RP: NSS Sledge Mama [NSS Sledge Mama] Into Steel (Aside): Crash Course!

CadetNewb

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It was a simple request. One that would have been considered bookish and nerdy in highschool, but out here, meant the difference between life and death. Richard had asked Ylfa to go over armored combat more, hopefully in some sort of simulator or somesuch if the ship had it, but the location she sent to him was odd. It was supposed to be a storage or cargo room in the Sledge Mama, but when the door opened for him, what he saw was completely unexpected.

Heavy smoke filled the air as several marines sat in chairs with helmets covering their eyes and ears. Others still sat around a snack bar while others stood. But all of them that weren't 'jacked in' were watching one thing. A brutal deathmatch between a pair of Hostiles as they viscously carved into each other with chain-knifes, their weapons tossed to the floor in the close quarters scuffle. Sparks flew, a hand went flying, and a loud scream of "MOTHER F***ER" shook the entire compartment as the melee weapon was brought into the neck of the slower marine.

"Hey, you made it!" Ylfa waved him over from one of the seats.

He had found himself in the middle of a fight club.
 

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Richard had been feeling a bit inadequate after the operation on the NMX ship. He did okay at the start, but his performance during the end, where they weren't fighting unarmored opponents or didn't out number them by handfuls, his performance was seriously lacking, at least he felt so. Having asked Ylfa, the closest thing he had to a coach right now, for some training and tips on power armor maneuvers and tactics he had shown up in his work out attire ready to get some crash courses on the finer details of being a Power Armor Operator. He was not expecting so many people nor the back alley club like vibe that was going on.

At first he thought that maybe he had gone to the wrong place, but Ylfa was there waving to him, so this must have been it. With a few quick glances around the room and a wave back to Ylfa as he approached, it quickly became apparent what kind of training he was probably going to get. There was no better training than the real thing, but judging from the tenacity of the knife fight, theses guys were likely veterans and if he was going to go against them, there would probably be a lot of embarrassment in his near future.

"Sarge...what is all this?" He found himself asking somewhat hoping that he was not going to get the obvious answer.
 

CadetNewb

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"What, you can't tell?" the woman asked, raising an eyebrow. "It's a cobbled together training-slash-fight room," she explained lazily waving an arm at the room in its entirety. The moment she did so, a crisp 'Ding-Ding!' rang out as blood pooled on the floor, a sonorous voice reverberating through the re-purposed storage room.

"AAAAAAAAnd we have A WINNER! The RED CORNER takes the prize!" an announcer declared, a mixed series of cheers and jeers following right on its tail. The fighting arena at the far end of the cargo room instantly vanished to reveal nothing more than a wall, the railing that several of the marines a single story below where leaning against being the only thing that was real.

"Not all ships have some easy way of training, so it's pretty common for something like this to be put together," Ylfa began to explain further. "It's just a whole bunch of off-the-shelf VR systems and prefab building materials, but it works alright," the Sergeant pointed. Looking down from the elevated platform he was on, he could see several cubicles, their walls opaque, and their interiors concealed. But the ones that were transparent, he now began to fully realize what was inside. A Virtual Reality chair - all the user had to do was sit down, jack in if they wanted a 'full realism' dive, and put the helmet on. "You said you wanted to train? Or was it just pointers?" the blond woman asked him. "Either way, this is the place to get them both."
 

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Richard sighed when Ylfa responded, it was as he expected but he still came over and pulled up a seat beside her. He was surprised to see that it was all being projected as well and actually felt a little foolish for not realizing. After all they were on active duty, they wouldn't be fighting so hard on duty, they'd end up in trouble is someone got severely injured. That did mean however he could get beat down over and over and over and it wouldn't be a problem as well. "Well coach I was expecting some kind of crazy spartan training or something so I came dressed for it. I just don't want to be a liability or anything when we're in a fight." He had not realized how he addressed her this time, obviously a bit more relaxed than before since he was not catching himself.
 

