2011-05-05 - Theft at Onogoro

 Duo Maxwell transmits, "Hey, so, how much d'motorcycles usually run? Th' wheeled ones, I mean, not th' hoverin' ones or the ones that turn inta robots."

 Shirou Manora transmits, "Depends on the brand!"

 Shirou Manora transmits, "And how many bits you've attached."

 Ernula transmits, "MMmm~..." "On average, 20-30 thousand?" "They're not too expensive."

 Duo Maxwell transmits, "20-30 /thousand/?"

 Duo Maxwell transmits, "Man, stealin' this crap's so much easier..."

 Ernula transmits, "Well, that's for the new ones." "The fancy new ones."

Morgenroete had contacted Macua via a letter from the CEO of all thing telling her a certain joint project with Haran Conglomerate and The Brazilian Government had been finished. Well it would be ready in the morning Macua had been surprised to get a letter from Mina on the matter, but she realised it was a good time as any with the basic loss of the Amazon Gundam MKII at the hands of Dr Hells minions.

Macua had been spending the night at Morgenroete there'd been some quarters for her and she'd been sleeping pretty soundly at this point. She had no way of knowing there'd been a leak, not even Mina at least right now was aware of the leak.

That would change in a matter of moments as several explosions shatter the quiet at the military shipping port on the island, at first it was unknown who it was. It could have been anyone. Rival Corps such as Crest, the A-laws, Alpha Numbers or even the DC given the people Morgenroete dealt with they could have a number of enemies.

There was one clear thing when Macua bolted awake someone was attacking but it was a question of who and why, she bolts up in her bed and makes for the door knowing shes not going to sit around they got to have something she could use even an Astray would be better than nothing.

 Seril Vaskell transmits, "..Yes, I'll do it.. ...This is the Divine Flame! I'm taking part in the attack!"


 * KA-BOOOOOOOOOOOM*

The cloud of fire rises into the sky. The explosion is big, obvious, and definitely centered on the Morgenroete facility. It's attention-grabbing. It's...

"Perfect."

Sam Flynn steps back into the open hatch of the Armored Core NEXT, dropping bodily into the heavily-padded pilot's seat. It retracts deeper into the torso of the mech, the opened hatch flipping back upwards and sliding smoothly together into the multilayered armor that makes up the cockpit hatch. The optical sensors in it's head glimmer and then glow, burning an emerald green as the bronze machine takes to the sky.

"This is Flynn," he transmits. "Thank you, boys and girls, for your participation in tonight's festivities. Our objective is to punch Morgenroete in the kidneys as hard as humanly possible, bloody their nose on the way up and out, and, as a personal objective, grab a particular Gundam and the research data about it's interface equipment before we take off."

Insolent fires another volley into the edge of the compound and then drops it's handheld missile launcher, letting the spent piece of disposable equipment tumble to the ground far below. Sam grins. "Make a mess, but leave the prize intact. Good hunting."

 Samuel Flynn transmits, "This is Flynn. Thank you, boys and girls, for your participation in tonight's festivities."

 Samuel Flynn transmits, "Our objective is to punch Morgenroete in the kidneys as hard as humanly possible, bloody their nose on the way up and out, and, as a personal objective, grab a particular Gundam and the research data about it's interface equipment before we take off."

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "Hey, Morgenroete is one of the suspects of trying to get BAHRAM information. This is a good time as any to check their records."

 Remille Fortner transmits, "Understood."

 Samuel Flynn transmits, "Good, glad we could have conveniently similar objectives."

 Samuel Flynn transmits, "With that in mind, make a mess, but leave the prize intact. Good hunting."

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "Any details on the 'particular' Gundam?"

 Samuel Flynn transmits, "Yeah. It's a Mobile Fighter-Type; probably the only one at the facility."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Samuel Flynn transmits, "Model number is gee-eff-fourteen-dash-fourteen-enn-bee."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Morgenroete and their darn numbering systems."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Samuel Flynn transmits, "Theirs is kind of weird, but that one at least follows the precedent for Gundam Fighter suits--uh, nevermind. Point is, Gundam, Mobile Fighter, probably going to have minimum armaments."

-My Divine Flame...-

Seril had agreed to join this operation, but on the trip to the Orb Union, had begun to have doubts. With a small frown, the girl stands before the dormant Yatagarasu in the hanger, a small frown on her face. Why is she doing this? What is the god trying to do? Her conversations with Ascian run through her head over and over, but the girl just can't figure it out. A voice echoes in her mind.

-You are my Divine Flame.- -You are mine.- -I cherish you.-

The young girl tilts her head up, narrowing her eyes slightly. Tears well up in the corners of those big blue eyes, and she quickly blinks them back, bowing her head and shouting, "..Alright..! I'll go!"

In response, the Yatagarasu's golden eyes suddenly light up, even though the machine has nobody inside it.

Moments later, Seril has climbed into the machine, its back plates sliding closed and its dark figure rising. "This is the Divine Flame. I'm taking part in the attack!" As the machine moves into launch position, Seril spreads her arms inside, her eyes drifting closed. Her voice is low when she speaks, below the range of the radio, "Yatagarasu... Protect me... Open your eye!" A thin red crack appears in the chest, rapidly growing to reveal a pulsating crimson gemstone with the vague appearance of an inhuman eye. Temperatures spike, and the Yatagarasu is hurled out into the night sky as a glowing projectile.

In midair, the godmachine twists, extending spars from its shoulders. These rapidly deploy a set of black wings, the feathery edges pulsing with a sinister violet glow of negative magic as it descends towards the Morganroete facility.

Inside, Seril's timid exterior has given way to an excited grin that bares one of her fangs, "So we're here to steal something? You'd better not care about anything else! This entire island will burn by dawn!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Seril Vaskell transmits, "If we're here to steal something, you'd better not care about anything else! This entire island will *BURN* by dawn!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Seril, don't overdo it. There are potential innocents on the island."

The dark blue, near black Armored Core stood in the background as the explosion went off. The red lens flickered softly as deep within the core the female pilot of the machine watched the fire work show from a safe distance. Her raven black hair seemed to absorb what little light was within the cockpit of the Core. Her nimble fingers flew over the touch pad keyboard that shinned with gentle yellow against her hands.

Five screens showed information; the largest screen being the center which showed the objective building zoomed in at max that the Core's optical sensors could go. The sensors were set to night mode, thus everything had a gentle green look to it. Thankfully the computer on board was quick to adjust if it had too.

Her orders came over the radio, before she set the last coded command in. "Understood." She replied calmly. Those sapphire blue, cold eyes then locked on the screen before a flicker of light shined over her glasses.

The dark Armored Core; the Nightingale; was on the move toward the object, but coming around the flank side. No thrusters; optical lens dimmed. Remille was going to march her Nightingale in close as she could without being detected.

Training. Well, it was as good an excuse as any for Alina to get out and stretch her perverbial 'wings' away from the Argama. At the very least, she'd been given a new unit, which had thankfully gotten her out of using the mass-produced Hizack she'd been training on up until recently. Unlike Macua, however, she's sitting awake, legs propped up in the cockpit of her incredibly hard to spell Ootsukigata, a book in her lap.

The young framerunner's memories still hadn't returned, at least not to any significant extent, so she had little choice but to use her piloting abilities for the good of Katharon, since she did kind of owe them her life afterall. Her head moves from side to side, obviously grooving out to some sort of music. At least, that is until the sudden explosion shakes the ground. "I didn't know there were explosions in Phantom of the Opera." She murmurs to herself, plucking out one ear-blud and looking at it oddly. Then, she flips the music off, listening to the sounds outside.

"Fire dancer. This is Mistwalker, sounds like we have some trouble. Do you copy?" The pale haired young woman taps the controls, "I'm in the hangar. I'm going to launch and take a scout around the facility," Obviously she is looking towards the Brazilian as her 'commander', which isn't all that surprising as she largely owes her ability to fly as a Katharon pilot to Macua. "Should I engage hostiles?"

Even before she finishes asking the question, Lin is already powering up, the cockpit closing in on her as she tugs a helmet down over her forehead. Alas, it isn't a trace suit unit, so no sexy skin-tight outfit. With a tap of a few keys, she engages the thrusters, the 'gata hovering for a moment in flight mode before launching. The mobile suit takes one quick survey around the facility before landing on a rooftop, transforming into combat machine mode even as Lin begins to track her gun across the skyline, looking for a target.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Samuel Flynn transmits, "Yeah. Avoid civvie casualties."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Seril Vaskell transmits, "Glk..."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Seril Vaskell transmits, "--Why the hell did you bring ME then!? Yatagarasu's got the surgical precision of a chainsaw!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "The island is big. Just center your attacks on the center of the base."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Seril Vaskell transmits, "Alright."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Remille Fortner transmits, "Moving around flank side of the base. Attempting to sneak in. Radio silence may go into operation."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Remille Fortner transmits, "Moving around flank side of the base. Attempting to sneak in. Radio silence may go into operation."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Samuel Flynn transmits, "Because I asked for /volunteers/, that's why. Keep 'em busy, we'll have plenty of people shooting at us!"

