2011-03-03 - Metatron Revenge On The Argama

Briefing Report.

Everyone except for Suriel that was going onto the mission was given the standard mission briefing. The plan was simple, deploy, and attack the defenders of the Argama. Suriel was to go to engage the Argama directly. Questions in reguard to /how one mech/ was supposed to stop or even injure the capital ship were only answered with a smile. They were obviously in the know about something.

Now.

Around the area of the Argama, several BAHRAM cruisers had made their appearance known, coming out jump and starting to circle the Katharon ship. Drones started deploying, but these were inconsiquencial to the elites already being dropped off.

Already the void of space with the buzz of hundreds if not thousands of drones making their way like a swarm towards the one ship. It seems that Bright Noa had kicked over a hornets nest.

In the hornets nest stood the Qareen, floating and waiting for the others to start engaging their targest. He had very simple orders...and failure, he was told, was not an option. Either he succeeded, or he did not come back. It was fine by him...

"Activate combat mode." Suriel says, antsy and ready to start. The Trace system already coming down, providing cheescake for the ladies in the audience as the control system fit very snugly around the form of the young man. Lines of metatron running up the suit very much like the outside of this hip. Energy already starting to build up as systems started to power up.

"Activate GIEM System." Suriel says. His AI drones his request, before suddenly...the world shifts. The Qareen itself suddenly develops a strange green fire like aura about it. Occasionally, sparks of electricty flash, obsuring the entire mech as if it seemed to shift in and out of reality for several seconds before coming back. For now, it seems to wait.

"Heh..."

A Flash appears in the distance before the Ark Hammer decelerates into the aforementioned combat area, just behind the drone screen. In much better condition than what it was a few days ago after a trailer decided to vaporize Martian farms in their mad quest for victory, however small it may be. However quiet the Ark Hammer seemed, on the bridge, Divada was fuming. She had her arms crossed and had a a special ear piece, fit only for the captain of the ship. Divada had her arms crossed as she watched the drones deploy. "Shields up, begin charging weapons, launch fighters." She almost growls to her crew as she glares out of the viewport of the Ark Hammer. It worried Miranda since Divada was NEVER this pissed. "Clear flight crews for launch."

SHORT TIME AGO...

The hangar crew of the Arc Hammer is quite busy, which includes its newest addition. Sinya Leland, Trailer not-so-extraordinare had little choice after her own machine was damaged but to take on the best job offered to her. Unfortunately, that job offer happened to be with the Crusader ship, working to repair some of the damaged mechs and internals after it was blasted during the blockade on Mars.

"I guess this is as good a time as any to repay my debt to the captain." The catgirl murmurs to herself, standing in front of her still quite crispy looking guymelef. She's mostly healed over the past week, with only her arm still in a brace. However, her unit has certainly seen better days. "So, do you guys have any units lying around that need a pilot?"

"Oh, we have just the perfect one for you!"

FVE MINUTES LATER...

"Oh no."

"Oh yes!"

"Wait, you fly this how?! And why do I have to be naked?!"

NOW

Apparently, this is someone's idea of a grand joke. "When I get back, you guys are -so- dead." There is a chorus of laughter from the hangar crew, but the flush on Sinya's cheeks only lasts as long as it takes to draw herself up into the Arachno's Mobile Trace System. It takes a few moments for the gundom to form the tight rubber control suit around her curves, showing off quite a bit more of them than the catgirl was used to.

Once that bit of embarassment is over she looks down at herself, tail puffing outward. "What the name of Gaea?" She plucks at the skin-tight rubber suit, and then shakes a fist at the hangar workers - a motion which the mech seems to follow. Well, at the very least, maneuvering this thing wasn't all that different than how she flies her guymelef - even if it involves looking like she came out of a fetish shop. "So dead." She mutters to them one more time, and then moves out, launching with the rest of those deploying from the Ark Hammer.

"Captain, this is Leland. I'm under your orders for this fight only. After that, I'll consider my debt paid in full." There is a beat, and then she mutters afterwards, "And your hangar crew are a bunch of perverts."

Mess Hall Katharon Flagship Argama En route to Side 7 12:34 - Local Space Time

"So that's when I said...!"

The ship's cook is hard at work regailing the crew with a story of yesteryear as his muscle-thick arm whips a vat of space-potatoes round and round. The crew is fascinated -- less by the cook's story and more as they worry over those black curly hairs lining his forearm getting perilously close to being incorporated into their whipped space-potatoes.

"..'That's what she said!' Hur hur hur!"

Admiral Bright stares for a long moment before he leans close to his dining companion, Cagalli Yula Athha (P-Orb). "We're never doing story night /ever/ again," he very plainly whispers as he sets his hamburger down on its foil-wrap.

But suddenly..

WOOP WOOP WOOP

> "Spread the word, spread the word. Captain Bright to the bridge. All pilots to launch deck. Level one alert, enemy sortie inbound. Repeat, enemy sortie inbound."

"...." Bright squints. "I never thought I'd be so happy to be shot at," he confesses.

The Mess Hall rapidly empties, leaving the cook with alone with his hairy whipped space-potatoes.

"B-but.. I was going to tell you guys about the time I acquired the DNA evidence!!" he frowns.

MOMENTS LATER

Admiral Bright settles into his command chair, fiddling briefly with the collar of his normal suit. Heads-up displays materialize in front of him, along with a tactical map portraying hundreds of individual purple dots.

"Crusader attack force incoming, sir! No communication and scanners detect target-locks." Caesar briefs the Captain as simply as possible. "Guncrews and missile batteries report ready! Astonaige is loading catapults for launch on your command!"

Bright's eyes widen slightly. "Crusaders? Already? Hrn.. could they be here looking for Princess Mineva?" He shakes his head slightly, a feeling of unease hitting him right in the pit of his stomach. Something is off. "Ngh. If we're lucky, we can hold out long enough for an EFA patrol to scare them off. Have gun crews ready firing solutions!"

Ever-responsive, Bright reaches for the phone receiver at his side. It comes out of the cradle with a clack of heavy-duty plastic and is pulled right up to the side of his face. "This is the Captain! Crusader attack force inbound! Alert mobile suits for full tactical response! Lieutenant Rachel, you're in command. Mastery condition is elimination of all unfriendlies! Launch mobile suits!"

 James Heller transmits, "All vitals good from here."

EARLIER

Darcy Weyland lives with her older cousin Abigail in Japan, and has for the last year or so; she's barely seen her mother over the last seven years, and following her hasty exit from the exclusive Neo-American Preparatory Academy For Girls, attending Jindai High has been her only option for getting a proper education.

Darcy /lives/ with her cousin, but there are many nights when she isn't there; stories of studying overnight with friends normally suffice, and Abigail is only a cousin, not a proper parent or guardian with great reason to recognize that Darcy scarcely /has/ friends--certainly none she'd be likely to stay the night with for any reason.

On those nights, Darcy is on Bardos Island; Abigail may not be a parent or guardian, and Elenia Weyland /certainly/ hasn't been, but the dread master of Bardos has managed to come close, in his mad way. Tonight is no exception, and enveloped by the dark heart of Bardos--surrounded by infernal machinery, reddened blackness and palpable, invisible electricity of powers both ancient and dire, Darcy stands at the edge of a great gear slowly revolving through the abyss.

"Uh," she murmurs to herself; her bare voice and the crumpling of a much-abused, much-wrinkled sheet of paper are barely audible amidst the din of Bardos, but she can hear herself, and that's what counts. "Uh, so, yeah, I was... uh, y'know--" Darcy huffs in frustration and tosses her head to cast the red hair dangling before the right side of her face behind her ear; her hair is normally worn loose and long, but an old photograph of her mother inspired her to try something different for the day. Frowning, she squints at the paper for several seconds before raising her eyes to the mirror hovering before her.

"W--well, that is, I was thinking--I dunno, maybe--maybe we could--like--eat--I mean if you don't have any /plans/, or anything, since we both have to eat lunch, or else we'll probably be sent to, I don't know, detention, or something, for not following the rules, or something, so I guess we're kinda stuck with it, right? I'm just, I'm just thinking: we could be, y'know, stuck with it together!"

The exclaimation is punctuated by laughter unlike any Bardos has ever heard; devoid of sadistic glee, absent the mirth of madmen, Darcy's laughter is just loud--more like an awkward howl than a genuine expression of mirth or joy. She catches herself right about when its misplaced timbre echoes from Bardos' gears to reach her ears again, at which point she immediately claps her hands over her mouth to silence herself. Fire blooms in her cheeks; it'll be a good fifteen seconds before she's able to overcome her moritification well enough to continue reading--

The words 'ARK HAMMER IS IN POSITION' cut through her consciousness; she lets the paper fall from her fingers and dashes across the gear to claim her control staff with an embarrassed squeal.

The paper - titled 'KOJI K. LUNCH' and covered in scratch-outs - drifts into the darkness, where it'll soon be consumed by the Island, never to be seen again.

NOW

With Gool out of play for this commission, the Animus Machine Beast Skarrgo R4 must launch from the Ark Hammer's cargo bay. It /would/ have been stored in the hangar, but its cage was too wide for the standard launch bays.

It wouldn't have been caged, but for its unfortunate habit of trying to devour nearby mobile suits for the sake of consuming their heat for itself.

The creature - somewhere between an overlarge bird, a machine and a wildfire - illuminates the darkness around itself as it beats its flaming wings to escape the Ark Hammer's belly. With its metal-lined beak opened wide, it emits a screech across available radio frequencies, signalling that it's begun its hunt.

And all the way back on Bardos Island, Darcy Weyland--no--Marchionessa Idunn clutches her control staff tightly and tries to clear her mind of the clutter still clinging to it.

An opportune moment. They occur sometimes. Dewey is fortunate, he has a cadre of bright little minds who are always on the look out for them. The mind of a child. Truly a wonderous weapon. Dewey sits in his command chair, beneath the massive insignia of the Federation. A suggestion from one of the officials at his reinstatement, that he should remember his place beneath the almost damocles like insignia. Dewey swirls his glass.. Such faith they have given him..such a beautiful thing. He idly spies the tactical reports while his children carry out his orders, but his crew already knows what he desires, what his attentions are, and the tactical web is carefully spun and assigned. The Monsoonos are of little use here, but the primary aim is of course not in such small scales. Katharon will likely commit one of its few primary capital ships, and the DC will commit their own rapidly depleting units. And the Ginga will be there. "Sir, we have two ships on long range scopes."

The overwatching officer nods, "Excellent, our first catch of the day." He turns to Dewey, but addresses the nearby Ageha, a boy barely of seven who he dwarfs... The Ageha smiles wanly, with intelligent but dead eyes, "...The Argama is a primary target for the Divine Crusaders, if we are to become involved, we should attempt to target the Divine Crusader capital ship and thus force the Divine Crusade forces to utilize their smaller units against it."

The officer nods, turning, "Carry it out!" Dewey sloshes his glass about, "...the mind of a child, how keen like a dagger it is..." The Ginga floats in its position, before unleashing a sudden barrage of lasers that twist and swirl through the void as they head towards their target, like unleashed serpents.

The past two weeks have been mostly a period of recovery for Puru Two. While it isn't public knowledge exactly what Haman Karn did to her mind and what it took to undo it all, it certainly took her out of action for a considerable amount of time. It's only been a day since she was officially cleared for duty again, but she's never been one to take things slowly. Her thoughts returned to combat almost immediately. It's only natural, the battlefield has always felt like the most comfortable, most natural environment to her.

Her superiors only encourage this perception: after being released from the medbay, she already found a new unit waiting for her. It's no Psyco Gundam, but after what happened she wanted nothing to do with that machine anymore anyway. While its handling was a bit clumsy, she couldn't deny that it had power, which is the most important thing.

She was not, technically, even supposed to be a part of this mission, and thus was not present at the briefing. But she knew the gist of it, and figured whatever, not like anybody's going to complain as long as the Argama is destroyed. This explains why she isn't with the main force, and her unit appears alone, further removed from the battlefield-to-be than the rest. "So crowded," she muses. "I guess I'd better draw some attention to myself."

No sooner is the presence of another L-sized DC unit detected, or a spectacularly large blast of energy lances out towards the Argama. It is without a doubt a battleship-grade Mega Particle Cannon, one of exceptionally long range. It doesn't actually strike the AEUG flagship however, narrowly passing by the port bow. It makes for an effective warning shot, which Puru Two would feel better about if that was what she intended it to be. "Tsk. Either this thing is out of alignment or the variance is terrible," she mutters to herself. Of course as far as anyone else is concerned, she /meant/ to do that.

Well, now that they know what she can do, she might as well make the most of it, and send out a challenge in the form of an open broadcast. "Hey, Argama! What do you think, does this Mobile Armor ring any bells? Now that you know what to expect, I suggest you send out one of your Newtypes to meet me out here. I don't care which one, just do it before my trigger finger gets itchy."

As she suggested, her machine's design may look rather familiar to at least some of the Argama crew. It is, after all, based on that of an infamous Mobile Armor from the One-Year War. It's not exactly the same, and its top section has been colored red instead of the traditional green, no doubt upon Puru Two's request, but it looks similar enough that it shouldn't be very difficult to identify. At the time, it was said that if it were mass-produced, the Federation would be finished. Well, better late than never...

The Argama is under attack! With the blaring of the alarms and the conversion to Level One Alert, the Perfectly Ordinary In Every Way Private Hugo Manfred is suddenly wakened from his 'slumber'. Hugo was, of course, not sleeping; he had been mumbling under his breath the arcane words of power that allowed him to communicate with his true, evil master! For as unbelievable as it may seem, the Perfectly Ordinary Private Hugo Manfred is in fact none other than the mystically-disguised form of VISCOUNT PYGMAN, servant of none other than the dreaded master of malevolence... DR. HELL!

