| The d8 of Justice | |||
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| Summary: The Argama is the target of a test of an A-Laws new Mobile Armor. This can't end well. | |||
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LAGRANGE 3
14:53 STANDARD TIME
Meriden is excited. This is not the first time she's been sent on a mission, but it is the first time that she is, even theoretically, one of the most important people on it. Her job: to harass the terrorist menace while they were in transit, ambushing them with her giant but remarkably fast-moving war machine.
Now all she has to do is fine them...
20:07 STANDARD TIME NEAR THE ARGAMA
The Argama. Not, perhaps, one of the biggest ships in the Katharon fleet, but one of the most significant; commanded by Captain Bright Noa, it ferries the AEUG troopers hither and yon.
And thus, whether it wants to be or not, it is a valuable military target.
The first warning the Argama gets, perhaps, is the sudden appearance of Minovsky scattering on their scanners. It isn't intentional; it's just something that the Geminus, big as it is, does as a matter of course. The next warning is when the colossal polyhedron becomes visible as more than a distant point, resolving into a shape like two pyramids connected along their base; the entire thing appears covered in solar panels or something similar, a painted eye glaring from both the top and bottom points.
It moves remarkably quickly for something of its improbable size - over three hundred fifty feet from point to point - moving rapidly toward the Argama. As other units follow it, and the two halves of the unit seperate very slightly to reveal a recessed central band, it becomes very obvious what this is: an ambush by a new mobile armour.
Further back, the Ginga, one of the most advanced high mobility battleships in the Federation fleet looms. Its like an orange arrowhead against the blackness of space...
On its bridge, Dewey watches with an almost lazy disinterest as a large spherical green display appears in front of him, relaying the most up to date information.
His command chair is flanked by various dead eyed children...
A radio message blurts out, harsh, curt and formal, "This is Ginga Command to all Federation aligned units. Radio Security is to be observed. Only tactical related data is to be conveyed. No communication with enemy combatants is permitted. This is by order of the Colonel."
The Argama soars through space!
You can almost hear an upbeat, jazzy theme accompanying its adventures through the stars.
"Captain..." Saman's face scrunches with confusion. "There's an awful lot of Minovsky interference.. a lot more than it ought to be. There's no explanation for it.. it's just so.. all of a sudden. It's.. a bizarre phenomenon.."
A proximity alert pierces the calm. On a hazy, static-flecked DRADIS screen is a red undentified blip.
Caesar abruptly shouts, "CONTACT! Unknown unit moving toward the Argama, range three hundred kilometers and closing! Speed three hundred and fifty!"
"..That's no phenomenon!" Bright realizes. "..We're being attacked!" He reaches for the command phone at his side..
> "This is the Captain! Unidentified mobile weapon approaching the Argama! All pilots scramble formation!"
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Captain Bright Noa transmits, "This is the Captain! Unidentified mobile weapon approaching the Argama! All pilots scramble formation!"
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Jamil Neate replies, "This is the Freedan II, we're approximately ten minutes from your position. I'm sending out a small strike force to link up with the Argama forces. It should be there in two."
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Macua Huitl transmits, "Roger that."
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Alina Luddite transmits, "Roger Captain. This is Lin. Launching now."
As one of the newest pilots on the Argama, Lin probably has the least experience of anyone in the hangar. Suited up, helmet under her arm, the white-haired framerunner watches as the others make for their units, looking a bit lost.
"What are you waiting for? You heard the Captain, Launch!"
Lin's head turns, blinking in mild surprise as she nods once, pulling the helmet down over her head and locking it into place. No, she didn't have to be told twice. Of course, the likelihood is that whomever had yelled didn't realize exactly who she is, or why she might not be on the short-list of the Argama's usual defenders.
Her eyes glance towards her Orbital Frame, kneeling at the far end of the hangar with its shields still engaged, but then shakes her head and climbs up into the cockpit of her newly borrowed Hizack. It's the only unit she's had any training in, so it's better than nothing else. Just being given the chance to get out and fight is one more chance to prove herself.
