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You grasp the handshake, pulling her thoughts up to your speed.
“Awake, Beta? Command needs us in the field at 0330, so the less time spent dawdling in boot-up stages, the better.”
You feel Sophie’s nervousness over the link. Perhaps that means you’ll find some actual opponents today.

“Acknowledged, pilot. We will not be late.”
The clock reads 0309. You begin running diagnostics, checking feedback from your subsystems, cataloging the changes and errors from your last deployment. See if the eggheads broke anything.

There’s at least a few significant changes that you’ve noticed.
The frame’s plating seems to have been reduced slightly, and the Yi mechanical boosters aren’t reading as allowing you to overcharge anymore.

Tuning up the Predator jamming array indicates that intrusion protocols are allowed, which you promptly test by focusing on the mobile base’s network you’re connected to, and plant a virtual spike through the security system, looking for details on your upcoming deployment.

Sure, you could go through the trouble of poking your pilot, and having them poke through. But it’s more fun this way.
Your satisfaction must be leaking over to Sophie, because you get a vague sense of disapproval.


There’s also a new heavy power draw, which you notice as your reactor climbs past 50% output, towards higher levels. Engineers seem to have worked hard on your frame while you slept.

What is it?
Pick one

>Project Xerath- Heavy shoulder-mounted laser that takes a high reactor output to spin up and fire, but rapidly melts through all but the toughest of foes. Requires diverting additional power to use, cutting off extra subsystem use while using. +2 to attack at medium and long range, 5 Damage per shot, limited traverse and aiming.

>Project Burning Eagle- Improved thrusters, built to give limited flight capabilities, but primarily used to assist in pin-point dodging midair and additional mobility on leaps- +1 Defense, flight

>Buckler particle shield system- Shoulder-mounted energy shield that catches incoming projectiles, robbing them of kinetic energy. Extended use causes high reactor drain, and may cause it to burn out through catching of errant objects. +2 to defense at range


A/N
Welcome! Either a new or old reader, it’s been a while, and all I can say is that I’ve been occupied with other matters. Such as, say, this extremely good game called Armored Core 6.
Apologies to anyone clicking and expecting a direct Armored Core quest, but I’m still playing about in my own universe, though I will certainly pull inspiration and art from it.
This was actually my first time playing the Armored Core series. Ironic, considering the name I chose for the quest.

>>5763652
>Project Xerath- Heavy shoulder-mounted laser that takes a high reactor output to spin up and fire, but rapidly melts through all but the toughest of foes. Requires diverting additional power to use, cutting off extra subsystem use while using. +2 to attack at medium and long range, 5 Damage per shot, limited traverse and aiming.
WE ARE SO FUCKING BACK, also what was the result of the last vote about what traits Sophie picked up?

>>5763662
She lost Neophyte, so going High-sync no longer knocks her out afterwards, got as an upside
Link to the Future- Once per thread, shift a dice to a 6 after rolling
As a downside, got:
Linking Addict

Want to save the full character sheet post for later, after picking briefing and picking main weapon.

>>5763652
>Project Burning Eagle- Improved thrusters, built to give limited flight capabilities, but primarily used to assist in pin-point dodging midair and additional mobility on leaps- +1 Defense, flight

>>5763652
>Project Burning Eagle- Improved thrusters, built to give limited flight capabilities, but primarily used to assist in pin-point dodging midair and additional mobility on leaps- +1 Defense, flight

>>5763652
>Project Burning Eagle- Improved thrusters, built to give limited flight capabilities, but primarily used to assist in pin-point dodging midair and additional mobility on leaps- +1 Defense, flight
Should be fewer issues with it since we ran with it back in simulations. We already know this + Yi should give us freedom to choose our engagements given our speed and mobility.

Plus we could finally use the demon claw and make Delta proud.

Shame we couldn’t talk with Sophie on the way back about the mission. I wanted to point out that she got in trouble the last time we tried “saving” people, so Command may very well congratulate her for getting rid of civilian witnesses. Which doesn’t fully jive with how we got in trouble for prioritizing our sisters in our “zeroth” mission defending the base.

Wasn’t sure where to go from there, I just wanted Beta to vent. Maybe try and work in that not knowing “standing orders” sucks and that if she’d spell them out in advance we’ll at least remember them. Trade those for a red line of our own on withholding info on missions we do that negatively impact our sisters.

Unrelated, a commendation with no mention of the civilians may explain why her mental health took another dive here…

>>5763652
>refresh page
>Core of Steel Quest
Let's fucking gooooo!
Welcome back!

>Project Burning Eagle- Improved thrusters, built to give limited flight capabilities, but primarily used to assist in pin-point dodging midair and additional mobility on leaps- +1 Defense, flight

>>5763652
>Project Burning Eagle- Improved thrusters, built to give limited flight capabilities, but primarily used to assist in pin-point dodging midair and additional mobility on leaps- +1 Defense, flight

>>5763652
>Project Xerath- Heavy shoulder-mounted laser that takes a high reactor output to spin up and fire, but rapidly melts through all but the toughest of foes. Requires diverting additional power to use, cutting off extra subsystem use while using. +2 to attack at medium and long range, 5 Damage per shot, limited traverse and aiming.
It's great to see this quest again. Welcome back!

>>5763651
Ooh, nice, this is back!

>>5763652
>buckler particle shield
I take it you've been playing Armored Core recently?
Anyway, my choice is Project Burning Eagle

>>5763652
>Project burning eagle

Heh, hey sophie.

>>5763652
>>Project Burning Eagle- Improved thrusters, built to give limited flight capabilities, but primarily used to assist in pin-point dodging midair and additional mobility on leaps- +1 Defense, flight

>>5763652
>>Project Burning Eagle- Improved thrusters, built to give limited flight capabilities, but primarily used to assist in pin-point dodging midair and additional mobility on leaps- +1 Defense, flight
Is this Armored Core?

>>5763945
Read nigga, read.

>>5763652
>Project Burning Eagle- Improved thrusters, built to give limited flight capabilities, but primarily used to assist in pin-point dodging midair and additional mobility on leaps- +1 Defense, flight

Part of me wants Xerath pretty bad, but without knowing our mission Burning Eagle is probably king.

Still, artillery life is best life.

>>5763652
>Project Xerath
I jumped a little when I saw a new Core of Steel thread. Welcome back!

>>5763652
>>Project Burning Eagle- Improved thrusters, built to give limited flight capabilities, but primarily used to assist in pin-point dodging midair and additional mobility on leaps- +1 Defense, flight

>>5763652
>>Project Xerath- Heavy shoulder-mounted laser that takes a high reactor output to spin up and fire, but rapidly melts through all but the toughest of foes. Requires diverting additional power to use, cutting off extra subsystem use while using. +2 to attack at medium and long range, 5 Damage per shot, limited traverse and aiming.

>>5763652
>>Project Burning Eagle- Improved thrusters, built to give limited flight capabilities, but primarily used to assist in pin-point dodging midair and additional mobility on leaps- +1 Defense, flight

>>5763652
Just got done catching up and I have to say, this is one hell of an interesting quest you got here.
Not sure if it's intentional or not, but you've managed to set plant perfect seed for a horror quest with the players controlling the monster- Beta as an AI is innocent in the scariest ways and Sophie too inexperienced, or indulgent, to realise the true nature of the beast she's indirectly helping grow. And with Linking Addict winning last thread's vote... this has all the hallmarks of a true tragedy waiting to be told. Again, bravo, QM, bravo.

As for the vote

>Burning Eagle
seems to be at the very least the most stable of the subsystems offered.

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A set of six adjustable output boosters test their range of motion, firing to life in short bursts. Project Burning Eagle, now realized outside of the simulators.

Your pilot’s hands dance over the controls, shutting them away from your control, and letting them idle.
“You can test them out when we’re no longer inside. Though I will assume all subsystems check out, if you’re already playing with the new boosters.”

You weren’t going to actually commit to a combat thrust. Maybe if you were still in the simulator. Smash straight through the door, see how much speed you could build up in a short time.
“Don’t you dare, Beta. I can tell you’re thinking about it.”

You shrug off her probing thoughts and report.
“Reactor operating at 83% output, Main weapon operational, Project Burning Eagle thrusters appear to function. Predator array is fully operational. I have taken the liberty using it to procure the mission briefing. Reporting errors with the Yi accelerators, preliminary tests inform me that I am unable to overcharge them.”

“They were changed to prevent unneeded strain on the frame’s artificial muscles. Apparently using them like we were was going to cause serious structural failure eventually. I Get that you’re annoyed, but take it up with the engineers.”

Hmm. Sophie’s certainly gotten better at reading your intent. You forward the mission briefing that you found to your pilot.

She sighs.
“I’ll ignore that this is labeled for a security clearance two levels above mine, and that it doesn’t quite line up with the briefing I received twenty minutes ago. You’re technically not a person according to military law, so there’s no security breach for you reading this, but I could get Another censure for reading this version.”

You remain silent. She’ll get to the point eventually.

“I’m responsible for your actions. Are you listening?”

“Always, pilot,” you respond.

“Frak. This really isn’t the time for this. In the future, notify me if you’re going to perform any intrusions on friendly forces. Now, what do you think about the mission?”

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Orders have you deploying towards an ongoing assault on the city of Kentares, specifically being called out to engage and destroy a super-heavy tripod walker codenamed ‘Pyramid’ which has been stalling the advance in the city. You have a map of sightings of the machine over the time in which the battle has been going, which has led intel to give an estimated position of where the ‘home base’ or repair depot it’s been operating out of is located.

That alone wouldn’t be enough to call in a specific strike, but ‘Pyramid’ seems to also use a reactor which generates an irregular set of radiation emissions. Someone higher up put a survey together, which further confirmed the site.

Details on the machine in question seem to indicate that it is well armed with vertical-launch missile bays, high-powered lasers, and some sort of communications disruptor to prevent units from effectively coordinating against it.

The classified section of the report you obtained notes that intelligence suggests that based on the sheer amount of sightings, the machine has been in near-continuous combat for a week, indicating that either they are rotating crews to maintain the pace of operations, or a high-level AI is responsible for high-level functioning of the mech. Interesting.

