MechA cademy [IC/PG-13/Co-Hosted by Skaia/Not Accepting]

[yui 573]

"Sammi, huh? You one of them roleplayers?"

"Role-what?" What was Julian talking about? That wasn't a word Sammi had heard before. Will have to do some research on whatever that is. Sounds boring. Julian then asked where everyone was from. While the Erica girl had ignored the question, said some really weird shit, then left, Sammi wasn't going to follow that example. Allies were valuable and stuff. "I'm from a dismal little planet way off on the rim of the galaxy. The population over there is very low these days, but that's fine. I would advise against vacationing there."

"My name is Xa'tok, and to answer the other questions, I am of the Xul-Tuk tribe, whose fleet travels through the void of River of the Gods- that is to say, the Orion Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy."

There was also that guy. He dressed in a weird way, and came from a tribe of some sort. Were there still civilizations that functioned as tribes in this day and age? Understanding organics and their ways would be a lot harder than Sammi first imagined. Which probably should have been expected, given the scale of the galaxy and the countless people living in it. As much as she wanted to ask more about the Xul-Tuk tribe right now, something more pressing was bugging her right now.

That other other guy was still staring at her. It was getting a bit creepy.

Edited April 6, 2019 by Yui

[Chaos Sonic 442]

"You talk a lot. I don't think there's any rules against it. I didn't really read the notes though so just keep out of the way and don't let anything fall on you. Pieces fall off. From that height could cause damage. Losing a student this early would be a new record."

"Heh, I'll keep that in mind, miss." Chase gave a small smile with a nod, taking notice to her looking at his mech.

"Balance is off. Need to distribute the weight better. I have to figure out the toaster problem."

The balance? Chase glanced back at the Aegis Weiss and rubbed his chin slightly. Hmmm...the balance is off, she says. May have to see if I can bring that up to the maintenance crew and try and work with them to see if we can distribute the weight better. he thought, before turning around, seeing the girl pacing again. "I'll take that into consideration." Without another word, Chase opened his notebook again and took his pencil, making a note about the Aegis Weiss and it's potential imbalance.

"There is a storm of shooting stars attacking us. I will seek for seclusion inside my mech. I recommend to be the same as safety me."

Another player had entered the scene as Chase was pulled from making his note, noticing an unusual girl speaking to the young woman he just was speaking to. From the sounds of it, she was a little antsy on the fact that there was a small asteroid storm striking at the ship. Nothing too much to freak out about, but still, he could understand the reasoning for her fear...least to an extent.

With a sigh, Chase closed his notebook again and made himself heard, making his way towards the new girl while the young woman was pacing again. "It's just a few small asteroids, like she said. Shouldn't be too much of a problem or worry. Plus, I'm fairly certain the pilots of this ship can navigate through something like this, after all...they should be experts on this." He extended a hand with a small smile. "Chase Weller."

[ZetaRESP 5]

"Not shooting stars. Asteroids. Small ones."

Erica thinks for a moment realizing that yes, the word she wanted to say was asteroids. She did notice her muttering to herself and wondered what may she be saying.

"If one was big enough to do damage a hit from it it would cause the ship to explode. The force would be more than a mech could handle."

"It's just a few small asteroids, like she said. Shouldn't be too much of a problem or worry. Plus, I'm fairly certain the pilots of this ship can navigate through something like this, after all...they should be experts on this."

Erica does not share their lack of worry, mainly because of how much it's actually hitting the front of the ship compared with the back.

"Chase Weller."

Erica looked at his extended hand and then at her mech, then back at the two of them, this time her tone is more stern as he does not reply the handshake. "Rika Sahira, owner of probably the only mecha with combustible load for ammunition and knowledgeable in the fact that the pilot is not avoiding the increasing number of 'asteroids'..." The word feels hard on her tongue a bit. "... meaning we're traveling into an asteroid field, which may not be the correct route."

[VCR_CAT 19]

Rosha

"I dunno, oh, hot, hot, hot, but it's pretty great isn't it? One of my favorite hobbies is watching her reactions."

Rosha shook her head, with nothing to answer her question. "Humans are so weird," she muttered.

"But enough of that." Kelsey said, dramatically gesturing towards the game. "It's game time! All or nothing! Life or death! The fight of a lifetime!" She paused. "Or something like that."

Rosha's ears perked up. "Now you're talkin'! Let's make it a battle to remember!" Rosha laughed as the game booted to the character selection screen. Immediately she moved over and selected the largest and most intimidating character on the screen. When the character was selected and the whole portrait could be seen, Rosha couldn't help but laugh at his size and apparent strength. "Now look at that! There's no way you're gonna stand up to this! I'll crush you!"

Which, of course, was unlikely. A good portion of Rosha's height was her ears, and while she could reach the controls for the arcade cabinet she was still quite low for the intended height of the cabinet. Not to mention that when she actually did play this game, most of the time she just mashed control inputs until she won. The idea of "combo-inputs" wasn't something that ever flew off with any interactive media on her planet, and she never even though to consider that this was how fighting games were meant to be played.

[Chaos Sonic 442]

The newcomer introduced herself as Rika Sahira...so most likely she was another student. Either way, she was showing that she obviously wasn't enjoying this little trip...which made sense on why...

"Owner of probably the only mecha with combustible load for ammunition and knowledgeable in the fact that the pilot is not avoiding the increasing number of 'asteroids'... meaning we're traveling into an asteroid field, which may not be the correct route."

Combustible load for ammunition? Sheesh... Chase thought, mentally making a note to add that to his notebook but kept that from happening...for the moment.