"Roger Captain." Her voice calls in a clipped tone through the microphone. "This is Lin. Launching now." She needed to come up with one of those neat callsigns some of the others had. Something more intimidating or mysterious. Or at the very least something other than her name would be nice. Pressing on the foot petals the Martian pilot engages the thrusters, falling into line with the other pilots launching into space from the Argama. All pretense of the social, cheerful girl are lost as her eyes turn cold, focusing on the battle that is only just starting.
For the last month, Rachel Miu Athha has been unable to sleep; not without assistance, of course. The three hundred voices that have lingered in the back of her unconscious mind have calmed down, making it so that the young pilot has been able to not wake up in the middle of the night, screaming. That, and they've been... muted, somewhat. Even in death, Haman Karn's influence can be felt all over the Earth Sphere, and inside the mind and heart of one of their young pilots.
It's the end of her shift in the repair hangar, and she's staring at the bottle of pills prescribed to her by Doctor Hasan with a bit of a frown on her face. She hated having to take drugs just to get /rest/, but it has recently become a total necessity. She twists off the top and dumps one into her hand...
... and then klaxons start to blare.
Stuffing the pill back into the bottle, closing it and casting it off to the side, the white-haired girl charges toward the lockers to don the flight suit to the Zeta P2/3C... even as a horrible feeling creeps up her spine.
Settling into the cockpit, she feels the slight tug as the connectors lock onto the special flight suit's backing and the bit of resistance that comes with it as more and more of the Mobile Suit's systems come online. She draws in a breath, moving the control sticks ahead and moving to the other launch catapult.
"Rachel Miu Athha, Red Zeta! Heading out!"
The machine glides across the deck, the interior of the Argama giving way to the darkness of space and the glow of the stars, her feet mashing down into the pedals to trigger the verniers that kick the machine off and into space at full speed. With a release of the control sticks, the cockpit shifts to it's standard freestanding mode, complete with the brief moment of Newtype Pressure (TM) as her mind makes contact with the Bio Sensor.
She squints. "What ... /is/ that..."
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Rachel Miu Athha transmits, "Rachel Miu Athha, Red Zeta! Heading out!"
"So, I guess I'm going to have to start calling you 'sir' now, huh Mac?" Garrod replies with a grin as he leans out of the top hatch of the Gundam Double X's cockpit, "Congrats on the promotion by the way."
"Oy Garrod! Try it down!" Kid Salsamille calls from down below, where he's working on the elbow joint of the Gundam. This prompts Garrod to call back, "Alright, just a sec!" as he disappears into the cockpit and boots up the system. The arm being worked on twitches, then sweeps up, going through the full range of motion it's capable of before returning to rest at it's side, "Looks good from this end! Did you see any problems from the outside?"
"Nah, should be good to go! Try not to twist the actuator this time, alright?" Kid says as he closes up all the panelling and steps back, "You don't know how much trouble it is to machine a new part whenever you break it!"
"I'll try, but no promises," Garrod shows back as he starts to climb back out again... only to be interupted by the siren goint off. It only takes him a moment to slip back into the cockpit and boot it up, at which time the screen flickers to life with Jamil's face, "Garrod, the Argmama is being attacked by an unknown mobile armor. I'm sending you, macua, and Witz ahead to support them."
"Gotcha Jamil," Garrod resplies as he snaps his helmet into place, "I'm moving to the launch catapult!"
The lights in the hanger all go red as the tech crews scramble out. As soon as they're clear, the Gundam Double X hunches forward as it's feet are locked into place, then /hurtles/ forward into the depths of space as it's verniers take over and propell it towards the distant Argama.
Roux had been dozing in the lounge.
Beecha looks up from his 'Jane's All The Earth Sphere's Horrorbeasts' manual, open to the blurry Google Earth pictures people have managed to coerce of the Angels at maximum magnification, and then out the window.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH"
SOON.
The Z-II slots into the launch catapult queue, Roux exhaling through her nose hard enough to raise a little steam on the faceplate of her normal suit. "Z II, Roux Louka - launching!" she declares, shortly afterwards joining the 'Red Zeta' in nearby space. The Z-II shifts around towards its Waverider mode, perhaps intent on fast recon, as Roux says:
"I have no idea. Beecha thought it was one of those Angel things that were attacking Tokyo, before the giant naked girl incident?"
