Chapter Three: All In

[Purr]

Wild Cards - T.A.S.C. Team

The battle was moving fast. As Toph's Ajax whirled through the air and turned to open fire on the Zeki-Zentraedi, the lone Male Power Armor, noticing her distraction, turned his guns on her.

But Toph had Elinor as her squadmate.

Elinor aimed down the Valkyrie's computerized gunsight as surely as if it were her grandfather's Winchester. Leading the tricky target a bit, she loosed...

BRRRRRR!!

...and scored big!

With a deafening blast, Elinor's burst nailed the Male Power Armor straight on in the chest. Every round hit and hit well. A large smoke trail fumed from his side joining the smaller blasts made by the Red Baroness's head cannon. Unlike Toph's earlier score, this critical impact knocked the gigantic mech into a spin which the pilot quickly recovered from, but the damage was there. Both Elinor and the enemy pilot knew - he could not take another hit like that one.

Nor was he inclined to simply let it happen. Elinor saw his pistol arm come up - it was the same dangerous blaster that had badly holed Toph's Ajax in one hit. Elinor saw him zip about evasively and while doing so, he lined up a carefully aimed shot and loosed.

FAA-FAA-FAAAAM!

A red trio of searing plasma bolts scorched through the aerospace fighter bay and at Elinor's Valkyrie...

What does Elinor do?

 

[Purr]

Wild Cards - T.A.S.C. Team

Elinor let her enemy's arm do the talking. As he raised his weapon up, Elinor jinked hard and away, closing in her Valkyrie's limbs in Guardian mode attempting to make her magnificent mech the smallest target possible.

And it worked brilliantly.

The plasma blasts flew up and past her, striking one of the many large columns, and causing large steaming gouges of melting superstructure to ooze down the metal pillar.

 

[Purr]

Hercules dropped into a ready stance as the door exploded, weapon raised, but otherwise unstirred. His warrior instincts were fully aflame now and his rage was a banked fire waitingfor more fuel to return it to its blazing might. He issued a terse "Understood." to Mario's instructions, then returned his attention to monitoring the rest of the room. No more of those hellish beasts would be getting the drop on his team.

As the big Greek steadied his plasma cannon and covered Mario, Hercules felt a moment of deja vu come over him. There, in his mind's eye, not far ahead, was not Mario, but Tahel.

During Legend Squad's field training with small arms, the bold soldier had often taken point knowing her team had her back, Hercules especially. There was a moment like this one with the flash of flames and the smell of melted metal filled the air. An explosion nearby had caused the two teammates to drop prone. Then Tahel, with that spontaneous spirit of hers and realizing that Hercules had a fantastic view of her legs and rear, turned and flashed a naughty smile at him and remarked, "I know I can count on you. Your eyes are never far from me, are they?"

Without waiting for an answer, Tahel the animal smiled mischievously and bolted forward back into the fray. But that look in her eyes and the expression she had given him was more than a teasing moment between friends - it was then that Hercules knew he had earned Tahel's full trust.

It was an honor only a scant few men possessed.

Meanwhile, above and behind Hercules and MechaKitten, Spaceman Sam stood looking upward into the giant screens and their alien gibberish. Then he began jumping on the buttons again in search for the unknown.

Mario calls out to Hercules. "Its the ladies! They are in the middle of a furball in the next room!" Using his radio on the squad channel, he signals, "Wild Cards air team. Be advised that I have eyes on you from the next room over, through the hole in the door, and Hercules is not far behind me. I'd offer a hand, but when faced with a metric shit-ton of Zentraedi, my little pop gun will only draw attention to me, and I can't last long in a fire fight of that magnitude."

Mario could easily see the great plasma shots intended for Elinor burning into the column, shots that made holes the size of Mario. Now more than ever, he and his fellow A.T.A.C. tanker needed the tanks.

But for all of his fantastic panorama of the chaotic battle in the aerospace hangar, he saw no tanks.

Mario's call over the squadron radio got a response. It was Shirley. She sounded frosty and very busy. Fighter pilots were known for their cool inside the cockpit. After all, flying in a supersonic aircraft made of superstructure in combat, trying not to fly into anything else while exchanging mega-damage fire with giant enemies was the last place you wanted to lose your cool. For the loss that followed that would be far more precious.

"Cygnus One copies all, ground team. Keep your heads down." A moment later, Mario and Hercules heard her ask almost casually, "Hey, you beach bums know where those tanks are being kept yet?"

 

[Sherwood]

Mario grinds his teeth in frustration. The members of his team are getting shot at, and he is just standing there with his crank in his hand being useless. He has this awesome Traversing power, but his head was hurting too much to be able to try it. But there is Hercules. He might be able to get the location of the tanks from the computer. "Negative, Cygnus One. We are still on the hunt. Wait one." Turning to look at his fellow tanker, he calls out, "Hey Herc! Try your hand at that computer! Either work with Sam to ask some questions on that terminal, or try using your Traversing power to get the location of our rides out of here!"

 

[Purr]

Taniya's Power Armor, laden down as it was with five Zeki-Zentraedi warriors grabbing onto it could not do as Muppet requested. Able to tear apart mecha with their bare hands, the physical of the Zentraedi was legendary and if the Queadlunn-Rau could have suddenly boosted out of this, it likely already would have. The struggling, thrusting Queadlunn-Rau went nowhere.