Hugo/Pygman sits straight up, his mystic link temporarily broken. He swings from the bed, a frown across his face; he knew that an attack was coming, of course (Dr. Hell had been sure to inform his mystic minion of the potential of such an event), but he hadn't expected it to be in the middle of his report. That may cause...problems.

Hugo/Pygman snatches his jacket from its stand, slinging it over his shoulder. He opens the door, pausing in the hallway as his animal friend - which had recently taken to calling itself the BANE OF BRIGHT NOA in its own tongue - let out a loud cluck, its eyes glowing a malevolent red. Hugo lowers his head in a nod.

And with that mysterious exchange complete, Hugo/Pygman darts down the hall towards the flight deck. He slides in with a 'sorry I'm late!' to one of the men whose name might be something like Jim or Harry, some unimportant nobody who did something really vital but wasn't the sort of person to get NEWTYPE STATUS or focused on for anything more than a Very Special Episode. Hugo slides along the wall, hand wrapped around the carrier, until he arrives at the mech he had been designated for.

It was a Zaku II. An old, outdated mech of a type that Dr. Hell would never approve of (Dr. Hell's loathing of Zeon was matched only by his loathing of the Kabuto boys), but it was a mech. And there were two others in attendance who would not be missed...

Hugo breathes something into his controls as he flicks on the startup sequence. The other two Zakus hum to life, readying their own weapons.

"Private Hugo Manfred, launching from the Argama," Pygman declares over the radio as his Zaku streaks from the bay.

"Private Nam Heal, launching from the Argama," the ghost of someone from long ago reports from the second Zaku as it too launches.

"Private Sho Light, launching from the Argama," the third Zaku's nonexistant pilot informs the command. The three Zaku IIs synch up, moving into a perfect formation with expert precision.

And, of course, a brief check of the background records would reveal that Sho Light and Nam Heal were still active...even though a thorough investigation would reveal that they had died in the line of duty during the One Year War.

But who has time for thorough investigations during combat? And who thinks about the grunts afterwards?

The Ark Hammer was one of the battleships to jump onto the battlefield, and for once, actually carried the Amenthes. For all the times that Ascian had refused her hospitality, or used BAHRAM owned battleships, he finally had given in. Perhaps it had to do with the repairs still being executed. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that a certain someone he felt guilty for getting involved was on that ship. Or perhaps it was just because the Ark Hammer carried a ready supply of Jello. Whatever the reason was. He finally was on that darn ship!

Yellow lights flicker as technicians run around to get things ready. Fighters are getting ready, whilst Ascian himself is doing some final checkups. "How are you feeling, Duat?" The young man inquires of the Orbital Frame's A.I. unit. "All systems nominal and battleready. So... I am fine." A more human answer. As time went on, the artificial intelligence within a constant quantum flux, and driven by a CPU made from that strange material 'Metatron', seemed to... grow. Something that had to do with its creation and the basis of the unit itself.

"Warning. Extremely high ETR reaction detected! Indicating this unit as a friendly. However, I will warn you if you come too close to it." Ascian blinks. "Why?" He asks. "Hard to explain." Duat then replies: "It is highly like to be dangerous."

The blue haired framerunner just shakes his head. "Whatever. Stupid thing. Broken again..." He smacks the side panels before laying his hands onto the controls and letting his will sink into the unit - which responds by flooding the frame with flowing red bioluminescent, like blood through veins - after which it begins lifting off. The unit hovers into the center of the hangar, whilst the bays open and he watches the Arachno Gundam flying off whilst the Technicians are dog-whistling at it. "I don't know what is going on..." But he facepalms anyhow. "I really don't..."

And it blasts off, flying into space.

 Captain Bright Noa transmits, "This is the Captain! Crusader attack force inbound! Alert mobile suits for full tactical response! Lieutenant Rachel, you're in command. Mastery condition is elimination of all unfriendlies! Launch mobile suits!"

Rachel seems to finally be getting sleep. The only problem with this is that she has to take sedatives to achieve this-- the howls and screams and the fury of Haman Karn still haunt her mind, stirring the restless souls inside her heart and causing her to awaken in the middle of the night. On a good night, she awakens in a panic. On the worst of nights, she awakens screaming.

Her room, normally kept clean, is littered with the designs of what looks to be a Mobile Suit. Many of them are just copies of what's on her computer screen and the large data-tablet splayed out next to it, many of them also forwarded to Theresa Testarossa of Mithril for review.

But at the very least, she's up and around. She's back to working in the hangar today, since the machines won't just up and keep themselves ready for deployment! Deployment that-- becomes a major issue, very much All of the Sudden.

Rachel swallows with nervousness as Bright issues his orders over the loudspeaker. Is she ready for the field again? Does she really have a choice in a case like this? Does she /want/ to fight, and face the scattering nervousness in her heart? In the defense of what has steadily become her home, there is only one answer...

Hell yes.

"I'll take the Red," she replies over her earpiece, tugging on the old-style white, black, and red piloting suit meant for the MSZ-006-P2/3C Zeta Gundam. When she makes it to the hangar, settles into the seat, she waits for the clicks and clacks of the ports in the back of the suit for connection to take place. Tying back the length of her white hair at the back of her neck into a short ponytail, she goes through all of the paces of starting the machine up on emergency protocols.

When it hits the catapult, the Red Zeta's cockpit shifts to a freestanding mode, back braced against what's left of the seat, the balls of her feet on the pedals. The holographic console emerges in front of her, and Cagalli's younger sister draws in a deep breath. Her eyes close long enough for her to feel the Bio Sensor's presence at the back of her mind...

"This is Rachel... I'm heading out!!"

The catapult fires. The aggressive red Mobile Suit breaks out into the darkness of space, Rachel pushing off with both feet at the end. Lurching off into the darkness, she reaches out to the screens in front of her and swats at a couple of unnecessary windows, rearranging aspects of her HUD on the fly.

How did she get stuck on the cursed ship. Ken really wondered this. Still they had to find out where Katharon had put the Metatron it had stolen. She knew something would go wrong, with it in all likely hood, and the idea of one of the many POST humans that make up the ranks of the terrorist group. Falling prey to Metatron posioning, was not a pretty thing to think about. Rather than let a monster be born she'd seek out and destroy any projects they were working on with the material. Still why did she end up on Milk Man Dan's ship for this operation?

The Ardjet launches from the hanger, the Orbital Frame being a one shot design quite stood out and the red headed martians red eyes narrowing at the display.

"That sort of Metatron reaction? Wait no that's not from the AEUG or anyone in Katharon?

A warning comes up of a large number of DC units and she can't help but smirk.

"Target rich environment humm? Fine lets go."

Ardjet launches and Ken is starting to get target locks.

Mess Hall Katharon Flagship Argama En route to Side 7 12:35 - Local Space Time

"But this is great!" Cagalli says, chomping on her hamburger. She is used to occasional arm and shoulder hairs in her food from her work with the Desert Dawn, and actually seems meaningfully engaged with the story. "... but I guess we can move it to the Archangel."

Before she can say anything else, Cagalli hears the alarm, and is one of the numerous people off like a shot to her battle station. "... but I wanted to hear about it," she mumbles, before heading out toward her mobile suit.

MOMENTS LATER

Cagalli settles into the cockpit of one of the handful of mass-production Hyaku Shiki units that has settled into the hangars of Katharon, getting ready to sortie. It's no Akatsuki, but the Akatsuki is... elsewhere, at present. The Princess of Orb takes a deep breath, calling out, "Cagalli Yula Athha -- Hyaku Shiki mass production type -- launching!"

A bright streak of gold flies through the darkness, making itself an almost laughably obvious target.

Staren usually doesn't live on the Argama -- Only when there's technology that needs battle testing, or an ongoing military campaign or alien invasion. Or he feels like it.

Staren has spent the past few days thinking about just what he's fighting for, and trying to find someone he can talk to who won't call him crazy for even _thinking_ of trying to get the secret of conquering death itself out of what the world sees as an evil madman.

Noone in Katharon, certainly. Maybe Alia--err, 'Alicia' would understand, but he hasn't been able to reach her. She's probably very busy being an important person in La Gias. Man, if only he could find a magical kingdom that loves him -- But no, even if he _could_ there is a world to save. There is _humanity_ to save. From the tyranny of Death. He never thought he would actually have a chance to do so, but now it's almost within his grasp...

If, and this is a big If, Dr. Hell is telling the truth.

His parents, of course, are entirely supportive of the idea, but they, they're _always_ supportive of everything he does.

Still, a way to defeat Death. Who knows how long it will be before the way is found again, and might fall into the reach of someone intending to use it for good? Could be any day now... Could be decades, could be centuries or more. If Dr. Hell is lying, Staren will figure that out, and won't it defeat the point, to break Staren's trust?

Staren muses over all this as his hamburger grows cold in front of him. The hairy cook is telling a story, but Staren just has such more _important_ issues to think about...

ALARM ALARM ALARM

Staren snaps out of his thoughts, "Buh? Wha??" The ship is under attack! He hurries to the hangar bay...

The signature machine of Staren's, the Star Hawk, fitted with its bulky 'Assault Armor' parts, no relation to a certain ability used by some armored cores, is next on the launch catapult after Cagalli. "Woah... that's... they're throwing a lot at us! But if we could handle the Balmarians..." Staren braces himself as his machine is flung out into space, towards the approaching Crusaders...

Wait, is that a machine beast?

Awkwaaaaaaaaard.

The Ginga's shot hits the charging shields and is somehow deflected away from the hull of the Ark Hammer. Divada tilts her head as the homing laser is rebounded off of the shields. "A Homing Laser, huh? Seems we're not the only ones with a laser from EOTI. This might turn into something interesting after all." She says to herself as she coordinates some of the forces in the battle, however, her own focus is towards the Ginga. "Divert Racks 9 thru 16 towards that ship.... Open fire." all 8 missile tubes fire rockets towards the Ginga, turning towards the engines...

"Initial attacks not effective, shields interdicted.." The tactical officer drones. The Ageha hrms, tapping his teeth, before another steps forward, a young girl with curls, but with those same dead eyes... Dewey himself watches his men go about their duties..as he looks up at the glowing tactical screens. "Hrm, missiles." The missiles come crashing in, before being intercepted by a disturbingly insistent collection of bits, who release precise bursts of energy that decimate the initial missile barrage.

The gunnery officers respond in kind, unleashing a barrage of small and disturbingly accurate missiles from countless hive like racks. "Respond in kind," the female Ageha comments, peering at the screen with unmoving eyes... The Ginga's racks, significantly more of them open up, unleashing a barrage of small white, very prim, very proper missiles that surge forth enmasse. The children watch as the missiles become akin to glowing stars disappearing into the eternal night of space... Dewey merely smiles at them, and their strangely appropriate appreciation... Expendable weapons are always the best.

This time, the missiles are intercepted by a combination of laser fire and shields. Tilting her head, She takes measure of the Ginga, and blinks a couple of times as she stares at the Ginga's bridge. "This is strange. Missiles to fight missiles. let's see how they feel about lasers. She says before gesturing towards the tactical officer. From the front of the ship, one turret turns and fires a laser blast at the Ginga...

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "Traitor!"

 Kazuma Ardygun transmits, "Who betrayed what now?"

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "I'm going after the Ardjet!"

 Dr. Hell, ?

 Puru Two transmits, "Oh, huh, there's a /new/ traitor? I was about to say, 'traitor' doesn't exactly narrow it down much."

 Dr. Hell transmits, "There are likely more important things going on, Mr. Luddite."

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "I think mister Suriel has this handled. There's plenty of forces here. And if I don't attack her - someone else will. Or she'll potentially rip through our forces."

 Suriel Misaki transmits, "Go have your fun. I will do the mens work today."

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "Chuck an Asteroid for me."

 Puru Two transmits, "Tick tock, Suriel. Don't expect me to let you have the glory if you can't take it down quickly enough."

 Suriel Misaki transmits, "I doubt you will even survive long enough to enact that threat, little girl."

 Puru Seven transmits, "That butthead clearly doesn't know you."

 Puru Two transmits, "Ha! Look who thinks he's a big man now. I've survived worse."

 Suriel Misaki transmits, "You were in better."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Dr. Hell transmits, "Enough!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Puru Two transmits, "... yeah, okay. He's not worth it, anyway."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Dr. Hell transmits, "I am glad to see you have come to your senses."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Dr. Hell transmits, "Good luck, children. Break them like an egg."

Suriel watched everything unfold...waiting for others to do their jobs. However, the arrival of the A-laws made things...interesting. He laughed a little, ultimately their arrival would mean /nothing/. Nothing at all. They were mere specs of dust to him, and would be cleared from the table like all of the others.

Suddenly, The Qareen's pike was brandished, summoned from his vector trap as several Sword breakers were likewise summoned and took positions around the Orbital Frame. Laughing, he dived down towards the Argama, like a madman and aimed several shots from the sword breakers to try and weaken the Shielding on the Argama. The Orbital Frame's AI already starts searching for the location of any Metatron on the ship, but Suriel is just happy with shooting with reckless abandon.

"HEY Katharon! How's it going. You seem to have some things that DON'T BELONG TO YOU! But that's ok, if you give them up RIGHT NOW, I will only kill you painlessly. If you don't, when I disable you I will DEPRESSURIZE YOUR DECKS...one by one." Suriel ends with an abrupt giggle.

