2011-02-25 - Past Glories

Arian-16, Meiya Mitsurugi, Trowa Barton, Ibis Douglas, Oliver Evlien, Takeshi Odori, Lunata Croze, Macua Huitl, Huang Qin Shi, Quatre Raberba Winner, Meriden Almace, and Otto Habsburg

The Gundam Fighter for Neo-Austria in the 11th Gundam Fight piloted the Maximilian Gundam. The ancient machine was buried in a tomb on the northern border of Austria, where the pilot, the ancient Gundam, and his sponsors' personal archives were held. It details some old agreements with the United Nations and United Colony Corps, which might be useful, as it predates the founding of the Earth Federation. It also has the specs of the Maximilian Gundam.

However, in the aftermath of the Aerogater War, Europe has been divided into administrative zones in lieu of things like functioning governments on the continent. This tomb is under the jurisdiction of the Earth Federation.

Otto Habsburg is aware of this.

The Liondam sets down in a small forest that is some three kilometers away from the tomb and twelve kilometers away from a German village being rebuilt. He does not like the notion that Austria is so lawless that it has to be part of a Federation bureaucratic institution meant to keep supplies and food flowing to it. The tomb is ahead -- a low-lying concrete structure, with a half-scale statue of the Maximilian Gundam outside.

He sends a transmission to the Katharon agents here, helping him. "Thank you," he says. "Hopefully this will be worth it. The archives are in a computer block, underground. I'll need to go in there."

SOMEWHERE AROUND THAT TIME, IN SPACE

The Neo Vatican City hovers nearby, a space colony shaped in the form of a giant Christian Cross. If some individuals had their way, that giant naked Rei from the end of Evangelion would be cruficied on it. Fortunately, we live in a rational universe where that didn't happen.

The call comes out for the Judgement Gundam. The archdeacon sits on his chair, and rubs his thick beard. The time has come for their Gundam Fighter to show their worth... he only hopes that their chosen champion knows what she's doing, aligning with Katharon like she did. Their views are open, however, and they give everyone a chance.

Several rows of clergy-engineermen stand in order, dressed in their regular vestments as they stare towards their finished machine. The light above turns green, painted by a stained-glass of an inspiring work derived from Michaelangelo in the distant past.

"Release Judgement. Today, Neo Vatican City takes an important step in its history. May we walk the righteous path, and never be blinded by arrogance and sin. Dona nobis pacem."

A large bay opens forth, launching a re-entry capsule to Earth...

ABOUT A MINUTE LATER, WHERE WE ARE NOW

Up above, a silver lining cuts past the fluffy white clouds. A large object burns in re-entry, shaped like...

...like a giant Holy Mitre...

...and slowly shatters, cracks forming around its heat-proofed shell to protect what's inside. The metal shatters, eventually, burning up into small glowing pieces luminescent in the sun-bathed sky as the Mobile Fighter contained within comes into sight.

The Judgement Gundam, predominantly a burnished brown with gold, red and black highlights. Its eyes shimmer white-gold as its systems come alive, responding to the call of its mistress, allowing her entry onto a glass-paned platform, sheathing her in the vestments of the Mobile Trace suit.

The cheesecakey fanservice scene will have to wait for another time.

"Forged to serve mankind, hewn by the faithful. Blessed by those with hearts clear in purpose. Rise, ye strong and good, and dispel thy fears. For only the wicked fear the Gundam Judgement!"

A pause, and then Lunata stands from her reverent position, body and mind now fully attuned to both the T-LINK System and Mobile Trace affixed to all her senses bar one. She hears and feels her machine's tick like it were her own blood and organs; she senses the presence of both ally and opponent into her own psychic senses. Twenty years she's been waiting for this.

"I am ready."

Hidden in part of the forest waits a silver SUMO, which, despite the name, does not look at all like a sumo wrestler. It actually has a bit of a sleek cyclops look, though with a rather broad head. Oliver Evlien remembered Quattro's advice about using an alternate, but he doesn't intend to let anything happen to his machine today.

"I'm sure it will be worth it, Your Hig-... Sir Habsburg." Otto had requested not being called His Highness, after all, even if it was Oliver's reflex to use royal titles. (He had also requested to be called by his first name, but there are degrees of informality one must adjust to with time.) "Simply give us the cue, and we'll be ready to make a path for you."

He sets aside the electronic book he was reading in the cockpit. Sorry, poison dart frogs, he'll have to read about your adorable, brightly-colored selves another time.

Some of these entrances are more obvious than others. Otto might have gone unremarked for some time, but like hell is Judgement Gundam's air-drop going to go unnoticed by A-LAWS personnel. And, well, one of them was in Germany...

Meriden's Seventh Gundam has been spotted before by Katharon, an RX-78 so close to Amuro's that, from a distance, the only way you can tell them apart is by which gun they carry. She is piloting Seventh today, but a different Seventh.

This one is built up, made bulky by the additional plating and subgenerators and propellant tanks and weapons it carries. It probably has enough firearms to count as Heavyarms' cousin as much as Amuro's, made bulky - but surprisingly not awkward - by its additional gear.

Meriden brings it in a long loping run across the battered German terrain, coming in from further north than the village. It runs fast, at least, and the mass of jets across its body means it has some truly impressive long jumps, but it will still take her a few moments to get there.

Near the SUMO hides another machine, under a camoflage-pattern cloak. The bright red and white of Staren's custom Astray are, for the moment, obscured from sight.

Inside the cockpit, Staren sits eating a ration of some sort, vaguely eurasian in contents. "I'm sorry the Liondam didn't work out so great... I hope the Maximilian will live up to your expectations."

And then CHRISTIANITY GUNDAM falls out of the sky and Staren slaps his forehead. "So much for the stealth mission... Kinda reminds me of Solis... At least they probably won't have any major forces he--" And then the HEAVILY ARMED GUNDAM is detected on radar, followed by popping up in a window on his screen. "--re. Rrrrrgh." Staren scoops the last of the food into his mouth and puts on his helmet. "Hrf wih gah."

The Katana was falling towards Western europe at speeds that shouldn't be possible but thankfully are because of an improvised mech armor system that wrapped the mech in an atmospheric shielding. Yeah technology! Once out of the dangerous parts, the armor splits and the Katana activates it's flight thrusters, slowing to a halt somewhere above the location where New Vatican City just dropped Judgment.

"Another mission, but yeah, New Vatican City right?"

Cat was prancing about in her maid outfit like usual, "Yep, Teshi-kun. It's Austria, and we just confirmed an orbital drop. By the way, I've been meaning to ask, would it be more Moe if I had stockings?"

Teshi just stares at the AI, "...Yes, now focus on the battle."

The mech stops the thrusters and begins a free fall once more, Cat using sound effects to mimic this event by laying on her stomach and screaming while waving her arms wildly. Teshi just stares at her out of the corner of his eye and then the thrusters activate again just above the Austrian area (about 5 miles above). Easily within radar distance.

"So, Cat, what can you see?"

She hops to and pulls out a frilly wand before waving it, "HAH!"

The screens light up with data instantly on what they know. He once again stares at her out of the corner of his eye, "Why is it that Moe took the most of your neural net?"

"DOES IT MATTER TESHI-KUN!?"

Teshi just leans back in his chair kind of quickly: internal monologue: '... I... uh... didn't program her with that.'

"Please don't call me sir, either, Oliver," Otto sighs. The brown-haired young man looks down at the displays on the Liondam's monitor. He sits in a chair -- the Armored Module mode has a more classic cockpit, while the Mobile Figther mode retracts the chair into the floor and uses a mobile trace system. He watches the radar, and sees the first responders, as the Judgement Gundam comes down.

"Ah, thank you!" he says, to Lunata. "I appreciate, um, the Holy Father's assistance--or, uh, yours, or whichever..."

He looks forward, at the tomb, and nods his head. "Let us go! Be careful, all of you!" The last thing he needs is the guilt of getting someone hurt -- or worse -- on his mind. The Liondam lifts off, blue light bursting from the Tesla Drive, and the sleek armored module bursts through the trees. Leaves explode out after it. "I'm not stealing the Maximilian," he says. "I just want the specs. It's almost fifty years old, it probably flies like American beer."

/What/?

 Staren Wiremu transmits, "...That's a good point, what will you do with the specs of a 50-year-old machine?"

 Otto Habsburg transmits, "Figure out /why/ it worked. Our current entry is the Liondam. The last entry was the /Marriage Gundam/."

 Staren Wiremu transmits, "...Marriage Gundam?"

 Staren Wiremu transmits, "That sounds like someone asked for a 'Martial Arts' Gundam and there was a typo and noone questioned it."

 Lunata Croze transmits, "Marital Arts..."

Things do not look good for Trowa Barton. Outnumbered and surrounded by Taurus Mobile Suits driven by the merciless Mobile Doll system, he realizes that there is a definite chance that he will die here. Yet he does not give in to the fear of death. It is not in his nature. The only thing he fears for is the well being of his comrade. His Vayaete Mobile Suit remains motionless as the Taurus' take up position, their weapons poised at the ready yet not firing. Several miles away in a bunker, the man giving them their orders watches on a display at the potential chaos, then grins savagely and gives a single order. "Begin." Instantly, the battlefield erupts as Taurus suits open fire. Trowa replies by juking his suit sidewards, using his verniers to strafe across the ground for short distances as his beam cannon rakes across the enemy positions. Two Taurus suits vanish instantly, but the others scatter before the deadly light can reach them. A moment later, the Vayaete disappears into the forest with Mobile Dolls in hot pursuit. Back at the bunker, one of the technicians reports, "The information uplink is working perfectly. We're getting an energy efficiency rating of... 93 percent from the Beam Cannon. Looks like the atmospheric conditions are having a negligable effect." Another technician turns to report, "Sir, we're picking up activity in the nearby district. Supreme Commander Huang from the Alpha Numbers is notifying the garrison of Katharon activity. Your orders?" "Hmmm... suspend the test. Let's see how our toys do against some real targets."

Macua Huitl knew this place far too well, after all it was one of the area as Adom she was deployed too. Her Machine is moving along, she'd wanted to bring her G fighter but it was unwise to normally use the machine on Katharon business so here she is in the Gundam Phoebe. Macua would note it's The Catholic Gundam. But for now the Peheobe is moing along she looks about pausing.

"Otto just a heads up I lost command of a Meliott squad in this era they may have malfuctioned. Hopefully they went up with Judecca but ... you never know."

She pause as the Neo Vatican's Gundam drops in. It was certainly an impressive machine, but ya there goes sneaking around. But honestly unless your a certain German ninja how stealthy can you be in a huge robot.

HOLD UP AND CHECK IT LIKE TWENTY MINUTES AGO DAWG LANGLEY BASE UNITED STATES OF AMURRICA

The droning mechanical whine of tesla drive engines fills hangar bay six like a raging cloud of angry space-bees as the Astelion sits there idling as the pilot waits for clearance to get going. Ibis Douglas slumps at her controls with both arms folded and a flat, maybe slightly confused expression on her face. Today, well, today seems to be a very special day. Today, someone in the air traffic control tower has left their headphones seated next to the mic and has either fallen asleep or fallen into the toilet or something, because--

"/~NOW YOU'RE A MAN (MAN) / A MAN MAN MAN / NOW YOU'RE A MAN (MAN) / A MAWNY MAWNY MAWN/~"

--their questionable selection of music has been blaring for like five minutes now in lieu of anything useful. Space cops, and the hardships they go through in their quest to protect and serve.

RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW IN FRONT OF A LIVE STUDIO AUDIENCE

The Astelion is in the middle of like its fourth circle over the middle of Germany somewhere in a loose holding pattern, in completely the wrong place. It might have something to do with the guy watching Indiana Jones VII in front of Ibis in the briefing on his space-laptop, distracting her from actually paying attention to things like 'mission location' and 'objectives'. She rubs her chin, or at least goes to do it but kinda just bumps her hand into the bottom of her helmet and frowns deeply about this.

Luckily, a gigantic Pope Hat(tm) drops out of space and gives her something to head for.

"I, uh.... unknowns on radar, checking it out." she mumbles into her mic, banking hard left and clipping a few thousand feet from the Armored Module's altitude as she goes in to see exactly what the /hell/ just came flying out of orbit.

 Lunata Croze transmits, "I sincerely hope you find your lost legacy, Otto."

A few hours ago. Somewhere in space: OZ 'Resource' Facility

"That's right you chumps!" The commander stands before Quatre and Trowa, grinning at them. "I guess I ought to congratulate you two on your 'exceptional' skills in space. Your numbers are 'unrivaled', and you've indeed showed us that you can succeed. BUT!" This entire speech had been riddled with annoyance of having to admit these facts. "BUT!" He seemed happy he could toss in a 'but' though. "Now... let's see how good you do on Earth! Under Earth's blessed gravity."

Now Cut to Trowa and Quatre in an Austrian valley, nearby.

A series of Taurus units did surround the Mercurius as well, on the other side of the valley. Quatre calmly looks outside, as the massive quantity are surrounding him, slowly moving forwards. He is bent slightly forwards, the Mercurius' Planetary Defenders crackling violently on the back of the unit, ready to deploy.

"Begin."

The units fire, and the shield deploys immediately around the unit. All the lines of the units fly dead-center at the Mercurius, and with that, Quatre. But the young man patiently awaits and guides the Planetary Defenders around the unit, stopping the shots from hitting.

"No difference in output. Oxygen does not hinder the shielding." One of the scientists mutters in the bunker. "Excellent." A second replies, looking over the numbers. "The general will be pleased with these results. Now let's see how well they'll do against the Taurusses. Make sure to record their data."

Unbeknownst to Trowa and Quatre, the both of them were having their battle data saved for a future line of Mobile Dolls. And as Quatre guides his unit towards Trowa's unit, planning on working together with him on the operation, and to act as a combined squad - perfectly in synch. But before they reach that area, even as two of the Planetary Defenders speed out from the Mercurius to cut one of the Taurusses in half - a call comes through.

"Real targets?" Quatre whispers inside of his cockpit. "Trowa?" He offers to the Vayaete, contacting it directly. "Guess we got our orders." He meets up with the blue unit, and then begins using the unit's boosters to start making it across the mountains, in order to get to the location at hand.

It wouldn't long, before the Katharon folk noticed the red unit suddenly appearing over a nearby mountain top, heading directly for them. "This is Vier Winnaar! You are in EFA Territory - and are not showing EFA IFF signals. Please vacate the area."

IN THE AFORE MENTIONED GERMAN VILLAGE

THe curved blade of the Type-00R Takemikazuchi is raised overhead of the machine and scythed downwards in a single near perfect death blow, seen as only a momentary glint of light off the blade. Slicing through the ...

Unsuspecting ground.

The Type-00R steps back, pulling the blade throug the dirt in a straight line through the ground of the field, cutting a furrow into the earth next to dozens of others just like it in a field, replacing but one of the farmer's fields lost in the Balmarian invasion. "That sone way to make swords into plowshears." Meiya says to herself. Alarmas however get her attention, and the Type-00R turns to look up at the descending drop pod "...this isn't the place for that."

The Type-00R steps over the fence of the field and walks on until it's far enough away to engage it's jets, skimming across the broken ground at high speed to where the Judgement Gundam lands and comes to a sliding stop. "That machine... a Mobile Fighter?" the Type-00R raises a hand to grasp the katana shaped blade from over it's shoulder, but doesn't draw it, just yet. "...Gundam Fighter. State your affiliation and intentions." Meiya broadcasts.

"We don't have much choice I suppose," replies Trowa calmly, watching as the Mobile Dolls break off their attack now that the test has been suspended and the recall order has been given. With their own orders recieved, the Vayaete turns and activates it's verniers to launch off after 'Vier's' Mobile Suit. Since Quatre was so nice as to broadcast the warning, Trowa doesn't bother and instead takes up firing position on the hill.

The Judgement Gundam's head arcs up as Lunata hears, clearer than the normal person, Meiya's voice. Lunata contemplates her response as she assesses her voice, her senses reaching out to begin to tune in to her lifeforce and presence. Strong, assertive. Confident. A fighter.

Lunata's lips curl into a little smile as the Judgement turns suit with her, legs slightly crossed as its golden gauntlets curl into fists. "I am Lunata Croze, Gundam Fighter of the Neo Vatican City. I am here to help my colleague, representative of Neo-Austria, reclaim his lineage's Gundam Fighter."

Lunata's blood is flowing active throughout her body, her very nerves tingling with a fresh, vigorous sensation. The culmination of twenty years of ardent training begins now. Her journey has just started. "If you must stop us, then I will fight you in self-defence. I am ready."

 Quatre Raberba Winner transmits, "I don't think I like this, Trowa. We're attacking our actual allies..."

 Oliver Evlien transmits, "Um, this ship. I'm going to stop it from interfering too much."

 Quatre Raberba Winner transmits, "Good luck, Oliver."

 Oliver Evlien transmits, "T-thank you."

Clad in her flight suit and carrying her helmet, Arian taps the open chatting key on the jawbone headset she's wearing-- with the beating her Huckebein Mk. II-M has taken at the hands of George*, the Boosted Child is left either getting into the Superbia or trying to get the Red Lion mobile. She really needs to get that thing back to Lloyd, she really does.

And then she gets a set of orders that she didn't expect-- come to the bridge.

Yanking up the zipper of the flight suit as she charges down the halls of the Yingzi, ducking to the side and dodging around other crew members as she makes her way to the bridge, the teal-haired pilot sprints right inside and comes to a sharp, precise halt.

"Huang!" -- Vampire Hell Squid

The Seventh Gundam manages a particularly high jump on some hot-burning thrusters and lands on an overlooking hill. It actually slows down for a moment once it does. She can feel people around her, in varying degrees of clarity and return pressure. It's a little dizzying; she never entirely got the hang of controlling it in high-stress operations. Combat counts.

Meriden looks across a massive array of weapon choices. She's never actually had this many options in anything except the Geminus, and that's a little different. For starters, all of those are built in and only about half of Seventh Gundam's are.

"Hey, you!" Meriden says, flipping her radio on a more open band of communication. "I see you going in there! Stop in the name of A-LAWS, terrorist! I won't let you blow up the tomb!" Sometimes she's a little monofocused about that kind of thing.

Well, whichever; Meriden raises both hands on the Full Armour Seventh and fires a thick pink blast from each palm, like it had a sudden urge to become a super robot and nobody ever told it it couldn't. Meriden keeps it away from anything delicate; she aims so that if she misses, she'll mostly take out ground.

 Trowa Barton transmits, "I know Quatre, but that's one of the risks involved in long-term infiltration. We can't reveal our hand yet..."

 Quatre Raberba Winner transmits, "You're right. We'll just have to aim away from their cockpits..."

"I am not going to blow up the tomb!" Otto snaps back at Meriden. He does not recognize her voice, not immediately. The pilot sends the Liondam into a tight roll -- and the beam shots cut through the contrails of blue light coming from the Tesla Drive. His machine coms up into the air, sent away from the beeline it was making towards the tomb.

His machine twists about in the air, snapping the trail of light in front of him, as the sleek Armored Module comes to a hovering stop. It floats in the air -- and it is /ugly/. The combination of Lion and Gundam, in this mode, means a blue and black visage that appears hunchbacked, with angular and sleek legs and arms like a Lion. A Gundam head sits far back on the body.

However, the combination affords it something no other machine has. The twin head vulcans roar to life, 55mm rounds pouring from the twin head-mounted cannons. Then, the chest-mounted autocannon roars to life, pouring a non-inconsiderable amount of firepower down on Meriden's Gundam.

Holy cow, there are a _lot_ of EFA responders here! What the heck!

From his hiding spot in the forest, it's a bit hard for Staren to get a clear shot at them-- Except for one coming in from the air. "Guess that makes one choice easy... Hurry, Otto!" The camoflague cloak is tossed aside as the Astray draws its beam rifle, and then suddenly a beam shoots out of the trees up at the Katana!

The SUMO is as super-maneuverable as its namesake implies, gracefully /nearly/ escaping the laser fire that clips the Moonrace mech and leaves smoking marks on the armor plating. Already, Oliver's wondering if maybe he's bitten off more than he can chew. The SUMO is not designed to fight an entire ship, and the Yingzi is not a small cruiser. "Maybe," he mutters to himself, "if I can find a weak spot..." Of course, he's largely a distraction either way. If he can keep attention off of Otto and the latter can get to the tomb, it doesn't matter what happens with the ship. Provided it doesn't blow Oliver out of the sky.

Oliver has a lot of concerns.

The speedy SUMO flies up to the front of the Yingzi, trying to remain the ship's main focus of attention as it brings one of its bladed Heat Fans against the hull near one of the mounted guns, looking for some kind of weak spot. The pilot is pretty silent to his opponent so far, but it isn't because he's in any way the strong, silent type.

He just can't think of things to say to people he doesn't know.

Meiya suspected she was facing a Gundam Fighter but, from /Neo-Vatican/? That part is a suprise, but also is the fact Neo-Austria is here to reclaim a Mobile Fighter, from a tomb? This seems to be getting peculier.

Meiya conceeds that she has no choice but to fight though, and draws the curved PB blade from the back of the Type-00R. "My name is Meiya Mitsurugi. Student of Saburo Gurren, fighter for Neo-Japan in the Eighth Gundam Fighte and sword instructor to Latooni Suboota, Winner of the Thirteeth Gundam fight." It seems if she has to fight, she intends for this to be something more ...formal.

The Type-00R holds the sword with both hands angled downwards diagonaly. "Prepare yourself."

The jets attached to the Type-00R's hips ignite and drive the Takemikazuchi across the open ground in a split second, where Meiya swings the sword upwards, but curving it's path to keep it unpredictable.

Ibis would be finding another machine coming for her, it's strange though it's a unit carrying funnels on it's back it pauses picking up a unit using a Tesla drive? She remebers that machine she's seen it before. But the memories are not totally her own. The Astelion would find the Phoebe rising off the grounf and heading right for it. Even as it does so several of the funnels break off of the unit and start flying a right at the lion family unit.

The Katharon machine says nothing the fight's already started there's not much she can do at this point.

So Ibis would soon find herself comming under assault from several directions by the remote units Macua's launched her way. Beam fire a plenty!

Walking up alongside Huang, Arian shifts the grip she has on her helmet and sets it down on a console. Turning her attention to the screens, she starts to squint and give everything a rather analytical eye-- which is a fairly rare feat, considering this particular School survivor's personality. Her expert tactical analysis:

"This looks like a giant mess."

Two fingers lift to gesture toward the tracking on the Mercurius and Vayeate. "I've never seen those models before, but I don't really get free reign access on the Federation database. I can recognize the Gundams for both sides, more or less, except for that Neo-Vatican one, and..."

She leans a little closer to the display, eyeballing the SUMO. "... I don't even remotely recognize who made /that/," she says, shifting her gaze to look at Huang. "The DC didn't have anything like that on tap when I was still in. Morgenroete's designs are a lot more simple, so it might be some random shit outta Anaheim."

Fire is returned. Arian remains on her feet, perhaps only now paying attention to the Liondam on the displays. "What. The hell. Is /that/."

Takeshi yawns loudly, "What the hell. Everyone is going after everyone else with little concern for shooting. This is a mess."

Cat nods as she prances about his head, "Sure is. I'm registering an uneven count though, so it looks like the response wasn't something they were expecting. Then again, the only reason we know about it is Neo Vatican City and their drop."

Takeshi nods, "Yeah, that's true. Anyways, what do you think Cat?"

Cat stops and points at the screen directly behind Takeshi, "I think you should evade!"

The seat swings around almost instantly as the mech moves out of the arc of the beam rifle with a thruster boost to the sides. Unfortunately for Staren, this mech had a 360 degree view, which means he just gave up his position. "Hey Cat, point us at that."

The mech turns around and then stops. "Good, Cat, deploy the jackhammers."

The sniper rilfe the machine is holding slides along a line to the back and is then snapped in place against a hollow meant to house it. Armor comes over it and two SMG like weapons come out of the machines sides and then slide along a path. At the same time, the hands are transforming, as the SMGs reach where the hands use to be, ammo lines are attached and then the hands are redesigned, refitted and the gun is attached to them. Armor moves to cover up the storage slots in the side.

"Weapon check." There's a loud click as two bullets fly forward and the large shells slam into the ground. "Good, aim and fire."

Takeshi wasn't trying to hit staren, no, he just wanted to destroy his cover. The bullets pelt the area without discretion, trees and everything in the way being cut in two by the bullets.

"Cat, try to catch him as he moves."

"Roger!"

"That robot is stupid!"

Meriden can't stop herself from blurting it out. To her, it looks like nothing so much as a horrible monstrosity of a Valkyrie partway through assuming fully humanoid form, with a Gundam head and Lion arms.

It takes the Liondam shooting bullets at her for her to remember that she's still fighting. The Full Armour still carries its shield, which Meriden brings up to deflect as much of the gunfire as she can, though a bit still gets through. The free hand fires another pink blast before scrabbling behind her back, unclipping the giant beam rifle.

The beam rifle is of strange design. The barrel is blocky and oversized, and the reason for that becomes clear a moment later; when Meriden pulls the trigger, it's not a single beam but a tight cone of tiny, pin-narrow bolts that drill through despite their size. "Then I'll stop you from doing... whatever you were doing!" Meriden yells, backing slowly up the hill she just came down to shoot at Otto.

"Hmph, he saw me..." And then he sees the strange machine readying guns. It shoots. It misses. "Hmph, that's all?"

And then the Katana deploys ALL THE GUNS

Staren stares at the screen, eyes wide. "What... He's not going to... Shit!" The Astray dives for cover as the forest behind it is turned to sawdust. "Holy shit that's a lot of bullets!" Okay, time for a plan. The Astray gets up and starts running through the forest, trying to get directly beneath the enemy machine. In the meantime, the missile pods that are one of Staren's customizations to the machine open, shooting dozens of little missiles into the sky. They don't head for Takeshi's machine though, instead they just spread out.

THEN they turn around, coming towards the Katana from all angles!

The Judgement Gundam's own saber -- a /holy/ beam saber, nonetheless, colored a translucent white-gold and shimmering with what some might be able to consider in a video game radiant energy -- extends from one of its shoulder plates the moment Meiya's blade connects, Lunata darting to the left and being caught into her feint.

The PB Blade crushes the Gundam's outermost layer, golden armor warping and crunching under its pressure, and there is momentary feedback... ever so slight, but stimulating enough. Here, now, though, Lunata is ready and vigorous into combat, striking back with the backhand of her saber as she closes distance and presses past the Takemikazuchi.

"A well-aimed attack," Lunata assesses. "I am impressed. However..."

Lunata cuts forward, her body pressed forth and causing the Judgement's verniers to follow suit as she sweeps her blade forward at a range that seems mistimed.

Then the beam blade flexes, range extending forward to lash a wide curve towards the Type-00R's head -- a saber that has a few tricks up its sleeve, it seems. Much like a pliant serpent, the Holy Beam Saber turns whip-like in its angle of attack.

"Do not count me out just yet."

The Astelion is actually pretty damn big for what is supposed to be a zippy superiority fighter, and as such makes for easy pickings for remote weaponary. Juking and weaving as it might, tightly-woven beams of focused energy punch through the white Armored Module and the fight is off to a great start as several key systems go offline.


 * Targeting computer offline.
 * Environmental controls offline.
 * Ordinance bay malfunction.
 * External cameras damaged.

It doesn't stop Ibis from staring blankly to one side at the Liondam, however, which is magnified several times on her viewscreen. Her eye twitches. "What the hell /is/ that?" she mutters. At some point, the battered Astelion also returns fire with a railgun or something but really, that's not important.

Only trailing a /little/ smoke, the Astelion banks hard to one side to try and get free of Funnel Alley and sprays more railgun slugs at the bastard of a thing giving it chase, which is really less than effective at the best of times.

Huang looks at Arian out of the corner of his (creepy robot) eye, keeping watch on her as she goes about dissecting the battle. He's seen her in action before, and recognizes her skill as a pilot. He's seen just how stealthy she can be following her rather liberal interpretation of the order 'show me the ways someone could assassinate me on the ship.' He hasn't seen her evaluating a tactical situation before.

It's instructive to watch.

After she stops speaking, he follows her gaze. "That's an ugly piece of crap is what that is," he answers. "But knowing how things roll around here," he says, turning his attention back to the diving SUMO, "It's probably got a reflex cannon hidden away in its chassis or something. All right - next question," he continues, pressing a button as an explosion shivers through the body of the ship. "What are they doing here, based on their tactical deployment?"

The SUMO's search for a weak spot on the Yingzi is not a vain one - there is no such thing as an invincible ship, nor armour that cannot be broken, nor embankments that cannot be destroyed. The HEAT fan slams into the armour plating near the turret, which buckles quickly. The chosen section is revealed in an instant to be composed not of regulation thickness plate, but rather two thin pieces of metal with a row of fragmentation and electromagnetic pulse mines sandwiched between them.

The discovery comes with free explosions.

Takeshi hmphs and Cat speaks up, "We missed. Not detecting the enemy mech just... Oh, well that's no good!"

And it's about this time the missiles fly into the air and then turn to rush towards the Katana. Except, the Katana doesn't move, nor does it make any attempt to evade. "We're not dodging all of these. Bunker mode."

Cat nods, "A-Okay Teshi-Kun. Bunker down!" And the mech pulls itself in, the strongest armor now the only spots available for a hit and hit do they. Except, they do relatively no damage. When the smoke clears, the mech has already released the bunker mode and was staring down at Staren with guns pointed.

"Burst fire."

The guns fire off 3 rounds at a time in semi-auto burst fire mode and this time Takeshi actually takes the time to aim at the other machine. But something else happens, the optics on the katana flash yellow, its meaning unknown.

Cat raises her wand in the cockpit, "DATA RECEIVED!"

The Yingzi's bridge gets louder and more seemingly chaotic as the ship enters the battlefield proper, the Combat Information Centre lighting up with friendly and hostile units. At least one of them he recognizes, and the IFF dot representing the Phoebe Gundam lights up, technical information scrolling across the screen. "Katharon," he mutters, folding his hands together in front of his face. It was only natural they'd begin pressing their position again with the peace negotiations having failed. "What the hell do they want in this backwater?" he asks himself, followed by a more pertinent question. "What the hell would /anyone/ want in this place?"

Huang hates it when his questions don't get answered. He has a lot of hate.

"Incoming fire!" shouts a nearby crew member, bringing Huang's attention back where it belongs. The SUMO's beam weapons lose some of their energy as they pass through the Yingzi's defensive screen and splatter along the vessel's armoured plating, melting sections of it down. The Yingzi's gunners begin tracing the Moonrace unit, sending bursts of laser fire in its direction, trying to force it to dodge into the arcs of fire of much larger guns, which open up with gusto.

"Ah, Arian," Huang says, beckoning her over. "Come here for a second - I want you to look at this...all of this," he says, waving his hand in the direction of the bridge and the holographic battlespace. "Tell me what you see."

"Gh... this machine..." Otto hisses, as he catches the glint of light from the strange bem rifle. His eyes go wide open, and he sends the Liondam into a barrel roll. The beam blast rips through the wings and back. A U-shaped gouge of red holt, molten metal is slashed into the back of the Armored Module. His machine falls downward, a fiery explosion erupting.

The machine is slammed into the earth. Dirt and grass explode upward, as it digs a rut into the ground. Flame rolls across the ground, choking the sky with thick black smoke. Otto is thrown forward, hard against the straps securing him in, and then snaps backward. He groans.

"...is not entirely stupid, dummkopf."

He flips a switch, and the Liondam lifts off again. It lifts off shakily, and then the smoke is cleared with a hole -- as a short barrage of railgun rounds explodes from the thick, railgun-bearing arm.

Staren watches as the machine TRANSFORMS to absorb the hits. H-hey! Who _does_ that?!

It's really clever, and it kind of annoys Staren that it wasn't _his_ idea. And then it fires down at him again -- He barely evades this time, some of the bullets hiting. "Okay, enough of this!" The Astray leaps into the air and thrusters fire as it flies up towards the strange machine, and draws its beam saber. As the Astray draws close...

Suddenly, a beam fires up from somewhere in the forest! Is there another machine?!

SURPRISE EXPLOSIONS! Oliver's eyes widen and he jets back as quickly as he can, reacting just fast enough that his machine escapes from the booby trap unscathed. He's never seen a ship do that before. It's really quite a good idea, to be honest.

"That was very clever," the pilot radios in an oddly muted, rather deep voice. There's no sarcastic edge. It sounds like Oliver actually complimented the Yingzi there....?

Not that he's letting up at all. Obviously he can't try to tear up the hull, but maybe he can try cutting at one of the gun turrets. An I-Field projects from the hand of the SUMO, an energy force that concentrates into something a little like a sword that the SUMO tries to bring down upon a turret. Experimentally, in case the thing explodes at him again.

The whip saber slashes into the Type-00R, slicing into the slightly outsized shoulder pauldron, which is thankfully designed to be used as a shield. Unfortunatly, the whip saber bends around it even as it cuts through it, lashing across the Takemikazuchi's upper back and leaving a huge burnt slice through te armor. "Nhhg!" Meiya doesn't feel the damage the way a Gundam Fighter does, but she knows she's been badly damaged.

"...I see... you can never really fight an opponent until you have some idea of what they're capable of."

The Type-00R bursts forward again, but instead of leading with that large katana, the TSF kicks it's foot up, aiming to plant it's super-carbon alloy feeet right in the rib cage section of Lunata's Gundam and using it's twin jets, to pick itself up off the ground, and pivot on the foot implanted on the Gundam and swing that katana around again with a full force of speed behind it.

Macua Huitl is not suprised at how fast the machine however. She is unaware of how much damage she's done at this point as she now trails after the other machine. She can't dodge all of the rounds, several rip into her machine. Unlike it's cousins it doesn't carry any sort of way to reduce damage. The price of having a superior power system to them. She's not down and the machine comes right at Ibis and pulls it's rifle otu and opens fire sending a stream of solid slug rounds in returna s the Funnels break off and prepare for another attack.

The katana turns to face the beamsword wielding astray as the beampod fires at it from the forest. It hits the right SMG and ammo pack, which only leads to fire, explosions and a whole lotta smoke. But that might have actually been bad for Staren, especially since the weapons were destroyed entirely.

"Well, he got us that time. Switch to using the Rifle." The SMGs fall to the ground, the ammo packs eject and the hands that were holding them up just rotate around to reveal another pair, the pair that are specially fitted to the rifle. Man, whoever built this spared no cost to ensuring proper use of each weapon individually.

Cat sighs, "You're getting me destroyed again!" She makes the seat drop about a foot instantly and then rotate six times as fast as possible before stopping it. Takeshi is not doing well now. "Oh gawd, man up and shoot the damn thing, now i'm mad." She pouts.

Takeshi nods, "uh..oh..ye...*hruk*...uh...yeah.."

The smoke clears and the rifle barrel is staring Staren right in the face. "Dodge this."

A single, powerful, close range rifle shot. Oh damn.

Quatre patiently observes the battlefield, and waits to see if anyone would take what, these days, surely could only be taken to be a taunt. He continues to wait, until finally the commanding officer suddenly rages over the radio. "DONT JUST STAND THERE! GET IN THERE!"

The young man grits his teeth a bit. He hated this. To attack those he concidered his allies. The Mercurius uses its boosters once more, lifting from the top of the mountain side towards the digsite and the Planetary Defenders quickly move beneath its legs as it begins to slide down quickly, skiing down the hill rapidly. That's right! The Mercurius is skiing. What is this? Tribes!?

And it is this motion that takes him towards his unlucky target. That is, Oliver, in his SUMO. He keeps sliding down that hill and lets a threesome of Planetary Defenders settle on either side of his own unit, whilst he activates the shield saber; which creates a gigantic font of beam-saber energy, and he aims it directly at the SUMO's legs, planning to de-leg the unit!

 Quatre Raberba Winner transmits, "How are you doing over there, Staren?"

Oops.

Meriden didn't actually mean to shoot the Liondam down quite like that. That was a little more vicious than she'd hoped for, and when she spots the plume of black smoke from the crashed unit, she winces.

Lowering her gun, Meriden looks down on it, feeling a little guilty... until something twinges in her head, a sensation of danger. Meriden has learned not to ignore those, even when they're a little duller and fainter.

She can't bring the shield up in time. The railgun round impacts the shoulder, and then another in the arm; both spray up sparks as whatever they were shielding is punctured. "Craaap," Meriden says, then, more loudly, "What's a dummkopf?" Her German is atrocious.

The Seventh Gundam raises both arms as if posing for a flex, like Mazinger Z performing Breast Fire. There is no fire. Instead the heaviest of the central chest plates flip up, revealing missile launchers, two per side; they fire simultaneously, thin lines of smoke stretching behind them as they rocket at the Liondam.

Staren smirks -- the enemy fell for the remote! Now to switch it up! He flies in close--

And is confronted by GUN.

The Astray once more turns out of the way just in time for the shot to graze the front of the machine. The twist is also used to try and grab the katana -- and then the Beam Saber is stowed away again as Staren tries to wrap the Astray's arms around it and fires thrusters at max, curving around... He's going to try to piledrive Takeshi out of the sky!

"Well, unless they're lying to that chick in that," she says, gesturing to the IFF for the Takemikazuchi, "I'd be runnin' under the assumption that they're here to claim some kind of Mobile Fighter."

Arian grips the console when the fan cuts a hole in the ship, as well as the counter-explosion that follows it. There's only a moment of irritation crossing her face, blending back to a bit of apathy and deep thought. "But we can't let that be the only thought. I mean, shit. In a remote place like this, they just so happen to find a Gundam Fighter that's designed like that?"

"I don't see a command unit out there, so I'm guessing either that Neo-Vatican machine or the Unknown are spearheading this whole thing. Keep an eye on our flank and let's make sure they don't have more units ready to spring out of Yonder Crap Hills. There's no ship detected in the immediate vicinity, right? They've gotta have some kind of support /somewhere/ if that's the case."

There are a couple of alarms and error screens and probably even a virus warning or spam mail or two popping up on the Astelion's interior viewscreens, all of which get minimized with a quick keystroke. Ibis mutters something about how much of a peice of shit the Astelion really is beneath her breath.

PROJECT TERRESTRIAL DREAM IS CLEARLY DEAD.

Battered as it may be, the white Lion custom is still in the fight! The boost drive fires, hurling Ibis ahead on a plume of electric blue flame straight at the Phoebe Gundam, and the two engage in a totally sweet giant robot joust. The Astelion pilot kinda cheats though, bolting to one side in a burst of green manoeuvring jet flare at the very last second rather than man up and fight it out. Wuss.

A hint of good news at last! The Astelion's missile bays have apparently un-screwed themselves, possibly from being jolted around hard enough to rattle something back into place. Ibis executes a totally wicked 180 degree-turn on a dime and, somehow not crushed from the G-forces, bears back down on Macua's unit and jams down on the big red button on her flight stick. Red-tipped generic high-explosive handshakes come flying out.

"Not clever enough or the bloody thing would have worked," Huang mutters following Oliver's compliment. As unexpected as SURPRISE MINES may be, not many people who have set them off have been so much as inconvenienced by them. He rubs his eyes under his glasses. He is getting /really sick/ of having to fight people who can pick things out of his brain. Maybe he can look into a helment of some...

"Sir!" shouts a crewman. "One of the non-EFA units is...attacking another?"

Huang looks up again. "Good," he says firmly. "Back off a couple hundred metres and fry them both." As an engineer, Huang is nothing if not practical.

Lunata isn't very good at dodging -- though she can see the imaging transmitted into her mind via the T-LINK System, it's not really a substitute for real sight, where one has full spatial awareness.

No, she cannot even see Meiya, or the Takemikazuchi coming. She can, however, sense her. She is as calm and composed as always as she raises both of the Judgement's arms up, gauntlets serving as a shock buffer for the slightly more critical armor plates on the torso. Her kick lands, still, metal bending... but it's nothing compared to the savage slashing that comes next.

There's the agonizing sound of sharp metal grinding its way forcefully through Gundarium alloy, and when all's said and done, several block pieces of Lunata's armguards fall off, along with a stinging sensation on her hands. It is minor pain, relatively, however.

"And the same to you, Meiya Mitsurugi. Your skill with your sword is superb..."

In the second after Meiya's strike comes through, Lunata takes her chance.

"Sub-Weapon System, activate," Lunata announces locally. "Select: Holy Water."

The Gundam Judgement's shoulderplates snap open, and several spherical glass orbs fly out of them. They are 'Aquarius' beam grenades, filled with a special concoction designed to be ignited when exposed to air -- and burn they do, as they crash onto the ground, erupting into holy flames designed to both restrict her movements...

In time for the Judgement's fists to come flying forward in a brief but furious swarming attack. A swift left Jab connecting to a Tiger-style Uppercut followed by a flourishing moonsault kick that brings the Mobile Fighter in a somersault across. The machine has surprising grace given its relative bulk and armor.

The Katana tries, it really tries, to move. Then it just gets pile drivered into the ground. The jump jets are pretty dead at this point, the armor holding up to the sudden crushing impact famously, but it's still not impregnable. Cracks are appearing and Takeshi appears to just be sitting there, apparently unsure of what to do.

Cat however, rubs her head and then stands up, "Fine, I'll pilot the damn thing. You're a lazy, worthless programmer." She turns around and the Katana claws its way out of the hole that houses it now before aiming at staren.

"Switch to heat." The screens switch view modes and Takeshi tries to interfere, but she just straps him in and pulls it tight, "OH GOD! THE STRAPS! CAT!"

Cat transforms into a warrior girl with a huge sword and points it at Takeshi, "Any complaints? I didn't think so." She turns around and points the sword at the enemy, "FIRE!"

The rifle, in an unexpected move, makes a switch to burst mode and begins shooting off bullets straight towards Staren's machine from behind the cover of dust.

"It means your head is stupid!" Otto says angrily, not bothering to give a proper translation.

His machine turns in midair, rising upward as missiles come trailing after. His eyes shoot to the tomb below, the statue, and the rest of it. So close, but so far. He grimaces, rising up higher -- and then the missiles come streaking after his machine. He cuts the Tesla Drive at the last minute, and the missiles go whipping above his machine, as the Armored Module drops down towards the ground.

He flips a switch -- and beneath him, the chair descends, as he is left standing on the floor. The Liondam changes -- the Gundam Head comes forward, the wings fold into the back, and the legs fold into the body, and come back down with full-sized ones. The Liondam slams into the ground, resembling a Mobile Suit -- and then the railgun splits, a circular buckler coming from it.

The other hand draws a beam saber, which comes to life.

The Liondam dives forward, beam saber thrusting at the chest of the Seventh Gundam with a sudden, surprising movement -- and assisted by verniers, not the Tesla Drive.

Staren is just on _fire_ today -- The Astray leaps up, over the attack, and then draws both of its beam sabers before trying to land atop the Katana and just start stabbing and slicing it to pieces. "Sorry, buddy! We'll be out of here as soon as we have what we want... That's a nice machine you have there by the way, my compliments to its creator!" He does of course try to avoid any suspected cockpit areas.

Meriden Almace's face flushes dark - well, darker than it normally is.

"THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH MY FACE!" Meriden practically roars back, perhaps having gotten the wrong idea of what Otto was talking about. Her voice squeaks at maximum volume, giving away her approximate age. Seventh takes a step or two forward, finding a particularly good rocky patch to brace on.

By the time Otto comes in with a sword, Meriden has her own; she's put the shield aside for the moment and is wielding Seventh Gundam's underpowered beam saber. Deflecting the thrust, she chops wildly, clearly being almost entirely untrained in the fine art of swordsmanship.

What she is less untrained in is the spray of missiles from an underbarrel attachment on the shotcannon, tiny explosives that don't really track so much as blow everything even vaguely in front of it up. At least they don't go far!

Welp, orders are orders after all, and the commander wants them to get into the thick of it. Trowa, being a long distance expert with a very big gun, chooses to stay where he is, but he does take aim from waaaaay over there on the hill. His aiming reticle settles upon a target and he pulls the trigger, making sure to hold back to avoid any fatalities.

Oliver cannot actually read minds at all. Sorry, Huang.

Sensors alert Oliver about INCOMING SABER STRIKE, and the SUMO moves its legs and juts away from the range of the saber only to get a faceful of ship gunfire. This time it really does hit, and hurt, the not-so-sturdy machine left with damage to its plating. "T-two of them," the pilot notes to himself, biting his lip. This won't be easy...

The person who is Totally Not Quatre is closer, and thus a more immediate threat. The SUMO grabs at Quatre's machine and attempts to pull it over with one hand; should this work, it'll smash the other hand in a curled fist at the head of its opponent. Well, the machine, anyway.

Macua Huitl is now moving in on the Lion unit, she remebers it now she pauses.

"Your the one who rammed the Astranagan!"

The voice is distorted by a comm unit. It's clearly female but that's about it. Also it's clear the pilot's a former Balamarian as well. As she knew the name of Ingram's unit.

She now comming in up close with a beam saber out, she slices the missile in half and she's now tyring to chase the Lion down. Worse it really is man vs plane when you think about it honestly. It's going to be a bad day for one of them but who!

 Staren Wiremu transmits, "Argh, snipers?!"

The Katana is slashed at by the crazy pilot in the mech above them, the head pops off and the rifle falls to pieces, the hands are next and yet the machine just won't stop. And with a giant heft it slams backwards through the forest. Fortunately, most of the cameras from the IBIS system are still intact, the swords just getting to them. Cat is in the cockpit, her AI core of course stowed safely below the pilot so that if the pilot goes out, so does the Top Secret Cat.

Cat points at the enemy mech, "Shake it off now! Juke!"

The machine starts performing dangerous jukes and otherwise, finally turning around and heading back the way it came, still trying to knock Staren off. The machine signals something and Cat waves the sword, "THAT! Put his head right in front of the blast." The machine started moving faster towards the shot that trowa had just unleashed, the tiny chibi knight calculating trajectory data. And if Staren stayed on top, he was likely to be hit by it. But also, how the hell is this thing still moving? Takeshi certainly built it to last.

If it worked and Staren got the hell off the top of the machine, it would whip around and roll straight away from the battlefield.

Though if Staren doesn't stop it, he'd get a surprise, a tiny chibified knight would appear on his screen, her face smooshed up against it, "Hey, hey you! Listen 'ere. This mech was built by my worthless programmer, but he actually builds stuff nice like. And you destroyed me, I'll get you one day. You hear! My name is cat, you remember that!" *Click*

Well, Oliver manages at grabbing something. But that 'something' is one of the Mercurius' Planetary Defenders, which quickly begins to send a shock through the unit, and forms up with a foursome of others, which form a large cross - and between them, a web of energy that forces his entire grab back and stops him from actually go for that grab. However, that didn't mean that the floating disk had gotten away undamaged. The middle one sparks nastily a few times, then suddenly explodes.

"Wow." Quatre mutters inside, as if he was trying to be Keanu Reeves. "That's one strong grip." He mutters to himself. "Better get serious." The webbed shield moves back whilst he takes hold of the unit's rifle and sends his unit running forwards to get into melee range... and swings that saber up when suddenly. Fwoosh fwoosh fwoosh! Bolts of thick yellow lunge through the air, as the shield momentarily disengages to let the shots get through - firing nearly point-blank at Oliver's unit.

At the same time, Quatre's keeping an eye out on Huang gigantic battleship. After all, as much as he was seen as an ally at the moment, he had to be careful. This was loaned equipment. If he got it wasted too much, he'd end up being punished like Trowa had after that escape of Mineva's. And he'd heard the stories. He doesn't think he could be as strong as Trowa.

The Astray leaps off at the last moment, narrowly avoiding the shot. "Snipers!" And then the MECH TALKS TO HIM.

Staren stares at his screen. That pilot programmed an AI? Well, hang on, this snippet of conversation doesn't mean an independant mind, but... "Um... Pleased to meet you, Cat, sorry it had to be under these circumstances. But you put your body in danger by coming out here to a combat zone! And if you're a true AI, I am _really_ impressed with his programming skills. I kind of hope we meet again! But right now... I've got to focus on other things!"

The Astray turns, as its beam bit flies up into the sky. Two more drop off of the Astray and spread out, as it draws its beam rifle and starts flying towards Trowa. "Let's see how one sniper does against four!" They all fire from different angles!

 Macua Huitl transmits, "OTTO?!"

 Otto Habsburg squeaks, so this loses three thousand badass points: "Just as planned!"

The beam grenades detonate around the Takemikazuchi, embroiling it in holy fire, or something similar. Plasma maybe? Can plasma be holy? But Meiya has been in battle enough that her instincts and senses have been well honed by countless fights and a lifetime of training.

When the Judgment comes bursting through the flames, the Takemikazuchi has leapt skywards on twin electric blue plumes of flame from the engines attached to it's hips and flown directly into the air above the Judgement, which has just punched through empty air.

"Thank you for the compliment!"

The Takemikazuchi dscends with it's sword held high over it's head, slashign it downwards at the Judgement's front, only to immedatly come out of it's landing crouch and swing the sword up diagonaly as the nimble machine dances to the side and brings the weapon down for the third strike at the Judgement's side, all within a veritable blink of an eye.

<Radio: B - Secure> Lunata Croze transmits, "Tch..."

<Radio: B - Secure> Macua Huitl transmits, "Lunata?!"

<Radio: B - Secure> Quatre Raberba Winner transmits, "Come on you guys. I believe in you!"

<Radio: B - Secure> Macua Huitl transmits, "Anyone in need of help? My foe is delt with."

If the Vayaete has one major flaw, it's that it basically doesn't have any means of defense save for the durability of it's Gundanium armor. It's mobility is only 'average' and it lacks the defensive capabilities of it's twin machine. To be truely effective, the two must operate as a team. That won't stop Trowa though. The beam cannon flares with power, narrowly missing one of the bits as Trowa leaps away. Staren's shot misses, along with one of the bits, but two impact the Gundanium hull of the Vayaete and force it back to the ground. Trowa checks his options... then cues up a rapid charge on the beam cannon. The beam cannon glows brightly as Trowa rakes it across the sky, discharging a rapidfire burst of yellow beam shots at Staren and his attack drones, trading sheer power for volume of fire.

Huang nods, following the logic of Arian's reasoning and skipping along a few steps of his own to boot. "Unless they've got that bloody Toy Box of theirs staged off coast for evac," he mutters. "Or unless the Mobile Fighter they're after comes with its own transport," he muses, rubbing his chin. After a moment, he shrugs his shoulders. "It doesn't matter - whatever it is, we have to assume that they know what they're after and have a plan for getting it out. Without knowing either of these things...all we can do is try to maintain positive control of the battlefield and try to stay flexible."

The engineer glances to his right. "Begin scanning for seismic activity," he orders. "If this thing's coming up from the ground, we could use a second or two's warning. Status on the...big-boned enemy unit?" he adds.

"Engaged with the A-LAWS pilot," answers the helmsman who nearly got Quatre killed by misidentifying him. Clearly.

"Stand ready for fire support then," Huang answers, then pauses and looks up at Arian. "Well done," he compliments her. "Have you thought about training to become a bridge officer? You wouldn't be trashing all of my Huckebeins that way."

<Radio: B - Secure> Otto Habsburg transmits, "Be careful, Miss Croze. I don't want people being hurt on my account."

Staren's remotes scatter -- the Astray does a barrel roll to the side out of the way of the attack and keeps coming. "Man, a lot of new machines on the field today... Let's see what you can do!" The Astray draws its beam sabers again, trying to slash as it lands before the nimble mobile suit dances around the mysterious Doll, trying to find openings to attack!

<Radio: D - WING boys> Quatre Raberba Winner transmits, "Trowa!"

<Radio: D - WING boys> Quatre Raberba Winner transmits, "I'm sending some Planetary Defenders on your way to help."

<Radio: D - WING boys> Trowa Barton transmits, "Thank you."

Meriden Almace is fifteen. Maybe. She could probably pass for fourteen, especially here, where it's hard to tell her height.

Meriden has another one of those flashes of insight that she gets - she's a Newtype, and not a weak one - but this time she stands in place, frozen. She has the insight that she has to move, and no way which she could safely move in to dodge it; sh ejust can't see one.

So instead she brings up the Seventh Gundam's big hand and fires a blast at Otto as he approaches. It's not enough to slow him down; the blade goes all the way through the bulky mobile suit and out the back side. Seventh Gundam very slowly topples forward, landing on its knees, before Meriden arrests the forward fall.

Alarms sound all over the place. She ignores them, disengaging Otto's Liondam by the very simple expedient of yanking it (and its sword) out of Seventh's stomach. She could probably crush or throw him; she does not, the almost crippled Mobile Suit dropping him as short a distance as she can, the Liondam landing on a small treed protrusion.

"Don't do that again," Meriden says, sounding more scolding than anything else. "No terrorizing tombs! Go home!" She can still fight. She thinks. As long as nobody points a gun at her; the way the engine is warning her...

The shock those defenders throw through the SUMO shakes it and temporarily stuns it, but not quite long enough to keep the maneuverable unit from... well, maneuvering sharply left to avoid even the close-range gunfire. Oliver's a swift pilot skilled in defensive moves, but he's already starting to tire from the stress of a looming battleship and an unknown opponent. He hopes Otto can reach that tomb soon...

The battleship, though! He can't just forget about it. Nor can he forget about the robot fighting him right there...

"Augh...!" Allowing himself a moment's frustration, he takes a deep breath. A member of the Guard must not panic even in chaos. Be calm and level even in Hell. And... know how to spread your attentions.

One hand pulls out one Beam Pistol, and one the other. One gun aims for Quatre, the other for the Yingzi. He fires, and then spins and fires again in the reverse directions, jutting up to fire again at the ship and then at Quatre in a flurry of gunfire.

Otto knew that this would put the Liondam at serious risk. He accepts that risk, today. The young man sucks a breath in, as he sees the blast coming forward. It impacts the left shoulder and a fireball ripples out across the machine. He slams down on the ejection lever, and he leaps out.

He hits the ground, rolling between the feet of the Liondam as it finishes its charge. The beam saber stabs into the stomach -- and Meriden's words crackle in his ears, over his headset radio, as his machine hits the protrusion with a crunch.

"Sorry," he says into the headset.

He is bolting across the ground. He has a handgun in hand -- he unholstered it as he charged -- and is running quickly around the side of the tomb, to where the door awaits.

The beam cannon flares once more, but goes wide as Staren manages to evade it. with no melee weapons to speak of, Trowa resorts to using the arm of the vayaete to block the saber strike. The Gundanium armor proves to be surprisingly resillient though as the blade sizzles away at the armor but fails to cut all the way through.

Trowa doens't respond to Staren's words, though he does intend to show Staren exactly what this machine can do. (For those wondering, what it can do is Shoot Shit. Really Really Good.) The Vayaete suddenly breaks away from combat and launches into the air as Trowa snaps his cannon down and takes aim. The trigger is pulled, and a destructive shot is unleashed upon poor Staren from above. "Retreat or I will be forced to disable you."

An excellent counter to that manuever.

The Judgement's breached armor is quickly failing under Meiya's repeated strikes, which are all caving in on that one side -- where the armor is weakest right now. Lunata does her best, as she senses what Meiya is planning... aiming towards where it would be critical and devastating, and moves to a side profile.

"Sub-Weapon System: Select 'Axe'."

The Gundam Fighter flips onto its other side, which is less-damaged; its arm comes up along with another weapon of its, showing the impressive arsenal available to it. Solid-state axes flash up, tucked into a space-effective compartment along its hip armors, and allow Lunata to parry that next attack...

...well, or so she thinks. The axe blade is rent in twain and the sword digs into the Judgement's side-armor, still, damage systems flashing into her mind as she knows, further, now, what her opponent is capable of.

Suddenly, the Judgement's eyes shimmer with a glow unlike before. Metal folds hidden onto the sides of its vents snap shut, covering its Gundam face with a solid red mask onto which its eyes can be seen within the dark. Inside, Lunata herself is feeling her stride be hit.

"T-LINK Full Contact mode achieved."

The world exists to her in her mind, everything and anything moving -- from as large as the Yingzi and as small as the blades of grass under which their mechs crunch -- she can hear and feel in relation to one another. It is a remarkable feeling, and now, Lunata feels truly unleashed.

"In the name of the Father..."

Lunata announces as she opens her eyes, a bright flash seemingly erupting in front of her cerebral matter. Combat Crosses deploy, T-LINK Boomerangs under her control and spinning with deadly bladed edges, revolving around the Judgement Gundam's immediate area as she closes in. As she moves, excess heat is vented from the now-open folds of the Gundam's armor, afterimages trailing in after the mobile fighter.

"The Son..."

The Crosses fling forward, in rows of two each, attempting a snag of the Type-00R's feet and arms to further restrict her movement. The psychic emanations coming from Lunata's spirit is particularly strong at this moment.

"And the Holy Spirit..."

The Judgement leaps up afterwards, Holy Beam Sword held in reverse grip for a downwards stab. Gripped with both hands, the saber turns cross-like along its edge as Lunata finishes her simple incantation, taking one final breath to center her very mind and soul.

"Amen."

She descends, Cross-Sword aimed. Will it strike true?

<Radio: B - Secure> Macua Huitl transmits, "Understood."

<Radio: B - Secure> Otto Habsburg transmits, "I'm going to try to get inside on foot!"

<Radio: B - Secure> Oliver Evlien, over machine fire. "Good luck!"

<Radio: B - Secure> Oliver Evlien, too calmly, "You can do it."

"Toy Box?" she asks, an eyebrow raised. "Either way, I think we're far enough inland that an extraction by ship is gonna be kind of stupid, unless it's a submarine that can dive faster than we can react. Either way, once they hit Range 5 it's going to be a bitch to catch up with them without getting targetting all screwed up on movement correction." Arian stands a little straighter and folds her arms under her chest. "Unless you basically have a sniper rifle mounted to this thing, which I wouldn't put beyond ya."

Her head tilts as she looks at Huang again, after his question and his jab. She frowns, jaw setting hard-- but the entire expression looks a little exaggerated. "God, shut up. I'm just too much for the Huckebein, give me a Personal Trooper that doesn't suck and we'll talk."

Looking ahead at the screen, she also half-mumbles, "I like bein' out there, anyway..."

And then, Oliver. On reflex, one arm sweeps outward while she speaks in a commanding voice: "TEN DEGREES TO PORT, WATCH THE ANGLE ON THE NOSE!"

When his second attempt at attacking the opposing unit fails, Quatre smiles a bit. He was glad that he was having a hard time, in a way. It means that he was meeting with a skilled pilot here. He didn't have to worry as much about them exposing their cockpit to his firing patterns.

The shields remain up as Oliver begins attacking, sweeping those guns around so nicely. It's like he was some kind of gun-martial-artist! Those exist! It's kinda neat to watch. Quatre is forced back slightly, and a new set of Planetary Defenders move to the front to assist in his defense, whilst the others move back onto the 'backpack' unit of the Mercurius to recharge.

And using this active shield, the Mercurius suddenly runs forwards and attempts to crash the entire shield into Oliver's unit, before disengaging it, hoping that he'd hit and the strike would stun the machine long enough for him to pierce the head unit with a beam saber; as to disable its sensors and perhaps get this guy to back off.

"What - hey!"

It takes Meriden a few moments longer to unhook herself from her cockpit series of straps. Seventh Gundam returns to its kneeling position as Meriden scrambles out, sliding down the side and landing on the ground. She is wearing her piloting suit, a helmet - and she too has a gun, though it looks battered and old bordering on ancient.

"Get back here!" Meriden says, secure that she is a teenager and thus invincible in the manner of all teenagers. She scrambles after Otto, but though she's been training like hell to make up lost time in the physical department, she still has problems. She's not used to rocks and dirt, and Meriden stumbles occasionally - and every time she looks up at the sky or the horizon, she shivers. Otto outpaces her pretty well until they get inside. Corridors she can do.

Otto gets to the entrance. He looks at the keypad lock and frowns -- he never learned the entry way. However, he knows ways around this. It costs him precious time. He rips the front off, and then begins moving wires about, until the metal doors leading into the tomb lift upward. He darts in -- and Meriden can see the black of his shoes as he bolts into the hallway.

The stone corridor is long and narrow, and has a door to the side ahead, on the left. The hall continues leading to a set of stairs at the end. Otto bolts into the doorway, and puts his back against the wall.

He holds his pistol and sucks a breath in, waiting for a moment, to see if she really followed him inside.

With only a few exceptions, the Yingzi's bridge crew stops what they're doing as Arian starts giving orders, regarding the young girl in the flight suit with expressions averaging out to somewhere between shock and amusement for about three seconds, after which they get back to work. The ship turns 10 degrees in the process, but entirely by coincidence, of course.

Huang Qin Shi's poker face is getting better these days, but he still tries to hide his mouth behind one hand before Arian can look at him. A smile would spoil everything. "Sadly," the engineer says with a trace of mirth in his voice, "I do not, in fact, have a sniper rifle installed on the Yingzi. Remember," he declares, dropping the hand now that his expression is under control. "The enemy this ship was built to fight won't require precision weaponry. It'll require," he says as a series of vector calculations begin flowing out from the Yingzi's tactical display, lines of light connecting it to the SUMO, "Something like this."

All along the dreadnought, sections of armour plating slide back and away, and rows of missile launchers rise up in their place. The batteries fire in a seemingly random sequence, their trajectories sending the missiles scattering in a dizzying cloud, swooping in toward the SUMO from multiple directions.

SUDDENLY BEAMS OH GOD

The Astray stands at the edge of a smoking crater, Staren's eyes wide at the screen. Wow. That was a lot of power.

He looks up. And a plan forms. The Astray leaps into the air...

And the remotes fire, trying to keep the Vayeate occupied, as Staren flies up, beam sabers ready--

And then tries to jam them into the reactor on the back of the Vayeate. Remembering how one of his own test units had such a glaring weak point... And an external reactor _would_ explain the powerful beams, it was the same reason he used one...

<Radio: B - Secure> Lunata Croze transmits, "It was a difficult battle, but it is done."

<Radio: B - Secure> Lunata Croze transmits, "How goes your fight?"

<Radio: B - Secure> Staren Wiremu transmits, "Macua I could use some help here!"

The four or five inches in height Meriden has put on since she came to Earth has never come in more use as when she's trying to chase a terrorist. She wishes she had better boots though. These aren't very good for runing on.

Once inside the tomb, Meriden pauses for a moment. In here she's much more comfortable. She grew up on ships and inside an asteroid. Corridors and tunnels are what the world is /supposed/ to do. There's not so much up and out.

Meriden doesn't know where she's going in here, but she doesn't have to. She only has to know where he's going. She starts to move in, being more careful now, half-squinting in case the light suddenly changes dramatically in either direction. She knows he's there - she can feel him still, the vague pressure of another Newtype, or something similar at least.

"-A shield?!" The softspoken pilot of the SUMO gawks as the Mercurius literally throws its shield at the Moonrace machine, slamming on the thrusters to jet back and upwards. It's hard to dodge everything from all directions, however, and spinning, dancing missiles slam into the SUMO from multiple angles, enveloping it in explosions. Pistols fire off wildly in an immediate reflexive reaction, though not with a great deal of accuracy this time.

The damage isn't as bad as it could have been, as apparent when the dust clears, but the SUMO is still showing damage, dents and sparking holes. Oliver, who had braced himself for a possible unit explosion, exhales finally and glances up at that huge ship, scowling slightly. It's not that he'll ever be able to take that thing down, but as long as it's here...

The SUMO flies upwards, back towards the ship, though not quite in close range yet as the beam pistols come back out. This time, they're both fired off at the same time while the machine keeps moving, zipping back and forth as it aims for the front in particular. Not that Oliver likes the idea of potentially hurting anyone who might be on that ship, but it can't be helped...

Otto Habsburg may be a Psychodriver, but he doesn't know this. No tests were ever done. No one ever found out about it, before. He sucks a breath in and grimaces, as he feels something strange in the back of his mind. A faint pressure, telling him that Meriden is coming down the hallway. He looks at the door next to him, and opens it, slowly.

He slips into the room. It is a library -- with shelved books all around, and a computer terminal. Otto turns, and smiles; it was what he wanted. However, as he moves, he brushes the door, and it squeaks as the hinges turn.

He mutters a swear and turns. There is a table, but nowhere to dive for cover and definitely nowhere to hide.

Macua Huitl pulls off of the fallen Lion, she frowns something didn't feel right. It feels like she just shot someone's puppy infront of them and doesn't like it at all. There's not much time to think about it as Staren, of all people, needs help. She turns her machine and deploys her funnels looking at the machine, she now targets it and opens up on the Mercurius and opens fire - sending funnels after it from all directions. Her machine then is moving in to get up close, she's intending to go after the thing all upclose and personal!

"...T-Link system?!" Meiya whispers breathlessly. Why is that system outside of the EFA's hands?!

The crosses bite into the feet of the Takemikazuchi, pinning it in place "Nhg!" Meiya bites her lower lip "What is this...feeling?" She is not a psychodriver, but one does not get put through the training she has, and the experiences she has had with the Shuffle Crests and not have something so powerfull and so closer at hand make the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

When the Judgement leaps skywards, Meiya can tell, more or less whats going to happen next. The Judgement comes down, hte holy cross beam sword comes down right at the Takemikazuchi, it would go stright through the head and into the torso's cockpit block, if Meiya hadn't raised the right arm, hand pam outwards.

The beam saber stabs directly into the palm of the hand, through part of the forearm and out, only to reenter the Takemikazuchi's neck, and poke through the hole in the back, severing the main power conenction.

This leaves the horn of the Takemikazuchi's head touching the armor of the Jundgement gundam, just enough to engage in skin-talk.

"The T-LINK system is the work of neither man, or God. It's a mark of who is the best to be harvested, don't think just because they're gone for now that they won't come back."

The Takemikazuchi then wrenches it's head and body tot he side, alowing the bema saber to tear through it's body and most of it's arm, leaving it a limp wreck at it's side.

The engines of the Type-00R point backwards and fire, driving it skimming over th egroun in revers for the Yingzi.

Indeed, the Vayaete had a terrible flaw in its design in that the weakpoint was so very obvious. And had it not been for Quatre sending a threesome of Planetary Defenders Trowa's way, that move might very well have not just rocked the Vayaete, but even send it into a massive explosion!

"Private Trowa!" Quatre had called out, just seconds before Staren's hit would have managed to connect... and that's when those three shields find their position behind the Vayaete and their shields flare up! The beam sabers gets stopped whilst sweeping down, and even pushed back as white lightning flares up from the area between the black remote disks.

Quatre's unit turns about and its thrusters activate, the three shields which had returned to the Mercurius' back to recharge quickly deploying and forming behind it as Oliver attempts to retaliate by firing at the unit, catching the bullets between them.

They then are forced to move all over the place, as Macua sends out funnels. Quickly, they dart, forming flat surfaces that stop the Funnels in their tracks. But due to the lack of maneuverability of the Planetary Defenders, a small set of them end up completely destroyed by them, until Quatre starts getting out of range...

"Come on, faster." Quatre mutters under his breath, pulling firmly on the joysticks to the unit, whilst keeping his gaze moving around, keeping an eye out on the area around him. His boosting speed taking him on a direct path to Staren.

More Planetary Defenders deploy, and rush for Staren, forming a giant orb around him and flip onwards. If he didn't move fast, he'd find himself trapped WITHIN a shield of energy. "Go! Trowa!" Quatre calls out over the radio whilst his unit keeps rushing in, the beam saber activating and coming at level with the Astray Prometeus - shield preparing to disenage in the locations where the attacks would come through, yet still holding him inside.

She stands there with her arm extended with a completely confident look on her face. She doesn't just yell it-- she /commands/ it. Of course, everyone else ends up staring at her for that brief moment, and she's trying her hardest not to feel completely silly after the orders.

Arian-16's arm lowers after a moment, the young pilot shifting her hands so that they rest on her hips, watching Huang and the tactical display a little more carefully. Seolla and Arado are the two best tandem team pilots she's ever known. Latooni is a genius, hands-down. Math, plotting trajectory and courses, looking for the point of least resistance or the point that will guarantee a strike--

-- that's more her territory. Strike the heart!

Her eyes dart back and forth while her face remains calm, watching the angles and calculations bear down on the SUMO, and-- not as heavy of a hit as it should have been.

"Ugly's got some moves."

Otto gets to deal with that feeling for another couple moments. Meriden pauses outside the door to the library. She's nervous, tense. She's never tried to actually... do this, before, without benefit of having a giant robot that she can drive at hand.

Eventually, though, she pushes the door open and bursts in. Meriden has the gun up and raised in a decent, if not entirely skilled, shooting position; she covers most of the room from where she's standing.

"You're under arrest!" Meriden says, bright and surprisingly cheerful given she just came out of a nearly destroyed mech. "Come on, I'm not going to let you do... whatever! I'll shoot if you try anything stupid!"

Mein Gott, Otto thinks, she is just a child.

He freezes up for a second, staring at the teal-haired girl. He had a gun ready, of course -- his trusty AEUG-issue sidearm raised, and he takes a few seconds when she aims that gun at her. He lifts it though, eyes narrowing. "The same goes for you!" he says. "I am not a terrorist. I am Austrian. The Earth Federation would never let me here, and my family built this tomb."

He keeps talking. He does not want to shoot a girl this young, and he definitely does not want to be shot by a girl this young. His eyebrow twitches. "I am just trying to find some things that were written in here. If you let me do that, neither of us has to be hurt or hurt anyone else."

The Vayaete tries it's best. Lord knows it does... but it just wasn't designed to fight without support. Trowa dodges and weaves through the beam bit fire, managing to keep one step ahead of him, but when Staren leaps up behind him for the generator, it's too late for Trowa to do anything. He looks back at the leaping Mobile Suit. "Guess it was only a matter of time..." Suddenly, INTERCEPTION! Trowa is spared a grisly fate by the sudden arrival of Quatre's Defendors, and as the drones surround the Astray, Trowa backs away to a safe distance, then levels his beam cannon directly at Staren. Then he fires. The beam lances out, aiming to take off everything above the cockpit block of the Astray. Head, shoulders, arms, /everything/. if this is what his idea of a non-lethal KO is, I'd sure hate to see what his idea of 'Kill You Dead' is.

Lunata wasn't really even aware of that. She only knew that the T-LINK System allowed her to fight properly -- without it, she'd not even be allowed in a cockpit legally, what without vision and all. Lunata arcs an eyebrow as she steps forward as the Takemikazuchi retreats, back towards the Alpha Numbers battleship.

"Wait. What do you mean by that statement--"

But she isn't allowed to pursue at the moment, because random defenders keep her from getting too close. A 'tsk' from her lips, as the silver-haired Gundam Fighter leaps back... and as she lands, there's a momentary lapse of energy.

The damaged side that Meiya's katana cleaved through starts to act up. Looks like she did more damage than even Lunata anticipated. "It would be unwise to remain here further."

She shuts her eyes further, so that she can be further immersed into her mentally-attuned world. She announces to the open Katharon channel, "Operations will conclude for the day. Judgement Gundam leaving the battlefield." She turns, with each step she mulls about what her new opponent just told her...

"I hope we meet again, Meiya Mitsurugi. Perhaps you can provide me with some more answers the next time."

<Radio: B - Secure> Otto Habsburg transmits, "I'm in the library, but, ah, the pilot of that Gundam is too..."

Huang nods grimly in agreement with the synopsis of the Mysterious Stranger, a.k.a Arian. "He does," the older man concurs. "But he can't dodge what he doesn't see coming," he adds as he cycles back from the immediate, tactical map, scanning over the wider strategic deployment. His finger runs down the defensive lines prepared by the EFA garrison forces and finally taps a single icon. "There," he declares. "The 73rd Artillery, out of Frankfurt." He opens his mouth, and then closes it just as suddenly as his communications officer opens the channel on her own initiative. The Asian man smiles. They're coming together.

The SUMO's energy barrage cuts through the Yingzi's defensive systems again, slamming repeated blows into the upper half and the front of the ship, small fires lighting up the black profile in the night sky. Without the GraviCon system, the Yingzi's shields are no better than any other ship's...and deploying the system in a populated area could be extremely dangerous.

And so he must rely on guile, rather than power.

Back on the bridge, Huang Qin Shi nods and closes the channel. "Weapons," he orders, bringing up the targeting systems and firing patterns, cycling through a set of prepared solutions and selecting the ones he wants, throwing them in the direction of the officers' computers. The barrage from the Yingzi ceases for a few seconds and then picks up again: lasers, missiles, heavy shells and the main beam cannons lancing out toward the dancing SUMO. The shots are aimed for effect, but the volume of them serves to dissuade the Katharon pilot from coming closer for fear of being torn apart by the withering fire.

Which is when the barrage of skyburst rounds fired half a minute ago by the 73rd Artillery lights up the sky.

Meriden Almace says something. Whatever it is is not for Otto's ears. Her helmet makes it hard to tell, but presumably she's talking on the radio. The gun doesn't lower while she does it.

She eventually stiffens up. "I can't let you do that," she says, sounding a little doubtful. "You're not supposed to be here! If you were you would have had the code. I saw the wires." She had to use the same door to get in, after all."

Something else comes across the band. Then, more firmly, "Can you prove it? I mean, that you're related."

Halfway across the galaxy, Blorfitus the gambler is having a terrible time in the Knif'plah Star Casino -- it's like luck itself is watching em, enforcing the terrible odds of Zendblorzian Space Roulette.

On earth, Staren runs unchecked, blasting mecha out of the sky and avoiding retribution at every turn, like some kind of Amuro Ray.

Suddenly, his weapons strike a forcefield.

Suddenly, he is surrounded.

Held in place as if on display, for Trowa's target practice.

The beams ravage the machine, tearing holes through it, parts explode and spew smoke and sparks. The Astray collapses to its knees.

Inside, Staren clenches his teeth and tries to THINK. There must be a way out of this!

...

"I surrender." He transmits.

Halfway across the galaxy, eyestalks raise in shock. "Unbelievable! Double zero... Blorfitus wins everything!"

Otto taps the emblem on his coat. It has a yellow background and is shaped like a kite shield -- on it, there is a black, double-headed eagle. "This is my family's crest," he says. "Habsburg. We funded the Gundam Fighter here. I want some personal family files that are here--that is all."

<Radio: B - Secure> Quatre Raberba Winner transmits, "How are you holding up in your fight, Staren?"

<Radio: B - Secure> Staren Wiremu transmits, "They've trapped me inside a forcefield they can poke holes in and finish me any time."

<Radio: D - WING boys> Quatre Raberba Winner transmits, "Let him go. We got others to concentrate on."

<Radio: B - Secure> Staren Wiremu transmits, "If any of you can break it, fine. Otherwise, I hope they take prisoners."

<Radio: B - Secure> Quatre Raberba Winner transmits, "Something tells me you'll be fine, Staren."

<Radio: B - Secure> Staren Wiremu transmits, "The 'heart of space'?"

<Radio: B - Secure> Quatre Raberba Winner transmits, "Something like that..."

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

<Radio: B - Secure> Heero Yuy transmits, "You'll be fine, Staren."

<Radio: D - WING boys> Trowa Barton transmits, "Agreed."

Meriden Almace probably should say no. Anyone can put anything on their coat! But she wavers. He /seems/ sincere, after all.

"Okay," Meriden says, lowering the gun slightly. "But you have to show me what you look at." Not that it matters; she can't read German, or any other local language. English is about it, and she doesn't have a whole lot of hope that he's going to find something in English.

Staren eventually decides to make a break for it -- the Astray stands and takes off at a thruster-assisted run into the woods.

The ship is pulling back, isn't it? Or starting to. This is quite a relief for Oliver, because frankly fighting a ship and an enemy his own size at the same time is pretty mentally exhausting. That might be why he lets his guard down and ends up with a saber through the head of the SUMO.

Alarms go off as the machine is forced to go to the inferior backup cameras, sensors are messed up, and... well, there's a big smoking hole in the SUMO's head. Really, at this point Oliver kind of wants to retreat himself, but he's not sure Quatre will let him past. Which is why the SUMO rushes at Quatre, throwing the full force of its tank body at the enemy mech, shoulder-slamming it and, if the attack hits, trying to throw it downwards.

Meriden Almace marches out behind Otto.

Until he dashes, anyway. Then she does too, but in a different direction; scrambling toward the Seventh Gundam and ascending it with remarkable speed, Meriden throws herself into the cockpit. It takes her a few moments to make sure it can still move (it can, sort of).

The Seventh Gundam stands up. Jerkily, it points the shotcannon upward, like some kind of antiaircraft turret; Meriden expects attack from above, clearly.

