[IC] Symphony of the Stars

[rustytengo]

Reggi glanced at the body and mumbled under his breath as he walked out of the elevator unattaching his bayonet from his shotgun. "it looks like I'm going to need this a bit more usable." As he looked into the room his fist clenched at the scene and narrowed his eyes at the three people in the room chatting. Glancing at the group he say Symphony's microphone. What is she going to do with that put on a concert...Well she lowered her gun at least.

Waving his hand at his sister singling that to get ready he walked into the room the shotgun hanging at his side while his left hand holding his bayonet behind his back and his right hand ready next to his sidearm ready to draw and shoot them if they moved to harm him.

"So I take it that your the ones who made such a mess in here, A?" he said to them in a casual voice doing his best to look as disarming as possible.

[Code: PIRULUK]

Symphony suppressed a look of annoyance at Reggi stealing her spotlight. Idols must be generous, must always smile.

She quickly moved herself and hid behind Mira, grabbing the human's power-armored hand in her own small fingers and hugging Mira's arm tight with the arm holding the microphone, playing the part of the little Nienian girl afraid of the big, bad humans. Her assault rifle was hidden from sight by the entirety of her frame, and her left hand squeezed Mira's right in a series of calculated presses; presses which, assuming Mira's armor allowed tactile sensations to pass through, conveyed a message in Morse, which if she knew how to interpret would say "Me Open Mouth, Plug Ears."

[Pyon Pyon Kyuu!~]

Blackseed

"Get that door open, and use stealth. Scout ahead." The commander moved over to the woman crouching down. Even while crouching he was ways taller than the woman. She quickly lost he ability to speak as she coughed out blood. But she still tried to communicate. She breathed out heavily, made rasping sounds with her throat. And pointed. Pointed at Blackseed. More specifically at the weapon she had confiscated from the Yousei. "Either way, there's nothing I can do for her. I'm no field medic, she'll be dead in a few minutes. Bleeding way too bad, and her stomach is cooked medium rare."

Rest of the Party

"You know they don't pay us nearly enough for this." The Snow Yousei was saying, as he leaned his head against the table. He had long white hair, and red eyes. He was the clear typical albino Snow Yousei. As Reggi drew near he lifted his head. "H-hey guys who the fuck is this guy are we being invaded or something? Guys!?" His allies were clearly unresponsive. Almost like old-robots they got up. From their backs they drew two SMGs. The one on the right, a blonde man aimed his weapon straight at Symphony while the one at the left, a tanned woman, kept her weapon on Reggi. Then the Snow Yousei climbed on top of the table, his violet eyes looking lifeless... Wait weren't they red a second ago? From the table he picked up a bloody stiletto knife, and wielding it with the blade towards his back he jumped off the table. With lightning quick movements he came down on Reggi, slashing thrice at his armor with a maddening ballerina like spin.

[Code: PIRULUK]

Symphony muttered under her breath as she quickly hid herself behind the larger power-armored Mira. She didn't like it when people pointed guns at her; it tended to result in a lot of expensive maintenance after. The situation was causing her to make a decision, and she was really bad at decisions...

Still hiding behind Mira, she neurally toggled the microphone's setting from <<Human>> to <<Snow Yousei>>, then quickly brought it to her mouth, shouting in a high-pitched, singsong voice.

"Hello everyone! Are you fired up? Symphony's secret live is starting soon, so please watch me warmly, okay~"

The moment she spoke into the microphone, high-frequency soundwaves began to pulse outward from it in a radial fashion, covering a circular area with a 35 meter radius. Naturally, the microphone also functioned as a microphone should, amplifying her voice, but any utterance beyond the first syllable was truthfully redundant. The soundwaves pulsed outward, creating a high-pitched whining that would go unnoticed by most ears, but was tuned such that it contained frequencies which were tweaked to render 94.62% of Snow Yousei immediately unconscious, with another 4.392% experiencing severe disorientation, and the last 0.88% unaffected.

Hopefully this enemy was one of the 99%.

[rustytengo]

Reggi was excepting such a reaction well most of it. He didn't except the whole lifelessness thing that people had going on. Well the Yousei was quick in his attack Reggi was ready for it. At the first strike he brought up his bayonet and parried it with a spark of electricity when the two blades meet. The second strike was a bit quicker then Reggi was excepting and he barely managed to parry it out wide. With his original idea out the window at the third strike Reggi moved in close to the Yousei catching the arm with the knife with his arm stopping the blade from hitting him.

Well they where in this position Reggi turned his bayonet downward and stabbed it down towards the arm of the Yousei letting a current of electricity flow into the body of the Yousei if he connected.