The readings of the Qareen are off the scale, the metatron combined with the GIEM system has created a strange presence that is about as subtle as a colony drop.

Divada's laser blast meets a projected point energy field, as the bits continue to intercede. The Ginga itself almost insultingly doesn't move an inch from its position, instead it continues its barrage of missiles..raining them down upon the distant DC ship. "Continue bombardment, and I want analysis of that energy signature," Dewey comments quietly, before he empties his glass. He lets the glass loll in his fingers, half forgotten, as one of the Ageha refills it... The Ginga does not move, but its weapon slots open, unleashing a barrage from all corners... The beams curls around the Ginga, allowing it to commit its full broadside from both sides against a single target... "Should we move closer to that unit, Sir?" One of the technicians asks, before an Ageha leans forward, unpleasantly close to the ensign.

"...that unit historically has caused damage to our reflection film. Do you think we should move closer?" The ensign blinks, staring into the Ageha's dead eyes, "N-no..." Dewey smiles, "They are quite clever, Ensign Pavelo."

"Another high level ETR reaction detected. Identifying..." Duat doesn't takes long to do her job. A vid-window appears with the figure of the Ardjet launching from an unknown ship.

"It's the Ardjet!" Ascian claims, overly dramatically.

"Correct. The signature overlaps that over the Ardjet. Would you like to engage?" Duat inquires.

"Let's get that traitor." Is the obvious response, as the young man squints his eyes, as if this would make him see the unit better. But it was still nothing but a pink dot in the distance.

The wings of the Amenthes spread, and Metatron crystals begin to push out from between the folds of the Khopesh shaped wings, forcing a jetstream of red energy to flow behind it as it blasts off at high velocity, and a red translucent shield forms around it to protect it from any radiation or minor beamfire that may come from potential goons being launched from the Argama.

And immediately does Amenthes arm come up whilst a distance counter displays at the right of Ascian's view on Ardjet. "Guide my shot Duat, it's a bit long range." The A.I. beeps, to acknowledge this, and helps as the red plasma forms along the length of the barrel and... flash! A flare of red energy flies straight for the Ardjet.

Ken Marinaris seems she'll have something else to deal with before she can go after Katharon command ship. If there's information there she'll have to deal with a BAHRAM pilot that's comming at her. The Ardjet pauses for a moment attempts to evade but is unable to. Worse as the fire comes in. She can't dodge all of them several shots clip the Ardjet it self.

"So that's how you want it fine."

The Ardjet's cape breaks apart into a cloud of missiles which circle the mecha for a moment. Then it points at them.

"GO WISPS!"

The remotes break up into several groups comming at the other orbital frame from above, below and it's flanks. She has long learned to spread out the missile barrage rather than focus it into an easily shot down lone formation.

"Defend myself..." Sinya murmurs to herself, sounding just a little bit confused as she surveys the battlefield around her. Being that this is only her third attempt at an actual combat situation, it's certainly enough to make her ears slick back and her tail tuck between her legs. "A little more direction would have been nice." That only goes doubly so, as it's becoming increasingly hard for the catgirl to determine which side is which.

As the two battleships begin to fire missiles back and forth between each other, she has little choice but to draw away from the Ark Hammer, making sure that she isn't caught in in the crossfire. She spins away from the two larger ships, out into open space, trying to get her bearings. She turns, reaching a hand back and tugging at the skin tight control suit, "These things are so not meant for my kind. It's like a super atomic wedgie of doom." Comfortable? Not exactly. Ease of use - well, at least it responds without nearly as much effort as her guymelef.

With the captain occupied with the other battleship, Sinya launches herself towards the rest of the combat. For someone not combat trained, and not terribly familiar with either side of the battle, it's quite hard to find any sort of target. But that's when something gold streaks through her peripheral vision, causing Sinya to turn towards it. She does a quick double check to make sure that it isn't going to be a case of friendly fire. "Right." Bobbing her head once, the gundum following the motion, the catgirl draws out the bladed weapon at the mech's side, swinging in close to sweep it out at the side of Cagalli's unit.

With the Ark Hammer getting hit with an increasing barrage of missiles, but Divada simply takes a deep breath as the armor seems to hold. The Ark hammer begins to move forward as Divada touches a button on her comm array. "Knight lead. I need a distraction." "Yes, my Lady." The Ark hammer continues to move, but from the other side of the Ginga, a squadron of fighters speeds in, loosing a volley of missiles towards the shis bridge.

Aboard the Argama,

Saman raises his shoulders in a slow, confused shrug.

Bright's brow furrows out of sheer annoyance. He turns away, facing the swarm of Qareens on the screen. He rubs the bridge of his nose and lets out a sigh. "What the hell is he even talking about? I remember when enemies at least had a logical argument for attacking you." His head shakes.

With a raise of his hand, Bright signals his crew into action. "Radio silence to the enem--"

Proximity alerts go off, the lead Qareen dives after the Argama.

"Lead unit is coming in at one point five times the speed as the other units!" Caesar warns.

"Evasive manuevers!" Bright demands.

Torres grunts, "It's.. it's too fast!"

"... Brace for impact!"

Swordbreakers pelt the Argama's reinforced hull. Light ripples quake across the length of the ship, jostling Bright in his chair.

"What're our mobile suits doing!?" Bright thumps his fist against the arm-rest angrily. "Have Rachel bring her team up to defend the Argama! They can't let anything break through! Have guncrews return fire! Cycle the barrage immediately!"

The Argama begins opening fire -- its gun-turrets blasting in every direction to retaliate against the Qareen horde. Missiles stream out of the port and starboard side launchers soundlessly and twirl toward the lead attacker.

Private Hugo Manfred and his twin secret ghost buddies form up into the classic flanking formation. The three Zakus move to form up on the Argama; Hugo's own Zaku settles down atop the massive ship, the other two flitting about into defensive setups. The Zakus grip the handles of their rifles, settling back as their targetting computers spring to life; the ghosts of their pilots, and the very real and very living magician inside the third, watch the Qareen carefully.

So. He has initiated the GEIM system. Pygman cannot help but be a bit amused at the willingness of children to throw away their lives for a cause they believe in, be it a cause as flimsy as 'power' or as important as 'peace.' He has seen this very thing occur here upon the Argama; at the drop of a hat these children would climb into their machines to fight for what was 'right', using their gifts and submitting themselves to so many different horrors in the name of ideals.

It was, Pygman reflects as his fingers curl about the joysticks, somewhat entertaining.

Pygman notes the presence of the Anima Machine Beast with the same dour expression he has met all other surprises this day. With a brief whisper, a message is sent to Darcy, informing her of his and his master's plans. The Zaku II's monoeye whirls around as its blocky foot takes a step forward on the Argama.

"Let's see how you like a taste of this, invader!" Hugo/Pygman screams as he pulls the trigger in traditional Overdramatic As Hell Style. For the sake of keeping up appearances, Viscount Pygman was a master infiltrator; even such nonsense as this was alright with him. "I won't let you destroy our home!"

Machine guns fly from the muzzle of the machinegun with a flash, the other two Zakus joining in the fire. Even 'Sho' manages to yell out something about determination.

If this was an actual Gundam anime, they'd already be dead by now.

Oh, wait...

The missiles scythe in, many being intercepted by the defense network, but the defense network is a work of man, and therefore is far from perfect. The ordinance explodes against the bright orange exterior of the Ginga, scouring the reflection film... "Damage sustained on small decks, all projectors are still operational." Dewey hrms as the ship shimmies slightly, watching the explosions on his foredeck with vague dispassion as he sips calmly, "Do try to hit him, gunnery officer. We're not just here to provide a light show." He smiles, almost fatherly, as he looks at his Ageha, "You had best secure yourselves, we may suffer buffeting." He looks back up at the tactical overlays as the Ginga fires dissuading fire at the small scale fighters, its lasers going in all directions. The anti-corallian fleet does have one thing going for it, its absolutely beautiful to watch its flagship in operation, until of course you realize, those lasers are still ostensibly deadly weapons even as they move like flittering ribbons through the black void of space.

Almost as if it _noticed_ Staren's thoughts, the machine beast turns towards him and flaps its wings, accelerating.

Wait how do wings make it go faster _in space_ there is nothing to flap against and no need for aerodynamics _what is going on_ he wonders if he can get Dr. Hell to explain that too

In any case, the Star Hawk dodges out of the way with a boost of thrusters, then gives chase, trying to plung a hollow, forearm-mounted spike into the machine beast and inject it with plasma. Too late, he wonders if hot things and energy weapons will even work on a phoenix machine beast..."Look, just because I'm willing to talk to you, doesn't mean I'm going to let you hurt my--"

ABout to say 'friends', he freezes. Images flash through his mind of his allies shouting at him, refusing to listen. They don't understand...

But he still ahs to help them, because it's the Right Thing To Do.

Right?

"Warning! Incoming minor ETR reactions. They appear to be bit-like units!" The Amenthes stops right where she is and strengthens the shield. Ascian gets the second arm to shift into a rifle as well and begins to blast away. As the swarm splits into two, so do his shots. It is hard however, to properly fire whilst having to split one's attention like that. A few of the WISPs get shot down by the spray of red energy, but they still manage to get through and crash into the shields of the unit.

The arms come together near its chest, as it tries to focus the shield energy whilst her wings sprout further Metatron crystal size, and begins to burst forwards again, leaving a splash of the WISP missiles behind it and when finally out of the cloud, begins firing again, whilst trying to get closer. He hopes that in a few moments, he'll get close enough to fire at point blank range. After all, he knew the Ardjet had a good tendency at getting away from attacks. He'd learned at least that much from Hera. But the framerunner still hoped he'd find a way through its defenses.

And so it is that flares of red keep firing at the Ardjet. Not to hit her, but to keep her within a certain circle, before the unit once again stops and it forms a twosome of large plasma bolts at the front. The red lines of the Metatron powered machine quickly flow from its cores to the ends of the rifle-arms... and fire with enough force to melt through your average battleship hull.

The Princess of Orb finds herself under attack from multiple angles, and cannot /quite/ handle all the incoming attacks; the mass-production Hyaku Shiki is still a little imperfect, and as such, the Princess ends up getting a nasty blow from Puru Two's bombardment even as she whips her machine out of the way of Sinya's blade.

Nevertheless, it's Sinya -- not Puru Two -- who draws Cagalli's attention. The Princess's machine speeds toward hers, the Princess not electing to say anything for now; right now, this is just as standard a defense run as one can be on.

Raising the machine's heavy beam rifle, Cagalli fires three quick shots; it's an unusually large rifle and is a little harder for Cagalli to handle than she might like, but it's certainly not a bad set of shots, on the whole. The targeting system does a good job of helping out, too.

SOME TIME AGO

"We're making good progress on the information you brought us. Anaheim is very thankful for the technology you've shared with us. We, ah, brought a little something to commemorate our partnership."

The middle-aged executive slides a wooden box toward the blond across from him, who opens it to find a bottle of whiskey and a glass etched with the Anaheim Electronics logo. "I know you appreciate the good stuff, haha!" the executive continues.

Char smiles wanly and closes his present. "Thank you. I have business to attend to shortly, but feel free to stay at the chateau."

Outside, an athletic dark-haired man in a pilot suit finds Char's side. He waits a few steps before addressing him. "The Zero Ze Aru is almost fully updated utilizing the Zeta bio computer. I don't understand what we're supposed to do with such an old mobile armor, though."

"Think of it as museum piece, Gyunei," Char replies, slipping on a pair of sunglasses. "It's there for people to learn from."

"Like Camille?"

"And Rachel. You'd probably like her. She seems like she beat the cyber-newtype process just like you."

NOW

"I'm inbound, admiral," Quattro transmits to the beleaguered Argama.

This is not unusual. Quattro often is off the ship, securing funds and supplies for the AEUG. For all the criticism he has received, Quattro's shadowy connections keep the organization running and it is not rare to find him charging in to a fight at the last moment in the golden Hyaku Shiki.

As the Argama takes enemy fire, mega particle beams cross in front of its bow. They're not from the same angle as the one fired earlier by the enemy forces-- by Puru Two-- but the sheer number of them is also perplexing.

A friendly IFF flashes across the channels. "This is Quattro Bajeena. Hold your fire."

Several bits, at least they're bits according to passive radar, fly past the launching deck of Bright's ship, darting out into space to meet two massive hands that follow the previously fired mega particle beams. They crash into each other, a familiar suit taking shape.

The centerpiece bristles with energy. No matter where the Qareen darts about, the fleet-destroying mobile armor assembled near the Argama can find it. It is horrifically quick, moving more like a person than a suit, the sure sign of a bio sensor. Its abdomen mega particle cannon fires repeatedly, chasing the offending Orbital Frame down, cutting off its lanes of attack and flooding the area with stray Minovsky particles.

"I'll pry him from the ship. You can engage in close weapons fire. The Zeong can deflect it."

The Armor of the Ark hammer holds again as the homing lasers get through the shields, but graze the hull. Divada, however, takes a very slow and deep breath. Her anger from earlier, has seemed to loop around into absolute calm. She touches something on the back of arm of her bodysuit, and it makes the tactical officer jump. "Ma'am, I've lost control of helm!" Miranda seems worried, but Divada doesn't take her eyes off of the ship. "I've taken control." She says softly, as she clicks a headpiece into place.

Now, Miranda looks extremely worried. But Divada doesn't any attention to Miranda, but she gives her orders softly. "Armory, load torpedo tubes one and two. Coaxial battery, adjust angle 2 degrees y axis, two more inches. Yes.....Fire." It's said so softly that the rest of the bridge crew barely hears, but the white light of the EOTI laser firing from the underside of the bow heard her, as he lances out towards Novak's ship, bending towards where Divada specified...directly under the bridge...

