Because we don't know yet if the pain pilots feel is truly damaging, or cosmetic yet, due the lack of experimentation and severe damage to the Beowulf or any other MMI vehicle. Thus it would be a good idea to test the idea with Separatist prisoners or something, as they're invariably chaotic evil.
Or, try starting small, like just slowly remove a finger to see if there is a reaction? Again, I'm not exactly won over by your eagerness to dehumanize the Westphalians.
A way to solve this would be to create a basilisk virus. As in, a special subliminal text distributed online that every Westphalian who reads it dies by head-explosion or something equally over-the-top.
Additional posts are going to come in tonight sometime.
There also will never be any course of action against the Westphalians that involve viral warfare or similarly inhumane actions. That's just unseemly, a very bad guy-type action (which you certainly are not), and leaves a horrible mess (both biological and court hearings).
There's a time and place for that sort of brutal thinking. A Warhammer 40k Quest, or something more explicitly morally dubious. Fine, go nuts with crimes against sapience. In a quest aping the light hearted super robot shows of yesteryear, not so much.
Regarding the carrier, maybe it was because Americans didn't want to work on a Russian ship? Maybe prioritising ship built/from America instead (or the Admiral's private yatch ).
Possible excuses would be that spare parts were only from Russia and send to Russian shipyards instead or technical manuals were not yet translated...
... Or maybe (while we're throwing around speculations like that), because the only crewman that could translate the manuals from Russian (and was willing to do this for free) was from Thailand, and translated them to Swahili?
"...so to summarize all that," you sigh, "We stomped the Kaiju flat, but not before it destroyed an aircraft carrier that shouldn't have even been there in the first place, got the Navy all upset at us, but not the Marines (somehow), managed to get our hands on new kaiju samples, and we made world television."
"Just so, Sir," Sasaki agrees. She looks utterly drained from the experience, but she was at least managing to stay upright. Unlike poor Callaghan, who was just completely passed out on one of the rest stations below in the pilot's section. Sasaki hands you a tablet, adding, "And that is enough information we acquired from the Naval Base on the...circumstances of the vessels that were drydocked there."
"...these repair plans are ridiculous," you say with incredulity. "Everything's ordered top-down, the junior leaders aren't given any freedom of maneuver...this guy's an embarrassment."
"You're welcome," a voice says to your right. By now, you've worked with Anna long enough to not jump - visibly - whenever she does the 'Batman' thing. "Aw, you're no fun," she pouts, before taking a seat nearby. "So, haven't looked at everything in there either, but there's enough hints in here that I think there's some dirt we can dig up on this guy."
"And the Naval Defense Force can't figure this out on their own?" you ask. The political dance you're having to navigate is already making you want to pull the fire alarm on the whole thing and make everyone leave.
...you're not sure where you were going with that one. Eh, not the worst you've done.
"He's smart enough to hide his tracks," Anna says with a look of disdain on her face. "But dumb enough to keep all his records. And I think one or two of those admirals that were yelling at you is covering for him."
"Do you listen in on every meeting I'm at?" you grumble.
"Maybe."
"Getting back on track," Sasaki says, rolling her eyes despite her exhaustion, "Lieutenant Wilde seems confident that with a month or two of effort, we could also offer to assist in the repairs and cleanup of the Naval Base or the Sergey Gorshkov. However, that would be-"
"-prohibitively expensive?" When she nods, you sigh. "Well, it sure as hell isn't going to be December. We're tapped out after we rush ordered the Perseus over to New York."
"Well..." You and Sasaki look at Anna. "Oh, I'll wait until Haruko-" you see Sasaki's eyebrow twitch slightly, "-finish her report first before I bring that up."
"That isn't ominous or anything," you mutter. "The status of the Perseus?"
"Still operational, if slightly damaged," she replies. "The Separatists conducted an attack utilizing irregular forces and..." She looks closely at the report again with a raised eyebrow. "...modified armor."
"...serious?"
"I for one would really love to get my hands on a Westphalian transport," Anna agrees. "The Separatists have far too easy a time of moving equipment and manpower around the world. Either they have a really good way of hiding their movements, or some really well placed people are on the take. Might be time to do an internal review on some agencies if we get our hands on enough evidence for it."
The casual way she speaks that sentence belies the terror that those words inspire in you. 'Internal Review' was equivalent to saying, 'we have a kaiju about to step on your house in ten minutes, pack everything you can!' It was bad enough when organizations did those in-house; that was usually a sign of misconduct. When an Intelligence Services Agent mentions that offhand, that's never a good sign.
Good thing you've kept her on the good side for now.
