0805
0805
Operation Centre 2, RF6
-Myristic-
‘The last five minutes have proven a challenge for the RF6 staff. Although competent during normal situations, from what we can hear, small cracks are beginning to develop.’ Meia had set up a number of extra displays since the start of the action. There are now a total of 5 active, each showing a different view of the battle. Currently, BT1 are on their way to the east, after stopping to destroy a drone while BT2 are evading the attacks of Vita and a small group of drones.
I could hear footsteps behind me. I turned; ready to blank the screens if it was a member of RF6. Currently we were the only people able to see these visuals. Dave and Julie came through the door, coffee and cake in hand. “Here you go” David said, handing me a cup.
“Thanks.” The screen displaying BT1 glowed orange as Iza readied an attack. 1,2,3. “Meia, who’s she attacking.”
“Judging from her firing location and the location display, she’s most likely attacking Vita.”
“I didn’t think that Iza’s attacks reach that far. Vita has got to be at least half a k away.”
“It’ll reach no worries about that. We tested the range of her attacks a few months ago. She can manage to keep the attack together for about 750m. There’s just a problem with the strength of the attack past about 100m. Still, regardless of the strength of the attack, it’ll give them a chance to break away from Vita.”
On screen, Vita didn’t appear to notice the inbound shots, her eyes focused on Tuala below her as she began talking. We couldn’t hear her but moments later from the RF6 command came voices which we could hear clearly.
“Roger that Lightning. Vita, you should be able to see them in the next minute.” As she finished responding the first Iza’s bolts flashed onto screen. “VITA BEHIND YOU” the voice yelled. Vita turned just as the first bolt arrived, smashing directly into her, punching through the auto shield that her device had created at the last second. The force of the impact threw her backwards, her body moving in a parabolic trajectory. This was lucky in a sense because the second bolt shot pass, underneath her, impacting with the building behind, sending chunks of concrete to the ground below. Two drones were crushed by the falling debris, their explosions adding to the chaos of the scene. Finally the third bolt came, clipping Vita’s legs as she fell, accelerating her decent to the ground. She landed heavily, the ground cracking with the impact.
Tuala and Valivis sped off in the confusion, each destroying a drone each as they escaped, passing the arriving forward team who were observing from a side alley.
“Erio, keep an eye on them. Keep your distance and don’t engage until the drone team reaches you. Caro, make sure that Vita is ok and then go meet up with Erio. Stars, scout the area where those attacks came from. The rest of the drones will be directed into that search region.”
****
Training Ground, RF6
-Isamu-
[Thanks for the cover. We’ve managed to break through and we’ll start heading for the EP soon.] Tuala sent to me.
[Good. You guys ok?]
[Yep, we’re both fine. That girl was hit pretty hard by your attacks but she should be fine, else they would have stopped the exercise.]
[Well, we can apologize later. Lets get this over and done with. You still want us to proceed as before?]
[Yes. Just make sure you can get away from whatever you engage, Valivis and I are in no condition to come and help.]
[All right. See you guys soon.] Checking the TCD, I realised that we had moved 500m from the firing point. “Iza, anything on our tail?” I asked
She cast a low level search magic, as she turned and visually scanned the area. “I can’t sense anything; although that doesn’t mean that nothing is there.”
“No worries. Just a little further now until we start heading towards the EP. Once that happens, we’re back to our stealth profile.”
“Roger.” We hopped over to the next building and ran across the top of it. As we were about to jump across, I sensed a magical signature heading in our direction. “As soon as we get across, find some cover. Something’s heading this way.” I said. Iza nodded and we crossed over. I landed in a forward roll, looking for anything that would give us some cover as I came back up.
“Over here,” Iza said from behind the rooftop access stairs. Quickly I ran over and joined her. “Can you sense it as well?”
She nodded, “It’s heading towards the position where we fired those bolts.”
I went over the route we had taken. ‘Shit there’s nothing to block LOS to our position.’ “We have 2 different options. 1, Make a run for it and hope it doesn’t notice us. 2, Wait for it to go away. So what should we do?” I asked.
“You forgot one Isa. 3, Smack the crap out of it so it can’t talk.” Iza replied. I looked back at her, stunned that I had forgotten about that possibility.
“You’re right. It doesn’t matter if they see us as long as they can’t follow us.” Possibilities flashed through my mind. Most of them got scrapped as soon as I thought of them, being too dangerous, stupid or both. The magical signature started moving in a wide search pattern over the area as I figured it out. “Right, here’s the plan. I’ll head down to street level and take down one of the drones. You’ll follow along the rooftops. When they come to investigate, we’ll ambush them with a two pronged attack from above and below.”
