2022-02-23: Hands Joined, Then Pushed Away
- Log: 2022-02-23: Hands Joined, Then Pushed Away
- Cast: Saraven Vai, Seolla Schweizer, Bergh Scred, Eight York, Seabook Arno, Trevor Teach
- Where: Side 4, Frontier Five
- OOC - IC Date: 0096-02-23
- Summary: The Lilac Gale attacks the colony of Frontier Five from within. Londo Bell and G-Hound send contingents to repel...but connections are forged and frayed in rapid succession
<Pose Tracker> Saraven Vai has posed.
The attacks by the Sleeves have only stepped up in recent weeks. What's been particularly vexing is their tendency to come out of nowhere - often with very little lead time, with mobile suits simply appearing out of the blue by way of cargo containers left floating freely in space, each one big enough to hold a small raiding force. It's created two problems: The need for more patrols of active trade lanes, and a sense of uncertainty as to where could be next or where the raid containers are being dropped from.
One of those questions, at least, is answered by a crackling transmission from a colony in Side 4: <"We're under attack! Zeon units are inside the colony!">
Another attack in the general vicinity of Luna. This one's different, though: Frontier Five is a colony that shouldn't be easy to get into. There wasn't even an attack from the outside - the colony's airlocks and exterior are fine.
The problem comes inside. There's a large artificial lake inside the colony cylinder, backed onto by a factory of significant size, loaded with cargo and shipping facilities for parts-carrying ships.
There is also a column of smoke blooming from the factory and several mobile suits firing on it from the lake. They look like Geara Zulus, the newest line mobile suit of the Sleeves, but loaded with gear suitable for attacks in and above water and painted navy blue.
All except the one at the front. It's the Varguil, its space-streamlined lilac frame equipped with a set of water jets affixed to its backpack, its usual rifle set aside in favour of a large watertight carbine - one it's firing up at the factory in a steady barrage. Explosions rock the factory, spewing debris into the air and water.
Saraven looks out through her forward monitor as she takes her shots, soaking down the factory with firepower. After a few more shots, she checks a small side screen and frowns.
"Do as much damage as we can," she transmits to the Geara Zulu squad. "We will withdraw into the deeper water when we need pickup."
<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
"...why are they sending me to this all on my own..."
Seolla Schweizer's been biting her thumb about this the entire time she's been put on call to respond to this surprise attack. She goes through the motion of suiting up and initializing her Mobile Suit and launching off into space and the rendezvous with anti-insurgent forces all while muttering this under her breath over and over again. She barely realizes where she is or what the situation is even by the time she's got there. (this is considered: a good thing for the School project! thinking bad, shooting good.)
"...why are they sending me to this all on my own..."
She's still hung up on it hours after the fact, steadily simmering to a bubbling head like a crockpot of insecurity. It's making her boil, and seethe, and go just a little cross-eyed. It's making her realize how bad a time she is dealing with that fact - and her having a bad time at it is only making her more frustrated - and the cycle goes on and on and on!
About fifteen minutes before deploying into Frontier Five, Seolla has to, briefly, cut off her communications, and let out a rather shill, hoarse kind of scream. (The assigned data recording box hears it. She doesn't have permission to turn that one off, nor does she even know about it.)
Immediately after, she cuts them all back on. All of it. She needs to hear them, even the inane operational chatter that would be sensible to turn off by this point. She bellows out forcefully, "This is Seolla Schweizer, G-Hound Enforcement Corps, setting up at Position 11 for suppression support. ...hhh...who are the rest of you here?" Seolla -has- to ask. The stew is boiling over. She only just even -realizes- that she's at the established position to begin shelling the lake - it's her job to start the covering fire that'll let the rest close in. She never asks - she's not supposed to. The triggers are already being pulled mid-hesitant-plea-to-talk-to-someone. The School doesn't send people if there's a need to have any delays on starting to open fire!
KTS: Seolla Schweizer targets Saraven Vai with Standard Secondary Beam Rifle Rapid Fire!
<Pose Tracker> Bergh Scred has posed.
"Let's see - last minute checks .." Bergh murmurs, elbows deep in the cockpit side of working on F90's Biocomputer. Monica Arno was working above him, in the Gundam's head unit, fixing all of Bergh's previous slapdash work. Boy, had he gotten an earful about quite a lot of the circumstances surrounding his presence on the Archangel; from what he'd done to get the F90 back up and running, to wasting a set of U-Parts, and then some. Overall though, he could suppose she was happy to see him.
I can't really blame her for having conniptions, though .. he chuckles, thinking to himself. Since the security protocols to cold storage hadn't been changed when the Formula 90 project had been retired, it'd been pretty easy for him to crack the unused hangar back open and use the leftover parts from the totalled F90 and F90RZ to cobble together a pretty accurate reproduction of the original F90 Unit 1; and what wasn't there in storage, he was able to largely substitute with Heavygun parts.
The Biocomputer wasn't his specialty, though.
And it turned out that the performance problems that the unit had been experiencing to now was largely a result of him installing it improperly. There was a kind of trick to it - and it was to his great shame to learn that even Seabook's little sister had apparently been capable of figuring it out when he'd flubbed it so badly.
"Okay, I think this end is good. Thanks again, for helping out here in the hangar," Bergh calls up to her. Monica was a civilian at the end of the day - a refugee, it wasn't like she had to help out. Though...
.. this whole ship's practically being staffed by refugees and fresh, unqualified blood. Seabook wasn't kidding. he grimaces.
The ready-klaxon began to ring, " - eh? Man, it feels like any time I want to talk to someone, something's gotta' interrupt .. "
A short time later, and Bergh was in his normal suit, receiving a briefing inside of his cockpit along with Seabook, who instead was with one of the Heavygun units delivered to the ship when F90 was transferred over.
" - we're still unsure of how the enemy got in, but please remember that you're going to be fighting in a colony .. uhm, over." Mirialla Haw stutters out after a moment, having almost forgotten how to end the briefing. "Roger that. O-K, well - let's give it our best shot. Hopefully, I won't embarass myself in front of everyone this time," Bergh cheekily retorts, pinching together his forefinger and thumb to make the universal symbol of acknowledgement. "Bergh Scred, Gundam Formula 90 going!"
Due to its modular nature, it didn't take long at all for F90 to be fit with its M-Parts and ready it for aquatic combat. Its arms and legs featured mounts for torpedoes as well as water jets and rudders, while its shoulders and backpack mounted a module that included a periscope, and other valuable sensory equipment, and the unit's main propulsion while in the water.
Having entered the colony from its exterior dock, F90M first converges as covertly as it can from the ground, in an attempt to enter the sizeable reservoir and flank the Geara Zulu team from their own territory. To try and mask his readout on sensors, he'd temporarily shut all of the Gundam's exhaust vents on his approach. " ... bingo!"
Seolla's suppression, thankfully, gave him the opportunity he needed to attack, the Gundam flipping itself over under the water's surface to glide quietly along the bottom, before raising one arm up and releasing a series of torpedoes at the blue Zulus scrambling closer to the surface.
"Yo," he responds to her, "Bergh Scred, scrambled from Archangel. The politics of my position are a little complicated, but let's just say that we're buds now, yeah?"
KTS: Saraven Vai fails to evade Seolla Schweizer's Standard Secondary Beam Rifle Rapid Fire, taking 3600 damage! KTS: Bergh Scred has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus. KTS: Bergh Scred targets Saraven Vai with Homing Torpedo 1! KTS: Saraven Vai fails to intercept Bergh Scred's Homing Torpedo 1, taking 4500 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
Eight York was not expecting trouble here; she was at this particular colony in Side 4 on official business, interviewing some potential new crewmen that she wanted to meet for herself... since the people they'd be replacing were lost on her watch, against the Rasputin. She didn't really have to... but with the Ra Mari almost done with repairs, she prefers to meet crew who'll be on her ship herself, at least once, and she has time.
However...
--
"I'm on my way!"
Eight York launches from the hangar in the base, having stepped into the cockpit just a minute ago in the wake of the attack. They need all the pilots they can get; the owner of this mobile suit is out on leave, and can't get back in time to help before it's too late. So Eight, who knows how to pilot a mobile suit, has ended up in the Gundam. The cockpit always feels small to her in these machines, but she has no particular fear of tight quarters. She looks over the displays on her computers, and nods to herself, starting to manipulate the machine to take them out.
She moves off towards the water--
As Seolla starts shelling the lake, Eight moves int, using the cover to close to a reasonable enough distance that the INCOMs on her mech start to fold off like flower petals and begin firing on the local mecha.
She casts forth her presence, recognizing the Varguil immediately.
<I sense you, Lilac Gale.>
"Eight York, Londo Bell. Captain of the Ra Mari. ...But my ships's not here. I was just on base and know how to pilot." Pause. "We can be buds, that works. But be careful--I've encountered that lilac mobile suit before, and the pilot is extremely dangerous."
The MP Nu Gundam comes out from around the side of the factory, firing at the Geara Zulus.
KTS: Eight York targets Saraven Vai with INCOM Basic Formation! KTS: [Lucky] Saraven Vai's Clutch Foresight activates, and luck goes her way! KTS: Saraven Vai successfully evades Eight York's INCOM Basic Formation
<Pose Tracker> Seabook Arno has posed.
