2023-06-21: Insurrection: Aphelion
- Log: 2023-06-21- Insurrection - Aphelion
- Cast: Angelo Sauper, Mobile Weapon Team, Armor of the Week, Suberoa Zinnerman, Permanence Pasternak, Rena Lancaster, Eight York, Hikaru Amano, Roux Louka, Banagher Links, Liam 7-020, Anita Rosetta, Riika Sheder, Alto Saotome, Trevor Teach, Lucine Azul, Naoko Suzuki, Alexis Kerib
- Where: Space Near Side 3
- OOC - IC Date: 0097-06-23
- Summary: The tensions between the Sleeves and the Three Ships Alliance explode into combat -- and the Federation tries to put an end to both threats with its flagship, the General Revil.
<Pose Tracker> Angelo Sauper has posed.
In the cold, black of space's vacuum, lights flare and die in the rhythmic pulse of war.
The sound of the battle is lost in the depths of space, but not the fury of it. Particle beams fly in ripples of green and pink and red as Sleeves become entangled with mobile suits of the Three Ships Alliance, become embroiled with mobile suits of the Federation. The three-sided conflict has rapidly escalated with the arrival of the General Revil and the departure of the Sleeves' Rewloola-class flagship.
Now what remains of the Sleeves is those who have stayed behind to ensure that their commander and main force can get out of this sector of space. They are, essentially, a distraction, here to at best delay their enemies -- but that doesn't mean that they do not fight with everything they have, all that they are.
Time is a precious commodity, after all. And every second they can buy - every second they can -steal- from their enemy - is worth the sacrifice.
Geara Zulus, Geara Dogas, and various other mobile suits of the First Neo Zeon swarm the battlefield deployed from a pair of Musakas remaining in the Rewloola's place, alighting it with scorching lances of beam fire and brief, blinding flashes of melee weapons clashing with melee weapons. Their numbers can't quite compare to what the Federation can field, but they work in tightly-knit formations and with vicious, tactical efficiency... and they benefit from their larger foe's split focus.
And leading them all...
In the hangar of the lead Musaka, Angelo Sauper stares up at the Krake as mechanics finish making precious spot repairs to the gestalt, Frankensteinian machine. Repaired and resupplied, the legless mobile armor looms large over its Geara Zulu counterparts being loaded up onto the launch bay. Angelo watches with an expression of tense impassivity, his hand resting on the sidearm holstered at his hip. It's not his. It's just one of several taken from the fallen during the skirmish at the Ra Mari II. The dead can't continue the fight... but at least their weapons can still contribute.
"..."
He stares at the dull mono-eye looking lifelessly forward. His lips thin.
There's no 'understanding' to be had with Full Frontal.
Isn't the future supposed to be a different time from the present?
You've got to let go of this!
I entrust this rabble into your capable hands.
Purple eyes narrow as something inside Angelo Sauper snaps.
"I'm deploying."
"What? But lieutenant, we still have to finish the checks--"
"Nevermind that! Does it look like we have that luxury right now?!"
And not heeding another word in protest, Angelo pushes off through zero g towards the Krake, slipping into the cockpit as the launch deck is hastily prepared for it.
"... Damn them..." Angelo mutters to himself, as the bright pink of the Krake's mono-eye hums to life. Fingers curl against the controls of his mobile suit until his knuckles whiten beneath their gloves.
"I'll make them all pay."
~*~
From the Sleeves' battle lines comes a brief, green twinkle, before the void of space where the Three Ships and the Federation fight becomes filled with crackling green. Twin columns of rippling megaparticles surge across the battlefield, tearing through any enemy mobile suit unfortunate enough to be in their undulating, furious path.
They last for a few, precious seconds of destruction...
... before the large frame of the Krake Zulu roars into the battlefield once more, absolute contempt searing in its pilot's glare.
"I'll make -all of you pay-!"
KTS: Angelo Sauper has deployed in YAMS-130 Krake Zulu. KTS: Angelo_Sauper has deployed as a Boss for 4 opponents. KTS: Angelo Sauper has placed a bucket with capacity 5! KTS: Ruri Hoshino has joined Angelo Sauper's bucket! KTS: Alto Saotome has joined Angelo Sauper's bucket! KTS: Roux Louka has joined Angelo Sauper's bucket! KTS: BSYS: Armor of the Week has cleared their bucket. KTS: Naoko Suzuki has joined Angelo Sauper's bucket! KTS: Banagher Links has deployed in RX-0 Full Armor Unicorn Gundam - Unicorn Mode. KTS: Banagher Links has joined Angelo Sauper's bucket! KTS: Liam 7-020 has deployed in ZGMF-575-F CGUE II-L Liath Macha (Striker Pack). KTS: Naoko Suzuki has deployed in NS-1 Sukeban. KTS: Hikaru Amano has deployed in Aestivalis Zero-G Frame (Hikaru). KTS: EN Barrier activated! KTS: Eight York has deployed in Zentradi Monitor 'Ra Mari II'. KTS: Riika Sheder has deployed in MF-XR01/FG Svalinn Feather Gundam. KTS: Mobile Weapon Team has deployed in Dogosse Giar-class 'General Revil'. KTS: Rena Lancaster has deployed in A000-0001 Gaia Gear Alpha. KTS: Alto Saotome has deployed in VF-25F Messiah <Fighter Mode>. KTS: EN Barrier activated! KTS: Anita Rosetta has deployed in XVF-25I Svipul <GERWALK Mode>. KTS: EN Barrier activated! KTS: Armor of the Week has deployed in Clop-class. KTS: Alto Saotome has changed loadout. KTS: Mobile_Weapon_Team has deployed as a Boss for 4 opponents. KTS: Armor_of_the_Week has deployed as a Boss for 4 opponents. KTS: Trevor Teach has deployed in JR-777 Isadore. KTS: Ruri Hoshino has deployed in VF-171 Nightmare Plus <Gerwalk Mode>. KTS: Roux Louka has deployed in MSZ-006-3 Zeta Gundam 'Strike Zeta' <Mobile Suit>. KTS: Hikaru Amano has changed loadout. KTS: Armor of the Week has placed a bucket with capacity 4! KTS: Lucine Azul has deployed as a Sub Pilot for Liam 7-020! KTS: Hikaru Amano's Aestivalis Zero-G Frame (Hikaru) has left Hikaru Amano teleports out. Terrain is now Space
KTS: Riika Sheder has deployed in MF-XR01/FG Svalinn Feather Gundam. KTS: Trevor Teach has deployed in JR-777 Isadore. Terrain is now Space
KTS: Trevor Teach has deployed in JR-777 Isadore. KTS: Riika Sheder has deployed in MF-XR01/FG Svalinn Feather Gundam. KTS: Angelo Sauper has deployed in YAMS-130 Krake Zulu. KTS: Angelo_Sauper has deployed as a Boss for 5 opponents. KTS: Liam 7-020 has deployed in ZGMF-575-F CGUE II-L Liath Macha (Striker Pack). KTS: Lucine Azul has deployed as a Sub Pilot for Liam 7-020! KTS: Eight York has deployed in Zentradi Monitor 'Ra Mari II'. KTS: Banagher Links has deployed in RX-0 Full Armor Unicorn Gundam - Unicorn Mode. KTS: Armor of the Week has deployed in Clop-class. KTS: Mobile Weapon Team has deployed in Dogosse Giar-class 'General Revil'. KTS: Alto Saotome has deployed in VF-25F Messiah <Fighter Mode>. KTS: Armor_of_the_Week has deployed as a Boss for 4 opponents. KTS: Mobile_Weapon_Team has deployed as a Boss for 4 opponents. KTS: Ruri Hoshino has deployed in VF-171 Nightmare Plus <Gerwalk Mode>. KTS: Naoko Suzuki has deployed in NS-1 Sukeban. KTS: Rena Lancaster has deployed in A000-0001 Gaia Gear Alpha. KTS: Anita Rosetta has deployed in XVF-25I Svipul <GERWALK Mode>. KTS: EN Barrier activated! KTS: Roux Louka has deployed in MSZ-006-3 Zeta Gundam 'Strike Zeta' <Mobile Suit>. KTS: Angelo Sauper has placed a bucket with capacity 5! KTS: Alto Saotome has joined Angelo Sauper's bucket! KTS: Naoko Suzuki has joined Angelo Sauper's bucket! KTS: Banagher Links has joined Angelo Sauper's bucket! KTS: Hikaru Amano has deployed in Aestivalis Zero-G Frame (Hikaru). KTS: EN Barrier activated! KTS: Hikaru Amano has changed loadout. KTS: Ruri Hoshino has joined Angelo Sauper's bucket! KTS: Armor of the Week has placed a bucket with capacity 4! KTS: Mobile Weapon Team has placed a bucket with capacity 4! KTS: Hikaru Amano has joined Armor of the Week's bucket! KTS: Trevor Teach has joined Armor of the Week's bucket! KTS: Liam 7-020 has joined Armor of the Week's bucket! KTS: Eight York has joined Mobile Weapon Team's bucket! KTS: Roux Louka has joined Angelo Sauper's bucket! KTS: Anita Rosetta has joined Mobile Weapon Team's bucket! KTS: Riika Sheder has joined Mobile Weapon Team's bucket! KTS: Rena Lancaster has joined Mobile Weapon Team's bucket! KTS: Lucine Azul has deployed as a Sub Pilot for Liam 7-020! <Pose Tracker> Mobile Weapon Team has posed.
The Federation's upper echelons can no longer let this situation go unaddressed. Despite the recent shakeup in the Federal Assembly, the majority of members of the Central Council agree that this situation needs to be addressed for the sake of continuity of government.
(A couple of more recent additions may not have been briefed on the matter. They'll be on the hook for it afterward either way, after all -- the cleanup of Laplace's Box and its surrounding conflicts may well become a new Laplace's Box in its own right.)
The General Revil isn't the single largest vessel that the Federation fields, but it may well be the only one that operates on its scale without being mixed-use. Despite the loss of its two largest mega particle cannons, it's still bristling with weaponry. ... besides, its real weapon is the truly enormous wing of ReZEL Type Cs with all the special weapon packs one could ever hope to ask for on top of its numerous Jegans.)
"Pull our mobile suit contingent in closer. Nergal's rogue toy can wait for the moment," Maseki Danbaef orders, temper beginning to get back in check. "We have an opportunity to take down the Ra Mari II." The operators -- all of them -- begin relaying the command to the flight wings.
A door opens on the bridge. "I couldn't help but notice the empty seat at your right," comes a deep voice attached to a cloak and a mask. "I'll be observing for the Empress. Do you mind terribly if I take a seat?"
Maseki looks incredulously at the flaming mask standing tall enough to nearly meet his eye level at his elevated seat. "How did you get aboard my ship? You're a wanted criminal." ... Not the first wanted criminal Martha's involved in this plan, though, he realizes. With a scowl, he says, "You may stand."
With a chuckle, Alexis affirms, "Very well," before floating to a position at Danbaef's right hand, opposite his XO.
<Pose Tracker> Armor of the Week has posed.
Captain Omis Kirush expected the battlegroup's orders to be to prioritise the Sleeves armada building strength in this region, but the General Revil's instructions are clear: Destroy the traitors of the Three Ships Alliance.
He watches the HUD of his command station, tapping IFF blips to zoom in on the unit with one of the many targeting cameras festooned across the Clop-class Endeavour's hull. "They're launching," his tactical officer reports. "Chasing after the Sleeves, it looks like. The Rewloola and other Sleeves ships are retreating - it looks like there's a rearguard to stop pursuit."
"We've caught them between hammer and anvil," Kirush mutters, before addressing his bridge. "Comms, get me a line to the Imperious. I see an Aestivalis on approach, we must be in range of the Nadesico's gravity-wave antenna. Have them break off and force the Nadesico back - if we can stop her launching more of those machines we'll have an easier time of this."
And keep that gravity blast off our backs, too he thinks to himself, as the third vessel in the General Revil's battlegroup changes course to intercept the Nadesico in the distance. "Gunnery teams: Weapons free. Set an intercept course for the Ra Mari II - engage any opponent that gets in our way."
<Pose Tracker> Suberoa Zinnerman has posed.
The Garencieres Junior makes a desperate escape from the battlefield. Its lack of armament is likely no deterrent to the Federation task force approaching this battle; as much as they'd like to stay and fight, without their normal mobile suit complement Gilboa's responsibility is to protect the other members of the ship's crew aboard as best he can - by getting away from the deadly megaparticle rays and high-yield warheads already crowding out this contested field of space.
But enough of the perils of the steel-blue freighter; let us turn our eye back towards the crimson Zentradi monitor it was docked with only minutes ago, and return to those Garencieres team members still aboard the Ra Mari II and therefore best-positioned to act upon this perilous situation: Suberoa Zinnerman, Flaste Schole, and Tomura (Marida, after all, just launched in the Kshatriya).
"Flaste," Zinnerman begins, "I want you to round up every Sleeves operative that didn't leave with Lieutenant Sauper and find the ones who are fit to fight. Tomura, we need markings on our suits for visual-range IFF; make them available to anyone on this ship who can fly but doesn't have a machine."
His two crew members - his family - nod and split off to handle the separate tasks they've been given. Zinnerman himself dries his eyes, musters up some semblance of his stoic personage after the emotional moments in the hangar, and proceeds to the nearest turbolift to the colossal vessel's bridge.
====== ======
"Captain York," he announces himself there, changed into his normal suit in preparation for the battle. "Suberoa Zinnerman, reporting. Mineva has chosen to remain in your care; as her protectors, my crew are joining her. We're ready to receive your orders."
There are so many more reasons why this is happening, but that is the most succinct justification he can give at present.
POT: Suberoa Zinnerman is now set observer.
<Pose Tracker> Ruri Hoshino has posed.
Permanence Pasternak didn't ever expect to knock an armed man out by clobbering him in the back of the head with a broom, sight unseen. (There are many, many things she never expected to do, in her life.) She stole his gun, but luckily, the Zeonic woman who shortly joined him didn't need much convincing to pick him up and drag him off instead of forcing her to use it.
She's had to make her way through to the hangars on a wing and a prayer, especially with the spotty gravity... but the crew there, when she arrives, is still working hard. The Ra Mari II fields a wing of Nightmare Pluses -- and Permanence is borrowing one, today, for the first time since she left the REA's brutal embrace.
All hands on deck.
She trades out that Zeonic pistol, when she gets there. She wasn't joking at all, when she asked Acting Captain Rezza if she could requisition a rocket launcher to take with her, on deployment. Here it is, just as she's asked for it, and she's more than strong enough to hoist it with her into the cockpit. "You just sit right there," she tells the rocket, as she tucks it in beside her seat. "In case shit goes sideways."
It's not that she expects Dr. Murasame to come pluck her up, in a situation like this. It's just... she can't discount the possibility, either.
She straps herself in, and boots the system up. "I remember these," she says, quietly, as she pushes forward on the stick. Louder, she reports, to the ground crew: "Permanence, launching!"
The Variable Fighter -- properly a fighter, as it jets out of the massive Ra Mari II -- weaves through debris, and the feeling of MASS as it pulls up is palpable, punctuated by: "GERWALK!" Cranking a lever down, the jet fighter SHIFTS under her feet, around itself, wings becoming the flared base from which erupt grasping hands and oversized feet. (The nose of the fighter jet remains so; the top of the mobile suit is still remarkably FLAT, streamlined, aerodynamic. It is a strange marriage between sleekness and humanoid physique.) In its hands is its Dragunov, a sniper rifle beloved by VFs; Permanence takes aim, at the impressive silhouette of the Krake Zulu, and she fires.
"Look around you, fool!" She yells, with an open radio, for all to hear. "Do you think everyone's here to persecute you?! The Federation's just taking advantage of it--!!" The REA, after all, is part of the Federation; no wonder, perhaps, that a woman from Moscow would identify them so.
But if there's any obstacle between the Ra Mari II and Leina -- it's going to be Angelo Sauper.
(The woman talking to him, on the other hand, is one of the Ra Mari II's custodians -- Angelo might only know her voice from laundry calls, or other cleaning ventures. Why is she fighting, all a sudden?)
KTS: Ruri Hoshino targets Angelo Sauper with SSL-9B Dragunov Sniper Rifle System-Targeting Shot! KTS: Ruri Hoshino has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
The Gaia Gear Alpha had taken the field not so long ago. Battle was done -- with some early components of the Federation's Mobile Suits and with the Banshee, before it sped away. Out of Rena's reach, out of her ability to try to help furhter.
She looks after it, before her head turns, looking at the Ra Mari II on the 360-degree panoramic display. The massive Zentradi monitor fills much of the screen.
But it's the General Revil, in the distance, that her heads-up display highlights with a red color. Rena bites her lip, as she gets a good look at it.
"Ra Mari II," she transmits, "we're coming back to you. It looks like the General Revil and its complement are coming your way. I'm moving to intercept. There's a lot of them."
She scans the field -- for Anita's Svipul, for Riika, for the Unicorn, and the Krake Zulu -- and then looks at the first pair of ReZELs that she can see. The waverider-mode Mobile Suit soars forward, thrusters firing.
Then, six missiles drop off its hardpoints. The needle missiles rocket off into the ReZEL formation. As they fly, the warheads' tips superheat an angry, ugly red -- and come hurtling in for them.
KTS: Rena Lancaster has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Rena Lancaster: Will Barrier Activates. KTS: Rena Lancaster targets Mobile Weapon Team with Needle Missile Salvo! KTS: Rena Lancaster has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Angelo Sauper successfully evades Ruri Hoshino's SSL-9B Dragunov Sniper Rifle System-Targeting Shot <Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
On the bridge of the Ra Mari II, there is calm despite the chaos. Enba Rezza currently sits at a communications console, coordinating the crew on-ship to finish the battle, while Eight York has settled back into the Captain's chair despite her maternity leave. It would seem that the world is conspiring not to allow her to rest just yet.
Tempo Astelian just announced the presence of the Federation ships; already there's been a huge battle. And then Zinnerman shows up. Rezza turns, ready to go for a firearm--but it's not necessary.
"...Thank you, Captain," Eight says to Zinnerman then. "We'll need your expertise on the bridge. For evryone else, get suited up and get out there. This is a fight for survival now."
The starboard hangar is missing one of its doors, but everything's been bolted down by now, normal suits applied, so that it can still be used to deploy suit after suit. Nightmares and Nousjaduel-Gers, mobile weapons of many stripes deploy, some with their usual pilots and some with crew who have stepped up to try to make the difference today. They eed everyone they can get.
"If you find the Banshee," Eight continues her orders over the radio, "Capture if possible--but we don't have the time to go looking with all hands. Repel those battleships. We'll provide support from here. Covering fire to get in close."
"Kazama," Eight says. "Lay down a curtain. Prevent them picking off our suits until they can get there."
"Yes, ma'am!"
The Ra Mari II's beam cannons fire off green particles, slamming towards the General Revvil in what is admittedly more covering fire than an actual attempt at terrible damage.
And Eight, still tracing the cracked console from when Angelo nearly shot her, cracked under her own hand, pauses--to say.
"...Kazama." Pause. "Start to ready the Converging Spiral Beam Cannon. Full charge."
The bridge turns to look at her in surprise for an instance--but Kazama, professional as always, just says, "Acknowledged, ma'am. Counting down to full charge."
KTS: Eight York targets Mobile Weapon Team with Guided Beam Cannons - Basic Shot! KTS: Eight York has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Mobile Weapon Team fails to intercept Rena Lancaster's Needle Missile Salvo, taking 5040 damage! KTS: Mobile Weapon Team blocks Eight York's Guided Beam Cannons - Basic Shot, taking 1050 damage! KTS: Eight York has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. <Pose Tracker> Hikaru Amano has posed.
Ever since the Ra Mari II's internal struggle for power against the Sleeves, it's just been utter chaos. Honestly, Hikaru was hoping to get this over with sooner than this...
But now even the Federation's thrown their hat in the ring! "Not cool! I mean, I know we're like, international fugitives, but man..." Hikaru complains, moments before launching. "I'm gonna need to clean my image sooner or later for my mangas to sell, but for now... let's do this!" She tries to psych herself up, as the bright orange Aestie flares onto the battlefield.
There's a Clop-class cruiser making headway... kinda looks like the old Ra Mari, but still, Hikaru knows enough battle tactics to see what it's trying to do: the futile effort of sinking the legendary Nadesico!
Unfortunately, the chaos of the battle means Hikaru doesn't even have the main thing she has going for her - with Ryoko and Izumi split up. So she makes do: "Lucine, Liam! Today you're my wingmates, and we're going to need the full extent of our power of teamwork to sink that battleship~ let's go, you two!" Being the leader feels kinda nice.
Brandishing her weapon, she realizes an immediate knife won't be nearly enough to dent the thing, so... "Hey, Jun-kun!" Her face pops up on the Nadesico monitor. "It kinda doesn't sound like you're doing anything useful so get me the big sword, pretty please? I'll... uh, tell the Captain to glance your way later if you do!" Unhesitantly, the sword reaches its destination launched from the Nadesico. "Thanksies!"
"Ooookay, where should I cut first?" It's a rhetorical question; the anti-ship sword is aimed towards the engine block. "You won't take the Nadesicrew alive, Gekigan SWOOOOORD!"
<Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.
The Strike Zeta has struggled against the Banshee Norn. It is quite possible that the Strike Zeta is one of the finest Mobile Suits operating in the Earth Sphere... _without_ the blessing of Psycoframe; the miraculous material whose secrets Roux has only recently learned.
The limits are telling. The Banshee was driven off... with the aid of the Gaia Gear Alpha and the heartfelt fighting skills of Rena Lancaster as well as the enigmatic 'Sukeban' who Roux has not really fully comprehended in power. After this, the group exited an *unfortunately proximate* position relevant to the General Revil, vectoring towards the Ra Mari II for resupply and, probably, continued operations.
