2022-01-28: Insufficient
- Log: Insufficient
- Cast: Talia Gladys, Lily Jung, Riika Sheder, Eight York, Rena Lancaster, Roux Louka, Ruri Hoshino, Murrue Ramius, Gary Biaggi, Mayvy Hawkins, Anita Rosetta, Leos Klein, Edge Sainklaus, Az Sainklaus, Saraven Vai, Zurvan Zevarist
- Where: Frontier 7, Side 4
- Date: January 28, 0096
- Summary: ZAFT moves to seize a farming colony in the Frontier Side. But when Federation forces respond, they find a surprise in the form of resurgent Zeon forces.
<Pose Tracker> Talia Gladys has posed.
~30 MINUTES AGO
Frontier 7. One of the number of Frontier colonies set up in this part of space. Frontier 7 specifically is actually one of the old City class colony ships that once accompanied the Macross fleets. However, now run down and in disrepair, this one specifically has been re-purposed to serve as a space colony. Just one of the many cost-saving initiatives as part of the rebuilding of the Frontier Side. Frontier 7's primary purpose is farming, consisting mostly of large farmlands and the small towns that support them.
Frontier 7 is also the colony that has been chosen by ZAFT as a target. The food production capabilities would be greatly appreciated by the PLANTs, which, while certainly better off than in the past, are still falling a little short when it comes to feeding their population. This and other reasons are why a small strike force has been dispatched by ZAFT to Side 4.
Consisting of three Laurasia-class warships, this ZAFT strike force currently sits within a debris field close to the Frontier 7 colony. Using the debris to keep their presence hidden for the moment, they wait for the signal to being the assault. The ship at the front and the one in command is the Auerbach, commanded by one Captain Talia Gladys.
On the bridge, Talia waits patiently, staring out at the field of debris they currently sit in. It's almost time. The importance of this mission was not understated by her superiors. Which makes Talia wonder why the responsibility of it was given to her. But whatever the reason, she can't afford to fail. There's too much at stake.
Finally, the Auerbach's operations officer, one Maria 'Scotty' Scott speaks up, "Receiving a visual signal from the recon unit. Confirmation of the entry point and the enemy's defenses."
Talia nods to Scotty, "Very well. Signal the other teams. Let's begin." Activity on the Auerbach's bridge quickly picks up as the mission commences. All three warships light up their engines as they begin to move out of the debris field and into open space.
It doesn't take long for Frontier 7's defenders to notice the incoming ZAFT strike force. Even as the sole Clop class stationed as the colony's defense begins to free itself of its moorings, a call for help is already being sent out by the colony's administration. On the other side, numerous mobile weapons are being launched from the approaching Laurasias. They begin to take up formations as they approach the colony, the three battleships behind them looming dangerously.
NOW
The Clop class ship slowly tumbles through space, smoke pouring out of numerous holes in its hull. It no longer appears to be functional as the ZAFT strike force sails past. They now have an unhindered approach towards the colony's dock. Though while the space defenses have been dealt with, there are still obtacles within the colony itself to deal with. Which is why the Laurasias begin launching small troop transports, to be escorted by some of the GINN teams to the colony, to hopefully enact the takeover.
Not all of the ZAFT forces are comitted to the assault on the colony though, as the Auerbach breaks away from the other warships and moves to take up a defensive stance some distance away. On the bridge, Talia looks fairly calm, though she's a little disappointed and concerned that it took so long for the defenders to be overwhelmed. They put up a good fight. But it does mean that the ZAFT force won't be able to complete the mission before reinforcements get here. Looks like it will fall to the Auerbach and its escorts to hold back any responders. At least long enough to give the assault teams the time they need.
Well... Perhaps not JUST the Auerbach.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Jung has posed.
30 MINUTES AGO
An operation. And this time, she hopefully won't be dragged ways through the solar system from one location to another. Her visit to Tokyo still has the girl a bit shaken. Especially since, while her Blackbox agrees, earth Intelligence has stated that there was no appearance of her in Tokyo, nor a Kaiju conflict at that time.
There's a tension running through her. She can feel the stress in her body, the way her veins feel like they're buzzing through her arms. It feels weird and awful. An anxiety that wasn't there when she did her first patrol.
"Ready, Lily! Ready, Lily!" Her Haru remarks from the corner of her cockpit, flapping its wings to signal for her. The EWAC Zack moves through the space, and locks its feet into the launchers, crouching slightly. It's not a standard unit, but the launcher luckily can handle her unit. Wires connected at the back to ensure the reactor has enough mass to keep things going for as long as possible.
A few technicians float by, motioning for her, and she gives a thumbs-up hand signal before her cockpit closes, and she closes her helmet, before the unit is pulled into the airlock section of the launcher. All the displays turn on, and she takes a moment to go through startup procedures. The standard Zaku weaponry that she normally launches with is still damaged from her conflict with the Kaiju in Nouvelle Tokyo, so she's flying a lighter load today.
She lets out a nervous sound that catches a bit in her throat.
>"Lily Jung, EWAC Zack, Ready to launch."< She calls out through the local radio to the Auerbach.
Get in, get hold of food stores, and get out. Deal with the local space force if needed. If they are right, there should not be a high amount of enemy forces here.
.-----------------.
| A B O R T |
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| L A U N C H |
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#|> |> |> |> |> =
>"Lily Jung, Launching."<
Moments later, she's in the midst of battle. The Longblade Rifle puncturing through the enemy Clop class battleship, aimed square at its various armaments. With a bit of patience and help from Kuma, she manages to aid the approaching team, before scattering EWAC signals and moving forwards, traveling from debris to debris while using the arm-mounted lasers to keep comms alive between the front and the rear of the battlefield.
NOW
The EWAC Zack remains in a position between the Auerbach and the Colony, hidden by its scrambling signals and keeping the communications rolling between the two sides. Lily pulls her helmet open and grabs a packet of drink, and starts to squeeze the bag to drink in the liquids in order to stop the onset of any kind of dehydration. She's sweating, the stress of being out in space instead of on the ship is getting to her. She can feel her heart beating fast in her chest. There's this strange feeling... like an omen she just can't get rid off. Constantly glancing around. Her head tilting towards the horizon, and closing her helmet again as her nerves get to her. She keeps checking the horizon, as if expecting to see something.
Leos_Klein teleports in.
<Pose Tracker> Riika Sheder has posed.
THIRTY MINUTES AGO
Riika is simultaneously nervous and... not. It's an unfamiliar feeling. It's certainly not her first time launching in a GINN - she's got an impressive number of hours clocked for someone her age - and nor is it her first time in live combat, but it's the first time she's been invading another colony.
She's not sure she likes it, really. She has her issues with the Federation, but seizing a farm just seems a little unpleasant. Still, it has to get done...
Riika's not the first GINN out. But she's pretty close. There are perks for flying in a red uniform.
"Riika Sheder, launching!"
NOW
Riika is leading a squad of GINNs alongside one of the troop transports. Hers is easy to spot;
where all the other GINNs have Cattuses, she has what looks like a beam cannon, blocky and a little awkward-looking but no less useful because of it.
Also, her robot is pink with red and white accents. That's really the bigger giveaway. At least it's not quite so pink as Lily's.
Riika has fired that gun, but right now she's not - she's functioning more like a coordinator (lower-case C), making sure all of the troop transports get to where they're assigned and don't get lost somewhere else.
She, too, is nervous. It's hard not to be. But she's put her nervousness aside in favour of buckling down and getting the job done. Focus, Riika! she thinks to herself as she banks, circling around the transport to make sure the next one is coming in, just visible in the distance.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
Captain York knows--knew?--the crew aboard that Clop. ...Knows, she hopes. When the signal comes for backup, the Ra Mari receives the alert, and Captain York sends her ship into battle.
"All mobile suit squadrons, make ready to deploy!" comes the radio, "ZAFT forces sighted moving on Frontier 7!"
On the comabt bridge, Eight sits in her chair, looking over her displays and her crew. This will be the first time some of her officers have seen combat against other people. It is... important.
As the Clop class ship tumbles through space and the ZAFT strike force sails past, another Clop appears in visual range, gray-white and sailing for the colony. The Ra Mari has its weapons heated up and at the ready, and is about to start deploying mobile suits of its own. "Our orders are to protect the colony and look for survivors of the defenders. Get scans going on that ship--we need to see if anyone's still alive out there. The rest of you--do your best out there. There are people counting on us."
Eight points forward, and the Ra Mari's pilot, Licia Chovan, starts taking them in, driving towards the Laurasias ahead.
"Fari," Eight instructs, "Prepare missiles."
And then, in the hangar, "It's time, everyone. Deploy at will. And good luck out there."
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
The war against PLANT involves the entire Federation -- if contentiously -- but it falls to Londo Bell for many space-based engagements. After all, Londo Bell is tasked with rooting out Zeon remnants. This has also come to include fighting against ZAFT.
She sits up in the cockpit of her Mass Production-type Nu Gundam, already on the launch catapult. She lifts a small golden necklace, on a chain; she slides it underneath the neck of her normal suit. Then, she slides her helmet down. It fixes into place, and she takes a breath, as the lights flash on the launch catapult.
Red, green, go.
"Rena Lancaster, Mass Production-type Nu Gundam!" she calls out. "Launching!"
One Clop-class ship down. One flying to the rescue. She hits the throttle -- and her Mobile Suit rockets down the catapult, then into space. Two trails of light are left in the wake of its thrusters, as it banks around, and falls into formation with the Ra Mari. It is painted in the teal-and-black of most Mass Production-type Nu Gundams, save for one shoulder painted a stark white.
"Look alive, everyone," Lieutenant Lancaster says.
Lily_Jung has deployed as a Boss for 3 opponents.
<Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.
"Roux Louka in the Z II, launching!" reports ELITE MILITARY CONTRACTOR ROUX LOUKA, ensconsed in her normal suit in the newly de-sea-watered Zeta-II refined version, which is not trying to give her helpful in flight tips and is, indeed, an all around preferable situation. The Z-II launches in its waverider mode, performing a long and graceful loop over the Ra Mari to give space for additional launching without getting in ahead of herself.
As it finishes its loop, gleaming with a fresh coat of paint, Roux reports through the laser comms, "I think I see transports." The zoom in on the GINN squadron and their escorts is low-resolution thanks to the particle density, Roux thinks, but they don't look like giant bombs, at least.
"... is that one pink?"
"I'm going to intercept them and disable the transports!" says Roux, vectoring in after this declaration, up and to the left of the MP-Nu.
<Pose Tracker> Ruri Hoshino has posed.
Things have been more quiet, since we got back to Earth. But even though there have been lots of parties, everyone's hearts are unsettled.
We were surrounded on Mars, but there are lots of different types of enemies on Earth, I suppose.
Well, that's what everyone seems to think, but I'm not so sure...
The Nadesico was approaching the Frontier to deliver some important cargo; Nergal has business interests throughout colonised space, after all. It so happens that it wasn't the only ship coming here, and so, in a meeting of the Nadesico and the Dreisstrager, a couple of visitors have come aboard. (This is in addition to the visitor who was already here, of course.)
They still have Nergal's business to take care of, though, so the Nadesico keeps moving once those visitors are aboard. They're pulling into Frontier 7 when --
"Captain," says the Nadesico's communications officer, Megumi Reinard, "I'm picking up a distress signal. It's..." She pauses, delicately, staring at her console. "Frontier 7."
"Oh, that won't do," Mr. Prospector bemoans the situation. "Nergal's deal depends on having someone to receive it!"
"If they're asking for help, we have to help them! Bring the Nadesico around! We're engaging!" That's Captain Yurika Misumaru, giving her orders.
"Adjusting heading and velocity," confirms the helmswoman, Minato Haruka.
"Now engaging ZAFT signatures."
And that's the Systems Operator, Ruri Hoshino. Hands to her IFS console. She cycles the phase transition engines to give the helmswoman's orders the power they require; she raises the Distortion Field, adapted to Nadesico's limits.
"Raising shields," she adds, verbalizing her commits. "Deploying Aestivalis."
The Nadesico's Aestivalis wing, today led by one Ryoko Subaru, will be taking on the outer flanks, rather than getting into the heat of the middle of the battle. Sometimes it's important to establish a perimeter, too.
"Attention, visitors," Ruri adds, opening a communication window to the new people on the ship. "We have commenced emergency engagement with ZAFT signatures. If you would help us, please deploy as well."
Of course, there's one visitor without a robot...
<Pose Tracker> Murrue Ramius has posed.
PREVIOUSLY
Captain of the Archangel, Murrue Ramius, was relieved. No not relieved of duty or command. The young Commander felt relief at the time allowed after repairs on the archangel for more routine things: Drills, Work-ups, Maintenance. All granted to the time allowed while cruising to pick up one Lieutenant Gary Biagi, of the AEU, and his custom Enact.
The pickup went, gratefully, uneventfully. Nothing out of the ordinary except for the pilot himself. There was just an oddity about the man. But that, also seems to be par for the course, with the Archangel crewed partly by children rescued by a doomed colony, and a roster of pilots that, are very unconventional. Gary can fit right in.
NOW
The distress call from Frontier 7 comes in, and the Archangel is close, conspicuously close, thanks to the rendevous with Lt. Biagi. There hasn't been much time to get to know him. Now they will get to know each other in the battlespace. Murrue calls for battlestations, and makes best speed for Frontier 7, however ...
Murrue brings the Archangel in from underneath the colony as the Z axis goes. She is hoping, that the oblique angle of approach will obfuscate the Archangel, and let her launch mobile suits and begin firing, as late as possible.
"Time to get ready LT!"
<Pose Tracker> Gary Biaggi has posed.
You know how one day you just are just accidently fooling around in a mobile suit? Then you know how you are fooling around when some big wig is parked in a near by parking lot and you accidently do a rolling manuever over the parking lot and crush the big wigs car? You know how some times it is just better to not be earth side for a little bit? Well Gary absolutely doesn't know anything about any of that.
No instead he is simply out here helping to promote peace and stop the spread of tyranny which is why he absolutely volunteered to take a rotation of time to help the Archangel patrol. One thing leads to another and then to another and suddenly here they are on the battle field. Home sweet home.
However at the end of the day it was still that slow burn on to the combat field and Gary, well to say Gary was pacing would be totally accurate if he wasn't sitting in his borrowed Jegan.
$tSure there are a few things one can do though, like check comms, make sure his signature is set to a federation friendly. Finally though he gets the orders to launch and says to the empty cockpit, "Its about damn time." Flipping on the internal comms he responds appropriately, "Yes Ma'am!". Moving on to the catapult Gary mmakes final preperation checks before begining to launch.
"Gary Biaggi, launching!"
<Pose Tracker> Mayvy Hawkins has posed.
Mayvy Hawkins isn't exactly ready to hit battle stations, right now. In fact--she's not even aboard the right ship! Once the Dreisstrager broke atmosphere, she took the opportunity to make good on a small promise... and hand-deliver a gift.
So as a result, she's currently in a lift aboard another Nergal ship entirely, the Nadesico, cradling a silver Haro in her arms. She's only slightly cleaned up from her normal look. Under her white coat, she's wearing a grey button-down, jeans, and steel-toed boots, rather than 'pajama pants and a t-shirt she probably slept in', but her hair is as much of a mess as ever, and she's missing any semblance of makeup.
It's this state she's caught in as as General Quarters sounds.
"Shit." The Dreisstrager's nearby--but the weapon systems are on maintenance cycle. They weren't expecting a strike out here. No chance she can get back in time to rush things back online, either--the shuttle would be a sitting duck. So she's stuck, unless...
Mayvy hammers the button for the bridge deck. If things align just right, maybe she can get the guns online back home--and even if not, maybe she can fill the *rest* of her combat duties here. But she needs to be quick. She rushes out of the elevator the moment it opens, sprinting as fast as she dares without dropping the Haro, cursing to herself the whole time. She's only slightly winded when she reaches the door, holding up her ID badge to open the door. "Dammit. *Dammit*. Shit. Po--"
The door to the bridge opens mid-word, "--rkchop sandwiches. Uh... Dreisstrager Technical Chief Mayvy Hawkins, requesting permission to come aboard? I need a terminal with AWACS access." The Dreisstrager itself is reporting the situation: guns offline, so it's deploying units and pulling back from the battle line. It requests the Nadesico aid in mobile unit support.
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
A distress call has come from Frontier 7 - under attack by ZAFT forces. With the situation as it is, Londo Bell has been called to action... which means, it's time for Anita to fight again. This time, at least, she's comfortably on the Ra Mari, the presence of friends buoying her spirits. The moment the call goes out she rushes to her station, equipping her EX-Gear and gliding to the hangar where she leaps into the cockpit of her Variable Fighter.
The VF-25 Messiah Rosetta - a blue and green machine with white trim just recently having been fully repaired after its last outing - shifts to GERWALK mode and skates onto the platform. It doesn't launch just yet - instead, it waits on the Ra Mari's combat deck, its mounted beam cannon rising over the left shoulder as Anita scans the space before her. Some days, having long-ranged support might be better. Maybe this is one of those days!
"Anita Rosetta - Messiah, ready to provide cover fire. I'm with you all!" Anita broadcasts, hands gripping the controls. She exhales, and readies herself for the fight ahead.
<Pose Tracker> Leos Klein has posed.
"Why way out here," is the question that Leos has been asking everyone who has had so much as a hint of an official presence to them who has wandered into his path. So far, nobody has been able to provide a satisfactory answer.
He's waiting in a ready room adjacent to the hangar rented for the meeting that he's incessantly interrogatory about. Supposedly, his new corporate-assigned Operator was supposed to be here within the hour... three hours ago. Since then, Klein has sat on every surface, leaned against each wall in turn, searched the cabinets for something edible no less than three times, and, now, has resorted to sprawling on the best available seating -- a couch that is definitely older than the colony it resides within -- and leafing through a pamphlet someone had thrust into his hands on the street.
"Contolism..." Leos keeps trying to actually read the thing, but he's so bored out of his mind from waiting for this aborted meeting that his eyes just slide off the words. He keeps skimming, and it keeps meaning absolutely nothing to him as a result. He sighs the deep, weary sigh of an Earthnoid who really doesn't want to give this sort of thing the time of day.
Then the alarms start to go off.
---
"You can't go out there in that," the Nest mechanic yells. Leos is presently yanking on the manual release for the AC's cockpit, the top of the Annihilator rising up and sliding back to expose the cramped seating inside of it.
"I'm not going to just hide in a colony shelter until this all blows over." He swings himself down into the ratty pilot's seat. It creaks a little. He habitually tries to use his fingers to dust out the sand that has been ground into the grooves in the cushion, but it's fused as permanently to the second-hand upholstery as the bloodstains that don't bear thinking about. "Do you know the statistics for survival as a civilian in a combat zone like this? I sure fuckin' don't."
The mechanic has reached the bottom of the Armored Core. "No, you *literally* cannot go out there in that," he calls. "It isn't sealed, and you have no maneuvering thrusters, AMBACs, nothin'!"
Klein pauses. He looks down at himself for a second, presently wearing a jacket and tee instead of, say, anything that will protect him from death by decompression.
"Alright." He stands up. "I'm going to find a normal suit. You have however long it takes until I get back to bolt on whatever you've got to make it spaceworthy. Don't worry about the seals," he insists over the man's incredulous protests, "I'll just -- I'll figure it out!"
APPROXIMATELY TEN MINUTES LATER
AC Annihilator, so dark blue it's nearly black, flings itself out one of the commercial hangars with a burst of bolted-on thrusters. The space pack isn't so much a backpack as it is a cluster of whatever the mechanic could find for him on short notice, and as such, parallel thruster sets are mismatched, painted in garish colors, and questionably functional.
But it definitely goes in a straight line.
"This is Leos Klein to all nearby Federal forces," he transmits. His IFF broadcasts a G-Hound signature once he remembers to bang on the transmitter with one hand to get it started. Leos tugs at the old surplus normal suit he absolutely got ripped off getting in a hurry. It's uncomfortable and smells distressingly of soft cheeses. "Key AC Annihilator in as a friendly; I'm here to help."
He takes his finger off the transmit button. "Or at least not get added to a civilian casualty report," he mumbles.
<Pose Tracker> Edge Sainklaus has posed.
Edge, in the cockpit of his Huckebein 30, considers the situation with a frown. While the Dreisstrager was in theory, a joint property of Nergal and G-Hound, Mitsuba was herself a military woman - and indeed, the initial crew were all mostly likewise, and their benefactor in the form of Commodore Fikes was staunchly G-Hound. This is all to say that Dreisstrager, despite being an 'autonomous unit', still mostly answered to G-Hound at the end of the day.
It was pretty much the opposite to Nadesico's situation - a ship that had originally launched off to investigate Mars . . . and everything that had happened during, and after that long journey. But the ship itself is pretty much Nergal's private property, I think..
It's also where his and Az's Huckebeins were currently situated.
That horned invader's jab at him - such that Edge took it - had been living pretty rent free in his head. "Gh..." and the task he and his sister were given to deploy as a detachment to the Nadesico only reinforced the bitterness quietly welling like a pit below his sternum. He was all for helping out allies in need, and all that, but .. the reality of the situation is that he was going to go out and fight soldiers of ZAFT and Zeon as enemies.
How was this any different than if he'd never left that lab? The results were the same, weren't they?
I'm still fighting a battle I have nothing to do with - and I even dragged Az into it..ugh..
It helped to contextualize it all as just acting per Mitsuba's mandate - and that unifying the world meant fighting like this anyway, but that felt even shallower than it usually did.
. . Mitsuba . .
Whether it was fighting soldiers or kaiju, he wondered how much it really mattered. He and Az had already decided to throw their hat in with the Dreisstrager, right? If he made his bed, then it was only natural to lay in it. Besides, he wanted to believe in what Mitsuba was doing, even if it meant putting him in this situation.
Or maybe, he just wanted to believe in her.
We have commenced emergency engagement with ZAFT signatures. If you would help us, please deploy as well.
"Right. That's what we're here for, huh?" he muses, before opening his communication channel, "Loud and clear, Operator. Edge Sainklaus, Thirty-R, going!"
Once the Aestivalis team had launched, the Huckebein reaches to grab its Photon Rifle before stepping onto the platform, and bending its knees. The thrusters on the modules mounted to its back flare and propel the caution-tape laden PT out into space. It takes Edge a moment to orient himself in zero-G - but he goes at it like a fish to water, ultimately.
"That Jegan's shooting off by itself, huh - alright, let's provide it with some support, Az."
Forming up with its sibling unit once it launches, the 30R closes in to the Jegan's flank and transmits its IFF. That debris field has plenty of spots for somebody to hunker down in - but if we close in on it, we can use it to our advantage too..
<Pose Tracker> Az Sainklaus has posed.
NOT REALLY THAT LONG AGO:
It's extremely fortunate that the All-Terrain Combat Mothership, the Dreisstrager, made its sojourn into space only recently. That can be a good or bad thing, depending on who you are. Likely not the Dreisstrager itself at least, with its considerable firepower spun down at the moment. And with it taking equally considerable time to spin back up, and their chief technician off on personal business, it's not the best time for an assistance call to come out.
Az herself takes the news and the sirens with a certain level of grimness - it's far from the first time that ZAFT has attacked Federation-aligned colonies, as anyone familiar with history only within the last few months would know plenty about. There's been a fair couple that she's visited with her brother in their travels prior to making ground on the Dreisstrager, and though they weren't there when the string of consecutive assaults occurred some months back, getting to see it go on with her own eyes this time feels...
...Regardless of what her brother thinks, or even the Captain thinks, she thinks she'd still probably be going. That's her decision, right? And since it does align with what Mitsuba would do, she has to give it her all. If nothing else, focusing on this will help her shake off some thing still ringing in her head from their encounter with that man.
NOW:
A second PT deploys after the first from the Nadesico's catapult deck, sending it out into the void of space at high speed. The deep violet paintjob blending into the dark backdrop of the stars is offset by the gold detailing and the stray warning tape beating behind it, but the patchwork appearance doesn't seem to be slowing it down one bit as the 30L and 30R meet up, on the trail of Gary's Jegan. "We'll do what we can out here," Az transmits back towards the Nadesico. "And, um...take care of Mayvy in there, please.
A physical nod is given to the other Huckebein, before its visor-covered head angles forward, and the girl frowns in her cockpit seat, reviewing what she can see on the sensors. "They're moving transports into the colony...but with how they're positioned defensively, we aren't going to be able to do anything about it without a fight..."
<Pose Tracker> Saraven Vai has posed.
ZAFT makes its move and Federation forces respond. The tenor of the battle ahead seems clear.
Until things change.
Near the flank of the Federation response units, several Jegans abruptly explode - and radars light up with power indicators that weren't there before. Mobile suits. A lot of them. A constellation of monoeye sensors light up against space.
The first one to come sweeping out from out of the darkness is a peculiar shade of lilac, lean and purposeful in design. The Varguil isn't alone, an array of units fanned out behind it - mostly Geara Zulus, Dom-type mobile suits that don't quite look like Dreissens, a handful of modern-looking mobile suits clearly derived from the Gelgoog, an assortment of others. The number of them is startling.
It's unclear how they got there. It's unclear how they stayed out of sight. It's unclear how the remnants of Zeon managed to get so many of them together in one place. And yet, here they are.
[BGM SHIFT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl6fo36GA2I]
Behind the controls, Saraven Vai takes momentary stock of the response. It's larger than she expected, but not enough that her mood shifts. It rarely does. A mission is a mission and she's going to fulfill it. Mentally picking out priority targets, she lets the Varguil's computer respond to her thoughts. Indicators illuminate her panoramic monitor as she reaches for a comm toggle - one oriented towards her allies.
"Leave the high-value targets to designated commanders," she orders, tone level. "Grunherz Unit, take care of the colony thrusters. All other units, close the pincer and trap them in."
Affirmatives ring out as the Zeon forces launch forward and engage. As they do, a comline opens up from numerous mobile suits at once. Loud shouts ring through the interstellar radio band.
"SIIIIIIEG ZEOOOOOOOON!!!"
Thruster wake and mega beam blasts form an irregular and flickering grid pattern through the open fabric of space as the attack is launched, shots tearing towards the various Jegans and variable fighters making up the Federation Forces of the day. A handful of units, however, divert to the colony bulk itself, led by a Gelgoog III with a conspicuous green heart marked on its otherwise white shoulder. They begin moving to try and make landfall on the colony bulk itself.
The Varguil boosts to join the offensive as Saraven unleashes her funnels, sending shots lancing through a Stark Jegan and brushing it aside diffidently as she lets her thoughts drift through the field ahead.
The other day, the Red Comet made his apparent return. This time it's the Lilac Gale of Mars leading the charge for the remnants of Zeon - a charge that stands to catch the Federation responders in the midst of a lethal encirclement.
Saraven is meticulously calm about it. She did not shout with them. She did not say anything aside from the order. She's just focusing on what seems to be the best target of opportunity.
The Ra Mari has a couple of heartbeats to react to the fact that the Varguil is bearing down on them like a steam train. Saraven has a heartbeat to react to a thought:
...parrot... but... ...round...?
<Pose Tracker> Lily Jung has posed.