As activity has ramped up in the Frontier Side as of late, Seabook has become increasingly more concerned and anxious whenever the subject has come up on board the Archangel. Enough that it's been enough to mildly distract him even from Bergh's appearance - in more ways than one, as his sister was quick to poke fun at their similar appearances - as a new member of the crew riling things up a bit. That's not a surprise to anybody who knows him - because he's from here, and a lot has happened here. A lot. And though Frontier V might not be his particular home colony, he'll be damned if he's going to let anything else happen here if he's able to do something about it.
And between this and ZAFT's recent landfall in Africa, he has all the motivation he needs - the only problem is the peculiarity of this particular attack. They're inside the colony already!? If the warning is only coming out after the fact, it means there would've had to be a hole blown into the colony exterior at some point...or they snuck in. But where would they sneak into without...?
Seabook got his answer soon enough, when they got put onto call. It's hard to tell if the lack of knowledge on how they invaded or their method of attack is what's making him grimace more. "That makes two of us," Seabook retorts back to the older Formula pilot, despite not actually being in his own one right this moment. He's doing last checks on the machine he's sortieing in today, because...
NOW:
Flanking Bergh's F90M is what's indubitably a Heavygun, albeit one equipped with additional gear in the same nature as the Gundam; torpedo attachments and water jets adorn its limbs, while utility equipment is mounted onto each shoulder. "It's a good thing these parts are made to have extras...they don't do that because you're used to getting them destroyed, right?" That one, at least, is an obvious joke. And having had far less experience in this form of combat, he bides his time and gets used to the environment as they reach their position and wait for their moment. Something that comes before too long, when triggers start getting pulled. It's about time.
"Seabook Arno - Londo Bell. I'm with Bergh. Thanks for the fire support! And we'll be careful, Captain! Don't overdo it." A push on the controls sends the Heavygun on an angle away from the F90, to unleash a barrage of torpedoes straight up at the Sleeves detachment from below to detonate amid their ranks and help break some of them apart. Seabook's eyes - and senses - are trained on the lilac machine, however.
<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.
The sea. There's something beautiful about the sea. To be under the water, surrounded by the rushing waves on all sides, light filtering down through the rippling waves to dance across your face like an aqueous aurora. Another shadow rests under the waves, turned skyward. Its pilot reclines lazily, yawning with all the languid sleepiness of a particularly contented cat.
This is what being under the sea is like, is it...?
It's amazing. Almost as though he had always belonged to it, as if the sea itself were part of him, a fundamental, indelible aspect of his self that he only now discovered.
After all, his sort... belong on the sea, don't they?
...
The noise of battle disturbs his reverie. With a sigh, he leans forward on his controls, the ramshackle mobile suit turning slowly toward the thundering bursts of ordnance in the distance. "Well, couldn't sleep forever. Let's see how you fly, miss Sara...?"
"Or, I guess... how you swim...?"
Do birds swim? A question for later. Trevor shifts a lever into gear. A set of waterjets mounted to the Isadore's shoulders spin up, sending it roaring into the combat zone. It appears... as a civilian signature on radar. Some merchant who got caught up in all of this, maybe. Some poor sap who just happens to be sailing into the midst of battle unprepared, surely.
Surely.
"Man, friction under water is really something else. It's like I'm fighting in slow motion. Heh!"
Torpedos race toward the sleeves detachment. A laser flickers through the water and...
...Absolutely, completely misses, because this is a laser and refraction is a bitch. "Oops," Trevor laughs, and the beam... reorients, bouncing off the surface of the water and scything down into the incoming torpedos. "Sorry friend, I can't just let you do something so sneaky and underhanded as a submarine ambush...!"
The Isadore's IFF flickers, turning hostile... Before darting in with an oversized, bladed claw, aiming directly for the joint of the Heavygun's arm! "Hah, though I guess it doesn't sound like much coming from me. Well, shall we dance, my friend?"
KTS: Trevor Teach targets Seabook Arno with Anchor Bash! <Pose Tracker> Saraven Vai has posed.
The problem with attacking inside a colony is that defenders are often right there.
One of the Zee Zulus is struck immediately as Seolla opens up. The machine crumples back into the lake, smoking from a deep impact mark in its right shoulder. "Pull back to the pickup site," Saraven orders immediately, without having to think about it. "Trevor... be cautious. There are more than expected on scene."
The fleeing Zee Zulu doesn't make it far. Bergh slinks up, scores a torpedo hit and blows the machine out of the water - literally. Chunks of Zee Zulu fly into the air and spray across the colonial lakeshore. Saraven lowers her eyelids ever so slightly and shifts her firepower away from the factory itself.
"Leave the leaders to me," Saraven advises the squadron, tone still as level as ever. In her consciousness, she can feel Seolla and Bergh moving - the F90 is noteworthy enough that when her sensors finally do ID it, she stares at it for a couple of seconds.
She wasn't at Phobos. She read reports anyway.
Funnels spring from the Varguil's backpack. Three of them dive under the water. Beam shots sizzle through the artificial lake to try and force Bergh's machine to the surface; three more swoop up to pursue Seolla's machine, blasting at her from rapidly-changing directions. Focusing on the others is one thing - but the presence pushing at her mind is clear enough. Saraven closes her eyes; she doesn't respond immediately. The incoms come dancing out.
The Varguil moves - at astonishing speed. Water fountains behind the lilac machine as it skims waist-deep above the surface, dancing madly through Eight's hail of incom fire. The mobile suit actually dives for a few seconds before breaching with an odd twisting leap and submerging again, boosting out of reach, then popping back up a few metres away. It all happens in the space of seconds, a dizzying array of movement.
I'm surprised you're not on your ship.
The Varguil snaps its carbine forward, sinking deeper into the water and firing rapidly from chest-deep. It's not beams this time - it's bullets, saturating the space she's guessing Eight will move.
KTS: Saraven Vai targets Seolla Schweizer and Bergh Scred with Funnel Sweep. KTS: Saraven Vai targets Eight York with Watersealed Carbine Maneuver Shot! KTS: Trevor Teach has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Seolla Schweizer has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Seolla Schweizer fails to evade Saraven Vai's Funnel Sweep, taking 3712 damage! KTS: Seabook Arno fails to react to Trevor Teach's Anchor Bash, taking 2880 damage! KTS: Trevor Teach has engaged Seabook Arno KTS: Bergh Scred fails to evade Saraven Vai's Funnel Sweep, taking 2784 damage! KTS: Eight York has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Eight York fails to evade Saraven Vai's Watersealed Carbine Maneuver Shot, taking 3270 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Bergh Scred has posed.
"No! .... .... - maybe," Bergh jokes back with Seabook. "More seriously, a lot of the old Mission packs were adopted as standard modular equipment. At least, the ones that didn't make the old timers gasp at the budgeting .. "
So basically - U-Parts? That was a no go. But something like the M-Parts they were using was just utilitarian enough that it could be justified for mass production. The Heavygun, also, used the F90's frame as a basis and thus anything mass produced for the Heavygun would work fine for the F90 and vice-versa.
"Some people like to equate fighting in the water to fighting in space - but that's just not the truth. In the water, your MS relies extra hard on its propulsion to do anything. But you're a talented kid, I'm sure you'll get it in no time." Bergh advises him - nevermind that he was only a few years older than Seabook, being in his twenties.
" ... ?"
There's a subtle - ringing noise. Like a fuzzy sensation at the nape of his neck and the temples of his head, before a barrage of megaparticle shots streak into the water. " - no time to daydream..!"
The Gundam weaves, the rudders on its back letting the harsh turbines push it into its zig-zag, as the diffused shots streak by and wing its sides and legs. Whew .. good thing I'm in the water. A direct hit above the surface would've been bad! - but, that pilot .. it's not quite a pressure, but ... I could feel her intent zeroing in on me, somehow.
York had warned about her, but now that he thought of it - "Lilac, huh .. I wonder if you're that ace pilot?"
It's got a similar frame design to the Sazabi, doesn't it? Not that I'd know much about that. Bergh considers, before deciding to make himself known, more than he was a moment prior.
He didn't doubt for a second she'd kept her mind attuned to make sure he didn't catch her flat-footed.
< - there!>
Just before the Varguil can finish its evasive maneuvers and bust out through the water's surface, F90's shadow looms as large as a fifteen-foot-MS can, and reaches to grasp onto its lilac colored foe's ankle firmly, jerking back and gunning on its water jets to drag it back in, unsheathing a long knife similar in design to the Armor Schneiders used by the G-Projects, with a clear intent to jam it directly into one of Saraven's water jets.
KTS: Bergh Scred has activated the Accel Spirit Command and Has Engaged with Saraven Vai KTS: Bergh Scred targets Saraven Vai with F90 Marine Knife Attack! KTS: Saraven Vai has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Saraven Vai retreats from the attack! KTS: Saraven Vai successfully avoids Bergh Scred's F90 Marine Knife Attack <Pose Tracker> Seabook Arno has posed.
Seabook's senses are trained on the Varguil. They pick up something else only a moment too late.
He had registered the civilian IFF in the corner of his eye - and assumed in the moment, they were another reason their alpha strike on the Sleeves had to work. He'd probably have detached from the others to defend it until it had evacuated the battle area, if things had kept going on. He's seen enough innocent people get caught up in a fight they weren't ready for. What he wasn't expecting was the diffracting laser cutting through his volley of ballistics. "What--? Did that come from...!?"
