Ultra Investigation 1! The Case of the Mad PT Pilot!

[Tackle Jackie]

The atmosphere in the Tausendfuessler was tense, as Millicent left Indigo to take Kenneth on a brief tour a the limited facilities of the vessel, in an attempt to make him feel more welcome aboard the ship. The young woman was enjoying some time in the cockpit, messing around with some editing equipment while she set the ship to autopilot. She was glancing through the records in an attempt to see if there was anything they had missed, anyhints as to what spurred this attack...

A series of rapid beeps from the console stole her attention away as she leaned in to check, quickly smacking a large button and filling the halls with a Klaxon alarm. “Indie, Kenny do me a favor and head to the hanger, we’ve got three bogeys on us it seems.”

 

[yastubb]

"Three bogeys...great. I bet it's the Directory coming after me..."

Kenneth glanced at Indigo, breaking into a light jog towards the hangar. He seemed a little more at ease now, far less tense than he had been sitting in the cockpit.

"And do tell her to call me Ken instead!"

 

[Tyran]

Shortly before Tausendfuessler appeared in the distance the three machines slowed down somewhat, covering the final stretch in still somewhat rapid speed, but not at the level the rest of the way had been traveled in. It wasn't long before the machines came into sight, approaching in a triangle-like formation, the two wasp-like machines in front. They bore nothing that would indicate affiliation with any faction or country.

The two machines in front had neither arms nor legs. In place of arms, they had angular, almost shield-like 'wings.' On their backs there were two boosters. The waist of the body was extremely thin, quickly widening to a large vacuum cleaner fashioned after a stinger that was still sucking the air around it. All around the body were present several openings that at least looked like heat vents. Though no obvious weapons were present or drawn, there were several dangerous-looking holes on undersides of both wings.

They were Angelus, the weakest of the Ruina. Their presence spelled the beginning of the end for any world they appeared in.

The machine behind them was different. It bore some similarity to the Angeli in front of it, with similar boosters and angular wings, but was otherwise different. It could almost be called a fusion of a traditional Mobile Weapon and the machines in front of it, with a horned helmet and hands that were partly hidden by the wings, now doubling as shields. The bottom half consisted of legs instead of a vacuum cleaner. Its right hand was carrying a mean looking rifle - An Angelus S.

The three stopped a short distance away from the Tausendfuessler, the two Angeli hovering just outside immediate range of short-range weaponry. No obvious hostile moves had been made yet, and a voice, originating from the humanoid Angelus came out in an open line.

"Give us what you are carrying from the site, and death will be avoided this day." The lead Ruina demanded over open communications. The voice was… there was a deep sense of wrongness to it, like it did not belong in the world. The voice itself sounded one half organic, one half mechanic and inflicted a sensation akin to the sound of scratching a ceramic plate with a metal fork.

---

Unit Composition:
-Angelus x2
-Angelus S x1

 

[Tackle Jackie]

“Well. That sounds fair.” Indigo led Kenneth to the hanger, pointing to the Virgola and a wall of armaments and others. “If you don’t feel like you’re ready for air to air combat, load up and fire out from the ramp. I’ll go out first and... Entertain our guests until we can get to friendly airspace. Sound good?”

She clearly wasn’t waiting for a response as she strolled up to the far side of the hanger and grabbed a radio off the wall. “Get me connected to them.

“Greetings, sorry for taking so long, but we had to load it up. We don’t want any trouble, so we’ll be tossing the package to you.”

With that, she slammed the radio back down and opened the side hatch, being flung out of the ship violently by the air, spinning towards the Ruina.

 

[yastubb]

Kenneth full on sprinted to the cockpit, dropping into the seat.

He hurriedly prepared the machine for combat. The system booted up quickly, screens blinking to life.

There's no chance of the Virgola doing air-to-air combat. He'll have to follow Indigo's suggestion of sticking to the ramp.

And were they Directory? That didn't exactly...sound friendly.

"Can someone open the hangar door?" Kenneth called over the comms. The Virgola reached down, picking up the Gunnery Carver, still damaged. It is, however, the weapon he has become most familiar with, and the best option as of now. Not to mention the whole power core issue.

Was the enemy after the Sphere?

What a rude wake-up call.

 

[Tyran]

No further words were spared as the Ruina sprung into action almost immediately after Indigo was flung out of the Tausendfuessler, the humanoid Angelus S moving first. Whether they had been planning to attack no matter what or they had that quickly known that Indigo was not what the detectives had picked from the ruins was unknown. Curiously, it made a quick gesture towards the Tausendfuessler before flying backwards at a fast pace. As it flew it expertly aimed its beam rifle at Indigo, shooting several rapidly approaching thin blue beams at her.

