Alright.
"Yeah, I get it." I nod affirmatively. "What's the target?"
Chen nods back - he seems a lot less of a prick when it's business; I guess that's kind of a good quality (not like he possesses any other ones) - and turns to call out to the back of the shop. This front bit - containing the banner and a few 'display works' - is relatively small, but there's a dimly-lit garage (where he came from in the first place) leading in from the large roller-door beside the normal-sized door I entered through.
"Alexandra, get out here!"

From said garage emerges an absolutely stunning woman - she's maybe five or six years older than me, long-legged and fit and lithe, wearing the same clothes as Chen (obviously she's been working on some kind of repairs, as the light oil stains on her creamy skin attest to); champagne-coloured hair that falls in a waterfall to the backs of her knees, and deep emerald eyes.

Shit, I'm staring. I think I like this place.

I gather myself (literally) and wipe away the drool (figuratively), greeting her with a genuine smile. "Hi there..."
Crap, could I be any more lame?
Fortunately, she returns the smile, speaking with a voice that surprises me - a deep, husky voice with a rich Russian accent. Wait, Russian? That's... curious...
"Hello." she says coolly, then looks at Chen, frowning. "You are mispronouncing my name. It is Aleksandra."
He pretends to correct himself, smirking rudely. "Alexandra."
"Da bog da trazio detzoo Gaygerovim broyachem." she snorts, then turns back to me. "You are asking about the mission, yes?"
"Y... yes." I swallow, shaking away my nervousness. "What are we blowing up? And who's the client?"
"Ah, we won't be blowing it up." Aleksandra shakes her head. "Just disabling it. It's an unmanned weapons station; it has some parts I want. Oh, the client is me, obviously."
"Who owns it?" More information, right?
"Ah, the target is a Rayleonard facility. They don't have much business putting it out there in deep space, and in fact it has no support, which is why I'm targeting it."

I nod and fold my arms. "Alright. What's the pay?" I ask this even though I have no idea what the currency is.
"If we succeed, five thousand. If we fail and both make it out alive, I'll pay you half that." Aleksandra tells me. "The parts from the station will be my portion of the payment, yes?"

Alright, guys. How does that sound?

Totallynotsamefag!!V1AJL5LzHl 2009/11/14(Sat)15:32 No. 76547 ID: 8ec3f9
File 125824154166.jpg - (108.01KB , 1280x1024 , Ohyea.jpg )

>>76537
>Rayleonard


Yea, sounds pretty fair, especially that she'll pay you even if we fail.

I have an idea. How about if I ask them to repair my mech and pay five hundred up front, and only take the half penalty on a success? Of course, they might not go for it, but at least that lets me eat and get a working craft, right?

>>76575
Hrm, that works too. Definitely safer but it gives us less options with what to do.

Well, at least that way I get to eat and get repairs if they go for it.

Which option do you guys like better?

>>76593
sure, try the repair route. It's what you asked for in the first place anyhow

Toki 2009/11/15(Sun)18:49 No. 77241 ID: 30a68f
File 125833974217.jpg - (1.07MB , 1840x1232 , Hong_Kong_de_noche.jpg )

>>76597
Alright.

"Okay, then how about this. My mech is way too junked to fly a mission at the moment - if you'll repair it and pay me say... five hundred up front, then I'm in." I tell her confidently, leaving the part about taking the failure penalty instead of the full pay out as a later chip.
Aleksandra glances over at Chen, who shrugs in a 'I don't care' manner, while she looks hesitant.
"I'll help with the repairs." I chime in quickly. "... the reason I asked for the money upfront is because I'm completely broke and haven't eaten in what must be at least a day."

Aleksandra raises a long eyebrow at me and shakes her head, pursing her lips. "You are stupid. I'll accept those terms, though we'll discuss your total payment afterwards. Here." she reaches into her pocket, then takes my hand - I almost jump, I expected her skin to be soft, but her hands have the hard callouses and creases of a veteran pilot - and presses what appears to be a blue credit card into it; it has a small data display on it consisting of a blue gem with '250' written next to it.
"Tell me where your mech is, and I will collect it and bring it back here. You will go two blocks over to the Workers Markets and buy yourself a good meal. Yes?"
I'm too surprised at the sudden contact to disagree, so I just nod and tell her the bay number - Seven is smart enough to figure out what's going on and to stop her if she tries anything funny, anyway; Aleksandra merely nods and walks out the door - I hear an engine starting up, a big meaty thing; must be a flatbed truck.

