2010-11-23 - When The Walls Came Tumbling Down

Aitan Chazak was disturbed. Again and again, his mind went over the events of Jaburo and his very uncharacteristic outburst during the combat. It was just... so unlike him, and he doesn't even really recall why he acted like that. He almost never lost his cool and he never once in his lifetime uttered a curse, yet there was something about that woman and her skull-faced machine that just provoked his ire... Seeking to take his mind off the disturbing event, Aitan Chazak did what he always did: He strategized. Calling up his plan to bring up the Zaftran Wall one final time, he reviewed it with a critical eye, putting himself in the enemy's place and trying to think of what they would do to counteract it. That way, he could better prepare for when, not if things went awry. Murphy's Law and all. Satisfied that he had done all he could to make the plan succeed, Aitan rised up from the seat and flicked on the com, "All personel, prepare for combat sortie." *** ZAFTRA *** It has been weeks since the mass assault against the defensive wall of Zaftra, their first and most potent line of defense. progress has been made to repair the damages done to the wall and most of the minor repairs had been completed. Now the crews were focused on their most daunting task yet: Repairing the breach in their line. Zaftra has made good upon their boast to build 'A second Zaftran Wall out of their stinking corpse' as they build fortifications around the partially gutted husk of the Balmarian ship the SDF so gleefully punched a giant arm through. then everything goes to shit as multiple gravitational signitures appear on their scopes. within moments, a force of Aerogaters teleport in, amidst them the blue and white Ezekiel Har that belongs to Aitan. "All units, engage the enemy, breach the walls!"

Wufei had been quietly moving around the European theater for months now. He had no illusions about his chances if he was caught, but he quietly kept tabs on any balmarian movements he was near. How he avoided detection was beyond him, but once again, he was near Zaftra. He found that the Balmarians were an arrogant type of warrior and figured Zaftra would be the diamond to pierce their massive egos... so Wufei shows up... and chuckles at the huge ship planted in the wall... .

EARLIER

"But I think Gunbuster is out of the picture for now!..." Ahava Kachol chirps in an after action report.

Baraq Sheraga rewinds, stops, places.

"But I think Gunbuster is out of the picture for now!..."

NOW

A massive energy blade slices through several of the Wall's external substructures; its hue flickers madly between blue and gold for the few seconds it persists and while its wielder - Baraq Sheraga, in the cockpit of his blood and gold Ezekiel Sa'ar - is displeased with the lack of appreciable progress, it will do for a blow struck in the moments following his unit's arrival.

He can't really work up the energy to be /angry/ about it; he can barely work up the energy to figure out how best to adjust his next strikes against the wall, and such combat calculations are what he /does/.

He's too busy thinking about Gunbuster. The Sa'ar hefts its beam cannon-turned-beam saber onto a shoulder as it takes to high altitudes to seek less invulnerable targets.

"But I think Gunbuster is out of the picture for now!..." rewinds over and over in Baraq's mind's eye.

Ascian Luddite had been wounded in the recent battle and been patiently waiting for his unit to get repaired. He and the Amenthes had been sent to Zaftra - as a sign of good will in a ways... to show that the Divine Crusaders still 'cared' or something along those lines. At the same time, it was a good place for him to recover in their hospital. After all, the Earth Cradle had only military style hospitals.

When the Balmarians suddenly appear at the gates all of the sudden though, and the air-sirens go off... it is time for him to show that 'caring' part of the DC. Aka, 'get in your unit and fight them off will you!?'. The BAHRAM scout gets carted out to the hangar... but it will take a moment for him to get ready and take off.

Construction work pays pretty well, if you bring the right skills for it. Kazuma has spent enough time doing non-combat work with the Valhawk that he can legitimately claim to have those skills - and by and large, it's nice, peaceful work that he can handle on his own in the Valhawk.

Of course, when the Balmarians go and show up without warning, it turns out to be a damn good thing he *is* in the Valhawk. What's not such good news? Mihiro's with him - and she's not cleared for combat yet. At least not officially.

"I don't think they're gonna give us time to get you back to the Valstork, Mihiro-chan," Kazuma observes, watching the Balmarians appear on the radar, and taking note of a few of them by dint of the Valhawk's cameras and main monitor. "How's your head feeling?"

"Pretty good overall," Mihiro says, a bit hesitantly. "Oniichan, just do what you need to do. I'll be okay, I'm sure."

Not exactly words to set a (sometimes over-)protective big brother's mind at ease, but he lays down the Zentradi-scale tools the Valhawk and converts to Air Force Mode, taking flight in - for him - a rather leisurely manner.

After the battle with the Balmarians in Africa, and the events there, Russel had been passing through Zaftra escorting some supply runs to the besidged Zaftran army. It wasn't something that was considered too high profile, however the new Gespenst MK IV, was getting some looks but not much more. It wasn't till it was in combat that it was clearly not a Gespenst Mk II. So far everything is being unloaded without much issue, it would be time to go on his way soon.

Too many things were weighing on the mind of Azgad.

