2011-06-12 - Unfinished Business

Cosmo Aristocracy Civil Services Cosmo Babylonia (formerly Frontier IV) Side 5 Earlier..

"Admiral.." Reccoa Londe slowly begins raising her arms into the air. She's caught in the harsh halogen beam of the flashlight held in the hand of a Crossbone Vanguard guard. She sighs softly, the resignation of defeat. "..We have a bit of a problem."

The guardsman narrows his eyes and motions with his pistol.

Ensign Reccoa slowly begins making her way from around the desk she stood behind. On the monitor in front of her, a progress bar simply reads..

REMOTE CONNECTION YOU HAVE BEEN LOCKED OUT RETRY / QUIT ?

Outside Side 5 Now

Bright Noa is slammed hard against the confines of his captain's chair. Behind him, a fuse blows in a brilliant cascade of sparks. "..nngh! Damage report!" the Admiral barks out over the shrill cry of a warning klaxon.

"Decks two and six are depressurizing! Hull integrity down to seventy-six percent!" Ron Keith, the Argama's operations officer, reports the grim news. "We've also got an electrical fire near the kitchen!"

The Admiral furrows his thick brows, a sense of frustration riding up his spine. "We need more time to enable Fa to get to Reccoa! Deploy damage teams to get that fire out! And activate emergency hull-sealants to repressurize those affected decks!"

He glances over the thickly-padded shoulder of his normal suit, squinting slightly to glimpse the data rolling over Caesar's tactical station. "..launch Heero and Macua to help support Camille and Staren! And tell Astonaige to get Granteed onto the launch cata--"

An explosion goes off just outside, cutting Bright off. He's rocked once again in his chair, his belt the only thing keeping him from being dislodged. "--what's going on out there!?"

"The colony's deploying Zamouth Nada-class Destroyers to support the Den'an Zon squadrons! We're getting hammered!" Caesar cries out. "Barrage has decreased to forty-seven percent efficiency!"

"What the hell are our gunners doing!?" Bright cusses up a streak. "Tell them to get their heads out of their ass and increase the barrage! If they keep shooting like this, we're not going to have a ship left for Reccoa to return to!"

"Captain!!" Saman's eyes are as wide as dinner-plates. A series of blips, just barely on the periphery of the Argama's advanced sensor suite, catches his attention. "..there's an A-LAWS patrol nearby! Contact's reading the Altairlion -- I think it's Lieutenant Ibis's squad!"

Bright Noa is a man with increasingly fleeting time. He has no choice. "Contact Ibis!" he commands with a sweep of his suited arm. "Tell her we need immediate assistance and any help will be greatly appreciated!"

COSMO BABYLONIA (FORMERLY FRONTIER IV) SIDE 5 RIGHT THE HELL NOW

"The intruders attempted to penetrate the colony," one of the random soldiers begins as Iron Mask walks through the halls of the Zamouth Garr flagship, the great triangular ship itself already pulling forth from the colony's bay. "However, we detected them in the nick of time; their hacking attempt was overturned, and we've launched our Den'an Zon squads to contain their invasion."

"Very good," Iron Mask replies. He was unconcerned; this was something they had planned for. Did whoever was invading them think that the home of the Ronah Family was so undefended, even after making such a grandiose announcement, as to let them enter without a fight? Preposterous. "Who are our aggressors?"

"Believed to be Katharon, sir."

"I see," Iron Mask replies. "Put out word to the Divine Crusaders - give them coordinates and a distress call, but nothing more. We don't want to appear weak before our new allies."

"Prepare my Den'an Zon. The thousand year dream of the Ronah family shall not be denied by these meddlers."

EVEN MORE RIGHT THE HELL NOW

The white Den'an Zon Kai launches from the Zamouth Garr almost immediately; the massive beamflagpole it carries erupts into the symbol of the Crossbone Vanguard, the sword-and-bones-over-a-shield that has become the representation of Cosmo Babylonia itself. In the cockpit, Iron Mask relaxes, allowing his massive, unnaturally-ordered Newtype Pressure to sweep across the battlefield.

"Come...let me see your best, Katharon operatives. I would teach you the truth of the Cosmo Aristocracy with my own hands," Iron Mask says to himself as he guides the Den'an Zon Kai towards the conflict.

"Sir, there's a problem," Caesar calls out in response to one of Bright's orders. "There's no additional mobile suits to deploy!"

Heero Yuy looks up, lips pressed firm as he fixes his space helmet, which he is wearing for once. He tallies a tick under 'HEERO YUY Vs. JIRON AMOS ABUSE YOUR FACE COMPETITION'. For once, he wasn't going to go see if his face could resist the pressures of outer space and not implode.

Although it totally could.

"I'm launching," the youth coldly states as he chases himself up a ladder and hops into one of the random errant transit planes. Let's say the Temptation, which might or might not double as Bright Noa's own pleasure cruise (why else would, exactly, it be called the Temptation).

"H-hey! What are you doing, you assho--" Astoniage cries out, but is cut short as the craft -- a mid-range shuttle for use between colonies and for ascent into orbit -- which in no way is even rated for battle blasts forth, completely unarmed, into the heat of battle.

"Captain!! Heero Yuy has deployed in the, uh... your Temptation, sir!!" comes the panicked report from the MS deck.

Side 5 was mostly a graveyard save the handful of colonies that surived out this way. The announcment the CB made only confirmed her fears about the group after having seen them in action at the PLANTS. Then it leaves us where we are now. Side Five at one of those remaining colonies. that's when things get bad she gets the order to launch to support Camille and that's what she's going to do. Morganrote wanted more data and Macua Huitl was happy to provide given everything it's CEO had done for her. HEr machine is moved to the launch catapult and a moment later the form of Brazil's G fighter launches into the void to back up the creastor and designer of the Zeta Gundam. She's still got athe feeling in the pit oif her stomach. thereis something she doesn't like about this situation.

"Heero, heads up watch for their command mech he's a monster...in a fight." He'd likely push Master folka hard if not give him an flat out fight only people like Fernado could give her alien martial arts teacher.

FOURTH-GENERATION SPACE BATTLESHIP EXELION AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION SOMEWHERE IN SPACE NOT AT ALL A LONG TIME AGO

In a surreptiously blue corridor somewhere nestled within the depths of the biggest battleship in the fleet that is also Totally Not A Star Destroyer, a very particular red-haired woman is breaking most of the rules of Fraternity Unit by continuing to wear the bulky green overcoat of the A-LAWS traditional uniform instead of the hyper-leotard she's /supposed/ to be dolled up in. Oh, and she's also leaning against the wall conspiratorially, inbetween two giant red cabinets that probably hold fire hoses or extinguishers or secret coke stashes. One hand is raised to the back of her ear, signifying that it's CODEC TIME

Two animated portraits of Ibis Douglas and Bright Noa are centred in the middle of a black screen, drawn strikingly in nothing but hues of ghostly green with highly stylized features in paintbrush-strokes of black. A luminous readout above their head informs... informs /someone/ that this is in fact

<>FREQUENCY 140.85<>

<>IbisDgl<> Cosmo Babylonia?! Admiral, what's all this really about!? <>BrigNoa<>. . . <>IbisDgl<> First the Balmarians, then Neo-Zeon, and now this...? Tch! It's just one move after another... Admiral, I'm contacting a specialist. She'll be able to help us with this investigation.

A third luminous green outline springs open beneath the Bright and Ibis portraits. It depicts, however, a gigantic blob of hair attached to a woman asleep on a desk, mouth open and possibly bigger than you are. She is maybe drooling.

<>AkiSait<> Zzzzz... srnnnk--mmmng.... zzzz...

The Ibis portrait animates in two frames to holding her face in both hands.

The screen fades.

SIDE 5, A HELL OF A PLACE IN SPACE RIGHT NOW

The silver, blade-like form of the Altairlion in cruise configuration scythes through space like a scything bladey knife space bladescytheknife, zig-zagging inbetween conspicuiously placed chunks of space debris in a glowing trail of engine light that is only there in cutscenes because they blew the animation budget on this game twelve times over on the lead heroine's hair, fuck them in their eyes for it.

In the pilor's seat, Rising Star of All Humanity and Probably A Real Nice Lady Ibis Douglas is holding down the magical video-radio button and talking to the rest of her squadron, even if it's only one pilot, and accelerating perhaps a little bit too much for someone supposedly just on patrol. "Contacts at two-ten. Looks like our intel paid off! Engage Cosmo Babylonian forces, but hands off the AEUG." she quips, which is completely bullshit because there is no intel but whatever just roll with it, grab the cash and run.

Ibis' copilot, one Tsugumi Takakura of Project Terrestrial Dream, is currently gripping her own seat with white-knuckled terror, because she remembers the /last time/ she followed this berserker woman into combat. Whatever happened to the meek, mild-mannered Ibis Douglas of years gone past. . .?

The Altairlion cuts towards the giant, emerging space-scrap and accelerates further to combat speed! Missiles disgorge from beneath the space superiority fighter and streak into the distance, smashing Cosmo Babylonian mooks on the verge of putting heat hawks through the Argama's windows. The enemy mobile suits pop into ever-expanding clouds of SPACE DUST.

A communications channel opens to the Argama, showing one plucky vigilante space-cop.

"Douglas to Argama, heard you needed a hand. I'll keep them off your back as best I can, but watch for their capital ships! If their leader is here, we're in trouble!"

Space The Final Frontier

With the discovery of Alina - Ascian's long lost sister - as a former Katharonian pilot, a few within the Divine Crusaders had decided that they wanted to force one final test upon the girl. And that was to seek out the Argama and engage its pilots. After all, her loyalties had to be tested, Ascian's sister or not. So, with his sister under his wing - or rather, his squad to be more precise - the Lieutenant finds himself within a Peregrine class battleship, the Misty Dream, on the search for the Argama.

Luck dictated that the Argama was foolish enough to get too close to Cosmo Babylonia. A call immediately is put through DC frequencies to colony. "This is the DCSF Misty Dream. We received your distress call, and are en route to assist." It doesn't take long for the large white ship to reach the location, actually having been fairly nearby, and to begin deploying its squads of mobile suits.

Amongst these mobile suits, one of them was a twosome of Xeku Eins. And that's where the pair of brother and sister come in. With their Orbital Frames heavily damaged in recent conflict, they were forced to fall back on more 'primitive' earthen technology. And of the two of them, Ascian was probably the least happy with having to pilot one of these 'flying deathtraps'. Sure, it wasn't a Valkyrie, something he complained about that it only went /forward/, but it was still pretty bad.

Within moments, the small squad of Gyans and the pair of Xekus have made their way into the main battle, and are rocketing through the troops, firing in a rather organized fashion as Ascian holds command and guides the troops to the most vulnerable targets.

Only a few days ago, the girl known as 'Lin' would have been on the opposite side of this war. The fact is, things can change, and quickly. Alina Luddite may be the same person who was once held captive on The Argama - the same pilot who fought to defend it in any machine she had been allowed to fly, but there is one thing that is very, very different: Alina Luddite is a Crusader. A Crusader who has the dubious honor of trying to prove herself against people she once considered friends. At the very least, there isn't a single soul in Katharon that even knows the white-haired framerunner survived the attack on the Greenland Facility, and the unusual properties of her mind - and it's ability to hinder newtypes - is keeping it that way.

With Mayet still quite damaged, Alina had been placed into the only unit available at the time, a stolen Xeku. At the very least, it isn't actually that different in controls from the Mobile Suits that she'd trained on during her time in Katharon. She had already been prepared for combat, suited up and ready - with every intention of trying to pick off one of the Argama's patrols, but the distress call that goes out seems an even better opportunity. On the secure channel, she clicks on the radio, making her first transmission as a full agent of the Crusade. "This is Mistwalker, we copy the distress call and are en-route." There is a glance out of the Xeko's cockpit, looking at the twin unit standing at her side. It is fitting that their first battle out would be in nearly identical units.

Click-click. The sound of a rifle cocking sounds off inside the hangar. A few moments later, both have launched into the fray. "Fly safe, little brother." Alina mumrurs into her headset, the last sign of the kind girl gone as her face settles into a cold mask. Icy blue eyes stare forward as she prepares herself for the battle to come.

How the hell did they get into this situation? Touya doesn't know (he probably missed the briefing), but when space pirates start attacking your ship, you don't just stand there and take it. So he got his normal suit and dragged one of the girls with him down to the hangar, practically flying into the Granteed's cockpit.

"Touya Shun, preparing to launch in Granteed with...uh...Katia!" the teen transmits to the bridge, flipping switches and pressing buttons and all that stuff you do to turn on a super robot as quickly as humanly possible. The mech nearly falls over as the ship is rocked by an explosion, as ships often do in the battlefield, but he manages to get it upright without damaging anything.

"Touya, we can go any time." Katia informs him. He nods and steps onto the catapult, launching soon afterward. And of course, there are Den'an Zons and Zamouth whatevers everywhere, many of them piloted by mooks. Time to get stabbing.

 Captain Bright Noa transmits, "--what!? The Temptation? Who fixed th-- Heero!?"

 Heero Yuy transmits, "I'll run interference, Captain... it's the least I can do right now."

 Macua Huitl transmits, "Heero, don't die."

 Heero Yuy transmits, "Relax. I've taken down mobile suits in an ambulance before."

 Staren Wiremu transmits, "What? No, at least take my Astray! ...Wait, an ambulance? Really?"

 Heero Yuy transmits, "...yeah. You were there, Staren. You gave me a lift in your Star Hawk afterwards."

 Staren Wiremu transmits, "Oh yeah! Man, that was an interesting day!"

 Kiet Sagat transmits, "Sounds like you guys need a bit of help. Would that be the lot of you over Side 5?"

 Captain Bright Noa transmits, "Interference!? You're going to get yourself ki-- nngh, fine."

 Ibis Douglas warbles into the frequency unsteadily from a personal communicator. It tunes in better as she goes. "I'll protect him with my life, Captain." WOAH DRAMATIC

"U-uggggh, this is a terrible idea," moans Aki into her comms system. She's tired, muzzy and kind of cheesed off, woken from what was a lovely nap on her desk to be dragged out of her chair, then out of her room, then out down the corridor in an ever-increasing amount of urgency. Now she sits in the cockpit of the Brynhildr, practically thrown into it and still trying to get to grips with the fact that not only is she suddenly behind the console of her machine, but she is behind the console of her machine while also accompanied with a copilot who, though she might know very well, she is not entirely used to having in a combat situation.

She thumbs her comms, then frowns, then starts moping and moaning anyways, Nia sitting behind her or no Nia sitting behind her. "What's with an emergency patrol this late, Ibis? Heck, what's with an 'emergency patrol' anyway, they ain't very emergency if they're standard patrols! And what's with telling me to bring Nia along - she's not even a soldier! I'm s'posed to be off duty an' taking her-- ... places!" She glances back over her shoulder, a silent question as to whether /she/ has any idea what they're doing rocketing off to the middle of nowhere on no notice, but it's not like Nia will have any answers for her.

Besides, she's distracted by the beep of the radar on her console. And then another beep, and another, and holy shit that is a whole lot of enemy contacts and not a whole lot of IFF friendles.

"I-Ibis! What th'hell are we gonna do against--"

Aki Saitani openly gapes in disbelief as, rather than turning tail to get out of there at full speed, like you might expect of anyone with the slightest lick of common sense, the Altairlion instead rockets towards them. Apparently we are going to crash head on into them and join the fight, hoo-rah. "Oh my god are you serious," mutters the pilot in a rare case of bafflement, then she shakes her head clear of any doubts.

"... er... well... hold on?" Aki mentions back towards her passenger as she jets her own engines up to high speeds and follows the craft in.

 Alina Luddite transmits, "Someone we should be wary of?"

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "Careful of the dual-Tesla unit. (...) That one. *sends image of the Brynhildr* And while you are at it, careful of the Altairlion. Both of them /will/ outrun these Xekus, and probably out-damage them. The pilot of the first is highly aggressive, and the second is an extremely skilled jet-pilot."

Kiet Sagat, Gundam Fighter of Neo-Thailand, was an ally of Katharon. Whether it was known or not remains to be seen, but currently the Gundam Fighter was using the remodelled and updated Garuda Gundam to fly through space. The egg shape of the carrier form houses the Gundam itself as he looks at the view screen.

"Kiet Sagat... Garuda Gundam to Katharon. Launching to assist."

The carrier folds back as it reshapes itself into a pair of wings on the Gundam before said Gundam activates it's boosters and goes into flight towards the battle. One or two units causes him to whistle a bit in the mobile trace system as he plows through some enemy units on the way in by just literally kicking straight through them. "C'mon, let's see what you can do!" Flying forward again, the red and white coloring of the Gundam is hard to miss as it aims at the red shirt grunts on it's way to find something possibly a bit more of a challenge and assist it's allies.

 Kiet Sagat transmits, "So... Bright, where do you folks need me at the most? These small fry are fun and all, but I'd love to test out if the science geeks back in Thailand told me right an they upgraded Garuda's reactions a bit."

 Staren Wiremu transmits, "This is a _real battle_! The small fry are dangerous when there's an _army of them_!"

