Chapter 24: Armageddon[Earth]

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Omega
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Re: Chapter 24: Armageddon[Earth]

-Luna Ramius/Lyon-

Luna knew waiting wouldn't be smart, so she sent word to Lyon to find Zaraki, and bring him to her quarters.

Lyon herself was already on her way to the captain's quarters, when she spotted Zaraki. "Zaraki! Commander Ramius wishes to speak with us." She said with a rather calm tone in her voice.

-Lucia Kamiya-

After a bit, she found a CD Case to put that disc Gai had requested her to get, and made sure it was placed in there,and where she'd find it. After a bit, she decided to give going to sleep another shot, which this time her dreams were peaceful.
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Re: Chapter 24: Armageddon[Earth]

-Zaraki-

Zaraki quickly stood up, "Okay." And followed Lyon to the Captain's Quarters. Once they arived he walked up to Ramius's Desk. "You wanted to see us Captain?" Zaraki was generaly curious as to why he and Lyon were called here.

-Zangetsu-

Zangetsu sat still on the beach cooling off. After his bout with natalia he had managed to calm himself enough to think.
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Re: Chapter 24: Armageddon[Earth]

-Luna Ramius/Lyon-

"Thank you both for coming..." Luna then held out what would apparently be Transfer Papers, which lyon took hers.

"You see... right now, the Federation needs aid in retaking the moon from the Fandom. The Excalibur will be heading into space when we can, but for now, i'd like the two of you to go in our place..." Luna explained. "We'll follow as soon as repairs are finished."

Lyon nodded in response. "Understood, Commander."

After that Luna stood. "Any questions?"
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Re: Chapter 24: Armageddon[Earth]

Wedge released Nena at the site of Raven, and even managed give Nowe a friendly slap in the back of the head as he saluted Raven swiftly, hoping he'd take notice and do the same.

"Lt. Wedge Fifteen ma'am. I'm the one who was incharge of the delivery of the containers ma'am." He said his voice wavering with a bit of nervousness.

Wedge volunteered to fly the shuttle back down to earth, he hated it in the Wissen research colony. It was so stuffy, and that busty researcher girl was just a distant thought in his memories.
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Re: Chapter 24: Armageddon[Earth]

-Zaraki-

Zaraki picked up his transfer papers and briefly glanced over them. "I have a couple of questions Captian." Zaraki paused before his question, allowing a grin to slice across his face. "When do we leave for space? And, what ship will we be joining?"
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Re: Chapter 24: Armageddon[Earth]

-Luna Ramius/Lyon-

"You two will be leaving as soon as you're ready... as for what ship you'll be on, i'm working that part out, and should have that ready before you leave." Luna answered calmly before asking her next question.

"Anything else?" Lyon responded first. "No ma'am."

-Zaine Kamiya-

After a bit of thinking, Zaine still seemed rather confused over what had happened... So he decided t ask someone for their opinion.

He got up and dusted himself off before going to look for someone... but ended up finding Zangetsu. "Hey... Zangetsu... you got a minute?" Zaine asked.
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Re: Chapter 24: Armageddon[Earth]

Raven Sterling/Victious Sterling

Raven of course recognized the boy after seeing his face so many times in reports about him, She, of course, could not tell him of this. Though she was a bit surprised when he introduced himself as Wedge Fifteen. She tried not to show it as she returned the salute and addressed him.

"ah yes I remember hearing about you, though I thought your last name was Fourteen?"

Wedge would get only a short chance to answer before a man flanked by two Honor Gaurd solders approached. It was Victious Sterling in his full, and impressive, uniform. He walked at a steady pace with his arms low behind his back; the man radiated confidence and authority as he came to a stop near the group.

Raven's attention had quickly shifted to him, her expression was almost a snarl. Victious turned to face her and the rest. If he felt threatened by the glare he didn't show it but rather waved calmly to the group in a signal to drop any salutes.

"at ease, there's no need to be so formal at the moment."

Raven hadn't even bothered saluting yet she took his reassurance as the chance to begin an inquisition.

"Why are you here Victious, it hardly seems proper for the Fandom's supreme commander to come sign for a package" The venom in her voice was sharp enough to kill yet Victious did not seem bothered.