Launching from the hangar of the Polyhedron is a blue and white Valkyrie. Dubbed the Thunderbolt, the blue and white coloring isn't not typical of most other squadron markings, nor is the Skull that has been painted on the wings of the fighter.
It's the first of a series that will always be known as 'the Max Custom'. Unassuming, but with more tweaks under the armor than many people will know. "Skull Seven is airborne." Max mutters into his comm unit as Colonel Novak tells them not to speak to the opponents in this battle. "Funny, they're usually a chatty bunch though." He says as his VF-11 flies towards the Argama, and he notices something. "Seems the Argama is already lauching suits."
Touya was just starting to relax in his room, since the girls were off doing other things, and there weren't any emergencies in a while. Just sitting back in his chair and enjoying the silence. And then, not even five seconds after, the captain gives the order to scramble. The teen sighs and heads down to the hangar.
On the way there, he met Melua in the hallway, and so now the two of them are in their seats in Granteed's cockpit, flipping switches and pressing buttons. The lights come on, the Cytron system activates, all that good old fashioned startup sequence stuff. Touya, much more comfortable in this cockpit than he was when he first joined up with Katharon, takes a deep breath as he grabs the control sticks.
"All systems green, operational level at ninety seven percent, well within acceptable parameters. Touya, we're ready to go at any time." Melua says. Touya nods.
"Ensign Touya Shun and copilot Melua Melna Meia, Granteed, launching! Let's tear them a new one!" he shouts, and Granteed goes soaring off into the battlefield. And then Touya sees what looks like a couple of pyramids glued together, and palm meets face.
"Why can't we ever fight a normal enemy...?" he mutters.
Jobs aren't easy to come by when every job is all about security these days.
The more important and specialized it is, the less likely outside sources, such as mercenaries, may be involved. Too risky, after all. They could turn, or they could be a spy.
The first big hit in a sea of guppies finds the craft of the Valkyrie traveling through Lagrange 3 along-side the gigantic polyhedron. "The things they design these days." It's a bitter remark from an old soldier, but the job is the big thing.
The Valkyrie spins once, falling back, following the twin pyramids of power and using it as cover. Then it comes into view. That orange monstrosity, shaped like a knife and pointing to the back of the far far smaller ship. Holland's heart nearly stops, his breathe caught in his throat.
He's on /his side/ today. "S... Son of a bitch!" He spits out, the communicator's outgoing traffic locked instinctively.
The mercenary 'Novacaine' pulls the valkyrie around and along side the polyhedron, the pilot having a change of mind. A completely textual response 'Weapons armed. Beginning mission.' Is sent to what is considered the head of the operation. As the final keystroke is completed, Holland humors a few thoughts of settling things once and for all.
The Valkyrie's speed increases away from the Ginga, Holland giving himself his own answer.
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Macua Huitl transmits, "Fire Dancer, Gundam Phoebe launching."
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Touya Shun transmits, "What is that thing?"
Noriko Takaya debuted the full, awesome power of the completed Gunbuster Project only a short while ago.
Today, they have been called upon to once again show the full fury of the Buster Machine Corporation, leveling their awesome destructive might against the terrorist threat!!
The response was a flat no.
NOW: Flying somewhere in the formation along with Meriden's titanic d8 of Justice is one of the BMC's new MP models, the NRX-7 Nausica, armed with shock lancer in hand, pile bunker primed and beam cannon charging. Noriko sits in the cockpit, arms crossed because her hands aren't needed right now.
"Hnn," she mutters. "I really don't like these analogue cockpits..." she sighs, and then leans forward to latch hands to the controls, her machine coming to life, starting weapons charges. "Alright, then, Katharon, what are you going to throw at us today...?"
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Captain Bright Noa transmits, "I don't know, but it looks like multiple hostiles are appearing. Keep your distance and ready weapons!"
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Touya Shun transmits, "Please tell me it's just some eccentric's space condo, and not an actual mobile weapon."
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Rachel Miu Athha transmits, "I don't think it's like the Tokyo-3 incident, Roux, but... I do think it /is/ a Mobile Armor..."
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Roux Louka, a little exasperated, "See, Beecha, it's not the Angel, we'd all be dead now if it was."
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Touya Shun transmits, "I'd like to think these people aren't /completely/ insane."
