Preparations for a Fierce Battle

[forcegalactic]

Who: Everyone
What: A meeting to discuss the plan of attack against Palitutu
When: July 13th
Where: Old Observatory
Warnings: Threadjacking and discussion is heavily encouraged

[Anyone approaching the Observatory can smell the meeting long before they enter the building. Mordecai and Ellena worked hard the past several days cooking dishes for the Heroes and any guests they brought, resulting in a tiring contests of who could cook the most.

Dishes from Mars. Dishes from Ellana's world. Pastries. Any snack the two of them could find the recipe for. If there were some people that were unsure whether to come to the meeting or not, free food is the strongest argument.

The largest meeting room is prepared with tables and chairs for everyone to sit down, with sofas lining the sides. When everyone settles down and grabs a plate, Mordecai steps onto an area at the end of the room devoid of tables and chairs.]

Alright, alright. We got food in our stomachs, so it's about time we get this started.

Now, we all know why we're here. Palitutu's comin' in less than a month, and we still need to come up with a plan of attack. Seein' how big this team grew, there's gonna be a wide differences in opinions. Last thing we need is all of us disagreein' on what to do at the last minute.

[Like a few days ago. That was a disaster.]

We have plenty of reason to believe that she's not gonna listen to anythin' we say and kill us at the start, so we'll need to prepare our openin' move. There's plenty of ways to fight a WEAPON, but we gotta work together to do it in an efficient manner.

So. Now that I got your attention, what ideas do you have to offer?

Comments

[shinrasfinest]

[It really doesn't matter that he's heard all of this before and this is Kidd essentially presenting it to those who have come along to the meet up, every time that the perhaps not-so strange appearance of Artemicion is mentioned it always grants a double take. If Palitutu hadn't already confiscated a weapon with the whole purpose of turning it on them, then what -was- the initial intention? Preventing an Avatar from doing the same? It doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

But what -does- make a lot of sense-]

We found it more logical to confiscate than to destroy, in this instance. Not only does this enable for us to potentially learn more about the weapon we're to be facing down in a months time, through study, but -should the need be required- we should be able to utilize it ourselves. An ace in our hand that even Palitutu may well not expect.

[He took a breath, no more comfortable standing and talking about it really than Kidd had been. Having the obvious feeling sit that he was probably going to be flamed at, by someone. Sephiroth attempts to continue to quash the obvious objection-]

It's secure, and by no means accessible to any one Hero of Light alone who might think -of their own will or not- to take it for a joy ride.

[iknowtheconsequences]

Kaji wasn't quite fully paying attention until the mention of Artemicion. He has to take a second to glare angrily before he re-focuses. Why was he trying to...help them? But this WEAPON, Esdham's got it now.

"Good call," Kaji starts as he stands up. "I wouldn't trust us with it, and Esdham's a good place to hide it from Palitulu. Except, she probably can't control more than one, can she?"

"Can anybody," Kaji looks at everyone, "explain what these things are, as simply as possible? A giant robot or a creature, or both? But pilotable by someone who isn't physically inside it?"

[jadethenecromancer]

"They are both mechanical and biological, yes. The WEAPONs were created by the Ancients to subdue the first Heroes of Light, and then repurposed to fight the Calamity. That's why the Ultima WEAPON awakened at the same time the Calamity did. It must have reacted to the presence of its intended target."

Jade hadn't seen the WEAPON but he had heard it, just as the research center had begun to crystallize.

"I thought it wouldn't be able to act on its own after it was hacked, but..." He glanced at Kaji. "Did Ib mention whether Palitutu was controlling it remotely in her vision?"

[not_most_days]

Kidd also had the ability to answer Kaji's question, or at least point him in the right direction so she spoke up as well. "According to Yuffie there are very similar devices in her own world, so she may be able to offer some insight into the matter as well. I believe I recall K'pandolu and Meteor speaking similarly."

Frowning softly as she thinks things over she glances at Sephiroth, "By all accounts, your home world is one of the most similar ones to this world, isn't it?"

[iknowtheconsequences]

Kaji blinks in surprise as Jade tells him that he probably already has the answer to his own question. "She....saw Palitulu there, on the Plains. So, yeah. She probably can control it remotely."

His hand itches for a cigarette, but not with this many people in the room. "There's something- similar, from my own world. Biological-cybernetic weapons that can be controlled, but they need an active pilot. The pilot was both the weakness and the strength of those systems. So take what I know with a grain of salt."

"In order to control something else that's living, the two of you have to be in...sync, some kind of training. And Palitulu's had a year to get synced up with the WEAPON. But the more in sync that pilot and weapon are? The more they might be able to act independently. Little before I came here, I saw that happen. Our most skilled pilot was disabled, and his Eva just..." Kaji shakes his head. "It moved on its own, but when into an uncontrolled rage, took out what it was fighting with no input from him."

Kaji waves a hand at Jade, "Or it might go straight for attacking the Calamity if we free it, which, last time, meant it was drawn to the crystal heroes in the Hospital?"

[shinrasfinest]

"In some ways." A quick-tongued comment accompanied a frown in response to Kidd's before Kaji spoke up, a perfect opportunity for Sephiroth to clam up and not elaborate on the subject of how WEAPON worked on Gaia. Thanks to what he'd been able to glean from his file, he did know...but they weren't on Gaia, and so others kept trying to convince him of that detachment.

So instead Sephiroth listened attentively to what Kaji explained from his own experience. Unfortunately by the end of it, a weight in the pit of his stomach urged him to pass a further comment. Kidd wasn't wrong, the logic was too similar to how --or at least as far as he understood-- WEAPON had functioned on his home world.

"If they are programmed firstly to subdue Heroes of Light, then reprogrammed, then in the absence of Narayana itself, they revert to their initial protocols." He passed a small nod not only to Kidd but also to Jade, taking a breath and trying to frame his own knowledge as delicately as possible.

"WEAPON are not pilot-able in the way that they are here, on Gaia. They were created by the Planet itself to destroy its greatest threat, and when that target was denied to them...they turned on the next greatest threat.

"Yuffie and Vincent had a lot more involvement with the beings, than myself."