There is that tug on her senses again. This feeling like she is being watched. It itches at the edge of her mind. Before the units get in range, she's adjusting her stance. Using Laser-comms, she transmits to the ZAFT side, along with its Zeon attachment; <"Captain, something is wrong."> She can't tell why, but it's almost as if she isn't feeling quite as lucky as she usually feels.
Staring at the horizon as she is, she misses the Archangel arriving from the lower Z-Axis of the colony. Her focus instead jumps a few moments later on the sudden intensity reading ahead coming from the Nadesico. <"Contact. Bearing..."> Rattling off the information the EWAC systems are giving her.
She maneuvers her unit behind the large piece of debris she has been using to keep stationary, and starts aiming the Longblade Rifle in the direction of the incoming sensations. Through all the interference, she starts seeing flickers on her radar as IFF signals start filtering in. The EWAC suite on the Zack giving her an opportunity to... not so much get 'a lot' as to at least get a direcetion to fire in.
The ones that filter in between it all eventually, are those of Edge Sainklaus and Az Sainklaus. The young woman takes a deep breath, then releases it with a shudder. "We need this food. We need it far more than they do." She remains to herself. According to the visuals she is getting, which are choppy at best in all this Minovsky interference, she's targetting debris. Her Haro is telling her there is nothing there...
Yet these nerves won't settle. They won't settle until she proves herself right. The sound of debris scratching her unit sets her off. A deep huff of a breath, and she engages her weapon. The Longblade rifle starting to charge as she extends her senses.
Debris, space...
Stars outline her senses...
Echoes from within the colony...
The echo warbles within her mind.
'let's provide it with some support, A...'
'without a fight'
The purple light at the tip of the Longblade Rifle becomes pure as the entire machine trembles with the sudden drain on the generator of the Zack, which was never intended to drive such a weapon. It swells up, further and further, until finally, it lets go. And from that small spot of debris, there's suddenly a wave of purple that blasts off towards Gary, Edge Sainklaus and Az Sainklaus's position. With the lead Gary has, it doesn't even come close. But the wide pulse of intense particle energy seems to veer right for the mid-point between Edge and Az - tearing through that space and passing wide past Ruri's Nadesico.
Lily_Jung Attacks Az Sainklaus and Edge Sainklaus with Longblade Rifle - High Emission Burst
<Pose Tracker> Talia Gladys has posed.
The tension on the Auerbach's bridge is thick as they listen to the reports coming from the assault team. The colony's ground defenders are not giving in. It's going to take time for the ZAFT troops to break through. Time they may not have...
"Signals incoming! Multiple warships and mobile weapons detected."
Talia looks at the screens as the information on the incoming responders displays. That's quite a response. Talia briefly considers the options. She could bring the other two teams forward to assist with the intercept. But that would leave the teams on the ground without any defenses should some of the Federation forces break through. No, the Auerbach and its mobile weapons will have to be the ones to hold the front line for as long as it takes the assault teams to complete their objective.
Talia leans forward, "Tim, take us in. Scotty, signal the other teams to defend the colony airspace." Talia taps a button on her chair, "All hands, prepare for anti-ship combat." Judging by the signals, there are three enemy warships in the area. She may have to take all of them on. Not great odds...
Thankfully though, ZAFT is not alone in this affair.
With some of the enemy forces engaged by Saraven, Talia says, "Signal our pilots to push forward and engage. James, firing solutions on those closest warships." Riika and Lily get their orders to engage the enemy mobile weapons. Meanwhile, the Auerbach maneuvers through space to engage those ships that are closest, the Archangel and the Nadesico. A risky move, as the placement of the two puts the Auerbach right between them.
On the other hand, it does mean it's range to target both. Talia calls out, "FIRE!"
From one side, green lances rush out as the beam cannons streak towards the Archangel. From the other, its large railguns blast their slugs into space, sending them speeding towards the Nadesico.
Meanwhile, back near the colony, the other ZAFT teams find themselves getting into a tussle with the Aestivalis wing launched by the Nadesico. The GINNs engage them just beyond the colony's exterior while the two remaining Laurasia's hang back to keep the main hangar secured.
KTS: Talia Gladys targets Murrue Ramius with Laurasia-class Railgun Array Shot!
KTS: Talia Gladys targets Ruri Hoshino with Main Beam Cannons Shot!
KTS: Edge Sainklaus has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Edge Sainklaus successfully evades Lily Jung's Longblade Rifle - High Emission Burst
KTS: Az Sainklaus has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: [Lucky]Lily Jung's Luckyyyy! activates, and luck goes her way!
KTS: Az Sainklaus fails to Evade Lily Jung's Longblade Rifle - High Emission Burst, taking 2261 damage!
KTS: Ruri Hoshino's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage.
KTS: Ruri Hoshino fails to evade Talia Gladys's Main Beam Cannons Shot, taking 1770 damage!
KTS: Murrue Ramius's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage.
KTS: Murrue Ramius fails to react to Talia Gladys's Laurasia-class Railgun Array Shot, taking 2470 damage!
Talia Gladys Activates Barrier Generator
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"I read you, Ensign Rosetta," Rena says with a slight smile. She really means Anita, but in combat, she has to play the part of a professional. "We'll be ready!"
The ZAFT forces are ahead. They come up on the Mass Production-type Nu Gundam's panoramic cockpit display; Roux's ZII is briefly covered by a pair of screens that provide some combat readouts on a Laurasia-class ship. Rena takes a deep breath, as they vanish, and she gets a good look at them.
Then, several cascading windows appear across the spherical cockpit display -- showing close-ups of Jegans that explode in blasts of fire, and a Varguil with several Zeon Mobile Suits flying after. She draws in a gasp; her fingers curl about the controls, tightening. There is a sudden hardness, in her eyes.
She thinks of a night, when she fled on foot. She thinks of being hand-in-hand with someone older. She remembers how hard the concrete felt, as she ran. How distant the lights of the other side of the colony cylinder were, overhead.
The Varguil sweeps up into her display. "Captain York," she says, her voice cooler than a few seconds ago. "I'm engaging!"
The Mass Production-type Nu Gundam sweeps out, in a tight arc. The left arm has a shield mounted on it; there is a large stenciled 01 on it. She twists it -- and then two red rockets drop off it, and go hurtling off straight for the Varguil.
KTS: Rena Lancaster has activated the Rouse Spirit Command.
KTS: Rena Lancaster targets Saraven Vai with Nu Gundam Shield Missile!
KTS: Saraven Vai successfully intercepts Rena Lancaster's Nu Gundam Shield Missile
<Pose Tracker> Riika Sheder has posed.
Roux is right: that one is pink!
It's also big. Chunkier than the other GINNs, and with additional thrusters and weapons as well as armour. It's not any taller than the rest of the, but it's bulky, with a heavy profile made bigger with the extra fins and angled plates.
Inside the GINN Assault Type, Riika keeps watch as the troop transport slides down past her. She knew the Zeonic troops were coming and it *still* caught her by surprise when they showed up - but they're with her, she reminds herself.
It's the Federation troops she has to worry about. And there's certainly enough of those to keep *anyone* busy.
Riika gets her orders. "Understood. Moving to engage," she sends back, all professionalism on the comms before she goes quiet again. She kicks aside, flaring the leg thrusters once to change her flight path away from the transports.
Not far. You don't have to go far when you're armed with long-range weapons. Recognizing a Jegan and a Waverider-shaped target, Riika fires a long-distance shot at both - a single shot from each leg missile launcher. Really, she's waiting for the beam cannon to charge up, which it has, so she raises it and...
"...Is that a wanzer?" she asks herself, confused. "No, too big... an Armoured Core? In *space*?" There's no way that thing is meant to be here. The thrusters are all weird... She fires at it anyway, but it's a fast shot, almost testing.
<Pose Tracker> Zurvan Zevarist has posed.
*WHAM*
"AH MERDE." Zurvan Zevarist, currently an engineer hired by Nergal Heavy Industries and thrown around various allied ships to help on maintenance, upgrade and repairs, is currently docked in the NADEISCO, who just slammed his head on the upper end of a terminal he was peering deep into the guts of. The warning startled him, the message given by Ruri Hoshino talking about visitors... and combat.
It was bound to happen, unfortunately. Spend enough time around military ships and they are going to do what they are supposed to do: fighting. Rubbing his head, Zurvan grumbles and flips his visor down to get a better lock at things, logged into the visuals that's been given to visitors. A chill runs down his spine. ZAFT mobile suits. Federation units. All fighting so very close to a colony. Colonies that are notoriously prone and known to be weak to stray beam fires and missiles exploding into the sides. Then, people not involved into this fight are probably gonna die. The egineer forgets his head pains for a moment, growling as he looks up at his station. What can he do? He could... go out in a mech, accept that call of aid and throw himself in the fray. He's a green, comparatively, but he could do it.
Or...
Zurvan takes a long, deep breath, flipping frequency on his visor to give a call.
A young woman answers. "Zevarist Engineering Solutions, listeni--"
Zurvan starts running to the hangars. In his lot he took when he got on the ship, he brought along a lot of things. Some printers... and one compacted mech he thought he could work on in an actual mech bays.
"Ermese, it's Zurvan. Send me the latest version of the O.S. that's baking for the ZES-0001. It's urgent."
"What?" The younger woman sounds confused. "Zurv? Hold the hell on, that thing's not--"
"I know! It's barely ready! We talked about that, sis!" Zurv breathes hard, running down the Nadeisco's corridor, a hand on his visor. "I have to get out there. Weldrizer's not going to move without the latest OS. Send it over."
"WHAT? Go out WHERE? Zurvan! Are you--"
"SIS. People might DIE. I HAVE to do something!"
A pause, a stuttered intake of air comes from Eresme on the other end of the phone, then exhales. "Zurvan, I swear to god if you die in a battle in space, the family's going to go into the afterlife to kick your ass. I'm readying the package."
Zurvan exhales. "I'm scared as hell, sis, but I gotta do this."
"I know. Come back alive, Zurv."
To the rest of the Nadeisco crew, a mad dashing Zurvan Zevarist, grabbing a pilot's suit on the way is rushing to a tarp-covered part of the engineering bay, his little spot... and where a mech waits to be risen.
KTS: Riika Sheder targets Roux Louka with M68 Pardus Guided Missile Launcher Shot!
KTS: Riika Sheder targets Gary Biaggi with M68 Pardus Guided Missile Launcher Shot!
KTS: Riika Sheder targets Leos Klein with M69 Barrus Kai Heavy Ion Cannon Snap Shot!
KTS: Gary Biaggi successfully intercepts Riika Sheder's M68 Pardus Guided Missile Launcher Shot
KTS: Leos Klein has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Leos Klein fails to evade Riika Sheder's M69 Barrus Kai Heavy Ion Cannon Snap Shot, taking 3457 damage!
KTS: Roux Louka successfully evades Riika Sheder's M68 Pardus Guided Missile Launcher Shot
<Pose Tracker> Edge Sainklaus has posed.
" - !!"
It's not that he necessarily could sense someone's intent on him, but rather, it was like a well honed and animalistic instinct that told him he was about to be shot at. He's moving on the controls and jerking up on the sticks before his mind has fully caught up with his body. "Something's coming?!"
His Huckebein's body twists and veers to the right, spreading its arm up and to the right in its yaw, a bright beam of megaparticles skating past it and providing enough heat to the outer armor layers of the PT to cause it to glow briefly hot. "That was close, Az ..!"
Seeing that she'd been hit much more cleanly than he had, Edge turns his attention to the direction the shot had come from with a frown.
"Damn . . I can't tell where they shot from, they could be anywhere in there."
Forced to break away from the Jegan, Edge manuevers his Huckebein to cover Az's. Let's see - to hit us from there .. If I take some pot shots there, there and there, I might be able to smoke 'em out.
"You're still good, right? I'll lay down some suppressive shots so you can get in there!"
Raising its Photon Rifle and grasping it with both of its hands, Edge has his Huckebein take several controlled volleys of particle shots back into the debris field. If he was lucky, he might even manage to score a hit - he just had to trust his instincts, he knew. The same part of him that knew he was going to get shot probably knew where to shoot back, maybe.
KTS: Edge Sainklaus targets Lily Jung with Photon Rifle Volley!
KTS: Lily Jung has activated the Rouse Spirit Command.
KTS: Lily Jung successfully evades Edge Sainklaus's Photon Rifle Volley
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
On the bridge, Eight York and her crew are likewise in normal suits; gravity is a luxury not afforded to them in combat, and in a battle like this, the fact that the vaccuum of space is just walls away is hard to ignore. As the mobile suits on the Ra Mari deploy, and the other ships appear on her displays, Eight takes a moment to breathe. ...And that's it. That's the moment.
"Copy, Z II," Eight comms over to Roux.
'SIIIIIIEG ZEOOOOOOOON!!!'
Eight's blood runs cold in her veins as she hears it. She knew to expect it--knew it was coming, one of these days--but here it is, right now. She doesn't hesitate. There's no time.
'I'm engaging!'
"Fari! Activate the Beam Shield!" The man at the console starts his job, and in seconds, machine guns light up all around the Ra Mari's defense perimeter, barreling out to keep other mobile suits at bay, as Eight focuses on what seems to be the leader. "Chovan, get us out of here! Fari, lock on that Mobile Suit and fire on my mark!"
Eight stays in her seat, but she moves with each order, looking at the displays and eyeing the mobile suits on it. "Astelian, warm up the jammers--Fari, keep firing!"
"Acknowledged, Lieutenant Lancaster. We've got you."
Finally, Eight radios out on comms to her allies. "Nadesico, Archangel, this is Ra Mari." Eight's voice is clipped over the radio, calm--but the heat in it can be heard, by those who have the right ears to hear it. "We're engaging the Zeon remnants at the rear. Count on us to watch your back."
She murmurs to herself, "Zeon..."
It's time.
"MARK!"
The Ra Mari starts to turn, and its CIWS systems all light up, aimed staight for the Lilac Gale and closing rapidly to make use of its greater size while it waits for its mobile suits to close in.
KTS: Eight York targets Saraven Vai with Ra Mari Heavy CIWS Counterfire!
KTS: Edge Sainklaus has launched from Ruri Hoshino's combat deck!
KTS: Roux Louka has launched from Eight York's combat deck!
KTS: Saraven Vai successfully evades Eight York's Ra Mari Heavy CIWS Counterfire
KTS: Gary Biaggi has launched from Murrue Ramius's combat deck!
<Pose Tracker> Ruri Hoshino has posed.
Their very large security man, Goat Hoary, does a quick credential lookup and nods silently, after Mayvy introduces herself. She is, in fact, that person, with those Nergal clearances.
"Say, our communications terminal has AWACS access, doesn't it?"
"Captain," the Executive Officer, Jun Aoi, protests. "This is completely unusual!"
But unusual situations are situation normal, for the Nadesico, and with a little bridge negotiation -- where, notably, everyone does seem to have trust in their Captain, even though Yurika is a very modern example of the position -- Megumi retreats back to sit with Mr. Prospector.
Ruri asks Omoikane to transfer temporary permissions, on top of all the maintenance tasks the two of them are doing, moving into battle. "It's ready for you, Mayvy-san," she says glancing over to her -- she remembers Mayvy asking her to call her by her first name, and with a little code-switching to Japanese, manages to honour that request while still maintaining some cool distance between them.
"Mobile unit support requested from the Dreisstrager..." Ruri sends out some recognition codes, to those units. They might be G-Hound and Nergal, but Nergal's signatures should still sign well enough, for these purposes. "Acknowledged. Safe harbor protocols initiated."
She opens up another communication window, to the Dreisstrager's usual units. "The Dreisstrager's Technical Chief is safely assisting us on the bridge at present."
... it wasn't necessary for her to add something like that, but it's only natural they'd be worried about their crewmate, isn't it?
Fancy work at the helm makes sure that Longblade Rifle's shot doesn't get close, but it can't quite save the Nadesico from the beam cannon the Auerbach fires. It's Ruri's element, as she helps Omoikane translate harmonics through the Field, to absorb as much of the damage as they can. Even so --
There's a bit of a shake, as some of that energy breaks through the Distortion Field. "That won't be enough damage to destroy the Nadesico," Ruri reports, flat of face and affect, as she repairs the Field in the next moments. In the same breath she is cycling the nuclear pulse engines, using their power as backup to support the pulse transition engines which the Nadesico is relying on here in space.
"That ship's attacking us?! Blow it away!" This, too, is Yurika's order, seated front and centre of the bridge.
"Blowing them away imminent... missiles, firing."
Ruri is much more straight-faced than that passion, as she directs the systems to designate the Auerbach as its target. The missile bays open, and those missiles sail out.
Omoikane, here, goes ! -- which is more an emotion than a message -- and opens a communication window to the ZES-001.
"Are you deploying, Mr. Zevarist?" Ruri asks of him, a little more sceptical than her previous neutral request. (Or perhaps the emotion is worry.) "Beam weapons and missiles are firing in rapid succession in local space."
... she's not going to tell him not to do it, but giving him relevant information is entirely within her parameters.
KTS: Ruri Hoshino has activated the Resupply Spirit Command.
KTS: Ruri Hoshino targets Talia Gladys with Missile Launch!
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
...It looks like ZAFT isn't alone in this endeavor. As the colony's reinforcements arrive, so to do the forces of Zeon arrive with their rallying cry. And with them arrives a familiar lilac-colored mobile suit, gunning right for them.
"Her again..." Anita comments, with a slight frown. It's rare for the easygoing Anita to seem uneasy... but, well, she remembers their last encounter. She switches on her communications - to Eight and Rena particularly, but to the rest of her allies as well. "That one - that lilac-colored mobile suit. They call her the 'Lilac Gale of Mars', apparently. She's the one who did so much damage to my poor Valkyrie last time. Be careful, alright? She's no pushover - and fast, too."
From her experience, the Varguil and its pilot are fast. Catching them might be difficult... but, it's worth a try. The VF-25 whirls around on the Ra Mari's bow to face her.
"Hello again!" Anita greets... and also by way of greeting, takes aim with her Variable Fighter's mounted beam cannon and unleashes a targeted beam shot right for her!
KTS: Anita Rosetta targets Saraven Vai with Targeted Beam Cannon Blast!
KTS: Saraven Vai successfully evades Anita Rosetta's Targeted Beam Cannon Blast
KTS: Az Sainklaus has launched from Ruri Hoshino's combat deck!
KTS: Talia Gladys has activated the Attune Spirit Command.
KTS: Talia Gladys's Barrier Generator activates, negating 200 base damage.
KTS: Talia Gladys fails to intercept Ruri Hoshino's Missile Launch, taking 2970 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Saraven Vai has posed.
On the colony surface, the Grunherz Unit makes what could arguably be described as landfall. There are six of them - three Zaku IIIs loaded with standard armaments, a pair of Gaza-A construction mobile suits, and a single Gelgoog-looking machine in standard olive, but with a white shoulder with a green heart blazoned on it. The Gelgoog III readies its beam machinegun and nods its finned head, a man's voice going out to the other units.
"Slave the thruster controls. It needs to be rigged to the Auerbach's helm fast."
By the time Zurvan arrives, the machines are already at work, the Zakus and the Gelgoog standing watch as the Gaza-As maneuver some sort of machinery over one of the colony's thruster units. It's the Gelgoog that begins to maneuver towards Weldrizer. Behind the controls, the pilot quickly establishes a target lock and fires a couple of sharp blasts across the odd machine's bow.
A radio line flicks open, voice only. "Withdraw now, if you want to live! This colony is being repossessed in the name of spacenoid liberation!"
------
Some of the minds on the field ring all too familiar. Saraven's eyes dart to one side for a second, towards a familiar variable fighter.
...little one-winged dove... you're flying again, aren't you...?
what I want is....
There is another flash of pressure. For just a second, Saraven can feel hard concrete under her feet. Someone looming over her. She observes it, eyelids lowering just a shade, just as the mass-produced Nu Gundam comes sweeping into the fray and unleashes those rockets.
The Varguil pivots, suddenly - and one of its funnels snaps back into the fray. It belches two shots at an angle across the missiles' arc. The shots are entirely too precise: The missiles detonate clear of the lilac machine.
"This feeling," she murmurs as she tracks Rena's machine. The pressure that comes to bear on Kakapo Squadron's Number One is intent, steady - and bizarrely cold. Some songbirds do not sing. This one is watching Rena Lancaster with more than eyes ever could.
The Varguil maneuvers to draw closer to the Ra Mari. The big ship's guns open up in a persistent staccato, but the lilac mobile suit is moving before the turrets can even come to bear. It practically dances through space, twisting and flipping before boosting down and below the side of the Ra Mari. The intent from Rena is joined by another intent. Something radiating from the bridge. A chill.
Another flash of intent. The beam cannon blast rings out, and the Varguil pivots and draws a leg up at the last second, rolling backwards and away from Anita's shot. The mobile suit tumbles back - the attack cut off her approach lane to the Ra Mari, forcing her to give up ground. Saraven presses her lips together as she maneuvers to range, then taps her radio.
"I see you survived," she transmits - it's for Anita, but Eight and Rena can hear her too. Her voice is that of a young woman - but flat. So flat. If there's emotion there, it's buried deep.
"I said last time that I have a duty to carry out. That has not changed, even if you are a child of space too. So long as you choose this side, we're enemies."
The Varguil snaps its left hand forward, the gesture almost imperial. In a blur of thrust, the machine's funnels come screaming out from around it.
There are six of them, and they dance into the crowd of mobile suits. A Jegan that gets in the way loses an arm as the funnels whirl around Anita and Rena like a wasp swarm, stinging with stuttering bursts of beam fire to try and crowd them into a cage of space. They sweep on past from there, roaming towards the Ra Mari and zipping to try and pepper her upper hull with shots.
Saraven_Vai Attacks Anita Rosetta, Rena Lancaster, and Eight York with Funnel Sweep
KTS: Saraven Vai targets Zurvan Zevarist with Long Beam Rifle Shot!
<Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.
"AC Annihilator?" Roux says to herself. The name is pretty cool. She keys in on the reporting item - zoom in -- she sees the bolt-on components, having gotten close enough to get some higher rez -
Ah, this is a nostalgiac feeling, Roux thinks.
Then she grimaces. I'm too young to be having nostalgia, dammit! she thinks further.
The Z-II devours space, accelerating towards the improvised colony. "It's a little sad, isn't it," she muses to herself. But something is tickling at her thoughts. Roux frowns... looks upwards... sees some sparkles, and -
They say it.
Roux says a big cuss on the radio, then, "It's them!!" They're too far away to make out as anything other than lights, but -- which side are they on, where are they heading? Probably here to try and make their statement, Roux thinks, setting her teeth. I have to focus -- argh!
Thinking about the problem is just going to mean she's spending her time thinking. I'm not going to get killed over this damn ship! Roux decides, and the determination to live fills her, perhaps, with a certain determination.
The ZII doesn't evade things immediately. "That chunky one... it's like a Double GINN," Roux mutters to herself, before twisting suddenly and banking up into a sudden loop, the ZII's AMBAC allowing for a *completely* sick moment of in-space maneuvering that does not squash Roux beyond her tolerances but means that the missile's heading adjustment is outpaced. Another motion - this one almost as if the ZII were moving to the side of a hypothetical fixed frame of reference with no apparent reason - and the missile's second pass sends it veering off out of the plane of the ecliptic. (Roux sticks her tongue-tip out at it.)
"Get the escorts down! Their transports won't be able to do anything without them!" Roux recommends, even as the now missile-lock-free Waverider centers on the largest GINN and slams the thrusters, a streak of eye-searing violet coming from the mounted Mega Beam Rifle!
KTS: Roux Louka targets Riika Sheder with Beam Rifle!
KTS: Anita Rosetta's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage.
KTS: Anita Rosetta blocks Saraven Vai's Funnel Sweep, taking 3225 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Gary Biaggi has posed.
Gary's Jegan slides out on to the deck of the Archangel as he stands there and simply takes space in for a moment as he just takes it all in. Even in space he could almost taste the smell of gun fire in the air.
Then the battle truly begins and Gary moves off of the Archangel, splitting up to try and contain as much as possible. For a momment he just floats in space before he finds a target. It looked like some bottom of the barrel ZEON leftovers wanted to join in and Gary was happy to oblige. That is until his alarms begin to go off alerting to a missile lock.
With a twist in space and a spin he quickly finds the missile coming at him and open fires causing the missile explode as the shrapnel sounds of rain against his suit. "Tsk I guess my decision has been made for me."
Turning to find the source and finds a rather chubby looking pink GINN, it looks like someone was trying to make it into a bird but forgot what a bird looked like. The Jegan doesn't hesitate to fly at the GINN drawing his beam rifle and beginning to rainn a barrage of shots at the GINN.
At the same time though, not a single shot is going to land. Instead the shots are intended to apply an extra level of pressure and force the GINN pilot to just have to deal with it, almost as if Gary is toying with the pilot.
KTS: Gary Biaggi targets Riika Sheder with Goad!
KTS: Eight York blocks Saraven Vai's Funnel Sweep, taking 2105 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Az Sainklaus has posed.
The atmosphere already felt tense as is. Like a calm - as calm as engaging active forces that had already disabled the colony defenses can be - before the storm, and fire begins filling space again. Az was more than willing to throw herself into this, of course. It's better than keeping her thoughts lingering on the past, or the sensation she felt in her gut left behind by their surprise visitor from before. But there's still some fear she has to swallow down. Going into battle at all means...
Her line of thinking is shattered by two things. First, an entirely undetected squadron joining in on the fray on a flank, like a lightning bolt cutting in to the battle. Even though their detachment isn't the one being actively assaulted, Az's attention can't help but be drawn towards the mobile suits charging in on both an offensive and to enter the colony. ""Are those--Zeon remnants!? But there's--"
Her wide-eyed shock is cut short as she immediately learns how dangerous it had been to take her eyes off the debris field, the Huckebein's head twists back towards the incoming high-power beam, and the rest of the suit makes an immediate twist to the side and fire all frontal verniers. Not enough to avoid the wave of energy in full however, 'only' enough that the PT's legs are clipped on the attempt to pull away, shredding away plating and leaving small amounts of superheated slag in its wake.
"I'm fine...! They had even more forces waiting for us than I thought!" But they're not on the sensors. Taking Edge's plan into account, Az takes a deep breath to steady herself again, and then tightens her hand on the controls.
"Alright--I'm closing in! If they're going to take shots like that...!" Then the only thing to do is close the distance! The 30L turns, thrusters igniting to send it flying forward between the barrage of shots from its sibling.
On a high-speed dash towards the field, it reaches behind itself to pull out a considerably larger firearm; its only as it begins reaching the perimeter of the field that it levels it forward and pulls the trigger, the Graviton Rifle firing a sustained blast of deep red and black directly ahead. It'll violently destroy the debris directly ahead, and follow-up shots will be right behind it as Az's machine does its own attempt to smoke out their opponent - and get visual confirmation of who they are.
KTS: Az Sainklaus has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
<Pose Tracker> Leos Klein has posed.
No, it is not a wanzer.
Yes, it is definitely an Armored Core.
No, it absolutely does not belong out here.
This is made extremely evident by the fact that the beam cannon absolutely shreds it. External armor gets reduced to red sparks of molten spray as the first ablative layer abruptly loses the ability to remain solid. One of the thrusters gets a fin attached to it swiped off, knocking it out of its admittedly already-poor alignment and sending the AC into a spin.