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Caesar transmits, "The enemy unit is gaining on us!"
They were under attack and things were not good there was a pressure out there she didn't like it and worse what the Aragma was giving some pretty worrysome info on the incomming unit but there's not much time to worry about that. They have to fight and still the bigger the challenge the greater the thrill of victory. That snaps Macua out of her worries as the Phoebe launches.
The Gundam away from the Argama now forms up with the others that have launched and this is about to get a bit crazy.
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Caesar transmits, "It's firing..!"
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Captain Bright Noa transmits, "Evasive manuevers! All pilots, fire at will!"
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Touya Shun transmits, "Roger that."
Earlier
Shoreleave had ended for Quatre Raberba Winner... or rather, for Vier Winnaar. Luckily, OZ had not asked too much questions on where he'd gone. Especially since when he got back, he went right back to what he was supposed to do. Training, unwittingly giving them more information, pilotting the Mercurius in unison with Trowa in the Vayaete. The stress of being exposed to the commander of the base they were stationed at however just keeps on being a shock to the mildly mannered youth. But he pushed through.
But of course, from one thing comes the other. The project was slowly coming to an end, and they still had not begun to make their move. The safety of the creators of the Wing Boys' Gundams was at stake, along with needing to escape alive. Never once had OZ's eyes moved away from the two when they were in their OZ type mock Gundams. And now they forced a mission on him. That was, to assist the A-Laws in a mission. Against... the Argama. Quatre is not a happy camper.
Now
The red Mercurius is being transported by a space freighter. Trowa wasn't with him, sadly, for whatever reason. The battle was already on its way, and Quatre is trying to mess with the uniform... that is, normal suit... so that it fits him better. The helmet goes on, and he begins rattling his fingers over a set of keyboards to start up the systems unside the bulky space unit. "Mercurius is ready for deployment." He reports. The freighter pushes the unit up from its previous laying position, and within seconds, Quatre has grabbed onto the joysticks and is pushing them forwards, launching the unit and quickly rushing into the midst of the battle. The Planetary Defenders deploy around the unit almost immediately, to protect himself from any incoming beam fire, as he tries to seek a target. Someone. Someone who he knows would not recognize his combat style.
Rachel draws in a breath and exhales slowly through her mouth, taking her time to make it more of a calming, cleansing experience for her. The dusky-skinned girl leans forward, pushing a little bit of her own will into the red Zeta Gundam as it accelerates through space, and right into the waiting, warm arms of ... a laser barrage!
Rachel twists hard at the waist as her footing shifts. Verniers fire in selective, careful manners as the red machine ducks and weaves through the beams, the machine eventually doing a high-speed transformation into it's Waverider mode for the added maneuverability.
Beams soar by at impressively close range, and the machine is /barely/ able to keep up. A few come far too close for comfort, and the young woman is forced to clench her teeth and wince at the bright flashes that fill her display in the process. With another push forward, the Zeta accelerates beyond the final volley, toward the gigantic Mobile Armor.
Rachel breathes in. Don't get caught up in it's size. Don't get caught up in how many weapons that it has. Just stick and move, she tells herself. Stick, move, and attack when it presents an appropriate opening. It's just like the time she fought the Xiao Tian-lei. Feel for the emotions of the pilot within, especially if-- i-is that pressure she's feeling?
The Red Zeta transforms once again, shifting into the Mobile Suit mode. Drawing both beam sabers, the blades sway out wide as she aims to duck in long enough to try to land on the /side/ of the Geminus and drive both blades into the hull before an attempt to rip them out to either side!
"Man, I don't think I've ever seen a Mobile Armor that ugly that wasn't likely designed by Dr. Hell when he was moonlighting as a mobile suit developer," Garrod remarks idly as he gets his first looks at the Geminus in his display, "Maybe the A-Laws were trying to make it so absurd looking that we'd all be lulled into a false sense of security..."
After that observation, Garrod brings up a tactical view of the battlefield, "Looks like we're going to run headlong into the A-Laws left flank Mac. Let's put them in a vice!"
