2022-05-07: War's Advance
- Log: 22 05 07 - Riika War's Advance
- Cast: Riika Sheder, Lily Jung, Talia Gladys, Ana Kambinda, Asuka Shikinami Langley, Mitsuba Greyvalley, Laila Elsayed, Kaworu Nagisa, Treize Khushrenada
- Where: Near Agadez - Niger, OAC
- OOC - IC Date: May 7, UC 0096
- Summary: Riika Sheder assists in escalating ZAFT's war in Africa by bringing a kaiju from her mysterious benefactor. It doesn't go too well, and leaves her with a different determination.
KTS: Talia Gladys has deployed in Lesseps-class. KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has deployed in Evangelion Unit-04.
<Pose Tracker> Riika Sheder has posed.
EARLIER
"And you're absolutely sure that this... assistance will come when you call it?"
Riika Sheder had been in what felt like interrogation for hours. She'd actually requested the meeting but she hadn't expected it to turn out like this. The first commander she'd contacted hadn't believed her at all. He bumped it up the line; the next assumed she was trying to play a trick on them, some sort of Federation spy. It had taken her another try just to get someone who would *listen*, and a week of waiting just to get him to make up his mind.
"Yes, sir. I'm sure. It comes every time. Whatever his personal beliefs are, we'll get the help." It wasn't the first time Riika had said that.
The base commander scowled. *He* didn't like things he didn't understand, and he didn't understand this. But it certainly fit in the 'unorthodox strategies' he'd been encouraged to accept from ZAFT red-uniform strike teams...
"Fine. We'll do it. But you'll be with a driver," he says, holding up one hand. "That is not up for debate, Pilot. You'll have to..." His scowl returned, twisting his mustache. "...control the beast. And someone will need to keep an eye on you while you do."
"Yes, sir."
Riika wondered if she should have just done it herself, and damn the consequences. At least something would get *done* that way.
NOW
The war in Africa hasn't ended.
Ever since ZAFT first reached Earth, there has been conflict here. A brief push early in 0096 caused a resurgence in the violence, but it has so far been limited mostly to skirmishes and running battles, the occasional conflict over a depot or a facility notwithstanding.
Neither side seemed to be able to immediately press the issue. Africa has the home field advantage; ZAFT was shipping things in from the colonies, after all. But the OAC doesn't know everywhere ZAFT is. They have small, mobile cells. They could be anywhere.
And so the battles were inconclusive. Neither one wanted to commit to an attack that went nowhere.
Until now.
Niger is further south than the major battle line has reached, but not by much. The fact that about eighty percent of the region is the Sahara Desert makes it inhospitable at best and dangerous at worst, but the Federation has turned that very inhospitability into an asset; the region is controlled (militarily speaking) by a large base a hundred kilometers from Agadez, built around a rocky butte, with a great sweep of sandy-rocky desert to look over. Agadez used to be a smuggling route but nowadays it is one of the main overland transport routes for the OAC military.
ZAFT patrols have been spotted once or twice in this region over the last week, which is concerning enough, but not as concerning as what's happening right now. Three of ZAFT's landships - one Lesseps-class, two the smaller Petrie-class - have begun an advance across the desert toward the base, Mobile Suits riding along. It's war, a major attack - and if ZAFT manages to seize the base, the whole area will swing in their favour. They will be able to disrupt OAC operations across the entire northwest of Africa.
And if that's not enough, ZAFT has brought a 'secret weapon'. A jeep broke away from a Petrie and, rather than driving straight in, took a slower, less direct route across the desert terrain.
By the time anyone can get here, shelling from the Petries has already begun, and Mobile Suits are out and about. The jeep has stopped on a rise. It is much less obviously threatening than anything else and as such is not a priority target.
"You ready?" the driver asks of his passenger.
Riika sets the model, repaired to the best of her patient ability, on the strange tablet-like device. "I am," she says, though she's nervous enough to wipe her hands on her tights anyway. What if it can't tell the difference between a ZAFT MS and a Federation one? What if... "Bring me closer when I ask for it." It has to work. It did before.
And it does.
Something else joins the ZAFT attack, simply appearing out of a green and black energy silhouette: a kaiju with a body that appears to made out of multicoloured circuitry-like lines, covered partially with shattered-looking plates. Some of them look to have additional cracks on them, almost cemented over with more plates - Riika's repairs. Its eyes are hidden behind a glassine (?) dome, and are offset and very round, making it look weirdly googly-eyed. The lines are brightest at the gap in its armour in its chest, which occasionally extrudes a pyramid-shaped emitter. It roars, then stomps forward, completely ignoring the ZAFT mobile suits as it fires a spray of beams forward, shattering a base-defense turret.
This isn't the act of a wild animal. ZAFT has - impossibly - brought a kaiju to war.
KTS: Lily Jung arrives loaded onto Talia Gladys's combat deck!
<Pose Tracker> Lily Jung has posed.
Lily was not exactly informed of what the 'non-standard' backup was intended to be - not truly what to expect. All she knows is that she is needed at the front lines again. Over the last weeks to months, she's been active between space and earth, getting a bit more of her 'sea-legs' so to speak when it comes to the war. But her role has remained firmly near the backlines, serving as the one in charge of laser-comms and long range assistance.
Her father has explained to her that while preparations for her old unit to be returned to her are progressing, and should be seeing her soon -- to keep using the Zenith 250 for now, and help ZAFT by letting them continue to take readings. So, she's done exactly that, because daddy knows best!
The Zenith is kneeled upon the deck of the approaching Lesseps-class landship, slowly scanning the horizon with a white rifle in one hand, and another laying at its knees. Within the cockpit, the young woman is using a range finder to assist some of the artillery to hit further away marks...
When the Kaiju finally 'arrives'. She cannot think of a better word for it than that. That it has 'arrived'. To have come from nowhere.
Somewhere within her, she wonders what it means for ZAFT to bring a Kaiju to bear. But command is reminding them not to fire on the 'giant ally'. So the young woman in the small unit tries her best to keep her attention ahead, her consciousness expanding, lifting forwards to the base ahead.
<Pose Tracker> Talia Gladys has posed.
Talia taps her finger on the armrest of her chair as she stares out the windows at the Federation base in the distance. It's just about time. She glances to her side, where her operations officer is sitting. With her more recent assignment to Earth-based operations and this Lesseps in particular, Talia had brought some of her command crew along with her. Not too unusual, with many Captains often preferring to have those they know at their side.
Talia nods her head, "Scotty, signal the Petries to begin the bombardment. And tell the special team to being." Talia had been told about the some of the specifics of the plan, obviously. Though she had yet to see for herself just exactly what this New Weapon involved. A quick turn towards the front of the bridge, "Tim, raise our speed and move us in. We'll act as a shield for them."
The Ampere, a large Lesseps-class land battleship, begins to move faster as its smaller Petrie escorts come to a stop and begin to shell the Federation base ahead. The Lesseps just seems to effortlessly sail across the sandy desert, seemingly as if it was a ship moving through the water, with no obvious signs of wheels or tank-like tracks. Just a small cloud of sand constantly surrounding the four extended pylons that contact with the ground. Already there are some mobile weapons deployed on top of the ship. But even more are deployed from within when a hatch on the front slides open and a small squad of animal-shaped machines jump out. A far cry from the usual humanoid mobile weapons that ZAFT usually deploys, the BuCUEs have four legs, an animal like head at the front, a short set of wings on their back and large turrets on top.
The BuCUEs bound across the ground for a short distance after landing, before their legs transform and they start to sail across the sands, similar to the Lesseps. They begin to target the Federation base's fortifications with a combination of missiles and railgun fire.
KTS: Riika_Sheder has deployed as a Boss for 3 opponents. KTS: Treize Khushrenada has deployed in OZ-06MS4G Leo Type IV Greif. <Pose Tracker> Ana Kambinda has posed.
A battle along the Niger. The situation brings back memories that make Ana more than a little bitter.
On alert as soon as ZAFT patrols were spied, the sand-coloured Gustav Karl A3 is already on station and ready to go at the word of an advance into Niger. The big machine's weapons spool up to readiness as Ana runs through her hot startup routine. She huffs and takes the last step of shouldering her pilot suit down to her waist to let her tank top-covered upper half breathe.
"Launching now," she barks before hitting the rocket thrusters. There's no catapult out here. The A3 simply bursts forward, gaining momentum.
There's no small amount of frustration seething in the back of her mind as she approaches the front. The war drags on, and African cities are at threat in a conflict none of them want. And what's bringing that threat is --
"There it is again," Ana murmurs as she comes into close enough range that she can see the energy silhouette ahead. Devadadan made a memorable impression the first time, but while they managed to push it back at that time, she'd been fairly convinced it wasn't actually dead.
She was also fairly sure it wasn't one of Dr. Hell's machinations. Seeing it lumbering in with ZAFT leaves her to clench her teeth. "They must've stolen something from them," she mutters. "Either that or they're getting into bioweapon research."
Devadadan starts blasting at base turrets. Ana lowers the Gustav Karl's head and shoulders and fires her verniers, spinning the machine quickly before coming back around on her course. The maneuver kicks up a plume of sand particles, her thrusters blowing them around to partially obscure her position. A simple maneuver, but one that hopefully buys her cover. It at least saves her in that a passing GINN fires a shot through the sand cloud and misses her completely while she plots her actual course.
At Devadadan, thrusters burning. Ana bunches her shoulders and surges out of the sand cloud. The heavy Gatling cannons mounted behind the A3's flexible shield pivot forward, beginning to spew firepower towards the gigantic kaiju.
Saying anything to Devadadan doesn't occur to her. She wouldn't even know what to yell indignantly at a giant monster thing. Her comments are spared for the other Federation machines on station, by radio: "Solid rounds if possible on this target. We've run into it before. It has some kind of energy absorbing field."
KTS: Ana Kambinda targets Riika Sheder with Twin Gatling Cannon Saturation! KTS: Talia_Gladys has deployed as a Rival. KTS: Treize Khushrenada arrives loaded onto Mitsuba Greyvalley's combat deck! <Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
"What gives on the rush job? Last time you told me we couldn't be fussed to get an Eva to the OAC. Now you're deploying us so quickly that we're being briefed in transit?" Asuka said suspiciously from the inside of her Entry Plug, as two Evas sped across the Ocean, held prone by separate enormous sleek stealth bombers and escorted by two fighters each.
"That was then." Maya Ibuki stated patiently, "Here's a shot of the Kaiju that ZAFT deployed in their last offensive." A shot of Devadadan appears on the side of her entry plug amongst the shifting red-orange. "Look familiar?"
Asuka gave it a long look, and tightened her grip on the induction levers of her Eva. "Yeah. I'd say so."
Maya smoothly moves on, "The two of you will be air dropped at these coordinates. Our Technical Division have a pair of Umbilical Cables waiting for you both at the base substation. Attach and eliminate the Kaiju. If possible bring back samples for STORAGE to analyze."
"Oh I'll get you plenty of samples." "Glad to hear it." As she suddenly gives a sympathetic look to Kaworu in his entry plug, "We'll be monitoring the situation as it develops. Good luck out there." Maya's face on the display winked out.
