2011-04-13 - Road To Jaburo

Road to Jaburo Wednesday, April 13, NCA 121 01:03 O' Clock: Midnight The moon is only showly a sliver of itself.

Jaburo, once a great fortress of the EFA, now expecting a freight-load. Recently a Divine Crusader shuttle on its way to break orbit had been gunned down by the Earth Federation Forces - and a series of Trailer scavengers had been the first ones to find it, dismantle it, and take the supplies on board. And for some reason, they were being rather secretive about the /contents/ of said crate. But, the Divine Crusaders tend to be on top of things. And recently, their intelligence agency has been that much more improved with BAHRAM taking a more active role in supporting earth, now that the war on Mars is cooling down.

In particular, Ascian had contacted the one known as Divada Kirador. He wouldn't tell her just why exactly he needed her for this operation, but he'd told her that it was a rather important thing she would wish to participate her. Enough for him to suggest bringing the Ark Hammer itself down within the atmosphere to participate in this assault. The Orbital Frame he was pilotting, once again, was stuck in the armor of a LEV to hide its presence from any radar that Jaburo may have. Standing silently, and de-activated, the Amenthes within that disguise is standing near the road towards Jaburo...

A set of thick lights suddenly become visible over a hill as the freighters break the silence and darkness of the night. Birds flutter away, and in the end, the only sound that remains is the dead silence of night, and the engines of the four trucks carrying a seemingly precious load. But what could it be carrying? Some escorts had been requested, but those escorts had not been given /any/ details on the contents of the cargo at all.

Although the Valstork is handling a cargo run somewhere else on Earth, the Valhawk is at Jaburo for a couple of reasons - delivering some stuff for the Trailers who make their base camp there, forwarding Blessfield's respects to a couple of individuals of note, and giving Kazuma a chance to visit Macua's family home (and delivering a few things there as well). Admittedly, if Kazuma's spending time with Macua that doesn't give Mihiro much to do.

But right now, the Valhawk is on standby to help receive and escort that delivery, so both siblings are in the Valhawk's cockpit, and the Valhawk itself is in humanoid configuration - or as it's more formally called, Close Combat Mode. They're both hoping that no actual combat will ensue tonight, close or otherwise, but you never know ...

The biggest part of the Ark Hammer is the large ship's uncanny ability...to hide. It's Electronic warfare suite was on full blast to bend any radar or any sort of detection devices from spotting it. Despite the relative suddenness of Ascian asking for her support, despite having just made another delivery to Mars, it piqued Divada's interest. It was a simple convoy, something that didn't warrant the full might of the Ark Hammer to be present, did it? Despite the question in her mind, the Ark Hammer was waiting for Ascian's signal to pounce nearby. However, Divada looked to Miranda as she stood near the helms officer. "This had better be worth it, Miranda..."

Solis isn't immediately near Jaburo. He has little business in South America, except for procurement of certain materials for a certain place...

He looks at the bill of lading, and then peers suspiciously at the vendor, "...its a heat dissipating material correct?" "Yes, Sir, it dissipates all the heats!"

Solis nods, "...I see...I will take it. The funds will be transferred. If your assessment proves less then truthful, I shall intone the seventy point three intrinsic curses of the body electric upon thee and render thus a curse that will make it so your pict-recieving equipment is always out of synch requiring that you manually operate it in order to recieve a clear signal."

"You'll do what?" "I'll put the curse of bunny ears on you if you're lying to me." "...uh, I'll take fifty percent off..." "Excellent!"

Solis turns, heading towards the rifleman in the docking area, climbing the gantry and stepping in when he hears the warning over the vox. Castilla's apparently been watching the reaction augurs from the much disused orbital station (unused since the HXG's untimely end...) and noticed something suspicious...

At the discovery of a potential DC Force moving on a convoy, he mobilizes the Rifleman, taking a few moments to slot the manifold linkages...

Solis has no need of HUDs.

The Road To Jaburo? It's a place that's been hit many times in the past ten years with Zeon's hard on to destroy the base. Still that's not the nature of her being here. She'd been off training and preparing some stuff for training Lin. With that prepared she'd been going. She's picked up a call that something is wrong. Prehaps ot's a feeling either way the Amazon Gundam is riding it's lander unit heading towards the former seat of the Federation government.

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "Miss Divada, you may let yourself be known."

 Divada Kirador transmits, "Right. Miranda, if you please..."

The freight trucks continue down the road, unsuspecting of the fact that they are in big trouble. Sure, the Divine Crusaders had not sent a large group of people. It was, in fact, more like they were testing the newly appointed Lieutenant. The deactivated LEV armor remains on the side of the road, and has kicked down a set of trees a bit further up ahead. The men in the front of the convoy are muttering something about their wives, and how they are trying to support their fourteenth kid that recently got born (don't ask), until they suddenly notice their path has been blocked! The trucks all come to a halt, unable to continue as long as those logs are in the way. Of course, suspecting an ambush, a set of men quickly jump out of the back of the trucks, wielding guns and shouting some things at eachother.

