Massive reaction post incoming!
Next rung up, ranks 100 to 315. Yeah, there's another internal division around there. Somehow, some of the Valks got it into their heads that the 'triple digits' aren't as hot as the 'double digits'. Ranks 1-99 are now prestigious in a way that ranks 100-315 aren't. So yeah, keeping count? There's already two tiers of snobbery here, Aces ranked 315 and above look down on the ones ranked lower and Aces of rank 99 and above look down on the Aces with rankings in the hundreds. It's breathtaking honestly.
Kind of absurd, but not unexpected, and moreover genre appropriate! I bet people can imagine talking about the gulf between double and triple digits.
Now at the summit of the UN Valkyries you have The Trinity and The Valkyrie above them. Like how the twenty are on a different level to the other aces, these four are undeniably just on a different level above even them. The 'Queens of Silver' and the 'Zero Breaker'.
Those are freaking cool names.
I can absolutely guarantee you that her ability deserves the rank. Also, need to talk to you, stop pretending to be offnet. I know you monitor these comment thread replies IRT.
-Comment by user "Jatayu Sen" (Verified WAN Account, United Nations Armed Forces, Air Force Air Marshal, Valkyrie Ace Rank 2), highest rated response to above comment
The Zero Breaker herself. And she's not offended, so that's neat. And Jatayu Sen is also a cool name.
In fact, you are already the fastest Valkyrie in terms of time needed to enter a teleport, on average, with only a few Aces, who profess to specialise in teleportation, being able to enter a teleport in similar timeframes as you.
I'd guess
specialising allows you to exceed the normal skill cap set by overall skill level in a single area. So they can't raise their stats to 200 generally, being as they aren't Anna, but for Teleportation they can.
Your plates are no longer a pure, cold black, which is a side effect of your Solar Dynamos capturing all the electromagnetic light that landed on you. Now, there is a faint oily iridescence about the edges of the plates, light being distorted around your silhouette by your Energy Dynamos.
Oh, so she looks even more intimidating and creepier. I'm into it.
"Well, you are the number one," Instructor Langston replies, rubbing the back of her helmet, "I mean, I'm not really much at all compared to the Valks in The Twenty and I'm not even a double digit rank anymore. I've really got to push the envelope to even challenge you. Uh, if I want to help, that is."
Well someone here is intimidated. Which is amusing given Anna isn't really part of the whole Rank culture and would find it weird.
Instructor Langston is… a bit odd, you decide. The other Instructors have a certain… poise and confidence in their manner, an ease about them that suggests assurance. Instructor Langston, however, strikes you as a little wobbly in comparison. She seems nervous, almost skittish, in her bearing.
A brief look at her service history reveals that she'd only graduated two years ago, and her first year of deployment in the UN North West theatre was… eventful, including twenty-seven separate encounters with fifteen different Type Zeros. Results of the ensuing conflicts were mixed. Convalescence from injuries resulted in her missing the closing battles of the Great Battle, and she was transferred to UN Oceanic Area, Perth, specifically.
That's a much shorter career than the other Instructors. Was Langston assigned as an Instructor at Perth as a form of vacation? She does seem rather more at ease interacting with her Third Years classes than she was in the recordings you accessed.
On leave due to PTSD or similar it seems. Very heavy combat stint leading to burnout.
Ten layers are dedicated to protecting your expressed components and vital parts of your body, as few of the the latter as there are,
Good old redundant organ systems.
Hmm… maybe calling it a layer was somewhat inaccurate. The sections of your Impeller often intersected and rarely stacked on top of one another in the manner that layers implied.
Blob? Volume? Section? Weave? Perhaps Partition…
What did- hmm, the standard UN terminology was also layer… but then, the standard manner of maintaining multiple layers of Impeller Fields does not bear much resemblance to yours, being an onion like wrapping around the Valkyrie like actual, well, layers…
Partition seems about the perfect term to be honest. And Anna too OP to have normal layered impeller, she has non-euclidean overlapping and intersecting layers. Because Anna.
