2011-06-14 - A Test On The Far Side Of The Moon

There are a few blurs of light in the heavens, about ten kilometers from the lunar city of Granada.

The Wildwurger is at the lead. The blue and white machine flies a little off the Moon's surface, coughing dust up in the air behind it. A trail of blue light snakes, bobs, and weaves behind it, thanks to the Tesla Drive mounted on the back of it. The approach is brazen -- one that the lookouts are sure to notice, thanks to the Minovsky Particle density being enough to play with their radar systems.

A grin spreads across his face. This is the plan.

"Arado Balanga," he transmits to his allies. "Beginning tests. Mao's little toy's ready to go--let's see what this thing can do!"

Though Huang Qin Shi, commander of the Alpha Numbers, is too highly ranked an officer to come along on Arado's little test, there is nothing preventing QUINQUAGINTINOVEM DONGSDONGSDONGS from coming---

Actually no, it's just Huang. The fun part about being accountable to one person is nobody except that one person can't tell you you can't do something silly and dangerous, like fly on Arado's wing in your highly flammable, highly visible and terribly armoured liquid metal robot. And really, what Shine doesn't know won't hurt her.

Once Arado's transmission ends, the Rasavatam's armour begins to shimmer from its passive dark grey into a gleaming white as the external coating begins to melt away. "At the very least, we can hope it doesn't explode," he deadpans, his voice a little tinny in the flight helmet he hasn't had to wear in months. "I'd hate to have to fill out all that paperwork."

Ah, testing runs. God, if there was something Ascian was sick of, it was probably the following:

1) Testing runs. 2) The federation popping up constantly with new models 3) Convoy Missions, because NPCs are always too stupid to get around an asteroid.

So guess which one he is currently stuck with? That's right. #1 AND #3. Some guy from Zeon decided that they wanted to try out /their/ new version of the Gelgoog, and required a few members of the Divine Crusaders to ensure that this testing mission did not go awry. So, that's where Ascian, Alina and Remille come in. The two Orbital Frames floating right besides eachother, red and blue, their scanners aimed at the surroundings. Ascian's machine, the Amenthes, has its recording systems running. A nice little vid-window on the progress of the young Zeon pilot against a series of... stationary targets... is playing in a corner and boring the young man out of his mind!

"I'm sorry you had to get stuck out here with me watching /this/ guy." Ascian mutters to Alina - the Amenthes' hand on her machine so he can directly send the signal without any outsiders picking it up. "I just figured, if anyone was going to be with me, it had to be you. It gives you a good chance to pilot the Mayet and practice a little. I've sent you some of the old data I could scrounge up of us testing weaponry - in case it might jar some memories loose in that fried brain of yours, but I~..."

His words halt, as Duat, the on-board Artificial Intelligence, signals that the radar is showing a blind spot. "Hrrm? One moment." Ascian lays his hands a bit more firmly around the control orbs, and tries to get the sensors to adjust... but... there is something wrong. Minovsky Particles? "I think we may have incoming bogies." The young Lieutenant announces, and quickly sends an emergency signal to Remille and the other Zeon pilot. "We may have incoming units. Keep your eyes peeled. I'm going on ahead to see what's up." And with that, the wings of the Amenthes open up further, metatron crystals pursing from between the folds, as well as at the back of her legs, and then quickly jets forwards - to meet this interference along the way.

Another Tesla Drive spins wild inside the frame of the Personal Trooper on Arado's other wing. Colored the classic olive drab rather than the crimson red and white of her old A-LAWS edition, Arian-16 continues to guide the machine with a slightly irritated look on her face. It isn't due to the machine, not at all-- she's made some impressive moves and strides with the likes of the Huckebein--

-- she's just not that fond of the classic blue and yellow Earth Federation flight suit and the bulky helmet.

Deep in the confines of the RPT-010 Huckebein Mk. II-M, the teal-haired girl smirks a little bit as a thought crosses her mind. "One of these days," she starts, "I'm gonna have some neat super-toy of my own, and I'm going to get it trashed /just/ for you, Huang."

Remille was indeed here today, but she gets paid to assist the Crusaders, so no matter how boring or how hard; work was work. The female pilot easily sat back in her Armored Core known as Nightingale as she followed up on the rear. Two machine guns rested in the hands of the Armored Core. The machine was also equipped with a missile launcher on its backside.

She would have picked up the trouble in advance, however due to the fact she did not have her systems set up for sniping, she didn't get the early notice warning. This meant as Ascian spoke, Remille had to correct herself in her seat, pushing up her glasses. Her fingers gliding over the gentle yellow glow of the keyboard with ease, before she starts typing in command structures. "Understood sir. Give me vector coordinates to enemy sightings and I will move in to intercept."

The near black Armored Core's thrusters went to full power as she started to over take the test unit, "Test unit, I would suggest pull back and get to a safe location until area is cleared, unless--" Her voice paused, "--Mister Luddite wishes otherwise?"

Time has a way of changing things. A few weeks ago, Lin would have flown under a different banner, but fate has a way of stepping in. The influx of some of her memories may not have made the white-haired framerunner a different person, but it had certainly put her on a different end of the war - and a much more active one. If nothing else, being drafted into her brother's squad had meant that the girl had been almost immediately thrown into action. With Mayet now repaired, it seemed as if 'action' was hardly on the agenda.

"It's alright. It's part of the job I need to get used to." Alina replies with her usual good-natured humor, chuckling softly to herself. She'd spent the last few minutes moving a cursor across one of Mayet's screens, watching the design that the trail of metatron energy leaves behind. her head turns slightly as she offers her brother a half-smile, the girl's image appearing in it's own little view screen. "I'll check it out later. See if it jars anything loose." So far, she hadn't had many memories of piloting return just yet.

<"Mistress Lin"> Amit, the twin AI to the one used in Amenthes reacts a moment later than the red orbital frame, and thus quiets while the other gives a proper report. Lin quickly closes the screen she'd been doodling on, and places her hands on the controls, shifting Mayet as the Orbital frame's arms shift into the semblance of guns. "Be careful. I'll watch your back." The blue Orbital Frame's thrusters move it to a better position, keeping herself between the Zeon pilot and any incoming, but her eyes are locked more on Ascian, ready to switch from offensive to defensive the moment someone decides to step over the line.

Another creation of Mao's is here to flying on the other wing of Arado's test machine. The Gespenst MkIV was a success but it was never intended to see large scale mass production it's featured wouldn't allow it. The machine Arado had on the other hand would very well allow for that. Given the here he was running wing, the Gespenst was sleaker and sported what seemed to be some new design features but it might be mistaken at first for a Mk. II.

