2022-06-25: Whoever Fights Monsters...

• Log: Whoever Fights Monsters...
• Cast: Kaiju Navi, Weekly Seijin, Ryoto Hikawa, Yurika Misumaru, Lily Jung, Eight York, Roux Louka, Trevor Teach, Riika Sheder, Rena Lancaster, Ryoko Subaru, Michiru Tenjou, Ruri Hoshino, Mia Brinkman, Liam 7-020, Sho Muramoto, Banagher Links, Lucine Azul, Himeyuri Oono, Kaworu Nagisa
• Where: Orbital Ring
• OOC - IC Date: June 25, 0096
• Summary: A Vajra attack interrupts a battle between ZAFT and the Federation, forcing them to work together if they wish to survive.

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<Pose Tracker> Kaiju Navi has posed.

        The cannons of a Salamis class cruiser glow, before firing. The beams
 streak out across space, the somewhat large structure of the Orbital Ring
 behind them, itself overshadowed by the even larger blue and green planet. The
 flight of the beams is suddenly interrupted as they reach the hull of a
 Laurasia class frigate, carving through its armor and leaving scorched
 structure behind. Sections of the Laurasia's hull slide open, revealing
 missiles waiting within the ports beneath. The missiles launch, fire blasting
 out their rears as they dance through the vast black. After traveling some
 distance they face a premature end as a flurry of bullets meet them, shredding
 them and causing them to explode. A Jegan flies past the explosions, raising
 its beam rifle and firing off several bursts of light. Until a rocket comes
 screaming in towards it, striking it in the back and exploding, blasting a
 hole in it that triggers a sudden and inescapable cascading overload in its
 energy systems, resulting in the whole unit exploding. A GINN rushes past the
 quickly expanding field of debris, charging in towards a Clop class cruiser,
 before a beam of light pierces through its chest, the machine suddenly going
 limp as it slowly tumbles through space.

        The battle being waged near this section of the Orbital Ring is not a
 small one. The ZAFT and combined Federation fleets consist of over a dozen
 ships each, with a total of roughly one hundred mobile weapons having been
 deployed onto the field. Already a third have been destroyed, several ships
 damaged. And this isn't even counting whatever reinforcements the two sides
 have on the way. ZAFT had launched this moderately sized assault, their
 mission to damage the Orbital Ring and put an even tighter squeeze on the
 Federation's energy production capabilities. The various blocs of the
 Federation of course responded to defend, not wanting to see their hated foes
 get the upper hand.

        For the most part, the battle has been fairly organized, with the fleet
 commanders conducting a push and counter push of fleet tactics. But the more
 the battle goes on, the more fatigue sets in, the more nerves begin to fray.
 Two ships on the outer wings of the formations, one a ZAFT Nazca class, the
 other a Federation Salamis class, seem to have had enough of trading shots
 across the vast space. As the latest fleet maneuver brings them in relatively
 close together, they break forming, rushing each other. Each trying to get the
 killing blow. The Salamis takes a missile from the Nazca. The damage severs
 one of the main power lines, shutting down several of the cruiser's turrets.

        Inside the Salamis, a young engineer is dispatched to make emergency
 repairs to get the power flowing again. He floats his way through the ship's
 corridors, pushing himself along even as the sound of additional weapons fire
 hitting the hull reverberates through the ship's structure. He's sweating
 profusely, an extremely concerned look on his face. But it's not the battle
 that has him so rattled. It's what he's about to do next.

        The engineer enters into a locker room. Not the place he had been sent
 to. Throwing his repair kit to float away, he pushes himself over to his
 locker. He nervously fumbles at inputing the code, before opening it. The
 objects within are mostly normal, apart from one: A large silver case, with no
 obvious means to open it. Just a single button, which slow pulses with an
 ominous blue glow.

        The engineer places his hand on the case, his thumb shaking as it
 hovers over the button. He doesn't want to do this... He doesn't want to do
 this... He doesn't want to do this... He glances at the photo attached to the
 inside of the locker. His wife and newborn daughter... He has no choice. He
 takes a deep breath, closes his eyes and presses his thumb against the button.

        ...

        Nothing happens.

        Having assumed the device was a bomb, the engineer had expected it to
 explode. It didn't... Did it malfunction? The solid green light of the button
 suggests otherwise. And yet there was nothing... What should he do now? He'd
 been given no further instructions after 'press the button'. Believing that he
 had fulfilled his part of the deal and happy that it didn't mean his explosive
 death, the engineer closes the locker shut again. There's a slight feeling of
 hope that perhaps he'll make it out of this alive after all.

        Roughly one minute after the button was pressed, ALL ships in the
 battle will suddenly detect a large distortion in space not too far from the
 edge of the battlefield. One that, while slightly different from standard
 readings of such, will none the less be recognized as something rarely seen
 nowadays: A fold window.

        Something is coming.

        Space distorts near the two clashing ships, quickly followed by a large
 ring of light that rapidly spreads outwards. A large green mass rushes out of
 the swirling energies within the ring, before the ring suddenly collapses
 inwards and vanishes in a burst of quickly fading particles of light.

        The large object looms just beyond the two ships, over five times their
 size at roughly 1.5km long. While its shape and features somewhat suggest it
 is a ship of some kind, the design is like nothing anyone has seen before. Its
 predominantly curved surfaces and spikey extrusions give it a very organic
 feel.

        The strange ship hangs near the other two, which having not quite yet
 grasped the situation they are in are still in the process of firing on one
 another. Attachments that look suspiciously like weapon turrets on the strange
 ship's hull rotate and raise their long spikes to point towards the two ships.
 Golden energy arcs across the surfaces of those spikes before gathering at the
 tips and leaping off them. The blasts of energy streak towards their targets
 before striking them and expanding out in a rush of energy. The energy rips
 the two ships apart, triggering secondary explosions until finally they both
 vanish in a shockwave of fire and debris.

        Apparently unmoved by the deaths it had just caused, the large forward
 section of the strange ship suddenly splits in two, both parts sliding open.
 From within, numerous smaller craft begin to fly out. Their shapes are far
 more familiar to those who have paid any attention to news coming out of the
 Frontier Long Distance Colony Fleet. And for a select few who have already
 encountered them here in the Earth Sphere.

        The hostile alien lifeforms: Vajra.

<Pose Tracker> Weekly Seijin has posed.

        The cloud of smaller Vajra forms come in two flavors of death: The
 smaller, agile, and more numerous Soldier as well as the larger, intimidating
 crimson red Heavy Soldier. The former are bone white in color and with their
 limbs tucked back against their body with their hammerhead-like horn
 protrusions splitting either space or air before them, they 'swim' almost like
 fish using their long tails to propel them. Meanwhile the much larger Heavy
 Soldiers, with protrustion reminiscent of the fierce rhino beetles that call
 Earth home, similarly 'swim' through the medium of space albeit with less
 agility and more violent presence. The large lance-like protrusion on their
 backs.

        Which before long reveal themselves to be large lance-like cannons...

        The ravenous horde manuevers like a tide, swirling in schools across
 the local forces. Whether your allegiance is Federation or ZAFT: Both are
 targets for these creatures. Bright beams of, one would presume, some sort of
 biologically produced energy divide the darkness of space to split through a
 Federation mobile unit, bisecting them in a single shot!! A bone white
 soldier collides with a ZAFT unit, grasping onto it with it with all four
 limbs while using its claws to cut them apart.

        From a distance one could admire how they move as one. Their method of
 violence a symphony, wherein each instrument has a place and a part of the
 greater whole. They move as one out of the way of their mothership's cannons
 which each salvo, then just as synchronized move back in to rush in and fill
 the gaps. And for each one of theirs shot down by a local defender, yet more
 seem ready to swarm out from their massive carrier and join the fray. They
 move seemingly without any sort of individual fear... carried only by their
 desire to destroy anything that is not their own.

        It's a desperate struggle for survival, a pitched battle where even
 former foes may have to consider tossing aside their grievances to take down
 an unknown silent aggressor with which there is no hint of negotiation, no
 attempt at conversation. Already the larger Heavy Soldiers are moving to
 provider cover for the lighter Soldiers to move towards the ships, their
 intentions obvious: The deaths of all those on board.

        Hold the line... find a way to disperse the swarm... or die trying.

<Pose Tracker> Ryoto Hikawa has posed.

The transit from Earth to a Londo Bell unit somewhere in orbit was supposed to
 be fairly routine. A Tausendfuessler had takene off from the outskirts of
 Tokyo early Friday morning, stopped over at an Orbital Ring station for parts,
 then continued on deeper into orbital space to make a rendezvous with the
 Federation forces currently locked in battle with ZAFT.

A rendezvous happens. it is just not the one anyone is expecting. The
 Tausendfuessler is by no means prepared to fly into the shadow of an immense
 ship from beyond, one that's beginning to vomit out smaller craft recognizable
 mainly to those who follow matters of the Frontier Fleets. Caught in the midst
 of the sudden turn in fortunes, the transport turns tail away from the combat
 zone, guns its thrusters and tries to escape the fray as fast as its power
 plant will carry it.

Its engines aren't nearly fasst enough to outrun the Vajra. There are too many
 hostiles on the field.

In a hurry, a young man with fluffy brown hair throws himself into a cockpit,
 pulling on his helmet and sealing it into place. "Open the hangar doors," he
 calls tensely as he hustles through preflight procedure. "Drop me out there.
 I'll cover your escape!"

"That's insane!" the Tausendfuessler's pilot radios with a gasp. "We have no
 idea what those things are! They're tearing apart everything out there! You
 could be killed--"

"That doesn't matter! If I don't do something, your entire crew could die!
 Don't worry about me, I'll be alright! Just open the hatch!"

There's a moment's silence before the captain comes back, voice more subdued.
 "Be careful, Flight Officer Hikawa...."

The transport's hatch slides open. It's not a formal ship catapult, but it'll
 have to do. Only one unit deploys - a slender machine painted in a shade of
 cool night-blue, sporting a sharp V-fin and a set of fanned-out binders rising
 from its backpack.

The Huckebein Mark II's eyes flare to full sensor brightness with a pulse of
 green. Sensor readings filter back into the cockpit, isolating far too many
 foes for Ryoto Hikawa's comfort. The young pilot draws a breath and swallows a
 large lump in his throat, shoulders rising, then falling. He'd flown the
 Huckebein in battle like this once - against a small ZAFT strike - but this is
 entirely no serious. The enemy is silent, ruthless, scarcely human-seeming and
 striking at anything that moves.

        /...But that doesn't matter. Even if all I can do is make sure the
 Tausendfuessler gets to safety, I have to do what I can!/

Ryoto pushes his hands into his controls and hunches forward intently, giving
 his radio a quick tap. "Londo Bell task force, Huckebein Mark II, on site and
 moving to intercept!" he calls. His voice is high and obviously tense, but
 focused - and the Huckebein's already moving.

The legend of the original Vanishing Trooper is hardly unknown - a machine
 allegedly devoured by its own mysterious engine. Its successor, at least, has
 not only not blown itself up on launch, but it's rocketing into the cloud of
 Vajra at a startling speed, leaving a wake of blue-white thruster afterglow
 behind it. The personal trooper unshoulders a long rifle with a curving energy
 cell slung beneath, maneuvering to flank a group of outlying Vajra fighters.

Ryoto lets the Huckebein help him, the T-Link System guiding his sights as he
 aligns his crosshairs into the swarm. He sucks in a sharp breath before
 exclaiming, "I have them!" He jams the firing command.

Bursts of blue-violet light rip from the photon rifle. They scream through
 space, pulsing into the Vajra crowd to try and thin their ranks - if nothing
 else, to ensure that they have something more threatening than a mere
 Tausendfuessler to pursue.

KTS: Ryoto Hikawa targets Weekly Seijin with Photon Rifle Aimed Shot!

<Pose Tracker> Yurika Misumaru has posed.

        Once the orders from Federation higher-ups came in, there was a stifled
 mood aboard the Nadesico. Quieter. Resigned, somewhat. Much as they've tried
 to avoid it, the time's come for the military to really cash their side of the
 bargain, and Nergal's flagship takes to the stars, docked with a La Vie en
 Rose-class orbital facility, and awaiting deployment prior to this larger push
 of ZAFT's.

        Captain Yurika Misumaru has been just a little bit on edge, asking just
 about everyone for status updates and condition reports at every turn, for
 hours and hours. Until finally:

        Captaaaain. You're way too high strung," Helmswoman Minato Haruka
 croons, right before a slow sort of yawn, clapping a hand on Yurika's shoulder
 during one of her restless pacings in the hallway. "We all get that this big
 an operation's stressful, but...at this rate, you're going to get burned out.
 Shouldn't you take a bit of a nap until you're needed?"

        Yurika has to concede defeat at this juncture, and, up until the
 beginning shots, is laid out on her mattress, half-awarely gazing at one of
 the blinking lights on a nearby climate control outlet.

        She really needed it! By the time the Nadesico's set to join in with
 several of the Salamis-class ships, there's a brighter sheen in Yurika's eyes,
 marching onto the bridge decisively and immediately making the calls on when
 and where to fire or take evasive action and all that.

        ...When disaster strikes and the Vajra emerge, and everyone goes into
 disarray, Yurika claps both her cheeks with her hands once, planting her palms
 atop her console. "They're attacking indiscriminately, and they're obviously
 some kind of weird organic monster swarm. Classify them as kaiju and begin
 testing their resistances! Launch half a salvo of missiles at some of the
 larger ones - the mobile suits should be engaging the little guys!"

        With a sweep of Yurika's hand, the missile ports astride the Nadesico's
 prow open up, arcing towards the Heavy Soldier-class Vajra retinue, with the
 captain leaned forward far enough to risk falling over the bridge's balcony!
 (Mr. Hory is there to pull her back if she starts tipping, it's okay!)

KTS: Yurika Misumaru targets Weekly Seijin with Missile Launch!

<Pose Tracker> Lily Jung has posed.

Lily is... exhausted.

Her hands are trembling, and she is on a regimen of caffeine and some other
 boosters to keep her going, as she redeploys into battle alongside one of the
 forward battle formations. Her shoulders feel heavy from the sensation of the
 deaths that have been suffering around her. The Zack she's pilotting has
 gotten its armored tarnished in many places. And it's currently running with
 the left arm that had been pulled from a GINN.

The pulse of the Psyco system seems almost eratic as it trembles throughout the
 body of the Zack's cockpit. Luckily, her Haro is still just as energetic as
 always; "You've got this, Lily! You've got this, Lily!" It chimes, as the unit
 spins around a series of machinegun fire coming her way, and she retaliates by
 searing the left, then the right arm off of the federation GM, forcing it to
 retreat.

Her fingers grip tight over the controls, and her feet relax just a moment,
 before she feels this intense pressure against her mind all of the sudden. Her
 head snaps up, as the Zack's mono-eye quickly sweeps the area above. Rapidly
 making a PLUS sign within its dome, as the unit begins to drift a bit.

And she beholds it. The Mothership coming through a rupture in space itself.
 Tearing through, and filling the combat arena with a whole new presence. The
 Radio erupts in countless sounds, wondering what is going on, as Lily just
 feels this overwhelming feeling of... violence. It's almost a buzz more than
 the directed feeling she is used to! A constant assault upon her senses that
 is making her squeeze her eyes shut, right before the lancing beams travel and
 tear apart the lives on both sides.

She would have warned that they were not friendly, but in the time it would
 have taken to reach them, is all the time it takes for those lives to be
 snuffed out. Then... they come.

Spilling out like a hornets nest that has been bothered by a stick! Descending
 upon their combat arena and all these exhausted combatants!

The EWAC Zack rushes towards the nearest Nazca class Destroyer - her IFF system
 recognizing it as the 'Socrates'. <"This is Lily Jung to Nazca class -
 Socrates. I'm forming up in order to protect."> She calls out, as the young
 woman closes her eyes for just a moment... and then lets out a long and slow
 breath.

                /A warm sensation begins to spread through space in that
 moment. Almost like the sun's beams were coming through their windows just
 perfectly, and touching upon their hands, their arms./

And her gaze snaps up in focus as the bugs come.

Yet she can't help but... smile a little. "Opportunity, Kuma."

KTS: Lily Jung targets Riika Sheder, Himeyuri Oono, and Michiru Tenjou with Awe.

<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.

The battle has been long, and difficult. Eight York and the Ra Mari are in the
 thick of it, the Captain issuing orders on her ship to a daunted crew. Chovan
 continues to move the ship through evasive patterns; Fari has the weapons lit
 up and firing. Astelian keeps bringing in the data from their higher-ups
 coordinating the mission to dispense to the rest of them. And Eight...

"Keep holding. We've got pilots out there counting on us."

She feels it. The death all over, minds snuffing out of a sudden, and it
 aches, it's almost too much to bear. But she doesn't show it; her voice is
 calm, her expression even, her eyes going over reports and maps and ships and
 suits--

"That would be nice, wouldn't it?" Eight replies to Roux Louka.

"There--tighten up our formation! We need to make sure they can't hit our
 flank!"

There is a flash. There is hostility. And there is--

"HARD TO PORT, NOW!" Eight calls out of nowhere, and a blast crashes through
 where the ship was, barely missing thanks to Chovan's quick maneuvers and
 Eight's preternatural awareness. "Captain--"

Fari stares in horror at the exploding ships--no, not at the ships At the
 things emerging from that sudden space. "W-what ARE these--"

"Could they be from the frontier...?" A pause. "I'm not sure, Lieutenant. But
 this battle has just changed."

Crackling over the radio to her pilots, Eight says, "Break off assault on ZAFT
 forces immediately--defend the infrastructure and ships from the unidentified
 objects. I'll be sending you data as soon as we have it!"

To her crew, "Just hold it together. Remember your training, and look alive!"

The Ra Mari slowly begins to turn... towards the gigantic unit that seems to be
 their primary.

The Ra Mari starts issuing data to its pilots.

KTS: Lily Jung has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Himeyuri Oono
KTS: Eight York targets Roux Louka and Rena Lancaster with Caution.

<Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.

ROUX LOUKA

As an interruption to a quiet conversation she has been having.

Roux Louka has been operating in the immediate proximity of the Ra Mari's
 combat deck. This is for several reasons. One of them is that Roux is in a
 Photon Powered hero robot that is primarily for surface use and for once in
 her life isn't going to be flitting around like a mosquito on the legendary
 "blue crystals" of Alberquerque Bunch; the Ichinana is not quite Mazinger Z,
 but it is at least a working approximation.

The other, as she had openly said, is -

"I hope they just... give up."

She had made her feelings clear to the commander of her ship, peacefully, with
 an open heart, iteration on what she had felt before. She could only push
 herself so far against ZAFT, and she was a contractor, and as such, perhaps...?

It is impossible, of course, to say that Roux is having a "good" time, but
 wielding a Beam Rifle that was configured for the mass-production Nu Gundam
 kit in close air patrol has certainly been a lot less *horrifying* to her, and
 it isn't like any of this is going to go on formal records to Federation
 Command.

RIGHT?

But that was all prelude... the past. Now:

Roux Louka has a brief sense of something - green. Auroral. It passes; random
 noise. She breathes in, breathes out. "I Have a bad feeling about this," Roux
 says, about fifteen seconds before *THAT* happens - and for a sudden moment
 Roux's heart leaps. "A fold!? Is it one of the --"

-- "Oh my god," Roux says, because it's overwhelming for a moment. Something
 about the structure is alien, a pressing that washes over her mind. There is a
 brief atavistic moment -- something screaming at her to run, to flee --

Another of those green twinkles. Roux feels her spine stiffen.

Oh my God, Roux thinks further. Is... is this Char Aznable? He died around
 here, didn't he?

That gives her an idea.

"Come on!" Roux says. Hangar crew on the Ra Mari shoot the reloaded Beam Rifle
 out and Roux catches it, spinning it round as she brings it up to bear and
 reorients around the RCS thruster bits on the Ichinana. "Sinking the mother
 unit!" she declares, before sending scintillant beams of mega particles to
 greet the enormous living-ship-Vajra!

KTS: Lily Jung inspires awe, increasing Himeyuri Oono's Morale!
KTS: Eight York suggests caution, raising Rena Lancaster's Intuition!
KTS: Roux Louka targets Kaiju Navi with Roux Seven Beam Rifle Shot!
KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to evade Ryoto Hikawa's Photon Rifle Aimed Shot,
 taking 3200 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.

TECHNICALLY SPEAKING, the main belligerents in this particular armed conflict
 are ZAFT and the Federation, their most hated foes, but this is a Super Robot
 War! It just isn't a proper Super Robot War if Zeonic forces didn't turn up to
 cause trouble for earthnoids at every possible opportunity! Also, for this
 particular representative of the latest significant batch of Zeonic successors
 has deeply personal reasons for being here.

. . .

...In that he is a salvagertreasure hunterpirate, and this enormous
 space-kerfluffle is absolutely perfect for generating enormous piles of
 scrap to haul home and pick through. The fact that he can spin up some
 goodwill with fellow spacenoid freedom fighters is an added bonus!

The Isadore is like an electronic ghost on the battlefield. It's already a
 chaotic mess of conflicting IFFs and transmissions, perfect for the Isadore to
 slip through undetected, veiled as it is by an ever-shifting scrambling
 signal. There are one or two close calls, of course. The Isadore's unique
 appearance made it hard to pin down exactly which side the machine was working
 for, right up until its claw seized around the arm of an unfortunate Jegan and
 tore it cleanly from its frame. Thereafter, Federal forces would have known to
 engage the white and green mobile suit on sight. But other than a few mobile
 suit engagements, this whole situation was shaping up to be quite a profitable
 skirmish.

...Right up until space and time turn inside out and disgorges an enormous,
 organic... thing. It looks like the world's most hostile pickle, an
 observation which Trevor Teach, known miscreant, makes known across allied
 communications bands. "What the hell is that," the pirate asks his allies in
 ZAFT, "It looks like the world's most hostile pickle!"

As it happens, it is not. However, it is infested by a hive of extremely
 hostile bugs.

"Shit! They're going after everybody!" Trevor curses, darting directly...
 into the wave of hostile bugs. Or rather, at their flanks as they begin the
 assault in earnest. "I'm not equipped for extermination duty!" A Vajran
 soldier lunges, moments from impaling the outer hull of a Laurasia-class...
 Before it's suddenlly intercepted by a rocket-propelled scissor-claw and
 flung, like a flail, into several of its fellow space insects. "Ugh. What is
 this?" Trevor snarls, wincing as a pounding war-voice thrums across his
 senses. "It's like a buzzing in my brain...!"

<Pose Tracker> Riika Sheder has posed.

Riika Sheder actually had *not* deployed.

The problem with the GuAIZ she has been put in charge of is not that it's not a
 powerful mobile suit; it is, as it's both extremely heavily armed and uses its
 experimental technology to great effect at keeping the suit in one piece.

It's that it has an operation time that does *not* make it suited for this kind
 of long-term engagement, and so Riika was held in reserve so that she could
 deliver a decisive strike later on. It was a position she wasn't entirely
 comfortable with, being cast in a focal role as a weapon against the
 Federation forces...

...but it's not like they asked her. Especially right now, ZAFT command isn't
 asking her much of anything.

Now, though - the situation has changed. The sudden arrival of horrible
 monsters from beyond the stars (or whatever; Riika isn't very up-to-date on
 the origin of the Vajra, even though she reads what reports she has access to)
 changes the entire equation.

And all that means -

"Sheder, launching in the GuAIZ EFT!"

---

The first sign the Vajra (or the Federation) has of Riika's presence is when
 the almost aggressively orange mobile suit rises up from behind one of the
 ZAFT ships, its wing unit spreading to maximum extension and snapping into
 place, practically doubling its width from the folded position. That by itself
 is not even all that noteworthy until it opens up with the rail cannons,
 'walking' its steady thump-thump-thump of fire from one Vajra to the next.

Well, it makes a thump-thump-thump in Riika's cockpit. Everyone else gets
 nothing, because it's space. But the steady pulsing of the muzzle flashes as
 electricity discharges is a good enough sign.

Is that the *Nadesico*? Riika thinks to herself. Her finger goes to her radio,
 but she elects to keep it off of wide broadcast after all, for a whole variety
 of complex reasons and feelings. She has more important things to be doing
 than chatting.

KTS: Riika Sheder targets Weekly Seijin with MMI-M15 Xiphias Rail Cannon
 Staggered Fire!

KTS: Trevor Teach targets Weekly Seijin with Rocket Anchor!
KTS: Weekly Seijin successfully intercepts Yurika Misumaru's Missile Launch

<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.

Pitched battle isn't something that new to Rena Lancaster, but there is
 always a sense of dread when it comes up. Those battles are always risky,
 because of so much that happens in them. More than that, though, Londo Bell is
 sort of the odd hanger-on in these situations. Tasked with defending the space
 holdings of the Federation, but not quite with the same drive that the
 different blocs of the Federation feel.

Her YF-25 Prophecy speeds through space, leaving a trail of light in its wake;
 the orange-and-white unit moves along at a breakneck speed, and light gleams
 across its hull, as she grips her controls tighter. Rena's brown eyes look at
 the monitor -- then they widen as she feels a sudden--

        --pressure. Hostility, raw in her mind.

The distortion comes not a moment later.

She can't know what happened on the ship that exploded; Rena can only see the
 swarm of insect-like things, yet so much like mecha, rushing for both the
 Federation and ZAFT units. Rena draws a sharp gasp in, and looks at several of
 the Heavy Soldier units heading for the ships. Her eyes snap to Ra Mari and
 she draws in a sharp breath. "Ra Mari, I'm moving in closer to you!"

The Prophecy does a tight turn in space, banking downward relative to the Ra
 Mari. On the console of the variable fighter, a crosshairs dances -- and locks
 onto one of the Heavy Soldiers flying towards the cruiser. Rena sucks a breath
 in, then her thumb rests on the Ex-Gear controls. She presses it.

A missile drops from the wing hard point, and hurtles off towards the Vajra
 unit.

<Pose Tracker> Ryoko Subaru has posed.

The Aestivalis wing launches just prior to the Nadesico joining the line,
 pushing on the defensive across the orbital ring.

If you find the answer--
--let me know.
...Thanks for the talk, Subaru.

She hates this. As her Aestivalis weaves to avoid the crossfire from the
 larger ships, Rapid Rifle at the ready, she always aims to disable - rather
 than kill. Even if she knows it won't always be possible. "Damn! Damn!
 Damn!" She's been trying to keep the line of the Nadesico's suits back towards
 the Orbital Ring. Not advancing, she's not acting as aggressively as normal,
 like when it's against Grasshoppers and they try to turn them into a field of
 flowers in the cold vacuum of space.

What am I even doing here?

When that large ship comes in, flanked by so many insectoid aliens skimming
 through the night, there's momentary surprise at its sheer size, "What in the
 hell is that...!?" As they split off, attacking both ZAFT and Federation
 ships... oddly... Ryoko finds herself. Relieved. Certainly she'd heard of
 the Vajra, but right now they look no different than big Battos.

A cocksure smile forms on her face, "Heh. Those bugs think they'll flank us?
 Cocky bastards. Roger Captain, in that case we'll advance the line and see
 how long these bugs can hold out against us. Azul, let's light 'em up!"
 Suddenly her thrusters light, as she weaves towards the advancing bugs, rifle
 shooting a steady sweeping stream as she tries to clip some of their wings
 with a persistent amount of projectile fire.