How could they get away from that flank? Mostly thanks to using an illegal deliberate Minovsky-pollution device that has placed a distinctive haze in an entire chunk of the battlefield! That's a war crime everyone can get behind - the kind where nobody dies *directly*.
NOW:
"Shit!" Roux says as she stares at a particular streak of light, her attention having been drawn. Having looked at it, her attention deepens; the software zooms in, sensing her strict attention, and the sight of another figuring vectoring to engage brings every thought in Roux's head to light.
"Rena, I have to go deal with him," Roux continues. She sounds as grave as a colony puncture, even as the Strike Zeta accelerates. "He's going to sink the RM2 if we don't take care of that machine. Good luck."
I hope I taught you things that help, Roux thinks, like an echoing of a guitar that just finished playing.
Antipathy only grows as Roux gazes upon the Krake; she can see it, feel it all the more intensely now. Roux accelerates but not as fast as she'd like, given what she had to expend to match and strive against the Banshee. But at least her feelings towards Angelo Sauper are clearer, and simpler, and more easily expressed:
She just goes straight to shooting the Hyper Mega Launcher, helpfully already warmed up. "... Permanence?" Roux says to herself, wondering, but she is already shooting, closing kilometers of mostly-empty space with every second. "Hold together--!!"
KTS: Roux Louka targets Angelo Sauper with Hyper Mega Launcher Shot! KTS: Roux Louka has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Hikaru Amano targets Armor of the Week with Gekigan Sword Dashing Slash! KTS: Hikaru Amano has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.
In the past few weeks aboard the Ra Mari II, the Unicorn Gundam has been slowly but surely upgraded. Takuya Irei, one of very few survivors from Anaheim Electric college, led a team of the Ra Mari II's engineers in a series of changes to the machine. Now, loaded down with bazookas, missile launchers, and tanks allowing extended high-speed flight.
Banagher hasn't tested her yet. There just hasn't been time. But now, as Angelo blasts out of the Ra Mari II's hangar and Leina calls out to him, the young pilot doesn't care. Barely taking the time to throw on his normal suit and helmet, Banagher urges the Unicorn toward the destroyed hangar door.
<"Banagher Links! Full Armor Unicorn Gundam, launching!">
Once she escapes the ship, the Unicorn leaves a trail of glimmering stardust. Leina -- Leina. Where is she? Banagher closes his eyes, trying to feel her location. This is their last chance to save her.
Leina. I'm here. Come find me.
In the middle of his attempt to location the Banshee's pilot, alarms blare inside the Unicorn. Federation suits swarm the Gundam, and Banagher grits his teeth. He's practically a beacon in the Unicorn like this -- hunted by all sides.
<"Get away from me! She needs me!">
Banagher swings around his newly-attached Beam Gatling, tearing through the shoulder joints of his would-be captors. The gun is devastatingly effective, shaking the Unicorn herself as she fires -- and Banagher, again, feels the overwhelming power of the Beast of Possibility.
Even after disabling the Federation suits, Banagher can't return to his spiritual search -- green columns of destruction tearing across his path. Cameras zoom in on the Krake Zulu. The young pilot swears under his breath.
<"Angelo! Let me by, Leina's out here somewhere! We have to save her!">
Even Angelo's fury can't extend to a young woman captured and twisted by the elite. Surely. Surely he'll understand. Banagher just has to believe in Possibility--
But a Variable Fighter jets by, screaming toward Angelo's machine. Familiarity sparks against Banagher's soul as it opens fire, knowing the pilot is Permanence before she even calls out to Angelo.
Just as she promised... Permanence is here to fight with him. Banagher brings a hand to his heart, touching the emblazoned Vist Foundation logo on his normal suit.
<"I'm with you, Permanence!"> Banagher calls to her. <"We can do this! Angelo..."> Anger builds in Banagher's heart. Who is this man to try and punish the entire world? <"Get the hell... out of my WAY!">
The Beam Gatling is hefted and aimed squarely at the Sleeves machine, Banagher gritting his teeth as he fires. He hates doing this, after all the time he and Angelo spent together... They were almost friends. Almost.
But nothing matters more than saving Leina.
<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
Liam escorted the stricken Dianthus back to the Nadesico, keeping opportunistic ReZELs off it until it reached the safety of its mothership's hangar. Liam was prepared to go back out without Lucine, to give her the time she needed to deal with whatever Leina did to her, but--
Liath Macha now streaks through the void, its greytone and silver paint marred by scars from its skirmish with the Banshee. The largest is a wound in its side from a miss from the Beam Magnum. Melted armor barely hides the machinery around the cockpit block.
"Are you sure about this, Lu?" Liam asks, as he looks over his shoulder at the woman in the fold-out passenger seat. Even if, by some chance, she weren't, there's no going back now. The enemy flagships are closing. The moment they bring their guns to bear, things will get so much worse. Even the Banshee couldn't blunt the whole of their advance.
Now, it falls on Liam to defend his comrades, even if that means fighting--and, maybe, killing--"fellow" Federation soldiers. His stomach tightens as Liath Macha swoops in towards the Endeavour. The Mobile Suit is blisteringly fast, and it punches through the MS screen with speed alone. It's a ZAFT design, clearly a CGUE of some sort, but... the head is binocular.
"Hold on!" Liam says, to his copilot. He clicks on the scrambler--which translates speech to text to speech again, in a generic male voice. "<Turn back,>" says that anonymous voice. "<Your master's a criminal. Leave, and you might not share her fate.>"
A few moments later, Liath Macha descends towards the main port-side battery. "Understood," he says, to Hikaru. "Pulling their fangs." Its beam glaive whips out, ignites, and then sweeps down at the cannons.
Lucine's probably never appreciated how Liam works up-close. Now is her chance.
KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Armor of the Week with JS-F03A 'Gae Buidhe' Beam Glaive - Slash! KTS: Liam 7-020 has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
Immediately following the chaos onboard the Ra Mari II, the Federation arrives to clean up. This has to be incredibly poor timing or some manner of chicanery, and Anita really doesn't have the time to figure out which right now. Right now, her immediate vicinity is filled with Problems - and so, it's been a rough little while of fighting off enemy mobile suits.
If it was just the mobile suits, maybe things would be okay.
But then the battleships arrive, and the General Revil, of all ships, has its sights set on the Ra Mari II. Anita grimaces within the cockpit.
"...On my way, Ra Mari II!" Anita announces. The Svipul accelerates through space, and as she does, she shoots a quick ping toward Rena to let her know she's there. And then a second, spotting Riika.
"...Okay. Guess we gotta do this." Anita mutters. Her Valkyrie, presently in GERWALK mode, draws its gatling gun pod, sweeping it through the ranks of the General Revil's ReZELs.
KTS: Banagher Links: Will Barrier Activates. KTS: Banagher Links targets Angelo Sauper with 60mm Vulcan Guns Burst! KTS: Banagher Links has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Anita Rosetta targets Mobile Weapon Team with Gatling Sweep! KTS: Anita Rosetta has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Riika Sheder has posed.
Riika Sheder has not been in contact with most of the flight crews for the entire duration of the ... mutiny? Revolt? Armed insurgence? She was actually asleep when it started, was awakened when gravity shifted and someone banged on her door, opening it as she got out of bed.
Riika hadn't even had her glasses on when she realized she was under attack. Fortunately, he didn't have a gun. He had a stun baton, and had expected her to be an easy target. Blind and half-dressed, she'd dodged the first strike by sheer instinct, yanked off and then thrown half her bedding at him, and kicked him while bracing against the wall in low gravity while his arm was tangled in a sheet. It wouldn't have been a fair fight if she had had vision; she was a lot faster than he was.
Once she'd gotten her glasses on, she felt bad about it. But only a little. Also, she'd kept the stun baton - but she'd mostly used it to signal people, reminiscent of an aircraft landing baton, as Riika lived in a part of the ship that happened to have a lot of non-combatants and technical crew on it and she was good at organizing them to get somewhere safe.
Really, she was was taken completely off guard by the insurrection aboard the ship -
Well, no. That's not true. Riika was aware of the rising tensions on both sides. You don't have to be a Newtype to pick up the stress, the strain, the conflict; Riika was particularly attuned to it because she'd *fought* with the Sleeves before, even though she had her disagreements with them.
She knew, eventually, something would happen, that she would be expected to choose a side, and that she knew which one she would pick. She just didn't think it would happen so... explosively.
And now, having had time to switch her glasses for her visor, get into a normal suit, and run - not walk - all the way to a secondary hangar where she typically did work on her own units:
"<Riika Sheder, Svalinn Feather Gundam, deploying!>"
This would have been a useful time for the METEOR, but the METEOR was on the Eternal and Riika didn't want it anyway. It represented an escalation. And the Federation was here, but she's pretty sure that deploying in the Tactical Enforcer would make it worse, if only because she'd make herself an enormous target. So, just Svalinn Feather it is: powder pink, accented in white and a very deep red, sleek and streamlined with flared shoulders and hips, currently wearing a broad-winged flight pack with additional connectors locked partway around the waist, connected to chest and hips and back.
"<Rena, I'm coming in toward you, because I have absolutely no idea what the tactical situation is yet,>" Riika says, because frankly it's kind of staggering to just barge into and Riika has not even been awake long enough to comb her hair. Svalinn's oversized flight thrusters flare as Riika orients, but there's already Jegans in the area and Three Ships mobile suits are fighting them.
Riika's lips tighten. This isn't quite what she wants to do. And yet -
Along the wings, small ports open, firing comparatively small micromissiles. Riika's main goal is meeting up with the other members of her flight wing, so they're meant to demolish the Jegan's ability to block her as destroy any mobile suits, but they are live weapons and they're not exactly safe. "<Charging!>"
KTS: Riika Sheder targets Mobile Weapon Team with IFP-F Mk2 Feather Launcher Micromissile Launch! KTS: Riika Sheder has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Angelo Sauper successfully avoids Banagher Links's 60mm Vulcan Guns Burst KTS: Angelo Sauper successfully evades Roux Louka's Hyper Mega Launcher Shot <Pose Tracker> Alto Saotome has posed.
The arrival of the Federation forces to assault the Three Ships Alliance makes things a whole lot more complicated for Alto. He's under strict orders to not engage the Federation, to the point of being authorized to abandon any other contracts he might have and retreat if it were to become unavoidable. SMS and its parent company are already under intense scrutiny due to the actions of Nergal's main branch. Even the smallest misstep could be a disaster for so many, given the company's reliance on Federation hospitality.
Thankfully though, the Federation is not the only targets out here today.
The VF-25F Messiah flies circles around the Geara Zulus and Geara Dogas, using its high maneuverability where possible to stay clear of their shots. That's not to say several don't come close to hitting the nimble fighter. Alto has also not been pressing the offensive too hard, wearing down the other machines but not going straight for the kill if possible. For all they did aboard the Ra Mari II, including taking shots at him, he's still not the bloodthirsty type. Not when it comes to fighting other people, anyway.
The shot that comes the closest to hitting Alto is one of those columns of megaparticles that wreak havoc through the battlefield. Just barely getting out of the way in time, the Messiah's pinpoint barrier glows from the near miss. In the cockpit, Alto squeezes his controls a little tighter as he recognizes the eliteness of a unique unit, as well as the voice of the one piloting it. The same voice from the betrayal aboard the Ra Mari II.
Alto's jaw clenches a little as he replies to Angelo, <"Make us pay!? You're the ones who shot your way out of YOUR OWN ALLIES' ship! You're one to talk!">
Cranking his flight stick to the side, Alto brings his fighter's nose around to point towards the Sleeves officer. Throttle forward, he rapidly begins to close the distance while lining the Krake Zulu up in his sights and pulling the trigger. The Messiah unleashes a rapid barrage of bullets from the machine gun ports in the wings as it rushes towards its target.
KTS: Alto Saotome targets Angelo Sauper with ES-25A High Speed Machine Guns Closing Assault! KTS: Alto Saotome has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Mobile Weapon Team partially guards Anita Rosetta's Gatling Sweep, taking 1800 damage! KTS: Mobile Weapon Team fails to intercept Riika Sheder's IFP-F Mk2 Feather Launcher Micromissile Launch, taking 3450 damage! KTS: Riika Sheder begins a Formation attack! <Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.
It had all been so simple, before.
For Trevor, all of this began with a worry and a plan. War had always had a habit of spilling over beyond the boundaries of the battlefield, and with that came risk to so many people he cared about. But it also brought opportunity. The Vestan Vultures are scavengers, they go where there is money to be made like a flotilla of their namesake buzzards. Normally that means picking battlefield scraps or the occasional bout of piracy, but why not, with war brewing, kill two birds with one stone? Why not go and see if there's any looming danger, and get paid for the pleasure?
That.
Was a bad, terrible, awful, naive, no-good plan.
They're a family, those Vultures. It'd be impossible for him to enter into this space, meet these people, and not find that communal social adaptation urging him to open up, to meet and learn and ingratiate until he was just another friendly face. And so he did. He made those connections. That would not have been a problem--
If he had only stuck to one side of the fence.
The Isadore lurches from its makeshift junkpile berth, the emergency bulkhead doors having closed minutes ago behind it where it had wedged itself into the gap to protect the hangar from decompression. Its pilot sighs, fingers playing across the throttle as he pushes the thrusters into full burn. It couldn't last. It could never last. And now he'd thrown his hat in, he'd made his choice. It was the only choice he could make; Trevor Teach would never pick an aped ideology over family.
"Federation ships, huh...?" he asks of the voiceless void of the Isadore's cockpit. "Well, at least I can try to cheer myself up now." Isadore's visor burns blue, the same hue as its thruster flare. "Captain, this is Trevor. I'm headed out to intercept some unfriendly faces," was he talking to Eight or to Suberoa? It ultimately doesn't matter too much! But what does matter is that the Isadore is on a direct course for the Endeavor. Its beam-- blunderbuss?? flashes, disgorging white-hot sprays of beam fire into the battleship's mobile weapon screen--
But it seems much more interested in the vessel behind.
If he can take it out, then the pressure on the Ra Mari will... not be removed, but it'll sure as heck get better.
KTS: Angelo Sauper parries Alto Saotome's ES-25A High Speed Machine Guns Closing Assault, taking 1080 damage! KTS: Alto Saotome has engaged Angelo Sauper! KTS: Trevor Teach targets Armor of the Week with Beam Spread Snapshot! KTS: Trevor Teach has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
The Banshee and the Dianthus clashed, as did their pilots. Even with Leina intentionally giving Lucine, Liam, and Ennil plenty of warning, the three pilots working together temporarily, and the Dianthus's own capabilities, it came with the three having to retreat.
.... With the Banshee itself scattering Federation troops hoping to score a few points on two Alliance pilots and an agent of Triple Zero.
A length of time later, after withdrawing to the Nadesico, the Dianthus is safely kept within its bay, getting its arm properly attached.
And Lucine is...
".... The Nadesico needs all the help it can get," Lucine says, tilting her head and giving Liam a quiet smile back. ".... I'm feeling better enough to at least do this."
The vision of that hollow applause will be louder if she shuts herself off.
".... I don't need the Dianthus to fight, and I don't need to be anyone other than who I am, right now." Leina's words struck deep, but they would; Lucine had confided a lot to her. "Besides... Hikaru would be lonely out there by herself."
And it *is* nice to be this close and personal with Liam. Lucine leaves him to his work, using the headset in her own helmet to do her own contacts.
< "... Hikaru, be nice to Liam, will you? He had to drag the Dianthus back in. Uribatake has his work cut out for him, but... I have faith he'll figure it out." > It's good to hear Hikaru's cheery voice. < ".... I'll support you however I can." > Namely, in a set of coordinates following her other messages.
-- First.
"Liam-- hook towards your left. 5 degrees." Lucine's eyes narrow slightly.
She's no Ruri, but Ruri's busy bringing the guns to this fight anyway.
KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Foresee Spirit Command targeting Hikaru Amano KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Foresee Spirit Command targeting Liam 7-020 <Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
What a chaotic turn of events this has been. Naoko just wanted to take one day to relax after all the tinkering with the Sukeban she's been doing for the past few weeks. Next thing she knew, blaring alarms woke her up from a nap, and she found herself rushing back to the hangar bay she'd been spending so much time in as of late. Not exactly how she'd pictured testing out her modifications, but when the Ra Mari II is in trouble... well, that's she lives now, of course she's going to protect her house!
Then that plan took a bit of a detour upon learning of the Banshee's presence, instantly drawing all of her attention. What she could do there was... not as much as she hoped, but at the very least the distraction helped to accomplish something important. It's up to those closer to its pilot, now.
Following after Rena at a distance as they return from that battle, she's already very mentally drained going into this, but she can hardly back off now. Not when the battle is still raging, and the Ra Mari II's fate is still on the line. She's not exactly feeling very confident about flying into a big swarm of Federation units right now.
Which is when Roux, also among their group, offers an alternative. "'Him'...?" she questions, directing her sensors towards the Krake Zulu. She doesn't really know who this 'him' is, but the words 'he's going to sink to RM2' is really all she needed to hear.
"Nova Stellar here," she radios on the Kakapo band, trying her best to sound less tired than she is. "I'll provide backup to the Strike Zeta. I trust the rest of you can handle the Federation side." One target, even if a more notable threat, is at least less complicated than many targets. She needs things to be uncomplicated right now.
Taking a deep breath, she tries her best to recenter herself. You're Nova Stellar, Miracle Worker. There's nothing you can't do, as long as you give it your all. With that, the Sukeban brings out its massive club. "Alright... time to get down to business!"
And down to business she gets, the Arm Slave's many thrusters - now actually tuned for space - flaring to life as it speeds down towards its fellow violet machine. It swings its weapon only once, attempting to mess with the mobile suit's internals by means of an electric discharge on contact. Only then does its pilot speak.
"Good taste in colors! Too bad about your attitude! I'm not letting you get anywhere near the Ra Mari II!"
KTS: Naoko Suzuki targets Angelo Sauper with Electro-zap! KTS: Naoko Suzuki has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Angelo Sauper successfully evades Naoko Suzuki's Electro-zap KTS: Lucine Azul targets Armor of the Week with Pass! KTS: Lucine Azul has completed their actions for the round. Armor_of_the_Week has changed Boss level to 3 <Pose Tracker> Mobile Weapon Team has posed.
No sooner has the General Revil oriented on the Ra Mari than does the Ra Mari turn and orient on it, with much of its mobile weapon group. Danbaef was hoping to have more then a few seconds of opportunity for the ReZELs to get into position -- but this will have to do.
One of the Jegan wings -- already close to the Ra Mari II's firing solution -- ends up in position to intercept its harassing fire with their shields. The needle missiles fare a little better; four of them find their marks, one of them square in the midsection of a ReZEL with a b-Defenser, which explodes in a lovely shade of pink.
"Oho -- a large commitment of ace pilots... and such highly-evolved mobile weapons! It's terribly rare to see a matchup of these proportions, you know," Alexis offers, as Riika's minimissiles streak for a group of Jegans; while they weather it, the storm takes out their shields. "Different worlds have their own different Gundams... this 'you' really ought to cherish such a battle. 'Ichi-go ichi-e,' hm?"
Maseki looks to Alexis with a scowl as Anita's gunpod sweeps across a group of ReZELs in flight mode; while the damage isn't crushing, one of them has to eject the Defenser before it explodes. "This isn't teatime, 'Alexis Kerib,'" he growls. "All teams -- change in plans! Type Bs, bombard the Ra Mari II! Type As, close quarters battle with enemy mobile suits! Jegan wing -- handle that VF! Guns -- what's the status on our own weapons?"
"Mega particle cannon fire priority has been rerouted, sir -- we'll be ready to fire in 50 seconds," comes the answer as the Jegan wing folds in on Anita as instructed, coming in with sabers.
"Good." For now, the ReZELs serve as the Revil's mega particle cannons, different wings alternating to avoid overheating as they bombard the Ra Mari II. Two ReZELs push on the Gaia Gear, letting loose their own micro missiles.
"Hmhm... well, you seem to have things in hand, at least," Alexis muses, as another two ReZELs push on the Svalinn with their hyper beam sabers, trying to close off its egress options.
KTS: Mobile Weapon Team has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Mobile Weapon Team targets Anita Rosetta with Jegan Wing CQC Tactics! KTS: Mobile Weapon Team targets Rena Lancaster with a-Defenser Team Micro Missiles! KTS: Mobile Weapon Team targets Eight York with b-Defenser Team Volley Fire! KTS: Mobile Weapon Team targets Riika Sheder with a-Defenser Team Hyper Beam Saber Strike! KTS: Mobile Weapon Team has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Eight York fails to intercept Mobile Weapon Team's b-Defenser Team Volley Fire, taking 4050 damage! KTS: Mobile Weapon Team begins a Formation attack! KTS: Armor of the Week partially guards Hikaru Amano's Gekigan Sword Dashing Slash, taking 2958 damage! KTS: Hikaru Amano has engaged Armor of the Week! KTS: Armor of the Week partially guards Liam 7-020's JS-F03A 'Gae Buidhe' Beam Glaive - Slash, taking 3772 damage! KTS: Liam 7-020 has engaged Armor of the Week! KTS: Riika Sheder blocks Mobile Weapon Team's a-Defenser Team Hyper Beam Saber Strike, taking 4500 damage! KTS: Trevor Teach rattles Armor of the Week, making its next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Armor of the Week partially guards Trevor Teach's Beam Spread Snapshot, taking 4180 damage! KTS: Trevor Teach begins a Formation attack! KTS: Armor of the Week fails to react to Lucine Azul's Pass, taking 0 damage! KTS: [Spirit Defense] Anita Rosetta's Easygoing activates, and her spirit endures. KTS: Mobile Weapon Team enervates Anita Rosetta, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Anita Rosetta blocks Mobile Weapon Team's Jegan Wing CQC Tactics, taking 4680 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Mobile Weapon Team's Disruptor activates, causing Jam L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Mobile Weapon Team's Enervator activates, causing Deject! KTS: Rena Lancaster's Will Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Rena Lancaster fails to evade Mobile Weapon Team's a-Defenser Team Micro Missiles, taking 2925 damage! KTS: Mobile Weapon Team begins a Formation attack! <Pose Tracker> Armor of the Week has posed.
