2022-01-22: The Red Comet Returns
- Log: 2022-01-16: The Red Comet Returns
- Cast: Full Frontal, Saraven Vai, Talia Gladys, Roux Louka, Anita Rosetta, Romilly Draid, Hazard Chevalier, Murrue Ramius, Lily Jung
- Where: Somewhere in Earth Orbit
- Date: January 22, 0096
- Summary: The Sleeves make their move against an Earth Federation supply ship. Responders rush to the scene, only to get a scarlet surprise. Has the Red Comet truly returned?
<Pose Tracker> Full Frontal has posed.
EARLIER:
Full Frontal, Supreme Commander of the Neo-Zeon remnant known as the Sleeves, addressed his soldiers aboard the Rewloola. From the Captain's chair, he spoke into the intercom, his voice steady and sure.
"My friends, an opportunity has come to us. A supply frigate belonging to our hated enemies, the Londo Bell, is closeby and lightly defended. It is full of fuel, parts, ammunition, food and sundries that are slated to be used in the war against us." He almost, almost smiles.
"Let us instead take it for ourselves."
Cheers echo through the ship as the loyal soldiers of the Sleeves set to making ready for combat.
NOW
Within the Sinanju, the Commander makes his final checks as his bridge crew monitors the situation. The feeling is tense with excitement aboard the ship as his soldiers man battle stations and their Mobile Suits. Within his, Full Frontal is silent, exuding nothing.
ABOARD THE FRIGATE
The crew is small, but seasoned to space travel. The ... SPACE SAILORS manage maintenance, navigation and other duties with efficiency and a deft hand.
"I hate this route," one of the bridge crew says to another. "It's somehow boring, but really tense. I hate it."
"That doesn't make any sense."
THE REWLOOLA
"Commander, we are within sortie range. Permission to order the launch?"
Once more, Full Frontal almost smiles. "Granted."
The bridge crew order the launch, two Mobile Suits at a time race from the twin catapaults, starting with the Sinanju. Full Frontal races his suit at an unholy speed, a streak of red across the black. He pulls the Beam Rifle from its storage and begins the attack, blasts strafing across the hull of the Frigate as the Londo Bell vessel starts hurling distress signals.
"Remember, disable the ship, do not destroy it!"
<Pose Tracker> Saraven Vai has posed.
When the Sinanju launches, it's not alone.
The second machine on the launchpad is distinctive. The line of design descent is clear - it's the same type of machine, a little less refined but still with a sweeping and streamlined frame built for battle. The biggest distinguisher is the colour: A dusty, desaturated lilac.
The Varguil boosts forward with a pulse of thrust, speeding out ahead of the line mobile suits, but remaining a couple of hops behind the Sinanju. A standard escort formation
Hands on her controls, Saraven Vai looks out through her helmet faceplate, taking stock of the field both through her eyes and through something more arcane. Data filters through her sensors even as feelings dance through her senses. It's not white noise to her. Possibilities stretch out in front of her, viewed as if through scratched glass, yet clear enough.
The orders crackle through her headset. "Yes," she answers, voice short and clipped as she guides her fingers over keys and control toggles. Data comes back to her at the speed of thought.
Thrusters flickering, the Varguil zips off to one side and away from the Sinanju. The cold pressure of Full Frontal remains a steady mark in her consciousness as Saraven orients her machine and takes aim. The Varguil levels a long-barreled beam rifle forward, and with several flashes of light, opens up to blast towards the rear hull of the ship - aiming to disable the engines.
Her expression doesn't change. The mission does not require it to. Panic is for people who are not born for this.
<Pose Tracker> Murrue Ramius has posed.
EARLIER
Sitting in the Captains Chair. Something that seems rather innocuous, but in truth, there is so much more to it than just, sitting their barking orders. The one that no one ever tells you, dont fidget. Fidgeting, isn't something a Captain has the luxury of. It shows anxiety, indecision, and related things, that a crew doesnt need from their Captain. Especially this crew, and their Captain.
THEN
Murrue Ramius, proud of her ship, proud of what makes up her crew and what they have gone through together, surveys the stations from her chair, leaning against one arm. When people are faced with the things that people in war face, you will see the best, or the worst in them. Thankfully, despite so many being children, her crew has shown the best, of each of them.
Lights begin to flash on multiple consoles. A distress call from a freighter, its on a line known for being dangerous. Operations station calls out the cargo listed on the reported manifest. Definitely an attractive target. But this seems to Murrue, to be calculated.
The attack seems to be bait, to attract a small force, because the target is small. The response by Londo Bell is going to reflect the risk of the resources lost. Therefore, small response to small bait. And Therefore a great spot for an ambush.
So the young CO with a resolute smile, is sure thats what she will see again, as she calls out battlestations and sets alert conditions, and waits for reports to start coming in. She warns all pilots to be ready to Sortie. It begins.
<Pose Tracker> Talia Gladys has posed.
"Captain, we've received a transmission from the Rewloola... They're launching their units."
"Understood." The Sleeves are not alone in this operation. In the spirit of mutual benefit and join operations, a small ZAFT detachment has been redirected to assist in the assault against the Londo Bell ship. The closest at the time? The Gladys Team.
Talia leans forward, "Launch!"
From the hangar of the Laurasia class battleship, Auerbach, a small squad of GINNs begin to launch out of the catapult. Talia watches through the the window of the bridge as they form up together and begin to fly towards the target. Talia then leans back in her chair, before calmly saying, "Take us in."
Sitting to her side, Talia's XO, Arthur Trine, calls out, "Accelerate to combat speed! Weapon safeties off. Repair teams on alert!"
Talia then adds in her own order to her operations officer, "Notify the Sleeves forces that we're proceeding as planned." As activity on the bridge starts to pick up, Talia goes quiet as she simply stares out into space. Her thoughts focused on the coming battle. Hopefully this partnership with the Sleeves is going to amount to something. She doesn't like the idea of risking her life and antagonizing Londo Bell for nothing.
<Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.
"Roux Louka! Launching in the REZEL!" reports Roux Louka, naturally enough. The contractor with the Ra Mari had been travelling separately from her designated Mobile Suit, which is getting a deep cleaning after seawater exposure in an operation in Nouvelle Tokyo!
The Rezel, in its Waverider mode, launches without incident. Gazing down at the cockpit display, Roux says to herself, "Is this thing in Child Mode? What is even going on here. These buttons are enormous... has OS design really gone down like this?"
Roux taps through several menus while operating a manual control -- fortunately, accelerating works as she expects. Vectoring towards the assailed craft, she muses into the laser-transmitted communications: "Pirates or something? It's bold of them to be operating this close to Earth."
An icon pops up, a floating and cheerful AE logo on the cockpit sidescreen, thankfully only occluding a secondary display. Roux flicks her communication off and addresses the operating system: "EXPERIENCED USER MODE. Yes, I've operated a mobile suit before. No, I don't need the introductory guided workflow! Oh my god! No, I don't --"
<Pose Tracker> Hazard Chevalier has posed.
EARLIER
The Archangel's bridge is fascinating. Hazard Chevalier has never been on a bridge before - never been on the command deck of a ship. This time he sort of just talked his way on through some nice officers who were looking more at his face than him - possibly because he's cute, but also possibly because his mouth is practically a shark's ("it's for my training diet, it makes it easier and it doesn't bother me"). It's hard to tell.
Either way, Hazard pokes around the Archangel's bridge, getting to know officers, and cheerfully asking questions about basic functions of a spaceship. He's excitable, good-natured, and eager to learn. It's probably a nice change of pace from most people they get on board.
And then Captain Ramius calls for the sortie as the distress call comes in.
Hazard immediately salutes her with a "yes, ma'am!" and heads out. He nearly knocks into a security officer on the way. It's only thanks to exceptional spatial awareness and a Gundamfighter physique (and, of course, dinosaur superhumanity) that he manages to throw himself over the officer with the wall-transit, hit the ceiling, spring off it, and catch the transit to the bay again with a wave, leaving the officer momentarily stunned.
NOW
The minute he hits the bay he passes by techs prepping other machines for launch. The robot opens. He leverages the floor, leaps up, and lands in the cockpit. It seals behind him. Pressurizes. Air. He removes the normal suit and tosses it aside. Can't have that here. It'd just get in the way.
Link.
The nerve stabs out of the floor. Organic. Flesh. It jams itself into his back. It winds its way into his spinal column. The Gundam comes online.
The moment the secondary brain kicks in to feed him data is the moment he and the Tyrant Gundam cease to be separate. It is not a Gundam he pilots. He sees through its eyes. He feels through its fingers. He moves onto the launch catapult. *He* stands on the device.
He and it are one.
He is a Mechasaur, as he was meant to be.
"Hazard Chevalier," he says aloud in the cockpit, "Launching in Tyrant Gundam."
And then he is flung forward. The inertia. The pressure. The electric feeling of the catapult firing him out, running from his feet to his brain. The frigid cold of space. Space. The source of all the troubles of the dinosaurs.
He is the first Mechasaur in space.
Immediately the Tyrant Gundam orients as if it's been doing this forever. The secondary brain, his spatial awareness, his balance, they all unite together.
The massive Gundam lands atop the frigate.
It hunches, arms spread wide like a beast ready to charge.
Its head tilts back. There is no roar, but the roar is implied. The roar is very much implied.
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
Being with Londo Bell means that sometimes, you'll need to pull your weight. Given a list of options, Anita will always pick the assignment that seems like the easiest. Being on standby in a frigate seems easy enough - she just has to wait for any sign of trouble. She can do waiting.
Unfortunately, reality has a tendency to punish that line of thinking, because right as she's getting comfortable, alarm sirens sound throughout the frigate. And thus, Anita lets out a sigh.
"...Guess this is happening, huh? Oh well. Nap's gonna have to wait..." She murmurs to herself. Within a moment, her EX-Gear is equipped and she's leaping into the cockpit of her machine - the VF-25 Messiah Rosetta. It has the typical VF-25 Messiah form factor, but has been painted sea green and blue with white trim and has the insignia of the Kakapo Squadron painted such that its visible regardless of form.
"Anita Rosetta, launching...~" She says, sliding her helmet on.
Within moments, a Variable Fighter emerges from the Rewloola, circling protectively around the frigate.
"Don't suppose they'd be willing to back down if we asked nicely...?" She considers. She's only half-serious.
<Pose Tracker> Romilly Draid has posed.
EARLIER
The Rewloola isn't the only ship operating in this theater, nor is the Londo Bell frigate. "I have control," says Romilly, suited up for space. The Kingmaker doesn't take a lot of work to launch from the cruiser's catapult. It's a wanzer, after all. The ship will continue its trajectory, away from the battle. Rendezvous after the fact will be up to his ability--no pickup, no rescue. "Kingmaker, ready for launch."
Pressurization and zero-g thrusters were one of Romilly's personalizations. "Begin Checkmate OS boot sequence." The plug in the back of his suit slides open, interfacing with a jack that spikes from the seat of the cockpit. Gradually, another kind of pressure makes itself known, as thrusters fire and carry him towards the engagement.
The metal 'backpack' on the blue wanzer's frame shifts, a port opening as the unit reaches behind. While stars and debris zip by, a rifle with a drum magazine is now held with both hands.
CHECKMATE OS BOOTUP COMPLETE
WELCOME BACK MILLY
Hey, Junior. This one's gonna be hectic. You ready?
