2023-03-31: Palau Falling - Siegfried
- Log: 2023-03-31: Palau Falling - Siegfried
- Cast: Loni Garvey, Banagher Links, Leina Ashta, Roux Louka, Arriety Hearn, Faye Valentine, Judau Ashta, BC-001 Minae, Puru Two, Sayla Mass, Christina MacKenzie
- Where: Palau Asteroid Base, Moving Toward Earth
- OOC - IC Date:31 March 0097
- Summary: Having gotten Sayla out, the next challenge for the rescue team is getting clear of Palau- but the escape route is blocked by the Conquerer King Shamblo, and it's pilot Loni Garvey. There's no choice but to fight their way forward- and make up for a failure at Torrington. Takes place simultaneously with Palau Falling - Zeong Rising.
<Pose Tracker> Armor of the Week has posed.
Only a short while ago, Sayla Mass was rescued from the clutches of her brother in the Governor's Estate of Palau, though not without Char Aznable putting up a terrible fight with the help of his Zero Robo Sazabi that ended up pretty much levelling the building. Guy and Domon have been left behind, combining the powers of the Green Planet and the King of Hearts Crest to purge the power of Triple Zero from the Sazabi. Renais provides more than enough firepower to cover their escape from behind - the one-cyborg-army volunteers to hold the line while the intrusion team gets Sayla out.
The way ahead, however, is blocked too.
The Escape Window tears open in the naval dock of Palau Asteroid Base, and a terribly familiar shape to those who fought at Torrington and Zeon is deposited on the gantry: The draconic silhouette of the AMA-X7 Shamblo. Its reflector bits deploy from its chassis, forming an invisible, beam-reflective shell around its armour, and its head-mounted turret cants this way and that on its long neck, sweeping the hangar for targets.
In the cockpit, Loni Garvey fidgets. "Where are you?" She half-growls.
It's probably a really good thing the infiltration team hid their mobile suits on arrival, or they wouldn't have any to challenge the Shamblo with now.
They also have the support team securing the dock against Char loyalists attacking from outside the asteroid - and able to see the flare of amber light ripping a gash in spacetime to deposit the Triple-Zero-imbued Shamblo in exactly the right spot to compromise the escape.
<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.
Watching Leina infiltrate Palau without him, and Audrey climb into her own mobile suit and soar away was impossibly difficult. Both his girls are facing a nightmare, and he's here on standby in the Unicorn.
They should be facing this together. At the least, he should be able to support them! Even if he'd have to use a gun again--
--a gunshot. A test subject choking and bleeding out.--
Banagher closes his eyes. There's a comfort to being inside the Unicorn, and he can't afford to break down now. He's going to be alright. Leina can handle this. His faith in her is unshakable.
Lost in his thoughts, Banagher only has a half-second of notice before the light of dawn shreds reality within the hangar. Golden eyes open wide. There's no mistaking the Shamblo, but even without it, Bangaher would know that presence anywhere.
"Miss Loni!" He breathes, then switches on his radio. <"Miss Loni just arrived with the Shamblo -- I'm going to take her on! Be careful!">
It's not very official, but Banagher's never been good at things like that. Even as he guides his Unicorn forward, it transforms in a brilliant display of verdant strength. Pulling forth her beam magnum, Banagher aims, feeling his heart thud in his chest. Loni can take this. The corruption of 000 will keep her alive.
Magenta light builds, then scorches forward with terrifying strength.
<"Miss Loni!"> Banagher shouts, even as the beam magnum charges again. He's got to get her away from the hangar! <"It's Banagher! I'm going to save you! Just hang on a little longer!">
KTS: Banagher Links: Will Barrier Activates. KTS: Banagher Links targets Armor of the Week with Beam Magnum Shot! KTS: Banagher Links has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
In and out. It was almost too good to be true. They were entering the dock when the Window opened. Stopping in her tracks, she tried her best not to peek too far out from their cover. "It's her. Loni." Leina whispers to Sayla, walls up as she tries to mask her presence.
Fortunately, the movement of Palau had moved a certain dummy asteroid far, far back in the bay. They can make it if they just have a distraction. "<This is Spade-7. We're pinned down in the Dock. Unless someone distracts her we can't make it to where we stashed our mobile suit.>"
A distraction happens in short order, and as the Shamblo's attention turns she motions 'Go' to Sayla. Leina kicks off, flying towards the Asteroid, trying her best not to activate her portable vernier jetpack and draw attention, as she grabs ahold, and slides into the seam.
Sayla will understand the moment she sees the Dummy Asteroid, it's not the MP ZZ, the asteroid is too big for that. Strapping in, Leina hit the start up sequence as Sayla did the same, and the MS within simply straightened up, and it erupts out as the asteroid pops like a balloon. The mobile suit is grey and snow blue with purple-grey highlights, wing like funnels in stark black and red, the V-Fin of the Gundam on its head, Red on Grey.
"Spade-7, Photon Hi-Nu Gundam, launching!"
The thrusters glow with the photon energy of its namesake, as the MS, takes off, photon energy shining out of its thrusters as it flies.
She feels it through the Psycoframe, the fin funnels ready to go, like limbs held at the side, meant to be relaxed, but instead tense. A single thought and she could move them like her own arms. All it takes is being able to project that hostility. And right now? With Judau and Sayla here, she felt plenty hostile.
That's why they're so dangerous. It's why she doesn't set them flying right away, instead raising the Hi Nu's bazooka, and letting something else fly. A missile cartridge, which breaks apart mid-flight, peppering the Shamblo with a storm of shrapnel.
"<Loni. You lost someone important to you at Torrington didn't you? You're not in your right mind right now, so I'm not going to let you take anyone else's loved ones here.>"
Tight quarters, large mobile suit, and the Shamblo empowered by 000 and armed with Reflectors. The odds aren't good. It doesn't matter though, she had to get Sayla out of here. She'll figure it out. So many people she cared about were here today.
"Banagher. I'll do my best to back you up on the other side, but we're not going to be able to pass by a mobile armor of that size."
Much less one that deadly.
KTS: Leina Ashta: Will Barrier Activates. KTS: Leina Ashta targets Armor of the Week with New Hyper Bazooka Pellet Spray! KTS: Leina Ashta has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.
"I swear to ****ING God," says Roux Louka in between high speed maneuvers. "I don't expect people to actually listen to me out here, but what is this guy even trading on after his LAST operation?"
ROUX LOUKA is ON THE SCENE.
CONSIDER HOW AND WHY: The Strike Zeta, retooled and repaired even if that black replacement arm and lower-leg from a scrapped something-or-other -- probably repurposed Titans capture, now re-repurposed -- stand out against an otherwise Gundam-typical light background. The Strike Zeta joined the assault, because like Hell Roux is going to sit at home and weep wistfully over a candle.
But there are loyalists. Of course there are loyalists. There are billions of people in the Earth Sphere. Anybody who's one in a million has nine thousand peers, far more than they could ever meet. And Roux Louka, perhaps the last hero of the Anti-Earth-Union Group's valiant wars, knows that 'people who would hew to the will of Char Aznable' are considerably more than one in a million.
Even so.
Those guys out there have numerous advantages. Veterans. That's the big one. Reasonably modern Mobile Suits and the familiarity to use them effectively. They're probably all Spacenoids, or at least trained in space, which gets as close as makes no difference. And to cap that all off, their Gundams regenerate and Roux's doesn't.
So how is she making out? Better than might be expected, but not so great that when a particularly vibrant ray from the Hyper Mega Launcher clears space-- she has room to see an orange flash and feel anything other than dread.
"Something's happening in the hangar," Roux reports to comrades. "I'm going in." A streak of light and --
-- the Shamblo. The only consolation, perhaps, is that it's someone Banagher knows.
Roux stares coldly into the hangar as she vectors in - and as Banagher speaks, she answers him. "Copy. I'm going to dazzle her. Be careful of the space, Banagher-- everyone!" Why 'be careful of the space'? Because as Roux swerves the Strike Zeta inwards, a projector on its upper torso fires. What comes out is not dramatic in its own right: a streaking blunt object. You would call it a bomb long ago, but in Mobile Suit combat, it's a grenade.
Roux aims to bounce it off the top of the hangar. It hits and tumbles, once. The goal is for it to get behind the Shamblo and then burst--
-- in a sudden eruption of hypercondensed minovsky particles, the detonation hard enough to feel but that sudden spike in the ambient particle gradient hopefully enough to make even OOO-enhanced flight electronics feel it. Roux's panoramic view scrambles, but she trusts the heart of the Gundam enough to come to a landing on the hangar floor.
"Listen to them," Roux says, raising up the Hyper Mega Launcher. "That's all I've got to say."
KTS: Roux Louka targets Armor of the Week with Minovsky Chaff Grenade! KTS: Roux Louka has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Arriety Hearn has posed.
Arriety promised Rita she'd be here, and just as importantly, Eight wanted them to be here. So the Three Ships Alliance has arrived, and... it didn't take long to grasp that this was going to be a large-scale operation. They needed people on all sides of the colony, and importantly, Arriety sensed... her.
The presence of the horrible draconic silhouette at Torrington gives her flashbacks. She didn't engage Loni then, busy with the Unicorn going on a rampage, but...
"<This is Arriety. Copy that, Banagher. I'll assist you,>" she calls out.
The white Zeta Gundam, in Waverider mode, is approaching fast. In Torrington, it was still the Myrmekes Zeta, under the influence of the biomechanical kaiju Myrme. ... a lot has happened since then. The Zeta cuts a swift swath through the loyalists, a beam rifle shot here and a grenade there pushing her past in time to spot...
So... this is the light of Dawn.
Of the presences that she can sense from within, Leina is the most readily recognisable one. She's inside, and with her... Roux and Judau, she thinks, but she's not quite as familiar. It doesn't matter. She has to help give them a way to escape.
The roar of the beam magnum fires, and the Zeta raises its arms and launches several rounds of its grenades, to try to hit those reflector bits with solid round weaponry.
"Minae, I think those bits reflect beam weaponry. I remember how they worked in Torrington. That means the rifle and launcher won't be of much use to us here... I can find a way, but if we can figure it out, it'll be helpful for everyone else too."
She pauses, and then addresses to Loni: "<... I won't claim to understand what your plans are, but ... dropping a colony with its own people ... it's something I didn't expect you to go along with.>"
KTS: Arriety Hearn has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Arriety Hearn targets Armor of the Week with Grenade Launcher! KTS: Arriety Hearn has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Faye Valentine has posed.
The Red Tail dances through the void, glittering in the darkness as gatling guns flare. This sort of stuff felt military, and that usually felt way above her paygrade, but...
It was everyone's desperation. Everyone's care. Sayla was worth this. And that meant Faye finally had something worth giving.
Honestly, it was kind of an annoying feeling...
"<Alright. Got you covered. Just watch my back, okay? This thing isn't exactly designed to take punishment... I'm pretty sure I'm crazy to even try this.>"
Banagher needed her help. Well, anyone's help, really - but Leina was there, Leina was so close to free, and that was what it was all for. Doing something crazy? Of course she was. She was feeling crazy. This giant, glowing monster...
<"You've got your own mess to deal with, huh? I'm not even gonna pretend to know what you're going through. It probably wouldn't help anyway. I only got about half of it from Leina and Akane, but... it sounds like you all think humans are just selfish creatures who are gonna cause nothing but trouble. And hell, that makes me a real specimen of humanity, I guess. Because... as long as I have something I want, I'm gonna be selfish! I'm gonna cling to her with everything I've got! And if I've gotta go through you, or the whole damn universe to get there... Ah, screw it! You're not gonna listen to a word until somebody drags you outta this mess yourself!">
A plume of smoke erupts in space, missiles streaking out towards the Shamblo in a VF-worthy barrage. It's not like she can afford to go easy on this thing...
KTS: Faye Valentine targets Armor of the Week with Missile Volley! KTS: Faye Valentine has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Judau Ashta has posed.
The Shang Gang Guide to Surviving Crazy Zeonites, Lesson 1: Always Hide the Mobile Suits
This is a lesson the crew of the Nahel Argama had learned time and time again. It is adjacent to another important rule:
Don't Engage the Mobile Armor on Foot, Judau!
This is a rule that had to be added on later after it became clear it'd become a recurring problem.
It's these lessons that Judau - mostly - keeps in his heart as sea green eyes focus keenly on the dawn-sheathed presence of the Shamblo in the distance. "The mobile armor from Torrington...?" he murmurs, mostly to himself; the others know the pilot by name. Judau mostly knows her by sense.
The emptiness of having lost something, and wanting to fill that void with hurt. ... It's a sensation he's felt so many times before, even without Triple Zero to push it on.
To Judau's great credit, he does not, in fact, try to engage the Mobile Armor on foot -- mostly because what he thinks would otherwise be a GREAT gameplan of scaling the thing and getting at the cockpit is complicated by all that orange metaphysical armageddon suffusing the entire structure, and -one- very close encounter with that stuff is -more- than enough for Judau for one day. So he waits. And when Arriety, Banagher and Roux provide their distractions -- he makes a break with a burst of jetpack verniers, straight towards another, large asteroid settled into a back corner of the dock. The seam of the dummy rock is split open. Judau slips inside.
A few seconds later, their is the tell-tale *ping!* of a Gundam thrumming with life as the interior of what was once an innocuous asteroid starts glowing red.
"Judau Ashta, Double Zeta -- let's go!"
Not even a second later does two bright red bolts of particle fire RIP that dummy asteroid open, aiming for a precision shot towards the thickly-armored hide of the Shamblo as the ZZ Gundam jets forward across the dock. Inside the cockpit, the ZZ's Biosensor expands Judau's senses, feeds into the still strong, lingering anger inside of him as it feeds the mobile suit power.
<"Oi! This is Judau! We got Sayla! I might've killed Char with a pipe! We gotta push this giant thing outta the dock!">
NOTE: judau didn't kill char with a pipe, the helpful doodles about triple zero will come back to him eventually
there was just a lot going on
KTS: Judau Ashta has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Judau Ashta targets Armor of the Week with Double Beam Cannons! KTS: Judau Ashta has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Roux Louka has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
<Pose Tracker> BC-001 Minae has posed.
Emotions are still something that Minae has yet to really grasp the full extent of. She admits this might be a bit contradictory when she's spent so long working with others and their emotions, but there's a difference between seeing other people get swept up by them and feeling it yourself. Still, she's used to being able to compartmentalise, to recognize that she's happy about something but instantly able to set it aside if she needs to. It's not always desirable - sometimes she's left wondering if she can really call them 'emotions' if she can set them aside so easily.
She should be concerned for those left inside. She should be worried about the danger of this operation. She should be feeling some measure of anger or reproach for Char Aznable's plans. She should be treating the dire warnings they were given for this moment with the gravitas and solemnity they deserve. And she is doing her best to do so - but something else keeps running through her.
Minae still feels like her internals are-- fizzing. Thankfully, not in an electrical sense. The euphoric high of touching something beyond what her sensors can pick up is still lingering with her, and in some ways she can consider it the culmination of her life's work in seeking to understand and connect with people. She's not arrogant enough to think that she's there yet, but it's still vastly beyond her expectations. And most of all, it didn't require conflict or danger - just a moment of friendship.
"It's so squat," Minae finds herself saying after a moment's deliberation. "I don't think I can hate it, looking like that." Her nattering and thoughts on her own mental state aren't distracting from her work, at least - commands fly across the navigation console, entered via her uplink faster than anyone could type. A logistical map of the area quickly build, first on Arriety's monitor and then overlaying over the top of the Three Ships machines she's linking together via her communications network.
<Three Ships, Mr. Links, stand by for tactical support.> she adds quickly over communications, her voice a little clipped as it always is at the start of any given battle. This is always the hardest part, mapping out the field and making the initial predictions when she doesn't yet have enough data to say how their opponents might move, and the effort of it helps bring her back to the present. <Any other ships, please let me know if it's alright to provide a logistical payload.>
Arriety's feedback helps; several of the attack vectors she's presenting suddenly wink out even before she replies: "Okay. Thank you." There's the barest moment of thought as she looks at their shape and design, the space filled in by the inclusion of several projections of what might happen if Arriety were to try to rush the machine and cleave them straight off. "--are they directional?" she adds immediately afterwards. "If so, you might be able to manage some trick shots I wouldn't be able to figure out. If you feel like going with your gut, go for it. I'll keep up."
