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Petals of Carbon Steel -- You're a Pilot, Not an Ace. Try your best.

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Steelhooves said:
And now I wonder who is the viewpoint character in the no doubt thrilling Gundam like we are undoubtedly a part of?
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The enemy ace is a scared teenage girl fighting for Earth against a rebellion that consists of pirates, foreign spies, and a horrific experiment to produce the Ultimate Mecha Pilot.

Not only are we ordinary cannon fodder, we're a bomber on our way to disable a repair station so that our frigate, previously disguised as a civilian ship, can destroy said teenager's mothership while it is in dock, along with all her friends.

EDIT: Ninja's by the OP, I'm almost honored
 
Steelhooves said:
And now I wonder who is the viewpoint character in the no doubt thrilling Gundam like we are undoubtedly a part of?
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I don't think it could be The Kid, on account of them having been put into a trauma episode right after the start. Now maybe the story starts at a future date and this is backstory to be revealed later, but typically you would try to build up some momentum and familiarity before going into an arc about how horrified they are, because it takes established character depth to get much out of those. My own suspicion is that-
Gazetteer said:
Mari, the kid flying the enemy prototype, is meant to be in the role of a fairly standard Gundam protagonist. That's why people keep joking about how our ace should have a mask.
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Oh, huh... Well still, my own suspicion is that this is a bit of an ensemble cast. It flicks around through lots of viewpoints. So the trauma bit with the main character can angst a whole lot but it is diluted enough that it doesn't bog the narrative. Much like in Evangelion and Gundam Wing where the main character was... somewhat of an impediment to characterisation and plot, but the story could continue without them. The captain of the enemy ship has probably gotten a lot of screentime, likely featuring the pilot who was supposed to be flying the prototype. And a few looks into the bridge bunnies to let the audience care about the people on the other side of the talkybox and the build up the drama for when they all get spaced.
 
[X] There is a surprise complication in compromising the defence array

In the hopes that this has the least chances of Jay dying. Id rather not go through that again.
 
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Okay, so, calling the vote here! Pretty clear winner.

Redhead222 said:
not sure Why but this pic give me a asian fibe
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Himegami Kana is an extremely Japanese name (among other things).
Adhoc vote count started by Gazetteer on Jul 10, 2020 at 5:45 PM, finished with 49 posts and 34 votes.
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With a name like that and her personalit, as a kid it would not surprise me if she was full Chuun, evil eye and everything.
 
If I'm being honest I've always imagined kana in the art style your pfp has, and with a sort of short ponytail-braid-bun combo. I don't know why my mind decided that, but the actual pic solidifies a lot of murky things with the character.

Still imagine Pennants looking like Graze frames from Gundam, btw, it just fits so well.
 
Kell of Snow said:
Still imagine Pennants looking like Graze frames from Gundam, btw, it just fits so well.
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It's a pretty decent aesthetic approximation. The Geirail, also from IBO, is another good touchstone there, with its more rudimentary, industrial vibe. Not 100% like either of them, but I definitely had that look in mind when describing them.
 
I always imagined her to look more severe.

Like, seriously, dunno where I pulled it out from, but, for example "sharp cheekbones". Unkind smiles creating an impression that she's definitely laughing at and not with you. That kind of thing.

Compared to my mental image, Kana looks rather friendly.
 
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Update 016: Defenders
  • Threadmarks
    • The enemy mecha shows features you didn't see last time: 20

    There is a surprise complication in compromising the defence array: 10

    The enemy mecha has reinforcements you don't expect: 4

    Dear mom and dad:

    If you see this, I died, because I'm sure not showing it to you otherwise. Sorry, I guess. I did my best, okay? I did my best for everyone, no matter how bad it got. I hope everyone knows that. I hope it was enough.

    Do you remember that stupid ride? That's one that Shuu wanted to go on so badly, but he needed someone with him, and you two were busy? The one that went like... a million kilometres an hour, and turned you upside down like five or ten times. I hated doing that. I had a huge knot in my stomach the whole wait, and then actually     doing it was terrifying. But I didn't want Shuu to feel bad, so I pretended I was alright. I was the big sister, so it had to be me. And if it had to be me... why make him or anyone else upset? Better if it's just me.