YES
A blue wanzer appears on the field. The cockpit bears a depiction of a white butterfly, emerging from a coccoon. The Kingmaker's cyclopic blue eye shines, set in the middle of a cylindrical head. The pilot is indisputably Awaekened--his presence, that of quiet, tired resolve, can be felt by anyone with the senses to do so.
<Pose Tracker> Full Frontal has posed.
The Rewloola keeps its distance, only firing to keep enemy Mobile Suits away from it. And hopefully the other ship too. This is, well, a Mobile Suit dogfight. The stakes are high, which is why the Supreme Commander sortied himself.
He takes some more potshots at the Frigate, but the appearance of the Tyrant Gundam gets his attention. The eyes of his mask gleam red under the faceplate of his Normal Suit.
"A challenge." He almost smiles. "Good."
He lifts the beam rifle, aiming at the Tyrant Gundam and squeezes off a single shot. It's fire and forget. Once it's gone, he slings the rifle away and follows his blast to engage.
He's a bright red target. Someone should probably help out.
KTS: Full Frontal targets Hazard Chevalier with From The Depths Of Space!
<Pose Tracker> Saraven Vai has posed.
One by one, sensor glyphs pop up in Saraven's monitors. She feels them before the computer does. She lets her thoughts track the little nodes of feeling that come bursting out of the Archangel. Some of them are not so small.
/...Blue jay..../
The Varguil cocks its head towards the emerging ReZEL. Across the battlefield, there's a moment of /pressure./ Something carrying the weight of /intention/ has come to focus on Roux Louka. It would be like a floodlight bathing her, if the feel of it weren't so cold.
BGM SHIFT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjnlS1yHJ4I
"Focus on the primary objective," she quietly orders the next wave of mobile suits out of the Rewloola. They're not mobile suits typical to Zeon remnants. They look more like Gelgoogs, and they split towards the target ship even as the Varguil reorients and pivots to track the ReZEL. The sweeping variable fighter is spotted, the lilac unit's head canting towards it.
There's no attempt to start a conversation. The lilac unit ghosts forward with a burst of thrust, rifle held at the ready.
What it fires is not a rifle.
Racks on the Varguil's backpack abruptly disgorge a halo of onion-shaped remotes. The six funnels dart out around the machine before splitting off into a dancing fan and slashing across the starfield. Three of them sweep in on Roux's ReZEL, scattering a loose cage of vibrant magenta beam fire across her path, while two more dance around the frigate in hot pursuit of Anita's variable fighter.
The sixth takes the long way around the frigate. There's a blinding flash in front of Anita as the last funnel comes sweeping around to cut her off.
Saraven's eyes lid ever so slightly. The frustration rolling off of Roux is one thing. Anita's nerves are another.
/...This one's... a little different..../
Saraven_Vai Attacks Roux Louka and Anita Rosetta with Funnel Sweep KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Anita Rosetta fails to evade Saraven Vai's Funnel Sweep, taking 2467 damage! KTS: Hazard Chevalier blocks Full Frontal's From The Depths Of Space, taking 693 damage! KTS: Roux Louka successfully evades Saraven Vai's Funnel Sweep
<Pose Tracker> Talia Gladys has posed.
So far, so good. Though Talia was not expecting a lot of fight from the Londo Bell transport. No, that fight is likely to come later, when whatever reinforcements in the area manage to get here.
"Captain, new signals detected!"
Speak of devil. Talia turns her head towards her operations officer, "How many, Scotty?"
The Auerbach's operations officer, one Maria 'Scotty' Scott, taps in several commands on her console as she brings up information on the units entering their scanning range, "Five signatures, presumed hostile. Looks like four mobile units and one warship." As more detailed information starts to come in, Scotty's eyes go a little wide, "Ma'am... It's the Legged Ship."
Talia's eyes narrow at that nickname. Rumours about the so-called 'Legged Ship' had been circulating around ZAFT HQ before the Auerbach had departed. A new Federation vessel that had been sighted in recent engagements. Of course, those were rumours. Talia had actually read the reports.
This is not good.
Gripping the arm rest of her seat just a little tighter, Talia remains composed as she says, "Understood. Direct the GINN team to assist the Sleeves mobile units. We'll see if we can occupy the warship. Tim, set intercept course."
The Auerbach's navigation officer, Timothy Rome, replies, "Yes, ma'am! Starboard, 37 degrees. Up 12." the Auerbach slowly turns, its bow now pointed in the general direction of the Archangel.
Meanwhile, the GINN team launched by the Auerbach have joined up with the Sleeves mobile suits in the assault against the the transport.
KTS: Talia Gladys orders an all-out attack, raising Saraven Vai's Skill! KTS: Talia Gladys has activated the Attune Spirit Command targeting Full Frontal KTS: Talia Gladys has activated the Attune Spirit Command targeting Saraven Vai KTS: Talia Gladys orders an all-out attack, raising Full Frontal's Skill!
<Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.
"If they're really pirates, this is going to be a risk-reward thing," Roux answers Anita. "They're not going to run off if you just tell them boo, but if they're weak enough, they might ditch out. It's hard to say!"
Roux glances away from struggling with an operating system for stupid babies to glance at the Tyrant Gundam. Something about how it's carrying itself...
... hm, she thinks, back ahead though. "... this feels weird," Roux comments. "Hey, Tibet! Don't try to wrestle anyone if you don't have to, alright?" Before--
Roux suddenly pulls back from the control stick a moment before the beam shot from the funnel would have put a neat efficient hole in the ReZEL's cockpit, crying out in surprise and then agitation as she twists round, grimacing in the transient vectors of acceleration before saying, "Funnels! They've got a Quebeley or something!" and --
The AE logo beams at Roux while pointing a blinking arrow at a lilac-shaped dot. Roux squints at it, and then it begins to grow as Roux gets closer. "Ah!" Shift the vector and: Screaming megaparticles towards the target! At which point Roux breaks off again, jittering the control stick semi-automatically to try and throw off any funnels in immediate pursuit.
Just in time to see:
"****" Roux says, which is turned into a filtered agitated-chime by the ReZEL's operating system. "That's impossible! Look out for that - guy stealing valor!" (It is impossible, Roux tells herself. RIGHT? He died! Amuro Ray killed him before--)
KTS: Roux Louka targets Saraven Vai with ReZEL Beam Rifle Shot! KTS: Saraven Vai successfully evades Roux Louka's ReZEL Beam Rifle Shot
<Pose Tracker> Hazard Chevalier has posed.
It is most definitely a challenge.
The beam rifle fires. Megaparticles split the darkness. A bright glow in the depths of space. A red target soaring after it. A line in the stars. A comet screaming to accept the mechasaur's challenge.
Hazard does not delight in it. His fingers twitch very slightly. Full Frontal can make out a tiny bit of nerves, a tiny bit of concern. This is, after all, his first time in space. Curiously, Newtypes might also notice that there's no anger or berserker rage in that Gundam. Though it looks like a monster the pilot is lucid. Sane. Intelligent. Processing information rapidly with both intellect and instinct.
You wouldn't know it's his first time in space from the way he's moving. From the way Tyrant Gundam leaps off the ship directly into the shot. From the way Tyrant Gundam's boosters twist it so the shot hits the shoulderplating rather than anything critical. You'd never know that this was his first time in space.
The Tyrant Gundam bears down on Full Frontal. It is huge. Much bigger than the Sinanju. Though it is completely unarmed it doesn't seem to care - those hands move to dig into Sinanju's body and force it to stay where Hazard wants it to be. So he can feel the metal in his grasp. So he can feel it peel back. So he can-
So he can kill a man.
So Hazard Chevalier can kill a man.
He'll deal with that in a bit. Right now it is a challenge. A Mechasaur claiming its territory. This is how it must be.
But Space is never friend to the Dinosaurs...
KTS: Hazard Chevalier has activated the Assail Spirit Command. KTS: Hazard Chevalier targets Full Frontal with Pounce!
<Pose Tracker> Murrue Ramius has posed.
Murrue was grateful for the enthusiasm from Hazard, and she offers a smile and a salute even as he runs off. Sorties launch quickly from one Catapult, with backups on Stand-by in the other.
Captain Ramius, likes to cover bases though, and so with an order to her comms officer to broadcast on general frequencies, By authority of Londo Bell, and the Federation Forces, You are hereby ordered to desist in this act of piracy, and leave immediately.
Looking over the information on the tactical displays, a frown crosses her face. This Laurasia class has its guns pointed this way, I dont think that bodes well for their prospects of abandoning a life of piracy. She huffs to no one in particular. The sortie begins and Murrue has another chance to shine. She watches the way things begin, the movement of the freighter, the Laurasia, the mobile suits. Murrue orders her tactical and sensor officers to feed targeting info directly to the pilots.
KTS: Murrue Ramius has activated the Foresee Spirit Command targeting Hazard Chevalier
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
"Yeah, I suppose you're right... We'll just have to try to give 'em a good scare, then." Anita replies to Roux as she scans the surrounding starline.
There are two mobile suits - a red one and a lilac one - and a battleship that catch Anita's immediate attention of the attackers - and its the lilac mobile suit that whirls upon her immediately. Without a word or an attempt to communicate the Varguil opens fire - but it's not a rifle, but a set of funnels come soaring toward her.
This is new. Anita hasn't dealt with funnels before. The VF-25 does a quick barrel roll to avoid fire from the first two... but the third one catches her by surprise, a magenta beam putting a long scar across her right wing. Anita winces at that.
"...A serious one, huh?" Anita notes. These aren't mere pirates, after all. "This is gonna be trouble..."
And one of them, according to Roux, is 'stealing valor'... Anita takes a deep breath. Looks like it's going to be a long night.
The VF-25 makes some quick, evasive maneuvers to get out of range, before turning toward Varguil.
"I wonder how they handle missiles..." Anita considers, before unleashing a volley of missiles in the lilac mobile suit's direction!
KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Anita Rosetta targets Saraven Vai with Missile Launcher! KTS: Murrue Ramius has activated the Foresee Spirit Command targeting Roux Louka KTS: Saraven Vai successfully intercepts Anita Rosetta's Missile Launcher KTS: Romilly Draid has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus.
<Pose Tracker> Romilly Draid has posed.
BEAM RIFLE DISCHARGE DETECTED.
I see it.
It's not aimed at the Kingmaker, but it does draw the wanzer's attention, illuminating the darkness of space as it passes. "Just can't resist, can ya?" says Romilly, as Junior feeds tactical data onto his visor's display. His hands guide the wanzer's thrusters, his nerves control its head, its aim. He's no friend of the Federation, nor of Londo Bell--but nothing good will come of this, and Celestial Being does have a line in the sand to uphold. This is crossing that line.
Red-hot tracers fly through space, spat out in a tight spread by the Kingmaker's chain rifle. It's a burst, a short one. Not so much aimed -at- the Sinanju as -near- it. A warning shot, fired as the Sinanju crosses the distance to engage the Tyrant Gundam.
Don't like how confident he was closing the distance on that huge sucker.
ADDITIONAL POWER ALLOCATED TO THRUST VERNIER CONTROL ARRAY
KTS: Murrue Ramius targets Roux Louka with Coordinate! KTS: Romilly Draid targets Full Frontal with Chain Rifle Burst Fire! KTS: Full Frontal successfully evades Romilly Draid's Chain Rifle Burst Fire KTS: Full Frontal successfully evades Hazard Chevalier's Pounce KTS: Murrue Ramius coordinates maneuvers, raising Roux Louka's Piloting!
