Robotech - Tales of the UEEF (Main)

[Sherwood]

The sixteen Reflex missiles fly out at high speed, and as they boost in, the outer shell of the missiles break open to reveal several smaller but still deadly warheads, giving the opposing missile defenses even more to try and stop.

Its a foregone conclusion that you will hit; its not like the massive ship can dodge out of the way. All of your salvos hit in a stunning explosion, ripping deep into the core of the ship. Normally this would leave the well armored thruster array in ruin, possibly even still functional. But with the level of damage already done to the ship, the results were far more dramatic.

Something critical inside the ship must have been hit, and there are numerous secondary explosions that rip through the hull that rips off not only the thruster array, but the entire back third of the ship! All of the radio chatter that had been going on during the various dogfights around you suddenly goes silent as the sheer scale of the explosion sinks in. Finally a stunned voice can be heard coming across the airwaves, "Holy shit! That was epic!" With that, it is like a dam bursts as people continue their work to hit the Zentraedi hard and take advantage of their dismay.

It doesn't take long before Command calls for the various Veritech squads to pull back as the MacArthur and the Northamption begin using their big guns to finish off the crippled destroyer.

With the victory against the Zentraedi screening forces and the destruction of the ship, the fighters that were involved in the attack are recalled for rearming and repair. It takes the Storm Dragons ten minutes of loitering about before it is your turn to land once more, and as you open your cockpits, you are met by a cheer. This time when the deck crews come around, there is no griping about the damage that was done to your Valks, just a bunch of grins, shaking of hands and slapping of shoulders.

 

[Psychie]

Amanda's face hurts from how much she's grinning. Hot damn! We almost took out a whole fucking destroyer by ourselves! That was absolutely awesome! Get us some payback for the lives lost on that Troopship. As her Veritech comes to a stop, she jumps out with a loud, "Hell yeah! Storm Dragons breathe some serious fire! Those damn Zeeks think that they are a match for us? I don't think so! Took their giant asses to school!"

 

[Epiphany]

As Chen's squad lands back in their hanger, the Lieutenant vaults out of her Veritech and hands over her ship to the deck crew. The cheers and hand shaking are returned in full measure, with her leaping on top of her cockpit at one point and letting out a loud "Woohoo!"

Finally remembering the dignity of her rank, Chen drops back to the deck and makes her way to her squad. Particularly to Ty. "Next time we face a destroyer, first shot is all yours."

 

[Sherwood]

The Storm Dragons are not the only ones to rack up a major strike. The escort carrier Arc Royal and her Garfish escorts ran into another Zentraedi destroyer, and using a massive airstrike combined with a heavy missile attack from the larger ships, the target is also destroyed. With the two large Zentraedi ships found and eliminated, it explains what happened to the three ships that came ahead to recon the system. Unfortunately, there were no survivors of the three Garfish cruisers; they were just no match for the guns of the enemy. A sobering thought that brings the celebration down somewhat.

After your team has had a chance to rest and recover from the long day, and after you have had a chance to write up your after action reports, you are summoned to the Command Deck for a briefing, along with a handful of other pilots. Commander Zyorna is there with a few bridge staff. She waits for everyone to take their seats before starting off. "Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. In the past engagement, your teams have shown themselves to be exceptional. This is no small feat, with as skilled as everyone here is. Due to your performance, you have been selected to be the first candidates for some advanced combat training. This will boost your capabilities and make you even more effective in the cockpit than before. I will not lie to you and say that this will be easy, but I am confident that all of you will excel in your training. Sign up with the training officer for your specific course of instruction."

OOC I'll be posting your xp in the character thread.

 

[Orikanyo]

The time during the mission damn well felt like a blur after the explosion, things moved at a speed he wasn't able to fully keep up with... Or somewhat like his brain almost shut off... or was glanced over in the galactic scale of things. He could even remember if he fired a missile in truth. He suppous that he did, given the fact they were celebrating the squad and not just a couple of hands... Though he still felt somewhat passed over in the cosmic sense.

