Roleplay Area

[Raptordude115]

A sense of dread passed through Zack as he heard Weingberg's words. He looks up at her with pleading eyes, looking as though he was going through a mental breakdown as he spoke in a panicked tone.

"No! Please, don't let them take away the Eclipse from me! Don't let them take TESS away!! I'm her Runner! Her partner!"

 

[Ishi123]

"Unfortunately it's not entirely up to me." Commander Weinberg said. "I've already stepped over a few lines in my position as commander here and the other officers know that. I have a decision to make and given the circumstances of the war we can't afford to take a risk like this. The AI of the frame will be wiped and the frame will be taken apart for analysis."

With that said, Commander Weinberg turned and left the cell area, not really wanting to hear what Zack had to say. It hurt enough to make a decision like that... she really didn't think she could handle staying and hearing his cries and pleas.

 

[Raptordude115]

Zack hyperventilates as he curls up on the floor, sobbing his eyes out as he lets what Weinberg said sink in. His voice is broken and filled with despair as he whispers to himself.

"No...TESS...please, no...no, no, no..."

 

[PyroHunter16]

After having a relatively decent meal, Rowan decided to go ahead and check up on his LEV, seeing he had nothing else to do. As he made his way back to the hangars, he thought about the design for the Vasu Specters that were being created. Once he made it to the hangars, he walked by the Vasu Specter hangars to check on its progress. The green unit was being adjusted with the data gathered from the test that he and Raven had embarked on. The other unit remained an endoskeleton, covered up in a large tarp with the external armor and weapons stored away. Not wanting to get caught by the engineers for peeping on their highly-sensitive project, Rowan walked off as quietly and quickly as possible to the adjacent hangar which housed his current unit. This hangar was more or less empty, save for a few engineers who didn't really care about the frame and were casually lounging about the hangar.

"Goddammit..." He thought to himself as he knocked on the hangar door to get the engineers' attention. They looked over and stood up, welcoming him in as they told him what had been recently done to the unit.

"We've updated the weapons systems on the Specter, tried displacing the energy differently for increased combat performance in accordance to the Vasu Specters. In essence, we're trying to modify the current model to match up with the next-gen model. We've removed the Gauntlet in favor of increasing combat performance and modifying the energy capacity to last longer. The Gauss Rifle has been upgraded for increased range, with the OPTION units allowing for increased damage output and further upgraded range. That's all for the time being." One of the engineers reported.

"I see... Well, looks like I interrupted something, so I do apologize for that. Keep me updated on any minor or major changes made to the unit, please." Rowan placed his hands in his pockets, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

"Yes sir!" They replied. Rowan waved them away and walked back to his quarters, hearing the engineers joking around as he left.

"I need to step up my game..."

 

[Ishi123]

"Rowan." Leo said, stepping into the hangar behind Rowan, catching his attention. "What brings you here?"

 

[PyroHunter16]

"Hm? Ah, Leo. I'm just checking up on the Specter, walking around after eating. Nothing special or important to note." Rowan turned and faced Leo out of respect.

 

[Ishi123]

"Hm... alright." Leo said, looking up to the Specter unit. There were two Dulahan units in the hangars as well, but very few actual workers.

 

[PyroHunter16]

"May I ask what brings you here?" Rowan put his hands in his pocket and leaned against the nearest wall.

 

[Ishi123]

Leo simply points to the far Dulahan. Not evident before but clearly so upon further inspection, the cockpit was open. Ren was sitting quietly in the cockpit of the LEV, His data pad wired up to the main console, running over the specs and systems of the frame. Though he hadn't had any experience on LEVs, working exclusively with Orbital Frames, he found that the systems were so simple comparatively that they were easy to understand. It was much more mechanical than Metatron. Ren was going over all aspects of the frame to see how it worked.

 

[PyroHunter16]

"Ah, I see..." Rowan watched as Ren worked on the LEV. "So... do you think he'll really have the resolve to fight? He can't seem to stomach combat, and I can't completely trust someone who isn't willing to fight with his all."

