OSDT Jannah, Sphère martienne
Ensemble BGM: Invités non invités
"Chef, je vous parie cinq dollars que je peux frapper leur Rook de tête avec un seul coup."
Les communications, initialement silencieuses, ont été interrompues par les tonalités insouciantes de Lumen 3. La GT-010 de Lydia continuait d'agir comme une arme au-dessus de la coque de Jannah, ses capteurs de ciblage s'ajustant constamment alors que le vaisseau OSDT commençait à se refermer sur l'essaim entrant des pirates. Sa signature Mega Beam Cannon était en position, le canon bien en vue suspendu à la menace au-dessus de l'épaule droite de l'artillerie HFV.
"Ce n'est pas le moment pour l'impossible, Lydia", a été la réponse cool de Francis. Le chef de l'équipe de Lumen faisait une approche prudente à l'égard des pirates, son Rook OSDT lourdement blindé prêt à trier ses coéquipiers contre toute attaque du front. "N'ai-je pas intérêt à prendre tes cinq dollars."
Derrière lui, Lumen 2's M5-., a fait une boucle courte et paresseuse, sa machine agile de bronzage un contraste direct avec la coque de métal qui était le HFV de son ailier.
« Les cinq derniers dollars de Francis ont été dévorés par un distributeur défectueux », explique Marco, sa voix à l'italienne teintée d'amusement conspiratoire, comme s'il révélait quelque chose de vraiment excitant plutôt qu'un simple run-in avec une panne mécanique. "Il ne pouvait pas prendre le pari même s'il le voulait."
« Il est de la plus haute importance qu'ils réparent ce dispositif infernal. »
Marco s'est fait l'écho des comms. Il était manifestement amusé par le sérieux de son ami face à une question aussi mineure. "Nous n'aurons pas de réparations bientôt, mon ami. J'ai rencontré McMahon dans le mess plus tôt, et il m'a dit que les vieux Schrijnemakers évitaient délibérément de faire du travail sur cette chose."
"Hn."
"C'est une bonne chose, n'est-ce pas?" a ajouté une quatrième voix confuse. Buddy Wang, Lumen 4, a également piloté une variante OSDT du Rook, mais son jaune plutôt que le vert clair de son leader, et sa maîtrise sur le HFV était également inférieure. Il a accroché derrière les deux autres membres masculins de l'équipe, préférant se déplacer plus lentement. "Les boissons étaient des ordures de toute façon."
Le silence a rempli les communications. Les pirates n'ont pas encore réussi à se diriger vers le champ de tir.
"Lumen 4, je jugerai votre performance cette sortie," a parlé Francis, sa voix profonde et puissante tournait soudainement assez froid. "Soyez prêts pour un rapport détaillé quand nous reviendrons sur le navire."
"De toute façon," Marco coupa immédiatement, essayant d'empêcher Buddy d'irriter davantage son ailier avec tout le tact d'un taureau dans un magasin de porcelaine, "aller de l'avant et feu, Lydia. Rien de mal à tirer, et j'ai foi en ton but."
À l'intérieur de son cockpit, la jeune Jovian sourit, impatiente de tenter sa chance. Son écran de vision a zoomé sur le pirate Rook en tête de la formation de grand triangle, ciblant les réticules se concentrant sur le torse du char volant. Compte tenu de la vitesse et de la mobilité de la plupart des OS de type 2 basés dans l'espace, il s'agissait d'un tir sûr. L'énergie a commencé à s'accumuler dans le canon GT-010, une lumière bleue éclatante rayonnant vers l'extérieur alors que la quantité de particules exotiques commençait à augmenter en densité et en nombre.
"Gotcha!"
Une série intense de tirs bleus à travers le vide, criant à travers l'obscurité sur un parcours de collision avec le pirate.
C'est raté.
"Il s'est esquivé?" Elle s'est exclamée dans une surprise choquée. Ce n'était pas possible pour un Rook!
« Je prendrai mes cinq dollars, Lumen 3, » dit François sèchement (et ignorant le « Hé, vous n'avez pas accepté le pari!"), en regardant comme le trente-grand groupe de pirates immédiatement séparé de leur formation initiale, au lieu de consolider en deux groupes de quinze. Le Rook bleu que Lydia n'avait pas touché avait rejoint le coin le plus éloigné d'eux, montrant une manœuvrabilité bien plus grande que prévu. "Il semble que nos ennemis ont aussi amélioré leurs machines."
S'il y avait eu de l'excitation dans sa voix, aucun de ses coéquipiers n'a fait de commentaire. Au lieu de cela, le chef de l'équipe de Lumen était libre d'analyser la situation avant eux. Deux formations de Rooks, chacune contenant un Bradley. Ils ne se précipitaient plus directement vers eux, mais semblaient effectuer une manœuvre de flancage. C'était une tactique légitime : étant donné le nombre supérieur des forces pirates, encercler les membres de l'escadron HFV de Jannah serait plutôt efficace.
Ils seraient de dignes adversaires.
