[LoweGear]

[Kamina] Can't a man even rest in peace? [/Kamina]

Time to hack some good backlog growth

Originally Posted by Liingo

It's been a while but here's part 6 of my ongoing ficlet A visit to MD6, otherwise known as 'training' on the OC directory...Hmm I'm going to have to get that changed.

Earlier parts
Part 1- Err we need a new training partner
Part 2- Get Set
Part 3- Exercise Start
Part 4- This is going well...
Part 5- Blades win?

I'm still not sure if this is going to be the final version... While I'm happy with what I've written at the moment, things are capable of changing depending on feedback and other factors..

Spoiler for Part 6- The calm after the storm:

0900

Weary, we trudged through the doors. We were strung out in a line each of us supporting one another. Vita, the reason behind our defeat walked in front of us, chatting with Shari who had been in control of the drones and Takamachi Nanoha, the Ace of Aces, one of a number of respected individuals within the organisation. At the end of our line walked the boy Erio supported by Caro who was in turn supported by Iza. Tuala leant on my right shoulder, obviously more exhausted than I had thought. I felt a twinge of guilt for forcing her to carry Erio during the exercise. ‘I’ll talk to her later on and see if she wants anything.’

Her suggestion to use Erio as a hostage had nearly worked but still sat ill on my conscience. This stain on my morals had grown darker as we wrapped up and we had a chance to talk to our opponents in person. It surprised us to discover that the pair were only 12/13 and that the other two Subaru and Teana were only a little older at 16/17. Even though I’ve been with the TSAB for nearly 2 years now, it is still weird to see children in the line of fire, regardless of their ability.

At the far end of the room, all of the officers who had been present at the start of the exercise were waiting. Nudging Tuala gently, I cleared my throat. The others looked at me as I did before following my gaze. Together we straightened, heads up facing the group.

The shortest among the group stepped forward, short brown hair framing her face. “At ease,” she said, her voice, though soft held an air of experience. “No need to be so formal, especially after nearly three hours out there. As the commanding officer, I’d like to welcome you all to Mobile Division 6. I trust that our facilities met your standards.” She was the same person who had addressed us this morning, just before we started. Something about her was familiar and I struggled to remember where I had seen her before.

“Now if you would follow me, refreshments are available in the adjoining room, where we will go over the exercise,” pointing to her left at a small door. As with the rest of the buildings in the complex, the room showed little sign of use, chairs stacked neatly to one side, mountains of salad and pasta heaped upon a table opposite. The weight pressing against me disappeared as the forwards moved towards the food, Subaru, Teana and Erio each picking up a huge bowl each, filling them with completely before heading towards the tables. Caro waved at us from another, where she was gathering the cutlery. “Could you help me with the plates?” she asked.

“Sure.” I picked up a stack of eight, and together we made our way over to the others. As I passed the plates around, I took the time to look around the room another time. The Weavers were to our left, sitting with Instructor Takamachi and another, dressed in the black of the enforcers, in rapid conversation. My eyes widened as I realised who it was, Fate Tesstarossa, one of the youngest to have ever qualified as an Agent. It was surprising to me to see someone of her abilities involved in this unit. Although it seemed to be similar in scope to the ESO corps, none of their force members seemed to be at a sufficient level to warrant the resources currently assigned for their training. At their current levels, 1 or 2 trainers at ESO level would be sufficient, but from the data available on the unit, their trainers can both be considered Agents within the Enforcers.

“So what’s the normal day like here?” Tuala asked them.

“It’s not too bad I guess,” Subaru said between mouthfuls, “The work is much tougher here, compared to our last unit, especially the training.” Pausing, she looked at the others, “Don’t you think?”

“Agreed,” Erio and Caro said, simultaneously, while raising their hands. Seconds passed before they noticed, realisation of what had happened manifesting on their faces, both of them turning red.

“It’s training, training and more training here. The only time we’re not training during the day is if we get called on a mission. Either that or time for food.” Teana said, sighing. “Don’t misunderstand me…. I don’t mind all the training… It’s helped a lot but sometimes I just wish that something would happen.”