"Come and get it you bastards. Got plenty for all of you!"

KTS: Ryoko Subaru targets Weekly Seijin with Fully-Rapid Rifle!
KTS: Rena Lancaster targets Weekly Seijin with AIM-18L Interceptor Missile!

<Pose Tracker> Michiru Tenjou has posed.

The Federation are vile. An oppressive regime, no better than any space empire
 from the distant stars. They starve the people of colonies, for daring to
 dream of living independently. For desiring to not be under the thumb of a
 monolithic group that treats them as fourth-class trash. However, despite
 every horrible trait these monsters in human skin hold... They aren't actual
 space bugs, clawing and chewing apart everything in sight, like a ravenous
 swarm of locusts. Indiscriminately murdering hero, villain, and innocent alike.

And for space monsters, there's only one cure. The burning blood of a hero,
 piloting a titan of steel! A giant among men, with the guts and perseverance
 to cut through the endless hordes. The sort of hero who stares impossible odds
 and certain death head on, and charges in!

Amidst the chaos, an unassuming Command-Type GINN slips away into a Nazca-class
 warship, the pilot leaping from the cockpit before the machine has even come
 to a full stop and been secured. "Captain, we need the Anti-Monster Units!"
 Strictly speaking they aren't JUST anti-monster, but... It's hard to argue
 against it at least having some grounding as a design impetus. And denying
 authorization is certainly going to just be a pain, when the pilot is wheeling
 through the air in the hangar, racing toward a certain machine.

The aura across the battlefield is shifting. To those engaged against the
 implacable pestilence, it's as if the sun is suddenly rising. Or perhaps
 that's all in one pilot's mind. As a soft blue machine emerges from the
 darkness of space, arms outstretched! "It's time for our maiden voyage, so
 you've come here carrying your own gravestones, parasites! GE... I MEAN,
 GALAXIA MISSILES, SPREAD FIRE!"

From the hands of the unfamiliar machine, a veritable fleet of missiles bursts
 out into the swathes of insectoid invaders, perfectly synched to the...
 energetic, regal, and incredibly loud voice booming out to anyone who cares to
 listen.

KTS: Lily Jung inspires awe, increasing Michiru Tenjou's Morale!
KTS: Liam 7-020 has deployed in GAT-01D Long Dagger Fortestra.
KTS: Kaiju Navi fails to react to Roux Louka's Roux Seven Beam Rifle Shot,
 taking 3600 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Ruri Hoshino has posed.

        "Enemy forces engaging the Federation en mass," Ruri Hoshino, the
 Nadesico's systems operator, reports stoically to Yurika.

        The information of the Nadesico's sensors feed through her, and she
 looks down, to her palms on the console, for a moment. "A large distortion is
 forming at the limits of the battlefield. Now registering space distortion,
 mass... a vessel has passed through."

        'A vessel' is a remarkably unflapped way of describing something so --
 UNLIKE anything on the battlefield.

        "Vajra are now assaulting the battlefield indiscriminately," Ruri
 reports, flat-faced. "The enemy is very coordinated. Now transmitting reaction
 attunement..."

        Shortly, Lucine and Ryoko's machines will receive advice to help them
 evade the Vajra's assault, courtesy of Ruri's connection.

KTS: Weekly Seijin successfully intercepts Rena Lancaster's AIM-18L Interceptor
 Missile

KTS: Michiru Tenjou targets Kaiju Navi with Missile Fingers!!
KTS: Ruri Hoshino targets Ryoko Subaru and Lucine Azul with Caution.
KTS: Ruri Hoshino suggests caution, raising Ryoko Subaru's Intuition!

<Pose Tracker> Mia Brinkman has posed.

With the open hostilities between ZAFT and the Federation continuing in space
 and drawing ever closer to home, Mia finds herself scrambling to get her
 machine ready to interfere with their battle while considering the best way to
 make an impact against them.

Charge in, guns blazing? No, that's just painting a target on herself. Even
 after so many years have passed since the One Year War, she still vividly
 remembers the dangers of leaving her back exposed. Striking from afar would be
 the best solution, then, and she's finally ready to test the Gigantic's weapon
 systems as it drifts forward steadily to find a good vantage point from behind
 a floating mass of debris that had once been another space-faring ship.

"Engines are still cool. I don't think they've spotted us, so we still have
 some time to get ready." She warns her Sho while letting the Gigantic continue
 to drift with the ship husk, taking a few deep breaths to get her voice ready.
 She can't just start firing without making sure that Celestial Being's reason
 for being here is known, after all. ".. Okay. I'm good. On three, then? One...
 Two..."

The Gigantic swings itself from around the side of the destroyed ship,
 oversized shield braced on one side with a long beam saber drawn at the other.
 The speakers stutter briefly as Mia opens her comms channels, and...

A massive organic-looking ship shows up, and it interrupts the battle
 single-handedly. Relatively single-handedly, at least, as it starts pouring
 its own forces out and threatens to slaughter everyone in its wake.

"... Oh my. Alright... Change of plans. Celestial Being is here to assist!"
 With little actual fanfare or dramatics beyond that, Mia swaps the Gigantic's
 beam saber out with the beam bazooka, using the shield to brace it as it
 begins firing beams wildly at the Vajra. It appears at first glance that she's
 just hoping to hit something, but the shots are actually aimed at the largest
 of the Vajra forces to try and draw the attention of their heaviest hitters
 right from the start.

KTS: Ruri Hoshino suggests caution, raising Lucine Azul's Intuition!
KTS: Mia Brinkman targets Weekly Seijin with Shield Beam Bazooka Barrage!
KTS: Kaiju Navi successfully intercepts Michiru Tenjou's Missile Fingers!
KTS: Mia Brinkman targets Kaiju Navi with Shield Beam Bazooka Barrage!
KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to rush.
KTS: Trevor Teach anchors Weekly Seijin, forcing it into close range.
KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to react to Trevor Teach's Rocket Anchor, taking 3780
 damage!

KTS: Trevor Teach has engaged Weekly Seijin

<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.

        Liam was on his way to 3G Headquarters, under escort, when all hell
 broke loose.

        First came the ZAFT strikeforce--an unfortunate reality, but one that
 at least some segments of the Orbital Ring are prepared for. Liam's NERV
 handlers followed the stream of civilians, taking refuge in one of the
 hardened shelters deeper within the structure. The four of them huddled
 beneath the glow of lamp panels, surrounded by civilians: agitated
 businessfolk, panicked tourists, worried children, parents trying to soothe
 them. One of Liam's handlers has tablet access to the military network. They
 watch, quiet and tense, as the scene unfolds.

        Liam's eyes flick across the feed, processing it with a hollow gaze.
 People are dying. He wants to run. He wants to sob.

        And then, something even worse happens.

        "Wait," says one of the NERV handlers, the one whom Liam almost thinks
 of as a big sister. "That's not--fuck. What is that--?"

        Liam's eyes widen, reflecting the lights. "That's Kaiju C," he
 breathes, as he sees the last clip of video from the dead Federation ship. "I
 have go to."

        "--Liam, wait--!" The NERV handler reaches for him, but he's already in
 motion, rushing singlemindedly towards the door. He saw the code they put in
 to lock it. He'll be sure to lock it once he leaves.

        NOW

        A lone Long Dagger, Fortrstra-equipped and bearing stock colors, speeds
 free of the orbital ring. It's moving tremendously fast--at speeds that would
 put unbearable pressure on an unaugmented pilot--and it only begins to slow
 once it reaches the outermost edges of the melee.

        "Pilot Seven-Dash-Zero-Two-Zero, arrived at engagement zone. Targeting
 Kaiju C-Class." Liam's mic is open. He breathes deeply and evenly; his normal
 suit is sealed and properly-oxygenated, and his thoracic and abdominal
 reinforcements help keep his own mass from squeezing the breath from his lungs.

        The Long Dagger drives its left arm forward, thrusting out its shield.
 It tucks the rest of its mass behind it and accelerates again, trying to plow
 a path through the Vajra "infantry" to give the larger craft some breathing
 room. It's been a while since Liam has driven something with AMBAC, but his
 reflexes are good.

        The GAT-01D is not built for speed, with the Fortestra on. Liam does
 not seem to care. More mass means more force when ramming. It's that simple.

<Pose Tracker> Sho Muramoto has posed.

Sho was in the Spinatio's Ninja setup. The entire thing was supposed to be
 easy. Get in, snipe both sides to try to disable engines on ships, and go from
 there. After all, no ships, no unit support. Right?

That being said, once Mia said the go he was swinging his unit around and
 preparing to lock on to the largest thing on radar. Which, shifted things a
 bit whenever he saw a gigantic Vajra appearing just as Mia was about to give
 some sort of speech.

"No kidding. I'm targetting the big one." Sho states over the Celestial Being
 comms.

That being said, a massive bow is pointed at the larger Vajra. The bow's almost
 as large as the white and blue ninja frame as it's white fades in from the
 black of the stealth field it had deployed. An energy string pulls back as the
 bolt almost as large as it is is unfolded and locked in place before launching
 at insane speeds across the battlefield at the Vajra mothership.

KTS: Kaiju Navi fails to react to Mia Brinkman's Shield Beam Bazooka Barrage,
 taking 4800 damage!
Liam 7-020 has moved to Colony Exterior

KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Kaiju Navi with Shield Bash!
KTS: Sho Muramoto targets Kaiju Navi with Ship Killing Arrow!
KTS: Kaiju Navi fails to react to Liam 7-020's Shield Bash, taking 2880 damage!
KTS: Liam 7-020 has engaged Kaiju Navi
KTS: Kaiju Navi fails to react to Sho Muramoto's Ship Killing Arrow, taking
 4000 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.

Far enough away to blend in with the stars, the Unicorn observes the battle.
 Banagher has never seen such an enormous conflict before, and after promising
 not to get involved, he set out. It was a horrible thing to witness -- nowhere
 near the clear-cut warfare he'd imagined in his history lessons. On this
 battlefield, it was impossible to tell who was 'good' or 'bad'. It just looked
 like people hurting each other. Banagher can't help but draw his brows
 together in distress, tightening his hold on the Haro in his arms.

All at once... something changed. There was a buzzing in the back of his mind
 -- enough to make him wince and cover his right eye. Something so hostile,
 so... different. It defies description or comparison. "What is that..?"

Distracted by the sensation, Banagher sets Haro down on the passenger seat and
 puts his hands back on Unicorn's controls. His eyes widen with horror as he
 watches those bugs, perhaps, attacking both sides. If they weren't defeated,
 they'd surely attack civilians next. Gritting his teeth, he urges Unicorn
 forward. "Sorry, Captain, but I can't let people get hurt." He murmurs to
 himself.

Blue starlight trails behind the Unicorn as Banagher enters the battle. It
 almost seems eager, ready to charge and fight, ready to run. It wants to
 transform, pushing against Banagher's control, but he holds it in check for
 now. In the same moment Banagher enters the field, the Long Dagger speeds by.
 He alters his course to follow. Through his own open mic, Banagher calls out.
 "Banagher Links! I'm with you! Any idea what these things are?"

As if to compliment the Long Dagger's attack, Unicorn draws a beam saber,
 racing after the other machine.

KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to evade Riika Sheder's MMI-M15 Xiphias Rail Cannon
 Staggered Fire, taking 5040 damage!

KTS: Riika Sheder begins a Formation attack!
KTS: Banagher Links targets Kaiju Navi with Whirling Blade Advance!
KTS: Kaiju Navi fails to react to Banagher Links's Whirling Blade Advance,
 taking 3450 damage!

KTS: Banagher Links has engaged Kaiju Navi

<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.

        "...." On Ryoko's screen, Lucine sits in her cockpit, a frown on her
 face. <".... it's a lot easier fighting Angels than this..."> She's been
 keeping up with Ryoko, weaving in and out of crossfire like a galactic game of
 Follow the Leader. <".... but I shouldn't really say that, since they are very
 dangerous...">

        At least Ryoko's not alone in how conflicted she is feeling.

        It changes when the Vajra arrive, Lucine's eyes widening, the upper
 half of her body pulling slightly back as if she could turn around and run
 away.

        Wait. No. These are...

        <".... No, those aren't.... Subaru, those are Vajra!"> Ruri confirms
 Lucine's assessment.

        Does Lucine's face almost seem... relieved?

        The tactics and level of danger are the same. The shape is the same.
 She's just put them in a different box as if it made it better.

        <"First time I've battled these in the Dianthus. Can't say what tactics
 will work now; hand guns mostly pushed them back. Setting down mines to slow
 their progress."> She breaks off and swoops like a dragonfly among the reeds,
 laying down random balls of glowing light. <"Thanks, Ruri... This will help.">

KTS: Weekly Seijin successfully evades Ryoko Subaru's Fully-Rapid Rifle
KTS: Lucine Azul targets Weekly Seijin with Lunate Crown v.2 Fireflies!

<Pose Tracker> Himeyuri Oono has posed.

        This was, for all intents and purposes, Himeyuri Oono's first battle.
 The White Uniform of ZAFT is a heavy weight, and one she didn't expect. Now,
 there were a ship full of people waiting for orders. Orders from her!? It's
 ridiculous! She's not supposed to be here and the commanders were supposed to
 have fixed this!

        Unfortunately, they hadn't, and now young Himeyuri is put into the
 unenviable position of having to, well, command. For now she's simply,
 following the plan set by the older men who know what they're doing. That's
 what she's supposed to do. Follow the plan.

        The plan is completely disrupted and Hime. "Wh-what in the stars are
 those horrible things!?" Hime shouts, mostly to herself.

        "Unknown enemy, Captain!" Her sensor officer, a coordinator man in his
 twenties. "Your orders?"

        Himeyuri pauses. The Federation are the enemy. They are monsters all.
 But so are these horrible space monsters. Nightmarish. A request comes from
 the hangar. "Michiru! ...You're right. Deploy the Gardnova! Show those beasts
 what for!" Those are the enemies Gekigangar would fight. And if they are going
 to fight these enemies... What would Captain Laura do?

        "....She'd get her people home." She says to herself. "Understood,
 Lily, form up on the starboard flank! We don't know if the Federation will
 betray us like the fiends they are!" There's another unit out there, too, but
 she can't get comms.

        "Please ready the railgun, target the larger one!" The Socrates'
 railgun powers up, firing multiple chunks of charged metal at the Knight
 class, Himeyuri's hands balled into tight fists. She has to pick the monsters
 to kill- if it weren't for Michiru's boyish behaviours, she wouldn't have been
 able to choose. Captain Laura would be better at this.

KTS: Himeyuri Oono targets Kaiju Navi with 66mm Dual Railgun Charged Shots!
KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to evade Lucine Azul's Lunate Crown v.2 Fireflies,
 taking 3000 damage!

KTS: Lucine Azul continues a Formation attack!
KTS: Kaiju Navi fails to react to Himeyuri Oono's 66mm Dual Railgun Charged
 Shots, taking 3510 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Kaiju Navi has posed.

        The large Vajra mothership-which will later be given the designation of
 Knight class by some important people in an important room somewhere-finishes
 unleashing the swarm of its smaller brethren onto the battlefield. At which
 point the two sections close up, once more completing the armored shell and
 restricting access to its interior.

        The ZAFT and Federation fleets were clearly caught be surprise by the
 sudden invasion of alien bugs. The parts of their formation closest to where
 the ship emerged are hurriedly trying to back away as the mothership opens up
 with a barrage of those energy bolts. Another Federation cruiser takes a hit,
 a large hole blown through it forward sections. It avoids an immediate death
 from secondary explosions, but now simply floats helplessly through space, the
 damage excessive.

        As various mobile weapons begin to get closer to the mothership to
 engage, it starts to give off a barrage of bullet fire from numerous smaller
 turrets. A defensive screen it seems. The missiles fired by Michiru are caught
 in the barrage, numerous explosions lighting up well short of the ship. Mia's
 bazookas manage to get through, exploding against the thick armor of the ship.
 They are joined by Roux's beam, a bolt of light fired from Sho and railgun
 chunks from Himeyuri. Along with numerous beam shots and missile barrages from
 the two fleets, which have seen reason and turned their full attention to the
 Vajra. But with all the attacks, the large ship proves to be tough. Chunks of
 its armor are blown off, but compared to its large size, it's not much more
 than a dent in its structure.

        Meanwhile, Liam and Banagher takes to more closely charging the ship,
 only to meet with some of the smaller units that stayed behind to defend the
 mothership. Liam shield bashes his way through, sending the smaller Mobile
 Soldiers tumbling away with crushed limbs or tails. Banagher's beam saber
 slices through the units with relative ease, once he's able to catch up to
 them given their fast movements.

        The Vajra mothership does not remain idle as it and its brethren are
 attacked. It redirects its cannon turrets, unleashing a barrage of those
 golden shots towards a number of its attackers and those in the fleets beyond.

KTS: Kaiju Navi has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Eight York with Vajra Bio-Cannon Turrets Sustained
 Assault!

KTS: Kaiju_Navi Changes attack to Lily Jung, Roux Louka, Liam 7-020, and
 Banagher Links with Vajra Bio-Cannon Turrets Searing Spread.

KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Michiru Tenjou with Vajra Bio-Cannon Turrets Rapid
 Burst!

KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Mia Brinkman with Vajra Bio-Cannon Turrets Rapid Burst!
KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Sho Muramoto with Vajra Bio-Cannon Turrets Rapid Burst!
KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Himeyuri Oono with Vajra Bio-Cannon Turrets Rapid Burst!

<Pose Tracker> Weekly Seijin has posed.

        At first the swarm doesn't seem to notice the newcomers. Their focus
 is entirely on eliminating the foes they happened upon. Do they not see them?
  Do they not consider them a threat? It's an interesting question... albeit
 one that would require as an answer you leaving your comrades to die.

        As Ryoto disembarks from the Tausendfuessler in the successor to the
 Vanishing Trooper, the first few shots sweep through the field leaving
 soldiers broken, spinning, and finally exploding!! One of the Heavy Soldier's
 cannons arcs with green lightning, before firing a shot directly at the
 Huckebein Mk. II

        The Nadesico arrives on the scene, launching a sweep of missiles to try
 and thin down the horde!! Aggravated by the entrance of another large craft
 though, pods on some of the heavy soldiers open up to emit bio missiles! The
 nature of their function is a mystery, but the effectiveness of their function
 is without doubt as intercept and destroy the incoming barrage. In response
 to the larger ship's arrival and assault, a school of soldiers converge upon
 the Nadesico attempting to smash into the larger ship with sheer bulk of
 numbers!!

        The same occurs for a missile shot from Rena Lancaster's Prophecy. The
 Heavy Soldier in her crosshairs releases a barrage of bio-missiles which first
 destroy her missile... and then begin making a brutal intercept course towards
 the ship from whence they were launched!!

        Trevor's Isadore move to intercept the soldiers, and in response a
 soldier attempts to rush directly into his unit!! However the
 rocket-propelled scissor claw successfully snags it before it can reach its
 goal. Even snagged nearly sliced in two as it is, the beast's limbs flail
 violently with the intent to cause any harm it can against its killer. Soon
 enough though that soldier is flung into several more of its cohort, crushing
 and breaking upon one another's carapace!! But then their siblings respond in
 kind, converging upon his position and attempting to grapple with and rip him
 apart between them!

        One by one the Vajra soldiers fall, taken by rail cannon-propelled
 shots from Riika that slice through their thin carapace like butter. As their
 cohort dies in front of them, a trio of soldiers sweep in and attempt to rake
 the GuAIZ with their biocannons. All the while trying to close the distance
 between her and their talons...

        The Aestivalis piloted by Ryoko launches from the Nadesico!! No doubt
 seeking to protect its craft from the engaging swarm. The rifle rounds fire
 through the swarm, hitting some but in many cases actually glancing off their
 hardened carapaces. Just then one of the large crimson heavy soldiers
 approaches, spinning dramatically as it unfurls its six limbs before the
 Aestivalis. It brings down its two main claws in an attempt to savage the
 unit with one, or maybe even both!!

        Before the heavy soldier can do more to pursue and close the gap with
 Ryoko's unit however, Lucine's own Dianthus releases fire-fly like mines
 across the field! One such mine is run upon by the heavy soldier causing it
 to burst and causing the unit to briefly retreat as if in pain. Several of
 the lighter soldiers are also intercepted by the fireflies but to much more
 devastating effect, bursting and leaving gaping holes in their carapace!! The
 result is they spin out of control, dying. However it seems their cohort
 learn of the danger, and soon they are nimbly 'swimming' between the glowing
 spheres. Some approach the Dianthus, the swarm firing upon her unit while
 attempting to get in close!

KTS: Weekly Seijin has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Weekly Seijin targets Ryoto Hikawa with Vajra Bio-Cannon Powered Blast!
KTS: Weekly Seijin targets Yurika Misumaru with Vajra Mobile Soldiers Swarm
 Converge!

KTS: Weekly Seijin targets Rena Lancaster with Vajra Bio-Micro-Missiles Guiding
 Swarm!

KTS: Weekly Seijin targets Trevor Teach with Vajra Mobile Soldiers Rapid
 Advance!

KTS: Weekly Seijin targets Riika Sheder with Vajra Bio-Machine Guns Leading
 Fire!

KTS: Weekly Seijin targets Ryoko Subaru with Vajra Armored Claws Vicious Swipe!
KTS: Weekly Seijin targets Lucine Azul with Vajra Mobile Soldiers Swarm Fire!
KTS: Ryoto Hikawa has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Ryoto Hikawa's Will Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage.
KTS: Ryoto Hikawa fails to evade Weekly Seijin's Vajra Bio-Cannon Powered
 Blast, taking 3200 damage!

KTS: Ryoko Subaru has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
KTS: Lily Jung inspires awe, increasing Riika Sheder's Morale!
KTS: Riika Sheder's Physical Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage.
KTS: Riika Sheder fails to react to Weekly Seijin's Vajra Bio-Machine Guns
 Leading Fire, taking 1980 damage!

KTS: Weekly Seijin begins a Formation attack!
KTS: Mia Brinkman has activated the Trust Spirit Command.
KTS: Mia Brinkman has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Sho Muramoto
KTS: Trevor Teach blocks Weekly Seijin's Vajra Mobile Soldiers Rapid Advance,
 taking 3080 damage!

KTS: Ryoko Subaru fails to Parry Weekly Seijin's Vajra Armored Claws Vicious
 Swipe, taking 3240 damage!

KTS: Weekly Seijin has engaged Ryoko Subaru
KTS: Rena Lancaster's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage.
KTS: Rena Lancaster fails to evade Weekly Seijin's Vajra Bio-Micro-Missiles
 Guiding Swarm, taking 4560 damage!

KTS: Eight York suggests caution, raising Roux Louka's Intuition!
KTS: Roux Louka fails to react to Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Cannon Turrets Searing
 Spread, taking 5280 damage!

KTS: Michiru Tenjou's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage.
KTS: Michiru Tenjou blocks Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Cannon Turrets Rapid Burst,
 taking 660 damage!

KTS: Yurika Misumaru fails to rush.
KTS: Weekly Seijin rattles Yurika Misumaru, making her next maneuvers more
 difficult.

KTS: Yurika Misumaru fails to react to Weekly Seijin's Vajra Mobile Soldiers
 Swarm Converge, taking 3360 damage!

KTS: Weekly Seijin has engaged Yurika Misumaru
KTS: Sho Muramoto has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Sho Muramoto charges into the attack!
KTS: Sho Muramoto successfully avoids Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Cannon Turrets
 Rapid Burst

KTS: Himeyuri Oono's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage.
KTS: Himeyuri Oono blocks Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Cannon Turrets Rapid Burst,
 taking 1110 damage!

KTS: Liam 7-020 blocks Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Cannon Turrets Searing Spread,
 taking 5760 damage!

KTS: Liam 7-020 has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
KTS: Liam 7-020 has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
KTS: Banagher Links fails to react to Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Cannon Turrets
 Searing Spread, taking 3600 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

    An arc of light crackles in the vast pitch of space.
        
    It makes a movement like breath, though it needs no breath. In, out,
 in, out... A strange and fluctuating color expands and retracts around a
 spherical form. Out through it extend lightning-like tendrils that course
 through the color like capillaries.
        
    The vastness of space suits a vast soul. And the silence is so
 peaceful...
        
    War.
        
    From the direction of Junius 7, it emerges, lightning tendrils seeming
 almost to swim through the vacuum as the color "breathes." It's hard to judge
 exactly how large it is, given the pulsations, but it's at least 100 meters
 wide. However, once it emerges on the periphery of the observational range for
 human and Vajra alike, it makes no movement beyond that. It simply... pulses.
        
    Perhaps it's nothing. Just a strange space phenomenon.
        
    Certainly there are more pressing matters at hand for the moment.

To those more sensitive to such matters, the glowing lightning-cloud is
 more than that. This is distinctly a creature with a consciousness: a heart as
 vast as the ocean, and just as unfathomable. Unlike the Vajra, it has no
 hostility. It's not friendly, either. It's simply... there.
 
Watching.

Waiting?

KTS: Mia Brinkman fails to react to Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Cannon Turrets Rapid
 Burst, taking 3150 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Ryoto Hikawa has posed.

Ryoto widens his eyes as orders begin to come down from one of the ships.
 "Cruiser Ra Mari, this is Flight Officer Hikawa in the Huckebein Mark II!" he
 calls into the comlink. "I'm across the theatre from you but I'll try to
 maneuver to support you!"

It'll be hard - there are a lot of Vajra. But at least the Londo Bell captain's
 putting their joint survival over the senseless war. The politics of it all
 gnaw at him, but he tries not to stew over it in the middle of a situation
 like this. Lamenting the world's fate can wait.

At least, it can wait until people aren't counting on him.

As the Tausendfuessler recedes from the field, Ryoto swings his focus entirely
 to the Vajra hordes, doing his best to thin out the crowd. The Heavy Soldier
 isn't about to let him do it. Green lightning surges, and the Huckebein swings
 away, but it's not going to be fast enough to avoid something moving that
 fast. There's a crash of light--

And the blast collides with a flickering field that manifests just a metre or
 so from the Huckebein. Light and gravity clash and resonate, part of the
 attack dissipating into space. Some of it bleeds through and ripples across
 the Huckebein's chest and shoulders, scarring the armour in places and leaving
 a few scorch marks behind.

Rattled in his seat, Ryoto draws a hiss of breath, tapping a few buttons near
 his left hand. "G-Wall is holding, mostly...!" he exclaims, eyes wide as he
 takes advantage of the blunted attack to dip to one side and into a more open
 patch of space. It gives him a moment to try and take stock of the fray. The
 Huckebein's head tilts, sensor data flooding back to Ryoto and filling his
 screen with readouts of information. It's doing more than tracking Vajra -
 it's tracking other friendlies and non-friendlies.

A couple of units stand out as closest to him. Rena's Prophecy and Riika's
 GuAIZ - close enough that he can form the middle of a triangle between the
 two. The Huckebein boosts forward, thrusters alight to push it into a coasting
 streak along the edge of the fight. Ryoto, meanwhile, punches at his radio and
 tries to isolate a general band.

"VF, ZAFT mobile suit!" he calls. His voice is quite high, but there's focus
 there. "If we can hold off their attack, I think I've got something that can
 help deal a lot of damage to the swarm. I'm sending you some telemetry - I'll
 try to back you up!"