 Staren Wiremu transmits, "Also good to have you back!"

 Macua Huitl transmits, "You should be concerned I seen their regular forces fight."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Macua Huitl transmits, "they are not gundam fighters but are well trained and know how to work well in combat teams."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Captain Bright Noa transmits, "I need you 'stopping the things shooting at the Argama,' Ensign Kiet. Open your damn eyes and start shooting!"

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Macua Huitl transmits, "Already on it."

SIDE 5 MOMENTS AGO

"Look, all I need is a couple of power converters for an RF Gelgoog. I've got the specifics right here--" Samuel practically waves a datapad in front of the old mechanic's face when he's interrupted.

"No, kid, /you/ look," the grey haired man says, jabbing a finger in the younger man's chest. "Those are reserved for the Mars Zeon guys that come in here, and I'm not just gonna sell 'em to a whippersnapper who probably wouldn't know what to /do/ with 'em! Now, if you don't mind--"

"Doesn't know what to--where do you get off--!!" ALARM!!

Sam glances up at the flashing red claxons and just kind of sighs.

OUTSIDE SIDE 5 NOW

An unusual mobile suit deploys with the defense force, leaving the hangar it was berthed in at cruising speed. The machine, normally dark blue with red shoulder guards, has been repainted steel grey and changed the red for bronze. The EXAM Efreet has had some modifications done to it on top of the already-customized body; Sam /would/ have pointed them out to the old man to get the parts he needed to finish his personal project, but apparently it doesn't matter enough.

He sighs, suppressing his urge to grumble and thumbing the radio. "This is Flynn, in the Efreet; what're we looking at?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Samuel Flynn, annoyed, "This is Flynn, in the Efreet; what're we looking at?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Samuel Flynn transmits, "Yeah, likewise."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "We've got some Katharon and A-LAWS inbound on Babylon here."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Samuel Flynn transmits, "Alright, nothing new there."

Nothing about Cosmo Babylonia seemed right to Camille Bidan. Though he himself had been only a child when the One Year War pushed the Earth Sphere to brink of discussion, the furious oration Giren Zabi had infamously delivered at his younger brother's funeral still resonated in the Newtype's mind to this day, just as it had for many people.

The speech delivered by the spaceborne aristocratice movement's leader days ago had reminded Camille far, far too much of Giren's Zeal. It was happening all over again, with the dead of the last war given only seven years to rest! Why, why did it keep /happening/?!

The Zeta Gundam had launched moments ago, cruising relatively silently in it's waverider form aside the Starhawk while the Argama's premier pilot tried to calm his nerves with other, more pressing things to worry about. Like Reccoa being surrounded by enemy guard, or Fa rushing into that same viper's nest to help her. His actions here would have nothing to do with their fates, and the young boy from Green Noa 2 hated that more than anything else, the sense of powerlessness that could strike even behind the controls of a goddamn giant robot. But then the enemy heads out meet the, and Camille's hands grew tight on the flight sticks. It was time to be a soldier.

"Staren, attack on my move. The same formation we've practice, alright?" A vidscreen with Camille's face popped up on Staren's HUD, flashing a thumbs up signal, "Neither of us are ending our stories here today, right?!"

In a flash, the waverider breaks into formation, smashing through the tight, but straggling line of Den'an Zon as it transformed and let loose, the Hyper Mega Launcher's beam bayonet threshing space alloy, syntehtic muscle fibers and minute portions of human meat like a scythe across so many fields of what. Cries of 'Gundam!' and 'White Devil!' scattered across the enemy's communications before several units all but exploded at once, leaving the Zeta Gundam dark silhouette withing the purplish flames that marked the end of human lives.

For Camille, it was a grudgingly cathartic experience. Even as a Newtype, it almost felt /good/ to be killing space fascists again. And he hated that.

The wave of unknown newtype amplitude and potential struck his mind moments before the Zeta's HUD registered the lead white unit, bearing a plasma-powered banner of the enemy's forces. Although Camille couldn't see inside the suit itself, what he felt from the pilot paid an all-too clear picture in his mind. The force, the strength, that /pressure/...

It was far, far too similar.

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Kiet Sagat transmits, "Bah, bite me, Bright. I don't exactly have the utterly best sensor system. I'm a Gundam Fighter, not a freakin' Gundam Scout."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Captain Bright Noa transmits, "I don't care -who- you are. You either defend my ship or you find yourself a goddamn taxi and get the hell out of my sight."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Kiet Sagat transmits, "Got it, old man."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Staren Wiremu transmits, "On the battlefield, you're a soldier! ...God, did I really just say that??"

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Heero Yuy transmits, "...I'm proud, Staren."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Kiet Sagat transmits, "Yep. Bright's rubbing off on you, ain't he?"

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Duo Maxwell transmits, "I dunno what you've been doin' lately, Staren, but it's a real improvement!"

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Staren Wiremu transmits, "I guess... The seriousness of everything got to me. Now, I need to focus on the fight!"

Having been picked up from one Aki Saitani's living quarters/house, Nia is dressed in only the finest of outfits that have been cleared for the princess. That is to say she is dressed in triple p's, pink poofy princess dress!

But maybe that's the wierdest part of this situation to her, or others! "It is important that they are okay, Aki." The princess claims, oddly serious. "And you will be able to take me where-ever you wish, later!" The princess exclaims, strapped to the chair, but still pulling herself to look over Aki's chair!

"And I would have asked to come, anyways!" She claims, giggling. Aki wouldn't get rid of her easily at all!

As there are many beeps, Nia looks over Aki's other shoulder, at the massive red signals. "It must be very warm out there... but I had thought space was cold." The princess aptly notes to Aki as makes a real observation over the situation. "Ah, I am sure she is quite serious." The princess adds her two cents, cheerful despite the situation. "And I am currently holding o-"

The princess is suddenly grasped by the acceleration, thrown against her chair as Nia is surprised! Shocked for a moment, she laughs! "Ahahah, I had not expected that!"

She's far less plussed than Aki is for taking her into such a dangerous situation!

Having been picked up from one Aki Saitani's living quarters/house, Nia is dressed in only the finest of outfits that have been cleared for the princess. That is to say she is dressed in triple p's, pink poofy princess dress!

But maybe that's the wierdest part of this situation to her, or others! "It is important that they are okay, Aki." The princess claims, oddly serious. "And you will be able to take me where-ever you wish, later!" The princess exclaims, strapped to the chair, but still pulling herself to look over Aki's chair!

"And I would have asked to come, anyways!" She claims, giggling. Aki wouldn't get rid of her easily at all!

As there are many beeps, Nia looks over Aki's other shoulder, at the massive red signals. "It must be very warm out there... but I had thought space was cold." The princess aptly notes to Aki as makes a real observation over the situation. "Ah, I am sure she is quite serious." The princess adds her two cents, cheerful despite the situation. "And I am currently holding o-"

The princess is suddenly grasped by the acceleration, thrown against her chair as Nia is surprised! Shocked for a moment, she laughs! "Ahahah, I had not expected that!"

She's far less plussed than Aki is for taking her into such a dangerous situation!

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Macua Huitl makes an unhappy noise. "That pressure, machine....he's here...

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Touya Shun transmits, "There are a lot of these things here. Did they all come from that colony?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> James Heller transmits, "You get used to it and Yo flynn. Katharon has a machine we need to jack or get the specs to. Some sort of super zeta gundam."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Samuel Flynn transmits, "I'll keep an eye open."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Alina Luddite transmits, "Super Zeta Gundam?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "You mean the Amazon CI?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "No, that's not... a Zeta - is it?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Alina Luddite transmits, "Do you mean the big red one?"

Ibis' eyes narrow as she effortlessly sails past an enemy Den'an Zon lining up for a shot on the Argama and bisects it in two with a slash of the Altairlion's questionably-named sonic sabers, which let's be real are just beam sabers but they're trying to avoid copyright infringement from whoever holds the rights to I-Field technology. Yet another life snuffs out, making Ibis a huge hypocrite about war and death and all of those things in general.

"Is that... Nia's voice?" she asks of Aki across the radio, pulling her craft into a tight circle as it twists back into the form of a crazily-futuristic fighter jet and performs a quick barrel roll, which somehow causes a barrage of particle beam blasts to go wide. Action movie logic. "Aki, listen up! Go for the HQ units and command staff! If you see a mobile suit with a beam flag, shred it! Hit the destroyers if you can, and /trust me/!"

The Altairlion plunges headlong into the fight once more, accelerating to full combat speed. Mooks no longer have a chance at even /seeing/ the attacks coming. Cosmo Babylonian forces come under heavy missile assault as the Armored Module is plunged into the heart of the assault like a SPACE DAGGER. A SPACE DAGGER that fires MISSILES, drawing as much heat away from the Argama as it can!

Ibis grins in a terrifying manner. "I'm /back/~" she intones to herself, melodiously, as she hammers on the firing button.

EARLIER

Cosmo Babylonia slipped under Staren's radar. While he's been studying under Dr. Hell, he hasn't really been paying attention to world affairs...

So when, after Bright declares that something must be done and Staren watches the footage, he slaps his forehead. "You gotta be kidding me! How do people keep falling for this? Why... why can't getting people to support you ever be that easy for the _good_ guys? Gnnnghrrghhh..." He suddenly wonders if a young Dr. Hell felt this way before he turned evil.

"Roger that, Camille!" The Star Hawk, battered from the battle, transforms, and in fighter mode takes off in formation with the Zeta's waverider, engine trails forming a sort of wobbling, twisting double helix as the Star Hawk's firepower chews Den'an Zon to pieces before flying through the wreckage.

He can't afford to be soft on them, avoid killing, there are too many, too many...

He'll save that many lives one day... In fact, when you think about it, he's going to save so many lives, it wouldn't matter how many he killed... No! He won't let himself think like that!

The Star Hawk returns to humanoid mode as Staren sights the lead unit. He feels no pressure, but he wonders just how skilled the man or woman that commands this army could be... Will the Star Hawk be able to outfight him, in its battered state?

Staren spots something out of the corner of his sensors (his brain is wirelessly connected to the Star Hawk), and he smirks as he sights an asteroid that his sensors recognize. "Ah. Just what I needed." The Star Hawk flies as if to take cover from the asteroid, then whips out an armblade and


 * POP*!

The asteroid-balloon's material drifts away in shreds, revealing: The Assault Armor Parts. The Star Hawk flies into them and they clamp around it into place, covering battered armor with fresh thick ceramic and steel, sliding shiny new weapons into place to accompany old.

The Star Hawk Assault Armor hefts its giga launcher, and the GN-Ti Drive on its back begins spraying blue sparkles.

"I _love_ this powerup!"

A series of khaki-colored Den'an Zons scatter from their attack-formations the moment several more Mobile Suits rocket out of the Argama's twin hangars.

">Gundam Fighters<," the lead pilot, in her command-spike decorated Den'an clicks over the shortwave radio. ">Space is no place for them!<"

Verniers blast bright blue cones of Minovsky propellant from their backpacks, enabling them to charge the assortment of Gundam Fighters. Their left-arms outstretched, dual-barreled beam-guns attached to a turret sliding forward with muzzles extending. The weaponsfire is fast and brief, screechy lances of condensed beampower.

">Some guy's runnin' interference in a shuttle..!<" Razor-3 of the Den'an Zon Squadron calls out as it breaks away from the group. ">I'll take it out!<"

A lone Den'an charges for Temptation Repair, a length of beamsaber held in its mechanical hands.. !!

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Staren Wiremu transmits, "Asteroid deployment of the armor parts worked like a charm, Admiral!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki transmits, "It's Ibis, she's hardly a threa-OOoooh...she's going after. Well, watch out, she's stupidly fast. That's about it."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "She's actually gotten better."

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

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Or rather, she's gotten over her depressed slump since she got the new Altairlion."

The brunette youth narrows his eyes as a lone Den'an chases up to him, the beam saber held aloft. What could Heero do in a shuttle like this? Not a lot, in terms of combat, however...!

He banks a hard turn, the beam saber grazing against nonexistent armor and, were there passengers, possibly making the comfortable cozy flight of Passenger 37A and B irradiated with condensed minovsky particles or whatever passes for beam saber technology these days.

The youth then hits the brake to just sort of shove the Den'an's head into the machine's rocket thrusters, before /really/ hitting the gas to coke him up in his afterburners.

What Heero is really doing, however, is keeping an eye on his long-range radar... perhaps for surveillance, of threats. Right?

Hmmm?

Macua is spared all of a passing thought - the Newtype's strength was notable, indeed, but she was steering far clear of him. Not like that Zeta Gundam sweeping closer and closer; that Zeta Gundam is...

Iron Mask's mind is suddenly just smashed in the metaphorical brainface by Camille Bidan's overwhelming power and proximity. The Cyber-Newtype is nearly knocked from his calm and ordered thoughts; there is a brief flash of absolute anger beneath the ordered gears of his mindscape, of an anger deeper and more primal than most humans have the capacity to feel, before it's lost amidst the orderly silence of the machine. Camille's power is too impressive for him to ignore; Iron Mask guides his machine towards Camille's, the Den'an Zon Kai coasting forward towards his foe in order to bring him coser to that presence. He had to be sure...was this one of Katharon's best? Was this one of the strongest Newtypes?

He was positively itching to test his own strength against them.

MEANWHILE ON THE ARGAMA'S COMM

The comm officer would be receiving some beeps about endangering the colony's citizens and to please pull away, and the Den'an Zons would cease fire; that the Ronah family were not tyrants and had no intention of becoming such, and that treating them like such when Katharon is already embroiled in a four-way war might be silly.

BACK IN THE DE'NAN ZON KAI

Iron Mask clears his mind. He is a sea of calm once more as his fingers wrap about the controls of the white Den'an Zon; he streaks towards his foe with purpose. No blade drawn yet; Iron Mask would test him in a more...subtle way first.

Subtle, meaning the Newtype-Use Super Zeta Gundam is about to get punched in the face by the Den'an Zon Kai's free hand.

A Den'an Zon finds itself getting impaled on the Granteed's claws, politely waiting long enough for the super robot to get away before exploding. Touya's pretty adept at the whole mook stabbing thing, if he does say so himself, but it seems someone a little less mooky wants a piece of that action. "Touya, look out!" Katia warns him, and he hits the thrusters before the thought even enters his conscious mind, a laser flashing by where the Granteed was just a moment ago. "Thanks, Katia. I guess we have a new target now, huh?" Touya says, turning to face the Qareen. Robot smashy time is go.

Bringing himself up short as he sees the incoming shots, Kiet does a quick movement to the side as he fires back with the head vulcans. Responding over the short wave radio, Kiet gives a bit of a snarky comment, ">C'mon... you guys are using those pitiful weapons against a top notch Gundam? What are you? A bunch of pansies?<"

Flying forward as fast as the wing boosters on his Gundam can take him, the Garuda Gundam brings an arm back as the forearm is briefly encompassed in a beam sheath. Said effect is obviously not going to be nice to said mechs if it hits.

Afterwards, he cuts the beam weapons as he looks around. ">Sure is a lot of you... so who's first? I got all day to be doing this.<" He gives a laugh over the radio as he looks around at the various machines, the head of the Gundam turning as well.

Sam has compunctions about killing people who aren't trying to kill him first. They're pretty strong ones, actually; he doesn't like "removing" problems that crop up, and he doesn't like casualties as a result of collateral damage. But if someone's coming at him in, say, a robot covered in parts dubbed 'Assault Armor'?

Oh you'd better believe he'll fight like he means it.

The Efreet screams in alarm as a custom-built variable fighter ("Shouldn't do that," Sam mutters to himself, silencing the voices) approaches, grabbing a bundle of parts and broadcasting a Katharon IFF. The Efreet flips upside-down, not that it matters much in space, and 'descends,' putting some 'vertical' distance between itself and the Star Hawk... because it's closing the other kind quick.

Missiles erupt from the launchers on the leg. The pilot doesn't bother broadcasting a witty reparte; he just kind of fires and breaks off, apparently not willing to stay engaged for long against /that/.

Suriel pauses at the sight of...

BLADE DRAGOON!

Idly, he wonders when it will send a giant airship crashing into a heavily populated city.

The pike of the Qareen spins, as he points his free hand towards the large Super Robot. Without warning, a ball of energy shoots out, much like a shotgun, aiming to smash the larger unit before the Qareen started flying rapidly away, the pilot's eyes narrowing as it tried to figure out if this was a proper super robot, or one of those crazy fast ones. Or if the pilot was just simply in the wrong unit.

"Huh. So what's you're deal? Wana stop the destruction of this ship? Gona fight for love and justice? Going to show me the error's of my way?" the mockery in his tone gets stronger, "Nah, you're going to die like a bitch."

Aki plunges straight through a Den'an Zon almost on autopilot, neatly bisecting it with her spear then ejecting a fuel cartridge from the side of it as, with a ker-chunk noise that is absolutely audible in space, the head of the spear ignites in a shearing plasma wing of flame. It's almost on autopilot because apparently she's decided that the best initial course of action is to straight-up stare at her radio again for some time - because what else can you even say, when faced with a 'trust me' from the Hero of the Federation, even if she does happen to be leaping straight into a three-way firefight as she does it?

"W-well, of course it's Nia's voice! Like I said, I was /s'posed/ to be taking her out! --she's gone nuts," she intones solemnly to Nia as Ibis breaks off radio contact, shaking her head as she sizes up the situation in an attempt to look for weak holes in the enemy formation; "Just... /keep/ holding on. I'll make sure you're safe. In the meantime, what th'hell are we gonna do...?"

The Brynhildr wings after the Altairlion; it cannot match the craft's speed but does maintain maneuverability, and she zigs and zags and jukes through enemy fire as she tries to pick out a clear target. Singling out a Xeku Eins as a potentially bigger threat than a bunch of mook cruft, its pilot suddenly gets a very familiar spear winging towards it on a direct lancing thrust.

The Xeku is quite a bit harder to deal with than Mayet, but it has the same maneuverability as some of the other units that Alina had dealt with before. It may not play best to her skills, but at the very least she should be able to do some damage. Her eyes sweep across the battlefield, catching sight of a few familiar units. Luckily, none of them seem close enough for her to have drawn their attention. No, Lin wouldn't have to face off against any of her friends today. Instead, she seems to end up targeted by the incoming A-LAWs forces. Unlike Katharon, that is a group she has no great love for. Raising up a pistol in one bulky hand of the Xeku, Lin fires off a single shot towards Ibis's Altairlion just as the missles are fired.

Of course, that doesn't leave her much time to get out of the way of those projectiles. Some of them get shot down by her allies, but a few manage to get through. The framerunner jams the hand controls, causing the arms to block in front of the Xeku and absorb most of the damage. Scorch marks litter the armor, but no real definitive damage underneath. "So, brother, what was this about not getting into engagements with the Altairlion?" Alina's voice is calm, although a half-smile quirks up the corner of her lips as she closes her fingers over the controls of her Xeku. "Doesn't look as if I have much of a choice."

Hooking the pistol back into a side holster, the Xeku reaches up and pulls down what looks like... a huge beam cannon. Those are /definitely/ not standard issue, but perhaps someone on the Crusader side thought it would be an interesting idea to re-use some of these salvaged parts. There is a click as Alina jams home a power pod into the back end, priming the weapon for use. Whooom. Whoom. Lights begin to flow along the cannon as it primes to full power. "So, you like ranged attacks, do you? Let's see how you handle this one." Alina's lips press together as she squeezes off the cannon shot, which somehow seems to avoid blasting into any other units fighting nearby, making a bee-line for the Altairlion.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki transmits, "Oh NICE shot!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Alina Luddite transmits, "Thank you, but it isn't over yet."

Macua Huitl had others to deal with, the Zeta Gundam might have a better chance against Iron Mask. She holds back from going after him sas she's got a number of CB comming for them. She knows they are not anything to be laughed at in a team. She knows they are very good at team operations and thus pack hunting. One can only keep track of where so many foes are before one person gets a lucky hit in, she deploys her funnels off the wing like stroage racks on the back of the machine. They fly into space a single one seeking out each one of the enemy targets, but such is the amount of fire comming at her, she can't do more than keep the funnels on target. There is no time to shoot them untill she jukes a bit and manges to get clear.

"Do not let them surround you!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> James Heller transmits, "No a red one. Uses remotes."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Alina Luddite transmits, "Yes, I've seen the red one before. It isn't here."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> James Heller transmits, "Looks like Sam and i need to go hunting later then."

With incoming missiles, Ascian begins a quick barrage on the oncoming missiles, and half of the squad under his command joins in on this offensive. Then finally, a gigantic yellow light sears across space from the Peregrine battleship as a warningshot for Ibis Douglas, intercepting a large portion of the missiles. "Alina. Careful, some of those got through." Ascianc calls through a well-secured channel radio, before pushing his feet firmly down on the pedals as he watches Aki come in. "I know your skills well, but you don't know its me... this'll be fun." God, how many times had he watched that large lance come his way now?

And he'd found a weakness. "All or nothing. Let's go!" The Gyan cannon units quickly maneuver to the sides and unleash a barrage at the sides of Aki's unit whilst the Xeku accelerates as hard as it can. Ascian is forced to keep his teeth together, because this machine doesn't have anything in the way of inertia cancelers for the pilot. Faster and faster the mass produced unit roars straight towards that lance and then, just at that last moment, maneuvers and turns about.

"XEEEKUUUUUU-KIIIIIICCCCK!" Ascian calls out as the machine warps about and sacrifices a piece of armor with the full intent to kick Aki's machine right in the head, only to use it as a jumping board. He steps across it, swings around immediately by jerking on the joysticks, and quickly looks across his panel. "Sniper rifle... sniper rifle... ah, there!" A nice note is stapled underneath a red button. He presses it firmly, and a targetting reticule comes up. The machine is connected to a datapad for some reason. "Duat, help me out." That's right, Ascian has his Orbital Frame's Metatron Computer as the #1 on his 'dialpad', and it's now helping him calculate his strike.

However, Ascian notices that he doesn't really need the help that much. So much time in Amenthes, bound to her sensors, as much as he now feels blinded, he can still find his opponent and makes sure to adjust for it. "Come on... a bit to the right... THERE!" The single shot cannon the Xeku brought along aims for the Brynhildr and unleashes a violet beam straight for his opponent, hoping to take out the jets!

The energy blast slams into Granteed's shoulder, melting the armor but still leaving it functional. Touya tries to return fire with a beam of Orgone from the super robot's head ring, but of course he's fighting another one of those dodgy things. Why are there always so many of them when he goes out? "What the hell is your problem? Gekiganger kill your family or something?" Touya transmits back, his voice sounding just a little irritated. Something about Suriel really rubs him the wrong way. He just wants to punch the guy out... And that's exactly what he plans to do. The Granteed fires up its thrusters, flying through space at Suriel's machine, a bit faster than most super robots. Of course, the fact that it's actually kind of small for a super robot might have something to do with that. Either way, it draws back one fist and then rams it forward, right at the Qareen's midsection. "Dying's not really on my agenda today, thank you very much!"

">H-hey! What're you--!<" Razor-3 gasps in surprise when Heero hits the brake. He frantically manipulates the controls, swinging the limbs of his Den'an Zon at the back-end of Temptation Repair. The roar of its engines are so loud that it overwhelms the audio suite, resulting in a harsh static burst that makes the pilot wince. He reaches ineffectively for his ears, clutching at the sides of his helmet where they ought to be. A warm, wet feeling slithers down the sides of his neck. His ear-drums rupture..

The Den'an Zon's head is erased from existence, fleeting lines of neo-steel that vanish in the burn of Temptation Repair's engines. It floats on, ribbons of smoke rising from the charred stump. Its hands grasping blindly in space, Razor-3 trying to grapple with the sudden onset of space-deafness.

For all Kiet's snarkiness, it seems to do little for his skill. The reach of his Garuda Gundam's beam-sheathed arms are deflected by the lead Den'an Zon's beam-shield. A wide-set oblong-hexagon made of pure energy, expertly negating the Neo-Thai's offenses.

The lead Den'an immediately takes the offensive, blasting a beam-lance at the Garuda Gundam's shoulder!

Another Den'an loses its leg from a blast from a funnel. ">They're using remote weapons!<" crows the pilot. ">It's that other G-Fighter. We'll have to blast it down!<"

It, along with the supporting Razor-4, retaliate on Temptation Repair and the Amazon Gundam with its beam-guns..

"Oh! Ibis! It is good to hear from you as well! I hope you have been geting along very well!" The princess waves, despite perhaps not being a picture on the dashboard! "And yes, we were going out, and now we are out!" The princess adds, unhelpfully. A trip to the battlfield is a lovely place to visit on a saturday!

Tilting her head as she sits back, Nia also sees beyond the back of the chair that way! "... What are we going to do?" Nia is absolutely confused by that! "Aki... you are going to help Ibis, and everyone else, by fighting with all of your heart and soul!" The princess raises a hand, clover eyes sparkling as she speaks.

She doesn't even notice the sudden speed pick up!

"Since you are in battle, you must thrust the spear which you wield into them until they are defeated!" The brightly smiling princess continues, "Because as long as they are in your way, then they are threatening our friends, and the good people who didn't wish to fight!"

She wasn't told about the /plan/. It's better this way.

Nia stands, "Aki, you mus- Ah!" The machine shakes when Ascian leaps off it. "Must do your best!"

This is roughly the time the tip of the spear may begin to glow green, the 'plasma' swirling with something else entirely... and it is certainlly swirling. /Spinning/ even.

On the Argama,

Bright slides his hand across his throat. "Cut communications with the colony! Tell our gunners to try to aim away from it as best they can, but we can't just walk out while we're waiting on our people to get back!"

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Captain Bright Noa transmits, "Camille and Ibis, keep fighting. We still need more time!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "I can't believe Katharon is dirty enough to assault a colony that only just declared its independance..."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "How low can you sink?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki transmits, "Dropping a Colony on the earth."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Well, there's that."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki transmits, "We've done that."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "We shot the last time a looney tried that."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "That is to say, we shot at the looney."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> James Heller transmits, "Before that we droped a colony on America."

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

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "New York, right?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> James Heller transmits, "Well I should say missfired, as damn fucking Bask Om."

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

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki transmits, "Yeah, it wasn't our original target."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Ibis Douglas struggles to keep her BERSERKER RAGE in check, "Acknowledged! Trying to draw as much fire as I can."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> James Heller transmits, "Is it any wonder the US has seen a resurange in nationalism? With Wilson at the helm, I keep hearing of them overhauling their guard units and such. I think he trusts the feds about as much as Hawk did."

....

There is a distinctly uncomfortable sensation that comes with pilot of white De'nan Zon Kai's regard. It is not something Camille is unfamiliar with when in proximity to other powerful Newtypes, but there was something /different/ about this sensation. The sheer /weight/ reminded him of Paptimus Scirocco, but there was an ordered, concreteness behind it that was nothing like the A-LAWS leader's fine sense of control. It was more than just control, and it was not subtle. It was foreign, alien and-in a way-terrifying.

The spike of human, Judau-like rage and focus he felt when they contacted was almost a relief, even if it meant he was likely in big trouble. But the Zeta pilot wasn't worried about that, not at the moment. Only by focusing on each second of survival in battle would he see it through; everything else could come afterwards.

"Staren." His voice is quick and quiet of the comm, "I'll handle the white unit. There's something I need to find out."

And already the thing was upon him, fist sailing for the Zeta's head.

'/Fast/!' was the only coherent though that parsed through the young pilot's mind before he bounced around violently in his restraints as the Gundam's head jolted back and forth with the grim macabre motions of a children's toy set from the old days, automatic stabilizers and vernier adjustments the only thing keeping the mobile suit from going off-kilter into the void of space after absorbing so much force.

Camille's first action is based on almost pure instinct and perhaps foolishness, considering he wasn't sure how badly the head was damaged. The vulcans blared with staccato repeating fire at the white unit, looking to dole out with explosive flechettes what had been received in steel fists.

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Camille Bidan transmits, "I'm engaging the lead unit! There's something about this pilot..!"

"Ibis! Energy signature at vector seven-three-fou--" begins Tsugumi, trying to alert the A-LAWS pilot in the front seat of the Altairlion about the problems she might face in a few moments!

"Nobody uses the vector approach method anymore, Tsugumi!" roars Ibis, strafing another pair of helpless Den'An Zons with her craft's cannons. "Just put it onscreen!"

Blip! A nice, zoomed-in shot of an energy beam ripping through space appears on Ibis' monitor, showing her the triangulation of where it's coming from and where it's going. Which is to say, right at her.

The redhead yells in wordless surprise and yanks the flight stick to one side, and the Altairlion hurls itself into a tight turn in a burst of manoeuvring jets, and only through the magic of the transformation sequence does it escape being completely obliterated in a single hit! The beam cannon doesn't strike a dead-on hit, and it doesn't need to. The sheer proximity of it nearly tears the silver spacecraft in half.

"Wise-ass!" hisses Ibis, whose eyes burn brightly with cinematic fires as her blood rages through her veins, the /blood of heroes/. The Altairlion rapidly unfolds from a jet back into a humanoid Armored Module, and something keeps unfolding with it! The back-mounted nacelles of the G-Accelerator Drive rail cannons continue to swing around from beneath the Altairlion until such a time as the gigantic fin-shaped weapons aim forward, coils running hot. "I just need to buy them enough time...!"

The Altairlion goes into a wide circle-strafe motion, and begins popping enemy suits with frightening regularity as ultra high-velocity explosive rail slugs come flying out of its cannons, blindingly bright neon blue-white streaks of magnetically-propelled death that shred armour and tear a bloody swathe through the opposing force. There's a momentary pause as the sleek and silver Armored Module's sights fall on the enemy Xeku that just nearly tore it in half, and Ibis fires once more. Railgun handshake...!!

"Nope. Don't have a family." Suriel says, with a smirk. He can tell he got under the guy's skin. Victory for him! The Thrusters...ah, so he is making a pass! Suriel came forward, responding to his own motion and instead of trying to avoid, he dived right towards the oncoming Touya, grinning the entire time. He waits, before the blade swings, attempting to parry the slamming fist, but at the same time changing the momentum on his thrusters to also flip over the super robot, using his own momentum to complete the flip.

Then suddenly, the Qareen halted momentum, and dove down, the blade in it's hands aiming to slash rapidly at the back and already damaged shoulder of the Super robot, trying to get through those plates of armor.

"Well, dying isn't on ANYONE's agenda! Too bad I just wrote it into yours!" he says, with a smug look.

"I _love_ this powerup." Staren smirks.


 * Chit-chit-chit-chit!*

(This is the sound Staren's OS makes when it detects a new contact, because WEENEENEENEENEENEENEENEE! gets old fast

The Star Hawk turns to face its new attacker, speeding towards him, Staren figures it's going for a melee attack -- he figures wrong, as he hears the beeping of the missile lock alarm. He raises his railgun to shoot them out of the sky, but misses -- the missiles slam into the Star Hawk, pockmarking its front armor. "Rrgh... I'm just getting started!" he says, as without missing a beat the Star Hawk rises to intercept, brandishing an arm blade menacingly -- Staren stabs out, and immediately follows up with the beam spike as he tries to anticipate which way Samuel will dodge. "Ha! Gotcha!"

This weapon, for our viewers who haven't seen it in awhile, starts with Staren punching the target, triggering an electromagnetically propelled, hollow spike attached to the forearm armor parts, which drives into the enemy's armor and then injects hot plasma to melt their internal structure. It's proven very effective, when he manages to hit with it!

The beam lance is lodged into Garuda Gundam's shoulder as it floats backwards a bit even as it tries to bring up a beam saber to take a chop at offending suit and misses.

Kiet winces a bit from the pain from having a lance basically thrust into his shoulder, saying off the short-wave mic, "Computer, note beam saber activation time has been downgraded by a full minute." A beep signals the note is added before he goes back to fighting.

Flexing his hand a bit just in case, he retaliates by giving chase to the lead unit. Bringing his hands up in the typical muay thai stance, he takes a swing of a kick at the nearest one this time. The kick, much like the punch from before, becomes laced in the beam energy as he follows it with another at a separate unit in an attempt to catch a couple of them in his assault.

Craning her head back, poor Nia only gets a bewildered look for her explanatory troubles. "--friends? Last I checked, these guys weren't--... aaaghh, this totally isn't the time, I'll ask later!"

Almost lazily, the Brynhildr swoops over the top of the laser beam like the world's best spaceborn highjumper, lateral jets kicking in to send it twisting around it in a spiral shape before pulling inwards to rocket along the very edge of the beam.

Aki's piloting isn't exactly the best option in the world if you've just promised to keep someone safe, but the acrobatic pirouette works, sending the Brynhildr hurtling towards the Xeku - and works so well that Aki's even whooping as she does it, punching the air with a fist. "Oh, man, that feels great! This thing's on fire today!" She sends Nia a gleeful look, grinning widely as it /might just turn out okay/. "I dunno what's up, but I'll take anything I can get!"

Her machine draws back its spear, then sends it rocketing towards her chosen enemy while leaving contrails of green swirling light; rather than her usual slices and sweeps, the machine itself seems to opt for a lancing stab at the side of the Xeku's armor, the energy around it twisting and spinning.

Macua Huitl is not pushing into heavily at least so far, she looks at the other units she's facing are good. While loosing a limb they were quick enough to not take a direct hit and she relises it may be the best bet to just, cripple these things than destroy them out right.

The Gundam fitghter now sees another comming she's actually forced to recall the remotes or risk losing them to the volly of fire, she herself evades a few shots and then launches her self at the neares to the Razors she'll attempt ot get in close, grab their main arm and try to rip it apart.

"Not bad, not gudam fighters but your clearly been actually trained. The real question is can you keep up?!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki transmits, "Hey, start making fun of the Argama guys, who are totally getting help oppressing a colony from the A-Laws. I mean, this is so freekin' ironic."

The beam guns rattle in deep and sharp against the top canopy of the Temptation Repair, and Bright Noa's planned retirement trailer for sailing through goddamn space with Mirai and kids is ruined forever thanks to Heero Yuy, who'll probably be working overtime for the rest of his admittedly long life for this.