Leos is made immediately glad that he did not find anything in those cabinets earlier.
"Fffffuuuuuuuhhhh --" He hauls on the controls in a moment of pure Earthnoid reflex, and the utter lack of atmosphere betrays him. His spin turns into a wider corkscrew, and Annihilator dives back towards the colony's surface. His attempts to right himself succeed mostly in sending his AC flying this way or that, the overpowered boosters imparting momentum in ways he had not expected. He descends towards the curve of the colony exterior --
-- and snaps out his shoulder weapon. The long-barreled armament is lifted into place and swung over his left shoulder with mechanical force, and the action breaks him free of the spin in time to grind his AC's feet against the colony's surface. The less jury-rigged thrusters trigger, and he glides along the skin of the colony, leaning backwards to keep from faceplanting into a solid surface.
"-- hate space, I hate space, I *hate* space --"
The shoulder weapon fires. Stabilizer rockets trigger automatically, but they're intended to be used in gravity. The shoulders go backwards, the legs swing up -- and then he triggers the jury-rigged space pack intentionally, catapulting himself away from the colony and straight at the distant pink mobile suit, racing the wildly-launched grenade towards its destination.
The distressingly high explosive shell is absolutely going to beat him there.
KTS: Leos Klein has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus.
KTS: Az Sainklaus targets Lily Jung with Graviton Rifle Close Exchange!
<Pose Tracker> Murrue Ramius has posed.
The alarms scream and the screens flash warnings just before the impact of the blast from the Laurasia's weapons, cause the Archangel to shutter and, slow down, the energy actually pushing back against the thrust of the engines.
"Dammit!!" Murrue yells through teeth clenched, braced for the shock. The angle of approach should have worked, but the surprise of the Sleeves must have given her away, and it seems the enemy Captain of the Auerbach is looking to make up for their previous exchange.
Murrue settles herself into her seat, availing herself of the status displays there to apprise herself of the rapidly changing situation.
"Captain, incoming message from Ra Mari!"
"On speakers!"
Murrue listens to the message from Captain York, and smirks. "Reply to Ra Mari, acknowledged, thank you Captain. We will do what we can here. I'd rather surrender the colony, than sacrifice the colonists in the end, just for the record."
Murrue tugs at her uniform straightening it, as the Nadesico strikes back at the Auerbach. Murrue isn't gonna wait. "Target the areas the Nadesico just hit, bring us in to optimal ange, rotate to bring launch tubes to bear, fire the missiles when you have a firing solution, full yield!"
KTS: Murrue Ramius has activated the Attune Spirit Command.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Jung has posed.
Due to the width of the giant purple beam, it is hard for Lily to confirm the hit from her position, even as the cockpit's screen darkens and washes out some of the colors. All the energy being fired increases the Minovsky particle density, meaning that radar doesn't avail her either. In other words, aside from her senses... she is flying blind for that moment.
Her heart beating fast, she remembers her trainer who...
~~Don't just sit there! Move! The job of a rear support is to always be on the move! Do you just want to be a sitting target!?[/normal]~~
"Yes sir!" Lily squawks to an order of a man who isn't even here. Who isn't here to support her. Just the memory of it is enough to pull on that has been drilled into her. The Zack scrambles and pushes away from the debris, keeping it as a screen between her and the enemies that should be coming now, retreating to a deeper position, while making for a helix flight-pattern.
Light is already starting to fill space. So much light, amidst such a dark place. Space, where the stars are so silent.
To think that light can be this destructive. That humanity has chosen to use this medium which allows light to become a little less dark, in order to erase the light in people. That the federation uses it to oppress...
Her Captain is engaging with that ship again. Saraven, mighty pilot that she is, flying off to meet the oncomers. Riika, showing why she was chosen to be a test pilot.
Flashes of light suddenly begin to surround her on various sides! Edge's Huckebein is no doubt faster than her own. But with the distance in play, she has a shot at just being lucky! The unit ducks behind a large piece of debris, only for the Photon Rifle Volley to sear into the back of the debris. Feeling danger, Lily pushes off, her unit rushing straight up, only for the debris to detonate right where she was but a moment ago.
That could have been her!
The thrusters on the EWAC Zack spin it about in an awkward spin to help her turn. The volley that Edge Sainklaus is firing at her is giving her a good idea of how he's moving, and more importantly... where he is. But there was another. She knows there was another. She keeps on the move, making small adjustments while he weapon begins to charge again, aiming at the source of those potshots. But she can't pull in all of her focus. Someone is watching her.
Outside, the one-eyed pink unit rattles its eyes up and down, then sweeps entirely from left to right, trying to get a better sense of the area. Then, she clicks the firing trigger. A blaze of purple spears straight for Edge Sainclaus and his 30R, only for her to suddenly sense...
'close the distance!'
The echo claws at her senses, and she turns her machine. "Kuma!" The Haro tries to support her, activating the Longblade Rifle's saber. The glowing arc washing over the weapon as it activates, trying to intercept an incoming melee attack from Az Sainklaus. But the interpretation of her pattern is incorrect. She stops short of the slash, and even with Lily pushing the pedal down, the Zack is an older unit. Compared to the Huckebein 30L or 30R, it might even be considered ancient. The Zack takes off, but the Graviton Rifle's searing red cuts cleanly through the Zack's left leg, not 'tearing it off' but straight-out erasing it with fierce power.
With the Longblade Rifle still cycling from its earlier attack, all Lily manages in that moment is to call out; <"Stay away! We need this food!"> The Minovsky interference causing Az to be the only one who gets to hear the transmission clearly... as Lily pours her heart out. Her fear combined with her desire to last here pushing against Az Sainklaus within her cockpit!
KTS: Lily Jung targets Edge Sainklaus with Longblade Rifle - Sniper Shot!
KTS: Murrue Ramius targets Talia Gladys with Aft Missile Launchers!
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
"Agreed, Archangel," the Ra Mari replies to Murrue and her ship. "The colonists' safety must be our top priority."
"Copy, Ensign Rosetta." Eight's voice clips over the radio again as she watches the 'Lilac Gale of Mars' dodge through her ship's machinegun fire. Too fast to deal with easily... "Chovan, make ready for evasive maneuvers. Fari--keep that shield up!"
Eight feels it--she feels something from this pilot, something familiar. Her mind opens enough that she is faced with the personhood of the enemy pilot.
"A child of space," Eight murmurs on the bridge, as funnel fire starts carving through space. The Ra Mari takes a number of hits, though some are deflected by the powerful beam shield at the bow, now turning about in order to take better defense at the Varguil.
"If you're a 'child of space', then you should know how Zeon treats its children, Lilac Gale." Eight's voice calls over the radio as she taps instructions into a console, switching off the radio to say, "Astelian--get targeting data on that mobile suit. Transmit to squadron."
When she transmits again, it is not over the radio. There is a flash of intent--
They're only using you.
Eight reaches out with her mind, trying to find the target, and updates on her own console the data she gets. Short-band to Lancaster and Rosetta: "There! She's there!"
KTS: Eight York has activated the Foresee Spirit Command targeting Rena Lancaster
KTS: Eight York targets Saraven Vai with Designate L1!
KTS: Saraven Vai successfully evades Eight York's Designate L1
KTS: Talia Gladys successfully Intercepts Murrue Ramius's Aft Missile Launchers
KTS: Lily Jung targets Az Sainklaus with Shock!
KTS: Lily Jung has activated the Rouse Spirit Command.
KTS: Edge Sainklaus has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Edge Sainklaus blocks Lily Jung's Longblade Rifle - Sniper Shot, taking 1507 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Zurvan Zevarist has posed.
Zurvan dramatically pulls the tarp off the large, crouched figure in his part of the already very busy Nadeisco's What is beneath is... a mech, unsurprisingly.
One might call it an Armored Core. It certainly have the frame for it, with the pieces, articulations calling out for the specifications. It is unpainted, with some piece of hull not welded together, some articulation are not even covered fully. More notably where it divert from standard fare are the second set of arm beneath the first one... and the large rectangle on it's back, with several long, large multi-articulated tendrils are extruding from it.
"Zurv." Ermese calls, voice stuttering a bit. None of them are combatants. This is nerve wracking. "The package's sent. Just have to install it in."
"Roger that, sis. Thanks.
"Don't die, you dumbass."
The communication is closed, as Zurvan reach up to open the hatch of the unit to get in, taking out a disk from one of the local computers at his station then climbs in. Another message comes in. From Ruri Hoshino.
The mention of beam weapons and missiles simultaneously frightens him and reinforce his resolve. "Yeah. I am. I want to prevent damage to the colony. I'll do what I can. Thanks for the warning, Ms." He flashes a grin, mostly with bravardo than actual assurance. "Gotta give this girl her first flight by fire, seems like." He slaps on the side of the cockpit, shutting off the hatch. With the practice of a creator on his own machine, Zurvan flips switchs, powering the machine's reactor online, then slap in the disk into an driver. Files are copied, installed, and outside, the machine whirl to life. Steam comes out from the rectangle on it's back, plasma whirrling to life as the matter supply are being heated up. The tendrils whips to life, mandibles wriggling at the end of a melting-point pin extrusion nozzle as the Armored Core stands.
Zurvan moves on an end of a catapult, crouch... then launches out, just as one last piece of the OS finishes installing, pinging delightfully with the phrase:
ATOMIC ALCHEMISER ZES-0001 'WELDRIZER' V0.7.423: M-RECT: NORMAL 1 TO 3. GO.
The unfinished WELDRIZER launch straight for the colony. Being in space is a bit of a pain for the Weldrizer, he'll have to add some more thrusted to be able to use it in the vaccume... and already, he's underfire. Gritting his teeth, Zurvan lift up the Weldrizer's nozzles with one gloved hand into a side, the nozzles outside making a brief set of... matter, rock, getting in the way of most of the beam rifler's shots.
"Liberation sounds fine to me, but I'm not going to let that colony be damaged because you want to haul it off! There's people in there!" Zurvan calls on the radio, tapping a few keys on the cockpit's keyboard. The nozzles behind him dashes around into a serpentine shape, pooling by the mech's hand and extruding out hot plasmaed matter, quickly shapping into a long, firm rectangular club with a cylindric handle, that he immediatedly swings at the Gelgoog while it is still very, very hot.
KTS: Zurvan Zevarist targets Saraven Vai with Primitive Solid!
KTS: Saraven Vai has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Saraven Vai successfully evades Zurvan Zevarist's Primitive Solid
<Pose Tracker> Mayvy Hawkins has posed.
Mayvy waits patiently, with only a minimum of heel-bouncing, as the crew negotiates for her position. Once given permission, she says a brief 'thanks' to Megumi, and takes position, headset on. It only takes a few moments for her to adjust to the Nadesico's terminal interface, though she seems to habitually glance up at extra monitors that aren't there. "Thank you, Operator Hoshino," she grins toward the younger girl.
With a few deft keystrokes, she open up a comm line to the Dreisstrager's tech team--that's on standby for now, as a command-and-control interface opens up: a collation of the ship's tactical data, all condensed into a single map... and she's just in time to see a damage report from the Huckebein 30L. Targeting data flows in, and she provides data in return, augmenting Omoikane's data and predictions with her own.
From Omoikane's standpoint, she's respectful about it. There's a fair bit of data coming in from her--likely enemy positions, force movement predictions, and the like--but it's all presented as augmentation to what's already there, for Omoikane to decide what to do with. It's... at least, mildly helpful. One gets the sense that she's much more at home with the Dreisstrager's systems.
Oh. Right. This is the comms console, Mayvy realizes, having mostly ignored Eight's transmission at first. She's hunched over the console at this point with one foot underneath her and the other against her chest. "Uh, Nadesico acknowledges, Ra Mari. We'll do our best to keep things safe on our end," transmits Mayvy, sounding once-again out of her element.
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"Do you know who this is?" Rena asks Anita, with a deep but controlled breath. Her brown eyes flicker, as she follows the Varguil. The funnels sweep after -- and Rena sees, in short order, her two missiles shot from the sky. They explode, two large fireballs that erupt in front of her. She takes a deep breath, and she feels the sudden presence of the other pilot. Someone like her, she realizes.
Someone barreling down on the Ra Mari. Someone who isn't like her, because that is home.
She hears Saraven speak, and her eyes narrow. A duty to carry out, she says. Rena grits her teeth, as the funnels fire -- and Rena hits the verniers. With an AMBAC movement, she turns -- and shots slam into the shield, repeatedly, as she moves to catch the worst. One still slams into and burns a line through the armor on the hip. Another slashes into the forearm armor.
The Gundam is undeterred. "Ra Mari, I'm going to be getting in close!"
She sees the targeting information update on her console. Rena nods her head, grits her teeth, and then the large beam saber mounted over one shoulder swivels down. She soars in, thrusters burning brightly -- and that beam saber opens fire, proving to also be a cannon. Three blasts of mega particle energy explode out of the over-the-shoulder cannon, as Rena soars in.
"This is just hurting colonists for the sake of your cause!" Rena says.
Then she blinks -- her eyes widening at Weldrizer's launch -- and she blinks. She knows that voice. Is that--
"The cook!?"
KTS: Rena Lancaster targets Saraven Vai with Beam Cannon Rush!
KTS: Rena Lancaster has activated the Attune Spirit Command.
KTS: Saraven Vai has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Saraven Vai fails to evade Rena Lancaster's Beam Cannon Rush, taking 4050 damage!
KTS: Rena Lancaster has engaged Saraven Vai
KTS: Rena Lancaster: Will Barrier Activates.
<Pose Tracker> Talia Gladys has posed.
Reports come in from the initial shots fired by the Auerbach, Talia taking it all in. The Archangel she's somewhat familiar with... Even after spending some time back at ZAFT HQ's shipyards, the Auerbach still hasn't full recovered from the beating it got while fighting the Legged Ship. The other one though is more of an unknown. Talia wonders, "Scotty, what do we have on that one?"
A few commands entered into her console, before Scotty replies, "Its profile matches a ship known to belong to Nergal. Unfortunately that's all we have on it." Unfortunate, Talia would prefer to have more information. Well, she's clearly just going to have to get it the old fashioned way.
"Missiles incoming!"
"Thirty degrees down. Interception fire!"
The Auerbach begins to turn downwards as its CIWS cannons turn in the direction of the incoming missiles. A barrage of rapid bullet fire fills the space between the Auerbach and the tracking weapons. Several are destroyed, but some still make it through, impacting against the ship's armour and starting to blast it away into scorched pieces that float away.
That's not the end of it though.
"Additional wave incoming!"
"Roll us 180. Keep them from hitting the same point!"
The Auerbach begins to roll as an additional wave of missiles comes in. The CIWS continue their barrage of bullets. It's close! The last few of the missiles exploding just meters from the hull. But the Auerbach manages to clear the resulting smoke with only the initial damage. Just flipped from before. Which actually works to Talia's benefit, "James, reset target locks to new orientation and fire!"
The Nadesico and Archangel now find themselves swapped when it comes to the Auerback's weapons. Green beams lance out towards the Nadesico now, trying to rake across its hull. Meanwhile, the large rounds fired by the Laurasia's railguns threaten to penetrate through the Archangel's armour.
While a number of Sleeves mobile weapons are working on applying machinery to the the colony's thrusters, ZAFT ground troops push their way through the colony's interior. Having entered via the troop dropships, they're pressing forward towards the colony's main engineering area. Several firefights have broken out in the corridors as local troops continue trying to defend the colony against the invaders.
KTS: Talia Gladys has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Talia Gladys targets Ruri Hoshino with Main Beam Cannons Blast!
KTS: Talia Gladys targets Murrue Ramius with Laurasia-class Railgun Array Volley!
KTS: Murrue Ramius's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage.
KTS: Murrue Ramius fails to react to Talia Gladys's Laurasia-class Railgun Array Volley, taking 2294 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Riika Sheder has posed.
Describing the GINN with its Assault Shroud in place as a bird is inaccurate enough that it would annoy Riika, so mission accomplished! It sure does have a few excess fins and wings, though. (Well, 'excess'. Some of them are thruster shrouds and others have other purposes.)
Gary's rapid fire causes Riika to pull into evasive maneuvers. Which, to be fair, she is very good at; there's a lot of technical skill there, and the beginnings of a distinct personal flair. She hasn't done so much real combat yet that it really feels unique but *has* done enough to become practiced.
And they work, in that none of the shots hit her, but they force her to take a different approach than she wanted, and it leaves her open for Roux to shoot at her. A bright flash of purple that causes Riika to put it into a spin, more intentional than Leos' as she swerves -
Not far enough. The beam doesn't penetrate but skims along the side of the GINN, leaving a streak behind. A direct hit would have been Bad. That could have been her.
Not that she has time to dwell on it. Grenades incoming, along with an Armoured Core. Riika fires the shoulder-mounted small-caliber gatlings at the grenade, but fails to hit it; she goes for a quick jerky evasion instead, which works better but not perfectly. Another glancing blow; hard enough to rattle and knock one of those excess plates askew, not enough to disable it.
Beam cannon already in hand, Riika fires it a second time, but not at Leos - a more focused shot toward the Jegan, trying to get Gary to quit it with that long-range fire that's messing up her flight path.
Then she swings it back and up, drawing an assault rifle and a sword. She needs the rapid shots of the assault rifle to try to catch the fast-moving Z II, and as for the sword -
Well, there is an Armoured Core coming in hot. Riika is a very good shot but a lot more marginal with the sword - she smashes as much as does anything with finesse, but the sword seems to be reinforced for that. "Back off!" she calls.
Then, more privately, to Lily: "<Are you OK over there?>"
KTS: Ruri Hoshino has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Ruri Hoshino fails to react to Talia Gladys's Main Beam Cannons Blast, taking 2820 damage!
KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus.
KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Riika Sheder targets Gary Biaggi with M69 Barrus Kai Heavy Ion Cannon Focus Shot!
KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Riika Sheder targets Roux Louka with JDP2-MMX22 Assault Rifle Burst!
KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Riika Sheder targets Leos Klein with MA-M3 Heavy Blade Disorienting Blow!
KTS: Leos Klein has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Leos Klein rushes into the attack!
KTS: Riika Sheder rattles Leos Klein, making his next maneuvers more difficult.
KTS: Leos Klein fails to react to Riika Sheder's MA-M3 Heavy Blade Disorienting Blow, taking 2772 damage!
KTS: Riika Sheder has engaged Leos Klein
KTS: Gary Biaggi blocks Riika Sheder's M69 Barrus Kai Heavy Ion Cannon Focus Shot, taking 5676 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Riika Sheder's Disruptor activates, causing Jam L1!
KTS: Roux Louka fails to evade Riika Sheder's JDP2-MMX22 Assault Rifle Burst, taking 4331 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Riika Sheder's Disruptor activates, causing Jam L1!
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
The beam soars through space - but flies right by its target as the Varguil performs evasive manuevers.
"I'm good at rolling with the punches." Anita replies simply. Saraven speaks of her duty, and how they're enemies. "I had a feeling you'd say that. That's a shame, but what can you do? Guess we'll have to tangle again."
Funnels scream out from the Varguil. She's a little more used to that this time - she raises her shield to intercept several of the shots, letting the Pinpoint Barrier System handle the rest. It holds steady - for now.
"I don't know her personally, but we had a little chat during our fight, I looked up some records on her after. She's been a thorn in Londo Bell's side for a while, apparently..." Anita replies to Rena. And then, there's another familiar voice!
"...Is that the pie guy?" Anita asks, surprised. "It's nice to see you again, but, uh... are you sure you're gonna be okay out here? We can give you cover if you need to retreat."
With that said, she turns her attention back to Saraven, taking note of the targeting data the Ra Mari is sending her.
"Thanks, Captain. Commander, I'll follow your lead. Valkyrie, launching!" Anita says. She launches from the Ra Mari's bow, cutting through space toward the Varguil. The Variable Fighter draws its combat knife and closes in with a series of flowing, acrobatic motions. She's a skilled pilot at least, it seems - and her motions can make it difficult to get a bead on her as she closes in with a sweep of her knife in a pirouette!
KTS: Anita Rosetta targets Saraven Vai with Acrobatic Sweep!
KTS: Saraven Vai retreats from the attack!
KTS: Saraven Vai successfully avoids Anita Rosetta's Acrobatic Sweep
<Pose Tracker> Edge Sainklaus has posed.
His potshots don't find purchase with anything except scrap and slag - but it does provide Az the breathing room to get closer with one of her Graviton Rifles. It doesn't take much longer from there for them to make visual contact. At his range, it was hard to tell exactly, but ...
The silhouette he could pick out of the pink monoeye was that it was much chunkier than a Geara Doga and more so fit the profile of MS used during and immediately after the Gryps Conflict. A Hi-Zack, maybe? No - that wasn't quite right. It had some kind of module on the back - an Asshimar? They had something like that, right?
Either way, it's an old unit - for sure ain't from ZAFT. The Sleeves showed up a minute ago, so then .. it's a joint op.
A barrage of particle attacks from his way, and gritting his teeth, Edge has his Huckebein discard the Photon Rifle with a swift chuck before taking an evasive maneuver to dodge the first two shots, both of its thickly armored forearms crossed in front of its head and chest as it weaves in space - only for the third to slam directly into its defense. "Gh..!"
Molten metal bubbles off as the R uncrosses its arms with a sharp motion. "I've got you in my sights now..!"
A sheen of sweat gathers on his forehead as he pushes forward on the control sticks and pulls up, applying precise control to begin drifting its body forward before its backpack ignites and sends it careening at a higher speed. " - Az!" he calls out, putting his faith that she'd catch on to what he was doing when the sharp bits that make up his Leap Slashers begin to disengage from his backpack modules and launch. "Leap Slashers - !!"
It was maybe to his good fortune that he hadn't heard the interaction between Lily Jung and Az.
Rather than forming into the full slashers, the teeth shoot off as individual remote weapons that curve and bend through space, leaving streaks of light as they move around Lily's EWAC Zack and surround it before launching at her to dig in and begin tearing, shredding away at her over and over.
Once we put this one on the backfoot, we're in a good spot to provide support from here..!
As he'd gotten closer, he realized that he didn't recognize the exact model in front of him - but that it was certainly a Hi-Zack variant. "Is that a radome dish? I bet it's got a cyber-warfare suite - !"
KTS: Edge Sainklaus targets Lily Jung with Leap Slasher Harry!
KTS: Edge Sainklaus has activated the Accel Spirit Command and Has Engaged with Lily Jung
KTS: Saraven Vai has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has disengaged.
KTS: Anita Rosetta has launched from Eight York's combat deck!
KTS: Lily Jung fails to evade Edge Sainklaus's Leap Slasher Harry, taking 4680 damage!
KTS: Edge Sainklaus begins a Formation attack!
<Pose Tracker> Saraven Vai has posed.
The last thing the Gelgoog commander was expecting was for the Weldrizer to be able to fight.
The Zeon pilot gasps and jets sharply backwards as the big machine comes bearing down, club swinging. The Gelgoog darts back and forth, trying to keep ahead of those swings, before firing chest verniers and retreating out to a distance. Behind the controls, the pilot - a dark-haired veteran with a bushy black moustache - clicks his teeth together and hunches over his controls. "The hell is that thing, anyway," he mutters. "It doesn't look like any mobile suit I've ever seen."
------
The psychically aware can feel it. Another mind, and an alert one, pushing out into the haze of quantum brainwaves to listen and watch - but whoever's behind the controls of the Varguil feels off. The rise and fall of emotionality is... absent. The presence is nearly mechanical in its precision, as if anything more than the most tactical and observable senses cannot penetrate a heart like a locked box.
Saraven closes her eyes for a moment.
...Using? I don't think so.
This is a life.
Rena's shouting at her punches through the momentary haze. Saraven's eyes dart forward, and she moves her hands across her controls, darting the Varguil backwards and maneuvering to try and keep her distance as the Nu Gundam screams in. The lilac mobile suit's maneuvers are pinpoint, but Rena has the edge: The telemetry streaming in from the Ra Mari, following the Varguil's movements precisely.
Bursts of firepower slash across the Varguil's hip, chipping a gash into an armour plate. A warning light blinks in the side of Saraven's field of view. She ignores it for now and maneuvers, whirling with her mobile suit's momentum to whip around Rena like a pair of prizefighters ready to throw down.
The presence across the gulf of space is palpable. Saraven presses her lips together - and what comes through to Rena is not a comline message. It's a thought.
...You hate us, don't you? Why?
Anita comes roaring in to add to the attack. The dance of the combat knife sings through space, and Saraven finds herself darting and weaving to elude the worst of the strikes, dashing back with a billow of vernier wash - and angling away, like a lilac comet streaking through the heavens.
The Varguil's trajectory carries it upwards relative to the ecliptic. The battle is taking place in the shadow of Frontier 7. When Saraven touches down, it's on the hull of the colony - between Gelbherz One's Gelgoog and the Weldrizer. Ominously, the Varguil turns its head, monoeye sensor seemingly glaring through Zurvan's cockpit.
"Focus on the thrusters," Saraven orders the Gelgoog commander quietly.
The Gelgoog jumps back, regrouping to the Zaku-and-Gaza group, while Saraven swings her long beam rifle to bear. The weapon barks once, twice, throwing down a halo of fire aimed to keep Zurvan at arm's length. Lunging back, she bounds across the colony surface before springing up into open space again. The funnels form up around the Varguil for a moment before she sends them ricocheting out once more, focusing primarily on Anita this time - she seems to recall clearly enough that the younger pilot had a harder time with them in their last encounter. The remotes dog the variable fighter, pelting Anita with shots all the way.
"You're hurting spacenoids by standing for their oppression," she recites as she swings her rifle around, firing a precise volley of shots at the MP Nu Gundam in an effort to catch Rena between them. It feels harder than it ought to - she can feel the other mind. When she pivots again, it's just slight, a high-powered shot held for a moment before she unloads it towards one of the long vanes flanking the Ra Mari's hull. She's trying to shoot a hole in the solar panel.
KTS: Saraven Vai targets Zurvan Zevarist with Long Beam Rifle Steady Fire!
KTS: Saraven Vai targets Anita Rosetta with Funnel Strike!
KTS: Saraven Vai targets Eight York with Long Beam Rifle Triangulated Shot!
KTS: Saraven Vai targets Rena Lancaster with Long Beam Rifle Tracking Shot!
KTS: Anita Rosetta's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage.
KTS: Anita Rosetta fails to evade Saraven Vai's Funnel Strike, taking 2534 damage!
KTS: Rena Lancaster's Will Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage.
KTS: Rena Lancaster fails to evade Saraven Vai's Long Beam Rifle Tracking Shot, taking 2995 damage!
KTS: Eight York fails to evade Saraven Vai's Long Beam Rifle Triangulated Shot, taking 3763 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Ruri Hoshino has posed.
"ZES-0001, launching," Ruri issues stoic report.
Whether it's a good idea or not...
Well, that's not her place to say.
She and Omoikane are much more in their element receiving the data Mayvy helps collaborate for them. It's its own stream of information, and it helps to inform the rest. Omoikane handles most of the data integration, because --
"Missiles destroyed in transit," Ruri reports. "The enemy is able to intercept. Now calculating parameters for Gravity Blast Cannon..."