In the next moment, the Heavygun is blindsided by the Isadore, its head unit swiveling the instant before contact. The targeted limb is shifted just enough so that the joint isn't taken out completely, but 'only' gets stabbed into directly on the plating of the upper arm above it. Seabook rocks in his seat from the impact, gritting his teeth and wincing as he takes in the machine right in front of him. "Zeon had something other than their own mobile suits waiting for us...! It sure doesn't!" Seabook has no qualms agreeing with that. "And--"
While they're locked together, the Heavygun swings up with a knee to try and impact the Isadore straight below the cockpit block, to rattle the machine and create a small bit of distance between the two of them. The maneuver is immediately followed up with its still-usable arm going to its side, pulling free the large knife resting on its side. The edge of the weapon ignites red, signifying a heated blade, before the Heavygun lunges back in - a full thruster-assisted acceleration, courtesy of Bergh's advice - for a diagonal swipe across the torso of the pirate's machine!
"I'll pass on the dancing! I just want you guys stopped before you hurt anyone else!"
<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
Londo Bell...Seolla's been largely kept on the dark about disputes between Londo Bell and G-Hound, but for today, her IFF flags them as cooperators in putting down Zeon remnants, and hearing someone to talk to stabilizes that mounting anxiety that was threatening to carve a hole in her gut.
Not she -sounds- like she's any better off.
"Tch. Buds? Complicated politics...that's just a polite way to say you've got plans that'll start making things harder. Isn't that the whole reason we're still fighting Zeon? So much infighting instead of keeping it all under control...ngghhhh, I'm sure you all -know- that, and you're still so casual about it all! Are you totally crazy to think we'd manage to be friends even then?" She's entering the Puffy Tsun Zone saying all this though - and that's the sign that she's doing a lot better!
Like the flip of a safety switch, though, Seolla's eyes narrow the moment she's surrounded by a buzzing gaggle of funnels, the Jegan's elevated position good for the first shot, but terrible for holding the line when pushed upon, and she's darting away from her position, all while pursued by those persistent funnels. She's not outfitted for a direct plunge into the water, and instead diverts into the forests surrounding the lake - one where the funnels easily crash or stall out trying to navigate by comparison.
The gleam of Seolla's rifle pokes through the brush, her breathing stabilizing, tracking the whirling, dancing movements of the Varguil. She waits for the opportune time...and takes it, as soon as Bergh moves to try grabbing Saraven back into the water.
"Your war ended a long time ago...it's time to realize you're wasting all your effort!"
KTS: Seabook Arno has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Seabook Arno has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Seabook Arno targets Trevor Teach with F90 Marine Knife Attack! KTS: Seolla Schweizer has activated the Assail Spirit Command. KTS: Seolla Schweizer targets Saraven Vai with Standard Secondary Beam Rifle Aimed Shot! KTS: Saraven Vai fails to evade Seolla Schweizer's Standard Secondary Beam Rifle Aimed Shot, taking 3300 damage! <Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
"I won't!" Eight assures Seabook. Or at least, she'll try not to. Technically deploying at all is kind of overdoing it, but they need the help, and she can't just leave them.
"Engaging!"
Don't get used to the idea. I just happened to be away today.
Eight grits her teeth as she notices the mobile suit ahead of her dancing madly through, and she tries to keep a sense of where she will be, not where she is at the moment. In the process, she senses the Varguil's intent--but she is already moving before she reacts, and the Nu Gundam takes a number of bullets to its armor in a spray of deadly force.
"...Sorry, guy," Eight mutters to the owner of the mobile suit, and moves up, making use of the lower gravity in a colony to bounce over the water to the next spot.
She feels her awareness buzzing; it's strange, to be in this place again. This mental place, that is. But...
"Time to get up close!"
Eight banks forward and then dashes along the surface of the water, drawing out a beam saber and igniting it in a blaze of red-pink as she rushes forward--but that's a feint. It's the head vulcans she uses. She tries to follow her instincts--
KTS: Eight York has activated the Foresee Spirit Command. KTS: Eight York targets Saraven Vai with Head Vulcans Dash-and-Fire! KTS: Saraven Vai has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Saraven Vai fails to evade Eight York's Head Vulcans Dash-and-Fire, taking 2700 damage! KTS: Eight York has engaged Saraven Vai KTS: Saraven Vai has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has disengaged. KTS: Trevor Teach fails to parry Seabook Arno's F90 Marine Knife Attack, taking 4840 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Seabook Arno's Newtype Flash activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: Seabook Arno has engaged Trevor Teach KTS: Seabook Arno begins a Formation attack!
<Pose Tracker> Saraven Vai has posed.
Another subtle sensasion nags at the edges of Saraven's senses. She can hear another voice on the radio - putting a name to Bergh is beyond her, but the unit is recognized. Maneuvering under the surface in the midst of her maneuvers, she turns to find the F90 on top of her -
And steers a few metres to one side Bubbles ripple behind the knife attack as the watersealed Varguil shifts its angle just slightly before continuing on to elude Eight's INCOMs. There is no sense of surprise. Somehow, she saw it coming - even in the midst of a dazzling evasive pattern. Her eyelids lower ever so slightly. "There are many ace pilots," she says quietly. "You will have to be more specific."
If nothing else, Bergh distracts her just long enough. Seolla fires a long-ranged shot and connects squarely, knocking a propellant tank off the Varguil's backpack in a spray of murky black liquid. A danger light flickers on, and Saraven switches the warning off with a frown before glancing off to one side. "The war has been going on for seventeen years," she says quietly. "The Mars Zeon Independence Army has never surrendered. Nor will we."
The distraction buys Eight the moment she needs. The MP Nu comes barreling in, vulcans blazing. Small-caliber bullets pepper the Varguil as Saraven whirls to try and confront the other machine. A few shots sneak through - enough that water begins to leak into part of the machine's skirt assembly.
Saraven throws her breast verniers into full burn and her water jets into reverse. As the MP Nu charges, the Varguil backs off, leading to something resembling a chase in shoulder-deep water. As she goes, she sends her funnels sweeping out and away. They entirely clear the water and seemingly vanish from the field.
You were at Ganymed too, weren't you...?
You always seem to be here to try and stop us.
I can't let that happen.
With a heavier burst of thrust, she gains a little more distance and swings her carbine forward before toppling back and submerging. The Varguil actually sinks for several metres before beginning to fire up through the water. She whirls, shooting up towards Eight, then aiming to blast back towards Bergh in a heavy salvo. Seolla is seemingly left alone...
...until, suddenly, the Varguil's funnels come exploding through the terrain! Even at a distance, they dart and swarm like rodents, saturating the air around Seolla's machine with a crisscrossing web of beams!
KTS: Saraven Vai targets Bergh Scred and Eight York with Watersealed Carbine Barrage. KTS: Saraven Vai targets Seolla Schweizer with Funnel All-Range Attack! KTS: Eight York charges into the attack! KTS: Eight York fails to react to Saraven Vai's Watersealed Carbine Barrage, taking 2915 damage! KTS: Seolla Schweizer has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Seolla Schweizer fails to react to Saraven Vai's Funnel All-Range Attack, taking 4171 damage! KTS: Bergh Scred has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Bergh Scred blocks Saraven Vai's Watersealed Carbine Barrage, taking 2267 damage! <Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.
A last minute arm movement to protect the limb, followed by a swift kick just underneath the cockpit block. Trevor rocks in his restraints, nearly slamming his skull into his heads-up display as he's sent tumbling back through the water. "You wound me, my friend!" Trevor chimes back in reply, his manner characteristically light and lackadaisy. "Literally," he deadpans, "What, are you trying to give me a concussion? We aught to fight like gentlemen!"
A knife strike. The Isadore whips a blade of its own forth to deflect the strike, the telltale flash and humm of a beam emitter signifying the ignition of a saber...!
Except this is STILL underwater, and Trevor's blade does not get anywhere long enough to actually intercept Seabook's attack.
"Tch," the heated blade carves deep into the pirate's torso, scraping a trench into the reinforced chestplate before the beam blade finally finds the right output setting, blazing to life! "Not bad, though! Looks like the Federation was keeping some decent pilots in the inner system! Though I admit, this is kind of my first time doing it underwater," Trevor darts forward into the gap, raking the blazing cutlass to counter-slash across the Heavygun's own torso...! "I apologize for my clumsy footwork, this isn't what I'm usually like, you know. But we must all start somewhere, no?"
KTS: Trevor Teach targets Seabook Arno with Beam Cutlass Riposte! KTS: Seabook Arno fails to Parry Trevor Teach's Beam Cutlass Riposte, taking 4200 damage! KTS: Trevor Teach has engaged Seabook Arno KTS: Trevor Teach begins a Formation attack! <Pose Tracker> Bergh Scred has posed.
"Maybe so," Bergh concedes, " .. though, I guess whether you are or not doesn't change what's important: that right now, we're enemies.."
Water gushes as it beats against the sides of Gundam F90. its upper body now exposed to the world. It bears an uncanny resemblance to the original RX-78; though with its current equipment, it is bogged down by a variety of orange colored naval-use modules.
With Varguil taking a beating between the Jegan and Nu Gundam pinning it with a well executed barrage of attacks, Bergh isn't unsatisfied by the fact he'd failed to tag her given that his allies had gotten something out of it. But he also knew that he couldn't let the rhythm of the battle go uncontested. She's trying hard to stay at her ideal range, huh? That unit seems specialized in mid-range combat ..
Rather than with his eyes, Bergh felt out the situation with Seabook using his gut; or rather, his mind's eye is what casts its gaze to that state of affairs. If I time things right, I can turn both of these fights around. If we take these two out, the rest of those Geara Zulu will be fish in a barrel.
