Faster Than Angels | Part 41.0
The referenced album title of Part 40 was W:/2016ALBUM/ by deadmau5.
[FTA|s3_1.0: Part 41.0] The Beginning of the End
Ikebukuro, Toshima, Tokyo, Japan
"'The universe has a wonderful sense of humour. The trick is learning how to take a joke.'
"I believed that right until it blew up in my face.
"My story started a long time ago, but this is where it becomes relevant.
"The world thrives on one of two things. The first is an unhealthy obsession with Anti-Gravity racing. I do understand why it would be popular, but not to this degree! It's quite off putting, to be honest. The second? Information. That's where I come in. See, everyone has pieces of information they would pay to obtain. I gather this information and sell it to those who both require it and, of course, have the necessary funds to purchase it. This is an Information Broker.
"2215 was the single most eventful year in my life, both due to the information I had obtained, and the recent... hobby I had taken up. With information as my primary weapon, I shall be the sole individual to bring the Anti-Gravity racing world to it's knees."
------------
Day 6.
01:14:03
In the dark alley, the man lay in wait, for when his contact would eventually arrive. Soon, the sound of a car filled the alley, however, he kept his head down, leaning against the wall. The driver exited and walked over to the man, who in turn pushed off the wall and walked toward him, the headlights of the car bathing him in light, giving a full view of his appearance. The driver faltered for a moment, before closing the distance between them.
"Codeword." Was the first word to come out of his mouth.
The man who waited replied with "Anarchy-46, Harmony-96."
"Very well, then. Now, the info."
"Do you have the necessary funds?"
The driver pulled out a wad of cash, and held it up. The man held out his hand, which prompted a quizzical expression to appear on the driver's face.
"Oh, please. You have a car. I don't. You can catch up to me if I run, but I won't. I'm a very honest man."
The driver then slowly placed the money in his outstretched hand. He then flicked through the notes, counting them.
"Fantastic, that's enough. Now..."
He dropped the folder full of sheets of paper from under his arm into his other hand, before holding it out to the driver, who took it and started flicking through the data.
"Alright, thanks."
"Any time."
With that, the man got in his car and departed, the other man leaving several minutes afterwards, a smooth, successful transaction completed.
------------
Day 7.
12:39:28
In a certain apartment complex, a man sat typing rapidly at one computer, with many others sitting around, running programs and downloading data. He checked the clock, then stopped the programs, allowing them to download the last bit of data, before shutting them down, unplugging the small flash drive from the computer he sat at, and departed the building, heading outside to the city.
Outside, the man made a beeline for his destination, a vending machine that dispensed food. Throughout the entirety of that day, his facial expression was the same: unsmiling. When he reached the vending machine, he fished out some change, pushed the coins in the slot, and jabbed a button below a can of oden. The machine sent the can to the bottom, where he was able to take it out and eat the contents.
That man was known as Rei Kurokawa, an information broker that had started working in Ikebukuro several days earlier. He was a fairly tall man, his attire consisting of an all black suit, black tech sunglasses and, occasionally, a long black coat. Because of the sunglasses, not one person could see his whole face, which was intentional on his part. The glasses provided a secondary function, though. It acted as a miniature computer, able to display data that he had downloaded, so he could read it, study it, while he was on the move. This proved useful, as he was investigating a certain subject, his major project.
Before he came to work in Japan, though, Rei went by a different name, had a different job and lived a different life. However, that didn't matter to him anymore, as he had, for the most part, put that past behind him. The cause of him dropping his previous life was all attributed to something he briefly mentioned in passing, an event he called "The Cataclysm". Nothing about that event was explained, and the only people who did know about it were those he had left behind.
While he ate, he studied a report pertaining to that certain subject, one published several decades ago. It was in a surprising amount of detail, explaining all the back-alley deals, corruption and terrorism a certain group his subject covered had created. Naturally, the existence of the document meant that the group was forcibly disbanded. However, he sensed that they hadn't completely been rid of this world and still continued to exist, even deeper and more hidden than before.
That was the true intentions of his investigation, to pull them out of hiding and give every last one of them the justice he thought they deserved. In addition to that one report, he had lifted terabytes of data from top secret servers around the world and yet, it was still not enough, as he was still pulling data.
7 surviving members had been brought to his attention through the data he pulled, however, he had reason to believe there were a couple more than just that. That was the reason for his unsmiling expression: His knowledge of the group surviving on, spreading corruption throughout the globe.
He poked around the can as he read, then looked down into it. It was empty. With a click of his tongue, he shoved the can into one of the recycling bins beside the vending machine and headed back for his apartment. As he was walking back, one of many phones he had started ringing. Pulling it out from his pocket, he answered it.
"Kurokawa Delivery?"
"Can I get the usual?" His caller spoke.
"'The usual'? Fine, you know the price. What will it be this time?"
"Ah, it's not for me, it's for my company."
"Well, I don't care who it's for, just as long as I get paid for it."
"Of course you will."
"Right, what are you after, then, specifically?"
"Specifications, technical data on a certain product of a competitor company of ours."
"A little more specific?"
"I'll send you the details later."
"Fine. Later."
Hanging up, Rei entered the small apartment in the complex. As soon as he was in, he booted up his computers all at once, through a single control panel, a low hum filling the room. As they loaded their booting procedures, he pulled a small storage device from his pocket and plugged it in the desktop computer sitting in the centre of the back wall. A couple new lines were added to the boot screen, before it instantly changed to a desktop.