The group of Zeki-Zentraedi now clambered all around and over the mechanically-moving Queadlunn-Rau. Every limb of the mech was held by pulling, wrestling male Zentraedi. There was no way out.

They roared in triumph and shouted insults. The largest of the bunch, the one Taniya's two-handed sword had been hurled at, avoided the mech's deadly twin grenade launchers on its chest and bound up on top of the vehicle where the entry hatch lay sealed.

Now it was his turn to laugh. "HA HA HA!!" With monstrous strength, he tore into the hatch with his bare hands and began fiercely wresting it open eager to kill the opponent inside as slowly and humiliatingly as possible.

* * *​

Shirley saw enough of this to know what was happening. Still, she felt helpless to do anything about it. The Californian fighter pilot shook her curly black hair while a dozen thoughts tried to run through her head at once. How could she get to Mario and Hercules as quickly as possible before they were discovered? How long was their luck going to hold out in a gigantic alien vessel that likely held far more of these strange, new Zentraedi then she wanted to think about? Where in the hell were the Veritech Hover Tanks General Steele wanted so badly? Should they even risk their lives further or get out before she was blown out of the sky? Or worse, someone else?

Despite her mega-suit's internal climate control, Shirley's blood was hot. Feeling the sweat come down into her burning blue eyes, the surfer-become-military officer knew she dared not reach up a hand to take her helmet off to clear her brow. Instead, she steeled herself and focused on her team.

That Male Power Armor was doing his damndest to kill the airborne Wild Cards which seemed only fair given what Shirley's team had done to this alien pilot's teammates. To further help send him to wherever his fellow pilots went, Shirley targeted him with her GU-11 and loosed another burst.

BRRRRRRT!

And scored!

Strafing the Male Power Armor along the chest produced yet another trail of fuming smoke. The mech was nearly done for and the pilot seemed to be doing everything in his power to fly and fight.

It became Toph's turn once again. What does she do?

 

[Psychie]

Toph sees the crowd piling on the Female Powered Armor and briefly considers making a snarky comment about how good of a warrior Taniya is, getting pulled down by simple foot soldiers. Instead, she targets the crowd of soldiers with another spray of Fragmentary mini-missiles. This time, she fires off eight of the little warheads, knowing that the armor of Taniya will probably take some damage, but it will hold out under the effects of the missiles.

 

[Purr]

Wild Cards - T.A.S.C. Team

It was a rookie mistake, but Toph made it.

While flying her Ajax in battloid mode, knowing there was a hostile Male Power Armor on her team, she tried to both perform a swift and evasive action while focusing on her carefully-timed missile shot. So, she kept her giant mecha speeding leftward while kept her Ajax aimed directly on her target.

So she never saw it coming...

BAMMM!

Toph's Ajax struck something hard, very hard, at high speed. Her mecha was scraped up again, but undamaged from the collision, but the same could not be said for fighter pilot Toph. Without warning, Muppet felt like she was tossed about inside her armored cockpit like a pair of six-sided die inside a die roller at a craps table. Her mega-suit saved her from serious bruising, but the side of her head slammed into the inside her mega-damage cockpit.

There the half-human was, in a state-of-the-art Ajax veritech that she was told to destroy rather than lose, and through the sudden grogginess, all she could see was a field of stars. It was scary. It was like she had caught a perfectly-timed punch to the jaw during Jeet Kune Do training.

Toph's body could not make sense of what had gone wrong; Toph had no idea if she had been hit or what had happened. All she knew was she was in a world of utter chaos, like being two inches tall and rolled around in a clothes dryer for all the coherency she had. She could not even hear Shirley barking at her for a status update.

Shirley had seen it. "Cygnus Two! Do you read? Come in, Muppet!"

Outside, Elinor had witnessed it too. She saw Toph's smoking Ajax go flying sideways right into the column and bounce off like a speeding racquetball hurled hard against a wall. There was no way Toph would recover quickly from a bang like that. The battloid was now falling. It had about 600 feet to go, a non-lethal drop as, given the circumstances, her veritech would protect her, but after a jolt like that, A.S.C. test pilot Elinor was willing to bet her favorite pair of jeans that Toph's bell had just been rung like a triangle dinner bell.

Spoiler: Toph's brain right now

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Toph, she had clenched her hands at the moment of impact with the pillar. One of those hands was, at that moment, on the fire control trigger for her volley of 8 fragmentation mini-missiles. Those deadly projectiles flew out of the Ajax and blew out a large row of ceiling lights and damaged another row, further shrouding the Zentraedi/Meltrandi melee into sputtering, chaotic bursts of light and darkness. The lighting now was reminiscent of a discotech with no one knowing quite what was going on.

It was again Elinor's turn to act. What does she do?

 

[Sherwood]

Mario winces as he watches the Ajax slam into the support pylon, knocking her senseless for a time. "Shit! We need to get in there, but without our own mecha, we'll be blasted to bits! Damnit, we need those tanks! Herc, get busy and locate those tanks on the computer!"

