srwug_alpha_rp | 02: The Abtaka of the Brotherhood of Manly Souls Opens His Heart to Legend Once Again

[1]

The events of the past few days– the battle against the final onslaught of the Invaders, the climactic struggle of the Getter Team at Saturn, and the place they departed to– have frankly been epic.

They have also made quite the impression on a certain ex-Jade Falcon, who had not dared to think that such heroism could be possible.

As the White Chalice journeys back to Earth, he can be seen at various places–in his (Tin-foiled) Nova's cockpit on the outer hull, in a vacuum suit by one of the large airlocks, at the observation deck– just staring up at the endless sea of stars as a child would.

http://blogs.voanews.com/science-world/files/2013/01/Under_the_Milky_Way.jpg

Talk to him? Snap him out of it? Play a prank on him?

[2]

Matthew is wandering about the Chalice, looking for the pilots who fought at Saturn, tablet and light pen in hand.

And the most determined of expressions on his face.

[3]

Matthew is sitting by a table in one of the portside lounges, ignoring the cold lunch next to him, and doing something unusual for a frugal warrior from an ascetic caste society.

He is writing on paper. Copious amounts of paper. Some sheets are discarded at his feet, some are set to the side, and all are covered with splotches of ink.

A close examination will reveal them to be...verse poetry?

[4]

Matthew has posted a request on the Chalice Net for all Clan warriors onboard to assemble in Hanger 3 to "Fulfill the debt of honor we owe to the memory of great warriors."

For those of you who show up, Clan or otherwise, there is a gaggle of Clan Wolf/Ex-Jade Falcon warriors and tech caste members about, wondering why the heck they were gathered here. There is no sign of Matthew about.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"About your mission to Saturn, with Mechwarriors Mad Caine, Kei Kuruma, and the rest of the Getter Team. And what occurred there."

He pauses.

"It is prying and intrusive of me to ask. The only reason I do so is because I believe–"

He purses his lips, summoning up the right set of words.

"–That times like these, tragic and triumphant in equal measure, full of success and loss, should be remembered."

Edited 2013-02-09 04:46 (UTC)

[Laura frowns. This sort of thing is a Clanner tradition, she knows, but it's never come up before...]

Well... ask away, I suppose. I don't mind.

Some of it might be hard to describe, though.

[It's less Clanner tradition than Laura might think. Especially with what Matthew is planning.]

"My thanks." Matthew replies.

After a moment of consideration, he puts away his tablet and light pen, and clasps his hands behind his back.

"I have heard that after the jump to Saturn, you faced an horde that stood in your way, barring you from the tortured gas giant. What happened then?"

Edited 2013-02-10 03:43 (UTC)

[Laura runs a hand through her hair.] We just... tore in to them. They swarmed us, and we tore them apart. It was...

You have to understand, a real Getter machine is like a living thing, and Shin Dragon even more so. Kei and Mad and I, it was like we were all linked together and it was our body and we were powerful. It was... a rush, exhilarating. We felt invincible. We did things that shouldn't have worked because we didn't doubt for a second that they would, and then they did. I mean, we'd just made a wormhole to take us halfway across the system because Hayato said maybe it theoretically might be possible. So we did it. The only thing I can compare it to were the Shifting Entities at the Earth's core, and that was... different. More... surreal. This was, was raw.

There were more Invaders than I'd ever seen of anything, and they were just in our way until Cohen and Stinger showed up.

"Amazing." Matthew says softly, committing these words to memory.

Is this what Simon felt, combining with Gurren to create Gurren-Lagann?

"Who were these two, Cohen and Stinger? I have heard snatches of conversations about them being 'Manifestations'...."

I don't really know. Invaders, I think. Somehow. People the Invaders took over, or Invaders taking human form... at Saturn, it's like they were the faces and voices of the whole Invader horde. Their faces appeared on Saturn itself while they tried to assimilate us. When that didn't work, they turned into a giant mothership...

Actually describing it out loud makes me realize how bizarre it all was.

"Says the magical girl." Matthew dryly replies.

"But I apologize. Out of the depths of Saturn came the icons of the Invaders and their malice, with enough power to manifest themselves into the form of a great warship!"

Matthew's imagining a Clan Warship, with faces and Invadery eyeballs on it.

"But they did not have their way, quiaff?"

Aff. [...Laura thinks. Clan speech makes the difference between a single and double negative more important than she's used to...]

The ship spat out even more Invaders, but the others held them off while we went after Cohen and Stinger. Hayato cleared the way for Shin Dragon - at the last minute we changed to Shin Poseidon, to punch them right in the face.

[Laura clenches her fist without realizing it.]

They used three of Saturn's moons as some kind of weapon - trapped us between them, zapped us with something. It hurt like hell... Kei used Shin Liger to knock the others out of the way, then we linked up with Shin Getter, combined our power... I remember the others kept attacking while we powered up. Ideidi's pilot used up everything he had, he was left floating in a normal suit for Demonbane to scoop up...

Then Ryouma put the combined power of Shin Getter and Shin Dragon into a Getter Tomahawk. It... was impossible. It cut right through Rhea and Tethys and Dione, right through Cohen and Stinger, into Saturn. I'm not sure if Saturn stopped it, or Ryouma did. The moons, the Invaders... they exploded.

Matthew mouths each of the words you use, taping a mnemonic rhythm against the side of his leg to drum it into his subconscious.

Still, there's no way he's going to forget the bit about the Tomahawk.

After you falls silent, he closes his eyes in reverence.

Then they snap open and he frowns.

"All your enemies were defeated then. But if they were all annihilated, what cause was there for the Getter Team to depart this reality to fight on?"

[Laura shakes her head.]

All the enemies there. But something happened, a... spacequake. A portal, a tear in space, opened up.

[She has absolutely no intention of elaborating on the form said portal took. None at all.]

Hayato said the Getter Sun, what they were doing to Saturn, might have been a... a beacon. To draw this here. Which meant something might come out... which meant we had to go in. We were low on power, but Shin Getter linked up its core to Shin Dragon's... and we went in. Shine Spark. I can't... it was like we were a Getter Beam. Like we'd been turned to energy and fired off.

We went in to the gap, and it was full of... of Getters. Of Invaders. An enormous, unending battle. Getters of every shape and size. Some were bigger than planets. We were right there in the middle of them, and all around them, Invaders coming in... being destroyed, and replaced by another wave, and another...

There was a voice. I think it might have come from the biggest one. It said they'd been waiting. Waiting for the Getter Team...

And I think they were ready. Shin Dragon was burned out. Shin Getter broke the connection. We fell back with the others, back through the gap. They stayed. They said it was where they were meant to be. That they trusted us to handle things back here... until we were ready to join them.

[Kei swore she would - but that part of the story's not Laura's to tell.]

I asked if they wanted us to bring back any message. Hayato said there was nothing to be said.

And then we fell back, and everything went black. When we came to...

"...You were back in Terra's orbit, as if waking from a dream." Matthew finished. "Kerensky's blood, I never knew such things were possible."

After a moment of silence, he draws himself up into a salute.

"I thank you, Mechwarrior Ericks, for your account. I shall do it justice, and ensure that the tales of the Getter Sortie and it's participants will be remembered."

Uh...

[The salute embarrasses the hell out of Laura, but she returns it, Britannian-style.]

I don't think it's the sort of thing anyone's likely to forget! Most of that the Getter team did has been remembered - one way or another...

Generally not fondly, but...

"Best to make sure that they are remembered, quiaff?"

The way they should be.

It's a good thought.

02: The Abtaka of the Brotherhood of Manly Souls Opens His Heart to Legend Once Again

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