"Mao seems to have some big hopes for this machine, hopefully it will work out. Arado."

 Tightbeam to incoming Federation units: Ascian Luddite says, "Incoming units, please identify yourself. You are in Divine Crusader territory."

 Tightbeam to Ascian Luddite: Arado Balanga hesitates for a moment. "Thank you for calling Neo-Pizza Hut, how can I take your order?"

 Tightbeam to incoming Federation units: Ascian Luddite groans. "Turn around, or we will be forced to open fire on you."

 Ascian Luddite mutters something about Neo-Pizza Hut, and wondering if the incoming targets think he is an idiot...

 Alina Luddite transmits, "Um, why do I have a sudden craving for pizza..."

"You'll get your chance, Arian!" Arado transmits. He grins, then nods his head. "Yeah--here we go!"

The purple-haired boy ignores some of the chatter happening ahead, as the Wildwurger comes whipping forward. One hand reaches up, to the shoulder armor. The Sun glints off a bit of metal held inside of the armor, which is normally not there. The fingers of the Wurger clutch it. A cross-shaped metal bar comes out. The machine whirls back.

Arado grins, widely. "FAAAAAANG--"

The weapon spins back, in the Wildwurger's arm. Ascian's words crackle over his radio. Arado's eyes narrow -- and then, his machine finishes its turn. He throws the weapon, and the cross goes sweeping out in a long arc, twisting awkwardly through the air. It strikes at the Amenthes, before it comes sweeping back around towards the Wurger's waiting, outstretched hand.

"--SLAAAAASHER!"

"At the rate you're going, I have little doubt of that," Huang responds, breaking off the clever repartee as his tactical suite chimes with incoming non-EFA IFFs. He runs the cursory A-LAWS verification out of habit more than anything else - he's all but certain they've got nothing operating in the area, and after a two-second delay he's all the way certain. So. Time to see if it works indeed.

Huang slows the Rasavatam, breaking out of formation and letting the others handle the initial rush forward toward the trio of opposing units. It's not like they'll forget about him, but he'll be better off pitching in where it's needed than butting in on the other three.

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "We've got multiple enemies inbound. Marking the targets."

 Alina Luddite transmits, "Affirmative. I'll try to draw some attention away from you."

Ascian halts the Amenthes, lifting a rifle up at the oncoming units, whilst Amenthes quickly zoom in. However, when the indicators appear, speed and distance, Ascian realizes really quickly that something... is not making him happy. You see, the Wildwurger is moving just /too/ fast at his position. "Oh shit." He didn't have time to go and take a sniper shot at this guy! He had to clear some distance before...

FAAAAANG SLAAAAASHER!

There we go. The camera zooms in for a moment on Ascian's annoyed face, staring at the incoming metal weapon. "Why won't they ever just..." followed by a deep sigh and him lowering his head - letting the hair fall before his eyes for a moment, whilst a the same time using the Amenthes' energy reserves to form a large red shield before itself and has the Fang Slasher impact, and deflect off of the fiery-shield, before he disengages it and lets go of a quick bunch of red plasma rifle-volley bolts aimed whilst moving to a better vantage point.

Within moments, the Amenthes has moved to a position higher than the Wildwurger, and still aiming that single rifle-arm at the unit, unleashing that small-munition plasma barrage, he lets the left arm shift too. Within moments, a second rifle-arm is aimed straight down at the position before the Wildwurger, slightly off towards the right wing, following the motions of the unit. "Just a little further..." Duat helps him calibrate. "There!" And off fires a straight laserbeam, which crashes down onto the moon's surface, and then sweeps straight up at the enemy unit!

 Remille Fortner transmits, "Roger, mister Luddite. Moving in for attack vector."

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "Roger that, miss Fortner."

The fang slasher slams back into the Wurger's outstretched palm. Its fingers curl around the weapon and his machine lifts upward, rising higher over the lunar surface at a steep angle. The wave of energy fire from the first rifle comes blitzing around the Personal Trooper, leaving blackened streaks across its black armor. The head turns, locking down on the Amenthes, as his machine lifts up more, escaping the first volley.

The visor flares a bright green, as the camera locks onto the second rifle. "Aw hell," Arado sighs. The Wurger's other hand clutches the M90 machinegun, drawing it off the skirt armor. It takes a hard turn -- but the shot still intercepts it. The beam blasts open a hole in the side, sending molten metal and fire erupting out behind it, while the Wildwurger turns tightly.

Arado lets loose a burst from the M90, rounds spitting down at the surface below, hurtling down at the Amenthes. Then, the Wildwurger turns into a dive. Arado grins widely, as the dive bomb comes in closer at the Amenthes. The Wildwurger's heavily armored foot extends downward, as he tries to kick right into the Amenthes' head.

"So much for babysitting." Alina murmurs to herself as the first sign of an an incoming attack makes itself known. With a flex of her fingers, metatron energy begins to flow down the arms of the blue Orbital Frame, making a humming sound as the power condenses into those pistol-shaped hands. The cockpit goes dark, lines of blue flicking across the canopy as the flow begins to ignite the markings in the girl's forearms, giving the entire chamber an eerie glow that seems to reflect in the girl's cold eyes.

She glances to the side, where the Zeon pilot looks a bit bewildered. "Get out of here. Meet up with the drop ship and report in." Even her voice has taken on that same icy chill, clicking out the conversation before the amature pilot can even respond. He does obey, thankfully, leaving only the combat pilots on the field.

"Amit, get me a target." <"Duat has indicated the following as enemy units" The blips appear on her radar, marked with the stereotypical 'bad guy' red - although perhaps it is more fitting to call it an 'alpha number' red. "There." She indicates with a tap of her finger the Gespenst. Perhaps not the wisest of choices, but any unit she can keep from attacking her brother is a good choice in her mind. <"Scanners are aligning to enemy unit.">

A slow breath hisses out of Alina's lips as the bulkier Orbital Frame moves forward, controled by those subtle movements of her hands. <"Weapons ready."> Without another word, Alina lines up the target unit in her sights, waiting until the red box begins to flash in her overview before firing off a series of quick shots from both pistols, strafing them across the path of the Gespenst.

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "Careful with the Gespenst Mark four there. Those things pack quite the punch."

Occupying the high ground has been a significant advantage in warfare since men first started placing pointy rocks on sticks. The first thing Huang Qin Shi learned about space combat, though, is that any direction can be high ground. To that end, the Alpha Numbers' commander kicks the Rasavatam's drive to life, sending the little white robot hurtling along the moon's surface, tracking Ascian along his right flank as he lines up his shot on Arado.