The Gundam Double X accelerates towards the erupting battle, clashing headlong into the flank just as he said they would. One Monsoono explodes into a pretty pink expanding cloud of smoke as Garrod's beam rifle snipes it right off it's board, followed by a second KLF that gets it's legs cut right out from under it and hurtles off into the inky darkness of space uncontrollably. Garrod uickly looks for his next target.
"What the, an old Trainer Valkyrie? Must be a merc. Can't see the A-Laws relying on a model that's been phased out of service." Garrod flicks his fire controls over and takes aim, then pulls the trigger. In response, the chest-mounted Breast launchers open up, showing the Variable Fighter with explosive rounds.
The slowing of the large entity makes Roux exhale, the Waverider accelerating to swoop around the machine to get at its far side even as it opens fire. She purses her lips, resisting the urge to react to the subliminal senses of panic boiling off the people on the Argama who can SEE that thing.
The other machines near it are probably an escort, Roux decides. No point in attacking them directly.
"You never looked at some of the machines during the One Year War, did you?" she answers Garrod rather coolly even as the Waverider pivots and accelerates inwards, aiming a sudden sizzling magenta beam of megaparticles inwards -- trying to strike between the massive faces of the Mobile Armor!
With quick motions of her head, Lin tries to take in all the information that her unit is feeding to her about the combat situation. It isn't an easy task, especially for someone just learning how to manually pilot. As the computer identifies enemy units she picks out one that isn't quite clustered with the others. "Alright, this one's mine." Her hand closes on the flight controls, pressing forward as she sends the Hizack speeding in the direction of Maximillian's VF-11.
There is only a moment of hesitation as her eyes sweep the console, then her hand follows, punching in the right key sequence to unholster the Hizack's Beam Rifle. There is a click-click sound as it engages, and then a whine as the gun charges up, taking aim even as she moves in to orbit the invader.
Her finger lightly touches on the trigger, feeling the motion as if it were a familiar friend. Yes, there certainly was something about combat that is bringing back memories for Lin. The cool focus, the ease under fire, this is where she belongs. With only a slight tensing of her muscles, she pulls the trigger, sweeping a series of short bursts as she tries to catch the smaller unit in the path of the beams.
"Enemy unit continuing bearing!" Caesar shouts as the red blip belonging to the Geminus continues toward the Argama's base-square. "It's firing weapons!"
Beamfire peppers the Argama. Its reinforced plating holds out, absorbing most of the assault. Though it certainly doesn't save the crew from a bumpy ride as the deckplates of the Anaheim-designed battleship shake against each shot.
"Deploy dummy balloons!" Bright motions with a wave of his hand. "Torres, power engines and pull us out. Ready firing solutions, we'll have to use our mobile suits to run interference for now!"
The Argama's engines glow hot, providing the push that drives the sleek ship forward. Its helmsman already inputting the coordinates to curve out toward the starboard side. Missile batteries on either side of the battleship wink open and begin unloading packets into the void.
These packets drift away from the Argama for several meters before an internal charge detonates, enabling heavy-grade rubber to fill with gas. Giant, blotchy fake-asteroids and space debris begin cluttering the line of sight.
"Touya, incoming!" Melua says, the flashing 'you're getting shot at' lights telling her what she can pretty much already see. Still, she has a job as a copilot, and she's going to do it. Touya doesn't say anything, but flies right between a few of the lasers, looking for any obvious weakpoints on the giant pyramidal mobile armor. The eyes look like a good spot, but they might just be decoration. Doesn't hurt to try, though.
"Melua, get a lock on one of those eyes. If it wants to shoot at us with lasers, then we'll just have to respond in kind!" A helpful little pair of green crosshairs appear on the viewscreen, moving toward the eye on the top of the strange enemy machine, until they meet up and turn red. "Take this! Orgone Blaster!"
The ring on Granteed's head starts glowing green as Orgone energy gathers in the space in its center, and a second or two later it fires a beam at the Geminus's eye. Simple attack, simple execution, hopefully a simple battle.
The Thunderbolt had a pretty quick operator, to say the least. Max gave the controls a twitch and the plane barrel rolled to avoid the laser fire from Alina's Hizack. A gentle push from Max's feet and the Valkyrie kicks it's legs out to almost a complete stop, just enough time for the Valkyrie to fire a missile at the Hizack, then start flying sideways. Blasted Valkyrie pilots, this isn't a first person shooter, this is an actual FIGHT! DOn't tell that to Max though. "A Hizack huh? I thought those things were getting phased out. Oh well. Still hafta shoot it down...