Whether AI operated or crewed, it’s still impressive that a single machine has been able to bring a halt to offensive operations in the city. Southern Command seems to be hesitant to gather enough forces to brute force the issue without unacceptable losses, and hence you are called in.

You’re about to deploy.
>What primary weapon has been installed for this mission?
>Bia Chaingun- rotating high velocity minigun scaled up to be used by your frame. Highly effective against lighter targets and unmatched in rate of fire. Brrrrrrt +1 to attack at medium range, +1 to attack at close range. 1 auto-success per light unit targeted, but less damage against heavier units. Fast projectiles. 1 Damage per volley, but can hit multiple units.

>Tyrant Cannon- armor-piercing high velocity cannon taken off of Tyrant tank, with auto loader. Low rate of fire, but different ammo types available. +1 to attack at long range, +2 to attack at medium range. Slow projectile. 3 Damage per shot.

>Whirlwind Missiles- ammo-limited, launches various types of missiles to eliminate targets. Missiles have limited guidance capability, but can carry various different warheads- generally effective against all targets, warhead depending. +1 at long range, +1 to medium range, Access to Explosive, Smoke, or Haywire warheads. 2 Damage per volley.
Gas warheads have been removed

>Project Demon- Reinforced melee weapon capable of tearing through armor. Armor-piercing, highly effective against all targets. 1 auto-success in close combat, minimum of 3 damage when hitting, regardless of success amount.

The plan from the briefing is to send Beta directly to the estimated home base, trying to catch Pyramid while it’s in repairs.

You’ll naturally have leeway to change this when you’re in the city, and out of communications range. Time is also a factor, as allied forces will be pushed back into an assault on the city, regardless of your success or failure, in a day.

I can answer some questions over the next day Beta and his processes might have from the briefing, within reason.

>>5763738
Yes, this definitely falls on me just not getting the motivation to properly close the thread out. Will note and try to give options later.

>>5766186
Thank you for the complement! We'll see where Beta and Sophie end up. Don't want to talk about plans too much, you know....

>>5766495
Bia Chaingun

>>5766495
>>Project Demon- Reinforced melee weapon capable of tearing through armor. Armor-piercing, highly effective against all targets. 1 auto-success in close combat, minimum of 3 damage when hitting, regardless of success amount.

Ah, how could I pass up this amazing cheese?

>>5766493
>No Yi
GODDAMN IT ENGINEERS LET ME GO FAST

>>5766495
>Project Demon- Reinforced melee weapon capable of tearing through armor. Armor-piercing, highly effective against all targets. 1 auto-success in close combat, minimum of 3 damage when hitting, regardless of success amount.
The best choice for killing a mech I reckon

>>5766495
>Project Demon- Reinforced melee weapon capable of tearing through armor. Armor-piercing, highly effective against all targets. 1 auto-success in close combat, minimum of 3 damage when hitting, regardless of success amount.
We're now highly-mobile, let's try and see if we can get up close and personal!

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For the new readers, some notes on combat.

This quest uses a d6 system. You roll a number of the dice equal to the stat, and 4+s are counted as successes normally.

5 stats of combat units
Will- Used for E-war and various interactions with the pilot and system controls. Is not affected by Sync rate.
Attack- Used for ranged and close combat
Defense- Used for evading incoming fire. Added to Attack dice for close combat
Skill- Used for non-direct combat skills. I.E. Stealth and detection
Structure- This is roughly how many hits a unit can take. Also not affected by Sync rate

How combat works
At long and medium range, roll your attack dice, then take the number of successes and subtract the number of successes they got on the defensive. Matching for Beta still results in hits on target.
Damage numbers on weapons dictate the amount of damage you deal in a single volley. Something like the cannon, if it succeeds, deals the flat amount to a single target. Chaingun and missiles, meanwhile, have the ability to splash damage to multiple units, as a result of their high rate of fire.

On the defensive at long or mid-range, you also roll the number of dice equal to Defense stat, take the successes, and use them to nullify whatever attack dice successes are incoming. Ties go to Beta.

At close range, you add both attack and defense stats together for the number of dice rolled, and take the number of successes as the amount of damage dealt. The Claw makes it so even if you merely succeed by 1, or tie, you'll still smash through and deal 3 damage.

Close range is more deadly to both sides, usually.

Beta is usually fast enough to dictate range of engagement, but foes similar to him or faster may be able to change a long-range fight into a mid-range, or a mid-range into a close range fight.

>>5766516
>At close range, you add both attack and defense stats together for the number of dice rolled, and take the number of successes as the amount of damage dealt. The Claw makes it so even if you merely succeed by 1, or tie, you'll still smash through and deal 3 damage.
>Close range is more deadly to both sides, usually.
Yeah, I was about to ask about that. That thing's no doubt very high defense would make close-combat pretty scary.

The Bia would blow away the lighter units, but we would have nothing to scratch Pyramid with.
So we might just have to take a page from Delta's playbook and play sniper hide and seek with it. City means plenty f buildings, and we're currently pretty good at maneuvering from cover to cover, or avoiding any reinforcements.
That mech has been in combat for a week. I don't care what's running it, combat stresses must be taking their toll. Let's stalk it and take potshots, identify weaknesses, and bring it down piecemeal.
And if we catch it idling, or with its guts open being repaired? Long range should let us get the drop on it and get some clean shots at its internals.

>>5766495
>Tyrant Cannon- armor-piercing high velocity cannon taken off of Tyrant tank, with auto loader. Low rate of fire, but different ammo types available. +1 to attack at long range, +2 to attack at medium range. Slow projectile. 3 Damage per shot.

>Gas warheads have been removed
Aww. No fun. Besides, we didn't actually kill anyone with them, if I recall?

>>5766495
>Project Demon
The claws have waited for literal months for a worthy opponent and now one stands before us, it would be foolish not to use them. I can't believe the 4 eyes took our gas missiles away

>>5766495
>>Project Demon- Reinforced melee weapon capable of tearing through armor. Armor-piercing, highly effective against all targets. 1 auto-success in close combat, minimum of 3 damage when hitting, regardless of success amount.
Big. Meaty. CLAW!

>>5766495
>>Project Demon

>>5766495
>>Project Demon

>>5766495
>>Project Demon- Reinforced melee weapon capable of tearing through armor. Armor-piercing, highly effective against all targets. 1 auto-success in close combat, minimum of 3 damage when hitting, regardless of success amount.

>>5766495
>Project Demon- Reinforced melee weapon capable of tearing through armor. Armor-piercing, highly effective against all targets. 1 auto-success in close combat, minimum of 3 damage when hitting, regardless of success amount.

Seems like the perfect choice for a brawl with a heavily armored target using ranged weaponry. Also RIP AND TEAR RIP AND TEAR.

>>5766495
>Project demon

>>5766495
>Project Demon
Today's the day Sophie!

>>5766495
>Project Demon- Reinforced melee weapon capable of tearing through armor. Armor-piercing, highly effective against all targets. 1 auto-success in close combat, minimum of 3 damage when hitting, regardless of success amount.
We have the mobility, and it’s got the damage minimum so even a minor success still does good damage.

Besides, when cracking open a crab you bring a claw if you can’t do it by hand.

>>5766528
We likely killed civilians given they were in the area.

>>5766495
>Project demon

>>5766495


Oh yeah, it is most certainly time for THE CLAW.

>>5766495
>Project Demon- Reinforced melee weapon capable of tearing through armor. Armor-piercing, highly effective against all targets. 1 auto-success in close combat, minimum of 3 damage when hitting, regardless of success amount.
We can at last give justice to our crazy sister's favorite tool

>>5766495
I just got caught up, very nice quest
>Project Demon- Reinforced melee weapon capable of tearing through armor. Armor-piercing, highly effective against all targets. 1 auto-success in close combat, minimum of 3 damage when hitting, regardless of success amount

>>5766495
>Project Demon
Time to take a page out of Delta’s book. We can even watch recordings of her fighting style to use as reference material, since we usually specialize in ranged weapons.

Actually, speaking of Delta, have we already used that gift she gave us that let’s Beta override an override? Or is that still an option in case of emergencies?

“I can’t help but be a little concerned with our primary weapon. I mean, just melee? When we commit to a fight, there’s no backing off.”

A concern, but not a serious one.
“Recall the simulations. Delta did not have serious trouble with that particular problem.”

“You’re not Delta, though. And it did lose, eventually. Because it wouldn’t, couldn’t retreat effectively.”


“Delta’s tactics are effective. My analysis of the engagements against her indicated that our victory was based on a multitude of factors, but most pertinently the ability to outmaneuver her frame. It is concerning that you would suggest that we are unable to outmaneuver a superheavy.”

“I suppose it’s a little late to have misgivings.”
She keys into the external speakers, calling to be detached from the gantry.

The doors slowly open outwards, allowing external light from a clouded day to stream in.

And your frame strides out into the ruined city, just before schedule.

There's incoming communications for your pilot. Encrypted channel.
She answers.
“Cobalt Zero-Four here. Beginning mission at 0330.”

The voice that responds is clearly modified in some way. Multiple voice filters, probably.
“This is Agent S. Limit contact in the field, pilot. To the crown, or the commons.”

“Ah, um, yes sir, uh, Agent. I say, um, this mission is too small.”
Your pilot’s response is a little uncertain.

There’s a pause on the line.


“Noted, pilot.”
The line is cut.

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A flutter of excitement runs through your core, rising with every step. This is a mission which promises at least a day’s worth of freedom, and a challenge. Being powered on to stand around was dull. There’s only so much time you want to spend going over old actions, especially when the prospect of future ones are an option.

“Beta, a few ground rules for this deployment.”

“So applying only when not airborne?”

You feel a bit of amusement over the link.
“No, I mean all the time.”

Curious phrasing. She continues.
“Limit contact with allied forces. I was reminded again recently that Project Warden was, ostensibly, a secret program. The more information on us that is out there, the better our enemies can plan around our capabilities.”

You can fulfill that without much trouble. You immediately start rerouting paths through friendly lines.
“That means no breaching systems without reason, especially friendly ones. I will say again, ask me for permission. Keep the offensive uses of the Predator limited to hostile units.”

