Turn, Turn and Turn [A]gain! (Turn A Gundam Quest)

Week 3 (Week 3 of the Lunar-Inglessan Dispute)



[X] Shield the convoy; let the Royal Guard handle this.


Swallowing, you leave the work of dispersing the crowd to the Royal Guard while you shield the convoy. It doesn't take long for the convoy to proceed. The SUMOs simply smash through the barricades and force the rioters to flee lest they be stepped on. You try to ignore the burning cars and the occasional red smear as you shepherd the cars towards Bostonia Castle.

It is when the Militia arrives and starts shooting at the Royal Guard that you realize that the car carrying Her Majesty Dianna, Lord Guin and that guy with the queen is nowhere to be found. A quick check of the White Doll's displays show that there is no smoke or gunfire (that you can see) other than around here, so you force down your worry in order to focus on your mission.

While the Royal Guard deals with the Militia you activate your Lightwave Shield and make the White Doll hunch down, providing cover for the convoy that is impregnable to the small arms carried by the attackers. Even so it is tense as you slowly lead them to the safety of Bostonia Castle. The mixed forces there haven't been caught up in the riot and have established a perimeter that is keeping order for several blocks.

Lord Guin and the others are still nowhere to be found, so you leave the convoy at Bostonia and take to the air so as to get a better overview of Nocis. The Militia is on the run at this point, a few holdouts still firing rifles and pistols at the SUMOs while the rest of them are in full retreat.

Even as the city starts to quiet down it remains a nerve-wracking search, only made worse when you find Lord Guin's limousine empty of all but the driver. Silver lining: It gives you a solid place to start. Queen Dianna and the other two should be between this car and Bostonia Castle, provided the car hasn't moved since they got off, of course.


As you search for them you and up face to face with the golden SUMO that signifies the captain of the Royal Guard. The two of you tense for combat for a second before you can get a read on his Pressure: Worried, angry, but neither are directed at you. You lower the White Doll's arms and-Lord Guin!

"Laura!" He ran out of an alley and is standing with his arms spread wide in front of the White Doll. "We are safe! Don't fight here!" The man who was with Queen Dianna is doing the same to the pilot of the golden SUMO.

You let out a sigh of relief. They are safe.


Lord Guin rides in the White Doll's left hand the remainder of the way to Bostonia while Dianna and the other guy ride in the hands of the golden SUMO. His Pressure is a mix of frustration and worry, but there is a strong undercurrent of satisfaction as well. You normally can't read someone's Pressure this completely outside of the White Doll, outside of Sochie that is, probably because she has the same abilities. Someone smirks behind you. It is quite the difference...


*

When you and the golden SUMO arrive with the two leaders their entourages quickly usher them into the castle while the Militia and Moonrace forces stationed there set up a number of joint checkpoints. You are approached by one of Lord Guin's secretaries partway through the work, who hands you a letter containing orders to stay outside with the others until you are relieved of guard duty.

The question of who will be relieving you is answered a little more than an hour later when two WaDoms stride down the street and take up positions outside the castle. Lord Guin comes out to retrieve you.

"We don't know if the negotiations will be successful." He warns as you exit the White Doll's cockpit, piloting goggles on and your scarf wrapped around the other parts of your face. When you ask he gives you leave to retire for the night, but reminds you to be ready to receive orders.

Sleep sounds really good right now.


*


When you wake up it is to a castle empty of Militia soldiers. One of the castle's servants explains that Queen Dianna has demanded that no Militia forces are allowed to enter within ten kilometers of the city, and Lord Guin has acquiesced in the interest of continuing the negotiations. He later confirms this when you arrive in his office in full pilot getup, but informs you that you and the White Doll are exempted from the ban.

For the moment there is nothing planned, but he expects you to be on standby until further notice.


The Royal Guard stationed outside Bostonia gives you a wary look as you walk up to the White Doll to check on its systems.

All Systems gain +1 Condition!



Everything seems to be in order, it is just a matter of the Priority Repair System.

[] Decide to keep it working on the I-Field.

[] Switch it to work on a different System.
--[] Write in System.






As for what you are going to do the next few days…


Choose 2

[] Practice with the White Doll.

[] Try to figure out the White Doll's communication equipment.

[] See if you can find Sochie and Miashei.

[] Experiment with Pressure.

[] Check on Keith and Fran.

[] Sneak off to the Dianna Counter camp and report the completion of your scouting mission before going back to Nocis.
--[] For closure's sake.
--[] Try to get some information out of them.

[] Visit the Heim mines to see what Sid and Joseph have found up there.