"Honestly, if that was the case, we'd probably been under a different ship that didn't have any of our mechs onboard and wasn't on it's way to the academy." he simply shrugged. "If anything, the normal route might've had a few issues with it so they went with this route. After all, things happen, so it wouldn't be surprising if that was the case, ya know?"

[ZetaRESP 5]

"Honestly, if that was the case, we'd probably been under a different ship that didn't have any of our mechs onboard and wasn't on it's way to the academy. If anything, the normal route might've had a few issues with it so they went with this route. After all, things happen, so it wouldn't be surprising if that was the case, ya know?"

"<Alternate route? Maybe the Heliosians were spotted near the main route and the ship was taken to a shortcut to avoid the cademy to be found...>" She thought about this. It seems there may not be a reason for her to worry about her current route... except, of course, worrying her about the normal route. "Road-slices and alternate routes are always an origin of preoccupation, specially in impending times of general battle. We have no reason to not be not worried." She tried to think back at how bad she botched that one as she began to walk to her mecha, stopping just past Chase before glancing at him. "You seem to be taking notes of the mechs here. What about yours?"

Edited April 4, 2019 by ZetaRESP

[Skaia 578]

Stella couldn't help but feel more defeated as Kelsey had made her teasing comment towards her. Getting herself back up, Stella then looked between Rosha and Kelsey as the two began to go on their fighting game match. Stella wasn't particularly great at fighting games, nor was playing against someone far greater than you all the fun in them, and so she was fine to just watch the two of them go at it. As Rosha stepped up to the controls, it was clear she wasn't quite tall enough to actually use the machine, and Stella had briefly thought of the idea for finding a chair for her to stand up on. Of course, both because she felt this was condescending and she nearly lost her balance once again from the ship shaking.

Standing up straight once more, the girl looked and saw that someone else hadn't been quite so lucky as her. Steadying herself as she walked, trying to make sure that she wouldn't fall over if the ship hit another pocket of turbulence, the girl made her way over to the other who was face planted into the floor. Bending down, she reached out a hand saying, "do you need help getting up?"

[Thar 502]

"My name is Xa'tok, and to answer the other questions, I am of the Xul-Tuk tribe, whose fleet travels through the void of River of the Gods- that is to say, the Orion Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy."

"Ah yes, Orion. I remember that being quite the popular observation where I'm from." Julian was just looking for reasons to keep the conversation at this point, even if it was little things he remembered from his childhood. Meaningless things, but worth bringing up, even if it was a tad forward and forced.

"Role-what?" Sammi responded to Julian's question just as Xa'tok finished giving his brief introduction. Julian was almost puzzled until he realized that it must not be something she's heard of where she's from. "I'm from a dismal little planet way off on the rim of the galaxy. The population over there is very low these days, but that's fine. I would advise against vacationing there." There it was, the answer to the question he was asking himself as if knowledge was served daily on a platter by a responsive butler.

"Roleplay. It's rather silly, but it was a way to pass the time... at least where I'm from." There it was again; where he was from. "You act like someone else. That's it. You talk like them, you walk like them, and sometimes you even dress like them. Like I said, it's rather silly. It got quite boring back then." Julian felt like he was getting into too much detail for the first couple days. Already he could feel his throat drying up and making his speech sound raspier. Unfortunately, he didn't have any vaporized lozenges to soothe it.

With some introductions out of the way, Julian was one step closer to feeling more at home in this new home away from home. Things seemed to be going rather well until the rocking of the ship started once again, this time more severe and frequent. He saw as people started leaving the library, be it for safety or to look outside to see what was causing the commotion. He couldn't tell, seeing as he was too busy with the conversation to notice as lesser shakes that might have happened beforehand. Julian would later get up from his seat, leaving the book to lie next to the imprint where he sat. Sure enough, he saw from the window that he went towards that there was an asteroid field that was getting denser. As more shakes came, Julian began to feel queasy, which made him regret not packing any nausea-treating vapor. All he had medication for was pain, which he did feel from the trauma of impacts but not enough to require a hit.

"Of all the things I saw myself doing, I never thought it'd be on a spaceship that's crashing through asteroids..." he grumbled.

[Zai 26]

"And you are?"

Aston was taken slightly aback. Usually, girls didn't immediately seek him out. There was often a waiting period. Upon further examination, she didn't appear to be human, either. Some sort of alien; her skin was grey.

Before he could reply though, there was another pang in his head; he'd overestimated his endurance for the day. Reflexively, Aston shrunk away, putting some distance between himself and the steadily growing crowd of his fellow students. Luckily, it seemed that another student, who was also non-human had mistakenly believed the girl was talking to him, and answered for him. Perfect cover.

A few moments later, Aston was back in the corner of the library; far enough away that things were tolerable for the moment. Really, he should have left by now, but his frustration at the prospect of wasting another day was making him stubborn, and he had resolved to power on through all the myriad signals he was getting from everyone around him for as long as he could. Maybe he'd even introduce himself if he could just reign things in for a minute or two.

 

[LordCowCow 839]

"Now look at that! There's no way you're gonna stand up to this! I'll crush you!"

Kelsey smirked. "Sir Beef Wellington eh?" She noted as she saw the muscular, top-hat-wearing, pro-wrestler turned butler on the screen. "Only players can really use that guy effectively. Unfortunately for you I know just how to take him down."

The match began with Rosha hitting all the buttons in rapid succession. At first this seemed to work as Afro Sam's health bar dropped quickly within the first few moments of the match. Kelsey didn't seem to be worried at all, despite her opponent's confidence, and soon she began to throw out more counter attacks and guards. Soon Rosha's lead dropped.