Even though it was a short trip, Asuka's jaw tightened as she ruminated on her time in the AEU against ZAFT. "Again and again." A hated 'Coordinator' fighting against Coordinators, every injustice meted out against her by her comrades. "Fine by me." She says as she takes a breath and the LCL bubbles as if blood were boiling from her anger.
As Kaworu notes that she'll take point, she gives him a glare at the side of her entry plug, "As if I ever would need your cover, Fifth String." While it's not exactly an outright rejection of his order, it's definitely not a cordial acceptance either.
-=-=-
Not long after two shapes descended from the sky from an air drop across the rocky base, a red giant seemingly vaults over the walls of the rocky butte, tethered to something on the inside. It lands on the sand as if the spot had been shelled, raising a big plume of dust. "OAC forces. NERV is on site and will be engaging the Kaiju. Don't get in my way."
As it starts to clear and a silhouette of the Evangelion reappears, there's a rhythmic loud crunching across the desert sand with each step.
"What are you stupid?" Is her call across the radio on a wide band, "Using a Kaiju that was stomping across our backyard only a month ago? What did you think was going to happen provoking NERV?"
Hearing Ana's call over the radio band on the energy absorbing field... she decides to take a certain tact. The Evangelion suddenly leaps towards the Kaiju in a horizontal dive as she tries to flank it, aiming its crossbow at from the side, two limbs suddenly expand, as electromagnetic waves hum out of it - four 'strings' of energy buzzing as it connects.
Pressing the trigger, a bolt fires with the speed of a bolt of lightning as it tries to impale the Kaiju's ankle with enough force to stutter its advance as the Evangelion lands in a roll that raises more sand, getting up on a knee and sprinting to close in the gap against Devadadan as the Evangelion reaches to one of its pilots to sweep out a Prog Knife.
"Real geniuses you have over in ZAFT! Now you have to deal with me again-!"
Again? It's doubtful she's actually fought any of this part of ZAFT before but... she sounds like she's at least tussled with them.
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley targets Riika Sheder with Super-Electromagnetic Crossbow Impaling Shot! <Pose Tracker> Mitsuba Greyvalley has posed.
Some combination of Mitsuba, Lian, Reynold, and the AOS has decided the best place to leverage the ship-of-ships is Africa, at the moment; Mitsuba is a little cautious about this one, though.
"... Keep the mobile weapon teams on standby," Mitsuba says. "We don't know what ZAFT is capable of -- we'll engage with the Dreisstrager itself from a distance," she orders; Reynold and Lian begin distributing that information appropriately in short order.
What Mitsuba is expecting is, well -- some of what she gets is what she expected. "Unidentified Lesseps-class vessel," Mitsuba announces, over local comms. "This is the G-Hound vessel, Dreisstrager-class 'Dreisstrager.' Surrender immediately and you will not be harmed," she says, simply.
... Then a kaiju appears. There's a momentary pause, and then: "... We will consider this an inappropriate escalation and respond with due force." A kaiju can't be reasoned with the way a piloted mobile weapon can, after all.
Mitsuba is not briefed on kaiju and has no idea what this thing is capable of, so she decides to play it cautious. "Allied pilots! The Dreisstrager will be moving to support your advance and counter the enemy landship! The enemy is using a bombardment-heavy strategy -- use our fire support and close!"
Then, to the rest of the bridge: "Missile canisters! Our forces are relying on us to create an opening -- create one!"
"Roger! Deploying both missile canisters!" Reynold announces, as a cylinder ejects from the top of the Dreisstrager.
It streaks forward for a moment, then releases its payload: *several* missiles. They streak down toward the BuCUEs and the Lesseps-class itself, trying to force a tighter formation out of the BuCUEs and their support vessels.
KTS: Mitsuba Greyvalley targets Talia Gladys with Missile Canisters Area Denial! <Pose Tracker> Laila Elsayed has posed.
EARLIER:
A woman is reclining in a comfortable automobile. Warm leather interiors and wooden panelling. The seat is fully reclined and she gazes up at the moonroof, which is open; a strong breeze runs over it.
There is no music and no sound other than the wind. Laila Elsayed gazes at the blue, blue sky, and when her eyes are relaxed she thinks she can make it out. The ring; the speckles of the shoal zones. The sky and everything it has come to encompass.
The radio on the driver's console crackles. A tune-in; low fidelity, as it always must be, on these wavelengths. It's old, analogue, easily hidden. "Neit, check. Neit, check. Neit, check."
Laila reaches over to push the ACK button.
The voice continues. "ZAFT is moving. ZAFT operation near Agadez; Nigeria. ZAFT operation includes--" As a reconnaisance summary is read off to her, Laila muses aloud (confident in a lack of active interior microphones), "It sounds rough, but surely I can have a Saturday. This week was bad enough."
"- ZAFT is in association with an unknown KAIJU-class organism weapon --"
Laila reaches over and levers herself back upright even as the rest of the summary reads off. "A kaiju?"
"- get out there and see what the devil is going on, Neit, and you are FIRE authorized -"
Laila presses the ignition button as the moon roof rolls up and she looks towards the left, grasping the control wheel and turning to the side. A turbine whines as it warms up. "He does sound anxious today," Laila murmurs, as the view turns -
As the wings of the Active Frame tilt and bank, the thrust nacelle of the avimorphic machine reaching a steady glow -
And so, she vectors in!
HERE, NOW
Neit-Sekhbet has been gently descending on a straight line over the Sahara desert, banking only slightly to avoid thermal updrafts here and there, for quite some distance as it comes close enough for its shape to register visually. (It has very low radar return, as well.)
Laila reaches over to tap out the zoom instructions and sees a close-up view of the Devadadan. "Well, now," she says, "aren't you a pale horse in search of a rider. See," another pane settling momentarily on Eva-02, "your big brother's already gotten a sunburn."
Then - "By God," Laila says as Neit's computer briefly mis-tags the Dreisstrager as a *base facility*. "It's a big day out there, isn't it?"
NOW she turns on her transmitter, looping into federal bands. "Good day to you," she says, "OAC forces, Dreisstager: I am approaching from the northeast. I'll try to get you some parallax on this contingent."
The blue-black eyes on the vulturelike head assembly of Neit-Sekhbet gleam, faintly.
<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.
"Understood, Ms. Ibuki. And thank you," Kaworu tells Maya politely, a faint, lopsided smile on his lips as she gives him that sympathetic look. Her communication window blinks out, while the window to Asuka remains open. Not exactly his ideal situation, but what can you do?
"When we arrive, the kaiju will no doubt need to be intercepted immediately," he tells her, smile fading. "You take point, Second. I'll provide cover as you move in, then follow. Understood?"
He phrases this like it's an order. Technically, it *is* an order. But they both understand that he's really just telling her to do what she'd do anyway, and he'll stay mostly out of her way. Unit-00 might be better suited to that than the Unit-04 he deployed in, but battles are fluid; there'll be a chance to get in closer later on, no doubt. Close in, and get a better look at what's going on with this Devadadan.
It has some *striking* stylistic similarities to kaiju from a certain Lord Monster he knows, after all.
For the time being, though, Kaworu lets Asuka snap at him, and doesn't respond to her muttering about 'again and again.' There is a story there; he isn't overly interested in hearing it, and doubts she would share even if he were. "Mmhm," he simply murmurs, and leaves it at that.
~*~
A red giant falls first; a silver-white giant falls after. It's been quite some time since Kaworu last rode Unit-04, and there's something a little different about him now. It's hard to put his finger on, but... Ah well. He obeys, and that's what counts.
He doesn't contradict Asuka's communique to the OAC Forces, either. Maybe she could be friendlier about it, but it communicates the heart of things well enough. As Unit-04 drops down lithely in a spot near Unit-02's rear, umbilical cable whipping in the air in his wake, Kaworu transmits to Ana, "Thank you for the intel. We'll do so."
As he lets Asuka pull her Eva's crossbow and open fire before closing in, Kaworu remains at a distance and has Unit-04 aim an assault rifle it had brought along from the liaison base. The heart of Devadadan in particular looks similar to Alexis's handiwork... Choosing that as his target, he opens fire.
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa targets Riika Sheder with Assault Rifle - Single Fire! KTS: Lily Jung has activated the Rouse Spirit Command. This unit has no shield.
KTS: Riika Sheder fails to react to Ana Kambinda's Twin Gatling Cannon Saturation, taking 3200 damage! Your unit's HP stands at 28975
KTS: Riika Sheder fails to Evade Kaworu Nagisa's Assault Rifle - Single Fire, taking 4620 damage! Your unit's HP stands at 24355
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley anchors Riika Sheder, forcing her into close range. KTS: Riika Sheder fails to react to Asuka Shikinami Langley's Super-Electromagnetic Crossbow Impaling Shot, taking 3150 damage! Your unit's HP stands at 21205
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has engaged Riika Sheder
<Pose Tracker> Lily Jung has posed.
The Dreisstrager. She remembers that vessel all too well from that catastrophic deployment near the Frontier-7 region. Her scanners soon pick up the Gustav Karl as well, followed by an Evangelion being fielded. How fast did they manage to deploy in response like that!?
The young girl bites her bottom lip softly for a moment, considering what to do in this situation. Just in front of her, and a bit off to the side, the plushed Haro - styled a bit more after a bear, declares; "Incoming enemy forces! Lily! Incoming enemy forces!" She can obviously seem the right before her, as well as the missiles coming down towards Talia's position.
CIWS are giving Lily cover for now, as she remains near the combat deck, just as she spots something else. Just a glint. Just a tug on the edge of her mind. Something risky, she just feels it.
The kneeled Zenith 250 focuses in on the Neit as it glides in across the desert, trying to get a better look at it. The vulture-like head is an unknown to her. And if she's learned anything, it's that unknowns are the most dangerous combattants there are!
As such, while it's still in flight and coming down, she hopes to divert it from its path towards the combat arena. The miniaturized Longblade rifle shifts and unfurls slightly, the metalic rail along the beam rifle adjusting and locking to the arm of the Zenith. An explosion to the side of the ship rocks, but she can feel those coming now. She is able to keep tracking of the battlefield better...
Another rock, then, a second of freedom from the disruptions of the battlefield...
Then, light! A rail-thin purple beam spears from the Lesseps-class vessel right for Laila's Neit-Sekhbet - the beam seeking to clip her wings!
<Pose Tracker> Treize Khushrenada has posed.
Standing on deck of the Dreisstrager, the young colonel of G-Hound watches the beginning of a battle with that cool demeaner of his as he takes it all in. Treize givevs the kaiju a particular look but before he can say anything he notices that an Eva is already dropping in. "So NERV is already on the scene."
Watching the ship move into range of the Lessep he makes a decision on what to do with himself. "Captain Greyvalley, I shall be stepping outside for the moment." There is a smile as he exits the command deck and makes his way to the hangar.
Moments later, from the hangar of the Dreisstrager is Treizes personal unit, the Greif, walking to the edge of the ship. Over open comms he speaks to all in range, <"This is Treize Khushrenada of G-Hound. For all active enemy combatants if you lay down your weapons and power down your enginers we will accept your surrender and consider you a prisoner of war. Until that time you will be seen as an active enemy."> His offer of surrender given Treize begins to take aim at the Lessep
The large shoulder mounted dober cannon is raised into the air and aimed so it will rain shots down upon the Lessep before firing off three rounds into the air and letting gravity do the rest.
KTS: Lily Jung targets Laila Elsayed with Miniaturized Longblade Rifle - Sniper Shot! KTS: Treize Khushrenada targets Talia Gladys with Greif Cannon Anti-Ship Volley! KTS: Laila Elsayed targets Lily Jung with Pass! KTS: Talia Gladys has activated the Attune Spirit Command. KTS: Talia Gladys successfully intercepts Mitsuba Greyvalley's Missile Canisters Area Denial KTS: Talia Gladys successfully intercepts Treize Khushrenada's Greif Cannon Anti-Ship Volley KTS: Lily Jung fails to react to Laila Elsayed's Pass, taking 0 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Riika Sheder has posed.
Probably nobody was expecting Devadadan during a ZAFT assault. Certainly not all the ZAFT units do; there is a subtle but noticable shift in the GINNs and BuCUEs as they generally change the organization of battle to stay a bit further away from it.
And yet here it is. Controlled, at least mostly; it is focusing on the base, something that becomes easier to do as the base shoots it. Ana is right, though; the first few beam shots seem to be pulled into the kaiju itself, causing its plates to refract light for moments. But it does attract the Devadadan's attention, and it opens its mouth, letting out a loud roar.
Riika's radio buzzes. There's already Minovsky interference so she knows it's not long-range, but there's plenty of short-range communication to pick up. The Dreisstrager ordering them to stand down, then rescinding it as soon as she sees the kaiju. Well, she's not sure she didn't expect that, and it's not like ZAFT pilots tend to trust surrender demands from the Federation anyway, so no great loss. Asuka yelling at -
At her? She's yelling at her, the person who brought the Devadadan here.
It's not like she was spoiled for choice on options, Riika wants to say. But she doesn't, yet; she grips her radio a little tighter. "Take us in, please. Forward and left - around that - " Riika gestures.
Meanwhile, the Devadadan is under increasing fire, and not from the base alone. Ana's cannons tear into the Devadadan's legs, and the short limbs are a little (relatively) fragile, though they have none of the scarring of the larger plates. It staggers, off-balance enough to be a relatively easy target for the magnetically charged bolt.
It lets out another roar, angry now. The light building in the kaiju increases, neither charged nor disrupted by Kaworu firing a string of bullets higher up, toward the torso. Many of them hit the plates rather than the gaps between them or the scarred-over cracks - the armour is well-placed - but a few do puncture through.
Asuka is right: this is the kaiju that attacked a base not that long ago. But that was on its own. ZAFT wasn't there... or at least, not obviously so. This could very well be the same one. Kaworu, too, is right; it's familiar to those who know Alexis' handiwork. It's one that's been used before.
And now it's firing back. At this distance, it can't get a good bead on Kaworu, and uses a relatively small pulse from its central mass, now extruding a small pyramid-shaped emitter to aim with. But the other two are closer, and the blast comparatively more powerful; Ana's shots left it off-balance that while it's powerful it's not focused, but by the time Asuka pins it down it has focused enough to blast a thick, intense beam at the Evangelion, not drilling a hole so much as engulfing the entire machine (or its AT field) in energy!
Usage: +spirit <command> [on target]
KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Riika Sheder targets Kaworu Nagisa with Devadadan Torso Pulse! KTS: Riika Sheder targets Ana Kambinda with Devadadan Torso Unsteady Shot! KTS: Riika Sheder targets Asuka Shikinami Langley with Devadadan Torso Engulf! KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley's EN Barrier activates, negating 1500 base damage. KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley fails to Evade Riika Sheder's Devadadan Torso Engulf, taking 4680 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Riika Sheder's Disruptor activates, causing Jam L1! KTS: EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 37. KTS: Ana Kambinda has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Ana Kambinda blocks Riika Sheder's Devadadan Torso Unsteady Shot, taking 3750 damage! KTS: EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 71. KTS: Kaworu Nagisa successfully avoids Riika Sheder's Devadadan Torso Pulse KTS: EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 105. KTS: Ana Kambinda has activated the Accel Spirit Command and Has Engaged with Riika Sheder KTS: Laila Elsayed fails to evade Lily Jung's Miniaturized Longblade Rifle - Sniper Shot, taking 4050 damage! KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. <Pose Tracker> Ana Kambinda has posed.
If nothing else, Africa won't have to deal with this situation alone. Ana glances at the pair of gigantic
don't say evangelion
don't say it
don't validate them
anti-kaiju mechanoids, nodding crisply at Kaworu's acknowledgment - and frowning at Asuka's shouted challenge. "You've run into this thing before, too?" It's more aimed at Kaworu, if only because Asuka seems... busy. Shoutily busy.
The sight of Devadadan absorbing the shots puts a scowl on Ana's face. "There, that's the beam absorber," she reports, only to jerk forward and clench her teeth as Devadadan starts firing back. Unwilling to give ground, she orients the Gustav Karl's shield binder forward, pivoting her guns towards the ground.
The beam's not focused, but Ana's a small enough target that it's better that way. She barrels into the beam and just braces against it, grunting as she relies on the A3's rugged construction to handle the damage. It works, but only as well as deliberately flying into a laser can be expected. The brawny mobile suit lurches and staggers, nearly driven off its footing as armour is scorched and blackened in areas the shield's largely vertical field can't fully cover. It comes out with the tip of its far shoulder armour and the edges of its knee plates noticeably uneven and charred, a few globs of liquefied metal glinting briefly before cooling upon contact with air rather than lasers.
Ana jolts in her cockpit and grimaces as her shoulder hits the back of her seat sharply. A stab of pain hits her but she bears it. She's felt worse. "Merda," she mutters as she keeps her momentum going and lets her course carry on. Devadadan shifts from her forward monitor to her right one as she maneuvers into a flanking position.
She cuts the thrusters and brings the Gustav Karl's knee down to the sand. The other leg is angled out somewhat overdramatically.
It's actually utilitarian, though! It gives a wider field of fire to the large missile pod bracketed to the A3's calf. Missiles burst from their housings, lobbing at Devadadan's flank from the mid-range in the hopes of catching it at a distance too close to properly defend.
A second after the missiles fire, Ana taps her comms, this time opening the band to reach ZAFT. Her voice is steady, but reading the anger underlying her words is hard to miss. "The OAC will take this as ZAFT fielding a biological weapon. Where'd this one come from? Did you people cut some kind of deal with Dr. Hell? Or is there some other blood-drenched murderer who deals in giant monsters?"
KTS: Ana Kambinda targets Riika Sheder with Anti-Ship Missiles Blast! <Pose Tracker> Laila Elsayed has posed.
In the desert sky, a ray of light!
Neit-Sekhbet suddenly lurges to the side as something on the wing explodes. Laila begins to curse in about six different ways in two languages as she grasps the steering wheel/cyclic and steers downwards, the wing trailing smoke from an ignited subassembly of what is probably on-demand rocket fuel or-- SOMETHING --
"Level out, you old bag," Laila mutters to herself, "Level OUT..."
The Active Frame dips below the duneline in the distance. Good shooting!
EXCEPT:
It rises back upwards, trailing smoke even so but flying neap-of-the-Earth towards the Zenith. Dip down again beneath another rise and then back up and THIS time it's pulling itself upwards
("Don't like the size of this cross sectionnnnnnnnnnn," Laila mutters to herself, staring dead ahead)
and then sending two things to Lily.
One is a traditional microwave-beam voice comm which comes out as a somewhat silky local woman saying, "Well, good day to you, and good shooting, I should say!"
The other is, oh, about ten slim rockets with very light terminal guidance aiming to hose down her entire position, coming largely from the damaged wing with some counterbalancing from the other.
KTS: Laila Elsayed targets Lily Jung with Shalal Barrage! <Pose Tracker> Talia Gladys has posed.
So far the attack is proceeding as expected. Even with the somewhat unusual deployment. Talia glances in the direction of the kaiju, visible some distance away from the Ampere. Talia has of course seen images of kaiju in various media. But this is the first time she's ever seen one in person. It's an imposing sight, for sure. Though Talia's not so confident about its use in a military operation. Kaiju has a reputation as mindless beasts of destruction after all. So even with assurances of its cooperation from Riika, Talia has her doubts.
The doubts will have to be pushed aside though as Talia hears a mild gasp of surprise from operations officer. Talia turns to look with some concern, not often hearing such a reaction from her, "Scotty?"
Maria 'Scotty' Scott stares a little wide-eyed at her console, as she reports with some disbelief, "C-Captain, there's something entering the airspace. It's huge!"
"Put it on the monitor." Talia turns to look as one of the ceiling mounted monitors switch overs to a distant view of the object. It's a bit hard to make out at first, but as the image is refined, Talia narrows her eyes as she recognizes the profile of the large flying object. They'd seen it before, though not engaged it directly. To think that it'd be here though...
This could be a problem.
"Captain, we're received a transmission from the vessel."
"Let me hear it."
Mitsuba's demand for surrender is replayed through the bridge speakers for Talia. Talia's expression remains unchanged, despite the obvious threat the 'Dreisstrager' represents. She doesn't respond though, instead giving out her orders for her crew as the enemy vessel launches its attack, "Launch flare, CIWS fire! Scotty, send the BuCUE squad out to point gamma." It's a bit of a risk sending them away right now, away from the covering fire of the ship. But they're fast, they should be able to escape the initially barrage.
From the launchers mounted on the main tower, several bursts of flares fire out, drawing some of the missiles of course to hit the ground around the Lesseps, causing it to shake but otherwise doing no harm. For those missiles and shells still on target for the landship, sections of armour on either side of its main hull fold open, small turrets sliding out. They aim up into the air and start to unleash a barrage of gunfire. The barrage is shredded by the rapid gun fire as they close in, exploding prematurely before they can reach the ship's hull.
"Prepare missile volley, proximity charges. Return the favor." There's a grunt of acknowledgement from the ship's weapons officer. Several ports along the top of the Lesseps's hull reveals vertical missile launchers. They unleash a volley of missiles, which streak up into the air and over towards the Dreisstrager's position, though not directly. They're focused towards the area near the Dreisstrager's port, the missiles exploding as they get close. Talia apparently trying to lead the large vessel, in a move not dissimilar to the one the Dreisstrager itself recently attempted.
KTS: Talia Gladys targets Treize Khushrenada with Vertical Missile Launchers Area Denial! KTS: Talia Gladys targets Mitsuba Greyvalley with Vertical Missile Launchers Area Denial! KTS: Mitsuba Greyvalley successfully intercepts Talia Gladys's Vertical Missile Launchers Area Denial KTS: Lily Jung successfully evades Laila Elsayed's Shalal Barrage KTS: Treize Khushrenada blocks Talia Gladys's Vertical Missile Launchers Area Denial, taking 2400 damage! KTS: Talia Gladys begins a Formation attack!
<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
"Back in Japan. It was part of a massive Kaiju attack." Asuka states to Ana in the Gustav over the radio, not giving all the details. Bringing up Tsutsujidai would just complicate things. "You'd probably be facing more than just this one if we hadn't put the others down."