There was actually some extra interest in this operation. After the invasion of Crest Units on ACEMOS - which was part of the A-LAWS, but you know how BAHRAM is with intel - that company, along with Morgenroete, have actually been added to the list of 'companies we suspect may be trying to steal our information'. When the Divine Crusaders put a public plan on board for invading their territory, BAHRAM grabbed the plan with both hands and sent Lieutenant Ascian Luddite, part of the BAHRAM Space Fleet, to join on this mission.

And that's exactly why, currently, the Orbital Frame Phoenix was seen flitting across the sky towards the Morgenroete. Thanks to the Orbital Frame anti-detection systems that tend to automatically be included, it did a fantastic job at being unnoticed until the last moment. Helping in that fact was a little thing Ascian had been doing a lot recently. He'd stuck the frame into the armor of a LEV. Sure, it looked a bit larger than your average Phantoma II, but otherwise it was almost indestinguishable!

Within moments, just as Alina's unit comes out of the hangar, a gigantic unit suddenly crashes down in front of her unit and steps towards the right. Obviously, it is almost as it hadn't seen her. Or was it perhaps, because she was in what looked to be a mass produced unit, that the pilot of the LEV was ignoring her? But then, LEVs are normally EFA or A-LAWS. And it was /not/ sending out /any/ IFF signals.

It continues to pace along, walking towards one of the main buildings of the Morgenroete facility. There is a Control Tower in the distance that the LEV is clearly walking towards. Was it here for defense reasons? Though this was obviously /not/ an Orbital Frame, Alina might get a strange feeling from it. Not through any true psychic means... but something about the pilot within might just resonate with her.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Seril Vaskell transmits, "I only went because... Alright! I'm very good at being noticed!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Seril Vaskell transmits, "Just send me a picture of the building you don't want me to blow up, please."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Samuel Flynn does so, from multiple angles.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Seril Vaskell transmits, "Right!"

It's not all that often that the Valstork stops over at Orb, but their business has brought them to the islands which used to be the political focal point of the movement which eventually became Katharon. And for all his uncertainties about Orb's current political state, and assorted business which may or may not still be hanging, Kazuma Ardygun is actually getting a fairly sound night's sleep.

At least until word comes through of a big-ass explosion at Morgenroete. The words "get to the Valhawk for immediate scramble" wake him up faster and more efficiently than any quantity of caffeine ever could, and Kazuma just starts pulling on clothes as he's en route from his bed to the door of his quarters, getting himself most of the way presentable even before he's in the corridor - and freeing his limbs up to run towards the hangar. He's actually there *before* Mihiro is, which is pretty rare.

But Mihiro quickly shows up as well, and although she looks like she should still be in bed (seriously, who pilots a combat unit in their pajamas?) she's clear-headed enough to do her share of getting the Valhawk warmed up and dealing with the important parts of the pre-flight checklist. Soon enough, the Valhawk is in the air and headed for Morgenroete, with Kazuma paying attention to the IFF display and not just relying on Mihiro's reports ...

It'd been about a week since Kira Yamato had met up with Macua Huitl and Garrod Ran on Onogoro island, and since then, his until-then-normal routine had altered significantly. He'd spent even more time watching the news reports on fighting in different parts of the world, and had even started almost living in the secret bunker inside the mountain behind the beach-house where he, Lacus and others moved to after the events precipitated by Yazan Gable, allowing Kira to return to his normal self, save a little memory loss.

He'd gone so far as to begin fiddling with various systems on the ZGMF-X10A Freedom Gundam, while using the connections to the bunkers systems to also monitor activity on the Island. Learning from the experience of Heliopolis... When there's a war going on, expect to be involved in it at some point. Going with this philosophy in mind, Kira always wore his flightsuit while working on the Freedom, just in case anything really /did/ happen... And, as luck would have it, the war decided to drop itself on his door-step tonight.

"Lacus..." He says softly to himself as the face-plate of his helmet drops down as the Freedom's systems read all green, and the mountain-launch-tunnel opens. "Kira Yamato, Freedom... Launching!" Kira adds to no-one in-particular, before pressing his feet down on the foot-pedals and increasing the Gundam's thrust to maximum, blasting out from the mountain and heading for the disturbance at Morgenroete, scanning for friendly and opposing forces.

Macua Huitl comm goes off as she's running and she replies to Alina. "I hear you, I heard the explosions and all I know is someone's attacking us!" She keeps running she's just in a tank top short and quickly thrown on boots there's really no time for anything else. Reallyshe's now making for the hangers hopefully they can figure out who it was who is behind it. Still things don't feel right a she's running for the hanger it's bad though the DC's already making a large mess not that she knows it's them some security personel are already responding with Astrays and musrasames but given the calibure of the attackers they may still be in trouble.

Morgenroete's defense forces scramble. Insolent, the airborne Armored Core, scans the area to get an idea of their force composition and the base layout. A green wireframe appears over Sam's heads-up display, night vision equipment giving him a clear view of what he's facing and the frame helping to differentiate enemy combatants from the darkness around them.

"Alright. Lets do this thing." Flynn grasps the controls firmly with both hands, guiding the bronze AC into a higher altitude. It ascends from it's skimming height above the landscape, shooting upward and nimbly avoiding fire from ground-bound units. The Hitman machine gun in the mech's hand spits fire, the rounds tearing into a Murasame before it can really get off the catapult. He ascends further, closing in...

...and then breaks into a dive, heading straight for the experimental unit hangar. The booster on the back of the NEXT shoot it forward in a bee-line for the hangar door, the path kept clear by virtue of nobody being dumb enough to get into the AC's way. Two black spheres drop out of it's boxy shoulder weapon and then fly alongside it, the remotes firing blue continual beams and spinning to cut a neat hole in one of the doors--the one, conveniently enough, that he was aiming to ram right through.

Sam apparently isn't too worried about the scrambling defense force. He has people with him with larger, more obvious weapons to draw their fire.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Remille Fortner transmits, "Flynn, do you require someone to watch your back or does someone already have your six?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Samuel Flynn transmits, "I'd appreciate the cover--going for the prize /before/ we level the place."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Remille Fortner transmits, "Understood."

Just as her unit is scanning across the horizon, following the incoming motions of a couple of units. Focusing her eyes, she seems just about to fire the huge sniper cannon mounted on her unit when the other unit blocks her view. "What the?!" Where did that thing come from? Confusion causes her to draw her hand back from the trigger, even if the tension in her body doesn't ease at all. The good and bad thing about having swiss-cheesed memories is that things you should recognise are totally unfamiliar. Not only does the amnesiac framerunner not recognise her brother's unit (which might have been hard to do anyways), she doesn't even recognise the disguise as a LEV.

For a moment, she watches as it seems to ignore her, moving towards the control tower. There is something about it that draws her attention, making it impossible for her not to track the movement, or even draw her eyes away. Then, a thought. "Why does that mech seem familiar?" She asks herself, tapping her finger against the flat part of her control stick while still keeping it in the cross-hairs. It has one very large thing in common with her orbital frame - something that Katharon seemed to suspect her because of. Perhaps that alone is enough for her to radio it in.

"Mistwalker to control. There's a martian unit out here, is it one of yours?" There is a moment of silence over the radio, and then a surprised voice, "No. The LEV is transmitting an out of date signal." Lin closes her hand again onto the control stick, which has been aimed right at the back of the walking LEV. "That's what I thought." She murmurs, although she doesn't bother transmitting this much back to control. Instead, she flips channels back to the one shared with Katharon. "I've got a hostile disguised as an LEV." The word 'LEV' comes out as if it is familiar, even if it is the first time she's said it. "I'm moving to engage."

There is a clicking sound as she disengages the safeties, the 'gata not even moving a hair as only the targeting systems hone in on the disguised crusader unit. "Let's see who you really are..." She presses her lips together, and then fires off a blast of energy from the Ootsukigata's massive beam cannon.

The Yatagarasu seems to be taking the lead in this charge, being the first Divine Crusader unit to openly reveal itself. Then again, the Yatagarasu is about as subtle as a freight train compared to the high-speed Insolent or the stealthy Nightengale. The disguised Amenthes is on a whole different level of sneaky that Seril just can't duplicate.

As such, the La Gian godmachine descends on the Morganroete facility as a blazingly obvious heat-glowing monstrosity trailed by those we're-not-quite-sure-what-it-is wings. It spreads its wings and arms, halting the descent about fifty meters off the pavement. Inside, Seril grins, leaning forward. Yeah, "Hello, everyone!" Yatagarasu raises its cannon arm overhead, then swings the weapon straight down.