Huang waits until the Amenthes fires before pulling the Rasavatam toward the right, the Tesla Drive barely straining in the low lunar gravity as he comes in underneath Arado's aerial attack. Even as the Wildwurger comes streaking down, the Rasavatam's palm emitters come together in front of the robot's chest, firing a sustained burst of hot white energy toward the Divie Crusader unit.

 Alina Luddite transmits, "Well, at laest it's a punch not coming at you."

The ball starts rolling in an explosive way-- Arado starts his thing, Huang shows a moment of restraint, and Arian... Arian takes to the attack, just like her brother from another mother. She grins-- the sound of a custom unit to bring that kind of chaos to the world isn't that bad, even if she does tend to work with more utilitarian machines, isn't that bad.

"Let's ... GO!!"

The Huckebein's throttle opens, and the Personal Trooper acclerates with a muted roar, the only sounds heard being put through the chassis and frame and the vibrations in her seat. As IFFs spill across her HUD and the targeting sensors fire up, the Boosted Child is keeping her attention forward and on a straight path as she starts to cycle through options on her console.

The mass production-type Huckebein hefts not a rifle, but a beam /cannon/, lining up her shot straightaway. Lining up on the Nightingale, the teal-haired girl gives her lips a light lick before the targeting reticle shines red.

"You're first!!"

And then she fires, a heavy, broad blast of energy cutting a line through space and intent on slamming square into the Armored Core!

"Tssk!" It'd been a long time since Ascian had had to deal with two targets attacking him at the same time. And this inexperience comes to show. Whilst Duat does her best to support him, and his comerades try to pull away the other troops, he still ends up facing Huang and Arado! And unlike what one might think, it is actually the rasavatam that he notices first. The blue outlet from the Tesla Drive is easily recognizable, as is the white energy suddenly coming for him, at the same time that kick is coming down.

The previous bolts had marked a few pocks on the Amenthes, but it had healed quickly. Normal shells like that didn't seem to do much on her. Metal warps and wraps around those spots. However, when that fierce kick comes down hard on the red Orbital Frame's belly, followed by the white hot beam rushing across its quickly raised shields, the Phoenix frame ends up crashing into the moon's surface below! Its wings end up sticking all over the place in the grey rock and dust of the barren satellite, and the unit is laying on its back.

"Hrrm... what just happened." Ascian mutters. "You mad a strategical error, and lost sight of the targets." Duat insists, after which the young male framerunner slowly puts his hands back onto the controls and lets the machine lift up and stand upon the ground instead. "Tssk, can't believe they just grounded an Orbital Frame. Those guys are good."

The wings that are still stuck in the ground, much like funnels, quickly rip themselves from the ground and form behind the unit once again, but whilst they are on their way, a fierce series of red beams fire from their sharpened ends - aimed at both enemy units as a manner of 'retaliation fire'.

Russel Bagman spots the incomming targets it's two orbital frames and one AC. Arado's already engaged and the radio is ignored he knows a fight would start. It is always hows it goes, also he's not easly forgot his encounter with Nohman. He knows how dangerous Orbital Frames are, asthe other machine comes in at them. The gespenst launches a pod off the back which explodes into a cloud of missiles, they intercept hte incomming pistol shots and explode, when the light fades there's nothing left, while that was all going on the computer was puting up known data on orbital frames and starting to anaylise this one's movement patterns.

"Here we go again."

Like the other machine this unit is armed with an M90 rifle and it opens up on the orbital frame, and the pilot seems to know juist how they moves as he's leading it just a little bit bit as he goes.

"Arado, huang, if you need support let me know, I'll keep this frame locked down for now!"

The main difference between this Orbital Frame and most others that many would have encountered is the level of armorment on it. What it lacks in the usual speed, it seems to make up for in power - as an assault unit. Thus, it doesn't quite move the way that one would expect, which lends to the exchange of shots from both sides that seem to leave neither unit damaged. "Not as quick as some of the others." Lin murmurs to herself, "But more clever." <"The pilot appears to be reading ahead of our movements."> "Well, let's show them something they haven't seen before then."

One of the arms of the Orbital Frame shifts away from that lighter pistol-mode even as the energy feathers behind the cat-like creature fan out, absorbing most of the shots and failing to bounce any of them back into the path of the Gespenst. When the metatron reforms itself, it settles into a longer weapon, taking up the Orbital Frame's entire forearm. <"Weapons charging.">

Throwing the thrusters to full, Alina drives Mayet upwards, trying to drag the enemy a bit away from the battle. If nothing else, range is her ally - as her beam shots can cover quite a distance. She's betting on it not being quite as wise for the enemy to break off into these smaller fights. < Fully charged. > Alina barely takes a split second to verify her aim, and then fires off a blast from the more poweful rifle, letting it hiss through the void, crackling electricity in it's wake as it rattles towards the enemy.

Arado looks down at Huang. He feels a faint flash of frustration -- if it were Seolla, he would know that she would veer left, circle the target about eighty degrees, then start flying upward while bombarding them. He does not know that Huang will do this, so his instincts cannot be trusted quite the same. Is this how other people feel, all of the time?

"Let's do it, Huang!" he says, shaking any doubts off.

The Wildwurger finds itself under heavy fire from the wings. He has fended off funnel assaults in the past -- and he puts the Wurger through a quick set of twists and turns, diving and winding through red beams that lance and slash through space. One final beam comes screaming at his machine's face.

He draws the metal sword from its gatling cannon sheath, then the weapon comes up. It catches the last beam, bouncing it away with the anti-beam coating. His machine comes diving downward at Ascian's -- and the sword stabs, hard, at the machine. "Look alive, buddy!"

The Wildwurger brings its fist back, then. The claws spring open -- and he punches the fist at the Amenthes. The claw slams shut, then, before he pulls it backward.

"Good teamwork," Huang mutters to himself as the beam and kick strike home, his hands flexing on the Rasavatam's control stick. It's been a while since he's been in anything more than a simulator, ship captaincy being a far more attractive option for long-term survival than armor-melting mobile suits, and longer still since he's been piloting on the same side of a fight with Arado. The young man's gotten better, Huang notes, and while there's no way he can measure up to the flawless coordination of Arado's usual partner, he can at least fight the way Seolla would fight: by keeping his distance and using beam attacks to hem in the Amenthes' movements. "Okay!" he shouts in response.

The cutaway chest bounce, however, will be sorely disappointing.

