we absolutely need it, and when I hear "good in groups" I hear "formation bonuses up the rear".

>>1159906
Also
>tfw you thought you joined magical girl quest, but it turns into Ace Combat quest and it's all the better

>>1159868
TX-8 for all three girls.

>>1159868
I say the other two get
> TX-8 Viper
for the defense (I assume they are not as good at flying as us) and we get
> E-10 Beagle
for fighting off any fuckers that attack us in transit. Or maybe the Screamer if we are up to dogfights.

And back!

It seems like

>>1159876
>>1159894
>>1159906
Miranda gets the Screamer.

>>1159906
>>1160120
>>1160476
Izumi gets the TX-8 Viper.

Those are locked.

Lorelei is tied between

>>1159876
>>1159893
>>1159894
Wolfen and

>>1159906
>>1160120
>>1160476
Viper as well. I'll get 10 minutes out of courtesy and then I'll flip for her.

>>1160491

> Wolfen

Wolfen it is! Writing.

>>1160496
>>1159876
>>1159893
>>1159894
>>1159906

Honestly, the place looks pretty swanky. You’re not sure what it’s made off, but it seems pretty sturdy- not to mention it seems to be difficult to find any kind of seams in the metalwork. Almost like the whole place was carved out of one piece. It’s honestly kinda cool how this is the first time you’ve seen this thing. You knew that Dynamic Methods had a lot of people, a lot of vehicles. Not a whole dang air fortress, though. The inside seems to be a stark white to most everything with gold and blue accents everywhere. Part of you was surprised you weren’t blinded.

Not to mention how clean it all was. Sure you’d heard the phrase ‘so clean you could eat off the floor’, but this place...heck. You’d made note of this to a passing custodia, and he laughed at the prospect, simply saying ‘Oh, just wait till they get aboard.’ Ominous.

You’d even managed to find the sleeping quarters- a bit tight, and by all accounts THIS room you’d have to share with the rank and file. But on the whole you could deal with that...you think.

“Well, hello there.” What? You turn around, only to see a well-groomed, green haired youth looking at you somewhat imperiously. “Didn’t think I’d find you here. Hope you don’t mind sleeping with the rabble for a mission.” The way he moves past you makes you feel like he’d wanted to bump into you. And then decided ‘nah’.” Him and the girl behind him; dressed and hair styled similarly, both move to put their duffle bags in two side by side compartments- a couple down from yours, only. As they turn and walk back out while completely ignoring you, a question is about to come to your min-

“ATTENTION, ALL EPSILON MEMBERS, PLEASE REPORT TO UNDERHANG TO PREPARE TO LAUNCH. REPEAT, ALL MEMBERS OF EPSILON PLEASE REPORT TO UNDERHANG, FINAL PRE-LAUNCH CHECKS ARE SOON TO ENGAGE.”

cont.

>>1160736
You can see Lorelei and Izumi running from around the corner as you walk near the edge of the carrier. A minute later, Icey rounds the corner as well, completely calm as the General lines everyone up, repeating questions you’ve already asked. They quickly join you on the carrier proper, and now…

“So, you ready to live in the wild blue yonder?” Lorelei gushes- it seems oddly hard to keep her grin off her face now. “I think this one’s gonna be cool!”

”ATTENTION, PRE-FLIGHT CHECKS ARE NEAR COMPLETE, FINAL BOARDING BEGINS NOW…”

“You think we’ll be fine without any clothes mods?” Lorelei looks at herself as you walk down the hallway. “I feel like maybe I should’ve brought at least a bomber jacket or something…”

“I think we’ll be fine,” you reassure her.

”PREPARING TO LAUNCH. ALL HANDS, PLEASE SECURE ALL PRESENT ITEMS, BODIES, AND OTHER LOOSE OBJECTS. ALL GROUND STAFF, PLEASE CLEAR THE AREA.”

Okay…

”LAUNCHING IN FIVE...FOUR...”

Izumi drops her head in a quick solemn moment. “Let us pray for a swift success.”

”THREE...TWO...”

You sigh. “Let’s see what we got.”

”ONE...”

The gates open up, revealing a long, looong tunnel. Massive turbines whirr as the equally massive ship gains some altitude, and begins to move forward. In surprisingly little time, it’s moving at a quick clip- you, Lorelei, and Izumi all look at the outside...blackness, blackness…

And then a shining glow, and the next thing you see is clouds.

JOB START

>>1160736
>a well-groomed, green haired youth looking at you somewhat imperiously.
I want to show this guy up.

>>1160739
The second thing you see is an explosion- in the distance, that is. Several others follow it up. Before you can wonder what’s going on, however, you hear a loud, let low humming...and you know that wasn’t from the turbines.

Before you can ask, a massive lance of energy suddenly comes into view, and judging by the sound and the arc, it came from the carrier itself! You can see it speed off into the distance in a matter of seconds as the carrier begins to close in, the explosions getting closer and closer. You turn to ask Icey what’s happening- before you realize that she’s long since left your company.

Lorelei turns, and is only just noticing as well. “Heeeey…”

“She left before we jumped,” Izumi helpfully supplies. Her eyes are twinkling a bit with the humor of how you missed it, apparently. “I’m not sure what’s going on right now, but I suspect we’ve little reason to worry for now- I can’t see any land from here, so I don’t think we’re up yet.” The portholes were small, but all things considered, she was probably right. Still…

>Eh, we can take a further look around the ship, then.
>I’m a bit too curious. Let’s try and find the captain’s quarters.
>Someone else probably knows. We can find someone and ask them.
>Other

>>1160771
>Eh, we can take a further look around the ship, then.

>>1160771
>Someone else probably knows. We can find someone and ask them.
Maybe there's a CIC that we can go to that will have more info.

>>1160771
>Someone else probably knows. We can find someone and ask them.

>>1160771
>Someone else probably knows. We can find someone and ask them.
So we got slowfall belts AND jetpacks? seems redundant.

>>1160771
>>Someone else probably knows. We can find someone and ask them.

>>1160850
Nah, one is emergency and the other is Emergency emergency.

>>1160771
>>Someone else probably knows. We can find someone and ask them.

I fell asleep. Apologies. We'll resume around 1-2 PM CST since I ain't doing much this Valentines.

>>1160771
>Eh, we can take a further look around the ship, then.

Back if anyone else is. Writing now!

>>1161813
Totally here F A M.

File: 1433783853889.png (124 KB, 459x535)

124 KB PNG

>>1161813
I'm here too.

>>1161813
Let's do this

>>1160771
You just shake your head. “Someone else probably knows. We can just find a guy and ask them.”

“Fair enough.” Izumi and Lorelei both start walking with you, minds curious. Something then comes to you mentally, just as Lorelei voices similar thoughts. “I think we’re makin’ our grand entrance, though!”

“It WOULD be rather heroic to come out of nowhere and save the day,” Izumi muses, hand on her chin. “Although I’m a bit concerned about why do this rather than just meet with the commands to be certain of things. Do they even know we were going to be here? We might get treated a bit unfavorably...”

“And by unfavorably, you mean...oh, wait, hey!” Lorelei’s sentence shifts practically without the clutch as she spots someone in uniform; already helmeted and looking like they’re headed somewhere in particular. “Hey there! Do you mind tell us what’s going on with the sudden attack?”

Helmet or not, you can tell he’s giving you a *look*. “You didn’t hear the intel before launch? Ugh.” Well, excuse you. “We’re going in hot to showcase our abilities and make a showing of goodwill, so to speak.” You can practically see the smug radiate off Lorelei as her hypothesis is proven right. “We’ll then make contact, and likely speak to any and all commanding officers proper to see exactly where they need us now.”

“Cool! So what do we do in the meantime?” Man, Lorelei’s fired up.

“Don’t do anything stupid, and just be ready to deploy.” With that, he brushes past you three, his steady walk turning into a brisk one.

“...bah.” Lorelei just sticks her tongue out at the receding figure. “Is it just me, or are a lot of people here kinda jerks?”

“We don’t operate with many others, to be fair.” Izumi points out. “Couldn’t say what the jerk to non-jerk ratio is.”

You just make a mild noise of dissatisfaction. “Let’s just keep to ourselves for a bit until we get to where we’re going.”

cont.

>>1161891

‘Where you’re going’ turns out to be one of the largest sky islands- from the looks of it, it might be the Alusian capital. Lorelei’s face is glued to the window as you start descending to dock. “Oooooohhhh...wooow! Man, this place is shiny! Like someone just got a giant paint roller and made everything glossy white!” Even you could tell she was being a bit facetious; there were more muted colors visible even from this distance- but it was true that a bright white seemed the most common color.

“I do hope we’re not bogged down by civilians too much,” Izumi notes as she sees the massive crowd gathering.

’WOULD ALL COMMANDING OFFICERS AND SPECIAL ASSETS PLEASE PREPARE TO DISEMBARK? REPEAT, WOULD ALL COMMANDING OFFICERS…[/’i]

The three of you look upwards at the intercom announcement. You hmm. “Guess that’s us.” The other two agree, and you all make your way towards the exit.

Fortunately, it seems the crowd is there largely out of curiosity, and there’s plenty of murmurs as you all step out- particularly a few headed your way- probably considering how different you three look in comparison to even the uniformed soldiers. You can see the civilians are in surprisingly typical modern attire, although they seem to gravitate towards heavier clothes for some reason.
That group isn’t the only one to meet you, however- a large, bearded man that looks rather gigantic, at least seven feet tall. He’s bare chested, save for a long jacket, and is rippling with muscles. He also has an IMPRESSIVE handlebar mustache.

On a whim, you focus on him and take a sniff. He smells vaguely like burnt popcorn.

Muscle Mustache reaches out and shakes the hand of the Captain. “So...you are the legendary units from the Far Lands?”

“Damn straight, and you must be the High Lord who hired us!” G’nearth chuckles. “Not ta worry. We’ll get you outta this yet!”

The old man sighs, nodding as looks across at the soldiers. He opens his mouth to speak briefly...and then his eyes settle on you three. Specifically, his eyes lock on yours briefly, and you can see them widen in surprise slightly.

The captain seems to notice. “Ah? Oh, them? Might call them our secret weapons, eh?” G’nearth cackles at that, and the man raises an eyebrow.

“Oh? I’m curious. No uniforms, smaller than most of your compatriots... and you seem to stand apart from the rest, not in formation. I mean no insult, but this has me curious. What are you capable of?” He starts to lean forward, a bit unsure of how to approach you.

> “Try and punch me and find out.” Shouldn’t be much to defend against this.
> “We make things explode. I don’t know if you want us to demonstrate right now.”
> “We’re the ground forces. Simple as that.”
> Other

>>1161898
>> “We make things explode. I don’t know if you want us to demonstrate right now.”

...can't believe I missed that italics typo. Bah.

>>1161898
> We're the ground forces
Mass destruction, infiltration, superior firepower. What do you need?

>>1161898
>"Try and punch me and find out.” Shouldn’t be much to defend against this.
This is supposed to be when we make a big showing, so we might as well show off.

