The retry

[srwu_npc]

[1]
"Good job, Unity Group. The Lady's Good Men have been defeated without civilian casualties. We have captured a number of enemy pilots and intelligence, and analysis of discoveries made is underway."

"The noose is tightening around their necks."

Do you have anything to say to Major Ingram before the transmission ends?

[2]

"Hey."

Look who's there. This time though, Apollonius "Loni" Gavin looks a bit apologetic.

"After what happened, me and Desta talked a bit and he's got something to say now."


"..."


"Come on man, just say it."


"I'm not... going to do something like that again."


"See? Desta's sorry for what happened. What happened with that hostage taking guy - it was fucked up."

"It's not my intention to start shit or anything, and I know there's some bad blood here. Soo... let's try everything from the start, like we don't know each other. Okay?"

[3]


"Tch. I got distracted for a second and ShotSaber's all busted. Top notch mecha my ass..."


"That man... I made a mistake and let him go. He was an enemy..."


"What happened out there? Was that the true power of friendship, or something like that? Why don't I have that kind of power, is something missing?"

It seems each individual member of Loni's team is busy angsting over something. Confront one or more of them, maybe?

Comments

3 - Desta and Loni

[tiger_ken]

You guys have got custom made machines that most pilots would dream of getting their hands on. And both of you are incredibly skilled, considering you've mostly handled each encounter with the Lady's Good Men prior to this. So you can't lay the entirety of the mission's faults on those things.

[Ken sounds like a strange echo of Yuuya from weeks earlier, as he approaches the two.]

[srwu_npc]

"Yeah, you're right. But that just shows even this kind of machine isn't enough sometimes."

[tiger_ken]

It probably would have helped if you guys had been acting together from the start, rather than one deciding to act of his own initiative in a delicate situation.

Though that said... I think maybe having someone on your team dedicated to information gathering would go a long way too. We wouldn't have handled things as well as we did, if Kei weren't there.

[srwu_npc]

"You mean what, intelligence during battle? Or before?"

[tiger_ken]

Both, I suppose. I mean, its good to have a plan going in, but as they say, no plan survives the battlefield, you know? You gotta be able to adapt... Even if it means tampering with uncertainty.

[Ken's left arm twitches slightly, and he moves to rub it down.]

[srwu_npc]

"Yeah, that's kinda what we do already. Think on the go - only thing we lack is a unit with good radars or other surveillance equipment."

"But if it's a choice between that or better weaponry, I'll take weapons."

[tiger_ken]

[Under his breath.]

Maybe Mizuki had a point on self-awareness...

[Ken sighs, before speaking aloud.]

So how would better weapons have freed those hostages?

[srwu_npc]

"With Ilinka and Desta running interference on the mooks, I'd take down the boss guy easily. Same thing as what actually happened out there, pretty much. Only without the knights showing up."