Magic pulses down the hexagonal barrel, forming a searing sphere at the end of the barrel that rapidly grows, bathing the facility in enough light to fool photosensitive street lights into thinking it's daylight. With a concussive sound, this sphere is launched straight down into one of the main runways.

"I'm in your base, burning your stuff! What'cha gonna do about it?!"

Seril Vaskell: Professional distraction.

With the Valhawk's raw speed, Kazuma gets into visual range of Morgenroete pretty quickly, and Mihiro quickly wakes up further as she starts identifying units. "Divine Crusaders, *here*?!"

"Go figure," Kazuma grumbles - then bites off a curse as he picks up on a silhouette heading inside one of the buildings. "Terrific - Mihiro, hang on tight and watch our thermal regulators, we're gonna be in a tight space and that fire may spread!" Plus if he goes in there after the intruder, he's going to have to try and avoid using the Valhawk's own beam weaponry except *maybe* the Ray Blade ... oh well, he doesn't do this because it's easy or anything.

The Valhawk dips its nose and drops into a power-dive, with Kazuma pulling up about seven meters short of ground level and rocketing into the building behind Flynn's AC, trying to ram it right in the small of the back.

The Frightener hired to the Divine Crusaders moves around the back using her FCS scrambler to disrupt any tracking on her unit as she moves in. The Armored Core then moves itself against the large side of the building before using the scope of the sniper rifle with the targeting sensor read-out to determine if any boogies are in the near area.

As Sam charges in, Remille waited for a moment to soon go in after once she double checks something with him over the radio. The female pilot glanced over at the radar before she inhaled deeply. "..been to long.." she said softly to herself. She quickly flipped a few switches above her head. The Armored Core's optic lens lit up as the machine moved in with thrusters hot. This is about when those sapphire blue eyes went wide, "Flynn, five o'clock!" She barked out over her radio as the Valhawk went in to ram Flynn's NEXT.

The Nightingale then went into action, sliding past and quickly in before the Valhawk power dived in. It was close fit, but one she knew how to maneuver around. Those thin metal feet of the Nightingale slid across the floor; sparks flying into the air from metal contacting the floor at such a sharp, hard, turn stop.

The Sniper rifle then lowered and she went to track the Valhawk, though she didn't open fire yet. Not with Flynn in the way.

Within the cockpit of the Amenthes, connected to the outside armorment of the Phantoma II LEV, Ascian is going over some details which the Orbital Frame's sensors are catching. Things are slightly dulled out, but the Artificial Intelligence operation system is quite capable at picking things up and compensating. A nice little indicator is showing just how close he is to the control tower. It's a bit unnerving, not knowing if the IFF signal is still fresh enough, not knowing if you'll get shot at any moment. Hoping that friendly forces didn't accidentally fire at him. The unit continues to clunk forwards, engaging the thrusters now and again to make leaps forwards - in order to speed things up. And each time, at the end of such a bunny hop, the unit would be stuck standing still for a moment. It was no question why ACEMOS and Wyred had so much trouble with BAHRAM and their Orbital Frames. These things were awful!

And things were just about to get worse. Duat just happens to warn Ascian of an incoming shot, when the shot already crashes straight against the thruster-unit of the LEV. An explosion erupts against the backside of the unit, cracking armor and suddenly letting that distinct energy signature of Metatron seep into the area. Well, distinct to any sensors that were actually programmed to seek it out. A slight red glow can be seen underneath the white armor of the LEV - the wings and thrusters entirely fallen off. The unit itself plods fowards, trying to regain its balance, before turning around rapidly to get a visual on what unit just shot it.

Ascian stares for a moment at the mass produced artilery unit. "Guess the IFF signal was old after all." Ascian bites at Duat. "It would appear as such." The A.I. replies. The unit, carrying a big black rifle between its two arms, raises it up. There's a moment that his heart skips. The young man blinks. What was that momentary feeling? He discards it, and instead just concentrates on the targetting reticule before him. he has to align two of them on the enemy, because of the expanded armor still covering the unit. "That was one heck of an impact. I better be careful, and be ready to drop this armor. One more of those, and I may be out of the running /very/ early on." Ascian grumbles.

The LEV pulls the trigger on the large rifle cannon. Red light spews out from the sides of the unit, and a fairly thin, but large beam rushes out from the front end, aimed at the cannon on the shoulder of the Ootsukigare. He hopes to take out its weapon to prevent any other of those rather... painful shots.

Kira Yamato can see the fireballs from the attack on Morgenroete... Seems the opposing force closed in during the early hours of the night, and decided to launch the attack at the latest possible time. Meanwhile, the Freedom's computer has designated friendlies and targets, though he isn't sure what unit poses the larger threat, due to his lack of familiarity with most units other than those of the EA, Zaft and Orb. He lets the computer scan for a few more moments as he tunes his radio to what he believes is Morgenroetes's most used frequency... He hasn't had cause to use the combat radio in quite a while afterall.

"Attention, this is Kira Yamato, how may I assist?" He says as he deploys the Freedom's wings for greater maneuverability as he flies into what the computer has calculated to be the middle of the combat zone. "All friendly forces, I repeat, this is Kira Yamato." Kira states, taking a breath before leaving the channel open to allow for any acknoledgments, while taking aim with the beam rifle at one of the smaller units that his computer has targeted.

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Macua Huitl transmits, "Morgenroete's under attack"

As the shoulder-mounted unit on the Ootsukigata powers down, the light begins to fade from it. It's clear that the force used in that first attack isn't something that can be reproduced at a moment's notice. Luckily, the mobile suit has other forms of weaponry. "Engaging cooling..." Lin mutters to herself, trying to remember the key sequence, but she finally finds it, her hands working independantly as the other turns a hand-held laser rifle forward, the little radar dish on the shoulder of the assault unit honing in even without much effort on her part.

"Cameras." Click. The view zooms in on the spot she'd hit, revealing something that very much is /not/ an LEV and is almost a bit to familiar for Lin. "That is /NOT/ an LEV." The young pilot transmits, "I've got a hostile mascarading as a LEV. It's giving off metatron signatures." Metatron. Lin still had to be exposed regularly to her own orbital frame to ward off the worst of the metatron still flowing in her veins, and somehow being close to it, even if there is no chance she could actually feel those emmissions, it still causes her fingers to tremble. "Shit."

Closing her eyes, Lin forces herself to focus, to keep her mind clear, and to fight against the urges of the metatron in her own system. As her eyes flash open again, she grips the controls hard, aiming the rifle in at her target even as she moves her feet, stepping forward to the edge of the building to get a more clear shot. It's hard to tune out the other destruction going on around her, but something tells her that she needs to keep that orbital frame away from the control tower. "Whomever you are... you picked the wrong place to attack." Gritting her teeth, Lin aims through the targeting sensors of the Ootsukigata and then squeezes off a charged bolt of beam energy. Not quite as powerful as her shoulder cannon, but it should be enough to possibly draw the frame's attention.

Insolent cannot, it seems, go blazing into an enemy installation without drawing all sort of attention and unfriendly fire. Funny how that works.

"I see it, I see it!" Sam practically yells. The Valhawk comes at his back and strikes Insolent to the side of one of the numerous thrusters, pushing some of the armor plating inward. It doesn't yield as readily as Kazuma might have thought; it is apparently a high-speed aerial type, but one with actual armor plating. It might be similar to the Valhawk in that respect--

--since it also reacts /fast/. Insolent accelerates away from the Valhawk and twists to the side, letting the offending limb slip off it's curved frame. It spins and flat-out decks the other mech on the way around, going 360 degrees and then trying to flash-blind the Valhawk's sensors as it's Kojima-fueled Overboost sends it hurtling forward... and then a beam rifle shot passes between the two of them, barely missing both the Valhawk and the Insolent. It speaks volumes that Kira didn't hit either of them, and only missed because the pilot of the AC had a Bad Feeling.

Insolent hurtles forward at completely unsafe velocities and only air-brakes right before the hole in the hangar so he doesn't kill himself on the landing. The Primal Armor flashes as it stops right outside of it and darts in with a quick boost, touching down inside and sweeping his machine gun through the hangar as an almost reflex... except at the Gundam in question.

Sam whistles. "There she is--and a beauty, too. Alright, lets see..."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Tssk, this pilot is good."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Seril Vaskell transmits, "I'll do my best to peel off any enemies you don't want! Nobody seems to want my attention."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "I think the Eenie Minie Murder method works."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Why don't you tear the new unit that just come in to pieces. It looks shiny... so go tarnish its paint."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Seril Vaskell transmits, "Don't we want to take it for ourselves?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "That one? I don't think so."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "But you can try cooking the pilot out of it."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Seril Vaskell transmits, "....Nyu? I think we're talking about different robots, big brother."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits an image of the Freedom Gundam.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Seril Vaskell transmits, "Oh! That one!"

