>>2417785
>>You seem to know what you're talking about... much more than you'd expect from a bartender.
>>I want to take a look around the hangars. If nothing else this place is nostalgic.

>Twentynine Palms
*shudder*

>>2417785
>You seem to know what you're talking about... much more than you'd expect from a bartender.
>I want to take a look around the hangars. If nothing else this place is nostalgic.
>Other
>Anything else that comes to bartenders minds, be persuasive.


>Twentynine Palms
Even in future, grunts still suffer from the hell Twentynine Palms is. I pray for them.

>3d10, dc 19, best of... I wanna say three?
>we'll see how many people actually roll

Rolled 2, 10, 4 = 16 (3d10)

>>2417844

Rolled 6, 9, 6 = 21 (3d10)

>>2417844

>>2417844
Sorry, got called away for a bit, mobile posting until I get back to my desk

Rolled 3, 1, 9 = 13 (3d10)

>>2417844

>writing

File: Carrina_concept_codec_view.png (377 KB, 637x634)

377 KB PNG

>>2417865
“You seem to know more about this than you'd expect from a bartender,” you tell him with a stern look. “Were you in the EFF before the budget cuts?”

After wrestling with the admission the bartender sighs. “I... was a logistics officer. Right here, actually. Shelled out some of the cash I got when I was discharged to pick up rights to the O club here.”

“So that's how you knew,” you chuckle. “Okay, I understand. But you think I can take a look around the hangars?”

“Why?” he asks, shaking his head. “Place was picked over even by the time I set up shop.”

“If nothing else it's nostalgic,” you admit, glancing at the door. “This place is where my unit was first assembled.”

“That must've been a long time ago,” he shrugs. “Haven't had any pilots out this way in years.”

“It was,” you admit. “Back in '83.”

The man lets out a low whistle. “A real vet then. This must be a little eerie to you then, seeing the place abandoned.”

“It is,” you nod.

The bartender reaches under the counter and fishes out a heavy keychain with several sets of keys hanging from it. “These will get you through the padlocks, but some of the doors haven't been opened in years. So you may have to get a little rough with 'em.”

“Then you can just pitch the keys if you want. Nobody's gonna care.”

“Thanks,” you nod, taking the keys from off the countertop after finishing the last of your beer.

“Try not to fall through any of the walkways.”

>Head for the hangar where your team was first assembled.
>Check out the largest hangar. If the Vists were ever here that'd be where they'd stop.
>Investigate the flight control tower, maybe some of the equipment recorded a reentry.
>Other?

>>2417885
>>Investigate the flight control tower, maybe some of the equipment recorded a reentry.

>>2417885
>>Investigate the flight control tower, maybe some of the equipment recorded a reentry.
business before pleasure, I guess.

>>2417885
>>Head for the hangar where your team was first assembled.
>>Check out the largest hangar. If the Vists were ever here that'd be where they'd stop.
>>Investigate the flight control tower, maybe some of the equipment recorded a reentry.

Nostalgia first and then business. Visiting the old hangar might be waste of time, but seeing the place after all these years might be interesting moment.

>>2417885
>Investigate the flight control tower, maybe some of the equipment recorded a reentry.

>>2417885
>>Investigate the flight control tower, maybe some of the equipment recorded a reentry.
>>Other?
Check the base's electric grid to see if there's still any actual power left. Might be able to pinpoint a specific location if ever anyone is still around leeching power.

>>2417903
This is a good idea.

>>2417903
>>2417912
Agreed, checking the electric grid is good idea. Supporting.

>3d10, dc 18, crit 22

Rolled 2, 5, 1 = 8 (3d10)

>>2417921

Rolled 2, 6, 3 = 11 (3d10)

>>2417921

Rolled 4, 10, 5 = 19 (3d10)

>>2417921

Rolled 7, 6, 10 = 23 (3d10)

>>2417921

>basic pass
>writing

>>2417939
You let yourself into the bottom floor of the control tower, whose radar dish is present but no longer spinning. It's a little surprising actually, but you realize that even if the Federation forces wanted to recover all of their technology as they withdrew from the base they might not have had the money to actually do the job, or else they had nowhere to move the equipment to.

It takes a sharp kick to get the right-side door to open, but thankfully the stairs are still there. Dusty, but more or less still complete except for a few bits of rusty safety railing.

Once you reach the top floor you find the door to the control room itself jammed shut. With a few shoulder-slams you crash through and tumble across the floor, before springing back to your feet and dusting yourself off as if someone's actually watching and you have to save face.

“Let's see what we have here,” you mutter, glancing around the room. None of the computers are still here, so that's a loss. But there is something left...

“Hey sis,” you announce. “I've got a radar set here.”

I see... that's good. The whole thing must be one integrated system, so it'd be a pain to remove it all.

“And pointless to remove part of it,” you guess. “Alright. Can you get a connection with Sericea? ALICE might be able to give us some pointers.”

I'll try, but I'm not sure what you hope to get out of it.

After several moments, you can sense your sister's quiet surprise. Apparently this model has a passive setting, which if it's got power it might still be on.

“What does it rely on?” you ask. If it's something useful you might just be able to put this station to some good use.

Multi-band. FM radio and cellular signals mostly.

Bingo.

“Talk me through recovering data from this thing,” you reply, checking the power supply and finding that somehow its connection to the base's power grid is still working. “We've got power, maybe it picked something up.”

>3d10, best of three

Rolled 2, 8, 7 = 17 (3d10)

>>2418023

Rolled 4, 5, 3 = 12 (3d10)

>>2418023

Rolled 6, 5, 9 = 20 (3d10)

>>2418023

>>2418023
Okay, according to ALICE it should be fairly simple if all the parts are there.

“How do I figure that out?” you ask.

There's a momentary pause. The case would have to have been opened. I doubt anyone who'd stripped it for parts would bother putting the display back.

“Fair point,” you admit.

There's a button with the international power symbol. Press and hold the button for ten seconds to boot the system in emergency mode.

You follow ALICE's instructions, and after ten seconds the display flickers to life leaving a little flashing white indicator for text input.

“There's no keyboard,” you announce.

They took the keyboard? That's... alright, I think we can work with this.

You're forced to wait for several more seconds until your sister conveys ALICE's next round of instructions. Okay, this is going to be a bit of a gamble. We've got a micro USB, insert it into slot A and see what happens.

You do as she says, and new text appears on the screen.

>MICRO USB DETECTED
>FORMAT: YES
>PASSWORD: NO
>ARCHIVE: VALID
>_

“It's detected it,” you observe. “Format is just 'yes', password is 'no', and apparently the archive is valid?”

That's good, now cut the power.

“Excuse me?” you ask.

Cut the power. That should force an emergency data dump, and we'll take the micro usb back to Sericea and we'll see what this station has recorded in the last few hours.

“Okay,” you shrug, taking out your jump knife and slashing at the cable connecting the terminal to the wall. The dusty screen goes dead once more, and after blinking twice the light at the end of the body of your micro USB does the same.
>1/2

>>2418090
"Alright, I've got it," you announce, pocketing the drive. I'm gonna get out of here now."

That's fine. I think we're done here anyway.

>Stop by the old hangar for nostalgia purposes. This may be the last time you'll ever see this place.
>Return the keys, let the bartender know you've killed the towers recording systems.
>Head straight back to the Sericea. You don't have time for sentimentality.

>>2418099
>>Stop by the old hangar for nostalgia purposes. This may be the last time you'll ever see this place.

