ABS FIESTA REDUX

[carolcat]

Cualli watches the scene in awe. She would have never dreamed of her military service coming to this. "Just think, Elu, that could've been us," she says softly. With her eyes fixed on the aftermath of the explosion, Cualli offers a silent prayer of thanks to the gods above, thanking them for allowing her and Elu to get out safely.

And what about the hundreds of servicemen and women that just died on that carrier? The people who weren't as lucky as you, who were shot by those engineers, who died in the explosion, who will plummet to their death? They had families. Unlike you, they had people in their lives, they had direction in their lives. And you didn't do anything to help them. It's a heavy thought. What have they done for you to make them deserve your help? Besides, there's nothing you could have done for them.

Selfish. Coward. The same things she'd called Arkhip back when he first deserted. Let him go. Gods know where he is, and you're lost out at sea here with no idea when you'll be rescued, who will rescue you, or if you'll even be found. If your pod doesn't suffer some structural damage and drown you both, you're going to die of starvation or dehydration. And then what about Elu? He'll have to live with the rotting corpse of the person he cared most about. How will he deal with that?

Cualli closes her eyes, draws in a deep breath, holds it, and lets it out slowly. She can't let herself get carried away on the uncertainties of her situation, personal guilt, or fear. She needs to firstly take care of her boy, then take stock of her supplies, and then figure out how she's going to survive. You still have Elu. You still have your son. You're going to be okay. You're smart, you can figure this out, someone will come for you. A small part of her hopes that the Imperials find her, because then she just might have a chance of finding Arkhip again. Good. Hold on to that.

Her mental composure recollected, she undoes her safety belts and stands, stretching a bit before freeing Elu from his. "Let me see the joint that's bugging you," she says, giving him a warm, motherly smile. "I'll take care of you."

[Ad Bot]

[Qwepir]

"Forgive me if I don't take everything you say at heart. You were all ready to ambush and kill us because of last minute intel."
Tippy pinches her brow then rubs her temples. She was beginning to get a headache.
"Is there anything else about the intel that your superiors shared with you? Was there any previous investigations or suspicions before the planned strike we were going to carry out."

: Suspicions, yes, but we didn't get any harder evidence until very recently. We wouldn't have tried to shoot you down based on just a hunch.

Cualli watches the scene in awe. She would have never dreamed of her military service coming to this. "Just think, Elu, that could've been us," she says softly. With her eyes fixed on the aftermath of the explosion, Cualli offers a silent prayer of thanks to the gods above, thanking them for allowing her and Elu to get out safely.

And what about the hundreds of servicemen and women that just died on that carrier? The people who weren't as lucky as you, who were shot by those engineers, who died in the explosion, who will plummet to their death? They had families. Unlike you, they had people in their lives, they had direction in their lives. And you didn't do anything to help them. It's a heavy thought. What have they done for you to make them deserve your help? Besides, there's nothing you could have done for them.

Selfish. Coward. The same things she'd called Arkhip back when he first deserted. Let him go. Gods know where he is, and you're lost out at sea here with no idea when you'll be rescued, who will rescue you, or if you'll even be found. If your pod doesn't suffer some structural damage and drown you both, you're going to die of starvation or dehydration. And then what about Elu? He'll have to live with the rotting corpse of the person he cared most about. How will he deal with that?

Cualli closes her eyes, draws in a deep breath, holds it, and lets it out slowly. She can't let herself get carried away on the uncertainties of her situation, personal guilt, or fear. She needs to firstly take care of her boy, then take stock of her supplies, and then figure out how she's going to survive. You still have Elu. You still have your son. You're going to be okay. You're smart, you can figure this out, someone will come for you. A small part of her hopes that the Imperials find her, because then she just might have a chance of finding Arkhip again. Good. Hold on to that.

Her mental composure recollected, she undoes her safety belts and stands, stretching a bit before freeing Elu from his. "Let me see the joint that's bugging you," she says, giving him a warm, motherly smile. "I'll take care of you."

i don't really have a followup for this post because it's pretty much the perfect way for cualli's part in the thread to come to a close, so i'll just offer some theme music to go with her being lost at sea almost entirely alone

[Badger]

: Suspicions, yes, but we didn't get any harder evidence until very recently. We wouldn't have tried to shoot you down based on just a hunch.

"...And the Imperials were open to you helping them right afterwards you discovered this?"

[Mr. Hurricane]

Jaakko remains frustrated with the situation. The weight in his lap keeps him aware that this was a decision that will affect the rest of his life. He reflects on his career before today. His memories feel as if they are shrouded in naivety.