True to his word, data begins to come through, adding input from the
 Huckebein's sensors to Rena and Riika's tactical readouts. The blue machine
 seems to be soaking up a lot of information at once.

KTS: Lily Jung successfully avoids Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Cannon Turrets
 Searing Spread

KTS: Ryoto Hikawa targets Rena Lancaster and Riika Sheder with All-Out.
KTS: Ryoto Hikawa orders an all-out attack, raising Rena Lancaster's Skill!
KTS: Ryoto Hikawa orders an all-out attack, raising Riika Sheder's Skill!
KTS: Roux Louka has activated the Rouse Spirit Command.
KTS: Lucine Azul charges into the attack!
KTS: Lucine Azul successfully avoids Weekly Seijin's Vajra Mobile Soldiers
 Swarm Fire

<Pose Tracker> Sho Muramoto has posed.

The craziness of the fight has Sho moving as quickly as he can. The Spinatio
 wasn't fully made for space, but it's enough to dance around the incoming
 turret fire with abandon as it puts the bow away.

Instead of a bow, it pulls out a spear of all things that quickly has a glowing
 tip. Seeing others getting hit by the returning fire of the turrets has him
 starting to analyze things with the Spinatio's systems. He just has to find
 the right frequency, and for that well... first thing's first, he needs to
 nail those turrets.

The white and blue machine changes course in a rather graceful arch before
 starting to spiral around the turret fire on approach and hitting it's
 thrusters to dart in and aim the spear at one of the turrets. The spear has
 the reach needed so it can react later, hopefully, but in the mean time he's
 aiming to get in and figure out where he can do what he was going to do to
 some of the other ships out there. Find engines and other things to wreck.
 Turrets are just the start!

KTS: Sho Muramoto targets Kaiju Navi with Spear Stab!
KTS: Himeyuri Oono has activated the Foresee Spirit Command targeting Michiru
 Tenjou

KTS: Himeyuri Oono has activated the Attune Spirit Command targeting Michiru
 Tenjou

<Pose Tracker> Ruri Hoshino has posed.

        "Damage report... the Vajra are converging on our Distortion Field.
 Holding steady. This level of damage won't stop us." Ruri reads the numbers
 pouring down on her display, and translates: "The Dianthus and the Aestivalis
 are coordinating."

        Her face pops up, to Ryoko and Lucine, in one of the Nadesico's
 familiar audio-visual links: "Combat estimation of the larger Vajra assault
 units offer a significant probability of severe damage. Use your evasive
 capabilities to strike and escape."

        Ruri opens another channel, then -- to the Ra Mari, this time.
 "Captain York. These enemies are the Vajra... insectoid life forms with high
 destructive capabilities. Please allow me to transfer defensive corrections to
 your units." She waits for the go-ahead, politely, before she reaches out to
 access Roux and Rena's units in turn -- and, of course Ra Mari itself -- to
 transmit optimisation data to them, just the same.

KTS: Ruri Hoshino has activated the Enable Spirit Command targeting Ryoko Subaru
KTS: Ruri Hoshino has activated the Enable Spirit Command targeting Lucine Azul
KTS: Ruri Hoshino targets Roux Louka, Rena Lancaster, and Eight York with
 Caution.

KTS: Ruri Hoshino suggests caution, raising Roux Louka's Intuition!
KTS: Ruri Hoshino suggests caution, raising Rena Lancaster's Intuition!
KTS: Eight York fails to react to Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Cannon Turrets
 Sustained Assault, taking 5300 damage!

KTS: Ruri Hoshino suggests caution, raising Eight York's Intuition!

<Pose Tracker> Lily Jung has posed.

<"Forming up on Starboard flank!"> Lily Jung answers Himeyuri Oono as her unit
 quickly flits to the side, and takes up a defensive position near Michiru
 Tenjou! The unit then brings its hands to its sides and locks one of the
 weapons against its side, turning to lower its silhouette and expanding the
 amount of ECM it is spreading in the region.

The Zack shifts and...

Something else arrives.

More warmth enters space. In fact, the way those ripples of lightning and light
 come, Lily's senses almost for a moment believe it to be the Heart of Space.
 It lays there... observing? She doesn't know what it is. What to make of it.
 It's near Junius 7. A place that, to her, holds a great threat.

She bites her lower lip, before a sensation washes over her, and she quickly
 touches the controls. The Zack spins out of the way of incoming blasts of
 beams, searing around her as she seems to dance around them, before finally
 lifting her weapon up to the skies and aiming at the cannon turrets of the
 Vajra mothership. And from a distance, she attacks!

The weapon locked in at the hip of the Zack rapidly sweeps forward through
 space, extending outwards. The blade beam extending and coming forth, cutting
 through any of the smaller units that might get in the way as Lily focuses
 upon her enemy...

"Baaaang." She whispers. Followed by a searing purple beam ripping from the
 position of Himeyuri Oono's ship's flank, cascading forward in a spiraling
 manner and set to impact the massive vessel.

KTS: Lily Jung targets Kaiju Navi with Twin Longblade Rifle - Psycho Model -
 Blade and Beam - Combo!

KTS: Kaiju Navi fails to react to Sho Muramoto's Spear Stab, taking 3780 damage!
KTS: Sho Muramoto has engaged Kaiju Navi
KTS: Kaiju Navi fails to react to Lily Jung's Twin Longblade Rifle - Psycho
 Model - Blade and Beam - Combo, taking 2380 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Mia Brinkman has posed.

<<"Very good. We'll still be able to make an impression if we can bring it
 down, then!">> Mia replies to Sho as she pulls back on the Gigantic's
 controls, swinging it upwards as she takes aim at the Vajra mothership next.
 <<"If I can get a clear shot, then... Wait. It's firing!">>

That's the only warning she can shout before the mothership's turrets start
 firing back at those blasting away at it. Knowing that her suit won't be able
 to evade it, she twists the Gigantic around so the golden shots strike against
 its more armored shield-holding side rather than its comparably less defended
 bazooka-holding side. <<"That was close... We'll need to rely on the others
 here, too.">>

That first volley is just what Mia needs, though, to start doing calculations
 on the mothership's firing range. Flicking switches and adjusting her comms
 channels again, she starts sending out her projections to the pilots of the
 machines facing down that mothership.

<<"I'm sending targeting data to all of you now.">> Mia speaks via a voice
 modulator to keep her voice distorted just enough to make her identity
 unclear, but still clear enough to actually be understood. <<"If you attack
 from these angles, you should have a better chance at getting through this
 battle alive.">>

<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.

The Nadesico is out, which means its crew is there--and its pilots. Ruri...
 and Ryoko. Both flit through Eight's mind for an instant as she moves to
 tackle the next challenge before them. She doesn't even consider abandoning
 the ones the Vajra see first; it doesn't so much as enter her mind. But the
 hostility of the strange, huge mind before her does.

"Acknowledged, Lancaster. We're counting on you." Pause, to Ryoto,
 "Acknowledged, Huckebein. Good luck out there."

And that's when the attack comes. The Ra Mari takes damage from those alien
 guns, and sparks blow across its hull as armor buckles underneath the assault.
  "Damage report!" Eight calls, her whole bridge rocking with the impacts.

"Armor compromised starboard! We're holding together!"

And--There is something... out there. Eight's eyes flicker towards the
 display, and she notices... something, from the direction of Junius Seven.
 But what?

"Astelian, in the direction of Junius Seven--keep an eye on that. Report if
 hostile action comes from that direction." It feels.... strange. Such a
 strange heart...

Ruri contacts her. Eight looks down at the display, and inclines her head over
 the video feed. "So it really is the enemy from the Frontier. Thank you,
 Miss Hoshino. Please do."

And in the meantime she sits in her chair and broadcasts, "All ZAFT Forces.
 This is the Ra Mari of the Federation fleet. Propose cease-fire while we deal
 with this threat. I believe they're called the 'Vajra.'"

"Fari, are we in range of the big one?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Send it a little hello. Cannons, burst fire!"

"Firing!"

The Ra Mari's great beam cannons let loose a potent few blasts straight at the
 Knight-class.

KTS: Eight York has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
KTS: Eight York has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Rena Lancaster
KTS: Eight York targets Kaiju Navi with Twin Barrel Mega-Particle Cannons Blast!

<Pose Tracker> Yurika Misumaru has posed.

        A holo-screen pops up all intrusively in Ryoko's Aestivalis, with
 Captain Yurika's big baleful eyes practically pushing out of the digital
 divide. "Ryoko-chan!!! You do push yourself a whole lot - so be careful out
 there, we're still learning what these things are capable of! Since they're
 space bugs, watch out for them trying to secret some space ooze or space
 webbing to get you all tangled up! Good luck!~" *vweem*

        A holo-screen then pops up all intrusively in Lucine's Dianthus, with
 Captain Yurika's slightly more determined eyes glimmering with the starlight
 of distant beam fire. "Lucy-lucy! Thank you for holding up even though it's
 always hard to ask you to fight other people. You've fought these before,
 haven't you? They seem to be pretty good at intercepting our missiles, so:
 just so you know, we're bringing out the big guns right away! Make sure to
 send us the coordinates of the little glowies you're laying down - we don't
 wanna ruin all that by blasting them out! Good luck!~" *vweem*

        Fingers steepling forcefully together, Yurika makes all sorts of
 grumbling and grousing noises when the Vajra...like...grow machine guns, and
 start shooting meat bullets to intercept all those missiles. The Distortion
 Field holds up well enough against the gnawing of the little Vajra bugs - and
 Ruri informs Yurika that these are familiar in some capacity. Right right -
 she suddenly remembers the report!

        "So...the little ones are stored in the big one. If we know how to wipe
 out the big ones when they first show up, then we can stop them launching the
 tiny ones, right? I think...Considering their strategic nature...It's time for
 Captain Yurika's Strategic Declaration! We will codename this big one..."
 Yurika points dramatically forward...! "...the Trojan Horse-class!!"

        Five seconds later, a big Federation official's face fills half of the
 primary viewscreen. "Attention, Nadesico. For the duration of this operation,
 we will be referring to the large extraterrestrial enemy as a "Knight" for
 strategic clarifications. Please keep this in mind moving forward in our
 communications." *vweem*

        Her opportunity to coin this phrase...lost...! A truer tragedy has
 never befallen the masses. Nooooo... "...mouuu, just give the Tro- the
 Knight...a little toasting with the GRAVITY CANNON...!"

        Shifting priorities, the hatch in the center of the Nadesico's main
 body opens wide, electrical surges sparking at its base...and from there, a
 colossal cannon of gravitational energy blazes from the Nadesico's bow - but
 only in a short, experimental burst!

KTS: Lily Jung has activated the Enable Spirit Command targeting Banagher Links
KTS: Mia Brinkman targets Michiru Tenjou, Banagher Links, and Lily Jung with
 All-Out.

KTS: Yurika Misumaru has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Ryoko
 Subaru

KTS: Yurika Misumaru targets Kaiju Navi with Gravity Blast - Wide Spread!
KTS: Mia Brinkman orders an all-out attack, raising Michiru Tenjou's Skill!

<Pose Tracker> Riika Sheder has posed.

"Thanks!" Riika sends back to Lily, though she doesn't spend much time in
 conversation - not right now. There are a *lot* of Vajra there, led (?) by a
 particularly large one. Are they led? Or are they mindless? Maybe this isn't
 the best time to think about that; she can worry about it later.

Riika finishes her stagger fire and gives her railguns a few moments to cool
 down and recharge, shifting to a more mobile attitude. The GuAIZ rockets
 forward, propelled by the lifter mounted on its back, as the lesser Vajra
 start to swarm in on her. Some of the bio-bullets impact against the
 yellow-orange machine.

They don't penetrate. They don't quite bounce, either; they hit the phase shift
 armour, and rather than piercing, spread their impact over a wider field. It's
 like being bludgeoned more like being shot, and the bullets lack the mass to
 knock her off course, though they leave dents and divots behind. Riika's not
 invincible in there, but it will take more than a spray to get through the
 barrier-like armour of the GuAIZ.

"Energy holding," Riika murmurs in her cockpit, because *that* is the price she
 pays for being relatively bulletproof: she's got to watch the generator and
 the battery. She's still in the green, but she can count her operation time in
 minutes without running out of fingers.

The GuAIZ rockets through space. Riika has taken a fairly direct line toward
 the larger target, but being swarmed by smaller Vajra, she hasn't gotten there
 yet; she has to twist and evade on the way. While she's doing that, someone
 contacts her, someone she doesn't recognize.

Riika flips her radio to on. "Got it! Thank you," she says, giving her identity
 away to the few who know it - and she *is* getting it, the tactical data is a
 different format than she normally uses but it's a quick conversion. Riika is
 at this point flying with one hand, typing on a fold-out keyboard with the
 other, and multi-tasking at that given she's both doing some precise energy
 adjustments and accepting Ryoto's data. There's some other data coming in too;
 Riika glances up toward the glow, and perhaps assumes it's part of the Vajra.
 She doesn't flag it as anything different, certainly.

It's a wonder she has time to fire her beam rifle at the smaller Vajra,
 blasting a line so she can approach the Knight-class and leaving a gap for her
 to maneuver through. She'll get there eventually!

KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Riika Sheder targets Weekly Seijin with MA-M20 Lupus Beam Rifle Maneuver
 Shot!

<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.

"Damn!" Rena snaps, when she sees her missile shot through. The Heavy Soldier's
 barrage of bio-missiles shoots upward -- and the Prophecy starts to bank,
 hard, away from the unit. It doesn't make it in time; two missiles slam into
 the fuselage, exploding in a fiery blast against the pinpoint barriers that
 converge to meet them. The plane is thrown, violently, through space. Flame
 and smoke drift from it.

Rena grits her teeth, then makes the YF-25A transform. The wings bend backward
 -- the thrusters drop down into legs, as arms unfold out. The machine
 straightens up, the head emerging from the torso. The cannon on its head turns
 -- up, then down, as automatic tracking kicks in.

Rena takes a deep, sharp breath, as she looks at the Heavy Soldier. A rail
 cannon shot blasts it apart.

Rena glances at its source.

The YF-25A Prophecy sweeps by a certain pink GuAIZ. There is a moment's pause
 from Rena -- a flicker of recognition across her mind's eye, spreading like a
 flash of awareness through her mind. Her brown eyes widen, then narrow as the
 recognition sets in. She looks at the GuAIZ through the screens. Then, the
 free arm -- the one without the gunpod in it -- lifts.

It makes a quick, two-fingered salute in the ZAFT Mobile Suit's direction. Rena
 looks at Riika's machine for a moment, but doesn't say more. Will Riika
 recognize her?

Does she want her to?

Banagher calls out. There is a prickle at the back of her mind -- and then Rena
 glances in the direction of the Unicorn. Her eyes widen -- that unit! She
 sends a transmission a moment later: "We don't have a read on them, Gundam
 unit. We better be careful, until we've got a better sense of what they can
 do!"

Telemetry data floods in from the Huckebein. Rena blinks, then nods her head.
 "I read you, Hikawa," she says. She grits her teeth, then sees the Nadesico's
 read-outs displaying on her screen. "And you, Nadesico. And you too, Miss
 Sheder. Don't worry, I'm not planning to die here. Good to know what these
 are."

Her brow furrows at the second unexpected presence. She senses it: a
 consciousness, vast and open, but without hostility. Rena's eyes blink -- she
 glances in its direction -- and then ahead, at the swarm of the Vajra. Their
 hostility threatens to drown her, but she hears Eight's voice through that.

She smiles, for a moment.

"I won't let you down, Ra Mari," Rena transmits back. She keeps her voice calm,
 as she speaks; it's an ocean of calm over a sea of worry.

She sends the Battroid-mode variable fighter surging forward. The machine moves
 strangely, for a variable fighter; the left arm turns downward to send it into
 a spin -- and the right leg then moves a little to wheel that in, even as the
 right arm reaches to the shield on the left. It is -- in a unit that almost
 never uses it -- AMBAC movement.

The hand wraps around a cylinder mounted under the shield. It isn't a knife
 that comes out; it's a hilt, from which a beam saber erupts. The mega particle
 field flares, bright pink-red, and then hurtles for one of the Heavy Soldiers.
 The YF-25A does a tight turn as she gets in close, and then tries to ram the
 beam saber through the back of a Vajra soldier, with a backhanded thrust.

Rena Lancaster transforms to YF-25A Prophecy A-type (Battroid)

KTS: Rena Lancaster has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
KTS: Rena Lancaster has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Rena Lancaster targets Weekly Seijin with Charge Ignition!

<Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.

The beam shot does NOT pierce through the alien hull, and thus fails to
 instantly slay the beast. Roux Louka wonders if Char Aznable's ghost is
 disappointed in her, a moment before the incoming turret fire begins to rake
 over the Ichinana. "Shit!" Roux answers, before responding to the warning from
 Eight, "I'm going to get clear! I'll just pull heat on you all if I stay
 close!"

SOMETHING immense passes -- Roux's head turns to look towards the immense
 sensation of pseudo-motion, wondering with a certain sort of irritated despair
 of something ELSE is coming for them -- but -- it passes --

-- someone's telling them... "Oh, you've encountered them before," Roux says as
 Ruri-Ruri appears on her radi-radio. "... You've encountered these things and
 survived!? -- Wait, though, if YOU survived, that means... we have a chance.
 They can be HURT... destroyed!" she says as the furmanic compensators kick in
 and the Ichinana orients into the relative space-axis of the Vajra.

"Did they evolve in space?" Roux half-asks half-wonders.

Then...

"Heh," Roux says, before she clicks in two different interlocks on the
 crunchily mechanical board of the Ichinana and says, "ZAFT! This is Louka.
 Clear out the small fry and then work through the big guys!" That always works
 in games, Roux thinks, before leaning forwards - feeling the Ichinana shift
 subtly beneath her despite the lack of panoramic feedback... (neat,) Roux
 thinks, even as the mass-produced Super Robot streaks forwards, gun raised
 upwards as if it was shooting prone.

But prone it is not! For in space, you can be any position you want at a
 moment's notice! And in this case, it is also a 'let's shoot our e-caps dry
 while also dumping the grenades at slightly thicker concentrations of the
 'small fry' as we go' orientation, which is not a position except in the sense
 of "a thing that Roux has opted to do."

Roux's eyes cut momentarily towards the GuAIZ. She says nothing, but that
 feeling...

KTS: Roux Louka targets Weekly Seijin with Roux Seven Beam Rifle Strafe!
KTS: Kaiju Navi fails to react to Yurika Misumaru's Gravity Blast - Wide
 Spread, taking 6360 damage!

KTS: Mia Brinkman orders an all-out attack, raising Lily Jung's Skill!

<Pose Tracker> Ryoko Subaru has posed.

Ryoko's never tussled with Angels, but she certainly can't disagree with Lucine
 there.

The Aesti's systems analyze Ruri's data in real time, the stream one her brain
 catches onto almost instantly. "Gotcha Ruri. Keep us in the loop - probably
 going to the edge of Antenna range before this is done. Let us know if we
 need to pull back to play defense." She hasn't been hostile with Ruri ever
 since that day, but there's probably at least some underlying tension between
 the pair.

"What!? Vajra!? You're sure? Some of them really look like beefy Battas with
 a new paint job! Resemblance is uncanny." Though as Lucine says she hasn't
 fought them before, "It's fine, we'll just throw everything we've got at 'em
 and see what sticks." Which is when the Captain comes up, "Uh! Captain! It's
 fine! It'll take more than this to slow me down!" She sounds a little
 embarrassed at first before it transitions to surprise, "Wait space ooze?
 Webbing? Do you think they really have that!? Captain? Ruri?"

Apparently, rifle rounds aren't sticking very well. However, she keeps firing
 as they close in... which is when one of the Heavy Soldiers breaks right
 towards her. A compartment of the Aestivalis opens up in its knee, as she
 grasps the knife and tries to meet the attack head on. "YAAAA!" In the clash
 though, the Vajra comes out on top, its claw screeching across her distortion
 field, the claws scraping against the Aestivalis's armor. It's hardly a
 problem though until more start to swarm in - outnumbering the tiny Aesti by a
 large amount, "Whoa whoa! Hey!" Fortunately though, that's when Lucine's
 mines scatter them, "Nice save. Guess it's time for the direct approach."

Grasping the rifle with one arm of the Aestivalis, and the knife of the other,
 she tries to swarm up, then over. Flourishing the knife in a spin before
 juking sideways at the last second and trying to juke it across the Vajra
 Heavy's armor, trying to create a long gouge across it, before dragging it out
 and trying to thrust it into it again.

Ryoko's holographic face reappears on the bridge. "Trojan wha-now? Captain...
 it doesn't look like a horse at all. Think that'll just confuse everyone."

The Aestivalis' systems track the ZAFT units and ships that are almost too
 close for comfort.

As her system alerts her to a unit it hadn't seen before in the Gardnova, a
 distorted, a distorted holographic image of her face possibly appearing on
 screen depending on what settings she has, otherwise it might just be audio,
 "Hey hot shot. Let's call it quits until these 'Vajra' are taken care of. Though-"
 As she takes on a cocksure tone, "-betcha if we compare how many bugs we've
 swatted after this is over, that I've got more notches."

That kind of rivalry is more comfortable to her than a life or death fight.
 Taking on monsters rather than people. It continues into a call to the Nazca
 class ship, with a similarily distorted image, or just audio from all the
 interference, her cybernetics allowing the multitask, "Hey ZAFT forces. You
 keep your sights firmly on the Vajra and the hell away from the Nadesico, and
 we won't have any problems."

Yeah that tone is supposed to be diplomatic for her...

<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.

Brain buzzing with the scraping, scrabbling hive-harmonic of a countless
 multitude of angry space insects, Trevor nevertheless finds it in himself to
 smile mirthfully as he successfully flings one Vajra into several more.
 Carapace crashes upon carapace, and for a moment it seems like the maneuver
 was completely and utterly successful. "Heh, genius!" Trevor smirks.

...And then a half-dozen bugs squirm out of the mess he'd made and swarm
 towards him in an inexorable tempest of claw and stinger. "Gh--" Trevor
 grunts, the exoskeletal cascade threatening to tear his beloved machine limb
 from limb, picking it apart like he has done to so many other mobile suits.
 Cruel karma is canceled at the last, when the what looks to be a fatal claw
 swipe slices not through tender mobile suit joint material, but instead scrape
 against the heavily-reinforced surface of the Isadore's industrial-strength
 anti-MS claw... Which begins glowing like a torch as several megawatts of
 electrical energy discharges all at once, pulsing out to briefly stun the
 onrushing swarm. "Oh no you don't! I'm not so easy to pin down, you damn
 bugs!" Trevor growls, thrusters igniting to send the piratical frame hurtling
 back, desperate to get some manner of distance between it and those awful
 creatures.

And then--

A waypoint appears, unbidden, on his HUD. A flashing, blinking object in the
 void. Not just the glowcloud-- Trevor has much more terrible things to deal
 with-- but something labeled 'Nadesico.' The pirate's eyes widen in
 realization, he knows that name. If anything here has enough firepower to deal
 with that monster of a pickle...

"Alright!" Trevor shouts, a weapon finding its way to the Isadore's offhand.
 It... looks like someone carved off the front bit of a beam spread gun and
 converted what remains into a culverin cannon. It also: Works basically like
 the unholy lovechild of these two weapons. Trevor fires, launching wide blasts
 of charged particles into the incoming bug-swarm, all while making his escape
 to...

...The Nadesico.

Right as it fires that big doom gun.

"Nadesico, this is the JR-777 Isadore," Trevor calls across local bands, "We
 all heard about your crazy charge back when, even all the way out in the Belt.
 You think that gun of yours can sink their battleship?" Again, the Isadore's
 modified beam spreadgun fires, charged particle flack going to pick off the
 gnats swarming the Nadesico's distortion field. "I figure it's probably our
 best bet out of this alive-- so for today, my services come free!"

KTS: Kaiju Navi fails to react to Eight York's Twin Barrel Mega-Particle
 Cannons Blast, taking 4000 damage!

KTS: Eight York repulses Kaiju Navi, forcing it to disengage.
KTS: Ryoko Subaru targets Weekly Seijin with Somewhat Immediate Knife!

<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.

Brain buzzing with the scraping, scrabbling hive-harmonic of a countless
 multitude of angry space insects, Trevor nevertheless finds it in himself to
 smile mirthfully as he successfully flings one Vajra into several more.
 Carapace crashes upon carapace, and for a moment it seems like the maneuver
 was completely and utterly successful. "Heh, genius!" Trevor smirks.

...And then a half-dozen bugs squirm out of the mess he'd made and swarm
 towards him in an inexorable tempest of claw and stinger. "Gh--" Trevor
 grunts, the exoskeletal cascade threatening to tear his beloved machine limb
 from limb, picking it apart like he has done to so many other mobile suits.
 Cruel karma is canceled at the last, when the what looks to be a fatal claw
 swipe slices not through tender mobile suit joint material, but instead scrape
 against the heavily-reinforced surface of the Isadore's industrial-strength
 anti-MS claw... Which begins glowing like a torch as several megawatts of
 electrical energy discharges all at once, pulsing out to briefly stun the
 onrushing swarm. "Oh no you don't! I'm not so easy to pin down, you damn
 bugs!" Trevor growls, thrusters igniting to send the piratical frame hurtling
 back, desperate to get some manner of distance between it and those awful
 creatures.

And then--

A waypoint appears, unbidden, on his HUD. A flashing, blinking object in the
 void. Not just the glowcloud-- Trevor has much more terrible things to deal
 with-- but something labeled 'Nadesico.' The pirate's eyes widen in
 realization, he knows that name. If anything here has enough firepower to deal
 with that monster of a pickle...

"Alright!" Trevor shouts, a weapon finding its way to the Isadore's offhand.
 It... looks like someone carved off the front bit of a beam spread gun and
 converted what remains into a culverin cannon. It also: Works basically like
 the unholy lovechild of these two weapons. Trevor fires, launching wide blasts
 of charged particles into the incoming bug-swarm, all while making his escape
 to...

...The Nadesico.

Right as it fires that big doom gun.

"Sorry, lady. I'm gonna have to decline," Trevor answers Ryoko... right as he
 sails directly past. It's not an intentionally obnoxious fly-by, it's just
 the quickest line between two points! "Your boat's my ticket out of this
 mess...!"

Is he planning on... doing something nefarious with said boat!? He's going
 right for it...!

Before blasting a couple of Vajra swarmers, moments before colliding with the
 distortion field himself.

"Nadesico, this is the JR-777 Isadore," Trevor calls across local bands, "We
 all heard about your crazy charge back when, even all the way out in the Belt.
 You think that gun of yours can sink their battleship?" Again, the Isadore's
 modified beam spreadgun fires, charged particle flack going to pick off the
 gnats swarming the Nadesico's distortion field. "I figure it's probably our
 best bet out of this alive-- so for today, my services come free!"

<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.

        He's got their attention.

        Good.

        Liam sets his jaw as the first impact rattles the GAT-01D. The second
 jostles the suit's shoulder, and the third sprays alien viscera across an aux
 ventral camera. The supersoldier doesn't so much as flinch; he remembers being
 helpless in Tsutsujidai, and there is something satisfying about this stretch
 of unfolding violence.

