Armored Core: Liberty's Calling

[DreadnoughtDT]

Crow laughed. "Hah! Okay, you got me, that's one advanced AC. I don't think I'll be keeping up with that thing. Not for a LOOOOONG time."

"Statement: I told you so."

"Oh, now you're gonna be a jerk to me, too? And I thought we were friends."

"Comforter: We ARE friends."

"That didn't help."

 

[BlueDevil]

Cerberus' rough voice buzzed over Harper's ear-piece, "Commander, I have detected over fifty anonymous heat signatures within the craft orbiting Mars. It is possible that these other heat signatures are ACs much like the one we previously encountered. I do not know if Rain Storm can detect the individual signatures, but the new arrival, Anubis, should be able to."

Harper raised a brow, "New arrival?" Cerberus turned just as Crow and the newcomer flew off, "Hmm, I feel bad for not noticing." Harper chuckled, noting that he was too entranced with the light show.

"Hey, you two...you're forgetting...me. Ah whatever. I guess I'll just follow." Cerberus dashed straight up after the other two, keeping parallel with the beam of purple energy. "I hope you guys know, Cerberus detected over fifty heat sigs inside of that thing. And who are you?" Harper asked the new pilot, "I was too busy observing the light to hear anything...how sloppy of me."

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Crow nodded, although he was pretty sure from where he was, Angelus couldn't see it. "Hey, Harper! Guess you finally decided to come with. This is Angelus, and he's going to be helping us for a while. And fifty heat sigs, eh? We should take the stealthy approach then."

Advisory: Enemy AC's have ECM functionality. Radar usage will be limited.

"Oh, isn't that just peachy. Don't suppose you guys could spot for me?"

 

[Angelo Credo]

"Yeah she's not bad, served me well these past few years that's for sure, shame about the huge amount of power doing that chews up...Anubis gets a little snippy about it at times, but hey, I could see about getting something like this rigged up to Rain if you like."

"General statement: There isn't a great deal of chance that will happen Angel, the Zero Shift drive is classified technology."

"Oh right...Yeah, I guess not then, sorry Crow, I must admit I haven't really had this much fun for a while, I don't usually get along with most people."

Angelus shifted his view to Cerberus, just taking off after them, acknowledging the transmission, he opened comms with Harper.

"Wondered when you'd finally decide to get a move on, a bit slow to the punch for a commanding officer aren't we?"

A number of additional heat signatures appeared on Anubis' HUD.
"Ahh, I see them, the name's Angelus and like I told Crow, my orders are to offer you assistance as necessary, you don't need to know anything else."

 

[BlueDevil]

Cerberus spoke loudly over all three AC's com-units, "I advise against approaching the vessel. The signatures within are in surprisingly advantageous positions. As for the vessel itself, from what I can read, it is, in fact, a massive Arms Fortress. Technology is actually limited though. This is not the creation of a mechanical entity."

Harper sighed, "Well, despite his warning, what do we want to do? Move in, or stay out?"

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Rain Storm stopped in front of the cube. It seemed devoid of much detail. All there was were a few hatches and power lines on it's smooth surface. "I don't suppose either of you know how to get inside?"

Analysis: All outside gates are locked and powered down. The cube is in power-conservation mode. Find another way inside, or make one.

"Guys, I'm gonna forward this to all of you." Crow pressed a button and the message was sent to both Anubis and Cerberus. "Any bright ideas?"

 

[Angelo Credo]

"Good god, an actual Arms Fortress? Never thought I'd live to see the day, I'm especially surprised to see one out this far..."

Angelus scanned the AF, finding it to be practically devoid of all features, as well as any exploitable way in or out.

"Analysis: No visible entrances available, no exploitable ports to make use of, though I advise against it you could utilise a charged burst shot from the high powered rifle to penetrate the Fortress' outer shell."

"Forwarding to you two, it's as good an idea as any, what do you think?"

 

[BlueDevil]

Harper chuckled, "Yeah, I got one."

Cerberus backed away from the cube a bit, arming his grenade launcher. Harper tapped one simple command in, and the grenade launcher fired continuously, short pauses in between blast. "Right Back Unit Ammo at half capacity."