Her last comment made me look up from my plate. Tuala and Valivis had also stopped, forks and spoons in midair. Our eye’s met…

“Ehh, did I say something weird?” Teana asked, looking down to her left.

I could see the hint of a smile on Valivis’ face, Tuala was positively beaming and I’m sure my own would be mirroring Valivis’. I spoke up, “When things truly get busy, you’ll be eating those words and wanting to go back into training, I guarantee it.”

Valivis picked up where I left off, “What he means is that this time you have now is a blessing. It may not feel like it now, but when the time comes and you’re constantly on one mission or another, you’re going to be wishing that it could just be training.”

“Although the 4 of us have only been together for a few months, we’ve already many experiences of working with the Weavers on a number of their missions. Even before the squad was completed, Isamu and I did a short stint on board the Tempest. It was one of a trio of ships that had been sent to stop weapons smuggling between the TSAB and the non-administrated worlds in sector 629. A few days of intel gathering, before we started the raids. Every day, more of the syndicate’s bases were attacked, short but hard attacks. Near the end of the operation, we were being teleported from one mission to another, reinforcing the squads that needed it. We were all completely exhausted by the time we located their main stronghold. They were preparing to run at that point, sensor coverage showed areas of land that had been previously occupied. To stop more of them getting away, we launched immediately….” Tuala faltered, her voice trailing away.

The memories of that day still remained fresh in our minds, a constant reminder for Tuala and me about the fragility of our lives. I reached over and grasped her hand, wrapping my fingers around hers, squeezing gently. “Most of the details about that mission have been classified…. But to say that it was a FUBAR just gives it an impression that it was easier than it actually was. The weapons they carried cut through our ranks; a squad of men was annihilated completely in seconds. The arrival of the reserves from the Tempest and other ships in the battle group helped us to reinforce our breach within their complex, but we lacked the firepower to break through until the arrival of the Weavers and the Hunters 2 days later.”

Silence greeted me. I realised that everyone in the room had turned their attention on us. I gulped as Myristic stood, the sound of his chair moving back echoing around the room. He slowly made his way over to us, his face grim and I fought the urge to run, run before he got to us. “Like the Weaver’s have said, don’t be too hasty to get into action. The longer you have to prepare, the better you’ll be able to cope with what happens on the battlefield.” He levelled his gaze at Teana. “Your missions have been successes so far, but one day you’ll fail. Be it the death of a comrade, injury or the inability to complete your mission, how you respond then is what matters. The TSAB tries to avoid the use of lethal force, but sometimes death is the only option. Are you ready for that responsibility?”

Silence reined once more as Valivis and the forward members thought about Myristic’s words. “We’ll have to wait and see won’t we,” Valivis said, “Although it’s likely that I’ll be the first to answer that question, given that I’m an enforcer.”

Myristic nodded, “Hopefully that day will be long in coming.” Addressing the others he said, “Think long and hard about why you’re here, what you want to achieve. If the possibility of dealing with death and the taking of life isn’t part of what you want, I hope you seriously consider transferring within the organisation to another division.” He turned away and walked back to the others, leaving us to think about his words.

Noticing that the forwards hadn’t touched their plates, Tuala urged them to eat, “You can think about what he just said while you eat you know. It won’t be good if you faint later in the day from not eating properly.”

The next 10 minutes passed quietly at our table, each of us digging in, replenishing the energy that we had used earlier in the morning, the mountain of pasta and salad in the centre of the table disappearing at an alarming rate. “Did any of you want any more?” I asked. Everyone at the table shook their heads, continuing to eat as they did. I caught the eye of Teana, who had just finished. “You did quite well today, considering what happened.” I said.

“Hmmm….. not really. I never managed to use my illusions. Otherwise I should have been able to get away.” She sighed deeply, “The moment I get into a melee battle, I always end up on the losing side… Going to have to work on that since I’m planning on becoming an enforcer in the future.”