[] Go on some extra patrols.

[] Stay at the castle to keep Kihel and Mrs. Heim company.

[X] Decide to keep it working on the I-Field.


You decide to leave the system be, keeping it working on the White Doll's I-Field.


Roll 1d100 Priority Repair = 81! I-Field Condition is now 93+81!




[X] Practice with the White Doll.


You spend a day performing your improvised training regimen, but gain no new insights. Still, practice makes perfect, and you keep at it. The better pilot you are the easier it will be to use the White Doll's power.



+1 Pilot EXP!




[X] Sneak off to the Dianna Counter camp and report the completion of your scouting mission before going back to Nocis.
--[X] For closure's sake.


You hide the White Doll near Vicinity and take the servant's truck from the Heim manor. It is a bit of a drive, but eventually you pass through Nocis and enter the area occupied by the Dianna Counter. A WaDom finds you soon enough, so you drive behind some trees and wait for it to come closer.

"Halt!" Sounds the speakers as the huge mobile suit looms over you.

"Don't shoot!" You cry out in the Moon's language as you come out with your hands raised. "I am one of the scouts!" There is some disbelief on the part of the WaDom pilot, but it evaporates once you continue to speak in your native tongue at him.

You ride to the Dianna Counter landing zone in the WaDom's hand, exchanging some small talk with the pilot on the way. Most of it goes back to how 'the barbarians' have insulted Her Majesty…you try not to think about it.

There is only a pair of lieutenants stationed on the bridge of the Almaiya you are ushered into, but that changes when one of them turns on a laptop and turns it to face you. The face on the screen is that of the captain of the Royal Guard.

You introduce yourself as Loran Cehack of Team 2 of the last batch of Descent Teams and briefly recount your time on Earth up until now, leaving out some crucial details, of course.

"You said you worked in the Vicinity area." Comments the Captain. "Do you know anything about the Militia's mobile suit?"


[] "Only hearsay, sir."

[] "A little."
--[] Be as vague as possible.
--[] Limit it to what is publicly known to your area and some of the feats done within sight of the public.
--[] Give them the story with important details removed.

[X] "A little."
--[X] Limit it to what is publicly known to your area and some of the feats done within sight of the public.


"A little." You deflect. "In the Vicinity area, they had never heard of anything like mobile suits until the Return happened. According to some of the locals going through a coming of age ceremony, the statue of a local divinity, the White Doll, tore itself out of the ground after a WaDom fired its siege beam through Vicinity." The captain assumes a pondering expression. "My house burned down because of a missile, so I was too busy to see for myself. After that, I've only heard rumors and seen it in newspapers."

The captain leans in. "So you have heard nothing about the Militia attempting to use mobile suits?"

You shake your head. "I'm just the chauffeur of one of the local landowners, so I haven't learned much outside of my work."

He nods. "I see."

"The people of the Earth don't seem to have the ability or the resources necessary to manufacture mobile suits," You continue. "And the one they have been using shows up in historical records as a statue for more than a thousand years, so it likely predates the Calamity and has been buried here ever since."

"Until it reacted to the presence of another mobile suit." The captain finishes for you. "Now then, normally someone of the rank of colonel or the above would do this, but I am the highest-ranking officer of our military currently present."

He goes on to formally accept your final report and release you from your duties as a scout. It is…an ending, in more ways than one. You leave the landing zone soon afterwards.


Affliation 'Moonrace (Dianna Counter Scout)' replaced with 'Moonrace (Citizen)'


A pair of WaDoms leaves the landing zone right after you do. At first you assume that they are going out to patrol, but as you drive back it becomes clear that they intend to enter Inglessan territory. Towards the Vicinity region, to be exact.

Oh dear…

You make the truck go as fast as it can, arriving at the Heim manor within the hour. The WaDoms veered off at some point to head straight towards the mountains. The same mountains where the Militia is training with their Kapools.


[] Intercept them as fast as you can.

[] Head them off and confront them near the mines.

[] Find a place to hide behind and try to ambush them.


It might not turn into a fight, but if it does…


Choose 1 of each category.

[] Mobility.
--[] Stay on the ground with the Landskimmers.
--[] Take to the air with the Flight Mode.
--[] Take to the air with the Flight Mode and risk using the Voiture Lumiere.

[] Defenses.
--[] Activate the Lightwave Shield.
--[] Activate the I-Field.
--[] Activate both of them.

[] NT Systems.
--[] Stick to the Psychoframe.
--[] Risk using the NT-D Mode.