CadetNewb

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"Coach?" Ylfa asked, raising an eyebrow. She laughed it off as quickly as she questioned it however.

No matter what was on her mind, it was certain that this seemed to amuse her. "Well then, what's your game?" the woman asked him. "I already went over most of the stuff that came up off the top of my head, but if there's anything in specific, I can't exactly help you if you don't say," she pointed out. "If you want to just talk, we can obviously do just that, and hell, probably talk to some of the other marines here too if you want to hear their stories. You'll have to buy me something if it goes on for too long though," Ylfa warned him, pretending to take a good swig from a beer bottle. "And like you've already saw, if it's something more hands on, I'm game."
 

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Richard blinked at hearing her question and it took a moment for it to sink in, but by then she was speaking so he did not interrupt her and waited till she finished. "Sorry, the coach thing is habit. And I have a feeling if I start buying you booze you might run me dry." He chuckled a little and leaned forward some to rest his chin on his hand and think a moment. "I'd rather not go to the guys for advice on this, and especially not if Mark's around. But well I know all the basics and stuff from Boot camp. But I'm more interested in tactics. Like what to do when caught in close quarters and you can't just push them away for whatever reason. Hands on practice wouldn't hurt either, haven't exactly spent my life preparing to go to war."
 

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The tall blond sitting in front of him nodded understandingly when he voiced his worries. "I don't mind the coach bit and I get what you're saying, but I meant if I'm not around, those guys over there and such are good to ask too," Ylfa pointed. The group in particular were older war dogs, tough and grizzled from war, and like she suggested, they were avidly talking about what looked like something to do with a rifle and how to hold it tight to someone else. The only problem was that they also looked like they were just as likely to beat Richard - or anyone else that gave them the wrong look - to death with the imaginary rifle that they were holding thanks to testosterone poisoning. And were well able to on top of that.

"If they're not squad-mates, no embarrassment to worry about, right?" she suggested to him, completely oblivious to what Richard noticed about them. Despite having kicked her feet up and leaning back in her chair, she soon crossed her arms in unease. "You wouldn't have to worry about me drinking you dry as much as you'd think," a wry smile crossed Ylfa's lips. "So, the same boat as that Mishhu huh?" the Sergeant guessed. "Like I said before, if it's the squid, you're probably already dead. You're kinda talking about last resort, stuff, so firing your lasers to try and slice off the tentacles would help, but your chainblade would be the real damage dealer this close. If you can even grab it," she pointed out to him thoughtfully. "Using your thrusters and weight to smash it into the wall works really well too, if it's not in armor. Bottom line, you don't want to let it get to this point to start with, but those are your options."

Taking her feet off of the table and leaning in a bit however, a real, earnest smile started to take hold.

"Now, if it's anyone else? Almost anyone else?" Ylfa started, "You just beat the shit out of them Marine. The Hostile is literally capable of caving in a Durandium helmet with a few good punches, and if it's something in the Yamataian range, you can literally rip their arms off. It's a ton stronger than it looks," the woman flexed her well toned arm for emphasis. It wouldn't have been a surprise at all if she could give most male marines a run for their money in an arm wrestling match. "It'll be really hard, but you'll dislocate the joint first and cause them some real agony, so they'll freak out, and if you get your boot on top of them? It's game over." The way she spoke about it, it was almost as if she had done it before. "Of course, this is if they don't have some sort of white moon magic or melee weapon on them," Ylfa pointed out, leaning back to relax in their chair again.

"Really though, if you just want them off, you only need to get the rod of your PPG, or any of the plates pointed at them to just send them flying," she helpfully added. "That help?"
 

