Amuro Quest: QQ edition (Gundam/Super Robot Wars OG)

[AntonioCC]

Index

Choices, choices
Soaring Dragon (I)
Soaring Dragon (II)
Soaring Dragon (III)
Once more in the breach
Battle and beyond

Interlude 1: Time to come

Aye, aye, Captain
Unexpected visitor
The Talk (no, not that one)
Many Questions and Few Answers
Geeks
Newsflash
Exposition (I)
Exposition (II)
Exposition (III)

Interlude 2: Closed World (part 1) (part 2) (part 3)

A puzzling development
One more time

Aditional Information:

How to vote

Omake

Alternate Openings: A Newtype in Brockton Bay

Some of you may remember this quest from SV. As I'm stumped on how to continue the other quest, I have decided to give it a run here, with a couple changes (adding a couple additional locations and a write-in option).

QUEST PROPER​

You are Lieutenant Amuro Ray, Earth Federation Space Forces. You are 29 years old, a veteran Mobile Suit pilot and a powerful Newtype.

Your old rival, former friend and general pain-in-the-behind Char Aznable finally went completely bonkers and tried to drop a fucking big asteroid on Earth. You naturally sortied to stop him in your new Mobile Suit, the Nu Gundam. After a battle with heavy losses on both sides, and you making scrap metal of Char's Mobile Suit, you tried to stop the asteroid with your Mobile Suit and your awesome Newtype powers, amplified by Nu Gundam Psicoframe.

You, with a lot of help, managed to do it, but the Psycoframe overloaded and after enveloping you with a blinding light and making you see things weirder than an acid trip, you find yourself... back in Earth's orbit?

Before you can get your bearings, you note that you are making an uncontrolled reentry. So, after getting the Nu Gundam under control and surviving the reentry, you have decelerated enough to see where are you going to fall.

You see...

[]...an city that in a bay, with what seems like a reef almost completely covering the entry into the bay.

[]... a mountainous zone, with very good radar coverage, if the alarms showing in the instrument panel were any indication.

[] ...a city in a bay, with maddeningly familiar big, red bridge across it, and what seemed a lot of aerial traffic.

[] ...the ocean, with the lights of a city visible more than a hundred few kilometers beyond where your MS is headed. You can glimpse two big shadows under the water, moving to the city.

[] ...desert, a great expanse of desert, with mountains far away. As you try to slow the descent you glimpse what looks like a land battleship in the general zone where you are headed.

[] ...a city. It looks like a lot like your paternal grandparents home city, Tokyo, now that you think about it.

[] ...an scorched, and irradiated if the instruments are right, wasteland. You can see a nearby coastal city in ruins, with a battle being fought, if the explosions are an indication

[] ...an expanse of ocean, and according to the instruments there is a number of mobile suits, backed by some kind of battleship in an interception course.

[] Write In.

 

[AntonioCC]

[X] ...an expanse of ocean, and according to the instruments there is a number of mobile suits, backed by some kind of battleship in an interception course.

If the instrumentation is correct, you are quite south, practically in the Antarctic Circle. In fact, now you can see a mass of white in the horizon that is probably the Antarctic continent... And now you realize that they weren't intercepting you. Not only because their MSs seems to be only able to, but because there are a big number of green bug-shaped Mobile Armors nearing the battleship. Weird, you didn't detected them earlier, but now appear loud and clear in your sensors.

First, you revise the status of your Gundam. Your quick reactions during the reentry saved the Nu Gundam a lot of damage, but some of it came through. And he doubted that those things were coming for milk and cookies.

Hmm, no internal damage and the hits that Char managed to do, didn't damage nothing important, but, in the other hand, you are out of Fin Funnels, you have lost both beam sabers and the Vulcan ammunition level is quite low. Wait, you remember that you asked the engineers to cram a beam saber in the back. You quickly search in the backpack, a dangerous maneuver when you were in combat with Char, and find it. It's shorter and stubbier that any of the one you used back in the fight, a Jegan beam saber. You quickly put it in the wrist compartment to let the internal accumulator charge Minovsky particles. And now, what to do?

[] Hail the red battleship.

[] Jump into the fight

[] Write in.

You can include stunts for the option you choose. And for those who don't know much about the Super Robot Wars: Original Generations 'verse, here are a couple images.

The battleship.

The "mobile suits". One of them is painted red, though.

Edit: Forgot to add an image of the "Bugs"

 

[AntonioCC]

[X] Hail the red battleship.

You pray that this people uses the same range of frequencies than the Federation, because the ship don't resemble anything that you have ever seen either in Federation or Zeon use. The memory of Lalah's remark about seeing time, make you wonder briefly if you have been thrown into the future, before you come back firmly in the here and now.

You were starting to open a channel when the "Incoming transmission" warning light turned on in the control panel. Typical. Hmm... they are using a Federation frequency from the Gryps conflict era.

"...ttleship Hiryuu calling to white personal trooper in a descent course, identify yourself." Said a young female voice. "I repeat. Earth Federation Battleship Hiryuu calling to..."

'Earth Federation? Curious. And she called Nu a 'personal trooper', alternate universe, perhaps?' You say to yourself, before opening the channel. A green haired young woman wearing an unfamiliar uniform appeared in the screen. You think she couldn't be more than 20.

"This is...


[]...Lieutenant Amuro Ray, Earth Federation Space Forces, piloting Nu Gundam." You say

[] Write-in

"We are just about to enter in combat, leave the area or we're be forced to classify you as hostile."

[] You comply. You aren't from around here, after all, and you want to know what are you are getting into.

[] You answer that you can be of help in the combat.

[] Write-in

You can include stunts for the option you choose. In this case, the wording of how do you present yourself, or presenting your case to the battleship crew.

 

[AntonioCC]

"This is Lieutanant Commander Amuro Ray, Earth Federation Space Forces, piloting Nu Gundam." You say

"We are just about to enter in combat, leave the area or we're be forced to classify you as hostile." Said the woman coolly

"Ma'am, this... 'personal trooper' can be of help to you in the coming fight. I'm an veteran pilot with combat experience." You say, and look at the sensor panel while the woman conferences with somebody off camera, her captain, probably.

If your sensors are working correctly, the mobile armors approaching are unmanned and... a sudden movement draw your eyes back to the screen in front of you. The image have changed, to another woman, a redhead with a different uniform and a peaked cap. The captain, you presume. An older man, in the same kind of uniform than the first woman was wearing stood to her side, the first officer, you bet.