>>1161898
>“Try and punch me and find out.” Shouldn’t be much to defend against this.

>>1161898
>> “Try and punch me and find out.” Shouldn’t be much to defend against this.

Miranda's a big girl

>>1161917
>>1161921
>>1161927

Like a rock.

Writing!

>>1161898
The look you give your friends when you turn back to them simply causes Lorelei to smirk and Izumi to shrug helplessly. Then Lorelei gives you a strange little wave as if to say ‘go on.’

You’re not entirely certain what you’re ‘going on’ to do, but you suppose that if this is supposed to be a dynamic (no pun intended) first impression, you might as well follow through on that. Which is why you fold your arms, look up at him cooly, and fix him with an unblinking stare. “Try and hit me and find out.”

“I-what?” That didn’t seem to be the answer he expected. “I beg your pardon?!” His subordinates are similarly baffled, but you remain fixed to the spot.

“You heard me. Take a swing, see what happens.” You shrug, trying to present yourself both as casual and powerful at the same time. “S’not a threat or anything, just a demonstration. I promise you, I’ll be fine.”

“You’re insane.” That’s the voice of one of his lieutenants coming up from behind him. “Do you even know who that is?! That’s High Lord Bellarius- leader of the Alusian Council and one of the strongest men alive! He’d break you in two with a single slap! Mind your-”

“PFTHAHAHAHA!” The raucous laughing of the Captain interrupts the man’s spiel. “Oh, come offa it for a second and let ‘em take a swing! I think you’ll be surprised, eh?”

Bellarius hmms in displeasure. However, he gives you another onceover, then sighs. “Very well. One strike. I presume this to be a boast of speed, then?” He cocks back his fist. “I trust to feel nothing but air, then.” He takes a deep breath, then his fist flies forward. “HA!”

cont.

>>1162008
The loud bang of impact registers around the area, and you can hear some gasps that happen almost instinctually from hearing the sound. Likely they heard and presumed the worst. You even saw some people had turned their heads before impact.

The gasps they let out when they refocused their vision sounded entirely different, you notice.

You hadn’t budged from your spot. His fist was currently prevented from traveling any further by your halfway outstretched hand- his fist is big enough that your palm can’t even begin to enclose his, but it still clearly claims ownership. Even he seems to be in mild shock as to what just happened, but no one can deny what’s just happened. You stopped him cold, and with no visible effort.

You lock eyes with him again, his own bulged with astonishment as you hear G’neath laughing uproariously in the background. “That about say it?” You ask.

A second punch, thrown without verbal warning, is suddenly upon you- and stopped in the same way. You raise an eyebrow. “What about now?”

He blinks. And slowly, he retracts his arm, as everyone around you looks on in amazement (and a touch of fear, if how some of them backed off is any indication). Taking a deep breath, he nods. “I suppose that does indeed.” With that, he turns backto G’nearth, his face once again schooled in a diplomatic neutral. “It seems that your people are...quite capable.” With that, he turns, waving you all forward. “Come. We have much to discuss.”

Soon, you find yourself in what appears to be a large, ornate building- a deal of spires, each with a flag of white and gold on it. As you begin to head in, G’nearth stops you briefly. “Up ta you if you wanna listen to us hash crap out, or hang outside until we need ya. I figure you might wanna make nice with some o’ the local rank and file, eh? You spooked ‘em good earlier!” Doesn’t sound like he minds, naturally…

“I think I’m stayin’ out here,” Lorelei pipes up. “I’d just fall asleep anyway.”

“I can’t say I’m not interested in the details…” Izumi admits. “So at least one of us will have all the information.”

>I’ll be coming with you. We need all the information.
>I’ll be out here talking with the Alusian forces. Let me know what’s important when you’re done.
>Other

Agh, will be away for a bit. Back soon hopefully!

>>1162013
>>I’ll be coming with you. We need all the information.

Responsible adult Miranda should probably hear these goings on, we already know how sidetracked Lorelei can get.

>>1162013
>>I’ll be coming with you. We need all the information.
Acting professional is probably the better way to assuage their fears and I prefer to get the intel ahead of time and not when izumi think it's relevant to tell

>>1162013
>>I’ll be coming with you. We need all the information.

>>1162013
>I’ll be coming with you. We need all the information.
Might as well.

>>1162013
>I’ll be coming with you. We need all the information.
Lorelei can convince them that we are friendly better than we can anyway. We probably won't learn anything though and will have to be content in our shadowruns.

And back, if anyone else is still here. Writing!

>>1162666
Here! Even if I did miss the last vote

>>1162666
Rejoinan ace mahou shoujo combat quest.

>>1162013

It’s hardly a choice for you. “I’ll be coming with you. We’re going to need as much intel on these forces and what they can do as possible. Best I’m there myself to get the information, same as you.” A quick glance tells you Lorelei’s already chatting up one of the soldiers- dressed in what seemed to be some kind of one-piece uniform- and trying her damndest to look flirty.

To your mild surprise (and amusement), it seems the spiky-haired kid isn’t quite feeling it, judging by how he’s gently edging back little by little. One of his friends, a shorter, bowl-cut kid, looks like he doesn’t know whether to laugh or interject.

“I think Lorelei can handle the public image thing.” And with that, you and Izumi (holding back a small smile of her own) head into the meeting, flanking the Captain on either side.

The actual meeting room proves to be...well, surprisingly simple, considering the building it’s in. No fancy paintings or portraits, just a carpeted floor, a oval table, a podium, some curtained windows, and that’s it, really. The room already has several other people in it- the rest of the Council, no doubt. A bald headed man with more than one scar on his face sits to your left, the closest to you, and drumming his fingers impatiently, and eyeing the lot of you with a hardened frown. To his left, going clockwise, is a woman; thin, bony, and greying hair up in a tall bun; her eyes belie her apparent age, however- clearly still sharp and hiding a careful mind. She’s already scanning the lot of you, and her expression is carefully neutral as she shifts her glasses, her robe-like clothes ruffling ever so slightly.

After that, there’s an empty chair- clearly intended for Bellarius. But further round the circle is two others- one of them is more on the heavyset side, and has a mustache to rival Bellarius’s. What you find interesting about that, though, is that he seems to be wearing some kind of chest armor as well, which the others lack. He inclines his head in a respectable nature, but says nothing.

The last man seems to be the youngest, a full head of bushy brown hair and a respectable, well-shaven beard to go with it. He simply eyes you curiously as you all take your seats, and Bellarius walks towards his, remaining standing.

“Very well, then.” His voice is surprisingly booming in this small room. “We, the Alusian Council, are here to formally discuss and finalize the assignments intended to be given to the...unique forces hailing from the Far Lands known as Golden Eagles."

cont.

>>1162908
You... weren't the biggest fan of that name, but whatever. Bellarius continues. "As payment has already been agreed upon and verified-” -here the Captain grins and the scarred man scowls- “-we will be bypassing that discussion and move directly to providing the vital information necessary to permit them to engage in operations that will allow us to take back our lands. Please ask any questions that come to mind; we will do our best to answer them. Now,” here he sits down. “As we well know, the Ferrosians have developed a high-impact weapon unlike any we’ve ever seen, and equipping it on both their capital ships and individual forces. We believe this to be the result of them locating the legendary Anais Relay, and harnessing its power through synchronic stones. We cannot fight them like this. However, it seems as though you are indeed capable of combatting the relay.”

“Combat it, break it, either or.” G’nearth shrugs. “Any news that’s actually new?”

“Yes,” he nods, ignoring the jab. “We recently have lost the skyland of Gable. This is a terrible setback for us, as Gable is a vital staging point for our remaining forward forces. We need to take it back as soon as possible, or else we’ll likely be overrun by the time you’re able to locate the Anais Relay. Hence, we require all your assets for this mission before anything else can happen with any confidence. We need your help to break the defensive line at Gable, and get our men on the ground and in their airspace in order to be able to hold the city. The best way to do that…”

“Is by busting up their anti-air defense.” The scarred man brings up. He eyes you with a serious distaste, but he’s trying to not let it color his statements. “Gable had some of the best anti-air defenses in Alusia thanks to the Iblis Cannons. Fantastic range, tracking ability, the whole ten yards. They got lucky in taking them, and now they’re turned on us.” His snort of derision makes him sound like a bull. “Best option? Get a distraction going, get a squad in range, and take them out.”

Bellarius nods. “They don’t seem to have any heavy carriers, but there have been seen to have at least 2 mid-size cruisers in the line. Undoubtedly they expect the Iblis Cannons to do their major work. But tell me:” Here he leans forward. “Is that doable?”

“Heheh. In the air? Not a problem. I think they’ll be plenty surprised at how much we can take AND dish out. And as for the ground stuff?” And here he turns to you. “Well, sounds like a plan, eh? Got any questions?”

>Well?

>>1162939
>What does the ground opposition look like?
The air stuff we can leave to the experts, but we should probably prod for any info we can get on what exactly we'll be up against.

>>1162939
What other anon said plus I have been wondering if we have to worry about oversized airships falling on us. Or if we need to avoid dropping them on populated areas, just incase we need to nebula buster a flock of them, for a destraction or something.

>>1162939
How much collateral damage is acceptable? Is it necessary that the Iblis Cannons remain intact?

>>1162939
Do you want the anti-air weapons re-captured, or destroyed?
Are any of your citizens still in the AO, and how much effort do you want for their survival, and the protection of your buildings?

What are the rules of engagement and laws of war concerning enemy combatants? Any methods of termination which are proscribed?
Are saboteurs, partisans, and those not in a clear uniform to be executed on sight?

>>1162976
That sounds like a comprehensive list.
Seconding, but maybe don't ask "how much effort do you want us to put in not killing your citizens".

>>1162953
>>1162959
>>1162967
>>1162976
>>1162994

Sound like good questions, all! Writing. (Might take a minute for these.)

>>1163041
What is our mana situation? This seems like a pretty high-mana place, but I want to have numbers.

>>1163077
>but I want to have numbers.
Dammit, that's what we forgot to buy!
A mana scanner that will let us know the relative mana level of a world so we know what the regen rate will be like.
A magic scanner in general would be useful, too.

>>1163101
Can't we just let off a couple of blasts and wait 15 minutes to see how much we have regenned? Also the mana battery things we have should have a meter on them that says how fill they are and how fast they are filling.

>>1162953
>>1162959
>>1162967
>>1162976
>>1162994

You lean forward, as does Izumi. “Well, first thing is if you know what the ground opposition looks like. The more information on exactly what we’re up against, the better.”

The older woman shakes her head. “They’ve got a variety of forces; and I’m afraid we couldn’t tell you exact numbers. Things have been too recent. Thanks to the Iblis Cannons we haven’t been able to get very close, much less get any spies on the ground. Else more than likely you wouldn’t be here right now. We don’t THINK there are too many at the moment, however, as they’re still trying to reorganize the city; we know that much.”

