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>>2927022

>U.N. DEBATES FUTURE OF COLONIZATION

The United Nations Select Subcommittee on Space Colonization met today to discuss modernization of humanity’s orbital and outer-sphere colonies. With plans recently finalized for the first space elevator in Jakarta, it was decided that colonies within Earth’s immediate orbit should meet compatible standards. Given the cost of upgrading, however, some of our longest-serving homes away from terra firma are now slated to be decommissioned . . .

>CHARITY GUESTS TO ENJOY CYBERSPACE

The newly Cyberspace-integrated Library of the Americas in Veracruz will be hosting a charity ball serving South Indian refugees. Guests will have access to the wonder of the modern age as they can simply walk through an aperture to four different highly-secure locations around the globe. Initial plans were for eight, but a recent Maverick incident at Alice Springs, Australia has . . .

>REPLIFORCE FACTORY ROUTED

Elements from Columbus 1st Advance and Veracruz 4th Overland have retired former Battle & Chase champion Chaser Girtabomb and neutralized his manufacturing plant. Advance officer Citrine and her famous squad, “In Control,” assisted Overland officer Meteor Showa in retiring the Maverick on an isolated segment of race track. Combined with Showa’s defeat of an on-site Repliforce captain, enemy forces were in sufficient disarray that Columbus 7th Air Cavalry soon launched precision strikes . . .

A ping interrupts your reading. You swipe it in. It’s Atajo, mustache-plate and all.

“Hey you,” he greets.

“Hey Atajo. Got any news on Decim’s emergency beamout?”

“Not a lot,” he rests his cheek on his fist. “It had a Cyberspace component, so for now I can only narrow it down to the hemisphere. Sixteenth says it smells like Spectrod’s tech.” He brightens up, “Oh, and I’m told they ripped some sweet intel from Girtabomb…”

“Yeah?”

“Apparently he had a DNA scanner with rare enough traits that it could only have come from a few places. They’ve got me running the beamout data with an eyebrow comb to see where coordinates might line up. I find something, I’ll get it to Sixteenth – between them and me, pretty soon we’ll pinpoint where Spectrod was based. They’ve even got some off-site specialists working on it.”

Huh. You thought R&D handled everything in their tower on the base, but you suppose even they have outposts.

“Thanks for telling me, Atajo. And for your help. There’s just one more mission on my roster, and she’s a big one, so I hope you’re ready.”

Atajo taps his chin. “That’s weeeeird, I thought you had a late addition to tackle, top priority.”

Crap, another Maverick? Not another Spectrod, you hope. “News to me. Who is it?”

He grins like a teenager. “Somebody tall, thick, green, spiky… careful you don’t snog him too hard, you might end up in bed in the bad way.”

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>>2927024
“Oh shut up,” you laugh, “I’m breaking contact.”

“Adios, have fun,” he playfully waves.

You close him out. The tab underneath is your pay stub.


MISSION
C O M P L E T E

- A-Rank Mission Parameters Complete: 35,000z
- Disruption of Enemy Manufacturing: 10,000z
- Repliforce Cell Neutralization: 5,000z
- Zero Allied Units Lost: 10,000z

TOTAL: 60,000z
ACCOUNT: 90,000z


Oh yeah, you forgot about that.

… You actually forgot about the giant payday. You’re really too stressed over this date.

Vitamin makes a last adjustment. “I’m done here, Lieutenant.”

You hop off the slab. “Much appreciated as always.”

He glances away and tilts his head a little, clearly reading something internal. “Incidentally, your injured Chrysoprase is already out of surgery and currently at the range.”

Your jaw drops. “Bakker is? Really?”

“I imagine he’d like to thank you.”

“But he got mauled by a ride armor! His limbs were almost off!”

“We’re exceptionally well-equipped to repair the Cabochon series here,” Vitamin replies with a touch of pride. “Mass-produced units such as them – or, come to that, we Lifesavers – are much easier to fix than limited-run models such as yourself.”

You should’ve guessed. You’re glad to hear he’s already up and about.

But you do have a date to prepare for, and upgrades on the menu. You’d hate to be late…


>Visit the range.
>Visit (specify).

>Upgrade before your date.
>Upgrade after your date.

Evening, folks. Welcome back to it.

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>>2927039
Hooray!

Maybe I'll be able to do this whole "thread" thing someday again too!

>>2927028
>Visit the range.

I dunno, kinda unsure about this one. Plus, we've only got an hour or so. ... I'd suggest upgrading DURING our date, but I feel like that's taking too big a gamble on how Monitor feels about the various parts of work. Maybe we can see if he's a tech nut and suggest it, keep our options open if it makes sense.

On the other hand, not upgrading first means Skittle going unchecked if they have any nefarious plans for us. Crud.

>Upgrade after your date.

>>2927082
I'll wait as long as I have to. Until then...

>>2927028
>Visit the range.
Let's see how they're doing.

>Upgrade after your date.
The time for upgrades can wait!

>>2927082
No self-bully!

>>2927028
>Upgrade after your date.
>Go to your room to prepare
look, even Bakker's gonna know about the date

...what do you do to prepare for a date? I don't think Showa needs a shower. Perfume?

>>2927242
The only think I know for sure about hooking up with a monitor is that you should always bring spare HDMI cables

>>2927348
If this ever goes anywhere, gag gift identified.

>>2927348
oh god, this is what skittles is preparing right now, isn't it? A bouquet of HDMI cables?

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>>2927361
It is NOW.

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>>2927082
>>2927209
>>2927242

… And you won’t risk it by getting under the moth siblings’ scalpels.

You make your way out, and barely down the hall before a female Howlite pumps her fist at you.

“Woo! Dame of the hour!”

“Thanks,” you nod.

You turn a corner, follow another hall. The moment you step into the range, a pair of male Larimars stop mid-stride on their way out.

“Whoa! Welcome back Lieutenant!” One greets.

“Hey did you actually meet Citrine? What’s she like?” The other asks.

“Yeah, are she and Turbo lovers?”

Uh, what? “Look, I don’t even know her. Is she famous?”

“Famouser by the day!” The left Larimar beams. “Us grunts love her to death.”

“Yeah,” nods the right one, “she’s Best Janken, absolutely.”

The zenny drops. Janken – a line of sibling models by Crystal Labs, the firm behind the Cabochon series. You only knew the name of the model line, not the individuals.

“Huh. I had no idea she was one of them.”

The Larimars drop their jaws. “Well,” the left one starts with the air of a lecturer, “Citrine’s the best, obviously—”

“Obviously,” the right one crosses his arms and sagely nods.

“But Onyx has her own charm—”

“If you like gravity-types—”

“And who doesn’t—?”

“No friends of ours—”

“But Amethyst is also just a wonderfully cute—”

“Such a cute—!”

You interrupt, half-listening and scanning the room, “I actually met an Amethyst the other day.”

The Janken-assessors gasp. “What was she like?”

“Nice. Had some drills. Oh excuse me I see somebody, thanks guys,” you politely nudge past before they can say the word tsundere.

Bakker and Shock are at the firing range, a buster rifle each. Shock hits something out of your view and elbows his friend.

“Oh right, like one in eight’s worth it,” Bakker rebuffs.

“Hey, bud, one in eight can still kill.”

“Not if they know what they’re doing!”

“You should always expect that they do,” you add, right behind them.

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>>2927443

The Chrysoprase pair drop their guns and spin into a perfect salute at you.

“Lieutenant!” They chorus. They look at each other. Shock nods; Bakker alone continues. “Ma’am. Thank you for taking us on your last mission. And for saving my life. I’m. I’m sorry if getting swatted like that affected your strategic plans, ma’am.”

They’re still holding the salute. “At ease, guys. You didn’t do a single thing wrong. It’s not every mission you run into a guy with a giant melee ride armor. You did so, so well to survive after that, and no way could I have burned through that place as fast without you.”

“Glad to serve,” Shock replies, “but it was your orders that saved him. Bakker’s… well if he was a girl, and a human, I’d have married him by now. I love this dumbass like a brother. You saved both of us back there, make no mistake.”

“In fact we put in for priority under you,” Bakker adds. “Any time you need ground-grunts, we’re there.”

You smile at the two of them and salute back. “Copy that.”

You leave them to their low-impact target practice and take a look around. The range is in good order; Flurry really keeps things moving and tidy.


>Work some last nervousness out.
>No, you’re good, just get ready to go.
>?

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>>2927468
>Work some last nervousness out.

Run back to our quarters, fuss over our chassis, all the usual moe things in fish form.

>>2927468
>Work some last nervousness out.
Don't focus on what to say, just on how to keep your cool. Taking the initiative and trying to be charming in our demeanor could actually carry us through the date as long as we don't try so hard with the specific words.

>>2927468
>flop around like a nervous koi
>Showa used Splash!
>Wait, where did you get the water to-Showa is sweating enough to use Splash!

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>>2927515
>>2927533

Fffhhooo. Okay. You’re not getting any closer to ready just by standing here. You wake-up slap your cheeks and march out straight to the dorms.

Your room is your comfort zone. All the familiar relics and possessions. You set up an audiobook – The Voyage of the Beagle, classic – and fetch a never-opened can of armor polish from behind your recharge pod-bed.

It takes you a while to apply the whole thing; you’re unpracticed at it, the shine is more formal than you’ve been in years, but the motions of covering your extent focus you on the task at hand. This is just another mission. Just with no fighting. Or broken limbs. You hope.

You check the news. You re-check it. You rebeam a few Spazer posts that make you smile – mostly from threads about pre-robotics Spanish architecture.

Right. With ten minutes to go before the meetup, you’re comfortably informed and looking shiny. There’s no sense dithering.

You take a deep breath, walk out, arrive in the courtyard and fall in love.

Being ex-Decommissions, you’re intimately familiar with equipment and vehicle specs. When it comes to ride chasers, Chevals are the workhorses and Adions are the warhorses. The Hunters don’t have a place exclusively for show horses, but if they did, the long-bodied mine-sweeping bird-beaked Condor would fit the bill.

Waiting for you is a pair of the most beautiful pair of Condors you’ve ever seen: sleek curves of glossy black and gold, either fresh from the showroom or polished like they were. The engines are pristine, the seat brand new, the windshield glass positively lustrous. Iron Monitor waits to the side, hands behind his back, evidently pleased with himself.

You spare him only a glance of astonished thanks, reminding yourself that he exists, and approach the magnificent chasers with reverent awe.

“Surplus from Darwin,” Monitor audibly smiles. “Hardly anybody needs to sweep mines in a huge hurry anymore. I had ‘em shined up a bit.”

You barely hear him. You hover your hands over the Condor’s hood. You’re not sure if you should even touch it.

You touch it.

“She’s beautiful,” you whisper.

“I know.”

Wow gosh okay um yeah you’re pretty sure you’re liking this date already.

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>>2928189

“Where are we taking them?” You successfully say without stammering.

“Just into town, catch some pretty intense entertainment. Really crack some brains,” he punches his palm.

You give the Condor one more loving stroke and address your date. “I’m gonna level with you, Monitor, when I’m off work the most intensity I ever like is with karaoke. I mean I get enough danger in the field, y’know? I mean if I’m not out with friends I’m sitting somewhere reading books.” You fidget your hands. “I mean I know that’s boring I mean I’m not saying we ride out to a poetry slam or anything but I mean that gives you an idea of what—”

He takes your hands, stilling them. “Meteor.”

You radiate flustered heat. He’s using your first name your siblings don’t even use it well no nevermind of course they do that’s different Japanese form stupid English no stop thinking about linguistics stupid he’s using familiar terms and holding your hands on a first date and and and—

“Um?” You manage.

“I was joking.”

“But you said…”

“Figurative.”

Your cheeks burn and thermite has nothing to do with it. “Oh. Heh. Um. Sorry. Ha-ha. Yeah. Where, um, where to?”

“Been to the Library of the Americas lately?”

You haven’t. Nobody has. The educational jewel of Veracruz’s civic pride, the place you’d want to live in if you had a choice, has been closed for months. They’ve been renovating top-to-bottom while integrating a Cyberspace node. The news from earlier suggested the node was done – oh wait no he didn’t—

“You didn’t!” You excitedly clench his hands.

“I did.” He lets go to bring out a datapad sized to his big hands. “Minimum ticket price was ten grand each, but I doubled it for both of us. Sri Lanka won’t get rebuilt on the cheap, after all.”

Your own HUD alerts you to a tiny data package delivery.

You have your ticket.

You have your ride.

You have your suitor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q7W7tgH_WE


>Bold Approach: Hug him in thanks.
>Cautious Approach: Hands to yourself.

>Offensive Advance: You know the location; lead the way.
>Defensive Advance: Follow him.

>Power Assault: Ask about his past.
>Rapid Assault: Ask about his work.

>>2928208
>Cautious
>Offensive
>Power
STRONG

>>2928208
>>Bold Approach: Hug him in thanks.
>Defensive Advance: Follow him.

>Power Assault: Ask about his past.

>>2928208
>Bold Approach
>Offensive Advance
>Power Assault

I know Showa too well to know she'd be anything but giddy over primo history to nerd out with.

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We didn't spend all those points in Flex to NOT hug.


>Bold Approach: Hug him in thanks.
>Defensive Advance: Follow him.
>Power Assault: Ask about his past.

>>2928253
>>2928215
offensive is clearly the less optimal play here. It's not about getting to the objective as quickly as possible, it enables Monitor to point out and clear secondary objectives like "scenic view" while avoiding the obstacle mechaniloids like traffic lights that would cost precious time and fun.

CAN YOU NOT SEE WHAT IS AT STAKE HERE!?

>>2928208
>Bold
>Defensive
>Power

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Cautious
Offensive
Rapid
A Power assault, though effective, could backfire at this early stage

>>2928511
Don't underestimate Showa's own mastery of these matters!

Votes counted, route set, post to come at work.

You're gonna have a good time.

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>>2929157
>You feel like you're going to have a good time.

Having some difficulty. Phone IP is repeatedly banned because technology is terrible. I'll continue trying.

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>>2928215
>>2928220
>>2928253
>>2928504
>>2928771
>>2928774

You collide with his big frame, latch your arms around and do an excited wiggle.

“AaaaAAAA this is so nice! Thank you thank you, I didn’t expect any of this!”

You let him go before he can hug back. He looks a little stunned. He coughs into his fist, just for the body language.

“Well. I try. It’s on the other side of town, but you probably knew that. I plotted out a route, so…” He gestures to your ride.

“After you,” you grin and bow your head.

He takes the lead, guiding you out of the HQ campus and into modern Veracruz.

You’re aware that as little as a hundred years ago, it wasn’t even half as large. A popular Mexican president born in the area and obsessed with infrastructure gave it – with some controversy – preferential treatment over other coastal cites when the tides began to rise.

He takes you down the recently-renamed Avenida de Línea Verde, “Green Line Avenue,” an artery formerly bisecting the urban center, now within view of the coast. Park after park draws your eye, none so much as the Reserva Natural Estatal Arroyo Moreno – a nature reserve significantly expanded to cover and keep safe for history the sunken portion of the city. The shapes of past-era houses and buildings are just barely discernable in the water. Wading birds settle in for the night. The road level climbs specifically to offer this view.

“Wow…”

“I thought you’d like it,” says Monitor, accurately.

“I’ve been to a few ruins before, not counting the ones I worked around with my birth-job. Swam down old streets, took pictures for that show I was on.”

