The Humanity War: A Mecha Girl Quest

[Whiteeyes]

AN: This work is inspired by works such as Azur Lane (which I borrow heavily from), KanCol, Strike Witches, Gundam Girls, Valkyrie Core here on SV, and many like it. It is also inspired by The Saga of Tanya the Evil and Gundam 8th MS Team.

********

Energy Cores. Such a remarkable and strange technology. Nobody is quite sure where they came from, leading to many conspiracy theories, but their affect on the world has been undeniably massive. These cores, when combined with a compatible woman, enabled them to become a sort of human/machine hybrid, capable of incredible feats. It revolutionized construction, demolition, transport, emergency aid services. Warfare. As with any human invention intended for good (at least you think it was supposed to be) eventually military minds considered the possibilities presented and capitalized on them. Women able to manifest armor and weaponry out of nowhere while initially looking like civilians? Such attacks proved devastating. Too devastating in fact, and soon articles of war were drafted preventing such underhanded tactics. Now military mecha girls that engage in combat do so openly, with recognizable uniforms and do not engage any sort of civilian or other non-combat target.

Yes girls. It was found that younger girls, between the ages of thirteen and sixteen, were more likely to be compatible with Energy Cores than those younger or older. Also once a core was integrated compatibility never dulled and so it became more common for young girls to be the ones to acquire Energy Cores. And then the first Natural Born happened, sending the world into a tizzy. It had long been known that mecha women were capable of having children, and indeed many had done so for years. None before had given birth to a, well, mecha baby before. There was naturally a lot of fear, confusion, and even outrage at this event. Eventually the fervor died down. Nobody is sure what causes some to be bore with an EC, but it is known to be exceedingly rare, at a rate of only about one percent of all female births.

To date, no male has proven compatible with an EC.

It is the year 1957 IC, and you are one of the latest mecha girls to join your nation's military.

Name
[ ] Write In

Which Nation do you Serve?

[ ] The Sakura Empire - An island nation with a long an honored military tradition. Mecha girls are considered special and honorable warriors, and have their own special chain of command consisting of themselves, as they would best know how to deploy themselves. You are well respected and have a clear chain of command that knows what it is doing, but are held to very high standards and are expected to follow orders without question. [Normal]

[ ] The Eagle Union - Not exactly a nation in and of itself, this is more of a democratic alliance of about a dozen countries that has a shared military force. Due to being a shared force there are large numbers of mecha girls around, so you will always have plenty of backup. However with the numbers of nations and chains of command involved a lot of red tape, miscommunication, and arguments over orders can break out. [Easy]

[ ] The Kingdom of Albion - The last western monarchy around, and a constitutional one with most of the real power belonging to the parliament. However the crown was able to wrest control of the mecha girls under itself before they could be folded into the army like in most other nations. As such mecha girls are agents of the crown itself, answering directly to the current ruler. This elite status also let them have access to the top of the line in weaponry, armor, and support personnel. It also however means that there is a lot of inter service rivalry. What's more the kingdom's smaller size also limits the number of mecha girls available. making what they do have more of an elite strike force than a standing military unit. [Easy]

[ ] Germania - Eisenblut, "Iron blood" is what the Kaiser calls you. A military dictatorship naturally assures that any weapon that could object to serving them has plenty of incentives to remain loyal. Excellent pay, top of the line weaponry, and plenty of preferential treatment over even regular soldat all contribute to ones status as the military elite. One just had to be willing to be part of a fanatical military that is quite happy to keep its own citizens at heel. Then again most of the Eisenblut are just as fanatic as the other special forces, if not even more so. [Normal]

[ ] The Dragon Empire - A very large nation, it suffers from some serious issues. Namely it lacks a lot of modern infrastructure or technology, and its economy is very weak. Whats more, several different rebellions are occurring within its boarders. To ensure they stay in control and to suppress such uprisings the Empire has done a massive mandatory screening nearly every month for the past three years and has drafted every EC compatible girl it could get its hands on. The result has been an absolute massive explosion of mecha girls, resulting in a force tens of thousands strong, bordering on expanding into the hundreds of thousands in just a few years. Such huge, intimidating numbers are somewhat undercut by the fact that most of these girls have very minimal training and substandard equipment. [Hard]

[ ] Northern Union - A mirror of sorts to the Eagle Union, though most of its member states are not there willingly. A communist dictatorship, all mecha girls must serve in the military. Food, large numbers, and a clear chain of command are all well and good, but where they really excelled is in medical and mechanical expertise to get mecha girls back in action in record times with less equipment or materials needed. Which is good because with poor supplies and somewhat outdated weaponry they are libel to end up there regularly. [Hard]

[ ] The Vichya Dominion - A violent military dictatorship that came into power only a few years ago, overthrowing the democratic government of the time. The government has developed close ties with Germania and is close to formalizing the alliance. The main issues facing this new government is the stark disapproval of most of the other nations of the world, and the unrest of its citizens in the wake of the takeover. With a new military regime in place solidifying its power, now is a prime time for opportunities for advancement and gaining political power. [Hard]

[ ] Iris Libre - The military was wiped out by the Vichya, and Charlemé has fallen. But not all hope is lost. Though there are few of you, and your supplies and resources are low, you will take back your homeland and show these usurpers what happens to traitors. With the threat of having to fight Germania as well if they intervined most nations turn a blind eye to you, or turn you away from their borders; with force if necessary. Only a few nations are willing to grant you are supplies or safe passage, and even then it is on the down low. If you are going to topple this dictator ship you are going to be doing it yourself. [Lunatic]

You recently received your Energy Core. How old were you?

[ ] Very Young - Less than thirteen. Such a compatibility is rare but valuable as it will give you more time to grow in mastery of your EC. In addition, having fused so young means you are able to learn at an accelerated rate. Prepare to be babied by your "big sisters" and not be allowed on any but the safest of missions...unless things get that bad. [ Starting Stats - -, Growth Rate + +] Not available for The Sakura Empire, The Eagle Union, The Kingdom of Albion, or Germania.

[ ] Young - Thirteen or so. You tend not to be taken too seriously and get sent on easier missions, but if you manage to prove yourself you will find yourself advancing in no time. Also as you get older your years of experience will become more and more valued. [ Starting Stats -, Growth Rate +]

[ ] Average - Fifteen or sixteen, the typical age to get an EC integrated into your body. You are treated as a run of the mill, average mecha girl. No coddling, and no high expectations to start with. [ Starting Stats and Growth Rate Normal]

[ ] Older - Seventeen, eighteen, or even older. You are finished growing and so you won't be adapting as much to your EC as your body is basically finished developing. On the other hand being more mature and level headed with greater life experience you are often expected to act as a leader of sorts, helping to keep your "little sisters" in line. [ Starting Stats +, Growth Rate -]

[ ] Natural Born - Ooh, oh wow. You are rare. And you have high expectations placed on you. People expect you to be an ace in no time. Select a second age, that is when you enlisted. Modify the Starting Stats and Growth Rate up by ++. This costs 300 of your 500 CP from later in character creation.
- [ ] Enlisted Age Group

 

[Whiteeyes]

Biography:

Name: Christina Grains

Age: 13

Height: 142 cm

Hair: Blond twin tails

Eyes: Baby Blue

Nationality: Albion

Frame Type: Light

Rank: Specialist (2 Bar)

Standard Role: Merchant Escort

Weight: 126 kg / 678 kg

Base Stats:

Power: 20

Armor: 20

Speed: 50

Evasion: 40

Accuracy: 50

Twin Performance +25% Boost. Twin Dependent -25% Penalty.

