2010-12-17 - Operation SRW - The Fleets Of Neviim

NEVIIM -- EXTERIOR

The White Star dominates L5. It has reshaped the geography of this portion of space completely. Side 1 and PLANT have had a few damaged colonies turned into bulwarks, with the Divine Crusader and PLANT fleets deployed to hold them back. The satellite itself is defended, thoroughly, from the human forces. A large defensive fleet remains, despite casualties, and nearly every Aerogater force of any size has been redeployed here.

This will be the final battle. Humanity's forces have been arrayed, with a series of careful communications and cooperation. Today, they have parity with the remaining forces of the Seventh Fleet. Their forces light up the heavens, in the distance.

A single hatch opens on the White Star -- welcoming in the last, damaged Huleh that is creeping back. The massive hatch swings down and blocks it off from sight.

Operation SRW is ready to go.

NEVIIM -- INTERIOR

Euzeth Gozzo looks up from the command room. He frowns, bringing his hand up to secure his mask into place. His lips curl into a frown, as he sees the images on the holographic monitors flickering about in front of him. "Have my Vayyikra online."

The masked technician next to him nods. "I will. Lord Laodicea is expected to take the field, in the Hermodhr Shivah, m'lord."

"I see." He frowns. "How did it come to this? How did these Samples push us this far?" The scientist gives him no answer -- much less any comfort. "Is /it/ prepared?"

"It is."

Behind his mask, Euzeth smiles. "Have it ready."

"These Samples are brave. Some may call them foolish.

"But today, I will declare their actions courage rather than idiocy."

The White Star Neviim is a fortress that few have been able to breech. Looming like a small moon, the mobile defense system looks more like a beehive than anything else; even with so many of their drone forces destroyed, the sheer size of the Seventh Fleet's army flitting about the forty kilometer structure of Neviim like swarms of insects is no less daunting. They have a weak point, now. They are vulnerable. Not by much. But possibly... just by enough.

That doesn't mean it will be easy, however. A fact that the Balmarians see to with the sudden and tremendous ripple of gravity.

Like a meteor striking the once serene surface of space and time, everything distorts an twist in the wake of an /immense/ gravity spike. It is with this heavy anomaly that the flagship of the Seventh Fleet makes itself known. Twenty eight kilometers long, the massive battleship by itself is almost three fourths the size of Neviim itself, dwarfing the Hulehs that surround it like a swarm of parasitic fish surrounding a Great White Shark. At its front, an umbrella of green crystals blossom outward like the petals of a flower -- the Zehirut Crystals that compose them glowing with an ethereal, emerald light.

"And to salute their bravery, I will allow them to die in the way that they so eagerly wish.

"I will allow them to die fighting like warriors."

Laodicea Judecca Gozzo sits within a crystal throne. From this shimmering cockpit, he feels all, senses all, controls all that goes on within the Hermodhr. His pale face is illuminated by the dull throb of the Hermodhr's beating heart - the Zehirut.

"Our fleets are in position to intercept, Lord Laodicea," transmits one of his captains, the viewscreen popping up before his eyes. Laodicea barely pays attention, his dull eyes looking towards the Hermodhr's data screens. A second voice - another of his men - comes on the line.

"The Zentradi appear to be making their move as well, my lord. Shall we...?"

"No. Position our drone forces throughout the fleet; a third of our remaining Megillots shall be put to the front lines," Laodicea breathes out slowly. "Euzeth has assured me of our state. He has something prepared... and /that/ has not awakened yet. If they wish to come, then let them come.

"The holy Zehirut shall give them the fight they rightly deserve."

APPROACHING LAGRANGE POINT 5 UNITED EARTH SPHERE FLEET

The lines for the final conflict have been drawn. Mai Kobayashi's willingness to sacrifice herself had depleted the Aerogator forces by nearly three quarters and the actions of the Aggressors, Wolf's Dragoon's and the Ghost of Razgriz had forced the aliens from Europe, and the Zentradi fleet have had the White star blockaded since they returned.

Now, ships of all class and sizes fall into formation half way between L5 and Earth, preparing battle lines, performign final checks and launching the first Mobile Suits.

Bruno J. Global sat in his chair on the bridge of the SDF-1 Macross as it completed it's transformation to Storm Attacker mode. From the bridge he could see the SDF-3, already completed it's own transformation. He was assured the Revil's repairs would hold for the battle, and even if it were relegated to a more rearward position, they would need it's massive hangar capacity to carry the number of forces needed for this siege.

Bruno picked up the ship phone at his side and selected an inter-ship broadcast. "This is Colonel Global speaking." for probably the five dozenth time. "Shortly we will begin the operation to drive out de Balamrian forces, and rescue our captured comrades aboard de White Star. We will face a great many of de enemy, and maybe even those same comrades, but I must urge each and every one of you..."

"...They are our brothers, our sisters, our friends and our loved ones. Ve all vant to save dem, but guard your own life. No one vill call you coward from fleeing from the face of someone you love, but today you are here to take dem back from de Balmarians. Today ve take our family back home."

"All hands, prepare for combat."

"Commence Operation SRW."

The ships of the line, Macross, Revil, Arks one throuwugh three, the Hagane, Hiryu Kai and innumerable other ships, both human and Zentradi begin their advance.

Ilyse Amsel was not entirely sure this was a good idea. Not the attack on the Balmarians. Ilyse considers that an excellent idea, and she was happy to help - defending Earth from aliens is what she joined the Crusaders, and later A-LAWS, to do.

No, what she considers the height of stupidity is what she did after that: bring an entirely untested robot with unique (as far as she knows) systems, bolt another barely tested system into it that has a tendency to explode when overstressed, and drive the whole thing out in the middle of a combat zone.

She supposes she is probably as safe as she's going to get with /these/ defenses, though.

The unit that deploys doesn't look like that much. It's a Gundam; tall and slender for a mobile suit, with overlong legs and broad multisegment wings. Even the V-fin is exaggeratedly long and narrow. It flies well enough, though, and something glimmers behind it as Ilyse guns the engine.

"Okay," Ilyse says, checking over everything one last time. "Amsel here; Phoenix Gundam deployed, let's do this thing before they stop us!" It is not, she realizes as soon as she finishes, the world's most imposing battle cry. She reddens slightly, but as she is alone in her cockpit, there is nobody to see.

"Understood SDF Macross," Jamil Neate replies, "The Freedan II is ready to deploy it's Mobile Suit force." Tiny in the face of the massive Super Dimensional Fortress and even a bit on the small size for a Ship of the Line, the white and aqua blue Freedan II (Formerly the EFA ship Argus) cruises forward on the fleet's left flank, easily keeping up with the larger, more plodding vessels that composes this fleet. It's hanger doors begin to open. "This is the Freedan II, launch all Gundam." Down in the hanger, a serious Garrod sits behind the controls of his mobile suit, looking out of the open hanger door towards the masisve Neviim looming in front of him, "This one's for you Tiffa... I'll make sure you wake up to a better world. Garrod Ran, Gundam Double X, /LAUNCHING!/" The recently liberated Gundam Double X rockets out of the hull of the Freedan II and surges forward, carrying it's brand spanking new beam rifle in hand.

Among the battleships advancing on the White Star is a Trailer vessel, the Valstork, nominally an independent mercantile ship - but one which has been staying as far out of combat as it can, up until a few days ago. By sharp contrast, the *Valhawk*, mobile unit of the Valstork Family, has been in the thick of it across most of the Earth Sphere, even taking part in a previous raid on the White Star ... only to be forced into a speedy withdrawal.

Speaking of the Valhawk, here it comes, launching out of the Valstork's main hangar deck almost without need for a catapult. The Valhawk pulls a quick barrel-roll and pulls up out of the launch-track vector, clearing the way for anyone else who hitched their ride with the Valstork Family.

"Operation SRW," Kazuma muses. "I wonder if this is what Pops meant about 'don't expect to stay nameless after this' ..."

"It's a big moment, isn't it?" Mihiro comments, then taps a button near the edge of her console. "Shihomi-oneechan says we're clear for Pattern Cross, oniichan. Shall we?"

Kazuma nods slowly. "Yeah. We got Macua back, I finally kept my promise ... but we've still got unfinished business." He thumbs his radio. "Valstork bridge, this is the Valhawk. We're ready out here."

"Understood, Kazuma," Blessfield responds. "Valstork is secure for the maneuver. On your signal."

"Roger that," Kazuma answers with a grin. "Valhawk, Valstork - ! Battle Formation: Pattern Cross! GO!!"

Controls are operated in near-unison on both the mothership and the mobile unit, and the Valstork accelerates further ahead of its neighbors in the battleship formation - then starts to transform. The Valhawk drifts backwards, undergoing its own conversion - not from Air Force Mode to Close Combat Mode, but into a different configuration, one which looks designed to interface with something else outside ...

And then it becomes clear just what it's interfacing *with*: the Valstork itself - or more accurately ...

The Valguard.

It's huge, bulky, and honestly, damn near ugly ... but Kazuma cares less about the aesthetics than about the fact that it's got *firepower*. Raw strength is going to count for a lot in a battleship fight.

Novas thinks this is an awesome idea. "Ha ha ha ha ha!!" She cackles, "We're gonna kick their asses so hard, we'll have to pause the battle to surgically remove our feet from their assholes!" She pauses, though, tilting her head. "Phoenix Gundam? Really??" She shakes her head. So typical, phoenixes. She doesn't seem to see that Ilyse is blushing but she has special powers that let her know when someone is embarrassed, regardless of whether she cna actually see them or not.

"It was a good first try??" She offers.

 Aitan Chazak transmits, "What the BLOODY HELL?! We got reports of weapon fire inside of the Neviim!"

 Ingram Prisken transmits, "A group of vermin. I will handle this."

Sly Heckler thinks it's only fitting that he'd be here, among the fleet, in their big attack against the Balmarians. After all, Sly was here on this bridge when the White Star first warped into this very spot, not long ago.

The original plan wasn't for Sly to be here, though. After he'd hatched a crazy plan to sneak a strikeforce into the White Star, he'd fully intended to be a part of that particular fight. However, he was talked out of that by both Spectre and his crew. The Equinox is needed in this battle, to provide tactical support between the fleet and the strike force inside, and if the Equinox is going into battle, Sly is needed on its bridge. The crew knows their jobs, but without the captain on the ship, morale would not be what it needs to be.

So now Sly sits, in the captain's chair aboard his ship, as it flies in formation with the rest of humanity's fleet. Tensions are high on his ship, and nobody talks much as they watch the enemy fleet looming ever closer. The Equinox is a second-line unit, but nobody expects to not be drawn into combat here. When the call to prepare for immediate combat comes though, Sly gives the nod, and his crew starts working intently.

"Alex, prep the guns. Alan, give me a broad sweep across the enemy lines. Let's get this one right, guys."

 Aitan Chazak transmits, "Tch, like hell you are alone! I will not see the Samples succeed again because of someone else's failure!"

Aboard the Valstork, a crowd of identical teenage girls stand in a cluster beside the uniquely shaped hi-rounder Castrato, all waving cheerfully, "Bye!" "Good luck!" "Be careful, Ernula!" "Bye, Ernula~!" And, in the cockpit, a yellow-clad blonde waves back down at her duplicates, "Thanks, Ernula! Watch me, I'm going to be awesome today!" And then, the cockpit closes and seals. Ernula grips the controls, pushing her Rounder forward slowly at first. The thrusters kick in, and the cheerful pilot lets out a "Ho-Hoooy~!" as her machine launches out of the Valstork's hanger, pulling a little barrel roll of its own. The Ernulas still aboard the vessel promptly scatter. "Alright, let's give Ernula the support she needs!" "Roger, Ernula!" "Ernula, help me with this!" "Okay~!" Outside the Castrato pulls up beside Kazuma's Valhawk, and the blonde inside flashes him a thumbs-up, "Mister Kazuma, let's make sure we kick lots and lots of space-ass today!" Then, glancing towards her console, she beams, "Ready, Ernula?" and her own voice fires back, "Ready! Here it comes, Ernula~!" "Thanks~!" Space warps around the Castrato, and enormous components warp in to either side, above, and beneath it. Sliding in, these pieces latch on to the diminuative Rounder, easily quintupling its mass and giving it a shape analagous to a deep sea crab. Moving slower, ponderously, like a small battleship now, the Curtain Call slams its 'claws' together with a flash of sparks. Inside, Ernula smiles brightly, "Here you go, Aerogators! A wonderful present, from me to you~!"

Macua has loaded up into the Gundam X. The Phoebe was a mess, badly damaged and is out of the fight. Macua takes a deep breath and presses a button on the G controler.

Flash System online.

Mobile Bit System Link active

Six mobile suits come to life behindthe X, and form up into launch formation with The Gundam X. Macua feels her mind expand outwards getting all the input from the drones. These machines showed what level of trust Garrod had with her. It takes a moment as she launches, and then the Bits follow suit, forming up into combat formation.

"FIRE DANCER! GUNDAM X AND GX BITS LAUNCHING!"

The firepower contained within the unit was a scarying to have in one's hands. Also anyone with mental powers would sense Macua's preence she's focused, and ready to fight. She also seems to want pay back for a good many thing. Ernula, Garrod and Kazuma get a radio from her.

"Time to show them what we can do, right?"

Lev lingers in space, sitting in the cockpit of her repaired Se'arat Berakim as she waits with the main fleet outside the White Star. Her heart is heavy, her mind replaying a string of failed missions since this campaign started. And now she is faced with humanity's unified fleet here to finish the job, in what could very well be the last stand for herself, her peers, and the people she is fighting for. Lev already knows this battle will end in defeat, and likely her death followed by that of many other Balmarians. But she still has to try. And as the enemy fleet approaches, Lev sends her machine off to the side... as far as a 'side' gets in space at least, attempting to get away from the center of the battle in favor of pushing toward a flank. And it's not long before she finds a good target; the Freedan II and its mobile suits. Zooming toward them, Lev is too far out to make a precise shot... but she's in range to make /a/ shot on the ship nonetheless. The Se'arat Berakim's free hand points at the Freedan II, Lev's mind focusing and creating a swirling blue stream of TK energy in the shape of a mobile suit sized horizontal tornado. It flies through the sea of stars, passing by the two Gundam X-types, and trying to drill into the ship!

