The Giant Robot Post

[kirasaves.livejournal.com]

The Sensorium was dark around him, its empty, featureless state as the default.

Kira closed his eyes for a moment, a part of his mind telling him to not do this - it had been almost two years since he'd last flown, and why just accept war like that? But no, he shook that off. There were things worth fighting for, and this world was one worth protecting. He would need to keep his skills sharp.

All that was left was a proper test of the program he'd written. "Stacy," Kira said aloud, his voice quiet. "Please run program KI_YA_SIMU.01... Setting: Space, Earth Orbit; Craft: ZGMF-X10A Freedom."

As the words left his mouth, the room around him transformed, becoming a cavernous hangar bay that lay open to the star-speckled black of space and the small blue-white-and-green orb that was the Earth as viewed from one of the Lagrange points. His clothes, too, changed - the teal-and-white flightsuit that he had once worn, and it was remarkable how accurate it was to his memory.

He was standing on a walkway forty or so feet above the floor of the hangar bay, a walkway which led to an open cockpit in the chest of the machine standing sixty feet tall in front of him: His Freedom Gundam.

Kira stood there, looking at the familiar Mobile Suit, and felt... nostalgic, in a way. It had been almost a partner to him, hadn't it? And if what he'd been told was true... it would be his partner here, too.

He tightened the seals on the helmet of his flight suit as he walked forward, climbing into the cockpit and strapping himself in. The door slid shut, and the small chamber was dark for a split second before the viewscreens that surrounded him lit up, providing him with an unobstructed view of the hangar bay. For a moment, his breath caught in his throat as he reached to touch the ignition... and then he pressed it.

"Kira Yamato, Freedom. Heading out!"

(ooc: The door to the sensorium is programmed to open into a viewing chamber. Come bug Kira, talk about giant robots, or use your own!)

Comments

[aworldnevermade.livejournal.com]

Luly settles into a spot in the viewing chamber, sitting in a relaxed sieza position. For the moment, she doesn't say anything—she just watches.

[kirasaves.livejournal.com]

Even though it's just a simulation, Kira feels the ten GINNs before they register as warning lights on his sensors. They're coming at him in two waves, five apiece, from both sides. He turns toward the group on his left, upping the throttle - they're in firing range now, yellow darts of energy filling the space between him and them.

Despite its size, the Freedom proves surprisingly agile as he weaves it through the lethal rain, and in one swift move, the railguns folded on the machine's hips unfold, spearing through the heads of two of the GINNs, leaving them adrift in space but otherwise unharmed.

[aworldnevermade.livejournal.com]

Luly leans forward, watching more intently now that the show is really starting. The destruction of the heads—well, actually, that just confuses her. In her world, it would be hard to resync with something with such an unplanned structural change, but it doesn't seem like enough raw damage to really disable it. "...but it was nice gunwork," she murmurs.

[kirasaves.livejournal.com]

Raw damage, no - but these GINNs have their main cameras located in the head, and taking them out renders all but the best pilots effectively blind.

One of the GINNs jets up, seeking to take Kira from the top - he keeps track of it as he jets toward the other two, dodging their attacks. The agile Freedom reaches down to grab and activate its glowing beam saber, and as the two enemies scatter, he suddenly jets to the side after one.

The energy sword comes up and around, slicing through the enemy MS's gun, hands, and lopping off its head - and in the same movement he brings the beam rifle around, snapping off a quick shot that eliminates the head of the other breakaway GINN.

A warning klaxon sounds as the fifth - the one that went above - fires down at him, but he's already turning before it goes off, raising the craft's shield to block the energy bolt, and returning fire with his rifle, demolishing this one's camera as easy as the others, and leaving just five to go.

[aworldnevermade.livejournal.com]

That would confuse Luly, too. She's used to being blinded enough—not often, but enough—that she's developed a fair skill in working entirely off secondary sensors.

And it's so precise. She's not at all used to that except from the really unbearable artillerists who like to style themselves as snipers.

"Just kill 'em already," she says to herself softly.

[kirasaves.livejournal.com]

He swoops around, facing the other five that had been approaching him the entire time - but it's only been a minute or so since engaging the first group, so they're only now getting into firing range.

The two railguns on the hips fold out again, as do the two positron cannons hidden in the Freedom's wings, coming over its shoulders to join them (as well as the beam rifle) - and little circles pop up on the targeting computer, five of them, all locked on...

...he squeezes the trigger, and all five weapons fire simultaneously. Two of the GINNs are blinded, and the other three have their weapon systems disabled - but either way, they're effectively out of combat in the single volley.

(ooc: 0:25 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPD9_nyTMh4))

[aworldnevermade.livejournal.com]

"That's a neat trick," Luly says to herself. It's not something she'd use, though. She much prefers just having a single gun that fires particularly fast, or a fully-automated sentry gun she doesn't have to worry much about running targeting for.

She stretches a little in her sitting position, almost catlike.

[kirasaves.livejournal.com]

Kira's about to instruct the computer to spawn another wave, when he notices on the readout that there's another person here in the Sensorium with him.

He keys the communication system, and Meluly would be able to hear his voice coming over the loudspeakers in the observation room. "Ah... I'm sorry, did you want to use the Sensorium?"

[aworldnevermade.livejournal.com]

Luly doesn't jump much when his voice comes out, but there's still a bit of a twitch. "... I was just watching," she speaks up, peering more intently out the window. "You're very gentle with them." Her tone suggests she's simultaneously impressed and somewhat disapproving of that.

[kirasaves.livejournal.com]

There's a pause over the communicator before Kira speaks again. "I don't like to kill," he answers. "If I can disable them instead, they still won't be a threat anymore."