The battlefield shifts again, and danger zones appear across your vision, impeding your path.
-You can't catch it in time! Time is running out!-
[-00:00:29.00]
-Time is running out!-
[-00:00:28.00]
-Time is running out!-
[-00:00:27.00]
Time is running out.
Yet another reminder that
competing with humans is a recipe for disaster. Anna has flashbacks, and gets confused between sims and reality. And confused with the past and the present. Fighting humans v dangerous.
"A single Corrosion pulse wouldn't have gotten through when I still had Higgs, and you didn't even throw it. I'm okay, I was just really surprised," the Instructor replies with a flippant wave of her hand.
False. On both counts.
So we came very very
very close to killing an instructor there. More caution in the future would be a good idea no? Also is Corruption another name for Closed Space, or is it a separate thing?
You don't react for a moment in surprise. Is she going to brush off the accident just like that?
-We all make mistakes… but you can't afford to, sorry. There's too much here that depends on you-
"I… I can continue," you hesitantly say.
Someone in her past telling her it's unnaceptable to make mistakes ever. Well that definitely didn't screw her up.
"You should join us Instructors for some group exercises on the weekends. Or watch us, at least. It's a good way to distinguish our Higgs use signature with that of the Types. I'd always thought- I mean, given what I've heard about your sensory skills, I… uh- anyway! It's probably more fun than just sitting around in your room."
She has
amazing sensory skills. It's just she's a bit...fucked up in the head. Group excercises sound neat. As long as they aren't Valk-Valk competitive it...
should be alright.
Teleportation; Speed to 200/200 (Mastered).
Energy Equivalency; Precision to 200/200 (Mastered).
Interdiction; Precision to 100/200.
Delicious delicious skill points.
Cold and frigid blue light washes across your vision.
Higgs.
Instructor Langston disappears with a static filled implosion of space as the Higgs assisted teleport bypasses your Interdiction.
So Higgs can just basically let you cheat. Good to know.
"Huh, figures that it would be those two," hums Instructor Langston thoughtfully, "Never thought I'd be even on the same battlefield as Vivas, let alone teach alongside her. Anyways, good luck with that, it was a great honour working with you, thank you. Talk to you later."
Vivas is a badass, news at eleven. Also Langston very much intimidated by the Twenty.
When you are halfway there, beginning your descent back into the lower atmosphere, something
!!!
something
something
happens
The sky drains of colour, shrinking towards a single point in the horizon.
A scream rips through space time, an undulation in the fabric of reality, twisted beyond reason.
Lines stretch to infinity, racing for the other side- but they aren't parallel, conflicting with each other, cancelling with interference-
Your Impeller reactively condenses to opacity, every layer turned to reject the change-
Space snaps back to normality- then it happens again, less intense, spasmodic aftershocks.
What. The fuck. Was that?
So Wave Force kind of terrifying from the outside it seems! This why people scared of you Anna.
Someone else managed-! Emotions surge inside you like a sudden fire igniting inside your body, so intense that you feel dizzy for a moment. Confusion, sharp shock, stunned elation, faint pride, and a fierce anticipation.
OH YESSSSS. This is a
gamechanger. Anna now not the only one who can use WF, even if she's the best at it.
"Oh, hello Anna. I believe we have completed the working draft for your method of using the Wave Force," says Instructor Vivas matter-of-factly as you lay her down and express out your medical module.
Wait, so is the paper
done?
Write paper to allow Valkyries to use Wave Force Manipulation:
Requires ? cumulative Levels in skills under Transcendent Offense (Currently at 1)
That paper? Because if it is...
"Oh, you need not worry about my missing parts," Instructor Vivas says distractedly, "I've got spares."
With that and a flash of white light, Instructor Vivas suddenly has arms again, the skin on the new limbs pale pink compared to her dusky complexion, the raw skin contrasting harshly against blackened and shredded plates of her Valkyrie frame. She tries to get up, b
Not quite as body blase as Anna, but that's pretty close.
