2011-02-26 - Blockade Tactics

MARTIAN ORBIT MINERVA FIVE HOURS UNTIL DEPLOYMENT

Sarah Zabiarov wonders if a blockade was really a good idea.

It's haunted the young woman ever since hesitantly handing her mission detail over to Captain Lindt of the Minerva. He enthusiastically agreed it was a GREAT and WONDERFUL idea to try and STARVE the soldiers of Mars. How DARE they stand against the might of A-LAWS!

Frowning as she peers out the window of her assigned quarters on the Minerva, she tries to let her thoughts focus on anything /but/ the repercussions of her future actions. Won't the people suffer too..?

THREE HOURS UNTIL DEPLOYMENT

Getting into her normal suit and prepping for launch, Sarah has steeled her heart. You cannot make an omelette without breaking a few eggs. This is the reality of combat. She will have to accept that people will ultimately suffer due to the actions of A-LAWS. But this is how progress is made.

TWO MINUTES UNTIL DEPLOYMENT

"This is Lieutenant Zabiarov," the young Newtype notes, addressing open A-LAWS and Alpha Numbers frequency. "The mission today will be to capture the production facilities in Northern Arabia Terra. I repeat: the objective today is to capture, not destroy. Leaving the facilities intact is our primary objective. Our goal is to overwhelm and drive off BAHRAM and the Crusader reinforcements."

Squaring her shoulders and sucking a quick breath into her lungs, Sarah's green eyes pinch shut. There's still time, she thinks, to change her mind. This doesn't have to be the answer, she can find another method, can't she? If only--

"Lieutenant Zabiarov, TR-6 Woundwort, launching!"

DEPLOYMENT

From the Minerva, the ivory TR-6 Woundwort makes advance upon Northern Arabia Terra along with several mobile unit squadrons. Immediately the forces descend upon the Martian production "farmlands," to impose upon and interpose themselves between the facilities themselves and whatever forces may try to stop them.

 Lord Alberto transmits, "Hah. It appears the Federation mice have their tails caught in our little trap."

 James Heller transmits, "That so sir? I'm near the area. I have been doing some low G testing on my Guardsman. I'll back you up."

 Lord Alberto transmits, "Big Fire is paying you well. Kill all of them and there might be a bonus."

 Divada Kirador transmits, "Ark hammer is entering the area as well. We'll also back you up."

 Erika Keese transmits, "Bastards...! Moving in on Arabia Terra! Are they trying to starve us now?"

 Divada Kirador transmits, "I think they're trying a blockade, Miss keese."

 Erika Keese transmits, "well then, we'll just have to break their backs then!"

 Divada Kirador transmits, "I believe it time to... I agree with that miss Keese."

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "Damn those A-Laws."

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "Ascian Luddite, launching. And I'll see what I can do about getting us some more assistance."

 Lord Alberto transmits, "Hahaha. Yes, do something about that. I'm eager to see how resourceful you are."

 Divada Kirador transmits, "We have our own surprises....."

 Schwarzwald crackles on. "Assistance? Ascian Luddite. I do owe you a favor! And that aside, I will never defeat that cursed Roger Smith if I sit idle-- BIG DUO! It is now... SHOWTIME!"

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "Your assistance is very much appreciated, mister Schwarzwald. I thank you."

After being moved to the Alpha Numbers, Rio's been lost in something of a whirlwind of reorganization and somehow ended up on Mars, unfortunately always on the wrong part of the planet whetnever Katharon attacked. But now, the EFA is taking the offensive on a mission, and she wants in. So eager to see some action and show her skills that she may not have actually read the mission report. Capture facilities, right?

Rio's signature white Gespenst skims across the martian surface kicking up a cloud of dust behind it -- Rio looks around as she forms up behind Sarah, then frowns slightly. She doesn't like fighting so close to civilians... She'll be careful, but in her experience the Crusader track record is terrible with this sort of thing. They'll juust have to end the fight quickly...

A FEW DAYS AGO

Lieutenant Getter arrives on the Minerva to take part in the Mars campaign. He floats toward briefing, adjusting his checkered neckerchief from the open collar on his uniform. It has been several weeks since he cast his name aside and assumed this identity, finding it all coming easily to him. He looks around the ship through his mirrored sunglasses, pressing a button to shift the lens color to translucent green when he arrives to his destination.

"Lieutenant Getter reporting for duty." As he saluted, his long bangs brushed against his handle, making his hair sparkle in the light.

NOW

The Rx-7 Vegeta prepared for launch, doing a double check of it's weapons systems. Mister Getter was not thrilled with the blockade but said nothing about it. He was not the boy he was. He would merely serve to the best of his ability and temper himself into be stronger with each passing moment. He made sure each beam dagger was working at optimum capacity and that his progressive sword wouldn't break on him. Everything was perfect. He would not fail. "Very well, Lt. Zabiarov. Rx-7 Vegeta launching." He spoke in a rather deep voice, almost never cracking.

 James Heller transmits, "These idiots march to their graves. I'll stand atop of their broken machines when this is over."

There's a flash in the distance before the Ark Hammer decelerates above Northern Arabia Terra, with Divada already grimly looking down at the A-laws units deploying. Turning her head towards Miranda, she only smiles a bit, and turns to Takeshi Odori. "Sorry to get you involved in this, Takeshi, but it seems the A-Laws are definitely trying to starve the Martian people." She says gesturing down towards the farms on the ground below. "The proof is there. I'm committing the Ark Hammer to the fight, but I'm going to need you out there as well. please help us out, Takeshi." She says glaring down at the A-laws units. "You're cleared for launch when you're able, Mister Odori."

 Divada Kirador beep bip boop. "All Crusader units, You will find that there will be a machine launching from the Ark Hammer. It'll have Federation markings, but he's working as an engineer aboard the Hammer. Consider him, for all purposes, an ally in this operation."

SLIGHTLY EARLIER

After a recent news report regarding four dead Acemos inspectors and the destruction of a LEV factory along with most of its stock, Sinya had decided to lay low. Afterall, people seemed far too intent lately to mistake her for one of Lord Genome's creations, and that was making it a bit harder to find steady work on Mars. Besides, the last thing she wanted to do was end up on some faction's most wanted list - even if it would be the most adorable wanted poster the world has ever seen.

So, with her guymelef secluded off in a crevice in the less colonized portion of mars, the catgirl is propped back, feet resting on one of the consoles, munching on a sandwich as she watches the news for anything that might connect her to the events at the factory. Luckily for her, with the deaths of all the soldiers involved, it seems that no one at the factory was about to point fingers at her. She's so busy listening to the reports that she doesn't hear the beeping of a message until the red light catches her eye.

Blinking, she swollows the sandwich and then switches channels, eyes flickering over the warning about an impending raid upon Martian farms by none other than the A-Laws. Well well, she just can't avoid dealing with them lately, can she? There certainly is a part of her that considers just deleting the message, but then again - she wasn't one to let people push around the powerless. While this attack might have some strategic use against BAHRAM soldiers, it is also hurting the farmers and the people of Mars.

"Bah. Looks like we're needed, big guy."

NOW

Thump. Thump. The heavy feet of a armored machine sound as yet another joins the fray. Seeming like some unusual cross between a bird and a knight, Arius steps out in front of the farms, staff drawn across his body in a defensive stance. Certainly, this isn't any human-made mech, but something that seems older, and far more strange. The guymelef's head turns slowly, watching the arrivals for this assault as his wings fan outward. "This is guymelef Arius, reporting in. I won't let them get through to the farms." Apparently, the Trailer mechanic is on the side of the Crusaders today.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Gates transmits, "Hahaha! That's the spirit! Cornhole someone for a change, seriously."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Any enemy of the A-Laws, is a potential friend to me."

SOME TIME AGO

Leos Klein is informed there is an operation underway on the Red Planet. His business, though, keeps him on Earth. He could make it there with Phrike... but it is not worth deploying the Aggressors for what could be days with all the trouble here. The old man depresses a button on his desk, clearing his throat.

"Get me Boyle."

NOW

The A-LAWS and Alpha Numbers forces in the air are met by some on the ground. A half-dozen Armored Cores, all in black with similar makes, are clustered around the outskirts of the farming strip. IFFs read them as friendly, apparently affiliated with the Earth Federation's presence here on Mars. The lead, mounting twin energy cannons on it's shoulders, opens up a channel to the A-LAWS and Alpha Numbers incoming.

"This is Boyle Fortner of the Martian Special Forces," says a young man's voice touched with good cheer. "We'll be providing support for you on this operation at the request of the commander. Welcome to Mars, ladies; the Frighteners will be sure to make your stay a pleasant one."

The Armored Cores spread out and begin to move through the farmland towards the incoming Terran mobile suits. The lead and most visible is marked clearly with the Frighteners emblem, and the natives already start to scatter when they hear about it. If the presence of mobile weapons landing wasn't enough, the Frighteners give them another reason to leave entirely.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> James Heller transmits, "We got a Trailer onboard flag the Arius unit as friendly."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Ah, she's arrived. Good."

FOUR HOURS UNTIL DEPLOYMENT

The Auditor is still on Mars, rather enjoying the odd little planet-- so far as he is able to 'enjoy' anything. The reddish coloration and general silence appeal to his aesthetics. The mission comes in while he's driving the car mode of his machine through the open fields of Mars... and he smiles, looking down at the contract.

"So it's to be a siege, then," he purrs, dead eyes glinting behind his horn-rimmed glasses. "Artless. Lengthy." A pause. "/Profitable/."

The Auditor pulls up the hand brake and squeals around to head in the opposite direction, towards the farmlands.

NOW

The Terminus TypeR505 Kai Infiltrator's unobtrusive car mode races up to a cliff, then off that cliff and into the air. Suicide?

No. The machine unfolds in mid-air, twisting and grinding into a spindly green and black humanoid form, clutching a razor-edged surfboard. One robotic hand grips the edge of the board, the machine crouching low over it, and an explosion of psychedelic rainbows catches the base and bears it on a zig-zagging path through the sky.

He transmits to the A-LAWS commander on arrival. "The Auditor, at your disposal. Contract attached."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Gates transmits, "Hahaha wait, did you get someone to defect? Ahhh how cruel this world is, with turncoats everywhere~! Is he going to cornhole his own men?!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "I didn't convince him to defect, Mister Gates. Seems the Alpha Numbers left him for dead too many times, and the Ark Hammer, and myself, kept him alive."

Nearly two months, the A-Laws have slowly squeezed Mars in an attempt to eliminate BAHRAM and the rest of the Martian rebel groups, and with each day that passes, Erika finds herself more enraged by their continued oppression. That's the way it's always been with the Federation when it comes to Mars. Just throw more soldiers at the problem and hope everything works out. Nevermind that the disgraced soldiers they continue to dump onto the Red Planet only make the problem worse. A bunch of angry and undisciplined soldiers exiled to what they consider to be a worthless backwater planet, drinking and abusing their authority as a means of venting their frustrations. With anger rising in her heart, Erika climbs into the Gespenst that has been supplied to her by the Shadow Mirrors and boots up the systems. The Tesla Drive flares brightly as the Personal Trooper hunkers forward, bracing for the launch catapult's release. "Morning Glory, Gespenst Mark Two, moving out!" The Shadow Mirror Gespenst streaks out, riding a trail of blue energy from it's Tesla Drive. Already IFF markers start popping up on her screen as she sees the attacking forces. Instantly, her hand goes to the Photon Rifle mounted on the Gespenst's back and snaps down, taking aim. "Get off my planet." The rifle discharges as a pulse of dark purple energy leaps from the barrel and streaks across the Martian terrain, aimed directly at Rio's Mk.II.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> James Heller transmits, "heads up one We got one of the top Raven Frightners deploying for the feds. Oh shit it's Boyle?!? That's One of Leos' personal squad!"

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

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "I see it."