"I'm Captain Lefina Enfield, Lieutenant Ray." Said the woman, trying to sound stern "Octo Squad in is need of help, so go to help them."

They give you frequencies to contact the deployed squad of 'personal troopers', that you learn, is the Octo Squad. You see that they are about to intercept the "bugs" over a great flat iceberg, and that with a little push of your verniers as you make the final descent, you could get rid of a few of them.

[] You use your verniers to push downwards and use the superior durability of Nu Gundam to kick through several of them before reversing direction to land gracefully.

[] You use your beam saber to cut through the nearer of them as you descend.

[] You think that that it is an unnecessary risk, contact Octo Squad and rendevouz with them to coordinate an strategy.

[] Write-in

As before, you can stunt the one of your choosing.

 

[AntonioCC]

Thanks, Ayden.

And now, the story

---

'From the ground it probably looks like either random movements or a deadly dance.' You think as you slice the last 'Bug' in half before you touch ground, not too far from Octo Squad.

The three 'Personal Troopers' are shooting with what seems like MS-scale sub-machineguns, quite smaller than the big things that Zakus used to carry around, before beam technology became ubiquitous. You take a moment to take a breath before jumping into teh fray to help Octo Squad

"Octo-1, here Unicorn. Have any of you have a spare weapon?" you say, as another bug bites the dust. "Other than the plasma blade, I'm a bit short on offensive weapons."

"Sorry, a bit short in spares right now." She says as her PT turns to shot another one of the bugs. "Eat lead, goddamned bastard!"

We keep fighting but the number of the things kept increasing. Your Newtype senses and skills help a bit, but you are losing ground quickly, aided by the fact that the bugs can fly and you... don't.

"I guess that this is our unlucky day..." said Octo-3, Tasuku Shinguji.

"Don't get us involved in your damned bad luck!" says Katina, that, you are starting to realize, has a few screws loose.

As you cut down another bug that was about to shoot Octo-2, you feel an unfamiliar psychic presence approaching, similar to a Newtype, but not quite the same.


But your attention come back to the fight, that it doesn't look good. The four of you are almost completely surrounded, and you feel that you are going to need a fucking miracle to get out of here intact. The irony of it doesn't escape you, surviving saving the Earth from a big damned rock only to fall in an anonymous fight against bug-shaped mobile armors in what it seems an alternate Earth.

[] Write-In
This time, you are completely free to write the action of your choosing, as well as an stunt.

 

[AntonioCC]

At the end I needed two days to end this. I may retouch some of last paragraphs later, though.

---

When you turn, you see that Octo-3 has fallen, his weapon out of reach, with one of the bugs ready to skewer the cockpit, and presumably the pilot, while the other two personal troopers are too busy repelling the enemy machines. As you take Octo-3's weapon, you attract the bug's attention with your Vulcans, so when it turns to face you shot it at near point-blank range, weakening it and giving Octo-3 enough time to use some kind of energy-charged punch to dispose of it. The situation is dire and you see only one way to survive this.

"Come on!" You say as you shot dead a few of the bugs in front of 1 and 2. "Follow me! We need to get closer to the battleship so we can get some air support."

"Who died and made you boss, flyboy?" asked Lt. Tarask, but anything she was going to add to this was lost forever as you answer, cuttingly.

"Too many of my friends and comrades, Lieutenant. Often saving me of this kind of foolhardiness."

"...Fine." She says, "Octo-3, with him, Octo-2 let's cover the back."

You start to run to the Hiryuu when you hear Tarask swearing through the intercom.

"What is happening, Octo-1?"

"A good deal of those damned bastards took flight, Unicorn."

Now you see them, half of those flying you cutting your advance while the ones in the back cut any hope to go back. The remaining ones go toward the Hiryuu, no doubt to destroy it.

You curse silently. You, against all odds, survived something impossible, only to die fighting possible aliens in a possible alternate Earth. You decide that if you have to go, you won't go silently.

"Hiryuu, this is Unicorn..." you start to warn the Hiryuu about the oncoming bugs when you find Nu Gundam has fallen to the ground. Somehow, without you noticing due to the hundred things happening, one of the bugs had sneaked upon you.

You try to get up, but other bug jump on you, and started to try to wreck Nu Gundam. The Gundarium alloy resist as you try to them from you, but they had you pinned. You already see other bug skittering toward you ready to join the ones over you. Everything seems lost.

And then a miracle happens.

The bugs over you and the one getting close suddenly explode, just after you hear three shots coming from above. and just before a cheerful female voice can be heard over the comms.

"Ta-Da!" she says and adds, "The cavalry is here."

"A flying PT?" you hear Octo-3 saying in disbelief.

You got up and see a white Mo.. Personal Trooper, holding a big gun flying over all of you, as she is shooting more bugs. Heartened by this turn of events you start to give orders to the Octo Squad to regroup, while you take back the machinegun, when the ice behind you start to break and a hulking red and black PT appear from under the ice, jumping into the fray by impaling one of the bugs onto its fin. As it's start to savage the others and you and Octo Squad join in the massacre, you receive a psychic flash, making you look toward a third PT, a white-painted version of the pone that Octo Squad is using.

As if answering you looking at him, two spinning... somethings deploy from the back of the PT enveloped in a green glow that remind you for a moment of the glow of the psycoframe just before... ending here, which proceed to demolish more bugs. Frankly, if people keep appearing like this to save your bacon, you are going to start to feel like Fa, back in the AEUG.

You suddenly remember the bugs that were flying toward the Hiryuu and try to raise the battleship again when a gruff male voice answer.

"Unicorn, this is Assault-1. It has already been taken care of."

After cleaning you learn that the new arrivals are the ATX team, an elite squad tasked with testing prototypes and had been just assigned to the Hiryuu. You also learn that the Hiryuu was late to a ceremony in Antarctica when they were attacked.

Choose two

[] Try to learn more about what has happened.

[] Clarify your status with the Earth Federation forces.

[] Whatever. You had just had a long and grueling day and you can sort all of this tomorrow.

[] No, you don't want to get involved in this, you have had enough crap to last a lifetime in the last fourteen years.

[] Write-In.

