2011-07-26 - What is Mine

Japan - Photon Power Labs

R sat in a room given to him by his humble host. The android AI stared down at a pair of dog tags in his hand. The gentle glow of his aqua green eyes reflected softly in the metal of the dog tag. Then closing his eyes, he slowly rose to his feet.

He dropped the dog tags on to the bed and started to make his way out.

Hindustania - Raven's Nest

The Raven's Nest was the home of the mercenary group known as the Ravens and many Trailers have also come to call this place home. There was no alarms sounded, no panic rush. No the civilians got the message early and as the clock started to count down. The people, one by one; carefully; started to make their way down into the lower part of the Nest. An area of the Nest that had not been opened in years past.

It was the only place safe for the civilians and everyone knew--- Things could get very ugly soon. It was just the matter of when and how.

Hindustania - Outside of the Raven's Nest

Outside was quiet, very quiet. Dewey's fleet and A-laws vessels under his command float in the air above the Raven's Nest. They have been hovering there for near three, maybe four weeks now. Dewey not giving the Trailers any room at the Raven's Nest to even really breathe without someone on their backside.

The Raven's Nest here though was slightly protected, hidden away inside an old city sector that was forgotten and left to fall apart. The entrance was dug down into the road, but if any big war heads got in, it could spill disaster for the base hidden within.

Within the Nest the signal went off, which was a small chime. Soon hanger doors started to open in different locations. These hangers had those of the Trailers within to step out. A signal shortly after went out to all allied units that it was time.

It was time to gather...

Soon far out in the distance something could be picked up on the aerial radar. Something moving at break neck speeds. As it moved in closer and closer, it came across as a white spec with a trail of bright aqua green thrusters. Soon more detail could be made out.

It was the Strayed.

The NEXT Armored Core started to descend and slow down. Its feet touching the ground, but the thrusters continue to accelerate it across the ground with a slide. That aqua green visor's 'optic' locked onto the A-Laws fleet for a moment before it pulled to a hard stop. Dust flying up into the air from the force shoved against it.

There was no sign of radiation on the NEXT, which meant that its Primal Armor was down; at least for now.

<<"A-Laws,">> The voice called out. The voice Dewey may have heard before on the Radio - Remember that 'Bounty Hunter' Dewey? <<"Why do you continue to haunt these grounds? Torment the citizens of the Raven's Nest? Do you gain some sick enjoyment of using your power to opress those smaller than you? Not as /Powerful/ as you?">> There was a pause in his voice. <<"What great law enforcers..">>

"Sir, we are recieving a radio comm..." Dewey smiles, "Ah, likely this 'R' or perhaps one of his stand ins..."

He glances at an Ageha who smiles and nods, a vindicated look on its dead eyed face...

Dewey sits back, and motions to the comm officer...

The voice comes back, polite, but quiet, "Subject. Please lean to and withdraw from the area or you will be considered hostile. If you have grievances, please fill out form 319O1 at the local A-LAWS recruitment office."

As the chime sounds, those coming to the support of the Raven's Nest are roused to action. Sitting within the cockpit of a borrowed Armored Core, Sinya Leland has donned the identity known amongst the Trailers only as 'Hellcat'. She'd been careful to keep this and her civilian identity separate, although most of those on the side of the Trailers this day knew exactly who the name belonged to. The catgirl settles back into the cockpit of the armored core, the red flight suit wrapped around her body tightly as she aims her eyes forward. They had all known this day was coming, and there was no turning back now.

Gripping her hands onto the controls, Hellcat moves the Nine Ball forwards, taking slow steps until it emerges from one of the hangar doors, lining up with a handful of nearly identical units as well as others that were definitely more unusual. She'd heard the orders from R... Strayed, whatever he prefered to call himself, and for now, her guns are kept at the AC's side. She would let them try talking for now, although her tail does twitch within the cockpit, showing that she isn't nearly as at-ease as it might seem.

"Last chance to change your mind, Kazuma," Blessfield Ardygun's voice comes over the radio from the Valstork's bridge to the Valhawk's cockpit. "If you want to take something they can't trace to us --"

Kazuma doesn't let his father finish. "Pops, if *you're* worried about them gunning for the Valstork, then say *that* and don't make it sound like my choice. Anyway, this is a Trailer thing, we are a Trailer family, and if you're willing to back me on this -"

Blessfield returns the favor, cutting Kazuma off. "If I wasn't willing to back you on this, we'd be on the other side of the Earth Sphere and you'd be scrubbing the bay's landing grid instead of us being here and you being ready to sortie. We'll be standing by to assist. Valhawk, you are cleared to launch!"

"See you in a little while, Pops, sisters," Kazuma replies. "Mihiro, status?"

"Systems check, all green," Kazuma's younger sister answers from the seat behind him. "Let's go, oniichan!"

"VALHAWK, LAUNCHING!!" yells Kazuma as he pushes the throttle all the way open; the Valstork's catapult rips down the deck to sling the mobile unit out into the wider confines of the Nest's launchway - and right on course to exit the Nest proper. It's easy enough to spot the Valhawk as it erupts into the open sky, packing on altitude the way Boss packs on the pounds; Kazuma twirls the interceptor-like mobile unit through a couple of barrel rolls on the way up before levelling off, beginning a leisurely circling of the area. He's not starting an attack run; he's just out flying at the moment.

At least, that's what he can claim if Dewey's comm officer decides to challenge him before the actual shooting starts.

Macua was totally not here, but there was a sometimes seen arena fighter by the name of Mirage however. A lighty painted 9ball Seraph had joined the group that seem to be forming up, as she keeps her own machine moving she'd heard the order. She simply nodded for a moment, she doesn't ay a thing she doesn't need to say a thing really. The machine movces onwards keeping in postion she waits to see what orders are called out and well? How this is going to pan out, after all if the A-laws somehow back down there's no reason for a fight right?

As the hidden emergency deployment hangars open to release the waiting Trailers, one such hangar to the north of the true Raven's Nest entrance releases a very familiar Armored Core. Primarily gray with white highlights complete with a chest-turret and a single red optic in the center of its face--

Gabriel. The Armored Core that Archangel had last piloted.

The mech Boost-jumps up onto the nearest derelict building, red optic staring at the assembled A-LAW forces but no other indication given of what the pilot is thinking. A scan would show that this is, indeed, the Gabriel.

Another voice emits over the general broadband, the voice of perhaps the most wanted Raven in recent memory. <<"Ah, bureaucracy. The best stalling tactic known to the corrupt and self-important, and the easiest method of communication to ignore,">> the Gabriel states, a note of challenge in his voice. <<"Is your power and greed too much to bear, that you would act so overtly and shame the 'wonderful way-of-life' you claim to uphold?">>

The Strayed isn't alone -- a Katharon warmachine, dropped from orbit only minutes previously, has joined the rogue AI, coming to a stop alongside it. The Star Hawk MkII, complete with heavy armor and additional weapons, points dramatically.

"Where there is opression in the Earth Sphere... I will stop it! A-LAWS uses its power to bully and oppress! Some of my fellow idealists would say that right makes might, and that as long as there are those who fight against opression, they will in time be victorious..."

But the truth is that whoever you are, in war your words are backed up by steel and circuits, by men and women with skill in engineering and combat! And that is why..." The Star Hawk raises its arms, armblades unfolding and locking into place, edges covered by shaped beam blades. "...I created this machine! With its power I will destroy the weapons and armor of tyranny! And if you don't want that to be you, change your ways and devote yourselves to a future of peace! Otherwise... I shall use the machine I built piece by piece, to tear yours apart!" There are some dramatic slashes of the armblades, ended with the Star Hawk pointing at the Ginga again.

Hey, R said they were going to be a _distraction_...

Xiang really never was one for the talking himself, much like in how Sinya is not announcing her presence through voice either. His fingers are on the controls, tapping slowly. Though this isn't a fact known by many, ever since arrival on earth, he has taught himself the nescissairy skills to pilot a good quantity of the multitude of available mass produced units. Armored cores were just one of those machines that were so widely used, he'd gotten enough exposure to them. Still, this machine was... different. It was specifically made to work for a person, and that person was not him. He had to somehow learn this person's style, without knowing them, or having seen their combat methods. His hand rubs forwards over the sticks and flicks his fingers across the keys.

The only light that is catching him at the moment is that from the monitors, running a diagnostics. There're plenty of things he doesn't understand as they dart along. Computer lines, system names. But what he does understand is the target reticule that comes up when everything us all up and down, and the machine shakes as the power systems come on properly, and the machine moves up into a proper standing position. His feet move down to touch down on any controls at the bottom and he pushes his hands forwards, guiding the reaper forward slowly. This was so different from pilotting a Gunmen.