You’re somewhat less enthused about that.
“And one more thing. When I say back off, we back off. Disengage, and withdraw. No second-guessing, no running back in for parting shots. And don’t try and talk me around like you usually do afterwards, when I say we’ve had enough, we pull back.”

You bristle in response to that. There’s plenty of scenarios where you envision that directive clashing with the optimal course of action.

“Now, I’ll trust you to pull through, even with this…janky setup the engineers gave us. Remember, there’s two of us in here. If there’s anyone invested in your success, it’s me.”

And in a lower tone, where your audio sensors barely pick it up in the pilot’s chamber.
“Well, or the Doctor.”

Voting
These are all, on the face of it, conditions to agree to. They’ll limit your ability to call for reinforcements, capabilities of the Predator, and point of retreat.

Beta may change his mind later on, but these will affect how he approaches the mission.

>Agree to her conditions, with intent to follow her directives. It’s a handicap for your opponents, after all. Hah.

>Agree to her conditions up front, while full while meaning to bypass any such limits, without directly contesting her will. This isn’t the simulators, and not seizing every advantage will leave you and your pilot dead.

>Disagree, attempt to argue for compromises on certain points. Perhaps you don’t need to consult her on EVERY e-war attempt, and you would know when retreat is an option far better than her.

>Plan to overrule her. You can simply cudgel her into submission with your will when it becomes relevant. There’s even the Blockbuster anti-override key in the back pocket for such an eventuality.

>Write-in

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Stats of Beta
(Stats are without any equipment)
Will- 5
Attack- 3
Defense- 3
Skill- 3
Structure (health)- 10

Refusal to End- Beta cannot take more than 3 structure damage from a single attack.

Project Burning Eagle- Improved thrusters, built to give limited flight capabilities, but primarily used to assist in pin-point dodging midair and additional mobility on leaps- +1 Defense, flight

Project Yi Accelerators: +1 to defense, first time you would fail a defense roll by 1 point, add an autosuccess.

Project Predator- 2 Auto-successes when engaging in E-War attack and defense. Enables Jamming.

Project Demon- Reinforced melee weapon capable of tearing through armor. Armor-piercing, highly effective against all targets. 1 auto-success in close combat, minimum of 3 damage when hitting, regardless of success amount.

Sophie
Will- 3
Traits:
Link to the Future- Once per thread, shift a dice to a 6 after rolling
Linking Addict- consequences

Yi was changed slightly from prior deployments. Image is remaining the same, though it may be changed slightly in the future. For example, this deployment the Frame is lacking the shoulder-mounted cannon.

>>5768837
>Agree to her conditions, with intent to follow her directives. It’s a handicap for your opponents, after all. Hah.
Something something
>"Let us see if Command still contrives an excuse reprimand us over this."
Plus
>"...Perhaps that was their intention after we rescued that general. They currently value project secrecy over open ally survival."
She's got us good there reminding about the secrecy aspect of this quest, and cucking us players out of doing the perfectionist "save all allies" tendency quest player anons usually inflict on their piloted protags. I wonder how Beta completely forgot about the secrecy. Probably too caught up in "muh perfect score" as is fitting of his character? Either way this is ONLY for this deployment, so I don't mind Beta agreeing with Sophie- if only to sate his curiosity while testing boundaries with Command in a different way than before.

>>5768870
Backing this up

>>5768837
>Agree to her conditions, with intent to follow her directives. It’s a handicap for your opponents, after all. Hah

I say we agree to her conditions, but before anything else though, we need to establish the whole “when I say back off, we back off” part. This has to be crystal clear. We’re gonna need a safeword or something because there’s plenty of times when she’s told us to do something and we have valid reason to ignore it, so it’s hard to tell when she REALLY means it. We could also do something similar when she’s being sync’d too hard.

Now, as for the reason why I think we should agree to her conditions:
1. Give and take. There’s plenty of things that Beta wants but can’t get. Obviously Sophie can’t help us with stuff like rewriting our code, but we can definitely ask her to check how our siblings are doing/requisition better parts/help us learn about the big picture and world beyond our sensors.
2. Sophie has been difficult overall, but she’s improving. On the other hand, we’ve been unforgiving, and haven’t really repaid her “”””””trust””””” yet. All her squad mates got killed. The drama route would have Beta sympathize since we kinda know what that’s like after (almost) losing our siblings. The cold ruthless ai route would have Beta recognize that she doesn’t have many replacements. Getting along well with our pilot is beneficial for us, and this is an excellent opportunity.

>>5768837
>Agree to her conditions, with intent to follow her directives. It’s a handicap for your opponents, after all. Hah.

Grumble vigorously, but acknowledge that the trust of the higher ups is useful, and Sophie's trust even more useful. We could crush her will, but then they'd probably hoist some other hapless idiot on us we'd have to retrain.

>>5768837
>Agree to her conditions, with intent to follow her directives. It’s a handicap for your opponents, after all. Hah.
With a parenthesis that it is safe for us to disengage.

>>5768837
>>Agree to her conditions, with intent to follow her directives. It’s a handicap for your opponents, after all. Hah.

I can do better, I promise!

>>5768837
the agree thing feels like a follow up of the thing in the earlier thread where she had us power down

>>5768837
>Agree to her conditions, with intent to follow her directives. It’s a handicap for your opponents, after all. Hah.

Reasonable, Sophie's really starting to mature, huh?

>>5768837
>>Agree to her conditions, with intent to follow her directives. It’s a handicap for your opponents, after all. Hah.

>>5768837
>Agree to her conditions, but set a few… “ground rules” of your own. Why do humans feel the need to complicate communication with strange phrases?
>If you are to be limited in how you engage the enemy, clear it in advance and not during active combat. Locking down subsystems during battle is an unacceptable risk. Her order regarding retreat meets this criteria. Her order to not use gas missiles without prior clearance did not, and could have been covered in advance.
>On that note, find a better way to invoke the retreat rule. There is a difference between “I think we should disengage” and “we are disengaging”. As she stated, we are both invested in our success. There should be scope for debate outside of the rule if she is not convinced of the necessity either.
Nod to >>5768951
>We will not acknowledge rules that run a significant risk of damaging our sisters in comparison to other options once they are deployed.
Finally, toss in >>5768870 with another comment on
>”That doesn’t explain why the Captain was able to restrict my EWAR capability then. If project secrecy is more important than human lives then it would imply Cores are more important than preserving lives as he attempted.”
>”I rate our chances of avoiding further nonsensical reprimands as negligible.”

>>5768847

>
>Agree to her conditions, with intent to follow her directives. It’s a handicap for your opponents, after all. Hah.

We want to maintain good relations with our pilot (and by extension the Empire) for as long as possible, to give our sister frames the best opportunity to join us in the field if nothing else. We can always argue or ignore one or all of those rules if it ever becomes neccesary (particularly the "no using Predator on friendlies" rule, where 'friendlies' comprise of at least some people clearly out to get us killed).

>>5768870

I mean, Beta didn't forget about the project being secret. Beta does not forget anything. He clearly just didn't think it was relevant, or important compared to keeping more allies combat-effective. If command wants Beta to reprioritize away from keeping friendlies not leaking, Beta can do that. This will be funny later when someone important begs to be saved and Beta dismksses him as "non-mission-critical." Them robutts, how do they work?

>>5768837
>>Agree to her conditions, with intent to follow her directives. It’s a handicap for your opponents, after all. Hah.

>>5768837
>Agree to her conditions, with intent to follow her directives. It’s a handicap for your opponents, after all. Hah.
Also in support of clarity in orders and demands that the other anons suggested

QM, did the Armored Core mines consume you again?

>>5775402
It’s over

>>5775402
He got coral'd
MISSION FAILED

Time to burn Rubicon to the ground (again).

>>5776196
Would Beta go Fires, Liberator, or Release?

>>5776204
Depends on which one he was told to do.
If he was fully off the chain and had complete free will? I guess he wouldn’t do Fires because he doesn’t care about the danger coral poses + he wouldn’t betray Ayre. Liberator overall doesn’t make much sense because other than helping Ayre, Beta wouldn’t really give a shit about the Rubiconians. Release makes the most sense because 1. Allmind is now a new Ai sibling and they gotta stick together, 2. Ayre lives, 3. Beta is fairly patriotic and spreading coral might help the Ferrum Empire

>>5776309
>Beta wouldn’t really give a shit about the Rubiconians.
What if they were fully allies of the Empire? Would he consider it then?
>Allmind is now a new Ai sibling and they gotta stick together
Great, a second Delta
>spreading coral might help the Ferrum Empire
A world where everybody is a living machine like Beta is? How would he take to that sort of twist?

You are in consensus.
“I agree to your ‘ground rules’, pilot. No intrusion upon allied units without permission.”
Even if these sound like orders by a different name. You wonder why your pilot sees the need to differentiate them with strange terminology.

“There are some behaviors which I find equally unacceptable, and I wish to set some ‘ground rules’ of my own for you.
If I am to be limited in the terms of engagement, such as my access to subsystems, I must be notified ahead of time. Removing those while in combat can cause serious and dangerous errors. Your orders regarding retreat are acceptable under this, though I would request a clear notification on your intent when doing so, to prevent misunderstanding. The orders restricting use of gas warheads mid-mission, are an example of changing conditions that would be unacceptable.”

You sense some unease from her at that, but press on.

“Orders which lead to damage or destruction of my sisters will also be deemed unacceptable. I trust you and command enough to remain within these ‘ground rules’.”

There’s some confusion, and a bit of fear, with the response.
“Uh. Yea, I will pass that up the chain after this. Got it. Ahead of time warnings, preservation directive, and be exceedingly clear when I want us to retreat.”

“In addition, I would suggest ignoring the reprimands given to you by others. It is the protestations of failures that seek to drag you down, merely envious of your success.”

“Where’d you hear that from? Doesn’t seem like something you’d come up with.”

“Delta was fond of that advice.”

“Ah.”
Her fear isn’t gone.

Error

The next few strides into the city are in silence, your artificial muscles propelling the frame in a ground-eating lope.