There is an organization within the Earth Federation that enjoyed privileges similar to the Titans and A-LAWS before either of them existed. It is an organization that still exists, perhaps because of its lack of high-profile intervention. They are technically underneath the International Police Organization, a group called the Experts of Justice.

They are not here. They, and the ones they fight, are seemingly concerned with Earth and Earth only. Mars is outside of their purview.

The Divine Crusader reaction is too fast. They were seemingly prepared for it. The deployment patterns of the defender forces suggest haste, but only bad luck could have the lightning raid planned by the A-LAWS find so much opposition. Bad luck, or...

BIG FIRE!

An underworld organization whose ONLY GOAL is TOTAL WORLD DOMINATION!

A man whose true name is only whispered as the Ultimate Impact stands atop one of the many agricultural domes. He enjoys the enfolding cloak of a thing called Ko-Enshaku-- a blithely grinning ghost in stylized Japanese armor. His billowing red cape keeps the air from escaping around Lord Alberto, a member of the Magnificent Ten. Ko-Enshaku's manifestation is impenetrable on a conceptual level.

Alberto enjoys a cigar granted by this circumstance.

"All the little puzzle pieces have fallen well into place, don't you think, you overgrown apparition?"

Ko-Enshaku's armor, empty except for the bloody peeled eyeballs glaring down at Alberto from the samurai face-mask, is unsurprisingly silent. Alberto laughs.

"You're pleased at this. Don't try to play coy. I can sense your pleasure when your enemies are wounded. That's what we're doing here, on this god-forsaken scion of war. Wounding them."

Alberto drops his cigar to the dome beneath his feet, looking down as he crushes it with a booted heel, his gaze drifting to the multi-layered agricultural factories contained below. "You and people like you are the reason why my wife and daughter are so well hidden. I don't want them to be sullied by you. Have any thoughts on that?"

Ko-Enshaku's mask continues to make its :D face. Alberto straightens his tie.

Earlier that day

Ascian is sitting in the cafeteria, poking a strange wiggly desert, colored red. He pokes it with a spoon, as if this is the most curious thing in the world. Some of the NUT technicians near him are giving him a weird stare. "Why did he take Jello in here?" One of them whispers, holding a hand to their mouth. "I dunno man." Replies another. "But I wish they'd put it on the menu. I could watch this all day!"

A little later

Ascian hops into the Amenthes, and the unit launches not too much later. He had a meeting set up with one James Heller. There was testing he wanted to commit to, and BAHRAM wanted to observe. As for Ascian himself? The young man simply wanted to help out. He'd met James once, when he'd just arrived at the Earth Cradle. But when the call goes out all of the sudden from the farms, it didn't take him long to convince the man to help out. So...

Now

The red Phoenix-like Orbital Frame flies at high velocity through the skies, scarring it with its red light and fiery embers. The left hand of the frame is stretched out forwards, carrying the much smaller figure of James' Chromium Guardsman. At the same time, he is making calls out to a series of people who might be able to assist.

"Tssk, farms. Is there no end to their cowardice?" Ascian mutters, and goes over the radar as they begin to get closer to the actual area when he catches the sight of something... glowing. It looks familiar. "Holland?" Ascian mutters to himself. "Doesn't matter. Duat, lock on to the target."

The Artificial Intelligence unit lets out a 'roger that', and sets a nice reticule on the flying unit. The right arm of the phoenix themed orbital frame - the one not carrying James Heller - and begins to mold and shift into that of a rifle. Ascian begins to line up his shot. And within seconds, the red glow that passes through his units sends a concentrated flow to that arm, generating a series of red plasma shots that rush straight for The Auditor's board, trying to shoot it out from underneath the Terminus typeR505.

Is that a plane? Or a giant robot? It is BOTH.

Perhaps it deployed from one of the DC transports, or perhaps it burst out of the ground for no apparent reason. Possibly out of a farmhouse. The extremely large but slow for a plane Big Duo is here, siding with the DC. Its red paint doesn't quite make it faster, considering the fact it's a huge, unwieldy, and not particularily aerodynamic robot. A few moments ago, the bored Schwarzwald would have caught wind that the DC needed some assistance, and since they gave him some in Paradigm, it was only fair to return the favor.

The Red Megadeus for now has only just deployed. Adjusting the controls, the mummy journalist is still taking in the sights of Mars, while the trusty rockets that are in fact its arms, along with the propellers, that are in fact its hands, keeps the robot idly in the air, progressing toward the soon to be battlefield at a snail's pace.

"This should be interesting, or at least, a learning experience!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Remille Fortner transmits, "If you are wise. Get up close to Boyle. Do not get long range."

A Bit Earlier

Takeshi stands next to Divada, looking upon the CIC display and the farms below. The mechanic is of course wearing his usual reinforced clothing, never the one for anything resembling a pilot suit or uniform, but then, that's why he made his mechs so that they didn't require either. None of this sits right. He had read the report on the joint EFA channels, but it wasn't something he was particularly fond of. Of course, he also knew what Divada would ask to begin with, because he also thought that was what needed to be done.

"Get me involved? I guess I can appreciate the concern, but I had already decided to do this anyways." There's a grin, "Besides, we both know I can just shut off the IFF. The only remaining symbol of allegiance is that NERV stitched across the shoulder, but I won't remove that. That is the last thing I have from my mother. There's a subtle message in there from her." He frowns, "The battle's starting. It seems that i'm going to be fighting WITH the crusaders instead of against them for once. Be sure to tell them not to shoot me."

And he turns to give a lazy salute to Divada, "Odori taking off Cap'n. Gotta go give 'em hell."

Couple Minutes Later

The Ark Hammer's bay opens and the newly repaired Tsubasa appears behind them. The optics activate and then the white mech flies out and then just falls, straight down towards the farmland. It corrects itself mid fall and then stops far enough above the farmlands to cause no damage to crops or land. There is no IFF coming from this white mech, there is nothing, only the indication that it intends to keep everyone away from the farmlands. And then it moves towards the front lines, it was time.

"Takeshi Odori, reporting for duty. It's time to stop this assholes. Now, let's see who our first target is." The mech begins receiving battlefield data and the enemies and allies are processed for IFF's. Now, it was time to get serious. Who's on first!?

<Radio: D - Ravens> Frightner Spec-Ops: Remille Fortner transmits, "Oh yes, Boyle. I told them you love to blow stuff up and that they should get in close and personal." pause, "I am sure that this will not be a problem for you, would it my dear brother?

<Radio: D - Group-Secure> Boyle Fortner transmits, "Sorry, all I heard was 'blah blah blah please disintegrate me.'"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki transmits, "Wait, you want to get CLOSE to explosives?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki transmits, "All I heard was: Blah blah blah, you guys are suckers, blah."

James was an odd man, he was one of Vindel's people. He'd also been trusted by BAHRAM R&D to do some jobs related to merging OF tech with some non OF machines and the reverse as well. He'd been doing some testing in lower gravity on his strange personak powered armor. A silver machine with a rail gun far too big for it.

Then the farms had come under attack.

"Basic tactics an army travels on it's stomach I'm suprised the idiots had enough brain cells but times they meet the machine the end of the world couldn't kill."

James is being carried now in the smaller unit he scans his head. "I'm going to need to get on the ground or most of my firepower is going to be useless I doubt. Your partner would take kindly to getting a pair of pylons through the hand."

The Glitterboy leaps and lands on the ground. It looks around spotting the RX-7 Vegeta and he locks on with the laser on the larger weapon. He takes a moment to use it to try to get some range on the unit and he sends a signal to the hostile unit.

"Come on jackass let's see how you fair against me!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Remille Fortner transmits, "He can't use his long range plasma cannons effectively at close range."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "get close to him. If he drops an explosive, grab it, ram it up his mech's gyro and fly away."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Remille Fortner transmits, "After all, he may be my twin; But Mars is my home."

EARLIER

"With all due respect, Kalium, that's the fourth Codarl-i you've lost since we assigned you to supporting the Metatron Mining Operation. Now you're asking us to send you additional units, along with more advanced weaponry, for what appears to be a dying cause?"

Mister Gates' face turns from red to purple, heading towards blue.

"Are you really going to hold your breath until we agree to your demands?"

NOW

One of the squadrons of GN-X units finds itself under mysterious assault. Arms are cleaved off, weapon systems simply removed, drives punctured and exploding. The assailant isn't seen; it's working under optical camouflage, working its way rather swiftly towards the front of the line. To where the ivory Woundwort is descending towards the farmlands.

"Hi again~" the voice of Mister Gates breaks out across the airwaves. He remembers this unit. He remembers it dimly, because he's pretty sure he blacked out for about three hours during his meeting with fellow AMALGAM officials.

The optical camoflague breaks, starting with the ponytail, the suit designated Venom whipping its hair back and forth as it descends on the Woundwort from behind. It has a very large blade, and it made a promise to this very same pilot the last time they crossed paths. He promised to cornhole her. He's going to live up to that promise, here and now.

Closing the gap by leaping off a now exploding GN-XIII, the Codarl-i spins through the air as it materializes fully, sending that massive blade stabbing for the back of the TR-6!

"What the...what is this nonsense?"

That is the first thing out of Sarah's mouth the moment things appear to go downhill in the middle of her operation. Frowning deeply, the young woman just shakes her head before sucking a sharp breath into her lungs. No time to think about this, she insists to herself. Focus on the mission... missions.

Steeling her resolve once more, Sarah focuses on her goal: try and seize the production facilities. The Woundwort descends, spiraling through the air as it descends toward the farmlands. Another unit has, thankfully, engaged the traitor. She'll deal with that as a second priority, she assures herself.

For now they can't lose sight of their overall goal. Or the ambush waiting them.

"Damn it--"

/And/ Gates' arrival.

This is not Lt. Zabiarov's day.

The Venom appears; its monomolecular blade plunging into the ivory back of the Woundwort, narrowly missing its GN-T verniers. The unit shudders mightily in response, causing its pilot to jar violently and yelp before she clenches her hands painfully tight on the controls. "You again??" she notes, seeking to peel the unit off the blade--to help, she twists the machine around, pointing its long rifle into the face of the Venom before firing at /point blank/.

"I don't have time for you and your games!"

The Auditor surfs into the engagement zone with characteristic aplomb, trailing rainbow particles in his wake. It's as if his personality is literally leaking out of his machine.

Ascian's opening shot is good-- but so are the Coordinator-bred mercenary's reflexes. With a breathed, "Hh," he twitches the board up between his machine and the shot, cutting to the left at the same time. The attack glances off the bottom of the board, leaving a scorch mark but failing to knock it out from under the Terminus. Looks like his first obstacle has appeared.

"Transmit start of operation time to the employer," he rasps, letting the AI handle the paperwork, as it were, sending a neat timestamped report off to Sarah Zabiarov. "Commence ammunition cost tally, bottom-left HUD." A counter pops up, currently at $0. While he wishes he could leave it that way, circumstances dictate that it's time to go into debt.

The board cuts downwards, diving towards the Orbital Frame at breakneck speeds. For a moment, it seems like he's going to ram Ascian's ride-- that is, until the twin rocket launchers on the Terminus' legs open up, disgorging a pair of dumb rockets straight downwards.

Takeshi stares down at the radio, "You gotta be kidding me. That took you long enough." He reaches down to flip it off after talking to it a couple of times to see what they say. "Fine, I see you're going to be just as blind as always."

He looked around the battlefield, Tsubasa feeding in the data as its available and then the screens focus on the incoming RX7. The blade is sweeped across the midsection of the machine. It came too fast to be avoided, but then, he had to expect there would always be someone slightly faster. But he was bothered by that announcement too, he didn't see the need for it all, but this wasn't the time to decide that.

The mech moves a hand up after moving away and a laser emitter on the hand fires a blast towards the RX7. They had struck first, he never had any intention of firing at any of them, but if they want it this way, so shall it be. The optics flash red once before returning ot their normal color of white.