His gaze moves up and through the camera systems reach the gates that slowly open. He moves his hands inwards and forward, igniting the boosters and quickly making his way outside before swinging the machine sideways and letting the Reaper slide the last bits sideways, before he pushes again and moves the machine forwards. He knows this machine is better armored than Hellcat's machine, the only one he is taking particular care of to guard. The machine comes to a halt, not wishing to move out too far. Missile launchers prime, then unprime as he switches to the right hand's WG-1 Kawasawa Rifle, and does a quick sweeping motion with it, to see the targetting systems follow it. He knows he can use this machine.

 Ringo Mason transmits, "Fuuuuuuuuuuu-*machinegun fire*"

Sly Heckler has a bit of a policy when it comes to provoking large government bodies: Don't do it. However, this wasn't his show, and he didn't want it to be. He had done his part when he helped get R out of the clutches of Crest, and from here on this has been R's deal. While he and R don't agree on this particular plan, Sly none the less agreed to help when the plan came up.

Still, Sly isn't about to make it clear who he is in this particular endeavor. He flies out in a 9-Ball Seraph with no markings that trace it back to him, wearing a helmet to obscure exactly who he is.

His AC flies along far slower than it's max speed; That is to say it flies at a space speed. Sly hopes he won't need to employ the firepower on this thing, but he's here to provide backup if possible. He DOES maintain radio silence for the moment, though. No need to let on who he is for idle banter. At least not banter he shares with anyone else...

The Trillennium Committee's hangar is unusually empty today. Doctor Herman Wiltz, right hand man and, as of recently, parental figure to Chairman Naoto Tsukioka, has a feeling he knows why. It's not something he wants to think about, because he wants to think that the Chairman is smarter than that. Unfortunately, as intelligent as Naoto may be, 'common sense' isn't a term he's familiar with, something Herman knows all too well. And sure enough, when the mechanics confirm that the object occupying Vavel's space in the hangar is actually a balloon, his suspicions are confirmed. When things start to go south, the ground begins to rumble. The earth cracks and gives way as a dark shape rises from beneath it, raising its massive fists into the air. Big O? Not quite, but Vavel isn't bad either. "Naoto Tsukioka here, ready to pound some oh man that is a big ship." Naoto transmits on an open frequency, staring up at the Ginga from his perch on Vavel's shoulder. He only stares for a second or two, though, before he remembers why he came here. "Anyway, I'm here to help you guys in that crow's nest out. It's for uh...personal reasons, yeah. We'll go with that." Just then, Herman's face appears on the tiny screen in the middle of his controller, and the scientist looks anything but happy. "Chairman! Please tell me you ah not vhere I zink you ah." Naoto scratches the back of his head. "Uh...well, if you think I'm at Raven's Nest...uh, you're right. Why?" "Chairman, vhat do you zink you ah doing, fighting zat ship? It is A-Laws! Federation! You haff no idea how much trouble you ah going to be in!" Dr. Wiltz says, his voice quickly growing in volume as he waves his arms around frantically. "Get out of zere! Now!" "No. Sorry, Herman, but I'm doing this for a friend." Naoto answers, closing the line before his advisor can say anything else. He then turns back toward the Ginga and assembled A-Laws forces, waiting for the inevitable spark to set this powder keg ablaze.

Yuu Kajima isn't the sort of person to debate philosophy in the middle of the battlefield. Oh, sure, he grasped the basic concept of psychological warfare - yell stuff at your enemies, demoralize and destabilize them, maybe plant some deviant thoughts in their heads and get them to start doubting their shit - but that really was never his deal. He was too much of a calm guy to shout things like that, a consummate professional who took time to line up his shots and count his ammo, and all that jazz.

At least, that was before he'd volunteered to pilot this machine. The Blue Destiny...it was engendering changes in his life even now. As Yuu straps himself in, flicking the startup sequence and settling the bizarre eyeless helmet onto his head, a grin flashes across his face. What would he find, when he'd pushed the Blue Destiny to its absolute limit and freed Marion from her bonds? Would he find himself a flashy man? Maybe a driven one? Or maybe, now that he'd found someone worth fighting for, a cause worth pursuing, he'd become that sort of person who shouted philosophy at his opponents?

He looked forward to it. His lips twist upwards into a smile as the screens flash on, bathing the cockpit in a brilliant blue light. Yuu's fingers wrap about the controls as the Gundam Mk. IV's own eyes blaze with a terrible azure color, lighting up as the Gundam begins to stomp forward. "Yuu Kajima, Gundam Mk. IV Blue Destiny, launching!"

The blue Gundam Mk. IV's thrusters roar to life, and the machine takes the battlefield, a comet blasting forth from the Ginga's holding bay.

Time to go be a professional soldier.

And maybe shout some stuff at people.

Looks like a storm is brewing in Hindustania. The blockade is still operating at peak inefficiency by all accounts with Dewey and his fleet of big bad boats full of bad bad boys, still floating around like big fat cockroaches in the sky. Lazy, complacent. Down on the ground, beneath the beautiful, cleary, pale blue sky was the mess of A-Laws troops and various other hangers who busy themselves hassling the various Ravens as they come and go.

Old King considers himself lucky he's not technically a raven, even if he is here on a contract. He's cheerful as his garish partner LISA zips low over the ground, changing altitude by minor nigh imperceptible degrees to maintain the same level of elevation over the irregular and mostly scraqggly ground beneath it.

His pleasant voice suddenly begins to project not over the radio but from his NEXTs PA, granting it audibility to the various personnel, at least, if he gets to close.

"One little Cyan reticle. Two little alphabetical reticals." He watches as various air currents from various directions all converge on this singular soon to be stormy location. Which by all appearances is an extremely busy but innoccuous abandoned building of some sort. Or maybe it was a veterinary clinic, he didn't know he never went in there. "2 little green reticles..."

The final few tallies are lost as he swaps through his weapon selector, firing a round at nothing to verify everything had a round in the chamber. The LISA comes zipping through a suddenly mushrooming cloud of narrow splinters. In clear foreshadowing a shotgun discharge suddenly brings them all to flashpoint, very close now.

The Photon Power Labs

It's a slow day. There hasn't been an alien or demonic incursion since General Bat decided to knock on their door, and up in the combat control room, one Kenzo Kabuto is pleased with the tranquility. For a while, he had been worried that Tetsuya's new friend would have... complicated matters, but it seems as though it has turned out for the best.

He sips at a cup of rich, black coffee, when suddenly--

"This is Tetsuya, Great Mazinger is taking off."

Kenzo squints over his cup. Well, Goddamn.

The Raven's Nest

Tetsuya Tsurugi is a man of honor.

To abandon a friend in need is something that he cannot condone. Even if it means causing trouble amidst the Federation's ranks, even if it means severe reprimands, or even a court marshalling, he must act. But, fortunately, he has an... excuse, of sorts.

From within the broiling skies overhead, Great Mazinger descends, the fortress of black iron. Its arms are crossed over its chest, mirroring Tetsuya's own, stern stance. It lands, stirring dust and shattering caked earth as it positions itself before the Raven's Nest. Golden light pours from its eyes.

"Attention all combat personnel," Tetsuya booms, his voice echoing out from Great Mazinger, "This is Tetsuya Tsurugi of the Alpha Numbers. Please refrain from conducting combat operations within a mile's radius from the Raven's Nest. To do so would endanger non-combatants and put innocent lives at risk. Great Mazinger stands as a castle to protect those who cannot protect themselves- entering the non-combat area will result in immediate reprisal."

Two, Tetsuya thinks, can use the law for their own ends.

The NEXT does not budge even as the transmission comes across. <<"Leave? Why? From what I see here, I am causing no harm."> The index finger of the mech extends up to point at Dewey's ship. <<"I am a Trailer. This is my home. You have no right to tell them,">> He motions to the Trailers and other starting to come out, <<"Or me, where I can and can not be. Unless you have the paper work to show or some.. I don't know.. god-like power to do so.">>

The whole visor flashed brightly, before going back to a single light. <<"Unless you want to come down here and show me the paperwork. Doubt you do however.">>

So cocky.

The other 'R' Speaks which he gets a nod and then Staren speaks up as well. The NEXT gently pats Staren's mech shoulder carefully, it was also a sign to just stand by. There was after all, no reason to attack /just/ yet.

Soon Naota shows up. It was a real party out here and more were coming as well. <<"But I will ask again. What gives you the right? What gives you the /damn/ right? Is this what has become of our law? Cramming down what you want the public to know, instead of the truth?">> The mech's hand clenched into a tight fist. <<"I know why you fear the Truth, Dewey Novak. You fear it because you hide in your lies. You hide in the power, so you can avoid the truth. The Truth though..">> The mech's hand then lowers. <<"..The truth will always find those who hide.">>

<<".. and does the real justice..">>

Now-- where is that information on Nell's location...