Cerberus stopped firing, and Harper stared. As the smoke cleared, only a slight scratch on the side of the craft was revealed. "What the hell?!"

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Crow read the message and sighed. "That's what Rain Storm just said, but she's a bit more forceful because she loves to destroy things. I say we concentrate fire on it and hope for the best. We gotta be careful though, because some of the AC's in there have ECM."

Statement: Anubis and Cerberus have anti-ECM head parts. Query: Why don't you?

"Because they're expensive, and I don't have the money for anti-ECM. Hey, guys, I think this might be a bad idea. If we blow a hole in the thing, won't it go into lockdown mode, like any other spacefaring Arms Fortress?"

 

[BlueDevil]

(Bwuahaha, I'm going to set a posting order up for this. Not to be an ass, but just so everyone can post without someone else contradicting that post. So, starting with DreadnoughtDT, we'll go in this order: Dread, Credo, myself)

 

[Angelo Credo]

"If it goes into lockdown mode then I'll just keep blowing holes in the damn thing, anyway, since Harper's plan didn't work, mine's the only option we have left, what else are we going to do about this thing? It's too dangerous to be just left here."

Angelus tapped in a command into Anubis' main console, Anubis reached for its rifle, the high powered rifle unfolded, including the, at this stage unnecessary tripod to prevent recoil, Anubis immediately trained its crosshairs on the port side of the fortress.

"Ready when you are I guess."

(Bwuahaha, I'm going to set a posting order up for this. Not to be an ass, but just so everyone can post without someone else contradicting that post. So, starting with DreadnoughtDT, we'll go in this order: Dread, Credo, myself)

OOC: That works fine, makes it less utterly confusing whilst waiting for posts.

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Rain Storm quickly boosted away and gave the thumbs up to Anubis. "Whenever you're ready, dude." Rain Storm raised all it's weapon systems to full power, including it's damaged arm, and aimed, ready to fire.

 

[Angelo Credo]

"Alright...Anubis, divert primary power to weapons, let's blow a hole in this thing."

"Diverting...Ready to fire on your command. Warning: Firing at this stage will leave the generator dangerously close to the Red Zone, confirm action?"

"Confirm, I'll just have to stay behind for a bit whilst my generator charges up for a while, you guys will be okay without my assistance for a bit right? You seem to have gotten this far on your own."

 

[BlueDevil]

Harper watched as Anubis readied itself to fire. Cerberus drifted even farther back to avoid getting caught in whatever blast that was about to occur. "Detecting motion. Warning: Abnormal energy source closing in on the third exit above us. Door unlocked. Something is coming out."

A new voice suddenly interrupted everyone, "It's not wise, attacking Tempest like this. Of course, I suppose it's the only thing you three could muster up and call a plan."

The new enemy drifted down next to the three of them. It's eye-piece glowed a very bright blue, contradicting its sleek Red and Black color scheme. On its left shoulder, a large, yellow nine took its place.

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Crow stopped aiming and looked up to see the NEXT that was hovering over them. "Nine-ball? Is that you? Never thought I'd see you in a cesspool like this. Tempest, eh? Reminds me of that squid looking thing from some old game. Zone of the somethings. Not like it matters though, because we're still gonna break the thing. Knowing most common design flaws, I bet the reactor is completely unguarded, am I correct?"

Advisory: You're getting too full of yourself. With your damaged arm you're in no condition to fight.

Crow scoffed at the message. "You DO know that I'm the fifth ranking NEXT in the world, right?"

 

[Angelo Credo]

Angelus said nothing as the new NEXT approached the three of them, he simply tapped in a command into Anubis' control panel, re-energising primary systems, Anubis slipped the rifle away, drawing the vibro-spear.

"Anubis, run a silent scan of that thing, I want to know everything about it, take into consideration the current state of Rain and Cerberus, dictate our highest percentage of defeating it without losses."

Query: After information is acquired, shall I formulate the best course of action?

"Yes, Anubis, open up private comms with Crow and Harper."

"Confirmation: Affirmative."