“Where the Calendar Ends, right?”

“You looked it up?” Of course he looked it up.

“Of course I looked it up. I didn’t see all your segments, but I got the idea. Think you’ll ever go back to television?”

“Nah. I got tired of just reacting to history. The Hunters are good to me. And for me.”

You ride a moment, enjoying the sight of natural dark greens and blues.

“How about you?” You ask. “What’s your career been like?”

“Busy,” he sounds evasive. “I’m a high-energy experiment built on commission for the Darwin HQ. Did the usual Hunter things. Not so much interested in where I’ve been than where I’m going. You know?”

“Not really. History’s important,” you insist. “It’s the biggest non-physical resource we have. Where you’ve been informs where you’re going, y’know?”

“Not really.”

Oh no. Quick, quick, salvage!

“Ssso, uh, it’s a real nice night… for an evening…”

“It’d have to be,” he chuckles.

You want to die. Just not right now.

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>>2929415

The Library of the Americas stands in a wealthy district of white stone. It’s one of Veracruz’s major tourist destinations, the largest storehouse-slash-museum of physical media south of the United States Library of Congress. Tonight the renovations are complete and the regional rich are present to be seen and to say they were there.

You and your middle-income self feel a little out of place as you and Monitor pull up. Your Condors certainly aren’t; you notice a valet taking one away just ahead of you. Men and women in fancy formals climb the steps like Cinderellas. You park and dismount, and a smartly-polished black-armored Steel Beret approaches with a datapad.

“Hello, honored guests,” he greets. “Checking your ticket data… aha, looks well in order. A valet will be out shortly to handle your vehicles.”

“Thanks,” Monitor produces his own pad and taps something in. “Here, put them somewhere nice.”

An ancient cash-machine sound file rings from the greeter’s pad. His eyes go big.

“Yes sir!” He vigorously nods.

“Any big notables arrived yet?” You ask.

The greeter checks his apparently tip-filled pad. “Why yes, the Mayor is here, the Governor, much of the Library’s executive committee… oh, and some of your fellow Maverick Hunters! A mister Laser Focalizar, a mister Nouveau…”

You sputter laughing. “Oh gosh we have to get in there.”

“Let’s,” Monitor holds out his elbow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib9dr6AuKjk


>Bold Approach: Take his arm.
>Cautious Approach: No PDA!

>Offensive Advance: Mingle.
>Defensive Advance: People-watch.

>Power Assault: Take him to the high-value guests.
>Rapid Assault: Take him to the collections.

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>>2929418
>Cautious Approach: No PDA!
>Defensive Advance: People-watch.
>Rapid Assault: Take him to the collections.

Fish, meet foot.

>>2929418
>Bold Approach: Take his arm.
He's offering.

>Offensive Advance: Mingle.
>Rapid Assault: Take him to the collections.

>>2929418
haha, Showa, you really didn't take the hint on Monitor's perspective.

>Bold Approach: Take his arm.
>Defensive Advance: People-watch.
>Rapid Assault: Take him to the collections.

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>>2929429
>>2929462
>>2929484

You take his arm and ascend the stairs oh gosh.

The foyer – or is this a vestibule? – is lined with thousands of books behind glass. More than decoration, each one is available for on-site perusal and DRM-enforced temporary download at terminals set up on marble pedestals. The upper crust seem to find it entertaining.

“Ooh,” a starlet coos, “they’re so twentieth-century! Look, look,” she tugs at her date’s sleeve, “the data files are scans of each pages! What a quaint little font!”

A man with a nearly-empty wine glass tries to impress a fat man in a tuxedo. “This is how they accessed data in the twentieth century,” he lectures in lockjaw. “We’re lacking the little men on rolling ladders, but some things have to be translated to modern taste…”

“I say,” smiles a woman with an ostentatiously cybernetic eye, “are those more Hunters?”

Attention starts to turn your way.

“Well they look the part.”

“What a lovely color pair.”

“My word, that’s—er...”

“Meteor Showa,” you help.

“And date,” Monitor adds with an air of aren’t-I-lucky bragging.

“Oh goodness,” the starlet gasps, “I heard all about you on social media!”

“Your star’s certainly rising, isn’t it?” The fat man leads the rest into sensible social laughter.

Monitor pats your hand hooked around his elbow. “With an unlimited ceiling. It’s my honor to escort her tonight.”

You feel the congratulatory envy from a few of the eyes on you, especially the cybernetic one.

“Eheh-heh, honor’s all mine, let’s, um, head in…”

People. Lots of people. You’re sociable by nature, no phobia of crowds, but you’ve never experienced the context of walking into a charity ball with a big handsome reploid on your arm. It’s a little daunting.

The showpiece hall of the Library is a temple to the idea of books. The walls are patterned with holographic shelves and book spines blending up to Alexandrian crosshatch scroll-cubbies supporting an overhead mural of 18th-century printers and negative-th century scribes and stone-chislers. Support columns twist with holographic staircases to nowhere. Individual exhibits under glass anchor clusters of classy conversation.

You spot Nouveau lurking on a far wall and gently tug Monitor along. You need a rock, an island, to avoid getting swept out.

The 4th’s second-in-command lurks in place like Mister Darcy. “Lieutenant,” he accepts, tipping a tiny expensive glass down his throat. “Lieutenants. Attached at the hip already?”

You self-consciously let go of your date’s arm. “I didn’t know you’d be here, Nouveau.”

“I didn’t know he would be here,” Nouveau casts a catty glare out into the crowd. “Look at him, that usurper.”

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>>2930181
You and Monitor try to see the focus of his ire. You spot him right away: Laser Focalizar, second-in-command of the local 6th Unit, chatting up Governor Alvarez.

Nouveau tries to kill him with eyebrow-furrowing. “The Governor’s running on increased funding for the base, and Fourth is starting to strain in our little courtyard donut. Sixth needs no more, they’re already the damn prince of the campus, but I scarcely got two words in before that blasted seal poached him and launched into that never-ending charm offensive. Nuisance.”

“Well there’s his wife,” you point, “the dark one in blue by the printing press, you could try talking to her…”

Monitor points in a different direction. “I think that man there is from the local BBC branch…”

“Hmph,” Nouveau harrumphs. “Indirect attack. Not bad. Here, free refills,” he hands his glass to Monitor in passing.

“Should I get something?” He asks you. “I see a refiller by the early E-books.”

“No, I don’t want to go swimming in that crowd just yet.”

“Fair enough.”

You hang out under patterned books and watch the high society physics in action. None of them seem to appreciate the exhibits except as places to rest their eyes between sentences. For goodness’ sake, that’s Octavio Paz’s Nobel over there with a terminal for his entire literary corpus, and nobody’s even looking at it.

“Hey,” you tap Monitor, “let’s check out the real stuff.”

“Lead the way.”

You do, and to your great comfort it takes you to somewhere quieter.

A side hall is populated, but these people are here to absorb culture. Holos of famous authors stand by relics of their life: desks, laptops, primitive typewriters. Stephen King flickers a little in his ancient seat.

“Wow, they landed King’s actual chair!”

“Mm-hm.”

“See, King had this enormous desk once. He even wrote about it, how he promised himself early on that when he got successful he’d have one so big it’d fill a room, some colossal wooden thing like an old sailing ship.”

“Mm-hm.”

“But the bigger it got, see, the more alienated he got from his own family…”

“Mm-hm.”

You wince, inwardly. “I’m boring you with history, aren’t I.”

“I like that you like it,” he assures you.

Crap crap crap crap.

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>>2930197

“Hey!” You clap, a little too strongly. “Wanna check out the Cyberspace wing? The renovation was all for it!”

“I’d like that,” he answers with more conviction.

You hustle down to the Library’s new addition. Here, too, there’s a curious crowd. One at a time, people walk in and out of a Cyberspace gate, a cutting-edge circle of tech around a faintly staticky lavender ripple in space.

You notice the areas on offer…

>Houston
>Nairobi
>Point Jakarta
>Point Galapagos

… And you sense a theme. A space-link city, a space-mining-company city, the foundation of the first space elevator, the proposed site of the second… it dawns on you that this isn’t only a safe, limited demonstration of the modern wonder that is Cyberspace, but a way to increase interest in space operations among the kind of people who could help fund it.

“The future of transportation,” Monitor reads aloud from a convenient sign. “As if teleporters were brand new.”

“Except this isn’t warp physics – not entirely, anyway. Pretty soon the whole world will have a new overlapping layer of reality we can pinch to connect any two points. Or at least that’s how I think it works…”

If it isn’t, he doesn’t correct you. “Want to try it like we’re rich tourists?”

“Absolutely! Just watch out for any killer bugs.”

His eyes smile. “Hey, I held one off for you already, I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”

He holds your hand as the two of you wait in the queue. Your LIFE core tries to flutter.

“So where to?” He asks.


>Choose for yourself.
>Let him decide.

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>>2930206
>Let him decide.

A little self-awareness about the spaghetti we've been spilling.

>>2930206
>Let him decide.

Let's see where this goes.

If this were *Anode* on a date, I'd expect this to go all goblet of fire, and he'd end up with his date dead and his vital components ripped out to resurrect Birdemort.


>Let him decide.

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>>2930592
He had a first date already.

I mean, he did get fisted.

>>2930206
>Let him decide

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>>2930242
>>2930473
>>2930592
>>2930797

Hmm.

“You’re good at picking locations. I’ll leave it to you.”

“Great! I know just the one…”

----

You and your date cross thousands of kilometers in a single step.

The Galapagos Islands are much fewer than in Charles Darwin’s time. North Isabela is the most populated; most of the modern city of Tortuga Negra has been built with care between the Wolf and Darwin Volcanoes and enjoys the geothermal energy tap. The exit point for the Cyberspace link is on top of a squat skyscraper.

“Welcome to the future,” Monitor sweeps an arm. “Come on, I just bet you can see it from here.”

It?

About twenty well-dressed charity ball guests are at the edge, enjoying the view. You and Monitor join them. The city stretches away in all directions. You know where exactly you are now: closer to Wolf, closer to the Equator, closer to Point Galapagos proper.

The volcano has already been built over in the fashion of several others you could name. The convection far below has been not quelled but tamed, entirely, and modern construction methods would make any building there perfectly safe.

Which is good, because there at the edge of the summit, construction crews are starting to make a hole.

“Number two,” Monitor observes. “They don’t have a name for it yet, and I bet they won’t for years. The one at Jakarta’s further along, but foundation work is the biggest hurdle. I mean, sure, the anchorpoint in orbit will take some of the stress, but you’re still talking a colossal load of mass that gravity’s pulling down on one point.”

“You like buildings, then?” You ask.

“It’s infrastructure, who doesn’t?”

“Yessss,” you keep your glee to a whisper.

“They’re saying Cyberspace will play a big role in getting this tower up, but Cain Labs is keeping it under their hat. Makes sense, though – you might have segments built all over the world and just cyber-ported into place.”

“Oh come on, that’s sci-fi.”

“Says the walking talking nuclear reactor,” he nudges you.

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>>2930931

“Point,” you smirk back. “Still, I did just stroll to the Equator through a layer of physics we invented because the regular one’s too slow.”

He rests his elbows on the rail and admires the distant digging. It’s hard to pick out individual laborers from up here. Most of the other guests move on to see more interesting angles.

“It’s amazing, really, what we’re doing. Humans and reploids both. We might have wrecked the world first, but we’re building it so much better. Just how we want, every day, every hour.” He pauses. “Meteor?”

You’re gradually getting used to him calling you that. You lean like he does. “Yeah?”

“I don’t know if you ever put much thought into reploids as a people…”

“Oh, I do.”

“How we’re literally the march of technology…”

You scoot closer to him. “Oh yes.”

“Where do you think we’re marching to?”

You blink. “You mean, what the future will be like for us?”

“For you specifically, I mean.” He shifts his weight, drapes his big hands over the side. “You keep moving forward so hard, you had to have put some thought into where you’re going. Whatever the world turns out to be like, where do you think you’ll be in it? What do you see yourself doing in five, ten years?”

Humans hear that question in school, or in job interviews. It’s an entirely different question for a reploid. Your mom-friend unit commander, a skilled and decorated leader, has reached the venerable age of seven. Your confident, forward date is barely three years old. Your last mission had you commanding people whose time in this world could fairly be measured in months. Rare indeed are reploids who see the end of their first decade. You yourself haven’t, and yet you’re old enough to have had four sequential younger siblings – the youngest one lost in the line of duty two wars ago.

You wonder. Five years is so, so much time, in a world that moves so fast.

You doubt you’ll ever leave public service. But what flavor would it be a lifetime from now? Based on what’s most important to you now, what would be most important to you by then?


>Your fellow Hunters.
>The public.
>The future itself.

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>>2930948
>Your fellow Hunters.

It'd be nice to say hunting is just the means to the end, but I think Showa needs faces to pin to the ideals.

>>2930948
>Your fellow Hunters.
maybe not necessarily AS a hunter, what with tech advances and Showa having a critical weakness built right into her, but someone needs to make sure that the Maverick Hunters are treated okay as people.

Who watches the watchmen, or in this case, who guards the guardsmen?

>>2930948
>Could be all three
>Could be none of them
>The thing about the future is that you won’t know about it till you get there
>I’ll plan as well as I can with what I have, but at the end of the day, it’s left-foot-right-foot-pause-look-around-repeat
At least that’s my two zenny

>>2930948

I like >>2931094 's idea.

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>>2930975
>>2931094
>>2931098
>>2931232

You think of Skittle, Volt, Deco, Nouveau, Turtle… Flurry, Vitamin, Bakker, Shock, all the rank and file… and the answer comes with ease.

“I think I belong here.”

“You think?” He watches you, openly listening.

“‘I think’ in the way that means I could do this forever. Serving and protecting against Mavericks, not just for human civilians but the people who actually do the serving and protecting. My fellow Hunters. My friends. Not just, you know, for everlasting peace,” you wave your hands sarcastically, “but for daily peace. Peace of mind, that there’s somebody reliable on their side. And sure, we’re out there saving the world, but it can be… distancing, out there on the tip of the spear. Who’s the shaft supporting us, keeping us up and pointed?”

You hear what you’re saying and close your mouth.

“Okay that’s a little weird, but do you get what I’m saying? I think I’m in the best place I can be, refining myself so I can support the institution by supporting a few at a time.”

He nods, mercifully allowing you to stop rambling. “I get that. Small picture as a lens on the big.”

“Right! Right. Sort of. ‘Cause it’s not two things, two sizes. The big picture… it’s made of the small.”

He nods again, looks out over the city and the first scrapings of construction. A moment passes, drawing you in to fill it.

“What about you, Monitor? Fair’s fair. What do you want your future to be?”

His eyes smile.

“Would you believe I want to quit?”

Um. “Quit what? The Hunters?”

“Absolutely.” He stands up straighter, pushes off the rail. “I’ve been around long enough to get a grip on the world. Reploids can be anything, anything at all, but so few of us choose to be something worth being. Mavericks are maniacs, full stop,” he firmly chops the air, “and Repliforce represented the best we could be but then betrayed all of it. All of us.”

You cock your head. “I’m with you there, but I don’t see how that reflects on the Hunters…”

His hands emote for a face that largely can’t. “You think Halcyon is the last Halcyon we’ll ever have? No matter whose butt is in the chair, we’re taking on too much work we weren’t meant for, and it’s showing in the way that our ground-level leaders are coping. Over time, Meteor, we’re just going to get more and more militaristic, more and more repressive…” his shoulders seem to sink under invisible weight… “or we’ll splinter into a handful of state-supported merc groups more at war with each other than with actual Mavericks. Peace through fascism or factionalism. That’s where we’re headed.”