She lifts her gaze to actually regard the Shamblo, and a dangerous thought comes out of nowhere. "I might be able to help with them. Maybe. I'm not sure how safe it'd be yet." Something tells her that trying to connect to the draconic machine might be a terrible idea, or at least get Rita very upset at her, but she reserves it as an option rather than rule it out entirely. Judau's transmissions gets the Double Zeta marked with a big exclamation mark and red circle on the tactical map she's providing.
KTS: BC-001 Minae has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Arriety Hearn KTS: BC-001 Minae targets Arriety Hearn, Banagher Links, and Puru Two with Awe. KTS: BC-001 Minae has completed their actions for the round. KTS: BC-001 Minae inspires awe, increasing Banagher Links's Morale! <Pose Tracker> Puru Two has posed.
Images and memories of the past and present intertwine. For the second clone-child of the Puru line, there is a feeling more powerful than deja vu. It is a moment of emotional and logical singularity.
"Your selfishness and greed will condemn the universe,
and so I come to you now to stand in judgement."
All those years ago, she watched the Sweetwater declaration from a screen in the atrium, and felt a chill walking down her spine. A sense that this wasn't simply business as normal, twisted as the world's everyday might be. It returns again, ghosts whispering warning in her ear.
"For the punishment for sinners and the salvation
of the oppressed will come all at once."
Back then, she did not make it to Axis in time. Or was that merely the excuse she would tell herself, for failing to join her hand to many others in search of a miracle? Never again.
***
The black Qubeley scythes through the inky expanse of space atop plumes of sky-blue thruster flame. Arguably, it would be here even if the remainder of the Three-Ships Alliance were not. The pitiful wrath at the controls is predictable in many ways, despite her best attempts, and is drawn to Palau like a moth to a sickly, rueful flame.
"Never again." mutters Puru Two, accelerating past her friends and allies without a moment's pause. Why stick to combat speed when you can remain throttled up to full cruise?
"You fled at Torrington, you should have stayed gone." her words are spoken not over any radio, because emotional stabs to the heart can be flung at range between folks with awakened hearts. "You don't get to cling to your sad little story while helping this man break the Earth!"
"Arriety," the redhead closes her eyes, seeking her sister's feelings. "Time to make our own miracle today."
That's a very bold claim, considering that the Qubeley lifts its arm-shield and ploughs through an oncoming fusillade of point-defense fire, homing in on the Shamblo with breakneck speed. "You can't reflect what you can't catch...!"
The black Qubeley seems intent on crashing onto the massive mobile armor's back, to make this into a very personal affair.
KTS: BC-001 Minae inspires awe, increasing Arriety Hearn's Morale! KTS: Puru Two targets Armor of the Week with MP-Qubeley MK. II Arm Shield Bash! KTS: Puru Two has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
Sayla's walls slot up as Leina does. "...The one from Torrington. I remember." Had char made contact with GGG? Did Taiga send her? Or was she working on her own. Still, she's following Leina's lead right now, and when Sayla gets the go, she pushes off the floor to-
She gets into the seat in front of Leina, strapping in- onlt for the seat to lift and place itself behind Leina's pilot seat. At least she can see the readouts and checks comms from here. "...You're ready to pilot this?" Sayla asks- and Leina's launch cry confirms it.
Okay. She'll trust the fighting to Leina. She takes comms instead. "<This is Heart-2, I will be providing supporting from Spade-7's unit.>" She is going to have. Some explaining to do with Chris after this. Faye too. With lots of people, really.
%
Leina first and foremost. The guilt is loud in her heart, but she tries to stop it spreading. Her walls are her strength.
'I might've killed Char with a pipe!'
The words chill Sayla, even after all this. But he can't have. Thye Light of Dawn wouldn't let him. Focus, Sayla! Gh, she's still rattled. She can't remember call signs. "<Double Zeta! Strike Zeta!>" She calls out. "<Be careful! Attack with beams,>" Sayla shakes her head, pausing a moment. "<And it will deflect with it's bits!>" They can't underestimate them.
"Leina, did Koji run you through the weaponry?" She asks as she manipulates comms with her helmet. "You can do this. You got us this far."
KTS: Sayla Mass has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Leina Ashta KTS: Sayla Mass targets Judau Ashta, Roux Louka, and Leina Ashta with Caution. KTS: EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 50. KTS: SP Regen activates. Your new SP value is 25. KTS: Sayla Mass has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Sayla Mass suggests caution, raising Judau Ashta's Intuition! KTS: Sayla Mass suggests caution, raising Leina Ashta's Intuition! KTS: Sayla Mass suggests caution, raising Roux Louka's Intuition! KTS: Armor_of_the_Week has deployed as a Boss for 8 opponents.
<Pose Tracker> Christina MacKenzie has posed.
Christina MacKenzie, Not-so-covert Infiltrateur, doesn't relax her guard until she sees the hangar, with the profiles of her Oldest Friend, knight Tristan, and the weathered bulk of the Oberge, rising into her field of vision. There weren't any obvious stragglers among the Palauan evacuees yet to be loaded.
"Thank goodness, we can get everyone clear." She took one more look at her six for any aural soldiers, and when she looked back--her heart sank. "...Of course it isn't that easy. XAIRO, MAIRO, pull the Oberge to a safe distance, authorizing full control of maneuvering thrusters. Stay out of the way, and keep those civvies safe!"
She took the low-G leap at the Tristan, shoving her battered shield and stashing it. Sidearm, safetied. Her arms and legs were warm from the fight and the escape, and she buckled in her cross harness. The pilot health override was reengaged. She'd seen to that on her journey back to Earth, but she checked it anyway.
<"All systems green. Gundam Tristan, engaging mobile armor!"> She didn't, of course, have to say it, but it feels wrong not to, like a jinx could strike at any moment. She heard Sayla's callout, but still wanted to test the speed and movements, anyway. Gundam Tristan, bedecked in knightly armor, leveled one hand at the fearsome mobile weapon, firing just a single shot from the INCOM nestled into the Failnaught's wrist dock.
KTS: Christina MacKenzie targets Armor of the Week with Patience! KTS: Christina MacKenzie has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Armor of the Week successfully evades Banagher Links's Beam Magnum Shot KTS: Armor of the Week partially guards Leina Ashta's New Hyper Bazooka Pellet Spray, taking 2940 damage! KTS: Roux Louka rattles Armor of the Week, making its next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Armor of the Week fails to evade Roux Louka's Minovsky Chaff Grenade, taking 1800 damage! KTS: Roux Louka repulses Armor of the Week, forcing it to disengage. KTS: Armor of the Week fails to charge. KTS: Armor of the Week partially guards Arriety Hearn's Grenade Launcher, taking 5040 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Arriety Hearn's SEED activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Arriety Hearn's SEED activates, causing Jam L1! KTS: Armor of the Week fails to Intercept Faye Valentine's Missile Volley, taking 4860 damage! KTS: Armor of the Week's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Armor of the Week blocks Judau Ashta's Double Beam Cannons, taking 1800 damage! KTS: Armor of the Week partially guards Puru Two's MP-Qubeley MK. II Arm Shield Bash, taking 1440 damage! KTS: Puru Two has engaged Armor of the Week! Kikka Kobayashi teleports in. POT: Kikka Kobayashi is now set observer.
KTS: Armor of the Week's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Armor of the Week blocks Christina MacKenzie's Patience, taking 450 damage! <Pose Tracker> Armor of the Week has posed.
The Unicorn comes in hot, psycoframe blazing green. The last times it faced the Shamblo, Banagher had not yet mastered his mobile suit partner, and the difference is immediately apparent - even though his presence and intent gets Loni's subconscious attention and Reflector Bits move to intercept the Beam Magnum fire, the sheer intensity of the shot disintegrates them before they can bring their i-fields to bear, forcing Loni to practically throw the Shamblo aside - a move made slightly easier by the low gravity. She responds by pointing the Shamblo's dragon-head turret at the Unicorn, dawnfire gathering within its open maw before being expelled in a violent blast!
Her escape vector, however, Leina and Roux anticipated, and the Hyper Bazooka pellets and Roux's chaff grenade strike clean on the mobile armour! Loni manages to take most of the bazooka rounds on one of the Shamblo's heavily-armoured claw arms, but that leaves her wide open for the grenade to scramble her sensors.
"Tch," she grunts, trying to focus in on Arriety's Zeta and leap the Shamblo towards it, but she gets another grenade barrage for her trouble. Faye's missile barrage streaks in and Loni tries to have her Reflector Bits scatter her own beamfire to catch the warheads, but most of them slip past the net of megaparticle fire, hammering the Shamblo more and more as Puru Two closes in to smash the dragon with her shield. The black Qubeley gets a backhanded smash with one of the Shamblo's claws for its trouble, an attempt to send it spiraling away towards the hangar wall!
Judau and Christina, meanwhile, get a first-hand lesson in the Shamblo's defensive capabilities, as their beamfire is deftly intercepted by the psycommu-operated reflector bits swarming around the mobile armour, bounced around the network of bits, and perfectly angled back towards them! Loni fires the shoulder-mounted scattering megaparticle cannons, filling the air around her mobile armour with reflected amber beamfire that is carefully manipulated to stream outwards, creating a storm of devastating crossfire!
BBSYS: Post 815, 'Scheduler' has been published to Public by LiSA.
KTS: Armor of the Week targets Banagher Links with Large Caliber Mega Particle Gun - Direct Blast! KTS: Armor of the Week targets Puru Two with Large Iron Nail Smash! KTS: Armor_of_the_Week Changes attack to Judau Ashta and Christina MacKenzie with Reflector Bits Perfect Bounce. KTS: Armor_of_the_Week Changes attack to Leina Ashta, Faye Valentine, Arriety Hearn, and Roux Louka with Scattering Mega Particle Gun Reflector Bit Storm. KTS: Armor of the Week has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Arriety Hearn successfully evades Armor of the Week's Scattering Mega Particle Gun Reflector Bit Storm KTS: Roux Louka has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Roux Louka fails to evade Armor of the Week's Scattering Mega Particle Gun Reflector Bit Storm, taking 6600 damage! KTS: Faye Valentine successfully evades Armor of the Week's Scattering Mega Particle Gun Reflector Bit Storm KTS: Banagher Links has activated the Accel Spirit Command and Has Engaged with Armor of the Week KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Judau Ashta fails to evade Armor of the Week's Reflector Bits Perfect Bounce, taking 4230 damage! KTS: Leina Ashta successfully Evades Armor of the Week's Scattering Mega Particle Gun Reflector Bit Storm KTS: Banagher Links has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Banagher Links has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Banagher Links fails to rush. KTS: Banagher Links's Will Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Banagher Links partially guards Armor of the Week's Large Caliber Mega Particle Gun - Direct Blast, taking 8400 damage! KTS: Armor of the Week roots its unit, coming to a standstill and leaving it vulnerable. KTS: Christina MacKenzie's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Christina MacKenzie blocks Armor of the Week's Reflector Bits Perfect Bounce, taking 1620 damage! KTS: BC-001 Minae inspires awe, increasing Puru Two's Morale! KTS: Puru Two blocks Armor of the Week's Large Iron Nail Smash, taking 4200 damage! KTS: Armor of the Week repulses Puru Two, forcing her to disengage.
<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.
Leina's voice brings hope to Banagher. Despite the dire situation, he can't help but smile.
<"Just stay safe, love. That's what matters most."> The Unicorn's pilot is soft, radiating care. <"And great job. Welcome back, Sayla.">
As his radio lights up with calls from his allies, Banagher feels a grim determination well up inside him. No matter how terrible it is to have to fight Loni, he's not alone.
<"Thank you, everyone! We're all going home safely, I won't accept anything else!"> The Unicorn seems to gleam all the brighter as Banagher speaks. Green motes of light rise around her, shimmering in the darkness of space.
When Judau calls out, Banagher blinks in surprise. <"Seriously?! How did you even-- Let's talk about this later.">
It's a good thing Audrey isn't here to hear the awe in Banagher's voice at her father-figure being potentially (?) clubbed to death.
Despite the sheer force of the beam magnum, the Shamblo is unharmed. At least he took out a few of the Reflector Bits -- maybe that'll make things easier for the others.
Even as the beam magnum charges up another shot, dawnfire builds, sending a chill down Banagher's spine. "Unicorn!" He calls, and the mobile suit raises her shield--
But not quickly enough.
Banagher cries out as Loni's attack washes over the Unicorn, splintering her armor and throwing her pilot around with concussive force. Blood trickles from Banagher's nose. Starlit-green illumination swirls with flashing red warning lights. This can't be happening -- the fight just began, and already the Unicorn can't take much more!
"No, no..! I'm not leaving her to keep suffering!" Banagher brings one of his hands to his chest, feeling the ghost of his heartbeat beneath his normal suit.
The beam magnum is a wreck. Dropping it, the Unicorn ignites a beam saber, charging the Shamblo. Green light combats the orange dawnglow -- beautiful, somehow, despite everything.
Darting away from the Shamblo's head, Banagher slashes at the mobile armor's shoulder. If he can just get rid of one of those claws, they'll have more room to work with.
<"Miss Loni..! This isn't what you really want! Think of Kirks! He would want better for you!">
KTS: Banagher Links targets Armor of the Week with Beam Saber Slash! KTS: Banagher Links has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Arriety Hearn has posed.
Puru Two's wrath is not lost on Arriety. Even Minae feels like she should be feeling more anger right now, but... Arriety's finding it strangely easy to stay calm and focus on the objective. It doesn't mean she doesn't feel for the people of Palau, and how they've been used on so many sides now... perhaps it's a sign of her growing up. Perhaps it's part of that frightening part of getting used to the battlefield. Perhaps...
"... I'll be right behind you, Callie-sis," Arriety answers, perhaps thinking she needs to be the cooler head of the two here.
Minae's suggestion gets her thinking, and she warns, "I'm not sure, Minae. That machine is infected with that light that Rita talked about. I'm not sure what'll happen if you come in contact with it... well, she said ten minutes, but..."
Arriety's eyes narrow at her suggestion. "I think it links with each other, but it's on a wavelength I can't see with the naked eye. Can you make out the shape of the barrier, Minae?"
The Shamblo's shoulder-mounted scattering mega-particle cannons launch, filling the air around them with reflected fire; the crossfire is, indeed, dangerous, and Arriety feels the intensity moments before they even approach--
"It's no different than Funnels," Arriety whispers to herself. "Remember what Callie-sis taught you--"
And then her mind's eye flares out, as a crimson seed alights upon a shallow pool of water and shatters into a million little pieces. Her consciousness expanding out, there's a rapidfire sequence of micro-adjustments as the Zeta seems to visibly stay in place, but it seems to rotate and juke and cant in ways that largely let its onboard I-Field Generator tank the stray hits and keep it in one piece; some of the beams graze deeply close, leaving a little trench of dug-out armour on the white shell of the mobile suit, but it doesn't quite pierce.
Arriety's pupils have shrunk again, as she looks to Minae. "Her firepower is immense, and the reflector bits mean we're at a disadvantage, but we don't have to win. We just need to get Leina and the others out."
To that end, she understands how she needs to attack. The Zeta manages to break free of the crossfire in a little seconds-long gap in the fire, enough to manoeuvre just a little bit closer... she'll have to be very calculating with her fire.
"Minae, I'm targetting the structures around the Shamblo. It shouldn't compromise the colony stability, and hopefully widen the gap around the hangar for them," Arriety explains. "Keep an eye on the structure integrity and let me know of any weaknesses we can exploit."
The Zeta launches a solid-round volley, as it makes itself scarce in the wake of its movements; the grenade launchers go first, and swerve left and right and seem like they're going to contact with the Shamblo, before manoeuvring towards the gaps on its left and right, to catch it in a wide explosion -- a shower of head vulcan shots come next, along with the missiles equipped on its shield...
... and then, the shield itself, as Arriety just wholesale hucks it as a projectile to the Shamblo's head -- which explodes at the last moment, thanks to a timed detonation on the missiles onboard.