It doesn't seem to phase him in the slightest, however, as he charges on forward, the cruiser flying at full tilt. "I've got you now," he coldly declares. Got him /HOW/?

Well, the Heero Yuy Manuever also includes propelling the ship forward at beyond top speed, and then giving the AMBACs one hell of a workout as he spins the damaged shuttle around with a three-sixty at the last moment to just sear the Den'an with a trail of afterburners, apparently.

A blip is fast approaching at speeds incomparable to even most cruisers at full drive. "T minus 17 seconds... just a little more..."

From a distance, a strange white object flying at ludicrous thwarpspeed, a spherical rocket booster mounted on its tail end, is closing in on the battlefield......

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Kiet Sagat transmits, "These guys are fast. I'm having trouble keeping up in the Garuda. Macua, you doing okay over there?"

<Radio> Tightbeam to Aki Saitani: Ascian Luddite says, "Akiiiiiii!"

Yep, dodgy little son of a- "Touya, he's behind us!" Katia tries to warn the teen again, but is a little too late this time. The blade cuts into the Granteed's shoulder again, wearing down the armor even further and exposing some of the internal workings. Naturally, this is a good indicator that this fight won't end well. But if Touya can hold on long enough... "With what pen?" he banters back, even if it's a little nonsensical. He turns around as quickly as Granteed's thrusters will allow, the ornament on its chest popping out and sprouting a handle, which he grabs, and a blade, which he swings at the Qareen. Of course, seeing as how it's a lance rather than a sword, the 'blade' isn't actually very sharp on its edges, but it can still make for a good improvised bludgeon if need be.

<Radio> Tightbeam to Ascian Luddite: Aki Saitani says, ""Wha? --hey, what?!" You can just imagine her glancing around looking for the red mech."

<Radio> Tightbeam to Aki Saitani: Ascian Luddite pops on video, in the Xeku's cockpit, red sirens blaring in the background.

"I know, Ascian." Alina replies with that same cold tone to her voice. "Only minor damage." While the Xeku is made to be more of an evasive unit, it's clear that she isn't quite as skilled with maneuverability as some other pilots. Speedy units seemed all the rage these days - and she is an exception to that. But for today, the white-haired framerunner is a bit out of her element. At the very least, she still has guns. Very. Big. Guns. That quirk of a smile spreads more fully on her lips as she sees that well-aimed shot come so close to obliterating her enemy in one hit. Her hand lifts off of the controls, clenching into a quick, silent fist. Others might cheer such a success, but she's been warned - this fight is far from over.

With a tap of a few keys, she zooms in on the enemy unit... transforming. "Great. It's a transformer." Alina lets out a breath, hissing it between her lips as she simply lets go of the huge beam cannon, letting it float behind her. There was only one charge in it anyways, so perhaps their supply ship would pick it up. If not - it's just another bit of space debris. Instead, she falls upon the more standard Xaku armorment. With quick movements of the controls, she manages to track the Altairlion's movements, watching as some of the smaller colony defense units fall under those blasts of bright light.

Unlike her brother, she doesn't seem to need stickynotes or the help of an AI to pilot the Xeku with surprising ability, although she doesn't seem to be able to really avoid shots as well as her twin. Instead, Lin uses some quick thinking and grabs an already disabled colony unit (with the cockpit already ejected), pulling it in front of her to absorb the worst of the impact. It does send her floating backwards, a gaping hole left in that sacrificed mobile suit. "That, would have been painful."

Throwing the bit of scrap metal to the side, Alina maneuvers the Xeku between fallen units around her. The smaller, arm-mounted smartgun of the Xeku is raised up, able to follow the line of destruction all the way back to the Altairlion. She may have nearly torn it in half with that first shot, but it's clear that Alina isn't about to let it continue on with the decimation of the colony's defense forces. With a quick strafe of her hand, the Xeku fires off a series of shots, hoping to stream them right across the enemy's path.

Head Vulcans?!

Iron Mask responds in kind, despite the fact that Den'an Zons don't actually have head Vulcans at all (THIS ONE DOES IT'S A KAI OKAY). Camille's bullets splatter into and across the white armor of the Den'an Zon Kai in an upwards trail, like proud battle scars stetched across the machine. Some smoke billows forth; it is summarily ignored by the pilot within, for it is ultimately irrelevant. Battle damage, even battle damage that was flashing his warning lights about something being pierced, was not relevant to his problems at the moment. What was...

What was was that enormous psychic force. It was...instinct, a primal, immense power. Camille Bidan's strength was extraordinary. It excited Iron Mask, if it could really be called excitement - for his emotions had been locked down so thickly of his own choosing that even words such as that were meaningless to him. He was a creature built to do a duty, and that duty to the Ronah Family he would do.

Iron Mask does not banter; he does not ask questions of Camille, nor beg him to stop, nor declare his will wrong. That is not the way of Cosmo Babylonia.

Those who were suited to rule, ruled. Those who were suited to serve, serve. All had their place in Cosmo Babylonia; all had their place, and their duty to the common good.

But Iron Mask did not need to convince Camille Bidan of that. Iron Mask did not *want* to convince Camille Bidan of that. Let his actions be a sufficient show of his strength; let his will be done on the world, and show the whole of Space that the Cosmo Aristocracy was not the second coming of Zeon but the true and proper path to salve the ills fo this hell that is The World.

The Den'an Zon Kai's beamshield abruptly springs to life, a brilliant golden affair sprouting forth within the contained I-Field as Iron Mask closes the distance on Camille. The Beam Shield is brought around in a brutal smashing motion; it is less a slash with a beam than a simple crashing attack, aimed to break the Zeta's face into pieces and shatter those irritating vulcans once and for all. For Iron Mask to win this fight, he needed to disable the ranged weapons of the Zeta; while he was certainly competent at ranged combat, it was more effective...and more primal...to swallow his foe whole in his presence, to crush them to his will beneath the grinding of his gearlike mind, and then to beat him senseless with the Den'an Zon Kai's many, many beam weapons.

A nobleman must, after all, be skilled at the art of the duel.

"I know, Ascian." Alina replies with that same cold tone to her voice. "Only minor damage." While the Xeku is made to be more of an evasive unit, it's clear that she isn't quite as skilled with maneuverability as some other pilots. Speedy units seemed all the rage these days - and she is an exception to that. But for today, the white-haired framerunner is a bit out of her element. At the very least, she still has guns. Very. Big. Guns. That quirk of a smile spreads more fully on her lips as she sees that well-aimed shot come so close to obliterating her enemy in one hit. Her hand lifts off of the controls, clenching into a quick, silent fist. Others might cheer such a success, but she's been warned - this fight is far from over.

With a tap of a few keys, she zooms in on the enemy unit... transforming. "Great. It's a transformer." Alina lets out a breath, hissing it between her lips as she simply lets go of the huge beam cannon, letting it float behind her. There was only one charge in it anyways, so perhaps their supply ship would pick it up. If not - it's just another bit of space debris. Instead, she falls upon the more standard Xaku armorment. With quick movements of the controls, she manages to track the Altairlion's movements, watching as some of the smaller colony defense units fall under those blasts of bright light.

Unlike her brother, she doesn't seem to need stickynotes or the help of an AI to pilot the Xeku with surprising ability, although she doesn't seem to be able to really avoid shots as well as her twin. Instead, Lin uses some quick thinking and grabs an already disabled colony unit (with the cockpit already ejected), pulling it in front of her to absorb the worst of the impact. It does send her floating backwards, a gaping hole left in that sacrificed mobile suit. "That, would have been painful."

Throwing the bit of scrap metal to the side, Alina maneuvers the Xeku between fallen units around her. The smaller, arm-mounted smartgun of the Xeku is raised up, able to follow the line of destruction all the way back to the Altairlion. She may have nearly torn it in half with that first shot, but it's clear that Alina isn't about to let it continue on with the decimation of the colony's defense forces. With a quick strafe of her hand, the Xeku fires off a series of shots, hoping to stream them right across the enemy's path.

<Radio> Tightbeam to Ascian Luddite: Aki Saitani "--Ascian!" Aki exclaims, eyes wide - then they don't quite narrow so much as she blinks in recognition. "... yer lookin' better."

<Radio> Tightbeam to Aki Saitani: Ascian Luddite blinks, confused, "How that?"

<Radio> Tightbeam to Aki Saitani: Ascian Luddite says, "Anyhow, that's not the point. Why the HELL is the Argama attacking this place!? And why the /HELL/ are you /helping/ them!?"

<Radio> Tightbeam from Aki Saitani exclaims, "I don't know an' /I don't know/! Look, we just came across yer both on patrol, I'm just following my supe's orders!" The kind of wide-eyed worry looks genuine enough.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> James Heller transmits, "This is pretty good stuff, I got a drone feed..."

"That's the best comeback? LAME!" Suriel shouts, instead of trying to parry, this time the Qareen proves that Orbital frames are some of the speediest mother fuckers in space. Suriel dives upwards, and then zigzags back and forth, almost making a streak out of the pure speed that the Qareen could pack. Finally, it seems to stop, before the various sword breakers around the battlefield start firing, each one attempting to take off shots of the Super robot from the weirdest locations. They immedaitely fly back to Suriel, as he spins the pike once and points it at Touya.

"So what's the deal with you assholes? I thought you were all against earth and shit, but now you're up here oppressing Colonies with the A-laws? Wow, great job!"

<Radio> Tightbeam to Aki Saitani: Ascian Luddite says, "You're attacking those who are defending a colony -- which has told the Argama that if they back off and stop firing, they will stop firing on them. And still, they send out their Ace squadron! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?"

<Radio> Tightbeam to Ascian Luddite: Aki Saitani looks exasperated, gritting her teeth. "And a colony that just declared /war/ on us a couple days ago! Look, I'm just tryin' to stay alive here, I don't know 'bout any ceasefires! I ain't gonna touch that colony!"

Razor-4 spins around, spotting Temptation Repair on its intercept course. Its optical sensors glow bright blue along with the buzz of powering energy. With a chilly demeanor, it raises its left arm. Its double beam-gun centering right at the incoming ship, an aid of targeting offered by a wrist grasp of its right hand. It fires -- alternating shots of beamfire, each one hammering away at the Temptation. Surely, the pilot will pull out.

Surely..

Surely!?

">Wait.. no!!<" the pilot lets out a frantic gasp as the Temptation Repair smashes into his Den'an Zon. Its I-Field disintegrating on impact, the nosecone caving in its chest. The pilot becomes a mess of bloody globules and ruined meat -- just seconds before the reactor goes critical.

His explosion is distant to the rest of his squadron.

The Lead Den'an Zon drops beneath the reach of the Garuda Gundam's powerful Beam Legs. In retaliation, it fires its beam gun at the underside of it as it blasts behind it. It continues pouring firepower into the Garuda Gundam, trying to optimize the pilot's insistence on close-quarters-combat to undo it at a distance.

The Amazon CI Gundam rips the left-arm from another Den'an Zon, a small bit of khaki shrapnel glittering as floats across the span of ruined shoulder-socket and arm. Its face, an icy soldier-like design, stares down as it tries to match Macua's ferocity with its own. A beam-sabre in its hand flashes its blade outward and swings down on the Amazon CI's head..

Oh, there will be stabbing alright! Ascian maneuvers the Xeku straight for Aki's unit again, and flips on the commsignal, making a video-call out for Aki just as the gigantic Lance rips into the cannon which the youth put into the way and fires a second violent burst from- causing the entire rifle to explode in contact, shaking his machine and throwing the entire construct back a few yards - flipping over backwards a few times before Ascian manages to re-assert control over the machine. "Tssk, stupid machine." He mutters to himself, watching as red lights start burning all across the machine. "Ahh... ehh." Tap tap tap. He quickly rifles his fingers along a few white switches, causing extinguishers to unleash their foam on a few burning sections on the Xeku.

Cut to a moment of Aki and Ascian talking to eachother over the radio, where Ascian yells at the girl for attacking a colony and her being here making /no sense/ what-so-ever. "Tssk." The youth pulls his face to the side. <"Look, I need you to get out of the way, so I am going to disable your unit. You got that?" He doesn't expect his opponent to just take this laying down of course, but he has to try. <"You'd be better in the Crusade, Aki. At least we still make /sense/, in this world where everyone is just trying to backstab the other.">

Drifting a bit more, hitting the verniers a few more times, Ascian gets his Xeku to a higher vantage point and instructs the Gyan Cannon units to position themselves in a semi-diamond shape about Aki's unit, and unleash fire, whilst he pulls the smartgun from the back of the Xeku's unit and fires a few well aimed shots straight at the Brynhildr's rear. "Take that!"

A message Ibis was never, ever hoping to have to see flits across the inside of her helmet visor.

[HeeroBunny has been destroyed!]

Her world goes a similar colour of red.

The Altairlion leaps forward as the pilot screams bloody murder, because she is dumb and thinks that Heero Yuy is so easily defeated! The silver humanoid jukes and jets from side to side, making itself a hell of an annoying target to keep a bead drawn on as it continues to massacre the everloving hell out of the Colony's defenders with rail slug and missile, as it has for the entirety of this battle so far.

The mousey looking brunette in the advanced assault craft's copilot's seat just lowers her head in a mild panic and wonders what she did to deserve this, really, all she ever wanted to do was engineer things to go into space, not drag herself into the middle of a heated battle and deal with weapon systems and the ever-present threat of death and...

Tsugumi Takakura has no time to reflect on how much she hates her current lot in life, because Ibis is going back around for another attack run on that Xeku that keeps dogging it! She gulps nervously and tries her best to keep the calculations rolling so that the angry pilot doing the murdering can have a reasonably accurate set of data to rely on for the act of /space violence/.

When next the Altairlion comes diving in for the Xeku, it comes in and /stays/ in close range, loosing blast after blast of near-liquified high energy explosive slugs from its railguns in an attempt to force the enemy ship back away from the melee at large. Killing intent...!!

Interrupt: Classy piano starts playing.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

Heero Yuy turns his head. "It's here."

The camera pans in on the Temptation, and then just slightly behind it -- just as the last of the enemy's attack sinks in against the shuttle's glass. Heero pats the control for a moment, silently thinking... you've done well. A pause. Is he going to be this accustomed to speaking to machines, by now?

He shakes his head, and tightens the airlock on his helmet, handgun firing towards the window and releasing him from the ship's artificial gravity. The microverniers on his spacesuit blast him forward, and out the cockpit window seconds before the beams lance against the Temptation -- sending what's left of the cruise hurtling against the Den'an on a collision course.

Heero SWAN DIVES out of a goddamn shuttle into outer space!

Just in time for an oddly-shaped white capsule to blast into sight below him. He shuts his eyes tightly and funnels himself forward, landing against the surface of this white-metalled object... and holds onto a groove to keep himself from falling. He climbs.

Moments later, Heero -- dressed down to his olive-drab tanktop -- stares face down in the darkness. A shimmering blue backlight illuminates the advanced cockpit control in front of him, a foreign yet familiar spherical system menacing him before his very eyes.

He runs through the functions he's run through a million times, now perfectly coordinated to what he needs. Every keystroke, he gets the response he needs, when he needs them. This is his design now, tailored specifically -- customized, one could say -- to the requirements he needs to keep on fighting for the future. For Katharon.

This time, there won't be any heroic sacrifices.

With the final click, the spherical pod bursts open and the rocket booster detaches.

Snow-white fragments of angel's wings shattering away with a dramatic flourish of gossamer feathers on translucent light, incandescent sparkles illuminating the mobile suit's features as it spreads forth its wings and flies free! The emerald gleam of a Gundam's eyes pulsate into life as the massive birds' wings around it spread open, flexing outwards with unnatural, organic movement as it stretches to full height, sapphire-blue and pearl-white Gundanium body studded with crystalline emerald highlights!

o m g. Twilight vampires have /NOTHING/ on this.

"Heero Yuy, XXXG-00W0 Wing Gundam Zero Custom... rejoining the battle."

There might be a mook mobile suit or two in its path that it decides to quickly fire upon with its buster rifle, shots lancing out in swift golden streams more akin to a regular Gundam's beam rifle.

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Caesar transmits, "Temptation Repair's been destroyed. Captain! Heero is.."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Heero Yuy transmits, "Here."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Saman transmits, "--wait! Receiving transmission.. from Heero Yuy!"

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Captain Bright Noa transmits, "What!?"

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Heero Yuy is SPAMMING the visuals with goddamn angel feathers and sparkles.

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Ibis Douglas transmits, "HraaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAA--w--wait, Heero's alive...?!"

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Kiet Sagat transmits, "... flashy, much? Gaah... alright... that's it... Macua, get out of the way!"

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Heero Yuy transmits, "Heero Yuy, Wing Gundam Zero Custom, joining the battle."