Just as keikaku! Armor Regem, a commander under the mighty Balmary Empire, had been expecting those 'samples' to be pulling something soon. He'd heard about the invasion a small squad had committed to, as well as a small offensive force - resulting in a disabled Daitarn 3 and a wounded Ketol Iyar. They would now feel brave, surely. And much like Euzeth, he believed that if they would not come - that was exactly what he would believe them to be.

But he is not next to Laodicea Judecca Gozzo's massive ship, he is not within that gravity distortion. No, he is waiting. Patiently. The fleet that is under his command, consisting mostly of a massive drone army, remains hidden. Until finally, the Freedan II launches its Mobile Suit force.

"It is time." The young man is standing before his captain's chair. He carries a long white captain's garb which lists his name, and has jet black hair flowing down his head down to as low as his shoulder blades. His stare is firm, aimed at the radar and external feeds he has access to. "They are launching, sir!" - "So we have them. Prepare for teleportation. For Ze Balmary Empire!" -- "FOR ZE BALMARY EMPIRE!" his crew shouts along and the quite sizable fleet teleports.

A massive gravity well finally forms, ABOVE AND BEHIND the fleet that is attacking the white star, causing them to be stuck between two massive armies. "Samples!" Speakers blare whilst the gravity distortion is still flowing, white ships and massive quantities of drones launching from them immediately. "My name is Armor Regem! And in the name of Ze Balmary Empire, I will be your undoing! You were foolish to attack us with so pitiful of a force!"

And without even waiting, without warning, a massive squad of Zechariahs seperate themselves from Armor's fleet and launch a massive barrage of beams upon Kazuma's Val-unit, whilst the drones seperate and fly each for different targets, going for their engines and aiming to cripple the invading units.

 Armor Regem transmits, "Armor Regem, commiting to a attack of their rear, to prevent any foolish attempts of escaping - and to outflank them."

 Shal'hevet Lev transmits, "Understood. I'm moving to the sides to drive them your way, one ship at a time..."

 Armor Regem transmits, "I expect no less, ma'am."

The Divine Crusaders are, obstensibly, a force of people who have been preparing Earth for the inevitable alien invasions. Thus, it makes sense that they have several weapons at their disposal specifically made to fight alien battle fleets. The Divine Crusaders have indeed seen fit to send one of them into battle tonight.

But only one.

A sleek, alien machine appears out of basically nowhere, flying with the Earth battle fleet. It's green armor and distinct profile makes it immediately identifiable by friend and foe alike. Reactions are probably shared between them, though for once, just maybe, it's not just here to kill everyone.

Maybe.

"Balmarians," Gym snarls. "None of you will leave this place alive!"

CONCEPT-X 6-1-2 TURN X HAS ARRIVED ON THE BATTLEFIELD!

 Aitan Chazak transmits, "Pizza samp--- what the hell is he talking about?"

 Armor Regem transmits, "It must be one of their 'sample' tricks. Don't fall for it... the pizza may be a trap."

 Ingram Prisken transmits, "The typical claptrap that they tend to spout out. Think nothing of it."

Laughter.

Mocking, derisive, judgemental laughter.

The sound was carried on radio channels, and echoing in the minds of the sensitive. Amoungst the dizzying array of Balmarian forces, it was hard to isolate the source, until a robot seperates from the main mass of drones and soldiers.

Blue, angelic wings spread out behind the massive Balmarian Mobile Suit. A baleful glow surrounds it, glistening in its own like, freshly polished. The lights of its deep blue eyes glare at the assembled forces, as the sick, twisted, monsterous aura of Ketol Iyar begins reaching out to the assembled Earth forces. Those who can sense such things would feel her presence, watching them from afar, from every angle, glaring at them all. And then, it centers its attention on Macua.

"You.... YOU LIVED?! I tore your heart out with my own hands! Your body was broken at my feet! WHY CAN'T YOU JUST DIE!?

With a flare of its wing engines, the Messenger *charges* towards the Gundam X, hands glowing with unearthly power... ready to tear the machine apart!

"They have arrived, my lord."

"Of course they have." Laodicea sits alone in his cockpit as energy is directed throughout the whole of the Hermodhr through a single crystaline source. Even as data floods in, he processes it all, his fingertips curling on the violet crystal controls of his seat. The improved T-Link data from Earth's forces allows him to concentrate even more. This entire ship has a one man crew.

And now, he stares down the arrival of the Macross and its companions.

"So you come again," the commander of the Seventh Fleet intones. "Then let today be the final battle. That abomination of the divine power flowing through the Hermodhr Shivah -- let us see which prevails!"

The Hermodhr Shivah does not move. The forces surrounding it, however, are another matter entirely. Zechariachs launch off from the decks of the Hermodhr one by one, Habakkuks and handfuls of Ezekiels following shortly behind. The army of the Seventh Fleet advances proudly and fiercely -- aiming to collide with the encroaching forces of Earth from countless angles.

Within, Laodicea hears the reports of enemies within the Neviim itself. Oddly, he doesn't react. "... Euzeth will know how to deal with them. He'll know," he murmurs, before blinking once and shaking his head. "Hrn...?" The forces.

"Yes. Let this battle be your requiem, Macross! Launch the initial strike! Deploy the first wave of Megillots! I shall take command of our drone forces from here on out!"

Despite having incurred so many damages, the volume of Megillots is still staggering as they flow out like thick metallic clouds. The drones engage, all of them seeking to collide with or simply /strike down/ any mobile unit in their path -- and though far fewer resort to those kamikaze tactics, several still ram like drone missiles for the hull of the Macross -- all of them innummerable and ferocious.

Oh shit, Ilyse thinks. Bugs!

Phoenix Gundam is fast, but Ilyse isn't entirely used to driving it yet. She evades some of the wave of Megillots, but others gang up, limiting her flight options. A few even grab on before Ilyse can shake them away, using her acceleration to do so. One nearly wrenches the left leg out.

"I had to call it that," Ilyse says, defensively, once she's gotten free of the first wave; by the time others come close, she has a pair of silver short beam rifles clutched in its hands, more oversized pistols than proper rifles. She begins to lay down fire while on approach, using both weapons interchangably to shoot at Megillots, Zachariahs, and anything else that happens to get in her way as she angles in the general direction of the flagship.

One of her hands lingers over an unlabeled button. Not yet, she thinks. The last thing they need is MORE things to fight.

 Niriel Regem transmits, "Captain! Incomming! Lone sample unit!"

 Niriel Regem says, "What is the problem?" "It appears to be a Grungust Type-3..."

"Tch... just look at the /size/ of that battleship," Garrod remarks as he sees the massive ship the Aerogaters have brought in to secure their holdings. Garrod braces himself as he pushes forward, beam rifle at the ready. Then more bad news shows up in the form of Gym and the Turn X, "Haha... oh look, it's the Turn X... come to save us all... haha..." Garrod's laughter doesn't sound particularly happy though as he sweatdrops. Then the waves of Megillots are upon them. Garrod's beam rifle lights up as he beams bug after bug down, but their numbers are just too great for him to defend against as a few daring drone sget through and crash bodily into the Double X, "Gaaah!" further back, the Freedan II sits, watching the battle unfold. Jamil frowns a bit, "Even after all their loses, they can still muster this much power? Prepare to move forward. Give the X and Double X suppressing fire!" The Freedan II surges forward, it's beam cannons lighting up and burning away Megillots by the dozen. All is looking good-- until the sudden arrival of an inexplicable SPACE TORNADO! The ship shudders as it's buffeted by the TK whirlwind. This does not go unnoticed by Garrod. "Kuh--! Mac, there's a machine attacking the Freedan! I'm heading back to try and draw it away!" Verniers fire as the Gundam Double X changes course and snaps up it's beam rifle, drawing a bead on his target and unleahsing a red blast of concentrated energy.

"Enemy is approaching the outer most defense line!" Vanessa Laird.

"Valkyrie squadrons are moving to firing positions." Misa Hayase adds. "30 seconds to contact."

"Mobile Suits and PTs are right behind the Valkyries!" Shammy Milliome does her job dutifully.

"All onboard anti-aircraft systems report ready Captain." Claudia LaSalle says in her clipped tone

"All hands and systems are ready for combat sir!" Kim Khabriov finishes the status report.

Global nods his head, the brim of his hat shadowing over one eye. "Misa. Engage the first enemy line."

VF-1S Super Valkyries roar through space, bearing down on the enemy's forward combatants. Targeting signals reach out for the Bug drones and lock on. Long range missiles drop from under the wings of Variable Fighters and streak out towards the Bugs, a tactic used constantly on the MAcross's trip home, but today Global has mixed it up a little.

THe VF-1s flip their legs out, and their thermonuclear turbines apply full reverse thrust. Sending them careening backwards...

And allowing GM IIs and Gespenst and Huckebein Mk II-Ms to take hte lead with their heavier armor and more powerfull beam rifles. The second line suddenly becomes the first, and a hail of beam rifle fire assaults the Aerogator drones right after the missiles.

The entire fleet lumbers forward, the two Super Dimension Fortresses forming the core of two globes of smaller vessels acting as aegis for the lumbering SDFs. Magellens, Salamis Kai classes, Warden Destroyer Escorts. Every combat class of ship in the EFA is represented here today, but this isn't the usual flying wall of EFA tactics. Each one is moving and acting like an interlocking clockwork puzzle, someone has rewrote the EFA's fleet tactics.

Well, Novas thinks, time to start shooting. "Don't worry, Ilyse, you can't expect to get the best name the first time, and what really matters is if it works!" She tilts her head, "Since you're the one with the plan I'm going to follow your lead, okay? This is a bit big for even /all/ the bull--"

The Samsara gets struck by a Megillot. "Hey watch i--" CLUNK! another collides into her machine, sending it spiraling back.

"Oh fuck this noise! I'm gonna tear 'em to pieces!" She draws out her sidearm and starts a-firin', wanting to pace herself and not spend all her impact cannon ammunition too quickly and be spent when some sort of giant evil devil bot comes out to kill her and Ilyse!

Ernula's smile doesn't fade. It just gets wider. What's this? A large group of weak targets, approaching the Curtain Call? Her fingers dance across the controls embedded within the sticks in her hands, then twists them both aside. The immense crab-like gunship abruptly turns on its side. Gun emplacements on either side of the central body open up, firing out spreads of energy as the vessel moves. It's a very dense pattern, cutting a hole through the formation large enough for the Curtain Call to slip through. And, perhaps, anyone who falls in behind it. "Calculating source... Oh! So that's where it came from?" Ernula's screens highlight and zoom in on the Hermodrh Shivah. Humming to herself, she manipulates controls, skimming over the alien machine with a variety of colored lines until she has a rotating wireframe spinning away in the lower corner of her HUD. "Hmm~... I'll have to get some more detailed scans. Maybe if I can beat it into nonfunctional status, they'll let me keep it!" Removing her hands from the controls, Ernula clasps them in front of her chest, eyes growing starry, "Then Master will praise Ernula~!" Beat. "Right!" She quickly returns her hands to the controls, maneuvering the Curtain Call towards Laodicea's Hermodhr Shivah, "I have to disable it first!" The gun emplacements on Curtain Call flare up again, hurling sprays of energy towards the Balmarian machine. To add insult to injury, a half dozen rockets eject out the top and bottom of the heavy vessel's rear quarter, arcing up and down until they home in on the Hermodhr's location. "Presant for you, please enjoy it!"

It was a chance to see if these aliens lived up to their reputation. The Shadow Mirrors had not been active through much of this war, but that did not mean they had been idle. But no matter what you might believe they had or had not been up to, it seemed that they were fully intent on making an impression at this battle. First the appearance of the Turn X - and the another unit appears a short time later, as the battle begins to escalate.

Appearing perhaps a mile above the Macross is a blue and black machine, with far too many spikes than any other more decent machine should have. The form of the Zweizergain is unmistakable for those who have beheld it on the battlefield before, and its pilot looks down from his cockpit, arms crossed as the mobile trace system awaits his call to action. "I have seen far more fearsome aliens than the ones who have presented themselves here. But you have violated one of the members of my organization, and that is a crime that I am not willing to forgive," Vindel Mauser proclaims, reaching up to release the clasp on his cloak and cast it aside. "Come, Balmarians! Let us ring in the era of war which you so greatly desire!" The Zweizergain shimmers for a moment - and then six other Zweizergains appear around it, each of them identical except for a very faint wavering around the edges. The original points - and the shadow copies leap forward into the swarm of Megilots, striking at them with fists and feet, lashing out with blades, or blasting them with energy attacks. The original vanishes from sight, only to reappear and grab a Megillot out of mid-air, then spinning around and launching it at the Hermodhr.

"Alex? Order all gunners to fire at all."

That's right, the Equinox actually has CREW tonight! Experienced gunnery and repair crews on loan from Wolf's Dragoons have been brought onto Sly's ship, raising the crew count to it's full operational number of 26. It's a weird experience for Sly, actually having a ship with crew, but it does mean his weapons are able to respond faster and more tactically, as each one has an actual fire team controlling it, instead of all being remotely handled by Alex.

Alex, meanwhile, has a new crew member of her own! Sitting next to her control panel is a small cage, inside of which is a rabbit that was saved from Marcus Gunther's cockpit. The rabbit is currently wearing a ship's captain uniform, complete with robe and hat. How she got the small animal to tolerate the costume is a secret only Alex keeps, but for now the bunny seems alright with its situation, and Alex is thrilled to have her 'second in command'. "Alright Lieutenant Greg, let's do it! All fire teams, target and engage at will!"

The Equinox turns quickly, flying straight into the Aerogater swarms, as its point guns starts spraying fire rapidly into the air. Unlike before, this is no mere defensive screen, but a careful net of fire as the gunnery teams work to pin down and destroy all targets in their sight.

Macua Huitl says, "The Phoebe is stronger than you realised. I had hoped your suffering was over but it seems not the case. I have a world to defend and a gift for Lord Gozzo on behalf of everyone whose suffered because of him. You said I never used my powers to their full excent now I have."

The GX Bits form up and start to engage the Balmarians, their rifles go to work, as do their shoulder canons. She doesn't shoot at Ketol just yet, she has things to do,there's that massive alien flag ship that has to go down.

"Because Adom would die as well."

She knows theres no saving Ketol at this point and it's like a knife in her gut but she's got to press on.

Then there are bugs everywhere the GX bits avoid the entire incomming assault and take out several, but Mac is just a second too slow and gets nicked by one that charges her, she turns cleaves it intwo but there are still more comming. She commands the bits into a new formation and they start to open fire on the six drones slaved to Macuas mind open up. EAch readying their beam rifles they open fire upon huge ship.

