It's Just Business (Finished)

[Raider867]

Wreckage of a Battle Long Finished
1:00 p.m.

This is a ghost zone. The survivors of the battle told of ghosts in that zone, souls of those who died and were not ready to pass on. But they were just stories... right?

Apogee motors adjust the orientation of a pilot in a normal suit, floating with a cable in hand. The person lands on the hull of a derelict ship, a Salamis-Class, and finds a secure spot to place the cable. Once the person places the cable on the ship, he looks back.
"Alright, you're anchored." The man says through the comms.

High Center
"Good work, Alan. Check the Mobile Suits connected to the belly of the ship. See what can be salvaged if anything." Captain Synapse replies to the message. He leans back in his chair and lets out a sigh.
The XO glances back at the captain, eyebrow raised. The action didn't go unnoticed by the captain.
"Had a bad feeling about this one. While I don't believe in tales of ghosts and lingering souls, I worried that there was something still here. Like a Mobile Armor still here, living off the small supplies the wreckage has." The Captain comments.
"I understand that, Captain." The XO replies, looking back out the window at the wreckage outside.
"Any unknown contacts?" The Captain asked.
"Nothing on sensors, sir." An officer replies.

Salamis-Class
"Roger that, Captain." Alan replies to the order, jumping off the hull and directing his trajectory towards the belly of the ship.
Underneath the Salamis-class, there was four Mobile Suits that were docked and they were in various conditions. The one with the least amount of damage was a GM Sniper 2 towards the stem of the ship. The rest were normal GMs that deteriorated the closer they were to the stern of the ship where scorch marks were aparent. The fourth GM barely had a waist, let alone legs.
"Captain? Found an intact GM Sniper 2 and three GMs at varying conditions. Investigating them now." Alan reports.
"Roger that. Report back your findings." The Captain replies through comms.
Alan Reber floats towards the GM Sniper 2, checking the damage as he approaches. The left arm has some Machine Gun holes in it and the head had signs of the armor melting near the top.
"Hmm... Probably dodged a beam shot just barely. The visor motor was probably dead after that, disabling it's function as a sniper." Alan talks to himself as he manually opens the cockpit. The cockpit had no one in it.
"Did the pilot try to escape after the engines exploded?" Alan hypothesized, getting into the cockpit and checking the power.
Slowly, the Mobile Suit came to life. Alan was pleased.
"An intact Mobile Suit that still runs will sell for a whole lot! Nice!" He celebrates. Powering it off to save power, he climbs out of the Sniper 2 and floats to the second least damaged Mobile Suit.

 

[Tackle Jackie]

A Couple Minutes away from the Wreckage of a Battle Long Finished

1:03 PM



The quiet hum of the Regalia was enough to keep the crew on edge as they made there way into unknown territory, following a lead from some old military journals. It was nothing too notable, but with their limited collection of mobile suits, some scraps were better than no scraps.

“How’s it looking, so far?” Walking onto the bridge, Arthur was already wearing his normal suit and his helmet tucked under his arm, looking to the gun emplacement that was Leah, sleepily checking monitors as she helmed the freighter. “Possible contact, looks like someone’s already hooked up to that Salamis Class you were eyeing up.

“That’s a shame. But hey, plenty of wrecks in the area. Hey Grandpa!” Arthur shouted into the intercom to the kitchen, where the old man was preparing a meal, with a considerable amount of broth. “Got a live vessel out here scavenging as well, figured it’d be best for you to do the talking. I’m gonna be in the Ball with Morgie if you need me.” And with that, it was only Thomas and Leah left on the line, sighing.

“Alright, set up a direct line of communication to the ship, see if they respond I suppose.” Thomas grunted, putting on a hairnet to look presentable to whoever they broadcast to. Leah nodded in response, closing her own video feed as she tried to connect with the other ship.

“Ahoy there! Didn’t expect to see anyone else out here today!”

 

[Raider867]

High Center

"C-captain! We're being hailed." The communications officer reports.
Captain Synapse eyes the scanning officer, the officer giving him a shrug. Synapse sighs before looking at the screen. "Answer them."
Synapse is greeted with the voice of Thomas. He didn't recognize the voice, but he thought to reply.
"Greetings. I, too, didn't expect someone else out here. If you give us a few, we'll finish up and be out of your way." Synapse says in a friendly tone, clicking on the transmitter for Alan's normal suit.