<Pose Tracker> Saraven Vai has posed.
Saraven's sensor feed illuminates with data streamed from the Auerbach. "Receiving telemetry," she says, voice flat.
The funnels dance, and Saraven presses her lips together as results come back. "A barrier," she murmurs, acknowledging Anita's machine less with a look and more with a second of mental focus.
The ReZEL comes swooping in, beam rifle tracking, but the Varguil's moving almost a second before her focus centres. The lilac machine whirls adeptly, dancing clear of the shot. It cuts close enough to illuminate the machine's head and shoulder more brilliantly than the rest of it. The emblem of Zeon on that shoulder plate is clear enough.
It's also clear that the machine is not a Qubeley. If anything, it looks like something that could be a Sazabi with a little more bulk and flare.
The agitation rolling off of Roux is unmissable, and Saraven moves laterally in space to maneuver, keeping her and the variable fighter at the corners of a triangle that narrows the more she shifts her position. Puts them closer to in front of her. Just in time. Missiles converge towards the Varguil. The lilac unit seems like it's caught dead to rights, momentum certain to carry it into the explosion.
Until the funnels come converging back. They chase after Anita's missile storm, firing a constant storm of shots. Key missiles in the midst of the volley detonate. Shrapnel spirals out from them, catching other missiles. Within the space of a few seconds, the missile volley is a smear of flame splattering across space, the debris whirling past the Varguil without touching it.
The shots conceal the machine in flame for a key, dangerous second. In that heartbeat, a voice cuts in on the comline. It's quiet, feminine, but without a trace of feeling behind it.
"The Red Comet... is not to be doubted. The spirit of Principality of Zeon endures."
Vivid magenta light blooms through the remnants of the missiles - beam rifle blasts. The Varguil's darting to one side, then back to the other, showering pinpoint fire towards Roux. The machine actually inverts in space, hanging upside down relative to the ecliptic as it wheels to unload another couple of shots at Anita's VF.
The machine's movement is extraordinarily precise. Verniers flicker across its limbs and back with expert touches.
KTS: Saraven Vai has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Saraven Vai targets Roux Louka with Long Beam Rifle Tracking Shot! KTS: Saraven Vai targets Anita Rosetta with Long Beam Rifle Shot! KTS: Anita Rosetta fails to react to Saraven Vai's Long Beam Rifle Shot, taking 3220 damage! KTS: Roux Louka fails to evade Saraven Vai's Long Beam Rifle Tracking Shot, taking 4003 damage! Roux Louka transforms to RGZ-95 ReZEL <MS Mode>
<Pose Tracker> Talia Gladys has posed.
Unlike combat between mobile suits, combat between warships is a much slower affair. It takes longer for them to turn, accelerate, line up shots. Some pilots think this makes warship combat easy. Talia would definitely disagree.
A pilot acts on instinct, in the moment, needing to look barely more than a few seconds into the future. A ship captain though has to think farther than that. And they are constantly considering and reconsidering their course of action. Taking in more information, from multiple sources. Planning, anticipating. All culminating in a single moment.
"FIRE!"
Talia's order results in the unleashing of a missile barrage from the Auerback's launchers. The self powered weapons shoot outwards from the ship with fire blasting out their rears, onboard sensor systems orienting their path towards the Archangel.
That moment passed, Talia now has to consider the next one as she starts barking out more orders, "40 to port, 20 down. Angle railguns to port. Scotty, keep the GINN team from getting too far away. And keep an eye on our Sleeves allies."
KTS: Talia Gladys targets Murrue Ramius with Laurasia-class Missile Launchers Anti-Ship Missile!
<Pose Tracker> Full Frontal has posed.
The message sent on the general frequencies is received. The Rewloola responds with a single phrase that will absolutely make certain that this is no longer mistaken for pirates.
HAIL ZEON!
The Tyrant Gundam leaps, bounding through open space like it belongs there. The Sinanju was born in space. Crafted there for war. Full Frontal rockets towards the pouncing Gundam, only to wrench to the left, armor plating brushing the fingers of the Mechasaur, scraping the red paint.
At the same time, the Kingmaker unleashes hefty firepower at the Sinanju. Once again, it moves impossibly. A human shouldn't be able to react this fast, this precisely. After the roll to the left, it wrenches up and around the incoming blaze of fire, crossing over it like a high-jumper.
Thrusters flare and the suit draws the beam rifle again. It takes the weapon up like a professional soldier and fires a blast at both the Kingmaker and the Tyrant Gundam, all the while subtly drawing them towards itself.
Inside the cockpit, the edges of Full Frontal's lips twitch.
KTS: Murrue Ramius fails to intercept Talia Gladys's Laurasia-class Missile Launchers Anti-Ship Missile, taking 4260 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.
"Don't take those things lightly! Have you ever had to deal with funnels before?!" Roux says to Anita, all but shouting now. A sensor officer gets in touch with the ReZEL, feeding in information on a subsidiary window in the panoramic view -- directional audio of what are PROBABLY the funnels but it's sporadic --
A whole quadrant of space erupts in magenta, an instant before there is a shuddering shock throughout the ReZEL's frame. "Gahh!!" Roux cries out, before pulling back on another lever. The ReZEL, trailing vapor-smoke from spot-flames, shifts out of its aeroframe-like shape. Machine moves against machine, and the result is --
A Mobile Suit!
"Zeon was exhausted when we were in grade school!" Roux shouts back. "Your fight is over, dummy! Dump your weapons and turn on the tracking lights and I'll take you in once we get clear. You're just going to get people killed like this--"
Which is when the ReZEL fires a pair of dummy balloons which immediately inflate into approximately ReZEL shaped objects, hopefully enough to occlude system scans. Forlorn hope, Roux knows, if those are really funnels, but:
"Archangel! I'm connecting the Mega Beam Launcher now!" Roux reports, as-- a few moments later-- a different, much *thicker* burst of megaparticles fires outwards. Still weaker than one might expect from the advertising, but the connection might be taking a moment.
Full_Frontal Attacks Hazard Chevalier and Romilly Draid with Beam Rifle Spray KTS: Roux Louka targets Saraven Vai with ReZEL Mega Beam Launcher Shot! KTS: Saraven Vai has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Saraven Vai successfully evades Roux Louka's ReZEL Mega Beam Launcher Shot KTS: Hazard Chevalier blocks Full Frontal's Beam Rifle Spray, taking 819 damage! KTS: Romilly Draid fails to react to Full Frontal's Beam Rifle Spray, taking 3549 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Full Frontal's The Red Comet activates, causing Insight L1!
<Pose Tracker> Hazard Chevalier has posed.
The man in the red suit is skilled. Extremely skilled. His motions are precise, his movements are flawless. He rules in space. He is its master and its commander.
Space hates dinosaurs.
When the Sinanju scrapes against the fingers Hazard can feel the metal grind against metal, can feel the sparks across his hands, can feel the speed of the machine. Three times faster than he could've expected, reacting so fast...he's never fought anyone or anything like this before. He is raw, unparalleled physical might - not...a professional soldier. Not a man with the experience of Full Frontal.
The beam hits his back as he turns. It's hot. A brief intersection of hot and cold, of the frigid space and the burning beam. He throws back his head and roars and the Tyrant Gundam does the same in silence. Verniers kick in. The sub-brain works furiously to synch up information coming in with motions. To synch up Romilly's presence, Romilly's Wanzer, Romilly's tracers, the information flowing in from Ramius. Briefly the Archangel gets a ping of appreciation, though it's wordless - Hazard really doesn't have time to do anything more.
Once again his senses expand. Sixth sense. The world around him. He can see Romilly. He can see Full Frontal behind him. Everything the Archangel gives him he can see as the sub-brain strains it into his senses. He cannot 'see' it - it isn't in his eyes, no beeping data windows nor flickering transmissions - but he can feel it and process it and it exists to him like scent and feel and taste.
Tyrant Gundam whirls. It's not *fast*, but it's not as slow as it looks. It moves towards Full Frontal not only because he wants it there but because it wants to be there. The machine lashes out as it moves towards Full Frontal, its hands sweeping to claw at the Red Comet Reborn. All brute force. No training.
But it is a *lot* of brute force.
KTS: Hazard Chevalier targets Full Frontal with Claw!
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
"No, this is my first time." Anita replies with a shake of her head. "...Haven't been in many serious fights yet."
The differing levels of experience show. Anita is a talented pilot, but she's still new when it comes to combat. Her missile volley is quickly caught by the funnels, reducing them to smoke.
"...A no-go, huh?" Anita considers. She's about to say something else, but then, from the cloud of smoke, there's a voice lacking feeling. Anita thinks about that for a moment, but Roux says all that needs to be said. Besides - the Varguil is firing again.
This time, it is a rifle. Anita whirls to evade, but isn't quite quick enough. Several shots impact the fuselage - the Pinpoint Barrier not quite quick enough to catch them.
"Alright, time for a change in circumstances..." Anita decides. The plane body unfolds, arms and legs working themselves out as the VF-25 shifts into GERWALK mode and drawing the gatling pod from its fixture underneath the fuselage.
Once ready, she opens fire - unleashing a spray of gatling fire in the Varguil's direction.
KTS: Romilly Draid has activated the Focus Spirit Command. Anita Rosetta transforms to VF-25 Messiah Rosetta <GERWALK Mode> Anita Rosetta has changed loadout. KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Anita Rosetta targets Saraven Vai with Leading Fire! KTS: Saraven Vai successfully evades Anita Rosetta's Leading Fire
<Pose Tracker> Romilly Draid has posed.
He's fast!!
Warning lights flare on Romilly's visor, his cybernetic link urging the verniers in one direction. Full Frontal read his movements perfectly--the beam rifle cores a smoldering hole in the wanzer's shoulder.
SHIELD DRIVE CALIBRATION COMPLETE
We're gonna need it. That thing's like a second skin on him--we're in his house.
The zeonic transmission causes him to grit his teeth. "Of course." The cones of flame spewing from those verniers at the wanzer's back burn all the brighter, now, as electricity crackles from the cored shoulder.
"Alright, partner--you want a shootout, you got one."
The Kingmaker squeezes the trigger again. Full Frontal can see in its movements the story of its pilot--the survival instinct, the trigger discipline, the 'muscle memory'--whoever this was, was once a groundbound mercenary. But there is a purpose, an intent, communicated across space. Not 'kill,' but 'stop.'
Now, there is more force behind those bursts, aimed at the Sinanju's arms. The Kingmaker feathers the trigger, shouldering the weapon with considerable experience for the pilot's relative youth. It's making use of floating debris as makeshift cover, where it can, the blue chassis occluded by rubble, leavings of older battles, and leavings of -this- battle.
"But who's that big thing fighting him?"
KTS: Murrue Ramius has activated the Attune Spirit Command. KTS: Romilly Draid targets Full Frontal with Chain Rifle Burst Fire!
<Pose Tracker> Murrue Ramius has posed.
The mobile suits engage, but the Laurasia decides to make a ring for the two Battleships. The volley of missile fire is a great opening move, and Murrue notes it such. She would rather be running interference against that Red mobile suit, it certainly seems to be making itself a problem. Murrue needs to focus on her own for the moment.
Helm, engines ahead port, reverse on starboard, adjust trim 60 degrees! Murrue flits from the chair to the middle of the bridge.
Gottfrieds, to starboard, adjust for drift, come down 18 degrees full spread ready.