<Radio: A - Trailer Chat> Remille Fortner transmits, "Mister Ardygun, we really should stop meeting in such heinous locations."

Kira Yamato hadn't really expected to land a shot with the beam rifle, considering the speed at which this small machine moves, mostly he just hoped to change the mechs direction so that a friendly unit might land a proper attack... But the chances of that in such a chaotic environment are equally slim. Fires burning, energy beams lighting up the Morgenroete complex and half-blinding people in the darkness... However, he is rocked about the Gundam's cockpit as the machine is peppered with bullets... Lots of bullets.

Whatever weapon that mech is packing, it fires fast and accurately. Damage isn't serious, but certainly enough to make Kira pay attention to it in the future. Circling around the battlefield, he watches the mech stop by the hangar. "What's their aim here?" He asks himself before flying down and taking aim again as he cycles up the vulcan cannons. This mech wants to use bullets, Kira can return the favor in kind.

The Yatagarasu, while harassed by enemy turrets and ground forces, has not apparently drawn the attention of any of the mechanized units. It descends somewhat more, spreading its hands and scattering a wave of searing hot plasma darts beneath it. What vehicles aren't incinerated become caught up in the flash-boiled pavement and mire down when the stone cools around them.

Inside, Seril frowns at the apparent lack of a real enemy. Her whole attempt at attracting attention to keep enemies away from the target didn't work at all. Pout. After voicing her concern, though, the girl is pointed at something else: The arriving Freedom Gundam. "Wow, that one is really shiny..." she considers to herself, "It must be new." That cute, almost surprised look on her face gives way when she lowers her head, baring those fangs of hers, "Time to break it in. Or just break it."

Yatagarasu's wings flare out, and the machine lurches off into the sky in a wide arc that brings it towards the Gundam. She doesn't bother with a greeting at all. With the hexagonal control cannon trailing in a backward orientation, the godmachine simply raises its empty hand. Energy pulses, forming an orb over the palm. When Yatagarasu backwings itself to a halt, it simultaneously clenches its fist over that sphere, then hurls its hand outward, unleashing a shotgun spray of superheated plasma darts at a downward angle on the Freedom. That should get its attention.

Oh yes, this was an Orbital Frame alright. And when the thick red beam misses the opposing unit weaves out of the attack, Ascian quickly decides that this may be something he ought not to try and hide in this battle. A thick bolt of weaponized light rams against the rifle he was holding - overloading it with energy. The LEV quickly tosses it away, but the explosion that goes off besides him is enough to create a big pockmark in a nearby building, and cause his unit to destabalize. The energy-use of keeping up a low-grade shield around the Phantoma II disguise also was not very efficient on the energy side of things.

"Fuck it." Ascian mutters and hits a red button located near his elbow. Immediately, a series of tiny little explosions go off, sending the pieces of armor in all directions - including forward. So Alina suddenly had a large chest piece and parts of the 'cockpit' armor flying straight at her, reveiling the full body of the red Phoenix like Orbital Frame. The chest armor catches her second shot, which effectively blocks the attack, and creates an explosion in mid-air. The amount of Metatron 'radiation' quickly fills the area much more potently, but it is still something that really has little to no effects to the outside world - other than killing some of the more sensitive radar instalations or cameras, which suddenly show nothing but haze as a strong ECM-like signal goes up.

It hovers off of the ground almost immediately upon being freed, stretching its wings outwards and placing them in their proper positions. The right arm quickly deploys and aims straight at the torso to the mobile suit, where he expects the cockpit to be. There's a moment of hesitation... and then suddenly turns that aim down towards its legs and fires a thick series of red beams, before the entire unit turns about and takes off into the air to make some distance between itself and the enemy. No way he was going to get to the control tower before he'd take out that unit and that /pilot/. What was with that pilot?

<Radio: A - Trailer Chat> Kazuma Ardygun transmits, "Hey, it wasn't *my* idea for the Crusaders to hit Morgenroete when the Valstork's docked in the Orb Islands. And this goes a little beyond anyone asking nicely for you to get your friends to get outta here."

<Radio: A - Trailer Chat> Remille Fortner transmits, "Friends?"

<Radio: A - Trailer Chat> Kazuma Ardygun transmits, "Sorry, your *employers*."

<Radio: A - Trailer Chat> Remille Fortner transmits, "hmmhehehe.. yes, proper term. After all, we must make a living somehow and the Crusaders fit the best needs to a means."

<Radio: A - Trailer Chat> Kazuma Ardygun transmits, "Tch. All right, lemme make this an unprofitable outing for ya."

<Radio: A - Trailer Chat> Remille Fortner transmits, "Win or lose. It is always a profit for me."

<Radio: A - Trailer Chat> Remille Fortner transmits, "But go ahead. Perhaps I can teach you a thing about aiming."

<Radio: A - Trailer Chat> Kazuma Ardygun transmits, "You just keep tellin' yourself that, Ms. Fortner."

<Radio: A - Trailer Chat> Remille Fortner transmits, "That I can teach you to aim or that I always make a profit? There is a reason we are called Frighteners, Mister Ardygun. We are the best and we are the most professional about our job. I tend to be kind with you, but tonight..."

<Radio: A - Trailer Chat> Remille Fortner clicks off.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Remille Fortner transmits, "Locked on to the Valhawk unit. Preparing to terminate."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "I trust in your skills, miss Fortner."

While the hit is nowhere as clean as he would have liked, Kazuma at least forces the DC AC to break its stride ... and in the process of maneuvering so that the Valhawk won't crash into anything *else*, Kazuma also gets a better than decent look at a freshly-built mobile suit, one with relatively familiar features. But the quarters are too tight for the Valhawk to stay in Air Force Mode for a protracted battle - and there are other combatants to account for on top of that: another Gundam, this one *not* the mobile-fighter type if Kazuma's gauging it correctly, and more Crusader-affiliated units who are ready to open up on Kazuma and the Gundam.

Kazuma catches one glimpse of Macua legging it for the new mobile suit before Remille's voice on the radio catches his attention. The conversation is fairly short; Kazuma's teeth are gritted by the time it ends, and the Valhawk is in a slightly wobbly hover, nose pointed back towards the hangar door .... and he's got tentative target locks on not only the Insolent, but that sniper as well - Remille's Nightingale.

The Valhawk stops hovering and rips forward, Laser Vulcan commencing fire as he tries to shower the Insolent with coherent energy pulses - and the barrage continues even as the Trailer mobile unit rips back out into the open, zeroing in on Remille to share the wealth.

<Radio: A - Trailer Chat> Kazuma Ardygun transmits, "Macua, if you're listenin' here, watch your ears!"

In the Hangers stands a machine it's paint job unfinished but it seems otherwise completely assembled. It's a Gundam, the V fin gives that away, and it's only been partially primed in terms of it's paint but there's some systems visible from looking at it. Coming from the back almost like wings are a pair of racks for a total of six funnels, the forearms and legs have some sort of guards and there's an weapons rack to mecha scale beside it with a small baton like item and then something interesting. Something that may very well be an Balmarian Optical rifle? But it looks new and not salvaged. Just what is up with that? On the forehead, just above the V fin, is a serial code on it's forehead: "GF14-14NB Amazon CI".

Macua keeps running. It might be possible to make it as Kazuma and Kira distract the Armored Core.

This is not to be. As she enters into the hanger, Sam opens up sending a spray of fire everywhere. She's forced into an all out run just trying to keep ahead of the shots as she goes she's forced to flip as she gets near the gundam. Flynn would be more than able to see this as she's made it to the base of the machine and is now yelling.

"OPEN HATCH!"

Has her voice commands been loaded? Nothing happens for a moment. Then the hatch opens! Macua then leaps into the opening cockpit; no small feat, but she's in. it starts to seal. she strips her clothing quickly and gives the activation command.

The Ring starts to drop as the Gundam starts it's boot up, The Trace suit material is pulled over her body while the systme does a health check and on the boot up screen Macua is suprised to see some of the data listing for weapon systems.

Geist Blow online Optical rifle Online, Funnels Online, Melee weapons ready.

Macua then felt the odd mental sensation as the machine links mentally to her.

The machine isn't moving at first, but without much warning - the green optics light up and it starts to move. Also rising out of the floor is a harness for Macua so she'll not be pinball about. She gets into it and secures herself.

The machine's moving still now and it reaches out for the strange baton on the weapons rack. It's hand grabs it and the thing starts to expand. Anyone who ever encountered Adom Nazir would know what sort of weapon it is as it unpacks into a full sized spear.

The now mobile Gundam looks at the AC.

"I don't think this machine is yours, now you can run with your men. Or I can show you all how to dance, what's the choice going to be?"