The Gundam sinks back into the water, "Alright, to qualify our new frond-ship, let me set off some party poppers!"
It's unclear what's more destructive - his armaments, or his puns.
On the Gundam's legs were mounts for large torpedoes, each the size of a mobile suit's arm, two of which are released from their holds to begin seeking out their targets - Varguil, skating at the surface of the water, and Isadore, tussling with the Heavygun deeper down.
KTS: Bergh Scred has activated the Accel Spirit Command and Has Engaged with Trevor Teach KTS: Bergh Scred has activated the Accel Spirit Command and Has Engaged with Saraven Vai KTS: Bergh Scred targets Saraven Vai and Trevor Teach with Homing Torpedoes 3 & 4. KTS: Saraven Vai successfully evades Bergh Scred's Homing Torpedoes 3 & 4 KTS: Trevor Teach successfully evades Bergh Scred's Homing Torpedoes 3 & 4
<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
Once more, the chaos forces Seolla far away from the bulk of the engagement, everyone splashing away in the lake. Rejecting those fanning these same flames as her, engaging this same war as her. Now it is quiet here, where she's all on [:74]her own
remember
when you took
<*****> and <********>
out to that lake-
"Why. . . that's not what's really happening, why is something like that- - -" Seolla's hands waver for a minute in her perch, her aim losing track of the Varguil, the world getting distant. Bigger and bigger. Farther and farther away. Echoes from things that never happened chatter in her ears, and one of Bronzo-27's fists slam against the cockpit's interior...
The spiraling reverie is broken when those insistent funnels catch up at last, peppering the Jegan with a barrage of laser fire that quickly sears gashes in Seolla's Mobile Suit, a shrill call of panic over the airwaves. It kicks up a bit of a fire in this forest, flames licking at Seolla's vision, eyes going dim. The emergency protocols initiate - she sees only -small hostiles- in her vision, and the Jegan's head vulcans alight to finally try dispatching them, whirring and buzzing in clear, concise, methodical arcs.
That side of her brain is awfully adept at holding her own in a fight when the remaining 70% is in a total haze.
where is it. where is it.
that thing I can't ignore.
I'm going to keep falling unless-
Of all things. Of all of the -possible- things to yank Seolla out of this utterly terrible disposition she's so rapidly gotten herself into.
"...frond-ship...? Are you - Are you an absolute moron, Bergh?! What kind of joke even is that? Absolutely...utterly -terrible-, and it's almost like you're proud of having thought of it for weeks! Ghghghhhhh-!"
You've saved the day, punmaster Bergh.
It does -enough- to snap Seolla back to reality. Back to the part where there is a bright pink Zeon remnant she's supposed to be proving herself to obliterate. Flush in the cheeks from outrage at the sheer lameness of that joke, Seolla's charging right back into the water - if she can't really lock on, and can't find cover, then she's got no choice! She's gotta take a page from that dummy Arado's book and leap right in, vulcans a-blazing in an intent to blind the troublesomely elusive
KTS: Seolla Schweizer has activated the Assail Spirit Command. KTS: Seolla Schweizer targets Saraven Vai with Head Vulcans Dash-and-Fire! KTS: Saraven Vai has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Saraven Vai retreats from the attack! KTS: Saraven Vai successfully avoids Seolla Schweizer's Head Vulcans Dash-and-Fire <Pose Tracker> Seabook Arno has posed.
"I'll be doing a lot worse than that if you and the rest of Zeon's remnants keep this up," Seabook replies after his knife blow strikes home, not in the intonation of a threat or overconfidence but more a statement being delivered matter-of-factly. "I don't want to hear about honorable combat when you're launching a sneak attack on a colony! This isn't one of the Gundam Fights on Earth!" Even so, he knows that he actually lucked out that time...
A thought proven true in short order when his opponent's saber finally ignites proper, while he's still recovering from the sudden acceleration into his attack; getting his machine back under control in the depths is still something new to him, and on reflex more than anything else, he tries to use AMBAC to rear back and pull the heat knife back into the way as if it was the beam saber he was used to. But it's both a far shorter weapon and his method of moving isn't nearly fast enough, resulting in the Heavygun getting a searing gash across its center of mass.
Seabook only hits the jets by the time the saber has rent through plenty of armor just shy of the cockpit section, at which point it yanks away just enough to avoid getting dug into further. "Ngh...! I can't underestimate this guy...is that a cutlass?" In a corner of his mind, he registers that 'inner system' comment. So he must be from the asteroid belt, or further. "We're on even footing when it comes to piloting then! But I can't lose here of all places!"
The small bit of range made between them is more than enough for what comes next. Rather than coming around with its heat knife once again, the Heavygun swings both arms forward at the same time the torpedo tubes on either side of its legs prime themselves. All at once, they fire in unison to unleash a quadruple-assault of fast-moving ballistics that'll crash into the Isadore before exploding with enough force that the Federation machine is only barely out of danger itself, coming together in an improptu ranged assault with Bergh's own attack.
KTS: Seabook Arno has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Seabook Arno targets Trevor Teach with F90 Marine Rocket Volley! KTS: Trevor Teach successfully evades Seabook Arno's F90 Marine Rocket Volley
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
Eight is going to have to do better if she's going to keep up--and that means being more aggressive. She remembers, now, the patterns she used to use...
"Hup--"
Eight scores a hit this time, and she tries to keep up. Even as the Varguil dashes backward and backward, even as the funnels sweep out and away, the MP Nu Gundam turns towards Saraven's mecha once again, and starts to move.
And I can't let you go.
As the Varguil submerges, Eight whirls in turn, charging straight into the fire. Once again, the Gundam is pockmarked and battered, armor continuing to crumple and break away as it surges towards Saraven to try to prevent her getting away. She knows this dance--staying at a distance only makes you more vulnerable, but getting close--
"...Was that a pun??" Eight asks Bergh as he sets off the 'party poppers'. "Ahahah... ha..."
She doesn't get it. Is it a water thing? It's fine though. She moves to take advantage of the opening in any case. Hefting the Beam Saber, the Nu Gundam swings out full-power for the Lilac Gale's mecha, the blazing blade tearing the air as Eight directs it, INCOMs still floating around her.
"We can pin her down if we work together, everyone!" And if they can pin her down, the other mecha out here will be a lot more handleable.
KTS: Eight York has activated the Foresee Spirit Command. KTS: Eight York targets Saraven Vai with Hyper Beam Saber Full Output Slash! KTS: Saraven Vai parries Eight York's Hyper Beam Saber Full Output Slash, taking 1560 damage! KTS: Eight York has engaged Saraven Vai KTS: Saraven Vai has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has disengaged.
<Pose Tracker> Saraven Vai has posed.
There's a flicker in Saraven's mind as the torpedoes are loosed. She can't feel *them,* precisely. She can feel something else. Bergh Scred's intentionality. Traceries line up in her mind - and with a sudden whirl, the Varguil twists in the water and blasts between the two torpedoes, coming within inches of colliding with one of them. She swings around at the end of the maneuver, rifle at the ready--
And pauses. "...Frondship?"
.
Only to find that Seolla's wading into the water now. Saraven watches the way the Jegan moves.
Something isn't quite right. A break in the way the girl's thoughts feel. Saraven exhales, then jets in towards the Jegan, swerving at the last moment to dash to one side and let her momentum carry her though the water and past Seolla's machine by mere metres. She's quick to loop back around, all too aware that Eight's moving in on her. Chasing her. There's something about it that feels... urgent. The girl presses her lips together, staring up at the pursuing Nu Gundam.
You want to take me prisoner, don't you?
Or is it something else...?
Staying in close quarters with Eight feels like the very definition of a poor idea. As Eight swings at her, Saraven sweeps the Varguil's free arm forward. A pair of beam blades unfold from the back of its forearm, and the hyper beam saber slams against them. Sparks sizzle in the lake, vapourizing water around them and filling the theatre with a billowing tornado of bubbles that, just for a moment, obscures the Varguil and the Nu Gundam.
Across the blade lock, the lilac mobile suit's monoeye fixes on the Nu's twin ones as if Saraven herself were staring into Eight's face. As if she could somehow read her real expression through her machine.
...Why do you feel so strongly?
With a sweep of her rifle, she pushes back with the barrel and retreats deeper into the lake, jetting away from Eight as fast as she can. Both sets of wrist blades blaze, detaching and whirling through the water in a broad sphere around her. The entire battleground is suddenly flooded with bubbles and steam. It's hard to see or sense anything. The Varguil simply vanishes into the superheated foam.
Until there's a small splash. And another. And another and another and another and another.
All six funnels come darting through the bubble storm. They swing at erratic angles, guided by a mind unencumbered by the visual blockage created by the foam and heat. They swerve past Seolla, trying to catch her machine from the flanks, before the Varguil itself unloads another burst of bullets through the water to try and keep Bergh and the F90 at arm's length.
And then the funnels converge, swooping down on Eight York to try and catch her in a veritable cage of light, firing through the water at all angles. The flash-vapourized water only grows more intense. The lasers are one thing. The visual distraction may be worse.