The Ark Hammer still circles the theatre as the battle rages on below, keeping part of her attention keeping an eye on the new 'traitor' of the Alpha numbers, Takeshi Odori. However, she doesn't know that he was branded a traitor for assisting her crew in times of need. She does, however, keep her radio open to Takeshi, in case he needs help...

James Heller stands his ground at the RX-7's the unit's small only 3 meters tall it's a powered armor.

James laughs. "Is that the best you can do? This universe runs on raging passion. SO THEN IN THE WORDS OF A GREAT MAN! THIS IS MY BOOM STICK!"

The Silver machine stands it's ground it actually takes the hit quite well given it's size. Then the machine pulls back a little bit. The large weapon swings into place over it's shoulder. The machine grabs hold of the weapon to aim it. In the feet two pylons drive into the ground, then there's a roar as the wepaonf ireds a shotgun style round at Mister Getter. The thing is? It's at mach five and the sonic boom may very well shatter any non renforced glass in range of the shockwave.

"And I suppose Mars would be better off with the tyrants that have done nothing but abuse and ignore us," Erika counters with as she cues up her Split Missiles. The trigger is pulled and the pod is launched, swiftly dispersing into multiple rockets. The two missile clouds meet, with the missiles passing right by each other harmlessly... At least until Erika shoots at one of her own missile. The resulting explosion quickly sets off a chainreaction that catches the rest of the missile cloud within it's fiery grasp, consuming both volleys and leaving her unharmed. "The same people who dump their unwanted and disgraced soldiers onto us, who reap the benefits of our hardwork and plunder our home for resources, and who ignore our needs. You keep telling me that Mars is better off without the Crusaders. Well tell me..." The Photon Rifle is holstered once more as Erika goes for her plasma cutter. the blade ignites and the Personal Trooper charges forth, holding the grip in both hands as she angles the tip forward to stab out. "What has the Federation ever done for us?!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> James Heller transmits, "Ah the RG-14 rail gun."

The hand blast strikes RX-7 pretty hard. The armor buckles under the attack, almost blowing it clean off. However, Mister Getter swings his blade around, shielding himself from some of the blast. The pilot winces for a moment, glaring up at Takeshi. This guy was a traitor. He was someone who would only spread suffering if allowed to keep his selfish ways. Mister Getter was a man beyond seeing the other side. The boy behind the mask knew that. He was done trying to understand people. To try to compromise. He would stand up and take a stab at having his opinion heard...and by having his opinion heard, he meant stabbing his sword clean through Takeshi Odori's cockpit.

As the thought occurs to him, he is targeted by James Heller. He swings his sword around to both block and attack the other machine. While he takes some of the flak in the chest, he also manages to break through with a quick swing to James' head unit. "Funny words for a man who has just begun the battle. I will show you true pain. However, my orders are to capture this other man so will have to contend with the both of you."

The Vegeta sheaths his sword and glares toward Takeshi's machine. "A Thousand Years Of Hell, Devistation Cut. FACE THE TORMENT OF OTHERS!" His manly voice booming as he swings the sword around to attempt to cleave Takeshi's power source in such a way to disable his unit.

The Amenthes keeps its heading towards The Auditor's LFO. Ascian has learned not to do foolish things by now, like hanging around to see if things hit or not. It was best to press the attack. However, the Orbital Frame is stopped momentarily as the unit suddenly rushes /for it/. "Melee type?" Ascian mutters to himself, giving the unit a good look-over, and making use of Duat's sensor readings. "Warning. Movement detected. Missiles!" Duat suddenly warns. "I got it, Duat."

The blue haired framerunner's grip on the controls tighten, sending quick bursts of information through the entire orbital frame. The rifle comes back online after its initial plasma shots, and quickly begins to dispense bolts whilst the unit flies backwards, beautifully sweeping around, letting the missiles follow; there's even the himmelmann maneuver hidden in there before finally the skies show yellow with the missiles all destroyed...

And from behind these blasts, the Amenthes hides whilst its wings detach from their normal positions and begin to rotate around the unit, the upper ridges showing a thick red line, that leads into a thick 'dot' of energy at the ends as they target.

"Ready." Duat alerts Ascian of the fact that the Amenthes has prepped the firing mechanisms of the homing lasers. "Let's get 'em. Homing lasers, FIRE!"

The lasers rip from the ends of the unit, whilst the smoke of the missiles finally clear, coming around The Auditor's LFO like an outward sphere, trying to form and spiral around him - to trap the unit within their destructive metatron-energy laden paths.

And whilst firing, Ascian makes himself know. "This is Private Ascian Luddite, of the BAHRAM Marian Defense Force! You are unwanted here! Stop ruining the lives of this planet's citizens!"

The rainbow-bleeding surfing robot catches the mummy-man's attention; the little screen in front of him shows a close up of the Terminus, an eyebrow arching under the bandages. "How colorful! Now there is a person who knows what they like, or perhaps one with incredibly poor luck and taste!" His radio, then, picks up what he says, to transmit to Ascian what matters. "Cover fire is incoming! I will aid you as you've so kindly done to me in Paradigm. Men of trust are hard to find."

Big Duo's eyes light up with bright blue light.

Schwarzwald's screen flashes the ominous words.

CAST IN THE NAME OF GOD YE NOT GUILTY

The repeating rocket launchers in the Megadeus' chest warm up as Schwarzwald idly presses down a few buttons on one of the numerous glowing, colorful consoles all around his twin-control-sticks setup. The Terminus is locked on, and several small missiles shoot out of Big Duo's chest, flying in a fairly straight path for Auditor's fabulous machine. Without so much as a hail or a hi, either! How rude.

It would then fly overhead, attempting to keep a certain distance from the fight, a feat that may be hard given the Terminus' likely higher speed.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Once again, I extend my thanks to you, mister Schwarzwald."

The Frighteners move through the fields and the gaps between the farms with practiced ease, their Armored Cores gliding across the ground and sweeping the area for hostiles. They move in a grid sweep, obviously drilled in the tactic from the way they all move. It isn't long before they start engaging Divine Crusader forces, the ACs breaking formation to fight in their own unique ways.

The lead AC comes across something that has an IFF that is not Divine Crusader, but instead Trailer. Cockatrice slows to a halt, spotting the guymelef lurking in front of one of the farms. It's massive shoulder cannons swing forward, flickering with power. Boyle sighs a little and hits the radio.

"Trailer pilot, you might've noticed you're sitting in a combat zone. Withdraw immediately and I won't, you know, blow you up. You've got five seconds. One. Two."

Okay, that's enough of that. "Three four five." Boyle pulls the trigger. The shoulder cannons open up, firing a bright white plasma beam in the guymelef's direction. It's the equivalent of a warning shot shot across the bow... if you, you know, fired a warning shot with a battleship gun that is. Even if he isn't particularly precise with his aim, the shot /is/ close enough that it will hurt.

Boyle, meanwhile, rolls his eyes. "Private Luddite, this is Boyle Fortner of the Martian Special Forces 'Frighteners.' I read you."

Beat.

"Bite me." Boyle flicks off his transmitter.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Schwarzwald transmits, "You've no need! It is I who should thank you for last time. Accept payment in the form of enemies blown to smithereens!"

The moment stretches out there, as the kukri withdraws from the back of the Woundwort. Held up by an unknown technology, the arm slave designated Venom almost seeming to shake with the laughter of the balding man inside. "Ahh, you remember me!" Gates cries out with clear glee, although it's voice-only communication; it wouldn't do for Kalium's face to be revealed to the world. They just can't handle his beauty!

It's at about that stage that a blast takes half of the Codarl-i's head clean off. His mouth sagging open, Gates' glee rapidly turns to anger, and he begins violently thrashing about in the cockpit -- while holding the controls. "Ahh, you bitch, you bitch~!

"Why are you so mean to meeeeeeeeee?!"

And in response, the Codarl-i performs a magnificent maneuver, knocking the rifle aside with one side -- and delivering a palm thrust backed with ethereal might to the torso of the Woundwort. It's enough to stop the full destruction of the head, but the damage is done. Vision is reduced, and secondary cameras come online to give the pilot a better chance of survival.

Heat emanates off that raised fin at the back of the arm slave, as its Lambda Driver allows it to have a near uncanny ability to weather blows, to make it stronger than a unit its size should be. Gravity has other issues; the arm slave falls to the outskirts of the farmland, immediately taking back to the skies with a mammoth, seemingly effortless jump.

"Cutie-piiie, do you want it fast, or do you want me to take my time~?" Gates croons the words out, the long blade of the kukri slashing out at the Woundwort in a feint -- as the other arm swings about, unleashing a sizeable caliber burst from the upside-down cannon at close proximity!

As fighting breaks out around her, Sinya mutters something under her breath, the fur on the back of her neck standing up as her eyes move across the view offered by her heads up display. Her hands loosen, then tighten again as sweat nearly pulls them off of the silver-toned controls which wrap around her body as if it were a second skin. Slowly, she moves her hands, spinning an invisible staff in front of her even as Arius mimics the motion outside. The spinning is enough to form a barrier around the guymelef for the time being, but it doesn't offer much in the way of comfort for the farmers.

With the onset of the various machines of war arriving, there seems to be a mass exodus from the facilities, the guymelef's head following some of the tiny fleeing forms below. Then, sweeping his gaze back across the landscape, the bird-like knight settles his gaze on the Armored Cores of the Frighteners and their apparent leader. "Pssh. This is even worse then them picking on those factory workers. They're farmers for Gaea's sake." The catgirl mutters this to herself, ears slicking backwards as her tail lashes out behind her with obvious irritation.

Of course, that's when a voice catches her ears, head turning. A warning? Well, it certainly isn't /much/ of a warning, as she barely has time to turn in that direction before the shot goes off. As quick as Arius might be, the guymelef doesn't have enough time to avoid the entirity of the blast, taking it hard against one shoulder pauldron as the he rolls to the side, barely avoiding impacting the farms in the process. Luckily, Sinya actually cares more about those than actually saving her own skin. "Nice warning. You're supposed to shoot across my nose, not UP it!" She yells, her voice sounding quite strange coming out of the bird looking guymelef. "But since you asked me /so/ nicely to withdraw, I'll just have to give you a polite answer in return."

The nice answer actually comes as the guymelef gets back onto his feet, staff spinning in front as he tries to make a bit of distance between himself and the farms. The last thing they needed was to fight on top of civilian facilities, even if that is what this AC seemed intent on doing. "At least have the decency to fight /away/ from civilians." She snarls, as the guymelef sweeps his staff above his head in a whirl of motion, finally bringing it down in an attempt to bash it across the legs of the offending unit.

And now it's a swordfight! Rio has drawn her beam gladius and parried the neo plasma cutter. "We can reform! If the people here are as corrupt as you claim, we can purge them just like we did the TITANS! But right now we're _busy_ with this _war_, and BAHRAM isn't helping!" The Gespenst fires missiles again, this time hotloaded to fire into the Shadow Mirror gespenst at point-blank range!

There is something terrible about Gates.

Despite the obvious, Sarah gets very eerie, creepy vibes from the man's psychic signatures. Frowning deeply in response to his cursing and thrashing, she just focuses on trying to get her Woundwort /off/ the kukri and back into full commission. She doesn't have time to deal with Gates' nonsense! She has a mission to accomplish and allies to assist!

"This is a battle, and this is war! I am not being mean, I am doing my /job/ as a soldier!" Sarah quips back, her tone obviously annoyed and flustered. Sure, the shot lands clean on the Codarl-i, but that by no means puts Gates out of the battle.

The Venom leaps high, the lewd comments responded to by Sarah only with a grunt of annoyance before she takes a defensive stance in the Woundwort. The feint is noted, but the caliber of the cannon was not accounted for. Struck hard, the white machine is forced back a good distance before its pointed legs lodge into the ground for support, cutting vicious lines across fertile Martian soil.

"S-still operable," she notes to herself with a soft nod.

"I want you to die!" she exclaims as the Woundwort leaps after the Venom, dual sabers (one from a hidden crotch arm, go figure!) wielded as she attempts to cleave the AMALGAM unit in half.