FIRE!!
Bring us around, full power to the barrier!
<Pose Tracker> Saraven Vai has posed.
Dummy balloons launch, and Saraven's eyebrows rise slightly. The sensitive can feel the shift in the pressure at the Varguil's core. A flicker of surprise - but one that passes. The Varguil's not tracking a sight.
It's tracking a /feeling./ That pressure bears on Roux again - cold and silent. The eye of a songbird that does not sing. There's a subtle motion--
- pwwwing*
The mega beam launcher illuminates space, and the Varguil moves to compensate. The machine hangs upside down and orients itself with a sudden downward flicker of thrust, arching bizarrely. It almost looks like it's lying flat beneath the course of Roux's attack for a few seconds before momentum carries it through an adept spin and twist, whirling around and slashing under her field of fire to invert the triangle she's forming. She doesn't want to let Anita flank her.
It's not that Roux Louka's aim is off. Not at all. The telemetry fed from the Archangel was perfect. It's that whoever's behind the controls saw the attack coming before Roux even made it.
Anita opens up on her again, and Saraven reacts again before the first blast leaves the gun. The Varguil comes out of its roll and tilts back, one leg arched up as it hangs in space, the bullet stream passing under its knee before it completes the roll and flicks away to maneuver towards where she was trying to get before. The peak of a narrow triangle with Roux and Anita in front of her.
"Zeon endures," Saraven's voice comes back over the comm, as flat as Roux is roiled. "The Mars Zeon Independence Army believes that as much as our comrades in the Earth Sphere."
A beat, then - "Does it shock you? To see the Red Comet. I can tell."
That pressure remains even as the Varguil's funnels come dancing out again, this time backed up by the steady bark of the long beam rifle. Shots scar space with streaks of magenta, the rifle blasts forming a grid of firepower seemingly aimed at boxing Roux and her ReZEL in. The funnels go elsewhere.
They deal with Anita Rosetta. They circle around her variable fighter, darting and dipping like a swarm of insane hornets. Never pausing for more than a split-second, they fire and fire from all angles, challenging her to draw a bead.
Saraven's voice remains steady - neither angry nor chiding, not scared or anxious. Almost automatic.
"You're not used to this. I'm sorry. But it's necessary."
KTS: Saraven Vai targets Roux Louka with Long Beam Rifle Steady Fire! KTS: Saraven Vai targets Anita Rosetta with Funnel Strike! KTS: Anita Rosetta's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Anita Rosetta blocks Saraven Vai's Funnel Strike, taking 3003 damage! Murrue_Ramius Attacks Talia Gladys, Full Frontal, and Saraven Vai with Gottfried Mk.71 Dual High-Energy Beam Cannon Area Denial KTS: Roux Louka has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Saraven Vai has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Roux Louka blocks Saraven Vai's Long Beam Rifle Steady Fire, taking 4732 damage! KTS: Saraven Vai successfully evades Murrue Ramius's Gottfried Mk.71 Dual High-Energy Beam Cannon Area Denial KTS: Talia Gladys fails to Evade Murrue Ramius's Gottfried Mk.71 Dual High-Energy Beam Cannon Area Denial, taking 3000 damage! KTS: Full Frontal fails to evade Romilly Draid's Chain Rifle Burst Fire, taking 3150 damage! KTS: Romilly Draid begins a Formation attack! KTS: Full Frontal successfully evades Hazard Chevalier's Claw KTS: Full Frontal successfully evades Murrue Ramius's Gottfried Mk.71 Dual High-Energy Beam Cannon Area Denial KTS: Murrue Ramius completes the Formation attack! KTS: Roux Louka has activated the Rouse Spirit Command. Talia Gladys Activates Barrier Generator
<Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.
"Tch!" Roux responds to the fact that the Varguil is extremely not hit and is definitely not exploding. Sweat runs down the back of her neck. Breathe, she thinks, even if the world seems to be getting fractionally brighter. She shifts round, bringing up the ReZEL's shield on a vague hunch.
"Circle them! Keep it on the" Roux says a moment before her signal completely cuts out! For a moment - a heartbeat or two - but then the static fades. Because that was, on the one hand, a direct hit on the enemy mobile suit.
And on the other, it was a direct hit on the enemy mobile suit's... Shield.
Which is now meaningfully smaller and misshapen, potentially fused to the ReZEL's arm plates. Roux makes herself breathe out. The Mega Beam Launcher's still...
Damn it, damn it, damn it, Roux thinks as she steers the ReZEL. "They'll throw you away, like the others," Roux answers Saraven, almost abstractly as-- there!
THIS time, the Mega Beam Launcher's beam lives up to the advertising - at least more thoroughly - because whatever has happened to it in front, the rear of the machine remains spotless and clean! A screaming particle ray -- which twists, just a little, at the last moment as the launcher is adjusted!
KTS: Roux Louka has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Roux Louka targets Saraven Vai with ReZEL Mega Beam Launcher Blast! KTS: Saraven Vai fails to react to Roux Louka's ReZEL Mega Beam Launcher Blast, taking 5100 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Talia Gladys has posed.
"Ma'am, we're receiving a message from the Legged Ship." "Show me."
Talia turns her head to look at one of the nearby screens where the text from Murrue's message comes up. A quick glance is all Talia needs as she can essentially guess as to the content. And she's not all that wrong. Scotty is the one to ask the question, "Should we respond?"
Talia shakes her head, "That's not really up to us." It's at this point that another message comes on the screen. Just two words, from their Sleeves allies. To which Talia nods slowly, "That's their answer."
Tim chuckles from his navigation console, "A pirate's life for us."
Talia continues to stare out the front window of the bridge, not actually watching the flashing lights of battle out there. Her focus is elsewhere as she takes in all the information being relayed to her by her bridge crew. It's a lot to take in. A lot of it only peripherally useful to Talia's decision making skills. The key difference between a bad Captain and a good one is figuring out what's important.
"Enemy ship has changed heading to 251 mark 65."
Talia leans forward, quickly calling out, "Up fourty five!"
The Auerbach is in the process of pulling up as the Archangel fires off its barrage of beams. Unfortunately, the Auerbach is not fast enough to move out of the line of fire. The large beams sweep across a section of the hull, leaving large scorch marks behind.
On the bridge, Talia can feel the shaking as the ship reacts to the weapons fire. And the tense activity picks up as damage reports start coming in. Thankfully the ship's armor did its job and held back a breach. But they really can't take too many hits like that.
Talia calms down a little once more as the immediate issue of potential death has passed and the ball is back in her court again, "Bring us around. Roll twenty degrees to starboard."
The Auerbach swings around, still smoking a little from where the Archangel's beams struck. But it looks to still be going strong as the barrels of its two largest weapons, the dual high-energy cannons, swing around and up to aim.
"FIRE!"
The Auerbach returns the favour as four beams of green light streak through the space between the two ships.
KTS: Talia Gladys targets Murrue Ramius with Main Beam Cannons Burst! KTS: Murrue Ramius's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Murrue Ramius fails to evade Talia Gladys's Main Beam Cannons Burst, taking 4670 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Full Frontal has posed.
Full Frontal, in this instance, seems to be exactly who he claims to be. Who the Sleeves claim he is. The Sinanju is a streak of red across the cosmos. Full Frontal's presence to the Awakened is strong. It's a pulse of Nothing. No joy. No rage. No fear or even desire. He just EXISTS, and the pressure of it radiates outward.
The Tyrant Gundam comes for him again, and once more, the red suit skims just out of reach. Inches of space separate the Sleeves commander from the Mechasaur's furious swipe.
At the same time, he is set upon by Romilly's chaingun and a ship-mounted beam cannon. He twists the suit, the joints and connections protesting as he makes it move impossibly, his own contrail mingling with the destructive weapon in a wash of sparkles.
This action thrusts him right into the path of the chaingun, the Sinanju taking fire, the armor getting marred by BULLETS. Once more, Full Frontal's lips twitch.
The beam rifle is slung once again, the hands of the suit flexing. A hatch opens on one arm, and a green beam blade ignites, shining in the blackness of space. The Sinanju wheels about and rockets towards the Kingmaker, lashing out as it streaks past at a speed that could be considered blasphemous. It flips, planting its feet upon a rocky hunk of debris and pushes off, racing through the void.
The monoeye of the mobile suit is fixated, now, on the Tyrant Gundam. It rockets through space leaving a glittering blue contrail. The opened hatch ejects the hilt of the ignited beam saber, and the Supreme Commander drives it towards the Tyrant Gundam's center of mass.
KTS: Full Frontal targets Romilly Draid with Arm Blade! KTS: Full Frontal targets Hazard Chevalier with Single Saber! KTS: Hazard Chevalier blocks Full Frontal's Single Saber, taking 2170 damage! KTS: Full Frontal has engaged Hazard Chevalier KTS: Full Frontal rattles Romilly Draid, making his next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Romilly Draid fails to Parry Full Frontal's Arm Blade, taking 2821 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Full Frontal's The Red Comet activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: Full Frontal has engaged Romilly Draid KTS: Full Frontal begins a Formation attack!
<Pose Tracker> Hazard Chevalier has posed.
Even Hazard can feel the pressure of Full Frontal's existence. Even Hazard can feel the weight of Full Frontal. He's not a Newtype - but does that really matter? The man exudes it. Power. Pressure. Presence.
Again, inches away. Again, just so close. So close he can feel it. So close he could rip it open and-
And what, Hazard? Kill the man inside? Rip him apart? Crush him? Eat him? What are you going to do to a human being, Hazard? What are you going to do to someone who is, at least in part, one of your own? Are you ready to have blood on your hands? Can you go back?
The wave of doubt pulses outwards and it's exactly the delay Full Frontal needs to ram the beam saber into the Tyrant Gundam. Only reflex, superhuman, leads Hazard to avoid the strike directly. It hits the point where the arm and torso connect instead of the cockpit. Too close.
And he feels it. He feels the saber burn through his skin. Burn through his wires. Burn through his nerves. He feels it punch through the organic and the metallic parts of Tyrant Gundam alike and sizzle and cauterize and melt. It hurts.
But not enough to stop him from fighting back.
The sheer size of the Tyrant Gundam is something not to be underestimated. Hazard reaches out to just *grab* Full Frontal with the full force of the Tyrant Gundam, fire up the verniers, and use his mass to force the Sinanju against whatever space debris he can find with the sheer size of his Mechasaur body.
And that might, maybe, open up Full Frontal for something Romilly and the Archangel can do.
KTS: Hazard Chevalier has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Hazard Chevalier targets Full Frontal with Stomp!
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
The volley of gatling fire goes soaring past the Varguil. Anita lets out a 'hm' of consideration. If she knew she was going up against someone this serious, then maybe she shouldn't have volunteered for this mission after all.
...But then again, if she didn't do it herself, one of the others would have had to. Better that it's her, she thinks.
The Varguil foils a flanking attempt, putting herself and Roux right in front of it.
And again, the pilot speaks.
"You don't sound to into it." Anita comments back. She might just be scrambling for something to say - even her easy-going nature isn't impenetrable compared to odds like this.
The Varguil attacks again. Anita moves to circle as Roux delivers the command... but there's a spike of concern as her signal cuts out.