 

[AntonioCC]

Amuro Quest: Interlude 1

The Soaring Dragon

South Pole. Weddel Sea​

The battleship Hiryuu flew through the sky, to reach its objective. They were late, thanks to a spot of foul weather in the way. Captain Lefina Enfield fidgeted a bit in her chair. This was her first command, hell, her first posting, just out of Space Cadet School on Icarus base. She exhaled and looked to her side, where her executive officer, Sean Webley stood, looking at the bridge officers with an indulgent smile. He had been a pillar of support since she assumed command, even if he had a reputation as a bit of a pervert.

Suddenly she saw Eun Hyojin, a bridge operator in the ship, who also happened to be her best friend since they started together in the Academy, react startled to something in her control panel. She turned to face her and before she opened her mouth she read in her expression that something was wrong.

"Captain! We are detecting EM waves and light emissions indicating battle from the vicinity of Coatsland base!"

While Sean mused about how it could not be fireworks, Lefina though about the ceremony that was taking place in the base.

"Can they have attacked?" she mused, as a cold shiver ran down her back.

Her ruminations were cut short as another officer shouted from his console, whose instruments had beginning to ping menacingly.

"Unknowns in a approaching course! 15.. no, 20... and counting" he said "There is no match in the computer! They are accelerating toward us.!"

"Engaging them would be for the best..." commented Sean.

Lefina took a deep breath before starting to give orders.

"All hands to battlestations! Keep trying to hail Coatsland base! Descend until point 11100 and have Octo squad..."

"Ehmm.." said Eun, before announcing "Captain, Octo squad is already launching."

"I knew it. They don't follow my orders because I'm too inexperienced." Said Lefina, sinking in her chair.

"No, no, no." Said Sean, trying to elevate the spirits of her superior officer "Lieutenant Katina never listen to anybody."

"Captain." Said Eun, in an urgent tone. "Something has suddenly appeared in the stratosphere and it's descending toward this quadrant!"

"Can you identify it?." Asked Lefina, while Sean went to the console in the upper level to check the data.

"Silhouette similar to Mao Industries Hückebein series, but it doesn't match anything in record." Informed Eun.

Lefina looked at Sean, who shook his head.

'No Aerogator known tech either.' Thought the captain, who then gave the order. "Inform Octo Squad and try to raise...whatever it is."

"On it, captain." Eun said before she started the transmission " Earth Federation Battleship Hiryuu calling to white personal trooper in a descent course, identify yourself." She listened for a moment before starting again "I repeat. Earth Federation Battleship Hiryuu calling to white personal trooper in a descent course, identify yourself." Nothing again "I repeat. Earth Federation Battleship Hiryuu calling to..."

"This is Lieutenant Commander Amuro Ray, Earth Federation Space Forces, piloting Nu Gundam." Answered a young man with short curly brown hair and piercing blue eyes.

Eun looked at the captain, who made a hand signal to Eun signaling her to 'go on'.

"We are just about to enter in combat, leave the area or we're be forced to classify you as hostile." Said Eun, the standard warning to civilian vessels entering a combat area.

"Ma'am, this... 'personal trooper' can be of help to you in the coming fight. I'm an veteran pilot with combat experience." He quickly answered.

The slight pause before 'personal trooper' picked Lefina interest, but she sets it aside because of more pressing concerns. Octo Squad was heavily outnumbered, after all.

"Eun."

"Yes, captain?"

"I'll talk with him." After Eun had changed the view to her, she said, trying to sound like a seasoned captain "I'm Captain Lefina Enfield, Lieutenant Ray." She paused for a moment, before saying the words that would commit her one way or another "Octo Squad in is need of help, so go to help them."

After that, it was simply the matter to give him the frequencies and asking for a callsign, that to Commander Webley's amusement turned to be "Unicorn".

"I hope that it won't come to bit us in the butt." Said Lefina, in a low enough voice that only Sean was able to pick her.

"I don't think so, Captain." Said Sean "Besides, you know the regulations for Auxiliary Combatants in wartime."

"You think that we are in war?"

"The Aerogators have never attacked so openly. And something has happened in Coatsland Base." Said Sean "We need to fill a report for Military intelligence, anyway."

Mystery Man​

Geneva, Earth Federation Capital. A few hours later​

He should have seen it coming, but he had been lulled on inaction for the fact that Doctor Bian Zoldark seemed to have been listened this time around. Now this Earth would have both to contend with both the Divine Crusaders and the Aerogators. The only thing that he could do now was to help behind the scenes, pushing technical development in the right direction, and not to try to use his gift.

Anyway, time to work. Many reports from all over the globe, detailing the attacks from the DC, including the use of a MAPW on Sidney to subdue a garrison that was fighting too well for the local commander of the DC tastes.

'At least they didn't drop a space colony on the city.' He thought, remembering something. 'Goddamned Gih... One moment...'

He noticed that one report from the Hiryuu had been flagged by one the programs that he was supposed to not have installed in the EFA computer net. He opened it and started to read it. He already knew of the Aerogator attack on the ship, but he wondered what...

Amuro Ray

Nu Gundam

'Shit!' he thought.

He reclined back in his chair, thinking. A version of Amuro and the Nu Gundam had appeared on this universe. He wondered how many ghosts of his past were going to appear. Nonetheless, he had to talk to him, to know the circumstances of his appearance and if he was one of the alternates that he was familiar with.

But unfortunately, the orders for Hiryuu prevented this at the moment. But once that the Hiryuu returned, Gilliam Yeager would be expecting them.

 

[AntonioCC]

The battleship hangar is quite similar to what you are used to, what makes the differences all the more jarring. Anyway, with Octo Squad and the ATX team already docked, you open the cockpit and step outside, onto the catwalk.

You change out of the spacesuit onto a spare uniform that is your size, and are presented to the rest of the pilots. You note that Ensign Browning's voice remind you of Scirocco's aide, what was her name? Sarah Zerov? Anyway you go to the bridge, where you hope to get some answers.

But everything is in chaos in the bridge when you arrive. Apparently, a bigshot in this Earth Federation called Bian Zoldark has started a rebellion against the government. His reason? The leadership of the Earth Federation was about to sell Earth to the aliens who had just attacked the Hiryuu in exchange for their safety, the real reason of the ceremony in the Antarctica. You don't find it too difficult to believe, thanks to your own experience.