        The Long Dagger ping-pongs through the Knight's escort, and by the end,
 it is... kind of a mess.

        "Lia--!" That's one of the techs inside the shelter, speaking through
 absolutely hellish interference. Liam's head jerks towards the comm. "--g an
 anomalous reading, --d pattern orange! --p an eye on-- not engage unless--"

        Liam frowns, and returns the tightbeam. "Undertood."

        But then someone else hails him--a civilian. An aux camera focuses on
 the Unicorn, and Liam frowns as he takes it in. A Gundam, unquestionably, but
 whose side was it on before the aliens showed up? "Kaiju," he says, "Stay
 alert, pilot, capabilities unk--"

        That's when the Knight returns fire. Liam realizes, with a lurch of
 horror, that he's got a ZAFT capital ship behind him. Fear and anger stab
 through his mind, hot and sharp. Guilt follows, an icy chaser. Sorrow.
 Screams. The heavens aflame.

        The Long Dagger thrusts out its shield, and stands between the ZAFT
 ship and oncoming death. Liam angles the slab of Gundanium to deflect, but the
 Vajra craft seems to pour forth hell itself in beam format. The shield starts
 to warp at the edges. Energy spills through, scorching into the Fortestra.
 Damage alarms howl in Liam's ears.

        "Can't take another shot like that," Liam chokes out. He glances back
 at the ZAFT ship, which is rolling out of the way and preparing to thin the
 herd. "Falling back to the Nadesico!" A moment later, a tactical tightbeam
 paints the ship brightly in Banagher's IFF. Who's piloting that Mobile Suit?
 The Long Dagger abruptly changes direction, shedding blackened chunks of
 Fortestra as it boosts towards the Nergal ship. In its way: a whole lot of
 Vajra. Liam snaps the beam saber off its rack, and ignites the e-cap. As Vajra
 swoop in, he responds with quick, precise sweeps of the saber, adrenaline
 dancing through his nerves. There's no regulatory computer on board this
 machine. It's just him and a feedback loop of neurochemicals.

        "Nadesico!" Liam's voice is tight with aggressive tension as he opens
 the channel. "Pilot Seven-Dash-Zero-Two-Zero, providing support!"

KTS: Trevor Teach targets Weekly Seijin with Beam Spread Snapshot!
KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to react to Ryoko Subaru's Somewhat Immediate Knife,
 taking 4410 damage!

KTS: Ryoko Subaru has engaged Weekly Seijin
KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Weekly Seijin with ES01 Beam Saber Strike!
KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to react to Riika Sheder's MA-M20 Lupus Beam Rifle
 Maneuver Shot, taking 5390 damage!

KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Riika Sheder's Disruptor activates, causing Jam L1!

<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.

"Agh!" Banagher cries out as he's struck. Haro goes rolling off his passanger
 seat, floating through the interior of the Unicorn. "Banagher! Banagher!" He
 cries, flapping his winglets.

Grabbing his little companion with one arm, Banagher tries to keep Haro secure
 in his lap. "We're okay, Haro! We have to keep fighting. We can't let anyone
 get hurt!"

Haro seems to accept this, quieting down, but just as Unicorn is about to
 attack again... Radiant light blooms in Banagher's vision, somehow both seen
 clearly and as though it were a ghost. For a moment, he's filled with the
 desire to chase after it, to figure out what exactly it is. It's so pretty, so
 peaceful in the midst of the fear of this battle. Maybe... it would stil
 around long enough for him to find out? As he refocuses on the enemy before
 him, a sense of warmth seems to floats towards him. Sunshine, he thinks,
 glancing around. What could cause that? Battles certainly never seemed this
 strange when he was studying.

"Thank you!" Banagher replies to Rena. "I won't give up!"

The word "kaiju" makes him grit his teeth. "I've had enough of these things!"
 As Liam is struck near him, he urges Unicorn forward once again. "Get to
 safety, I've got your back! Hang on, Haro!"

With the unknown, warm sensation encouraging him, Banagher cries out as Unicorn
 pulls ou a second beam saber. They attack in perfect harmony, hoping to draw
 attention away from Liam's damaged machine.

KTS: Banagher Links targets Kaiju Navi with Unicorn Beam Sabers Thrust!
KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to react to Roux Louka's Roux Seven Beam Rifle Strafe,
 taking 4400 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Michiru Tenjou has posed.

The unknowable bolts of bio-energy slam into the Galaxia left, right and
 center, kicking up smoke all around it. From within the cloud, a single eye
 glows like a guiding star, revealing the mysterious machine quite intact
 and... shimmering? It looks as if the weapon barely scratched the machine.
 "Knight Squad, return to ship and take defensive positions!" A simple recall
 of her team, all piloting the far more familiar standard ZAFT mobile suits.

The team all share a few particular traits. Eccentricities, even amongst the
 eccentric pilots who dwell aboard the Socrates. And all together, they're both
 sword and shield to the valiant princess housed within the ship. Which makes
 it clear, the mystery mech must share the same pilot as the Command Unit from
 only moments prior. An answer comes to her, as Michiru trusts Himeyuri to
 agree with this 'diplomacy', at least for now. "Oh no, certainly not. My
 Galaxia is purpose made to rid the universe of these bugs... so you're on!" An
 acceptance of rivalry and challenge... and why not? If they're both fighting
 invading monsters, anyone can be a hero in the moment. And EVERY good hero
 needs a rival!

With the intention for rivalry declared, the Galaxia's eye begins emitting
 heat, its baleful gaze turned to the swarming Vajra. "Tear through them!
 GALAXIA OPTIC BURST!" A swirling, focused beam erupts from the eye, lancing
 out into the night to catch a Vajra through the chest, as it's about to pounce
 upon a piloted machine!

KTS: Michiru Tenjou targets Weekly Seijin with Galaxia Optic Beam!!
KTS: Kaiju Navi fails to react to Banagher Links's Unicorn Beam Sabers Thrust,
 taking 3520 damage!

KTS: Banagher Links has engaged Kaiju Navi
KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to react to Liam 7-020's ES01 Beam Saber Strike,
 taking 3330 damage!

KTS: Liam 7-020 has engaged Weekly Seijin

<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.

        <"Wa-ah!"> Yurika's sudden SUDDENNESS causes Lucine to lean back, then
 fumble at her controls as she calms back down. <"Ah... Of course, I can do
 that, definitely, Captain Yurika!"> Yurika's determination is contagious,
 though, as Lucine's gold eyes spark with the same fervor. <"I can do this.
 Sending coordinates-- ah.">

        A wave of shots come from the Vajra that have made it through. <"I'll
 show you all an Azul's moxy!"> The Dianthus speeds *towards* the gunshots,
 clipping past them as she winds her way straight into the thick of them.
 <"Subaru. The Vajra... Very different."> Because? <"They're reacting to each
 other's pain, it seems. These are more like insects, rather than, ah... just
 looking like them...>" Swarming over everything with no care, like a swarm of
 locusts, killing and destroying everything around them, with nothing that can
 stop them, nothing that can--

        <"..... what is that...>" Her attention is pulled to the 'newcomer' as
 best she can, trying to lay out a better vantage point for her original goal.
 "<It's... not hostile, I don't think... Ruri. is it possible to get a video of
 that for later analysis? I realize there's more pressing matters. But... I
 think... it has a consciousness. But I don't think it's going to do anything
 just yet...">

        It's hard to lay out why Lucine was an interest without being direct,
 especially considering they're all being attacked. <"I think it's just
 watching, so just when you have a moment to spare.">

        She hears Trevor's exchange, and immediately picks out Liam's voice.
 <"Liam, be safe.">

        She says this, surrended by Vajra, but she's like a grasshopper evading
 stumbling hands of a a child. Hop, flip, zoom. <"Captain Yurika, Ruri...
 Sending coordinates now!">

        The 'wings' from the Dianthus's back unwind and array themselves in the
 shape of a five-petalled halo at its back.

        <"Here is a show of good will to all-- use this to your advantage!">

        A mighty pulse, sudden and harsh, radiates from the Dianthus, using the
 exact coordinates she had gathered, more or less, in order to avoid targetting
 allies at the same time.

        A scream of war.

KTS: Trevor Teach rattles Weekly Seijin, making its next maneuvers more
 difficult.

KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to react to Trevor Teach's Beam Spread Snapshot,
 taking 3520 damage!

KTS: Trevor Teach begins a Formation attack!
KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Foresee Spirit Command targeting Yurika
 Misumaru

KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Mia Brinkman orders an all-out attack, raising Banagher Links's Skill!
KTS: Lucine Azul targets Weekly Seijin with Lunate Crown v.2 Howl.
KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to react to Michiru Tenjou's Galaxia Optic Beam!,
 taking 3120 damage!

KTS: Weekly Seijin blocks Rena Lancaster's Charge Ignition, taking 1290 damage!
KTS: Rena Lancaster has engaged Weekly Seijin
KTS: Lucine Azul targets Kaiju Navi and Weekly Seijin with Lunate Crown v.2
 Howl.
Escudo_Shard goes home.

KTS: Weekly Seijin successfully evades Lucine Azul's Lunate Crown v.2 Howl
KTS: Lucine Azul rattles Kaiju Navi, making its next maneuvers more difficult.
KTS: Kaiju Navi fails to react to Lucine Azul's Lunate Crown v.2 Howl, taking
 2250 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Himeyuri Oono has posed.

        The barrage of blasts echo, and the GINNs of XO Zelinn's Kite Squadron-
 with Kite shields- mitigate some of the blasts, while the rest seem to lose
 much of their effectiveness against a near invisible barrier. Despite this, it
 scores the hull badly, and much more problematically, manages to render a
 hangar door inoperable.

        "Please ask engineering to handle that door!" She says before-

        Watching. Waiting.

        There is a feeling in her head, but she can't make it out. Why does she
 feel.... icky-

        "Captain, message from the the Federation Vessel!" The broadcast from
 Eight comes up on her station, and she blinks. That's a womans voice.
 Definitively. Is she held hostage to be the Earthling's comms officer? Or is
 it some Earthling deviancy? And then another message, from a pilot? Orders!?
 What is going on he-

        And then Hime reacts as if she'd been slapped, recoiling from her
 station. Her eyes are wide. "Did... that was a lady that said... I." This is
 what the Earthlings do to women? THIS? She can't believe she said that. This
 is horrid!!

        "...Captain. What's our response. The other ships will follow our lead."

        Hime blinks. This should not. Gf. Fngh. Grfghsbgas. "Very well! Ra
 Mari, this is the Socrates. Please inform your captain we accept your
 ceasefire. We have another enemy for now." Even Gekigangar had to work with
 Prince Akara that one time. And then the Nadesico fires the Gravity Cannon.
 Her mind starts working. It has to be the same technology writ large. They
 have the right idea too. "Support that blast with our own beam cannon!" She
 shouts.

        The Socrates beam fires it's own blast and the smaller Vajra, trying to
 catch as many as it can at once. The whole time, Hime is wondering if she can
 apply the same principles to this ship...

KTS: Himeyuri Oono targets Weekly Seijin with 120cm High-Energy Beam Cannon All
 Cannon Battery!

KTS: Lily Jung has activated the Enable Spirit Command targeting Himeyuri Oono
KTS: Weekly Seijin has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has disengaged.
KTS: Weekly Seijin successfully evades Himeyuri Oono's 120cm High-Energy Beam
 Cannon All Cannon Battery

KTS: Weekly Seijin has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained
 proficiency bonus.

KTS: Weekly Seijin has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Weekly Seijin has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Kaiju Navi has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Kaiju Navi has activated the Strike Spirit Command.

<Pose Tracker> Kaiju Navi has posed.

        The ZAFT and Federation fleets have essentially begun to merge as they
 attempt evasive maneuvers against the barrages from the large vessel and the
 swarms of the smaller creatures.

        This is no longer a battle. It's more of a clusterfuck.

        One needs more luck than skill-or damn good armor-to get up close to
 the newly-named Vajra Knight class. What with the constant screen of
 bio-machine gun fire it is unleashing around it. A veritable storm of bullets.
 But Sho manages it, getting through a brief window right up close to the
 ship's hull. His spear stabs into one of the cannon turrets firing those bolts
 of golden energy. The turret overloads, causing an explosion and ripping a
 chunk out of the vessel. It doesn't take that lightly though, as several holes
 slide open not too far up the hull. A wave of bio-missiles rush out, sweeping
 around towards Sho's location and exploding in close proximity to him, trying
 to force him away.

        The large purple beam fired by Lily slices through space, soon quickly
 joined by the twin beams fired by the Ra Mari. The three strike roughly the
 same place, superheating the armor around that point and then with the last of
 the energy burning it away and ripping into some of the interior.

        Another barrage of missiles sweep out from the mothership, in larger
 numbers two. They dance across the battlefield, targeting multiple locations
 and units. ZAFT and Federation mobile weapons alike are caught in explosions
 as even more continue onwards, heading towards those further and further away.
 Lily, Banagher and Lucine in particular find themselves targets for their
 actions. Lily for her combined beam attack with the Ra Mari. Banagher's
 attempt to grab attention, resulting in the mothership trying to protect its
 brethren from the wrath of his sabers. And Lucine for her pulse that seemed to
 disorient a number of the Vajra flying around the ship. Ryoto and Mia are too
 caught by the barrage of missiles.

        The battlefield lights up though as the Nadesico unleashes its huge
 weapon. The energy rips out across space, impacting the side of the Knight
 class Vajra ship. A light grows as its armor fights back against the assault,
 chunks getting ripped off and vaporized.

        By the time the light fades, there is now large scorched section of the
 mothership's hull, pock marked with wholes revealing a softer looking material
 beneath.

        The Vajra mothership does not let this assault go without response. The
 large vessel slowly sweeps around to its bow is now pointing in the general
 direction of the Nadesico. Its large forward section splits open like before,
 the two halves spreading even wider than they had before. Within, the more
 reddish-pink of what could be flesh can be seen. Along with a protrusion that
 ends with a blueish crystalline object.

        Streaks of energy begin to rush in towards a centre point just beyond
 the crystal's tip. An orb of golden light begins to glow as energy readings
 rapid rise! The light grows brighter, reaching an almost blinding point before
 it explodes outwards, forming into a massive beam that rushes out of the
 ship's 'mouth'.

        The large golden beam streaks through space, heading straight for the
 Nadesico. But the path of the huge beam also catches a couple of others in its
 radius, the battleship Ra Mari currently positioned roughly between the Vajra
 ship and the Nadesico. And Trevor's machine, its close proximity to the
 Nadesico and angle of the Vajra's attack also threatening to engulf him too.

KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Sho Muramoto with Vajra Bio-Missile Launchers Defensive
 Spread!

KTS: Kaiju_Navi Changes attack to Lily Jung, Mia Brinkman, Ryoto Hikawa,
 Banagher Links, and Lucine Azul with Vajra Bio-Missile Launchers Wide Release.

KTS: Kaiju_Navi Changes attack to Eight York, Yurika Misumaru, and Trevor Teach
 with Vajra Quantum Reaction Cannon Sustained Sweep.

KTS: Ryoto Hikawa has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Ryoto Hikawa has activated the Focus Spirit Command.

<Pose Tracker> Weekly Seijin has posed.

        ... off in the distance, Something Else has arrived. Much like before
 with the reinforcements the Vajra do not take much notice of the new arrival.
 And when this strange new ... pulsing cloud decides to merely hang out on the
 periphery rather than make any sort of aggressive motions into the fight
 itself, the swarm seems happy to let it. For the vajra, it seems, they do not
 perceive the unknown as a danger. Instead it is the known dangers before them
 that hold their attention.

        The Vajra's attacks on Riika's GuAIZ do not find purchase, and do not
 prevent the known danger from perpretrating harm on their cohort. When she
 switches tactics and starts propeplling her unit forward through the swarm!
 The beam rifle lances through the crowd, clearing a path through the smaller
 units and towards the Knight-class. However one of the big beasties has taken
 notice, and decides to respond in kind. It rushes in, attempting to both
 physically intercept the unit with the lance upon its back, already crackling
 with green energy to fire a shot at point blank range!!

        When Rena's unit approaches one of the soldiers, it would seem she has
 the element of surprise. The creature's attention is focused forward, raking
 an allied mobile unit with its bio machine gun! However as Rena bears down
 upon it it has a flash of some sort of intuition!! It rounds just in time to
 stretch out its limbs and attempt to block the saber by grabbing ahold of the
 blade! Sadly the blade burns through its fingers and then through its body,
 but when a swarm of bio-micro-missiles arrives to try and scour Rena from
 space it becomes apparent it was attempting to hold her in place just long
 enough...

        The Ichinana being piloted by Roux begins delivering a strafing attack
 run while its pilot delivers surprisingly canny advice... well, if this were a
 video game anyway. Given how the swarm continues to pour from within the
 Knight carrier it's perhaps better to keep the tide from rushing over the
 larger ships, while simultaneously attempting to sink the carrier! Regardless
 of the usefulness of her advice, the mixture of beam rifle and grenades she
 fires into the swarm rend many of the smaller soldiers to tiny bits. However
 in response one of the larger heavies releases a swarm of bio-micro-missiles
 toward her direction!!

        The Vajra heavy soldier that had previously attacked Ryoko was driven
 back by one of Lucine's mines, buying her enough time between the beast's
 attacks to draw her own weapon and respond in kind. The knife pierces the
 heavy soldier's armor, tracing a violent jagged cracked line through the
 carapace as one of the beast's smaller arms is severed and sent spiraling
 through space. Injured, and in clear pain, the creature turns on Ryoko to
 attempt a further brutal assault. Both aiming to damage Ryoko's Aestivalis
 with its large claws, and drive it away. An instinctual drive for
 self-preservation?

        Trevor moves into position to provide aid to a stricken Nadesico, its
 distortion field struggling under the weight of the swarm attempting to wash
 over it... and push through it. The spread fire of beams does an excellent
 job of 'pressure washing' several of the bugs from the field. But as if
 sensing a sudden shift, those same bugs clear out from Trevor's vicinity.
 Perhaps they sensed something was coming...?

        A Long Dagger, piloted by Liam, and fresh from the brutal assault from
 the Knight class, stands between the swarm and the ZAFT ship he defends.
 Drawing his beam saber he strikes at the soldiers, severing the smaller bone
 white vajra into pieces on their approach! As Liam approaches the Nadesico
 though he too is caught up in the swarm of micro missiles being released by
 the heavy soldiers attempting to prevent the units coming to her aid from
 reaching her.

        Michiru's Galaxia Optic burst erupts from her unit's eye, lancing
 through the sky and searing a dark deep hole straight through the chest of one
 of the vajra heavy soldiers!! On the other side, the purple pulsing cloud can
 be seen shining, and briefly the heavy soldier goes limp and quiet... only to
 abruptly awaken and lurch toward Michiru! This time attempting to grapple the
 Galaxia instead, driving it's lance directly downward into her unit and firing
 a suicidal close range shot!!

        As the Dianthus's wings spread from her back, and the might pulse
 sudden bursts from her unit, several damaged but still functional soldier
 units actually move to position themselves between the attack and their
 healthier vajra!! The end result is that the disabled units sacrifices
 themselves to protect their still capable cohort. Those same units using the
 opportunity to clear the space near the Dianthus as a swarm of
 bio-micro-missiles attempts to consume the area in explosions!

        The Socrates, after a moment of contemplation, moves to engage the
 unknown adversaries and protect the vessels of the Vile Earthnoid Empire from
 their claws. After all it seems very much like these beasts care not whether
 you are of Jupiter or of Earth: All must fall to their talons. Already the
 swarm was moving to close on the position of Himeyuri's vessel, and it seems
 to a certain extent they've begun to learn how to engage their foes, and as
 the high energy beam cannons fire a salvo into their ranks the swarm... blooms
 to swirl around the cannon shots. Then they converge on the larger vessel,
 just like the Nadesico before it!

KTS: Ryoto Hikawa successfully intercepts Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Missile
 Launchers Wide Release

KTS: Weekly Seijin targets Roux Louka, Liam 7-020, Lucine Azul, and Rena
 Lancaster with Vajra Bio-Micro-Missiles Wide-Area Barrage.

KTS: Weekly Seijin targets Riika Sheder with Vajra Bio-Cannon Close Impact!
KTS: Weekly Seijin targets Ryoko Subaru with Vajra Armored Claws Heavy Impact!
KTS: Weekly Seijin targets Michiru Tenjou with Vajra Bio-Cannon Self Destruct!
KTS: Weekly Seijin targets Himeyuri Oono with Vajra Mobile Soldiers Swarm
 Converge!

KTS: Yurika Misumaru fails to evade Kaiju Navi's Vajra Quantum Reaction Cannon
 Sustained Sweep, taking 7560 damage!

KTS: Ryoko Subaru has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
KTS: Ryoko Subaru blocks Weekly Seijin's Vajra Armored Claws Heavy Impact,
 taking 1170 damage!

KTS: Weekly Seijin repulses Ryoko Subaru, forcing her to disengage.
KTS: Mia Brinkman successfully evades Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Missile Launchers
 Wide Release

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

                 Fear and anger
         hot and sharp
                 guilt
                         icy
                                         sorrow.
         
         The pulsating color--colors, perhaps, as it refuses to remain one
  single shade or hue, continually shifting in its eye-searing splendor even as
  it looms in the distance--quickens a single heartbeat. Its tendrils flash like
  lightning without thunder, churning within the glowcloud. Deep at its center,
  that spherical shape roils like the eye of Jupiter, the Great Red Spot.
         
         In slow motion, though. Soon the storm(?) calms. The lightning-tendrils
  quiver but remain in place.
                 so pretty
                         so peaceful
         
 so alone.
         
         It floats on, whorling laconically as it observes the massive
  explosions and death that sprawl across space among humans and Vajra alike,
  aggression on each side striving towards a fevered pitch. Still no aggression
  of its own; still no reassurance.The minds that look at it and don't know what
  to make of it--the minds that look at it and are wary--the minds that look at
  it and decide to observe back--all are met with the psychic impression of a
  vast, cool plate of glass. Just the faintest impression of a reflection of
  their own cautious confusion; a presence that seems like it should be
  permeable but allows nothing through.
         
          ( when you look into the abyss, the abyss looks back into you )
         
         But glass cracks and shatters with a strong enough impact. Is this
  entity the same...?

KTS: Rena Lancaster successfully intercepts Weekly Seijin's Vajra
 Bio-Micro-Missiles Wide-Area Barrage

KTS: Lily Jung successfully avoids Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Missile Launchers
 Wide Release

KTS: Eight York blocks Kaiju Navi's Vajra Quantum Reaction Cannon Sustained
 Sweep, taking 6930 damage!

KTS: Riika Sheder parries Weekly Seijin's Vajra Bio-Cannon Close Impact, taking
 1620 damage!

KTS: Weekly Seijin has engaged Riika Sheder
KTS: Weekly Seijin completes the Formation attack!
KTS: Trevor Teach has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Trevor Teach has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Trevor Teach has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
KTS: Trevor Teach successfully evades Kaiju Navi's Vajra Quantum Reaction
 Cannon Sustained Sweep

KTS: Roux Louka blocks Weekly Seijin's Vajra Bio-Micro-Missiles Wide-Area
 Barrage, taking 5160 damage!

KTS: Lucine Azul successfully intercepts Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Missile
 Launchers Wide Release

KTS: Banagher Links successfully evades Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Missile
 Launchers Wide Release

KTS: Lucine Azul successfully intercepts Weekly Seijin's Vajra
 Bio-Micro-Missiles Wide-Area Barrage

KTS: Liam 7-020 successfully Intercepts Weekly Seijin's Vajra
 Bio-Micro-Missiles Wide-Area Barrage

KTS: Michiru Tenjou's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage.
KTS: Michiru Tenjou blocks Weekly Seijin's Vajra Bio-Cannon Self Destruct,
 taking 4560 damage!

KTS: Weekly Seijin has engaged Michiru Tenjou
KTS: Sho Muramoto has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Sho Muramoto has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Sho Muramoto successfully Intercepts Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Missile
 Launchers Defensive Spread

<Pose Tracker> Ruri Hoshino has posed.

        "Heard and understood," Ruri responds, to Ryoko's desire to be kept in
 the loop. There is no shred of reluctance or sullenness in her stoic tone --
 even considering her usual way of speaking; she's working, right now.

        "The swarm is continuing to pressure the Distortion Field," Ruri
 reports.

        Her audio-visual link comes online, again -- wide-band transmission,
 she doesn't mind if ZAFT hears this -- to answer Roux's question: "Yes, I've
 encountered the Vajra before. However, a member of our away party was severely
 injured in the desperation manoeuvre we required to escape. It was a deadly
 situation. Do not underestimate this enemy just because I survived." And
 perhaps it's illustrative, now, why Ruri is transmitting so much defensive
 data to her allies. ... she doesn't sound scared, though. She doesn't look
 scared, either. She is stoic and unmoved. It... might even be a little
 unsettling.

        (The visual link shows a child -- certainly younger than enlistment
 age, still approaching thirteen -- in pale lilac twin-tails, with paler skin
 and bright, bright golden eyes. Why such a person is on the Nadesico's bridge
 can safely be considered a question for later, given the current threat.)

        When Lucine asks her to call her attention away from the pain of so
 many machines being torn to shreds, though, her eyes widen -- as she queries
 the Nadesico's sensors to see what Lucine has told her about. "Acknowledged,"
 she transmits, to Lucine. "Now recording." Hands to her console, she implores
 Omoikane to take detailed recorded readings of the Angel at the edge of the
 battlefield.

        She does not get a psychic impression of it; her psychic impressions
 are overwhelmed by rent steel and crushed electronics.

        But, the enemy in front of them --

        "Energy readings escalating," Ruri reports. "Brace for impact." It's
 entirely too matter-of-fact for the violence of the beam, and as the impact
 fades, she says: "Now cycling reactors to optimise power output."

        Ruri takes note of the mobile suits taking refuge by their Distortion
 Field -- and, at the same time, takes note that there's a Distortion Field on
 the other side of the battlefield. Her eyelids lower, by fractions, for a
 moment, before she transmits to Liam and Trevor -- and Banagher, acting to
 defend Liam: "Ruri Hoshino, systems operator. Now transmitting defence
 optimisation data to your units."

        She reaches out, with that technopathic connection of hers, to the
 JR-777 Isadore, the RX-0 Unicorn Gundam and the GAT-01D Long Dagger Fortestra;
 the conversation she holds with them is on a machine level, but it does,
 indeed, help to prime their units to react to the Vajra's assault.

KTS: Ruri Hoshino has activated the Resupply Spirit Command targeting Yurika
 Misumaru

KTS: Ruri Hoshino targets Liam 7-020, Trevor Teach, and Banagher Links with
 Caution.

KTS: Ruri Hoshino suggests caution, raising Banagher Links's Intuition!
KTS: Ruri Hoshino suggests caution, raising Trevor Teach's Intuition!

<Pose Tracker> Ryoto Hikawa has posed.

"Thanks, Ra Mari! Please be careful," Ryoto calls back to Eight, earnest and
 attentive but clearly tense.

Maybe it's the arrival of something just as inexplicable as the Vajra. "What on
 Earth," he murmurs, glancing to the side at the lightning cloud. Something
 scratches at the edges of his consciousness, but doesn't quite make it through
 - he has the wrong kind of mind for that. Pressing his lips firmly together,
 he swings his focus away from it and back to the more immediate threats,
 trusting the cloud not to blast him while he's not looking.