The NEXT then starts to walk. The steps were calm, slow; very controlled. It was almost human like how it moved. That 'optic' glow locked onto the main flag-ship even as the Gundam flew out of the back. <<"Now leave here, before you give us a reason to dig up any truth on you Dewey. I think you would hate that, now wouldn't you?">>

The NEXT does hold up his fist next as he walks. His voice booming, some may recognize these words. <<"I am a Trailer, nameless in the pages of history. The Earth is my father, the sky is my mother. The stars are my cradle and playground, The borderless darkness of space is my home.">> He lowers down his fist, but continues to pace side to side. <<"Freedom is my birthright and my greatest treasure: A treasure beyond all value, Never to be surrendered.">> The visor starts to glow brightly, almost becoming fully white, <<"I have no ruler: I rule over myself. I have no government, save the desire to co-exist. I have no country; I live where and how I choose. I am a Trailer; I bend the knee to no one.">>

The Next part he pauses his words on and comes to a dead stop. The head of the Strayed looks directly at federation forces in the sky. His voice low, almost rumbling, <<"My flesh may die, my machine may break, but my spirit shall never yield.">> The NEXT then pauses again as he hears the sound of weapon fire way out in the distance. That optic light focusing on the direction of the unknown unit moving in. Friend or Foe? R did not know, though his gaze slowly turned back to Dewey, <<"You have pushed us far enough. You have pushed us with no reason and taking advantage of our patience and our courteousness. /Leave/.. /NOW/.">>

The NEXT also glances as Tetsuya makes the scene and says his announcement, <<"You also heard the guy Dewey.">> Then the Strayed motions to the others to move forward. Time to give Tetsuya that room he wanted, Dewey liking it or not.

Dewey watches the proliferation of craft, pausing for a brief moment...

The tactical officer frowns, "Identification, Reaper, Gabriel, all units known to be associated with the Raven Archangel, aka 'R'..."

"Attempting to misdirect us..." An Ageha muses.

Dewey nods, smiling, "Indeed, attempting to misdirect us..."

"Sir! We have small arms fire reported on the brig deck!! Apparently its... Mr. Bushido!!!"

Dewey laughs, "Mr. Bushido? Indeed!" He smiles at the Ageha, "I have to give them credit, that has a certain sense of delicious irony..."

He looks at the tactical officer...almost expectantly.

"The subject is rushing towards the docking bay..." Dewey nods, smiling, "Excellent. Open fire on it as soon as it leaves our docking enclosure... ...so long as it is not the Typetheend."

"We have a report of the..." "Yes, I heard it as well, Tetsuya Tsurugi. Make sure to avoid all fire venturing near the Nest..."

He does smile however, and motions to the comm officer...

"Unknown Trailer. Your concerns have been noted and recorded. If you have an isssue, please fill out the appropriate forms.. Please remain clear while an issue is dealt with. We do not wish to endanger you."

Mister Bushido, runs immedaitely onto the flight deck of the Ginga.

Infront of him, was a engineer looking over a particular Terminus, patting himself on the back for making a scout. Bushido, looking behind him slams his sword into the control pannel for the door, buying himself some time as he runs towards the Terminus, with every bit of might that he could muster, aiming to kick the man in the back of the head, which sends him flying.

"Sorry." 'Mister Bushido' says towards him, before climbing up the side of the Terminus, as the door explodes. Men with machine guns, lead by a bratty girl in a hoop skirt all yell..

"STOP IMPOSTER, OR WE'LL SHOOT!" and then they shoot anyway. The Bushido clone rolled into the cockpit, closing it and starts taking it towards the airlock. Bullets bounce harmlessly off of the armor, as the girl in the Hoopskirt turns to report her findings...

The door opens, as the Terminus fires a barrage of grenades towards the door, before the Unit flies out...

Inside the cockpit, Ringo rips his mask off, breathing heavily as he manages to not get personally shot with a gun...now he just has to escape to behind the Raven's lines...without being shot down by Dewey OR the Ravens.

"Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu..."

Ringo does what he always has done...he makes shit up as he goes along, piloting the Terminus typeR505, as he uses the kick asss wave board to fly towards the Raven Lines, zigzagging to try and avoid death. Strangely, to the A-Laws he shows up as Red, to the Ravens, he shows up as Yellow.

Everyone is red to Ringo.

Ringo sends out strange bit of Code, hopefully R picked it up.

MISSION OBJECTIVES: A-LAWS: Shoot Ringo Down. Trailers: Ringo must survive.

Battle Mastery: A-Laws: Ringo Shot down in three turns. Trailers: Ringo Takes no damage.

 Ringo Mason transmits, "SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT"

 R transmits, "Ringo!"

 R transmits, "Give me your location and transmit to all of us your IFF."

 Mirage voice distorted. "You think this is secure? Your fools if you do."

 Sly Heckler transmits, "Ai, you speak de truth things, señor."

 Dewey Novak transmits, "All Trailers on site, the Type r505 reconnisance model represents a spy and a criminal who has stolen A-LAWS property. Do not interfere or you will be forced to be identified as potential accomplices."

 R transmits, "Right now, that information Ringo has is to important. ..nrh.. so hard to speak. and not speak.. just protect Ringo."

 Fafnir comes through modulated; "Roger."

 Hellcat transmits, "Isn't that going to give them an excuse to fire at us..."

Mister Bushido, stealing a Type R505, huh? Well, that was pretty interesting. Not every day you got to fight Mister Bushido, right?

Yuu gives that little smile, that little smile he always gets when he starts contemplating things like this. Of course it wasn't the *real* Bushido, but anyone who was claiming to be Mister Bushido...that was someone who had either an enormous ego, or impressive skills. Might as well go see which they were...maybe he could push Blue to its limit through someone without EXAM, too.

The Blue Destiny breaks from its straight line flight towards Raven's Nest; it turns around in mid-air, a direct and perfect turn, as its missile launchers pop open. The gleam of missiles lining its weapon bay is unmistakable in this lighting, and Yuu knows it. He idly starts flipping switches as the reticle beeps its lockon confirmation hurriedly.

Well, time to shoot. Yuu's finger thumbs over the button, pressing the launch trigger; a single missile streaks forth and spirals, smoke trailing behind it as it makes its flight towards 'Mister Bushido's' machine.

 Ringo Mason transmits, "STOP SAYING MY NAME! I AM IN FUCKING MEXICO JACAKSS"

 Mirage voice still distorted but female. "I should punch you for that Senor. Novak? Milk man uniforms seriously? Even Wiremu has more fashion sense.

 Sly Heckler transmits, "Ay yi yi, ze conflict, she is heating up, no?"

 Kazuma Ardygun transmits, "Yeah, looks like they're tryin' to set the kitchen on fire."

 R transmits, "How is the weather in Mexico? Outside of being /Hot/."

Gabriel stalks forwards, in plain view of the A-LAWS forces, using the tops of the ruined buildings as stepping stones. Then an odd sound emits from the AC. A scornful, barking laugh that only R would dare let others hear.

<<"Are you deaf? Or just dumb?">> Gabriel sneers at Dewey, advancing towards the A-LAW forces and away from the Nest. <<"Let me spell it out for you so even you idiots can understand. This is not only the Raven's Nest, but also the hornet's nest. And you just went and poked it one too many times.">>

Gabriel snaps its arms to the side, the MOONLIGHT activating on its left arm while a bullet chambers in the breach of its rifle in its right hand with a loud *KERCHAK*.

"<>

He lands harshly on one building in particular, punctuating his next words clearly while aiming the glowing blade of the MOONLIGHT at the A-LAW forces before him: <<"/LEAVE/... /NOW/!">>

<Radio: C - Global> Dewey Novak transmits, "All Trailers on site, the Type r505 reconnisance model represents a spy and a criminal who has stolen A-LAWS property. Do not interfere or you will be forced to be identified as potential accomplices."

<Radio: C - Global> James Heller transmits, "NEVER GOING TO PUT YOU UP! NEVER GOING to let you down o/~"

Inside his cockpit, Old King laughs to himself, "So many rules, so many innocent lives. So many guilty ones too." He takes the LISA on an invasive flyby around the Mazinger's head. It's exactly that a fly by, but something about the way the event transpires would indicate to anyone paying attention that the LISA has scented the thing so that dogs and hobos will know it is his.

Following that his NEXTs course alters immediately making a direct beeline to the nearest A-LAWS ship, he saves ammunition entirely out of patience, and flies entirely too close to it, before flitting back towards the NEST itself, baiting the thing to where it's been so politely asked not to go.