<Radio> Tightbeam to Sinya Leland: Ascian Luddite says, "I have it on good authority that you ought to stay in close-quarters against that guy - don't give him a chance to aim his shots. He's a Frightener. One of the elite on the EFA's side. If you need any assistance, don't hesitate to ask. After all, after your help at the factory, and with that water Dragon thing..."

Takeshi just snickers, "Lasers cut through most armors pretty easily you know."

The RX7 turns around and tries to bring a blade back up through the air towards the Tsubasa but it doesn't phase the white mech as it simply moves out of range, quickly, faster than it had moved before. Not only did the thrusters boost once, they flared to pure white as a second stream of fuel went through the thrusters. What this means is that the Tsubasa just isn't there when the blade passes through the air. No dice this time.

"Okay, Tsubasa, activate heater." *Acknowledged*

The machine holds its hands in front of it as multiple focus lens emit a powerful blast of laser that just gets hung up in the middle of the hands. A ball is forming, except not a big ball, a ball that is focused, less big, but subsequently more powerful. After several seconds of charging, the blast is released towards the RX7. He may not have started tihs, but it will be finished.

<Radio> Tightbeam to Ascian Luddite: Sinya Leland says, "Copy. I'll try."

Divada listens to all of the open communications between the pilots down below and shakes her head. She, however, keeps a somewhat passive eye on Takeshi's mech, crossing her arms. Miranda walks up behind Divada and puts her hands behind her back. "My lady, should we begin charging weapons and raising shields?" Divada looks towards Miranda, then back to the battle. "No. raise shields and charge laser batteries, but that's all. do not fire unless I say. If we were to miss, we would strike one of the fields." Miranda seems to know what Divada means and nods. "Unlike the A-laws, I do not wish to starve the martian people, Miranda. What they do with this food, is up to them."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Miss Divada. Can you assist the avian looking unit? They're up against a Frightner, and I am not too sure how good their experience is in combat."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "Hmmm....I shall ask."

The two Gespenst's lock up against one another, trying to force the other back. Erika pushes forward, intent on winning this contest of strength. And then, there's some good old fashion Newtype Bullshit. The flash surges through her mind and Erika reacts instantly, redirecting the angle of her thrust to skid sideways out of the path of the rocket. Her blade likewise deflects Rio's gladius, giving Erika a chance to strike before launching away into the air. "More empty promises! We're tired of being lied to! Tired of a Federation that feeds us platitudes while taking advantage of our world! Do you /honestly/ think for a moment that if you take back this world, anything will change? the only reason why you purged the Titans in the first place is because their treachery was waved in front of your face where you couldn't ignore it!" The plasma cutter is put away as Erika pulls out her Mega beam Rifle and takes aim, "The Federation is too corrupt to change itself." The barrel glows ever so briefly as Erika pulls the trigger, before a pink beam of energy discharges from the weapon.

After knocking the Woundwort back with that heavy weapons fire, the Codarl-i performs a backflip in the air. Why? It doesn't need to answer that, it just does it, coming to set down on the ground again. "Oooh, you must be the commander of this little shindig," Gates surmises, bringing his hands up and piloting with his feet as he begins mapping the whole scenario out.

"No doubt you've been behind a couple of these operations now, thinking of ways to scurry favor to your superior who you perhaps have a slight fixation on. No, don't give in! He'll never give you what you want! Ahhhhh~, but you won't listen to me, you just think I'm some kind of--"

The Woundwort surges forward, drawing out one beam saber -- and then a second, yet they meet the resistance of Martian air as the arm slave leaps backwards, disappearing from view. That radio chatter continues however.

"--crazy man trying to kill you. But today, you think that you'll seize these farmlands, in an attempt to starve the local population. You're utilizing a siege mentality. You realize, of course, that they have ample rations to turn this campaign into a true quagmire. But you read a book, and it told you that an army cannot fight on an empty stomach!

"Ahh, you might just be brilliant. But did you remember to look down?"

Designate: Venom reappears, a long finger pointing at the ground beneath the Woundwort. Where fertile Martian soil has received two large grenades, which promptly explode!

James Heller retract the pylons and brings up his free arm, a blade slides out and intercept the attack. Just enough to keep the head intact given there's only a few inches between the outsid of the power armor's helmet and his head inside. The pylons retract and the machine is moving again. It pulls another wepaon of it's back and gets ready to fire, but rather than use it yet it raises it's palm firig off an ion blast. He'll try to get in line for another shot in a moment.

The Auditor has found himself in a sticky situation. The Orbital Frame has defenses he had not anticipated-- and if that weren't enough, now a Megadeus is on his tail. "Hh," he comments, feeling an itch behind his eyes. A familiar itch. This mission could turn out to actually be... dangerous.

The Auditor has not been in genuine danger for a long time.

A corner of his mouth twitches, and he flings himself onto the defensive. Eyes darting back and forth, he judges Ascian's attack to be of greater priority, and flips his green-and-silver LFO to put the durable board between him and the Amenthes. That the attack would /spiral/ was unexpected. The mercenary curses in a low voice as the ribbons of power constrict the Terminus, firing wildly back along their path at the Orbital Frame, which is already gone-- smart move on Ascian's part.

The missiles of Big Duo thus find him neatly trussed, like a Christmas ham, and have no trouble slamming into the LFO's back. He deploys chaff just in time to avoid total destruction, but the results are grim all the same.

Still muttering darkly, his hands fly over the controls, deploying counter-measures and re-routing power and-- he could /die/ here-- and--

Suddenly, his head jerks up, eyes widening impossibly. The Auditor gasps as his pupils shrink into nothing, leaving only the pale grey of the iris. A rotting seed falls through his mind, seeming to touch the center of those eyes... spreading decay and death and power, blackening as it goes.

Reflexes jump into overdrive, and his hands move even faster across the controls. The scavenged and customised LFO spins, erupting from the chains of the Orbital Frame's attack like a Black Swan, swooping up, up, up into the Martian sky on a rooster-tail of fluorescent green, hangs briefly at its apex...

And screams back down, striking LIKE SOME PREDATORY BIRD. The shoulder-mounted laser cannon fires twice in rapid succession at Amenthes, aiming to box in and soften the target for the razor edge of the ref board, which hungers for the Orbital Frame's metatron core, slicing and slashing... and moving away at speed, firing a pair of missiles at Big Duo in a similar maneuver before swooping upwards, trying to slash into that great machine with the ref board as well.

Mister Getter growls as his sword seems to never find the Tsubasa. What was with this guy? He needed to prove himself. And then Takeshi says something that makes him smile slightly. "Lasers cut through armor. Very well."

The Rx-7 pulls back and shifts it's hands. Suddenly several Beam Dagger appear in his hand, all igniting in unison. "Then I will use your advice. Even if I fail here today, I will find you. I will be stronger. I will keep coming for your head."

The RX-7 suddenly moves quickly, attempting to stab each beam dagger into the Tsubasa. "Not for myself... But for those I believe in. I am no longer the boy whose name I can not carry. I am the sword that wields despair!"

Even as James fires on him, he keeps coming at Takeshi.

The guymelef gets right up in Cockatrice's face and smashes it's... reverse-jointed legs? The AC staggers from the inexplicably powerful staff strike, lights flaring up beneath it as it's thrusters carry it backwards and /away/ from the guymelef. It's wobbly at first and then straightens up, the damaged armor slowing it for just a moment.

"Yeah, well, you took too long and I don't have time to sit around waiting. So!" Boyle smiles wide, Cockatrice taking to the air for a moment and diving behind a massive barn, skating past a tractor when it lands. "Are you a Raven? That doesn't look like anything I've seen in the registry."

Cockatrice leans out around the building and starts firing it's machine gun, the black, sleek firearm spitting green bolts of energy at the guymelef. It breaks off from the barn before the guymelef has a chance to get much closer, obviously not wanting to get stuck in melee with the thing with the big stick. The ancient rule of 'must have big stick to win fight' still applies, after all.

"I am the commander for this, yes," Sarah notes, not bothering to hide back any information. She doesn't /care/ at this point; as far as she is concerned, she'll take Gates out. Then what will it matter? And what does it matter if she /is/ in command here? It doesn't, she surmises privately. Not in the least bit. She's just another soldier, and she likes it that way.

When Gates goes and starts prying by chance, well, that irritates the Newtype. Radiating with anger, the Woundwort just holds its ground after its failed assault against the Codarl-i. Yes, he's crazy. At least he's /that/ smart. But now he's just being absurd. And very /annoying/.

"A-LAWS' intent here is none of your concern!" the young Lieutenant snaps at Gates as the Venom reappears. Its assault is met when the Woundwort's shields spring up and absorb the assault. The moment the proverbial smoke clears, the TR-6 has the Venom locked-on.

"Your nonsense ends here!"

Lifting its long, arm-mounted rifle, the Woundwort takes aim and fires another heavy shot. This time, however, it will actually /give chase/, targeting the Venom for several miles at least! Uh oh!

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "Seems she does require assistance. Launching fighters..."

"Agh!" The cockpit shakes as the beam scores a clean hit on the gespenst, a large black scorch mark tarnishing the white paint. "Even if you're right, how do you know that the Crusaders won't just do the same to Earth?!" The Gespenst draws its own Mega Beam Rifle and gives chase -- before suddenly bringing forth the plasma stakes, trying to pound the Shadow Mirror machine into the ground!

The Tsubasa simply moves again, the beam daggers scraping across the side of his arm but not causing any lasting damage. This time, the attack would not work, even if he was following Takeshi's advice. There's a pause as he considers the man's speech and shrugs, "Oh? You believe in shooting at your allies when they haven't shot at you?"

A single focus lens is adjusted, the vibrations in the laser beam causing it to be extremely unstable and less likely to do any damage, but what would happen is that if it hit, it would disperse into tiny bits of energy that operated like a jamming force. Effectively cutting any electronic equipment on the mech by attaching themselves to the external armor.

Still watching the battle, Divada holds her earpiece and grits her teeth. "Miranda, deploy Knight Squadron. Seems we have a non-combatant in the area and she's being attacked." "Yes my lady." A few seconds later, 6 fighters launch from the Ark Hammer's fighter bays and speed towards Sinya Leland's position. "Remember boys, don't hit the fields, but try your best to divert the attention of this guy from the Arius unit. Weapons hot." As they streak in, they line up their noses to the cockatrice unit and fire lasers at it...

James Heller sees Mister Getter still going after Takeshi. he has no problem shooting him in the back as it were.

"Tch, that crap doesn't work int his universe what do you think it is? Britannian?"

The Machine redies the weapon it was holding in it's over hand, it looks like a rifle, and he opens fire with it. There's globs of plasma fire at the RX-7 Neo follow.

"God I'm just going to bust your face you don't even get how your own univese works!"

The Jet magnum slams into the chest of the Shadow Mirror Gespenst, throwing it to the ground. Erika is quick to recover though as she uses the momentum imparted to roll the Gespenst back and land on her feet, skidding to a stop. "That's a chance I'm willing to take if it means giving Mars it's freedom! It's better to at least /TRY/ than it is to submit to the Federation!" There are two loud 'KACHUNK' sounds from the back of the Gespenst as a pair of disks detach from the Personal Trooper and fly out. Blades extend from the whirling discs as they fly force, guided by subroutines towards their target where they try to chop up Rio's machine before self-destructing.

Clearly, Gates doesn't give a shit about the Martian fields. He thinks he's made a pretty spot-on analysis with that otherworldly gaze of his, a view into the deranged depths. And his analysis is greeted with a precision blast from the long rifle of the Woundwort, which does a rather neat job of piercing right through the lower torso of the Codarl-i, coming close to severing a leg. A last moment attempt to fade back into optical camouflage goes awry; the shot is just too fast this time!