Destroyed internal organs, regrown or replaced. Missing limbs, replaced. Various forms of surface trauma, closed. Fatally low blood volume, currently replenishing, likely already prioritised for repair. CNS… completely unharmed, almost certainly protected with the last of her Impeller. However, despite the replacement of the many destroyed or damaged systems, almost every single biological process in her body was malfunctioning. Instructor Washington paces behind you, swearing under her breath continuously.
"You are in severe shock," you inform the Instructor Vivas.
Washington tired of having to deal with crazy valks nearly killing themselves.
There is a moment of silence as you remain kneeling, the sharp panic you felt when you saw Vivas so injured was brief, the Instructor's lackadaisical behaviour deflating the tension before it could really build. Now there is just a nebulous sense of exhaustion seeming to hang over every cell in your body, weighing you down.
This is nonsense is not good for anyone's heart. Of course Anna can just repair it, or however many she has, but still.
"Dali, got inspired when we were reviewing the latest simulator results and sent you a message, but for some reason it failed to go through," the blonde Instructor explains distantly, shucking her helmet and continuing to stare into the distance, at the remains of the Static Wave, "We waited a little, but there was no response… Dali wanted to go through with it. Really should have stop
HMN!
Possibilities!
1) The message was sent at the exact time Anna was doing Corrosion and got lost in transmission
2) Mundane tech screw up
3) Someone
stopped the message going through. Either because they wanted Vivas to die in the attempt to prevent technique propagation, or alternatively they felt Anna would stop the attempt and they were desperate for success.
HMN
"W-we did it, we actually did it. We managed to use your bullshit space hack attack. With just our Impeller. One Valk's Impeller, no need for some Arcology sized megastructure," Washington stutters with a voice thick with emotion, her eyes almost wild on her face, "With a little more work, us, the Three Hundred at least, can now create an effect like the God Gun- like your Wave Force attack. We finally have an answer for all the crap the Zeroes keep throwing our way…"
Fucking
gamechanger.
Washington then looks back at the ordnance testing ground in the distance, now dominated by a tall mushroom cloud as the anomaly finally unravels with a final violent release of ener
Sooooo...on to OTG 508 then?
As you say this, you review the files that Vivas sent you. Most of it is already familiar to you, the various proofs and equations that you and the Instructors worked together on describing the Zeroth, First and Second stages of accessing the Wave Force. The theory work that you were collectively building for the Third stage had been patchwork and incomplete the last you reviewed, but now it is completed. It simply feels right.
You must test this. You have to know it works. All of a sudden, you understand the urge that Vivas and Washington must have felt upon completing the proofs behind the Third Stage.
Holy shit we
did do it! The paper is done! It'll sure as shit take a while for members of the 300 to learn it, but all the same, we've successfully propagated a Type Zero killing attack. Certainly won't have hurt progress on the Ginnungagap cannon either.
You laugh as you ascend away from the Wave, your Impeller regenerating. Joy, exuberance, happiness, glee and every similar positive emotion runs wild through you, you feel giddy.
It worked…
Real Anna fucking pleased as shit. She doesn't have to carry it all herself. She isn't the only one. Fuck this will make a huge difference to the war.
As the space beneath you ripples in and out as each Wave crest exhausts itself, Durga's underlayers slide over your stump and the colouration and texture of the black material change to that of skin. You absently flex your temporary replacement arm as you think about the price for using the Wave Force.
Casually loses a foot of arm. At least she hides it better.
You send back an affirmative ping and return to your deliberations.
"… don't tell me you got Inspired too."
You send back an affirmative ping and return to your deliberations.
"Dammit, don't hurt yourself- well, anymore than you have to."
You send back an affirmative ping and return to your deliberations.
"At least get some distance between… you know what, I'm just going to carry you for a bit."
Why does she always have to deal with the crazy valks?