Once she's gone, I shrug at Chen with a hot face, ruffling up my hair embarassedly, a lame little chuckle escaping me. He just smirks.
"Oh, everyone has that reaction to her first, but it doesn't normally last so long for a woman. You must not be used to NEXTs yet."
To what?
"What's a NEXT?" I'm outright confused, and that bloody annoying expression returns.
"Shit, you really aren't from around here. Nano Enhanced neXt Type. Otherwise known as BTH, or Better Than Humans, though not their faces." he folded his arms and nodded. "They're basically humans who recieve nanomachine enhancements before birth and during their formative years. Designer people. Hellishly expensive to get done, though there are rumous - and these are just rumours, because there's no way this could work; your body would reject the nanites, but anyway, apparently some adults have done it." Chen snorts and turns back to the garage. "Well, put simply, Alexandra -"
"Aleksandra." I correct him without thinking and he throws me an annoyed look.
"Hard Bitch, just outright smells sexy. Not literally 'smells', think pheremones. I think her body has been hyper accelerated judging from her reaction time, but that's just a guess. Well, get outta here, I have work to do."

I nod and leave, following the signposts to 'Workers Market'.
--! Holy crap!
... well, we have 250 credits to spend here, and I'm guessing we're eating Chinese?
Any other things we should do with that money?

>>77241

I'm still all for getting a newspaper to get some information on what's going on, and maybe allusions to how tech has developed.

Newspaper it is. Man there sure are lot of newspaper stands in this place. The one I visit only has one newspaper written in basic - the rest are in what I'm guessing is Chinese (that 'world of the future' idea is getting more and more likely) - called "Colony Gazette".
From there, I find a relatively unassuming place to eat and find myself seated with a combination of sweet-and-sour pork and rice. Yum.~

Now, about the newspaper: the date isn't helpful, obviously, and neither is the sports page (it's certainly not Grey's Sports Almanac); what I do glean is that first and foremost, the leader of the unified colonies is an old guy calling himself Mayor Manx. The second thing I learn is that there is one hell of a war going down on Earth (yes: they call it Earth. We are definitely on Earth, whether in the future or dimensionhopped) though the only information I have is that a faction calling itself 'GA America' stomped all over another named 'the Miralite Clan'... dear god, this is not good.

So, that explains why Earth down there looked so screwed up. As for who either of those sides are, there isn't any good information in here, but GA seems pretty big; the newspaper is painting them as the bad guys, too, saying that these Miralite Clanners are basically gypsies who want no part in the war.
How does news like that reach the colonies? Especially since it seems like they're trying to stay out of the war.

Anything else I should look up? I can't really find much information on the current technology, but it doesn't seem too much more advanced.

>>77569
I can't think of anything else; so you should probably go get some food before you have to go back to the shop to help fix your mech.

>>77569
I'd search the classifieds for rooms for rent too. We might stay a while, we might not but it doesn't hurt to have options.

>>77569
I just thought of something. If stuff's all different, what'll they think when they repair your mech?

>>77625
Good plan. I jack the section from the newspaper, but I won't look at it just yet - I want to see just how impressed the Junkers are with me; I might be able to abuse their hospitality a little. Or even join them if they suit me. More options are better, right?

>>77627
Um. Hell. I guess I'll just have to convince them that I'm really not from around here.

>>77572
On it. Om nom nom Column A and B.

>>77977
Don't eat the newspaper you madwoman!

>>77996
I'm talking about the menu! D=
Really.

So anyway. I'm no longer starving, we have information and 215 credits to kill.
Anything I should look up or for while I'm here? Or shall I just go back to the Junkers shop?

>>78846
If you need to buy anything else (you'll probably be staying somewhere in here for a while) go ahead, can't think of any more info to look up right now. I say head back.

oh uh, maybe look from some new clothes too (You did say this set was kinda lame right?), and a bag to carry stuff in.

Toki 2009/11/19(Thu)11:17 No. 79130 ID: 30a68f
File 125865822941.jpg - (71.52KB , 728x517 , travel_bag3.jpg )

>>78900
Good call. I manage to find a nice large travel-bag, a more heavy-duty change of clothes, a heavy jacket for dealing with rain (does it rain in the colonies? There's breeze and clouds, so...?), and some black overalls since I intend to help with the repairs.

This brings me down to 150, but I should get paid fast, right?