<"Leina and Miss Sayla, Miss Roux, Judau, this is Arriety. I'm going to widen your escape route -- keep an eye out for any openings you can exploit. Let me know if you need me to cover if you decide to pass through.">
KTS: Arriety Hearn targets Armor of the Week with SEED Coordinated Assault! KTS: Arriety Hearn has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
"I have to be." Is Leina's simple reply to Sayla. No false bravado, simple necessity. As she listens to Faye swing in from behind, and Chris launch. It looks like the pincer attack is forming, and everyone made it into their mobile suits safely.
The appearance of the Strike Zeta and the Zeta fills Leina with relief. This mobile armor was no joke to fight.
The Qubeley momentarily gives her pause, but in the end, even more relief, "Callisto... Arriety. Did Captain York send you on ahead? I'm relieved you both made it. We could really use the backup right now. Heart-2 will be able to coordinate with you on the logistical data sharing Minae."
A smile at Banagher's comment, "I will." Hearing Judau's comment... as good as Sayla's walls can be, there's zero chance Char is dead given that she didn't even pause from the sudden overwhelming grief, "Judau there's no way you killed Char with a pipe!"
Leina informs him over the comms.
She takes a breath though, focuses in, "He did, then Shiro put me through the paces."
Sayla tells her she can do it, she got them this far. Right now, it's enough to set her to worry whether she actually can do this or not. But she reminds her what's at stake.
She will do this.
Which is why when the Reflector Bits start scattering Beamfire, the photon thrusters flare bright, as the large mobile suit starts to weave around the geometric hell of the beamfire criss crossing the bay, despite the large size of the suit.
Despite how little flight time she'd had within it, she forces herself to dodge every single one. She didn't put this together to save Sayla to lose her right now.
"Banagher!" Seeing the Unicorn take such a nasty hit, something starts to rise off of her, like an emotional haze of violet-pink. This strange myriad of feelings and hostility.
"<What did I just tell you?>" Leina says, quiet, dangerous in how low her tone is, the Psycoframe amplifying those feelings. A shot loads into the Bazooka, and suddenly the it streaks out, hurtling straight towards the Mega Particle Cannon and its head. "<Noone else. This was a grudge long, before it was an oath. Listen to Banagher, choose better.>"
The Hi Nu Photon Mobile Suit has much more dangerous weapons against the Gundam, so much more dangerous. And yet despite her hostility, something is holding her back from using them...
As Arriety offers to clear the way, she releases a breath, "... Thanks Arriety, it's a tight enough net in here as is." Carefully she moves to the flanks in the Hi Nu Photon as if she were going to try and exploit that opening to fly into a more open space.
KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus. KTS: Leina Ashta targets Armor of the Week with New Hyper Bazooka Shot! KTS: Leina Ashta has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.
A crackling voice. They've got Sayla! It's Judau, he's alive and talking, and --
And he's --
"REALLY?!?" Roux says with girlish glee in reply to the empowering Double Zeta.
It's just like old times. And despite the sick dread at the end of the universe, those moments happened. They were real, in their pains and their joys. Some things won't fade away.
Sayla is speaking too. She's alive! She's giving them guidance. Her, specifically! Roux focuses -- frowning slightly. Don't attack with Beams - it'll deflect with the bits. Here, in a semi-enclosed space. "Great," Roux huffs out as she glances with betrayal at the Hyper Mega Launcher.
But even as the storm begins, others are here. Arriety, with Minae not far behind. Can they do this? Can they down this thing enough to allow escape -- escape beyond the immediate risk of pursuit? Escape to where, Roux thinks even as a dozenfold miniscule hits smash against the Strike Zeta and Roux realizes, with some shock, that she had started swerving without thinking about it --
So what's my approach here, Roux thinks as her eyes wash over the distant (or not too distant, but still TOO distant - too far -) form of the original Double Zeta. I don't know Loni, but Banagher does -- can I distract her somehow? Is he going to be able to get through to - her -
"HEY!" Roux says as it all comes together in a crystalization. A crystallization that turns into a burning eruption from either side of the Strike Zeta's head as the 60mm vulcan cannons open upwards! A powerful counterblast, perhaps, but these are *support* weapons. Roux knows, grimly, that she's running out of tricks before she has to fall back on the beam weaponry that the Shamblo is, specifically and explicitly, built to wrangle and throw off.
Hopefully she can come up with a smart idea by then.
KTS: Roux Louka targets Armor of the Week with 60mm Vulcan Barrage! KTS: Roux Louka has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Faye Valentine has posed.
Beams flare. For a single moment, the Red Tail hangs in the void, as if uncertain.
Faye lets out one soft sigh, breathing in as the reflectors stretch around her and the others. There's a... rhythm. The beams bounce, and the Red Tail twists and spins, dancing through the void, tumbling listlessly through the dragon's web.
For a moment, it's like she's not even here. Her feet drum against the cockpit floor, pedals dancing. Occasionally there's a flare of chaingun fire, scraping across the void to smash into a reflector and divert or destroy it, buying her space, buying her time -
When did this become natural? When did it become her normal?
(Three years - three years of tumbling through the void, weightless and rootless - and the hollow, nameless anxiety of floating buried somewhere in the dark. Like everything else, the only answer was to grip the throttle and squeeze the life out of it.)
<"C'mon, Banagher, keep it together. You've got to make it back home too, if you wanna keep talking big. Charging right into the line of fire like that... If you screw up, you're gonna make your girl mad at you, and I can already tell she's the scary type. I mean, commando raids on the Red Comet to steal his most important VIP? A girl who can pull that off, you don't stand a chance if you piss her off.">
Scurrying above the Shamblo, there's a thunk of something dropping through the big cannon barrels making up each arm of the Red Tail.
<"Lining up my shot. Keep her under control for me, alright? A rodeo like this isn't about being fancy. You just gotta hold on tight and ride it all the way out...">
Two bright, shimmering pods blast out of the limbs of the MONO Carrier, bursting against the Shamblo in sprays of chaff. Buying time for a proper attack run...
KTS: Faye Valentine targets Armor of the Week with Jam! KTS: Faye Valentine has completed their actions for the round. KTS: BC-001 Minae has activated the Resupply Spirit Command targeting Arriety Hearn KTS: BC-001 Minae has activated the Attune Spirit Command targeting Arriety Hearn <Pose Tracker> BC-001 Minae has posed.
Minae blinks as Callisto does something she absolutely didn't expect. "Ah?" she blurts aloud in a rare moment of surprise, and the portion of her tactical map immediately around the Shamblo instantly becomes a mess of possible actions as she struggles to keep up with the logistical quandary of what exactly to suggest. It's hard enough keeping up with the Qubeley as it is - fin funnels are unpredictable and difficult to track by design - but it's a complete unknown to her when the pilot decides to throw a typically long-range unit straight into melee.
"I feel like we should have some words with her later!" is as close to a concerned panic as the robot lets herself get, the aside to Arriety quickly lost as she barely manages to recalibrate herself in time for the Shamblo to go on the counterattack. This is not any better. "It leaps?" she whines, and then-- goes slack in her chair as if she'd just passed out, forgoing any external systems for the sake of tracking the attack. It's far more Arriety's attunement to the space around her than Minae's direct support that really help evade the incoming onslaught, but it gives Minae the attention and processing power she needs to properly catch up.
It also lets her use the time she's given herself to carefully scan the machine. The sheer ferocity of its attack is a double-edged sword, because even as the Shamblo devastates the Unicorn it also overextends itself. For a few short seconds it's still, and that's enough time when she's focusing this hard to identify what weakpoints she can find. She almost, almost considers connecting to the machine directly, but the Light of Dawn-- she's seen it take over mobile suits before. Her sense of identity is too precious to her to risk in the wake of Rita's warning.
Fortunately, it doesn't look like she needs it. <I think I've got it,> she suddenly wakes up to announce over comms in response to Leina, as a pinpoint spot between two plates of the Shamblo's armor - a tiny, bespoke comms array - lights up on her overlay, sent out to the other craft as a priority target. <It won't knock them out completely, the system's too redundant for that, but it should help slow them down.> She hesitates, and switches back to local as she adds for her pilot: "It's-- hard to tell exactly what range they cover, though. They don't act like a machine."
Part of her still feels a little rueful that she can't help more than this. If she were willing to risk interfacing with the machine directly, she could probably cause more lasting damage to the power system - but at what cost to herself, she's not sure. That's okay. If there's one thing she can always do, it's place her trust in the pilot instead, especially when Arriety's being this careful. "I'm on it," she adds, her console flickering as she connects out to the colony's systems.
Several console windows open and close in the blink of an eye as she forces her way through the security and filesystems and finds what she's looking for; a blueprint of the colony. It takes her a few seconds to digest it - this part isn't her forte - but when she's done there's a passable indication of structural key points and their relation to the colony structure as a whole also joining her overlay. ... it's a bit of a mess compared to her usual work, she has to admit, but the fact they're working in concert like this makes up for it if you ask her.
KTS: BC-001 Minae targets Armor of the Week with Nullify! KTS: BC-001 Minae has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Puru Two has posed.
Whatever strain Loni must be feeling in there, there's no doubt that she's still firing on all cylinders as the Shamblo squares up and tags the advancing Qubeley with a perfectly-aimed counterpunch--or swipe, as the case may be. There's no telltale clang of impact in the vacuum of space, but there sure is one inside of the mobile suit's cockpit. The dragon's titanic fist whips into the little unit's shield, and it sounds like a train crash inside of Puru Two's head. The black Qubeley is punted into the hangar wall, where it sticks, like a deflated football.
Minae is like RIGHT on the money with the sportsball commentary: why is she beelining into melee like that?
"No words?" Puru Two snipes back at Loni, radio operating on voice-detection rather than push-to-talk. The bad gamer's choice. "You're better than to aimlessly follow in the footsteps of this so-called Great Man, aren't you? Or..." her eyebrow quirks, and she peels herself out of her pilot's seat. Arriety, do you have a good way to cool her down?
"Are you just another puppet in his thrall...?" the question is more mournful than it is angry.
The Qubeley's arm jerks once, like someone just plugged the power back in, and then wrenches free a twisted girder that it's caught up in. Eye-cameras gleam with a surge of might for good measure. "Ah-ri, it's quicker than last time. Don't assume you can outspeed it just because it's bulky." the girl who occasionally calls herself Callisto provides a helpful reminder, as her robot extricates itself from the side of the hangar wall.
Roux Louka gets a helpful call from her young friend, too: "Roux, you can... overwhelm that thing's shields if you can get the output high enough. And, well, knowing you and Judau..."
The Qubeley lunges free again, and immediately spits no less than twelve remote-controlled funnels from its back. Playtime, it seems, is over. "I figure you two don't need the help, but, just in case..."
Today's funnel formation is an odd one: they all spiral together into one conical mass before firing. In effect, it's like a big ring-shaped beam.
Puru Two's attention is also back on Loni, conversationally. "Don't clam up on me--you're better than this, aren't you? Answer me!"
KTS: Puru Two targets Armor of the Week with Qubeley MK-II Funnels - Astrapi Formation! KTS: Puru Two has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Judau Ashta has posed.
Judau Ashta does in fact know about reflector bits; he knows about them very well. It's a hard thing to forget when they're part of a thing wrapped up in so many unpleasant memories for him.
But -- facing something with that sort of beam defense in the Double Zeta was always going to be an uphill battle. At the end of the day --
It's not going to stop Judau from pushing through the best way he knows how: stubbornly refusing to give up even in the face of horribly slanted odds.
Not that he doesn't pay for that uphill battle: reflector bits are still reflector bits, and they still manage to do their job sublimely in catching the majority of the beam fire from his shoulder-mounted cannons-slash-saber-hilts. "Shit--" he begins, but it's already too late -- beam fire, both his own and those bursting from the Shamblo's cannons, ricochet and scattershot through the vacuum surrounding them, creating a cat's cradle of power that catches the Double Zeta up in its wake seconds before Judau can initiate evasive maneuvers. Rippling particle fire crashes and bounces off surprisingly durable, blue-and-white armor, scorching and melting panels as the ZZ Gundam belts backwards.
Debates about whether a pipe is powerful enough to overcome Triple Zero (it's not) will have to wait; the Shamblo, and its pilot, aren't giving them even a single inch of space to focus on anything other than survival, and overcoming the intimidating, dawn-seething Mobile Armor before them. Judau sees - feels - Banagher getting caught up in that offensive. His lips twist; and within it that burgeoning sensation -- he feels a sudden spark of emotion from--
"... Leina?" wide eyes blink, briefly, as he looks over towards the Photon Nu. That cocktail of hostility and sentiment is hard to parse -- his brows furrow.
Before he can say anything, though, there's another familiar presence - and sight - in the form of that black Qubeley, focused upon by the Shamblo's huge claws. Judau blinks one more time -- and instantly, the young man is throwing himself back into the fray.
<"Hey!"> transmits the former junk trader of Shangri-La as he looks to close in on the Shamblo at high speeds. <"Keep off her!"> Thrusters punching, the Double Zeta -roars- up overhead of the Shamblo as best it can within the tight confines; at the same time, the Mobile Suit's verniers activate in very purposeful-and-also-reckless bursts that send the entire, well-armored Gundam in a corkscrew through space. Missile bays open up --
--and the Double Zeta unleashes a whole payload of missiles onto the Shamblo at close range as it spins, the wild pathways of those explosives seeming COMPLETELY ILL-ADVISED -- yet somehow all of them aiming for very deliberate locations. The draconic maw of the Shamblo itself -- and as many of its Reflector Bits it can manage.
<"Roux! Callie! You okay?!"> he calls out; there are others compromised too, but, well -- he has to prioritize.
<"Banagher -- I'm gonna try an' make an opening for you and the others. You do what you need to, alright?!">
This one -- this Loni person -- isn't his to save. If any can, it's the people tied to her.
But he can help open the way there.
KTS: Judau Ashta has activated the Accel Spirit Command and Has Engaged with Armor of the Week KTS: Judau Ashta targets Armor of the Week with Missile Launchers - Ashta Circus! KTS: Judau Ashta has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
"Alright." Leina has always been able to do what she has to. As much as Sayla hates that she put her there. "Minae, this is-" Really, everyone knows. Arriety's sense for people is incredible. "Sayla. I'll follow your lead, you're better suited for analysis."
Sayla buries her frustration for the moment. "<You can distract her, but you can't talk her down. She's not Char's thrall- but she's enslaved to the same thing he is. The only thing you can do right now is try and take her down- and keep her down until GGG or the Shuffle Alliance get here. She'll recover from anything short of total destruction- and quickly.>" It's harsh news, but it's the truth. "<...And they're still inside.>"
Normally, Sayla would insist on opsec, but right now-
Right now the people close to her are in danger. Seeing Faye go for her run, Sayla breathes in. "<Hey Cowboy, I'm sending you firing solutions. Please use them.>" There's another held breath before... "<And thanks for coming to get me.>
"<Chris, Banagher, you'll want these too! Keep pressing her!>"
KTS: Sayla Mass targets Banagher Links, Christina MacKenzie, and Faye Valentine with Coordinate. KTS: EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 58. KTS: SP Regen activates. Your new SP value is 40. KTS: Sayla Mass has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Sayla Mass coordinates maneuvers, raising Faye Valentine's Piloting! KTS: Sayla Mass coordinates maneuvers, raising Banagher Links's Piloting! <Pose Tracker> Christina MacKenzie has posed.
Chris watches the reaction, but even then, she wasn't truly prepared for the flitting, choreographed precision of the reflections, or the retained beam power as her shot was perfectly reversed in trajectory.
"Amazing..." she murmurs to herself in the echo of her helmet, as she watches it dance. The programming coorinating it is impeccab-- "--Shit!" Gripping the controls tightly, she smashes her thumb across a button on the sticks, and her right side INCOMS dance out, taking their positions to create a tetrahedral beam barrier around her. The data from the Hi-Nu streams in along the side of her HUG. <"Telemetry confirmed. Sayla, is there a limit to its reflection response?! Can it be overwhelmed?">
She doesn't have time to wait for the response, though, when the Unicorn is drowned in cascading light, made invisible for several bright, bright seconds. The relief that the Unicorn is still moving is short-lived, as Banagher absolutely bullrushes the immense mobile armor.
