[IC] Eternal Galaxy: Shards of Starlight - Part I

[Kristia]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation


Mara started shooting at the different targets she saw, some were faster and her golden eyes started glowing as she focused more and more, the gun was getting dead on center of each target.

As the bioroid kept shooting, the targets became only a point and looked almost unmoving ("Focus on it, take deep breaths") she thought firing faster and faster and not stopping until she got all the targets at least trice

[S121]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation

Once Cortana was done with the targets, she put the laser gun back on the table and turned to Mara.

"Well, that's all for me. How did you do?", Cortana asked Mara.

[Kristia]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation

Mara took a deep breath and put the weapon down "Pretty much good, been a while since I used a ranged weapon, Im more fond to close combat" she said and then had an Idea

"How about we have a spar? you decide the weapon or fighting bare handed" the bioroid offered to the AI

[S121]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation

Cortana looked surprised by the sudden request, but she quickly considered the possibilities. There was a pretty good chance that Mara was more skilled than her, while Cortana had raw power and speed on her side. Thanks to her ability to calculate trajectories and processing speed, Cortana was skilled with a gun, and she would be deadly at close range, but she wasn't skilled in close quarters combat. Considering that she was bad with hand-to-hand combat, that was a choice she didn't want to pick if she wanted to "win", but if she chose hand-to-hand combat, she would learn things from Mara, increasing her own skill, regardless if she won or lost.

"Well, I'm good with a gun, but I have no experience with hand-to-hand combat. Could you teach me while we spar?", Cortana asked Mara.

[Kristia]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation

Hand to hand it is then" Mara said stretching her arms and warming them up "First of all, most fighters, soldiers, bandits, etcetera have relied more and more in weapons of long range, that is when getting clsoe to them give the advantage to someone who can actually punch and kick" she said starting to show some jabs and knee kicks

First she focused on punching from different angles, then going for elbow attacks and then down to her knees and finishing with he feet "Your body may be light wighed, but that makes you more agile and can use momentum to deal brutal blows to another combatant. Focus on the targetps nerves to disable the limbs and knock out the senses by hitting dead on the nose"

Ready for the spar, the bioroid took a long breath and released it with the same speed. Opening her golden eyes she only said "Ready when you are"

[S121]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation

While Mara was throwing jabs, Cortana was attentively watching her, observing how Mara's body flowed through each attack, how her body weight shifted as she retracted after each attack, ready to dole out another. After Mara gave the signal that she was ready, Cortana took a deep breath and eased the tension in her shoulders. Taking what Mara said to heart, she readied for the possibility that Mara would target pressure points and her nose. If she did, then Cortana had countermeasures.

"Ready.", Cortana said to Mara as she got into a fighting stance and focused hard on Mara and her body movements, looking for possible openings and for learning material.

[Kristia]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation


Mara saw that the AI was prepared for battle and studied every movement she did while warming up ("She is a learner by theory and then by practice") she thought and started moving towards her target

At first the bioroid was coming for a right punch towards Cortana´s face, but as she was already preparing the fist, her left arm suddenly went for Cortana´s right arm to then do a knee kick to the stomach

[S121]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation

Cortana saw Mara's right fist head for her face, while her left arm headed for her right arm, possibly to grab it. She also observed how Mara sent a knee jab headed for her stomach. Cortana observed Mara's center of gravity, the way she shifted it to perform the attack. It was obvious what she was going to do. Mara was going to disable her right arm, hit her in the stomach, which would then prompt her to lean forward and into her punch, dealing more damage than if she remained stationary. While Mara was in the middle of her attack, Cortana brought up data of human pressure points and a human's center of gravity. After calculating Mara's center of gravity and the best pressure point to strike, Cortana made her move.