Salamis-Class

Alan was just getting out of the second Mobile Suit when he heard the conversation.
"Shit, what's going on?" He mutters to himself. "Better hurry..." He pushes off to the next GM. If he could, he would grab the GM Sniper 2 and have it take the other intact GM onto the ship if they needed to bug out.
Opening the cockpit of the third Mobile Suit connected to the Salamis, he quickly gets to work checking the systems.

 

[Tackle Jackie]

"Hey now, no need to rush cause we're here!" Tommy chuckled, clanking a lid on top of the pot. "Tommy Mortimer here. Nice to meet you..." Tommy felt himself slowing down as he started to recognize the face, laughing. "Well. I'll be damned! I would have sworn you would have been retired by now, you old coot!"
The 72 year old was clearly having a time of it, even having to stop for a coughing fit halfway through.

--------

Over in the hanger of the Regalia, Arthur was preparing his Ball to head out, just casually humming to himself as he got set up. No weapons, just work in this pod, getting a thumbs up from the yellow suited figure on the catwalk. "Miyla to bridge, Ball is ready to deploy."

The portside bay opened up, the Ball scooting out slowly.

 

[Raider867]

Synapse was confused for a moment. How could the man know him. But he soon recognizes the face. "Tommy?" Synapse asks in surprise.
Synapse laughs. "Old coot?! Says the fossil!" Synapse laughs.
The entire bridge was caught offguard by the Captain's sudden change in attitude.
"How've you been Tommy? I see the bridge of your ship is located in the kitchen." Synapse jokes with a smile.

High Center Hangar

Gideon Lightning, not hearing about the ship that is in range, idly performs maintenance and software tests of his MPZZ. The chief mechanic floats up to the cockpit where Gideon currently is.
"Don't you ever stop working?" The chief asks.
"Nope." The chief heaves a sigh.
"You need to learn to relax a little. Cyber enhanced or not, you still need rest and relaxation every once in a while."
Gideon stops, sighing himself and looking at the chief.
"If you don't relax now, I'll have Miller take you to a strip club once we're back at Juniper." Chief threatens, making Gideon wince at a memory of his last experience there.
"Fine." Gideon finally admits defeat. He pushes himself to the hatch before pushing off to the door out of the hangar.
"Jeez, that kid..." Chief says.
Chief knew Gideon was 30, but he still acted like he was a Cyber Newtype still in the military. It was concerning at times.

Salamis-Class

Alan was equally stunned by the captain's reaction. But since the Captain seems to trust him, he'll continue his work without his original hurry. Clearing the third Mobile Suit as workable, just with damaged legs, he moves to the last one, the GM with barely anything below the waist. He doesn't expect much.
"It'll be a miracle if this thing runs. A piece of shrapnel could have easily damaged the reactor." Alan comments to himself as he forces the hatch open. If oxygen were in the area, the hatch would have made some heavy creaking noises.
The cockpit looked damaged. Alan noticed some of the breakers on the side of the cockpit were busted open. One of the sticks was broken and the right screen was cracked.
"Guess that was to be expected. Still could fetch a good price. I hope." He comments once again to himself. He notices he does that a lot.
Pushing off towards the GM Sniper 2, he plans to use that to bring the Mobile Suits to the High Center once he knew he was clear to do so.

 

[Tackle Jackie]

“Hah! This old fossil saved your ass more times than I can count!” Thomas is just over the moon at this point, leaning on the counter. “Yeah, like anyone would trust me to captain anything. Always been better in a suit than in the bridge.” He was grinning from cheek to cheek, head tilting to the side as he seemed to be listening to someone. “Oh, just in case you have any guys out there, our mechanic decided to head out in his Ball. Just so no one tries anything stupid. On either side.”
Tommy strapped down his pot as he switched video back over to the bridge as he started to make his way up. Although the video feed was now just an awkward Leah looking directly into the camera, Thomas’ audio was still being properly relayed. “Is Fred there? Haven’t heard from him or Martha since I heard they were having a kid!”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Arthur was just enjoying himself as he piloted the ball towards the Salamis, just checking it out from a distance. It seemed intact for the most part, running his floodlights towards the MS it held.