The Gundam fluidly drops into a ready stance with the spear at the ready.

The sudden explosion of armored parts coming in her direction is enough to cause Lin to quickly shift her mobile suit's other arm, shielding it from the worst of the debris. Unfortunately, it isn't the flying bits of metal that cause her the worst problems. Without the shielding offered by the AI of an orbital frame, and with such a sensitivity to metatron from being on an enforced detox from it, the sudden wave of it is enough to stun her momentarily. While it wouldn't be enough to affect most things, it seems enough to cause the lines on her arms to glow faintly. Forcing herself to breathe, Lin shakes her head, "Not now. Not here."

The task is easier said than done, though, as she has to force her trembling fingers back around the controls. The hesitation almost costs her, though. As the red beams come racing towards her, Lin shoves her feet down hard, engaging the thrusters and barely catching a hint of the blast on one of the Ootsukigata's legs. It doesn't even seem to phase her flight plan as she follows the other unit. The Orbital Frame is fast, but she seems to be able to keep up quite well, weaving between the buildings of the facility, oblivious to the rest of the chaos going on within.

The urge to ask Macua for a status report is almost too much to resist, but she needs to focus on her own battle, and keeping the Orbital Frame from causing too much damage to the surrounding facility. So, biting her tongue, Lin simply hovers in mid-air for a moment, tracking the Phoenix as it moves, her sight settling first on the back, just along the spine. However, as she squeezes the trigger, something causes her aim to be just a little off, ending up aiming towards one of the Frame's legs instead. "Need to slow it down." She mumbles to herself, as if she needed to explain her actions to herself. It must be the metatron, screwing with her body again. It has to be.

The Nightingale was ready for Kazuma to attack back. After her words on the trailer radio, the female pilot was sure she ruffled his feathers. Sometimes this can play in your favor, other times --

-- It fueled the pilot with the rage they needed to win. Now it was time to see what type of man Kazuma was.

The Valhawk got a lucky break as the sudden awakening of the Gundam caught Remille off guard. It was just enough time for the vulcan shots to slam into the dark Armored Core. The armor took the beating however and none of the plates fell off; she just looked worse for wear now. Those sapphire blue eyes came to gaze over at Kazuma's unit on the main monitor once more. She quickly activated the thrusters and fired a quick snapshot as she sped by the Valhawk. The Nightingale quickly moved over the ground, skidding along the surface with ease. Remille then throttled the controls; slamming her hand hard on one of the sticks.

The Nightingale performed a quick 180 spin on command, before leveling down its sniper rifle once more. Then with it holding its aim, there was a moment of utter silence, before the sniper rifle fired off several shots in attempt to take out the Valhawk's thrusters.

Ascian keeps a close eye on the vid-window that is showing the Ootsukigata, so that he doesn't lose it amidst the chaos of explosions and heat-radiation coming from Seril's Yatagarasu. "Tssk." Ascian mutters as he manages to only hit the leg of the mobile suit. "Isn't that thing a mass produced unit?" He mutters. It looked like one. Duat intervenes; "It's a rare type of build. It's the MVF-M12A Ootsukigata. A long range artilery unit, with shielding and armor." The female voice explains - sounding a bit less metalic than normal. The A.I. has been slowly growing a sense of... personality. Becoming more human. And Ascian isn't sure what to think about it - if this unnerves him, or if it makes him more comfortable. He already had to deal with Amenthes as an entity, now his A.I. was trying to get in on the action too?

Of course, this is a thought that only flits momentarily through his mind. Rising up so that he can see all the buildings better, the vid-window shifts to a heat radar instead, since the enemy unit is using buildings for cover. "This certainly is no rookie..." The young man mutters, turning the Amenthes about to follow the motions being performed beneath, and lets the entire Orbital Frame dip down closer to the ground for a moment. If it was long range artilery, he was better off a tad bit closer. Or so, the logic went. "It's pretty fast for an armored unit too." The young mutters, as the enemy unit ends up ducking beneath him, and manages to get behind him!

"The heck..." The Amenthes turns about and quickly dashes to the right - but the beam was already fired. A fierce and thick beam cuts across its leg, destroying some of the feather-like Metatron crystals, purging and melting them. The rest of the leg just ends up tarnished slightly. "That... movement." Why did it seem familiar? It didn't matter. Or so he trie to tell himself.

The Phoenix Orbital Frame then suddenly spreads its wings! Space between him and the location of the enemy unit begins to compress slightly, and Ascian tightens his hands around the control orbs of the thing, and gets it to move straight along that line. This helps him propel the unit just that bit faster. Sure, it was in no way close to a Zero-Shift, but unwittingly, it is the underlying technology. Within about three seconds, the Amenthes was suddenly hovering right in front of Alina's unit, the Metatron radiation quickly encompassing the area. A red 'glow', like a lit up gasious entity flows off of the unit, just barely visible to the naked eye, as its heightened Metatron density shows its power clearly.

<"Lay down your weapon."> Ascian suddenly speaks, over the speaker, sounding slightly off due to the way speakers tend to warp one's voice. <"This is your last warning."> What was he threatening them for, clearly, they had the upper hand here? The unit then raises its both arms out from behind it, each holding an orb of compressed space - holding weaponized and highly volatile Metatron energy. The red light pulses, and ember-like mesmerizing feathers fall from them as they 'burn'. And without actually tossing them, instead, he punches straight for the arms of the enemy unit, and against engages its thrusters, trying to capture its hands and at the same time crash it into a nearby building.

Okay. Shit just got real.

The Freedom Gundam opens up on him with the head vulcans, stitching solid rounds into the forcefield-like Primal Armor that surrounds the NEXT. Some get through and plink off the armor, but they don't do appreciable damage, instead just kind of making the pilot a bit agitated that he's going to have to fix that up after this, too. The laser vulcans sweep towards it, but the shield absorbs it, deflecting the shots as it dashes to the side and away, just barely.

And then those spheres come back. The blue beam sweeps back past the Gundam and then across the Valhawk, the remote flying back to the docking piece on the back of the AC for a charge. Sam tries to keep track of everything, but the pressure from the system, it's--

"--did that girl just--" Sam sees Macua run past his shots and get into the Gundam. He trains his machine gun on it as it powers up, looking back and forth across the hangar for something, anything... "There!" The Armored Core dashes across the hangar, ducked low, dropping another of it's remotes and sending it high. The Gremlin fires the blue cutting laser and slashes at the lower legs of the Gundam, cutting for the joints, knees, feet, trying to slow it down while he goes for what appears to be a... maintenance station?

Rudely, he does not radio banter. Headache. Deal with it.

The best Kazuma can do is snap-roll, a tight corkscrew which keeps some of the Valhawk's heavier armor in the most likely attack vector if he can't avoid it completely ... and despite a burst of speed as he sees the shot coming in, Remille's attack connects.

And nearly sends the Valhawk careening into the ground, as the beam not only rips through the armor but shreds a couple of vital conduits, explosions shaking the mobile unit as Kazuma and a now VERY wide-awake Mihiro fight to stabilize both their flight and their systems. "Oniichan, should we get back to the ship?" Mihiro suggests shakily.

"Take another look where we are and who's in the fight, sis," Kazuma answers. "This is Katharon's yard, the Crusaders are raising hell, I am *NOT* going to just leave them in a pinch. If we have to pay Macua or somebody back for getting us back to the Valstork, we worry about that later - but this is one time when I'm NOT going to cut and run!"

Not to mention that Kazuma owes Katharon - not in the usual sense, but things he has to make up for. And if he can do that tonight, or at least take steps in the right direction, he's damn well going to.

Mihiro shuts up and works on rerouting systems, compensating for the damage which the Valhawk has already taken, as Kazuma nurses the Valhawk back around, trying to line up a good shot on the Nightingale. Crosshairs align, and he opens fire, a barrage of laser pulses and plasma bolts lashing towards Remille's AC ...

Tracking the Orbital Frame doesn't seem to be the hard part. The Ootsukigata's advanced targeting array has no problems following the motion, even behind buildings and around the combat of others. "He's good." Lin whispers to herself, her hands tense on the controls. She seems just about to spur the mobile suit into motion again when suddenly Amenthes is close, too close! There is barely enough time to pull a shield up, blocking most of the force, but not without taking considerable damage not only to the shield itself, but to the mobile suit's arm.

"Tsss." Lin hisses between her teeth, not from any pain feedback, but from the sudden quickening of her own pulse as the metatron hits her like a ton of bricks. After the enforced detoxification she'd had as part of the Argama, being assaulted with it full force at such a close distance causes her breath to catch a second time. The glow along her arms gets brighter, almost visible through her flight suit, passing so far as to even give her eyes a bit of an odd hue. Gritting her teeth, she watches the display, her eyes cold as they focus on the enemy.