“Sounds good.” She padded to the edge of the building to look down. “Isa, there’s a drone coming around the edge of the building now. It should pass by under us in 10 secs.”
“All right, let’s take them down. Make sure you stay hidden.” I said as I ran to her. Just before the edge I jumped, Daedra first off the edge. “Load cartridge.” ‘7.’ I angled my body face first towards the ground. ‘6. Concentrate on your magic. 5.’ Daedra’s blades glowed red as my magic flowed into them. ‘4.’ Initiating charge sequence. ‘3.’ The grey of the concrete contrasted heavily with the white of the drone, making it a perfect target. Shifting my grip on the hilt, I moved Daedra across my right shoulder, ‘2’ Charge. ‘1’ My view shifted, the drone which had been too far away was now in a perfect position. I swung Daedra in an arc down to my waist, cutting through the drone’s armour with no resistance. I ran forward as I followed through, the drone exploding behind me.
[Iza, anything?]
[Not yet, I’ll let you know if anything comes.]
[Roger.] The reflection in the glass in front, gave me a split second to react. From within the burning wreckage of the drone, two arrows of light appeared. I ducked and rolled to the left. As I got back up, another two beams appeared. I managed to dodge one but moved into the path of the other as I did. Instinctively Daedra appeared in front of my body, and I pushed, the flat of the blades connecting with the beam, directing it back to its sender. Another cartridge loaded as I advanced upon the drone. Through the flames, I could just make out the silhouette, Charge. The blades swept down but this time was unable to cut through, the shielding much stronger then the other drone. I leapt away, concentrating as I did, reinforcing the energies within Daedra as well as calling upon the fire within me. Flame enveloped Daedra as I came back. The drone responded by filling the air with blue fire. I managed to knock some back, the beams impacting against the drone’s shields with no effect, but the rest slammed into me, my protective field absorbing most of the damage. ‘I’m going to have some nice bruises tomorrow.’
The drone managed to dodge my first strike, but was unable to avoid the reversal of the strike. The shielding held for 5 seconds before collapsing, a blue flare of light which blinded me. But my aim was true, the drone getting flung away from the force of the impact, smashing into a low lying wall before exploding, debris raining over the area.
[Isa, that magical signature from before is heading this way… But it’s strange, the feel of it doesn’t seem like it matches any of those kids we saw before…]
[Maybe it’s two of them, we’ll see soon enough. I’ll tell you when you’re ok to attack, need to get into position first.] I smashed a door open, and ran into the building, heading for the roof. “Tiger’s Eye.” Through Iza’s eye’s, I could see a blue arrow approaching our position, stretching into the distance. ‘Looks like they’ll be here in under a minute.’ Passing the half-way point of my ascent, I sent to Iza, [Iza, when they’re in range, attack, I’ll be in position before they get here]. I bounded up the stairs, taking them three at a time. I reached the top and burst through the doors. As I stepped out I realised that the building I was in wasn’t as high as I thought it was. [Correction, you’ll have to force them down about 10m before I can do anything….]
[Right…. Engaging in 10] Raising my head to the sky, I could clearly make out 2 figures approaching on the spell. Waiting for Iza to attack, I renewed the energy in the Blades, as well as loading another cartridge. A bolt of orange appeared, speeding towards the figures. The air filled with orbs of magical fire as I moved closer to them, two of the orbs intercepting the bolt. Suddenly, one of them jumped off the blue path, hopping lightly onto a rooftop, two buildings away from my location. It was a female, wielding two guns, her attention on Iza and her partner. [Iza, I’ve got this one, concentrate on the other.] Moving, I jumped across one building, landing behind the rooftop access. Edging out, I could see my target, empty magazines lying around her. She raised her device, an orange circle forming beneath her, as approximately 20 orbs sprang into existence around her.
I charged across, reappearing 2 metres away from her, running to close the distance. She turned at my footsteps, eye’s widening in surprise before recovering, “Cross fire, SHOOT.” Every one of the orbs began to move, altering their trajectories to my location.
Knight’s Armour. ‘At this range, she’s going to get caught in the blast as well.’ The majority of the orbs slammed into my shield. It held for the initial wave before collapsing, three striking me, two on my body and the third on my left shoulder. “My turn,” I said as I reached her, the flat of my blade aimed at her head to knock her out. She was able to get a shield up before contact, Daedra stopping centimetres from her head. From behind, I could sense energy approaching. I leapt away, 3 orbs racing through, seconds later. They turned in flight, coming back at me. I rushed back in, redirecting one of the orbs back at her, while stopping another with my shield. The third looped back, intercepting the one I had returned.