"Aestivalis and CGUE closing to point-blank!" the tactical officer on the Endeavour calls out. "What the hell are - "
"Heavy melee," Kirush says with a frown. "Hard to starboard! Get me close air defense, drive them off the hull!"
The synchronised melee assault from the Aestivalis's heavy blade and the Liath Macha's glaive carves off ablative panelling, metal spiraling into the void to be shredded by the crossfire of missed beam barrages. In response, the gunnery crews line up their beam turrets, opening fire on the two small machines!
"Junker suit lining up a shot on our bow!" This is a very unfair way to describe the Isadora, even if it is technically accurate. The split beam blast cores a number of minor emplacement weapons, buying Liam and Hikaru time to reposition.
"Reset the doll formation for a defensive screen; get me a missile lock on that junker suit!" Kirush calls out.
Taurus mobile dolls close in around the Endeavour, aiming their weapons at the Isadore and bracketing it with a targeting lock.
KTS: Armor of the Week targets Liam 7-020 and Hikaru Amano with Beam Turret Array Increased Barrage. KTS: Armor of the Week targets Trevor Teach with Designate L1! KTS: Armor of the Week has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Armor of the Week designates Trevor Teach, making him easier to target and opening him to indirect fire. KTS: Hikaru Amano has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Hikaru Amano's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Hikaru Amano partially guards Armor of the Week's Beam Turret Array Increased Barrage, taking 2620 damage! KTS: Liam 7-020 has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Liam 7-020 blocks Armor of the Week's Beam Turret Array Increased Barrage, taking 5250 damage! <Pose Tracker> Angelo Sauper has posed.
"BURN, FILTH!"
The roar of Angelo Sauper is filled with trembling frustration and fury that knows not the proper place to truly direct itself. Angelo and the Sleeves are here to hold the line -- an inherently defensive position.
But the Commander of the Royal Guard takes to an immediate and indiscriminate offensive. Three Ships, Federation -- anyone caught in the Krake's crosshairs is its hellish victim as particle beams sweep the landscape of space. He is angry. He is -always- angry. But right now... he has -does- have a target for his rage.
Within the panoramic cockpit of the Krake, Angelo Sauper turns a baleful, violet gaze on the silhouette of the Ra Mari II. Thrusters ignite, sending the violet Sleeves mobile suit tearing across the battlefield towards that distant flagship. Even this far away, it feels too large. Too large to destroy. Too large to be real.
But it's a ship like any other. He just needs to target the bridge...
The barrels of the Krake Zulu's mega particle cannons sizzle with emerald afterglow as they ratchet into place, pointed just overhead parallel to the Krake's frame. For as ungainly as it looks, the Krake is an adroit force in the vacuum of space, the thrusters and vernier accompaniments that have replaced any sensible semblance of a lower body doing wonders to help it jut and weave through its enemies with carefully coordinated bursts of thrust on the part of its pilot.
A fact that Roux gets a first-hand demonstration of the second she lines up that Hyper Mega Launcher. Mega particle cannons glow brighter -- before their warm up is abruptly aborted as the Krake takes a sudden -barrel roll- through the vacuum of space. Thrusters set it to spin, thrusting downward relative to the Strike Zeta's position... and that scorching beam lances through space debris rather than the Krake, leaving twisted molten reams of metal in its wake as the Krake turns its sights on the Zeta.
<"-You-,"> hisses Angelo Sauper, and despite himself, foul humor bleeds its poisonous path into his tone. <"Look at you, so eager to put in the finishing stroke. -Good-.">
Mega particle barrels ignite at the Krake's shoulders --
<"It's better when scum are at least -honest- about what they are.">
-- and FIRE.
It's a relentless, tracking barrage -- and one that might grow exponentially more complex, if it weren't for...
<'Angelo!'>
<"... Banagher...!">
A timely interruption.
The Krake's offensive comes to an abrupt stop. Its mono-eye turns to regard the form of the Full Armor Unicorn, zooming in on its impressive silhouette; Angelo's lips curdle at the sight.
<"You've made that monstrosity even MORE heinous--">
But he has no time to seethe at Banagher right now. This is a battlefield -- and more than that, it's an -opportunity-. The Unicorn, right here. They don't need it anymore.
If he destroys it, then Banagher... than he... than the Colonel...!
<"BANAGHER!">
Angelo's shout rides the coattails of Banagher's own anger, feeding off each other if only in mutual sentiment; the Krake jukes itself towards its left, spiraling through that gatling fire. Its beam rifle trains on the Unicorn --
Look around you, fool!
"Wh--"
Only to -immediately- engage thrusters, launching UP through the air to just -barely- evade a carefully placed sniper's shot from... from... that voice. Angelo blinks.
<"I -THINK-,"> shouts the Sleeves lieutenant, bubbling with indignation, <"the Ra Mari II's captain is so EAGER for blood that she sends out CUSTODIANS to fight her battles for her-- gh--!">
Whatever other scathing things Angelo may have to weigh in on this unusual situation is put on hold; an Arm Slave is suddenly -launching- towards the Krake with a massive club in hand, of all things. <"What nonsense--"> he begins, before the Krake's thrusters engage, sending it -blasting- backwards; the tip of that club just barely scrapes that Zulu's decorated chest armor as it swings that assault rifle up.
<"Get AWAY from me!">
And -fires- it in a sweep, looking to catch the Sukeban in its furious volley of bright green beam fire.
It's then that the Krake begins to move; the cannons at its side detach, spools of segmented wire sprawling outward as they fan out wide from the Krake itself. Another hostile IFF is picked up, coming in quick; Angelo's eyes narrow as he puts away the Krake's rifle -- and instead -ignites- its beam tomahawk, the wide, fat edge of sizzling green particle energy sweeping out in a blistering, smearing streak as it catches a slew of bullets raining through the vacuum for it.
<"I have no time to debate with idiots! If you're with them, you're just as filthy as the rest!">
And with this, the Krake suddenly -jets- upward, attempting to leave the Messiah behind it in its wake -- just as one of its floating, incom-guided cannon barrels comes up behind the Messiah...
... and the Nightmare, in the distance.
Both Variable Fighters have all of a second to react before those barrels open fire with a hellacious fury of blinding, crackling green energy.
And as soon as they finish? -Both- are suddenly -snapping- backwards through space, linking up just below the Krake.
<"'Saving Leina.' What a joke. I TALKED to her, you know. She's the only one of you who understands the truth. And even then -- even THEN -- she cares so MUCH for you that she's put herself through hell just to STOP you.">
Where both barrels open fire in a blinding stream of green.
<"-All- this madness of hers is because YOU want to SAVE HER WITHOUT KNOWING A DAMN THING ABOUT WHAT YOU'RE DOING.">
KTS: Angelo Sauper targets Naoko Suzuki with Beam Machine Gun Full Barrage! KTS: Angelo Sauper has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has failed to disengage. KTS: Angelo Sauper targets Roux Louka with Mega Particle Assault Formation! KTS: Angelo Sauper targets Alto Saotome with Mega Particle Ambush Formation! KTS: Angelo Sauper targets Ruri Hoshino with Mega Particle Ambush Formation! KTS: Angelo Sauper targets Banagher Links with Mega Particle Cage Formation! KTS: Angelo Sauper has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
Eight knows Trevor is on their side, or was a few minutes ago. "Acknowledged," she says to Trevor over the radio. Whoever he was talking to, she can do that much. Keeping track of everything is made simpler by expanding her awareness--but at the same time, she 'feels' each death of a pilot out there in this state. There is nothing easy about any of it.
She doesn't love that one of their opponents is a Clop, but there's nothing she can do about that. Sentimentality over former allies is a good way to get her current allies killed. That's true for the Sleeves, and it's true for the Federation, now. All this, to take them out... Eight speaks up to the bridge, "Remember. If we didn't have a chance of changing things, the Federation wouldn't be expending so many resources on taking us out. So keep heart, everyone. We just have to get through this battle, today."
Just like the last, also today.
Kall speaks up next, "The General Revil is oriented on us, now. --Their Type Bs are inbound! Bombardments incoming!"
"Raaaaaaaaah!" More of the RMII's mobile suit wing rushes to intercept the bombers. A Nousjaduel-Ger rushes ahead of the others, blasting away at missiles with his own and preventing a more telling hit--but his battlecry is his final, as one of the Type Bs takes him out in a showy explosion. The rest of the bombardment hits against the hull hard, battering away at the ship's armor as the wing engages the enemy wing.
"Spinal Beam Cannon charge, 50%, Captain." Kazama's report is calm, clipped, confident. And Eight feels the weight of that statement, as the Ra Mari II turns again, beginning to face its front towards the General Revil. Already, light begins to shine out from the cracks in its forward hull, as the terrible weapon within gains power.
"Noted. Chovan, keep at it. Rezza, i'm leaving the mobile suit wing to you."
She then leans forward in her chair, closing her eyes for a moment. "Astelian. Get me targeting data on the General Revil and its suits. Start transmitting now to our mobile suit wing." Then, she focuses. They are not all likely to hear her voice, but Eight puts the weight of her entire intentionality with that transmission, on Rena, Anita, and Riika.
'I'm counting on you. Give it all you've got!'
The data that comes in is perfect for an all-out assault. Meanwhile, the rest of the Wing keeps on trying to defend against the incoming mobile suits...
Eight's eyes open. "Target lock, Kazama. Keep charging."
Just has to target the bridge... Eight is full aware of how they're defending her out there. She thinks for a moment, to Permanence, but she can't distract her. All the same, that care might come through to echo her words.
'Be careful.'
KTS: Eight York targets Rena Lancaster, Anita Rosetta, and Riika Sheder with All-Out. KTS: Eight York has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Roux Louka has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Roux Louka has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: [Mirage] Roux Louka's Anti-radar Suite activates, and she slips into a mirage. KTS: Roux Louka fails to evade Angelo Sauper's Mega Particle Assault Formation, taking 0 damage! KTS: Eight York orders an all-out attack, raising Anita Rosetta's Skill! KTS: Eight York orders an all-out attack, raising Rena Lancaster's Skill! KTS: Banagher Links has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Banagher Links has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Banagher Links fails to Charge. KTS: Banagher Links's Will Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Banagher Links's Beam Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Banagher Links partially guards Angelo Sauper's Mega Particle Cage Formation, taking 2952 damage! KTS: Angelo Sauper begins a Formation attack! KTS: Naoko Suzuki fails to evade Angelo Sauper's Beam Machine Gun Full Barrage, taking 6720 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Angelo Sauper's Don't Dare Belittle Me! activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Angelo Sauper's Don't Dare Touch Me! activates, causing Jam L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Angelo Sauper's Don't Dare Approach Me! activates, causing Control Bonus! <Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"I read you, Roux," Rena answers her. "Be careful, okay? And... look after Nova, too, if you can."
She looks after them -- watching the Strike Zeta and the Sukeban speed away. She feels the loss keenly; she would have liked them here, against all of these. On the other hand, she would also like them there against Angelo Sauper, and whatever he is bringing to the field.
But she isn't alone, today. Besides the Ra Mari II, there is the Svipul; there is also the Svalinn Feather. Rena looks to Riika, then Anita. "I read you, Riika," she says. "We've got the Sleeves coming from one side. The alliance broke down," she says. "And the Federation's here to finish us off. Annie, stick with us, okay?"
She sounds nervous. It's not hard to spot.
The ReZELs coming in for her. Their missiles explode -- and the Gaia Gear Alpha surges past a couple, before two of them explode nearby. They slam into the Gundarium alloy, exploding with fiery blasts that rattle the machine; Rena is thrown to the side.
"Gh--"
Targeting data flows across her screen. She stares at it -- then nods, as she feels Eight's voice as much as she hears it. "I know, Octo," she says. "We'll see this through...!"
The Gaia Gear Alpha's legs and arms unfurl; the nose cone slides down and the head comes out. The Mobile Suit breaks up between the two ReZELs, then raises its arms -- and aims them towards each of them. The forearm armor pops up, which reveals a beam cannon mounted within.
Each beam cannon flashes, before firing a blast of mega particle energy at the midsection of each.
KTS: Rena Lancaster has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Rena Lancaster targets Mobile Weapon Team with Dual Hand Beam Guns! KTS: Rena Lancaster has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Alto Saotome has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Mobile Weapon Team fails to react to Rena Lancaster's Dual Hand Beam Guns, taking 5520 damage! KTS: Angelo Sauper rattles Ruri Hoshino, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Ruri Hoshino fails to evade Angelo Sauper's Mega Particle Ambush Formation, taking 4100 damage! <Pose Tracker> Hikaru Amano has posed.
"Don't worry! I'll take real good care of him for you!" Hikaru promises Lucine, when it comes to Liam. "The support makes me feel extra convinced, too~" She adds, with a little wink.
Combining her strength with Liam's Liath Macha, they managed to score a pretty good one-two hit on the ship. "Hey, nice one, Liam!" She cheers, as their blades impact. "We already make a pre-ee-tty good team."
The Clop-Class makes its counterattack - Distortion Field deflecting some of the beam turret burst, leaving Hikaru feeling satisfied enough from the block. Liam's not as lucky taking a pretty massive hit-- "H-Hey! Lucine's in there, too - let me cover for you two next time, okay? I'm the one with the Distortion Field!"
It's not the same as fighting with her real wingmates... but she's confident they'll be able to get themselves out of this scrap.
"Hey, Mr. Pirate! Was it Taylor? Maybe Tyler? I recognize that suit from your last THIEVERY instance, so get your butt in formation if you wanna live!" She demands, rather Ryoko-like in cadence.
She's glad she did call out to him because a swarm of mobile suits absolutely surrounds him. "Oh, geez -- that's a lot of em', but they look pretty much unmanned! Just like the Jovian Lizards, right?" She sheaths the massive Orb Anti-Ship Sword in the Aestie's poorly-fit weapons skirt, pointing the Rapid Rifle. "I get the feeling these guys will be a problem if we don't deal with them quick, so let's get to it! These suckers don't even know about 'quality over quantity'!" The rapid rifle goes pew pew, hoping to at least score some hits on the mobile dolls and free up Trevor's position.
KTS: Hikaru Amano targets Armor of the Week with Rapid Rifle Suppressive Fire! KTS: Hikaru Amano has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
"Right there with you." Anita replies with a nod - but before she can join up with Rena, the General Revil's Jegan wing closes in. Anita can handle herself in melee combat, but all in all she's a sharpshooter more than anything - she grimaces as she tries to dodge and weave through the flurry of sabers, but while her shield manages to absorb some of it, she still takes the brunt of their assault.
The situation isn't great for her - but while she can't hear Eight's voice, the data transmitted by the Ra Mari II says a lot on its own. As it happens...
"Thanks. That's just what I needed." Anita replies, offering a grin. The Svipul spins in space, unleashing a spray of vulcan fire at all of the surrounding Jegans - and, which direction to break toward once she's made herself some space.
KTS: Anita Rosetta targets Mobile Weapon Team with Vulcan Barrage! KTS: Anita Rosetta has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Riika Sheder has posed.
'The alliance broke down.'
"I noticed," Riika says, though there's a smile in her voice that means she's probably not making fun of Rena. "They... A lot of them have been through a lot, and I knew that not all of them would be interested in the way the Three Ships do things. But I didn't think it would end like this!"
A pause.
"Especially with the Federation here," Riika adds. "I don't know if they want to stop us, or the Sleeves, or both, but - " She'd say more, but she has other things on her mind. Things like swords.
Several of the ReZELs try to pen her in. Svalinn Feather is difficult to pen in in open space - but this isn't open space; there's too many people, too many weapons, too many danger zones. Riika has her choice of directions to go, and many of them look open, but there's a good chance a beam or a missile will be there soon enough. Trying to keep track of the entire battlefield in realtime is impossible even for her, with her incredible memory and ability to multitask.
So she holds her ground instead. One of the ReZELs comes in, and Riika's laminate-armour shield, a single sheer plate instead of segments and made of many layers of shield material and anti-beam coatings, is there to stop it. Or at least, come close; the saber is stopped, but melts through several of the layers, damaging the arm beneath.
Riika puts Svalinn through an almost delicate pirouette and withdraws a pole, which proves to have a beam saber mounted on the top of it. She uses the glaive to cut at the other ReZEL with a sweeping cut, then fires her thrusters, darting past the first and practically dragging the glaive across its arm and shoulder.
She feels Eight, distantly. Riika is not the most sensitive person, but there's something... and the data that comes along with it is a welcome sight. Riika doesn't use it immediately but lets her computer process it, building up a more detailed display as she starts tracking as many of the General Revil's MS complement as possible. Come *on*, she thinks. Work already!
KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Riika Sheder targets Mobile Weapon Team with JS-F03 Isarnkoll Beam Glaive - Glaive Mode Sweep! KTS: Riika Sheder has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Ruri Hoshino has posed.
Leina! Leina, where are you?! We're coming for you, Leina!
It's a determined, searching feeling, flung out into the far reaches of the battlefield. Permanence has always been most talented at reaching out to others; perhaps she can even reach the girl who shot their tormentor.
But these things take time, as Permanence always says. They take time, and right now, all of hers is taken up by the Krake Zulu.
"Captain York didn't send me!" Permanence yells, to Angelo, a hint of anger in her own tone. She feels the texture of her clutch, as she grasps it, as she takes a breath. Be careful is what Eight said, back then; yes, she hears the echo, called back to her. "The choice to fight... was my own. But she supports me, you know. She always has."
She has only moments to react to the particle cannon which the Krake Zulu fires -- and she's a moment too late; though she feels the danger a second before it fires, Angelo's firing solution is an expert thing, and Permanence finds herself with nowhere to dodge as another shot spirals out from elsewhere in the battle. "Ugh--!!" She yelps, as she's thrown forward against her straps, heavily. "Damn... there's a reason you stand where you're standing, huh..."
Eight's not the only support she's had, here, though. "Roux," Permanence says, and says it with relief, across her radio. Roux is one of the people she has caught up with, more, over the months; her rough style agrees well with her, and she's been a welcome friend, as Permanence went from wounded to healing. "Yeah, situation's fucked enough that I'm here, now. But look, it's okay. I set my mind to fighting to save Leina... turned out to be a lucky decision, with all this shit going down, huh?" And the grin on her voice, brief as it is, can be heard.
Don't let the despair kill you. Everyone's pulling together for this fight, after all.
"And I'm with you, Banagher," Permanence underlines it, as she responds to his own determination. Her fingers curl, around her stick, as she nudges it forward, and the GERWALK Nightmare Plus spirals past a stray fired shot.
She looks to her console, and chuckles, shaking her head. A strand of hair falls from her bun down over her grey eyes, worn with more lines than her forty years ought to have given her. Laboratories age a woman. "Haha, shit, the Messiah's here, too..?" She wonders, as she watches its rapid manuvering. "Alto, right? I've heard great things about you. I'll try to keep up--!!" The Nightmare Plus pulls around, and shifts -- "Battroid, engaging!" -- further away from the fighter jet form which it entered the field on, and further towards the humanoid forms of the mobile suits flooding this corner of space. '171' is blazoned upon its breast, now, as it grasps its Dragonov in hand.
"Nova Stellar! I'm looking forward to seeing your miracle today!" Permanence calls, as she darts in closer to the Krake Zulu, firing a shot closer from the hip in an effort to disorient him with a stranger approach.
"Because..." Her hands tighten, around her controls, again. "Because, Angelo, you don't understand how someone's whole being can get mixed up! Indoctrination isn't just about changing an opinion or two... everything about you changes to fit the story they're telling! Everything about you -- and nothing! Don't you see how she can care so much, even while she's tearing these damn suits apart?!"
Her voice rises, as she yells: "Maybe you should just look in a mirror!"
KTS: You have not deployed a robot. (see +deploy) KTS: You have not deployed a robot. (see +deploy) #151:+queue, line 20: Type mismatch (End of traceback)
KTS: Mobile Weapon Team successfully avoids Anita Rosetta's Vulcan Barrage KTS: Mobile Weapon Team partially guards Riika Sheder's JS-F03 Isarnkoll Beam Glaive - Glaive Mode Sweep, taking 2610 damage! KTS: Riika Sheder has engaged Mobile Weapon Team! Ruri Hoshino transforms to VF-171 Nightmare Plus <Battroid Mode>
KTS: Ruri Hoshino has changed loadout. KTS: Ruri Hoshino targets Angelo Sauper with SSL-9B Dragunov Sniper Rifle Hip Shot! KTS: Ruri Hoshino has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Angelo Sauper rattles Alto Saotome, making his next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Alto Saotome fails to react to Angelo Sauper's Mega Particle Ambush Formation, taking 5160 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Angelo Sauper's Don't Dare Belittle Me! activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Angelo Sauper's Don't Dare Touch Me! activates, causing Jam L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Angelo Sauper's Don't Dare Approach Me! activates, causing Control Bonus! <Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.
'Junker mech' is pretty accurate, even if it doesn't at all capture the Isadore's je ne sais quoi. It may be a ramshackle thing pockmarked in dents and bruises from the pile of scrap that had been resting for several minutes on its back, but it has a sense of nobility to it. Or at least, the sense that someone has put a lot of love in maintaining a certain look, even considering the miscellania of mobile weapon parts that make up its frame.
Trevor is very much someone who cares a lot about 'appearances.'