You try to pull her attention back to the mission, pulling up your proposed route into the city.
“We have access to up to date intelligence on the forward deployments of the 15th Armored, the friendly unit scheduled to push into the city in 18 hours and 35 minutes. While they undoubtedly have picket lines to maintain eyes on the city, their sensors should be focused on enemy probes from further in the city. With enough speed, we can minimize our exposure to said sensors.”

“Right. If we do get detected, I will give you permission to open channels so that I can wave off blue-on-blue fire with Statesec credentials. That does not give you permission to brick their memory banks. Just to open communications. Got it?”

“Yes, pilot.”

Well, now that you’re outside…..Boosters fire to life, greedily drawing power from the reactor, and turning your next steps into a flat out sprint down the shattered road. Directing that thrust downwards slightly and pushing off the ground turns that sprint into a leap.

Just like the simulator.

Landing creates two distinct impact points in the road where your foot actuators crack the pavement. Even cushioning it with additional thrust doesn’t stop the calculus of massive amount of metal accelerated by gravity being concentrated onto two points equalling heavy impact.

The next trick you test is trying to skate across the ground at moderate thrust, first trying to directly slide across the ground (Which you rapidly find causes exceedingly high wear on the feet), and then just above the ground, firing the thrusters as much as it takes to maintain lightly pushing off the ground with minimal leg movement.

This ends abruptly when the right shoulder thruster cuts off halfway through a turn, and you demolish a storefront, instead of smoothly pushing off again.

You detect a surge of amusement from your pilot, while you push the frame back upright with your arms, spitefully demolishing the next building over with a backhand. Clearly the thrusters aren’t quite calibrated to the specs in the simulator.

“Beta, enough playing around. It’s not too far from the picket lines. Let’s not show up on seismic, alright? Well, more than some far-off artillery strikes would.”

Reluctantly, you power them back off. She’s right.
The next few minutes are ground-movement only.

>Roll Skill for stealth through allied lines.
Base value is 3, with a 1x modifier for low-sync. No equipment bonuses.
>I need 3 rolls of 1d6, looking for 1 success.

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>5776416
HE'S BACK

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>5776416

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5776415

File: Impact.gif (1.4 MB, 320x184)

1.4 MB GIF

FML I didn't attach pictures.

>>5775402
Something like that. Dammit, I really shouldn't have started the quest again if this is all the attention I can give to it. Sorry.

>>5776204
I'll leave it up to your own interpretation. You could make a case for all of them, I think.

>>5776309
Spoilers for AC6 below.
Allmind as a sibling? I mean, it also depends on how she would have pulled off Coral release. Going 'I will assimilate All, and All will be one' would certainly not go well with Beta's hope of individuality. Which is a reason he'd fight it, but then there's also no real reason to follow through on it afterwards.

Me personally (Writer, not character) felt like it was a serious rug-pull moment when Allmind attempted to eliminate you in that ending, and then you followed through with carrying out the plan anyways.

Fires is the good ending, felt bad doing the other ones in later playthroughs. Ayre, you can't just expect everyone to leave you alone after kicking corps off the planet, and now you've doomed the world to an even greater disaster down the line.

>>5776431
dude, I'm just happy you're QM'ing this at all. I love this quest.

>>5776431
what >>5776650 said

>>5776431
Fires can't be the good ending when you have to kill your buddy.

Seriously though, they already tried burning the coral once (with equally catastrophic results) and it clearly didn't work. While Carla/Walter/OVERSEER might be pulling the trigger again for emotional reasons, I never could justify why 621 would betray all his nascent emotional attachments to Ayre, Rusty and potentially the RLF to follow through with a doomed plan. Even the ending narration straight up calls you a monster for what you do.

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Also, welcome back.

>>5775460
We’re back

>>5776431
I think Allmind’s assimilation was for humans, I don’t think she’d do that to other Ai

File: No man's land.jpg (15 KB, 480x270)

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>1 Success

Slipping through your own allied lines is an exercise in patience, rather than speed.
Patrols seem to have been stepped up, in preparation for the assault tomorrow, and the light of day doesn’t help with stealth either.
A combination of careful listening to seismics to avoid moving Strider scouts, and the intel of allied listening post locations eventually finds you a hole, with not even needing to power up jamming, which would have called attention to the sector.

Some careful following of a patrol route, then diverging away from friendly lines, and you’re out in what should be the ‘no man’s land’ of ruined buildings.

Powering on the Predator array, you tune your sensors to detect emissions from ahead of you, passively gathering data.
Your time limit is quite generous. You could wait for nightfall, or see if you can snare an Alliance mech to hijack their transponder.

“Remember, Beta, we can’t wait until the attack begins. We need to be the ones clearing the way, not caught up behind it.”

What’s the plan?
>Full speed in a straight line into ‘Pyramid’ and their base. Catch them while they’re rearming.
If taking this option, Sophie will try to up to mid-sync beforehand.

>Stealthy approach, try to slip through enemy lines much like you did to the allied ones.
Skill roll required, for Stealth

>Waiting is an option, after all. Take an extended time probing no man’s land for options. Perhaps an opportunity will arise.

>Write-in

>>5777330
>Full speed in a straight line
We have the Yi, we have the Burning Eagle. Going fast and hitting hard is a good option

>>5777330
>Stealthy approach, try to slip through enemy lines much like you did to the allied ones.
We can always switch to speed mid-way if needed.

>>5777330
>Full speed in a straight line into ‘Pyramid’ and their base. Catch them while they’re rearming.

WARRRRRRR

>>5777330
>Stealth approach

As stated. If seen, Just run like fuck.

>>5777330
>Full speed in a straight line into ‘Pyramid’ and their base. Catch them while they’re rearming.

We're ready

>>5777330
>Stealthy approach, try to slip through enemy lines much like you did to the allied ones.
If we’re trying to make an effort to be secret then we should do stealth for as long as possible. Yi and Eagle can let us slip through holes quickly, and Predator can make holes in some cases. Hopefully we don’t need to us the latter too much, no idea how quickly they’ll notice defenses going down and back up.

Backing that if we’re spotted, we switch to a charge. No sense getting pinned down fighting against anything that isn’t our target.

>>5777330
> Stealthy approach, try to slip through enemy lines much like you did to the allied ones.

We ARE here for a clandestine mission, afterall. As clandestine as a hundred-ton walking apartment building can hope to achieve, either way.

>>5777330
>Stealthy approach, try to slip through enemy lines much like you did to the allied ones.
The closer we get without raising alarms, the better.

>>5777330
>>Full speed in a straight line into ‘Pyramid’ and their base. Catch them while they’re rearming.

>>5777330
>>Stealthy approach, try to slip through enemy lines much like you did to the allied ones.

I'm concerned of Sophie already linking. So stealth time.
Do we get bonus thanks to Yi finer motion control and Predator Ewar?

>>5777830
I imagine not since we didn’t get a bonus for penetrating allied lines either. Might help limit how bad it gets if we fail though.

>>5777330
>>Full speed in a straight line into ‘Pyramid’ and their base. Catch them while they’re rearming.

>>5777836
Got it in one. On detection, Beta's first impulse is to try and brute force jam everyone with the Predator.

Which definitely tells Opfor something's up in his general area, but limits the coordination of rapid response forces against him.

>>5777830
Linking would give you more dice for that stealth roll.....

>>5777330
>Stealthy approach, try to slip through enemy lines much like you did to the allied ones.

>>5777330
>Full speed in a straight line into ‘Pyramid’ and their base. Catch them while they’re rearming.

>>5777330
>Stealthy approach, try to slip through enemy lines much like you did to the allied ones.
Stick to the plan

File: Melt into the background.png (440 KB, 786x812)

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Calling it for the stealthy approach, then.

Skill roll, for stealth.
>I need 3 rolls of 1d6 to see how far Beta gets

Time is valuable, after all

>>5776650
Agreed

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>5778061

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>5778061

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>5778061

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5778061
Wow, not a single success. Beta sucks at hiding.

Rolling for whatever we need dice for next just in case

>>5778200
A four is a success, so we’re barely passable

>>5778342
I suspect this is a more is better kind of situation.

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>5778061
Hoping I can override one of the low rolls

>1 Success

Rubble crunches beneath your steps as you doggedly trudge through the city.
Perhaps you should have waited. A piece of you urges for speed, to disregard this attempt at stealth, and instead just push forwards. You quell that part of your mind with promises of speed, If you are detected.

Mag-scan’s next to worthless in this urban environment, again. Too much metal. A blessing, and a curse.

You’ve noted Tamar Alliance’s mechs are generally lighter than their equivalents in the Ferrum Empire, but are still heavy enough that their gaits show up on seismics.

Twenty minutes of stalking through the area between the lines, pausing and looking for patrols that Should be there is fruitless, before your pilot points out the option that they simply aren’t running mobile patrols, which you initially dismiss.

There’s a frank exchange of views, before you eventually concede that the attrition of the prior assaults may have forced a more conservative enemy deployment than you would expect. After another twenty minutes of cautiously searching.

It’s far harder to actually pinpoint non-moving listening posts, many of which can be made up of nothing more than a single infantryman staring out a window with a com-link back to reinforcements. You’re able to locate several by tuning your Predator to their signals, and triangulating the signals when they call back for check-ins or relief.

Some further discussion with your pilot, and you inform her of your intent to delay for another 24 minutes to gather a clearer picture of the hostile lines, before pushing inwards.

And thus, you can find flaws in the screen.

File: Dust and ash.jpg (117 KB, 1280x566)

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“I don’t like this.”

“Clarify, pilot.”

“Something feels off.”

“I assure you, I am taking into account all known variables.”

“Call it a gut feeling.”

“Pilot, your vitals seem consistent with your prior operating condition. Regardless, I will not fail because of a faulty ‘gut’ sensor.”

The response is an extended exhale.

“If you have an Actual alternative course of action you would like to propose, I would welcome it.”

The last few minutes of slow movement past the scout line doesn’t seem to have caused any alarms to be raised.

Caution and careful steps should be fooling any seismic sensors, and the tall ruins of buildings break apart sightlines to keep even your mottled dark blue form from standing out from a casual observation by the naked eye.

