2022-02-06: Catch A Tiger By The Toe

• Log: Catch A Tiger By The Toe
• Cast:<:Character :: Orpheus Zevon>, <:Character::Hahaway Noa>, <:Character::Eight York>, <:Character::Qivi> <:Character::Karma Sato> <:Character::Alteur Steinbeck> <:Character::Naomi Inoue> <:Character::Todd Bonzalez> <:Character::Rena Lancaster> <:Character::Anita Rosetta>
• Where: <India>
• Date: <February 6th, 2022.>
• Summary: <The Black Knights raid a Federation Depot, where it is revealed to have been a blacksite for a Gundam development plan. Misfortune and tragedy ensues.>

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<Pose Tracker> Mobile Weapon Team has posed.

The Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra was - at least in this part of the world - one of the few remaining bastions of mother nature that hadn't been lost to the various wars the earthsphere had been mired in. But with post-Impact weather being what it is, it didn't make the journey being undertaken any less unbearable once everyone was on-foot.

The thick sunglasses situated on Hathaway's face helps keep the harsh glint of the bright, mid-day sun at bay, as he takes stock of his vehicle; crewed by a variety of people of all ages, from teenagers to old folk, is an electric boat. Its length is far greater than its width, giving it an almost oblong shape, and it'd been picked out because this shape was ideal for boating it up and down the rivers that criss-crossed the region.

Besides the mobile workers - short and stubby machines intended for hauling their cargo - there obviously was no room on this vessel for mobile weapons to support their raid on on the Gunung Leuser Federal Depot.

        That, he muses, is where their friends would be helpful.

All of you are already inside of your machines, either walking behind or in front of the boat in the water. Going by land is too noisy, you'd been told, and would have alerted whatever staff the base had to their presence.

The only info that we were able to get on this place is that it was used to store reproduction parts for Project V during the One Year War ... so we'll be taking what we can get. The Battleship parts there are the priority, but we could put any of it to good use. Though ... it doesn't make much sense to me. The Titans supposedly repurposed it as a support facility during the Gryps Conflict, but why care about a depot storing outdated spares?

                MEANWHILE:

Gunung Leuser Federal Depot - it used to be part of a national park, a long time ago. Even now, the whole area is classified as a nature preserve, though that doesn't stop the brass from keeping the place manned - a practically perfect cover for a blacksite, the soldier muses.

His name is Jan Gimbley; a twenty four year old mobile suit pilot with messy green hair and a very unkempt uniform. "You know, you'd think working some place like this would be pretty cool, but - since this is where you go to die in disgrace, I guess it only makes sense that it's a total drag, huh." he says, to a technician working quietly on a wall panel nearby. "Er ... I don't know - don't drag me into your problems, man." the technician grumbles, turning away from him.

Jan sighs. For the most part, if you got stationed here, it was becuase you fucked up, but for whatever reason couldn't just be discharged, honors or no. His career as a soldier had never been that special, though, and he'd only joined the military for a scholarship - one that was no longer going to be paid for, he grimaces - so it's not like he should have been getting the special treatment on that one. But he also supposed he shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.

He could have been kicked to the curb and left to wallow in his lack of prospects. Or, worse, he could have been tried for treason and shot, for 'consorting with an enemy'.

. . . sometimes . . . I wonder what it'd be like now, if I'd run away with her? It would have been the 'dumb kid' thing to do, but - I feel real damn stupid sticking around to face the music, as if I didn't know what was waiting for me.

A rumbling shakes him out of his thoughts, and knocks the entire pack of cigarattes out of his hand before he can finish fishing one of the sticks out, "Huh..?!"

"That rumbling.." the technician murmurs, before a klaxon begins to sound. Jan wonders in disbelief, "Are we under attack?!"

                BACK WITH MAFTY

Their subfreighter pulls to a stop and weighs itself from the hind and bow, while one of the MAFTY affiliated machines moves out of formation and boosts onto land. Its a bog standard Messer, wielding its gun-shield in one arm and a bazooka in the other. Hathaway reaches to the radio situated in the cabin, "Lyman - remember that our goal isn't to wipe the place out. Just smash their opening force to let the others flood in and give you a hand."

The pilot is a middle-aged man with greasy, pink hair. "Yeah, I got it ... all I need to do is draw out them out and smash 'em to bits. That's something I'm more than capable of ... "

"Alright." Hathaway reaches out and twists the knob so he could address the rest of the Black Knights and affiliates present, "Our goal here is to raid the base, not destroy or capture it - don't worry about defeating the enemy, just make sure to hold your own. I'll be taking a team inside to secure the goods. If that's crystal clear, then .. Mission Start!"

The Messer blasts the depot's exterior with its bazooka, moments before one of the hangars opens up and sends a pair of GM III out to fight. "What, GM's? Haha .. they don't even have any Jegans or Heavyguns here, do they?" Lyman chuckles to himself. "This'll be a piece of cake..!"

The GM's were armed with submachineguns, and open fire as the Messer raises its shield and absorbs the worst of the hail as it veers to the side, jetting to the side with the afterburners and verniers in its legs. "Got ya'!"

A well placed bazooka shot to the ground unstabled their footing and caused one to trip, giving Lyman the chance he needed to quickly gun down the one that had managed to stay on its feet, filling its cockpit and chest with a sustained burst of gunfire from the gatling gun in his Messer's shield. The pilot is shredded apart into splatters of meat, while his GM III tumbles backwards. The GM still on the ground rolls over, using its chest vents to help push itself back up while it reaches for one of the sabers on its back to hurl the Messer's way.

Quick on his feet, Lyman guns the thrusters and jets into the sky, aiming down with his bazooka. "Die!"

The upper half of the GM's body is blasted apart by the high yield explosive shell, leaving Lyman with only one more left in the weapon. "Is that .. all they've got?" the freedom fighter wonders.

                And while that was happening --

"What are those Black Knight scum doing here..?!" hisses the Depot's commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Perkot. He was a shockingly young man with well groomed black hair - it went without saying that as someone who ran his base like his own private mansion, none of his subordinates cared much for him. "Are they here for the Gundam..? But, no one should know about it .. gh - this was my chance to prove my worth to mother, and this trash is getting in my way - !"

His intended claim to fame - a refit, and redeveloped Gundam type brought into the modern day for ground based operations. A proof of concept that was meant to reduce wasteful R&D spending and bring the industrial complex's budget back under control. With that, Perkot was sure he'd be able to regain the favor of Senator Perkot - his mother, an affiliate of the Vist Foundation - and be able to get out of this hole he'd been left to rot in.

"You!" he shouts, pointing at a frazzled communications officer, "We had an allied force meant to arrive later today, weren't we? For transporting the Gundam. Contact them, now!"

"B-but sir, that Messer destoyed our radio tower when it started its attack - " the officer starts, before Perkot hurls the first thing within reach at the wall by his head. It so happened to be a container full of pens and pencils, "Then use the god damn tightbeam!!"

While Perkot had the base get in touch with their comrades, Jan was busy getting into the special hangar - stuck in a firefight with the Black Knights ground team. The technicians, and Jan himself, were somewhat outgunned given that all they had was their service handguns while most of the Black Knights had carbines. Several dead teenagers still littered the ground though, due to the difference in personnel numbers. There were many more soldiers and technicians on the floor than there were Black Knights - but it had been only eight people who'd gone in, and three of them had been in mobile workers. Only two mobile workers remained manned and hunkered down, and three of on-foot team was left. "No wonder there's so much friggin' pushback here," pants Raymond. "There's a damn Gundam here..!"

"Leave it to the Federation to stick these projects where you'd least expect them," Hathaway murmurs, before popping up to take a shot over the crate he was situated behind.

Jan's shoulder is grazed, before he ducks back down. "Damnit - I'm almost dry. What the hell do we do now ..? - hey .. " he narrows his eyes. It happened to be that just behind him was a fire extinguisher, for emergencies only. "Well, this is an emergency alright..!"

Kicking the old padlock off and grabbing onto it firmly, he gives it a solid couple of shakes before chucking it overhead and into the active firefight, hoping a stray shot would set it off.

"Wait, Ray -!" "- shit!" Raymond curses, Emeralda's warning too late as the extinguisher erupts.

Taking his chance, Jan bolts for the railing. "Wait, where the hell are you going?!" one of the technicians cries, but Jan ignores her.

Outside the base, the various models of GM's, Zack's, and hodgepodge Federation leftovers have been dispatched pretty cleanly between the efforts of Lyman and the Black Knights. "Can't be too many more left, now. But, this is weird - shouldn't the mobile workers have started carting our haul out by now -?  Ah, there's another coming ..!"

The Messer's mono-eye swivels to face the hangar, as Lyman realizes it's the same one that Hathaway and the others infiltrated.

But to his great shock, what comes out isn't any kind of mobile suit he immediately recognizes, besides one catching detail; "A Gundam..?!"

It's a stocky mobile suit, clearly meant for ground-based operations, and a series of bulky red modules glowing at the sides of its head. Rather than the traditional color scheme, its been given a tiger-stripe jungle camoflouge.

In the cockpit, Jan grits his teeth. "Everyone .. we might not have got along, but at the end of the day, we were still comrades who were sentenced to live out shitty days in this place together .. so for you, I'll get at least this bastard..!"

With a small his, the large winches mounted on its back shoot out to the sides, attached to its backpack via thick cabling. "INCOM..!!"

Guided by computer, they move to encircle the Messer at high speed while Lyman manuevers his Messer to attempt and weave out of the way, "Shit -!"

But its no use, even as he raises his bazooka - the Gundam raises its rifle bearing arm and angles to point its forearm, which unfurls a gatling gun that unleashes a hail of pinpoint gunfire, destroying the bazooka with shocking accuracy. "Wh -"

Lyman's shock is cut off as one of the winches opens up and clamps around the Messer's cockpit block before releasing a point blank surge of megaparticles through its, smelting the torso and allow its clamp to tighten enough to crush the suit into two pieces. The Messer explodes mid-air, before the winches both retrect to their starting positions on the Gundam's back.

"That's one down," Jan breathes out. His Gundam turns to face the other Black Knights, stubby Ground-type shield held in front of itself with the bolded numbers 01 painted on the front, a blast of exhaust coming from its mouth-grill.

<Pose Tracker> Karma Sato has posed.

        The moment the mission starts the Longshot dpeloy's its harkens  attaching itself to a building and reeling itself in and positioning himself on the edge of a building. Drawing it's sniper rifle it takes aim as the most likely direction for those that would complain about their actions would come from.

         Within longshot, Karma Sato sits patiently as he just waits for the moment. The only reason he even came along was the knights needed supplies, otherwise this lack of attacking federation outpost and not a distinctly Britannian one would be bothering him more.

         Finally he opens comms  to his fellow fighters, "Longshot in position. Nothing on visual yet, but I wouldn't take that to mean take your time.

<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.

Sometimes you need some stuff.