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Richard looked over to the men when she gestured to them wondering if she was serious about that, but glancing back at Ylfa who seemed unfazed he figured the potential malice he was seeing might just be in his head. He chose not to think about it further than that though, hopefully he wouldn't need to ask them and find out. "I'll....keep that in mind then." He listened to her explanation with regards to melee combat, counting on his fingers as a form of taking note of things. The flexing though took him by surprised, even more so when he realized she was matching him in size, and he was rather confident about his body too, he could only imagine how much work she put in for her's.

A muscle pose showdown would have to wait though, right now he had to think about the tips she was giving him. Listening to it all though made him realize just how brutal combat with a power armor can get, and just how strong the Mishhu were that they could manipulate such a beast of a machine like a puppet. "I figure it's all last case kinda stuff, but boot camp gives you all the basics. And my pro coach would say the thing that separates the super stars from the good guys is how well they perform when shit's already messed up." He sat up straight now and rolled his shoulders some. "Seriously though, the thing can rip limbs off lighter armor? They didn't half ass on the thing at all did they?"
 

CadetNewb

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The woman burst into a light laughter as soon as he spoke. She was soon brushing her short blond hair out of the way as she did her best to recover. "Look, the armor's really good, but it's way far from perfect," Ylfa explained to him, a grin still on her lips as she leaned in and steepled her hands. "You can fly just like the older AIR and be flexible as well as the WATER, but you're still loaded with limitations. You're still two tons of Nerimium armor so it takes a bit to accelerate and your range of motion isn't quite as good as a Mindy's or even a Daisy's," the Blond in front of him explained. "It's all maximizing your strengths and concealing your weaknesses - yeah, you can rip their limbs off. IF you get the proper leverage to do it. And IF they don't do a Fast Tango around your Slow Waltz." Seriously, emphasizing what she was telling him, Ylfa added, "With those suits, nothing gets in the way when you move, like you're naked. Because you are."

"Anyways," the woman waved it away. Standing up, she pushed her chair in. "You want to hop into the booths? We can just jump into the show part instead of the tell if you'd like. Or go over it some more while we watch some of the other jarheads get their skulls pushed in," a grin shined at him.
 

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"They're naked under their suits? Guess they're pretty confident they wont get ripped off." He chuckled some and then stood up after she finished speaking. "Yeah I'm all for some hands on training, never was good with doing it all up in my head anyway." He started to move towards the booths but then paused a moment "By the way, why did Kelly call you 'Valkyrie'? It sounds like you have a pretty big reputation."
 

CadetNewb

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The tall blond stopped mid-stride and turned to look at him, applause behind her indicating that the next challengers had arrived.

"You really didn't know that?" Ylfa asked, her eyebrows raised in near-shock. "Practically everyone makes fun of that," she added. Making her way down the stairs, the Sergeant quickly tapped the display board and reserved for them one of the cubicles to use. Finishing that up, she went down the rows as a fight got started in earnest up on the display; a few Yamataian armors were mixed into the Battle Royal of all things. "Even the old hands that dealt with the older Neko the most would usually think that Neko knew only two things; fighting, and screwing. If they weren't doing one, they were either doing the other, or getting ready to," she pointed out. "Didn't Mayumi say something about the new ones not needing them to be naked anymore?" Ylfa asked.

One of the Mindy power armors on stage sneezed.

"Here, go on ahead," she told the younger marine with a smile, opening the door for him instead of the other way around. When he asked her about the nickname though, it quickly vanished. Flicking her gaze away from him, Ylfa's tone was far more somber than it was before. "It's bit of how I grew up, and bit of what happened bit back."
 

Syaoran

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Richard followed after her and smirked at her response to the comments about nudity in the armor. He really didn't know things were like that, but it would explain how they got them so slim fitting. He did notice her tone change though at his second question and decided he shouldn't push that one and decided to go back to the subject of the nekos and clothes. "I really didn't know that, I really know hardly anything about Yamatai stuff. I see how those cats got their reputation though running around the battle field like that, and how they act too...who's idea was that anyway? Or did it just happen?" He asked some what rhetorically as he stepped into the booth and sat down and started putting the gear on.
 