With their adversary grounded Huang takes back up to the skies, assuming Arado will follow his heart and close in for the kill. The Amenthes' fin weaponry is similar enough to funnels that it triggers the counter-Haman protocols Huang built into the Rasavatam well over a year ago, causing audible tones to sound inside Huang's helmet along the inbound trajectories. The sounds provoke an immediate response, and the Rasavatam spins off to its left, the lasers scoring naught more than surface wounds across its armour, white energy gathering in the palms of its hands. As he reaches the apex of his climb, Huang begins spamming energy bolts down toward the fallen Divine Crusader, kicking up one hell of a dust storm and light show in the process.

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "Warning. Try not to fly too close between the Amenthes and the enemy units. I'm not engaging the Vector Trap, but..."

Ascian lets his eyes turn up towards the 'skies', watching the darkness of space. This part of the Moon was facing away from Earth after all. Which makes it that much easier to see the two incoming units. "Tssk..." The young mutters, his eyes flicking quickly from one to the other. "Duat, tactical analysis. Which of those two has the higher attack output!?" - to which a gigantic red reticule is set onto the Wildwurger. "That's what I thought." The Phoenix's wings suddenly fan open, then split, turning from a twelve wing configuration into a twenty-four one. Pieces of Metatron quickly form in between, and then a gigantic /burst/ of energy occurs! Red feathers, burning like embers, rush out from the Khopesh shaped Phoenix Wings, making the unit look like it's on fire for a moment.

The tailfeathers stab straight backwards, then coil around and form towards the front, and forms a well-shaped circular shield and continue to warp space even as continued beam-fire weakens its energy-supplies rapidly. "SSA armor at 70%% effectiveness." Duat warns. "That's fine." Ascian mutters and keeps the unit in one place. "Now!"

With Huang forming the gigantic dust-storm Ascian had expected, he pushes the Amenthes straight forwards, causing Arado to just barely clip the back of its wings, after which the unit rushes straight up! "Time to show them why these things are made for high velocity combat, Duat! Amenthes!" Ascian calls out and within moments, the Amenthes has managed to gain a vantage point and has turned about itself.

Then suddenly, the dustcloud begins to... behave oddly. It quickly rushes 'inwards' to the position Arado had landed. Almost like... an invisible field was drawing it in and keeping it inside. "Space Compression, proceeding smoothly." Duat reports. "Good." Ascian mutters, as a large viewscreen appears before him. He's on a colinear vector with Arado and Huang at the same time, and the compression of space is starting to press down on their armors, and making it much harder to move around.

The two arms have come together by now, and those tailfeathers from before connect to the twin-rifle that has formed - much resembling the Wing Zero Custom's twin buster rifle. The wings, fanned out, lead in energy, whilst pursing out used and depleted Metatron sparks, making it seem almost as if a /Sun/ was hovering over them. In fact, the ground beneath is lit well enough to make it seem like it was day-light for a moment. "Release energy!" Ascian doesnt' really need to say it though. His hands firm down on the controls, and send the command. A stream of bioluminescent crimson light rushes through the Orbital Frame's veins like a jolt of adrenaline coursing through it to where the body needs it the most. And seconds later...

The entire area beneath Amenthes, within the vector of the compressed space, is bathed in a wide-beam red blaze that will likely make glass out of the sand beneath as wave upon wave of weaponized metatron energy - turned into sheer plasma.

There's a short glance toward Huang and Arado's machines as she fights. While this close to the Lunar surface, dividing her attention is a bad idea, she has to make sure that her boys don't start biting off more than they can chew and all. Arian's attention flicks back forward in a split-second, on cue with the moment that the Armored Core starts to pull a fly-by strafing run.

Arian wrenches the controls, shifting her footing and moving with a combination of instinct and foresight. The inertia is a little bit of a bitch on her body, but the Huckebein's response to the strafe is not so much to "move," but to "flip on it's head." Wait for it--

The legs spread wide and the whole body seems to pivot with the Personal Trooper's head being the focal point for this maneuver, completely turning upside-down as bullets crack and fly through the space the machine once was-- and narrowly missing the head and shoulders. The vulcans mounted in the head report with a blazing series of bullets in reply. Wait for it--

The Huckebein flips, jerking back into an "upright" position relative to Remille now. In the process, the Personal Trooper snaps up the stout M90-type assault rifle, lining up a shot on the Nightingale. Wait for it--

And then Arian has a bounce cut-in. It isn't as impressive as Seolla, sorry.

"You think that'll stop me?! Guess again!"

The M90 starts to belch hot lead through space, Arian holding on for dear life-- and trying to keep the shots as tightly-grouped as possible in the process.

 Remille Fortner transmits, "I am taking heavy damage. Attempting to stay in the battle though."

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "If you need to veer off, please do so. I have no intentions of losing anyone whilst they are under my supervision."

 Remille Fortner transmits, "... is that an order?"

 Alina Luddite transmits, "He means use your best judgement, and don't die."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "I trust your own judgement in what this time is."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Remille Fortner transmits, "Frighteners do not retreat Mister Luddite. That is not in our nature."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "So what? They just die?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Remille Fortner transmits, "We also do not die."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Alina Luddite transmits, "It's a noble ideal, brother. And not a good one to be questioning in the middle of battle."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Alina Luddite transmits, "Let's focus on the task at hand."

The energy blasts come raining down, scouring the surface of the Moon. Several of them slash into the Wildwurger. Huge, bright spots glow red on the Wildwurger's jacket armor -- then turn black. The armor is battered, blackened, and beaten, and the machine shudders as it emerges from the storm of energy. The head turns upward, looking at the Amenthes. The visor flashes a bright green.

"Jacket armor... PURGE!"

With a flick of a switch, the battered blue armor bursts off it. The wings unfurl, and a burst of green light explodes. Dust comes flying out, shooting away from the Wurger in a ring, as his machine comes rising upward with a surge. He slashes up, with the metal sword, then drops the weapon down. It slams into the earth, point first, as the Wildwurger goes past.

Both hands reach to the shoulders, crossing over the chest. He draws back both of the cross-shaped throwing instruments. Arado's eyes narrow. "Get ready!" he yells. "DOUBLE FAAAAANG SLAAAAAAAAASHER!"

The Wildwurger throws them -- sending the weapons hurtling down, twisting rapidly. They cross over the Amenthes, as they come hurtling in.

Remille grumbled softly as her shots missed, to only have her Armored Core smacked around a bit. There was almost that hint in her mood tonight where she just wanted to say screw it and go home.

But that wasn't the Frightener way. That wasn't what Klein taught her.

As she quickly strafed around, her machine took the bullets. They pelted in deep, some of the ammo shaving off the Nightingale's armor, but her machine only replied back with its own burst of shots.

"Who says I am out to remove you? Did the thought maybe accrue to you that I could be a mere distraction." Remille stated calmly, even under the circumstances of all the warning lights and damage reports flying across one of her side screens.