“Really?” Tuala replied. “Well, I guess this means that you’ve already thought about what the captain discussed earlier.”

“A little….” As she started to reply, the Weaver’s stood, David called across the room, “Apologies for the interruption, Blades ATTEND,” Pointing to a door that I hadn’t noticed before. We scrambled, our departure rattling the plates still on the table.

[Oops.. Isamu, could you get the forwards as well. This will be relevant to them also.]

I came to a stop halfway across the room. Turning back to see the forwards looking at me quizzically, I called them over, pointing at the group and then at the door to try and indicate that they were wanted also. Thankfully, they were able to figure out what I was trying to tell them, the noise of conversations preventing me from calling out to them. Meeting them at the door, I held it open as they filed through before entering myself.

Inside, all hints of the outside world disappeared, not a sound could be heard from the adjacent room. A number of screens opposite me displayed vision from the skirmish, to their left the Weavers stood along with the other members of the division’s command staff. “If everyone could find a seat, we’ll begin,” Myristic said from behind the lectern. “I’ll try and keep this as brief as possible since much of this is irrelevant to the others. Blades, you’ll be seeing a detailed report on any errors today, large and small, once we get back to base.” Behind him, the display flickered before settling on our first human contact with the enemy.

“I’m sure it’s quite clear to you all now….. Keep an eye on the sky at all times. Aerial mages will be a massive problem, even if all they do is keep their eyes on you.” The display altered again, this time to video footage of the battles between Teana, Subaru Iza and I. “Not much to say on my team.” Myristic raised the question to the room, “Any comments for the forwards?”

I raised my hand. “We talked a little about it over brunch. Their problem stemmed from being split up against superior opponents. The two of them together would have been a match for me and Iza separately.. once we had engaged, better efforts should have been made to get back to their squad partner.” Myristic nodded and with a slight gesture of his hands, motioned me to continue. “I do admit that it is much easier said than done, but given Subaru’s advantage in manoeuvrability, she should have been able to shake Iza, to make her way back to Teana.”

From the front of the room came another voice, “I’ll see what we can do about that…. But I’m not sure the forwards want to be doing more exercises every day.” I could hear muffled groans just in front of me from the forwards. Suppressing a smile, I waved at Myristic to continue.

“I’d like to ask the opinion of everyone in this room whether this was an appropriate action or indeed if it was necessary.” His eye’s swept the room, his gaze resting on us for seconds before continuing. The screens behind the captain flipped to Erio during his time as a hostage. “I understand already that Isamu is against it entirely.. however…. There have been documented cases within the ESO’s about the taking of hostages during active combat missions. Cases in which they have gotten away with further injury to their teams.”

Tuala shot to her feet, “Before anyone else speaks, taking Erio hostage was a perfectly valid way to end the scenario. We very nearly succeeded as well, only the last second cage by the Lieutenant left us with no other choice than to nullify all magic within that area, leading to our capture. If those drones had been manoeuvred a second later, we would all have managed to move into the effective teleporter range.”

“But in doing so, do we not harm the bureau’s image, as well as giving precedent to those who aspire to see the bureau extinguished reason for their actions.” A sharp reply came from the front, originating from the officer who had met us upon arrival.

“Better for that to happen than fail to warn the bureau about any possible threats that we’ve been sent to retrieve.” Tuala retorted.

“Your logic makes sense. Although I hope that you’re prepared for the consequences of your actions,” the officer replied.

Tuala dropped back into her seat with an hmpf, signalling her wish to stop the conversation. Whispered conversations took place around the room for the next minute, before Myristic spoke once more. “Well if that’s it, we’ll stop this now.” He was greeted with nods by all present. “Time to get onto our last joint activity of the day then.” We looked at him in puzzlement. ‘I can’t remember there being anything else to do today’. “The Weavers and I will be showing you how it’s supposed to be done.” He continued with a grin.

“Eeeehhh!!!”