Touya doesn't really care about the lameness of his comeback. However, the guy's tone of voice is still getting on his nerves just as much as before. The lance misses as the Orbital Frame proves to be a little faster than Touya can follow. And then god dammit funnel things. "While I could get into the specifics of what we fight for, I get the feeling you don't care enough to stop and chat about it," Touya says, deflecting a few of the shots from the sword breakers with his lance. Some, however, make it through, scorching Granteed's armor and exposing a bit more of its internal mechanics. "And what the hell gives a pirate the right to criticize us for 'oppressing' the colonies?" Granteed's thrusters flare up again, sending it 'up' (relative to its current position, of course) a ways before it changes direction and flies at the Qareen again, lance-first. Might as well use it for what it was made for.

<Radio> Tightbeam to Heero Yuy: You say, "A... a new Wing Zero!?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "A new Wing Zero!?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki transmits, "HOLY SHIT IT'S TURN INTO AN ANGEL."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite mutters something about the Wing Zero trying to be prettier than Amenthes. That, or it was totally you hearing things.

<Radio> Tightbeam to Ascian Luddite: Heero Yuy says, "That's right."

<Radio> Tightbeam to Heero Yuy: Ascian Luddite says, "God Speed, Heero. May... may this one remain in your life forever."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Staren Wiremu transmits, "Wha... How did it get here??"

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Colonel Theresa Testarossa transmits, "Never underestimate that man's ingenuity."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Camille Bidan transmits, "I see, it's already operational..!"

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Princess Cagalli Yula Athha transmits, "... I -- what? That's not... why would you even design that?"

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Touya Shun transmits, "Wing Zero...Custom?"

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Colonel Theresa Testarossa transmits, "/I/ think it's splendid."

"Perhaps that is for the best!" The princess decrees! The Brynhildr, piloted by the noble Aki, charges into battle to spear/drill things! Nia, masterminding some of this spear on human action, is pleased by the noble mur---appeasement to spiral power! "Oh yes, I am sure it is!" Nia exclaims, giggling. She knows there's something up... but it is less important than it simply working!

The spear, sent rocketing towards he Xeku, impacts... and Nia cheers! "Wow Aki! that was amazing!" She exclaims - only to be razzle-dazzled by the sudden eruption of /sparking wings/ on a gundam. Does she know what a Gundam is? Of course not! But it is a sight that she simply can't ignore!

"It's so pretty!" Nia exclaims, out of her seat to simply /take in/ that beautiful machine! "I wonder... if one day I could have something so pretty!"

Aki's sudden /movement/ ( from the evasion ) tosses the princess backwards - but it's not all that bad! She can see Ibis - and look at her go! "Ah, Aki, tell Ibis that she is even more impressive to see from outside!" She doesn't even think anything bad could happen! Especially not when she is under the care of Aki!

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Heero Yuy with a serious voice, "I feel beautiful."

<Radio: C - Global> Shu Shirakawa transmits, "At last."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Princess Cagalli Yula Athha transmits, "It looks ridiculous!"

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Touya Shun transmits, "Are those...feathers?"

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Camille Bidan transmits, "N...no comment.."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Staren Wiremu transmits, "In ancient times, warriors would tie bright bits of fabric to their spears, to distract the eye of their enemies from the deadly point. Perhaps the same principle is behind those wings...?"

<Radio: C - Global> Shu Shirakawa transmits, "This Gundam will mark the unfolding of a new battle."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Chill transmits, "Hurray, beautiful!"

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Captain Bright Noa transmits, "Wing Zero.. /Custom/?"

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Heero Yuy transmits, "Princess Athha, nothing you say can wound my sense of self now."

<Radio: C - Global> Kazuma Ardygun transmits, ".... wait ... I thought you had something else ..."

<Radio: C - Global> Kurou Daijuji transmits, "...Gundam? What?"

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Touya Shun transmits, "Please don't tell me the feathers are funnels in disguise."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Princess Cagalli Yula Athha transmits, "Uh..."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Princess Cagalli Yula Athha transmits, "... okay then."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Staren Wiremu transmits, "Feather funnels...?"

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Colonel Theresa Testarossa transmits, "I imagine they operate like regular wings. With the right materials and enough wingspan, you could get very precise handling from ether shedding."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Touya Shun transmits, "I don't think I could handle that much absurdity."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Camille Bidan transmits, "It's an...alternative design, but the engineering is sound."

Macua Huitl swears as she see heero's unit taken out, she doesn't feel the wretching senstation of someone dying. Heero's got to be all right, he's got to be all right. Then comes the feasthers the sparkles and actually having a personality. Truely Twilight vampires have nothing on him at all. Macua will control herself, she really will, at least untill the fight is over. Heero may find her glomping the darn thing.

Again the attacks comes and she manages to rip the arm off from the other unit. They are far from out of the fight though as they still got a beam saber, and she now is forced back by the attack. She can't even counter attack which had she done so it ahve costed her head, again she assaults the unit going after the other arm.

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Camille Bidan proceeds into a litany of confusing technobabble of how this actually works that gets cut off by the fact that he's /fighting a goddamn space tyrant/

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Duo Maxwell transmits, "Heero did you put /wings/ on your gundam."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Duo Maxwell transmits, "With /feathers/."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Duo Maxwell transmits, "Did you put /feather wings/ on your gundam."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Heero Yuy transmits, "They glow."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Duo Maxwell transmits, "..."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Captain Bright Noa transmits, "..."

<Radio: D - WING boys> Quatre Raberba Winner facefaults.

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Touya Shun facepalms.

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Staren Wiremu transmits, "Perhaps he fancies himself the angel of death, but I thought that was your thing."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Staren Wiremu transmits, "perhaps... the angel of War?"

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Staren Wiremu transmits, "Orrr my distraction theory. I'll stand by that, I think."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Duo Maxwell transmits, "No I'm the /god/ of death, keep up."

<Radio: D - WING boys> Quatre Raberba Winner transmits, "Why didn't /I/ think of that!?"

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Staren Wiremu transmits, "So Heero is your angel?"

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Staren Wiremu transmits, "...wait"

Suriel moves, his pike swings, just as the Lance aims to impale his tiny unit. Suriel has no intention on being split open on the first date, not even if this guy was a hot chick. Also, Suriel prefers to do the splitting, if you know what I mean.

The two forces collide, and it takes everything for Suriel to keep himself from being destroyed in the single blow. The Super IS powerful, but the Qareen, dispite being fast, packs enough power through it's metatron fueled forces to also be a powerhouse of tiny strength. However, the trace suit in the cockpit was flashing red, metatron being forced to be burned up to heal the stress fractures, but hardly any real damage. Suriel finally breaks, spinning and flipping over the blade and dives in for the Super.

"First of all! I am not a pirate! My name is Suriel Misaki, ace of the SCHOOL, ace of BAHRAM, and student of Gym Ghingnham! And let me show you what a deciple of war itself can do!"

Suriel suddenly dives in, aiming to drive it's blade into the super robot. The blade spins, as a aura from the Metatron kicks in, aiming to drive both units down if he was able to hit the machine, and attempt to litterally throw it at the largest object.

"Oh shit." he realized, that might be the colony.

The Star Hawk doesn't seem that fast at first, but looks can be deceiving. The Assault Armor parts must pack some extra thrusters, Sam thinks, to move that mass around more efficiently--ones that make it catch the Efreet with disturbing speed. The machine grapples the Star Hawk's blade-brandishing arm, grabbing it by the inner part of the forearm in a display of zero-gravity martial arts that would be impressive if it wasn't hit immediately after. The spike stabs into the upper arm and injects plasma, the internals melting down and the armor billowing outward and bursting off--

--but not with the rest of the arm. An extra layer of hardened armor, scorched and melted on the outside, protects the rest of the limb from the searing plasma. It remains functional, using the Star Hawk as a pivot point--

"Nice spike," Sam transmits through touch-radio, "but it's not /enough/!"

--and then shoving off, both arms going behind it and drawing both it's heat sabers in a smooth motion. It immediately comes back in, the blades slashing and hacking--and, apparently, aiming for the arm. Sam notes something off to one side, an unfurling of white and a sudden motion, but chalks it up to the EXAM System. It's just starting...

It's uncanny, though. It's like he's going for the places the spikes connect to the rest of the machine, trying to put them out of commission. But he can't know where /that/ is--right?

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Touya Shun transmits, "So who's Pestilence and Famine?"

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Captain Bright Noa transmits, "Heero, I don't know where the hell you get off with all these damn death-defying stunts to save the Argama..!"

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Captain Bright Noa transmits, "..but, keep it up."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Macua Huitl transmits, "The suit it's so pretty..."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Chill transmits, "Hi Mister Bright! Is the Argama getting attacked by Breakers?"

<Radio: D - WING boys> Duo Maxwell transmits, "/Quatre/."

<Radio: D - WING boys> Quatre Raberba Winner transmits, "Hey, I didn't design this one..."

<Radio: D - WING boys> Quatre Raberba Winner mutters, "They didn't even give me a chance." Yes, he's pouting.

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Touya Shun transmits, "I assume breaking the colony is a bad thing?"

<Radio: D - WING boys> Duo Maxwell transmits, "Man how're we gonna be taken seriously as terrorists?"

<Radio: D - WING boys> Quatre Raberba Winner transmits, "We could paint it black?"

<Radio: D - WING boys> Duo Maxwell transmits, "Then it'd just be a crow!"

<Radio: D - WING boys> Quatre Raberba Winner transmits, "No no. A /fallen angel/."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Macua Huitl transmits, "Very!"

For the most part, Alina is oblivious to the goings on elsewhere in the battle. There is quite a lot going on, and in order to keep herself alive, she'd better focus on the task at hand rather than worrying over others. Well, most others anyways. She takes a quick glance, trying to catch sight of the other Xeku, but doesn't manage to catch it in the fray. No, she has a set of quite dangerous blasts coming towards her at short range. Once again, it falls on Lin's reflexes to try to block the attack. Mech parts go flying in every direction as they are sheered off of already downed defense forces, littering the space between herself and the Altairlion.

The aftermath, though, leaves the Xeku much worse for wear. Dents, holes, and charred metal show that those explosive slugs had left their mark, but it seems as if the hearty little Mobile Suit is still operational. Pushing off from one of those discarded chunks fo nearly molten metal, Lin turns the Xeku once more towards Ibis's machine. Close combat, or at a distance, Alina doesn't seem to care either way. The Xeku moves quickly, cocking the smartgun as it gets aimed across towards that faster unit.

There is no rage, or shouting from the pilot of this machine, simply a cold silence. Within the cockpit, Alina's hands flex over the controls feeling the weight of the danger that those nearly fatal shots brought with them. She hasn't given up yet, though. Raising the Xeku's blaster arm a second time, Lin takes careful aim across the edge of the smartgun and fires off a single, high powered blast, trying to repeat the sniper-effect from earlier.

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Touya Shun transmits, "Got it!"

<Radio: D - WING boys> Heero Yuy transmits, "I do not see why you can't take this seriously..."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Heero Yuy transmits, "... I do not see why the wings are a problem. I designed them myself."

<Radio: D - WING boys> Quatre Raberba Winner transmits, "I can take it seriously just fine. It's Duo who has a problem."

Taking another hit from the lead unit of what he is facing, Kiet floats there for a moment as he brings the Garuda's arms and legs up to shield a bit with the beam weaponry of the arms and legs. Turning in the air as he follows the lead unit, he waits for it before he guns the engines. Even then, the thing stings as he glances to the side to see what Heero is doing before he looks back at his own battle.

Meanwhile, in the Gundam, Kiet has begun to use the targetting system of his unit as he tracks down the nearby enemy carefully. He's got the leader right there it seems, and the rest are... scratch that, Heero somehow took one out with his ship. Frowning, he takes a few seconds to calculate how he will have to move while he continues to shield himself for a moment or two.

">Alright...<" The Gundam's beam weaponry suddenly flares to life as it flies right at the lead unit and begins to spin. The resulting spin unleashes what can only be called one humongous tornado that probably defies whoever thinks physics apply to Gundams, let alone Gundam Fighters as the Garuda Gundam descends towards the lead unit and twists in the air whether he hits or not. The tornado continues to spin as it widens out considerably trying to engulf the lot of the enemy Den'an Zon. Meanwhile, Kiet's voice comes over the shortwave, ">You want to keep firing weapons... well here's something to compete with. GARUDA TORNADO!<"

After the attack, Kiet stops the spin and turns to look at what carnage he probably has caused in the mass of beam weaponry. He just hopes he calculated it right and misses his allies completely.

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Princess Cagalli Yula Athha transmits, "Are you serious? What purpose... I mean... what do they even do?"

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Duo Maxwell transmits, "Pretty sure we're all askin' that."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Quatre Raberba Winner transmits, "I am sure they serve as a system for atmospheric re-entry."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Heero Yuy transmits, "The heat diffusal on each of the micro-verniers enables an afterimage-shedding effect that can confuse enemy radars."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Duo Maxwell transmits, "..."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Quatre Raberba Winner transmits, "See!"

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Duo Maxwell transmits, "...Heero why would you need t'confuse enemy radars, yer the guy with the giant fuckoff gun."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Heero Yuy transmits, "In addition, moving to hundreds of micro-verniers allows for superior control in the same style that AMBAC systems achieve."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Duo Maxwell transmits, "Okay /that's/ cooler."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Kiet Sagat transmits, "Less chatter, more explosions? And Staren... I might need your help to see what's going on with the Garuda Gundam."

Luck seemed to be with Camille for now; the head vulcans fire without issue, ripping up the white Den'an Zon Kai's outer warmer like it was made of space paper mache instead of good old fashion space-american steel or some nonsense like that. Good reaction times and a newtype flash here or there prompt him to bring the Zeta's shield up in time to deflect that other unit's retaliator fire.

Then he brings out /his/ shield and Camille gets all shade's of jealous. He'd heard of beam shields, read theories and projections about them in article and what have you, but this might be the first time he's actually /seen/ one. Had technology beyond the Earth Sphere advanced so rapidly? They just might be the only thing standing between the stagnant Federation and utter destruction, if so..

And to think, they had to /wait/ to deal with these assholes properly.

Camille's action is instant when edges of that shield defend: a beam saber pops from the pneumatic chamber installed in the Zeta's arm and ignites just as quickly, I-Field matching I-Field in a brilliant displace of purple colliding energies. In principle a beam shield was no different from a beam saber, after all.

Still, clashing like this was a stalemate Camille couldn't afford. He jerked hard to the side on the flight sticks, tilting the vernier jets and maxing their thrust to break the lock, accepting a thick shearing of armor off the Gundam's side in exchange for setting up his next attack.

And while Iron Mask may not be prone to banter, Camille is young and fiery and full of angry questions. "Why are you doing this?!" He demands, "Why does spacenoid independence need to go hand in hand with the loss of human life?!"

The Zeta spun on it's own internal access, and Camille's display filled with etheral feathers as a seprate feed display Heero's rebirth. The custom had been built already?!

They'd have to discuss it later, as the Zeta's leg swung out and towards the white unit's side in a savage to Iron Mask's desire for 'gentlemanly' combat, "/Just what makes you any different from the Zabi family/?!"

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Staren Wiremu transmits, "Kinda busy here can you succinctly describe the problem?"

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Kiet Sagat transmits, "Slowed reaction times on the Mobile Trace System."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Staren Wiremu transmits, "Huh, that shouldn't be happening, if it's a problem with the trace system itself I can fix it no time..."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Heero Yuy transmits, "Targeting computers use radar cross-sections too, Duo..."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Kiet Sagat transmits, "I'm not completely sure what it is, Staren, but that's what I'm noticing. Bad time for it to be happening, too."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Duo Maxwell mutters.

Yes, the super robot is quite powerful. However, it doesn't really have much going for it in the way of heavy weaponry. A chest blaster, a lance, a forehead laser, and its bare hands. It's almost like a smaller Grungust, in a way, though the Granteed does have the advantage of being able to make pretty much anything out of the crystallized Orgone energy. Still doesn't help when the enemy decides to stop your blade with theirs, though. "Gym, huh? No wonder you're such a nutjob!" he transmits as they break off, and then Suriel decides he wants to try and ram the Granteed into the colony. This is what we call a Very Bad Thing. "Katia, thrusters, full power!" The super robot catches the Qareen's blade between its palms just as its thrusters hit their peak, the impact still throwing it back, but much slower than it would be otherwise. Still, they come unnervingly close to hitting that glass... "You...crazy bastard! You talk about us oppressing the colonies, and then you go and try this!" Touya yells, letting go of his enemy's blade long enough to spin around and try to kick the Orbital Frame in the head.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Misaki... if he hits the colony, it's coming out of /your/ paycheck, you hear?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki transmits, "Bah, what do I care about money for?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite sighs. "Okay, just... try not to damage it. We're here to protect those people. Not to hurt them."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "We're not the A-LAWS."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki transmits, "Ouch. Look, I wasn't TRYING to do it...I just got caught up in the moment."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "I understand. Just... be more careful."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "You're a great pilot. And I don't want to see you getting punished for accidentally doing something stupid."

The Brynhildr swings out of the way of the smartgun bolts without even seeming to notice them, Aki's hands flying across her controls partially on instinct and partially on magical spiral power guiding her way. The jets at the back of the machine burn green for a moment, and she's suddenly soaring sideways at speeds that could at least rival the other Tesla machine.