>>2418090
>Stop by the old hangar for nostalgia purposes. This may be the last time you'll ever see this place.
NOSTAALLLLLGIAAAAAAA

>>2418099
>>Stop by the old hangar for nostalgia purposes. This may be the last time you'll ever see this place.

>writing

>>2418099
>>Stop by the old hangar for nostalgia purposes. This may be the last time you'll ever see this place.
>>Return the keys, let the bartender know you've killed the towers recording systems.

Go throw the keys as you leave, good manners and all.

Here, have some nostalgic music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th2GuqIevXI

>>2418138
Part of you wants to go straight back and see what these data can actually do for you... but at the same time, you can't pass up the hangar where your unit was born. And so you find yourself opening one of the person-sized doors to find something truly surprising.

Three mobile suits, or rather what's left of them.

“These are...” you realize aloud, staring at the broken remains. “Marasais?”

They look like they're in the old EFF ground scheme.

“You're right,” you agree. “But they've been stripped down pretty good. Bits of the harder armor are still here and the frame is in place, but it looks like the hydraulics are gone. Cameras too.”

Optics are finicky. Might be expensive.

This is such a strange sensation. Right here is where you met Audrey and Karen, and you were assigned your first RX-type mobile suit. This is where it all began, more than a decade ago... you had no idea that so much would have happened between then and now. It's almost humbling to consider all the events you were a part of, and how many people didn't survive those events.

And now it's totally forgotten, abandoned. Even these mobile suits have been stripped of everything that made them work, which made them functional weapons.

I don't know what you expected.

“Neither do I,” you admit. “Let's get out of here.”

Agreed.

>3d10, best of three

Rolled 4, 5, 1 = 10 (3d10)

>>2418184
Damn Marasais

Rolled 7, 4, 8 = 19 (3d10)

>>2418184
PLS NO. I WANTS MOAR NOSTALGIA

Rolled 1, 5, 5 = 11 (3d10)

>>2418184

Rolled 2, 6, 10 = 18 (3d10)

>>2418184
No intact MS for post-apoc remnants to scavenge for their own gundam story, sorry.

>>2418184
Back aboard the Sericea, you pass off the USB to Rossweisse. She puts the device into an isolated computer terminal in the pilots' briefing room and begins running checks over the data to ensure there's no risk from any sort of malicious coding left by the Federation as a security measure. Meanwhile you grab a cup of coffee, and sit quietly atop a nearby desk.

“Something bothering you?”

Rossweisse's interruption reminds you that you've been staring at the cup for a while in total silence... of course she thinks something's wrong. She looks a little worried.

“I'm getting too old for this shit, Rossweisse,” you admit quietly. “Time always catches up in the end, you know.”

“What brought this on?” she asks you with a frown, leaving the computer to run its own tasks.

“I trained on a Zaku,” you remind her. “Not even a Zaku-II, just your base model Zaku. And now everything's out there flying itself, with twelve brain-powered remote guns and i-field generators and all sorts of crazy gimmicks. Hell even the Marasais out there rusting on-base weren't designed until six or seven years after I first climbed into a cockpit.”

“Just because you've gotten older doesn't mean anything,” Rossweisse assures you. “You're still the best of the best.”

“I even have a kid,” you point out. “It's... don't you think it's all gotten away from us a bit?”

Rossweisse shuts her eyes for a moment in thought. “Maybe.”

>So what if the horrid bitch escapes, really? What's she going to do now that we have hard evidence that she's the worst living war criminal in the Solar system?
>When this is over, when the Vist Foundation is gone... that's it. I don't think we newtypes can keep this sort of involvement up any longer.
>Sorry, it's just... seeing things like this just made me feel old all of a sudden. Let's take care of things and get out of here, figure the rest our later.

>>2418239
>>Sorry, it's just... seeing things like this just made me feel old all of a sudden. Let's take care of things and get out of here, figure the rest our later.

>>2418239
>>When this is over, when the Vist Foundation is gone... that's it. I don't think we newtypes can keep this sort of involvement up any longer.

>>2418239
>>Sorry, it's just... seeing things like this just made me feel old all of a sudden. Let's take care of things and get out of here, figure the rest our later.

I reckon newtypes will still be involved, though it won't have to be exclusively in their hands. Leave behind a legacy that the following generation can work with. It's all anyone can ask for really.

>>2418239
>>Sorry, it's just... seeing things like this just made me feel old all of a sudden. Let's take care of things and get out of here, figure the rest our later.

>writing

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>>2418279
You sigh heavily. “Sorry to worry you. It's just... seeing this place silently rusting away into nothingness makes me feel like an old woman.”

“It's fine,” Rossweisse assures you. “And so are you.”

With a chuckle, you shrug off her assurances. “Yeah, I guess I might just have a few more years of this in me. But that's something to decide later.”

“What's the computer saying about the data we recovered from the control tower?”

Rossweisse turns her attention back to her work station. “The radar set detected a fast-moving object at about the right time.”

“Course?” you ask.

Your partner reviews the data. “Inconclusive. But it was heading more or less southeast before it broke contact.”

“Southeast?” you repeat. “So it can't be Twentynine Palms or Vandenberg. Maybe not even in California at all.”

“South America?” Rossweisse guesses.

You nod in agreement. “That would be the likely option. And thinking about it, the Vists might have preferred to set up shop closer to the Guiyana highlands.”

“Makes sense,” she agrees, shutting down the terminal. “ALICE, can you get us information on active facilities between here and the Guiyana Space Center?”

“It may take some time,” the AI's voice offers apologetically. “The state of the data networks on Earth is... 'chaotic', to put it lightly.”

>We'll wait for your word, then decide on a course.
>We'll chart a course for the Guiyana Space Center.
>Take us out over the ocean, bring us into Guiyana from the East.
>Other?

>>2418316
>>Take us out over the ocean, bring us into Guiyana from the East.

>>2418316
>>Take us out over the ocean, bring us into Guiyana from the East.

>>2418316
>>Take us out over the ocean, bring us into Guiyana from the East.

>>2418316
>“South America?” Rossweisse guesses.
Hmm, Jaburo comes into mind. Who knows how dilapidated it would be if ever it's abandoned though, considering the state of the California base.

>>Take us out over the ocean, bring us into Guiyana from the East.

>3d10, DC 18, critical 22

Rolled 3, 10, 1 = 14 (3d10)

>>2418382

Rolled 6, 8, 4 = 18 (3d10)

>>2418382

Rolled 2, 5, 3 = 10 (3d10)

>>2418382

>>2418388
Thank you!

>writing

>>2418316
“For now put us on a course out to sea, then we'll go to combat alert and hook back towards the GSC complex,” you decide. “Sound like a plan?”

Rossweisse nods in agreement. “I believe so, yes.”

It takes a half hour for the Sericea to cruise across California, much of which is a lot greener than you ever recall it being. But when you reach the rain shadow... it becomes apparent that most of the continent is bone dry, barren, and devoid of any large settlements.

“Captains!” ALICE's voice alerts you as you watch the terrain roll by through the viewports. “News!”

“What is it ALICE?” you ask, shaking your head from the daze that had set in.

“There is currently no identifiable activity at the Guiyana Space Center that would suggest large-scale operations,” she reports. “So if the Vists fled there they cannot do much to defend themselves.”

“Then I doubt they would flee there,” Rossweisse decides. “What about Jaburo?”

“What about it?” you ask.

“Jaburo was largely abandoned even prior to the economic contraction in favor of space-based production facilities,” ALICE informs you. “Last report was that only a token force was stationed there, mostly of types outdated even by UC 0083.”