You make a small noise of displeasure in your throat, and Izumi picks up. “Is it necessary the Iblis Cannons remain intact? It seems as though they’re a significant risk to you…”

“They’re also one hell of a boon,” the bearded man responds. “Like Venn said, they almost didn’t manage the last time! We get ‘em back, we’re KEEPIN’ em. If you can, they stay in one piece. That said…” he hums and haws a bit. “...I don’t think we’d get too annoyed if one or two got busted, though, would we?” He looks back at his fellow Council members. There’s a bit of muttering, but they all eventually nod. “Considering the circumstances, it’d be permissible.” The big man agrees.

“What about the AO itself?” you ask. This one, you knew would likely be...dicey. “Are there any citizens still in there?”

The large man sighs in frustration. “A good many. They gave the evacuation order, but it was a bit too late for several. We estimate at least 5% of the skyland’s population is still there, if not more. It is for this reason we ask that you try to be careful, although we understand if some things come into desperate straits.”

“You’ll be hearing that last bit a lot,” the scarred man called Venn admits sourly. “We’re about to LOSE this damn war. We’re makin’ a lotta sacrifices to beat off the end times- and you’re one of ‘em. So you’d best not screw this up!” You’ve gotten the impression from word go that he’d rather not have you here at all, but that about cements it.

cont.

>>1163168
“We won’t,” you assure him. The frown just deepens, and you continue your line of questioning. “What about the laws of war here? How are we expected to deal with enemy combatants, saboteurs, things of that nature?”

There’s some silence at that one. They all look at each other, and Bellarius sighs in irritation. “We are prepared to give you blanket rights for this operation. Use whatever methods you feel appropriate, provided they are not harmful to any innocent civilians. Buildings can be rebuilt. Lives cannot.”

You nod in understanding. “Right. Just making sure in case we need to provide a distraction.”

“Ideally, we’ll not have to have any airships colliding into the city…” Izumi notes, concerned.

The lady shakes her head. “Unlikely. Most ship to ship combat is well outside of city limits, and even then, the Iblis Cannons aren’t capable of aiming over the city or within a certain range. You’d never get a shot off.” Both you and Izumi look at each other. Not exactly what you meant, but you’ll take it.

“Well then!” G’nearth stands up, clearly getting a bit tired. “I’d say that answers most of the major concerns, eh? We gettin’ backup for this or not? ‘Cause either way, we got a target and a method, so we can head out whenever you give the okay.”

“We’ll try to provide you with some auxiliary forces, yes.” Bellarius nods. “Your assistance earlier today at the Lagarrius Cloudline was well appreciated. We’ll also provide you a navigator to better direct your fleet.”

“Great! And op time is?” G’nearth’s already stretching.

“We believe it’d be better to attack in evening,” the lady says as she fixes her glasses again. “They’ve proven a bit more lax when the sun goes down. Travel time from here to Gable is roughly three days’ journey.”

G’nearth chuckles. “Then we’d best be gettin’ now, huh?” It seems surprising to the council, judging by their faces. But he doesn’t give them time to respond, and you and Izumi both stand up as he motions to leave. “Just trust us and have your folk there ready. Come end o’ the week, Gable’ll be back in your hands.”

G’nearth sniffs as you walk back through the halls towards the exit. “Eh. Not the most innerestin’ folks, eh? What’d you two think of ‘em?”

“They seemed severely distraught...I just hope we can help them with a minimum of fuss.” Izumi says, her features alight with worry.

As for you…

> “I think the bald guy hates us.”
> “They seemed reasonable enough.”
> “I’m unimpressed, being honest.”
> Other.

>>1163171
>“They seemed reasonable enough.”
"But then, staring down defeat and potential execution tends to make most people reasonable."

>>1163171
>"I'm unimpressed, being honest."
Seen one council in dire straits, seen' em all.

>>1163171
>“I’m unimpressed, being honest.”
Meh. Nothing really special, honestly.

>>1163171
>"They seemed reasonable enough."
Although they seem to be in a really tight spot. If there is any room to negotiate... well we might just be able to squeeze a little something extra out of them.

>>1163171
Blaaaah. Writing!

>>1163171
>>1163178
>>1163179
>>1163204
>>1163224
Honestly… “Meh. Kinda unimpressed, really. I guess they were at least reasonable, but then they can’t really afford not to be in this state.”

“Eheheh. Too true,” G’nearth agrees. There’s a pause, and then he looks at you with a grin on his face. “Think we might be able ta wring out a bit more from ‘em?”

Izumi just sighs, refusing to comment. You’re actually kinda surprised- you’d expected her to say something to the point of ‘we can’t, we’re already taking vital resources from them’ or something else akin. Maybe she was changing her ways?

Before you can say anything back to G’nearth, however, you all reach the front door, and exit...only to find a massive crowd of people hanging around in front of it, and none of them looking at you. Whatever’s got their attention, they’ve made a circle around it.

G’nearth isn’t the only one that’s confused. “Well, now, what’s all thi-” Suddenly, there’s a sharp, aggressive, feminine yell, and a cheer goes up. You quickly look around- and as you see no Lorelei, your heart sinks just a bit. With a huff of mild frustration, you march up to the throng of people, moving several aside as they yelp in surprise- then a bit of fear when they see who’s doing the moving. Soon enough, you manage to get a decent view of what’s happening; and it’s about as you feared.

Lorelei’s in a makeshift combat circle lined by people apparently a bit too eager to see a catfight, as a silver-haired, freckled girl a touch older looking than her squares off against her on the opposite side; wielding nunchaku, dressed in what looked to be a red, slightly customized one piece uniform (it had strange patches and various makeshift armor plates on it), and looking for all the world like she wants nothing more than to beat Lorelei’s face in.

Lorelei, for her part, is completely calm as she and the girl circle each other. “Y’know, really, we don’t haveta go this far. Could’ve just said something. I ain’t a homewrecker.”

A strange growl comes out of her mouth. “What part of ‘no casual fraternization while on duty do you not comprehend?!”

“The everything! He said he wasn’t ON duty, sweetie.” Lorelei points out.

“HE WAS AS OF TEN MINUTES AGO!” Ugh. Lorelei. Really? REALLY?

Izumi just facepalms. G’nearth looks...vaguely concerned. “Uhhh...you want maybe you should get her out from there?”

>”Izumi, could you please? You’re better with apologies.”
>Oy. Time to just grab Lorelei and walk away…
>Maybe you can calm her down. She seems awful mad for such a rule.
>Other

>>1163289
>Oy. Time to just grab Lorelei and walk away…
We don't have time for this shit, we gotta get underway!

Gonna call it done for tonight, will resume tomorrow!

>>1163289
>Other
Say they have 5 minutes and then we are finishing it.

>>1163289
>Oy. Time to just grab Lorelei and walk away…
>>1163297
Thanks for runnin!

>>1163308
Seconding this.

>>1163289
>Other
5 minutes, then it ends.

>>1163289
>>1163324
>>1163308
+1
also have Izumi or the captain calm the woman down as much as they can and maybe we should reprimand Lorelei because we can't have this rivalry bullshit fester and it will fucking bite Lorelei (and ours) up the ass and screw up the mission.

>>1163368
Oh yeah, "Lorelei, if you are stranded on the ground surrounded by enemy combatants, who do you think is going to be providing evac?"

>>1163289
>Sweetie

Oh no... It's on

>>1163289
>Maybe you can calm her down. She seems awful mad for such a rule.

We need to make sure we're in good with the squad.

>>1163289
>Oy. Time to just grab Lorelei and walk away…

>>1163289
backing these >>1163308
>>1163324

Sound off- writing in 30.

>>1164255
here

>>1164255
yo

>>1164255
In the middle of my commute so my IP will change.

>>1164255
Present

>>1164255
I'm not here.

Izumi looks at you through her fingers, still facepalming. “She just can’t seem to help herself, can she?”

“She’s been in a mood lately, I swear.” You’re not really all that happy about this, but you know full well if she doesn’t get it out of her system now, she’ll just end up doing something later about it. Might as well give her notice. “HEY!”

Lorelei nearly jumps out of her skin, as does the other girl- and half the people present. Seems like your voice carries.

“Oh, h-hey, Ren!?” Ren? Whatever, you’ll go with it. “Okay, so really-”

“Save it.” You give her a steady look that brooks no argument, and she shuts up immediately. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but I’m giving you five minutes to settle it however you see fit. After that, we’re leaving even if I have to drag you out myself, got it?”

Her eyes flit between yourself and the girl, already smirking like she’s won. “Hey, I’m not-”

“Five minutes,” you restate. “I’m counting.”

She just sighs, and turns back to the girl. “Alright, whatever, if you wanna go, then-”

“HYAAAAAAA!” The girl charges with a shrill cry, and immediately Lorelei is forced onto the defensive. The first few swings miss, Lorelei ducking and dodging aptly, but one she’s forced to brace herself against, as she moves a forearm to block a incoming shot to her ribs. That’s when a thought occurs to you- you’d rarely seen Lorelei in one-on-one combat without the aid of some kind of weapon. It might actually be kind of interesting to see how it turned out.

The red suited girl grins further keeps up the offensive, her swings proving rather fast to most people as the crowd cheers and yells onward as she pushes Lorelei around the ‘ring’. For her part, Lorelei soon takes to deflecting each of the incoming shots with her forearms, actively trying to slow down the assault against her. She snakes out a few strikes of her own soon, legs swing out in an attempt to trip up her opponent- one clips, but Red Suit remains standing- she backs off a little to regain her balance, and Lorelei takes that opportunity to dive in and begin her own offensive- to your vague surprise it seems she’s using open palm strikes here, delivering sweeping and cutting strikes against the girl’s limbs, some of which are deflected by her nunchaku, others actually impacting flush- but the impacts don’t seem to hinder the girl very much, oddly. There’s recoil, alright, but it just seems to make the girl more determined, as she takes one particular shot to the shoulder, and lashes out with the opposite arm in recompense.

cont.

>>1164434

That’s what’s surprising you- judging by the fact that she’s not breaking bones, and the concentrating look on her face, Lorelei hasn’t starting going full out yet. She’s not nearly as strong as you or even Izumi, but you know full well she’s capable of more than this.

“Four minutes.” you announce. Lorelei was hardly fighting seriously, and this was starting to get old.

Lorelei doesn’t seem to hear you, however, giving no acknowledgement of the timeframe either way. She’s still fresh as a daisy, while the red girl is clearly panting a bit as they engage in a brief staredown.

“..HA!” The red girl cries out as she darts forward again, putting her all into a flurry of attacks that you’re actually kind of impressed by- she’s a quick one. Lorelei manages to dodge most, however, a few skimming her, others blocked directly- and then red girl goes for an overhead strike.

Lorelei’s quick to see it, and snatches it out the air, holding onto the device, and it becomes something of a tug-of-war. The red girl closes in with her free hand to throw a punch- and it’s caught as well, and the two are in a deadlock.

And that’s when you see a small spark of mana flare up on Lorelei’s wrist- the one with the nunchaku gripped. You look around, and you’re not sure if anyone else saw. They’re all focused on Lorelei and red girl’s equally fierce looking faces.