"Ahhhh~ don't blow this one up, I've lost too many! You don't know the lengths I had to go to in order to get this!" Gates rages against the world, spittle flying from his lips as his unit stumbles. He pauses in pulling at his hair long enough to right the unit, sending it leaping off to one side, strafing right across giant Martian turnips, using them as cover.

Bursting right through one of the turnips, leaving the Codarl-i dripping in delicious juice, the red arm slave advances -- and advances damn quick! Gathering juice out of the air thanks to the Lambda Driver, it flings a sea of turnip chunks at the Woundwort -- and amidst the onslaught comes the true strike, rather than the diversion.

Pulling the kukri back, it thrusts forward, seeking to impale the ivory unit on it and make it a grand piano! "If you're the commander, then you should know you just put a nice target on your head! What's your name?! Oh, it doesn't matter. YOU die instead!"

Amenthes cants quickly to the left, retreating the wings to its back and beginning to fly around the Terminos whilst it is yet stick within the last bits of the laserfire. Ascian grins. He always loved catching people off-guard with that technique he'd created in a spar against Hera. Of course, that also means that when The Auditor breaks out of its hold, his face shows his surprise.

"Duat?" Ascian requests information. "Unknown factor." It simply reports. "Their actions seem different from before. Be careful." The artificial intelligence reports. The vidwindow follows the location of the opponent, whilst Ascian himself turns his head up to follow it and then quickly raises Amenthes' arms up.

The laserstrikes crash onto its shield, which start getting manipulated as Duat takes in a feed from the Ark Hammer, and tries to synchronize with the blasts. The beams do indeed bend off, but that doesn't stop what's to come. The ref board soon is close enough to the Orbital Frame, and the shield drops just as it strikes. However, Ascian is a good enough pilot to maneuver the Amenthes out of the way, to not expose the hidden-away core of the frame.

The strikes moves through part of the torso, cutting vertically near its right arm, before suddenly... the unit lunges out torwards the LFO itself and tries to GRAB hold of it! Purple lightning suddenly crackles over its hand, then sends an extremely high-voltage charge through the hands, magnitizing any metal it might touch - and potentially frying the pilot if his cockpit was not insulated enough!

"Three seconds is too long?" Sinya asks, sounding a little skeptical about this as she breaks off communication with some other source to respond to such a ridiculous comment. As she pulls on the controls, the silver gears straining against each other as they move in responce. As the heads-up seems to lock on and show the surrounding structures to the Cockatrice, it seems to only bring the situation further into prospective. Was he trying to get her to damage them so it would seem as if this were /her/ fault rather than the invaders?

"You really have a contempt for these people. Take your fighting away from the buildings before you hurt more than just these people's livelihoods." Her tail snaps once, whilst the unit carefully moves around the structures in an attempt to keep in close range with the other unit, even while just barely managing to stay out of reach of his weapons. She doesn't have time to see where the bolts of green energy actually land, although inwardly she's left hoping it isn't anywhere that might hurt innocent people. "Get back." She warns, not about to be social to someone so thoughtless.

As Arius steps into an open space between buildings, he spins his staff above his head yet again, trying to keep it clear of actually hitting anything around him, although a few antennas and radio towers might fall victim to it. Still, there is definitely an intent there to press the AC back away from the farms. Just after the squadron of fighters comes sweeping by, Arius lashes out with his staff a second time, stabbing it towards the Cockatrice's chest as he tries to force the other mech back out of the facility.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "Mister Heller. please see to it that the Tsubasa survives this engagement..."

The Terminus is fast! Far, far too fast. Or it's possible, if not too likely, that it's the pilot that makes such a difference.

Schwarzwald attempts to veer Big Duo, but let's face it, that thing turns on a dime... a Gundam-sized dime. A very very large dime. A dime not small enough to avoid the incoming missiles. They, as such, collide with the Big quite directly, leaving little room for doubt as to whether it was hit or not. Its red paintjob is more like grey-ish black now, the explosions having burnt off a large amount of it. This is far different from fighting an opponent like the Big O, the reporter thinks. But no matter! The power of God created by man, right there in his hands, should allow him to come out on top if he just finds the right toy.

"That machine of his', Ascian! Isn't it fascinating?"

Not as much as the Big Duo, he thinks; not as much as that Orbital Frame, either, or a few others he has gotten the chance to see. But it is definitely up there.

The Megadeus' eyes suddenly light up again.

"Enough toying around! Big Duo!"

A switch is flipped, and the still-airborned Big's eyes let loose twin beams of purple-pink-ish death toward the Terminus, because eye lasers are quite trusty and reliable.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "I think it's more the pilot, Schwarzwald, sir."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "I've fought a unit of that type before."

"You should have thought about that before bringing it here," Sarah notes with a certain edge to her words. Yes, this guy is annoying her /so much/, argh. He's knocked back and starts frothing angrily, to which the Newtype pilot of the Woundwort responds by...not enabling his behavior from this point on. She looks toward the RX-7 and bites her lip. Damn it..!

The turnips are hucked at the machine and the Venom advances, intent on just running her through with that awful kukri. The ivory mech responds by spinning aside and pivoting out of harm's way just in time before lifting the arm-mounted rifle. It takes aim--but not at Gates!

Instead, the concentrated fire seems to give /chase/ after the powersuit unit piloted by Heller, in attempts to draw fire /off/ her colleague. "Come on..!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Schwarzwald transmits, "I see. Though it is quite hard to ignore the show of colors."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "I will give him that."

Mister Getter's eye twitches as James gives him a lecture on how things work. On how he doesn't understand anything. He begins to breath heavily, shutting his eyes. He needs to destroy this man. Even if Takeshi was who he was supposed to deal with... James just crosses a line.

"I don't understand anything at all... I am just a child. Very well. Then if I understand nothing, I will live in that ignorance. I WILL NOT BE SWAYED BY ANYONE! I WILL CRY 'I' IN THE HEART OF THE WORLD. GETTER BEAM!!!!!!!!"

Mister Getter's eyes open as he focuses his fury into a tangible form. He can feel his insides burning just like that time before he confessed to Mana. Only this time, there would be no one to pick him up.Raw fury burns inside his chest, causing his stomach to churn as bile reaches up from his throat. It burns. Everything burns. He can not handle this at all. He breaths heavily, as he sees James being dealt with. His eyes shoot to Takeshi. His target. It would be him he would give everything against. "GETTER BEAM!!!!" The RX-7 aims a arm toward Takeshi, firing the beam from it's hand. The arm buckles and disintegrates from the explosion.

The rippers stay on target -- even with the T-Link system, Rio can't seem to keep up with Erika in these machines! Bits of armor and slag fall to the ground. "Then you can see why I can't submit to the Crusaders!" The Gespenst drops out of the sky. So far she's knocked Erika to the ground, now to keep her there!

The second blow is just as powerful as the first, knocking Erika back as she struggles to maintain her footing. The Gespenst sinks down to one knee regardless of her wishes. Erika bares her teeth. The Tesla Drive flares as the Model II launches skywards, soaring straight into the air until the sun is at her back. Then on her display, two words appear. SHOUT NOW "/ULTIMATE/!!" The Gespenst's arms cross briefly before being thrown out in a display of raw fury. "/GESPENSTO/!! And then it begins to drop like a meteor, it's one leg stretched out as it hurtles itself towards the Martian landscape. /KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICKU!!!/

The tsubasa stares at the RX7 as it releases all its rage, all its power and yet ultimately accomplishes nothing as the machine swivels to the side and avoids the blast. He looks over at the other mech attacking the RX7 from the cockpit and sighs before turning to look at the RX7. "You know, outright ignoring one opponent for another is never a very sound tactic."

Then he shrugs, "Either way. This is boring. I apologize for this." Focus lens begin to light up again as energy gathers in them, but this time its different. They're surpassing the output limits through some craft engineering. The energy is being redirected to outside of the lens, held together by subtle fluctuations in the gravity field to create an electromagnetic background effect. Thereby stablizing the external gathering of energy for a subsequent firing. Within seconds the blast streams towards the RX7, a high powered blast of energy aimed at taking out this little power armor wielding sword thing. "Know that I do not consider you my enemy, simply somebody who choose in this instance to stand in my way."

"Ahhhh don't just ignore me, that's really rude!" Gates barks out, head snapping to the side to observe where the Woundwort fires that shot off to. It sure wasn't at him, thank little fluffy animals!

Straightening the arm slave, he does the sensible thing since Sarah Zabiarov is proving herself to be a real big bitch; he brings that kukri up, and he then sends it slamming down, aiming to remove the arm holding that heavy beam rifle! "Don't make me angry! My doctor doesn't like it when I get angry! I have high blood pressure you know."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Try to protect the farm. If they destroy it, our mission is a failure!"

Cockatrice cannot, apparently, keep away from the guymelef with the big stick. The Armored Core darts around the path of the laserfire, Boyle glancing upward to watch the things fly past. He spots the Arc Hammer in the distance--and the guymelef gets closer again. The staff knocks it backwards away from the farm building, sending it skidding. It doesn't topple, but the pointed torso is crumpled inward.

"You kidding? I /live/ here," Boyle replies. "Martian born and raised, me and my sister. But I've got a job to do, just like you apparently do. Don't pretend you're here outta the kindness of your heart." Cockatrice's cannons swing down again, lining up on the guymelef. Flashes of light within the barrel gather, swirling together as power floods into the weapons before--

THOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! The twin beams of white light are blinding, blasting upwards at the Arc Hammer in the distance. It cuts through the air and comes at it like the range wasn't even a consideration, the plasma cannons feeding hot death into the battleship. They peter out after a second... and then suddenly drop down to refocus on the guymelef and give Sinya the exact same treatment, swept horizontally to catch her in the blast as the AC continues it's retreat.

Divada keeps her gaze partly upon takeshi as he's still attacked by Getter. She almost breaks off her fighters to help him, but then Heller comes over to assist. However, she shakes her head. "Continue your attack Knight Lead. Make sure Miss Leland is able to get out of here ok." "Yes my lady. Orders stand boys. Let's take this mechanical chicken down." half of the squadron splits up and takes a longer looping run, as the other three make a quick split S and fires more lasers at the Cockatrice...

The Auditor is beyond the flesh now. His brain is working at speeds with which his body cannot cope, and yet he has no alternative to using the inefficient sack of aging flesh to transmit his desires to the machine, itself even more inefficient than the human cage. If only he could translate his thoughts directly into action, he could be... unstoppable.

Alas, he does not have access to that kind of technology, and this... ability of his is unpredictable, rearing its head seemingly at random. Even so... to be able to interface so directly between impulse and power...

The mind is strong, but the flesh, weak. The Auditor rattles off mental calculations of trajectories, fuels costs, machine stresses and trapar densities. It doesn't look good, as trapar densities are exceedingly low on Mars FOR SOME REASON??, but he'll do what he can with the tools to hand.

The custom Terminus TypeR505 is simply moving too quickly for Amenthes' grasping hands, and the magnetic disturbance disperses harmlessly into the air. As he carves across the magnificent Big Duo and rockets back into the sky, he accepts that Big Duo's eye lasers will strike him. They are more accurate than any other weapon he has yet faced in this battle, and at his current speed evasive action would tear the LFO apart. As a result, the eye lasers melt across the back of the LFO's lower back, laying bare circuitry beneath the slagged armor and setting off a cascade reaction of miniature explosions.

Inside, The Auditor has the situation under control, shunting excess heat and bypassing damaged systems with approximately 2% of his attention. The rest is concentrated on destroying his opponents. The Terminus turns again, hanging at the opposite apex like a snowboarder poised on the edge of a half-pipe, then unleashes four missiles one after the other. Their trajectories are precisely planned, two for each of today's enemies.

"No way, she can't be serious... Shi--" The kick slams into the Gespenst and it's sent skidding back through farmland, breaking a great groove in the ground.

Warning sirens and red lights go off in the cockpit. "Ugggh..." Rio groans as she looks up at the screen. That Gespenst... if she doesn't do something now, she's finished...