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>>2931577

You’ve tracked a subtle change in his tone. Somewhere around the mention of Halcyon, confidence became certainty. Iron became steel. If there’s one thing that a long study of history has taught you, it’s that nothing is certain, but you don’t object yet. You get the feeling that all that was a setup to a point he wants to make.

“You’ve put a lot of thought into this,” is all you offer.

“Right. Because I don’t want to be either of those worlds.” He stands a little prouder, fists on his hips. “Wonder why I spent forty-kay on a first date? I’m actually a millionaire.”

Uh, wow?

“How?”

He rolls his wrist, “Saved up, worked up, invested. All the time. Resource management comes to me like breathing – I could pull quartermaster duties in my sleep. And someday soon, when I’ve saved up enough to cover five years of foreseeable expenses, that’s when I’m going to leave the Hunters.” He makes a fist at the horizon. “I’ll just suit up and fight Mavericks on my own terms, with my own code of conduct. Ending threats, one Maverick at a time. Saving lives, one city at a time. Building the world I want, one centimeter at a time.”

His fist gently unfolds, and reaches down to you.

“And if you ever think you don’t need the Hunters for that… I could use a partner.”

You stare at his hand.

A distant explosion brings you back to earth. Well-dressed guests gasp and react.

You look. He looks.

A corner of the city is on fire. High overhead, an aircraft – multiple aircraft – blink out of optical camo. Three Hammerhead cruisers. Repliforce.

A broad-comm message with a polite British dialect hits your ears.

“Attention. For the good of reploidkind, Major Quartus has ordered a tactical neutralization blitz of this area. You face the personal attack platoon of Spiral Pegasus. Abandon immediately all areas of value. There is nothing to be gained by resistance. Repliforce Forever.”

The cruisers spawn fliers: bird-shaped manned craft from one, what look like Eagle ride armors from another, and what must be hundreds of smaller mechaniloids from both, twinkling in the night.

The guests sprint for the Cyberspace portal and charge through. The formal-armored Library attendants fly to the controls and start entering commands. You hear screams from the street below.

“Pegasus,” Monitor growls. “He hit Perth a month ago. We have to get up there!”

“The city needs help first!” You object. “And those guys!” You point to the poor Steel Berets who aren’t paid enough for this.

“Exactly!” He objects back. “We knock out Pegasus and we’ll help them all at once!”

Three Eagle armors seem to be approaching your position. They open fire. Snaking plasma comets streak toward the roof and kick up explosion dust. The last few humans scream on their way through to safety. The portal blinks out.

“Prioritize, darnit!” You shout and dash out to intercept the attackers.

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>>2931584

The Eagles are souped-up models, black and purple with oversized thrusters. They orbit each other in a complicated knot of trajectories. One has a buster and a fist. One has two fists. One has two busters.

The armors look familiar. Their pilots are familiar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7byP8TlPG98

“Well well,” taunts Maria Alnitak.

“Look who it is,” taunts Maria Mintaka.

“You’re in the wrong place, Hunter,” taunts Maria Alnilam.

Las Tres Marias fly in wedge formation straight for you.

“This is for Captain Decim!”


>Bold Approach: Aim for the riders.
>Cautious Approach: Aim for the ride armors.

>Offensive Advance: Prioritize attacking your foes.
>Defensive Advance: Prioritize defending the tourists.

>Power Assault: Charged shots, big hits.
>Rapid Assault: Low-power shots, multiple hits.

And (Special):
>Give Iron Monitor orders (specify).
>Leave him independent.

VWES:
>Arbor Wall: 12/12
>Fluid Lockdown: 6/6
>Remote Koi: 12/12
>Spark Hand-Drill: 16/16

>Gaia Sword: ∞
>Ice Zanbato: ∞


Special Unit:

IRON MONITOR

>FRAME:

Tank. +3 Armor.

>WEAPONRY:

Steel Cannon:
An uptuned buster in Monitor’s mouth fires single powerful shots. Under the effect of MAXIMUM (Weapons), the basic shots increase in size and power.

Knuckle Vulcan:
Miniature busters on each of his big knuckles fire in rapid volleys. Under the effect of MAXIMUM (Arms), the shots increase in velocity.

Megabeam Rapier:
The only sidearm Monitor brought with him: a conical, yellow-bladed, high-phase saber with a half-hand guard. Under the effect of MAXIMUM (Weapons), the blade grows an extra meter.

>ABILITIES:

MAXIMUM:
Special ability. Monitor’s LIFE core is a size larger than a normal reploid of his frame, and MAXIMUM manages the output into a sort of permanent “floating bonus.” He can easily switch which part receives his surplus energy: Arms for melee blows and Knuckle Vulcan, Legs for speed and agility, or Weapons for Steel Cannon and melee arsenal. Default setting is Legs. Takes one full second to switch.

>VWES-2:

Sunny Glare:
Farm manager Sunshine Daisy yielded this intense UV laser capable of extreme range. Due to the heat buildup, it can only be fired for one second at a time with a two-second cooldown, and only through his mouth. 8 shots.

Color Buffet:
This surprisingly useful remnant of former candy mascot Bounding Jellybean fires comically oversized high-strength polymer beans. Each one bursts on impact and spreads a quick-setting gel trap with an extremely resilient kinetic-repulsory surface. 32 shots, each bean a different color. Can fire three at once through his knuckles or a steady stream through his mouth, but has sworn to never ever do the latter at risk of being recorded.

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>>2931590
>Cautious Approach: Aim for the ride armors.
>Bold Approach: Aim for the riders.
>Power Assault: Charged shots, big hits.

>Give Iron Monitor orders (specify).

Task Monitor on blocking anything that gets by us. We're faster, he's sturdier. Let him deal with tanking attacks on the civs while we unhorse these shmucks.

Safe to say anything we used on Decim was passed on to them. We should rotate duties with Monitor periodically, since they won't know his tricks.

>>2931584
Is....is Monitor going to fund Red Alert?

>>2931590
and of COURSE leaving upgrades for the absolute last bites us in the koi tail. No matter.

>"Decim's not even dead, you've all collectively run away from me THREE times now!"

oh god color stream sounds amazing.

....hmm. For all Monitor's talk about neutralizing the leader, his loadout greatly supports taking out the mooks quickly and cleanly.

>Bold Approach: Aim for the riders.
they can still fly. If they spend effort dodging plasma, that's effort not spent doing damage to the environment.
>Offensive Advance: Prioritize attacking your foes.
Monitor can tank the civvies
>Rapid Assault
they know what's coming, so focus on shooting enough that they can't dodge even if they wanted to.

>Give Monitor orders
>Disable the Ride Armors, whether with big damage or big color
What do you all say to letting one of us disengage to go after Pegasus as soon as the trio take a big hit or all the civvies are in safety?

>>2931612
How come Anode never fights someone like Bounding Jellybean?

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>>2931658
Flash Rezador killed them all on his No Fun Allowed tour, the highlight of which was that one time at an unspecified cinematic-animation-turned-media-megaconglomerate amusement park in Florida.

Bonus answer: We gave Vindaloo Lamb to Emerald so he could be super fucking mad about it. (No, really, we did.)

>>2931672
You mean we could've had a plastic foam-bat-saber AND REZADOR TURNED IT DOWN!?

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>>2931694
I promise you that Flash Rezador, at least one time in his lifespan, has literally actually ruined Christmas.

>>2931709
Pfft. "Once."

>>2931709
"And all the surviving Whos on that day, were only the ones that got out of his way."

>>2931709
That bastard.

>>2928189
>This is just another mission. Just with no fighting. Or broken limbs. You hope.
You just had to say it

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>Monitor’s LIFE core is a size larger than a normal reploid of his frame

>>2931590
First of all, you brought a zanbato with you on a date? Good taste.

Second, I'd like to try
>Bold
>Defensive
>Rapid
Try to keep all three belt girls preoccupied, and
>let Monitor do his thing

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>>2931590
>Cautious Approach: Aim for the ride armors.
>Offensive Advance: Prioritize attacking your foes.
>Power Assault: Charged shots, big hits.

Monitor hangs back and keeps the civs safe.

>>2932673
Gotta be prepared if a date goes horribly wrong.

>>2932673
Saber hilts are stylish. Thank Zero for that.

Off to work, continue voting as you like.

>>2927022
Well, this might be a good time for this then.
Feeling inspired by Scarab and Hunter Command and their respective quests, I decided to try to do something useful and put together a Google Doc that can function as A Kind of public VWES bank, full of random VWES weapons that anyone can be free to use or take as inspiration for stuff to give NPCs or as buyable data if they wanted to run their own Quest or Tabletop game, using the Maverick Hunter Tabletop homebrew rules to stat them out.
ou can find that Bank here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vi3L_8MuATO4paK4X9Wy7SemcTes8-yBBB67vLO_k98/edit?usp=sharing

The doc is currently open to commenting for anyone who wants to provide their own weapon or suggestions, which is welcomed, and I'll probably open it up for direct editing while threads are going on, after this one.

Just as an FYI, All of the entries currently present are missing ammo counts, for balancing purposes as well as probably in game dependent on DNA quality, and some are missing certain statistical aspects for the same reason.
The first 27 entries I believe are from me personally, while the others are from various persons from the IRC, who I'd like to thank.
So, go nuts, I guess.

>>2933283
Oh wow, nice! I'll give it a closer look here in a minute. Post incoming.

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>>2931612
>>2931649
>>2932673
>>2932871

You charge up your buster. “Monitor, get on defense!”

His mouth guard retracts as he reaches for his sidearm. “In a minute!”

The Marias scatter. Mintaka lights up her Eagle’s Raiden-like gauntlet blades while Alnitak and Alnilam take to the flanks and open fire. You greet Mintaka with a third-stage plasma shot, but that Eagle’s fists are well above standard and her counterpunch seems to mitigate the damage. To your right you hear the thin squeal of lasered metal, but you can’t wonder at the source –

>[Flex +2]

Because you dodge Alnitak’s cannon fire by dashing straight for Mintaka with your Zanbato lighting up. Mintaka swings, scores a glancing hit on your tail as you grab the rim of her cockpit and thrust your saber in. She’s quick on the uptake, however, and lets go of the controls to parry. It takes both of her hands to divert your blade, but she manages it and you instantly frost the back of the ride.

You open your mouth, but time’s up. She crashes to the roof, throwing you off –

>[Flex +2]

To a nice enough landing that you have time to out-dash Alnitak’s second shot.

Monitor is engaged with Alnilam at range. Her Eagle is scarred with a hot glowing line across the chest. He spits a faint straight-line distortion that rakes Alnilam herself across the shoulders and flashes her shields.

“Monitor, I have this! Get to the—”

Screams. Alnitak has taken her Eagle to the Cyberspace portal. Her one Raiden fist carves through a Steel Beret.

You dash, but not fast enough. The second operator falls to her cannon. The third raises his buster, but that only makes him a priority for her crushing fist and boiling fist-blade.

Before you know it you’re on top of her like a vision of hell, spewing flame and swinging ice. Her shields strobe under your assault. She finds an opening, forces her arm through –

>[Flex +2]

You jerk your head aside and take her buster shot grazing your ear rather than caving your eye. In a flash of fury you headbutt her, grab her by the shoulders and throw her out to your left.

The angle of your turn lets you see Mintaka’s Eagle coming straight for you, gauntlet blades up.

Monitor tackles her like a freight train, driving his massive shoulder spike through her ride’s left arm and into the cockpit. The Eagle stumbles, skewered, until he pulls a show of torque that would shear you in half as throws the ride armor off his shoulder.

The battlefield takes a second to reorient itself. Mintaka tries to right her sparking ride armor; Alnitak staggers back up after her savaging; Alnilam lands next to her; you and Monitor approach each other in the middle.

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>>2933330

“Nice job,” he thumbs skyward, “I’ll take that empty Eagle and—”

You slap him.

>[Armor +1]

He feels it.

“I said DEFENSE!” You erupt. “I can handle these three! What if there were humans left up here?!”

“I’m priori—”

“I don’t wanna hear it! We’re all this place has right now!” You gesture with your Zanbato in all its yellow glory, the ice layer temporarily spent. “Now get down to the damn street and protect some freaking LIVES, Hunter!”

His eyes twitch. Evidently he wasn’t expecting this from you. You’re not even sure you were expecting it.

You hear the ominous sound of charging cannons.

“Copy,” he finally grunts, and charges for Alnilam. She fires, and he takes the heat in stride. She takes flight and he keeps bull-rushing right under her, over the side of the roof and down to the street. Flashes of enemy fire blink in what higher windows you can see on neighboring buildings.

Now it’s just you and the sisters. Mintaka gets her staggering Eagle upright. Alnitak takes flight under her own power and fires up her traditional saber. Alnilam stays hovering, training her cannons on your position.

Alnitak’s Eagle is unoccupied. The Cyberspace link is undamaged. Crap, if they get it open…


>Act.

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>>2933332
Heck.

Jump in the Eagle, if we can fit into it, and use its big charge cannon to fry the cyberspace link before turning it on its handlers. We can use it as ablative HP for this.

If we CAN'T, take cover behind it while we comet the cyberspace link. Make for a defense play with our weapons and then abruptly switch to hard offense, catch the first one who's open out and pour on maximum damage and pressure.

>>2933332
> Call up Nav support priority. At the least command will be in the loop and best case you've got fresh intel or reinforcements from the new get-their-faster cybernet.

>>2933358
... isn't Novaue relatively close, too? He's just a hop away.

>>2933332
Be ready to shoot a sneaky drill into the unoccupied Eagle. If she wants to get back in, she's going to get shocked for her trouble.

I'm not entirely sure who we should try this on, but see if we can woodstab a pilot to pin them in their exploding Ride Armor seat.

Wait, I got it.
>Continue engaging Mintaka. Woodpin her to the seat if we get inside the Eagle's fist swing.
>Pull out the koi. Have them both shoot from inside the unoccupied Eagle.
>If Alnitak gets a good Hanabi hug from trying to take it back, follow it up with a shock drill

I'm not entirely opposed to leaving the cyberspace link upon. If whoever gets through is super weakened, splitting the three apart by breaking the link will spell the end for them.

>>2933388
That's way too risky--there are civilians on the other side of that gateway.

>>2933398
I suppose. Here's hoping the thermite does its job

>>2933376
Nouveau (and 6th's second-in-command Laser Focalizar) are indeed on the other side of that link, if it gets back up. But so is the charity ball and its couple hundred high-value civilians.

Currently you're some 2000km away in the Galapagos. Backup won't be coming quickly unless you open the door.

You're free to act as democracy has it, but bear in mind the enemy's stated objective.

>>2933332
I guess, given the danger, We should get a koi out and post up on the gateway, and destroy it if we have to. Ideally, the only thing through it should be coming from the other side, but we'll take it out if its not worth it. We can still get some backup ported in maybe.
Anyway, we should try to get that one active eagle Mintaka is in disabled somehow. Taking it out entirely would be good, but i'd settle for trashing its mobility or weapons so we can focus on the pilots without it breathing down our neck.

Does the portal have an obvious power cord or something that we can hit to take it offline in a non-hideously-permanent way.