KTS: Saraven Vai targets Bergh Scred with Watersealed Carbine Blitz! KTS: Saraven Vai targets Eight York with Funnel Cage! KTS: Saraven Vai targets Seolla Schweizer with Funnel All-Range Attack! KTS: Seolla Schweizer charges into the attack! KTS: Seolla Schweizer fails to react to Saraven Vai's Funnel All-Range Attack, taking 4171 damage! KTS: [Lucky] Saraven Vai's Clutch Foresight activates, and luck goes her way! KTS: Bergh Scred fails to evade Saraven Vai's Watersealed Carbine Blitz, taking 3910 damage! KTS: Eight York fails to evade Saraven Vai's Funnel Cage, taking 4834 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.
"Oho? That's quite a threat, friend," Trevor answers, his tone sounding almost-- hurt?? But it can't really be, can it? No, it can't be. The pressure radiating from the pirate has not flagged in all this time. "But tell me, how do you fight something that controls all the world if you do not claim what few advantages you can? And before you say 'talk it out,' please, let's be reasonable. A pauper negotiating with an emperor has as much chance as an icecube in a Minovsky furnace."
"Ah, but it in my case, it's a little simpler than that. I-- frond?" Trevor turns and stares up at the F90 as it breaks the waves. In that moment, that brief hesitation, all could be brought to an end. All they would need to do is capitalize on it.
Torpedos race towards the Isadore. Eaven a single impact could pulverize his armor to splinters. At this range, taking them down with the laser is untenable--
But in that split second, something else flares to life. For the briefest of instants, there is not a single presence aboard the Isadore...
There are two.
A burst of projected water sends the Isadore jetting out of the way of Bergh's torpedo volley, but not alone. Its claw clamps down and grabs hold of one of the projectiles, before whipping out astride a series of miniaturized water jets, tearing through the sea at angles so sharp they could only belong to a funnel... or an INCOM!? The Isadore arcs its arm down, using its wired claw to slam the captured torpedo into Seabook's own volley. The combined explosion cavitates the water, blasting a blinding plume of heat and smoke and shimmering bubbles in all directions. The explosion is so intense that the water's surface breaks into a column of seafoam...
And under the waves, all seems... quiet.
...Did they get him? At that range, an explosion could have caused that ramshackle-looking frame to capsize, couldn't it...?
"...What do leaves have to do with a waterfight? I mean, other than you all picking up and leaving, that is." No, he's still there! Out of the foam, the Isadore charges for its dance partner, beam cutlass flashing in a fierce arc to sever the Heavygun's arm at the shoulder! "And, yes! A cutlass it is! Makes cutting into heavy hulls much easier, you know? Very useful when you don't know how to get through the front door."
Also, for chopping into mobile suits.
KTS: Trevor Teach targets Seabook Arno with Beam Cutlass Slash! KTS: Seabook Arno fails to Parry Trevor Teach's Beam Cutlass Slash, taking 4320 damage! KTS: Trevor Teach has engaged Seabook Arno <Pose Tracker> Bergh Scred has posed.
...frond-ship...? Are you - Are you an absolute moron, Bergh?! What kind of joke even is that? Absolutely...utterly -terrible-, and it's almost like you're proud of having thought of it for weeks! Ghghghhhhh-!
"Sardinely!" Bergh chirps back.
Okay. So between those blasts from the remote weapons and the gunshots peppering the Gundam's body, things could be looking better. If we can't score some decisive hits soon, we're going to be forced back.
It was the grim reality of the matter. Eight's encouragement was certainly appreciated - but it was no longer a case of will or won't, but do or die. Then I'll stake it all on this - !
Raising one arm, F90 shockingly enough purges the torpedo launcher module and allows it to take the brunt of the volley of gunfire, seeking refuge in the water following the inevitible explosioned that occured.
F90 dashes through the blue like a flying shadow, its Rotary Rifle taken in hand while it sprays its explosive spigots out at the Varguil from below, the bolts punching through the surface of the lake to attempt and bore into the lilac MS' armor and blow it apart.
"C'mon..!"
On some level, he realized that she'd been touching upon his intentions and reading them. He couldn't help it - he was a loud and clear kind of guy, like that. That meant that there wasn't going to be a clever ploy that could work to throw her off guard, or any kind of complicated strategy that she wouldn't see through..
<In that case, I'll just have to beat you down by risking my life!>
Discarding the rifle to the wavs, F90 rises to the surface and explodes out in full, particulates of water rolling off its body as its hind legs blew out vernier thrust to keep it aloft in the air, rising in a leap above the Varguil to drop its remaining load of torpedoes ontop of it, and detonating them with a spray of gunfire from its vulcan pods. "C'MON...!!"
The Gundam falls at its foe, Marine Knife in hand to jam it deep into one of the Varguil's shoulders before it draws its second blade, placing its left leg between the Varguil's to hook its angle around its foot and give the Gundam leverage to try and stick its knife in its waist and twist, turning like a top in an effort to dislodge the Varguil's waist - or at least, its skirt armor.
As it slides in front, the Gundam delivers a sharp kick aimed towards the Varguil's chest, to propel it back down into the water.
KTS: Bergh Scred has activated the Accel Spirit Command and Has Engaged with Saraven Vai KTS: Bergh Scred has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Bergh Scred targets Saraven Vai with Crayfish Maneuver! KTS: Saraven Vai has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Saraven Vai parries Bergh Scred's Crayfish Maneuver, taking 2070 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Bergh Scred's Newtype Flash activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: Bergh Scred has engaged Saraven Vai <Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
For someone as attuned as Saraven is to the thoughts and intents of others...Seolla indeed probably gives off something...uncanny. Lapses between her feelings and actions. Her soul floods loudly with turbulent emotions, but her movements on the battlefield persist steadier than those would suggest. She gets overwhelmingly angry, she gets despondently sad...and yet, it has remarkably little expression in the way that Jegan navigates the world.
And it's probably not hard to pick on what she's holding onto. Constantly reaching out for support, then constantly flinching. It's perhaps a little bit dizzying, the closer Seolla gets to try and make something decisive.
<"Sardinely?! Are you absolutely kidding?! I don't even know what that's trying to be...mou, if the Lilac Gale can be as frustrated as me at least, it's probably a good tactic...!"> Seolla blabs pushily, aquatic-specialized verniers in the Jegan's legs letting her at least keep some pace with the lightning-fast Varguil, much as the funnels keep bogging her down and bringing her to the brink of tumbling apart in this watery outpost.
Hold onto it. Hold onto this. Just for a little bit longer...!
She's only just now in range to bring one last decisive lunge to the Varguil, coordinating to try and pin Saraven down between herself and Bergh's Gundam - Seolla's beam saber crackling with that flickering pink energy, ever so slightly overtuned for this class of Mobile Suit...
KTS: Seolla Schweizer has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Seolla Schweizer targets Saraven Vai with J-Type Beam Saber Decisive Strike! KTS: Saraven Vai fails to parry Seolla Schweizer's J-Type Beam Saber Decisive Strike, taking 4200 damage! KTS: Seolla Schweizer has engaged Saraven Vai <Pose Tracker> Seabook Arno has posed.
"I know better than that," Seabook replies to the notion of talking it out, and though there's no visual contact between the two of them, one can get the impression he's furrowing his brow. He's about to open his mouth to cut off Trevor when he does it himself, and amid the storm of torpedos racing towards the Isadore from multiple angles--
Seabook pauses in his seat, letting out a quiet gasp as his eyes go wide. "This sensation...there's not just...!?" He can feel it, in that split second. Was there another pilot on board that machine this entire time, just not speaking up compared to the boisterous pirate? No...!
As the raging waves mask sight of the Isadore, even amid its furious reprisal, Seabook has a terrible feeling in his stomach. His grip tightens on the controls, sensors failing to pick anything up among all the disturbance...until it's too late. The viridian machine comes bursting out--
And Seabook is too slow on the draw. The blade-wielding arm is cut off cleanly at the shoulder, separating from the machine in a burst of sparks that arc through the water. What happens next happens unnaturally fast, despite the nature of the surprise attack - the Heavygun swivels its free arm over to aim at the dismembered limb, and dislodges another torpedo. It crashes into it and the both of them go up in a combined detonation, and the MS takes the chance to push itself in a reverse-boost at full speed with all of its attached water jets.
"Looks like you consider yourself a certified space pirate...!" As it pulls away, it levels its still-good arm down and fires down the rest of the torpedoes housed within to discourage chasing--though to be honest, Seabook is still reeling slightly from what he just picked up on. Is it going to do that again...?
KTS: Seabook Arno has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has disengaged. KTS: Seabook Arno has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Seabook Arno targets Trevor Teach with Homing Torpedo 1! KTS: Trevor Teach successfully evades Seabook Arno's Homing Torpedo 1
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
Eight knows well there isn't something right in there. Or rather, that there's something that isn't. Eight swings her beam saber, and finds that Saraven has options on that front, too.
I want to free you from these people! You don't understand that you're being used!
The bubbles obscure both of them, and Eight stares right back. For an instant, they are looking at one another, not through the visors and visuals of their mobile suits but face to face. Eight's red eyes settle on Saraven's, and she answers:
Because I know what it's like!
The passion in Eight's thoughts is obvious--this is no idle thought for her, nor is it just something she thinks she 'should' do. But Saraven pushes back, the Varguil fvanishing in foam--and suddenly the funnels all converge on her.
Eight should close her eyes and focus on Saraven's intent, but it's been too long--she relies on her eyes, instead, and her Gundam is pummelled with beamfire for it, water growing more intense as she's hit again and again, only able to avoid telling blows by luck and instinct. SHe said she wouldn't overdo it, but--
'Sardinely!'