With so much information being thrown at her, it's a little disconcerting and overwhelming for someone not used to flying a gundum. Her arm remains out with the motion of the last attack, her eyes glancing towards it curiously as her head tilts. Then, the radio buzzes within the control system of the gundum, Sinya nearly jumps out of her skin, tail puffing up. "Gah!" Catching her breath, the catgirl shakes her head as she taps at part of the headset that seems as closely attached to her body as the rest of the rubber suit. "Copy. I'll disengage and make my way back."

The distraction is nearly enough to leave her open to the blast that comes at her from the princess's mech, but she has just enough time to dive out of the way, rolling to the side as she watches it skirt past the gundum's rear end. "That could have been a pain in the ass." Literally. Taking a quick glance behind her, she has to make a quick choice between keeping an eye on Cagalli and the order she'd been given. It is an easy decision to make.

"I see a few places I can close up pretty quickly. I should be able to get the shields back online. Give me a few minutes." A few minutes is probably something she doesn't quite have, but that's another story. for the time being, the mechanic is doing what she does best, making use of her skills.

Nevermind that the phoenix Machine Beast is a phoenix Machine Beast in the airless void of space; Dr. Hell is all about taking the laws of science outside and clubbing them to death with a shovel, apparently.

There's no response from the creature save for the pained screech that follows its impalement; it /is/ only a Machine Beast, after all. It makes no move to dislodge the weapon from its body, either--in fact, it flies /into/ the Star Hawk, trying to throw it and its pilot off-balance with the combination of its bulk and the suddenness of its movement. Those wings, meanwhile, will try to enfold the Star Hawk in their molten embrace; there's no ground to orient the pair of them towards, so the avian horror will simply seek to pitch them through the starry nothingness all the while.

Its eyes are quiet plainly the eyes of a thing alive--moreso than any of Dr. Hell's /other/ creations. Amidst the metal and the fire, patches of dingy feathers and bare, scarred flesh are visible.

Is /this/ what it means to conquer Death?

The barrage strikes in, bypassing the defense perimeter again... and crashing into the forward armor.

The bridge, since the Ginga wasn't designed by morons, of course doesn't display any of this. No exploding panels, no lights flickering. its only the bare percussion which knocks one of the Ageha to the ground, the wine bottle shattering. Dewey rises, lifting the child back to her feet, before looking at the ship in the distance, "We've accomplished what we can. Helm, withdraw." He makes his way back to his seat and sits again. "Begin analysis of data, and schedule repairs."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "That's... extremely strange."

The Star Hawk shakes it's head. Staren can't let himself get distracte--

He winces as the machine beast enfolds him in wings and he starts seeing heat warnings -- the outside of the Star Hawk begins to glow dimly. The cockpit warms slightly as the air conditioning tries to keep up. Okay, this is bad.

The appearance of a machine beast up close is a little disturbing -- But this was a creature created a a weapon -- Staren wouldn't expect it to recieve the same care as a human that Dr. Hell desired to bring back.

Anyway, if it wants to stay in close, fine. Staren pumps in more plasma, since the beast did look like that hurt it -- and tries to jab the spike from the other arm in, as well!

A Big Zam? Out here?

Her eyes narrow, but Rachel doesn't falter. She's heard of stranger-- and bringing something like that out to a place like this is one of those 'very good or very stupid' things, too. It's confirmed to be the former when she feels the familiar twinge in her mind, the presence of the young Zeonic clone. Her eyes adjust again, the left with mechanical precision.

"Puru Two," she whispers aloud, moments before the barrage. She catches a glimpse of the Great Zeong moments after, the presence of Quattro a bit of a morale booster.

Rachel twists the Gundam around, turning her head to track the incoming missiles-- and to start firing back on them with the vulcans mounted in the head. What aren't destroyed, she starts to evade in a precise manner, the red Zeta twisting and diving out of the path of each ballistic weapon with movements much more humanoid, closer to that of a Trace System or a Direct Motion Control.

Twisting again, the as-of-yet unarmed Gundam turns it's head back toward the Big Zam, continuing to fire with those head vulcans, peppering the Mobile Armor with gunfire as it starts to close in. Trying her best to avoid the obvious guns, the Mobile Suit reaches down to a recharge rack and plucks up a beam saber in the right hand, the blade igniting a brilliant green as it lashes out the side.

"I won't let you," Rachel says, as the saber rears up, "I won't let you destroy our home!"

And then the Zeta strikes, the saber lashing out to carve a deep gash into the Big Zam's main body!

<Radio: B - Secure> Captain Bright Noa transmits, "Have Rachel bring her team up to defend the Argama! They can't let anything break through! Have guncrews return fire! Cycle the barrage immediately!"

<Radio: B - Secure> Quattro Bajeena transmits, "I'm inbound, admiral."

<Radio: B - Secure> Hugo Manfred reports, "My team and I have you covered for the time being, Captain!"

<Radio: B - Secure> Sho Light also reports, "We won't let these DC bastards take another step, Captain!" for veracity.

<Radio: B - Secure> Rachel Miu Athha transmits, "Tighten the perimeter and don't let a single shot get through!"

<Radio: B - Secure> Hugo Manfred transmits, "Roger that!"

<Radio: B - Secure> The Other One Whose Name The Player Forgot That Isn't Sho lets out a wild whoop, completing the Trinity Of Disposable Gundam Mook Archetypes.

<Radio: B - Secure> Caesar transmits, "Great Zeong off the port bow! Captain Quattro incoming!"

<Radio: B - Secure> Captain Bright Noa transmits, "The what!?"

<Radio: B - Secure> Captain Bright Noa transmits, "Concentrate forward firepower! All units, push offensive manuevers!"

There's an even worse thing than having to del with another orbital frame. The readings she's getting about what is happening with Suriel's Orbital frame. The readouts are disturbing. There's something very wong there but she's got Ascian to deal with. The orbital frame move and only Ardjet's speed saves it from the shot. She moves quickly enough to avoid a direct hit. the Orbital framer actually seems to glare at Ascian. Clearly mimicing Ken's will as she directs the machine she then opens fire sends another volly of WISPs but this one is smaller it seems Ken's preparing for something, else but what's she up to?

Cagalli knows much, much better than to let a mechanic get away and keep repairing... but on the other hand, she also knows better than to engage someone who seems to have a speed advantage on her. Turning her attention away from Sinya and back toward Rachel and Puru Two, Cagalli decides to hang back for now rather than engage in direct combat with the immensely powerful Big Zam.

Instead, she offers Rachel two things: encouragement and targeting data. Swooping around the outer edge of the battlefield, the Princess calls out to Rachel, "I've got your back! I'll be back over in a second -- here, take this!" Cagalli transmits some of the data she's getting from the battlefield on how Puru's machine is moving from /her/ perspective, hopefully making it a little easier to aim. (Space is notoriously terrible for giving meaningful context or perspective on movement.)

After the EOTI laser hit's the ship, Divada tilts her head as the ship turns away "that's odd. why would they run now?" She then shrugs a bit. "Let 'em go. We have more important fish to fry." She says as she Ark hammer turns slowly towards the main battle.

Skarrgo has nowhere to go; Star Hawk has little trouble penetrating its body with its other spike, and indeed, the Machine Beast's pain carries across electrons as its entire traumatized body quivers on the other end of the Star Hawk's plasma-laden weaponry. Of course...

...with its spikes embedded in the Machine Beast's body, the Star Hawk is nearly as trapped as the phoenix.

"It won't stop until you're cold and dead, you know," an even, electronically-modulated female voice informs Staren via radio. Proving this, Skarrgo - its passage through the stars halted by the Star Hawk's second spike - pulls its taloned feet up to try fastening them to the mobile suit's legs. Luckily, they aren't on fire, or anything.

They're just sharp enough to shave the atoms from a battleship's hull, instead.

"Submit."

There is, briefly, a predatory gleam in Skarrgo's eyes, but that will vanish when its razor-beaked head darts to try cleaving through the Star Hawk's torso. Blood and oil squirt from its wounds, forcing themselves from the Machine Beast's body despite the spikes to hang in variated beads around the pair.

Suriel's attacks rain down, but quickly he is surrounded himself.by various weapon fire and other mobile suits. However, one thing that people notice that dispite the over whelming odds, the Qareen itself is moving with speed beyond even that of a mobile suit. It turns on a dime, it sends waves of energy around it, directly shots away from it.

Argama's shots do not quite bounce off it, they singe the armor. As does the assorted zombie Zaku's. Scratched up, The Qareen just seems to be unable to get a single solid hit on...

Until the Newtype NotChar appears out of nowhere, and a chunk of the Qareen nearly VAPORIZES as the particle cannons tear through it, taking out a chunk of the armor and causing lasting visible damage to the orbital frame for more then a few seconds. This gets the attention of the Oribital frame, as it turns and litterally charges at one of the Zaku's, and then right towards Quattro.

The Zaku litterally is used like a club, attempting to drill both units away. Then, without mercy, the right hand of the unit shifts, creating a gigantic cannon litterally out of nothing but it's own body. The cannon starts to hum, as a large ball of dark constriction fires out, attempting to consume part of the Argama and tear out a chunk of it with a single shot.

"Mother fucker....that HURT. I am going to take you apart piece by piece! I WILL CONSUME EVERYTHING AND LEAVE NOT ONE OF YOU LEFT ALIVE!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Dr. Hell transmits, "Idunn."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Dr. Hell transmits, "Are you feeling better, young lady?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Marchionessa Idunn transmits, "Whatohgodi'mfineyesi'mfine"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Dr. Hell transmits, "You haven't been hearing..."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Dr. Hell transmis, "The *voice* again, have you?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Marchionessa Idunn transmits, "N--no, not since--"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Marchionessa Idunn transmits, "No."

One target slips through Puru Two's hail of missiles - if not unscathed - to continue on a different attack vector, but the Newtype pays it barely any mind. She can tell that her true target isn't in the golden machine, focusing fully on the red one. "There you are."

Another NEWSflash (the NEWS stands for Newtype Early Warning System) alerts her to the arrival of Char Aznable's thinly veiled alter ego, but she'll cross that bridge when she comes to it. Right now he's Suriel's problem, and that suits her just fine.

Vulcan fire predictably does pretty much nothing against the Big Zam's armor, but rather than making the typical sarcastic remark about it, Puru Two refrains from commenting on that. In fact, she seems to be in a rare pleasant mood, sounding almost cheerful when she greets the other Newtype, "Hello, Rachel Miu Athha. Did you miss me?"

The Beam Saber immediately gives away the fact that the MP Big Zam doesn't seem to have any kind of shielding whatsoever, it slices into the large mech's armor just fine. It didn't seem to damage anything major, however. "Oh, don't be so sentimental. It's just a ship." The large Mobile Armor responds with its two long 'legs', delivering a double kick that's rather easy to avoid... but only served as a distraction to follow up with a much swifted third kick, knocking the much smaller Gundam aside.

Still seeming oddly chipper, the clone soldier suggests, "How about we play a game? Just a fun little time-based challenge. You've got until this machine's main cannon reaches full power again to beat me. If you can do it... well, you get to live! Unless you suck so much that you'll let one of these other guys kill you, of course, but at least you won't have to worry about the biggest threat anymore." Which is herself, naturally, she doesn't really need to specify that, does she? "Of course, if you fail..." Her playful tone is abruptly replaced by one that's deathly serious. "I won't miss the Argama at the range I'll be at by then."

The energy charge building within the machine's central Mega Particle Cannon is the only clue as to what the time limit may be. Just like the machine's actual forward progress, it's rather slow, but it can't be more than a few minutes. In the mean time, she continue to use the machine's legs, but this time to fire more missiles.

A few sparks show briefly in space as the gundum is brought up against the hull of the Ark Hammer. Metal clanks as the outer hull is pulled back into place. It isn't exactly the cleanest of work, but it also was done in less than five minutes. The shields seem to come back online over that part of the battleship's hull, and that seems to be the signal for the rubber-clad catgirl that her job is done for the time being.

As she turns, her eyes sweep back to try and find the golden shape she'd seen earlier. It's more than a little surprising that she hadn't gotten attacked while her back was turned, so perhaps there is some honor in the world. As she pushes off of the Ark Hammer, the gundum is thrown back into the fray, trying to maneuver around various attacks as she tracks the her original target. "My apologies. I was just repaying a debt to someone. So where were we?" At least she's polite about this whole battle thing, but then again, the catgirl isn't exactly a soldier. For all intents and purposes, she looks more like a pole-dancer than a pilot at the moment, anyways. Ears perking, she leans forward, bracing her arms in front of her in a block. "I believe you were kind enough not to shoot me in the back so..." She motions a hand out, as if inviting an attack from Cagalli. Is she insane? Well, it's possible, she did have some head trauma during the blockade. Either that, or she just has some really odd sense of morals, even in battle.

Amenthes seems to stare back, its eyes flaring up in red for a moment behind that black mask of its, as it veers around the Ardjet whilst on its tails a set of red orbs begin to form. Orbs that begin to expand, wrapping highly volatile Metatron energy within, whirling inside of a compressed space. These little vessals of power lay at its tailtips, flailing around and... crushing the WISPs that get sent out at it within their caress as they get too close.

The arms, once rifle, revert to its clawy hand forms, as the 'tailfeathers' - in reality prehensile tendrils with spade shapes at the end, which in turn have glowing red diamonds set into them - come forth towards those same hands, concentrating the spheres and forming them into a twosome before the unit suddenly rushes forwards.

