Month Two -- Design and Revision PhaseRivalla Pterodactyl Ichthyosaur Bastilodon the Unrivalled was excitable, sure. She was at times cocky, certainly - even aggressive and arrogant. But, let there be no mistake - and Rivalla indeed did not intend to let anyone get away with making it - Rivalla was not
stupid. She was, in fact, stunningly self-aware for a teenager coming from a position of extreme privilege. She had to be. Rivalla knew what was going on, and she knew why she was here. She knew that she (a fifteen-year-old, then a ten-year-old) had been given a command post with the intent of making her un-alive. She knew that that same maneuver had worked on most of her siblings, and had worked for the past couple of generations. She knew that she was not some sort of incredible prodigy genius commander and that the only reason that she was alive was that the Retinue had been lucky with many of its
actual commanders before she'd had the ability to interfere. So, most of the time, Rivalla let them do their thing. She made her presence known, of course, but did not actually upset the chain of command, even if it... meant that she was something of a mascot.
Most of the time.But right now, with this mission? Right now was time for
Princess Rivalla Pterodactyl Ichtyosaur Bastilodon the Unrivalled to make very well clear that she did have authority and regality as a Princess of the Kingdom of the Unrivalled Archaeologist - and, well, with a matter such as this, with megafauna at hand, nobody had felt like standing in the way of that for very long. She stood in the bridge in formal garb - not the completely out-there pomp and costume of an actual monarch (as if she was going to be allowed to go around like
that) but a fine dress and gloves, mostly a bone white in color but for stripes of orange between various folds of fabric. She wore the most grand of the three circlets she had been able to bring with her upon leaving the planet years ago - a band of silver with rather nonstandard gems set in it - amber, zircon, and even what appeared to be spheres of gleamingly polished chrome. But what made this circlet actually stand out, of course, were the two fully formed and assembled small lizard fossils dangling from it, one on either side of her head.
And so it was that for the second time in a row, the screen set up on the wall blinked to life in a display of light and color, and the person on that screen was left to just goggle stunnedly at the fact that a fifteen-year-old-girl was standing with
absolute, unyielding confidence in front of her view - a fifteen-year-old girl with bizarrely regal clothing, no less. (The person in question was a woman in a set of crisp officer's dress with a couple of ribbons who had for a split-second been wearing an expression between slight boredom and less-than-slight fatigue.) There was a moment of silence, which Rivalla let stretch on
just long enough for her contact to begin a hesitant "Wh-" before she leapt in with dialogue - taking charge of the situation, she insisted! (Lanre had agreed not to interfere - it was pretty much her right to deal with megafauna, after all.)
"Hail! You stand in the presence of Princess Rivalla Pterodactyl Ichtyosaur Bastilodon the Unrivalled, and the company that you stand in the presence of is my Grand Biomechanical Retinue. We have graced this sector with our presence, and already we have found stunning success in our endeavors here, thoroughly performing our objective with no meaningful damage. Now, we, the
unrivalled experts on megafauna, stand to find stunning success again - now, please, tell us more about your esteemed selves and this megafauna?"
The woman on the other end of the communication paused for an awkward moment - but, actually, found her footing surprisingly quickly, reverting to a well-practiced set of lines herself after... only a moment or two of hesitation. "Right... well... My name is Major Cornelia Tate, speaking on behalf of the Empire of the Fifhurst Crown, greatest of the Summit Sector - we are the suzerains of the planet, of course. Unfortunately, as matters at home have drawn our attention away to a degree, we have been forced, in what is simply a truly exceptional set of circumstances, to leave our garrisoning here lighter than is necessary to truly keep the order on Chopta. With this planet being as... difficult as it is, this does mean that there is room for the services of those such as yourselves. In the case of Sparkleshore Lake, which I garrison, we have a bit of a megafauna issue." Here, essentially everybody present on the bridge perked up.
