Deployment #2: Defense of Naval Base San Diego, Dragonslayer
- Location
- USA
0928, 28 November A.D. 2071
Drydock Vicinity
"Arc Blade!"
On command, from a holster mounted in the back, a mecha-sized sword shot up into the air, spinning clockwise as gravity pulled it back down to Earth. Into one waiting hand, Richard caught the sword by the hilt and held it at the ready with a double grip. The Arc Blade looked...exactly as you would expect. Aside from currents of electricity criss-crossing along the blade's edge, it looked similar enough to the "hand and a half" swords from yesteryear.
A pity Richard had no idea how to use a sword. That lesson was supposed to be coming up this week! Even if he had no idea if Sam's method of instruction from 'the Followers of Flynn' would be any good or not.
Focus, he chastised himself, and time to look stupid and sound stupid. He willed the Timberwolf to charge, the Arc Blade held high above his head as he moved to chop off the Dragon's horn. Richard liked to think he looked like the heroes of old charging into battle, but he knew he probably looked more like some crazed movie set extra with an oversized prop.
Swinging as hard as the servos could give him, Richard brought down the blade with - what he hoped - enough force to slice off the horn-
-only for that particular ambition to be denied as the strange scales protecting the Dragon shifted, deflecting what could have damaged the horn into a glancing strike. Richard felt the jarring sensation through his bones as the Arc Blade was thrown off into the air, where it plunged into the harbor's waters.
Yet it didn't seem like a total loss; the energy building up around the horn sparked and flared violently, as if whatever concentrated buildup that was there was smacked into a wall. The Dragon shook its head violently and once again let out a deafening roar, but Richard didn't seem to be in any further danger.
Okay, Plan B then.
"Inferno Mode!" Richard shouted, smashing both fists together. "IGNITION!"
He felt a dull warmth spread across his fists, a strange sensation when he could see the Timberwolf's forearms alight in violently flickering flames. Clenching his fists once, then twice, to make sure nothing was amiss, Richard gave a manic grin. "Alright, Big Ugly," Richard said as he raised both arms, miniature firestorms whirling about his arms in anticipation. Jabbing once, then twice with his left before mimicking a right hook, he roared, "Let's go!"
0933, 28 November, A.D. 2071
Pegasus Command Bridge
"W-what is he doing?" Ivanna exclaimed.
"He's charging at the Dragon head-on," Diana said faintly. "Is he mad?"
Haruko noticed the only one of the AI sisters who hadn't commented was Lana. If anything, the Engineer seemed to have a manic smile that mirrored the one worn by the Timberwolf's pilot. "Do you know something we do not?" Haruko asked.
"You all don't give the strength servos in the Shepherd's frame nearly enough credit," Lana said, still wearing that grin on her face. "Sure, it can't lift a weight like the kaiju's for very long-"
"-wait, lift what!?" Diana yelled.
"-but it doesn't have to," Lana continued as if she weren't interrupted. "Get 'em, lieutenant!"
And to Haruko's incredulous sight, as both combatants smashed into each other from a running start, the Timberwolf's fiery arms grasped at the torso of the Dragon.
And began to lift it.
"What."
The damage control chief - and the rest of her crew - just stared dumbly at a sight they would all carry to their graves.
Even combined as it was, the Super Robot wasn't that large compared to the kaiju. Yet for all the size difference, the Super Robot's arms - which were inexplicably on fire and even then burning large gouges into the flesh it grasped into - slowly, ever so slowly, but surely began to lift the kaiju over its head.
Looking for all the world like a professional wrestler, the Chief didn't think the imagery could get any more ridiculous or awe inspiring. The pilot proceeded to prove her wrong by letting gravity do half the work for him - and forcefully dropped the kaiju's back straight onto its knee.
"Ow."
Richard winced as he felt however-million tons of kaiju drop onto its knee. Or, more appropriately, however-million tons plus the shifting scales that seemed to move anytime he tried to punch or slice at the damned thing. Whatever was letting the kaiju block his attacks like that, it was starting to get really old.