Disturbing images, strange behavior, headaches worse than he had ever felt before. He put off medical checks, but that wouldn't last long if he kept feeling the effects of whatever the samples were doing to them. It was some sort of weapon, it was their trickery... the same that took down the Jolly Green Giants before them. Azgad would need to find out what, but that would come later...

He had to prove he was stronger than they were first. This mission would be this place, followed by the what he would plan next. He gripped the controls waiting for the gravity distortion to take him where he needed to go. It would be a long shot, but he knew what this mission would require. Speed.

A short time after Aitan would port in, drawing the attention of the main forces of Zaftra, the DC, and the others that had set out to defend the closed off nation from them. Another signal appeared, and the Esram Tzel would come out with a host of bugs and those annoying bird drones. The group was small, tiny even compared to the first group, full of high speed units. The group heads for the downed Balmarian ship that happens to be impaled in the Zaftran wall. Making all due haste and apparently using the first group as cover.

The main force surges forth, intent on engaging the defending Wanzers and their allies with a blitz. After all, their main purpose here is to be loud, noisy and distracting, and there's nothing quite like having a small armada charging down on you to get you to pay attention.

Aitan's Ezekiel is right there amongst them, leading the charge with one hand grasping his massive Olga Cannon and the other holding the laser blade in his hand. With nary a word of warning or an offer to surrender, he snaps up his cannon and unleashes a single blast towards the Valhawk, hoping to swat it down before it gains too much momentum to stop. But he doesn't stop there as the Har slams down to the eartyh in front of the new gespenst model and snaps his blade up in an arcing slash. "Rush their positions! Do not allow them to coordinate their efforts!"

Wufei can't help but chuckle as he looks up. "Somehow, I'm not surprised." he says as he hides the truck and climbs into the back. A few minutes later, Shenlong appears coming out of the trees and goes right after the Aerogater assault, especially Aitan... unless Azgad is closer and visible... .

Getting into the cockpit of the Amenthes didn't seem too much of an issue. But he was helped by a few technicians who wanted to get as many suits out there as possible - as quickly as possible. They knew just how dangerous things were when it came to the aliens. Their last assault was still freshly on their memory.

The Orbital Frame comes to life - shown by the red energy glow flowing through its body - the eyes flaring up for a short moment of time. "Ascian Luddite - ready to go." The scout comments on the Radio. The mobile-suit holdingclamps open off and the unit holds in midair. In front of him, the hangar doors open. In the meanwhile, he rubs his legs - or rather, the casts around them. "Hope this won't affect anything." He mutters to himself and lays his hands to the controls...

The verniers open up - metratron crystals portruding and spewing out a red glow that sends the Amenthes straight out into the air and up towards the massive wall... going up faster and faster until he makes it across and immediately gets a visual on the enemy forces. Red markers suddenly spread all across his HUD, indicating enemy forces. "Wow... wait..." He blinks - staring at the numbers. "That's a... small force?" The young man seems confused about the little taskforce. Never before had he seen the aliens come out with so few units. The larger group made more sense. But being split up? Advanced tactics? Gasp!

But there is no chance for him to think this over and go be paranoid about this fact. Instead, he firms his grip around the Amenthes' controls - sending a series of targetting signals across the board whilst the wings of his unit open up into the dozen Khopesh-shaped bits - with red ends to them. "HEY ALIEN SCUM! You just came to the wrong back yard!" Having shot down three alien units in one-on-one combat is kind of getting to Ascian's head. It is the larger force he decides to take - knowing the Balmarian ship to be boobietrapped with explosives.

And amidst that force - Aitan and Baraq are just one of the few targets as the red lazer-beams dart for their group, striking machines around them as well - all aimed right for the cockpits. This pilot is not someone who is one for the 'don't kill the pilots' angle.

Russel Bagman comes under fire from the drones, he barks orders over the comm to get the ground crew to cover. Several of the local wanzers are already moving into defence postions, while he? Has his machine take off into their and open up with a salvo of split missiles into the balmarian units.

"Octo 2 here we are under attack at the Zaftran wall."

He also opens fire with his his rifle.

He attempts to open a channel.

"Balmarian commander. Where is Katina Tarask. I will only ask you once where you have taken my CO!"

He contiunesto open fire as the drones rip into the Mk IV.

He fires a spread of grenades to try and take down several of their drones in a single volley before ht takes to the skies.

The Valhawk banks to starboard as Mihiro and Kazuma both spot the cannon being aimed in their direction, then drifts back onto course, a volley of Laser Vulcan fire searing across the distance between the Trailer mobile unit and the Balmarian mecha. "If your head even twinges -" Kazuma begins.

"If I feel at all unwell, oniichan, I'll tell you," Mihiro interrupts, somehow keeping her tone patient. "Anyway, I'm not going to get re-acclimated when we're using this for an oversized labor frame." She pauses, checking the Valhawk's databanks for information on their attacker. There isn't much - they've tangled with a different Ezekiel rather more often than this one.

While Mihiro is checking for useful info, though, Kazuma takes matters into his own hands, settling into another strafing run and opening up with the Beam Shot Launcher ...