Kelsey glanced over for a moment at her opponent and realized the girl was straining to see above the controls. "Need a stool?" She teased. Her tone was light and airy without any malice but despite the question she didn't let up and the match was soon hers. "Hey it's best two outta three maybe you can make a comeback." Kelsey mentioned as they went into the fight.

This time even Rosha's lead from the previous match wasn't there. She continued trying to press forward with power hits and Kelsey, having gotten used to this, managed to win the second match with only taking a single hit.

"Hey, Stella, did ya see that I...Stella?" She looked around and noticed her friend next to some other girl.

---

"do you need help getting up?"

"I am perfectly capable of getting up myself." The girl muttered, turning red as she realized someone had seen her faceplant. She struggled a bit but managed to get to her feet. "Well...thanks, anyway." She said. "I apologize for how I acted it was not befitting conduct...My name is Bianca, by the way, what's yours?"

A bit of talking later and Bianca noticed the girl by the arcade machine calling out to the other girl and waving an arm around. "I think they want your attention."

 

---

 

Several minutes passed as the ship traveled through a particularly bumpy patch of the asteroid field. And then nothing. The ship had cleared the field and there was only open space in the way.

For a short while.

And then the ship rocked once more as it was struck from the front by a barrage of laser fire.

Warning klaxons sounded and an automated voice came over the speakers. "Enemy mecha detected. Military response required."

The trio of soldiers, in various parts of the ship, rushed to the hanger to get into their mechs to engage the enemy, a group of mecha positioned in front of the craft.

Several more minuted later the ship rocked once more and the voice came back. Informing everyone on board that more mecha had landed on top of the ship and were attacking it.

In the hanger the mechanic, letting out a groan of frustration at her thoughts being interrupted, moved to an intercom. "It looks like the pirates have disabled some of the functionality of the hanger doors. There are only a handful that are still operational and I'll work to keep them working." She then listed the doors that still worked and declared "Any student whose mech is in one of these stations is allowed to deploy to repel the attackers."

 

---

 

Kelsey stared up at the speakers. "Well shit." She muttered. "Oh! That one's mine, hey, Stella, I'm heading out there!" Without waiting for anyone else to say anything the girl took off at a sprint for the hanger.

She clambered aboard her mech and gave a signal to the mechanic that she was ready. The door opened up in front of her mech and she was launched outside.

It took her a moment to get a handle of the strange artificial gravity the outside of the ship possessed but she was able to maneuver her mech onto the top of the ship.

Where six mechs were waiting. Lightly armored with practically ancient looking weaponry in hand, a short range assault rifle in one hand and what resembled a harpoon gun in the other, the mechs were clearly not top of the line. Though that didn't mean they weren't dangerous as Kelsey would find out as one of the mechs launched a laser blast from a device attached to one of its arms and struck her mech. "Oh so that's how you wanna play." Kelsey muttered as she fired up the thrusters. As her headset linked up with any other allied pilots that came up she let out a loud, "Time to scrap these stooges!"

OOC

Spoiler

Alright so make sure to finish up w/e interactions you're in the middle of. Be sure to get responses from whoever you need to. All the stations called out are those of the PCs. Anyone who wants to get in the fight should make their way to the hanger and onto the top of the ship.

I will be posting next week with the attackers so keep that in mind.

The opposing mechs are equipped with short range assault rifles, old models, and a grapple gun that is intended to hook onto objects and either propel the mech forward or pull something towards them. Also an old model.
Mech: Bandito, a light mech developed by space pirates. Made out of light material they aren't very sturdy but have good maneuverability and have powerful lasers equipped. Said lasers aren't able to be used in quick succession lest the mech lose energy and they're usually used to open up ships once their shields are down.

Map

The numbers are the enemies and the K is Kelsey.

 

[Chaos Sonic 442]

"You seem to be taking notes of the mechs here. What about yours?"

Chase had a smirk develop on his face, holding up his notebook. "I'm taking notes to try and get a feel on what will work for a mech. Going to one day make my own, well, once I get enough experience on working and designing mechs. For now, I'll be just working to better the Aegis Weiss." he paused, pointing at the ivory mecha with the shield. "That bad boy right there."

He started walking over towards the Aegis Weiss, tossing his hand into his pocket. "This one happens to be more of a mixed fighter. While I don't wanna just be tied down to just being a brawler nor a ranged, I feel like leaving the possibility for a bit of flexibility in combat with Aegis Weiss is the most beneficial to me."

Whatever the response from Rika would be, Chase figured it wouldn't be too much of a response...after all, his wasn't as interesting sounding as hers.

---

"Enemy mecha detected. Military response required."

The young man looked up at the speakers, sighing slightly. "So much for an easy flight..." he muttered, overhearing from the mechanic he spoke to earlier that the pirates that were around apparently disabled the hangar doors...except for some that had the mechs...and wouldn't ya know it, but his was one of those exceptions.

"Well then...let's go give those unwelcome guests a warm reception." Chase smirked, making his way to Aegis Weiss and already hopped into the cockpit. The mecha began to spring to life as he turned it on. With a quick thumbs up to the mechanic, the door opened up. "Alright Aegis Weiss...it's showtime."

With a quick move of the controls, the mecha was immediately launched out of the ship's hangar. Chase got out onto the ship's exterior, just in time to see another mech, presumably another student, firing up the thrusters.

"Love the enthusiasm...buuuuuut don't think you happen to be playing it smart by just rushing into enemies like that." Chase commented, taking a moment to assess the situation. His mech's display showed him six bogeys. Hmmm, the models...they seem to be common pirate mechs. So shouldn't be too much of an issue. he thought, having the Aegis Weiss grab one of it's blades on it's side, having it shift slightly as he started firing a few shots of plasma energy at one of the enemy mechs (#6).