While Zoldark drones about the Divine Crusaders mission (idly, you note that he sounds a bit like Ryu Jose at times), you got a moment to check some bits in the civilian infonets. Yep, it seems that your hunch was correct. The story of this world is considerably different than your own from the last third of the XXth Century AD onwards, although there are some repeating patterns like space expansion and Earth-colonies conflict.

"Commander Ray?" says commander Webley as you shake your head. "Captain Lefina want to talk to you in her office." You look and see that the captain is in the back of the bridge, accompanied by Major Zomvolt

You follow him into a nearby cabin, which has a small table with an incorporated computer, a chair behind it and seats folded against the wall facing the table. After the captain sits, you wait for permission to sit down. You wonder for a moment why the Major is here, but you realize that as the higher ranked pilot in the complement of the Hiryuu, he would the Commander of the Mob... Personal Trooper Group, or in pre-MS terms, the Commander of the Air Group.

"Why are you still standing?" she says in surprise. You realize then that both Commander Webley and the Major had sat in the folding seats.

"Ah... I was waiting for permission to sit down, captain. At least that is what I'm used to..." you debate with yourself for a moment, but you decide that honesty is the best policy "...in my Earth."

You see an absolute lack of surprise in everybody faces.

"You did know this." You accuse

"We had a good hunch after I got one of the technicians to make an examination of the exterior of Nu Gundam." Said Commander Webley, with a smile. "In short words it's either the most unnecessarily detailed hoax ever built, or it's truly from another world. Add that I noticed what you were looking in that console."

"Well, I was hoping to join your forces, but..."

"You are worried that the EFA may have start out as an ensign, or worse, as a enlisted crewman." Says captain Lefina with a charming smile "Don't worry about that. We can register you as an Auxiliary Combatant and you will be part of our complement..."
"...With a reduction of one in rank." Completes Major Sanger, and then explain "It's a holdover from the days where militias and irregular units regularly supplemented the EFA. They didn't want any two-bit warlord to outrank a EFA senior officer."

You keep talking for a while,after that you get out and decide what to do.

Choose two options (this cover the next 8 hours period):

[] Timeskip to the orders

[] Socializing with the pilots

[] Working on replacements for the weapons

[] Research more about the world

[] Go to sleep

[] Write-in

 

[AntonioCC]

After the end of the talk with the captain, and a friendly warning to keep you origins a secret for now, you got permission to tinker a bit with teh available weapons, as well as making the requisitions for ammunition and weapons, although given how this Earth Federation seems to have been caught with its collective pants down by the Divine Crusaders rebellion, you aren't expecting them soon.

Well, it is time to work. After an hour or so of looking of what was available, you come back (with the help of a forklift and a friendly chief petty officer) with a big pile of junk. Meanwhile, as per your instructions somebody had brought one of the spare PTs machineguns and placed it next to Nu.

You start by dividing the material for the use that you plan to give them, bringing the electronic components near Nu, in a platform. You have an idea, but you need to check some things up, first.

You open a hatch in Nu and start to checking the wiring and the boards. So absort are you in the inner workings of Nu that you don't hear the steps of somebody else in the platform, but you are spared the embarrassment by a sudden and somewhat familiar psychic feeling of pressure. You lift your head from the circuitry to see a young blond walking toward you. One of the members of the ATX team, you realize... specifially, the esper you noted earlier.

"Lieutenant Ray." The young man says

"Lieutenant Luckfield." you say, remembering his name from earlier.

"Call me Bullet, everybody calls me that, Lieutenant." Bullet said.

"Only if you call me Amuro. So, what brings you here, Bullet?"

"When my team arrived to the battlefield, I... it's crazy but..."

"You felt some kind of mental pressure, and an instant recognition of the person in the other side of the pressure, namely me." Amuro said "Am I right?"

"...Yes." Bullet said. "You felt it too, right?"

It seems that our plans have just got a bit derailed. What to do?

[] Write-In

You can add stunts, if you want.

 

[AntonioCC]

"One moment, while I finish this." you say as you go back to check if what you are planning can be done. 'I'll have to build myself the pieces, but it can be done' You conclude, as you close the hatch and turn to face Bullet.

"This might require a bit of privacy." You say gesturing around to the bustling activity of the hangar. "I don't know how things work...here, but I will share what I know."

Bullet arches an eyebrow, but nods and follow you through the hangar toward an out of the way storage room. There you sit on a crate before gesturing bullet to do likewise.

"I am what where I am from..." you see from his face that he want to ask "...is called a Newtype. Basically, a kind of esper whose abilities has supposedly awakened due to have been living in space." Seeing Bullet expression, you add with an understanding smile. "Yeah, I know, it sounds like hogwash."

"But I have never..."

"Yeah, I was going to get to that. You feel... off. " you say "Like a magenta ball in a violet field, similar but not the same."

"A... rather odd comparison, that one." Bullet said.

"It was the first thing that came to my mind." You say, sheepishly "Anyway..."

You start to tell him about your life experiences, greatly edited, of course, and focusing in your development as a Newtype. Eventually this led to talk, in very broad strokes, of psycommu technology.

"...and that led me to ask about your... Personal Trooper. The weapon that you used first."

"What? The T-Link Ripper? It's a new weapon which is supposed to be.." he start to say, and then he realizes why you are asking "...thought-activated. Are you thinking that...?"

"That somebody in the EF knows about all of this and is developing weapon technology for use by people like you?" you say, and add without thinking "It has happened before."

"Where, exactly? I mean where are you from?"

Damn. You and your damn mouth.

Well, at least you aren't attacking random people who mocks your name, like Kamille.

What to say?

[] The truth.

[] "That's classified, sorry."

[] Lie through your teeth (specify what you say)

You can add stunts.

 

[AntonioCC]

"That's classified, sorry." You say with a smile "But I get the feeling that you'll learn about it sooner or later. Ask me again sometime when I get my unit fully working. We can test something out when it's at 100%"

"Okay." He says, shrugging "I wasn't really expecting an answer right now. And my Gespenst is fully functional, we could see how the T-Link system answer to you."
"Shouldn't we get it cleared with Major Sanger?." You say, cautiously "After all, he is the senior pilot onboard."

"Well, yes." Bullet says "But I don't think that the boss will have any problem."

"All right. Now, if you don't have any other question..." You say, getting up.

"Nothing... Well, a thing. Where does the name Gundam come from?"

