[b]Mirror[/b]

“Fighting you is like…like trying to fight a leaf in a storm!” There’s a mixture of respect and frustration in that language, and a tone that says that the image popped vividly into her head of its own accord. 

“Always moving unexpectedly. Floating only to catch a new current of air and move suddenly, differently, impossibly.”

Three waves of missiles you’ve avoided. The cockpit is even hotter than before, a combination of your own exertions and the heat of nearby explosions defusing throughout the Gods-Smiting Whip in order to avoid structural vulnerability. Your tail system is delighted. Every tail except tail 9 has lit up for potential use after that sequence of dodges. Almost eager to get back out there after all being recalled to the main body save tail 1 on the arm for shielding. 

“But now, the wind has died down and the leaf has settled gently onto the ground. Now is the best chance I’m going to get in this fight, isn’t it?”

There is a critical difference between Solarel’s version of this technique and Marcina’s. And not just that Marcina came with multiple waves. The Bezorel was, fundamentally, a piece of junk. Slow, weak, outfitted with an older drive that offered less efficient energy and thus incapable of multiple actions at once without sacrificing so much defense that it would end up one-shot. 

But the Jormungar is a far cry from that machine. It’s the best that the Terenius Consortium can produce, constantly upgraded. The tip of the spear of all the power of a galactic civilization that valued aggressive expansion for resources. It runs the latest drive, the best materials, the most efficient defenses. With so much of its equipment load dedicated to missiles that it has now fired, the huge machine is also much lighter. Light enough that a charge with that massive sword is now possible without a fight-losing commitment. 

This is the difference. Solarel fired the hellzone grenade for its own sake, a technique that would pressure its opponent with overwhelming firepower in a single moment. Marcina Villajero fired it three times because she hoped that it would limit your tactical flexibility for the follow up strike. 

You are on the ground, knee buried in water and flowing rubble, your sword your only purchase for a fast change of position. All your tails are on the body of the Whip, preventing unexpected angles. And Marcina is coming at you with her massive sword faster than she’s ever moved before. This was the cost of surviving the hellzone grenade. 

What will you do to turn this around?

***

[b]Isabelle and Solarel[/b]

A huge piece of the cloud platform blows apart. While the immediate effect is a surprise attack, it also shifts the structure of the city. The primary platform, which was supporting multiple buildings and communications spires, has lost a section of its base and as a result it begins to list towards the explosion, metal groaning and buckling as it shifts through wisps of cloud. It won’t hold together long, and you’ll both find yourselves needing to react to crumbling metal and concrete or to take the fight vertical, into the rapidly churning cloud cover, sparking with lightning after Solarel’s earlier display and the rapid introduction of several energized metallic elements into the mix. 

***

[b]Dolly and Jade[/b]

“Alright, I won’t ask you twice.” Slate grins, and then she’s suddenly a whirlwind of motion. You may not have ever seen one of Mirror’s engineers properly at work before, and it’s somewhat different than Jade’s regular cult. There is no oblation before the goddess from Slate, nor any sort of ritual movement. She’s punching orders into a wrist communicator, and then scrambling past you and several startled cult members to pull open panels and check component types, wiring, and data links. 

Jade, this may feel rather akin to being suddenly tickled, given that you were not expecting work to be done. 

“Okay, we’ll need lighter legs, more power for the ambush when you have terrain options, including space stations and asteroids, please remember those. We’ll want to upgrade the stealth generator, which will go further down into the chassis to prevent it from being disrupted by jamming technology. All the rumors are that the pirates ended up with the best jammers somehow, you should bring one back for me, I’ll build you the countermeasure for free. Okay right, and then stronger arms, lighter chest, obviously keep the the center of the chest wide to give the pilot lots of protection, but bring in the stomach, she’s going to be thin at the center, yeah that one, get that shipped here right away, it should already be in the Hangar somewhere, yes I’m authorized, no it’s not my normal docking bay number, yes add it to the Hybrasil account, thank you.”

It’s rather like a whirlwind has descended on Jade’s idol, poking and prodding for details, information, technical compatibility, jumping around the platform past the startled crew. How do you all react?