"We're doing this! Duat!"

"Roger!"

"TAKE THIS, TRAITOR! I'M DRAGGING YOU BACK TO BAHRAM!"

The unit punches! That's right. It punches, using those spheres of energy, trying to rupture the unit's defense.

<Radio: B - Secure> Nam Heal screams, and then loses contact as his Zaku explodes.

<Radio: B - Secure> Rachel Miu Athha transmits, "Ghhh... I'm gonna try to stop the Big Zam, they're gonna try to get in close to the Argama and fire the main gun!"

A _female_ voice? Ah... "You must be Marchionessa Idunn. Pleased to meet you." The Star Hawk is capable of surprisingly precise maneuvers -- The legs twist out of the way of the claws, who would think to program in a maneuver like that? "Doctor Hell says you could use some competition. So let's see which is better, your machine beast or my Star Hawk!"

It looks like the machine beast is tougher, but the Star Hawk is nimbler thanks to Staren controlling it as if it were his body. Will he be able to kill it while barely writhing the way out of its strikes?

He hopes so. he continues to pour on the plasma, trying to fry the phoenix from the inside. "Afterward we can go out to dinner, it looks like we'll be having _fried chicken_." Okay witty banter quota met. "Er, I'm not actually asking you out, that was a joke." That may have actually counted _against_ the quota.

"So tell me, is it true that the Doctor can bring people back to life, with no side effects?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Marchionessa Idunn transmits, "Wh--Doc--"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Marchionessa Idunn transmits, "Why did you send--"

"The Great Zeong has just inflicted terrible, terrible damage on the lead unit!"

Captain Bright lets out a huff of relief. When it comes to timely interventions, Quattro has them down pat.

The battle progresses. The Argama shudders again as the Qareen turns its weapon-system on it. Its output is tremendous, yet its firing angle is poor. The blast is just barely avoided, a chunk of armor blasted right off. A burst of decompressing gas follows, before quickly being cordoned off by an emergency blast-door.

"Damage crews dispatched to deck six!" Ron plugs in the commands through his ops console.

"Continue barrage!" Bright commands. "Increase angle, target as many of the fighters as you can! Main guns, target the lead mobile weapon and fire!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Dr. Hell transmits, "He is talking, isn't he."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Dr. Hell transmits, "What a poor, stupid boy he is."

<Radio: B - Secure> Quattro Bajeena transmits, "Bypass its I-field. Physical weaponry where you can."

<Radio: B - Secure> Quattro Bajeena transmits, "You're the perfect pilot to do this, Rachel."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Marchionessa Idunn transmits, "Who /is/ this?!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Dr. Hell transmits, "A young man from Katharon who has decided to open his eyes."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Dr. Hell transmits, "Unfortunately, the man he has chosen to pry them open is none other than myself."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Marchionessa Idunn transmits, "And you think he's--you think he's worth--"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Dr. Hell transmits, "Oh, no."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Dr. Hell transmits, "Not at all."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Dr. Hell transmits, "But I never had to tell *him* the truth, now did I?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Marchionessa Idunn .....

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Marchionessa Idunn transmits, "No."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Dr. Hell transmits, "Look at it this way."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Dr. Hell transmits, "I want to make a mess of Katharon."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Dr. Hell transmits, "And you need practice manipulating others to do your bidding."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Dr. Hell transmits, "Surely you don't believe I don't pay attention to the needs of my soldiers?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Marchionessa Idunn transmits, "Manip--"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Marchionessa Idunn transmits, "What--what do you want me to do, then?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Dr. Hell transmits, "Hmmm."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Dr. Hell transmits, "Convince him that you know nothing of this. If you wish, be friendly; if not, be aggressive. Your only guideline is that you provoke a genuinely emotional response from him."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Dr. Hell transmits, "But do it with confidence."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "Keep moving Ascian!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Will do!"

Dodge once, dodge twice, dodge--

-- whoops.

"Urgh-!!" she cries out, the Gundam lurching backwards on the impact of the third kick. It only clipped the smaller red Zeta Gundam, but the strike is enough to cause the machine to spin out and away from the Big Zam at a fairly high speed. Rachel reaches her arms out to the sides, fingers fanned out and legs spreading a short distance. Her posture shifts, her footing... and then the Mobile Suit rights itself in relation to the Zeonic machine, though still drifting away at an odd angle.

"Why?"

Missiles fire, blazing through space toward the Zeta P2/3C. Rachel's awareness spikes, and the red Gundam again blitzes through space in sharp movements, aiming to come up from underneath the Big Zam as fast as she can. The shield presents itself, the saber disengaging to brace the other arm, and the Mobile Suit /slams/ into the larger Mobile Armor, as though her intent was to knock the machine 'unsteady.'

"Why are you enjoying this?! Are you as twisted as Haman? Why would you even /want/ this?!"

Twisting around and ending up upside-down, the red Mobile Suit shifts gears, drawing out a smaller, more stout saber hilt into a backhanded grip. Pushing off against the Zam itself and toward the 'hips' for those two long legs, the young pilot seeks to drive the blade in... and then /wrench/ it to the side, digging the tip through the workings and then /rip/ it back out!

<Radio: B - Secure> Captain Bright Noa transmits, "Captain Quattro, I'm uploading additional tactical data to your Great Zeong!"

The Ark Hammer stays out of the fight, but functions as a support role for the time being, keeping an eye out for an opening where the large ship can... creep in and blow stuff up.

Oh, shhhhiiiii-

The magical minion of Dr. Hell, faced with the certain death and fragility that the Zaku brings, can only watch as Nam Heal's machine erupts into nothingness after being wielded as a club.

Really, Pygman doesn't give even one shit that the abused spirit of this former pilot was summoned, bound to his machine, and then brutally exploded. He doesn't even kind of care; however, for the sake of this ridiculous plan, he has no choice but to do so.

"NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!" Hugo/Pygman screams as if he was seriously upset by this whole situation, "NAAAAAAAAAAAM! YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT, YOU UGLY SUNUVABITCH!" Pygman's acting is really quite good, he reflects thoughtfully.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Sho's ghost screams dramatically, "Nam was my brother...he was my best friend! HE WAS MY BEST FRIEND, AND YOU KILLED HIM FOR YOUR STUPID FUCKING WAR!"

Sho's Zaku draws its heat hawk, the light glistening against the light of the sun as the thrusters burn to life, spiralling towards Suriel's Quareen as Pygman's Zaku fires at it from behind.

"I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOUUUUUUUU!" Sho wails as he dances to Pygman's tune perfectly.

The Great Zeong is an oppressive shape on the battlefield, too large to be stationed on the Argama. The Zaku that Suriel brandishes is miniscule compared to it, yet it is the correct response in this case-- the smaller Orbital Frame and its mobile suit club glide through the Zeong's I-field, swinging with reckless abandon.

This is still the suit that would have one the One Year War, enhanced by the vampirism of Camille Bidan's inspired designs. One of the Zeong's massive shoulder pads shrugs forward. No matter how fiercely Suriel mauls the unfortunate Zaku against Quattro's mobile armor, the shoulder deflectors are just too thick.

The Zeong's red monoeye watches the assault. It gleams during a lull in the attack, when Suriel turns to address the Argama. The bio computer, through Quattro, senses an opening.

Even as the Argama increases its barrage, firing against the Qareen, the Zeong charges forward like a linebacker, leading with its undamaged shoulder. Communication between it and the Argama, and personal familiarity between Char and Bright, find the mobile armor's I-field threading it through the eye of the needle.

The impetuous charge from the Zeong may or may not send the attacking Frame tumbling, though it is still a large object that must be addressed in some way. That's not where Quattro has been directing his thoughts.

The Zeong's hands, detached from the main unit, float to either side of the Argama's launching decks. Their fingers spread wide, pointing an invisible web around the Qareen that quickly becomes animate with brilliant flashes of mega particle cannons. As the fingers clinch, the web tightens and constricts.

Behind Suriel, the Zeong splits apart, darting away in several directions, contemptuously able to weave through the barrage thanks to their individual I-fields.

Not hearing the interplay between Puru Two and Rachel, Cagalli decides to keep flying support and trying to offer modest support from the Hyaku Shiki rather than getting herself 'in the shit' just yet; she knows she /should/ be pressing offensive maneuvers with all her might, but the machine just doesn't support her usual style of combat. As such, she has to stick to a slightly more conservative strategy.

Big Zams tend to have I-Fields, which means the heavy beam weaponry of the Hyaku Shiki is, at least for the moment, right out. As such, Cagalli finds herself in an awkward position where the best tactic she has at her disposal is to hang back at the middle distance...

... and use head vulcans. This feels a little ridiculous.

<Radio: A - Chat> Katz Kobayashi transmits, "Hey guys!"

The Ardjet isn't fast enough this time, it's caught in the attack. Ken can't melee her way out of a paper bag she attempts to parry the machine's arm and does nothing. The blade then snaps in her attempt to save her self. The attack is sick; the Ardjet is punched so hard part of the body is split open, there's teal light bleeding from the wound and it acts like it's a wounded thing.

"Not... enough and I have you now!"

Ardjet summons WISPs, several vector traps open and they keep on coming. Then they start to form up around the badly damaged Orbital frame. Soon it's encased in them and it doesn't pull back it keeps up with Ascian's machine a moment later there'd be a very large power spike from the now A-laws affiliated pilot and her machine. A second later? There's a visable firing port on the mid section of the now cacooned mecha. It's charging a second later there's a massive blast of energy fired at Ascian's machine and Ken starts to pull her frame back from the other.

"Did you ever even see why I did what I did? No I doubt you even have!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Marchionessa Idunn transmits, "Doctor--why does he want to know about you? About what you can /do/?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Dr. Hell transmits, "Because he is idealistic and seeking something I possess."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Dr. Hell transmits, "And I can use that against him."

Suriel sits in the middle of heroic assaults from all. He looks up, as the Orbital Frame makes a similar motion.

"You underestimate me." He says, flatly right to Quattro. "You, think with your unit, that nothing else compares to you. I can sense it...I can sense your egotism!" He laughs.

"I am not an ace yet, I admit it... but I will become one. I will become greater than even my master. I will surpass Gym, and you, will not stop me." He says, and dismissively.

Suddenly, the attacks are too close to evade. Nothing... ABSOLUTELY nothing could evade at this point. Suriel and his unit likely was all talk...

Until suddenly, there was a warping effect, the attacks twist and turn, spinning away from him as the unit seems to simply vanish from view for a moment. The sky brightens as explosions rock the area...and Qareen appears back to where he was before.

"It...ends now! LIAGIER'S LIGHT!"

What happens next was the Mobile suit's green aura start to expand, as it started to charge metatron. The frame condenses it, before it expands again. This keeps happening, before a explosion of green fire expands in all directions like an explosion.

The first renewed pulse of plasma courses through Skarrgo's body; the phoenix screams, and within Bardos Island the Marchionessa Idunn has to struggle not to scream with it.

And to sort out the feelings Staren - and Dr. Hell himself - have so suddenly stirred within her.

She clutches her control staff; the glimmering bauble of its head flickers in rhythm with her emotions and in time with the Machine Beast's heart. Out in space, Skarrgo thrashes against the Star Hawk, unconcerned with escape; it simply wants to /crush/ the thing entangled with it, but its rage is undirected. Its wings beat furiously, but the curls of fire radiationg from its edges are of no real threat at all to the Star Hawk; even its beak and talons are easily avoided so long as it writhes with nothing more than bestial instinct to guide it.

<Radio: B - Secure> Dr. Hell transmits, "Convince him that you know nothing of this. If you wish, be friendly; if not, be aggressive. Your only guideline is that you provoke a genuinely emotional response from him."

<Radio: B - Secure> Dr. Hell transmits, "But do it with confidence."

"Okay," Idunn whispers. The word lingers within Bardos; it isn't /for/ Staren, or even Dr. Hell.

When the next pulse of plasma hits the firebird's system... nothing happens. In fact, not only does the plasma show no further effect, the thrashing monster begins ti still.

"Yes," that female voice says to Staren; it's cold and succinct, but largely because it's been so heavily processed. There's no real indication of /what/ she's responding to, either.

He won't have long to ponder it, either; pressure builds against the Star Hawk's stakes as soon as the word is spoken, and it's closely followed by molten fire rushing from its wounds to not only disentangle them, but melt the mobile suit in the process. Skarrgo's wings beat as its inflammed blood sprays; its body tilts away from the mobile suit to complete its escape.

"He gave me my father back--but why does that matter to /you/?"

Well, so much for doing the polite thing. Sinya watches as one of the other targets seems to have most of the golden machine's attention. She does a quick survey of the battlefield, eyes sweeping through a view far wider than what she's used to. "Well, no one can say I didn't give them a chance." She shrugs her shoulders, the gundum mimicing the motion as decides that it's time to stop playing nice.

With a slicing sound of metal against metal, she draws out the large bladed weapon of the mech, swinging it forward as she charges, leaning into the attack as her arm sweeps across, aiming at the golden mech's back even while it seems more focused on the Crusader.

<Radio: B - Secure> Rachel Miu Athha transmits, "Cagalli, watch the missiles and close on the flank! If we can disable the propulsion system, it's just a big hunk of junk!"

"The lead mobile weapon, it's evading -- everything!" Caesar gasps aloud.

Weaponsfire bombards the Argama. Plating is buckled -- a rupture here and there, which is quickly and neatly handled by deploying quick-sealing pink-goo from the emergency release panel. The brightly-colored polymer hardens into an airtight seal, ensuring atmospheric integrity.