Onoikane -- with Mayvy's help -- calls something important to Ruri's attention, though, as Minato orients them in space. Her eyes widen, as she reads the output data on the attack the Auerbach is charging.
"Incoming," she warns, despite her surprise. The Captain tells them to brace for impact --
It's a good thing she did, too, because the beam-blast of those cannons tears right through the Distortion Field, shredding into its counterharmonics, opening a terrible barrier-hole between space and the Nadesico's bare hull. Thanks to Mayvy's warning, Ruri sent some last-minute adjustments to the Distortion Field to try and mitigate things a little -- but it still shakes the Nadesico, ferociously.
"The enemy's doing an excellent job," Ruri notes, dryly. "Coordinating phase transition engines..." She has to draw emergency power from the nuclear pulse engines, but she can handle it. It's just another thread of tasks.
"Now aligning the Nadesico to enemy craft," Minato reports, from her own station handling the Nadesico's movements in space.
"... firing Gravity Blast."
The front of the Nadesico is defined by twin prongs; they open, slowly, with a terrible crackling of gravitational power. That power builds -- and then fires, a beam of crushing force rather than traditional beam weaponry.
It's certainly not as mild as a missile.
KTS: Ruri Hoshino has activated the Resupply Spirit Command.
KTS: Ruri Hoshino targets Talia Gladys with Gravity Blast!
<Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.
High velocity rounds streak through the air. Roux is already evading but Riika is drawing a better bead on her and for a moment she could swear she sees little pencils going up up up up up
"Agh!" Roux cries out as several rounds smash into the Waverider's aeroform side. "Fine!" she continues, twisting around into a barrel roll. In this moment, the magnetic coating of the ZII's components is briefly energized - components slide all but frictionlessly over each other as its shape changes and distorts and is revealed to have a SECRET.
That secret is a Jegan-issue shield, with about thirty percent of the lower part cut off for ease of transport!
"AC! Keep near the colony if your thrusters are bad!" Roux says, because she's not going to say 'Annihilator' to what she is guessing is some kind of colonial militia. The Jegan that's coming in is a welcome sight, even if there is a subtle tickle of bad vibes in the emerging furball of death.
The reduction in shield size has not reduced the launcher pod on the Jegan shield, and Roux fires a barrage towards the GINN. "YOU back off!" she retorts before being briefly eclipsed by one of the transports while swooping past. (Fortunately, the pod was dumped before this momentary occlusion, so the metal boxes of innocent, love-filled infantry -- or whatever it is -- remain unmissil'd.)
KTS: Roux Louka has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Roux Louka targets Riika Sheder with Adapt Jegan Shield Missiles!
KTS: Zurvan Zevarist has activated the Trust Spirit Command.
KTS: Zurvan Zevarist blocks Saraven Vai's Long Beam Rifle Steady Fire, taking 2495 damage!
KTS: Talia Gladys has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Talia Gladys's Barrier Generator activates, negating 200 base damage.
KTS: Talia Gladys fails to Evade Ruri Hoshino's Gravity Blast, taking 7920 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Ruri Hoshino's Scan activates, causing Designate L1!
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
Eight doesn't know the Nadeisco's crew well enough to be surprised by Mayvy's voice--but she is a little surprised by 'uh'. Is there someone new on the ship...? "Copy." It's fine.
"Zevarist?" Captain York calls back over the radio. "Is that--" Pause. She looks to her crew, "Start looping in that mecha on our combat data!"
Is it? Is it really? What do you 'feel' about fighting?
Eight's mind continues to reach out, continues to try to pin down the fighter in the too-quick mobile suit. She feels that... absence of emotionality, that mechanical nature, and it chills her blood. It reminds her of the past. Of what she...
"Damn it--Evasive maneuvers!"
Chovan's good, but not fast enough--the held blast rockets straight for the ship, impacting hard along the hull, though not destroying the solar panel as Saraven would've hoped. The ship is rocked by the impact, crew kept in place by seatbelts but still jostled hard in the moment.
"Astelian," Eight says, calming. She closes her eyes for a moment, and considers--what does she feel...?
"Transmit following coordinates to our squadron." She rattles off complicated numbers without a blink, "And loop them in on our combat computer!"
"Keep on her, Valkyrie!" Eight calls out to Anita, as she gets the data out as best she's able. "Start charging the beam shield, 150% base output."
Her mind reaches to Rena's... to work in sync.
KTS: Eight York has activated the Attune Spirit Command targeting Rena Lancaster
<Pose Tracker> Az Sainklaus has posed.
'Stay away! We need this food!'
Az goes from prepared to face down their prospective opponent - she can see it now! Definitely a variant of an older model...and that's an EWAC radome...! - to briefly freezing in place, not expecting the pilot's response in the least. "A girl...!?" But it's less that, which she probably could've guessed from the paintjob regardless, and the raw emotion that almost physically hits her in her seat that gets her eyes widening and her Huckebein briefly going immobile.
She's not a Newtype--but she can still feel the deepseated fear behind those words. It takes several seconds before the rush of the surrounding battle, and Edge's own voice cuts in that snaps her out of doing nothing. Her lips purse, there's a moment of hesitation...
And then she pushes forward on the controls, to give chase after the Zack.
The 30L hits full speed in short order, swerving around debris as it attempts to get back in to close engagement with the far older MS. A flap on its skirt armor opens up to send out the cylinder of a beam sword into its empty left hand, igniting as it draws closer--but amid the other Huckebein's assault, her attempted swing isn't meant to damage the Zack itself, but rather go in a wide swing to try and disable its Longblade Rifle, or at least force a reaction.
And even that is mostly just a front for the Huckebein itself to get back within comms range, to make physical contact with the other machine so that her own words can get through. "But that doesn't give you an excuse to attack a colony for it...! What's that even going to do except give the Federation even more reason to hit back harder!?" Her words are resolute, and the question is genuine - but there's still a sympathetic undertone.
Eight_York Attacks Zurvan Zevarist, Rena Lancaster, and Anita Rosetta with Insight L1
KTS: Az Sainklaus has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
KTS: Az Sainklaus targets Lily Jung with Beam Sword Flyby Slice!
KTS: Eight York shares insight with Anita Rosetta, making her next attacks more accurate!
POT: Caruleum Vaull is now set observer.
KTS: Lily Jung fails to parry Az Sainklaus's Beam Sword Flyby Slice, taking 4680 damage!
KTS: Az Sainklaus has engaged Lily Jung
<Pose Tracker> Gary Biaggi has posed.
The pink chubby GINN succeeds at it's wish as Gary has to quickly let up on the covering fire to raise his shield. As the blast subsides his shield is now definately less shield and more slag on the Jegan's arm. On top of that the cameras are forced to reccalibrate due to the bright lgiht of the blast.
Gary feels a grin growing on his face as he is having fun and looks at his target as his screen continues to show him double for a moment, " So you aren't just some one worthless it would seem."
A few button presses later and he is broadcasting to the 'Z Roux' and the janky AC 'Annihilator' , "I am moving in, try not to shoot me. " With the warning given Gary powers forward leaving the rifle floating in space and drawing forth a beam saber, the blade a nice blood red.
Gary manuevers the Jegan in as he is obviously trying to finish this whole thing off with a single strike of the blade. Worse case scenario the GINN was going to have to deal with a sword in their face while others do their own thing as well.
KTS: Gary Biaggi targets Riika Sheder with Formation NexT 100!
<Pose Tracker> Mayvy Hawkins has posed.
The data inflow from Mayvy pauses, briefly, as Edge releases the Leap Slashers from his Huckebein. She swaps to a camera view to watch, briefly. "... That's a TK weapon," she murmurs to herself. she makes a mental note of something, as the incoming blast rocks the ship. "Augh! Hell," she exclaims, entirely out of habit. She curses silently for not spotting it earlier.
The interruption's only momentary. She's back to AWACS. "Damage is... considerable, but nothing essential's been hit," she reports, probably unecessarily. As the Gravity Cannon charges, then fires, she's left in momentary awe, between the data and the visual... "Holy shit," she says quietly.
<Pose Tracker> Murrue Ramius has posed.
Frustration, more than anger, and concern for the pilots and colonists play across Murrue's mind as she watches the missiles from her attack be mowed down by the Auerbach's point defense systems.
All of that goes out the window however, when the second capault experiences explosive decompression, after one of the rounds from the railgun blows through both sides. The Archangel begins to drift from the propulsive thrust of the decompression.
"Emergency bulkheads! I want damage reports and emergency teams on that now! Helm, counter the drift and bring us to heading one-five-zero, target those railguns! Bring the big guns online!"
Murrue's eyes widen witnessing the attack by the Nadesico, but she isn't gonna let awe take hold of her, and with a forward step of her right foot, and a strong gesture of her arm, the Captain of the Archangel orders the next attack on the Auerbach.
<Pose Tracker> Leos Klein has posed.
The grenade seems singularly resistant to attempts to shoot it down. Whether it's proprietary hardware meant to defeat anti-missile systems or bad luck, it races ahead -- and behind it, Annihilator rockets through space like a pink-seeking missile. (Though if that's the case, it's honestly kind of a wonder that it hasn't been intercepted by random spherical explosions.)
'AC! Keep near the colony if your thrusters are bad!' Great advice. Legitimately a good strategy. Spinning off into space is a terrible way to spend eternity.
"I've got it! I'm going in!" is, however, all the yelled warning that Leos gives his allies. Annihilator goes diving past the Z-II's line of fire and briefly crosses Gary's scope, single-mindedly approaching the GINN despite the transports that aren't too far from him now. He extends his right hand forward, rifle trained, the grenade launcher locked down on his back and out of the way --
That sword is not exactly what he expected. Mobile suits, Leos reckons, typically have beam sabers, not European broadswords of an appropriate scale. The AC's mad rush gets interrupted by a new source of imparted momentum, the machine dropping one of its wide shoulders low enough to take the hit there instead of right across the core section. It gets swept sideways, and Leos is swatted like a particularly demented fly.
'Particularly demented,' you see, because he's coming around for another pass.
The thruster pack fires, Leos moving with more deliberate motion this time. The quick boost sends him into an angular orbit, the g-forces pulling hard on the pilot and driving him against the insufficiently-padded interior. He feels something give, and adrenaline alone keeps him from wondering for too long about whether it's a body part, a mechanical component, or a piece of the bargain bin normal suit.
As the Jegan approaches, the AC comes in from the other side. Leos swings his left arm across what ought to be the GINN's back and side, igniting his forearm-mounted laser blade mid-swing. The brilliant red blade springs into existence for a span of seconds, then winks out again until he reorients and goes for another attack run.
"Hell no! Not letting you use that cannon again!" Backing off seems like the worst decision when one party has an ion cannon and the other does not.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Jung has posed.
Lily attempts to draw back, the thrusters firing at full in an attempt to not have to deal with the Huckebein Pilot so close to her. Her heart is practically beating out of her chest at this point!
With Edge Sainklaus having gotten closer, she can tell that the Huckebein on that side is looking fairly unscathed even at the end of that assault on him.
Of course, it would be unbecoming of a young lady such as herself to curse at this. But she can tell that this fight is not in her favor. And it feels like she is already letting down her team, as she gets a message from Riika asking if she is okay.
<"I-I've got this, leave it to me!"> She tries to feel bold. To portray herself as someone that Riika can rely on! She doesn't want to be the one that is holding back ZAFT - that is holding back her team!
She glances to the side, and feels something pressing against her. A pressure. Something about that other unit is making her anxious, as Edge considers taking care of her unit and then supporting the rest. The EWAC Zack turns, firing at the Leap Slashers that follow up.
The moment one of them gets too close, she catches it with the beam-side of her Longblade rifle, parrying it away, only, for the other to tear into the side of her machine, ripping through the metal. Red warning lights go off, and the girl hits the thrusters to try and get out of their range while firing quick potshots. At the corner of her eyes, she keeps glancing at the reactor status! It's keeping up still!
Yet amongst all of that, she still has the time to worry about her allies. The strike force her very captain is facing is gearing with incredibly high technological advantage. And she's gotten to enjoy her time with Talia Gladys's bridge crew too! Scotty... James...
The Gravity Blast erupting over their position!
<"Captain!"> Worry radiates out.
"Please be safe." She whispers to herself, biting her bottom lip, only to turn that soft focused bite into blood as Az Sainklaus rockets forwards and slams her beam sword into the Zack's Longblade! The rifle actually manages to hold, but as the sparks fly, it is obvious that Az's opponent is not fond of close range attacks. The beam saber starting to melt into its shoulder. Burning away at the Zack.
Lily grits her teeth, pushing her controls forward, trying to get the thrusters to give her a bit more to work with! But she's woefully outclassed.
<"Don't be naive! This is war! The Federation has been restricting our food supplies. They did it when we started. They did it when Zeon took hold, and we stood neutral. They did it for the years after!"> Lily shows a bit of her spirit!
She swallows, and more quietly and calmly adds; <"I appreciate your sympathy... but you must know... if you are a soldier. It isn't that easy. If we are to survive as a nation, we must be allowed to take care of our own people. Not be forced to starve if we have too many people for the Federation to be comfortable.">
The unit then adjusts its stance, and brings its other arm up, trying to slam into the head unit of the Huckebein. She then has her unit try to kick against the 30L's chest, using it as a kick-off point as the unit turns and faces lines up both Az Sainclaus and Edge Sainclaus in the same line of fire.
The light of that blade she'd been using to parry and block Az Sainclaus' blade lifts to the tip, and not a second later, there's an enormous eruption in the debris belt they're in. A flood of purple light that turns and follows through. The energy sensors no doubt indicating that the Zack is practically emptying its reactor to do even this much!
KTS: Lily Jung has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Talia Gladys
KTS: Lily Jung targets Az Sainklaus with Longblade Rifle - High Emission!
KTS: Lily Jung targets Edge Sainklaus with Longblade Rifle - High Emission!
<Pose Tracker> Zurvan Zevarist has posed.
It turns out combat is not as it seems from the simulations or the grandios story coming from your giant alien mother. Zurvan's hands are tightly gripping his controls, his hair spiking out like long tendrils, wriggling almost by themselves inside of his helmet, losing the melee strike against the Gelgoog. "Damn!" He calls, one of the M-RECT tendrils coming to collect the matter of the improvised club. At least, the systems seems to be adapting to mobile deployment... but he finds little comfort about it at the moment, in middle of a battle. He'll celebrate it when he's out of here, alive. Preferably without a colony on his conscience. The steady fire from the beam rifle slams into the Weldrizer's sides, crackling metal and parts away, despite the clear attempt at making more metal matter form in front of the shots. It is largely successfull -- but there still a lot of damage dealt.
Then, he's locked into a radio, combat data flowing in and he get to hear the others fighting. "Yeah!" Zurvan calls, with some creak in his voice. "I'm the pie guy. I was on the Nadeisco and I saw what was happening and--" The Weldrizer veers off to one side, a noozle extruding out a small plane of metal that get melted down, then collected again. "I couldn't let damage happen to the colony. So I came out, to repair what I could during the fight!"
Zurvan takes a deep breath, falling back into some drilled instincts that, in the end, he never figured would actually come useful. Thanks, mom, for your mock-up drills during the morning. There's also... a pressure in his head. Voices? Maybe? Some grable? It's annoying. it's in the way. Zurvan tries to forget it all, focusing on his calculations.
"I don't know if I should have come out here, but I AM here! As for support, ms... That's my job. WELDRIZER! EXECUTE PROTOCOL COVER RANGE."
There is no such things. Just a program with a long, serialised number, that makes several noozles peek out at their longest range, spewing out matter in calculated matter. Long circles, twisting cylinders, flat like roads, are materialized in space in calculated manner to hinder the Gelgoog -- and other hostiles that are apparently attacking -- but more importantly giving Anita, Rena and the Battleship... clearer, easier sight, cover to use and walls to apply pressure and pincer enemies into.
Zurvan allows himself, despite -- or rather BECAUSE of the stress -- a brief satisfied laugh.
KTS: Talia Gladys's Barrier Generator activates, negating 200 base damage.
KTS: Talia Gladys fails to Evade Murrue Ramius's Archangel Increased Barrage, taking 6600 damage!
KTS: Murrue Ramius roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable.
KTS: Edge Sainklaus has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Edge Sainklaus blocks Lily Jung's Longblade Rifle - High Emission, taking 2371 damage!
KTS: Leos Klein anchors Riika Sheder, forcing her into close range.
KTS: Riika Sheder parries Leos Klein's Laser Blade Rush, taking 870 damage!
KTS: Leos Klein has engaged Riika Sheder
KTS: Az Sainklaus has activated the Trust Spirit Command.
Zurvan_Zevarist Attacks Rena Lancaster, Eight York, and Anita Rosetta with Coordinate
KTS: Riika Sheder fails to Evade Roux Louka's Adapt Jegan Shield Missiles, taking 4530 damage!
KTS: Zurvan Zevarist coordinates maneuvers, raising Eight York's Piloting!
KTS: Riika Sheder parries Gary Biaggi's Formation NexT 100, taking 1770 damage!
KTS: Gary Biaggi has engaged Riika Sheder
KTS: Zurvan Zevarist coordinates maneuvers, raising Anita Rosetta's Piloting!
KTS: Az Sainklaus successfully Evades Lily Jung's Longblade Rifle - High Emission
KTS: Zurvan Zevarist coordinates maneuvers, raising Rena Lancaster's Piloting!
<Pose Tracker> Talia Gladys has posed.
"Captain, the Nergal ship is charging some kind of weapon!"
Talia turns her head to look at the screen displaying a visual of the Nadesico. Energy crackling around those long sections. Talia isn't familiar with every weapon currently used in the Earth sphere. Not by far. But she can tell that taking that full on could potentially cripple the Auerbach. She quickly calls out, "Up 50! Full burn!" The Auerbach's engines light up to the brightest they can as the ship quickly accelerates to try and throw off the Nadesico's aim. It doesn't help much, most of the gravity cannon shot striking the Auerbach.
It's super effective.
The section of the Auerbach that was hit has had all of its armour vaporized, as well as much of the hull beneath. There were clear signs of explosive decompression as part of its structure was damaged and opened to space. Though emergency bulkheads did what they are supposed to and have shut off those sections from the rest of the ship.
That's not the end to the Auerbach's concerns though, as the Archangel brings a large amount of beam fire towards it. The Auerbach turns, once more trying to throw of the other ship's aim. Some of the beams just barely glance past, but others rip across the Auerbach's hull, burning through armour and leaving scorch marks behind.
The bridge finishes shaking as the Auerbach comes out of the latest barrage just a little worse for wear. This battle is proving to be taking a toll on the single Laurasia class. If the Federation forces manage to get the upper hand, this could for ZAFT into a retreat. And a quick one at that. Talia turns to her operations officer, "Scotty, tell Saraven, Lily and Riika not to get too far away. They may need to return on short notice." With an affirmative from Scotty, the command is relayed to the two.
Talia then turns her attention back to the immediate fight against the two other ships, "Swing us around on the Nergal ship's Z axis. Prepare beam cannons."
The Auerbach turns, engines blasting it through space as it leaves small trails of smoke from the sections where it's been hit so far. The two large dual beam canons swing again to both point off to the side in a broadside. Talia's intentions become clear as the maneuver lines up both the Nadesico and the Archangel at roughly the same angle.
"FIRE!"
The large beam cannons fire multiple times, unleashing several green beams out into space towards both ships.
KTS: Talia Gladys has activated the Attune Spirit Command.
KTS: Talia Gladys has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Talia Gladys has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
Talia_Gladys Attacks Riika Sheder, Lily Jung, and Saraven Vai with All-Out
Talia_Gladys Changes attack to Murrue Ramius and Ruri Hoshino with Main Beam Cannons Increased Barrage
KTS: [Lucky] Lily Jung's Luckyyyy! activates, and luck goes her way!
KTS: Lily Jung successfully accepts Talia Gladys's All-Out
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"I'm glad you're with us!" Rena answers, Zurvan. A breath -- then her expression "Damn... all right, Ensign," Rena answers. She nods her head once, and then looks ahead. Anita is with her -- and that makes it easier for her to focus, in a way. She has a friend with her.
Something about the Varguil's pilot feels wrong. There isn't the right range of emotion there. She feels empty -- but no, it isn't empty. It is more than that. She sees the lilac Mobile Suit flying backward, rushing away from the blitz of beam cannon shots that hurtle at the Varguil. She lands a few hits, and that gives Rena a moment of brief satisfaction.
Then, she feels Saraven's thought intrude into her mind. "That's--" She grits her teeth. "...I've got my reasons. Zeon's time has come to an end."
She grits her teeth as Anita's combat knife misses -- and then as the Varguil flies backward. Saraven speaks; she can't really hear it or respond, as the shots fire. The Mass Production-type Nu Gundam sweeps around one, before a second shot slams into the side and explodes out the back. The fiery blast slams it forward, Rena slammed ahead and then back in the restraints of her cockpit.
"Gh!"
She feels Eight's mind. That's an old, familiar sensation; since they were kids. It pushes out the distractions. It gives her a focus -- a lens, to clarify the world -- and that gives her a sense of calm.
One breath.
Then, she hits the throttle. The verniers burn bright -- thrusters light up -- and the Gundam explodes forward, to close the distance quickly to the Varguil. She weaves around a flat cylindrical piece that Zurvan manifests. The shield swings back -- it's scarred, holes punched into it, half-molten in places -- and then Rena slams it hard for the midsection of the Varguil.
KTS: Rena Lancaster targets Saraven Vai with Nu Gundam Shield Bash!
Incoming attacks:
1: Rena_Lancaster attacking with Nu Gundam Shield Bash (Melee, Physical, Rattle)
KTS: Rena Lancaster rattles Saraven Vai, making her next maneuvers more difficult.
KTS: Saraven Vai fails to parry Rena Lancaster's Nu Gundam Shield Bash, taking 2250 damage!
KTS: Rena Lancaster has engaged Saraven Vai
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
The Varguil drops onto the colony's surface and Anita pursues, the Variable Fighter hovering just above to avoid causing damage to the surface structure. It skates after her - and as the funnels come into pursue, Anita performs some evasive maneuvers in an attempt to shake them off. She doesn't... quite succeed, it's difficult to evade so many targets at once. Anita grits her teeth, but there's nothing she can do but bear it right now.
"Gotcha, Captain!" Anita replies to Eight, pressing a few buttons on the console to accept the oncoming data. But Eight isn't the only one providing assistance. Anita's eyebrow raises as matter forms ahead of her - shapes forming into walls and roads to modify the field of battle to their advantage.
"I have no idea what you just did, but that's pretty cool." Anita comments to Zurvan with a whistle. She directs the VF-25 toward one of those walls, riding up it at high speed, launching off of it and spiraling through space to land behind the Varguil. As Rena comes in with a disorienting shield slam, Anita follows up with a flurry of dancing motions, her knife scything through the air for the Varguil.
KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Enable Spirit Command.
KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Enable Spirit Command.
KTS: Anita Rosetta targets Saraven Vai with Dancing Knife!
KTS: Saraven Vai parries Anita Rosetta's Dancing Knife, taking 1620 damage!
KTS: Anita Rosetta has engaged Saraven Vai
<Pose Tracker> Ruri Hoshino has posed.
"Firing the Gravity Blast at this stage may act as sufficient deterrence," Ruri asides, to Mayvy. "Since the enemy vessel's defences haven't been damaged severely. If we can demonstrate superior firepower, we might be able to convince them to retreat. It would be better to end this battle quickly."
Ruri is the one who says it, but it's easy to call it the feeling of the whole bridge, here. They're not fighting Lizards, right now -- and they're fighting above a colony, besides. For all Ruri has reported on the battle without inflection or hesitation...
The Nadesico isn't a ship which relishes fighting other humans. It's not their mission; it's not their inclination. They happened to stumble into this fight, but that doesn't mean they want it to end in more funerals, either.
Because the people staffing the Auerbach are...
"We're fighting humans," Yurika confirms, slapping a hand into her fist. "So let's have faith in them!"
But even though the Gravity Blast shakes the Auerbach terribly -- it's still flying. "Enemy craft armor compromised," Ruri reports, hands to her console. "Incoming."
Another blast impacts the Nadesico; Ruri optimises the Distortion Field output, but even so, they can't completely overcome the force that the Auerbach puts out.
"They're still fighting..? Don't they realise what could happen?" Megumi, from her seat by the wall, has nerves much more frayed than Ruri's.
"Sending surrender query," is Ruri's response to that worry. It's a request for communication, sent from the Nadesico to the Auerbach. If it's accepted, the face which appears...
... is way too young for this. Ruri Hoshino, with white-blue hair up in twintails, gold eyes, and skin almost as pale as her hair, can't be any older than twelve. "Enemy craft, this is the Nadesico. You have taken significant damage. Please withdraw now. We will not pursue. Repeat, the Nadesico will not pursue."
Hands to her console, she's filtering through the information Omoikane is still giving her. She remembers her agreement to look out for the Dresstrager units, and so she reads their sensors, monitors their position and readouts.
Both Edge and Az will shortly receive a feed of data from the Nadesico, mainly for their onboard systems rather than them, though there's a human-level message helpfully displayed in a text box.
< Now advising optimal output cycling. >
She asks very politely if she can help their systems optimise their calculations, of course. (Which is to say, she's asking their mobile suits... how strange!)
<Pose Tracker> Riika Sheder has posed.
"<All right. Be careful!" is Riika's response to Lily. She'll have to still keep an eye on her, but if she thinks she can handle it...
It's not like Riika is short of things to do.
Missiles fly toward Riika, and while she would ordinarily shoot them out (that's what the shoulder vulcans, too small to reliably do damage to a MS at anything but point-blank or with a lucky shot, are for) she is suddenly way too pressed to do it. She goes for evasion instead, for a second time, and for a second time it doesn't work very well; the missiles are well and truly locked on, and the rapid-fire detonation sends the GINN flipping end over end.
No - she did at least part of that on purpose, or at least turned it into a serendipitous movement. The flipping dodge gives her a moment to reorient her sword, and she swings it wide, catching Leos' laser blade.
You can't *really* parry a laser blade, precisely - there's no clash, at least. But Riika's heavy blade is treated - as a test pilot, she sometimes gets assigned prototypes, and this one has an anti-beam coating that is supposed to keep it intact for an impact or two against beams.
The laser beam splinters and refracts when it hits it, a spray of red lasers that catches the GINN in the flank, drilling holes but not shearing through either sword or arm. Several of Riika's internal warnings light up, and more do when she carries through the sweep to catch Gary's NexT blade.
It leaves the MA-M3 glowing red-hot and losing its edge. Riika's getting a thermal warning from the hand. "Ngg... why does everybody even *have* a beam saber??" She thrusts it toward the Jegan, pivoting to try to swing said Jegan between her and where she last saw Roux to use him as cover.
A brief moment while she pulls the beam cannon down, but at this range it *is* legitimately hard to get a straight shot at the Annihilator (even if it would serve him right for telling her she couldn't use it), so Leos instead gets a spray of missiles from the leg-mounted launchers on the GINN Assault's legs - she empties all six tubes and lets them reload while she's taking aim, past the Jegan's shoulder and right at the hopefully-returning Roux.