Our jaws must have dropped in amazement. “You do know that I’m not just a desk worker right……”

“O…Of course we do…. It’s just a surprise…. A really big surprise…” Valivis stammered.

Ignoring us now, he walked out with the Weavers, nodding at the other officers in the room. “Let’s have a good time out there.”

“Don’t think you’ll win so easily now!” They called back at him.

Spoiler for Extra Info:

Now we haven't been given any info about how the enforcers are made up so I've made some stuff up for them.

We already know that the Enforcers are with the Navy, so I've made them work like the Marines. Each ship will have a complement of Enforcers which will deal with things that need boots on the ground.

Ranking within the enforcers: However, all are referred to as Enforcers.

Enforcer- standard ship board grunts 10<x<20 (ie, grunts seen during S1, S2) The Blades are currently here.

Enforcer Spec-Op (ESO) - Higher trained enforcers, capable of working alone, but usually operating in smaller groups 5<x<10. Given more dangerous tasks, ie, hostage rescue, extraction, sabotage- (in RL, the Spec-Ops missions) (Weavers, Hunters )

Agent: The most elite of the bunch, usually working alone, or leads a group of ESO’s on missions. (Fate, Chrono,…….) (Spec-Ops tasks, tasks more suited to one person.)

Comments/Flames/Etc... welcome. Just keep the flames civil please

Nice debriefing to top off the Forward's mock exercise there, along with a careful analysis of the actions and mistakes both sides did. That bit with Teana and her comment was the best part, if only because it reminds me of a discussion along a similar gist back here.

(Basically one of the patrons at my net cafe, who happens to be my cousin, said that "killing is fun", in front of my older brother, who was to be deployed to counterinsurgency (COIN) operations soon. The discussion basically went along the same vein, on how it's much easier to think and talk about killing in the frontlines than actually doing it.)

Anyways, seems we're gonna have another mock battle, this time between two experienced squads, NAISU

Originally Posted by CaroRuLushe

I'll kill him even more if like that and looks at other girls. He may only do that to me but I'll still beat him for being like that. I think I'll kill him when he's sleeping.

*backs away slowly*

Very scary Caro here

Originally Posted by CaroRuLushe

Yup. And I kinda make my own avatars. just like moving them, changing the color ,and sometimes adding borders. I just the pics of people and edit them. thats it really.

Another shopper, nice. Need more of those around here

Originally Posted by CaroRuLushe

Also got a little bit on my character.

Spoiler for My character(preview):

I need a vote. Should be Caro or........ Add a new loli here?
Well heres a bit her if you want a new loli.(This is after StrikerS)
Miharu Ru Lushe
age: 12
Hair Color: Pink
Eyes: Blue
A little bit of her story(summary): Artificial mage. a Doctor (not scalatti or how ever you spell it)Saw Caro when she was young and thought she was the perfect child for him so he got her DNA(still thinking how he got it) And tried to make a copy and made "Miharu". Miharu lived with the Doctor for a year but he went crazy and killed himself. He told Miharu to look for her Onee-chan before he died. (he also gave the same powers to Miharu as Caro and made a clone of freid) Miharu been looking for her Onee-chan about year with her Dragon Creidche(k-rii-dche) also know as Reii(Rii). Now she wonders the streets with no food or money. She found a lab and hid there. She always saw scienctist walking around creating something intill the TSAB came to stop them but they wouldn't so they had to fight forcefully (And guess who went to shut them down?!) Caro!! Caro saw Miharu knocked out in the lab. Caro saved her to her to the hospital. And Miharu awakens...

Do you approve of this new loli? I'm thinking of the whole story thru and more detailed and maybe a new name for her. I drew a pic but my scanner is being dumb so if it works i'll show you how she'll look.* got new ideas and better*
*presses submit and runs away*

For a first attempt, it's forgivable at least. Nice way to dodge the Ion Canon by making it post Strikers Don't think a sister to Caro has been done before. Might want to look at Keroko's pieces for inspiration on how to flesh out this scenario more. Otherwise, has potential

Originally Posted by stormturmoil

Actually, I'd like a piece of that action...especially since it coincides very well with a profile update of mine to give David Brown a temporary Upgrade (ie Limit Break) By allowing the machines within to surface...