 

[Kaerri]

"Oh, damn," Elinor whispered, seeing her squadmate eat column. Again, however, the best thing she could do for her friend was take out any incoming hostiles. And so she kept her Valkyrie targeted on the somehow-still-flying Male Power Armor and let loose one more volley. "Fox Five," she called out coolly over the squad channel, and prepared to dodge any last-ditch efforts of her enemy to take her out - or, if he too had seen Toph's bell get rung, to defend her squadmate as best she could.

 

[Captain Hesperus]

Hercules listened to the comms chatter until he heard Mario call him. Traverse the computer to find the missing VHTs?
"Understood.", the big Greek replied, before kicking his jump pack into life and boosting up onto the console. He landed next to 'Sam' and spoke tersely, "I'm going to try to interrogate the computer. Keep overwatch, because I won't be fully aware of our surroundings during that time."
That said, he carefully placed the plasma caster down and placed his hands on the computer. From Mario's previous interactions, it appeared that the consoles were networked, such that another user was responding to his written requests. If he was to commune with the computer directly, a different approach was needed. Hercules settled himself, he stilled his body and focussed his mind. With a titanic effort of will, he compartmentalized the gruesome death he'd just witnessed of a fellow warrior and friend and hemade himself as emotionless as he could. With his mind's eye, he reached out, searching, seeking. He formed a request and sent it into the computer.
"INFORMATION REQUEST: LOCATION OF CAPTURED MICRONIAN MECHA AND NUMBER OF CURRENT ZEKI-ZENTRAEDI GUARDS AT THAT LOCATION."

 

[Psychie]

Toph lets out a groan as she fumbles for the radio switch. "Who the hell put that pylon there? Fuck, my head hurts! Don' think that there's anything broken, but I'm flirting with a concussion." She blinks her eyes, trying to clear her vision from the blur she is now seeing (or not seeing, as the case may be). "Ungh! Oh, man. I don't feel good."

 

[Purr]

Note to everyone: Another 2,000+ word post! Get your refreshments ready, relax, and enjoy this three-parter! =)

Wild Cards - All. =)

He landed next to 'Sam' and spoke tersely, "I'm going to try to interrogate the computer. Keep overwatch, because I won't be fully aware of our surroundings during that time."

That said, he carefully placed the plasma caster down and placed his hands on the computer.

When Hercules jump jetted up to the Zeki-Zentraedi console and delivered his orders, Spaceman Sam acted. First, he stood at attention and delivered a smooth, textbook salute to the A.T.A.C. corporal. Then he dropped into the same wide-legged stance Mario and Herc used for that weapon. Once there, he carefully and properly lifted the plasma cannon to his hip. His vigilant overwatch began down the hall where Mario had gone and continued to what few entry points there were. He clearly took the duty seriously as his head and the cannon's barrel moved together as if one.

All in all, Sam now looked more like an automated sentry turret than a person inside a strange, shiny-helmeted, space suit.

With a titanic effort of will, he compartmentalized the gruesome death he'd just witnessed of a fellow warrior and friend and hemade himself as emotionless as he could. With his mind's eye, he reached out, searching, seeking. He formed a request and sent it into the computer.
"INFORMATION REQUEST: LOCATION OF CAPTURED MICRONIAN MECHA AND NUMBER OF CURRENT ZEKI-ZENTRAEDI GUARDS AT THAT LOCATION."

At first, nothing happened. Nothing at all. Herc felt nothing and received nothing. That is, until a small little feline crawled down his thick forearm and tugged at his mega-suit's gloves. "Mroooowr!" MechaKitten peeped in concern.

Inside Hercules's mind, these words did appear.

Feeesh-friend! You doing it wrong! You haz to touch wif your paws! No metal! Just paws!*

*

Spoiler: Game Master note to Cap'n

Feel free to call me nitpicky (or whatever adjective you like), but while it could be implied, there is no specific mention of Hercules removing his armored gloves and touching the console with his bare hands. Hence, MechaKitten's intervention. =)

Out of respect for everyone's game-time, I'm just going to say Hercules removes his gauntlets and touches the console. Whether Herc also gives dat kitten head-scratchies or a belly rub is up to you. =)

Spoiler: Scene Music

"I, Robot" by the Alan Parsons Project. This is a favorite of mine, one I like listening to on headphones because there is so much going on. Listening to this takes my imagination places. Hope it does the same for you. =)

With the cold superstructure at his bare fingertips, Hercules tried again. It felt odd. In the human world, a man as large as Hercules usually dwarfed over everything and everyone around him, yet since the Wild Cards' entry into the enormous and mysterious alien vessel, he had every reason to feel he was playing the role of the mouse in the mansion. This was especially true here as he touched but two keys of the entire console. Since the tanker could not read Zentraedi, he had no idea what those keys read, nor could he comprehend the titanic screens that loomed over the three of them. It would have unnerved lesser men.

This was Hercules's first time attempting Traversing since he had heard the term. All he had was the experience of watching his fellows use it and the bits of advice from their pre-mission briefing in Booty's Bunker. Still, Hercules's breathing slowed and deepened as he focused himself on communicating with... a machine.

Somehow.

Hercules placed his emotions away as best as a big-hearted, passionate Greek man-with-a-mission could. This took considerable effort as placing his feelings away as if into some closet was not only a natural act, but not something he was used to doing. Having Hitomi or Professor Stein present, he knew, would have been a big help, but such things were only wishes. So he did his best.