And then, Lorelei lowers her head, shaking it slowly.... and then shoves her back, entirely. “Nah. I’m done with this.” When she lifts her head, she’s got a smirk on. “Sorry about messin’ with your boyfriend!”

“He’s NOT my boyfriend, he’s a subordinate!” The red girl yells. “And YOU have no respect for the rules! Now, if you concede defeat, then-”

“I didn’t say I gave up, I said I was DONE.” And Lorelei raises her hand to snap her fingers.

>Let it happen.
>Stop her.
>Other

Basically this is a 'do you trust Lorelei to not completely fuck up relations?' option.

>>1164437
>Let it happen.
Sure.

>>1164437
>Stop her.

>>1164437
>Let it happen.
If we stepped in now, we would be undermining not just Lorelei's authority, but our own prior words too.

Be ready to distract the crowd with a few words afterwards, though. And if we could shift the girl's focus away from seeking revenge and more towards bettering her own abilities, that would likely be beneficial as well.

After all, seeking a fight was not an obvious mistake in itself, but blindly continuing it with the same tactics, when their ineffectiveness was apparent, clearly was. There is more than one way to defeat an opponent - it need not even be by strength of arms.

>>1164462
>>1164497

>I can't believe this bimbo! Legendary units or not, she just waltzes in, starts hitting on MY Torin, and thinks she can walk away?! Forget that!

>Crystals, what is she made of, metal with inlaid armor gems? How is she not yelling in pain from all this? Gah...fine, I'll just have to hit HARDER!

>This is nuts...she's not even tired...but like heck I'm just gonna let her- gah! What...she's 'done'?

>...uh-oh. What is she-

Writing!

>>1164462
>>1164497

*snap*

And suddenly red girl’s nunchucks light up with mana.

Again, showing those reflexes, red girl has the sense and reaction time to figure out SOMETHING’S wrong fast enough to pitch her weapon away, tossing it on the ground between them- and before it even lands, there’s a loud *BANG* and everyone else simply yells and cowers as the thing seemingly pops like a firecracker. A brief flare of mana extends outwards, but not traveling nearly as far as the contestants. Astonishingly enough, it’s still in one piece- although burnt and smoking.

Lorelei, for her part, is just laughing her head off. “Pftthahahahaha- oh- oh c’mon, I’m not- I’m not gonnahahaha…! I wasn’t gonna blow you up or anything! I promise, that-that maybe would’ve knocked you on your ass. If that. I’m not about to kill someone over an accidental fling!” She can’t stop snickering as everyone rises up from their cowering positions. To your mild surprise, she actually goes over to help red girl up. “Seriously, you’re kinda better than that.”

The red girl just glares at her, before pushing herself up on her own power. Lorelei doesn’t seem too fussed at the refusal. “Don’t...just stop messing with Alusian forces, alright! We’ve got enough problems on our plate, we don’t need you adding to them while pretending to help us!”

“Hey, ‘pretend’, nothing. We’re completely real about THAT.” Lorelei gives her a cautious eye as she backs up, looking over to you. “Not like...Ren would let me do otherwise." You just nod. She wasn’t wrong.
"But really, you're gonna get this up in arms about it, then fine.” She holds her hands up in surrender. "I promise I won't even so much as give him the time of day, or may they eject me. Happy?"

Picking up her nunchaku, Red girl just looks over to you with frustration on her face as she tries to get any dust off it. “You REALLY need to keep a tighter leash on your subordinates.”

>She’s not my subordinate, despite what you might think.
>She’ll be fine. She says she won’t mess with him anymore, she won’t.
>Fine, but consider reasonable force next time. If she didn’t know, she didn’t know.
>Other

>>1164607
>>She’s not my subordinate, despite what you might think.
>>She’ll be fine. She says she won’t mess with him anymore, she won’t.

>>1164607
>She’s not my subordinate, despite what you might think.
>She’ll be fine. She says she won’t mess with him anymore, she won’t.

>In any case, doesn't the fault only lie half with her?

>>1164607
> she's not my subordinate
> Other
Why aren't you chastising your own soldier, it ain't like she held a gun to his head.

>>1164607
5 minute warning.

Chill out.

Writing!

>>1164633
>>1164645
>>1164652

“She’s not actually my subordinate, despite what you might be thinking,” you note as you walk up to her. The way she steps back once shows her concern, but that’s all she does as everyone else seems to start to dissipate from the gathering. “And I know her well enough to know that if she honestly gives her word on something, she’ll follow through. She says she won’t mess with him anymore, then she won’t.”

Red girl just makes a noise of discontent in her throat. “Fine. I’ll hold her to that.”

“That said, I’m pretty sure she wasn’t the one who might need a talking to.” You hold her eyes steady as she seems ready to ask exactly who you meant. A raised eyebrow stops her, and she sighs. “I...I’ll talk to him later. In PRIVATE.” Bah. Probably the best you’d get out of her. “Now, if you’ll excuse me.” With that she moves to take her leave, and Lorelei walks over to you, looking surprisingly down about the whole thing.

“Funny. That wasn’t quite as amusing as I thought it’d be…” she sighs, looking over the crowd, and you can see a frown on her face as she tries to shrug it off. “Well, whatever. Like I said, I’m no homewrecker, and I could tell she had a crush on the guy. Then she just started getting SUPER up in my face about it.”

“We’ll talk about it later,” you offer. “But for now, we need to get back to the carrier.” You look back, and see that the Captain’s long gone. “Yeah, and fast.”

“I do hope this isn’t a sign of things to come…” Izumi laments as you all make a brisk jog back towards the ship.

-------------

Before long, you’re all aboard, and preparing to ship off, when Icey calls out your name right when you’re about to get below deck. “Well then, Miranda, Izumi, Lorelei!” You pause a bit to let her catch up with you, and you all start walking together as you head in. “Do tell, what will you be doing on the way there? I don’t think we had time to mention, but this carrier’s size allows us a number of features- we have combat training areas, gym areas as well as recreational facilities, mess halls, learning facilities, and other such features.”

“Oooh, neat!” Lorelei seems interested. “Sounds like a lot!”

“I could probably use some hand to hand practice…” Izumi muses.

Icey looks to you. “Anything in particular you might be interested in?”

Hmmm…

>I could stand to maybe get a bit of firearms practice in.
>I haven’t fought hand to hand in a while. Maybe I could practice a bit.
>I could probably stand to work on my magic techniques…
>I’ll just be around and about. This is a big ship.
>Other

>>1164798
>>I could probably stand to work on my magic techniques…

>>1164798
>>I could probably stand to work on my magic techniques…

>>1164798
>Other
>I want to get some practice in on using the hoverpack.

>>1164798
>I could probably stand to work on my magic techniques…

5 more minutes!

>>1164798
>I could stand to maybe get a bit of firearms practice in.

Magic tech it is! That means you've got a couple of choices to make and possibly a dice or two to roll.

Writing!

>>1164808
>>1164816
>>1164842
>>1164798

“Well...I could probably stand to work on my magic…” You figure. It’d been a bit since you’d really gotten in any ‘you’ time with your techniques, and all things considered, there’s more than a little improvement you feel you could make- even with your level of experience, there’s a lot more you could learn.

Icey just nods understandingly- although you can see a wry smirk at your statement. “Well, I’m afraid I can’t help you with that one- nor can any of us here. We’re all plain and normal, I’m afraid.” The slight line her mouth makes when she finishes that gives you a vague hint as to how she actually feels on the subject, but neither you or her say anything about it. “I’ll show you to the training areas.”

The training rooms are simple, grey rooms with various lines that demark the distances across, as well as pair of red lines that mark the room off in perfect quadrants.

“They’re particularly reinforced- well enough to take a great deal of explosive punishment, so I suspect as long as you keep things reasonable, you can do as you like. If you’d like to requisition a training dummy, you can simply press this bluebutton here-” she shows you a series of buttons, one red, one blue, one green. “The red one is for communication with...well, the communications bay, if you need to reach someone in particular, and the green one is if you’re open to others wishing to train with you.”

You nod in approval. “Might as well get started now, in that case.”

“Hope you learn something!” Lorelei calls as you start walking in. “See you later!”

“Have fun!” Izumi says as well.

As you head in, you can hear Icey talking to the both of them further, but it fades as soon as the door closes, and you’re alone. Nothing but you in this room.

Time to get to practice. But practicing what?

>Refining a technique to cost less mana or improve its effectiveness.
>Inventing a new technique to expand your unique skillset.
>Imitating a friend’s technique and putting your own spin on it.
>Other

>>1164920
(Note, this will be your focus for all three days.)

>Refining a technique to cost less mana or improve its effectiveness.

Improve our Flux Wave to the point where we don't get affected by it, possibly to a point where we can think of any other effects we could add to it.

>>1164920
>>Inventing a new technique to expand your unique skillset.

How about trying to focus your nausea pulse wave thing into a melee attack for close range takedowns?

>>1164920
>Refine
Flux wave I guess. Although it would be nice to be able to heal people without making a such a big deal I'm not sure how we would train that here...

Can we test our magic regeneration here too?

>>1164948
We already have shocking touch for tasing people.

5 more minutes!

>>1164920
>>Refining a technique to cost less mana or improve its effectiveness.
flux wave

Well, was going to next ask what specific technique, but I guess I don't need to ask that one. Writing!

>>1164939
>>1164948
>>1164960
>>1164989

The first thing to your mind is finally fixing your Flux Wave. It was one of the techniques you’d come up with after arriving in The Intersection, but you’d yet to really get around to solidifying it’s execution. It was all about randomizing your mana wave patterns to the point even you didn’t know what the sequence was by the time you expelled it. That also meant that you couldn’t sync yourself to it- and so it affected you almost as badly as your opponents. There had to be some way to fix it... but you weren’t sure what. Seriously, you’re not a mana theorist! You just thought the technique would be worth trying out, and lo and behold, there was something to it!

But if you ever want it to be more than extremely situational and a last ditch attempt to get people off you, you had work to do.

...That meant you’d probably be spending the next two or three days in a state of perpetual dizziness, confusion, and in general feeling like a mess.

Uggggghhhhh...well. No pain, no gain, as they say. Considering you’re not entirely certain how best to fix that issue...well, you’re gonna have to try everything. Maybe start off with a series of patterns and then flipping between them really fast might work?

>Roll 3d20, one for each day of practice.

Rolled 17, 5, 5 = 27 (3d20)

>>1165048

Rolled 8, 19, 4 = 31 (3d20)

>>1165048

Rolled 7, 14, 19 = 40 (3d20)

>>1165048
Here goes.

>>1165048
Nice. Taking a shower, then writing the fruits of your labors.

>>1165059
>>1165067
>>1165071
>Day 1

By the time you’re finished, you’re in a bit of a cold sweat due to mana depletion, you’ve thrown up at least twice, and you’re gonna need more than a couple of aspirin. Not to mention you can’t help shaking all over a bit. However, your initial hypothesis proved...plausible. You’re still not entirely sure whether it’ll result in the same functionality as before or not- you’d need to test it out on a victim somehow- but initial results? Yeah, pretty positive, you’d say!