[ZetaRESP 5]

Erica looks at the mecha. '<So he uses a shield to attack... "best defense is a good offense" seems to be the idea...' She seemed interested in the shield, as well as the it's symmetry. I just... didn't click with her. Something was odd. "Armor. The main weapon is a shield, so it may not armor as much as not shield weapon and shelling may..." She feels a bit irritated by her failings at language. "More armor on the other side of the shield is what I mean." She didn't wait a response as the alarms went on.

"Enemy mecha detected. Military response required."

Erica heard this and went quickly to her mecha. "<This is not the best moment for a 'birth of fire'!>" As she got in and strapped herself into the driving harness, she saw both Chase and another girl that came from the doors enter their mechs and take off. She quickly enabled the reactor and it heated up quickly. "Shouryuu, kidou!" She presses with her legs to make the mecha walk... or rather skate, as she enables the wheels and pushes with the legs to move forward. Faster than running and not having to use the boosters yet. As she reaches the hangar gate, she takes advantage of the lower gravity to leap with the boosters up, then tries to switch to the claws and climb up the mecha. It was not the fastest method, but it was the best method. As she reached the ceiling, she got the message in her headset, which was an actual helmet.

"Time to scrap these stooges!"

Erica was behind Chase and saw Kelsey starting to engage, as well as Chase opening fire. She saw two distant targets (3 and 4) and she decided to go forward. "Let them not gang up. I will crash the far away." She tried to ram into them as fast as possible with her mech, switching on the wheels and turning on the boosters, aiming to either get close enough to use her dragon head blasts or ram into one of them.

[Thar 502]

There was a period of peace after the ship cleared the asteroid field, as Julian could see. Just as he got his bearings after the initial rocking of the ship, a streak of light was seen to have come out of the void that stretched to infinity. Impact followed.

"Enemy mecha detected. Military response required."

Sure enough, this wasn't just a straight flight to whatever base they were going to. The ship was being attacked. Pirates? Terrorists? Whatever it was, it was a threat that needed attention.

"Damn... couldn't they have waited until we got there?" He groaned. Hesitating only slightly to figure out where to go, Julian redonned the mask and triggered another hit of painkillers, gaining enough focus to calmly run to the hangar. Other students clamored along the same path, but Julian's mission was his own as he opened the doors to the large open space that housed the giant war machines that they would be using. Julian's recognized his right away; a slim build with extravagant aerial maneuverability components that roughly took the shape of wings, like a skinny and devious devil. That being said, the most important thing was the weapon at its side... the rifle. Similar to the one he used at home for hunting, it was simply a matter of using it like he would normally, this time being bigger, badder, and far more advanced.

He watched as a few other students had already boarded and exited through the doors that were damaged by the impact, immediately recognizing the limited space around the ship where there was artificial gravity. He'd have to fly as if he was falling at first. He thought this as he was already running to his mech as the alarm kept blazing. He couldn't hesitate. It may just be a measly pirate, but they were only students and so was he. Despite his doubts, his initiative was to respond as a soldier would despite his lack of training. This was the first test. He boarded PA-NS (Penetrating Angel - Nefarious Sniper), at first off-put by the fact that he was no longer just walking and using a gun with his fingers. This time he would be remotely operating a machine to use a larger version, but he got the hang of it later as the controls kicked in. Artificial intelligence guided him through the process as the machine grabbed the rifle, literally latching to it. It would need to, especially now with space being the occasional culprit of losing things forever. With everything being accounted for, Julian followed the others, immediately finding a place on top of the ship, specifically the highest point.

He would find his perch, look through the scope, and activate his scanners on these incoming enemies. As expected, the hostile units were that of typical pirates. Their armor was rather weak, but all the same Julian picked up the general anatomy of one of the units that Erica had begun to rush towards, which was highlighted on his HUD, followed by a name revealing the unit to be called "Bandito." Julian let out a light chuckle as he noticed a red and blinking portion of the unit on his HUD locating the area where the laser was, indicating that it was vulnerable and unstable. In other words, if he could hit it, it would most certainly be catastrophic for the unit. As he lined up the shot, he realized that Erica would be too close to the target should any explosion happen. He also realized that she was going out rather far against multiple enemies. He cursed softly as he aimed for another target (#5), displaying the same unit with the same weakness which he aimed for. Setting the sights for any lead-ins, the system locked onto the weak point and Julian pulled the trigger, firing a fast, sharp, and precise piercing shot that would go through said area.

Edited April 9, 2019 by Thar

[yui 573]

"Roleplay. It's rather silly, but it was a way to pass the time... at least where I'm from. You act like someone else. That's it. You talk like them, you walk like them, and sometimes you even dress like them. Like I said, it's rather silly. It got quite boring back then."

That was... one way to describe what Sammi was doing. Disturbing as it was. Let's file this boy away under "dangerously perceptive". "It doesn't sound that exciting," she commented. The ship rocking as it passed through more asteroids would probably unsettle some people. Not Sammi. Even if there was a hull breach that caused every other student to suffocate in the vacuum of space or something, Sammi would be just fine. No lungs that required oxygen and all. As with a number of other students, Sammi made to leave the library. She wanted to see the asteroids for herself. She did make sure to turn and leave the boys she'd just met with a "It was nice to meet you" before leaving, of course.

A few minutes later, as Sammi was making her way back to the dorm she shared with some fleshbag girl she didn't take the time to get to know, the ship rocked once again. And an automated voice announced that it was the work of enemy mecha. And then another one, announcing that students with their own mecha were authorized to use them. In a setting without gravity, my SK-04's main advantage is void. Although...