"Ketol, or should I say Messanger! I will not let you have her."

Still she's got her mission. But she can't forget about Ketol either. Still who was after the Freedan II? That's no... fodder trooper hitting them either.

Lev charges toward the Freedan II, knowing her initial hit did damage... but nothing to anything vital, not enough to destroy the ship. It's to be expected when firing from such a long range. Garrod notices her rush just fine however, and his shot is well aimed. The beam cuts across space, on course for a direct hit... and Lev notices it with a split-second to spare, slowing down so that it glances the front of the body rather than penetrating fully from 'ribcage' to engine. Even a barely-a-hit leaves a distinct burn in the Se'arat Berakim however, and Garrod has her attention; a hastily fired spark torpedo misses him outright but was clearly meant for him. "Get out of my way!" A screamed demand at Garrod, as she diverts to meet his Gundam head-on while creating another -- smaller, this time -- telekinetic 'tornado' that flies out to try to trap his machine and tear into it.

From the Earth, it rises into space; a great chain of islands, as big as a spaceship or bigger. Across them roll mechanical beasts of all shapes and sizes; old, new, and others, they rise into the sky along with the great skull-shaped island chain. Guns bristle on every corner; soldiers in ancient-yet-high-tech armor pile into Air Fortress Gool, which takes off in a holding pattern as they arrive on the battlefield behind the heroes.

Bardos Island, the Island of the one, the only, the nefarious DR HELL!

"Balmarians," Dr. Hell chortles within his immense floating death island; he stands, his cloak billowing about him, projected into the blackness of space as a mere red roiling chaos with wild white hair and glowing yellow eyes. "Once before have you seen my trump card...but now, I show it to you all! I am Dr. Hell - the greatest mind this world shall ever know! And today...it is *you* who are the samples!"

Dr. Hell's image disappears as the old man turns away from the projector. He waves his command staff at his generals, kneeled before him in turn. "Get me as many samples of that technology as you can. And, if possible, a few live Balmarians. I would see what makes them tick."

"At once, lord Dr. Hell!" The three Generals reply in turn, folding arms over their chests and departing. Each takes one of the wings of Mechanical Beasts roaming about the island; each holds their red command staffs high, pointing them at the Balmarians. And in turn, they scream as one:

"FOR THE GLORY OF DR. HELL AND THE DIVINE CRUSADERS!"

The barrage is immense. The machine beasts not tasked with defending the island swarm outwards; beams lance from their jaws, their chests, their hands; bullets stream from their cannons, shells and rocks and all sorts of more insane, impossible things. It is a robot parade; a cavalcade of impossile things.

And at the center of it all, Dr. Hell smiles his vile and evil smile.

"Incoming attackers!" Mihiro reports as the Zechariahs approach the Valguard. "So many of them ... - they're firing!"

"So are we!" grins Kazuma, raising one of the Valguard's arms, wiggling the "fingers" a bit before their tips glow ... and then the beam launchers trigger, and Kazuma gives the wrist a gentle flick to send those beams lashing amongst the Zechariahs just as the Balmarian machines try to fire at the *Valguard*. Their pilots dodge, they scatter, and the Valguard goes unscathed -

Until the Megillot swarm zergrushes the good guys. This time Kazuma fires off a couple of the Valstork's space torpedoes (well, the Valguard's now) - and while he manages to blow away some of the Megillots, there are too many homing in on the Valguard, and the colossus is briefly inundated by many, MANY explosions. It comes out looking somewhat the worse for wear - but still combat-ready.

"Great," Kazuma mutters, then transmits to his direct allies: "Garrod, Macua, Ernula, try and keep the bugs at bay for me. I have a detachment to chase off our lawn before I help deal with *their* mothership."

It feels SO damn good to know that Macua's helping with this fight - it's been too long since he was legitimately fighting alongside her. In the meantime, though, he's got an enemy to focus on ... and the Valguard rushes, not at the fighters or other Balmarian mecha, but straight at the source of Armor Regem's transmission - the command ship of that task force he just brought in. En route, the Valguard winds up like a boxer ... then lashes out with the BIGGEST fist* Kazuma personally knows of.

(* - the Macross doesn't have hands, even if the Daedalus attack involves 'punching')

"Like hell I will!" Garrod retorts as the Gundam Double X quickly fires it's verniers and jukes out of the way of the glowing green tornado, "I'm not about to let you kill all my friends!" The beam rifle is quickly swapped out... and it's place a new weapon is drawn. A heavy spiked ball with built-in rockets attached to a long chain and handle. God bless Kid and his ridiculous ideas. The chain is snapped up over Garrod's head as he starts to swing the mace around and around, building up /tremendous/ energy as it goes. then with a snap of his wrist, he sends it hurtling forward... and as if that isn't enough, moments later the rockets fire to increase it's velocity tenfold.

One by one, Megillots are destroyed. Some continue to ram into their enemies, some disperse into wide arrays. But inevitably, the drones are eliminated. And as each one is destroyed, the Zehirut shard imbedded in them resonates seconds before elimination. The data accumulated throughout the entirety of that Bug's lifespan transmits--

--right into the heart of the Hermodhr itself. Laodicea watches on impassively, even as data streams into the Zehirut. The core of the flagship hums with a low-key life as he props his chin upon his right hand, smiling thinly. "Are you preparing yourself, Zehirut? I can feel it... I can feel the change overcoming you. Soon...

"... we will turn all their strugglings against them."

Variable fighters and mobile suits come swarming in; drones and even fleet forces are destroyed in their wakes, even as Megillots ram into some of those VFs, consuming both in massive fireballs of soundless light. And as the forces of Earth breach the Seventh Fleet's defenses -- they are greeted by a thick wall of artillery fire from the Hermodhr, Phalanx Vulcans unloading a constant stream of anti-air defensive fire throughout its 30 kilometer length.

"This is the flagship of the Seventh Fleet. With this ship, entire armies have been toppled. Do you believe yourselves stronger?" muses Laodicea, his eyes narrowing upon the Macross. That ship... why does he feel so much hatred for it...?

"Then let us see. All of it."

The Zweizergain appears; and with it, so too does six others. Laodicea's brow quirks as he sees the phenomenon... and then his eyes narrow. A unit he has never seen before-- Megillots are destroyed, one after the other by the Zweizergain. The shards resonate. Data comes in. "... Let us see and incorporate just what you are..." he murmurs to himself. "Deploy the Habakkuk bombardment line! Leave nothing in their wake!"

Fat, yellow machines launch off one after the other; brilliant bolts of light ignite the battlefield as they sweep out in wide, grandiose arrays, attempting to catch anything and everything within the flurry of their cannonade, even as the Equinox's brutal volley of fire rips through several of them, consuming them as their own engines overload and explode.

The Phoenix Gundam unloads its beam rifles; Zechariahs are caught in the bolts of energy, several shots taking down one after the other in glorious hailfire. Even more are caught up by the Samsara's firearms, Megillots riddled with bullets and demolished -- just before the Vulcan Phalanxes sweep through the quadrant of space the Phoenix and the Samsara occupy.

Dr. Hell's image is projected outward, the fearsome sight met head-on by Laodicea. He frowns. "Intimidation tactics? ... Useless. All there is this day is war! So show me how you wage it!" The barrage from the floating island is staggering indeed; more Hulehs are struck, one even beginning to sink. Yet the Megillots swarm the islands too, some simply crashing in, others attempting to land on them as if to invade -- while the Habakkuk's bombardment turns towards Dr. Hell's massive island fortress full force.

The flagship of the Seventh Fleet, easily the size of a colony unto itself, begins to turn. As it does, the GX Bits unload... and are each intercepted by the sudden, shimmering defensive formation of the Hermodhr's warp fields, protecting it from harm as beam rifles ricochet off -- and the Vulcans turn to the bits.

Energy strikes the Hermodhr from Ernula's Curtain Call, yet it and even the rockets are like a bee stinging a giant; they explode across the surface as they bypass warp fields, leaving a good, thirteen meter long-scorch mark across the thirty kilometer broadside of the flagship -- the very first wound inflicted upon it this fight, earning Ernula the wrath of the Habakkuk squadron's beam cannons for her efforts.

"Not enough..." Laodicea murmurs. "Come, Macross! Face me head-on! Show me what humans can do with the technology of the giants!"

"ShutupshutupshutupSHUTUPSHUTUP!!"

Ketol charges forwards, claws bared, heading directly for the GX, wings flared out bheind her as she rants.

"You took her mind, stole her body, and ravaged her soul! You tore the ONLY VOICE IN THIS UNCEASING BABBLE OF NOISE that I could care about! You're nothing but a puppet, RAQUEL!

The Blue Angel swipes at the... other Gundam, atimong to tear away the beam rifle and fight it hand-to-hand. Ketol's shrill voice echos across the battlefield, *screaming* mentally and over the open channels,

"You're an experiment! A toy! A boosted freak that dances for savages! DON'T YOU DARE SAY HER NAME!"

Megillots. Drones. Gym has heard all about /these/; they're the mainstay of the Balmarian force, and they're completely and totally unmanned.

That alone gets him very angry, very quickly.

Gym bypasses the first of the drone force, the Turn X jinking aside. It rolls and holds out it's left arm, catching one Megillot by the head and crushing it with the strong fingers of the mobile suit. It holds the remains and hurls it forward, crashing it into the next in the oncoming wall. Turn X opens it's Destruction Manipulator, the 'claws' of the thing spreading and a gold blade snapping outward as the wide beam saber springs into existence, carving through another Megillot that gets in it's way.

/Then/ it gets to the main body of the drone force.

Turn X's Kyaraps backpack practically gives him the beam rifle mounted there. The wicked-looking black weapon is pointed forward, directly in his path, and another yellow beam lances forward. The weapon, not quite a conventional beam rifle, functions almost identically to one with expected results. It fires once, twice, and then sweeps it aside, cutting a path through the drone forces towards the bigger, better prey.

He does not mean the Habakkuks.

When Kazuma decides to rush in for a punch, the automatic response of the drones is to do one thing: protect the commanding ship! A newly launched Megillot swarm launches from the white ship and rush towards Kazuma - getting in his way, clamping onto his ship and stopping his attack from getting even close to Armor's ship. They form a wall, in fact, that merely does nothing but block his way. "Do not be foolish, sample!" The black haired captain tries to make a fool out of the Valguard pilot.

"FIRE!" Armor suddenly calls for the ships under his command to fire, and a massive volley of lasers suddenly comes down from the ships, in the middle of which Meggilots and Zachariahs fly, using it as cover, to get beneath nearby units and launch their own attacks.

Ilyse Amsel is only glanced by the vulcan cannons and that is /more/ than enough for her. They hit the already damaged leg, turning it into scrap; as Ilyse keeps very little of import in that leg, she is not terribly concerned by its loss, but it allows her to test another system. She pushes a button and holds her breath.

From the outside, little happens for several seconds; the Phoenix floats in space, possibly temporarily depowered. And then, with a /bang/ that Ilyse can feel even if it makes no sound, the twisted leg straightens itself, the massive dent in the knee pushing back out. A faint shimmer traces down its side as the burn marks start to un-burn.

"Hot damn," Ilyse says. "I am a /supergenius/."

Her unit's lower half still shimmering slightly, Ilyse brings the Phoenix closer to Novas. "Sorry for leaving you," she says. "Let's go to the ship! I'm feeling pretty damn good right now!" Jamming the beam rifles together, Ilyse combines them into a larger beam cannon; she uses the artillery weapon to start taking shots at the Hermodhr proper as she approaches it, the 'wings' of Phoenix spreading wide.

The Valguard flies .... *sideways*, pulling its arms in to both cover the torso and minimize the hittable profile. The lasers don't even touch it, and the mobile weapons which go after the ship-turned-robot are brushed away without making much of an impact - although it's not a very determined swat on the Valguard's part, either.

"Stop calling me a sample, Aerogater," Kazuma retorts. "I'm a Trailer. My name is Kazuma Ardygun, of the Valstork Family ... and you alien bastards have screwed around with my friends for FAR TOO LONG!!"

Despite being at sort-of-close range to Armor's task force, Kazuma doesn't go for another punch. Instead, the micromissile packs snap up into place behind the Valguard's head, and micromissiles start launching.

A lot of micromissiles.

A *whole hell of a lot* of micromissiles, all of them flying in packs and homing in on Armor's task force - ships, Bugs, and humanoid mecha alike.

Explosions ensue, blanketing that part of space.

Who'd have thought something as big as the Curtain Call could avoid such a barrage? It's because the machine is surprisingly slim, even though it's quite wide and long, it's basically just a flying laser-equipped horseshoe with less surface area than it ought to have. The Hi-Rounder B.O.S.S. maneuvers its way through the barrage of Balmarian weaponsfire. Plumes of smoke erupt from the central body, and rockets lance out after Aerogators that attempt to take shots of opportunity, "Don't think so!" Ernula hums lightly, "Lots of drones... Time to thin them out!" "Good idea, Ernula!" statiks over her radio as she manipulates the controls. The Curtain Call tucks its crab-like arms inward, dozens of panels along the outsides of either arm sliding back to expose bank upon bank of gleaming weapons barrels. With a cheerful laugh, Ernula depresses all eight triggers on both control sticks, and the Curtain Call lights up. Lasers lance out from each bank on its arms, then bend and surge forward at angles into the Balmarian formations. More rockets launch, turning and barrelling into the aliens as well. If she's lucky, she might even clip the command unit. Those lasers, after all, have *supurb* penetration when pitted against large groups of relatively weak targets.

And it's right after opening fire that the Curtain Call falls victim to beam cannons. There's an enormous flash of light as the machine is engulfed, its crab-like arms turning upward at angles they were never ment to turn. Following this flash, there's an explosion, followed by another, and the Curtain Call's arms are blasted in opposite directions from one another. Tumbling away from this, the battered Castrato is missing an arm and a leg, trailing sparks and flames. Well, that was short-lived. Is she even still alive?

"Ilyse!" Novas shouts, "Are you o--" Wait. Did that leg just ... did that leg just fix itself? WITH TECHNOLOGY? Novas can't be too distracted because already she's getting lasers launched at her. She swerves between them, intentionally cutting it close so that the flash from the lasers blind the movements of the Samsara (relatively, it's kind of flashy) even as she unleashes her own salvo which is likely pretty pitiable, comparatively. But at least her laser gun isn't likely to run out of ammo.