Like this: Mecha(Not Mine!)
(I would embed this but I don't know how (or can't get it to work, more like...)

Since early speculation included the idea that he might have been used as a basis for Early Einherjar development, it makes sense that he would be to them what Subaru and Ginga were to the Numbers...

And if it turned out that he couldn't turn them from their destructive path...

THAT is one impressive Limit Break mode there

APPROVED

Originally Posted by Tk3997

*begins mowing down Backlock with a machine gun starting with posts about him and moving on to new content.*

More or less it's about like a game of CS where two guys are left and one has a SAW and the other one has a scout...

Vita: ZOMG come outs you campin nub!!!
Felix: LOL nu-uh! Youz gots to find me, lolololol!!!

And worry not significant property damage will be accumulated before this is over make no mistake.

Oh nice analogy... though I find that it's actually quite easy to defeat a sniper in CS, provided you know how to take advantage of cover, timing, and speed And judicious use of grenades

Vita's gonna need a different set of tactics if she's gonna smash Felix's head in though

Originally Posted by Tk3997

Years of RTSes and RPGs have finely tuned my munchkin meter and given be a severe aversion to their kind as well. When I watch or read something I tend to form a rough "power level" that I think it should function at and then try to stick to that when writing or RPing about it. I also have some history in this sort of thing I used to and still do sometimes do what we call "story debates" on another board which is local slang for for forum role playing. Some of these are huge, easily the size of this thread and some of them have a half dozen threads with several thousands of posts each, most of those are "empire" debates though. (the person controls a state or group.) I tended toward the "character debates" where you have one guy or a small group.

These groups were often rather volatile to start (and later too) so arguments over power levels could become important and heated when they clashed. It was best to head it off at the pass and just try to keep the powers and such sane to begin with and you learned to spot Hax attempts (and common offenders... mumbles something about majestic and commandos.) pretty fast. All that is also why I found this thread a bit easier to slip into then some might, I've written dozens of character and ship profiles before, sometimes just for fun, it was something of a hobby acutally and one of my favorite parts of the entire process.

So yeah I guess experience combined with a sharp sense of what's "fair" has made me something of an anti-hax crusader that always tends toward the lower range of anything given settings power level and is prone to sniping at perceived abuse.

Whoops... rambling again.

So that's why you tick Well, I guess anybody with as much forum RP experience as you have would be most suitable to be H4XX moderator (I do know how hasslesome it would be when a forum RPer persistently defends his H4XX despite all the evidence and arguments against it ).

Originally Posted by Tk3997

Well neither is going to back down, in fact they're going to keep escalating so yeah it’s evolved from a violent spat into a full blown battle. They might stop if someone directly ordered them too, but needless to say no one’s going to realize it’s even happening until they acutally blow up part of the training grounds. But of course they'll be manly warrior bonding afterwards when they're both laid up... err wait that didn't come out right at all.

"Explosion!"

Wait, Vita put down the hammer! I didn't mean you were manly!

"Gigantform!"

*flees in terror*

"Manly Warrior Bonding"? Vita and Felix?

This I'm looking forward to very much

What?

Originally Posted by Reiji Tabibito

Poor Teana... she needs love! Everyone, we're creating a love interest for Teana!

Arcas: Reiji-san, you've already got a half dozen full profile chars to work on for LegendS, and they're not even half finished!

Reiji: But... Teana-chan needs love!

Boomer: Boss, Lanster's a Tsundere!

Reiji: <in full Yutaka Moe Mode> Tsundere's need love too!

Sevasti: Thank you for that wholly baseless rebuttal.

Reiji: She needs love!

82nd Guys: Mel, shut him up!

