I will admit, learning that the Westphalians have literal teleportation technology was a hell of a coup. It explains how they can smuggle shit.
And also all but proving they've got dudes in a high ranking position in the Air Force, given how they have the TMUs before they've been fully rolled out--and long enough that they've already modded them successfully is telling.
I will admit, learning that the Westphalians have literal teleportation technology was a hell of a coup. It explains how they can smuggle shit.
And also all but proving they've got dudes in a high ranking position in the Air Force, given how they have the TMUs before they've been fully rolled out--and long enough that they've already modded them successfully is telling.
Than again, We already suspected that the Westphalian's had the military infiltrated. Mostly the Air force. This only proves it so we can back track any TMU salvage we take and find out where it come and hopefully put some of them behind bars. Yes Yes I know this is going to be an intel job.
0957, 22 June A.D. 2073 Derelict Oil Platform Airspace
"Out of the way!"
The Thunderbolt bolted through the air in a rush of displaced air, throwing the opposing V-33s aside as if they were bowling pins. All around her, the sky was awash with flack and missile contrails as Jessica wrenched the controls through the flickering airspace. The faceplate of the Thunderbolt was set in a grimace, 'teeth' exposed in a clench as she batted aside or simply tanked the bullet rounds. The aura of the C-Crystal flickered on various points of her K-Suit in time with the impacts, her mind abstracting it as stinging little pinpricks slowing her down from her target -
- namely, whatever this thing was.
What had started as a airline freighter of...sorts had turned into a giant monstrosity that still somehow remained aloft. The Westphalian thing - and there was no doubt it was Westphalian given how kludged together it all looked - glared back at her, with five monocular cameras glimmering in the sunlight as machinegun rounds and bursts of flak erupted from its body. The entire superstructure of the robot was humanoid, but only in the roughest sense - loose strands of wires and cables connecting between its limbs and hydraulics forced to reconfigure into a new shape gave the flying monstrosity a sense that whoever had built this was coming closer, but not really.
Well, this guy's got all of the guns. But! With a burst of air still crackling with static electricity, Jessica grinned as she pushed forward, far beyond where she felt the airmech could readjust its gunports. This thing can't beat me in close combat! With a roar, Jessica reared her fist back, the Thunderbolt matching her movements in roughly 1:1. She was about to end this fight before it could begin-!
But clearly the designer of this thing had other plans.
With a speed belying its sheer bulk, Jessica found herself disoriented as an enormous fist backhanded her, sending her careening down into the water. She felt the Thunderbolt skip onto the surface once, twice, then not at all as the twin turbine engines spun up, creating a momentary funnel of water as she propelled herself back up into the air.
The cargo mech was facing her, all five optics glaring down at her as the massive metal hand that had backhanded her extended its fingers - before they all then folded in on themselves, revealing five sharp blades. Despite how slowly it was now moving through the air, its arm motions seemed far quicker than they should have been able to move - and all the while, its weapons were still independently targeting the First Wing's V-33s, forcing them to take more evasive maneuvers than outright finishing the mech's own escorts.
"Tch. Okay, let's try this again!"
With another burst of displaced air, the Thunderbolt charged upwards to live up to its namesake yet again.
<Heads up!>
Ichiro ducked down as a rocket salvo slammed into the walls behind him. The structure seemed to shudder and creak in protest from the abuse it was now being subjected to, and he didn't fancy his chances with letting that thing continue to fire at him and miss. "Ocular, what am I looking at?" he called out as he made a mad dash for the next crumbling structure, firing a few snapshot blaster bursts at the frigate hybrid.
<Most of its weapons are mounted on its forearms and torso now!> He could feel the Legionnaire's analysis overlay itself over his vision. <There's more on there I'm not seeing just yet though,> he warned. <Whatever programming's on there is going to realize it can't get to you as is, so->
Ocular's analysis was cut off as Ichiro stepped around the corner, cannon arm aimed - only for him to lower it momentarily as he saw two enormous spiked legs stab onto the pier. Laboriously, one spiked leg extended forwards, stabbing further 'inland' and dragging the rest of the vessel offshore, where yet more pairs of similarly spiked legs were emerging.
"Okay, I thought Sam broke the rules of physics here." Ichiro's optics narrowed as he saw more of the rocket pods on the thing's forearms. The 'prow' of the frigate had more of the smaller high explosive gun mounts present, and he knew for a fact that those arms it was carrying around had a lot of power behind them...
But as more of Ocular's analysis passed through his HUD, he had a feeling that for all its power, this thing didn't exactly have reach beyond its long ranged weapons.
"You'll like this one, Ocular." Ichiro grinned - he'd been wanting to try this ever since he learned Lana had been working on it. "Time to give this thing a kick in the ass." Literally, if he could pull this off.