"Hitting it with all the bullets." Novas says, "All of them." Well not really, but it is a pretty fair sized salvo unleashed from her mech's impact cannons!

"HA HA HA!" She laughs at the report from her own weaponry. "Cry some more," what's a noun for someone who really likes mind control?

Novas puzzles over this. F...u...c...Fuck if she knows! So she just repeats the phrase as the impact cannon barrels wind down.

"Turn X and Zweizergain have been sighted, Captain. "Vanessa reads from her instruments.

Global looks up, and nods once. There was no way such people could refuse this chance. Those people, from over hte world wall. Their true intentions are still mysterious and clouded, but if he has to borrow their power to win this fight, so shall it be.

"Incoming enemy fire from two quadrents." Vanessa reports. "Pin Point Barrier team!" Global orders into his shipphone. "Intercept enemy bombardments!"

Glowing hemispheres appear on hte hull of the Macross, one traces the pattern of fire from the Habakkuks, smoothly moving over the front of the Macross to intercept each blast. The other simply appears in the path of Armor's assault, and a spread of anti-aircraft missiles launch into the air to intercept those drones.

"Enemy fire intercepted." Vanessa adds to her report.

Global nods. "Move de battle group forward, and get a firing solution on their command ship, clear firing lanes. Have de Revil comve bout our position and commence supporting fire."

The ship and it's entire flotilla of screening vessels engage their engines, maving ahead at what the Macross calls Flank Speed, which is a bit slower then that for most other ships. Storm Attacker just isn't a very fast mode. The SDF-3 Revil and it's escorts begin moving as well, rising up above the other ships as it aims down towards the Hermodhr, it's turrets firing converging beam cannon arrays in support of the Macross, as the other SDF liens up for a more direct attack.

Railcannons the size of city blocks aim over the Macross' shoulders. The barrels crackl with electricty and fire slugs that weigh as much as a house, with enough speed that they might be confused for nuclear weapons on impact.

The vulcan fire rolls across the great island of Dr. Hell; it pelts machine beasts and destroys a few turrets, but when one is shooting a gun at an island full of super robots, one must understandably expect that little will be done. Of course, the Habakkuk's bombardment fares far better; machine beasts throw themselves into the path one by one, and it slices an swath through the field of metal monsters, lightning up the night sky with new stars born and dying in the blink of an eye. The bombs manage to pierce to the hull of Bardos itself; the great island shakes and shudders as explosions rock is, soldiers of Dr. Hell dying in fires and with concussive force as the bombs erupt. The holes close, Mikenese technology already anticipating such things - but only after the loss of many warriors.

Dr. Hell considers it an acceptable sacrifice.

"Ready the sheering laser," Dr. Hell commands, "Cut down that machine's armor and force it into vulnerability." He looks out at the battlefield once more, smirking. "Yes. War is all there is.../sample/."

And with that, the great face of Bardos opens. A massive cannon extends, thrumming to life; white light gleams in the eyes as it draws power from an unknown central generator. The ray begins to crackle; whatever that thing is, it isn't good. The machine beasts clear a path to the Habakuk.

Dr. Hell makes a gesture with his hand. "Fire."

The laser burns outwards across space, lancing towards the Habakkuk. It's no Macross Cannon; but it's large, and armor-consuming, and it's very, very deadly. Even something that large should have trouble with such an attack.

There are certainly quite a few of these aliens, despite the fact that they were greatly reduced from their numbers before. Vindel had seen such tactics - they had come in wave after wave, swarming across bases and overrunning cities as soon as they dropped out of the sky. It was the sort of attack that had been impossible to stop - they simply had to try and deal with the attack everywhere that there was contact. But the massive bombardment from the Habakkuks is something that not even Vindel can evade easily. The blasts slam into the Zweizergain several times, pushing it backwards in space with each successive blow. The additional followup bombardment is, however, nothing too impressive. Now that he knows that they are using such massive barrage tactics, Vindel weaves among the blasts, cutting left and right and avoiding the worst of the blasts and shots. "This is just the beginning, Balmarians! WE SHALL NOT BOW TO YOU!" The Zweizergain rears back, bringing one hand around - and then ten more appear. And then another ten. And another time. Each of them pulls back its right hand, the gauntlet spinning rapidly as it warms up. "Boost Knuckle...!" Vindel shouts... and then all thirty one Zweizergains unleash a massive wave of rocket punches into the Balmarian formation. "INFINNNNITTTTTTYYYYYY!" The spinning rocket punches slam into drones, blasting through drone after drone, weaving about and crashing through the alien force in a brutal succession of strikes.

Armor keeps himself quite composed as he watches explosions from the view in on the bridge of his ship - as well as the status calls from his crew. "Megilot Squad 56 down!" - "Zachariah Squad 2 coming in for repairs.". Of course, it is expected for the captain to give orders. "Clear runway three, launch Megilot squad 73 to reinforce the protection of this ship." He points forwards to indicate Kazuma's unit, which could be seen clearly ahead.

"INCOMING BEAM SIR!" - "EVASIVE ACTIONS!" The Macross fires its weapons in response to their assault. But, due to the skill of his crew, and the trust he has in them, Armor manages to lead his ship to safety.

"How dare they!" Armor demands to know, without expecting an answer of course. "Use the teleportation unit to launch the commando squad in order to invade the Macr~" -- "INCOMING MISSILES!" - "Meggilot squad, the front!" There were megillots there alright, but with the quantity of micro missiles launched, some simply get past their protective barrier! The explosive projects impact on the stern of the ship and it tips a little, which allows for Ernula's attack to overshoot the large white ship.

"Retaliative strikes! Fire all weapons!" The captain commands, and so it happens. White hot metal launches through space right back at where Ernula had fired from, whilst the Megillots have trouble trying to lay fire on Kazuma's unit. "How is the teleportation going!?" - "Teleportation commencing! Teleporting the commandos into the Macross sir!" - "Let's hope that works..."

Macua Huitl comes under fire from Armor's forces, her machine moves quickly the drones, move. Sometimes the preception she gets from one of the drones, is what saves another from getting hit. In this case it also saves her from his fire. She pulls away from his units however, she's after the command ship and now Ketol. This was truely getting messy as all get out. Then comes more units which intercept the GX Bits, then comes Ketol, Macua is quick, but not Quick enough. However one of her Bits is, it's caught in Ketol's attack, but not fully head on, it takes some damage but not enough to stop it for now.

Macua also get a channel from the Freedan and a visual of the attacking unit. She pauses for a moment muttering to her self. "Lev...." She may not be able to save Ketol, but is Lev beyond hope she has to try at least.

A woman who looks a like she could be Adom's sister appears on screen for Leve and she speaks. "Shal'hevet Lev. All that has happened to you is my fault. You were a defender of Langran. I was the one who took you as a sample turned you into what you are now. Wake up! They will over run The Holy Kingdom of Langran once the surface falls!"

The GX bits split up, three fall into a formation and target the large carrier, along with some of it's escorts while the other three join with Macua as she opens fire on the Messenger and Ketol with in. She knows what she has to do. There's nothing else she can, but end her suffering now...

"Even though you're here to do the same to everyone I hold dear!?" Lev retorts to Garrod, both furious and frightened. She might say more, but his hammer cuts off debate for the moment; she glides the Se'arat Berakim aside from its path, then stares as Adom(?) appears on her display. "Langran? What are you talking about? The world beneath the surface is no concern of mine yet, and what's more... what happened to you!? Is this where you vanished? Now I understand...!" Macua will easily overhear the next part, but Lev's fury is directed solely at Garrod as she charges him, vulcans firing while she closes distance. "You monster! You kidnapped her and did this!? Giving her a false identity and forcing her to fight her friends, her peers... you're horrible! Adom, please come with me... I'll take them all down and get you the help you need, I swear it!"

 Ketol Iyar transmits, "Heeheeheheeheheeehehee... Adom's dead, Lev."

 Shal'hevet Lev transmits, "No she's not! She's right here! They've changed her memories, but that's her body and her voice... I'm not giving up on her!"

 Ketol Iyar transmits, "YOU WEREN'T THERE WHEN THEY KILLED HER! YOU WEREN'T THERE WHEN THEY BROKE HER, HELPLESS TO STOP IT!"

 Shal'hevet Lev transmits, "I know that now! Helpless, useless, a failure... every one of my mistakes has cost us material or lives! But I can do this, I have to!"

 Ketol Iyar answers in a sing-song, "Nooot if Iiiiii kill her fiiiiirrrrrrrst!"

<Radio: B - Tactical> Shal'hevet Lev transmits, "What!? Y... you wouldn't! Why!? It's not her fault they did this to her!"

<Radio: B - Tactical> Armor Regem transmits, "Miss, Ketol, do not allow yourself to befall to the tunnelvision that seems to befall these mere samples."

<Radio: B - Tactical> Ketol Iyar transmits, "Let's make a race of it! Whoever kills the ghost, gets to watch her die, over and over again, pleading for her life as she begs... to.... liii... liiii....AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHH--"

<Radio: B - Tactical> Euzeth Gozzo transmits, "We should have put a shock collar on her..."

"Incoming weapons fire! Banking hard right!"

The Equinox twists and blasts to the side, the heavy attack from the Balmarian flagship tearing though space mere meters from where it was, the secondary energy burning and scoring across the hull of the battleship, but not breaking though the armor. The sharp turn does throw the crew around, but they're used to that by now. At least those who aren't strapped into gunner seats.

Meanwhile, on the bridge, Nancy Osborne is getting some interesting things over the radio.

Sly Heckler, after picking himself off the floor and putting himself back in the captain's chair, has had enough of this. "Alright. Alan, take us into range of that flagship. They can shoot at us..let's return the favor. Nancy, hit him with whatever you can."

The speedy little Bug-Eye class ship shoots forward, dodging and banking around the bugs as the ship slides ever closer to the heart of the Balmarian fleet. Along the bottom, a large turreted gun rotates around, the heavy double-barreled autocannon aiming at the giant battleship, and begins firing repeated heavy anti-armor shells straight towards it. Compared to the Balmarian ship, the Equinox looks like a fly biting a moose, but they've hurt this thing before, and they plan to do it again.

This time, the Valguard is considerably less shy about backhanding its way through the Megillot swarms which are continuing to harass it. "You really don't have the faintest idea what you got into here, do you, Aerogaters?!" Kazuma transmits. "If you were smart, you'd leave now, the same way you came! But the longer you keep trying to conquer the Earth Sphere, the more people you kidnap and try to reprogram into 'you' ..."

The space around the Valguard is clear enough for Kazuma to stop, and the Valguard raises its right arm, fingers wiggling slowly, muzzle-tips starting to glow.

".... the more pissed off we get ..."

The beam launchers fire, and Kazuma rakes the beams of plasma across the Regem task force before the blast tapers off.

".... the more personally we take it ..."

The left arm comes up and repeats the process, sans finger-wiggling warm-up.

"AND THE HARDER WE'RE GONNA KICK YOUR ASSES!! You better pray to Zehirumba or whatever your god is that your invasion *does* end tonight!!" Kazuma finishes.

<Radio: B - Tactical> Ari Namal transmits, half-heartedly, "Or a gag."

<Radio: B - Tactical> Shal'hevet Lev transmits, "No. We've shown more mercy to the /Samples/, we can't just throw away our own! I'm going to secure Adom and bring her in, alive!"

<Radio: B - Tactical> Euzeth Gozzo transmits a large, cracking, explosive sound. "We've lost the fold drive!"

<Radio: B - Tactical> Ingram Prisken transmits, "...that is most unfortunate, Sire."

The Turn X enters the battlefield, and makes its presence known through a swath of destructive might. Laodicea's head turns slowly, to regard the encroaching machine. That one -- is like the Turn A before it.

"... A weapon that should not exist?" Laodicea wonders to himself. "... Hmph. Good. Give it everything you have! And I shall do the same in turn!"

Rifle blasts lance through the Megillots, each one feeding more and more data back into the Zehirut, letting it incorporate, feed, adapt. The beam cannon of the Phoenix LANCES into the side of the Hermodhr; the explosion is small compared to the sheer size of the ship itself, but the explosion blows heat and fire into the interior of the ship, puncturing into the self-contained environment sector of the flagship with a gush of the vacuum of space. For the Phoenix's troubles, a Zechariah comes bearing down, aiming to stab /right/ through the Gundam with its blade.

The warp fields of the Hermodhr, on the other hand, remain strong. Even as the sheering laser of Bardos Island comes, it is intercepted by Habakkuk forces; fat yellow units are destroyed one by one, but the remains of the laser ricochets off the transluscent defensive fields of the Zehirut-empowered flagship. The Macross' rail cannnons, on the other hand, slam through Zechariah squadrons, demolishing entire units without so much as a second thought; those shells that get through are intercepted and crushed by the gravitic field of the flagship, but it obviously weakens and wanes--

Enough for the Samsara's impact cannons to pierce straight through the weakening field and into the Hermodhr, beam rounds STRIKING the emerald flower-like nose of the flagship. Greenish crystals splinter off the front of the Shivah; noticeable is the fact that these crystals start to grow back, slowly but surely. Yet even as she strikes cleanly, Novas has more problems on her hands -- problems in the form of a squadron of Habakkuks suddenly bearing down on her Samsara, locking on and unloading a full volley from their Metalium Cannons upon the unusual machine.

The Boost Knuckles of the Zweizergain fire like an army of drones unto themselves. Explosions link together in a line that stretches for at least fifteen meters as those rocket fists crash through and destroy drones and Habakkuks and Zechariahs. The destruction is like a weaving serpentine of fire, writhing throughout the battlefield, even as Ezekiels and Habakkuks split off, firing upon the Macross and Bardos Island in tandem to slowly start to chip away at the impressive, mighty war machines.

Within the Hermodhr, Laodicea leans back complacently. "They are doing quite well..." he murmurs.Outside, the Equinox opens fire, piercing through the warp fields and unloading a wide berth of autocannon fire upon the Hermodhr, the anti-armor shells ripping through the heavy gunmetal external armoring to reveal sensory arrays beneath the titanic flagship. "Fighting as if their lives depended on it garners good data. With this, Euzeth can..." His brows furrow. "... I can achieve my victory over this world. ... Prepare the Legion Buster, arm its wide array mode." Eyes narrow to slits.