Edited February 27, 2016 by rustytengo

[Chevaleresse]

Heavensea dodged past where the soon-to-be-unconscious Yousei and Reggi were engaged in melee and dashed toward the right, crouching as low as she could and trusting her shield to absorb the damage from the low-power weapons that would inevitably be fired at her. She brought her naginata toward the human aiming at Symphony with a quick horizontal slash, relying on her momentum to provide part of the force behind the blow.

[K_H]

Millennium hadn't stepped out of the elevator yet, so he went unnoticed by the assailants for now. Then, he received the image from Blackseed, and went to work at decoding the pattern of fingerprints on the Keypad. When he finished, he would send her an alphanumeric string that was the code for the keypad.

Edited February 28, 2016 by K_H

[Pyon Pyon Kyuu!~]

Rest of the Party

The Yousei, being bombarded with disorienting frequencies and bayonet induced electricity, lost complete control of his body. He fell over to the ground, bleeding from his arm and twitching slightly as if trying to resist the effects. After a few seconds the body went completely limp.

The two Terrans were a different matter though. The blonde man opened fire on the Michi warrior that rushed at him. He kept his SMG steady unloading a full clip against Heavensea's shields, but with little effect. Her weapon dug into his flesh, but he seemed not to care. With one hand, he grabbed the blade and unlodged it from his torso and with the other he threw his weapon as if it was a rock aiming straight for Heavensea's head. He fell over afterwards, probably from the immense cut on the side of his belly. He got back up as quickly as he fell, falling to a boxer stance and ready to fight.

The tanned woman seemed to have her eyes on Reggi, pulling the trigger and unloading her weapon against his armor. However, instead of falling to a primal urge to throw her weapon, she instead backed up throwing a table down as cover, and hiding behind it while she reloaded her weapon.

Blackseed

Blackseed entered the digits into the keypad, after receiving them from her partner. The Nienian's calculations were correct, as the door automatically opened. Just beyond was a huge room, as engineers call them; hangars. There was no sight of the cave walls, this structure was 100% covered in metal walls. The middle of the hangar had three mechs, outdated models without the now standardized GUARDIAN/ANGEL system. The closest mech to Blackseed was different though, this one had the back wings suggesting it was a GUARDIAN/ANGEL. A white haired man with a white lab coat stood in front of it, a few meters away from him was a, you guessed it, a corpse! The lab coated man held a laser pistol, the barrel still smoking from a recently discharged beam. He reached into his waist coat. From it he drew a single cigar. He placed his pistol's barrel against the cigar's tip lighting it.

He either didn't notice the door opening, or simply didn't care.

[Kurotsune]

"There's a contact." Blackseed calls out, loud enough for Kyle to hear but soft enough for the man not to notice. Afterwards, however, she steps calmly towards him, holding the weapon in one hand and waving with the other.

"Hey! You! What happened here?" She peers around, glancing at the body warily, then signaling for Kyle to stay put. "I just want to talk!" She says, placing the weapon-thing at her feet as a sign of good faith.

[Hiss13]

Mira was definitely pissed off that someone would attack her older brother. After all, the only one who should be allowed to attack Reggi was her. Even though the Yousei was unconscious, Mira still wanted to unload on the bastard. As she watched one of the enemies go to hide behind her table, she took out her pistol and shot one of her shockwave bullets straight at the Yousei's head before changing her aim towards the table the woman hid behind and began to unload three shockwave bullets towards the table and the woman hidden behind it.

[K_H]

When Millennium stepped out of the Elevator, he was greeted with the sight of the group battling the trio. After doing some quick calculations in order to see how he could be the most effective, he disabled all auditory simulations and sidled along the edges of the room, keeping close to the walls and trying to remain unnoticed as he attempted to outflank the Trio.

Edited March 6, 2016 by K_H

[Chevaleresse]

Heavensea almost lost her balance between the weapon in her hand being jerked about - she hadn't intended for it to lodge in the man - and dodging the other sent hurtling toward her head. She backed up a few steps to give herself some breathing room, then took up a ready stance while circling slowly toward where the woman had ensconced herself behind a table. Concern showed on her face; the man should have been on the ground whimpering in pain, not getting ready to box her - not that she felt that was a threat, with her massive reach advantage.

[Code: PIRULUK]

Once the brawl had started, Symphony immediately moved back inside the elevator, taking up a seated sniper position. She unslung and reopened her rifle, setting it to its single round sniper configuration. Pressing it firmly against her shoulder, holding it steady, temporarily disabling her breath simulation. Linking to its optical node via a direct interface, she started to ready herself, preparing to fire.

While she had been setting up, Heavensea had already inflicted a wound on one opponent, and was now approaching another enemy who was hiding behind a table.

As the injured man started taking up a boxing stance, Symphony quietly aimed and pulled the trigger, causing a ballistic projectile to exit the barrel at a speed of 1.3 kilometers per second, targeted squarely at the man's exposed head. Not waiting to see if it hit, Symphony quickly adjusted her aim and shifted her barrel in the direction of the table, preparing to provide covering fire for her cute cat-eared friend.