That voice. There is something about it that sends a shiver up her spine, causing her trembling fingers to draw back from the controls. Could it be... "No!" She slams her hands to the controls, a quick movement that launches the assault mobile suit backwards. She had no interest in talking to this attacker, this enemy. She had Macua and the others to protect! They were all she had left without her memories.

There is no response from her, not by radio and not over the speakers. No, Lin doesn't trust herself not to come across as breathless and shakey as she feels. "Last warning, huh?" She mutters to herself, and then thumbs the left trigger, firing off a sudden, close-range blast from what is obviously her longer range weapon. It's a desperate motion, one obviously aimed at trying to cause the Orbital Frame to withdraw from such close confines with her. At the very least, if it doesn't move, the unit is going to take a blast to the face.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Tssk... this pilot... it's as if they're reading my every move..."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Sorry, Samuel, but I need to retreat. Amenthes has taken too much damage."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Samuel Flynn transmits, "No trouble. We can get this."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Seril Vaskell transmits, "Ngh... It's okay, big brother, I'll take care of them!"

Freedom shifts into a hover above the hangar unit opposite the one which the unit identified as an AC stands in front of, while the primary sensors move over the unit and the hangar, the doors of which having been rent by an earlier attack, and Kira opens up with the Picus Vulcans... However, he's only able to fire off a single, medium-length burst at the unit, watching maybe half the rounds get through a small force-field around the unit, before the computer alerts him to an attack from behind...

A rather savage attack that causes the nuclear powered Gundam to land on the tarmac, knocking Kira's helmet into the chair several times due to the sheer force of the attack. "Damn." He curses, shaking his head to clear any stars from his vision before engaging the thrusters and taking to the sky once more, searching for the unit that attacked him. Which is not a hard thing to due to the uniqueness of said unit. "What the hell are you doing here?" Kira calls out, radio off as he vectors for a retaliatory strike, the Xiphias Railguns snapping out into position.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Thanks, little sister."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Seril! Be careful!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Seril Vaskell transmits, "I won't lose!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Just be careful. Your big brother would hate to see you get hurt... or worse."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "I'd be very sad."

Remille's eyes narrowed behind her glasses. She didn't make her mark; she wanted to ground them. Even if the damage was bad enough it almost did-- -- But almost wasn't good enough in the Frightener's eyes.

The Nightingale took a single step back as the energy blade came to life with a bright red glow. The very energy of the weapon started to glow brighter and brighter; some of that energy licking off the weapon and singeing the armor on the top part of the hand of the Armored Core. The Nightingale stood ready as the Valhawk started to open its weapon systems to fire.

Remille in the cockpit hands were steady, even as her Computer flashed the warnings of a lock-on in progress. "..show me.." she whispered gently, "..prove me wrong.." Then as she saw the energy of the weapon systems from the Valhawk glow and shortly after fire. Remille slammed on the controls once more; directing them with all her strength and grace.

The Nightingale leaped back, before spinning around and letting out a massive energy blade wave which slammed into most of the shots that the Valhawk let loose. The two forms of energy met and with the sheer force, they neutralized one another with great explosive power. The Armored Core mean time was on the move avoiding the other shots. The small plasma cannon swung around from the back to come to rest on the shoulder.

With a glow of energy deep within the barrel, the small red light moved side to side slowly. Then as it sped up, it soon fired off a single, short laser pulse right for the Valhawk.

Seril thrusts up her hand in a cheerful gesture when her scattering of darts floors the gundam in just one spread, a gesture that's mimicked by the Yatagarasu as a lifting of its cannon arm in what could be interpreted as a fistpump. She's suddenly asked a question, and the only response Kira recieves for his transmission is the confused voice of a young girl: "Nyu?"

Shaking her head, though, Seril returns her thoughts to the battle at hand. Those wings tuck in, and the Yatagarasu dives down after its quarry, shedding off a series of superheated orbs as it passes by the Freedom. However, the exchange has gone more badly for the La Gian machine than the Gundam, it seems. The impact of those railguns incites a surprised screech from the girl, and as Yatagarasu levels out, it favors the impact site with its unoccupied hand. Inside, Seril frowns. She can't afford to screw around with this guy.

The hexagonal cannon is lifted to one side, panels sliding around until the weapon is flatter than it is wide. Plasma ignites, coating the device in a superheated plasma sheath that extends a significant distance past the end. Weilding this like a beamsaber, the Yatagarasu lunges forward, swinging twice at the Freedom Gundam. The temperature is rapidly rising around this distinctive machine, the edges of Yatagarasu's armor glowing an angry red color.

Inwardly, Seril wonders why Kira asked a question like that. Why would he be so surprised to see her? Have they met before? It's so confusing.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Seril Vaskell transmits, "I'll make you proud of me, just you wait and see!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite chuckles, "That's my little sister!"

The machine is fast, even from a standing start.

"If that is what you wish, then so be it."

There's now way for her to evade all of the attacks. She parries some of the attacks but a few get through. Still the Amazon CI is in action now and it's right hand is starting to have an energy field about it. The spear however is suddenly and without warning compacted into it's at rest state, as Macua comes at Samuel Flynn and his machine.

The field is formed now and she's now starting to punch with it as she does she yells.

"GIEST BLOW!" The weapon system is clearly what it sounds like. Whatever this new Gundam it's clearly got EOT on board and she's not wasting any times with this. She's trying to keep tabs on Lin and her status along with Kira and Kazuma's.

<"Focus on driving them off. The less damage the better to the faculty.">

Ascian is just about to create a second orb and stomp it against the enemy's cockpit when suddenly he halts. A fearful feeling that makes him shudder, remember something he rather not remember. A dream he once had, that reminded him of his far far past. He hisses between his teeth, and realizes immediately that he just hesitated. And hesitation is bad. The enemy pilot, who-ever they were - since they were not speaking, got the better of him. The cannon goes off and strikes directly against the two crossed arms Amenthes manages to move to her chest.

A shield immediately goes up, but the back of her arms are already melted. The Amenthes itself is literally forced back by the sheer force of the beam that is crashing against its shield, and even as it tries to move left or right, it follows the unit. "Tssk, this guy's serious..." He hated this. He just threatened them, and already he is in a worse state. The energy of the Orbital Frame, already somewhat low at the start of this battle, was quickly diving into the reds.

"I have to abort. I can't believe this pilot. It's... almost as if they are reading my every move." Though he wasn't concious of it, for a fraction of a moment, the little thought went up in his head. This was like fighting his big sister, who almost always managed to one-up him in combat skill. The Amenthes keeps that shield up, its very powersource flickering as it ends up crashing into a nearby hangar. And the moment the dust raises and rumble begins to fall, it turns up and fires at the roof and uses this explosion to further hide its quick ascend into the skies and... ends up quickly rushing away. That's right, Alina had just bested the Amenthes in combat.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Remille Fortner transmits, "Status report on current objective?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Seril Vaskell transmits, "I just pulled this shiny robot off of Sam. I'm busy with it, so I'm not sure how he's doing."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Samuel Flynn transmits, "Think I found what we need--"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "You don't sound happy."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Samuel Flynn transmits, "Being shot at--/punched/ at does that, yeah!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "So... it wasn't empty."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Samuel Flynn transmits, "Some chick booked it across the hangar and leapt into it. Whatever she is, it isn't human."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Send an image?"

Freedom's boosters bring it up to the level of the unit which attacked him, looking like nothing he's ever seen before, and Kira thought he heard a cat-like sound come through his helmet speakers. Could it have been the enemy pilot? He has no idea though, as he spares the unit only a passing glance before the Xiphias Railguns open up with twin successive shots, blasting a sizable amount of armor from the machine's left side. "I don't want to hurt you, leave now." Kira calls out, seeing the large cannon the machine wields start to shift into a massive sword. "Fine." He says simply as the railguns fold back up and he stows the beam rifle on Freedom's back, and draws a beam saber before flying forward and attempting to block the machine's sword, before swinging his own.

Things don't work out quite that way though, as the machine's sword all but shatters Freedom's own shield as he charged in, only to be subsequently knocked away... The black, white and blue Gundam tumbling through the air for a moment before Kira manages to bring the spiral under control. "What power..." Kira says to himself as he notices the Freedom's cockpit screens begining to flicker a bit as damage increases. Is that machine really more powerful than the Freedom, or is he simply rusty?

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Samuel Flynn transmits, "Hold on, I--"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Samuel Flynn laser-versus-fist noises.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Samuel Flynn transmits, "--okay, uh--" Beat. A quick burst transmission of Macua Huitl at a full sprint. It's a little blurry. "--there!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite groans. "Adom Nazir."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "I mean... Macua Huitl. The girl I 'supposedly' have a ranch with somewhere in America."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "She's a fairly... capable Gundam Fighter. And she's a NewType. And she was a Balmarian. She's got a lot of stuff going for her. So ehh... beware the funnels."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Samuel Flynn summarizes his feelings on the matter with one word: "Shit."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Seril Vaskell transmits, "So someone was inside it? Should we just blow the whole place up, then?"

