Run Away Giant (Shane)

[ShadowVigilante1]

September 1, OE 102
Lunar Surface
6:45 am

“Silver 1, Silver 2, report. Any sign of the missing unit?” Mu-Tach spoke with commanding authority as he looked about the white surface of the moon. Nothing but dust as far as the eye could see.

”Negative, nothing within city limits Gold 1. Units working on Crossgate extraction say the same.”

“Copy that, keep me posted. Inform me and Lord Argenti immediately if the Crossgate comes under attack.“ Mu-Tach would lean forward and disconnect from the conversation temporarily, he would lean back with a sigh. It’s been nearly an hour with no sign of the stolen Alteisen or rather the Gespenst Mk-III. Why an old Terran wreck like that was being repaired out in the middle of nowhere on the Moon was beyond him, but he knows that if it got lose and started tearing through something, it would greatly upset her highness.

“If only Father were here, he’d have this under control in a matter of minutes.“ Mu would eventually begin to tap on his controls repeatedly, how was he to prove his worth if all he was doing was trying to find some miscreant who stole military property? At this rate, he might as well be mopping the hangar this early in the morning.

Three beeps in quick succession would bring his attention back to the screen, something was kicking up dust. And it wasn’t powered by Orgone either. “All Silvers be advised, I have a potential ID on the target. It is currently northbound, heading towards the Crossgate site. Converge on my position, we’ll try to get them surrounded.“ The blue visor of Mu’s Red Raftclans would flash, as it began to walk forward, the walk would progress into a jog, the jog into a run. The verniers on the back of the Raftclans would activate as it boosted off the lunar surface and made a b-line for the barreling object.

As it came up to a certain altitude, the Raftclans would aim its Orgone Rifle down towards whatever was creating the disturbance. A booming voice would come out over the loud speakers, one that clearly had enough of the day despite being so early in the morning.

“This is the Crescent Arms, cease your movement and activity immediately! If you do not stop, we will be forced to take lethal and swift action!”

 

[GrimmShane]

Think, Breathe, think, react; drift here to avoid colission; force brakes to lock the legs and vault over the crater-
A navigation's system hastily connected to a machine leagues beyond it giving orders precise enough to direct the pilot's own breathing; the beeping of the malfunction alerts from the brakes and thrusters and red light emanating from them. Not exactly what Shane had envisioned would receive him on his attempt at troubleshooting.

Warning- Incoming outward transmission from nearby unit- "This is the Crescent Arms, cease your movement and activity; failure to comply will result in lethal action-"
Before any words were given, the Endymion pilot would hear the groaning, almost exhausting breath of the man within the stolen machine's cockpit, the faint sound of alerts booming behind it "The brakes are reaching their limit..I- the thrusters refuse to disengage. this is beyond my payroll, I know."

Taking a gamble even beyond the one he had already taken, the courier looked at the system status display before him, screen reflecting itself on his eyes, sweat rolling down to his chin, falling a moment later and crashing against the metallic surface of the courier's right arm.
The machine in pursuit of him, of course one that'd belonged to knights a couple months prior, outclassing this one far from just twice in mere output; and yet this was still being kept and repaired; was it really worth that much? a piece of apparent junk like it? Well, insermountable or not, its rust had come off, and against his moves, it was running.

Breaching its top speed for the third time now, the Alteisen's legs locked, slamming against the ground and counteracting the power of the thrusters for enough time to turn the body aside, changing directions in a violent right angle "regardless of which gives out first- no- yes- wait-"

Contradictions begun to boil over the transmission itself, navigations having cut out a noticeable moment before that, and once more following its silence, came a rough breath; an eye on the fuel gauges and another on the thrust handle, Shane threw his hair back, tied it up on a small knot as to keep his vision unobscured, and leaned forwards, leaving his sentence unfinished.

 

[ShadowVigilante1]

“Is that some kid? What is he doing? Is he trying to die in a spectacular way?”

As the Alteisen made a sharp right, the Raftclans would fire out a beam right next to it. Visible for the pilot to seem but not close enough that it would cause damage in any way. “I repeat, cease movement immediately! You are in possession of military hardware, it is not a toy!”