<"Banagher--!"> She can't fault him, though, she was considering the same motion. Independently, simultaneously, Chris and Judau make the same decision, to back up the stampeding Unicorn. <"...I'm coming! Fade behind me after your strike!">
She smashes her legs into the foot pedals, twisting her sticks and whirling the Tristan around, he arcs his stance with the rotational acceleration of the thruster funnels on his backpack, diving in at the Shamblo with both wrist INCOMs blazing green swords, cutting at the armor, at the bits, at anything in reach as she spirals straight towards Banagher, INCOMs fanning out to shield both of them after the Unicorn finishes its wild dive.
KTS: Sayla Mass coordinates maneuvers, raising Christina MacKenzie's Piloting! KTS: Christina MacKenzie has activated the Accel Spirit Command and Has Engaged with Armor of the Week KTS: Christina MacKenzie has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Banagher Links KTS: Christina MacKenzie has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Banagher Links KTS: Christina MacKenzie has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Christina MacKenzie targets Armor of the Week with Crucible! KTS: Christina MacKenzie has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Faye Valentine jams Armor of the Week's sensors, reducing its accuracy. KTS: BC-001 Minae nullifies Armor of the Week's defensive abilities. KTS: Armor of the Week partially guards Banagher Links's Beam Saber Slash, taking 1800 damage! KTS: Banagher Links has engaged Armor of the Week! KTS: Armor of the Week partially guards Arriety Hearn's SEED Coordinated Assault, taking 4935 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Arriety Hearn's SEED activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Arriety Hearn's SEED activates, causing Jam L1! KTS: Armor of the Week blocks Leina Ashta's New Hyper Bazooka Shot, taking 2640 damage! KTS: Leina Ashta: Will Barrier Activates. KTS: Armor of the Week blocks Judau Ashta's Missile Launchers - Ashta Circus, taking 2200 damage! KTS: Armor of the Week partially guards Roux Louka's 60mm Vulcan Barrage, taking 1800 damage! KTS: Armor of the Week partially guards Puru Two's Qubeley MK-II Funnels - Astrapi Formation, taking 2460 damage! KTS: Armor of the Week partially guards Christina MacKenzie's Crucible, taking 3190 damage! KTS: Christina MacKenzie has engaged Armor of the Week! <Pose Tracker> Armor of the Week has posed.
Banagher invokes the name of Yonem Kirks - and gets a reaction. A choked, half-sob from the pilot in the Shamblo.
"Kirks... I..." her throat's dry.
She can't finish the sentence before Banagher's upon her. The i-field covering the Shamblo resists the Beam Saber's strike for moments - until Minae identifies and scrambles the Shamblo's psycommu antenna and the defensive field fades, the saber biting in!
The Shamblo's Reflector Bits, even if they were functioning, also can't deal with what Arriety throws at the draconic mobile armour - rocks and cargo crates falling on it, coupled with her missiles and shield exploding at point-blank range! Leina follows up with a shot from her New Hyper Bazooka, Judau joining her with the 'Ashta Circus', and with the Reflector Bits failed Loni has no option but to try to mitigate the incoming warheads by raising the Shamblo's claws defensively as Roux's vulcanfire spatters off the curves of its hydrodynamic armour!
Puru Two and Christina seize on the opportunity of the failed reflector bits and throw out powerful remote-weapon beam attacks, and Loni is cornered. The Shamblo shudders, armour starting to sear and blister from the megaparticle barrage.
"... I miss him so much," the pilot admits.
Then there's a sharp intake of breath from her and a sudden change of the mobile armour's intent. The sensitive will feel... something else within the Shamblo. A presence that has been given new life by the Oath Over Omega, brought out of the psycommu it was slumbering in by Loni's sudden surge of grief.
A pulse of HATE radiates out from the Shamblo as Loni screams in panic, and the Shamblo howls in rage, a torrent of dawnfire-enhanced beam energy cascading from its maw turret to sweep across the mobile suits arrayed against it!
The megaparticle fire is haphazard, however, much more easily dodged as Loni's focus is overwhelmed by the lingering resentment within her machine's psycommu, leaving her only able to strike at Banagher to force him back in turn.
KTS: Armor of the Week has activated the Daunt Spirit Command targeting Banagher Links KTS: Armor of the Week targets Puru Two and Christina MacKenzie with Large Caliber Mega Particle Gun - Sweep. KTS: Armor of the Week targets Banagher Links with Large Iron Nail Smash! KTS: Puru Two fails to react to Armor of the Week's Large Caliber Mega Particle Gun - Sweep, taking 9100 damage! KTS: Armor of the Week roots its unit, coming to a standstill and leaving it vulnerable. KTS: Armor of the Week has activated the Daunt Spirit Command targeting Leina Ashta KTS: Armor of the Week has activated the Daunt Spirit Command targeting Faye Valentine KTS: Banagher Links has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Banagher Links has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Armor of the Week has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Banagher Links has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Banagher Links's Will Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Banagher Links parries Armor of the Week's Large Iron Nail Smash, taking 450 damage! KTS: Armor of the Week repulses Banagher Links, forcing him to disengage. KTS: Judau Ashta has activated the Trick Spirit Command. <Pose Tracker> Arriety Hearn has posed.
"I think so," Arriety agrees with Minae on the topic of having words with Callisto. "Have to keep everyone alive right now..." Her voice is very flat at the moment, but the Super AI can definitely pick out the duress that's straining to keep everything together at the moment. Much like she's talked to Roux, Callisto and Minae, it's easier right now, in this phenomenon...
... it also means that she feels like she doesn't have many qualms about taking the easiest path to letting everyone 'live'.
But that might be beyond her -- she knows the Light of Dawn does something strange and powerful, and finishing the job may well be beyond her capability at this point. It doesn't matter. She has to bring everything she has to the fore, lay her cards out on the table, and take the consequences thereof.
<"Yeah. She sensed that a lot of conflicts were going to happen all at once around the colony, so we spread out. And... I sensed you were there, too,"> Arriety admits, to Leina's question of whether Captain York sent them ahead.
<"Arriety here, um... Cowboy. I'll give you an opening,"> Arriety answers Faye on keeping the Shamblo under control.
It's not good, though. Callisto's definitely really worked up, and she might make a bad mistake. "Callie-sis, listen to Miss Sayla. Don't get too worked up with her. Whatever Miss Loni says right now, she's corrupted by that light." A pause, and she shifts to something closer to military speak, to appeal to her: "This is a rescue mission, Callie-sis. Remember the objectives."
Callisto has good advice for her too, on its speed. "Yeah. I'm definitely figuring that out... Her beams also have superior range, so I can't just outrange her and call it a day..."
Case in point -- Loni's profile seems to shift before Arriety's pupil-shrunk eyes, and she senses something... is it the Light of Dawn? A surge of irrepressible grief washes over her, and she hears that scream through her mind, beyond the vacuum of space that drawns out sound. The dawnfire energy flares across, and Arriety's forced to abort her plans at the moment and focus on her own survival--
"Ghh--"
There's a faint grimace as the Zeta barely escapes the sweep of mega-particle fire; again, it comes close enough that parts of its armour begin to slag, but hold steady for the time being. Warning signs flare all around her cockpit, and she relies on Minae to triage them.
They can't really prolong this any further; she's low on ammo, with her missiles out and her grenades running dangerously low. "Minae, I'm going to close in and move in past the gaps so I can discharge what rifle e-pacs I have left. I'll need to rely on you for backup piloting, just in case."
And with that explained, she begins her dangerous attack run -- the Zeta shifts into Waverider mode in the span of two seconds, and its thrusters are on full acceleration as Arriety abandons the comfort of her midrange position to come close -- juking past several more errant shots of mega-particle dawnfire; several more grenades are fired, in part to obscure her approach, and once she's past the zone of the Reflector Bits--
"Now!"
--the Zeta rapidly shifts back into mobile suit mode, and discharges its beam rifle in one fell swoop without stopping, letting momentum carry it onto the other side where it transforms back and seeks to get the heck out of dodge. Hopefully that'll be enough of an opening for Faye and the others.
KTS: Arriety Hearn has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Arriety Hearn targets Armor of the Week with Waverider Pursuit! KTS: Arriety Hearn has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Faye Valentine has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Faye Valentine has activated the Valor Spirit Command. <Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.
Leina's call reaches Banagher, even without her radio on. Though the Shamblo blocks his view of his girlfriend's mobile suit, he can just about make out something... A miasma of anger. From Leina..?
Her anger echoes into Banagher's own heart, making his breaths come a little faster. The Unicorn strains against his hold. Ready to let loose, to end the threat before them. If the Shamblo is upsetting Leina this much...
<"I'm alright."> Banagher manages, through a haze of concussive confusion and reflected fury. His voice is harsh, but Faye earns a quiet laugh. <"Believe me, I don't want to be sent to Sweetwater duct taped to a transport bed again. Leina's way too powerful.">
Sayla provides data, and Judau fights to protect both the Unicorn and the Qubeley.
<"Thank you!"> Banagher's eyes dart over the firing solutions, thinking quickly as the Unicorn manages piloting for a few precious seconds. <"It's these reflectors..! Sayla, if we can take down the Shamblo, is there a chance we could purify Miss Loni? Is that even possible here?">
He knows there's 000-infected guards everywhere, including the nebulously-alive Char. Banagher would never ask anyone here to sacrifice for Loni's sake, but if there's any way, he'll give it his all!
Chris has Banagher's trust. With a shouted <"Got it!">, the young pilot feints back once he's attempted to carve a long gash into the Shamblo, taking shelter behind Chris' INCOMs.
<"Thanks, Chris."> The Unicorn raises her own shield, I-fields glimmering with blue strength, reinforcing the Tristan's defensive line. Chris' selfless act of care cuts through the echoed rage in Banagher's heart. <"I owe you.">
Loni speaks! She starts to sound more like the young lady Banagher met so long ago, making his heart leap. <"Miss Loni, he'd want you to be safe. Please, let us help y--">
Horrible rage echoes out from the Shamblo, and Banagher, with his ever-open heart, curls in on himself as though he's been struck. Psychically, he trembles in pain, gasping.
It feels like the Banshee. The hatred, the grief -- it's not the same, but it's similar enough to make Bangher panic. Loni's feelings batter against the Unicorn and her pilot in such a horribly familiar way.
<"It's here--! It's here, the Banshee!"> Banagher cries, panic in his voice. Immediately the Unicorn turns, stretching her awareness and scanners as far as she can. <"I can feel--">
Malicious intent flashes across Banagher's awareness, shared with the Unicorn. Loni's berserk mobile armor lunges at the Gundam, and with the protection of Chris' INCOMs, the Unicorn is able to turn the attack away with her beam saber. Magenta force slashes against the monster's claw, fueled by the desperation of her pilot.
Temporarily blinded to the battlefield in front of him, all Banagher can see is the Black Unicorn, reaching toward him with endless hands, shattering through his Gundam's armor. With blinding speed, the Unicorn rockets out of range from the Shamblo.
Banagher is incapacitated by the flashback. That much is clear, even to the Unicorn. But her sister is not present, and the Shamblo is still a threat. She has to keep her pilot safe, but these other people are ones Bangaher loves. She can't abandon them and take Banagher from the fight.
Going very still, the Unicorn lowers her saber. Within the cockpit of the Unicorn, Banagher gasps, feeling the NT-D thrum against his consciousness. He winces, waiting for it to yank his mind away, but the feeling never comes. Instead...
Verdant light glows like a beacon. Green radiance, nearly blinding, encompasses the shield held in the Unicorn's offhand. It lifts from its position. It races toward the Shamblo, machine guns bolted into the Psychoframe warming up.
It's a funnel of sorts, like this. The shield spins around the Shamblo in geometric patterns firing and firing, scoring into the dragon's armor.
KTS: Banagher Links targets Armor of the Week with Shield Gatling Shot! KTS: Banagher Links has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Faye Valentine has posed.
A wave of hate and misery rushes over her, and the Red Tail hangs in place a moment, staggered, as Faye is crushed beneath it. For a moment she's submerged, lost, her mind gasping for air, something crackling like splintered glass inside her...
But there's a glimmer of distant light, through the window...
"Hey Cowboy,"
Human selfishness may well be the wellspring of miracles. A warm little smile draws up the corner of Faye's mouth, and she purrs back,
<"You got it, Heart. All green. It's... good to hear your voice again.">
The console glimmers affirmatively and Faye's hands twist around the throttles, the butterfly's gentle dance turning into a predator's dive. Gatling fire scrapes forward, claws extended, before a hard yank sends the Carrier tumbling, spraying even more fire across the wounded beast. Each time the Red Tail pauses for a moment in its spiral across the sky, it explodes into another cloud of propellant as missiles fill the air. Sayla gave her this angle. She's going to make the most of it.
KTS: Faye Valentine targets Armor of the Week with All In! KTS: Faye Valentine has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
"He didn't!" Leina insists to Roux's glee, even as Minae sends out her countermeasures to try and work on the Shamblo's defenses. "... Thank you Arriety. I'll have to thank her too, once we're back."
And its thanks to her distraction she manages to move the Hi Nu Photon Gundam, with all of its size to a less crowded part of the bay, one facing out towards open space. Part of her at least can breathe easier. No matter what now, she has options to get Sayla out of here.
Still she listens to Callisto's anger, and she feels part of it very strongly in this moment. 'Another puppet in his thrall'. Memory overtakes her.
She knows very well she can only distract, but she can't help but feel hostility right now to Haman's legacy of hatred.
She can feel Judau's intent upon her, and in that moment she simply says, "We're fine Judau." A little tersely, "Just keep watching out for Banagher and Callie for me... please."
Yet that Psycoframe enhanced feelings from her don't fade, that hostility. She understands the temptation of the Psycommu.
The seductive temptation. She understands why so many get lost in it. She understands why Loni got lost in it on that day.
Loni's sheer grief takes part of the wind out of her sails, seizing at her heart, a sensation welling in her throat. Her admission.
Then the sheer HATE pulses outward, and gets in her heard, as Leina tries to keep it out, to endure it, "Nnnngh-!" Feeling her get lost within the Psycommu, within the Dawnfire, she feels the pull of the Hi Nu's Psycommu against her own head, as if she were getting tugged towards the Shamblo.
Banagher screams that the Banshee is here, and Leina quickly finds herself trying her hardest not to scream against the tide of orange HATE within her head even as she looks around warily, half dazed at Banagher's call. "Where!? Banagher it's not here-!"
Right as she watches the main gun fire and sweep across- "CALLIE! CHRIS!" In that moment, the Photon Nu Gundam's Hyper Bazooka racks three shots.
In sequence she fires them, one, two, three. They streak towards the Shamblo, slamming into it with armor piercing detonations intended to try and crack the shell.
"It's so easy, isn't it?" She murmurs to Loni. And it might be unclear what she means. It's so easy to give in, to submit, when bearing the full weight of grief and survivor's guilt.
KTS: Leina Ashta targets Armor of the Week with New Hyper Bazooka Anti-Ship Volley! KTS: Leina Ashta has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Roux Louka has activated the Resupply Spirit Command. <Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.
It's her! Callisto! Puru Two. Whatever she wants to be. All these things and more. Roux answers her, "It can be overwhelmed...?"
Her eyes turn back to the Hyper Mega Launcher. "Thanks!" she answers.
They're reaching Loni, Roux thinks, even as the storm of megaparticles surges outwards. Roux isn't sure she can quite hear Judau's words, but she can hear what he's saying - the wishes behind the words.
Roux feels herself reaching out - and at the point when she might have given Judau's hand a firm, tight squeeze she is able to force through the statick -- "--i'm alright!!"
But they're not going to be. This feels like it should be the crest; an inflection point. She could swear she can feel Loni wavering and that there is, then, something OTHER than Loni involved. Roux sucks in a hot breath through her teeth as she stays where she is.