Reacting quickly and with the precision of a machine, Cortana quickly jerked her right shoulder downward and her right arm forward, while her left shoulder jerked upwards and her left arm forward, causing her to force both palms towards Mara's Solar Plexus. While that happened, Cortana also lowered her head so that it his behind her left shoulder like a shield, preventing her face from being hit by Mara's fist, while her right leg shifted forward, giving Cortana extra momentum as well as giving extra protection against Mara's knee strike. Thanks to Cortana's planing, even if she missed, she would prevent her right arm from being grabbed, her right arm would block the knee to her stomach, and her left shoulder would block Mara's punch.

In the worst case scenario, the attack would miss, but protect Cortana, while in the best-case scenario, Cortana would strike Mara's Solar Plexus with both her palms, sending Mara back and causing her to lose her balance.

[Kristia]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation

Mara saw how Cortana prepared for her attack, her left arm would be useless and her knee would be blocked, yet her right arm was going forward

Taking the chance she could have, the bioroid slided her left leg in a ducking position lowering her head as her right knee went both forward and down thus making her right punch get lower than the AI´s left arm to block it. The punch became an uppercut as her left arm went for a palm hit towards Cortana´s high right leg´s nerves

[S121]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation

Cortana saw Mara's sudden change in tactics and recalculated her attack. If she followed through with her strike, then Mara would be hit in the face and possibly lose her balance and fall backwards, especially how she had her legs positioned at this exact moment. Her center of gravity was primed for attacking, but not for absorbing a blow, especially if it was with the force Cortana was striking with. Mara might hit nerve bundles in Cortana's leg, but none that would immobilize her, especially since her balance would be compromised. As for the right uppercut, it would prove to be ineffective, considering that Cortana would get the first strike, negating almost all, if not all of the blow's force. In the little amount of time Cortana had been fighting, she could see that hand-to-hand fighting was a game of anatomy and physics.

Deciding to stay committed to her attack, Cortana followed through with the double-palm strike and struck her in the head with enough force to push Mara back.

[Kristia]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation


In the matter of miliseconds that Cortana´s palms were coming towards her face, her right arm was already close to the AI´s chest, so she decided to start her tactics

The bioroid twisted her wrist and grabbed Cortana´s shirt. Using the palm strike of the AI, Mara lowered her head so the top of it would receive the attack as she pulled Cortana hitting on the head, but using the momentum to lift her chest with the right hand and the leg with the left one sending the AI on an arc above and to the back of the white haired

[Cucoo5]

Sol Inceneron
Inopia - Temple of the Lost

"Spirit elemental. This might sound strange, but every person has an elemental derived from their spirit. This keystone was of the fire elemental, and it reacted to your spirit." Dalia walked over to the wall and rested against it. "Crystal Fusion tends to tie your soul to a crystal. The keystone unlocks that bond and thus breaks the connection slightly. Before, the crystal had more influence on you than your sould did on it. now the opposite is true. You are in control."

---

Celestora System
Alcyon - Forest of Spirits

"Sigh...another number." Cicero shook his head. "Tell me, What do you think the Shards are? Have you heard the stories? The Legends? What do you think? Or are you incapable of higher thought and are merely a pawn to be manipulated as your 'superiors' do please?" He smirked as though expecting a certain response.

---

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Aura Core

Nero turned and was smiling, even though his eyes portrayed a different emotion: a mixture of sorrow and lingering hope. "Ever since you told me how you got here, I started to ask myself something...'Are the legends true?'" He went to a wall and leaned against it. "I'm beginning to think that we have a chance to end the War of Eternity. And you are a part of the solution. You bear a connection to the legends. You inadvertently became a part of them when you came here. I have a feeling, that we find your memories...we'll find the truth and thus the end of the war. The end of suffering..."

---

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Hangar Bay M

A man wearing a red bandanna walked up to Terra. "Ah, you're looking for a Hangar Management Officer? Right this way." The man led her over to a terminal with a woman who seemed busy looking through a graphical representation of the entire hangar system on the port side of the ship.
"Ok...bay 6500 is...no wait...it's 6540...or is it...ugh..."
Once Terra was by the officer, the man stepped back and without anyone noticing, had vanished.