The mission was finished nonetheless, with minimal casualties on their side, just scratched paint and dented armor. And next thing they knew they had extra training lined up, though he wanted to groan abit at the prospect of more work... he figured it was time to keep his protests abit silent. "Thank you Commander.." the man who sounded like a deflating balloon stated, though he still looked about as enthused as if his dog had died.

"more training... What a drag..."he mumbled, and here he hoped for soem time to take up a new hobby...

 

[WlfSamurai]

Ty pinches himself. He is here. He has made it. Special engagements with the odds against him and his squad, fighter-to-capital-ship strikes, advanced war-fighting training; Ty lets it wash over him, feeling the recognition and accomplishment pulse through his body. It’s all too much.

“Ma’am,” he says to Commander Zyorna, trying to hard to hide smirk, “just loving the job. Thank you for the opportunity.” He can barely contain his excitement. Advanced training. Any doubt he ever had of the Storm Dragons being the best now melts away into his ego. He feels as though his heart may jump out of his chest. He has made it.

 

[Epiphany]

"Thank you, sir!" Chen salutes Commander Zyorna, stars in her eyes at such close contact with highly-ranked officers. The Storm Dragons are a new squad after all so this level of attention is both flattering and very rare.

As she joins the rest of her squad in signing up for special training, she glances at Amanda and tilts her head back towards the Zentraedi Commander. "You think she's single? I wonder how one asks a Zentraedi out. She's cute up close!"

 

[Orikanyo]

"..if your interested why not go for it? Got a few zentraedi friends saying they'd wish folks would be more forward... Don't tell anybody i revealed that..." grumpy pointed a finger at his squad leader, slowly taking up his camera as if expecting SOMETHING to go down. Hell, if this was an anime, this will likely end in hijinx.

Or will go well and boringly smooth.

Either or.

 

[Sherwood]

Alex gives a chuckle. "Grumpy does have that right, Chen. If you are serious about getting to know Zyorna on a more personal level, be bold. I'd go for it, but if you want to wait until a more private time, I can tell you that she likes to hit the exercise room in the evenings, probably to burn off some stress from the day. You could try to 'accidentally' run into her there. Bonus to this plan is that you get to see her in her workout clothes and not just her standard uniform." He grins at the comment, and nods over in Zyorna's direction to help encourage Chen to go and make the move. "Plus, the regs won't have any problem with it; you're both officers so neither one of you will get in trouble for fraternization."

 

[Psychie]

Amanda grins at the thought of Chen crushing over Commander Zyorna. "I got to admit, she's kinda cute, in a totally 'kick your ass if you piss me off' kind of way. Zyorna is not my particular cup of tea, but if you like her, go for it! What's the worst that will happen? She say she's not interested? That would be her loss, then. Give it a shot, Boss Lady!"

 

[Epiphany]

Surprised by all of the positive suggestions, Chen visibly brightens and smiles in the direction of the Zentraedi Commander. Then she nods thoughtfully and says "I think I will. Exercise room in the evenings? Thanks for the tip, Alex! I think I'll try my luck tonight..."

 

[Sherwood]

The training schedule is to be quite rigorous, making your basic training seem easy in comparison. You will begin working extra shifts along with your normal duty schedule until you are fully up to speed in your new combat styles of choice. Your first session is later in the afternoon, and when you get to the gym, you find along with your training officers, there is Commander Zyorna. She is not in her usual ships uniform, but she's instead wearing sweats, showing that she's there not just to observe, but to participate.

Looking about the room, you find that there are about forty pilots to be trained there, along with five instructors, all anxious to get started. The only member of the squad not there is Alex. Since he's not a pilot, his training is not focused on the combat skills that the rest of you are.

For the rest of you, it is several hours of intense work as the instructors take turns beating the living hell out of you in the process of teaching you.

 

[Epiphany]

By the end of their first session, Chen's wiped and she struggles mightily to regain her breath. She's always been lightning quick and she packs a surprising amount of muscle for a slim Chinese girl. But her stamina, while above average for a human, puts her in the middle of the pack rather than at the top where she typically performs. That said, she takes to her lessons with an enthusiastic ferocity that rarely costs her a smile. Battered and bruised though she may be, Chen's more satisfied than ever at training that pushes her body instead of simply pushing her honed agility and natural skill in the cockpit.