Rei sat at that computer, started a few processes, and started reading his mail. True to the word of the caller, there was an encrypted mail sent to him, containing the details of his company and the information what they required. However, what he saw in the decrypted message made him pull his phone out and rapidly mash at the keypad, calling the man back.
"What exactly are you pulling here?" He asked calmly, yet with a subtle hint of fury.
"I... don't understand?" Came the reply.
"You understand perfectly. Let me make this clear to you. I'm never getting involved in this. You can take your corruption and shove it in someone else's face. You hear me? I will not accept anything involving that. Now, do not call me again."
Hanging up and tossing the phone aside, Rei just stared angrily at the decrypted message, at the information he was provided...
"My company is F12000 team Gravitesse Anti-Gravité. We require data on Goteki 45's racing craft so we can develop updates to our craft in order to gain the advantage over our competitors."
<load: "S3_ARCHANGEL_THEME_01"_>
Faster Than Angels | Part 42.1
The referenced song title of Part 41 was The Beginning of the End by Nine Inch Nails.
[FTA|s3_2.1: Part 42.1] Rumours
<22150205>
Sunday, February 5th, 2215
Wolstenholme Point, Devon, England.
11:21:32
A new year, a new F12000 season. Several things had changed between the end of the 2212 season and the start of 2215. Most notably, the establishment of the Anti-Gravity Purity Alliance. It had started off as an alliance between two former teams, Auricom and AG Systems, both of whom had left the league within one month of one another in 2213. Over the following months, the Alliance had grown to include Jennter and Angelus, yet those two teams were still competing.
New rules were added for the 2214 season. Due to Angelus, Syncline and a couple other teams' Super Weapons dealing no direct damage, a new rule was added effectively banning them. To combat the rule, Angelus kept with its electromagnetic-based weaponry and developed a defensive cloak. Syncline and the other teams also developed new Super Weapons for the new league.
Similarities between the two seasons were also prevalent. For the two years after Kyoko revealed herself as Tarah Andrews, and was pulled off the team due to her being infected by The Condition, Angelus continued to race with only Gareth Ardos, the former second pilot. Another similarity was one that had shocked Brandon 2 years ago. The one in charge of and had announced the official start of the F12000 there in Wolstenholme Point, along with both the 2213 and '14 seasons, was...
"Welcome, everyone, to the 2215 season of the F12000 Professional Anti-Gravity Racing League!" Chris Scarborough began.
The Executive Chairman of the F12000 Anti-Gravity Racing Commission had somehow survived being caught up in the tank explosion that happened in Perth. Unsurprisingly, that had left Brandon speechless upon seeing that man introduce the 2213 F12000 League.
"Before we begin the race, there is something I would like to set straight. There have been some rumours and theories regarding this season. For now, I can confirm at least one of them."
At that point, two craft rose up from the pit to the starting grid, about half an hour before the race was scheduled to start.
<go | andy hunter°_>
From the first craft's grid, position 7, two similarly dressed individuals stood beneath the monstrous craft. While both of them wore a Standardised F12000 Specification Racing Suit, the girl with short, slightly sticking out black hair wore a pair of classic light blue-tinted sunglasses, and stood with her hands on her hips with a rather smug look on her face. In contrast, the short haired man, wearing an ushanka, bore a slight scowling expression, and seemed like he'd rather be somewhere else.
Upon the craft and two apparent pilots coming into view, Chris continued.
"That rumour being... Tigron Enterprises' return to AG racing!"
Brandon's usual smile had broken. His face had instantly transformed into a scowl, and his hands clenched into fists.
"...no... Not. Again. The FX350 was enough. Now I have to deal with them directly for this entire season!?"
The thought of having to deal with two heavy-shielded craft at once brought a rather strong fear to the man, and he let out an instinctive shudder.
------------
Meanwhile, in another certain team's control room, upon seeing the team return once more, the race manager spat out their drink, narrowly avoiding any critical systems.
"Call Felix. Now! Code Nightmare Fire Black... GO!"
------------
"Now, we have half an hour until the race starts, so our datacasters may proceed with their pre-race shows! But first, a word from our sponsors."
As Chris concluded his introduction to the 2215 season, Brandon had remained in his pose, looking angrily at the two craft on the track. As the team spent the rest of the half hour performing final checks and ensuring everyone was ready, one of the analysts sitting in the control room walked over to Brandon.
"Uh, hey... you alright?"
"I'm thinking... leave me alone." Brandon's reply was in a rather controlled, emotionless tone, as if he was making a conscious attempt to suppress his anger, as he continued to watch the scene unfolding on the track.
On the grid, various datacast reporters had rushed over to get their interviews with the two new pilots. After a hoard of intermixed questions, the girl raised a hand to stop them, speaking in a heavy Russian accent.
"My name is Natalia Kireyeva, I am... lead pilot for Tigron. No team shall be shown mercy, we are here for ultimate victory. Although, looking at some certain competition, it would be easier than we thought. 'Pure Racing', hah! What a load of crap. The only way to effectively win is to annihilate the weakling competition! 'Pure' racing is not taking it seriously, not to mention that 'Pure' racing by their definition does not even exist, weapons have always been part of AG racing!"
Finally, after that, the race was about to start. All the other craft rose up on the grid, including Angelus' sole craft, piloted by Gareth Ardos. Upon seeing the craft ready to set off, he simply picked up the comms system, and spoke just five words.
"...avoid Tigron, by any means."
3, 2, 1... GO!