Equipment:

R. Arm: Twin barrel 5.56 assault rifle.

L. Arm: Twin barrel 8 guage semi-auto shotguns.

R. Shoulder: 16 kg mortar launcher.

L. Shoulder: Grappel launcher and retraction system.

Carry: Colored smoke grenades, binoculars, magnetic breaching charges.

Perks:

Spoiler: Perks

Amphibious - You can actually float on top of the water now, and traverse it at speeds comparable to ice skating. Not as fast as most ships, but fast enough that water isn't an obstacle anymore.
- Diver - You can hold your breath for several hours at a time with no ill effects and can propel yourself under the water as fast as you could on the surface. Comes with swim goggles so you can see underwater.

Animal Companion - A bit more than a pet, your EC resonates with this animal on some level, letting you give it complex instructions that it easily understands. Due to the resonance it is highly loyal to you. You companion is an osprey named Prince to your sister's Dutches.

Kemonomimi - You are one of the mech girls who developed animalistic traits after your conversion. More specifically you grew mid sized pointy dog ears on the top of your head, as well as gained a sharper sense of smell, hearing, and night vision. You have a much easier time detecting stealthy or otherwise hidden enemies and detecting threats at a greater distance.
- Sensitive - Your heightened senses aren't buffered, loud noises, bright lights and foul smells affect you more severely.

Twin Sister - Not only is she literally your twin sister and BFF, but for a mech girl a Twin is somebody whose EC resonates perfectly with your own, resulting in a dramatic increase in performance from both girls. Expect to be always deployed with your Twin except under the most dire circumstances.
- Twin Dependency - You need your Twin and vice versa, all abilities are degraded when alone or when one Twin is incapacitated. Considering how much you and your sister get along this is not an issue.

Knight Saber - You gain the effect of Advanced Melee. However in addition you gain the ability to deflect bullets with the blade, able to move it at blinding speeds. Add 30 to your Evasion Stat.

Talents:

Spoiler: Talents

Teamwork: You gain a bonus to your stats equal to 10% of the number of allied units you are working with.

Faction Reputation:

Albion: 40

Sakura: 5

E. U. : -25

Germania: 20

N. U. : -20

Dragon: 5

Vichiya: 0

Iris Libre: 0

 

[Whiteeyes]

Nice to meet you Christina. So, tell me a nit about yourself.

What is your Origin?

[ ] Orphan - You grew up without any sort of parents or a lot of normal social interaction. Now finding yourself as part of the upper class is a big shock and you have difficulty interacting with the upper class. You also find it hard to get their respect, with whispers going on in the background about your lack of class. (+100 CP disadvantage)

[ ] Average Home - You came from a typical home with a loving family. While dealing with the upper class and nobles is a bit intimidating you ay least have a basic understanding of what you are doing.

[ ] Noble Family - Serving the crown directly is a great honor bestowed upon your family, and you are the envy of the peerage. You can maneuver the high class circles with ease and are a diplomatic expert. (100 CP cost)

I see. So, what sort of mecha frame do you use?

[ ] Light - A frame with less weight by cutting down on armor and weaponry, focusing on speed and maneuverability. Excellent for scouts and harriers.

[ ] Standard - A balanced mix of power, speed, and armor intended for more general purpose use and tactical flexibility.

[ ] Heavy - Focusing on armor and firepower at the expense of speed and maneuverability these frames are intended for more frontal assaults and large scale combat.

Not every mecha girl is the same, even if they have the same sort of frame and are of similar age. Energy Cores have a tendency to mutate while integrating themselves into the girl, and produce a variety of different results and abilities as a result.

You have 500 CP to spend. With "families" of perks you only need to purchase the highest level you desire. You cannot purchase multiple copies of any perk or multiple perks from the same family. Please vote for perks as a plan.

[ ] Water Compatible (50) - Most mecha girls are too dense to float, but you can swim like normal.
[ ] Amphibious (100) - You can actually float on top of the water now, and traverse it at speeds comparable to ice skating. Not as fast as most ships, but fast enough that water isn't an obstacle anymore.
[ ] Naval (200) - You can just drive over water, reaching speeds of around sixty knots, making you one of the fastest and most maneuverable things on the water.

[ ] Diver (100) - Requires Amphibious or Naval. You can hold your breath for several hours at a time with no ill effects and can propel yourself under the water as fast as you could on the surface. Comes with swim goggles so you can see underwater.

[ ] Jump Booster (50) - You can jump incredibly far, clearing well over one hundred meters in a single bound. The capacitors required to do so take several hours to recharge though, so you can't do so over and over again.
[ ] Flight Capable (100) - Sure you have a flight ceiling of only one hundred meters and you can't go much faster than your overland speed, but it is up to two hours of flight time, letting you avaoid difficult terrain and gain some air superiority over ground bound foes.
[ ] Air Force (200) - Flight ceiling fifteen hundred meters, max speed two hundred kph, up to six hours of flight operation. You are basically a human sized fighter plane.

[ ] Hover (100) - Requires Flight Capable or Air Force. While other girls need to maintain a minimum flight speed and have to make banking turns, you are capable of simply hovering in place. The sheer stability and maneuverability of this ability is hard to overstate.

[ ] Cold Resistance (50) - You aren't as bothered by cold and snow, and your parts and fluids are much more resistant to freezing and causing issues that way.
[ ] Artic Master (100) - Blizzard? You mean fishing weather. The ice and snow doesn't hinder you at all, snow glare doesn't affect you, and you never have to worry about freezing or having parts break down from the cold. Includes heavy fur lining on your armor and a poofy hat.

[ ] Heat Resistance (50) - High temperatures don't bother you as much. In addition it takes a lot more work to overheat your engines or weapons.
[ ] Desert Nomad (100) - Heat wave? Sounds like a great time for hot chocolate. The worst of the deser's scorching heat means nothing to you and you can teavel over sand without issue. In addition nothing short of a sandstorm is going to cause your workings to get gunked up with sand or dust or the like. No heat short of actually being set on fire will damage you and your engines never overheat. Comes with a large silk veil/scarf to protect your face from the sands and a more flowing, silken look for your armor.

[ ] Camo (100) - Chose an environment. You are now much more difficult to detect in this environment, making stealth operations easier.
- [ ] Terrain
[ ] Adaptive Camo (200) - You gain the benefits of Camo in any enviroment, however you need at least an hours exposure to addapt to your current enviroment, and you must do so each time you wish to change your camouflage.
[ ] Active Stealth Field (300) - You bend light around yourself and become invisible. There is a sort of "halo" distortion around yourself from the bent light, but it is difficult to notice even when actively searching for it. Seeing it becomes wven harder at longer ranger as poorer lighting conditions. You can attack while invisible, but the noise, smoke, and so on will make finding you much easier. You can be invisible for a total of two hours before needing to refuel.