"But be prepared for a full power shot on my mark. We will use it -- and wipe the Macross from the face of this universe once and for all...!"

It is as the GX Bits swarm in on the Hermodhr, shooting at its armored fortifications, that light begins to pool at the center of that 'blooming flower.' Yellow light, soft at first, yet glowing brighter and brighter, almost searingly so.

The Legion Buster of the Hermodhr Shivah fires at 50% output scattered across a wide field. Even at these levels, anything touched by it is utterly annihilated -- and anyone else unfortunate enough to get in its way will experience that pain firsthand as that almost ephemeral golden light devours everything within its path.

<Radio: B - Tactical> Laodicea Judecca Gozzo transmits, "... What?! How did they--"

<Radio: B - Tactical> Euzeth Gozzo transmits, "They managed to get a missile through the exhaust vent!"

<Radio: B - Tactical> Shal'hevet Lev transmits, "No! Everything's just... falling apart all over again, isn't it..."

<Radio: B - Tactical> Ingram Prisken transmits, "...like a bad movie."

<Radio: B - Tactical> Armor Regem transmits, "Impossible! Who left such an obvious gap in our defenses!?"

<Radio: B - Tactical> Aitan Chazak transmits, "Who indeed."

Leaping away from the Bit, the Messanger dashes away with incredible speed, and continues to charge the Gundam X, eschewing ranged attacks in order to tear into the Mobile Suit, again and again, as its eyes glare into the other robot's, blazing with madness.

Ketol's face appears, and her presence *lunges* at Macua, trying to assault her mentally as well as physically. "DON'T YOU DARE TURN YOUR BACK TO ME, RAQUEL! I WANT TO SEE YOUR EYES AS I TEAR THE LIFE FROM THEM!"

<Radio: B - Tactical> Euzeth Gozzo transmits, "Tch..." He grunts. "Lord Laodicea. There is, of course, the fail safe. To insure that if we are trapped here, that we might win... utterly."

<Radio: B - Tactical> Laodicea Judecca Gozzo transmits, "... Hrn..."

"This is impossible! How could this be happening!?" He Armor's response as a flood of reports come in of his ship's front side being busted by a unit's /fists/. "Fire all lasers! Get this guy off of us!" And so it occurs that the main cannons of Armor Regem's white ship come to life and fire their gigantic blue beams at the enemy unit. "Don't give any quarter!" He throws his right hand forwards, pointing at Kazuma's ship again whilst reports come in of his Commando squad's progress. "They're being wiped out sir!" - "No matter! Protect our command ship first!"

The main cannons continue to fire. "Open a comlink to that unit. Tell them the following:" - "Yes sir!" - "We will continue to fire our big guns at you until we hit you, or your friends. So here's your option, you get destroyed, and we might let one of your friends flee from this battle... or you get blown up along with them at the end of the day! It is up to you!" Meggilots continues to gather in front and fire their vulcans at the Valguard.

"Ha ha ha!" Novas cackles when suddenly. Whrrrt. Out of impact cannon bullets. And look, just as she pulled the Square, Circle, Triangle, /AND/ Nipple Mobs. "Er." Novas says, looking over to Ilyse, "Hey, Ilyse!!" She calls over to her, "Uhhhh--- I think I bit off more than I can chew at once here! And uh--" Pause, pause. "You should use your psychic powers that you 'don't have' to save me, okay?!"

And that's when the mechs tear into the Samsara. It lashes out with its

HEAD BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAMS!

in a fit of defiance, but even as this it is rapidly torn asunder, legs and arms, and left for dead.

Her fate is clearly in the psychic's hands, Novas reflects.

The Castrato tumbles through the battlefield. An occasional stray beam shoots close to it, highlighting the unconscious pilot inside. Another shot strikes its remaining leg, sending its tumble in a new direction with a shower of sparks. With a groan, Ernula's eyes flutter open, her vision filled with static. It takes a few moments for her eyes to recalibrate, and she settles shaking hands on the Castrato's controls. With one hand, she cups the side of her face, doing a quick personal diagnostic both interior and exterior. Pulling her hand away, it's smeared with blackish red fluid, "..Must have hit my head..Jarred my CPU or something.." Looking up, the android girl shakes her head and refocuses on her HUD, examining the extent of the damage. Curtain Call is gone, but she still has a B.O.S.S. charge left for another go if she needs it. The Castrato itself is in very bad shape, though. If she were human, she'd be retreating. If Castrato had an ejection system, it probably would've gone off automatically by now. But, she remains. And there's still a fleet of Aerogators and one bad-ass mother of a gunship to contend with. Shaking her head again, Ernula flips open her communications again, "I'm still functioning." "Ernula!" "You're okay!" "This isn't over. I'm going after the battleship again." "Good luck!" With that, the Castrato's engines flare, and it rights itself from its tumble. The rounder turns back towards the Hermodhr and charges back into the fray. Eyes dancing over her controls, ignoring the crack through her screen, Ernula quickly formulates what she feels might be a good strategy. The arpeggio missiles penetrated the ships defense system. This is promising. The scanners hum to life (and one promptly explodes), as she searches the hull for weakpoints or vulnerable systems. Ducking under laser fire, the Castrato slips up along the Hermodhr's underside and turns upward to face it. With an explosion of smoke, every missile within the little Rounder's launch tubes is hurled out into space, homing in on what Ernula's scans suggest might be a vulnerable spot close to the outer hull.

<Radio: B - Tactical> Euzeth Gozzo transmits, "Lord Laodicea... the time is now."

<Radio: B - Tactical> Laodicea Judecca Gozzo transmits, "... Very well. If you believe we truly must, Euzeth..."

<Radio: B - Tactical> Laodicea Judecca Gozzo transmits, "Activate it."

Vindel narrows his eyes for a long second - its clear that the enemy commander isn't done just yet. He's made a good start, but there is going to be more power needed to break through their defenses. The cannons of the alien ships continue to charge up, and the Shadow Mirror commander narrows his eyes speculatively. They should be firing just... about... NOW! As the Legion Erasers are unleashed, the Zweizergain vanishes from view - sliding across empty space in a short range teleport that takes it beyond the immediate threat range of the massive beam cannons. "Not enough! Not nearly enough. To bring about the ideal world, you must do much better than that!" The Zweizergain rockets forward, and Vindel reaches down to his waist to draw forth the chinese sword that rests at his waist. The shimmering silver blade catches the light of the stars and explosions that wash across the battlefield. "Come forth, oh Black Blade of Disaster!" The Zweizergain gestures with one hand, its blade rippling blade appearing out of thin air and sliding easily into its hand. And as it slashes once with it experimentally, another Zweizergain appears. And another. More units flash into existence in a large cloud as Vindel creates shadow after shadow - and then the entire mass launches itself at the Hermodhr. Each of them drives in, swinging their blade to pierce the side of the Balmarian ship and then slide along it, trying to lay open long rents in its structure.

<Radio: B - Tactical> Ingram Prisken transmits, "...it...?"

<Radio: B - Tactical> Ingram Prisken puts one hand against his mask. "...that machine is..."

<Radio: B - Tactical> Euzeth Gozzo transmits, "Come, Aleph... did you think I wouldn't have a trump card?"

The massive attack fired from the Balmarian flagship tears straight though the Equinox's armor, the small ship far too close to have any hope of avoiding the attack. The energy rips right though the rear of the ship, taking out most of the armor and a good bit of the ship as well, the sudden blast to the engines causing a massive overflow in the ship's power reactor, which is locked down as a result, leaving the Equinox helpless and adrift.

Long ago when the Balmarians first showed their teleportation ability, there was great concern they could just mobilize directly into a base or a ship and take it over from the inside in an eye's blink.

Global knows the inside of his own ship as well as anyone, possibly better. He spent long nights with a cup of coffee and a baked treat from his wife, looking through plans and schematics. After more then a week he had formulated a plan.

The Zachariahs appear inside the Macross, their warp signature lighting up sensor boards like a christmas tree, and their fire blasts the arm off a Tomahawk Destroid. It fires back with it's remainign arm and walks backwards around a corner. "We got intruders!" he radios. The Zachariah pilots might notice something odd. The air pressure in here is much too high, and increasing rapidly.

A hatch onthe surface of the Macross opens, air previously under tremendous pressure blasts out of the opening, sucking the air out off the corridor at all most jet turbine velocities. "Adios, suckers." The Tomahawk pilot says as he clamps his unit to the ground. The air sweeps the Zachariahs back out into space before the hatch closes.

But up aboard the bridge of the Macross another problem presents itself. "High energy reaction coming form the enemy ship!" Vanessa's throat is always sore after these batttles, with all the shouting of what the enemy is doing.

"Pin point barriers!" Global orders! He on the other hand has a speach training coach paid for by the EFA Captian's union.

The Macross' hemisphere defense shields spring to life again, trying to interpose directly between the massive enemy command ship and the Macross, but they didn't account for the sweeping motion of the beam, and part of the blast still hits the Macross, tearing at it's thick armor and destroying weapon turrets in gouts of fire.

The entire ship lurches around, sending the bridge bunnies screaming as they hold on to their stations. Captain Global holds on tight to his hat as he rides through he stormy weather. "Don't take your eyes off that monitor! Use lateral thrusters to move us to starboard! Misa! Get Skull Squadron on target!"

"Yes /sir/ Captain!" Aparently, she was waiting for that.

The Macross fires it's thrusters and begins sliding side way, aaprently looking to take up a new position while it's fighter compliment whirls around the Aerogator command ship. A 28 kilometer ship would be a dauntign target... if it wasn't Skull Squadron. The modified fighters bare down on the Aerogator ship, firing beam cannons and gattlign guns throuwguh it's defense forces of Megilliots and Zachariahs. Missile launch and whirl through space to blow open more openings and the valkyries transform into Battroid mode, scant hundreds of emters away from the ship.

Missiles launch from their wings, but not just any missiles. RMS-1 Angels of Death reaction warheads.

<Report: EFA, Divine Crusaders, Katharon, Trailers, and Unaffiliated> Seismic readings in the Pacific begin to go off the chart. Earthquakes are detected in the southern Pacific Ocean, originating around Aidoneus Island. The cause is, at present, unknown.

Macua Huitl gets a newtype flash, she realises something is comming, there's a lot of power about to be directed at her. She and her Bits scatter, they break off from their current engagements. The bits had made q2uite the impact, but the Legion Buster comming was neough to make them run. They evade the storm of beams as does Macua. The G forces, push her down into her pilot's seatr but she keeps going.

She's also got Ketol to contend with. She sees the other machine comming at her. Even through the storm of fire. She feels the mental assault comming at her. "Fear...you mean the fear when they strapped me into those machines, when they ripped my self away! I am not dying. Someone has to remeber who you really were not this monster but as Ketol!" She evades the attack, just barely and she some how holds up mentally. She pulls the hyper bazooka off the machines back takes aim at Ketol's machine and fires off several shots. This fight? It's for the system's surival and she known since last night? There's only one thing she can do. End Ketol's suffering.... COMBAT: Macua Huitl has attacked Ketol Iyar. Hyper Bazooka added to their queue.

Lev ends up being barraged more by words than weapons. Adom is telling her all sorts of false memories about different names, some La Gias kingdom... and Ketol is threatening to kill Adom while Garrod shouts about freedom. It's overwhelming, and Lev has to juggle many priorities in her mind all at once. Garrod's first slash is met with her laser scythe, the blade deflecting it easily... but his second one gets through, only a slight flight to the side prevents him from cutting the Se'arat apart and instead ends in a cut along one of the 'ribs' of the machine; still a meaningful blow as sparks fly from it. Finally, a twirl of the scythe's handle deflects Garrod's kick and... ...Lev disengages from the Gundam, even as news of more disaster befalling the Aerogater forces comes in. "No... this can't be happening... but I can at least save one of us!" That's when Macua's plea goes into Lev's cockpit, invoking a name Lev has no knowledge of... but the words carry weight regardless, as Macua speaks thus: "No! That's what they did to us! Our friendship is something that's real, I'm not going to lose you! The Messenger has consumed Ketol's mind...I failed her. I'm not failing you Alia Winchester!" Powerful words, ones that cut much of Lev's fury away in an instant, replaced by profound sadness. "Friends? I don't have any... not with the way I act and how I fail everyone. But you're right, you won't lose me... and I'm not losing you either! I'm going to save at least you!" That's when Ketol moves in on Macua, and Lev isn't close enough to stop that... but she can at least intervene. Abruptly changing course, Lev heads for the battle between Macua and the Mal'akh while conjuring a large, Orbital Frame-sized TK-energy 'tornado'. It too flies along space, this one upright, as it tries to suck in Ketol's machine and rip at it from all sides!

The Legion Buster is a fearsome weapon; it cleaves effortlessly through the Machine Beasts of Dr. Hell, and once again the sky is lit with new stars burning across the battlefield. The beam cuts past the Island of Bardos, melting rocks and exploding cannons in its wake; Dr. Hell stumbles forward, and his servants retreat away from the outside (dead things do not breathe), moving for cover. Brocken and Ashura run across the rocky terrain of the floating island alongside Pygman, feet moving too fast to watch.

"I have a plan," Ashura informs the other two in its strange double-voice. Pygman nods, and Brocken simply sneers. Ashura's frown only widens the sneering, but Ashura continues to speak nonetheless. "With the aid of Pygman's magic, the Machine Beasts should be able to strike across the field much faster, yes? You can empower them, Pygman?"

"For the glory of Dr. Hell, I shall," Pygman agrees. Brocken holds out a hand, tucking his head under his body.

"And you expect me to simply sit back and let you and Pygman take all the credit for this, Baron Ashura?" Brocken snarls. "I-"

"NO!" Ashura replies, "I expect you to aid me...and we shall take the credit together, and present it to Dr. Hell as a symbol of our glorious victory for the Divine Crusaders!"

Brocken is silent for a moment as the three figures dart through the bullets and rocks, the magic bubble around Pygman all that enables their speech. Finally, Brocken's neck tilts forward, and he shakes his head downwards in a nod. "Very well. PYGMAN! ASHURA!"

"FOR THE GLORY OF DR. HELL!"

All three of the generals leap away to their respective distances; Pygman bounds up the skull mountain top, perching atop it and raising his staff to the sky. Two fingers are placed in front of his blind eyes; blood rolls from his thumb as he bites it to empower the ancient Mikenese sorcery. "Spirits of wind and flame, of earth and water, of the beasts of the sea and the sky and the land, I am Viscount Pygman, your master! Come to us now, and grant the beasts of steel the strength and speed to overcome these threats! I conjure thee - in the name of Hades, Zeus, and Poseidon, ARISE!"