"...Are you alright?" Anita asks as the static fades. But right now, she should perhaps be more worrying about herself. The funnels come for her again, this time at full force. Anita is a little more ready for them than before. The VF-25's arm shield is raised defensively as the funnels open fire. It intercepts the rest of the brunt, and as for the rest, Anita's fingers work quickly to manipulate the Pinpoint Barrier system to intercept the rest.
...Things go better than they could have, but they're still not great.
As the volley of funnel fire passes Anita lowers her shield, and from the variable fighter's back a beam cannon emerges resting over the left shoulder. She needs accuracy right now, and this weapon is good for precise shots. She takes aim and opens fire, sending a beam screaming through space for the Varguil.
KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Anita Rosetta targets Saraven Vai with Targeted Beam Cannon Blast! KTS: Saraven Vai fails to evade Anita Rosetta's Targeted Beam Cannon Blast, taking 2500 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Saraven Vai has posed.
The flicker in Saraven's senses is sharp enough to jab straight through the scratched glass of her mind. She reacts instantly as the Archangel's massive beam cannons let rip.
The thundering blasts fill the air. Space is filled with the crosshatching of battleship weapons. No machine should be able to survive in that hellscape.
Somehow, the Varguil does. The machine whirls and darts, verniers and thrusters flickering and blazing. It weaves through the laser crossfire like a needle through thread. Wherever one beam goes, the Varguil does not. Wherever blasts cross each other, the lilac machine somehow finds a hole. It squeezes out of the upper field of the volley, trailing a plume of thruster wake behind it, all six funnels coming back out at different angles. They got through too.
Behind the controls, Saraven's expression is unchanging. Her eyelids droop subtly before she looks down and to one side. Roux is there. She sucks in a breath as she realizes.
Murrue Ramius bought Roux the opportunity she needs. The Mega Beam Launcher screams, and the Varguil rolls with a thruster flare, drawn back to try and elude the heavy shot - but it's not enough. The shot rips into the machine's skirt and lower back, tearing away a large plate and blasting a propellant tank clean off the bottom of a funnel rack. The tank explodes as it's flung away. A clean hit.
Jostling in her seat as the Varguil tumbles, Saraven moves a hand over her controls. The feeling radiating off of her is one of unnatural calm in the face of all of this. The Varguil reorients in space, hanging nearly upside down at a bizarre angle.
/Like the others...?/
"That's immaterial," she answers, but arguing with Roux is overridden by a sudden flash of thought--
/...a little dove, with only one wing.../
Anita opens up the range, beam cannon firing away. Shots chip into the Varguil's right shoulder, blowing out a few plates before the lilac machine can pivot away in a glow of vernier light.
"Thrill, fear, excitement," she says, voice far away. "I don't need those. I can see you. You want to relax, don't you?"
Her tone doesn't change. "I don't. Zeon needs me. That's all I need to know."
Again the funnels lash out. They weave a deadly dance, whirling around Anita's variable fighter. A couple of blasts from the Varguil's long beam rifle lash out as Saraven moves, but the shots seem mostly aimed at trying to herd Anita into the funnels' field of fire. Blasts rake the sky, lashing towards her as the funnels dart, forming what is almost a cage of death - interlocking beam blasts coming from dizzying angles, cutting off angles of retreat.
"I've come too far to be stopped here," she says levelly. "Not by..."
The Varguil boosts forward in a brazen charge. It swings its rifle into a back-mounted hoster and snaps both arms forward - and beams spring to life, not from sabres, but from banks in its forearms. They leap off, unfolding into dual-bladed Z-shaped boomerangs. They whirl towards the ReZEL, slashing dangerously, slicing, trying to carve the Mega Beam Launcher out of her hands. The angles they take defy physics - they go seemingly wherever they want to.
"...you old Earthians who forgot dreams," she murmurs, guiding the Butterfly Edges with her mind.
KTS: Saraven Vai targets Anita Rosetta with Funnel Cage! KTS: Saraven Vai targets Roux Louka with Butterfly Edge Guided Strike! KTS: Anita Rosetta fails to evade Saraven Vai's Funnel Cage, taking 3570 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Romilly Draid has posed.
Damn! He's chargin' me. I can feel it. Junior--
ARC PYLON CHARGING. RECOMMEND--
The vibroknife.
It's his only hope to prevent getting split in two. It won't meet the Sinanju's weapon blade-to-blade, given the size difference, but it won't have to. If he can just flick it, across the Sinanju's wrist, at just the right time...
The armblade cuts through the wanzer's armored thigh, coolant spraying into the void of space. The vibroknife silently flickers in the darkness, the Kingmaker's knife-hand knocked aside, but--
ARC PYLON--
"Discharge," says Romilly, hurriedly punching commands into the cockpit terminal to run damage control routines.
A split second after the Sinanju passes, a cloud of superconductive filament explodes outwards from ports installed in the blue wanzer's backpack apparatus. A coiled, gleaming metallic pylon looses a bolt of crackling blue lightning that dances erratically through the cloud.
A lightning storm, on-command--the Kingmaker's best answer to an opponent just as comfortable in close quarters as at-range.
Damn sure hope it's enough. This guy... there's no way he can be who I think he is. But... no. Focus! If that big fella can clear iron, so can I!!
KTS: Roux Louka has activated the Trust Spirit Command. KTS: Saraven Vai rattles Roux Louka, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Roux Louka blocks Saraven Vai's Butterfly Edge Guided Strike, taking 2047 damage! KTS: Saraven Vai has engaged Roux Louka KTS: Romilly Draid has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Romilly Draid has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Romilly Draid targets Full Frontal with Arc Pylon Lightning Field! KTS: Full Frontal parries Hazard Chevalier's Stomp, taking 1980 damage! KTS: Hazard Chevalier has engaged Full Frontal KTS: Full Frontal rushes into the attack! KTS: Full Frontal fails to react to Romilly Draid's Arc Pylon Lightning Field, taking 5175 damage! KTS: Romilly Draid repulses Full Frontal, forcing it to disengage.
<Pose Tracker> Murrue Ramius has posed.
The volley doesnt do the damage she would have liked, but serves its intended purpose, and keeps the Laurasia class ships attention off the mobile suits, so the mobile suits can focus on their melee. From the looks of things, thats not going well. Murrue was right, this was a trap, but she underestimated things. This, red mobile suit Pilot, his announcement on Zeon and all of that, He was making a statement here, using this, and the Archangel as a stage.
Murrue grips the chair of the tactical officer as the salvo from the enemy ship lands. The bridge, even secured as it was for combat, shakes violently, and the chair almost slips from her grip, which would have landed the Captain on her ass. This is why Captains sit in their chairs she thinks to herself.
Will a growl Murrue yells out, Roll 60 degrees, reverse all engines! Even with dampeners installed such a change still causes a jarring shift on the inertia of the body. Murrue watches on the monitors as the ship lines up for her next move. Gottfrieds, on my mark, fire an alternating salvo, 1 sec between shots, aimed to hit the same spot.
Firing solution ready Captain! the tactical officer calls out.
Right then, she thinks and adjusts her uniform before ordering, Fire!
KTS: Murrue Ramius targets Talia Gladys with Gottfried Mk.71 Dual High-Energy Beam Cannon! KTS: Talia Gladys fails to Evade Murrue Ramius's Gottfried Mk.71 Dual High-Energy Beam Cannon, taking 5400 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Talia Gladys has posed.
"Heat bloom in the enemy ship's beam cannons!" "Full burn!"
On Talia's order, the Auerbach's engines increase in thrust, the ship lurching forward. Talia is pressed back into her seat from the acceleraton g-forces as she tries to push her ship to avoid the incoming hit. If she was the enemy captain, she'd be aiming for the same spot she hit before. To try and break through the already weakened defenses.
Talia can't allow that.
The Archangel's beams once again rip across the surface of the Auerbach, though to Murrue's likely dismay, they just barely miss the section of already damaged armour. Though their high power melts away more of the ZAFT ship's defenses, creating even more opportunities to get a breaching hit.
As the Auerbach settles again after its brief burn and subsequent damage, Talia glances over at her operations officer, "Scotty, what's the status on Commander Frontal and Lieutenant Vai?"
Scotty is quiet a for a few moments as she sorts out the information she has, before replying, "They're holding their own, ma'am. Despite being engaged against multiple hostiles."
Not bad. Talia hasn't met Full Frontal personally, only having heard of him via what was probably third-hand knowledge. But he does seem to live up to the reputation. Saraven she has met and Talia is also not disappointed. But Talia decides, "Still, let's give them a little assistance. Prepare missile volley. Set detonators to proximity fuses. Target equal spread across the battlefield. And alert friendly forces to the danger zones."
A curt but somewhat quiet response comes from the Auerbach's weapons officer, James Strong, stationed near the back corner of the bridge, "Ready."
"FIRE!"
Another volley of missiles, much larger than the first, rockets out of the Auerbach's missile tubes. They streak out towards the battlefield, splitting up towards multiple areas to create hazards for all of the Londo Bell-and aligned-forces.
KTS: Talia Gladys has activated the Attune Spirit Command. KTS: Talia Gladys has activated the Enable Spirit Command targeting Full Frontal Talia_Gladys Attacks Romilly Draid, Anita Rosetta, Hazard Chevalier, Roux Louka, and Murrue Ramius with Laurasia-class Missile Launchers Bombing Run KTS: Hazard Chevalier has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Hazard Chevalier blocks Talia Gladys's Laurasia-class Missile Launchers Bombing Run, taking 1560 damage! KTS: Anita Rosetta successfully intercepts Talia Gladys's Laurasia-class Missile Launchers Bombing Run
<Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.
"The ReZEL's holding up," Roux answers Anita, "but if she gets me again like that I'm going to have to do a forced landing!" Or, you know, the other thing.
The AE logo pops up and Roux glances at the emergency reactor-scram safety option guide. The logo is flickering, jerking slightly, probably from damage -- the shielding on the internal electronics is reacting with the Minovsky particles. Not good, Roux thinks.
Though, she thinks, in a momentary filigree, maybe he'd come save *me* from Neo-Zeon?-- and somehow the thought pushes away the oppressive presence. Roux doesn't quite laugh, but in her normal suit, she smiles, tight and nervous but real.
Something vulnerable comes across to her - what's up with this girl? Roux thinks. It can't be another of the Newtype Corps; not unless she was... I can't tell, dammit, Roux thinks as the funnels flicker outwards and move to fence in Anita.
I can't just let her die, Roux thinks, taking in a deep breath as the enemy suit approaches -- and she doesn't have any difference in which of them she's talking about. Roux, peculiarly, doesn't try to dodge. Not much anyway. The stars seem to be moving around the approaching Varguil, even as she shifts round, the Mega Beam Launcher's cable cut with an explosive bolt moments before it is cleaved, ripped into three parts and --
"First you call yourself Zeon and now you're calling me an Earthnoid?! My God, I should have stayed on Jupiter! You had better hope that jackass in the red suit's scrambled your brains, or you're never going to be able to live this down!"
-- sometimes you just have to be yourself.
After this, Roux screams as the ReZEL shifts-- and the still-intact-ish upper section of the beam-equipped shield come to bear -- and fires at the Varguil's lower body!
KTS: Romilly Draid successfully intercepts Talia Gladys's Laurasia-class Missile Launchers Bombing Run KTS: Roux Louka targets Saraven Vai with ReZEL Shield Triple Shot! KTS: Saraven Vai has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Saraven Vai successfully evades Roux Louka's ReZEL Shield Triple Shot KTS: Murrue Ramius's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Murrue Ramius fails to intercept Talia Gladys's Laurasia-class Missile Launchers Bombing Run, taking 3075 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Full Frontal has posed.
