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

[Cucoo5]

Between Dimensions
Alternate Reality - Abandoned House

"Is it that reflection of you...of you as you are? Or of what you could be?"
If the Operator looked closer, the mirror would show her without her armor, without her augmentations.
"Ask yourself, what would be this reality? What would be the truths of this version of you. What would be the lies? Think. What if?"

---

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

"On the contrary. Your memories are modified in such a manner that after the simulation, you would remember what happened in it as if it were a dream. Everything else is returned to their natural state." Navarre explained. "And of course, My purpose here is to evaluate your skill working as a team with Miss Mara. The means does not matter."

[S121]

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

"Very well.", Cortana said to Navarre.

After speaking to Navarre, Cortana then turned her attention over to Mara.

"Do you want a weapon?", Cortana asked Mara.

[Cucoo5]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Combat Simulation 1

"Woo! Explosions! Yea!" Nic cheered from the barricade north of the Objective facing west.
Tom Scratched his head. "Seriously...we're supposed to provide covering fire for this guy? Does he even need it?"
"Oh, He'll need it alright. He's trying to provoke a gunship...Get ready to create a distraction." Jonny said.

Ian was picking off infantry when he zoomed in on a distant hill. "Sh*t...there it is..." He flipped to group communication. "They got reinforcements rolling in from the west. ETA of about 1.5 hours."

Chrissy, Eric, Elise, and Joe sat in the room in the north on either side of the closed door that led into the main lobby. "Hear that? That means we gotta put these jokers down fast." Joe said as he primed his BEHEMOTH.
"So we storm em?" Chrissy asked with her dagger and hand gun at the ready.
"Sounds good enough..." Eric said.
Elise, who was mute, simply nodded.
"Alright...on three..." Joe began the count down.

Aion stood facing the two remaining tanks on the east side with the last group of five infantry. When he heard that reinforcements were approaching from the west he glanced in that direction with a look of worry.
"It's over, kid." A squad leader stepped forward with a rifle pointed at Aion. "You and your little resistance won't stand a chance once our main force arrives. Give up."
Aion looked back at the man that spoke. his expression was mixed between dread and hatred.
"Go on, drop your weapon."

***

THWACK
The round from John's pistol hit the Gunship and the belly gunner sighted John. "No way...how did...There's no armor that could...unless..."
"Weren't the VC developing some sort of super power suit? AETHER?" The tail gunner said.
"Looks like they've finished it. Damn..."
"Well let's see how it handles a Vulcan Assault." The pilot said as he lowered the altitude of the gunship straight down lining up a few meters away from the tower behind the second tank that John had almost destroyed while he was in the other tank.

[Koishi]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur

---

"Is that good, or bad?" Mima asked, as the bartender came over.

"Pint of sake please." Mima said. THe man went and filled a large thing full of sake, which Mima sipped on.

---

Nexion System
Sedes Imperii

---

As soon as the man even began to mouth the greeting, The Reaper and Nova already had their weapons trained on him.

"30 seconds." The Reaper said in a grim tone.

[Cucoo5]

Nexion System
Sedes Imperii

"..." The man said nothing for about thirty seconds. He pulled out a strange book with a pattern of gold and blue gems set into the cover and opened it. "Thirty seconds. What does such a interval mean to you? I can tell you what it means to a Guardian of Time. Nothing." He looked up from the book and closed it. When the pages met once more, they found themselves in a large ornate hall with a great metalwork clock set into the wall on one end. The ceiling was lost to darkness as light did not dare to go that high. Crystal chandeliers hung at regular intervals at a midpoint between the darkness and the floor. The elegantly carved columns separated the walls from the rest of the great chamber. The mechanisms of the clock turned slowly. The man stood in front of the clock on an elevated platform. Nova and the reaper stood at the foot of the stairs to it. "You've met with my brother, Lord Erebos, Guardian of Ethereal Night. I am Aetheron, Guardian of Ethereal Light. One of four Guardians of Time. This is the Great Halls of Time, a part of the Manor of Eternity, a place that exists yet does not."

