2011-06-02 - Cutscene: A Sister's Fate

A FEW DAYS AGO...

A blue Orbital Frame - it had to be Mayet. Even in such a damaged state, the form of the twin-unit to Amenthes could be easily recognised. There had been false-alarms before: A LEV that some idiot Trailer had mistaken for an Orbital Frame, or the sightings of young white-haired girls only to end up finding out they were simply cosplayers. No! The images were /definitely/ of Mayet, but could anyone have actually survived the kind of battle that would nearly rip apart an Orbital Frame?

The information provided by the Lelands, who had initially found the downed unit, was sketchy at best. A few photographs close up, then more from a distance as the Acemos forces drove the salvagers back out of the area. Of course, knowing that Acemos took the damaged unit might be useful information - for someone willing to pay for it. Images from various cover locations track the movement, with radar and telemetry to back up the final destination. The last entry in the log is the key, of course: the coordinates of a secret Acemos facility on Earth.

"I'll be taking my leave now." Ascian calls into the radio connected to the Earth Cradle, whilst inside of the Amenthes. "Roger that. Be safe out there, Lieutenant." Comes through from the other side, after which Ascian's fingers pluck strongly against the control-orbs of the cockpit - and the red almost bio-luminescent light of the Orbital Frame dances through its veins, rushing to the wings, pursing them open and forcing crystallized Metatron out from between its folds; lifting the frame off of the ground of the hangar.

Then, with a single sudden push, it increases in velocity faster than your average jet. G-forces that normally might bother Ascian are ignored this time over. His concentration is elsewhere: the chance of finding his sister, and getting to that base as fast as possible. Behind him, a small squad of raptors rapidly deploy and chase after the unit, guided by a small Drone AI control program; they are intended to assist during what he considers will be an assault on the base.

However, upon approach, there is little sign of any defenses around the facility, which is probably the first warning sign that something has gone terribly wrong. Scorch marks show against the ground and the wreckage of smashed units lays scattered. There are crumbling buildings and huge blast holes revealing an underground complex of rooms, now empty. It is clear that no one had been back to salvage the facility after whatever attack had decimated it. Something that could be good, or very... very bad.

The Amenthes and raptors set down outside of the base, and Duat is left in control of keeping things under control whilst Ascian leaves his frame - the black canopy retreating and the Amenthes' hand assist in his quick approach to the base. Holding onto a rifle, the 'Ender' begins his infiltration into the facility.

But inside, it is all the same. Scars, blast and pock-marks, areas that have been littered with blood or simply scorched and bent as result of the deployment of grenades and other similar weapons. Whatever had occurred here, it had not been an easy fight for at least one of the sides in this conflict.

Like a soldier scanning through unfamiliar territory, the young man makes his way through the hallways. Now and again, he finds his path blocked by metal beams. In other situations, the buildings are entirely destroyed. But he continues his search, until finally luck is with him, and he finds a route through a less exposed section of the base and find what appears to be the mainframe and server room. Throughout his entirely exploration of the base, he'd become more and more desperate for any kind of information. And this, this was the closest thing he could find.

There are exposed wires everywhere. Some of the more powerful cables have been cut loose, and spark about, making his approach harder. Somehow, this place was still generating some level of power. But the danger did not push him away from his goal, and after a struggle and climbing over some of the fallen server-bays he finds what looks to be a completely intact main mainframe from which most of the cables are running. So he does the best thing he can do. He takes out the drives and makes his way back.

When he is about to exit the base however, Duat warns him of activity on the surface. A small squad of previously hidden Katharon Nemo units, suddenly deploy from a series of buildings and stand in the way of Ascian's retreat to the frame. His heart practically stops. So close to finding the truth about his sister - he believes - this can't be the moment he dies!

Luckily, it is indeed not meant to be that way. Through the efforts of the drone program, the raptors suddenly racing straight for the Nemos and assaulting them is enough time for Ascian to get away and into the Amenthes - leaving the drones behind to fend off the Nemo units. Who knows who would win in this battle. He didn't care. He had what he came for!

LATER - AT THE EARTH CRADLE

It had taken the Crusader techs a frustratingly long time to get any kind of information off of the damaged Acemos mainframe. Decrypting the passcodes had taken long enough, but sifting through hordes of mundane information proved an even more daunting task. E-mails between co-workers about the latest sporting events were intermixed with inter-office memos about proper use of the coffee machines. Of course, it was a fair guess that the important information lay down past a few levels of security. The facility had been fairly new, which meant there was little in the way of classified information in their databanks; something the BAHRAM higher-ups had been a bit irritated to hear. However, they did manage to find some things - things of interest not only to Ascian, but to BAHRAM as well.

Streaming across one of the huge screens of the war room, video is split into two two parts. The top portion shows a fast-forward view of a young woman, unconscious and wrapped in layers of bandages as doctors move in and out of the room checking vitals. Below, there is a similarly sped-up view of Mayet, the Orbital Frame's systems slowly repairing themselves with what metatron reserves the unit had. To the right side of the screen is a running series of reports on the captured pilot and her condition. They aren't positive - in fact, the the young woman was given even odds of dying, or being in a permanent vegetative state, with the chances of recovery being slim to none.

Both video streams cut off with a final date a few months back, the files too corrupted to salvage any more recent data. The reports do continue, although they seem to skip about in time, with some of them obviously missing in between. There is one reporting the Orbital Frame refusing to let anyone near it, followed by a suggestion to move the 'prisoner' closer to the unit in order to fool it into allowing them access to the Frame's systems. Earlier ones include a debate between two ranking officers about withdrawing life support. Later ones mention the pilot's 'unfortunate state' and the doctor's reporting that continued efforts would be futile.

The last report that seems to include the prisoner at all is from a week before the facility was attacked. It includes a recommendation for an experimental, highly dangerous, often ineffective, and certainly illegal procedure aimed at physically extracting memory portions of the brain and connecting them to cybernetic interfaces in an attempt to hard download memories. It is left unknown if such butchering had happened, or if the final moments of the prisoner's life had come from the Katharon attack which had knocked out the medical facility's power conduits long before the last of the soldiers surrendered. Either way, the end is still the same, grim fate.

The assumption, to Ascian, was easily made. On devastating assumption. And that was that his sister was, indeed, dead. Not only did she die, but she died due to even /more/ experiments at the hands of the A-LAWS. The young man smashes his hand on the table of the battle-room in which the information was being displayed for him - causing a few of the men present to give the Lieutenant a pitying look. "Tssk..." The blue-haired framerunner hangs his head, hair drooping along the front of his face, as he sets his both hands on the table, his body shaking - in anger and grief.

"Zephyrs will pay for this..." He wants to cry, but refuses to do so before all of these people. Yet, he can't stop some bits of water coming to the corners of his eyes - swept away as he raises his head. "As will Katharon!" A burning gaze as he throws a set of photos he'd been handed, displaying the Nemo units which had attempted to ambush him. "They will pay!" He rudely turns around and walks straight out of the battle-room, smashing the door behind him, after which he lets himself fall against that very door and lays his head against a raised hand - pulling his hair out of his face as a crazed look appears on his face.