"The truth is that I have no idea." You say, after a quick laugh "Well, I have to go to get Nu ready..."

"What are you doing exactly, by the way?" he ask as he follows you through the door.

"Nu systems have problems processing the signals used by the hardware of your weapons. I am designing an interface that should handle the signal preprocessing, as well as a program for Nu systems to handle the data. Also..." you stop when you see he is becoming cross-eyed. "Sorry, I suppose that I'm still that much of an electronics geek."

"A bit." Bullet says "But why haven't asked for proper weapons to be deliv...?"

"It's a one of a kind design." 'More than you can imagine, kiddo.' "I have filled the proper forms, but I'll have the same problems with all standard weapons. I'm thinking on building some on my own, but I'll need time for that."

"All right." Bullet says, obviously adding it to his growing list of things that don't add up. "You should talk about this with Tasuku, though. He knows how all the PT systems inside-out, and could help you with that."

"I'll keep that in mind." You say.

So now, what to do? (Choose two)

[] Keep working in the Gundam (timeskip ahead)

[] Look for Tasuku

[] Look for something to eat.

[] Research

[] Write-in.

As always, you can add stunts.

 

[AntonioCC]

After Bullet walked to the elevator, you decide to follow his advice and start looking for Tasuku Shinguji. If he is as big of a techhead as Bullet suggested, he should be... Exactly where do you expect him to be.

Waist deep in the guts of his Gespenst, fiddling with something inside.

"Tasuku Shinguji?"

"Can you wait a moment? I'm a bit busy right now" you hear faintly.

"I'll..." You start to say before being interrupted.

"Look who is here." you hear from the other side of the platform. You turn and see a blonde woman dressed in a form-fitting red pilot suit. As she get closer, you note that she is heterochromic, her left eye green and her right purple.

"Lieutenant Tarask." You say as you recognize her.

"Lieutenant Ray." She says, stressing that you are now of equal rank, and then asks sarcastically. "So what...?"

Whatever was she going to ask was lost as the last member of Octo Squad, (Bergman? Bagman?, you just don't remember his name) called her from below. Apparently, Major Sanger wanted to talk with her.

"We'll talk later, lieutenant." She says before stepping down the ladder.

"She seems to be pissed." You comment.

"Nah, I have seen her in worse mood when her favorite team loses a match." Said Tyasuku getting out of the bowels. "So, what did you want?"

You explain succinctly the problems that you are having and the solution that you think that could work. Tasuku nods and add a few suggestions that improve your ideas. And from there the talk start to drift onto a variety of topics until...

"...So I told B... the captain 'Next time you go down and solder those circuit boards under fire, while I sit in the bridge.'"
Tasuku snorted and said:

"I can imagine. And what did he say?"

"I got arrested for two days." You say, deadpan, and then start to add, "At least it wasn't like..."

Suddenly your stomach growled. Looking at the hour, you notice that it have been at least twelve hours since you took a bite.

"If you don't mind..."

"Actually, I'm hungry too, let's go. Besides, you don't know where the mess hall is."

He guides you through the corridors of the ship until you both arrive to the mess hall. You see several crewmembers in a table, including Lieutenant Eun, the bridge operator who you talked earlier. On another table, Excellen and Kyosuke are eating, and she seems to be trying to get the stoic pilot to smile with her antics. And of course there are several empty tables.

[] Sit with the crew.

[] Sit with the pilots

[] Sit wih Tasuku to keep the discussion

[] Sit alone

You can add stunts.

Note: except in the last option, and unless specified otherwise in a stunt, Tasuku sits with you

 

[AntonioCC]

Unfortunately, it seems that next story post is going to be delayed, sorry. It's frustrating knowing what you want to write, but not finding the right words.

As a consolation prize, I am going to post omakes based on the alternate openings that I had in my notes.

Omake

Alternate Openings: A Newtype in Brockton Bay​

Amuro recovered consciousness slowly. He remembered crashing in that bay, the damage in Nu Gundam too big for him to do anything else, ejecting and trying to swim out to safety. His last memory was to mange to reach into a place that was near water level and lie there, cold and exhausted.

He didn't feel cold now. He was wrapped in a blanket, lying in a couch, clothed in his underwear. He moved, keeping the blanket and looked around. It looked like an office, an old one at that, given the furniture. There was a paper calendar in the wall, for god's sake!.
The calendar. According to it, it was January 2011. A.D., he guessed. . Whatever happened back there, pushing Axis, it had propelled him back in time, or worse. Over the desk, there was a newspaper, he looked at it, revealing the situation as even more strange. Parahumans? Endbringers?

'Not only the past, but an alternate past.' he thought. He would had remembered if people with such extraordinary abilities existed in the AD era.

So absort he was in reading the paper, that he didn't notice the door opening.

"Oh, you are awake." a male voice said behind him.

He turned to see a tall, gawky man with glasses and a receding hairline. He was carrying a tray with two coffee cups, and two beige cardboard boxes with a gold M on them.

 

[AntonioCC]

You get your food and decide to sit with the pilots. You are going to spend a lot of time with them in patrols, after all, and better to know then outside combat. Besides, who knows? They may be personable. As you pass near the other occupied table, you see that some of the crewmen are watching a news program in a small, portable TV.

You two sit with Kyosuke and Excellen, with Tasuku trailing behind you. Kyosuke greets you with curt nod, whileExcellen gives you a big hug. After this, you sit down, when Kyosuke is soon shown to be a man of few words, but you get the impression that he is quietly amused by Excellen's antics. Excellen in the other hand, is exuberant, bubbly and seemingly a bit of a ditz, but you soon come to realize the intellect that lurks behind the façade. No, not a façade, just another piece of a complex personality.

You got to relax a bit, forgetting for a while the whole mess that you have found yourself into. At least until you note that Eun, the bridge officer, who is in the other occupied table is standing up, making signals to all of you.

"Guys, come here, you have to see this!" says Eun, in a tune of urgency.

You go there, followed by the others and see what they are seeing. It seems to be a news report of fighting in a city. 'That skyline looks familiar.' you think, at first curious, and then with a mounting sense of horror as you realize why it's familiar to you. Because you are a veteran of the One Year War.

"...deration forces seem to be repelling the attack of the DC on Sydney." says an unseen reporter "If this continues, it may be... One moment, I got news that DC forces are retreating from the city. Apparently..."