A devious idea sprang forth in Sammi's brain. Her mech wasn't very well suited for it, but it was certainly something. WIthout a moment to waste, Sammi went to the hangar, getting into and activating her mech. Minigun is probably a bad idea unless I want to damage the ship. Cluster bombs are absolutely off-limits. That was fine. The pulse cannons were her favorite part of this mech anyway. Without much in the way of warning, Sammi's mech took off, flying out of the hangar and hurrying to catch up with the other students that were fighting, cannons charged and ready. One of whom commented that maybe rushing them wasn't a good idea.

"Rush them; you have supporting fire," Sammi countered. Everyone seems to be after different targets though. "Rush this one specifically," she added, firing her mech's pulse cannons at one of the enemies near the front of the fight (#1).

[Asriel Dreemurr 38]

The pair decided to mock him, and therefore the spirits. This was unacceptable. As they began laughing their heads off, Xa'Tok reached down and collected a particular charm which he had hung off of his uniform. It was one of a few of them made from mixed materials; metal, bone, and stone strung upon a crimson cord. He shook it, and began to chant in the guttural language of the spirits as it clinked and clattered. His blue eyes began to shimmer, and then shone for a moment with an almost stellar light as he did so while keeping eye-contact with the one who had called the spirits "spooky ghosts." Just as suddenly as it began the chanting ended, he closed his eyes, and shook the charm once more such that a single metallic note rung out and hung in the air for an unnaturally long time.

At this time, the boy's socks soaked themselves of their own accord.

"As punishment for your mockery of the spirits," the Shaman said as he let the charm settle back into place on the front of his uniform, "your 'socks,' as they are called, will be wet for the next month. Every pair. Every time you put them on." It was a minor infraction after all, and so a minor punishment was warranted. It would not do well for him to be unreasonable to those he expected to command.

Warning klaxons sounded and an automated voice came over the speakers. "Enemy mecha detected. Military response required." A grim smile crossed the Shaman's face as the announcement was made, and he rolled his shoulders. The first test had come. Sooner than expected, but then one could never count on things happening when they were supposed to. Though now he had to wonder if the spirits had truly been angry at their passing, or if they had been warning them of danger. All the same, it was time to do battle and time to lead.

"Damn... couldn't they have waited until we got there?" One of the others in the library, Julian if he remembered correctly, expressed what seemed to be a lack of enthusiasm at the prospect of fighting. Xa'Tok found that strange. They were all warriors, were they not? Warriors existed to do battle, and all those he had met before took to it fiercely and gladly. Perhaps he would have to set an example, but all the same he made his way to the hangar along with the others. It was simply impossible to miss the Chapaayan Mecha in the hangar. Much like its pilot, everything about it was alien. It even felt strange to those who passed near it, but to Xa'Tok it was familiar. He looked upon it with reverence, for this was the largest piece of home he had with him and it was auspiciously named.

"Zu'ul-pa-tok." He addressed it, dipping his head and closing his eyes. "Your journeys carried you far from your home, and you returned bearing the glory of the gods themselves. Come with me on my own." When he raised his head and opened his eyes, they were glowing once again. As was the Mecha's claw. Thus he made to board the machine, and it sprung to life as soon as his hands touched the controls. It moved in a way that seemed almost alive, and was clearly effortless in the void. As they began to deploy, he took up a position towards the rear of their formation. If it could be called as such. the other pilots were obviously inexperienced, and hardly seemed to be working as a team. That was fine for now. He recognized the Banditos on sight: Pirate Mecha. Not difficult to deal with, and often of poor renown. Save for those who flew the flag of the Broken Spiral, but these were not them.

"I will take command of this operation," he said over their communicators as he brought Eats-the-Stars's enormous claw in front of the machine's chest. "Engage the enemy as you like for now. They will likely rush down the middle of our formation in an effort to split us apart. When they do, close around them." Even as he spoke the glowing claw was twisting itself about in ways that should have been impossible for something modeled after a humanoid hand. As it did, lines began to appear glowing in the void of space. These lines twisted and wrapped together to take on an ever more complicated shape, and all those deployed might just catch the faintest hint of the guttural spirit-language in their cockpits as the symbol was completed, and the claw closed over it. "The spirits here are willing to assist us." He answered the anticipated questions as a pale blue light settled in around the assorted allied Mecha, including Eats-the-Stars. A little extra protection from the enemy's Lasers.

[Skaia 578]

While Stella was looking to help the girl to her feet, the girl herself seemed to be fine getting up herself. As she did, Stella could feel a strange sense of familiarity, looking at the girl's reddened face and didn't do much other than rise alongside with her. As the girl had thanked her in the end, Stella waved the girl's comment about her behavior off saying, "it's fine.My name's Stella." As she said this, her attention was then turned to back where she had come from, looking to see Kelsey waving to her. Waving back, Stella then looked to Bianca saying, "well, glad that you're fine. It's a bit difficult to keep balance right now, so watch your step." As she said this, Bianca would see Stella then begin to walk back towards Kelsey with a great look of determination on her face, as her pace seemed slow and the girl seemed to have a great deal of concentration in each step she made. 

Of course, by the time she made it back to her friend, something else had happened. With the sirens blaring and telling them they were under attack, Kelsey seemed eager to get to fighting and dashed off almost immediately. "W-wait Kelz-," the girl reached her hand out, as if to try to stop her as a look of concern crossed her face, but pulling back as Kelsey was already far away from her she said, "never mind." Stella stood there, watching as her friend sprinted off. Having a hard enough time walking as it was, there was no way she'd be able to catch up with her. Besides, it wasn't like she could do anything even if she made it there.