As Hercules prepared his mind and placed his request, he immediately felt as if he were thinking only to himself. But soon, he felt a pull of sorts, from those very feelings he was attempting to temporarily lock out. His trance deepened and his earthly senses seemed to fall away, but somewhere out in the black ocean of consciousness, something was there. It was just a matter of getting to it.

To the hearty islander, it was like standing on a shore looking out across a vast body of water during a moonless night. He knew there was something besides water out there, but it could not come to him. So, his only option was to "enter the water" and "swim" out to it.

But it was so very far out there. Beyond the reach of his sight. And yet, it was unmistakably there and not a figment of his imagination. It was in that moment that Hercules began to realize that his tremendous heart and will would not be so much challenged by his locking away of distracting feelings of personal loss or worry, but instead, he would require every ounce of himself to reach the thing he so desperately needed to contact.

The only alternative seemed to be to break contact and search the entire ship, room to room, fighting these odd Zentraedi and their damned Wargoths every step of the way. It was a sure path to Hades's own realm.

So Hercules reached out to whatever it was he was sensing. He reached and reached. He felt himself traveling away from his point of origin, yet he did not know quite what that was either. Was it his mind? His body? What precisely was he reaching out with? His consciousness? His very soul?

He traveled without muscular effort of any kind, yet all this concentration and force of will seemed to require muscles of a different kind. Hercules was a man of both great spirit and great body in part because he had exercised and challenged both his spirit and body regularly. This aided him now.

It was only through this perspective did he soon understood that his ability to reach out was not infinite. Far from it. It did not take long before Hercules began to sense the testing of his mental limits. And yet, failure was not an option. Like taking a long swim to a destination unknown with time against him, Hercules sensed that this effort required technique of sorts. He comprehended that failure was indeed a possibility if he chose wrongly though success could also become reality.

Would he race out to his destination with all of his will and mental might knowing time was of the essence? Would he take it easy and "swim" easily being as kind to his psychic stamina as he could at the cost of time? Or was there another approach he preferred?

The question came to Hercules and only he could answer it - by what method did Hercules try to reach his unseen destination?

* * *​

Spoiler: Scene Music

This one's for that Georgia farm-girl-turned-test-pilot. Dig these lyrics. =)
"Whoop a Man's Ass" by Trace Adkins.

Elinor tried to line up the smoking Zentraedi power armor in her GU-11's sights. This was the bandit that outfoxed her and lit her Valkyrie up and threatened her teammates in a big way. This was the son of a gun who had cost her fellow flygirls time and opportunity to aid Taniya. This was the sole jerk who was largely between her and her tanker squadmates there somewhere below her hiding on the ground as they lacked mecha to do battle with.

Sure, he had luck. Sure, he had skill. Elinor was new to the battlefield and even newer to these opponents, but you can't keep a good hard-working, Georgia-born girl down for long. She squeezed the trigger. Her mecha's rotary cannon responded.

BRRRRRRT!

BUH-WHOOOM!!

And Elinor scored the kill! Fire and blood burst from the humongous alien machine as it finally toppled out of the sky, struck the floor of the aerospace fighter bay, and rolled flaming to a motionless stop.

"Far out!" Mack slapped her thigh. "Nice kill, cowgirl!"

Best of all, Elinor knew that her gun cameras had captured the confirmed kill. If all went well, they would see it again in their post-flight meeting after the mission. As for the alien "bandit," his extremely good luck during his three-on-one encounter had run out at last.

* * *​

Spoiler: Scene music

"Nighttime Journey Through the Eiglophian Mountains" by Helene Boksle for the Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. Because it is terribly fitting. =)

But the effort to kill that lone pilot had cost the lady Wild Cards the one thing they needed - time. Turning, they saw a sorry sight - the throng of taunting, grinning Zeki-Zentraedi was now holding, tearing, and smashing that lone, helpless Queadlunn-Rau.

Even the wounded among them were trying to get their licks in on that Meltrandi armor. But it was their leader, mounted atop the armor, and ripping the entry hatch who appeared to be the lustiest and angriest of them all. With a great heave, the hatch on the top of Female Power Armor tore free. He slung it aside like so much garbage, and grinning like a tyrant, he reached inside for the pilot...

...and what happened next happened all too quickly.

Looking down inside the cockpit, he saw something only he could see. His expression immediately changed from glorious victory to one of pure and sudden terror.

"AAAAGH! NOOOO!!"

His fellows looked up at him in a wave of shock and confusion that soon engulfed the entire group. They could not fathom the cause of that horrified glare.

Then without warning, the Queadlunn-Rau acted with a swiftness possessed only by Meltrandi machinery. Simultaneously, all of the great missile housings on the shoulder and hips unsheathed, revealing dozens of ports, each capable of delivering deadly short range missiles by the volley. Such was the fear-inducing reputation of the Queadlunn-Rau in that it could kill many a mecha all by itself...

...or a large group of Zeki-Zentraedi soldiers in melee with it.

Mack saw the look on the leader's face Shirley's beautiful voice screamed to her squadmates. "Get back! Get back!!"