Big lights quickly scour the forest, trying to find any possible enemies. A few native predators stare into the bright lights, then turn tail and run to get away Until finally, someone turns their lights onto the LEV. "OVER THERE!" The searchlight moves up. "What is it!?" Someone shouts. "It's some kind of mobile suit!" - "It's a Gundam!!!!" Someone shouts. But this guy just gets stared at - and gets smacked across the back of the head. "Dude, does that /look/ like a Gundam. Look at that enormous... cock... pit..." Groans commence.

Then shouting, Ascian has noticed that he's been discovered, and the red una-eye of the Phantoma II armor flicks on, turning red, after which the slow machine gets out into the middle of the road behind the logs. Its gigantic rifle is leveled at the trucks, held between two hands. "This is the Divine Crusaders - you have something that belongs to us. Surrender now, and you will not be killed. Resist, and I will open fire and have no mercy on you." The voice is a tad warped through the speakers. Only someone who really knew Ascian would recognize his voice. "You have ten seconds to comply and come out with your hands in the air!"

Duat immediately starts recognizing that a mobile armor of sorts is present, targetting the Valhawk, and indicating it as a possible target. Its sensors remain up, and gives Ascian a infra-red view on everyone present at the moment - quite the advantage when one is planning on combat at night. It even manages to pick up Macua's incoming unit. But he doesn't attack quite yet; "I repeat, put down your weapons and come out with your hands up. You have eight more seconds to comply."

Just as Ascian issues his ultimatum, only a scant few hundred meters above them, a Battlecruiser snaps into existence. Seems this dude in the LEV means business. On the bridge, Divada can only smile. "Perfect jump, Helmsman." She says as she looks below them. "Shields up. Turrets 9 through 16 should be brought online. Begin charging Ion cannons. If they're stupid enough to call our bluff, i want them to know we mean business." Divada then crosses her arms, twisting her personal holo display so she can get sensor readings directly...

Kazuma can't help but roll his eyes at the ultimatum. "Please ..." He thumbs the radio control. "Crusaders, your offer of a chance to surrender is appreciated in the spirit in which it is offered, but I gotta say ... you guys REALLY don't remember too well, do you? Trailers don't take to bein' pushed around!"

And with that, the Valhawk's systems fire up to full power as the lanky machine leaps into the air, converts to Air Force Mode, and heads for the LEV, opening up with the Laser Vulcan.

Because giving hostiles time enough to take the first shot when you don't surrender rarely ends in any way other than 'poorly'.

The Rifleman makes its own way onto the scene, cresting a nearby hill...

He hears the shields long before he sees them and the looming form of the Ark Hammer...

Starships look so much larger now then they used to.

The rifle man shifts slightly as Solis cavitates his wrists, mentally loosening up the firing solution on Divada's ship...

"DC Forces, you no longer fight for the true crusade of Bian Zoldark. I will fire a warning shot, and then attempt to disable you."

The rifleman's rotary autocannons cycle up...and fire at the center of the Ark Hammer.

One barrage won't destroy the starship. Suitable for a 'warning' shot.

Divada rolls her eyes as the rifleman rotates it's arms and opens fire upon them. Of course, the shields of the ship stop the rounds long before they reach the hull. "Well. we can't say we didn't warn them." She then ponders. "load missile tubes 9 through 16 and target the Rifleman." 'My lady?' "NOW!" 'uh...yes my lady!' "FIRE!" Next thing Solis sees is 8 missiles screaming at him....worse, any heat his mech has, only draws the missiles in faster...

Macua Huitl is not seeing, she just knows there are DC in her jungle. After what Haman did? She's got little love and prehaps less mercy for them than she does even the A-laws. Either way the Amazon Gundam is moving in she doesn't say anything at all as she closes. She waits for a moment then strikes leaping off the hover unit right for the LEV disguised Orbital Frame and starts kicking at it while the Amazon is air born and riding on it's trusters.

The Mobile G Fighter starts to drop, but the hover unit moves under it preparing to catch it as it lands and likely to prepare for another attack from the DC mecha or prehaps.

Solis frowns slightly...the mobility of the rifleman is...next to non existant in comparison to the missile barrage. He sets the machine's feet and fires, but his blasts only impact against the starship's shielding... The missiles however impact against his armoring... The Rifleman staggers backwards, and he takes a brief note of the warning klaxons, a fire in an ammunition feed and damage to the hip actuator... Solis switches the control to the medium laser mounts and fires off a quick pulse as he works on expelling flaming ammunition to avoid a detonation.