Curiously, none of the Amenthes' red lasers actually breach the Sa'ar's Gravity Territory; it's the upper half of a destroyed Megillot that drifts a little too close to the gravitically distorted region, gets drawn in and scratches the Ezekiel's armour before being compressed into a gnarly silver ball that orbits the larger Balmarian unit.

Normally, this intrusion paired with Ascian's brash declaration would be sufficient to draw Baraq's ire, but he can't quite find it today; preoccupation, and all. Instead, he twists the Ezekiel as the alien machine banks to a hard mid-air stop; its sometimes blue, sometimes golden blades slices through the air between it and the Orbital Frame only to strike the ground near it, leaving a glass-lined divot behind.

/This/ draws a small frown, but little more.

"Stupid, brash child," he exhales over his radio; just adjacent the Ezekiel's upper body, that silver scrap is pressing itself out and folding and twisting more and more; what eventually comes out is a crude throwing implement not unlike a shuriken's 'special' cousin.

"Not for long, I guess; you'll be lucky if you manage to be a /stepping stone/ for me."

With that, he snags the wrecked half-a-Megillot and flings it towards the Orbital Frame at high speeds; he also screams towards the Metatron-enabled machine on a different angle entirely, meaning to try and remove whatever advantage its having more than zero range weapons might afford it.

The Gundam's attack is not unforseen, but it does surprise Azgad.

The arm of his mech comes up, aiming to block the dragon head, but he instead gets a crushing fang into the shoulder. Armor crunches, as he starts to spin out of control... but only careful piloting manages to correct the Balmarian's course, as he instead shoots up and away from the Gundam. There was one thing he had on it, was speed. It shoots off, not engaging the other mech, and landing on the Balmarian ship.

The other drone units form a barrier around Azgad as he moves up the ship, aiming towards the engines.

"... Who?" Aitan asks, honestly having no idea who it is that Russel is talking about. his Ezekiel slides sidewards as the grenade impacts and explodes, showing his machine with shrapnel. his own Olga Cannon barks out in response, forcing Russel back, "I do not keep tabs on every sample we reel in. Perhaps you should talk to our book keeper." The alarms inside of his machine sound as the Valhawk comes diving in, it's beam shot launcher firing. the ezekiel stands firm as the shots strafe across the ground, coming narrowly close to hitting him as he replies with a pair of spark torpedoes from his machine's hip armor. Ascian has a little more luck as his homing lasers curve in on Aitan and slice into his machine and he quickly replies with another set of glowing projectiles. "Megillot Squad, move up and suppress the enemy." Then the Gruntiest of the Grunt Aerogater units surge forth, throwing themselves physically at Ascian, Kazuma, and Wufei while Aitan concerns himself with the new model machine in front of him. he surges forward, blade twisting around to slash into the Gespenst with a hasrh blow.

Would Bruno J. Global drop an alien ship into a hole in the wall and not leave an eye on it?

Not on your bloody life.

The EFS Bizmark hovers in the air closer to the still free portions of Europe, the advanced electronic warfare systems of the Warden Class detecting the combat on the ground near the wall.

"Confirmed Captain, the Aerogators are trying to breach the wall again. Sounds like they may have an ace up their sleeve." reports the coms officer.

Captain Jack Harkness sits back in his command seat, he prefers to go without the large hatsof most commanders, saying it would lead to early male-pattern baldness. "And it was almost cocktail hour too. Alright get us over to Zaftra, don't bother telling them because they'll say no to our help anyways. Just get in there and shoot something shooting at them."

Some of the crew consider him a little eccentric.

The wedged shape ship sails into the wall' airspace a few minutes later, beam cannon turrets rotating to fire on... well the first thing that looks Aerogater.

Wufei simply... watched as the Balmarian flew away. "Coward. He MUST have something in mind, but still a coward." He says just as his left arm DECKS an Aergator coming at him. "Well, if you're gonna run, I'm coming after you, Balmarian." He says as his head vulcans open fire on the balmarian nearing the engines... .

"Ick!" With the wings set for homing-beam mode - it is more difficult for Ascian to get his unit to get out the way of the incoming attack. The Spark Torpedo rams into a red shield which is quickly enveloped around the unit to protect it - sending the damage around the unit. "Thanks, Duat." Ascian tells his unit's A.I.

It still sends it back a small ways - flipping backwards whilst the wings reform from their previous bitlike forms - and finally breaking the backwards movement. Amenthes and Ascian work together like one to stabalize their momentum and torque. Verniers open up again - and he flies across the wall properly and tries to get into a position straight above the larger force.

It is in that position that he ends up getting a Megillot throw at him. Or well... what was left of it. Not hesitating for a single moment he lets his machine's right-arm shift into the form of a blade and cleanly strikes through it - sending each half... or rather, quarter - to either side of the flying Orbital Frame. The two parts harmlessly explode behind him.

He continues on to shift the left arm into that of a rifle and leys loose a volley at the enemies that are throwing themselves at him. "Don't underestimate me!" He calls out - blasting the machines apart with incredibly accurate shots aimed for the cockpits - with some of those shots even passing through and laying a volley around Aitan's unit.

