A bouquet of disdain; A box of risky bets

[Mr.Fabulous]

*BUZZ*"Alright Jaden, I'm going to show you a few of the tricks I learned when it comes to using the SNAC.*BUZZ*

*BUZZ*"Now, I'm certainly not the best pilot, but you should at least learn how to use it without blowing yourself up."*BUZZ*

The Gforce and Jaden's newly-commissioned and -christened Roc, the Princesa.de.Jade, were drifting around one of the Hokkaido clouds; within the purple gases and bright particles of the nebula were the occasional floating rocks scattered everywhere. The background was still... silent... serene...

... Jaden, however, was practically shaking in anxiety, but she did her best to hide her fear, *BUZZ*"... r-right..."*BUZZ* she stammered.

*BUZZ*"Now, here's a very basic question, but so many pilots forget: when you fire your SNAC, will the shot comes from your left or right?"*BUZZ*

Jaden looked to her sides, and remembers the SNAC to be on her east-side of the ship, *BUZZ*"Right....?"*BUZZ*

*BUZZ*"Good, remember that. The SNAC has a better chance of hitting its target if it's on the side your passing the target."*BUZZ*

*BUZZ*"... Cause the SNAC can't rotate to the opposite side with the mounting-limitations, is that correct? It can only rotate to the right, and not to the left?"*BUZZ* She informs David.

*BUZZ*"That... and your cockpit is in the way. It may seem like a simple thing now, but when you have an enemy capital firing at you and its escorts on your arse, you wont have time to think about where it is."*BUZZ*

*BUZZ*"ehm...? oh... another form of accidental suicide...? That sure would make my day, si..."*BUZZ* She tries to put on a grin, but it cringes up into a horrified crack.

*BUZZ*"Alright, lock on to one of the little rocks floating round here and hit it with the SNAC, you'll see just how much power that thing has."*BUZZ*

Jaden's eyes widen in terror, *BUZZ*"... ehm... like... now? Uhhhh..."*BUZZ*

She starts the activation sequence to the gun, then power starts rerouting towards the SNAC, and the cockpit soon starts to hum with power as the cannon gathers up the energy to convert into raw, brutal antimatter-antimatter in a matter of seconds; she starts to murmer a sort of mantra as the energy-meter begins to ascend towards the 5 Megajoule-mark, "... Fire the gun at 5 Megajoules... fire the---"

All of a sudden, the meter jumps from 1 to 6 Megajoules in a few seconds; she basically panicks as the SNAC overcharges and starts to beep loudly in bright-red warning tones, "ACK!!! It's been added with a hastener! Where the FRAK is the firing button?! Frak FRAK FRAK!!!"

Quickly, she manages to find the firing button, and upon pressing it the cannon launches a shot so large and packing a lot of recoil it pushed the ship back by 30 meters.

David laughs long and hard as he watches the Roc move backwards with that one shot, *BUZZ*"It'll do that to ya!"*BUZZ*

Jaden, however, takes in lots of heavy breaths at what seemed like a close-call, "... Oh my God... Oh my God... Oh my..."

Then she suddenly witnesses the shot hit something from the distance; the resulting explosion bursts outward in a brilliant, blue explosion that's 200-meters in diameter, which she couldn't help but at least smirk, "... Mmmm.... pretty..."

*BUZZ*"Panic a little did you?"*BUZZ* David chuckles in laughter.

*BUZZ*"YOU didn't tell me you installed a power rerouter that connected the darn thing DIRECTLY to the power core, which would enable it to be fed with energy in a matter of a few seconds instead of half a minute!"*BUZZ* She scowls at David.

*BUZZ*"Well yea... In battle the thing already takes too damn long to charge.*BUZZ*

*BUZZ*"Also, you may find the workload high, remember that the Roc normally has a crew of 2, not 1."*BUZZ*

She grins wryly to herself, *BUZZ*"... great... now not only do I have to fly the ship, but I ALSO have to manage the right calibration for the SNAC shot as well?"*BUZZ*

*BUZZ*"Well, the Upholder and Havok only had 1 pilot, so you'll get used to it."*BUZZ*

*BUZZ*"But those models had at least a built-in software to take away the added pilot! This Roc still doesn't have that luxury yet...*BUZZ*

*BUZZ*"... oh well..."*BUZZ*

*BUZZ*"Did you think I didn't think of that? You've got as much workload as me in that thing."*BUZZ*

Jaden tries to recall what she learned, "eh... oh right. The SNAC's at the right... the right... mmmm...

*BUZZ*"Sooo... I think I'll try it again..."*BUZZ* She starts the activation sequence for the gun once again, and the SNAC restarts its power cycle; just as the energy-meter reaches the 1 MJ-mark, which was where the trouble started, she starts counting; she finds out it takes 2 seconds to get to the 5 MJ of power, "VAMOS!!!" She presses the firing button in the nick of time, and the shot comes out cleanly and effortlessly, *BUZZ*"... phew... 2 seconds..."*BUZZ*

The shot hits something, but though the explosion isn't as spectacular as the first one, it's observed this shot is cleaner and more uniform, *BUZZ*"... but still... firing the SNAC's one thing... piloting the ship, AND firing the SNAC is another, heheheh..."*BUZZ*

*BUZZ*"You'll soon get used to it...*BUZZ*

*BUZZ*"Now that you know how to fire it, time to hit some targets, set your ship to go at 40 m/s in a straight line. When the SNAC is ready, try and hit one of the little rocks you can see.*BUZZ*

*BUZZ*"Once you get the hang of that, increase your speed to 80, then 120 and so on till your at full power.*BUZZ*

*BUZZ*"I don't expect you to get all the way today, but try and come out of do that practice as often as you can."*BUZZ*

*BUZZ*"Ehm... a... alright..."*BUZZ* Jaden activates the engines of the Princesa.de.Jade, and heads off in a straight line at the 40-meters/second speed-mark.