"Tch, they've got a lock on us, huh...?" He murmurs. Invisible radiation markers crawl across the machine's frame like electronic spotlights. Isadore's glowing visor pulses softly as lock after lock is forged. Electronic systems interface, a dozen locking onto its one. There's naught that can be done for it, except--
"That means we've got their attention. Let's make it count!" Isadore's visor flashes on cue, another of its weapons coming online. A crossbow-like thing falls into its other hand. Discerning fans of mining tools would recognize it as a heavily modified asteroid mining bolter. Except this one is equipped with a zhu-ge-nu-like clip of high-explosive bolts.
And to his credit, the others do take advantage. Even as the Isadore dances in a furious dervish, launching explosive bolts and beam spread-shots in equal measure into the swarm of dolls, the sudden rapport of rapid rifle fire streaks by and causes the machine to whirl out of the way as if to evade. "It's Trevor!" Trevor protests-- Captain Taylor is that OTHER guy!! "I'm not sure there's much 'formation' to be had at this point, love! I'm kind of being mobbed here-- but feel free to use my distraction to your advantage if you need!"
"Just-- kindly don't leave us to die out here, okay? You wouldn't want to make Ruri sad, would you!?" (TREVOR CAN USE THAT LINE TOO!!)
KTS: Trevor Teach targets Armor of the Week with Explosive Bolt! KTS: Trevor Teach has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Angelo Sauper successfully evades Ruri Hoshino's SSL-9B Dragunov Sniper Rifle Hip Shot Zoltan Akkanen teleports in. POT: Zoltan Akkanen is now set observer. <Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.
"I'll try," Roux answers Rena. Perhaps they'll see each other again. Many people here might not.
"Banagher!!" Roux exclaims as she sees, and hears, the arrival of the Unicorn Gundam. It's a relief. "She was vectoring spinwards last I saw her, but she could be anywhere right now. Oh my god!"
The last said, not in disgust, but in relief. She answers 'Nova Stellar,' then: "That's Angelo Sauper. I can tell... He's dangerous, don't take him lightly. I guess that's pretty fatuous, huh," Roux exhales, even as she brings up the Hyper Mega Launcher, decelerating relative to the emergent conflict point...
"Permanence?" Roux says, with something like wonder. She laughs, a little weakly, and says, "Yeah! Look, we just have to get this guy to get lost - get to the Banshee and..."
And then what. Then what, Roux. What's your funny LINE, Roux. Roux does not have one. She has an enemy. Pink, like purple, like poison.
That awareness of Angelo's heart tightens upwards as Angelo hisses at her. Roux's lip curls upwards, even as she feels her swelling eye -- because, yes, she has had no chance to do anything about when that man, Jeccub, popped her one in the face -- squeeze shut. "Oh, wow, scum, huh," Roux says, her voice venomous. "I guess you're right. I'm never going to live up to the grand dream of Zeon, am I?"
Something rumbles in Roux's gut. Something that wants to close in. Something that wants to defeat this enemy --
-- and she questions it just for a moment --
as the rays of scintillant light wash outwards. And the Strike Zeta jerks backwards, and even contorts, drawing up one leg at an angle that makes no sense. That's because it's an instinct, a reflex. A premonition of harm. A beam that would have punched through the limb and left it melted slag with a core of vaporized materials instead just flakes paint in its passage.
Roux feels her heart pound. Something in her...
"... It's funny," Roux continues, with much, much less sass in her voice. "She said the same thing to me. It's ironic, isn't it? Even now, you're the biggest supporter of Full Frontal... She's fighting because she's convinced of the unstoppable power of the Federation and its evil... and you're both saying the same thing," Roux concludes, "and you're both DOING the same thing..."
"... Funny, isn't it?"
And despite this, Roux keeps going. The Strike Zeta sweeps downwards, accelerating while Angelo's attention is elsewhere. She reaches for the Beam Saber but it's a feint too; Roux herself is almost surprised when the thigh-mounted integral beam cannons fire, even as Roux pivots the Mobile Suit. "Gh," she mutters, "this isn't good for this geometry unless I want to high kick it--"
Another spray of megaparticles aiming towards the Krake Zulu. "Hey, hey, don't say allies," Roux transmits to Alto, though she sounds, understandably, distracted. "We'll brief you later." Roux has no intention of briefing Alto Saotome later.
KTS: Roux Louka has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Roux Louka targets Angelo Sauper with Thigh Beam Fountain! KTS: Roux Louka has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
Liam has never had to fight a battleship before. The closest he's gotten were Angels and other massive kaiju. It's hard not to remember that there are people in there, and--
'Liam, hook towards your left. 5 degrees.'
A fraction of a second later, the Endeavour's turrets swivel to target, filling the void with focused beam fire. Liam has already followed Lucine's directions, twisting the suit left and bringing the shield to bear. A beam slams directly into its face--and the battered shield, already scarred and weakened from the fight with the Banshee, gives. Megaparticle fire boils through, scorching the Mobile Suit's arm and slamming into its shoulder. Armor blebs off into the void. Secondary hydraulics activate, taking over from the half-melted primaries.
Liam sucks in a breath through his teeth. "Shit," he says, a flash of terror-guilt-rage washing over him as Hikaru talks. "I'm trying. Falling back." The wounded CGUE II continues its retreat, swapping out the glaive for its beam rifle. A moment later, it sights on those batteries, and targets them, one by one, with blasts of withering megaparticle death.
KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Armor of the Week with MA-M21G Beam Rifle Rapid Fire! KTS: Liam 7-020 has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.
Angelo shouts his name. Banagher grits his teeth in response, memories of their time training together flashing through his mind. It was awful, and Banagher hated every second of it, but all those hours spent together humanized Angelo. He isn't just Full Frontal's attack dog anymore, he's a person, and despite his anger--
<"I don't want to fight you, Angelo!"> Banagher yells, even as the Unicorn fires, her Beam Gatling's shots going wide. <"Think about what you're doing! The Federation will kill all of us if we don't work together!">
Even without the NT-D's pressure, it's difficult to stay focused. Difficult not to lash out at Angelo more than Banagher already has. Mobile suits clash all around him, ships fire on each other -- hatred and fear roil across the battlefield.
<"It doesn't have to BE LIKE THIS!"> Banagher screams, almost desperately. <"We can change things! The Box can make things better for everyone, Angelo!">
Cutting off the Unicorn's fire, Banagher stows the Beam Gatling back along his Gundam's arm. The Unicorn stretches her arms wide, unarmed and vulnerable.
<"Just let me by. She needs--">
Angelo speaks about Leina. About what she's been forced to do. Banagher's eyes go wide. His hands shake on the Unicorn's controls.
<"How can you say that?! Leina tried to reach you. She was so kind to you, and --"> Banagher's voice shakes. <"I want to save her because I LOVE HER! Because what's happening -- it's wrong! It's cruel, and--">
Banagher cuts himself off with a yell of frustration and pain. Forgoing her pilot's attempt to reach Angelo, the Unicorn charges forward, igniting one of the beam sabers fitted along her arm. Holding it out before her, the white Gundam attempts to pierce through the Krake's armor, aiming just above the cockpit.
<"YOU WON'T STOP ME!"> Banagher shouts, energy crackling along his weapon, echoing his violent intent.
KTS: Banagher Links has activated the Accel Spirit Command and Has Engaged with Angelo Sauper Escudo Shard teleports in.
KTS: Angelo Sauper successfully avoids Roux Louka's Thigh Beam Fountain KTS: Banagher Links targets Angelo Sauper with Hyper Beam Javelin: Breakthrough! KTS: Banagher Links has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Banagher Links anchors Angelo Sauper, forcing him into close range. KTS: Angelo Sauper parries Banagher Links's Hyper Beam Javelin: Breakthrough, taking 1680 damage! KTS: Banagher Links has engaged Angelo Sauper!
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
It really isn't all that surprising that this goes poorly for Nova. Charging in while swinging a big club is not exactly a very sophisticated approach. She should have been more cautious. Getting overzealous while your mind isn't fully focused was not the best decision. And this is a pretty big size mismatch to boot, some caution would have been prudent. All elements that she failed to consider, and that's before getting into the fact that she doesn't know much of anything about the pilot she's dealing with beyond what Roux just told her.
Her unit being comparatively small and maneuverable at least lets her avoid getting outright incinerated in the wake of the evasive action she's forced into. It doesn't let her escape scot free, even getting grazed by some of that beam fire enough to do significant damge to the Arm Slave. As its pilot yells in momentary panic, it seems as if the Sukeban might just think better of this and retreat then and there. Except...
I'm counting on you. Give it all you've got!
She clearly heard Eight's voice just now. It wasn't even directed at her, but she still heard it, even as far away as she is. And then she hears something else from one of the pilots fighting by her side, which very much is directed at her.
Nova Stellar! I'm looking forward to seeing your miracle today!
What's this...? Does she actually... have a reputation? Well, if that's the case... if that's the case, then she can't possibly let them down, can she? As naturally as breathing, she slips back into a mask of full confidence in her response to Permanence. "Oh...? Well then, pay close attention, and I'll demonstrate!" There's a momentary frown, as she watches the Unicorn clash with the Krake Zulu. "...In just one moment," she promises, before switching to a tightbeam. The image of a purple-haired girl with pigtails that Banagher has perhaps seen in passing but never formally met appears in the opening window. She looks vaguely annoyed, but mostly just tired.
"Hey. Unicorn Boy. You don't know who I am, but I know who you are." You can tell, she used his full name and everything. "...Don't let this guy get to you. You need to stay calm. For her sake, too. I'm counting on you to reach her." That's... all she feels she need to say, there. Now. Time for that demonstration.
KTS: Naoko Suzuki has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Banagher Links KTS: Naoko Suzuki targets Angelo Sauper with Kanabou Beam! KTS: Naoko Suzuki has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Angelo Sauper successfully avoids Naoko Suzuki's Kanabou Beam <Pose Tracker> Alto Saotome has posed.
Alto is apparently not the only one turning his focus towards Angelo, as several others come rushing in too. Alto of course recognises the Unicorn, well aware of who's piloting it. The others, not so much. Though one does complain about his choice of words, to which he replies, <"Whatever!">
A remote bit sneaks up behind Alto's machine as he rushes past the Krake Zulu, green energy striking the rear of the fighter and scorching black across its white armor. Alto grits his teeth as damage alerts start popping up on one of his screens. He quickly jams his flight stick down and back, triggering a transformation.
The Messiah briefly separates into multiple parts, rearranging into its half-fighter, half-humanoid form and then recombining once more, all within less than a second. Its legs then fold up and forward, engines in its feet burning bright and rapidly slowing its speed. The craft then spins around to face the Krake Zulu.
Watching the Sleeves elite blast its way around the battlefield, avoid much of the fire directed at it. It's clear that they're going to have to be creative if they want to bring this guy down before he does something that Alto's sure the rest of them are going to regret.
As avenues of attack rapidly rush through Alto's mind, he gets a comm from another of the ones fighting Angelo. He responds to Permanence, <"I didn't really have time to meet everyone on the Ra Mari II-"> He wasn't there for long and spent most of it in the hangar! <"But nice to meet you. And at this point, I hope those things you've heard are true..."> It seems like he could really use some greatness here!
A plan decided on, Alto presses a few buttons in his cockpit. The Messiah jettisons the missiles currently attached to its wing hardpoints. He's throwing away his weapons? It then stows its gunpod on its leg and reaches its right hand behind the shield attached to the left arm. Drawing forth a simple combat knife, the Messiah's legs fold back this time, propelling the craft closer towards the Krake Zulu.
As he closes in, Alto asks of the enemy pilot, <"What the hell do you have against them? Against him!?"> The Messiah's legs fold and turn, burning as the machine attempts to keep up with its foe and lash out at it with that blade in its hand, <"What have they done to you to deserve this!?">
KTS: Alto Saotome has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Alto Saotome targets Angelo Sauper with AK/VF-M9 Assault Knife Slash! KTS: Alto Saotome has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Mobile Weapon Team has posed.
The hand-mounted beam guns find their marks; one ReZEL outright detonates, and the second jukes at the last possible second, losing a leg -- which in turn shears off a large chunk of its Defenser as it falls away. The Jegans actually make a good show against Anita; one takes an already-shredded shield and hurls it toward the VF, letting it get chewed up at closer range and intercept more of the bullets. It's a desperate maneuver -- the kind of thing you can't do twice.
"Oh, you have a truly excellent retinue." Alexis continues musing; it's hard to tell whether he's sincerely impressed or mocking Danbaef, as Riika's glaive bites through a ReZEL, all the way through the shoulder to the back.
Maseki's expression remains a scowl -- evidently taking it as mockery. "They're the best the EFSF has to offer. Almost all of them are veterans, whether it's the Gryps Conflict, the Primeval War, or one of the Neo Zeon conflicts."
"I wasn't aware the Federation had many Neo Zeon conflict veterans to go around!" Alexis answers -- collapsing the waveform on whether it's mockery. "Truly part of an exclusive club indeed, to have participated in such conflicts without being part of Londo Bell."
The Colonel grips his armrests a little tighter in frustration -- and elects to take those feelings out on the Ra Mari II. "Shift orientation relative to the Ra Mari II. Ready the underside mega particle cannons! Let's sink that ship of traitors."
The Jegan wing starts to retreat from Anita somewhat -- and the reason is obvious a moment later. They've received a signal from guns; several missiles streak for that engagement, curtailing its options.
The ReZELs, meanwhile, fold in on Rena and Riika in equal measure. Rena's attackers close with hyper beam sabers now that they've run themselves out of missiles, while Riika gets a moderate bombardment... that's actually intended to funnel her toward a group of Jegans, which fire their shield missiles at the Svalinn.
No sooner have they managed that, though, than does the General Revil itself get into position -- and open up with its underside mega particle cannons with a heavy barrage.
KTS: Mobile Weapon Team has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Mobile Weapon Team has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Mobile Weapon Team has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Mobile Weapon Team targets Rena Lancaster with a-Defenser Team Hyper Beam Saber Strike! KTS: Mobile Weapon Team targets Anita Rosetta with Missile Launchers Area Denial! KTS: Mobile Weapon Team targets Eight York with Mega Particle Cannons Increased Barrage! KTS: Angelo Sauper fails to parry Alto Saotome's AK/VF-M9 Assault Knife Slash, taking 3520 damage! KTS: Alto Saotome has engaged Angelo Sauper! KTS: Mobile Weapon Team targets Riika Sheder with Jegan Wing Ranged Tactics! KTS: Mobile Weapon Team has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Mobile Weapon Team enervates Eight York, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Eight York blocks Mobile Weapon Team's Mega Particle Cannons Increased Barrage, taking 6490 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Mobile Weapon Team's Disruptor activates, causing Jam L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Mobile Weapon Team's Enervator activates, causing Deject! KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Anita Rosetta successfully intercepts Mobile Weapon Team's Missile Launchers Area Denial KTS: Rena Lancaster has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Rena Lancaster has activated the Strike Spirit Command. <Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
It's a tight squeeze, but Lucine didn't account for the fact that Liam would naturally use his shield, rather than dodge with daredevil glee like the Dianthus would.
Which, likely, is the reason the Liath Macha didn't get hit at full power.
Lucine sucks in a breath, her hands trying to reach for control that aren't there.
".... You're doing good, Liam." She keeps her voice calm-- no, she doesn't even need to try.
It's the first time in a while she's done this, but not the literal first time. Many of her first forays into proper flying wasn't with her at the helm, but in the back seat of her dad's Orion.
< "Liam's shield was compromised in the battle with the Banshee earlier. Still, he's in better shape than the Dianthus...." > She switches the range to include Trevor, after hearing Hikaru's greeting. < "I recognize your vehicle... you were the one that tried to patch the hole Angelo left behind, weren't you? ... Thank you." >
"Liam, I'm going to contact Banagher and give him support, then focus back here." Her gaze softens, feeling his terror and guilt. ".... Use me to your advantage, even if it's just to observe. I'm here for you."
Just as Liam was for her.
Hoping that interferance won't mangle the message, Lucine tries to send a message to the Unicorn. < ".... Banagher. I met Leina on the field earlier. I'll tell you want I know, later, but it's likely nothing you don't already know. ... I have faith you can reach her." > She tries to aid Banagher more directly, lending her own spark of foresight to his--
Her body slumps as Lucine is forced to stop. She's never been able to focus like this in a battle before, but doing something like that was... hard, and she's not even sure anything got through.
KTS: Rena Lancaster successfully intercepts Mobile Weapon Team's a-Defenser Team Hyper Beam Saber Strike KTS: Mobile Weapon Team completes the Formation attack! KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Foresee Spirit Command targeting Banagher Links KTS: Riika Sheder fails to Evade Mobile Weapon Team's Jegan Wing Ranged Tactics, taking 4500 damage! KTS: Eight York orders an all-out attack, raising Riika Sheder's Skill! <Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"Annie, you okay over there?" Rena asks, trying to keep an eye on everything she is dealing with. Her eyes dart across the screen, towards Riika -- an image of her appears as a cut-in on her panoramic display.
"I think they're after us," Rena says. "I feel... some kind of aggression at us, from that ship. Something else, too, though..."
Her eyes narrow, as she looks at the General Revil.
"It's opportunism," she says. "Hit us while we're in a tough spot."
The ReZELs come sweeping back in -- and that has Rena's attention on them again. The Gaia Gear Alpha reaches to its hilt armor -- and draws forth a beam saber, catching both of them and holding them at bay for a moment.
"Funnels!" Rena cries out. "Go!"
The back of the Gaia Gear Alpha bursts to life, six vapor trails erupting -- and six funnels fly out, shooting all around her. Then, a half-dozen spears of golden light criss-cross through space (and possibly the ReZELs), from several sides.
"Ra Mari II!" Rena calls out. "They're aiming their main guns on you!"
KTS: Rena Lancaster targets Mobile Weapon Team with Funnel Pod - Dusk Formation! KTS: Rena Lancaster has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Mobile Weapon Team partially guards Rena Lancaster's Funnel Pod - Dusk Formation, taking 4725 damage! <Pose Tracker> Armor of the Week has posed.
The Comms operator on the Endeavour, having isolated the transmission from the Liath Macha, frowns and mouths 'your master is a criminal?' to herself before saving the transmission.
Kirush has no idea this is going on, instead focused on coordinating the defense of the battleship. Fortunately, the attempt to drive off the three machines attacking the ship has resulted in success, and now there's a mobile doll screen keeping them at bay - although the Isadore and Hikaru's flanking fire manages to destroy a handful of the machines, they reform their screen almost instantly, maintaining an optimal control radius.
They are, after all, coordinated by a single command algorithm.
"Missiles ready, Captain!" comes the call from tactical. "Fire on that junker! Turret teams, keep harrassing the other two!"
A single missile launches from the internal ventral mount on the Clop-class, slipping perfectly through the Taurus screen formation and straight towards the Isadore, while the Endeavour's turrets continue to track Hikaru's Aestivalis and the Liath Macha, repeated fire trying to split them up and force them into a position where they're easier to pick off.
KTS: Armor of the Week targets Trevor Teach with Internal Missile Launcher Surgical Strike! KTS: Armor of the Week targets Liam 7-020 with Beam Turret Array Burst! KTS: Armor of the Week targets Hikaru Amano with Beam Turret Array Burst! KTS: Armor of the Week has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Liam 7-020 has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Liam 7-020 has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Hikaru Amano rattles Armor of the Week, making its next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Armor of the Week fails to evade Hikaru Amano's Rapid Rifle Suppressive Fire, taking 3990 damage! KTS: Armor of the Week partially guards Trevor Teach's Explosive Bolt, taking 3780 damage! KTS: Armor of the Week fails to evade Liam 7-020's MA-M21G Beam Rifle Rapid Fire, taking 4080 damage! KTS: Hikaru Amano has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Liam 7-020 successfully Evades Armor of the Week's Beam Turret Array Burst KTS: Hikaru Amano's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Hikaru Amano fails to evade Armor of the Week's Beam Turret Array Burst, taking 4860 damage! KTS: Trevor Teach has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Trevor Teach has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Trevor Teach fails to intercept Armor of the Week's Internal Missile Launcher Surgical Strike, taking 7260 damage! KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Lucine Azul targets Armor of the Week with Pass! KTS: Lucine Azul has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Armor of the Week fails to react to Lucine Azul's Pass, taking 0 damage! <Pose Tracker> Riika Sheder has posed.
There's a lot of input on Riika's monitor. A lot a lot. Her fingers fly over the controls with one hand while she maneuvers, mostly, with the other. It doesn't hamper her too much, surprisingly; she made the Svalinn herself, she knows exactly what its responses are and should be and how to get the most out of it, and she's falling into that fugue she sometimes gets where she's *so* focused on operations that it feels like everything Just Works.
But Rena's there, and she draws herself out of it: "It makes sense. If they're really not happy about the Ra Mari going independent..." Riika, of course, comes from the ZAFT side - the Federation doesn't count her as AWOL, but they'd shoot her down as a traitor (and worse, a PLANT combatant, even though she's not anymore) all the same.
The bombardment comes, and Riika doesn't take the bait - she doesn't allow herself to be funneled toward the Jegans but barrels past them instead, using Svalinn Feather's superior mobility. She can twist and turn in ways that are uncomfortable for her, probably dangerous for someone bigger than her, especially a Natural (G-forces and whiplash), and extremely hard to predict. There's a reason the Feather Wing has as many thrusters and verniers as it does.
She takes fire, but not as much as being funneled would be, and then she flicks the radio open to the rest of the Ra Mari flight wing. Rena, Anita - and the Ra Mari itself, there to be echoed further out.
"<Bombardment commencing!>"
Riika goes back to her console and types... with both hands. Svalinn coasts for a few seconds as the wing launchers open up and discharge every micromissile she had armed and ready to go; a fountain of missiles that rain down amongst the ReZELs and the Jegans. It's the kind of thing you only pull if you are in an environment with no Minovsky interference and a very good targeting computer (sometimes wanzers can manage this, without Minovsky drives), a dedicated weapons-control officer on a battleship... or a Coordinator.