Watching a Monsoono get taken out is a mixed blessing. The more of them taken out, the less he might have to deal with in the future. The pink cloud expans outwards, the Valkyrie pulling through the cloud that once had a cloud taking up the same area.
Counterpoint? Breast launchers.
Space suddenly seems far less vast when more than ninety percent of it is barred off. In some ways, it's far more limited than the tactics that can be employed on the surface. Gravity and land to get traction on changes some of the rules.
That isn't to say Holland can't empoy some of the same tactics.
Pulling back on a control stick, the Valkyrie's legs shoot down and out, pushing the craft away from the explosive rounds that detonate into empty space. It rockets away from the assault before the legs slip back in, the plane mode of the Valkyrie continuing it's path, banking around the specced Gundam.
"What I wouldn't give for the R909 right now... But let's jut see what you can do, kid." Two missiles fall off from the Valkyrie Trainer, leaving a white fluffy trail that expands slowly in the void, for the little time they are there, launched so close to the Gundam!
The missiles streak out at near point blank range, but Garrod is surprisingly quick with his response as his head vulcans rattle out. one of the missiles is strike only moments after leaving the Valkyrie and explodes, buffeting the Variable Fighter with it's detonation. Garrod quickly turns to shoot down the other, but the range is just too close for him to draw a bead on the rocket before it slams into his Gundam and explodes, "Tch! That was ballsy, firing so close... let's see how ballsy this guy is then when I'm right up in his grill!"
The Gundam double X pulls out a simple rod from it's back, then extends it into a large spear that ends with a cutting beam tip. with both hands gripped on the javelin, Garrod charges, aiming to impale the weapon into the Valkyrie's back.
MOMENTS BEFORE
"The driver of the reckless van hit the breaks to avoid careening off the side of the road. Mary was safe..." Camille spoke in a grim, serious tone, the orphaned girl Qum held in wide-eyed, morbid awe of his tale, "Until she realized that the driver wasn't trying to hurt her, but warn her of the axe-wiedling maniac in the back of her car!" Wild, animated gestures only increased the exciement.
Qum gasped, half-afraid, half-curious, "Did...did the maniac kill her?"
Camille could only offer a grim nod, "He did. And you know how I know?"
The child's tensed face betrayed an infantile cluelessness.
"Because.." Camille donned his grimmest look yet, the camera zooming in on his face with each syllable as he spoke, "I...was that maniac."
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
You have to hand it to kids, Qum's high-pitched squealing actually /drowned out/ the initial alarms as Camille ran around in a panic trying to calm the youngster down, "Oh, shit! It was a joke, a joke! I was pulling your leg, stop cry-!"
"CAMILLE!!!!" With the protective instincts of a mother hen and a childhood friend's sixth sense, Fa Yuiry stuck her fuming head around the corner, "What the hell are you /doing/? Leave her alone and go to the hangar, we're under attack!!!" She made a mental note never to leave him in a room with children and his own devices ever again.
NOW
The Zeta's entry in the battlefield had been delayed, as it was in the midst of repairs when the attack came out of nowhere (as they tend to do). Camille sorely attempts to make up for a late arrival with moxie and decisive action, pulling ahead of the other Zetas in waverider form, "Is that....what I think it is?" Those A-LAWS bastards had gone too far, again, for the hundredth time.
"Rachel, Roux, we'll need to coordinate our tactics to take this thing down, but....wait..." The Newtype's head sang with unmistakable rhyme of threat, incoming and honed directly on him, "Something....someone else....is coming!!" The OG Zeta suddenly veered off course, following the preternatual whims of Camille's convenient foresight, "I'll stave it off! Defend the Argama!"
The Geminus continues to spray lasers. Meriden actually /is/ aiming, but the machine is not exactly the most agile, and her focus is on the Argama; she doesn't actually want to destroy it, but crippling it so the 'terrorists' cannot escape would be just fine with her.