She's not going to shoot through the dropship even if it is mostly empty. Who do you think she is, Gary Biaggi?
"<Understood, Captain!>" Riika sends back to Talia. If she can just finish this battle quickly...
KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
Ruri_Hoshino Attacks Edge Sainklaus and Az Sainklaus with All-Out
KTS: Riika Sheder targets Gary Biaggi with MA-M3 Heavy Blade Combo!
KTS: Riika Sheder targets Leos Klein with M68 Pardus Guided Missile Launcher Barrage!
KTS: Riika Sheder targets Roux Louka with M69 Barrus Kai Heavy Ion Cannon Pulse Shot!
KTS: Roux Louka successfully evades Riika Sheder's M69 Barrus Kai Heavy Ion Cannon Pulse Shot
<Pose Tracker> Saraven Vai has posed.
Something the size of a ship is hard to slow down - and for all that Saraven is preternaturally skilled, Londo Bell brought friends. Friends who coordinate. She looks up towards the Ra Mari, lips pursed and hands serttling over her controls. There's another mind working across the distance.
For just a second, there is an image in the consciousness, blurred and barely formed--
austere white surroundings
the white coats
empty
it hurts--
The insight is brief, transient, and buckled down on by something machine-like - defensive.
...Why should I feel?
The defensiveness gives way to surprise when Weldrizer stars belting out bizarre streams of matter. Saraven actually sits up sharply in her seat and blinks twice. "What the--"
The surprise gives Rena a golden opportunity to come barreling in. Saraven is, for just a moment, caught flat-footed by the rush. She sweeps both of the Varguil's arms up, short blades deploying from them, but she comes in just a little too high. The shield swing buffets the Varguil hard, knocking the lilac machine back in space in a short tumble before Saraven steadies it.
She snaps the Varguil's right hand out; it comes out with a beam saber, the force edge flaring out at the base like the arc of a tomahawk. "So long as the people of space aren't free, Zeon will fight," she returns, voice a little more tense as she snaps back with a hard swing, trying to rip the beam blade into the Nu Gundam's dominant arm. "That's why the PLANTs' cause is just. Why we have to win."
She swings at Rena one more time, trying to back her off and create some space, but Anita crowds into it before she can make much use of it. The Varguil shifts to the side and swings its beam saber out to try and catch the knife, clashing blade on blade for a moment. Servos strain and spark as Saraven tries to keep the variable fighter from stabbing her mobile suit's face off. She tenses as she pushes back to gain a few clear metres - and in that second, the beam projectors in the Varguil's forearm leap off and unfold into Z-shaped devices.
Saraven's thoughts guide them. They go spiralling out, trying to slash into Anita's variable fighter, before circling back to their banks.
At the same moment, the funnels swirl out and around again. They lash out towards the Ra Mari with a barrage of fire, dashing to try and fire on that damaged solar panel before swerving past her - and they converge on Weldrizer, swarming, circling like sharks.
They fire, coming from all directions, maneuvering to try and get into the cracks between Zurvan's defenses.
Saraven frowns faintly. "...Is that some new Federation superweapon?"
KTS: Saraven Vai targets Rena Lancaster with Beam Tomahawk Thrust!
KTS: Saraven Vai targets Anita Rosetta with Butterfly Edge Guided Strike!
KTS: Saraven Vai targets Eight York with Funnel Strike!
KTS: Saraven Vai targets Zurvan Zevarist with Funnel Cage!
KTS: Gary Biaggi fails to parry Riika Sheder's MA-M3 Heavy Blade Combo, taking 4116 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Riika Sheder's Disruptor activates, causing Jam L1!
KTS: Riika Sheder has engaged Gary Biaggi
KTS: Leos Klein has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Zurvan Zevarist has activated the Trust Spirit Command.
KTS: Leos Klein has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Eight York has activated the Attune Spirit Command.
KTS: Anita Rosetta fails to rush.
KTS: Anita Rosetta's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage.
KTS: Saraven Vai rattles Anita Rosetta, making her next maneuvers more difficult.
KTS: Anita Rosetta fails to react to Saraven Vai's Butterfly Edge Guided Strike, taking 1958 damage!
KTS: Saraven Vai has engaged Anita Rosetta
KTS: Eight York fails to evade Saraven Vai's Funnel Strike, taking 2918 damage!
KTS: Zurvan Zevarist has activated the Foresee Spirit Command.
KTS: Zurvan Zevarist fails to Charge.
KTS: Zurvan Zevarist fails to react to Saraven Vai's Funnel Cage, taking 2937 damage!
KTS: Leos Klein rushes into the attack!
KTS: Leos Klein fails to react to Riika Sheder's M68 Pardus Guided Missile Launcher Barrage, taking 4079 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Riika Sheder's Disruptor activates, causing Jam L1!
<Pose Tracker> Edge Sainklaus has posed.
The Leap Slashers continue doggedly pursuing her in her defense before they break off in time for Az to come in to engage the EWAC Zack at close range. " .. a girl?" he questions, catching some of the tightbeam chatter due to his proximity. " .. she sounds like she's around Az's age." he murmurs.
Of course, he could relate to what she was saying, at least to an extent, considering their history. But even so - did that make what they were doing right? I can't say anything in the face of it, though. I did a lot of things that weren't right at all just to make sure Az and I could eat, after we ran away from the lab. ... Maybe this is just another one of those things, huh.
Edge addresses Lily directly, "Of course. ... I hate to say something this cruel, but coming out onto the battlefield to take from others means you value what you can grab more than your life, right now. I won't disrespect that. But - that doesn't mean I'm not going to shoot you down, either."
.. ! My hackles are raising -
A moment later, a klaxon goes off in his cockpit, notifying him of the raising energy level. "I'm too close to move - !"
The slasher bits are recalled and fire themselves back into the resting position of their modules, while the Huckebein crosses its arms and tucks its legs upwards to compact itself defensively, not a moment too soon as a hot wave of megaparticles coats its body, smelting down its armor.
The temperature in its cockpit was raising uncomfortably, so much so that it was getting tough for Edge to breathe, the waves of heat falling over his face. "Really wishin' I packed a damn normal suit..!"
When the light fades, Huckebein 30R looks visibly scorched, the caution tape on its body having been incinerated But ..
It was shockingly, more or less intact. " ... hate to say it, but if not for the R being such a high class machine, my goose would've cooked ... okay, my turn!"
Spreading its legs and arms back out into a normal position and flexing its joints to ensure they still worked properly, the Huckebein reaches behind itself to hit the release levers to drop the Graviton Rifles into its hands.
A cursory stock of the battlefield and checking in with one of the operators gave him a good idea where things weren't looking so hot. Trusting Az to keep the pink Zack busy as his Huckebein boosted back a step, it raises both rifles and points in Lily's direction with one of them, while twisting its body to point the other one in the direction of ..
Saraven Vai's squadron, while she harasses Edge's other allies. "I'd be a pretty shitty ally if all I could do was focus on my own fight. It doesn't mean jack if things go to pot everywhere else.." he says, mostly to himself, before pulling the trigger.
He was pretty bad with these, admitedly. He just hoped the R's joints had the strength to handle what he was about to put them through.
A thick stream of red mass - a weapon similar to a much scaled down version of the Gravity Beam - shoots from each barrel, and Edge eyeballs the trajectories of both. "I was off - and they're moving ... so I gotta' correct...!"
The Huckebein visibly strains to pull its arms as the shoulders and elbows pop and crackle, tugging before giving way for Edge to drag the beams in a fanning motion.
KTS: Edge Sainklaus has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Edge Sainklaus has activated the Trick Spirit Command.
Edge_Sainklaus Attacks Saraven Vai and Lily Jung with Rolling Graviton Rifles
KTS: Rena Lancaster's Will Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage.
KTS: Rena Lancaster fails to parry Saraven Vai's Beam Tomahawk Thrust, taking 2918 damage!
KTS: Saraven Vai has engaged Rena Lancaster
KTS: Saraven Vai has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
evade not permitted in MeleeEngaged
KTS: Saraven Vai fails to retreat.
KTS: Saraven Vai successfully avoids Edge Sainklaus's Rolling Graviton Rifles
KTS: Edge Sainklaus has activated the Accel Spirit Command and Has Engaged with Lily Jung
<Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.
Ha! Roux thinks. Got you!
Something is coming in through cross talk, though. Something about food? Roux frowns to herself for a moment. The topic... something about it. It's a splinter in the mind's eye.
But the enemy before her is asking about beam sabers, which is a more comfortable topic for her head to rest on. "There was a clearance sale!" she retorts to Riika, even though Riika's blade lock is with that intensely red Jegan. The loader on the shield starts to click but-- Something is passing towards her. For a moment Roux feels like she's caught in a searchlight, like the cover of those heist movies she was bingeing on two years ago, how they always had the heroine in a slinky dress or the guy in a sharp suit (sometimes torn) even if the entire thing was in full day cycle and
oh shit!
Roux feathers the thrusters, which means that the incoming streak of supercharged ionic pulsation streaks past the Z-II-- narrowly, narrowly enough that there's some discoloration on the hip as random particles of space garbage are reduced to atoms and then attracted to the large quasi-metallic object nearby thanks to intense ionic polarization. "Tch! Close..."
"Biaggi!" Roux shouts. "Don't be fooled by that dulcet voice! This is a commander unit, she's some kind of ZAFT commander! Cover the militia guy!"
Because Roux is accelerating inwards, bringing up the rifle as Riika lets loose on the Armored Core -- and firing while advancing! (Is this legal? The Mega Beam Rifle is at least 30% brighter, more intense than the typical one - specialized weaponry, and nearer yet!) "I'm going to keep her busy!"
KTS: Roux Louka targets Riika Sheder with Mega Beam Sucker Shot!
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
"So this is your work," Captain York radios to Zurvan. "Keep it up, that's helping a lot. You're here now, should be or otherwise--so let's do our best!" She's glad he's with them, too. Though she can't help but worry about him; he said that was a prototype...
The images blur, barely formed, and Eight's hand grips the armrest of her chair, white-knuckled. She knows those rooms. She knows what that is--
Everyone feels! Think about what they've done to you!/
She breaks off the contact before much more than her frustration--her own remembered pain--can come through. But she recognizes something in Saraven, all right. Nevertheless...
"Get me all main guns. We're taking down that mobile suit."
"Zeon's time is over!" Eight agrees with Rena. "What do you know of freedom, Lilac Gale? Have you ever felt it for yourself?"
The Ra Mari is simply not fast enough,e ven with expert piloting, to get out of the way; a solar panel takes heavy damage, though at least it's not the ship's interiors this time. A set of explosions rocks the Ra Mari, and the bridge shakes with it. "Status report!" Eight demands.
"Port solar panel heavily damaged, ma'am!"
"And the guns?"
"Ready!"
"Lock on main guns. Sychronized fire pattern 3!"
She notices Edge's backup, and quietly appreciates the help. But she can't spare a moment to talk, not until--"Step back, squadron!" to her allies.
"FIRE!"
The Ra Mari's twin-barrel particle cannons gleam with power, drawing in energy and light and particles as they focus down. Abruptly, all the cannons begin to fire at once, directly at Saraven, Newtype reflexes focused on her crew to dial in a path.
"Never again, Zeon. Never again."
KTS: Eight York has activated the Attune Spirit Command.
KTS: Eight York targets Saraven Vai with Twin Barrel Mega-Particle Cannons Focused Assault!
KTS: Saraven Vai fails to react to Eight York's Twin Barrel Mega-Particle Cannons Focused Assault, taking 7320 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Talia Gladys has posed.
"Captain, we're receiving a comms request from the Nergal ship." There's a bit of surprise in Scotty's voice as she announces this.
Talia raises an eyebrow for a moment. She considers simply ignoring it... Though she is a little curious about that ship. Perhaps this is a good opportunity to learn something. Talia finally nods, "Put them on."
The feed of Ruri appears on the screen, 'Enemy craft, this is the Nadesico...' She's young. Very young, even by Coordinator standards. Talia definitely considers it unfortunate that the current world state has resulted in such young people being involved in battle.
Ruri finishes asking for Talia to retreat. Talia can't deny that the Auerbach has taken some bad hits. Even with the damage so far, it's definitely going to need more time in a shipyard. And it may eventually come to a retreat... But so long as they are serving as the screen for the rest of the ZAFT forces behind, Talia is going to hold out for as long as she can.
Pushing a button on her chair, Talia opens up two-way communications, this time appearing on Ruri's screen, "This is Captain Talia Gladys of the ZAFT warship, Auerbach. Thank you for the generous offer, Nadesico. But I'm afraid I will have to decline. Your assessment of our situation isn't wrong. However, as both commander of this operation and a soldier of the PLANTs, I have to consider more than just the well-being of my ship." It seems there is a lot riding on this mission.
Talia then says, "I will offer a counter proposal though. Have your forces and the colony defenders stand down. ZAFT will guarantee the lives and safe return of all colonists on Frontier 7. We have no desire to inflict any further casualties."
<Pose Tracker> Murrue Ramius has posed.
The Archangel, a prototype vessel, works like most prototypes. As the the rainbow volley of fire arcs from all the active guns on the ship towards the Auerbach, the discharge makes the Archangel a fixed target for a period. Sacrificing engine power for maintaining weapons and barrier reserves, to allow such a multi caliber salvo.
Even the combined firepower from the Nadesico and the Archangel weren't enough to discourage the Auerbach, and return fire was costly. Reports come in of two breeches, but all emergency bulkheads worked and emergency crews are already on their way, Murrue allowed herself a moment of pride and appreciation. Only a moment. "I want the engine clock put up on the screen. Find the areas that are most damaged. Have the opposition responded to the message from the Nadesico?"
SOON AFTER
The message from Auerbach is overheard, and Murrue... Murrue, doesn't want to see any of the colonists hurt. The longer this goes on, the worse it could only get for them. One stray beam... Murrue gets on the comms "This is Captain Murrue Ramius. The Archangel is ceasing fire. We want no harm to the colonists. Repeat, The Archangel, is standing down."
KTS: Murrue Ramius targets Talia Gladys with Pass!
<Pose Tracker> Gary Biaggi has posed.
Gary's blade raises up to once again catch his opponents blade and then Gary realizes his damn Jegan's sensors till haven't fully recalibrated and he was trying to parry the wrong one. The GINN's blade carves a nice trench along the armor and Gary watches the cockpit door for a moment to see if it holds. " Not good enough."
The lieutenant looks in the direction of the Roux and flips the switch, not only for the comm but for an outright open comm so the pilot of the AC and the GINN could hear it as well. Gary then laughs before saying , "You think just because this wanna be is in some form of command unit that they are a commander? More likely it is is just some young hotshot playing pretend." The entire time on his face he is wearing a devilish grin.
Perhaps in his own way this was his own way of covering the AC as was requested.
KTS: [Spirit Defense] Riika Sheder's Spirit Endurance activates, and the spirit endures.
KTS: Gary Biaggi has activated the Daunt Spirit Command targeting Riika Sheder
KTS: Gary Biaggi targets Riika Sheder with Goad!
<Pose Tracker> Zurvan Zevarist has posed.
This is a triple sort of new situation, adding to the stress. One: He's not used to space, space, zero-gravity. Two: He's actually in a fight. Three: THE DAMN HEAD BUZZING SURE IS GETTING ANNOYING, HOOOOBOY WOOWEE.
"Nrg." Zurvan grits his teeth, brows furrowed as he tries hard to focus on other things... notably, his calculations. Various matter comes flowing forth from the M-RECT nozzles, attempting to react to the cage swarming over him, blaster fire pettering against the Welderizer. For each blocks he put up, they go through and avoid it .. thus, frustrated, Zurvan barks out a sharp shout, pushing on the verniers of the machine onward to charge straight at the machine causing this -- and he presume it's this Gelgoog. Unfortunately, he forgot the simple fact that the WELDRIZER is not, uh, fit for space. Not all that much, anyway. The distance is just not there, plus with all that shield he made around him.... well, let's just say it's a pain.
"Yeah." He pants, shutting off some screens that warns of damage, damage he already memorized, "Thanks. This is the Weldrizer -- I'll make introductions after the colony's not filled with damn holes!" Zurvan lets out. "For now, I'm here and I ain't gonna let it be destroyed because some wanna drag it off! Ms. Lancaster, I'm going IN."
The printing tendrils pools together into a larger one, fitting into one another, superhot pins fusing together as the Weldrizer lend out a hand to the side. Starting from the palm, it starts printing out a large cylinder that spread out into a wide, long rectangle with various, symmetrical cracks alongside it, made of a plain, smooth metal. "This thing. wasn't meant to fight, but damned if I'm going to sit there and not do anything! PREPARE YOURSELF!" He shouts more on the local radio, the Weldrizer lifting a foot at the edgeguard of the rectangle it printed, then pulls. Cracks fissures effortlessly as a long, impossibly thin blade pulls out of the casting block, one that he grab with both of his secondary arms lifting it up. It is nearly invisible on the side as he charge forward, nozzles now ejecting matter to propel him forward.
His gloved hand, sparking electricity, speaks to the machine. His will grows into his movement, giving minute adjustments to his charge, the aim of his sword. He aims for somewhere non-lethal -- the arms, the legs, the weapons. Using a sword in a mech is different than being on foot.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Still, for the Zeon, there is a strange mech with molten matter spraying behind it, charging at them with a two-dimensional sword, fully intent on using it.
KTS: Zurvan Zevarist has activated the Enable Spirit Command targeting Rena Lancaster
KTS: Zurvan Zevarist has activated the Assail Spirit Command.
KTS: Zurvan Zevarist has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Zurvan Zevarist has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Zurvan Zevarist targets Saraven Vai with Nano-Waifer Sword!
KTS: Saraven Vai has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Saraven Vai retreats from the attack!
KTS: Saraven Vai fails to react to Zurvan Zevarist's Nano-Waifer Sword, taking 6600 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
The Mass Production-type Nu Gundam is locked into place with Saraven, the shield caught briefly on the other Mobile Suit. One of the blasts earlier leaves it there. The beam saber swings up for Rena. The beam tomahawk swings down. But, before it connects and slashes through the arm, that arm comes up -- grabs hold of the beam saber -- and rips it free. A blade of energy explodes into existence, and the beam blades catch.
The beam tomahawk slides down, slashing into part of the shoulder. It's shorn free; silvery globs melt away, forming globules, and then rapidly cooling into solid balls of melted armor around them.
"After everything... no, I can't accept that. Believe it if you want, but..." Rena shakes her head once inside her cockpit. "Zeon has to become a thing of the past for spacenoids to move on! For us to find a better world!"
Anita comes from another side, and Rena glances sideways at the Messiah on her panoramic display. In the heat of battle, she forgets the ranks. "Anita!" she calls out. "Hang on!"
Zurvan sends the Weldrizer in -- and she grits her teeth, nodding. "I understand--yes! I'm with you!"
The Varguil tries to pull back, so the Gundam shoots forward, in time with the Weldrizer. Both of its hands grip the blade, and the beam saber flares brilliantly as she sends the Mass Production-type Nu Gundam soaring in. She lets out one, loud cry -- and then sweeps the beam saber up, trying to cut for one shoulder joint with her sudden rush.
KTS: Rena Lancaster targets Saraven Vai with Charge Ignition!
KTS: Rena Lancaster has activated the Attune Spirit Command.
<Pose Tracker> Az Sainklaus has posed.
Lily's words, in the midst of their close-range engagement, hit Az no less hard than the last ones did. More, if anything. There's words there that she can't deny, and doesn't even particularly want to. She knows, plenty well, how the Earth Federation operates...
Any reply she'd make has to wait though, as her Huckebein 30 suffers a direct blow to its head that leaves a slight dent in its XXX Visor, leaving it wide open to the follow-up kick as it's sent careening backwards. "Ngh...!" A hasty burst of its thrusters is the only thing that allows it to recover in time for Az to pick up on what's happening - a firsthand view of that same overwhelming light from before. "--Edge, watch out!"
A warning to her brother is something she barely manages before she's forced to act herself, hitting every booster on the machine as it turns to dive behind the nearest piece of debris in the field. The violent, violet light shines from around the corners of the floating wreckage as the machine puts its back to it, large sections of the makeshift barrier on the opposite side melting and blowing away under the intense power.
"Doing your best to survive, no matter what you have to do...I'd be a hypocrite if I said that's not a good enough reason to fight..." Through her strained tone, she sounds distinctly...sad? Though it's difficult to tell if that's out of more empathy for their opponent, or from something unpleasant she's remembering. Maybe both. "I won't defend what the Federation has done...but...!"
Right as the wreck gives out under the force entirely and washes over, her Huckebein dashes out to escape from the line of fire. Unlike Edge, she seems to be almost laser focused on the Zack right at this moment as she comes around in a wide arc. "Our mission is to stop conflict from spreading! Whether or not you're doing it for a good reason...I can't just stand back and let you spread it further!"
In motion, she picks up on the transmission from the Nadesico--which is surprising, but after only a moment, receives a nod to no one in particular. She'll gladly take the help. The only caveat being that the internal systems are quite unlike any Personal Trooper, Mobile Suit, or otherwise that Ruri might have interfaced with before. Even so, the Huckebein itself apparently accepts the offer...with only the lowest layer of internal calculations seeming to be off-limits. That's equally strange...
But not something Az herself pays any mind to, turning and bracing her Huckebein against another piece of debris. tThe Beam Sword is tossed aside in favor of the second Graviton Rifle, which Az levels forward with its counterpart before slamming them together at their sides. "I'm not a soldier, so I don't know the first thing about war, but I at least know that much!" They link together, and black-and-red energy briefly builds up within both barrels - before they fire in unison, unleashing a singular combined beam rivaling that of the Zack's own reactor-draining trump card.
The recoil pounds the machine back against its bracing point, going on to try and rip through the space nearby Lily's machine before hitting another environmental obstacle to go up in a massive explosion that'll catch her up in it.
KTS: Rena Lancaster has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Az Sainklaus has activated the Trick Spirit Command.
KTS: Az Sainklaus has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Az Sainklaus has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Az Sainklaus has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Az Sainklaus targets Lily Jung with Double Graviton Linked Fire!
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
Anita lets Rena do the talking. She was always good at that, and Anita nods quietly in her cockpit as Rena speaks.
On Anita's end, blades clash. The VF-25's combat knife isn't meant for blade on blade clashes - the Pinpoint Barrier System reinforcement protects it from the beam saber, but the Varguil's weapon keeps it from pushing too deep. And soon she's forced to retreat, just a bit, as a pair of z-shaped devices come whirling toward her. The VF-25 attempts to charge through them before they can cut too deep. She succeeds in that things go better than if she stood still, but the situation still isn't ideal.
"Thanks... I'm okay." Anita replies to Rena's concern. She prepares to move in again... but suddenly Eight calls out a warning. Anita reacts appropriately, dodging out of the way as the Ra Mari's particle cannons open fire on the Varguil.
"The Ra Mari's almost scary sometimes." Anita says... but, there's an appreciative tone to it.
With the Ra Mari on the offensive, Anita puts away her combat knife and draws out her gatling pod. Still keeping close to limit Saraven's movement, Anita spirals around while opening unleashing a flurry of gatling fire.
KTS: Anita Rosetta targets Saraven Vai with Gatling Shot!
<Pose Tracker> Mayvy Hawkins has posed.
Mayvy listens as Ruri offers terms of retreat to the enemy, and frowns thoughtfully as Talia gives her reply. This is difficult. She looks over at Ruri, and at Captain Misumaru. She wants to give her thoughts--but this isn't her ship. She sits her chin on her knee, back to her duties for the moment.
Incoming attacks:
KTS: Saraven Vai has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Saraven Vai successfully evades Anita Rosetta's Gatling Shot
KTS: Saraven Vai has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has disengaged.
KTS: Leos Klein has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has disengaged.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Jung has posed.
<"You're right. If my life can be spent to feed hundreds of thousands of people. If my life must be spent to make sure they can live a life of comfort again... if that must be how it is, I will spend it."> Lily replies to Az with a tremble in her voice. She believes what she is saying, but that doesn't mean that it's any less scary! The idea of death shakes her to her very core. She isn't really 'ready' for the battlefield.
But what soldier is truly 'ready' for the battlefield, when thrust upon it?
<"HMM!"> Lily replies to Riika with a heavy nod as the Longblade Rifle stops its firing sequence and starts charging again. She can hear the loud CLUNK of the power being cut as her gaze tries to focus on where the two Huckebeins are. She can still...they're still out there. She knows it.
There! And... not much worse for wear. "Daddy always said the Federation units were unlike anything he'd ever seen before. But this..." She feels her heart practically drop. How is she going to deal with this?
No! No, she must have hope. She must believe in herself and her team! They need this food! They need this food desperately!
She kick-starts the Zack and rushes away from the 30R, trying to get back into the debris field! From the side of her gaze, she watches the direction of the beam weapon. Dodge when it fires... dodge when it fires!
The Zack makes the distance, dodging the initial lancing of that crimson mass... only for it to follow! Chasing her and cutting across its left arm, tearing it apart and sending the EWAC unit into a perilous spin, before it slams into a piece of debris from the early battle against the clop. Lily grunts as the airbag of the Zack activates, taking up the full body of her vision and her head is slammed to the back of her seat, before she pushes her hand into the cushion!
"Out of the way, I have to see!" She complains, the white space-airbag rolling to the side. She glances across her screens as they come into vision, one at a time. There's so many screens. Her Haro helping her control it all. But every time she thinks about something, her body can't quite keep up. She can feel Az and Edge. She can feel the danger coming from them. But this machine. Her body. Her feet. Her hands. She lacks the training to act on her impulses in time.
"Please, Kuma. Help me." She whispers, her gaze lifting as she watches the soft-pink machine of Saraven's evade the clipping motions of Edge Sainklaus' attack. "I want to shine like her. I..."
She looks down towards where Az Sainklaus is, hearing her talk. <"You..."> She can feel the sadness. She can feel that tight feeling in her chest. She lifts her left hand, touching her own chest through her pilot suit. The sound of fabric gripping beneath the normal suit's gloves.
<"You are too naive. Conflict is a necessity. When there is an oppressor, and diplomacy has failed. When your people suffer... conflict must be committed to. I wasn't a soldier either. But this is what the Federation forced me to become."> The Zack moves, as she tries her best to avoid the charge coming from Az. Reading her feelings.
<"My name is Lily Jung... My favorite hobby is soccer, and listening to the stories back at the soup kitchen!"> She then expresses to Az, right before Az squeezes that trigger. <"My job... to soldier on for those who can't carry our people anymore!">
There's a pull along her face. A feeling. A flash of a sense that travels through her. Pushing one foot down, pulling with the other, turning her machine around... it almost seems to float for a moment.
Just for a moment... it flies, its arms wide, one leg torn. The other arm shattered. Yet...
The Flamingo flies in that moment
Its body twisting, the weapon turning. For a moment, just a moment, she's in tune. In tune with the machine, as her body aches. As she leans on the skills she has learned. For a moment, everything flows her way...
As her weapon points right down at Az and Edge once more.
<"Don't die!">
As that brilliant purple flash floods the sights of Edge and Az once more. Erasing the world in their foreward vision. The debris clearing as heat erodes metal, erodes rock. Rushing down upon them without halt! Sparks flying from the Zack as its Generator is pulled to its utter limits.