No dodging. No evasion. She adjusts the targeting system and brings up the Hyper Mega Launcher. She knee-walks to the side slightly. The Shamblo is the center of this axis and she watches for long heartbeats. It hurts to wait as others scream. Her finger almost, almost jerks when she sees something horrid happen to the refurbished Quebeley, but that's the hell of it with trick shooting, isn't it?
What's your story, Loni Garvey? Roux wonders. What brought you here? How did you meet Banagher? Do I want to know-- heh, what a salty thought. But whether I know or don't know, Roux resolves silently, that story is something that matters. Something shining; a scribble onto the vast cold steel of Time saying 'Loni Garvey was here'.
"And that," Roux murmurs to herself, "is what counts." Her finger shifts; so too does the Strike Zeta's secondhand finger, matte gray and mismatched with the other hand. "Hey, cosmic slop. Can you regrow this?"
And JUST when the avenue is completely clear, the Hyper Mega Launcher ERUPTS
IN
EIGHT
SCREAMING
RAYS
fired in swift succession. Not for the central mass of the Shamblo but towards its left wing-binder - plate - body structure; whatever you want to call it. Callisto might have killed herself, or come near, to tell me that, Roux thinks: I won't waste it!!
KTS: Roux Louka has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Roux Louka targets Armor of the Week with Hyper Mega Launcher Barrage! KTS: Roux Louka has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> BC-001 Minae has posed.
It takes Minae no time at all to recognize that there must be a reason for Callisto extending so far forwards on the attack, but it's only after she gets over her own concern that she's able to pinpoint that reason. Eventually it strikes the robot that she's trying, in her own way, to reach the pilot of the Shamblo. It's a bit gruffer than Minae would personally recommend, maybe, but she's enough of a realist to recognize that different approaches work better for different people. It doesn't diminish the quiet pride she feels either way.
She can hear the gratitude in Sayla's voice, and it makes her scratch at her cheek sheepishly. She never really expected the course of her life to lead her here, nor can she really say she's entirely comfortable being in combat situations - but so long as she's here, she's absolutely determined to do what she can to help. She might not have the sheer intuitive sense that more human pilots do, but she can certainly do some tasks a heck of a lot faster.
And there are some things she can only do as Minae, whether robot or human or anywhere in between. She leans forwards in the co-pilot seat as she picks up the faintest of wavers at the back of Arriety's voice, and rests her hands on top of the young woman's shoulders. The monitor still flickers behind her as part of her processing power runs through its tasks, but there's a long enough moment where most of her attention is directed forwards. "You've got this. It'll be okay," she murmurs. "We'll keep them safe."
She doesn't know if that's enough to combat the influence of the Light of Dawn, but with her focus on Arriety she can't miss the way in which it begins to affect the pilot. For Minae, the question is no longer 'does she have a heart' now, it's 'where is it'. Unfortunately right now the answer is 'lodged right up in her throat', but that does mean she's quick to take over the piloting of the Zeta for long enough to twist the machine around a hail of gunfire, several of the warnings immediately shutting off as she works to resolve the others.
"I've got you," she promises again, and <All units, we're going on the assault. Be prepared to follow up fire on our position, but please be careful if you're sensitive to emotion. We might-- need to cut this short if it gets any stronger,> she adds afterwards, less sure about the second half of her comment. It's difficult to work through the concern and make an objective call. She hadn't quite understood the idea of a time limit, but it's starting to become clear.
Arriety calls for the attack, and rather than dwell on things any further she throws herself forwards into the feel of the battle, trying to get a sense of how it must feel in hopes of being able to better empathize. The readouts from the Zeta's sensors fill her vision, as the slightest of nudges to the mobile suit's flight path leave it momentarily clear of both the Shamblo's attacks and even the tiniest pieces of debris that might risk interrupting their attack.
KTS: BC-001 Minae has activated the Resupply Spirit Command targeting Arriety Hearn KTS: BC-001 Minae targets Arriety Hearn with Sparkle! KTS: BC-001 Minae has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Christina MacKenzie's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Christina MacKenzie blocks Armor of the Week's Large Caliber Mega Particle Gun - Sweep, taking 6000 damage! KTS: Armor of the Week roots its unit, coming to a standstill and leaving it vulnerable. <Pose Tracker> Puru Two has posed.
Arriety tries to appeal first to Callisto's sense of morals, and then later to her sense of duty. She grits her teeth. "No, I understand, but it's like I'm talking to a brick wall... nothing's getting through. If I can't get through to someone's heart, then our only option is to..." she trails off, not feeling up to finishing that sentence right now.
Besides, a friendly voice punches through the static and buzzes in her ears: the hearty timbre of Judau Ashta, possibly the man with the biggest heart of them all. "Judau? I'm fine, it's just a glancing hit." the Qubeley clenches one fist in what looks like robotic anger, as if to drive the point home. "Just--stay away from that Mobile Armor, I get this feeling it's not going to be in control for much longer. I have this bad feeling..."
The bad feeling, as it turns out, was not a premonition of some great anguish from the Shamblo's pilot. Nay, it was a window into the Loni's killing intent, and this was a poor time for Puru Two to not treat it as the glaring beacon of risk that it was. A split-second's hesitation is all it takes for the spritely Qubeley to vanish behind a wall of canned sunshine. There's a stuccato pop of secondary explosions as all the funnels melt and cook off in short order. A peal of sheer panic ripples through the space where Puru Two would usually be yelling angrily, as the clone comes to grips with her impending mortality in short order.
Alas, for all the dramatics, it isn't so simple as that. The Shamblo's beam rakes past the Qubeley and onto other targets, and the once-black mobile suit glows a ferocious and unsettling cherry red as the weapon passes. The shield it carries is no more than a stump of a handle, having done its job admirably before passing on.
... what you need is ...
The girl at the controls still lives, Roux Louka, never fear, but for how long? And to what end? Good questions to ask sometime later. For what it's worth, it's getting harder for her to think about that Callisto name. Feels like a persona that's growing more and more distant. Puru Two inhales for the first time in like half a minute, no longer frozen in place with fear.
... power.
"--power." she echoes her own thoughts hoarsely. The poor Qubeley would no doubt be steaming if we were in the atmosphere, but we're not, so it isn't. It animates again suddenly, jerkily, levelling one broken arm at the Shamblo. "You have it, I want it, give it to me...! You don't deserve that power!"
The Qubeley sports a beautiful halo, almost a mandala of sorts, as emotional resonance starts outpacing the circuits meant to refine and house it, and the cruelly-beaked mobile suit unloads with its one remaining weapon: the humble hand-mounted beam cannon, which looses its capacitor on cyclic fire as its pilot has a very normal one.
GIVE IT TO ME
KTS: Puru Two has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Puru Two has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Puru Two has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus. KTS: Puru Two has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Puru Two targets Armor of the Week with Forearm Beam Cannon Burst Fire! KTS: Puru Two has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
"<It's possible.>" Sayla responds. "<We just need the right people to finish the job.>" She'd recommend simply removing the cockpit block, but-
The waves of grief and hate hammer into the Hi-Nu, and the psychoframe amplifies them into Leina... and Sayla. And between the two. Sayla's own grief and hate, so close to the surface. Her grief and Loni's grief and Callisto's anger and her anger and Leina's anger- the grief of those lost, the anger at the returned and-
GIVE IT TO ME
countless hands reaching out to tear her from the seat- to tear her away from Leina-
Sayla screams, again, over the comms- but the scream pulls her back to reality. She hits her comm again. "<Callisto! Callisto Diana!>" Can she hear the name? She can't risk it. "Leina... I'm sorry. I'm going to use her old name." Leina has to focus on the fight- so Sayla can focus on trying to pull Callisto from the brink. She tightens it to a secure laser. "<Puru Two! Do you hear me? You mustn't take that power! It will enslave you, like it has Loni and Char and so many others! Please, pull back!">
She doesn't think it will be enough. She reopens comms. "<Miss Arriety, be careful! Judau, you too! Don't let her 'take' that!>"
KTS: Sayla Mass targets Puru Two, Judau Ashta, and Arriety Hearn with Caution. KTS: EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 66. KTS: SP Regen activates. Your new SP value is 55. KTS: Sayla Mass has completed their actions for the round. KTS: BC-001 Minae sparkles, reducing Arriety Hearn's incoming damage! KTS: Sayla Mass suggests caution, raising Arriety Hearn's Intuition! KTS: Sayla Mass suggests caution, raising Puru Two's Intuition! KTS: Sayla Mass suggests caution, raising Judau Ashta's Intuition! <Pose Tracker> Judau Ashta has posed.
'We're fine Judau.'
Spoken in a terse way Judau Ashta would immediately call bullshit on in a game of Cheat.
Judau is great at Cheat; it's a game of understanding people, and if there's one thing Judau is good at, it's that. Most especially --
"... Uh huh."
-- he understands his sister.
In the moment, though, there's no time to press, as much as he might want to. Leina's hostility lacing through Psycho-Frame remains clear as crystal in the back of his mind, resonating with the purer strains of will that his Biosensor amplifies. Missiles are intercepted -- but Judau remains undeterred, gloved fingers clicking and working controls deftly as he shunts thrusters forward to send the Double Zeta -jetting- backwards through zero-g. He hears Roux's confirmation -- and then Callisto's warning, and his brows furrow all the more deeply. He knows this kind of armor. The effect it has.
"--It's like the Psy--hhh--?!"
Amd that is when Loni Garvey resonates with psycommu and Triple Zero to create
H A T E
... a potent, poisonous cocktail Judau Ashta knows all too well.
The Shamblo roars. Loni screams. And within his cockpit, Judau's teeth grits as he feels the all-too human trauma that fuels Loni's panic-filled anger mix with something that rejects all the potential in human life to be so much more than that anger. It's nauseating. It's foul. Judau gasps, a hand clenching at his chest as that Psycommu Runaway begins to cascade.
"This isn't... how our hurt should be treated...!"
It's like a domino effect. In her hatred, Banagher sees something he fears, and the anxiety and panic hits Judau like an anvil. In Leina, he feels that hatred still, seething strangely in the background, the temptation to lose herself in the resonance of the Psycho-Frame burgeoning unease inside his own heart.
He feels Puru -- Callisto -- who has endured so much, come so far...
... fall into a mad dash for that dread power so similar to the same, horrible creation from Dublin.
Judau watches as everything enters a delirious cascade effect around him, sweat dripping down his chin. His fingers tighten to a trembling tautness.
"... stop it..."
His head bows. Wisps of pink steam rise from the shoulders of the Double Zeta.
"I said..."
BGM: Activate! Double Zeta! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QX_FYq3GoRQ&ab_channel=JesusqlYamato
"STOP IT RIGHT THE HELL NOW!"
Pink-red light SURGES around the ZZ Gundam in a sudden, fervent response to that runaway surge of emotions rampaging across the battlefield. It echoes out through his voice, creating the stubborn, belligerent emotional wavelength equivalent of 'GO TO HELL' that ripples through the vacuum of space as the ZZ lifts up and -yanks- one beam saber hilt free.
"BANAGHER!"
The Gundam's eyes shine the same blinding red as the corona that surrounds it, as it activates its saber. The hyper beam sabers were always egregiously large beam blades -- but now, as it ignites with that same pink-red energy as surrounds the ZZ, it becomes larger, and larger, and -larger- still, until it is easily -double- it's base length, burgeoning outward.
"Banagher! Look at her! She needs you! If you want to save Elpeo -- if you want to save her -- you gotta start right here! With you! So snap out of it--"
And the Double Zeta -BLASTS- forward, swinging that sword with a massive, crackling swing, a blade powered not by particles but Judau's pure, defiant will -screaming- down towards the armored hide of Shamblo with intent to try to cleave it open.
To try to carve all the way down to open up the cockpit within.
"--and get her the hell out of that weirdo machine right now!!"
KTS: Judau Ashta has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Judau Ashta targets Armor of the Week with Sword of Fervor! KTS: Judau Ashta has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Christina MacKenzie has posed.
Banagher levels the Unicorn's shield, gleaming with light. Chris and the Tristan stand, shoulder to shoulder, ready to face the worst of it.
<"You still have to try scorpion with me. We'll hit a local place in H?i An once this is all over, 'Mister Tether'.">
Then, that phantom, that echo, that name, of cruelty made manifest in pain and steel.
The Banshee.
Chris doesn't feel the wave that the sensitive souls here do, so she knows in her heart that it can't be here, but it breaks her heart to hear the boy shriek, and she almost reaches out the Tristan's hand to touch it to the glimmering psycoframe of the suit. To be so close despite the expanse of the entire Sphere, yet... unable to touch when it matters. But she can still protect him, and ensure he's still there to calm later.
Thankfully, Banagher is still sharp enough to turn back towards the fight. Together, they repel the Shamblo's massive swipe. Slower, clumsier, than before, but still horribly fast and deadly.
In a blink, the Unicorn is gone from her side--holding her INCOM barrier up, she confirms on the HUD that there's no reactor failure or pilot SOS. A small relief at least. That's when the entire world is [orange]washed out in the colors of sunrise, streaming past and around the INCOMs. Warning lights flash, and Chris lifts her hands from the sticks to dismiss ERROR and CRITICAL and MALFUNCTION and SURGE PROTECTION, rapidly redeploying the wrist INCOMs to take the place of the damaged ones, her barrier shrinking, shrinking, as the disks sputter and spark and fizzle out, forcing her to manually reconfigure the barrier until the dawn finally abates.
When it finally does, Chris's eyes and fingertips ache, and a dull sound at the back of her throat spills out as a laugh over the comms. <"Hah! I'm alive!"> Tristan <Failnaught>, however, isn't doing quite so well--the immense power streaming across the INCOMs has rendered them error-ridden, shorted, and one of them is dangling on its cable, attempting to reel back with a dull 'vreevre-vrreev', but just flopping around in the low G of the hangar. The Chobham Plating, too, her knight's armor, was pitted and cracked, splintered away and dangling off one shoulder.
"This is no look for a protector... No choice left..." She reached back beside her seat for a securely shielded lever, keying on her console as she pulled HARD upwards. <"MAIRO, I'll need you to pick these up on your way out! Gundam Tristan here, let's break her out of there!">
The Tristan's armor hissed and seethed, coming alive. It burst off the arms and legs, falling away into space as thin, glimmering cables began to retract, clumping the Chobham plates and INCOM docks against the thruster backpack. It's such a pain to retrieve them if they all spray off into space in separate directions. The Tristan's arms came up again, just as they did at the beginning of this tussle, but this time, blue plating separated from white, leaving gunmetal grey in three barrels twice to whine and spin.
<"OVERCLOCK"> she screamed, as she saw Judau's ZZ glow, gleam, resolve, and extend its saber more than she had seen a saber do before. Two gatlings, four ammunitions feeds, explosive grenades, shotgun shells, HEAP rounds, none of it was held back. No, this fight had to end NOW. <"...BARRAGE!">
Christina MacKenzie transforms to RX-78AN-01 Gundam Tristan <Eilhart>
KTS: Christina MacKenzie uses hyper reloader KTS: Christina MacKenzie uses propellant tank KTS: Christina MacKenzie targets Armor of the Week with Overclock Barrage! KTS: Christina MacKenzie has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Armor of the Week fails to charge. KTS: Armor of the Week partially guards Arriety Hearn's Waverider Pursuit, taking 4510 damage! KTS: Armor of the Week partially guards Banagher Links's Shield Gatling Shot, taking 2320 damage! KTS: Armor of the Week fails to evade Faye Valentine's All In, taking 4875 damage! KTS: Armor of the Week fails to intercept Leina Ashta's New Hyper Bazooka Anti-Ship Volley, taking 4680 damage! KTS: Armor of the Week partially guards Roux Louka's Hyper Mega Launcher Barrage, taking 2835 damage! KTS: Armor of the Week partially guards Christina MacKenzie's Overclock Barrage, taking 2790 damage! KTS: Christina MacKenzie roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable. KTS: Armor of the Week fails to react to Judau Ashta's Sword of Fervor, taking 9620 damage! KTS: Judau Ashta has engaged Armor of the Week! <Pose Tracker> Armor of the Week has posed.
The Shamblo thrashes in its rage, and though it's risky to take this opportunity - in rage and frenzy, it's vulnerable.