>>2933358
If we open comms we could request that the other cyberspace hubs be shut down instead of blowing one up to keep the mavs out.

>>2933451
That's a good point.

>>2933450
The power tap is behind it and feeding directly into the roof itself. Nothing you could trip over, say.

>>2933451
Responsible!

>>2933451
much better idea, assuming that comms are still open. Worth a shot anyway

>>2933451
yeah who knows if the other hubs are being targetted too

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>>2933351
>>2933358
>>2933388
>>2933437
>>2933451

… That has to be it. They need it open.

You stow your big saber and tap your ear. “Showa to Fifth—”

Alnilam fires, but not the Eagle’s special multishot seeker charge. Two big plasma comets streak for exactly where you’re standing, and not behind.

>[Flex +2]

You dodge both and take cover behind the ring. Precision strikes. She couldn’t afford seekers getting the aperture damaged…

“Meteor Showa to Fifth, Point Galapagos is under attack—”

Mintaka flies through the ring, proving definitively that it’s unlinked. She banks in midair and comes in for a windup punch.

>[Experience]
>[Flex +2]

Volt laid you out with one exactly like it. His was smaller and quicker.

You bob, weave, and counterpunch the inside of the ride armor’s elbow with a fist made of sparking drills. The arm takes the abuse for all of a second before the forearm bends in a way it was never designed to.

“—under attack by Repliforce, blitz led by Spiral Pegasus!”

Mintaka plants a foot on the cockpit rim and draws her knives. You pull your fist back and fire; she jetboosts out between two of the drills but trips their electricity arc. Her shields take it in stride and she lights into you.

>[Flex +2]

She wheels into a combo – thrust one, miss, slash two, miss, but slash three advertises her surprising reach as it snaps across your arm as you reach for your own sabers. You accept the blow and sweep the air with your cryomer blade – she’s fast, but it’s big, and she catches the tip in her abdomen. That’s immediately enough for her; she pulls out by flying off, leaving you out for Alnilam to strafe.

“Fifth here,” says a voice you’ve never heard before, “we copy. Status?”

You use the sensitivity of the Cyberspace portal to your advantage, but Alnilam has some good aim. She’s staying far enough out to preclude easy counterattacks, but at least this way you can see her shots coming, and your Flex parts outmaneuver even a souped-up Eagle’s cannon.

“Engaged, but listen, I’m at a Cyberspace link—”

Alnitak has remounted the Eagle. She shoots through the ring to try and catch you in the crossfire. Unfortunately for them, you’re just too dodgy, and you use the ring to your advantage.

“—oh crap—sorry, a link to the Library of the Americas, you need to isolate it from the network!”

Mintaka and Alnitak seem to have had enough. The melee-capable Marias fly in, one mounted and injured and the other merely dinged but rideless. Their ranged sister seems in no hurry to join them.

“Acknowledged. Signal strength one hundred percent, interdiction zero. Tasking available backup on hot-drop. Stand by.”

>Prioritize Mintaka.
>Prioritize Alnitak.
>Shoot down Alnilam.

>Avoid damaging the link.
>Hit it only if you have to.
>Deliberately wreck it.

VWES:
>Arbor Wall: 12/12
>Fluid Lockdown: 6/6
>Remote Koi: 12/12
>Spark Hand-Drill: 14/16

>Gaia Sword: ∞
>Ice Zanbato: ∞

>>2934319
>Prioritize Mintaka.
>Avoid damaging the link.

Time for some combat bastardry.

Make as if we're going to exploit Alnitak's lack of armor, and then when Mintaka goes to intercept, we switch weapons to hammer the more injured of the trio.

We could also feint an attack to disable the link, and then reverse to get another hit on them when they react.

Other than that... don't get cornered. Defensive and area denial walls, drills, send koi after Alnilam if we have to. A fluid lockdown in the cockpit of one of those Eagles could probably wreck it up good with that persistent damage, and all the better if it lands in someone's lap in the process.

>>2934373
Yeah, feints are definitely the way to go here.

If we have tightbeam non-interceptable comms with Monitor, we can tell him what's up there, then use a less-private system (like yelling or w/e) to bluff that we're gonna take the link out.

>>2934319
>Prioritize Mintaka.
>Hit it only if you have to

Get out a koi and double team one. Try to use our sabers liberally, No way is this the worst of it with our luck, and theyre our most consistent heavy damage.

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>>2934373
>>2934685
>>2934737

You’re in a pinch, but darn it you can pinch right back.

You cover your earcap as if still on comms. “You’re sending a freaking S-rank?!” You shout as you turn, saber out, not for any Maria but for the link.

With your Zanbato already out and burning through its active seconds, you make a pretty convincing feint for taking out the link. You know you’ll be pursued. You also guess that Alnitak’s Eagle is likely faster than Mintaka’s boosters.

You guess right.

You get within striking distance of the ring, whip around and see that you’ve staggered their approach. Alnitak’s flying at maximum burn.

Your Lockdown splash gets up in her business, sticking and freezing. You make to exploit it, but Mintaka dives for an intercept – far too committed to dodge when your fakeout turns on her. You score a beautiful overhead slash over most of her short body, strobing her shields and forcing her to retreat again. Alnitak’s ride armor audibly creaks from the liquid cryomer in its shoulder…

>[Flex +2]

Giving you all the time you need to outspeed its charged shot.

But not Alnilam’s.

“Gyagh—!”

Superior position, superior patience, superior timing. Both barrels of the totally cheating Eagle streak three seeker shots each, and from your kinetic distractions you’re caught out and downcycle on your dash. Pow pow pow, the homing device at the core of each plasma bloom hammers into you and your angrily flashing shields.

Alnitak capitalizes on your flinch, closes the distance and drives her vehicle’s fist under your chest. Your feet leave the ground. Volt’s round-winner didn’t hurt quite that much.

You land, but you land on your feet. That was a big hit, but looking up, you clearly dealt a couple yourself.

“How’s it feel?” Alnitak rises in her Eagle.

“Such terrible teamwork,” Mintaka hovers warily, sparking, completely out of attack mode and tensed to evade. “No backup of any rank can help the incompetent.”

“We’ll be done in sixty seconds,” Alnilam charges her cannons.

“Or less,” they all agree.

You’ve had worse, but this is still bad. They have a point about teamwork. Barrage with your koi? Maybe. You can buy time and more time, but their coordinaton fills you with foreboding…

“Make it thirty!” Shouts a new voice at the far edge of the roof.

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>>2935147

A cyclone of glowing cinders blasts into the Marias, their team position so conveniently gathered in midair. The red dots stick and pack to their surfaces like anti-snow, smoking on contact. Burning. Melting.

Mintaka, the only one without an Eagle, shrieks under the assault and writhes like a melting witch. Her pain hits a crescendo just as she vanishes into a starry stream of emergency beamout segments. Her sisters’ rides smoke and explode, first Alnitak’s and then Alnilam’s.

“Mintaka!” The latter cries out as she abandons ship.

Las Dos Marias hover-jet side by side, facing your hot-drop support.

“Hey Mimi,” Deco waves, smoke gracefully wisping from her buster. “Finally in on the fun.”


>Give Deco orders.
>Keep her independent.

>Take down Alnitak.
>Take down Alnilam.

VWES:
>Arbor Wall: 12/12
>Fluid Lockdown: 5/6
>Remote Koi: 12/12
>Spark Hand-Drill: 14/16

>Gaia Sword: ∞
>Ice Zanbato: ∞

>>2935157
They're still running away. Great, is our final boss the trio with their precious captain?

>Remote Koi, screen them with a wall of plasma
Considering the flying and how we'll likely fight them again, I don't think we should pull anymore fancy stuff with the VWES.

>Keep her independent.
>Take down Alnilam.
we can keep Alnitak from engaging up close through superior melee reach

>>2935248
>Great, is our final boss the trio with their precious captain?

Remains to be seen.

If the Maverick order had been different, maybe their damage would have been permanent...

>>2935157
>Offer Deco some advice: "Keep them separated, and we'll watch each others backs."
>Take down Alnitak

Hmm, if they keep up their aerial tactics, I think Remote Kois and Spark Hand-Drills are going to be our best bets.
Wait till the come down low before breaking out the arbor walls.

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>>2933332
I see this date ending two ways (assuming both parties survive).

Either Monitor is going to gain a newfound respect towards Showa because of her forceful nature and strongly-held ideals, or he's going to decide that they're simply too different to "go steady."

I've not quite got a good read on Big Iron just yet but I'm thinking it's gonna be the latter. Hopefully I'm wrong.

>>2935863
Or of course Showa might be disgusted with his behavior and dump him herself

Also, emergency beamouts are expensive, right? Not quite an "extra life", but it sounds fairly costly for a lower spec Mintaka to get one.

>>2936007
I don't think it's so much that they're 'expensive' as it is a matter of 'opportunity cost.' If you field a bunch of units you'll want to put emergency beamouts on the most important ones and only the most important ones because you have a limited number 'hospital' beds at any given time. For the hunters this means it's very rare for an emergency beamout to be given to someone below S rank - the mission would have to be very dangerous and incredibly vital for an A rank to get one (Say, for example, a group of A ranks sent to clear out mavericks causing political and social turmoil in a foreign nation, over an extended period of time, with little to no hunter support).

As for why these three can have emergency beamouts, it is likely they are the favorites of someone high-up, or their retirements would cause a significant blow to repliforce morale. Probably a bit of both.

>>2935157
>Give Deco orders.
>Take down Alnitak.

Get Deco to screen us from Alnilam while we pick off the last melee fighter.

>>2936007
>>2936222
Getting warm...

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>>2935248
>>2935760
>>2936322
You feel the tide turning, and add two Remote Koi to the rising wave of advantage.

“Deco you’re the best. Keep the thick one off me!”

She takes aim again. “That’swhatshesaid!”

Your timely friend fires another Scoville Scorch, whirling drips of thermite in a localized tornado, but the fliers break and let it pass.

“Is this the S?!” Shouts Alnitak.

“I’ll keep her down!” Shouts Alnilam.

Alnilam opens fire on Deco and you leave her to it. Your koi zip out and start lasering Alnitak, but whether by some hidden speed boost or sheer anger she darts away from both and comes at you, saber held at her right to run you through.

>[Flex +2]

You flash out both sabers and meet her head-on with a Melter rocket. She weaves around it to her left, just as you hoped – you fire your dash and burn your blades for a scissor swipe.

With her jet-boots active she doesn’t touch the ground, doesn’t need to. Her saber parries your Gaia Sword and rides the substantial force of your swing. Your hit swats her to your left, where her back-booster rockets her into your blind side and sets your shields off with a heavy thrust. That hurts, that [i]really[/i] hurts.

But now she’s deep inside your reach.

>[Experience]

You slam your front foot down and whirl a two-handed 180 spin; Spectrod would laugh at it, but Alnitak sure doesn’t. She tries to break off, but she overcommitted, as she learns when the longer Ice Zanbato arcs across her knees. The cryomer starter splashes through her right. The lemondrop hibeam finisher carves straight through her left. Only her rear booster keeps her aloft –

>[Flex +2]

Until both of your Remote Koi make like fireworks and explode into her back.

She crashes to the roof. Her laboring shields can’t take it.

“We won’t… we’re a team…!”

She hits the crystal on her right shoulder and bursts not into a rolling detonation but a constellation of emergency beamout spheres.

You turn your attention. Deco is hiding behind three perfect platonic off-white standing squares of anonymous metal, bunkering against a barrage of second-stage plasma shots from Alnilam’s busters.

Alnilam herself looks your way. “Sister!”

Deco breaks cover and fills the air with a blizzard of pink plasma chevrons. Alnilam navigates the Bullet Curtain as best she can; her busters start glowing.

“Mimi, swarm her!”

You stow the Zanbato— “On it!”— swap your fist for a Hand-Drill and add lightning triangles to the barrage.

Alnilam treats your shots like the bigger threat and tanks Deco’s bullet hell like a champion.

She throws up her elbows. “I’ll show YOU a swarm…!”

A pink sphere flashes around her as her busters launch a dozen plasma shots each, streaking like a meteor shower.

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>>2936558

>[Flex +2]

In the same instant, you root an Arbor Wall and Deco combat-rolls behind her makeshift shelter.

Alnilam’s counterbarrage slams the roof, smashing Deco’s Platonic Suite walls and reducing your own wall to splinters. You look up and she’s gone—

Streaking to your right, buster up and glowing—

An off-white spear, so geometrically perfect it’s the idea of a spear, skims your cheek so close you can feel the air move. It plugs Alnilam’s buster, sticks down her forearm and exits her elbow. Her entire arm explodes from the backfire and she spins out on those stupid jetboots.

“D’YAAGH! NEVER!”

Deco marches out into the open again. “Believe it, lady.” She levels her arm and produces another ideal spearhead sticking out. “Cut your jets and surrender or the next one’s going through your nose!”

Maria Alnilam holds her stump. “You haven’t learned, for we…” she trails off as if expecting someone to pick up her line. She glances around. “Oh.” She settles onto her feet. You almost feel sympathetic until she yells at the sky, “OPEN GATE!”

You ready-aim-fire a Melter rocket that outraces Deco’s spear, but Alnilam vanishes in a warp column before it makes contact.

Deco snaps her fingers. “Crap.”

“Fifth,” you touch your ear, “track beamout!”

“Already lost,” says your mystery female navigator, “we’re getting static on the C-axis layer!”

“The what?”

“Cyberspace interference,” she clarifies. “But it makes no sense, I cut the area off myself…”

Deco taps her chin. “Guess ’open gate’ are the magic words?”

“We’ll deal with it later,” you head to the roof edge, “there’s still a blitz going on. Monitor, you copy?”

“Copy,” he grunts. “Muddling through down here. Broke a couple Eagles and now they’re avoiding me. I don’t think I’m getting to Pegasus.”

“Fifth,” you comm, “we need fliers—”

One of the Hammerhead cruisers starts exploding. An unidentifiable figure flies out of it and moves on to the next, peppering it with streaming flares. A different figure chases one of the bird-shaped manned craft and is chased in turn by four others; it banks hard and smacks its pursuers with an impressive gout of flame, bursting them in midair.

Deco shades her eyes at the flashing destruction. “Um.”

“We’re aware,” your navigator sweetly replies. “Elements of the Geneva Fourth and Seventh are now on-site to assist you two and Monitor. Five officers should be enough to stop one platoon.”

You hurry to the opposite corner toward where you know Monitor isn’t. “Copy. Who are they?”

“Captain Flares Firefly, Lieutenant Ruby. Orders for all of you: pick your targets and keep people safe.”

“We’re on it,” you assure her.

“And what’s your name?” Deco asks.

“Oh, sorry. It’s Alia. I’ve got the site well in hand, don’t hesitate to call. Good hunting.”

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>>2936560

And it is good, as you find after you and your friend wall-slide down from the roof. The mechaniloids are harassers; the Eagles you encounter land quickly. Occasionally a manned craft will streak overhead, followed fast by a streak of red.

Your own injuries aren’t enough to affect what quickly becomes a mop-up operation. Between Deco’s Platonic Suite and your own Arbor Walls, you shore up collapsing structures and direct people away from the worst of it.

It’s not a huge city, nor is it a huge enemy force. It’s all over inside half an hour.

