You stand and watch, incapable of moving on your own, as your pilot grabs at the surroundings in the Hex frame's cockpit, holding on for dear life. The Bogatyr shakes side to side, throwing Tendou flailing about for just a few seconds, before Takashi and Gardenia have it by both shoulders, slamming it against the wall behind.
It struggles against them, wrenching and twisting, but can't completely shake them off before Mouse shoulders past you to get it around the midsection too. The hit nearly topples you, but your auto-balancing is enough to keep you upright.
Just over the Arctic Fox's shoulder, you can still see Tendou, eyes flying around in panic, while every other pilot starts shouting for him to get out of there. The whole time, he's being shaken around by what little movement the Bogatyr can manage despite being pinned by three other frames, each one as large as itself.
And then Tendou grits his teeth, eyes bright and determined. Barely hanging on with one hand, he yanks a handful of reactor fuel out of his pocket, and shoves it into some part of that long brown arm-covering he wears.
He lets go of his grip, lands hard, sideways across the pilot seat, and nearly flung out of the cockpit entirely, before leaping up, both hands slamming against the top of the cockpit.
There's a flash of movement, an explosion of sky blue light, and a stillness goes through the cockpit. The Hex is still struggling against the other frames, but its cockpit remains entirely motionless around Tendou, his one hand remaining pressed solidly against it.
Whatever he did, it bought him time. And in that time, he doesn't escape, as everyone is shouting for him to do. He stares straight up, mouth moving rapidly, like he's reciting something, or thinking aloud. Then he reaches out with his free hand, and yanks at some specific component.
Nothing appears to happen, so he turns, grabs, and wrenches another thing free. Still nothing, but he's still working. He pulls away a metal plate and throws it crashing to the floor, reaches up again, and the whole cockpit lurches. Looks like his gambit bought him just five seconds, and that time is up.
Nevertheless, Tendou shouts defiantly, hanging onto something just long enough to get both hands on it. Planting both feet on the ceiling, he turns completely upside down. Pulling with a scream and all of his might, sharp reports of wiring snapping rings out. The myriad of tiny, multicolored lines tear apart to finally release the little metal box in his grip.
The Bogatyr stops struggling.
Tendou falls, completely upside down to land halfway across the seat, getting himself tangled up in a shower of broken wires and a whole array control panels. By the time he manages to pull himself free and upright, the rest of the team is shouting respond if he's alright or not.
“I'm fine! I did it!” he finally shouts back, thrusting a hand out with the metal box clutched within it.
“You almost gave me a heart attack!” Takashi complains with a loud groan.
“Y-yeah, sorry about that...” is the only response he can really muster.
As soon as your pilot returns safely to your own cockpit, Mouse comes over comms, saying, “you are so lucky that worked. Of all the components you could've grabbed, you got exactly the right one. And don't think I forgot! How can you be a pilot and not even know some basic Russian?”
“I-I don't even know what that is...” Tendou responds awkwardly.
“It's an old-world language,” Takashi cuts in. “Anyway, Gardenia, you're up. Let's see if you have better luck than these two.”
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
After a lengthy pause, “...Sure...” she finally comes back, voice full of reluctance.
Once more, you all surround the next one in line, standing and waiting in case things go off the rails again. Mouse talks her through the details of removing a metal plate to access the AI module, and the necessary wiring to remove, and finally, it goes off without a hitch.
Now with Gardenia deemed the lucky member of the group, you move down the line, dismantling the dangerous frames in short order. Now that they've stopped coming to life, you finish up in minutes. That leaves you with six pristine Bogatyr frames, if you don't count Tendou messing up some wiring.
With that done, you all give the room another once over. Given that it's mainly just a storage area for these frames, it contains a small repair bay, similar to the kind you're familiar with, though it doesn't give any helpful response when you try to query it.
With that, the group does one more slow sweep of the building to confirm that it's clear.
As you walk, Takashi picks up the previous conversation again. “So, most pilots know some Russian because of how much we deal with the Bogatyr frames. They were made in a place called Russia where they spoke – you guessed it – Russian. So a ton of the parts we salvage from the things are labeled in Russian. Make sense?”
“Yeah,” Tendou responds, blinking. “That makes perfect sense, actually.” The conversation dies off briefly after that, until you're finished. You still couldn't check the storage room, but everything finally looks to be in the clear.
All that leaves is the hole in the eastern wall, where the Hex must have gotten in from. You all duck out through it in a tight cluster, weapons readied and movements careful. But after sweeping out through the surrounding area, it appears deserted. You must have drawn all the Hex with that big battle earlier.
Standing outside to cover the area, all that's left to do is wait until Shado gets more people out to reinforce the area. It's rather unclear when that will actually happen though.
Now that you have some time, it seems like a good opportunity to learn something. Mouse must have some information you don't, since she could ID that Lariat. You mention your thoughts to Tendou for, him to ask about.
“Sure, can you call Mouse?” he requests, and you do so.
“Hey, do you have a database of info or... something?” he asks. “This one's computer is a bit outdated, it wasn't able to give an ID for that Lariat earlier. “Is there any way I could, uhh, get that info?” he requests uncertainly.
“Mmm, yeah,” she agrees easily enough, before explaining a bit more. “Mostly, it's just public data, available to any pilot in Shado. Of course, I have my own data I've collected personally too, some of which I would consider sharing – for a price of course,” she finishes, a grin expressed through her tone.
“I'll... consider the offer,” Tendou responds diplomatically, eyeing you to convey that he wants your opinion on the matter. You note that you'll think on that one and get back to him about it. For now though, getting that public update would be great.
“Sure, sure,” Mouse chuckles when he asks. “I'll send it over now.”
After a short delay, you receive the data transmission request, and give it the ok. A long stream of information pours in, and you copy it all over into temporary storage to go through it.
Checking, some of it is identical to data you already have, and most of it is nearly identical. Just, not quite. Some of it is as minor a difference as a description being a few letters different, or a frame model noting a different number of revisions.
Nevertheless, you cross-check everything you receive to ensure accuracy and cut down on duplication, updating your own logs, as well as storing everything new.
This new information extends my logs from 2055 to 2058.
You note that the most recent entry barely reaches into twenty-fifty eight, with the last being a report of the updated Bogatyr MK2 entering production in January of that year.
That still leaves a thirty five year gap between then and now, and while it's clear the Hex crisis has ended the production of new frames, exactly when that occurred still isn't apparent from the disparate pieces of parts data you have available...
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Vote:
[ ] Just wait for reinforcements to arrive
[ ] Speak to the other pilots
-About what?
[ ] Speak to Tendou
-About what?
[ ] Investigate the area more
-Inside the factory?
-Outside the factory?
-For what?
[ ] Consider Mouse's proposal for buying more information
[ ] Write-in