All three of the incoming Mobile Suits dodge through the field of mega beams that she lays out, and all three of them manage to strike the armour. Roux's shot is lucky or skilled, going in through the central gap and causing a spray of pink sparks as one of the emitters is struck. Rachel's blades fail to penetrate, though, leaving a long shallow slice along one of the edges, and Touya's blaster blackens a patch of plating next to the lower 'eye'.
Which immediately swivels to look at him, like a tiny secondary pyramid on top of (okay, underneath) the main one.
From some plating segments on the 'back' of the Geminus, long slivers of metal launch; small triangles about two thirds the size of a mobile suit. There are eight in all, and they swarm downwards like oversized bits. That would not be anything special except, as they fly, they unfold into what look more like stubby-limbed mobile suits than anything else; mobile suits that barely come up to the chest of a real one, and clearly have no cockpit. There's no room or place for a pilot.
Four fly downward at Rachel, swirling around and firing their double blasters. Four whip over toward Touya, harassing him with stray fire. Roux, who actually got a real hit in, is the focus of the central lasers on the Geminus, which begin to fire in patterns, trying to catch her with a stray shot. Meriden sits at the table, eyes half-closed as she is surrounded by a whole array of camera shots. She's watching from the point of view of some of the hastas.
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Rachel Miu Athha transmits, "Are these Mobile Suits?!! Where did they--"
Noriko's Nausica rockets along, because /that's how Noriko rolls/. Like a grumpy old man, she mutters, "These frictionless drives really bug me," as the machine cruises through space. Firing arcs light up on her heads-up display, and she jams the throttle forward, propelling the NRX-7 rapidly into the field, taking a long, deep breath. "Right," she says to nobody. She just sends a standard acknowledgement signal to the orders, because she gets a little taciturn in battle.
...well, for a definition of that that includes a lot of yelling, leastwise.
"We shouldn't have to fight...but since we do...I'll fight with everything!" Noriko calls out, and the Nausica's lancer snaps with power, while the Nausica blurs toward the enemy line. Find a target, find a target. Red Zeta, Z-II, SO MANY ZETAS, Noriko eventually just flicks her targetting crosshairs, focusing all her not insubstantial willpower. The beam cannon burns a single point of magenta light, and then that blast streaks across the distance, raking into the field, shrieking toward -- the Z-II!!
Can Camille save a girl from a most lasery fate!?
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Rachel Miu Athha transmits, "I-- I think these are running on psycommu...!!"
That didn't work so well. That eye is clearly not a weakpoint, or at least one that can be pierced with a small blast of Orgone. Touya starts looking for another one, racking his brain. What would be vulnerable on a pair of pyramids stuck together by their bases? Of course, the part where they're joined.
Just then, the Geminus launches a bunch of bits...mobile suits...G-Bits, and the teen is caught by surprise. Several beams burn through Granteed's armor before he can retaliate, but at least when he does, his machine's claws tear one or two of them in half. This is getting dangerous fast, and there's not much Touya can do except wade through the lasers and try to get close.
"Melua, get us in melee range. I'm going to see if I can shred some of that armor." he orders, and soon enough, the hybrid super robot manages to get itself close enough to use its claws. "If there isn't a hole in the enemy's defenses, we make one!"
Granteed starts slashing and tearing at the mobile armor's side, trying to rip some of its armor off and create an opening for itself and the two Gundams. On something this large, it's definitely difficult to tell if it's actually having an effect, but Touya's hacking away nonetheless.
Macua Huitl is aware of the machine it's got her rather unsettled really. That machine she doesn't like she does spot a GNX slinking around and choses to go after it. The Phoebe isn't going to play around either the spikes on it's back break off into a formation around the mobile suit. They don't waste much time as Macua directs them after Briareos machine some come in from above others from behind, and several from the front, and a lone one comes from below.
"That all you got really? Let's see how your machine keeps up with me!"
Macua Huitl is aware of the machine it's got her rather unsettled really. That machine she doesn't like she does spot a GNX slinking around and choses to go after it. The Phoebe isn't going to play around either the spikes on it's back break off into a formation around the mobile suit. They don't waste much time as Macua directs them after Briareos machine some come in from above others from behind, and several from the front, and a lone one comes from below.
"That all you got really? Let's see how your machine keeps up with me!"