The missile pod comes around on the machines shoulder. Remille reaches over on the arm of her pilot chair, flipping up a cover. Once the FPS computer indicates a lock, she presses down the button; Missile away!

Huang has sufficient experience to know that throwing more explosions down into the dust cloud is a counterproductive option after a certain point - either he's hit the DC unit or he hasn't, and spamming more beam weapons is just going to increase the area in which it can move with at least some concealment from visual scans. The Rasavatam holds its position, internal temperatures climbing even more swiftly than usual with the near-vacuum of space preventing any bleed-off into the atmosphere.

As the temperatures pass 190 degrees Centigrade, however, Huang notices something weird, which is just /never/ good. Error messages rise up out of the tactical display as the array running through the molten armour of the Rasavatam detects external forces beyond normal environmental conditions exerting pressures on its systems (short version: gravity isn't doing what it should). Recent experience with the Yingzi's GraviCon system has given Huang the equivalent of a post-doc in the practical effects of space-time curvature, and this knowledge informs him that anything that can curve spacetime is worth staying away from. Unlike poor, uneducated Arado, who simply has to go by the glowing plasma field of death.

Superior intelligence is a burden sometimes.

"What the shit," Huang manages to snap as the Rasavatam is dragged downward; by the time he pours more power into the Tesla Drive, the plasma has washed over the little white robot, blasting it back into the sky, spurts of molten armour dripping down toward the lunar surface from the abdomen and left bicep. Huang spits a few Mandarin curses, the palm of his right hand itching as he tightens his grip on the Rasavatam's controls. The machine's arms cross in front of its chest, the central emitter flickering for a second or two before they come back across, a wave of thermal energy blazing out from the Rasavatam's chest, down toward the Amenthes.

Russel Bagman is tracking the other machine as it's comming in. Russel meanwhile is checking the charge on the CP Canon, it's ready but he doen't want to tip his trump card too soon at the very least. The machine switches mode he's picking up a power spike and is already starting to move. The blast just passes him ripping into the landscape while his own shots go wide because he had to chose, dodge or shoot. Russel chose to not get hit, the m90 rifle opens up again this time. He's firing a longer burst and part way through a grenade is fired with little to no warning really. It might just catch the martian unit off guard or it might not.

The Green unit pulls bacvk a bit more, he's oddly not bantered at all, he really doesn't seem in the mood to talk to someone from the Divine Crusade. He's still firing the rifle and finally lets up when the clip runs dry. The personal trooper moves to grab a spare clip and slam it home before getting oin the move once more.

Still keeping an eye on his comrades he sends another burst transmission to them.

"Whats your status? Are you both all right/"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite tssk... "Alina, I need some help here. Pattern Beta!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Alina Luddite transmits, "On my way."

"Did... did he just /slash/ through the stream of plasma?" Ascian watches in surprise as the Wildwurger manages to pop up out of the compressed space area, and the attack quickly begins to disengage. However, there is one problem with this attack. Normally, stuff /dies/ after he fires that weapon. When they still end up coming out alive however, it leaves the Amenthes in a temporarily weakened state! The double rifles are quickly forced to purge from eachother, sparks of metal and energy abruptly being halted, causing the twin beams to focus for a moment and 'zip' in two directions over the Moon's surface, which ends up somehow creating a spectacular play of explosions along the dusty landscape!

"They... they're above us!" /They/. That's right, the young managed to figure out that they'd both survived, thanks to the excellent support Duat is giving. The shields raise again, but simply not in time this time! The therma white crashes against the chest of the Amenthes, /melting/ parts of its armor and evaporating part of its right arm as it is forced into a slight right-twisting tumble.

Ascian manages to halt the fall this time, however, he probably shouldn't have, for that's exactly when the twin slasher assault rakes across the Orbital Frame. Each weapon stabbing into a shoulder - and cutting into parts of its wings, which end up being thrown away into the distance and explode in red magnificent flares of blazing red.

<"Tssk. Alina, I need your help here. Pattern Beta!"> Ascian calls out through the DC frequencies, and quickly rushes the Amenthes /down/. That's right, down, towards the ground beneath the two, and to a position near Russel's unit as well. Bringing him into a position for a perfect cross fire. The wings of the Amenthes - the remaining ones - suddenly undock from the unit and form a ring around the Amenthes, which leaves room 'behind' it for... another Orbital Frame. The Mayet.

Ascian patiently waits for Mayet to get within the protective screen of the Amenthes' twenty or so remaining wings which begin to circle faster and faster, like some kind of circular saw. Red light begins to blink from their tips, and dust begins to catch around it, creating a tornado around the two units, after Alina has joined his side. The sensors of Amenthes - attached to the wings, which are on the outside of the dust-tornado - send sensor information to Mayet. And he's expecting the small shield-bits of the Mayet to do the same for him. Amit and Duat 'connect', as the units set their backs to another.

The tornado continues to rush round faster and faster until finally... LASERS! Lasers everywhere! The wings spiral crimson beams around the outside of the tornado, which then 'randomly' seem to dart outwards. However, they aren't really 'random'. They are well aimed surpression beams, which 'seem' to miss their targets, and then suddenly 'bounce' back, as if they hit invisible mirrors - attempting to strike them from behind! "It's up to you, Lin! Amenthes is running low on power."

It might just be a shame that the Gespenst pilot hasn't been more social. It might have at least given a reason to break the cold and calculated flight pattern of Mayet. Instead, Alina remains focused on her task, continuing to use those strangely mind-controlled feathers of the sphinx machine each time theat the M90 is fired in her direction. At the very least, she starts to get the hang of redirecting some of the shots back towards her attacker.

"Amit..." Alina starts to give a new command when another voice interrupts her, resonating against her ear. "On my way." The white-haired girl nods once, and then disengages from the firefight with the Gespenst in order to burn back towards that eerily similar red Orbital frame. "Amit, pattern beta. Engage secondary feathers and prepare for full energy transfer." <"Priming metatron energy flow."> The cockpit begins to darken as the flow of blue light gets tunneled elsewhere, pulsing along the outer shell of the Orbital Frame as if it were a second heartbeat.

The strange 'wings' that flare out behind Mayet shift around, moving from 'thruster' mode into something that appears far more dangerous at first. The diamond-shards that float around the Orbital Frame as if under their own will draw back into place, the lines of energy between them creating the final image of angelic wings. Each of them seems to shift and move as if reacting to solar wings, feeling flexing as a great sweep of those apendages somehow brings Mayet in line behind Amenthes, framing the other unit in the protective drape of her wings. The image of two angels set against eachother lasts for only a moment as Mayet slides into place with her back against Amenthes.