Suddenly there was a big flash that filled the screen, before turning to static for a moment, an stand-by signal and then to the studio. One of the hosts stepped out of frame while the otehr started to talk.

"The live signal from Sydney has been cut in origin, we don't..." said the other host, before his companion returned.
Everybody noticed his drawn face and the paleness in his face, despite the make-up "Sorry to interrupt my partner, but we have just received word from the EFA. The DC has used a WMAP on Sidney..."

"A what?" you ask, sotto-voce, although given what you have seen, you can guess the answer.

"A non-radiactive Nuke, basically." Excellen says, her tone, for once, devoid of any levity.

After this, nobody, even Excellen, was in the mood for eating.

Now what?

[] Work with Tasuku in the interface and other possible modifications to Nu Gundam.

[] Go to sleep

[] Write-in

 

[AntonioCC]

Okay, not very inspired, but this part have been dragging on enough (my fault). The new arrival will provide answer and, I hope, lead into a second interlude where we see a bit more of what is happenning behind the scene.

---

After these news it was no surprise that nobody was in the mood for eating much. So after you end with your food, you leave and go back to the hangar, following Tasuku. With his help, you manage to end the interface in no time, even with time for a preliminary test.

"This is all nice and good for the MG, but if we got Mega Beam Rifles, their hardware is quite more complicated." Said Tasuku.

"So I'll have to do this again then?"

"Probably not, it's based on this one, but don't take my word for it, it have been a while since I have seen one of them." Tasuku said, scratching his head.

"Okay." You say, stretching, and finding yourself unable to repress a yawn. 'How many hours have I been awake?' you think. "You know, I think I'm going to take a nap."

"I'll go to check on my Gespenst, see you."

You go to your quarters and lie on your bed until your eyes close on their own accord.

You open them to find yourself sitting in a comfortable armchair, with a young man with silver hair and blue eyes in front of you sitting in a similar seat, dressed in an uniform not too dissimilar of the one used by the crew. Around you there is only a mass of swirling currents, that make your eyes hurt only by looking at them.

"Before you ask, yes, this is a dream, and yes, it was the only way for me to contact you." Say the man. "My name is Cobray Gordon, and I'm here in behalf of the one who brought you here. I don't promise you that I can answer all your questions, but I'll try to do so, so ask away."

3 questions

[] Write-In

 

[AntonioCC]

"A mysterious spirit guide that comes to me in a dream? Talk about cliches." You say, sarcastically.

"As I said it was the only way to talk to you. If you weren't a Newtype, I wouldn't even have that way." Says Cobray, apparently unfazed by your sarcasm. "So, I repeat. Ask what you want to know?"

"How did I end in this world? I thought that it was the resonating psichoframes, but you mentioned that somebody brought me here."

"Sharp as always, Amuro Ray." the man says.

"Do I know you?"

"No, but I met an alternate you in my world of origin." He said before taking a deep breath "And coming back to your question, the resonance of the psicoframes put you out of the space and time for a single moment, enough that the... entity I'm working with could pull you here... I think. The truth is that even I can understand him sometimes."

"Who?"

"Sorry, that is one of the things that I can't tell you." Cobray says, shrugging.

"But, then why I was brought here? I'm a quite good mobile suit pilot, and Nu is state of the art, but I'm only one pilot."

"We couldn't pick anybody willy-nilly, we had to take somebody competent whose disappearance wouldn't cause repercussions in their universe of origin. But the foremost reason in our mind when we chose you was balance." Cobray said "Without entering in many details, to avoid a repeat of its last defeat in an alternate Earth, the other side is cheating, bringing people from another worlds to stir shit up."

"People like Char?"

"No, he is dead."

"Okay, so I'm stuck here for the duration. At least, tell me that I can fix Nu with teh technology at hadn?"

"Well, yes, but I think that Mao Industries would be the people who you had to talk with." He said with an amused expression "Do you have more questions? Time is running short, you know."

Two questions.

[] Write-in

 

[AntonioCC]

"Okay, can you at least tell me why I was brought here?"

"It's complicated... do you know that the conflict with the Divine Crusaders is a sideshow to...?"

"...the real conflict that is with the aliens who sent the bug-shaped Mobile Armors. I suspected as much."

"Pretty much. Their true ruler is an abomination that transcend time and space..."

"And realities, I suppose."

"Yes." He says "He is bringing people from your world and other similar worlds to sow dissension, create chaos and generally be a nuisance. Most of those come from universes similar to yours, you know, where Mobile Suits and specifically Gundams reign supreme."

"Oookay, but you could have picked some pilot from a later U.C. date. Some of the technology that I have seen in the drawing boards..." you stop when you see Cobray shaking his head.

"No, Amuro, it's not the machine, that I was looking for, but the pilot." He says "For good or bad, you are one of the best pilots in any universe, adding a lot of experience on top of your innate skill and your Newtype powers."

You aren't exactly convinced but it's clear that he is going to be keep talking in circles if you press the issue.

"Let's suppose that I survive this, what does happen afterwards? Do I get to go back home? This not my universe, after all."

"Probably not." He says, looking down "I'm sorry, but history shows that Amuro Ray and Char Aznable perished after you pushed back Axis. And frankly, changing history is very dangerous."

You don't like this but before you can try to rebate that, you start to hear a faraway sound, like the ring of an alarm clock.

"Time is almost up. You probably only have time for another question."

You try to find a suitable thing to ask, but the only thing in your head, other than trying to discuss the changing history argument, as the ringing grow louder, is:

"Do I know some of the people you and the other side are bringing here?"

"You are the first we have brought up, and from the others, there have been only somebody from your universe, picked about three years after you... left, and no, we don't now who he or she is." Says Cobray "If we ever bring somebody you may know like Lalah, Four or Quess, I'll try to give you a heads up like this."

"I think that would be preferable." You say as the scene fades and the ringing drowns all other sounds.



You wake up in your bunk, but the ringing sound doesn't disappear. You need a moment to realize that it's the ship alarm. You get up immediately and dress, before...

[] ...heading down to the hangar.

[] ...heading up to the bridge.

[] ...remaining in your quarters, waiting to be called.

[] Write-in.

 

[AntonioCC]

Interlude 2: Closed World
Part 1​

An UCC hospital ship​

"What's the state of the patient, doctor?" asked the tall, blond man in UCC uniform with Colonel rank.