<Pose Tracker> Leos Klein has posed.
'There was a clearance sale!'
NOT SO LONG AGO
"Woah... how much for *that?*" Leos points at a particular high-tech looking laser blade in a digitized catalog. The feature list is a mile long.
"Two-thirty," the jowly merchant replies.
"That cheap?!" Leos reaches for his wallet, salivating.
"Thousand," the jowly merchant adds.
Leos lowers his opened wallet, frowning deeply. "Do you have anything in a more... budget-conscious range."
The jowly merchant gestures vaguely at the clearance bin, presently being stocked by a GM Trainer.
THE PRESENT
Leos does not offer verbal commentary on the matter.
Missiles rush towards the Armored Core at close range. Leos fires the chest-mounted vulcan, but the shots go uselessly wide, doing little more than making him feel like a canned idiot. A particularly over-shaken canned idiot. The safety features of the Annihilator are slim to none, and it's only thanks to the grace of a layer of padding provided by a normal suit that he doesn't seriously injure himself as he's sent careening away from the GINN in a cloud of rapidly-expanding metallic debris. Leos squeezes the booster trigger, hoping to evade at least a few --
The generator redlines. It goes into an emergency power cycle, locking down his extra booster controls and cycling juice away from his laser blade, kept in standby as it was. It's meant to keep the generator from being ridden into the ground, and in most situations, is very welcome. The extra power draw from the external booster pack being what it is, though...
This, though, Leos knows how to solve. He works the controls on his dash, opening a panel and flipping a knife switch. The redlining generator, the combat model, is not the only one present in the Armored Core. The primary generator, the one normally used for maintaining normal operational power, goes into overdrive. The secondary gets enough juice siphoned into it to jumpstart it, and the extra power makes the entire Core tremble with potential energy.
Or the superstructure is fucked enough that it's coming apart as he flies it. One or the other.
"No time to pretend on a battlefield," Leos calls, trying to sound more composed than he actually is. The AC rolls, boosting sideways, its shoulder-mounted grenade launcher locking into the ready position. Leos cycles the ammunition with a brief movement, circling in a wide arc -- and then abruptly flipping the AC upside-down relative to the GINN and 'descending' on top of one of the troop transports trying to sneak by, dropping into a low crouch against the solid object.
It's like firing from an actively hostile surfboard. Leos fires the shot anyway, the launcher's gyros and retro-rockets keeping it on-target despite the unsteady motions of the shooter. He's a sitting duck like this -- but at least it'll make the enemy pilot pause before taking such a free shot.
KTS: Lily Jung targets Edge Sainklaus with Longblade Rifle - High Emission!
<Pose Tracker> Ruri Hoshino has posed.
"Systems Operator, Ruri Hoshino," Ruri confirms her own identity, without missing a beat. But -- they have a counter-offer. Ruri looks up to Yurika, who waves her hands in the air in front of herself, rapidly.
"Nergal has no jurisdiction here," she says, to the ZAFT Captain. "As such, we have no control over the armed forces currently engaging."
"Hey, aren't you the ones who attacked first?!" Yurika busts into the communication window with one of her own -- and, well, the Nadesico's communication windows are things with a particular sort of interplay, so it opens up with a squish and expansion to almost physically bump Ruri's out of way. "Er -- Yurika Misumaru, Captain of the Nadesico!" She adds, straightening up, as if she almost forgot to do that.
(They are a civilian ship, after all...)
Yurika's window shuts down so that she can have a little discussion, on the bridge -- what they can do in this situation, what they can't. Finally, Ruri relays it, back to Talia's feed.
"The Nadesico will not issue a forcible recall of its units," she says, tone still steady as stone. "... I appreciate that you do not wish to inflict casualties either, but you seem to be the aggressors in this situation. It is the position of the Nadesico that we cannot ask our associated units to ignore this aggression."
But as far as pulling the trigger on the Auerbach...
... the Nadesico doesn't seem to have the stomach to do that, either.
<Pose Tracker> Saraven Vai has posed.
Saraven's found herself so surrounded by Londo Bell elites that the blast from the graviton rifles comes out of the blue, and yet--
*pwwwing*
At the very last second possible, the Varguil twists downward in space, dipping and arching back like it's in the midst of some bizarre dance move. Verniers blaze as the graviton blasts rip through the space it just occupied, pushing back against the force of gravity. A couple of unfortunate Geara Zulus are caught in the wavefront and erupt into flames as they're struck.
Whirling back into the thick of the melee, Saraven finds a thought pushing at her. Eight. She wants her to think about what they've done.
...Don't make me think about those things.
Eight's thinking about something else. Even as Saraven maneuvers, she can feel the intensity of focus radiating from the big ship. She clicks her teeth together sharply as something breaks her calm - a spike of anxiety. She braces against the back of her chair.
The big guns bark firepower through space, and the Varguil spirals, trying to dive between them and clear. The heavy firepower is too much, though, and the Ra Mari's gunners find their mark, scoring a hit that blows the cowling off of the Varguil's left shoulder. Sparks shower into space before dimming.
In the cockpit, Saraven is slammed back against her side monitor, wincing as she bites down to her tongue. She tastes the iron of her own blood.
She's thrown the other way when the Weldrizer steams in like an oncoming freighter. The bizarre sword slashes into the Varguil's right leg, peeling a deep gouge into the armour. The machine pivots again, thrusters ablaze as Saraven tries to maneuver out of range. She can't duel three of them at once at this range - and Rena proves it by bearing down and cutting a deep rent into the already damaged shoulder. The slash rips down the Varguil's arm far enough to tear away the entire housing and send it spiralling off into space in two halves, leaving smouldering frame exposed.
She backpedals as hard as her thrusters will let her. Booster wash blooms over Weldrizer and the Nu Gundam as the Varguil shoots upward, tailed by the gatling blasts Anita fills the stars with. The lilac machine races ahead of them by the skin of her teeth before the bullets catch up to her.
Somehow, they fall short. The Varguil loops upwards, slows subtly, dips beneath the bullet stream and rolls away, tumbling under its own momentum, reorienting itself upside down. Saraven lets out the breath she'd been holding. Her mind focuses towards Rena, then towards Anita. "If the world were getting better," she says, her voice still quiet, but tense, "there would be no need for Zeon. Things need to be fixed. Why aren't they yet? Why does this man the inventor have to fight? The War was long ago...."
She snaps the Varguil's damaged arm out and directs her funnel focus outward once more. They dart and split off, fanning out to a distance to once more pursue Anita. Even at long range, she controls them expertly, pursuing the variable fighter and trying to keep it ar arm's length as she turns her rifle. Letting her momentum carry her, she fires a barrage of shots towards the Ra Mari, trying to strike gun turrets and emplacements, before wheeling towards Zurvan.
Energy glows at the bore of the beam rifle, then disgorges as a single powerful lance of light, aimed to punch into the Weldrizer. But her focus has moved. Rena and Eight can feel it most keenly. It's centred on the MP Nu Gundam.
The funnels come roaring back, boosting in a loose formation that breaks up to swirl around Rena like a tornado. The remote weapons never stay in one spot for more than a second, pausing only to shoot once before zipping away. Their positions are erratic and wild, firing from all angles and rotating around her as if to box her into an ever-moving globe of death.
Across the medium of space, Saraven's mind is centred intently.
...If we're what's wrong with the world, why have three wars not made it right...?
KTS: Saraven Vai has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Saraven Vai targets Anita Rosetta with Funnel All-Range Attack!
KTS: Saraven Vai targets Zurvan Zevarist with Long Beam Rifle Charged Shot!
KTS: Saraven Vai targets Eight York with Long Beam Rifle Steady Fire!
KTS: Saraven Vai targets Rena Lancaster with Funnel Gale!
KTS: Leos Klein has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Leos Klein targets Riika Sheder with Grenade Launcher Thermite Load!
KTS: Anita Rosetta's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage.
KTS: Anita Rosetta fails to evade Saraven Vai's Funnel All-Range Attack, taking 2995 damage!
KTS: Rena Lancaster has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Rena Lancaster has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Rena Lancaster's Will Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage.
KTS: Rena Lancaster fails to evade Saraven Vai's Funnel Gale, taking 3519 damage!
KTS: Eight York has activated the Trust Spirit Command.
KTS: Eight York blocks Saraven Vai's Long Beam Rifle Steady Fire, taking 2329 damage!
KTS: Gary Biaggi goads Riika Sheder, reducing her Intuition drastically.
KTS: Zurvan Zevarist has activated the Trust Spirit Command.
KTS: Zurvan Zevarist blocks Saraven Vai's Long Beam Rifle Charged Shot, taking 3942 damage!
KTS: Riika Sheder fails to evade Roux Louka's Mega Beam Sucker Shot, taking 4530 damage!
KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Riika Sheder fails to Evade Leos Klein's Grenade Launcher Thermite Load, taking 6790 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Leos Klein's Adrenaline Rush activates, causing Control Bonus!
KTS: Leos Klein roots his unit, coming to a standstill and leaving him vulnerable.
KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has disengaged.
<Pose Tracker> Talia Gladys has posed.
Talia receives a notification from the Archangel that they are ceasing fire for now. Combined with the somewhat unusual butting in of the Nadesico's captain, Talia now has names for both of these unusual ships and their captains. Good to know. Talia officially brings the Archangel into the comms for a three way call, "Captain Ramius, Captain Misumaru. A pleasure. I have to admit to some slightly jealousy, you both have exceptional vessels at your command."
But back to the immediate issue at hand. Talia puts her focus back on Ruri as she returns, "It's true that we are the aggressors. But we don't do this out of any malice towards the Federation. Every day we are struggling to feed the people of the PLANTs. ZAFT's food production is sorely insufficient. A farming colony like this would be quite a relief to everyone in the PLANTs. Meanwhile, for the Federation, all it's doing is helping make the most influential even fatter than they already are." Talia leans forward, looking closer at the screen with Ruri on it and asking, "Can you seriously deny that?" Talia turns her head just a little to the screen showing Murrue, "Can you?"
KTS: Talia Gladys targets Ruri Hoshino with Pass!
KTS: Talia Gladys targets Murrue Ramius with Pass!
KTS: Ruri Hoshino fails to react to Talia Gladys's Pass, taking 0 damage!
KTS: Talia Gladys fails to react to Murrue Ramius's Pass, taking 0 damage!
KTS: Talia Gladys fails to react to Ruri Hoshino's Pass, taking 0 damage!
KTS: Murrue Ramius fails to react to Talia Gladys's Pass, taking 0 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"No kidding, Ensign," Rena says a little breathlessly.
Rena's eyes have to blink the afterimage of the mega particle cannons' firing away. But then she strikes, suddenly in close range. The beam saber tears through the arm, as Rena rips just past. She sees sparks explode from it; she sees melted and torn metal, and inner framework exposed to the hard vacuum. There is a blittle space between the Mass Production-type Nu Gundam, Weldrizer, and the Varguil, now.
Rena takes a deep breath. She hears some chatter; the Varguil's pilot leaves her little room to focus on it. Did the Archangel stand down?
"Because a righteous cause... doesn't mean that people don't get hurt! And it's spacenoids that are the first ones to be thrown into the grinder, for the cause of Zeon!" Rena says, her voice shaking a little with the sheer strain of the moment. She sees the funnels spiral out -- and then the rifle. There is a flash of awareness -- as she sees the rifle take aim. It's leveled for her.
Rena has that flash of awareness as she feels Saraven's mind reach out. A crash of lilac in her mind's eye. She shoots left--
--and Saraven knows it.
The beam rifle shot slams into the right hip of the Mass Production-type Nu Gundam, blasting clean through. There is a fiery explosion, the leg tearing off in a flash of shredded armor, burnt frame, and red-hot glowing metal. Rena is slammed forward and back again, the cockpit's hydraulics shaking the chair.
A thought intrudes into Saraven's mind: /Because each and everyone of them were fueled by crushed dreams, just to enact a single person's!/
Rena leans back in her chair. She feels a jolt of pain up her back; she'll need to have that looked at later. She might have pulled something, in that last hit. But her awareness is expanded outward now. Her eyes narrow and she calls out, to the voice-activated controls:
"Fin Funnels!" she yells. "GO!"
All six of them drop away, and the psycho-frame is a brilliant spark in the back of her mind. She connects to each of them, as they shoot out around the Mass Production-type Nu Gundam. They swirl about it, reflecting in its pristine white shoulder, and then soar in. The fin funnels fire -- rapid blasts of energy shooting down like brilliant violet lances for the Varguil.
KTS: Rena Lancaster targets Saraven Vai with Corona Rush!
KTS: Saraven Vai has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Saraven Vai successfully evades Rena Lancaster's Corona Rush
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
Anita blinks, momentarily confused, as Saraven asks a question. She doesn't answer, though - it's Zurvan place to say why he's fighting, not hers. Besides, she has bigger problems to deal with at the moment - namely, the funnels that come chasing after her. The VF-25 skates back in attempt to evade the barrage, but still the shots manage to connect. The Pinpoint Barrier flickers dangerously with each shot and, within the cockpit, Anita frowns.
"I think the barrier's close to giving out... probably gonna have to retreat to the Ra Mari soon." Anita warns privately to Eight and Rena. Against an opponent like this, it isn't safe to keep fighting past the point the Pinpoint Barrier System can keep her safe - she learned that lesson all too well the last time she squared off against the Lilac Gale.
With the Varguil having broken engagement, Anita doesn't see the point in trying to keep in close. She retreats back, positioning herself atop one of Zurvan's formed walls and planting the VF-25 firmly atop it. Once more, the beam cannon mounted to the left of her cockpit flares to life.
"I'm gonna aim with all I've got..." She mutters, trying to track the Varguil's movements. The cannon charges, and charge, and charges... And then, she opens fire with a massive beam aimed right at the Varguil.
KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Resupply Spirit Command.
KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Anita Rosetta targets Saraven Vai with Concentrated Full Charge Beam Cannon!
KTS: Saraven Vai has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Saraven Vai successfully evades Anita Rosetta's Concentrated Full Charge Beam Cannon
KTS: Anita Rosetta roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
Eight York knows full well the sort of power the Lilac Gale can bring to bear, even without knowing the specifications of her mobile suits. It's not about funnels. It's not about which weapons she has. ...It's about what she is, what she's been made to be, by Eight's estimation. So when Saraven contacts her in turn, with that request--with what becomes a spike of anxiety a moment later--
A part of Eight wants to relent. Wants to not force her to see these hard things. ...But that isn't what she does.
I will.
...And that's when all this talk of surrender reaches her. The Nadesico's offer... and Auerbach's response. Eight weighs it, as Captain of her own ship now--in the first battle to stand against others like this. She thinks, for a moment, what her old Captain would do...
But she said it to Rena. They're the ones who are here. They're the ones who have to make these decisions.
"Get the beam shield in front of us!" Eight calls out first, as the Varguil loops and loops, reorienting itself. What she has to say... Eight hears it. She hears it, just as REna does. But she feels that focus. Centered on, "Rena," Eight murmurs, even as her ship shifts to present armor to the Varguil's beam fire. Armor melts off in places, more damage rocking the ship, a few machine guns melted to slag under the assault. But her main cannons are protected; they stay safe, thanks to quick piloting... and the Beam Shield is able to absorb most of the blow. Just not all of it. Not quite enough to avoid damage.
Because... War alone doesn't make anything 'right'.
She can't comment to Anita about what she says. She can't break off to talk to ZUrvan, or warn Rena further. As the ships move to their places, engaging still with the mobile suits under Saraven's command, Eight is obligated to make a decision.
"This is Captain York of the Ra Mari," Eight's voice comes over the general comms to the battlefield as a whole. "I encourage the other Captains present to follow their conscience. However... I can ignore neither ZAFT's aggression on this colony nor its use of Zeon remnants to achieve its goals."
"If you wish to open up broader negotiations, the Federation will listen. But this colony is not a bargaining chip to be thrown into the pile."
"We will not be disengaging. But I offer the same terms the Nadesico offered. If you flee, leaving behind the resources you sought to claim, we will not pursue. Repeat, under these circumstances, we will not pursue."
She looks to her crew. Then she settles on Astelian. "...Deliver updated target data to our squadron," she says, off of the radio, and then further announces, "Lilac Gale. If you withdraw, we will likewise not pursue. If you surrender yourself, we will spare you. I will order my squadron to stand down."
"Consider carefully whether your superiors value your life more than they do this mission."
Eight_York Attacks Rena Lancaster, Zurvan Zevarist, and Anita Rosetta with Caution
KTS: Eight York suggests caution, raising Anita Rosetta's Intuition!
KTS: Eight York suggests caution, raising Rena Lancaster's Intuition!
<Pose Tracker> Riika Sheder has posed.
Riika, a commander?
Well, she was in charge of those other GINNs, to all appearances. And her Mobile Suit does have a fin on top. (But, don't a whole lot of ZAFT suits have those?) Honestly, the real clue that she's something more than a grunt soldier is the paint job, but she doesn't seem to have an ace logo painted anywhere visible.
(Truthfully, though Riika has picked one out, she doesn't qualify for it yet and would be too embarrassed to ask about it even if she did.)
But she reaches over and flips her communicator to on. Complete with visual: it shows a woman in one of the oddly shaped ZAFT helmets, red-brown hair pushed in at the sides by the helmet, with a piloting suit with a lavender-pink upper section but a red core. Under her helmet is what looks like a dark visor or goggles, patterned in places. "My name is Riika Sheder, redcoat pilot of October Seven. I'm not a commander *or* playing pretend. I remember Junius Seven even if you don't."
Junius Seven: one of the PLANTs' few agricultural colony clusters, destroyed by a Federation nuclear missile last February. No wonder they're seizing farming colonies. And the redcoats: ZAFT's elite pilots. Not aces, necessarily... but tapped as the high fliers, those with skills and potential.
She flips her communicator back to nonvisual as she goes into another frenzy of evasion. Gary has actually left her alone for a moment - weaponry-wise, anyway - so she takes advantage of that to finally jet away from him, firing the GINN's thrusters hard. She left the sword behind, but it's so heat-damaged it would be a wonder if it could be used as anything but a club.
Roux gets a shot in while she's backing up, and Riika is too slow, hampered by attempting to break away from Gary's Jegan. The blast comes in and this time she has no good response - the beam strikes the GINN's left leg with a spray of white metal shards and though it doesn't quite come off, it's pretty close.
It's Leos that gets *that* shot. On top of the transport, Riika is unwilling to just open up and shoot him - that's not the sort of hard choice she wants to make. So he gets what he wants: a moment of hesitation, and that instant combined with her already-damaged thrusters means the grenade catches the knee of the GINN - and takes off the bottom section of the leg, Pardus launcher and all.
Riika thinks a bad word. She doesn't *say* the bad word, but thinking it is enough. She does mutter something else under her breath, because flying down one side's lower thrusters is *hard*... but she can still do it, even if it's not as smooth and freely-moving as she'd like, with systems on that side flicking off and on again. She's done it before, though admittedly then they'd only left the leg off instead of having it blown off, to see how the GINN handled it. Test pilots get some of the unglamorous jobs.
But there's nothing wrong with the GINN's arms. She fires the Barrus Kai again, tracking it from Roux to Gary; Roux gets the bulk of the shot, with Gary only catching the edge of it as she circles it down. But Leos -
She can't shoot Leos with the ion cannon. Not while he's on the transport. Riika hesitates again, but switches to a more precise weapon: her assault rifle is much less likely to penetrate the transport, and she can fire it in short, more accurate bursts.
KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Riika Sheder targets Roux Louka with M69 Barrus Kai Heavy Ion Cannon Focus Shot!
KTS: Riika Sheder targets Gary Biaggi with M69 Barrus Kai Heavy Ion Cannon Snap Shot!
KTS: Riika Sheder targets Leos Klein with JDP2-MMX22 Assault Rifle Blitz!
KTS: Gary Biaggi blocks Riika Sheder's M69 Barrus Kai Heavy Ion Cannon Snap Shot, taking 2022 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Zurvan Zevarist has posed.
The Weldrizer is not looking in a good way at the moment. The accumulation of damage from the beam rifle are riddling it with holes, the funnels made pettering punctures all over, the various beam rifle shots certainly didn't help -- and this one, this last charged blast slamming into the center of mass of the custom machine.
'WARNING: REACTOR FAILURE. COOLING. FLUSHING. M-RECT FUNCTIONALITY: 56%.'
The focused blast of light send the Weldrizer spiraling in space, Zurvan letting out a long, gritted cry, careful to note bite his tongue as he was warned, years ago. The blade he held is no more, after one slash -- the nano-wide edge frayed and disintegrating from the single slash it inflicted. That's what it needed to do, nothing more, nothing less.
"The Inventor wanted to prevent the colony from being damaged in this fight...!" Zurvan snaps through gritted teeth, "Damn my head hurts." The Zentradi-blooded bites his lower lips, his hands tightening around the controls. What's his option, here? He's dealing with military grade machines, apparently a Newtype by the funnels and what he's got are is a wealth of no combat experience.... And ingenuity.
Half of the M-RECT nozzles spreads out, reclaiming the various bits of matter that he extruded earlier, slamming into a slope that remained around to straighten himself. With his gloved hand, gritting his teeth, ripping up an old file hidden in the OS system he uploaded, when he messed around with firearms and crossbows early on. He, of course, like many, wanted to print a car and a gun, in that order. A BB gun, in his case. He's scaling it up to the size of his mech. It wont be pretty. It probably wont print right, but that's the idea here.
In the Weldrizer's four hands are extruded a wide assault beam rifle, made completely out of resin, held tightly. He take aims with it... then squeezes the trigger, reeling it back and toss the newly printed gun at the Varguil. The resin rifle starts to bulge, rattle and shakes... and should explode into a great explosion of sticky, melting resin upon the general vicinity of the Varguil.
A lesson Zurvan learned early: printing guns never works out. They always explode.
<Pose Tracker> Az Sainklaus has posed.
Conflict is a necessity.
When there is an oppressor, and diplomacy has failed.
But this is what the Federation forced me to become.
There's a small twitch of Az's expression that nobody but her would be able to see, a sensation of hurt like a jolt up the spine that briefly shoots through the senses coming off of her through the emotions Lily is reading, as her attack goes wide. Like in slow motion, Az can see the damaged unit moving in ways it hadn't before. As if a bird in glorious flight despite being half-dead, spreading its wings wide to gracefully escape danger...
But the Huckebein is a raven whose wings are clipped, as are its pilot's.
The next sensor-filling wave of violet light isn't something her unit escapes from this time, hitting the 30L in its entirety. Its back hits the debris behind it, frontal plating wearing away under the assault, tape keeping its patchwork armor together melting away to reveal internal systems. It's only a hasty defense with the bulk of its left arm and the heavy rifle it's wielding that stops the damage to its core from being worse as the raw force blasts it away, at the cost of heavy sparking and the leftmost Graviton Rifle doing the same, likely disabling its use for the immediate future.
"...Because you need to live...because you're afraid..." Az's voice is quiet, and she might be talking to herself more than the other girl. "...I can't deny that. Or that conflict is something that needs to happen. If I didn't believe that...I wouldn't still be on the Dreisstrager!" She says that with resolution--
But it's not hard to tell her feelings are in flux. The only reason she's not caught up in them more than she is, is because this isn't over. Edge is still there, and as long as he still needs help, she can swallow down any amount of fear or confusion to keep on pushing forward. "My name...is Az!" She replies, ostensibly in response to Lily's own declaration, but also like some sort of affirmation to herself. "And I won't!"
The still-working Graviton Rifle is leveled upwards after the Huckebein levels back out, the 30L switching over to ranged support - with several beams of raw gravitic force blasting out of the weapon to suppress the Zack from another angle, and give the other Personal Trooper an opening to get an advantage.
KTS: Eight York suggests caution, raising Zurvan Zevarist's Intuition!
KTS: Zurvan Zevarist has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Az Sainklaus targets Edge Sainklaus with Heart!
KTS: Zurvan Zevarist has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Zurvan Zevarist targets Saraven Vai with Macro Resin Rifle!
KTS: Az Sainklaus bares his heart, letting Edge Sainklaus deal some extra damage!
<Pose Tracker> Ruri Hoshino has posed.
Food supply..?
There's a light frown, on Ruri's face, as she hears that. It's the least reactive emotion shown on the deck, but since she's the one with the open communication window, it's her stoicism that comes across.
It's just a little bothered, all measured in fractions. Maybe it comes off as uncaring. ... but the fact that Ruri is bothered by calculations like these isn't something it's difficult to pick up, for those who can listen.
Two different pictures. What she presents to the world, and what she keeps in her heart, beneath what she has to do.
"But people live here," she replies, her voice still even. "From what you're saying, things wouldn't go well, for them, if you took over their colony. It would be one thing if you asked them, but... they asked us for help."
Her eyes reflect the stream of IFS data from her console, as Ruri concludes, not without uncertainty in her heart: "This is a mercy mission."
It's what they decided together, but...
Well, how Ruri feels about it doesn't really matter.
"Our prior offer stands. We will not pursue your units. Nadesico out."
Ruri shuts the communication channel, and turns her attention fully to what she was calculating in the background --
"It might be a lot to ask, but I'm counting on you, Omoikane. Firing Gravity Blast."
Once again, those great prongs, like some warped memory of jaws, grind open; it transitions space to gain those explosive amounts of energy; it fires.
She's targetting the parts of the Auerbach which still have sufficient shielding, at least.
KTS: Ruri Hoshino targets Talia Gladys with Gravity Blast!
KTS: Roux Louka fails to evade Riika Sheder's M69 Barrus Kai Heavy Ion Cannon Focus Shot, taking 5340 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Riika Sheder's Disruptor activates, causing Jam L1!
KTS: Talia Gladys has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Talia Gladys has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Talia Gladys has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Talia Gladys's Barrier Generator activates, negating 200 base damage.
KTS: Talia Gladys fails to Evade Ruri Hoshino's Gravity Blast, taking 7920 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Ruri Hoshino's Scan activates, causing Designate L1!
<Pose Tracker> Edge Sainklaus has posed.
Once the red stream peters out, moving becomes easier - but several loud and annoying warnings ring Edge's ears, "Yikes ... probably gonna' want to hold off on trying something like that again until Jiequan can look at this guy's joints, huh .. "
From what he could tell at this range, he'd somewhat whiffed at the enemy squadron too; that ace sure was slippery - though, he'd clipped that Zack while he was at it. " .. huh?"
Amongst all of that, he realizes he was recieving a transmission from the Nadesico; though ti wasn't exactly addressed to him. Like Az's L, his R accepts Ruri's request and, she finds the responses and stipulations of the paired units to be largely identical.
"Not like I have any say, eh? But if the R said it's fine, then I'll just have to accept that."
"Thanks, I guess..."
Seeing that pink Zack practically dancing through space immediately brought his mind to the way that purple one had dodged his Graviton attack, Did that pilot just . . ? he wonders, while Az's L is forced to a still from firing the Graviton Rifles at that output level. "Ah, shit!"
There's little time or room to maneuver, again, as the same welling of energy is warned by his PT's sensors. "I don't think it'll be good to try and eat another one of those head on ..!!"