[ ] Basic Melee (50) - You are able to manifest a simple, basic melee weapon such as a combat knife or hatchet. With your high strength you can easily deal some serious damage and it has the benefits of being amo-less and quiet.
[ ] Advanced Melee (100) - Oh, that's better. A larger weapon such as a sword, spear, battle ax, scythe, or what have you is just the most obvious upgrade. Your new hydraulic system really adds a punch to your attack, letting it sheer metal.
[ ] Energy Melee (200) - You are able to generate a weapon construct of pure Energy Particles and use it in melee, cutting through anything that doesn't have an EP based defense with ease.

[ ] Forward Shield (100) - You are able to generate an Energy Particle barrier from your hands in front of yourself. This two meter by two meter shield is highly resistant to damage, and is back permiable meaning it is possible to fire through from behind it. The main issue is that it takes a lot of concentration and both hands to maintain, making any sort of attack difficult for the user. Its small size also makes it difficult to easily cover allies.
[ ] Shield Master (200) - Gaint the effects of Forward Shield and one of the benefits below.
- [ ] Shield size increases to five meters by five meters, protecting a much larger area.
- [ ] The shield now requires only one hand and less concentration, making it easier for the user to attack.
[ ] Pandora's Box (300) - Gain Forward Shield and both bonuaes from Shield Master.

[ ] Self Repair Module (50) - You can heal yourself from injury at an accelerated rate, recovering about a days worth of rest in six hours. While it won't do much on a battlefield besides keep you from bleeding out it can cut down recovery time from serious injury by days or even weeks.
[ ] Healing Hands (100) - You can use Energy Particle emmiters in your hands to repair yourself or others as though benefiting from a Self Repair Module. If your target has one, the effects stack to double their already impressive recovery rate.
[ ] Miraculous Touch (300) - Injury fails before your touch. You can heal other mech girls at the ridiculous rate of a days worth of healing in only ten minutes, once again doubled if they have a Self Repair Module. You can also reattach limbs and restore ruptured organs, but they still have to be largly intact to do so. The only downside to your miraculous healing is that you cannot use it on yourself.

[ ] Animal Companion (50) - A bit more than a pet, your EC resonates with this animal on some level, letting you give it complex instructions that it easily understands. Due to the resonance it is highly loyal to you.

[ ] Fuel Efficient (50) - While the typical mech girl will have five WacBonald's Big Wacs, a bucket of fries, and a two liter bottle of soda for lunch, and maybe an extra Bug Wac or two as snacks before dinner, you get the energy you need from eating the normal amount of food for a girl your age. It doesn't let you run longer or use an special abilities more than normal, but refueling is a lot easier and cheaper. Provisions thanks you from the bottom of their hearts.

[ ] Kemonomimi (100) - You are one of the mech girls who developed animalistic traits after your conversion. More specifically you grew animal ears on the top of your head, as well as gained a sharper sense of smell, hearing, and night vision. You have a much easier time detecting stealthy or otherwise hidden enemies and detecting threats at a greater distance.

[ ] Radio (100) - You have an integrated radio system, enabling you to broadcast and receive. What's more you can choose to do so "silently", sending and receiving messages directly with your mind, almost like telepathy though strictly limited to sound. You can serve as an audible relay if you chose, broadcasting recieved messages from your own mouth with their voice.

[ ] Twin Sister (200) - Perhaps not literally, though most often it is, a Twin in this case is somebody whose EC resonates perfectly with your own, resulting in a dramatic increase in performance from both girls. Expect to be always deployed with your Twin except under the most dire circumstances. Their starting stats are the same as yours and they have the same perks.

[ ] Palm Blaster (200) - You are able to launch a destructive blast of EP from your hands, dealing significant damage to your target. You can only do so about six times before you need to refuel, but each shot is potentially devastating.

[ ] Energy Barrage (300) - You can unleash all the energy in your EC as a sheer barage of hundreds of EP blasts over a large area. It is a rather indiscriminate wide area attack that can be utterly devastating to the environment and anyone unfortunate enough to be there. Using it burns you out, requiring a lot of rest and refueling before you can do anything else.

[ ] Teleportation (300) - You can teleport up to 10 meters at will after a few seconds of focus.

Albion Unique Options

[ ] Knight Saber (100) - You gain the effect of Advanced Melee. However in addition you gain the ability to deflect bullets with the blade, able to move it at blinding speeds. Add 30 to your Evasion Stat.

[ ] Knight Shield (100) - A large shield, it serves as a great defense against normal weaponry. It is easy to maneuver and doesn't interfere with your ability to attack.

[ ] Coat of Arms (300) - You gain an EP coating over your armor, massively boosting your defenses. Your armor takes on a brilliant scarlet color, which will ruin any stealth attempts. Not that you need to worry as much about that with this big a boost to your defense.

 

[Whiteeyes]

@Whiteeyes question is our command structure different compare to the other nations in the list since we are directly under the crown and we have fewer numbers compare to other nations. What kind of leeway or influence do we have in the military if any.

Click to shrink...

You do have a chain of command, just rather simplified compared to most.

• Commander in Chief - Her Royal Majesty the Queen of Albion, Queen Caroline the II
• Knight General- Alicia Alvenborn, the second in command and In-Field Commander in Chief.
• Base Commander - In charge of a whole base and usually in overall command of individual major operations. Typically has 300-400 soldiers under their belt.
• Company Captain - In charge of aprox. 100 soldiers.
• Sargent - In charge of squad of aprox. 10 soldiers
• Specialist 1st-4th Bar - Mecha girls recognized for their excellence in their specialty. Often overlaps with Sargent and, depending on circumstances, may even outrank Captains when it comes to their specialty. Bars are not addressed when saying someone's rank (someone with one bar and someone with 4 are both just called Specialist) but indicate how valued they are in their specialty.
• Private 3rd-1st class - Most of the rest of you.

 

[Whiteeyes]

A friend of mine I was discussing this quest with made a suggestion for your benefit that I agreed was fair.

Because your character would know In-Universe, here is a list of the Unique Options that are available to each of the major factions. You may be paired up with or against any of these abilities in the future so keep them in mind. Points values are left in to help indicate rarity however details are as your character knows them and as such may not have all the nuances as you would as a member of that faction. Please keep that in mind. Also In Universe nobody is certain why certain mutations exist only in specific factions. The main theories are liked to the ideas of genetic diversity/"purity", environmental factors, and cultural ideologies/"purity", often in some combination, but nobody knows for sure.

The Sakura Empire

• Nitoryu (100) - A pair of twin katana blades. Despite their size each is wielded with one hand and with great skill, not getting in each others way.
• Kyudo (100) - Despite looking like a traditional long bow it somehow uses electricity and magnetism to launch its arrows at an insane level of speed and power. Thankfully it has to be aimed manually with actual bowman skills and is incapable of rapid fire.
• Ninjutsu (200) - Experts at stealth, espionage, sabotage, scouting, traps, infiltration, and escape. These girls are nightmares as far as Intelligence is concerned.