Qivi did her part; she has contacts on the OCU side of Huffman Island, which are willing to trade the Black Knights (through her) illegal and semi-legal weaponry. But she cannot fund the Black Knights herself - it's about all she can do to cover Sarangay, which takes some parts that the Knightmare Frames and Mobile Suits don't.

Attacking a depot this old wouldn't be her first pick, but beggars can't be choosers, and if any of it is useful - why not?

Joining the MAFTY units is a heavy unit - a wanzer, not even waist-high on the Messer but solid-looking. It has a distinctive symbol painted on its squared shoulder shield: a bull's head ringed with gems. It's not technically an ace logo because Qivi is not technically an ace, but it serves the same purpose: it's what she fought under in the arenas of Huffman Island.

The heavily modified Blizzaia skids out, armed with its ever-present spiked knuckle, a box missile launcher on its non-shielded shoulder, and a short-barreled weapon less familiar on the battlefield: an assault flamethrower, wanzer-style.

Qivi's glad to be back in it after the less pleasant attempt at piloting the Zenith 250 with the experimental beam saber. Even if the shoulder machine gun was still under repair, this was *her* machine.

She'd joined the firefight almost immediately, using the wanzer's superior grounded maneuverability to dart in and around the larger Mobile Suits, occasionally firing a stream of flame or smacking someone who gets too close.

It isn't that she's out of position when the Gundam shows up so much as positioned *elsewhere*, weaving around a GM and very deliberately taking it to pieces. A leg strike here, a leaping jetpack-assisted punch there; it goes down in a heap just as the Gundam fires on Lyman for the last time. "Shit," she says to herself, wheeling around with a squeal as she pivots through 270 degrees.

<Pose Tracker> Naomi Inoue has posed.

        Inoue frowns. Why'd they have to come all the way out to India for this? It's way too far. Stuck on a GAW for hours. Then trudging through forests and rivers for hours more. At least when they were toughing it out in the resistance, they were doing it in their home. Which Inoue knew like the back of her hand. Out here, she has no idea where she is! If things go wrong...

        The mission is starting. Inoue's Burai falls back from the main force as they charge in, her land spinners taking it up onto a hill that overlooks part of the base. Once there, it takes up position behind a large tree big enough to provide it some cover. Its faceplate opens as the factsphere beneath starts taking in all the sensor readings as the battle inside the facility picks up.

        Watching the screens, Inoue keeps an eye out for anything unusual. The front line forces have the initial assault covered. They don't need ranged support just yet...

        A Gundam bursts out of the faciliy. Watching her screens, Inoue swears, "Shit..." She focuses her cameras in on the new machine, just in time to see it put a hole through the Messer's cockpit. Inoue eyes go wide, transmitting to the other Black Knights <"Shit! Are you guys seeing this thing!?">

<Pose Tracker> Alteur Steinbeck has posed.

         Ah. How nostalgic.

         Alteur Steinbeck had been waiting for them. They did not know that, of course. They could not know that. They could not know that he had friends, informants, allies in MAFTY, that people he had sponsored, people he had worked with, people he had known throughout the conflicts of the world were willing to exchange information for assistance. Information was ammunition, and Alteur always made certain to have a full clip wherever he went.

         The rainforest is hot, and heavy, and unpleasant. It always made the Spacenoid in him - the time he had spent on Side 3 before the war, the time he had spent at home on Neo Germany - tremble a little. It was like a bad fever. But it was a fever he loved, a fever he cherished, a fever he would see last forever. Grow forever.

         Underneath the canopy he spins a strange device in one hand. It's a handheld thing like an old-school photon gun from a children's game, with a white wing motif along the side and four gold lights on the front. As it spins he smiles, watching the MAFTY machines move on the deport. They can't know how funny this is to him.

         Once upon a time he was in their position. Some of those old friends of his might even be in this group. He still kept in touch with them, those brave men and women who had survived Gryps, who had given their all to stop the Federation's greatest excesses. And many of them hadn't changed their tune that much. Just because the Titans were gone...

         Well. That was why he was here, after all.

         Alteur sets a foot on a rock and drapes his arm over his knee. He adjusts the mask upon his face - a simple diagonal mask, four eyes, a green crystal on the forehead...

         Well, then. Here he was again. But this time, he was playing the role of Anaheim. This time, he was a backer, not a soldier. This time...

         This time, he was not Alteur Steinbeck.

         From his coat pocket he fishes three small discs - medals. One of them is the schematic of an Arm Slave rendered in tiny, but accurate, detail. One of them is the face of a great hero off which Alteur's very masked was pattern. One of them is a crystal that seems to flow and change in the light.

         Calmly, Alteur slots them into the back of his 'gun' one by one. Then, he flips a card from his sleeve, slots it into the top of the 'gun', and runs his finger along the side. Every time. Every time, it delighted him so much.

         He raises the gun to the sky. The wings glow. The four eyes on the gun turn a blazing gold - and then a deep and terrible red.

        SHADOW!

        ULTRAMAN!

        ZE HI RUT

        It emerges from the trees behind the MAFTY group from nowhere. It is an Arm Slave of some sort, that much is certain - bigger, but clearly the same technological center, the same production line. There's no data on it. It comes up nothing. Indeed even trying to read the thing gets static, as if it's only partially real.

         But the way it moves is certainly real. The way its tail(?!) flicks back and forth, trailing darkness(?!) through the jungle. The way that same darkness roils off it like mist. It leaves a trail of shadows as it falls in behind the Black Knights and MAFTY. If it wanted to attack them, it clearly would've.

         When Lyman opens fire and blows apart the GM, the strange machine darts through the Black Knights formation like some kind of serpentine predator. Shadows lash out to grab the fallen GM's shield and drag it onto the arm of the Arm Slave. When it connects, it transforms, turning from its proper Federation colors to a twisted, sharp greyscale. More shadows lash out to grab the missile launchers from its skirt and drag them atop the Arm Slave's shoulders - and they, too, turn greyscale.

         The Arm Slave's visor flashes red.

         That's...some backup.

<Pose Tracker> Orpheus Zevon has posed.

        For most of the Black Knights, traversing outside of the country was probably something entirely new. After all, it was likely a difficult task to convince Britannians to allow Numbers out of their territories without concern for them attempting to escape the country altogether. For Orpheus though. . .Traveling had been part of the job since before taking this mission. It didn't matter where, war was something constant, and that's where you'd find mercenaries. Even in the beauty of the rainforest of Sumatra that was no exception it seemed.

        <"So another weapons extraction job? It's one thing to acquire from a train, but we're sure that they're not comfortable blowing the place up themselves if it avoids enemies acquiring their tech?"> It was a reasonable question. While it was rare for bases of tactical importance, a place out in the middle of the rainforest didn't seem like the kind of place that was concerned with by top brass of any sort of army. If it was just filled with scrap units, it could make sense to simply blow the place once the place was evacuated, if it was something more. . .Secret. . .Even more so. . .

        Orpheus waited for a response as he continued along the waterways in the repaired Byakuen. Rakshata, having given him a stern look at the damage that had been provided after the last encounter, but apparently putting in the effor to repair it sooner than later given there was a certain feature she wanted tested for the next bout. It's one thing to use this against other KMFs, but if we're going against other units. . .Guess we'll need to see what this ends up doing to more versatile enemies. . .

        The thought is cut off though as the battle begins, and it already seems to be quite the highlight reel. The opponent before them. . . A Gundam. Was that in the reports, he doesn't recall that in the reports. It doesn't take long for it to show just how capable the namesake was as it takes down the leading Messer with little to no effort. "Tch. . ." A click of his teeth but nothing more regarding the sour occurrence of what transpired before he speaks up on the comms. The others seemed to be realizing the severity, several 'Shit' already passing through the comms. <"Stay focused or you'll be next. Also B-1 make sure your field of view's unhindered. The canopies of the forest could be used as camouflage for counter attack once you get your shot in."> As it was, the Byakuen was already leaving the water itself to return to the ground. No longer needing to be stealthy it could begin traversing the earth as intended, no longer having to worry about how much noise it made as it entered the battlefield. <"Oz entering the combat area. . .">

<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.

On her way down to the base, the Ra Mari flies through the atmosphere, making its way at no particular fuel-burning hurry at first towards the base, on plans of a pick-up.  It's not the most glamorous mission, but it should be easy on her crew and pilots; boredom isn't so bad to have now and then, not while they all have so much to think about with the news from space.  So she's on the bridge, thinking about said news, when the tightbeam comes over.

"Ma'am," Tempo Astelian starts to say as he gets the message.  "We're getting a distress call on tightbeam from the base!"

"Patch it through," Eight says, focusing immediately on the new matter--and listening with a set jaw as she hears what the problem is.

"Battle stations," Eight directs over the communication network of the ship.  "Mobile weapon pilots, get to your stations.  Gunung Lauser Federal Depot is under attack, and we're the ones who are in range to help!"

Eight starts directing further orders to the bridge as a whole, and they get closer, the engines roaring to greater life to push through the atmosphere.

"...Looks like we'll be engaging the Black Knights," she says.  "NERV's asked me to keep an eye out for a particular Black Knight unit--the Sarangay.  If you see it, let me know."

"Other than that, good luck out there.  The rainforest is too dense for us to risk firing out weapons down into it, but I'll coordinate your efforts from up here.  We'll be ready to deploy in five--four..."

She counts down, and decides not to mention her opinion of the man they're going to help.  That opinion being that he's kind of a chode.  Because right now, he's a chode whose people need their help.

"Go!"

But--what is that strange presence down there...?  Eight frowns.  "Get me scans down there.  I need to know what they're up against."

<Pose Tracker> Todd Bonzalez has posed.

Todd finishes his pre-flight checks as he starts to taxi his fighter towards the Ra Mari's catapult. He was already in the hangar inspecting his fighter when the alarms started and the orders to sortie came down. Black Knights dont normally operate out here, an interesting development. With the final checks complete and showing green across the board, Todd looks out over his shoulder at the freshly painted Londo Bell insignia on his wing. First sortie on a new contract is always interesting.

Arriving on the catapult, Todd feels the forward landing gear lock on. "Shortstop, green for launch." He reports, kicking his engines to full as the catapult accelerates him down the ships launch ramp. Time to see just what his new allies, and their enemies, are made of.

<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.

One of the units launching from the Ra Mari's catapult is an RX-94 Mass Production-type Nu Gundam. The Mobile Suit rockets down the catapult, hurtling ahead of the others -- and then fires its rockets to begin making a controlled fall towards the depot.

"Roger that, Captain," she says. "I'll keep an eye out. I'm coming down on the base!"

The Mass Production-type Nu Gundam slams down into the ground. The jungle's surface sinks a little as the Mobile Suit's feet hit near it, and the burn of its vernies strikes into a tree -- which scorches through some of the bark, flame incinerating its  leaves in an instant, and then the half-ash tree trunk collapses as it lands nearby, exploding into a few embers and a pile of soot. The RX-94 has the standard dark cyan and light blue colors, with teal and gold lining, with one exception: a shoulder painted a stark white color.