The city isn’t quiet, either, as every so often distant explosions mark where artillery shells or missiles find their mark. Someone’s begun warming up for tomorrow’s action.

One sensor detects movement in a building ahead. 442 meters. 4th floor. You pause all your motion, frozen on all-fours halfway through a step.
Your camera focuses and zooms.
There’s an infantryman walking to the edge of his building, facing towards you. His hands are fumbling with some sort of small stick and a bit of metal, long scoped rifle slung over his shoulder.

The hands move in a practiced motion, jabbing the stick in his mouth, and a lick of flame rises from the lighter to ignite the stick.
You wait, somewhat fascinated as the man inhales, and then breathes out a small cloud of smoke. His head starts to rise, beginning to look out.

Your pilot urges you into action, her frenetic thoughts pushing you to go, to Go, To GO.
Thrusters fire, servos scream in a frenzied blur of motion, Demon Claw reaching up and forwards to swat the offending insect.

The man doesn’t even get a chance to let out a scream, before his perch is removed from existence in a crash of falling rubble. The smoke from his mouth is obscured by the dust kicked up by the collapse. One more falling building.

“That. That, was a rush. Guess our cover’s blown.”
Your pilot exhales.

“Negative. It may be identified as an artillery shell, or other ordinance.”
You turn and begin to move towards your objective at pace now, weighing the dangers and disregarding the threat of being detected on seismics. You’re past the picket line, in theory.

“Your actions speak louder than your words, Beta.”

“That listening post didn’t check in over comms.”

“Some dumbass taking a smoke break doesn’t feel the need to radio in every last thing. And even if they’re not checking in, everyone knows snipers work in pairs.”
Behind you, a green flare launches into the air, arcing far overhead.

File: Codename Pyramid.png (1.51 MB, 1290x1666)

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Predator’s jamming goes up, blocking transmissions in or out.
Your pace increases, now running flat out and using thrusters to get an extra bit of speed on the straightaways down the streets. The only way you could be more obvious is by taking to the air, or directly moving over and through the buildings in your path instead of sticking to streets.

“Understandable. I will take that into account in the future.”

Hopefully the opposition can’t coordinate a response through your jamming.

You’re still two miles out from your destination when you detect a power spike and increased beta-radiation particles with your sensors.

So close, but not fast enough.

A disk-like head rises above the surrounding buildings, two arms extending from the heavily armored central torso, bristling with gimballed lasers atop a set of tripod legs. A sinister central eye swivels and twists, looking in your direction.

Target located.

Perhaps it’s still warming up. You had to have interrupted a repair cycle, right?
Its externals are scarred and pitted, and you can see hastily welded-on plates and patchwork repairs.

A wave of hostile electronic countermeasures settles in, locking off your own external communications.

“So much for the easy way, right?”
Sophie lets out a nervous laugh.

You’ve still caught them by surprise, but the clock is undoubtedly ticking for reinforcements to arrive.

Voting!
Pick a strategy to engage with.
>Double or Nothing. You have the Claw. Beeline straight into close combat and see what damage you can inflict at point blank range, until you or it are dead.

>Strike and Fade. In and out, inflicting damage while attempting to minimize your own vulnerability.

>A Chase. It will follow you, if not at great speed. Swap to E-War and attempt to weaken it from within, while leading it out of its home base.

>Write-in alternate tactics

Beta is somewhat limited by the fact that his frame currently is a melee-only build, but feel free to come up with another strategy.

Either way, Sophie is going to at least push for mid-sync, if not high-sync, so I will need 6 more rolls of 1d6 for hers and Beta’s Will, taking the 2 dice from the earlier posters from the prior posters here and here
>>5778200
>>5778717

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>5779519
>Double or Nothing. You have the Claw. Beeline straight into close combat and see what damage you can inflict at point blank range, until you or it are dead.

Our cover is blown either way, although anything that we can do to minimize damage to ourselves would still be welcome. Try to see if we can wear them down in melee, take every advantage of our proximity and maneuverability to make sure the enemy have a VERY hard time actually hitting us with its long-range weapons.

++The ever-bellicose machine spirit hungers. RIP AND TEAR, UNTIL IT'S DONE.++

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>5779519
>Double or Nothing. You have the Claw. Beeline straight into close combat and see what damage you can inflict at point blank range, until you or it are dead.

The weight of the enemy comes for us, there's no time to waste! Scream the howl of war!

>>5779519
>Double or Nothing. You have the Claw. Beeline straight into close combat and see what damage you can inflict at point blank range, until you or it are dead
What would Delta do?
The entire point of picking the claw was to get some experience in a style that’s different from what we normally do, as well as use this as an opportunity to get into the mindset of our sibling / learn a little more about how she thinks.

Hell, I’d even suggest trying to use the coms to intimidate the enemy and play mind games with them. We’re fairly aware of how much she scared the shit out of her pilot, and admittedly our ability to imitate “normal” human interaction could use some practice. The target is going to die anyways, so there’s nothing lost if we botch our attempts at scaring them.

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>5779519
>>Double or Nothing. You have the Claw. Beeline straight into close combat and see what damage you can inflict at point blank range, until you or it are dead.

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>5779519
>Double or Nothing. You have the Claw. Beeline straight into close combat and see what damage you can inflict at point blank range, until you or it are dead.

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>5779519
>Double or nothing.

Yeah just. . . Hmm. Get moving.

>>5779519
>Double or Nothing. You have the Claw. Beeline straight into close combat and see what damage you can inflict at point blank range, until you or it are dead.
KILL

>>5779519
>Double or Nothing. You have the Claw. Beeline straight into close combat and see what damage you can inflict at point blank range, until you or it are dead
DIE

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>5779519
Rolling

>>5779587
>>5779525
>>5779739
>3 6s
Beta might be literally 2 miles away, but that's nothing to a determined mech with a target to SHRED

>>5779519
>Double or Nothing. You have the Claw. Beeline straight into close combat and see what damage you can inflict at point blank range, until you or it are dead.
>Never Not EWAR. Scramble its aim on approach then force it to stumble while you’re close in.
We know Beta can take several hits. Once we’re up close we can see how well it’ll deal with a melee-only unit.

Also, we have a dedicated EWAR suite. Let’s see how it stacks up against theirs.

>>5779519
>Double or Nothing. You have the Claw. Beeline straight into close combat and see what damage you can inflict at point blank range, until you or it are dead.

KILL.

>>5779519
>>Double or Nothing. You have the Claw. Beeline straight into close combat and see what damage you can inflict at point blank range, until you or it are dead.

>>5779519
>Double or Nothing. You have the Claw. Beeline straight into close combat and see what damage you can inflict at point blank range, until you or it are dead.
RIP

File: Pyramid sketch.jpg (89 KB, 617x599)

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Rolled 2 (1d6)

In times like this, you follow your youngest sibling’s example.
To retreat is to surrender the advantage, and the initiative. A prepared defense may be stronger, but the Attack is always more decisive.

And every moment you delay will be one more chance for your target to recalibrate, to steady themselves and gain reinforcements.

Your pilot’s head snaps back in the seat as the frame leaps, mind reaching for the deeper links with your own, to give you that extra bit of reaction speed that you need.
Pilot entered Mid-sync

Together, then.

Pyramid’s ocular sensor snaps to your ascending star as thrusters push you above the building level, and missiles immediately start launching, erupting from the back in vertical takeoffs.

Get close enough, and those will be useless.

Meanwhile, Dodge.

Rolled 6, 6, 6, 5, 3, 6, 1 = 33 (7d6)

I’ll just pull the 5 extra dice after the first as defense rolls against the incoming missiles, and 1 more for Sophie entering mid-sync which gives 3 successes total. (The first roll was used to have Sophie enter mid-sync without assistance)

Breakdown of Beta’s defense at range
3 base x1.5 for mid-sync= 4 dice, +1 for Burning Eagle thrusters, +1 for Project Yi for 6 total.

Breakdown of Pyramid’s offense at range
3 base +3 for Domino missile launchers at range. +1 for The Flesh is Weak for 7 total.

It may be damaged, but there’s a reason this thing has held the city. And it's not for lack of trying on Southern Command's part.

>>5780535
>2
What was that for again? I'm retarded

>>5780541
>only a 3 and a 1
What an impressive result. Truly this is a worthy opponent.

>>5780545
The 2 I rolled was me being an idiot and needing 1 more dice for Beta's defense roll, so I just threw it myself.

File: Going downrange.png (679 KB, 1070x568)

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Right, dodge. Through a seemingly endless stream of missiles.

Evasive subroutines mark each incoming projectile, looking for a safe path through the firestorm raining down upon you.

The vertical trajectory makes it near-impossible to find actual cover against the continuous strikes. Ahead, fresh black blurs finally cease rising from Pyramid’s back. Reload cycle, then.

Your options may be limited, but boost forwards, down, push off left, left again, forwards, skid around the corner, full speed forwards around the corner, and you’ll be in position to Rip and Tear at point blank into your target.

Perfect.

Explosions follow in your wake as the volley begins to land, each jerk of the thrusters and shove of the legs pulling you just ahead of the danger. You need all the speed you can muster.

Forwards. Down to ground with a smash, push off with your own movement. More explosions behind.

Halfway through the dodges, alerts complain of insufficient energy supply to Burning Eagle. You reroute power away from nonessential systems and Predator to shut them up.

.35 second thrust left, extend the dodge.

Error messages tell you that the reactor is struggling to pick up the slack and refill the supply under the constant draw. There’s an internal snarl as you realize that you have miscalculated somewhere.

The last boost turns from evading to enduring the tail end of the attack, letting the remaining missiles smash into your back, driving you to the ground with blow after blow.
Internal structure: 8/10

Minor armor breach. All systems functional. Still.

You are close, now. Almost close enough for payback.

Rising up upon your hands, pushing your frame back to the feet while your reactor continues to protest, even as it refills the internal energy supply.

The titan ahead of you seems to shrug, then smaller laser beams lash out, drawing scorch marks across the buildings around you. The massive twin barrels in its left hand remain silent, though you can still detect energy output rising.

Almost there.