"The Perseus was able to rally local forces long enough for reinforcements to arrive," Sasaki continues, ignoring the interruption, "with some assistance from helpful locals." She tactfully doesn't mention the Axiom team, and Anna doesn't ask; she probably already knows, but isn't inclined to muck that up. "The Valiant arrived approximately two hours ago, and engaged and defeated the separatist forces in the downtown area."
A holographic image of the 'Walker' chassis appears. The Walker was nothing more than a pair of reverse-jointed legs and a torso, albeit a nimble one with plenty of armaments. "These Walkers were engaged in what look to be just indiscriminate attacks on the civilian population. There is a tendency towards attacks on financial centers, but no other pattern exists beyond widespread chaos. These were reserved for the downtown attacks, and it took the Valiant approximately fifty minutes to eliminate them all." She grimaces. "We were unable to obtain any salvage; those were all claimed by the Ground Defense Force for analysis and after action reports."
"Fair enough," you admit. The Perseus was effectively playing a rearguard action. Vital, but not in the thick of it like the Timberwolf was. It would be hard for you to claim you had the rights to the salvage. "But for what? Last I checked, they don't have the facilities to make anything out of them."
"That may change," Anna mutters speculatively. "Could be that the DFRI's success is inspiring other efforts to build a Super Robot."
You're...not entirely sure how to feel about that. But you set that aside. "Overall performance of the Perseus?" you ask.
"Tellison performed well," Sasaki assures you. "And Colonel Kim passes on his best. He was most appreciative of our support, and to expect communications from him within a month or two."
Solid, if not center stage, performance from the Perseus and 1LT Tellison. Increased relations with the FRC. Thanks to his efforts, civilian casualties were minimized.
QM NOTE: An additional writeup of the final moments of that engagement are going to come later. Obviously this briefing doesn't tell the whole story, mainly out of wanting to keep plausible deniability.
"With that said," Anna says abruptly, "my boss wanted to pass on a message." You and Sasaki glance at each other before looking back at Anna warily. "The admirals may not be happy, but the Intelligence Services are," she continues cheerfully, in a tone that is not at all suited for discussing internal espionage. "Incompetent officers there aside, we had earmarked a few of the vessels there for some of our upcoming operations." She continues on, still smiling and bubbly, "and no, I'm not allowed to actually tell you what they are, or I'd have to make someone disappear. Anyway! The kaiju almost ruined all of that, but the Beowulf was able to step in on time. We know you're a bit broke for December-" you and Sasaki just glare at Anna for putting it so bluntly, "-so we're willing to front you some of the cost for some projects. As thanks for the help and all!"
"...that's...generous," you say warily, "but what's the catch?"
"Whatever do you mean?" Anna looks all the world like the picture book definition of 'innocent ignorance.' You know better.
"He means we are concerned you will try and ensnare us into some other operation we are not ready for yet," Sasaki says through gritted teeth.
"Ooooh, that," Anna replies, tapping a finger to her chin. "Nope! Not this month anyway!"
You and Sasaki both just slam your heads onto the table in response.
At least you'll get something done this month.
For whatever reasons that we're not allowed to know, the Intelligence Services are very happy with the intervention at Naval Base San Diego. They are willing to front you 6 RP for Turn Twelve, Year Two, at least until you can get your income back.
You're not sure if you should be worried about this.
I will be posting a few more bits about the aftermath of the two attacks, including one snippet that will shed a bit more light on it all, before moving onto Turn Twelve, Year Two tomorrow or day after. I'd type more, but I'm just a fair bit tired from today.
Well....I mean my own theory is some of its own private robot prototypes. Or some sensitive tech they're moving about, perhaps stolen from the other super robots.
Well....I mean my own theory is some of its own private robot prototypes. Or some sensitive tech they're moving about, perhaps stolen from the other super robots.
Or a diversion so they can infiltrate one of the other super robot groups. A Kaiju-based diversion! We'll dress up a Jackal (in mech format) with K-material, then make hime run amok! To escape we'll just have to remove the K-material and switch to vehicle mode!
Prioritizing a good relationship with the Intelligence Services appears to be paying dividends. The FRC still being happy with us is also useful, I get the feeling they generally feel under-appreciated by the other services. Those two branches are hopefully clean, something I doubt most of the others are. We have little knowledge about the Marines and it would be interesting to see how they feel about the other services. Now we are making waves someone will try and make political trouble fairly soon and having another backing group would be useful. I am reluctant to put much effort into building relationships with those who are likely to be removed by the IS, though we should not let that prevent us helping the average grunt.
Hmm.