Again I aimed to knock her out, but to my surprise she parried, an orange blade of energy extending from her pistol. “Fine, if you want to do it the hard way, I’ll give you a lesson in melee.” I said. I took my right hand off the handle and cried, “BERSERKER MODE!” Yes, my lord. Piston’s whirled as a fresh cartridge was used; it’s casing falling to the roof top. With a flash, another axe appeared in my right as my barrier jacket altered, giving me the mobility necessary to duel wield. I swung low and fast, aiming for her body. Another shield.
Purge. It held for another second before being overwhelmed, the shield giving way. The right connected, winding her.
Paralyse. The blade of the right flashed a bright red before fading. Now the girl was glowing, caught in the spell, unable to move. I gently laid her down on the rooftop, before opening a private channel to HQ.
“Sir, one forward has been immobilised at my location. I’ve marked my location for easy recovery of the girl.” The message sent, I cast a shield over her before moving away, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, heading towards Iza’s location. [One down, how’s it going on your side?]
[It’s a stalemate. We’re equally matched.] She replied.
[Is it safe for me to attack? I don’t want her to fall from this height.]
[I’ll see what I can do to force the match lower but if worse comes to worse; we’ll knock her off and catch her on the way down.]
[All right, I’ll be there soon.]
****
Operation Centre 2, RF6
-Myristic-
“Yes, one of your team is at location 50, 64. She’s been taken out of the battle.”
“Thanks for the information Captain. I’ll go and get her now.” The screen disappeared. I sat back in my chair, my attention returning to the display of the Blades. Valivis and Tuala are currently on their way to the EP, with one of the forwards on their trail. ‘I wonder why they haven’t gotten rid of him yet.’ Iza is engaged in a battle with the major’s daughter while Isamu is a minute away from Iza’s position.
“Meia, could you find the rest of the team, I’d like to ask them a question.” She nodded and left the room. I focused on Iza’s screen. Currently she was dodging blows from Nakajima. Her mobility in the air was surprising, given that she was limited to a fixed path. Landing atop a rooftop, Iza loosed a trio of bolts at Nakajima who countered with one of her own. The rest of the bolts, she took on her shields. As the bolts impacted, Iza leapt down, closing to melee range, forcing Nakajima to move down closer to the ground.
She kept up the assault. Most of the attacks were dodged, the rest blocked except for one which only managed to clip her shoulder. In the background, another figure could be seen standing atop the rooftops. ‘Looks like Isamu has arrived. Another casualty to RF6 then. Maybe they’ll be able to clear this exercise after all… Although they’ll have to be able to clear it consistently before they get any missions like this.’
Like he always does, Isamu jumped off the building, freefalling to Nakajima before charging in. She was unable to guard against the unexpected attacks, the force of them sending her flying off the path she was on. She fell about 5 storeys before recovering, the blue path reappearing beneath her. She fled towards the ground, reaching it before they closed in, a two pronged attack. Isamu overwhelmed her defences with pure force, allowing Iza to bind her. Finishing up, Isamu applied his paralysis spell, her body glowing a dull red when he was finished.
“Sir.”
“No need to say anything, I’ve got you on screen now. Get going, I’ll get them to pick her up ASAP.” I cut the transmission, before opening the channel to their squad leader. “Another one to be picked up at location 48, 63.”
She appeared on screen, carrying the first in her arms. “Thank you, on my way now.”
The door behind me opened, the Weavers coming into the room. “So what did you want to talk about?” Juliet asked.
I pointed at the screens where all four of the Blades were making their way to the extraction point, “One way or the other, the exercise is going to be wrapped up earlier than any of us expected…. So no free drinks today.”
“Oh well, another time then,” David said, the others nodding in agreement.
“That brings me to what we’re going to be doing next. They’re going to be finished in about an hour. What did you guys want to do for the rest of the day? I’ve got an idea which should take an hour or two, but I have no ideas about afterwards.”
“What was the idea?” Meia asked.
“Oh, I wanted us to show the Blades how it’s done. I’ve talked it over with their chief trainer and she thinks it’s a good idea. We just need to ok it with the RF6 staff.”
“Sounds good,” Meia said, “You two have any objections?”
“A chance to have some fun, none whatsoever,” David said, grinning, “It’ll be like the old days again.”
“I’m in; it’s been awhile since we’ve been on a field together, training or otherwise.” Juliet replied.
“Thanks a lot,” I said, “Free drinks on me tonight once we get back!”
They cheered. “Right, I’ll go ask them now. Check your devices and start getting warmed up. Once they’re done we’ll go and have some fun.”