Eight laughs over the radio despite herself. Given all the danger, it's nice to have a moment to pierce through it and help her focus again.
It's more a surprised laugh than a happy one though. "...Right, you've got her pinned down, so--"
Eight approaches again, the Nu Gundam's INCOMs fanning out in all directions and starting to fire, one after another, following up every slash and strike as best she can with blasts of red-pink energy.
KTS: Eight York has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Eight York targets Saraven Vai with INCOM Follow-Up Formation! KTS: [Lucky] Saraven Vai's Clutch Foresight activates, and luck goes her way! KTS: Saraven Vai successfully evades Eight York's INCOM Follow-Up Formation
<Pose Tracker> Saraven Vai has posed.
...Are you that eager to beat me up, Gundam pilot...?
Saraven doesn't have to look. She can feel the heat underlying Bergh even as torpedoes thunder through the water and explode above her. The Varguil pivots beneath the waves, a few vulcan bullets pelting its shoulders, before the lilac mobile suit pulls out another weapon - a large Gundarium knife.
The marine knife slams into the Varguil's. The two mobile suits lock up in the water for a moment before the second knife comes into play. Bergh manages to cut a shallow rent in the other unit's waist armour before Saraven whips her gun's buttstock against the inside of the Gundam's wrist, then snaps the gun back to cross her wrists and soak up the worst of the kick. She's still jolted hard against her restraints, wincing as she's flung backward - out onto the land a little ways. The Varguil plants a heel against the edge of the lake, wading back up to its waist.
It gives Seolla her window - one made all the wider by the fact that she's not sure how to parse the odd mix of feelings pouring from the girl. She's expecting the Jegan to move one way; it goes the other, and she sweeps her knife to one side even as Seolla hacks into the opposite shoulder with a vigorous slash. Exhaling, Saraven hunches her shoulders, fingers like claws against her controls.
They tense all the more as Eight's thoughts ring in her mind. She hunches forward, lips pressed together intently as she stares at the borrowed MP Nu Gundam. The emotions coming back from her don't congeal into words. They're hard to place - a surge of uncertainty followed by something clamping down on it, partly with automatic discipline, partly with... something else. A need to divert her mind.
...Don't make me think about those things.
This is the life I know.
The INCOMs fan out, and Saraven widens her eyes as that tension mounts. There is a sharp flicker in her thoughts as the remotes fire.
I can see it...!
...I can see time...!
What happens next should not be humanly possible. Not with Bergh and Seolla at close range.
The Varguil somehow manages to maneuver between the F90 and the Jegan, practically dancing with them in an erratic yet improbably precise series of maneuvers that serve to elude the shots that do come her way and force others into angles that might risk hitting a friendly. She is effectively using Seolla and Bergh as cover shields for the shots that might hit her and forcing the rest to come from edgewise angles, and when they do, she's able to jump or pivot away. At one point the Varguil manages to squeeze between an inconceivably narrow gap before, finally, hurtling upwards with a single jump, then flipping in midair to land in the shallows with a crouch.
Saraven lets out the breath she was holding - and then the beam remotes on the Varguil's forearms detach and sail outward.
The butterfly edges deploy into a pair of Z-shaped beam boomerangs. Guided by the psycoframe, they lash towards the Jegan and F90, aiming to bite in where they can. She swings her machine gun around towards Eight, beginning to pump a barrage of bullets towards her.
Her thoughts are steadier now - but there's still something hard to place there. She's not sure how to feel about someone wanting to free her.
This is... my life, though. I don't understand.
KTS: Saraven Vai targets Bergh Scred with Butterfly Edge Whirling Slash! KTS: Saraven Vai targets Seolla Schweizer with Butterfly Edge Slice! KTS: Saraven Vai targets Eight York with Watersealed Carbine Maneuver Shot! KTS: [Lucky] Saraven Vai's Clutch Foresight activates, and luck goes her way! KTS: Eight York fails to evade Saraven Vai's Watersealed Carbine Maneuver Shot, taking 3997 damage! KTS: Eight York's RX-94 MP Nu Gundam <INCOM Type> has been disabled. KTS: Bergh Scred parries Saraven Vai's Butterfly Edge Whirling Slash, taking 1161 damage! KTS: Saraven Vai has engaged Bergh Scred KTS: Seolla Schweizer parries Saraven Vai's Butterfly Edge Slice, taking 758 damage! KTS: Saraven Vai has engaged Seolla Schweizer
<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.
'Sardinely.'
"Man," Trevor muses, "I could really go for a sardine sandwich right now. Maybe with some relish and garlic aioili...? Or would that be too much? Getting it stuck in my chair would be kind of awful-- ah." There's a moment when he blinks back at the silence, "Oh, I was thinking aloud. Sorry, happens sometimes. Hahaha~"
The presence that was there-- that strange, unnatural sensation of 'seeing double,' but only with one's third eye-- has disappeared as if with a burst of seafoam. But it was there, undeniably. The pirate's presence expands to fill the waterlogged space all around him, surging outward like the wings of some great, soaring bird. A condor, an eagle? Perhaps it's not that the other presence is gone, simply that it's become hidden beneath this unbound aura...?
"Hah! Using your arm as a projectile!?" Trevor barks a laugh as torpedos crash into torpedos, setting off another catastrophic explosion...!
...And once again, there's a burst of seafoam, and once again it seems as though the Isadore is consumed. But then, as if like deja vu, it reappears, coasting around the periphery of the explosion, wings spread to catch the blastwave like wind in a three-sheet sail. "You're looking mighty piratical there yourself, one-arm! All you need is a good hook or claw and you'll be all set! You sure you wouldn't be interested in a pirate's life? Though I do need to clarify--"
Beam cutlass sheathed, the corsair charges into the gulf, its claw hinging open like the maw of a starving shark. Something else finds its way into its free hand, some kind of... industrial rivet gun? "I'm a *treasure hunter.* Trevor--" he declares, firing a barrage of *hypersonic* rivets after the Heavygun. The moment they leave the barrel and smash into the water, they fracture and fragment, exploding into clouds of fast-moving shrapnel and armor-pounding shockwaves. But these are just shock and awe, 'party poppers' to disguise...
A direct charge from below, that claw hinged open to grab hold of the Heavygun by its sole remaining arm and drive it bodily out of the water...! "--the Treasure Hunter!"
KTS: Trevor Teach has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Trevor Teach has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Trevor Teach has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Trevor Teach has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Trevor Teach targets Seabook Arno with Keelhaul! KTS: Seabook Arno has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Seabook Arno fails to Evade Trevor Teach's Keelhaul, taking 8580 damage! KTS: Seabook Arno's RGM-109 Heavygun has been disabled.
<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.
"Ah," Trevor adds at the climax of his assault, "But I am also a pirate."
<Pose Tracker> Bergh Scred has posed.
"Eh, you know..'Sardinely' .. 'Certainly' - 'Cer', 'Sar' .."
"No? Guess that one's a wash," he says, before realizing he made another pun and snickering to himself, the waves lapping at the F90 as it coasts its upper body along the surface of the lake. At least it was a hit with Eight, he muses.
The Gundam is forced to dance with the Varguil. The oddities occuring further below happen at the 'edge' of his mind's 'eye' - which is to say that, his focus had to be on Saraven Vai if he didn't want to end up chop suey. It was none the less an unsettling case of mental distortion, the kind of thing you'd get watching an image contort and stretch itself into double and triple when viewed through the side of a kaleidoscope.
It was food for later thought, though. His easygoing tone cuts into something palpably more serious a moment later, as F90 manages to pull far enough away from the Varguil that they were out of eachothers knifing range, his ears starting to ring.
"See time..?" he murmurs, confused.
Alternating the Marine Knife into a reverse grip, the F90 shows its own degree of inhuman precision and swiftness as it contorts its upper body several degrees farther than it likely should, all so that it could meet the edge of its blade favorably to the boomerang, in order to have the range to deflect it into the water so that it could fizzle out and diffuse, leaving only scorch marks where there should have been cuts. Even so, it was plain to see that the Gundam's armor was becoming compromised - a result of not only the firepower being brought to bear, but also, of the kind of trade-offs of its diameter being much smaller than the average MS, even if it was light and agile as a result.
Bergh's brain felt like it was on fire, electric crackles practically screaming from the edges of his mind, York and Seabook are both down - !
The F90 cruises, its waist only so deep in the water as it forms up alongside Seolla's Jegan.
"This is - really bad."
As unsteady as Seolla's thoughts have felt to him, in the tertiary way he's experienced them, there was also a - drive, and a determination to push through. Especially now that Seabook and that Captain were relying on them to pull through this jam, vulnerable after being taken out of the fight ...
"Don't worry, I won't hit you with another endearing pun. Yet. But since we're buds now, and all, let's put the peddle to the metal!" he proposes, vaguely. "They're counting on us, after all..!"
Bergh breathes out and opens his mind a little more - pushing his thoughts closer to hers, to pick up more clearly on what she was thinking or - more succinctly, aligning his 'intent' with her 'intent'. That way, he wouldn't have to think about anything.
He could just focus on matching her moves.
"Huooooooh!!"
F90 dashes out, Marine Knife at the ready as it purges its remaining torpedo launcher from its arm and chucks it at Varguil's face, releasing another volley from its vulcans to cover its approach and suppress Saraven in her place, long enough begin hacking away at the lilac MS, and forcing it directly into Seolla's effective range. <One - !!>
<Pose Tracker> Seabook Arno has posed.