A port with a lot of ships being repaired that aren't supposed to be there.
With repair orders that are near impossible.
And attacked by the enemy who's supposedly nowhere near.
One is happenstance. Two is coincidence.
Three is enemy action.
Hmm.
A port with a lot of ships being repaired that aren't supposed to be there.
With repair orders that are near impossible.
And attacked by the enemy who's supposedly nowhere near.
One is happenstance. Two is coincidence.
Three is enemy action.
Or just incompetence, corruption and Sheol choosing an easy target, which would cripple one of his enemies and far from the only (as far as Sheol knew) adversary able of fighting a Kaiju.
Or maybe a Westaphalian plot to create an easy target for Sheol.
Honestly, it's starting to look like Koenig himself doubles as a very highly placed member of the Earth Union, so he's privy to most of their movements and can encourage incompetence among the flag officers for the most part. He doesn't have so much influence that he can win outright, but he has enough that he can functionally inform his subordinates where the soft spots are, and can make sure political flag officers get promoted over competence, outside of majorly public gestures that get majority support from the non-corrupted elements.
It also explains how the Westphalians can slip armored divisions into populated cities without anyone noticing, if they know precisely where the EU is paying attention.
Easier said than done. All of our security is done in house, and our mandate has it that we basically operate semi-independently. In short, we're as insulated from that kind of fuckery as it gets--at least as long as the General keeps her position and doesn't find herself replaced by a Westphalian puppet.
Which is going to be hard to justify as long as we keep winning.
"Paddy, now would be a splendid time for the ack-ack," Erika said as she gripped the controls once more. The Valiant responded in kind, leaping to the side moments before a trio of rockets could make contact with it. "These Walkers are being rather persistent," she added, unperturbed at the explosion buffeting the set of stores she had just been standing in front of not too long ago.
Though it was a pity. If she read those signs right, she could have walked away with quite a bargain.
"Wait one, madam," her assistant said. She could hear the sounds of something crashing through the butler's side of the intercom. "Forty years and some change of unification, and we still can't agree on what side of the road to drive on," he muttered, the sound of gunfire - clearly his, from how close it sounded - joining in the fracas. "Terribly sorry, madam. Rude pedestrians being a bother, should only be a moment."
"Sooner would be better," Erika said. Not waiting for the Walkers to get another bead on her, she pushed the lever forward and began manipulating the pedals. "I suppose some swordplay will have to suffice until you arrive."
In the time of ten seconds, two of the offending Walkers that had the temerity to open fire on her fell to pieces - literally. Using the Valiant's relatively small sizes to duck and weave through the incoming gunfire and sacrificing her shield arm to absorb the rest, Erika sliced through the weaker joints in the legs, and allowed Sir Isaac Newton to handle the rest. The electrically charged sword sent the surviving pieces into spasms as it cut through them effortlessly, and without missing a beat the Valiant simply hurled its left arm - still bearing the shield - at the second Walker. Blinded, the Walker momentarily lost its balance; exactly enough time for the Valiant to slide between the legs and sever them from within.
Before she could think to reattach the left arm in case the Westphalians decided to protest this treatment, Erika heard the reassuring sound of the Mander Support Vehicle. "Incoming, madam," Patrick called out. A moment later, a spare arm was launched at high speeds straight for the Valiant. Smiling, Erika simply stepped to the side and allowed the Dinym Currents to latch onto each other.
And just like that, the left arm of the Valiant had been replaced with the Flak Cannon. "Cheers, Paddy," she called out as she turned to level the cannon at the corner, the targeting computer descending from the top to superimpose itself over the viewport. She waited a few moments before pulling the trigger, right as the next set of Walkers turned the corner. With a sudden blast of wind and a geyser of smoke emanating from the backblast behind her, the barrel of the Flak Cannon roared, sending a massive spread of ack-ack straight into the incoming mob.
She imagined if there were any surviving Walkers, they'd be scattering by now. But nothing was showing up on thermal optics, so she supposed she could take a breather. "Paddy, how are things going elsewhere?" she asked. "Are we still in something of a situation?"
"Less so, madam," Patrick replied. "It appears that the Defense Force has rallied in the outskirts of town, enough to serve as a staging point for reinforcements." She could hear the older gentleman fiddle with some controls before adding, "If I am listening to this correctly, I imagine they should be moving in to secure the city before long."
"Excellent news," Erika says, pleasantly surprised. "Nice to know the chaps in the Defense Force aren't dithering on this."
"You may be interested in one particular sighting," Patrick continued. A moment later, the image of a Buckler - a single Buckler - charging into the fray against armored units populated onto the holo display.
