srwug_alpha_rp | 12: Allies become Foes, while Soldiers learn Mercy and Stabbings are Faked

[1] (Locked to everyone who tried to rescue Matthew during "Different Faces of Warfare". And Ryou.)

You get a video message from Matthew soon after returning to the White Chalice. He's still wearing his armored cooling vest, stained at the front with green fluid, the hilt of the knife he used to fake stab himself still poking out of it. He looks cross.

"That was extremely reckless of you all." He scolds. "This time the enemy was bluffing and toying with us: next time we may not be so lucky! Trying to save both civilians and fellow soldiers in imminent danger divides your efforts, and can get them both killed!"

He folds his arms stubbornly. "As soldiers, you must always place the lives of innocents above yours, and even the lives of your comrades! That is what fighting to protect the earth means! Remember that!"

Suddenly, his serious face gives way to a smile, and he nods briefly. "And...thank you for saving me."

[2]

You see Matthew lounging in one of the White Chalice's portside lodges, gazing up at the sky. Very soon, the Jade Falcon invasion fleet will be braking into orbit, and the Chalice will go to war to protect the Earth against his former Clan.

He sighs. "Simon...where are you now? And what would you do in my shoes?"

He pauses. "Actually, I can guess exactly what you would do."

[3]

You stumble upon Matthew, in the simulator room, training his butt off! He's putting his modified Nova through a set of scenarios in space, inside a ship's hanger bay, and on land, fighting against a variety of Clanner Mechs. It looks like he's...trying to disable them? He's concentrating laser fire at their arms and legs, blowing them off at their joints.

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...Guess you're going through what Loran does half the time.

[Amuro's face appears as a pop up in the side of Matthew's cockpit. Amuro had been watching the simulation for a while now, and finally pieced together what was going on.]

"Aff...I have come to sympathize with Loran's plight more and more in recent days." Matthew agrees sheepishly, backing away from an incoming Summoner-class mech in the simulation and walking behind a hill.

He grows thoughtful. "My former comrades will not hesitate to go for the killing blow. They will most certainly not be grateful for any mercy I show them in combat. A Jade Falcon warrior I hold back against could wound or even kill allies later on."

He exhales, and makes eye contact with your pop-up comm image. "By fighting solely to disable, I would endanger the lives of my friends on the White Chalice, quiaff?"

Edited 2013-10-14 20:34 (UTC)

That depends on your aim.

[Amuro's had a similar talk about this with Loran before, time to see if he can remember the gist of what he said that time...]

Its not wrong to be put off by the idea of taking another's life. Whether because of its intrinsic value, the lives you're taking were once allies... or if you just don't want to see anyone else die that day.

[Amuro pauses himself, flashes of the asteroid's destruction in his eyes. That... yeah...]

Matthew nods energetically.

"I have come to agree with that ethos. And...that is why I am doing this." He concludes quietly. If he notices Amuro's haunted look, he doesn't mention it.

He gestures from inside the Simulator. "If I can hone my aim, just as you said...then perhaps I can take down Jade Falcon units nearly as quickly as I would with killing blows. If I have to kill to win I will, but with the right technique, more moments will come where I can choose life over death."

Popping his Nova out of the simulated cover, he snipes the Summoner's damaged arm off, disabling it's particle cannon.

"On a related note, you happen to be an expert with remote Funnel weapons, quiaff? Would you have any advice for someone using wire guided versions?"

Edited 2013-10-15 06:16 (UTC)

Firstly is to remember the fact they're physically attached. That affects how far they can go, how they may affect your suit, and I imagine their vulnerability, if an enemy just targets the wires.

[Amuro remembers seeing something like that with the Zeong, all those years ago...]

Another thing you should also remember if how much they'll be a drain on the system. There's a reason I gave the fin funnels their own, personal reactors.

"Hmmm." Matthew says in thought.

"The Heat Falcons I installed on my Nova are basically thermal blades with rocket motors attached." He ponders to himself.

"They channel the excess heat from my reactor for cutting power...but that heat radiates away the longer they're detached. You could say that they are more melee weapons with an extended reach rather than proper ranged weapons, quiaff?"

Edited 2013-10-16 16:25 (UTC)

...Sounds rather like the Gundam Hammer actually.

Just give me a sec, and I'll send you the specs... you could try practicing with it in the simulation.

"Ah, that would be most helpful! My thanks!" Matthew declares. He loads up the data and looks at it in his cockpit, backing away from the simulated enemy as he does so.

"...a flail with rockets motors attached?" He blurts out. "You have used this weapon before?"

In the One Year War, yeah. Though the rockets only came later when we realised I couldn't toss it like normal in space.

"How did that work?" Matthew asks. "Did you simply throw it manually, or were you able to steer the rocket flail with electronic guidance? Actually, hold on, let me try something in the simulation."

He steers the Nova out from cover, facing a heavily armed Hellbringer-class mech that begins charging weapons. Raising an arm pod, he deploys a Heat Falcon, strung out on it's guidance wire. Instead of flying towards the enemy, it begins spinning with it's plasma rockets, swinging around on it's guidance cable like a lasso over the Nova's cockpit

"Is this how you employed your Gundam Hammer?"

Manually when within Earth's atmosphere, remote control on the rockets for fighting in space. So what you've actually done is more combine the two.

Still, looks like it could work. Maybe show Loran that one sometime, a trick from one Gundam pilot to another?

"He uses a mech-sized flail as well, quiaff?" Matthew asks, whipping the Heat Falcon forward. It carves a righteous slice out of the Hellbringer's chest...but then the momentum, cause the Nova to stumble forward.

"Molting feathers!" Matthew curses, working at the controls frantically. "How should I brace myself?"

12: Allies become Foes, while Soldiers learn Mercy and Stabbings are Faked

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