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#SciFi #MaleorFemale #Starters


PROLOGUE ~ 

"I have Love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine,
And Rage the likes of which you would not believe...
If I cannot satisfy one, I will indulge the other." - Mary Shelley

...........................................................



"Her Suit?"



Crimson washed over, lapping at the elbows and feet of the protective suit.


"Present"



The Horizon was a washed yellow, casting a warm glow over the quiet waves.


"Her Helmet?"



A discharge of electricity crackled as it fell into the water below, the outstretched hand of the machine acting as a platform for the lone Pilot to sit upon, surrounded as far as the eye can see by shallow water, red as blood, still and flat.



"Yes."


The voice hummed from the exposed command console behind him, broken shards of glass and exposed wires bled oil into the water, creating a sheen the Pilot could gaze over and see his reflection.



On its other hand, the machine held the torn arm of a creature, its orange blood leaking into the water, sharp claws twitching as if still reaching for the Cabin of the machine.


The pilot stood, walking up the arm of the machine and back into the exposed cockpit.


"What shall we do now?"

The machine wondered, its spherical core lighting up as it spoke, barely visible from its place nestled in the back of the cockpit



"Well, from the salinity of the water... I'd say we have around... Three Hundred and Twenty Kilos till we can't move anymore."

The Pilot sat down in the reclined command seat, feeling a quiver in his chest as he turned his head to the side, where the empty seat beside him was lit by the torn frame of the cockpit.



"Three hundred and eleven to be exact, Marking the nearest U.N.C.B signal on the planetary surface."



//Awaiting Pilot response…



//Awaiting Pilot response…



//Awaiting Pilot response…

“.... Take us Home, Vos."

The Pilot reached for the empty helmet in the seat beside him and turned onto his side, drawing his partner's helmet between his arms, closing his eyes... And-"


............................................................



PILOT~



"Gorram cheater!" Sil's cry of outrage was heard throughout the barracks, followed shortly by the sound of cards scattering across the cold floor.



"Maybe if you spent half as much time playing as you do with your nose in that Data-pad you snagged you'd learn Sharks tell by now, little Sil."

Ava mused from her place atop the military green bunk just beside the avid card game going on.



"Don't discourage him! who else can I steal rations from?"
Shark grinned, leaning back against his pillows with a look of faint pride at his latest Con, despite his opponent's nack for seeing through his plans, he had won yet again in their little game.



"Haven't you worn those cards out by now?" Aisei huffed, reading over some kind of report at the only desk in the squad's barracks.


"Haven't you worn out that 'moody captain' look by now?"
Ava questioned, earning her a raised eyebrow from the man, to which she responded with her own equally serious look.



Sil rolled his eyes and slid off the side of Shark's bunk, stepping over to his own to snag the large datapad from behind his pillow.


"Whatever, I'll get you your rations as soon as I have 'em." Sil sighed, sitting down and turning on the Datapad, shaking his head slightly as images of more destroyed cities and burned towns filled the feed he was greeted with.



"Sil... Who even gave you that?" Ava wondered, moving up onto her elbows as the white glow filled the dim barracks with light from its screen.



Sil looked stunned for a second, as if caught doing something he shouldn't have been, quickly formulating his explanation before Aisei decided the topic was worth his attention.


"The Twins from Section 13C gave it to me, they know how good I am with things like this,"

Ava nodded faintly.


"Well, what's on it that they couldn't get through?" Was her next question, one that Sil was hoping she wouldn't ask.



"Ah~ nothing much, Data was purged from it according to the logs." Sil cleared his throat, though his fate had been sealed when he heard a pair of boots on the concrete floor,
Ava having jumped down and crossed over to his bunk.



"You must be horrible at encryptions then, considering you've had it since last month, don't think I didn't notice you sneak it in the first night."

Ava offered her hand out, clearly wanting the Datapad that Sil was guarding with his knees up.



"Give it to Ava, Silver,"

Aisei ordered without so much as looking back...



"Fine..."

Sil reluctantly gave up the Datapad and allowed Ava to hold it, her finger swiping across it for a few moments in silence, her brow only becoming more furrowed as the silence grew.

"Silver this is a Feed into the U.N.C.B Database!"

Ava sounded... Well, concerned, but mostly she sounded angry.