CadetNewb

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"Heh, you really don't know?" the tall blond stood over him. Making sure the helmet was placed over his head right, and that he was seated properly, she made her way over to the door and locked it, setting it to Occupied. "Well, I guess everyone just likes to stay in their own little bubble."

"Seriously though, you gotta be aware that Yamatai is full of weird stuff, right?" the woman asked, her back turned to him. Right as she brushed the hair away from the back of her neck, and a small lump started to push up from under the skin there, finally emerging as a small high-bandwidth port. Pulling a cable from her belt and plugging one end into her neck, and the other to the console, she went on, "A common put-down for Yamatai is to say it's hedonistic, and that's not too far off. They got all sorts of kinks, and Catgirls are a pretty big one. From what I understand, it's even bigger now that they're real actually." The fact she had a port pop up and out of her skin without so much as a hint of blood, and then just jacked herself into the console could be taken any which way, but what she just said about Yamatai took priority with most men. "Everyone already thought that all anime is naughty tentacles too, but you can see how that turned out. Wish that stayed in their anime."

Without so much as a bit of warning, Richard leaped forward into a dark abyss, only to see a rush of psychedelic lights and rainbows rush past him before the Sledge Mama's armor bay came into view. Unlike how it was normally however, it wasn't the usual hive of activity - instead, it was dead quiet. "Bottom line, Yamatai is full of crazy, and it's no surprise some of it got out," Ylfa's voice popped up from behind him.

The Sergeant was leaning against a crate, with several power armors in their stands beside her.
 

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Richard of course had heard many of the same rumors about Yamataian television as Ylfa and gave a soft nod in response to her comments. Because he had his helmet on he didn't really notice what she was doing even though the screen had not darkened yet, well at least until she plugged herself in. It took him a moment for it to click in his head that she was using a cybernetic neural connection but he did realize so he wasn't too freaked by her jamming wires in her neck.

It wasn't until he was inside the simulations systems that he had chosen to speak up, turning around to see Ylfa. "Yeah, they gotta have a few screws loose if they're making super soldier cat girls though." He chuckled lightly before glancing back at all the armors that were ready for combat. "I wouldn't be surprised if they had a Mishuu or two captive that they use to make some of their adult videos with now, just for more realism."

He began to walk towards the armors and look them over, having the system bring up a summary of what the different ones were made for. This wasn't his first time in a simulation so he knew the basic controls, but he was trying to get used to the level of accuracy on this one. "Really though, NAM's made quite a few different power armors over time." As he said that he stopped in front of the AIR2 Lancer. "Now this thing is pretty cool..wouldn't this thing be a pretty big problem for Yamatai armors in open space?"
 

CadetNewb

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"Marine," Ylfa's voice grew stern. "I would really like to unsee that. So. Not another word on it."

The woman had closed her eyes as she began to rub her temple in some distress, but slightly opening a single eye to peek at him, she soon cracked a smile. As crude as it all was, this kind of humor was typical. Nepleslians never did have the highest of opinions in regard to their neighbor and one time ruler. Seeing him take note of the older ELEMENTAL armor however, Ylfa soon stood off to his side. "Yeah, for its role, it was a pretty good armor. Really far from perfect though," she admitted. Taking a few steps forward, she pointed out to its signature weapon, the Kinetic Fusion Lance. Long, ending in a blade which could split down the middle should the fusion cutter be activated. "That baby stabs, slice and dices anything apart, and even has the Push/Pull system fully integrated into it to make the job of sticking it to the cats easier - when it comes to melee, this weapon along with the AIR 2 is too good to be true. Which it is."

The sudden reversal of her praise was left hanging in the air for a moment, letting it sink in.