The Eagle Union

• Raptor (100) - Similar to Animal Companion, except that these birds of prey (typically eagles appropriately enough) are even more thoroughly infused with EP, to the point that they can serve in combat, able to rend steel with their claws. Furthermore the link between animal and mecha girl is close enough that the girl can actually look through her bird's eyes for visual aerial recon. It is rumored that they may also be capable of mentally relaying orders to their birds, but this is just speculation.
• Land Master (100) - These mecha girls can reach insanely high speeds overland while seemingly ignoring the difficulties of rough terrain. While not quite as fast as the flight granted by Air Force it does have the advantage of being much less visible so high in the sky. What's more they are far more maneuverable than all but a rare few mecha girls that posses hovering capabilities. It is also a lot more common than Air Force as well so entire squadrons with this ability aren't too uncommon.
• Liberty Cannon (300) - Um, wow that...that is a big cannon. It fires a 203 mm High-Explosive shell. Thankfully they can't seem to use these too often, but it also isn't a case of only having one shot. The exact number of shots these cannons have is estimated to be 2-4, but data is unclear and they aren't seen often.

The Kingdom of Albion

• Knight Saber (100) - You gain the effect of Advanced Melee. However in addition you gain the ability to deflect bullets with the blade, able to move it at blinding speeds. Add 30 to your Evasion Stat.
• Knight Shield (100) - A large shield, it serves as a great defense against normal weaponry. It is easy to maneuver and doesn't interfere with your ability to attack.
• Coat of Arms (300) - You gain an EP coating over your armor, massively boosting your defenses. Your armor takes on a brilliant scarlet color, which will ruin any stealth attempts. Not that you need to worry as much about that with this big a boost to your defense.

Germania

• Thunder Axe (100) - Called the might of Germania made manifest, this large battle axes can not only rend armor with ease but also discharges huge bursts of electricity into their target, dealing even more damage and potentially shorting out any electronic system.
• Smoke Wraiths (100) - These mecha girls are immune to the dangers of smoke on the battlefield, such as loss of vision or choking. What's more they can breath out large clouds of smoke themselves, hindering foes who are not so fortunate. The smoke they emit is limited to black and so if they need to use any sort of colored smoke signals they must carry such grenades as normal.
• Blitzkrieg (200) - Germania's version of Land Master, it also sheaths the user in an envelope of electricity that helps protect them by repelling metallic weaponry such as bullets while traveling at high speeds. Slamming attacks that are designed to batter and shock foes are a common tactic.

The Dragon Empire

• Fire Breath (100) - Appropriately the ability to breath fire like their namesake is a relatively common ability in the Empire. Such girls are so resistant to heat that even their own breath weaponry cannot harm them.
• Dragon Scales (200) - Their skin can manifest a coating of golden colored scales of incredible strength and density. What's more they grow vicious claws they can use to slash at foes to great effect.
• Rulers of the Storms (300) - Somehow these mecha girls can call upon the forces of nature to unleash terrible storms of rain, wind, and lightning. Their side is no more spared than their enemies, but the girl herself is able to navigate such storms, even ones she did not create herself, with great ease.

The Northern Union

• Nitrogen Breath (100) - These mecha girls can breath out streams of freezing cold nitrogen, capable of causing severe structural damage to their targets. Naturally they are immune to even the worst cold, having such systems integrated into themselves.
• Bear Cavalry (200) - Those are bears. Large bears. With armor. And gun emplacements. Yeah this is a major and terrifying upgrade to Animal Companion. Nobody wants to fight bear cavalry.
• Mother Winter (300) - These mecha girls are not only fully adapted to the ice and snow, they can bring it with them as they are able to generate blizzards. They cannot do this however if the temperate is too hot, though the exact cut off point for "too hot" is unknown and rarely an issue in their own territories.

The Vichya Dominion

• Dust Darts (100) - Special crossbows with special ammunition. While they don't do much more damage than a typical high powered crossbow with armor piercing darts would (which is still quite a bit) they have a special function. Their tips contain a special payload of aerosol fine dust that spreads throughout a mecha girl's systems to cause jamming, shorting, and other mechanical issues to incapacitate them. This makes live capture of enemy mecha girls relativly easy for the Vichya. Interestingly enough this is a new ability unseen in its predecessor state.
• Radio Observation (100) - These mecha girls can detect high radio traffic and can even home in on broadcasting stations and listen in to broadcasts. They are also able to help mask and encode radio broadcasts originating from or near them.
• Druid System (?) (200?) - One of the signature abilities of Republic of Charlemé, this is the ability to infuse EP into plant life to influence it. They could also rapidly grow and control vines from the soil that had properties similar to steel cables. Vichya has the same abilities and claims that their switching from vines to more thorny, wooden growths is just a change in standard operating doctrine with an emphasis on creating barriers and hazards than on capture which they have the "more reliable and abundant" Dust Darts for. Rummors to the contrary still circulate however.

Iris Libre

• Velocity Lance (100) - A lance with a rocket booster built into it, it propells the user forward for an incredibly high speed, high power charge attack. Charlemé was one of the only nations left with anything resembling an old fashioned cavalry charge.
• Druid System (200) - One of the signature abilities of Republic of Charlemé, this is the ability to infuse EP into plant life to influence it. They could also rapidly grow and control vines from the soil that had properties similar to steel cables. Recently plants and vines created or influenced by this ability have started to sprout vibrant flowers, though nobody is sure why.
• Mimic (?) - A recently discovered ability according to the Vichya who alerted the international community to this potential threat, it seems that at least one member or Iris Libre has the ability to shapeshift and take on the appearance and voice of other people, potentially not even limited to other mecha girls. This sort of ability has intelligence agencies the world over sweating. If it genuinely exists.

 

[Whiteeyes]

Alright. Now thrn what color are your hair and eyes? Usually they stay the same as you originally had, but occasionally they change into more...interesting colors.

Hair Color:

[ ] Blonde

[ ] Brown

[ ] Aubern

[ ] Black

[ ] Orange

[ ] Red

[ ] White

[ ] Cyan

[ ] Pink

[ ] Emerald

[ ] Violet

[ ] Twin Colored
-[ ] Color 1
-[ ] Color 2
-[ ] Patern/how it's colored

Hair Style:

[ ] Long and straight

[ ] Long and wavy

[ ] Long and curly

[ ] Long ponytail

[ ] Twin tails.

[ ] Long ponytail with a crown braid.

[ ] Long braided ponytail

[ ] Long braided

[ ] Medium straight

[ ] Medium and wavy

[ ] Medium and curly

[ ] Medium ponytail

[ ] Medium ponytail with a crown braid.

[ ] Medium braided ponytail

[ ] Medium braided

[ ] Short straight

[ ] Short and wavy

[ ] Short and curly

[ ] Short ponytail

[ ] Short ponytail with a crown braid.