When it's over, she draws up to the Zentraedi, once she's caught her breath and won't utterly embarrass herself. This isn't the evening, but it's after practice has wrapped and virtually everyone else seems preoccupied with cooling down and finishing up. "Commander Zyorna," Chen says, once she's had a chance to catch the exotic Zentraedi woman's attention. "I wanted to thank you for the class today. And ask if I can buy you a drink sometime. Or dinner? Whenever you're free, I'd like the chance to get to know you better, if that's something you have time for."

 

[Orikanyo]

Learning Jeet Kuun Do was a trial, it required mental precision as much as training your body to withstand and adapt accordingly to the strikes and movements of the style. His instructor was adamant on ingraining the process of always learning, even amidst battle one must always be able to adapt , improvise and overcome. The art of having no art, having limitation as your limitation. Of course, this was hard to think of as he often gotten a fair fist to the face, thus giving life to the name "Way of the intercepting fist."

To take what you need, filling the cup, and tossing away what you do not need, emptying it.

It was an odd way of putting it, though as he learned more and more the ways in how to correctly perform the mvoes he begins to realize there was no kata he will be fully learning. he will learn mvoes, but the rest should come as they do... Let nature flow, build what is needed to be built... And...

Holy shit is Chen going for it- The thought was knocked out of his head as another fist intercepted his face.

"Damn it." he intercepted the upcoming punch with his own, the forward straight leading punch, the basis for most strikes in the martial art, hopeing the anime powers at work would help Chen on her way.

 

[Sherwood]

"Commander Zyorna," Chen says, once she's had a chance to catch the exotic Zentraedi woman's attention. "I wanted to thank you for the class today. And ask if I can buy you a drink sometime. Or dinner? Whenever you're free, I'd like the chance to get to know you better, if that's something you have time for."

Zyorna looks over at Chen and raises up an eyebrow. She says, "I hope you can understand that my grasp of human idioms is still a bit lacking, so I'm not trying to make you upset or uncomfortable when I ask, is this dinner or drink a social event with us alone, or is it work related? I sometimes find myself missing the social cues that your people take for granted."

 

[Psychie]

Amanda leans back against one of the workout machines and takes a long drink from her water bottle, feeling the familiar ache in her body from the sparring. I'll have a good set of bruises in the morning, that's for damn sure. She grabs a towel to wipe up some sweat when she sees Chen making her move on Zyorna. She silently wishes her luck from across the room.

 

[Epiphany]

The opening exchange isn't bad. Chen's feeling pretty good, until the Commander asks for clarification. Which...um, suddenly uncomfortable. Despite herself, her cheeks blush. Keep it together, Chen!

"Yes, I can imagine it's difficult. Even among humans, we have different social cues depending on where we're from. I'm Chinese, what we're speaking is my second language, so I know what you mean. Thanks for asking!"

That's pretty good! Nice and easy agreement, establish something in common between you, now finish it up!

"So...no, it's not work-related," she admits. Then Chen rushes out "But it doesn't have to be alone, if that's uncomfortable for you! I mean, lots of people go in groups when meeting someone new socially. But that's what I'd like to do. Get to know you socially. What do you think?"

Chen cringes slightly at her finishing question but, all in all, not a bad proposition.

 

[Orikanyo]

Grumpy took his break in stride, well, more like nursing his wounds at least. He wandered over to his favorite team mate, at least in terms of his favorite to pick on, Scorch. "I think she has this... Explaining it well enough.. Atleast from what i can hear... Straight out stating your asking a person out... and explaining it... Can be a iffy process... Went the same way with my ex really. had to explain just about everything...

When I explained what a meme was she kinda went overboard on it... It was cute for the firts bit... But thats how it goes...

...Wait did she just try and wrap us into a group thing with the commander...?"