You don’t see a trace of or hear a word from Monitor until he, you, and Deco gather at the construction site to survey the damage. It’s hard to wreck a hole, but Pegasus’s forces have done it. Builders lie dead. Power conduits are scrap and strings. Further up the volcano you can see the ruins of a geothermal tap. Whatever strategic danger a zygote space elevator held for Repliforce, the blitz has apparently removed it.

“Set it back years,” Monitor shakes his head. “What the hell.”

“One less resource for the world?” Deco guesses.

“For humans,” you suppose.

“I counted sixteen dead,” Deco keeps her tone level. “The real damage is to the infrastructure. That volcano siphon looks like a total loss… there’ll be brownouts for months.”

“Terrorists,” you grumble.

“Mavericks,” Monitor grumbles.

“Heck of a first date, though,” Deco tries to brighten the mood. It has the opposite effect.

“Yeah,” you mutter.

“Yeah,” he agrees.

A light fades in from above. A stocky female insect reploid with big green eyes floats to the ground on the glow of her wing-shells.

“Hey,” greets the bug. “Air’s clear, guess the ground is too. Nice job, people.”

“Captain Firefly, right?” You start to salute but she waves you down.

“Flares, please.” She lifts her face – oh, a visor, that makes sense. Her eyes are still green though, above some cute freckles. “Been a while since my last joint op, even if it was a bit of a surprise. If I had Indy along, maybe we could’ve nailed Pegasus right here… oh well, that flare’s burned, no sense re-lighting it. So you guys have a nice night?”

“Deco,” says Deco, starry-eyed. “I mean, uh, yes,” she coughs, “really pretty. NICE. Nice. We’re good.”

“Sorry we couldn’t do more,” Monitor side-eyes you. “Pegasus was just out of reach.”

“It’s fine,” Flares grins, “Fourth’s the groundpounders. Usually. You three look like you’ve got that covered and then some. I bet you were heroes to the people stuck on the streets.”

You side-eye Monitor.


>Emphasize his decision.
>Compliment his actions.

>>2936560
Wait, so did he go back to trying to get at Pegasus, ignoring what Showa asked him to do, or was that just an offhand remark?

>>2936576
I'd wager Pegasus led from the front, or at least a forward position, and Monitor was advancing through to clear ground forces in proximity to the civilians, towards the thick of it.

I hope, anyway.

>Compliment his actions.

He knows what went down and we don't need to sour things any further.

>>2936576
It was an offhand remark and a subtle jab at you. He really wanted to get up there and throw down (he wouldn't have won), but your total relationship score over the date led him (just barely) to defer to you.

>>2936645
I can't blame him, really (unless he clearly and definitively knew he'd have no chance), I'd have probably made the same call.

>>2936562
>Compliment his actions
No point in souring things any further

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>>2936602
>>2936651

“… Lieutenant Monitor certainly was,” you nod. “After assisting me with three Repliforce officers, he prioritized the safety of the local populace at great personal risk. He played to his strengths and applied his skills well. Deco and I had little to do after he rolled through.”

“I bet, I bet,” Flares knuckle-taps his forearm. “Iron, right? Stick with Fourth and you’ll end up steel.”

“Someday, maybe,” he concedes, looking at you. “Someday.”

It’s not long before you’re out of there. The Cyberspace link goes through a battery of tests to confirm it’s in working order and nothing scary will pop out. You, Monitor, and Deco (lingering to wave to Flares) step through.

To riotous applause.

Every suit and dress at the party moves in a torrent of claps and cheers. Hovering news cameras catch your triumphant return. Nouveau butts in at his sister’s side.

“Everyone, welcome back our heroes from Veracruz Fourth!” He hams to the cameras, pausing for a rush of happy noise. “It’s fine soldiers like these that show just how vital the Hunters are to our fine city! And I believe Governor Alvarez has similar sentiments to share – let him through, come on up…”

Great. Fresh from a disaster of a date and you’re a political prop. At least you know how to smile for the cameras and shake the hands of dignitaries. Given that your notoriety was already noted, you’re more than happy to pass questions and face time on to Monitor, a relative unknown.

In the end, once the politicos and anchors bleed off, you find yourself out on the steps with your datapad, reading perfect scans of books predating the age of robots. You hear what can only be Monitor’s heavy footsteps descend the steps and stop a few behind you.

“Stephen King?”

“Murakami Haruki.”

“Oh.”

A couple of guests walk by, down to a waiting valet. They leave you be.

“Look, um, Monitor…”

He burns the essay you’d been preparing in your head with just two words.

“Poor match?”

“Poor match.”

He takes the last few steps and sits. “I understand. No harm done.”

“Well, a little. Sorry I slapped you.”

“Don’t be. Just shows you can get heated. As if your name didn’t, heh.”

“Heh. Yeah.” You put away your pad. “Thanks for showing me a good time. However long you end up staying, I’m glad you’re here.”

“Glad to be.” He holds out his hand again, meaningfully. “And hey, strictly platonically, if you ever get dissatisfied with the Hunters…”

You pat his hand, not unkindly.

----

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>>2937313

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EPpJCrFAHc

“You dumped him?!”

Skittle, a frazzled bundle of shock and awe, looks at you like you’ve torched the family farm.

“Not that it’s any of your business,” you look away, freshly rested and repaired, to admire the larger upgrade lab, “but it was a mutual amicable turning-down, no dumping involved.”

“But it seemed like such a smart match!” Golau nearly whines.

“Not really. Great guy, don’t get me wrong, but he’s too… goal-driven. And his goals are so big I’m not sure anybody would fit in them if they didn’t already have similar.”

“Aw hell, one of those,” Skittle flips their wrist. “Forget him then, you’ve got better shit to do.”

“It’s not like that, we’re still unitmates. And he followed me on Spazer! He mostly rebeams weapon designs and Australian prog-rock.”

Skittle plants their hands on your shoulders and hangs their head. “Oh my god fishflake you dodged a cannonball.”

“Shall we get to upgrades, then?” Golau claps. “That’ll get your mind off him!”

“Couldn’t agree more, Your Grace.”


KIND-OF-OKAY DATE
C O M P L E T E

- Repliforce Cell Neutralized: 5,000z
- First Response: 5,000z

TOTAL: 10,000z
ACCOUNT: 100,000z

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>>2937323
UPGRADES:

VWES:

>Clutch Bomb (Proximity)
Girtabomb’s only DNA weapon, the highly versatile bane of many racers: a trio of spherical sticky bombs that will adhere to any surface. Very easy to mod for increased damage and added effects. After sticking, each detonates by proximity to any hostile target, and there is no limit to how many may be deployed at once. The damage from each bomb stacks on anything in range. 18 shots, meaning 54 bombs.

>Clutch Bomb (Trigger)
The same weapon, but with a different triggering method. Whether stuck or in flight, each will detonate only at your order, but only nine may be deployed at once. The damage from each bomb stacks on anything in range. 18 shots, meaning 54 bombs.

Synergy:

Clutch Bomb has extremely high DNA adaptability, but only one option from your VWES library may be selected to synergize.

>Bolt Bomb
(grayed out)
Psst. Inspiration says I could still get you this since the Elec element’s sitting unused. 12 shots, maybe a stun effect. It’ll cost double, though. -S

>Crash Bomb
(grayed out)
Yeah, no, sorry, can’t cheat this one. That synergy ship has sailed into Hand-Drill Harbor. If you’re curious, these’d’ve been drill-bombs with shaped charges, righteous damage but no AoE and probably no multiples. -S

>Flare Bomb
(grayed out)
Also still an option, wink-wink. 12 triples, lots of burn. Just comes at double cost. -S

>Frost Bomb
Combines with Freezer Ostenops’s DNA to add a liquid cryomer burst effect to each bomb. Splat zones on floors and walls are zero-friction. 12 shots.

>Sap Bomb
Combines with Arbor Elk’s DNA to add a detonation charge to each and every Arbor Wall. Each Wall will arm itself three seconds after formation. After arming, if a wall is set on fire or touched in any way, it will explode; danger close. If the Arbor Wall seed lands on an enemy, the constriction roots will simply explode after three seconds. 12 shots.

>Schooling Bomb
Combines with Remote Koi. Launches two koi at once, but they will ignore all orders. Instead, they will automatically and aggressively seek out the nearest hostile for a kamikaze run. Previous upgrades to the koi would make this a terrifying weapon indeed: high-evasion, long-range, fish-shaped fire-burst homing missiles, each impacting with the violence of a high-phase saber. The damage output of two such fish at once would make this – on paper – your strongest weapon. 12 shots.

(Additional synergies unavailable at this time.)

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>>2937329

GENERAL:

>Energy Capacitor
A new part to your energy balance systems, similar to the one that made Meganeural Spectrod’s “Axis Slider” possible, allows you to store a charge in either your buster or your throat and immediately switch it to the other. Switching VWES will not eliminate charge; if switching to a weapon that can carry no charge, the charge is simply juggled from one emitter to the other. 25,000z.

>Efficiency Draw
Hardware and software upgrades to your WEAPON system add 33% more WEAPON energy to a specific VWES entity, meaning more shots. This may be purchased multiple times, but only once per entity. 20,000z each.

>Chaser Dash
Supercharges your EAS to dramatically increase a given dash’s duration. Your feet can now take you as far as a ride armor’s dash, whether on the ground or underwater. The time it takes to cover that distance, combined with your short-cycle dash modification, means that with proper timing you can now achieve continuous basic-EAS velocity. Certain foes may still outspeed you, however, especially in bursts. 45,000z.

>Dynamic Neural Active Scanner (DYNAS)
Chaser Girtabomb had modified and integrated a sophisticated hardware scanner to scan his foes. A similar version can be yours, affixed externally as a pair of ear-mounted eye-covering lenses. Staring at a single target for two consecutive seconds will return a highly-accurate read on their LIFE Core stability (i.e. their exact HP). A four-second stare will provide advisement on a foe’s structural and systemic weaknesses. (The modification that allowed Girtabomb to partially copy VWES data at range is not only unavailable, it’s being quarantined and investigated to determine sourcing.) 20,000z.

>Hinoiki
With a significant added fee for parts and labor, Scatter Seelie will copy the Explosion Element out of Girtabomb’s DNA and use it to evolve your Meteor Melter to its final form. A fourth charge level in your throat will erupt a roaring frontal cone of thermite – a wider, faster-firing, marginally-higher-damage Prominence. Technique name translates to “Breath of Fire.” 40,000z.

(Additional parts unavailable at this time.)

>>2937334

Hardpoint Devices:

Your hardpoint is currently occupied with a Saber Pack. Swapping it with a different device would be simple work. However, your sabers are carried in the Saber Pack, thereby leaving two Gear slots free. If the Saber Pack is removed, your sabers would once again need to occupy one Gear slot each.

>Denial Vulcan
Your upper-back hardpoint can mount Girtabomb’s stinger cannon, a multi-directional rapid-fire energy gun comparable to the front cannon of a ride chaser. Fires plasma lemons as fast as you like, forever, simultaneous to your other weapons, without cooldown. Cannot take a charge or fire a VWES entity. 25,000z. (Cost-free aesthetic modification will make the gun resemble an anglerfish lure.)

>HV Rifle
Corona Sphynx’s high-velocity-ammo rifle could be yours. Stock option punctures armor with solid projectiles; 15,000z. Upgrade option allows for firing VWES entities at 33% greater damage but with 33% greater energy consumption – meaning fewer shots – for 15,000z more.

>RF Buster
Install a second buster. Stock two-shot fire for 5,000z, +10,000z for three-shot or a charge capacity to four-shot.

>Charge Buster
Install a second buster. Stock two-stage charge for 5,000z, +10,000z for a third stage.


Additional Weapons:

>Additional Saber
Purchases a new saber to upgrade as you like. The stock option, low-phase 30cm, is 5,000z; 60cm extension and hi-beam tuning are 5,000z each.

>Ceratanium Axe
The long-hafted axe of a woodsman, or perhaps a headsman, once carried by Arbor Elk. Though slower to swing than any beam saber, its damage is still equal to a low-phase blade. It can also parry other solid weapons, pierce energy-nulling defenses, and knock back foes of equal or lesser mass than you. Requires two Gear slots to carry and two hands to use. 10,000z.

>Thagomizer Pick
On the logic that “it’d be right baller, like,” Scatter Seelie has offered to craft you a short-hafted pickaxe weapon modeled after Freezer Ostenops’s spiked tail. Though slower to swing than any beam saber, its damage is still equal to a low-phase blade. It can also parry other solid weapons, pierce energy-nulling defenses, and puncture armor with great precision. Requires one Gear slot to carry and one hand to use. 5,000z.

>Repulsor Wing
A thick bracelet device projects a butterfly-shaped kinetic barrier which repels plasma ordinance and clashes against beam sabers. Its “durability,” or total damage-null capacity, is twice that of your Old Growth Arbor Wall, and will break if that limit is exceeded during a single mission. A “shield bash” technique is possible, but the light damage it would deal counts against its durability. 15,000z; requires one Gear slot.

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>>2937340

Weapon Upgrades:

>Fire Element
“Inspired” by Corona Sphynx’s DNA, Scatter Seelie has offered to add high-temperature combustion to one of your melee weapons for added damage. 10,000z.

>Electric Element
“Inspired” by Arc Morpho’s DNA, Scatter Seelie has offered to electrify one of your melee weapons for added damage. 10,000z.

>Explosion Element
“Inspired” by Chaser Girtabomb’s DNA, Scatter Seelie has offered to add an explosive effect to an energy-based melee weapon for increased damage. On contact, the beam will terminate in an outward explosion, adding to the damage the hit would have caused, but it will render the beam inactive for one second thereafter. 10,000 zenny.

(Repulsor Wing’s damage will increase if an element is added, but it can still break. Your beam sabers are already upgraded to the maximum extent; new flavors of hurt will require new sabers.)

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>>2937334
So Supercharger looks like a We Want This. A flat out high-tier mobility improvement with zero downsides. It'd also synergize well with our heavy investment into strong melee.

Hinoiki looks really good too. Buying another charge level is something I'm legitimately surprised hasn't happened in mainline MHQ yet.

I still very much want Energy Capacitor, and on thinking about it, if it's still on the table, installing another full buster would at the least double our "minimum" offensive output.

As for VWES...I think combining Frost Bomb might be a good play. It doubles our ammo for a low-compatibility, high-utility weapon and improves the damage when used offensively.

As per usual, what do other readers think? I want some outside perspective.

>>2937347
>Clutch Bomb (Trigger)
I like the idea of having C4 when we need it.

>Hinoiki
One step closer to dragon.
>Energy Capacitor
This would be great for switching up on targets.
>Dynamic Neural Active Scanner (DYNAS)
And this would be great for analyzing targets.

These are what I'd want us to get and am voting for, but I also thought about how awesome the Thagomizer Pick would be if it were also installed with Explosion Element.

>>2937449
>It doubles our ammo for a low-compatibility, high-utility weapon
this is a good point.

Damn if I don't want ALL these upgrades, though.

>Frost Bomb
>Chaser Dash
>Hinoiki
>Repulsor Wing: No element
Ammo/aoe, speed, damage, and even tankiness. This should upgrade Showa in all areas. The increased total volume of cryomer is what really sold me on Frost Bomb over Schooling Bomb.

Energy Capacitor's not happening until we can find a similar 4th charge for the buster. DYNAS.....while amazing for minibosses and could have led to a permanent advantage against our quadro, we just don't have the 5k needed to drop Repulsor for it.

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>>2937329
>>2937519
and I forgot both pic and linking the upgrades post itself.

