Tieria stared absentmindedly at the memory stick held loosely between his fingers as he stood with his back against the catwalk railing. Behind him towered a battle scarred Seravee.

This data… Setsuna will be pleased. He surmised wordlessly with the ghost of a smile threatening to warm his stern expression. After all, why wouldn't his fanatical colleague be delighted (in his own, stoic manner, of course) at the possibility of a new mobile suit? Beneath three, preemptive layers of firewall, the documents containing the blueprints for not one, but four possible Gundams were contained in the very memory stick he now had clutched against his palm.

This would certainly give them the advantage against their alien adversary… even though Celestial Being continued to be decidedly undecided about their relationship with the Ohm. Was 'enemy' really the only category they belonged in?

However, this information wasn't the only thing Tieria had found while he'd been diving into the digital sea of Veda's databanks, and he's certain their tactical forecaster had been the catalyst for its arrival.

After everyone and all of their ships were properly loaded the Quarter had launched successfully. The journey from Stacy to the Trojan Asteroid field trailing NiSaris took several hours, but they managed to approach the field with the people of the nearby world being none the wiser.

The problem was that the NiSarians weren't the only ones watching the skies.

As the Quarter approached and entered the asteroid field, all was quiet. But it was only going to be a matter of moments before that would change.


((ooc: See this post for instructions, but otherwise, have at it, and have fun.))

Feldt was thankful for the help that she was going to get. She could understand why Setsuna wanted her to recreate that Stand Alone system that they had used almost five years ago now. Veda could be compromised and they wouldn't know. She knew that all of the Gundams had a connection to the computer system, and if Veda was compromised then they needed to be able to work without the computer system. She didn't know if Stacey was able to get into Veda, but she didn't trust the AI.

She and Tieria were going to work on recreating the system that she had helped create with Christina. She remembered working long and hard to make sure that the Gundams could function without an active connection to Veda. She had been able to get them laptops and Tieria was inside Virtue working while she sat outside connected to both Tieria and the Red Haro.

"Thank you for the help, Tieria. It would take me a lot longer to recreate that system that we used five years ago," she said quietly as her fingers flew over the keypad. She was thankful that this new Tieria wasn't like the one that was here before.

Michael sat on the side of his sniper perch, constructed on the sidewalks of one of the main boulevards in the City. Normally this was his firing range, but now he was here for a meeting - with one of the most troublesome groups on the ship. As much as Setsuna and his comrades were pains in Starfighter Command's neck, they needed every last body they could get for the mission ahead.

He'd chosen this spot since it was out of the way, where people were unlikely to intrude if the discussion got heated. All there was left to do was wait.

While everyone else was busy going shopping down on the planet, Setsuna had more important things to do. Namely, take his Gundam out for a test run.

Everything had gone smoothly, and all systems were functional. Which bothered him a little bit. There had been certain subtleties to the 00, sometimes it would pull on a hairpin turn, an occasional rattle in the cockpit when he pushed past a certain speed... none of those things were there. The suit was perfect. Too perfect. It was almost as if the suit was brand new.

Except the 00 Raiser had been through hell, and the odds of its GN drives being repaired after Exia and 0 Gundam exploded were faint at best. It did have all the hallmarks of Celestial Being's craftmanship, but even so, Setsuna couldn't help but wonder where did this suit come from? And its GN drives? Two more questions to add to the growing pile, and he still had no answers.

"Gundam..."

As he exited the machine, he half expected to have Trudy screaming at him again about him not asking permission before launching previously. As if he needed her permission, or anyone else's, to take his own suit outside. But as he lowered himself from the cockpit to the ground, those concerns went right out the window as he noticed the two suits docked behind Dynames.

...so, he was here now. And off in the distance he could see that Tieria's suit, which had disappeared briefly, was back again. Which meant that the four of them were together again. The thought brought the smallest of smiles to the corner of his mouth, though only for a brief moment.

"Allelujah..."