---

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Pub

"That's up for interpretation." Nero said, smiling. "Eh...I normally I'm a wine person...a nice red wine, please." And so the bartender nodded and fetched a bottle.
"Here you go." He expertly opened the bottle and poured a glass in one smooth motion. "Say...aren't you-?"
"Not tonight." Nero interrupted as he took a sip.

[Kristia]

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

Mara listened to what Navarro said for forming a team with Cortana "Ok then, seems like we will enjoy more this testing" she said and then heard the AI´s offer

"It´s ok, I got my twin friends" the bioroid said as her twin wrist daggers appeared from the back of her hands pointing to where her fingers would

"Interesting weapon If I could say, a bladed side and a deep impact on the other, pretty strong" Mara complementes to Cortana´s weapon

[S121]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Combat Simulation 1

John heard what his team was saying via his communicator, and it didn't sound good. This small force was enough on its own, but now that they had to deal with another army, John had to act fast and eliminate everything he could.

John saw that the gunship was sitting there, waiting for him. It was hiding behind a tank and looked like it was ready to fire. It looked like John would have to resort to charging the gunship, something he didn't really want to do. He knew what the guns were capable of, but it was a chance he had to take. Based on the first tank, the second tank's weak spot was it's rear. If John concentrated his fire there, then he would be able to destroy it before boarding the gunship. Of course, John would also have to destroy the gunship's shields, which meant that he would have to build up speed and hit the ship as hard as he could. If the tank exploded, then that would weaken the gunship's shields, and if he punctured the gunship with a knife, then the shields would see John as a foreign body and delay it's regeneration process, just like with any other energy shielding system.

Seeing that he would have to inflict as much damage as possible, John reloaded his M6D Magnum Pistol and readied himself to grab the Heavy machinegun from the destroyed tank. Thanks to John's suit, he would be able to channel energy into the weapon and use it against the tank. Now was the moment John would take one of the biggest risks of the entire mission. If he failed, then everyone that was counting on him would die. It was time to show the NGO what a Spartan-II super-soldier was truly capable of.

After John took a deep breath and focused his mind, he sprinted away from the safety of the rubble and sprinted for the heavy Aura machinegun lying on the ground. As soon as John left cover, the gunship and tank opened fire on John. All of a sudden, John's heart sped up as adrenaline coursed through his veins, his eyes dilated, and time began to slow down. The sounds of gunfire became deeper in pitch and the rate of fire slowed to a crawl. The Aura bullets slowed down to a point that John could probably touch them if he wanted to, and the dust in the air hung there, static. John was now in a state unique to his kind. John was experiencing "Spartan Time." As the bullets slowly approached John, he increased his sprinting speed to 70 mph and swiped the heavy Aura machinegun off the ground, grabbing it by the handle without needing to correct his grip. As soon as the weapon came within contact to John's palm, John's suit channeled Aura energy into the weapon and the heavy machinegun hummed back to life. With a tank-busting Magnum Pistol in one hand and a heavy Aura machinegun in the other, John sprinted straight for the tank, firing both weapons at the tank's rear as he made his suicidal charge.

As John sprinted forth, the gunship's heavy Aura machineguns and canon turret quickly corrected their position to try and hit the charging armored soldier. John saw as the streams of blue Aura bullets inch closer and closer to him, but he needed to do as much damage to the tank as possible before he could board the gunship. Seeing little choice, John bobbed and weaved past the lines of Aura bullets, nearly getting shot in the head in the process, but still focusing his fire on the tank with both his Magnum Pistol and the heavy machinegun. After about two seconds in real-time, the tank's shields were destroyed and John's Magnum Pistol pierced it's armor, exploding inside the tank's Aura engine. The sudden release of energy from the tank's crystal exploding blew up the tank and damaged the nearby gunship's shields. As soon as the deed was done, John tossed the heavy machinegun to the side and put away his pistol as he continued to sprint towards the gunship. more streams focused on John, but thanks to his "Spartan Time", he was able to maneuver out of the way of the blasts. One stream grazed his arm, while another flew past his head, but it wasn't enough to deter John.