It was at that horrible moment that nearly all in the Zeki-Zentraedi horde caught on to the true reason behind their commander's horror. There, under a mountain of male enemy flesh and armor, the Queadlunn-Rau loosed one final time. With the firing of miniature engines that sounded like a thousand souls shrieking, every missile remaining in its considerable arsenal armed, fired, and exploded at point-blank range.

The great clamor of male aliens moved to escape it was far, far too late. The the blast of all of those missiles caught and detonated the great fortified crates of aerospace munitions the Zentraedi had been fighting beside. Like one grand, blossoming flower, the entire horde was engulfed up into a giant pillar of apocalyptic fire.

KA-WHROOM!!

The explosion was so massive and forceful, even Toph in her dazed state somehow knew what had happened. The blast caused the half-Meltrandi's smoking Ajax to tumble down and skid across the bay like a child's toy kicked across a kitchen floor. Toph's daze became a blessing of sorts as she did not fully fathom her situation.

Elinor's Valkyrie was blown backward. For terrifying moments, the Georgian test-pilot felt as helpless as a mosquito in a hurricane.

Shirley tried to make for a pillar to use as cover but she was too late. The blast swatted her Red Baroness aside as if her Valkyrie weighed ounces instead of tons. She spun out of control as crazily as Elinor.

All this, Mario saw from behind his cover. The explosion filled his view just as much as the blast that destroyed the armored Zentraedi platoon during his battle on Interstate 10. But it was that moment that his military education saved his very life.

The Weapons Engineer and Armorer inside the young Italian knew that a wall of sheer force was also coming from the gigantic explosion, and the real killer behind most explosive devices, was quickly coming right at him. He was forced to flatten for cover behind the remnants of the huge and mangled blast door he had been hiding behind. He was hunkered down for a span of less than two heartbeats when that tremendous wave of force, the same that had sent his female companions and their mecha flying, struck his cover and blew every loose piece of debris all over the place.

When Mario finally looked up, the bay looked very different.

As the smoke lessened, a full sixth of the aerospace fighter bay was completely destroyed. The rest of the bay was damaged. Sputtering lights continued to flicker on and off. Small fires were everywhere. Alarms, those that still existed, still blared with their noisy ruckus. An entire support column was missing. Small, human-sized machines burst from the pillars of various shapes raced to contain the fire and control the damage with strange orange foam. Still in their launching pads, two Gnerl fighters lay roasting on their sides with black smoke twisting up into the air above them.

One by one, Mario spotted the T.A.S.C. Wild Cards.

Hearts pounding and blood racing, the lady Wild Cards regained control of their mecha. Toph slowly came out of her daze hundreds of feet away from where she first struck the flight deck. Elinor and Shirley had wound up safely on the hangar bay floor with only their terrific piloting skills to give credit to. Deep in his trance and away from that danger in another room, Hercules had hardly heard a thing and was thus undisturbed.

It seemed to the squadron that they were the only creatures left alive.

Of the Zeki-Zentraedi in the enormous hangar bay, there was no sign...

...nor was there any sign of proud War-Queen Taniya of the Ura-Meltrandi.

Spoiler: Game Master Note for all

Combat has ended. We now move to out-of-combat roleplay.

 

[Sherwood]

Mario shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts after seeing such an explosion and quickly decides not to shake his head again any time soon. He stands and looks for a long moment into the devastation of the hangar bay in shock, the image of Booty's last act still fresh in his mind. One by one, he spots the mecha of the three ladies as they were blown around the room. Keying his radio, the burly Italian calls out, "Wild Cards! This is Corporal Zuko. Please respond!"

 

[Psychie]

Toph lets out a groan of pain as the shockwave hits her mecha, shaking her around inside the cockpit. Finally, the wave of pain and nausea passes and the young pilot can take stock of her condition and that of her Ajax. Double vision is starting to fade; perhaps it is not a concussion after all. She reaches up and takes off her helmet and wipes away a trickle of blood coming out of her nose. "Damn. Not your best day of flying, girl. Stupid head, running into a pylon. Oh, man my head hurts."

With her own aches and pains accounted for, Toph runs a quick check on the Ajax, making sure her bird is flight and fight capable. With no enemies in sight, slips her helmet back on and seals it tight. "This is Muppet in Cygnus Two. What is everyone's status? Anyone in need of my medical bag? Cygnus Lead and Cygnus Three? Mario and Hercules? You guys ok?"

 

[Purr]

Toph's check of her Ajax did not show enough. There was only so much the onboard computers could tell her; she needed to see the outside of the vehicle to be certain, but she knew the new-ish veritech took one hell of a shot to the body - a shot that was still smoking a trail of blackness into the air. That was, until suddenly, one of the strange robots flying about blasted her Ajax.

Psssshhhhhhht!

Then it dutifully moved onto the next blaze. Looking outside of her cockpit, Toph no longer saw the smoke, but instead a pile of what looked like bright pinkish-red whipped cream all over the left side of her machine.

* * *​

Shirley grunted and opened her blue eyes. She was still breathing and that was a plus. From inside her mega-suit, she took a deep breath and waited for signs of bodily pain to send their signals. There were none. One digit and limb at a time, she tested her fingers, hands, arms, feet, legs, torso, and finally head. Just a few bumps and bruises; nothing she hadn't earned from her own notorious bad luck when she wasn't singing or flying.