"It's not! It's not registered on their directory, there's no Employee name tied to it, it's a Ghost in the system~"

Silver quickly began to explain,
by now Shark had sat up from his bunk, Aisei was fully turned from his desk, now eyeing the group with his eyes on the Datapad.

..

"It's live information... These are reports on attacks, Cities that have fallen... sightings of Amalgamorphs... Sil why would you keep this?"

Ava questioned, tilting the pad for the soldier to take.



"It's so I can keep up on my studies... Learn about what we're fighting, Ava... We've been kept on base for so long and we don't even really know what's going on out there anymore... After we were moved from Berlin-"



"Don't, That's enough... Ava let him keep it."

Aisei interjected, Ava, turning to him.


"This is classified information and you want him to keep it? If Commander Hild wanted us to know She'd tell us, he could get in trouble and you want me to tell them our Squad Commander allowed it if he gets caught?"

Ava questioned, crossing her arms.



"Yes I'm letting him keep it, Someone around here at least needs to be better informed of what's actually going on than the rest of us, and out of all of us I know that Silver is the best at keeping his voice down so I know he's capable of handling it."

Aisei locked eyes with her, the two seemed to stare at each other for a while before Aisei went back to his studies.



"Fine,"

Ava reached for the top of her bunk and grabbed her flight jacket, heading towards the door of the Squad Bunk.


"Where are you going?"

Ava stopped in front of the metal door that slid open in her presence.


"Getting something to eat before our drills." She excused, exiting the room shortly after,

.............................................................




"All Pilots to Thane's, Repeat, All Pilots to Thane's for Quarterly drill."



/All Pilots and Operators please report to Loading Bay…



//All Pilots and Operators please report to Loading Bay…



The lights in the bunk turned on, bathing all of them in dim red.

Shark, Sil, Aisei all stood at attention as the Drill began.


"That's the call, Both of you get in your operator suits immediately, meet me at the loading bay, we're going up against Squad 8 Today,"Aisei informed,

Throwing on his flight jacket, both Shark and Sil went to get their operator suits from the closed cabinets that resided beside each of their bunks.



"Squad 8?!.... Shisse~” Shark murmured under his breath, zipping up the dark jumpsuit; practically hopping along to keep up with the other two as they all made for the Hangar.

As the three figures jogged their way across a massive hangar, a fourth soon closed in to join them,
Her flight jacket’s empty sleeves flapping behind her as she caught up to the three men.

"Squad 8?" She questioned, Aisei nodded in response.

"Figures, I want Shark, we'll need someone aggressive."

Ava requested, causing Aisei to set his jaw and remain in thought.

"What? Ava, I'm your Operator?" Sil objected, slowing ever so slightly.

“You want Shark? take him, I'll take Silver then."

Aisei sighed, he would dispute her request but there was no time to argue with each other... Even if he had less Somatic-Tendency with Silver, they would have to make due on the battlefield, so why not start now?

“I've never been in Astra though!"

Sil would argue, a quick look from Aisei silenced him.



To their right of the Squad were row upon row of Thanes, all contained upon racks where the Mechanic teams were assessing and fueling components.


Above each of them were Spherical objects, all of them were coursing with dim light, like synapses firing across a brain, the Thane cores were waking up like machines blinking to life.



"It'll be fine, Sil, we have this." Aisei slowed down as they reached their Thane, leaving behind the two other members of their squad.

Stepping onto a platform, both of the young men panting as the lift began to shift upwards,
Sil looking out over the edge at the other Squad's running to their Thanes across the massive hangar.


"Hey, Don't pay attention to them, alright?"
Aisei crossed over to Silver's side of the lift, looking over the edge till the height began to make him feel unsteady.



"You’re Piloting with me today, which means I need you to keep your head during this Understood?” The Squad commander looked his fellow Pilot in the eye, giving him an affirming nod.

“I supported you back there because I know what you're capable of, Sil, I know how you think, I requested you on this squad because of that... Not... Not because of Berlin, okay?"

Silver barely had any time to think of anything to say before the lift had placed them right next to the Helm of the machine,
Aisei stepping up onto the shoulder of the machine and heading towards ite head.



The glass opened as he approached, the Spherical core which was now installed into the back of the Cockpit, hummed to life.

"Welcome Squad Commander Aisei, good to have you back.`" The machine; Astra, welcomed.

Aisei leaned over the edge of the rear command seat and withdrew a Pilot's helmet, tossing it out to Sil who still stood atop the lift examining the dark interior of the Thane of which he was nervous to operate.