    That's what this is like... only with guns, and mechas, and fighting, and praising the emperor's name, and killing people. But I have to keep going — it has to be me. I'm so tired. I wish the rebels would just go home and stop doing this.

    — Recorded by Tanaka Mari, probationary Divine Navy cadet aboard the HDMS Sunspot    ​

    "Cam and I will keep our distance and support where we can, but... That thing closes with us, we're fucking dead." Ryan's voice is strangely calm over squad comm.

    "It won't get near you, or anyone else. I'll handle it." Jay Tham's voice is flatly resolute. He's sick of seeing teammates die to this monster prototype, while he can do nothing to stop it. Never, ever again, he promises himself for what feels like the thousandth time. The shit he was put through as a child doesn't have to have had a point, there doesn't have to be a reason beyond dumb luck that he survived it when so many didn't. But is it too much to ask that it at least be enough for this?

    "For Zhìháo. And Sails, and Sunny." There's a savagely brittle edge to Cam's voice that Jay's not used to hearing from her. He's not sure he likes it... but he can't really blame her.

    "That's the plan," he tells her. Then hits the Hecate's maximum thrust, hurtling through space to meet the enemy prototype.

    Even though Jay knows how fast this thing is — he's seen the recordings — he's still startled by the way it redirects its trajectory so flawlessly, slowing its speed just the right amount to blunt the impact of his cutter strike against its own blade. The strange twin-camera array stares at Jay from out of his display, for all the world like baleful eyes for a brief instant, before the two machines both explode into motion again.

    The monster doesn't stay on the defensive. It disengages, circling beneath him like a ghost, and if he were an unmodified human, he's not sure he'd have spun downward in time to block it. His counterstroke aims for its swordarm... but the monster has already faded away again: It's not just a fast machine. Its pilot's reaction times are downright uncanny — they're matching Jay's own.

    Jay is connected directly into his machine through a cybernetically augmented nervous system and a specially designed suit medium. His body is hanging slack in its harness, his mind bridging the gap with the Hecate's systems themselves. He moves the mecha with a thought. Its responses are his own responses. He's fought opponents with similar abilities to his own before... but not since the project ended. Not since sparring with his sisters. A fresh, icy dread drops into his stomach, even as he and the prototype clash and come apart again and again, space spinning wildly around them.

    Just who is in that cockpit? It has to be one of them. Nine, Fifteen, Twenty-Seven... Thirty-Two would explain a lot, but he rules her out immediately. Thirty-Two moves through a fight with a casual grace, taking each life with all the dispassionate catharsis of crushing a bug. Whoever is piloting this thing is all raw emotion, whatever her skill. Jay blocks a strike to his torso, twists aside from a hail of close-range gunfire, and mentally hammers 'open comm request'. For a moment, he's afraid she won't pick up. Then...

    "What do you want?" The voice is feminine, shaky with fear or exhilaration, and to his intense relief and confusion, he doesn't recognise it.

    "Who are you?" Jay demands, his inexpressive voice struggling to convey the depth of the reaction.

    It — she — lunges for him, cutter extended like a spear. Jay darts up and out of the way, and she's chased back by supporting fire from Cam and Ryan in their Lancers. "You follow us here and attack us again, and now you're asking me questions?" Her voice goes a little shrill near the end of that.

    "... How old are you?" Jay asks, heart sinking again for an entirely different reason.

    "It doesn't matter how old I am!" the enemy pilot snaps with a defensive tone that confirms all his worst suspicions. "I'm defending my ship and my friends!"

    That pierces Jay's dismay at her age. "Do you know how many of my friends you've killed?"

    "You attacked us!"

    "You're serving the Holy Empire. Of course we attacked you."