 

[Ishi123]

"He's the only one who can pilot the frame." Leo said, crossing his arms. "We don't really have much of a choice."

Leo sighed, looking to his hands, which were still a bit scarred from when he tried to pilot Tsukuyomi. A grimace game to his face... Ren was now in the position that he had been in when he was just 13 years old... could he really ask him to fight against his will with a clear conscious? He knows firsthand what it's like to be forced into combat... but there really was no other option. Ren had to fight. If he didn't then Earth wouldn't stand a chance. Ren probably knew that deep down... as much as he hated it.

 

[PyroHunter16]

"For now, I'll just focus on supporting him. Specter was made for long-range combat, after all." Rowan sat down on the floor, not sure what else to say.

 

[Ishi123]

"These machines are practically antiques..." Ren commented to himself, sifting through all the specifications and mechanics of the Dulahan he was in. It was a standard model, not modified as most of the ones used by Space Force soldiers were. He had no idea how the Space Force was lasting this long with these LEVs. They made minor use of Orbital Frame technology in their design and weaponry, but they were still obsolete compared to any technology that Neo BAHRAM had access to. It was quite frankly a miracle that they've been able to fight back to the extent that they have. The newer models of Raptor that were fielded by Neo BAHRAM were superior machines in every aspect... except one.

They were unmanned.

Ren supposed that was what made the real difference... when it came down to it, a human pilot can best a heartless machine.

But that wasn't going to last long.

Once the Skoll units begin to be sortied and mass produced the Space Force won't stand a chance. The AI onboard the Skolls are intelligent enough to counter a human's natural ingenuity and intuition. The Space Force would need something else if they were to combat Neo BAHRAM, and they needed it soon... Ren figured it would be better to get to work on just that, knowing that he'd most likely be called in to develop a new frame for the Space Force given his past experience with Orbital Frames.

 

[PyroHunter16]

"Practically antiques, huh?" Rowan muttered to himself as he watched Ren work. "How is he going to replace them with what we've got? The Space Force has resources, but there's no way we can mass-produce anything more advanced than Specter, much less an army of Orbital Frames..."

 

[Ishi123]

"He's the only expert on Orbital Frames we have." Leo stated. "At least when it comes to building them, anyway. I don't think it would be too much trouble for him to design something for us. One thing's for sure, though... a LEV isn't going to cut it anymore. Anything short of an Orbital Frame won't be enough."

 

[PyroHunter16]

"I get that, but... do you think we'll have the resources to pull it off? We don't have a lot of Metatron in our reserves." Rowan continued to watch Ren before turning his attention to Leo.

 

[Ishi123]

"It's not out of possibility." Leo said. "Remember we do have those areas in the asteroid belt we've reserved for Metatron mining that Cagalli works with... speaking of, do you know if she's already headed back out there?"

 

[PyroHunter16]

"I see. Haven't heard anything from or about Cagalli, so I got nothing." Rowan stood up and brushed his pants off. "If I get word on her, I'll let you know."

 

[Ishi123]

Leo knew that Cagalli's main job in the Space Force was to go out and mine the asteroid belt, although she also had some escort jobs and scouting missions on top of that. She wasn't even an official soldier of the Space Force. She and her team did freelance work for whoever paid, and she had a contract with the Space Force for certain jobs, resource mining being chief among them. The Space Force had cordoned off a few sizable sections of the Asteroid Belt for Metatron mining, and she was one of the ones that the Space Force outsourced that job to, though they didn't outsource it entirely. Cagalli and her crew had proven to be quite resourceful, proven further by the mission to escort Ren to Earth.

"Hrm...? Elana?" Leo said, seeing Commander Weinberg enter the hangar, approaching Leo and Rowan.

"Leo." She said. "Where's Ren?"

Leo simply points up to the Durandal Ren was working in. Weinberg immediately and correctly assumed that Ren had already gotten to work with coming up with countermeasures to Neo BAHRAM's new frames on his own, but she would have to make an official announcement for Ren to get the support of the Space Force's engineers. She approached the Durandal and shouted up to the cockpit.