While it's still firing, she regains control of the Svalinn, raising the high-powered beam rifle and taking a shot... at the actual General Revil, while it's firing. Her beam rifle hums dangerously in Svalinn's hand before it fires, a charged shot that punches out with a bright white beam, edged with pink, powerful enough to penetrate even a battleship's armour if she gets a lucky shot.
KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Riika Sheder targets Mobile Weapon Team with IFP-F Mk2 Feather Launcher Combination Fire! KTS: Riika Sheder has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Mobile Weapon Team fails to react to Riika Sheder's IFP-F Mk2 Feather Launcher Combination Fire, taking 8580 damage! <Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
"I'm hangin' in there... but these guys are no jokes." Anita replies. They've got the kind of cohesion and tactical know-how earned through years of experience. Keeping up is taking everything she has. "How about you Rena? And Riika, too."
...They're after them. Aggression... and something else. Anita frowns.
"...Yeah. It sucks, but... I guess somethin' like this was gonna happen sooner or later. Let's show 'em that it ain't gonna be that easy." She replies.
The Jegan wing... retreats! Anita is immediately put on guard. They wouldn't retreat without a reason - and that reason immediately becomes clear as several missiles rush for her position. The Svipul readies its gatling pod.
One by one, the missiles explode around her. It's hard to tell if she got consumed by the blast, unless one's particularly attentive to their radar - and then, the Svipul accelerates out of the smoke no more harmed than before, gatling pod raised.
She opens fire at the General Revil's mobile suit contingent, aim her shots strategically with the intent to force them to move in a way she or the others can capitalize on.
KTS: Anita Rosetta targets Mobile Weapon Team with Leading Fire! KTS: Anita Rosetta has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Angelo Sauper has posed.
But she supports me, you know.
She always has.
"... She should have supported all of us."
The words are muttered under Angelo's breath, bitter and raw and away from open lines of communication as the Krake's mega particle cannons fly through the battlefield like separate units all their own. Angelo's fingers tighten around the Krake's controls as he guides that quasi-psycommu with preternatural skill and sharply-honed rage.
I'm never going to live up to the grand dream of Zeon, am I?
And his eyes narrow to slits behind his helmet's visor.
<"Zeon? ... Hahaha! Are you serious?!">
BGM: Firestar - Hiroyuki Sawano (https://youtu.be/P_QIThn4clw)
<"TO HELL WITH ZEON!">
The sudden, -hateful- outburst is doubled up on by the Krake's abrupt -blitz- towards the Strike Zeta. Thrusters ignite to send it accelerating through the (nigh-)friction-free depths of space, its bulky body belying the sheer -speed- at which it can move through its native environs. Unbound by gravity, it charges upon Roux's Mobile Suit --
-- and at the very last second before Roux fires, it -shunts- downward, barely escaping her offensive --
--and leaving to crackling cannons floating in space behind it.
Pointed at the Strike Zeta.
A feint. And a feint that leads to BOTH barrels igniting and -sweeping- in circular, clockwise and counter-clockwise directions as they seek to sheer through the Strike from all possible angles.
<"The grand dream of Zeon was a lie! A bill of goods sold to people STUPID enough to believe it! All those Zabis, promising a better tomorrow, and what did they do?! They ATE THEMSELVES because they were too GREEDY to stop themselves from PETTY GRABS FOR POWER! Zeon fed us hope and then SHOVED US INTO HELL! The Zabis, the Deikuns, -Haman Karn- and -Glemy Toto- and all their idiot ilk -- they're all as guilty as the Federation!!">
i hope they're BURNING for what they did to me
<"... But you all... you're the worst of all of them. I won't spare anymore words with someone who can't even -see- the difference between them and what the Colonel represents. You WANTED this outcome. So I'll GIVE IT TO YOU.">
The mega particles break away, segments of them floating and unspooling connective fibers like little joints of great, wired limbs. Thrusters carry them off into the distance away from the Krake as the Messiah propels towards the mobile suit's main body. Beam tomahawk igniting, it attempts to intercept the Variable Fighter once more -- but this time, it is seconds too slow, and the Messiah's pilot much too deft; Alto capitalizes on an opening, carving a long, spark-spitting scar across the torso of the Krake.
"Ah--!" Panoramic screens sputter and ripple for a brief moment as Angelo is knocked back in his seat, teeth gritting. Purple eyes dart. He abandoned his missiles? Why--?
The pilot's words, though, catch his immediate attention. Once more, Angelo attempts to juke back and -away- from Alto --
-- just as a mega particle cannon comes screaming in from the Messiah's starboard side, to RAM into him at full thrust like a battering ram. What did they do to deserve this?
<"They think they can -fix- things.">
The greatest crime of all.
And what did Banagher do? ...
exist
On that, there is only silence.
It's as he's responding to the Messiah that the Sukeban points that club at the Krake. Angelo blinks, turning his gaze towards the smaller machine. "What in the world--" begins the Royal Guard Commander--
KANABOU BEEEEEEEEEAM!
Purple eyes widen.
And that beam is mere SECONDS too late to completely catch the Arm Slave's purple counterpart as thrusters send it dipping a full ninety degrees through space, energy SEARING across the Krake's chest in a way that makes the ugly scar the Messiah left behind cook a terrible orange color. "Tt--!"
Angelo has only seconds to react before the next of his enemies are upon him -- and he reacts -swiftly-, one mega particle cannon repositioning itself above the Sukeban to tilt, target --
And -fire- one immense beam of energy, straight down upon the Arm Slave.
In comes the Nightmare next. The Krake's pilot's reaction times might put even a seasoned Newtype to shame, the way instinct seems to guide the entire, seemingly-clunky machine into a full, backwards SHUNT through space that sees it twisting and weaving through unorthodox bulletfire. But even if Permanence's bullets don't strike true--
Maybe you should just look in a mirror!'
-- her words certainly do.
"... How dare you. How dare you. How dare you how dare you--"
<"HOW DARE YOU!">
The Krake's full attention turns on that Nightmare; the particle cannons WHEEL backward rapidly through space, already charging, as Angelo's spiteful stare focuses on Permanence's Variable Fighter with the full weight of his hate.
<"Don't you DARE speak to me! Ever! Like you know me! You, some -- some -- blind fool supporting a rabble of blind fools! DON'T!">
Particle cannons lock into place. They hum to full, crackling strength, burning blindingly bright with a battleship's payload of power.
<"Don't EVER SPEAK ILL OF WHAT HE'S DONE FOR ME.">
And the void of space ignites bright green as the Krake pours every ounce of firepower it has into obliterating the Messiah.
Angelo's fury is a palpable, bubbling thing--
--and it completely blinds him to the way Banagher and the Unicorn scream towards him until it's just a second too late.
"Shit--!"
The aborted profanity of Angelo Sauper spits out as the lieutenant acts on instinct; the Unicorn is faster, more durable, better attuned to its pilots in ways Angelo never wants to be can't begin to conceive. All he has is instinct as that beam saber pierces forward. Its tomahawk SWINGS out as Unicorn's weapon STABS down --
--and it glances along the edge of that weapon on its way towards attempting to HOOK into the Unicorn's shoulder.
The Unicorn's saber -pierces- into the right upper-chest of that Geara Zulu torso. Sparks sputter and crackle.
And the Krake tilts its weapon as it attempts to DIG it into all that dense armor... and STICK it there.
Stick the -Unicorn- to -it-.
<"'Change things.' That's your mantra. Always, always, ALWAYS. It makes me sick! This is what comes from your CHANGE! Don't you get that?! You're not the first, you won't be the last! All your possibility amounts to--">
The Krake's free hand SNAPS forward, to try to GRAB the Unicorn by the head, to further hold it to the other mobile suit.
<"--is GIDDILY digging the hole DEEPER AND DEEPER for ALL OF US! You want to know the truth Leina found out?!">
... And above them, those twin mega particle cannons lock into position, thrumming with building power. Working to a full pitch. The output will destroy them both, indiscriminately. It's the perfect opportunity, but one that would cost Angelo everything too. But...
... as Angelo has made it abundantly clear, time and time again, as bluntly as possible...
<"WE NEVER WANTED ANY OF YOU TO DAMN US WITH YOUR SALVATION--">
His life doesn't matter.
KTS: Angelo Sauper targets Banagher Links with Beam Tomahawk Combo! KTS: Angelo Sauper targets Roux Louka with Mega Particle Double Helix Formation! KTS: Angelo Sauper has activated the Enable Spirit Command. KTS: Angelo Sauper has activated the Enable Spirit Command. <Pose Tracker> Hikaru Amano has posed.
"Ohhhhh right, Trevor! Gotcha, gotcha!" Hikaru mock slaps herself, when Trevor corrects her on his name. "Anyways, I'm here to rescue you, silly!" And then he invokes Ruri... "What? Of course not! We're all making it out of this one in one piece, you got that? Even if it means slapping that Feddie ship silly!"
"Yeah, it sucks not being able to fight at your full strength..." Hikaru comments, as Lucine explains the damage Liam's suit's already sustained. "Leeeet's just hope our enemies don't pick up on that part!"
"Ugh, I take it back!" Hikaru calls, as the mobile dolls begin to regroup. "These ones are even more relentless than the Jovian Lizards!" No matter how "rapid" the rifle is, these guys are able to be replaced just as quick.
The beam turret fire is also a pain - and despite her earlier words, she takes a direct hit! And Liam dodges scot free! "Geez, now you're embarrassing me... but nice work, Liam, Lucine!" The problem is that their are so many mobile dolls, and they've cut them off from cooperating...
"Okie, back to Plan A! If we down the ship, they can't fight anymore, and it just so happens they've taken some serious damage from our initial attacks~" Her anti-ship sword drawn once again, she slices through a mobile doll like butter, opening up a teeny hole in the formation for her little Aestivalis to slip through and...
"The finishing blow! SUPER-" The Aestivalis lunges forward, and you'd be forgiven for thinking there's a blue flame effect, when there's really just the Distortion Field. "PASSION!" Sword raised up, engulfed in the field, and "SLASH!!" She aims to just, slash as much of the ship as she humanly can to force a surrender, or at least weaken it enough for LuciLiam and Trevor to swoop in.
KTS: Angelo Sauper targets Ruri Hoshino with Mega Particle Scorched Earth Formation! KTS: Hikaru Amano has activated the Rouse Spirit Command. KTS: Angelo Sauper targets Naoko Suzuki with Mega Particle Assault Formation! KTS: Angelo Sauper targets Alto Saotome with Wire-Guided Shove! KTS: Angelo Sauper has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Prospect Spirit Command targeting Hikaru Amano KTS: Hikaru Amano has activated the Trick Spirit Command. <Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
Eight feels and hears Rena's voice in turn. That name that only she uses--even if she didn't know it was REna, she'd recognize that, as well as Anita's easy confidence; she can imagine her grin. With Riika out there with them, METEOR or not, she appreciates all three--but then, the weapon she's planning to use is an escalation, too. It may be a necessary one.
"Converging Spinal Beam Cannon, 70% power, Captain." Kazama's report is the same as before, even as the bridge is a flurry of activity given all that's happening. "Chovan, evasive maneuvers!"
The heavy barrage of beam cannon fire rushes the Ra Mari II--and while a number of mobile suits with shields get in the way of those huge shots, only some of them can be blocked, and those at the cost of more lives yet. Eight's mouth presses together in a thing line as she feels each of them, as the ship shakes with the blasts that still got through. Blackened with beamfire, the ship's armor holds, but it's getting worse. However...
"Cannon still operational, Captain. 85% power." Kazama is calm as ever, turning another dial as it prepares. The glass-encased firing button for the Cannon is still covered. She hasn't flipped it, yet. There's still time for that.
But the Ra Mari II begins to open. The bridge becomes less vulnerable, less exposed, as the entire prow of the ship begins to unfold, two gigantic pieces splitting apart to cover above and beneath the ship, to reveal a colossal cannon over half a kilometer in length. Energy and particles begin to gather in towards its gigantic barrel, as Eight narrows her eyes still at the display.
"Captain," Kall announces. "Those underside cannons could be a problem."
Rezza chimes in, "I've got that covered. Nousjaduel-Ger Squadron C!"
A wing of old, Zentradi War-era units (fixed up, to be sure--but recognizeable, from the Monitor's hangars)--begins to rush towards the Generel Revil, dodging blasts to whirl towards those very cannons. Whether they can get through the mobile suits the General Revil has on the field remains to be seen, but their harrying tactics might just make a difference in the next moment, as they move to cannon and gun and engine with their own missiles.
Eight... could've supported all of them. She tried. But in the end...
"...I brought this about," Eight says, heavily. "So it's my responsibility to see us through it. Everyone... hang on a little longer."
KTS: Hikaru Amano has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Hikaru Amano has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Eight York targets Mobile Weapon Team with Ra Mari II Mobile Suit Wing Harrying Tactics! KTS: Eight York has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Hikaru Amano targets Armor of the Week with Gekigan Sword Combo! KTS: Hikaru Amano has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Roux Louka fails to react to Angelo Sauper's Mega Particle Double Helix Formation, taking 10010 damage! KTS: Banagher Links has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Mobile Weapon Team partially guards Anita Rosetta's Leading Fire, taking 2436 damage! KTS: Anita Rosetta begins a Formation attack! KTS: Banagher Links's Will Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Banagher Links's Beam Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Banagher Links blocks Angelo Sauper's Beam Tomahawk Combo, taking 3080 damage! KTS: Angelo Sauper has engaged Banagher Links! KTS: Mobile Weapon Team successfully avoids Eight York's Ra Mari II Mobile Suit Wing Harrying Tactics KTS: Naoko Suzuki has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Naoko Suzuki fails to evade Angelo Sauper's Mega Particle Assault Formation, taking 5760 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Angelo Sauper's Don't Dare Belittle Me! activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Angelo Sauper's Don't Dare Touch Me! activates, causing Jam L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Angelo Sauper's Don't Dare Approach Me! activates, causing Control Bonus! KTS: Alto Saotome has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Alto Saotome fails to rush. KTS: Alto Saotome's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Alto Saotome partially guards Angelo Sauper's Wire-Guided Shove, taking 1305 damage! KTS: Angelo Sauper repulses Alto Saotome, forcing him to disengage. KTS: Ruri Hoshino fails to react to Angelo Sauper's Mega Particle Scorched Earth Formation, taking 8040 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Angelo Sauper's Don't Dare Belittle Me! activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Angelo Sauper's Don't Dare Touch Me! activates, causing Jam L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Angelo Sauper's Don't Dare Approach Me! activates, causing Control Bonus! KTS: Ruri Hoshino's VF-171 Nightmare Plus <Battroid Mode> has been disabled. <Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
The way those enemy suits are moving... it's too uncanny, too precise. "Lu," Liam says, "is there anyone in those?" She's told him about the Jovian Lizards. She can tell for certain if they're drones.
From behind comes the answer. "I'm detecting nothing," Lucine says. "They should be drones."
He can hear the strain in her voice as she pushes herself, casting her mind out to the others on the battlefield. 'Use me to your advantage,' she'd said.
"I could never use you, Lu," Liam says. "We work together."
The Endeavour's beam cannons target them again. Liam breathes out. His eyes hood as his heart--open, warm--lets hers in. Liath Macha jukes sharply left, putting one of the Mobile Dolls between it and the firing turret. The Doll evades, of course, but that second of course-correction on the human gunner's part gives Liam ample time to throw the CGUE II into a spiral of elegant evasive action. Some of the beams come close enough to singe the paint, but none are as devastating as that first hit.
"I love you," Liam whispers. A moment later, he realizes the radio's still on. "Understood, Hikaru. Teach, we're thinning out the drone screen. Whatever you've got, make it count.
Liath Macha draws its glaive again as it swoops in high, towards the center of the drone formation. Lucine can't predict what they're going to do, but that just makes this more important. The Mobile Suit brings the glaive down in a slash at the first Doll it encounters, twists, moves to stab another one through. Another swipe, high, to try to slash through the reactor of a third, a fourth strike to try and dismember yet another.
Weaponized AI meets with a weaponized, augmented human being. Dimly, he realizes... killing these empty vessels may be more cathartic for Lucine than it is for him.
KTS: Liam 7-020 has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Liam 7-020 has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Liam 7-020 has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Liam 7-020 has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Armor of the Week with JS-F03A 'Gae Buidhe' Beam Glaive - Whirlwind Strike! KTS: Liam 7-020 has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.
"And you're... Hikari? Ikari? Hi...karu? Right?" Maybe a bit of name forgetfulness can be forgiven in the heat of battle. Or he's doing it on purpose. Either or-- it's hard to say! "Of course you're not here to rescue me, haha! I'm a dangerous dread space pirate! If anyone is in need of rescuing, it's my foes-- and if there's anyone doing the rescuing, it's me!" So he's rescuing them from himself?
With-- violence??
There is a lot of it. So much violence. "That... was my friend here," Trevor answers Lucine amidst a burst of gunfire-- an explosive bolt cores one of the Taurus' monoeye cameras before going boom-- "But you're welcome all the same, even if all I did was ask." Even with all the bizarre junkyard grace that the Isadore can muster, there's still only so much that a single machine can do to deter a swarm of drones. He can destroy them, disable them, but ultimately these things aren't here to kill Trevor. Not directly.
That's what the ship-killing missile is for.
Newtype senses are a hell of a thing. Trevor feels it before it's upon him, looming like the shadow of dusk chasing the dregs of a dying day. "That's-- shit!!" He pulls hard on his controls-- only for a Taurus to move into position just in time to tackle the Isadore back into the line of fire. Trevor hisses back a much more complicated cuss as Hikaru calls for Plan A and he's forced to resort to Plan Z: Shoot the damn missile mere meters away from his frame.
And so he does. It's reflex, mostly. But he fires none-the-less. An explosive bolt meets the missile and the two erupt catastrophically. Trevor's voice splits into a scream as the explosion swallows the junker machine up in a blossom of fire, smoke and shrapnel.
And in its wake--
All is quiet.
...
...
--in System Engaged
A pulse of electronic madness radiates from the missile's aftermath, gently pushing through the luminous haze as it slowly loses heat and energy to vacuum. The pulse's signal is crystal clear-- and as it passes each of the nearby Tauruses, each and every one abruptly seizes and spasms. Their visors flash erratically, faster and faster until--
As one, they all glow a singular blue.
And at the explosion's heart, the source of the signal flashes. Pulsing. Pulsing. The Isadore's visor flashes like a beating heart. Its frame is scorched and burnt. Its pilot-- silent. But it lifts its beam weapon as each and every one of the nearby Tauruses do the same--
And all, as one, pointed at the Endeavor--
They fire in unison.
KTS: Trevor Teach has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Trevor Teach has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Trevor Teach has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Trevor Teach has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Trevor Teach uses Hyper Reloader KTS: Trevor Teach targets Armor of the Week with Hullbreaker Shot! KTS: Trevor Teach has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Ruri Hoshino has posed.
"Get to the Banshee, and get Leina out of here!" Permanence supplies, for Roux, fierce and true. "Remember how you had to all but drag me out of there, back then..? It took me a while, but I thanked you for it--!"
If Roux doesn't have a funny line, facing down Angelo as she is, well -- Permanence will just have to help her out.
"Banagher," she cuts in, on his radio, and her voice is steadying. "A faithful dog, always ready to attack Full Frontal's enemies... don't you think that reflects something, too?" There's a reason Permanence hasn't engaged Angelo much personally, in his time on their ship, entirely beyond the mistrust and distaste she had for their guests in the Sleeves.
Wira died like a dog five months ago.
She has her own hangups -- and her own assumptions -- even if Angelo's rage is challenging some of them, as they speak. (He's not Zeon's dog, that much is clear.)
She smiles, hearing Nova try to calm Banagher's nerves, too. She doesn't quite understand what a Carabou Beam is (Permanence still doesn't speak Japanese), but she crows to see the size of the blast, anyway. "Damn! Nice work!"
And her smile reaches her tone, as she responds to Alto, too, on her open radio. "I kept my head down, all in all. Had my own recovery to get to. But now there's another girl who needs saving, so... it's nice to meet you, after hearing all the scuttlebutt!" The workers do gossip, on the Ra Mari II. That may, indeed, be how she knows of Nova's miracles, too.
She offers her own attack, to the fray. Except --
A flash of blue snaps through the battroid's cockpit, through, as Permanence's head snaps up and she turns in space to focus her cameras on -- "Captain!", she exclaims, as she sees the General Revil's cannons fall on the Ra Mari II.
When the REA forced her into wanzers and set her off to kill in their wars, Permanence never had the luxury of worrying about people, on the battlefield. She never had the latitude to stop -- to look back. In some ways, her concern is a prize hard-won, a sign of all the progress she has made...
... in other ways, it's an opportunity.
And the REA doesn't have a monopoly on exploiting those.
HOW DARE YOU, once and again, and Permanence's attention is wrenched back to the Krake Zulu with force. "Like I know you...? I guess I don't. I never liked you, but I guess I was just avoiding it... that's on me."
What's building is on her, too. And though she commands the battroid to move, the energy the Krake pours into her destruction is power to destroy battleships -- there is nowhere to run, and nowhere to hide. Inside her cockpit, warning klaxons scream as its joints are warped together, as her Dragonov is reduced to so much slag and stuck to its hands, as the shoulders which were once wings are crushed and decimated.
It's barely holding together, after that.
"... ahh... guess an old bat like me wasn't much for a fight, in the end," she sighs, sinking forward, in her cockpit. There's a weight, to the words on the radio. "Sorry about that." She leans forward, to her sparking console, to flick a switch and press a button -- the retrieval signal. With a glance to the warnings on the console -- STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY 8% -- she adjusts the helmet of her normal suit, and switches on its personal life support.
But the cameras still work. And perhaps that's a little cruelty of its own, that she can watch, as the Krake attaches itself to the Unicorn. "Shit," Permanence bites out, as she watches the mega particle cannons lock in. "No way --"
There's no time to think about it. There's never any time to think about it.