"I'm having Anubis carry out a silent full scan of this thing, should give us the best chance of taking it down relatively unscathed, I'm not comfortable blowing a hole in the Fortress just yet if it's going to result in more of these things surprising us."

 

[BlueDevil]

Nine Ball hovered silently above them all, the pilots voice coming to life over their coms again, "The three of you are very quick to act against the Tempest Organization. You don't even know our goals, where we stand, or if we're affiliated with the machine race. You just assume. And assuming gets people killed. Fast. I bet you don't even know what the Tempest really is. It's not your standard Arms Fortress, as you can obviously see."

Harper stared up at the NEXT, "It's been a while since anyone's heard from you. I don't suppose it's because you've been hiding with that thing, is it?"

"Perhaps...you never heard of the Closed Plan. And if you have...surely not all of it. Even Maximilian Thermidor's Ace NEXT didn't learn of the entirety of the Closed Plan. I haven't been hiding...but rebuilding."

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Crow shook his AC's head. "Look, that's nice, but it'd be even nicer if you told us what the Closed Plan is. And what do you mean, "rebuilding"? Don't tell me you're piloting an AI mech." He switched to his private comm with Anubis. "Is that scan finished yet? Nine-ball is starting to freak me out more than he used to."

Statement: You shouldn't be so frightened.

Crow frowned, something the AI obviously couldn't see. "Yeah, well, I don't like taking chances."

 

[Angelo Credo]

Angelus scoured over the results of the scan, the results weren't promising.

"Patch this through to private comms."

"Analysis: Scan confirms: Light armour, heavy energy weapon resistant shielding, high explosive damage resistance, equipped with ECM, 07-Moonlight Blade, CANOPUS right arm, anti-missile systems and Orbital Cannons, final analysis: This is a primarily light NEXT, built from the ground up for speed, however, it possesses abnormally heavy energy and high explosive shielding, as well as extremely powerful weapon extensions."

"What are our chances of winning in a square fight against this thing?"

"Response: Approximately 20%, recommended course of action would be to retreat, however, if you wish to engage, it is suggested that you make use of the vibro-spear, whittling down shields, after shields are depleted, Crow and Harper should focus fire on all available weapons until target is eliminated, Anubis is fully capable of outrunning the target."

"Okay, we have our options, Harper, it's your call."

 

[BlueDevil]

Harper mimicked Cerberus' free hand into forming a fist in the air, "Not just yet...I want to hear what he's got to say."

There was a short pause before Nine Ball spoke once more, "The Closed Plan was a plan formed many years ago by the mega Corporation known as Rayleonard. It was a plan to move all humanity out into space, as to avoid high death rate due to pollution on the Earth's surface. However, after the Lynx War, the League was formed, and they came up with a much...easier solution. Cradles, which were massive ships built to glide above Earth's surface and carry up to twenty million people, were built. Eventually, ORCA, a group opposing the League's plan and seeing its faults, took up the Closed Plan, led by a man known as Maximilian Thermidor. He, along with the help of many other top class Lynx, succeeded in bringing the Closed Plan to reality, but only in death and through the help of another Lynx, did they manage to do so. Or at least, everyone thought Thermidor had died. I shouldn't have to tell you that I was not on Earth during the duration of these events. None of the Tempest Organization were...at least, none except Thermidor, who still lives on today. This organization was in space, completing the first part of the Closed Plan. We were the only ones in space at the time, as we were the only ones that could manage to get off of the planet before the rule of the League. Our duty was to create the ultimate vessel to travel in. It seems that the entire Plan has been completed in vain though, as humanity has moved back to Earth, and now faces a completely new threat. I here that Ravens' Nest has even resurfaced. Oh well, our efforts to gather resources with the equipment and materials given to us were meaningless, and now, we wish to express our feelings on the issue. It is so sad that we must make humanity's faults obvious through killing."

Harper sighed, "You people sure have a twisted view of things. And you'd rather just kill us than side with us against the machines?"

Nine Ball sighed, "Why should we help you with the menace that you created. Why should we help you when you would dare defy the ideals of the Closed Plan?"

Another short moment of silence, and Nine Ball's blade began to light up. Harper growled, "I guess we've gotta fight!"