Something about this bothers you... a nagging sensation. Something more intuitive than known.
>3d10, higher is better

Rolled 6, 1, 3 = 10 (3d10)

>>2418454

Rolled 1, 5, 5 = 11 (3d10)

>>2418454

File: f6c9eecd475ebe2746f243068(...).jpg (116 KB, 775x760)

116 KB JPG

Rolled 1, 10, 10 = 21 (3d10)

>>2418410
>>2418454

>>2418464
C-C-C-CLUTCH!

>>2418464
Yet again you saved us!

>>2418467
>>2418465
Clearly the dice gods love Yin.

>>2418464
“That's not right,” you frown, not liking where your own thought process is taking you.

“What isn't?” Rossweisse asks.

“Just... look at it,” you insist, pointing out the window. “I don't think 'contraction' is the right word... if the 'American breadbasket' has gone arid Earth's economy isn't 'contracting', it's already collapsed.”

“It wouldn't be the first time the Federation hid something like that,” Rossweisse observes. “But you have something else, don't you?”

You nod. “The Marasais left in a hangar, the radar equipment still in place, military property being sold to civilians, massive layoffs of personnel right down to the supply officers. The Federation was selling everything it could to keep itself solvent just a little longer, abandoning everything it couldn't sell or afford to keep maintained.”

Rossweisse's eyes widen at the implication. “You don't mean...”

“That the Federation sold Jaburo to the highest bidder?” you ask sternly. “Tell me you'd be surprised if they had.”

She shakes her head. “No... no I wouldn't.”

“I think they sold Jaburo to the Vist Foundation,” you continue. “That's where they produced all those mobile dolls in secret. Then they used the mass driver at Guiyana to deliver them to space, where they were stored at Magellanica.”

“So we're going to... have to assault Jaburo?” Rossweisse asks, cocking an eyebrow at you. “You do realize how ridiculous this is getting?”

“Yeah,” you agree, but at the same time you can't help but smile at how ridiculous it sounds. “But really, can you think of a more fitting place to put the ghosts of the Zeon War to rest?”

“It will be well-defended,” Rossweisse points out.

You shrug. “Char did it in a red Acguy.”

“Do we have a red Acguy available?” Rossweisse asks.

“No, but we do have some red paint in the hangar...”

I refuse to be painted red.

"But sis..."

No.

>>2418572
And sadly, due to a raging headache, that will have to be where we stop for the evening. Thanks for turning out, and hope to see you all for the conclusion next weekend: the final assault on Jaburo.

Keep an eye on twitter and/or discord for updates, whichever you prefer.

>>2418578
Thanks for the run, King. Get that rest.

Can't even imagine how Jaburo would look now, what with the environmental degradation and sea level changes.

But hey, if it's got an underwater segment, at least Bianca will draw in her experience here.

>planning to resume on Sunday

File: Rag-79.jpg (41 KB, 288x500)

41 KB JPG

>>2430479
“So this is Earth?” Quess wonders, staring out the window.

“What's left of it,” you reply, looking out at what was once the coast of Guiana: now a wide, shallow shelf averaging two or three meters deep. “There are long stretches of coast where just a few meters more ocean meant miles of lost land. This is one of those places... the accelerator track at the spaceport here had to be built up, supported by pilings that go down to the bedrock.”

“How'd it get this bad anyway?” she asks.

You shake your head. “We weren't around when it happened... but it turns out the Earth's a much more temperamental place than humanity realized. It took decades to adjust at the population level, but by that point most of the damage was done.”

“Instead it just came down to finding ways to cope.”

Quess glances at you. “Are we still sort of doing that now?”

You hate to admit to her that she's right... so instead you shrug. “Maybe. Stay in your quarters, we're going to battle stations in a few minutes.”

“Okay,” she nods.

You head down to the hangar deck, where you find Bianca Carlyle admiring the engineering staff's handiwork.

“It looks good!” she grins. “The techies got some watertight seals over those joints and exhausts damn quick. Should be good at any sorta depth we're likely to be at.”

“How well stuck on are they?” you ask the Chief.

He rubs the back of his neck, then nods his head in Bianca's direction. “Hers are on pretty good. Yours... they're on just as tight, but those joints move a lot quicker. Maneuver too violently and there go the covers. 'fraid that's the best I can do on short notice.”

>You did great. We'll be careful not to overdo it.
>It just needs to last long enough to get into Jaburo.
>It's a precaution anyway. Bianca's are more important.
>Other?

>>2437802
>>You did great. We'll be careful not to overdo it.
>>It just needs to last long enough to get into Jaburo.

>>2437802
>>It just needs to last long enough to get into Jaburo.
What's the tolerances on the seals anyway? Also, if it goes undone early, is it gonna affect the performance later on?

And hey, it's not an April Fools edition!

>>2437802
>>It just needs to last long enough to get into Jaburo.

>>2437802
>It just needs to last long enough to get into Jaburo.

>>2437821
What happens if the seals tear off is you start having some trouble maneuvering and handling waste heat in a marine environment. Which isn't a problem if you don't intend to get wet a second time.

Their exact tolerance isn't something the techs can quantify for you. But it's somewhere between a GM piloted by a vet and Carya with her top-end flying deathtrap.

>>2437802
“If it gets me into Jaburo without any water ingress it's done it job,” you shrug. “Once we're inside it's not my plan to get wet again.”

“Alright, so what is the plan?” Bianca asks you.

“There are two ways into Jaburo,” you explain. “A vertical entry used by space cruisers, and two horizontal entries. One is upstream, the other is downstream.”

“And which one are we looking at?” she presses. “You have to remember this wasn't my station back in the day.”

You shake your head. “Same here. But we did end up talking about it a lot, coming up with alternatives based on what intel we had. The main entrance is the easiest to find, has to be visible from the air. Down side is that's also the most heavily defended.”

“The anti-air defenses are massive, overlapping fields of 40mm pom-poms and surface to air missiles,” you explain, “concentrated at high points across the terrain. A few of 'em were on artificial towers of reinforced concrete.”

“And for anti-ship defenses?” she asks.

“They nicked the triple-sleeve 18-inch turrets off the old Big Tray class land battleships,” you explain. “Each one could drop around five tons of explosives on a target more than thirty kilometers away.”

Bianca lets loose an appreciative whistle. “And what would that do to Sericea?”

The Chief bites his lip, seemingly doing the math in his head. “Shred it and kill everyone inside?”

“Assuming Rossweisse's presence didn't really stop that from happening,” you sigh. “Which to be honest? We've never tested it at that scale, and we're not keen to.”

“So that's off the table,” Bianca admits. “And the upstream entrance?”

“Large enough for a small supply ship,” you explain. “But heavily guarded. Push comes to shove we always suspected they could collapse that entrance as well, in a siege situation.”

“So that leaves the downstream entrance, which I'm guessing is underwater?”

You nod. “That's why Char went for it. It was supposed to be a fallback point, a last-ditch escape route.”

>We're going to sneak in the same way, take the place by force.
>You're going to sneak in and report back to me.
>You're going to sneak in and secure the line of escape. I'm assaulting the topside.
>Other?

>>2437923
>>We're going to sneak in the same way, take the place by force.

>>2437923
>>We're going to sneak in the same way, take the place by force.

Also it seems that 4chan is doing some april fools shenanigans.

>>2437923
>>We're going to sneak in the same way, take the place by force.

>>2437923
“The plan is to sneak in the same way,” you tell her, “bypassing any of the topside defenses that are still active. With any luck Martha Vist doesn't even know about that entrance, and even if she does there's no way she could have enough mobile suits down there to stop us.”