"Pull up! Pull up!", one of the wing gunners yelled at the pilot.

The pilot quickly began to do so, but also activated the canon turret on the bottom of the gunship. That's when the canon turret fired. John saw a large, blue ball of Aura energy hurtling straight towards him and knew that he would get hit even if he jumped. Of course, that didn't stop John from trying anyway. As soon as John jumped off the ground, he activated his thrusters at full power and soared in an upward arc, towards the gunship. The ball of Aura energy grazed past John's foot, but he was now safe and headed straight towards the cockpit of the gunship. Right before the gunship could get away, John pulled his right fist back and slammed into the ship's energy shield. Thanks to the explosion from the tank, the gunship's shields were weakened, which only made it easier for John to shatter its shields. Right after the shields broke, John's fist crashed through the cockpit window, followed by John's entire body.

The pilot was showered in glass, then crushed by John's fist as the armored soldier landed on top of him, killing him instantly. At that moment, John quickly moved away from the pilot and lunged at the left-wing gunner. The gunner tried to pull out an Aura Combat Knife, but was quickly dispatched by a swift, fatal blow to the head. John then took the knife and threw it straight into the right gunner's seat, piercing the chair and stabbing the gunner through the heart. While chaos ensued, the top and tail gunner vacated their seats and grabbed Aura assault rifles. As John approached them, they both opened fire. The bullets slammed against John's shields, but it wasn't enough to slow the green giant down. As John lunged at one of the gunners, he pulled out his Carbon Steel Combat Knife and slashed it across the gunner's torso. As soon as the knife exited the first gunner's torso, John let the knife's momentum guide it and threw it into the second gunner's skull, piercing straight through and killing him. As the first gunner fell to the ground, John jerked the knife out of the second gunner and quickly concluded his rampage with a stomp to the first gunner's chest, killing him as well. John now had the vehicle in his control.

Now that he had secured a gunship for his team, it was time to quickly eliminate the enemy. Not wasting any time, John pulled the dead pilot out of his seat, sat down, and flew up in the air. John knew that the other gunships would try to kill him, but unlike them, he could use the gunship's engines to their fullest extent and not worry about G-forces. His suit would take care of that. As soon as John targeted the nearest gunship, he opened fire.







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

"Just wait, it gets better.", Cortana remarked with a smile as she readied the weapon. She had seen John use a gravity hammer many times, and thanks to watching him, she had an understanding on its functions and use.

Cortana then stood in a combat stance, waiting for Navarre to make the first move. She knew that she and Mara had a great advantage, due to their reaction times and strength. Even if this man's sword was special, it would be no match for a Gravity Hammer.

[Koishi]

Nexion System
Sedes Imperii

---

"What is the point of bringing us here, we have a mission to accomplish, you know." Nova said, her weapon still raised, the Reaper's too.

---

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur

---

"Wine, sake, beer, what does it matter, it's all alcohol anyways." Mima smiled at Nero.

[bookdragon2000]

Sol Inceneron
Inopia - Temple of the Lost

Nhiome headed along the winding passage, fighting the exhaustion that had returned after the adrenaline had worn off. He finally arrived at a dead end and was about to turn around in frustration when he noticed light streaming in through cracks. Nhiome squinted through the cracks, struggling to see through, finally, he identified the area beyond as the main hall. Nhiome retrieved a hammer and chisel from the Digibag on his belt and quickly and efficiently, started widening the cracks, following the fault lines.

When he finally had a large enough hole, he clambered through and headed for KuroiKaze. I better start repairs quickly, but once again...what to repair first? Nhiome glanced back towards the temple and recalled the Demonarc. I should quickly patch up the hull first, if the creature comes back, I will be stuck inside the ship, unable to do anything for the hull...

He beat down the fatigue and after retrieving the metal sheets he had dropped earlier, continued to quickly do some make-shift patching that would hold until he could get back to base and repair the ship properly.

