Frustration!

[glorystargo]

What kind of bullshit "training exercise" was that?!

[Post-mission, the Glory Stars are in varying degrees of upset. Toby is furious for example. He paces between the two others, standing underneath their mobile suits after Virgolas are safely in the hangar.]

Using Grungust I can understand, but to set that crazy woman on us and make us think she wants to kill everyone? What kind of purpose does that serve!


She was so skilled... if she was serious, Tarisa and everyone else who tried to stop her would be...

[Including Setsuko, yes. She does not forget being swatted aside like a noisy fly.]


And the BETA! You said it yourself, this is a bit too much of a coincidence that they attacked just then. Right? Why don't you say something now, Chief?!

[The two look at Denzel, the Glory Star Leader with a serious face as he ponders silently. Finally he opens his eyes.]


Has there ever been an encounter with the BETA with only 1% casualty rate?

[Have you something to add to the discussion?]

Comments

[tiger_ken]

Given the way people act about it, I don't think so.

[Ken walks past, his hands and feet weighed down by several pieces of metal. Even as he stops to speak, he keeps moving, working against the strain of the makeshift weights.]

But if they claim that sort of 'training' is how you go about making better fighters, I'd be glad to give any of them a taste of their own medicine.

[glorystargo]

You said it. That one guy said, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger - but it DID almost kill us, which is a detail that's kinda hard to forget!

[tiger_ken]

That saying is disingenuous anyway. You don't have to die to be crippled physically or mentally.

[Ken grits his teeth, thinking of Leos.]

I would've thought the entire purpose of this whole 'Unity Group' thing would mean we don't have to deal with this kind of nonsense either. But half the time we're getting nothing but secrets.

[glorystargo]

Looks like not everyone trusts us yet. I can kinda see why, we're still new.

It doesn't make me any more happy about it though.

[majestic_keiki]

Not that I could find records of.

[Kei had been in the hangar, apparently being needed for some tests on purple-2 and was now let off.]

What are those things? They look almost like they were purposefully made.

[glorystargo]

They're alien invaders, but not sentient ones. They have hives like ants, and I suspect a queen somewhere out there as well.

They're not made, but they evolve really quickly in response to weapons we use against them, so you're not too far from truth. I wasn't there to see it, but I heard many years ago the BETA looked different.

[majestic_keiki]

That's a scary thought...Though I imagine there are some weapons they can't develop a proper response for.

[She was lost in thought for a bit.]

Did you hear about Seta?

1/2

[glorystargo]

They don't become immune, just develop countermeasures. Laser class for fighter jets, destroyer class for ground mecha.

In a way you could say humanity created those.

2/2

[star_of_sad]

I... talked to Seta, yes.

After that thing happened.

[cloningblues]

I don't mind having to fight a very tough enemy during training.

But I mind that nobody bothered to tell us it's a part of the exercise. I don't like being kept in the dark about such things!

[glorystargo]

You and me both. We're all on the same side here!

[cloningblues]

Is that their idea of preparing us for a BETA attack? Giving everyone a heart attack? Someone could've died!

If that's how the Imperial Guard does things, then I can kinda see why Yuuya hates them.

[glorystargo]

Somehow I don't think Yuuya limits himself to just the Imperial Guard.

[keep_your_dignity]

[Kagura approaches, moving purposefull with long strides. It's kind of offputting how quick something that looks so heavy can move sometimes]

LIEUTENANT HAMMER. TELL ME. WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY?

BECAUSE THE OFFICIAL REPORT SAYS FUCK ALL, BUT I'M GETTING SOME BITS FROM HEARSAY. AND THOSE BITS SOUND LIKE SOMEONE SHOULD BE BEING CONSIDERED FOR A COURT MARTIAL FOR GROSS TRAINING NEGLIGENCE.

[glorystargo]

Captain, Major. But don't sweat the formalities, everyone calls me Chief anyway.

What happened out there is the Japanese Imperial Guard losing their goddamn minds. Followed by an unexpected BETA attack that probably wasn't so unexpected after all.

[keep_your_dignity]

[For the record, that's me making a mistake. Kagura makes a big point of keeping people's ranks in mind]

WHAT I HAVE HEARD IS THAT THE IMPERIAL GUARD TURNED THE EXERCISE INTO LIVE FIRE WITHOUT WARNING WHILE ACTING AS IF THEY KNEW NOTHING. RISKING THE LIVES OF EVERYONE INVOLVED.

[glorystargo]

Not quite. It was a live fire exercise from the start, though everyone pulled their punches... at least until one of those LYNX assholes tried to fire a railgun. The exercise was interrupted right there, or so we thought.

The Guard TSF came at us later, with a samurai sword. It's hard to fire dummy rounds from that.

[smileys]

[May leans against a nearby wall, and she just shakes her head in response.]

Like Willis, I was involved in a few operations against BETA, too. They're not experiences I'll be forgetting anytime soon.

I'm glad that you all made it, but there's something up here that even I can't smile about.

[glorystargo]

It sounds like the two of you have a long history together.

[Toby doesn't sound teasing for once, that's how you can tell the situation is serious.]

[smileys]

We worked together for a while, as mercenaries. Back then, I wasn't even a Lynx yet.

That said, dealing with some enemies was also much harder than it is now.

[glorystargo]

I can imagine. It looks like we have a grip on the situation nowadays, but that wasn't always the case.

Mind if I ask a question?

[genericbiggerbrother]

"Waitwaitwait." Yancy says, sliding to a stop as he walks past.

"What exactly happened during the training exercise?"

[glorystargo]

Long story short, we faced off against a pilot who seemed to go rogue but did it to teach Yuuya a lesson, apparently. Without warning anyone first of course.

Then the BETA attacked.

[genericbiggerbrother]

Yancy winces.

"That sounds like a good way to get killed. Both of those things."

[glorystargo]

That's how it sounds, but actually the casualties were on an all-time low.

BETA are a deadly threat. Everyone returning home from fighting them is not something that happens everyday. Or ever.