---

[SUSTIC]

Helios System
Zephyr-Old Continents-Ancient Nasod Palace-Eve's Chamber

"Welcome back to the land that is your domain." The man bowed. "Shall we begin?"

Helios System
Zephyr-Old Continents-Ancient Nasod Palace-Eve's Chamber

Eve looked at Cicero slightly confused at first as she looked around. "What... what year is it? How long have I been in a state of eternal slumber?" She asked as she looked at the strange young man.

__________________________________________________ _______

Helios System
Zephyr-Old Continents-Unknown Cave-Ancient Nasod Palace-Entrance Ruins.

Hajime continued through the cave, as he proceeded things began... to seem more... artificial. The walls seemed to be made out of some sort of ancient metal with overgrown vines coming out of the cracks of the walls, strange writing on the walls, strange murals that seemed to have been painted onto the walls had seemed to have eroded to the point where it's impossible to tell what the murals were. Hajime was very cautious as he proceeded through the ancient ruins. Eventually he came into a large circular room. The room was unbelievably large. Massive even. The center of the room was nothing but a large pit with what seemed to be a incredibly large robot lying in the pit. The robot had to be at least a few stories tall. Hajime couldn't even see the lower half of the robots body. This machine was in a state of complete disrepair. It was covered in moss, bugs, dirt, even some crystals were growing from the inside of the robot. They were barely noticeable though. Hajime had found himself in the Main Chamber of the Nasod King.


__________________________________________


Helios System
Zephyr-Old Continents-Ancient Nasod Palace-Main Chamber of the Nasod King

"... What is this place?" He said to himself as he walked across the walkway along the side of the wall. Being careful not to fall he proceeded slowly. As he was about halfway across the walkway, the floor behind him crumbled away. Hajime tensed up a bit as he looked at the now crumbled away floor. "Holy sh*t... I'm glad I wasn't standing there just now..." He said as he continued treading across the walkway carefully.

[Cucoo5]

Helios System
Zephyr-Old Continents-Ancient Nasod Palace-Eve's Chamber

"The year is MDe12-MMXII" The man with the red bandanna pushed up his glasses. "You've been asleep for a few trillion years." He then turned and started walking away but then stopped when he noticed Eve wasn't following. "Well? Time waits for no one."

---

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Combat Simulation 1

"Troops! Form up! concentrate fire!" Two infantry leaders, one near John, and one near Aion, gave the orders. The NGO infantry began to form ranks and took aim at their respective targets. "Aim! Fire!" Row by row, the soldiers let loose a volley of energy blasts until the limit of their weapons kicked in. That row dropped down for the next row and focused their shields as one to create a sort of barricade in front of the squad. (Shield index 2.5)

***
Aion fused his gunblades together and countered the suppressing fire with his own shields, focused along the flat of the blade. He held his ground for a moment before making his next move.
Most would have fled to cover away from the assault.
Aion did the opposite.
First he threw a grenade towards his attackers just before his shields broke. The grenade caused enough of a distraction to stop them from firing. That was when he had closed the gap between him and the squad and began tearing into them with his great sword.
With broad sweeps with both hands wielding the broadsword, he cut down the enemy until there was one left. The man had fallen and was scrambling away from Aion. Right when he was almost back up, Aion had grabbed him and threw him back down onto his back.
He held the soldier down with his foot on his chest.
He pointed the end of his sword at the NGO infantryman's face; the barrel of the gun portion aligned perfectly between his eyes.
The tanks had their guns trained on Aion, waiting for their chance.

[Koishi]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur

---

"So I get my memories back and might have to save the galaxy, billions depending on me." Mima sighed. "No pressure."

---

Sol Incineron
Videc

---

Deimos continued down the halls, until he cam eto a large room partially flooded with lava. Most would now turn back, but instead, he continued forth, going through the lava like it was nothing, and luckily he had fireproof clothing and equipment due to himself, so it was completely fine. He got out on the other side of the room, looking back for a moment.

"Nothing like a refreshing swim." Deimos chuckled.