As his feet hit the hangar floor, he scrapped whatever plans he did have. After all, if Arios, along with its predecessor Kryios, were both here, his comrade was sure to show up soon enough looking for them. Setsuna would just hang out by his own suits and wait for him.

There were some unusual sounds in the Hangar today. Namely, the sounds of a large particle rifle discharging several rounds, followed by the sound of whatever was on the wrong end of those shots quite violently becoming shards of scrap metal. Occasionally, there were also some loud thump, thump, thumps, as a pair of mobile suits would periodically reposition themselves.

Yep. Mobile suits. Or more specifically, the Gundams known as Dynames and the 00 Raiser.

( Read more... )

"Target row cleared. Hit rate: 100%" he spoke over the comms, his voice as emotionless as it always was. "You can commence firing at the next row at your discretion."

Still, while Setsuna's attention might have been focused on Lockon's ability, the fact that there were two giant robots blowing stuff up indoors might draw the attention of others as well.

[Feel free to talk to Setsuna or Lockon or both, or whomever else is around. Thread crashing is encouraged, though you might want to ask first just to be safe]

Feldt was slowly getting used to the ship. She had found her way to the hangar and knew that the 00 Raiser, Exia, and Virtue were all there and looked to be in good shape. She had also learned that no one else had been working on them besides Setsuna and Tieria. She wasn't sure what she would have done if anyone else had been working on them. It was against Celestial Being's rules to let anyone else know about their technology. Someone else had already stolen the GN Drives from them.

On this trip to the hangar, she had the Red Haro with her. She could use the robot's help with the system checks. She looked around the hangar as she stepped inside. She had met several other pilots in here already, and none of them seemed to understand Celestial Being's thoughts on war. They were supposed to be stopping it, not engaging in it, even if it was for survival.

She was thankful that it was empty right now. She didn't want to deal with the probing questions that she couldn't really answer. The quiet would allow her to focus on her work and she'd be able to get it done faster and let Tieria and Setsuna know that they had been doing a good job on the upkeep of their suits.

This time things were different. She could only stare at one of the newest suits in the hangar. For a moment she thought that it was Cherudim, but no. It was a similar suit. It was Cherudim's predecessor, Dynames. She could only stand and stare at the suit for a moment as she remembered the suit and pilot. Dynames had been mostly destroyed the last time she had seen it and it's pilot had been killed. The first Lockon Stratos meant a lot to her. There was no way that he could be alive again.

She didn't realize that she was crying until she felt the tears falling down her face. Lockon, he was here and alive. How could she have missed him?

The rest of the crew assembled on the Observation Deck to meet the latest editions to their numbers. After the revelation that their worlds are gone, many of them are even more eager to see people they knew from home.

Several people are set up near the doors to provide the new people with omnicoms and comm rings. New crew-mates might see a tall man in green armor and snake girl among their number. There are also several authoritative-looking figures ready to introduce themselves.

There's a lot to tell the new people. It's going to be a lot to take in.

[ooc: Only new characters and Command Staff can start new threads for introductions, to limit the number of threads. Everyone else, just tag in and have your guys greet the newbies.]

The hangar wasn't the most private place on the ship. There was generally always someone there, usually one of the pilots from the squadrons, or the occasional passer by come to check on their machine. But Setsuna had watched the general comings and goings of everyone else for some time, and figured out when the place would be the least crowded. His timing was on point today, as the Mobile Suit part of the hangar was empty, except for him.

It wasn't that he didn't trust anyone else...

Actually, yeah, it was that he didn't trust anyone else. Celestial Being was a private armed organization, emphasis on "Private" and "Armed", and Setsuna wasn't going to give away their secrets. Not to these people.

Well, most of them. There was at least one other person he was willing to trust with the secrets of Celestial Being.

But first, he had to discover all of them for himself. Which was why he was there to begin with. He looked at the clock of his omnicomm as he leaned against the leg of the 00. The time was 08:57:54. Tieria had two minutes and six seconds left to show up, before Setsuna made good on his promise.