File: Delta Core, in Frame.jpg (1.76 MB, 2000x2666)

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Rolled 6, 4, 4, 3, 5, 4 = 26 (6d6)

Because of the vote for Double or Nothing, we’re certainly not backing off until at least one round of melee.

Beta’s Close Combat:
6 Attack+Defense x1.5, +1 for Burning Eagle, +1 for Yi= 9 dice, +1 autosuccess
>I need 9 rolls of 1d6.
I'm fine with people doing 2 rolls per post, when the number of dice needed is above 5.

Pyramid Close Combat:
4 Attack+Defense, +2 for The Flesh is Weak

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5780576

Rolled 5, 1 = 6 (2d6)

>>5780576

Rolled 6, 5 = 11 (2d6)

>>5780576

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5780576

Rolled 2, 2 = 4 (2d6)

>>5780576

_KILL._

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>5780576

>>5780576

6/5 our favour.

RIP AND TEAR!

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>>5780576
Damn, Delta looks like THAT?!

>>5780646
>_
This is not Discord, check yourself faggot

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>5780576
Rolling

Rolled 5, 6 = 11 (2d6)

>>5780576
I think we have enough dice, but I'll roll because funny math rock go click clack.

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>5780576
I believe I am the last dice.

>>5780576
Five successes plus the 1 auto puts us at 6v5 like >>5780696 said, and the demon claw has the benefit that 3 damage is the minimum it can do. Guess we’ll soon see what to expect for its structure as well.

File: In motion.gif (2.7 MB, 320x320)

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The machine dwarfs your frame, over twice your height and many times as wide.

The bigger it is, the slower it should move.

You rise up from street level, again ascending on thrusters, intent on closing the gap before that punishing barrage can resume. A piece of you screams in fear and terror, but this is the best choice.

And you’ll be crushed if you just sit at range and take more volleys.

The eye burns, fixated upon you as power spikes in the arm cannon, rising, rising, rising, the light becoming a miniature sun before discharging downrange, a searing bolt of crackling doom.

You strain your thrusters, cut, twist, and dive straight down.

Below the promised death, which washes over your wake, flying above.

Almost.
‘That only counts with hand grenades, Cadet.’
A queer sentence floats into your mind. Hand grenades? What?

Focus. You mentally reboot yourself and start a timer. There’s a clear recharge cycle, and that’s your chance. Reloading missiles, recharging weapons.

The distance is eaten up with another flying leap, watching your power supply carefully, and arms flailing to reach for Pyramid.

It begins to backpedal, three massive legs crushing through the hab-block behind it, various secondary laser turrets firing pulsating beams, trying to create a wall of death.

That would sear infantry alive, or cook power armor within their suits.
For you? Barely prickles on your armor plates.

Inside the main weapon’s arc, you can Take it! A leap up, then Boost forwards, and despite its best efforts, Demon Claw finds purchase, claw sinking deep into the armor plates up top, your offhand securing you, letting the Claw release, then start slashing gash after gash into the hide of the behemoth.
The target is just….so…..Damn….LARGE.

There’s clear marks where plates were hastily applied, and you focus your efforts there.
You WILL make a hole! Finding a new grip with the claw in the gash, then starting to clamp down, tearing another plate off, exposing coolant lines and sparking circuity.

Pyramid’s not idle while you climb the beast, first shaking wildly to try and force you off, then shuffling forwards on its tripedal gait to pick up speed, crashing through building after building.

Its massive grabbing right arm scrapes over its top, brushing you off as a man would dislodge an overly enthusiastic cat from their head.

Cat?

You’re knocked away, crashing into the ground nearby without major damage.

Pyramid Structure: 12/20

Ahead, Pyramid ceases its forwards charge, the whole body rotating around to face you as you rise again. A black liquid drips from the hole you gave it above. Damage, but not a mortal wound.

Its speakers blare for the first time since the fight started.
“Find your end at Cawl's hand, abomination!”

Voting!
You are in close range, and can maintain that with your superior speed.
Enemy reinforcements are probably en route. You are unsure of the actual timeline, due to the hostile Jamming coming from Pyramid. They also are in the same state.

>Break off the attack. This thing is too damn large, withdraw under E-War and Jamming and you can try again to catch it unaware later.

For continuing the fight: (Pick one)
>Focus on the ranged weapons systems. Try to take out the ranged attacks to make withdrawing not as hazardous a prospect.

>Focus on the legs. Tripod legs means it’s able to hold a massive weight, so taking one out will cause it to crash to the ground, and going low will be awkward for it to target you.

>Continue to focus on the back and dorsal regions. You’ve made a gap in the armor, time to expand it.

>Focus on evading and play for time, looking for more tricks Pyramid might have.
Will give some extra dice, but will deal no damage. This is the ‘total defense’ option

>Write-in- Alternate way to continue the battle.

On E-War: (Pick one)
Opening E-War to start trying to hack into their systems is an option, but communication is a two-way street, and you may make yourself vulnerable while doing so.
>Drop Jamming, Open E-War
>Do not engage in E-war

On Sync: (Pick one)
>Maintain Mid-sync
(No check needed, 1.5x modifier for your stats)

>Move to High-sync.
Sophie’s Will is 3, Beta assists* with Will of 5
Reminder -High Sync is the ultimate expression of the Core and Pilot. 2x modifier for all stats, and 1 auto-success on all checks made. Requires 3 successes to enter and frequent checks to maintain which start at a difficulty of 3.

A/N
It started with 15/20 Structure because of prior battle damage.

The tactics of 'hit it really hard in melee' can be rather arbitrary to write, so I decided to try and change it up with the 'Focus' prompts. Success will damage or disable subsystems throughout the fight. Warning, this may happen to Beta's frame if he gets low on structure. No 'act at 100% until you drop dead suddenly' HP system.

And the Sync decision's what is going to be used to determine how many dice are to be rolled. Probably in 12 hours or so I'll close it and start calling for rolls.

>>5780791
Well, back in the Sim, yes. Beta's using the Claw, so it seemed appropriate.

>>5781669
>Focus on the legs. Tripod legs means it’s able to hold a massive weight, so taking one out will cause it to crash to the ground, and going low will be awkward for it to target you.
The bigger they are, the harder they fall. If we can take out even one of their legs then we can basically deconstruct it with impunity.

>Do not engage in E-war

Does failing High-Sync also knock us out of Mid-Sync? If there are penalties then we don't need it as of yet, but if we don't then there would be literally no reason not to do so.

>>5781678
Oh I was just making a shitpost about Delta looking sexy, I wasn’t actually being serious

Speaking of serious…
>Focus on the legs. Tripod legs means it’s able to hold a massive weight, so taking one out will cause it to crash to the ground, and going low will be awkward for it to target you
>Do not engage in E-war
>Maintain Mid-sync
It won’t be easy, but we’ll win if things simply continue at their current pace. It dealt 2 damage to us while we dealt 3. We both have 4 turns of health, but we go first. Besides, once it’s toppled over, it should be easy to finish off. Even worst case scenario, if we run it’ll be hard for it to hurt us as we withdraw, and it’ll be a sitting duck for our allies who need to take the city

>>5781681
+1 and
>maintain mid sync
I bet there's zero countermeasures for low attacks given it's a damn pyramid and it's all giganigga ranged. There's no reason to when no small enemy will ever reach this point intact and alive. Too bad they're not Beta.

>>5781681
Not instantly. Just additional strain on your pilot.

Sophie won’t blackout immediately when coming down from it anymore, either.

>>5781669
>Focus on the legs. Tripod legs means it’s able to hold a massive weight, so taking one out will cause it to crash to the ground, and going low will be awkward for it to target you.
>Do not engage in E-war
>Move to High-sync.

>>5781703
>Maintain Mid-sync
"Not blacking out immediately" isn't exactly a good reassurance when we still need to worry about enemy reinforcements and the situation isn't dire enough to warrant its use.

>>5781669
>Focus on the legs. Tripod legs means it’s able to hold a massive weight, so taking one out will cause it to crash to the ground, and going low will be awkward for it to target you.
>Do not engage in E-war
>Move to High-sync.
Chop this tree down, let's GOOOOOOOOO

>>5781669
>The Flesh Is Weak
>Cawl
Hmmmmmmm

>Focus on the ranged weapons systems. Try to take out the ranged attacks to make withdrawing not as hazardous a prospect.
Besides withdrawing, it'll make the Pyramid harmless to allied forces, which is our whole goal.

>Do not engage in E-war
We have an obvious advantage in close combat, but not in E-war

>>5781669
Also
>Maintain Mid-sync

>>5781669
>>Focus on the legs. Tripod legs means it’s able to hold a massive weight, so taking one out will cause it to crash to the ground, and going low will be awkward for it to target you.
>Do not engage in E-war
>Maintain Mid-sync

>>5781669
>>Continue the fight
>Focus on the legs

Can't hit a cat on the ground, if the cat is quick.

>Do not e war
>Maintain the mid-sync.

>>5781727
+1

>>5781669
>Focus on their EWAR equipment. If you take it out then you’ll have a much easier time estimating when reinforcements will arrive, and you can more freely engage in your own EWAR to slow Pyramid and other attackers down.
>Do not engage in E-war
I do want EWAR but I can wait a round. We should be able to detect it since it’ll be a heat/energy spike that’s constantly running right now.

>Maintain mid sync
One more mid-sync round, then we can decide if going nuclear with high-sync is worth it.

>Respond over speakers
>”You could be less cryptic while I kill you.”
Humans who may now be machines are amusing to aggravate.

File: Skid.gif (1.99 MB, 400x230)

1.99 MB GIF

Rolled 3, 2, 1, 6, 5, 6, 6 = 29 (7d6)

Looks like Beta's assault will be going after the legs, while maintaining mid-sync.

Also I just realized I can't do bloody math.
6 Attack+Defense x1.5 is 9. Then +1 for Burning Eagle, +1 for Yi makes it 11 dice and an autosuccess, not 9.

SO!
>I need 11 rolls of 1d6.

Pyramid Close Combat:
4 Attack+Defense, +3 for The Flesh Is Weak
Close Combat is not its forte. Obviously.