He hangs still for a moment in the air to get a good view on the battlefield - noticing the presence of Kazuma, who's unit he'd seen upon arrival to this area earlier today. The presence of Russel and Wufei - and now even the volley darting down from the Warden Destroyer escort. A smirk appears on his face. "How nice. The EFA is helping out." Finally, this comment is becoming one that sounds honest. Bitter... but honest.

Deciding that the small crew it being taken care of properly enough, he concentrates on the unit which had thrown half a unit of its own at him and shifts the wings into the shapes of those Khopesh-like bits again. However, this time things go a bit differently. Last time, the red laser beams from the homing array had simply struck single targets. This time is different. The beams do indeed fly straight down once more - but when they reach groundlevel, they suddenly defy physics! Bending space, they suddenly move as if hitting a mirror - flying across the horizontal plane and rush for the cockpits of multiple units. As long as those dozen beams can break through a target - they bend again to hit something once more. And amidst of this stream of attacks is the Ezekiel Sa'ar.

OH GOD NO NOT /HEAD VULCANS/!?!??!?!

Bullets fly, pinging off of the armor of the Balmarian. He perks up, narrowing his eyes of the weak long range attack. It does pull a smirk though, thinking that the unit must not have long range weaponry. This would be useful later to know.

Suddenly, the Balmarian pulls out a long spear like weapon, shoving it into the hull of the ship while it sinks into the strange design as wires in the bottom of the staff like weapon connect to the rest of the ship.

"Command line...343256. Check. Systems... great it's still online!" Azgad says, under fire and knowing that any minute fire was going to come his way should that pilot figure out what he is trying to do. He covers the data connection server and starts jacking into it directly.

He starts running a program...it needed time to run...

Russel Bagman says, "If that is your answer, and you know you could be someone else they brought in. Just a human made into canon fodder for them! I will march through your entire empire if I have to, to rescue her!"

The Gepenst Mk IV, brings up it's steel knife quite quickjly and now parries the laser blade, there's a shower of sparks and the blade starts to melt from the force of the blow but the Gespesnt still stands.

"We will not break, so long as one of us remains we will reist your kind."

The Knife is attached back to his machine and he takes the m90 in both of his machine's hands. Russel opens up on the command unit, not pulling his finger off the trigger,

Round after round is fired at Atian, but he might notice something in the chaos there's a strange weapon on the back of the Gespenst that's yet to be deployed, is this a new model the samples have rolled out?

The Valhawk weaves through the swarm of Megillots with an almost insultingly casual ease, blasting away at them with the Beam Shot Launcher as it goes, leaving a trail of exploding mecha-bugs in its wake. With that done, though, Kazuma banks off to lend that Gespenst a hand, or at least some friendly firepower. "Oi, oi, didn't you see the sign? No admission to the Second Zaftran Wall construction exhibit without a reserved ticket!"

Of course there's no actual sign, but Kazuma is in a good enough mood (if barely) to start snarking. It's been a while since he felt that good about a fight ... maybe related to how long it's been since Mihiro was in the cockpit to back him up.

A carrier. Aitan just frowns... he had expected something such at this, but it's still a problem regardless. He'll just have to adjust the plan accordingly. As the beam cannons lance out, Aitan leaps backward and unleashes a quick burst from his Olga Cannon, scoring a direct hit on the capital ship. Then his attention turns to Russel. "I won't fall for your attempts at psychological warfare Sample. I know who I am." A free hand snaps down to grab an abandoned construction vehicle off the ground which he then pulls up in front of him as a makeshift shield. Bullets rip into the frame, tearing it asunder... but it buys Aitan enough time to send a pair of torpedoes right into Russel's machine. Kazuma's continued harassment though has a more notiable effect, slamming the Ezekiel from behind and staggering Aitan. With a rumble, he snaps the cannon back up and sends a blast into the side of the machine. Things start looking bad... then Azgad reports in. And Aitan just smiles. Tossing the wrecked vehcile aside, Aitan launches into the air and hoists the massive cannon up in both hands. Energy starts to charge in it's barrel as he takes aim, "Olga Cannon, extended burst mode." With a loud whine, the cannon shudders in his hands, overcharging. then with a burst of yellow light, a seering beam leaps out. A beam that he methodically rakes across the battlefield to sweep it of opposition.

Wufei was definitely getting suspicious now. A Balmarian focusing upon the ship and refusing to fight? His time with the other Gundam Wing pilots, as brief as it was, meant someone in a battlezone and not attacking when being attacked was serious trouble. He aimed the right arm of his gundam at Azgad again. Yeah, Shenlong was good at medium to short range, but long range wasn't... exactly it's forte.

Soon, the Sa'ar comes to resemble Saturn with all the luminous red rings orbitting its body; a few do successfully graze its body, but they're not unlike the creasing a near miss from a conventional gun might inflict. So far, the Gravity Territory is holding up--a stark improvement over its performance against Gunbuster.

Fortunate for at least one of them, the energy has largely dissipated by the time the Ezekiel makes an attempt at shoving the entirety of its massive sword/former mecha cannon through the Amenthes' body; being exposed to its own Metatron-fueled energies may have been a less than optimal outcome for the BAHRAM warrior.