[ ] Short braided ponytail

[ ] Short braided

[ ] Pig tails

[ ] Bob cut

[ ] Pixie cut



Eye Color:

[ ] Hazel

[ ] Amber

[ ] Brown

[ ] Baby Blue

[ ] Deep Blue

[ ] Green

[ ] Gray

[ ] Yellow/Gold

[ ] Red

[ ] Purple

[ ] Orange

[ ] Rainbow (literally the iris has the seven colored bands)

[ ] Heterochromia
-[ ] Left Color
-[ ] Right Color

So you are a kimonomimi of Albion huh? That means you have dog ears on top of your head, and apparently sensitive ones at that. What sort of ears do you have?

[ ] Small pointed ears, easily hidden by hair.

[ ] Medium pointy ears.

[ ] "Big old bat ears" is how they have been described.

[ ] Small, floppy ears that sometimes look like hair clips or something like that.

[ ] Medium sized floppy ears which sometimes reach over your bangs.

[ ] Large floppy ears that basically frame the sides of your face.

Hmmm, so you have a Twin, and you are highly defendant on each other. Are they your actual twin by any chance?

[ ] Yes, we are in fact identical twins. We knew that the boost was almost guaranteed if we converted, but we didn't expect to be so dependent on each other.
-[ ] Not that it matters, we do everything together and were BFFs anyway so this just means they can't separate us.
-[ ] It's annoying. I mean it's not that we don't love eachbother or anything like that, but it would be nice to have the option to not always do stuff together and maybe try things out without needing to always be "the twins".

[ ] No, but we might as well be. We get each other and click so hard as BFFs that you practically would think we were actual sisters.

[ ] We're not related, but we are good friends and we get long, which is great considering how much time we have to spend together. I wouldn't say we are best friends, but we are definitely friends.

[ ] No, but our fighting could be mistaken for sibling rivalry. Yeah we have to work together and can do so well enough, but we bump heads and argue all the time.

Huh you and your Twin have animal companions. What sort of animal do you two have?

[ ] Dogs, the traditional companion in Albion. It also matches your ears rather well.
- [ ] Your dog's breed
- - [ ] Your dog's name
- [ ] Twin's dog's breed
- - [ ] Twin's dog's name

[ ] Osprey, water going birds of prey that can see below the water's surface and catch fish with ease. Excellent senses, wiced caws, and able to help out on supplies with hunting.
- [ ] Your bird's name
- [ ] Twin's bird's name

[ ] A seal, more specifically the spotted seal. Fast swimmers and skilled divers with echo location, they are however very awkward on land just kind of shuffling and flopping around. Can easily do that "ball on nose trick".
- [ ] Your seal's name
- [ ] Twin seal's name

[ ] Write in
- [ ] Yours
- [ ] Twin's

Finally what is you and your Twin's standard roll and therefore load out?

[ ] Scouting: Not heavily armed, you are expected to move quickly, locate enemies, and relay information to your own side. You are also expected to find and counter enemy scouts and ambushes. Not intended for straight up combat, you don't have much firepower for contending with heavily armored foes but you are hardly helpless.

R. Arm: Twin barrel 5.56 assult rifle.

L. Arm: Semi-auto 22 mm AP marksman rifle.

R. Shoulder: Smoke launcher.

L. Shoulder: 8 kg anti-personnel rocket.

Carry: Binoculars, a radio unit, colored smoke grenades, marker chalk

[ ] Spotter: Similar to a standard scout, you have a more specialized role. Your job is to find enemy positions, especially slow moving formations or static emplacements, and relay the location to artillery whether that be standard army artillery or some of the more heavily armed mech girls. You aren't as well armed as a traditional scout as your main job is too keep the enemy from finding out you are there in the first place, so being even lighter is key.

R. Arm: Twin barrel 5.56 assult rifle.

L. Arm: Twin barrel 5.56 assult rifle.

R. Shoulder: Smoke launcher.

L. Shoulder: Flare launcher.

Carry: Binoculars, range finder, elevation tool, advanced radio unit,.colored smoke grenades, cammo blanket.

[ ] Harrier: Your job is to outflank and attack foes from the side, often in a hit and run fashion. As such a lot of your wepons are designed to hit hard for your weight class but aren't intended for drawn out fighting. You want to pop in, do some damage, and then get put of there.

R. Arm: Quad barrel single fire 4.5 guage shot cannon.

L. Arm: 8 kg anti-personnel rocket.

R. Shoulder: 8 kg anti-armor rocket.

L. Shoulder: Fragmentation grenade cluster launcher.

Carry: Smoke grenades, first aid kit, 45 calaber semi-auto pistol

[ ] Marksman: A little off on the gender, but the idea is the same. Use you mobility to get into good positions and make strategic shots. Remember to move after firing, because even with all the stealth tech in it you still shot a gun.

R. Arm: 75 calaber armor piercing sniper rifle with adjustable magnification and built in range finder, suppressor, and silencer.

L. Arm: Semi-auto 22 mm AP marksman rifle.

R. Shoulder: Smoke launcher.

L. Shoulder: Single barrel 5.56 assault rifle.

Carry: binoculars, camo blanket, two meals worth of rations, med-kit

[ ] Merchant Escort: Your aquatic nature lets you serve as escorts for maritime trade and travel. While you are not fast enough to move independent from the ship you can easily ride along and deploy in the event of danger. Your ability to dive is highly valued, both as a potential counter to submarines and your own ability to threaten enemies from stealth. You can also board enemy ships to engage in action there with relative impunity as ship-born mech girls are really rare.

R. Arm: Twin barrel 5.56 assault rifle.

L. Arm: Twin barrel 8 guage semi-auto shotguns.

R. Shoulder: 16 kg mortar launcher.

L. Shoulder: Grappel launcher and retraction system.

Carry: Colored smoke grenades, binoculars, magnetic breaching charges.

 

[Whiteeyes]

March 19, 1957
Newmarket Mech Base, Albion

It was breakfast at Newmarket Base, and the staff was quick at work making sure that breakfast was ready for the two hundred and eighty seven mecha girls that would soon be gracing the dining halls. Six pieces of toast, a large fruit muffin, seven sausages, a dozen strips of bacon, a bowl of oatmeal with fruit, two hash browns, three scrambled eggs, a stack of pancakes, a grapefruit, a selection of jams and honey, and plenty of milk and tea. One unfamiliar with mech girls might think this was all the food present on each table. In case of fact, that was the meal for each individual girl, barring the few who were "fuel efficient" and ate something approaching a normal breakfast much to the scrambling cooks relief. Every morning was a race to get the mountains of food cooked and served to the girls nice and hot, so it couldn't just be cooked in bulk a while before and then reheated before serving. These were their nation's elite, in service to the Queen. As such respect and quality was paramount. And yet they knew, somehow, at the end of the day the girl's with the normal sized breakfast's would be the last to finish their meal, just like always. When a mech girl was hungry, she was hungry.