<12:00:00_>
<wolstenholme point: med rev_>
<race: lap 01 of 64_>
02. |
SCA308.0. 7.329 |
# 7 |
Lucia Scarlatti |
Crinale |
F0-RG08/01536 |
|
... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
05. |
ARD889.0.19.194 |
#19 |
Gareth Ardos |
Angelus |
AX2.2_r9 |
|
... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
07. |
KIR311.0.67.297 |
#67 |
Natalia Kireyeva |
Tigron |
K-Bystrota v1.4 |
|
08. |
TUR847.1.13.329 |
#13 |
Leon Turner |
Crinale |
F0-RG08/01536 |
|
... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
13. |
VAL027.1.66.297 |
#66 |
"Valkyria" |
Tigron |
K-Bystrota v1.4 |
|
The instant the craft shot off the line, Brandon's eyes widened.
"...that's impossible! How could that even...?"
That initial confusion had changed into realisation, which caused Brandon to have yet another moment of anger at the Russian team, slamming the desk with his fists.
"...of... course. Straight back into the illegal sh*t, eh? Not even one fair f*cking race!?"
Several of the technicians in the room looked back as Brandon yelled out.
"Brandon, chill out. What's up?"
"Bring up the regulations, now! ...P-Please, sorry."
A few taps of a screen later, the official rules and regulations were brought up. Brandon began to scroll through the document at rapid speed, until he reached Article 3, detailing the regulations for the craft's power unit.
"Blah blah blah, type limits, size regulations, power control, minimum power out- wait."
Turning to the rest of the people in the room, he asked a rather simple question.
"...where's the rest?"
"The rest?"
"Yeah, there was a subsection in Article 3, Section 2. From memory, it said 'Power systems must be a single unit. Systems such as Hive-type or cluster units are prohibited.'"
"Huh... that sounds familiar."
"Yeah... tell you what, bring up the regulations, this time revision 2214."
"Okay."
Bringing up the previous year's regulations, Brandon scrolled back down to Article 3, finding the phase he had, indeed seen.
"Article 3, Section 2, Subsection 4. 'Power systems are required to be comprised of a singular primary unit. Systems such as Hive-type or Cluster Thrust Units are prohibited.' It's right here! Those bastards secretly eliminated that phrase from the regulations... for what reason!? Just to let Tigron back in!? To legalise their technology just for that!? Bullsh*t!"
Faster Than Angels | Part 43.1
Hahaha!
The referenced album title of Part 42.1 was Rumours by Fleetwood Mac.
[FTA|s3_3.1: Part 43.1] First Contact
Ikebukuro, Toshima, Tokyo, Japan
"Why do people race? That is a simple answer: There are many reasons. Mostly, it is due to the racers' love of racing. Other times, it's for the fame, the money. If it's due to that, the pure art of racing is lost. With those that love to race, however, there are a couple of subsidiary reasons. They may do so to relieve some stress or anger, or to prove that they are a good racer. Other times, it may be to sort their own thoughts, as a way to unwind..."
------------
Day 10.
21:39:23
A man stood outside a parking garage, wearing a black suit and a full length coat, which flapped in the wind. Unlocking one of them, he opened the passenger's side door of a sporty looking car, taking a full face helmet from the seat. He put it on, pulling the face part down instantly, ensuring no-one saw his face as he pulled his shades off. He threw the glasses into the glove box and closed the door, walking over to the driver's side, getting in the car proper.
He turned on the electrics and checked his route. Once he had input the destination on the GPS, he brought up the car's internal computer, inputting the values he had received from the computer program. Once that was done, he engaged the ignition, starting the car up, before putting it in gear and driving off for his current destination.
After the global depression in the 2170s and early 80s, and AG technology for sporting purposes had started to make a comeback, street racing had also made a comeback in Japan. This was only made more prominent by the release of an amass of sports cars produced all around the world. Japanese car manufacturers brought back new, up-to-date models of their much older sports models, which was referred to as the "retro sports boom". Nissan brought back their Silvia, Z and Skyline GT-R models, Toyota began production once more of their Supra and MR2 models, while bringing new cars to the roster, Honda, their Type-R range, Subaru with STi and most recently, Mazda, with help from Angelus, brought back their RX sports car, this time bringing the 'RX' name back to its roots since the RX-9, the car being powered by one of two co-developed rotary engines.
The car the man was driving was not known to anyone, meaning it was either an extremely rare or a very new model. However, it looked to be a quite fast model indeed. His location was near to his home of Ikebukuro, Shomaru Pass in Hanno, Saitama. Driving to the pass, the man's style seemed to be very civilised, as if he had never raced in a day in his life. However, that man was confident enough to take on the fastest downhill racer of that pass.
------------
21:43:54
Shomaru Pass, Hanno, Saitama, Japan
It was a late night on a Saturday, so most members of the street racing team Redlines were out on Shomaru, meeting up to hang out, race, or just otherwise play about on the course. At the top of the pass, talking to one member of the team and personal friend, was Kazuya Iwasaki, the leader of the team, regarded by many people as the fastest down Shomaru Pass.
"...well, surely it was a crapbox, but it just caught my eye... oh, hold on. Yeah?"
His conversation was cut off by someone calling him, it was someone standing by the bottom of the pass.
"Someone's coming up the pass, quite quickly I might add."
"Not one of ours?"
"Nope."
"Interesting... we'll have to see if they're travelling or racing. Thanks."
Putting his phone away, the man continued his conversation, right up until the sound of a car's engine ended it.
"That sounds... interesting." Kazuya noted, looking out towards the pass.