Oh boy. Someone just had to go and start something. Sly was really hoping that this wouldn't end violently, if only so the chances of him being arrested here would go down, but no such luck. Whelp, there's nothing he can do but roll with this now, then. Violence looks inevitable, but he's still not going to be the one to pull the trigger.

He is, however, going to maneuver his 9Ball Seraph into a firing position and prime the weapons, though. I mean hell, everybody else is, and at this point not doing that would just make him the first one against the wall when the shooting starts.

It's also pointed out that the A-LAW ship is probably monitoring all communication, which seems about right to Sly. He has a voice modulator to avoid being identified by making him sound like a robot, but he's still a bit worried that won't be enough. He needs something a little extra. Something to really throw them off the trail. What could he do...

<<"Ay meester mahn, you are not ze one who is welcomes in our parts anymore. Please now to be doing ze ting where you are turning and moving in the away!">>

Yeah, that'll fox those A-LAWs.

The Star Hawk straightens up and looks at the armored core -- Staren isn't used to mecha putting their hand on his shoulder. Ah, of course -- an AI _would_ control their machine as their own body. Staren watches as a terminus launches... and is chased, while R tries to protect it. That must be Nell! And some Gundam just launched... And it's getting past R! The Star Hawk crouches and fires thrusters, kicking up a huge plume of dust as it flies straight for the Gundam, intent on ramming it off course, as well as impaling it on its hollow retractable forearm spike and pumping plasma into it! "Oh no you don't!"

With a growl in the back of her throat, Hellcat shifts the gun of her Nine Ball forward in one hand, watching as the A-LAWs and their supporters line up against the Trailers. There is something about the voice of Novak that just sets her fur on edge, and it's enough to bring that rifle aiming up towards the Ginga, the targeting systems on the Armored Core locking in even if the safety protocols are still engaged. These were the people who had driven R, her friend, out of his home. They had taken Nell - one of them - someone she considered a friend. They had interrupted and interfered in her life and her livelihood.

Every 'scardy cat' has a point where they can no longer be pushed. With her ears flattened against her skull, Hellcat gives a warbled, distorted voice message to Fafnir and the Reaper. "Remember that trouble I was talking about. I think we're about to be in it." She takes a breath, and then lets it out slowly, her face hidden behind the mask of her red-toned helmet.

The moment that Ringo's unit comes flying out of the Ginga. Her ear twitches, catching the report regarding Ringo. Ringo - who still owed her a dinner and who she knew from R might have some information regarding Nell. She flips her radio to a secure frequency, and asks one simple question, "Orders?" A few hushed words are spoken between someone on the other end of the line before the pilot's head bobs once. "I've got my orders. I'm going after the Ginga, going to draw some attention away from the Terminus." She reports to the man piloting Reaper - apparently her partner in crime for the evening.

Launching forward, the Nine Ball takes up a position atop one of the nearby buildings. Raising the oversized missile launchers, the Armored core sends out a series of projectiles streaming across the open sky from the edge of the Trailer lines. They arc forward, moving in a path aimed at the A-LAW battleship.

Mirage watches as things start going bad, first there's Ringo. She then feels something an abomation, like Judecca a lesser but the same sort of thing. The sort of thing that has no place in this world but it seems Ringo's got it handled at least for the moment. She still grimaces however. That thing doesn't feel right, it really doesn't feel right. She gets the order to move in the 9ball Seraph takes flight at this point using it's thrusters and it fires several shoulder missiles. She's heading for hte Ginga and trying to get past the guards, pretty clearly at this point.

When the Great Mazinger finally comes down upon the area, a small smirk appears on Xiang's face. Hey, when you grow up on the Spiral Plains, Super Robots kind of get to be... you know... something you are amazed by. So he sits there, for a moment as the giant lands, staring at it with googly eyes. This is over soon however, as he catches what is being said and returns to his serious demeanor once again. "Right." He mutters to himself. He doesn't want any innocent people getting hurt, so he does as is needed, his hands push those controls forwards again and feels as the heavy push of the boosters activate and G forces begin pushing against his body, and the landscape flies by.

A voice then comes crackling in, and Xiang's gaze is set up - his machine's torso moving back slightly as the head slides backwards so it may look at the machine fleeing from the Ginga. "Mason..." He mutters. Couldn't that man be more careful with his life? He's bound to the SuiKyosha now, or rather, the KinKyosha. Still. But R supposedly has the man covered, so his attention returns to that voice. "Yeah. But that's alright."

Further in the distance, the SuiKyosha lies in wait, amidst a mighty storm that brews quite a few miles away from the Raven's Nest, hidden from any radar by the enormous electric waves it is hiding within, and the water that comes raining down. Some might say these clouds are... unnatural. But that's besides the point. It is not close enough to be associated, but has its magic at the ready in case things go badly.

Xiang's machine continues forth until his marker claims that he is indeed far enough away from the Raven's Nest, and quickly uses his machine's left arm to grab onto a building and swings himself around and up as the boosters initiate again and rush him straight to the top of the building, from where he rapidly fires a single lasershot from the right hand's rifle, before he kicks off against the side of the outlying abandoned building and quickly tries to let his machine fall back down.

Meanwhile, on the twelfth floor of the Acme Building .... er, hang on a moment.

Meanwhile, the circling Valhawk does a lazy wingover and starts shedding altitude again, heading in the general direction of the flagship, the stolen R505, and the skyward-borne hairball which is about to erupt. Great Mazinger's presence is noted with a slight grin - Kazuma knows that the Mazinger pilots are generally on the right side of things, and Tetsuya's warning is evidence that he's here for the right general reasons.

And the fight is indeed starting. Kazuma is more than a little inclined to deliberately put himself between the Ginga and the Nest just to see how willing the A-LAWS are to risk Great Mazinger's wrath, but he doesn't feel like playing target unless he's already shooting back. So with a little shrug and another barrel roll, he drops more altitude,, picking up speed in exchange, and sets his course to flash past between the Ginga and Great Mazinger.

Let's see how trigger-happy the A-LAWS gunners are when the Valhawk has *not* opened fire.

The Aqua green visor flashed brightly, <<"...">> Whatever he was saying he wasn't saying out loud. Though soon that NEXT leaps from the ground and into the air. <<"...">> The NEXT moves like a wicked jet-fighter. Going from zero to nearly top speed in less than a snap of a finger. Which by a normal human, would be impossible--

-- But a normal human wasn't in there.

As soon has he hits the skies and starts to move in, the Kojima Field kicks on, as the Primal Armor flushes around the NEXT to protect the machine from any damage. It was on a bee-line path to protect the escaping LFO. However the NEXT was to short and not just fast enough, as the Gundam that goes after the LFO was a bit closer in.

The NEXT however doesn't change though, it keeps speeding in the air to attempt to get in the way properly next time, while aiming the assault rifle on Dewey's ship. <<"...">> R wanted to say something, but what was there to say? The A-Laws stated there bit, the Trailers were now attacking to Protect Ringo. To Protect Nell.

Trailers looked out for Trailers. That is what he kept being told.

Then at last. <<"Our Airspace. Our Rules. Our Home. We told you to leave. We played nice. Your abused your rights. We are acting now. Have a /wonderful/ day.">> The Assault rifle opens fire.

Ringo is like a fish in water, flying out of the Ginga with a line of RAINBOW.

"...This thing shoots Rainbows? WHAT THE FUCK?!" Ringo screams, trying to avoid being shot down in a fire by...

Ringo for some reason looks up at the Blue Destiny...that thing is...

The hell is that thing?! Ringo doesn't feel right, infact, he feels quite disturbed by it. However, it doesn't stop him, the surfboard creates a trail of rainbows, which swallow up the attack. Ringo frowns, now suddenly feeling bad for making fun of the rainbows just a second ago. Ok, not really.

Ringo turns, firing the laster gun towards Yuu. BANG BANG.

"Ok, Surfboard is pretty good, but why does it have to shit rainbows?"

The Star Hawk straightens up and looks at the armored core -- Staren isn't used to mecha putting their hand on his shoulder. Ah, of course -- an AI _would_ control their machine as their own body. Staren watches as a terminus launches... and is chased by a Gundam, that is in turn chased by R (and with what impressive handling! Damn, he can see how being a pilot with no squishy parts would be handy...) Could that Terminus be carrying Nell? It must, if they're attacking now and R isn't saying to stop... Very well!

"I warned you! I guess I'll just have to show you my power!" He keeps up the speech to... try and distract A-LAWS more, as the Star Hawk takes to the skies, trying to fly around and get into the hangar before it closes so he can cause some _real_ destruction inside. If not, he'll just have to settle for beginning to destroy it from the outside with his beam spikes! Hollow, retractable forearm spikes that try to pierce through armor and inject plasma into unprotected internals! "How's this?!"