“What about those guns?” Bianca asks. “If Sericea can't get into the place that's a problem, right? Isn't that right?”

She sounds legitimately uncertain, so you offer the best answer you can. “If they try to withdraw we'll have to take the big guns down before we can pursue. So we'll just have to try our hardest to keep them from withdrawing.”

“Alright, sounds like a solid plan,” Bianca nods. “When do we sortie?”
>1/2

>>2437923
The entrance is a little harder to find than you anticipated... years of sediment infill will do that. But after two hours of trudging through the vine-choked wetlands that surround Sericea's temporary landing zone you finally spot the landmark then-Major Char Aznable noted in his after-action reports from the Battle here more than a decade ago.

“We're here.”

“Are you sure?” Bianca asks via contact link.

“You have seen a penis before, right?” you ask.

“... yeah...”

“And does that pinnacle in the river not look like a penis?” you press.

“It's...” Bianca admits slowly, “... generally dickish, yes.”

“Then that's the marker Char mentioned,” you assert. “Should be right at this next bend.”

“I still can't believe he used a dick-shaped rock as a marker,” Bianca grumbles.

“Char's... an interesting sort of guy,” you sigh. “Most pilots were... and still are, really... men. Char probably figured 'look for the penis rock' is a set of instructions any man's gonna be able to follow.”

“Well, let's get this over with,” Bianca grumbles before stomping with her GM into the river.

The water is unusually slow and deep here, where the river's bend has cut deep into the terrain, and with the help of some exterior lights it becomes easy to spot the twenty-meter concrete archway. In a few moments you're inside, moving uphill away from the river into the nearby highlands. Finally, you spot the telltale signs of a cavern: namely that instead of being in a rough-cut tunnel, you can see a flat plane where the water seems to meet air.

>3d10, best of three

Rolled 10, 3, 4 = 17 (3d10)

>>2438000

Rolled 1, 8, 6 = 15 (3d10)

>>2438000

Rolled 10, 9, 3 = 22 (3d10)

>>2438000
Uh, be on a look out for mines, I guess?

>>2438010
Nice!

>>2438010
Sensors are no good down here, water's surface is causing some mean interference.

“I guess someone's gonna have to poke their head out,” you muse.

Bianca sighs. “I'll do it. I've got the best loadout for firin' underwater anyway.”

Bianca moves her GM forward a few meters, so that the very top camera on its head can breach the surface.

“Shit.”

“How bad?” you ask.

“There's mines,” she tells you. “Big ones.”

“How big?”

“They're off-route mines,” she explains, “probably EFP. I'd guess... three hundred millimeters across?”

“Damn,” you grumble. “That's an anti-MS design then... so they knew about this approach.”

They must not expect anything to come through this way, your sister points out. They probably think this entrance is covered.

“And they're not planning to escape this way either,” you add. “Interesting.”

“So what's the play?” Bianca asks.

>Those mines might actually be enough to do some damage. We'll have to destroy them with our head vulcans.
>Our shields might be enough to stop those penetrators. We could try to just... well... 'tank' the blasts.
>We could try using our thrusters and this water to 'wash' the mines out, trigger them early. But that sort of output will ruin our waterproofing.
>Other?

>>2438032
I just noticed that names and tripcodes are disabled today. That... would be frustrating if it weren't for IDs.

>>2438037
4chins idea of April fools.
>>2438032
>Those mines might actually be enough to do some damage. We'll have to destroy them with our head vulcans.

>>2438032
>>Those mines might actually be enough to do some damage. We'll have to destroy them with our head vulcans.

>>2438032
Well, explosions are definitely not gonna go unnoticed.

>>Those mines might actually be enough to do some damage. We'll have to destroy them with our head vulcans.
May as well be quick about it.

>>2438037
Oh, I thought you just forgot for a bit. But yeah, it didn't occur to me to question it coz of the post IDs.

>>2438032
“We'll have to use our head vulcans,” you decide. “Best case scenario firing them from underwater will mean we won't trip any other sensors they're using, worst case scenario we have to charge in afterwards.”

“Gotcha,” Bianca replies. “Ready when you are.”

>3d10, best of three

Rolled 9, 5, 10 = 24 (3d10)

>>2438058

Rolled 10, 8, 10 = 28 (3d10)

>>2438058
Taking firing distance and depth into account, the seals should hold from the shock.

>>2438063
Ohh, solid hits.

Rolled 2, 3, 5 = 10 (3d10)

>>2438058

Rolled 8, 7, 5 = 20 (3d10)

>>2438058

>>2438069
damn son.

>>2438058
“Fire!” you order.

The water in the low end of this chamber boils as dozens of rounds shatter the surface, taking huge chunks out of the walls. Thankfully your improvised countermining works exactly as you intended, the speed and relatively low mass of the shells don't trip the sensors and shred the internals of the mines themselves, essentially rendering them harmless.

After hitting all twelve, at least that you can see, you cease fire.

“Round count?”

“Spent two hundred total,” Bianca informs you... that leaves her about five hundred more.

“One-fifty,” you tell her, leaving you about the same as her thanks to the large amount of space your sister's AI unit takes up.

I am not fat. I'm just that intelligent.

“Never said...” you sigh. “Forget it. Bianca, we're moving up.”

Once clear of the passageway where the mines were laid, you eventually reach a second chamber where there are piles of what look like old mobile suit parts. Probably from the machines that were destroyed here during battle, anything they couldn't salvage had to end up somewhere and this cave was good a place as any for it all to rust out of sight and mind.

Finally, you crest a low rise and take a knee.

“This is it... Jaburo.”

“Holy shit...” Bianca mutters. “Now that's somethin' you don't see every day. It's like some kinda dwarf city or something, like from those old movies.”

“This 'city' is here solely to build mobile suits,” you explain. “And it looks like the factory floor's still in working order.”

That, and there are hangars, barracks, magazines, lab spaces... even greenhouses. All set in the high spots in this water-logged cave, connected by roadways.

“There's the ship they brought in,” you observe, spotting what must be the back end of the hangar entrance on the far side of the cavern. “See?”

There's an old Salamis down here too, your sister adds, tagging the hull on your monitor. How much you wanna bet they use it as a defense platform?

“Pretty good chance,” you admit. “Only a few mobile suits on alert though... Bianca, I want you here for fire support and to block the escape. I'm going to...”

>Destroy the ship they came here in.
>Hit the hangars, destroy as may MS as I can.
>Park a little closer and find Martha on foot.
>Other?

File: Jaburo-central.jpg (46 KB, 500x250)

46 KB JPG

>>2438150
Forgot I had a pic for this, there's surprisingly little information about it for as important a base as it was in the story.

>>2438150
>I am not fat. I'm just that intelligent.
Pfft!
>Hit the hangars, destroy as may MS as I can.
Bianca can kill the ship they came in on, I guess.

>>2438150
>>Hit the hangars, destroy as may MS as I can.

>>2438150
I'm considering planting timed or remote explosives on any combustible stash like fuel and ammo. A surprise move, but it's probably gonna soak up a ton of time while on foot to set up.

>>Hit the hangars, destroy as may MS as I can.
Start thinning the herd.

Also, terrible villain thought occurred to me, but man, poison gas will really fuck this place up.

>>2438150
"I plan to hit the hangars, narrow the odds as much as I can in the opening few seconds," you announce.

"Understood," Bianca replies. "Anything you want me to focus on?"