As he did, he saw the car come up into view. It was unlike anything he had seen before. Like everyone else, he did not recognise the car being driven, as it drove up to the parking lot they were standing in and stopped. The door opened up and along the car's roof, the helmeted driver getting out.
"Iwasaki Kazuya?" He asked.
Kazuya stepped aside, making himself seen so as to not be blocked by his friend. "That's me. Who are you?"
"Call me... 'Archangel'. I've heard of your status, and I wish to put it to the test."
Kazuya chuckled. "Are you challenging me?"
"If you are the fastest down here, yes."
The man, despite the seemingly rookie mistake of challenging the fastest right out of the blue, did have an aura of seriousness about him, as if he were completely confident he could win. It seemed Kazuya had either picked up on that or wanted to teach the new guy a lesson, because...
"Fine. Challenge accepted."
"Fantastic."
Kazuya turned to his friend. "Can you do the countdown? I'll get everyone to move out the way for us."
"I... really!? Are you really going to race him!?"
"Sceptical of my racing talent?"
"No, it's just..."
Moving him away from the man in the helmet, Kazuya's friend voiced his opinion, whispering.
"Are you really going to waste your time on owning him?"
"Yeah, might as well. I'll show him how to not mess with the fastest!"
"...you know... you're right." He smiled. "Go get him."
With that, Kazuya contacted all the members, telling them to get back and move out of the way, due to a race beginning. As they did so, the two racers lined up to start. Getting okays from members situated from all over the course, the countdown began, as they revved their engines.
"Counting down! 5! 4! 3! 2! 1! GO!"
------------
Driver |
'Archangel' |
Team |
N/A |
Car |
Unknown |
Year |
Unknown, possibly 2200s |
Type |
Sports, 2-door |
Layout |
M4 |
Plate |
·4 07, classification 390 |
Colour |
Black |
Engine |
Unknown modified engine, 332PS |
Weight |
Unknown |
Custom Parts |
"Archangel" Body Kit, Unknown engine modification, Azure Blue Laser headlights, Unknown other systems. |
|
vs. |
岩崎和哉 (Iwasaki Kazuya) |
Redlines |
Mazda RX-14 (FJ3S) |
2212 |
Sports Coupé, 2-door |
FR |
93-25, classification 356 |
Vintage Red |
Modified 1.6L 2-Rotor Twin-turbo 16X-REW/A, 340PS |
1137kg |
Mazdaspeed Front Bumper, Mazdaspeed Spoiler, 2.0 Mazdaspeed turbo gauge, Mazdaspeed muffler, bucket racing seats. |
|
New Jennter Racing Stories - Part 1
Arc: NJRS - #001
Title: History Repeats Itself
Wolstenholme Point, Devon, United Kingdom
Sunday, 5th February 2215
10:21.11
The two new Jennter JAG-F12.212/5 craft were disassembled in the Jennter pits, ready for routine checks prior to the first race of the season.
Nico Bovier was found scratching his head while looking at the ships - Their appearance being much more sleek and less intimidating as the years prior. The team dropped from the top to the low midfield.
"It is embarassing" he sighed "They cut our wings - quite literally."
"At least many bits of the existing control systems were recycled, the focus was laid on aerodynamics the past years, but the unique feature of the previous F12.212 series craft was the complete handling package." noted Aurora, the newest spec AG racing android and second pilot of the team this year.
"Yep, yep." sighed Nico while nodding "This company can do so much, but building AG craft that actually turn is not in our hands at the moment."
"Checkup complete!" announced the lead engineer, a new face at the front of the team in form of a slender and surprisingly young woman "I'd request everyone to not stand too close to the craft, we'll test the engines now."
>
>Jennter JAG-ESS v8.7b
>booting -\|/-\|/-
>0% ... 21% ... 34% ... 46% ... 86% ... 98% ... 99% ... 100%
>Bootup complete
>Type: Jennter JAG-F12.212/5
>
"Conducting a system check. Jordan, please proceed." said engineer commanded.
The systems mechanic Jordan took a seat at the control tower located in the pits, it didn't take long for the basic tests.
"Systems respond." was his lethargic response, laying back in his seat "Yes, the thrust vectoring too."
"That's no thrust vectoring, this is a poor excuse." the woman spouted "But I am sincerely looking forward to our newest development in pipe!"
"Fine, time to start the engines." she continued with her protocol and opened a holographic output of the computer screen to check the values while looking at the engines themselves.
"Engines starting up." commented Jordan. The noise of thrust laser engines was rather inaudible in an open space like the Jennter pits. However, there was a lot of heat radiating from the wolfram heat shields installed right behind the exhaust outlets.
"We register 3,650 Kilonewtons peak force, as it should be." reported Jordan "Shutting down engines and initiating aftercooling process."
The woman clapped her hands in exitement "These are beautiful machines, even if they can't take any sharper corner."
"So cynical..." uttered Nico, who was spectating the whole process "May I ask who you are?"
She looked at him bewildered "I have been around for some months now, I think we even met some times?"
Nico couldn't be helped but look irritated at her for his obliviousness "Excuse me, I have been extremely busy with...a lot of things since several years."
"Aaaanyway" the engineer continued "I am Linda Greyson! I have been appointed to be the lead engineer of your team after the end of the last season. I know, it was all a bit sudden with these rule changes..."
"Indeed, but are you able to deal with everything?" Nico asked "I don't really care about anything else."
Linda smiled in a way that was both warm and cocky "I hope so, the standard you set wasn't particularly high."