Oh brother, not this again. "Will you please not make such grande statements without knowing me." Groan. Like this guy knew Divada at all. If there was /anyone/ in the Divine Crusader fleet who still listened to Bian Zoldark's vision, it was the captain of the Ark Hammer. Ascian knew that much. He stares at the small unit which had arrived on the scene, but knows he has to deal with the unit coming /his/ way first instead. "As for you, trailer trash..." He knew that word always had Kazuma going - he recognized the voice;

"That is /our/ stuff. The Divine Crusaders don't like thieves much." The LEV activates its thrusters, and lazily rockets into the air. The lasershots shear across its legs, leaving big marks, but not quite breaking the outer armor. But it seems to get away from most of the damage. In response, it opens its shoulders and rifles a volley of lasers from what can only be described as... shoulder mounted laser vulcans. Fire against fire eh?

The machine lands again, crushing a series of tries. The heavy armor makes the disguised Amenthes much slower, and just turning around takes a lot out of it, and tries to lock on its gigantic rifle - a red glow appearing on either side of the end. But just then, Duat warns him of an incoming unit! The red stream of energy scars the heavens for a moment- seeking out Kazuma's flying unit, before the machine quickly fumbles, wobbling towards the right, and gets kicked against the shoulder - which forces the LEV to almost lose its balance and sends the red beam /cutting/ the air like a sword for a moment before disengaging. That was strange... why had the beam not just gone that straight line like normal? Why had it seemed almost like it had been... continous. Is this a new model of LEV!?

The freighter trucks in the meantime, cannot advance.

Divada watches as the lasers also bounce off their shields. "Mmm...at least he persistant. Oh well." 'My lady. The Titan laser is charged.' "all right. Let's see if we can cut his legs out from under him, Tactical. Fire." One of the front mounted guns turns towards the Rifleman and fires....

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "Miss Kirador, while we are occupying these people, send a squad of soldiers down if you can, to take over the freighters."

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "Or if you have access to grappling hooks, those will work too."

 Divada Kirador transmits, "Defenders 5 and 6 would be perfect..."

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "Send them out, if you would be so kind."

Kazuma scowls, snap-rolling and banking hard away from the LEV's line of fire, trying to zig-zag back and snap off a shot from the Beam Shot Launcher; while he succeeds at dodging, the attempt to swing back around isn't quite as precise, and the bolt of plasma goes off-target, scorching through the jungle canopy. "Did you think of just asking nicely if we'd hand it over instead of going 'surrender or we shoot?" he retorts. "For that matter, have you got a way of proving its yours ... and finally, mind telling me why we'd CARE?! You Dimwit Crusaders haven't been nurturing much good feelings in the Earth Sphere, trying to drop colonies and raise hell all over the place - oh yeah, and speaking of hell, *the mad Doctor is still on your side* last time I heard!"

The Valhawk loops back around - and goes into a powerdive, trying to ram hard into the LEV's back. Hopefully Kazuma can nail what is usually a blind spot on most mecha ... although he's somewhat dependent on Macua holding the pilot's attention if THAT'S going to work. Blind spot or not, though ... ramming speed.

 Miranda Helmsley transmits, "Defenders 5 and 6 are loading up, my lady."

The rifleman stands resolute as the blasts smash about it...

Solis continues pouring on the fire, seemingly pointlessly as Divada opens fire...

At least any fire coming his way isn't going somewhere else...

Solis narrows his eyes, flicking open an open comm as he begins to broadcast in harsh machine cant...

Its a curse, a machine curse. Its possible it might do nothing, its also possible that the curse actually includes an electronic warfare structure to it...

To add injury to insult, the Autocannons cycle up again, blazing away at the far distant Ark Hammer...aiming for the weapon systems.

The Ark Hammer's shields still take out many of the rounds before a few hit the armor of the ship. "Hmmm....like I said, he's persistant. all right, load up the heat seekers again." She says without too much drama. "Fire." 8 more missiles streak towards the Rifleman, looking to make him go boom....

Macua Huitl is trying to deal with the LEV she's strikes out against it and she's dropped back on her lift unit she now looks at it for a moment.

"Tch, Better their hands then yours I know how the Crusade really behaves I seen what they are first hand and felt it!"

The amazon Gundam is now going after the LEV again just this time with it's fists. Macua's got very good at getting air time in this thing from the looks of it.

"Get out of our jungle. Get back to space that you worship so much."

Prehaps she's not relised who it is but her feelings on the DC as a whole are very honest.