A faint ache builds in your head. You slow your thought streams to a sustainable level, to suffer a forced interruption would be way worse than a mildly delayed timeline for the resolution of this problem. A very rough timeline puts an estimate for a possible modification to arrive just before the Squadron Vanguard Tournament begins. That issue solved, you return to your deliberations.
Perf.
"Anna, it's now dinner time. If-"
You split your thoughts, putting a part of you in charge of your body to return yourself to the Arcology, while the rest of you continues with the modifications to the Static Wave.
"… Christs sake."
What
is it that makes these valks lose any sense of self-care and leaving her to have to manage them?
Static Wave: 130+150+60(Two special events)+10(Late update conpensation)=350/350
Static Wave Level 1 > Static Wave Level 2:
Expend all available Impeller and take minimal frame damage to deal enormous damage at short range.
We weren't expecting this! But holy shit
YESSSSSSSS.....
As a note, the description of level 1 WF culled from the character sheet is:
Static Wave:
Level 1: Upon success roll, remove all available Impeller Field, all available Higgs and take minimal frame damage to deal enormous damage at Zero range.
Well it's actually identical.
@Avalanche what's the mechanical diff between Lv 1 and Lv 2?
Blue Wave: Expend all available Impeller and take minimal frame damage to deal very heavy damage in a line at any range.
0/1050 for Level 1.
Red Wave: Expend all available Impeller and take minimal frame damage to deal indiscriminate, enormous damage around you
These seem super rad and mega useful.
@Avalanche Another quick question -
Is progress in these
separate to increasing static wave to Level 3,
or do we get to level 3
by mastering both red and blue wave? If the former, when mastered will they automatically improve when we improve static wave, or do they have totally separate levelling tracks?
You unconsciously nod in approval at a quote from a previous class lecture; "Operating deep, you have no resupply. Your ammunition is limited. Your energy is limited. Most of all, your time is limited. For these situations where normal flights of Valkyries would bug out, efficiency is king."
That was how Anna operated for
years. Yeah she approves.
Even you would likely operate in an Element. It's true that you would likely not be attacking any targets that Flights of Elite ranks would targeting
would
be targeting
Your mind immediately jumps to the only one of The Twenty who you've worked closely with, Instructor Dalisay Vivas, rank eight. Part of Type Zero suppression Squadron Last Word alongside with you. Call sign Blue March. As with most of The Twenty, she is a non specialist Valkyrie, or rather more accurately, along with The Twenty, she is a master of all roles. Armed with Exotic Principle Weaponry HongShao from Class C Type Zero Guan Yu, use by Vivas causes interruptions in Antagonist control protocols at long range, causing units to berserk. The Type Zero is suspected to hold a grudge against her for the theft of its unique weapon and the two have met in five separate occasions after their initial encounter over Hawaii. She is also no longer in the infirmary and back to her rather stoic personality, and thoroughly embarrassed about her episode of rambling, which of course Instructors Washington and Park recorded in full.
So Vivas is one of Anna's squadmates! Neat! And she has a freaking cool exotic weapon she stole from a type zero who keeps chasing her to get it back! Also cool! And she's Rank Eight! Also cool! And she went a long drunken ramble when high on meds! Which was recorded! Hilarious!
"Well, well, well, if it isn't the new deity of the Crafting class. Miss Sanchez, can you please disperse your cultists?" shouts out a stressed looking member of the Electronics elective class.
Cultists is unfair surely.
At your name, the entire Crafting elective class, as one, pivot to look at you, like a swarm of hungry fish.
… Nope.
I take it back. Cultists is very fair. Also Crafting class? Tone it the
fuck down. Seriously. You'll only scare Anna off if you keep assaulting her like this.
"I have accessed the designs for the quantum computing matrix, and it is something within my ability to build, though the Crafting class is right in that this would take up some time for me. Firstly, I have to clarify some problems."
The silence is near total now, the Crafting class paying almost rapt attention and Lisa has gone from frowning at you to an open mouthed expression of disbelief.
