Duel of engineering wits

[space_macgyver]

[1]

You're kidding, right?

[Lowe looks at the pile of wrecked units post-Kairos Aspida mission. Some of the parts are still smoking. He rubs his eyes in disbelief.]

I'm asleep and this is a nightmare, right?


[2]

Alright you Kairos Aspida jerks. Show me what you got.

[What's Lowe up to now? He reviews the battle footage! He already took several notes, and more are coming.]

How can you have a "stealth ship" that friggin' big? Don't tell me it's because of their Primeval Force thing.

Anyway, all designs have a weakness. And I'm gonna find out one in each of their units. Watch me.

[Feel like sharing battle experience, maybe?]

Comments

1

[zaku_for_xmas]

(No words...)

[space_macgyver]

Hey, Bernie. Phew, you're alive! I was worried for a sec there.

[zaku_for_xmas]

Yeah, so was I. SO was I.
To tell you the truth, I dunno how.

[space_macgyver]

You faced those guys before, didn't you? Twice even.

[gamerqueen]

...Hey, Mechanic boy. Your Astray's a model from ORB, right? What do you know about them?

[space_macgyver]

Name's Lowe Gear, don't forget it!

Anyway, Red Frame and a few of its brother units were prototypes, and then ORB used them as base for mass producing M1 Astrays. They're lightly armed and armored, in order to be fast and cheap. Red Frame was kinda like that too - but the armed part changed once I got my hands on it!

[gamerqueen]

(...No fair, your name's already a pun!)

Mm. Now it's got enough swords to be the successor to Sanger Zonvolt's machine. Nevermind that huge one I've seen around the hangar that looks way too big to wield properly in any kind of gravity...

[space_macgyver]

Heh, I found a way, believe it or not.

2

[rods_and_cones]

Oh, who's footage is that? If you're looking for a closer look at the ship with that large gun, here you go.

[[Look, a data disc, with some nice up-close angles on the Bastion!]]

And I do apologize for increasing your work load.

[space_macgyver]

I'm with the Junker Guild, and just helping White Chalice - so technically I could just sit this one out, let the other mechanics handle it.

But it feels like a dick move, you know?

[Lowe reads the disc and observes the footage shown on screen.]

It uses gravity as a weapon, huh?

[rods_and_cones]

Seems so. Rather interesting how quickly it worked at that. Going from attraction to repulsion so quickly, and so accurately!

[space_macgyver]

Gotta ask Haruka about that. Her Imber was a real expert at gravity!

2

[gurrenbrigbonded]

"The Nero's weakness stems from it's weapons loadout." Matthew offers, leaning over Lowe's shoulder to watch the footage. Bruises are still healing up here and there on his face.

"It projects Primeval Force energy from it's arm and shoulder lances: they can form a barrier, a beam attack, and a energy blade for melee attacks. It can even absorb energy blasts from enemies and throw them back in the form of a sphere of destruction."

He calls up his own Battle-cam footage. "However, those lances are exposed, and can be damaged with projectiles and melee weapons. Without them, it's offensive capabilities are crippled."

[space_macgyver]

Seems pretty brittle once the barrier's out. Of course, it's Kairos Aspida, for them "pretty brittle" still means tough like nuts.

[gurrenbrigbonded]

"Aff." Matthew admits. "It is not an invincible model by any means. The same holds in the case of the Aeras, Tatias, and Choma models."

He grunts to himself. "It is the units of their leaders that are truly brutal. Do you have any ideas about them?"

[space_macgyver]

Looks like a lot of sweat went into making those. Sweat and money.

Well... one thing I can see already, about that - Peacemaker, was it?

1

[whitedevilbot]

Nope.

[Serious Amuro is serious.]

This is what Kairos Aspida did to us. Their leader did a number on the joints in particular.

[The Nu Gundam is still stuck mid-pose from when it had been deflecting blows. Like a giant plastic model or something.

[space_macgyver]

Look at that Nu! It looks like a statue, stuck in an epic pose. And I don't mean the good kinf of epic.

That guy really is something else, huh.

[whitedevilbot]

His suit was at least. Up to a point, it seemed like something that we could overwhelm...

And then suddenly it cloned itself. The pilot said something about... Kamen Rider OOO?

2

[wardeninexile]

"My main concern is their stealth dreadnought and their leader's unit."

She points at the footage. "Even without the stealth, I think an outright battle between that and our naval assets will cause too much collateral damage if it remains near the ground like it did. Meanwhile, the leader's unit is just extremely advanced, as you can see."

Ranna does smile though.

"However, thanks to your work on the Verfolger, my mech and I both survived the mission."

[space_macgyver]

Yeah, I can see that. You surviving, I mean.

So they had an ace in the sleeve, and kept it hidden the whole time - until now. Two aces even.

[wardeninexile]

"Aff. If we can engage the dreadnought in space, that would be best. But that still does not discount the need of taking out the leader's unit - that seems problematic. Especially towards the end when it created functional clones of itself."

2

[chozo_girl]

I am considering a boarding.

Kairos Aspida seem to have a technological edge, but they do not seem particularly skilled. [Of course, by Samus's standards, not a lot of people are...] If I could get through the shield, I believe I could infiltrate the ship and take it out from the inside, where its defenses would be largely nominal.

But I do not know how we could get through it.

[space_macgyver]

Hey, isn't that a bit excessive?

You'd think they'd prepare against boarders. A huge ship like that must have like a billion security guards on board.

[chozo_girl]

I doubt they have enough manpower for that many real fighters on board. It would contradict their modus operandi up to now.

It is likely a lot of the ship is guarded by AIs and other such measures.