The Raftclans flew closer to the ground, following the Alteisen from behind as Mu assessed what to do in this situation. Given this thing barreling in a single direction continuously, it would be difficult to surround it. But he would need to see if any sudden moves would be made before he could act.

 

[GrimmShane]

The warning shot caused the accidental pilot to noticeably jolt awake from his own thoughts, tightening his grip on the controls and for the third time in the last few hours, Shane tried to bring down the thrusters - or collapse the legs at knee height if that failed; the blue tinted giant of steel planting its legs on the lunar surface with a thud that would only really be heard within its cockpit

with a noticeable growl of effort, the handle was pulled straight to the back, jamming for a moment at around half thrust "god-Damnit! why. are. you stuck?!"
the kid's complaints were audible even outside the Nach itself, alongside an equally audible smack on the control panel; pecursive maintenance really isn't a thing that Should work, at least not if proper maintenance is done - which it really hadn't been

using both of his hands at once and noticeably pushing against the edge of the controls with his foot, the courier ended up pulling the crank all the way to zero. the thrusters simply turning off as the machine itself begun drifting forwards with leftover momentum, a familiar navigation's AI finally having a reason to pop in as the emergency lights turned off
Thrusters have been deactivated, brace for impact in 3...2...1...

sssssshhh-kk-pam

The stolen Alteisen came to a stop, its legs giving out for a moment and ending up in a kneeling position, the cockpit area jolting downwards and smashing the kid straight into the screen, not breaking anything, at least not in the Gespenst itself, not exactly sure about the young rogue that'd been taken for a ride by a machine he'd probably call an old death trap in its current state of repairs
"Nothing's broken- everything's fine, I think-"

 

[ShadowVigilante1]

As the Alteisen came to a screeching stop, the Raftclans would land behind the collapsed giant. Its pointed feet slowly strode towards the Alteisen, the Orgone Rifle held at the ready with the shield up by its side.

“Amateur.” Mu said to himself calmly as he carefully scanned the unit to see if it would make any sudden moves. “Turn over and step out of the Personal Trooper, now. Put your hands in the air where I can see them.“

So this was his job now? Arresting some urchin with no sense of danger? How pitiful his home had become, but he would rebuild it just as he promised his father.

“You have 15 seconds to comply, or you will be fired upon!” A bluff of course, but that should at least get the pilot thinking that he should get out of this situation as soon as possible. The empress would frown upon excessive violence, only the necessary amount would be needed to resolve this situation, any good commander would know that.

“15… 14… 13…”

He started counting, slowly raising his voice with every count to trick the pilot into thinking he was losing his patience, even more food for thought to get this vandal out quicker.

 

[GrimmShane]

The jackass at the PT's pilot seat slowly scrambled to get back onto the actual seat, being careful to not break anything that wasn't broken already, essentially rolling over himself to get back in place, snatching the helmet at his side and breathing in, using the controls proper one last time to get the cockpit at a proper angle before pressing the switch to open it up.

"There's no need to count down like a rocket launch command center." As the count kept going, the noticeably tired individual previously at the helm stepped out of the Alteisen, stepping down onto the machine's knee before letting himself slowly fall to the ground. From there it was pretty clear the mess he'd made, the machine before him armed with more than what the piece of scrap he'd just handled was even compatible; state of the art or close to it.

bulky mechanical arm and left-side armband fully in view, the information pertaining to his identity was noticeably at a moment's call. Arms raised over his head, the alleged thief came to a halt, looking at the Raftclans up and down, slightly tilting his head to the side to gleam a bit past the shield.

 

[ShadowVigilante1]

Mu would give the thief a quick glance, mechanical arm made it quite obvious this was the courier sent to deliver parts. So that made it clear he was the main suspect. Well, at least that eliminated the variable of who stole it, next would be the why he stole it. The Raftclans would continue to walk forward, this time with the rifle lowered.

“Do you have any idea of what you have just stolen, or are you daft enough to not even realize just what kind of trouble you have gotten yourself into?“

Mu would slowly inspect the surface condition of the Alteisen. That was certainly a rough crash, a couple of scratches all over the paint job were in obvious need of repair, although it seemed like the crash took off a bit of the unit’s large protruding Heat Horn. The knees also seem to have been damaged by the crash, hastily installed and tuned. They could barely support the unit‘s weight, let alone handle such a crash. Everything else seemed just fine however, but this kid wasn’t going to get off just as well.