The diamond-like feathers join those of Amenthes, swirling within the storm as the bestial unit charges up it's own power. "Let's show them what we can do, little brother." Lin clenches her teeth, pressing her lips together as she presses down onto the control orbs. Within the cockpit, everything flares to life. A radiating blue cascades from the internal workings of Mayet, moving up as if it were coming from her very heart. Then, one of the Orbital Frame's hands comes up and unmasks her mouth, revealing jagged teeth, and a flare of energy that seems to lash out in all directions.

The tiny diamonds of her wing feathers catching each bolt, reflecting it back along Amenthes's own wings and then casting ever more firepower out into the void beyond.

Bullets rip into the Huckebein's armor as the M90's ammo count steadily approaches 0. The gun releases a magnificent *CLAK* that can be heard inside the cockpit, and with a sharp snap of the wrist, the magazine is disengaged, left to flutter aimlessly toward the moon's surface.

Arian's eyes flick to the console in a precise, mechanical way. There's some damage to the right shinguard and kneepad, but it doesn't seem too deep. Her eyes flick back to the Nightingale as her heels dig in and propel the Personal Trooper backward, looking to actually get some breathing room in from the dark Armored Core.

"Idiot."

The Huckebein charges forward, moving in to close with the Nightingale with all the speed that the Personal Trooper can muster. Vulcans start to blaze again, and a bullet catches incoming missiles a little too close, bullets continuing on toward the DC unit, but--

-- /boom/.

After a few dramatic seconds, the Huckebein /bursts/ out of the cloud of rippling smoke and the thin flat layer of flames that flicker-ripple out from the points of detonation. The left side of the face is rended clean of paint, armor, and most of it's visor, holes and scorchmarks and chunks of armor and shrapnel trickling away from the machine even while it continues on fearlessly forward.

It's also holding a really goddamned big rifle with a bolt-action lever. She has to manually disable the minimum range locks for arming the payload-- because she fully intends on slamming the muzzle-end of the Boosted Rifle /into/ the Nightingale--

"I never think that far ahead!!"

/Boom/.

"We're all right, Russel!" Arado transmits back. "Don't sweat it!"

The burst of energy strikes into the Wildwurger. Arado tries, of course, to get away--but the beams lance and twist and strike into it. The slender machine is battered, beams slashing tears into the armor. Fire comes wafting off it, as it comes lifting upward. It brings an arm back, locking onto the Amenthes.

"You and your girlfriend," Arado snarls over the tactical network at Ascian and Alina both, "are going down!"

The machine comes hurtling forward. The wings light up a brilliant green color, as energy pours over them -- and then he comes sweeping around in a circle, before he tries to slash the razor wing right through the midsection of the Amenthes.

Remille attempted to avoid the return fire, however her Nightingale just wasn't quick enough on the response thanks to the damage the machine had taken. The female raven cursed softly as she flipped a few switches above her head, trying to send force cooling to the generator to try to keep it from over-heating. Then her eyes watched the HUD screen as the missile impacted on true mark.

"..Am I?" Remille replied back. A brow raising gently, before she lowered her head. Those glasses she wore reflecting the light from the screens slightly. ".. we will see."

As Arian attempted to pull back, the Nightingale gave chase. It unloaded the machine gun clips, before slamming a new set of clips in that popped out from the side of the machine in a hidden compartment.

It wasn't till Arian changed directions, now coming right at her that Remille narrowed her eyes. She heard her words over the radio and it only caused the black headed woman for once to show a smirk, "..You sound like my twin. Have you two met?"

The massive gun faced down the Frightener's unit, and just as Arian's machine pulled the trigger, Remille's own quickly banked to the side unloading the whole clip onto the Huckebien. The Blast tore into the side of the Armored Core, blasting off sheet metal. Sparks could be seen now dancing out from the damage area, along with some exposure to things like hydraulic lines and wires.

Remille then leaned on te control, giving her Armored Core all the power the generator could give to the thrusters. "His name is Boyle Fortner for a hint." The Nightingale came racing back toward Arian, before the Armored Core leaped into the air. As the machine flipped over it blasted the new ammunition toward its target, before landing down, attempting to slide around and continue to lay in the ammo. The movements were insane, almost irregular as the Armored Core swiftly zigzagged around.

Energy signals spike along wavelengths that match precisely nothing in Huang Qin Shi's memory, which is also seldom a good thing. "Arado - watch out for...okay, giant energy wings," he says, trailing off, the Rasavatam turning left and right so the cameras can take in the sight of the swirling projections circling around them both. He suppresses instincts to act immediately, holding himself ready for the right moment...which comes as the Mayet's beam scatters along the wings, sending an array of beams arcing in multiple directions, the automated systems ringing a cacophony into his helmet, too many for him to track. Too many for him to grasp.

And so he lets go instead. Breath leaves Huang's lungs in a rush as he releases his mind, his hands and feet simply moving, the Rasavatam dashing forward. There is no conscious thought as the little robot tucks its arms and legs in close to its torso as the beams rain down around it. The liquid metal of its armour compresses inward, further minimizing its profile. A few shots crease along the back, then the right thigh, then the crown of the Rasavatam as it turns and lands in a four-point crouch, the next inhalation a hurricane to Huang's ears as he returns to himself, the palm of his hand itching like mad.

Two quick steps are followed by a dozen more as the Rasavatam sprints across the lunar surface, white-hot light blazing as it hurtles toward the Amenthes, its hands thrown out to either side. White energy suddenly seems to fade away from the robot's armour as it completes the charge; the Rasavatam's internal temperatures are well over 240 degrees now, and the light it evanesces is passing into the ultraviolet. Power gathers in both palms as the Rasavatam plants its right foot down hard, digging into the stone, Huang screaming as the arms drive forward in a double palm strike, energy blasting outward with contact.

Russel Bagman radios back, "Understood, Arado."

The Gespenst is keeping on the move that is what saved it from the full fury of both of the Luddite siblings the attack comes in in and Russel's machine barely evades it. He was tagged but avoided a direct hit, the remaining split missile pod id deployed in retlation while the plasma stakes start to charge, his machine now speeds up heading for Alina's machine even with thos strange wings out he knows the basic set up of an orbital frame. Such a the pilot is not in the main body, one night see the plasma stakes glowing as his machine leaps and kicks in its thrusters to full. Making use of the air time he's heading right for alina and trying to grab her machine with one hand the other? He will start repeatedly drivuing the plasma stakes into the main body of the machine should he get ahold of her.