The Angeli sprung to action as soon as their commander made the gesture. Both wasp-like machines flew upwards, negative energy bursting from their boosters as they soared. Coming to an abrupt halt once they had gained sufficient height on the ship, the twin chest plates on both units opened with an ominous purple glow. Angling themselves downwards, both Angeli launched a barrage of fast-moving rockets at the Tausendfuessler. The first swarm was aimed at the center of the Tausendfuessler, aiming at the area between the stems of the wings and the hull between them. The second barrage was aimed slightly in front of the large plane, where it would be at the moment of impact if it kept moving. The rocket swarms also glowed with negative energy, leaving purple trails behind as they approached the Tausendfuessler.

 

[Tackle Jackie]

Indigo was quite cross when she realized that the Mobile Weapons were ignoring her for the most part, besides the blue beams of death shooting towards her. “Hey, eyes on me!” She shouted as she spun towards the larger Ruina, the first bean missing on account of her size, the second coming much closer nearly catching her side but as the third finally hit-

It seemed to just bounce off the forearm of the 20 meter form of Chojin Zest. It was almost as if Indigo was replaced by an optical illusion, her form having grown steadily larger as it seemed to bat the beam aside as they charged forward at the Angelus S, leading with a mighty punch.

“Eyes on me.”

The situation on the Tausendfuessler was... Unpleasant to say the least, Millicent trying to manuever the ship as the missiles hit along the ship. “Not good not good!” She flailed around on the board for a hot minute before sending out a distress signal. “This is civilian craft Baker Street, we are under attack by unknown foes, please send assistance, anyone!”

 

[yastubb]

"Oh-"

Kenneth suppressed the urge to curse as the series of explosions rocked the interior of the transport plane, the vibrations rumbling through his body.

The back hangar door opened, thank god, and the Virgola took aim at an Angelus, attempting to fire three kinetic shots at the Ruina.

However, the explosions from the missile barrage was throwing off his aim-a direct hit would be unlikely.

 

[Pimster]

As the plea for help reached the communications systems of J.R.'s crew, his interns were left with a lot of doubts. "Sir, shall we go and help them?" "But what about the money?" "Is this a trap?". Suddenly, breaking through the waves of endless doubt, JR spoke with a firm voice, having already seen the money in their hands. He already thought of the price he would charge them and the immense benefit it could be for him.

"Gentlemen, do not worry. We will be the ones who will rescue the craft! And upon everything else, we'll gain money today!".
After JR spoke, everyone was excited to get to work. And so, they sailed towards the source of the distress signal at full speed. Since they already had ships, they didn't need large numbers, so a grand total of 4 Aldebaros and the Pleiades Taura went to the place.

The ship in which JR was (the Pleiades Taura) was a glorious large ship with wing-like thrusters at its sides and a beautiful yellow ornament with black details at the sides of the ship. In each of its thrusters, it had shining romb-like rubies surrounded by a black cover. Finally, in between the horns in the front side of the ship, it ended like the head of an arrow.
The other ships were exactly like the one JR was in, except that they ended in a cannon and were colored in black, with their gems dyed in a green color.

 

[Tyran]

Indigo's sudden transformation and rapid growth took the leading Ruina by surprise. The fist was already close by the time the Angelus S started to move, but the machine proved its speed. What should've been a devastating punch to the chassis of the Mobile Weapon only caught the beam rifle, the fist shattering both the rifle and the fingertips that were holding it. The Angelus S flew backwards as two plates on its chest opened and launched a barrage of rockets much like the two Angeli had launched at the Tausendfuessler just moments prior. The glowing trails behind the rockets was more pronounced than before, signaling that they would deliver more damage on impact. At the same time the Ruina inside sent another order at its underlings.

The two wasp Angeli dodged Kenneth's shots with contemptuous ease, shaking slightly as they did so, like they were laughing at him and his aim. Afterwards the two separated from each other, one keeping the height advantage on Tausendfuessler and Virgola as the other sped towards them. The Angelus that stayed above them pointed its left wing at the Virgola, a circle forming at the tip. It was dark at first, but in another spin it was colored orange. Most of the circle glowed brightly before it launched itself as a stream of energy bullets at the area Virgola was in.

The other one held its right wing to the side as it flew, a spiraling stream of energy with a constant flow of symbols through its length forming like an extension of it during the flight. The spiral condensed as it went, the 'rings' getting smaller and smaller. It formed a thick energy blade on the area that had been inside the spiral. The Angelus approached the Tausendfuessler's right wing, swinging at the engines on the wing with its blade.