The C-Crystal embedded in his chest flared in time with his optics, reddish-pink overlapping with dark purple. "BUSTER ARMOR!"
"Missiles!" The Thunderbolt erupted in a stormcloud of contrails as various missile ports launched furious salvo after salvo at the giant, with Jessica not far behind as she swerved from beneath.
Yet the giant seemed to pivot midair, its own jet turbine engines firing rapidly to reorient itself to ensure its front was always facing her. And whatever weird mechanism was ensuring its ginormous arms could move with uncanny speeds to keep up, her strikes - just like this one as her fist glanced against its now quite-dented, but still sturdy, forearm guard - were constantly being deflected, leaving her open to a potential counterattack.
Yet as she simply rebounded, crashing into its guard yet again while also ducking past a swipe of its clawed arm, she knew her constant efforts were having one positive effect: it was entirely focused on her.
More and more of the stolen V-33s were dropping like flies, with large plumes of smoke falling into each machine's death spiral as the First Wing made good on rallying after that unfortunate surprise. Additional gunfire emerging from the oil platform itself, from the few Jackals who couldn't descend into the depths lending their own firepower to the ongoing fight. Very little of it was accurate, but even this small addition was making its weight felt.
Forcing herself back, Jessica weighed her options. The C-Crystal pulsed in response to her racing thoughts as she shook her arm free of the residual soreness she was feeling, before slamming her palm into a fist. "Alright. You've got a pretty good guard going. But!"
The C-Crystal flared as a determined grin crossed Jessica's face.
"I've got you now. You're going down!"
Ichiro had been expecting the new armor and protection.
He hadn't expected the extra power to his servos!
The Buster Armor combined with his form with no fuss. The chestplate locked onto his torso right as his arms and legs slotted into the Sledder's gauntlets and boots. His vision expanded as the helm slid over his head, the V-shaped sensor slotting onto his forehead as the faceguard slid over his mouth.
And more power lent themselves to his servos as he sprinted around. Objectively, he was slower than uncombined. But there was so much more strength to his motions as he felt himself leaping across an entire holding yard, the backwash of his motion sending smaller vehicles careening off into the water. It did feel weird to have his cannon slot into the 'backpack' unit behind him, but he'd just have to get used to it.
With a leap up into the air, made so much simpler with the extra provided power, Ichiro's augmented fist slammed down, colliding with the frigate hybrid's own. There was a mighty crack!, and a momentary contest of strength, before Ichiro broke contact. His arms rose up in a crossguard as more rockets impacted against him, but despite the hammerblows, the armor held even as the two front spiked legs rose up to try and stab him in the back -
- and Ichiro was already pushing his leg servos as hard as he could, trying to get around the hybrid. The upper torso was spinning around slowly, desperately trying to reorient the entire vessel's body around as small gunports independently spun to track and fire on him as best they could. But his own clashes were telling him that despite the firepower fitted into something like this, even he was more maneuverable than it, and with far firmer support than this thing could boast.
<Ichiro! Got an idea!>
"Same!" Ichiro's voice sounded slightly different, feeling a little deeper with the mask on. "Let's take this thing down!"
QM Note: Leadup to the final post for this fight. Both Jessica and Ichiro have found what they think are ideal ways to take down their respective foes. How do they pull it off?
[] It may hold solid in the air - but how about a localized water spout? Lean into the Thunderbolt's speed and power over wind, drown it in swirling waters before smashing it!
[] It only has been fast enough to deal with the Thunderbolt in Super Robot mode - is it fast enough to deal with its alt-form? Slam into it with the gunship!
[] Write-In
[] Those legs of it can't be that sturdy. Smash them, and then finish it off!
[] Strike at it from the flank - a point blank blast from the supercharged cannon will send it packing!
[] Write-In
[X] It may hold solid in the air - but how about a localized water spout? Lean into the Thunderbolt's speed and power over wind, drown it in swirling waters before smashing it!
[X] Strike at it from the flank - a point blank blast from the supercharged cannon will send it packing!
Yet more reasons to research the friction reducing chemicals it seems if it allows giant bulks like a Boeing sized mech to be able to react to Jessica.
Having something big of our own with fast windup would be an unholy terror.
[X] It may hold solid in the air - but how about a localized water spout? Lean into the Thunderbolt's speed and power over wind, drown it in swirling waters before smashing it!
[X] Strike at it from the flank - a point blank blast from the supercharged cannon will send it packing!
[X] It may hold solid in the air - but how about a localized water spout? Lean into the Thunderbolt's speed and power over wind, drown it in swirling waters before smashing it!
[X] Write-In: We break ships by breaking their keels, and this one's no exception. Slide underneath it and give it a point-blank supercharged blast to the belly, and if it tries to raise legs to stab at us, shoot out the other ones to topple it!