There is a look of surprise on Lin's face when her attempt at driving the other unit back does more than she expected. Seeing the enemy retreat, there is a certain strange mixture of feelings - pride, satisfaction, but also a feeling as if something were not right here. Something is very, very wrong. The lingering hints of metatron still show in the glowing lines on her arms, which causes her to rub over them, cursing under her breath as she watches the Orbital Frame retreat. "This... this is Mistwalker. The enemy Orbital Frame has retreated." Oh, if only a certain ship captain could see her now - fighting off one of her own 'kind'. Of course, he'd probably /still/ think this was a ruse of some sort.

"I... I think I caught some radiation off of it. Some sort of EMP pulse or something. It's scrambled my targeting. I need to withdraw." For the first time since being rescued by Katharon, lies linger on Lin's lips, so easily said and with enough conviction that it would be hard to question them. The truth is - she felt strange - perhaps due to the Metatron, or perhaps due to the conflict with the other framerunner. Flipping off her radio, the white-haired girl sits there for a time, breathing slowly. She needed some time to get her head on strait. Definitely. Maybe a vacation is in order.

The Yatagarasu backwings, gaining altitude. The plasma blade covering its arm dissipates, the material literally melting away - As it is, physically, just plasma held in place by the will of the god within. Inside, Seril leans back, the light produced inside her fluid-filled cockpit highlighting her cheeks and casting her eyes in shadow, "You don't want to hurt me..?"

Her voice is low, but not sinister, "...Then go away!" The Yatagarasu hurls its right arm to the side, panels delocking and sliding around to form the distinctive hexagonal shape of the cannon once more. Weaponsfire fills the air around her, and the machine throws a wing in front of its body defensively - Not quickly enough to protect it from a terrible barrage, though. Seril shrieks, thrusting the cannon arm downward blindly. A ball of searing yellow light forms on the end, launching forward.

Whipping that wing back, the La Gian machine hurls its arms back, tucking its wings in and diving at a high speed. A superheated glow forms around the Yatagarasu as it descends, encasing it in a thick shell of plasma that gives it the appearance of a descending comet, "If you don't want to hurt people, you shouldn't be fighting at all!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Remille Fortner transmits, "Orders sir?"

This time, Mihiro is paying attention to the Nightingale - she's actually using some of the Valhawk's external cameras, normally used for docking maneuvers or other tracking, to keep an 'eye' on the Frightener's AC - and it pays off, as she sees the rifle warming up for firing.

And that gives Kazuma the edge he needs to time his dodge - and he takes the precaution of corkscrewing in the *other* direction than what he'd been doing, so the beam just drills into ... well, whatever was on the other side of the Valhawk at that point. Probably just part of the landscape, rather than architecture. Kazuma doesn't like being responsible, directly or otherwise, for collateral damage.

But this also clues Kazuma into something: Remille's machine is designed and optimized, from all appearances, for *ranged* combat. And he does have up-close-and-personal options, even in the Valhawk.

With that in mind, he whips the Valhawk out of its evasive spiral and heads ALMOST straight for the Nightingale ... not quite attempting to ram it, but just to slam past along one side ...

Oh. He also has the portside heat field engaged, so that the wing which is intended to scrape against the Nightingale does so with a sheath of fiery plasma wrapped around it.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Samuel Flynn transmits, "Keep 'em busy, I think I have it!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Remille Fortner transmits, "Understood. Once I am done with the Valhawk, I will move to assist Seril."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Remille Fortner transmits, "Or perhaps not. Nicely done, Seril."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Seril Vaskell transmits, "I told you I'd win!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Well done. Hot cocoa for you when you get back."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Seril Vaskell transmits, "Eee~. ... But we're not done here yet! What else can I do?"

Sam has trouble tracking the quick motions of the Mobile Fighter. This is worrying. He dashes backwards, keeping his left arm up to defend himself. He drops the machine gun in his AC's right hand onto a weapon hangar and starts rushing across the MS bay, gaining speed and approaching a wall quite quickly. Insolent ducks during it's skid, reaching--

CRASH!! The Geist Blow hammers into... the wall? The charged fist sends the hangar wall sailing outward, shattered under the force of the blow. The hand that came at Insolent went right over it's shoulder, barely missing the head and the stabilizers on the shoulder. One of them waggles on the shoulder unsteadily, the breeze from the swipe shaking it almost loose. At the same time, the left hand has stabbed forward, the bright blue-white laser blade igniting and slashing into the Amazon's frontal armor almost on reflex. It's the kind of reaction he needs more of.

"Holy shit," Sam breathes. Half is transmitted, and it is not the half related to sacred things.

Curling the right hand inward, Sam looks at it--and has it. The item in question appears to be the entire chunk of housing for the maintenance hanger's schematics and technical readouts, used to make sure that the experimental units housed within can be properly repaired. It's not quite as good as the unit itself, but it'll do.

Insolent takes off, backing out of the hole in the wall. "Adom Nazir, or Macua Huitl, or whatever your name is--you can just keep that thing." The AC hovers and takes off, backing up at pretty high speed. At the same time, two of the remotes deploy silently, flying upwards and then quite simply slicing the wall up with the cutting beams. The structural integrity weakens... and Sam decides to just let it drop onto the enemy Gundam.

"And you have yourself a nice night," he adds, turning and starting on the way to withdraw.

Kira Yamato knew in the back of his mind that chances were slim he'd be able to evade such a vicious attack after he'd already been knocked for a ringer, but he had to try regardless. Rolling the Freedom over and boosting for the tarmac, he tries to outrun the enemy machine before pulling up at the last minute... Clearly the damage already sustained was too severe for the computer to handle, as the Gundam's movement is sluggish, and the enemy machine barrels into him, latching onto the wings and completing the roll for him as its engines going full-bore, and it drives him into the ground head first.

A wicked impact that shakes the entire area with the combined weight of the two massive machines.

Screens blow out and the lights spark while Kira is thrown around the cockpit like a rag-doll. After everything settles, so does he, hanging limply from the command chair restraints, tasting blood in his mouth... And he can't see a thing in the dark cockpit. The sounds of battle are just /barely/ audible through the helmet and the Gundam.

The Valhawk was no slow machine, but Remille Fortner was trained and raised by a man who was a master of the battlefield.

The female pilot within flipped a few switches. There was a minor hum from the super-charger as it starts to warm up the sleeping power-source. The thrusters just gently showing signs of heat just waiting to be used on the Armored Core's backside and lower legs. Her hands were typing in command structures; even as the Valhawk moved in at ramming speed. There was not much time after all. Remille had to be quick.

The Valhawk went in for the kill and the Nightingale's thrusters came to life. The Armored Core directs itself to play chicken with the plasma-charged wing. Then at the very last second, it ducked down. The Nightingale slid under the wing as the laser blade came to life on the left arm. The blade is then risen up to slice on the passing under-belly of the fast ship.

Once the Valhawk passed over, the Armored Core raised to its feet. Then the sniper rifle came to aim once more. The Sniper rifle was calm in the hands of the Armored Core. The Frightener waiting for just that right moment to pull the trigger. Her index finger gently started to squeeze on the trigger; The Nightingale did the same.

Then with a solid press of the button, the Nightingale fired the shot.

The impact knocks the Freedom sailing, which is fortunate considering the Yatagarasu's descent doesn't stop until it slams into the facility runway, ripping up a crater in a blast of dirt, stone, and asphalt chunks. Rising from the crater, the machine vents jets of superheated plasma in a thin cloud from the vents on its chest and back, the head turning to examine the fallen Freedom Gundam. While Yatagarasu stands over its fallen enemy, Seril cheers inside, "I told you I'd win, big brother!" Directed at the fallen Gundam, she (and the Yatagarasu) points and declares, "This is the power of the Divine Flame! You can't defeat the Sun like that!" The Yatagarasu's chest gem pulses once, suddenly. A ripple of power rumbles through Seril's every fiber, her eyes wide with shock. Slowly, she lifts her hands, staring down at them. They're shaking. Her cheerful demeanor starts to evaporate as the god within the machine begins feeding her on its rage, and the girl whirls about on the battlefield with a roar of defiance. Yatagarasu begins its slow, menacing walk back towards the heart of the Morganroete installation, its cannon arm thrust to one side, a golden sphere of raw heat forming on the end as it walks. Inside, Seril's fangs are bared in an angry frown. -Destroy them, my little flame.- -My Divine Flame.- A crimson color begins leaking into the blue of her eyes, at first staining them a deep violet shade.