Crafting 200/100. It's kind of a thing.
"This is absolutely true for directly increasing the mental runtime capacity of the Valkyrie, but no one does that," she dismisses with a wave,
erMM. Not sure you're actually correct there. *Cough*
You consider the answer, considering the mental load reduction when automating the firing of your Heavy Particle Projectors and the offset of using integrated processors…
Impractical. Latency, complexity limits and accuracy.
Anna: You're all scrubs. With your automated weaponry, and your mental load reduction. Just do it all yourself, with your brain like I do. It doesn't take all that long to figure out and you'll only suffer moderate permanent brain damage every time you do it. Who needs memories anyway?
"That's impractical," you say as much, "Including sufficient processing capability for near autonomous usage would max out complexity too fast, time to integrate would increase a lot. Also, the software corrected hypertorus would lead to significant delays when firing in combination modes as the complexity increases exponentially-"
"Wait what." "Combine?" "Exponential increasing in complexity?" "Uh oh."
You raise an eyebrow and express out your Heavy Particle Projectors, combining first into a two by two then a four by one configuration.
"The cannons are meant to combine and separate, the hyperloops entangling increases the power efficiency of the stream multiplicatively."
There is moment of dead silence as the crafting class members look hesitantly at each other.
Crafting Class:...Shit this gon' be harder than we thought.
For a moment, you can't quite process what you are seeing.
On the third level of an ancient apart, it's foyers buried under layers of dark sediment, warm yellow light shines out from a window. Unlike the barren and cold rooms neighbouring it, the windows are still perfectly intact, holding out the water. Floral patterned curtains, tied back by frilly red ribbons, frame the scene through the window. A dining room, a long table set for eight, only one seat occupied.
Instructor Leonhart sits alone and still at the table, slumped forwards on her elbows, looking down at her hands. Steam gently rises up from dishes set in the middle of the table. She glances at the door, then back down again at her clasped hands, otherwise, she is completely still.
…
You leave.
...
Oh.
...
Uh.
So Leonhart used to live there I'm guessing, before the flooding and...
...
That's a lot of empty places.
...
Guess Anna's not the only majorly fucked up combat vet.
Elective classes:
Demolitions: 200/100 (Class Limit Reached) (Mastered) (Innate Skill)
Innate to Target Rich Environment
Electronics: 100/100 (Class Limit Reached)
Innate to Warrior background.
Fishing: 50/50 (Class Limit Reached) (Mastered)
Innate to Warrior background.
Well we didn't get any skill points, but we learned something! Now we can carry on down the list and when we reach the end that's three classes we can knock off the list of things to put time into.
Setsuna however, is now frowning at the two bubbles with dissatisfaction. She almost unconsciously presses the two volumes against her chest before shaking her head rapidly, pushing the technique away from her body and shooting a furtive look over at you and Yukari. The older girl sighs slightly, an amused smile playing around her lips despite the despondent sound.
*cough*
"I've told you before Setsuna, you're perfectly fine, above average, even."
You agree, her Impeller control w
Anna, that's not what...
"Maybe proportionally, but in absolute terms…" mutters Setsuna with a blush, looking down and away.
If in absolute terms referred to the entirety of the UN Valkyries, then yes, she was still lacking in her Impeller techniques.
Anna...
"Though… you aren't the first one to make use of your Impeller in that manner, shall we say. If you decide to prank Koujirou, make sure to record his reaction." Yukari chuckles.
Snrk.
Real Anna tired of
not doing anything useful.
A search reveals that Shuri is also under a Section 55 exemption, due to her circumstances of birth being unknown. As is Zoe Hermann, the other First Year Ace, the records of the hospital she was born at having been lost. In fact… every single Ace ranked cadet in the first and second years at Perth are under Section 55 exemptions, all their birth records apparently having been lost or not up to legal standard.
…
That's interesting.