She immediatly turned around and left, appearing to be busy according to schedule.
Nico was left baffled by that performance "What an attitude..." he sighed and decided to let it drop for now "Well, I think she should be able to do her job then. I have faith in our personnel office...."
11:58.37
"As you may realized, Tigron is on the grid. Avoid them at all cost, you know that our shields are the weekest of the entire field." instructed Nico his pilots prior to race start.
"I fear this will be a very expending race, in doubt we need to activate EFF more than once." has been the feedback by Patrick through the radio transmission.
The craft were idling on the grid after being lifted to their respective starting positions.
Pilots fixated on the start lights without counting the seconds they experienced as eternities.
12:00.00
3, 2, 1 ... GO!!!
Lap 1 of 64
The Jennter crafts of Patrick Rouser and Aurora took a quick start from P6 and 9. Way in its first iterations, the thrust lasers of Jennter have been sluggish enough to loose races right at every start, but all systems invented to counter this effect have not been banned yet. But nulling all instructions, the Tigron craft shot right past the white and orange ships anyway, prior to the first corner being passed.
"Yo what the hell was that!?" yelled Patrick into the team radio.
"This will be an expending race indeed." sighed Aurora.
The JF12.212 was not suited to race in the midfield. Taking a lot of damage from combat, both pilots had to go through the pits after eight, respectively nine laps.
"We loose a lot of pace this way, plus I can't deny that I touched the walls more than once by now." was Patricks sweatful report.
"In doubt use EFF, the frame should handle at least one use. However, it may even be better to use it more than once, elimination could become ugly." was the reply of Davide Ferriucci, his race engineer.
Patrick was busy to wrestle the Jennter craft through a tighter corner section only to gasp in return "What do you mean!?"
Davide did not respond, while his pilot collected two unlucky missile hits and got covered in 'shield energy low' warnings.
"While connecting to the ships systems I was able to register some wear to the main frame by now." chatted Aurora into the team radio.
Hearing this through the various channels, Nico took over the communication "What did you just say?"
"The frame itself is wearing down. I may remind you that this is breach of Article 6 Secti-" Aurora began to explain calmly while flying, but was quickly interrupted by an incited Nico "Impossible!"
Linda was watching over this scene and cited the section to herself "Article 6 Section 1a: 'A metallurgic-based main frame of the homologated craft may not experience a deformation degree exceeding the absolute of 0,01 for any dimension.'
Section 1b: 'The EI of all materials under all six degrees of freedom must conform to carry three times the load of a peak force equalling the ships mass at 500 g.'
Section 2: 'Composite materials fall under individual regulations, defined during the homologation process.'
Are they not observing these rules...?"
It was just around the same time that Auroras craft got approached by a rival, ready to fire it's super weapon.
"Oh no...I am using EFF!" she announced. The opponent fired and just briefly before the pulse of pure energy could save Aurora - the weapon hit.
There is a marginal time frame in that EFF surges all of the ships energy, before it recharges to a minimum prior to unleashing a wall of energy surrounding the ship. It was just unfortunate this time, but the damage done should not have been possible.
The craft disintegrated and spread over the track, the safety cell cockpit couldn't be made out by the blank eye.
"Aurora!" screamed Nico, witnessing these pictures from the live feed. The rescue process has not been initiated, as there was no signal sent from the safety cell to the drones.
Nico took over the communication with Patrick "This is Nico, retire the ship, return to the pits immediatly and carefully."
"I just flew past the wreckage, what happened!?" Patrick was in disbelieve, but followed order, ending an anyway frustrating race for him.
He tossed his helmet out of the cockpit before climbing out of it and marched directly towards Nico.
The pilot was furious "Are you telling me that you are cheating on safety standards!?"
Nico was just dumbfounded, but unlike Patrick, he had nobody to be angry at, all he could utter was "We don't know right now."
"Oh sure and when will you? The craft pretty much perished!" Patrick kept going on.
"I understand your concern. I swear I didn't know of this! Why are they not red-flagging the race goddammmit?!" Nico sweared, he was worried about Aurora and the core she carried.
Linda entered the confrontation "Likely because she is only a robot, a machine like the craft she was piloting."
Nico couldn't be bothered with that and turned away. Glarring into the distance to think.
'This is critical, we look like a bunch of wankers.'
New Jennter Racing Stories - Part 2
Arc: NJRS - #002
Title: Lying in Deceit
>
>emergency process initiated
>counterbooting
>Jennter JKI-AGPP v2.0 Aurora
>System Check Commencing ------____
>63/100%
>System Check Completed
>Status Organic Hull: Damaged
>Status Skeleton: Critical - Stable
>Status AI: Okay
>
Aurora woke up surrounded by thick, black smoke, if she had lungs, she would be dead by now.
Occasionally a craft brushing past was audible, but her first worry was to release herself from the safety harness of what used to be the cockpit of the Jennter JAG-F12.212/15. The whole front section of the cockpit got ripped off, Aurora was able to make out the surface of the track, right in front of her. The shell came to a rest on it's shoulder, making escape even more difficult.
She ripped out the cords extending from the craft into her body, her arms and neck. However, as the android tried to push over the harness, her right arm locked.
It is a bit like a feeling of pain, when mechanical components pierce through cables and lock up in an unnatural way. Her right shoulder was damaged, likely through some debries from the initial impact.
Her memory was lacking, due to the emergency reboot, the high forces of the actual craft bursting up triggered it. But it didn't feel hard to Aurora to imagine what happened.
