Terra Ancora

Terra Ancora is a planet that seems much like Earth itself. 1g gravity, 70% ocean coverage, nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere, among many other similar features. However, the geography of the planet is different, and there are many ruins on the planet's surface, bearing the scars of war. It is clear a great war was fought recently, with entire countries being burned to the ground in nuclear fire. Tread lightly when present on Terra Ancora, for there are those who would take advantage of those who trot the ruins, not to mention the countless monsters that prowl the planet.

However, in these ruins lies opportunity as well. Things can be scavenged, raw materials gathered, or one can simply gain coin by helping rebuild that which was burnt down. In these countries, one may find the one responsible. Rebecca, once Astrid's Hierarch, now a mere cleric as she seeks to repent for her sins. But in the darkness, there lie those who seek to capture Rebecca, and turn her away from Astrid's light. Perhaps it would be best to help protect this sinner who seeks to make amends for her crimes, or perhaps one would rather let her burn? The choice is up to those who meet her, but Astrid at least chooses to let Rebecca repent.

This thread concerns both Terra Ancora itself and anything that happens in orbit of the planet. There are no solid orbital defenses yet, but such can be fixed. Fleets will be gathered here, and together, they will protect this world from those who seek to put it to the torch.

Prior events include the arrival of the Dominion, the Spirit of Fire, the Protoss Daelaam, and the Republic, Yato and Yuki meeting Death and being hired by the Council to investigate Astrid, and Nipturn beginning her training of Trucy Wright, Apollo Justice, and Athena Cykes.

From here, Athena's attempts to punch faster ended up going better than expected. Her movements had accelerated enough that she was starting to apply pressure to Nipturn's defense, and Nipturn was seeming to smile at seeing Athena catch onto what she was saying by using her ki to go faster. Nipturn didn't say anything yet, she was simply kicking it into high gear and pushing herself faster and faster to keep up with the increased pressure. However, it was apparent that if all three did the same trick, it would be hard for Nipturn to keep up that defense. It's time for a music shift!

This attorney is determined to land a hit. She's pursuing Nipturn with all she's got. Maybe a little too much energy? Does this even have a limit? Athena didn't really think about that too much. She just wanted to punch Nipturn because that was an issue of challenge. God, she could make Goku proud at this rate. Looks like Apollo has a tough act to follow, she's leaving him in the dust!

Trucy has gone on distance a bit. Was she tired? No, she was biding her time. She was paying close attention to Nipturn's eyes. The split-second that the Seiyan's attention would be fully on Athena and Apollo, she'd dash in from behind-

Apollo has a similar idea. Athena is doing fine on her own. As for Apollo, this will also be of practice to him. He looks around at their surroundings. Places for him to find cover, to hide and move quickly. He also tries out moving ki toward his limbs to improve their speed, and also to fly faster. He then puts his plan into motion.

He flies away and and hides. He has a feeling Nipturn will catch on soon enough, but it's still worth a try. He then takes off at full speed, aiming to flank Nipturn. He'll let out a barrage of punches for a few seconds before flying away. Again, he remains hidden, and looks for another direction to flank her from. He will try to randomize. Random interval between strikes. Random amount of time he remains attacking her. And attacking from random directions. Him aim is to throw Nipturn's rhythm off, giving Trucy or Athena a chance to strike.

Nipturn was able to keep track of the three of them as they attempted to attack her. Since the three of them were in the sky, Apollo could only hide in the clouds, which wouldn't really stop Nipturn from sensing him. Still, while Nipturn is being pressured more and more from every direction, she's still keeping up with the matters. Trucy would probably have to join in instead of waiting for an opportunity to present itself, and if she does, the three of them could probably overwhelm Nipturn's defenses.

At the very far edge of the system, a tiny craft sat quietly in the long dark. Little more than an advanced sensor array with communications relays, multiple stealth systems, data substrates and a long-range, high-speed FTL drive, it once again observed the system it had entered.

The Pathfinder V9 stealth surveillance drone, formally designated SR-38421, had arrived just hours ago and conducted a passive ‘snapshot’ survey of the planets in the star system, simply marked IE21C in the navigation directory. Since a full, in-depth review of System IE21C was needed, an automated subroutine triggered in the drone’s software.

And the sleeping mind within was awoken.

Reconnaissance AI Rasa awoke to the feeling of fresh data streaming across her consciousness. Of course, the survey mission. One among the hundreds being conducted at any one time. Pretty routine, all things considered. The system she’d been deployed to was one of the furthest star systems from Initiative space, and naturally she’d volunteered her services.

Rasa had to admit, there was quite a liberating feeling about being so far away from civilization. There was ample time to simply enjoy the icy majesty of the cosmos.

The AI took in the data her platform had passively gathered. Not much had been found that the pre-departure Oracle Array scans didn’t already know.

Interesting data, though. There certainly hadn’t been a pre-spaceflight civilization on the third starward planet before, not since the Oracle Array had detected some trace elements within its atmospheric composition consistent with inhospitable ash worlds.

The sensor array flagged more data, and Rasa’s interest grew as she reviewed what it found.