That and its back holds fin funnels, instead of the usual INCOMs. That gives an immediate idea of the pilot's abilities.

Inside of the Gundam, Rena Lancaster leans back, and lets out a soft sigh. The panoramic cockpit shows the full sweep of jungle and the depot, and her eyes linger on the latter for a moment. Then, she jerks up when she sees the Arm Slave emerge from the trees -- one her computer responds to with an only slightly more elegant shrug, at the idea of identifying it. "What the hell...?"

She scans over the Black Knights' units. The wanzer catches her eyes -- the strike at a GM, just in time to bring it down. Rena grits her teeth, making a noise in the back of her throat, and then hits the thrusters.

The Mass Production-type Nu Gundam surges forward, thrusters propelling it in a hop that becomes a flight halfway through. She sets herself on an intercept course. But she narrows her eyes, as she sees the emblem on it. "The Sarangay...!" she calls out. She sends a tightbeam: "This is Londo Bell! Stand down, or we will open fire!"

<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.

Anita doesn't mind boring missions. She loves them, in fact - a low-risk, low-responsibility mission is exactly her speed. Sure, she has to be on call, but until then it means she can relax. On a good day, she can breeze through an entire mission.

...Today doesn't seem like it's going to be a good day, though - if the battle station orders are any indication.

"...So much for that." Anita murmurs with a sigh to herself. A moment later she's suited up and her EX-Gear equipped as she hurries down to the hangar, leaping into the cockpit of her Variable Fighter - a VF-25 variant in blue and green to match her outfit, with white trim.

"Thanks, Captain. We'll be counting on you. VF-25 Messiah Rosetta, launching!" Anita announces. The Messiah Rosetta launches out of the Ra Mari, the speed of Fighter Mode carrying it quickly to the jungle floor. Right as it draws close, with an unnecessary spin it converts to GERWALK mode, reverse thrusters slowing it down and using the reduced profile to skate through the trees until she reaches her designated point, where she goes upright into Battroid mode.

Rena sends out the request to stand down, so Anita stands by. A part of her hopes they listen - but she remains ready to follow her commander's lead.

<Pose Tracker> Naomi Inoue has posed.

        Inoue is warned about potential counterattack that might be hidden by the forest canopy, to which she replies, <"Yeah, I know, I know. That's why Knightmares come with more than just visual sensors."> Indeed, the Factsphere Sensor unique to KMF designs actually have multiple forms of sensors to collect data, which is then correlated by the onboard systems to provide as much awareness to the pilot as possible.

        Those sensors are now presenting alerts across Inoue's screens as more signals begin to appear. This time from... <"Above us!">

        The Burai's head turns upwards to look as new enemies begin to come from the sky. Zooming in on one of them, it looks like a fighter... Could it be a... Yes. Inoue's guess is confirmed as the machine transforms not once, but twice as it finally settles on the ground. Inoue has seen pictures and videos of Variable Fighters. But this is the first time she's seeing one in person.

        A call to stand down filters through Inoue's radio. She ignores it, not responding as that would give her away and judging by the actions of the VF she has in her scopes, it doesn't look like they know she's here yet. That'll change soon though as Inoue thumbs her aiming reticle over Anita's Messiah before pressing down on the trigger.

        The Burai Sniper Custom fires its Anti-Knightmare Sniper Rifle, sending a well aimed shot streaking towards the Messiah, the element of surprise in its favour.

<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.

There's suddenly a *lot* more opponents here. Qivi was rather hoping to not pick up another battleship on what was supposed to be a (relatively) straightforward pickup job. A battleship and a monster, the strange Arm Slave. She doesn't precisely get bad vibes - she's not a Newtype as far as she knows - but that sixth sense she trusts to warn her about danger is telling her to get nowhere near that thing.

First the train, now here... Did she do something wrong in a past life? Is this karma? (Not to be confused with Karma, who is on her side.)

AND one of them is hailing her. A Nu Gundam, armed with funnels, threatening her. Qivi never takes well to being told to do something, and so she flips her communicator to on: "Little late for THAT, don't you think?" Given there's already been deaths in both directions, telling her to stand down seems slightly pointless.

The fact that the Sarangay has fired missiles while talking probably doesn't help matters (or hurt matters, depending on your point of view). It launches a quartet of slender missiles before wheeling backwards, swerving around a building and trying to use it as cover from the Nu Gundam while she repositions.

<Pose Tracker> Orpheus Zevon has posed.

        After watching the decimation by that Messer, it was apparent that they were going to be up against a rather rough opponent. Not only did Gundams usually tower over KMFs, but they were known to be more or less pristine units. Something that even an experienced pilot wouldn't want to take on alone with just a mass produced unit alone. If that was the case. . .<"Understood, I'll engage the Gundam then. Mafty, make sure you get all you need from here quick. I have a feeling a drawn out fight with this thing's a bad idea. . .">

        There was no declaration of attack as the Byakuen began to traverse from the jungle grounds onto the fields of the base. While it was definitely smaller in size to the gundam, it was using terrain to swerve in and out of immediate view of the target. Constantly the KMF readjusting it's line of traversal before the sound of gunfire occurred. The first shot comes for this new Gundam. A barrage of explosive rounds fired off at once, attempting to feel the unit out. Seeing just how mobile this gundam was, and along with it, just how durable it's armor was when taking a hit.

<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.

"Maybe, but--"

Rena's eyes widen as her panoramic display lights up with multiple incoming missile alerts. The four missiles sweep in towards her, and the Gundam's head turns. The vulcans explode to life -- a dull rattle inside the cockpit, a loud roar without -- and one of the missiles is shredded into by the rounds. The casing caves inward, then a fiery explosion rips through it.

A second missile is caught by the fireball, causing a second. The other two fly in, smashing against the Mass Production-type Nu Gundam's armor. The warheads don't penetrate, but the explosions kick it backward, and Rena lets out a deep breath, before she hits the thrusters -- and shoots for the building Qivi is hiding behind. As the RX-94 shoots forward, Rena calls out to the voice-activated controls: "Fin funnels! Go!"

All six drop off the Mobile Suit's back. They shoot out around her -- split around the building -- and come at the Sarangay from both sides. The Mobile Suit shoots around the corner of the building, as two fin funnels fire at the Sarangay from behind -- and another from the side, trying to cut off avenues of escape even as Rena draws close.

<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.

It comes in quick - too quick. Before Anita can even move the Pin-Point Barrier into place, a sniper bullet comes screaming out of the jungle, impacting her unit in the left shoulder. The Variable Fighter jerks, and Anita yanks the controls in the other direction to force it to stabilize.

"My Valkyrie's been hit, but I can still move! Looks like they were waiting for us - and they're playing rough already." Anita notes, turning to face the direction the shot came from. "Let's see... now where are you hiding?"

She scans the jungle in the direction the shot came from and moves forward, just slightly... and then, with one quick movement, draws out her gatling pod.

"Guess I can play that way too." She says and opens fire with a sweeping motion, unleashing a spray of gatling fire in Naomi's general direction.

<Pose Tracker> Todd Bonzalez has posed.

Todd banks his variable fighter, coming around above the battlefield. "Well, looks like diplomacy is out the window. Shortstop, engaging!"

The white and navy blue craft makes another high pass as Todd evaluates the enemy units. That weird Arm-Slave in their formation is both unopposed, and an unknown quantity. Knocking out the unknown would be a good place to start. Todd lines up his pass and angles down into a dive, strafing over the shadowy unit with his forward machine guns, a rain of lead coming down hard on the enemy as he passes over it with engines screaming.

Todd pulls out of his dive and begins to regain altitude, keeping a close watch for any retaliation or allied units in trouble. Turning at that angle pulled some significant G-force, but nothing Todd wasn't used to by now. "Let's see how you react to that..."

<Pose Tracker> Mobile Weapon Team has posed.

Perkot seethes, "Who's in that Gundam?! I gave no order for it to sortie!"

Jan considers just shutting off the reciprocal communication, but ultimately finds himself answering, "Ensign Jan Gimbley -"

"You ... you're taking responsibility for this, you bastard! You're AWOL, how dare you steal that Gundam!"

"Shut up, you blue-blooded snot; if I didn't take this Gundam then those terrorists would have seized it; they're tearing through the special operations hangar right now!"

"Gh..you - ..fine, that machine should be able to carry even a no-name washout like you to victory. But under no circumstance are you to let it be defeated! That's a direct order!"

In the base, Hathaway, Raymond and Emeralda have managed to secure the hangar that the Gundam launched from. "Damn, we lost Giblet, too .. " Raymond murmurs, pulling the shot corpse of a nineteen year old woman from the mobile worker's controls and unceremoniously stuffing her to the side with a cringe, so that he could get in and start it up. Emeralda had done similarly with the pilot of the mobile worker she was using.

" ... I'm changing the plan," Hathaway says suddenly to them, "Eh? Is now really the time to go off half cocked, Ha - Mafty?!" Emeralda catches herself, before Hathaway shakes his head and bends down to pick up the handgun of one of the deceased technicians and check its magazine. "There was a Gundam in this facility. While it seems the parts we needed are here, there's more going on than we thought - and nowhere developing something like a Gundam-type would just happen to have it sitting around. It was developed here and held for transport, I'm sure of it. I'm going to go deeper inside and see what I can scrounge up, info wise."

"Well, just..be careful, man." Raymond advises. Hathaway's lips tinged into a wide smirk, before he wordlessly took off. " - that guy .. well, Em, let's get to work. With just two mobile workers, we'll need to seriously haul ass to get all the crap we need back to the boat." Raymond mentions, cocking his head to the red-head across the way who, to his embarassment, was already loading crates onto the push-platform with her MW. "Get off your ass and help, Ray!" "Right, right, I'm comin'!"

This pressure - I've never felt anything like it .. where did it come from, and why is it here? Trying to focus on it kills my head, like staring into a bottomless well of ink. But it doesn't seem like the situation outside has devolved yet, so I should still have time.. Hathaway thinks to himself.

The Mk.-IV is shaken by a series of precise shots from its flank as Jan hisses, having not noticed the Byakuen's approach. "Shit. Okay, okay - backup's already dropping in, I can do this..!"

The armor is impressive and all, but not quite up to snuff with what one would expect from a Gundam. Jan recalls what little he knew of this one and grimaces, "They reduced the density and tensile strength of the armor to decrease its weight and help it operate on the Ground ... but that means I can't take as many hits with this as you'd think. Gotta' step up!"

"C'mon, INCOM!" To help identify his targets, he sent out the AI-controlled winches once again while strafing to the right, gliding across the ground from bursts of air coming from its legs. The construction was slimmer than you'd expect, but it was a similar form of propulsion to the Dom or Messer all the same - yet, it seemed cleaner, more concise and most of all, much sleeker. A volley of beam rifle shots are sent Orpheus' way to try and blast him to bits, while the winches doggedly shoot through the trees, intent on catching Karma's Longshot and making as short work of it as they had Lyman's Messer.