The Gespenst draws its boosted rifle, damaged servos shakily pointing it at the shadow mirror PT. Static flashes through Rio's HUD, as she tries to hold the reticle in place... And she pulls the trigger.

And then she pulls it again.

And again.

James Heller says, "I can at least respect your ressolve." He's cut off by a warning from the computer. He'd have more to to say to Mister Getter. He can respect the guy's ressolve at least. HE was about to unlod ion him but then comes the other mchine he does his best to get into more defensive stance. He knows he can't dodge it after all the shot hits the silver machine, it should be reduced ot ash. The light fades from the blast the tiny machine has /taken/ the shot it's barely been harmed.

"Come on keep it comming! Now eat this!"

The large gun locks into place again, the pylons deploy and James tracks Sarah's unit. The crosshairs light up over the TR-6 and then the huge gun fires not once but several times shot after shot is launched and each firing causes a massive sonic boom.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Erika Keese transmits, "Damnit!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "I'll call in a raptor squad to get you out."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> James Heller transmits, "Boom!"

Mister Getter breaths heavily, coughing as the beam misses. This guy was infuriating. He can't concentrate, however. It hurt to breath now and those eyes were looking at him from far away. He didn't understand it but they were looking deep into him.....A being of unimaginable power comprised of the gift his friends gave him. It just watched Mister Getter silently, gazing through his assumed identity to the boy underneath. He breaths heavily, feeling himself finally throw up over his controls. "Ugh.....Why. Why am I so weak? Why are you looking at me. Stop looking at me! STOP LOOKING!!!!" He felt his throat burn as the scent of copper appeared in his nostrils.

He finally looks up at Takeshi, finding it hard to scowl. His eyes wide as his head pounded. He could do nothing as Takeshi's attack slammed into the RX-7. "ARGH!!!!!!" He pulls back on the controls, just barely surviving the attack. His machine was finished however. "....." The world started going black. Luckily for him, he was on his way back to the Minerva. He struggled to stay awake for recovery.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> James Heller transmits, "That's one less hostile. Who needs support fire?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "I believe miss Keese just went down. Support her, whilst a raptor squad is on the way - so they don't pick her off while she is down."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "It seems Mister Luddite and Big Duo require assistance, Mister Heller. One second Mister heller...."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "We'll be fine, miss Divada."

The Shadow Mirror gespenst slams hard into the ground as it lands and skids to a stop, falling back to one knee. Erika tries to get the Personal Trooper to rise, but the one leg refuses to respond, it's servos strained beyond it's tolerance, "Shit!" She tries to kick in her Tesla drive to comphensate for the bum leg. Then Rio's first shot rips through the drive. Fire gouges out of the Gespenst's back as the Tesla Driver suffers a catastrophic failure. This isn't helped any by the follow up shots that pound the crippled Gespenst, sheering an entire arm off it's frame and blasting through the head of the PT. It slumps forward and collapses.

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

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "But thank you for the worry."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> James Heller transmits, "Roger. I'll take the trash out."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "It's not a problem, Mister Luddite. Cover Miss Keese, Heller."

So it goes like this:

Sarah tries to help. Sarah's shot hits! Sarah has gained aggro.

Times /two/. Where is Fade when you need it!?

Gates swoops in first, slashing the arm of the poor Woundwort off completely. It causes a localized explosion, the machine staggering as result of the brilliant slice. She turns the ivory machine, focusing its aim on the Venom as she begins to open her mouth and shout back at the AMALGAM freak. But--

Then she is like totally shot from behind.

The Woundwort explodes. Whether there was an escape pod on board the Woundwort is known only to the command of the Minerva. However, all communications from the A-LAWS machine cease to fire. Its IFF vanishes. It is wiped off the map.

"If you actually lived here, you wouldn't be harming your /own people/." Sinya replies, her voice harshly controlled between clenched teeth. The catgirl may not have been born on Mars, but she's spent the better part of the last six months living there and has already had to deal with some of the same sort of abuse at the hands of the military. Even now, this soldier was claiming to be Martian while not paying any mind to the damage he is doing.

"Guess what? I don't /have/ a contract to be here. No one paid me." Gasp, a Trailer who actually is doing something without there being money involved? Wait, impossible! Well, it certainly proves that she wasn't hired by any of the Divine Crusaders. So what /exactly/ is a Trailer mech doing here then? That, of course, is anyone's guess. "I'm just tired of seeing these people get pushed around by people with bigger guns." Bigger guns? Well, that's exactly what it seems that Boyle and his Cockatrice bring out as it sweeps past Sinya, slicing through one of the nearby buildings. This seems to be enough to anger the catgirl, who bristles as Arius leaps upwards, his wings beating against the sky. Just how the guymelef is able to stay airborne is a bit of a stretch of physics, that's for certain.

Drawing back his staff, Arius looks at the blunt end of it for a moment before reaching up, unscrewing the beak from his chestpiece and attaching it to the end. While still mid-air, he aims the staff like a javelin, and then stabs outward. At first, it seems as if there is no way the attack should reach, but the staff seems to grow longer, closing the distance between Arius and the Cockatrice, seeking to impale the AC with his detached beak.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Careful, mister Schwarzwalt! One missile got through!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Schwarzwald transmits an explosion and several alarms going off. "Big Duo's agility doesn't live up to that Orbital Frame of yours. Fortunately it has more armor to compensate."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "I'll try to ensure none of them pass next time."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Mister Schwarzwalt. I require your assistance."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Can you keep him busy for a moment? And try not to get too close to... these coordinates."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Duat transmits a large 'cone' aimed at the airspace above the farm.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Schwarzwald transmits, "Very well!"

Rio's damaged Gespenst pulls itself out from under the Shadow Mirror machine. "Sorry..." she says softly into the radio. The martians seem to be in a sucky situation, but they've got to be patient.

If she were in Erika's place, would she be able to do that?

Rio shakes her head. Now is not the time for deep thought. This fight is still going on, and the one who led their attack was just shot down. There's work to do here yet.

The boosted rifle is trained on a new target. Now, while she has the element of surprise...

James Heller is looking at the ashes more of less of the other machine, the Glitterboy. James dsmirks but the battle isd yet from done. The new target is tiny it's only 3 meters tall but packs enough firepower to down a mobile suit from the looks of it. The shots slams into the machine, James didn't have time to retract the pylons. The small thing is still /fuctional/. Also the boosted rifle seem to do a better job than the beam rifle did against the machine. IOt's now turning it's attention to Rio's machine.

He lines up the shot and comments over the radio.

"I had to deal with better, time for you to go join the bone yard!"

Again the machine opens fire in rapid succession sending several of the shotgun style rounds, it's basically a cloud of rail spikes going at mac five, this could be a pain for the Alpha Numbers pilot!

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "To all Divine Crusaders. Please remain out of the airspace!"

<Radio> Tightbeam to Sinya Leland: Ascian Luddite says, "If you can help it, try to stay out of the airspace for the next few moments."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> James Heller transmits, "That's another one down."

<Radio> Tightbeam to Ascian Luddite: Sinya Leland says, "Copy."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "Good Job, Mister Heller. We do have a trailer that is being picked on by one of the Feddies. My fighters are distracting him, but aren't hitting. Can you assist? If Mister Luddite and Big Duo don't need you that is."

The fighters streak past again. Cockatrice keeps moving, the ground around the Armored Core erupting into fire from the laser strafing runs. It keeps ahead of them, moving and turning, firing shots into the air with it's machine gun to keep them at bay. The energy machine gun might have a capacitor charge limit, but he can replace it. Frighteners actually keep reloads; how 'bout that?

"Wow. Really?" Beat. "You're kind of a bad mercenary, aren't you?"

Cockatrice turns, and the beak suddenly stabs through the side of it's smashed torso, partially hooked on a chunk of metal. It's effectively pinned; he can't turn it much from where he's sitting. "Pretty good fighter though, I'll give you that," he mutters. Cockatrice groans as it turns, metal bending and armor crumpling as he comes around to face the guymelef in the air. The ragged hole in the side of the AC doesn't seem to bother him.

The Armored Core pulls itself off the spear and half-crouches, pointing it's guns upward again. They point into the distance, again at the battleship... and then drift to the right some, tracking the flying guymelef. There isn't nearly as much of a delay as before; the charge is already built, the white light tinged and mixed with crackling blue radiance, the plasma beams screaming out of the barrels and threatening to consume anything in front of them.

Takeshi watches the RX7 go down from the lasers. There's a shrug as the kid screams out and then he just turns his attention to James Heller. Excpet that was apparently pointless too as he easily dispatches his target. Takeshi just grins at the fellow sniper.

Then someone is yelling at him from his radio. "Good god Divada, I'm in the middle of... OKAY! OKAY! STOP YELLING!" And he activates the thrusters, flying straight up through the air, apparently moving to take a break from the battle and get some overall information on the way things seem to be going. Once at an acceptable altitude and backing off a little, he peers down at the battle, The Tsubasa's sensor link up with the Ark Hammer and augment its own capabilities. Data is streaming in, he was going to see what happened, but for now, it seems like he is unneeded.

The strange power armor turns towards her and aims its weapon...

The Gespenst is knocked onto its back and doesn't get up, shot full of holes.

Including a hole through the screen, and a few inches to the side of Rio's head. Eep. She pulls on the controls, but nothing happens. What's left of the screen indicates plainly that this Gespenst isn't going anywhere under its own power.

Broken, the EFA personal trooper lies next to its fallen foe.

"Ugh. Great." Rio starts calling for help on the radio.

The Amenthes dances through the air, as series upon series of Metatron crystals portrude between the folds of the Khopesh-shaped wings. For a moment, it seems to leave behind an afterimage of red energy in its wake, before it becomes clear where it has gone. It's diving straight down along the LFO's path and sets up a path of destruction as it launches another volley of red bolts of plasma, tearing through the missiles as they are fired. One! Two! Three! Duat confirms each explosion, but Ascian simply fails to keep up with the LFO, and the fourth passes through his defenses.

In the meanwhile, a system has come online onboard the Amenthes. In a faint red glow, it indicates: Narita Control Program: ACTIVE. From the distance, a small squad of the VF like A.I. controlled orbital frames come flying at high speed, only to transform into proper mechs and land right besides Erika's unit, and begin to pick up the Gespenst Mk II by the arms - intent on taking her off to safety.

Meanwhile, Ascian is guiding the Orbital Frame towards the ground, a bit further away from the farm and begins to do some quick calculations. "As long as it is within this range, none of the farm, or the surroundings will get hit." He says to Duat. "Think we can do it?" - "Roger that. Casualties should remain at zero." - "Good."

The frame's glow suddenly fiercely ignites, its wings moving slightly further out, and the unit begins to rise above the ground once again as it begins to prepare.

"Shift to Vector Cannon Mode - Mark Two."

Duat announces. The Orbital Frame begins to reveal pieces of metal appearing out of nowhere - made from energy that is being dispersed and kept in check within pockets of compressed space. Connectors shift around and lock into place. The bit-wings shift even further outwards to give more room for the Vector Cannon equipment. A large barrel then purses from the torso of the unit whilst two rail-gun like sidings appear over the length of the cannon.

"Energy Lines Connected."

The crystalized mass behind the bitwings grows to such size that they now clearly look like /wings/. Stretching out far and wide from the unit, glowing red and yellow, as if they are /truly/ on fire. Embers fall to the ground, but set nothing on fire. Like ghostly red feathers. It's quite beautiful really.

"Gravity and Kinetic Energy Cancelers - engaged."

The cannon-tip begins to shine with a crimson light, purple lightning begins to crackle along the railgun as the unit engages its thrusters and flies straight up into the air - trying to line up the unit with the airspace before it, whilst the Schwarzwalt tries to keep the LFO busy. "Hurry up, Duat. I am sure they'll notice us soon enough." The area above the airspace being indicated by the targetting reticule starts to shrink, as his shot begins to line up. He needed a good balance between volume and energy dispersion.