As Treize comes in over the radio she reacts reflexively? "Really? You're here too?" Gritting her teeth, as she remembers her 'tea' with Relena, she tries not to say too much more. "Great. Just perfect."
She assumes that Anti and the one the size of a Mountain are just... dead.
Charging at the Devadadan, Unit-02 puts itself in a perilous position, as the energy from its torso fires an intense beam their way. The Eva tries to suddenly juke to the side. Not fast enough though. As the shot drills into the Eva's flank, the pilot within clinches down her teeth as she burbles out a shriek. Reflexively she raises her AT Field to try to minimize the damage as the continuous beam collides with that rippling field.
The damage was not insignificant, it took a chunk out of the armor over the side of the Eva's ribcage, the smoke obscuring any sight of what's within.
The Red Eva fixates it's four glowing green 'ocular sensors' on the Kaiju... the pilot inside panting as she rushes in with a battle cry. Upon closing the remaining gap, she tries to jam the vibrating knife above the purple 'bullseye' in its chest, right at the base of its neck. Digging in while holding the grip, she tries to twists - and twists - and TWISTS to cause as much damage as possible.
"Oh I know where they got it. Not my call to tell you though." Asuka asides to Ana not in fact knowing the 'who' and just making educated assumptions on the 'where'. "They're not gonna admit a thing though. They'd have to be real geniuses to not realize how this looks for their cause."
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley targets Riika Sheder with Progressive Knife Twist! <Pose Tracker> Lily Jung has posed.
"Incoming Microwave communications!" Kuma, her Haro, declares. Lily is already pressing the shiny glowing 'accept' button. And she hears the voice of a woman. This must be her target whom she just shot. And upon getting such a positive response, Lily is quick to answer; <"Oh! Thank you! I've really been practicing."> The girl remarks in this earnest and energetic manner!
There's this warmth that exudes from her. This pleasant feeling that maybe this situation isn't as bad as it seems. That maybe, that next shot will land right where it needs to. Though this is felt more by Talia Gladys and her crew of course. As the girl's almost infectious positivity leaps and grows, the vessel's CIWS continue to protect her. The ten slime missiles being cut down one after another.
In many ways, one might consider that this isn't so much thanks to Lily, as it is thanks to the amazing gunnery crew on Talia's Lesseps-class landship.
<"Do be careful, because there's more where that came from!"> Lily then adds, as the Neit moves closer to the sands. The Zenith 250 can be seen quickly shifting across the body of the landship, using jump boosters to get to a higher position while grabbing onto a second rifle that it lays down beneath itself again. Kneeling down, but more exposed this time.
More exposed, but more able to see her opponent from her new vantage point.
<"I am going to have to politely ask you to turn around and go the other way, please?"> Lily pleasantly inquires with Laila Elsayd. <"This is an important operation to my friends, and I am going to make sure I am going to give them my best shots!"> Speaking of best shots, if there's a lock-on indicator for Laila's machine, it'd likely flare up just a second before a second purple blast of light sheers right across that 'beak' of her vessel, at just enough of an angle that it threatens to 'stall' the vessel more than anything!
KTS: Lily Jung targets Laila Elsayed with Miniaturized Longblade Rifle - Sniper Shot! KTS: Lily Jung has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Talia Gladys KTS: Laila Elsayed has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Laila Elsayed fails to react to Lily Jung's Miniaturized Longblade Rifle - Sniper Shot, taking 4300 damage! <Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.
They exist whether you acknowledge them or not, Ana... /spooky sting
As combat initiates, Kaworu observes the movements of the ZAFT forces that *aren't* the kaiju. They seem to be keeping their distance. A healthy precaution, or...? He smiles faintly, though there's little humor in it. Either way, that's another thing he can't do anything about.
"So I see," he transmits to Ana, also watching as Devadan takes in those beams. Asuka answers her question, and he adds, "As she says. We're..." A disapproving note enters his voice: "familiar, with its source." Though he lets Asuka share... well, not the details, but what he means by that, at least.
As said kaiju returns fire with a pulse from its torso, Kaworu wills Unit-04 to raise his A.T. Field. It does its job well, neutralizing the whole of the attack, and the ground below is solid enough to not crack immediately--but since the beam is so widespread, it also keeps the Evangelion from moving for a moment. It gives him time to side-eye Asuka as she reacts to Treize's broadcast... but he doesn't comment on it.
Instead, as she charges in to close in on the Devadadan, he remains at a relative distance, slowly closing in in her wake. As he does, he repeats fire on the kaiju in bursts--one spray, forward movement, another spray, forward movement, another spray, aimed at different sections of the creature, in an attempt to wear down its armor.
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa targets Riika Sheder with Assault Rifles - Double Trouble! KTS: Riika Sheder fails to retreat because of Anchor KTS: Riika Sheder fails to react to Asuka Shikinami Langley's Progressive Knife Twist, taking 3920 damage! Your unit's HP stands at 17285
<Pose Tracker> Treize Khushrenada has posed.
Raising it's shield, the Greif gets caught up in the rain of missiles and is forced to step back along the command deck to attempt to recover. Over internals comms to Mitsuba, Treize tries to use some wit to downplay the barrage<"I do believe that missile fire is the universal greeting for when you do not intend to surrender." >.
Treize takes in the rest of the battle through comm chatter for a moment watching the Kaiju, not really sure how this makes sense that a kaiju is supporting a Zaft attack. Perhaps Zaft really is struggling to keep this up if they need help from kaijus.
Stepping back to the edge slowly and pointing the cannon downward he takes slower aim this time with the Lessep before he fires a single shot , trying to aim for something a bit more critical this time then a large barrage may hit.
KTS: Treize Khushrenada targets Talia Gladys with Greif Cannon Shot! KTS: Riika Sheder retreats from the attack! KTS: Riika Sheder fails to evade Ana Kambinda's Anti-Ship Missiles Blast, taking 4800 damage! Your unit's HP stands at 12485
KTS: Riika Sheder fails to react to Kaworu Nagisa's Assault Rifles - Double Trouble, taking 4050 damage! Your unit's HP stands at 8435
<Pose Tracker> Mitsuba Greyvalley has posed.
"Enemy is preparing missiles!" Lian calls to Mitsuba, hands dancing across her console.
"Intercept with CIWS and prepare to open counterfire with Impact Cannons 1 and 2!" Mitsuba orders; sure enough, things proceed as Mitsuba commands, the Dreisstrager's CIWS peppering the missiles and allowing the ship to maintain its current position. It presses forward just slightly, gravitic drive maintaining the ship's steady forward movement.
"Impact Cannons 1 and 2, targeting!" Reynold calls back to the rest of the bridge -- and sure enough, they are. The two large swivel guns rotate, and the Dreisstrager itself orients itself slightly downward-pointing to accommodate the appropriate aim. (It's hard to be this big, even with the ability to cheat to some extent.)
"Agreed," Mitsuba transmits to Treize, on the topic of their opposition having no intention of surrendering, even as the vessel's cannons fire. The beams that come forth are quite large, and seem to crackle with a sort of anti-light -- nothing quite so much as *black* at the interior, peppered with red sparkles.
KTS: Mitsuba Greyvalley targets Talia Gladys with Dreisstrager Particle Cannon Array Blast! KTS: Talia Gladys has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Talia Gladys successfully avoids Treize Khushrenada's Greif Cannon Shot KTS: Talia Gladys fails to react to Mitsuba Greyvalley's Dreisstrager Particle Cannon Array Blast, taking 3600 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Talia Gladys has posed.
"Enemy cannons are reorienting!"
"Hard to port!"
The Lesseps starts to turn. Impressively quickly for its size too, thanks to the unique Scale system that ZAFT uses as a means of propulsion for its Landships. The shot fired by the Grief, along with one of the beams from the Dreisstrager, pass just by the structure of the Lesseps and hit the sand where it would had been if it hadn't altered course. However, the second of the Dreisstrager's beams does strike along the top of one of the landship's outer pylons. The beam carves a glowing scar across the armor of the landship.
On the bridge, Talia grips the armrests of her chair as the ship shakes. Judging by the reports filtering in from her bridge crew, it wasn't a serious hit, thankfully. It could have been though.
"BuCUE team has reached point gamma."
Talia nods at the report, "Good. Tell them to concentrate fire on the mobile weapon." She doubts the BuCUEs really have the weapons to do much to the Dreisstrager, which means the ship will be up to the Ampere to handle.
The squad of four BuCUEs sail up to the top of a dune to the Dreisstrager's port and skid to a halt. The large railgun turrets mounted on top of them turn and aim up, towards the Greif specifically. They begin to fire, spitting the chunks of metal at high speed towards Treize perched atop the large ship.
Talia orders keep coming, "Fire torpedo volley, heading six four degrees. Launch another missile barrage." Several large torpedoes are dumped out of tubes on the side of the Lesseps. They quicly falling to the ground, but rather than just hit and lay there like one might expect, they slip into the sand, disappearing beneath its surface. Though the heading that Talia specified for their course is not currently towards anything specifically...
Whatever the ZAFT captain is up to though, she doesn't relent with her missile assault, the Lesseps launching another barrage of missiles on proximity detonation towards the Dreisstrager's port.
KTS: Talia Gladys has activated the Rouse Spirit Command. KTS: Talia Gladys targets Treize Khushrenada with 40cm Dual Cannons Pinpoint Barrage! KTS: Talia Gladys targets Mitsuba Greyvalley with Vertical Missile Launchers Area Denial! <Pose Tracker> Riika Sheder has posed.
"I think they want to talk to you," Riika's driver (a pilot with the unfortunate name of Wender Cieke, currently de-roboted due to damage on an operation) says, followed an instant later by: "PLEASE tell me you didn't get this from Dr. Hell."
"I didn't get this from Dr. Hell. Come on, nobody's that stupid." Riika pauses a moment, then half-emphasizes, half-corrects herself: "I'M not that stupid."
The jeep bounces over the rise as neither of the people in it actually speak to each other for a moment, and then they both try at once: "Are you going to - " "We should - "
Both of them stop. Riika takes advantage of the silence to speak... into the radio.
"<It really isn't your business. I could ask where you got those biomechanical things,>" because it's not like ZAFT knows hardly anything about the Evangelions (who does, really), "<but you wouldn't tell me. But I wouldn't talk to Dr. Hell or anyone who works for him.>"
Though something does stall Riika for a moment. What attack in Japan? She has absolutely no idea of any attack that Asuka might be describing. The only time she used this model was in Africa... Is that what they think of her? That she's just here to destroy?
Meanwhile, Devadadan itself is in trouble. It's under fire from multiple directions, and no beams for it to work with. Riika figured at least some of the units would have them. Ana's missiles send it staggering again - less damage than some blows, but the tactical value of keeping Devadadan from planting its feet is immense. Unless it's stable, it can't use its biggest blasts, and it leaves an opening for Asuka to rush in and *twist*.
It batters at Asuka, trying to push her away enough that it can get a clear line of fire, ripping into her Evangelion with large hands - but it swings in an awkward manner, tearing downward about as crude as can be.
Stuttering fire erupts from the emitter a moment later, washing over the Gustav Karl as the Devadadan tries to focus on the distant assault rifles that are hurting it so much. It roars again, managing to get its feet under it enough to fire a singular blast toward Kaworu - enough to glass some of the sandy desert, enough to pierce even an AT Field.