The EFS Bizmark launches a torpedo that splits into sub-munitions as Aitan approaches, but the olga cannon impacts the ship, rocking it in the air. "Damn. I guess my Tom Collins is going to have to wait."

"Helm! Swing us around! Bring us to battle speed and head for the Aerogator ship in the wall. Gunnery, make sure this Aerogator gets a nice view of the port side guns"

The Bizmark's engines power up again as it swings about, throttling up towards the grounded Balmarian ship. The turrets along one side of the ship adjust and then fire in a wave of energy blasts, saturating the air where Aitan's mech is.

Azgad growls...

This man wouldn't just get off of him. He needed time to get things going, and evading attacks was simply not an option. The back of the Balmarian unit takes the brunt of the damage, forcing Azgad to focus his will to jury rig the systems to keep fighting effectively. He was going to need time to get out of here once he set this up. Hopefully his thrusters aren't destroyed by this.

"What is with you and getting in my way? Be a good little sample and sit there and do nothing." Azgad says, and pushes some more buttons on his hacking control system.

Command accepted. Connecting to the main control for the core. They haven't screwed with it, and this brings a smile to Azgad's face. Alright... now to just...

Overload program online. Transfering thirty five percent complete.

Russel Bagman says, "It's not warfare when iot could be the truth of the matter! It still remains you twist people into mockeries of who they are."

Russel's machine is faster than any Gespenst Aitan would have seen before, it's almost clear of the blast range when the torpedo goes off. The blast does damage but not enough to slow Russel down. The plasma stakes on the right arm glow brightly, as he charges up.

"Plasma stakes set. You will not get any futher"

The blast comes and his machine is just gone. Russel pushes the acceelterion as far as it can go he's forced into his pilot's chair but he keeps comming and heading for the other machine. He'll slam the magnum into them if he's close enough. Again and again, trying to slam the other machine into the air and juggle it on the Jet Magnum it self. Then Russel will put one last slam with it before jetting away.

"JET MAGNUM!"

Azgad's back might have taken the brunt of the damage, but Wufei actually hoped the attack would MISS. His original intention was to grab the ship and pull himself up along with a boost from his pack. However, Shenlong boosted up anyways, with it's dragon fang retracting back into his arm. This was a very determined pilot. "What's the matter, balmarian. Finally accepted your fate?" Wufei didn't bother waiting for an answer as he slashed the balmarian anyways....

"You have got to be kidding me!" Ascian growls - knowing that he should probably stop breaking the wings apart to fire when he is dealing with people that are capable of firing so accurately. This time, he brings the red shield up himself as Baraq launches a counterattack. However, it does nothing to help him. The blade rushes straight through the red shield like butter - jabbing into the torso of his unit. Had the Orbital Frame been made like your regular MS - then his cockpit would have been right there. Luckily for him, it wasn't.

"AMENTHES!" He calls out for his unit's name, even though he is right within it. The young man is surprised by his own outburst... but not so much by the emotions that begin to well up within his body. Anger - pure anger. Much like he'd felt last day when Levad had struck his unit severely. "Grrr..." His eyes almost seem to flare up as metatron flows through his body for a short moment, poisoning and linking into his body - spreading around like a new set of bioluminescent veins. "YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT!"

The unit's wings suddenly open much more widely. A red glow spread through the inside of Ascian's cockpit, and this red glow continues to break through the Amenthes and burn into its wings. For a moment, it almost looks like the unit has wings of fire - the red glow dripping down like some kind of liquid hot metal. Its two arms shift and twist into the form of two rifles - which get brought together. "SPACE COMPRESSING!" A big window appears in front of Ascian's eyes whilst his unit aims straight downwards at Baraq's unit - the two rifles coming together and forming a single unit.

 Tightbeam to Chang Wufei: Ascian Luddite says, "What is going on inside there?"

 Tightbeam to Ascian Luddite: Chang Wufei says, "I have no idea."

Quickly, while his unit is in the process of forming this weapon, Ascian throws a few calls out over the radio. The most notable one is one to Divine Crusader command - asking them for permission to activate the detonation charges on board the Balmarian ship. Of course... Divine Crusader command can be a bit slow at times. And whilst they are trying to decide, the compressed bulb of space at the tip of the Orbital Frame's giant rifle is done building up. Mentally - Ascian hits the trigger... and a gigantic beam of compressed space erupts forth - rushing towards the sands and anything unfortunate enough to be standing close enough to its point of impact.

The Valhawk shakes under the Olga Cannon's passing blast, prompting a grunt from Kazuma and a brief shriek from Mihiro. "You holdin' up back there?" Kazuma asks as he steadies the Valhawk's flight, wincing at the way it's starting to feel sluggish ...

And then the handling improves noticeably. "Mihiro?" Kazuma asks, daring to glance over his shoulder ... to see his sister focused on her work. Just like usual, from before their run-in with a genuine Balmarian superweapon. "You up to sharing attack control for a bit?"