"Inner Chamber Pressure Rising Normally."

A eightsome of circular plates suddenly appear right around the half-way point of the railgun beams and begin to circle around it, slowly speeding up and forming a red electric link like lightning constantly seeking earth - spreading this all throughout the long metalic beam towards the cannon as well as its end.

"Life Ring has started revolving."

The rings flare up quickly, much more so than normal, and within mere seconds, Duat is already notifying Ascian;

"!!! READY TO FIRE !!!"

If the LFO had not noticed the Amenthes whilst charging, it certainly would NOW! The entire thing is aglow with the power of Metatron. The red energy flows at a rapid pace through the bioluminescent veins of the unit.

Ascian shouts!

"TASTE THE POWER OF METATRON!!!"

And with that, the skies suddenly fill with a gigantic streak of red light, as space compresses - clouds are annihilated, and the airspace suddenly crackles with that crimson light which tries to bathe The Auditor's LFO in its destructive grasps.

Again with the missiles; the Orbital Frame manages to snipe one of the missiles heading for Big Duo, but the other, the bandaged pilot is left to take care of himself. Unfortunately he once again realizes that his machine is not half as agile as it should be for that to be easy. Oh, he tries; with his right hand, he pulls one of the two joypads as far back as it'll go, while the other, on the opposite rail, is pushed forward. The in-plane-form Big starts turning to the right, just not quickly enough. The missile slams into it, wrecking one of the two thrusters keeping the Big airborne and forcing the machine to compensate with the propellers. The Red Megadeus is now officially losing altitude very slowly, as opposed to flying gracefully and (considering its size) fairly quickly.

"How vexing!"

Coordinates beep onto his screen. He narrows his eyes.

"Is something wrong, Big Duo?" A brief wait, and then. "Of course. Of course! It all makes sense. What use have you for this trifle battle? In this world, all that matters is the truth. And I, in my zeal, have gone forward to fight a meaningless battle. Am I no better than that Negotiator? Than that Paradigm dog? That truth I have, it will not wait idly to be revealed. You lend your power only to me, for I have seen and know the truth! Then it makes sense that I must not halt for this."

The Megadeus' face doesn't chance, but in its ever blank expression, maybe its eyes light up with some form of understanding or acceptance all of a sudden.

Or maybe it's just the EYE LASERS that he is firing at The Auditor's custom Terminus again. Yeah. Definitely the eye lasers, actually.

Divada smiles as Takeshi gets out of the Amenthes line of fire and takes up a position near the Ark Hammer. Seeing that her fighters are doing much more than lighting the Arian's attacks, she opens a comm to them. "Knight squadron, take up a defensive position. Keep an eye on him, but don't fire. she seems to be able to handle herself for the time being." She then watches the Cockatrice and the Arias fight each other.....

"I'm /NOT/ a mercenary." Sinya replies, without missing a beat. There were plenty of trailers who didn't mind bloodying their hands for money, but this catgirl certainly isn't one of them. "I'm a mechanic you moron!" As Arius draws back his staff, there is a slight delay which make it all too easy for the plasma beams to hit the guymelef and send it spiraling backwards into the ground with a collosal smash of metal. It should be enough to knock most units completely out of commission, but somehow, Arius still manages to move.

"Copy." The girl mutters, spitting blood from her mouth as she winces, a bit of red trailing down her cheek as she pulls Arius upward, his joints creeking from bent metal. The motion just sounds unhealthy. "I wouldn't have even fought if you hadn't shot at me." She blinks, trying to clear her vision. Head trauma? Probably, the guymelef really wasn't great at keeping damage from soaking through to the pilot, and that amount of force is bound to cause some injuries.

As Arius rises up onto his feet, obviously in bad shape from the condition of his armor, it seems quite surprising that this Trailer doesn't just up and leave. With a click, the staff recoils into itself, folding down into a small cylinder which is held close inside the mechanical knight's fist. Using what strength she can muster, Sinya drives him forward. Arius's feet pound the ground as he closes in on the Cockatrice, lashing out with his closed fist in an attempt to jab the end of the staff into one of the weak points and then spear through it. That is, if the damaged guymelef doesn't fall over first.

James Heller watches as Rio goes down, the glitterboy lowers it's gun, it goes back into it's standby postion, the pylons pull out. Then he just turns away from the falling machine. There's others to take out and he opens up a radio channel.

"Come on, is this the best the EFA's two special forces unit's got?!"

The machiner moves out to seek another foe as he's got allies in trouble.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Okay... NOW we may need help..."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "Mister heller. Commit."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Duat claims, "Energy levels - low."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> James Heller transmits, "I'm on it."

Numbers.

The Auditor loves absolutes. Numbers are the only absolute.

The Auditor loves numbers.

The digits race through his mind half-formed but fully realised, tracing the future through the present. His eyes are entirely black now, and the darkness creeps outwards, spreading to the veins of his face. Corruption, yes... but the POWER.

A vector cannon is something The Auditor has dealt with before. It is one of the deadliest weapons in the Earth Sphere, and a successful strike from one could easily vaporise the LFO. The eye lasers, as he has already experienced, are powerful, but not as deadly. Prioritised.

Amenthes attack trajectory: upwards angle from ground, approximately 50.225 degrees, 6 o'clock low.

Big Duo attack trajectory: upwards angle from near ground, approximately 46.400 degrees (heigh differential), 10 o'clock low.

The possibilities bloom in his mind like a madman's garden. He can see each one in vivid green lines streaking across his field of view, some terminating in death, some in disability, some in financial distress, some in victory. Head lolling to one side, The Auditor chooses victory.

The LFO drops like a rock, transforming into a car as it hits the ground and driving straight towards Big Duo at the moment of attack. The twin assaults converge and explode in the sky, showering the battlefield with sparks and streamers of particoloured power. The Terminus drives between Big Duo's legs and The Auditor pulls up on the hand brake, deploying the boomerange blades on either side of the vehicle at the same time. Slice. The engine burns, tires squealing and tearing across the hard ground towards the Amenthes. Handbrake. Squeal. Slash. Vroom. Time to gain some distance.

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

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Schwarzwald transmits, "That pilot is becoming rather bothersome, if the merit goes solely to him and not his machine."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "This guy's good..."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> James Heller transmits, "Time to bag him and tag him."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "Hit 'im Heller."

"Disengaging Vector Cannon Mode." Duat claims at a deadpan tone. But then, what do you expect from the metalic-female voice in a box? The Orbital Frame suddenly begins to sink towards the ground, due to the sudden imbalance of energy. Ascian could tell just how low the Amenthes was when it came to this. It wasn't even needed for Duat to announce it, Amenthes already 'told' him.

The barrel, connectors, railgun, everything. They all suddenly solidify, then crack... and finally burst appart into a spectacle of red ember-feathers that fall to the ground. They twirl a bit on their way down, before disappearing into the ground. And that's when Ascian starts trying to get the Amenthes to pull back up. "Shit, he dodged! This guy's good!"

The unit tries to pull back up, but it is not in time. The LFO turned Car slices into the legs of the Orbital Frame, cutting through some of the Metatron crystals at its side. With the shock of the attack hitting, sparks flying and all of that, armor plating coming off to soften the damage on the Metatron inner skeleton, the unit finally manages to pull out of the attack and already is Ascian aiming rifle again.

"We got just enough energy for this." He mutters to himself, whilst tipping his head slightly to the right, so he can look straight into the vid-window that gives alignment towards the enemy unit. "A little bit more..." He whispers to himself, whilst the LFO unit tries to get away. "THERE!" Thinking he's got a clear shot, an arrow of red energy flies from the arm and jets straight for The Auditor's unit.

Cockatrice swings it's left arm up when the guymelef charges in, the flat portrusion on it blazing to life as a short laser blade coalesces. However fast he is, she's faster; the staff is deflected upwards and catches the upper edge of the hole in the Cockatrice, peeling back the armor and tearing off the 'nose' of the AC off. Sparks fly and lightning arcs across the wound, flashing as something or other burns out.

The left arm stops working quite visible, extended as the laser blade peters out. Boyle tugs on the controls and it simply doesn't work at all, completely refusing to respond to his commands. The Cockatrice steps backwards and sparks some more, some kind of locomotion taken offline. His sensors are all kinds of messed up; he thinks the relay in there got screwed, too.

"Shit," Boyle mutters. He moves his foot off a pedal and looks down at the wall, muttering to himself and then... *kick*.

Cockatrice moves once more. "It's aliiiiiiive!" Boyle crows with a manic cackle. The Armored Core steps back with lumbering movements, obviously on it's last legs. The guymelef in front of it is awfully persistant, and the battleship up there is... not launching more fighters, but just hanging around. Which is a problem.

Cockatrice takes a knee--sort of. It bends both legs down so it nearly touches the ground with it's torso. Boyle wrenches the left arm down with the right and uses them both as a stand, pointing the cannons upward at the guymelef and firing one more time with both of them.

The sky lights up for a second time as something along the lines of a DOOM CANNON is fired in the vicinity of the farms. The two beams of light are too bright to look directly at without hurting one's eyes, and even being in the vicinity scorches the Martian ground all around the Cockatrice. The plasma beams tear towards the guymelef and probably /through/ it, and then, the mech standing up, sweeps across the front of the Arc Hammer in the distance, completely uncaring of it's position in the sky or the fact that it was kind enough to stand still.

Kinder still if it went home, thinks Boyle.

Clang SCRAPE.

Metal is torn and sliced up as The Auditor's maneuver puts him right in position tear at both of the Big's legs. The heavy plates of armor are torn open like a can of foot, exposing various forms of circuitry, wires, but more importantly the exoskeleton of the beast. And then, the car takes some distance, preventing an immediate counterattack.

Fortunately, Big Duo has thrusters, and while it can't fly particularily fast, it can burn tons and tons and TONS of fuel for ungodly short bursts of speed.

The grounded plane, now obviously standing on its legs, flips its arms back the right way such that it now actually looks like a mecha, complete with the propellers no longer spinning, revealing four-fingered white hands. The thruster that makes up the majority of the left arm suddenly lights up, though, and Big Duo rockets toward the car-- steering to the side to avoid the Orbital Frame's shot-- and then attempts to crash its fist right into the car.

"I am reaching my limit, Ascian. If we cannot dispatch this foe now, we may have to withdraw. Big Duo is too important to lose on such a battlefield!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "NNNNNGH!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "Heller! KILL THAT ASSHOLE!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Remille Fortner tsks, "... I wish I could have been there to assist. Idiots, the lot of them."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "That fool... he just wasted the farm!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "Apparently this one guy is from mars, and he's trying to keep us from defending the farms. the hell kind of brainwashing are the A-laws doing to them?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite growls... "I should never have dragged that girl into this... this isn't fair..."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "Is the farm completely gone, Ascian?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Remille Fortner transmits, "They will pay for their transactions, I am sure."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> James Heller transmits, "Check on her I'm about to give Remmy's bro a repair bill"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "This farm is beyond use... the earth is scorched..."

Takeshi just stares down at the battlefield from above with an idle expression. Divada was watching too, but not in the same respect. Nothing quite like being here. The orbital frame misses, but at least he moved out of the way of the blast and seriously, what were they thinking. The point was to 'protect' the farms, even if they didn't manage to hit a farm, that kind of weapon is undoubtedly going to disrupt the ecosystem in some way.

There's a shake of his head as Divada places a special mark on the Trailer. "Hmm? Oh, I hadn't been paying attention. I see, you want that thing repaired? Guess she is kind of stuck in the middle."

And then that trailer is destroyed by... ship buster class weapons on a mech. Right, now he's seen everything. He turns around and flies towards the Ark Hammer. "Yeah, yeah. I already know."