"<I brought it because I want less of us to die!>" Riika yells, into her microphone. "<We know what the Federation thinks of us. If this *model* can manage it, if this war can just *end*, then - >"
She cuts herself off.
KTS: Treize Khushrenada fails to evade Talia Gladys's 40cm Dual Cannons Pinpoint Barrage, taking 9240 damage! KTS: Talia Gladys completes the Formation attack! KTS: Mitsuba Greyvalley successfully intercepts Talia Gladys's Vertical Missile Launchers Area Denial KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Riika Sheder targets Asuka Shikinami Langley with Desperation Strike! KTS: Riika Sheder targets Ana Kambinda with Devadadan Torso Blip! KTS: Riika Sheder targets Kaworu Nagisa with Devadadan Torso Blast! KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley's EN Barrier activates, negating 1500 base damage. KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley fails to Parry Riika Sheder's Desperation Strike, taking 1920 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Riika Sheder's Disruptor activates, causing Jam L1! KTS: Riika Sheder has engaged Asuka Shikinami Langley KTS: EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 40. KTS: Ana Kambinda has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Ana Kambinda blocks Riika Sheder's Devadadan Torso Blip, taking 3500 damage! KTS: EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 74. KTS: Ana Kambinda has activated the Accel Spirit Command and Has Engaged with Riika Sheder KTS: Kaworu Nagisa's EN Barrier activates, negating 1500 base damage. KTS: Kaworu Nagisa fails to react to Riika Sheder's Devadadan Torso Blast, taking 6600 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Riika Sheder's Disruptor activates, causing Jam L1! KTS: EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 108. <Pose Tracker> Treize Khushrenada has posed.
The Greif is shot up pretty damn good by the Lessep, the dober cannon rendered inoperable and several of his secondary systems are taken off line in response of risk of fire. To the Dreisstrager he passes a message, <" I shall be moving in close, try to avoid friendly fire to the best of your capabilities. ">
The Greif steps back from the edge of the Dreisstrager before it dashes forward off the combat deck of the ship and hangs there for a second as Treize confirms his telemetry.
Somewhere, to some people, they all feel that moment of Treize is doing something dangerous again as the Greif begins to plummet straight towards the Lessep, shield raised. Vernier boosters erupting and pushing Treize and the Greif faster toward there goal.
KTS: Treize Khushrenada has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Treize Khushrenada has activated the Valor Spirit Command. <Pose Tracker> Laila Elsayed has posed.
Laila, in her leather seat, frowns on several levels.
First, 'Great - a young one. Good old ZAFT. Perhaps they're growing them fresh now? Perhaps I'm succumbing to prejudice. Even so.'
Second, even as she tries to pull up no doubt in anticipation of another attack, Lily gets another hit! More flames erupt! Laila curses again and then thinks more: 'What did I expect, approaching a sniper? I suppose I had hoped she would not see me coming. Well, it's just too bad.'
Aloud she replies to Lily, "To your friends... well, well! That's laudable, but you see, I live in the neighborhood. I suppose you might prefer if it were your neighborhood?"
The aerial weapon raises its wings, bringing them up to veil its shot-up bird-head. Shame, perhaps. "Do you know, your big friend there with the belly - there's a fish in the Pacific with a head quite a bit like that. What's his name?" Laila continues, and while speaking there is a shifting behind the wings.
Shifting... moving...
Approaching...
It was happening behind the veil of the wings but it becomes very clear in a trice that a synchronic metamorphosis has been concealed; that the enemy unit is not simply a local aircraft, perhaps some kind of advanced warning and standoff weaponry unit which had made a critical mistake. What is there is scarred by the smoulder of the sniper-shots it has already absorbed, but it closes swiftly-- swiftly now, nearer to the ship itself!
And its precious cargo of "A sniper Mobile Suit."
There are a couple of distinctive things about this machine, but most of them are hard to focus on in this sort of fast-moving, Bayean approach; one of the important things, though, is something like a back-gripped beam saber in the hand furthest away from Lily, and the more important one is that it is shooting a metal snake at her!!
Yes, a snake: No time to explain or to guide, because the metallized tendril is lashing forwards, aiming to wrap and constrain round her weapon and the dominant arm of the Mobile Suit in the process!
"If you're eager to fight on this territory, why don't you climb down and take a look," Laila answers, even if her neck is prickling with sweat. Aiming to be on someone's deck, however transiently, is quite a gamble.
KTS: Treize Khushrenada targets Talia Gladys with Dueling Shield Bash! Laila Elsayed transforms to Neit-Set
KTS: Laila Elsayed targets Lily Jung with In Time Even Your Weapons Are Devoured! KTS: Talia Gladys fails to react to Treize Khushrenada's Dueling Shield Bash, taking 3840 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Treize Khushrenada's Battlefield Prodigy activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Treize Khushrenada's To Defy Destiny activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Treize Khushrenada's Intended Target activates, causing Nullify! KTS: Treize Khushrenada has engaged Talia Gladys KTS: Mitsuba Greyvalley has activated the Enable Spirit Command. KTS: Mitsuba Greyvalley has activated the Enable Spirit Command. KTS: Mitsuba Greyvalley has activated the Resupply Spirit Command. KTS: Lily Jung has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Laila Elsayed rattles Lily Jung, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Lily Jung fails to react to Laila Elsayed's In Time Even Your Weapons Are Devoured, taking 2970 damage! KTS: Laila Elsayed has engaged Lily Jung <Pose Tracker> Ana Kambinda has posed.
Ana turns a sidelong glance towards the red Evangelion, then Unit-04, scowling a thundercloud. "If ZAFT has some kind of ally we don't know about, that's pretty important considering they're invading our continent with it," she says shortly. "Please let your superiors know that we'd appreciate any information you have."
Of course the Fed knew about this all along and sat on it. Of course. Even as she turns her attention back to the fight, Ana seethes all the more. Her view of the Federation has been pretty bleak since the Ouagadougou Incident and it's only growing bleaker the more she finds out.
The sacrilegious robot names are bad enough, thanks.
Apparently the ZAFT people think so, too. She wasn't expecting a reply, but when it comes through, Ana presses her lips together. She takes a second to think.
Then she flips a toggle and cuts the Evas out of her comlink. Riika's hearing her now, but no one else. "Those things weren't my idea. Look, Africa didn't want anything to do with this. If you want to throw horrorweapons at someone, Britannia's just over the ocean--"
Devadadan starts firing again. Ana cuts off the transmission and plants the Gustav Karl's foot in the sand to strengthen its defensive stance, shoulder forward to present its carbon-scored flexible shield. The servos mounting it to the mobile suit whine with protest as the blasts slam into it. Coolant lines racing behind it gush with refrigerant to try and bleed off the blistering heat, sending steam clouds gushing to either side of the shield. It's not enough to spare the rest of the machine damage; a blast slips past and punches a scorched hole in the A3's waist armour, another striking a heavy calf housing and blowing off the spent missile launcher. Only the lack of ammo within it prevents a cataclysmic explosion, reducing the damage down to a torn hardpoint.
Ana bunches her shoulders and scowls, angling her body forward and letting her breath out through her teeth. The woman on the other end of the radio is using this thing to save lives. "I respect that," she answers grudgingly, "and I can't make excuses for the fuckheads in Pendragon, either. I'm African. I know how it feels for big powers to think you deserve to be dominated. But understand this."
The smoke and steam clear, revealing the Gustav Karl shifting back to a standing base. The large launcher over its far shoulder swivels as Ana takes aim, charting ballistic trajectories along Devadadan's flank. "I'm saving lives too," she says as she takes aim, hands tightening on her controls. "Africa's been through too much for me to just let you create more orphans and broken families. I won't allow it!"
She opens fire. Fire and smoke bloom from the launcher as Ana unloads a heavy artillery shell at Devadadan from the flank. There's a few seconds' pause as an auto-reloader churns; she repositions the Gustav Karl and fires a second time. The boom of the artillery cannon rings across the Niger watercourse like a struck piece of plate metal.
KTS: Ana Kambinda targets Riika Sheder with Shoulder Bazooka Bombardment! <Pose Tracker> Mitsuba Greyvalley has posed.
The Dreisstrager stays exactly where it is; the CIWS continues apace. The Colonel is ahead, and Mitsuba will have to trust in his abilities -- even if right now things don't look particularly great. Even if the kaiju seems to be folding under fire and serving primarily as a distraction for the rest of ZAFT's forces, it's still...
... even one unplanned element can do a lot to shift the tide of battle.
Mitsuba considers unilaterally ordering a general retreat, or at least a G-Hound retreat; she calculates it in her head, though, and... right now, the Dreisstrager has taken utterly negligible damage. To retreat at the first sign of blood would reaffirm to the OAC that G-Hound feels like it owes them nothing -- and ultimately drive a wedge into the Federation.
Obviously, that's unacceptable on its face. Earth Unification won't come without a little blood.
"Reynold," Mitsuba says, firmly. "Let's show them our power. Target the enemy BuCUE team!"
"Captain?" he starts, visibly just slightly startled.
"... All power to main cannon," Mitsuba calls. "We have to force the matter! Final sequence!"
Reynold considers this a moment. He seems to be weighing something, as he announces, "MMFA -- proceed to final sequence!" It gets more noticeable as Lian stares at the local sensors, taking the ship into a slightly different position -- to avoid putting too much pressure on Treize as he advances on the Lesseps itself.
The bridge's blast shutters close with a distinctive whirring sound -- one replaced in short order with a different whirring sound: that of the *ship itself*, beginning to spin up and draw in reaction material.
"Energy at 100%!"
"Final discharge in 5, 4, 3 --"
Mitsuba waits those last two seconds, sweeps a hand out, and announces: "FIRE!"
An absolutely enormous wave of energy -- all stardust and sparkles in a rainbow pattern, taller and wider than the Dreisstrager from which it emits -- streaks down toward the ground. The desert where it hits turns to glass; the question, of course, is whether the Ampere's escort of BuCUEs is still there when the dust clears.
KTS: Mitsuba Greyvalley targets Talia Gladys with Bow-Mounted U.L.H. Particle Cannon! KTS: Talia Gladys has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Talia Gladys has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Talia Gladys successfully avoids Mitsuba Greyvalley's Bow-Mounted U.L.H. Particle Cannon <Pose Tracker> Lily Jung has posed.
The Zenith 250 lowers its weapon for a moment as the Aerial unit before her goes into a strange direction. "Kuma, what is she doing?" She asks within her cockpit. Only to suddenly get this sense like she's in danger. She's used to machines like those - planes - to focus on long range attacks. But as it gets closer, she starts feeling this intense pressure.
<"No clue, I didn't invite him. He hasn't been so polite as to introduce himself to me yet."> Lily quickly answers Laila as the Neit begins its descent. The Zenith uses its left foot to 'kick up' the secondary weapon, as it brings the other one at an angle. But not in order to fire at Laila Elsayed! No, this is something else... this...
A beautiful pink light suddenly sears across the body of the weapon as the metalic snake comes down and grabs around her weapon, and the Longblade Rifle reveals immediately why it is called the Longblade rifle. The cutting beam begins to sear into the metal of the weapon as it bites into her weapon. The lash causes the Zenith to contort uncomfortably, and there are sparks flying from its arm! It's very clear that the Zenith is not made to be jostled around like that!