Looking downtrodden, the girl then perked herself up as she realized if they were being attacked, there were still other things to make sure of. "Bianca!" She shouted back to the girl she had just helped out, or attempted to at least, and started to slowly walk over to her. "Bianca, can you help me make sure the other passengers are alright?" Stella was also hoping her newfound comrade in falling over would be fine being a crutch for her. 

[LordCowCow 839]

Talk talk talk. Kelsey was getting mixed messages from all over. Don't rush them. Rush them. The only thing that really stuck was when the guy with the savage looking mech spoke up with "Engage the enemy as you like for now."

"Way ahead of you buddy!" She was already in the middle of charging at the one Bandito mech (1) and she wasn't about to stop. She got close to it, perhaps far too close, and had to take a spray of bullets right to the center of her mech. Something flared up and she thought it was her shielding until she noticed the indicators didn't say anything about the shield taking damage. It looked different than shielding as well, more mystical than mechanical, but whatever it was it gave her precious moments to aim both her assault rifles at the Bandito mech and unleash a hail of bullets on it.

The mech stumbled back at the impact and seemed unable to recover enough to take evasive actions. Kelsey let out a whoop of excitement, which would echo in everyone's headsets, as she noticed the opposing mech's shielding failing.

That was when Sammi's pulse shots came through. One of them striking the Bandito directly and, after Kelsey's attack, managed to tear through the mech's body, causing an explosion.

The second pulse would have also struck it if not for Kelsey being in the way. Instead she was hit from behind. Turning the mech she noticed a flying mech which was the source of the fire. "Hey! I had him, be careful where you throw those around alright?"

Her attention was diverted by a new blip on her radar coming from the side of the ship. At the same time another blip appeared at the front end and opposite side, near where they guy who told her not to rush was. Three large orbs with turrets attached emerged from under the ship on three sides and one of them began to open fire on Kelsey's mech.

On the other side a similar ship was firing upon Chase's mech, wearing down the barrier that had been placed on it.

The Bandito mech that Chase fired on was struck with the plasma bolts and was taking visible damage. Though as the orb appeared he seemed to decide to ignore the man for now and instead locked in on Sammi's flying mech. He fired off a couple lasers at her, which would be enough to remove the barrier if it hit, before shooting the harpoon-like weapon at the mech in an attempt to pull it from the sky.

It was quickly joined by the Bandito mech that none of the others had targeted. Firing its own harpoon at the airborne mecha.

Julian's shot on the fifth Bandito had an immediate effect. It struck one of the glowing green points, where the lasers would be fired from, on its right side. As soon as it did there was an explosion within the mech and that entire side of the mech was ruined. The mech stumbled and toppled to the side. It was still technically operational but from its position it wasn't able to move and the pilot seemed to be having trouble aiming.

The two mechs that Erica was charging watched as the pilot thrust her mech forward from the opposite end of the ship. They started to move off to the side but she was able to clip one of them as she passed by, damaging the mech but unable to cause major damage before the two Bandito reacted. They both opened fire on Erica, together blowing away the barrier protecting the mech, and as they did the third orb ship made its appearance and also joined the other two in opening fire on Erica's mech.

---

OOC

Spoiler

Notice! For those inside the ship still the windows are now displaying the battle going on atop of the ship.

Also I tried to figure out locations for people based on what was said.

Map

Alright a summary....Kelsey and Sammi destroyed Bandito 1 but Kelsey took some friendly fire and is being fired upon by 7
Sammi is being attacked by 6 and 2 and they're both trying to harpoon her mech
Chase hit 6 for some damage and is now being fired upon by 8
Julian basically disabled 5 but it's still operational so might be able to get some shots off still
Erica damaged 3 but is now taking fire from 3, 4, and 9

The barrier Xa'Tok made status is as follows
Xa'Tok, fully operational
Julian, fully operational
Kelsey, gone
Sammi, gone depending on actions taken
Chase, operational but fading
Erica, gone

Anyone else who joins after this won't have a barrier

I think that covers it...any confusion still let me know. Or let Skaia know if you need it and I'm not around.

 

[ZetaRESP 5]

Erica was not glad with this turn of events. She should had opened fire with her approach instead. However, she had no time to curse, she had to attack. Luckily, she could do some damage to her nearby attackers. "I'm gonna request backlog. I have three about me." She started the plasma generator and directed it to the dragon head, opening the head up, then she began to spray fire over the banditos, trying to take them down, while also making them move from her. As she's doing that, she grabs the large sword with the other arm, swinging it around in tandem with the fire-spewing arm to try and hit on the pirates. She hopes this makes her a harder target to hit.

Edited April 16, 2019 by ZetaRESP

[Skaia 578]

As Stella had essentially strong armed Bianca into helping her, the latter seemed intent on turning Stella dragging her around to her dragging Stella around. All the same, they had made their way through the ship, trying to assess any damages that were on the inside. As the fighting continued on, the ship continued to rock and cause Stella's balance to be thrown off. Using Bianca as a crutch proved mildly useful to Stella for this reason, and much less so for Bianca's end of the deal. As she was a small girl, and not unfazed by the shaking herself, would have to use a great deal of effort herself to keep the two from tipping over.

However, as the duo looked at the windows they could see the fight being displayed on the outside. Stella had a worried look on her face, as she looked at one of the recklessly charging mechs, and started to feel a bit frustrated as well. She could see that more than just Kelsey was fighting outside, and that they seemed to be going even, if not ahead, of the bandito mechs at the moment. All the same, they were students, and they hadn't actually even taken any lessons yet so the girl couldn't help but continue to worry. Still, trying to make herself useful, Stella instead starting observing the fight to look for any thing off she could see, as she called out to her impromptu partner, saying, "Bianca, tell me if you see anything strange with the bandits." The girl then realized what she said, and looked to Bianca, slightly apologetic as she said, "oh, um, sorry. That is, um, unless you'd rather not be fighting out there." 

[Chaos Sonic 442]

"Engage the enemy as you like for now. They will likely rush down the middle of our formation in an effort to split us apart. When they do, close around them."

"Heh, not a bad plan." Chase retorted, praising the one who was in the mech that he was admiring from afar in the hangar. Now he was able to watch that mech work in action, but right now, he also had to deal with this little skirmish with these pirates. One had slightly more precedence over the other, unfortunately.

However, right now while he had struck the one Bandito (#6), he was receiving fire in return. The barrier that the strange mech provided for him and the others was currently still active, but it was starting to fade. He shifted slightly, holding up Svalinn to shield him from most of the shots fired. It was a bit far, but he knew he could easily take it right now. While still holding Svalinn to block the shots, Chase had the Aegis Weiss shift it's weapon and prepared the plasma rifle that was on it's back.

"Alright then...let's see how you like this." he smirked, having the mech strafe to it's left before finally moving the shield away and bringing the rifle up, pointing it towards the ship (#8) that was striking at him. "360...no scope...sayonara sucker!!" Chase simply said, firing off a shot towards the ship. With that in play, he shifted again and pulled the blaster back out, having it shift into it's blade mode. "That should help with that...now..." With a quick glance, he noticed on the display from the Aegis Weiss, that one mech had two Banditos (#2 and #6) trying to harpoon it. "Next target acquired."

With a flick of the controls, Chase had his mech rushing towards the one he had been shooting earlier (#6), only this time he used the shield to knock the Bandito back and then took a swift slash at it. "Cutting in...hope you don't mind." he chuckled, gearing this towards the roundish mech that was being harpooned.

[VCR_CAT 19]

Rosha

"Sir Beef Wellington eh?" Kelsey said as Rosha smiled proudly. "Only players can really use that guy effectively. Unfortunately for you I know just how to take him down."

"Oh yeah? I'd like to see you try!"

The match had started, but it wasn't long until it wasn't going the way that Rosha had wanted. As her character's health bar steadily decreased, she would begin to growl louder and louder, with the intensity of her button mashing growing. Soon enough, the match was over and Kelsey had already won the first round.

"Need a stool?" Kelsey teased. "Hey it's best two outta three maybe you can make a comeback."

"Then you better relish that victory 'CAUSE IT'S ALL YOU'RE GONNA GET!" Rosha growled as the next round was about to begin.

It was, however, not all that she was going to get. The second round was over as soon as it had started, and Rosha's character lay defeated at the hands of a flawless victory. Kelsey stood there triumphantly, while Rosha gripped the joystick so tightly the plastic began to crack. Rosha was just about to demand a rematch when the loudspeakers blared an alert. While the turbulence had finally ended, they were now under attack. In a flash, Kelsey was gone from the rec room.

"Hey! Get back he--!" Rosha started to yell at her, but was immediately knocked to the floor as a blast shook the ship again. Then the alarms continued to blare; an appropriate volume for everyone else, but for Rosha they were far, far too loud. She crouched there, huddled on the ground in a fetal-position with her hands pinning her large ears down against her head. Slowly, she pushed herself to her feet and made an effort to get to the hangar without using her hands as best as she could.

The windows that lined the hallways normally displayed empty space now displayed the battle taking place above them in all its glory. Frustrated that she couldn't be there first, Rosha rushed down the halls with all the high-pitched squealing that the claws on her feet made when they scratched against the metal floor. It took some time, and some effort to key buttons for doors using her elbows, but she had managed to get to the hangar and ran towards her mech.

 

---

As the battle raged on, a bright red streak blazed into the middle of the battle and planted itself in the middle of the ship with a loud bang. There, standing on the hull and hefting the large weaponry mounted on its arms, was the heavy frame of the Mourning Star mech.

"I am sick of all these [Kreskan] loud noises," Rosha growled into the public channel, "and I am sick of being stuck in a cramped space ship..." The Mourning Star readied the massive machine gun on its left arm and aimed it right at three of the pirate units that were already engaged with other friendlies. "And I am SICK of [ZA-KRESKAN] SPACE!! NOW GO TO HELL!!"

The machine gun erupted into a fountain of brightly glowing metal, tearing through space and positively filling the area the three pirate mechs occupied in a hailstorm of supersonic slugs.

 

[Asriel Dreemurr 38]

The fight against the pirates was shaping up...honestly not quite as Xa'Tok had expected. It seemed that he had given these fools more credit than they deserved in terms of the proper tactical action for them, and it seemed they were simply individually engaging whatever targets they had the chance to. They were not attempting to separate them, but at the same time the disorganized manner in which the students were counter-attacking was proving difficult. Especially for the one of them that had a faint grasp on the language, something which the Chapaayan could understand. Learning the common language was not something he had found easy, and he remembered a few strange looks he had gotten when he was still learning. He could not judge her for that. He could judge her for the way she had gotten herself almost completely surrounded, but at the same time he saw an opportunity in that. One which he began to act on even as he spoke.

"All units push forward," he said even as he set Eats-the-Stars into motion towards the front of the vessel. "We will instead split their formation in half, and then collapse on the enemies towards the Starboard side of our vessel. Move with force and purpose!" That was not something that he had difficulty with in the Chapaayan Mecha. It was designed with speed in mind, and as he began his rush forward he activated the Electronic Warfare Suite within it, intending to scramble the enemies' sensors and make it all the more difficult for them to fire upon their intended targets. That, and seeing what had once been a relatively clearly visible machine suddenly dissolve into static and disappear from one's sensors could certainly have a negative effect upon the enemy's morale. With the break in the enemy's formation, if he wanted to be extremely generous and call it that, caused by Chase firing upon the most central of their units (#6) he rushed to assist Erica at the front.