You're… conflicted about this, a little at least. It's clear that some section of the UN Armed Forces are trying their best to circumvent the laws set in place by the UN Central Government, but is that necessarily a bad thing? You think about your fellow Aces in the First year, Shuri can easily handle herself against almost all Antagonist units and the two of you on a battlefield would undoubtedly reduce casualties suffered, but you're unsure about Zoe. The third first year Ace always performed modestly without too much flash in the records of her on the network. Would you allow them to fight? Was it fair that third year cadets could be called to the battlefield regardless of skill, yet just because you're a few years younger in age you could not be?
Huh! So the UN cheats its own rules when it needs to. Not all that surprising I think that they'd conveniently lose birth records like that.
"A non-combat humanitarian aid mission," you answer, forwarding the message to the two, shooting a curious look Yukari's way. As a Third Year, she should have also received Sandra's message, right?
Yukari's face goes through a range of emotions as you watch on, features twisting into something dark before she seems to deflate, looking crestfallen.
"Combat eligible? So that's how it's going to be," Yukari says flatly.
Not eligible until she gets a clean bill of health from Psych at a guess. Might be standard procedure when a Valk's entire team dies. Survivor's guilt and all that.
"Anna," Yukari almost shouts, reaching up and grabbing you by the shoulders, her face unreadable, then she hugs you.
"Stay safe, please," she says into your chest.
Um.
Um…
Eeep…
"I-I will? Stay s-safe too?" you stutter.
"H-hey onee-sama," cuts in Setsuna, "It's just a construction mission. Besides it's Anna. She isn't going to slip with a hammer and hit her own thumb or anything."
Yukari going to worry. That's just the way it is.
"S-sure, uh, you too" you mutter, averting your eyes and escape out the door.
"Wow Yukari. For such a poignant moment, you two sure can add on the unnecessary romantic undertones," Setsuna says frankly from behind you.
Yukari chokes out a startled laugh, "Setsuna, you watch too much anime."
Or maybe you don't watch enough Yukari.
"Anna? How are you volunteering for the mission?" Sandra asks, sounding concerned,.
"Should I not be?" you respond with a frown. Considering that the original message was from Sandra, you thought you had her agreement for you to leave.
"I…" Sandra hesitates, "You're supposed to be age restricted from receiving missions located in second or third line positions."
Huh! So we completely misunderstood! We thought it was going to be Sandra trying to prove to Anna that she can make a difference when actually she would never have asked Anna to do it.
"I'll meet you onsite at twenty hundred Perth time then, until then, I need to find and break some skulls," Sandra smiles tightly, then leaves the call.
And Sandra's not happy about this moreover! Very interesting.
You take a moment to cycle through the missing Builders, the materials disappearing, the types of transport ships, but find no tells. There is no particular bias for Builder scale, with small, medium and large scale Builder drones all absent from construction projects in similar ratios. Neither is there a particular spike in the types of resources being consumed with whatever is being built, raw materials and processed materials, all that should have been stockpiling with the slowdown in construction work, remaining level in depots across the world. Lastly, the types of missing transportation planes are- wait. You recheck specifications of the transports. The missing transports are all aerospace specification, vacuum operable. Then, that means either orbit, or the moon-
Oh. Of course, the construction of the Ginnungagap cannon complex on Luna's surface.
A weapon that could win the war obviously taking priority when it could save more lives than reconstruction efforts right now. Cold, but logical.
Your maximum Impeller range from expressed frame components is around one hundred meters, but your practical total reach with your Impeller is very easy to increase due to Durga's properties.
Durga's underlayers drip out, thin tendrils of material spreading outward. Using it only to expand your peripheral Impeller range like so, you keep the tendrils thin enough that they should be invisible from the ground. Your range expands until you are encompassing the entire town. You reach down towards the docks with one tendril and you take part of the the construction materials into your storage.
Well that's a very neat trick, and partially explains why Durga has a malleable frame, alongside with eating Antagonists.