Setsuna had stayed, and once again observed the training session of Starfighter Command, but declined to participate. While he had taken time to observe everyone's performance, and had his red Haro record the entire exercise, his attention had been mostly focused on Blade Squad. No surprise there, since they were mobile suit pilots. Like himself.

No. Not like me, he thought to himself.

He was on the bridge of the simulated Quarter right now, and had commandeered one of the various consoles. His Haro was connected to one of them, and was playing back part of Blade Squad's performance in the exercise.

As a team, they did fine, though something was missing in the way they operated. What that was, however, was something Setsuna couldn't quite put his finger on. Perhaps it was just this false environment they were in.

Still, something about this didn't sit right with him, so he reviewed the footage, and largely ignored the goings on around him. Maybe if he watched it long enough, he'd be able to figure out

((Free threading, mostly for Starfighter Command pilots, but everyone is welcome. See the ooc post here.))

Kira sat still in a dark, enclosed space, listening to his own heartbeat reverberate through the helmet of a sealed flight suit, and took a long, slow breath - and he opened his eyes as lights flared to life in the darkness. Around him, the cockpit of the Strike Freedom entered its familiar startup sequence, the viewscreens flickering on to display the depth of the seemingly-infinite starfield around him.

He knew it was all a simulation - a hallucination, even - but that didn't make it feel any less real as he took the controls and engaged the Freedom's Phase Shift armor, causing color to spread across the craft's surface.

There was no Archangel or Eternal to launch from this time, but he couldn't help old habits as his foot sunk weight onto the pedal. "Kira Yamato, Freedom - heading out!"

In the depths of space beyond, lights twinkled in a peaceful way that belied their menace - Ohm Shrikes. Kira's grip tightened ever so minutely as his mobile suit drew its beam rifle and the twin railguns unfolded at its hips, and he fired.

The more they practiced now, the safer they'd be in a fight.

Anyone who entered would find themselves standing on the deck of an observation platform suspended in space (if the protocol Kira had written worked properly, anyway). It might make the whole thing a bit less awkward.

Setsuna didn't stay long at the Meet n' Greet. He mostly milled about in the background, listening to a handful of conversations here and there. He wasn't sure what to make of the whole spiel about worlds having been destroyed, but he'd discover the truth about that in time. He had more important things to worry about.

Eventually, he managed to pick up several key words, being "Hangar" and "Suits", and he figured he'd find his Gundam there, or some clue about where they took it.

He rushed there, finding it open for anyone to access. He wandered through, looking around at the various vehicles, planes, and craft. He eventually spotted something that made his jaw drop, though.

Exia was there, fully repaired, but lacking a GN drive to power it. Not surprising, considering that the 00 Gundam was right next to it (which contained both Exia's and 0 Gundam's GN Drives), complete with the 0-Raiser already docked to it. But what was shocking was the number of similar yet different mobile suits surrounding both of his.

"...other... Gundams?"

For someone who practically worshiped his mobile suit, and knew there were only a mere handful even remotely like it, this was definitely a shock. Though, upon a slightly closer inspection, he noticed that none of the others had GN Drives of their own. Were these true Gundams from other worlds? Or were those mere knock offs of his own?

"How is this possible?"

[ooc: Newbie Helpers List | Instructions: Post your character with one post establishing them as being podpopped. Tag each other in groups of 2's, 3's, and 4's, to get some interaction to start with. If a thread doesn't already have 2 or 3 people tagged in, tag it with your character's podpop popping near the other people, rather than making a new subthread. If you would like to play out them talking to the AI, please send an email to the mods making the request--we do this only by request. Then move onto the big Newbie Meeting. Once your character has gotten the rundown from the old crew, you may start posting entrance posts and freely tagging.]


||Pod Release Protocols Initating|| Stacy's familiar voice sounds out to all the podmates through the ship.

In the Pod Caverns, there are the sounds of: Pop. Pop pop pop. Poppuhpoppoppop. KASCHUNKhiiiiiiiissssss.

There is condensation and mist spraying out from cracks in the pods, as the people inside slide out onto the floors, covered in slime.

--

( There was nothing... )