The LEV is slow. Its thrusters activate, scooting a bit to the left, crushing some plants... the exact trees set alight by Kazuma's machine. It is almost as if it were trying to put out any possible fires. Another odd thing; this Divine Crusader almost seemed like... well... he /cared/. "Hey, it never hurts to ask. I don't have any proof, because they took off the tracking beacon, but I can tell you its contents." The LEV then rocks up into the air for a moment, blue thrusters burning severely to keep it somewhat afloat. These things aren't fantastic for combat really. But their armor is fantastic for the amount of movement they still can get out of things.

"And last I remember, the last Colony Drop, we helped prevent. We didn't condone of anything Haman Karn did, and we still do not. There is a reason we tried to have her outright killed. As for Dr. Hell - he is much more important to this world than what you know." Or even Ascian truly /knows/, but at least he has a mighty good gist from what he's heard on the radios. Those Mykene don't seem like mightily nice fellows.

The machine tries to lift its weapon towards Macua's unit, which is indicated to be closest to him at the moment, and uses some strangely accurate maneuvering to get away from her. Some that almost seem to defy gravity. But after the maneuvering stops, the unit begins to level its weapon to her machine... then suddenly. CRASH! Ascian had lost track of the Valhawk. Kazuma's plan had succeeded perfectly. A thick crack is caused to open in the back of the armor, shattering, and sends the machine plunging towards the trees beneath.

With heavy use of the thrusters and its feet, it lands perfectly however. But those with good measuring tools, might notice a small spike of what would be identified as Metatron radiation. Was this like the Vic Viper, a modified Phantoma with Metatron within? Ascian gets the machine to veer around: the shoulders open, and a sudden spam of beam-missiles fly forth. That is, missiles trailed behind by red beams of light. Lasers that seem to home in on the ends of these explosive projectiles.

And they go flying directly for the Valhawk, which had managed to do damage just now. Like some kind of Itano Circus, they flail around in the sky, somewhat easily visible. "I don't worship space as much as you worship earth, /Adom Nazir!"

The remaining blast strikes in at the Rifleman again, searing off its left arm and setting the torso ablaze as the ablatives begin to melt off...

Solis watches as more and more systems go dead...

The last of the AC/5's ammunition ejects to avoid a core explosion...

"Batteries are out, ammunition out..."

He looks at the Ark Hammer, with no working hip actuator he'd be incapable of doing any additional damage and his weapon systems are out...

He frowns, and moves to disengage... realizing he can't even signal why as his radio antenna went up with most of the rifleman's head...

Divada watches as the Rifleman begins to limp away. 'My lady? should we finish it off?' Divada holds up her hands. "no. We've done enough." She says before tapping her ear piece. "Defender 5, Defender 6. You're clear to the target. Get the cargo." 'Yes, my lady'. Both gunships fly towards the cargo trucks and transform. one in front of them, pointing a huge gun at the trucks, while the other starts to look for what they came here for...

Somebody once observed that something like ninety percent of warfare is boredom while the remaining ten percent entails trying not to get killed.

According to Kazuma, even that ten percent or so of 'actual combat' tends to break down into 'maneuvering for the next attack,' 'waiting and watching for the enemy to react,' and 'doing your damnedest not to get blown out of the sky'. Such is the case here: he got a nice solid hit in on the LEV's back, and had a couple of seconds to play with before two things happened. First, the Valhawk's sensors went 'hey wait that's Metatron radiation' and displayed an appropriate message on both his and Mihiro's HUDs.

The other thing was that the sky is suddenly full of laser beams and missiles which all want to get up close and very personal with the Valhawk. So Kazuma now has the unenviable task of trying to dodge a skyful of damage while simultaneously digesting the sensor readout.

Neither task goes terribly well, really - the Valhawk winds up getting hammered by the homing laser onslaught, and while it's still highly flightworthy, it's going to need repairs after this.

"Somebody stuffed Metatron in that thing?" Kazuma remarks as he stabilizes the Valhawk. "No wonder this is goin' so ... weird ... wait, why would anyone install Metatron in ...."

He falls silent for a brief moment.

"Mihiro, start scanning that thing as thoroughly as you can, and compensate for any interference from the metatron radiation," Kazuma says quickly. "This guy is hiding at least two things and I'm not sure we're gonna like either of 'em."

"Roger!" Mihiro answers, audibly somewhat tense but keeping herself from getting too worried, and sets to work. Kazuma, in the meantime, comes around for another strafing run on the apparent LEV, Laser Vulcan and Beam Shot Launcher firing in staggered syncopation.

 Divada Kirador transmits, "Rifleman is withdrawing..."

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "Good. Give me support fire, open fire on the Amazon Gundam."

Macua Huitl says, "The crusade enambled her madness long before they could have stopped her. If I remeber only Ringo had the spine to actually try and /do/ something about Haman."

She doesn't seen happy and wait she knows who this is. She doesn't seem to be in a reasonable mood however. She knows what's comming - she doesn't even snark about it - hell it's like on some level she's aware of the Mykene's arrival someday.