>Day 2

It took you some time and effort, but you managed to wrangle one of the soldiers in here. Big fella, too. Perfect- just the sort you needed. You’d told him upfront you wanted to test something out on him; and that at worst he’d just have some nausea. You didn’t want to risk knocking out a crewman, even if they had medical facilities onboard. He’d agreed after a bit of cajoling from some of his friends that overheard- they’d needled him with taunts about how he was scared of getting knocked out by a girl a third his size and that ‘magic and you always hated each other, Grif.’

Eventually, he’d conceded, and you’d offered a favor to him later for it. It’s here you just tell him to stand a few meters away. “So...what’re gonna hit me with?”

“Just a minute.” You take a breath, hold it, release...then focus. Before you’d gone to sleep last night, you’d come up with a few ‘patterns’ that you think would be the most effectively ‘random’. Again. Inhale...exhale. You quickly attempt to shift through them, trying to make yourself rely less on thought and more on instinct. It’d take a while before that happened, and that’d make the technique a bit slow to pull off, but if you could do it…

About twenty seconds later, you mentally ‘jerk’, and release the fluctuation surge of mana that had been building up- it spread out of you in waves, barreling into the man in a colorful barrage of greens, blues, purples, yellows…

And you double over a bit, blinking some of the strain away. There’s still that lightheaded feeling, and a couple of pinpricks beneath your eyes, and everything tastes blue, but…

As you look at the man, dropped to one knee and holding his head, groaning fiercely, you’re both mildly concerned and surprisingly joyous. “Aaaagghhh...sonofa...ugh...pftt…” He breathes hard for a few moments, before finally lifting his head gingerly. “Th...the heck was tha…?”

You can only smile lightly. “Success.”

cont.

>>1165435
>Day 3
On day three, however, you’re stopped by a surprising individual- Izumi.

“You’ve been working on your own skill, and I’ve been working on mine. I’d say we could do with a bit of sparring, hm?” The light tone she has makes you wonder what she might be trying to work on.

You’re not sure she should be training with you either way. “Well, what I’ve been working on is the wave thing. Remember? Makes me throw up if I do it twice?”

“Ohhh! Yeah, I remember that. Found anything out?” The way she leans into you makes you think she’s not at all concerned about it.

Still, you nod...even if you have to lean back a bit.“Yeah. There’s still some minor...feedback...but it’s a lot better than it used to be. Less so since I’m sorta ‘fake randomizing’ it. I’ve got the concept down, I’m pretty sure.”

“Excellent. I’m glad we’re continuing to grow. But I insist you try this technique against me. You know I’m made of pretty stern stuff.” She thumps her fist against her chest as though it’s intimidating. “I’m curious to see if the technique’ll stand up against another magically-inclined girl, or if it might just be good for civilians.”

Well...you HAD been wondering, but…

>I don’t know about this, Izumi. You’ll be out of action up until when we’re suppose to deploy.
>I’m not feeling comfortable about this. Maybe I’ll just do one, not two.
>Well...if you insist you can take it, then I suppose we can give it a shot.
>Other

Gonna wrap it up here tonight! May continue tomorrow, keep an eye on Twitter.

>>1165443
>>I don’t know about this, Izumi. You’ll be out of action up until when we’re suppose to deploy.

Tell her to test her move first though.

>>1165443
>Well...if you insist you can take it, then I suppose we can give it a shot.
It will help her grow.

>>1165443
>Well...if you insist you can take it, then I suppose we can give it a shot.
I trust you, Izumi.

>>1165443
>I’m not feeling comfortable about this. Maybe I’ll just do one, not two.
Also inquire about what she learned as well.

>>1165443
>>Well...if you insist you can take it, then I suppose we can give it a shot.

Is >>1133809 (the last thread) not archived in sup/tg/?

>>1165443
>Well...if you insist you can take it, then I suppose we can give it a shot.

Here's an interesting saaaaaying. 'Forgotten stars can shine brightest in the spotlight.' I doooo wonder how true that is!

“Eeehhh…” This, you’re not entirely certain of. Izumi is a tough cookie, you know that well enough. But this isn’t a physical technique, perse. Taking something like this might end up...eh. Well, you already told her outright what’s about to happen, so she knows what she’s getting into. And considering she asked anyway? ...You guess you can trust her.

“If you’re sure you can handle it, then we can give it a shot,” you say, heading into the room, Izumi close behind you. “What about your technique?”

Izumi just grins. “Well, it’s not 100% physical, but…I think you’ll be surprised!” Hm. Well, then.

You both take positions across from each other as you mentally prep. You’re not sure what she managed to figure out, but you have to admit, part of you is pretty eager to see it in action. This would also give you an opportunity to see just how viable your own technique was in a proper fight! “Alright...go!” And with that signal she charges, and you brace yourself.

The first thing you’re reminded of is she’s REALLY friggen’ fast when she wants to be. She crossed the distance- several meters- in barely an eyeblink.

The second thing is that holy crap, she just hit you in like, five places at once- a couple on your back, you’re sure. You’re not sure how that happened, considering she doesn’t seem to have moved after the first impact- you barely had time to brace yourself, and you find yourself slamming against the wall before anything else can really register.

“...Okay…” you shake yourself off a bit as you get up. “What was THAT? How fast did you just move?”

“Not speed, simply multiplication, and transference of impact.” Izumi smiles gracefully, her hand still outstretched. “I’m certain with more experience, I can do so further and through harder substances than just flesh.”

“Huh...neat.” You’re already running through patterns. “My turn!” And you see her eyes widen as you flash an aurora’s colors, and there’s nowhere to escape as the wave hits her- and you can see her stagger back, still on her feet. The second wave connects, and then she collapses on her rear end, still conscious, but clearly out of it.

You’re not certain that’s supposed to happen, but it seems good so far...although she’s pretty unsteady...and blinking an awful lot, like she’s gonna-

-oh, eugh. Yeah, she did. Gonna need another clean-up in here.

It’s about two hours later that all three of you are sitting on the bed, Izumi having fully recovered, and Lorelei still in PJs as you all relax the best you can. You may have spent a lot of mana going into this, but this place is rich in the stuff, plus you do have your mana condenser- it’s already 3/4ths of the way full, giving you an extra glut of Mana to work with.

>Current Mana: 5,499 (1,125 Bonus)

ATTENTION, ALL HANDS TO STATIONS. WE WILL BE ENTERING CONTESTED AIRSPACE IN FIFTEEN MINUTES. REPEAT, ALL HANDS TO STATIONS, WE WILL BE ENTERING…

That’s the signal. “Alright, then. We’ve got a job to do.”

cont.

>>1169891
“Alright!” Icey’s yelling, but she’s power walking towards the hangar with all of you. “We’ve been analyzing their fleet formation, and we think we’ve spotted a hole in their defenses. Not big enough for anything major, but it SHOULD be good enough to get you guys into. No solo flying for you today- Team Seven is gonna shuttle you in, so strap in and get ready!”

Team Seven...you hadn’t met them yet, but they seemed like alright guys. One of them, a shaggy-haired, slim-faced guy with an easy grin steps forward. “Call me Bedhead. I’ll be yer taxi service for today, hope you enjoy the ride!”

“So I do,” you note.

>Roll 1d20, Best of 3 for troop movements possible engagement.

Rolled 4 (1d20)

>>1169893
Hey boss

Rolled 3 (1d20)

>>1169893

5 minute warning. Really probably want that last roll.

Rolled 10 (1d20)

>>1169907
rolling again

That'll have to work, I guess! Writing.

>>1169717
It is, thread #22.

>>1169925
it wasn't earlier

>>1169925
>>1169941
Yeah, I did it once someone mentioned it.

>>1169897
>>1169899
>>1169925
You have to admit, the real feeling of blasting through the air was a lot more engaging than simply doing it in VR. “Team Seven, report in!” You hear as the clouds race by and Bedhead begins the approach. One by one, voices respond.

“Blackjack and guest here, systems green.” A rough voice confirms.

A squeaky voice is next. “Mousetrap and guest here, all good!”

“Heh, Zipperman here, everything clear!” Laughter punctuates the end.

“Alrighty, let’s get these gals groundside!” You feel the acceleration press you back as they swoop in formation to the right, near the outskirts of the impending battle as the Epsilon Carrier (you never DID get its name…) begins firing its main batteries and squadrons begin launching.

“Roger that!” Mousetrap calls. “I’m already picking up bogeys incoming, though!”

“Same here,” Zipperman confirms. “We’re gonna have to fight through it.”

“Figures. Can’t nothin’ be easy.” Bedhead grumbles. “Hold on tight, now!” You do so, just as he brings the craft into a hard lean.

It’s clear Bedhead has serious experience, judging by the calm look on his face, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. He’s frantically jerking the stick this way and that, and you can see more than a few blasts of energy barely miss his ship.

Suddenly, a voice sounds. “We’re hit!” Blackjack yells. “Damnit, I can’t shake this guy!”

“On it!” Zipperman responds. Damnit, that was Izumi in there. If he doesn’t-

-your thoughts are interrupted by a rumbling and shuddering severe enough to nearly cause you to slam into the pilot’s seat- Bedhead yelps and quickly checks the console. “Takin’ fire, myself! Don’tchu worry about me, though- mine got guts!” He quickly turns to you. “Ain’t gonna be able to make this a quiet stop after all! You got anywhere you want us to try n’ drop you, you best say it now!”

You quickly remember going over the map of Gable you’d gotten- the primary attack was coming from the Southwest side, in the general range of one of the five Iblis Cannons. The overall plan was for the Carrier to hold their attention while their smaller forces attempted a distraction around the northeast, and an Alusian carrier would try to split the difference near the northwest in order to unfocus all the efforts and make it’s own major play in-between two fronts. All three areas were under threat of an Iblis Cannon, but better one than two. Of course, with all their attention on those areas...you might be able to really cause trouble elsewhere.

>We’re dropping near Cannon 1! (Support the primary assault and Epsilon’s main forces.)
>We’re dropping near Cannon 2! (Support the secondary assault the Alusians are making.)
>We’re dropping near Cannon 3! (Support the diversionary assault and Epsilon’s secondary forces.)
>We’re dropping near Cannon 4! (Make your own play in the southeast.)
>We’re dropping near Cannon 5! (Make your own play in the south.)

I'll let this one go for about thirty or so while I get some lunch.

>>1169975
>>We’re dropping near Cannon 1! (Support the primary assault and Epsilon’s main forces.)

>>1169975
>We’re dropping near Cannon 3! (Support the diversionary assault and Epsilon’s secondary forces.)

>>1169975
>We’re dropping near Cannon 5! (Make your own play in the south.)
Without any allies to worry about we can make it quick. After that we can swing by and support the troops where they need it or go southeast if the battle is going well. Let the armies do army stuff.

...That went by faster than I thought. Still eating.

>>1169975
>>>We’re dropping near Cannon 1! (Support the primary assault and Epsilon’s main forces.)

Alright, I'll be done in about 10-15, so I'mma make this 'last call'. Will start writing then.