 

[Sherwood]

Zyorna has a little smile as she listens to Chen's stumbling efforts to talk. After being silent for what feels like an eternity to Chen but is really just a few moments, she smiles wider and nods. "Yes, I think that would be nice. Getting to know you in a social situation, I mean." She glances at her watch, then looks back up. "Do you have a free shift later this evening? We could share a drink together. Come to my office at 1900 hours?"

 

[Epiphany]

"I'd love that! 1900 hours? I'll be there." Chen smiles eagerly. Then, noticing her squad clustering nearby to watch her, she blushes again and says "Then, I'll see you at 1900!"

Peeling herself away, she manages to play it cool all the way back to her squad. At which point, when the Commander is hopefully not looking, Chen raises a small fist and says "Yes!"

 

[Sherwood]

Now that the training is done for the day, you all now have the evening to yourselves. Chen has about an hour before her little get-together with Zyorna.

 

[WlfSamurai]

Ty slams one last set of kicks and punches into the punching bag. Wiping the sweat from his brow, he starts peeling the arm and fist wraps away. Seeing, Chen coming back, he can't help but smirk and shake his head.

"I can't believe you went for it," he says. "Nice work, LT. Wish I had the gumption for something like that." At that, he glances at Lieutenant Loxley and then back.

Back at his quarters, Ty lays in bed and considers the grueling training he and his squad been working on. Despite the pain and suffering, there is a joy to it all for him. He's seen the improvement in his skill and numbers. And his reaction times are at an all time high. All around, he feels better physically and mentally.

Despite all that, there is still an emotional hole. Something deep in his gut that is simply missing. He had hoped that when he found the team he was looking for, it would all fall into place and he'd find the fulfillment he was searching for. The Storm Dragons were it for sure. He has no doubt about that. But, the emptiness is ever present. Ever since the murder of his family in the war, it had been a consistent companion.

Trying to not think about it, he gets up, dresses, and heads down to the observation deck.

 

[Psychie]

Amanda gives Chen a subtle thumbs up; no need to have Zyorna see them celebrating the good news. "You'd better hit the showers and get ready! Not much time for you to put on your best face. I am personally planning on taking a long hot shower and see how many aches and pains I can wash down the drain. Then, time for some grub."

She doesn't say anything about the look she gets from Ty, but she does notice it. Hey there! Are you thinking about me with that comment? He might be kinda sweet on me! Amanda looks over at him and gives him an appraising look. I might be making a connection of my own here, soon enough, assuming I'm not misreading his look completely.

 

[Orikanyo]

"...Ah shit... Don't tell me.." Grumpy grumbled, he couldn't help but feel unsure about all this development. Now Ty and Scorch? Two starting up in one day was a little crazy.

But oh wait, this is a fucking anime.

So of course this would happen.

Next thing he'd know Alex would get somebody, then the group's bloodthirsty grouch is gonna fall head over heels for somebody.

What'll happen for himself? Maybe he'll be the comic relief, the guy whos alone forever for the audience to laugh at? Nah hes not a womanizer, thats part of the equation for that to work. Like Brock from Pokemon, poor dude. Atleast he keeps his head up. Maybe he already has somebody, and their watching him from afar, yandere style, waiting to strike out against the others who dare to get in the way of her...

"...Alright... Time to shower.." he decided to drop it for now, no sense thinking about this here.

Honestly, who the hell would try to stalk him?

Hes just a normal grouchy dude.

Nobody would stalk him....

...

Now glancing at shadows, the man continued towards the showers.

 

[Epiphany]

Still riding high from not being utterly shot down, Chen beams at Ty and says "I can't believe it either. But all my life, I have believed this: the answer is always no if you don't ask the question." She pats Ty on the back before slinging a towel around her shoulders.

Amanda's suggestion is well received and Chen looks briefly panicked. "I don't have a lot of time, you're right! Thanks!"

Chen quickly runs to her quarters, showers and changes into...well, it's not as if she shipped with a lot of clothes. She settles on a nice black skirt with a yellow top, goes for broke by putting on makeup and makes her way to Commander Zyorna's office. And then waits until the minute, taut with nervous energy.

I wonder if I should have had dinner first. I hope my squad's being smarter with their off-duty time than I am...