She does seem to make use of Gravity both as a weapon and a help. It seems The Valhawk has got a good hit in. While Macua is holding on the ground and what seem to be plasma vents for a moment come out of the back of the machine before it over charges it's wrist blasters and open fire on the LEV. Wait metatron in a LEV but the only one she knew of was the Viper. It only used an orbital frames power plant and some space compression pockets. What the heck was this?

 Kazuma Ardygun transmits, "All right, here's a puzzle for you guys. What kind of LEV runs on Metatron?"

 Juku Reimaru transmits, "They don't."

 Kazuma Ardygun transmits, "This one does, near Jaburo - and it hits like a freakin' truck that got up to walk and punch and shoot stuff ..."

 Rhiannon Adams transmits, "Metatron? Is that the crap I detected on huffman island?"

 Juku Reimaru transmits, "So your answer is 'An Orbital Frame disguised as a LEV'."

 Kazuma Ardygun is speaking over the sound of the Valhawk getting hammered by something. "Kinda the conclusion I was comin' to, Juku. Thanks for confirming!"

 Divada Kirador transmits, "all right. Tactical, charge guns..."

As the Defender Mechs begin to remove the cargo from the trucks, The Ark Hammer's turrets turn towards the Amazon Gundam. "Tactical, begin bombardment." She says and the turrets begin to fire on the gundam, keeping it's fire away from the cargo trucks, and Ascian's mech of course...

After the laser-missiles impact onto Kazuma's unit, the LEV uses its thrusters to quickly move through the trees, then goes silent. It uses its movement instead to move along. Within the dark, it's incredibly hard to pinpoint where it is. But for those who have it on radar, it might be moving a bit too smoothly. It would appear that Kazuma is definitely getting the hint though on what this thing actually is.

With this evasion tactic within the darkness, it enabls it to move away from the plasma-wristlet assault and tries to hide itself further within the dark as Laser Vulcans and Beam Shot Launchers rattle off at the disguised Orbital Frame. It sweeps left and right and backwards, before suddenly opening a sudden and unexpected volley of laser-vulcan fire at the Valhawk, before disappearing into the darkness again.

Within the cockpit however, Ascian is panting heavily. It may seem like the LEV is having an easy time, but in reality, Ascian is putting a hell of a lot of concentration into this mission. He knows that the people he faces are great Ace Pilots, and has been able to only outwit them by luck and the fact that they may be underestimating his machine right now. That would not last forever, he knew, and raises the big rifle of the LEV unit. He feeds in some of the Metatron charge, and has Duat help him guide the attack.

"Everybody makes mistakes." Some more than others. "But I am telling you, the Divine Crusaders are not in this for the use of Weapons of Mass Destruction. Those have no place in this world - and should not exist!" Clueless about Project Aumaan eh? Ascian was a prospective ally to Ken, if she'd ever ask his help... if 'those' events were ever to start up. "Disengage, Adom Nazir!"

And after those words, the rifle fires at near perfect aim for the Valhawk, trying to cut into its wings - not the cockpit. This pilot was not in this for the kill!

At the very least, when a rifle THAT big starts aiming at whatever he's piloting, Kazuma is smart enough to DODGE THE HELL OUT OF IT. And while it takes some speedy work by Mihiro and the Valhawk's ECM suite to confuse the LEV's tracking systems ... the Valhawk does indeed dodge.

Kazuma hates to think what that blast must have done to whatever it actually *did* hit.

"Y'know Adom Nazir doesn't really exist as a separate person any more, right?" Kazuma interjects, changing the subject. "That's someone very, very important to me. Adom Nazir just happens to have gone from being a false identity to a true piece of the girl who was made into her ... but I've accepted that about her. And it makes her even more precious - because how many people do you know who could come through something like that, break free on the power of their own will plus a couple good punches from a well-meaning boyfriend, and *make it part of their own strength going forward*?!"

He'll get back to the other question (or not) when he has the leisure, but for now ... Adom may be the Fire Dancer, but Kazuma knows how to make the Valhawk *truly* dance in the sky - and he does that now, the sleek white-and-blue machine spinning and twirling, too precise to be out of control, and utterly defying conventional wisdom of aerodynamics and the principles of flight. Right-side up, upside down, sideways, backwards ... he puts the Valhawk's maneuverability to its fullest use, trying to defy Ascian's targeting while showering the apparent LEV with beamfire from a range of angles.

When the beam misses, the unit engages its thrusters and quickly back into the forest. However, it appears that Kazuma has a great lock on him. "Shh..." Ascian bites bites lower lip, and engages the thrusters. Knowing he's been locked onto, he sends a volley of vulcan laserfire into the air, whilst moving the LEV at impossible maneuverability - though the thrusters seem to be moving in perfect synch. Those things just don't quite have the output that this thing is putting out! And since when are LEVs known for moving /sideways/!?