[X] It may hold solid in the air - but how about a localized water spout? Lean into the Thunderbolt's speed and power over wind, drown it in swirling waters before smashing it!
[X] Those legs of it can't be that sturdy. Smash them, and then finish it off!
[X] It may hold solid in the air - but how about a localized water spout? Lean into the Thunderbolt's speed and power over wind, drown it in swirling waters before smashing it!
[X] Strike at it from the flank - a point blank blast from the supercharged cannon will send it packing!
[X] It may hold solid in the air - but how about a localized water spout? Lean into the Thunderbolt's speed and power over wind, drown it in swirling waters before smashing it!
[X] Those legs of it can't be that sturdy. Smash them, and then finish it off!
[X] It may hold solid in the air - but how about a localized water spout? Lean into the Thunderbolt's speed and power over wind, drown it in swirling waters before smashing it!
[X] Strike at it from the flank - a point blank blast from the supercharged cannon will send it packing!
[X] It may hold solid in the air - but how about a localized water spout? Lean into the Thunderbolt's speed and power over wind, drown it in swirling waters before smashing it!
Let's see if the inventors have remembered the number one rule of cartoon inventing - always waterproof your machines!
[X] Write-In: We break ships by breaking their keels, and this one's no exception. Slide underneath it and give it a point-blank supercharged blast to the belly, and if it tries to raise legs to stab at us, shoot out the other ones to topple it!
Get into its blind spot, and break its back like a torpedo to the keel. Just make sure it doesn't bury us afterward.
[X] It only has been fast enough to deal with the Thunderbolt in Super Robot mode - is it fast enough to deal with its alt-form? Slam into it with the gunship!
THUNDER BIRD, CRASH!
[X] Strike at it from the flank - a point blank blast from the supercharged cannon will send it packing!
[x] It only has been fast enough to deal with the Thunderbolt in Super Robot mode - is it fast enough to deal with its alt-form? Slam into it with the gunship!
[x] Those legs of it can't be that sturdy. Smash them, and then finish it off!
Was thinking of the repercussions, diving into a mass of stabbing legs (how many legs does this thing have anyway?), risk of it falling on Ichiro after blasting it away... but you know what, it gets us into its blind spot, and even if it doesn't win, it's too cinematic of an idea! Changing my vote to the following, with a little bit of both:
[]Write-In: We break ships by breaking their keels, and this one's no exception. Slide underneath it and give it a point-blank supercharged blast to the belly, and if it tries to raise legs to stab at us, shoot out the other ones to topple it!
[X] It may hold solid in the air - but how about a localized water spout? Lean into the Thunderbolt's speed and power over wind, drown it in swirling waters before smashing it!
[X] Write-In: We break ships by breaking their keels, and this one's no exception. Slide underneath it and give it a point-blank supercharged blast to the belly, and if it tries to raise legs to stab at us, shoot out the other ones to topple it!
[X] It may hold solid in the air - but how about a localized water spout? Lean into the Thunderbolt's speed and power over wind, drown it in swirling waters before smashing it!
[X] Strike at it from the flank - a point blank blast from the supercharged cannon will send it packing!
[X] It may hold solid in the air - but how about a localized water spout? Lean into the Thunderbolt's speed and power over wind, drown it in swirling waters before smashing it!
Let's see how it's intakes like a sudden drink of seawater.
[X] Write-In: We break ships by breaking their keels, and this one's no exception. Slide underneath it and give it a point-blank supercharged blast to the belly, and if it tries to raise legs to stab at us, shoot out the other ones to topple it!
[X] It may hold solid in the air - but how about a localized water spout? Lean into the Thunderbolt's speed and power over wind, drown it in swirling waters before smashing it!
[X] Strike at it from the flank - a point blank blast from the supercharged cannon will send it packing!
[x] It only has been fast enough to deal with the Thunderbolt in Super Robot mode - is it fast enough to deal with its alt-form? Slam into it with the gunship!
[x] Those legs of it can't be that sturdy. Smash them, and then finish it off!
I had an idea for the next brain wave artificial intelligence being that we make. Why not use the Intel lady who'd name I forget, as a template like we did with sasaki and devlin?
I had an idea for the next brain wave artificial intelligence being that we make. Why not use the Intel lady who'd name I forget, as a template like we did with sasaki and devlin?
You mean Anna Smith? Well, AFAIK, she's only our liaison and point of contact with EUDF Intelligence, and not directly under our employ. We'd probably have to negotiate with her superiors to get permission, unless she volunteers. And while she is peppy, cheerful and irreverent, I'm not sure if that extends to going that far out of her way for us.
I presume you intend this AI to be a digital infiltrator of sorts, which would come in handy in the future dealing with the Westphalians and maybe Chimaira (though Delphi probably has that in hand), so if we do want a new AI, we'll probably need to do some favor-trading with Intelligence.