But he did notice one little detail:
The scales did nothing against the energy blasts.
Richard let the grin on his face widen, especially once the Energy Blasters mounted to the Demolisher Array on his shoulders aligned directly onto the kaiju's now-exposed belly.
"Energy Blaster! FIRE!"
And his world was temporarily blinded by scorching heat and bright red lights.
0936, 28 November A.D. 2071
NDV Yi Sun-Sin
"...huh." Hiroki was unable to muster any other coherent response than that.
He had to admit, he and Mercury never actually tried anything quite like that. He was totally going to crib from that one.
He turned to the nearest officer at the bridge. Like his fellows, they were just staring at the broadcasted image from the Naval Base. "You guys are recording that, right?" he asked.
0937, 28 November, A.D. 2071
Pegasus Hangar Windows
"You got it, LT!?" Henry shouted from his end of the view ports.
Adam just grinned and gave a thumbs up with one hand while the high speed camera was aimed at the scrap taking place below. "Yup! Got it!"
0938, 28 November, A.D. 2071
Drydock Vicinity
Okay. A few things I didn't consider.
A: That pissed off the Dragon something fierce.
Richard flinched as the Dragon, far from being finished, emerged from the smoke storm that resulted from the point-blank energy blast straight at him, claws first. He could see where his grip had melted and fused flesh, and two of its eyes were now obscured with burnt tissue. The rest, however, communicated quite clearly that the Dragon wanted him dead.
B: I now have a really unpleasant piece of equipment stuck in the K-Scale in the gut.
He felt all the air in his system get knocked out of him as the acidic horn slammed partway into the Timberwolf's 'stomach' region. Before he could react any further, Richard's senses was blinded further as the Dragon's claws continued to swipe deep gouges into the Timberwolf's frame. The entire time, the momentum and the mass of both combatants forced them closer and closer to the drydocks, with the Timberwolf's braced feet plowing great gouges through concrete that had been set down decades before.
Yet he had the presence of mind to know an opportunity (however painful) when he saw it. With both hands still alight, the Timberwolf grasped at the horn and the unburnt side of the kaiju's face.
C: TOTALLY worth it.
0944, 28 November A.D. 2071
Pegasus Command Bridge
"I don't believe this," Diana muttered as the scene unfolded before them.
Even on the very edge of the drydocks as they were, neither the Dragon nor the Timberwolf showed any signs of backing down. The Dragon's horn was still gouging great big holes into the Timberwolf's frame, all the while continuing to claw out where it could find purchase. Yet backed by Heavy Zirvitium Armor and an equal bloody-mindedness, the Timberwolf continued to trade blows with the Dragon even while impaled, clawed at, and being forced slowly backwards.
"The acid's-!" Ivanna exclaimed. She paused as she zoomed in on the data, before smiling. "The Inferno Mode is sealing the acidic pores from the Dragon!"
The only response from the Engineering section was just laughter as the main output of the kaiju's acid was literally melted shut. The kaiju's flesh, which could withstand the acid's dissolving properties, broke down like candle wax against the burning fury of the Timberwolf's grasp. The Dragon screamed, and finally disengaged the horn from the Timberwolf.
But it couldn't fully disengage. The Timberwolf still held a strong grasp over it, and Callaghan wasn't letting it go anywhere.
"Diana!" Haruko commanded.
"Aye, Ma'am!" Diana smiled grimly as targeting solutions appeared over her avatar's face. "Batteries Two and Four! Adjust twenty-degrees below and fire on these coordinates!"
0951, 28 November, A.D. 2071
Command Center Bridge
"...huh."
"Not much else to say," you agree with Sam as you watch the Timberwolf literally hold the writhing kaiju in place for an entire broadside of Energy Blasts. As the ground churned even further (to the point you feared you were going to dig a groundspring well with firepower alone), the First Support Wing, now in Rotary Craft form, circled around the struggling kaiju as they unloaded everything they had equipped from the Pegasus.