 

[Raider867]

"Bah! I don't remember you saving me at all!" Synapse denies, laughing.
"I'll let them know." Synapse says with a nod, his smile dimming a bit at the mention of Fred and Martha.
"Sadly..." He sighed. "Time wasn't polite to them. They passed a while back. Their child was nineteen at that point." Synapse said, sighing again.
"Their child's a part of the ship's crew, though. You remember Fred's Mobile Suit? He's piloting that now." He decides to try and change the subject.

Salamis-Class

If it weren't for Synapse's warning, he would have high-tailed it into the GM Sniper 2 and attacked the Ball which turned on their lights. Alan breathed a sigh of relief, however. The small shadow Alan was making could be seen in the lights.
"Glad there doesn't seem to be a threat." He mutters to himself.
Alan makes it to the Sniper 2's torso, grabbing hold and planting his feet. He looked "up" at the Ball once more before opening the cockpit of the Sniper 2 again.

 

[Tackle Jackie]

"Damn. It's a shame to hear that, Andrew."
Thomas finally made it to the bridge, with Leah visibly sighing in relief as the camera went to him. He was visibly distraught for a moment, but shook it out as he looked back.
"Now that's hard to believe anyone would willingly pilot that suit!" Tommy completely goes for the change in subject, leaning against the Captains chair. "But if he's willing and able, all the power to 'im"
-----------------
"Hey, can you hear me over there?"
Arthur had attempted to open communications to the guy getting into the Sniper 2, looking it up and over.
"Damn impressive haul. Need an extra hand?"

 

[Raider867]

"Fred always said Alan would be better than him. If he's right, that suit will garner an even scarrier reputation." Synapse chuckles. "So what brings you to these parts, old friend? Looking to scavenge some supplies, too?"
Synapse sits back in his captain's chair as he talks, relaxing as he talks to his old friend.

Salamis-Class

Alan, as he got in, looked up again at the Ball. He put his hand to his helmet and spoke.
"Yeah I hear ya. As long as you're offering, would you mind detatching that GM without a lower section? I can handle the other two with the Sniper." Alan says, closing the Sniper 2's hatch and powering it up. Once he does, he presses the button to detatch the Sniper 2 from it's docking point. Adjusting the orientation of the Sniper 2, he grips the first GM. Detatching it from it's docking port, he lightly pulls it away from the Salamander's belly.

Somewhere in the wreckage of another ship...

A red light activates somewhere in another ship.

 

[Tackle Jackie]

"Just planning to look for the stuff that doesn't make it to market, the cool stuff." He grinned, actually taking a seat at this point. "Plus it never hurts to be a bit proactive in greeting the neighbors, you know?"
While the old men were chatting, Leah was staring at a long string of readouts, she would almost think something was going on out there... Maybe it was just those old mobile suits they were moving.
------------------------------------------
The Ball looks like its trying to do a thumbs up as it approached the GM, carefully clamping down on the shoulders of the suit, and the front of the pod opening. "Can do, just give me a sec." Arthur launched himself out of the Ball with a wire gun, dragging himself towards the cockpit, fumbling around for the switch or lever to detach.

 

[Raider867]

"Too bad for you, I think we got pretty good loot." Synapse brags with a laugh.
"We'll try to leave the ship for you, though. Could fetch a good sum at the scrapping yards."

Salamis-Class

Alan glances at the Ball pilot as he disengaged the latch for the GM.
"Keep a look out. Stories say that spooky ghosts are around here." Alan attempts to make some banter while he disengages the latch for the last mostly intact GM. Floating back to the cockpit, he gives a glance at the pilot's reaction if there was any.

 

[Tackle Jackie]

"Hey, all's good Captain. Plenty of other wrecks to go around as well, so it shouldn't be too hard to find something worthwhile."
"And honestly? I doubt we could handle that ship!" He starts laughing jovially, just enjoying catching up with an old friend.
----------------------------------
"Oh, great, another thing to worry about." Arthur sighed, already thinking back to whatever freaky newtype ghosts could be out here at this point, as he leapt back into the cockpit of the Ball.
"Uuuugh, gives me the heebie jeebies just thinking about it... Only good thing about it is that I'm pretty sure our girl can kill a ghost if need be."