"dear cousin, I'm merely here to assure that your new machine is to your taste. After all you are the pride of the Fandom"

Raven seemed to recoil a bit, her tension vanishing into uncertainty. "My...Machine?" she finally broke her glare to look hesitantly at the giant crate.

"Yes, Dear Cousin, If you would be so kind as to open it." now Victious was looking at the young lieutenant behind Raven, Lt. Wedge fourteen
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Re: Chapter 24: Armageddon[Earth]

-Zaraki-

Zaraki joined in saying "No ma'am." to the Captain. "If you would excuse me." Zaraki said as he bowed and left for the hangar to prepare the Out Frame D for departure.

-Zangetsu-

Zangetsu glanced over his shoulder ans saw Zaine. "Sure." He responded while standing and turning to face Zaine. "What is it I can do for you today Zaine?" Zangetsu asked as he dusted to sand off of him.
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Re: Chapter 24: Armageddon[Earth]

-Camilla-

Dorel Richter was an unimpressive man, all in all. With short white hair and a round white beard, tall, yet stout and almost pudgy in build, Richter looked like an old man --- and was, accordingly. His appearance also resembled certain stereotypes regarding schemers, noblemen, and clergymen, which he managed to fit the bill of all three simultaneously; During the Medieval times, in fact, Richter would fit right in as one of the ecclestical Cardinals of old, obsessed both with a will to serve God and his own pockets simultaneously, except with the vocational robes of a Catholic Bishop replaced by a blue military uniform of a Strategic Naval Research Institute officer. It was a wonder how, with those stereotypes which did not help his image at all, he got as far as he did within the Federation structure.

But Camilla had to admit that to Richter's credit, while the man was a rotten field commander, he was a shrewd administrator and good diplomat; Richter's organization kept Jaburo running smoothly day-to-day, all machines in order, everyone with something to do, and for years he had been the entire backbone of the Earthbound SNRI Branch --- deservingly so, in fact. And above all else, Richter knew when he should advance and, more importantly, when he should quit while ahead...and he knew when he had lost and had to act quickly.

"So you've talked with her," Richter said matter-of-factly, pacing around his quarters deep beneath Jaburo's underground docks and hidden entrances, in one of the buildings in the deepest centers of the entire base, as Camilla sat on one of the leather reclining sofas lining the far wall with legs crossed sensually and a nonchalant expression, head leaning against an arm propped up against an armrest. Another thing Camilla credited Richter for was being a very ardent collector; comfortably darkened with the hearth of a wood fireplace burning to the right wall and dim lighting lining the wall pillars, Richter knew how to live in style, and many trophies and gold valuables --- mostly of the religious kind, Camilla noted, gold crosses, chalices, holy tomes with gold bindings --- lined the walls. Camilla's sofas were made of the best leather, the tables and walls the finest polished oak; Her sofas were sunk into a conversation pit in the middle of the room, where Richter paced above a persian red-woven carpet before the fireplace itself. "Did you make any progress at all?"

Camilla shrugged at that. "None." Was all she needed to say; It wasn't that either of them believed that June Uzuki would be cooperative to begin with, anyway, much less needed. Her Master had insisted, however, and that was the second of two reasons why Camilla even bothered --- you do not cross Brigadier General Steve Livingstone unless you are ready to defeat him, after all. As she looked up, she frowned at Richter; It didn't need to be spoken to realize that Rear Admiral Dorel Richter, once a staunch supporter of Project Sirene, had now been effectively cast aside from Project Sirene itself. The SNRI attack on Aidoneus was deliberately planned to give Richter himself as little involvement as possible, in fact; That much was painfully clear, and ever since Iron Mask's previous 'visit' --- Camilla still shuddered at his temperament --- she had heard little else regarding the happenings in space or how her brother was doing. Livingstone had also been deliberately vague on any details Richter demanded regarding his new space fortress, Heterodyne, even though Richter had been demanding details for weeks.

Camilla sighed --- she sometimes wondered if she had already been likewise cast aside by her Master, along with Richter. But the question was: what would Richter do now? "But even though we'll never get her to help us, she has some small use to me."

"It's good that at least one of us has any use for her, really."

"Yeah."

