[b]Solarel[/b]

The missiles deploy like a charm. Everything works like they said it would. The Boatmen of Styx that is.

The thing with TC is that it’s filled with mechanics. Everybody and their mother learned how to fix things growing up on a small station [i]somewhere[/i]. And if they didn’t, they watched it on TV and decided that [i]they[/i] were going to be the heroic mechanic instead and started tinkering. But when you’ve got that many, it’s not hard to get into a variety of work. Most people do it through family. Your old uncle has a job he needs doing and he expects you to hop to it. Your auntie, she’s got some friends she knows and they’re nice people that a young girl should help out without asking any questions. Besides, who’s going to miss a couple crates on a container ship that measures its hold size in cubic kilometers?

On Styx, they’re all in the middle already, prepared to work for whoever has the money ready to spend. Right on the border between the Zaldarians and TC space. Past a dead system and far from TC prime. They picked their own name, the border between life and the afterlife, and they think it’s funny to imagine that they’re all rowing along it. They’re a mere one jump from Akar too, for easy shipping. The creation of the Arena is the best thing that ever happened to the Styx system, and their legitimate businesses and less legitimate businesses rushed to get representatives there. 

So, everything’s available for a price from the Boatmen of Styx. For you, Solarel, that price came in two parts. The first part was a caress. Your negotiator, Mene Tosa, was a big woman, strong arms, thick chest like a barrel, hair long and tied back for work. She liked you, and when you asked for what you wanted, she told you the price was first that she could hold you and run a hand along your arm. She wanted to know what it felt like to hold a Zaldarian and carry their weight. Her arms were strong and firm. 

The second part, that’s going to be a favor. These missiles cost a lot. Maybe you do well enough down the road to simply repay their kindness with money. More likely, they’re going to call in a debt and if you don’t live up to your word, they’ll spread theirs around far and wide. That Solarel can’t be trusted, don’t do business with her. It’s a special kind of afterlife when nobody will offer you trust. That too is the currency of the Boatmen of Styx. 

[The Boatmen of Styx take a string on Solarel]

You’ve got the missiles though, all in working order delivered and installed exactly as requested. How are you going to use them?

***

[b]Mirror[/b]

You’re really playing the long game. An opening like this is the kind of thing that wins you a match by making those pre-game briefings untrustworthy. Pull the same opening three times in a row in your debut matches and people will still think it’s your “tendency” even if you don’t do it four matches straight after that. You won’t have any need to retool your kit between matches if nobody knows what you’ve really got in the first place. 

The real question is will it work here? The Bezorel has shown a lot of missiles. More than Solarel should have been able to afford based on the available data about her. She’s got no income for this, not as far as anyone can tell. This fight has got to be paid in favors. If it is, it’s utterly unsustainable too, but that’s hardly the point. With something like this, the missiles themselves are the real opponent. The Bezorel can create one moment of absolute fury where you’ll be under assault, or it can create an extended stream of attacks designed to distract you and catch you maneuvering unawares. Once it’s done either way, it will be spent and at that point calling it shooting fish in a barrel would really be an insult to the noble fish. That’s the risk with a loadout like this: finite physical ammo and no backup plan. This is actually about as close as you’ll see a mecha like this get to a real combat scenario. An old mech like the Bezorel would already be plotting an exit route, unloading its payload and trying to flee before retribution could reach it. That’s one of the ways that hunks of junk can remain in service when modern models could tear them apart at close quarters. 

It’s likely you will need to Defy Disaster to maneuver in response to it. 

***

[b]Dolly[/b]

Did you ever go hunting with jackals when you were younger? You might have, though probably not often if you were living in a city studying and working on romance novels. The living ones are probably a bit smarter than the drones actually. They’ve got all those eons of biological development to handle simple things like maneuvering around obstacles, distinguishing their target from the terrain, and signaling that they’re on the hunt. Drones need all that programmed. It’s easier in games because even if the player might see a tangled and camouflaged jungle, the computer can easily distinguish between gameplay objects flagged for interaction as opposed to terrain boundaries and so forth. The real world is not so simple, which is why somebody refining drone AIs would eventually get themselves to something like Jade, even by accident. 

Ksharta might not know how to deal with Jade herself, but it’s about to become clear that she has hunted with jackals, and the same techniques work on the real ones and the drones. You might remember that she was popular on the Hybrasil homeworld, actually. She was a great chef on top of being an ace pilot, so they kept her planetside for two whole years, giving her ample opportunity to run with the huntress lodges in old and new sports. She was around when you were first testing out Jade, in fact. 

So, she knows some tricks. The first one is simply a distraction. She makes the first bit of noise, slips away, pulls the drones to her. That gives you a direction to head towards. The second is to double back and ensure the drones are chasing her as she moves towards where she’s guessing you’ll be heading. Then she simply inserts the third dimension into a system that had been working two-dimensionally. Her burst out is above the canopy, but she’s jumping over Jade, twisting herself as her opponent comes out of the underbrush, using the open river to maneuver and turning everything into a chaotic mess. She stabs the closest drone behind her, impaling it on her spear, and flings it back at you, and suddenly you’ve got your opponent coming around behind you as you’re tangled in one thrown hunting drone and a handful of others that all want to rush through your current position, limiting your own ability to maneuver. 

To top it all off, Ksharta is talking rapidly. “Hi Dolly, hi Jade! I heard about you, oh my gosh, the girls were going on about it for days when you first appeared! I’m so excited! This is just like the time back home when we went on the iguanodon hunt and they tried to slip the jackals, except I’m the iguanodon and you’re the mighty huntress! Oh I love this. My turn though, here I come!”

She’s thrusting with her spear and your only options are to try and meet it head on without your own spear (likely painful!) or impact at the last second with your drones (sacrificing them) to pull off a dodge. 

***

[b]Isabelle[/b]

You’re the bait. You have to be, she’s coming for you, there’s nobody else in the fight, so it has to be you. The drones aren’t magic and you don’t have a stealth system, but you could make yourself appear just a little bit off from your actual location, like those tailed cats in the role-playing games that you’ve probably been too busy to read since you were younger. It would give you a last second opportunity. Pretend like you got impatient, go out in the open, a rooftop maybe, and let her take a shot at you, then use that instant where she’s just a few feet off her aim to try and turn it around.

Risky, of course, but it’s a good shot, it really should work. Plus it’s exciting, daring even. It will put the ball in your court. Asil will love it too, she’s really excited to see the drones do something special and a legitimate displacement would qualify. She didn’t stay up all those hours getting them tweaked just so for this match for you not to use them either. 

Here’s the question that Ada’s looking for in return though. What do you hope to get from this tournament? Sure, sure everybody knows you want to be Adriana’s new chosen one. But Ada Smith is a deeper person than that. She’s reading your movements, your voice, your tells and trying to get a sense of what makes you tick. So when you tell us what you hope to get from the tournament, what she really means is what you want to feel, what would make your heart thrill and your soul soar?

[Don't roll when you describe how you pull off your trap, at least not yet. You might be able to just do it from this move result]