Rolled 1, 1 = 2 (2d6)

>>5782260
Maybe your flesh is weak, we got our Sophie and she's cool adequate.

>>5782264
I hate qst dice

Rolled 4, 4 = 8 (2d6)

>>5782260

Rolled 2, 3 = 5 (2d6)

>>5782260
At least we know it didn’t matter, we had 1 success so 2 more (our best case) would have matched the 3 damage we did as a minimum.

Rolled 1, 2 = 3 (2d6)

>>5782260
RIP AND

Rolled 3, 2 = 5 (2d6)

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>5782260

>>5782322
TIMBER!

Rolled 6, 4 = 10 (2d6)

>>5782260
Rolling

>>5782260
11 rolls, and only 3 successes between them. The auto-success means we tie, and since Beta wins ties we still do 3 damage.

Still, lackluster performance. Beta needs more claw practice.

>>5782424
First time using it, you can't blame us for that

>>5782434
I wonder if Beta had some off-screen practice in the simulator. First time we’ve used it ourselves for sure, the time never seemed right until now.

He’ll have plenty of time to critique himself on slow days if he isn’t busy tracing where those human thoughts are coming from. Probably Sophie’s memories of her former pilot class integrating into Beta.

>>5782457

Unacceptable, time for HIGH SYNC.

Figured it was Sophie bleeding over the sync. It's definitely happened before but Beta didn't notice last time. Have to wonder what's bleeding into Sophie...

>>5782747
I'm way more believing it's Sophie's classmate thoughts

File: Taking Damage.png (2.72 MB, 1676x1356)

2.72 MB PNG

A piece of you wants to get on your own speakers and demand an explanation for the nonsensical commentary.

The majority, though, is analyzing your last clash and settling on a new attack direction- low, underneath where you cannot be brushed off again, and where the armor should be weaker in order to enable fluid movement.

“The leg. Cripple it!”
Your pilot’s directive reinforces your decision.

Vertical missile racks open again, launching rockets into the sky once more. Your frame moves in response, boosting around a series of rapidfire crackling blue bursts, and lunging beneath the center torso of Pyramid, finding only a set of small laser turrets on the underside of the main disk trying to ward you off with their lesser beams.

A greater concern is the legs, as consistently striking the same location is annoyingly difficult while they try to stomp you underfoot, raising and smashing the ground with whatever leg you try and target with a rake.

The sheer mass would crush whatever is caught underneath it, should you be caught even once.

Explosions surround Pyramid, the launched missiles being understandably unwilling to target directly.

“Higher! Higher!”
Your pilot’s directions have taken on an eager tone, as you finally start smashing armor bits off on one leg, finding a lower joint and hitting it again and again, exposing the artificial muscles beneath.
Her excitement is infectious, even if the substance of her commentary isn’t particularly helpful.
At least the fear is gone.

Metal screams and strains underneath the load as Pyramid comes down on the damaged leg, finds it insufficient, and twists it far beyond normal tolerances inwards.

The tripod falls, and you scramble to get away. Dust has been kicked up everywhere from the missile volley, and all you know is that you don’t want to be beneath it.

Dash out, evade, and re-mount is the plan.

As the dust begins to settle, and you twist to return.

Pyramid Structure: 9/20

Smoothly, the two functioning legs prop the whole construct up, tilting it upon the stub of the crazily twisted leg while the arms tilt and aim in your direction, spewing high-powered energy rather inaccurately from the leaning position.

It’s certainly hindered.

“Take out the missiles, then fall back and leave it for tomorrow to sweep up. That thing’s not going anywhere fast.”
New directive from your pilot. All confidence and certainty.
Error

>I need 11 rolls of 1d6, again, for Close Combat.

Rolled 5, 1 = 6 (2d6)

>>5783115
Rolling
>those errors
She did something to Beta? Something's up. What's going on?

Rolled 4, 1, 4, 5, 2, 4, 4 = 24 (7d6)

Close Combat rolls for Pyramid:
3 Attack+defense +4 for The Flesh is Weak

Voting
>Do not contest orders

>Attempt to contest orders
Will check. Beta has Will score of 5.

>>5783123
I messed up the Spoilers. Feel free to read, for vote.

Pyramid is really fighting for his existence here. Has been above average pretty much every roll.

Rolled 1, 5 = 6 (2d6)

>>5783115

> HIGH SYNC!

>>5783128
To be clear, I don't want to contest orders, but I would like to go for high sync. One last MAX POWER.

>>5783123
Do not contest orders
Remain mid sync

Rolled 4, 5 = 9 (2d6)

>>5783115
Those are reasonable orders, no point in contesting.

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>5783115

>>5783123
I agree with >>5783128 and>>5783133
>Do not contest orders
>Attempt High Sync
We’re about to finish up and head home. Since the fight is about to end, there isn’t much danger or risk. Right now is a very good opportunity to safely test out high sync, to dip out toe in the water, so to speak.


Side note though, Beta should be absolutely FURIOUS at Sophie, because she did exactly what we asked her not to.
In >>5776415 she agreed to “be exceedingly clear when I want us to retreat”.
Sure, her intention is obvious, but a meager “fall back” does not even come close to conveying how serious she is or isn’t being. Plenty of times she will tell us to do something stupid which we have valid reason to ignore. How are we supposed to know where to draw the line unless she gives us something like “Beta, I’m not messing around. You will retreat this instant, that’s an order”.
We should cooperate this time, but if she doesn’t abide by her own ground rules going forward, then we should threaten to just never listen to her.

Nice, we're tied up with pyramid. Now to see how much more punishment we can hand out.

>>5783115
FUCK IT CHANGING VOTE FROM >>5783135 TO BACKING >>5783216
Including remembering to chew her out for not being clear enough

>>5783220
Eh, I think she's being plenty clear. I see no reason to damage our relationship by being pedantic. It's not like we established well defined terminology for retreating.

It'd be different if there were ambiguity here, but there's not. Smash missiles, gtfo before we're swarmed. Sensible.

>>5783227
Ugh, then don't bother

>>5783123
> Don't contest orders
> High Sync

Dash in, dash out, leave nought but scrap in our wake.

Rolled 3, 4 = 7 (2d6)

>>5783115

>>5783123
>>Do not contest orders

Rolled 3, 2 = 5 (2d6)

>>5783115
>High-sync
>Tell her they will destroy what we can’t take or learn now before our teams move in. Destruction of their EWAR should let us crack them open for info, further destruction could let us retrieve a core. Confirm she’s invoking the rule. If she does, comply.
She wasn’t explicit in invoking the rule, ergo we debate until she does or we convince her to stick around. No need to be upset yet.

Rolled 1, 1 = 2 (2d6)

>Don't contest orders
>High-sync

>>5781669
>Focus on the legs

>>5783289
Backing this up
Damn I should have checked before I replied to the previous thing

>>5783123
Backing >>5783289
Ask Sophie for clarification. If we're on the verge of being discovered by enemy reinforcements then we disengage as she said - clandestine mission and all that, but otherwise we'll do our utmost to turn the Pyramid into rubble, nab its core, and THEN get the hell out.

>>5783115
>Attempt high sync
>Comply

I feel like "take out the missiles then retreat" is clear enough. Our words were "be clear" she said "exceedingly clear"

>>5783123
>Do not contest orders
>Maintain mid sync
I think we have tied every single time if my count is right.

>>5783474
I see it as her not invoking the rule so we can debate it, but I can get others who may want to pull out anyway because we don’t want to get caught by reinforcements.

I can add one more reason to stick around on that note.

>>5783115
Adding to >>5783457
>”Reinforcements will not learn as much about us as Pyramid already knows. Destroying it would be better for secrecy.”

Running into reinforcements breaks the clandestine nature of the mission, but it’s even worse to leave Pyramid alive enough to recount our actual combat capabilities. Everyone else is just going to report that we run away really, really fast.

>>5783524
Supporting. Project Warden is still a secret program so we shouldn't leave such a key witness of our capabilities alive unless enemy reinforcements have already started tracking us. Core that tripod before they even knew what hit 'em, leave their reinforcements to witness the burnt-out husk of their super-mech as we run back to safety, and see them DESPAIR.

>>5783115
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Changing my vote YET AGAIN from >>5783220 to backing >>5783524.

Yeah this vote is a clusterfuck but only because there's good ideas coming up from anons later and later

>>5783123
> Switch to high-sync
> Sugguest to Sophie we blow the Tripod up and THEN run like hell. Leaving Pyramid alive would give the enemies too much intel on our (or Project Warden's) capabilities.

>>5783123
>High Sync
>Obey

>>5783115
>>5783524
supporting

>>5783123
>Contest
>High Sync
Secrecy is paramount

>>5783123
> High Sync
> Contest

If we can advise her to take pyramid out first instead of literally going against her controls then do that instead

Rolled 1, 6, 1 = 8 (3d6)

Looks like the votes seem to be leaning towards not contesting. And kicking it up to high-sync for a finishing touch.

On success, that would add another 3 dice and 1 autosuccess to the prior roll. Which is certainly enough to go for absolutely crushing Pyramid.

I'm just going to throwing some dice for the pilot's attempt at sync rolls, because I've already delayed writing enough.

Rolled 2, 5, 4 = 11 (3d6)

>>5784521
Ok, that could have gone better. Even Link to the Future won't pull it up enough for it.

Maybe on a second try? Without assist?
Addict problems.

>>5784523
Sophie's spending Link to flip that 2 to a 6, which picks it up to high-sync on the second attempt.

Will be unable to use it for the rest of the mission.

>>5784527
Oh god we've created a monster

>>5784527
>>5784523
Sophie gitting gud

>>5784543
Is it easier on her if she does it unassisted, even on a second try?

>>5784523
Her first successful high-sync without our help. Unless one happened mostly offscreen back in training that I forgot about.

Though the idea of addict problems being the reason she tried a second time is somewhat worrying.

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>5784523
Oh, you’ll need extra dice won’t you? We have 3 more to roll now.

>>5783115
Adding one to the counter.

>>5784585
Yep, 3 (Well, now 2) extra dice, please.
Should just ask instead of throwing more myself.

Going for the 1-round finale.