Riika's identity is unknown to him - he assumes she's one of ZAFT's better
 pilots, but her being a nominal enemy hardly matters right now. They're both
 human, and this is no time for parochial pettiness - and if he's being honest,
 his issues with ZAFT are basically nil compared to the issues he has with
 other elements of Earth Sphere politics.

Besides - the mothershop is firing missiles at them all. Ryoto gasps and pulls
 back. "Look out!" he calls as he moves on instict. The Huckebein's head snaps
 forward at a peculiar angle, and--

Vulcans nested in the Mark II's head begin to fire. Tracers slash across open
 space as the 60-millimetre shells hurtle into the path of the mothership's
 projectiles. The first few fall short, but soon they're connecting, filling
 space with explosions that form an arc in front of the Huckebein. As some
 missiles go off, the explosions catch others in a wave of fratricide, blasting
 the assault into oblivion.

A few chunks of projectile bounce through space in the wake of the explosions.
 They hit the Huckebein's G-Wall with a ripple of graviton energy and deflect
 away. Ryoto breathes a relieved sigh and wilts forward, the breath briefly
 leaving a mist patch on the inside of his helmet faceplate.

Again he glances at the cloud, but it's with a firm shake of his head. He gives
 his comline a tap again. "Ra Mari," he transmits to Eight, "I'm going to
 deploy something experimental. It'll take some time to charge up, but when
 it's ready to go, you should try and keep everyone out of the firing line!"

He switches to another channel quickly. "Tausendfuessler, I'm bringing the
 Gravicon System up. Launch the G-Impact Cannon, quick!"

The voice that comes back is somewhat alarmed. "But that's never been tested in
 a live situa-"

"We have no choice!" Ryoto exclaims, voice tightening with intention. "Just...
 just trust me! Please, launch it now!"

There's a moment's pause - and then a beep on the other end of the line. The
 retreating Tausendfuessler, at the very edge of the field and clear of the
 fray, pops its hangar open one more time.

Something comes rocketing out of the hatch, burning through space on some sort
 of carriage sled. Within a few seconds, it's close enough to make out what it
 is: A huge cannon, at least as long as the Huckebein is tall, maybe longer.
 Thruster blocks on its flanks and rear break away and splinter off, freeing
 the cannon to fly forward on momentum.

The Huckebein Mark II pivots in space, a port on its waist armour opening as it
 snatches up the cannon. "G-Impact Cannon, set!" Ryoto calls, sweeping the
 cannon into place at the Huckebein's midsection. A connector at the weapon's
 rear clamps onto the Huckebein's waist hatch, a surge of energy rolling
 between the two. "Gravicon System, online! System charging confirmed!"

Power begins to build steadily. The Huckebein Mark II grips the cannon in both
 hands, leveling it - yet it hangs back even as the charge grows. It manifests
 on sensors, clear as day: A node of gravitons, welling up inside the bore of
 the enormous gun, and growing more powerful by the second.

The original Vanishing Trooper was rumoured to harness the power of black
 holes. The inheritor of its legacy seems to have brought some of that power
 with it. Tense, Ryoto bites his lower lip and watches the power graphs rise,
 bit by bit.

        /This worked right in the simulations... Huckebein, please, please work
 right now!/

KTS: Ryoto Hikawa targets Kaiju Navi with Pass!

<Pose Tracker> Sho Muramoto has posed.

Sho has his unit look around after nailing a turret. And has only the time to
 utter an "Uh-oh" before he has his unit whip up an oddly designed assault
 rifle. One that looks more like it should be a musket than what it does as it
 repeatedly fires off at the bio-missiles to avoid having to get back out into
 turret range.

To that end, he's a bit busy to find a juicy target this time so settles for
 using another system of the ninja spec. Sensor scramblers.

He fires them off as he tries to confuse and make the ship's aim go off as he
 continues to blast the bio missiles.

He transmits out on a broadband, "I am a unit currently on the hull of the
 Vajra ship and occupied. If someone would be so kind, point me at the engines
 or reactor or heart of this thing so I can try to kill it."

Seriously, he can't do more than defend, but he is under that turret fire at
 the moment! And causing some chaos off and on!

KTS: Sho Muramoto targets Kaiju Navi with Jam!
KTS: Ruri Hoshino suggests caution, raising Liam 7-020's Intuition!
KTS: Ryoto Hikawa has activated the Rouse Spirit Command.

<Pose Tracker> Lily Jung has posed.

The single Longblade Rifle cuts through, swerving and flowing past the missiles
 that sweep out. Firing from occassion as it dances across the battlefield.

Within the cockpit, Lily is watching it along the longer range sensors. Amazed
 at the reach of the System. "Look at you fly..."

        ... the flamingo... she flies. Graceful amongst a flock now...

The weapon flies past Banagher Links, looking like a thick Beam Rifle just...
 flying by means of small thrusters!

The warm sun of Lily's presence continues to glow upon the battlefield. This
 beautiful midsummer day warmth of hope amidst a battlefield filled with
 detonations, explosions and misery. As allies fall to the horde of bugs, the
 young woman's machine spins. Occassional blasts eminate from the held
 Longblade rifle. The ugly looking pink Zack spins...

Dances.

It ducks around a missile, letting its presence grace close to her cockpit. The
 girl's body feeling so very tired. She can feel the sensation of sweat
 dripping and drooling down her back - right past her spine as her body arches.
 Her eyes are closed, yet she can see. A smile on her face as her hands dance
 along the controls.

The light of the Psyco System washes behind her, as the beam of her weapon
 lances out, sweeping in a beautiful arc leaving behind detonations.

"Fly!" Lily calls out to the Longblade Rifle that has finally made it to the
 Mothership itself, reaching out with a hand. "Fly, Funnel!" As she looks at
 the stars beyond.

A wash of pink light extends from the Longblade Rifle in flight, almost
 imperceptible to anything but those truly sensitive. A soft link, a line
 between her and her weapon as she begins to close her hand.

"Longblade!"

As the weapon suddenly STABS into the hull of the Mothership and cycles a full
 E-CAP. The beam emitter unfurls, as a foursome of magnetic legs stab into the
 biological matter at an angle, aiming at the giant 'maw' at the open fork of
 the Knight class and rapidly begins to charge up.

"Protect my friends!"

A wave of that pink pulses from the Psyco Zack, its Monoeye staring up at the
 stars, at the massive ship above it...

As the remote Longblade, settled into its hull, rapidly charges at its beam
 emitter, ramping up this fierce purple searing light, and then releases a gulf
 of light and mega-particles at close-range!

KTS: Lily Jung has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency
 bonus.

KTS: Lily Jung targets Kaiju Navi with Twin Longblade Rifle - Psycho Model -
 Psycho Weapon!

KTS: Himeyuri Oono's Nazca-class Destroyer 'Socrates' has been disabled.

<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.

"Acknowledged, Louka. We'll keep updating your data!"

She cant say that much to Roux at the moment; she has a lot of people to
 command. But maybe Roux can sense a flash of hope that Eight transmits
 towards her. But the ZAFT Captain has answered, and so Eight has to do the
 same.

"Captain York acknowledging," Eight replies to Himeyuri.

Rena won't let them down. There is that, at least. Eight smiles briefly, but
 only briefly, as she feels that island of calm. It's just a moment,
 though--because in short order, there is much worse ahead. The various
 missiles and small fry she can deal with, mobile weapons largely intercepting
 their attacks on the Ra Mari--but when that gigantic beam issues forth--

"Raise the shield! FULL POWER!"

Fari does so, and it is only that that prevents the Ra Mari from being
 destroyed outright. As it stands, the beam shield blossoms outward before the
 Ra Mari and shakes under the sheer force of the attack. The Ra Mari is rocked
 by it, armor plating shearing off outright, explosions rocking the ship.
 Consoles on the bridge explode; crew members are jarred in their seats, the
 seatbelts enough to keep them in place but not without some pain. Eight
 herself feels her shoulder jar painfully, and stars swim in her vision.

"Captain--" Fari gasps, his face burned by sparks thrown from the console.
 "We can't take another hit like that!"

Eight grits her teeth. "I know. Damage report."

"Hull breaches in--" Rezza calmly delivers her report as always, detailing in
 short the damage, and Eight says, "Seal those sections. Are our guns still
 online?"

"Yes, Captain."

Eight can no longer focus on the peaceful, sorrowful presence aside She can no
 longer look inside it. She has to focus her attention on the others.

"..." She thinks--and she lets her feelings guide her. Not her emotions, but
 her sense of the moment--

"...Keep them in reserve. Astelian, I want you to throw every bit of
 electronic noise we have at the big one. We've got one chance to get us and
 our allies out of here, and that's it. I'm counting on you, Tempo."

"Y-Yes ma'am!"

So her comms officer does so; she throws every bit of noise and sonar jamming
 and anything she can at the Knight-class, as Eight directs, "Pull us out,
 Chovan. Evasive pattern delta."

She crackles over the radio to her pilots and to the one helping, Ryoto--"This
 is the Ra Mari. We won't be able to support you much longer. I'm going to
 try to pull us back."

If it doesn't work...

KTS: Eight York targets Kaiju Navi with Twin Barrel Mega-Particle Cannons
 Focused Assault!
Eight York has cancelled her attack.

KTS: Eight York targets Kaiju Navi with Jam!
KTS: Kaiju Navi fails to react to Ryoto Hikawa's Pass, taking 0 damage!
KTS: Sho Muramoto jams Kaiju Navi's sensors, reducing its accuracy.
KTS: Eight York targets Kaiju Navi with Designate L1!
KTS: Eight York designates Kaiju Navi, making it easier to target and opening
 it to indirect fire.

KTS: Kaiju Navi fails to react to Lily Jung's Twin Longblade Rifle - Psycho
 Model - Psycho Weapon, taking 7040 damage!

KTS: Lily Jung has engaged Kaiju Navi

<Pose Tracker> Michiru Tenjou has posed.

The beam found its purchase... and yet... the Vajra continued forward? It leapt
 at the Galaxia, and despite being caught by the machine's heavy arms, launches
 a suicidal, self-detonating blow! Metal and glass is rent, exploding off the
 bulky machine, with its pilot slammed to and fro within. "Greh... foul
 menaces, such tricks will NEVER fell a hero! Our hearts are like steel, and
 our bodies fortresses!"

Despite its damage, the Galaxia continues to fight! Its systems creak and
 groan, as an arm reaches out to a pair of bugs. They seem to be out of range,
 as the arms shudder. They look as if they're going to fall apart. And yet, as
 the arms 'fall' off, thrusters roar to life, propelling the limbs out to grasp
 at the Vajras' heads and squeeze. Shooting the body won't do it, so they'll
 need to either obliterate the whole thing, or go for... the brain? Do they
 even have minds? Michiru neither knows nor cares if these beasts can think.
 They're monsters, and as such, they exist for heroes to destroy them. "Fear
 not Hime-hime, no harm shall befall our crew so long as I draw breath! WITH
 THIS! MY GALAXIA ROCKEEEEET FIIIIST!"

Does the Photon Lab need to know about this, for potential copyright
 infringement?

<Pose Tracker> Mia Brinkman has posed.

The fact that the Vajra Knight-class (that Mia will eventually learn the proper
 name of) is still standing despite so much firepower being focused on it
 doesn't go unnoticed. There's a small part of Mia that can't help but wonder
 what it's made of, but her curiosity will have to wait until after it's not
 trying to kill her and everyone else in the area. The incoming missiles veer
 around and at the Gigantic, and for some reason...

Mia tries to dodge them instead of just shoring up her defenses. There's
 something off about all those missiles flying this way, and she's not quite
 keen on seeing how hard they can hit considering just how sturdy the
 mothership is. She punches all of the Gigantic's thrusters on at once, sending
 it forwards before cutting one side's boosters and sending it into a wild spin
 that hits just the right angle to skid past the missiles before stopping with
 the beam bazooka aimed forward once more.

With the mothership focusing its biggest-looking shots at the battleships, that
 gives Mia time to take aim at center-mass. Sho's callout over the broadband,
 however, gives Mia something resembling an idea, and the Ra Mari's efforts in
 jamming up the Knight class is just the opening she needs to try something
 trickier off.

<<"Ra Mari, fall back and bide your time for the next shot. I'll draw its fire.
 Sh... Unit on the battleship, take cover. I'll be opening a path.">>

That was close. She almost said his name! The Gigantic finishes charging its
 beam bazooka as it settles back against another floating ship's wreckage,
 bracing itself ahead of time. There's a brief flicker of light before a
 massive beam launches straight towards the Vajra battleship, pouring out
 enough eat that part of the shield holding the weapon turns colors and warps
 from the blast.

KTS: Mia Brinkman uses hyper reloader
KTS: Mia Brinkman has activated the Enable Spirit Command.
KTS: Michiru Tenjou has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
KTS: Mia Brinkman targets Kaiju Navi with Shield Beam Bazooka Full Power!
KTS: Michiru Tenjou has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
KTS: Michiru Tenjou targets Weekly Seijin with Rocket Punch!!

<Pose Tracker> Yurika Misumaru has posed.

        The maelstrom only grows.

        "Not quite a direct hit, but that did show us what it's like under all
 that armor!" Yurika proclaims, taking picture after picture of the more
 exposed, fleshy interior of the Knight-class.

        ...Then the shutters open wide, exposing that similarly crackling
 looming bout of energy, surging and swelling from the mothership, and Yurika
 just about turns blue from shock. "It...It just copied our trick right back at
 us?! Completely unfair!!!" Someone should probably tell Yurika that centrally
 mounted high power beam weapons are, like, pretty standard for full size ships
 these days.

        For the third time, a pushy little holocreen pops up, this time in
 Trevor's cockpit. "This is Captain Misumaru, of the Nadesico, and yep we're
 exactly the ones you're thinking of! It's EXTREMELY good that you're helping
 us with the little guys, we need all the energy we can get if we're -really-
 about to burst down the Vajra! I'll do you one better - for each one you shoot
 down I'm personally going to treat you to a special rice bowl right here on
 the Nadesico! It's especially important, since...to charge up, we're going to
 need to put down our barrier, for juuuuust a little bit!" Yurika follows up
 her blatant bribe (?) with a merrily little wink and her ever-signature
 V-sign, then *vweep*s right out. She's all over the place!

        Back to the bridge, Yurika indeed announces, "It's pretty clear we'll
 need to give it all we've got for one big, fell swoop if we're going to take
 on the Tro - THE KNIGHT-CLASS. Unfortunately the little bugs have been
 draining our energy reserves...so we'll be relying on everyone afield to guard
 us a little bit while we prepare to fire! All hands, brace for impact - we're
 going to be open to the elements here. Distortion Field, power down - begin
 charging the Gravity Cannon for one decisive burst!"

        The aura surrounding the Nadesico slowly powers down - and the light at
 the ship's belly glows brighter and brighter than ever before. Yurika's
 watching with bated breath to see how the Knight-class responds - what evasive
 maneuvers she'll need to make to time the shot juuuuust right...!"

KTS: Yurika Misumaru targets Kaiju Navi with Gravity Blast - Charging...!
KTS: Mia Brinkman enervates Kaiju Navi, reducing its Morale significantly.
KTS: Mia Brinkman rattles Kaiju Navi, making its next maneuvers more difficult.
KTS: Kaiju Navi fails to react to Mia Brinkman's Shield Beam Bazooka Full
 Power, taking 7560 damage!

KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Mia Brinkman's Long Range Bombardment activates, causing
 Deject!

KTS: Kaiju Navi fails to react to Yurika Misumaru's Gravity Blast -
 Charging..., taking 300 damage!

KTS: Yurika Misumaru begins a Formation attack!
KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to react to Michiru Tenjou's Rocket Punch!, taking
 3870 damage!

KTS: Michiru Tenjou has engaged Weekly Seijin

<Pose Tracker> Ryoko Subaru has posed.

"That's the spirit Azul!" Lucine notes the difference, in how they're reacting
 as opposed to the mechanical Battas, and she doesn't contemplate that for
 long. Even alive and having that solidarity, they're still monsters. Much
 better fighting them than the alternative. "That so? They're certainly built
 tougher than the Battas! You'd think actual bugs would be easier nuts to
 crack!" And as Ruri says the field is being pressured, "Do you think it will
 hold? Just call!"

Trevor, as he sails past, declining that offer, "Where do you think you're
 going you bastard! And I wasn't offering it to YOU!" Unfortunately she's
 locked in a fight with a Vajra right now, so she can't pursue. Fortunately
 she knows that if he DOES intend something nefarious he's gonna have a helluva
 time getting past their distortion field, but she is worried given Ruri's
 report.

Her screen on the Socrates is about to wink out, though before it does she
 hears that response, and sends it right back in in perhaps a startling way
 (Possibly Nadesico suddenly rapidly advancing screen in your face hijinks,
 unless the Socrates is set not to allow that), "Yeah!? Do you have some
 problem with that? Should get it looked into-" As her volume abruptly
 increases, "-MIGHT NEED TO GET THAT STICK SURGICALLY REMOVED FROM YOUR ASS!"
 Ryoko must be extra sensitive about the idea she's not 'ladylike'...

... The Socrates may now have a different kind of crisis on their bridge
 thanks to Ryoko, even if she's oblivious to the implications of shouting that
 at its Captain.

Wait this data? Do they have a distortion field? ... ... ... oh no Ryoko
 feels real sheepish now about letting Riika see that data stream. Later,
 later. It's not like they're the enemy... right now.

The Vajra moves at her with a heavy attack, and this time Ryoko uses this range
 from the Nadesico to raise her distortion field to full power for that brief
 instant. The Vajra's much greater mass causes her to be batted away like some
 ball being flung about by the insectoids, but her thrusters eventually recover
 - and she comes of it relatively unscathed before the shine of that
 translucent white-grey field.

The acceptance of the ZAFT pilot in the Gardnova causes her to smirk despite
 herself in the situation. "Purpose made huh? Let's see if it can keep up with
 me!" Though her shout of her attack causes an outburst from her in short
 order- "What is it with everyone shouting their attacks like Tenkawa!?" Now
 that she's not locked in combat with the Vajra, she keeps the Distortion Field
 up, and starts... falling back to the Nadesico as Yurika says she needs to
 rely on everyone to guard them. "Roger! Subaru pulling back! I'll buy you
 the time you need!" As she suddenly changes direction. The distortion field
 shining like a arrowhead like wedge as the field warps to keep up with her
 momentum, as she drives right towards one of the Vajra heavies.

Not even bothering to weave, just trying to build up as much momentum and power
 as she can and relying on her field to protect her. "Time to put these horses
 out to pasture!" Ryoko says, as the tiny six meter Aestivalis, tries to...
 drive right into one of them... and if successful punch through it. Before
 then trying to juke subtly to catch more and more of them in her rampaging
 path if at all possible and keep the Nadesico protected. It's only mid-attack
 that she realizes her blunder of using that designation, "Wait what am I even
 saying!? CAPTAIN I TOLD YOU THAT WAS CONFUSING!"

... Some members of the Socrates crew and pilots might notice that it looks
 distinctively very similar to the Gekigan Flare. However, that's absurd, it
 obviously can't be, she didn't call it out!!!

KTS: Ryoko Subaru has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.

<Pose Tracker> Riika Sheder has posed.

Ryoto may not recognize Riika as anything more than a skilled ZAFT pilot (she
 only recognizes him as a presumably skilled Federation pilot) but Rena
 certainly does, judging by that salute. And it's mutual, even though Riika has
 no psychic connection with Rena.

She has, after all, seen that unit before. She was just in an unarmed shuttle
 at the time.

Riika is unable to spend enough movement from the GuAIZ to return the salute,
 and her voice is a little tight when she comes back on the line. It's not
 because of Rena, probably, but it's certainly there. "Right," she says. "I'm
 going to cut into the big carrier." And she hopes her generator can keep up
 with it!

Maybe she should signal the Nadesico? No, she thinks; that would only confuse
 matters. But it is good that they're firing the *terrifying* weapon, and not
 in ZAFT's direction. Riika never though she'd be grateful to see the gravity
 cannon, even at low power, and yet here we are. And they're charging a bigger
 one...

Between that and her own shots, she has enough room to maneuver. Kicking up,
 Riika begins a zig-zaggy, elusive movement - she's no longer driving straight
 toward the Knight-class Vajra but is taking a difficult-to-hit route while she
 does it. She zips right past Roux without recognizing the Ichinana, but she
 does hear the words even if she's not sure where they're coming from. *That*
 pilot... it's been months!

"Cover me while I'm going in, then!" Riika's words are accompanied by a
 spiraling twist that sends her rolling, one of the two beam sabers in her
 hands to smack into the side of a Vajra that was preparing to fire at her from
 close range. In the other hand, her beam rifle is still out, and beginning to
 get a distinctive green glow around the end of the barrel...

Riika watches the energy readouts in the cockpit flow like water. Her left hand
 is busy constantly typing, making dozens of tiny adjustments in the generator
 and the battery and the power draw. She hasn't automated these - you *can't*
 automate these, not and get more than the nine and a half minutes this machine
 is 'officially' rated for. Riika needs every bit she can get...

"Firing!"

Officially, the MA-M20 Lupus is a beam rifle. The narrow but blindingly bright
 beam that comes out of the thing is far beyond the standard output of one;
 powered directly by the GuAIZ' generator, Riika can literally watch the gauges
 drop as she lets the shot off, intense enough to drill all the way through a
 warship and maybe come out the other side.

It's not going to make it that far through the Knight. It's just too big. But
 it will be a shot to remember, even as Riika lets out a little startled sound
 as half the lights in her cockpit go out. Emergency ones flicker back on a
 moment later, but still! Running out here with no power would be a death trap!

KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Ryoko Subaru targets Weekly Seijin with This Is Not the Gekigan Flare Shut
 The Hell Up!!

KTS: Riika Sheder targets Kaiju Navi with MA-M20 Lupus Beam Rifle
 High-Intensity Shot!

KTS: Kaiju Navi fails to react to Riika Sheder's MA-M20 Lupus Beam Rifle
 High-Intensity Shot, taking 7600 damage!

KTS: Riika Sheder completes the Formation attack!

<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.

"Gh--!" Rena grunts, as the beam saber is grabbed. There is resistance, there,
 even as the beam saber starts to cut through the metallic Vajra armor (or
 chitin?). She grits her teeth, her eyes narrowing--

And there is that flash of insight, as she feels a rush of hostility. It dances
 over her mind; her aura, burning a bright blue, suddenly has a flash of red
 through it. She feels the intent behind the missiles, somehow, as alien and
 inscrutable as that intent is.

So when they fire, the Prophecy's head-mounted gun swivels. The beam vulcan
 fires, a thin lance of beam energy slashing through those micro-missiles. They
 explode between her and the Heavy Soldier, a sea of fiery blooms in the void
 between them.

The beam saber cuts the rest of the way down.

Rena feels something from the distant third party -- pulsating color from that
 strange thing, a spherical shape that rolls, and those sensations of sorrow;
 of guilt; and then peace. She stares at it for a moment, and shakes her head.

It's easier to focus on words. So she focuses on Banagher Links.

"We're all counting on you!" Rena transmits back to Banagher. She sends a quick
 visual: a twenty-something woman wearing a helmet and pilot suit, with ash
 blue hair, now cut short, and a dyed red streak in the middle of her hair.
 (This red streak is new, for those who haven't seen her recently.) She flashes
 a V-for-victory sign and a smile.

The camera feed winks out a moment later.

She glances at the Huckebein Mk. II -- and her eyes widen, as the Personal
 Trooper grips the cannon. "Keep them off the Mark II!" she transmits.

She can't keep the worry out of her expression, as she sees the blast that is
 fired into the Ra Mari. She tenses, for a moment, and she shakes her head.
 "Roger that, Ra Mari. Just... keep back if you need to."

Her voice stays steady, somehow. "Roger, Miss Sheder. I'll try to keep them off
 you."

The YF-25A sweeps around the Heavy Soldiers -- the limbs moving to make the
 movement more graceful, as foot thrusters and verniers fire. The Prophecy
 grips the rifle-like gunpod, and the three barrels inside rotate -- and then
 several soldiers find a blast of rounds tearing into them.

Rena fires, shooting behind the GuAIZ in an arc. She fires in a wide arc,
 trying to keep them from going after the GuAIZ. She hesitates a second, then
 flips on a tightbeam to the ZAFT unit as the Lupus's afterglow burns in her
 eyes.

"My girlfriend's on the damaged Clop-class," she transmits. "So... thanks."

KTS: Rena Lancaster has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Rena Lancaster targets Weekly Seijin with Ultrasonic Arc!

<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.

        <"... Thank you, Ruri. Please pass Omoikane my thanks too, when you
 have the chance. But... it's strange. The Vajra aren't attacking it. I wonder
 why, since.... it's not... a Vajra. I don't think..."> Lucine's voice is soft,
 as she observes, rather than using the short clipped responses of before.
 <"... It's angry? But no... calm now... but... it's like a plane of glass... I
 can't get a read without.... ngh!">

        But that moment for observation is gone. A barrage of missiles fire at
 the Dianthus, and Lucine directs her unit's antlered 'crown' to shoot out out
 looks like a curtain of sparkling gold, which absorbs the missiles with the
 energy contained within.

        Then.

        Lucine's eyes widen. <"Something is--!!>" A proper Newtype would have
 had more time to relay that warning, but the ships in front of that beam from
 the Vajra mothership have no such luck. <"Please, be careful...">

        She has to fend for herself, still. The bio-micro-missles' explosions
 are close enough to reflect off of the Dianthus's chassis this time, each
 disintegrating from the curtain of energy that is shot in front of her like a
 shield of dissolving gossamer gold wire. "... That was close..."

        <"Another difference."> It's as if this really matters to her, to point
 out how the Vajra and Jovian lizards are different. <"They have a logic to
 them. The smaller ones sacrifice themselves for the larger- er, ah, the Trojan
 Knights? ... Sorry Captain Yurika...">

        Yurika's correct. They'll need a large blast to get through the
 sacrificial shielding. <"Roger. Falling back to the Nadesico...">

        She weaves in and out like a needle and thread through space, leaving
 more mines. This time, it's to narrow the field, making the Vajra funnel
 towards a direction of the Nadesico's charging attack. <".... Subaru... you're
 beginning to sound like Ms. Maki with those puns...">

KTS: Lucine Azul targets Weekly Seijin with Lunate Crown v.2 Fireflies!
KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to react to Ryoko Subaru's This Is Not the Gekigan
 Flare Shut The Hell Up!, taking 8520 damage!

KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Ryoko Subaru's In the End All I Do Is... activates, causing
 Insight L1!

KTS: Ryoko Subaru has engaged Weekly Seijin
Nidaime teleports in.
POT: Nidaime is now set observer.

<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.

        Banagher, whether he realizes it or not, is Liam's touchstone at the
 moment--another intelligent, responsive mind floating in the chaos. The
 cyborg's emotions are like sudden, swift bursts of light against the darkness
 of space--fear, anger, steely determination, gut-wrenching anxiety.

        'Liam, be safe.'

        "Lucine," Liam says, and there's another pulse of choking anxiety.
 "Understood." His eyes hood, and that feeling of tight, gut-twisting worry
 amplifies. Affection joins it.