"It always hits the right Jennter pilots, it seems." she whispered, analysing her situation.
Rocking on the harness, she finally managed to find the right spot to trigger the mechanical release, letting her plummet onto the road.
Swiftly trying to get up, she impuls of a nearby tossed bumb knocked her over again. Still being mostly covered by the smoke of the crafts remains, the other pilots likely didn't see her.
Aurora tried her best to get up yet again, but finally the point came where she realized that most of her right leg was gone. That, she reasoned, probably happened shortly after the front section of the cockpit got teared off.
The android kept crawling, into any direction, as long as it may means safety. She soon left the dark clouds of smoke from buring carbon composites, oil and lithium cells and to her delight, Nico was already at the right side of the track, watching out for her pilot.
"Here she is!" he cheered, spotting the injuried android crawling in his direction, waving over his team members.
Nico tied a rope he brought with him to the trackside around himself "You'll pull me up when I say ready, alright?"
His team commonly agree, excepting one member. "Wait, Mr Bovier, it's too dangerous!" voiced Linda her concern.
He just threw back a glare at Linda "You don't know what dangerous is."
With these words he swung around the barrier and glided down along the track wall, for an eight metre drop.
At the bottom he ran over to Aurora and tied her to the rope as well. Fortunatly damaged robots are a bit more robust than injuried people.
Giving the signal, they both were dragged up along the barrier again.
15:43.56
"We didn't think ahead far enough expecting that you'd end up like this during the weekend." said Nico, looking over the damaged bodywork of Aurora.
"No worries, I am in no critical situation. It is just uncomfortable when some frequently used components don't work along." she stoichally responded.
Nico smiled "We'll patch you up and put you on the earliest flight back to Düsseldorf. I'll make sure that enough replacement parts are stocked up."
He was about to leave her cabin. "Master" she asked "Why did you put yourself in danger, to safe me?"
Nico looked at her over his shoulder "What are your dreams?"
Faster Than Angels | Part 42.2
The referenced song title of Part 43.1 was First Contact by Omni Trio.
[FTA|s3_2.2: Part 42.2] Never Trust Tigron
<22150205>
Sunday, February 5th, 2215
Wolstenholme Point, Devon, England.
<12:00:00_>
<wolstenholme point: med rev_>
<race: lap 01 of 64_>
02. |
SCA308.0. 7.329 |
# 7 |
Lucia Scarlatti |
Crinale |
F0-RG08/01536 |
|
... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
05. |
ARD889.0.19.194 |
#19 |
Gareth Ardos |
Angelus |
AX2.2_r9 |
|
... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
07. |
KIR311.0.67.297 |
#67 |
Natalia Kireyeva |
Tigron |
K-Bystrota v1.4 |
|
08. |
TUR847.1.13.329 |
#13 |
Leon Turner |
Crinale |
F0-RG08/01536 |
|
... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
13. |
VAL027.1.66.297 |
#66 |
"Valkyria" |
Tigron |
K-Bystrota v1.4 |
|
<silicon | noisia_>
The craft had set off, but Gareth's initial strategy to Brandon's slightly vague instructions seemed to have failed. Initially, he had intended to outrun the craft with the Xygen's top speed and handling. Yet, after a few seconds, the dark grey craft had not seemed to, it had quite obviously closed the gap Gareth started off with. Continuing on, the craft, piloted by Natalia Kireyeva shifted from directly behind the white craft to the side of it, then creeping alongside it, it began to shift into the side of it. However, Gareth anticipated that happening, and had shifted at the same time as it, nullifying the offensive move.
Tigron weren't the only ones Gareth had to look out for. Several specific teams had unnaturally superior performance than their previous iterations at the end of the 2214 season. However, he pushed that to the back of his mind. His main focus was to pilot the best he could, and attain as high a finish position as he could.
The dark grey craft had caught up to the other matte dark grey craft, and subsequently fired a barrage of weaponry at it, causing damage to the craft along with slowing it down. Naturally, the young Italian girl fired off, in return, a barrage of expletives in her native language, just as a white and azure blur screamed past her. That caused even more expletives directed at the Russian.
"Quake."
"Shield Active."
The instant the quake was fired from somewhere in the upper middle of the pack, Natalia had activated her shield, letting the wave pass over her like it was nothing. In similar vein to a certain other team, the two pilots of Tigron were working together closely to ensure they had achieved a 1-2 victory. It didn't matter to them who got 1st and 2nd, just that the end result was a complete victory for Tigron. With the quake crippling everyone ahead of Valkyria, the red and grey craft was able to rise up the ranks very quickly, soon sitting in 5th, behind Lucia in 4th and Gareth in 2nd.
"10 through 15."
"Stratagem Twelve confirmed. Initiate."
They had also devised several strategic team-based maneuvers to slow down the opposition. Stratagem 12 was one of many that involved one craft behind the other with multiple opponents in-between them. The leader would maneuver directly behind the first of the opponents and plant a line of mines, or maintain a safe distance ahead and plant a bomb. The latter was more efficient, since the next part involved the trailing craft firing an offensive weapon, for greater effectiveness, a set of rockets.
After avoiding the craft that had been slowed down, the trailing craft had caught up to its duplicate, the team entering their 1-2 "Perfect" position by the end of the first lap. The eyes of a certain team leader overlooking the race narrowed, as they followed the two similar craft race past.
"...tch. If this keeps up, we may need to activate Emergency Plan 3198."