"Not all of the strategic details are really something the hired help needs to know, I'm afraid, but the
tactical situation, on the other hand, I am happy to inform you of. The lakes and oceans here on Chopta play host to megafauna with long life and gestation cycles which don't live in particularly large groups - what this means is that when attacks happen they're usually young that have hatched and are finding themselves disturbed in the process of attempting to secure new territory, or which have had their gestation cycles interrupted by industrial processes near the end. Usually, this means that they're more or less Light Titans - but diamond mining operations have recently disturbed a resting adult specimen here, and it's been coming to ravage the coastlines. Although we've been able to harass it some, we won't be able to manage a decisive engagement without your help, and it's on the path towards a major city. You and one of our Titans are going to be attacking it while it is surfaced and before it gets there - we are talking plains terrain, largely, here. We're going to choose a window for assault where it's relatively far away from the water, but as these beings are amphibious it will never be so far away that the lake will cease to be a factor. This creature seems to have been angered to an incredible degree, hence the issue, so it isn't likely to disengage entirely, but if it gets into the water, it will be much more difficult to deal with, even though it won't be fully submerged. Please lead it away or kill it beforehand."
Rivalla was feeling rather smug - she'd got through the greetings and much of the initial information, and Lanre hadn't even stepped in. Perhaps these Fifhurst Crown people simply knew how to deal with proper royalty, after all. But, naturally, there was another question to be answered - a very,
very important question. "This is excellent information, and I provide my gratitude, of course. But naturally: I must know more about this wonderful creature that we are to slay. Ah, for we must know what we are to fight, yes?" Lanre had coached her on what to asked about, even if it seemed basic enough (and even, of course, if THIS question needed no coaching).
"Well... yes... of course." The Major looked at Rivalla a little strangely, and then continued. "This thing is essentially a Medium Titan, so it does have a size advantage, of course, and this means that it is going to be able to take a concerning amount of punishment from the weaponry we will be bringing to bear on it. This particular being is reptilian, and those scales will present further difficulty for ballistic weaponry - especially the types of ballistic weaponry Mech Titans usually use, as these beings have been around in the context of conflict with Mech Titans for a long, long time. However, we do at least have one advantage on our side here - this megafauna does appear to be specialized in the destruction of Medium or larger Titans, likely because we and previous garrisons have typically used these Titans. This is reflected in its weaponry - it uses a weapon which uses a spray of rocks, crude diamonds and diamond dust to do so at range, which does not have particularly lethal penetration, and a rather bizarrely diamond-saw-like weapon which should have trouble connecting with our Titans, but, well... which of course you do not want to. Otherwise, it does use a quicker and smaller bladed appendage and a spine launcher."
Satisfied, Rivalla actually didn't ask the next question Lanre needed her to for a moment, prompting him to start moving towards her a little before she remembered. "Ah, yes - what about your Titan? What can we expect of your assistance?"
"You can count on its assistance to be reliable. It is of our Harrier make, meaning that its movement is quick and reliable, so it should not be slowing you down, but the quality of its hull construction and armor are still both quite excellent and quite proprietary. It is equipped with two of our Crown Ruby Lasers, so it will be laying down fire with long uptimes, and excellent accuracy and penetration. These are Medium weapons - it has one on each arm - and it is finally equipped with a Crown Spessartite, which is a grenade launcher, Medium as well, on the torso. The rate of fire is slow to facilitate its range and power, and it is essentially a finishing weapon, so if you have any weaponry that weakens the creature's internal structure or armor, we will likely follow up on it with the Spessartite. In general, while we will look at the tactics you use and adjust accordingly, we are of course not under your command and will be attempting to strike a balance between safe range and damage with the beast."
Barely-Rivalled-class Light Titan
Description: The Barely-Rivalled is often rejected among the Kingdom for its rather mundane figure and its small size, but this belies its true functionality -- the Barely-Rivalled-class of Light Titans is a very capable and pragmatically-built cyborg titan, which sports surprisingly good durability for a Titan of its light tonnage and small and compact size. Although its mobility is somewhat poor and it lacks any gimmicks beyond its ability to fold into position for storage, it mounts a respectable amount of weaponry for its size and is generally built for slugouts with vehicles and other light Titans, and it has the capacity to carry Carryable Equipment. It looks like a skinless humanoid without a face (having instead a cockpit) riddled with mechanical pistons and steel struts, making it a little bit fucking terrifying to look at.