>>1170016
>>1170092
“Cannon One! We’re dropping near Cannon 1!” You feel the craft shudder again as it makes a close pass to a bogey already on its way down from Bedhead’s cannon fire.

“You heard the lady! Get ‘em in the thick of it!” He immediately swerves left, trying to lose his followers as best he can as he heads towards the first Iblis Cannon. “No time for anythin’ stable- you got raft belts, right?”

“Yeah, but we won’t need them! Just tell us when you’re about to let us go!” To his credit, Bedhead doesn’t even act surprised- he just nods and keeps focused. As he swerves out of harm’s way doing his damndest to avoid laser fire, you can soon see the Iblis Cannon- it’s a massive thing, nearly the size of a skyscraper itself. You have to admit, you find yourself curious how they managed to find a power source for it…

“Alright, droppin’ in minus five!” You take a breath and steel yourself. You can tell by the way he’s dodging he won’t be able to deliver you right on target, but hopefully...

“Four...three...two...one!” And the canopy slides back as the aircraft flips over, and you quickly find yourself falling. “See ya around!”

His voice fades as you quickly orient yourself in freefall, and you can hear Lorelei’s whooping and Izumi’s own warcry from either side of you.

With solid thuds apiece, you all land together, and immediately break for cover- there’s a building nearby you all quickly dart behind, into an alleyway.

“Cannon’s about three streets away, but I saw some people on the way down,” Izumi nods. You nod- you’d seen them, too. “I suspect they’re on their way as well. Think we should just ignore them, or subdue them now?”

>Take ‘em out. We’ll make things easy for the ground forces on our way to the cannon.
>Cannon first. We cut it off and everything else gets easier.
>Other

>>1170239
>Cannon first. We cut it off and everything else gets easier.

>>1170239
>>Cannon first. We cut it off and everything else gets easier.

>>1170239
>>Cannon first. We cut it off and everything else gets easier.

5 minute warning.

>>1170248
>>1170250
>>1170256
“Cannon first. We cut it off first and get started on retaking air superiority. Everything else comes second.” The other two nod quickly, and you all quickly dart out from behind the wall- you don’t see many soldiers out here yet- but you can hear them coming, their shouts and warnings audible well in these quiet streets. You can hear the distant din of explosions, and the occasional massive rumble and discharge of the Iblis Cannon as you quickly make your way towards the device.

Soon, you’re on final approach, and you can see that the base of the device is practically like a building itself- complete with guard detail. There’s four around the entrance, and you can bet a ton more inside. They see you before you can dip out of the way across the street however, and two of them pull out what seem to be...batons? No, bulbous head- and the tips are flaring with some kind of energy. Wands, then. The other two take out what seem to be large, strangely shaped swords- they seem to have sharp edges, but what should be the pointy end of the swords are flat, with some kind of energy emitting from them.

You can hear them shouting. “We’ve got intruders! Get the rest of security out here, on the double!”

“You’ve got one chance to surrender yourselves and explain your presence! Get out here now!” Another yells.

“Yeah, right,” Lorelei snarks to herself. She quickly unties the bag at her back and starts rummaging inside. “How’re we makin’ an entrance?”

>Lorelei, keep me covered. I’m gonna blow things up.
>Izumi, how good of a shot are you?
>Directly. Stay behind me.
>Other (The more detail, the better.)

>>1170394
>Lorelei, keep me covered. I’m gonna blow things up.
That's the plan, right? Blow shit up.

>>1170394
>Directly. Stay behind me.
Remember that we're not here to cause indiscriminate destruction, our clients prefer to have the Cannons and the city intact.
This is all their stuff we are supposed to be recovering.

>>1170394
>>Directly. Stay behind me.

>>1170423
Fug, I forgot that.

>>1170394
Changing my vote (>>1170403) to
>Directly. Stay behind me.

>>1170394
>>Directly. Stay behind me
Soften them up with weak blasts, ramp up the power until we know what kills them.

>>1170394
>>1170423
>Other: Minimize collateral damage by tanking everything thrown at us with barriers and shields. This world has a high mana regen rate so we can afford it. Tell Lorelei and Izumi to take down enemy soldiers and minimize collateral damage.
Adding this to my vote.

Also, since the contract is actually held by Dynamic, do we know if they have something similar to our Collateral Damage Rider, and if it was bought by the client?

>>1170453
Yes and yes. They call it 'Minimum Requested Force Requirements', though, which is a bit looser term that basically means 'We get to do what we like within reason AND any client's personal request. If the client doesn't get specific, we're not beholden to jack shit.'

Anywho, writing!

>>1170453
Are we really responsible for the enemy's bullets? Barriers and shields are sensible either way but if our enemies flatten their own structures to kill us I think that's all on them, not us.

>>1170394
> Miranda and Lorelei distract them via sparkles and megaphone and singing and dancing while Izumi teleports behind them.

>>1170394
“We’re taking the direct approach. Stay behind me!” With that, you quickly throw out a barrier as soon as they start firing in an attempt to pin you down. A few orange bursts of magic bounce off your light barrier as Lorelei tosses a grenade overhead- it bounces twice before exploding into a gigantic plume of smoke.

“Good, let’s move!” The three of you quickly leap from cover with yourself covering the approach as Izumi and Lorelei start blasting into the smoke cloud. You can hear shouts and panic coming from the doorway as you get closer, and as the smoke begins to clear, you can see how Izumi and Lorelei’s shots both seem to have been more than enough to incapacitate the guards.

Problem is, there’s clearly more coming- some civilian works scream, and you can see a few attempt to hide and scatter as you find yourself in what seems to be the lobby area. There’s a winding staircase towards the back, and what looks to be some sort of sitting area off to your left, along with a hallway that goes out of your vision. To your right seems to be some kind of desk area where you can see a lady receptionist of some sort quickly duck down in a panic, several folders scattering in her rush.

Before you can say anything, however, the hallway is quickly filled with half a dozen security forces- men in red and black uniforms, and they’ve clearly got some kind of armor plating on their chests, arms, legs, and helmets. They all take out staves as well, and you can see several of them armed with melee weapons, as well. “Open fire!” And before you know it your shield is being harassed by a great deal of magic bolts. To their surprise, the bolts are just breaking up against your shield- you’d almost grin if they didn’t immediately start trying to fall back for the stairs. As soon as Lorelei and Izumi start firing back, however, one of them breaks out a SECOND stave, tapping it on the ground- and soon THEY’RE protected by a wall of magic! Izumi managed to down one of them before it went up, but there’s still five standing, trying to outgun you, and it’s a matter on both sides of risking cover to shoot.

Now...how to get past this?

>Custom action! Try and make some plans!

>>1170572
>Use Sun Flare then just rush in and beat the snot out of them. Keep it simple.

Or just keep our own shields up as we rush them, no flare. If their shields are too much blast the ceiling and drop rocks on them.

>>1170572
Use Sun Flares and Lorelei's Fireworks to cover our advance. Miranda keeps the shield up and when get close enough Izumi blasts through their shield.

We don't have the time to do this with finesse, and yet we can't just bring the building down on the enemy. So we brute force it with superior magic.
We've got the condenser and charged mana crystals. Right now is not the time for conserving mana, it's the time for shock and awe. And making sure that a few soldiers can send panicked reports to the other guns so that when they see us coming they run away rather than fight a juggernaut.

Ugh. Called in early. Will be back later! Use this time!

>>1170603
RIP

>>1170572
supporting this >>1170601

>>1170601
If we use sun flare they won't see shit, but we'll win the fight in a second. The facility must have more than 6 security guards so we will get more chances to make these people piss themselves.

I think we should try a grenade or a gun to find out if their magical shields also work as physical barriers and how effective they are.

>>1170630
>I think we should try a grenade or a gun to find out if their magical shields also work as physical barriers and how effective they are.
True. It'd be pretty funny if kinetic slugthrowers pass right through their shields because they're anti-mana only.

Only problem is that we didn't buy guns when we went shopping, just rockets and bombs.

>>1170640
Hm, Izumi can make guns out of mana but the bullets won't be physical so that's pointless. When we get back to base, let's hit up the armory or go into the hangar and see if we can't just take whatever physical weapons they can outfit their airplanes with. We're strong enough to carry them.

>>1170572
I wanna magi blast their shield and hopefully break it, that'll wipe that smug look off of their faces.

>>1170677
no need to waste power but then again >>1170630 has a point.

also I want to know how well equipped they are as well. if those mana barrier wands are standard issue then it might get annoying really fast.

>>1170653
>>1171811
So you guys think raiding their armory would be a viable option later? or destroying it would be better?

I really hope I have off tomorrow. I'll write this up and then wrap it up for tonight.

>>1170572
>>1170591
>>1170601
>>1170615

“L, Fireworks!” You quickly whisper to her.

“Say when!” You look to Izumi, and a quick motion of the head is all you need to get her to understand your plan.

In the meantime, the five of them are holding position. “Stand down!” One of them yells. “This’ll be a lot easier for you if you-”

“Now!” And you release a blinding flash as Lorelei jumps out of cover briefly, letting her sparks fly. You can hear the shouts of the soldiers as they fire wildly, shots impacting your barrier as you barrel forward. They might collide harmlessly against your barrier…

But Izumi charging forward in all of a second and a half to close the distance is much more troublesome. For them, anyway. She swings her katana against the barrier, the both of them colliding with strange *bwommmm* as the barrier shakes and reverberates harshly, and you can see the strange light the stave emitted start to waver and blink.

However, she doesn’t let up- even when a shot nearly grazes her, instead reaching back with her fist, and you can see a flash of mana envelope it before she swings- and suddenly a quartet of those sounds erupt from the barrier before the stave flashes again, its yellow glow suddenly shutting off and the barrier breaking like glass and fading into ethereal smoke. Two quick shots from yourself and Lorelei quickly send two guards sprawling on the stairs, as Izumi smashes the pommel of her sword into one of their skulls- you can see the helmet cave in as he slumps over. The other two swing wildly, still blinded- this has all gone down in the space of seconds- but Izumi deflects both their blows easily and gives one the pommel treatment while the other one is kneed in the chest.

You quickly step up and over them, amidst the scared yelling downstairs, and run your way up the winding staircase.

>Current Mana: 3,999 (1,125 Bonus)

As you breach the open doorway, you give a quick check around what seems to be some kind of holding room- it’s far more bare than the lower floor but it seems to be some kind of sitting room, complete with a viewing window in the cannon’s direction. There’s a door immediately to the back of the room, and another that seems to lead out elsewhere- you’re unsure of where either go. A quick look out said window shows you can just barely see the dots of light and explosions that are the battle going on right now.

As a precaution, you let your nose wander as well. You never know when you can smell someone of importance; and your nose doesn’t fail you this time, either. “About a dozen coming up on us.” You point to the back door at an angle from you, right across from the entrance you just came up on. You had two options, then- stand and fight, or escape through the doors.