Mihiro looks up, and actually smiles at her brother before Kazuma turns to face forward again. "Transfer launcher firing controls to my console, oniichan. Let's teach the Aerogaters not to take Earth so lightly."

"Or Trailers," Kazuma grins. "Launcher's yours, Mihiro-chan. Let 'er rip!"

With those words, Kazuma opens up on Aitan's Ezekiel with the Laser Vulcan, peppering it with a sustained barrage as Mihiro lines up the Beam Shot Launcher's crosshairs, watching the timing of the laser pulses' impacts .... then squeezes off a shot of her own, trying to exploit any weakening of the armor caused by Kazuma's sustained fire.

"Please," Baraq hisses. Amenthes' wings of fire and gross rejection of the laws of nature as Earth science tends to understand them in the absence of Metatron mostly draw clinical curiosity. The attack itself - the combination of two rifles into one reminiscent of Wing Gundam Zero's, the massive globe of energy forming at their tips the way so many energy-based attacks begin, even the transformative aspect - elicits no fear, only a modest degree of concern for how he'll negotiate his response.

The young Balmarian hunted the Gunbuster and survived the mess the Buster Machine made of him and did so without flinching; anything less can't help but pale.

Several split-second calculations later, and the inevitability of the rifle puncturing his Gravity Territory combined with the difficult of reacquiring the Amenthes in melee combat mixed with Azgad's calls for assistance all lead him to one simple, if perhaps foolhardy course of action:

He diverts all available power to the Gravity Territory, expanding and intensifying it /well/ beyond its nominal operating capacity.

Even as the beam of tortured, compressed space impales the Sa'ar's belly, Ascian will be aware of a heightened pressure as the Balmarian machine seeks to trap the Orbital Frame within a hellish field of oppressive gravity. Fluids of every colour sluice from the wound in the Sa'ar's body, electricity arcing across their surface; within its cockpit, every monitor is either complaining about the damage Ascian's shot just did or the damage Baraq is doing to its system. He doesn't particularly care; the Zehirut crystal will rebuild the Sa'ar, just as it did after the Gunbuster.

And heedless of the warnings, he continues to push it as hard as he can; the field itself won't reach the Shenlong, but multiple destroyed and merely damaged or even intact Megillots just might when the waves of a fundamental force bent terrifically out of shape reach them. The Balmarian drones were /already/ effective as unmanned drones; Baraq just means to weaponize them further, transforming them into great, blunt projectiles.

It was already here? Azgad curses to himself...The blade dives down for him, but one of the bugs dives in the way taking the attack and driving the weapon away from it...the cost was the unit itself, which explodes violently. Azgad grunts, pushing more buttons...franticly trying to try and speed up the connection, but right now he is doing everything he can...

Upload is Seventy percent...

He grunts...only a little more. However, Baraq's interfearance was a boon to the Balmarian, smirking as he realized he came down to shoot away his attacker. Just a little more, he thought to himself...just a little more.

Aitan rumbles again as Russel continues to speak, "Your constant pleas are starting to get /annoying/ Sample! I know about your 'Celestial Being' and their hive mind device! I know of your history of utilizing brainwashed soldiers! Your pleading quite frankly sounds a little insincere." His hand snatches out to grab another nearby vehicle, which he /swings/ up like a club to smack Russel full force. Unfortunately, Russel punches the damn thing and it explodes. Both machines stagger back, unable to prusue each other. For a moment Aitan considers firing through the fire and smoke, but something else comes up. Maybely that battleship high above. A barrage of weapons pound down on his position, churning the dirt and earth and blasting Aitan's machine. He snaps off a quick shot at the carrier, but he is still forced to run for cover as the Vac=lhawk strafes his position again. "Hnnn... just a little more time..." A pair of torpedos rip after Kazuma as Aitan readies himself and refocuses on the carrier. His thrusters flare and the Ezekiel takes to the sky as he levels the cannon towards it and holds it steady as it charges up, "Maximum power." The weapon trembles in his hand, on the verge of overloading as he takes aim and pulls the trigger. A massive, white beam of light leaps out, aiming to rip across the Warden and open it up like a can opener.

All it would have taken is a spark; the Shenlong Gundam catches the leaking, sparking hole straight through the center of the Sa'ar with honest to ZHRT /fire/.

At least /one/ of the fluids painting its pelvis and upper thighs is flammable; just as its Gravity Territory transformed Megillots and Jeremiahs into projectiles, the Plasma Thrower transforms everything but the Sa'ar's cockpit into blazing warning to the rest of the Aerogater fleet.

The /cockpit/, mercifully, is back on Neviim.

It, too, will suffer some abuse when Baraq punches his way out of it to stalk back to his quarters and stew.

With his unit in a single place - it is not unexpected that he is hit by his enemy's counterattack. The attack rips a good chunk out of his unit's torso, and a good piece of its wings and top of the left arm. "Gaaah!" Sparks go flying through the cockpit, and due to the link between him and the Amenthes, he can clearly 'sense' just how much damage had been done. He could almost see her image - a piece being ripped out. But wait...