"Yeah," you tell her. "I want you to put some fire down on the ship that's docked across the way. Think you can?"

"I think so," she tells you. "Range looks... okay. I'll have to put a bit of an arc on my shots though."

"Give me a few seconds to calculate it."
>3d10, best of three
>Critical 22

Rolled 10, 10, 7 = 27 (3d10)

>>2438248
SINKING SHIP

Rolled 6, 9, 1 = 16 (3d10)

>>2438248

Rolled 3, 8, 6 = 17 (3d10)

>>2438248
>>2438262
jfc anon

>back from real life, writing

>>2438304
You maneuver yourself down the talus slope and to the water, skirting around its edge for several hundred meters. Then you release your funnels, tucking them against the rocks and moving on. With the way you've set up, you're going to be able to wipe out one hangar with a barrage of fire and use that to draw out a response... which you can then destroy from a different angle.

“You ready?”

Bianca sighs. “Yeah, ready as ever.”

“Then fire when you're ready.”

A few seconds later several shots streak across the wide cavern, exploding on the far side. Two large missiles soon follow, making a complete mess out of the ship's engines. It's not going anywhere.

Then you unleash a beam barrage, slow and methodical, that leave one of the mobile suit hangars in ruin, burning and shaking from secondary explosions.

Here they come.

When a group of mobile dolls sorties from a second hangar you open fire, beam fire falling on them like a glowing rain and melting away their armor before their internal propellant ignites. One tries to use its thrusters to gain some altitude and a better vantage point, but quickly spirals out of control. Instead it slams into one of the tall pillars that supports the center of the cavern, bringing down large chunks of stone and dirt from the ceiling.

After just a few seconds of sustained fire, you hear a voice crackle across your comms.

“For the love of god stand down!” Martha Vist demands.

“You first,” you reply, another sustained burst of beam fire scything through two more mobile dolls.

“I've sent the order,” she replies. Holding your fire for a moment, you can see that the mobile dolls that haven't been destroyed yet have all stopped moving, their weapons crashing to the ground.

This... this isn't how you thought it would go. It almost feels too easy.

>Demand to know why Martha's simply surrendering.
>Demand to know where Martha is. Take her into custody.
>Cut down the remaining mobile dolls. Smash it all.
>Other?

>>2438378
>>Other?
Have her come out and surrender. No funny business.

>>2438429
Yeah, let's go with this.

>3d10, best of three

Rolled 8, 4, 9 = 21 (3d10)

>>2438464

Rolled 1, 6, 9 = 16 (3d10)

>>2438464

Rolled 7, 9, 9 = 25 (3d10)

>>2438464

>>2438477
Martha understands when someone means business.

>>2438497
THE ROLLS CONTINUE

>>2438497
someone is feeling like a bitch.

>>2438497
“Come out and surrender, then we'll talk,” you continue, wondering how far Martha's willing to take this charade.

“Fine,” she replies immediately, much to your surprise. “Just stop shooting. I'm in the lab building seven hundred meters to your northeast.”

She's... she's being completely serious, isn't she?

“I... think she might be,” you agree.

You maneuver past a few stationary mobile dolls, knocking them over and dragging your heavy whip-blade through them for good measure, and eventually reach the building Martha indicated. You find her standing on a balcony, hands raised in the air. After considering the situation for a few minutes, you pop your hatch and step out with your sidearm raised.

“Don't move,” you order.

“I don't plan to,” Martha responds, her tone one of complete resignation.

You swiftly frisk her with your left hand, finding no weapons or equipment of any kind on her person.

“You seem surprised.”

“I am,” you admit. “I half expected you to shoot me on sight.”

“That wouldn't end well,” she tells you. “Retreating to Earth was our last option, the only hope we had to continue our research on Lazarus uninterrupted.”

“But since you're here there's no point. And if you bring down the ceiling on us all, then everything we've done will be for nothing.”

What does she mean... 'Lazarus'?

>What is Lazarus, explain. Was that what Alpha was for?
>Pretend that you know about 'Lazarus'. See where this goes.
>Other?

>>2438563
>>Pretend that you know about 'Lazarus'. See where this goes.

>>2438563
>Pretend that you know about 'Lazarus'. See where this goes.
>Other: You do realize even if 'Lazarus' works well, your crimes will overshadow it. the cat's out of the bag and the skeletons are out of the closet.

>>2438563
>Lazarus
Ya know, if this were a Dom train of thought, it would probably involve a tenuous connection with (the name) Martha>Batman>Ra's Al Ghul>Lazarus Pit.

So, some kind of body rejuvenation or consciousness transfer tech, the latter of which was already established to be the end game of Dogatie.

>>Pretend that you know about 'Lazarus'. See where this goes.

>>2438563
>>Pretend that you know about 'Lazarus'. See where this goes.

>3d10

Rolled 1, 7, 5 = 13 (3d10)

>>2438615
BITCH. YOU SPILLING.

Rolled 5, 6, 3 = 14 (3d10)

>>2438615

Rolled 9, 6, 9 = 24 (3d10)

>>2438615
Or it's just something Easter themed again.

Rolled 4, 7, 7 = 18 (3d10)

>>2438615

>>2438625
CREME CLUTCH.

THESE FUCKING ROLLS HOLY SHIT

File: 1519457507226.png (24 KB, 772x410)

24 KB PNG

Okay, that's weird. Same post ID, but it didn't register a "you" in the first post. Could've sworn I hit send only once.

Dunno if it would be fair to keep the 24, as much as it pains me.

>>2438658
keep it, creme scum.

>>2438658
it's the first three rolls. regardless of the IP address. Even though it's common etiquette to roll only once, there are the desperate quests. So I would let this slide and accept the 24 .

>>2438563
“Your attempt to have us killed after we found Alpha failed,” you bluff, your weapon still trained on her. “And it failed bad. More civilian casualties than you can get away with, Martha. There's too much blood on your hands for humanity to just let you go.”

“That's nothing!” she snaps. “Those people mean nothing and you know it! You know what Lazarus is, what it means... what are the lives of a few thousand people when we're talking about the next stage in human evolution?”

“It's because of that attitude you don't deserve to have control over something that important!” you counter. “How can someone with no respect for human life...”

“Oh, spare me the holier-than-though nonsense,” Martha practically spits, glaring at you hatefully. “I know your type. You talk like a saint but you've got as much to lose from the Reaper as any of us. You'd do it.”

“Maybe,” you continue your act. “And maybe not. But you've gone too far to make Lazarus work.”

“For immortality?” she questions you. “Is there any such thing as 'too far'? Human avarice is a hell of a thing, Captain... even when you have it all, you'll still want more time. And we were so close to getting it.”

Did she say... immortality?

“You... you mad bastards,” you practically gasp, realization dawning. “It's not about the weapons... cloning, gene therapies, conditioning... you're trying to transfer your living memories into a newtype vessel. That's what Crux Dogatie was after when he partnered with you... functional immortality through cyber-newtype cloning...”

“Wait... you didn't know?” Martha's eyes widen as she realizes what she's given away. “Damn it all... I wonder what Syam saw in you, with such limited ambition and imagination.”

“You could just ask him,” you point out.

Martha shakes her head. “Syam Vist is dead. He died eight years ago.”

“I'm almost sorry to hear that.”

“That was the impetus behind Lazarus,” Martha continued. “We who moved and shook the Spheres saw the futility of our own mortality that day. The terror attacks were meant to increase economic uncertainty among our rivals, the political maneuvers were meant to re-establish the Jovian fuel trade. But all of the profit from that was meant for this.”