>Wait and ambush. The chairs and couches are big enough to crouch behind.
>Keep moving, make them run after you. Escape out the door.
>Meet them with full force before they get out of the hallway (if that is a hallway).
>Other

>>1172646
>Wait and ambush. The chairs and couches are big enough to crouch behind.
Err, are we just here to secure the control room or to clear the place out. Because I am thinking the latter.

>>1172646
>Meet them with full force before they get out of the hallway (if that is a hallway).

BLITZKRIEG

>>1172646
>Meet them with full force before they get out of the hallway (if that is a hallway).

>>1172646
>Wait and ambush. The chairs and couches are big enough to crouch behind.
No point playing all our cards this early.
>>1172658
If we secure the room they will probably come to us anyway, or be mopped up later

>>1172811
Unless they realize they they enemy probably won't have such a mysterious hard hitting unit for each gun and that we will be leaving soon. At which point they will realize it is better to wait till we leave then get back on the gun and chuckle while they shoot down the incoming gormless dropships. They may be mooks but why assume they are retards?

>>1172811
>all our cards
Please, like we need to break out everything to win this.

Anyways, we're on the attack, and there are other guns, better to slap their shit and keep moving, than worry about securing and reactivating each gun, or whatever. That's grunt work, and we're the shock troops

>>1172646
>Meet them with full force before they get out of the hallway (if that is a hallway).
>Other
keep using sun flare/fireworks and barrier.
prep those mana reserves if the mana's getting down, share if the other two need it.
Hit and run.
HIT AND RUN.


...towards the cannon control room

>>1172646
>>Meet them with full force before they get out of the hallway (if that is a hallway).

>>1172811
What do you mean all our cards? We're not going to spend every last bit of mana to show off here. Besides, they're all going to die so it won't matter that they learn that we can kill them with a flick of our wrists.

>>1172847
I am pretty sure our job is to merc everyone here then radio in and let the army secure the facility.

>>1172646
>>Meet them with full force before they get out of the hallway (if that is a hallway).

>>1172646
>Other/ Ambush + Meet them with full force before they get out of the hallway (if that is a hallway).

DYNAMIC ENTRY. L & I meet them when half are in the room to pin them at the door, we then smash through the wall and attack the other half.

some questions:
were those shield staves mentioned before? were they shown/mentioned before to be standard equipment for friendly troops or enemies?

and not just that, the more pressing bit, did we ever figure out what is the 'standard' in this world is?

I do get that it is a relatively magic powered world, but I believe we never learned what is the average tactic and equipment was used around here, aside from what we just saw around us. I mean, even if the Alusian guys are getting their arse handed rapidly, they were on equal strength before the enemy had a power boost, and even then they almost held Gable. despite the nonexistent intelligence as well as the sudden power spike of enemies there must be some kind of basic bits of relevant info we could have learned from, that we missed. we could have just mentioned that we are not knowledgeable with this world's ground combat since we're an outsider, and request some basic info and learn from those bits. even if they were outdated we would at least learn the lowest level of what we could expect in terms of equipment and tactics, and be prepared for more dire situations. Dammit, I feel like a fool right now for not asking this earlier.

oh and also

>>1172646
>Other
>Wait and ambush. ready the rocket and fire it on the door when the enemy presence is right behind it. open fire after the door blows, hopefully it is indeed a hallway we are shooting at. after that advance beyond the room.
I would have liked to use light trap if possible but the room might be too small, along with the fact that we are surprisingly low on mana right now. we aren't even past the first Iblis cannon and we're already down to one third of our mana, this is worrisome.

>>1172466
if we can capturing it is nice, as it would be more for us as well as a chance to know more about the enemy. but if we cannot secure it we need to bust it, or even sabotage it. better busted than it getting back into enemy hands.

oh and one final bit I forgot to mention. about that mana cost, flux wave is quite expensive. I know that we just improved it, and it is indeed effective, but I would suggest that we avoid using it unless we absolutely have to.

seriously though, 3000 mana on a AOE stun/disorient doesn't look so good when our nuclear option Nebula blaster is 4000 mana. in a combat situation, I mean. I am aware that our client would like us to avoid destruction if possible but due to our already low mana(even with mana crystals and the rechargers, remember that we might have to go for 5 guns unless we plan to pull back) we might have to resort to focus on on killing shots instead. hell, with the barrier situation we could have just advanced with our cover and just let izumi and lorelei literally jump over the wall and murderize the guards(since the post didn't mention if the wall blocking the entire friggin room or not but that is our fault for not asking when we were given a chance to apply our tactics), or maybe even just tried to shoot the barrier a bit to see if it is resilient or can be broken with sufficient firepower.

speaking of, did we ever bring guns? and about that, did we even buy guns? no, not the rocket launchers, I mean infantry weapons that shoot lead/energy bolt/kinetic slug/whatever. I'm pretty sure we were trying to get a sidearm just in case, or am I just misremembering it?

>>1173187
I agree that we are low on mana, by tomorrow we'll know what the regeneration rate is. We are low at the moment because of the practice earlier. Once we know what the threshold is for their shields it's entirely possible that we can clean up mooks with regular blasts that costs nothing to use.

I don't think the lack of information on enemy equipment and power was deliberate, Handler probably just forgot when he wrote the dialogue in the meeting.

We should radio G'nearth, update him on the level of resistance we are encountering and ask him to gather better enemy intel.

>>1173187
>I mean infantry weapons that shoot lead/energy bolt/kinetic slug/whatever. I'm pretty sure we were trying to get a sidearm just in case, or am I just misremembering it?

No I was doing my best to grab one by trying to ask Izumi for advice on a reliable sidearm but when we finally got to the store everyone went for grenades and rocket launchers. I'm not sure what Izumi packed in her bag but she's an absolute gun nut so she probably brought her favorite guns with her too. Check with G'nearth later and see if their armory has any mundane guns and rifles we can use. His people aren't magical so I don't think they're armed with staves and wands.

Sorry, yeah. I occasionally slip up when it comes to those details; call it an improper use of conservation of detail. Tell you what, ask any reasonable questions about the situation and I'll answer most of them now. I'll be resuming proper in about 2 hours.

>>1173280
Does the Dynamic Methods armory have ballistic weapons that we can use? Did Izumi bring any regular guns and rifles of her own?

What is the common military equipment for ground forces in this world, and do we know of their relative strength compared to ours? Both our personal powers and to DM's arsenal.

How exactly are we meant to secure the cannons? Wipe out any hostile forces and radio in support before moving on?

What is the mana regeneration rate at?

They sent us groundside to retake their own damn cannons, why were we not shown a floor plan? We should not be stumbling around blindly if we're supposed to be special forces.

>>1173305
Yes. Yes, they're in her bag. She hasn't been using them because she's just conserving solid ammo and magic has been proving effective enough. If you ask her, she has a number of guns on her right now.

They operate in teams of 6, and although their force makeup is varied, you know that they've basically got light infantry, barrier guards, heavy infantry, and specialists. Squad makeup is random, though. It's generally melee weapons + wands or staves for distance. Relative strength, though? To personal powers, don't know. To DM's strength, that's part of why they were called in. The Carrier's high tech shielding and general sturdieness of Esplion's crafts compared to Alusian and Ferrosian crafts allow them to be a major force multiplier.

You have a radio provided to you. I checked back to see if I mentioned it in the flight over- apparently I didn't, but that's how you were talking to Lorelei and Izumi.

You regen approximately 5000 Mana per day.

Brutal honesty, I had intended for you to find a map on the first floor, and beyond that...I dunno. Bad QMing. Sorry. I can rectify this in short order, if you don't mind.

Any other questions before we start?

>>1173602
Nothing else that springs to mind aside from intelligence on how the battle is progressing, but that can be requested via radio and isn't important until we have to choose our next target.

We'll get a feel for the enemy strength as we go along and try different ways to murder them.

Writing shortly, then.

>>1173602
Not really related, but can folks without magic learn it? Say someone came from a no magic world.

>>1172706
>>1172714
>>1172997
>>1173000
>>1173051
>>1173109


“They’re coming through the far door. That means chokepoint, so let’s not give ‘em any space!” Your girls both nod as you charge forward and kick the door in, quickly firing a blast down what IS a hallway, before ducking behind the wall again to avoid return fire. The blast echos down to where you are, and you can hear several yells of pain and some thumps, before orange bolts start flying out of the hallway entrance.

Next to you, Lorelei makes a face like she’d seen this movie one too many times. “Ah, screw this again.” She quickly reaches into her bag and pulls out another grenade. “Frag out!”

The pin comes off, and she quickly hurls the grenade into the hallway with the flick of her wrist- you can hear sounds of confusion quickly turn into panic and screams of ‘what the blasted earth!?’ among other epithets- and there’s scant seconds before an explosion rocks the area, the yells of confusion turning into yells of pain.

“Move in!” Lorelei and Izumi quickly do so; the hallways are cleared out, but you can smell a couple still living- wounded, but living. They’re quickly pointed out and disposed of. Near the end of the hall, you actually find what appears to be an area map, or at least a sort of directory; similar to the stuff you’d find in malls. It’s rather easy from there to find where the primary fire control room is- it’s two more floors up. You mentally shrug- that’s not too bad. “Right, let’s keep moving, then.”

There’s another stairwell that you’re able to access nearby- that should get you up there just fine.

As you make it up to the fourth floor, you can see the aesthetic change completely- it’s steel walls, very basic decoration- and you can hear the humming of energies and the loud thrum of discharges- more than likely very muffled by your surroundings. You open the door as quietly as you can, quickly scanning for any bodies down the hallway- none to see. However, a quick smell check reveals there’s another...dozen? Yeah, dozen nearby. They’re close, too- the hallway makes a T-branch further down, and that’s where they are. There’s several doors as well leading to other rooms, as well as another map next to you.

“A dozen down that way,” you point. “We’re going to have to take them out all at once or else things might get a bit rough.”

“Actually...I might have an idea,” Izumi notes, looking at the nearby map. “According to this map, one of these rooms- here- borders the control room directly. It’s not isolated. We could simply infiltrate and blow through the wall- provided we don’t mind destroying the control mechanisms. I understand they wanted these primarily in one piece…”

>That’s why we’re just going to eliminate the enemy forces first. We can handle it.
>Right, good idea. Smash the wall, smash the controls, smash our way out. Quick and easy.
>Other

>>1174105
>>That’s why we’re just going to eliminate the enemy forces first. We can handle it.

>>1174105
>>That’s why we’re just going to eliminate the enemy forces first. We can handle it.

>Other
Let Izumi blast her way into the control room and plant one of those remote controlled bombs in it. If the enemy recaptures it or our forces are too slow we can just blow the controls sky high later.

5 minute warning.

>>1174105
>>Other
Have lorelei masquerade as one of the downed security, allowing her to deal with the force ahead of us from behind, while we attack fron the front I guess.

>>1174187
Oh, good thinking. Clever girl

So, seems like distraction?

>>1174187
>>1174201
Just double checking.

>>1174223
I'll back it.

>>1174223
Lorelei distracts, Izumi goes to the control room and plant remote charges and Miranda beat people up. That alright?

>>1174250
Seems to be the case. Writing!