OST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STYNsigNRWA Apocalyptica - Ruska
Permanence claims a moment, anyway, to open a radio channel to the Ra Mari II. "Proshchay," Permanence transmits, and they may find she sounds much more dignified in her mother tongue. But what she's saying -- "Thanks for everything, Captain. Ra Mari II. This was my home."
It's the word you use for 'farewell' when you're not coming back.
Her machine is cooked. But she brought a back up plan, in case she got plucked out of the sky, trying to help another labrat.
Permanence unfastens all her belts, looses the hatch on the Nightmare Plus -- and shoulders the rocket launcher she brought with her, for this fight, as she plants one foot on the chest of the battroid. "ANGELO!" She screams, and perhaps he will hear her heart, if not her voice.
Her heart, or the rocket she launches, right for the Krake.
She's not going to destroy him with a weapon she can hold in her hands -- not even when her hands are this strong. But if she can buy Banagher even a moment of time --
<Pose Tracker> Alto Saotome has posed.
'They think they can -fix- things.'
<"That's it!?">
Alto's knife cuts a gouge through the Krake's armor. Progress. But for the trouble, a bit comes rushing in from seemingly nowhere. It strikes the Messiah hard, a light forming at the point of impact to reduce the damage. But the Messiah is still knocked away by the blow, briefly spinning through space while Alto struggles to bring the craft under control
<"Just because they're trying to make things better!?">
The half-fighter's legs flail around in multiple directions as taps from Alto apply appropriate thrust to stabilize his flight path. Until finally he's stopped spinning. Not willing to let up on his attack, he pushes the throttle hard forward again, sending him rocketing once more back towards Angelo.
<"I get it. It can be annoying when people stick their heads into things when you don't want them to. But you ignore them! You shout at them! You tell them to get lost!">
As the Messiah blasts towards the Krake, the blade of the knife in its hand begins to glow with light as the craft's pinpoint barrier it focused there, enhancing the power of the weapon.
<"You don't try to kill them! What the hell is wrong with you!?">
Reaching the Krake, the Messiah thrusts its blade forward, attempting to drive it as deep into the other machine as it can.
KTS: Alto Saotome has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus. KTS: Alto Saotome targets Angelo Sauper with AK/VF-M9 Assault Knife Pinpoint Lunge! KTS: Alto Saotome has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.
A voice comes through the Unicorn's radio. Banagher almost ignores it, lost to his anger toward Angelo. Stay calm, the voice says. Leina needs you. Someone -- whoever this is -- is counting on Banagher.
A breath. In, and out. Slow.
<"Whoever you are -- thank you."> Banagher replies, his voice softer. His anger isn't gone, but it's calmed significantly. <"I have to remember what's important here.">
Leina.
Another echo, another attempt at reaching the girl Banagher loves so dearly. She's close. The Unicorn's sensors aren't picking up the Banshee yet, but it's only a matter of time.
Lucine's words accompany the mysterious Miracle Worker's words, and Banagher squeezes the Unicorn's controls in his grasp. <"Thank you -- I will. Nothing can stop me. I'm bringing Leina home!">
A spark of awareness crosses the young pilot's mind, a gift from Lucine. Banagher uses it to duck beneath Angelo's tomahawk, denying the other young man a clean parry.
Permanence invokes Wira. Banagher audibly chokes on the comms, his hands trembling. <"Angelo... What did they do to you, to make you like this? Are you like Wira, or Leina..?">
How did he never notice before? Banagher squeezes his eyes shut. How could he not have realized Angelo needs saving, just as much as Wira did?
<"Listen to me, Angelo! Nobody here wants to be your enemy!"> Magenta light accompanies the sparking of the Geara Zulu, blindingly painful to look at. Banagher holds the Unicorn's saber there, trying to keep Angelo in place. <"It doesn't have to be this way! We can work together, we want the same things!">
Even as he reaches out to Angelo, the Geara Zulu's beam tomahawk returns, driving deep into the Unicorn's armor. I-fields glimmer into life, slowing the attack, but it isn't enough. Angelo gouges deep into the Unicorn, adjacent to the cockpit. Banagher cries out as he's tossed inside the Gundam.
Armor creaks as the Unicorn is grabbed by her head, her V-fin sticking out between the Geara Zulu's fingers. Immediately, Banagher reaches up, trying to dislodge the other machine's hold. The Unicorn's beam saber is left stuck in the Geara Zulu's chest, still sparking with light.
<"Stop it!"> Banagher chokes out. If the Unicorn is damaged, he won't be able to fight the Banshee -- he won't be able to save Leina. <"That's not the truth! Leina was forced into this! She doesn't believe any of it, not really!">
Armor splinters. Mega particle cannons build their strength. Banagher wrenches the Unicorn's controls, activating her thrusters to try and pull away. Between Angelo's tomahawk and the Geara Zulu's grip on the Gundam's head, it doesn't work. Banagher can't activate his boosters yet -- he has to save those for fighting the Banshee.
<"Angelo--! Stop it, you're going to kill yourself!"> The Unicorn's arms creak, trying to force back the Geara Zulu. <"You'll kill us both! What are you doing?!">
There's no escape. Banagher can sense it -- Angelo is zealous enough to do this. With a desperate yell, the young pilot spiritually radiates a cry for help.
Please, I can't die yet. I have to save her!
As if hearing his desperate plea, Permanence's voice echoes into Banagher's heart. Glancing to the side, he sees her -- exposed. Holding a rocket launcher. Fear grasps his heart.
<"PERMANENCE, GET AWAY! PLEASE!">
He has no idea if she can hear him.
Frantically, the young pilot launches missiles from the armaments loaded onto the Unicorn's shoulders. Again, again -- if he can blind Angelo, if Banagher can force him back, maybe the Unicorn can get to Permanence. Maybe he can get her into the cockpit--! Still held in the Geara Zulu's grasp, the Unicorn struggles desperately.
KTS: Banagher Links targets Angelo Sauper with Full Armor Unicorn Missile Launcher: Stabilizer! KTS: Banagher Links has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Angelo Sauper fails to react to Alto Saotome's AK/VF-M9 Assault Knife Pinpoint Lunge, taking 5130 damage! KTS: Alto Saotome has engaged Angelo Sauper! KTS: Angelo Sauper fails to react to Banagher Links's Full Armor Unicorn Missile Launcher: Stabilizer, taking 3895 damage! KTS: Banagher Links: Will Barrier Activates. <Pose Tracker> Mobile Weapon Team has posed.
One of the ReZEL pilots sees those funnels getting into position and elects to immediately eject; there's definitely a point at which discretion is the better part of valor. The other, however, eats all six spears of bright light -- and then isn't there anymore.
"Status report on the mobile weapon teams," Danbaef requests, upon seeing that distant explosion. His grip relaxes very slightly.
"25 percent depleted," comes the answer -- before a direct hit rocks one of the General Revil's hangars, at which point the mood on the bridge becomes decidedly more panicked.
"Damage to portside hangar is severe! Retreated Jegan wing assumed destroyed -- portside main MS catapult inoperable!" "Pulling additional Jegan team back to assist with temporary hull repair!"
"Oh dear. Now, I'm sure the ways in which this machine looks different from the other versions of it I've seen make that less of an issue, but you do seem to be having trouble," Alexis offers, staring out at the battlefield. The Ra Mari seems to sense blood in the water, deploying more mobile weapons -- which at least prevents the General Revil from addressing the problems with its portside catapult. As it locks down, Alexis remarks, "It seems you'll need to commit to a direct attack."
BGM: Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn - MARTHA https://youtu.be/lmeiM-asEgw?t=192
"This is already too much blood and treasure spent for that damned woman," Maseki growls. "I'm going down to comms to have a private conversation with her about how much she's permitted to ask for from the Central Council. XO, you have the bridge. If we can't sink that Monitor in the next two minutes, call a retreat." He moves to stand --
-- and in the next instant a speartip points at his neck. "Mm -- I'm not committed to the outcome of this battle either way, but Mrs. Vist-Carbine did expect the possibility of your morale flagging," Alexis says, not missing a beat even as Anita sprays a cluster of Jegans with gunpod fire. It forces them to tighten up with a group of Defenser-less ReZELs despite the fact that that doesn't serve either group very well strategically, as Alexis finishes, "It's a Captain's duty to see these sorts of things through, isn't it?"
Maseki sits down, letting out an exasperated sigh. "... We're to continue fighting until our forces are at least sixty percent depleted or we lose the use of both main catapults." He sounds about as happy with it as you'd expect. "Sink that damn traitor ship!" ... there are upsides to staying.
The remaining mega particle cannons of the General Revil start to charge -- but it's the Jegans and ReZELs that remain that do most of the heavy lifting. It's the Svalinn -- which had exceptional success with direct fire -- that receives direct reprisal from a heavy barrage. The Gaia Gear, meanwhile, gets acquainted with the b-Defenser team's best trick -- the option to fire shot after shot without stopping thanks to the sheer number of different beam weapons mounted on the platform. For Anita and the Svipul, meanwhile, the General Revil offers a large barrage of anti-MS missiles delivered with precision targeting assistance from one of the two EWAC Jegans on the field.
It's the Ra Mari II itself, however, that receives the full force of the General Revil's MS team.
BGM: Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn - E.F.S.F. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBFe1eRGig8&ab_channel=WhatZitTooya
Four ReZELs line up in formation, each firing a mega particle cannon blast at an angle designed to make lateral retreat all but impossible and pen the vessel in. If any of these hit it would already be a catastrophe -- but from almost straight below the vessel, a team of two Stark Jegans opens fire with every missile they've got all at once while it's penned in... and while the CIWS is no doubt occupied finding solutions for that, four a-Defenser ReZELs speed forward with hyper beam sabers at the ready, going for broke while the curtain of defensive fire in front will no doubt be at an all-time low.
KTS: Mobile Weapon Team has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Mobile Weapon Team has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: [Spirit Defense] Eight York's This Path Was Our Choice activates, and the spirit endures. KTS: Mobile Weapon Team has activated the Daunt Spirit Command targeting Eight York KTS: [Spirit Defense] Eight York's This Path Was Our Choice activates, and the spirit endures. KTS: Mobile Weapon Team has activated the Daunt Spirit Command targeting Eight York KTS: Mobile Weapon Team targets Anita Rosetta with Missile Launchers Surgical Strike! KTS: Mobile Weapon Team targets Rena Lancaster with b-Defenser Team Focus Fire! KTS: Mobile Weapon Team targets Riika Sheder with Mega Particle Cannons Increased Barrage! KTS: Mobile Weapon Team targets Eight York with E.F.S.F.! KTS: Mobile Weapon Team has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rena Lancaster's Will Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Rena Lancaster fails to evade Mobile Weapon Team's b-Defenser Team Focus Fire, taking 6300 damage! KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Eight York has activated the Attune Spirit Command. KTS: Eight York fails to intercept Mobile Weapon Team's E.F.S.F., taking 7200 damage! KTS: Mobile Weapon Team completes the Formation attack! KTS: Armor of the Week fails to retreat. KTS: Armor of the Week fails to react to Hikaru Amano's Gekigan Sword Combo, taking 8400 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Hikaru Amano's I'll Introduce Myself! activates, causing Jam L1! KTS: Armor of the Week has been defeated! KTS: Hikaru Amano has engaged Armor of the Week! KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Anita Rosetta's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Anita Rosetta fails to intercept Mobile Weapon Team's Missile Launchers Surgical Strike, taking 4860 damage! KTS: Mobile Weapon Team enervates Riika Sheder, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Riika Sheder blocks Mobile Weapon Team's Mega Particle Cannons Increased Barrage, taking 6490 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Mobile Weapon Team's Disruptor activates, causing Jam L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Mobile Weapon Team's Enervator activates, causing Deject! KTS: Riika Sheder has been defeated! KTS: Armor of the Week partially guards Liam 7-020's JS-F03A 'Gae Buidhe' Beam Glaive - Whirlwind Strike, taking 4428 damage! KTS: Armor of the Week has been defeated! KTS: Liam 7-020 has engaged Armor of the Week! KTS: Armor of the Week fails to react to Trevor Teach's Hullbreaker Shot, taking 7540 damage! KTS: Armor of the Week has been defeated! <Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.
Roux can hear Banagher scream even if he's not screaming *to* her -- her face tightens, which hurts more than usual. How can she give what she's learned? That vaguely hopeful but not very encouraging news, that perhaps Leina was struggling with whatever was done with her and might prevail? What if --
There's a thousand other possibilities, few of them happy.
There are always a thousand other possibilities. Many of them are trivial - strings that pull in one direction, easily enough seen as something else from a distance.
But so many of the others aren't.
Angelo's hate doubles and redoubles even as the blast goes wide and Angelo is swept along. Roux stares ahead with an electric shock that ionizes every neural molecule inside of her body (or at least it feels that way) -- the Strike Zeta immediately begins to pull back, thrusters howling as Roux swerves and jinks and sweats and hears him.
He's pouring out his words. Cursing Zeon from top to bottom. Zabi to Deikun to Haman to Toto and everyone else. Equal partners in crime. But the worst--
the worst is --
Her?
Roux pants as she feels a sort of green shimmer at the fringe of her vision and for a fleeting moment it is terrifying. A red star, a red bird, haunts her thoughts there: It's worth it - is it? But what Angelo is saying --
Or was that message for *her*?
And for all her preening and arrogance and superciliousness, however backed up it may be skill and talent, something in Roux feels struck at that thought. The fringe at her vision tightens but there are others out there. Leina is still screaming and thrashing and she's somewhere out there. Banagher. Rena. The people on the RM2. Koji and Sayaka back on Earth. Judau largest and just a little belated. She can't --
But she can let go of the Hyper Mega Launcher.
The Hyper Mega Launcher is a tremendously powerful beam artillery-piece. It is not as strong as the Beam Magnum that the Unicorn wields but it would be a weapon to be weighed in that class; it could, wielded well, fight through an entire Federal fleet, given the drop and a little luck. Only a little luck, too; enough luck to avoid escorts or to come from a location unmonitored.
The Hyper Mega Launcher's secret is simple: It has its own fusion drive; an engine that could run a Mobile Suit, if perhaps on rather lean power, is devoted entirely to the generation and projection of Megaparticles. And so when Angelo's lethal onslaught intersects the Hyper Mega Launcher, the detonation is enormous; a huge cloud and technological shrapnel, fusing and vaporizing, expanding outwards.
Roux continues to pull backwards. The Strke Zeta is not unharmed. Both of the hand actuators are destroyed, fused and wrent into strange stumps. One of the 'eyes' in the space beneath the helmet is shattered. But the thruster suite works adequately enough, and the cockpit is -
Is -
Roux lets go of her silk gun harness, the weapon having long ago been stowed elsewhere. It hangs in the air, drawn leisurely towards the hairpin crack, and it lodges there. Roux exhales with relief.
It's transient, of course.
It's almost a relief, Roux might think: She doesn't have to worry about it right now. Maybe history will prove Leina and Angelo right. "Maybe you've got a bright future in the Titans," Roux says, sourly, to herself, as she turns her head, looking towards the Ra Mari. She might even be able to get into something else but the Strike Zeta's a noble horse, she shouldn't -
---
"Permanence?" Roux says, her muted flame changing around. The wreck - it's not blowing up, Roux thinks, then: Of course not, VFs have sixteen problems but detonation cores aren't one of them - but Permanence is -
The Strike Zeta zooms in, revealing a form coming out of the cockpit. "Permanence! No!" Roux shouts, suddenly sitting upright. "No god dammit! Go for the ship! Jump off! Your suit has a beacon for this! It's - Stop it! Don't!" Her eyes are wetting. "DAMMIT--"
The Hyper Mega Launcher was her decisive weapon. Without that, all she has is smaller stuff. Roux grasps the weapons console, looking forwards. Missile launchers - bay failure. Grenade projector - bay failure. Roux's jaw tightens. The Beam Sabers are useless -- what can she do, hold them in the teeth the Strike Zeta doesn't have?
"Damn it why do all of you have to do this shit," Roux chokes. What DOES work is the vulcans; a ripping silent chatter of autocannon fire, aiming to hurl projectiles into the Krake Zulu. "Why do all of you have to - to -"
"Please jump out, please head for the ship," Roux says. (Roux is not transmitting. The primary antenna maser was destroyed; the secondary is not angled right at this attitude.) "I'm begging you, come on, COME ON -"
It's a strange thing, to attack without malicious intent. Maybe it'll be lucky.
KTS: Roux Louka has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Roux Louka targets Angelo Sauper with 60mm Vulcan Cannon! KTS: Roux Louka has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"Yeah. They see a chance to take us out," Rena says. "And if they can get the Sleeves while they're at it..." Even if they can't get the Sleeves while they're at it, though, it's a chance they won't pass up on.
"I'm okay," Rena says. "They're not. But... we've gotta get through this. Together, right, Annie?"
When the Svalinn opens fire like that, Rena's eyes widen -- but she takes note of it, making sure that the Gaia Gear Alpha stays from the firing paths of the Svalinn. It isn't easy; she manages in part because she, too, is a Coordinator.
She sucks a breath in, as the b-Defenser team fires numerous beam shots in her direction. She sends the Gaia Gear Alpha soaring forward, and the Psychoframe inside it flares to life. Motes of green light trail after -- and it ducks, weaves, and bobs around dozens of them.
Others slam into its Minovsky barrier, which shimmers green around the white Mobile Suit. And others, still, are more than Rena can keep up with. Several shots slash into it, leaving streaks of blackened armor -- and molten metal dripping away from it.
Rena flies it up above them, breaking away from them.
Anita fires on the Jegans, her shots aimed at clearing them away. Rena sucks a breath in -- she hears Kazama's report. The main cannon's charge is at eighty-five percent -- eighty-seven, by now, Rena thinks. She looks at the Dogosse Gier-class vessel.
She thinks about its starboard-side thruster mounts; she thinks about their placement. Then, she starts doing the calculations in her mind.
"Ra Mari II, launch the Hyper Mega Launcher," she says, calmly.
The large white cannon hurtles from the Ra Mari II's hangar -- and the Gaia Gear Alpha grips it with one hand, swinging it donw to grab with both hands. She takes aim, as she fires her thrusters -- and the Gaia Gear Alpha jukes hard, to one side. The cannon is leveled, as Rena takes aim.
She calculates the rate of the Ra Mari II cannon's charge. She calculates her angle of fire -- and the percentage of the starboard maneuvering thrusters on the General Revil.
So when she fires, it's brilliant -- a massive beam of white light that hurtles the Gaia Gear backward with the recoil. But it seems like a near-miss. The Hyper Mega Launcher's beam doesn't come for the center of mass of the battleship. It comes for the starboard, to at best only scrape along the heavy armor there. To scrape along, too, a path that includes about half of the manuevering thrusters on that side.
And it fires about twelve seconds before she calculates that the main cannon of the Ra Mari II finishes charging. The afterimages glow, motes of white light, as Rena looks down.
She doesn't send a transmission. "Maybe," she says in the quiet of her cockpit, "you shouldn't have driven Coordinators out of your ranks."
KTS: Rena Lancaster has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Rena Lancaster has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Rena Lancaster targets Mobile Weapon Team with Hyper Mega Launcher! KTS: Rena Lancaster has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Mobile Weapon Team fails to react to Rena Lancaster's Hyper Mega Launcher, taking 8280 damage! KTS: Rena Lancaster roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable. KTS: Rena Lancaster completes the Formation attack! KTS: Angelo Sauper fails to react to Roux Louka's 60mm Vulcan Cannon, taking 2175 damage! <Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
Banagher seems to recieve the most important part: Lucine's own well-wishes. She smiles. < "You can do it, Banagher." >
This reinvigorates Lucine, who immediately pivots back to her side of the battle, replying to Hikaru. < "We're not down for the count just yet...." > Liam asks about the drones, and Lucine concentrrates. "...."
Hikaru's earlier mention of Jovian Lizards becomes relevant in another way. < "I'm detecting nothing. They should be drones." > While it could be a flag that signals Lucine's own abilities, it does seem vague enough for her to get away with some plausible deniability.
Liam, meanwhile, replies back to her earlier comment.
And Lucine, in the middle of a battlefield, melts. < ".... Liam.... I love you too-- oh! The radio--" > She turns it off, her cheeks glowing red.
Hikaru may appreciate the peek, but Trevor may not.
However, Trevor is... busy.
< "Trevor, I'll relay some coordinates to you... ah!" > There's that brush, accidental, but Lucine realizes that she's not the only Newtype in this part of the 'field' of space.
If she was able to relay information to Banagher (or did she not succeed?), maybe, she can do it here. Banagher's mental abilities was what enabled that, but perhaps--
She tries to cast her mind out, leaning her mind towards Trevor...
It's too late. His mental pulse is sluggish. Unsteady. He's losing consciousness. But how...? How is there another....?
W h o .. .. a r e ......... o u.....?
It's like holding her breath, and coming across something unexpected: she has to reel back. Sputtering with a cough, Lucine's hand tries to rub her face, and instead awkwardly knocks it against her helmet. ".... Mmmh... did I miss something...?"
KTS: Lucine Azul has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
Nova only smiles and nods faintly in response to Banagher. He gets it, that's enough for her. There'll be time for a proper meeting later, once this is all over. Right now, there's more urgent matters to need both of their attention.
Case in point: the Sukeban trading oversized beams with the Krake Zulu. Once again, the pilot is quick to react. It looks frankly ridiculous, Nova's reflex prompting the Sukeban to literally bend over backwards, as if it were attempting to limbo under the mega particle beam. Yet it's just a hair too late. The beam shears across the front of the Arm Slave, tearing the extra layer of armor clean off and leaving a visible gash beneath. Dangerously close to the cockpit. In any other circumstance, she would have surely panicked. But, after receiving such a confidence boost earlier... she mostly just gets incredulous.