 

[Raider867]

"Ever heard of steel cables, my friend? Really helpful tugging a wreck to port." Synapse says smirking. He checks something on a screen real quick before looking back at the main screen.
"You should follow us back to dock. We came from the PLANT called Juniper. There's a pretty good bar there. Has some pretty hard stuff." Synapse suggests.

Salamis-Class

Alan couldn't help but chuckle. "Well let's hope we don't get attacked by any ghosts. Would have to pay Miller fifty bucks if so." He says, moving away from the belly of the ship with both GMs in tow.
Alan flicks on the transmitter to the hangar crew.
"Chief Donahue, prepare the net. Some of these things don't have feet." Alan speaks into the transmitter.
"Roger that, Alan. It'll be ready in five." Came the response from the hangar.
"Alright, my friend, let's get these to the ship." Alan says to Arthur.
Alan maneuvers the Sniper 2 up the side of the Salamis and above it, changing direction so that he floats towards the hangar of the High Center instead. He soon lands on the Catipult Deck to wait for the net to be fully set up.

Somewhere in the wreckage

"EnEMiES dETeCTED. inITIAtIng STarTuP pRoCeDuReS."

 

[Tackle Jackie]

“Hmm. If I can convince this sorry lot to head there, I’d be more than happy to drink you under the table for old times sake.” Thomas joked, arms behind his head and leaning back. “It would be nice to catch up.”
While the two were enjoying just shooting the shit, Leah was mulling over more readings. It looks like some old reactors might be cycling... Could be worth picking it up. She thought to herself, paying closer attention now.
---------------------------------------------
"....Did you make a bet with someone where you win if you're not attacked by ghosts..?" Arthur can help but grin at the idea as he started to follow the other GMs, thrusters puffing away. "Sounds like a fun crew you've got over there."

 

[Raider867]

"I think you mean me drink you under the table." Synapse countered.
"Try to convince them. They could join in the drinking as well!" He encouraged.
The ship was picking up power fluctuations as well. Nothing bad yet, but the officers were on alert.

Outside

"What can I say? Miller's afraid of ghosts." Alan shrugs with a chuckle.
"This crew's pretty fun, yes." Alan adds.
"Alright, net's set up." The chief says.
"Time to toss these things in." Alan says to Arthur, gently pushing the first one in. Once the GM was strapped down out of the net, he pushed the second one in.

AtTaCk!
A large spike in power gets detected a few broken ships over.

Bridge of the High Center

"Captain!" An officer shouts. "Large spike in power detected!"
"What?!" Synapse shouts in surprise.

Outside

Alan, hearing the commotion in the bridge, moves the Sniper 2 to the side of the catapult deck.
"Chief! Send someone to retrieve the Sniper 2!" Alan climbs out of the Mobile Suit and pushes off hard to the hangar.
"You in the Ball, stay where you are. Something bad's coming." Alan says, making his way to the Hi-Nu Gundam as quickly as he can.

 

[Tackle Jackie]

Bridge of the Regalia

“Grandfather! System is reading an incredible spike in power from the wreckage! Readings coincide with other MA attacks, sir!” Leah shouted as she prepared the ship for battle stations. Of course, there was only so much four people could do, surely…

“Damnit all! Leah, get in contact with Morgaine, have her prepare to launch!” Thomas is standing up angrily at the captains chair, fumbling with the normal suit stored underneath.

“Synapse, do you have men prepared for battle?”

Regalia Hangar

From with the compact hangar, a single figure was active, moving a large mobile suit to face the Port bay doors before climbing in.

Outside

“I appreciate the offer, but I’m not just going to sit by idly.” Arthur clamped the Ball off to the side of the catapult and pushed themselves towards the GM Sniper 2, crawling into the cockpit. “I’ll move the GM and *then* stay where I am, safe inside the ship.”

 

[Raider867]

"They're already preparing. The Hi-Nu's heading out first." Synapse reports, sitting forward and bringing up a couple screens.
"Have Miller sortie next with Gideon on guard this time." He orders the crew of the bridge. "All personnel high alert! We've picked up a Mobile Armor!"