>>2937347
How would Explosion Element affect Repulsor Wing? Repel melee weapons, sure, but does it disengage the barrier or self-harm durability?

>>2937347
>Clutch Bomb (Trigger)
On-demand explosives open a world of tactical opportunities for us. Who knows, we may be able to branch into demolitions. I could be convinced to combo the bombs with cryomer, but I think they're better separate at the moment despite the low ammo count of the latter. Plus, we already have the cryomer sword.

>Chaser Dash
Let's really exploit that extra Flex we have.

>Either Energy Capacitor + DYNAS
or
>Hinoiki
I'm not sure which is better right now. On the one hand, juggling charge is nice. Really nice. On the other, Hinoiki might be a lot of extra damage. How long would it take to charge to level 4? I definitely see Hinoiki being useful, but I'm just wondering how useful it will be if we simply don't have the time to charge it in the heat of battle unless we are capable of juggling charge first. I can see DYNAS + Clutch Bombs leading to a pretty awesome synergy for tearing though areas and changing the battlefield to better suit our needs over the enemy's, combined with Arbor Wall for total area manipulation.

>>2937459
The explosive element specifies energy-based weapons, I don't think it would work with Thagomizer pick. Damn shame if that's the case.

>>2937519 makes a good point: what happens to the 4th level charge if we juggle it out? This and the charge time are factors in deciding between Hinoiki and the other options. More info about Repulsor Wing might also be nice, although the majority of our damage taken is from stuff outspeeding us or from us overcommitting. I could be convinced either way on it, but I thought we already had all our hardpoints covered, yes?

>>2937549
Meant to say Gear Slots instead of Hardpoints, whoops!

>>2937549
The opening note mentions that the saber pack itself is carrying the 2 hibeams, freeing up out original 2 slots.

>>2937329
>>Clutch Bomb (Proximity)
combos well with our other tactics as is; even better w/o an element.
>>Chaser Dash
yes plz
>>Hinoiki
Final Form/end tier upgrade!

Do not want:
>Schooling Bomb
They're too useful as is; as scouts/warning/harassing. We can get power elsewhere.

>>2937329
>>2937329
Chaser Dash for sure. We'll be the toughest fastest fish around.
That Denial Vulcan is also calling to me, though I might rather go for a back fin look rather then a lure. Maybe next time. Being able to fire denial while mixing it up with our sabers sounds really useful, and would probably be great for all the times we get surround or have stuff thrown at us.

I'd go with either the Bolt Bomb, or the Frost Bomb, since everyone seems to want the utility bombs.

>>2937562
Good point. That takes any hardpoint mods off the table for me at the moment. Maybe a Repulsor Wing isn't too bad but I'd still prioritize dashing out of the way of shots over using a shield. That said, your idea of Chaser + Hinoiki + Repulsor Wing (no element) isn't bad, but I prioritize charge juggling over 4th level charge until we get more info on charge time at least. I'd still prefer non-combined bombs though.

>>2937534
There's no self-harm, no. It would just block and explode outward, or if you swatted somebody with it the shield-bash would add flashy damage.

>>2937534
I am also curious about this.

Actually, now I'm curious about how it would pair with any gear. Although, a beam sabre that's basically a contained series of constant explosions, wouldn't that be like the opposite of a black hole? A space made of "push" instead of "pull?" Of course we all know we're gonna go for Hinoiki because it's fucking awesome, but that doesn't stop me from being curious.

As for bombs, remember our VWES has limited space. Right now we're full up with:
Arbor Wall
Hand Drill
Freezy Breath
Remote Koi

Now, going frost-bombs does kind of render the frost Zanbato redundant, and/but it also ensures we aren't "missing" a weapon since we won't need to switch anything out. Same for Sap Bomb and Gaia Sword and Zap-bomb with Spark Hand-Drill. Therefore, unless we want to hold out for Maverick#8, we're going to have some redundancy.

Redundancy is a bad thing because what if we run into something with resistances. On the other hand it's a good thing because what if we want to switch hardpoints.

Firebombs seem redundant with our thermite grenades, but I wonder, would we be able to combine that with meteor melter? eh, probably not.

Who was #8? The whale, right? Something Humpback? Soundwave Humpback? Something to do with sound. We thought she was going to be tricky because of reasons. I forget what the deal is with her Or, wait, was Humpback one of Anode's mavs?

Shit. Refresh my memory, here.

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>>2937549
Physical melee weapons can't take Explosion Element, sorry. Check again after your last Maverick...

Charge time is no greater than X's. If you store a 4th charge stage in your throat and juggle it to another buster, it will hop down to its maximum, which currently means your arm buster at a stage 3. If the Marias or Decim had fallen to their weakness, your buster might have had more options...

Repulsor Wing is a limited-HP energy shield with which you may bash anything yet repel or parry only energy ordinance. Adding an element would make the bashing hurt more. Your Gear slots are open to take one -- or even two, right now. Your Saber Pack has freed the spaces on your arms where your sabers were once holstered.

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>>2938108

A (new) beam saber with Explosion Element would basically be hitting things with a baseball bat made of plasma and pushback, yes.

Hinoiki is the final evolution of Meteor Melter. Flare Bomb would be its own thing, not thermite but raw flame. It could do what Meteor Melter can't, which is litter an area and then detonate on a condition.

Your final Maverick is named Sounding Humpback, a sonic-element A-class ex-Hunter holed up around a rig city with a bunch of pirates and, surprisingly, humans in the way. She big.

Having a weapon that's literally a recreation of a Robot Master's would have been fun. Oh well. I like the trigger variant more than the proximity variant for the clutch bombs, and I'm not sure I like any of the VWES combinations right now.
DYNAS sounds really useful and I still think we could do with more ammo for the weapons we do have.

Maybe
>Clutch Bomb (Trigger)
>Dynamic Neural Active Scanner (DYNAS)
>Efficiency Draw--Koi
>Efficiency Draw--Fluid Lockdown
>Repulsor Wing--Explosion
which leaves us with Z15000.

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Good votes, good thought processes.

I'll leave voting up overnight, because what the heck is the hurry? There'll be a deployment vote afterward in the morning; just because your date went south doesn't mean Monitor's going to cut you off from minions.

>>2938145
Yeah, let's hold out for humpback before we combine them, and spend our cash on other upgrades for now. The vanilla bombs aren't bad at all. Speaking of, we should probably switch something out so we have the bombs against Humpback.

As for proximity or remote bombs, I don't have a preference. Both are delicious.

However, the Repulsor Wing+Explosion is a bad idea. We won't have it for Hinoiki, and I super want that.

How does Arbor Wall act underwater again?

>>2938145
>Efficiency Draw--Koi

...Somehow it never occurred to me that the Koi were a legitimate option for that.

Definitely voting for it next time.

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>>2938173
Underwater, Arbor Wall will shoot to the surface and float.

(Testing to see if the maintenance is over. If so, post incoming.)

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>>2937347
You skim the menu, but the big-ticket items leap out at you.

“Oh man that dash would’ve come in such handy. Gimme gimme. And did you name this Hinoiki yourself?”

“I did, I did!” Golau waves. “The translator had so many options!”

“Well I’ll take it, it sounds super cool,” you rub their fuzzy head. They giggle.

Skittle sharply coughs. “What else? Got enough dosh for that butterfly shield.”

You think, and think hard. You’d like it, but you’re not enthused like you are about finally getting a really good dash system back. You could always use portable defense, but knowing Humpback like you do…

“No, thanks. But keep it warm for me. Oh, and stick Fluid Lockdown in those stickies and get me the trigger version. I can think of a few great uses for them.”

“Right.” Skittle claps at their twin, “Order up! Gonna need some Dodo-class leg cables for this one!”

“Aye-aye!” Golau flits down the room, whistling merrily. The walls between the former quarantine cells have been removed so seamlessly you forget the upgrade lab was ever cramped quarters.

“Dodo-class?” You ask your technician.

“Yeah, high-quality it is.” Skittle hovers at a parts shelf designed after a soda vending machine. “Some fella named Dodo died in the hit on Geneva way back, so one of his friends lobbied for a bit of hardware honor. Happens all the time. That rocket part on your Melter is a Flaminglow, for instance, even if that’s not what its raw serial data calls it.”

It makes you wonder. “How many new parts will get names?”

“Oh, all of ‘em, eventually.” They tap a few buttons and a mechanical X-Y axis arm picks parts and deposits them below with a happy little chime. “Not a company out there that doesn’t like the publicity. And we’ll never lack for dead to honor, we won’t. Maybe if we actually win everlasting peace in the next decade, then in fifty years’ time they’ll get down to Lanceteamer Sir William Nostril Ess-Seventeen Pinky Finger Knuckles.”

“Or Skittle-class snark heuristic suites.”

They gather up an armful of miscellaneous gadgetry. “Bold of you to assume they’ll name anything after me short of P-rank artillery! Least they’d better, like. Now get prone.”

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>>2938233

A dash system is more than just your legs; elements of balance and energy transfer come into play. The fairy moths make it light work, and you chat in the middle.

Skittle cackles when you get to the roof battle. “Slapped him! You! Turned his other cheek, did you?”

“A little.”

“OUTstanding!” They titter. “Just for that I’m putting a sparkle effect on your sabers, totally gratis.”

“No need,” you try to insist.

“Ap-ap-ap, too late, decided. You’ve got too much good in you to snog a fella what doesn’t know what we’re here for. You want a guy who’s hotter on killing than saving, I’ve got Flash Rezador’s number.”

“No you don’t.”

“Totally do.”

“They totally do,” Golau whispers.

You bend your head up. “What? How?”

Skittle lasers something in your leg, casting a faint fae glow over their face. “Black market.”

“Um, WHY?”

“Got bored. Filled his music library with calliope tunes to see if he’d try and kill me. He didn’t, obvs. Just said ‘Your offering has been noted.’ Iiiii didn’t do it again. Golau, gimme that Mustang mag-joint tap, would you?”

The work on your legs concludes in due time. Your Melter upgrade requires your silence, so you lay there and rest your eyes on Golau’s action figures. There’s space enough for glass-fronted display shelves now. Several Disney heroes seem to be having a tea party with former Commander Rhodes.

You depart feeling speedier even in your normal walk cycle. Your body is now a far cry from your pre-thrashing tactical heft. Despite the poor match, you and Monitor might still make a decent team in the field… which reminds you that he’s still Quartermaster and in charge of your deployments.

You head down to Requisitions, planning to apologize again, but he doesn’t seem to be present in the garage.

“Hey! Need the chief?” A green beardless Standard Beret calls out to you over the noise of ride armor repair.

“Just needed to pick deployments for my roster,” you call back. “Getting that outta the way!”

“He’s out on his own roster! The terminal’s open, you don’t need his say-so!”

“Thanks!” You turn to go.

“Hey, sorry he flubbed your date! Me and the guys gave him a hard time!”

“Double-thanks!”

“You doing anything later?”

“Sorry,” you laugh good-naturedly, “no more dates ‘til after the first combat mission!”

The instant you say it, you think of how much that narrows it down. If you ever did want to go steady, there’s always…

The mechanic’s buddies laugh, and he joins in, snapping you out of your wondering as fast as it started. The communal joshing melts back into work.

You open the terminal and get to work too.

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>>2938238

DEPLOYMENT:

Sounding Humpback is located in the South Atlantic around a makeshift lawless pirate city.

You have 50 points to spend on vehicles and subordinate units. Iron Monitor is holding the Requisitions department to new standards, so some unit costs may be affected. (Bear in mind that you can swim at any depth, free of charge.)

>Adion Wave Chaser: 20
An Adion C3 ride chaser, designed for overwater transport. It might lack a little class, but it will speed anyone to victory with overdrive dash bursts and onboard close- and long-range weaponry. (Cannot submerge.)

>Capricorn Wave Chaser: 10
A reliable Cheval-class ride chaser designed for overwater transport. Comes equipped with standard overdrive dash, RF frontal buster, and low armor rating. (Cannot submerge.)

>Cabochon Larimar (x1): 15
Well-rounded aquatic unit. Blue. Reliable operative at any amphibious landing or oceanic depth, and far superior to mechaniloid swimmers due to the Cabochon series’ Secondary Subprocessor. Equipped with a two-shot RF buster and a solid-alloy meter-long harpoon.

>Cabochon Howlite (x1): 15
Well-rounded air-superiority unit. White. More cost-effective than manned craft, and far superior to mechaniloid fliers due to the Cabochon series’ Secondary Subprocessor. Equipped with a single-shot high-yield buster for powerful and precise strafing. (Cannot submerge.)

>King Poseidon (x1): 10
Swift and strong aquatic unit with AI comparable to a Victoroid. Limited by low armor rating, middling speed, and low LIFE output for its size. Equipped with a high-phase beam trident, ranged fire setting on the same, and projectile spines used in a spin attack.

>Mega Turtle: 20
Water-adapted Mega Tortoise. Slow, heavy-armored artillery. Equipped with depth charges and surface-breaching torpedoes for high damage.

>Gulpfer R: 10
Piranha/blowfish. Slow, mid-armored melee. Will follow you with low agility and bite foes for medium damage. Also capable of limited active restraint measures (i.e. “eating”) for targets smaller than it.

>Sea Attacker: 10
Streamlined seahorse. Fast, light-armored melee. Will follow you with high agility and repeatedly bowl into foes for low damage.

>Mettaur D2-S: 5
Lightly damaging amphibious area-patroller. Tries its best. Can hitch a ride on many other mechaniloids.

>Star Mine: 5
Free-swimming spinny-blade area-denier. Can be deployed by other mechaniloids or carried on your person in a specialized harness. Upon activation, will set its wake-up point as a spatial hub and attack any hostile within a five-meter radius of it. (Water only.)

>Gabyoall: 5
Free-moving spinny-blade area-denier. Can be deployed by other mechaniloids or carried on your person in a specialized harness. Upon activation, will set its wake-up point as a spatial hub and attack any hostile within a five-meter radius of it. (Land only.)

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>>2938240

SPECIAL:

Iron Monitor is a very good Quartermaster. Your deployment options have expanded, though your total deployment points have not.

>Utuboros: 35
A giant sea serpent (technically an eel) produced in great numbers in the original Maverick War. The march of technology has driven most of them to museums and scrapyards, but the Hunters still value them when they need something sturdy to defend or patrol an area on the cheap. Veracruz 6th is willing to give you one of theirs. Comes equipped with heavy armor, tail spikes, and a strong bite, but its size and noisy motion will make stealth impossible. Can serve as a vehicle, but moves no faster than your base swim speed.

>Hotareeca: 35
A mobile jellyfish-like torpedo platform that has been discontinued on account of redundancy, high manufacturing cost, and an unfortunate association with Dr. Doppler. One of the last mothballed units in a Veracruz 6th storage facility could accompany you. Its launchers will provide significant omnidirectional ranged coverage, but its size and noisy motion will make stealth impossible. Can serve as a vehicle, but moves no faster than your base swim speed.

Are we alive again?

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>>2938280
Seems so!

>>2938240
Alright. Im thinking We come in with the Hotareeca, and some Cabochons. we can ride the Jellyfish in at a somewhat normal speed, and then go in ourselves with our new dash, and use the Hotareeca as a source of fire support while we attack. How does that sound?

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>>2938347
I'm inclined to take the top-of-the-line Adion chaser.

Also, a Larimar.