<Pose Tracker> Naomi Inoue has posed.

        Inoue is already moving away from her initial spot when the gattling fire starts to rake across her position. It seems like a good move as Anita scores a lucky hit, putting a hole through the Burai's shoulder. Sparks fly inside Inoue's cockpit as she is shaken around for a moment, before a quick glances at her damage display shows some Serious issues. She quietly mutters, "Lucky..."

        The Burai Sniper comes flashing out from behind a hill, now in plain sight of Anita. On the bright side, this makes it easier to target it specifically. On the downside, it appears to already be putting its next attack into action as it skates between the trees before turning its torso towards the Messiah and firing off one of its Slash Harkens. The rocket anchor shoots out in an attempt to smash into and grab hold of the VF. And if successfull, the line goes tight to try and restrict its movements. For a short time.

<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.

"Maybe *what*? You're on the field! That time's over!" Qivi is frustrated, and taking her frustrations out on Rena. Who maybe doesn't deserve it, but on the other hand, Londo Bell, so she doesn't *not* deserve it.

None of Qivi's missiles are especially powerful - she's not a dedicated artillery wanzer and has no intention of ever setting up Sarangay as a launcher. But they do their job, battering at the MP Nu and keeping it distracted for just long enough.

She's already moving, accelerating across the paved ground as she circles, whirling in at the Nu Gundam from the side. The fin funnels don't do much to cut off her escape because Qivi is not *trying* to escape; she's trying to stay close to Rena.

They do carve up the street while she's driving across it. None of the fin funnel blasts hit her quite head-on but a close impact is enough; she loses footing for a moment, threatening to fall over as debris sprays across the comparatively tiny Sarangay. It's only six meters tall, and yet it's coming as fast as Qivi can aim it at Rena.

She fires the back-mounted thrusters as she gets closer, launching the wanzer into the air. It flies at the Nu Gundam like a particularly well-armoured cannonball, bringing its reinforced arm and shield to slam into the torso of the mobile suit before bouncing off, landing back on the ground and strafe to make herself a harder target. Qivi has experience fighting bigger robots, and the Sarangay is *heavy* for its size, at least compared to a mobile suit. Sometimes, density wins.

<Pose Tracker> Karma Sato has posed.

        Karma is sitting in the knightmare, simply watching and waiting for orders, the rule of the sniper is to make the first move only when you have a clean shot and that gundam. That gundam made nothing clean.  As the INCOM's lasers come in though Karma curses himself for waiting to long. He had hesitated and lost the elemen of surprise and does the only  reasonable move he can make to evade, he drops from his perch on the building. Just in time too.

         As he drops down he realizes he was not the Gundam's main target, that much was obvious based on the rifle pointed in an allies direction. Karma can't help but grin as he reaches out to Orpheus, "Byakuen, Longshot is going for the cameras."

         The Longshot raises it's sniper and switches his snipers round to EM ammo, on top of the damage they do they will absolutely increase any static on the gundam's cameras for a few moments at the very least.

<Pose Tracker> Alteur Steinbeck has posed.

         A Valkyrie.

         The shadowy Arm Slave tilts its head up when the Valkyrie comes in. There is no roar, no shriek, no scream, no alien noise, no howl of defiance. It simply looks at him from its visor, its tail swinging back and forth.

         Bullets strafe across the ground. The Arm Slave leaps backwards and grabs the lower half of the GM whose shield it wears on its arm. The lower half of the GM is shredded by the fire - metal sparks and flies apart. The shield itself bears the rest of the brunt. What gets through tears across the Arm Slave with the sparks of a certain hit. So that confirms that it is, at least, partially physical - and by the recoil, at least partially damaged, though it's hard to make out what he hit through that inky black mist. Probably armor?

         The remains of the GM are flung aside. The Arm Slave raises its hand.

         More of that horrible mist lashes out. Pieces of the GM are torn apart and dragged in front of the Arm Slave. The pieces begin to whirl, faster and faster, of their own accord. The Arm Slave's tail swings upwards like a targetting device, tracking the Valkyrie as it goes.

         Then it drops and lunges along the flight path. It runs straight up the side of the building, that shadowy mass of metal still whirling behind it. It leaves footprints in the metal of the Depot.

         The Arm Slave leaps into the air.

         The mass of metal and shadow suddenly fires outwards. A horizontal disk of shadow and metal whirling like a buzzsaw. The Arm Slave follows it, darting from tree-top to tree-top as it chases down the Valkyrie on an intercept path.

         The moment it has a chance, it simply rams the buzzsaw into the Valkyrie like it's a wall directly in the plane's path. A wall made of shadow, whirling metal, and pain.

<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.

"Be careful, Ensign Rosetta!" Rena says. "Fall back if it gets too dangerous!"

Rena's attention is quickly driven back to Qivi. The Sarangay leaps up as she gets close, several blasts in the street left by those fin funnels. Rena swings the Gundam's shield up -- and shield slams against shield with a hard, ringing clatter of metal-on-metal. Sparks fly, as they bounce backward.

"I offered," Rena says. "Just remember that...!"

The RX-94 reaches over its shoulder, grabbing hold of the beam saber there. The weapon pulls free of the recharge rack -- and there is a crackle, then a brilliant pink lance of mega-particle energy explodes out and takes form. Rena fires the thrusters, closing in on the Sarangay.

The Gundam slashes the beam saber down, a broad but low slash meant to hit the wanzer.

<Pose Tracker> Todd Bonzalez has posed.

"Alright! He took the bait! Time to take him for a ride!" Todd banks to the side, pulling another incredibly sharp turn, and sending his fighter screaming back towards his target on the ground, only to see the Arm slave leaping up into an intercept position and a shadowy buzz-saw flying straight for him. Todd pulls into a loose barrel roll, ducking past the incoming sawblade and re-orienting his fighter for another attack. His targeting computer beeps a good tone, even though he's faced away from the enemy from dodging his attack. "Let's see how you like this move, Fox Three!" he calls out as a small cluster of missiles streak away from the fighter, and quickly angle back around to close on the Shadow chasing him.

<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.

"Thanks, Commander - you too, you hear?" Anita replies back to Rena. She appreciates what she's doing - giving an offer to stand down is important to her, too.

Sounds of impact reach Anita's ears... but, it doesn't seem like that was enough to disable the target, as she catches flashes of movement before finally the Burai Sniper emerges from behind the hill.

"There you are... Face-to-face it is." Anita comments. She tracks the Knightmare Frame as it skates through the trees. "...You're fast."

Too fast, especially while her Variable Fighter is a little unsteady from the last attack. The Slash Harken fires out and Anita raises her shield arm to defend. There's a loud clash of metal against metal as the Slash Harken hits its mark. She's able to get the Pinpoint Barrier system in place to dampen the effects of the attack... but on the downside, she now has the wire wrapped around her shield arm, limiting her movement.

"...Gonna be risky, but..." Anita murmurs. With a free hand, the Messiah Rosetta grabs onto the wire anchor, fixating on the Burai - if it wants to keep her in place, she can return the favor. From out of its left shoulder a beam cannon emerges, coming to rest beside its head. Energy builds in the cannon as she takes aim, before unleashing in a focused beam!

<Pose Tracker> Orpheus Zevon has posed.

        Orpheus keeps an eye on his attack, trying to pick up on how many hits end up hitting at the unit's flank. How much damage appears to be given to the hull, and just keeps the observation in mind as he keeps moving. Even if it's not as remarkable as it could be, it was likely much better than that of a KMF, or at least handling a more direct hit at least. Regardless that didn't change Orpheus' game plan. Just outmaneuver the enemy as much as possible. Even if it was made somewhat better for ground traversal, that was still a place where the KMFs had a bit of more success with usually. That's when the sound of the comms ring through with Karma's remark

        <"Understood, I'll keep the enemies attention focused on me for the time being. If he does try redirecting at you, I'll do what I can to remind him where his eyes should be. . .">

        Oz cuts the comms, he prepares himself to unload another attack against the Gundam, another gunshot rings through the air, only this one was a much more precise. . .And much more troubling shot. Something that was meant to rip through armor if it landed and boy, did he plan on ripping through that armor if he could.

<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.

"Yeah?" is Qivi's response to Rena. "How about I make you the same offer and we'll see how well THAT works?"

Qivi's blood is pumping. It doesn't make her a particularly better pilot, but she always feels better when she's doing something, and combat is one of the purer examples of that. Though the ambient pressure in the area is making her feel twitchy, like she has to work it out. She weaves, looking for an opening on the bigger MS - and all of a sudden, she sees one.

Sarangay punches upwards. She's not stupid enough to try to deflect the actual beam saber with her spiked weight - it wouldn't stop it for nearly long enough before melting through - but she makes impact with the Nu Gundam's wrist. It holds the thruster up for long enough for Sarangay to slip forward, darting literally between the Nu Gundam's legs with a grinding sound as she drags the knuckle along the Nu Gundam's arm.

As she ends up behind the other unit, Qivi fires a stream of flame directly into the leg of the mobile suit, aiming for the knee. She sweeps the flamethrower left and right, trying to keep it in the stream.

<Pose Tracker> Alteur Steinbeck has posed.

         It really is some kind of monster.

         As it runs along the trees it stabs its tail outwards into the missiles. The Arm Slave moves like a veteran soldier, a veteran pilot. That means it's most assuredly manned. It twists around to intercept, slashing with the tail on one side, bringing up the shield on the other. The worst damage is mitigated - the explosions roll around the Arm Slave and blow away some of the smokey mist to reveal that it is, indeed, metal. It is, indeed, a machine, and not some sort of kaiju built upon an Arm Slave. Between that and its maneuvers...it's more certainly piloted, not remote commanded or acting on instinct or some strange programming. It moves too fast.

         And that utterly dominant psychic pressure...that unending pit of will, that crushing presence that the Arm Slave exudes...

         Is it better or worse to know that it's piloted, and not some sort of monster mimicking that feeling?

         The Arm Slave drops to the ground. Perhaps Todd will suspect it's given up the chase.

         And then the tail rises.

         The blade jams itself into the ground.

         Shadowy blades. They emerge from all around the Valkyrie - a ring of black spikes simply pushing through from nowhere. Up, down, left, right - a cage closing in with every second. Closer, closer, closer. Menacing. Otherworldly. This is not a conventional weapon - this isn't Bits, or INCOMs, or DRAGOONs, or something that can be explained away by science. This is something out of a dream. Something out of strange whispers from things better left unheard.

<Pose Tracker> Naomi Inoue has posed.

        The Burai Sniper skirts around the Messiah as it keeps its Slash Harken line tight, trying to keep its distance and keep moving as it lines up its next shot. It seems like the Messiah is faster though with that shoulder mounter beam cannon, the turreted weapon turning to fire off a large shot towards Inoue.