[aworldnevermade.livejournal.com]

"It's still a bad trick to pull if you're fighting for anybody but yourself, unless your targeting computers are a lot better than I think. What happens when you run into somebody with a machine that wasn't put together by three-year-olds?"

Despite the sharp words, her tone is relatively gentle. She wants to make sure he's already run the implications of this stance through his head.

[kirasaves.livejournal.com]

Oh, believe him, he has. "The Freedom's OS is specially designed to help process that kind of maneuver." Kira would know; he wrote a good part of it himself. "And... almost every enemy can be disabled if you know how."

He shakes his head, even though the gesture is wasted as she can't see him. "I won't take a life that I don't have to."

[aworldnevermade.livejournal.com]

"Still doesn't sit with me right. I'm career military, you try and do that fancy stuff in the army and you'll end up spending about six months scrubbing toilets."

She's a little more reassured, though. Vaguely.

"It's a nice machine."

[kirasaves.livejournal.com]

"If you can end a battle without killing anyone you don't have to, why not? They wouldn't be a threat anymore."

Still, he nods. "...but thank you."

[aworldnevermade.livejournal.com]

"Where I'm from, it's not that easy. I've run machines all the way into structural integrity breaches before without stopping." She slides up to her feet, padding over closer to the broad window. "There's no big, easy button to disable somebody."

A finger taps on the glass. "I still don't get the point of having something with legs in space."

[kirasaves.livejournal.com]

"Maybe there's no big, easy button, you're right. But nothing's invincible, and if I can take out their engines, weapons, or sensors than they're still out of the fight. If I have to work a little bit harder but I can save lives because of it?"

Kira's hands go back to the controls, as he turns the Freedom around to face the 'station.' "There's the AMBAC system I mentioned, but it's not just meant for space combat. The Freedom was designed to operate effectively... pretty much anywhere. On planets, too."

DID SOMEONE SAY "GIANT ROBOTS"?

[crazychanger.livejournal.com]

Blitzwing is up in the air as soon as the simulation starts, jet engines whining as he happily slaughters simulated enemies with a barrage of missiles, not caring for the fact that Kira is the one running the simulation.

He was never one to care about those minor details, anyway.
A shrieking laugh issues from seemingly nowhere as Blitzwing spins in a tight, dizzying loop to pursue something that's caught his optic.

[not-prncss-tldr.livejournal.com]

Lafiel watches with interest, face practically glued to the viewing window. He's enacting an old and familiar ballet. Silently she analyzes his tactics, noting how he always heads for the weakest point of the swarm. He's certainly skilled but somehow he's...hesitating. Something holds back the strange sword that seems made of plasma.

Well, only one way to find out. In the pause between waves, she asks the computer: "Stacy, provide me with a ponyu class (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJ3P9yZhhVQ&feature=PlayList&p=83130846C053F55E&index=23) light craft equipped with...two fourty-lengarth cohesive beam guns." She smiled. The corrupt baron's craft was one of these. Silently she thanked the first man she'd killed for the inspiration. "And a complement of mines, under my control.

Vooiiip!

There she was in the vastness. Her hand went into a gauntlet bolted to her chair, all blinking hectograms. Her tiara was plugged into the same device. From here, she could feel and control the little craft as if it were part of her own body, a post post post modern samurai on her black battlefield. With it she turns the Ponyu on and it opens the vertical swallowtail covering its engine. It looks like some sleek metal fish in its dark sea.

Around her little ship, great shadowy mines the size of schoolbuses float in a ring.

She feels immediately as if a weight has been lifted from her shoulders...Possibly because it has. The gravity here is lower, much closer to what she's used to.

Some of this enthusiasm probably comes through on the comm system, which shows her a rather surprised looking Kira Yamato. "How does some assistance sound?"

[aworldnevermade.livejournal.com]

"Not that easy," Luly mumbles, though she doesn't speak up about the subject.

"How well's it do on a planet?" she asks louder, attention caught by the change of subject.

[kirasaves.livejournal.com]

Maybe not, but it's worked well for Kira so far. Except for that one time where it wouldn't, but that's in the future.

"It does well enough. It uses a nuclear reactor instead of a battery, so power isn't a concern - which lets me stay flying most of the time, where I can get the most out of its maneuverability. With my old Strike, I had to fight on land more often in order to conserve power."

[kirasaves.livejournal.com]

Kira notices almost immediately that he's not alone in the simulation anymore, nor is he in complete control - there are more enemies spawned a ways away, and destroyed almost as quickly as they came.

He spins the Freedom around to watch this newcomer - it looks like a normal jet, but... here in space?

[kirasaves.livejournal.com]

There's a chime - not from his instruments, but from the program itself - as he sees another craft pop into existence. It's not like his Mobile Suit... far more like a large Mobile Armor, or a smaller fighter of sorts. He's surprised to see Lafiel's face pop up on one of the viewscreens, but recovers quickly.

"Ah... I wouldn't mind it, but I'd probably have to turn the difficulty up if that's all right with you."

[not-prncss-tldr.livejournal.com]

Turn up the difficulty? Ohoho. Oh not at all. She grinned eager. "Not at all a problem. Bring on the first wave."

[aworldnevermade.livejournal.com]

"It's weird talking to all these people without D-Engines," Luly says to herself, but just loud enough to be heard. And she still doesn't understand how the piloting systems can work... "What are your top speeds like?" she speaks up, dropping down into a sitting position again. "I wouldn't mind trying to show Colo, don't know how well it'll work without the real systems, but he ain't exactly kitted for space ops."

[kirasaves.livejournal.com]

"D-Engine? ...and at full speed, I can reach just under the speed of sound. But that's only for distance travel - it's not really practical in a fight."

There's a sudden sound of computer keys clacking over the communication. "That should be fine. I programmed this to be easily able to switch settings. I can pull up an Earth environment if you'd like."