Plants are destroyed as the unit moves, and Ascian actualy does a retrace across the land to use the boot of the LEV to put out any fires he detects on the radar. This was crazy, and Duat was telling him as much. "This line of action is greatly adviced against. Please reconcider your current tactics." It tells him in its metalic feminine voice. "Shi~!" He suddenly sees a rock at the last moment, and collides with it. He bites his lip and draws a bit of blood, that has a very slight glow to it for some reason. It tastes weird as he licks his lips.

In the meantime, the LEV cants sideways and with a quick push of its thrusters it hides behind that rock, back facing it, whilst Kazuma unloads more of the Valhawk's laserfire. The rifle comes up slightly, but he's facing away from his enemy. The unit's head turns only slightly, to get a better visual on his enemy. "If this was a real Phantoma II, I'd be dead right now." He was suddenly gaining a strange appreciation for the skills of the rumored B.I.S. organization, which had some ace LEV pilots on board. After all, they managed to take out Orbital Frames for gods sake!

The machine quickly swivels the moment another volley rattles, and Ascian kind of groans as he pushes his will into the Orbital Frame, the A.I. translating it to movements of the armor outside, and the LEV comes out into plain sight again. His gaze quickly flicks to the side, where he notices that the Amenthes is starting to run low on energy. "Time to preserve energy for a bit." He whispers to himself, and uses one of the missile launchers at the back of the thrusters to deploy a small missile that is undetectable to the radar. It is guided however, and has a tiny thruster-signature. Perhaps Kazuma's co-pilot would catch it? Within it was an energy net that would release an electro-magnetic charge that could very well cut out his thrusters, perhaps even long enough that the unit would fall to the ground.

Macua Huitl says, "Tell that to Gato as well. Actually those things have a place. I know far better than what lies outside this solar system! There are things waiting there. And for that we will need them. Adom? I am Adom but I am Macua. That's who I have chosen to be."

Macua has accepted who she was and chosen who she will be. The name however is not her name it's one the Balamrians give her. Still, Red Monk did kinda fit her in a bizzare way.

Kazuma meanwhile gets a bit of a retort and it's in Balmarian who knows what Macua said to him but he certainly got him going on something.

But then comes Divada and she opens fire back at them while attempting to evade. A minor hit but Ascian has got her attention as she lunges at him attacking in a rapid combo of melee attacks upon the LEV? Orbital frame it doesn't matter but it's also clear the machine may be having problems keeping up with Macua.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite tssk... "Ehhhh... damnit. Keep giving me covering fire, miss Kirador!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "Against both of them or just one, Ascian?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Just the Amazon Gundam. One at a time."

The Defenders start 'unloading' the first truck as the Ark Hammer continues to fire on the Amazon Gundam. "Just keep it somewhat distracted." She then ponders. "Concentrate fire upon the Amazon Gundam. make it think twice about ignoring us." All eight under-carriage turrets begin firing upon the amazon gundam.....

"Oniichan! Incoming!" yelps Mihiro.

"What incoming - awnuts!" Kazuma reacts a little too late; the grapple 'warhead' opens up, and the net catches the Valhawk, the EMP causing quite a bunch of the ancillary systems to short out, and the engines to flicker very worrisomely.

Kazuma's immediate response is to cue the transformation to Close Combat Mode, using what thruster control they have left to make sure it's a relatively soft landing. Oddly, Kazuma says nothing at all as the Valhawk leaps at the apparent LEV ...

And starts simply ripping into the machine with not one but TWO Ray Blades, carving away at the armor, and possibly exposing an Orbital Frame inside ... maybe. Kazuma's not sure what he'll find, but he's highly ticked off right now.

"Adom, Macua. It doesn't matter. She is who she is. I learned to know her as Adom, and she is still Adom in some ways. So she remains to be Adom Nazir." Also, Kazuma, he totally saw your girlfriend naked. Blame NewType sparkle-space -- aka, Setsuna F. Seiei and the Trans-AM Burst he unleashed in the middle of Hong Kong. Of course, Ascian doesn't say this. But if Macua was stupid enough to be reading into the emotions coming from the LEV disguised Orbital Frame, she might very well pic up on this very image. For - for a very small moment - that image burns strongly within Ascian's mind. The only Balmarian he'd felt some kind of strange... bond with.