Parts: Barely-Rivalled Torso
-Mounted Equipment: Medium: Biomechanical Medium Railgun
Barely-Rivalled Native Head
Barely-Rivalled Native Left Arm
-Mounted Equipment: Small: Biomechanical Small Laser
Barely-Rivalled Native Right Arm
-Mounted Equipment: Small: Biomechanical Small Laserizer 9000
Megaraptor Left Leg
Megaraptor Right Leg
Carried: Anti-Acid Shield
[1] Barely-Rivalled Torso: (Mech/Organic)
This is the core of the Barely-Rivalled Titan, and is the most durable part of the Titan, with a tough and flexible-to-physical-impact banded "ribcage" of bone and metal. It possesses a Medium Mount, connections for a Head, Left Arm, Right Arm, Left Leg, and Right Leg, and a Carryable Equipment hardpoint, but is otherwise largely unremarkable.
[1] Barely-Rivalled Native Head: (Mech/Organic)
A fairly unremarkable head, except that the cockpit right in where the face would be on the skinless head is pretty disturbing.
[2] Barely-Rivalled Arm: (Mech/Organic)
A fairly unremarkable arm, albeit more fragile than the torso of the Barely-Rivalled. Possesses a Small Mount. Has dexterous hands and thus can operate Carryable Equipment.
[2] Megaraptor Leg: (Mech/Organic)
A double-jointed raptor leg, the Megaraptor Leg offers decently high-speed and agile movement, enough toughness to take some firepower without losing functionality (although they are not highly armored and are vulnerable to heavy firepower), a small jumping capacity which is more effective the faster the Titan is running, and melee strikes that are somewhat risky and not effective vs. heavy armor, but are very much effective vs. light armor.
[1] Biomechanical Medium Railgun: (Mech/Organic)
As generic as weaponry gets in the Kingdom, this core of metal wound around by flesh uses organically derived energy to fire off ferrous projectiles at high speed. Operates at a long range, is relatively accurate, and does good though not overwhelming damage, but it takes a long time to recharge between shots.
[1] Biomechanical Small Laser: (Mech/Organic)
As generic as weaponry gets in the Kingdom, this weapon looks almost entirely metallic but for the core of flesh in its innards that powers the laser. Operates at a medium-short range, does small but not tiny damage, and is extremely accurate, but can overheat if used too much.
[1] Bio-Mechanical Small Laserizer 9000: This weapon looks almost entirely metallic but for the core of flesh in its innards that powers the laser, although even that core has had high-grade consumer electronics interspersed in it. Operates at a medium-long range, does small but not tiny damage, and is extremely accurate, but can overheat if used too much. It also can project a very bright cone of light that rapidly changes color at short-range, dazzling enemy pilots.
[1] Anti-Acid Shield: This Carryable Shield is extremely sturdy and light, capable of performing without major damage unless exposed to very heavy fire. It blocks Torso weaponry when in use, but no more, as it is somewhat small. A mucus membrane on the shield makes the shield acid-resistant and hard to grab. The shield is surprisingly sharp, allowing the shield to be used as a vicious melee weapon.
Megaraptor Leg: (Mech/Organic)
A double-jointed raptor leg, the Megaraptor Leg offers decently high-speed and agile movement, enough toughness to take some firepower without losing functionality (although they are not highly armored and are vulnerable to heavy firepower), a small jumping capacity which is more effective the faster the Titan is running, and melee strikes that are somewhat risky and not effective vs. heavy armor, but are very much effective vs. light armor.
To manufacture 1 Megaraptor Leg requires: 1 Mech Scrap, 1 Organic Scrap, 2 Legs (Mech, Organic, or Mech/Organic)
Organic Torso Scrap
Organic Right Arm Scrap
Organic Left Leg Scrap
Organic Head Scrap
Organic Scrap with Regenerative Tissues
Organic Scrap with Intact Heart
Organic Scrap with Carryable Weapon Support Tube
Destroyed Spine Launcher
Corporal Mihail Andonov (Level 1)
Traits:
Snap ReflexesMissions until Level 2: 0/2
Princess Rivalla Pterodactyl Ichtyosaur Bastilodon the Unrivalled (Level 0)
Traits: None
Missions until Level 1: 0/1
Author
Topic: Ramshackle Titans - Rivalla's Retinue Thread - M2 Deployment (Read 9499 times)