"He seems to be in good health, and the burn scar in besides the with scarring and old fractures consistent with a PT pilot... in fact quite similar to your own, right down to the tissue micro-scarring associated with repeated high-g maneuvers." Said the doctor "I would had more to say if we could have examined the patient personally, instead of using remotes in an isolation cell."

"There is a reason for that, doctor. Did you observe any clumps of non-organic substance inside him?"

"We have observed him since you brought him yesterday, and we have observed no sign of anything like you describe." Asked the doctor "I'll understand if you can't tell me, Elzam. But if there is something that I should know about his state..."

Elzam von Branstein sat down and considered it for a moment.

"We found him in space, unconscious, surrounded by the wreckage of some kind of PT." Elzam finally said, leaving unsaid the circumstances that led to him to examine that particular area of space "We had to discard and destroy his flight-suit, there was... something growing on it, some kind of living metal. Jus afterwards we discovered that the same thing seemed to be growing in the wreckage surrounding him. We destroyed every trace of it that we could found, and we didn't observe anything of that... living metal on him, but we decided that it would be better to be sure."

"Well, we didn't observe anything of the sort in him, and as you requested we examined him down to the molecular level."

"Now that we know that he is safe, when can I talk with him?"

"As soon as he is awake, a couple hours most."

DC Oceania HQ. Wellington, New Zealand​

General Koch of the DC put a smile on his round face as he welcomed the personal envoy of Commander Bian to the base. Inside him, a bitter rage boiled. Didn't this prettyboy know that there was a war going on? Now that the Federation armies in Eastern Australia were in disarray it was the time to attack, not to play tea parties.

The fact that he accompanied his perfectly fitted and immaculate uniform with a non-regulation cape over teh left shoulder, that he was a handsome young man, and that his green-haired assistant couldn't look more foppish if he tried, didn't help either to ingratiate the young man with the rotund admiral.

"Greetings, Colonel. What can I do for you?"

The man looked at him as if he was looking at a particularly noxious insect and said.

"You can get into the plane that brought me here and get back to Aidoneus Island, General."

"What?"

"Orders from Commander Bian." Said teh aide in a oily tone, giving him a bundle of papers.

He quickly scanned through them, seeing that in effect he was dismissed from command... and this greenhorn was going to take his place. This had to be about Sidney, there was not other explanation.

"I..."

"You went against orders, using a MAPW on a civilian objective. This was the kind of atrocities that the Commander want to avoid, General."

He thought for a moment of resisting the order, but the bodyguards, feeling his reaction moved into a stance ready to shoot, if necessary.

"I'll need a moment to collect my..."

"We'll ship them to Aidoneus, the plane doesn't have a lot of space." Said the Colonel, unyielding.

Slumping his shoulders in defeat, the general walked toward the landing pad. The Colonel dismissed the bodyguards and took a lift to his new offices, accompanied by his aide.

"I trust that he won't reach Aidoneus."

"The plane will have an 'unfortunate encounter' with a Federation air patrol, Treize." Said the aide in a tone way less deferential than before "Ah, I couldn't tell you before because we had an audience, but my pet scientist is starting to make progress in the GN project."

"Excellent work, Ribbons." said Treize Khushrenada.

 

[AntonioCC]

An out of the way island between the Indian and the Pacific Ocean​

The island had housed for a long time a couple strips to help with trans-oceanic flight, which now had been appropiated for the use of the DC Armored Modules, to harass any possible reinforcements coming to the Federation Forces in Australia.

"Lieutenant Lamarck, what the hell are you supposed to be doing?" said the squad commander as one of the AMs was trying to take off.

The cold voice of DC Lieutenant Lilith Lamarck, the best pilot of the squad, and one of the best ones in the DC, answered instantly.

"I'm deserting, Sam, and don't even think about following me." She said, and then added, with a faint note of amusement in her voice "Not that you are going to be able to do it, anyway." A click was faintly heard over the radio just before all the other Armored Modules started to blow up one by one.

"Lily, damn it! Why are you doing this?" although he could guess what had led the Australian pilot to desert.

"Because my family lived in Sidney." She said, confirming his guess. And she cut the communication.

The Commander cursed all incompetent glory-hound generals, as the AM, which was painted dark blue with a white side stripe, the lieutenant custom colors, took off and started to go in the general direction of the remaining Federation holdings in the Southern Pacific. He sighed. While he felt sorry for her, the fact is that they were at war, and she was trying to desert.

"Open a channel to the Kraken." He ordered to the communication officer, swallowing his pride.

Soon enough the gating voice of the commanding officer of the only nearby DC submarine carrier was heard in the speakers.

"Why are you calling, Gorman?" said commander Ichiro Nizaki, a man whose rivalry with Sam Gorman went all the way back to elementary school "Did you get bored of talking to the crabs." He asked jokingly before letting out a belly laugh.

Gorman counted silently to ten, gritting Shi teeth all the way before answering.

"And hello to you also, Nizaki. I'm calling you, asshole, because the best pilot of my squad is trying to desert with her Armored Module, after sabotaging all the others. "

For a moment there was only silence in the line, and when Nizaki answered it was a non-nonsense tone, one of the things that got him to the position he occupied right now.

"HER?"

"Yes, the Blue Bolt herself."

"Goddamnit to Hell." Nizaki said, his tone having changed into a clipped, professional tone "I'll set our own AMs in an interception course, immediately."

DC Headquarters. Aidoneus Island​

Adler Koch (no relation with General Koch), second in command in the DC, went to an out of the way lab where his colleague Aguilla Setme was examining her last acquisition, a young redhead woman who had been found washed ashore in one of the other islands of the archipelago.

"So what do you think of her?"

"I think that I can work on her." Said the old hag. "The problems are the physical damage she shows."

"Oh?"

"She suffered physical abuse, as well as multiple, aborted pregnancies. There are sign of having suffered also multiple STDs." She said looking at the report "Probably she worked as a low-end prostitute for some time."

"Okay. I'll try to give you access to some regenerative tech." Adler said, dismissing it with a wave of his hand. Regrettable, but the world was a bad place. "You mentioned something about her brain?"

"Surgical scars and signs of multiple operations. Some of them were similar, though cruder, to the work done on some of the pilots from the School and my own work. I think that I can use that as a base for my own conditioning." Aguilla said, and then smiled "But what is more interesting is the ones that doesn't correspond to our work. I think that this girl was made into some kind of artificial Psichodriver."