The LEV stumbles a few steps forwards and swings around and hits its thrusters rapidly again, using quick little boosts to break away from the Amazon's path. A series of beams coming from the sky - the Ark Hammer - protect Ascian by providing an offensive shield of sorts, and luckily allowing the heavily fake-armored Orbital Frame to get away. Another burst of the blue thrusters settles the LEV down, with its head still aimed at the Amazon Gundam. "Then why don't you tell us about them. So that the Divine Crusaders may know what they are preparing for? So that a new, true, Divine Crusade may start once again?"

Macua and Kazuma are fighting two of the Divine Crusaders that, if Bian Zoldark were still alive, would be following him to the ends of the earth. Even though Ascian has no particular liking for Earth, he will still defend it. Not as strongly as Mars, since when was his plan just to protect /that/ planet? The LEV backpedals some as the Valhawk then suddenly comes plummeting towards him. "Hey... hey..." Ascian mutters within the cockpit. "Damn, that thing is built sturdily." Now what he do?

Hoping that the force of the previous EMP attack had sapped the abilities of Kazuma's Valhawk, and with it in close combat setup, he continues to retreat whilst lifting that rifle up towards it and... an orb begins to form at the front. Red feathers begin to fall out of the crimson orb of Metatron energy. It was beautiful, in a way, if it wasn't such a volatile and destructive energy! It pulses a few times. In a ways, it was as if a Shadow Angel was making itself known. That was, if Ardygun /knew/ of the Shadow Angels which the Aquarion fights. And then, instead of just firing that orb at him, instead, a thin line primes from the center and the orb deminishes as the thin line tries to cut through the Valhawk's arms and legs like a continuous cutting laser!

With Ascian effectively keeping the trailers busy, Divada simply turns her attention to the Defender gunships on the ground and looking for the cargo. They begin to search the second truck by picking it up and tilting it so it's contents slide into the hands of the second mech. what fun...

The fact that the other Crusader unit is busy picking over the trucks is not entirely lost on Kazuma ... but it's a moment of distraction which costs him dearly.

Fortunately, the laser-like beams don't COMPLETELY sever any of the Valhawk's limbs. However, the damage is bad enough even without that - and might, in fact, be somewhat worse, because the attack causes several internal explosions as servos and power feeds are detonated. The best Kazuma can do is fire the thrusters one more time and try to stomp on the alleged LEV's head, then uses that as a springboard to head back towards the Jaburo crater itself.

He and Mihiro will admittedly be lucky to make it the rest of the way there without a recovery team coming out to pick them up. And Blessfield is undoubtedly not going to be too happy.

... yeah. Not a good night for Kazuma. Hopefully Macua will fare better.

Macua Huitl doesn't even say much at this point she's too busy trying to keep up with the other machine and the Amazon is lagging from her input. She's getting too fast for it. She's trying to keep up at this point. She realises they do follow bian she pauses for a moment and says something.

"You said you follow Bian, then seek out The Kurogane! They follow his will!"

Get them out from under the thumb of the zeeks and other madmen would be a good thing right? Still she's been left ignored somewhat and she knows of the Shadow Angels. She painfully knows of them. They have hit Rio and she couldn't stop them. She someday will have very violent words with them. She already holds them in as much contempt as she does the Balmarians.

Still for now she's going after Ascian while she goes in for several fake out attack with one savage strike intent to rip deep into the other machine.

The Defenders continue to search the trucks as the battle rages on with Macua and Ascian. However, she DOES know the data on the cargo is accurate. "Helm. plot a course for us to leave the area. I want it laid in as soon as Ascian and the Defenders are on board." 'Yes my lady'..

"Bian is dead. And the Kurogane will not support Mars. There is no place for me there!" In fact, the last time he was near the Kurogane, they /kinda/ tried to shoot him to death. Not a good place to be really. Ascian keeps swirving the LEV disguised Orbital Frame away from Macua's Amazon Gundam, but finally when he thinks he's gotten away from the fake attacks, the thrusters suddenly cut out. "Oh sh~" CRAAAACCCK!

The savage strike rips into the middle of the LEV's armor, shattering it, and even a part of Amenthes' torso underneath. Little explosions suddenly occur all-throughout the machine, and the disguise armor explodes outwards. Like an eggshell that just broke, it reveals its insides. The Phoenix Orbital Frame Amenthes. And Macua is a BIT too close. It floats in the air, slowly...

"Hello, /Adom Nazir/." Ascian states. The machine's visor lights up, a twosome of eyes becoming visible. Its tailfeathers suddenly show from behind it, carrying a small set of volatile Metatron powered orbs. That same Shadow Angel like pattern of falling red feathers fall from them. Does this machine perhaps have some kind of strange background that even Ascian doesn't know about? Metatron was, after all, a mysterious substance. Either way, those four orbs suddenly go flying towards the Amazon Gundam, whilst the Amenthes does a backroll, and then speeds quickly up into the air and launches a rapid assault of plasma bolts on her position, trying to cut off her departure.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "Hold them off for a little longer, Ascian. It's gotta be in this last truck."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Roger that, miss Kirador!"