"Livingstone contacted me again; He's sending two agents down here to help me with the SPARTAN Project. They'll be here sometime today or tomorrow." Richter's voice bore a tinge of derisiveness as he mentioned it, his steps tracing the edge of the carpet neatly. Camilla shook her head. "One of them's apparently the defector from the Ptolemaios, actually; Has some Innovator technology to share, though I wonder why Livingstone's in such a hurry to rush them to me." Even though he wouldn't tell me anything more on Project Sirene anymore, Richter sneered. "Get ready to meet them."

"I don't know..." Camilla unfurled her legs and crossed them the other way. "I have a bad feeling about this. Can we really trust this defector?"

"Your concerns are as good as mine," Was Richter's answer. "We'll receive her anyway; She'll be a good springboard for us to try to find out what Livingstone's really up to in space and what he's doing with my SPARTANs. Besides, Innovator technology might just be what I need to bolster the SPARTAN Project beyond its current design limits; The Advanced SPARTANs are ready, but they're pretty much the best I can do for this --- the Template is increasingly deteriorating despite all we're doing for her, and at the going rate...we'll lose her entirely within the week. Tops. And once she goes, Camilla, we'll have to jettison the entire Project unless we find an alternate, reliable way of cloning more Advanced SPARTANs by then."

"Is there no other way, Richter?" Camilla leaned forward, intrigued; As Richter went on, she realized that during her time here in Jaburo, Camilla never examined or even caught a glimpse of the Template at all, even though she was pretty much the backbone --- in fact, the core --- of the entire SPARTAN Project. Camilla had heard from Richter about the deterioration, of course, but to hear that it was occurring at an accelerated rate surprised her in earnest. She had less time than she thought she did. "Reports I've gotten from the Strike Witches' flight logs indicate that the DC has a girl with---"

Richter dismissed Camilla with a wave of his hand; Camilla fell silent and frowned, leaning back. "You got lucky with June, Camilla, but it's far too risky to raid Aidoneus Island again, even moreso just to get Rena Lanford. No, even if it's just you." Richter countered firmly, preempting Camilla who clenched her fists derisively. "They'll have bolstered their air and space defences by now, and it'll be a miracle if you even make landfall without being shot down, much less get anywhere into Aidoneus again like you did. And it's too risky to lure her and the DC to attack us at Jaburo; I won't expose the base even if it saves the Template."

"If we had SX-004 back, then..." Camilla began, but as she thought of Morpheus and Emily, she fell silent. That, too, was out of the question. "Then we're going with the Innovator path."

"Yes, we are." Richter nodded in affirmation. "Let's hope it yields results."

"And then what?"

"And then..." Richter trailed off, and Camilla felt the air grow heavy with bitterness around her; There was no denying at all that they had been cast aside any longer. Richter knew it, and resented Livingstone for it; Camilla had a feeling she was, too, and had been hoping that capturing Emily would defy her fate and place her back in her Master's favor --- it was not until now, as Richter's expression darkened, that Camilla ever had the notion that she would have to outright fight her Master and his favorite servant. Camilla dreaded it, and knew that she would not be ready --- she didn't even stand a reliable chance against her own brother, although Camilla inwardly hoped that if she turned on Livingstone, Melodius would understand and side with her; Together she and Melodius might have a chance against Iron Mask, but not alone --- if Richter forced a battle anytime soon. But as Camilla's senses probed Richter's inner thoughts, she felt her fear slowly taking form into reality: Richter was defying his fate, too, unwilling to simply be cast aside and left behind to the Divine Crusaders' mercy.

And not only defy his fate: Richter was actively scheming against Steve Livingstone now, preparing for the inevitable showdown to determine the fate of the Strategic Naval Research Institute. Camilla's mind flashed back to the various glimpses she had seen in Jaburo during the recent days, of Richter contacting whatever Federation patrons and contacts he had left, increasing SPARTAN production and preparing Jaburo for full alert (Camilla realized then with a small gasp that this was probably the reason the Template had started deteriorating faster). Camilla was even aware that Richter seemed to be designing something else in his private design mainframes, contemplating his options; It seemed to be something specifically designed to counter and completely nullify Project Sirene, but that was all Camilla knew... "And then..." Richter piped up again, and Camilla blinked attentively at him; Richter had stopped pacing and had lowered his head, clasping his hands reverently together.

War was coming, one way or another. "And then we pray to God for his protection against the Devils we have brought on ourselves."