Then she looked outside the dirty glass of the Red Baroness. She was in battloid mode. Shirley did not remember transforming, but then she saw how her humanoid veritech was flat prone against the hangar floor, taking cove using burning wreckage, her trusty GU-11 rotary cannon held tight in both the Valkyrie's hands. She had no idea how she had gotten there, but she had.

She could hear Mario and Toph over the squadron channel. They sounded worried. Time to respond.

At first, she could only speak in surfer slang. "Talk about one crazy barrel to ride... Mario? Toph? I'm in one piece and breathing. Give a girl a status update, would ya?"

Then Shirley turned her head and saw something odd on the floor not far away. It was the two-handed hilt of a sword. Taniya's sword, she somehow knew. She looked back to where the horde was all over her Queadlunn-Rau. There was nothing there but blackened superstructure and flames.

"Ohhhh, dear Lord," she put her hand over her mouth despite her helmet. Then her voice took on a worried tone of its own. "Elinor? Herc? Talk to me."

 

[Sherwood]

Mario lets out a sigh of relief. "Ma'am? Hercules is currently trying to Traverse the computer in here, looking for the location of our missing tanks, so he probably is not in a position to respond to you. Personally, I have a massive headache that I think is due to many times using the power of my own, but other than that, I am up and ready to roll as needed. But, if we ever have to go out into the field like this again, I definitely want a supply of Tylinol to keep my head from feeling like it is about to split open."

 

[Purr]

There, laying motionless in her cockpit, Shirley sounded relieved. "Good to hear your voice, fella. That headache. You overdo it or something? What did you learn?"

As for Tylenol, see Doc Toph for your head. That is, when she's ready..." Her gaze rested on the alien sword handle once more. "We... lost a potential ally. A Meltrandi ally, but not one of Commander Lisara's." Shirley knew Mario would know Commander Breetai's Meltrandi counterpart by name.

 

[Psychie]

Toph nods. "You got it. My rig is showing only the one hit that I took from the Male Powered Armor, and I apparently had a bit of fire on the exterior that one of the firefighting drones just put out. All of my remaining ordnance is showing green; here is a current list of what I have left in the way of missiles." She lets her fingers dance over the controls to send a quick text to Mack showing her current loadout. "As far as I can tell, I am ready to fight. There is nothing that I can see that shows me any different." She shifts her attention to the last signal from Mario. "Copy your last, Corporal. Give me a moment, and I can help out your headache." Once more, she directs her attention to Mack. "Boss? I'm not so sure that we did lose her. I have a feeling that she wasn't inside that suit when it went off. I could be completely wrong, but just think about it. Even with the best sensors we have at our disposal, we could never detect Taniya at all. She knows about Traversing, and might have the ability to control her mecha from a distance. We have only scratched the surface of what we can do with that power, after all. Unit One has told us that she likes to take on entire ships by herself, so I am thinking that we have not seen the last of her. Finally, permission to go and retrieve Mario and stand guard over Hercules? It sounds like the two of us both could use a shot of something to take away some pain, so long as I can still fly."

 

[Kaerri]

Elinor Hall, call sign "Bruce Leanne"

And Elinor scored the kill! Fire and blood burst from the humongous alien machine as it finally toppled out of the sky, struck the floor of the aerospace fighter bay, and rolled flaming to a motionless stop.

"Far out!" Mack slapped her thigh. "Nice kill, cowgirl!"

Best of all, Elinor knew that her gun cameras had captured the confirmed kill. If all went well, they would see it again in their post-flight meeting after the mission. As for the alien "bandit," his extremely good luck during his three-on-one encounter had run out at last.

"Oh yeah!" Elinor's voice was triumphant over the squad channel. One hand came up in a celebratory fist-pump before quickly returning to the Valkyrie's controls.

Spoiler: Fist pump pic. Because Data is funny.

Elinor's Valkyrie was blown backward. For terrifying moments, the Georgian test-pilot felt as helpless as a mosquito in a hurricane.
....
Elinor and Shirley had wound up safely on the hangar bay floor with only their terrific piloting skills to give credit to.

Celebration had quickly turned to apprehension, which quickly turned to... not a hell of a lot, until Elinor was sure which way was "up" again. Directional variations settled, she turned her attention to her mecha's status, which seemed to be better than it had any right to be after an explosion like that. Next on the list was her squad.

Then her voice took on a worried tone of its own. "Elinor? Herc? Talk to me."

Elinor made sure her own voice was calm as she replied, "Here, ma'am. I'm fine, just a bit shook up and that's settling. What's our next step? Sit tight 'til the boys find their tanks and we go liberate 'em?"

 

[Purr]

(Game Master note: Semi-long post here. Enjoy!)

Shirley came over the squadron channel as she brought the Red Baroness to standing position in battloid. "Yeah, let's get our guys!" Shirley led the T.A.S.C. Wild Cards directly to them. "Listen up, Mario! You come bring your tanky buns into Toph's bird right this minute! Darned if I'm letting you or Herc outta my sight again until this mission is over! Toph? Give me an update soon as you have one."