>>1174187
>>1174201
“Hmmm…” it takes you a second to think, but then Lorelei says something that sparks a brainstorm.

“Sucks that we gotta fight ‘em. I love those outfits.” Upon hearing that, you quickly turn to her.

“There’s an idea. Lorelei, get back downstairs, see if you can copy their uniforms.” She gives a quick salute and heads off. “Izumi, you got any remote charges on you?” The way she looks at you actually makes you recoil a bit. “Right, sorry, stupid question. I’ll explain in a minute.” In near no time, Lorelei’s back, fully looking like for all the world she’s one of the soldiers, complete with helmet. Gotta admit, it does look good on her. Shaking such thoughts off, you quickly explain the plan to have Lorelei pull an act while you surprise them and Izumi breaks through the wall and plants charges. Izumi seems a bit skeptical, but she does agree with it.

You both quickly get into position near a door, and nod. Lorelei just gives a quick stretch, and in an eyeblink she slams herself against the wall, you opening the door simultaneously, and she crawls out into view, getting to one knee as she tumbles across the hall opening opposite you. “Help!” she wails in a pitiful, desperate voice, and almost immediately you can hear a pair of soldiers run up to her as you and Izumi sneak into the room- some sort of file room, it seems- to stay out of sight.

Lorelei starts babbling about intruders down below, and you can hear him call for one of the squads to follow as he starts past you.

You don’t give him the chance, as you snatch him up near wordlessly and crack his neck through his armor before he can say anything else.

As soon as you hear the rest of them round the corner, suddenly you start hearing muffled shouts- and someone just got slammed into the wall. That’d be your cue.

cont.

>>1174590
You dart out of your hiding place as you hear Izumi get to work getting through the wall, your sudden presence causing two of the squaddies to stand back in surprise. You slam a fist into one of them, causing his armor to crumple in on itself HEAVILY, and his friend starts to swing his weapon- looks like some kind of hammer- but it’s quickly caught by your other hand, and forced to miss, making him stumble over off balance. You plant a fist in his helmet and slam him against the wall as you hear more shouts and more thumping as finally things seem to click for the defenders.

A turning punch to the first man you attacked renders him down for good. Looking down at the body you have...well, might as well make use of it! Giving it a quick twirl, you sling it in the direction of the oncoming forces as Lorelei ducks in time, having just finished handling two herself. The group just rounding the corner has NO time to react as they’re hit with the body of one of their own and go sprawling. Lorelei starts a smattering of Fireworks to make sure they stay down, whilst you have a bit of an idea. You charge two magi-blasts, then let fly- only for them to freeze in midair right before the intersected hallway. Suddenly, they jerk as you command movement, and dart out of hiding only to make an instant ninety degree turn and careen down the hallway- you can hear two bangs go off as well as shocked yells despite never seeing it yourself from around the hallway.

That should be close to all of them, then...there’s still one or two-

As you turn the corner you see a blade ram through the both of them in short succession. Nevermind.

“That takes care of that,” Izumi says from the now open doorway. “Now just give me a moment…” As she starts reaching into her bag, you look behind her. There’s what seems to be a surprisingly smallish room- though still about as big as a small apartment, lined with various machinery that reminds you of early early computers- only there seem to be a great deal of crystals in all of them. You can also see a variety of Ferrosian-branded technicians unconscious, and a couple you can sense cowering in a far corner... Izumi does quick work.

As she starts prepping the charges, you take out your radio headset. “Captain, this is SES One. Cannon One has been reclaimed.”

“Fantastic! Damn, you guys did that quick. I’ll relay the news; we’ve been holding pretty well here, managed to take out a cruiser, but damn, they hit hard! Really don’t think they were expectin’ the likes of us! We should be able to thread the needle and get some forces in there in a few minutes to hold the place as planned! What’s your next target? All things willin’, we’re not gonna need ya to ransack all five cannons.”

>Cannon 2
>Cannon 3
>Cannon 4
>Cannon 5
>Send us where you want us, Captain.

>>1174598
>Cannon 5
It's the closest one to our location if I'm reading correctly.

Actually, what does it look like out there? Where are the cannons in relation to each other and are there any barriers or choke points between them to be aware of? We should pick out a route and loop through them all in the shortest amount of time.

>>1174646
It is.

>>1174678
...If you want a map, gimme a bit of time.

>>1174598
>Send us where you want us, Captain.
I imagine there's some tacticaly correct target to go for, and we're not 100% on the situation outside.

>>1174598
>>Send us where you want us, Captain.

>>1174598
> cannon 5
Unless you have urgent need of elsewhere.

First priority is to reclaim the cannons so that local forces can get in here. We are not supposed to be fighting the whole battle ourselves.

>>1173602
Actually I have a questions. Do they have cats on this world? Also can we ask someone why the two countries are fighting, just out of curiosity. Wouldn't mind some dieselpunk propaganda.

>>1174775
Yes, and eventually, sure.

File: Gable Map.png (11 KB, 800x600)

11 KB PNG

Here's another one of my patented shitty maps.

Also, friend just called me to go get pizza on his dime. Not about to pass that up. Be back in a bit!

>>1174798
>Cannon 5

If we go 2 3 4 5 we'll support our troops, but resistance will be stronger and we're going to use a lot of mana to maintain speed.
Going 5 4 3 2 we should be able to take out 5 and 4 with relatively minor resistance. Unless of course the fighting is happening up north because south is heavily entrenched?

I suggest starting with 5 and go counter-clockwise from there and eventually pincer the enemy between us and our allies. If we save our mana so that we can blow shit all the fuck up at cannon 3 our allied forces can disengage to support and surround the 2nd cannon.

You guys in favor?

>>1174798
Let's use our superior speed to take cannon 4 while our allies take 2, then we can take 3 while they move on 5 and secure 1 and 4. We can then move on 5 together.

They'll never expect it.

>>1174905
Sure, let's liberate the shit out of this town. Although I'm not sure there is any ground fighting at the moment apart from us three so ground troops placement might not reflect anything.

>>1174934
>>1174944
Your plan is good though, the enemies have been true mooks so far.

Miranda flies over to 4, the other two head for 5 and we regroup once we're done. Radio in and ask the captain where our support is needed the most and we take 2 and 3 as directed.

>>1174969
Honestly the more chaos we can cause at the most points, the easier it'll be for them to attack.

Taking 4 forces them to not attack from 1 from 5, or reinforce 2 from 3 if our allies attack it.

>>1174978
So let's just go solo.

Miranda to 4
Izumi to 5
Lorelei to 2

Miranda and Izumi are T-1000s, Lorelei will do better if she has support / meatshields. Sounds good?

>>1175017
I like it. Lorelei can infiltrate a easily too. Our job isn't "Kill everyone" anyways it's just "neutralize the guns".

Take out the techs and cut the power. Don't smash the controls. Or just collapse the building around the entrance to the control room

And back. It's looking like the plan is we go to four and split up, as stated here >>1175017 ?

>>1175066
Yeah.

Um, okay. When we get back to base in an hour after doing all that are we going to complain that this war is easy mode too? Maybe we can shadowrun it into being great again.

>>1175186
Oh yeah, we can make it a race. Whoever captures the most towers wins and the loser has to make pancakes for the winner.

I can't help but feel that assuming all the enemy forces are also this weak will come back to bite us in the ass.

>>1175350
I thought about that but what do you expect? They need something stronger than the giant in the second mission or the legendary monsters in the previous one. And it needs to fit in the corridors of the AA facility and I find that doubtful. I'm not too worried about getting stonewalled by an elite unit today.

“No, but the more we distract them, the better,” you say to him, a plan rapidly forming in your head. You quickly turn to Lorelei and Izumi. “Hey, how do you two feel about splitting up for a bit?”

They both look to each other, curious about what brought this on, then look back to you. “What did you have in mind?” Izumi asks.

“I’ll make a break for Cannon 4, see if I can’t divert their attention further. Izumi hits Cannon 5, Lorelei infiltrates 2. See if we can’t make their lives easier on those fronts, too.” You’re confident they can get out of any scrapes they get into, and if this manages to go off as planned…

“It sounds worth a try. We’ll have to make sure to be careful, however- strong as we are, the numbers are in their favor…” Izumi notes.

“I might take a minute, then.” Lorelei says, eyes shifting a bit. “I’m not exactly a person of mass destruction like you two!”

“That’s fine,” you insist. “So long as you can keep them from focusing on the aerial battle.”

“I can give it a shot, then!” Lorelei’s voice is confident, as usual. Good to hear.

“You get all that?” You quickly ask into the receiver.

“Yup! Requesting that you hold position for a couple more minutes- we’re sending folks though now!” You can hear him start to yell something at his subordinates as the line closes. You relay the orders, and set up just in case some other soldiers showed up. They hadn’t proven to be exceptional threats so far, but...well, you never know.

-------

>Roll 1d20 for possible events.

Rolled 6 (1d20)

>>1175400
Rolling for pancakes

Rolled 7 (1d20)

>>1175400

Rolled 19 (1d20)

>>1175400

Hm. Alrighty. >>1175458 saved you from some things.

Writing!

>>1175428
>>1175447
>>1175458

Fortunately, the enemy reinforcements you’d been worried about never came- in fact it seemed like things got exceedingly quiet as you exited the cannon’s facilities upon hearing the shuttle land and armed Alusian soldiers come out. They quickly take up guard positions around the area while a few individuals made to hustle inside quickly.

You can see that tall green-haired guy coming out as well- he quickly gives guard instructions to the remaining soldiers near him, resulting in them quickly heading inside. He turns to the three of you as soon as they’re in. “I don’t know how you did it, but thank goodness you did. This gives us a chance, but we’re not nearly done. They’re rearranging their forces it seems, to increase security around Cannons Two and Four, but I don’t think they’re dropping any others- at least we couldn’t see any dropships. Most likely they’re repositioning forces to hold what they think they can hold and strike back on the ground before we can get a solid footing down here.”
Izumi hms. “I’m surprised they’re not going for Cannon Five…you’d think that would be the obvious choice, not Four.”

“We’re not certain why, either, but we’re hoping it’s just them deciding to concede it.” Green man says. “Cannons Two, Three and Four have been holding better than One and Five anyway.”

“You still wanna go solo knowing that?” Lorelei asks. “I’m still pretty confident I can sneak in if I need to, but…”

“I’ll be careful, just in case, as well,” Izumi says after some thought. “I get a bad feeling about this, paranoia though it may be…”

“If you’re still going, we can try and transport you over there quick,” Green man says. “Would save a lot of time and energy, though no chance we wouldn’t be spotted by someone.”

>Continue with the plan?


>Take the ride?

>>1175818
>Continue with the plan?
Fuck yeah.
>Take the ride?
Nah, we don't really need it. Don't think the others do either.

>>1175818
I still feel like splitting up will bite us in the ass.

I'd prefer if two of us hit one of the bases as a pair, while the third helps the rest of the conventional ground forces make a breakthrough. That way, if one of us gets into trouble, they'll have backup on hand to bail them out.