        Meanwhile, the Long Dagger moves as if entirely divorced from its
 pilot's emotions. Ichor cools on its hull as it comes to a gliding stop just
 shy of the Nadesico's bow--on the wrong side of the Distortion Field, but
 close enough to use its bulk as shelter. "In position, Links," Liam says, to
 his impromptu battle-buddy. "Preparing--"

        The bugs aren't going to let him get away so easily. Liam's eyes go
 wide as space fills with a volley of missiles. Hephaestus' words echo in his
 head: Why didn't you USE THE CIWS.

        Liam's hand moves on instinct, animated as much by fear of his absent
 "handler" as threat of impending death-by-missile. He thumbs on the
 auto-targeting. The "head vulcans" on the GAT-01D's helmet roar to life,
 silent in the void but reverberating through the cockpit. The machine spits
 rounds downrange at a frightening rate of fire, turning the biomissile swarm
 into blooms of bright color and shrapnel. Not a single one makes it through.

        Another familiar voice over the comm. "Acknowledged, Hoshino." She
 reaches through--

        This particular GAT-01D is regimented but calm, adapting to a different
 pilot's idiosyncracies. It accepts the corrections gratefully. Liam feels it
 becoming more responsive as he boosts upwards, towards the Nadesico's spine.
 But there's still one thing weighing him down.

        "Azul, Links, look away. Purging Fortestra!"

        Liam flips a panel aside, slips fingers into a dial, and twists. A
 blinding flash erupts from his machine, followed by the lurch of blackened,
 damaged armor plates ejecting. The Long Dagger's armor--as well as parts of
 its armament--fly away, propelled by detonating explosive bolts. The machine
 reaches down and draws a second beam saber, igniting that one alongside the
 first. "Resuming offense. Links--Ra Mari withdrawing, Nadesico preparing to
 fire. Thin the herd, cover both." The words are intense, clipped, rapid-fire,
 like the bursts of the CIWS mere minutes before. Liam boosts back into the
 swarming Vajra, the Long Dagger moving with even more hair-raising speed. It
 ping-pongs back and forth through the alien horde, flowing from beam saber
 strike to evasive burst to beam saber strike.

KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Weekly Seijin with Whirling Blade Advance!
KTS: Weekly Seijin blocks Rena Lancaster's Ultrasonic Arc, taking 2400 damage!
KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to evade Lucine Azul's Lunate Crown v.2 Fireflies,
 taking 4400 damage!

KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Lucine Azul's In Her Blood activates, causing Control Bonus!
KTS: Lucine Azul begins a Formation attack!
KTS: Weekly Seijin blocks Liam 7-020's Whirling Blade Advance, taking 5520
 damage!

KTS: Liam 7-020 has engaged Weekly Seijin

<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.

The Unicorn darts around an attack from its foe, moving in perfect harmony with
 its pilot. Haro flaps its winglets with excitement -- and even Banagher can't
 help but feel a thrill of pride. He was figuring this out.

Amidst all the colors and lights of the battfield, the strange glowing entity
 is somehow still the most distracting. A snippet of conversation with Saraven
 comes back to him -- Newtypes sense the emotions of others. Trusting Unicorn
 to fend for itself for a moment, he closes his eyes. "Hello," he thinks, and
 then listens very hard. The serenity of the entity comforts him, recentering
 him in the midst of the battle.

Golden eyes blink open again, just in time to catch Rena's transmission. He
 smiles widely, filled with exhiliration. They were counting on him. They
 needed him. Finally. Unicorn nudges against his conciousness once again, but
 this time, Banagher doesn't push it aside. "If you'll listen, we can do this."
 He murmurs, aloud. "We need your power." No response comes, of course but all
 the same...

Banagher lets go. His chair slides back, and he winces against the sudden pain.
 Red light shimmers out from the Unicorn as it transforms, growing larger ever
 so slightly. Anyone particularly sensitive would feel the Beast of Possibility
 pulling against its reigns, and would feel the rush of excitement and
 determination as Banagher lets it loose.

At Liam's words, Banagher screws his eyes closed. "Bright!" Haro comments,
 somehow still resting in Banagher's lap. Despite his distraction, the Unicorn
 moves forward, gleaming green eyes focused on its enemy. "I'll get rid of this
 thing!"

Though his sword swings were terribly powerful and surely violent, Banagher's
 spirit is incandescent. It glows, confident and thrilled, much like the
 Unicorn, entwining their two souls. "You won't hurt anyone else!"

KTS: Banagher Links has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Banagher Links has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Banagher Links has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Banagher Links has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Banagher Links has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
KTS: Banagher Links targets Kaiju Navi with Four-Saber Combo!
KTS: Kaiju Navi fails to react to Banagher Links's Four-Saber Combo, taking
 6000 damage!

KTS: Banagher Links has engaged Kaiju Navi

<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the bright, shiny light radiating
 from the enemy battleship (growing brighter and shinier with every passing
 moment) is absolutely bad news. Trevor has never witnessed the kind of
 firepower that anything even remotely close to a Macross-class can bring to
 bear. It's pure, animal instinct-- the notion that the baleful blaze on the
 horizon is an omen of absolute calamity-- that spurs him into action.
 "Damn...! A hit from that could--"

It could absolutely vaporize both him and his machine in an instant, their very
 existence wiped from physical reality and crushed into so much quantum
 flotsam. Could the Nadesico hold up to that kind of power? It's an open
 question, but...

There's no way. He can't possibly do anything to deflect or absorb that much
 power. Thrusters ignite, the Isadore accelerating at breakneck speeds as that
 distant light turns from blazing to absolutely blinding, washing through space
 as a lance of apocalyptic incandesence. But...

Mercifully, the Isadore manages to get out of the line of fire just in time.

"Shit, that was..." Too close. Trevor pauses, a momentary hesitation as he
 swallows his terror. Giving in now would be deadly. Now is not the time to cut
 and run. No. He's bet his life that the Nadesico's gun can see them through.
 But-- if he ran now, maybe the battleships could keep them busy for long
 enough--

A transmission finds its way to the Isadore's communicator. The face that
 appears is...

"What--" Trevor asks the image of Ruri Hoshino, "--You're... You're just a
 kid--" Even younger than he is. By almost a decade, in fact. His gut drops,
 heavy with shame. The thought of leaving when someone like that is able to
 keep their cool, is able to face these monsters in person and still choose to
 fight them again, is ice in his veins. He sucks in a breath, then: "Right. You
 got it, Ruri Hoshino. Trevor Teach, receiving."

A link is established. In that instant, a volume of information floods into the
 Isadore's system. A conduit is forged between the Nadesico's computer systems
 and the one on this substantially smaller mobile suit, and...

For a moment, whether it's Ruri's technopathy or Omoikane's intelligence, there
 is... another presence on the other end of the line. A silent acknowledgment
 consisting of ones and zeroes.

And then Yurika Misumaru pops in over the line and Trevor jumps a half an inch
 because holy crap this lady has a lot of energy. Is this where all of
 Saraven's genkiness went off to?? "Hah, right," Trevor laughs, "You got it,
 cap'n. Leave the small fry to me. I'm look forward to that bonus! You doin'
 the cooking, or--"

Vajra are STILL PRESENT, Trevor Teach. The Isadore is nearly rammed by a bug,
 only for a blazing arc of screaming hot plasma to tear into its carapace.
 "Right, bugs first. Rice bowls later. Hey loud lady!" This being Ryoko,
 apparently, "Leave some for me!"

Trevor kicks one smoldering Vajra away, leaping to another with a cleaving
 slash of his beam cutlass, following up with a quick blast of beam fire at
 point blank range. Again and again, he flows seamlessly between targets,
 taking the opportunity to 'power wash' smaller swarms with a diffuse blast of
 beam fire between engagements...!

KTS: Trevor Teach targets Weekly Seijin with Beam Cutlass Slash!
KTS: Weekly Seijin blocks Trevor Teach's Beam Cutlass Slash, taking 5610 damage!
KTS: Trevor Teach has engaged Weekly Seijin

<Pose Tracker> Kaiju Navi has posed.

        The coordination is made official as the ZAFT and Federation forces now
 fight side by side. The combined beam cannon blasts from a Nazca and a Salamis
 destroy one of the Knight class's cannon turrets. A group of GINNs and GMs
 group up, rifles and vulcans firing all around them to take out a barrage of
 missiles headed their way.

        It's not all victories and camaraderie though, as one Laurasia attempts
 to get in close to take advantage of the mothership's open maw. But as it
 starts to open up with its beam guns, the Vajra swerves around, bringing the
 top part of its maw up and into the Nazca. The impact causes the ship to
 buckle in half, before beginning to tear itself apart. It can't take the
 damage, finally exploding.

        The Vajra mothership comes lumbering out of the blast. Still looking
 for a fight it seems.

        Similar to earlier, Mia and Riika's large beams end up striking roughly
 the same part of the Vajra Knight class. It makes sense, targeting a large
 ship like this you try to go for what look like weak spots. And sure enough,
 the combined assault hits a section of armor weakened by previous attacks. The
 energy from the beams manages to rip through the armor, tearing into the
 interior.

        As the combined attack passes, the hole burned into the Vajra ship
 leaves some of its interior open for viewing. And it looks like the ship does
 actually have an iterior, though not one like any ship manufactured in the
 Earth Sphere. Instead it looks like a collection of chambers, connected via
 numerous curving tunnels. Though it's definitely NOT clear what the purpose of
 this interior is. Not at a glance, anyway.

        Sho and the Ra Mari double team the Vajra ship with their electronic
 warfare. It's a bit of a gamble, as its anyone's guess as to whether these
 creatures are even affected by it. But given that some of the Knights cannons
 are starting to move erratically and the ship itself seems to slow down, it
 may very well be that it's doing something!

        Lily's bit stabs into the flesh of the Vajra ship, charging up and
 starting to fire beams into its maw. They begin to vaporize the flesh that is
 the ship's more squishy interior. One might wonder if this wasn't space, would
 the large Vajra creature be screaming?

        Whatever the answer, it does seem to provoke a response as the Vajra
 ship slowly turns, facing the unit that launched the bit. Lily's unit. Golden
 energy gathers at the tip of the crystal within the Vajra's structure,
 preparing to fire once more. It doesn't charge for quite as long though,
 quickly firing off a shortened burst at the pink unit. Though unfortunately,
 both Riika and Ryoto are in the firing path, the large streak of energy
 threatening to engulf them too as it travels towards Lily.

        The Ra Mari is trying to pull away, but the Vajra ship doesn't seem to
 want to let it as a wave of missile fire out of it. They quickly chase after
 the Ra Mari, moving with more agility than previous missiles.

        Meanwhile, the Knights bio-cannon turrets, a little twitchy from the
 jamming, still engage, unleashing another blast of golden bolts into the
 combined fleet. Mia is one of those in the line of fire, as is Banagher who,
 distracted as he is absolutely carving through the smaller Vajra defending
 their mothership, may not notice the bolts aimed his way.

KTS: Kaiju Navi has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Kaiju Navi has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Kaiju Navi has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Lily Jung with Vajra Quantum Reaction Cannon Flash Fire!
KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Riika Sheder with Vajra Quantum Reaction Cannon Flash
 Fire!

KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Ryoto Hikawa with Vajra Quantum Reaction Cannon Flash
 Fire!

KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Yurika Misumaru with Pass!
KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Eight York with Vajra Bio-Missile Launchers Chasing
 Wave!

KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Mia Brinkman with Vajra Bio-Cannon Turrets Full Power!
KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Banagher Links with Vajra Bio-Cannon Turrets Full Power!
KTS: Yurika Misumaru fails to react to Kaiju Navi's Pass, taking 0 damage!
KTS: Ryoto Hikawa has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Ryoto Hikawa successfully evades Kaiju Navi's Vajra Quantum Reaction
 Cannon Flash Fire

KTS: Eight York has activated the Trust Spirit Command.
KTS: Eight York fails to intercept Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Missile Launchers
 Chasing Wave, taking 3960 damage!

KTS: Banagher Links successfully avoids Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Cannon Turrets
 Full Power

KTS: Weekly Seijin has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has disengaged.
KTS: Weekly Seijin has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained
 proficiency bonus.

KTS: Weekly Seijin has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Weekly Seijin has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Weekly Seijin has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Weekly Seijin has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: [Mirage] Lily Jung's EWAC Mirage activates, and she slips into a mirage.
KTS: Lily Jung fails to evade Kaiju Navi's Vajra Quantum Reaction Cannon Flash
 Fire, taking 0 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Weekly Seijin has posed.

        There are a multitude of a reasons why finding yourself on the side of
 a large enemy vessel alone isn't a good idea. For one, it means you serve as
 an obstruction for your allies should they decide to pull out the REALLY big
 guns (like Ryoto seems interested in doing). Or, in this case, it's because
 you're literally standing upon a bee hive that has not only been kicked but is
 in the act of being kicked more. Before long Sho finds a sea of soldiers,
 both scuttling along the hull as well as spaceborne, approaching his location.
  Working in unison they attempt to take advantage of his overextension by
 encircling him, and delivering a punishing assault from all angles!!

        The Galaxy suffers a devastating blow!! But manages to remain intact.
 As for the heavy soldier, the charred remains of its carcass are scattered as
 so much space junk. If center mass didn't work, Michiru reasons, then perhaps
 destroying the head will do better?! Unfortunately even as they Vajra
 soldiers' craniums are crushed in the tight metallic these beasts continue to
 struggle. Even without eyes to see though their bio machine guns fire
 accurately. How?! They seem to have eyes housed in their head... do they
 have other unseen sensory organs... or...?

        Despite the impromptu arrangement of a brief ceasefire... Ryoko Subaru
 unleashes a barrage of a different sort on the Socrates's captain. The result
 of which is a sort of cultural induced BSOD?! Shortly after though more
 conventional warfare continues in the form of a (totally-not-a-) Gekigan
 Flare. The Aestivalis using its distortion field to drive through the
 soldiers swarming the Nadeisco, leaving a deteroriating spread of Vajra limbs
 in her wake!! Finally it's one of the heavy soldiers who takes notice of the
 rampaging Aestivalis, lowering and charging its lance before releasing a heavy
 blast intent at both piercing the distrotion field and ending her slaughter!

        The YF-25A moves with incredible grace, even as a cadre of heavy
 soldiers attempt to surround its pilot. These machines are most familiar the
 Vajra after all: They are a known threat. The pilot manages to maneuver
 through taloned hands and then whirl around with its gunpod to deliver a
 blistering salvo of physical rounds towards her assailant! The beasts respond
 by bringing up their larger arms in defense, still rushing toward Rena as they
 defend from her assault. They then attempt to barrel into her with vicious
 swipes of their claws, working in tandem to keep her from escaping again!!

        The Vajra had already experienced Lucine's firefly mines... and attempt
 to evade them, swimming through and between them. Though then their pattern
 shifts. Perhaps they realize that there is something off. That the Nadesico
 is preparing something particularly nasty, and that the way the mines are
 being laid is preventing them from evading the upcoming attack! Just like
 that, one of the larger heavy soldiers barrels through the field of mines
 attempting to tear a hole through the net. The result isn't successful, but
 it does allow the press of Vajra to get close enough to unleash a green
 bio-cannon salvo straight for the Dianthus!!

        Meanwhile, Liam purges the Fortestra's heavy and now damaged armor.
 The now far more svelte unit ricochets from soldier to soldier brutally
 murdering the hammer-headed space bugs one after the other! Finally one of
 the heavy soldiers manages to intercede, blocking one of the attacks with its
 heavy arms. Its other five arms then reach out to grab the now Fortestra-less
 Long Dagger. It seems intent to crush him in its arms... or at least to keep
 him from doing any more damage!!

        At this point the swarm is actually starting to dwindle. Whether due
 to attrition, or a shift in tactics?! It's hard to say with such creatures
 both so cooperative with each other but also so suicidally willing to
 sacrifice their own lives in pursuit of more harm. One of the wounded
 warriors attempts to block the beam cutlass slash from Trevor with its arms...
 but weakened as it is the blade slides through and slashes the beast down the
 middle!! Without a head or a hole in a chest the beasts continue on, but
 bissecting them seems to work pretty well. But even then, one of the few
 remaining heavy soldiers lunges forward to grab the Isadore. Attempting to
 grab onto, then crush the unit with both its massive clawed fists!!

KTS: Weekly Seijin targets Sho Muramoto with Vajra Mobile Soldiers Coordinated
 Encirclement!

KTS: Weekly Seijin targets Michiru Tenjou with Vajra Bio-Machine Guns Ripping
 Barrage!

KTS: Weekly Seijin targets Ryoko Subaru with Vajra Bio-Cannon Charged Assault!
KTS: Weekly Seijin targets Lucine Azul with Vajra Bio-Cannon Powered Blast!
KTS: Weekly Seijin targets Liam 7-020 with Vajra Armored Claws Six-Legged Grab!
KTS: Weekly Seijin targets Trevor Teach with Vajra Armored Claws Sharpened
 Crush!

KTS: Trevor Teach successfully evades Weekly Seijin's Vajra Armored Claws
 Sharpened Crush

KTS: Ryoko Subaru blocks Weekly Seijin's Vajra Bio-Cannon Charged Assault,
 taking 3825 damage!

KTS: Weekly Seijin roots its unit, coming to a standstill and leaving it
 vulnerable.

KTS: Trevor Teach uses hyper reloader
KTS: Michiru Tenjou blocks Weekly Seijin's Vajra Bio-Machine Guns Ripping
 Barrage, taking 1600 damage!

KTS: Trevor Teach has activated the Trick Spirit Command.
KTS: Trevor Teach has activated the Trick Spirit Command.
KTS: Riika Sheder fails to Evade Kaiju Navi's Vajra Quantum Reaction Cannon
 Flash Fire, taking 6480 damage!
Escudo_Shard teleports in.

KTS: Ryoto Hikawa has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Weekly Seijin anchors Liam 7-020, forcing him into close range.
KTS: Liam 7-020 parries Weekly Seijin's Vajra Armored Claws Six-Legged Grab,
 taking 1290 damage!

KTS: Weekly Seijin has engaged Liam 7-020
KTS: Lucine Azul fails to evade Weekly Seijin's Vajra Bio-Cannon Powered Blast,
 taking 4440 damage!

KTS: Michiru Tenjou has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Michiru Tenjou has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Michiru Tenjou has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Mia Brinkman has activated the Enable Spirit Command.
KTS: Mia Brinkman has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Sho Muramoto has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Mia Brinkman successfully avoids Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Cannon Turrets
 Full Power

KTS: Sho Muramoto has activated the Alert Spirit Command.

<Pose Tracker> Ryoto Hikawa has posed.

        'We won't be able to support you much longer.'

Ryoto's stomach twists with fear. He doesn't know the Ra Mari's captain at all
 - Eight's a voice on the radio to him - but a ship that size is full of people
 who are in danger. If the ship can't make it out of the battle zone intact, a
 lot of them could die.

        /I can't let them down... please, Huckebein, please be enough to help
 that ship and her crew... please help me help them!/

Power continues to well at the bore of the G-Impact Cannon. By now, the
 intensity of energy is strong enough that the Huckebein Mark II illuminates
 even the most basic of sensors like a floodlight, its signature distressingly
 similar to the weapon the Nadesico's charging - not just in energy type, but
 in intensity. Smaller fragments of debris begin to shiver and drift towards
 the blue personal trooper, drawing into a wide orbit around the cannon barrel.
 The weapon's bore doesn't exactly glow, but something ominous pulses inside
 it, crackling with the occasional arc of pale energy but mostly manifesting as
 a writhing distortion that twists light into peculiar colours, picking up a
 dull purplish-blue tinge from something deep inside the gun.

A drop of sweat traces the side of Ryoto's face. He glances at the charge gauge
 on his monitors. It's close to peaking.

He lets it charge a little more. As close to the peak as he can get it - that's
 what he needs. That's going to be what it takes to bring down this foe.

The Vajra aren't going to give him the chance. Golden energy mounts as the huge
 ship brings that weapon to bear - not just on Riika, but on the Huckebein too.
 Ryoto's eyes go wide. "Huckebein!" he urges the robot instinctively, hands and
 mind moving at the same time--

And the T-Link System responds. The Huckebein Mark II's thrusters pulse, it
 pulls the barrel of the G-Impact Cannon to one side, and --

The energy burst rips through the Huckebein so cleanly that no debris actually
 flies off the machine. The Vajra just shoot cleanly through it.

Until the image of the Huckebein fades out of existence a second later,
 revealing that it moved. It moved so fast that it left an after-image
 behind. The actual Huckebein resolves above the line of the beam in a ripple
 of thrust and energy, verniers pulsing back into station-keeping mode. The
 Gravicon System churns into full charge again, the energy buildup continuing
 to mount.

Ryoto exhales with relief, head hanging. He hadn't even been cognizant of how
 fast he'd moved - only that the danger was coming. The machine had seen him
 through. "Thank you, Huckebein," he whispers, patting the console in front of
 him.

But there's no time to wallow in relief at his own good fortune. The Vajra are
 going after the Ra Mari. Ryoto clicks his teeth together and hunches forward
 as the Huckebein grips the rungs of the G-Impact Cannon, swinging the gun
 forward. The energy roiling at the gunbore intensifies into a pulsing nimbus
 of bright magenta light, enough to cast rays around the weapon.

Indicators urgently flash their readiness. "Please, please hold together,"
 Ryoto whispers before lining his gunsight up on the immense mothership - and
 he draws a breath before rising in his seat.

        "G-Impact Cannon... firing!!!"

The Huckebein Mark II unleashes its charged power with enough force that space
 itself seems to groan under the sheer intensity of it. The G-Impact Cannon
 fires an enormous, roiling beam of pure gravity, strong enough that it begins
 pulling debris into the beam even as it rumbles towards the mothership. Husks
 of destroyed Vajra and chunks of blown-off ship and mobile suit components
 vanish into the beam's event horizon, and any units unfortunate enough to be
 caught in the blast's path may well suffer the same fate - but the bulk of it
 is spared for the mothership.

If it connects, the beam will widen to try and engulf the ship - and /compress
 it/ as close as it can get to being out of existence.

KTS: Ryoto Hikawa targets Kaiju Navi with G-Impact Cannon Overcharge!
KTS: Sho Muramoto fails to Charge.
KTS: Sho Muramoto fails to react to Weekly Seijin's Vajra Mobile Soldiers
 Coordinated Encirclement, taking 5880 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Sho Muramoto has posed.

The surrounding hordes have Sho at a distinct disadvantage number and
 firepower-wise as he positions his unit, trying to get a good eyeball on all
 of them before they start to open fire. And that's about all he can do. His
 unit is tough. It has to be with it's specialities, but that's a lot of
 firepower and even more just crashing down on him. And that's when he realizes
 that maybe... he's near something?

He at least switched weapons before being buried under Vajra soldiers, so is
 keeping a lot of them at bay under all this with shorter, broader blades
 designed for this sort of thing.

"Celestial Being unit, designation Zanbato. I believe the Vajra might not like
 where I am for some reason. If you see the horde of bugs trying to kill me,
 please shoot at them. Like a lot. I'll be fighting my way out shortly." Sho
 broadcasts.

Then he starts to do just that. Sure it's not a Gundam, it's not some fancy
 power source robot. But Sho's proud of the Spinatio enough to name it a
 Zanbato. A horse slaying sword. And he's aiming to make it earn it's name.

The deadly blades, usually designed for backup and it's own legs and limbs
 start to fight it's way out of the ensuing horde with a ferocity as it slices,
 kicks, and dices at them to both get them off and free itself. To survive this
 mass of monsters and come out alive.

KTS: Sho Muramoto targets Weekly Seijin with Ninja Blade Strikes!

<Pose Tracker> Yurika Misumaru has posed.

        Yurika's gripping the railing. Tighter, and tighter, and tighter, eyes
 wide and darting every which way, across every last detail of the Knight-class
 Vajra. Scanning every inch, observing every reading.

        "Nghgghhh...Jun-kun, is there something I'm missing? Do you see it
 aiming anything at us?"

        First Officer Jun Aoi blinkblinks, then quickly pivots, hand over his
 brow, to glance at every reading on the Knight. "Eeeeh, it's not seeming to
 engage yet? Why're you asking me?"

        ...Gununu...Megumiiii, is it emitting any sort of...weird signal trying
 to disrupt or contact us?

        Communications Officer Megumi Reynard tips her head once, then dials in
 her headphones to a few other spectrums, before concluding, "No communication
 frequencies emitted! ...Captain, you really don't think it'd even be capable
 of-"

        "...mooooou, Minato, what's our charging percentage at again?"

        Ever-inflappable, Helmswoman Minato Haruka gives a little poke to her
 terminal, and calls out, "93 percent, captain."

        Yurika's hands are pulling at the sides of her hat, and she blurts out,
 "I was worrying this entire time about how we're about to brace hands or dodge
 out of the way for like five whole minutes, and it just started ignoring us?!
 What's it trying to pull?! I don't know what in the world these crazy space
 aliens are doing, just fire it off as soon as we're all charged, I don't want
 to be stiff and sitting here on pins and needles!"

        Oh so suddenly, a little window pops up in every terminal the Nadesico
 can possibly connect to on the fly, Yurika's fists balled up overzealously.
 <"Alright, it's REALLY REALLY important you get out of the way! We're firing
 on FULL POWER, right now, right this second! If you're even KINDA close to the
 Gravity Cannon's path please please please step on the gas!">

        Taking one last, stern breath to calm herself - to make sure nothing
 could've possibly been overlooked, Yurika furrows her brow, extends out her
 hand, and calls out, "GRAVITY CANNON - 100% POWER. GO GO GO GO!!!".

        And the crackling arc of light and power that previously just flickered
 from the Nadesico's bow transforms into a deafening column of force, sending
 deep, booming thumps in communication systems as it roars straight at the same
 spot on the Knight that it previously peeled away!

KTS: Yurika Misumaru has activated the Trick Spirit Command.
KTS: Yurika Misumaru has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Yurika Misumaru has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Yurika Misumaru has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Yurika Misumaru has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Yurika Misumaru has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Yurika Misumaru targets Kaiju Navi with Gravity Blast - Full Power!

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

        The glow-cloud remains largely as it has been as Omoikane records it.
 As an object--as an entity--it remains opaque. Metaphorically speaking.
        
        But the ends of its tendrils are beginning to sparkle...

KTS: Weekly Seijin targets Rena Lancaster with Vajra Armored Claws Vicious
 Swipe!

KTS: Rena Lancaster's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage.
KTS: Rena Lancaster fails to evade Weekly Seijin's Vajra Armored Claws Vicious
 Swipe, taking 2600 damage!

KTS: Weekly Seijin has engaged Rena Lancaster

<Pose Tracker> Michiru Tenjou has posed.

The Galaxia and its team find themselves under further fire, taking damage in
 chips and bursts. Two of the GINNs beside it lose an arm each. One loses its
 mono-eye camera. The Galaxia itself is forced to land atop the Socrates, as
 some of its motion controls are damaged. Despite all of this, it shows no sign
 of retreating. "Heads won't work either? That only leaves the tired and true
 method! Knight Squad, full charge! We're clearing a line!"