"Besides its mass driver, with only 40 rounds, it's a one trick pony. If you can't stick it in, and run out of ammo, you're the one that's going to be screwed," the Master Sergeant pointed out to him, her expression sour at the mere idea of being stuck in that situation. She waved it away however. "Anyways, didn't you want to practice CqB? Or are you more interested in high-mobility stuff now?"
 

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Richard chuckled at her reaction and let Ylfa's words about the armor sink in nodding some. The idea of flying around in such a suit and tearing through enemies was indeed pretty amusing, and it showed on his face, a light smirk present. "As cool as it is, right tool for right situation. I'd rather get skills I can use in multiple battles right now. Maybe when I can beat you once in a while I'll pick up some more specialized skills." He stroked his chin some in thought. "Maybe by then they'd have more of a brawler type of armor to use."
 

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"Right, right," Ylfa agreed with him. "Anyways, hop into whatever suit you want to work with, and we'll get started," she said.

The moment he did that and turned to face her however, the environment had changed.

Richard found himself in a desert base, the soil a rusty red and orange. All around him, the walls of the compound overshadowed everything inside. Just by looking it over, the place was built like a modern day fortress to keep out invaders of a mindless, animalistic sort. Powerful gun turrets meant to be manned by power armors were placed about the battlements, while massive gates kept the facility safe. Inside, the numerous prefabricated buildings were dusted with the rust like a storm had billowed by, but there was plenty of cover to be offered amongst them. Even going into the military complex built into the great walls were a great option if that's where he wanted to go. "Well, I've no idea what mood they're gonna be in, but I might as well get you a little familiar with what you're going to see," a power armor appeared.

Lightly armored and womanly in its proportions, an orange and brown dusted Daisy was standing behind him, staring the Nepleslian down like a desert gunslinger.

"How does learning how to a proper thruster-dash sound to you?" the Sergeant offered.
 

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As much as Richard wanted to hop into a cool suit that he might never get a chance to use, it was just that, a suit he might never get to use. He didn't want to practice in a suit that he wasn't going to be using. Besides knowing that this was here now he could always come back to play around with the other suits later. So he decided to climb into a plain old Hostile for now and focus on the techniques and not the suit. Once he was inside and situated the environment began to change, which left him a bit startled but he quickly remembered he was in a simulation and tried to settle down.

Looking around he took in his surroundings. He wasn't sure if it was made in the simulation or based off a real landscape, but it reminded him of those ancient western movies but done with current technology levels. There was cover everywhere and even armed turrets, this would be a horrible place to make an offensive rush if it were larger groups, but the defensive team would just love it.

He turned around though hearing Ylfa's voice and what he saw was surprising, a Yamatain built suit, the Daisy, and it was obviously built with women in mind. "Is that you Sarge? You can pilot Yamatain suits?"
 

CadetNewb

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The Daisy was quiet for a moment despite her proud pose. Long enough that the answer was obvious.

"Actually...no," the woman admitted, the armor she wore slouching its shoulders slightly. "But they say the data they're using is based off of samples of the real thing that they recovered off the field and stuff though," Ylfa offered, rapping armored knuckles against her own breastplate. In this case, as Richard already noticed, the word was fairly literal. "I'll be honest; I'm just glad I fit in this thing. Anyways, where's that excitement about learning new things? You should be begging to be taught. Asking questions even," the Daisy in front of him complained, placing her free hand on her hip as her shield-arm dangled. "Or, maybe you don't know what to ask? I guess I'll have to pick a starting point regardless, huh?"

"Quick question marine; how fast can your suit fly?"
 

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Richard chuckled behind the monoeyed helmet of his suit, something was kind of amusing about seeing such expressive gestures from Ylfa. Her statement about fitting in made him think though, did they really bother to keep the suits sizes restricted to those in real life? He wasn't going to ask about it though and instead would just check later, he didn't want her thinking he was calling her fat or anything, she might break his fingers for it. But what caught him off guard was the question and it had to be something about numbers, he was never good with all that data. "Umm...about as fast as a ship?"
 
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