There are people playing with your Impeller, children clamber over the invisible pipes, balancing on them and hanging off them like monkey bars, marvelling at the water apparently flowing through thin air then plunging back into the ground. Adults too are taken in by the sight, more than a few outside of their houses staring in bemusement as water seems to just floats through the air to directly enter their household plumbing, whereas the last time they looked a hose had been connected to the port.
Cute.
To your surprise, there are some people, mainly children, who begin playing around as you work, jumping from one piece of furniture to another, pretending there is no floor under their feet. Others again stand on your Impeller and flap their arms, pretending to fly.
You smile, the cheer is really infectious. For a moment, you consider slowing down, but then shunt the thought aside. You might have time for this after you complete the rest of the renovations.
Very cute. Anna likes.
Sandra flies up to you.
"Anna," she beams at you, smile threatening to split her face, her cheeks slightly flushed, "Just amazing work- I could hardly believe- I mean, that is to say-"
Sandra pauses and take a slight breath, "Pardon me, I'm quite lost for words. You're quite simply the most capable Builder I've ever met in person."
"Ah- um, thanks," you mumble, taken aback. Sandra was usually upbeat, but right now she seems outright ecstatic.
Sandra raises a hand over her heart, closes her eyes and take a slight breath, when she reopens her eyes, she's still sunny in her expression, but no longer blindingly so.
"We were all watching your work here in Seosan as we transited here. Simply put, your speed is beyond incredible. Your suggestion to me- it may work. We can give aid to half of the important cases on the Korean peninsula over the mandated mission time alone. I've put forwards the idea to the other volunteers and they have also given consent for the expansion in scope."
They can make a big difference to a lot of people, no wonder Sandra's so happy. Her big schtick is wanting to help people.
"Anna," Sandra messages you, "You should come down too. The people here have all been asking to meet you. They want to thank you for doing so much for them."
You look down, at the cheering people, the smiling faces, the laughter. People here and there glance up at you, confirming you are still overhead, faces hopeful.
… A bout of dizziness hits you, memories, unwanted, rush to the fore of your mind-
"I'll continue working. We can complete work by midnight tonight."
"Anna…" Sandra trails off.
Sandra guessing at some stuff here. And Anna...just not equipped to deal with a situation so similar to one she's been in before. Not given how that one ended.
Seosan. Sinchon. Kangso. Kaechon. Dalian. Tianci. Jixi.
Seven days and seven towns, some in a similar state to Seosan, some worse off. Every one of them now almost gleaming. Cheering crowds left behind at the departure of your team every time.
Seven towns. Combined population, a hair over two hundred thousand people.
Well Frag that's a lot of people.
"If those towns are to come under attack, my presence would help," you object.
"It's not so simply,"
simple
"You won't be. You'd never refuse a request to engage in battle and they- the other Valkyries might care about you, but that machine, STRATNET, it won't," Sandra leans forward, tone almost pleading, "You'll be deprived. Deprived of your humanity. Of your freedoms. Living a life set and regimented by others."
Anna: So...you're saying I won't lose anything?
Also Sandra has issues with STRATNET.
"I'm not here to-" your word stick in your throat, -run away, Anna. Do other, normal things. Live a childhood that I never could give you. Live on and be happy, please. You understand me right? You've always protected her. Will you remind her?-
Well that's revealing. Anna's Mom asking Durga to try and help Anna have the life that was stolen from her by circumstance.
"I- I would rather lose some freedoms than have other people dying on my watch," you say hesitantly. Where… where was that memory from, it's so vivid, but you don't… whispers from the grave.
Anna has a bad history with this shit. Real Anna knows a little more.
"Not every Valk is a that good,"
Unnecessary A there.
"That's - that relies on the premise of vulnerability. If it is combat ability, then there is no way I am lacking. You know how much I can do. After that simulation in North America, you said," you hesitate for a moment, dredging up the unclear memories, "You said we influenced the Alaskan Offensive, greatly."
"How many people might be saved in the future?" you ask Sandra, waving your arms at the merrily blinking lights of Jixi in the distance.