"Receive the Spirits' Protection." He muttered, forgetting to shut off the comms as he re-cast the protective spell upon her machine. With that glowing, mystical claw already to the fore of his Mecha, it was a simple matter for him to lash out at one of the Banditos (#4) with that truly magical weapon.

[LordCowCow 839]

"Oh come on!" Kelsey shouted as the orb continued to rain fire on her. She knew that eventually the fire would break through the shielding and start doing some major damage if she didn't do anything. But the orb was keeping at a distance that her weapons wouldn't have enough of an effect to bring it down.

Deciding she only had one choice, though it likely was in part due to it being in her mind a fun choice, she activated her thrusters and launched the mech forward, farther, farther, and boosted off of the edge of the ship. Letting out a "Wooooohoooooo!" The girl closed the distance in an instant and rained fire on the orb, causing it to explode.

That was when she realized she wouldn't be able to get back onto the ship.

Thankfully, as she fell, the ships automated systems activated and a claw-arm shot out of the side of the machine and caught her before depositing her back onto the ship. "I, uh, I knew it'd do that!" She declared to the rest.

The two mechs around Erica backed away from her flailing. However the orb continued its fire and the girl would realize that her armor was starting to fail under the multiple concentrated attacks. The two Bandito mechs, realizing that Eirica was only attacking the area around her, kept their distance and continued to fire on her.

The only thing preventing her from taking critical damage was the mystical shield that Xa'Tok placed around her. Though that wouldn't last long under all this fire.

One of the Bandito mechs (4) tried to locate where the interference came from but was unable to discern what had happened. And then a claw struck from out of nowhere and he could now see the mech that had attacked. Panicking the pilot engaged the escape pod and launched away from the battle. Leaving the mech where it stood.

Similarly the mech that Julian had downed, who had been aiming at Xa'Tok, saw the mech he was targetting fade from view and decided that he wasn't going to take the risk and escaped as well.

Sammi's mech had been struck  by the two harpoons and pulled straight into the ground, forced down by the pair of Bandito mechs. They had started to fire upon her mech but one, (6) had the arm with the rifle on it severally damaged by a bladed weapon. The harpoon was still sticking into Sammi's mech but only one mech was now firing at her.

Rosha's sudden appearance caught the Banditos off guard. The one that had been damaged by Chase was demolished in a short amount of time by the barrage. However the second Bandito that was latching onto Sammi moved so that if the girl continued her sweep Sammi's mech would also get caught in the fire.

The orb that had been shooting at Chase was damaged slightly by his retaliation and, seeing the carnage going on, the pilot decided instead to move towards the "tail" of the ship where Julian stood and begun instead to fire on the sniper.

OOC

Spoiler

Map

Twas kinda hectic um...okay
Not many left. Two banditos and two orbs.
2 currently is firing on Sammi's mech which has been dragged to the ground and has a couple harpoons in it, one attached to 2.
3 and 9 are firing on Erica
and 8 has moved over to Julian. It won't be an easy target for the sniper at this range due to it being able to move and being close.

The barrier Xa'Tok made status is as follows
Xa'Tok, fully operational
Julian, operational but fading
Chase, operational but fading
Erica, operational but very close to fading, will fade by their post

---

"oh, um, sorry. That is, um, unless you'd rather not be fighting out there." 

As Stella turns to the girl she'd see her turning back and forth with a bit of a panicked expression as she tries and fails to calm down people who are crowding towards the screens to watch the action unfold.

She jumped and looked at Stella for a moment before standing up straight and clearing her throat. "Of course I want to fight, my mech would make short work of them...but it's not one of the mechs that were able to launch...What about you? There were a couple others called I remember."

She glanced over at the screen and a thought seemed to come to her mind. But she didn't say anything.

[ZetaRESP 5]

Erica saw the new protection also started to fail and she was really not getting close to fight... but once she saw one of the mechs surrounding her being struck by another mech, she decided to get serious: Brawling methods were not working and these banditos are really good on ganging up but are likely to fade away when it inverts. With Xa'Tok's mech next to her, she decided to change gears and go for a proper attack. "If we going starboard, will drag them with us all. Must engage sharpshooter." She decided to boost herself towards the farthest mech attacking her (9), leaving her "savior" to deal with the other one. She tried to use her sword as a way to block fire, as she realized quickly that her thick armor was still not a proper defense against heavy fire and she really had troubles with that "sniper". Her idea was to get close enough to try and slash the sphere with her large sword. The strange shields will drop by the time she makes it there, but they only need to hold enough for her to get in melee range. Also, once that's done, she can switch to her weapon's other use...

[yui 573]

Well, some friendly fire aside, Sammi would call that attack on the Bandito (1) a success. Her human companion seemed insistent that she'd had it covered on her own, though. While Sammi thought up a response to that claim, her mech took a laser shot. The mech seemed undamaged for some reason. It must have been something that bizarre mech on her team did. She'd have to do some research on that thing in particular, and the boy piloting it. In that moment of curiosity though, bigger issues suddenly appeared. Namely, a pair of harpoons sticking through Sammi's mech, dragging it down to be on level with everyone else. Not good.

Even worse, she was being shot at from what was now a disadvantageous position. However, there was nobody between her and the guy shooting her this time. And so, Sammi opened fire with the gatling guns again, being able to get more precise hits in with the shorter distance. In the meantime, she began charging the cannons on her mech, fully intent on crippling the enemy mech's arms then finishing it off. One healthy target was preferable over two injured ones, after all.