Transforming her Zeta, Arriety swoops in with a Waverider-velocity-assisted barrage of grenades and a mid-flyby switch, raking the Shamblo over its dorsal armour with a point-blank rifle discharge, her Zeta upside-down over the mobile armour before she switches back to Waverider and gets clear.
The Unicorn responds to her pilot's distress and his love for the others near, refusing to retreat. Her shield swoops around her, underslung beam-gatlings searing intricate patterns of fire into the Shamblo's flank, the green of her psycoframe chassis an ever-present radiance pushing back against the baleful amber of Triple Zero pouring more and more from the Shamblo.
Jealous fury guides Callisto Diana Puru Two, her Qubeley's remaining weapon keeping up the volley of fire as she demands Loni surrender the cosmic animus pushing her inexorably forward - an impossible thing, perhaps, but the clone pilot's hunger is as dangerous as her beam barrage.
Overhead, Faye Valentine streaks in, her fighter craft dwarfed by the Shamblo's mass but no less deadly than her compatriots' machines, chaingun fire and missile volleys blasting craters in armour made to withstand the pressures of Earth's oceans. Leina Ashta, grim and wrathful but sympathetic to Loni's anguish and distress, lays down rapid-fire shots from the Photon Powered Hi-Nu's Hyper Bazooka, adding more warhead detonations to the storm of explosions bombarding the draconic mobile armour.
The Failnaught purges its failing armour, and the Tristan Eilhart emerges, gatling guns already spinning up and every launcher on its chassis volleying a hail of explosive and solid-projectile ammunition at the Shamblo, battering it down as the Tristan stands like a knight in defense of the Unicorn!
Finally, but by no means less worthy of consideration, Judau Ashta swoops in to bail Banagher out, an indescribable energy ripping out in place of megaparticle energy from the Double Zeta's saber hilt and carving downwards. Even as the Shamblo's defensive systems reboot, there is no beam to deflect, and so no i-field in the Earth Sphere could withstand the coalesced emotional power channeled through the Biosensor.
The spectre in the Shamblo is unfocused hate - very different to Loni, even empowered by the Oath Over Omega. It can only respond based on the threat its enemies present and the pain they inflict on its chassis.
Judau, then, at close range, receives a two-fisted smash from its claws as the Reflector Bits reboot and begin to swarm around the Shamblo once more. The shoulder-mounted cannons fire into the cluster, their volleys bouncing around and around before filling the hangar once more with that storm of amber beamfire.
KTS: Armor of the Week targets Judau Ashta with Large Iron Nail Two-Fisted Smash! KTS: Armor_of_the_Week Changes attack to Banagher Links, Christina MacKenzie, Puru Two, Arriety Hearn, Roux Louka, Leina Ashta, and Faye Valentine with Scattering Mega Particle Gun Reflector Bit Storm. KTS: Armor of the Week has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Banagher Links has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Banagher Links has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Arriety Hearn successfully evades Armor of the Week's Scattering Mega Particle Gun Reflector Bit Storm KTS: Faye Valentine fails to evade Armor of the Week's Scattering Mega Particle Gun Reflector Bit Storm, taking 7200 damage! KTS: Leina Ashta fails to react to Armor of the Week's Scattering Mega Particle Gun Reflector Bit Storm, taking 5400 damage! KTS: Banagher Links successfully Evades Armor of the Week's Scattering Mega Particle Gun Reflector Bit Storm KTS: Judau Ashta has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Judau Ashta has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Judau Ashta fails to parry Armor of the Week's Large Iron Nail Two-Fisted Smash, taking 6240 damage! KTS: Armor of the Week has engaged Judau Ashta! KTS: Armor of the Week roots its unit, coming to a standstill and leaving it vulnerable. KTS: Roux Louka has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Roux Louka charges into the attack! KTS: Roux Louka partially guards Armor of the Week's Scattering Mega Particle Gun Reflector Bit Storm, taking 7200 damage! KTS: Armor of the Week partially guards Puru Two's Forearm Beam Cannon Burst Fire, taking 4072 damage! KTS: Puru Two successfully evades Armor of the Week's Scattering Mega Particle Gun Reflector Bit Storm
<Pose Tracker> Arriety Hearn has posed.
"Still... still have leftover Korean when you get back from the potluck," Arriety offers to Leina. "You all must be hungry by now."
It's perhaps an almost inappropriate bit of levity, but it's important to emphasize the little things they can all go back to, sometimes. It sounds so trivial and unimportant, but Arriety's figured out by this point that it's the little grounding things that keep her afloat against such waves of hate, grief and despair. Why can't hope and the joy of life take the form of Rena baking them a wood-fired pizza? Why can't it take the form of Haro-shaped cookies from Banagher, huh?
Maybe it's also her way of keeping her cool, because it's starting to rapidly fracture even under the phenomenon, with how much duress she's feeling from both Loni and Callisto.
"Miss Roux, Callie's not-- not doing so great... I could-- I could use some encouragement for her. From..." Arriety calls out to them, though they're already on the case... she feels like her sister's falling down a slope she can't quite reach at the moment.
But she doesn't have to reach for her alone.
Arriety's spine chills for a moment as she feels something that feels very much dark, but... also honest, coming from her sister. She's silent for a moment, but breathes deeply.
"Puru Two," Arriety actually deigns to call her, rather than Callisto, alongside Sayla, who has the same idea, which bolsters her with relief and confidence. For Arriety, it's because she understands that the difference between the two names isn't just one that she's rejecting, but there are two sides to her sister that are both equal and important to acknowledge.
The Reflector Bits reboot, and the shoulder-mounted cannons fire once more -- this time, however, Arriety only has the Quebeley in mind, throwing the white Zeta in front of the black mobile suit as everything washes over her for a moment. It's a direct hit, but the Zeta's arms are braced in front of the cockpit block like a boxer's guard.
...
When everything fades, the Zeta Gundam is... it's... hovering -- since standing isn't so much a certainty when they're in a low-grav environment such as this, but it's not going to be holding together for much longer, the way the electricity and sparks are coming out of it.
Darn, Arriety thinks through the smoke and hazards coming in as the life support seals on the cockpit begin to fail. She smells fire and smoke, and... something on her abdomen really hurts right now... is that blood? I shouldn't have thrown the shield earlier... could've used it right now...
An explosion, and the left arm just simply gives, tumbling in a fiery wreckage to one side -- it throws the suit's balance off and it threatens to collapse in on itself.
"I know it's frustrating right now. I know the feeling of not feeling like you can make a meaningful difference. I know the feeling of wanting an even bigger sword -- if you just have this, surely it'll be fine! Everything will be secure! But you can't reach out for that power. It's not going to do any of us any good... I can feel it! Come back to us. We don't need a sword in someone's back."
The cockpit is flashing red now, and Arriety grimaces as she continues:
"We need you, Puru Two. I need you."
Another explosion -- one of the Zeta Gundam's eye lenses pops right off as its V-fin begins to crumple, following an explosion on the side of its head.
"Minae... are you okay?" Shoot, she thinks, I can't just make a call like that when I'm risking Minae's life on the line too... "Can you please..." She can't look at the Super AI on the co-pilot seat behind her right now, five-pointed harness in the way.
"I'll-- have to leave the rest to you," Arriety's voice is quickly quavering as she feels everything start to become fuzzy as her head slumps back, pupils still dilated. Her vital signs are-- not exactly stable, but they're not rapidly dwindling either.
The darndest thing about entering the border of life and death, which Arriety is no stranger to, is that the strangest thoughts enter on what you think might be your last moments...
"... hey Leina... if I don't make it back... ... the galbi's in the bottom fridge..."
KTS: Christina MacKenzie fails to retreat. KTS: Christina MacKenzie fails to evade Armor of the Week's Scattering Mega Particle Gun Reflector Bit Storm, taking 7200 damage! KTS: Christina MacKenzie has been defeated! <Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.
Leina's voice cuts through Banagher's wave of trauma. Clinging to the unbreakable light of their bond, he pulls himself out of Loni's grief and hatred, hand by hand.
It's not here. It's not here.
The Unicorn's sensors confirm this. The Banshee isn't anywhere near them. Reality strikes the young pilot, spurred on by Judau's overwhelming psychic strength.
He's right. If Banagher can't save Loni here, what chance does he have of pulling Elpeo from the Black Unicorn? Newfound determination shines within and without the Gundam, beautiful green starlight encompassing the Unicorn entirely. Her shield returns to her arm.
<"MISS LONI!"> Banagher shouts, as the Unicorn screams a challenge. Together, they chase after Judau, thrusters burning at top speed. <"I WON'T LEAVE YOU BEHIND!">
The Tristan, despite the shape its in, rockets after the Unicorn and ZZ. Concussive blasts herald its approach. Between Chris and Judau, the Shamblo takes horrible damage. It'll repair itself soon. They only have a small window to pull Loni out.
Torrington flashes in Banagher's mind. The way Leina and Judau saved him -- pulled him out of the NT-D, body and soul. He can't do the same for Loni, not with her aura of dawnlight, but --
With a glimmer of metallic light the abandoned beam magnum, brushes against the Unicorn's hand, still lingering near the Shamblo's draconic head. The gun is half destroyed, and probably shouldn't be fired, Bangaher thinks, as he looks at the five remaining shots.
Close enough to touch the Shamblo, the Unicorn holds her gun out before her, aiming to behead the dragon. Judau and Chris can carve into the cockpit, but if the Shamblo fires its canon from this close...
Magenta light blossoms. Banagher grits his teeth.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Shot after shot scorches into the mobile armor at point-blank range. With the gun exhausted, Banagher hurls it away from himself and his allies. The Unicorn floats forward, grasping the ruined Shamblo with both her hands.
Banagher closes his eyes. Green light shimmers around his form as he holds his arms out, spiritually reaching for Loni.
As her pilot attempts to reach Loni's spirit, the Unicorn hums with energy, seeking to disable the Psychoframe within the Shamblo. Betting the power of her pilot's determination against the terrible dawnlight, the Unicorn is unrelenting, clinging to the mobile armor even if the orange corruption brushes against her fingers.
Miss Loni... I'm not leaving without you. There's still a future for us. Let go of the past. I know it's not fair. But the best thing we can do, for Kirks, for everyone we've lost, is move forward.
Banagher's spirit floats before the Shamblo, every bit as green and luminous as the Unicorn just behind him. Both he and his Gundam are terribly vulnerable, but even so...
Take my hands! You're coming with us -- we're all going to see tomorrow together!
KTS: Banagher Links targets Armor of the Week with Beam Magnum Barrage! KTS: Banagher Links has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
Judau Ashta knows his sister. He knows her well. He is absolutely correct, but right now she cannot even fathom calling out for his help, his guidance. Not when so many others need it. And what Arriety says? She is hungry. She wishes she was there, trying it with her... rather than...
A flash of possessive hands from Sayla, as her head turns just subtly in abstraction. A flash of hunger from Callisto as she calls out, demanding that it be given to her. "Puru... two?" Leina whispers, hearing Sayla apologize. Hearing her reach out to her. Judau's call to Banagher, his call to arms is something that would ordinarily be sobering, steadying in light of this. Her emotional anchor, in a way he's always grounded her. Yet what he says. that call to save someone caught in the thrall of awful thing, what one has to give to save them, what one has to endure. After all, Banagher won't leave her behind.
And instead that feeling of that possessiveness from Sayla, that hunger from Callie, that hate from Loni only intensifies. It gets inside her and she feels that seductive call, stronger, and stronger. She never wanted this power, never. Right now, maybe she should have it.
Maybe it's what she needs right now, to save someone.
Those bits fire, in a storm, and as the Hi Nu Photon Gundam suddenly tries to slip through its beamfire again, its scored numerous times, beams lancing across its limbs, its torso, preventing any killing hit, and she remembers. She remembers. She remembers...
You can't just kill people with mobile suits!
That was her refrain, again and again and again. When Beecha and Mondo boosted Glemy's Bawoo to terrorize the man. Who cares if she imagined him being punished for the things he didback then ? It was wrong, she knew it was wrong. But childish morality can't stand up against the reality of the world. The horrors of war and combat.
Horrors that placed a child within a Qubeley, with weapons that could kill with a thought. If she treated it like a game, like play, then it was how she coped with her reality. In the end what happened on the streets of Axis was reality. A reality that required her to plead for the lives of the people around them. A reality that cares little that a child never got to live her life as anything other than a weapon. And now even in death they have somehow desecrated that.
You can't just kill people with mobile suits!
She almost says, to the sad girl in the mobile armor, enthralled by the past, enthralled by a universal century, enthralled by a universal truth. The plea to a child to someone who lived a sad life, holed up in a desert, waiting to lash out against the world, against the system that oppressed her and her family before her. She can empathize, if things had only been a little different... she might have been her.
The psycoframe's power surges under her command, she can feel the wave rising. What causes the choice to give in are such simple things, Arriety's statement of if she doesn't make it back, "You'll make it back. You'll... We'll..." Whatever she might have said about the Galbi, about eating it together is cut off by the sight of the Tristan. Her breathing quickens, her pupils subtly dilate...
... and she just gives in. It's such a quiet thing when she does, marked by a single word, "Funnels."
Rising off into sequence, they fly inexpertly from the wing like a flock of winged birds, all six surrounding the Shamblo at different angles, like two overlapping triangles pointed in different directions. Those eyes close, as that breathing picks up more and more, panic surging, as she remembers. She remembers...
Stop! Stop! If your selfishness gets people killed...
Bodies exploding and disintegrating, playground equipment melting, streets aflame on an asteroid like this one. Such risks, such childish lines, such black and white morality of a child who used to try and drag her brother home from a criminal life pales in comparison to a singular desire however...
... and that is to see everyone she loves home alive, to save them. Her eyes open, and all six funnels begin firing in sequence. Inexpertly, but still with devasting inexorable force. Charged photon particles of a rust hurricane, icy frost, fiery hell, breaking thunder, pure photonic lasers, it bombards the Shamblo pitilessly with each funnel blast, avoiding the cockpit and reactor but otherwise not letting up as it tries to rip apart its armored shell and reduce those pieces to being so small that not even the Aura of the Dawn can fix it.
To allow Banagher, to allow Judau, to allow everyone to reach out and do what needs to be done. To end this before it claims anyone else.
And if within her hands start shaking on the controls they hold, if her breathing grows faster and faster, then what does it matter? She does what SHE needs to do. The horrible flood of memories and visions and feelings that grip her as she does?
That's nothing new. A silence so loud, to anyone who is listening.
KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Rouse Spirit Command. KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Valor Spirit Command. <Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
"<Arriety! Chris!>" Sayla can hear them go down. Damnit... She's cost so many people. And now-
She feels the shift, here in the psychoframe. And for the first time in their long time time together- the memories.
She had known what had happened, about as well as she could. But living Leina's experiences is different. Seeing it from her eyes, feeling the chain around her ankle. Unable to do anything. Tears run down Sayla's face as she sees it. The death. The brutality. All by a child made for this.
"Leina..."
Sayla can't reach far forward, but she can reach forward a little. Her hands wrap loosely around Leina's waist, just barely connecting with the seat and restraints in the way. "Leina. Stay here. You're here, with me. You need to be here and now." She can only calm her so much during battle.
And then quiet cuts through the silence. Walls, strong and tested, surround Leina. To protect her from the screaming. From everyone's thoughts. That much, in this suit, she can do. She hears a beep in her comm. "<Faye, Roux, do you what you can to support Banagher a little longer. Help is coming.>"
KTS: Sayla Mass has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Leina Ashta KTS: Sayla Mass targets Leina Ashta, Roux Louka, and Faye Valentine with All-Out. KTS: EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 74. KTS: SP Regen activates. Your new SP value is 30. KTS: Sayla Mass has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Sayla Mass orders an all-out attack, raising Leina Ashta's Skill! KTS: Leina Ashta targets Armor of the Week with Photon Funnel Array All Out Attack! KTS: Leina Ashta has completed their actions for the round. That player is not in an arena. That player is not in an arena.
<Pose Tracker> BC-001 Minae has posed.