Great Mazinger's stance does not shift as the LISA buzzes right overhead, though Tetsuya does take note of it. The pilot of that other machine appears to have an... Interesting grip on the battlefield. It's taking advantage of the non-com area to give Tetsuya an excuse to engage. Smart.

Great Mazinger booms, its voice like thunder, or the rumbling of a distant explosion, "I repeat. Any vessel that violates the non-com zone and opens fire on the Nest will be subject to immediate reprisal." His eyes scan the battlefield as he continues to repeat that message, using different words every time, but always with the same meaning. There are many present here today. Most are trailers. A handful belong to the Federation- and, are those Katharon units? Hm.

Interesting. Tetsuya never thought he'd see the day.

The LISA buzzes about the upper edge of the requested perimeter of noncombat over the NEST. FLitting about as an annoying green and purple gnat for a short while, before Old King finally gives up on this nonsense and darts towards the nearest starship.

Tilting to direct his NEXT perpendicular to it's length, the shoulder mounted chaingun begins to fire immediately as he slowly drags his machine across it's broadside.

Ra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta Ra-ta-ta-ta-ta

He has no mirthful comments to share.

Naoto isn't exactly in his element, what with the enemy being someone from an allied faction and all. In times like this, all he can really do is look to the nearest person he knows and follow their lead. And, well, Tetsuya's standing firm and acting as an iron wall against whatever attacks may come his way, so that's what the Chairman decides to do as well. He doesn't make announcements about retaliatory this or that, though. "I really hope we can resolve this quickly." he transmits to Tetsuya, then grabs his canteen and takes a swig of some ice cold tea. Of course, he already knows it won't end quickly. It never does. Things are just going to get uglier from here on out.

Laser gun!

Yuu is paying ample attention to Ringo's gun as it levels towards him; the telltale muzzle flash is all he needs to know when to dodge, and the Blue Destiny lurches out of the way at the last second, letting the blast streak past him and peter off into a trail of nothingness. That wasn't so bad...and, well, that was *obviously* not Mister Bushido.

Everybody knows Mister Bushido doesn't know how to shot gun.

Also, he probably didn't know how to surf rainbow surfboards. Which gave Yuu a pretty good idea - that surfboard was one big glowing target for him to shoot, and if he could take that out, he'd probably cripple (or at least impair) the thing's ability to move so quickly.

"Maureen," Yuu radios his support; a red-headed girl appears on his screen as he flicks a switch. "I need the specs for a Type R505 Terminus LFO, as soon as you can. In the meantime, Blue and I have some sharpshooting to do."

The Gundam's missile bays close as Yuu swings up the machine's heavy rifle onto its arm; the head of the gundam tilts to the side as the EXAM Machine aims down the barrel, like some sort of twisted blue sniper, at Ringo's LFO's wakeboard. One shot should just about do it...that thing didn't look very sturdy, after all!

The shot cracks the air like lightning as mega particles are charged and released in a single instant, streaking towards the Terminus with intent to dis-board as soon as possible.

The Ginga's orange surface erupts in missiles, that launch out as the attacks rain in...

The attacks from Fafnir and Hellcat are intercepted by the roiling, fast moving bits that surround the battlecruiser... Mirage's own attacks are met similarly, blocked by the bits, although the missile barrage fails to strike home due to the angle of attack...

The core pilots below seem to be more fortunate, as Old King's attack strikes against the Ginga's lower armor, blowing off plates of reflection film...

R's own attack missiles, deflected by the bits even as missiles surge out to attempt to dissuade the core from getting closer...

Wiremu's attack strikes against the Ginga proper, but due to the geometrics of its design, is deflected off after causing only superficial damage...

Dewey sits back in his chair, watching the tactical display, "Unfortunate..."

The Ginga...does not turn, does not manuever, it remains in place, a giant neon orange eyesore...until it opens up...

Laser slats fire, launching out a barrage at 'Hellcat,' 'Fafnir' and 'Mirage.'

Staren earns a barrage of lasers, that twist and roil through the air like dancing serpents...

Old King for the moment is left unengaged however, as the ventral missile ports open, enfilading the Strayed with a small apocalypse of missiles.

Ringo, RIDES THE LIGHTNING!

Or something like that, he continues to get the FUCK out of dodge, because he was in a shitty ass unit, and had important things to get back to the Ravens with. Ringo, pulling the board up, just narrowly manages to only ride the shot, before flipping back and turning towards the Blue Destiny once more. Whatever this thing was, it wasn't going to be taken down so easily...

Quad Rocket Launches open up, releasing a barrage of fire towards the Blue Destiny, trying to put it off of his trail.

<Radio: C - None> Dewey Novak transmits, "Trailer units, cease your attack."

<Radio: C - None> R transmits, "Negative. You are attacking in /our/ airspace. Unless you think you own the air as well? Should we get a form so we can breath?"

Blocking a quad rocket launcher with a shield is not one of the wiser things that Yuu Kajima has done; the rockets erupt across the sheet of metal, blowing chunks apart and sending metal falling to the ground far below. Cracks spread through the remnants of the shield as Yuu frowns; that shield wasn't going to take another hit. Better to just toss it away and be done with it now.

The shield falls, and Yuu flicks his eye at the screen off to the side. "Maureen...anything?"

"Still looking, Yuu...it'll take me some time to download the specs and send them to your machine! Buy yourself some more time!"

Yuu just sighs and laughs. Buy himself some more time, huh? Well, there was only one way to really buy himself time - be decisive, and tie up his enemy as fast as possible.

The Blue Destiny's thrusters suddenly rage to life; blue flames erupt from its back, sending it spiralling towards the Terminus machine as it lunges forward. The servos of the gundam curl into a fist as it approaches, darting left, then right, then up, then down, then an insane zig-zag pattern that looks more like Yuu's fallen asleep at the controls than a real approach to combat. When it finally comes back up towards the Terminus...

Uppercut.

Damn, he couldn't reach the hangar, and he can't seem to break through with the beam spikes. Well, he'll just have to--

LASERS!!!

The Star Hawk's armor is cris-crossed with lines of slag as lasers sweep over and melt it. Damn, the Ginga is powerful! Staren supposes it should be, as the ship under the command of Dewey Novak... this could be troublesome. The Star Hawk launches a pair of mecha-scale grenades, which sail up over the Ginga and explode above it...

...showering the A-LAWS flagship in acid! That should make it easier to damage!

Oh Missiles. You silly, silly missiles. Let us laugh at you.

The missiles blast out for the Strayed and the NEXT quickly drops down hard in the air, before thrusters kick back and rockets right toward the Ginga. He was going to protect Ringo, but last he glanced over his shoulder-- the guy was doing pretty good on his own.

He'd rush over if Ringo suddenly flailed for help, but for now. It was time to teach this A-Law ship a lesson. Though some words do ring in the AI's audios...

..R, stay low and stay down..

Sorry Boyle.. Sorry Klein... There was larger things on the line now and it requested to be dealt with. The cards needed to be played. Either he goes all in and takes the change, or he folds.

Folding-- is never an option.

As the Strayed moved in on the Ginga, that sickly aqua green kojima energy blade sheaths out. However the the Missile come in fast once more, the NEXT impacts the Kojima Blade with the missiles. The Explosion knocks the Strayed away, however, the main damage was mostly taken by the Primal Armor which only winks slightly before it seems to vanish once more from sight.

The White NEXT was on attack vector again, this time attempting to land right on the Ginga and run that Kojima blade through its top haul and take out a few missile launchers if it could.

Sometimes, being one of the first ones to initiate combat is not a great idea. Hellcat barely gets enough time to track the range of her missiles before a series of additional ones start to blip on her radar, fired back at her from the Ginga. "Shit." She curses under her breath, pulling hard on the controls, but to no avail. The first slams into the Nine Ball's shoulder, while a second strikes the Armored Core hard in the chest, sending it flying backwards off of the building, landing her just over the edge of the no-combat zone.

And that is where she ends up when the lasers home in on her, blasting the Nine Ball back against a building and down onto it's knees. Perhaps the pilot isn't exactly experienced enough in using such a machine, because it seems unable to avoid the battleship's attacks. Within the cockpit of the damaged Nine Ball, there are already sparks. Hellcat raises her head, tasting blood in her mouth. Not going well, not at all. So much for trying to play the role of the soldier.

She pushes up the visor just far enough to allow her to wipe her mouth with one gloved hand, and then squints her eyes at the controls. Pushing the Nine Ball to it's feet, Hellcat engages the thrusters, launching the unit back out of Trailer space, trying her best not to end up causing more damage around the Raven's Nest then she can help. It's not her fault if Novak's blasts keep throwing her backwards. Maybe a better vantage point would help? Instead of making herself quite so visible atop a building, Hellcat positions her Nine Ball /behind/ some cover, in the form of a huge sign advertising some sort of soft-drink. It's kind of like a cat hiding behind a the napkin holder and trying to be stealthy while failing miserably.