Camilla sighed wistfully, and lowered her gaze as her body sulked a little. It had come to this, then; Armed confrontation between her and her own Master, betrayal upon betrayal. Camilla's only option was to hope now that June was indeed as valuable to Martin and Morpheus as she expected and that, when they did come, they would bring Emily with them; If that failed, Camilla would have no choice but to defy her fate and her Master and throw her lot in with Richter and Jaburo. "Amen," Camilla sighed, remembering that she hadn't said that word at all since she and Melodius were children. "Should we recall all the SPARTAN units still in service on Earth?"

"No. Too late now." Richter answered briefly...and started pacing again, arms behind his back. "If we pull back the other SPARTANs, we'll be telling both Livingstone and Juan Santi that we're getting ready to fight off a siege, and unless I can negotiate some kind of deal with the Federation Council and bypass them entirely, we'll be forcing them to attack us even sooner. We're not ready to fight them, the Fandom *and* the DC at once, not yet. Just worry about receiving the defector, Camilla; Make sure she arrives safely and unmolested."

"I'll do my best, but we'd better hurry with the negotiations, then. There's no telling if---"

Only seconds after Camilla suddenly started upwards, looking to the ceiling and narrowing her eyes in disdain as her senses suddenly felt an immense, malicious and imposing presence hovering above Jaburo itself, the sudden flash and blinking of red lights on the ceiling silenced Richter likewise as an alarm klaxon suddenly sounded with repeated sharp pitches, signalling an imminent attack; In response, Richter strode over to his desk as Camilla kept staring, leaning across the desk and pressing a button on an intercom on the desktop, which switched on with a slight cackle. Richter frowned; He wasn't expecting them so soon. "What is it? Report!"

"We're detecting a massive energy signature above Sector 5-D, sir! Registering a Divine Crusaders signal --- it's huge! We've never seen anything like it---" Was the reply, and knowing what exactly that could only be, both Richter and Camilla shuddered in unison: "---And it's locked onto us!"

* * *

-Shuu-

And above the skies of Jaburo, above the seemingly tranquil rainforest, a single blue-and-black machine hovered in the air as it gazed down regally and imposingly, waiting for the inevitable response. Within the machine, Shuu Shirakawa smirked knowingly; This was it, Shuu knew well, and all that remained was for Richter to finally show him what the SPARTAN Project was worth, and the means to which Richter is attempting to defy his fate, deep within the base.

The Granzon was now knocking on SNRI's gates themselves.
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Re: Chapter 24: Armageddon[Earth]

-Lyon-

Lyon also followed Zaraki out to the hangar where her Freedom was waiting to prepare for departure.

-Zaine Kamiya-

Zaine then looked rather intently at Zangetsu... "I'm worried about Ninetails... It knows something I don't..." He then shared the bit about Ninetails impersonating Tallis with Zangetsu.

"What do you think it means? I'm gonna be pissed if it does this again..."
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Re: Chapter 24: Armageddon[Earth]

-Nena Trinity+Purple Haro-(-Hawaii base-Hangars-)

For all her exaggerated sense of worth Nena had become pretty good at keeping a low profile when it counted. She had saluted Victious Sterling and then behaved in a way that you would expect from any good soldier would. She could be a good girl if she had too. Of course her reason for doing so was not done out of any adoration but out of pure selfpreservation. edited grammar and spelling
Last edited by chiku_shou on Thu Jun 25, 2009 5:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Chapter 24: Armageddon[Earth]

-Nowe-

Being slow to everything he didn't even register the Sterlings showing up until Wedge hit him on the back of the head. A small ow escaped his throat and he watched as both Wedge and Nena go into bow mode over these guys. But because he was Nowe he acted as if he didn't notice and started to work on something nearby so they wouldn't notice him. After all with head phones on and his attention seemingly stolen by work they hopefully wouldn't harass him for not being a good soldier.

-Ryder-

"Good job guys mission accomplished. Now to just head home." He gave everyone his appreciation as the ship headed back for the island.
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Re: Chapter 24: Armageddon[Earth]

-Zangetsu-

Zangetsu thought about the attack. These things usually didn't seek to harm their 'containers.' No, that would only lead to them dying as well. So, what did the Ninetails want?