The Tsubasa lands on the ship, docking pylons snapping in place and Takeshi comes out of the cockpit plug before riding the hand lift down to the floor and heading towards Engineer. It takes a few minutes, but when he's there, he takes his spot in the chief engineer's seat, apparently the guy never came back after Takeshi cracked his skull. "Okay, let's see." Screens come up around him as he assesses the damage. A link to the bridge is opened, "Well, managed to get her gutted right nicely didn't you? Atmosphere leaks on several levels - boys, activate the emergency plates on those levels - and it cut a whole right through some of your weapons. Let's see what else. Well, besides the wholes, internal fires and the fact that we're slowly venting atmosphere, I think we're doing just grand, but I'm going to have to stop us from leaking air before any of your armor gets repaired. That means you're stuck with the badly designed emergency plates, which I will one day reinforce."

He stands and brings up the plans of the ships as well as the locations of all of the leaks, "Okay, send Alpha team to leak 7, they're already half way there. Bravo team to leak 1. The rest of the leaks are thankfully easily covered up by the emergency plates. Close them and reinitialize the atmospheric readjustment procedures...Oh, I see it managed to fry the main terminal. That I can fix here." He walks over to the large machine and opens the service hatch before crawling into the tunnels that lead to all of the machines innards. Right back to the back, where the least light and oxygen exists. There, he has to reconnect couplings, divert power paths and generally do a lot of unpleasant things in unplesant conditions before crawling his way out and restarting the fans. Oxygen is go!

Work completed, he sits back down on his Big Floating Chair (TM) and looks at Divada, "Right, well, we can breathe now. How about you not get hit by the giant ship buster beam cannon next time? This is going to be a lot of repair work, cap'n. By the way, did I mention we can officially write me down on your crew list? Turns out the Alpha Numbers don't need me anymore. Funny that."

Divada, despite the shields and armor of the Ark Hammer, is blasted across the cockpit by Boyle's cannon blast. "Hull Breach in decks 4 through 7! Shielding has it sealed already, My Lady!" Divada gets up somewhat slowly as does the rest of her bridge crew. "Holy shit. This is what we get for just sitting idly by. How is the Leland girl?" "Her mech was in the blast my lady." Divada grumbles as she gets up. "Send out dropships to pick her up. Set up a Medical bed for her, and get as much of her mech as possible so we can repair it." She grumbles as she stands back up. "Miranda, make a note of that mech... and makes sure to blow the damned thing to hell the first chance we get. Get ready to pull back. Our objective failed." She groans as she leans on the rail. "I hope you A-laws are happy. All you're doing is starving mars because they're not following the federation like sheep." She then smiles at a voice on the comms array. "Thanks Takeshi. Keep up the good work, Chief engineer."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "Get ready to pull back. At this rate, they're going to glass Mars."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "I can't believe this... this is just rediculous..."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Remille Fortner transmits, "How much land was destroyed?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "The local farms were vaporized."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Remille Fortner transmits, "The people?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "The farms were evacuated whilst the battle was going on."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "BAHRAM cares for the people of this planet..."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "Nngh. I don't know, Remille. all I see is smoke."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "We had a trailer in the area, she was in the blast. The Ark hammer is recovering her at the moment."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Erika Keese transmits, "Typical Federation bullshit. Just throw more firepower at the problem to get the job done."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> James Heller transmits, "We feed this anynomously to legitmate news sources. Let the media Jackels rip into the A-laws."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> James Heller transmits, "And the alpha numbers as well."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Remille Fortner transmits, "I will see what strings I can pull to assist the families who have lost their homes."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "I think that the HBC would be quite willing to transmit such a story."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "I hope Shine hausen is proud of her beloved 'Federation'."

James Heller sees the hired repair girl going down, she'd been a trailer who hadn't given them shit at all he liked that. She'd also stood up against.

"Your a little bastard you sold your own out Boyle." The farms are gone, lot of people going to be going hungry. The Glitterboy still stands.

"There once was an order of silver knights who stood at the gates of hell when it opened upon the earth. They did not falter once - nor shall I!"

Boyle would get a warning as the Glitterboy assumes it's firing stance. Boyle would get a firing lock warning and then be picking up several sonic booms the tiny little power armor is challenging him.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "Sending dropships to pick up heller."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Mister Schwarzwald, retreat at your disgression. As you said, your Megadeus is of importance elsewhere. And I would not wish for it to fall, or be greatly damaged just for my sake."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Echidna Iisaki transmits, "Please note that no prospective recruit should be given any Crusaders radio data until approved by Colonel Mauser or a designated representative."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Talking about that Takeshi chap?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Echidna Iisaki transmits, "Unknown. I was referring to Captain Kirador's previous message."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "Yes. I am talking about Takeshi Odori. it seems, in attempting to save the people of Mars, he has been branded a traitor by the A-laws and Alpha Numbers."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "so he tells me anyways. I have no reason to believe he is lying."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Best to let it go through the red tape, miss Kirador."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Echidna Iisaki transmits, "Fortunately, it is not your position to make that decision; it is Colonel Mauser's."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "I understand, Miss Iisaki. However, I'm still marking him as part of the Seraphim Fleet. He has saved the Ark hammer on numerous Occasions, and vice versa...."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Echidna Iisaki transmits, "My name is not Miss Iisaki. W16 is acceptable."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Echidna Iisaki transmits, "He is still not an ally of the Crusaders until Colonel Mauser approves it."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Lemon Browning transmits, "W16 is correct in this case. We cannot trust someone who 'claims' and appears to assist our cause so easily. It is too great of a risk."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "Like I said, W16. I understand."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Gym Ghingnham grunts indeterminately.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> James Heller transmits, "Target locked Frightner do... *static*"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "He will not gain Crusader Radio access until he is cleared by Colonel Mauser."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Lemon Browning transmits, "As well he should not be placed into combat until he has been cleared by the Colonel."

The little green car bounces across the war-scarred terrain, trying to get as far away from Amenthes and Big Duo before they can retaliate. Each minute gradation of the wheel is precisely timed and calculated, and the car transforms into a robot at exactly the right moment, leaping upwards, throwing down the ref board, crashing onto it prone and riding it up along that glittering green track in the sky.

Ascian's precision shot scrapes along the bottom of the ref board during this maneuver, missing a fatal strike by mere centimeters, but throwing The Auditor's careful trajectory all out of whack. The board wobbles, then flips, crashing the LFO to the ground beneath it, grinding the machine along the ground, getting dirt in its exposed circuits.

The Auditor's breath rasps in and out of his inadequate body as he frantically recalculates, shoving the board away and rolling to the LFO's feet, jumping sharply to the left and pulling the board with it, trying to get back into the air. He wobbles precariously above the ground, then shoots off at speed mere milliseconds before Big Duo's fist slams into the ground.

Sweat courses down the Coordinator's back unheeded. That was close. Too close.

Time to get this done with.

The laser cannon swivels and begins firing, heating the barrel to the point where it's beginning to melt under the merciless barrage directed towards the two pursuing machines. Energy runs low.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "Deploying dropships for Mister Luddite...."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "It is fine to withdraw, Schwarzwald. Nothing more can be done here."

With the Amenthes already low on energy, it isn't unexpected for the enemy to manage to catch it in midair. Ascian is already distracted enough, thanks to a person who he'd dragged into this battle just having been on the receiving end of an initialized ship-buster attack. A few Narita units had been sent that way, but he has no way of telling if they had arrived in time, or even been capable of doing /anything/ for that matter.

What he did know was that suddenly the Amenthes' sensors go completely offline as a surge of energy flares throughout the Orbital Frame like a backlash. It requires him to actually look up in order to see what just happened. A large gaping hope had formed at the right side of the red frame, due to the laser blast that had swooped through the air and straight into the unit. Duat is barely online, trying to keep systems from overloading, and the Amenthes soon begins her descent. It is thanks to Divada's gunships however, that he gets caught before the unit finds itself on the ground, and is carried to the safe shelted that is the Ark Hammer.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "We have him Schwarzwald. Do you require a ride?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Schwarzwald transmits, "If there is room on the Ark Hammer, I will not say no."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "Our bays are open to all Crusaders, Schwarzwald. Just tell us your destination."

The dangerous blast of energy comes straight for Big Duo; but with a fortunate clutch-reaction, Schwarzwald manages to not only recover the machine from its jet punch, but flip back to flight mode and take off the ground in the same motion. The laser comes close enough of hitting to melt the paint off the legs of the Big, or at least what remains of it, but fortunately doesn't completely take them out.

Adjusting its angle, the Red Megadeus is back into its plane configuration, and soon enough withdraws to the Ark Hammer before it flies away.

"All Dropships are recovered, My Lady." "Very Good. Let us leave. I hope the Federation is pleased with their...'victory'." Divada says as she holds her side. "Helm. Take us out." She groans as she walks back to the captain's chair and flops into it. Meanwhile, the Ark Hammer flies out, leaving the 'defenders' to their spoils... such as they are.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Schwarzwald transmits, "I would say Paradigm, but with the Big Duo in such a state returning there would invite that meddling Negotiator's luck to find and destroy it. I will remain at whatever base you next dock into for a few days."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "You are welcome at the NUT facility."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> James Heller transmits, "Damn... Boyle's good..."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Remille Fortner transmits, "The Frighteners, are trained to be the best."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "We'll do our best to give you repairs, Schwarzwald..."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Just not mentally so?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Schwarzwald transmits, "Of course! And I, my services for whatever you next need an extra pair of wings for."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Remille Fortner transmits, "The Frighteners are a mercenary group, Ascian. They are part of the Ravens and thus, part of the Trailers."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Not entirely sure in what way that refutes my statement."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Schwarzwald transmits, "Boyle is that man who took out a large part of the area, correct?"

The Auditor zig-zags in a holding pattern over the damaged farm domes, scanning the skies-- and his minovsky-confused scanners-- for any further sign of resistance. Big Duo is propelling away. The Orbital Frame is making its escape. The Alpha Numbers double agent has left with Divada. His opposite number in Crusader employ is gone. His employers... also gone.

The Auditor's veins gradually return from black to blue, draining the taint back into the aether. Black eyes clear to grey. Pupils dilate back into existence.

The green and silver custom Terminus lands atop a dome, unfurls a green flag with a golden dollar sign on it, and jams it into a support strut.

"Inform the employer that the objective has been secured," he states, as if it were a matter of course.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Remille Fortner transmits, "I believe at current, Boyle holds a contract with the Earth Forces, just as I hold a contract with you Crusaders. We hold our contracts to high degree of excellence. If the Earth Forces gave him the orders to destroy this area, then by contract, he is bound to follow the employers request."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Schwarzwald transmits, "Yes. That is... not for Paradigm Press anymore."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Schwarzwald transmits, "Those dogs would not let me publish the truth. They tried to silence me."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "You are right. I forgot."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "A strange place, Paradigm City."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Remille Fortner transmits, "Just as you Crusaders sometimes ask me to attack Earth force locations. I do this without question."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Sorry, I just can't condone of assaulting a civilian area like this... they could have taken it over, or something. But to destroy it in stead?"

A power armor comes at him after the blinding shots. Cockatrice turns, twisting the cannons around--

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM

Boyle blinks a few times. His Armored Core appears to have disintegrated out from under him; it has no arms, one of the cannons is barely recognizeable, and it's legs are scattered all over the landscape. A huge blackened crater is all that's left of the land around him, pockmarked with smaller craters.

It 'stands' across from the Glitter Boy, frozen in place. Boyle can't even get the cockpit open. He can sort of see with his remaining monitor.

"Damn," he breathes. "Gotta get me one of those."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Remille Fortner transmits, "The Earth Forces do not make the wisest of calls. They are a blind and foolish group."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "That they are."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Remille Fortner transmits, "It is why I am thankful I am under contract to the Crusaders and /not/ to the earth forces. They probably wont even pay for half the cost of his repair bill."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Divada Kirador transmits, "It's a thankless job, I'll tell you that much."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Schwarzwald transmits, "Many jobs are thankless. People take services provided for granted, or those they do get they do not acknowledge."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "I don't do this to receive money, or thanks."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "I just want to protect my people."