Outside

Arthur soon sees the imposing figure of the Hi-Nu Gundam planting it's feet on the catapult.
"Alan Reber! Hi-Nu Gundam! Heading out!" Alan says, launching from the catapult.
Alan looks around on his 360 degree monitor, moving the shield towards the front to protect the cockpit.
A shot with the power of a Beam Cannon spears its way towards Alan. He manages to avoid the shot with little difficulty, firing a shot from his beam rifle towards the source.
Alan knew it hit, but it didn't solve his problem one bit.

ReCaLcUlAtInG... PrOcEsSiNg... EnEmY IdEnTiFieD... FrEd ReBeR. ScOuRgE oF bAtTlEfIeLd... ObJeCtIvE... ElImInAtE...

"How about showing yourself now?" Alan says, aiming the shield at the wreckage where the beam came from and fired off two missiles from them. The explosions send debris flying. Once the explosions died down, he saw the full monstrosity for what it was. It seemed to have taken parts and repaired itself from it's original body.

Bridge of High Center
Seeing the feed from Alan's Mobile Suit, Synapse was stunned.
"It cannibalized what it had to make itself whole again. How smart is this AI?" Synapse muttered to himself.

 

[Tackle Jackie]

“Musha Gundam, Mark Two! Launching!”

From the side of the Regalia, a dark mobile suit shoots out of the bay and starts streaking towards the strange MA, quickly emerging in a flash of gold, every detail on the suit resembling those of a samurai-esque aesthetic. “Mobile Hunter Morgaine Montgomery, ready to Gundam Fight!”

The camera dramatically zooms into the cockpit of the Gundam, revealing the pilot in her fighting suit, yellow gold accents lining the whole thing. Her mobile suit flying up behind the Hi-Nu, reaching for the large gold bladed naginata on it’s back.

"Let's do try to give it hell, yes?"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Leah, I'm going to leave the bridge up to you. I'm going to main the 'turret'." Thomas propelled himself out of the room as quickly as he could, using the track built into the wall to try and help, but not much faster than the old man could run...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Captain Synapse, this is Leah Montgomery, Regalia's helm. Ready to cooperate at your discretion, sir."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

"...I hate myself, I really do."

Arthur opened the cockpit of the Sniper 2, pushing himself out and looking for the chief, as far as he could tell. "Sir, I'm prepared to sortie in the GM if need be."

 

[Raider867]

"Roger that. Given what little we know about the ship, we should keep spread out in case it has a megaparticle cannon." Synapse says, pressing a few buttons on a screen to his left.
"What Mobile Suits do you have at your disposal?" He then asks, looking at Leah on the monitor.

Outside

"Stay sharp. Aside from that beam cannon, we don't know it's specs. Other than that...?" Alan pauses before smirking.
"Give it hell. Fin Funnels!" He calls, the Fin Funnels shooting off the backpack "wings" and flying off around the wreckage.
To draw the Mobile Armor's attention, he fires two more rockets. Following the rockets, he fires a couple shots from his beam rifle.
"I'll draw it's attention. You get in close and cut that connection. That should disable some of its weapons." Alan says to Morgaine.
What Alan was doing gets the attention of the large Mobile Armor, the lower section raising it's two rifles and firing in Alan's direction. Strangely, Alan wasn't using the funnels. Did he have a plan for them?

KiLl! ElImInAtE! dEsTrOy!
The sounds of the AI could be heard by Morgaine and Alan as it focused on the Hi-Nu Gundam.

Hangar - High Center

"You sure about that, kid? It's left arm's out of action. The best weapon we can give you is a Beam Spray Gun." Chief Donahue cautions.
Meanwhile, Miller was in his pilot suit and readying the Re-GZ for launch.

 

[Tackle Jackie]

Regalia Bridge

“We have a modified GM III prepping to launch, and a Geara Zulu lacking a pilot.” Leah responded as she preemptively opened the top hatch of the Regalia. “Pilot is readying to launch, but we may need a minute...”

Outside

“On it!” She shouted excitedly, the mobile suit breaking formation and using various bits of debris and wreckage to launch themself towards the mobile armor, horns glistening as them leapt in for a strike against its upper half, attempting to slash at what seemed to be beam cannons in the shoulders.

“Shoryumaru Naginata!”

High Center Hangar

“Only a Spray gun..? Yeah, no I’d only be a nuisance in that case.”