I will have to give it a second overhaul...This is gonna put me short on resources...I will need to conduct another raid...who should it be this time?

[MyHatismyFriend]

Between Dimensions
Alternate Reality - Abandoned House


The Operator's vocal synthesizer warbled. My neural modifications do not allow me to consider alternate realities or to dwell on past occurrences that have not happen. I do not feel regret or relief for my past actions and my future ones, nor can I generate a simulation of concepts that do not exist. I am unable to grant your request.

[Cucoo5]

Between Dimensions
Alternate Reality - Abandoned House

"well then, if you seek the true Shards of Starlight...then I suggest you might want to fix that. Only when you look at what is, isn't, and what could be will you find what you seek." Cicero walked next to the Operator and looked into the mirror with her. "If you seek the Shards..." Suddenly, everything returned to as it was back on Alcyon, by the forest. The only thing left of Cicero was his last words. "Wake up..."

---

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Pub

"Aye, in the end, it doesn't matter." Nero chuckled. "To life." He raised his glass and took a long draught. "And to finding the truth."

---

Nexion System
Sedes Imperii
City in the Sky

"Ah, yes, your mission..." Aetheron walked across the platform, almost distractedly. "Tell me...since you describe them as missions...what is your purpose, your mission, of life here? What defines you?"

---

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Combat Simulation 1

When John went up in the Gunship, Aion turned back to the squad leader of the NGO. "Oh It's over alright..." With a flick of his wrist, he readjusted his grip on his broadsword. "Over for you." In a sweep he swung out another grenade that he had been cooking for three seconds of the five set.
One second, the grenade left his hand and had traveled a quarter of the distance. Aion focused the force field along his sword and held it like a shield.
Two seconds, the grenade was a meter away from the squad leader who began to fire.
Click.
BANG.
Aion braced against the blast as his focused shield and sword took the brunt of both the gunfire and explosion. The tanks then took their turn, but Aion was one step ahead. "JOE, NOW!"
"THREE!"
Everyone set into motion. The Hunters in the north building launched their attack on the NGO infantry, Ian, Tom, Nic, and Jonny picked off any that were flushed out.
Joe, however came barreling out the south door vaulting over the barricade to the east with his BEHEMOTH armed. He dropped to a knee and steadied the massive gun as Aura energy focused on the end of the barrel. "FOR VENTURIA!"
Back-draft vents sprung open on the cannon and then, a split second later, a massive laser of raw energy ripped forward, crashing into the front left end of one tank and the back right of the other, causing them to turn towards each other as they fired their rounds.
Both tanks went up in flames from their rounds hit the other.
In a hearty pull, Joe ejected the Aura core of his cannon as he took another from his bag and loaded it in. "Let's see ya pull that one off, chumps! Ha Ha!"
"Good shot, Joe!" Aion shouted back to his friend.
Joe ran up to him and primed the Gatling gun mode of his cannon. "Oi, I have my moments! And it looks like this force is starting to retreat on this side."
"Right, now to clean up the west. Also load in some AA rounds in your little toy and help Chief out."
"Woah, wait a min, mate...you're letting...?"
"Let them run. I'll settle my score later."
"Right." As Joe finished the conversation, the two ran back to the west front.

[Kristia]

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

Mara took a calm breath and looked at the swordmaster "I guess you have something bigger behind your sleeve, but we got to start this spar" she said pointing one of her energy daggers towards him

"Care to do the first move?"

[Cucoo5]

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

Navarre began to sidestep around the two, keeping his pace measured and the tip of his blade trained on a point between them. He seemed to smile at what Mara and Cortana had suggested. "...You would like that wouldn't you? Alas...As the saying goes...Ladies first."

[S121]

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

Cortana sighed at Navarre and looked at Mara.

"Follow my lead. When he get's blown away, take him out.", Cortana said to Mara.