"3198? Never heard of it. Although... th-"
"It doesn't matter." Brandon cut him off. "It exists, that's all you need to know. And if push comes to shove, I will be forced to use it."
------------
<12:32:39_>
<wolstenholme point: med rev_>
<race: lap 28 of 64_>
01. |
KIR311.0.67.297 |
#67 |
Natalia Kireyeva |
Tigron |
K-Bystrota v1.4 |
|
02. |
VAL027.1.66.297 |
#66 |
"Valkyria" |
Tigron |
K-Bystrota v1.4 |
+0.013 |
03. |
ARD889.0.19.194 |
#19 |
Gareth Ardos |
Angelus |
AX2.2_r9 |
+0.437 |
... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
06. |
SCA308.0. 7.329 |
# 7 |
Lucia Scarlatti |
Crinale |
F0-RG08/01536 |
+6.934 |
... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
19. |
TUR847.1.13.329 |
#13 |
Leon Turner |
Crinale |
F0-RG08/01536 |
+38.882 |
Due to the extreme output of the K-Bystrota, the lone Angelus craft was falling gradually further behind the two monsters. The corners only granted Gareth a small gain, not nearly enough to keep up with them. Fortunately, one of the weapon pads granted Gareth a sure-fire way of catching and possibly even passing them.
Firing the Turbo gave Gareth enough of a boost to line up side-by-side to the second placed Tigron craft. Unfortunately, they were still not willing to play fairly.
"Your purity has been denied."
CRUNCH.
Suddenly, the craft shifted violently to the side, smashing against the pure white craft. Although, the maneuver was quite very illegal, as the craft continued shifting, not stopping until it had pushed the craft against the wall, causing it to scrape against it for several hundred meters. What resulted was a huge chunk of shield energy being lost from Gareth's craft, along with it falling behind.
Looking back briefly, Valkyria spoke several words to his teammate.
"Battering ram success. Zero damage to my craft. The purity can suck..."
His words were cut off, by the light Angelus barely getting his craft into firing range of it, the pilot unleashing his attack. Although, while initially intended to slow it down, something far more advantageous and seemingly impossible happened...
"Cannon."
<contender eliminated_>
Both Brandon and Gareth had spoken the same thing, at exactly the same time.
"...WHAT!?"
It was a very weird sight, seeing what were proven to be almost unstoppable tank-like forces... well, stopped, just like that. It wasn't a fluke either, as the other craft was soon eliminated just as easily after that. Usually, it would have been cause for celebration. However, this time, the event just caused confusion in the team's leader.
"I don't understand... what was their intention!? The shields can only possibly be weaker than ours, but those ramming techniques... I don't understand!"
Of course, Angelus' shields were still weak, and a certain team had taken advantage of it, in a fair, yet violent manner.
"Quake."
<contender eliminated_>
At the very least, one good thing to come out of that was Brandon's confusion being eliminated... along with the single craft.
"...damn. Can we even get through one season without being eliminated in the first. F*cking. Race!?"
Faster Than Angels | Part 43.2
The referenced album title of Part 42.2 was Never Trust the Chinese by Mr. Meeble.
[FTA|s3_3.2: Part 43.2] He Must Use Force
Shomaru Pass, Hanno, Saitama, Japan
Day 10.
22:00:01
Driver |
'Archangel' |
Team |
N/A |
Car |
Unknown |
Year |
Unknown, possibly 2200s |
Type |
Sports, 2-door |
Layout |
M4 |
Plate |
·4 07, classification 390 |
Colour |
Black |
Engine |
Unknown modified engine |
Power |
332PS |
Weight |
Unknown |
Custom Parts |
"Archangel" Body Kit, Unknown engine modification, Azure Blue Laser headlights, Unknown other systems. |
|
vs. |
岩崎和哉 (Iwasaki Kazuya) |
Redlines |
Mazda RX-14 (FJ3S) |
2212 |
Sports Coupé, 2-door |
FR |
93-25, classification 356 |
Vintage Red |
Modified 1.6L 2-Rotor Twin-turbo 16X-REW/A |
340PS |
1137kg |
Mazdaspeed Front Bumper, Mazdaspeed Spoiler, 2.0 Mazdaspeed turbo gauge, Mazdaspeed muffler, bucket racing seats. Engine detuned from 410PS for faster runs. |
|
"GO!"
<radiation | calla soiled_>
The two cars shot off the start point, both drivers seemingly serious to attain victory. The truth of the matter was that only one was truly serious. Kazuya was going all out, showing no mercy to the supposed new challenger, who had no idea what that challenge meant to him. Honestly, casually issuing that challenge to him... it was an insult! Too bad for that 'Archangel' guy that unlike others, he was also not afraid of dishing out... more aggressive tactics. Instantly, he swung the wheel very early into the first corner, a medium right-hand bend. As he did, the helmeted man turned his head to see...
'Fascinating... I did not expect him to start so early.'
The black car had started to decelerate well before the corner, but when Archangel saw the red RX-14, he slammed on the brakes, narrowly avoiding him. Kazuya himself held the angle of attack, expertly disengaging the stabilisers* briefly, allowing the car to enter a slide, maintaining it through the corner. Archangel followed behind, letting his car slip just the tiniest amount, hugging the inside as tightly as he could.
The corner was cleared perfectly, Kazuya keeping the slide in check before stabilising the car at the end of the corner. The sound of the RX-14's rotary engine unleashing a rather pleasant noise as it revved up to near its redline. Archangel, on the other hand, allowed his car to slide out from the apex, accelerating as he exited the corner from the other side of the road. The engine of his own car was a little different, sounding higher pitched.