"Well Zaine, I can't really say for sure what the Ninetails was after. But, from what I can gather I have some assumptions. One, the Ninetails could be preparing you for something. Unlikely, but it could happen. Two, the Ninetails knows something about you, it doesn't want you to figure out."

Zangetsu paused to make sure Zaine could take in what he just said. "There is only one I know of where you can figure out the truth here. Make the Ninetails tell you what it knows. Go into your mind and force that beast to give you the information."
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Re: Chapter 24: Armageddon[Earth]

- Jacob -

"Roger that, Commander" Jacob replied as he made his way back to the Valhalla, which was retuning to the island. Sara breathed a sigh of relief that the mission had been successful an ran a post-battle diagnostic on the TE Engine, noting that it was still performing in top condition.
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Re: Chapter 24: Armageddon[Earth]

- Gabriel -

Still as the air Gabriel sat, silent, intently examining his right palm and the black, decorated cross emblazoned there. He did not move, did not speak, he barely even seemed to breathe as his eyes bore into his skin as if to search for something. All of a sudden, his left hand moved and a knife appeared between his fingers. With a smooth motion, Gabriel swung with the weapon and cut a clean, precise gash across width of his palm.

For several, long seconds, he stared at the open wound as blood began to trickle off the edges of his hand and onto the floor as if waiting for something to happen.

Nothing did.

His eyes narrowed. He put a great amount of concentration into the gash, focusing his energy, consciously calling upon the dark power that flowed through his entire body. Finally, the wound began to glow and proceeded to heal itself. Slowly.

Gabriel sighed. “Most unusual…”

It was yet another sign that something about him had changed since the conclusion of the Reaper’s battle with the Gundams. The first had come when he had recovered from having his body destroyed by that meddler in the unusual armor. He had only had to ever call upon the ability to fully regenerate his body on sparse occasions before, but during those times the task had been accomplished with but a mild application of concentration and effort. However, this time had been far different. The particles that made up his body had not moved initially. Even when he concentrated more, they only slightly responded to his will. It had taken an extremely large portion of his power, far more than had ever been required before, to reform himself in the back of the small submersible that Hanzo had prepared. Gabriel had not made any indication to the dark samurai of course, but it served to aleart him to the fact that something was indeed amiss, and the little experiment he had just performed only further evidenced it.

Normally, Gabriel wouldn’t have even had to give any attention to a meager injury such as the cut on his palm; his power would react and the wound would be healed in a matter of split seconds. Now it would seem, for some strange reason, it would require as much concentration and conjuring as it would take to regenerate an entire limb or internal organ. And if this was the case, Gabriel now had to wonder how much energy that would take, and whether or not he would be able to do it at all. All of this pointed to one thing, no matter how improbable it might seem:

He was beginning to lose his power.

His palm finished healing, and Gabriel opened and closed his hand several times, staring vacantly into the cross tatoo. “Could it be that I’ve simply expended too much energy in such a short period of time…?”

There was a pause he considered this and numerous other possibilities. Then, slowly, a smile crawled its way over his lips.

“Or is it… because of her presence…?”

***
"That is what you truly desire, then?" The Prince had questioned.

Gabriel, on one knee and his head bowed, had responded most humbly, “Yes, my lord. More than anything.”

The Prince studied the suited man carefully, searching for any fallacies, any fractures in Gabriel’s otherwise seamless spirit that would betray any falseness in his sentiments, or worse, lead to a change of his heart further down the path he was destined to tread. However, under the towering masked man’s flawless perception, none were found. The Prince nodded solemnly.

“Very well. Listen closely, Gabriel. There does indeed exist another that possesses the power to grant you your wish. It is a young woman, tender in spirit… by the name of Emily Stormgunner.”

Gabriel looked up. “Emily… Stormgunner…?” For some indescribable reason, he had felt a flutter in his heart as he spoke the name. “Where is it that I may find her?”

“For the time being, she resides in a realm that is unfortunately beyond your reach,” the Prince had continued. “However, soon,
very soon, the destined flow will guide her here to this universe, and I have seen that the eternal streams that carry your souls are to ultimately cross their boundaries. If at that time the two of you are to engage in great battle, Gabriel… then your greatest desire will indeed be fulfilled without fail.”

***
“Then it is true…” Gabriel breathed, his eyes alight. “His Majesty was absolutely correct…”

His gaze intensified, his sprit spurred on by the memory. He squeezed his hand into a tight fist.