And the Mechanical Beasts are covered in light. Runes explode into being, bloody runes; they become swift and strong, powerful and deadly, as the runes are etched into their surface by supernatural forces. Ashura and Brocken look at each other from their islands, and grins spread across their faces - fiendish grins.

"GO! MACHINE BEASTS! BRING DR. HELL THE GLORY HE DESERVES!" The staves blaze red, and all eyes of the machine beasts do the same; as one, they are united.

The immense wall of super robots plunges towards the Balmarians, suddenly empowered by the mystic arts of Viscount Pygman. They strike with all the weapons at their disposal, and some that did not exist before; ghosts and spirits and flames and things even more maddening explode across the battlefield as the Machine Beasts join the fray in earnest at the command of the Generals of Dr. Hell.

The Valguard gets hammered by the Huleh squad's bombardment, ripping and burning away at the armor - but it's little more than surface damage, extensive though it is. "You know, I hate to annoy a customer, but I *do* have bigger fish to fry than you and your ships and your mobile units," Kazuma transmits in response to Armor's ultimatum. "But my friends are good pilots - some of them are even better than I am, and none of them are 'bad' by any stretch - and they've got damn good machinery." Even though Ernula's bigger unit is out of the battle, but Kazuma knows she hasn't given up yet.

"So lemme take both of your oh-so-generous 'offers,' wad 'em up into a big ball of scrap metal ... *and ram 'em up where the sun doesn't shine!!*"

Kazuma mutes the radio for a moment. "Oi, Horis, what's our engine status?"

"Proton Drive, full charge, all green," Horis Horyan reports from the Valstork's normal bridge. "Did you have something in mind?"

"Yeah," Kazuma answers, looking at a weapon-status readout. "I want full thrust, and divert weapons power to Valguard's fists - not the beam launchers, but the *fists themselves*. It's time to stop screwing around with ranged weaponry and put a dent in these guys."

Blessfield raises his eyebrows. "All hands, brace for full acceleration. Horis, go for it."

"Aye aye, sir!" Horis works his console, pushing the Valguard's engines up to full power -

And the giant machine blasts forward, trying to ram through any machines between it and Armor's own ship, trying to grapple the battleship and drive it down into, if relatively convenient, the hull of the White Star itself, grinding along the armor. If the White Star isn't convenient enough, then whatever *is* convenient, if anything.

A moment later, Kazuma shifts vectors and flings the Balmarian cruiser 'upwards,' then closes the Valguard's hands into tight fists. "Chii-nee, charge the hands!"

"Right!" Akane Ardygun answers, hitting switches on her console and routing the power as requested ...

And the Valguard's fists begin crackling with energy, greenish lightning gathering as the engines rev up for another leap ... before the Trailer titan explodes into movement, chasing the ship Kazuma just tried to throw .... and *punching* with the plasma-charged fist.

Turn X is the machine that could not be. Technology in the Earth Sphere has not reached the point where it could possibly be developed, and Balmarian reports have already confirmed that it and the pilot have come from the other side of the world wall. It must be destroyed. If they can destroy it, there's no possible way it can be rebuilt--

--except, Gym Ghingnham suddenly realizes, someone else has done something remarkably similar to it.

"That machine..." Gym creates a seperate window on the Turn X's screens and zooms in on the Phoenix. "Is that Moonrace technology?" He frowns, staring at it for a moment longer... right before he gets attacked again. The Turn X rotates and it's thrusters fire, carrying out of the path of a barrage of projectiles and into the path of the massive Legion Erasers. The otherworldly machine turns and stands tall, raising it's Destruction Manipulator...

...and /charging/.

Turn X disappears into the Legion Eraser. The beam it vanished into distorts weirdly, energy signatures from something partially down it's length getting crazy. It splits and bends impossibly, the blinding, brilliant light of the energy weapon 'splashing' as if it hit a rock in the water. It flickers, guttering out as the beam ends.

Turn X is /right there/. The solid I-Fields that make up the entirety of the machine's locomotion gleam visibly, distorting space before they become imperceptible again. The Destruction Manipulator swirls with energy the color of the Legion Eraser, spiralling into it like it was falling down a funnel. A blade springs forth from it then, and it comes down at the massive command ship, striking at the nearest weapon port that dare fire upon him like that.

"Hahahahahahaha! Is that all you can muster, Balmarians?! I should have taken care of you /weeks/ ago!!"

Gym Ghingnham forces the Turn X onward. The blade of the saber triples in size and then triples again, bolstered with the stolen power. He starts dragging it across the surface of the ship, dipping it into the hull and carving it like a Thanksgiving turkey. He flies onward, using the thing's ridiculous sensor suite...

...and looking for the main bridge.

The Beam Bazooka catches Ketol by suprise, a few, devestating shots slamming into the wings and hull, leaving deep rents in the armor as the machine hurridly attempts to override her suicidal impulses. Lev is less... fortunate, as the Messenger *leaps* away from her psychic attack. Rocketing away on an orbiting course, the Mal'akh swings around to attack again...

And flies directly in the path of the horde of Machine Beasts. Savaged by the Beast's beam weapons, the Messenger helplessly wheels away, before it can regain its footing.

Swinging around, it lunges *again* for Macua, claws bared, as it opens up its engines to full power, aiming to slam into the Gundam like a comet, and send them both hurtling into the side of the nearest warship!

"SIR! It's too much!" The ship rocks massively as the Valguard rams into the white ship and begins smashing it into rubble. "The captain will remain on deck." Armor calls out. "Send out everything we have. And tell the pilot of that... punching... ship that the destruction of this fleet means nothing!"

Thens suddenly! Megillots explode! Ships explode! MANY THINGS explode! In a way, it is all pretty and all that, but to Armor, it just means how much they are failing in their defense of the white star. "What are they doing out there!?" He calls out. "There's many Super Robots coming our way!" - "FIRE BACK!" - "THERE'S NO TIME!" All across the screens he sees sudden red markers. "MEGILLOT SQUAD 1 THROUGH 5 DOWN! SQUAD 6 AND 9 ARE ENGAGED WITH EACHOTHER!? SQUADS 10 THROUGH 52 ELIMINATED! SQUAD 42 SAID THEY FOUND THE ANSWER TO LIFE, THE UNIVERSE, AND EVERYTHING... SO ARE FLEEING." Reports keep coming in. "Send out the elite Ezekiel squad! SHOOT THEM DOWN!" - "LAUNCHPADS ARE ALL DESTROYED SIR!"

The black haired man grits his teeth. "Damnit. Those dirty samples..." He suddenly turns and walks out of the bridge. "C.O! You have the deck. I am going out!" And he suddenly teleports away. Within moments, a massive new gravity distortion shows itself right above the white ship as a small squad of Ezekiels show up - weapons aimed at random targets on the battlefield. "You are my most entrusted squad! Show them your skill! FOR ZE BALMARY EMPIRE!" And unleashed, is a volley of purple and blue beams!

The gravitic warps... are down.

Laodicea Judecca Gozzo, commander of the Seventh Fleet of Ze Balmary, stares in muted disbelief at the transmission from Euzeth. The words that come next, however, sober him swiftly.

Awaken it.

/It./ The very thing he had been so concerned about waking up...

"... There is no choice, is there?" he murmurs to himself. "It did not awaken with Judecca's destruction thanks to Euzeth's efforts. But now..." His brows furrow.

"... Very well. Awaken it.

"Purge this world in the fires of judgment."

Missiles come from Ernula's Castrato; they explode across the massive underside of the Hermodhr after the Legion Buster is finished firing, exploding in silent fireballs across the mighty hull. Soon after comes the Zweizergain; the massive blades of a veritable army of Zweizergains IMPALE into the Hermodhr, driving countless massive, gashing scars through the framework of the mighty flagship even as Ezekiels rise up to meet and counter the swarm of Zweizergains with coordinated strikes of their crackling blades of energy, attempting to thin out the herd before that strange machine can do any more damage.

And then, the Turn X comes; the oversized destruction saber lives up to its name, IMPALING through the ship like it were an animal to be gutted. Inner framework is exposed and wreathed in flames of devastation. And yet, as the Turn X looks, it will discover one simple thing:

The Hermodhr Shivah has no bridge. There are men occupying it, machines, there is even living quarters... but no bridge.

Nothing but a dauntlingly powerful reactor that seems strangely hollow at the very center of the colony-sized ship, beating like a heart.

Fire and force ripples through the ship. Within, Laodicea Judecca Gozzo looks... wholly concerned. Wholly angry. Not for his situation, but... "... I had hoped we could avoid this outcome," he murmurs to himself. "But as Euzeth has said, you leave us with no option! The seed that was planted should you grow too disagreeable has finally taken root!

"Septuagint has awakened!

"Be fortunate that your deaths will come by my hand, and not by its!"

The Phoenix Gundam's half-formed cannon blast makes impact on the flowery 'face' of the Hermodhr, shattering crystal and sending hairline cracks throughout the entirety of the formation. The reaction warheads of the Macross exploit the weakness that the Phoenix's half-failed blast creates, and with the bloom of several muted explosive reactions, an entire fourth of that crystaline structure is simply BLOWN away from the Hermodhr in a furious yet beautiful display.

But one might take notice of the fact that the Legion Buster is still glowing.

"... Macross...!" Laodicea growls out in a low voice. "No matter what you are made of, this Hermodhr is the mightiest ship in the galaxy! Nothing can stand against Ze Balmary's war machine, infused by Zehirut's holy blessing! And now that you have forced the worst outcome upon yourselves...

"... I will show you this ship's power first hand!"

The robots and generals of Bardos Island COLLIDE with the Hermodhr with force enough that part of its armored plating concaves inward before the vacuum of space depressurizing simply /crushes/ it entirely. And yet the Legion Buster simply glows brighter. It is like trying to stare into the sun -- and unless those who stare at it tint those viewscreens, it might very well sear their vision with the sheer intensity of it.

And from within the Hermodhr Shivah, the dry voice of its AI systems intones one simple announcement:

Legion Buster charged to full capacity.

"... Fire."

To those who have seen a colony laser deployed, the fury of the Legion Buster could be likened to it. Firepower enough to shatter colonies is unleashed in a shockwave that will knock anything too close clear out of the way; Megillots are obliterated from standing in too close a proximity to the Buster as the churning yellow mass of particle energy - easily as large as a battleship in its full diameter - pulses outward. There are no words for it. It, much like the Macross' Reflex Cannon, is one, simple thing:

Pure, unbridled destruction, heading for Bardos Island and the one ship at the epicenter of Earth's fleets, the one upon which all Laodicea Judecca Gozzo's unknowable enmity for the Zentradi focuses on:

The Macross.

<Radio: B - Tactical> Ingram Prisken transmits, "Sire... must we use that sort of final solution to deal with them?"

<Radio: B - Tactical> Ingram Prisken transmits, "They... there won't be anything left once the crystal is finished."

. <Radio: B - Tactical> Euzeth Gozzo transmits, "There is no option. We hold here, and collect the crystal when we are done."

<Radio: B - Tactical> Euzeth Gozzo transmits, "And should we fail... then our deaths won't be in vain. Something will come of this, for the Empire."

<Radio: B - Tactical> Ingram Prisken transmits, "...what we've taken and learned so far is but a fraction of what they can offer us. To exterminate them out of hand..."

<Radio: B - Tactical> Euzeth Gozzo transmits, "I choose to not learn lessons in death, Aleph."

<Radio: B - Tactical> Ari Namal transmits, abruptly, "What about Lady Tolar?"

<Radio: B - Tactical> Euzeth Gozzo transmits, "Perhaps she will be lucky."

<Radio: B - Tactical> Ketol Iyar transmits, "Please... Let it.... Let it end...."

<Radio: B - Tactical> Ari Namal transmits, "... yes, my lord."

<Radio: B - Tactical> Ketol Iyar transmits, "Get them out... Kill them all.... Just... Make them stop..."

<Radio: B - Tactical> Shal'hevet Lev transmits, "How did any of it come to this? Everything's going wrong, absolutely everything..."

Things aren't looking good... Garrod can hear what's being said over the Katharon frequencies... to think that the Balmarians would sneak a Doomsday weapon onto earth! one thing is clear. This fight needs to end. Now. The Gundam Double X just stops as Garrod calls out, "Macua, we don't have any time left! Get the GX-Bits ready! I'm going to use the Twin Satellite Cannons!" Quickly, Garrod glances at the moon, then turns to the massive battleship and flicks a switch. The two 'wings' mounted on the Double X's back slowly starts to unfold, revealing a set of six gold energy collection mirrors and the twin cannons mounted on it's back rotate up before settling and locking in over it's shoulders. Modules on both arms and legs open up, revealing heat dissipating radiators. Millions of miles away, the message is recieved and the Lunar Solat Power Station slowly rotates it's dish around, unleahsing a single thin laser to confirm the Gundam Double X's position...

Several of the elite Ezekiels pound on the Zweizergain in a savage flurry of shots. Vindel notes the damage - severe, but it is not beyond the capacity of his machine to survive. In return he has gashed quite a few large gaping holes into the alien flagship. Now he just needs something that he can use to pry this tin can open, and force their leader to come forth and do battle. Thankfully there is something nearby that can provide a sufficiently large wedge to break in. The Zweizergain vanishes, teleporting across the field until it appears near to Bardos Island. In fact, it is standing on one of the large rocky outcroppings at the end, the spire of stone significantly larger than the super robot. And Vindel nods one - this will do. With a single motion he raises blade into the air, the Zweizergain mimicking the motion with its own massive blade - and a flare of red energy surges up around Vindel as he focuses. A similar technique to something that the Undefeated of the East was so fond of. Focus your power, still your mind, and the impossible can happen. Vindel strikes the shard off of Bardos, sending it drifting into space. And with that, the red crystals on the Zweizergain pulse with power. "LIMITER RELEASE! CODE - KIRIN!" the Colonel shouts, and a blazing red aura surges up around the Zweizergain. Thousands of copies of the machine - and all of them grab onto the huge chunk of Bardos, a good third the size of the Balmarian flagship. And all of them fire their thrusters at one, driving the huge shard directly towards Laodicea and his command. He lets out one long, intense battle shout and tries to drive the piece of stone right through the Hermodhr.

The immense beam pierces straight through one of Bardos Island's massive attachment-islands; the island explodes into chunks of rock in a catastrophic blast, hundreds of machine beasts lost on the way down. The beasts swarm and move to defend the central island; they are aware of the danger present in that attack and that machine. To lose a whole chunk of the massive island, and so many soldiers and beasts, was almost unthinkable.

But it was not an incalculable loss.

Dr. Hell closes the *deal of the fucking century* as Bright Noa pages him with his desperate need for the repair bays of Bardos Island. Vindel Mauser throws a huge chunk of rock off of Bardos; the Machine Beasts that weren't destroyed in the initial blast cluster around the island as it begins to pull out of the battlefield. Bardos has overstayed its welcome; at the moment, the island was best served as a vehicle to the goals of Dr. Hell. It begins to move, sluggishly at first, then quickly, picking up speed swiftly as Dr. Hell sits down and licks his lips thoughtfully. The technological wonders that would be in his hands...it was almost too amazing to conceive of. What could he discover...assuming Noa kept his word, of course.

And if not, well...a damaged fleet is very, very easy pickings.

Compared to the Curtain Call, Castrato is far more maneuverable. After unloading its missile compliment, the little machine's thrusters roar to life, rocketing it away from its former position even as vulcan fire fills the space where it once floated. Glancing over her shoulder, Ernula lets out a brief sigh, "That was a close one!" Returning her eyes to her cracked HUD, she frowns, "But that wasn't the weak point I was hoping for..." She's looking for something. Anything that could hinder the vessel's ability to fight... Like, that huge laser cannon it keeps firing... Pulling the control sticks, Ernula swings Castrato up along the Hermodhr's hull and then dives down towards the bow, weaving through fire from the battleship, surrounding Aerogators, as well as weaponsfire from the Earth defenders. The canopy tints to almost full opacity when the Legion Buster fires at its full power, shaking the Castrato violently even though it's nowhere near the line of fire. The light begins to fade, and Ernula's grin becomes a frown. "..Yeah.. I'll make this one count..!" And that's when the battered Hi-Rounder dives right into the Hermodhr's main gun assembly. "Reloaded..? ... Good! Here I go~!" As it descends, the Castrato begins spinning rapidly. Its missile tubes, only recently reloaded, start firing in all directions. At the same time, the energy cannon beneath the Castrato's cockpit opens up. By unloading everything at once, Ernula is trying to inflict as much damage as possible, as quickly as possible, to the exposed portions of the Hermodhr's Legion Buster before it has a chance to fire again. Even if she gets caught in a second shot, her efforts might be enough to weaken its capacity. That's what she's counting on.

Technically, anything Ilyse builds is Moonrace. For certain values of Moonrace.

It does shimmer like one of the Turn machines, and the reconstruction continues. The mangled Phoenix starts to right itself; though it cannot completely self-repair it can certainly patch itself up, and it continues to do so.

Ilyse herself has gotten the cannon working again, all the electronics apparently intact. "Okay, mister battleship," Ilyse says, "/Now/ it's time to show you what the hell we can do! SCREW YOU, BALMARIANS - "

The cannons fire. This time they do not cut short; the shot goes on and on and on, the silver and green 'wing'-barrels starting to glow faintly reddish from the heat and energy expenditure as Ilyse pushes them far longer than she should. She blasts straight at the frill of the Hermodhr, the 'weak point' in the middle that's the source of its own laser rather than the apparently armoured outside, and the pink blast simply does not stop.

With a sizzle, the beams eventually cut out, still trailing little flecks of pink light in a decidedly non-normal manner. Into the silence, Ilyse says, very distinctly, "Scheissbalmar." The nice part about German, she reflects, is that you can just make up words if you don't have a good one.

"Wooooh!!" Novas cheers as Ilyse shoots something that looks painful. Other than that she waits in her crippled mech.

"Captain," Kim Khabriov speaks up, "Reports of an earthquake...at Adiouns island."

Captain Globla looks over his shoulder. "At de EOTI institute?! What de hell is going on down dere?" but there isn't enough time for that as Vanessa gapes. "They're firing their main gun again! It looks lie a full charge...aimed right at the Macross!"

Global balks, the width of that beam is larger then the Macross itself. He grabs the ship phone and presses the button for engineering. "Dr. Lang get the ODB up IMMEDIATLY!"

Dr. Emil Lang has stopped questioning this decision by now, instead, last week he had a button installed to all of the Omni-directional Barrier's start up protocols, and merely pushes it.

A gigantic egg shaped soap bubble takes form over the entire Macross. A dimensional breach thinner then Planck scale, so small that it makes no sense to hte normal physical laws of the universe, developed from the orginal pin point barriers.

The Legion Buster smashes into the Omni-Directional barrier of the Macross, assaulting it with absolutly absurd levels of energy, enough to light hundreds of Earths for thousands of years, all focused on it in one moment.

Power relays burn out, insulation catches fire, the hull breaches. But backup systems, automated fire supressors and hull sealant does it's job. Lights flicker on hte bridge as half the crew picks itself back up off the ground. Including Captain Global. His hat having gone flying off to some unseen part of the bridge, he pull himself back into his chair. "Mightiest ship?..." he scoffs. "You are but one man... One man with nothing but hate to drive him. A ship needs more then that."

Global leans forward, one hand still gripping his seat arm. "A ship needs a heart and soul. It needs a crew that bonds together stronger then brotherhood! It needs the skilled hands of men and women to guide it on it's voyages!" he sits back in his seat slowly.

"And it needs a Captain with a level head and a cool demeanor to reassure those of it's crew. A captain whole thinks rationally and tactically. Most of all, a captain..."

"Who never forgets to look up."

High above hteplane of hte raging conflict, the SDF-3 Revil sits in it's own Storm Attacker mode, clearly distinguishable from it's sister ship in the differenance in it's arms. The twin booms lowered over it's massive shoulders, already crackling with energy. The Captain of the Revil is young man, inexperienced, but trained, and had awaited Global's command. "Main Cannon...FIRE!"

BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASTTTTT

The battlefield turns orange as the massive blast of the Reflex Cannon strikes through space, the singular rolling force of power aimed for the back of the Hermodhr, shredding through warp field and barriers like they were only paper mache.

Forward full power!" Global barks, the MAcross not even waiting for it's sister ship to finish firing as it engges it's thruster, it raises it's right arm, the CVS-11 Daedalus as it gathers hte remaining strength of the pinpoint barrier to it's fore.

"Daedalus...ATTACK!" THE MAcross wings the half kilometer long arm forward, right for the center point of hte LEgion Buster, aiming to break through intoth e ship and open it's forward powerts, permitting and army of Destroids to launch missiles, inside of the ship.

The Ezekiels swarm the Valguard, and Kazuma swings the ship-robot's fists at them and at whatever else is within punching range. But the Ezekiels' pilots are too quick to react, and as they rip layers off the Valguard's armor with their assorted attacks, the most Kazuma can do is to thrash his way out of the thick of them - and keep chasing the task force command ship. "You still don't get it, do you!?" Kazuma yells over the radio.

"I'm Kazuma Ardygun, a Trailer of the Valstork Family! My father is Blessfield Ardygun, the Hawk's Eye! AND THIS ... *IS OUR HOME!!!!* You've threatened my friends, threatened my family, threatened everything we know and care about ... not just me, not just *us*, but EVERYONE! Every human, every alien who's become our friend or ally - maybe you thought you were ready to roll in and conquer the Earth Sphere, but when you make all of Earth your enemy .... YOU *LOSE*!!!"

The Valguard's fists are crackling with another plasma charge - and as Kazuma closes in on the command ship again, he brings the right arm back and *SLAMS* the fist forward, trying not to just hit the ship, but ram the fist *into* Armor's ship.

Plasma continues crackling around the Valguard as it raises its right arm, green lightning flashing and flaring, especially around - and into - Valguard's left fist. And then, as the energies peak, Kazuma brings that arm up and drives the *left* fist into the ship, not knowing that it's been abandoned by its commanding officer.

"PROTON CANNON, *FULL OPEN!!!*"

As if being fisted *twice* wasn't enough, Kazuma triggers the Proton Cannon emitters; the lenses - now embedded inside Armor's former ship - pivot open, and energy pours out of them, inside the ship.

Unless Armor's crew pulls off a miracle and gets *away* from this ... there's not going to be very much left of it, or them, at all.

Fate is a funny thing, she should be dead, trying to escape Blue Cosmos. Never knowing who she was or why, but the vision of one little girl. Had changed that grim end. She'd been saved from death by strangers, they'd given her a chance. Never asking for anything in return. They had become family, as much family as her blood relation. Garrod really was like a brother to her, she's glad to be along side him to day. She was even fighting along side Kazuma as well and in a strange way, she liked it. IF it ended today it be at both of their sides.

Here comes Ketol, she grimaces her heart's breaking there's nothing she can do for her, there's nothing she can do at all for her save one final mercy. But there's one thing to do first, but can she survive? With much warning Lev suddenly has got in the way saving her from Lev.

"...I owe you one."

The Gundam X shoots away, the bits break off from their current engagements she expands her mind fully. The GX Bits fall into a firing formation, and they reach for the canons on the their backs as they swing them into place. Then Macua does the same with the Divider's own canon. She takes a deep breath for a moment. Each of the machines energy collectors fold out, bright gold in colour from their backs as they form the letter that gives the name of the machines.

Macua's mind reaches out with the Gundam X and it contacts something far away on the moon.

Luna - DOME complex

The scattered wrecks of Jenices, Daughtress even some GMs and Zaku II's lay wrecked. Covered in layers of lunar dust. By all intents the complex is long dead. But then there's signs o life emitter arrays come to life and focus a microwave beam off into space to the unit that is calling it.

THe battle, the beam comes from the moon striking the main collection note on the Gundam's X chest, the lights of the collectors on the back also catch much of the power as well all seven unit's are glowing. Anyone would be able to pick up the massive power comming from the X and the drones. She gets a lock as the weapons all lock on to the massive alien carrier that stands before her.

This is the second time shes had such power in her hand, she didnt fire the last time. This time she will not hold back. Theres the tone of a target lock.

"SATTALIGHT CANNON SALVO FIRE!"

She mentally commands the GX Bits to open fire, followed by Macua pulling the trigger, shes not holding backs. Seven terrible blast of energy are let rip. They are not a Macross canon but the power they hold and the destruction they can cause, just about anything smaller than a ship caught in the way is likely to be atomize but thats not what they seek the entire firepower of the Gundam X and the six GX Bits is focused on the Balmarian command Carrier. No holding back the entire full power of the Gundam X has been unleashed.

"Lord Gozzo! YOU END HERE!"

The energy is recieved and the Gundam Double X begins to glow, along side it's six 'sister' units. from across the battlefield, that terrible glow looks frighteningly beautiful. Like a constellation of stars... But these stars are not showing the way to Bethlehem. Instead, they signify something far, far worse. A weapon of terrible power. "TWIN SATELLITE CANNON! HASSHAAA!"

Lev is undeterred by her lack of results against Ketol, continuing to charge in... and moving to get between Ketol's flight path and Macua! Facing the rushing claws, Lev projects a T-Link Field in front of the Berakim, bracing for the worst. Incredibly, her barrier doesn't hold but it does rob the claws of most of their power as they crash through and rake the black Balmarian machine's body, leaving gashes in it... but it stands intact. "We'll worry about who owes who later," Lev replies in a very strained voice to Macua. In her cockpit, Lev is gasping for breath; that kind of TK expenditure is exhausting and her head is throbbing. But she is still in the fight, sparing a glance out the rear display to see Macua disengage. She does not know why, and will likely regret why when she finds out several seconds from now, but for now it is deeply relieving and leaves her face-to-face with the now insane Ketol. "I've already lost so many people, including you it seems... and I'm going to lose more soon. But if I can stop you from adding one more person to that list, that'll be worth it. You want it to end? I can give you at least that release..." Lev guides her machine backwards to get some space, now that Macua has moved on. Thus it isn't with hot blood, but regret and commitment to duty, that Lev presses the attack. She raises one of the Se'arat Berakim's hands, conjuring several tiny bolts of blue TK energy. They fly out one after another, attempting to shower the Mal'akh and exploit the damage it has already sustained. Moments later, she sees what Macua left to do, heart sinking as satellite cannon blasts sail across the blackness of space and toward the Balmar lines...

<Radio: B - Tactical> Shal'hevet Lev lets out a soft, dismayed "No..." as Armor's death throes are transmitted.

<Radio: B - Tactical> Ketol Iyar transmits, "YOU TRAITOR! YOU WORTHLESS, WEAK-WILLED TRAITOR! SHE WAS USING YOU TO STOP ME! SHE WAS CONTROLLING THOSE PUPPETS!"

<Radio: B - Tactical> Ingram Prisken transmits, "SHUT UP KETOL."

<Radio: B - Tactical> Ingram Prisken transmits, "OR I WILL... I... WILL..."

Turn X peels back the skin of the massive vessel, and finds no bridge in sight. Crew vents into space as the molten scar grows on the Hermodhr, but still there is no command deck, nothing to indicate their leader is here. He catches a glimpse through one of the holes in the outside, the massive scar easy to see into.

A crystalline heart beneath the skin...

Turn X suddenly backs off from the ship a short ways. Gym stares at it, zooming in on what he sees and enhancing the image to get a good look. He sees /something/ in there, something L-shaped with something else man-shaped on it. The pulsing reactor, that's what that is, but there's... a person inside?!

"Hah! I've found you, Balmarian! You cannot hide from /Death/!"

The Turn X's Destruction Manipulator twists, reorienting. Lightning arcs between the petal-like fingers or claws at the end, dancing within the barrel. It glows, the emitters at the rear of the weapon shining bright as minute stars as he gathers power. It takes but an instant before it snaps wide, a COLOSSAL beam of yellow light ripping into the flesh of the Balmarian vessel.

Gym Ghingnham is not going for the kill like they are. He cuts towards the heart on the opposite side of the Satellite Cannons, widening the hole so he may go remove the problem at the core.

Cut off the head and the body dies. Cut out the /heart/...

When the massive Balmarian goes off and lets its energy rip towards the enemy main ships, and the island of Dr. Hell, Armor puts a hand to his heart within his Ezekiel, believing that everything is over now. That everything is going to be alright. Not that he ever had any doubt that is! He has full and unwavering faith!

