srwu | Let's get down to trying hard now to be the best around...!

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Let's get down to trying hard now to be the best around...!

[Post Workshop in Flames]

[1]

Those of you who like to walk the halls of Saikhama Base might hear the faint sound of 20th century (old calendar) power ballads in the distance.

Follow this enticing music, and you come across Dido Sybil, putting in her daily training regimen with the Gebians.

A flurry of baseballs get hurled at her from all directions, thrown by the arms and mandibles of beetle people. Competently, if not gracefully, she sidesteps out of their way and slaps the ones she misses out of the air, jaws set and eyes focused.

Talk to her? Or, since she's distracted, prank her?

[2]

[Locked to Dido's Scary Super-Soldier Training Instructors]

You get a message on your comm channels from Dido.

"Could I start training in Zero-G maneuvering?" She asks.

[3]

[Locked to Ken and Mizuki]

Dido meets you guys in the cafeteria. "Say...could we talk a moment?" She asks.

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[Someone had a brilliant idea of adding a volleyball into the barrage. While it's relatively large and soft, making it easy to dodge, it also flies at Dido from behind - watch out!]

Bonk.

"Hey!" Dido says, rubbing her scalp and turning to face you. "What gives?"

I'm sorry! Did it hurt?

[It's the weird horned person from before. And they look sheepish right now.]

You were dodging and blocking those balls with such skill, I thought it was alright to join in.

Dido glances at the Gebians around her, who are scurrying back and forth like Whack-a-moles to make the trajectories harder to guess.

"If you want." Dido says with a shrug. "Try to warn me next me: warn me that you're not going to warn me, that is!"

She whistles. "Could we take it from the top, guys?" As Dido dodges back and forth, she keeps glancing at the horned lady, unsure if her eyes are blinking or not.

Warn you not to warn you? If you say so.

[Ren does blink, but that facial expression doesn't change a lot, unnervingly.]

There!

[Despite the verbal warning given, no balls are thrown... except the Gebian ones.]

"Huh?" Dido says, "Whoah! WhoahWhoahWhoah!" She adds.

Enjoy the view of Dido trying to dodge the volley of Gebian-flung tennis balls while hoping on one foot, arms flailing about.

She actually does good for a bit, then falls on her rear and gets mercilessly pummeled.

"Ouch..." She murmurs, rubbing her arms. "You've got a twisted sense of humor, you know?"

Maybe a little bit. But that way you are preparing for sudden and unexpected twists of a battlefield, and that's what this training is about, isn' it?

"That's true." Dido admits. "A lot of unexpected twists have happened recently, come to think of it."

You're right, Dido. Do you mind if I call you that? I believe we were not introduced, even if we did meet before.

On the other hand, those recent events brought up some revelations I'm happy with. Or at least, cautiously optimistic.

"Such as?" Dido asks.

Isn't it good that Aerogators - or rather, Balmarians, are capable of understanding and communicating with us?

If they were totally alien, I was afraid we'd have no choice but to fight until one side is utterly defeated.

"...that could still happen." Dido says cautiously. "I mean, they're hellbent on conquering us, and don't seem to be keen on negotiation."

It's true. But we never know unless we try... and it's good that the option is even there, as unlikely as it may seem!

[Ren's tone of voice is very optimistic.]

Hmm... Considering your progress at dodging balls? I suppose dodging balls in zero gravity could be the next logical step, indeed.

"Awesome!" Dido says pumping her fist. "So what'll we do? Will we teleport to the Macross to train? Or will we ride a Vomit Comet?"

She smacks her fist into her palm. "Ooh! Will we be using an Ancient Egyptian training simulator?"

Ancient Egyptian technology was primitive by modern standards. The closest they had to a training simulator was a training dummy.

Dido pouts. "Well that's no fun. In any case, what do you think the next step should be?"

You will have to forgive me for being unexciting.

The best way to learn how to handle no gravity combat is by direct exposure. Bring your machine to Star Rose; we will deploy for a training exercise from there.

Dido blinks. "I can actually use ShelLancer? Sweet!"

[TIMMMMEEE SKIPPPP!]

ShelLancer and presumably Scaraber are standing on one of the Star Rose's launching ledges, looking out at the blue earth below and the unblinking stars above. It's quite beautiful.

"So!" Dido remarks. "Not to toot my own horn, but I did a bunch of reading on orbital mechanics! The first rule of orbital spaceflight is always keep your velocity up, so that you don't fall into the atmosphere and burn up. Does that sound right?"

I see you are prepared. The chances of a fatal accident and casualties during this exercise are very slim, then. Good.

[Said completely deadpan. Was that supposed to be a joke? Suddenly, there is a length of sturdy steel rope in Scaraber's hands - and it throws one end of it towards ShelLancer.]

Your objective is simple; grab this and pull it out of my hands!

Dido flails about with ShelLancer's arms, fumbling the steel rope a few times before managing to catch it.

She glances at the smaller frame of Scaraber, and grins. "Piece of cake. Watch out Heph!"

She yanks at the rope...and simultaneously fires ShelLancer's foreward thrusters!

Do keep one thing in mind...

[Suddenly Hetepheres swings the rope, sending its end flying far away to the side right before Dido manages to catch it!]

Actually grabbing the rope is also a part of the exercise!

"–the heck!"

Dido swallows a curse and trigger's her suits rear thrusters briefly, sending ShelLancer drifting after the rope, hand outstretched. "Get over here!"

Do you think I will make it this easy? You will not be able to even touch the line before you instinctively understand how objects move in zero gravity!

[Scaraber takes off, swinging the rope in wide, unpredictable patterns. It's almost mocking.]

Dido's eyes flit back and forth, trying to track the path of the rope...

...only for her to let out a cry of frustration. "Screw this!"

She changes ShelLancer trajectory to move towards Scaraber, arms reaching out to pry the rope directly from Scaraber's fingers!

That is a viable tactic too. However...

[Scaraber grabs the rope with its two extra hands as well! It might be a less massive unit, but it's still hard to wrestle something from someone who has twice the number of arms than you!]

Make sure not to accidentally engage an opponent in a field where they have an advantage!

[Meeting in the cafeteria means you're also seeing Mizuki with a big plate of something that never saw the light of day. She's slurping it up, but Dido's got her attention.]

Sure. What's on your mind?

Dido blinks. "Is that...jellyfish? Nevermind."

She rests her chin on her hand and sighs.

"There's a whole lot on my mind. But right now, I can't stop worrying about the Terrible Trio–"

You think she means Loni, Desta and Ilinka. "...and their ex-commander, Ingram."

Worried they'll get in over their head?

Dido blinks. "They're not already over their head?"

She coughs. "Regardless...maybe I'm jittery after Ingram turned traitor, but their public backgrounds just seem...off. For starters, you've heard about Loni's uncle, right?"

Edited 2014-10-18 04:59 (UTC)

Actually... I haven't. What about his uncle?

Dido leans in. "Scuttlebutt is that Loni's uncle is a mad scientist that built ShotSaber and FightSaber for Loni and Desta to use. The last time I talked with Ingram–"

She grimaces "–he mentioned that Loni's uncle was a very private person who wanted to keep anonymous and hidden. In the same breath he mentioned that there was a faction in the ESUN that would fund the UG based on how much we helped Gavin kick ass."

She shakes her head. "Maybe Ingram was sowing discord as part of his undercover op...but if not, what kind of uncle hands out super robots like candy and funds paramilitary groups so his nephew can play boy soldier?"

Well, from what I was told by Loni...

[Ken steps up, and speaks up.]

He and Desta only got to pilot the two Sabers because the Lady's Good Men came hunting the machines. And so, then the two came out with them to fight the bad guys off. It was after that they then took up hunting the group proper...

[Ken cups his chin, considering something.]

Still... There is certainly something strange about it. I mean, it'd be one thing to help fund us by association... but to have it tied to how well they do because of it is... strange.

Edited 2014-10-18 18:58 (UTC)

... Makes it feel like we're kids being paid to help some rich brat live the dream of being the hero of a little league team.

And I guess that also explains why Loni and Desta are pilots when they both couldn't care at all about proper combat discipline.

"Hell, Ilinka's the most sensible of them...and apparently she's an escapee from an hellish super-soldier training program."

Dido grunts and rests her chin on her hands like Ken. "How were Loni and Desta able to 'rescue' her without any backlash from the people who ran the program? For that matter, who sponsored this super soldier program and kept it under the ESUN's radar?"

Considering what Ingram pulled on us, not as hard as you'd think. Despite the name, we're not as 'United' a bunch of nations as we should be. Could be state sponsored, could be privately arranged...

Though unless she was tied to the Lady's Good Men, why the hell were those two the ones that found her? They just stumble into the right warehouse?

"It makes you think that Ilinka, as swell as she is, was just another thing those kids had handed to them on a silver platter!"

She rubs at her eyes. "Whatever's going on–a shadowy conspiracy, alien sabotage, an uncle with more money than sense–we need to figure it out. Do some investigation, follow money trails."

She clenches her teeth. "I'm won't be caught flat-footed by another person backstabbing us!" She growls. "I won't!"

Easier said than done though... whoever this uncle is no doubt has connections. And I don't think he'd be thrilled to find out a trio from a has-been organization trying to stay relevant are trying to dig up skeletons...

But don't take me the wrong way, I agree we need to prepare for these kinds of things, especially since Ingram wasn't some rank-and-file soldier, and Sara was...

[Not even going to finish saying that. No need, after all.]

... We just need to be careful since we'll run the risk of making enemies the Unity Group won't be able to just beat on a battlefield.

Dido grunts under her breath, then slowly nods.

"Yeah, I can dig that." She steeples her hands together. "What do you think we should do to prepare, Mizuki? Maybe install a shut-down command switch in the Saber machines? Keep closer tabs on Loni and his gang?"

She frowns in thought. "In this situation, what would you do as a ninja, Ken?"

For the moment, we just have to keep an eye on them... and not trust them with any information that they don't need... if we can do that...

"Er..." Dido says, scratching her head. "I'm a bit confused: what kind of information should we be keeping secret from them?"

Anything about the Unity Group's inner workings or the like, for starters. Loni and his friends may get to come and go as they please, but anything we're in the midst of developing doesn't need to reach his ears.

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Let's get down to trying hard now to be the best around...!

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