Still, there is enough fight in her to launch another volley of missiles. This long-ranged combat just isn't her cup of tea, or catnip mouse, or whatever. She might just have to get up close and personal, but not yet.

Kazuma is torn between disappointment and relief that the Ginga didn't take the bait he was offering. But the fight is serious now - Trailers are under fire by the A-LAWS, and shooting back as best they can.

Time for the Valhawk to issue its own statement on the matter.

Kazuma pulls the Valhawk into a steep climb, banking slightly, then does a wingover to come about and execute a strafing run on the Ginga's upper decks, aiming for whatever turrets and emplacements he can find and shoot on this initial pass; Laser Vulcan bolts rain down, jinking left and right as Kazuma constantly tweaks his aim to go for the next target among the battleship's offensive batteries ...

And then he comes out of his strafing run, the Valhawk's tail dipping low enough for its exhaust to potentially scorch a nice swath of the Ginga's hull before he hits the afterburners and goes for distance, banking away hard to try and avoid counterfire.

Gabriel's 'chin' lowers slightly, the red eye glowing almost pink. He has already gotten just outside of the established one-mile-radius... so... <<"I see. If that is how it is.">>

The thrusters on the Core's back flare to life and the flames focus sharply as the AC crouches.

<<"Fly.">>

Five floors worth of the ruined building absolutely shatters as Gabriel leaps straight up, boosters roaring to life and rocketing the AC skywards at best speed. As it reaches the peak of its ascent, dodging stray lasers and careening missiles all the while, the missile launcher on its shoulder opens. Gabriel says nothing more and lets loose a volley of missiles at the A-LAW forces in return.

Welcome to Sly Heckler's Guide to Always Being Right!

Step one: Always assume the worst.

Congratulations, now you're always correct!

It actually does surprise Sly a bit just how quickly everything turns to explosions. Not that Sly expected it to go differently, but the rate at which it broke down was surprising enough. Oh well. Guns are firing, and Sly isn't going to run away and let others handle it, so it's time to get in there.

Once Sly is committed to the battle, everything else becomes surprisingly simple. He keeps his AC in flight mode but modes to rapidly strafe around, using what cover he can. His main defensive advantage right now is that there are a lot of targets on this battleship. Sly opts to move into the same firing arc as the others, reasoning that he'll keep out of the range of less occupied guns.

As he tears though the sky, he also arms what looks like a good set of guns, and opens fire with them. The combat computer labels them as ' WG-XP2900I' and he has no idea what that means, but he's satisfied enough when he arms and fires them, to be greeted by a barrage of pulse fire down at the battleship. No idea how effective that'll be, but at least he's fighting lasers with lasers, so it feels balanced at least.

Ringo...

NEWTYPE FLASHES

Forcing him to narrowly avoid the uppercut aimed for his robot, by placing the board up, and litterally uses the board to somehow FLIP over the Blue destiny.

Whatever the case, Ringo was REALLY set on GETTING THE FUCK out of here. He blasts it once more, creating a really really LARGE wave of rainbows from the back of the board...

Infact, TWO rainbows...

Some sort of DOUBLE RAINBOW.

The young man within the Reaper watches as the missiles come crashing down on the building in front of him and shatters rocks, sending them tumbling down onto the armor of the Armored Core. Xiang, going by the callsign of Fafnir, bites his lower lip as this goes on and then pulls his machine out of the way of the continueing avalanche of concrete and gets his machine out from behind the building and starts what would likely equate to a strafing run as he tries to deliver a wider volley of fire, to try and make it harder for those darned bits to catch his beam assault.

The machine then races straight forwards, towards the no-attack zone, where he'd seen Hellcat last, and his machine finally skids to a halt behind that very same sign, at which point he has his machine's left hand raise - greeting her. He wants her to know that he is going to properly support her from here-on out.

The LISA seems entirely stodgy and unwilling to veer from its course as it carves a straight line with chaingun fire, and as such, near the end of Old King's artistry his NEXT is struck with a missile. There's a shimmer of fluidic green energy which then collapses and allows a small explosion to collide between the LISAs shoulderplates.

As the NEXT is thrown beneath the ship, he is quick to activate the overboost and reverse to strafe the opposite flank. But this time, he similarly seems to refuse to engage. He makes his way all along the ship then turns to face it's bridge, or what he assumes is it's bridge, it doesn't matter. A single missile launches from its shoulder as he backs towards the NEST, forever baiting.

Mirage is trying to shove the alien horror that's near by out of her mind as she attempts to avoid the Ginga's fire as well. She jets up, down a,d makes uise of her vulcans to intercept the incomming fire but this prevents her from making any direct attack for the moment, he does pull out the beam rifle however and arm it, it powers up and she starts taking fire back at the source of those laser burst, just going for the emitters. On some level there's sympathy for the crew being stuck with Dewey.

She statrs shooting, pausing in her shots at she times them trying to get in the best well change to score a hit on those damn laser emitters.

Double rainbows?! How do you even attack with- well, no matter. Yuu dances out of the way, the nimble Gundam Mk. IV much faster than it has any right to be (seriously, it looks fat, but it's nimble as a ballerina...or is that because it's a customized model? Or worse, is that because of the pilot behind its controls?); it spirals to the side, leaving a wake of blue fire behind it. He's not letting that thing get away - Blue Destiny is /not/ a slow machine, and the thrusters pouring open to chase after his foe make that abundantly clear. This isn't going to be a situation that can just be escaped from.

Yuu didn't really want to have to pull out the beam saber; the blade springs to life, crackling and hissing with plasma, as Blue Destiny's thrusters go into overtime. "Any minute now, Maureen," Yuu urges, "No pressure, but I could really-"

"HERE!" Maureen finally declares; a set of blueprints spring to life across his screen, and Yuu's lips twist upwards in a wry grin.

"Thanks, Maureen...that's all I needed. Then, it's time...to go right for the legs, and cut off his escape!"

Blue Destiny's blade suddenly swings around, a single, swift, and decisive strike right for his enemy's lower half. To cut off that machine's hips would render it unable to escape, which meant that Yuu could safely retrieve 'Mister Bushido' and complete his mission as soon as possible.

Which was good, because Blue was starting to do that thing it did around Newtypes, where it wanted to murder them to pieces. And that wasn't a good thing at all.

The barrage comes in from all directions, explosions rippling across the surface of the Ginga...

Dewey within watches as the lights shudder and shake beneath the punishing barrage...

The Kojima blade of the Strayed tears through the side armor, and Mirage's blasts succeed only in being dissipated as they fire directly down into the emitter fire...

It is then that the Ginga releases a veritable cloud of missiles, at all targets, leaving gleaming beautiful contrails that glow in the laser light of the battle...

It seems as if anything associated with trapar always has a strange beauty to it, even at the worst of times...

The Ginga shifts slightly, manuevering itself to get a better aim on the Strayed... and Old King... The Ginga releases a punishing enfillade at the two targets, missiles, beam attacks and the like, and likely all but erradicates any of the empty area below...

Staren's acid bombs strike against the Ginga, but due to the geometrics and its motion, roll off prior to detonation, although they leave black gouges in the orange paint...

For his trouble, he's earned the attentions of the dorsal missile battery...

Kazuma, Wildcat and Sly...earn the gift of EVEN MORE MISSILES, fired in tracked patterns...

And as if picking on the weak, a focused blast of the serpentine lasers crawls after Hellcat on the ground...

Dewey within shakes his head, pausing for a moment to take a glass of wine from the outstretched hand of an Ageha child, "...the cornered mouse fights valiantly, but it is futile all the same..."

<Radio: C - None> Dewey Novak transmits, "Trailers, this battle is unnecessary. Stand down and allow recapture of the r505. We do not wish to continue this."

<Radio: C - None> Tetsuya Tsurugi transmits, "Attention A-LAWS units. You have violated the non-combat zone."

<Radio: C - None> Tetsuya Tsurugi transmits, "Great Mazinger is moving to neutralize. Stand down and you will not be harmed."

YUU WAS AFIRIN' HIS LASOR.

The black of the board Explodes, as he starts steaming down trailing smoke and broken lasers...and dreams.

Growling, Ringo turned around, pointing his Missile pods up.

"EAT A DICK!" he shouts, firing every single goddamn missile he had.

A devestating enfillade. Reminds Old King about the fantastically delicious Enchiladas he had for lunch. The LISAs arms go wide, giving it the appearance of a horrible mugger fly, before it turns perpendicular and slides between several beam blasts like a sheet of paper.