However, your mecha had only proceeded a short distance in their direction when...

"Boss? I'm not so sure that we did lose her. I have a feeling that she wasn't inside that suit when it went off. I could be completely wrong, but just think about it. Even with the best sensors we have at our disposal, we could never detect Taniya at all. She knows about Traversing, and might have the ability to control her mecha from a distance. We have only scratched the surface of what we can do with that power, after all. Unit One has told us that she likes to take on entire ships by herself, so I am thinking that we have not seen the last of her.

Incredulous, Shirley turned her head towards Toph's Ajax. "Wha? Muppet, how in the heck can she control mecha without being in it? Even the Prof' had to put his hands on the tank when he changed it."

Then, gently, unobtrusively, came a series of letters across the minds of Toph, Elinor, and Shirley. It was Unit One, or Iris, if one preferred her name. The stealthy Hunter Killer was not in sight of any of the Wild Cards, but that did not seem to matter to the intelligent insectoid. Something about her words indicated real curiosity.

Query: Leader Mack? Are not machines in your species' timeline and technology capable of remote control?

Shirley straightened in her chair. "Remote control?! In something the size of a mech?! You gotta be kiddin' me!"

This One is not attempting humor, Leader Mack. Especially now that This One has seen your success in battle! Congratulations! You have survived a battle with the Zeki-Zentraedi! The Maelstrom continues!

Iris continued. Toph Kirin. You have demonstrated unusual perceptiveness in your deductions while our Zeki-Zentraedi enemies never suspected until doom was upon them!

"Indeed she has..." came a confident female voice from above. Red eyes rose from behind the smoke and sputtering lights. A cheshire grin filled with satisfaction joined it. And down from the broken pillar, still wearing nothing but what appeared to be a now-battered black flight suit, came War-queen Taniya of the Ura-Meltrandi. She strolled among what flaming bits of enemy corpses there were. The carnage did not seem to bother her one bit. With a casual manner, she stepped to her sword and nodding in respect, she lifted the instrument of many a foe's demise. She stood there, admiring it, still smiling.

"Forty-eight... Forty-nine... Fifty! A fine day!"

Iris communicated. Alert! Intrepid War-queen, we have located both surviving Traverser males!

Without taking her eyes off of Toph, Taniya waved. "Have them join us."

At once!

Mario, despite his alertness and combat-readiness, had understandably kept his focus on the flying missiles, plasma blasts, and exploding Zeki-Zentraedi, as any soldier in his right mind should. So the young tanker never knew what hit him.

Suddenly, inside Mario's mind, something joined him easily and without invitation. These sensations, along with his bothersome headache and all the other sensory stimuli in his surroundings, were so momentarily overwhelming, the young fellow did not see the red-carapaced, green-eyed, mega-damage praying mantis about the size of a horse, crawling along the wall right above his head.

An odd buzzing sound entered Mario's senses, one he was certain he had never heard before even with his extensive communications education. It seemed to be coming from everywhere at once, but it was gentle, almost like a heavy breeze sighing.

Then, in his mind's eye, the impossible happened. He saw letters arranging and attempting to form.

eqcopppp znneqqttva apkaat

The buzzing quieted as these letters filled Mario's attention.

tvvoo oikoisss ss

Mario could sense that the outside source was not attempting to harm him. There was something gentle, like soft fingers, massaging something inside of his damaged head. It was a strange feeling but not unwelcome, at least from his body's standpoint. As a result, Mario's headache was slowly, dreamily beginning to fade before its time. It was in that moment that Mario made sense out of the words he saw.

And in that single moment, Mario's personal universe could only expand to new horizons... He read the following:

Success! Communication established! Language: Earth, American-English.

Greetings, male human! Please relax. This One means you no harm. You are in righteous pincers.

Direct connection ordered per War-queen. Consensus formed! Movement in motion...
Binary Nexus 01 merged.
Binary Nexus 02 merged.
Binary Nexus 03 merged.
Binary Nexus 04 merged.
Binary Nexus 05 merged.
Binary Nexus 06 --- failure!
All paths save last open. Polyphonic Nexus established in 5 of 6 routes!
Query: War-queen? One of the males is unresponsive, but conscious. Why is this so?

"What is he doing?" All of the Wild Cards save Hercules could hear the Meltrandi veteran despite the crackling flames and few broken alarms attempting to wail. A moment later, Taniya nodded. "Ah. Ever-loyal one, he is in his trance. You will not reach his mind while he is Traversing. Try him again when he comes to."

As you desire, savior of my people!

Taniya glanced at Toph, those deadly red eyes following Toph's damaged Ajax as if it were a live target. This time, her tone carried no sarcasm, no taunting. Well, perhaps a little. "So, half-breed. Is it my battlefield yet? You are perceptive but that alone does not a killer make. Tell me... this was your first true kill, was it not? How did it feel to slay your first foe in life or death combat?"

It was an odd thing, to be sure - all of the Wild Cards save Hercules could either hear with their ears, the squadron channel and Taniya's voice, or just by mildly concentrating, see the words appearing in their minds courtesy of Iris.