Still, you grimly smile. Things were at least going well enough that -
"-oh, that is BULLSHIT!"
"Wha?" You blink-when did Sam get up to his feet like that?
Then you notice what takes place on the screen.
"Oh bullshit!"
0955, 28 November, A.D. 2071
Drydocks
"Holy!"
The kaiju had literally melted off its flesh. The kaiju had literally melted off its flesh.
Richard didn't know the kaiju could do that!
The tail of the diminished - but now flying - creature slammed straight into the armguards of the Timberwolf. Grimacing, Richard fended off this attack, only to see the expanded form of the Dragon - well, Dragonfly at this rate - charge straight for him. Again.
The creature retained the same head and horn, but it was comically huge compared to the tinier form it now sported. It was like someone had taken a T-Rex's head and slammed it onto a wyvern or a pterodactyl. Great big wings flapped furiously as two outstretched claws descended straight at the Timberwolf's face.
"GAAAAAAAH!" As the Dragon(fly) repeated clawed at his face and arms, Richard frantically waved his arms around in order to get it to get the hell off of him. "Get-off-stop-gah-STOP THAT!"
A certain icon pinged green on the mental HUD. "I said GET OFF!" Richard yelled, punctuated by a wide blast of the Energy Blaster. The Kausen energy blast scattered all around in front of him as if he'd fired a shotgun. THAT finally got the kaiju to back off, and even clipped it slightly. Yet all it was doing was making a wide circle to have another go at him.
"Energy Blast recharging," he muttered, "Heat tolerances on the arms need time to cool, Arc Blade is-that's it!" Punching in a few commands onto the console, he held his right arm forward and opened his palm expectantly. "Arc Blade! Magnetic charge!"
For a moment nothing happened, and the only sounds were the burning buildings behind him and the shrieking of the Dragon(fly) as it descended towards him. Yet before Richard could berate himself for just looking really dumb, a great splash between him and the kaiju erupted. As if the Lady of the Lake herself were throwing it at him (probably out of annoyance), the Arc Blade came sailing straight to his palm, hilt-first.
"Alright!" Catching it handily, the hilt magnetically locked to the hand before lightning burst to life along the edge once more. He looked up with just enough time to see the kaiju try to take another chunk of his face for takeout.
Without thinking, without even preparing anything to put any force into it, the Timberwolf reflexively walked into the strike, holding the Arc Blade at an angle.
The kaiju's claws bounced off, leaving great big scratches along the Zirvitium but otherwise leaving Richard unharmed.
The kaiju?
Well, he could see a sliced off horn in the distance, crashing straight on top of the administrative headquarters.
"...huh." He stared at the controls, then at the Arc Blade. "Go us."
0958, 28 November, A.D. 2071
Command Center Bridge
"Sasaki, get that lieutenant with a freezer truck and haz-mat teams to that horn now," you order quickly. Sam himself is just staring very intently at the horn as it descended onto the naval base. "That's another part of the toolkit we can reverse engineer."
"I've already relayed that, Sir," Sasaki says. She sounds a bit strained - which you can't blame her for, but this command is time sensitive. "But we still have the matter of-"
The kaiju slammed into the drydocks from the sky, apparently deciding its target was preferable to dealing with the Timberwolf.
"-that," she finishes lamely.
Katarina's image then appears to your left. "Sir, the Perseus just made it to New York's outskirts," she says.
"Oh, never a dull moment," you mutter as you simply nod to Sasaki and let her get on with it. "And what's the situation there?"
"Chaotic and confused."
Drydock Vicinity
"Arc Blade!"