« C'est Lumen 1 pour toutes les unités », a-t-il dit, diffusant son message dans leurs communications. "Lumen Team s'engage dans le flanc le plus droit. En outre, les Rooks adverses, malgré leurs apparences, ont subi des refits inconnus pour mieux fonctionner dans le vide. S'il vous plaît, soyez averti."
ETA 4 secondes avant le contact.
-- Alors, mon ami, allons-nous avec l'habitude? a demandé Lumen 2.
ETA deux secondes avant le contact.
"Pourquoi pas?"
Contact établi!
Name: Lydia Popova
Age: 24
Gender: Female
???: N
Skills: Lydia, as a former stunt pilot, has developed an impeccable sense of timing and precision in her piloting, and has trained herself to better handle the stresses of a HFV. As such, she has an above average amount of experience compared to most pilots, especially thanks to a number of skirmishes with pirate forces. She has also been trained in the use of firearms and hand-to-hand combat, and her strong level of fitness has allowed her to leverage that training in the rare situations in which she must resort to them. Her poker skills are pretty good.
Appearance:

Personality: As befitting a former stunt pilot, Lydia Popova is quite a daredevil. She has a fondness for risky gambles, even when failure could easily end in her death, for in her eyes, risk is a source of excitement. Knowing that danger could easily be around the corner is something that brings her blood to boil, and as such it is quite common to see her engaging in somewhat unorthodox behaviour, especially on the battlefield. However, she has mellowed out significantly since her youth, and while she has changed very little in regards to her gambling mind (with her tactics generally conveying this trait of hers), the presence of her colleagues has restrained her, as she is unwilling to so easily risk their lives on a whim.
Indeed, there is a sense of insouciance to her, which has also contributed to her discipline issues. A generally upbeat person by nature, Lydia can easily be caught in the flow of the situation, to the extent where she has, from time to time, disregarded protocol. She can be overly familiar with others, even her superiors, and, like so many other of her crew members on the Jannah, is a constant target of Captain Pajari's exasperated reprimands in regards to proper decorum (outside of the ship's weekly poker nights). All in all, she's a pretty positive figure, but is frequently caught up in her own atmosphere to the detriment of others.
She's also a massive foodie.
History: One of the first children to be born within the Jovian Sphere, Lydia spent her early life growing up on the Europa Habitat, where her parents were key figures in the establishment of the colony. It was not a particularly exciting childhood, especially given the lackluster sophistication of the habitat, so when she turned fifteen, she immediately left her home for the colonies closer to the Earth Sphere, seeking a more fulfilling life. She would find it in a troupe of stunt pilots, slowly growing experienced to the operation of HFVs and other mechs in the process. Her affinity with the machines provided her with greater ease in learning their functions, and soon she fell in love with them.
By her nineteenth birthday, Lydia joined the military in order to become an official HFV pilot. After a one year training period, she was soon bouncing around the garrisons in the Earth Sphere, although she spent the majority of her time stationed at the L3 colony. However, her discipline issues, demeanour and general habits soon grew to annoy her superiors, and by the time the Pasiphae Habitat lost contact with the rest of the human settlements, Lydia had been booted straight into the OSDT, where she was assigned to the Jannah.
Her reassignment coincided with the inclusion of the GT-010 to the Jannah's roster of HFVs, and she became its main pilot as the third member of the ship's Lumen Team.
---
Model: OAC GT-010 "Popova Colours"
Specialty: Limited Production Artillery HFV
History: The tenth HFV manufactured by the Olympus Arms Company's factories on Mars, the GT-010 is a derivative of the GT-009 mass producton model designed to serve in the role of long-range fire support. Twelve units were initially constructed, but issues with company contracts, as well as rising part costs, resulted in a limited production run for the GT-010. Four of the units were eventually handed to the OSDT, with one assigned to each of the task force's three ships, and the last dismantled for spare parts on the Tin Hau.
Appearance: Standing at a height of 21 metres, the GT-010 is not particularly dissimilar to the GT-009, although it does possess greater armour and bulk than the machine it was based upon. While the standard colouration is butterscotch, like many other OAC machines, Lydia Popova's has been painted grey, and three streaks of bright blue, the emblem of the Jannah's Lumen Team, can be found on its right shoulder pauldron. A single cannon is mounted prominently over its left shoulder, while two missile banks have been built into its chest. Each arm is equipped with a shield, both of which can be utilised as weapon racks if the need arises. Its cranial unit is mounted with vulcans, and also possesses the three 'eyes' common to the OAC's line. Unlike some of its relatives, however, the GT-010 has two sensor optics, with the last one an improved camera. Every single one of them is a shining blue.
Features:
Sophisticated targeting sensors (x2)
Forearm-mounted shields (x2)
Integrated missile banks (x2)
Shoulder cannon
Armaments:
60mm Vulcan Gun (2x): mounted on cranial unit.
Mega Beam Cannon (1x): the shoulder cannon built into the GT-010 fires a powerful beam of concentrated exotic particles with deadly effect; however, it is a power-hungry weapon, and requires the HFV to be stationary when in use.
OAC.OnM 'Badger' Missile Banks (2x): the integrated missile banks on the GT-010's chest can launch eight missiles each at a time.