Sandra looks out to the town and back to you several times, her mouth opening several times in false starts.
Somehow I think that that isn't the message Sandra wanted Anna to get from what she said. She's probably regretting her approach now, given Anna's response.
"Why- why do you want to- fight so much?" Sandra finally chokes out, her face scrunching in anguish, eyes glimmering in the moonlight, too upset to continue using comms, "I have always, always been trained to look at the greater picture, but- but I don't want my friends to die."
You rock back on your heels in shock as you watch Sandra's composure crumble.
"You- not just you. Why does the UN desire you on the front so? That machine, STRATNET, is always demanding you be placed right on the African front, at the Gates of Hell itself. The Type Zeroes there, they- they- You'll die. Or you'll be maimed until you can't even remember your past, your friends, who you were," you flinch, but Sandra continues, tear trails faintly shining down her face, "No Ace lasts longer than a quarter there without injury. That thing wants you there on permanent station."
Sandra defs not fond of STRATNET, and whilst she doesn't know everything, she clearly has pretty has access privileges. And Sandra, everything you're worried about happening to Anna...well, it's a bit late for that.
Sandra smiles sadly up at you, then steps forwards and hugs you.
…urk.
She isn't letting go.
You awkwardly pat her back in return.
At that, Sandra wordlessly steps back, for a moment she looks up into your face. Before she takes a larger step back and turns around.
"In time, what you find to be absolutely necessities might change, Anna. For you, I hope they do."
…What did that mean?
Anna not currently in a position to really understand what Sandra's saying here. Not yet at least.
"But of course, they're too intimidated to talk to you two themselves so I got press ganged into this, cause 'I come up to your knees instead of only your toes' or something silly," Syifa suddenly announces loudly. Over near the cafeteria entrance, there is a squeak of alarm and you see Cadet Cato duck back around the corner.
Snrk. Cute and amusing.
"Since we in Squadron Four only have one Enlisted rank competing, with both our Aces sitting out," she continues in a normal voice, giving both of you a bemused smile, "Rachel back there thought that a good way to spice things up would be have you two commentate."
Uhhhhh. Not sure how well that would work.
Anna: Red team cadet executes an excellent shift and ambush, which is appalling because we must never attack humans. Blue team cadet responds with a fantastic thruster burn and counterattack with melee halberd. Which is horrific, because we must never attack humans.
Onium Batteries Repaired: Allows for additional storing of energy. Can serve as projectiles when charged. Serving as projectiles results in destruction of component. Can serve as reactive armour. Serving as reactive armour results in destruction of component.
- Alpha Strike: Allows for an incredibly powerful attack from an energy weapon at the start of a battle against an appropriate target. Currently, only your Heavy Particle Projectors can channel an Alpha Strike without taking component damage.
Aww yeaas. Also HPPs prove their continuing superiority to her other guns in literally every way.
Energy Dynamos Repaired: Absorb kinetic energy for storage. Can be used to mitigate moderate amounts of damage from projectile weaponry.
Very nice.
You have sampled all food available in the cafeteria.
Objective complete.
+Possible Avenue of Research; Group Skills;
#Group skills are restricted to the average between the highest and lowest skilled of the Synchronised Impeller Field:Group Teleport:Group Gate:Group Interdiction:Group Waveforce Manipulation:
Whilst the group skills seem very interesting, I think our first priority should be on completely maxing the four Advanced Impeller skills that serve as precursor to Wave Force. They're very powerful on their own, and influence the effectiveness of WF as well. Once those four are maxed we can work on broadening our skillset some.
Despite the address of the initial mission offer from the UNHCR under Sandra's name, it's clear whatever actual criteria it was sent under did include Shuri or Zoe, despite both the other two eligible for the same section fifty five exception you have.
Given the way the sentence reads I think this was meant to be 'did
not include Shuri or Zoe'
Man. I really hope we can revisit the choice and have Anna reactivate her systems
Eh, I'm pretty alright with it.