********

You finish up your own breakfast with a quick drink of milk, taking a moment to catch your breath. In the three months since you converted you have really gotten used to how much you could eat in one sitting. You are sitting side by side with your twin naturally; the only clue to tell you and Sophia apart being that you style your hair into twin tails as opposed to her singular ponytail. Prince and Duchess even perched on the same shoulder as they enjoyed their own scraps, not requiring more food than a normal bird but also not requiring a hood to keep calm and controlled in such an environment either. As for the table you are sitting at this morning...

[ ] You are with the some of the other newer recruits, Privates Johannesburg, Knox, and King along with Specialist Young. You are all rather newer to the service and as such have an easy time bonding and relating to each other over the changed from civilian life.

[ ] You are with most of the "naval" crew that the base has. Specialists Silvers, Raleigh, and Hart along with Captain Penn are present today, as Sargent Green is spending this morning at the "fly girl" table. None the less you talk about more than "being a boat jockey", but the vets are willing to give new recruits like yourselves plenty of tips for seaborne duty.

[ ] The table with the only other pair of Twins on base, Privates First Class Pauline Windshire and Caroline Port. As their names show they are the "other kind of twin". They offer a lot of good advice on how to best utilize your potential. The four of you tend to more or less get a table to yourselves when you sit together as a lack of a twin of their own leaves most of the other mecha girls uncomfortable in this sort of situation.

The feeding frenzy largely over, the group proceed to strike up some friendly conversation as they wait for morning announcements and duty assignments...

********

As your conversation winds down a voice barks out for "Attention!"


Commander Irene Steele, also known as "The Red Storm", has entered for morning announcements, her extended frame and still cooling for storage gatling showing she had recently finished her morning workout routine. Commander Steele was considered something of an oddity as far as Commanders were concerned, preferring to utilize a medium frame instead of a heavy one for more defense. She also had a tendency to "lead from the front", which while inspiring tended to get her in trouble with her peers and the Knight General, though from what you heard the Queen herself doesn't mind as much as long as she gets the job done and keeps it from being too costly.

[ ] Honestly you think it's cool how she zooms all over the battlefield, raining down destruction upon her foes. She is a total badass and you are happy to be serving under her.

[ ] While you're very happy she's on your side and you know you can count on her in a fight, you do have doubts about her leadership abilities. I mean sure there hasn't been any actual problems so far, but then again there is a first time for everything.

[ ] While you do appreciate her combat abilities, you think putting her in command was a mistake (not that you'd ever say so) and feel she would have been better off leading some sort of ace formation instead of trying to split her focus between that and overall command of the bases forces.

"Alright listen up ladies, we've got a few things on the to do list this morning. I'm looking for volunteers for a couple of projects this morning."

[ ] "First off, there is a joint exercise between us and the army that will be going on for about four days in Nottinghamshire. Sides will be mixed, it's a series of combined arms drills culminating in a mock engagement. Don't show them up too badly, they're just human but we do need them on the field from sheer numbers at least. Also don't let anything they say get under your skin, and even if it does do not retaliate. We don't need another "shower incident" like five years ago that they still bring up every single time we do one of these things I get it already Captain Jenkins isn't even part of this base anymore wold they just let it go already...ahem anyway yes, don't escalate anything. I'm going to need about forty volunteers for two teams of twenty. Captains Rodgers and Harding will be babysitting you lot so don't make us look bad because I am giving them disciplinary authority."

[ ] "Secondly, Prince Nelson is going to be conducting a tour of various military bases along the eastern coast. He is going to start with the the Tilburry air and naval bases, followed by here, the Norwich naval base, the Rutland mecha base, the Nottinghamshire army base, and finally Grimsby air base before returning home to Camelot. Naturally he is going to need an escort. Remember ladies, your job is to protect the second prince of our nation, not attempt to woo the most eligible bachelor in the kingdom. That's what galas are for. I'm going to be only taking four of you, preference given to those with scouting experience. This assignment is expected to last two weeks, and if I need to remind you not to embarrass us in front of the Crown itself you probably aren't suited for this job in the first place. Also Sargent Mills is already barred from volunteering, as she is from all male escort missions." She gives the Sargent in question a look that could peel paint.

[ ] "Finally if none of these appeal to you you are assigned to normal duties."

Looking around the room, she nods. "Alright everyone, that should be everything this morning. I'll be wating for volunteers. Dism-"

Before she can finish dismissal the doors burst open as a secretary, somewhat out of breath, hurries over to the commander. "Message for you Mam. Top priority urgent." she quickly explains.

The commander quickly reads through the message, eyes going wide as she turns to the assembled forces, the girls now unsure of what was happening.

[X] "Alright change of plans! All sea worthy mech girls from here and Rutland have been called for emergency deployment at Norwich! Frame up and move out ladies, further instructions will be wating for you there! Go go go!"

Blinking in surprise at first, you realize that this means you and quickly hurry out of the mess hall, taking your sister by the hand so you won't be separated in the rush. At s time like this you can't afford the drain or waiting to regroup. Once you are outside the two of you quickly manifest your frames, which are naturally basically identical except for your hair sticking out of the helmet alongside your ears. Gauntlets, pauldrons, greaves, and skirt soon appear on your body, as does a small "breast plate" that at least covers your vital organs. Besides it's not like you were naked aside from the plating, as your aquatic nature manifested itself with a wetsuit that covered your torso, uper arms, and thighs.

You do a quick check, popping your gear in and out of storage and making sure that the integrated weapon systems are installed properly and are responsive before dismissing them. With that out of the way, you and your sister manifest your wheels, leaning your feet back so that your heel mounted propulsion system can get you up to speed. Soon, the two of you are racing across the base, the gate open for you and the others to rush through. Specialist Silvers is the only one able to keep up, the others having heavier frames. Still, even with a top speed of 45 kph it would take you two hours to get to the base, and who knows what will be waiting for you there.

"Hey you two." Silvers suddenly calls out. "Just thought of something. We're going to have to wait for them anyway, maybe we should slow down a bit and regroup with the heavier girls? It would save us a lot pf waiting, and since we don't know what's going on safty in numbers and all that."

Sophia isn't so sure. "But it's an emergency, what if that means we take too long? I mean the medium frames alone would take another hour to get there, and Captain Penn's heavy frame will take um, about six hours total to get there. That sounds like too long for an emergency."

Silvers nods a bit. "True, but in case you forgot I'm even more naval focused than you two. If there is some sort of problem we run into I'm going to be a liability if we get stuck on land. I mean the only ground based weapons I have are a shotgun and my trident; torpedoes and depth charges aren't exactly made for land use."

[ ] "Don't worry, we'll keep you safe if something happens. It's an emergency so we can't afford to wait."

[ ] "Well we can drop back and regroup with the medium frames at least, and extra hour isn't too bad and it will keep us safer."

[ ] "You have a point but it is an emergency. Why don't you drop back and regroup with the medium frames for escort, me and Sophia will keep going ahead."

********
AN: No, this mission did not pop up because you are sea worthy, it would have happened regardless. It just would have been background "what's going on" tension as you have to go about whatever you volunteered for or normal duties and training if you didn't volunteer for anything.