It seems crazy... but I'm proof of concept. It could work... a Newtype 'soul' can exist outside the body it was born into. With some work...

>That's... that's incredible. Literal immortality, within humanity's grasp.
>That's immoral. It means wiping out the soul of someone like Alpha... or like Cynthia, Diana, and Marida.
>What about all the other technology? What did you plan to do with your 'immortality'?
>Other?

>>2438720
>>That's immoral. It means wiping out the soul of someone like Alpha... or like Cynthia, Diana, and Marida.

>>2438720
>>That's immoral. It means wiping out the soul of someone like Alpha... or like Cynthia, Diana, and Marida.

>>2438720
>other: ...and then what? If what you're saying is true, I can't think it'd be practical. Not to mention the long term rammifications.
>So your idea of "living forever" is just committing "soul rape". That's sick. Even by my standards. Even my sister is sickened by this and she shares the same headspace.

I'll be back in a bit, don't do anything too stopid while I'm gone.

>>2438720
>>That's immoral. It means wiping out the soul of someone like Alpha... or like Cynthia, Diana, and Marida.
>>Other?
Will we as humanity be capable of learning from our mistakes then, when the value of a life is diminished to that extent? Multiple lives and potential futures in exchange for a single, endless lifetime?

>>2438777
No promises.

>>2438720
“Even if we could ignore the moral implications of wiping the soul from someone like Alpha, Cynthia, Diana, or Marida...” you growl back, not liking where this is heading one bit. “What would happen to a functionally immortal species? We'd run out of resources.”

Martha laughs, a high, cruel sound she doesn't even bother to hide. The jig is up, she knows there's no need for acting.

“You silly girl,” she sneers. “You don't really think we'd give this technology to everyone do you? It would be wasted on the teeming masses... but they would get something out of it. Something that would make it easier for them to ignore the newly-widened gap between elite and peasant.”

“And that would be...”

“Security,” she informs you. “Energy security. Food security. A post-scarcity economy.”

“How do you reckon that?” you snort.

“You saw what happened at K2-18,” she replies, “I know that much. You really don't think that was done with a sense of whimsy, do you?”

“Smart paint...” you realize. “You plan to coat the inside of some sort of... massive colony structure with it. Suspending tiny photovoltaic cells inside it.”

“And control rods made form the gundarium-psy material your little band of miscreants devised for us,” Martha confirms. “A constant psychofield produced by the work of thousands of newtypes, unconsciously wanting the miniature sun that powers their world to keep burning... a Kardashev-II civilization.”

“With power enough to last tens of thousands of years,” you realize.

“Hundreds of thousands,” Martha snaps. “Can you even understand it, Captain Marseille? All that power at our fingertips, the ability to print materials with specialized qualities and psychically attune them? A level of genetic manipulation that's never been seen before? Technological wonders like humanity has never even dared to dream, and it's all right here! And it would happen in our lifetimes, because we'd be immortal!”

>So this is it... this insanity of yours caused by the death of Syam Vist. This is the cause of it all.
>We'll see. But for now you're coming with us... you have a trial you need to attend, after all.
>I'll make sure you see it happen... to everyone else but you. Because you've earned a harsher punishment than death.
>Other?

>>2438881
>>We'll see. But for now you're coming with us... you have a trial you need to attend, after all.
Also, this is relevant, the Tiangong-1 deorbit stream https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yF3qRPoqw8&ab_channel=VolcanoWatch

>>2438881
>>We'll see. But for now you're coming with us... you have a trial you need to attend, after all.

>>2438881
>>So this is it... this insanity of yours caused by the death of Syam Vist. This is the cause of it all.

>>2438908
"We'll see," you reply calmly. "But for now you're coming with us. You have a trial to attend, after all... you're going to be the guest of honor."

She stares at you, seemingly in disbelief. "You're not serious."

"I'm very serious," you reply, staring her right in the eye. "Pretty much all the time."

"You're arresting me."

"That's right."

"And you expect me to come quietly?" she demands.

"No," you shake your head. "But you know that resisting will just make this harder."

>3d10, dc 19, critical 23

Rolled 2, 2, 6 = 10 (3d10)

>>2439029

Rolled 6, 2, 2 = 10 (3d10)

>>2439029

File: f05[1].png (412 KB, 5000x5000)

412 KB PNG

>>2439038
>>2439040

Rolled 2, 2, 4 = 8 (3d10)

>>2439029

welp.

>>2439029
“I am aware of my options,” Martha insists. “I've had time to think things through. And I think I've chosen correctly.”

In a flash you turn your pistol and drop to your knee. Your response is lightning-quick. But it isn't quick enough... maybe you didn't pick up on the context clues. Maybe you just assumed. Or maybe, when it comes right down to it... you were okay with letting it happen, at least on some level.

The glass across the wide balcony from you spiderwebs, three holes appearing before the shattered remnants fall to the ground.

There's a familiar mist as Martha's body jerks, then slumps to the floor where blood rapidly pools around her.

“Don't move!” you roar. “Guns on the ground, now!”

Three men in body armor, each carrying an automatic rifle, follow your orders. They release their magazines and kick their rifles away, then kneel with their hands on their heads.

“What the hell was that for!?” you demand angrily.

“Orders, ma'am,” the shooter who appears to be senior explains. “Control of the facility is yours, madam Director.”

Wait, hold the fucking phone. What?”

“I... the fuck did you just call me?”

“Director,” the shooter repeats. “You... are Captain Carya Marseille-OHara?”

You stare blankly at the man. “Yeah.”

“Then you're this facility's new Director,” the man tells you. “Orders from the former Director.”

“She... ordered you to shoot her.”

“Yes, ma'am.”

“Don't call me that. And she ordered that after you shot her, I'd take control of the facility?”

“Yes, ma'am.”

“I told you not to call me that,” you growl. “So... I can order you to retrieve any relevant data on the project?”

“It's in your prerogative,” the man replies. And the damnedest thing... he doesn't seem like he's lying.
>1/2

>>2439105
She wut the now?

>>2439105
well this is a plot twist. Martha dying and then handing over control to Carya means that now Carya is implicated in the crime just by having her name in the paper.

>>2439112
She's basically framing us as the mastermind behind the crime as a thanatos gambit. cheeky bitch.

>>2439105
“Then... go,” you order. “Slowly.”

“Of course, I'll be back in ten minutes,” he replies before following your command.

You stare blankly at his back as he withdraws.

“I... gimme a second here.”

So she resolved to die.

“I... I guess she did?” you agree.

Because she knew she'd never be the one in charge if you captured her.

“Yeah, that's true.”

She preferred to die and save herself the ordeal of answering for what she did.

“And then she foisted the responsibility for cleaning up the mess to us,” you grumble, staring down at her immobile body. “That's... a familiar pattern.”

>I want this place wiped from the face of the Earth. Take only evidence, leave only ashes.
>Everything is preserved. We're calling in a heavy guard from Mars and Luna, right now.
>I'm not playing her damn game. We're walking away from all of this, right now.

>>2439127
>>I want this place wiped from the face of the Earth. Take only evidence, leave only ashes.

>>2439127
>>I want this place wiped from the face of the Earth. Take only evidence, leave only ashes.

>>2439127
>>I want this place wiped from the face of the Earth. Take only evidence, leave only ashes.

>>2439127
>I want this place wiped from the face of the Earth. Take only evidence, leave only ashes.
>other: "AND GIMME A DAMN CIGARETTE!" or something equivalent to Carya's vice for stress relief.