"Very interesting. If that is true, do you think that you could replicate the process?"

"Of course." She said, with a 'who do you think are you talking to?' "I'll need six month to a year."

"Excellent. I'll make sure that the Commander doesn't know about this."



Author Note: Lilith Lamarck was originally conceived as the OG real robot protagonist of an standard crossover SRW story. As that story never got off ground, I decided to use her here. Don't worry about her staying and stealing the show, she is getting out of the story in a couple entries after the Interlude.

 

[AntonioCC]

An UCC hospital ship​

The man in the bed awoke slowly. His last memories were of choosing self-sacrifice after the aliens had started to assimilate his Mobile Suit to give The Boy a chance to penetrate the mothership. He had survived... somehow. He tried to lift a hand to look at it, but he seemed to be tied to the bed. 'Why?' he wondered. Moving slowly his head, he saw that his hands were still his normal skin tone, so he haven't been assimilated by the aliens.

He was so focused in musing about his situation, that he almost missed the sound of the door opening. Two men entered the room, both clad in an unfamiliar uniform, though the older of the two wore a white coat over it. A doctor, he imagined. The doctor made a quick check-up of him before saying.

"Everything look god. I'll be in the other room, checking his constants. If you need something, colonel..."

"I'll call the orderlies. I know the drill, doctor."

The doctor nodded and left, leaving him alone with the colonel. He had to admit that he cut an impressive figure, tall with long blonde hair and blue eyes. For a moment he thought that he could hear some bombastic music, but it was probably only his imagination.

"I'm Colonel Elzam Von Branstein, of the United Colony Corps." the colonel said.

"Major Graham Acker, Earth Sphere Federation Space Forces." Graham answered, automatically, promptin an slow nod from Elzam, as if Graham's words confirmed something that he had been pondering. But Graham hadn't finished. "What is this 'United Colony Corps'? And what happened with the ELS?"

"Before I answer your questions, I want to tell you how we found you." Elzam said, "We, meaning the pilots under my command and me, were training in a sector of space far from the normal routes when we were blinded by a momentary flash several kilometers from us. When we arrived to investigate, we found a cloud of space debris and a man in a spacesuit in the center of it..."

"Me, I gather." Graham said "But I don't know what that has to do with..."

"Let me finish, please. After we rescued you, we observed a crystalline growth in your spacesuit and in some of the debris..." this words prompted a reaction from Graham, but before he could interrupt Elzam reassured him "Don't worry, we disposed of it. It was too dangerous to keep something that it tended to... absorb whatever got in contact with it..." Elzam said, and then added darkly "No matter what some people thought about being able to control it." He took a deep breath "Anyway, the analysis of the other debris showed alloys and components far in advance of anything that we have managed to do, not to speak that in one of the pieces somebody had stenciled a date, January 17 2314. And before you ask, I don't remember the exact date as we use another calendar, but we are approximately in the mid-XXIIth Century... in what is probably an alternate Earth from your own."

Graham didn't answered, not wanting to believe it. The man sounded sincere, but...

"I see that you don't believe me. It's understandable." Elzam said, "If the reverse was true, I would be probably feeling the same. But we are moving you from the isolation ward to normal lodgings in a few hours and give you access to the non-classified bits of the ship database. You'll see then."

Elzam started to leave, but then he remembered an intelligence report from one of the DC moles inside the Federation forces, the one, in fact that had led him to think about alternate Earths.

"Does the name Gundam means something to you?"

"If this is an alternate Earth, how do you know that name?"

"It seems that you aren't the only person to be thrown in another reality, Major." Elzam said. "An Amuro Ray piloting a Nu Gundam joined the Earth Federation Army yesterday, being apparently from another reality."

'Amuro Ray... A. Ray... like the man who was probably Ribbons genetic source, E.A.Ray... and we never found a trace of his body.' Graham thought 'Of course it all could be a lie, but what could they win with that? Play along and look for the trap.'

"I don't know about that particular Gundam or its pilot, but I'll tell you what I know."

A remote archipelago between the Indian and Pacific Oceans​

The situation was not good; two squads of AMs had sprung out on her before even she could get out of the small archipelago. And, of course, they had ordered her to surrender. She smirked, as she changed the flight mode from long flight to her own personalized mode, which performed more than 30% over specs, and answered.

"Sorry, mates. You'll have to kill me, and I assure you, that it's not going to be..."

She nimbly dodged the projectile that one of the Lions behind her had shot, and made a series of quick shots while spinning around, knocking down one and damaging half of the others, while the DC pilots didn't manage to land any hit.

"...that easy. " she finished.

'Not bad.' She thought to herself. Her speed and her favorite color had earned her the nickname of Blue Bolt in the training field, and she had performed well in their fist confrontation with Federation forces, yesterday. But taking down dummies and fighters was one thing; she was going against other AMs now.

Even if she survived, it was going to be a damned miracle if she reached Federation lines now. On its own twisted way, it was liberating, the situation being reduced to how many of those bastards were going down with her. She primed the railguns and started to shoot.

 

[AntonioCC]

You find Kyosuke, Excellen and Tasuku in the hangar, and you see Bullet and Russell checking their respective machines.

"Where are Major Sanger and Lieutenant Tarask?." You ask when you reach them

"Here." You hear from behind you, they had apparently arrived just after you. After having your full attention, Sanger continues "The Federation have noted signs of fighting in an small DC base located in an archipelago not too far from here. We have been ordered to investigate."

Almost half an hour later you are sitting in Nu's cockpit, making the final checks before launching. The interface you and Tasuku built yesterday is working as intended with the Machine Gun that Nu is holding, and everything seems to be working. While you wait, you check some of the reactor specs to see if it would be possible to charge an e-Pac for a hypothetical beam rifle, by using the chargers for the beam sabers... Doable, but complicated, as you don't know yet if...

You have been given the green light to take off. You crouch as the catapult start to move before saying to the comms.

"Amuro Ray. Nu Gundam. Launching!"

The island is covered with the wrecks of Armored Modules, and you see that there are three damaged Ams fighting a fourth... no, it's going down.

"Assault One, Unicorn here…"


[] …requesting permission to engage."

[] …Orders?"

[] …where did those Armored Modules came from?"

[] Write-in