She basically multi-tasked the whole way: whilst trying to keep the ship stabilized with ship-controls that usually needed full attention upon a single person, she also had to quickly switch her attention to the charging and aiming of the SNAC, which was already an entirely-different entity by itself; it was like trying to drive a Military Tank on one side, whilst trying to aim the main cannon on the other, "Fr... frak..." Soon, the ship starts drifting off several degrees as she adjusts the SNAC calibration, which she then goes back to the flight controls, but almost immediately the SNAC-overcharge-warning starts beeping loudly, with the mark alredy reaching 6 MJ, "Ah, FRAK!!!"

*BUZZ*"You know how long it takes to charge! Don't look at the meter, just get the timing right."*BUZZ*

She quickly tries to aim the SNAC at one of the rocks as the ship still regained its momentum, and fires it; but it was too late: the ship had already went 3-degrees off-center, and the shot whizzes by the rock with several meters to spare, "... Awww FRA---"

Suddenly the shot hits something, and the explosion of a ship is seen in the thickness; upon squinting her ocular implant, Jaden catches that the target affected was a GC ship that was just passing by at cruise speed, and it somewhat managed to get an unlucky hit with the SNAC bolt, "... wha...?"

"Hmm... That's not good..." He rubs his chin in disbelief.

She pauses for a minute, then she screams out excitedly in seeming-triumph, *BUZZ*"CHIDO!!! MY FIRST SNAC KILL!"*BUZZ*

*BUZZ*"No Jaden... That just screws up their shield for a while... The ship is still there, and I'd say the pilot is somewhat angry."*BUZZ*

*BUZZ*"... oh right..."*BUZZ*

All of a sudden, scanners pick up a hostile target: it was the affected GC ship, which was, upon closer inspection an Eagle, from the east-side, the thrusters at full power, and heading towards them at max speed, "BANZAAAIIII!!!!"

"Awww [A.D.M.I.N. Censored]!!! Jaden steers the ship around just in time before the fighter shots almost hit the Roc.

*BUZZ*"Hey hey hey! Stop shooting, we're just having some practice, that shot wasn't aimed at you!"*BUZZ* David activates his weapons just in case the pilot decides to continue.

The GC-female responds in an obviously-furious tone, *BUZZ*"THAT WAS A SNAC! AND I WAS IN CRUISE, YOU INFERIOR GAIJIN! That shot would've only hit if it was well-aimed ambush! Now, TIME TO DIE!!!*BUZZ* Soon, system-wide transmissions for backup for more GC fighters are heard across the comms.

*BUZZ*"Ay, porbida! David! Let's get the hell out of here, si?"*BUZZ*

David sighs before responding, *BUZZ*"Fine... We'll do it your way."*BUZZ* He opens fire on the GC ship, which is almost destroyed in the first volley of IRONHAMMERS and ARCHANGLES, *BUZZ*"Now...Either you call it quits and leave us alone, or I finish the job on you and your buddies that are on their way!"*BUZZ* His threat was cold and direct.

The GC's tone calmed a bit, *BUZZ*"tsk... I'm clearly outmatched..."*BUZZ* The Eagle, now leaking coolant, flees without another moment's notice; transmissions eventually follow, saying that engagement should be avoided for the time being.

David turns the Gforce back to face the Princesa.de.Jade again, *BUZZ*"... Alright...*BUZZ*

*BUZZ*"Jaden, you can get back to practicing now. Remember: you don't need to get the 5 exactly. Focus on just hitting what your aiming at and try and get it around the 5."*BUZZ*

*BUZZ*"I had a 4 week course to learn how to use it properly, I expect it'll take you just as long."*BUZZ*

A facepalm is heard on the other side, *BUZZ*"... What rotten luck... at the first day of practice I already start antagonizing people with only the second shot... ugh..."*BUZZ*

He only laughs at the remark, *BUZZ*"Don't worry about it, the locals of Kusari aren’t the nicest bunch, that's for sure."*BUZZ*

... But very slight sobbing is heard from the comms on Jaden's side...

After a few more moments pass she goes back, her tone of voice now somewhat sad, *BUZZ*"... uh... can we... stop for today, David? ... if it's alright with you... I'll... try to run over the simulations on the Holo-room instead... SNIFF..."*BUZZ*

*BUZZ*"Eh... Sure. It's not something your going to pick up in a day... or a week. Drill, drill, drill, that's what I did."*BUZZ*

*BUZZ*"... Y... yeah... let's go..."*BUZZ*

The two ships soon head off towards the New Tokyo Jump Gate, disappearing into the denseness of the cloud...

---

Factions Involved In

| |


[Click the logos to learn more]

:::

Click the links below for more of my content!
>>> Roleplay Info & Character Feedback Thread
>>> DeviantArt
>>> Youtube