Lily lets out a huff of a sound, but thanks to the I-Field being generated, she manages to slip the Longblade rifle out and suddenly points the other one forward - and a purple blast sears near the wing of the Neit-Sekhbet; <"The captain has not given permission for any boarding actions! Please extracate yourself from miss Gladys' vessel!"> Lily demands excitedly, as the Zenith suddenly rushes forwards, and spins its blade violently towards Laila's machine in the hopes of making it guard---
Following this up with the second Longblade Rifle suddenly turning to an extreme-broad wide-beam blast aimed at blasting her unit away from her melee range! Within the cockpit, various meters and charts start going through the roof, as it tries to catch up with Lily's mind. Recording her. But the Zenith is just a mass produced unit... and its cockpit system isn't made for this.
KTS: Lily Jung targets Laila Elsayed with Miniaturized Longblade Rifle - Blade and Beam - Repel! <Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
"File the paperwork and maybe someone will get back to you. Like I said it's not my call!" Asuka snaps at Ana, sounding extremely bitter about the fact that it isn't. "Hey Fifth String. Think you can fire any closer to me? I can't tell you how much I enjoy eating your ricochet." His shots probably weren't anywhere close to her, she just doesn't like him backing her up.
An unfamiliar voice comes over the radio trying to make a parallel in where they got those 'biomechanical things.' And stating they wouldn't work with Doctor Hell. Asuka just growls in reply over the radio, "Oh trying to claim the moral high ground when you're fielding a Kaiju? That's rich."
Still she can't speak to her for long with Devadadan grappling with her as she pulls out her Prog Knife. The Kaiju batters the Evangelion once, twice, and Unit-02 staggers as it tries to bring up her Prog Knife to defend - missing each time against the Kaiju's superior strength, Asuka feeling like she just took several punches to the jaw. The next impact meets her AT Field as it unfolds in an attempt just as desperate to avoid it taking the upper hand.
Oblivious to the private conversation between Ana and Riika, she keeps talking angrily over the radio. "As if I care how you justify it. Keep escalating and escalating until knocking at Doctor Hell's doorstep doesn't feel like such a bad idea to you for all I care."
Suddenly the Evangelion's other arm swings up as it sights a shot at near point blank and drops the AT Field. A bolt firing towards its neck with a bolt of lightning.
"You just brought NERV into your stupid war though, when yesterday you weren't even a blip on our radar. Well... that's fine by me. I'll just use it as an opportunity to finish the job I had when I first deployed for the AEU."
She sounds so young over the radio, yet she's being so horribly unsympathetic to the point of near sociopathy to ZAFT's fight for survival.
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley targets Riika Sheder with Super-Electromagnetic Crossbow Snipe! KTS: Laila Elsayed has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Laila Elsayed fails to react to Lily Jung's Miniaturized Longblade Rifle - Blade and Beam - Repel, taking 3779 damage! KTS: Lily Jung repulses Laila Elsayed, forcing her to disengage. <Pose Tracker> Talia Gladys has posed.
The Ampere shakes as not one but two enemy mobile weapons get in close. It's a little concerning, Talia saying, "James, concentrate CIWS fire on the one on our port. Let Lily handle the winged one." Another wordless grunt of confirmation from the weapons officer signals the activation of the gun turrets mounted across the Lesseps's hull. Several of them turn to aim at Treize, before beginning to unload a significant number of bullets in his direction. Their low caliber isn't much of a problem for the Lessep's armour should they miss. But Treize's unit is not likely to be as armored as a battleship.
Before Talia can continue with her orders though, Scotty suddenly calls out, "Massive energy reaction detected from the enemy ship!"
Talia thinks quickly... A reaction like that is most likely to be a massive weapon of some kind. But they wouldn't target the Ampere, given two of the enemy's units are engaging it in close range. Same can probably be said of the kaiju support and the Evangelions engaging it. Meanwhile the Petries arent in a good firing angle... Probably. Which just leaves-"Scotty, warn the BuCUE team to scatter!"
The BuCUEs receive the warning just in time, quickly diving down the side of the dune they were perched on and beginning to run. Moments latter, the huge beam of light rips through the point where they had just been standing. A large hole is carved through the dune, as well as several behind it and the ground itself. The resulting groove of glass is impressive. But the four BuCUEs speeding away near its edge clearly indicates that they managed to get clear. Barely.
Talia frowns at the sight of the light glittering off the glass in the distance... A brief chill rushes through Talia as she imagines what it might have been like if the Ampere had been the target...
"Torpedoes are reaching the target position."
The report from her weapons officer draws Talia back to the battle at hand, simply nodding, "Understood." After seeing the Dreisstrager easily handle her first missile barrage and maintaining its course, Talia had hoped it would do so for the second one too...
The torpedoes previously fired into the ground by the Lesseps early suddenly pop out of the sand beneath the Dreisstrager. As they do so, their rockets kick in, sending them flying up towards the Dreisstrager's belly.
KTS: Talia Gladys targets Mitsuba Greyvalley with Scale Torpedo Launchers Anti-Ship Torpedo! KTS: Talia Gladys targets Treize Khushrenada with Machine Gun Turrets Barrage! KTS: Treize Khushrenada blocks Talia Gladys's Machine Gun Turrets Barrage, taking 1320 damage! KTS: Mitsuba Greyvalley fails to intercept Talia Gladys's Scale Torpedo Launchers Anti-Ship Torpedo, taking 4050 damage! <Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.
"For what it's worth, we hadn't known that the creators of these kaiju had been in contact with ZAFT either until today," Kaworu transmits to Ana, for all that Asuka snaps at her that she ought to put in a request for information. He does have the authority to share at least some, after all. "That being said, I doubt they're anyone's ally, regardless of what ZAFT may have been lead to believe. One is a Lord Monster who doesn't want to be involved with this world and likely has no idea this is happening, and the other is a malevolent alien who uses that Lord's creations to spread misery and terror for his own entertainment."
Asuka then snaps at him. Kaworu doesn't point out that his bullets hadn't ricocheted her way; either she doesn't believe him or she doesn't care, and either way it's meaningless to argue. "If you say so," he replies mildly.
Another blast fires off from the Devadadan, searing across the desert towards Unit-04. Kaworu bids him raise his A.T. Field again, but for all that Devadadan has been receiving a lot of damage through this battle, this kaiju is clearly no pushover. It smashes into the crystalline field, which holds for a few seconds--cracks--and then *shatters* as the beam smashes through into the armored beast.
As one, Kaworu and Unit-04 throw their heads back in a strangled gasp of pain. Hands trembling and clench as armored plates melt and smoke. Unit-04 staggers back, and as the beam trickles into nothing, he's left bend backwards painfully.
Within his entry plug, Kaworu, too, is bent backwards. Bubbles rise from between his lips as he considers the heavens with eyes shut. 'I brought it because I want less of us to die,' the woman says. It's a noble sentiment. It's understandable that she would want to end the war as soon as possible. But...
"<You're being used,>" Kaworu transmits to Riika, matter-of-fact. "<Your wish will not come true using his help.>"
Unit-04 rolls his head, then his torso, then his whole body, slumping forward. The edge of his foot has moved under the sheets of glass formed below by Devadadan's blast. With a graceful thrust, he slides himself forward along that line of glass, then kick-flips it to spin up into the air, glinting in the sunlight. He grabs it out of the air, spinning hard in arcs around the sand, then hurls it like a discus towards the kaiju's central mass. As it flies, Unit-04 snatches up the rifle he'd dropped, then aims a single bullet at it. The end result will be a bombardment of deadly sharp glass shards on the Devadadan.
"<Don't truck with him again. I'm warning you for your sake.>"
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has activated the Resupply Spirit Command. KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has activated the Enable Spirit Command. KTS: Kaworu Nagisa targets Riika Sheder with Assault Rifles - Double Trouble! KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Wall Spirit Command. Riika Sheder uses Auxiliary Calculator - Wall
KTS: Riika Sheder fails to evade Ana Kambinda's Shoulder Bazooka Bombardment, taking 4800 damage! Your unit's HP stands at 3635
KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Riika Sheder fails to Evade Kaworu Nagisa's Assault Rifles - Double Trouble, taking 4320 damage! Your unit's HP stands at -685
KTS: Riika Sheder's Devadadan has been disabled. You have not deployed a robot. (see +deploy) You have not deployed a robot. (see +deploy) You have not deployed a robot. (see +deploy) <Pose Tracker> Laila Elsayed has posed.
Laila, who had not thought to be so hard pressed, is beginning to wonder if there is something to the genetic-superman thing. The snakelike weapon attempts to grapple but is soon enough cut through; severed, as so many snakes are, and left off to the side. The resulting I-FIELD focused clash brings a leap backwards -- which means the strange, jackal-like-headed machine does not get simply chopped in half.
Even so, it's smouldering and standing on the deck of a hostile warship. Laila glances round for a moment out of habit, spotting routes of escape. Well, Laila thinks to herself, there is always 'that' method, but it would hardly be sporting to produce it without giving them a good try. Should I stop here she will surely open fire on those big things, or on the poor OAC forces. Perhaps that great battleship over there, even if its scope stands out to her.
This is when the Dreisstrager fires its enormous weapon. The resulting change in light shows Lily something weird. That akimbo-beamsaber-thingy is producing some kind of beam but it's not *super* visible-- but the distorted light such an enormous beam produces highlights it more clearly.
"Oh!" Laila says to Lily: "Am I trespassing in someone's realm without invitation?"
The beam fades but the glow remains on the SPEAR OF IMET, where the density of tri-atomic transient magnetic monopoles has gotten strong enough to sustain a steady sort of nebular glow that swirls round, forming a two-tined (though not mutually spiralling - such things are important to note, for some onlookers, after all) contrast, one side reddish and the other blue-ish.
"How rude of me," Laila replies, grasping the haptic trigger for the last stage of the spearing technique - as this semi-palpable particle-fountain is stabbed towards the lower portions of the Zenith 250, aiming if needed to go THROUGH her rifles - even as her other hand pauses to tap something on the console and bring up a singular button in wide, emergency-strike mode.
KTS: Laila Elsayed has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Laila Elsayed has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Laila Elsayed has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Laila Elsayed targets Lily Jung with Virtual Mass Induction - The Duality of Maat! <Pose Tracker> Treize Khushrenada has posed.
Treize machines hears the machine gun fire hitting his suit as if it was the rain and takes a moment to just focus on the noise before he opens his comm again to the enemy. <"To the Lessep, I once again ask that you power down your engines and surrender. No good will come of this continuing.">
Of course anyone who could see his mobile suit may consider that attempt to discuss surrender as a way to save his own skin. However Treize was thinking of his next actions as he draws his beam saber and ignites it.
Hesitating for only a moment, save any comment to delay over the comm he would stab the beam saber towards the Lessep attempting to began dismantling it piece by piece if he needs to.