Beam Saber (1x): stored within recharge racks either on its body or within the shield, the beam sabers utilised by the GT-010 and other machines are, despite their name, essentially streams of plasma held within a magnetic field shaped into a blade.
OAC.OnR Bazooka II: contains sixteen rounds specialised against highly-armoured targets; they have a slow rate of fire.
Weaknesses: As an artillery unit, the GT-010 lacks strong close-range abilities beyond the use of its single beam saber, and thus is far less effective in such situations. While not considerably heavier or larger than the standard HFV, usage within Earth atmosphere is not recommended, as it was originally optimised for space operations. Its rate of attack is noticeably slower, and thus a fleet-footed HFV can clearly take advantage of its inability to react as quickly in regards to weapons use.


Buddy Wang, age 25, is the fourth member of the Jannah's Lumen Team. His callsign is Lumen 4, although when he formerly served with the People's Liberation Army Spaceforce he 'earned' the callsign of Forgetter of the 8, a dig at his complete and utter lack of social skills. It was this awkwardness and inability to read the atmosphere that managed to irritate enough people to shunt him and his two years worth of Earthside experience in the OSDT, serving in a realm that he had almost no familiarity with. Indeed, Buddy is more or less the team 'rookie', both in piloting and other activities.
Those in contact with him tend to perceive him as overly rude and blunt, to the extent where they assume he has a raging hatred for everything. The fact of the matter, however, is that he is a socially awkward fellow who has no idea how to deal with people properly. He stoically and strangely jogs through life without a filter between his brain and his mouth, which really gets him into a lot less trouble than it should. The patience of his Lumen teammates has been a great help to keeping him away from bad situations, no matter how much condescension he seems to aim in their general direction.
He's voiced by Nobunaga Shimazaki.
---
Model: OS Type 2 "Rook" (OSDT Specification) "Wang Colours"
Specialty: Mass Production General Purpose HFV
History: One of the many variants of the standard Rook is the (OSDT Specification). Due to increased demand for space-capable HFVs and the loss of US support following the dissolution of the Omni Program, the OSDT took it upon themselves to request refits and upgrades for a number of their existing Rook units, thereby allowing their aging machines to reduce the technological gap between them and the more expensive, newer HFVs. While the (OSDT Specification) still lagged behind recent developments in HFV technology, it was an upgrade that the OSDT's base Rooks sorely needed. Only twelve units were successfully upgraded, with two of them having been assigned to the Jannah.
Appearance: The OSDT's variant of the US mainstay HFV does not differ radically from original design, maintaining the similarity to a bipedal tank that essentially defines the OS Type-2. It stands slightly taller, at a height of 18.8m, and while its mass is generally the same, its effect on the Rook's mobility is lessened by the (OSDT Specification)'s focus on space performance. Indeed, the refitted mech possesses prominent multi-directional thrusters, allowing it to manoeuvre better in vacuum, as well as two, slimmed-down accelerators on its legs. While the rotating leg shield has been removed, the leg armour and the inner frame has been reinforced, thus maintaining adequate protection. Indeed, the OSDT's Rook has a generally bulkier appearance, having layered on more armour to increase its survivability. The two large shoulder shields remain, but can now detach to be deployed as cover. An antenna now protrudes from its cranial unit instead of utilising the shields, a sign of technological progress over the years. Buddy's personal unit has also been painted yellow, and also possesses the three bright-blue streaks on one shield, the symbol of Lumen Team.
Features:
Long range sensors
Detachable shoulder shield (x2)
Beam-treated heavy armour
Bazooka autoloading backpack
Armaments:
550mm Missile Launcher (x1): A bazooka that fires 550mm caliber missiles. It uses a double barrel type of magazine that can hold up to ten missiles at a time. The rear barrel can be adjusted via a slide based on the range of the target and the ammunition type currently used. The weapon is reloaded from a backpack mounted autoloader that can hold up to 50 missiles before needing a reload.
60mm Chest Vulcan (x2): Two 60mm Vulcans are attached to the hardpoints on the Rook's chest, providing it with the increased application and versatility provided to other HFVs by their 80mm head vulcans.
OAC.OnPX Long Beam Rifle: Fires a stream of particles; very hot, do not stand in the way. The "Long" variant of Olympus Arms Corporation's standard beam rifle possesses a greater range, and can be used as a melee weapon as well. However, it is more power-hungry than the standard beam rifle.
Beam Saber (2x): A stream of plasma held within a magnetic field shaped into a blade.
Weaknesses: While the addition of extra thrusters and the complete rehaul of the power generator to meet modern standards has drastically changed the Rook's operational time and general manoeuvrability/speed in comparison to other HFVs, its status as an upgraded ancient machine still keeps it from catching up with more modern mechs. It is still noticeably slower, a fact that enemies can easily take advantage of. Its beam saber lacks a recharge rack, so also has limited operation, and its continued reliance on ammunition is a major issue, especially when its mounted ammunition hoppers are easy targets. Buddy's increased amount of beam weapons can also pose a small issue to power.