"Woah, what--" Even Aki can't ignore that one or wish it away to wishful thinking, and she stares agape - yet again today - at her readouts as they start to spike; in the midst of her surprise she almost manages to ignore Ascian's angry retort, but picks up on it at the last second.

"Like /hell/ I'll let myself be disabled! For one, I'm in the middle've two armies that don't like me! For two, I've got civilians on board! For /three/--"

Her machine twists and turns on a space dime, circling around in a sudden sweep of her spear to bear down angrily upon the Xeku; the green aura around it sweeps brighter and wreathes the head of her spear in a definite whirling aura of, well, /drillness/. Aki herself isn't exactly responding to the princess she has on board, but mostly because she's too busy getting a good head of anger going.

"--don't damn well preach about backstabbing two seconds before you fire at /mine/!"

Aki Saitani, sudden and impromptu Spiral Warrior, backs up her words with actions - no surprise attacks, no strange angles of fire, no tricks. Instead, she just pilots straight forward, quite literally cutting through the path of gunfire to crash head first into the opposing robot.

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Touya Shun transmits, "The enemy's one of Gym's students, apparently. This can't be good."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki transmits, "God, look! Super robot, these things aren't exactly easy to deal with."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki transmits, "Focus on not dying."

Ibis answers cold silence with red-hot silence, ensuring that her dance around the Xeku continues unabated as the Altairlion's G-Accelerator cannons swing back to holding position, returning to their original task of 'being giant fancy fins' because, mostly, the coils powering them are screaming blue murder down the warning systems that they're going to melt if they don't get some freaking time to cool down soon!

The Altairlion assumes a meneacing pose as the ranged weapon systems prepare to take a backseat role for the next couple seconds, arms by its sides. If it were possible for a mech to exude an aura of 'swagger', then rest assured that this one does, at least briefly. It comes to a dead halt, perhaps even tauntingly, as the boost drive on the Armored Module's back begins to power up, and Ibis' hands slip about the controls from a different angle. How does real robot melee work, anyway? It's a /mystery/.

There's a bright blue burst of engine fire, because the twin tesla drive runs on pure cinematic magic, and the close-range battle becomes a literal knife-fight! The silver humanoid war machine lunges for the Xeku at top speed, and from both of its wrists blaze sudden plumes of electric blue flame, swirling and coalescing into shape against the velvet black backdrop of space like, perhaps, swords that are made of lasers! The Altairlion closes in, at the range it is probably at its most worthless, and slashes!

Sonic Saber indeed, really, what a bullshit name. Who comes up with this, anyway?

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Alina Luddite transmits, "You're doing quite well against that super robot, though. All things considered. It shows your skill."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite FZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Samuel Flynn transmits, "--Ascian?! Shit!"

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

This time, Suriel is on the recieving end of some pain. The head of the Qareen jerks back, as he is sent flying. Suriel, laughs, flipping back and catching himself before he flew too far. His hand suddenly snapped out, as Sword breakers dove in at the larger unit from everywhere, Each one aiming to grip on a piece of that larger unit, and start spinning.

This is followed by major applications of LASOR. Trying to drill several painful holes in the body of the powerful unit. The damage on the head of the Qareen already immediately healed, thanks to his Metatron systems.

"Oh god, not you too. Look, I got caught up in the heat of the moment, geeze. You stopped yourself, so stop bitchin'." Suriel pauses. "You know, usually it's 'oh god you're from the school' or 'Oh BAHRAM'. You know Master Gym?"

Oh man there are _so_ many thrusters on the Star Hawk and even more on the armor parts -- A mix of jump jets all over, the main engines on the back, and rocket thrusters in the FAST packs, all to make the 56-ton machine as agile as something half its weight. It helps that Staren can control it directly, and topping all of that off, Samuel can see a scattering of blue particles behind the machine, in a manner similar to the red ones that trail behind certain A-LAWS units...

Staren sees the attack coming, and raises his arms to parry -- which is probably just what Samuel wants! The upper forearm armor parts are sliced clean off, exposing the damaged armor below and leaving the beam spikes to dangle by the tubes that supply their plasma. "What the... Am I facing a fellow mecha designer?? And you're skilled as a pilot too..."

Staren looks at the Efreet, and then the Efreet and the Star Hawk are the only things in his world. And it all seems so clear...

The hybrid swords flare up, bright and green as Staren swings at the Efreet's forearms -- to force the arms out, and to give him a chance to fire the railgun and beam shotgun at point-blank range! Staren follows up immediately with a thruster-assisted kick to send the Efreet reeling, then has suddenly turned 180 so that the Zeon mobile suit is 'above' him -- With a burst of thrusters he charges, laying into the Efreet with a brutal series of beam-and-steel slashes!

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki transmits, "I TOLD you about dying, Ascian."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki transmits, "I Warned you bro."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Alina Luddite sounds sure of herself, "He's not dead."

When Aki decides to just go forward, wrapping her drill in the power of Spiral, Ascian suddenly is met with a problem. You see, he's moving these pedals, and he's moving those joysticks, but... nothing is happening. Sparks fly all across the machine, as if it was suddenly trapped within a wave of HELL AND HEAVEN. "Shit shit shit..." Ascian mutters, his eyes widening as he notices the double tesla powered machine coming his way. "STUPID PIECE OF CRAP XEKU!" Fuck it, he's not even going to try. These things are too unreliable for him. He just kicks his foot against the front hatch, swings his body out - normal suit and everything, and jumps as hard as he can and engages the small thrusters on the unit!

Finally, an explosion. The lance /slices/ through the Xeku, washing it with the green spiralling light, and destroying it from the inside out. The thing finally splits in the middle as Aki's unit passes it up, and then explodes in a twosome of pink explosions that end up forcing Ascian further forward and right onto a nearby Gyan Cannon which is already half broken. Ascian doesn't even stop, he immediately kicks off as missiles from the Altairlion end up hurling around the battlefield and come crashing into that machine.

The young man is scared out of his wits. Out of the machine, in space, with just a set of crappy thrusters to rely on. He had to get to the Peregrine as fast as possible. He tries to access the radio, but it just keeps 'fizzing'. And so begins...

NORMAL SUIT SPACE ADVENTURES, THE MINIGAME!

Wham.

Iron Mask sees forthwith the depth of his mistae to engage Camille Bidan in melee combat; the boy's skill is impressive enough to parry aside his beam shield, his high-performance Den'an Zon Kai too slow to keep up with the powerful Zeta Gundam. No...it was more than that. It was the power of a Newtype behind that, wasn't it? It was the power of Strength behind that machine, the power of a true Newtype and not a cyber-newtype like himself.

The kick lands on the side of the Den'an Zon Kai, and it tears away a significant amount of the chest; it rips open the cockpit of the Den'an Zon Kai, exposing the pilot to the vacuum of space-

- ...he has no space suit.

Iron Mask's mask glints blue as the light of lasers in the sky suddenly reflect off his eyes. It is like the shine of some sort of terrible mechanical demon inside another terrible mechanical demon, with half its chest removed to reveal the iron heart that beats within. Now, Iron Mask is visible to the naked eye, as the Den'an Zon flies towards Camille - his expressionless mask nothing but that, surrounded by the light of battle. But in his mind, those gears are turning, the great war machine of his mind tuning towards his foe infinitely. It is inexorable...but his will is about to be expressed across the whole of space very, very clearly.

The Den'an Zon Kai goes in for the grapple. Ordinarily, Grappling in mobile suit combat was absolutely ridiculous; it got you into the melee range of things like head vulcans and blades and other dangerous shit. However, in this case...it was worth the risk.

"The Ronah Family are not tyrants," Iron Mask declares as he unbuckles his belt, tying himself to a returner cord briefly. He crosses his arms, standing up from the Mobile Suit and pointing the whole of his will at Camille - to make Camilel UNDERSTAND, FEEL his dedication, to make Camille's UNDERSTANDING of Iron Mask...greater. This is a creature born of a desire to do a duty - not to rule, but to serve by ruling.

What a strange paradox.

"The nobility must serve as the commoners must serve; all have their part to play. We do not oppress; we will never oppress."

"We are not the Zabi family. If you refuse to see that, then I shall show it to you with my own will, and nothing more."

And then Iron Mask

Propels himself out of the space suit with a single kick of his feet

And moves to close his hands around the Zeta Gundam's cockpit block

IN ORDER TO RIP THE MOBILE SUIT OPEN WITH HIS BARE FUCKING HANDS

WHO IS THIS GUY

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Camille Bidan transmits, "This...!"

While Alina may not have been paying that close of attention to the rest of the battle, one particular radio returning static is enough to pull her concentration. The young woman's stoic expression shifts momentarily to one of worry. Those blue eyes narrow as she pans the computer across the battlefield. There isn't time - not enough time, anyways. "Ian, hold on for me. You can't die yet." She whispers to herself, closing her eyes tightly. A split-second later, those eyes open to a more firm resolve and an ever more ice-filled glare from the framerunner's eyes.

She turns the Xeku just in tome to block the incoming sword attack from the Altairlion with one arm, the blade sinking slightly into the blocking arm. Alina's lips curl back, showing an almost feral snarl on her face as she pushes backwards, paying little care for the damage that the movement causes to the Xeku's arm. She slams a hand down onto the radio even as she stares at that point-blank range at the Altairlion. "Amit!" She calls, "I need a location on Ascian, right now." For a moment, there is silence, as if the AI had not been listening to the correct radio frequency. << Affirmative. Coordinates are being transmitted. >>

At the corner of Alina's viewscreen, a tiny window opens, showing her brother outside of the Xeku. "Shit." It isn't exactly normal for the framerunner to swear, but this seems to call for it. She narrows her eyes across towards Ibis's unit, knowing full well that the quicker machine probably wouldn't let her get to her brother without a fight. Still, at this range it /should/ hopefully be much harder for it to dodge.

Gritting her teeth, Lin raises the gun-arm for what she fully expects to be the final time. The smartgun charges up to full power, glowing a very unhealthy red as a few warning bells begin to sound within the cockpit. Then, the girl squeezes the trigger, sending out a powerful beam of charged energy. Not only does it lash out at the Altairlion, but it also sends her backwards away from the enemy.

Regardless of hit or miss, the Xeku seems intent on withdrawing to rescue that downed pilot.

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Camille Bidan transmits, "He isn't using a spacesuit! And he's-*sound of metal tearing*"

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Captain Bright Noa transmits, "Camille--!"

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Heero Yuy transmits, "Camille...!"

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Ibis Douglas transmits, "Camille--!!~*o/"

"That was an accident?" Touya says, a little taken aback at first, then he sighs in relief. "Well, that's a pleasant surprise. Still, you should try to avoid outbursts like that and why the hell am I talking to the enemy right now." Katia's been pretty quiet for the most part during this battle, something that doesn't happen often. Usually, it's her that's doing all the yelling, and Touya that keeps himself (relatively) calm and collected. However, since he's off arguing with a DC pilot, she's been taking it upon herself to keep track of their surroundings and trying to react accordingly. Of course, that's hard to do when your controls pretty much depend on both pilots being mostly in sync with each other and one of them is trying to do everything on his own, but you know, do what you can. "Touya, pay attention!" she snaps at the teen, who promptly hits the thrusters again, just barely avoiding getting drilled from several directions by the sword breakers. He looks back at her, nods his thanks, and returns his focus to the battle. Granteed's head ring starts to glow green as Orgone energy is pumped into it, and suddenly it fires a large beam into the space 'above' the Qareen, splitting into many smaller beams that spread out and converge on the Orbital Frame. "Yeah, I know about him. Fought him once, seemed like a really nice guy in that 'completely insane omnicidal maniac' way. I'm hoping that hasn't rubbed off on any of his students."

">N'agh!<" the pilot of the Den'an Zon fighting lets out a grunt as his robot is -- literally! -- disarmed by Macua Huitl's Amazon CI Gundam. Thoroughly disabled, he can do nothing more than to hit the thrusters. ">I'm retreating--!<" The suit accelerates hard, rocketing his Den'an Zon out of the Amazon CI's grasp and out of the battlefield.

">Not so cocky now, are you, Gundam?<" the lead Den'an Zon calls out over the void to Kiet Sagat. The Garuda Tornado is a vast and powerful weapon -- but in the void of space, practically a fool's errand. The lead hits the juice, blasting to the far right and outright avoiding the reach of the whirlwinds ripping out of the Gundam Fighter.

Screams come over the Crossbone shortwave, as a pair of pilots are erased from this existence. The culprit: the splendor of XXXG-00W0 Wing Gundam Zero Custom's Buster Rifle. A series of gasps come from numerous participants of the battle--

On Earth,

Koji Kabuto shields his eyes from the brilliance that briefly lights up Atami's midnight sky. He winces slightly, squinting from the sheer splendor. "The sky.. it's.. it's so bright..!" he murmurs, spellbound. His heart cannot help but thump hard in his chest, his eyes suffused with a golden light. "What.. what is this feeling!?"

On the Argama,

This feeling is something wonderful.

Shinta and Qum thrust their tiny arms into the air. "It's an angel! An angel of peace!"

Haro rolls around, flapping its disc-shaped wings incessantly. "GENKI," it chirps. "HARO GENKI."

"The Wing Gundam Zero.." Bright Noa slowly comes to grips with this revelation on angel's wings. "../Custom/?"

In Space

">What is that!?<" a Den'zan pilot reacts. ">That thing is impossible!<"

">Keep fighting!<" the lead Den'zan demands. ">There's no way it can take us all on!<"

The Den'an Zons converge on the trio of pilots..

In Cosmo Babylonia

MSA-005 Methuss rockets across the artificial atmosphere of what was once Frontier IV, boosted heavily by its Mobile Armor 'wave' form. Fa Yuiry clings tenaciously to the controls, biting her lip. She's trying not to lose her cool as Reccoa Londe is trying to be a 'backseat pilot.'

"Admiral!" she squawks over the radio. "I've got Miss Reccoa! We're trying to make a break for the Argama now..!"

Back in Space

Den'an Zons fall upon the Amazon CI Gundam, Garuda Gundam, and Wing Gundam Zero Custom with lengths of steel in their hands. Telescoping rods that end in axe-like blades, proclaiming the glory of the Crossbone Vanguard. The advance of the new age, the return of the future.

For the moment humanity slipped the surly bonds of Earth..

..they put out their hand to touch the face of God.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Alina Luddite transmits, "I've got coordinates on Ascian. I'm disengaging to pick him up. The Astairlion is heavily damaged and so is my Xeku."

Let herself be disabled? Nia turns to look at Aki as she is given that choice! Of course she chooses right - but it's the sudden surge that causes Nia to topple over! "W-wow, Aki!" The princess gapes, the machine moving as it bears down angrily, the spiral energy swirling around!!

It's ... pretty rediculous! The spiral energy pushes fire to the side, and Aki's soul itself rips through and tears into the opposing machine! Nia, used to seeing enemies fall before Simon, drilled through through superior spirit and ... drills!!! cheers!

"Aki, I had almost never seen something like that before!" She cheerfully proclaims, "That was amazing! You are so very skilled...!" But something bright catches Ibi's attention. The powerful beam of energy!

"Ibis! Please, look out! You cannot just let Aki take all of the glory! For you are a hero! And both of you will go back together!"

Oh so /she pleads/.

In the mean time, she grasps Aki, pulling her close, immediately raising a hand to the sky and pointing upwards. "Aki! You did it! I knew you could.... and you will be one of the very best heroes, just like Ibis!!"

The giant beam cannon quickly changes this fight from Suriel dominating to Touya being the dominator. The Giant laser catches him, completely off guard, causing him to try and attempt to challenge the weapon. The beam drives through the Unit, throwing it back and flinging it like a toy into space. Suriel, takes a moment to recover...but what is worse, is the lower half of his Trace system is red, causing intense pain through his body. Even Suriel, who is resistant to such things can't help but scream in pain.

The Qareen doesn't regenerate as fast as it did before, as HOLY SHIT MY EVERYTHING was punched out. With a laser...

However, Suriel's eyes opened suddenly, causing him to regain control. The Qareen glowed with a sudden power...something deep within it stirred...

"What can I say, I like war. It's not just because I was created for fighting. There isn't a place in this world that exists for me besides fighting. THAT is the truth of my existance, and I have come to embrace it." he says, with a sudden smug look.

With a new viciousness, the Orbital frame dove in, repeatedly striking at the Super robot with his bear hands, trying to tear through the unit, before his right hand came back. "TASTE UNLIMITED DARKNESS! AIN SOPH CHASHEKAH!" before the hand shot forward, causing a strange distortion in space, as a large wave of absolute darkness aimed to consume both the unit, and anything too close to it. Even light, would not escape as it aimed to simply rip off as much as he could.

While Samuel is perfectly capable of counting most of the thrusters on the armor parts, but he's too preoccupied to do it. The Star Hawk's agility once again proves it's worth--the arm-blades are caught on the heat sabers, hybrid physical blade and beam edge fighting the hot metal core of the heat sabers. That proves to be just the distraction, though; the Zeon machine's front armor is suddenly cut to ribbons by magnetically-propelled slugs and the scattered beam blasts, and the CLANG of the foot slamming into it right after signals the moment where inertia throws Sam against the restraints in the cockpit.