Well, I head back to the shop, only to hear Chen yelling violently in Chinese and Aleksandra giggling at him; I'd guess he's cursing like a sailor from the look on her face and the fact that he's storming up and down yelling at my mech.
I walk over to Aleksandra and hitch the bag up over my shoulder. "What's wrong with him?"
"He says he can't wrap his head around the weapons system on your mech. The burned out one in the cockpit that's linked up to the weird guns on the back."
Oh... that'd be the Psycommu; sounds like they don't exist here - which implies that people like me don't exist here. What should I do, tell the truth or come up with a lie?

>>79130
Might as well tell the truth; its very likely they won't believe you anyway...

>>79130
well the truth is that has been broken for a while and is a very rare part... so yea. I'd avoid the fact you're psychic.

"Uh, Chen? Don't worry about it." I stick my nose in. "It's a very rare part and it's been broken for a while..."
"Right, then I'll strip it out and -"
"NO!" I'm very adamant about this, cutting him off quickly. "Now, look. Here's what I want repaired..."

... um, guys? What do I want repaired/sold/etc.?

>>79563

Fix for sure:
Panoramic Camera: YELLOW.
Radio: YELLOW. Short Range only.
Radar: YELLOW. Short Range only.
M16M-D4 Gunbarrel x4 - YELLOW.

Try to fix more perhaps, don't push much though.

What's the "Weird guns on the back"? We'll prolly have to sell that one if it needs the psycom

>>79563
Fix whatever you think you'd need to run this mission.

Toki 2009/11/20(Fri)14:38 No. 79825 ID: 30a68f
File 125875670986.jpg - (33.31KB , 400x276 , vicviper-flight.jpg )

>>79575
Aleksandra's talking about the Gunbarrels; they won't work without the Psycommu. But I'm also not willing to get rid of them... hm.
"Chen."
"What, woman?" he gives me a death glare that I'd normally see on a drill seargant.
"Repair the camera, radar, and radio, and I'll sell you all the ammo in the wingmounted CIWS guns, as well as the topmounted megaparticle cannon - it's burnt out, but I'm sure you can repair it and sell it on."
Much as I hate to give up a big weapon, at the moment it's just not cost-effective to keep it around - it's dead weight on my machine and repairing those things is damn near impossible.
"As for those 'weird guns', do you have a storage bay for long-term customers or something?"

Chen's look has turned to minor shock that I'm being bossy. I love it. "Uh, yeah, but -"
"Then you can take the gunbarrels off and store them there. I'll put them back on when it's time. Now."
Even as I'm saying this, I'm kicking my bag into the corner and slipping into the overalls that I had tucked under my arm. "Let's get started on the repairs. I assume there's not a timeframe for the mission, Aleksandra?"
"Not really." she's nodding approvingly at me. "We have plenty of time to do this, yes... okay."

This turns into a two-day job without much talking between us; I'm pretty much out of cash and out of sleep by the time we're done, and end up curled up in the Overdrive's cockpit.

Morning sees a very light breakfast before Aleksandra and I get underway; she flies a completely AWESOME looking jet that can keep up with my machine easily. "So how far off is this thing?"
"A couple of hours." Aleksandra is far less mindboggling when she's not in my immediate presence. Actually she sounds bored with it all, but judging from the fact that she doesn't even look at the camera, her craft doesn't have anything resembling autopilot.

"Alright..."

Shall I wait, or can you think of stuff we should be asking?

>>79825
Well, figure out exactly what the mission is, like what specifically you're needed for. Maybe ask her about her jet, find out how far off the norm your mech is.

Toki 2009/11/20(Fri)19:52 No. 79965 ID: 30a68f
File 125877555482.jpg - (114.67KB , 640x544 , borg-cube-voy.jpg )

>>79827
"So what exactly are we disabling?"
Aleksandra doesn't bother to repeat what we already know, but instead links me a picture of a fairly standardized large-scale defense platform and it's location - far out past the colonies, and not near any asteroid belts or anything. "Aleksandra. Isn't this the kind of thing normally used to defend an NRS?"
'NRS' stands for 'Natural Resource Satellite', better known as an asteroid.
She nods, and that just confuses me.
"But there's nothing out there, if this is right."
"Which is why we're targetting this one." she tells me cheerfully.

Well, that doesn't quite sit right, but... "Well, tell me about your jet?"
"What, this thing?" She laughs fondly, waggling the sticks and causing the machine to dip it's wing as though she's waving. "Couldn't really say, to be honest. Some lady with pink hair, golden eyes, and an alcohol problem sold it to my mum at her Junker shop, called it the Dis Viper. It's been my partner for as long as I can remember."