“Now I must do batle with her. Before another has the chance to steal her life for themselves. There can be no other path left open for the two of us.”

The pale man stood from his seat and stared up and off into the distance as if to speak his thoughts across space. “Fight me, Emily. Fight me with all your heart and soul, and make my desire, my dream, a reality once and for all eternity…”

Silence hung through the air, filling the space around him for the longest time. Until…


“What on Earth are you babbling on about, you fool?” Hanzo demanded, still seated at the front of the submersible.

Gabriel started. He turned around and his face became tinged with a light blush. “Tee hee… oh dear. Was that all out loud?”

Hanzo hmph’d. “Instead of talking to yourself like a complete idiot, your energy would be best spent on figuring a way out of our present predicament. In case you haven’t noticed, we cannot remain huddled inside of this cramped vessel for very long. Not only would another minute spent trapped in such close quarters with you be totally unbareable… it simply does not supply the resources with which to sustain us. Even if we were allowed to show our faces to our comrades, there is not enough fuel with which to make it to friendly territory. Rations… water… air… even between only the two of us, we don’t have enough for more than a few days."

“Maybe you don’t.”

Hanzo grunted, annoyed. “The point is… our new present objective is to locate a suitable location where we can regroup and plan our next action against the Gundam team.”

Gabriel chuckled, sliding into his own seat beside Hanzo. “You are such a worrywart. The situation is not nearly so difficult as you would make it seem to be. If this boat is no good to us… we must simply acquire a better one that is.”

“And where might you suggest we find one, my dear comrade?”

The answer to Hanzo’s question came not a few seconds later as the submersible’s mid-range sonar suddenly picked up on a vessel only a few knots directly ahead of them.

Gabriel smiled broadly. “You see? These kinds of things always have ways of working themselves out.”

***
- Deep Sea Salvage Vessel Ocean’s Claw -
- Crew Lounge -

“ALICE?” Eliste called, searching for the turquoise-haired girl who had disappeared off somewhere. “ALICE? Where did you--?”

As she entered the Crew Lounge, she finally spotted the target of her search, and her mouth dropped open in surprise at what she saw. ALICE was sitting hunched over on one of the couches watching the television. That wasn’t what was surprising to Eliste. What was surprising was the blueberry muffin that ALICE held between her fingers and was quietly nibbling on. ALICE turned her turquoise eyes in Eliste’s direction, straightening and nodding a greeting. “Good afternoon, Miss Marxwell.”

Eventually, Eliste gave a chuckle and shook her head, her messy blonde hair swaying back and forth over her eyes. It had only been just over a week that ALICE had spent on the ship (instead of returning to port after recovering her, Eliste's father had ordered that the ship with its fresh supply of fuel and food remain out at sea to continue salvage operations, thus ALICE had had little choice but to remain onboard the Ocean's Claw while they carried them out) and already it seemed as though she had taken to making herself at home in her new surroundings. The crew kept her busy by assigning her light jobs to be done here and there, and she busied herself doing them without any question or complaint.

"My secondary function," ALICE had explained when Eliste queried on this, "is to facilitate any and all needs my human superiors may require of me."

It was a little unsettling to Eliste to keep being reminded that ALICE was in fact not human, and that her behavior was apparently something that had been programmed into by somebody. It made her wonder... did this mean that she had no will of her own? Which was why it made her very happy to see that she wasn't entirely incapable of acting more like a human, and the sight of ALICE eating the blueberry muffin was definitely a warming one.

“You’ve really taken a liking to those things, haven’t you?" she asked cheerfully. "That’s gotta be the fifth one I’ve seen you eating today. You better watch yourself though or your gonna get fat.”

“Negative, Miss Marxwell” ALICE replied in her monotone, shaking her own head. “My bodily structure and its functionality is recorded as being eleven-point-one-five times more efficient than a human body's. All calorific energy is extracted, processed, absorbed and utilize as energy with zero percent stored in excess as ‘fat’. One hundred percent operational efficiency is maintained in this manner, thus ensuring that any and all resources expended to the functionality of this unit are not degenerated to waste.”

“Oh… r-really?” Eliste said, her left eye twitching slightly out of annoyance as she wondered aside why her body couldn’t work like that. “Well, that’s… a good thing, I guess.”