"...It must be getting faster as the battle is going on," Bright reasons. "We'll have to use our most precise weaponry. Deplete portside missile batteries and keep firing! We'll just have to tag it down!"

From the portside of the Argama, launch tubes slide open. A soundless blast of propellant launches slim-designed warheads one after the other at the Qareen, their intent: seek and destroy!

Sho barely manages to scream as the light engulfs him; his Zaku is obliterated in an instant, reducing him to green ash that burns in the sky until nothing remains but a lingering memory. Which is all he was anyway.

Well that sure takes care of the cleanup, Pygman observes semmi-sarcastically.

"Sho...Nam...no!" 'Hugo' wails, "Shooooo! NAAAAAAAAAAAM! What happened! What happened?! They were alive, they were *people!* And you snuffed them out like they were nothing! You're a monster - and I will never forgive you! EAT THIS!"

Hugo's Zaku hefts its heavy bazooka, crouching down on one knee atop the Argama's back. Ironically, Pygman thinks, all those years of listening to idiotic heroic speeches was finally coming in handy. He didn't even have to make anything up, just pick and choose phrases he'd heard a thousand times before from a thousand people Dr. Hell had done the exact same thing to. It was hilarious.

"RAAAAAA!" Hugo screams as the bazooka is fired; the Zaku II is almost knocked back from the sheer force of it, a white trail streaking from the warhead as it spirals towards the Quareen. It was a poor shot, but then, the Qareen was fast enough to dodge even *fast* shots - what did it matter if he was not aiming perfectly?

"This kid talks a lot," Quattro murmurs to the cockpit. "Is he a cyber-newtype? His grip on reality seems tenuous."

The Zeong's hand retract, the suit itself reforming in a less than ideal position in order to coordinate with the Argama's barrage and the less than fortuitous melee charge from an allied Zaku.

The mobile armor, having been stymied in its bodily diversion and the unified barrage itself stopped by magical metal. The heavily armored but easy to target Zeong finds its outer layers peeled away-- Quattro would prefer a suit he could more easily maneuver in, but there is little reason not to use something like the Zeong when it's available. The Hyaku Shiki can remain fresh for actual missions.

Though the Zeong is powered up enough to use its fleet-destroying barrage, Quattro chooses to instead extend its arms, tracking the Orbital Frame. More lasers mean more of a chance to force it into a bad situation that might cause the pilot to panic, resulting in a retreat or death. Either would be suitable.

<Radio: B - Secure> Captain Bright Noa transmits, "Rachel, status report on your flight team!"

<Radio: B - Secure> Rachel Miu Athha transmits, "All units, check in!"

<Radio: B - Secure> Princess Cagalli Yula Athha transmits, "Under attack, but holding together OK!"

Staren wonders for a moment if Dr. Hell _told_ his protege about him. If not there is going to be confusion. The Star Hawk and the beast space-wrestle while on fire, which is probably pretty cool, and then Staren sees pressure warnings and disengages just in time, pulling free and kicking off just as the flame spurts out. He retaliates with a pair of shoulder-launched grenades that explode into... a shower of acid?

"If he gave you your father back, then you should understand... There are others with dead fathers, dead mothers, dead children, siblings, friends... And there will only be more as time goes on. But if they can be brought back... then people won't have to say goodbye forever anymore... The wounds, the holes within them that nothing else can replace or really fix... _can be filled again_! Wouldn't that be wonderful?!"

Suriel, using the powers of his whistle, avoid Quatro's fingers. In reality, the rapid and strange nature of what is happening and warping the Frame prevents even the newtype from accurately predicting where he is and where he is going. Repeatedly, he was where he was supposed to be, but before he could touch him, the unit itself was gone. Then back to where it was before...

"Ha..." He catches one of the missile aimed at him, turning around and throwing it at the next salvo. Causing a chain reaction through a blast of the residual green heat around him. "You're delaying me from my target...and this annoys me." Suriel says, and turns towards the Zaku running him down. he turns, seeming a blur to the pilot itself, but Suriel simply sees the unit in slow motion. His brain percieving things as slow as he wants. Turning, he moved right behind the unit and smiles.

"Don't worry. I'll send you to them." he says, and suddenly he rears back... energy gathering along his pike. "DARKNESS DEVOURS!" he screams, as a large wave of space compression comes off of his sword like a tear in space itself... aiming to consume the Zaku. The flames around the blast shoot out, aiming to consume both Quattro and the Argama.

When Ken speaks, he opens a reverse audio and video link to her; "Then tell me! Instead of ignoring me or running away! Tell me why you became a traitor! I know you haven't abandoned Mars! You were there, when the Balmarians attacked. You assisted me in trying to stop them from hurting the civilians - to stop them from getting their hands on Metatron! Tell me Marinaris! Tell me, so I may know!" His left eye bandaged off, slight Metatron glow glowing underneath his eye, the young man shouts at her. He seems more frustrated than angry. "I don't understand! Why the A-Laws!?"

Even when the blade crumbles under the pressure of the orbs and their explosive power, his expression doesn't turn to one of glee. He's in a much more healthy state of mind right now. She might even notice that he's also looking at a series of vid-windows depicting all the combattants. He's keeping an eye out on everyone, in case they need assistance. There's a mumble about a catgirl in a mobile trace suit...

His link then begins to cut off as the Ardjet begins to prepare its assault, and the Amenthes is forced to dash back whilst raising its shields. It then suddenly begins getting a feed from somewhere. "Amente?" He suddenly comments - and she might still catch something about a transmission being sent in.

The shields suddenly flare up, and as the unit wraps itself up, trying to stop the beam from crashing through it - its bioluminescence gets to a whole-battle high. Those red embers, like feathers, flare out like as if a wind had picked them up and was trying to throw them as far as possible as the cocooned mech begins cutting into the shield with its massive laser.

Pieces of armor begin flying, sparks course through the unit... but somehow, the shield holds. Who was this Amente person, and how the heck was his shield holding!? Perhaps she might know. A commander who tended to be in the background. The pink hair. Someone who knew Nohman and called him by his true first name...

The unit finally begins to veer upwards. Its glow dimming. It seems the Ardjet was sucking its energy reserves dry - it was certainly having an effect. But the Amenthes breaks out of the attack and rushes along the beam - spiralling around it, and disappears at high velocity behind the unit, only to spin around and opens its wings. Or rather, the wings seem to have 'detached' even further from the unit.

It's suddenly red dots aiming at the enemy unit. They flow, they pulse, and then finally lasers go flying! Within the cockpit, Ascian grins as he finally gets a sturdy lock on the unit. A literal dozen of red beams cut forth through space and try to /surround/ the unit before sucking inwards into the 'simulated' circle, and tries to crash into her from all directions on the horizontal plane.

Divada continues to watch the battle from a distance, though she doesn't interfere at all now. She simply seems to watch the battle and concentrate upon keeping the ship out of it...

The Princess of Orb is caught off guard by the incoming swing of the tomahawk, but manages to bring her sabers up in a quick parry anyway; even if her guard goes in and out, her reflexes are top-notch, and her focus getting keener and keener. "... ugh, shouldn't have taken my eye off that one," she chides herself, before drawing her other saber as well.

Giving both weapons a quick twirl and flourish, the Princess decides to dispense with things like 'form' and 'tactics' for the moment and try to overwhelm the other fighter (who she has pegged as at least a little bit conservative) with raw force. Slash after aggressive, forceful slash comes from the Hyaku Shiki, the Princess attempting to power through any guard that might exist rather than finesse her way around it.

Bright rocks back in his chair. "..nngh!" he grunts. "What the hell is going on out there!?"

"The barrage is thinning out by thirty-eight percent!" Caesar answers. "Overall sustained fire is weakening!" "What're our gunners doing!?" Bright grunts, slamming his fist against the arm-rests of his chair. "Increase the barrage!"

The Argama returns fire. With renewed vigor, its weapons open up in tandem with each other. The space between the Argama and the Qareen turns to light, as beamfire and projectiles cloud everything.

The Great Zeong, still weathering the enemy assault like a champ, lands atop the Argama, its titanic feet resting atop its launch decks. It's not like they have any more pilots to commit or anything to send back.

Somewhere, a hidden space probe films the mobile armor raising its arms, riding the Argama like a trojan horse. The nameless filmer of this event says in awe of the combination transformation.

"Build up... ban ban ban ban... build up... ban ban ban ban... ban ban ban ban ban ban ban ban ban ban ban ban ban..."

There is a hole in Bright's barrage. Bright is a man who desires a nice, clean, heavy barrage. With so many guns down, there's only one way this can happen: Zeong intervention. Luckily, they've built up, so the Zeong can just fire its mega particle cannons all day long.

"... ban ban ban ban..."

Conservative? Not exactly. Although Sinya certainly is still trying to get used to the combination of a skin-tight control suit and a mech she's never piloted before. The two are not a great combination. Luckily, it seems that she's at least able to draw the attention of the golden mech away from the nearby Crusader, which is a positive thing. "So now you notice me?" She asks, more to herself than to her target. With a low hiss in the back of her throat, the catgirl drags the blade across her chest, shielding the slashes from passing through the thick defensive guard. Clang after clang bounces off, leaving small sparks in the darkness of space.

Obviously, just trying to power through isn't going to work against this tough machine. Then again, just how well it seems to be holding up under attack is quite surprising to Sinya, who can't help slip into a crouch, moving the gundum more like she'd move herself - feral and quick. A grin spreads on her face, showing just a hint of fangs as her other arm sweeps out, using the clawed hand of the mech as a precurser, then following up with a slash from the large tomahawk, aiming to use the combination to throw the other machine off-balance, at least as much as one can be off-balance in space.

"There /have/ been a lot of people lost over the years--with all the wars, the invasion, the chaos..."

The Marchionessa clutches a hand to her heart for a moment as she speaks, eyes lidding; she knows - first hand - the toll the Earth Sphere's never-ending conflict can take on its people, given her mother's crippling and her own experiences in Neo-America.

"... so many families shattered..."

Skarrgo continues to beat its wings as acid sizzles all across its body. The damage is minimal, really, but the pitting and etching in its armour and the stripping of its fleshy parts presents the potential for trouble down the line. The creature's keening cry echoes across radio waves--

"... but you've left something out, /whoever/ you're supposed to be:"

--and then its burning, steaming wings draw all the way back to be held behind its body for several seconds--

"What have /any/ of those people - living, or dead - done to deserve such a great gift?"

--before snapping forward one final time. The monster remains in place, despite the movement of its wings; rather than propulsion, Skarrgo's singular wing beat has summoned a veritable typhoon of fire from the edges of its figure, and despite the lack of oxygen - the lack of /wind/, even - that blazing storm blows towards the Star Hawk, swirling around itself until it's shaped itself into a burning funnel.

"Nothing. What did you think--that he'd be willing to give billions their lives back for nothing? For /free/? When they've spent so long /rejecting/ him? Hah!"

That single mocking syllable is followed by laughter, and unlike the sound that echoed through Bardos earlier, it's cruel enough, harsh enough, merciless enough to belong.

Suriel might be a blur to someone who wasn't a magical super wizard General of Dr. Hell; to Viscount Pygman, the attack coming is one that, if he were in his true form, would be much simpler to dodge. But he's not in his true form; he's pretending to be a helpless mook and pretending to fight for his life against someone who actually has the same goal he does.

The things he does for Dr. Hell.

'Hugo Manfred's Zaku is impaled in an instant. The fire washes right through it; it penetrates the other side and explodes outwards on the way to his real targets, Viscount Pygman's spell of protection the only thing that holds the Zaku together. His own survival was also priority, at least this far away from Dr. Hell's reach.

And so the Zaku holds. It holds together through the skill of Hugo Manfred; impaled as it is upon the space compression, the machine slumps forward. But it holds, and that is the important thing, as it lifts up its gun to point in Suriel's vague direction.

"This is for... my friends..." Pygman mimes being vaguely injured, shifting his appearance and form to match, "I'll fight for them until I die... so bring it on, you bastard...!"

"Listen to you!! You're having fun coming out and hunting us down!! You're attacking us, ship or not, at our /home/-- and you sound /glad/ to do it!!"

The first missiles come close to striking when the explosions start, Rachel bringing the Red Zeta's shield around to defend herself at the onset of the missile salvo. The second joins the barrage, the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth, engulfing the Mobile Suit in enough concussive force, heat, and damage that there's no chance of it making out of that in one piece.

But Rachel's feelings-- her presence-- is there. It's stronger than before. As the confusion clears, the Red Zeta is glowing brightly in space, a golden light that swells over the machine, rises from it's head and shoulders like an ethereal flame. The eyes pulse with green under the black V-crest atop the machine's head, and the P2/3C lowers it's hands. The shield on the left arm is practically scrap, but aside from some dings and scrapes, the Gundam seems virtually unharmed.

"... It's that kind of /sadism/ that I'm talking about..."

The shield is cast aside, detached from the arm with a heavy CLACK that sounds through the machine's chassis. Both beam sabers are drawn, and the machine suddenly starts to /move/. Fast. Really, really fast.

"I know what she's like, Puru Two, just as much as you do!!"

Trailing golden light, the sabers burn to life in the hazy green, creating a twin trail along with that shining light born of the Bio Sensor and her own emotions. She lashes out at the Big Zam with one saber as she passes by. Almost as though the machine were on autopilot, it changes angles not once, but twice, zipping back in at the Crusader unit just as fast. She strikes again, making an even tighter series of turns in as few movements as possible to bring her back to the Zam again.

"I was the one that disrupted the psycommu at Plantard Colony!!"