“Hey, you just gonna stand there, or are you gonna come in?" Aisei questioned, placing on his own helmet as he took to the front seat.



"This... This is Ava's helmet.”Sil looked up from the helmet, seeing his reflection dissipate as the heads up display inside lit up in time with the Thane’s activation sequence.

"Welcome Operator Alex Silva." Astra chimed,

“Really? Because it looks like it's yours now."

Aisei nodded to the seat elevated behind him, the set of controls lighting up, basically taunting the Operator to get into the Mechanical giant.

..........................................................



"Rgh! We're getting our asses kicked, Sil we've got to counter that lance!"

Aisei called, the impact knocking the Thane backward and into a prone state, a trench of dirt created by the blow.

"Surge Critical, Warning, Surge Critical." Astra sounded through the static,

The lance wielded by their opponent had knocked them down again and again, their arms raised defensively to try and keep their center mass at Cabin protected.

"SIL!" Aisei called,

Looking back to see his co-pilots nose bleeding from the thrashing they were receiving.


"I need you to counter that lance! Engage the wings NOW or we'll surge!"

Aisei ordered, trying to wake the still pilot.



"GGGAHH!" Silver lunged forward, the straps keeping him in his seat as he awoke, the sharp pain in his head driving him forth.
His hands regained the controls, The dark thane's visor shimmered, glowing even brighter as the Somatic link was regained.

Astra's back wings extended,
folding out in front of the Thane to push their opponent, a Grey Thane, off, freeing them from the relentless blows

"RIGHT HOOK!" Sil called out,

Aisei raised their glaive in time to block the attack, retaliating with a brutal strike directly against the opponent's cockpit, sending them tripping over a fallen tree and allowing them time to get back up.


"D### good!~"

Aisei took a deep shaky breath and raised a thumbs up to his Operator,



"Shield's at Twelve percent! That beating knocked Astra’s Somatic out of alignment, we’re losing our link!”

Sil was flicking switches and pressing buttons like he was on autopilot, the systems of the Astra were strikingly similar to the others he had piloted.


"Screw it, I'm going for Alignment!"

He called, Aisei looking back with wide eyes as Sil unbuckled himself from his seat.



"What are you doing? Get back in your seat!”

“Thats an order! We are in active combat simulation Silva!”

<Pilot Disengaged, Pilot Disengaged,>



"Hang on! I can do this!”

Silva had one thing that a lot of other Operators didn't, knowledge of his Thanes and a small enough frame to fit between the chassis and systems of the Machines inner chassis.
leaning up over the edge of his seat, he reached towards Astra's Core, his fingers and hand tingled with a strange sensation as he reached underneath the dish the AI's core was attached to and felt blindly around for the right cords.



"Sil, they're getting back up!" Aisei warned.

The Thane raised its fists to defend them again.



"Almost there!" SIl grunted, his fingers were just reaching the right cord, he could feel it was out of alignment.

"Sil!"



<Pilot Reingaged, Somatic Link at 99%>



Just as the other Thane was charging with their lance, Astra raised one knee up into the air, slamming it down over the head of the spear, causing it to dig into the ground and by doing so; nail its wielder with the hilt.


The Thane's wings flexed, jet engines burning loudly as the Thane lifted itself in the air and sucker-punched the grey Thane into the ground,

Taking hold of Astra's glaive, Aisei leveled it at the neck of the Grey Thane its edge burning brightly with lit plasma.



"SURRENDER NOW." Astra's voice blared through the open comms, echoing through the fake terrain-arena and ordering the surrender of the 'enemy' Thane.



The grey Thane made an effort to raise its chest, sparks flying off its exposed wiring where the hilt of its own staff pierced into it.


"Alright! Alright, you win." The female voice from the grey Thane's pilot sounded through, raising a hand up to stop the fight.



"HA! Gotcha suckers!" Silver cheered, throwing a hand up in the cockpit only to hiss in pain and draw his hand back, seems he forgot how low down the roof of the cockpit was,



Aisei however, took long deep breaths as he moved the Thane to rest its limbs. withdrawing Astra's glaive to then extend a hand down to the Grey Thane.


"Thank you, for this battle, Squad 8,"

Aisei spoke respectively, those were his only words over the open comms, too exhausted to say any more

.

……………. LATER ……………..