“Affirmative, Miss Marxwell,” ALICE offered, nodding. “It is a ‘good thing’.”

Eliste sighed. “And for the last time, stop calling me ‘Miss Marxwell’. Just call me ‘Eliste’, why don't you?”

“Negative, Miss Marxwell,” ALICE replied with a shake of her head. “Such an action would be in direct contradiction to pre-initialization programming directive necessitating the address of human individuals with proper dignifying honorifics in the most proper and respective manner befitting their spoken language.”

“But--!” Eliste started, but quickly cut herself off, realizing the futility of any further attempts at persuasion. “Never mind. Listen... I was looking for you because the Captain called me up to the bridge and I wanted you to come along to check it out. I don't know what he wants but it sounded urgent, so we better hurry.”

ALICE nodded. “As you wish, Miss Marxwell. I am in your care.”
Thundermuffin wrote:SETSUNA: There is no Tomino in this world.
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Omega
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Re: Chapter 24: Armageddon[Earth]

-Zaine Kamiya-

"Hmm..." He certainly didn't like the idea of facing Ninetails again, but knew it couldn't be helped.

"Thanks... I'll do just that..." Zaine then tried to enter the part of his mind where Ninetails dwelled... only to find a barrier protecting something that sent him back to the real world with a rather pained expression on his face...

"The hell...? It must be wanting to protect what it knows... there's a barrier keeping me from it."

He thought back on what he saw... Ninetails was trying to reform itself...
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Zangetsu
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Re: Chapter 24: Armageddon[Earth]

-Zangetsu-

"A barrier? That's highly unusual. The Ninetails must certinly not want you to find out this information. My only conclusion is this revalation must have something to do with Tallis. Why else use her form to attack you."

Then a thought occured to him. "Zaine are you afraid to fight Tallis?"

-Zaraki-

After an hour or so the Out Frame was ready to go with the Jet pack on it's back fully loaded. The other packs were in containers sitting next to the suit. Zaraki opened a lie to Lyon. "Ready to go, Lyon? Or should I call you Commnader, now?"
"Paladin Anderson, Executioner Anderson, Bayonet Anderson, Dust to Dust Anderson, Assassin Anderson, Regenerator Anderson, Killing Judge Anderson"-Millennium Soldiers
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Omega
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Re: Chapter 24: Armageddon[Earth]

-Zaiune Kamiya-

He was certain that there was another reason for Ninetails attack, but then Zangetsu brought up something he didn't expect to hear...

"..." For a few moments, he was silent... but then he spoke... "Tallis... she gave me a reason to fight... she gave me something to protect... To be honest, the idea terrifies me, despite the fact that I know I need to in order to save her..." Zaine lowered his head then.

-Lyon-

From the Freedom's cockpit, Lyon responded... "Whenever you are. and when we're around other, yes please call me commander."
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Zangetsu
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Re: Chapter 24: Armageddon[Earth]

-Zangetsu-

Zangetsu felt sorry for Zaine, he really did, but this needed to be done. "I think that was Ninetails point. In your current condition you would lose to Tallis and thus lose her. If this was what Ninetails wanted then, I agree whole heartedly. Zaine, you are going to have to fight and beat Tallis. You'll probably have to give it your all, put all your effort and skill into it. She'll be fighting to kill, while you'll be fighting to capture."


-Zaraki-

"I'm ready here Commander." He responded as he motioned for the Techs to get ready to move the containers.
"Paladin Anderson, Executioner Anderson, Bayonet Anderson, Dust to Dust Anderson, Assassin Anderson, Regenerator Anderson, Killing Judge Anderson"-Millennium Soldiers
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Omega
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Re: Chapter 24: Armageddon[Earth]

-Zaine Kamiya-

Zaine didn't bother raising his head... "...Thank you for listening... I'll try and sort the rest out myself..." After that, he stood which then the different eye color would be visible.

He then left for a part of the base where he could be alone.

-Luna Ramius/Lyon-

Luna then opened a channel to the Out Frame D and Freedom. "I'll be sending word to the Federation space fleet to inform them of your heading up there... from there, it's up to them where you go." Lyon nodded. "Thank you Commander Ramius."

The Freedom walked out of the Excalibur then, waiting for Zaraki and his gear.
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