[Pyon Pyon Kyuu!~]

Blackseed

The white haired man turned around to look at Blackseed. His eyes widened, clearly not expecting a muscular Michi to approach him. "Who the hell are you!?" For a second he was about to aim his weapon when he realized Blackseed dropped hers. He opened his hand letting the laser pistol fall to the ground. He paused for a few seconds, looking down at the corpse.

"What happened here?" He started. He gave a half hearted chuckle, clearly forced. "My colleague attacked me out of nowhere. She came at me with a knife, so I killed her. I heard shouting, I heard screams, I heard weapons. One of my best soldiers came in here, grabbed a prototype weapon and just ran off. I hid, I had no idea what he would have done to me. By the sounds I heard afterwards, I did well in hiding." He took another look at Blackseed, specifically at the weapon the dropped. "I don't think Hercules gave you that for free. How did he die?"

Group

The boxer was ready, he rushed forward and threw a punch aiming squarely at Heavensea's jaw. That was his plan anyways, but a bullet hit him squarely in the head falling over to the ground. The woman behind the table jumped out of cover as soon as the table started being pierced by bullets. This was her last resort. She took out from her back pocket a small circular object. She removed a pin from it, and then started running in a mad dash at the group. She was holding a grenade! The woman held the grenade behind her back shielding it from fire with her body, clearly ready to die with everyone else.

[Kurotsune]

Blackseed stared at the man with hard eyes. "I killed him. Although I believe he was dead when I got here; He was bleeding and when I touched him, his body just slouched over. No resistance, which I'd expect from a man his size." She raises her hands in a peaceful gesture "Self-defense, you see. The man was clearly crazed and there was a corpse nearby. I wasn't taking any chances." She looks around the room, before locking her eyes to the cadaver in front of the man.

"And they're not the only ones. The place is filled with corpses. There's still a woman alive, though she won't be for long. I have soldiers verifying her status, as well as the rest of the facility."

She pauses for a moment, touching her comm. "Miles, report." She removes her hand and looks back to the man. "You said your soldier, so I take it you're the leader of this group? I'll be straightforward with you - My orders are to kill you." She tilts her head at him. "But things have clearly changed. Whatever is going on here seems more important than our mission - Not to mention, we didn't have any intel of this attack, and it happening simultaneously with our mission makes me suspect that we've both been set-up." She narrows her gaze slightly. "There's a possibility that a third party has influenced the events that happened here, and we were sent as either an escape goat, or to die with you."

She rolls her shoulder, letting tension flood out of her. The Michi adjusts her body somewhat, taking on a more relaxed stance. "So I offer you a way out instead: Come with me calmly so we can debrief you, and I not only guarantee you your freedom and your life - I guarantee you safe passage to whichever system you'd like, although after we drop you off you're on your own."

She shrugs. "To be honest, if you refuse, I'll just capture and torture you to get the information. But you may die in the process, or I might. If I do, you'll have to content with another ten trained soldiers before you're homefree, and even then, who knows how long you'll survive here without a crew. So all things considered, it doesn't feel like you have much of a choice."

[K_H]

Millennium received Blackseed's call and was just about to respond, but before he could, he saw the grenade-wielding woman dash out at the rest of the group. Acting quickly, he folded out his Hand Armor and his Hand, and used his Railgun to fire a pair of projectiles at a speed of roughly Mach 7, aiming right at both the grenade and the woman's head near the base of the skull as she ran away from him and towards the rest of the group, so he had a clear shot at his targets.

Edited March 8, 2016 by K_H

[Code: PIRULUK]

Symphony was, honestly, at a loss as to what to do about the woman running at them with a grenade. Even if she shot her down, the grenade would still go off, and she had no way of knowing how deadly it was going to be. For Symphony, she probably wouldn't die, though she would probably need some expensive repairwork. But her organic friend was slightly less metallic.

As she was thinking, she noticed Millennium by the side raising his arm at the charging woman. Acting purely on instinct, she dashed out of the elevator, leaving the rifle behind, and attempted to pull Heavensea to the ground, intending to shield the Michi under her metal body.

[Pyon Pyon Kyuu!~]

The Group

The shot Millenium fired sent the woman, and the grenade she was holding, flying against the wall far away from the group. As her body crashed against the wall, the grenade went off. Electricity exploded in every direction, as if they were tendrils trying to grasp at something. They damage the surroundings leaving the walls burned, but otherwise the blast does not reach the group. The Nienians might feel a slight tingle, or maybe their bodies feeling a little weaker for a moment.

Either way, the room is cleared, and bloodier then when you entered it.