However, faith isn't going to do anything against a massive wave of energy like that! When Kazuma's unit punches straight into his commandship one last time, and the Balmarian launches his attack upon the boy a smile suddenly appears. Something snapped within him, "I once loved your home too... why Bian?! FOR THE DIVINE CRUSADERS!" The captain had snapped out of it, revealing himself to be... a 'mere' sample as well. Once. Once he had been part of the Divine Crusaders. Once, he had stood besides Bian Zoldark, shook the man's hand...

But now? What was he doing here? Amidst the aliens. "Raaaa!" The man calls out and fires at Kazuma's unit... AS WELL as the Ezekiels around him. In no moment flat, the elite believe that a traitor is on board and fire upon him. And then, as the beams slide into his unit, there is that small moment where one world overlaps with the other... and he calls out for his sibling... who was elsewhere. "NIRRRIIIEEE~GHHHXXZZZZZ*FZZZZZT*" **BOOOOM**

<Radio: B - Tactical> Shal'hevet Lev sounds very confused, overwhelmed. "No, I... I... I'm not a..."

Blasted away into space by the shower of TK bolts, the Mal'akh is a smouldering, heavily-damaged frame. Ketol, floating in a harness of wires, tubes, and cables, glares at the other Balmarian with incandescent rage.

Spreading its wings out wide, the Angel lunges forwards again, claws bared, as it tries to sove both hands through the Se'arat's torso, and hold on. Then with engines blazing a trail of brilliant blue light, the Mal'akh flies off, accellerating faster then should be possible for a machine that side - faster then ordinary humans could take for long - and drags Lev's machine along for the ride!

Lev is approaching exhaustion, and it shows; she raises another barrier, but this time Ketol manages to punch through cleanly, the barrier having only somewhat robbed the claws of their impact. They gut into the Se'arat Berakim, the visor in its head dimming as sparks and smoke fly out from the 'wounds', alarms going off throughout the cockpit as major systems are cut apart and Lev screams in shock and pain! She knows if she doesn't get out of this very soon, it's going to be the end of her... she needs distance, or to end this here and now. Either of those can be done with the same means, and even as her head starts to feel like its on fire and her vision goes blurry... Lev invokes the T-Link System one more time. A massive TK-tornado forms in front of the machine, trying to grow around the Mal'akh and either force it to break the claw hold, or violently break the hold by ripping the machine apart!

Unfortunately for Ernula and her Castrato, the warp fields of the Hermodhr are still very much functional. Brought up once more to full power, they intercept those missiles and energy cannon blasts one by one; the onslaught weakens the barrier, but it still manages to hold steady -- still manages to withstand the attack.

This, of course, means it is not quite so capable by the time the Phoenix Gundam manages to fix its malfunction. The sheer power behind the pink particle fire manages to PIERCE through one end of the Hermodhr, travel through kilometers of space, and exit out the other end in the flash of a silent boom. The explosion rocks the /entirety/ of the ship. Within the comfort of his crystal cockpit, Laodicea's lips twist.

"That machine..." he murmurs. "... sadly, it hardly matters now." His eyes roll, towards the sight of the Macross -- still entirely too functional.

"... None of it matters now."

Next comes the Zweizergain; the chunk of Bardos greets its vengeance upon the Hermodhr Shivah with a cacophonous crash as it literally JAMS into the side of the flagship, burying into thick armor and /lodging/ there.

The Macross... "You think I am only the sum of my rage? This fleet is mine to command! I hail from the line of Gozzos! Scourge of the Zentradi! My drive propels me! The glory of Balmar propels me!

"I, Laodicea Judecca Gozzo, am far more than the sum of my hatred! And I shall show you just that--"

The Reflex Cannon of the Revil fires. The furious storm /strikes/ the gravitic fields of the Hermodhr head on, resisting for a moment before /piercing/ through and lancing straight into the side of the massive behemoth of a ship. It blows through that armor, exposes the interior of the ship. Another one. Those damned ships--

"MACROSS--!"

And with that, the CVS-11 Daedalus HAMMERS into the front of the Hermodhr. The barrel of the Legion Buster cracks upon impact. Five seconds later, the thing shatters entirely, crystal wretching and splitting apart as missiles tear away that beautiful flowered umbrella. And just like that, the Hermodhr's greatest weapon... is simply unmade.

Though the Hermodhr still stands, it does not for long. The Satellite Cannons -- eight in all -- might not individually have the same power output as a Reflex Cannon, but together -- especially with the Double X's unholy firepower behind that Double Satellite Cannon -- combine into something staggering to behold. Each blast converges on the same point. Each surge of power pierces through the Hermodhr like lances through a mighty beast, before the final nail in the coffin comes; the power of the Double Satellite Cannon and the Turn X's destruction rifle are singularly blinding in their oppositional fury, once piercing through the front, and one through the rear. Light blinds and consumes -- and even though Gym Ghingnham may seek to carve through with exacting precision, the Satellite Cannons are not so generous.

The entire front of the Hermodhr is utterly consumed in the wake of an uncanny, silent explosion. The entire thing starts to drift through space as the Turn X rips through it with that colossal blade...

... except... the ship begins to glow.

"... Who is hiding?"

And Gym Ghingnham has all of a few short seconds to retreat from the Hermodhr before the /entire flagship/ of the Seventh Fleet self-destructs in a blast radius ten times the size of any nuclear warhead.

FWOOOOM

It is like witnessing the birth of a star; the shockwaves of the miniature supernova blast away anything in their path, rippling through Hulehs, through Balmar weapons, through Earth weapons -- anything unfortunate enough to be too close. The haze is thick, even in space -- it is hard to make out what has happened through it and the field of debris.

Yet...

"Laodicea Judecca Gozzo does not run."

At the very center of that former blast radius is a single figure. In comparison to the Hermodhr, it is impossibly small, yet large -- for a robot. Composed entirely of crystal, flowing with a sense of innate power and unease for any psychic.

The Zehirut.

The core that had powered the entirety of the Hermodhr, floating there -- unharmed.

"... Your fates are sealed. But if you are really so bound and determined to die by my hand... I shall give you that honor. If you can reach the core of Neviim..."

And the Zehirut shimmers, before disappearing entirely -- the Quantum Wave Engine resting within it carrying it into the heart of Neviim.

"... I will be waiting for you."

<Radio: B - Tactical> Shal'hevet Lev transmits, "That light...?"

<Radio: B - Tactical> Laodicea Judecca Gozzo sounds distant and detached, "I am recalling Zehirut to the core. We will crush them there, Euzeth."

<Radio: B - Tactical> Ingram Prisken has gone offline. Incidentally, one of the defense shields also exploded a few moments ago.

<Radio: B - Tactical> Shal'hevet Lev speaks between gasps for air, "I can't see... but I'll hold them off while you set up at the core... I can do that..."

Its attempt to disable the Legion Buster thwarted, the Castrato wheels about in an attempt to escape the superweapon. Just as she reaches the mouth of the cannon, however, Ernula's smile fades. That isn't space. That's ... wow, who replaced spaces with lasers? Closing her eyes, the blonde leans back in her seat and starts to laugh. It's a joyous, happy laugh which lasts all the way up until the little Rounder is consumed by weapons fire and the exploding Hermodhr. On the Valstork, the five remaining Ernulas all flinch at once. Four of them start talking worridly amongst themselves, while the Core just closes her eyes and slumps against a bulkhead, sliding slowly to the floor until she can hug her knees.

<Radio: B - Tactical> Ketol Iyar starts to scream, but it's mercifully cut off as the automatic recall system activates.

<Radio: B - Tactical> Euzeth Gozzo transmits, "Indeed."

The Angel writhes in agony as the TK storm whips around it, flaying armor plates from the frame, and tearing it free of Lev's machine. The Mal'akh is tossed across empty space, damaged, broken, and unmoving. Clouds of propellent vapor spew from the hull, as the lights flicker, and deactivate.

But in one final, painful twist of the knife, the there's a sudden burst of light, as the suit's automated recall system activates, and it's pulled into the teleportation portal, vanishing in a heartbeat.

Lev's body sags with relief as Ketol is defeated, gasping for air as her vision continues to become more and more blurry; she sees colored shapes rather than specific objects, and has to guess at what they are. She knows Ketol is gone... either dead at her hands or auto-recalled. And with 'Adom'... Macua, thus free of pursuers, Lev can turn what's left of her abilities against the united forces fleet. "I can still do this... if I can just get rid of that ship, I can save her and maybe everyone else still here..." 'Limping' along through space, the Se'arat Berakim changes course to once again move on the Freedan II. She's not quite in weapons range yet, but even at greatly reduced speed it won't be long before she can engage. And with the laser scythe still held ready, it's clear she intends to try just that.

<Radio: B - Tactical> Ingram Prisken transmits, "I have retreated to the core, Sire."

<Radio: B - Tactical> Ingram Prisken transmits, "I will stand at your right hand when the Samples come."

Balmarian ships explode. A lot of them. A lot of explosions. A lot of dead Balmarians.

Kazuma really hopes none of them were people he or his friends know outside of the Balmarian reprogramming. As it is ... he knows there were some casualties on Earth's side. One of Ernula will never chatter with her sisters again ... not that there's anything to really tell them apart.

The Valguard's arms are lowered, and the giant machine pivots in place, its radome-like sensor 'eyes' panning around this part of space. The White Star is still there ... but there's something worse, where the Valguard can't actually see it.

The ultimate Balmarian weapon, Meteor-3.

"Preparing to disengage Pattern Cross," he reports to the Valstork's bridge. "Unless you want to find out if Valguard can make re-entry in this configuration - ?"

"Acknowledged," Blessfield interrupts, motioning for the bridge crew to get back into duty mode. "Disengage when ready, Kazuma."

"Aye aye, sir," Kazuma responds, turning his attention to his console as Mihiro starts entering commands on *her* control panel. "Valguard is disengaging ... locks released, couplings detached ... configuration reset to Air Force Mode."

And just like that, the Valguard comes apart into the Valhawk and the Valstork, the former returning to the docking bay of the latter.

Macua Huitl watches all the destruction brought forth at the flag ship of the alien fleet. It takes the combined efforts of everyone to bring the thing down, but the ship is sunk. The death throws of the ship is something Macua will never be able to forget. But the core is alive, she watches in awe, the GX bits also mimicing her own with their stances. Then the Zehirut.

"We will come for you. It ends at the palce Zoldark, chose his grave."

But there's Lev, Macau moves quickle for the failing unit as Ketol is recalled. LEv would find that she had someone comming for her.

"Hey, I got you."

Lev would find Adom? Macua is there trying to help her along to the Freedan II. The other bits are already heading there to repair and recharge. The battle's not over, they have to be quick.

"I...owe you more than you realise my friend."

She opens a radio to Kazuma "Hey, not bad. Not bad at all. We got more to fight, so a question. Your family over for Christmas or how about mine visits yours on the ship?"

Lev blinks as she sees what she's pretty sure is one of the satellite-cannon Gundams moving toward her; it's a 50-50 chance between it being Macua or Garrod, and since she's not sure which it is she holds her fire for now. No weapons ready... it's probably not Garrod. When the Se'arat Berakim is grabbed by the Gundam X and pulled in the Freedan II's direction, Lev goes tense. "Have you come back to your senses? We're going to take them down together, then? We can still do this and save our home...!" Clearly, someone has misunderstood the situation...

Macua Huitl says "You are or were Alia Winchster a Knight of a kingdom from La Gias, it's my faught, I was the one...who took you. You held the line alone against a froce of balmarians. You became my friend after I can't leave you. They will just disposes of you."

"You're still saying that name..." Lev releases her controls in the cockpit, one hand going to her forehead as she speaks with Macua. "The others acted like this too, like... like memories were flooding into them, screaming about things that didn't make sense, that they never did... and then they left. Is that what happened with you?"

Kazuma grins wryly, and once he's parked the Valhawk, he pushes the switch on his radio. "Lemme talk it over with Pops and my sisters. If your family doesn't mind staying on the Valstork for a few days, though, we can do our last-minute shopping all around the Earth Sphere if we have to ..."

Macua Huitl nods. "Yes, memories came back, a whole lot of them did. Family, friends, someone really close to me." She frowns, she realises how close Adom had been to Ketol. "Yes, when their old memories surfaced it's not a easy thing to deal with. So that's what happened to me..."

Lev closes her eyes, slumped forward in her seat while continuing the conversation. "It sounds ridiculous... but it happened to dozens of others, and you too? I..." It's a lot to take in. "You sound like you know who I am. Tell me more? When I tell myself who I am, who I think I am now, it sounds wrong, like I'm missing something..."

Macua Huitl says "You are who you chose to be, you have the choice now. The information you'd lost something. Your old name it's Alia Winchester. Lets at least get on the freedan. We don't have long. At least I don't we got to scramble again. That weapon may even reach La Gias." The Gundam X and the last two bits bring Lev in for a landing on the human ship.

Lev reaches up to touch one last control; the one that turns off the laser scythe, the energy blade deactivating as the pair land. "La Gias... a weapon that can even...!" She cuts off with a gasp as incomplete memories flood back, her mind trying to sort through them. "I took an oath," It almost sounds like a random topic jump, but she seems very intent on it. "I've broken it, but I'm not released from it. Tell me, do you have any Ezeki--" She realizes that's wrong, correcting herself, "Elemental Ma-- no... you wouldn't. A Mobile Suit? A PT, anything at all? I... still need to carry out what I promised to do."

<Radio: B - Tactical> Shal'hevet Lev transmits, "So this is what I've done... you said you're setting up your final lines in the core?"

Macua Huitl has an idea of what's happening at this. "Mind control is a hard thing to deal." She says "No the Esh there we do have some mobile suits you can use. It's not the best thing in the world but we can get you something."

"'Something' will be fine. Anything that can fight will do, so long as I can make good on my oath." Lev remarks as she relinquishes control of the Se'arat Berakim. There's still much in her mind that needs to be sorted out, but there is really no time for it. She makes a final transmission on Balmarian bands, then powers down her machine and climbs out, holding onto the Gundam X for now. With physical contact established, her suit's radio takes over for such close-range conversation, concluding simply: "I'm sorry, and... thank you."

<Radio: B - Tactical> Shal'hevet Lev transmits, "Set those lines up in the core. I'll be coming for you very soon..."

<Radio: B - Tactical> Shal'hevet Lev desyncs, either revoked from the network or voluntarily leaving.