>3d10, best of four

Rolled 3, 10, 6 = 19 (3d10)

>>2439150
haha yes please.
>>2439157

Rolled 5, 4, 8 = 17 (3d10)

>>2439157
WHERE'S MY DAMN CIGARETTE!?

Rolled 2, 4, 7 = 13 (3d10)

>>2439157
A stiff drink! Make it a bottle.

Rolled 7, 7, 8 = 22 (3d10)

>>2439157

>>2439172
Nice.

>>2439127
“Get everyone out of here,” you order the two other gunmen. “That's my order. Then I'm gonna destroy it all.”

“Are you...”

“Yes, I'm sure,” you snap. “What happened here... the things these people have done? It's twisted, monstrous. I know I can't stop anyone from pursuing it again, the genie's long since left that bottle. But I can sure as hell make 'em start fresh.”

“So what do you want us to do with the subjects?”

You practically freeze. “Subjects?”
>1/2

>>2439204
This... this is something different. You called this program monstrous, you called it immoral, you called it sick. But what it really is... it's beyond any form of human morality that exists.

There are children here, four or five of each in a group, identical to each other like they've been mass produced. The ones from Luna... or the copies of them, at least. Then you see a familiar face, framed by red hair, like three others you know. Another with red hair and a strong jaw, like looking at your husband's old photos. And in one padded cell, you find the single most disturbing thing you've ever laid eyes upon.

It's you, but not you.

She looks at you, almost totally at a loss, but with the vaguest spark of recognition.

Sis...

You swallow hard, slowly and deliberately moving your hand away from the grip of your holstered sidearm. It... it wouldn't be right. You know that. But face to face with this reality, it's hard not to reject it utterly.

“Who... are you?” she asks you carefully.

>I'm the original. The one you were based on.
>A... friend. Or rather, two friends. It's complicated.
>The new Director. I'm ending these experiments.
>Other?

>>2439290
>>A... friend. Or rather, two friends. It's complicated.

>>2439290
>>A... friend. Or rather, two friends. It's complicated.

>>2439290
>>A... friend. Or rather, two friends. It's complicated.

>>2439290
>other: I'm someone who knows you very well.
Oh shit. this freaky is on a new level.

>3d10, best of three

Rolled 7, 1, 10 = 18 (3d10)

>>2439381
Don't mentally freak out yet, mini-C

Rolled 10, 3, 2 = 15 (3d10)

>>2439381

Rolled 4, 10, 2 = 16 (3d10)

>>2439381

>>2439385
it'd be weird if we somehow adopt her as our "daughter". How will we explain shit to our son?

>>2439381
“It's okay,” you insist quietly, almost trying to convince yourself. “We're... friends.”

“We?”

“My sister and I share a body, it's complicated,” you explain. “It's... what the Vist Foundation was after.”

“The ones who created us?” your doppelganger asks, seeming to take a curiosity in that notion. “Why?”

“Because they wanted to know how my sister survived her body's death,” you realize. “However her body no longer exists for them to clone... so they cloned mine.”

“I am your... clone?” the other you asks. “So, that makes me superfluous?”

“No, I don't think so,” you shake your head. “You may be me, physically speaking. But you and I have different experiences, different outlooks. You never had a Catrina in your life, you never married, you don't have a kid.”

She shakes her head.

“Then you and I only share our genes,” you shrug. “So far as I'm concerned that doesn't make you me, and it doesn't make me you.”

“I see,” she nods. “I think I understand. You... lost an eye at some point?”

“It was a shootout, years ago,” you nod. “Hey, least people can tell us apart.”

“It's a good look,” she chuckles.

“Hurt like hell though,” you admit. “Wouldn't recommend to friends.”

“I'll keep that in mind,” she smiles. “So... what happens to us now?”

>We find new lives for you. The galaxy is big enough for both of us.
>I need you to do me a favor. Would you mind talking to a jury about this?
>Other?

>>2439549
>other: Can I adopt you?

>>2439549
>>I need you to do me a favor. Would you mind talking to a jury about this?

>>2439549
>>We find new lives for you. The galaxy is big enough for both of us.
>>I need you to do me a favor. Would you mind talking to a jury about this?

>>2439549
>>We find new lives for you. The galaxy is big enough for both of us.
Just steer clear of a certain blonde, charismatic man with a preference for shades or masks.

>>2439603
Damn that Quattro Bajeena.

>>2439549
“Don't worry,” you smirk. “We'll be looking out for you all, at least until you're ready to strike out on your own.”

“Thanks,” your clone nods appreciatively. “I... guess it must not be easy for you. Knowing that you... knowing that this happened must feel like a violation.”

“A little,” you admit. “But you deserve a chance. All of you do.”

“It's nice,” she smiles. “Knowing that I'm based on someone like that, it fills me with determination.”

“There's a way you can thank me,” you tell her.

She raises an eyebrow. “Name it.”
>1/2

File: sunrise.jpg (145 KB, 1920x1080)

145 KB JPG

>>2439621
“I can't believe it's been eight months,” you sigh, looking out the window at La Vie en Rose and the other ship set amid its spindly arms.

Rossweisse stares out the window next to you. “How has the joint investigation gone?”

“They're done collecting testimony,” you reply thoughtfully, “so it's probably in the end stages now.”

“Did Carta give her testimony as well?”

She knows that it's still a sensitive subject for you, so her tone is a cautious one. “Yes, she did.”

“How is she?”

“Working on Luna,” you explain. “As an EMT.”

“That's nice,” Rossweisse nods, smiling warmly. “Even if she's not literally you... she takes after you.”

“Yeah, I guess,” you deflect, scratching your neck. “Nice ship you've got here.”

“It's a light cruiser,” she reminds you. “Long range, heavy armament, small size. Mobile suit space for four, with docking points for a secondary hangar under the main hull.”

“This was a long time in coming.”

“Damn right,” you nod. “Thanks for agreeing to it.”

“Of course,” she tells you. “I understand that you cannot simply leave this sort of life behind, even for your child... we all do. So this is what is best, and I am happy to oblige.”

“It's gonna get annoying,” you point out. “You hate children.”

“I don't hate Nathan,” Rossweisse defends herself.

“Because he's mine,” you point out. “We're talking about training cruises all the damn time.”

“It is an important task,” she convinces herself. “All newtypes must familiarize themselves with the field work we're expected to do.”

“Well, so long as you're aware. It's not just gonna be a reunion tour you know.”

“I know,” Rossweisse nods. “But we'll be together again. That's enough to make anything else worth it.”

“So,” you muse. “Dominic reckons we should go to Mars first.”

Rossweisse smiles. “Sounds fine to me.”

>>2439761
The story of Carya and her companions may not end here, but Shadows of Zeon: Aphelion has drawn to a close. Thanks for playing, hope you enjoyed the quest... and see you later.

>>2439819
>>2439761

Even if the author is silenced, the performance is stopped, the story will not end.

Whether it's a comedy or a tragedy, if there is cheering, the story will continue on.
Just like the many lives.
For the us who are still in it and still in the journey, send warm blessings.

---We will continue to walk down this path until eternity.

>>2439819
And that's a wrap, thanks for the run!

Man, shame about some of the tech though. They could probably be repurposed to accelerate Mars' terraforming or make Luna more self sufficient.
Been dipping into that Altered Carbon sauce for inspiration?

>>2439843
That's from Fate/Realta Nua, it's always stuck with me, for some reason.

>>2439761
I will, upon further review, write one last post some time tomorrow when it's not two in the morning, mentioning where everyone else is eight months later. But I can'd do it right now. I literally don't have it in me.