After speaking to Mara, Cortana casually approached Navarre and swung the Gravity Hammer. As it reached near Nevarre, a huge wave of gravitational energy surged towards Nevarre. If he was caught in the wave, then he would have been seriously injured and blown back through the wall behind him. Cortana had a feeling that Nevarre was going to try and dodge the ave, and maybe even try to counterattack, so she readied herself accordingly.





Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Combat Simulation 1

While the battle below was raging, John was up in the sky, firing at the gunships around him. He only had control over the heavy canon in the front, but it was more than enough to accomplish what John needed. While John flew up, he opened fire from behind and above one of the gunships. The heavy Aura canon slammed into the other gunship's shields and took chunk after chunk away from the other gunship's shields. After a couple seconds, the other gunship turned around and opened fire on John with their top turret. John saw the blasts speeding towards him and quickly strafed the gunship, keeping out of the way of the other gunship's Aura fire. This alerted all the other gunships, but John didn't really care. He knew that this would happen, but it was a risk he was willing to take.

Two seconds passed and the other ships opened fire from above and to John's flanks. Seeing this, John took evasive maneuvers and flew towards his current target while he fired. The heavy machinegun turret on the top shot at John and it's Aura bullets slammed into his ship. Despite this, John still flew flew into the other gunship and skidded against its shields, causing even more damage to it and his own ship's shields. The impact destroyed the other ship's shields and shredded the top turret off of the top of the craft. With that gone, John slammed the controls to the side and spun the gunship around, firing off another two blasts from his Aura canon. The two blasts crashed right into the left rotor of the enemy ship, blowing it up and causing it to spin out of control. The ship then fell to the ground, where it crashed into the ground below.

John took out the gunship, but he wasn't out of the woods yet. There were still three gunships to go, and his shields were at 60%. Seeing that he would need time to recover, John set the ship's thrusters to full power and flew away from the other gunships, checking the ship's radar for bullets and canon blasts. John saw that he was getting attacked from behind, and abruptly increased his altitude, minimizing how much firepower he had to contend with.

John took this opportunity to quickly look over the ship's recharge rate and saw that after ten seconds, the shields only increased by .4%.

"Dammit!", John said, cursing at how primitive this timeline's shielding technology was.

Instead of waiting for the shields to charge, John used what he learned from Cortana and began to channel his suit's energy into the ship itself, speeding up the charging process. As soon as the process was complete, John's armor systems deactivated one by one until only the base systems were active. His suit's shields were down, but now John would be able to charge the gunship's shields faster than before. John continued to dodge the other gunships' fire, and after ten seconds of charging, the ship's shields increased by 20%. John looked at the shield's status and saw that it was now at 80.4%, much more satisfactory than it's original charging time.

John continued to evade the other ships, barely dodging the blasts, but luckily not getting hit. After the shields fully charged, John spun the ship around and opened fire once again. The gunship he was currently targeting was below him, but it managed to dodge his attack. To his side, one of the gunships flew up beside him and was about to open fire. John noticed the gunship on his ship's radar, and hit the throttle, rocketing him out of the way of the incoming torrent of Aurafire. As soon as John got far enough away, he spun the ship around and let off two blasts from his heavy Aura canon, hitting the pursuing ship. The other two gunships continued to fire at John as they raised to his altitude, but John simply kept increasing it, staying out of the way of their Aurafire. His current target received another shot, but dodged the second blast. If only John had the other weapons on this gunship at his disposal, he would be able to quickly kill every gunship in the sky.

While John flew out of the way of another blast, two of the heavy Aura machineguns' fire connected with John's ship, dealing 20% damage to the shields. John was only hit with five Aura bullets, but each bullet took 4% away from the shields keeping John alive. John gritted his teeth at the damage and moved his ship out of the way, trying to dodge the severe damage of the enemy's weapons. John barely avoided a line of Aurafire and continued to dodge and fire at the enemy ships.

[Koishi]

Nexion System
Sedes Imperii

---

"Doesn't matter." The Reaper replied. "Get to your point, or leave us be."

---

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur

---

"I guess." Mima clinked the glasses and drinked. Luckily, ghosts cannot get drunk, or else she would be highly intoxicated.