"Sssshh--" The Star Hawk approaches, rushing at him. The Efreet moves faster than it has any right to, bringing the heat sabers down to block and parry the strikes one after another. Still they get through, though, wearing at the machine, leaving glowing gashes all across it. "--hhiiiii--" Flynn rotates the mech, fending off the Star Hawk with one hand and one sword as best he can. Verniers fire and launch it to and fro, trying to out-maneuver the armored mech. There's got to be an opening...

THERE! "---iiiiIIIIIIT!!" The Efreet lunges forward, a wide slash leading to fend the mech off and then a diving thrust right at the torso of the mech. He's not going for the cockpit, but he looks like he's at least trying to hit /something/ vital. Sam doesn't know what it might be; he just knows he has a good feeling about this one.

Finding himself with a seriously damaged Gundam Fighter now, Kiet grunts as he makes sure the cockpit is still intact from the axe attacks. With the axes in the Gundam itself, though, he realizes something. The Den'an Zons are in close. Perfect for him to do something. Maybe make a pretty nice, decisive blow of some sort. Even if he's taking a lot of damage right now. Checking the damage on his trace suit for a moment as well as to his body from all of this, he knows he can't last long. With the cockpit being pretty sturdy as the only signs of his not having to put on a helmet or anything quickly, Kiet thinks it over for a moment.

Then he lets loose as his Gundam's weaponry flares to life and he starts lashing out, ltierally grabbing at weapons and pulling the units in as he just goes for an all out assault of beam punches, kicks, even a knee slam or two. The muay thai expert isn't holding anything back and pretty much seems to not care what happens to his body as long as he does one thing.

Take all the snot nosed, snarky Den'an Zons and beat the ever living hell out of them with his own two fits in a display that will make them realize not to ever come near a Gundam Fighter again.

Good. The buster rifle is operating just as specified... modular, operable modes. Fire it quickly in short bursts, just like a beam rifle, against faster targets, but for a wave like this...?

Heero's eyes gleam against the new, fresh ZERO System. He shuts his eyes and... feels a foreign presence that seems so familiar, and yet it is not. No, this is a different ZERO... it has none of the mirth, none of the laughter and none of the conscience that the old one granted him. But...

"I will make you see the light too, ZERO..." Heero whispers, with a hint of pity, just privately. "I promise."

It does not know what Heero is talking about. But he turns its eyes towards combat, and he knows what he must do now. "Locking on to all targets within vicinity."

The sphere upon his cockpit multi-locks onto a hell of a lot of targets, there. He glances over, and sees the updated HUD display as he specified, telling him the charge of each rifle. Eighty seven percent...? He can do better than that.

"Den'an squadrons, target multi-lock. Confirmed, all unit mobility within 0.3 operational seconds. Adjusting for error accuracy, acceptable margins validated. Twin Buster Rifle..."

His eyes flash with determination, as the Wing Zero Custom's form rises up, fae-like trails of soft white vernier fire caressing behind its form. The two menacing Buster Rifles are almost like a contrast to how angelic its figure is, deadly and meaning business. The verdant green sensors all line up, and...

>> TARGET: LOCK ON <<

"Maximum Discharge."

The figure of the white angel vanishes for a moment, replaced by a gleaming light within space that just tears through; it is golden, and unrelenting, a beacon of the unnamed youth's hope ever since he landed on Earth with that first machine of his with his ideals... and where he's been taken to since then...

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Duo Maxwell transmits, "Heero did you jus' fire the Buster Rifle?"

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Heero Yuy transmits, "Please evacuate the blast radius."

<Radio: D - WING boys> Quatre Raberba Winner whispers, "Heero. You ask them to evacuate the blast radius BEFORE you fire..."

<Radio: D - WING boys> Heero Yuy transmits, "I was not referring to this attack..."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Kiet Sagat transmits, "... is that what that is? Daaaaaaaaaamn.... definitely need to get a better suit one of these days."

"Well, I'm glad you found your purpose in life and all, but I'd like it if you would be just a little more considerate of your surroundings. Not that you seem to care." Touya says, just before the Qareen starts its vicious assault. He does his best to parry the blows, but many of them get past his defenses and tear several large patches of Granteed's armor apart. Some of them even cause internal damage. And then the darkness comes, consuming the super robot and drowning out all connection Touya has to the world outside. No visuals, no radio chatter, nothing. Just plain old nothing. And so it seems that Suriel has won the day, defeated the beast and gotten the rough equivalent of the girl. A happy ending for him, certainly. That is, until Granteed's claws rip through the darkness, the holes in its armor, its eyes, and the decorative gems around its body all glowing a brilliant green. It still looks beat up and more than a little broken, but it's not down for the count yet. "Orgone reactor is nearly at full output, Touya." Katia tells the teen, reading the numbers and gauges on the screens in front of her. Touya nods, taking a deep breath as something takes ahold of him. A sort of warrior's spirit, you could say. The lance, having been flung away earlier in the battle, comes flying back to the super robot's hand, and the hole in its chest where it previously resided starts to glow a little brighter than everything else. If you thought the beam that came from Granteed's head ring was big, then the one that fires from its chest next is nothing short of gargantuan, easily able to swallow the Orbital Frame whole if it hits. And just to add even more pain to it, many large Orgone crystals fly through the beam, metaphorically eager to shred anything in their way. Touya's not the type to shout hot bloodedly, usually. But now he thinks is a good time to make an exception. "ORGONE SLAAAAAAAAAVE!"

The Altairlion zooms past the Xeku like a figure from a remarkably well-animated samurai movie, the sonic sabers blazing brightly from its wrists as brilliant glowing lines fill the air, which is how you know that some serious swordplay just went down. It strikes a stoic pose and then turns around... just in time to see the enemy mobile suit retreating at full speed to rescue someone who is currently floating through space.

Ibis sucks in a desperate breath as her world returns to a normal colour, as Nia's voice punches through her angry, angry battle-state and drags her back down into the real world. Which is no happier a place, as she quickly takes stock of her situation and notices that someone is currently prying open the Zeta Gundam with their bare hands like a human can opener, /holy shit./

"Aki, status report!" barks Ibis into her comms, turning her attention back to the battle at large, mindful of the gigantic angel-winged Gundam flapping around the battlefield as she swings the Altairlion back around towards the bulk of the colony defense forces harrasing the AEUG's flagship and burns straight for them. Mobile suits, armors, destroyer vessels, whatever, it's all fair game to her. The siler Armored Module is silhoutted, for a time, against the blinding discharge of the Wing Zero Custom's buster rifle discharge, as all fades to white--!!

When normal vision resumes, a storm rains upon the opposing forces, a twisting, turning storm of billowing white vapor trails from missiles of varying size and payload. Maybe if Iron Mask wasn't so busy playing Operation with the Zeta Gundam he might recognize that a certain someone has returned to the field of battle to punch his forces in the guts.

Macua Huitl watches the one nit flee, and lets him run. It is one less thing to worry about at this point she turns to the quadron leader at this point she knoiews more attacks are comming and she knows this is going to be bad as the others get savaged at this point. She's not one to be pared the attacks.

"If I were cocky I'd be babbling like a zeek about gravity."

then the Zeta Gundam it's best to not think about it at this point the fire is hjeavy there's a lot of fire comming in. she's caugh by several shots, space? She evades other but the Amazon CI is being picked apart, she's knoing Keit and Heero are in danger and remebers something someone told her once. She knows her friends and comrads come first. the Damage is terrible to her machine but the others it seems they are not dead yet. Also there goes heerpo she's got to hold off. As the others lay seige she waits for Heero's massive atackt io fad and she'll be on the surivors like an angry jungle predator. She is not out right to go for cockiptui shots but she's not about to let those she care about get killed. The spear comes out and she's moving quickly attempt to take down heads, limbs and otherwise mangle the surivoes break their spirits enough or envoke their common sense to run. Its more out of fear there are just too many of them to deal with given this is the main base of the CB's operation.

<<"Enemy unit disengaging.">> Alina lets her eyes close for just a brief moment, the breath passing her lips in a sigh of relief. Then, that small show of emotion is over as she powers down the unit's lights, trying not to draw any more attention to herself as she weaves between the broken remnants of other defenders. At the very least, she isn't among them. Others might have fought until the one or both units were disabled - but for Alina, there are more important things. A unit could be replaced, her brother - could not. "Thank you, Amit. Keep Ascian in your sights, let me know if anyone starts targeting him."

It takes a bit of time for her to weave through the wreckage, but eventually the darkened Xaku comes up behind the unit-less framerunner. It /might/ just be a scary thought - some unit only lit by the blasts of laser fire and explosions, coming out of the darkness. Not wanting to draw any attention to him, or risk some Katharon or A-LAWs pilot wanting an 'easy kill' on a Crusader, Alina simply closes the Xeku's hands over Ascian's space suit, enclosing him in the space between as she engages her thrusters to full, escaping to the far edge of the battlefield and the waiting supply ship beyond.

"Not so cocky not bitch!" Suriel says, with a Hip thrust.

He moves, turning his back on the slowly disapaiting darkness. Before...

ORGONE LASER TO THE BACK. Suriel cries out, slowly turning around and looking at the beam cutting it's way out of uncertain distruction...

And visiting certain distruction on Suriel. The Qareen is blasted apart, slowly falling backwards like a turtle on it's back. "Son of a fuckin'..." Suriel starts to curse, before the unit kicks into flight mode, pulling back to the transport. It's pilot fighting to not pass out, letting the AI take over. "Lucky shot, nubby. We'll settle this when I don't have bitches on my side to make sure aren't dead."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite removing his helmet in the Peregrine. "That is the /last/ time I am jumping in one of those /death traps/."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite yelling at a nearby mechanic.

Slumping back in her chair, Aki can only laugh weakly as she's hugged from behind, returning it awkwardly - with the chair in the way, all she can really do is lay an arm along Nia's in kind. "A 'very best hero', huh...? I kind of like the sound of that. ... well, one down, only about thousands left to go. Ibis!" she yells as she grabs for her radio and tries to manhandle both it and a sparkly princess, "Are you okay?! What's next target!? Status report, er-- alive an' mostly undamaged and, um, glowin' green! It's pretty cool, really!"

The Brynhildr races just behind the Altairlion, impossibly keeping pace with it thanks to the bright glowing green of its new engines; a moment later, as Ibis' machine belches missiles every which way to Sunday, Aki twists and spins around them as easily as if she were waltzing through a dance, complimenting the attack.

She slams straight into one mobile suit, puncturing a hole immediately through its torso before blasting it backwards with another flare of angry green energy; it sends the poor thing ricocheting off two of its twins, all three exploding in an angry fireball. She hasn't stopped to watch, however; instead she's arcing for a carrier, landing roughly on it and racing down along the edge of it, dragging the spear behind her to leave a long and angry scar. She flings off to the next and the next, whooping as she tears through the battlefield.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Alina Luddite transmits, "As you can hear, Ascian is fine."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Thanks Alina. I owe you one."

As the beam fades and the crystals stop pouring out of the Granteed's chest, Touya puts Suriel's challenge down in a mental to-do list. And, while he's at it, he erases the part where Suriel wrote 'die'. "For someone who talks so big, you sure are a sore loser." Touya transmits one last time to the retreating Orbital Frame, then turns back toward the Argama. Looks like the battle's winding down, but maybe he can still stab some mooks in the background until everyone's wrapped up their own fights. Gotta make himself useful while he's still out here.

And so it is written Whenever doth the masked one Hasten from the void to bring war So too the gundam Riseth to oppose him -The Book of Space

The resonating /impact/ of the Zeta's lesg against the Den'an Zon Kai's side throws Camille on the opposite direction, helmet of his normal suit slamming into the wall of the cockpit, cracking a screen of the panoramic camera display and giving him a huge, dead pixel in the brightly-lit battlefield around him. He doesn't bemoan it, but instead looks to the enemy before him to see what his next move is.

What the boy finds waiting for him defies all conventional expectations, not only of his enemy, but /reality itself/. No space suit. Yet he was live, standing, /talking/ in declarations the Newtype could not hear, but the mechanical will he was projecting painted an all-too clear picture of a man (could he even be a man?!) all too assured in his philsophy.

And then he's launching across the brief emptiness between their units, the last image Camille sees on the display being a blown-up figure of the Iron Mask's hands reaching out, as if to strangle him, followed by the sounds of groaning metal and darkness as the displayerd shorted and faded to the red-hued environs of the cockpit under auxiliary power, warnings and their associated klaxons flashing incessantly.

WARNING! WARNING! HULL INTEGRITY BREACH! VACUUM EXPOSURE IMMINENT!

Cursing, Camille sprang into action before had time to think of how utterly, completely fucked up any of this was, one hand curling about the marked PURGE block to his left while his freehand wrapped securely around the sidearm he'd made a point to carry in his cockpit at all times on Captain Quattro's suggestion.

Everything goes dark as Camille kills the system, rendering the Zeta Gundam inert, his radio going dead silent in the commotion. Even it's blip on the radar vanishes as minovsky particle density surpasses tolerable limits. The tearing and groan of iron is all that remains, just as the cockpit block is wrenched open and cockpit block decompresses in an instant, quite possibly breaking a rib or two of Camille's his restraints kept him from slamming right into the unreal intruder.

He's already got his gun trained on Ronah Family leader as he invades, shallow breaths defying a determined, confused, fearful look that had dealt with aliens, intelligent AIs and fucking space ghosts now refused to balk before jerks who could breathe in space. "My name is Camille Bidan." He heard himself talking, even though it was to none but himself, "I serve under Admiral Bright Noa, aboard the Argama. People call me a Newtype, the Second Coming of Amuro Ray." He cocked back the hammer on the gun.

"And we don't take shit from aliens, underground tyrants, or crazy masked fuck-offs like /you/!"

He pulled the trigger.

A BANG went unheard in space as a bullet screamed for the dead center of Iron Mask's head.

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

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki transmits, "Just a drawback to this unit."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki transmits, "The trace system feed back damage to it's pilot...I think Metatron is a bit more sympathetic too. Just kinda feels like I got my stomach punched by Chibodee Crocket for an hour.""

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Alina Luddite transmits, "That, doesn't sound fun. But you'll be alright?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Suriel... isn't built quite like us, Lin."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Alina Luddite transmits, "I can imagine. He did warn off of trace suits. Are they really that bad?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "He can take a punch. Isn't that right, Misaki? But - she's right. Do be careful."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "They're not bad if you have a strongly trained body. But for us Martians, with the weaker bone structure..."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki transmits, "I'd crush you like a tin can."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki transmits, "I'm...different. Lets just leave it at that."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Alina Luddite transmits, "Probably a good thing I didn't get trained on them, then. Although the medics didn't seem to think it would be an issue."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Alina Luddite transmits, "Not the first time they've been wrong about me, though."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "The engineers on the Argama thought it'd be a good idea to test-pilot the Amenthes too..."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Anyhow. What's your status, Misaki?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Alina Luddite transmits, "Mayet wouldn't let them near her. Which is probably for the best."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki transmits, "Falling back. I'll be on board in a minute."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Suriel Misaki transmits, "It's hard to fight when I have to keep looking over my shoulder."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Roger that. I'll make sure we have room. We've got some damaged Gyan Cannons incoming, so do be careful about your flight-path."

Staren is like a _machine_, coldly and mercilessly beating Samuel back...

And then Samuel stabs the machine in the heart. The blade hits something really hard, and breaks through. A rib perhaps, to overextend the metaphor. And the temperature of the heat saber rises, as if soaked in hot blood... okay, enough of that. Samuel can guess that he just breached the reactor -- the plasma discharged into the shielding and his blade. There is no explosion because <extended rant on the practicality of using bombs as your power sources snipped for brevity>

An alarm sounds in the cockpit, shocking Staren out of his trance and warning him of the damage. Fortunately, his reactor is compartmentalized, so the loss of a single torus only drops power output partially. And right now, he has the GN drive to pick up the slack -- The blue particle output increases to compensate for the reduced power.

But being stabbed is also an opportunity, one Staren has only a split-second to take advantage of.

One of the Efreet's arms is, after all, unavailable.

In a flash, Staren uses his opposite arm to knock the Efreet's arm away and then holds the dangling beam spike in place on the other arm, jamming it into crusader the mobile suit. Hot plasma is pimped inside...

The GN drive increases power output to maximum, spraying particles like there's no tomorrow, and the Star Hawk's shoulder armor parts open up, I-field emitter arrays spreading like the petals of a flower and beginning to glow...

Staren jams in the other spike in, injecting more plasma...

DEATH BLOSSOM CANNONS: 140% CHARGE FIRING...

Supercharged by the GN-Ti drive's power, the twin hyper mega beam cannons dubbed 'Death Blossom' by Staren for their shape fire bright blue beams of high-energy mega particles... and _keep_ firing, a thick stream of hot energy death that lasts for an entire second before the emitters shut off and vents on the armor parts release clouds of green coolant vapor.