On the flipside, we could eschew that and take the Hotareeca or Utaburos. Humpback would make short work of either, but they would demand attention, and, most importantly, time. That would let us pick our battlefield a little better.

I've almost got a mind to plan our loadout for a stall. Hey, hunters are coming, maybe all your civilians should evacuate, no, no rush, take your time. It depends on how well we know Humpback, and what she would do.

Also,
>The instant you say it, you think of how much that narrows it down. If you ever did want to go steady, there’s always…

Do it. Dooooo iiiiiiit. Spouse the grouch fairy.

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>>2938474
I don't think grouch fairy is her type.

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>>2938493
In fairness, I don't know that ANYONE is really Skittles's type. They're manic as hell and their recent career has involved autoneurosurgery and harnessing the power of football hooliganism to resuscitate a comrade.

Sidenote, if explosives are their weakness and given our last few exchanges, replusor blast would REALLY messup the trio compared to trip mines they can literally fly around.

No clue at all if the weakness turns out to be sound, though. I don't think they've ever been hit directly by the drills, but I doubt they have the same weakness as the ride armors they use.


Side sidenote:
>Wood katana
>Ice zanbato
>explosion shield
>sound pick
is a damn fine spread of elemental melee.

>>2938240
that's a real expensive platform, but I don't think we want stealth anyway

>Hotareeca
>Sea Attacker
>Mettaur D2-S

the fast seahorse would combine with the koi for a truly annoying school of pursuing fish. Mettaur can be used to tank hits for the mobile platform.

If we dropped the platform, I could totally see myself switching out for some Cabochons and a Gulpfer R(annoying bastards), but given the humans we're up against being able to choose the battlefield helps more.

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>>2938618
Avatar Showa?

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>>2938944

>>2938238
In retrospect, I commend Skittle's prank. It's got nothing to do with things Rezador would seriously take issue with, and is one of the few things he can't complain about without contradicting his whole doom and gloom schtick.

>>2938569
what about Meteor going for Golau?

>>2938944
>They said I could be a dragon. I told them to fuck off and became a GOD

>>2938987
I'll tell you this. There are narrative romance options, but Golau isn't one of them.

>>2938240
>>2938240
Mobility sounds like it'll be a problem for Sounding, so Sea Attackers would be effective. On the other hand, they're really fragile, so if she's got some sort of AOE attack they'd get destroyed right away. A King Poseidon might not be at as much of a disadvantage, so
>Capricorn Wave Chaser
>2x Cabochon Larimar or Cabochon Howlite
>2x King Poseidon

>>2938245
I feel that these could be put to better use some other day, possibly.

>>2938569
I can see Skittle x Batterram being a thing

>>2938240
Do we really need a wave chaser? We got the speed boost, and I'm pretty sure we'd like to be able to submerge.

I mean, maybe give some to the Cabochon Larimars or something. And if we go that approach, then maybe put one in a Hotareeca for coverage.

I always did like the Gulpfers. How would they do in nonlethal combat against Human targets? Then again, there are probably too many humans for that to matter...

...the megaturtle is probably also a good investment for a slower approach.

>>2939562
>>2938240
Why don't we just stick a bunch of mets on a mega turtle for added armor

>>2939572
Thats what i suggested up above

>>2939572
That's not armor, that's borderline game-breaking if we can set them to defense only.

>>2939781
we've literally tried and seen it tried against us in other missions

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Mornin'.

HC's phone IP is banned, but has relayed to me another vote:

>What if we use one of the two big 35-point mechaniloids with a Larimar handler? She would be able to stay with it for defense, keeping her safe(r), and coordinate its actions for more effectiveness. Between the two it'd make an excellent secondary force, we might even be able to do some hammer and anvil flank attacks.

With that included, I've synthesized the votes and maybes into three options for your 50 deployment points. Select one:


>Plan A
Hotareeca x1
Larimar x1

>Plan B
Mega Turtle x1
Mettaur D2-S x6

>Plan C
Larimar x2
Gulpfer x2

>>2939814
unless we can take some of those Mettaurs off and bring a few seahorses, I'm gonna go with Plan A.

B is all well and good, but it's a one-trick pony and Sound is pretty likely to pierce through mettaurs.

>>2939814
>>Plan A

>>2939814
>Plan A

I really like the thought of doing Plan B, but I don't know if it's a good idea this time.

>>2939814
>Plan C

We can leave the humans to these guys while we take out the mavericks.

...unless Gulpfers are actually super deadly.

>>2940134
They are not; they can contain as well as bite. However, the humans won't be in the water with you unless something goes terribly wrong.

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>>2940144
So what you're saying is they're probably a good idea.

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>>2940179
I don't want to show all the cards before the set-up posts -- which I'm writing now -- but it would take effort on your part to get any humans into the ocean instead of just avoiding them. And one Gulpfer could only eat/restrain one human.

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>>2938245

Bip, bip, and your deployment is set. You know exactly why the Hotareeca was shelved, but you bet you’ll face a mean water approach, and what’s it going to do on the bench anyway? As for the Larimar, there’s a little loading icon and you’re given his stats – basic – and his name: Jacques.

Sounds good. You confirm and think a moment. The terminal has access to the Command Room files, so you switch over to it.

You look at your roster. There’s just one face left – or part of one, anyway, too large for a mugshot. You used to spend hours talking to that face. Now it’s just an eye and stylistic wrinkles inside of a square.


SOUNDING HUMPBACK (A-class, high)
>Known Weaponry:
Chorus Cannon, Shock Lance, Depth Note, Bubble Net
>File Data:
A protective former 6th Unit squad leader who abandoned her post and allied with a crew of pirates. Her forces and supporters have based themselves on a South Atlantic wave-farm rig and declared it the Free State of Light, attracting criminals, ex-Repliforce, and other Mavericks. Dangerous alliances may form here; prevent them. Be advised that some of the undesirables are human.
>Available Support:
6th Marine Armada


A betrayal. Why?

You walked in with the intent of walking out and occupying yourself a while longer, but memories and guilt stir up your desire to get an answer. There’s only one way to find out. You make your last roster mission official with a tap.

There’s one thing you want to check out first, however. Your brand of thermite burns underwater, but it’d be great to measure the reach of your new setting.

You head over to the range, wave hi to Thompson, and bee-line for the sims. Flurry’s there, managing current pod-occupants Rubus and – of all people – Golf Niner.

“Hey,” Flurry finger-guns. “Got a pod with your name on it.”

“I won’t be long, set it up for underwater.”

“Roger,” she starts keying in. “Heard your date got blitzed.”

“Could’ve been worse. There won’t be a second.”

“Shame. Well, other fish, et cetera.”

“Yeah. What’s Golf doing here?”

“Expanding his skill set. Rubus wanted to take him to the sparring ring, but you know him, bundle of nerves, so this is her easing him in. Honestly I think he’ll muster out, he’s got some spirit under the skin. Okay, pod three’s ready.”

You take your place and blink into an endless ocean without floor, surface, or horizon. You fire up your dash – oh gosh that’s nice. You fly for what feels like double the old distance at least, and the time it takes in transit gets the trigger back up to ready.

You time the cycles just right to swim-dash continuously, slower than any ride chaser but close enough to your old velocity to kiss it. This is a serious boon to your maneuvering.

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>>2940262

You charge your Melter as you swim, from spit-splat to Prominence to Hinoiki, then pick a direction and let loose.

It’s like ripping open a geothermal vent. The spray area is about half what it would be on land, but it burns like the dickens and cascades a sheet of churning bubbles straight up. Neat.

Finally you switch to Frost Bomb and shoot. As advertised, they come in trios, and sink after completing a short arc. You send the trigger signal and watch as they pop into icy spiky spheres, which then start floating back up – not at injurious velocity, but nice for screening. Out of curiosity, you swim over and slap an ice spike. It breaks. You’d have to hit pretty hard to damage yourself.

Satisfied with your new toys, you unplug and head back out with a “Thanks, Flurry.”

“Any time. Where you off to?”

You don’t let what you’re feeling show on your face. “Going to play Ahab…”

----

You beam down on an Aspidochelone-class platform ship, a light carrier vessel. Three others float nearby, all harmless-looking octagons serving as observation posts and wave-chaser launchers. Each platform only has one wall along three of its eight sides, a shade for terminals and equipment and beam-in pads.

A blue reploid, clearly a Cabochon Larimar, shoots out of the waves and boards the ship in a three-point landing. Like every other member of her type, she has fins, vents, and compact inlined propellers… but now that she’s standing and heading your way, you can tell she’s off-model. Her blue is deeper, her fins are larger, her stride full of confidence. A more advanced Larimar, maybe, or higher-spec…

“Welcome aboard. I’m Captain Sapphire, Geneva Sixth.”

… Or more original.

“Meteor Showa, Veracruz Fourth,” you salute. “Are you the—”

“—One and only big sister of every single member of the Janken-Two and Cabochon series?” Sapphire rattles off like it’s her middle name. “That I am.”

“Sorry, Captain,” you rub behind your head, “you probably get that question a lot.”

“Less than you might think. More people just ask why I’m still Rank B.”

“You’re Rank B?”

“There, see?” Sapphire smirks.

Oh heck, a few seconds in and you’re already chewing your foot. “Sorry ma’am, I just thought… y’know, given how long you’ve been around…”

She casually crosses her wrists behind her back. “I’m good at my own pace, thanks. I know from experience what happens when you push yourself too hard.” She seems distracted by a thought, but the moment passes before you can do a closer reading of her face. “But I bet you get more questions than I ever do. Saw you fight Morpho! Good job.”

“Yeah, my hunts keep showing up on live feeds. Not my preference, but hey, it gives the Hunters a good rep.”

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>>2940265

Sapphire turns on her heel and steps over to a terminal. “And we’re thankful, but this one definitely won’t be broadcast. Thanks to you, we’re now able to block transmissions out of the wave farm – sorry, the Free State of Light,” she sarcastically adds, bringing up multiple high-quality camera angles on the rogue microstate. “Plus we have eyes above, eyes below, eyes all around. No jamming at all. Morpho was running more of the show than we thought.”

The Free State is an overbuilt drilling rig anchored on the ocean floor. The part above the waves puts you in mind of the long-since-demolished Kowloon Walled City: a motley reef of packed-in buildings and connections between them, perpetually under construction.

Long segmented tubes extend from part of the city-state’s foundation and bob on the waves like a flat man-o-war, converting motion to energy. Makeshift docks hold multiple classes of sea vessel, from yachts to reclaimed scout-ships to what you’re pretty sure are fishing trawlers. One big overhanging edge is studded with unregulated cannons on the tops of buildings. It looks like it’d be a mess to fight through; lucky for you, your Maverick is permanently aquatic.

“So with all those eyes,” you ask, “what are we looking at?”

“A big problem.” Sapphire brings up recordings of multiple yachts outfitted for war, onboard cannons and missile batteries clashing with the wealthy designs. Each one flies a flag of thorny roses. “Humpback took the yachts that the Salty Roses captured the other day and packed them with combat-ready humans. We can’t just torpedo the things without killing dozens of people each, never mind the fact that some of the owners still want their boats back.”

Darn it, Humpback… “Wait, they do? Wouldn’t a tenure as a pirate vessel hurt the value?”

“Are you kidding? That’d put at least another zero on the auction price.”

“All right, true enough. And the reploid pirates?”

“Interesting wrinkle. They’ve made friends.” She brings up more old footage. Specks of Knot Berets guard heavy crates on a school of green flat-top whales – Cruizilers – that join up with the yachts. A dark blue figure, smaller than the ships but much bigger than the Knots, rises from the waves between them.

“Repliforce,” you grumble. “Who’s that in the water?”

The view zooms in and provides file data. Sapphire summarizes. “Tidal Whale, a known Maverick and black-market materials dealer working out of a ruined ocean colony. He used to be small-fry until he stole the U-555.”

“Wait he what?” You know that ship. You know a lot of ships.

“Yeah, took it from Baltimore when everybody was busy with Operation Rama.”

“But it’s pre-Maverick! It belongs in a museum!”

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>>2940276

“Hey, no argument there,” Sapphire shakes her head. “Stealing it gave him a lot more clout – enough to broker a deal between Repliforce and Humpback. Now the pirates are enjoying Maverick and Repliforce equipment – though less than they might’ve, thanks to you helping knock out that factory.”

“Outstanding,” you sigh. “Is Whale still here?”

“No, he and his pet submarine are back home, but this deal definitely bumped him up our retirement list.”

Okay, so one less thing to worry about… but that lets your main worry come to the surface. “How many humans are still there?”

“Two thousand one hundred six. That’s one hundred percent. Not a single adult or child unaccounted-for.”

“What, really?”

“Really truly. Crazy, isn’t it?”

No kidding… “I mean, what would the Mavericks get by leaving humans alive? Why is that a benefit? And what human in their right mind would stick around after Repliforce got involved with their ‘Free State?’” You air-quote.

“Hey, Mavericks need zenny too,” Sapphire shrugs. “I can’t begin to tell you how much business they do with pirates, human or otherwise. As for the humans, they’re all desperate or dumb enough to knowingly join with ‘political Mavericks’ in the first place. They’re just the kind of people who’re committed to really, really bad decisions.”

“Still, to stay there even after Humpback tied them to Repliforce…”

“Community’s a powerful thing, Lieutenant Showa, and Humpback defends her own. I thought you knew that, given your history with her.”

There’s an accusation in her tone. You know you’ve earned it.

“I am completely committed to this mission, Captain.”

“Good. But given that we’re keeping her as contained as possible here, I ask that you indulge me. Why you didn’t decommission her when you were in the Veracruz Sixth?”

Heck, this is awkward.


>Be open and honest.
>Be truthful yet evasive.
>Lie.

>>2940283
>Be open and honest.

We're retiring her anyways, and considering the odds of somehow getting Humpback to stand down or otherwise not having to kill her? I'm curious what the answer will be in Showa's words.

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>>2940283
>Be open and honest.

Sapphire's 6th too--and senior, at that. This mission is probably just as personal for her as us.

>>2940283
>Be open and honest.

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>>2940324
>>2940371
>>2940419

“… She’s big,” you begin. “Not just in body but personality. She’s kind. Charismatic. Tough. Eager to serve. Maverick Hunters need all of that, and Plasmanta agreed with me every time I re-upped her. But for my part specifically, I found Humpback… compelling.”

Sapphire shoots you a Look.

“We never hooked up,” you hasten to add, “it was a totally one-sided crush and I got over it a long time ago, totally satisfied with being her friend. Ex-friend. We haven’t spoken since Jet Stingray smashed Charleston and now I want nothing to do with her. Zip. But as to your question? Completely aside from our sunk and buried friendship is the undeniable fact that she’s rare. If you’ve seen her file, you know how old she is. One of the first hundred bespoke reploids, kept herself upgraded every six months, still alive and fighting after all this time.”

Sapphire glares harpoons.

“I know, I know, my fault she’s still battleworthy. But I’m—before I was a Hunter I was a history buff. Still am. She’s living history, Captain, the only relic I’d never want to see in a museum. Decommissioning her when she still had more to give…”

“Would’ve saved us a lot of grief.”

“I know. Sorry. But here I am to make it right.”

“That you are, Lieutenant.” Sapphire points at a neighboring platform ship. “Your deployments are ready. Whichever entry vector you pick will be treated as one-third of the diameter, and we’ll keep them busy at the other two. Humpback’s in guard-orbit around her city-state’s support column. Send her down with every other shipwreck.”