 

[Tackle Jackie]

The missiles seemed to be dead set on Zest, and there weren’t many other options than freefalling for a moment. The missiles trailed after her, quickly thrusting her arms out forward, two rainbow colored beams sparkling out of the palms of Chojin, streaking through most of the missiles and towards the lead Ruina.
“CHOJIN BEAM!“
Several missiles did smack firmly into their face, but the exchange seemed fair as they tumbled out of the sky.

The “flying” of the Tausendfuessler wasn’t... Going very well, As Millicent tried to perform an aileron roll to dodge the attacking Ruina, forgetting how large the ship was, and the fact that she had a passenger hanging out the back of it.

 

[yastubb]

Well, there'd be nowhere to hide inside the hangar from the incoming beams-and Millicent's flying wasn't exactly bringing them out of danger.

In a brief moment of panic, having realized that there was nowhere to run, Kenneth turned the Virgola to the left, bringing the mass of the main torso and left arm into the torrent of energy blasts. The attacks pockmarked and eventually slagged away portions of the armor on the left arm, somewhat damaging the motors underneath. It wouldn't cripple the machine, but Kenneth would have to find something else to block future attacks.

Millicent's aileron roll isn't aiding in any kind of potential counterattack. For now, Kenneth is stuck.

 

[Pimster]

The situation seemed desperate, with nowhere to run and enemies tailing them from behind. From the looks of things, they were about to get defeated by the new enemy. But it still was too soon for them, because they could start to hear the sound of engines from far away.

From his ship, he zoomed the main cameras of it into the enemy units that were on the site. Wasps, my god. Three deadly wasp weapons were attacking the source of the distress signal. JR had no doubt in his heart, if they are in such danger, there will be a great reward when they rescue them from the situation they were in.
"Looks like we arrived on time, gentlemen. Now, follow my instructions: leave no enemy alive."

As the orders were played in each of the small fleet's communication systems the interns started clumsily entering commands into the Aldebals' user interfaces, still not fully knowing how to skillfully pilot such a machine. They aimed at the zone were the Angelus machines were in, and immediately the gems on the sides of the Aldebals started to glow in their respective color. From these gems arised an energy ball with their same shape, floating in the air. The interns were surprised by this, as they expected another kind of ammo for the ship, but after that, they knew they had to be fired somehow. Suddenly, in front of their eyes an order in giant letters:

"Fire now?"

They didn't hesitate, and they all answered yes to that question. Upon doing that, these energy balls were fired directly at the enemy, like a rain of death upon their heads. The attacks were clumsily aimed so they'll at least limit their movement range and thus could not center on attacking the ship.

JR wasn't still going to attack them, but was preparing the motors of the Taura for a future attack, sitting in the back row for the moment and trying to establish a communication link with the attacked ship.

 

[Tyran]

The Angelus S proved its superiority to its wasp cousins. While it dodged one of Chojin Zest's counter-attacks, the other one landed on its right wing. But despite the solid hit the wing seemed to be still operational, to say nothing of the main body. The armor was charred and one of the heat vents - or perhaps vacuum cleaners much like what the wasp Angeli had on their abdomens - was smashed and there were a few tiny cracks on the surface of the armor... but otherwise the construction withstood the attack. The humanoid machine arced to the left in a semi-circle around the Zest. Lacking in options, it shot another barrage of rockets at its foe to keep her attention on the commanding Ruina.
Their duel seemed to be at an impasse.

From the two wasp Angeli the one that had stayed further back was caught between the energy orbs from Pleiades Taura, and while it was in no danger from the shots they at the same time blocked it from opening fire at any of the targets. Once the danger had passed instead of shooting at something the Angelus instead flew further away from the battleship that had arrived.

The other Angelus, being as close to the Tausendfuessler as it was wasn't under any threat from the interns. The beam saber reappeared as it continued chasing the Tausendfuessler, still aiming at the engines on the wing.

 

[Tackle Jackie]

Zest was going down fast now, gravity taking hold as they tried to figure out what next. The faceplate on covered in soot as they crossed their arms. They had a clear sky above them, those... Ships in distance were out of range of her, this bastard was hovering above her, within range. This fight was going no where, and this bastard was tough. Panels along the arms slid open, light radiating out of it before a violent beam of pulsating light shot out of them.

"SPECTRUM BEAM!"

Within the ship, Milli was now just trying to keep it level, since she was probably going to crash if she tried anything fancy. "Kenny, can you see what's going on?"