"I... I don't get it, how? The timing was perfect, right? I should have hit him, right? I should have dodged that, right?" Though she demands answers, her co-pilots don't have them, and thus remain silent. Left with her own conclusions, she can only proceed to wonder, "Is he some kind of monster...?" A monster powered by sheer anger, or so it seems. Does he just... hate everything that much?
Unfortunately, she isn't afforded to question these things for very long. Her vantage point allows her a clear view of what happens to the Nightmare. That woman, who she didn't even know yet encouraged her so much, still intervening for the Unicorn's sake, in such a manner... there's no way she's going to be okay, is there...? Her shock quickly makes way for a grim sort of determination.
"Saucers..."
>"Nova... don't."<
"Oh, now you speak up," Nova reacts with irritation to the word of caution from the calmer of her two co-pilots. They don't usually intervene with her decisions unless she's about to make a bad one. And she usually listens, without question. In this case, she knows well that it's bad idea to do this when she's already this exhausted, and suffered this much damage. However, this time...
"Listen. If this guy gets through, the Ra Mari II will be caught in a pincer. The Unicorn will never make it to the Banshee. And that woman..." She swallows. Not even knowing Permanence's name somehow makes it hurt all the more. "...that woman would have sacrificed herself for nothing. That can't happen. It won't. We must hold him off, for as long as we can."
In response, there's the psychic equivalent of a chuckle from the other AI aboard the Sukeban.
>"Let it go, Ariel. You're not gonna win this one."<
>"...Okay. Then... go get him, Nova!"<
"You got it! Saucers!" This time, the Sukeban's shoulder discs detach, spinning rapidly next to the Arm Slave until Nova's following command: "HEAVEN'S FURY!"
Flying out toward's the Krake Zulu, the remote weapons proceed to continuously dive towards the mobile suit, alternating between attempting to physically slice through its armor with their red-hot spinning edges and pelting it with their newly added rapid-fire beam weapons.
At this point, it'll be sooner rather than later that her focus slips. But she'll push herself to keep going for as long as she can... or something fundamentally changes.
KTS: Naoko Suzuki has activated the Foresee Spirit Command. KTS: Naoko Suzuki targets Angelo Sauper with Heaven's Fury! KTS: Naoko Suzuki has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Angelo Sauper fails to react to Naoko Suzuki's Heaven's Fury, taking 4200 damage! KTS: Naoko Suzuki has engaged Angelo Sauper! <Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
Rena says they'll get through this - together. In response, Anita grins.
"Together." She agrees with a resolute nod. They'll have to fight with everything they have - but they'll do it together.
Anita receives another barrage of missiles. She opens fire again - but this time, there are far too many to take out, made even less manageable by the EWAC Jegans ensuring they're on target. She grimaces, and the Svipul hunkers down. The Pinpoint Barrier flickers to life right as the missiles hit, the Svipul tossed this way and that as explosions rock the Valkyrie. It's a lot, but...
"...I'm not outta this yet." Anita mutters. "Alright, it's time. Activatin' Visual Link System."
In her helmet, a second visor pulls down over her face as Anita interfaces with her unit directly. She feels the sensation of connection flooding through her body. She sees what the Svipul sees - feels what it feels.
She spins into Fighter Mode, accelerating away - and as she does her mounted beam cannon, the Gungnir SC, emerges over a wing. It fires into the ranks of the General Revil's mobile suits...
...But like before, she's firing for a reason. To force as many of them as she can into a convenient line.
And the reason why becomes clear soon enough. A blade crackles to life at the end of the Gungnir SC, and the Svipul launches the weapon itself from its mount. As it flies through space the Svipul chases after it, transforming as it goes into Battroid mode. It brandishes the weapon like a spear, charging through the entire line - and, if she isn't stopped, moving onto the General Revil itself, to carve through as many of its weapons as she can in a single run.
KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Strike Spirit Command. <Pose Tracker> Riika Sheder has posed.
That's the kind of thing Svalinn Feather can only do once. Its rifle is powerful enough to damage a ship, but the Dogosse Gier is enormous to the point that Riika wouldn't depend on the Lepus against it, and it doesn't carry any larger weapons.
If only she'd had one of the other GUARD packs finished! It's a useless hope; she doesn't. One of them isn't even out of design; the other one is throwing constant problems at her as she tries to make Phase Shift Armour do something it really wasn't meant to do. All she has is Feather.
It would be really *really* nice to have that one here, though, as Riika realized she has done something that is a very bad idea: she has drawn the personal attention of the Federation flagship.
Riika doesn't call out on the radio - doesn't do anything but drop into that place of focus as the bombardment commences. If any of those get a direct hit, it doesn't matter what armouring she has.
Riika banks away from one shot, buzzes 'underneath' (from her perspective, which is kind of arbitrary in space) another. A third comes in and she fakes it out by diving toward some Jegans, who the ship is significantly less likely to shoot, and then pulls aside at the last moment; a trick of the vernier spinning the Svalinn through a roll as she does.
But the last one comes too close. It only clips one of Svalinn's outstretched wings with the very ragged-edge corona of the ship-scale beam, but that's enough. The wing practically disintegrates as Riika pulls away from it, putting Svalinn's leg through it rather than let it get any closer to the cockpit than it is.
When Svalinn is clear of the shot, it is missing one leg, practically melted off at the knee, and one of its wing struts and the arm on that side are just *gone*. The rest of the machine doesn't look great either; the wing thrusters all detonating didn't do it any favours, and it's a wonder the cockpit is intact. The torso certainly isn't.
"<Sorry, Svalinn's not combat worthy! I'm losing air and thrusters - >" Fortunately Riika is in a normal suit and the fact that the cockpit is venting is not actually going to kill her, but she is absolutely not willing to continue the fight if she can pull back from it, and she has a pretty good chance of making it back to the ship. If it's *really* necessary, she can swap to a different machine again; she's not hurt, aside from bruises.
Of course, what condition the ship will be in at the time, she can't possibly say.
KTS: Anita Rosetta targets Mobile Weapon Team with Divine Valkyrie Charge! KTS: Anita Rosetta has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Mobile Weapon Team fails to react to Anita Rosetta's Divine Valkyrie Charge, taking 7150 damage! KTS: Anita Rosetta has engaged Mobile Weapon Team!
<Pose Tracker> Angelo Sauper has posed.
<"They don't listen. None of you EVER LISTEN.">
It's the last thing Angelo seethes to Alto before all his attention, all his will, is pit on keeping the Unicorn in place. The Krake's fingers tremble and scrape across the v-finned head of the Unicorn, Psycho-frame particulate illuminating its fingertips in hazy greens as it clenches tight. His teeth grit as Banagher cries out to him -- tries to reach out to him.
<"Don't pity me! You don't get to feel sorry for me! Why do you ALWAYS try to--"> Angelo's eyes narrow; he lurches forward, perfectly coifed locks of snowy white spilling across one livid purple eye in rare disarray as he screams,
<"You want to understand me?! Then understand that I HATE you!">
Everything else falls on deaf ears. Banagher's pleas, his attempts to appeal to reason -- that Angelo will die too like this. Angelo just scoffs, slumping backwards in his seat.
<"What am I doing? I'm helping him pull the trigger.">
A bitter smile touches his lips.
<"The only thing that filth can do--">
ANGELO!
"?!"
Something happens. Maybe it's his proximity to the Unicorn, to that abundance of Psycho-Frame the Krake holds in its death grip. Maybe it's just the sheer earnest power behind that single calling of his name. But there is a shimmer--
Angelo Sauper's eyes widen and a strangled sound escapes his lips as his closed heart opens and echoes another's heart with every beat within his chest.
you're walking with your parents, your hand in each of theirs
the fake skies look beautiful
"n-no"
you're running with your parents, cradled protectively in his arms
screams and smoke blot the sky
"stop"
she's throwing you in the closet
the darkness is"NO!"
And Angelo panics in that brief moment where his heart opens and his pain aligns with someone else's.
His strangled shout is drowned by the a rocket launcher as it EXPLODES against the back of the Krake. It's enough. Enough to launch him forward in his seat until restraints lock him violently back into place. Enough to dislodge the Krake's hands from its tomahawk and the Unicorn's head.
And the feeling of panic in his heart is enough to send those cannon barrels swinging WIDE in brilliant arcs, framing the Unicorn and the Krake in a cage of particle fire without touching either.
And it's enough to completely unsettle Angelo for a few, precious seconds--
--Seconds capitalized perfectly by his opponents within the chaos and panic of the resulting skirmish. Permanence is exposed, literally and figuratively. Banagher shouts for her, unloading missiles upon the Krake, the volley of explosions and force and fire melting and tearing violet armor as the bright heat of it all obscures the mobile suit's camera, forcing its pilot to -yank- it backward.
The Messiah, too, attacks -- DRIVING its blade into the side of the Krake. Thrusters, in the middle of igniting, are pierced; the backblow of the resulting eruption is enough to completely demolish the thruster as the Krake's pilot jettisons the ruined remainder into space.
Vulcan fire from the Strike Zeta ripples across the Krake's Zulu head, shattering its mono-eye in a sparking spray of glass glittering out into space. Its pilot yanks the machine, panoramic sputtering and going blind for a precious few seconds before backup cameras take over.
And in the ensuing confusion, the Sukeban's remote weapons dive into and THROUGH the Zulu, blasting off chunks of armor the dives loosen with rapid beam fire that chew through its right shoulder joint and RIPS it off before the entire limb simply -explodes-.
And in the ensuing confusion--
"GET AWAY FROM ME!"
Angelo Sauper lashes out, twin beam particle cannons responding to his will just as much as his actions.
Machine reflects pilot as those cannons spin with violet, panicked, but PRECISE movements, spilling green particle fire in controlled, furious bursts as they spin around the Krake. They shoot at the Unicorn. At the Messiah, the Sukeban. They pour spiteful power in a deluge upon the Strike Zeta. They spin and spin, and--
"How dare you--"
There is a moment. A moment where Permanence stands upon the wreckage of the Nightmare Plus, rocket launcher in hand.
A moment where two cannon barrels that dwarf her in sheer size float just in front of her, motionless and uncharged.
"HOW DARE YOU!"
The moment passes.
A lance of green spears outward into space where the Nightmare Plus stood, flickers, and disappears.
KTS: Angelo Sauper targets Banagher Links with Mega Particle Ambush Formation! KTS: Angelo Sauper targets Alto Saotome with Mega Particle Assault Formation! KTS: Angelo Sauper targets Naoko Suzuki with Mega Particle Double Helix Formation! KTS: Angelo Sauper targets Roux Louka with Mega Particle Scorched Earth Formation! KTS: Angelo Sauper has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Roux Louka fails to react to Angelo Sauper's Mega Particle Scorched Earth Formation, taking 8710 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Angelo Sauper's Don't Dare Belittle Me! activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Angelo Sauper's Don't Dare Touch Me! activates, causing Jam L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Angelo Sauper's Don't Dare Approach Me! activates, causing Control Bonus! KTS: Roux Louka has been defeated! KTS: Banagher Links's Will Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Banagher Links's Beam Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Angelo Sauper rattles Banagher Links, making his next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Banagher Links blocks Angelo Sauper's Mega Particle Ambush Formation, taking 840 damage! KTS: Alto Saotome rushes into the attack! KTS: Alto Saotome's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Alto Saotome partially guards Angelo Sauper's Mega Particle Assault Formation, taking 5160 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Angelo Sauper's Don't Dare Belittle Me! activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Angelo Sauper's Don't Dare Touch Me! activates, causing Jam L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Angelo Sauper's Don't Dare Approach Me! activates, causing Control Bonus! KTS: Naoko Suzuki has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: [Lucky] Naoko Suzuki's Miracle Worker activates, and luck goes her way! KTS: Naoko Suzuki retreats from the attack! KTS: Naoko Suzuki fails to evade Angelo Sauper's Mega Particle Double Helix Formation, taking 9240 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Angelo Sauper's Don't Dare Belittle Me! activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Angelo Sauper's Don't Dare Touch Me! activates, causing Jam L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Angelo Sauper's Don't Dare Approach Me! activates, causing Control Bonus! KTS: Naoko Suzuki has been defeated!
<Pose Tracker> Ruri Hoshino has posed.
"Sorry, Roux," Permanence says, as if she's heard her very well. (Perhaps she has. There are more ways than a radio to listen.) "Take care of them, yeah? Nnh--"
The courtesy of the heart is that effort isn't always transcribed so faithfully, as she hoists that rocket launcher up.
Banagher wants her to run... and not just Banagher. She appreciates it -- really. But she has to take responsibility for the anger she's sparked in Angelo... and she can't let him die, here.
It's funny. She didn't think things could get better for a long time... even after she got out. But now, after so much time on the Ra Mari II... oh, it's only been five months, going on six, but she's learned so much from them in that span. The cynicism she developed over two decades in various laboratories... it doesn't suit the world, as broad and deep as it is.
And Leina deserves a chance to escape it, too.
"RRRRAGHHH--!!" Permanence yells, as she loads the rocket, as she launches it out across space. "It's miserable!" She cries, with her voice and her salving soul, as she fires on the Krake. "No wonder your heart's so heavy! No wonder you've dug that moat! I STILL WON'T FUCKING LET YOU--!!"
She runs out of ammunition. Obviously she does -- she is just one woman, and she was never going to slay Goliath, small as she is. She breathes, heavily, and marvels for a moment that she still breathes. She was so sure she was going to --
ah.
Ah, she thinks, as the Krake wheels on her, and she stares down the barrels of those cannons. She could climb inside and not touch the top from where she stands on the bottom, surely; an ant, facing down a magnifying glass.
I dare, she thinks, as she is reduced to her component atoms, because no one will ever tell me what to do again.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
"Spinal Converging Beam Cannon power... 100%, Captain."
"Launching!" Rezza replies to Rena, and the cannon indeed goes.
The MS team fires full-force at the Ra Mari II. Its CIWS is indeed occupied; every missile they've got are shot down by turbo particle cannons, but that leaves the main blast. And indeed, those blasts in formation cannot be evaded from here; not even Licia's talented piloting can evade everything. She is forced to go for the next best thing. She shifts into one, and plating shears off of the ship like it was cut by a very large knife. Parts of the ship are more vulnerable in this state, while that main cannon charges; some of the reflectors that make it as strong as it is are battered and blackened by the beam fire.
"Pilot Sheder acknowledged," Rezza says over the radio to Riika, "Come on back. We'll make sure you have somewhere to return to." In the meantime Licia winces, as if she can feel the damage to the ship. "Sorry, Captain," Licia Chovan says. "But..."
"We can't take another hit like that," Kall reports. "It's now or never, Captain."
"Captain--" Another voice starts for Eight. But... Something else is in her mind, as that correspondence comes through.
"No--" Eight stops short on the bridge, feeling that finality as much as she hears the transmission. "Permanence, don't--!" She sounds terribly dignified, with an emphasis on 'terrible'. 'Thanks for everything', she says, and she says it 'was' her home, and there is absolutely nothing that Eight can do in the moment to change what is going to come. So what happens next strikes Eight like a blow. The death of Permanence Pasternak hits her, and she doubles over immediately, in pain and grief sent through Newtype senses hard enough that Licia at the helm flinches feeling it. "Captain!?"
Tears form in Eight's eyes, and she squeezes them shut, forces them not to flow with her heart and her muscles and her will. It hurts, and she does not have the weight of the drugs to stave it off anymore, does not have the stability her medication gave her. She has to try to make it through anyway.
BGM INTERRUPT: Engage the Enemy, Xenoblade Chronicles OST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi0M9SIaLb4
"I'll be fine," Eight says, rising up in her seat. It doesn't feel true, but it has to be. There are hundreds of people counting on her now. She can't afford to fall apart. "Kazama," she says, her voice full of conviction, heavy with pain but also with focus. She will not suffer the rest of them to fall to the same fate; she will not focus on Angelo, now. "Here are my orders."
Kazama waits for them--and then her eyes widen.
Over the radio Eight directs, "All mobile suits, clear the firing area. Heading," she starts to instruct. Where did she direct it?
A moment ago: 'Fire on their hangars. Catch as many of their mobile suits as possible in the blast.'
And so, the ship starts to fire, as soon as their own mobile suits have cleared the area. Green light floods the cavernous interior of the cannon's reflectors, and while it will not be the city-destroying planetary bombardment it could be under the circumstances, it will still be a terrible blast, larger than some ships. From the barrel it starts--a thin line that becomes a torrent of green, a column of utter and complete devastation, brilliant enough to appear in colonial skies should they turn just the right way. It batters outward, the bulk of the ship briefly aglow with power (also, radiation) before the ship starts to seal up the cannon once more.
"Captain," Licia starts again from there, but Eight shakes her head. "Later," she says.
"But... Angelo--"
"Not now," Eight says quietly. "For right now, I need everyone exactly where they are."
KTS: Eight York has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Eight York has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus. KTS: Eight York targets Mobile Weapon Team with Converging Spinal Beam Cannon - Full Power! KTS: Eight York has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Mobile Weapon Team fails to react to Eight York's Converging Spinal Beam Cannon - Full Power, taking 7700 damage! KTS: Mobile Weapon Team has been defeated! KTS: Eight York roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable. <Pose Tracker> Alto Saotome has posed.
Alto's blade sinks into the Krake. He releases his grip on it, quickly backing up and away as the thruster it struck jettisons and explodes.
It's as he's backing up that Alto notices that pilot of the disabled Nightmare firing off those rockets. That's stupid! She should get out of there! What's worse, Alto can see those cannons of Angelo's moving.
No. No, don't!
The Messiah turns, legs kicking up behind it, engines burning as it starts crossing the distance.
But it's too late!
Broken debris floats, all that remains of the VF.
Alto grips his controls tightly. He didn't really know the pilot, so it's not like he's feeling a lot of sadness at her death...
<"... You didn't have to do that...">
But the thought of any pilot, anyone willing to put their lives on the line, only to die like that... It was a rocket launcher. In space. It was no threat to a pilot of Angelo's calibre.
<"You didn't have to do that!">
The Messiah spins around, hand reaching down to quickly grab the gunpod from its leg. Raising the weapon, Alto cries out in anger as he points it towards the Krake and holds the trigger down, letting the automatic weapon unleash its stream of bullets at the man-No. The monster piloting the Krake.
KTS: Alto Saotome has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has disengaged. KTS: Alto Saotome has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus. KTS: Alto Saotome has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Alto Saotome has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Alto Saotome targets Angelo Sauper with Gatling Full-Auto! KTS: Alto Saotome has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Angelo Sauper fails to react to Alto Saotome's Gatling Full-Auto, taking 6300 damage! <Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.
"DAMN IT!" Roux cries out at Permanence fires. She can hear Angelo, feel him. Roux feels futility and anger and thrashing and kicking and it washes over her even as she sees the Krake Zulu opens fire and a shot smashes into the Strike Zeta at its right hip, severing the limb.
A shudder runs through the Mobile Suit as Roux lets out a great gasp. It's not a good shudder. Something is beginning to break down catstrophically. Roux thinks with tears in her eyes, good and wounded alike, please. Not with her words just hanging there. Not like -
Roux turns the Strike Zeta around as it lurches. Come on, hold together, Roux thinks, orienting towards the Ra Mari II and thinking for a moment as several other systems begin to scream and the shuddering gets worse, it's not going to.
please, Roux prays.
The Strike Zeta, of course, is just a Mobile Suit. Well made, well built, and well served. There is very little the Strike Zeta could do for a prayer. What is there that could hear such a thing?
In the Strike Zeta's bowels, a damaged reactor shudders one more time and --
-- the I-Field in the ultracompact fusion reactor disintegrates instead of collapsing, as these things so often do. Magnetic coils melt in the surge of plasma, the entire engine vessel expanding in diameter nearly a meter as the contained thermal apocalypse is suddenly vented... into metal, which absorbs it and glows a dull slagged red.
The lights in the cockpit go out for long moments. Roux hardly dares to breathe.
Silent, hanging, in an already damaged cockpit.
Roux reaches in the very dim glow of the emergency light strip to touch a control with her left hand and THAT is when the Strike Zeta hits the arrestor web in the Ra Mari's port dorsal hangar bay, throwing Roux partway out of her seat with a sudden snapping SLAM against the control that brings out a gut-deep yelp of pain --
But to hurt, at least, is to live.
<Pose Tracker> Armor of the Week has posed.
The turret blasts savage the Liath Macha and the Aestivalis, and the Isadore takes the missile directly - but none of the machines fall.
Klaxons blare on the bridge of the Endeavour as the Liath Macha and the Aestivalis rip into the ship's hull. Its turrets fuse uselessly in the heat; its onboard missile launcher detonates catastrophically, the hull rupturing so spectacularly that it's a wonder the ship isn't split in twain.
The signal to the Taurus drones holds, though. The ship can still fight... Omis Kirush grits his teeth, and is about to give the order to re-coordinate the mobile dolls, when:
"We've lost the control signal to the Dolls," Captain!
The bridge crew watch in horror as the entire wing of Tauruses turns as one and raises their weapons.
This laceration of beam fire rakes the Endeavour from stem to stern, utterly obliterating what remains of its defenses.
Captain Kirush comes to his senses where the blast flung him into a corner of the bridge bulkheads. Cracks are spreading in the main viewport; not long until decompression.
"Comm," he begins, "prepare to signal our surr - " The Comm station has been abandoned - and it's useless anyway, a shard of metal speared right through it.
"Engines remain functional, Captain," his tactical officer reports, grimly. His right side is coated crimson - he and the captain are the only ones left alive on the bridge. "The Ra Mari II has nearly fully charged its spinal lance."
Captain Omis Kirush expected a more sterling career than this. This battle has gone worse than anyone on either side expected it to.
"Casualty report."
"... I don't know, sir. Internal lines are down too - whatever the junker suit did..."