SHE? Did he just think of his own unit as a 'she'? It was a bit confusing to him - enough to distract him from what is coming. But then, really - where was he going to go, being so close to the expanding field. "UNKNOWN ENERGY READINGS INCOMING!" - "WHAT?!" Ascian can see it now - as his unit shows a radar version of what is coming in. He tries to get his unit to move... but she refuses. Instead, the Orbital frame pulls inwards.

The Amenthes curls up almost like a fetus and tries to form a protective shield around itself - arms around the cockpit to protect her runner. The gravity well presses fiercely on the unit - and the metatron veins begin to show massive cracks - slamming it towards the ground. The moment Ascian's unit hits the sands beneath, his mind goes blank and unconcious. The unit keeps the shield up - protecting itself with all the energy it has left... but in the process expends most of its energy and is rended practically unusable.

Russel Bagman grunts. "If they do I'll be going after them when the world is safe from the Aerogaters. You damn well know we're not under one single banner."

The other machine expldoes from the impact, it's a good thing it was a wrteck, his machine drops to the ground, and plants it's feethard. Russel takes the strange weapon off his mech's back.

This is something the Balmarians might notice the weapon starts to unpack much like a Orga Canon their Knights use. It's sure more primative but the damn samples may have figured it out. But first Russel doesn't fire the weaponjust yet, he fires off a number of split missile podes, soon there's a circus ticket with Aitan's name on it.

The machine grabs a handle on the side of the weapon swinging it into postion.

"CP CANON FIRE!"

The weapon then fires off a stream of plasma, so forceful Russel's machine is pushed back! The energy output is also damn more than any Gespenst should have as well.

91...92...93...

Azgad grunts...so close SO close. Flame washes over him, including the two drones. They explode, being cheap light weight drones...and then his back up goes up in flames. The back of the Balmarian unit catches the flames, but Azgad holds on, defending against them the best that he can, and the connection remains...

96...97...98...

Azgad turns, pulling his rifle out finally... Now it was time to get out of here. Just in case that this joker thought he was going to be a hero. Also to take revenge on his unit getting shot up. Azgad points the rifle towards Wufei. "I met a gundam like yours once. It's pilot screamed really loud before we collected the sample." He says, salting a fresh wound. The shot fires, aiming to hit the leg actuators, trying to damage it's movement.

100.

Wufei took the shot with a smile. "So you finally attack. now that your friend is down, hmm?" He says to... no one in particular as he decks the ezekiel. He growls a bit as a couple of red lights start giving warning signals. "I hear you Nataku." he says going for one HUGE slash on the Ezekiel in front of him....

"Enemy preparing to fire!" Shouts the Bizmarks sensor officer. "Roll the port side up! Active the E-Field!" The Warden Class ship fires it's thrusters, the entire ship rolling up one side. The Olga cannon lances across the underside of the ship and a field of energy sparks to life, resisting the weapon as hull armor peels and pops along hte underside.

"Main energy cannons are still recharging." Gunnery reports.

"Then ready a full spread of torpedos. Helm, cut engines and pitch us down sixty degrees and 30 to port. Gunnery, open all torpedos tubes."

The ship suddenly begins to pitch down as if injured, but Aitan cannot exault as it turns it's bow to towards him, and the torpedo tubes along the front open, each one disgorging a projectile that fills the air with explosions.

W A R N I N G

Signals throughout the entire area go out to anyone with eyes...or sensors. The core of the Balmarian ship was starting to act strangely, and after a few moments of observation was going to overload itself. The explosion would be large enough to be a threat to everything in the area...

Azgad himself faces Wufei... he had enough time, and was wanting to leave the cripped unit here. "Didn't you hear me? Or are you just completely lost it?" Azgad mocks the Gundam pilot. Even as the beam glaive came to take him out, Azgad managed to get his unit just out of the way in time... instead feeling a minor sting as the blade glances off the side of his shoulder.

Azgad's free hand gripped a chain resting on his right hip, swinging it around and aiming the tip of it right into the legs of the gundam again.

The explosion, hopefully, enough to cripple it.

The Valhawk rattles as the torpedoes detonate against its hull. and Kazuma grimaces as he works to stablize the craft's flight. "Mihiro, how we holdin' up back there?"

"I'm in better shape than the Valhawk is," Mihiro responds tightly, choosing not to go into detail. "Oniichan ... let's use Code: Phoenix!"

"Wha?!" squawks Kazuma, glancing over his shoulder at Mihiro. "Are you SURE?"

"I wouldn't say it if I wasn't! Let's go!"

"... All right! Power up the heat field!"

At Kazuma's order, Mihiro keys in the command to start shunting plasma through the Valhawk's nose, and a sheath of red-hot plasma forms around the Valhawk as KAzuma pulls into a sharp bank - then executes a few swooping maneuvers to build up speed and let the heat field reach full strength. By the time he heads straight for Aitan's machine, the plasma surrounding the Valhawk could *easily* be mistaken for a giant bird of fire ...

And then it's ramming-speed time.

Wufei's right screen flickers on this time as the warning comes up. "So that's what he was doing. Looks like we'll fight another time." He says to himself as Shenlong literally hops off the ship's hull and tries to get out of there. Shenlong's not really gonna make it away from the FULL blast....

