[K-C04] High Treason

[mccoyed]

Site 51

Aeristus - 3185

In the initial flyover, Koro surveyed the lay of the land. He could see the bizarre... void... where an ancient awesomniumgenerator from a vanished and ancient civilization had once stood. Koro was tasked to track MANTIS movements after a (short) time recovering and adjusting to his new prosthetics. But he had never expected to find this. He'd read the report Aeralure and Operative Q had filed about the lab they'd discovered underwater on Sorn. Everything in their description, especially the weird tile pattern marking the terrain, checked out with what he was seeing. He had to conclude that MANTIS was studying the site, trying to figure out how an ancient alien generator had disappeared on one planet and appeared several sectors away, on an entirely different planet. Koro didn't like thinking about the implications. Quantum Physics made his robot brain need beer.

He landed the Zero mk II "Less Than Zero" a distance away from the MANTIS base and decloaked it. He could only keep it cloaked for short periods of time, and thankfully he'd been able to avoid any MANTIS patrols thus far. He could see their patrol fighters and heavy-duty ATVs crawling over the place, appropriately insect-like. He emerged from the LTZ in his brand-spanking-new Spy Suit and decided it fit pretty good and probably made him look cool, too.

"Hey Narbilu-sama... thanks for the new threads. I look awesome."

"Koro! Have you reached Aeristus?"

"Of course!"

"Then never mind how you look. Those credits weren't spent to make you look amazing and heroic like some kind of super space ninja. They were spent so you could get a closer look without MANTIS knowing."

"Right. Gomen nasai! I'll get right on it, Narbilu-sama."

Koro focused the Spy-Eye in his suit's sweet ninja hood, and zeroed in on the far away MANTIS landing pad. He noticed the Type 8 Aphid gunship... he noticed the two heavily armed MANTIS troopers... he noticed Wilhelm handing something to some MANTIS guy he'd never seen before...

"WAIT WHAT!?"

"What is it, Koro?"

"I think I found Wilhelm, sir. He's... he's handing off a data packet to a MANTIS agent."

"Well. That explains some of the security leaks we've had lately."

"But this means he's betrayed us, Narbilu-sama."

"Koro, don't get distracted from your mission."

"But... honor demands that I---"

"Wilhelm's day will come."

"Sigh..."

"Find out what you can about the Site and whatever MANTIS is learning. Then get out of there."

"I could cut his head off and no one would know..."

"Koro..."

"Sigh... okay, okay. Wilhelm's day will come. Koro out."

Builder's Note:

So I hope the subject matter of this build doesn't step on any toes, but I felt like it was appropriate to not forget about Wilhelm as a character in spite of his player's... switch in loyalties. To have him as a traitor to Kawashita makes the most sense, but I'm leaving his fate open-ended until it's clear what Goliath's intentions are for him (if he has any, that is).

In any case, Kawashita has to respond to a defection as being essentially a double-cross due to the sensitive information a defector has access to. Because this is a game, there are no hard feelings, but it does present an interesting opportunity for some solid RP drama and this build/story is simply an attempt to capitalize on that in the spirit of the game. Hopefully there are no objections to this.

Thanks for looking!

Bonus shot of the Aphid in Flight Mode!

aphid by Evan Todd-McCoy, on Flickr

[Mike S]

Nice build! Really nice pic of the Zero mk II next to the tree! Nice color combos! I really need to build myself one of those to put in my garage...

[mccoyed]

Thanks Mike. Good luck building the LTZ. I barely remember how I did it.

[Kai NRG]

Very nice series of builds! I really like Koro's new outfit! Pretty nice micro too!

[aeralure]

Koro's new outfit is great! I really like the mecha too.

[Kodan Black]

The Aphid, landing pad and mech are all fantastic. IMO it is fine to include somewhat real world events in your build. The Wilhelm character should be "dead ended" at this point anyway.

[LittleJohn]

Great builds! I really like the MANTIS ship

[SpacerSteve]

Cool story. I like how the story relates to this weeks events. Sweet MANTIS stuff as well.

[Graham Gidman]

Great build, love Koro's suit.

[narbilu]

You know exactly how to mimic me... Thats some scary shit. I promiss that you can do the honorable thing next time you see him.

[Blackhawk STX]

GREAT mech! Love it! Very nicely done.

[mccoyed]

Very nice series of builds! I really like Koro's new outfit! Pretty nice micro too!

Thanks Kai! Still trying to get the hang of this micro thing. Only done 2 or 3.

Koro's new outfit is great! I really like the mecha too.

Thanks Aeralure!

The Aphid, landing pad and mech are all fantastic. IMO it is fine to include somewhat real world events in your build. The Wilhelm character should be "dead ended" at this point anyway.

Thanks. I totally agree.

Great builds! I really like the MANTIS ship

Thanks LJ. I tried to make it look like the micro version. Micro came first!

Cool story. I like how the story relates to this weeks events. Sweet MANTIS stuff as well.

Thanks Steve.

Great build, love Koro's suit.

Thanks GG!

You know exactly how to mimic me... Thats some scary shit. I promiss that you can do the honorable thing next time you see him.

Embrace it, Narbilu-sama. If you should ever die, Koro is a rubber mask away from doing a pretty stand-up job as a replacement.

GREAT mech! Love it! Very nicely done.

Thanks Blackhawk! I built it weeks ago because the Mark 1 was too big. It was time to finally put it in an actual build and I think, simple as it is, it's one of my favorites that I've done for AG.

[Andromedas Gates]

the judges awarded you 5 points.

[Big Sal]

Lots of great builds! I particularly like the use of a micro build to set the scene!

[Umbra-Manis]

Great builds!