On command, from a holster mounted in the back, a mecha-sized sword shot up into the air, spinning clockwise as gravity pulled it back down to Earth. Into one waiting hand, Richard caught the sword by the hilt and held it at the ready with a double grip. The Arc Blade looked...exactly as you would expect. Aside from currents of electricity criss-crossing along the blade's edge, it looked similar enough to the "hand and a half" swords from yesteryear.
A pity Richard had no idea how to use a sword. That lesson was supposed to be coming up this week! Even if he had no idea if Sam's method of instruction from 'the Followers of Flynn' would be any good or not.
Focus, he chastised himself, and time to look stupid and sound stupid. He willed the Timberwolf to charge, the Arc Blade held high above his head as he moved to chop off the Dragon's horn. Richard liked to think he looked like the heroes of old charging into battle, but he knew he probably looked more like some crazed movie set extra with an oversized prop.
Swinging as hard as the servos could give him, Richard brought down the blade with - what he hoped - enough force to slice off the horn-
-only for that particular ambition to be denied as the strange scales protecting the Dragon shifted, deflecting what could have damaged the horn into a glancing strike. Richard felt the jarring sensation through his bones as the Arc Blade was thrown off into the air, where it plunged into the harbor's waters.
Yet it didn't seem like a total loss; the energy building up around the horn sparked and flared violently, as if whatever concentrated buildup that was there was smacked into a wall. The Dragon shook its head violently and once again let out a deafening roar, but Richard didn't seem to be in any further danger.
Okay, Plan B then.
"Inferno Mode!" Richard shouted, smashing both fists together. "IGNITION!"
He felt a dull warmth spread across his fists, a strange sensation when he could see the Timberwolf's forearms alight in violently flickering flames. Clenching his fists once, then twice, to make sure nothing was amiss, Richard gave a manic grin. "Alright, Big Ugly," Richard said as he raised both arms, miniature firestorms whirling about his arms in anticipation. Jabbing once, then twice with his left before mimicking a right hook, he roared, "Let's go!"
0933, 28 November, A.D. 2071
Pegasus Command Bridge
"W-what is he doing?" Ivanna exclaimed.
"He's charging at the Dragon head-on," Diana said faintly. "Is he mad?"
Haruko noticed the only one of the AI sisters who hadn't commented was Lana. If anything, the Engineer seemed to have a manic smile that mirrored the one worn by the Timberwolf's pilot. "Do you know something we do not?" Haruko asked.
"You all don't give the strength servos in the Shepherd's frame nearly enough credit," Lana said, still wearing that grin on her face. "Sure, it can't lift a weight like the kaiju's for very long-"
"-wait, lift what!?" Diana yelled.
"-but it doesn't have to," Lana continued as if she weren't interrupted. "Get 'em, lieutenant!"
And to Haruko's incredulous sight, as both combatants smashed into each other from a running start, the Timberwolf's fiery arms grasped at the torso of the Dragon.
And began to lift it.
"What."
The damage control chief - and the rest of her crew - just stared dumbly at a sight they would all carry to their graves.
Even combined as it was, the Super Robot wasn't that large compared to the kaiju. Yet for all the size difference, the Super Robot's arms - which were inexplicably on fire and even then burning large gouges into the flesh it grasped into - slowly, ever so slowly, but surely began to lift the kaiju over its head.
Looking for all the world like a professional wrestler, the Chief didn't think the imagery could get any more ridiculous or awe inspiring. The pilot proceeded to prove her wrong by letting gravity do half the work for him - and forcefully dropped the kaiju's back straight onto its knee.
"Ow."
Richard winced as he felt however-million tons of kaiju drop onto its knee. Or, more appropriately, however-million tons plus the shifting scales that seemed to move anytime he tried to punch or slice at the damned thing. Whatever was letting the kaiju block his attacks like that, it was starting to get really old.
But he did notice one little detail:
The scales did nothing against the energy blasts.
Richard let the grin on his face widen, especially once the Energy Blasters mounted to the Demolisher Array on his shoulders aligned directly onto the kaiju's now-exposed belly.
"Energy Blaster! FIRE!"