"Jet Magnum!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Remille Fortner transmits, "Target destroyed. As--" long pause, "..Luddites, do you need cover fire?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Tssk, I need to depart. Amenthes is low on energy, and the SSA is almost entirely cracked."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Alina Luddite transmits, "I can still fight, Remille, but I wouldn't mind some help."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Remille Fortner transmits, "Understood. I will give everything I can to assist."

The tactical advantage of starting an assault on the ground, the way Ascian and Alina had done, isn't just that it is unexpected, and that they could make that dust-tornado come to bare. It also means that sight is blocked from their opponents. After the initial firing of the beam weaponry, and the routing of energy, Ascian had used the direct connection between him and Alina to send a quick message; "We'll go up through the plume of the sand-storm." Within the eye of the tornado, it isn't hard to maneuver straight up and get to a position /above/ Arado.

Well, that was the plan anyhow. There was however one problem. After Arado's attempt at slicing at the Amenthes, the storm had been disrupted, and the sudden drop in upward wind - along with the low energy levels on the Amenthes - has the unit quickly falling down towards the ground... right into the path of Huang's mock hadoken.

And somewhere out there, a player who has been playing too much God Eater Burst mutters, "God damn Chi-You. First you mock me in this game, now even my character fails to evade your awesome moves."

"Shit!" Is all Ascian can call out, as the Amenthes throws its arms before its chest and cockpit - which may look weird, her hand coming down to hold a... rather phallic object like that. Before finally it touches on the unit and sends it flying straight backwards into a nearby moon-dune, where the Amenthes' metatron-lines finally flicker. "Tssk." And then finally...

"SHE'S MY SISTER! And she's the best sister in the UNIVERSE. So... fuck off! Alina! Kill him!"

"She's your sister?!" Arado makes a face. That brain of his jumbles, turns, twists, and tries to make sense of this. It fails to do so. When two and two go together, Arado's brain spies a peep instead, pounces across a field daintily, and then takes a bite. He just makes a face. "G-Gross! What kind of guy would date his sisteeerrrrrrrr--"

Realization dawns on him. Arado makes a face.

"OH MY GOD."

Once more, somehow, Mayet seems to be able to avoid the attacks from the Gespesnt. The simple fact is, the more defensive built unit doesn't move as one might expect it to. The grab as well as the following plasma bolts are avoided by means of simply engaging her thrusters, sending the Orbital Frame up into the air even as more attacks aim out towards Amenthes. Try as she might, there isn't time to get in the way. Pressing her lips together, the white-haired framerunner, glares at the red blips on her targeting computer, slaming her hands down hard in an uncharacteristic display of emotion. "HE'S MY BROTHER." She roars, coincidently at the same time as her twin.

"Amit, we need to give Ascian some covering fire for his retreat." < Understood. Arming lasers. > The diamond-like feathers of Mayet begin to swirl around the unit, creating a sort of cage around it. Splitting her attention between the remaining targets is hard, but the AI tries to make up the remainder. "Keep fire on them, I don't want them to have a chance ot give chase." And... then Ardo has to open his big fat mouth.

Lin narrows her eyes towards Arado and his test unit. "PERVERT! Die!" Maybe she's taking this whole 'kill him' thing a bit too seriously, but she seems to focus on firing those feather-beams towards the Wildwuger while Amit takes care of sending the others off, spiraling around with strafing blasts at the Gespenst and the Rasavatam.

Once more, somehow, Mayet seems to be able to avoid the attacks from the Gespesnt. The simple fact is, the more defensive built unit doesn't move as one might expect it to. The grab as well as the following plasma bolts are avoided by means of simply engaging her thrusters, sending the Orbital Frame up into the air even as more attacks aim out towards Amenthes. Try as she might, there isn't time to get in the way. Pressing her lips together, the white-haired framerunner, glares at the red blips on her targeting computer, slaming her hands down hard in an uncharacteristic display of emotion. "HE'S MY BROTHER." She roars, coincidently at the same time as her twin.

"Amit, we need to give Ascian some covering fire for his retreat." <"Understood. Arming lasers."> The diamond-like feathers of Mayet begin to swirl around the unit, creating a sort of cage around it. Splitting her attention between the remaining targets is hard, but the AI tries to make up the remainder. "Keep fire on them, I don't want them to have a chance to give chase." And... then Ardo has to open his big fat mouth.

Lin narrows her eyes towards Arado and his test unit. "PERVERT! Die!" Maybe she's taking this whole 'kill him' thing a bit too seriously, but she seems to focus on firing those feather-beams towards the Wildwuger while Amit takes care of sending the others off, spiraling around with strafing blasts at the Gespenst and the Rasavatam.

The machine gun rips through the armor-- through the armor on the /chest/-- and rocks the Huckebein backwards like a limp person freshly shot on the streets. It lurches, it twists, and the Personal Trooper's grasp on the Boosted Rifle starts to wane... but then the grip reaffirms itself, and the damaged machine jerks backwards in order to get /some/ clearance.

"Lady, I've got five friends in my life. You or he ain't one!!"

And then the Armored Core starts to move. Fast, at that, faster than she had anticipated it to. It blurs one way and fires, it blurs another way and continues, over and over, bringing the Boosted Child to the briefest hints of panic. She's survived worse-- she can survive this, too.

Truthfully, Arian is only really good at one thing. For as well as she handles rifles and machine guns, she has one thing that she excels at. Latooni's a lot smarter than her. Arado is tough and Seolla is agile, and they can compliment each other amazingly. Arian... Arian needs to be out on her own two feet to be in her perfect element, but all of those years of training don't fail.

Her eyes close. Her fingers lift from the controls as she takes a breath in the middle of this highly-dangerous chaos from which she has no apparent escape.

As armor rips and tears, as holes break in the head and chest of the Personal Trooper, the Huckebein suddenly releases the Boosted Rifle, instead holding the fanned-out grip of a Plasma Sword. With a sudden thrust, her eyes open and the glowing green beam blade ignites, thrusting out to /stab/ the Nightingale and leave the blade in place, even as the last of the barrage hits the Huckebein hard enough that it's thrown away into the darkness of space, flipping end over end.

The female Frightener dispatched her target, though it came with a price. The Armored Core was slashed heavy by the sword as it attempted to move. The sword slams into her machine, just short of the arm unit, but into the core. Flashing red lights went off. Remille could hear the sound of the plasma sword slamming close to her cockpit area. "Oh." She says softly, even though her sapphire blue eyes are not even looking at the HUD, but over at the strange sound. That was a bit to close for comfort. Way to close for comfort, and unlike her father, she wasn't a full conversion cyborg who could survive in space!

The Nightingale houses one of the machine guns for a moment before it starts to pull out the beam saber carefully. Remille listens to the radio as she reports in. Those eyes now going over to the radar as she spots the remaining targets.