And again... and again, and again. It's graceful, in some way, her movements never dulling, always precise and smooth. Rachel's heart is in it just as much as her mind, and it might become obvious over time that none of her strikes are shots to areas that could cause the Zam to explode in a single shot, even /if/ she were /that/ lucky.

"... and I've been inside her heart!!"

On her final pass, both sabers swing forward in a scissoring strike.

"And I don't /want/ to believe you're that twisted!!"

Keeping her movements quick and clean on the defensive in a near-perfect opposition to her offensive, decidedly /un/conservative offensive style, the Princess proves something out: even in a machine she's still getting used to and which doesn't really support her style, she is most assuredly an ace at this point. Nearly three years of fighting have honed her skills to a fine point.

However, part of true skill is adapting to unfavorable conditions -- such as, say, a unit that doesn't precisely play to one's strengths. As such, Cagalli finds herself retreating just a little, trying her best to humor the extensive ranged weaponry on the mass-production Hyaku Shiki rather than just swiping with her swords forever and ever.

The shoulder-mounted gatling gun swings up toward Sinya, swiveling to find a clean lock before disgorging shot after shot after shot. "Nngh... little shit's fast," the Princess mutters under her breath.

Ken Marinaris keeps the link open and says, "Yes I was there, why do you think. Why? Grims was going to GAS one of the PLANTs. That's all there is too it. I can still sleep at night because I did. I wasn't about to let the same damn shit the Zeeks or the Earth Garrison would pull!" Let alone on a friends home colony. She cuts the link at this point and now he rmachine picks up speed. She sends the J-ark a transmission.

"I need an window and I need it now!" She gives the location and then goes fully on the evasive from Ascian's attack. She doesn't hold still, it looks like he's actually got her but then the Ardjet just vanishes. It was some sort of after image it looks like, a moment later there's a distortion in space. The ardjet then just flies into it, vanishing. No readings no nothing... Ardjet is just gone.

Suriel's Orbital frame substains some more damage...staggering while a bit of debries obscures it for just a moment. As it fades away, The Qareen is shown to be...whole. It stands, completely repaired by the Metatron that is natural to the unit as it stares down the Zaku. There is no way for him to know it is a minion of Dr. Hell...not that it would help him, unless Dr. Hell himself came to stop him.

"Very cute...but you don't know one thing." The full barrage of both Bright and Quattro face the distortion field that has protected him until this point. Warping in and out of space, the Frame looks up for a moment. And then back towards the Zaku.

"You are already..."

The Sword breakers are suddenly everywhere. More and more are around the field, appearing out of vector traps that were left about as the battle started. Each of them rain down on the Argama, towards Quattro, and the Zaku, aiming to both impale it...and then fire large blasts of energy to try and destroy each one.

"DEAD!"

As if she were fighting on land, Sinya pushes off, flipping in mid air and then landing again on her feet in a crouch. The Arachno does a valiant attempt at mimicing this movement, although it ends up a bit sluggish and odd looking as it doesn't quite have the mobility to really match the speed of the catgirl's leap. It's a shame that no one can see it though, as it probably was quite a eye-catching maneuver, especially in skin-tight rubber. As the thrusters kick in, slowing the gundum as it lands, Sinya's head snaps up, eyes narrowing.

Fast? Oh, she's fast, but she hasn't actually been trying all that hard to avoid the attacks thus far. The exchange of attacks seems to show just how much neither pilot is quite comfortable with their machine. While the ease of movement is quite freeing, there is a certain something missing when comparing the borrowed gundum to her guymelef.

"Not liking the reach on this thing." She mutters, nose twitching as she draws the blade into her good hand, folding all her fingers around it, tilting it just so to catch some nearby light. Then, charging forward, she gives a yell as she slashes the blade down, seeking to slice it right across the Hyaku Shiki's path.

Suriel's Orbital frame substains some more damage...staggering while a bit of debries obscures it for just a moment. As it fades away, The Qareen is shown to be...whole. It stands, completely repaired by the Metatron that is natural to the unit as it stares down the Zaku. There is no way for him to know it is a minion of Dr. Hell...not that it would help him, unless Dr. Hell himself came to stop him.

"Very cute...but you don't know one thing." The full barrage of both Bright and Quattro face the distortion field that has protected him until this point. Warping in and out of space, the Frame looks up for a moment. And then back towards the Zaku.

"You are already..."

The Sword breakers are suddenly everywhere. More and more are around the field, appearing out of vector traps that were left about as the battle started. Each of them rain down on the Argama, towards Quattro, and the Zaku, aiming to both impale it...and then fire large blasts of energy to try and destroy each one.

"DEAD!"

Staren listens, smiling. She sees! But then... then she says the selfish thing, the thing most humans would probably ask, and he shakes his head sadly... And dodges out of the way of the hurricane-in-space. He can try to figure out how that works _later_, dodging _now_. Also he's pretty sure he saw Mazinger Z do that trick. Marchionessa gives her thoughts on the subject, states the obvious... And though it sounds bleak, Staren suddenly smiles, for _there_ is the answer to a question he's been looking for. "No. And that is the difference between me and him. That is why I must learn the technique -- to save all those who have noone else to save them! For even Earth's greatest heroes would never think of saving the _dead_, their minds are too closed... They tell themselves that the dead are in a better place, or that it's the natural order... I'll tell you what Death is! It's the end! Death is to have no future, and many have had their futures stolen away! So many people... losing decades each... that's billions and billions of years, lost to nothingness, and noone will do anything about it because they _don't know any better_. And if I can learn this, and people can live forever... Then death is a _forever_ lost. That is _billions of forevers_...

I have an opportunity to save _billions of forevers_.

I'd have to be crazy or incredibly short-sighted _not_ to take this opportunity!"

And with that the main engines fire, propelling the Star Hawk towards the machine beast at blazing speed -- in a split second, armblades unfold and lock into place and their edges are covered by narrow beam swords, and Staren raises the blades to cleave into the machine beast...

The energy blast slices through the Argama's port runway. The detatched chunk spirals off into the darkness, leaving its opposite end to spark and dislodge additional debris.

"Unbelievable," Bright grunts. "Our pilots need to stop screwing around and just destroy the enemy! Continue firing missiles! I'm running out of patience for whatever whacked-out shell of a human being is on the other side!"

The Great Zeong takes some more hits.

"I've taken a few hits," Quattro comments on the situation.

Its armor is hurt.

Somewhere the guy filming this is still chanting "Ban ban ban ban... build up... ban ban ban ban..."

No one cares about him. He's a side character.

What people care about is the Great Zeong. It shoots lasers from its fingers.

SOME TIME AGO

"We've developed the finest weapon system Zeon can ever hope to produce," says the scientist.

"What are you proposing?" replies a shocked Dozle Zabi.

The scientist spreads a set of plans out in front of him. They are beautiful, detailed drawings of Kycillia Zabi's fingers with beam rifles where the nails should be. "THE GREAT KYCILLIA."

Dozle Zabi's left eyebrow twitches. He raises his hand to summon the guards.

NOW

The Great Zeong increases the barrage. Bright Noa knows what's up and no one likes a non-team-player.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki transmits, "Stop crying and kill her."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Who?"

"I don't care about Grimms! I want to know why you left BAHRAM! It's not like we are being FORCED to operate with the DC! We aren't even forced to not stab them in the back! We killed Haman! I am sure that if such a thing occurs again, the same will happen!" Ascian calls back after Ken. "Come back to BAHRAM! Hera misses you. Because you left, she faced harsh critisism, thinking she too would join the A-Laws with you!"

But then.. Ken is gone. He fires a few parting-shots into the window, but doesn't follow. "Graah!" Ascian smacks on the console of his unit and quickly begins going over the diagnostics and the units still present on the battlefield - at the same time. He's getting better at multitasking. And that's probably a good thing. Especially for what is to come.

He finds Sinya! "Tssk. What is she doing so far away from the Ark Hammer." He mutters to himself, and turns the Amenthes around and blasts off, firing a series of energy bolts into the direction of Cagalli's mass produced Shiki unit, hoping to get her attention. And whilst doing that, he tries to send a comm to Sinya; "Retreat to the Ark Hammer. I got this."

The tomahawk slash finally catches Cagalli -- harder than she'd expected, at that, and the Hyaku Shiki loses an arm. "... Shit," the Princess mutters under her breath again, before abruptly pulling hard back to avoid that burst of energy headed her way.

"... this thing isn't going to hold up," she says, turning it around and moving it back toward the Argama as quick as she can. "Rachel, I don't think I can get any more out of the Hyaku Shiki -- I'll leave it to you!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki transmits, "You!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Sorry, but she just disappeared, and is completely off my radar. I may be able to compress space, but not BEND it..."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki transmits, "You are not trying hard enough then."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "You do it first, mister awesome."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki transmits, "Well, I am currently fighting three things, you are getting your ass kicked by one."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki transmits, "Well, I am currently fighting three things, you are getting your ass kicked by one."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Ehh, two of them just fled. And you still haven't killed anyone... important anyhow."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Also, how's that retrieval of the Metatron going there?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki transmits, "Did you miss the part where I am fighting a group of mechs, including whatever the hell THIS thing is, and trying to get through to the Argama? Maybe if you would /do your jobs/!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Oh? Do you mean you want... 'help'?"

Puff. The catgirl's tail-fur stands on end as the radio crackles, causing her to hiss as feedback glares in her ear. "Ow. Forgot to turn that down." She scowls, and then tries to remember just how you're supposed to do that when all you have is a bodysuit and no controls. Eventually, she just gives up on it and tugs the entire headset away from her ears, "Copy. Heading back to the Ark Hammer." It takes her a moment to even locate the battleship in the fray, especially as it seems that the path of the fighting had taken her quite a distance away.

Inwardly cursing her inability to keep track of just where she is in space without the tracking systems of her guymelef. With a click, the tomahawk slides back into place and the gundum kicks the thrusters on to full, making a quick way back to the Crusader battleship. While the mech is returned in good condition, she could at least say that her debt to Divada, and to the Crusaders is now completely paid off.

As the gundum lands in the hangar, Sinya drops from the control compartment, calling down to the techs below. "I want some clothes, and I want them now! And the first person who laughs is going to wake up in an airlock." Of course, there's quite a bit of snickering going on, even as they relent and give the poor girl back her clothes. "I hate you all." She mutters.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki transmits, "No, because this mission was halfed baked. The Metatron is not even here."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "So you don't want help. Ah. Well. In that case..."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki transmits, "You can do whatever you want."

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

Ha ha, already dead. It's like Pygman was some kind of resurrected individual brought back from the grave by a medical supergenius supervillain for the express purpose of wielding his Expert-level powers in that supervillain's employ!

Irony.

Viscount Pygman throttles the machine backwards, minimizing the impact of the shot; the zaku's already-shattering armor just cracks and breaks, with Pygman frowning a bit as his hand goes for the Zaku's hip. He had to get away from his foe, and fast; he wasn't going to survive for long if he kept up piloting like *this*.

Well, 'survive' in a way that Katharon wouldn't question.

The Zaku's fingers close around the cracker grenades, hurling them at Suriel's mech as it continues to thrust backwards. This close to the Argama, it might even do a little bit of damage...but Hugo could pass that off aS an accident, given the powers displayed by this machine and his own desperate need for survival.

"Get the hell out of here, you freak!"

"Sir. They are fleeing. Find another target?" Duat inquires. "What is the biggest danger to Suriel, aside from the Argama?" Ascian requests. "I know he doesn't like help. But he's still an ally. I can't just leave him out there alone."

The frame pulls about as Sinya retreats and the unit he'd shot at too flees - partially thanks to a missing arm. "How about this one, sir?" Duat inquires, displaying Quattro's Great Zeong inside of his cockpit. "That'll do." Ascian simply mutters, and increases his grip on the controls of the Amenthes.

The wings finally reset to their ordinary positions, whilst the tails move towards the hands and literally attach to them, beginning to flow the massive amounts of energy that move into them into that new position. "Let's try that again. The move that worked on the Ardjet."

Duat lets out a sound of confirmation, whilst gathering massive quantities of energy into those palms. The shell of compressed space once again expands there, the red glow coming to life within mere seconds as the Amenthes rushes in towards Suriel, in order to assist.

So in the end, it's two big red orbs at the unit's fingertips, about to be used for /punching/ - as it rushes in for Quattro's unit. On contact, surely those 'balls' of energy would explode! If they'd miss... well, they'd probably flail harmlessly into space.

Suriel grunts a little as the feedback indicates that his unit is nearly destroyed. It was litterally near it's last legs...but he could only laugh...even as the Missile slammed acrossed it's chest, he could only laugh at the fact that he was /having so much fun/. His hands crackle as the right hand explodes once more, the cannon arm reforming as he points it right towards the Argama.

Then the beam shot from Quattro comes to claim him. At the same time the cracker grenade flies between him and the Argama... but the Qareen once more bends space around it... energy washes around it and away from it... but not into it. Flickering once more, it looks only mildly annoyed at these two disturbances... as the cannon finished.

Another compression effect, and a large cannon aimed to try and swallow up the Argama's main deck... the ball would expand upon contact...before quickly compressing, trying to take out parts of the Argama through SPACE COMPRESSION!

Another blast of superheated energy washes out everywhere else, aiming to swallow both the Zaku and Quattro. "Tell me where the Metatron is."

"And you'd be a /fool/ to think that their lost time is important to Him," the Marchionessa succinctly replies.

Skarrgo flips its body in the darkness, catching both of Star Hawk's blades in its talons; because they're composed of energy, they do bite into the Machine Beast's metallic claws, but the damage is, all told, minimal, enough so that when the firebird completes its movement it's able to smoothly pull its wings in against its body and ascend away from Star Hawk.