        Inoue's eyes go a little wide, before she quickly jerks the controls to the side. The Knightmare swerves, but not enough to completely avoid the shot. The energy grazes across the side of the machine, leaving a big groove in its wake along with short circuiting equipment.

        Inside the cockpit, alarms are blaring at the damage. Inoue frowns at the readouts, realizing that she's not going to be able to hold out much longer if she sticks around. She radios to the other Black Knights, <"This is B-1, I've taken critical damage-">

        A quick button press and the line connecting the Burai to the Messiah goes slack, cut off at the source as the smoking machine turns. It darts between the tree as it makes a run away from the battle, Inoue finishing, <"-I'm pulling out."> She didn't particularly want to be here anyway.

<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.

The impact with the Mass Production-type Nu Gundam's wrist slams it aside -- and the beam saber swipe, as the Sarangay blitzes between the Mobile Suit's legs. Rena lets out a sharp gasp, as the Sarangay rushes below. She can actually follow it on hte panoramic cockpit display.

The flame sweeps across the legs of the Mobile Suit, flame burning at the calf-mounted thrusters and the knees alike. Rena tries to sidestep -- but the Mobile Suit cannot get away. So she turns, the flame swirling about the legs whirling with it.

Then, Rena swings the beam saber down. As she does, she flicks a few switches, manually controlling the output -- calculating, quickly, how to intensify the mega-particle density -- and the beam saber flares up, longer and wider. Then, she cleaves it straight down for the Sarangay with a one-handed slash.

<Pose Tracker> Todd Bonzalez has posed.

Todd sends his Valkyrie into another wild spin, the needles of darkness closing in on every side. He'd never felt such a sheerly malevolent presence when flying before. Just what is that thing, is it even human inside there? Todd grits his teeth, no matter what he wasn't going to let his focus slip. No, not this time. He sees a gap, an opening in the incoming attack barely larger than his fighter, and slam rolls towards it, flinging his fighter through in a wild and seemingly unrecoverable spin towards the enemy mecha and the ground below.

"Transform!" Todd shouts, pulling on the transmission lever and letting his Valkyrie swap modes from fighter to Battroid, landing surpringly gracefully after that nasty looking spin. The missile bays on the Starbuster's shoulders open up again, this time pointed directly at their target. "Drive, Drive!" he calls out as a frankly insane number of missiles streak out from his mech, all heading directly towards the arm slave.

<Pose Tracker> Mobile Weapon Team has posed.

"Huh..?!" Jan wonders as the Mk.-IV's modules at each side of its head seemed to begin flashing, before it hunkers its body down and accelerates at the last second - seemingly on its own. "This thing's Quasi-Psycommu system is supposed to be controlled by an AI .. did it respond to that attack on its own? I didn't even see it coming!"

Karma's sniper shot instead impacts a tree in the brushline while the Gundam dashes at high-speed. This time, it seemed more ready for Orpheus' attack; such that not a single bullet hit a vital area, as it expertly used its shield to absorb the entire volley, potmarking the small rectangle with countless welts and dents. "This mobile suit is amazing ... it's like it's learning how to move with me as I pilot it..!"

The rocket propelled winches flit through the air and withdraw, instead moving to encircle the Byakuen before opening wide to reveal the beam emitters within and firing a shot off each to try and cut off the KMF's mobility while the Gundam dashes in, drawing a beam saber from its waist to attempt and slash at it. "Now..!"

" - and don't think I've forgotten you either, sniper!"

Pulling the saber-wielding arm as his Gundam dashes away across the ground, the miniaturized gatling gun unfurls again while a hail of bullets spray in Karma's general direction. The INCOM Winches retract and settle back into its backpack.

In the meantime, Perkot chews nervously on his thumb while watching the battle. None of the three officers in the locked CIC have the gall to say anything about it, but one does suggest, "S..should we establish contact with the Ra Mari, sir?"

Perkot stops nibbling long enough to narrow his eyes, "That's - yes, they've deployed their mobile suits, but I want to know why they're just hanging up there."

"That's - " one starts, only to be elbows by the man beside him, " - that's a good question, sir." he finishes.

"Of course it is. Now - " he ensures his uniform is in tip-top shape and his hair is perfect, before a transmission is sent to the Ra Mari.

" - while your speedy response is appreciated, I find your support lackluster, Captain York. You're just hanging up there without lifting a finger while making your men do all the work."

" - sir -" The same frazzled officer from before looks up, to a beyond peeved look from the LC, " er..I'm sorry for interrupting, but we haven't received any check-in from Administration per-lockdown regs..."

" - did those scum make it past the hangar and get deeper into the base?!" Perkot shouts, horrified, to which the officer stumbles a little before looking between the monitor displaying Eight's image, and the LC, "Er, that's possible. We don't have the manpower to check it out, though.."

<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.

The beam flies true, striking the Burai. The damage looks... pretty serious. The wire disengages around her shield arm, freeing it up - and so, the beam cannon is put away.

"You still alright in there?" Anita asks. "Don't worry - I'm not going to shoot you in the back."

The machine looks disabled, there's no point in continuing the fight. She turns away, scanning the rest of the jungle.

"Anita here, standing by to provide further support." She reports, ready to make her move.

<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.

Eight frowns at the data flowing onto her own small screen in the Captain's chair, at the data she's getting on the Arm Slave monster at hand in particular, though not only at that.

"Keep getting me what data you can.  And that Gundam down there..."

Eight continues directing her forces, checking in on the data from each individual fight as they get it to her.  But when the message comes back up, she looks to the screen with a lifted eyebrow as the Lieutenant Colonel speaks up.

"Sir.  If I fire my particle cannons down there the whole rainforest could go up in smoke," she replies.  "The mobile suits are the right tool for this task."

But the officer shouts while on line with her...

"Rosetta," Eight directs down to Anita as she notices that she's standing by.  "Can you check out deeper into the hangar for me?  It seems like they're getting overwhelmed in there.  But keep your eyes open--if you're outnumbered, pull out ASAP."

<Pose Tracker> Alteur Steinbeck has posed.

         The Arm Slave moves.

         It runs not from the missiles but into them. It does not seek to avoid them but bat them aside. It moves like someone who has faced Valkyries before - someone who has seen the circus of death that is so very emblematic of their style. The tail whips out. The shadows lash out. The arms lash out. The explosions ripple around it as force and heat and smoke blow away the trailing shadow to reveal, however briefly, the metal below. It is, indeed, getting dented. It is, indeed, getting blackened, though how you would tell under that mass...well, if he hadn't blown back the mist, how would he know?

         And then it cartwheels to the side and lands opposite the Battroid.

         It does not close in. Its arms spread out. Its tail lashes sideways with a whip-crack at nothing.

         The right arm rises at an angle - the forearm bent at ninety degrees, the elbow and arm pointed firmly at the Battroid.

         Suddenly, the shadows start pulling upwards.

         The Arm Slave's metal starts to meet the light. The scorches, the dent-marks across dark blue plating. The bulky white armor scored black in several places. And the serrated tail and its glowing red tip, matching the glowing red visor.

         The shadows gather around the arm. The tail swings upwards and levels itself on the shoulder, and the darkness begins to leap between the two.

         And then across the battlefield the presence speaks two words into the psychic world, two words that shake with all the thunder of a god. There is no voice, no voice to put to a face or a name, no emotion, no thought - only two words that rip through the mind as if read upon a page, two words that rip through the sky.

        BERUDIM TOHU

         At the proclamation the massive tail whips upwards into the sky and the hand sweeps outwards, trailing the gathered darkness in its wake.

         The shadow becomes a beam. No, not a beam - a magical, rippling, greyscale rainbow that pours out of the machine's hand. It makes no sound. It has no color. It is greyscale light, black and grey and white and all the shades between. It's as if fire was muted. It tears apart the treetops in its passing, and they make no noise as they fall. It tears through the air and leaves behind black lightning in its passing. A kaleidoscope of non-colors and non-sounds that screams towards Todd Bonzalez's Battroid and consumes all the noise and color in its wake, leaving behind a grey gash and the silence where there should be the buzzing of insects and the chirping of birds and the roar of gunfire. At least for a moment, it seems as if the whole world is holding its breath.

         And then the noise resumes as the dark aura consumes the Arm Slave once again.

<Pose Tracker> Karma Sato has posed.

        Karma curses as he watches the bullet go wide and strikes  a tree and if he wasn't alone in his cockpit everyone would be able to hear him blaming everything but his own inability to hit the thing.  There is an annoyance and a growl his own anger and everything  evident before taking a deep breath and ducks under the controls for a moment as he rewires something quickly. There is some sparks and some hissing and a curse as he pulls power from something for a moment and reroutes it to his weapons.

         Looking up for a moment he is suddenly tossed around as he is caught in the rain of vulcan fire. He does his best to suddenly evade the rain but it doesn't go well, instead he jut seems to run  into more rounds. His frame damaged as he shakes it off. Raising the snipe rifle once more and firing another shot of EM ammo at the Gundam.

<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.

This time Rena's blow does slip past Qivi's attempt to hold it off by fist. She snaps the Double Nail out but Rena is just a little bit faster, a little bit better at feinting; the strike slips past the knuckles.

She's in so close - and staying there, following the Nu Gundam as best she can - that the beam saber is actually kind of awkward to use. In coming down it hits Sarangay down the back, peeling a rather large chunk of armour off and leaving a gash behind, edged with red-hot metal. Alarms sound in the cockpit, and Qivi slams several to silence.

This is what she was missing. A fight like this. Nobody's around but military (and that monstrous Arm Slave) (and, okay, technically all of MAFTY). Qivi breathes in, breathes out, and goes for it.

Qivi snaps the Hellpond up sharply, pointing it as if she was going to immolate the Nu Gundam's head. She does indeed fire - but the wash of flame is not very hot at all, because she's done something to the nozzle. She made it bright, she made it spread - it's a distraction more than a particularly effective assault in its own right. A blinding flash.

The real blow comes a moment later, from the powerful rising punch courtesy the jetpack-boosted Sarangay, a straight shot to the chest that, if it hits, makes the armour ring like a bell. Or crack. Or both. "C'mon!" she calls, tauntingly. "You'll never take me out with a shot like that!"

<Pose Tracker> Orpheus Zevon has posed.

"That shield's more annoying than I thought it'd be. . ."

        Orpheus had already fired off one of his more powerful shots and yet it was already clear that this thing's shield was enough to handle the fire. What's more, the Gundam was now going to try and take the fight to him, it was definitely a close quarters fight, face-to-face with this thing it'd end up tanking most of the Byakuen's hit. But even if that was the case.

        "I'll take that challenge!"