Now that you have time to breathe, you see two doors. One that goes right, labeled "HANGAR" and the other one to the opposite end of the elevator labelled "LIVING QUARTERS".

Blacksteed

The man listens to Blackseed calmly, breathing in a large cloud of smoke from his cigar before exhaling it and replying. "I am Dr. Liam Newton, I established this lab under the protection of the Anti-Nienian Combat Force. If you are with the Union, raiding my lab you'll probably want me dead. But that's fine, I think my chances of escape were pretty slim to begin with."

Heavy footsteps; the announcing of the Commander entering the room. "We'll take him alive, Blackseed. I'm sure there will be a bigger bounty if we 'and him in to the Union. Plus this boy is scum." Kyle glared coldly at the man. "He's been developing weapons to combat Nienians, to disable them and wipe them out. All of his work goes against the peace every soldier has fought to attain. Honestly, a bullet in the head would serve him better, but the money is just too tasty."

Newton met his glare, without giving ground. "I want to find out what happened to my soldiers. What happens after that I don't care. I'll put a laser beam through my head if that's what you wish, my work is all lost it seems."

[Code: PIRULUK]

Symphony felt a surge of relief as the grenade didn't explode. At least her cute partner was safe. It should be punishable by the heavens to attack a cute person, really. Cuteness is the driving factor of life.

Then she felt a surge of something completely different as a part of the wave released by the grenade tore through her systems, rapidly disabling parts of her functionality. Losing all strength in her arms, she collapsed on top of Heavensea, mouth landing right next to the Michi's ear, panting as she waited for her strength to recover.

"That's... Odd... Give me a few seconds, 'kay..."

[K_H]

Millennium felt the same wave pass over his systems as Symphony did, but to a much lesser extent than the other Nienian thanks to the Electromagnetic Interference Countermeasures that he'd installed in his Power Armor to protect himself from solar flares during his stay in the asteroid belt. He merely locked up in his current position, but remained standing thanks to the fact that he'd been more protected and his systems were otherwise unaffected. Nonetheless, he did lock up, feeling tingly for the duration of his paralysis.

"This is most peculiar... That Grenade was certainly not normal."

A few seconds after locking up, he unlocked enough to be able to contact Blackseed, pressing his Comlink Button.

"Sorry for the delay, Blackseed, I just had to deal with a grenade of a rather unusual variety."

Edited March 9, 2016 by K_H

[Chevaleresse]

Heavensea gasped as Symphony threw herself atop her. The detonation wasn't exactly what she had expected however, and she sighed slightly when she didn't get the opportunity to see shrapnel tear through her partner's mechanical body. However, when the Nienian went limp on top of her, a ragged edge entered the Michi's voice. "Are you okay? Please, you need to stop risking yourself for my sake. . ."

[Kurotsune]

"I see. Well, you'll be coming with me, then."

The woman unpockets a pair of silvery bracelets, twisting them open then, if allowed, placing one on each of the man's hands. After twisting a knob atop one of them, the bracelets would become highly magnetic, attracting each other and slamming together.

Blackseed touches her communicator.

"Are you functional? We're changing our mission to capture instead of elimination. We have the target and are ready to rendezvous and extract. Where can we meet you?"

Afterwards, she turns to Kyle.

"Commander, I assume the woman is dead?"

[K_H]

Millennium replied to Blackseed.

"I'm fine now, though Symphony seems to have been affected by it to a greater extent than me. As for Rendezvous point, let's make it the Hangar."

He then turned to the rest of the group, and spoke aloud, taking his hand off of his comlink first.

"Guys and Girls, Our mission's changed from Kill to Capture. We've got one target, now we should head to the Hangar, which is our Rendezvous Point."

He then walked over to the door that led to the hangar, and opened it.

[Code: PIRULUK]

Symphony stood up, fully recovered from the grenade. She helped Heavensea to her feet, then dusted herself off. It seemed Millennium wanted to head straight to an extraction point. She frowned. He said "one target", wouldn't that mean there were others yet unsecured? She glanced to the living quarters. If there was anyone left, they were likely to be in there...

...more importantly, she hadn't had the chance to nick any of the pirates' radio equipment. There was a high likelihood it was within their quarters. Radio equipment meant pirate broadcasts. Pirate broadcasts meant more advertising. More advertising meant more exposure. More exposure meant possibly being scouted, which meant Debuts, Singles, CD Deals!

Her retinal displays adjusting to reflect dozens of tiny moving stars, she got up and made a beeline right for the Living Quarters.

[Chevaleresse]

Heavensea accepted the hand, though she tried not to put too much weight on it. She got to her haunches and used her free hand to pull the naginata back up into a half-ready position, then stood the rest of the way. Taking one hand off the weapon for a moment, she lightly brushed back the hair on either side of her face, then proceeded after her partner. "I guess you're feeling better then," she stated neutrally.