 

[Psychie]

Toph nodded to herself in satisfaction. I knew it! Taniya was able to control her mecha by some remote system, or by being able to Traverse it from a distance. "Impressive ruse. Very effective, although I am sorry that I was not able to save your Powered Armor from destruction. But, I have the feeling that you don't really need that to be a lethal force on the battlefield."

Taniya glanced at Toph, those deadly red eyes following Toph's damaged Ajax as if it were a live target. This time, her tone carried no sarcasm, no taunting. Well, perhaps a little. "So, half-breed. Is it my battlefield yet? You are perceptive but that alone does not a killer make. Tell me... this was your first true kill, was it not? How did it feel to slay your first foe in life or death combat?"

Thinking very carefully about her response, Toph says, "As a doctor, there are times that I had to cut into healthy tissue in order to save the life of my patient. I never take any joy in the cutting; it was a necessary task. As with combat, I took no pleasure in having to end the life of the Zentraedi soldier, but it had to be done to save others." She looks at Taniya, her chin up in defiance. Let her take that and chew on it.

 

[Purr]

"All Meltrandi-blooded are lethal forces. Each of us, a battlefield. It is what we are. It is what we were always meant to be. All except you, it seems."

Taniya ignored Toph's defiance as though she were less than a threat. She had nothing to fear from Toph and she knew it. She shook her head.

It was clear to the blue-haired Meltrandi that Toph would not take a life unless she absolutely had to. To the War-queen, this was the reason most of humanity was now cold and dead, their world, one sorry graveyard.

"Spoken like a true human." Taniya sounded sad and serious, without any hint of insult. "Your mother never taught you what it meant to have the heart of a warrior and so you live a life of prideful ignorance. Even the death of your very first kill brings you no joy. Better that you had no Meltrandi blood in you at all."

"Teach me something, human. Instead of a warrior, you refer to yourself as a 'doctor.' This is an organic being that repairs other organic beings, correct? Instead of replacing him, you offered to repair your broken male's aching head, yes?"

As she spoke, she made her way to a computer console, her lithe body moving with the grace of a leopard. Once there, she began tapping keys.

As she did so, she took one very long look at Elinor. The farm girl found herself under the scrutiny of those blood-red eyes.

 

[Purr]

Spoiler: Game Master note for all

If, by chance, you read the above post a few minutes after I sent it, I have since edited it with an additional Elinor-related paragraph. Enjoy!

Also, I forgot to add this little scene for Sherwood. Hope you like it! =)

Spoiler: Scene music

"Pets" by Porno for Pyros. I don't know why, but I can't seem to get this light-hearted music out of my head when I'm writing the scene. =)

Mario came out of his daze just as quickly as he went into it. However, no amount of combat training or life experience could have prepared him for what he saw when he opened his eyes.

Spoiler

This. Exactly this except add a bulbous mass on its lower back that seems to be part of its body.

(Image credit: Davesrightmind - DeviantArt)

The creature was like something out of a sci-fi movie, wholly alien and completely mysterious. Mario recognized a hard carapace as tough as any mega-suit, probably tougher.

Dangerous-looking pincers, as long as Mario was tall, remained closed and close to the creatures' body. It stood directly in front of him. How it had appeared there, he did not know.

But it was now within melee distance of him.

It was completely silent, watching him curiously, with grass-green eyes that could only be otherwise described as pretty and peaceful. Once it was clear that Mario was out of his daze, he found himself gazing up at the creatures' face.

The creature tilted its head and winked in girlish greeting. And right then, something masculine in Mario knew - without a shadow of a doubt - this creature was female and she was the one communicating inside of his head.

What does Mario do?

 

[Sherwood]

Mario can feel himself breaking out in a cold sweat at the sight of the alien bug in front of him. He never really had any paranoia about insects before, but this one is big enough to bite his friggin head off with one chomp! The only thing that kept him from raising his rifle and firing a spray of laser fire at it is the fact that if it were going to attack him, it would have already.

Doing his best to keep his voice calm, he radios out, "Um, guys? I hate to be overly dramatic, but what the fuck is this bug-thing here, and how is it talking inside my head?!"

 

[Psychie]

The words from Taniya give Toph an almost physical reaction, just like getting a slap in the face. A smoldering dislike for this woman blooms in her. What a bitch! How dare she judge me, just because I don't take pleasure in killing? "I never claimed to be just a Meltrandi killing machine. I am proud of my human heritage, and how the two races have come together to make me what I am. Yes, I call myself a doctor. I ease the pain of my patients, treating the wounded and making a broken body whole again. I suppose that is the human in me, offering up relief from the pain. I wouldn't expect you to understand since you are locked into your own little world of death and destruction." Turning her attention back to Mario, she says, "At ease, Corporal. That is Unit One, also known as Iris, a servant of Taniya here. So long as you are not going to try and hurt her or her Queen, she is no threat to you. Standby as I come retrieve you and put you inside my Ajax."

Using extreme care, she extends the hand of her mecha out to gently pick up the nervous Italian and let him climb into the second seat. As he is climbing into the seat, Toph breaks out her medkit and pulls out a pair of Lortab, then passes one over to Mario. "Here. This should take the edge off of your headache but not knock you for a loop and keep you from being able to pilot a tank once we run across them." She pops the second pill herself, and washes it down with a quick swig from her canteen. "There. That should help the two of us out a bit."