[Qwepir]

"...And the Imperials were open to you helping them right afterwards you discovered this?"

: Yes.
: You really should stop asking so many questions.

[Tayasaurus]

: You really should stop asking so many questions.

"loving deal with it. We were a hair away from fighting your asses."

[Mr. Hurricane]

"loving deal with it. We were a hair away from fighting your asses."

"Yamashiro, you understand that if we're caught we will all be put to death. We can never return to Aesthia. We're just making sure we're putting our lives on the line for a cause we know we can believe in,"

[Qwepir]

The loyalist unit arrives at the Aesthian fleet and is permitted to land on the older model carrier AFS Blixtkrig to refuel, make any final modifications to equipment, and explain just what the hell happened during the trip to the Sky Marshal (should they choose).

"Yamashiro, you understand that if we're caught we will all be put to death. We can never return to Aesthia. We're just making sure we're putting our lives on the line for a cause we know we can believe in,"

: And you have to understand that we are not going to reveal the details surrounding KZG intelligence operations and are taking a risk even bringing you along instead of shooting you like the mission mandated.

The traitors make a quick rendezvous with the Kintharian tanker plane and depart for the Imperial fleet. For the last two hundred or so kilometers of the trip you are escorted one of the Goths' stealth airships, flying decloaked and remaining within a few hundred meters the entire time. You start to notice a handful of oil rigs sprinkled around the open sea as you get nearer to your destination, and eventually fly over a vast interconnected network of the things before spotting land on the horizon. The urban sprawl of the Gothic capital reminds you of Svirask (minus the monolithic office blocks of course), an unending concrete maze stretching in every direction as far as the eye can see. A formation of more than a dozen Typhoons join the airship and the Kintharians in escorting (*herding) you to the Imperial carrier group hovering over the city.

Raiden sets down on the Indomitus first, then the five of you. Upon disembarking your craft you are rounded up by security and held at gunpoint with your hands on your head while Xiaomei talks to an officer. You do note that the Goths aren't exactly giving the Kintharians much breathing room either, as they are also being followed around by armed security officers, they just don't have guns pointed at them.

[Tayasaurus]

All I can think about its burning all this to the ground. Tippy thinks to herself looking around with her hands behind her head. Tippy looks around with her eyes for Nagato.

[Operator¹]

Bell reports to the Sky Marshal's station after disembarking from her Flatline.

: Here's the bad news, half of our pilots along with that Kintharian squadron said that they were going to one of the Imperium's ships. They didn't exactly leave us any room to stop them.

[Qwepir]

All I can think about its burning all this to the ground. Tippy thinks to herself looking around with her hands behind her head. Tippy looks around with her eyes for Nagato.

Nagato is standing with the other three members of her flight, nearby but separated from Xiaomei. Judging by the look on her face and the nervous body language, it is blatantly obvious that she does not want to be here. Something else you note is that her nametag and unit patch have been removed from her uniform. Same goes for the others.

Bell reports to the Sky Marshal's station after disembarking from her Flatline.
: Here's the bad news, half of our pilots along with that Kintharian squadron said that they were going to one of the Imperium's ships. They didn't exactly leave us any room to stop them.

Tarkirov's displeasure is plainly apparent, even over the radio.
: You had best elaborate, Colonel, before I assume you let them go.

[Tayasaurus]

Tippy's thoughts flow away from Raiden back to her jet. Aiori is in the roosterpit...hidden, stuff. If their investigation of our planes is thorough, thats one less option on the table and they are going to like me even less. The good news is that there is tons of ammo for her just hanging around.

[Operator¹]

: They hijacked the Wyvern and the accompanying drones, and the Kintharian unit already had lined up shots on our aircraft. Even if we took out the defectors, the rest of us would've been wiped out. We wouldn't be here otherwise.

[Mr. Hurricane]

Jaakko looks around anxiously, a scowl on his face. Raiden had ought to convince the Imperials that we're helping them. Or was this just a set up? His feelings and thoughts alternate between wondering if Raiden betrayed him wondering if he's made the right choice to try to stop the end of the world. Supposedly.

He looks over at Tippy, then Walt. He wants to get their thoughts on the events unfolding, but remains silent, considering he has a gun to his head. He looks over to Raiden and sees if he can't make out what they're saying.

[Gojira]

Markus looks around nervously, openly fearful of what is to come. He finds himself wondering whether he made the right choice. Just like that, he has no friends, no support, nobody he can talk to, and a gun at his back.  Now that he's actually here, on the Imperial carrier, he realizes just how powerless he is.