And his world was temporarily blinded by scorching heat and bright red lights.
0936, 28 November A.D. 2071
NDV Yi Sun-Sin
"...huh." Hiroki was unable to muster any other coherent response than that.
He had to admit, he and Mercury never actually tried anything quite like that. He was totally going to crib from that one.
He turned to the nearest officer at the bridge. Like his fellows, they were just staring at the broadcasted image from the Naval Base. "You guys are recording that, right?" he asked.
0937, 28 November, A.D. 2071
Pegasus Hangar Windows
"You got it, LT!?" Henry shouted from his end of the view ports.
Adam just grinned and gave a thumbs up with one hand while the high speed camera was aimed at the scrap taking place below. "Yup! Got it!"
0938, 28 November, A.D. 2071
Drydock Vicinity
Okay. A few things I didn't consider.
A: That pissed off the Dragon something fierce.
Richard flinched as the Dragon, far from being finished, emerged from the smoke storm that resulted from the point-blank energy blast straight at him, claws first. He could see where his grip had melted and fused flesh, and two of its eyes were now obscured with burnt tissue. The rest, however, communicated quite clearly that the Dragon wanted him dead.
B: I now have a really unpleasant piece of equipment stuck in the K-Scale in the gut.
He felt all the air in his system get knocked out of him as the acidic horn slammed partway into the Timberwolf's 'stomach' region. Before he could react any further, Richard's senses was blinded further as the Dragon's claws continued to swipe deep gouges into the Timberwolf's frame. The entire time, the momentum and the mass of both combatants forced them closer and closer to the drydocks, with the Timberwolf's braced feet plowing great gouges through concrete that had been set down decades before.
Yet he had the presence of mind to know an opportunity (however painful) when he saw it. With both hands still alight, the Timberwolf grasped at the horn and the unburnt side of the kaiju's face.
C: TOTALLY worth it.
0944, 28 November A.D. 2071
Pegasus Command Bridge
"I don't believe this," Diana muttered as the scene unfolded before them.
Even on the very edge of the drydocks as they were, neither the Dragon nor the Timberwolf showed any signs of backing down. The Dragon's horn was still gouging great big holes into the Timberwolf's frame, all the while continuing to claw out where it could find purchase. Yet backed by Heavy Zirvitium Armor and an equal bloody-mindedness, the Timberwolf continued to trade blows with the Dragon even while impaled, clawed at, and being forced slowly backwards.
"The acid's-!" Ivanna exclaimed. She paused as she zoomed in on the data, before smiling. "The Inferno Mode is sealing the acidic pores from the Dragon!"
The only response from the Engineering section was just laughter as the main output of the kaiju's acid was literally melted shut. The kaiju's flesh, which could withstand the acid's dissolving properties, broke down like candle wax against the burning fury of the Timberwolf's grasp. The Dragon screamed, and finally disengaged the horn from the Timberwolf.
But it couldn't fully disengage. The Timberwolf still held a strong grasp over it, and Callaghan wasn't letting it go anywhere.
"Diana!" Haruko commanded.
"Aye, Ma'am!" Diana smiled grimly as targeting solutions appeared over her avatar's face. "Batteries Two and Four! Adjust twenty-degrees below and fire on these coordinates!"
0951, 28 November, A.D. 2071
Command Center Bridge
"...huh."
"Not much else to say," you agree with Sam as you watch the Timberwolf literally hold the writhing kaiju in place for an entire broadside of Energy Blasts. As the ground churned even further (to the point you feared you were going to dig a groundspring well with firepower alone), the First Support Wing, now in Rotary Craft form, circled around the struggling kaiju as they unloaded everything they had equipped from the Pegasus.
Still, you grimly smile. Things were at least going well enough that -
"-oh, that is BULLSHIT!"
"Wha?" You blink-when did Sam get up to his feet like that?
Then you notice what takes place on the screen.
"Oh bullshit!"