Macua Huitl says, "Then you do not follow Bian's will. And tell me! Did anyone find Mier's body? No, they are looking for what is coming. They know better than /anyone/. They were his left and right hand."

She says nothing more at this point as she pulls her machine back doing some really nasy damage to the machine she's caught in the attack for a moment. She isn't done yet even as the plasma bolts eat into the much older tech machine. Macua's trace suit is lighting up and she's feeling the damage. The Amazon even as a MKII version can't take much more of this she's got to end it. The machine pause for a moment as it drives it's fist into the ground causing a small chain of explosions all directed at the Orbital frame.

"Mier has not been found." Ascian simply replies. "If you know something, just tell me. Stating such utterly useless statements," The Orbital Frame, now out of the LEV package, is a lot more mobile! The unit simply flies into the air, avoiding the chain of explosions across the ground, and swirves about like a dancer to a sky ballet. And during this 'twirl' in the air, it gathers another burst of energy, latching onto the ends of those tails, and then swings them about whilst continueing its rifle assault. The bolts of energy go flying straight for the Amazon Gundam - each capable of creating incredibly powerful explosions!

The Defenders turns towards the final truck and begins to empty it's contents, pretty much expecting the package to come out onto the ground, and hopefully not break. Divada keeps tabs on Ascian's battle progress though. "Guys, ready the hangar for retreival..."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Do you have them all?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "Working on it, Ascian. *pause* Yeah. they're on their way up now..."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "I hope you like my... present."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "I'll have to take your word for it, Ascian. For now, the Defenders are in the hangar. Make your retreat handy."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "I will be there soon."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Have hangar crew standing by."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "Right..."

Macua Huitl realises this is all a distraction there isn't much she can do but to deny the DC the recovered supplies ? No that won't work either - she's got to go through Ascian at this point and she doesn't seem intent to hold back against him either. The Amazon however takes another horrible chain of hits from the explosions but she keeps going right for him. She's leaping at the frame going to grab the head of the unit and attempt to actually rip it free.

"Enough this ends NOW!"

If she is succeessful she'll just throw the machine's head away.

The Defenders are, by now, flying into the hangar of the Ark Hammer and landing in their respective berths. "All right, we have the cargo and the Defenders. Helm, take us out." 'My lady? what about Mister Luddite?' "We're not exactly jumping out immediately, helmsman. He can catch us... unless he's walking. Keep the hangar's open and be ready to receive the Amenthes." 'yes my lady.'

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "We have the cargo, Mister Luddite. Make good on your escape."

"Nothing is ending now!" Ascian replies and dips the Amenthes down as the Amazon Gundam grabs for the machine's head. The shields buzz on at the highest level they can manage at that very moment. The fingertips of the Amazon Gundam scratch and carve into the shields, disrupting the harmonics, and a gigantic backlash is suddenly sent throughout the Orbital Frame. A series of mini-explosions suddenly find place across the frame, as pieces of the SSA are disrupted, losing their ply and burst off as if they were set on fire.

In the end, between the exchange however, the Amenthes ends up still coming out on top as it places its right arm's rifle towards his opponent and fires a volley of plasma bolts her way. The other arm charges a gigantic laser beam at the same time... but then... Ascian suddenly lets it fade. "I am letting you live, Adom Nazir. For you know things. Please, just tell us what those things are. For I must know." And with that said, the Amenthes suddenly turns about, spreads its wings, and /shoots/ off towards the Ark Hammer and enters its hangar.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "I am in the hangar."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> A female voice transmits, "Acknowledged Amenthes. Stand by. Jump in 3...2...1...

Not even 10 seconds after the Amenthes flies into the Ark Hammer's bays, the huge ship's drives flash and the ship is out of sight. They have gotten away with the cargo, whatever it was.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Ark Hammer, please confirm your cargo."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> A Tech transmits, "My lady....This is really...."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "SPIT IT OUT!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> A Tech transmits, "My lady, this is a decryptor with the wings of the Seraphim fleet printed upon it. It's going to take us a couple of days to decrypt this, my lady."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "Understood. get on it. Mister Luddite, I want you to remain aboard the Hammer until this is finished."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Roger that."

Macua Huitl says, "I remeber what you did to my mind. Don't think I'll forget that..."

They say NewType can fully understand others. Those who are not NewTypes can never understand the true soul scaring horror of something like that. They will never know how lucky they are to be knuckle draggers as far as the likes of the spawn of Side Three are concerned. One might say Newtypes are perhaps the worst thing ever to happen to humanity as a whole.

Macuas machine is too badly off as she seems to not be able to get back up. Macua Huitl says, "All I know is there was never proof to confirm his death."