Kazuma grimaces as the diagnostic displays indicate the damage to the Valhawk's belly - starting to undo the bypassing and rerouting which Mihiro had done to keep their systems stabilized after the particularly nasty hit earlier. Also, Remille managed to actually *dodge* that attempt to carve open the AC's side.

This is really well short of optimal - but Kazuma's still not about to give up. "Mihiro, how're you holding up back there?"

"Wishing the Crusaders had waited until daylight to pull something like this. Other than that, I'm okay," Mihiro answers. "What else have you got up your sleeve?"

"Full-powered Code: Phoenix sound good to you?"

That brings Mihiro up short, for about a quarter of a second. Then she starts entering commands. "Make this count, okay, oniichan?"

"What do you think I've been doing, trying to relax her into letting her guard down?" sighs Kazuma, then focuses fully on his piloting again. The heat field blossoms around the Valhawk's fuselage once more, this time enshrouding the whole unit in a sheath of fiery plasma, and Kazuma starts maneuvering more grandly - swooping through the air, until the heat field gives the Valhawk the appearance of a great bird of fire ...

And *THEN* he flies in to try and ram the Nightingale, at full speed.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Seril Vaskell sounds much more forceful than before, "This entire island will burn."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Hey now, don't go doing something crazy little sis'."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "We said, the base, nothing else. The innocents don't have to die."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "I'll be very disappointed if you set the rest of the island on fire."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Seril Vaskell transmits, "...I'll... try to contain myself."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Good. I believe in you, Seril."

The battle was growing long a hard. Remille's focus was starting to grow more concerned on what was happening inside with the little 'item' they were suppose to get. Those sapphire eyes however snapped to the main screen to only see the Valhawk on approach again; this time though, it seemed to be one fire.

"... well hell.." Remille said softly as she started to quickly go over her options. She could avoid; however by the speed and velocity, they would still strike. Defend; No, they just ram her still...

The female frightener let out a long sigh. In just less than a second her mind already knew what to do. She aimed down the sight of her Sniper Rifle. Locking the sights on the Valhawk.

Aiming right about where the cockpit would be and perhaps just a tad off.

The shot was fired---

--- And the Valhawk struck hard.

The Nightingale was flown back and slammed into one of the structures near by. The front of the Armored Core was smoking, charred, and partly melted. There was sparks flying off a few of the wires that had been cut thanks to the sheer impact from both the front and from now behind.

Within the cockpit, the alarms were sounding. Remille had her head down, she seemed unconscious; well did, till she reached up and slammed her hand on the console to shut it up. She slowed raised up her head, those sapphire blue eyes staring at the Valhawk like a hawk looking at its next meal.

The Nightingale forced itself to move. The gears groaned, but the machine started to stand. Parts of armor falling down to the ground. "Nice shot." Remille's voice said over the com. Her words were calm; monotone.

The Nightingale took one step, it nearly stumbled but corrected. It then took another step, then another. The Armored Core was walking; not running. The cannon the machine once used, comes back online yet again and sets its sights on the Valhawk. Once more there was a charge and soon a much longer stream of energy pulsed out.

There's a problem with using an attack which entails surrounding your own unit in high-energy thermal plasma when your armor's got holes in it. And while this has happened often enough that the Valhawk's subdermal circuitry has been upgraded and reinforced against thermal damage, it still takes its toll on the systems - and in this case, the thermal stress is enough to throw off Kazuma's evasion, the beam of plasma from Remille's cannon rips along the Valhawk's hull - not its much-abused belly, this time, but searing between the starboard engine nacelle and the main fuselage.

On the plus side? It's not a more direct hit than that, which probably would have sent the Valhawk plowing into whatever was ahead and underneath it.

However, the blast DOES cook off additional armor, and fringe currents from the plasma set a number of control systems haywire, to the point that the mobile unit is visibly unstable in the air now.

"I really am starting to hate losing to that woman," Kazuma growls under his breath as he banks away from the battlefield, keying up an encrypted channel. << Sorry, Macua ... wish I could do more, but at this rate, the next hit the Valhawk takes is gonna be terminal. Good luck ... don't get killed, all right? The Valstork'll be in the harbor until high tide tomorrow morning if you wanna swing by. >>

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Remille Fortner transmits, "The Valhawk has left the area. The Nightingale has taken heavy damage, but still optimal for combat. Do you wish for me to go ahead and set charges for the base, or do you wish for me to assist?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Seril Vaskell transmits, "If the charges don't work, I can help out with my--with Yatagarasu's powers."

Macua Huitl is in a new machine prehaps there are bugs prehaps Sam's just that insane? Who knows But she hits the wll rather thn him. He's fast very fast. She pauses turns and she's noe turning to go after the other machines as she recovers from the other attack. But here he comes again. She blocks with the arm guards but it's a trade off of where she takes damage.

"It's Macua, the lable the Balmarianss used is someone else whose now where she should be." The hanger is just /comming/ down on her and there's no time to get out she's going to have to fight it? Wait fight the building she makes grabs the optical rifle off it's charge point anf firee several shots one handed before using the grist blow to shatyter the section of the roof comming down right on her. There's damage but she has surived as the dust settles there's a green glow from the optics as the Gundam comes out of the ruins. It's still in the fight Sam's managed to flee but there are others who remain and the Amazon CI is turning her attentiont to those who remain. She doesn't say anything, she sees Sam is still active and not quite out of range.

She breaks into a run after the other machine she's not slowing down, her weapons have been returned to their rewsting places and he leaps at the Armored Core. She will attempts to grab the other machine hold it down and just start a close up attack combo. Mostly punches to the upper part of the machine, but several knees are thrown in there and even a kick or two!

Morganroete will not soon forget the day it attracted the attention of the Yatagarasu or its young pilot. Orbs of searing hot plasma are cast from side to side as the godmachine walks, ripping openings in the storage and construction hangers. Not even the control tower escapes unscathed (though it still stands). The grim expression on her face is interrupted by a voice on the radio, and the machine hesitates amidst the fire and destruction it had been causing. Inside, the girl's frown becomes an impassive line. Tears well up in the corners of her eyes, "..I did it again.." She shakes her head, wiping her face with a sleeve even though the fluid-filled compartment has already carried them away, "...He would be sad if I got out of control..." The creeping crimson in her eyes dials back again, though still leaves her irises stained violet. She turns her head at another radio voice, muttering an affirmation. Yatagarasu's rampage has come to a halt, the fearsome machine simply standing there, surrounded by flames and obscured by acrid smoke as Seril waits for the opportunity to assist in the next stage of the operation.

The Frightener watches as Kazuma leaves and sighs closes her eyes for a moment. Remille then places her Armored Core on idle as she unfastens herself and opens up a hatch in front of her chair.

The female pilot than reaches up to grab the headset, putting it on her head, then asks for her next set of orders.

For now, she is slinking down to the lower section and seeing if she can maybe jack up the Radiator like her twin taught her so it would put out more cooling. Last thing she needed right now was her Armored Core over-heating.

She also hope someone didn't get the bright idea of trying to send a rocket at it.

The hammerblows that the Amazon delivers are impressive, but so is the Primal Armor covering the Insolent. The Armored Core NEXT is surrounded by green-white fireflies, will-o'-the-wisps, swirling in great whorls all around the point of impact. The green bubble crackles with white lightning, keeping the Amazon from taking hold of the machine without taking a similarly awful dose of metal-eating radiation in trying.

The last kick drives Insolent backwards, connecting with the torso and crushing the streamlined torso segment right through the field. It's Primal Armor snaps and hisses, flickering and dying--or maybe deactivated--as it pulls a one-eighty degree turn and opens it's larger boosters. The Overbooster fires, launching the Armored Core with the crack of a sonic boom away from the Morgenroete facility, going high, far, and fast, right out to sea.

With... whatever it is it's carrying. Well, he didn't get the robot, and the base isn't lost yet--might be a win for both sides at this rate.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Seril Vaskell transmits, "Are those charges set? I want to get out ... out of this /thing/."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Samuel Flynn transmits, "Aren't any, that's not why we're here. Book it."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Samuel Flynn transmits, "Brought down the building on the way out though."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Seril Vaskell transmits, "...Okay."

Macua knows it would take more than tht to bring down something with Primal Armor hwoiever and she's proven wright. But what she doesn't expect id she's done enough damage to drive them oiff. She's not able to keep up or choses not to as he flees. It could have been worse and she turns her attention to where she can help with the base. It's just one of those nights, she'll be up till dawn at this rate....

Upon a sudden order, the Yatagarasu flares its wings out and shoots up into the sky. It twists in midair, then rockets across the night sky in a spiral pattern, those big black wings blotting out the jet trail behind it. Inside, Seril closes her eyes with a low sigh. She feels so drained, even though she hadn't even been using that much magic in this battle...