>>2439954
Cool. Looking forward to it after getting some rest too.

File: 722fc11c8830b774e8e9d16be(...).jpg (16 KB, 600x217)

16 KB JPG

>>2439954
Eight months... it's a long time for a baby, but it can feel like the blink of an eye for an adult. A lot can happen to an adult in that time, decisions can be made quickly and reversed just as abruptly. For an adult, life can change completely in the span of just eight months.

First of all, your crew and friends now have a new vessel that's just being completed: also to be named Sericea. Its design is oddly organic, almost like that of a swan's body in flight. The original design called for two hangar exits and launch ramps on the sides of the forward hull and an all-centerline superimposed main battery. Instead you had Anaheim place the main catapult and airlock where the main battery was, allowing you to open up substantial space foreward for improved crew quarters and facilities. The awkward hullform where the engineering sections meet the main hull was also reinforced, with four twin turrets being placed there to mimic the armament of the old Alexandria-class heavy cruisers. Two single turrets positioned outboard of the engines and aft of the fuel storage round out the main battery. The main command tower and forward hull sport close-range turrets for point defense, and two vertical launch systems on either side of the tower provide a missile compliment.

When all is said and done the new Sericea is one hundred and ninety meters of careful engineering and thoughtful planning, all to cram as much capacity into as maneuverable hull as possible: almost too much ship for one woman to handle. But the biggest change was to add mass to the ventral side, where there is space to dock a second hangar and launch ramp flush to the ventral hull. It can only ever be 'upside down' so it's only good in space, but it converts Sericea into a hub for advanced training of young Newtype officers.

To that end, Sericea's crew has been indefinitely joined by some notable members: Dominic O'Hara, Haman Karn, and Audrey April chief among them. It's very quietly more of a horrifying sight than the Nagato... which is now stationed permanently out of a colony stationed around Pluto, whose inhabitants have successfully lobbied to have Pluto itself reinstated as a 'planet' after so may years.
>1/?

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>>2441559
On a more personal level your clone has taken the name 'Carta' and gotten herself a visible tattoo on the base and side of her neck to make you even more easily distinguishable. She took up work on Luna under Artesia's supervision, since given her position everyone lives under Artesia's supervision anyway, and has successfully become an Emergency Medical Technician. You think she's happy there... but you haven't visited in person to check, despite communicating regularly by email. You don't have to tell her of all people how strange it is to see her face to face.

In quite the reversal, you've been personally keeping an eye on Artesia's clone Alpha as part of your promise to both of them. She has some skill as a newtype, but understandably she hates the idea of combat. Instead she's taken to maintenance, working under Audrey to learn the ins and outs of mobile suit design. Again it's hard to tell if she's 'happy' per se... but she does seem content. Like she has a purpose. And that's probably close enough.

Your partner Rossweisse isn't thrilled to be surrounded by 'children' all the time now... you think it reminds her a little of her own time in Titans. But that also makes her more determined to make sure it works this time in spite of her own discomfort. It also helps that she knows one of the younger students... chiefly, Quess.

Quess Paraya is proving to be as solid a newtype as you'd guessed she would be, quickly taking to her studies. She might be a little too enthusiastic even... she'll be one to watch either way.

As for your old... you want to say 'friend' Cima? She's joined up with Artesia. For years you thought she'd refuse to work for anyone else again, after what happened to her in her time fighting for Zeon. But helping to be Artesia's eyes and ears seems to suit her well. She has a certain ruthlessness that Artesia has always lacked, which means they balance each other to a degree. You'd certainly hate to be a terrorist on Luna right now.
>2/?

>>2441561
As for the state of the world? It's actually kind of funny when you stop to think about it. The Universal Century was all about sudden, dramatic changes... but for all that drama, humanity seemed so stagnant. The situations evolved of course, names and faces were replaced every few years, but the story was always the same. Even when humanity began its push beyond the edges of the solar system towards new worlds, it brought all of its old, familiar problems with it. As if it needed something to ground itself.

But it's when things change slowly that it actually feels that humanity is starting to grow again.

The Vist Foundation is gone, its secret having been revealed and what little remained of its power eroded. Its attempts to automate mobile suits in combat haven't been repeated, at least not on a wide scale, and the Zeon revival you feared at one point never manifested. Perhaps it's because the Federation is gone too, and a Zeon princess now rules over a growing world.

Just like the Vists, the Jupiter Fleet is all but gone. The colonies making up the Jovian sphere began to push towards self-sufficiency rather than exploiting resources for wealth... difficult, so far from the sun, but not impossible. Relationships will remain strained within the Sol system for probably as long as you'll live, but Crux Dogatie's dreaming seems to no longer guide the Council. At very least, that's a place to start.

Mars is much the same as always, though a loosening of control over the “smart paint” technology has led to something of a technological renaissance. Solar arrays are literally painted across any suitable surface, and green plants are being grown in the sheltered lows of craters in the area surrounding the Mariner Valley. Oxygen levels are steadily rising, the atmosphere is growing thicker, and there's even some talk of capturing comets to add water vapor, all in an attempt to make Mars more livable. Queen Mineva's reign seems stable once more after the coup, and she's begun to truly step out of the shadows of her own cabinet as a capable leader.

Luna is still in the midst of a minor crisis. The political scandal surrounding the late Senator Hawke has led to a string of high-profile resignations as evidence of corruption deepens. Little doubt exists that Artesia Som Deikun and Cima Garahau have been largely responsible for this, and the public perception has been mixed. On the one hand it's generally accepted that this needed to happen... on the other, some have begun to wonder at the quixotic nature of their efforts.
>3/4

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>>2442185
That just leaves... well, some self-reflection.

You can't say that you regret everything that happened, though some of the outcomes may not have been what you intended. There was more than your fair share of trouble to come of it as well, with many near-disasters. A lot of people died, you lost an eye, and if pressed you'd admit you lost your innocence as well.

But in the end, regardless of how you feel about it, those things happened. And you don't know how the Universal Century would have unfolded had they not.

If you had died in that lab accident, would the Grim Guard have been formed? Would Titans and the first Mars Zeon have fallen? Would the race to develop the Psychoframe have given humanity the means to escape its failing home on Earth, to strike out among the stars in the second great age of exploration? Or would things have somehow been better?

You can't know any of that for sure, and thinking about it that way... it doesn't accomplish anything.

What you do know is that as the Universal Century draws to a close is how you got here: you lived your life. You followed your heart as best you could, did what you thought was right, stuck close to the people you care about most. And it got you through.

It may well be the case that this new and stupidly-named 'Cosmic Era' won't let you quit. You might be fighting on the interplanetary stage for the rest of your life, there but for the blessings of fate and some fancy footwork.

But your family, and your friends? They accept that about you.

You can accept that about yourself.

And if you keep it up, if you continue to support each other through every small step humanity takes on the way forward? If you can keep each other strong?

When the day finally comes for you to walk off the stage you'll be able to do it with your head held high.

But for now... that isn't today.
>4/4

>>2442259
Thank you for running King. I remember when you said that this quest might not be that long, but now about 50 threads later we are here.

I have really enjoyed this so I will be bit sad to see this to end, but I shall eagerly wait for your future projects and I will continue to read SSQ.

>>2442403
Thanks, glad to hear you enjoyed it.

It's always a little sad to see something end, but it's at a place where I feel satisfied with it. And that's something I'm happy to be taking with me into whatever comes next.

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Good night and dog bless, SoZ.
penis.