Huh. Aleksandra is almost certainly a very good pilot if she's piloting that since she was small... she's probably much better than me. I look up, talking to Seven, quietly enough that the com unit doesn't pick up my voice.
"Seven. Can you scan her mech?"

Negative. Her unit is equipped with a generator that is blocking my readings. Output does not correlate to any known energy source.

Oh, that sounds friendly. Anything else?

>>79965
That's... quite suspicious actually. Both of those things are. Can't think of much else myself until you get there.

>>79965
so What does disabling it entail?

>>79984
"So about disabling this -"
"Shoot it until it isn't shooting back." she responds cheerfully.

>>80126
works in my book. Although for you that'd probably be slash the shit out of it instead since we only have one operating gun.

Only one if you count the fact that they're twin-linked...
And yeah, I always did prefer going into melee combat.

Well, I'll sign off for now. See you at the battlefield!

>>80271
Good luck, Toki!

(*presses Play button*)

"I hope you're ready, Toki! Here it comes!"
"Ah, I'm good for it!"
We're there; it's maybe another two minutes flight in to actual combat range, but the cube is covered in long-range beam cannons and it's already taking potshots at us, firing massive green lances of energy.

I snaproll and weave through them, while Aleksandra flies like a maniac, dodging with only the barest of motions and flirting with their deadly caress - she's amazing.

"Seven!"

Battle Mode Set Up. Commence Combat.

TOKI'S PARTY has mutually engaged with RAYLEONARD ISOLATED DEFENSE STATION

TOKI'S PARTY

TANAKA TOKI is piloting OVERDRIVE
Equipment: CIWS x2, BEAM SABER
Stats: Melee B, Range A, Defense C-, Dodge B+, Luck S, Senses A
Ability: NEWTYPE (Range, Dodge, Luck, Senses UP)

ALEKSANDRA is piloting DIS VIPER
Equipment: VARIABLE MISSILE SYSTEM, VARIABLE GUNNERY SYSTEM
Stats: Melee F, Range S, Defense F, Dodge A, Luck C, Senses B
Ability: VETERAN PILOT (Find weak spots in enemy units)
-----
RAYLEONARD'S PARTY

RAYLEONARD AI is piloting DEFENSE STATION
Equipment: POINT DEFENSE LASER xMany, LONG RANGE BEAM CANNON xMany, GATTLING LASER EMPLACEMENT xMany
Stats: ????
Ability: ????
----

WHAT ARE YOUR ORDERS?

>>81437
Sounds like fun! Both of you should continue until you are in range, Aleksandra should hang back once you are and fire all she can while you rush up and try to disable all the weapons you can find with your saber.

>>81440
"Aleksandra, can you hang back and fill it with boom?"
"Yeah, but those long range cannons will keep me suppressed pretty well. If you take them out..."
She hardly even has to say it; undercover of a barrage of missiles that emerge from concealed panels on her Viper, I transform and crash feet-first into the surface of the cube-station, landing by one of the giant cannons.

It's like a giant lance, easily bigger than my mech, with a twinpronged design like a railgun. I rapidly draw my Overdrive's golden beam sabre and slash it at the base, cleaving through it like a hot knife through butter; without a barrel the gun isn't going anywhere.

Aleksandra's long-range shelling and large-calibre machinegun fire is doing a good job at keeping the point defense and laser gattlings off me, so I make quick work of the beam cannons in this vector.

What next?

(FROM NOW ON, PLEASE ROLL 1D20, +1 FOR EVERY PREVIOUS COMBAT POST, EACH TIME YOU RESPOND.)

rolled 1 = 1

---

>>81442
get all the weapons on this side, then repeat for each side! Seems to be an effective plan.

Alright, that seems to be good; I'm using my verniers to basically treat the surface I'm on as the ground and skimming all over it while Aleksandra clears a path from afar.

This will take a little while, but I don't think we'll have any trouble at this point.

ROLL D20+7!

rolled 11 + 1 = 12

---

Fire on sector of cube sent to you by Picard!

For srs, let's do this UNICRON STYLE! Into the belly of the beast! Focus fire on one small area of the station and see if their defences can deal with something inside.

Toki 2009/11/25(Wed)07:42 No. 81450 ID: 30a68f
File 12591637227.jpg - (35.81KB , 500x283 , twinkle.jpg )

>>81449
Heh, good plan; I'll get Aleksandra to
TSHREAAAK
What the FUCK WAS THAT!?