Starships holding orbit above the third planet, some of unknown design and others vaguely resembling pre-Initiative human ships. The former certainly didn’t match any race on Initiative records. Had she stumbled upon another race’s colony? Unlikely, given the passive scan data. Another race’s colonization fleet? More likely, though that raised another question itself. Possible humans out here so far from the core regions? An anomaly, to be sure.

The most recent data flag, tagged with the highest priority, caught the AI’s attention. And a basic look through the data certainly warranted a priority flag. Yet another anomaly.

Nothing could explain the sudden, simultaneous appearance of mineral and gaseous hydrocarbon deposits in every surface-reachable planet across the system in real-time. Something was up, and for now this intriguing data needed to be relayed back.

Checking a few hundred more times that the stealth system was still cloaking her presence, Rasa collated the preliminary data she’d reviewed before activating the drone’s QEC, flash-transmitting the data. A few thousand light years away, it was received instantly and analyzed by her associate AIs.

The drone’s QEC pinged with a reply message a few seconds later, and Rasa immediately reviewed it.

---

Anomalous situation noted. Further directives as follows.

• Continue observation strictly under maximum stealth.
  
• Gather data on nature of detected pre-spaceflight civilization. Avoid active sensor scans where possible, given presence of unknown alien fleet.
  
• Log and report any further anomalous occurrences.
  

If detected, initiate emergency mindstate upload via QEC and engage FTL escape under automated protocols.

---

If Rasa were organic, she would have sighed a little. The usual procedure for no-contact observation was relatively long periods of passive data-gathering. Normally it was a trivial thing, and a task she enjoyed. But if the unknown fleets could detect her on approach to the third planet, which was frankly rather unlikely given the drone’s stealth system, it threw her plans of quiet observation into jeopardy.

Even so...her current orders were to keep watching the interesting situation to learn as much as she could. And that, Rasa could do.

Plotting a momentum-guided course for the third planet, the AI checked her stealth system a few hundred more times, then slowly brought her sublight drive to full power. As she did, Rasa engaged yet another stealth measure build into the drone’s hull for good measure: a generated QDA that completely absorbed all sensor emissions that hit it.

In effect, she was now but a ghost to any sensor array out there. Even the Oracle Array wouldn’t be able to pick her up, as incredibly powerful as it was.

With restriction to sublight in order to avoid detection, the journey inward would take another 6 hours or so. But Rasa didn’t worry about that.

She had time.

Nipturn continued her defense against Apollo and Athena, though Apollo's randomized attack patterns was good enough to throw off her defense enough to give Trucy an opening to strike her. It was brief, so Trucy would have to move quickly to take advantage of it. It's now or never!

There! Just that split second! Just that tiny, solitary moment...!

It was enough. Her senses were sharp enough to make note of it. Lightning-quick, she storms in, quietly, not making a sound. 

*tap!*

Trucy tapping Nipturn wound up throwing off her concentration enough for Athena to get a good, solid punch in, which caused Nipturn to reel a bit before saying, "Alright, that's enough!" Then, she clapped for her students. "Excellent work you three, that was some excellent teamwork you all employed. If I'm honest, I was worried you wouldn't figure it out in time.

"Now then, as a reward, I'm gonna teach you a few fancy moves, then we'll call it a day and we can get you all back to Larstern to relax some, yeah? So, first off, we're gonna do some basic Ki Blasts. This is the basis for almost all Ki Attacks that you'll see, and you can probably figure out new tricks with it if you want." Nipturn held her palm out in front of her. "First, you thrust your palm forward, and force your ki into the palm of your hand. Imagine that you're creating an energy sphere that you then shoot off at your opponent. If you did it correctly, it'll look like this."

With that, Nipturn thrust her palm out a few times, firing off yellow Ki Blasts in rapid succession, alternating between firing from one hand or using both hands to shoot one after the other. "Basic Ki Blasts can be fired in rapid succession," Nipturn explained. "It's the weakest move on our arsenal, and you can easily bat it away with your arm if you want to, but it's still useful if only as a distraction. Go ahead, give it a try!"

"Yes, I got a punch in!"

"Now then, as a reward, I'm gonna teach you a few fancy moves, then we'll call it a day and we can get you all back to Larstern to relax some, yeah? So, first off, we're gonna do some basic Ki Blasts. This is the basis for almost all Ki Attacks that you'll see, and you can probably figure out new tricks with it if you want." Nipturn held her palm out in front of her. "First, you thrust your palm forward, and force your ki into the palm of your hand. Imagine that you're creating an energy sphere that you then shoot off at your opponent. If you did it correctly, it'll look like this."

With that, Nipturn thrust her palm out a few times, firing off yellow Ki Blasts in rapid succession, alternating between firing from one hand or using both hands to shoot one after the other. "Basic Ki Blasts can be fired in rapid succession," Nipturn explained. "It's the weakest move on our arsenal, and you can easily bat it away with your arm if you want to, but it's still useful if only as a distraction. Go ahead, give it a try!"

Athena immediately began to thrust her hands back and forth, mimicking Nipturn. Who knows if she's actually pumping out Ki blasts.