The Nightingale fully yanks out the beam saber, as mech-fluid can be seen leaking out from the location. This was also a bad sign, but for now, Remille would ignore it.

Turning to the remaining targets, the red visor of the Frightener unit flickers, before it unloads a payload of missiles for the remaining targets.

Russel Bagman pauses at Arado's words towards the siblings? This just entacts no comment, no command at all from russel really. He is at a loss for words, a raging Katina wouldn't be so bad as the suprise from that. He does pull out of it a moment later. The machine is reaching for the weapon pod on the back and returning the m90 to where it came. The weapon unpacks outwards and russel grabs the handle with one free hand and aims it for Alina's machine, two more split missile pods deploy sending a storm of missiles at Alina, but that's more of a distraction while Russel locks on to her machine. The cross hairs go red, and a moment and then a massive plasma blast is fire following up the missile storm!

"Truly, Arado Balanga," Huang deadpans, smoke wafting from the Rasavatam's palms as he turns it to survey the rest of the battlefield. "We are on the side of angels. Or at least," he says, the robot's Tesla Drive blazing to life, Amit's covering fire spattering the lunar rock below, "On the side of guys who don't bang their sisters. Or at least," he continues to qualify his statement, not even bothering to conceal the grin, "On the side of guys who don't bang their actual blood-related sisters as opposed to just girls who they were raised in close sibling-like relationships with."

Huang Qin Shi is not always a nice person.

The Alpha Numbers' commander alters his upward trajectory, swooping down in a long, loping arc toward the Mayet, trailing that blackish ultraviolet light with it as it goes, becoming increasingly difficult to see with its speed and coloration (although thermal sensors are lighting up like a volcano). "Seriously, though, it's cool, man," Huang says, continuing his conversation with Arado as the Rasavatam's left hand emits a series of short energy blasts, intercepting some of the missiles heading its way in mid-flight, one of them slipping past and erupting along the Rasavatam's left shoulder, nearly forcing the unit face-down into the rock. Huang grits his teeth and struggles with the controls, keeping his mouth running to keep his mind off all those alert signals. "Remember, I've seen your blood work. You're in the demi-clear," he adds as he closes, lashing out with the Rasavatam's right fist, combining another melee strike with a thermal energy discharge.

Ascian just mutters as radio message upon radio message comes in. "Are you Federation bastards done insulting me and my sister? We do no such things. Geesh, the /lows/ you disgusting pigs go down to - just to insult someone. I can't believe this." The Amenthes slowly begins to raise from the ground, and a call to the nearby Zeon city has gone through on global broadbands - as a sign for the federation folk to scoot. In the distance, a Peregrine class battleship can already be seen en-route.

"I'm not a pervert--uh, I mean, I /am/--" Arado starts to ramble, his mind trying to catch up from that terrible thought. He scrubs and scrubs, but his mind just won't get clean. "--but I wasn't thinking about you that way! Jeez! And I wasn't trying to insult you!"

The Wildwurger twists out of the way of some of those blasts from Alina, shots riddling the machine. It leaves burnt gashes on the armor, revealing frame here and there. Sparks shudder across it, lightning leaping out here and there. He speeds forth -- the Wildwurger twists and turns, as missiles come behind it.

"Sh-shut up, Huang, not the time! LA LA LA LA!"

The machine lifts up, and the missiles struggle to follow -- before exploding in a sea of fireballs underneath his machine. It turns around, twisting back hard, and then he catches sight of the Peregrine-class ship. His eyes narrow. "They're bringing in the big guns! I got the data on the fang slashers, we better get out of here!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Remille Fortner transmits, "Miss Luddite, I am moving in to assist. I will be at your eight soon."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Alina Luddite transmits, "It looks like they're withdrawing. I'm going to wait here until they retreat. Sick cowards."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Remille Fortner transmits, "Many would desire to run then to face their fate."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "It goes to show just how disgusting the Federation is. Not only do they go to such lows to insult us - they attacked us in the first place, without a word."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Remille Fortner transmits, "That is war, mister Luddite."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "No need to patronise me, miss Fortner."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "I am fully aware this is what 'war' is like. Does that make me believe they are any less disgusting? No."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Alina Luddite transmits, "Let's not fight amongst ourselves."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Remille Fortner transmits, "One side will always insult the other. The sooner one learns to ignore the insults, the better off they will be in combat."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Remille Fortner transmits, "Cool heads prevail over the hot ones."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Sorry, but I'm not a robot."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Remille Fortner transmits, "It is a matter of mental training, Mister Luddite, but perhaps I speak too frankly at this moment."

"You guys really /are/ perverts." Alina's hands flex over the control orbs, the banter obviously starting to break through that icy shell she normally puts on while piloting. This time, though, it seems more aimed at Huang than at Arado. She seems to take the apology for what it is, but that anger still seethes through her like wildfire. "He's my brother, and /you're/ the sick ones for even thinking about such things."

The young framerunner simply stands still as the plasma blast and that melee strike knock against the blue Orbital Frame. While the force knocks the mech backwards, the secondary thrusters engaging so it appears as if she's barely moved. The fact is, there is already a red warning light blaring at the side of Lin's vision, but the girl remains steadfast. It is a bluff, but one that is backed up by the support of backup coming to their aid.

With the gun held outwards, Alina aims it at them, but doesn't fire. "Get out of here." She nearly snarls, barely containing that anger that is threatening to consume her. Even so, it's still kept leveled across, mostly at the Rasavatam, ready to fire should they decide to continue this fight.

The Nightingale starts to move in after the missiles are deployed. The ammo count depleted to zero for the missile launcher as Remille glances up to it. The female frightener types in a few commands and on the outside, the missile launcher could be seen sparking before it is suddenly dropped off.

Now the Nightingale itself can be seen even moving faster then before with the light payload, and it was moving in fast. This allowed the Armored Core to quickly avoid the incoming attacks from Russel as it darts about across the surface.

Soon the Armored Core slides along the ground aiming both machines guns at the remaining targets. Remille was ready to open fire, but for now she stood by the Orbital Frame that was remaining. There was no reason to waste bullets if the next person in charge wasn't opening fire.

Huang realizes this is a misunderstanding, but tormenting Arado is something he doesn't often get the chance to do. He watches the DC units withdraw, putting his mind on business for a moment or two. "Agreed," he says, the Rasavatam lifting off. "I'm in no shape to take on a battleship in this thing - let's get moving."

Two minutes later...

"Boy, that guy seemed angry," he chirps. "I didn't realize banging your sister made a guy so sensitive."

"Huang, I swear to probably nonexistent God," Arado groans.