Especially with the L's performance beginning to drop. "Then, R - don't give out on me now..!"
Huckebein 30R raises one of its arms, which whine under being put under even more stress than they already had. The oncoming wave of megaparticles is met by a thick red band as Edge fires the Graviton Rifle into Lily's attack. "I won't die!"
The bright light is blinding to him, bringing Edge to squint while various readouts in his cockpit begin to squeal. One rifle's not enough, but I'm not sure Huckebein's frame can handle the stress of firing both at once right now! The reactor's good, but that stunt I did earlier almost wrecked its shoulders and elbows .. it can't withstand the blowback!
"LEAP SLASHERS!"
Az was doing her best, even as badly as interacting with a pilot like this must have hurt her - as her big brother, there was no way he was going to keel over during all of this and bite the big one. Back when we considered splitting up .. this kind of reliance is why we felt it would be better if we parted ways. In the end, we couldn't stop holding onto eachother .. and then Mitsuba and the Dreisstrager happened. I'm still so unsteady about everything, but I know ... I know that I'm not going to let go of this life, or the people in it. So come on, damnit..!
The teeth link together and whirl into a circle, buzzing into blades spinning so quickly they began to reflect light before shooting off to each side of the pink EWAC Zack to attack it at close range in concert with Az's Graviton volley.
With a loud beep, the rifle that the 30R was using shuts off as it reaches its limit and the safety junction switches it to power down. And a beat later, he shoves the other arm and its own rifle up into the weakened backblast left in the wake of the first rifle contesting her High Emission. "FIRE!"
Another red streak roars out and punches through, aiming to nail Lily's MS cleanly as the Leap Slashers pull back.
KTS: Edge Sainklaus has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Edge Sainklaus has activated the Trick Spirit Command.
KTS: Edge Sainklaus has activated the Trick Spirit Command.
KTS: Edge Sainklaus targets Lily Jung with Graviton Rifle MAX!
<Pose Tracker> Murrue Ramius has posed.
Don't fidget, be still. They don't teach that in officer training, that when you sit in the Captain's seat, you can't do that. Murrue always thinks about it when she sits down. Everyone looks to the Captain, so the Captain they see needs to be certain, not anxious and fidgeting. Long tense moments like this, waiting to see how another will react, the anticipation like after you move a piece on a chess board, or a stone in GO, put's the discipline to the test. Finally, comms tells her a reply is incoming, a three way call as it were. Murrue tells her sensors officer, to keep an eye on missile tubes and weapons level output from the Auerbach and Nadesico. The she adjusts to, take the call...
THE CALL
Murrue looks down, but her frame is rigid, there is no drop or weakening in her presentation. A slow inhale and she brings her head up slowly, a professional, small smile on her face. Practiced how many times. She considers, as Captain York's message comes in and weighs on the situation. Murrue though, is too slow on her own response, listening to the reply from the Nadesico and eyes widening as she watches it fire again on the Auerbach.
The damage is somewhat terrifying, if Murrue is being honest with herself. SHe's never seen a weapon like that before. Concerned that things may quickly erupt into chaos all over again, she speaks to the comm channel "Captains! I'm afraid there is a misunderstanding. If you think that, attacking these civilians, and robbing them of their homes and livlihoods, and their lives, in someway harms those you seem to want to hurt, then you are mistaken. All you are doing, is terrorizing, and murdering at worst, robbing and plundering at best, innocent spacenoids. People you call your very own. We, don't wish to see anyone here, lose their lives. The same difference for life does not seem to be the concern of ZAFT and ZEON. We are prepared, to reengage, because it's the right thing to do. The best thing you could do, for your own people in this colony, is to stop fighting, and work out a goods trade. Now, will you cease this attack?!" Murrue raises a eyebrow, at Talia, before resuming a neutral gaze, and looks back and forth between the two on screen. This doesn't have to be a blood bath.
KTS: Murrue Ramius targets Talia Gladys with Pass!
<Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.
Gary Biaggi scoffs at her.
Roux's brow suddenly clouds with the darkness of fury, and she makes a noise something like "sh" in reply before stopping. Several thoughts happen in her head in succession.
First: This little turd! I'll correct him!
Second: No! That's the wrong way to look at this! Didn't you hear Bright tell that to Iino on the bridge that time, when they didn't know you were there? It's the thing he regrets most about the One Year War! Even if he sounds like he's already shaving every day (Roux's thought goes) he could be barely twenty - maybe lower. He could be defiant, like whats his name! Fa's boyfriend!
Third: Kamille! Yeah, that's right!
Finally: I have to do this right! He could be on the verge of... 'that moment'!
"This isn't the time for debate! Listen, whatever her role, that's a powerful machine - it's more powerful than a standard GINN! Unless they've Coordinated up some kind of super-doctrine, that means she's won the trust of her commanders! Don't take those weapons lightly!" Roux answers, and while she still sounds kind of pissed off, it was not a voice that had an upraised hand.
At this point Riika establishes contact.
Behind the faceplate of her Normal Suit, Roux's eyes go wide. "Junius Seven...?" The memory is not top-of-mind for her; it creaks back into place...
She is thunderstruck enough that she cannot speak in reply. Of course, what she definitely has to deal with after this is the sudden unleashing of electromagnetic death towards the Z-II, which swerves - bringing the shield round, but it's too late. The blast hits in the left shoulder and the entire Gundam-frame shakes as Roux lets out a tight, strangled scream and feels the urge to curl, the panoramic panels flickering and --
-- fading --
"Damn you-!! That man's from the colony you're trying to conquer! Are you justified in blowing them to hell just to take their land, out here in space?!" Roux finally answers, if with some effort. It feels like a stretch to her, but it is enough for her to lean forwards and drive the throttle forwards.
"You're playing the same game as them, Riika Sheder!" I can't just let these guys die, Roux thinks with a growing and *unpleasantly familiar* sense of desperation. "I can't --" And then she finishes the sentence by just
SCREAMING:
as the ZII's maneuvering thrusters, *somewhat parlous thanks to enemy attack*, all fire to bring it to a relative and absolute halt for several seconds. Roux takes aim, not even realizing she's doing it, as four layered reticules come together, shrink - feather upwards when a piece of debris passes through her field - passes back:
"Eject!" Roux shouts. Then she pulls the trigger, and as far as she can, she tries to aim low: and as a scintillant and refulgent ray of compressed high-energy megaparticles stabs outwards like a furious magenta line slashed across space by an angry god's pen, she thinks: I don't remember where ZAFT put their cockpits, do I? Damn it--!!
KTS: Roux Louka has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Roux Louka has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Roux Louka targets Riika Sheder with Mega Beam Rifle - Kill the Target!!
<Pose Tracker> Saraven Vai has posed.
Saraven can hear the indignation - she can feel it. Things don't always punch through into her senses that clearly. It feels for all the world like some sort of connection should be made.
It's something else. Saraven's mind seems to watch Rena keenly. The anger pushes against those mental locks. It can't seem to break through them. The lilac mind can't share in it.
Kakapos may cry out. But some songbirds can't sing. Saraven closes her eyes and exhales heavily.
...Dreams... why are your dreams like this...? You're angry...
...What's it like to dream...?
As Anita triangulates her shot, Saraven lets her mind reach out. She closes her eyes and draws a breath, her senses extending through the psycoframe. It is not something the Varguil had when it came off the assembly line - but as she pushes into it, things form hazes in her thoughts. Fingers of light extend towards her.
...I can see it... ... ...see time...
...little one-winged dove... you want to catch me, don't you...?
The Varguil's motion is smooth and uncanny, guided by thoughts more precise than any sensor can match. Anita's blast roars through the silence of space - and the Varguil almost seems to jump over it. The lilac machine, trailing smoke from its damaged shoulder and hip, flips up and away, correcting its momentum only when the funnels from Rena begin to dance their deadly rhythm. The lances of light form a cage around the Varguil, guided by telemetry from the Ra Mari.
What happens next should not be possible.
The Varguil finds holes between every single intersection of light that comes near. It squeezes between gaps in Rena's firing pattern that it should not be able to squeeze through. It happens in the space of heartbeats, a mad frenzy of maneuvers that chain together like an exquisite work of art woven together instantaneously. By the time it's through, the Varguil explodes upwards and out of the funnel fury, boosters haloing as it orients in space, a look thrown towards the MP Nu Gundam, then the distant Ra Mari.
Saraven's presence is meticulously controlled. An offer of surrender bursts through her radio. No quarter yet, but a way out - a retreat with the status quo intact. Eight can tell before Saraven even speaks that the offer won't be taken.
Right...?
/If things were right, why would we need war...?
She opens her eyes, her focus on Eight - but there's a flash of intensity as Zurvan opens up on her. The brilliant man's inventions are proving vexing, and she finds herself unsure of how to elude the shot from such a strange weapon. Resinous compounds melt into the Varguil's right calf as they make impact.
"...I don't want to harm any civilians," she says quietly. "But what the Federation has done to space colonies is inexcusable. So long as spacenoids have to suffer under food quotas, we have no choice but to fight...."
The funnels come sweeping out again. They fence for a moment with Rena's before sweeping onward, firing and firing. They rip towards the Ra Mari first. They strafe over the big ship, ripping around it and circling a moment to barrage with firepower - but the worst is spared for Zurvan. The remotes attempt to sweep around and come in behind him, trying to blast beneath his defenses.
Saraven moves her sensor reticle quickly. The Varguil rips forward, and she focuses out into space, the image of Anita's VF projecting in front of her - and she shoots. The shot arcs ahead of the VF's momentum, aimed to catch it with mind-predicted precision. Swinging around, she unloads two more shots at Rena.
They're a feint - shots aimed to herd. The third shot is a long, stretching blast of magenta, a talon of death cleaving through the stars.
...Choice....
...Is it ever a choice...?
KTS: Saraven Vai targets Zurvan Zevarist with Funnel Gale!
KTS: Saraven Vai targets Eight York with Funnel Cage!
KTS: Saraven Vai targets Rena Lancaster with Long Beam Rifle Charged Shot!
KTS: Saraven Vai targets Anita Rosetta with Long Beam Rifle Tracking Shot!
KTS: Zurvan Zevarist has activated the Trust Spirit Command.
KTS: Rena Lancaster has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Rena Lancaster's Will Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage.
KTS: Rena Lancaster fails to evade Saraven Vai's Long Beam Rifle Charged Shot, taking 3916 damage!
KTS: Rena Lancaster has launched from Eight York's combat deck!
KTS: Rena Lancaster's RX-94 MP Nu Gundam (Fin Funnel Type) Rena Custom has been disabled.
KTS: Zurvan Zevarist has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Jung has posed.
Of course she is afraid. It doesn't need a NewType to tell that behind that bluster. Behind the hope. Behind that energy, Lily Jung is a scared young woman. Scared of so many things. Scared of what will become of ZAFT is she fails. If they all fail. Scared of what will become of her, if she zigs when she should have zagged Scared of the people before her showing understand, but being just as powerless as herself to change anything.
<"Az."> Lily replies. The Zack swings around, trying to keep its distance. But she can feel all that fear and confusion radiating from Az at this point. Having exchanged names, this sense of knowing her a bit better improving.
The Pink Zack keeps jerking in these strange ways, as the pilot tries her very best to make for evasive maneuvers. But then there's those Leap Slashers taking all the force of her attack. She closes her left eye for a bit, as the blood that is still drifting in her helmet floats around - she had bitten her lip earlier after all.
Upside'down compared to Edge Sainklaus, she spins out of the way as the 30L beings its support. The gravity blast earing through the zone, causing the Zack to literally be pulled in various directions. Lily continues to move, trying to use those pulls to spin her unit over and around attacks...
But this just helps Edge get her into a predictable pattern! The warping crimson red light flows towards her once more. The high emmission erasing a while area. Lily does the best she can in that moment, and jetisons the shield on the left arm entirely, throwing it in the way. It strikes in that moment, tearing across the shield, bubbling the surface of the Zack's body. The heat causing sirens to go off within the Zack, as she sails and spins around the wake of the beam. A nearby console detonates, sending shards flying into her arm, causing the young woman's eyes to tear up in pain. The cuts are placed just in a way that they don't cause severe enough pain to send her into shock, but there's that feeling of adrenaline she can't deny.
Flowing around the 30R's beam, she spirals, leaving behind smoke in the Zacks way as she levels the Longblade rifle right along the arc of that red light. Helping her pinpoint Edge's position...
And fires once more. The reactor unable to cope, and instead of that gigantic wake, it's dilated to this thin piercing almost wire-thin beam that erodes forwards along the gravitic attack, and then awakens in a larger WHOOOM of light as the reactor cycles, and she turns the weapon from Edge towards Az!
But her eyes are set to the position behind them. On Talia's ship, as she lets her momentum carry her for a moment, then turns, and fires a secondary burst for the backs of the Huckebeins!
KTS: Eight York fails to evade Saraven Vai's Funnel Cage, taking 3263 damage!
KTS: Lily Jung has activated the Enable Spirit Command.
KTS: Lily Jung targets Edge Sainklaus with Longblade Rifle - High Emission!
KTS: Zurvan Zevarist successfully evades Saraven Vai's Funnel Gale
<Pose Tracker> Gary Biaggi has posed.
The blast from the GINN, Riika was it , is just telegraphed enough that even at close range he can still raise the shield and when the smoke is cleared he is now piloting a one armed Jegan
Gary scoffs at the enemy, "Riika Seven, well not commander it's been a ..." It appears Roux has a few things to say as he gets interupted.
The megaparticle beam fires from Roux and Gary moves to take advantage of it, as he uses the giant blast as cover to appear from it the moment it is all over and attempts to land a single powerful over head slash.
As he brings down the attack he stares at his monitor , into the visual optics of the GINN , as if he can stare right into Riika's eyes and says, "Sounds like you are one of us."
KTS: Edge Sainklaus blocks Lily Jung's Longblade Rifle - High Emission, taking 2767 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Talia Gladys has posed.
The transmission from Eight is passed on to Talia, who is not all that surprised. Nor is it much of a surprise when Ruri proceeds to decline Talia's counter proposal. Murrue's response also falls within expectations. Honestly, anyone accepting Talia's offer would have been the surprising thing. But as a delaying tactic, Talia thinks it worked pretty well.
Talia closes her eyes for a moment, before replying, "It would have been nice if things could have ended here." She opens her eyes again, "But I suppose that's not how the world works."
As communications to the other ship captains is ended, Talia turns to look at her operations officer, "Scotty, status on the assault teams?"
"Target locations have been secured!" Good. That means they just need to finish the exterior modifications. Though that will require those in the fight to hold the line for a little longer...
"The Nadesio is firing its main weapon again!"
"Brace for impact!"
Another shot from the Nadesico's gravity cannon strikes the Auerbach as it's trying to evade. Though thanks to Ruri's aim, the shot is not immediately lethal to the vessel.
Talia holds onto her chair amidst the shaking of the bridge. At this point it's hard to tell whether this shot will be the last moment you experience. But thankfully things calm again with no explosive death. Then the operations officer speaks up, "It looks like Pilot Lily is having some trouble!"
Talia turns to look at Scotty in concern, thinking for a moment. She then says, "Stone and Ally are in the area, yes? Have them do a pass for covering fire."
Two of the GINNs that had been fighting near the colony break off, briefly closing in on the battle between Lily and the Sainklaus siblings. They open fire with their assault rifles, unlikely to do any real damage at that range. But hopefully it's enough of a distraction to relieve the pressure on Lily and give her a better opportunity to act.
Meanwhile, the Auerbach has re-engaged with its own opponents, "Target both ships with the beam cannons and fire!" On Talia's orders, each of the Auerbach's beam cannons turn towards the two ships and unleash their large green beams of death.
After its attack, Talia orders, "Bring us around to head 137 mark 45." The Auerbach begins to turn, its course starting to take it back towards the colony.
KTS: Talia Gladys targets Ruri Hoshino with Main Beam Cannons Blast!
KTS: Talia Gladys targets Murrue Ramius with Main Beam Cannons Blast!
KTS: Murrue Ramius fails to evade Talia Gladys's Main Beam Cannons Blast, taking 2988 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Zurvan Zevarist has posed.
Zurvan can feel a lot of things right now. Perhaps it's the adrenaline rush that's throwing his brain into overdrive, becoming hyperaware of things around him. Voices? Emotions? Overwhelming feelings and hunches just boring into his brain like a static field. What's going on? The one thing he can focus on are his calculations, his movement, the Weldrizer's programs.
And also what the woman's been saying on the radio.
The Zentradi-blooded lets out a small laugh, one that sounds bitter, snapping, also in pain. "You know what, I'm gonna give you that one. Scarcity sucks. I hate it. I've had my share of that shit on Earth, too! Do you know about the Gundam Fights, Ms?"
It's the Weldrizer's turn to do something that should be, probably, impossible. More than what it's already been doing with it's printing technology, that is. There's a moment where the feint seemed to work, there remote's coming from around and behind to skewer the Weldrizer with it's blasts. It is at that moment, where the custom machine makes a spin on it's Z-Axis, it's legs and arms spreading out, one tucked in and several tendrils coiling upon themselves to compact up. Each blasts miraculously avoids the Zentradi's mech, scratching along the non-existing paint and leaving scortched marks.
This was, honestly, bullshit. That ain't normal.
It's uncertain if Zurvan noticed doing that currently. "We've had to rebuild twice, everything. But ma'am, I am sure you wont harm civilians -- but that's the issue. Fighting around fragile places like a COLONY like this that got a hull the strength of a cracker just asking to be blown apart by the slightest energy breeze WILL cause more death! And ruined lives!"
The Weldrizer straightens, six limbs spread wide with the M-RECT tendrils making a full circle behind him. "But I agree. Scarcity sucks. And my dream is to destroy it. To give the needy a chance to get what they need to live!"
The nozzles spews out their molten matter in a spiraling formation, leaving trail of alloys floating in space, seeking to encase, burn or at least MELT some non-vital parts of the mech.
KTS: Zurvan Zevarist has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Ruri Hoshino has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Ruri Hoshino fails to react to Talia Gladys's Main Beam Cannons Blast, taking 2820 damage!
KTS: Zurvan Zevarist targets Saraven Vai with Thermal Runaway Sensor!
KTS: Saraven Vai fails to evade Zurvan Zevarist's Thermal Runaway Sensor, taking 5040 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"I understand, Ensign Rosetta--pull back if you need to!" Rena says. There is just a hint of desperation -- of worry -- in her voice. This isn't just he subordinate, after all.
Information comes across her screen; reports and readouts, information that gives her a little more awareness. She takes a breath, though it is a little shakey. Her eyes shift to Zurvan's radio on the panoramic display.
"Mister Zevarist, are you okay?"
Saraven's thoughts intrude into her mind. Disturbing, Rena thinks, how easily it is. Her eyes widen for a second. "What's it like to--"
The Varguil moves so quickly, so smoothly. It weaves between the fin funnel's many blasts -- and it fires before those same fin funnels can finish moving into position. The two shots fly past -- and the fin funnels form a glowing barrier of magenta energy after them.
They strike into the Gundam. One hits the Mass Production-type Nu Gundam in the waist, blasting off skirt armor and sending a spray of coolant into the void. Another slams into the chest, ripping out of the backpack. The eyes on the Gundam flicker, then fade.
The panoramic cockpit turns a dull grey, before flickering -- and then a smaller screen appears on the center of it. It's from the beam rifle, showing the view from the backpack.
"Shit," Rena swears. Her heart drops. With a few button presses, the Gundam draws its beam rifle -- aiming it ahead. "Ra Mari, I've lost main camera! On my way back! Be careful, all of you!"
The Mobile Suit banks, hard, for the Ra Mari's hangar.
<Pose Tracker> Leos Klein has posed.
The grenade launcher only does half the job. This is ultimately the real problem that Leos is facing: his biggest gun is not enough to actually stop that mobile suit. The tech is too good; the pilot is too skilled; his AC isn't meant for this; *he* isn't meant for this.
Something inside his gut tightens and twists. He snarls.
The vidcomm blinks on right about then. Leos' does the same automatically, keyed to accept such communications most recently to talk to one of his employers. His normal suit is positively ancient and ill-fitting, formerly the kind of orange usually used by Federation pilots and bleached due to a lifetime of being used and exposed to sunlight in space. Under the scratched visor, he looks like he's barely a couple weeks out of a very long hospital stay, with a gaunt appearance and the beginnings of dark hair growing back in over scars cutting into his hairline.
And, unlike Riika, he *does* have an emblem: the characters 'ST-21' in stark white block lettering on a black background. It's automatically displayed alongside the face shot.
Besides his expression being gripped with anger, he just looks worn out. "Yeah; I remember Junius Seven," he snaps, temper flaring. "You people won't shut up about it. Like you're the only ones who have ever had something terrible happen to you!"
He kills the line, blood pounding in his ears, and immediately regrets it. He shouldn't have reacted like that. He knows what it's like to fight because you're spurred on by tragedy. He should be relating to these people, maybe trying to talk them down.
Yeah. Because that, thinks Leos with a bitter taste in his mouth, has worked *so* well in the past.
He doesn't get a chance to try an alternate strategy. The AC eats a few initial rounds from the assault rifle, and it kicks away from the transport, angling to put some distance between them. Another burst lights it up, ripping open the ammo bin for the grenade launcher and cooking off at least one of them, a tremendous explosion engulfing the machine.
When it clears, it's practically torn in half. The left side limbs are sent spinning into space. The core and the right arm and leg, still stuck together but clearly immobilized, instead starts tumbling back towards the colony.
Leos, with a collection of dead monitors, takes out his frustration on the unresponsive control panel with two gloved fists.
KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Riika Sheder parries Gary Biaggi's Formation NexT 100, taking 1770 damage!
KTS: Gary Biaggi has engaged Riika Sheder
KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: [Lucky] Riika Sheder's Ace Maneuver activates, and luck goes her way!
KTS: Riika Sheder successfully Evades Roux Louka's Mega Beam Rifle - Kill the Target!
KTS: Roux Louka roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
Eight had no illusions that Saraven would accept--she knew before she asked. She knows before Saraven answers. ...But she had to make the offer. There are good reasons and there are 'convenient' reasons, but above all, Eight had to make the offer because she needs Saraven to start making choices, whether her masters like it or not.
Remember how this feels. Remember the pain. Because at least the pain is yours, and no one else's.
Her allies are doing the best they can. Her squadron... the same. Even Ruri...
Ruri shouldn't have to be here. But that's the world they live in right now. Eight... lets herself hate it, just for a moment, just enough that she can want to change it.
Rena calls out--but Eight knows she's still alive. She knows before the glare of the funnels has stopped shining, because she can feel her presence, and she latches onto that presence for just an instant, a pulse of emotion and tension for Rena. "Well fought, Lieutenant. Come on home."
She forces her hand to relax, easing her grip on the console where it was white-knuckled again, and begins to issue orders once again. "Is the beam shield ready?" Eight inquires, and Fari answers her, "Ready, ma'am."
"Chovan. I'm counting on you. Set course... to collision. Engage on my mark."
BGM: You Will Know Our Names - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7yNyhLOIa4
"Zevarist, Rosetta. We're coming to back you up."
Captain York thrusts her arm forward. "Forward, all engines! Beam Shield to maximum! Target--That mobile suit!"
The Ra Mari's engines fire and burn, the solar panels, damaged, glinting in space from the sheer power of it. The ship rockets forward, straight towards the Varguil.
"It's okay to doubt," she says over the radio.
"...But this is the path we've chosen!"
KTS: Eight York has activated the Foresee Spirit Command.
KTS: Eight York has activated the Foresee Spirit Command.
KTS: Eight York targets Saraven Vai with Beam Ram!
KTS: Saraven Vai has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Saraven Vai fails to evade Eight York's Beam Ram, taking 5400 damage!
KTS: Saraven Vai's AMS-123XS Varguil Complete has been disabled.
KTS: Eight York roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable.
<Pose Tracker> Murrue Ramius has posed.
The barrier causes the energy blasts from the Auerbach to spread most of the energy around the armor of the legged ship, avoiding any greater structural damage. Murrue huffs a breath of disappointment.
"Helm bring us to heading two-one-five mark zero-zero-seven."
"Weapons, Charge the Lohengrin, and ready the Gottfrieds, I want them aimed at their hangar."
"READY MA'AM!"
"ALL HANDS! Let's finish this! FIRE"
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
The fully-charged blast flies... and disappears into the stars as the Varguil jumps over to it. Anita 'hm's to herself, but doesn't comment. Anita moves to unseat the VF-25 from the construct she's planted it on... but before she can do so completely, a shot from a beam rifle is sent hurtling her way. Quickly, Anita raises her shield. The beam impacts it, and the force is enough to send the machine recoiling back. The Pinpoint Barrier crackles ominously... but still manages to hang on.
She has a bigger concern right now, though - it looks like Rena is in trouble.
"Rena, are you alright?" Anita asks over the private line to Eight and Rena, concerned - concerned enough to forget rank, for a moment. Fortunately, it's just the main camera... Anita breathes a sigh of relief. "Right. I'll provide cover for you."
The VF-25 moves to provide cover for Rena's retreat, gatling pod at the ready. She doesn't open fire just yet. But right as she's considering it... she hears something over communications.
"Right, Captain!" Anita says. And so, she makes what she decides in an intelligent decision.
She gets out of the way as the Ra Mari comes charging through.
<Pose Tracker> Edge Sainklaus has posed.
"Gah..!"
In the end, his Huckebein just wasn't able to cut it by itself as the new rush of white hot particles flows into the expanding well and causes it to finally destabilize in a massive explosion that sends the 30R hurtling through space, until its back slams into an errant bulkhead in the debris. "Huff..huff..." Edge pants, having been rattled around in his cockpit. Its one of its shoulders and both forearms were now completely exposed, along with hairline fractures, burns, and scuff marks that lined the rest of its body. There was nowhere you could look where an errant spark wasn't sputtering. " - man, I'm a really shitty pilot, huh ... " he couldn't help but chuckle.
Getting this beat up in a two-on-one tango. "Sorry, R - you're putting in all this work, and I'm just not keeping up with you ...is resolve just not enough?"
While his Huckebein is peeling itself off the bulkhead to get back into the fight, both it, and Az's are peppered by errant machinegun fire. "Ch..! Damnit - they're outta' my range .. unless I feel like wasting what little firepower I've got left..!"
Part of him regretted tossing the Photon Rifle, now.
After taking some more evasive maneuvers to avoid being strafed again, he manages to find his way back to the direction of Az's 30L and regroup with it as she dances back and forth with the heavily damaged pink Zack that's given the pair so much trouble; of both the metaphorical, and literal kind.
The R doesn't have a lot left in the tank - this feeling ... it's like something seeping out of my bones. But even so -Taking aim with a Graviton Rifle, he pauses. " ... Az -"
Even if she hadn't said anything, he knew how much she felt weighing on her shoulders right now. Putting her foot down with their mission mandate, and fighting someone like Lily Jung - was really tough for her, wasn't it?
... for the first time, Edge realized that, he couldn't do anything to take that hurt away. And maybe, he shouldn't - because even if she was being weighed down, right now ...
It's like Az is getting stronger the longer she's fighting .. even if it's just a little bit, step by step, .. as long as she walks forward, she'll keep getting stronger, right?