In all the chaos, Ryoko's familiar move hasn't gone unnoticed... Is she...? No.
 No, she isn't calling it out! Those Federation dogs must have stolen the
 sacred data and repurposed it without telling their pilots. That's the only
 possible answer! ...Nevermind the possibility that there might just be pilots
 who DON'T shout their attack names. "Hey! Best you pull back our way!" She
 calls out to the pilot of the Aesti, who's managed to gather her respect and
 praise as a rival. Somebody willing to bust down monsters back to back with
 her, that's somebody who has the seeds of justice in her heart! She'll just
 have to be drawn away from those fiends one day, brought around to the side of
 heroism...

But the warning is all that's given as the Gardnova Galaxia hunkers down. A
 powerful flaw with the machine... using this weapon renders it immobile. But
 every hero's best moves come with drawbacks after all, she wouldn't change a
 thing about it! "GALAXIA BLASTER, FULL CHARGE! MAX GALAXIA.... BUUUUUUUUURN!"

Knight Squad may not be quite the... avid fans, that their leader is.... Well,
 a few are. But most of her team is PLANT-born ZAFT recruits. But they all
 chose this team, and wouldn't take a post with anyone else. For all her
 eccentricities, she's inspiring to them. A line of missiles and rifles all
 converge, following a certain point... As Galaxia swings both arms up
 overhead, taking on a heroic 'flexing' pose. Its chest armor opens up,
 unfolding into a glowing crest... Anybody who's watched enough Earth battles
 against kaiju knows what's coming. And this is DEFINITELY grounds for a
 lawsuit. Or five. A gargantuan escapes the Galaxia, except... it's not a
 red-hot molten beam. This... it's a GRAVITY BLAST!? How did ZAFT get ahold of
 this too!? The beam is joined by the combined fire of her squad, pouring their
 munitions into the burst as it sweeps toward the fleet of Vajra. The effect of
 it, despite how horrendously violent... is *utterly beautiful*, with an
 appearance like glittering stardust inside the beam's path. "Hey, hope you
 haven't been losing count over there!" And she still has time to remind her
 rival of their contest too.

KTS: Michiru Tenjou targets Weekly Seijin with Galaxia Blaster MAX!!

<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.

"God, what was I even thinking?" Trevor mutters to no ears but his own,
 "Running away from something like this--" The Vajras are dwindling in number,
 but it doesn't make them any less dangerous. Regardless of how many there are,
 a single mistake-- a single moment of carelessness-- means death.

One comes, a heavy soldier, its limbs like warhammers. The Isadore turns--

Its visor flares. A solid pane of light resolves into two fierce points. A
 blade flashes, severing the creature's arms at their joints, "Pfeh, it makes
 me sick just thinking about it! Isadore, back me up. S' time to do what we do
 best." It surges forward, seizing the flailing Vajra with its claw. "Nadesico,
 you--'re firing. Got it. I won't get in your way. One rice bowl per Vajra,
 right?" His eyes flicker across empty space, registering something in the
 distance. A familiar, smoking hulk. So, she's here too? Well...

Thrusters open. Two more swings sever the remainder of the Vajra's limbs, but
 the claw does not clamp shut. "You're going to be my shield," he tells the
 creature. The Isadore takes off, plumes of flame exploding out of its
 thrusters like the span of some great-winged bird. It flies, tearing through
 space with the poor heavy soldier serving as a biological battering ram,
 smashing into one Vajra after another, its breakneck speed and raw inertia
 accumulating a veritable katamari of insectoid carapace ahead of itself. Two
 gravity blasts, equal in power, tear through space, twisting the very fabric
 of reality-- the Isadore flies, unconcerned. Dimensional curvature is
 accounted for, spatial distortion is used as makeshift gravitational
 slingshots, chasing down beast after beast after beast, as it makes its way
 toward...

...The Ra Mari...

"You," Trevor Teach transmits to the beleaguered vessel, "Look like you're in a
 spot of trouble, miss Captain." His is a familiar presence. She would know it,
 it has appeared before-- in support of Saraven Vai. And now, it's charging
 directly at her nearly crippled ship with an absurd mass of dead and half-dead
 Vajra held up in front of it.

It flies...

Past the bridge.

...And directly into what Vajras are still pursuing the vessel. Finally, the
 Isadore releases its grip, kicking the exoskeletal globe into the Ra Mari's
 pursuers. It follows up with a concentrated blast from its beam spread gun--
 and then another relentless, high-speed assault on the surrounding creatures.
 "You're one of Sara's friends, aren't you?" he says, firmly, "I'll do what I
 can to cover you."

KTS: Trevor Teach has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Trevor Teach has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Trevor Teach targets Weekly Seijin with Keelhaul!

<Pose Tracker> Mia Brinkman has posed.

The Vajra battleship's ability to absorb blast after blast is giving Mia quite
 a run for her money. She can see some of the writing on the wall already with
 different units relaying their status, but the Gigantic's pilot isn't willing
 to turn tail just yet. She still sees Sho's machine over there, after all, and
 there's some part of her that still feels responsible for making sure at least
 he gets out of this safely even if her allegiance to everyone else here is
 largely based on them not being the Vajra.

"If only having a common enemy wasn't the only way..." She grimaces as she
 turns the Gigantic's boosters up once more, predicting the trajectory of
 Knight's turret fire as it starts shooting once again. She takes cover behind
 the derelict ship and has her own machine kicking off of it to get some
 distance before the turrets tear her cover to shreds, but not before some of
 those stray shots leave more scorched marks against the surface of her machine.

Hearing Sho's broadcast making it obvious he's with Celestial Being, Mia tweaks
 her voice modulator once more before speaking once again. <<"Celestial Being's
 Gigantic, responding. Supporting fire incoming, Zanbato. We'll get you out of
 there yet!">>

Instead of focusing fire on the Knight class, the Gigantic maneuvers to a new
 position atop another fresher wreckage. Spotting Sho's Spinatio, Mia has to
 take more careful aim this time as she points the beam bazooka in his
 direction. As it begins to fire, she twists the Gigantic around to sweep that
 beam across the swarm harassing the Zanbato, only stopping once it's aimed
 firmly away from her ally enough that she can safely pour more concentrated
 beams into the Knight class' surface.

<<"Those who need to fall back, do it now. Your families need you, so don't
 throw your lives away now that you've got the chance!">>

KTS: Mia Brinkman has activated the Enable Spirit Command.

<Pose Tracker> Ryoko Subaru has posed.

"First of all Azul - how dare you!? It's nothing like that at all!" Ryoko has
 never in her life, felt so attacked right now... as Lucine says she sounds
 like Maki. Despite her seeming anger there might be blue wavy lines of
 despair. She's never going to hear the end of this. Thankfully there's
 another target.
"Who are you calling LOUD?!" Ryoko says as she suddenly shouts at Trevor, thus
 proving the nickname is accurate, before glowering. The look of the Isadore
 with those Fancy Sleeves makes her wonder, but that's a pirate crest - so it's
 not certain. "Feh. Mop up after me if it makes you happy. I don't give a
 damn."

That's about the time that a Vajra turns its lance on her just as she swivels
 around just to see that heavy blast getting REAL BIG in her vision as she
 yelps in alarm. The blast engulfs her and the tiny Aestivalis disappears,
 when it reappears it's arms are crossed and the shimmering distortion field is
 guttering out, the Aestivalis looking more than singed in how parts of its
 paint job are missing.

"Bastards." She hisses through her breath. Before suddenly getting, really
 really far from the from Yurika as she announces they need to get out of the
 way, as she tries to make a call to ZAFT just to be sure they're getting that.
 "She's not exaggerating! ZAFT forces get out of the Nadesico's line of fire!"

Part of her wants to close in on the Knight class ship to follow up, but...
 uh... ... nope. Besides Ryoko tries to be a team player, and her role is
 defense.

As a result, even as the horde dwindles she has the Aesti hoist the rifle
 again, trying to mop up by firing a spray over a wide area, attempting to herd
 any remaining ones away from the Nadesico by simply denying them certain paths
 of flight without suffering those pesky little mosquito bites of the Rapid
 Rifles bullets.

"Azul you're up! You can make up for that SLANDER by taking care of the rest!"

The Gardnova though still keeps calling things out, and Ryoko definitely keeps
 following her movements- a bit puzzled, "Wait hold on... they have a
 distortion field AND a gravity blast too?! Captain..." Ryoko says in horror,
 "... is ZAFT trying this hard to steal our thunder?"

KTS: Ryoko Subaru targets Weekly Seijin with Rapid Covering Fire!
KTS: Mia Brinkman targets Kaiju Navi and Weekly Seijin with Shield  Beam
 Bazooka Sweep.

KTS: Mia Brinkman has activated the Enable Spirit Command.
KTS: Mia Brinkman targets Kaiju Navi and Weekly Seijin with Shield  Beam
 Bazooka Sweep.

<Pose Tracker> Ruri Hoshino has posed.

        At times, when Ruri reaches out to the machines of the era, she gets a
 reply. And when she does, she responds, warm, with all the emotions
 electricity can carry.

        (An awful lot of them, as it happens.)

        Yurika's gambit requires quite a lot of system coordination, though --
 so Ruri is entirely focused on ensuring that the Gravity Wave Cannon can do
 its work. Trevor is right to notice just how young she is, but... somehow,
 she's unflappable, isn't she?

KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Trick Spirit Command.
KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Trick Spirit Command.

<Pose Tracker> Riika Sheder has posed.

"Ha! I knew it'd penetrate..." The inside of the Vajra looks like nothing Riika
 was expecting. Ew, she thinks. Is that organic? Is it like a fungus or
 something? (Riika has only seen mushrooms on the dinner plate or on TV.)
 Bubbles and tubes...

Riika has to let the beam rifle physically cool down after firing it, because
 she's charged it so much that the tip of the barrel is still faintly glowing,
 and not green. And she's starting to get warnings about the power - as if the
 lights flickering in her cockpit weren't enough to tell her that!

"Okay, I've fired! Pull back!" Riika calls back to Rena, followed by: "Wait,
 she is? Why are you not back there, then? We may not be on the same side
 normally, but here and now - Come on, I'll give you a hand clearing out the
 swarm, I can't fire another shot like that either, I'll drain the battery!"

'If you're even kinda close to the Gravity Cannon's path please please please
 step on the gas!'
'ZAFT forces get out of the Nadesico's line of fire!'

Riika hears Ryoko. They're fighting together, this time. More than that, Ryoko
 has done her a solid before: helping defend the PLANTs when she couldn't.

"ZAFT forces! Listen to the Aestivalis! Back, back! Get out of the line!" Riika
 wastes no time in suiting actions to words, reversing and firing all the
 thrusters on her suit and the lifter simultaneously. Rena is in a VF so she's
 pretty sure she can keep up.

It's a good thing she's moving because the big Vajra - the one she shot - is
 shooting right back. That is a *large* gun, and though it might not be
 precisely aimed at her... "Lily, move!" she repeats, the energy catching her
 in the back. It's not a direct hit to the GuAIZ but it sends a cascade of new
 and interesting alarms throughout the cockpit. The lifter took the worst of it
 - and the secondary battery is gone, leaving her on extremely low power. At
 least the Phase Shift armour is holding... for now.

As she goes, Riika goes back to trying to thin out the crowd. She can't fire
 another big shot, but she has a lot of little shots to go around; the lifter
 she's wearing as a backpack is armed too, and she fires a rapid-fire pair of
 light beam cannons along with a quartet of low-caliber machine guns, leaving a
 path of (hopefully) dead Vajra between them.

But she does more with the railcannons, firing them whenever a Vajra gets too
 close to one or the other of them. The force is enough to kick the GuAIZ in a
 new direction whenever she fires both simultaneously, clearing some space
 around her and using them as much to maneuver as to damage. She can't take
 many more hits so she's trying to avoid it as much as possible.

KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Riika Sheder targets Weekly Seijin with MMI-M15 Xiphias Rail Cannon
 Proximity Shot!

<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.

        This is a target-rich environment, and Liam would be lying if he said
 he wasn't at least a little excited by it. The Long Dagger moves through the
 Vajra ranks like a whirlwind, chopping through limbs and organic gun barrels
 and cleaving through vitals. However, even someone with Liam's boosted senses
 can't keep track of every variable, and one Vajra in particular decides(?)
 he's done enough damage.

        The Heavy comes out of nowhere, catching Liam's beam saber and then
 going for the grapple. For a few moments, the GAT-01D is caught in a terrible
 position--its left arm pinned against its side, its right arm forced upward,
 five giant insect claws compressing its torso. A dull grown reverberates
 through the hull as it starts to strain.

        "No," Liam says, and he bares teeth. He hits the accelerator, dragging
 the larger Vajra with him--slamming it into one of its smaller comrades. The
 Mobile Suit switches up its grip on its left saber, searing through the armor
 of the claws holding it and giving itself just enough room to break free. A
 few shreds of armor go with the Vajra, but it could've been worse

        "Acknowledged, Nadesico," Liam says, his voice a tense, laser-focused
 counterpoint to Yurika's bubbly tone. A glance at the IFF reveals the tagged
 machines--the Unicorn and the Dianthus--are still there and fighting, but the
 Ra Mari--

        Liam's right eye twitches. He remembers eating dinner in the cafeteria.
 Talking with the techs and hangar crews. Meeting Anita alone and talking to
 her about what the Crucible did to him. His lips curl in a wordless snarl. He
 knows he can't take another hit from the Knight-class' cannon.

        But the Ra Mari can't, either.

        Liam's eyes dart back and forth across the screen, calculating an
 attack vector. In the next heartbeat, the Long Dagger pulls away from the
 thinned-out swarm of 'fighters', and boosts towards the Knight-class. The
 others have done a good job of breaching it, and Liam's face twists in disgust
 at the--

        Second-most-disgusting enormous alien he's ever fought. Jophiel was a
 tremendously high bar.

        "Moving to support, Links," Liam says, as the Long Dagger rockets
 across the field. The computer paints his viewscreen with likely points of
 interest--heat signatures, organic gun emplacements, things that might be
 power-supply ganglia. Once more, Liam twists his machine into a violent dance,
 trusting in the AMBAC to keep him stable as he starts slashing, stabbing, and
 raking at the marked targets.

        This is easily the largest battle he's fought in. He was never given
 explicit orders to deploy, much less prioritize targets on his own. Links'
 unit is glowing an alarming red. There's still that bizarre presence out
 beyond the battlefield, and it could turn hostile at any time.

        Problems for the future. Liam is a weapon. He wouldn't be doing anyone
 any good if he stayed in the shelter with the civilians.

<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.

The Prophecy's gunpod pours gunfire down into the Vajra. Rena knows, dimly,
 that the Prophecy was made for fighting an alien threat; she gets a sense of
 what it is, now, as the Variable Fighter works through them. She sees them
 rushing in -- and the Battroid moves with AMBAC movement, kicking feet out,
 and swinging arms back so the head isn't taken off. The next slash, though,
 leaves a deep gash across the side of the torso.

Sparks explode out from where it was hit -- and Rena kicks the Prophecy's feet
 into the Vajra soldier, hard, then fires the thrusters to hurl the variable
 fighter from it.

Then, the torso folds out -- the nose pops out, wings extend, and the arms and
 legs remain out, as it assumes GERWALK mode. The feet-mounted thrusters fire,
 lifting it upward.

Rena stares as the Unicorn transforms, too -- and more stunningly. She had seen
 some footage -- it's different to see it up close. It almost overwhelms her
 senses; it makes her stare at the Gundam, and the afterimages of its
 psycho-frame. She breathes in, sharplessly, but exhales wordlessly. What can
 she say in the face of it?

She sees the G-Impact Cannon fire -- and the Nadesico's Gravity Cannon. But her
 eyes are on the Ra Mari, and she feels that terrible rush of fear as the
 missiles impact. Her fingers tighten on the controls. "Yeah--I'm trying to get
 to her, but--"

But one variable fighter can only do so much. She blinks her eyes, then she
 nods -- and the GuAIZ fires a number of shots. Rena sucks a breath in, then
 hits the throttle -- as the pinpoint barriers move across the nose and wings.

Reinforcing them; preparing them.

And the GERWALK mode Prophecy surges forward, a blitz of orange light, as it
 streaks across space -- and tries to tear through the Vajra, on the way to the
 Ra Mari.

"Ra Mari, I'm coming in!"

Rena Lancaster transforms to YF-25A Prophecy A-type (GERWALK)

KTS: Rena Lancaster has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Rena Lancaster has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Rena Lancaster has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Rena Lancaster 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 targets Kaiju Navi with ES01 Twin Beam Sabers Combo!

<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.

Unicorn leaps backwards, away from another attack. But as it raises its swords
 for yet more saber strikes, something ripples at the edge of Banagher's
 conciousness. Unicorn pauses, reaching out, and much to Banagher's surprise,
 it returns with a prize. Lily's two Remote Weapons, their pink glow fading
 into a bright red. With a twitch of Banagher's fingers, the Remote Weapons
 detach from the ship and float back to hover beside Unicorn's shoulders.

"What are those things? Wait -- Unicorn--!" Banagher cries, as the crackling of
 the Gravity Canon gets louder, prickling at the back of his mind. He suddenly
 realizes how precarious his position is, and his bravado seems to gently fade.
 In a move that almost seems reluctant, the machine sheathes its beam sabers
 and races away, flying to the side of the Nadesico in a burst of starlight.
 "Thank you." Then, to Liam: "Understood. That thing's still moving. Let's
 try..."

Lily's Remote Weapons glow with red light as Unicorn retrieves its most potent
 arm -- the Beam Magnum. The three weapons glow together as they prepare to
 fire, a vision of three stars shimmering a valiant red.

The attack goes off without a hitch, sure to do terrible damage to its target,
 but Banagher cries out in pain. Flashes of a city in ruins burst in his mind,
 bits and pieces of... a Gundam, maybe, tearing apart buildings, with no mind
 to the destruction it causes. The same Remote Weapons that fire with him now
 flit through his mind, turning their power on the innocent.

"No!"

KTS: Rena Lancaster targets Weekly Seijin with Variable Sequence!
KTS: Banagher Links targets Kaiju Navi with Beam Magnum Shot!

<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.

"Captain--it's still firing on us!"

"Brace for impact!" Eight grabs her chair and does exactly what she counsels
 her crew to do... and themissiles come. They have a great deal of agility,
 despite Astelian's best efforts to jam their signals; the Ra Mari's CIWS
 systems blaze online and start firing them down, but there are just too many.
 The Ra Mari takes hit after hit, explosions rocking its gray hull. Pieces not
 supporting life break off entirely; a few dishes, the great lines underneath
 it buckling in places. Armor crumples. The ship lurches in place, knocked
 partway aside by the sheer force of the impacts, and more sparks crash through
 it as it suffers terrible damage.

Eight knows Rena is worrying. She focues on the crew in the moment, giving
 them all the support she can muster--and somehow, the Ra Mari is still intact
 at the end. Power flickers; listing, the ship has lost charge in half of its
 form. Gravity is a nonentity. Decks are sealing off as best they can.

"...Status... Report," Eight manages, a nasty cut over her forehead from where
 debris from an exploding console reached her.

"...Ship's intact, Captain, but barely. We've lost power in most of our
 systems. The shield is completely offline. Missile bays--"

"...Do we have guns?"

"...Yes, ma'am."

"Engineering--" Eight's voice crackles over the internal radio, "Get our
 engines working as soon as you can. We need to get out of here." Lavhi's
 voice comms over the comms, "Yes, Captain. ...We believe in you."

Trevor transmits to her, suddenly--his presence is familiar. And it's not
 usually an ally. "Wh--"

Past the bridge. "...Thanks," she transmits back. "I wouldn't say that
 exactly, but... be careful out there."

She rests her head against hthe headrest, but only for a moment, before she
 looks to Fari, who has.. been better. "Lieutenant," she tells him. "...Fire
 all beam cannons. Target that ship."

She switches to a tight band. "Rena..." It's only to her. "...I'll be here
 to welcome you home."

She hopes. Eight braces herself. "Come on..."

KTS: Eight York has activated the Attune Spirit Command.
KTS: Eight York targets Kaiju Navi with Twin Barrel Mega-Particle Cannons
 Focused Assault!

<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.

        <"A-ahh! I didn't mean it like that, I swear! Ms. Maki's puns are very
 clever, I meant it as a good-natured... well, I mean, I meant it in a good
 way..."> Lucine waves her hands in front of her on her display to Ryoko's
 cockpit. <"Ah... I should have realized...">

        Newtype abilities, her ass. Why can't they be useful in situations like
 these?

        "....?" Something prods at the back of Lucine's head, like a sharp
 sword poking through the protective blankets of denial still held over
 Lucine's Newtype senses. Turning the Dianthus to glance back towards
 Banagher's Unicorn, Lucine tilts her head slight, eyes wide like an owl's.
 <"....Ah... What is... that?">

        A blast of green bio-cannon fire hits the Dianthus, finally scoring a
 sparking mess on her back. <".... Ah... my luck ran out..."> Lucine
 straightens from the rough jostling, rubbing one arm. <"I'm still over 50%, so
 it's not something to be worried about... ah? Oh, right right! You can count
 on me, Subaru!">

        There's a note of determination there: she's taking it seriously, space
 deities save her.

        <"This is an attack I created myself, in fact... I was never able to
 show it off since it takes up a decent amount of energy, but it's great for
 these sorts of situations..."> As Lucine talks, the Dianthus unhooks the
 Argen-21 Beam Arbalest from its side and flies upwards, attempting to find
 just the right angle. She quiets, roughly calculating the angle just so as the
 Dianthus itself adjusts, fine-tuned as it is towards the act of such a sniping
 feat.

        Could it call it sniping, when it's something like this?

        <"Lacrimosa!">

        The display screen in front of Lucine shows dozens of marked targets,
 but when the Dianthus fires, it's just one large white beam. At a certain
 distance, the beam breaks out into individual strands like the feathers of a
 falling bird, curling in the air in graceful loops to attempt to hit each
 target.

KTS: Lucine Azul targets Kaiju Navi and Weekly Seijin with Lacrimosa.
Lucine Azul has cancelled her attack.

KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Alert Spirit Command.

<Pose Tracker> Lily Jung has posed.

Lily's unit continues to spin and weave. As energy gathers at the tips of those
 crystals, the girl looks up at them with a smile on her face. She's so
 exhausted... that she's just letting her mind sing. Her physical body is so
 tired, that it's almost like instincts have just given in.

Riika cries out!

         Lily, Move! .

As the large streak of energy comes down upon her position, her unit seems to
 be swallowed up... yet there is no detonation.

There. The unit is seen swinging around it, as if drawn by some invisible ring
 or stream around the beam itself. Rising towards the Mothership, slowly
 spinning around it in languid form. The occassional purple-pink beam weaves
 out from her position. Cutting beautiful swaths across missiles and into the
 bugs.

        Is this the girl who ZAFT employed as of a few months ago? The girl who
 bumbled through the hangar. The girl who barely could get a proper aim. The
 girl who kept getting her unit trashed over and over again?

Lily Jung's eyes close for a moment, approaching her weapon she's still
 controlling upon the Vajra ship when....

Something else disrupts the Flamingo.

Something prickles at the edges of Lily's senses at first. Something that is
 making it hard to listen to the song of the space around her. Then that
 disruption suddenly begins to grow...

                Longblade Remote Psyco L {CONNECTED}
                Longblade Remote Psyco R {CONNECTED}

Then... just a little 'triiiiip' sound. Just a single sound, as her heart
 suddenly sinks.

                Longblade Remote Psyco L {!ERROR!}
                Longblade Remote Psyco R {CONNECTED}

Then...

                Longblade Remote Psyco L {!ERROR!}
                Longblade Remote Psyco R {!ERROR!}

Beyond, a red wave suddenly pulses out, and her machine is blown back for a
 moment, as the entirety of the EWAC Zack creaks! The wave of purple rushing
 along that faint 'pink' linking line that connects her with the Longblade
 weapons set into the hull of the Mothership! Her left hand is suddenly thrown
 back, as if she's suddenly in a great deal of pain! This flash of pinpricks
 that grows heavier and heavier, until she is suddenly bringing her left hand
 to her chest and cries out in fierce agony! Then her right hand!

As behind her, the Psyco-Control System goes haywire. Red lines invading her
 machine through the far more intense connection she has with her remote
 weapons. An old technology that doesn't have the kind of safeties that modern
 funnels have! But also the technology that allows her to reach out quite so
 far!

It almost feels like her hands just got ripped from her, as the NewType
 Destroyer system takes hold of the Longblade weapons. The girl freaks out in
 that moment, her eyes red and slightly bloodshot, as the EWAC Zack suddenly
 turns, pointing at the source of this horrifying sensation as if it were being
 pulled! The Unicorn Gundam, the Mothership, and all the bugs that are swarming
 it.

<"STOP IT! STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT!"> The girl cries out as a Laserlink
 connects with Banagher Link's machine for just a moment, before her voice
 transcends that physical barrier. As Lily's spirit reaches out, shouting 'up'
 into the skies at Banagher. Up at the stars. Her eyes filled with tears.

        "STOP IT, PLEASE! YOU ARE HURTING ME!"

Before her instincts take over. The Zack slamming its shoulder into a nearby
 GINN carrying a heavy beam weapon, and the Zack rips it out of its arms, and
 charges it to its limit...

Before the blue beam of the GINN's weapon gets overcharged and flares right
 upon the Unicorn, and the Mothership!

KTS: Lucine Azul targets Kaiju Navi and Weekly Seijin with Lacrimosa.
KTS: Lily Jung targets Kaiju Navi with Twin Longblade Rifle - Psycho Model -
 High Emission Burst!

KTS: Weekly Seijin has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to evade Sho Muramoto's Ninja Blade Strikes, taking
 3780 damage!

KTS: Sho Muramoto has engaged Weekly Seijin
KTS: Weekly Seijin has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to evade Michiru Tenjou's Galaxia Blaster MAX!, taking
 8400 damage!

KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Michiru Tenjou's Villainy Will Never Succeed! activates,
 causing Sparkle!

KTS: Michiru Tenjou roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her
 vulnerable.

KTS: Kaiju Navi has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Mia Brinkman rattles Kaiju Navi, making its next maneuvers more difficult.
KTS: Kaiju Navi fails to react to Mia Brinkman's Shield  Beam Bazooka Sweep,
 taking 3150 damage!

KTS: Mia Brinkman roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her
 vulnerable.

KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to evade Trevor Teach's Keelhaul, taking 8520 damage!
KTS: Weekly Seijin has been defeated!
KTS: Trevor Teach has engaged Weekly Seijin
KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to react to Ryoko Subaru's Rapid Covering Fire, taking
 4080 damage!

KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Ryoko Subaru's In the End All I Do Is... activates, causing
 Insight L1!

KTS: Weekly Seijin has been defeated!
KTS: Ryoko Subaru repulses Weekly Seijin, forcing it to disengage.
KTS: Ryoko Subaru begins a Formation attack!
KTS: Mia Brinkman rattles Weekly Seijin, making its next maneuvers more
 difficult.

KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to react to Mia Brinkman's Shield  Beam Bazooka Sweep,
 taking 3150 damage!

KTS: Weekly Seijin has been defeated!
KTS: Mia Brinkman roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her
 vulnerable.

KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to react to Rena Lancaster's Variable Sequence, taking
 8030 damage!