Also it is really really hard to find any sort of dignified mecha girl pictures that aren't pure cheesecake or pervice. I get that it's easy to do so but is it too much to ask for badass warrior women to be presented with dignity and respect?

 

[Whiteeyes]

Hope your phone is okay

Click to shrink...

It is now. Some issues plus a hectic couple of weeks does not make for an easy update.
Anyway on with the results of the voting.
*********

[X] You are with most of the "naval" crew that the base has. Specialists Silvers, Raleigh, and Hart along with Captain Penn are present today, as Sargent Green is spending this morning at the "fly girl" table. None the less you talk about more than "being a boat jockey", but the vets are willing to give new recruits like yourselves plenty of tips for seaborne duty.

Click to shrink...

"-which sent me spinning backwards through the water until I collided with the hull of our own cruiser." Sp. Silvers says, earning a few chuckles from the other girls who have probably heard this story a few times already. "I later learned I scared the crap out of the boys on the crew as they thought I was a torpedo that hit them and when I didn't explode they decided I was a dud. So yeah if the brass ever decides to outfit you two for submarine hunting remember to be properly braced before firing a torpedo, or maybe get a heavier frame like I was offered. Wither way kickback is not going to be fun."

Sp. Hart rolls her eyes at that one. "What subs? We're allied with Germania, and compared to them everyone else's subs are crap. If a war breaks out they'll be the ones tearing through the enemy subs."

Sp. Raleigh doesn't seem to agree however as she interjects "The EU and Sakura are supposed to be making big strides there though. President Anderson of Mojave said that the EU's new subs are supposed to put the U series to shame."

Silver's rolls her eyes. "Yes, because propaganda is always truthful and no nation in the EU has ever bluffed or tried to pretend that they were more powerful than they actually were."

Cpt. Penn chuckled slightly as she drank her pot of coffee. "Either way I doubt there will be much sub hunting in these two's future. As long as they don't volunteer due to stretched resources, pull it off amazingly despite their light frame, get a reputation for it, and get stuck doing it as their regular duty. But I mean, what are the odds of that? Right "Sea Devil"?"

Silver's huffs slightly. "With all due respect, patrol nets for enemy subs is very valuable. You never know who might be trying to sneak on by or what they're planning on doing. Although now that the Durkara Conflict is over and we got the resources I have put into command that I want a frame change."

"Finally getting a medium frame huh?" Raleigh says, smirking. "I guess you don't want to be mistaken for a dud anymore."

Cpt. Penn finally chimes in at this point "Alright I think that's enough. No more teasing the littlest sub slayer." She gets a couple looks for her hypocrisy there, but continues on "As much as it's the stereotype we can talk about stuff besides the ocean. So, Specialist Grains, either of you, got anything on our minds? might be fun to get a fresh perspective at the table for a change."

[ ] If Germania allies with Vichya like the rumors say, are we going to ally with them as well?
- [ ] You don't approve of them and their violent overthrow of their former government. It shows they aren't exactly trustworthy.
- [ ] They have a very negative reputation at the moment, and you are worried about it staining the Glory of Albion.
- [ ] You would prefer it stayed as a "friend of a friend" situation at best as you expect violence to erupt there and you'd rather Albion not get dragged into it.
- [ ] If your own chief ally is treating with them they can't be all bad right? Rumors are probably exaggerating how bad they are.
- [ ] Their spying abilities could be quite useful, and better to have that on our side than anyone else's.

[ ] Did you hear the rumors about the Iris Libre shapeshifter?
- [ ] That's got to be Vichya propaganda to get people to be paranoid about them, right?
- [ ] I heard some people say it was a ninja. They're known for their disguises and fake outs. But would that ninja have been helping them or setting them up? I can't decide.
- [ ] It's unsettling that terrorists have something like that available to them. They could do a lot of damage with that sort of thing.
- [ ] They never had anything like that before. I heard a rumor that it's actually another nation's special agent that was "on loan" to them or something like that. mean who could possibly have that power?"

[ ] So the Dragon Empire was in the papers this morning. It seems that one of the rebel groups set a port on fire and rioted and looted for a bit before escaping. Then the Imperial Army showed up and started killing civilians in the confusion before things got sorted out at all.
- [ ] At this rate one of the rebel factions will win out, and from what I've heard that'll probably be the communist one which, with the NU being right there to align with, would be very bad. Shouldn't we try and help out?
- [ ] At this point the Emperor seems so incompetent I don't see how the Empire falling can be a bad thing.
- [ ] It's like watching two thugs fight over the deed to a house inside said house when it is on fire. They seem to be missing the point and are just making things worse and worse for everyone involved.
- [ ] At this rate if anybody does wind up invading them they might get heralded as saviors from this madness.

[ ] So we were thinking of going to the movies on our down time this weekend.
- [ ] We were going to see that new cowboy movie. Yeah it's full of EU "manifest destiny" stuff but the action and drama are really well done.
- [ ] We were going to see that new scientific fiction movie about space adventures. It's such a fantastical idea, going into space, that you just kind of have to see how they pulled it off.
- [ ] The theater is going to be showing a compilation of Three Dumbo's skits for half the price of a movie. Sounds like a fun way to spend a couple of hours.

[ ] So, are the rumors that Captain Penn has a boyfriend off base true, or is there a different reason she heads out to town every weekend?

********

[X] While you're very happy she's on your side and you know you can count on her in a fight, you do have doubts about her leadership abilities. I mean sure there hasn't been any actual problems so far, but then again there is a first time for everything.]

Click to shrink...

Your moral is reasonably high, and you have respect for skills and talents, you feel that you need to keep an eye out for trouble. While you can't casually disobey orders, if you feel there is a significant enough blunder you can freely call it out without being blinded by rank.

********

[X] "Don't worry, we'll keep you safe if something happens. It's an emergency so we can't afford to wait."

Click to shrink...

She sighs. "Fine, two to one, I know when I'm outvoted. Let's just get this over with then. You two are taking point though."

Arriving at the naval base, you find people scrambling about as they load ships quickly, boarding them and doing last minute checks. A seaman waves your crew over, directing you to an area with three other light mech girls, most likely from the Rutland base, and what apears to be the bases Rear Admiral and a couple other officers. The Lieutenant Commander waves you three over as well. "Alright, time is of the essence here but all we have so far are light frames. Admiral Walpole, should we wait for the others?"

The Admiral looks the group over for a bit, before shaking his head. "No, waiting even another hour could be disastrous. Six should be more than enough, especially if we have an ace like the Sea Devil. Girls, you will load up onto the Griffon, the monitor class over there, it will be your deployment base. We are running a major emergency intercept mission. A sizable fleet of Northern Union ships have been sighted heading this way. Current scouting reports show we have five cruisers, six destroyers, a battle ship, and a carrier confirmed as minimum. We also expect there to be at least one submarine as well. We don't know how many naval girls they have. They are still in international waters and there has still been no declaration of war as of yet. As such we will be going in cautiously and at full readiness, but we will not be firing first. It is entirely possible this is just a case of intimidation or brinkmanship and we are not going to be the ones who start the war, is that understood?"