"Did that get him...!?" Words that should never be spoken too early are spoken anyway, which is an even worse idea when the Isadore had just pulled that trick. Maybe it still has to do with being off-kilter from what he sensed, or maybe Trevor's loud-and-proud boister is doing that. Maybe both, or maybe he's just unlucky. But he's proven wrong in very short order at the sight of the machine sailing outwards with aplomb, and closing in considerably faster than a Heavygun modified to work in this environment can match on such short notice.
"Damn...!" A rivet gun, of all things, is a tool Seabook is plenty familiar with, but not something he expected to be leveraged against him. Especially not one so devastatingly effective at what they do, masking the Isadore's silhouette among the depths from both view and sonar detection briefly. Briefly is all that needs to happen.
As the Heavygun is blindsided from its blind spot, and it's seized once again and brought along for the ride as the heavy acceleration and extreme force end with a massive burst of water exploding out from the once-peaceful lake surface above. With both arms disabled and its remaining torpedoes very much useless outside of the water - and double a bad idea at point-blank with the other machine - its inevitable coming down onto the shore is going to be a rough one. Seabook himself has had to grit his teeth and buckle in against the furious rocking of the MS, but at the end of everything--
He lets out a sigh that's equal parts frustration and an admission of defeat, audible through the close contact. "I wouldn't say I'm cut out for that kind of life. I think I'd rather just settle down once all of this is over..." There's a pause, where it almost seems like he's considering something or another, or maybe realizing something. Then there's another exhale.
Ostensibly added on after Trevor's additional declaration. "...Seabook. Then before anything else, tell me - what's a 'treasure hunter' doing helping Zeon's remnants do this? What are you getting out of it?"
KTS: Bergh Scred has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has disengaged. KTS: Bergh Scred targets Saraven Vai with F90 Marine Knife Attack! KTS: [Lucky] Saraven Vai's Clutch Foresight activates, and luck goes her way! KTS: Saraven Vai retreats from the attack! KTS: Saraven Vai fails to react to Bergh Scred's F90 Marine Knife Attack, taking 3960 damage! KTS: Bergh Scred begins a Formation attack!
<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
Synchronization.
This moment is everything Seolla Schweizer has drilled for. This is where she was always aimed, attuned, anchored. At the expense of everything else.
Her capacity at the sword has always been a bit of an oversight - not that she can't evade and swerve in close range, but she's always been in her element finding her stride as a repositioning sniper, locking on in the flash of a moment. On her own, her thoughts go frayed and dissolute. She wasn't meant to fight this way - even though she can avoid tumbling over into the brink of disaster in this clash of blades with Saraven, it's clear that she's only a moment away from faltering
As soon as Bergh blatantly determines the time's come for a dual formation, though, everything stabilizes. Suddenly, that turbulent, splashing, foaming vortex that Saraven may have felt spilling unkempt from Seolla's mind...it's hardened from the addition of such a simple element. The waters of the soul are a curious thing indeed.
"You're right...we can't let these Zeon remnants run amok in colonies so easily...! I don't understand how they made this their staging point, but we'll drive them back for good...!" Seolla understands, on a very firmamental way, exactly what Bergh's about to do - not on a psychic one per se, but rather just -that- much training to support someone else in a fight. That much dependence on doing so.
Breaking free from the storm of blades, Seolla's Jegan bursts backwards towards the shore, rifle already drawn and ready, aiming down the sights even at this blistering, winding pace backwards, water splashing around everywhere. None of this impedes her ability to make this shot - it is only the tumult in her soul that hinders her-!
<...and...Two!!!>
KTS: Seolla Schweizer has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Seolla Schweizer targets Saraven Vai with Standard Secondary Beam Rifle Trick Shot! KTS: Saraven Vai successfully avoids Seolla Schweizer's Standard Secondary Beam Rifle Trick Shot KTS: Seolla Schweizer completes the Formation attack! <Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
I will. I'll bring it up again, and again, because you deserve better than what you've been given!
Eight stares right back--she feels that uncertainty, but she feels the way it pushes away, too. She can't reach her so simply as that, but neither can she stop trying. ...Though when Saraven manages to dodge every one of her shots, she wonders just how much better they've gotten at their process, since her. Maybe she could've kept up, back then...
...But it isn't worth it, to be that person again, not even if it means winning.
Saraven's bullets finally scythe through enough armor that Eight's borrowed MP Nu is disabled, the controls on one leg now failing completely, one arm stutter-stopping; the machine is intact, barely, but Eight can't even try to control it in enough proficiency to stand against Saraven.
"...Sorry," Eight says. "I've got to pull back."
This isn't how she can reach her--but maybe she's managed to distract them from doing more damage, at least.
The MP Nu Gundam dives under the water to avoid further strikes, weaving away as best Eight can manage until she reaches cover again.
I'm not giving up, Eight thinks at Saraven, but all her focus now is on making it back to base intact.
KTS: Saraven Vai has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has disengaged.
<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.
Amidst a blast of sand and surf, two mobile suits come crashing down on the shoreline. Unfortunately for Seabook Arno, only one of them is in any position to absorb the imminent impact. The Isadore's thrusters flare, its frame seeming to ignite in a dozen places to minimize damage to its joints as it touches down, scissor-like claw depositing a freshly cleaved arm into its other hand.
This hand... is now pirate booty.
"Can't exactly fault you for that. To tell you the truth, I'd be pretty happy if I could retire somewhere quiet too-- oh, but only after seeing what it's like in the inner solar system. Earth especially. I've already seen so much I could never even begin to imagine, it'd be a waste not to experience the rest. But that's a luxury few of my fellows can enjoy. Is it so wrong to wish for a better life for the ones you care about?" Trevor's presence seems to shrug... 'audibly?' What does it sound like to one's third-ear? What does it look like to one's third-eye? It feels like shrugging, that's for sure.
"That's a complicated question, Seabook," Trevor continues, "You mean, aside from the money?" Trevor scratches his cheek, pulling his mobile suit upright. "Well, like I said. I've got people I need to take care of. I'm guessing you do too, no?" The pirate-- treasure hunter??-- laughs chipperly, "Anyway, I'm not being paid by the kill on this op, so you just sit tight and wait for someone to pick you up, eh? Perhaps we'll meet again, Seabook! I enjoyed our dance quite a bit!"
The Isadore gazes back toward the water, "I have a feeling I should be getting back to support a certain little birdy though."
<Pose Tracker> Saraven Vai has posed.
Keeping track of so many skilled pilots is a challenge even for someone whose mind is as tuned as Saraven's. Her heartbeat quickens in a way it usually doesn't. She scoots forward slightly in her seat and leans forward, her usual neutral expression tempered by an edge of tension.
She's in genuine danger. The sense of anxiety pierces through the practiced ennui and distance of her personality, digging in like a hot needle. It's a feeling. She could be killed at any second.
Would it be so bad?
The F90 bears down, torpedo launchers purged. The thrown torpedo launcher is batted away by the butt of the Varguil's carbine, but the knife proves more effective, carving deeply into the lilac mobile suit's chest plating. Armour buckles and crumples, something inside sparking and spewing a plume of acrid smoke. Saraven winces and pulls back in her seat, setting her jaw and jerking her controls to try and pull off of the weapon.
The urgency of it is entirely too real. Seolla is bearing down on her and she's about to be caught in the girl's crosshairs. It's the moment she's been drilled for at the expense of everything else.
A moment that flickers in Saraven Vai's mind like a line of tracing tumult. Seolla shoots -
And the Varguil pushes itself further onto Bergh's knife. Something else inside the chest sparks.
The rifle blast from Seolla rips just over the Varguil's backpack. It comes mere feet from taking off its head and funnel racks. The only thing that saved Saraven was pushing herself onto the knife just enough to shift the physical balance of the Varguil and the Gundam.
She exhales again, then kicks in both chest verniers and leaps backwards, wrenching herself off of the marine knife and pivoting away with a billow of thruster wake. As the Varguil gains distance with a long leap, Saraven finds the pressure of Eight's mind pressing into hers. Telling her she deserves things.
There is silence on the other end of the connection. It is not for a lack of feeling. Eight can sense the uncertainty - a lack of understanding of how to respond.
The thought of something more than her life had occurred to her. The thought that she deserves it --
...What would that even mean?
The uncertainty gives way to a surge of something more akin to frustration. The Lilac Gale shakes her head and shoulders and clenches her teeth, hunching forward as she sends her funnels darting out again. "You're all trying to confuse me," she mutters. "I won't lose focus. I can't. I *won't!*"
The funnels dance, sweeping past Seolla in a blistering pattern before they swoop in to converge on Bergh. The F90 finds itself surrounded by a wasp swarm of remote weapons, dancing in erratic patterns and firing every which way they go. A whirlwind of death.
KTS: Saraven Vai targets Seolla Schweizer with Funnel Strike! KTS: Saraven Vai targets Bergh Scred with Funnel Gale! KTS: Seolla Schweizer fails to evade Saraven Vai's Funnel Strike, taking 2701 damage! KTS: Seolla Schweizer's RGM-89De Jegan ECOAS Type has been disabled. KTS: Bergh Scred fails to evade Saraven Vai's Funnel Gale, taking 4740 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
miss.