[] NT Power.
--[] Telekinetic Strike.
--[] The Pressure of each of the other pilots is faint and undefended, easily bruised a little.
--[] Telekinetic Barrier.
--[] NT Empathy.

[X] Head them off and confront them near the mines.



You get into the White Doll as soon as you reach the Heim manor, climbing into the hand and being deposited into the cockpit within a minute after parking. Since you are taking a roundabout route to head them off near the foot of the mountains you have time you shrug on your blue pilot jacket, leather helmet and nice scarf. If you have to open your cockpit you'll need them to obscure your identity.


There is a pair of waddling Kapools making their way down the mountain when you get there. Their hatches open when you get close, revealing Sochie and Miashei. Fantastic. A warning from the White Doll forces your attention elsewhere.

The WaDoms are here. Time to defuse the situation.

Out of the corner of your eye you can see Sochie and Miashei retreat back into their ball-shaped mobile suits as you have the White Doll passively target the Moonrace mobile suits. No need to spook them before you can open a…comm-channel…

Oh, right…you don't know how to use the comm-equipment…you forgot. Gotta do this the hard way, then.

Ignoring the snickering behind you, you make the White Doll take a step forward only for alarms warning you of missile locks to erupt within the cockpit. You bite back a curse and roundhouse kick the Kapools down the hill so that they are out of the line of fire before charging forward, red lines appearing all over the White Doll's frame.




That roundhouse kick costs you, for the Landskimmer upon the kicking leg doesn't catch the ground properly and sends you spinning out of control. By the time you come to a stop the WaDoms have released a concentrated barrage of missiles at you, many of which hit and cause massive damage to the White Doll's frame.

And then, for a perfect crystalline moment, all your frustration, embarrassment and anger fuel your Pressure as it enters the red lines covering the White Doll. It builds and builds, seeking a target.

Which it finds when your senses lock onto the faint and completely undefended mind of the pilot sitting in one of the WaDoms. Your Pressure rushes forth in the shape of a grotesque shadowy monster and tears into it until it shuts down.

The WaDom falls over, completely inert. You do not sense anyone else in there, so it won't be a factor unless the pilot wakes up (which you find highly unlikely after the beating their mind just took).

Sochie and Miashei's Kapools crest the hill behind you as you bring the White Doll to its feet, concern radiating off them. Sochie's Pressure has a tinge of fear to it directed at the fallen WaDom, she must have sensed what you just did.

The pilot of the other WaDom has yet to resume fire, too busy staring at their fallen compatriot.

Now where were you…




The other WaDom doesn't react until you are almost too close for it to bring its weapons to bear. And that costs it: All but a trio of micromissiles do nothing but tear up the area around you. Yet two of those missiles bypass the White Doll's armor. One blasts another chunk out of its chest whilst the second creates a spiderweb of cracks in the panoramic canopy above your head. Your Pressure bubbles with newfound terror, eager to lash out again as the cockpit fills with new alarms and flashing red lights, but you force it back.

And then you enter close combat. You leap at the WaDom and activate your Beam Saber, which constantly flickers from the ridiculous damage the White Doll has sustained. It flashes trice and the WaDom's arms and head falls away. A swift kick to the larger mobile suit's chest later and it falls flat on its back.

The panicked pilot tries to get upright but freezes when you turn off your Beam Saber and place the claw-like 'fingers' of the White Doll's stumpy right hand around their cockpit. It opens a second later once the pilot figures that you aren't going to crush them, revealing a man in a Dianna Counter uniform holding his arms over his head.




Behind your eyes the restrained Pressure of your attack is churning. You-



[] Unleash it, rendering him comatose.

[] Withdraw your Pressure from the Psychoframe and try to calm down.



As for what to do with the prisoners and the WaDoms…



[] Load the prisoners into the damaged WaDom and let them run. You'll carry the other back to the Dianna Counter.

[] Load the prisoners into the damaged WaDom and let them run. You're keeping the other one.
--[] Keep it as is.
--[] Behead it. Its weapons will only encourage the Militia to break the ceasefire in retaliation.

[] You will take the prisoners back to the Dianna Counter and keep both WaDoms.
--[] Keep them as they are.
--[] Behead the functional one. Its weapons will only encourage the Militia to break the ceasefire in retaliation.

[] You will bring the prisoners to Nocis and keep both WaDoms.
--[] Keep them as they are.
--[] Behead the functional one. Its weapons will only encourage the Militia to break the ceasefire in retaliation.


*********

Telepathic Strike Stats:

Kapool Stats:

SUMO Stats: