Unerased Savior

[empress_without_a_throne]

1.

[SolSavior's seen better days.  Lots of them.  Even the fight with Sara had confined the damage to mostly just SolSavior's joints and more vulnerable spots, whereas this scuffle with Sol"Eraser"'s seen much of the true and honest Sol machine pushed to the limit]

The Shadow Mirrors and the Indalph... united in desires for conflict and conquest.  Justify war to provide a reason for technological advancement and growth, and just move from world to world so you're never short on supply.  I wouldn't be surprised if the Shadow Mirror's own world just drove them away...

Certainly would explain why they didn't try coming to us asking for help... or the Indalph doing anything for them either, come to think of it.

Or maybe they really just don't care.  They certainly all have a trend for disregarding the weak and undesired.

2.

[And yet the Savior team weren't the ones that got the roughest fate out there.  The memorial for fallen pilots has a new entry, and double agent status be damned...]



... Lamia...

[Mizuki's still going to pay her respects.]

I wish the circumstances of... everything... could've been better.  For your sake.

Wherever you are, whatever afterlife exists for... whatever you were... rest well.  When it came to it, you were our friend, not the Shadow Mirror's tool.  And we'll see them pay for what they did to everyone, you included.

Comments

1

[tiger_ken]

Another possibility... is that whatever threatened the Shadow Mirrors was something the Indalph decided to steer clear of...

[Ken is staring at his palm, clearly frustrated.]

Out of energy. Because our enemy could dodge, we were left unable to fight back.

[empress_without_a_throne]

Don't let it get to you or fall in the same trap trap that Loni has. "We need more power" isn't the issue.

We were just literally caught off-guard by a sucker punch, and two Sol Salvations can do a lot to drain the machine's energy.

[tiger_ken]

Right... But we need something that can bring it back up at least basic function, if that kind of thing happens. We were fortunate that everybody focused their efforts in harassing the Indalph's big fake - if the wider battlefield had been more demanding, we'd be sitting ducks...

[Ken purses his lips, thinking.]

...I may need some time off...

[actuallyselfish]

"...to train?"

Dido walks in the room, holding a cold compress to her forehead.

"That's what you were gonna say, right?"

[empress_without_a_throne]

If it's training, you can actually count me in on it.

DuskBird runs off my own internal energies, after all. If it comes down to just needing reserve power, it'd be easiest to just tap into what I can produce. Not sure how safe it would be with prolonged use -considering what that mishap with the Abyss Sanction put Ken through one time- but it would at least be something.

[tiger_ken]

Well... would you be able to put up with my parents?

[Ken asks, folding his arms.]

I mean... I ignored a lot of their advice as I grew older, but they're still some of the best ki masters around. And who knows, maybe some of the stuff that applies to ki generation could apply to you and Void energy.

2

[ugyuuya]

[Yuuya approaches and sets a small bouquet of flowers on the memorial and salutes. After standing silently for a few moments he begins to speak.]

It's funny how things change with time isn't it? I don't think I would have come out here for her when I first arrived.

The full debrief is held up by the inquiry that's more a formality at this point. People really seem to change around here don't they? Wouldn't have expected that from her but she really saved us if that unit was as resilient as it seemed to be from that blast.

[empress_without_a_throne]

She did her part out there. More than her part out there.

And yeah... people can change when they come here. Not always for the better...

[Sara...]

... But more often than not that's the case.

2

[abugslife]

Lamia chose to kill herself and take Mauser with her rather than betray Unity Group. She died on her own terms.

The only tragedy is that we could not finish what she started.

[empress_without_a_throne]

Maybe not in that battle...

... But sooner or later, we will. Nothing good can come from the Indalph and the Shadow Mirrors working together, and they've certainly recognized us as a threat.

And considering the Indalph created SolEraser, it might be a matter of pride for them to avenge Saturnia.

[abugslife]

If we managed to kill Mauser, the Shadow Mirrors would be thrown into disarray. It is possible our conflict with them would have ended right there, and their alliance with the Indalph fall apart.

Unfortunately, that did not came to be. And there is no point dwelling on such alternative scenarios. Instead, there are some mysteries about our enemies that I would like to know.

[empress_without_a_throne]

I have plenty of questions myself, though I'm all in favor of hearing the perspective of someone with actual military experience. What's on your mind?

[abugslife]

The first matter is: how did the Indalph manage to construct a whole replica of SolSaviour in such a short period of time? Just what, exactly, is their production capacity?

1/2

[empress_without_a_throne]

"Replica" might be too strong a word. Certainly made in the image of SolSavior at the very least.

And don't forget to account for Sara either. When she... finally burned every bridge she had here, she used some sort of sounding mechanism to understand the design of the machine. And she grew up around other machines, to say nothing about working with Dido to help design the ShelLancer. At least from a planning standpoint they'd know what they were doing.

2/2

[empress_without_a_throne]

... But if they wanted to and had the materials for it, they could've made more. They didn't. And for an attack on a Unity Group base, you'd think they'd try to commit more. Especially since their forces can just pop in from other dimensions and for all we know there's no way of stopping that.

2-here comes the fun police

[brought_it_back]

Is that so.

[The weird girl with the other demon robot is there, leaning against a wall. It seems she's been there some time.]

[empress_without_a_throne]

Whatever the case was... she felt our way of life was worth dying to help protect. Even if she'd lied to us before about who and what she was...

... She proved herself loyal to the Unity Group in the end. And I feel indebted to her because of that.

[brought_it_back]

Don't.

[empress_without_a_throne]

If she had chosen the Shadow Mirrors over us, we might all be dead right now. She chose to help us, even after the truth came out that she'd never been meant to be on our side.

How many double agents do you know of who'd be willing to properly defect if their cover was blown prior?

[brought_it_back]

And how much of that attack was her fault to begin with?

[Eva just stares at that memorial for a while.]

...I should have stopped her. Before she even got the chance to do any spying...

2

[itbelongsinamuseum]

I know we argued and didn't see eye to eye on everything, but I didn't wish for it to turn out anything like this. Kinda makes me hope there is an afterlife after all.

[empress_without_a_throne]

You and me both. Even if she wasn't "human"...

... She deserves to be in a better place.

[itbelongsinamuseum]

Yes...Something better than what those people gave to her.

[empress_without_a_throne]

In a way it's almost funny even. The Indalph and Shadow Mirrors, staffed by those who joined willingly. At some point in his life, even Feith-Val must've been just an ordinary person. And they all decided to follow a path of conquest.

Lamia was a creation meant to serve them, but she chose us and our way of life over theirs.

I'm not sure what this says about either ideology.

[itbelongsinamuseum]

Probably just that people choose what they believe in...But it seems more common to side with something that isn't constant war.