"Oh what's wrong sample? I thought Running away and not fighting made you a coward?! Huh?! NOT SO HIGH AND MIGHTY NOW EH?" Azgad mocks, but he wasn't ready to let poor little Gundam away without at least causing some trouble for the pilot. The rifle comes up, pointing right towards the back of the retreating Shenlong.

"Headshot."

Good, the reactor is set to overload. That means that all they have left to do is survive and escape from the enemy. With that idea firmly in mind, Aitan starts to make his retreat, slidding backward along the ground as he calls out, "All units! Pull back! Withdraw!" His machine lags behind though, giving cover to his men. The Olga Cannon snaps up and unleashes a final blast of seering energy towards the Gespenst, taking a hit in exchange for dishing one out. The missiles rain down upon the Ezekiel, cratering the earth around him. The counter torpedo shot is almost pitiful in it's retaliation... Then Kazuma comes charging in. Aitan growls as he tosses his cannon aside and grabs for his laser blade. The weapon sweeps out as the Valhawk charges in and the two clash. But it doesn't end well for Aitan as the blade is tossed aside and his arm goes with it. "Tch... you are fierce warriors, but battles are won by more than just the skill. You have already lost." A simple spread of spark torpedoes rain out towards the defenders, giving his men just that much more time to retreat.

Shenlong, thanks to Azgad's attack, drops facedown onto the ground mere meters away from the overloading ship. Shenlong's mass is going to need a full crew to actually move the gundam so Wufei can actually get out. A crew isn't gonna make there in time.....

Azgad smirking as the Gundam goes down can not help but to laugh.

"Not so smug now are you?" Azgad quips, before the high speed unit lifts off, and starts retreating. It was only going to be another two minutes before the thing would go up. Azgad calculated he needed just one to get a safe distance away for the teleporters to be able to recall him back to the White Star.

He did waste too much time being a jackass.

Kazuma weaves through the last volley of torpedoes, shooting several of them out of the air with the Laser Vulcan, and managing to plant a parting shot or two of his own on the Ezekiel ...

And then it becomes abundantly clear that things are about to go to hell. Either that or hell is about to come *here* in the form of a starship's power core overloading and exploding.

The fact that Mihiro can pick up on the power spike building up is the last piece of information Kazuma needs to make his decision definite: he turns the Valhawk so that its engines are pointed at the doomed cruiser, and pushes the throttle *all the way open* - even the power which would be going to weapons is being dedicated to the cause of extra thrust. This much acceleration, particularly in gravity, is a bit more than even *he* is used to (never mind Mihiro) ... but neither of them cares to stick around for these fireworks.

Shenlong isn't moving.

"Captain!" The sensor officer shouts a little too loudly. "Energy spike from the downed Balmarian ship! It looks like it's on a runaway reaction of some kind!"

Captain Jack looks angry for a moment but it calms down. "Open a channel. This is Captain Jack of the Bizmark to the Aerogator forces... you wanna blow up that ship? fine. You get front row seats." he cuts off the channel.

"Gunnery! Reload the torpedos! Fire in volley to push the Aerogators back towards the ship!"

"Box those sons of bitches in!"

The small but fast ship turns about and itches up slightly, torpedo silos from it's fore open once again, firing in volleys that landin semi-circles that get progressively tighter, driving the Aerogators back towards the ship. Even as Aitan's spark torpedos splash against the hull, only managing to crack the surface.

Aitan has a choice to make. Escape from the battlefield and brave the missile shower, or try to avoid the rain of torpedoes and risk being caught in the blast. It's... not much of a choice really. After all, Aitan doesn't want to die the ironic death of being caught in the very explosion he sought to create. With DEATH BY IRONY out of the question, that leaves charging headlong into a missile barrage, and that's exactly what he does! Charging headirst into high explosives. In order to live. Strange, I know. The Ezekiel takes severla hits as it dives through the field of explosions, but it hangs tough and makes it all the way out of the projected blast zone. "Time to detonation?"

"One minute! Lets get out of here!" Azgad follows Aitan's lead. Running through the field of torpedos, but Azgad was a newtype. Azgad's psychic nature gave him glimpses of where to be...

Clarity came to him like a skylight and a cloudy day. Sometimes the beam came down and he could stand in the light, others the clouds blocked it and he got nothing. Today, he was in the light.

The Balmarian was like a bat out of hell, narrowly avoiding explosions and direct fire while he tore through the missile field, just barely coming out on the otherside intact.

Finally, reaching the point and hitting his recall button.

The balmarian ship's core finally hits critical mass.

The result isn't immediate, but for a brief moment light bends around it. A litteral hole in the universe starts to form, sucking in everything close by. This includes the Zaftara wall, the Balmarian ship, and a large chunk of the earth surrounding as the event horrizon grew larger and larger...

Until it became unstable, unable to substain itself, and collapsed on itself. Suddenly the backlash of the matter being drawn in, and the reactor reaching critical explodes outward, sending a powerful shockwave in all directions, litterally shattering this section of the wall, and leaving a massive crater where no matter exists.