After the initial corner was a small straight, followed by a tighter hairpin. Both the RX-14 and Archangel's car cleared the corner at an incredible speed, the gap between the two cars still very close. Although, it wasn't that Archangel had any troubles keeping up, or for that matter passing him. The man had elected to follow Kazuya, to see how exactly he raced . How well his racing skill was, what techniques he employed, and how his racing style was. Archangel was merely being pulled along for the ride, his mindless, instinctive control of his car actually working his mind, yet not getting lost in thought. His analysing of Kazuya's car and racing style was also assisting with that.
"The RX-14 is a great choice. Light, proving for amazing handling around this twisty course. The 16X rotary engine is also perfect, a peaky motor providing ample amounts of power... however yours seems to be expertly tuned, or should I say, detuned... seeing as it's down on power from the stock output. 400 would be way too much for the job. But your driving skills... that's a different matter. You seem to be skilled enough, but you could do so much better. And those ramming techniques aren't doing you any favours. With that, I know exactly where to strike."
Along one of the course's straighter sections, Archangel made the first of many moves, slowly moving from behind the RX-14, in a way taunting him. That move, however, did not end nicely.
"Not happening!"
Kazuya hit the brakes, slowing down immensely to bring himself closer to the anonymous challenger. A violent and sharp turn towards the black car once it had come up side-by-side with Kazuya's car had forced Archangel to pull back. The straight had soon ended with a mild S-curve, followed by a sharp right hand bend leading into a longer, faster left bend. Kazuya could, at any point on that twisty section, just straighten out, dealing a lot of damage if the black sports car had attempted to pull a move like that again. Thus, Archangel kept behind him, following the red car until the set overtaking opportunity had presented itself.
The RX-14 took a line that Archangel assumed he would. At the end of the long corner, he cut through the sharper bends apex, naturally moving back to the left side of the road after the corner's end. Archangel took advantage of the physics that would be exerted on the car at that point, and took a wider approach to the corner, putting him towards the right side of the road. It was all done so that Kazuya could see the move being executed, a major strategical point that Archangel had made sure to execute, before falling back once more.
The following straight also ended in a slight S-curve, before a sharper corner led to a triple hairpin complex. Archangel decided that enough "attempts" had been made, and it was better to just continue following. While the RX-14 drifted cleanly enough and at a wide angle, Archangel's corner attacks were more refined, barely at an angle. While it seemed faster than the traditional wide-angle drift, it also served to help with straightening out, and in the case of the triple-hairpin, make turning into the next corner that much quicker.
"And now, I strike here... this chase is over."
Suddenly, right at the end of the triple hairpin, the black car disappeared from Kazuya's view. He was preoccupied with steering into the corner. Noting it had vanished, he looked around for it, before looking to the side for a moment, still hearing the very familiar engine note.
"Wait, where's... what!?"
------------
An audience had gathered all throughout the course to see the Redlines' drift session, however, they were instead treated to a full-on touge battle. Three people in particular, all spectating from the one corner where Archangel decided to launch his attack, were watching on, unaware that there was a race currently going on.
"[sigh]... why did I have to come all this way just to see some drifting show...? I can drift perfectly well on my own..." One of the girls said.
"Huh? I thought you came here just to take me out to see it?" The shorter girl asked.
"I never said anything of the sort. I was asked to watch this complete farce by Teriyaki-kun." Her mention of that name was very sarcastic in tone.
It was then that a third person, a man in a suit, minus the jacket and wearing some smart-looking glasses, spoke up, still looking out towards the hairpin.
"That's where you're wrong."
The girls looked over to him.
"What? What do you mean?"
"The session's been cancelled. You saw that black car that raced up here, right? Well..."
He glanced over at the two for the first time.
"There's a race on."
Right at that moment, Kazuya's recognisable RX-14 came into view, followed very closely by a completely unrecognisable black car. In that brief instant between the cars coming into view and the start of the corner, the black car began its attack. It had shot to the other lane of the road much faster than the previous attempts, and since it was right before a corner, it was well before Kazuya noticed, the man focusing on the corner itself. entering the corner at a slightly greater speed than the RX-14.
"No!"
Kazuya briefly straightened out prematurely, aiming to incapacitate the opponent car effectively. However, when the car's centre of gravity finally shifted, and the car decided to move over to the other lane, the black car had already cleared the RX-14's path, and Kazuya was forced to correct his mistake.
"Ghh... No, no, come on!"
It was close, but Kazuya barely managed to avoid wrapping his car around the guardrail. So close, in fact, that he had very audibly scraped against it. That was it, though. It was all over. Archangel had won, his black car not allowing the previously undefeated red car to even so much as catch up to it.
The first win out of many, This first race had brought Archangel out into the public, an unknown racer with no known experience just suddenly appearing and annihilating the fastest racer down the pass... of course people would be talking about him. And soon enough, they had found it...
The website had listed the results and even the record time for the pass. Naturally, Archangel won, and had listed a record time a few seconds ahead of Kazuya's own record. That wasn't all, though. It even listed the name and location of the following pass, along with the name and basic info of the individual Archangel was publicly challenging...
* Disengaging an AG car's stabilisers causes it to slide. Basically, it's the equivalent of applying the handbrake, but without any real deceleration force caused from the maneuver. In addition, the stabilisers also act like tyres in that if their max power is too weak, then it may cause the car to slide when given enough force.