“I did it! That was insane! I operated Astra!”

Sil shouted, basically jumping up and down despite Aisei’s behest.


Removing the pilots helmet and tucking it beneath his arm, the Squad Commander knocked on Silvers helmet to gain his attention.

“You Disengaged Mid battle! Silva! What happens if that was a Morph? Morph’s don’t stop to think ‘Hey i better not punch them while their Operator is out of his seat!”

Aisei sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
Though his scolding was not as intensive as Silver deserved, he couldn’t help but feel it was the Operators actions that had won them their duel.

“What happened if Team 8 recovered faster, you would have been hurt, hell you probably would have woken up in the Medbay… But that… That was pretty impressive Operating… Just keep that to a minimum alright?”

Aisei rolled his eyes at the smile that returned to Silver’s face as he let the other off.


Sil clipped the Operator helmet to the hook on his suits belt and exited the lift when it lowered, the open floor of the Loading bay Hangar lay before them.


“Come on, let’s get some food, gonna need some more energy after linking with Astra.”



“Astra! Astra! Astra! Astra!” 
The two pilots weren’t even at the doors and could already hear the chant, they crossed into the cafeteria and were greeted by howls and hoo’s of the other pilots, all wearing matching military casuals, their tags gleaming off the lights.



“That was some smooth stuff Astra, i thought 8 had your ass,” A guy patted Aisei’s shoulder respectfully as he passed, it wasn’t clear how many of them had stayed to watch after their own duels, but a lot of them seemed to know.



“Never seen a Thane jump back after such a beating Sil, good work.” A fellow Operator nodded her head, tilting her cup towards him in regards, Silver wore a sheepish smile from then on.



Sil grinned faintly, proud of what he had done but more so shaking from all the nerves.

The two members of Squad 7 fell in line and acquired ration packs from the Galley before heading to their section table.

~

“I saw your duel report on the board, looks like we have more to go over.” Ava spoke as she slid her tray down onto the metal table, having unzipped her suits upper half to hang around her waist.



“We do, I noticed Astra’s movements felt a bit loose, faster, I need a list of the tweaks you made, I want yours adjusted just the same, We never know when we’ll have to deploy both of our Thanes.”

Aisei sat at the head of the table, somehow a folder already in hand that he was pouring over.


Silver sat down beside Shark with the rations promised to the man, sighing faintly as he took a drink from his nutrient box.


“Hey Sil,”

Shark raised his arm as the other sat, the truck of a man looking down to his fellow Operator with a faint look of concern.


“Hey… Your eye looks a little red there, You okay?”
Shark gestured towards Silvers state.
The conversation between their squad lead and Ava fell rather quickly, and with everyone now staring at him Sil couldn’t help but feel a bit put off


“I’m fine! Eat your food! Quit staring?”
He waved as of to tell them off.



“You’re good, Man. You just look a little tired is all.”
Shark frowned faintly, sliding his leftover nutrient pouch for Sil to have,
Ava and Aisei remained examining for a moment before they went back to discussing their reports.

Not soon after the Squad sat down to eat, a tap on the table from Ava took Sil’s attention.



“Aisei, trouble.”



Ava warned, moments later a shadow fell over the Squad commanders tray of food.



“Squad Seven…”

The man regarded, Aisei slowly setting down his drink.



“Shand, Caide.” Aisei laced his fingers together before a hand slammed down on the table to his right.



“AISEI!” The Cadet growled, clearly not happy he had been beat.

“Caide! Leave it alone it was a fair fight! Let’s get some food and some rest!” Shand, the leader of Squad 8 and Pilot of the Thane they dueled; attempted to diffuse the situation.

“Stand down, Caide,” Aisei spoke under his breath, shaking his head faintly as his eyes met with the rest of his Squad down the table.



“I checked, Seven! Astra logged at 99% Somatic link with a brand new Operator at the helm!” Caide shouted, standng up straight as Aisei rose to stand, pushing his chair back as he did.

As if on command, Ava and the rest of Squad Seven all rose to stand, falling in line beside Aisei without a word.


“While i can’t speak for the aptitude of my fellow Cadets, i can say that Silva’s skill is something i cannot question; his performance today is evidence enough.” 



Caide turned his fingers into fists as the Squad commander reached for the flight jacket hanging over the back of his chair, setting it over his shoulders; his cap handed to him by Ava.