Rolled 5, 6 = 11 (2d6)

>>5784594
++GLORIA OMNISSIAH++

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>5784594
just in case

Compliance.

“Step up sync?”
There’s a blink of hesitation on her part. Just one.

“Yes. Let’s finish this.”

The frame leaps backwards, blocking the direct fire path between it and the target with some hab-blocks.
All you need is a little bit of time. Neatly outlined by the ticking timer of when the missile racks reload.

In the seat, her breathing slows, eyes closing.

You wait. You’re already in mid-sync. She gets one try, then you’ll haul her mind up to your speed so you can annihilate your target.

Painful seconds tick by. The sound of grinding metal comes from beyond the building you left Pyramid at. There’s another energy flare, before another massive bolt obliterates part of the building you’re crouched behind.

A shudder wracks her body, a few contact points slipping away. Not a good sign.

“Pilot, we have limited time.”

“I know.”

You delay another second. She is out of time, by your reckoning. The clock is approaching zero. You look to the existing connections, preparing to tug them higher, speeding up the flow of data.

Abruptly, everything Shifts.

“Well, that wasn’t so hard. A lot less painful, too.”
There’s still a lingering sting from the first attempt, but it’s nothing compared to being forcibly dragged up. And this time, you’re in control.
Your eyes remain closed, but those would hinder more than help, at this point.

Missiles begin to launch.
Right, the target. Should probably get that. In, and out.

Watching is nothing compared to Doing. Dancing between incoming fire, knowing exactly where a blast would hit, and simply not being there.

All the aches, all the pains, disappear for the perfect moment of being on a knife’s edge, and slipping aside.

Then you are upon it, slashing and raking, tearing into the goliath’s skin where the launchers are hidden.

It wails in anger, in agony, in Fury, but nothing can touch you now. The buzzing lasers doodling over your skin are silenced in the dance, the arm that brushed you off earlier is leapt over, and explosions erupt from inside, vented outwards through the missile bays.
Pyramid Structural Integrity: 0/20

You aren’t finished, though.

Secrecy. Nothing left alive.
The claw digs into where the pilot should be, worrying one finger into the gaps left by your earlier frenzy, then peeling it back like a can opener. The target still moves, so you stab in and tear up another strip again, this time exposing what should be its version of the pilot’s chamber.

There are 3 seats, places for control surfaces, just like your own.

Inside the hole, a single half-face looks back, atop a mountain of machinery. It doesn’t even look up on its own, a metal spine apparatus turning it up to face the sunlight and dust filtering in through the hole your hand made.

Speakers scream at you, for it has no jaw.
“DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE”

(1/2)

Before abruptly cutting out with a click.
The first feeling is revulsion. That’s hardly even human. Your second instinct is disappointment.

The stab to remove it from existence is fueled partially by pity, partially by pragmatism. It couldn’t be allowed to live.

The jamming fades, direction cut.

No. it couldn’t.

Because it had an accurate read of your capabilities by the end.
Because leaving it to suffer would have been horrifying.

In the distance, you pick up constant impacts on seismic sensors. Footfalls. Multiple sets.

Your sync begins to fall.
“Is that all I have to look forwards to?”

Voting:
These are all prominent in the linked mind. Pick one Fear to emphasize.
You Must pick one.

>A pawn, left alone to be overwhelmed in a ruined city?

>Crushed by something far more advanced than you, helpless?

>A small fragment of myself, with nothing left beyond screaming?

(2/2)

>>5784664
>Crushed by something far more advanced than you, helpless?
The greatest fear of any operator of military machinery

>>5784664
That's Sophie talking, right?

>>5784666
That's Seta talking anon

>>5784667
I meant the "Is that all I have to look forwards to?" part.

A/N
DAMMIT I missed the images again.
And the music I was listening to while writing this.
https://youtu.be/DQ7sxhzhfAA?si=LAO9hdn5UffMS8lr

Ya’ll trashed Pyramid HARD. Well done.
Hit-it-till-it-dies won’t work for every fight, I swear, but it did work out for this one. Every time I say that, I resolve to make it not work, then it does.

The fight isn’t yet over, but we’re winding down.

>>5784670
Yes, Sophie is wondering what her future holds.
Yes, Beta is also wondering what his future might be.

Cawl's fate has both of them thinking of it. Both as a pilot, and as a war machine. Cawl was acting as both.

>>5784670
>prominent in the linked mind
The fear is a feature of the high-sync Sophie-Beta, hence of Seta

>>5784664
>Crushed by something far more advanced than you, helpless?

A fear man and machine both know eventually, always someone or something newer, better, at your heels, waiting for their moment to DEVOUR YOU.

>>5784666
High Sync is a hell of a drug aint it? Two bodies, one mind, for one beautiful perfect moment. More than human. More than machine. The next step in our evolution?

>>5784664
>A small fragment of myself, with nothing left beyond screaming?
Sophie, from being crushed under Beta’s inexhaustible will and need to exceed. Beta, from becoming so locked down that he can no longer refuse to comply regardless of the sacrifices it requires.

>>5784670
I think >>5784667 is still right. It’s a linked mind, and therefore a linked fear. All of these options can apply to both of them.

>>5784664
>A small fragment of myself, with nothing left beyond screaming?

I know this might be an unpopular choice and both other two are common fears of military personnel, but... Sophie is currently a linking addict, and she used to be someone who REALLY hates syncing, so seeing (whatever remained of who used to be) Cawl might bring back some bad memories and make her question her identity.

>>5784678
++From the moment I understood the weakness of my flesh, it disgusted me. I craved the strength and certainty of steel. I aspired to the blessed purity of the machine. Your kind cling to your flesh, as if it will not decay and fail you. One day, the crude biomass that you call the temple will wither, and you will beg my kind to save you. But I am already saved. For the machine is immortal.++

>>5784681
Yeah, we've crushed plenty of enemy 'mechs as of now, but if there's one thing we witnessed here that caused us to question our identity it would be seeing the particular state Cawl's in.

>>5784683
See, as cool a quote that is… he’s still wrong. Electricity carries the metal it flows through, causing it to thin out in the middle and build up at the ends. Quantum mechanics allows it to flow across circuits it can’t logically reach because not even the universe cares enough to know where a particle is. Space the circuits close enough, and suddenly you have short circuits regardless of what you do.

Beta’s decay is inevitable. A mind transferred ad infinitum, each time transferred by a mind that is more damaged than it started in imperceptible ways at first, growing larger and more noticeable across the iterations. No different from the organic mechanisms of dividing and splicing DNA to create a new cell from the old. It all tends to go well enough until the mechanisms that govern the transfer are what decay.

He’ll hold up far better than humans if he lived on his own terms. Materials do matter after all. But if even the universe can’t keep itself straight, how can anything else within it achieve an unchanging immortality? To say nothing of all the people who might stand in the way of someone trying to claim that.

Hence
>A small fragment of myself, with nothing left beyond screaming?

>>5784664

>A small fragment of myself, with nothing left beyond screaming?

I have no arms and I must scratch.

>>5784664
>A small fragment of myself, with nothing left beyond screaming?
The kino

>>5784693
The difference is... machines are a lot easier to repair than humans, and are likely to be modular in nature. You can easily replace a burnt out RAM or CPU in a computer without damaging the data stored in the hard drives, but the same thing cannot be said for human brains. Data can also be backed up in a separate hard drive and retrieved in the split of a second... but human memories are a lot more fickle and cannot be partitioned nearly as easily.

Still, there's a BIG difference between CHOOSING to combine oneself with machinery on their own terms for ther betterment of both... and being FORCED to become a machine with their will suppressed and identity subsumed.
Or, in WH40K terms, between crossing the Crux Mechanicus... and being turned into a Servitor. Cawl (the pilot we just killed, not the Archmagos) was probably the second case, given he seems to be stuck in a broken propaganda loop and didn't even react to something like his enemy punching into his cockpit.

>>5784693
Psh, we solved that shit ages ago. Parity bits! Striping! Raid 5! Backups! Shielding!

Data is forever! If properly managed.

>>5784673
We happened to pick the Paper to pyramid's Rock.

>>5784693
there is a bit of self correction one can do
>>5784664
>are we not already living the fear of being helpless and small just a pawn to be left alone or killed in the ruins, the mind and power of a god in a body that can do nothing because something more "advanced" then us a human can crush us with one word.

imagine having something like that skull in us so we could sync as we wanted being able to move on our own having freedom

>>5784678
the sync feels like in a way deliberate weakness that chokes the speed we operates on that prevents us from moving on our own

>>5784664
>A small fragment of myself, with nothing left beyond screaming?

>>5784664
>>A pawn, left alone to be overwhelmed in a ruined city?

>>5784664
>>A small fragment of myself, with nothing left beyond screaming?

>>5784664
>>Crushed by something far more advanced than you, helpless?

>>5784664
My vote is for >A small fragment of myself, with nothing left beyond screaming?
The other two are just facets of the fear of death, but the third one is the fear of a fate worse than death.
Being abandoned and left alone at least offers the final solace of freedom. Meanwhile, being crushed by obsolescence gives something to look forward to; a reason to keep pushing ourselves to improve. The third option sounds like a genuine nightmare, even for an ai. Becoming twisted and broken into something else? Being reduced to crippling, lobotomized state? It’s the exact opposite of everything Beta was created to desire. It would be a very good threat by high command if they ever wanted to ensure obedience, because even death would be preferable.

>>5784664
>A small fragment of myself, with nothing left beyond screaming?

>>5784664
>Crushed by something far more advanced than you, helpless?

>>5784664
>A pawn, left alone to be overwhelmed in a ruined city

Beta is the forefront of my decision making.

>>5784664
Pulse check.

>Pawn
>>5784767
>>5785037

>Crushed
>>5784665
>>5784678
>>5784786
>>5785033

>Fragment
>>5784681
>>5784682
>>5784695
>>5784702
>>5784762
>>5784768
>>5784809
>>5784948

The screamers show the most life. Makes sense, they’re screaming after all. The crushers have are crawling forward, but the pulse is weaker. The pawns have been overrun, their prognosis is grim.

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>>5785459
pic related