A blast of overboost and a return to form sees it dart past several missiles just as they explode, across the side of the GINGA itself. Close enough to look like ahit anywway.


 * Chk Klk* goes the enormous shotgun as the action slides around the barrel. He has to do a little dodge foreward, diving recklessly past some grenades, more beams and some kamikaze crewmen who set themselves on fire. Old King salutes these men with his shotgun, then points it at the Ginga and unloads another round.

Suddenly, Great Mazinger is no longer so grounded.

The skies above the battlefield, already overcast, transform into a vicious, boiling maelstrom. Electricity streaks across the heavens and slams down into the earth as the Guardian of the Skies rises from its position. But, why? The super-robot's eyes glow with impossible fury, photonic power leaking like twin beams of glorious sunlight. Lightning arcs into its shoulders, onto its armor.

Over the din of the battlefield, across the thunder raging in the heavens, Tetsuya's voice booms:

"Attention A-LAWS fleet. You have violated the non-com zone. As a member of the EFA, I am obligated to uphold the laws of appropriate battlefield conduct. Great Mazinger is firing a warning shot. If you stand down now, you will be allowed to retreat unharmed." Its arm rises to meet a bolt of lightning streaking down from the sky. Electricity slams into the horns on either side of Great Mazinger's crown and pours out, onto the tip of its finger.

The super robot levels its arm with the A-LAWS fleet, and unleashes the fury of the heavens.

The first set of missiles that returned in, sent the NEXT off the ship. The NEXT tsked softly, <<"....">> However as it started to recover he saw those ports open up on the side and there was time, wasn't there?

No.. No there wasn't.

The NEXT attempted to open fire, but it was engulfed by the Missile fire. The Primal Armor is eaten away by the explosions. The Kojima particles can be seen flicking off like wisps from the flame as it attempts to recover, but soon the Strayed went sailing back with smoke and looking far worse than it ever has.

The NEXT slams hard down into the ground, before sliding back a few feet further, almost right into the non-combat zone. Slowly though the NEXT rises. The Visor flickering gently, before it nearly falls back down. <<"Pr--pro--protect... th-them..">> It stutters out. The voice almost robotic sounding.

<<"Mu--must.. fi-fight..on..">> It stuttered out again, before the thrusters started to activate and the damn thing was on the move again.

As the strayed moved back into attack vector, it rises higher into the air. Suddenly Dewey's instrumentation on his ship would start to go crazy. Like someone was hacking into the ship itself and trying to over-ride things.

Soon all the attackers on Dewey's ship get in a sudden giant amount of information across their screens. Detail is actually really good! Showing several weak points.

Then the Strayed lowers its assault rifle once more, and like a sniper-- goes for that weak point.

Missiles come in and strike Sly's Seraph, blowing off a good deal of armor and nearly knocking his AC out of the air. Sly manages to stabilize (Actually the onboard systems manage to stabilize) and Sly pulls the mech back into the air, glaring at the Ginga. Alright, fine. He's now someone who can dodge bullets in mid-air. He's a MechWarrior. They stride right into enemy fire filling their target with so much withering fire that the enemy will melt away before they do.

So that's what Sly opts to do.

Instead of evading, Sly charges /right/ down the Ginga's throat, twisting only enough to avoid obvious counter-attacks. As he does, he opens up with his heaviest weapons: All his missile banks. He links them all to one firing solution so all atacks hit along the same vector, and he fires every single missile he has.

Naoto can't take it anymore. Standing here and watching these people get torn to shreds by those missiles and lasers, it's just not what he does. Vavel steps forward, preparing its weapons for combat. Tetsuya's assurance that the Ginga has violated the non-combat zone or whatever just removes any last traces of Naoto's hesitation.

"Vavel, Volcanic Mode." the Chairman says as he presses a button on the controller. The Meganite's shoulder spikes rotate upward, the panels on its torso that conceal its missile launchers flip back, and the stabilizer fins on its forearms deploy despite not being fired. And with all of this, there is a slightly less obvious effect. The air around Vavel begins to shimmer from the heat of its alchemic drive working overtime to increase its power.

The Meganite stops and raises its arms, aiming both of its fists at the gigantic ship in the sky. The rockets fire up, but Naoto doesn't release them just yet.

"Dewey, you've violated the non-com something something et cetera. What Tetsuya just said. Two words for you, man." he says, then lets the fists fly. Literally.

"DUAL KNUCKLES!"

the LFO continues to spin out of control, finally crashing somewhere near the Raven base.

Ringo groans. "Ow."

Kazuma was expecting return fire from the Ginga after that little stunt - and they don't disappoint him, much as he would have preferred the disappointment. The initial salvo of missiles catches the Valhawk while Kazuma's turning around for another pass; it's not as bad a hit as it could have been, slamming into the Valhawk amidships and kicking it sideways in the air hard enough to make the young pair of pilots grunt and grimace with the impact.

But when the other missile launchers start dispensing product at the Valhawk, Kazuma's recovered and finished the turn - and now he flies into the teeth of the storm, weaving between the inbound missiles and shooting a few of them down with the Beam Shot Launcher, blazing a wider trail that the Valhawk can easily fly through. He even manages to score a few hits back on the battleship -

And then veers off HARD as Great Mazinger introduces itself to the Ginga with a blast of lightning. "Yeow!! Remind me to make sure we send a good card to the Photonic Power Labs this year!"

"We do owe them, don't we?" Mihiro remarks, double-checking her status displays, then glancing at her scans of the Ginga thus far. "... hey, oniichan? If I'm not wrong, we could probably take out that targeting array with a focused burst."

"One targeting array? They've got loads of those," Kazuma points out. "Now if we could do that to one of their launch bays .."

"All buttoned up," Mihiro reports. "Kazuma grimaces, then rolls the Valhawk into a corkscrewing dive once Tetsuya's lightning blast has subsided, looping around to draw a bead on one of the Ginga's engines and opening up for a sustained barrage with the Laser Vulcan .... a barrage which ends with a single blast from the Beam Shot Launcher, aimed and timed by Mihiro, the two siblings working jointly for this attack.

A few sparks fly out of the Nine Ball's targeting system as Hellcat tries to line up her shot, which is probably part of the reason that her missiles keep going off-target. At the very least, she manages to avoid the lasers which rip apart the poor billboard in front of her, leaving it look as if the smiling child on the corner is holding onto the damaged mech as if it were a toy figurine. Exposed for that split second, Hellcat darts sideways, taking cover behind a nearby building. So much for the stealth approach.

Letting out a breath, the catgirl flexes her fingers over the controls, then presses downward with her feet, launching the Armored Core skyward so that it hovers in the air. As her gaze sweeps across, she catches sight of the Great Mazinger joining in the fray. So at least her taking lasers to the face had some positive effect, even if it meant causing more people to be endangered. There is no time to worry over that now.

The huge missile launchers move upwards, her eyes taking in the others as she moves into position along with them. She glances to the side, waiting for the right time, aimed to strike right along with the others - preparing a volley of missles and lasers that seems to be about the highest level of barrage that this Armored Core can handle.

Those incoming lasers coming down at Hellcat, Xiang can see them coming, and he knows almost... magically... that Sinya has this handled. He steers the Reaper hard to the right and cuts along the sign and goes into a wild move forwards along the ground, the boosters kicking on at full power. The young Emperor is firmly pushed back against his seat, and the young man has to bite down to make sure he doesn't accidentally bite his tongue or anything. His hands however remain relatively still, left hand quickly moving forwards and tapping a button, making his machine grab a second rifle from the side of the unit and aims them both up.

His mind has already created a map of the bottom he is moving along. He knows what speed he is going at. The information is also taken in, and his targetting system is already using it to create the needed markings for him to fire at. There's some timing to them, but that will be alright! The machine leaps up, boosters flaring for a moment as he jumps across a fallen series of cement slabs, before he twists his machine around and starts firing at the bottom of the Ginga! <"At least we have some backup, it seems."> 'Fafnir' calls to 'Hellcat'. After all, that thunder above isn't the SuiKyosha's.

The machine spins back again and a series of shots fly, each aimed straight for the targets given. And somehow, they are rather well-aligned! The machine twists again, letting loose another two bolts of energy from the rifles before he dives behind a building and reloads the Kawasawa rifles, before coming out again and forming back up near Hellcat to unleash more support-fire, and making sure to shoot down any missiles that come her or his way.

Gabriel is buffered by the return fire of many missiles, though manages to continue hovering for the time being... then the Ginga shows its complete and total unoriginality by firing even more missiles. A low chuckle emits from the Armored Core as the missiles rocket closer and closer.