Maybe Full Frontal is getting tired. Maybe he's starting to get rattled. Either way, this go round goes less well for the leader of the Sleeves.
Hazard's Tyrant Gundam reaches for the Sinanju and manages to get a hand on it. The Supreme Commander swings his shield, ever so briefly meeting force with force, getting himself free of the Tyrant's grasp before all of his armor crumples like aluminum foil. Just some of it, the damaged plating shredding some internals, electricity starting to arc across the surface.
It can be hurt.
The Sinanju wheels away from the Tyrant Gundam to race towards the Kingmaker, not noticing the filaments until it's too late. The crimson mobile suit just eats a real lightning bolt. In space. Systems scream at Full Frontal as he compensates almost instinctually.
He -Frowns-
The Sinanju seems to recover under the masterful skills of the Supreme Commander. One hand reaches to the back side of the shield and pulls a large grey tube. He tosses it upwards, pulling the beam rifle. For some, inexplicable reason, the tube comes back down and attaches to the end of the rifle.
A barrage of missiles launch at the Kingmaker. A lot of them, from such a small tube.
Full Frontal then discards the rifle, whirling back to the Tyrant Gundam. Verniers would howl as they're spooled to redline, but space is silent. They burn like stars as he launches himself at the Tyrant Gundam, aiming to ram the Mechasaur with its shield.
KTS: Full Frontal has activated the Resupply Spirit Command. KTS: Full Frontal has activated the Resupply Spirit Command. KTS: Full Frontal targets Romilly Draid with Rocket Barrage! KTS: Full Frontal targets Hazard Chevalier with Shield Bash! KTS: Hazard Chevalier blocks Full Frontal's Shield Bash, taking 777 damage! KTS: Full Frontal repulses Hazard Chevalier, forcing him to disengage.
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
"Right... I think I'm about at that point, too. Might, uh... might be about time to start considering an exit strategy for us and the folks on the ship." Anita replies to Roux. Saving the frigate itself is... probably out of the question at this point, but she's more concerned about the people than the supplies.
Saraven says she doesn't need thrill, fear, or excitement. Anita considers that for a moment.
...It's funny. It wasn't too long ago that she was telling Arriety that the ones who don't feel fear are the ones you should be worried about the most.
"That's kind of sad. You don't need any of that? Then what's the point?" Anita asks. "...Sure, I want to relax. I want to hang out with my friends. I want to fall asleep tinkering on my Valkyrie here so that my Haro has to yell at me to wake up. What do /you/ want?"
Zeon needs her, huh? Anita considers that for a moment, but doesn't get a chance to respond as the funnels begin to move again. Her machine is fast, but there's a limit to what she can outpace - soon enough she's surrounded on all sides. Evasion is impossible - dodging one beam puts her into the path of several more. And if that's not bad enough, one of the battleships is filling the entire area with missiles. Dealing with both at once... would be pretty bad. Turning herself into an oncoming beam, Anita directs her machine's head toward the incoming volley, unleashing a barrage of beam vulcan fire to shoot down the incoming missiles.
The VF-25 goes spiraling back from the combined force of the blast, but with a hard tug on the control stick Anita manages to stabilize it.
"...I'll admit. You're definitely more experienced than I am..." Anita says with a shake of her head. "But I gotta correct you on one point. Spacenoid here, born and raised - did you think we were all on your side?"
...It looks like Roux agrees, too.
She's not sure how much time she has left before she'll have left to retreat, but there's still one thing she can manage - one last act of defiance. She charges toward Saraven again, gatling pod raised... but at the last moment the weapon is exchanged for a combat knife, driving the weapon toward the Varguil with the added force of her unit's Pinpoint Barrier system behind it.
KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Resupply Spirit Command. KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Anita Rosetta targets Saraven Vai with Pinpoint Barrier Knife Thrust! KTS: Saraven Vai has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Saraven Vai retreats from the attack! KTS: Saraven Vai fails to react to Anita Rosetta's Pinpoint Barrier Knife Thrust, taking 6200 damage! KTS: Saraven Vai has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has disengaged.
<Pose Tracker> Hazard Chevalier has posed.
The feeling of electricity across his fingers is ecstasy. It runs along his nerves and it feels so good. It feels like success. For a brief instant Hazard exults in the destructive power that he is, that his existence is. For a brief instant the human part of his brain is suppressed in favor of taking another swing at-
Shield.
The shield bash hits him square in the chest. His verniers cannot hold up against Full Frontal's charge. They simply can't. Those thrusters can move the Sinanju three times faster - how could Tyrant Gundam's verniers, meant only for maneuvering, deal with that? What could possibly happen there?
He's knocked aside, though with minimal damage to the cockpit, pushed away from the fight. Romilly is left to his own devices-
Missile!
It's because of the Archangel that he even feels it. That his senses let him know. That he whirls around and punches the missile directly in the warhead. That the explosion of force and fire washes over the Tyrant Gundam. That it emerges from the cloud trailing smoke behind it.
Full Frontal is left aside.
This person attacked the Archangel, which he was just starting to get to know. This person attacked him. This person is reinforcing the Sleeves. And he cannot hit Full Frontal worth a damn. But that?
That's a big-ass ship.
The Tyrant Gundam surges up into view of the Laurasia's main sensors. The smoke is still rolling off it. The armor on its hand is cracked. It flicks its wrist slightly, as if shaking off pain.
Then the mask opens.
The traditional Gundam faceplate opens, vanishing into the helmet.
Teeth.
The Gundam has teeth.
The Gundam has horrifying, sharp teeth. The Gundam has teeth for ripping and tearing and digging in and destroying. The Gundam has teeth for exactly what it's doing - going directly for the Laurasia's hull to bite down on it and literally rip it open with those teeth, to shred the metal and taste the electricity and feel the heat and the oxygen venting out of it.
The Gundam roars, silently.
But this time, the mouth of the thing actually opens.
As it moves to bite down.
KTS: Hazard Chevalier has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Hazard Chevalier has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Hazard Chevalier has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Hazard Chevalier targets Talia Gladys with Bite! KTS: Romilly Draid successfully intercepts Full Frontal's Rocket Barrage KTS: Full Frontal completes the Formation attack!
<Pose Tracker> Saraven Vai has posed.
"You could always show me your birth certificate," Saraven returns, completely deadpan, even as the shield comes to bear.
There is a moment of insight. Ghosts playing out in her mind. The silhouette of the ReZEL moving.
/...blue jay.../
As if in slow motion, the Varguil moves at the same time the ReZEL does. Its leg comes up and back --
The triple beam blast unloads, carving traceries of power into space. Its strike comes close - so close. The blasts screech barely a foot from ripping into the vulnerable armour at the back of the Varguil's thigh, so near that lilac paint begins to bubble and strip away, charred around the edges of a strip of naked gundarium hull burnished by the copperblue mottling of fresh carbon scoring.
There is, for a moment, a tension. The mind within the Varguil seems to bunch with anticipation before releasing like a subtle breath.
The tension mounts again a second later. Her eyes dart towards the incoming variable fighter.
Anita comes rocketing in with killing force. The sudden switch to the barrier knife is met with a reaction - a flicker of surprise and a soft gasp, before the weapon crunches through armour plating just above the Varguil's left chest inlet. Something inside the unit sparks as a chunk of exterior bracing is torn away from the frame, leaving a glowing and partially molten gash behind.
Instantly, verniers blaze, the Varguil darting backwards and twisting under the power of heavy thrust. Saraven looks up into a constellation of scarlet warning lights. She flips a few switches, biting down to her lower lip.
/I underestimated them. I can't do that..../
Anita's words hang in her consciousness. Saraven doesn't immediately answer.
/What do I want?/
"What I want is freedom for space," she finally answers, though it's in that same quiet tone, almost like a recitation. The shift underlying it is more mental than audible. Behind the ice, there's a flicker of something uncertain. For a moment, the intense focus moves from Roux to Anita eve as the Varguil boosts back out to range and regroups.
"I have a duty," she says as the funnels arc forth. "I will fulfill it."
The firing pattern she unleashes is swift and intense. The funnels sweep towards Anita - but at the last minute they divert to Roux as Saraven swings her rifle back to bathe Anita's position in a steady bombardment of shots. Funnel fire blurs around Roux's ReZEL, blasts of magenta crossing like duellists' sabers. There are only six of them, but they seem to be everywhere.
They're trying to box her in - and then close the box.
KTS: Saraven Vai has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Saraven Vai targets Anita Rosetta with Long Beam Rifle Charged Shot! KTS: Saraven Vai targets Roux Louka with Funnel Gale! KTS: Anita Rosetta's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Anita Rosetta fails to evade Saraven Vai's Long Beam Rifle Charged Shot, taking 4641 damage! KTS: Anita Rosetta's VF-25 Messiah Rosetta <GERWALK Mode> has been disabled. KTS: Roux Louka fails to evade Saraven Vai's Funnel Gale, taking 5460 damage! KTS: Roux Louka's RGZ-95 ReZEL <MS Mode> has been disabled. KTS: Talia Gladys's Barrier Generator activates, negating 200 base damage. KTS: Talia Gladys fails to evade Hazard Chevalier's Bite, taking 7060 damage! KTS: Hazard Chevalier has engaged Talia Gladys KTS: Hazard Chevalier begins a Formation attack!
<Pose Tracker> Romilly Draid has posed.
ENEMY MISSILE LAUNCH DETECTED
Disciple Missiles, yesterday!
The Arc Pylon had popped up above one shoulder. A missile pod now struggles to rise above the other, thanks to the damage from Full Frontal's earlier attack. With the familiarity of someone who's piloted their suit for years, Romilly's fingers race across a control panel, toggling switches as the Kingmaker pivots to face the missile barrage.
The Disciple Missiles are dumbfired--the dispersal pattern leaves no room for doubt--but the timing, the positioning of the wanzer's torso are almost prescient, in protecting itself.
TACTICAL PROJECTION UPDATED. PATCH DEPLOYED TO WARLORD RAIMENT.
Recognition flashes across Romilly's eyes as he finally realizes who 'the big guy' is.
I'll be damned. Tibet's Gundam Fighter... he's goin' after the ship just bombed us. That means...
It means, Romilly realizes, that the Sinanju can focus fully on him. "...you're a damn good pilot. Scary good. But I don't hear no fat lady singing just yet, 'Red Comet!'" Through the cybernetic uplink, Romilly issues a command. The thrust verniers fire again, pivoting the Kingmaker in a controlled lateral arc. The missile pod dips into the backpack, then pops back up just in time for another calculated barrage to meet Full Frontal's own. The void between them is illuminated with silent, violent explosions.
ROUTING ARC PYLON CURRENT TO XM20 CHAIN RIFLE... CHARGED ROUNDS ACTIVE... WHO IS THE RED COMET?
Proof that ghosts exist--and they're scary as hell.
The Kingmaker, having briefly been occluded by a wall of explosions now cleared, squeezes the trigger on the chain rifle again. But this time, the tracers aren't red--they're blue. Charged rounds, specially designed to punch through tougher opponents.
It's more than an answer, though--because with it, Romilly broadcasts something to all the frequencies in the area--'Armed Intervention in Process' over the winged insignia of Celestial Being.