KTS: Lily Jung fails to react to Laila Elsayed's Virtual Mass Induction - The Duality of Maat, taking 6960 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Laila Elsayed's Defiance activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: Laila Elsayed has engaged Lily Jung KTS: Treize Khushrenada targets Talia Gladys with Beam Saber 100 Thrust! KTS: Lily Jung has activated the Rouse Spirit Command. KTS: Talia Gladys fails to react to Treize Khushrenada's Beam Saber 100 Thrust, taking 3420 damage! KTS: Treize Khushrenada has engaged Talia Gladys <Pose Tracker> Mitsuba Greyvalley has posed.
The shot has at least scattered the BuCUEs -- and what's more, the kaiju seems to be on its last legs. Mitsuba thanks... *someone* for small blessings, at least. "Lian, report!" Mitsuba orders, as the Dreisstrager adjusts position --
-- just a second two late, as that ship-to-ship fire detonates on her vessel, taking a chunk out of the Dreisstrager's armor. The Dreisstrager has a lot of crumple, but even so...
"Sub-deck 1 damaged! No damage to enemy BuCUE team!" comes Lian's answer; Mitsuba's eyes turn down, though it's... hard to say if she feels better or worse about this result than the alternative. BuCUEs are often as not two-pilot machines; the potential death is... significant, to say the least.
"The cannon will need a minute to recharge; we'll remain cautious for now. Open fire with an additional barrage of missiles!"
"Missile Canister 2, away!" Lian affirms -- and sure enough, from the other side of the Dreisstrager, an enormous six-tube missile canister pops up and disgorges its payload. Once again, Mitsuba's trying to curtail ZAFT's options...
... though part of her is concerned that she'll ultimately have to pull back, still. To lose because she kept the mobile weapon wing in reserve...
KTS: Mitsuba Greyvalley targets Talia Gladys with Missile Canisters Area Denial! KTS: Talia Gladys fails to react to Mitsuba Greyvalley's Missile Canisters Area Denial, taking 3420 damage! KTS: Mitsuba Greyvalley begins a Formation attack! <Pose Tracker> Riika Sheder has posed.
Riika stares out of the Jeep the whole time Wender is driving, as if she could control the Devadadan by sheer focus. Maybe she can. The little model on its little tablet is still in her lap; she has her hand resting against it; will just might be enough.
The immense *sound* of the Dreisstrager's cannon glassing a patch of sand and rock washes over her. Riika flinches from it, even though she didn't react to the sound of shelling and fire or even the sight of the immense Dreisstrager appearing overhead. They're right about one thing.
Fighting here isn't saving any more lives than any other battle in this war. It's still something that needs to be done. The PLANTs fight for their own survival. But this isn't doing anything more or less than the rest of the war. Maybe it's best to leave this to everybody else - and herself, when she's in a good old-fashioned Mobile Suit.
Which doesn't mean she's turning away from the kaiju. There has to be something only it can do...
"<I'm sorry,>" Riika says. "<I can't let the Federation keep acting the way they have. This war needs to end, and if we're not the ones who win it, we're dead.>" Asuka makes that clear enough. Riika falls quiet for a moment. One of the pilots... "<How would you know?>" she responds to Kaworu. "<He's the only person I've met on this planet who cares and can do something!>"
She shuts off the radio, almost aggressively. She's mad at Kaworu - but she's mad at herself, too. Do better, Riika. That's what you do. You try and try again, you work and work until you find just the right way. This battle isn't that. She's failed here no matter if the attack succeeds or not.
Equally aggressive are the attacks against the Devadadan. It's fought before and it's the fractures in the armour that are its vulnerability this time; the places where Riika tried to fix the model but either didn't have the skills as a modeler or, more likely, simply did not have the connection with kaiju that certain other people have.
Ana's artillery-style fire slams into the chestplates, shattering one and then another. Devadadan roars, but it's a different sound - a different *quality* of sound. It's completely open for Asuka's bolt to transfix it right through the neck, for Kaworu's bullets to take what's left of it apart -
Devadadan compresses *inward*, vanishing in the same sort of light it appeared in, black and red. And in the Jeep, the model that Riika had her hand resting against shatters, losing its colour - nothing more than a heap of clay shards.
"I can't fix this," Riika says, and she's not sure whether she means the model or the war.
She engages her radio again - this time just to ZAFT. "<I'm sorry! The special forces have been destroyed - undeployable. The vehicle is pulling back.>" And, indeed, the Jeep on the rise is doing a fast three-point turn, accelerating across the desert sands and rocks.
Riika isn't a commander; she can't guide the rest of the battle any more. All she can do is dwell on her failure. If there's another time, it won't be one, she promises herself.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Jung has posed.
What Laila, and many others opposing the ZAFT forces may not be so quick to garner, is that Lily Jung is no genetic superhuman. She's actually struggling a lot right now. She's a Natural amongst the Unnatural. A NewType amongst those whose minds tend to be quiet. Her perception of this entire battle is different. She can feel the sweat running down her own body. The thick pilot suit she is forced to wear for her father's readings has hundreds of cables running down it. Hundreds of ways to tell that she's anxious.
But she's also got a will-do attitude!
The Zenith 250 halts for a moment, standing there at the end of a 'pose' practically, having just used both its weapons. There's a modicum of lag there, as its energy core tries to keep up with the weapons it is wielding. It cycles, and the machine begins to move again, and Lily adjusts the stance while trying to get a better look at what is in front of her.
She squints a bit at the saber before her. "What is that?" She whispers, but Kuma can't get a read on it with the unit's sensors very well.
<"Well, you are trespassing upon miss Gladyss' ship. But being a local, I understand the frustration around that particular topic."> Lily relents with a nervous little chuckle, having realized herself saying something stupid - she'll no doubt beat herself up for that one later! But she doesn't have time for that now! The two blades both shift to activate their Blades not moments before the spearing technique comes forward...
And for a moment, she could have sworn she felt that spear pass right through her. For just a moment, it feels like everything slows, and that glow that is so hard to discern comes for her. Reaching her, before reaching her. Her unit lifting up with its jetpack, and that strike's angle lowers below that point.
Within the cockpit, the sensors ramp up rapidly as the spearing techniques come forward. The scope goes low, and she can't bring her blades down to follow it. The Zenith doesn't have that kind of dexterity - and the Neit-Set is far larger than it.
Time seems to almost slow for Lily. As the spear comes down, it skates across the surface of one of her blades, then SPEARS through one of the legs instead. Ripping into the metal, tearing into part of it while Lily keeps her unit blasting back as something else lines up instead. Laila...
Her mind spins. Talia, the gunnery... there! Treize Kushrenada...
That's where it must be.
Time speeds back up, and the Zenith 250 slams back into the hull of the Lesseps, its back slams into the metal, clattering, as one of the unit's weapons is turn apart - left destroyed at the tip of Laila's spear. Torn apart. The Zenith rolls, and an Airbag deploys within the Zenith, as her head is forced forward, and then pushed back again. Her hand reaches at the controls, she thinks...
But her arms can't reach. She just feels like she is touching them. Turning the machine. Using the jetpack to cause it to spin just right... reaching out and slamming into the side of the open hangar. She grits as this puts her right in the line...
Right in the line with Talia's intentions.
<"Sorry, but this is bigger than you!"> Lily then suddenly cries out to Laila Elsayed, <"So I can't stop here!"> The sheer jostle, the momentum of the unit hitting its back against that wall is just enough to lift its arm up to the right angle, followed by a beautiful pearlescent pink-violent to suddenly discharge with intense force. The first discharge centered for the full of the Neit-Set - before it suddenly bulges and bloats the beam, and the entire generator seems to empty from that single weapon, and enough beam-force blasting Laila's way with the full intent of ejecting her from the ship, and putting her in the very same path that Gladyss is aiming for with Treize! To put them both in the focus area of the main batteries and to force them to retreat through sheer superior aligned firepower!
KTS: Lily Jung targets Laila Elsayed with Miniaturized Longblade Rifle - High Emission Burst! <Pose Tracker> Ana Kambinda has posed.
Kaworu, at least, is forthcoming. It makes Ana feel less like crap. She frowns even as the rockets fly, glancing at Unit-04 and tapping Kaworu back into her comm feed. "This alien's tricking ZAFT somehow?" Anger gives way to a frown as she looks back out at Devadadan. "Just to spread more misery? That's...."
She presses her lips together and leaves the sentence unfinished, filling it in only mentally. That's fucking infuriating. Aren't there enough blood-drenched psychos in the world?
As Devadadan collapses into light, Ana maintains her position until she's sure it's gone. Her end of the radio is quiet. There's not much she can say to the person on the other end of the line, if they're even still there. She wouldn't do anything less in war than try to win for the sake of her people, and yelling her complaints at a line soldier won't do anything to change the unfairnesses underlying it all.
All she can do is take stock of the things she can fix. Like the Gustav Karl. There are red damage lights flashing at her; she plays with a few switches, cutting off a couple of systems to control for power drain before grunting and turning the machine. Finally she reaches for her comm toggle.
"We need to push back the rest of them. Even without their giant monsters, we can't let them operate in the Sahel. There are civilian population centres in the region that are in danger."
Ana emphasizes the statement by firing another bazooka round into an inoffensive GINN. The pilot probably doesn't deserve to be unceremoniously blown up, but....
Merda, I hate this. Fuck whoever fired that nuke. Fuck whoever gave ZAFT that biohorror. Fuck the entire Federation and fuck everyone who caused this entire mess.
<Pose Tracker> Talia Gladys has posed.
"Captain, we're receiving a transmission from the mobile weapon on our hull." As the transmission is replayed for Talia, she can't help but roll her eyes a little. These people seem to really like calling for surrenders. While it's true that their kaiju support appears to be lost, to wage a battle plan reliant on just one unit is foolish. And Talia is still convinced that the tactical situation is not lost yet.
Ignoring Trieze's call for surrender, Talia says, "James, target that machine with the port cannon. I want it off my ship." The weapons officer glances over in Talia's direction. A shot from one of the main cannons at that range is dangerous... But he knows that Talia is aware of that, so doesn't see any reason to point it out himself. Instead he simply follows the order.
Even as Trieze drives his saber through the Lessep's hull, cutting through armour plating and internal structure, the large cannon mounted to the front, port side of the landship comes to life. It turns, aiming one of its large barrels towards his machine. Then with a large resounding BOOM, one of those barrels fires a shell, attempting to blast Trieze-and thanks to Lily's intuition, possibly Laila too-right off the ship's structure.
Whether Trieze has been dealt with or not, the Dreisstrager is still a threat. Warning of another missile barrage comes, "Bring us around to head one two zero. Scotty, can you identify any weak points?" The enemy has a large ship, trying to wear the entire thing down would take a while, assuming the Ampere survived that long.
Even as the Dreisstrager's missiles rain down on the ship, some hitting directly and blowing off chunks of its armour, Scotty taps away at her console, explaining, "Based upon the energy readings when it was preparing to fire its main weapon... There are several possibilities where a direct hit might cause a chain reaction in the power systems. But I can't be one hundred percent sure."
Talia nods, "Good enough. Feed the coordinates to James. Fire the starboard cannon when ready."
Once the missile barrage has passed, the Lessep's starboard cannon rotates, barrels rising up to target the Dreisstrager in the distance. Both barrels then fire in quick succession, each sending a large round flying in a pinpoint shot towards what is hopefully a vulnerable area.