Seven hits me up with a proximity alert - coming from Aleksandra's right side. "Aleksi, to your right -!"
She gets there in time and goes into a rolling dive just in time for a massive pink blast of energy to shoot through the space she occupied a moment ago.
Whatever is firing it moves in a twinkle of light and sprays another shot at me; I manage to dodge it by curving over onto another plane of the cube, but the thing has set up on the corner 'above' me.

"I ain't hit, but I don't like my chances of getting in." Aleksandra warns me. "If you can keep that busy, whatever it is, I think I can take care of the station myself now that you've softened it up."

Alright, looks like it's up to us. If you imagine the cube as a T, we are about one third of the way up and slightly to the left of the vertical line, while our hunter has set up shop at the joining point of the two lines.

Orders?

Actually, I how easy would it be to burrow into the superstructure of the station? And how much damage did Char's beam weapon do to the cube, if it hit?

>how easy would it be to burrow into the superstructure of the station

Dunno, but these things are pretty solid, and trying to cut through would leave me pretty well open.

>how much damage

It missed; he fired along the plane of the cube instead of into it - which implies that he actually cares about it's wellbeing.

rolled 6 + 2 = 8

---

>>81453
She can take care of the station itself, you need to deal with that. If there's any cover, try to advance behind it so that all potential shots will be likely to hit the station. With a weapon like that against you, it's best to close the distance to melee range, likely firing ahead to give yourself a bit of covering fire.

(no need to roll anymore.)

>>81455
There are a number of gattling gun emplacements and point defense lasers I can use as cover - the gattling guns can't target me if I'm right up next to them, and the point defense lasers don't angle this far in.
Plus they're spread across both sides of the 'edge', so I can cut across planes of the cube to improve my dodging.

He fires at me a couple of times as I'm coming up, wrecking a gattling once; his aim is uncannily good though: he doesn't waste shots when I'm behind cover and the ones that he fires only miss because I get the hell out of the way.

I'm a little over halfway up now. I duck behind one gun, start to jink one way, suddenly switch and go out the other and -
BAM!
I'm sent tumbling back down; Seven quickly rights us and gets us back behind cover as another of those powerful blasts echoes through where I was about two seconds ago.
"Son of a bitch!" I'm frustrated; even with my fakeout he still managed to get one step ahead of me. One of my wings is gone - not an issue at the moment, but it's still extremely annoying, and it'll cut into my maneuverability slightly.

WE ARE HALFWAY UP THE CUBE. ORDERS?

>>81456
Go towards it in-directly, circling around the corner and slowly approaching. Make sure to keep yourself a hard to hit target!

Toki 2009/11/26(Thu)02:26 No. 81757 ID: 30a68f
File 125923121498.jpg - (64.66KB , 400x400 , msa-0011.jpg )

>>81529
The erratic motions caused by my single-wing thrusters are a bit hard to control, but fortunately they also make me hard to hit.

I pop up onto the plane that he's on and we both freeze, sizing each other up...

OHHHHH THIS IS BAD

He's carrying a giant-ass beam smartgun on top of the rest; at our distance he'll get off a shot before I get there, but I'll be able to jump on him before the next comes at me.

ORDERS?

Open up with the head gun as you rush him! Hopefully it will knock off his aim.

>>81758
I let loose a blast that mostly pings off his armor while I ramp up the thrusters, boosting towards him with a slight jink -
WAPYUUM
- and he takes off my right leg; if the shelling hadn't kicked off his aim, it would have been right through the cockpit.

As I reach him, I take a rapid slash with my saber and cleam his beam smartgun in two; he quickly discards it as it explodes, then raises his arms, catching two bright pink beam sabres that are ejected from his backpack.

This is actually quite bad; he's at full maneuvering and AMBAC and I'm... totally not.

ORDERS?

(ALEKSANDRA is now free to be ordered)

>>81760
Get Aleksandra to open up on him! If he turns to face her, try and sneak in a blow. If he pursues you, EVADE! RUN!

>>81761
"Aleksandra, I could use some help here if you're free...!"
"I am now!" she calls back. "Get relative high!"
I immediately ignite my thrusters and launch myself up off the cube, just as a blue laser wrapped in white lines rakes through space towards him.

Unfortunately, the sudden jump on my part tips him off and he manages to boost backwards, out of the way - but he turns to fire the two backpack-mounted beam cannons out at Aleksandra's Viper. She rolls around it, and I take the chance to dive at him from behind and above, but it's as though something warns him and he twists out of the way, catching my saber on one of his and slashing at my remaining leg. I barely parry it away with a swift twist, but he pushes with both blades and forces me away, spraying easily-dodged cannon fire from the backpack as he does.

Damn, he's really good.