"... I see." Kirush weighs his options. They're dead - it's a matter of inevitability, now. "... I hope as many of them made it to the escape pods as possible. Perhaps we can at least save some lives."
"... Understood, sir. Plotting intercept course."
Thrusters firing, the Endeavour drifts agonisingly between the General Revil and the Ra Mari II, interposing itself against the terrible might of the spinal lance. The Clops-class is a much smaller vessel than the Dogosse-Giar - there's no way it can block the blast entire - but it can soften the blow for its flagship, once it's been reduced to atoms.
<Pose Tracker> Mobile Weapon Team has posed.
The Ra Mari II's MS aces -- and the Ra Mari II itself -- see an opportunity to cleave through the battlefield and handle the General Revil. Rena carves a swath along starboard with the Hyper Mega Launcher, the blast leaving the vessel listing to one side and taking out some of the missile launchers.
"Captain! We really can't take much more of this!" comes the response from Operations; Helm offers a slightly cooler-headed but still quite bleak, "We're still capable of evasive maneuvers."
That doesn't last. The Svipul carves through several mega particle cannons and leaves a few of the vessel's many missile launchers inoperable. As explosions rock the Dogosse Giar-class's soft underbelly, Alexis looks to Danbaef, and if pressed, the Colonel would swear he saw a smile on that impassive mask.
The spinal cannon of the Zentradi Monitor charges -- and fires. Alexis sees no point in being bothered; he is, after all, one with infinite causality. Everyone else, however, notices the corona of light and has that split second 'Welp,' reflex of someone who knows they're already dead.
It doesn't come. Rather, a second vessel takes the worst of the blow. It's only the worst of it, though -- about half of the output escapes through the other side of the Endeavor, taking out the starboard MS catapult and about a third of the hangar. This one melts more cleanly than the previous, at least -- the shot melts the entire area to slag, leaving no holes, no backup mobile weapons --
-- and, crucially, no personnel.
"Captain! We can't prosecute this any further -- only the rear catapults are even intact!" "We're down to one mega particle cannon and a third of our CIWS!" "Captain! Call the retreat! Ignore that damn alien!"
Maseki Danbaef and Alexis Kerib look at each other. "Well, I'm sure if your vessel is that damaged, Mrs. Vist-Carbine will be satisfied that you did all you could," Alexis offers, playfully. "Besides... there's nothing of value here anymore."
The Colonel takes a breath, and says, "Recall all ReZEL teams to rear catapults. Turn and retreat. Have the Jegans cover us."
It's a doomed battle for what few Jegans are left -- but that's the price of doing business with Anaheim, apparently.
"Hmhm. Well done out there, Captain," Alexis says, turning back toward the same door he came through. "Until next time. Ja na~."
Maseki at least waits for Alexis to exit the bridge before slamming his fist down on the armrest in anger.
KTS: Mobile Weapon Team's Dogosse Giar-class 'General Revil' has been disabled. KTS: Armor of the Week's Clop-class has been disabled. <Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
The Gaia Gear Alpha lowers the Hyper Mega Launcher. That's when Rena feels something, across the battlefield -- the sudden lack of presence of Permanence. She stares for a moment, then she looks downward.
"Permanence, no--"
She squeezes her eyes shut. Rena takes a deep, shaking breath, and ten she looks back up. She watches the Endeavour's last moments; she watches the General Revil fall back, after all of the damage inflicted.
"Let's fall back," she says, her voice sedate. "We should get back to the Ra Mari II."
<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.
<"Maybe --"> Banagher squeezes his eyes shut against the glare of Angelo's charging cannons. <"Nobody's listening becuase you're wrong. You're still a person! You deserve--">
Fear makes the young pilot's actions clumsy. If he has no choice, he'll activate the NT-D and get out of this, but -- then he'll lose to the Banshee. The timer will run out before he can find Leina. What is there to do--? Banagher's finger hovers over the activation command.
<"Angelo...">
Memories echo from Angelo's heart. Banagher blinks widely. This is... something beautiful?
Until it isn't.
Recoiling from the panic that radiates into his soul, the young pilot cries out in distress. When Permanence's rocket connects with the Krake Zulu -- Banagher raises his arms to shield himself, even within the Unicorn. Angelo's fear and pain are so vibrant, so real--
What happened to you?
Banagher's hands are already moving, already firing on Angelo's machine, even as he's released. Darting back and away, the Unicorn positions herself out of reach of the Krake Zulu's hold. Attacks land on Angelo's mobile suit from all sides -- but Banagher is still stunned by the psychic connection they briefly shared. The battle fades into the background as the young pilot tries to sort through what he saw.
Angelo screams. The Krake Zulu whirls and fires, and Banagher raises the Unicorn's shield, letting the Mega Particle beam dissipate against her I-fields. By the time he looks up again...
Permanence has given all she has to give. Banagher can only scream as Angelo fires point-blank, and Permanence's body just... disappears. Nothing is left of her, nothing to bury, nothing to bring home to her siblings--
I dare, because no one will ever tell me what to do again.
"NO!" Banagher sobs, anguish racking through his body. He curls in on himself in the Unicorn's pilot seat, tears cutting twin paths through the blood still covering his face. "No, no, no..."
In an instant, grief and anguish turn to fury. The Unicorn shudders, but doesn't yet transform, held back by the will of her partner.
<"You didn't have to kill her."> Banagher's voice is ragged with tears. It grows louder, then -- <"YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO KILL HER! SHE WAS FINALLY FREE, AND RECOVERING, AND SHE HAD --!">
She had so much time.
Radiating hatred, Banagher guides the Unicorn through retrieving a new weapon. A javelin altered to include the blade of a beam-axe, illuminated in brilliant green. With a scream, the Key to Possibility charges Angelo's Krake Zulu.
Both hands grip the beam javelin's handle. The Unicorn raises it high above her head, then brings it slashing down -- trying to decapitate the hated enemy machine. That's all it is, now -- enemy, enemy, enemy--
Rage drives Banagher, swinging his weapon again, and again, and again. Aiming for the neck, the joints, anywhere and everywhere. But despite everything -- he still refuses to strike the cockpit.
<"You're so -- so CONSUMED with YOURSELF!"> Banagher yells, brokenly. <"You think killing Permanence will fix you?! Killing me? NOTHING WILL!">
Green light emanates from the Unicorn's visor, echoed in her weapon.
<"You're empty! You don't care about anyone but yourself and a man even emptier than you are! And--!"> Another slash, another sob. <"He cares about me more than he ever will care about you. Everything you do, all the suffering you cause--!">
Pain racks through the young Newtype's form again, and he brings one hand up, clutching at his chest. <"EVERYTHING YOU DO IS FOR NOTHING!">
KTS: Banagher Links has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Banagher Links has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Banagher Links has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Banagher Links targets Angelo Sauper with Hyper Beam Javelin: Totality! KTS: Banagher Links has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
Anita doesn't have the same senses that many here on this battlefield. She can't feel, intrinsically, that sudden sense of loss. So the only way she knows that something happened is that sudden, horrible silence - and the strained voices of her friends.
"What? What-" Anita starts. She doesn't finish the sentence. She can hazard a guess already. She doesn't need to make them say it.
"...Yeah. Yeah. Right behind you." Anita says. With one last look at the Endeavor's sacrifice and the General Revil, Anita turns to leave...
...though on the way back to the Ra Mari II, she'll lend a hand to any disabled units that need rescuing.
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
Determined to give until she can no longer afford to give any more, Nova's focus is, for a brief moment, supreme. She's accurately predicted how far she can go with her saucer bombardment, and can see the moment Angelo will respond in her mind's eye. The saucers are recalled and all thrusters fully engaged when weapons are trained on her. For a brief moment, it seems like she may escape scot free, just as planned.
Were it not for two things. Two simple things, that one can ill afford when fleeing to outrun incoming particle beams. Her mental fatigue, and the failure of a single thruster, due to the damage she'd taken earlier. Sometimes, that's all it takes for the best laid plans to go awry.
It's not as awry as things could have gotten, had she not made the attempt. But her machine is caught by enough of the blast force to be knocked violently forward. The machine has managed to escape a grim fate... but the pilot has reached her limit. Slumped forward in her seat, Naoko loses consciousness, which may be doing her a favor in so far that it causes her not perceive the awful development regarding Permanence Pasternak.
There is at least a silver lining, in that this does not leave the Sukeban entirely without a pilot.
>"Ah, shit. This is bad. Can we make it to the ship from here on our own?"<
>"Um... maybe. Let's activate the distress beacon, just in case. Hang in there, Nova..."<
Though the Arm Slave yet moves towards the Ra Mari II, it's at a far slower pace compared to its full capability - the best it can do on 'auto-pilot'. Of course, by the time it's retrieved, it will appear as if no one else was in the cockpit but Nova... at last getting that rest she so badly needed, if not in the way she wanted.
KTS: Angelo Sauper fails to react to Banagher Links's Hyper Beam Javelin: Totality, taking 7810 damage! KTS: Banagher Links has engaged Angelo Sauper! KTS: Banagher Links roots his unit, coming to a standstill and leaving him vulnerable. <Pose Tracker> Hikaru Amano has posed.
Lucine and Liam have that sappy conversation, and yes, of course Hikaru hears all. "Well, listen to you two lovebirds~!" she sasses. Really, she can understand why they might feel the need to tell each other such things... she knows full well it could be their last. But she refuses to let it be.
"I'm pretty sure Ikari is some other guy, too..." Hikaru sighs, as Trevor also screws up her name. "Yeah, it's Hikaru! Hmm... maybe I should be going into full introduction mode more often if you can't remember!" She sounds enthusiastic about this, almost.
Their daring plan almost seems to work, too, as the ships rock from the blast of Hikaru and Liam's machines, but then...
That blue glow. The Taurus squadron turns on their own?! Hikaru's eyes widen, and then her sensors turn to the Isadore. "What the heck did you just do? I mean, a win's a win. But you're not just some charming romantic pirate after all, huh? I knew it!" She accuses him, but even then...
It's hard to ignore all the death and destruction and explosions surrounding them. Without Trevor's intervention, who knows if they would have made it? Even Permanence sacrifices herself... "That was stupid." Hikaru mutters. "You can't just do that stuff in real life... when people are waiting for you." She shakes her head, but despite the insult, she'll still be there for Permanence's funeral. On the Nadesico 'stupid' is hardly ever a crime... and Permanence certainly didn't deserve to die for it.
"Hey, Nadesico!" She opens line. "We've successfully subdued a Clop-class cruiser... I think I'm gonna request permission to board for repairs, please and thank you!" She could keep going, her Aestie isn't in that bad shape. But she doubts Liam and Lucine can keep going and the absolute last thing she wants is to fight alone.
<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
Did Lucine miss something?
She's about to find out on her own.
"... Hh!" Lucine grips her stomach. The remains of the 'net' of her mind, switched just a little further than it usually had ever reached before, is caught in the solar winds of Angelo's rage, Permanace's brave stand and death, and the wave of everyone's anger and sadness following afterwards.
She breathes through it, the fingers of her left hand curled against Liam's chair.
"Someone... died... another Newtype...? Something happened... Not a normal death... People are angry, sad... mourning."
She hears Hikaru's reaction over her headset. Her eyes narrow. "...."
It would have felt so hollow, if she had only felt the last, and strongest collection of emotions.
She did not die alone, or unnoticed.
< ".... Maybe that's why that person did it." > These soft words are offered to Hikaru. < ".... Lots of pilots have died for less... and gotten nothing in return... All of our feelings, including yours... that's a sign of something important, that Angelo... can't open his heart to." >
<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.
Who... are you?
That is the question. A pertinent, valuable question. The mind that Lucine finds is-- strange, not alien but Other. Misshapen. Perhaps even half-formed. The Endeavor is set ablaze, the legion of subverted Tauruses delivering what would have been a fatal blow-- if the vessel was not hell-bent on sacrificing itself to save its flagship. A flurry of escape pods erupt from the burning ship, a blizzard of lives.
I a...m--
Another blue pulse. Each of the Tauruses rise to attention, lifting their weapons as one. The escape pods hang helplessly in space. Isadore's hand is raised as if poised to give a signal. Or perhaps like an executioner's axe about to fall.
Guardian... Isadore.
Its hand slices downward, a clean, lethal arc. The wing of Tauruses open fire--
And cleanly decapitate themselves in a circular firing squad on a massive scale. No beam passes anywhere near an escape pod.
And then-- the Isadore's visor dims. It hangs in place like a puppet with strings cut.
"U---gnhg," Trevor groans, stirring in his seat. The world spins around him, his senses swimming. He reaches up and feels for his forehead-- only to find his helmet there, forgotten, blocking his fingers' reach.
There's blood dripping from his brow. Evidence of a concussion.
Hikaru makes contact. He squints at his radio, "...I'm-- not 'just' some charming romantic pirate. I'm..." Trevor shakes his head, probably making his concussion mildly WORSE but hey that's what Zentraedi genetics are for. "I'm-- obviously the best charming romantic pirate. Excuse you."
Beat.
"Why, what'd we do?"
...
"What... happened? There's so much-- sorrow?"
<Pose Tracker> Angelo Sauper has posed.
His lungs burn with every breath he takes.
He feels so strangely aware of it. Like he could feel every bronchioles protesting in those organs as those exhausted alveoli work to keep processing all that oxygen he needs to...
... to what, exactly?
What has he ever done to... to...
A gloved hand grips at his chest. He feels his heart pounding chaotically in his chest so hard it feels it's going to burst. He feels the cold sweat gathering and loosing off the tip of his nose.
He feels her last words. He feels her dying defiance. He feels her freedom.
Angelo Sauper feels everything.
And he hates it.
You didn't have to do that!'
YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO KILL HER!
Voices shouting over his open line feel like a dim echo. But that one... THAT ONE... drags him back into reality. Angelo feels the grating drag of molars against molars as he turns his head in the direction of the Unicorn, staring at it within the flickering frame of his cockpit. So perfect. So needed.
So useful.
Even the Colonel--
<"I'M TIRED OF ALL YOUR DAMN WHINING!">
--even the COLONEL--
<"THIS IS YOUR FAULT!!">
Banagher doesn't understand him. Angelo doesn't want to be understood.
Angelo tears into the heart of Banagher. Banagher tears down the only thing that matters to Angelo with a simple truth.
All either of them have is fury as Angelo ignites the remaining thrusters of the Krake and LAUNCHES himself at the Unicorn.
<"You have a machine that can change everything, for all of us, and all you do is wring your hands about a few deaths! You're a simpering, SAD little MISTAKE! Even LEINA KNOWS HOW HOPELESS YOU ARE! But you keep prancing on, thinking you can tell us what we should want, how we should live!">
How. How. HOW.
How can this boy-- how can HE--
<"When all you are is just SOME IDIOT WHO FELL INTO A MOBILE SUIT!">
how can he threaten the only thing that made angelo useful
The Krake's cannons thrust ahead of it. They begin to charge rapidly as he PUSHES them as hard as they can, as fast as he can--
They are just at the cusp of firing as the Messiah's bulletfire RIPS across those twin barrels, shredding through armor into a rippling EXPLOSION that broils outward and engulfs the entirety of the Krake Zulu in one blisteringly brief burst.
"What-- no--!"
So tunnel-visioned on Banagher Angelo is, he didn't even see Alto coming -- and it costs him dearly as heat and force knock the Krake back, back into armor, set himself so open, so vulnerable--
EVERYTHING YOU DO IS FOR NOTHING!
The beam axe of the Unicorn butchers the Krake as its key butchers the Krake's pilot on a more fundamental, emotional level. He's broken. Forever.
And all Angelo can do is shout in sheer frustration, unable to articulate even a single mote of it--
Because to do so would mean to be seen.
In the end, the Krake is decapitated, its remaining arm torn out, the docking bays of its cannons obliterated.
He expects an end. But what he gets is...
... nothing.
... no strikes hit his cockpit. Not a single one.
"... how dare you..."
The Krake's thrusters ignite, venting forward, directly onto the Unicorn. Full rocket exhaust buffets against all that BEAUTIFUL white armor as the hideous wreck that was once Angelo's mobile suit is shunted backwards.
"How dare you look down on me..."
The retreat flare ignites from the lead Sleeves ship. Cover fire ignites from other Zeonic mobile suits as the wreckage of the Krake jettisons backwards, caught by a Hamma-Hamma as it makes its full retreat from the battlefield.
He feels small. He feels pitied. But worst of all...
"... how dare you look at me..."
He feels seen.
KTS: Angelo Sauper's YAMS-130 Krake Zulu has been disabled. <Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
The Mobile Dolls suddenly stop. At first, Liam wonders if it's interference, but as he pulls back from his trail of dismembered Mobile Weapons, he sees the Isadore's eyes glowing. He remembers what it did in the Ra Mari II's hanger, to buy everyone crucial moments. A frisson of mingled fear and awe trails down his spine as the Dolls become its Dolls, and open fire on their mothership.
'Hey, Nadesico! We've successfully subdued a Clop-class cruiser--'
"Hikaru," Liam transmits, and his throat tightens. Escape pods are ejecting, but... not nearly enough for a ship that size. People are dead. People are dead because Martha Vist Carbine sent them here to kill his friends--destroy the Unicorn--because of that goddamned Box.
<"Endeavour."> Liam's fear is palpable, even through speech to text to speech. What's it doing? Why is it--
The Ra Mari II's beam cannon fires. The flash of light blinds Liam, or maybe that's the tears of frustrated rage in his eyes. He's no Newtype. Permanence Pasternak's courageous last stand is one more death on the pile. One more person who'll never make it home.
Liam turns off the radio. His jaw trembles. What he said to Leina feels so distant. "Why did they do that," he says. "Why did they do that for--for that BLOODY GOBSHITE VIST?!" As awkward as the words are--like Liam's piecing together something his elders said--there is genuine rage behind them.
"...Lu. Are you... okay?" The rage cools. Liam looks at his screen, and sees Federation distress beacons strewn all over like someone knocked over a box of them. The Tauruses--
"TREVOR!" Liam screams, driven to horrified rage in a--
No. The angles. They're killing each other, not the pods. Liam breathes again.
And then he remembers Lucine, behind him, now sounding like she's about to throw up. Or is she? "Lu, did..."
"...Oh. I'm... sorry." Liam breathes deeply, and wishes he could hold her. "What did you--we need to get home." Without another word, Liam starts to vector, gently, towards the Ra Mari II's hangar, marking every lifepod and cockpit they pass.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
Eight York holds it together fr a while longer. She watches, as the remnants of the Endeavour follow into the path of her ship's cannons. She sees lifepods deploy; how many didn't? How many instead fell in the battle, or didn't reach the pods in time? She can't know. But she 'feels' that it must have been many.
The General Revil moves to withdraw, and Eight may never know the reason that they held out for as long as they did beforehand.
"Captain," Kazama says. "The Cannon is offline. We'll need--"
"That's fine, Ms. Kazama. We won't need it again today."
Various suits fly or limp their way back to the Ra Mari II's hangar, one of the doors still utterly destroyed by Angelo's passing. They will all be recovered, as they can be. But Eight for now looks to the viewscreen, considers the retreating forms of the remaining ship.
"Do not pursue," Eight instructs. "Focus on the wounded. Do a sweep for survivors."
"And the enemy'e escape pods?" Rezza says, looking to meet Eight's eyes in the moment.
"...If the General Revil leaves them behind, gather them up too."
"And the Sleeves ships?" Rezza says, and Eight's expression hardens. "..."
"Mr. Sauper has retreated to one."
"...Let them go," Eight says, and the ship's not in condition to start chasing their erstwhile allies in any case. The cannon would require minutes to fire again. And...
"...Let them go, and compile the casualty reports." Eight rises from her seat on the bridge. "Mx. Rezza, you have the bridge."
She moves without another word to the office off the bridge, where no one can see her.
"Captain," Licia Chovan starts, but Rezza looks to her and shakes their head.
Licia looks down, at her console, and sighs.
"Keep full power to weapons, Kazama." Rezza moves for the chair, and takes a seat. "We aren't going to rely on any more goodwill today from the enemy. Kall, continue sweeping for survivors. Astelian, gather up those distress calls..."
Eight does not come out of the office for a while.
<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.
<"If you're so tired, then LEAVE!"> Banagher yells, vicious, uncaring. Even as the ruined Krake Zulu launches at the Unicorn, Banagher can't find it in himself to care. <"Shut up! You hate the idea of me changing anything! You hate -- everything that isn't about HIM!">
At Leina's name, Banagher snarls, thrusting forward with the Unicorn's Beam Javelin to sever the Krake Zulu's arm. He winds up to strike again -- but cannonfire, bullets, rip into the enemy machine.
In the end, both mobile suits crash against each other. The Unicorn drops her weapon, reaching out to try and crush the Krake Zulu this time.
Angry beyond words, Banagher can't reply to Angelo, even as the Sleeves provide cover fire. The Unicorn's I-field activates again, leaving her unharmed, but the Krake Zulu retreats.
Immediately, he pulls out one of the Unicorn's bazookas, specifically given to her by Takuya to take out enemies at range. One more hit -- that's all he needs. It's what Angelo deserves, after what he did to--
Permanence.
Banagher chokes on a sob, tears falling in earnest. Curling into himself, he takes his hands off the controls, and the Unicorn goes still. No fire pursues Angelo -- he escapes safely. The way tears track across Banagher's face is itchy, but... He can't take his helmet off. Not yet. Leina still needs him.
<"I'm going after the Banshee."> Banagher's voice broadcasts across the battlefield. Furious. Destroyed. <"I'll come back with Leina. Stay away.">
Again, he closes his eyes. Reaching for her, through his anger and despair -- and this time, he finds her. She's close. Clenching his hands into fists, Banagher turns the Unicorn and rockets toward the Banshee. Nothing can stop him now -- not even the twangs of guilt and pain he feels at the wreckage of the Endeavor, the endless death the hunt for the Box has caused.
We're going home. Together, or not at all.