 

[yastubb]

"You're not helping!" Kenneth barks into the comm. He'd be right side up now, thank god, but still stuck in a hangar-and the Angelus would be attacking the engine again, which he feels can only end badly.

Time to take a risk. He can't attack the Angelus from inside the hangar, but they'll be crashing anyways.

With a sigh, Kenneth pushed the Virgola forwards out of the hangar, dropping into open sky as its thrusters fired, briefly suspending it midair before the machine began a slow descent.

Kenneth hastily turned the machine and took aim, firing three ballistic shots, not aimed at the Angelus, but rather the air in front of it. These, too, would be most likely miss, but they're not meant to hit-only to dissuade the wasp-like machine from landing another hit on the engine.

 

[Pimster]

As the barrage of energy fire was still going on, JR took his time to talk to the people on the ship: "Worry not, my dear clients. It is I, JR of J.R Inc.™ that has come to help you! Now, if you may, stay out of our line of fire or take a good cover, since we'll take care of this stingy problem".
As soon as he finished saying that, he ordered all of his interns to open fire on the field, leaving only a wide path leading to Wasp the Great, a fitting name JR had thought for the Angelus S. The order was effective, since the awful aim the pilots of the Aldebals had was enough to create that path needed for what he had in mind.

A rain of continuous energy shots rained upon the field, destroying the land and opening a path. With this attack, he hoped to put them in a bee-line (or rather, a wasp-line) in front of him, since he had prepared the engine for this trademarked attack.

"Behold! The Wasp Swatter™ !" screamed JR from the top of his lungs as he pushed the engine to its maximum power, accelerating at maximum speed at the Angelus S, the machine that was giving problems to his faithful customer. It was such a great speed that part of the surroundings was lifted into the air, leaving a trail of dust in front of him, like a sandstorm made of dust.

 

[Tyran]

The deadly beam was approaching rapidly on the commanding Ruina, and the acceleration sounds of the battleship were getting closer and closer. Caught between a rock and a hard place and certain doom the Ruina did the only logical thing.
Fled.

Right before the Spectrum Beam and Pleiades Taura's ramming landed on the Angelus S a thin beam of negative energy shot towards the heavens. With any luck the Zest's beam would severely damage the intruding battleship.
Their commander gone, the two Angeli froze for a moment before they too disappeared in twin beams of negative energy.

They had been sent only to gather negative energy. When the decision to follow the vague trail had been made they had expected a single battered Mobile Weapon. Instead they found it with a shapeshifting robot and they had even gotten help from a battleship. The harvest group had been clearly outmatched.

---

Some time later
Former Directory Antarctic Research Center
Current Ruina Headquarters

The snow-covered open field inside the defenses of the former Directory base was empty. The only movement was snowflakes being thrown around by the wind.
That did not last long. In a display of negative energy a battered Angelus S appeared on the field, landing safely. It was soon followed by its subordinate Angeli. The captain wasted no time, sending its drones to transfer the negative energy that hadn't been spent by their hasty exit. It itself stayed still on the field, the Ruina reviewing the events of their outing silently while its two subordinates were delivering the negative energy.

There was potential in the power source of the damaged Mobile Weapon that had been inside the Tausendfuessler. It would be of great use in attaining their goal of opening the Fabula Forest, that much even the grunt captain knew. But they had been chased off. It wasn't the only thing of interest either, there had been something special about the growing robot the captain had fought with as well, but if it could be of any use to them such thing escaped his notice. One thing was clear however.

Huvud needed to know about the power source, and the trail it left behind. He would know what to do.

 

[Tackle Jackie]

As the Ruina disappeared, Indigo couldn’t help but sigh in relief... Until her beam blasted into the hull of the ship that was about to ram the it. She tried to cut off the beam before too much damage was done, hopefully it wasn’t too bad. But as she was thinking to herself, she could be seen slamming into the top of a mountain, a Zest shaped crater in its wake.
Back on the Baker Street, Millicent turned it around to head for their rescuers, opening channels back up. “Well! Thanks for your assistance then, if you don’t mind I don’t think I can keep this flying for much longer..?”

 

[yastubb]

Kenneth landed the Virgola on the ground a bit too heavily, leaving a small crater. He looked up and around, the machine scanning over the recently-arrived Pleiades Taures.

Reinforcements. One thing he hadn’t expected. But all the better-the small group would most likely have been overwhelmed.

Those enemies he faced-what were they? Not DAMONs, that’s for sure-but they came after the transport regardless.

Could it be? That these were, in fact, those “forces” that Indigo mentioned-those that sought the spheres?

He hoped not. On the bright side, that new ship-he hopes they’ll be as friendly as Millicent and company.