0955, 28 November, A.D. 2071
Drydocks
"Holy!"
The kaiju had literally melted off its flesh. The kaiju had literally melted off its flesh.
Richard didn't know the kaiju could do that!
The tail of the diminished - but now flying - creature slammed straight into the armguards of the Timberwolf. Grimacing, Richard fended off this attack, only to see the expanded form of the Dragon - well, Dragonfly at this rate - charge straight for him. Again.
The creature retained the same head and horn, but it was comically huge compared to the tinier form it now sported. It was like someone had taken a T-Rex's head and slammed it onto a wyvern or a pterodactyl. Great big wings flapped furiously as two outstretched claws descended straight at the Timberwolf's face.
"GAAAAAAAH!" As the Dragon(fly) repeated clawed at his face and arms, Richard frantically waved his arms around in order to get it to get the hell off of him. "Get-off-stop-gah-STOP THAT!"
A certain icon pinged green on the mental HUD. "I said GET OFF!" Richard yelled, punctuated by a wide blast of the Energy Blaster. The Kausen energy blast scattered all around in front of him as if he'd fired a shotgun. THAT finally got the kaiju to back off, and even clipped it slightly. Yet all it was doing was making a wide circle to have another go at him.
"Energy Blast recharging," he muttered, "Heat tolerances on the arms need time to cool, Arc Blade is-that's it!" Punching in a few commands onto the console, he held his right arm forward and opened his palm expectantly. "Arc Blade! Magnetic charge!"
For a moment nothing happened, and the only sounds were the burning buildings behind him and the shrieking of the Dragon(fly) as it descended towards him. Yet before Richard could berate himself for just looking really dumb, a great splash between him and the kaiju erupted. As if the Lady of the Lake herself were throwing it at him (probably out of annoyance), the Arc Blade came sailing straight to his palm, hilt-first.
"Alright!" Catching it handily, the hilt magnetically locked to the hand before lightning burst to life along the edge once more. He looked up with just enough time to see the kaiju try to take another chunk of his face for takeout.
Without thinking, without even preparing anything to put any force into it, the Timberwolf reflexively walked into the strike, holding the Arc Blade at an angle.
The kaiju's claws bounced off, leaving great big scratches along the Zirvitium but otherwise leaving Richard unharmed.
The kaiju?
Well, he could see a sliced off horn in the distance, crashing straight on top of the administrative headquarters.
"...huh." He stared at the controls, then at the Arc Blade. "Go us."
0958, 28 November, A.D. 2071
Command Center Bridge
"Sasaki, get that lieutenant with a freezer truck and haz-mat teams to that horn now," you order quickly. Sam himself is just staring very intently at the horn as it descended onto the naval base. "That's another part of the toolkit we can reverse engineer."
"I've already relayed that, Sir," Sasaki says. She sounds a bit strained - which you can't blame her for, but this command is time sensitive. "But we still have the matter of-"
The kaiju slammed into the drydocks from the sky, apparently deciding its target was preferable to dealing with the Timberwolf.
"-that," she finishes lamely.
Katarina's image then appears to your left. "Sir, the Perseus just made it to New York's outskirts," she says.
"Oh, never a dull moment," you mutter as you simply nod to Sasaki and let her get on with it. "And what's the situation there?"
"Chaotic and confused."
I will post actual stats later, but I wanted to at least get this out now. I'm sure I missed something or misspelled something, but I'll fix those up tonight.
That said, question for you all: do you want me to run an actual combat scenario for the Perseus, or would you rather abstract the overall scenario with a few rolls and possible gains? I have something available, but the Perseus is not going to be taking center stage as the Timberwolf CLEARLY is in San Diego.
That said, question for you all: do you want me to run an actual combat scenario for the Perseus, or would you rather abstract the overall scenario with a few rolls and possible gains? I have something available, but the Perseus is not going to be taking center stage as the Timberwolf CLEARLY is in San Diego.
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