"Ren!"

Ren snapped out of his thoughts and analysis and looked over the cockpit edge down to the hangar floor.

"I'd like a word with you." Weinberg said, prompting Ren to jump out of the cockpit and take the lift down to the hangar floor.

"What's up?" He asked, stepping off the lift.

"I have a job for you." She said. "I need you to wipe the defector's Orbital Frame's AI for us."

"Why for?" Ren asked, a bit confused.

"It's been decided we're going to use that frame as research material."

"You're going to disassemble it?"

"That's right." She said. "It would be useful to know the inner workings of an Orbital Frame firsthand instead of just going off of schematics."

"And it's not like you can take Jehuty and Tsukyomi apart." Ren said. "And Raptors aren't anything like high-end Orbital Frames."

"Correct." Weinberg nodded. "If you can get that done right now, I'd appreciate it."

"Yeah, alright..." Ren said, scratching the back of his neck, a bit displeased to be interrupted when so deep into his work.

"I'll be giving an official order for the engineers around here to assist you in developing a new frame soon." The commander added. "It's good to see that you've already started."

"Yeah... I mean, I figured that's what would happen, considering..." Ren said. "And these frames really are older than I thought they would be."

"We don't have as much to work with as Neo BAHRAM does when it comes to weaponry." She said. "But I'm sure someone like you can figure it out."

"I hope so." Ren said. "Anyway, I'll get on that."

"Good. Let me know when it's done."

With that, Commander Weinberg left and Ren began to make his way to the hangar in which Eclipse was held.

 

[Raptordude115]

TESS was silent, compiling and going through her thoughts as she begins worrying about Zack once more, and what's going to happen to her and him. At this point, she was becoming doubtful that the Space Force would actually allow her and Zack to fight for them, due to their two's history with Neo BAHRAM. She began fearing that the worse was going to happen, that Zack was going to be held a prisoner of war while she would be reprogrammed or even deleted, with Eclipse being used as nothing but a tool for the Space Force.

If such was going to be the case, she wasn't sure what to do...but she certainly wasn't going to leave Zack's side...

Meanwhile, Zack sat in his cell, looking at the walls as he too felt lost in his thoughts. He wanted to trust Weinberg and Ren that they would do what was best for him and TESS, but at the same time, he wasn't sure if they merely acted the way they did just to keep him from acting out of line. He still only hoped for the best, for he didn't want to be kept a prisoner and watch the Space Force fight Neo BAHRAM, and not be allowed to make right and put a stop to Adalia. After what she did to him, especially...he didn't want what he did to get the Space Force that damn data pad for them to be all for nothing...he couldn't let it all be for nothing...

 

[Ishi123]

Ren approached Eclipse and got on the lift, taking it up to the cockpit before opening it up and sitting down inside. He activated the console from standby mode.

"Alright..." He said to himself with a sigh.

 

[Raptordude115]

TESS immediately became active as soon as Ren activated the console, seeing him. She spoke in a rushed and slightly distressed tone.

"Ren, what's going on now? Is Zack still alright?"

 

[Ishi123]

"Oh, uh..." Ren stammered a bit, forgetting just how smart the AI for this frame was. "Yeah, no, he's fine. They, uh... still got him held in a cell though."

 

[Raptordude115]

TESS's tone immediately took a sharp turn to being furious and angry.

"What!? Are you serious right now!? How much longer does he have to be in a damn cell!? I get me and him used to be with Neo BAHRAM, but does the Space Force really this distrusting of us? They think we went through all the pain and stress of getting that data pad for fun!?"

At this point, it was clear TESS was getting sick of all this waiting and tampering, and she was definitely gonna let Ren of all people know firsthand.

 

[Ishi123]

"I don't know." Ren said plainly, still needing to do his job.

He accessed the main console, bringing up the backlogs and going further into the subroutines, before accessing the main systems data.