KTS: Talia Gladys has activated the Attune Spirit Command. KTS: Talia Gladys targets Mitsuba Greyvalley with 40cm Dual Cannons Pinpoint Barrage! KTS: Mitsuba Greyvalley fails to react to Talia Gladys's 40cm Dual Cannons Pinpoint Barrage, taking 6030 damage! KTS: Talia Gladys targets Treize Khushrenada with 40cm Dual Cannons Suppression! KTS: Laila Elsayed fails to evade Lily Jung's Miniaturized Longblade Rifle - High Emission Burst, taking 4500 damage! KTS: Laila Elsayed's Neit-Set has been disabled.
<Pose Tracker> Mitsuba Greyvalley has posed.
The Dreisstrager is *too big* to get out of the path of the incoming fire from the 400mm guns on the Lesseps; Lian momentarily looks startled... but something seems to click in her head and she simply hits a button with the precision and disinterest of someone filling a soda cup.
For a moment, Hangar 2's lights all shut off; a moment later, they're back on on emergency power. Lian has rerouted the power between the hangars and the main particle cannon; while this is a long-term horrible idea and suggests that the Dreisstrager will have to make its retreat sooner than later, it keeps everything the ship actually intends to use running while ceding nothing that it was going to use in the short term.
Future issues are Jiequan's problem.
"... Can we fire the main cannon again, after that?" Mitsuba asks Lian.
Lian nods, brow furrowed, looking decisive. "Firing solution ready in two... one... ready for a second attempt, Ma'am!"
"Captain... is this wise?" Reynold asks, stepping up a bit. "The kaiju is defeated; even if ZAFT presses its advantage, this is probably a draw on the strategic scale..." He doesn't actually expect Mitsuba to change course, though; he's read her undergraduate work. Her opinions on the One Year War's desert battles would indicate she'd --
"We're dealing with a smaller guerrilla force that's entrenched itself with blitz warfare," Mitsuba says, cutting his thought process off. "A tactically even trade favors us in the long term. All hands! Prepare to fire!"
Exactly what Reynold expected, and exactly the reasoning. It's... soothing, for him, in some senses, even as the bow cannon fires the last shot it'll likely fire -- certainly this week, if not this month.
A shimmer of iridescence streaks forth from the bow of the ship. Last time, Mitsuba had made the mistake of wanting to target the BuCUEs; this time, she's chosen the ships -- something that can't break off and scatter away.
KTS: Mitsuba Greyvalley has activated the Enable Spirit Command. KTS: Mitsuba Greyvalley has activated the Rouse Spirit Command. KTS: Mitsuba Greyvalley targets Talia Gladys with Bow-Mounted U.L.H. Particle Cannon! KTS: Treize Khushrenada blocks Talia Gladys's 40cm Dual Cannons Suppression, taking 3450 damage! KTS: Treize Khushrenada has launched from Mitsuba Greyvalley's combat deck! KTS: Treize Khushrenada's OZ-06MS4G Leo Type IV Greif has been disabled. KTS: Talia Gladys has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Talia Gladys fails to react to Mitsuba Greyvalley's Bow-Mounted U.L.H. Particle Cannon, taking 10440 damage! KTS: Mitsuba Greyvalley completes the Formation attack!
<Pose Tracker> Treize Khushrenada has posed.
Treize raises his beam saber to prepare to begin to carve his way to the engine room of the ship when the port canon turns and takes aim at him. All he has is a moment to put as many layers of mobile suit between himself and the cannon shot.
The Greif goes flying back, or at least what is left of it, the main body bouncing across the ground and then skidding through the sand, and some glass before it becomes stationary. Treize lays motionless for a moment in the cockpit.
Finally over friendly comms, <"This is Treize Khushrenada, I will need retrieval at the battle end.">
<Pose Tracker> Laila Elsayed has posed.
The little sniper that could rallies - smashes off the Lesseps, back upwards, and then -
The Active Frame swerves to the side, bringing round the IMET spear as if to sidestep the beam before it balloons outwards, like a horrid aneurysm of the energetic battlefield. There is an audio signature in the cockpit component of the Frame that informs Laila, efficiently, of the fountain and particle status; it abruptly makes a noise like a slide whistle.
That's bad, Laila thinks, before its balloon outwards sends the Set leaping backwards. Its strange head pivots towards the Zenith before Laila sends a staticky comment through her communique channel:
"You're not the first one to come to this desert. The last one to hold it was thousands of years ago."
And then - topple offwards!
The Active Frame's thrusts do not engage. Someone in a sharp uniform on the Dreisstrager's bridge working a subturret gets to see a suit fall, twist around in midair, and -- metamorphose, becoming something else, arms and legs folding into synchrotronic irradiance as what hits the ground is somehow larger and smaller voice. The grit and dust is soon smashed into, perhaps with the last of what the Active Frame can spare, and it burrows deep beneath the sands.
A sand-pressure BLARE informs Laila that SOMETHING big happened after about twenty meters descent, and she glances upright. Soon a ghostly view from sand-sonar active returns gives her...
"My God," Laila says. "That must be a glass return. Who says you can't create anything with a gun, I suppose."
<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
Kaworu presents a broad strokes of what he knows about who is responsible, and Asuka bristles, "... ... Why the hell didn't you mention any of that part before, Fifth String? " Probably because of her charming personality. Yet she's upset because she's put in time trying to investigate Tsutsujidai, and she's always shared her findings with him.
That anger amping up at him though is quickly directed at Riika though, "What's with this pity party? I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Is that all you can say?" Asuka berates Riika over the radio, though depending on when she shuts off her radio she might not hear any of it. "Pathetic. You might as well just submit an unconditional surrender to the Federation with talk like that. You think I'm crying about how the Federation treats me as a Coordinator?"
Asuka isn't exactly one, actually, and she knows it. Yet everyone thinks she is one - so does that academic difference truly matter? She ended up in the infirmary more than a few times from her treatment by the AEU.
"Just make yourselves useful to them - and maybe they'll consider not wiping all of you out."
It's ice cold, her refutation it's not like she's unaware of Bloody Valentine and Junius-7 incident, she knows how unrealistic what she's presenting is, how much they'd lose, how many of them they'd lose by total submission. It's just... she's utterly desensitized to their plight. Used as a weapon against them, she dehumanizes them like she dehumanizes herself.
Despite her presenting ZAFT as in the wrong, she goes so far that she ends up making ZAFT look even more sympathetic, and her - monstrous.
Devadadan compresses inward at the assault, vanishing in light. And her Evangelion just... stays put as if stunned by how quickly it vanished.
"Damnit!"
Kneeling her Evangelion down, she has it brush aside the sand with a handto look for any chunks of the Kaiju she cut free with her Prog Knife, not feeling particularly hopeful about it in these desert sands, particularly since it imploded. "Nothing left of it. Great." She growls, "We're probably going to be seeing that one again."
<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.
"I can only speculate based on the limited information I have, but that's my guess, yes," Kaworu tells Ana. He watches the Devadadan implode into black-and-red light; he doubts it will return, though he realizes he's not certain. If Alexis gave ZAFT one, he could potentially have given them more. He breathes a faint sigh, as much as at that as Asuka's demanding why he didn't share that with her sooner. "If it actually matters to you, we can discuss that later, Second." To Ana, he adds, "Please convey that intel to your superiors. If ZAFT deploys another such kaiju here, we of NERV very much want to know about it."
He doesn't say that they'll send units to the OCU's defense right away in such a circumstance. To his mind, they've already demonstrated they will in this battle, and NERV is involved with kaiju defense in a general sense regardless. There wasn't a chance to gather any samples, either, though that was not exactly Kaworu's primary objective even if it was NERV's. "If they have any questions," he adds to Ana, "please tell them they can send them to NERV Administrator Kaworu Nagisa. I'll explain what I'm permitted to."
Meanwhile, sure enough, when Kaworu tries to warn Riika away from Alexis, she reacts with anger and cuts off communications immediately after. He frowns, somewhere between pity and concern. Perhaps he should have phrased his warning more circumspectly? But how could he have done that while still being to the point? ...There's nothing to be done about it now, in any case. He and his allies have destroyed the kaiju. Perhaps he can hope that his words have at least planted a seed of doubt in that woman's mind.
His frown remains as Ana turns her fire onto the ZAFT forces. "Understood. Unit-02 and I will fall back and ensure no stray fire reaches those civilian populations. Good luck." To Asuka, digging frustratedly through the sands, he states, "Perhaps. For now, as I said. When the battle is fully over, we'll then return to base."
That said, he'll only start retreating once Asuka does. For everyone else's sake, Kaworu is absolutely not leaving her behind.
<Pose Tracker> Talia Gladys has posed.
Both enemy machines harassing the Ampere and Lily have been dealt with. Blasted off the landship. Which just leaves-
"Massive energy signature detected!"
Shit! Talia can't imagine anything but the Ampere is the target this time. She leans forward intently as she calls out, "Full reverse, hard to starboard!"
A cloud of sand is kicked up in front of the Lesseps as the large craft suddenly shifts its unique Scale system into reverse, quickly slowly its forward momentum in favour of starting to go backwards, while turning at the same time. Unfortunately, the large land battleship is a far bigger target than a few BuCUEs.
The Dreisstrager's main weapon fires, that huge beam of light streaking through the air towards the ZAFT ship. The view outside the Ampere's bridge is nothing but light, many of the bridge crew shielding their eyes.
Finally the light from the attack fades. The Ampere is still there... But a huge chunk of its forward, port side is just... Gone. One of the main cannons. The extended pylon. A good chunk of structure... Vaporized. All that's left is a large curved hole revealing the interior of the ship, the edges still glowing from the attack.
Gripping the armrest of her chair, Talia stares at the damage visible through the windows, all the while many damage reports are being called out to her by the rest of the bridge crew.
That kind of firepower... They have no answer for it. And with one of the pylons gone, their maneuverability reduced... It's unlikely they'd survive another shot.
"... Signal the retreat." Talia slumps back into her chair a bit. The kaiju is gone, the BuCUE team scattered, Lily's machine damaged, the Ampere severely... And the enemy still has a few units operational, plus that monster of a warship. They might have been able to pull a victory from this situation. But it would be a costly one, Talia thinks. And ultimately, not worth it.
Several signal flares fire out from the Ampere's launchers, signalling the remaining ZAFT forces to go into a retreat.
<Pose Tracker> Mitsuba Greyvalley has posed.
<poem> "Report," Mitsuba commands, as she takes the Dreisstrager low; she knows at least *some* of the defenders are going to need rides.
"Heavy damage to our port side," Lian answers. "Power distribution along the bow cannon and Hangars 1 and 2 is at 11%... extensive repairs will be needed. The AOS is rerouting power from other areas of the ship with minimal disruption."
The tension escapes Mitsuba's shoulders, as she announces over the allied bands, "... The Dreisstrager will provide limited repairs in Hangars 3 and 4 as well as the central hangar. We'll be sending out our mobile weapon team to retrieve units that cannot move."
Mitsuba looks to Reynold. "I'm turning recovery operations over to you, XO," she says, with a nod. "I'll be performing strategic analysis." Theoretically with a fuller crew complement this might be the other way around, or Mitsuba might not need to touch these tasks at all, but... well, they've got what they've got.