Commander's Rounds

Entry 111: Finding a Place

"Looks like they're getting ballsy again."

Kii had detected two high-speed humanoid weapons moving in. The day was proof that no mission was routine until it was over, as a short-range convoy mission had turned into a free-for-all with Siren forces that hadn't attacked so far south in months. The lighter attacks had distracted most of her screen, the aircraft were busy hunting enemy jets and support carriers, so now there were two enemies left for her and her backup. The enemies were different though. The dead-eyed humanoid machines only had some token ranged weaponry, energy shields to defend against smaller guns, extremely powerful engines, and a pair of long blades, one in each hand.

Kii drew her sword. "Algérie, are you seeing this too?"

The cruiser spun her two-handed mace as she readied herself. "Oh, I assure you, it's hard to miss. And this situation didn't unfold by chance, either. They meant to draw off the others so they could test their new toys against the experts."

Kii smiled. "Then they won't live to regret it!" She did a quick check to make sure the cruiser was going to follow her and then she dashed in to meet the foe. Her blood was up because the enemy had just handed her a fight she wanted on a plate. She couldn't stop herself from smiling.

Kii used the reach of her long sword to keep her opponent at a distance she was comfortable with, beginning by testing the skill of her autonomous foe. It became apparent fairly quickly that the new model was technically proficient at least, as it didn't make any of the beginner blunders- It was aggressive without being greedy, it tried to take the initiative away from her, and it didn't think it was unstoppable blender just because it had two swords in hand. There were swift clashes of metal as Kii fended off her enemy while looking for its weakness.

Algérie was in a similar bind, but the sheer size and weight of her weapon seemed to confuse her opponent at times, as though it didn't have any available reference for encountering a mace that huge. That made Algérie's opponent warier of her moves, and the fact that she could swing the weapon with such speed seemed to reduce her foe's nerve for a moment. In time, though, it moved in, pressing Algérie and attempting to take advantage of the fact that her weapon had a limited striking surface.

Kii was too busy dealing with her own problems to support Algérie, and as she dueled with her enemy, a thought struck her that her opponent, her Siren foe had learned every technique in the book, and she was making no headway. While she was stalemated, she thought a bit more intensely about the well-studied nature of her opponent, and that gave her an idea. She tested the same swing over and over to see what might happen, and each time she did the Siren weapon had the same response, down to the smallest movement. Her smile grew wider, and the fur on her fuzzy ears stood on end as she realized exactly what was going on.

I knew it! They only read the book!

Her cruiser companion had not yet come to the same conclusion, but she could tell more and more that there was something off about her enemy. It was aggressive, and she'd rather not be touched by those blades, but it didn't really seem to have much in the way of specific means of dealing with someone who was wielding such a giant mace, which gave her more room to breathe than she thought she would be getting- it took her a moment to understand her enemy's cautiousness, but once she did, she went on the offense herself.

Kii, on the other hand, could think of one thing she could do to mess with her opponent. She pretended to be on the back foot for a moment, and when her opponent slammed its tow blades into her own, she oversold the hit, throwing herself backwards from the blow and even feigning disarmament, dropping her sword onto the water where it bobbed up and down thanks to its buoyant grip. She feigned helplessness long enough for her opponent to commit to a finishing blow, and then cranked up her engines, dodged underneath, and scooped her sword out of the water, swinging it upwards in a smooth motion. A trail of sparkling seawater followed the path of her heavy blade as it passed through the Siren humanoid's midsection, causing the robotic aggressor to drop to the sea in two pieces.