[Note: to see how Reiji was acting, look @ the Yui & Yutaka sequence of Lucky Star ep 14>

Tsunderes definitely need love... and there are many people willing to give it

Although finding a parter for Teana is gonna be a pain... Vice is a good candidate though

Originally Posted by Reiji Tabibito

Speaking of inspiration, here's a short scene from LegendS (Aaron008R, one of your chars makes a brief appearance):

Spoiler for LegendS Scene:

Earlton chuckled and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Very well. I can see you've made your choice."

The Morbid Joker smiled sadistically. "I'll make sure you regret it." He raised his hand and summoned a pair of Nimble Shields. Then, Earlton pointed Sutherland at the pair. "Destroy them!"

The drones flew at the former Rogues. Keroko and Arcas began blasting away with Blast Lancer and Fire Shooter, attempting to down them quickly so they could rejoin their friends.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"This is not looking good!" Arcas yelled over the comm.

"Keep shooting!" Keroko encouraged. "We may not be able to hold out forever, but we CAN give them one HUMONGOUS repair bill!"

So what have Keroko and Arcas gotten themselves into now?

Originally Posted by FlameSparkZ

I put this in the Assorted Humor thread, but I think this can be posted here too

My first 4koma!!

Spoiler for Break Liner:

That's pretty much what I imagined when I first read the description of Nove's IS

SSSSSTRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Master FlameSparkZ WINS again!!!

Originally Posted by Dream_Traveller

And to bring my character total up to fifty, followed by a rest in the creation department then focusing more on forming story segments (), here are appearance descriptions for a team I have dubbed simply as "Bravo Unit".

Spoiler for Bravo 1- Albert Sween:

Spoiler for Bravo 2- Lincoln Fontaine:

Spoiler for Bravo 3- Anjel Akula:

Spoiler for Bravo 4- Zachary Taylor:

Spoiler for Bravo 5- Leanne Rhodes:

These five will most likely appear in ShardS, or so...now, work to do...

@SparkZ: Heh! A most comic and good 4koma, I must say. You've come up with an intriguing way to convey Break Liner...indeed, 'tis like bowling, too...although how you attributed Nove's IS with that is beyond me.

Bravo 2 is... is... H4XXOR



No female's gonna be safe from him!!!

Originally Posted by Saint X

*sees Lowe spit drink for a second time*

Spoiler for HAXX:

WHAT HAXX HAVE YOU BROUGHT UPON THIS THREAD?!!
YOU HAVE JUST BROUGHT UPON OURSELVES A GINGATON OF... DON'T YOU KNOW THE DEATH TOLL IT WILL BRING UPON US?!! JUST IMAGINE THE BLOODSTAINS... ALL THOSE BLOODSTAINS!!!

*AHEM*

*runs*

[Khorne] Yeeeess.... BLOOD [/Khorne]

Originally Posted by Kha

@WH40K Pros: Do Landraider machine spirits have IS?

... Maybe

Wait a minute... the Numbers are cyborgs... does that mean they have Machine Spirits too?

Originally Posted by Kha

Do I see Negi? THE Negi Springfield? Looks like the other CCs and OCs will have to retune their "Anti Harem Shields" because Bravo 2 spares no one in a skirt.

Except maybe Jun-chan.

:nods:

[random]

Maybe Negi's GAR, WIN and AWESOME can transform Jun into a full-fledged woman out of sheer willpower

[/random]

Originally Posted by USB500

Reposted from fanfic thread, because some of us just don't have time to visit it.

=============

Finally, the grand finale.

Yes, everyone, this marks the end of our very own stage presentation that is Magical Girl Lyrical Cinderella. I am not sure if I should write another humor/parody Nanoha fanfic, because right now I have other stories to take care of (A's Combat being one of them).

Anyway, thanks for reading and following this story. Every piece of comments and feedback is very appreciated.

Until then.

*cue music of Trombe!*

WHAT?!?! IT ENDED ALREADY?!?!?!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

Still though, this chapter was made out of HOTBLOOD, WIN, AND MANLINESS *cries manly tears*

And Chrono Unlimited Ecchi Works FTW!!!!!!!!