<<"How boring.">>

Gabriel's back-thrusters power up even more into an Overboost and he charges forwards, slashing the cluster of missiles in front of him with his MOONLIGHT and charges through the resulting explosion without even a scratch.

There is a faint... cackle... in the wind, maybe? Must be the remnants of those missiles exploding or something.

The AC's thrusters continues to burn on Overboost as he charges towards the Ginga, rifle muzzle rising and aiming towards the A-LAWS ship. A quick shimmy to the left, then he opens fire--and doesnt stop firing.

Mirage has avoided the worst of the fire from the Ginga, she's got the orders in hand, namely she's just going to deal with the A-laws she's confient she can dodge a little fire from the Mazinger and other super here if it came down to it. it's not like she'd be trying to take them out. That would be stupid and leave places at risk. She does however charge up the full power of the rifle she's overloading it and she then fires raking it across the hull of the flying high speed battle ship, there's a reason it's known as break shot after all!

Beam spike useless, grenades, useless...

Fortunately, Staren has plenty more weapons to try.

Unfortunately, at this rate, he may not get a chance to use them!

The missiles fly towards the Star Hawk-- and try as Staren might to shoot them down and dodge them, he seems to always zig when he should zag, dodging into them one too many times, the force of one knocking him into the rest.

Staren's machine drops out of the smoke cloud and slams into the ground, and it is a testament to his engineering prowess that the machine is still (mostly) in one piece, even if most of its armor has been slagged or destroyed and internal bits of machinery and plastic myomer can be seen.

Inside the cockpit, red warnings fill screens and damage alarms blare. Staren silences them, he needs to focus.

"I am not yet defeated... WE are not defeated, and we will not fall here! You... will see just what you're messing with!" The badly damaged machine stands back up, raising its weapons. "We'll show you our power! The power of freedom and determination... and the power of technology harnessed to back them up!"

With that, Staren fires the railgun and missile launcher, and the giga-launcher's bazooka... Is that all he's got??

And then a cover panel falls off the back of the machine and something begins spewing blue sparkles behind the Star Hawk. The recognizeable shape of a GN-Drive. Staren smirks as he watches meters fill in his HUD, and the shoulder armor of the Star Hawk opens, unfolding into I-field projectors which begin to glow as they gather energy. A trio of funnels drop off the machine, spreading out -- and then all at once, the funnels begin firing beam after beam, while the shoulder emitters fire two wide, constant streams of high-energy mega particle beams at the Ginga, not stopping as seconds tick by, cooling systems working overdrive and spraying superheated vapor out behind the Star Hawk, he's not stopping until his GN drive and E-caps are completely drained.

"THIS IS THE POWER WITH WHICH WE WRITE OUR OWN DESTINY! Ahaha, ahahaha, HAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA!"

"The..." Dewey sighs and shakes his head, "Yes, I see it..."

Tetsuya and Naoto's attacks rain in, undisputed...

The other attacks rain in, striking against the Ginga's surface and causing explosions to roil across the exterior frame, although as the smoke fades, the Ginga still stands resolute...

Staren's blast hits the Ginga dead on, forcing the ship to float backwards from the force of the blasts, energy coursing off of it, shield bits overloading and exploding as they sacrifice themselves to preserve the hull...

The crew on the Ginga's bridge stare fearfully as the blasts and attacks rain down. Dewey takes a moment to calmly pour himself more wine, before gazing at the form of the Great Mazinger, "Initiate withdrawl to the pre-determined marker. Inform the fleet. Get me Raidese..."

He stands, taking his wine with him as he leaves the bridge.

The Ginga rises and begins to disengage, even as the fleet also falls back, apparently widening its surroundings by another few hundred meters...

<Radio: G - A-LAWS Secure> Dewey Novak transmits, "All A-LAWS units, break off engagement when safe to do so and fall back to overwatch position A2."

The Strayed was smoking. Sparks were flying out of it. It seems R's trump card worked. His hand worked, but it nearly cost such a great deal. The NEXT unit started to lower down as the A-Law's ship started to leave the area.

Once on the ground, the NEXT suddenly let out a large hiss as more smoke steamed out, then the visor went black and the Strayed went limp.

Within the AI itself, R himself, nearly pushed to hard. Pushed everything he had, but was it in vain? Would there be a larger price to pay? Would-- everyone pay for his sins? Yet, this was a victory. A victory of strange gathering and maybe, just maybe, it goes to prove if the world has a common goal. Miracles can happen.

There was silence from the Strayed as everything was slowly being rebooted and attempted to be brought back to some normality.

Kazuma peers at the Ginga for a moment as the battleship and associated A-LAWS fleet stop fighting and begin pulling away from combat ... and then he grins, banking away towards the nest and doing a victory roll for the hell of it, before starting to shed velocity and setting his course for the same hangar the Valhawk emerged from earlier.

Mission pretty much accomplished, from where he's sitting - and the Valhawk only got mildly roughed up in the process, although he's just as glad the fight ended this quickly.

Most of the way to the hangar, though, Kazuma abruptly changes course, heading for the Strayed, and converting to Close Combat Mode before sliding to a standing halt, ready to give R and his Core a hand or a shoulder to help get them back inside the Nest.

All together, the pilots here stand together and hit the Ginga with everything they have.

The Ginga still stands (flies, whatever), but it _felt_ that.

Staren's machine, pushed to the limit, finally stops spewing beams and sparkles. A moment later, he notices and his laughter stops. "They're leaving..." he just sort of stares... then shakes his head, holding a hand to it. Ugh, did he really do the laugh just then?? It felt so good, though...

He wonders if anyone here even listened to his words.

Probably not. But that doesn't matter today. What matters is, they all survived (although R seemed to have suffered some temporary damage to his speech systems. Bizarre, that. Staren wonders what could concievably cause that in a piece of software).

As the I-field emitters begin to melt from overheating, the Star Hawk heads in to the nest. Hopefully they'll let him stay long enough to get his machine into good enough shape for the trip home.

As Vavel's fists return to their place on its arms, Naoto prepares for another blow. But then the Ginga starts retreating, leaving him with nothing to do but stand there awkwardly with Vavel's arms raised over its head and its chest blaster half-charged, powering up for an attack that won't happen. So he lets it go, and starts walking back toward the nearest platform to the underground railway that will take him back home.

"Talk about anticlimactic." the Chairman mutters to himself. "But it's better this way. No one died, after all. Still kinda hoped I could get at least one more shot off, though..."

As the Ginga begins to withdraw, Hellcat lets her hands draw back from the controls. Slowly, the Nine Ball settles down to the ground again, making it's way over towards where Strayed lay motionless. If nothing else, after all of this, Hellcat - Sinya - is not going to let anyone get the drop on R while the system reboots itself. At the very least, if she had to, she could get the hangar crews to come out and haul the NEXT into the Garage. For now, though, she'd wait and serve as a body-guard.

"Looks like you were right." Her voice speaks to Fafnir over the radio, garbled to the point where it is only vaguely recognisable as female. Still, she can't help but be unsure that this is a real 'end' to the story. No, this is one of those victories that feels as if it is only just a beginning.

Great Mazinger's eyes glow ominously over the battlefield. It rises, slowly, into the storm still brewing overhead. Tetsuya Tsurugi may have just signed his death warrant, he may be branded a traitor or worse, but he has served justice this day. And so, he will face what will come as he always has, with the infinite resolve of a pilot of one of Earth's two great defenders.

The Strayed starts to come around, just as the Valhawk lands down in its robot mode near him. The NEXT doesn't have the primal armor up any longer, thankfully, and it does use the others mech shoulder. <<"...we won.. we actually.. won this day..">> He laughs softly. <<"Now.. to check on .. our guest and the hopeful package he has.">>

Old King grimaces in disappointment as the Ginga leaves, immediately, the small rifle in the LISAs right hand rises suddenly. He takes the machine down low, up and over the Raven's Nest disguised entrance. His finger rests on the hair trigger and he hesitates, deeply considering it. But finally he just counts this a win, and takes off.

Gabriel breaks away and falls back to the buildlings, the Overboost fully depleted and only the overheating boosters barely keeping the AC from demolishing something upon landing on a building. It doesn't stop there, jumping from rooftop to rooftop while letting the engines cool, even the pilot cackling the whole way.

Cackling? Yeah, he wasn't fooling anybody with the R routine, but it was still fun!

"...So... I can be sane...?" Wildcat wonders to himself quietly, almost as if talking to Gabriel (and he likely is). A familiar grin cracks his face, finally releasing the sane facade he had put up for the entire fight. "...So~ bor~ing..."

Mirage stops a Dewey pulls back there's no need to contiune the attack. She watches as it fleets. She halts her attack right away breaks off and is making for the nest, she's going to find her drop point, and get out of there unless she's meet up with someone.