KTS: Weekly Seijin has been defeated!
KTS: Rena Lancaster roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her
 vulnerable.

KTS: Rena Lancaster completes the Formation attack!
KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to react to Riika Sheder's MMI-M15 Xiphias Rail Cannon
 Proximity Shot, taking 4350 damage!

KTS: Weekly Seijin has been defeated!
KTS: Riika Sheder repulses Weekly Seijin, forcing it to disengage.
KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to react to Lucine Azul's Lacrimosa, taking 6480
 damage!

KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Lucine Azul's In Her Blood activates, causing Control Bonus!
KTS: Weekly Seijin has been defeated!
KTS: Kaiju Navi has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Kaiju Navi fails to react to Lily Jung's Twin Longblade Rifle - Psycho
 Model - High Emission Burst, taking 6500 damage!

KTS: Kaiju Navi has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Kaiju Navi fails to react to Liam 7-020's ES01 Twin Beam Sabers Combo,
 taking 5610 damage!

KTS: Liam 7-020 has engaged Kaiju Navi
KTS: Kaiju Navi has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Kaiju Navi fails to react to Lucine Azul's Lacrimosa, taking 4860 damage!
KTS: Kaiju Navi has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Kaiju Navi has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Kaiju Navi fails to react to Banagher Links's Beam Magnum Shot, taking
 7440 damage!

KTS: Kaiju Navi has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Kaiju Navi has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Kaiju Navi fails to react to Eight York's Twin Barrel Mega-Particle
 Cannons Focused Assault, taking 6100 damage!

KTS: Kaiju Navi has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Kaiju Navi has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Kaiju Navi has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Kaiju Navi fails to react to Ryoto Hikawa's G-Impact Cannon Overcharge,
 taking 8910 damage!

KTS: Kaiju Navi has been defeated!
KTS: Ryoto Hikawa roots his unit, coming to a standstill and leaving him
 vulnerable.

KTS: Kaiju Navi fails to react to Yurika Misumaru's Gravity Blast - Full Power,
 taking 9720 damage!

KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Yurika Misumaru's I've Got a Plan! activates, causing
 Control Bonus!

KTS: Kaiju Navi has been defeated!

<Pose Tracker> Weekly Seijin has posed.

        At this point in the battle, the shift in the Vajra's tactics is
 becoming ever more clear. The tide once sweeping over the unprepared flanks
 of the Federation and ZAFT defensive lines has begun to recede, and now even
 some of the more intact Vajra attacking the Nadesico, Ra Mari, Socrates, and
 other large ships are beginning to disengage and return to the side of the
 (Trojan) Knight class.

        Which isn't to say all are going to make it back...

        Whether attempting to to escape from the clutches of the horde nearest
 to the Knight, driving the routed remainder from the hulls of the stricken
 ships, or even pursuing the retreating rabble before they make it back to
 safety... the results of Sho's, Michiru's, Trevor's, Mia's, Ryoko's, Riika's,
 Rena's and Lucine's attacks are that only a few stragglers are able to make it
 back home.

        And it's at that point it starts to become clear why they have returned
 to the Knight, as in response to the building energy fields from the Nadesico
 and the Ra Mari, as well as from some the smaller invidiual units, the
 remaining spaceborne Vajra soldiers and heavy soldiers link up together to
 form... a barrier? Actually physically placing themselves between their
 mothership and those that mean to do them harm.

        Much like a group of ants swarming the tunnel entrance to try in vain
 to defend from the incursion of a particularly hungry ant-eater, the
 individual Vajra are dead set on defending the Knight to the last. Though
 unfortunately the losses of their numbers has proven devstating and there are
 great gaping holes in their defensive lines. Will their sacrifice be
 enough...?

<Pose Tracker> Kaiju Navi has posed.

        The combined forces focus their firepower, many charging their weapons,
 some dangerously so. Many aimed at the Vajra mothership. The Vajra seem to
 realizes this... And what happens next is... Quite the sight.

        All the small Vajra surrounding the Knight class begin to move as one,
 rushing towards the same area. There they join with their brethren that had
 fallen back from their attacks. They join in on the wall that is forming
 between the mothership and the enemies targeting it. As they take up position,
 they begin to glow with a soft light as they pour all their remaining energy
 into reinforcing their armor.

        The multitude of attacks are launched, streaking in towards the
 gathered Vajra.

        The resulting barrage of light is blinding, as dozens of Vajra are
 vaporized, unable to withstand the sheer firepower directed their way. Their
 sacrifice buys the mothership only a few extra seconds, before the rush of
 attacks blast into its open maw.

        Another blinding light follows, which this time engulfs the entire
 ship. It lights up this part of space for several seconds and is visible even
 from the planet's surface.

        But finally the light fades... And there are just chunks of charred
 armor and flesh floating in the void. A significant amount less than ship's
 actual size, so overwhelming was the combined assault.

        There are still some smaller Vajra floating around the battlefield.
 Those that hadn't been close enough to attempt a sacrifice, nor been targets
 of the combined assault. They are quickly being hunted down by what remains of
 the combined forces, still fighting back in some last desperate attempt...

        But then, something strange happens. All of the surviving smaller Vajra
 suddenly stop in space, simultaneously. They raise their bodies, their heads
 all turning to look in the same direction. It's quite unnerving. And it
 becomes even more so when people start to realize where they are looking.

        Where before the Vajra had completely ignored its arrival. They are now
 all staring in the direction of the remains of Junius 7. Staring at the
 pulsating form of colour and light, as if it is the most important thing here.

        After several seconds of this sudden pause in the battle, the Vajra
 suddenly all act once more. They turn, starting to swim away from their
 attackers. Ahead of each of them, small distortions in space appear, rings of
 light opening. The Vajra rush into them, vanishing amidst small bursts of
 light as they fold away.

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

                STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT
        
                        YOU ARE HURTING ME
        
        The glow-cloud's tendrils flare; the sparks around them die. The mass
 of color expands as if taking a breath, but keeps expanding, only slight dips
 in between taking off the edge. As the Vajra retreat, the lightning edges
 sweep around in dizzying curlicues, extending outwards to take a form closer
 to some bizzare sea creature rather than an impending storm.
        
        Is it about to attack after all, now that one side of the battle has
 functionally admitted defeat? Or is it doing... something else entirely?
 There's still no attacks, but on a psychic level, it seems agitated... not
 outright hostile, but who knows? Maybe that's just a matter of time.

<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.

"i'm -- sorry!" He cries, as Unicorn flies up and around Lily's desperate shot.
 Her pained screams seem to echo around the interior of the Unicorn. "I'm
 sorry, I didn't know --"

As tears begin to fall down Banagher's face, his harmony with the Unicorn
 vanishes. It transforms once again, folding into itself until the red glow
 vanishes and it once again bears a single horn. Desperate to stop hurting
 Lily, Banagher pushes Unicorn to fly away, as fast as it can, leaving the
 Remote Weapons behind. As the Unicorn shuts off its NT-D, their pink glow
 returns -- surely, Lily can recall them now?

When he finally pauses to wipe his face and gasp out a sob, he looks up. The
 glowing entity is immediately before him, sparking, agitated. "Oh." He
 murmurs. "...hello again."

<Pose Tracker> Ryoto Hikawa has posed.

The pulse and rumble of the G-Impact Cannon finally fades. What remains of the
 mothership is not nearly enough to menace. Ryoto sighs with relief and sinks
 back in his seat, closing his eyes for a moment. The Huckebein's out of
 immediate danger and so is the Ra Mari, it seems, with the few Vajra remaining
 apparently too little to threaten.

Not that he's in much position to help. He'd pushed the G-Impact Cannon past
 the maximum limits Mao Industries had given him during testing, and the result
 is a thoroughly exhausted machine, reactor steadily spooling back up but
 taking some time to bring the engines back up to combat thrust. Only a few
 station-keeping verniers pulse for now as the Huckebein detaches the G-Impact
 Cannon from its waist and leaves it to float in space, where the elements of
 the carry sled drone their way back in to affix to it once more.

And yet, it scarcely seems over. Something scratches the edges of Ryoto's
 awareness.

The glowing cloud is still here, even if the Vajra are not. Tensing, Ryoto
 draws the Huckebein's beam saber and snaps it to life, but he doesn't rush
 into combat just yet.

This is not just because he physically can't. Some of it is a hunch.

"I don't... think that thing is here to fight," he transmits, tense, but his
 voice fairly even. "I don't think it's... um. If it were here to fight, I
 don't think it would just be hovering around like that."

Something occurs to him a second later. Covering his comm pickup, he frowns,
 looking towards the distant colony wreckage. "...Is that from the Junius
 cluster?" he murmurs, quickly cross-referencing his location against the
 Huckebein's internal orientation charts.

A pang of sadness briefly stabs through his chest at the mention of the place.
 He swallows a lump of emotion that resurfaces instantly.

<Pose Tracker> Lily Jung has posed.

Lily might have felt horrified to see the bugs sacrificing themselves like
 that, but she is too busy dealing with her own problem right now. Even as her
 senses pick up on the deaths of some of the Hive, and the decimation of the
 ship.

She might even be too horrified with what is being done to her, to understand
 the meaning of those bugs staring off at the electric whip of light down at
 Junius Seven...

Somewhere in her mind, the voice of Banagher Links echoes. His cries. His
 earnest and heartfelt feelings!

        I'm sorry, I didn't know!

Then, the pain retreats. And the pink light of her Longblade weapons return.
 Her hands, it almost feels like they are hers once again. Yet her body is
 still trembling. Her hands wrapped close to her body.


                Longblade Remote Psyco L {CONNECTED}
                Longblade Remote Psyco R {CONNECTED}

The Federation? Will they return? The boy... he seemed sorry.

In her mind, she hears the Veterans from back at home. She feels their hands
 upon her shoulders. If she lets this fear creep into her, if she lets what
 happened just now take hold, she will not shake it!

So, the girl takes in a deep breath, and even though the hair is standing up at
 the back of her neck, the Zack approaches the Unicorn Gundam and the light
 which is reaching out into their world.

Her voice is still shaking. Banagher Links can still feel and hear the anguish
 within her. The heart that is trying its best to overcome fear.

"What is it?" She asks him. Her senses frayed, yet, she reaches out. For that
 is how she has always interacted with the world. Her empathic senses open.

<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.

        The autodimmer in Liam's panoramic cockpit saves him from being blinded
 by the Knight-class's death throes. The regulation systems in his brain sense
 satisfaction--dopamine, other neurotransmitters within certain parameters--and
 add an extra 'hit' of satisfaction. The surviving aliens flee, disappearing
 into Foldspace. Liam watches them go, and a sense of palpable relief floods
 him.

        "Links," Liam says. "Thank you for the assist." He pauses a beat.
 "Forestra armor purged, possibly unsalvagable. Damage to internal support
 structure and armor. My machine is otherwise operational." Another beat.
 "...Lucine. What's your status. Are you all right?"

        The Dianthus is... looking at that cloud.

<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.

The Prophecy moves on, past the Vajra -- as they're folding away -- and Rena's
 focus is getting narrower, as she looks at the Ra Mari. The damage is severe;
 she can only imagine how bad it is. The only time it was this bad, before, was
 when half the crew died and Eight ended up as captain. She bites her lip,
 telling herself that won't happen again.

She looks the Clop-class ship over, even as the psychic feedback from the
 distant creature is in her mind. She tries to shut it out; she tries to shut
 out the thoughts from Lily and the Unicorn, too.

Later, she tells herself.

"I'm coming in, Ra Mari," she says. Rena hesitates -- glances at the GuAIZ --
 and then she switches to tightbeam. One last message to Riika. "...thanks."

Then the Prophecy starts in for the damaged cruiser.

<Pose Tracker> Yurika Misumaru has posed.

In the wake of that brilliant light that pierces through the heavens - that
 erupts a colossus, a singular lifeform, into a volcano of death and debris,
 the crew of the Nadesico takes a long, deep sigh of relief.

        ...Except for Yurika. Elbows rested on her console, head cradled in her
 hands, staring out at the quiet end to the imminent chaos. It's likely that
 the Federation and ZAFT alike would regroup, and assess their losses, before
 fighting again - though she's already jotting down notes to prepare for any
 sudden skirmishes that might opportunistically strike at the currently
 weakened Nadesico.

        ...But...something doesn't sit right. The way they behaved in that
 encounter. Aggressive at the beginning, and then...almost reactive. It feels,
 to all the world, like in the leadup to the Vajra's sudden arrival, something
 had already 'provoked' them - but from then on their actions were responses to
 what had commenced. A pause in the Nadesico's attack meant a pause in their
 own.

        Grumbling pensively under her breath, Yurika's already quick to bring
 up every last bit of early footage, filing the minutes where the Vajra first
 appeared away for later review.

        ...or is the uncertainty she feels that strange tickle of dread
 emanating from the white-horned un-affiliated Gundam? Is it linked, somehow...?

        ...is she just, yet again, wondering if she actually did the right
 thing? Is the Nadesico too much a responsibility to bear?

        ...And then Yurika thinks on all the others. Every other candidate who
 could have been in her position. The countless captains of the Federation's
 fleet.

        "...No, this was...some sort of destiny, I can feel it. If I weren't
 here today, it would've been a lot lot worse," Yurika murmurs under her
 breath, before taking one last deep inhale, and voicing over broadcast,
 <"Ryoko, Lucine, please regroup to the Nadesico if you are at all able. Mr.
 Space Chevalier Guy-"> (this is how she's trying to address Trevor) <"You
 helped us out dearly and I very much plan to repay you! ...And everyone who
 helped us from Londo Bell, and...the stray others who gave us a hand. ...If at
 all possible, we can rendezvous at La Vie En Rose-2 to rest and recuperate
 from all this. Maybe even share some notes! Ehehehe.">

        That mysterious rainbow cloud the Vajra were looking at in the
 end...Yurika only caught glimpses of it - it was the kind of thing she had to
 file off as 'not currently important' in the wake of giving 100% of her
 brainpower to imminent threats. It doesn't make sense to her. ...Maybe she'll
 ask Akito since he likes that cartoon with all the space monsters!

<Pose Tracker> Sho Muramoto has posed.

Sho manages to get away, cutting his way out while his ally blows the rest to
 atoms. That he didn't come out unscathed is one thing.

And he turns just in time to see the... sacrifice as he drifts back towards
 where the Gigantic is.

The white and blue armoring has teeth marks all over it. Teeth, claws, who
 knows what else. It shows that the Vajra really did a number to the Zanbato as
 it watches carefully. Then follows the alien's attention. Their looking
 towards a certain point.

Sho seems to consider as he breathes heavily, his visor fogging up. He had to
 work there like mad. And falling back on his training, he goes over it again
 and again in his mind for a good few seconds. The broad blades are finally put
 at his unit's side as he starts to guide his drifting towards the escape route
 plotted for himself.

He opens a channel to Mia over Celestial Being frequencies. << This isn't over.
 We need repairs first. Then we need to go there. With more than us. >>

<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.

        <".... Is it..."> Lucine's gaze softens, as they leave. <"... they're
 leaving...">

        Then, that makes another difference: at some point, after some unknown
 flag, they will stop. The Jovian lizards didn't. But what is that point? What
 is their logic?

        If there is a way to get them to stop attacking, perhaps...

        Or is it because of that strange entity?

        Lucine pivots her sparkling unit to glance towards Lily and Banagher's
 own mobile suits, glancing down with confusion. <".... did something happen?
 Are you two.... okay...?"> It's like something bad happened down there, but
 she can't tell what. But, isn't everything been that way? She can't quite tell
 why her attention was redirected here.

        She looks from Banagher's gaze towards the glow cloud, with its
 tendrils flowing out. <".... What exactly... are you....? I swear, we mean you
 no harm, so... don't attack, please.... Lots of people here are very tense,
 but... I think we're all too wounded to continue.">

<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.

EARLIER: "Uhhh, you?" Trevor replies to Ryoko, because he's absolutely a bit of
 a stinker.

NOW: "Hah, well whatever your relationship is, she thinks about it a lot. So
 for her sake, neither of us are allowed to die here," Trevor answers Eight,
 the Isadore a blur of violence. It doesn't last long, though. It doesn't need
 to. In an apocalyptic, orgiastic confluence of exotic high-energy science and
 pure explosive firepower, the Vajra mothership, and a large portion of their
 forces, are eradicated. What few remain...

...Turn in a very specific direction. Trevor arches a brow and follows them,
 finding...

"What the what?" Another... another alien? The way it's moving, the way
 it's... shining. It's not hostile, but it's... agitated? What's it doing?
 That mobile suit...

That's...

"Unicorn...!" Trevor grits his teeth, turning his machine on an intercept
 course, only slowing when... His controls go sluggish, that spark of
 impossible mobility and precision and aggression gutters out. "Isadore, what
 are you doing? We can't just leave that thing alone...!"

Is he talking about the Unicorn now, or the Glow Cloud? Gritting his teeth, he
 readies his beam spread gun, but... does not fire. The Isadore hangs back,
 waiting and watching, not certain whether further violence is still necessary.

Waiting. Watching. Wary. The natural response of many humans, even many who
 would call themselves Newtypes. Fear of the other is a perfectly natural
 response, after all.

Also because Trevor is staring at his comms like someone just called him a
 space knight.

...BECAUSE SOMEONE DID IN FACT JUST CALL HIM A SPACE KNIGHT.

"U-uhh, sure??" Trevor says, glancing between Unicorn, Glow Cloud, and the box
 transmitting Yurika Misumaru's voice like he's not quite sure which one is
 more strange and dangerous. "Got... it. I'll uh, swing by, I guess? You're
 welcome???"

what is even happening today this was supposed to be a fun and profitable
 salvage job

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

        The Vajra leave. With them gone, only the glow-cloud remains before the
 small life-forms. One of them rushes up to it first, abandoning its weapons to
 leap into a seeming charge. The lightning tendrils crunch up and withdraw, the
 prismatic sheen wobbling as the machine comes to an abrupt stop before it.
        
        Another machine approaches. Two others draw their weapons but don't yet
 fire. And one more... reaches out...
        
        It's not really possible for a human mind to fully comprehend something
 like this. But at the very least, Lucine, Lily, and Banagher can feel it...
 hesitate.
        
        The color out of space brightens, brightens, brightens, painfully
 so--
        
        And then scrunches in on itself like a sheet of paper getting crunched
 into a tiny ball, until all that's left is a single spark of light. It
 turns... and winks out.
        
        The cloud is gone.

<Pose Tracker> Mia Brinkman has posed.

The sight of the destroyed swarm and battleship brings Mia a great deal of
 relief as she slouches back in the cockpit of the Gigantic, finally getting a
 chance to relax after that hard-fought battle. She doesn't get to relax for
 long, however, as she sees the remaining Vajra just staring at... Something.

A cloud? She can't quite tell what it is she's looking at even after zooming in
 on whatever that cloudy figure is, and it takes her a while to even realize
 that it is quite literally a strange glowing cloud. She doesn't notice herself
 gripping the controls of her machine tightly until several seconds later,
 taking a few more moments to shake off that intense feeling of discomfort and
 agitation.

Several of the other pilots start opening their channels, and it becomes
 clearer (now that Mia's able to hear them properly) that many of them might
 not even be adults yet. She's about to open her own channel, too, when she
 hears and sees Sho coming closer. After taking another deep breath to steady
 herself, she speaks to Sho first. <<"Agreed. Whatever that cloud is, it's... I
 can't tell if it's calling to us, or trying to lure us in. Our allies will
 need to know about this, but first...">>

The Gigantic lowers its bazooka while keeping the shield in place just in case
 the Zanbato needs to hold on for a (relatively) speedy exit later. Before it
 leaves, however, Mia transmits to an open channel and turns her voice
 modulator on once more.

<<"Are you an ally of humanity? That one seems to know you.">> The Gigantic
 gestures at the Unicorn.

<Pose Tracker> Riika Sheder has posed.

The Vajra leave.

Riika lets out a breath, but she can see where they're going. They're going -
 all of them -

Well, they're leaving by Fold, or teleport, or something; Riika doesn't know
 the right term for it. But they're *watching* Junius Seven. It's too far away
 to really see clearly, of course; nobody's going to drive right up to it for a
 battle, there isn't anything there any more. But it seems to attract them
 anyway.

Riika follows their gaze to the cloud. She's spent a lot of time on Junius
 Seven patrol duty - and more, given her links with Tsutsujidai. She feels that
 she needs to go back -

But maybe not now, given the alert that just sounded in her ears. Power, again.
 If she doesn't bail now she's not going to be able to get to a ZAFT ship under
 her own power.

"No problem!" she sends back to Rena, before firing all thrusters in a single
 pulse to sent her toward a ZAFT ship. She shuts down the Phase Shift armour
 halfway, and the GuAIZ fades to a dull-looking grey.

KTS: Weekly Seijin's Vajra Heavy Soldier has been disabled.

<Pose Tracker> Mia Brinkman has posed.

Mia did not ask that last thing to the cloud. Instead, she's asking the
 following as a broader question to the surviving pilots:

<<"What do you intend to do now, knowing that this common enemy exists? Are you
 still going to fight each other?">>

<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.

Tearing his gaze away from the cloud, Banagher watches the Zack approach
 cautiously. He's very careful not to make any threatening moves, holding the
 Unicorn stock-still. "Hi--" His voice breaks on a sob, and he quickly clears
 his throat. How embarrassing.

"...are you alright?" He tries, starting again. "I... promise I didn't mean to
 hurt you. I'm so sorry. Can I do anything to help you..?" Banagher pauses,
 hunching in on himself. "I think there's something you need to know about your
 weapons, though. Someone used them, in the past to... do something bad." He
 finishes, feeling tears well in his eyes again.

Scrubbing at his face once more, Banagher nods to himself as Liam speaks. "I
 was happy to. Thanks for having my back, in return. You're a great pilot. Can
 I ask your name?"

Lucine's concern makes Banagher tear up all over again, and he wishes he had
 his hoodie on to hide his face. "I'm just fine. You should take care of --
 her, please." The Unicorn turns its head toward Lily's machine. "I don't need
 anything."

A prickling at the back of his neck makes Banagher sit up straight again, and
 he quickly glances toward Trevor. The mobile suit didn't seem to be making a
 move to attack, but there was a feeling of hostility coming from it... Unicorn
 adjusts slightly so Trevor is within view.

"Wait--!" Banagher calls, as the Cloud folds in on itself. He grimaces,
 shielding his eyes as it begins to shine so brightly. Once he looks again, it
 has gone. "...what was that. Does anyone know? It felt... I don't know, it
 felt like something we could talk to. And it was kind of... pretty."

<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.

        Lucine
                        hesitates.
        The cloud

        <".... ah...."> Lucine flinches in her seat and squeezes her eyes shut.
 At least, it's not painful, at first. Just, like a rough crinkling, like she
 had just pushed some unknown muscle just a little too much, and now it's
 flopping, limp, and she has to roll it back up, into herself, like it got
 burnt on something, like a tongue against salty broth that's still too hot,
 but then it's like there's brightness, and it's straining her just by being
 there, and she can't roll herself up anymore, there's no more slack to roll,
 but it hurts still, but she's not hurting, not in that way, but she needs to
 pull back, but the seat is against her back, and she can't roll up into the
 seat, or roll up the Dianthus into herself, but it's getting brighter, and how
 does she pull back? The space needs to be pulled, so she can go backwards, but
 it is kind of pretty, and...

        <"..... ah."> The Dianthus hasn't moved.

        <".... It's gone.">

        It's been gone for several seconds, but it's like Lucine is just
 beginning to comprehend that.
                        
        

<Pose Tracker> Lily Jung has posed.

Lucine soons joins them, and the three of them reach out. Watching, observing
 back. The girl's weapons automatically are returning to the Zack, but they are
 shut off. The girl having set them to an automated return sequence, her hands
 still pained and trembling, not wishing to experience that sense of being 'cut
 off' again.

It brightens, and the girl quickly puts a hand to her eyes to turn away...

And it folds and winks away. And instead there remains naught.

<"I..."> Lily tries to answers Lucine Azul, but her voice trembles too much.
 She doesn't really know how to even express this pain within her. Is she
 'okay'? No. She is not okay. But she's also quickly realizing that she's
 surrounded by enemies. There may be a temporary ceasefire between them, but
 who knows how long this would last?

The Zack's monoeye seeks, turning. Looking at the battlefield.

Slagged and warped bodies of other Mobile Suits float through space. Some of
 them floating enough towards earth to be grabbed onto by Gravity itself, and
 pulled away!

A rain of fire in the skies.

Banagher then reaches out again. Within the realm of NewTypes, he can see her
 almost jerk away from his touch, from his words... his presence. She is not
 okay. She has been hurt. It will take time for a 'sorry' to sink in. Truly.
 Yet, she can read his earnest gestures. He can feel the sorrow in his heart.

The Flamingo gazes up towards the white machine. Gundam.

She doesn't answer him at first, listening to him talk about her weapons.
 Someone having done something terrible with them.

<"My daddy gave them to me. So I could protect myself and my friends."> Is all
 she manages to tell Banagher in that moment at first. Then, after a moment of
 hesitation; <"I... am not okay. But you cannot help me. Not right now."> She
 glances between Banagher Links and Lucine's machines.

The IFF reads Nergal, and that much is enough for her to reject Lucine just as
 much. <"It hesitated. Perhaps next time, it will say what it wished to say.">
 She offers, before the Zack begins to turn, and the machine moves to depart.

<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.

And just like that, the Glowcloud is gone. It seemed to... hesitate for a
 moment before it vanished. What was that all about? "Another alien... Two
 different ones on the same battlefield. What's going on...?" He shakes his
 head. The Yurika is handled for now, the Glowcloud is gone, all that's left
 is...

"Unicorn." You're the key, aren't you? The one that will lead to Laplace's Box.
 The thing that caused Sara so much pain. It's right here, if he can take it--
 But...

The Isadore's controls are still sluggish. Is it fear? Or just... caution? The
 IFFs of both forces are pulling from the battlefield. If he reenagages, would
 they be forced to continue the fight?

Neither can handle that right now, can they?

Trevor exhales slowly and holsters his weapon. "Next time, then," he decides,
 before turning to follow after the retreating ZAFT fleet. There will...
 probably be other opportunities.

Assuredly, there would be other opportunities.

<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.

Listening to Lily, Banagher softly shakes his head. She didn't need to hear the
 truth of what he'd seen. "That's a good use for them. You... do a great job.
 They'll keep you safe, I'm sure." As Zack moves to depart, Unicorn floats back
 just a bit more, giving it space. "I hope you'll feel better soon." Banagher
 murmurs, almost too low to be heard. He hugs his Haro tightly, all his earlier
 bravado and excitement faded. Even the Unicorn seemed to shine a little less
 brightly, its movements slow.

Banagher grits his teeth, turning Unicorn fully to face the Isadore. He didn't
 want to fight anymore, but there's no way he'd let anyone hurt Unicorn. "Yeah.
 That's me." Banagher's voice is quiet. He watches Trevor until he holsters his
 weapon and leaves, breathing a sigh of relief. "Next Time. ...I don't even
 know who you are."

"Banagher! Banagher!" Haro says, cheerfully. "Let's go home!"

"...yeah." Banagher replies to the little robot, placing his hands back on
 Unicorn's controls. In a heartbeat, the only thing left is a trail of blue
 starlight.