"Sir yes sir." everyone present chimes in almost perfectly in sync. If there is one thing military life prepares you for it's that answer at the drop of a hat.

"Very well. Specialist Silvers and any other dive capable girls, meet me at my command post over there," the Admiral says as he indicates a temporary station set up with telephones, radios, and a number of operators and messengers trying to coordinate everything here at the base as well as elsewhere, "as I have a special assignment for you. Otherwise you have your orders, dismissed!"

You and your sister soon find yourselves, Silvers, and one other girl you don't know over at the station, where the Admiral leads you to a private room. Sitting down, he looks at the four of you. "You are about to be asked to volunteer for a very risky and very secret mission. If you learn what this mission is, you will not be allowed to back out. In addition even if you do succeed and return safely you will be kept under watch for a period of at least one week minimum, and depending on circumstances potentially even secure confinement for operational security reasons." The girl you don't know audibly gulps and looks a bit nervous about that. "Having said that, this mission is of potentially vital importance to Albion and would look very good on your records to the brass with proper clearance. It will still be quite dangerous. All that said, this is your one and only chance to back out without any repercussion as, again, this is a volunteer mission. If you chose to stay and hear the mission you are committed and cannot back out. Time is short, I will need your answers quickly."

[ ] Stay and volunteer.

[ ] Walk out, this sounds too big for rookies.

[ ] Let your sister decide. Coin flip.

 

[Whiteeyes]

When it came to topics of discussion, there was one on your mind recently that you would really like to have cleared up. "If Germania allies with Vichya like the rumors say, are we going to ally with them as well?" you ask, echoing some concerned murmerings from news, civilians, an other base personnel you'd been hearing. "I mean if our own chief ally is treating with them they can't be all bad right? Rumors are probably exaggerating how bad they are."

A collective groan falls over the table as Silver's flashes the Captain a very sarcastic looking thumbs up. "Great job Captain, this is just what I wanted to talk about."

Raleigh sighs and pushes her glasses up slightly before weighing in. "While you are right that there is a lot of negative propaganda about Vichya the fact of the matter is they did engage in a violent overthrow of their own previous government to establish a military dictatorship. While Germania is also highly centralized in authority with a heavy militaristic bent the people of that nation chose said leadership. Democratic autority needs to be respected, and a brutal militant leader forcing change is a very very bad start."

"Right, democracy is important." Hart says, rolling her eyes. "So says the personal army of the Queen who snatched it from out under parliament. But yeah we ain't perfect but that's a bit much. They say that the old order was decaying and their country was heading for a collapse, but nobody else really sees it or agrees."

"Not even Germania really i bet." Silvers throws in. "They just want an alliance to secure almost their entire western boarder in one fell swoop. And you know not antagonize people so hair trigger they shoot their own girls."

Penn huffed. "Alright let's not exaggerate. There have been no reports of in-fighting with the Vichya beyond substantiated as false rumors. Also both nations have a militaristic bent that they could probably find common ground over, but I also think it's mostly to secure boarders. With the South mostly bordered by the Holy See as a basically neutral party, and the north is largely ocean and us. East is the biggest trouble spot between the Suleiman and the NU being only a few small nations away, and even then that's shaky with how weak Remia and Wawel are militarily if any serious fighting broke out. Reducing the number of fronts it would have to potentially worry about would be quite appealing to Germania."

"So secure the western boarder. Like I said." Silvers chides. "Seriously Captain, you don't need to be so detailed all the time."

Penn shot her a look that wiped the grin off her subordinates face. "While it is true we both stated they wanted to secure their western boarder you left it rather simply as that. I was explaining the circumstances that would lead to such an alliance and secure boarder appealing so heavily to them at this time. Politics is one subject it never hurts to elaborate on. Being under the Queen our actions reflect upon her and our nation's political views far more strongly in the public eye than if we were commoners or soldiers. I've served as political escort before, and trust me you do not want to go into one of those things without an understanding of the politics going on from all sides."

Hart just groans. "Politics and religion. I know we're not polite company but I'd figure the rules would still apply."

Before you can respond the doors open, announcing an end to breakfast...

You are rather hopeful, and wish to think the best of others, even when rumors to the contrary abound.
********
Tails. She doesn't want to do this.
"We'll volunteer Sir." you say with pride, your sister standing just a little straighter beside you as she gives you a small nervous smile. The kind she has when she's going along with whatever you are suggesting, especially in a situation where being seperated and weakened would probably get you killed. Shit.

Before you can even think about doing anything else Silvers chimes in with her own "What sort of Devil would I be if I backed down? Count me in."

"M-m-me too." came the much less sure reply of the last girl, the one you didn't know. She seemed nervous but with everyone else volunteering so enthusiastically it seems she succumbed to peer pressure to not be "the coward".

The Admiral nods, before continuing. "Alright then. You are going to be deploying with the fleet as well and diving immediately. Officially you are going to be screening for any enemy submarines or divers that might be tempted to attack or make a blockade run. Unofficially, you are going to be escorting U-343 back from Union waters into our own, as the blockade cut them off too fully from a direct run to Germania."

The girl you don't know seemed rather confused. "But, wait, what's a U-boat doing coming here? Why are they chasing it so badly?"

"It was on an intelligence gathering mission. Sadly while trying to ex-filtrate resources and information they were discovered and pursued with Union subs and hunter killers moving to cut off routs back to their homeland rapidly. Them coming here is a desperation ploy. We are going to be denying the existence of said submarine or it and its crews presence here in Albion. As far as the world is concerned if any news of this sub ever gets out the U-boat simply lost them and we were worried it was an attack. Learning that we helped an allied intelligence operation escape would be very problematic for us politically. Your mission will be to find and escort the U-boat into our own waters past the blockade and keep anyone from discovering us doing so. The Griffon is set to line up with the sub's escape route so once you deploy and dive it should be a relatively straight swim to find your escort. Specialist Silvers is in overall command of this operation. The only one being deployed besides yourselves than know of your mission is the Captain of the Griffon. Nobody else is cleared for this information. Your official story is that your special briefing was covering potential submarine routs you would need to cover. The operation begins as soon as you reach your destination. Dismissed."

The four of you quickly file out and have to double time it to the Griffon so as not to delay the launch. Soon enough you are underway.

It will be two hours until you reach your deployment zone. Pick two actions to fill in the time.

[ ] Ask Silvers for some last minute tips on fighting subs. She's done it a few times before and talked about it some, but extra details would be nice.

[ ] You messed up with your sister, you didn't realize she didn't want to do this. Better go apologize and see what you can do to make this up.The coin flip was not with you.

[ ] Talk to the other girl you will be deploying with. If you are going to be working together it would probably help to know a bit about her.

[ ] One of the other girls from Rutland base seems to have a medium frame, which is odd as everyone else has a light one. How did she manage that?

[ ] Wait, that girl from Rutland, is that beer? Is she drinking on active deployment?
- [ ] Go try and talk some sense into her.
- [ ] ...fuck it, you could use some liquid courage right now with the insanity you've been asked to do.