The Raftclans would tower right above Shane as it came to a halt right above him. Mu would hop out of the cockpit as he set the Raftclans to autopilot, his pilot suit clearly distinguishing him as a Knight of the Crescent Arms, although a bit of golden outlines were added to further separate him from his comrades.

“I would very much like to know who or what gave you the bright idea to run off and give this… scrap heap a test drive.”

He was walking towards Shane, gun in hand just in case he tried anything funny, he also seemed to have a pair of handcuffs in the other to restrain him.

 

[GrimmShane]

The whole being arrested part of the moment was something he'd expected; but the fact it'd be made specifically by a knight, and that a gun would be pointed at a clearly unarmed, and untrained individual was a bit of a bigger surprise; holding his breath for a moment, Shane simply straightened up, eyes shifting between the gun's cannon, the handcuffs and Mu's own eyes, settling on the handcuffs for a couple second as his eyebrows shifted in confusion, looking at his own right arm for a second, wondering if it'd even fit into the cuffs

"oh, I know; not like my idea was to steal it; though to be fair, it would've been really easy for anyone with a plan to do so. Do remember to pass word that whoever was supposed to guard it slept on the job"

A bit of snark was definitely noticeable, not exactly meaning to be condescending or excessively cheeky; snark born more from nerves than anything else, the constant twitching and shifting of the courier's organic eye contrasted by the artificial eye's cold, unblinking stare.
by the time Mu was infront of him, Shane simply extended his arms to the front, slightly stepping on the ground while looking over his shoulder to the Alteisen itself; still noticeably more functional than before he touched it up

"I didn't touch the legs, all weaponry is disabled, and I wouldn't really trust the thrusters, they function, but turning them off is a pain because the crank seems to like getting jammed." Shane's tone wasn't exactly defensive, landing in the territory of being expository instead, pointing out what he0d realized after being propelled through the surface of the goddamn moon inside of a machine way too cranky for him to properly control. something something system check, something something - the kid essentially explained his process until being stuck in a falling apart personal trooper kilometers away from the nearest piece of proper civilization

 

[ShadowVigilante1]

“Thank you for the feedback, although I see you have neglected to consider that simulations are a thing these days. This unauthorized and frankly reckless course of action was unnecessary on multiple levels.” Mu would decide to fire back with some sarcasm, followed by some harsh truth. Indeed, they already had people and technology to do that already.

“While we thank you for your services, it is no longer needed past delivering the parts.” He would forcibly grab his hands and would place them behind his back as he bound them using the handcuffs, thankfully it seemed to fit even his bulky arm. Mu would firmly place his hand on Shane’s left shoulder, using his other arm he would speak into a communicator located in his wrist.

“All Silver, suspect is in custody. Get a recovery team here, immediately. We still need to focus on the Crossgate, we cannot allow this distraction to stop us from completing our task.”

“Yes sir, sending a team your way.”

Shane would feel the tip of the pistol‘s barrel pressed against his spine, the weapon’s cool metal could be felt even through his space suit. He would then be push forward slightly, he was roughly moved towards the Raftclans.

“Move, we’ll have to figure out what to do with you when we return. The sooner we go, the sooner we can both get out of this mess that you have created.”

 

[GrimmShane]

after almost losing balance from that push, the general uncomfortableness of having a gun against his back would draw away surprisingly quickly, the fact a knight decided to fire right back at his shenanigans wasn't something that reliably fit into Shane's mind for a noticeable time, as he just, remained silent for the whole trek to the Raftclans, getting stuffed into it behind the pilot himself

"I'm still surprised that law enforcement responded first; specially after I alerted the Endymion contact I was given of the mishap first" there was the piece de resistance for the kid; he'd asked for input on what to do initially because well, someone had to sign the goddamn waver, but afterwards it'd been just asking for help to actually stop, and there'd been nothing but silence. Regardless of the confusion, he slumped down as he could, simply taking a breath while accustoming himself to the position of his arms

"Do keep reprimanding me, mister knight man; mostly about the whole 'what happens next' part of the conundrum, if you would" inquiries laid under the thin veil of impatience this time, not much left for him to do but wait and see how they got him now