"You don't /belong/ here, do you? Fighting for these people you clearly don't believe in, grasping at nothing for hope you barely understand--and aren't /worthy/ of--"

When it hits the apex of its ascent - marked by it suddenly stopping and holding itself still somewhere above the Star Hawk for a moment - the fire wreathing its body expands, forming a blazing wildfire in a vague, avian shape.

"Go away, little man; you won't find any salvation here."

Between the ticks of a second, Skarrgo makes its second high-speed approach of the battle. The fire shrouding its body will explode, should the two bodies make contact, and in the wake of the explosion, Skarrgo will temporarily be left flame-less, that the full breadth of its horrific patchwork body may be glimpsed in the moments it'll take for the inferno to re-ignite.

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

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "Ark Hammer Standing by..."

"Evasive manuevers!"

The Argama veers off to its portside, taking the energy blast to its engine side. Its secondary engine is plastered, becoming more of a hole in its side than an actual module.

"The pilot is transmitting a request about metatron," Saman reports.

"Who cares," Bright rolls his eyes. "Shoot him down, immediately! I've had my fill of these madmen from space."

Missiles stream from the Argama once more.

"Shut up, just shut up! I hate people like you, always so high and mighty about how I'm wrong and you're just trying to defend your home... if your home is the flagship of the AEUG, what did you think would happen?! The Sandra is like home to me, but you won't hear me whine about it when it gets attacked! Of course it will be! This is war, to the enemy it's nothing but a priority target! Do you really need me to explain this to you?! How naive can you be?!"

This rhetoric is pushing all of Puru Two's buttons, she's not having any of it. The mere thought that she'd have to justify the fact that she's glad to have reasons to fight, that as a soldier she'd be happy for the chance to eliminate high profile targets, it's just ludicrous. It's not like she's doing this just to make people suffer!

...well, certain parts of her would certainly like to see certain other parties suffer right now, but it's their own fault, they made her /remember/! And what other forms of catharsis exist? She sure can't think of any.

Meanwhile, in the duel between swords and missiles, swords are obviously winning. The Big Zam is just way too slow. Puru Two's mental warnings are useless when her machine just isn't capable of matching her own reaction speed, and missiles are just as incapable of keeping up. The machine can really only just hover there and take what's coming to it, slashed into over and over again, exposing more of its inner workings with every strike.

By the end of it, the Mobile Armor is an utter mess, sporting several giant gaping holes with wires hanging out of them. However, true to its reputation as a monstrous mobile weapon, it still functions. Its ragged limbs creak as the machine straightens itself, then bends through its knees, as if to confirm that it's not dead yet.

"Heh heh... hahaha. You think understanding the soul of Haman Karn will bring you any closer to understanding me?" She sounds calmer after taking that beating, but if anything, it just creates a more unsettling atmosphere. "...I don't even know if I have a soul to twist to begin with. You think you have all the answers? Then tell me. What am I...?"

A question like that would undoubtedly take anyone by surprise. And Puru Two is not about to waste even a second. She glances at the status of the Big Zam's main cannon. 89% charged. She knows that anything less than 100 percent is going to seriously reduce the weapon's destructive capability... but screw it, it'll do. Not like freaking missiles are going to get the job done.

Of course, firing at Rachel directly isn't likely to hit. You don't even have to be a Newtype to evade such a clumsy attack. So instead, she aims at the Argama instead. Of course, there is plenty of warning - plenty of chance for Rachel to get in the way, like Puru Two is absolutely convinced she will. At this point, there isn't even much of a motivation behind the action anymore. Just destruction for destruction's sake.

KABOOM

The Star Hawk tumbles through space after the explosion, trailing shrapnel and slag, then steadies itself surprisingly quickly with little visible movement. That's not AMBACS, how did it do that?

The shoulder armor parts begin to unfold. "I don't know why, but he offered to teach me, on the condition that I use the ability as I wished -- Perhaps he thinks he can convince me to come over to his side, perhaps it is a trick. But I'm not giving up just because you said so!"

The unfolded armor parts bear resemblance to the petals of a flower -- they are I-field emitters, and they start glowing as they gather energy and prepare... to shoot two wide beams of mega particles, and unlike most beam weapons which fire a very short blast, the twin cannons sustain the particle beam for an entire second -- But can Staren keep them trained on the machine beast that entire time?

SOME TIME AGO

"No, Lord Zabi! Don't destroy me!" the scientist screeches.

"I'm not Lord Zabi! That's my father!" Dozle, replies.

"You could be Lord Zabi, you cut a very imposing figure. I was terrified of you since the day we met. It's that scar. It demands respect. It's--"

"Stop talking!"

"--it's a respect scar!"

Dozle Zabi crosses his beefy arms. "Tell me why I shouldn't dump you into space for fetishizing my sister's fingers. Or hands. I couldn't really tell because I averted my eyes."

The scientist leans forward. "Shoulders."

"Shoulders?" Dozle replies.

"So many shoulders," says the scientist. "Two of them. Each larger than the last. They will be titanic. You could just... fly into people. It would be like butter. So much butter."

Dozle Zabi raises his hand to summon the guards again.

NOW

Who knew those shoulder pads came off like rockets? No one did. Until now.

Because they do.

Like shoulder missiles.

The Ark Hammer continues to fly nearby as the battle rages...

She can deflect this. She can keep the Argama from being destroyed.

She /can/. She /must/.

Rachel lines herself up in the path of the mega particle cannon as the blast fires, the glowing Gundam reaching out through space as it makes the leap into the path of the shot. Cagalli's pulled out, the Argama's defenses aren't doing the best. Quattro's busy, but then...

... then, as she crosses into the path of that shot, she pushes everything she has, every single /inch/ of her mind, her will, into the protection of the Argama. Her arms and legs spread while her eyes remain wide open, defiant to the bitter end. When the blast washes over the Mobile Suit, the beam initially washes over the machine as though there were absolutely nothing there.

Then, things change. The blast starts to bend and sway, ripple outward as though it were flowing /around/ something, something with enough presence that it can cause the entirety of a mega particle cannon's payload, even if it /isn't/ fully charged, to flow out and around the nearby ship instead of a dead-on hit.

In the middle of that beam, struggling to hold on: Rachel.

When the shot dies down, the Mobile Suit's forearms are crossed, the body curled just a little into a defensive pose. Encased in a perfect sphere of lights, wicking out and around the body to form this shell, the Zeta looks to be in rough shape. Armor is torn and rended from the frame, sure, and the P2/3C will probably be on the racks for awhile.

The true toll is taken on the pilot. As the field dies down, returning to the same wispy glow as before, Rachel slumps back against the backboard that is her seat. Her breathing is labored, but still heard over the line...

"... you're ... you're what I used to be."

Rachel tenses up, tilts the Zeta forward into a proper, servicable position to continue the fight. Like an iron sentinel, relentless in the protection of it's charge, the beam sabers shift in the Mobile Suit's grip to a backhanded position. She is /on/ her last legs, but she doesn't care.

The Red Zeta accelerates toward the Big Zam one last time, and Rachel lashes out in swift back and forth motions, maintaining mobility even in the face of it's condition.

"I don't have all the answers... I'm still learning who-- /what/ I am, as I go along...! But you have to be willing to change!!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "can't say I didn't see that coming."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki transmits, "Do you enjoy living?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki transmits, "Shut it."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki uuugh...

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Do you need a lift?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki transmits, "NO! I can leave under my own power...ugh....sh...shut it off..."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki transmits, "JAMES! SHUT IT OFF..."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "I'll just... give you covering fire then."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Puru Two transmits, "...well, I've lost my motivation. I'll just blow them up some other time."

Respect Scars...

Suriel stares up, the missiles from the Zeonic Ace crashes through his barrier, his systems breaking apart under the strain, as he is forced back...he only needs time to take them back...but just like the power he was granted, it recoils back just as quickly...Suriel is holding his head, the feed back finally catching up to him. Screaming, he staggers to his feet, trying to stand...

Missiles explode once more, forcing the metatron unable to regenerate the Frame anymore. Groaning, Suriel pushes a button, and the Quareen once more seems to fade from view, and seen again retreating, the green glow dying down until it was gone. Suriel had already detatched himself from the system, trying not to curl into a ball...

Divada shakes her head at Suriel getting blown up. "That was mostly expected." She says before opening a comm channel to the Argama. "Ark hammer to the Argama. I believe this battle has gone on long enough. We'll pick up our wounded and leave the area, provided you do the same. Sound Satisfactory?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki transmits, "Goddamn, the **** is with intelligence?! Nothing was here! NOTHING!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "There was intelligence involved?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki transmits, "I mean, sure, we kicked some hippies in the nuts, but what the fuck?!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "You really think they'd research Metatron on the Argama?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki transmits, "I don'"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "They don't really have the facilities for that... not from what I saw."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki transmits, "And? I didn't fuckin' choose this mission."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "so who did?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Sounds like someone just wanted to test a weapon then... or wants to get rid of you."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "I'd bet on the latter."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki transmits, "I cost more then ten of you, Luddite, so try again."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "I am sticking with 'guess someone wanted to test a weapon'."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki transmits, "Whatever."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Uhu. Just get outta here. I'll make sure they don't shoot your ass down."

"We missed." Duat claims. "I can see that." Ascian replies in that many someone would go 'thank you captain obvious'. That annoyed tone. He watches as Suriel's unit gets incredibly close to some missile blasts, and hears over the radio as command starts requesting retreat. "Tssk. Useless as always." He mutters, looking once again into the direction of the Qareen. "Oh well. Of we go then." He tries to position himself in the way of Qareen, so that if enemy fires comes, he can shoot it down, or guard his fleeing ally.

Predictable. So predictable. Although she'll probably never understand these foolishly self-sacrificial actions, Puru Two's getting a lot better at figuring out what would cause other people to engage in them.

What she didn't predict is for Rachel's unit to somehow hold together through that. "What the... are you kidding me?!" Her inability to understand why people would engage in such actions leads to her being equally unable to understand where the power to survive that kind of stunt comes from.

Most unexpected of all, she gets an answer. And something about it... stings, somehow. Maybe it struck a chord of some kind. But she does know one thing. When Ralla became Rachel, she lost everything that made her relatable, and most of the fun was taken out of fighting her as a result. Now there's all these /principles/ getting in the way. So she can answer one thing conclusively: "I'm not interested in becoming anything like /you/!"

Not about to be outdone, the Big Zam stands firm, and the incoming Beam Saber, which should have sliced straight through what's left of its pitiful excuse for armor, just sort of... stops short of the mobile armor's critical systems, as if hitting an invisible barrier. Something unseen is pushing back with equal force, until finally...

The large machine sets in full reverse. It's still not fast, but it's clearly moving away from the Argama. Obviously - it hardly has any missile launchers left intact, and it'll take forever for its main weapon to charge again. Moving in the direction of the Ark Hammer for cover, it's clear that Puru Two's had enough of this, enough so that she's not even leaving a parting remark this time. Even aside from the whole lack of weapons situation, somehow, she's just lost all motivation to continue this battle.

<Radio: B - Secure> Captain Bright Noa transmits, "Recall our mobile suits."

<Radio: B - Secure> Captain Bright Noa transmits, "We're getting out of here."

<Radio: B - Secure> Rachel Miu Athha transmits, "... R-Roger..."

Bright Noa leans back in his chair, letting out a breath with ease. "That was patently ridiculous."

Turning away from the Argama, the Ark hammer begins to head back to Mars after recovering those that are critically injured that is...

There-- the I-field seems to have finally caught up to the motions of her beam sabers, weakened after the beating that she'd just taken. Rachel continues to push, regardless, but the Big Zam... breaks off.

"You don't have to be. Just ... be yourself."

Evolve naturally. That's what worked so well for her. Rachel doesn't say that much, however, or else it might set the young clone off yet again. Still, her heart backs up her words just as strong, her emotions amplified by the power of the Bio Sensor.

Bright calls in the Mobile Suits, and the white-haired girl isn't going to argue. Withdrawing in reverse for a few moments, the Red Zeta twists around and makes a grab for the pummelled shield left along in space on the way back to the carrier, absolutely exhausted.

Skarrgo immediately snaps its wings shut around its body when Star Hawk unleashes its cannons upon it; the defensive measure obviously doesn't prevent some harm from coming to the creature, but it /does/ protect Skarrgo's head and heart--which is what matters.

Keeping the cannons trained on Skarrgo is hardly a problem; penetrating its reinforced iron-and-dead-Mykene construction is the problem, and ultimately when the energies fade, Skarrgo's partly-melted frame still lingers in space.

"Or maybe He's waiting for you to realize what a waste of time they all are."

Once those words are spoken, Skarrgo's wings re-ignite... and then the entire creature begins to twirl in space.

Within seconds, it's gone in a flash of light, leaving little more than a few burning feathers whirling around each other in the space it once occupied.

"We'll see, miss Marchionessa, we'll see..."

Bright is calling for them to come back. He was going to ignore the order to finish this, but it seems that won't be necessary. This time, he's counting that as a win. The Star Hawk turns, and flies back to the Argama. So, this is the girl he'll probably be seeing a lot of in the coming days...

With its mobile suits returning to roost, the Argama begins continuing its path toward Side 7.

Once the Red Zeta is secured, Rachel is going to make it half a step out of the cockpit before tumbling out from exhaustion.

She just tanked a mega particlec cannon using nothing but hope and sparkles and kitten feelings, what the hell do you expect?