Minae's too busy watching the screens in front of her to directly spot what happens to the Qubeley; it's only at the surpising flash of light that she looks up in surprise, followed by the pilot's growl across the radio. Her expression is blank for a moment, then concern streaks through her features. "--Callie! Don't give in to it!" she forgets to hit her own radio in her haste and fear, but maybe just as she's started to touch people's feelings, maybe she can convey hers as well.
Her radio lights up with others calling to Callisto, with Arriety's message to the others to reach out for her. Minae wishes she had her own machine right now; maybe she could be more resistant to the Light of Dawn by dint of what she is, maybe she could last a precious little while longer to race in and recover Callisto from the fugue state she's in. But that would mean not piloting with Arriety, and she's always maintained they're stronger together.
Some intuition tells her what Arriety is planning right from the moment she calls Callisto's former name. Even before the Zeta dives in front of the attack she's reconfiguring what she can to try to protect them both from the blast, no words needed as she does her best to work alongside Arriety's actions. It's not exactly 'opening them a path' - more like the opposite, as Minae takes the chance to be the prudent one, working in the background to support and maneuver along with the pilot.
She doesn't pass out, but for a moment her awareness is too full of searing light and confusion for her to pick anything out, all of her senses dazzled by the impact of the attack. The first thing she senses is the alarm, but not because of the noise - her connection to the Zeta is a sea of warnings that she struggles through, mentally throwing several of them to one side as she picks out the critical ones that need to be immediately resolved.
Her focus narrows; a secondary bulkhead slams down as she takes the initiative to shear the remains of the left arm away in favour of the Zeta's structure as a whole. It's not exactly a losing battle she's fighting, but it is one of attrition. A blast of fire retardant rockets down the right hand side of the Zeta - or it does until the nozzle itself buckles under the pressure and damage and she's forced to shut it off instantly or risk destroying the system from the pressure within.
"Keep going as long as you can!" she almost orders her pilot to try to maintain Arriety's alertness, her voice sharper than usual in her distracted state before she catches herself - she spares a moment to lean over again, both to offer Arriety a moment's support but also a moment's reassurance. "And don't worry about me. I'm here because I trust you."
(It's also a moment to check Arriety's vital signs. This, at least, is more in her usual job description; her eyes flick over the young woman's form, checking the sound of her breathing and the feeling of the pulse at her neck. It feels like she's more overwhelmed than mortally wounded, but it doesn't feel like she's out of the woods either.)
<"Zeta to all units, we've taken critical damage. I'm pulling us out,"> she starts, and then-- swallows to try to steady her nerves. She doesn't have a digestive system and doesn't exactly have a nervous system, but she can allow herself a nervous tic. <"Callie, if you can hear us at all, we're waiting for you. I won't forgive you if you let yourself be taken in by this. I know you're a lot smarter and kinder than that.">
A flicker of console windows on her monitor herald the locking down of the cockpit and several weapons systems power being diverted to life support; the rest of it goes to what thrusters are still active, and the Zeta suddenly throttles backwards and away from the Shamblo. She daren't risk go too fast in case she tears the mobile suit apart, but there are people here she can trust to watch their retreat.
KTS: Sayla Mass orders an all-out attack, raising Roux Louka's Skill! <Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.
GIVE IT TO ME.
Never a good sign. Roux's eyes cut towards the Quebeley as it begins to erupt in strange illuminance. The Double Zeta does too, but the situation is escalating with swift surety into a realm that Roux can only reach for -
Can she?
Others are calling out. Reaching. Judau exhorts Banagher and Roux grits her teeth for a momenmt because she thinks she knows what it is she is going to do in a moment but she doesn't yet know HOW she gets there. Arriety speaks -- "I'll try," she answers her, because -- because what can she say?
She knows what happened, of course. She was there. But can she truly know? Her eyes stay on the Shamblo as the world seems to slow down. She feels that sensation like she's being drawn into rapport with something but it seems like it's coming towards her and it's not a person and it's not even a THING, it's more like a color.
That seething hate. Formless, fundamental. Hate as a verb; hate as a primal phoneme, a root-syllable; and Roux sees a bird cross her vision for a moment, sweet and pure and red.
"Callisto!" Roux remembers herself shouting just now.
"Pull back! It's tricking you! I'm not going to let some SLIME from the COSMOS rip up my old friend!" And with this the Strike Zeta surges into the shimmering, deadly network before her. Roux has no shield --
Wait! She does! The Hyper Mega Launcher (which was shut down - when? It just turned ITSELf off; overload, perhaps, a failure state, but a really lucky one, because a shut-down reactor makes what's about to happen WAY safer) is raised upwards, the heavy weapon in all of its glory used for something more vital than war: To defend her.
For is that not the purpose of all of these arms? The Hyper Mega Launcher guards her; she guards Callisto; and perhaps now, perhaps never, Callisto guards her. Or someone out there in the starry roads of space, for even Earth is merely a place in space.
The Hyper Mega Launcher was not made for this treatment. Its bulk is swiftly reduced to so much wreckage but it absorbs three of those interweaving deadly shots. It takes another five before what electronics remain start blatting warnings and Roux throws it aside.
The Strike Zeta's armor isn't the thickest in the world, albeit something ruggedized if only to deal with the stresses of flying at huge speeds in atmosphere. It's enough to get closer. Roux feels something crawl up her throat and she lets it give way -
"THIS IS --"
As a Beam Saber is ripped out of its standard place, drawn downwards as the Strike Zeta swerves itself, aiming to get BENEATH one of the wing binderlike shapes and stab the weapon forwards, *grinding* it inwards. Why not fire it? Did it fail? Is Roux blinded by rage?
"*OUR* WORLD -- THANK YOU VERY MUCH"
No. NOW the beam saber erupts, hopefully having snuggled itself into a place that is not coated in those glittering, damnable tiles.
KTS: Roux Louka targets Armor of the Week with Beam Saber - Feigned Failure! KTS: Roux Louka has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Puru Two has posed.
The girl's spirit is somewhere outside of her body. A tunneling roar fills her every other sense, the normal palette of space bleeding into a chromatic mess of colours with every phantasmal throb and ache of her heart.
With ghostly fingers she reaches out: greedy, hungry, needy. If she could just pluck that burning spark from the heart of the crybaby in the Shamblo, she could turn that power to her own and then--... what? Turn all her enemies to dust, crush every mote of dissent, paint the walls with the blood of everyone who thinks the wrong way? To what end?
Hesitation. It almost killed her mere moments before, but now, it saves her. More than she'll realize.
T A K E I T
(No, wait, I don't--)
She looks at her hands. Why are they see-through? Where is she? The calling of her name can be heard in the distance. From a little speaker inside Puru Two's helmet, back in the physical, the tinny crackle of words pierces the veil.
> "<Puru Two! Do you hear me? You mustn't take that power! It will enslave you, like it has Loni and Char and so many others! Please, pull back!">
(That's familiar--that voice... that time, Leina's...?)
> "STOP IT RIGHT THE HELL NOW!"
There's no mistaking the peak of that voice--nor the mental wave that crashes into Puru Two alongside it. After all, he was always one to wear his feelings on his sleeve, right?
(Judau, why are you so worked up...? It's okay, right?)
Her vision fades to white, she can almost feel Judau shaking her by the lapels...
From the warm glow of reality, unlike this stark and cold space, she can feel the sensation of family calling. It's not a word, or a sound, so much as a feeling. It escapes the fickle chains of physical language and sensation, and so can hardly be described, but it is very much there.
"We need you, Puru Two. I need you."
The ebb and lure of Power, calling to the girl, seems to recede before something so pure. Smothered, softened, it vanishes behind an important fact. And it pulls her back to reality.
***
The black Qubeley's head snaps to attention, eye-cameras flaring anew for a moment. Puru Two suddenly sits up in her seat, having been slouched over on the controls, taking in a sharp intake of breath again. Her heart pounds out a mile a minute. Where was she? Where is she now? What was that burning feeling in her mind? Where is--
A lot has happened in the heartbeat's space of time where she was blanked out, and the badly-smoking Zeta fills the Qubeley's sensor screen. The pupils of her eyes quickly shrink to be as pinpricks.
"Ah-ri." Puru Two breathes the name aloud, "Why did you...? Minae!" she response quickly to their loyal friend, as her voice fills her ears again. "I'm--I'm okay for now, but please get Arriety somewhere safe!"
You might remember that the Qubeley's funnels were all destroyed in the furious beam of energy from the Oath Over Omega's disciple down there in the Shamblo, which won't help answer the next question:
What are those ghostlights dancing around the Qubeley in a similar fashion...?
Before this can be answered, they depart. Swords carried on an invisible wind, plunging towards the Shamblo's core. Let the will to power spurring this conflict on be destroyed, that the tragic cycle might end. Even if only for a short time.
"Why does this keep happening!?" yells Puru Two, tears carving a wet path down her cheeks, welling in the corner of her normal suit's helmet.
KTS: Puru Two has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Puru Two has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Puru Two targets Armor of the Week with Qubeley MK-II Funnels - Pneuma Formation! KTS: Puru Two has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Arriety Hearn's MSZ-006-3A Zeta Gundam 3A Type has been disabled. <Pose Tracker> Faye Valentine has posed.
The dance continues as long as it possibly can. But the Red Tail is burning fuel fast, and the G-forces are starting to catch up with her, especially with the strange, ugly pulse from before. Her heart is pounding - she has to work to draw in a breath as she pushes down in another dizzying dive -
It's not enough. She doesn't have the benefit of supernatural intuition - just years of practice running for her life. Beams clip the Red Tail and it wobbles dangerously, all the moreso as the space around the Shamblo fills with the fire of everyone's combined efforts. Systems scream - thrusters sputter out staccato bursts as lines are crushed, the graceful dance becoming a jittery, staggering mess.
She should pull back. Run for it. There'll be another tomorrow - and maybe another chance. If everyone lives, they can always try again. But...
Sayla asks for her.
Sayla needs her.
The MONO craft gives further protest as the gatling cannons continue to whirr, the thumping of the barrels joined by the choking strain of overstressed joints. Absolutely everything left in the missile racks is unloaded. When that fails, when the Red Tail's arms give that dangerous metal-shearing scream, Faye leans in as the Red Tail presses dangerously close to the enemy machine... and, with one last stressful spiral, allows one of the cannons to tear away from its overworked mounting, blasting away until the cannon itself is reduced to so much explosive shrapnel battering against the Shamblo's armor.
If she can just crack the limbs, keep the thing locked down while Banagher does what he needs to do...
She's only just found this place, these people. This time, she absolutely doesn't want to lose. Not before she's even gotten to know what it might be like, sticking around a little more often...
KTS: Faye Valentine has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Faye Valentine has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Faye Valentine has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Faye Valentine has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Faye Valentine targets Armor of the Week with All In! KTS: Faye Valentine has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Judau Ashta has posed.
Like embers, flecks of pink and red float between the Shamblo and the Double Zeta, chasing after the edge of the gradually diminishing beam saber they were separated from. They linger, fragments of pure will floating in zero-g, as the Double Zeta stares up at the Mobile Armor in defiance.
A reprisal is inevitable. But Judau Ashta isn't leaving this close proximity -- he refuses.
He's going to stay here, as long as it takes, to make sure Roux is safe. To make sure they get Sayla out of here alive. To make sure Puru Two - Callisto - can't succumb to that desperate hunger for the forbidden power within the Shamblo.
... To make sure this machine is -dealt- with. For Loni's sake. ... and for the sake of that twisting knot of dread Judau feels clenching at his heart in a perfect echo to the crisis that sinks deep and burning in Leina's.
Reprisal comes. And though Judau moves to meat it, it comes too late: the hyper beam saber has winnowed down to its original length by the time the ZZ swings it to try to intercept those massive fists. "Shit--!" The lack of reach damns it, in the end; claws CRASH and CRUNCH into the ZZ's armored body, crushing its right shoulder in a brief, explosive discharge that -knocks- the Gundam aside like a ragdoll. It goes flying as Judau knocks violently around in his panoramic cockpit. His head CRACKS against the back of his seat in a way that makes his head swim. Everything briefly becomes a blur, dawn-burning orange crackling at the fringes of his gaze. He thinks of how it looked, how it felt, when Char reached out to him, and all he feels is a queasy nausea that bubbles up sickening bile at the back of his throat.
"... s'not... right..." he mumbles, but he's not sure in that woozy state just -what- he means; his words are a static-numb hum in his pounding ears, his world spinning. But...
Funnels.
Judau's eyes snap wide.
He feels it. That swirl of conflict. It brings him back -- just as much as Banagher's spectral determination to save even just one tragic life does. He blinks a slow, lid-squeezing blink, shaking his head.
"... lluh--leina... you can do this," he mutters. He doesn't transmit. But his voice carries to the person he means it for, all the same.
"... you can do this. You're the... strongest person I know."
Judau draws back to reality as Banagher makes its play, just in time to see Roux shout her defiance and shove the strike Zeta's beam saber into the binder of the Shamblo, activating it in a furious roar of particles.
THIS IS -- *OUR* WORLD -- THANK YOU VERY MUCH"
Judau blinks again, exactly once.
"holy shit" alarms Judau
"that's really hot."
Focus regained, the sparking and damaged Double Zeta rises once more. Willpower is keeping damaged pieces together as the Biosensor pulses.
<"Get Arriety outta here -- we'll cover for you!"> shouts Judau in firm assurance to Minae. They've only met once. But they - Arriety, Minae - they're important to Puru. Irreplaceable. And that means Judau would fight to his last breath to keep them safe.
Puru returns to her senses, crying out in frustration. The Biosensor -pulses-.
<"Callie -- Puru --"> Judau begins, and for a moment, he struggles to find the words. He thinks of Dublin. How he lost Elpeo. How they all fought so hard to free Puru Two from Glemy, to be able to live the life she ought to - whatever life she -wanted- to. ... He thinks of the ghost in the machine of the Banshee.
<"-- ... I've got your back, Puru. No matter what.">
The Biosensor - p u l s e s -.
And the Double Zeta -launches- up as high as it can go as Arriety and Minae's Zeta retreats, double-barreled beam rifle swinging up.
The Shamblo has reflector bits. Judau doesn't care. The Double Zeta has one of the most powerful reactors equipped to any mobile suit.
And Judau -amplifies- that power to as much as it can handle without overloading, feeding it his raw will to empower that rifle just as he squeezes the trigger --
-- to unload shot after hyper-powered shot of crackling crimson bolts of particle fire down on the Shamblo and its reflector bits as if intent to try to overwhelm and overload them through sheer, stubborn willpower alone...
... and help the others keep both them and -it- distracted as long as Banagher needs to accomplish what he needs to.
Because the same applies to him as applies to the rest of them. He's got Banagher's back.
To the end of the line.
KTS: Judau Ashta has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Judau Ashta has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Judau Ashta targets Armor of the Week with Double Beam Rifle - Maximum Beam! KTS: Judau Ashta has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> BC-001 Minae has posed.
The Zeta doesn't pause in its retreat; Minae is far too much of a realist to follow along with the dramatics of a scene to stop the stricken mobile suit in order to reply to Callisto. They have radios for a reason! But the way that the timbre of Puru Two's voice changes does leave a wave of relief washing over Minae, and she closes her eyes and fervently hopes that Arriety can feel it too, wherever she is right now.
"That's good," she whispers back, then allows herself the sound of a fake deep breath for good measure, taking the scant few seconds to reel her panic in. "And it's okay. It's not your fault. Neither of us blame you, okay?" she insists as gently as she dares, never mind that she's still chasing errors and venting smoke along the way. "She's alive and well, I promise. You've got the biggest hug coming later, I think, so stay safe."
She leaves it at that, at least for the moment - there isn't a lot of time to say much more than that, but she knows enough about how Callisto is likely to react to this that it's suddenly important to get that much out there. "I've got her," she promises Judau; Minae isn't one to raise her voice, so it's more about the solemn assurance than the volume in her case. "So please, grab a hold of Callie as well." Her simulations and logistics readouts start to give way; her connection isn't that wide ranging, especially as she shuts off the Zeta's communication suite to afford themselves a little more in the way of power to get home with.
