Battle of Lobnas Sord [Open]

[bored-admiral.livejournal.com]

Spaurh had found the sensoriums. At first she'd merely been curious, recreating a few places from memory, trying out the zero-gravity simulation. She'd even dabbled in the piloting program (and found that she was almost as good as she had been out of training). And then she'd recreated her flagship. It had been perfect - almost too perfect. The crew acted like the real crew. Her Chief-of-Staff was so real that she'd almost thought he'd materialized next to her. Of course, that's when that worming little thought had burrowed into her head - what if? Could the battle at the Sord have gone differently? Could she have saved more of her men, her ships?

Despite her rather smug exterior, she honestly had cared for those under her command, even if in some abstract way. And even though she'd achieved a "victory" of sorts at Lobnas, the defeat had still stung. She was supposed to be rebuilding her squadron. Instead she was here. So, at a loss, she'd replayed the battle in the Sensoriums. And then again. And then again. She lost less ships, she lost more ships. But every time the losses had been crippling to her little fleet. And now she was doing it again. The ship rocked from a nearby explosion, "Looks like the enemy is stupid..."

She had made it this far into the fight - the retreat from the Sord, breaking enemy contact. But just as the first time, they were following her. Her crew, her wonderfully trained crew were giving it there all. Reports continued to stream in from the fleet. Another ship had exploded. and then-

"Mine! Incoming!"

"Evasive-"

The ship shuddered for a moment from an impact and a frantic bridge officer begin yelling as information scrolled across his screen, "Impact! Our engines are disabled! Another-"

The ship shuddered underneath her again and then the deck plating seemed to rise to meet her as the entire room turned into blinding white light. It faded out a few moments later, leaving Spaurh standing on an empty bridge. The words "Ship destroyed" burned across the viewscreen. Spaurh bit back a curse and stalked back to her command chair and slumped, sulking. There had to be some way to get a better result out of the fight....

Comments

[aworldnevermade.livejournal.com]

"It's not as bad as you'd think, actually," Luly says, leaning forward a little farther into Spaurh's field of view. "You feel the impact, but the pain doesn't really cross over. Sort of a best of both worlds... you know where the damage is, but it doesn't actually get in the way of your thinking. Hey, why don't you try holding an arm out..." she says.

[bored-admiral.livejournal.com]

"I still would not like to find out first-hand," she pauses, glances up, and then extends her arm out, gears shifting as the mech responds to her movements.

"I think I'm getting the hang of it."

[aworldnevermade.livejournal.com]

Luly carefully climbs down, out onto the arm and settles onto the hand. "Don't drop me," she cautions, though she doesn't seem especially afraid of the height. "An Engel... It's the same kind of thing as this, except that when you really get focused, there's no separation at all between you and it."

[bored-admiral.livejournal.com]

Spaurh keeps the arm extended, watching Luly carefully. She's not going to drop her, but she has to question the other's idea of safety (well, she's already seen that first-hand...). She shudders slightly, the frame of the mech shaking in tandem.

"I'm not sure I'd like that. It seems too... Hmm."

[aworldnevermade.livejournal.com]

"You have to have the right mindset," Luly says, steadying herself on the hand. "They try to catch good candidates early, before they can get too used to the normal control schemes." She grins. "It's fun sometimes getting to... rampage."

[bored-admiral.livejournal.com]

"I'm not suited for ground warfare anyway," Spaurh murmurs in reply, "The gravity doesn't do me any good."

She glances up, back down "her" arm to Luly, "Rampage?"

[aworldnevermade.livejournal.com]

"Rampage." Luly nods with a broad grin. "That's what I do with Colo, anyway. Destroy a lot of stuff, be a huge annoyance so everybody looks at me instead of the guys coming in right behind me... Gets kind of hairy sometimes, but I've managed it pretty well so far."

[bored-admiral.livejournal.com]

"Sounds... entertaining, at the very least," Spaurh replies, chuckling, "Very much like my own philosophy when it comes to fighting the enemy. Hit them hard, fast... and don't give them a chance to recover."

[aworldnevermade.livejournal.com]

Luly nods. "Sounds about right. Engel units don't really have the resources for protracted engagements... They'll pair us with hold-and-control teams if we're trying to take territory, but otherwise it's in, burn everything to the ground, and out again nice and fast."