        Even as the unit began to reveal its beam emitters, the Byakuen wasn't discouraged. It had a goal in mind, while a head on bout was one to cause trouble, close and personal, but able to strike in a blind spot. . . That'd be something that he could get at. So the white KMF would rush in, dodging each strike that was attempted to stop it's charge and for the most part it seemed like it was a successful endeavor, however it did complete its task of limiting its maneuverable options leaving it to take damage from the beam saber itself. Even inside the cockpit without the warnings flaring he can feel the heat of the weapon permeating through as it left a gash across the armor, nothing outright disruptive, but it was definitely lost a few layers of armor for certain. "My turn!" Without missing a beat the unit was planning to just go with the same attack as before, only this time, up close and personal. Aiming to fire right into the belly of the beast where such damage would be felt.

<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.

"Captain!" Anita replies back. She nods as her next orders are delivered - to go check out the hangar and provide assistance there. "Understood, I'll get right on that."

The Messiah Rosetta ducks into GERWALK mode, using the improved mobility to accelerate toward the hangar, a forward roll bringing it back into Battroid as it approaches. On the fringes of the battle, she can see what's going on - a single Gundam, against a pair of Knightmare Frames. More Black Knights, it seems.

"Gundam, are you alright? Ensign Rosetta, here to provide support." Anita transmits. She doesn't fire into the melee - she can't anticipate how the Gundam will move, not being familiar with the pilot, and doesn't want to hit it rather than one of its opponents.

<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.

The Sarangay rushes in. Rena takes a deep breath, as she does; there is a flicker of awareness, that crackling sensation of someone's feelings and thoughts like lightning. It comes to her: Qivi's desire for battle, her desire to fight, and the way she enjoys it. The blast of flame comes and Rena feels it, and she makes the Mass Production-type Nu Gundam jolt to the side before the flamethrower might do havoc upon the sensors of the Mobile Suit.

But her sense of Qivi's intent is not matched but the heat readings. They come too slowly -- and she realizes it was an effort to blind. To distract.

The punch /slams/ into the chest, and the armor on the chest caves inward. Rena is knocked back in her chair, the hydraulics surging to keep her in place. She grunts, as she feels that, and then she hits the thrusters.

The Mass Production-type Nu Gundam surges forward. "I'm not done yet!" she yells, as she circles halfway about the wanzer. As she does, the shoulder-mounted sensor flashes -- a beam of laser light that paints across the Sarangay, and she beams information about the wanzer back to the Ra Mari. Then, she rushes in, and throws the shield aside. It hits the ground, bouncing.

She grasps the beam saber with both hands, then soars in close. She cleaves up, with a two-handed strike, slashing the beam saber up and across the Sarangay with one tremendous slash -- and every vernier and thruster firing to force herself close.

<Pose Tracker> Todd Bonzalez has posed.

"Damn! How do you stop this thing?" Todd remarks. "Anyone got any ideas? It just ate a lot of missiles and barely flinched. I can keep it tied down but it's durable."

Todd is already moving before the 'beam' fires, standing still longer than he needs to is a death sentence. Despite a nearly frantic dodge, the starbuster is struck by the rainbow beam. For the first second it doesn't seem like the beam is doing much damage, then the warning lights start.

"I'm hit! Evaluating damage but it's not good." Todd backpedals, gaining distance as he takes a deep breath, re-centering himself. He'd trained to focus through the warning indicators, but that thing he'd been fighting, that Arm Slave was just wrong on so many levels. The beam's impact had left him with an uneasy feeling that was more distracting than anything, and it took all the willpower he could summon to shake it off. "I'm falling back, watch for more beams from it!" He declares, opening fire with his beam rifle.

<Pose Tracker> Alteur Steinbeck has posed.

         It's a brief instant.

         Just a brief instant. An instant before the shield of darkness closes. An instant before the armor vanishes into that roiling, portable night. Just an instant before it manages to close that shield, Todd takes a hail mary shot.

         The beam rifle pierces through the side of the head. It shreds off the metal. It tears apart the red visor. Inside...

         ...oh, thank God.

         It is a machine. It is purely a machine. It is not an otherworldly nightmare, not some alien thing that has no innards, no weak points, no strange mass of darkness. It is a machine with metal and wires and circuits and all that that implies. It has a visor that operates like a visor. It has sensors. It has...

         It is a machine.

         It is not a machine entirely of this world - no, that otherworldly sensation remains, and the darkness might be some sort of new weapon but it's still hardly the sort of thing this world is known for - but it is a machine, a mech, a thing that was *made* and not a thing that emerged from nothingness, some alien beast here to tear apart the planet. It is piloted. It has a human being(?) inside. This is the final confirmation. Though cameras refuse to photograph it, recordings fuzz out as they try to center in on its inner workings, eyes can tell perfectly clearly that that thing is just a machine.

         Just a machine.

         Again, is that comforting? Or is that more frightening?

         The Arm Slave drops into a squat again. The shadows consume it utterly but for the red visor and the flicking tail. It goes shooting towards the Battroid.

         It leaps upon the machine. But it does not pounce, like some kind of animal. No. As it leaps it flips forward, both legs coming down for Todd in a kick for the chest. It lands, and its arm swings up for the Battroid's face. The leg swings up for a knee-strike. A haymaker. An uppercut.

         While every strike is preceded by the shadowy magical aura, there's no doubt whatsoever:

         It's doing some kind of martial arts.

         Some kind of martial arts. Maybe from space...?

Pose Tracker> Mobile Weapon Team has posed.

                "Damnit..!"

Grunting as he's thrown around in the cockpit, Jan's wounds from the firefight are aggrivated, while the Mk.-IV is forced into a precarious position, stopped dead by Byakuen's all in attack at close range, paired with the sniping shots of Sato's Longshot custom keeping the Gundam pinned down. The panoramic monitor began to spark and sputter both from the accumulated damage, and the EMP shells detonating against its frame.

                BERUDIM TOHU

The quasi-psycommu system seems to overload, and the showers of sparks rain down onto Jan's head and shoulder - the light glowing in the modules on each side of the Mk.-IV's head going dark - while the pilot curses in pain, "Agh..!"

Gundam, are you alright? Ensign Rosetta, here to provide support.

"Gh - Ensign Gimbley, you picked a great time to give me a hand, I'm about to give up the farm over here..!"

Without the AI enhancing his piloting or enabling the use of the INCOM systems, the Gundam is notably far more sluggish and clumsy than it was before, as it moves to close in on the Byakuen by hurling its shield at it, before whipping its Beam Rifle off of its waist rack to fire off a shot intent on nailing the KMF dead center - a killing shot by any other name.

The point blank gunfire had left the Gundam practically potmarked all around the chest and cockpit block with holes, and oil freely leaks out of its various orifices - including the grill where its 'mouth' was.

Hathaway, meanwhile, picks himself up off the ground. He'd practically collapsed at the computer he was working on when the psychic shockwave had hit him - and had he not curled his mind around itself defensively, he may have been down for much longer than he was. " ... that was - "

        Blood dribbles down his nose.

Perkot would throttle someone if he could, "The soldier the Ra Mari sent got waylaid? And - that waste of space is making my Gundam look completely inept, damnit! Hghgng...."

His mind raced. It's not as if he could just let his office get ransacked - but with how incompetent everyone fighting outside seemed from his perspective, as biased as it was, he had no faith they'd get inside and repel the intruders before it was too late. "You..you there!" he looks to the oldest looking officer in the room, a woman in her early 30's. "Hold the CIC. I'm going to Administration." he recollects himself, sucking in a deep breath. Her eyes widen, "Y-you can't be serious? You don't even know how many are there or how armed they are -"

"Shut up! I'm the one in charge of this facility! This shithole in the ground we were all left to rot and fester in, and I won't let some /upstart trash from Japan/ ruin my only chance at leaving! You'll do what I say, or I..I'll.. - I'll shoot you myself."

He'd already reached for his gun, and the woman - hand going towards her own, pauses. " - fine. Wilco, sir." she allows, cooly.

Somewhat intimidated, he finishes pulling his handgun out, a fancy looking revolver with embelishments and engravings, and makes sure that its ready to fire before heading to the door.

The silence was deafening, despite how loud the fighting was. Eventually, she turns, "Continue monitoring the situation outside, and give the Ra Mari updates as necessary."

<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.

"What in hell was /that/!" Eight exclaims as the 'Arm Slave' rips those words through the mind of the world, her own include.  "Berudim Tohu...?"  She shakes her head, "Shortstop!  Are you all right down there!?"

He says he's all right, at least.  "Right!"  She shakes her head again, as if she could get rid of this strange echoing, and tries to call back down to the base.  "I've sent you backup," she starts, "Just try to hang on--"

The information Rena sends her reaches the Ra Mari.  "Great.  This should help NERV out.  Thanks, Lancaster!"

She worries, though.  That was a /flamethrower/ of all things.

"...Get a shuttle ready," Eight says to Rezza next.  "We might need to send in some ground backup if they can clear the path."

<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.

Qivi might not be as 'loud' as a Newtype, but she's not silent either. That enjoyment of battle comes through, layered over something else, something that doesn't come out clearly both because she's distracted and because she's pushing it down. But there's something in the depths.

It's just a little hard to concentrate when she's trying to deck the shit out of the Nu Gundam.

A confused alert wavers for a moment - it's a missile lock warning, but it isn't actually a missile lock. Qivi scowls, unable to tell exactly what's up with that, but it doesn't seem to have made a solid lock. Another beam saber strike.

This time Qivi stands her ground, bringing up the shoulder shield. The beam saber doesn't just hit it - it shears the whole thing off, taking the L-shaped defensive tool and sending it flying, the ragged edge white-hot. The arm beneath it smokes, but seems still functional, the bull-and-gems symbol still faintly visible.

And then a *sound* passes over Qivi. Not a sound. She's not open enough for it to drop her to the ground, but she *is* open enough to feel it in her bones, an unsettling sensation. But if it's affecting her, and it's not even aimed at her, odds are good it's affecting her opponent too.

So Qivi suddenly shoves forward, whirling around the Nu Gundam with much less grace than she started the battle with. Too much incidental damage to legs and arms - but that's fine, because all she does is open up with the MGR-M, firing the missiles from dangerously close range. At this range she can just guide the missiles, Minovsky interference or not; she aims straight at the shoulder of the Nu Gundam, trying to knock its arm off like she would with a wanzer.

"Hey," she calls. "One more time! You want out?"

<Pose Tracker> Todd Bonzalez has posed.

Todd does his best to evade as the arm slave engages him again, but the starbuster just isn't fast enough. One hit, another, and another. More red lights across the damage readout. The last strike sends him backwards into a wall of one of the base structures as his rifle goes flying away.

"Warning, damage critical, warning, damage critical..." The onboard computer barks out a warning, the controls go sluggish as Todd tries to recover his balance. "Primary Systems are failing, I can't, I just can't..." Finally the controls respond and the Starbuster rolls to the side and transforms back into it's fighter configuration. "Shortstop disengaging, I've done all I can."

Todd hits the afterburners and screams back up into the sky, or tries to, one engine billows smoke as the striken valkyrie limps back towards the Ra Mari. Todd is downright shaking in his cockpit, that voice, those shadows... sure it's a machine but that just was not natural.