Seolla freezes up the moment everything she staked her bets on falls apart. The world stumbles around her. Blame. Blame overwhelms her. Her forehead won't stop burning. It's her fault for being unable to keep it together. It's Saraven's fault for being so stubborn for a lost cause. It's Trevor's fault for diverting that second Gundam. It's the Jegan's fault for lagging behind. It's her rifle's fault for not being tuned highly enough. It's Bergh's fault for placing so much trust in that maneuver to why did i decide to trust you why did i decide to trust you i know you'll just be taken away i know you'll just be taken away who are you anyway who are you anyway why did i decide to trust you i can't make you my promise i can't make you my promise this isn't where i'm supposed to be this isn't where i'm supposed to be why did i decide to trust you
i'm not the kind of person you belong with you're not the kind of person i belong with
Seolla starts to shake. Her hands cup the sides of her head, hung low and gazing off into the abyss.
why did i decide to trust you
why did you decide to trust me
Anyone who can feel this things can just sense the staggeringly acrid level of psychic vomiting emitting from the Jegan. It doesn't stop, and the fact that it doesn't stop only makes it pour out harder.
A -scream- pierces the air.
She's -still- emitting that even as those emergency routines kick in. That nudge at the back of her head that recognizes that she has to leave or else she'll die, or worse, be captured and taken again. That numb force urges her oh so heavy arms to heave the Jegan away, back to some semblance of a fallback point, the Mobile Suit sparking and quaking with each step.
why?
<Pose Tracker> Bergh Scred has posed.
Bergh doesn't have to think about anything, he just has to focus on what Seolla is doing. Where she's moving, where she's aiming, and move accordingly .. -
Metal rends, and oil spills into the water along with spindling fragments falling out of Varguil's wounds as it continues to contest F90's ferocious onslaught. Sparks fly under the contest of blows, the knife's edge deftly shredding and peeling away at its foe, until Bergh is thrown off his groove, due to Saraven pitching her MS forward and driving the knife deeper. All to avoid getting a direct hit from Seolla's Jegan. "You..!"
Varguil pulls itself away, wrenching out a hole in its chest as it forcefully rips backwards to put distance between itself, F90, and the Jegan. A blistering sensation soars across his head and face, " - it's coming!"
I won't lose focus. I can't. I *won't!
The remote weapons that harry both of the mobile suits find Bergh to be a difficult target as he weaves and dives through the formations, expertly picking out the best holes in the flurry to squeeze his Gundam's frame through; as if he could already see where they'd be. Or, maybe more accurately, knowing where it was they would be going next and recognizing where those places would be, moving himself to the way to best reduce damage to his mobile suit.
Even so, under such a sustained attack from so many sources and with such a keen mind moving the weapons, F90 winds up losing one of its arms, and a shot blows directly through its right breast, leaving a smoking hole where an exhaust vent previously had stood.
Heat flooded his cockpit and he could swear he saw some of the metal in the roofing beginning to droop. "Shit!"
"---GGGGGHHHHAAAUH?!"
Bergh's hands, dangerously, release the Gundam's controls and grasp fruitlessly at his normal suit's helmet, clawing at it as an unbearable pain shoots through his head. The actual headache was brief and sharp, the feeling of a nail made of air pressure condensing through the center of his brain and expanding. It was the palpable anguish he was feeling second hand, from a soul screaming its heart out, that had kept him bowling over. "Gh...hn..this is -!"
If I could ask a superior what to do at this moment, the answer would probably be to keep fighting. After all, this is a Gundam, and .. even if we get wiped out, that's a way better optic than running from the Sleeves with our tails tucked between our legs. I don't really like running away in this instance, either.
Bergh grimaces, But...the heart in my chest is telling me that I absolutely can't do that. That scream was far too sorrowful for me to accept that kind of reasoning, even if I know I might get admonished, or that Captain Ramius or York might receive penalties ... sorry. At least for me, I can't be demoted any further than I already have been.
"Lilac Gale," he addresses, rasping slightly as he forces himself to center, "I invoke the human rights in times of war covered by the Antarctic Treaty - succinctly, we're going to retreat, now, and cease hostilities. I can't really stop you if you want to shoot me in the back, though."
F90 holds one arm out and drops its Marine Knife - it sinks, deep, deep, and deeper still into the water, until it can no longer be seen.
And with its hand freed up, it can take up the Jegan's remains, showing the Gundam's impressive strength as it drags the full sized MS back along with it. Hopefully, Seabook can retreat by himself like York did. If not, well - if he has to abandon a Heavygun, so be it. It's just a MS.
"Hey. It's alright. Even if we lost .. none of us died. A soldier's duty first and foremost, is to make it back alive. Good job!"
Maybe it was a platitude from a loser she just met, but - if he had to feel that scream again, he'd cry himself. "If this is too fin-timate for you, just let minnow." he adds, for good a good measure of levity.
<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
There is a limit to what even -can- be done for Seolla in this state. Being close to her has to feel like being covered in a terrible ichor for anyone psychically attuned.
But.
"...h...honestly...y...you're really sticking with that...?" Seolla sputters, somewhat weakly. "...kh...you've really gotta get...better jokes, dummy. ...d-don't worry about that, though. ...thank you."
The heaving slows into more of a cough. It's enough.
<Pose Tracker> Saraven Vai has posed.
Saraven has felt brains vomit before. She wasn't the only tuned child on Mars. She doesn't usually feel them coming from the other side. Tilting her head, she blinks at the shaking Jegan, her lips drawing apart slightly before closing into a tight line.
...That captain... she wanted to save me...
But that girl feels like she's going through it, too...?
When Bergh transmits to her, Saraven presses her lips together. There is, for an incredibly tense moment, no response.
Then a soft click. "Gundam pilot." It's a young woman's voice, quiet and serious. "We have no intention of shooting you in the back."
The Varguil's funnels return and dock once more, and the lilac mobile suit drops to one knee, resting on its rifle. For all that Saraven's technically left alone on the field, her machine's been battered enough that it's no longer fully watertight. She's left to wait for one of the three surviving Zee Zulus to plod over with an emergency patch. All the while, she's looking off in the direction the F90 and the Jegan fled - and then off towards the direction the MP Nu withdrew.
"I hate this," she murmurs to herself as she slumps wearily back in her cockpit, head flopped to one side. "They always... want to make me think about things."
...Saving me...
...But if that girl is like me, too...
If that's true... maybe I can never be saved.
<Pose Tracker> Seabook Arno has posed.
The Heavygun's arm is taken as spoils of war--and to be honest, Seabook's not really in a position to complain. Or do anything about it. Losing a mass-pro MS's limb is a lot of nothing the grand scheme of things...and also a lot more preferable to the alternative. As Trevor speaks, the youth shuffles within the seat of his beached machine, his gaze somewhere 'on' the Isadore visible through the panoramic cockpit but more paying attention to that feeling.
Feel-able shrugging is a new one.
He remains quiet through everything he's saying, but his own mental presence has at least lost a lot of that harsh feeling from being in the midst of battle. It's only after the victorious machine has risen again that Seabook closes his eyes briefly, falling back in the seat - something not all that difficult when the Heavygun is currently horizontal.
"...As long as things like this keep happening, we definitely will," he finally says. "And I've had worse." There's a slightly wry tone in there that wasn't present during the seriousness of the battle, but it might just be the imagination.
"But...you're right. I do. And if you're fighting for something like that too..." He trails off, apparently back into contemplation, before saying getting one last word in. "And for what it's worth, I think it's pretty beautiful...when all of this is happening, at least. Maybe we'll both get to see it on better terms at some point."
And Bergh is right. He has his ways of getting out of here safely, even if not directly picked up. His father didn't do colony work for nothing.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
That scream hits Eight just as she's back on land, and she staggers in the cockpit. What it is is overwhelming, even at this distance, for someone whose mind is as attuned as Eight's. But she's been given exercises for this exact kind of thing. Still, she finds herself... drifting, all the same, detaching from the moment, and she wonders.
Why? Why is it like this for one of theirs? Can they be so hurt...?
"I... appreciate that you--" She can't quite get the words out to Bergh, over the radio, sounding in obvious pain. It's not because of the damage to the suit. "Ugh."
Making it back alive. That matters; that's important. But...
"Get me... medical," Eight calls back to the base, "For that Jegan pilot. I think something's wrong." It might make her look bad later; maybe they'll assume she hit her head. But she can't do nothing.
Why in the world...?
She does not get a chance to see much beautiful in the moment. Nor can she focus enough to think back at Saraven, not yet. She just needs to...
Get back.
<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.
"It's an awful thing, war," Trevor muses wistfully, "Though it might bring a feast for the vultures, it also drives them from their roosts. Well, it is what it is. For what it's worth, I do hope we can see them all-- and ourselves-- to the end of all this, eh? However it might shake out."
The Pirate adjusts his footing, turning to stride back into the surf. "Perhaps we shall, Seabook! I've heard stories about the real sea, it's something I'd like to see for myself one of these days. But for now I-- hnngh!!" Having such an... expansive psychic presence has its drawbacks sometimes. A wave of *suffering* slams into Trevor's psychic awareness and both he and Isadore's entire frame seem to wince at the sensation. "Nngh. Seems like someone... there's something wrong, down there."
He shakes his head, the Isadore does the same. "Well, I'd best go see what's going on. Farewell for now, Seabook," Trevor waves farewell over his shoulder... with the Heavygun's stolen limb, "Thanks for the... hand."
There's a sploosh of water as the Isadore retreats back into the sea. Soon, its water jets bring it over toward Saraven, "Sara. I felt something awful from this direction. Everything alright? We seem to have forced their elites back. I think that makes this operation a success, no?"