KTS: Romilly Draid has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Romilly Draid has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Romilly Draid targets Full Frontal with Chain Rifle Charged Rounds! KTS: Full Frontal has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Full Frontal has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Full Frontal successfully evades Romilly Draid's Chain Rifle Charged Rounds KTS: Murrue Ramius has activated the Resupply Spirit Command.
<Pose Tracker> Talia Gladys has posed.
Scotty blinks for a moment at the signature on her scopes... Then gets a little panicked as she says, "Incoming mobile unit!" The scan resolution grows as it gets closer, giving her a general profile... And in a slightly more panicked voice she reports, "It's a Gundam!"
Talia frowns. Getting up close to one of those is NOT something Talia wants to experience, "How long?"
"Twenty seconds!"
Not enough time to get the GINN team back. They're going to have to deal with this themselves, "40 to starboard, engines at maximum burn. Port CIWS, defensive barrage!" The Auerbach begins to turn, engines lighting up once more as it starts to accelerate to try and get away from the charging Tyrant Gundam. At the same time, multiple CIWS turrets turn in the Gundam's general direction, before starting to unleash a constant barrage of machine gun fire to try and ward the Gundam away.
It does no good, the Tyrant Gundam out for oil.
Inside the bridge, a resounding *CLANG* can be heard, following by crunching sounds. Scotty is getting even more panicked as she starts reporting, "Port side armour has failed! Hull breaches detected on deck four... Three... Two! Emergency bulkheads shutting!"
Talia slams a fist down onto the armrest of her chair, the straps the only thing keeping her from floating away from the forceful impact, "Shake that thing off, Tim! Scotty, get the GINN team back here!"
The Auerbach starts to roll, trying to throw the Gundam off its hull with centrifugal force.
KTS: Talia Gladys targets Hazard Chevalier with Machine Gun Turrets Barrage!
<Pose Tracker> Full Frontal has posed.
The Tyrant Gundam is forgotten. It is not, at current, his problem. It may be again, but right now, Full Frontal's entire malevolent will is fixated on the Kingmaker. Inside the cockpit, his eyes seem to glow red.
"Well then."
The charged rounds come racing, and the Sinanju just seems to ... flow around the bullests. Sometimes it seems to phase through them, but it's just an illusion. He is just moving fast enough to dodge bullets in space.
He discards his shield, letting it float in the vacuum unattended as his other arm opens a hatch and spits a beam saber hilt into it. It ignites in a wash of green.
Oh no, he has two.
The Sinanju blasts at the Kingmaker at top speed, verniers blazing like stars. The beam sabers lash out in blinding arcs, cutting through everything in their path.
KTS: Full Frontal targets Romilly Draid with The Will of Zeon Reborn!
<Pose Tracker> Murrue Ramius has posed.
Murrues jaw drops more than she would admit as she watches a mobile suit start to eat the enemy ship. That is absolutely something she never thought shed need counter measures for. But, now she work on them. There are more pressing things right now, and the dropped jaw becomes clenched, as Murrue sees two of the friendlies disabled.
Murrue runs to the scanners, and looks at things a moment, fingers tap on some settings, as she makes some checks, and mumbles some figures. Okay I think itll work! She runs over to the Captains chair and plots in a few thing in the console there.
The Archangel surges forward under a full blast from the engines, rushing suddenly forward, but the thrusters begin to spin the battleship in a slow twist. Suddenly, the catapults deck doors open under emergency override, providing a decrease in inertia, enough that the slow twist and new speed swallows up the disabled suits and the Valiant Linear guns line up for a pinpoint strike as the other ship tries to shake off, its hull recycling pest that Murrue appreciates more and more.
KTS: Murrue Ramius targets Talia Gladys with Valiant Mk. 8 Linear Cannon Pinpoint Attack! KTS: Talia Gladys has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Talia Gladys has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Talia Gladys successfully Evades Murrue Ramius's Valiant Mk. 8 Linear Cannon Pinpoint Attack KTS: Murrue Ramius completes the Formation attack! KTS: Romilly Draid fails to parry Full Frontal's The Will of Zeon Reborn, taking 5733 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Full Frontal's The Red Comet activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: Full Frontal has engaged Romilly Draid
<Pose Tracker> Talia Gladys has posed.
The Auerbach is in the middle of spinning to try and throw off the Gundam, the bridge crew feeling the g-forces pulling at them, when Scotty calls out, "Enemy cannons are aimed in our direction!"
Talia is holding on to the arm rests of her seat tightly as she calls out amidst the sound of rushing engines and hull crunching, "Burn to port!"
Whether it's the new maneuver, or existing spinning, either way the cannon fire from the Archangel sails past the ZAFT ship, just barely missing its hull before continuing on into the vast emptiness of space.
"James! What's the firing arc looking like?"
Seemingly unphased by the in-progress manuevers, the Auerbach's weapons officer replies, "The beam cannons are coming into alignment."
Talia quickly replies, "Then by all means, fire!"
As the the Auerbach spins, the barrels of its beam cannons light up, before unleashing lances of green out across space. The beams sweep around along with the ship's movement, aimed to cut across the Archangel's hull as it attempts its recovery mission.
KTS: Talia Gladys targets Murrue Ramius with Main Beam Cannons Blast! KTS: Talia Gladys targets Hazard Chevalier with Machine Gun Turrets Barrage! KTS: Hazard Chevalier blocks Talia Gladys's Machine Gun Turrets Barrage, taking 1440 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.
"Do you think that ship you're robbing has crates full of spacenoid freedom!?" is Roux's heated counter-answer to the Varguil even as she glances momentarily at the Variable Fighter and -
A moment later the grenade storage on the ReZEL's shoulder detonates. The explosion rattles the panoramic cockpit, filling the low chorus of alarms with something louder. "Damn it -- damn it! Get out of here, Rosetta!" Roux shouts, before another lancing Funnel ray smashes inwards. The cockpit lets out a soft, subtle hiss, and that is in some ways the most ominous thing to hear of all, normal suit or no.
"Damn it," Roux thinks, looking upwards -- for a moment she thinks she sees a one-winged dove but she works the controls again. Dove or not, the vulcans scream out of the ReZEL's head, carving a swath of lead through a space which happens to intersect a funnel enough to make a gap -
The ReZEL jerks forwards with sudden force, one of the legs taking a shot and, in fact, separating at what would be the 'thigh' as it goes into a propellant inefficient withdrawal-dash, arcing towards the Archangel. Roux turns her head to see for pursuit, but -- I can't *feel* any funnels, she thinks, but does that mean they're not THERE or that...
Space, after all, is vast.
KTS: Talia Gladys targets Murrue Ramius with Main Beam Cannons Blast! KTS: Murrue Ramius fails to react to Talia Gladys's Main Beam Cannons Blast, taking 4620 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
'What I want is freedom for space'. Anita shakes her head dismissively. It sounds like she's said that to herself a lot of times - or had it said to her, maybe.
"Sorry, that answer is way too vague for me. You can't win freedom in a day. What does that even mean, anyway? No, what do you want for /you/? Like... what do you want to eat? What kind of music do you want to listen to?" Anita asks.
But Saravan still has her duty though, and that she's good at.
"Right, I-" Anita starts in response to Roux and prepares to defend herself against the funnels... but this time its Saraven performing the feint. Anita finds a rifle aimed her way and a steady barrage of shots fired in her direction. Anita grits her teeth as the VF-25 is sent spiraling back. She tries to push it forward again... but she finds that it doesn't move, the Varguil's last attack having pushed several vital servos past their limit. Anita sighs.
"...Sorry, girl, I guess I pushed you too hard today, huh...?" She murmurs, putting the console in front of her. She's not sure how she'll get out of this... but thankfully she doesn't have to worry as the Archangel swoops in, catching her!
"Thanks, Archangel... I owe you one." Anita says with a relieved sigh. Roux joins her a moment later. Anita feels relieved, at that - she had been worried about leaving her out there alone.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Jung has posed.
Within the ship, Lily Jung stares out of the window. A while ago, she'd been told to put on her Normal Suit. She's still not quite recovered from the strange events at Tokyo, having been transported from space to earth and back again. And now...
Whoooooom!
The flash of a beamweapon casts, the light of it reflecting deep within the battlestation she's been assigned. Staring at the blazing light coming from the enemy twin-legged ship. She wishes she could be out there, helping. But the Zack she normally pilots is still heavily damaged from her encounter with the Kaiju.
As such, she remains put. She remains behind the protective armor at the battlestation, while gazing out at the battle unfolding. Each strike. Each beam that tears across the horizon of space, could mean the end of her, the end of her allies, and even the people she's been befriending.
"Everyone... please do your best." She whispers, closing her eyes and putting her hopes in all of them.
<Pose Tracker> Hazard Chevalier has posed.
The Tyrant Gundam's head rips backwards, a massive chunk of the hull in its mouth. That hull absorbs a whole lot of bullets - more than Talia would like to see, that's undoubtedly for sure. What does get through digs into the Tyrant Gundam's armor. Digs into Hazard's flesh. The bullets dig in and he can feel them against the metal and he can taste the ship's machinery and the oil and the fuel running down Tyrant Gundam's face. It's sweet. It's intoxicating. As the Tyrant Gundam hurls the damaged hull aside, the bridge can see quite clearly that, as the Gundam mask closes back over its maw once more, there's oil running down it like blood from a wild beast's mouth.
Hazard's eyes focus.
The Tyrant Gundam slams one of its hands down on the ship's hull. It digs in with force, clinging to the machine. Hazard crumples steel like paper as he forces handholds. This is what he was made for. Strength. Durability. This is what a Mechasaur is for. A weapon of power and fear. Unstoppable. Inevitable.
Slowly, inexorably, Tyrant Gundam begins to drag itself up the ship, still using the Archangel's targetting vector.
It is, again, completely unarmed. And that probably just makes it worse.
It throws back its head and roars, again, like a wild animal, before it raises both hands and just starts *smashing*. And *smashing*. And *smashing*. Overhead smashes, hammering, pounding, slamming, over and over and over, at the open wound he's already created.
The taste of the fuel is still on his lips.
KTS: Hazard Chevalier has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Hazard Chevalier targets Talia Gladys with Extinction Event! KTS: Talia Gladys fails to retreat. KTS: Talia Gladys fails to react to Hazard Chevalier's Extinction Event, taking 8620 damage! KTS: Talia Gladys's Laurasia-class has been disabled.
<Pose Tracker> Saraven Vai has posed.
The funnels begin to return, one by one, nesting themselves comfortably in the Varguil's racks. Well, almost one by one. Saraven frowns as she realizes one of them's missing.
/...blue jay... did you steal it away...?/
All that comes back to Saraven is a sputtering funnel thruster with most of its upper half missing. She sighs, and the Varguil grabs it out of open space and stows it on the rack. She taps a key and marks that one inactive.
The surge of emotions radiating off of the Auerbach is enough to catch her attention. As much as it scratches at her senses, unclear and not fully connecting, she can sense it. The Varguil's head tilts, monoeye camera focusing on the Tyrant Gundam.
There's an uncertainty nagging in the back of her senses. Something about what Roux and Anita said is bothering her.
"What do I want for /me...?/" she murmurs to herself, momentarily baffled, before setting her jaw and focusing as a particular sense flickers across the distance. The uncertainty and even the brief pulse of resolution vanish behind cold focus. There is no room to feel.
Feeling will only hurt. Thinking about what she wants will only harm.