<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.

The darkness that Alteur creates -- and that voice -- is something Rena feels. She cannot see it; she cannot place it. It has that ethereal, distant, unseeable quality that can be so damnably confusing to a Newtype. Her eyes widen; she feels it, but she has no idea what 'it' is.

And it is gone again in a moment.

She shudders despite herself. "What was--" She says that to Qivi, and she sounds distracted. Qivi is correct that the sound affects her opponent. Her eyes widen, her attention is directed back, and she sees the missiles firing. Rena draws in a gasp -- and tries to dive to the side.

She doesn't make it in time. The missiles slam into the shoulder, ripping through the armor. The explosions drive her backward, the armor shredded, and the arm hangs there -- locking rigidly into place. The beam saber deactivates.

"Gh--damn!" Rena shouts. "Ra Mari, I'm falling back!" Rena looks down at the Sarangay. "You should fall back! Whatever that voice was... I don't like the sound of it!"

The Mass Production-type Nu Gundam's thrusters fire. It may not be able to /fly/, but it can certainly get some height with a dedicated leap -- and that's exactly what it does, back towards the distant Ra Mari.

<Pose Tracker> Orpheus Zevon has posed.

        This time it was the Byakuen that found itself rattled. The shield obstructing its view on where the Gundam was going to strike from was a problem, Though it doesn't take a genius to figure out that attempting to pull back is a good option, it's just simply as he attempts to do so, that the Gundam finds itself seeking to claim a shot right for the units center. Like Hell you do! The unit brings forced to move in a way that no machine should have to attempt to do and while it avoids the direct hit still ends up finding another layer of armor skimmed from it. At this point things were looking dicey, and with it there's a thought that comes to mind. . .

        Should I test it. . .?

        To see if the new prototyped equipment was a gamble. Especially now, but if it worked. . .The decision was hard to come to, though in truth things were getting more and more dicey as another unit joined the fray. Knowing what would occur if he chose wrong. . .

        For the time being the unit attempted to pull away from the Gundam before preparing its canon once more.

        <"Byakuen to Longshot, I'll keep the Gundam pinned. Keep the other unit from attempting to support those inside. If Mafty's caught, it doesn't matter the situation, the mission fails. Understand?">

        As if to iterate a chance moment for Karma to go, he takes another explosive round to the Gundam, an explosion ensuing upon collision and in doing so, hoping to give his ally the chance to disengage.

<Pose Tracker> Karma Sato has posed.

        Karma raises his rifle at the gundam before he sees the Rosetta  moving towards the hangar, <"Byakuen, we have a stray moving to the hangar. I am breaking off to engage it. I will return as soon as possible.">   The knightmare slips the sniper on it's back and gives chase, producing a light machine gun that he plans to make use of. For the moment though he pushes himself to get in Harken range.

         The moment he is within range he deploys the harkens and attempts to entangle the Messiah Rosetta in the Harkens while pulling himself into  close quarters. "You are not getting into that hangar!"

<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.

"Oh, *now* you're all worried about me? Go home, Londo Bell," Qivi says, with less heat than she showed before. She's allowed to be generous in victory.

She does wait to ensure that the Nu Gundam is definitely leaving before she starts to move again. No shield, damaged, but still functional enough; she can probably lend a hand, even if the Sarangay isn't really big enough to be used as a cargo hauler.

<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.

"Hang in there, Gimbley. You've got better things to do than die here today, alright?" Anita replies. It looks like he's taken a good bit of damage... how long had he been here fighting the two of them?

But before she can break off to support him more directly, a pair of Slash Harkens are sent flying her way. Anita quickly retreats back as they go scything through the air, leaving scratches across the front of the Messiah Rosetta - superficial, but a sign of the serious problems they could cause if she'd been any slower on the uptake.

"Sorry, I've already seen those once today...!" She replies, focusing on him. The twin beam vulcans on the unit's head take aim and open fire on the Knightmare Frame - the focused fire much better suited at hitting smaller targets.

She can tell, though, that she might be in trouble - Rena and Todd have already been forced to retreat, leaving just herself and Ensign Gimbley here on the field.

"Captain, things are, uh, looking a little bad here - what's your recommendation?" Anita asks, directed toward the Ra Mari.

Orpheus Zevon's pose:

        This time it was the Byakuen that found itself rattled. The shield obstructing its view on where the Gundam was going to strike from was a problem, Though it doesn't take a genius to figure out that attempting to pull back is a good option, it's just simply as he attempts to do so, that the Gundam finds itself seeking to claim a shot right for the units center. Like Hell you do! The unit brings forced to move in a way that no machine should have to attempt to do and while it avoids the direct hit still ends up finding another layer of armor skimmed from it. At this point things were looking dicey, and with it there's a thought that comes to mind. . .

        Should I test it. . .?

        To see if the new prototyped equipment was a gamble. Especially now, but if it worked. . .The decision was hard to come to, though in truth things were getting more and more dicey as another unit joined the fray. Knowing what would occur if he chose wrong. . .

        For the time being the unit attempted to pull away from the Gundam before preparing its canon once more.

        <"Byakuen to Longshot, I'll keep the Gundam pinned. Keep the other unit from attempting to support those inside. If Mafty's caught, it doesn't matter the situation, the mission fails. Understand?">

        As if to iterate a chance moment for Karma to go, he takes another explosive round to the Gundam, an explosion ensuing upon collision and in doing so, hoping to give his ally the chance to disengage.

<Pose Tracker> Karma Sato has posed.

        Karma raises his shield as the focused fire rains in and his shield is all but munched like a child at NERV  under the focused fire and  in the end there is not much there to be called a shield anymore. <"This is Longshot, I can't make any more promises about being able to stay much longer in the fight.">

         Despite his message over comms he isn't giving up yet as he cycles his guns back out deciding to not give the Messiah a chance to get away. He begins to shoot shots here and there in an attempt to corral the enemy and lines up the perfect shot before firing at what he hopes is dead center.

<Pose Tracker> Alteur Steinbeck has posed.

         The Valkyrie flees. The monstrous Arm Slave, its visor flickering through the darkness - clearly the beam shot did a little more damage than it looked like, at least to the head - watches it go. It doesn't seem to feel any need to pursue.

         Instead, it turns. It looks up at the fleeing Mobile Suits. It looks at the Xi Gundam and the Black Knights.

         And then as suddenly as it appeared from the trees it returns. A few steps into the rainforest it simply...disappears. No scans detect it. No stealth sensors. No seismics. Nothing. It's as if the machine simply vanished into thin air.

         Alteur Steinbeck lays back against the jungle grass. The canopy is pleasant. His ride will be here eventually, and no one will find him here. No one even knows to look for him. MAFTY would accomplish their goals, and, hopefully, old friends from AEUG would know that Alteur Steinbeck was there for them, even if only in secret. They would think that he sent that Arm Slave and smile secret smiles and know that their old friend still had thier back.

         His eyes sink shut under the trees. The sound of the birds, the sound of the beasts, the sound of the insects. He had nothing to fear here. He settles the strange 'gun' on his hip and raises his finger to let a passing bird stop for a moment and rest. Behind his mask, a satisfied smile.

         Today...

         Had been fun.

         Berudim Tohu, he mouths to himself, a grin on his lips. For some reason...

         For some reason, that felt so satisfying.

         The bird flies away. Alteur puts his hand back behind his head. The canopy dances above him. The gentle rains pour down on his body. Perhaps, he considers, he should get a cloak next time. Who knows where he might deploy as 'Mr. Tronium'?

<Pose Tracker> Mobile Weapon Team has posed.

" - .. right, I'd for sure become a hateful ghost if I died in this miserable place!" Jan replies back, before the panoramic cockpit completely goes black - not from the cameras or sensors being damaged, but from the explosive round blowing apart the chest armor and breaching the cockpit, smashing the panoramic monitors. Shrapnel pierces his body and leaves him raggedly on the edge, stunned - in both pain and disbelief at his own luck, that he'd avoided a killing shot. No, it wasn't just luck; it was the sturdiness of this Gundam, too. A Jegan or a GM would have been obliterated by it.

" .. urgh .. I .. I don't want to die here - with all this regret weighing down my heart, more than gravity ever could; I .. won't die!"

Almost as if responding to will, the Quasi-Psycommu system sputters back to life, and the peculiar looking modules on the Gundam's head flicker before dimly shining back to life.

        "Go, INCOM!"

One winch fires and makes a bee line straight for the Byakuen, doggedly pursuing him. And if it can catch him, it'll clamp around the head of the Byakuen, practically crushing the fact sphere as it drags it back for the Gundam to smash its fist into the KMF's damaged chest.

        Meanwhile

Perkot nervously trails through Administration, taking every corner wide and keeping his gun held in front of him. So far, he hadn't seen a single terrorist .. but he did know why contact had been lost. The man and women were all unconscious, practically vegetables, drooling where they'd been. And if they weren't, they had lethal gunshots riddling them in one way or another, usually around the heart or lungs. Why did he have to be the one to come down here? Why was it everyone around him was so incompetent? - like that Captain .. who gave a damn about the nature preserve? Burn it all down if it meant killing the criminals attacking his facility, and then come in here and do their jobs - that's what he'd wanted to say. But there was something steely about Eight York that sealed his tongue. It was that same kind of steel the woman he'd threatened to shoot had, too, and is why he left so shamefully.

This whole situation was unsettling, and upsetting. Gently peeking into his own office once he'd arrived, he saw his computer online, but no one in the room. Carefully, and with extreme caution, Perkot slowly peekes the door open and enters, gun first. " - you're there!" he swings around, pointing a gun into the face of a sunglasses wearing teenager.

                He couldn't pull the trigger.

"Wh..what..I - I can't..why?!" he struggles. It's not that the trigger was stuck, or ill-oiled. No, the problem was that he could't move his finger.

        His head hurt.

"I guess even someone like you must have a heart, if you can't shoot someone younger than you." Mafty muses.

"Project Redefine .. it's pretty ambitious of you. I'll tell you the truth, Lieutenant Colonel."

Perkot continues to struggle to pull the trigger, only to find he could no longer move either arms, nor could he speak. Trails of blood dribble down his right eye.

" ... I really didn't know anything about that Gundam when we came here. A lot of people for both of us met their ends today. In the end, what could you call that but the misfortune of being born? On this planet earth ... do you understand what I'm saying?"

Mafty brings his own handgun up and settles it firmly against Perkot's chest, right over his heart. "This world is moved only by the mechanisms that govern it. As long as that's the case, tragedies will continue to happen every day; given your connections, you must understand that much .. well. I guess continuing to talk about it doesn't matter. If I indulge myself further than this, others will pay the price. They say a good commander will die with his men, right?"

        Bang.

Perkot seethes with anger, as his revolver is removed from his person, and pocketed by Mafty, who turns around and finishes setting the brick of C4 he was working on. "I was only able to steal enough of this to bomb this sector of the building - but it's this that matters."