    "You're rebels — terrorists! Don't you know you're making everything worse for everyone else? The Empire isn't perfect, but fighting isn't the answer!" Said with all the sophomoric conviction in the world.

    Jay feels extremely tired just listening to it. "You don't understand how the world works, girl. But it's not my job to teach you better." Jay's job is to keep everyone else safe. The next time they clash, with her momentarily pinned down, he releases the Hecate's drones. Comparatively small shapes fly out of its three modified missile pods and into space beyond. Even as he focuses most of his attention on the fight directly, in the back of his head he's ordering the drones to converge on her, surrounding the prototype. "I'm sorry, but this is it."

    The drones begin to fire in sequence, laser emitters flashing blindingly in space as they attempt to sear through her armour in a dozen different places, holding it for long enough that something should have given way. Instead... nothing. A slight discolouration of the prototype's armour, but she swats aside half the drones with a brilliant flash of her cutter, firing at him with anti-mecha rounds in the same motion. "An anti-laser coating?" Jay has never heard of any such coating that's been reliable enough for this kind of battlefield usage.

    Okay, so, no drones.

    /////PoCS\\\\\

    The last defence platform blows, sending an almost sickening sense of relief through you. You've torn a ragged hole in the sphere of protection created by the station's defence array, one large enough to admit the Esther Strova.

    Squad C is still engaging the prototype. None of them are dead, but they don't seem to be making any real headway. Helping Squad C isn't your task for the moment, though. Rather, yours is the False Verdant, the enemy ship that's still struggling to free itself from Dzomo Station in time to come to bear on the Esther. They won't have time — your ship's main gun opens up, the railgun round slamming into the False Verdant's shields with a visible flare of light. You almost feel bad for them.

    In truth, though, most of your pity is reserved for the civilian citizens of Dzomo itself. There's no chance that this station is going to get out of this without taking any hits. Not with a full-blown skirmish happening right on its doorstep. You can only hope that nothing too catastrophic happens. Their interior defences are light enough to barely be a factor. This situation can still end badly for you, though. There's no room to get overconfident.

    "Status?" Kitty asks.

    "Right leg's a little bit fucked, maybe," says Azara. "Hole blown in the armour on my right forearm, but it's still moving fine. Other than that, I'm golden."

    "Light damage to various parts, nothing critical," you report, for once with no snark.

    "Good. Move out ahead of the Esther, on me," Kitty orders.

    "Sure thing!" says Azara.

    "Right, Squad," you add. The three of you fly in loose formation, heading straight for the enemy ship. One way or another, this is all going to be over soon.

    Article:
    What consequences are avoided?

    Pick three. Use plan voting. There will be at least a 12 hour voting moratorium here, to give people a chance to hash that out — I'll reopen the vote tomorrow/later today.


    [ ] The civilian station doesn't take critical damage
    [ ] The enemy mecha doesn't get away
    [ ] The enemy ship doesn't get away
    [ ] None of your pilots are killed or seriously wounded
    [ ] Nothing belonging to your side breaks that can't be fixed
     
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    • Effectively we can lose nothing. Or we can trade losses to deny the enemy assets.
    For me it feels thematic to lose equipment on our side. I am feeling taking out the mecha in exchange for our group having things broke that can't be fixed.
    That or we can have this mission go sideways completely as well and lose the civilian infrastructure instead...
     
    Omegahugger said:
    Wow, pick three? Why, that's suspiciously generous.
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    Yeah, but look at those options. They're all real critical, in different ways.

    EDIT: agreeing with Guilop here too, a civilian space station going up during a fight is almost perfect propaganda to cement us as terrorists, regardless of the truth. Coupled with a critical loss of life, and presumably a large part of the Jovian chain of trade disrupted with the loss of a station, there's no plan I can see that lets the station explode.
     
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    Just remember, we're not even halfway through the quest if the previous one is any indication.
    If we start ( continue ) losing equipment and people now, by the end of it we're gonna do Titanium Rose Redux, if we are lucky.

    Better equipment than people, I guess, but where would we get more of it later?
     
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