"Done." Her hand lifts to the jawbone, her finger rolling a small dial. "This is Arian, ready the Red Lion for an emergency launch."

Turning around immediately with one final look toward Huang, Arian grabs her helmet from off the console and starts to sprint out of the bridge, pulling it on while on the run and arms and legs pumping with the effort of getting from the bridge to the hangar with as few turns as possible.

TIME PASSES, WOO~

In short order, a Knightmare Frame launches from the catapult of the Yingzi-- of course, with a lack of preparation, there's no parachutes packed onto the machine. Dropping through the air and hitting the ground with an impressive impact, Arian-16 grunts as she remembers Leo once griping about her making use of what was supposed to be /his/ machine-- and frowns a little behind her helmet.

The landspinners drop and the Knightmare starts to speedily skate toward the Seventh Gundam.

<Radio: B - Secure> Staren Wiremu transmits, "Did ZERO tell you that?"

<Radio: B - Secure> Heero Yuy transmits, "No."

<Radio: B - Secure> Staren Wiremu transmits, "Do you see the future now?"

<Radio: B - Secure> Macua Huitl transmits, "I think I'm going to pull out here."

<Radio: B - Secure> Staren Wiremu transmits, "Or are you just trying to be comforting in what may be my last moments since it's no use being sad and all?"

<Radio: B - Secure> Heero Yuy transmits, "I trust you, remember? Don't quit on yourself."

<Radio: B - Secure> Staren Wiremu transmits, "I haven't quit, if I see an opening, I'll take it. But they could finish me here if they really want."

"All right," Otto agrees. He frowns, slight,y, and then stops -- he looks through the shelves. Something occurs to him, and his face reddens. He pushes his glasses up his face with a finger. "Um, it will take a second. There are a lot of books. Some of these are very old, too!"

<Radio: B - Secure> Staren Wiremu transmits, "Idea. Forcefields! How might these work? Any ideas?"

<Radio: B - Secure> Quatre Raberba Winner transmits, "No Staren. Just... no."

<Radio: B - Secure> Staren Wiremu transmits, "Maybe if you target the discs projecting the field, it will break!"

<Radio: B - Secure> Heero Yuy transmits, "Disable their source or punch through in one go--" 'Who's there!!' Gunfire. "Tch." Radio silence.

<Radio: D - WING boys> Quatre Raberba Winner transmits, "Heero... what are you doing this time?"

<Radio: D - WING boys> Quatre Raberba Winner transmits, "No, wait, don't answer that."

<Radio: D - WING boys> Heero Yuy transmits, "I can't risk breaching intel."

<Radio: D - WING boys> Heero Yuy transmits, "You know that."

<Radio: D - WING boys> Quatre Raberba Winner transmits, "Exactly."

<Radio: B - Secure> Oliver Evlien transmits, "Can't hold off this ship for much longer....but I will do my best...!"

As literally everything explodes from the Yingzi, the SUMO veers back sharply. It isn't a heavily-armored machine despite looking a bit like a quarterback, and it might not survive a barrage like that. Or like the one that comes from /behind./

"Good grief!" Oliver swears, eyes wide as he's alerted to the massive amounts of gunfire coming from every angle. There's no way he'll get out of this unscathed; it simply isn't possible. And the only way to avoid being blown up outright is just to keep moving. Which is what the SUMO does, shooting straight up, left, upwards again, darting about while shooting with its beam pistols at any incoming missiles it can find.

And yet, it feels like some kind of miracle when the SUMO emerges from the cloud of chaos nearly unscathed, or at least less scathed than it was a moment ago. It certainly feels that way to the pilot, who is catching his breath and can feel his heartbeat below his chest. Maybe he should consider working out a bit more, if stress gets to him like this...

"That was...even more clever," the pilot radios back to the Yingzi, sounding tired out, but still remarkably level. Or maybe he's just bad at raising his voice properly. "But you should remember that I...you should...remember that..." He mumbles something that would have been a very good boast, really, if he could pull it off.

Then it flies straight back for the Yingzi, trying to parry anything else that comes along with its heat fans, rushing in and slashing once, twice, rapidly from several different angles at the hull of the Yingzi with those strange, short-range bladed things. It can't keep this up much longer, Oliver is sure, and he hopes for a signal...

Guns fire. Everywhere. Arian-16 can honestly say that she didn't expect the artillery to be there to call in-- she's not perfect, as much as she /does/ tout that she's invincible. The joint attacks and fire lead the young pilot to shift her jaw again, tilting her head as guns, guns, and even more guns continue to fire.

"Huh. Damn, Huang."

And Oliver is already on the offensive again, leading the Boosted Child to frown slowly. "Are you sure you didn't want me to deploy?"

"What /are/ you looking for? I can ask where it is," Meriden says. She never quite puts the gun away but somehow it ends up not really pointed at Otto anymore; she doesn't like the pistol and has absolutely no interest in actually firing it at anything but targets.

She pauses, then adds, "I need your name too. I mean, just in case."

<Radio: B - Secure> Otto Habsburg transmits, "I almost done!"

The Planetary Defenders disengage entire as soon as Staren's unit falls to pieces under Trowa's incredibly well aimed barrage. "Good. Then stay there." Vier Winnaar, also known to others as Quatre Raberba Winner, calls over the speakers. His voice is a bit distorted. He doesn't want him to find out who's on the Mercurius after all. But even a voice-warper cannot steal the kindness from his voice.

The red unit steps forwards whilst the black disks settle back on the reloader unit. The thrusters engage, and soon the unit launches into the air, up and up and up, until he reaches a nice vantage point over Oliver's unit and then kills them.

The beam saber comes out, and the Planetary Defenders come to life before it once again, trying to cover it by forming a treesome of triangles before it, as it begins that descent and aims its weapon downwards, adjusting with the extra thrusters as he needs, planning on planting that saber into the unit's head... again!

<Radio: D - WING boys> Trowa Barton transmits, "Quatre, I'm pulling back. The Vayaete is pretty badly damaged and I don't think our... host would appreciate me getting it trashed a second time."

<Radio: D - WING boys> Quatre Raberba Winner transmits, "Copy that."

<Radio: D - WING boys> Quatre Raberba Winner transmits, "I will join you after stalling this guy a bit longer. I want to make sure the battleship doesn't actually destroys Oliver's cockpit."

Staren is helpless. The Vayaete could fire and end his life at any moment.

Yet it doesn't. Once Staren's machine has been disabled, the Vayaete raises it's beam cannon and shoulders it, sparing his life and allowing him a chance to retreat. Instead, it turns and launches off over the hill, disappearing into the forest.

<Radio: B - Secure> Staren Wiremu transmits, "What the--"

<Radio: B - Secure> Quatre Raberba Winner transmits, "What is it, mister Staren?"

Meriden Almace gets conflicting information. Huang wants her to pull back, but she isn't even in her robot. But if she /doesn't/ pull back, does that mean she's going to be behind enemy lines? Meriden doesn't know, but she is pretty sure she doesn't want to be captured by...

Okay, by the politest terrorist (?) she's ever met, but still.

Meriden tenses. The psychic pressure, such as it is, changes in sensation slightly. "It's Meriden," she says, "and you need to give me /your/ name or otherwise I might think you're lying about it!" She does not touch any of the books; actually, she edges backwards, a little closer toward the door. Weird.

<Radio: B - Secure> Staren Wiremu transmits, "Is that how capturing people normally works? He told me to 'stay here'... rrgh... I could try to make a run for it, but then they might never accept surrender again."

<Radio: B - Secure> Garrod Ran transmits, "Who cares? Run you dope!"

"Otto!" he repeats. "Calm down. If I was going to shoot you, I would have. I had plenty of opportunity."

He moves the books back, holding them under one arm, and looks her over for a minute. She seems to be backing away, which he finds strange, to say the least. His lips tighten into a line.

<Radio: B - Secure> Otto Habsburg transmits, "Try to make a distraction and get out!"

Meriden Almace makes a decision very quickly. She does that sometimes.

"We're done in here now," Meriden says, suddenly. "You can take that book," she adds, in a fit of generosity. It's not like she can read it anyway, but she tries to glance at the title. Hopefully he's got the right one. "But it's time to go! I can't let you stay here any longer."

Her body language gets even more antsy, like she urgently wanted to be somewhere else. (Which is true.)

Macua Huitl sees there's no way to brting both of these units down fast enogh. One at a time she could see them, together they formed quite the formidable tag team against. She's already fairly mauled and she turns to pull out. Her machine turns recalls hte funnels and pulls out.

The shoulders slam into the shields in front of it. He really should stop doing that! Well, admittedly, he is dealing with Quatre. And a unit that is made almost purely to be a defensive force. The area between three of the Planetary Defenders crackle as they are assaulted by the unit's shoulders...

And then suddenly, the other six defenders begin to settle /around/ the opposing unit -- just like they had for Staren. But this time, their field takes some time to engage, but when they do, they begin to crush inwards, neatly maneuvering, hoping to pancake the unit and somehow leave the cockpit in tact.

Meriden Almace is not actually going very quickly despite her claims of being okay-ness. Seventh Gundam got smashed up pretty badly by the Liondam before it finally gave out; the torso armour is pretty close to shredded, and something sparks every so often.

"Hi, Arian!" Meriden sends with far too much cheer - again - once she spots the red Knightmare. "You didn't have to come. See? Fine!"

She remember to buckle herself in around now, though. Arian reminded her, for some reason.

<Radio: B - Secure> Otto Habsburg transmits, "I am getting out! Is everyone all right?"

<Radio: B - Secure> Oliver Evlien transmits, "Have to retreat, s-sorry."

<Radio: B - Secure> Lunata Croze transmits, "How did it go?"

<Radio: B - Secure> Macua Huitl transmits, "I'm fine. So just what was the book I'd like to know?"

Oliver finds himself being attacked from all sides as the defenders try to crush the unit, wrinkling and bending the armor of the SUMO. Not good, he can't let the enemy possibly recover any secrets in the unit's wreckage. As quickly as he can, he tries to break free from the slow-press before the machine is completely destroyed.

It is heavily battered, however, and depleted, which is why Oliver uses whatever is left to try to escape while he's still airborne, landing back in the forest and making a damaged break for it. The machine's in no condition to fight, that's for sure.

Arian-16 frowns at Meriden after she bursts out and makes it back to the Seventh Gundam, breathing in hard and exhaling just as hard. Shifting in the cockpit of the Knightmare Frame, her attention goes to the screens on either side of her, then back to the one in front of her while the HUD continues to locate and track enemy unit positions.

"Your Gundam looks like it's gonna fall apart any minute. Just keep your head down, I don't wanna have to deal with any shit if you get yourself killed on the way back, all right?"

When Oliver's unit gets to a point where it is no longer battle capable, the shields suddenly disengage and move back to the unit, looking like they've been overloaded. In reality, that's Quatre's own handyworks, messing with things to make it look like the unit was simply not structurally good enough yet.

The unit turns about, and he takes a good look at everything that is going on, on the battlefield. Believing that he's done enough damage for one day, he hits those thrusters, and follows right behind Trowa - back to the training camp. Mercurius! AWAY!