                The timer is set for 5:00 minutes.

<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.

"Acknowledged Shortstop.  Good work out there."  She turns off open radio to start directing engineers to get ready to receive the mecha.  It was very much /not/ natural, she's certain.  "...We'll figure out what that was later."

As Rena has to shout that she's falling back too, Eight finds her hand curling into a fist in concern--but Rena's leaping their way.  This is what she can do.  "Take us down lower to pick up our people, Ms. Chovan.  Keep the weapons at the ready, Fari--I don't want to fire into the rainforest but if they come up after us..."  They have machine guns for that.

But Anita asks her waht to do here.  Eight has to make a quick decision--defense of the base, or the lives of her pilots?  ...in the end, it's not a decision at all.  Even if Anita stayed down there on her own, there's no way she could take them all on herself after all that.

"Rosetta--pull out," the Captain directs.  "I'm coming down closer to cover everyone's escape."

The pilot brings the Ra Mari in closer, slowly making its way down in elevation, though not quite onto the forest itself.  That's when she suddenly gets a warning from Astelian--

"Captain!  We're detecting C4 activating in the facility!"

"Damn," Eight answers, "Halt our descent.  Get me a line into the base."

"You've got a bomb in your base, Lieutenant-Colonel.  Get your people out of there if you can."  She doesn't know what all's happened down there, since he left.  But she has to try something.  "Coordinates..."  She rattles off the information as best she's able, and then tightbeams to the Gundam.

"Retreat!  This is Captain York of the Ra Mari, your base is rigged with explosives--get out of there!"

"All forces," over the radio, "Pull out!"

<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.

"Then don't die. Even if you have to retreat, alright? As long as you survive, things can get better." Anita replies to Gimbley. Sure, there are things worth fighting with one's life for... but is right now one of those situations?

Her attention is forced back onto Karma as the Knightmare Frame begins to open fire. Shots are fired here and there, forcing the Messiah Rosetta to back away. She can tell she's being lead, but that knowledge doesn't really help her - she doesn't have a whole lot of room for movement here. And then, there's one final shot, dead center. Her shield is raised at the last second, and the Pinpoint Barrier system repositioned for defense. The sniper shot /drills/ into the shield, the full force of the attack enough to send the Variable Fighter careening back and leaving a long trail across the muddy ground. Anita grits her teeth as she fights to regain control, eventually coming to a stop as the machine drops to one knee.

"...Damn." Anita remarks. She doesn't curse often - it's a sign of the seriousness of the situaton. "That last hit took the pinpoint barrier off line - and a lot of my fuel reserves with it."

Does she have enough to keep fighting...? It looks like the Burai is on its last legs too, but she's not exactly keen on fighting to the death. That's when she hears a report over the communications. Retreat...? Well, she's not going to say no.

"You got it!"  She starts, forcing her machine back into a standing position.

"You're pretty good, Burai..." She remarks, for the Knightmare Frame's benefit. She does a disengaging leap backward, then, converting into GERWALK to allow herself to hover in mid-air.

"Gimbley, I'm giving you cover fire! You heard the lady - get out of there!" Anita calls out to the Gundam pilot. She draws out her gatling pod and opens fire in the area between the hangar and the Knightmare Frame from her vantage point, before swapping into Fighter Mode to retreat to the Ra Mari.

<Pose Tracker> Orpheus Zevon has posed.

"He's deploying that Slash Harken weapon again?!"

        Orpheus already recalled what that thing had done to the Messer, crushing its head without trouble before. If it got a hold of the Byakuen. . .The unit was deploying all it could inorder to try and keep itself out of range. It did everything it could think of to try and keep the Incom at bay, attempt to pull out of its range, try to cross it over itself, anything to have it lose its potency, but whatever was occurring to allow that thing to attack was smart enough to avoid such an issue and like a snake till it ensnared the beetle-horned KMF. "Damn it!"

        Already he could see the pressure of the attack causing severe damage to its factsphere but more than that. . ."If that breaks. . .If this Gundam doesn't kill me, she will. . ."

        Perhaps he was over stating it, but knowing that he allowed such a mishap to occur on his watch, well sometimes you have to balance your life and your pride, and it seemed like it was one of those moments. So as the gundam began to tug the Byakuen in, what was surprising was that there was no resilience whatsoever. In fact, it was using that tugging momentum inorder to launch itself forward. While it was definitely losing its factsphere from this, he had at least hoped the prototype would remain. Losing it without using it, that'd be a problem. The Byakuen had a new objective now. Destroy the Gundam before it could take its head. . .So as the Gundam would see the Byakuen pulled-- No charging in, it'd realize that as it was about to wind up its fist into the KMF's chest. . .That very same KMF was about to do the same. . .Only that fist it was holding was changing into something else. . .Something with a bit more range than just its fist. . .And much more sound as it spiraled. A drill generating heat as it rotated without a doubt intending to pierce the cockpit in one foul attack.

<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.

Qivi's Sarangay hadn't gone inside to help load. The wanzer is bigger than a Knightmare Frame but much smaller than a mobile suit; even a simple lifter can do better than it. Plus, she wouldn't trust one of those arms for heavy lifting anymore. Not after Rena tore off the shield attached to it and damaged the framework underneath.

No, Qivi knows what she's here for, and it's helping with the assault. It's what she's always for. She's the heavy, after all, she thinks to herself. Just the thug you bring along to open doors with their fist and knock down mobile suits.

Well, whatever she thinks of it, Orpheus gets a surprise (pleasant or otherwise) when a half-bashed-in wanzer accelerates out around a corner of a building. It may have one working arm, but the other one works fine, and it's the other one that has the rectangular missile box mounted on it.

On the wheel boosters, Qivi doesn't approach but keeps her distance, firing a salvo of slender missiles at the Gundam from the flank. "Hey, over here, big guy!" They don't lock onto the Byakuen - Qivi has chosen her angle correctly, at least if her goal is to avoid friendly fire. "<Sarangay to Byakuen. You looked lonely so I thought I'd swing by,>" Qivi sends, afterwards. "<I don't think anyone wants to be here much longer.>"

<Pose Tracker> Karma Sato has posed.

        The beaten up modified Burai that is Longshot takes cover from the retreating fire of the Messiah, he returns the same amount of fire with his machine gun with the same intent to hit.  Finally as his opponent retreats he moves to return to the Byakuen and the others  and finds the Sarangay  there as well.  To his fellow knights he communicates < "I would say I am here to help but you both seem to have it taken care of."> So all he can do is scan for any suits that are not retreating.

<Pose Tracker> Mobile Weapon Team has posed.

"What?!" Jan sputters out in disbelief. C4? The terrorists got that far inside?

In the CIC, after receiving the transmission, the woman left in charge responds back with " - .. roger that, Ra Mari. We .. don't have a good headcount of our staff right now, but we're going to put out an evacuation alarm. This will be our last transmission for you, as we'll be abandoning the CIC post-haste. Gunung Leuser Federal Depot, Corporal Lal Ashakova signing off."

Taking her cap off and releasing her hair with an agitated, tense huff in the process, she hurls it to the ground. "You two..you get out of here. There should be an old Medea-class on the flight deck. I'll set up the alarm and come after you, but don't wait up."

"B-but - " " 'I'm in charge of this base'." she sardonically quotes a certain LC.

"..okay, but please hurry. We'll wait as long as we can."

Before she can reply, the younger of the two men grabs his coworkers and bolts for the door.

Lal sighs, and begins her recording.

Hathaway, extracting himself through the Special Hangar that he and the others entered from, finds that Ray and Emeralda had already bootscooted with what they could - before the fighting directly outside the hangar got too intense, and wrecked one of their MW's, forcing them to retreat with only the ship parts they needed and some of the munitions.

There was still one Mobile Worker left inside the hangar, from when one of his soldiers had been killed in it. Darno, if he recalled his name right.

"I'm sorry," he apologizes quietly to the corpse while moving it aside to man the MW.

All remaining personnel, report to the upper platform! This is not a drill. Explosive ordinance has been deployed inside the base and will detonate at an unknown time. This is a full scale evacuation order from your Acting Commander. This message will repeat.

" - it's just in Admin, but I guess it got 'em spooked ... good. That's better for everyone."

Turning on its heel, the Mobile Worker begins to charge at full force out fo the hangar, its stumpy legs pumping as hard as they can to reach the shoreline, and the boat.

Gundam Mk.-IV shudders, it had brought Byakuen as close as it could with the intention of finishing it off, but as its fist dents in the Byakuen's chest and drives it closer into the cockpit, the KMF's 'fangs'  - its devastating drillbits, rip into the Gundam's exposed chest. Pushing his battered, bleeding body down, Jan cries out as his shoulder gets caught in the attack. "A--ahhhhh!!!"

Held on only by sinew, and himself only running off of adrenaline and the will to live, weakly pushes on the controls.

And, moving on its own as it had earlier in the fight, the Mk.-IV raises a hand and flips it upside down, ignting a beam saber with the intent of plunging it into Orpheus' cockpit to end it once and for all.

Only, Qivi's barrage of missiles slam into the Gundam from behind and blow off its backpack, and other already fractured armor sections. Most importantly, the impact applies leverage, and drives the Gundam deeper into the Byakuen's drill.

Byakuen, with one final push, drills straight through the right side, and the camoflouged Gundam falls for the final time, the lights on its head and in its eyes sputtering in synch before the AI shut off once and for all.

"D..damnit...even when I still had someone risking their neck for me..I couldn't break through..." Jan wheezes, dourly, holding onto his now useless right arm.

Out of the hole torn in his mobile suit, he could see the Medea take flight from the depot. " ... so in the end, I guess .. I'm all alone here, huh? Sorry I dragged you down with me." he apologizes to the Gundam.

        0:00

Shortly after, an explosion racks the facility. The structural damage between the attack and the bombing causes severe instability that ultimately reduces it to a ruin.

        After Action Report

Gunung Leuser Federal Depot was left in shambles after the attack. The bodies of Perkot and his subordinates in the Administration section, at ground zero, were destroyed beyond recognition - and with the data on the Mk.-IV lost, as well as its main proponent presumed KIA, Project Redefine is left in a nebulous state. The Gundam itself, also, was damaged quite thoroughly and left all but completely unsalvageable when the reclamation force re-entered the area to survey and salvage what they could. The pilot, Ensign Jan Gimbley, was not found in the cockpit, or anywhere else on-site. Due to the profound blood less seen in the cockpit, he has been presumed KIA rather than AWOL.

As for the Black Knights, while they did not gain everyhing the had desired from the encounter, they did recover the main thing that the AEFM had been after; components critical to the construction and maintenance of a Pegasus-class battleship. Furthermore, because of his theft of the database before his assassination of LC Perkot, he now had information on all the other locations developing for Project Redefine.

Corp. Ashakova and the rest of the soldiers who made it out in the Medea carrier were offered discharge without honors. None of them turned it down.