“Should you question your own Skill, Cadet Caide…” Aisei fixed his jaw for a moment, motioning to move past the Cadet in his way.



“Perhaps you’ll put your money where your mouth is…But if you’re gonna start something i think you’ll find the terms of combat are quite different from a Duel in a Thane… Just something to keep in mind.”

The Squad commander murmured, fixing the corps hat upon his head.
“Squad Seven! Retire to barracks! Shand, get your Cadet under control.”

Aisei pressed forward and summarily left the cafeteria; followed by the rest of his Squad.



STARTER ~



White flashes stirred the Pilot, sitting up with a start, bleary vision seeing through the dark hall to the lone bed next to the open door to the barracks.



“What is it?” Ava set herself up on her elbow, fighting to see the outline of Aisei who sat upon the side of his bed, tying his boots.



“I’ve just gotten word, Evac shuttle reroute, dropping off fresh Cadets.” Aisei sighed, struggling to tie his boots.



“…There’s been more attacks.” She whispered,

 a statement, not a question.

Aisei’s silence told her all she needed to know.

“Back to sleep Ava, one of us needs it.”

The Squad commander cleared his throat, placing the corps had on his head as he turned to leave.

………………………………………..



It had been nearly thirteen hours since launch… No one aboard the shuttle spoke a word, the dim red lights that filled the cabin did little to hide the morale of the fresh recruits.

The one to Y/N’s left was shaking her knee non stop, the ones across the cabin were all wide eyed with blank expressions, others hung their heads down next to their knees.

No one spoke, but everyone was surely thinking of the exact same thing… What they had witnessed…

That. Monster, emerging from ground, the sounds of the buildings it toppled played on repeat.

A buzzer jolted you from your thoughts, jolted everyone really.

Heads snapped up to look around, the hiss of the pneumatic door drawing their attention to one of the pilots of the vessel that had left the front cabin; the sway of the shuttle signaling to everyone aboard that they had finally arrived.

“Get your things! We’re here!” The man ordered, the lights switched from red to a pale white as the shuttle finally came to a stop.

~

Outside of the vessel felt surreal, here they all were, from the destruction of their city or town to the normalcy of a U.N.C Hangar,

The first sight to greet the recruits were a group of Commanders; wearing flight jackets over their shoulders, some were wearing caps, hats, Pilot Corp hats.
All of them had clip boards, the only lights in the black darkness of the hangar coming from the lights illuminating the pages before them.


They were… Deliberating, talking about something.
 


A breeze stole Y/N’s attention, behind the mouth of the hangar lay 

A burnished orange horizon, set dressed with spires of rock piercing out through the surface of the flowing waves, the salty sea air just reaching through the opening the evac shuttle had landed in… It was a beautiful and welcome sight.



“Attention!” A tired voice called, a lone Squad commander had stepped up to the group of Cadets.


“I’m sure all of you have had one hell of a night so I’m going to make this quick… Any of you from Earth?”

The man questioned, looking between the dark silhouettes in front of him.



“What’s happening Sir?”

A woman questioned meekly, it was the girl who shook her leg the whole time.

“They extracted us right after that… Thing! Came along!” Her voice shook, but she remained steady, the Commander’s hand set upon the woman’s shoulder upon hearing the distress in her voice.



“I’m afraid I don’t have those answers, Private, but just hang in there…”



“My name is Aisei! Commander of Squad Seven, myself and the rest of the Squad leaders have orders from High Command, all of you are to be joining us here on base.”

Aisei began, stepping to the center of the recruits as he removed his hat and held it between his hands.



“We have already deliberated before your arrival, so sit tight and your Squad Lead will be there to get you a change of casuals, and a nice safe need to sleep in.”

The man named Aisei announced, holding his clip board up to read.



“Private Y/N!”

He began aloud, scanning the group before sliding the board under his arm.



“Step forward, you’re with Me.”



(Looking for Avid writers to join me in this!
This is a very different genre of starter than I’m used to making but i have always had this story in the back of my mind and have finally gotten around to writing it!

For some of you wondering, the starter is witholding information about the story and exact events going on; like with all good books and tales not everything is put forth all at once, that being said this

RP is going to be pretty focused on story.
I only ask that you be an experienced roleplayer that can provide your own end of the rp and not just have it all on me lol, 

Male or female characters wanted, 



Multiple characters encouraged and allowed,



Contact me if you’re interested!)

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