Even Bright Noa has to raise his hand and shield himself from the intensity of Wing Gundam Zero Custom's effulgent discharge. That golden glow illuminates the Argama's bridge, bathing every single one -- souls free from the grasp of Earth's gravity -- in its light.

A trio of Zamouth Nada-class Destroyers are simply cleaved in half by the Buster Beam, this incredible weapon.

Several Den'an Zons are destroyed by the likes of Aki Saitani, Ibis Douglas, Kiet Sagat, and Macua Huitl. The advanced Buch Concern-design seemingly 'popping' in the void of space.

From Side 5, a slim yellow shape jets out toward the Argama.

"Argama!" Fa Yuiry gulps as kicks in her Methuss's afterburners. "I'm coming in with Miss Reccoa! Where's Camille--!?"

Aboard the ship, Saman is shaking his head slowly despite Bright's stern look.

"It just.." he croaks out. "It's.. /Zeta/ Gundam is inoperable, sir."

Bright Noa scrunches his face, a scowl edging at the corners of his eyes. "Send Heero after him."

"..And tell the rest of our people to return to the ship. We're getting out of here."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Saman transmits, "All pilots, return to the Argama."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Saman transmits, "Heero, the Admiral is ordering you to find Camille."

Iron Mask can feel satisfaction as his fingers dig into the metal of the Zeta Gundam. He did not usually exert himself in this manner; it was gauche, unbecoming to a nobleman. It was foolish of him to act in this manner, foolish of him to expose himself. It was foolish of him to risk his life.

But as his hands rip apart the metal of the Gundam, as he invades Camille Bidan's personal space in a way that is most uncouth yet so strangely serene, he cannot deny some bizarre enjoyment in the action. As the man's pressure is exposed to Space Jesus 2.0, as he exerts the full of his mind onto Camille in what would truly be the beginning of a battle of wills, some part of the machine-man's mind rolls backwards; somewhere, behind all of those gears, a thought passes through his mind.

What must he look like to this boy? What must he look like, to this young man whose mind he was attempting to strangle - and yet having no luck against him, for though his power was abominable, so too was Camille's, perhaps even greater than his own. What must he appear as, this strange purple-and-iron intruder who is defying physics through the sheer power of his newtype abilities? He must be either as a god, or a monster; something to be in awe of, or something to tear down like a tyrant. It was a common mistake.

And then Camille makes his declaration, as Iron Mask enters the gundam, his blue mask flashing. As Iron Mask looks upon the gun, and realizes the mistake he has made. It was a gun; it would bound off his mask, though Camille could not possibly know that.

But, well...

Camille makes his declaration. It is a declaration made through the mouth of a shaking teenager; a declaration made with more courage than many professional soldiers, many so-called nobles of Zeon, could ever have mustered. Certainly none of the fat and corrupt Federation officials, none of the men of Anaheim content to play all the sides for their own, none of man's own demons, could have made such a speech.

The boy had courage, and Iron Mask respected it.

As the hammer cocks back, Iron Mask does not speak. It is happening too fast for him to dodge, placed as he is on the Zeta; it is happening too fast even for his newtype senses (not that they were necessary) to allow him to dodge. Rather, Iron Mask sends out one thought, and one thought only, trusting in his own power and the power of the Newtype before him to get the sentiment through.

All men have their duty, no matter their birth. All that changes is what that duty is.

BANG.

Newton's First Law is that an object in motion stays in motion, unless acted upon by an outside force. Space is, unfortunately, empty; a bullet will continue onwards once fired, until it impacts something, somewhere. It may strike its target, or it may travel on for ten thousand years.

Sir Isaac Newton is the deadliest son of a bitch in space, and Iron Mask just got shot at point the fuck blank range with a very heavy gun.

Iron Mask is flung physically from the Zeta Gundam; he spirals back, though no blood pours forth, no crack appears on his mask. It is not the strike that mattered; it is not pain that washes over him. It is a simple, twitching irritation beneath the alien gears of his mind; a simple, quiet fury that that boy continued to defy him to such a point. Iron Mask spins for a full thirty seconds before his returner belt kicks in, reeling him physically back into the Den'an Zon Kai.

It takes all of his willpower to remind himself that it wasn't worth it to kill the boy, and that by violating his space and showing him the power of Cosmo Babylonia, he would do more good for his cause than he possibly could by staining his hands with meaninglss blood.

The Den'an Zon Kai lifts its beam flag in a simple salute to the Zeta before peeling away from the Gundam, heading towards the Zamouth Garr for repairs. Iron Mask's fingers drum along the control sticks.

"Camille...Bidan." Iron Mask repeats to the airless void. "We will meet again."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Heero Yuy transmits, "I'm on it."

"Ah, yes, that green glow is spiral power!" Nia NEGLECTED to mention, as she hangs on tight! The princess laughs, grinning as she and Aki tear through so many! "It is the power of your spirit! And your courage!" She claims!

As Aki shoots forwards, Nia's grasp tightens as she clings close! "And you might be just as good as Ibis at it!" She cheerfully exclaims! Arms embrace Aki as Nia stays close... and for the moment just rides along with her!

The princess watches everything from within Aki's cockpit, but for the moment, seems a bit exhausted!

Just because Heero has a new shiny unit doesn't mean he's going to focus on the battle entirely -- no, someone quite close and important to him, the possibility that he slipped him a roofie in Ireland not withstanding, could be in mortal danger. He isn't a Newtype, still, but even he could feel that something is amiss from the Radio chatter.

The Wing Zero Custom turns, moving with perfect manueverability as its wings uplift it and send it propelling outward past the Den'an Zon field, past the wreckage of the Zamouth Nada battlecruisers that've been rent in twain by the Twin Buster Rifles. With each burst, the wings actually flap -- even in space -- and propel Heero Yuy that much closer to his target of interest... Camille Bidan.

"Camille!" Heero exclaims, his expression firm as he moves in close towards the Zeta, holding to a stop and staring towards the Den'an Zon Kai with guarded interest. This... man, this masked iron man... what was he up to, in this exchange?

Regardless, this is the battlefield, and he's here to make sure that his brother in blood does not suffer a fate that the ZERO one did. That, he will make sure.

<Radio> Tightbeam to Aki Saitani: Ascian Luddite crackles through, "I really suggest you reconcider your allegiances. Miss Aki."

Staren may be a machine, but Samuel most certainly isn't. He's something else. Something... different. Machines make sense to him. He doesn't really think about it; the details just pop into his mind, as if they've been put there by an unseen hand or nudged into place by an ethereal voice. Sometimes he tries to drown them out, the voices--he knows they're dangerous, but the whispers can be so very useful, too. Especially when coupled with...

...E.X.A.M.

The System suddenly goes into overdrive. Samuel feels an intense pressure, a surge of awareness he has felt before and never enjoyed. The Efreet releases the blade, the plasma venting into space. Staren's other arm comes up--and Sam bends the Efreet's far arm forward, thrusting the blade straight in and running the offending limb through. He twists and pulls, knocking it aside with a blossom of sparks and a bloom of heat. Now that that's out of the way, he should be in the clea--

FLASH!!

Another pulse of pressure--the feeling of guidance--a woman's voice, gentle yet demanding, panicked, furious, all at once. Samuel reacts instinctively with a will that is not his own, hands clutching the control sticks like they were the only thing keeping him anchored during a hurricane. He pushes on them just as the cannons are brought to bear, exhaling a startled, choked gasp as E.X.A.M. burns brightly in his mind.

A burst of thrust from the vertical verniers pushes it away from the shoulder-mounted cannons, another from the leg units stabilizing it and rotating the mech below the Star Hawk precisely far enough to get out of the way at the last possible second. The massive beam of megaparticle fire bisects space, the sheer power felt from the proximity alone. The paint on the Efreet's head starts to burn away during the too-long second, the mobile suit 'descending,' rotating around the variable fighter.

It grasps both swords, draws them out of the Star Hawk with a smooth, practiced motion. The Zeon machine, upside-down by Staren's reckoning, flips behind the young genius's pride and joy. It swings the heat sabers straight down, upwards to the cyborg in the other cockpit, dragging them through the back of the mech and tearing them free from the rear of the cannons.

The Efreet kicks off the Star Hawk, fires up it's thrusters, and jets towards the rendezvous point for Crusader friendlies. E.X.A.M. powers down, leaving Sam's head feeling like it was thrust into a psychic blender and left to come away with someone else's thoughts.

The Altairlion blazes past the Wing Zero Custom and the disabled Zeta Gundam, a good klick and a half away. In the back seat, the miserable brunette engineer copilot is currently wishing she could just pop tablets, take a swig of brandy and pass the fuck out. This 'war' business isn't for her, and she's going to have to start training up a replacement immediately.

But we don't play that shit, so let's focus on what /matters/.

A comms window opens to Heero Yuy's magical ballet mobile princess suit angel, and the Altairlion's scanners just shrug helplessly. They don't know what the hell is up with the wings either. None of that matters. The silver Armored Module, the very culmination of Project Terrestrial Dream's hopes and wishes, goes into a lazy holding pattern around the two Gundams.

"Heero! God, i--is he okay? I'll tear the face off of anyone who gets near you two, just make sure he's alright!"

Sure enough, if anything approaches the most fabulous collection of space robots in the galaxy on an approach vector, Heaven help 'em.

The exhange of wills between them is something that goes beyond description. Camille would not know how to explain it to someone else with words, only to show it to them with what his mind experienced. In that moment he knew something of Iron Mask, of the man who would declare independence from the Earth Sphere and all the terrible consequences it entailed. Not anything so specific as motivation, past or personage. Merely the depth of his resolve in his stated belief. It was the kind the sold people on an idea, that moved men and women of this age alike to violence as an expression for their beliefs.

And Camille knew in the pit of his soul, even as he pulled the trigger: The they were about to wage beneath the Earth would be nothing compared to the war that waited for them above it once they were done.

Iron Mask departs in a victory that must be credited to Isaac Newton (or /space itself/) before it can go to Camille. Yet the words he left in Newtype's mind keep and resonate, even as he emerges from the Zeta's rent hatch to stand in a silent staredown, wondering if he'll live or die, until the new Wing Zero arrives.

Necessity dictates the better part of valor, and Camille turns away from the the man in the Iron Mask, hastening to the new Zero's hatch for entry, sparing only a glance for the Zeta behind him.

"We shouldn't be going to Earth." Is what he says as soon as he's in there with Heero, "This is where we need to be."

It all happens so fast, in the time it takes for Staren to say: "Shit, no!" Samuel has dodged his attacks and cleaved the Death Blossom cannons through! Their fragility _is_ something of a downside... But their power is undeniable.

Samuel is retreating.

Staren should too. Bright is ordering it, anyway. "Tch... that was some pilot, wish I faced him in Burning PT..." The Star Hawk turns to leave, and then is suddenly gone in the direction of the Argama, leaving only a trail of blue sparkles.

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Staren Wiremu transmits, "Returning to the Argama...!"

With the battle winding down, Aki is finally free to take a moment to look around for something other than her next target to lance through; quieter now, her spear slowly winds down from whatever power it's been tapping into.

"W-what is even going on... --Ibis, what do we do?!" Aki just cuts herself off and kind of despairs as Ibis pulls her mech into park alongside dangerous Katharon forces that even the newbie pilot can tell she /probably shouldn't/ be parked next to. She slumps back, lowering her engine output in turn; with this many Katharon guns around, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot to do but surrender and really hope she gets thanked for her work rather than shot into little itty-bitty pieces, and it's not like she can just leave Ibis behind.

So instead she just slows down, puts a hand to her face, and lets out a long sigh. "Ugggghhhhhhh... I don't understand any of this stuff..." she adds to the princess in her cockpit, finally starting to digest in order the things she'd mentally set aside because she was too busy spearing things in a whirlwind of death.

Macua Huitl gets the recall order from the Argama it's really time to run, with the Zeta down and others not in so good condtion not evne counting she got an order to pull back. the damaged Amazon ci just turns and makes for the carrier it's time to freaking go.

<Radio> Tightbeam to Aki Saitani: Ascian Luddite grunts bitterly, "So how did it feel? To attack some defenseless colonists? Feel good? Better start getting used to it! Because I'm sure that one day, you'll be gassing one. Or maybe you'll just execute some folk publically. Really, Aki. I don't think that your current situation is good for you."

Heero opens the hatch, which slides in from above, and Camille moves in to the sweet snazzy new smooth jazz lounge of a setup Heero has got there. Well, not really, but it's glowing blue and full of Protoss lines I like to think so OKAY. He shuts it back in, and the Wing Zero's long-fingered and possibly well-manicured hands clench tightly onto the Zeta as the wings stretch outward to move them back towards the Argama.

I forgot to mention that Heero's taken his piloting suit off by now, so his face slowly decompresses in outer space, but what do you know, I'm Heero Yuy. And I can BREATHE IN SPACE.

Okay, maybe not. Let's edit that out.

"... I am glad that you're safe," Heero remarks as he tosses his space helmet off, and once he's certain the mobile suits are safe, he blasts off towards the Argama's hangar. "There's a lot of work to be done... for the both of us, and for everyone as well, yes..."

<Radio> Tightbeam to Ascian Luddite: Aki Saitani finally deigns to respond. She sounds tired, if anything. "Last I checked, yer weren't defenceless. Last I checked, yer were ridin' ta war against us. Last I checked, I did as I said, I ain't touched anyone who weren't carryin' a gun pointed at me. If it helps, yeah, I'm pretty damn sure yer right on that last point. Aki Saitani out. Take care."

<Radio> Tightbeam to Aki Saitani: Ascian Luddite sighs, "Take care, Aki... be careful."

Ibis watches the movement of little red and green blips across her space-radar with careful eyes, breath fogging slightly against the visor of her helmet as she settles down. Well, slightly. She's still ready to wax anyone who takes a pot-shot.

"Relax, Saitani." her voice carries across the void of space thanks to the magic of /technology/ and /robot radio/. She sounds and looks awfully relaxed, even as the Altairlion's head-camera swivels back and forth continuously. Ibis breathes a lot easier once the Wing Zero Custom is getting the hell out of here.

"They won't lay a hand on us, we're fine. Good work out there."

The Argama begins putting distance between it and Side 5. Its crew had come here in search of answers..

..all it got were more questions.

..and several weeks worth of repair duty.

"Aki?" Nia notes to the girl who places her hands on her face. "I don't understand any of it either....." She notes, as her face grows closer to Aki, "But I'm sure we can find out~!" Rewind!!!

"I don't understand any of it either!" Nia exclaims, "But I do not think it is important, right now!" She happily adds, tilting her head! "Because we are all safe, and okay... I believe so! Ah yes, like Ibis says! We are all friends!" She adds as she sits back down, potentially in her seat or closer/on Aki.

Depending on the choices above!

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Heero Yuy transmits, "Argama contact."

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Heero Yuy transmits, "I have Camille Bidan in my cockpit, and I am coming in with the Zeta."

EPILOGUE

Camille Bidan sits with his arms folded in query, idly drifting by in one of the many corridors of the Argama. The Zeta Gundam would need to have nearly all its internal circuitry replaced after what he pulled. The cost alone would have Wong Lee complaining for weeks in Bright Noa's face, and give Astonaige many sleepless nights. But the Newtype's concern was not with them, or that status of his mobile suit. It was on the words the man in the Iron Mask had left with him, that even now continued to plague him.

All men have their duty, no matter their birth. All that changes is what that duty is.

Duty, the nature of birth. Just what was /his/ duty? As a spacenoid, was it to indepedence? As a Newtype, was it to humanity? Or as to pilot of the Zeta Gundam, was it to the AEUG, to Bright Noa and Quattro Bageena, and the objectives they sought?

Where, when all was said and done, did the duty of Camille Bidan lie?

The rush of a zero-g zipline interrupted the boy's line of thought as he glimpsed the telltall yellow of Fa Yuiry's uniform, her face a half-writ mess of concern and frustration.

"Camille!" She cries, "What happened out there? I heard the Zeta had gone down and I just..." Biting her lip, the young woman's knitting hands tightened into fists just as quickly before she turned the other half of her demanding attitude on Camille, "Why did you make me come find you?! You always just-"

"Fa." Camille's voice was quiet, calming, and strangely subdued. It may not be an answer forever, but for now, he knew where his duty was, "Are Shinta and Qum with you?"

"Huh?" The girl looked up, perplexed, "No, Reccoa's keeping them busy right now, why-"

That was all she managed to say before the Second Coming of Amuro Ray claimed her lips, and pushed her against the shipwall.

"Mm..mmph-Camille!" Gasping for breath, Fa gave him a look of increduiltiy, "I...I..." Her heart was skipping beats, immediately at war with her mind, "This.."

"Make sure they stay with Reccoa tonight." He offered her a wan smile, "We've got other plans."

It was right about then Fa realized Camille hadn't just been pondering in a random place - he'd been waiting right outside her room. She took one look at her childhood friend before swallowing, nodding as her fist slammed on the entry plate, prompting the door to hiss open, then back shut behind them once they scrambled in.

It would be a while before it opened again.

<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Kiet Sagat transmits, "Garuda's carrier system is still functioning. I'll be heading out."