KTS: Armor of the Week fails to react to Banagher Links's Beam Magnum Barrage, taking 8190 damage! KTS: Armor of the Week's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Armor of the Week partially guards Leina Ashta's Photon Funnel Array All Out Attack, taking 5590 damage! KTS: Armor of the Week's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Armor of the Week fails to react to Roux Louka's Beam Saber - Feigned Failure, taking 3120 damage! KTS: Roux Louka has engaged Armor of the Week! KTS: Armor of the Week's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Armor of the Week fails to react to Puru Two's Qubeley MK-II Funnels - Pneuma Formation, taking 6670 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Puru Two's Pierce the Veil activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: Armor of the Week fails to react to Judau Ashta's Double Beam Rifle - Maximum Beam, taking 7930 damage! KTS: Armor of the Week partially guards Faye Valentine's All In, taking 3045 damage! KTS: Armor of the Week has been defeated!
<Pose Tracker> Armor of the Week has posed.
With the Tristan disabled and Arriety's Zeta retreating under Minae's guidance, the window of opportunity the Shamblo was blocking is dwindling faster and faster. One by one the armour of their suits is failing, their reactors are bottoming out.
It's a desperate last stand.
Banagher unleashes what's left of the Unicorn's Beam Magnum, stressing the weapon almost to the point of no return, and closes in to press the RX-0 against the Shamblo's armour. He focuses.
He can see her.
In this space between minds, he and Loni make 'eye contact'. She wordlessly reaches out a hand for him - begging for aid.
Something else stirs. A spectre, hungry violet and baleful orange in equal measure, grabs her outstretched arm and forces it back down to where the controls of the Shamblo must be. It looms over her, pushing out, fighting Banagher's attempt to reach into the mobile weapon's Oath-infused psycommu systems. It is as hungry as it is repudiating, the effort to fight back against it feeling like it strips away tiny parts of Banagher's psyche with each moment.
The glowing psycoframe of the Unicorn sputters, its green gradually, infinitesimally being overridden by the amber light bleeding from the Shamblo. Sparks fly as the conflicting wills war.
Join us or die, the Cosmic Will and the hateful spectre within the Shamblo seem to demand.
If it were just the Unicorn and Banagher, eventually it would succumb.
They are not alone.
Faye streaks in for her second attack run, the Red Tail's weapons practically falling apart as she pushes the fighter beyond its limits. The ghosts of Puru Two's funnels streak forwards, punching through the i-field and unable to be stopped by the Shamblo's reflector bits, tearing lines through the armour. Leina Ashta lets all her feelings and her will surface, and the Hi-Nu's Photon-Powered funnels spring to life, circling the Shamblo and bombarding it with every energy and particle form the Photon Power Research Institute has developed. Judau Ashta's double beam rifle fires on full blast, atomising more Reflector Bits and stripping away crucial armour sections - and Roux Louka feels the opportunity more than sees it, her beam sabe igniting at the last second and piercing straight through - miraculously, into the central processor for the mobile armour's psycommu.
Loni screams once more, loudly, and passes out. The spectral presence overriding her own will also lets out a panicked howl, fading away from Banagher's senses.
The Shamblo shudders to a halt.
It won't last. This catastrophic damage will eventually be restored by the Oath Over Omega.
-- but --
"Infiltration team!" A boyish voice - warm and kind despite the intensity - calls over the comm. "This is the Division Train ship Yamatsumi! Mobile Operator Mamoru Amami speaking! Ikumi and I are en route in GaoGaiGo!"
"We'll take it from here," GaoGaiGo's second pilot chimes in coolly. "Complete your mission."
The 3G Blue Super Neuronoid swoops in on StealthGao II's boosters, planting massive feet in front of the Shamblo and opening its cockpits. Vivid green and scarlet light shines forth as its pilots emerge, wings of light emanating from their backs, hands raised as they prepare to intone the twin purification rituals of the Trinary Solar System's Green and Red planets.
The fight is over.
The fighters' machines can still move.
Time to go.
<Pose Tracker> Christina MacKenzie has posed.
Banagher's back in the fight... good. Chris wasn't sure if Judau alone could scoop the pilot from the armor before it knits, even if Chris shatters its armor, even if that reckless Qubeley sears its bits to pieces, even if both the Zeta models and the Nu pound it with a blistering assault, even if Faye, in her fragile craft's devastating strafing, all just to occupy the gleam of the dawn. All just to rip apart a fortress, to save a single girl. Seems that was a pattern today.
The Tristan, battered and cracked, molting its shell and blazing with fire it couldn't sustain. Even without the damage from dawnfire, the Overclock puts an enormous strain on the Eilhart. With melted armor and locked joints, electrical surges and bent power relay couples... Well, the jam was inevitable. The Tristan's guns are silenced--well, some of them. Chris continues firing her head vulcans until they run out of ammo, not that the pea shooters do much more than annoy the Oath.
Banagher grasps the monster's head and unleashes everything left to halt that awful gleam, that Teutonic myth's fearsome breath. Unfortunately, it's not the fell dragon's only weapons, as it spits out an endless spray of capital-grade beam fire.
It would be beautiful, were it not spraying towards the battered freighter caught between the hangar walls and the flourishing death blossom.
<"NO!!">
A strange, slow, quiet fell over the part of her mind that turned thought to action. Symbols in sequence.
The blood on a soldier's hands, the weight in a soldier's heart, the bullets from a soldier's gun, the glory to a soldier's name.
The prices she's already had to pay.
The three dozen innocents clinging to makeshift bunks in the Oberge's hold.
The two spheres tittering in panic, simultaneously her children, her family, and the reflections of her self.
She's already accumulated so much grief and guilt.
Her history, her paperwork, her dune buggy, her shovel.
Oh. The parts to [pink]Leina's Haro, she didn't drop them off at her Ring workshop yet...
So many things to lose...
Her legs and arms, too, had moved on their own accord during her moment of reverie. That beautiful blossom, and that glimmering blue beetle humming around it. If she could just reach it...clasp it in her hands...
Chris's conscious mind and her reactionary mind finally resynthesized. The calculations had been made.
Even without the Failnaught's boosters, the Eilhart was still a nimble, agile mobile suit. She timed the jump at the autonomous shield, grasping it, unable to hear it but pleading, in her heart, for it to lend her even a sliver of its power. That blue glow hummed uncertainly, but did not reject her... Good enough. She gunned the thrusters, sweeping the shield out in front of her as she threw herself in front of the reflector bits, throwing her feet out forward to jet backwards towards the Oberge, blocking shots the whole way.
The Tristan was pummeled by megaparticle beams. Left arm, critical damage. That's fine, it has to be, grip tighter with the right, brace against the shoulder...One shot finally burst clean through the Tristan's neck, shearing the entire head off in a violent cascade of sparks. Chris lost visuals, but her HUD told the rest of the story. The Tristan held onto that blue shield, desperately, not for itself, but for the Oberge... Until one last shot pierced through the left breast as the right arm finally drooped weak and low. Chris saw the red flash on the HUD in the instant before all the power in the cockpit was killed.
She was in the dark again. But the shots had ceased.
<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.
Funnels.
Funnels?
Especially in this spiritual form, Bangaher feels Leina's pain, snippets of her traumatic memories fluttering against his soul. They seamlessly blend in with the Oath's attack, tearing away at the young pilot's very being. Tears trail down Banagher's face, radiant as starlight.
Judau's determination burns in Banagher's vision, impossible to look directly at. Somehow -- Judau's support and belief seem to make Banagher's spirit glow all the more brightly, providing a way forward, bolstering his strength.
But Loni reached out! She needs to be saved! Even if this kills him! Banagher reaches out, clawing at the Shamblo's malevolent ghost, trying to tear it away from Loni even as it erodes Banagher's self.
Miss Loni!
As her pilot begins to fail, the Unicorn loses herself. Motes of light vanish, one by one, flickering like a guttering candle. She refuses to step back. This is what Banagher wants. If he goes, they go together.
Join us or die, demands the Cosmic Will. Banagher screams something wordless against it, unable to organize his thoughts into anything more than a repeated cry of Loni's name.
They're failing. It's too late to pull back. Banagher turns to look in the direction of Leina's spirit. Sorrow echoes from his soul, even as he desperately still reaches for Loni.
Endless attacks rain down on the Shamblo, pushing back the light of the dawn just enough, just enough.
Banagher's hands claw through the spectre entirely, reaching Loni's spirit for a fraction of a heartbeat before she loses consciousness. Just before his spirit fades, he smiles.
Men with... wings (?) appear, and Banagher pilots the Unicorn out of their way. As much as he wants to stay by Loni's side, this is what needs to happen. And he has his own priorities.
Slowly, the Unicorn returns to her single-horned form, drifting away from the Shamblo. She, and her pilot, are exhausted, Banagher's head drooping as he returns to his physical form. Exhaustion weighs him down until even placing a hand on the Unicorn's controls is nearly an impossibility.
First. The Unicorn flies to Chris and the destroyed Tristan. Banagher looks at his own shield protecting her with wonder and confusion. When did that get over here? A question for later. Attaching the shield back to the Unicorn's arm, he pulls the Tristan close, towing her away from the Shamblo. Just in case.
<"Chris, are you okay?"> Banagher asks, voice wrecked. <"I'm okay. I think we all are, even Miss Loni.">
As if pulled by gravity, the Unicorn arrives next to Leina's machine. Placing a hand on its shoulder, Banagher lingers, taking strength from being near the one he loves the most.
<"Thank you, love."> Banagher murmurs, his eyes taking in the rest of the battlefield. If anyone else needs help, he'll go collect them... He just needs a second. <"You're here. You're safe. We're all... going to see tomorrow together. I love you.">
It's not very flowery, but the young pilot has no energy left to think about beautiful words. All he can do is radiate his love and gratitude, for everyone present, and slump down in his chair.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
It's so strangely contrary, being here, and being there. A strange proprioception that connects her body to those six extra limbs.
An ethereal nervous system, a strange sense of connection and disconnection, synapses firing and commands being carried out.
If she but forced herself? Could it be just as easy?
Anxiety and memory floods her at the thought.
It's not supposed to be easy! It shouldn't be!
She feels Callisto reaching, and a fin funnel twitches, as if she were going to reach out to her and briefly forgot the correct way to do that, swept up in the allure of hostility. The temptation, even pushing up against the walls of all of those awful memories.
'Why does this keep happening?'
Why indeed.
And she feels that will and those hands, orange dyed.
You! Get the hell away from him!
Her mind both here and there sounds off in protective reflex, as the firing cadence of the Fin Funnels subtly increases in intensity as if she were going to shred every last mote of dawnfire out of the Shamblo. She feels Sayla's hands around her, and those jolt her into remembrance of where she is.
'Leina. Stay here.'
Where am I again?
'You're here, with me.'
Oh right.
'You need to be here and now.'
I'm here." As her lips move, and a hand slides off the controls and over Sayla's, Sayla can still feel a slight tremor running through it.
It's like she's half there. The funnels keep firing, because it's what is needed. And then Judau tells her, '...lluh--leina... you can do this,'
Her eyes blink again, as if her vision is returning, '... you can do this. You're the... strongest person I know.'
The funnels continue firing for a time longer, before flying back, folding back over and elongating as they rack back up on the Photon Hi Nu's wings.
"Fuh-funny..." Leina says, as if only now were the tears registering to her eyes, blurring her vision, still a touch breathless, "... was going to say... the same 'bout you... Ju... Judau."
She cracks a smile as the Biosensor pulses, as his comment about Roux's hawtness registers, as he starts unloading shot after shot.
"Don't let it... go to your... your head."
Loni screams with the last vestiges of the psycommu, as that spectral howl takes over, but that's the moment that... "Mamoru... Ikumi... just in time."
Relief floods her, and in that moment, it's like she remembers what she saw that triggered part of this. And photonic thrusters fire as the AMBAC applies counterforce the moment she brings it in front of the Tristan.
And uncaring, she has the Hi Nu's fingertips pry open the hatch, tearing it off, as the dark turns into light again from the hangar lighting, and she sees the silhouette of a girl, leaning out of a nearby hatch.
"Christina MacKenzie."
She hears on the personal comms from the mission, not the mobile suit comms, "You get... your butt... in here... right now... right now. And let Dr. Mass take a look at you."
They'll collect the shredded parts and tow the Tristan after, but first thing's first. Some things were just more important.
And when they get back, they're having that galbi.
The Unicorn comes over to their machine, and he'll see Leina leaning outside of the Hi Nu in that moment, and while if he looks closely, he might see the droplet splatter on the face plate of her normal suit.
His words aren't the most poetic but... "<I love you too, Banagher Links.>" ... she never once asked for poetry. It's what she wants, and what she needs to hear in one.
<Pose Tracker> Christina MacKenzie has posed.
Unfortunately for Banagher, the Tristan's cockpit is interference-shielded, and the comm bypass is...completely out of power. She feels herself moving, quite suddenly but gently. It doesn't seem like an attack, but she's not sure yet that it's safe to exit, and hesitates to pull the cockpit's pneumatic hatch override--it's one way, and Leina would absolutely tear her a new one if she got herself shot in the parting instants of the battle.
Unfortunately for the Tristan, however, that same woman is full of emotions and haste, and the light streams in through the rent apart hatch. "You could have knocked, you know!" she says, but really...there's no real feelings behind that. Just relief. If Leina's here...it means the battle's over. It means they won, and it means that that girl...Banagher must have succeeded.
"Thank goodness..." She shoves off from the Tristan's bent metal, stretching her arms out and just going for the log-G hug, to hell with it all. Once she releases Leina from the embrace, she glances around to take stock of the last few minutes of the battle, and waves to Banagher and the Unicorn before she ducks inside. "Is Faye going to be mad if I sit in the back with you?" she jokes to Sayla.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
"Could have." Leina agrees. It's not going to turn into an argument with Palau hurtling towards the Earth.
Not for long though, she has faith in the forces arrayed to stop it.
With a tight hug against Chris, she ushers her inside, and shuts the hatch.
"If she feels that threatened by her ex sitting on her lap then it's never going to work out." Leina adds promptly, as she straps back in to the pilot seat.
<Pose Tracker> Faye Valentine has posed.
The Red Tail gently drifts towards Leina's suit, balancing itself as best it can with uneven mass. All the art and magic of its movement is gone - it's just a humble fighter now, a scrapped-together industrial craft missing most of what makes it a weapon.
The woman inside feels pretty scraped apart, too. But... Sayla gets to come home. Without having to give up anything to get there. Whatever she gave up to get there was worth it. Even if she's dreading the bill...
Well, okay, Sayla and her rich friends probably won't leave her in the lurch for that one. And it's not like it could make things much worse for her, anyway.
Part of her does feel a little twinge watching Chris clamber in with Leina and Sayla, but it's playful. Just a bit of 'damn, wish that was me'.
Well, if the world doesn't end, there'll be time. Sayla can make it up to her later.
At home.
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
The Shamblo falls, and Sayla breathes out slowly. It's over, and if they're clear. That means she can focus on Leina, turning her hand palm up to interlock fingers with Leina and squeeze tightly. "You're here. I'm here. We're both here." Judau is able to do the rest, and Sayla lets out a breath-
And she hears a familiar voice over radios. "<Renais, Guy and Domon are still in there. They may need help. ...Thanks for getting here in time. Everyone else, pull out and leave it to 3G.>" She is about to make a call. But it's not her mission.
Sayla unbuckles to kick the seat out, and give room for Chris to strap in a little uncomfortably. She hugs Chris too, and gives a quick once over for urgent injuries. "I think I can cover a new hatch after today."
Sayla moves to buckle herself in, and then gives Chris the auxilary harness to click in. "Maybe, but she's pretty understanding. I might have to get her a nice dinner to make up for it, though."
She clicks her suit comm. "<Faye, do you mind flying escort? I want to see you once I'm out of this cockpit.>" The weird nervous happy energy after surviving the impossible is high. She then flips one more, and mutes externals, aiming the laser at the Qubeley. "<Can you get back to the Ra Mari? Or do you want to stick with us until we land- or maybe an escort?>"
KTS: BC-001 Minae's Sub-Pilot has left KTS: Puru Two's AMX-004-03 Qubeley MK. II Repair has left