Huckebein 30R pushes forwards next to the 30L, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with it before extending its arm out, the one that still held a working Graviton Rifle to snap up next to Az's - like an extended hand, if she was willing to take it.
And I'll support you as much as I can all the while. Edge resolves, " - right?" with a murmur.
"As long as we hold eachother up, and hold that bond in our hearts - we won't lose ... and those wings wil be able to spread again, some day. I believe that..!"
He prepares to fire in tandem with her.
KTS: Edge Sainklaus targets Az Sainklaus with Heart!
KTS: Edge Sainklaus bares her heart, letting Az Sainklaus deal some extra damage!
<Pose Tracker> Ruri Hoshino has posed.
"Target hit," Ruri reports, stoic. The sensors feed her information without bothering to translate to human-readable language; she's prepared to understand it as soon as it's available. "... the Auerbach is still flying. It will take more effort to disable it."
It's no wonder the Nadesico would fall for a tactic like that, really; by and large, it's a boat full of optimists, and they wanted things to work out without having to fight.
Ruri doesn't like fighting very much.
She doesn't like hurting people, either.
But when Yurika says, "Reposition us to fire into space, and continue Gravity Blast fire," Ruri doesn't protest. (Neither does Minato, who is the one inputting commands to the helm to actually move them in space.)
She's in negotiation with the phase transition engines, as they come to a heading which points them away from the colony. They're able to cycle this much, in the vacuum of space, but it's a lot of power for the Nadesico to put out. She has to see to venting excess heat, maintaining the stasis of the gravity control unit, and, of course --
Their shields.
Thanks to Mayvy's earlier warning, Ruri knows what to look for, in this weapons signature; she issues reinforcement commands to the Distortion Field, which, again, just makes it a fraction more difficult to carve right through with a weapon specifically designed to foil barriers like theirs. The Nadesico shudders, a trail of smoke emerging from a gash in its side for a moment before the bulkheads and the vacuum of space take care of the issue handily.
(Without its Distortion Field, the Nadesico isn't the most well-armoured ship in the world, it seems.)
"Those attacks won't be enough to make us withdraw," Ruri says, and perhaps it's for Mayvy's benefit. Her comrades are out there, too.
"Firing Gravity Blast."
Once again, the jaws of the Nadesico open; once again, it fires. Ruri has to input quite a detailed attack sequence to try and avoid hitting the Auerbach's vulnerable areas, at this point, but she makes the effort anyway. She wants to disable them -- not to kill them.
Even if it would be easier to use a weapon like this as a guillotine.
KTS: Ruri Hoshino targets Talia Gladys with Gravity Blast!
<Pose Tracker> Riika Sheder has posed.
Riika's expression remains serious throughout her entire time on the communicator. She clearly wants to say something else - there's a catch in her voice as she starts to say something, then cuts it back. But she doesn't, beyond a tight voice when Roux addresses her: "Then go get him. I won't stop you."
And when Gary speaks to her, she responds in the most appropriate method she can think of:
-- CONNECTION LOST --
Riika's cockpit isn't silent; she still has ZAFT tactical communications coming in. But she's certainly not listening to him (or Roux and Leon) anymore. It lets her focus, and she's going to need that focus. With the Armoured Core down, she has a bit more freedom to maneuver, and unlike some pilots she does not go for the kill shot. She shoots nothing more in Leos' direction and he's going towards the colony; he'll be gathered up, she assumes.
Her GINN is screaming alerts at her. This is more damaged than she usually fights, and she gets a couple more alarms when she uses the bayonet of her assault rifle to catch the beam saber, just like the blade from before. It has a similar reaction, heating up immediately, beginning to glow -
Riika fires, ejecting the remains of the bayonet and getting a short bullet spray off at Gary. She banks, trailing fragments of metal as her GINN's leg continues to fall apart from the sudden acceleration, switching the cartridge for a new one and firing at Roux as she moves.
She is clearly backing toward the ships she came with. She knows her GINN can't take much more, and she makes that clear, speaking to ZAFT: "<Sheder here. I'm going to work my way back before they take out the rest of my thrusters!>"
KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Riika Sheder targets Gary Biaggi with JDP2-MMX22 Assault Rifle Burst!
KTS: Riika Sheder targets Roux Louka with JDP2-MMX22 Assault Rifle Blitz!
KTS: Talia Gladys has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Talia Gladys has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Talia Gladys has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Talia Gladys's Barrier Generator activates, negating 200 base damage.
KTS: Talia Gladys fails to evade Ruri Hoshino's Gravity Blast, taking 7920 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Ruri Hoshino's Scan activates, causing Designate L1!
KTS: Gary Biaggi successfully evades Riika Sheder's JDP2-MMX22 Assault Rifle Burst
<Pose Tracker> Saraven Vai has posed.
What's becoming clear to Saraven is that she has absolutely no idea how to predict a machine as unorthodox as the Weldrizer. Every time she thinks she knows what Zurvan's going to do, he throws another curveball. Case in point: Nozzles full of molten something-or-other floating through space in erratic patterns. Molten slag splatters across the Varguil's limbs gruesomely, melting parts of the machine's arm plating to the frame beneath. Heat warnings wink to life, and the Lilac Gale chews her lower lip a moment as she glances at a side monitor.
Catches the damaged MP Nu Gundam limping back to the Ra Mari. Saraven breathes out through her teeth.
...Kakapo...
...I never meant to make you angry...
Maybe... maybe the world is angry...?
Wheeling, rifle in hand, she brings her mental focus back towards the Ra Mari. The thoughts churning off of Eight are baffling. She can't help but feel slightly prodded. Her lips come together in a thin line.
My pain... is irrelevant. My feelings are irrelevant.
Time stretches in front of her. She begins to move her hands over her controls - but the damage Zurvan, Rena and Anita have inflicted has mounted up. The Varguil's thrusters blaze for a moment before sputtering, the machine hanging in space for a brief, critical moment. Saraven widens her eyes, and Eight can feel something that hasn't happened yet - an intensity of emotion coming from the lilac machine. A surge of momentary fear.
"Oh no-!" Saraven gasps.
A clean hit would probably break thee Varguil in half. Saraven rotates the mobile suit at the very last moment, but the prow of the giant ship still slams into it and sends the Varguil skidding across the Ra Mari's deck. Gritting her teeth, the young pilot tenses as she tries to fire her overheating thrusters. They sputter a few times, before finally burning to life just before she hits the Ra Mari's hangar door.
When she comes up, it's right in front of the ship's bridge - dangerously close in a situation like this. There is a brief, intense moment where the machine's monoeye sensor seems to burn a hole straight through the bulkheads and into Eight's consciousness.
Visual communication isn't possible. In that instant, though, it's as if Eight can see into the other cockpit. A dark-haired young woman of about eighteen stares back, tense but stone-faced, a small arrow tattoo under one eye.
...Choosing your own path...
The heartbeat second passes, and the Varguil's trajectory continues upwards. Saraven takes a moment to assess the tactical situation. She presses her lips together and looks back - the Auerbach under fire, Lily pressed, Riika holding her own on her way back from the fray. In the shadow of the colony, Grunherz Unit has been intercepted by a unit of Jegans, with one of the Gaza-As down and no progress on the thrusters.
The Lilac Gale of Zeon presses her lips together before burning her thrusters and shooting back towards the dark of space, a couple of damaged Gelgoog IIIs moving into formation to cover her retreat. She looks back as the field recedes behind her.
"...You've made so many choices," she murmurs into the dark of space. "It makes me... wish choice was real."
KTS: Roux Louka fails to evade Riika Sheder's JDP2-MMX22 Assault Rifle Blitz, taking 3953 damage!
KTS: Roux Louka's MSZ-008 Z II - 'Z Roux' <MS Mode> has been disabled.
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
There is a pulse of emotion back to Eight. It's an effort to be reassuring, but Rena has enough adrenaline in her system as she lands that this is difficult. She takes a deep breath. She sends a thought back to Eight.
I'm okay.
She can feel Anita's presence, too -- knowing that the Messiah is guarding her. "Thanks, Annie," she transmits to her. The Mass Production-type Nu Gundam hits the deck, after the Ra Mari's ramming action is completed. It's the hangar that the Varguil scraped along, the doors now open for her. The feet slam down onto the hangar. Armor trembles, as she feels Saraven's thought.
Strange, how calm it is. Rena looks down at her hand -- and finds her fingers shaking. She balls them into a fist.
She breathes out.
"Everyone in one piece?"
<Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.
Roux fires twice - a third shot might graze the colony - "Shit," Roux says, before she pushes the maneuvering lever, pushing past resistance that shouldn't be there. "Damn it--!!"
The Mega Beam Rifle comes down, pressing against the Z-II's belly, at which point the damaged, fleeing GINN fires up into it. The Mobile Suit's armor on the central torso is proof enough to not be penetrated but the rounds never the less feel like her machine is suddenly being hammered, and when Roux finishes screaming and jerking back --
She sees --
The reactor connection cable of the Mega Beam Rifle has been ripped asunder. Roux pulls the trigger once in disbelief and sees the pathetic little flashlight splurt from the barrel of the ship-destroying high-grade weapon.
For a moment she thinks: I should throw the shield at --
Damn it, Roux thinks, she's here to feed her people! Even if they're just being set up by the old bastards!! Gritting her teeth, she breathes out hard enough to fog the faceplate of her suit, then jerks the Z-II round to orient most of its still functioning Verniers towards -- departure.
"Biaggi! Don't be a hero! I know there's people waiting for you somewhere--!" Roux says, although the transmission is weak and staticky thanks to a damaged emitter. Roux cranes her head round then, trying to steer in this backwards lobster-dash for the Ra Mari -- did she seriously just--
LATER, AFTER RECOVERY:
Roux tumbles out of the Z-II's cockpit, after kicking it open to get past bent plating. She drifts downwards, taking off her normal suit helmet as she does.
"This time," she answers Rena, while shaking out her hair. "Ugh...!"
<Pose Tracker> Az Sainklaus has posed.
Knowing someone is certainly an avenue to be hurt. Even her brother, who she's fighting alongside now, is somebody it frequently hurts to be alongside even now. In that sense, it's hard to tell if this sense of knowing Lily better is something she considers a good thing or a bad thing. Maybe it's both. They're both afraid of far too much, and that's definitely not something either of them can hide from the other at this point.
The customized Zack's movements remain absolutely uncanny, and she can't help a gasp of surprise at seeing it emerge out from the wake of the other Huckebein's blast. She can tell how hard the other girl is stressing her machine, and yet still desperate enough that she refuses to stop doing it - that's another similarity they share. The Longblade Rifle is trained on her, and she instinctually blasts her unit's thrusters to hastily shoot herself out of the way--
Where the GINN reinforcements from Talia's ship don't strike, but they do cut off its avenues of movement - long enough that the secondary burst from the Zack catches the PT in the rear and sends it tumbling through space. Teeth clench, hands are tightened on the controls, and she has to struggle without a normal suit to keep her bearings as warning lights and alarms sound off in the cockpit. Some more of the patch armor probably got loosened up by that hit.
"Those movements...I'm starting to get an idea of them... --Just a little bit more...!" Through heavy breathing and roiling emotions, a certain clarity of mind breaks through. Just a little bit. Past that, she can feel the other Huckebein nudge up against her own. She stops for a moment, her own thoughts breaking to the surface.
...Edge...I'm sorry. You shouldn't have to keep watching over me like this all the time. That's not fair to you. It's really not fair at all. That's one of the reason I didn't even want to be in this situation with you in the first place. But...
"...Right!"
Her reply comes both verbally and physically, locking her singular working Graviton Rifle up with his. They're the exact same model of weapon - so just like their individual ones, they're able to link together. And also exactly like them, their already individually high outputs combine with a pull of the triggers, crimson-black energy building up within the barrels before being expelled as one massive beam cutting through debris and space.
Aimed squarely at Lily's Zack. Even with the distance between them limiting normal conversation, Az's sentiment can be clearly felt. The same thing Lily said to her only a short while ago. Don't die...!
<Pose Tracker> Talia Gladys has posed.
As the bridge shakes around her once more, Talia can't help but think that the firepower of those two battleships is absurd. And that ZAFT is going to have trouble matching them. Even with the new Nazcas that are rolling out. They might have bitten off more than they can chew with this war.
But right now, that is not important. The Auerbach takes fire from both the Archanger's Gottfrieds and the Nadesico's Gravity Cannon. The resulting damage is significant and the ship is starting to look on its last legs. Smoke pouring out of several damaged sections.
"Captain! Lieutenant Vai has issued a retreat order to her Sleeves forces."
It's unfortunate, but Talia understands. The Federation's response was simply too much. More than they were expecting. Besides, Saraven is beating Talia to the punch only by a few minutes, "Tell the ground forces to pull out. We're aborting the mission." There's no way they'd be able to accomplish it at this point. And sticking around will just get them killed. "Recall the pilots. Load missile tubes one through eight and provide cover fire."
The Auerbach burns back towards the colony to join back up with the forces that were trying to hold it, but now are beginning to retreat. A volley of missiles rush out of the Auerbach's launchers, arcing over the ship before flying in towards the battle still waging behind it. For the most part they're not targetted at any specific units, but rather to discourage following those in retreat. Though the Archangel and the Nadesico may still get caught in the blast of one or two.
KTS: Talia Gladys targets Ruri Hoshino with Laurasia-class Missile Launchers Anti-Ship Missile!
KTS: Talia Gladys targets Murrue Ramius with Laurasia-class Missile Launchers Anti-Ship Missile!
KTS: Lily Jung fails to evade Az Sainklaus's Divine Beast, taking 8520 damage!
KTS: Lily Jung's RMS-119 EWAC Zack - Pink Custom has been disabled.
<Pose Tracker> Zurvan Zevarist has posed.
The unorthodox Weldrizer and it's clownshoes Zentradi pilot don't have much time to posture, or talk -- Zurvan lets out a cussing to dive the Weldrizer straight out of the way of a ramming ship, even if it was not aimed at him.
When he looks up, the enemy forces are retreating, Zurvan sinks against his seat, letting out a deep, long sigh.
"I'm... fine, everyone. Just feel like my brain's in a pressure crusher at the moment." He flips his visor up for a moment, rubbing his brow before giving his attention back on his machine. Several servos are busted. Lots of armor missing. Several blown holes. Some M-RECT tendrils are unresponsive.
"This is not how I wanted to test this thing," Zurvan mutters under his breath, radio still on. "But I guess, it went well."
He speaks louder on the radio. "I'm fine." He repeats. "I'll scan the colony's exterior and see if anything got pierced, then I'll dock back in, Nadeisco. Thanks you, Captain York, lieutenant Lancaster and Ensign Rosetta."
Zurvan's head feels light, as adrenaline starts to die down and getting woozy. For a first sortie in an actual combat situation... well, he's alive, ain't he?
KTS: Murrue Ramius successfully intercepts Talia Gladys's Laurasia-class Missile Launchers Anti-Ship Missile
KTS: Ruri Hoshino's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage.
KTS: Ruri Hoshino fails to react to Talia Gladys's Laurasia-class Missile Launchers Anti-Ship Missile, taking 2085 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Lily Jung has posed.
It's quite something. To see the captain react like that. To know that, even without her having to say it, there's two GINNs on their way to support her, offering covering fire. "Stone... Ally..." She touches her chest for a moment, thanking them in her heart, before turning her gaze back towards the brother and sister unit fighting together.
Her sensors keep pin-pointing them, then losing them. The entire array is a giant mess. Kuma keeps calling out: "Lily, Error! Lily, Error!" It can't help her in a situation like this. The visuals are a mess. Sensors are a mess. She can tell that the remaining leg of her unit is sticking any time she tries to use it, meaning that she can't use the adjustment thrusters in it.
Then, a sudden sensation. "Sara!" Her head jolts up as the Ra Mari clips so hard into the Varguil that the pilot - Saraven - is in danger! <"Sa~ra!"> Turning to face as she feels two peoples extending out towards her.
Like crushing hands, the presence of Az and Edge getting too much for her. It's starting to make her hyperventilate a bit. Or is that the wound in her shoulder. The amount of red lights going off. Her grip on her controls is getting heavy. And she can feel her head feeling... foggy. Like she is getting sleepy.
She shakes her head, the blood that was floating in her helmet getting stuck in her pale blonde hair. Then, light. Those Graviton Rifles snapping up and pouring out all that light towards her.
That destructive light. The waves of gravity itself, intent to crush and snuff out her life! Her anxiety rises, her body pulling away in the cockpit, trying to retreat. Left, right, left, but there's nowhere to go! She is stuck...
Stuck in this body.
Stuck in this mobile suit.
Stuck in this terrible place called war.
This terrible feeling won't stop.
A tear falls, making it hard for her to tell what is going on. The thrusters on her Zack, she can tell that they're not working anymore. Not properly. Down there, she feels the sorrow. The anguish between the brother and sister.
And she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath as the beams approach. For a moment, she feels it. Those Veterans back at the soup kitchen. Those people who surrounded her. Their hands on her shoulders. Laughing with her. Smiling. Sorrow... Her hands release the controls for a moment. "I guess being energetic and determined isn't enough. Sorry daddy." She whispers, before...
DON'T DIE! Those two words echo back at her. The same ones she'd used just a few moments ago. A spark at the edge of her mind, a deep breath. Her body reacts by instinct. One foot to the pedal, the other to the controls. Thrusters don't work so...
The unit throws the main cartridge of the Longblade Rifle down towards its side, the energy core catching the blasts coming her way just centisecond before it impacts her machine. The blast erupting, pushing the Zack aside.
DON'T DIE!
Before she knows it, the wish had reached her.
Tears fill Lily's vision, as hope is given birth to once more. This tiniest bit of a wry smile. This path is possible. This path she envisions, it's...
The Graviton beam tears across the side of her machine. Ripping off the last remaining leg. Tearing apart the side of the machine and pouring against her cockpit block, superheating it. But the blast was enough.
The Flamingo falls from the skies.
The wreckage of the EWAC Zack caught right into the hangar, as it opens up. An enormous net catching the remainder of the EWAC Zack and stretching back, while technicians and robot arms move to pull it out of the way.
<Pose Tracker> Gary Biaggi has posed.
"That little shit hung up on me!" Gary is peeved as the connection is lost. "Just who the hell does she think she is, " more annoyance and anger over the hot MIC as he even forgets it is open. For a moment he opens fire with his vulcans at her but his targetting sensors are a mess and the shots are wide barely missing a friendly.
Then all is well, Gary has enhanced his calm and he is back in his right frame of mind. With the standard finger tow lines installed in most space MS he latches on to both the adrift AC with the horrible name and the 'Z Roux' , bringing them closer to him. Flipping his MIC off he just smiles at the two suits he reeled in, "Just another pair of lifes that owe me. " With the grin of the devil on his Gary turns on his locator beacon and SOS beacon to signal they are in need of recovery. Then all Gary can do is lean back and listen to the sweet music of the battle around him.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
Eight doesn't really want to kill Saraven. Not if she can help it. But she can't put one life--the life of her enemy--over the lives of her entire crew and squadron. She can't take her away from Zeon in the night, can't drag her out by herself. ...But she wants to, in the moment. It hurts, to know that that's how this pilot feels: that her own feelings are irrelevant.
But the Ra Mari charges forward, defending her pilots with her massive hull against this powerful enemy mobile suit. Eight said she would watch the others' backs; she will fulfill that statement. And the Varguil is hit, all right. The deck takes deep gouges where weapons skid against it, and the thrusters bring the Varguil up.
It's not true. Your pain matters. Just like mine did.
Eight keeps looking out into space, after that brief momentof consciousness. Eighteen... Not as young as Eight was, but younger than Eight is now. A girl who could have a whole life, if Zeon would let her.
Eight breathes out slowly, as the mobile suit retreats. "...All right, now--"
"Captain," comes the calm voice of Enba Rezza, Eight's first officer. "...The enemy forces are beginning their retreat. Do you wish to pursue?"
"No," Captain York answers, and shakes her head, not quite willing to relax just yet. She feels Rena's voice in her mind, feels that she's okay, even if it might be a little bravado. "Come on home, Rosetta. You did great out there." Then a pause, and she checks with Zurvan, "Successful test, it looks like. ...I'm glad you're OK."
She exhales a breath, and looks to the retreating enemy forces... and then back to the fallen Clop that tried to hold the line alone. "Chovan, bring us in on that Clop. Astelian, try to raise them on comms. We'll hold position by the colony for now."
<Pose Tracker> Murrue Ramius has posed.
The unique arc of fire that the CIWS makes as their targeting systems trace the paths of incoming missiles or vehicles, is always something to see. This time it heralds the egress of the Auerbach and the collective ZAFT and Sleeve forces.
A few missiles get through the lancing bee nest of rounds and the ship shudders from the concussive force. Captain Ramius keeps the Massive Lohengrin Positron Cannons trained on the Laurasia vessel in retreat for the moment.
Murrue turns keeps an eye on the shrinking figures but presses a comms channel on her chair, which beeps in answer.
"Yes Ma'am"
"Ensign, as soon as the area is secure, I want you to assemble a complete report on damages and material losses."
"Yes Ma'am."
"Murrue sits in her chair and inhales, before ordering, "Let's go pick up our people, I want you to check with every ship, all rosters, no on unaccounted for. I want all frequencies scanned for emergency beacons. I want TWO details working optical sensors and spotters. Get everyone accounted for, No one left out there, even if they aren't one of ours. Get in touch with Frontier 7 see if they need anything. Go!"
<Pose Tracker> Ruri Hoshino has posed.
"The Auerbach is taking heavy damage from the Nadesico and the Archangel," Ruri reports, straight-faced, without commentary.
"It's hard to say we're fighting the good fight in a situation like this," Minato sighs, even though Ruri won't.
Mr. Prospector, that wiry accountant, plugs some numbers nervously into his everpresent calculator. "The economical costs alone would make anyone's head hurt!"
"They're humans," Yurika repeats, a hand clasped by her heart. "So we've got to have faith in them."
Ruri can't load faith. (Omoikane can; it's part of why the ship has only gotten more threatening, as time goes on.) What she can do is load in more attack coordinates, except --
The situation shifts; her sensors catch retreat orders, units returning to their commanders. Her hands still against the console, and she does not tell the Gravity Blast to fire, again. "The Auerbach has sounded a recall order and is providing fire to cover its retreat," she reports, and she keeps the relief out of her voice, just like everything else.
"Maintain shields. We won't go after them. We promised, after all!" Yurika waves a finger, as if anyone here needs reminding.
"Now recalling Aestivalis wing," Ruri confirms. "Sending recall offers to our guests." Those aren't orders, unlike the messages issued to Ryoko and her team; the Nadesico has no jurisdiction over fellow Nergal allies, after all.
But it's a good place to park while everyone figures themselves out.
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
...It looks like that's the end of it, at least on their end. Anita exhales and sinks into her seat, briefly looking up into the stars above. ...Space really is pretty, huh? There's something about scraping through a fight like this that really makes you appreciate it. Zurvan's voice over the communications is what brings her out of it.
"Thanks, Zurvan. You were a big help. That tech of yours is really cool." Anita says, and nods when she speaks. "Yeah, good call - just be careful, okay?"
Who knows what could be left behind? But it's a job someone has to do.
...But, it looks like its over for now.
"On my way, Captain." Anita says with a nod as Eight gives the call to return... and then adds, a bit brighter, "Thanks! You were really cool out there too, you know?"
"You too, Commander!" She asides to Rena, as well. With that said, the VF-25 Messiah Rosetta pulls in its arms and legs as it changes into Fighter Mode, flying on back to the Ra Mari.
<Pose Tracker> Edge Sainklaus has posed.
Edge breathes out, his Huckebein stuck in firing position, shoulder pushed up against its sibling. " ... man .. even when we won, it's hard to feel good about it .. " he mutters to himself.
. . . and, this is just my 'brotherly instinct', but I feel like Az probably isn't feeling thrilled right now, either.
A ping almost goes un-noticed, but Edge's baggy eyes manage to catch it. "A recall .. I see." he says, and from the periphery of his visuals, he could see the enemy battleship pulling back, too. At least - and maybe this was just his overly hopeful impression, that Lily Jung girl didn't die.
Had Az called something like that back out? He wasn't sure. But he did know that she'd be down in the dumps if she wound up killing someone like that - and he probably would be, too.
Tentatively, he opened a tightbeam to the 30L - an easy to accomplish task at this close proximity - to check on his sister.
"Hey ... you okay?" he asks, gently. "The Nadesico's callin' everyone back .. and it seems like they're willing to service its guests. We shouldn't hang too long out here in space, but - uh ..."
He pauses, "You know. If you need to talk, we can take our time."
<Pose Tracker> Talia Gladys has posed.
The Sleeves have already vanished outside of sensor range. The ZAFT forces are a little slower, given they have the battleships (along with one badly damaged one) but they are clearly in retreat.
Eight and the Ra Mari will find that much of the crew of the Clop class defense ship have survived. Naturally there were casualties, but once the badly outnumbered ship had proved to be disabled, the ZAFT forces left it be at that point.
Meanwhile, relief efforts to the colony will find the situation amongst its defenders a little less bright. As it's hard to just disable a person with gunfire. Though since the fighting was focused towards the colony's engineering sections, the actual colony interior propper avoided any real fighting. Which is something to be relieved about.
It doesn't take much investigation of the modifications ZAFT left behind to realize that they had been intending to activate the City class colony ship's engines. Likely for the purpose of moving it away from here. A certainly ambitious means of raiding its food supplies.
<Pose Tracker> Mayvy Hawkins has posed.
As the Nadesico withstands a final impact from the missiles in the enemy's retreat, Mayvy goes boneless, a lump in the seat. "Guhhh." She closes her eyes a moment, before querying the Dreisstrager's AOS for a status check. "Ah, the guns are back online back home..."
She glances over at Ruri. "Tell Omoikane thanks for me. I, don't really think I know how to talk to him like you do."
<Pose Tracker> Az Sainklaus has posed.
"Hah...ah...hah..." In the aftermath of everything, Az is less hyperventilating as she had a few moments ago, and more breathing with more exhaustion than she maybe rightfully should. Her focus is locked on the remnants of the blast petering out...and the barely visible wreckage of the Zack, cockpit block heated but still at least appearing very much intact as it continues onwards to get caught and recovered.
A long and heavy yet tentative sigh of relief leaves her, and she closes her eyes.
"...Lily Jung..." She murmurs that name to herself. The fact that didn't end in the worst way is probably the only thing she can be happy about...even though they did successfully do what they came here to do. "...It's probably not going to be the last time this happens, is it?" Her expression falling into a wince, it's both Edge and the ping from the Nadesico that snap her back into the moment.
"Ah--...I'm fine," she says back quietly over the one-on-one radio, even when she's definitely not. "I just...wasn't ready for that. Everybody is doing what they have to do to survive, aren't they? Or, no...she's doing it for ZAFT's survival, not just her own." She goes quiet for several seconds after that.
"...Thank you, Edge. For...all of that. We probably should get back and check on everyone else." And I really don't want to put more on you than I already have...
"...But maybe taking our time isn't a bad idea. We still need to find the rifle you threw away first."