“No live capture?” You try.

“I wouldn’t, even if I was an A. If you treat a Maverick her size lightly, she’ll crush you. She might have some slightly useful intel on pirate and Repliforce movements, but if you bring her in? At best she’ll be hollowed out and mounted in the U-555’s place. Might as well save us all the trouble and end her here.”

“Understood,” you mutter. You move to the edge.

“Oh, and Lieutenant…”

“Yes?”

Sapphire holds her elbows and examines the sky. “I read your file… you have some siblings. One KIA. I just wanted you to know, I know exactly what it feels like to lose family.”

The pain isn’t one you can forget. You know it; she knows it. There’s nothing to say, until she looks back down and points straight at you.

“So don’t you dare let them feel that again. You make me have to write a condolence letter and I’ll spin your hull on a stick, understand?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Then make them proud. Good hunting.”

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>>2940501

The Free State of Light’s original radial symmetry has been ruined by overbuilding. There are three routes of entry, and three depths of ocean to traverse on your way to the city-state. You may change the depth as you go, but once you select an entry vector, you’re committed.

With the demise of Arc Morpho, your navigator has full-spectrum visibility on enemy positions. However, due to the delays you’ve taken to reach this mission, pirate vessels full of humans will be present on all entry routes. Firing on them would be a dangerous proposition.

Select one of each:


>Wave Farm: The generators of the city. Currently the lightest guard is in the depths.
>Docks: The offensive strength of the city. Currently the lightest guard is in the shallows.
>Wall: The defensive strength of the city. Currently the lightest guard is on the surface.

>Surface: Over water in open air, within range of Shallow.
>Shallow: Underwater, within range of Surface and Deep.
>Deep: Underwater, within range of Shallow.

>Bold Approach: Prioritize swift defeat of hostiles.
>Cautious Approach: Prioritize watching for ambush.

>Offensive Advance: Prioritize attacking your foes.
>Defensive Advance: Prioritize evading hazards.

>Power Assault: Charged shots, big hits.
>Rapid Assault: Low-power shots, multiple hits.

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>Wave Farm: The generators of the city. Currently the lightest guard is in the depths.
>Deep: Underwater, within range of Shallow.
>Bold Approach: Prioritize swift defeat of hostiles.
>Defensive Advance: Prioritize evading hazards.
>Rapid Assault: Low-power shots, multiple hits.

Our Larimar's buster will supplant our own RF weaponry well, and the mechaniloid vomits projectiles. We go in fast and hard and then close up to a more power-focused bent once the initial advantage is spent. Go hard, go fast.

>>2940528
I'll support this.

>>2940528
I'll support it too.

Actually, I was thinking of taking a cautious approach instead, but I can't figure out why I think it'd be better and what advantage it would give us in this situation. Maybe I'm thinking a city-state is harder to attack head-on, and my instincts are telling me to take a stealthy approach in even though that's not what we're built for and we have a big loud mechanaloid.

>>2940513
>Wave Farm: The generators of the city. Currently the lightest guard is in the depths.
>Deep: Underwater, within range of Shallow.
>Bold Approach: Prioritize swift defeat of hostiles.
>Defensive Advance: Prioritize evading hazards.
>Rapid Assault: Low-power shots, multiple hits.
It's a fair bit harder to ambush if we've got proper eyes in the sky

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Votes counted and unanimous, writing.

(After having dragged myself away from Mega Man 11.)

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>>2941310
I'm forcing myself not to play because once I start, I know I'm not stopping for a minute. Should try to get the next thread belted out before I jump into the abyss.

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>>2940528
>>2940541
>>2940929
>>2941139

You dive and swim out to the neighboring ship. The platform ships are shaped vaguely like sea turtles under the water line and are big enough to transport maybe half a dozen troops each; Larimars hustle between each one, readying to move out. You spy teleport exit pads on each turtle’s belly, and your Hotareeca floating in place underneath one. A rare male-type Larimar, Sapphire’s mass-production model, is checking out its launcher.

“Wonderful thing, no?” Jacques smiles to you and affects a bit of a French accent. “The tentacles flail so wild they can barely aim, sure, but who needs to smack when you have missiles? Homings in triplicate, depth charges in… sexplicate? Lovely, lovely,” he strokes its glassy bell.

“Absolutely,” you agree, “I’m counting on it to be our muscle. Jacques, right?”

He touches his chest, shakes his head. “Oh where are my manners? Yes, Lieutenant, that’s me. Reliability-tested in Québec, before you ask.”

“Ah. You ready?”

“Both of us are, madame.”

“Showa to Fifth, you got me?”

“Loud and clear, fishlady,” Atajo replies.

“All right.” You cue in your operation coordinator too. “Sapphire, we’re going by way of the wave farm. Deep approach.”

“Copy,” she confirms. “See you on the other side.”

You, Jacques, and your new pet head out at a low angle. The Hotareeca moves with a steady hum at about the same speed as you while Jacques, silent by comparison, plays escort. Open sea missions tend to cover significant operative area, and it takes you ten minutes to reach the periphery. By the time you do, the water is rich dark blue despite determined sunbeams forcing their glow.

“Just did a mine sweep,” Atajo pings. “Mine Tortoises in abundance. They’re thicker on your path, but keep to that depth you’re at and they shouldn’t bother you.”

“Will do. Mechaniloids?”

“Oh, tons. Right now, you got a school of Fisherns and… looks like they’re hunting packs for Poseidons.”

“How many?”

“Three Kings, three apiece.”

“Jacques?”

“Ready.”

You spawn a pair of your speedy Remote Koi.

“Don’t get nipped.”

A formation of a dozen hostiles emerges from the depth: three King Poseidons and their Fishern pets, as advertised. Not as advertised: the inactive Star Mine on each Poseidon’s back.

The spinners come alive—

“New signals!” Atajo warns—

And the deep blue battlefield becomes a mess of movement.

The weak Fisherns advance first, not the speediest but giving you more to watch. The Hotareeca spews homing missiles in threes, Jacques picks his targets and rapid-fires, and your koi start lasering what’s nearest. The Star Mines shrug off all crossfire and do a much better job screening you than the quickly-falling school.

>before I jump into the abyss.

A new one has opened, darker and deeper than you know.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2018/10/04/mega-man-is-going-to-become-a-live-action-movie

>>2941522
>[Flex +2]

Too bad for them that you’re well prepared.

Your Chaser Dash laughs at their erratic buzzsawing and takes you straight past them to their King Poseidon masters. You give the center one a taste of your Melter rocket and follow up with buster fire; down he goes. Left and right, the other two attempt to pincer-thrust you, but you shoot out of there and reassign your koi to target them. One tries to shoot you down with its trident, but you twist away on your beautiful swimdash and spit another rocket in a Star Mine’s zigzag path. The starfish gets eaten by molten metal before it can damage the Hotareeca.

The Fisherns are all gone. Both Star Mines have targeted Jacques and your koi target them in return; you’re now leading a parade, the King Poseidon following you and Jacques following it. The Maverick mechaniloid soon spots him and turns around with a trident swing, but Jacques slips under it, buries his harpoon in the Poseidon’s stomach and swings it into the Star Mines’ path.

The starfish give up and explode under your Remote Koi lasering, but not before they embed in the hapless fishman.

First engagement: clear as the sea, zero damage.

“Excellent form, Lieutenant!”

“Not bad yourself!”

“Yo Meteor, Sapphire’s crew just engaged, better keep up the pace.

“Doing it. What’s it look like?”

“So much freaking movement. I see some big guns firing and I’m reading some high-energy movement between you and the city.”


>Continue in Deep.
>Move up to Shallow.
>Move through Shallow up to Surface.

>Bold Approach: Prioritize swift defeat of hostiles.
>Cautious Approach: Prioritize watching for ambush.

>Offensive Advance: Prioritize attacking your foes.
>Defensive Advance: Prioritize evading hazards.

>Power Assault: Charged shots, big hits.
>Rapid Assault: Low-power shots, multiple hits.

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(Ugh, weird delay, and it even ate the image.)

>>2941541
If we expect more as is, we should either keep up the rockets and koi or switch to drillgood to keep the starmines down and arbor walls to push whatever we want rocketing to the surface.

My money's on rockets, saving the surprise floaters for any ambushes we need to discoordinate.


>>Continue in Deep.
>>Bold Approach: Prioritize swift defeat of hostiles.
>>Defensive Advance: Prioritize evading hazards.
>>Power Assault: Charged shots, big hits.
I think we can get through one more engagement without taking damage

>>2941541
>Continue in Deep.
>Cautious Approach: Prioritize watching for ambush.
>Defensive Advance: Prioritize evading hazards.
>Rapid Assault: Low-power shots, multiple hits.
Guessing that's Humpback?

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>>2941541
>Continue in Deep.
>Bold Approach: Prioritize swift defeat of hostiles.
>Defensive Advance: Prioritize evading hazards.
>Rapid Assault: Low-power shots, multiple hits.

>>2942139
Oh heck that's beautiful.

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>>2941590
>>2941825
>>2942139

You’re in deep, so you opt to continue. You spot your next hurdle, a field of more Star Mines buzzing around in set patterns and several Gulpfers idly pacing. It’s a screening wall, more efficient than mines for the price. It’d be no sweat for you or Jacques to navigate, but the Hotareeca would blunder right in and get sliced to ribbons.

You raise your fist in a hold-position signal. “Pick off some Gulpfers here. Gimme a sec with the rest.”

“Aye.”

It takes just a moment to discern each spinner’s pattern and spatial hub. You enter the fray with confidence and start clearing space.

>[Flex +2]

You do so with almost perfect shot economy. Your raw thermite might not shoot as far here, but with your speed and Flex Architecture it does the job and leaves you ungrazed. The Hotareeca stays put and helps out by feeding missiles to any Gulpfers in range; Jacques has some good aim with his buster and plinks them down with alacrity.

You swim through the neat, spinnerless, otherwise fishless hole and wave Jacques in.

“Big energy pings inbound!” Atajo warns.

A powerful force of suction pulls you out of your clearing and into the gauntlet.

>[Flex +2]

The surprise is worse than the actual pull. You dart between the Star Mines, but one still rakes across your side and makes you flash, ow ow ow.

The Anglerge in the dark activates its flashlight. And so does its twin. They want you that badly, do they? You spit a Melter rocket and reach for your sabers, but the Anglerges switch from suck to blow and blast you back through the spinner screen.

>[Flex +2]

Your longdash stalls you in two cases where lacking it would’ve earned you more scrapes. The force current ends when you’re on the other side.

Jacques swims up. “Orders, madame?”

You strategize quickly. “They didn’t start sucking ‘til I actually entered the screening, so… okay. Come with me, ride the tow, shoot over top of them and don’t look back. Our fire support’s going to be danger-close…”

Under your HUD orders, the Hotareeca flail-swims closer to the edge of the Star Mine range and starts spewing more traditional mines. You and Jacques cross over, and on cue the suction pulls you in – along with the explosives.

>[Flex +2]

Navigating the spinner pattern through the pull is so much easier when you plan it. You and Jacques slip through like minnows, and about half the mines make it through. As ordered, he joins you in dashing up out of the range of the suction, which brings the mines right into the sucking maws. One of your foes’ flashlights breaks off.

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>>2942211

The sturdy Anglerges reply by swimming apart and spawning sea serpents. Jacques takes his harpoon in his non-buster arm and makes short work of the ones hunting him. You yourself buster down three with normal shots and turn your attention to the broken-light Anglerge. You stay out of its line of suction – but its partner blows you into it. You don’t give it time to regret its decision as you fill its face with plasma, whip out your Gaia Sword, dash free of the suction current and slash down the fish’s length.

The stake engages at the end, spearing it through the tail. You snap it off, holster the hilt, hammer the stake in with a palm strike and fill the rent with three more buster rounds before the big slow fish can turn around and blow you away.

You see that Jacques has moved on to engaging the second Anglerge and isn’t giving it any quarter with his rapid-fire buster. It blows against his dash, stalling him, but on he fires. Good. Your own target stops blowing and fills the water with snakes.

>[Flex +2]

They’re zippy things. You dodge two, Gaia Sword another, but a fourth zags where you expected it to zig and scores a hit-and-run bite on your tail. You’ve had about enough of this thing. It tries to suck once more and you ride it all the way home, jousting it through the mouth and spewing Meteor Melter in its eyes.

That’ll do it. Anglerges are meatwalls, not tanks. You break contact, order the Hotareeca to approach, and look to Jacques again. His plasma-pocked fish only has eyes for him. It sucks against his dash, stalling him again… but the suction brings in new mines from above, and Jacques just doesn’t have the agility to escape. One bursts hard against his collar. His shields absorb another.

“TABERNAK!” He swears.

A laser cuts from higher up, poorly aimed – but it needs no aim with a stationary target. Jacques takes the weak beam across the back and the Anglerge releases him.

You look up, way up to Shallow depth. The silhouette of a Sea Canthller, a true tank of the deep, has joined the fray. More mines drop from its mouth.


>Bold Approach: Knock out that Anglerge right now.
>Cautious Approach: Get out of there; you’re in no danger of being blown into the spinners.

>Move to Shallow and engage the Sea Canthller.
>Stay Deep and just be mindful of it.

Order Jacques to:
>Target the Anglerge.
>Target the Sea Canthller.
>Stay safe by you.

Order the Hotareeca to:
>Target the Anglerge.
>Target the Sea Canthller.

>>2942213
cough, um, what happened to our koi? Let's say they got suctioned into the star mines and leave it at that?

>Bold Approach: Knock out that Anglerge right now.
>Stay Deep and engage it at range

>Target the Anglerge.

Have the Hotareeca and 2 new koi shoot the Sea Canthller. Maybe use 1 koi to shoot down homing missiles and mines while the other tries to bait a laser in the complete opposite direction of us.

>>2942218
They're sticking to the Hotareeca for safety in case it did get sucked in, and I am a Maverick for neglecting to mention that in the actual post. My apologies, I should've proofread better. Won't happen again.

Your koi are still active and will be joining you once the Hotareeca is through.

>>2942213
>Move to Shallow and engage the Sea Canthller.

Order Jacques to:
>Target the Anglerge.

Order the Hotareeca to:
>Target the Anglerge.

I'm thinking we pop Arbor Walls as upward-moving shields and "mines," especially if we, say, mount Frost Bombs on them and detonate them on impact with the Canthller. Even better, most of the weakspots are aligned ventral on it, so we can take it out faster. Between that and aquanatics, we can get around front and blast off its mouth and front fin before it can lay any serious harm down.

That will double as a good steady damage source AND defensive screening so it can't strafe the targets below. Which, as a reminder--that's the optimal killzone for the sweeping laser. Everything else is just point defense. Showa can handle that with her Flex, dash, and her aquatic mobility.

Keep Jacques and the Hotareeca together for mutual defense--and if it's one or the other, let the Hotareeca eat the damage.

I'm actually glad that date ended that way. With how Iron Monitor was talking about how much he likes strength and power, I was expecting a full on Maverick betrayal.

>>2938474
I'm on board with spousing the Grouch Fairy, but I think they have a little growing to do before Meteor would give them a real shot. Though if they like Showa as much as I suspect they do, they're probably (grudgingly) willing to do it.

>>2943032
Spousing Skittles is a super tough sell, their true love was Meteor's original thermal regulator, there was a marriage proposal and everything.