The Varguil's funnel array detaches again - five of them. The machine ghosts forward at a mid-speed cruise, the remote weapons dancing out ahead of it. They swerve to either side of the Auerbach before swooping up, coming at equidistant points around Hazard.
The flurry of firepower is both intense and exquisitely calculated. Not a single shot strikes the deck of the Auerbach. Some of them slash inches above the hull, but not one blast makes impact. They're all aimed at the Tyrant Gundam, forming a swirling dome of energy fire around it - a blaze that defies defenses. Over the radio, her voice comes, quiet but level.
"Leave that vessel alone."
KTS: Saraven Vai targets Hazard Chevalier with Funnel Cage! KTS: Hazard Chevalier fails to Charge. KTS: Hazard Chevalier fails to react to Saraven Vai's Funnel Cage, taking 1785 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Murrue Ramius has posed.
The Archangel shudders with the impact of the main guns from the Battlecruiser, and Murrue cringes, already estimating the armor loss in that attack. All the primary layers for sure. At least one rupture, but the doors are sealed, there wasnt enough drift from a discharge to vacuum for an unsecured space.
Murrue runs to the monitors, doing several swivels, soaking in the visual information. I want you to fire all the port and starboard missile batteries, 25% yield. We have a friendly out there so we dont wanna hurt him, but we need to break this buffet up. Fire as soon as you have them set for yield and proximity. The Captain stands back, arms crossed, waiting what always seems an eternity, until the result of her orders finds fruit.
Begin, now. The missile tubes open and release their payload, flying towards Talias ship and a dinosaur Gundams current salad bar, and the rapidly interceding Saraven. Murrue calls over the comms to her Ally, "Hazard my friend, I think this party is long past over. Ready to get your coat and leave?"
<Pose Tracker> Romilly Draid has posed.
Romilly's eyes widen, illuminated by warning lights, his vision swimming with information feeds from the link with Junior. "He was toyin' with us this whole time! Dammit!"
The panic is evident in the way the wanzer clutches for the vibroknife--a hopelessly inadequate weapon for the task of repelling an ace pilot with two beam sabers.
The Kingmaker's lubricant ignites, an explosion blowing a hole in the upper third of the wanzer, taking the Arc Pylon with it.
CRITICAL DAMAGE SUSTAINED... INSUFFICIENT TACTICAL DATA... RETREAT AND INTERFACE ADVISED.
...
MILLY?
In the cockpit, a softly glowing force barrier is all that stops the atmosphere from venting. Romilly's visor fogs up, his breath heavy and ragged. Terror emanates from him in cold, chilling waves--the natural response to Full Frontal's tangible malice.
...You're right. 'nother one of those passes and we won't be submitting no more reports to VEDA. Whoever's in that red armor... we ain't gonna take him by ourselves.
Inside the cockpit, Romilly's hand reaches for the throttle, cybernetic interface manipulating the remaining verniers to push the wanzer 'down' and pull it into an evasive corkscrew maneuver--where was that finesse at the beginning of the fight? Something about that blue wanzer's performance now versus them seems to suggest a dramatic in-fight increase of combat capabilities. Perhaps that's where the dumbfire missile interception spread came from--but it availed the Kingmaker little.
"...guess it ain't the first time somebody came back from the dead."
<Pose Tracker> Hazard Chevalier has posed.
The ship is his focus. But Hazard isn't blind. The Archangel is still flying, and its sensors are still feeding him data, and his sub-brain is still processing it for him. That pseudo-sixth-sense throws warnings as Saraven's Funnels come sweeping in.
Tyrant Gundam does not dodge. It is not fast enough to dodge. Mechasaurs are not usually for dodging. They're big, bulky. Tyrant Gundam is big, bulky.
So the beams cut across Hazard and etch into his skin and burn and burn and burn. His fingers twitch as the pain hits him, pain from every corner, pain like Full Frontal stabbing him in the shoulder. As several of the Funnels hit him in that point, hit him inside that cauterized wound, hit him in a place they shouldn't be able to, he throws back his head, and Tyrant Gundam's head, and grabs at that spot. He didn't want to reveal a weak spot, here, but it was kind of obvious, wasn't it? The nerves are already regrowing behind the cauterized metal.
He bats away one of the Funnels and moves to charge in, but the Funnels pin him down, and-
The Archangel appears out of nowhere.
Hazard has only a few seconds to leap onto the Archangel and into the cover arc of its guns. Tyrant Gundam kneels down on the ship, blocking for the bridge with its body, ready to bear the brunt of the funnels as they make their escape.
The bridge cockpit of the Archangel gets one of the most terrifying sights anyone can possibly see in space - a Gundam literally in front of their bridge.
On the other hand, it's allied, it's wounded, and it's doing all it can to protect them.
So maybe, just this once, it's reassuring to see that faceplate.
<Pose Tracker> Talia Gladys has posed.
The crunching has stopped.
It's been replaced by pounding. So loud.
"Deck four has lost power!" Air recyclers on deck five are down to twenty percent efficiency!" "Fires spreading across decks two to four!" "Medbay reports mounting casualties!"
Talia frowns at the frequency and severity of damage reports coming in. It's pretty clear that the Auerbach is in bad shape, caught without its mobile suit escort. Speaking of, "Status on the GINN team?"
Scotty replies, "They're still two minutes out!"
Too far. The monster on their hull could tear through the ship in that time. And Talia is all out of ideas to get the thing off. They do still have one unit left in the hangar, but...
"Incoming!"
What now...
Talia watches as a group of funnels flash past the bridge window. Could it be?
"The Varguil is engaging the Gundam!" Saraven to the rescue. Talia is going to have to buy her a drink at some point.
"Missiles inbound!" It just never ends!
But Talia doesn't panic, keeping her cool as she quickly orders, "Hard to starboard. CIWS intercept fire."
The Auerbach swings around as its CIWS turrets turn away from the Tyrant Gundam-now being harassed by funnels-over to the incoming missile barrage. Missiles begin exploding short of the ship's hull as the interception fire takes them down. But the point defense curtain seems to have a few holes in it, probably from the damage the Auerbach has received thus far.
Once missile makes it past the guns, striking the point of the Auerbach's hull where the Archangel had struck it the first time. A hole is blown open, a brief burst of air rushing outwards from the rapid decompression. Along with what looks like some poor soul who was caught in it, a body floating away from the ship. It only takes a cursory glance to realize they died in the explosion. At least they didn't suffer.
The Auerbach's GINNs finally fly back into view, forming up around the ship. But Talia is already giving the order, "Tim, angle us away from the battlefield. We're pulling back. Scotty, keep the GINNs on escort until we're clear. Arthur, organize the repair teams. I want a damage estimate as soon as possible."
The ship's XO, Arthur Trine, appears to be already on it though as he grimly reports, "Captain. A report from deck three. We lost a crewmember in that last hit."
There's a brief silence across the bridge, many of the officers turning to look at Talia. She can feel their looks... Talia takes a moment to collect herself, before replying, "Understood... It was not in vain though." Although it hasn't been called yet yet, Talia is aware enough of the situation to be reasonably sure that they can call this a victory.
Still. Losing a crewmember sucks.
<Pose Tracker> Full Frontal has posed.
Full Frontal does a number on the Wanzer with his beam sabers. He tilts his head slightly in the cockpit, and makes ready to go for another brutal pass. He shakes his head when it flees. He does not give chase. A fleeing, wounded prey is not interesting to hunt. That machine poses him no threat.
He turns the Sinanju to take stock of the rest of the battlefield. The Archangel is leaving, the ZAFT ship is mangled, and it seems like all of the resistance is disabled, fled or both. He just nods before broadcasting back to the Rewloola.
"Opposition has been repelled. You are clear to come to the battlefield to retreive the freighter and render aid to the ZAFT ship."
The Commander begins to move back in, heading towards the Auerbach. "Your assistance was appreciated," he transmits. "You will share in the spoils. My maintenance crew will come to aid yours in making repairs if you desire it."
He sets a broadcast wave out, knowing that the fleeing opposition will be able to hear him. "You have faced the remnants of Neo-Zeon in combat. The crew of the frigate will be left at Side Six. You will see us again," he says, finishing his statement with a strong, old punctuation.
"Hail Zeon!"
<Pose Tracker> Saraven Vai has posed.
Missiles come whirling in. Saraven watches the Federation ship open up, drawing her rifle and beginning to fire into the swarm of them. They're distant enough that she can simply pick them off. Once she's cleaned out the ones coming for her, she starts picking off the ones the Auerbach's point defenses miss.
"Simply." Shooting missiles out of the air should be a difficult task. There are trajectories and ballistics and deflection to take into account.
Saraven does it anyway.
Her focus remains mostly on the Tyrant Gundam. She can feel the surges of pain and rage roiling out of the machine. It's one of the more intense emotions she's had the experience of feeling, strong enough that it fills her senses. But the connection is thin. It never gets past the scratched pane.
Some songbirds cannot sing. Saraven Vai does not share in the anger. She just cants her head to one side and frowns. "...This is a war," she murmurs. "Why is he angry that the enemy would shoot back at him?"
Why are they ever.
As the Archangel slips off into the stars, the funnels go zipping away, reintegrating with the Varguil's backpack. The lilac machine hangs there for a moment, rifle cocked against its damaged shoulder, before it rockets forward and plots a course to land on the Auerbach's deck. It sinks into a crouched pose near the bridge - a covering position.
Over the comms, Full Frontal speaks out, every bit the rhetorician the Red Comet... was? Is? The latter seems more likely. Saraven listens with a neutral expression, the subtle tension in her body easing as she realizes the fight is over for now.
"Hail Zeon," she echoes.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Jung has posed.
A massive tyrant of a Kaiju looking machine rushes the machine, and the klaxons warn to brace for impact. The girl grips hold tight, as the ship's momentum is altered. She then suddenly looks up, as fear overwhelms her. Hearing the screetching of metal on metal. The hull being torn apart. Amidst the frame of the ship, every scratch, every claw, every time that the Tyrant Gundam ensures another section vents atmosphere - it can all be heard within the cabin. And to someone not familiar with war, it sounds as if the ship is coming down around her.
But then, a spark. A spark of hope as she senses Saraven closer. Senses that whomever is assaulting them is being pulled away.
And the girl lets out this whimpering pant of a sound at the revalation. Hearing the announcements, she pushes up from her spot. For some reason, just a little bit, she's feeling a bit braver. "I'll help fight the fires." She knows how to do at least that much. She will make herself useful!
The door opens and she flies out into the halls, grabbing a nearby foamer and tries to make her way to deck four in order to help. Looking up for a moment towards where she can feel a familiar 'dull' sensation. Saraven. "Thank you." She whispers, before turning her head back down and getting to fire-fighting!
<Pose Tracker> Talia Gladys has posed.
"Captain, transmission from Commander Frontal." "Put him on."
Full Frontal's words to the Auerbach echo through the bridge. At the end of them, Talia presses a button on her chair console and then replies, "Thank you, Commander Frontal. Your assistance is appreciated." Talia would prefer to not limp home in the ship's current state, if she can help it.
The battle is finally over. Signaled by the sound of the Varguil landing atop the section of the ship near the bridge. Talia can't see the mobile suit, given the ship's bridge hangs out over the very front. But knowing it's there is still reasuring. Enough that Talia actually relaxes a little bit. She also adds, "Scotty, send my thanks to Lieutenant Vai too."
Now for the difficult part of battle. Picking up the pieces.