"A Buckler, Paddy?" she muttered. "Really?"
"Oh! Terribly sorry, forgot to push play," the butler said cheerfully. The image soon unfolded into a video recording, and the Buckler-
"Oh, good God," she said flatly as the Buckler proceeded to shift into a giant robot. A giant robot whose left arm unfolded into a combat shield, and who then simply walked slowly into combat. Undeterred by all the rounds slamming into it, it resolutely held one arm up to absorb incoming rounds while the other returned fire on its own accord. And the units around it...
"Those Jackals," she mused. "They were just milling about before that unit waded into the lot of tanks. Command and control?"
"Certainly seems so, madam," Patrick agrees. "The radio traffic seems to say..." She could hear him squinting at some new terminology. "'DFRI'?"
"Oh, those chaps," she said, surprised. "I didn't think they had anything ready yet."
"Still, it seems as if it's the only reason the lads in the Defense Force are making any headway," Patrick suggested. "Regardless, madam, I do believe we still have our own commission to tend to?"
"Right you are, Paddy," Erika said. "Ready the pike, would you?"
1422, 28 November A.D. 2071
Outskirts
"Lieutenant Tellison."
Oscar looked up, the Perseus' head unit mimicking his actions. From inside of the K-Suit, Oscar just felt tired to his bones. He and the Axiom crew had only been fighting for what must have been the better part of an hour and a half, but it felt like they'd been in a marathon.
Perseus had not gotten away cleanly either. Nothing vital, but the combat shield dangled from the left arm uselessly, now completely riddled with bullet holes and spent anti-tank rounds. A small gash had crossed one of the eye units on Perseus' face; nothing damaging, but it left an interesting burn mark that looked like a scar. And that was not even getting into all of the other minor scorches and dents that riddled his frame, or the sheer mental effort Oscar had to exert to keep the FRC mobile and combat ready.
But by God, he'd managed.
He looked up to see a colonel, fully clad in flak armor and visored helmet. Still remarkably tiny compared to the standing mecha, but by infantry standards he had enough armor and bulk to walk into a scrap and make it through relatively in one piece if he so chose. The Perseus reflexively sketched a salute towards him. Returning the gesture, the colonel walked up to the Perseus. "Colonel Kim, First Response Corps. You can stand down; I am leading a relief effort inside."
With those words, the Perseus slowly, and with pained movements, reconfigured back into the armored carrier form. The moment all the locks were in place, Oscar stumbled out to take a knee, ripping his helmet off and shaking his head. "Fighting's not done in the city yet, Sir," he said, speaking slowly to relish sucking in fresher air. His hair was matted in sweat, and he had the look of someone who desperately needed a nap. But he needed to make his report. "Valiant's confirmed to make landfall and is engaged with Westphalian Walkers downtown. I didn't see any walkers out here, mainly conventional armor."
He glanced over at the Perseus; it just looked plain odd to see the battle damage he'd sustained now just completely mismatched in different places. But it still had the appearance of having walked through an intense firefight and could now brag about it. "'s all I got, Sir," he said. "Your guys fight hard."
"And I'm pleased to have left them in your care, son," Kim said, patting him on the shoulder. "Your commander called ahead; your dropship should be on its way. Rest up; you've done your part, and more."
Oscar nodded, and simply took the opportunity to sit down and do nothing as the rest of the FRC's column made its way to the city. Perseus could still reasonably fight, but this was its first battle, and he didn't want to run into any problems he didn't know were coming. Or-
"You humans don't play around, do you?" a gruff voice asked. A nearby Jackal, this one in a dark brown color scheme, was idling nearby. "Those gunplatforms weren't exactly top of the line or anything, but they didn't exactly have any give, either."
"And we only had any warning thanks to you and the others," Oscar said with a wry grin. "Thanks, Tracker."
"Hmph. Just my job," the older Kaus harrumphed. But Oscar was still fairly sure he could hear a faint note of approval. "Kinda reminds me of this one time we had to put down an insurgency..."
It wasn't long before the Pegasus radioed ahead that they were coming, but at this point Oscar didn't mind if they took their time. He was just happy enough to let himself destress, and to soak in the older scout's wisdom.
Which there was quite a bit of. Maybe that was why the other Kaus weren't anywhere near here...?
Oh good the Perseus isn't banged up too badly, and some insight into the Valiant's pilot. I love the reaction she had to the Perseus and I have to wonder how she'll react to the Beowulf once she sees it wrecking a Kaiju. I kinda want all of the Mech Pilots to meet up so that we can start fleshing out their characters some.
).