Now, if he was on foot-- Briareos may be able to avoid every, single, one of those. However unlike his real body, the Gundam doesn't have eyes in the back of its head. So as he goes to swing out of the way of one set and thrusters out of the way. Those energy beams slam into the side and backside of the Gundam. Spinning it for a moment out of control.
However Briareos quickly gets control of the unit, before he then looks over in the direction of the target, "..is that all I got? Your cute. I haven't even opened a shot yet." He then rises that beam rifle. "However now, you are free to say that as many time as you like." Then opens fire.
Tactical data streams into the Argama C.I.C. It's a chaos of light and sound, reports being shouted over the din.
"The Z-II, Zeta Red, Hizack, and Granteed are all taking heavy damage!"
"Enemy mobile weapons reading A-LAWS idents!"
"Gunners reporting ready-go status! Firing solutions coming in now!"
"It's /fast/," Bright observes the battle from a holographic display nearby. "Rachel and Touya can barely touch it. We'll have to provide them some assistance. Ready missile batteries alpha through delta! Target that enemy mobile armor and see if we can't slow it down!"
The Argama deploys additional countermeasures. Slim-styled projectiles slide effortlessly from the launch tubes and direct themselves toward the Geminus on smoky white trails.
"Captain! The enemy mobile armor! We're receiving reports it contains a psycommu system!"
Roux turns her head to look at Camille as he goes chasing off after a space-squirrel. She thinks in a shielded manner to herself: Did he get into my Adderall?
Meanwhile, bits appear -- and bits are troublesome to Roux, even if they're another encouraging sign that this isn't the second coming of the Fifth Angel. She sucks in her breath as she hears orders crackle over the radio, because the bits don't feel like they're looking at her...
The Z-II pivots up in a sharp rise just in time to fly directly into a smaller but less lethal ray of light, Roux recoiling as the Z-II jerks to the side and crying out in wordless surprise at the moment. "I didn't even feel -- is that unit automatic?!" she says, even as the somewhat damaged Waverider starts to slide and flow into its more generally suitable mode.
The RX-7 pops up in Roux's panoptical display, the Gundam drawing back from the Geminus and the Machine Weapon alike while firing beam rifle shots with a pattern best described as 'willy nilly'. "Camille, where are you going--??"
Within the cockpit of the Hizack, Lin lets out a low whistle as she watches the flight maneuvers by the Thunderbolt pilot. While her body might remember combat, this is actually her first time going one on one with another pilot, and the quick maneuvering by the enemy pilot certainly shows she has a lot to learn. Her cold eyes follow the motion, lips set into a tight line as she pulls the Hizack's other arm forward even as she jams the thrusters sideways.
It is enough to cause the missile to strike against the unit's shielded shoulder rather than taking a direct hit. Even as she grits her teeth from the force throwing her back into the seat, Lin squeezes off a retaliatory strike with her unit's machine guns, trailing the bullets along behind the quick moving Thunderbolt.
Pressing her feet downward, Lin cuts the Hizack's forward motion, then jams a few buttons quickly to cause it to shift direction, keeping a close eye on the enemy. There is a hissing sound as the missile pods pop open, a single pull of her hand engaging the secondary weapon system. "They weren't kidding when they said this was work." Her voice has a tinge of amusement, although it doesn't seem to reach those intense eyes. There is a blip, blip, blip as she locks on the Valkyrie, then a single click as she hovers her thumb over the launch button.
"Hrm." Quick change of plans. At the last moment, rather than firing the missiles, she draws up the machine gun a second time, pulling it in towards the Hizack's chest as she fires off another volley of quick shots aiming across the Valkyrie's wings, perhaps trying to slow the him down, or fool him into expecting the wrong type of attack. Either that, or she just isn't quite used to fighting in this unit yet. The later seems most likely.
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Captain Bright Noa transmits, "Rachel, you'll have to try to deploy the Psyco Neutralizer! ... And who the hell is out there in a Hizack!?"
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Alina Luddite transmits, "That would be me, sir."
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Rachel Miu Athha transmits, "I'll start the system up, but it'll take awhile for it to be ready!"
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Captain Bright Noa transmits, "What!?"
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Touya Shun transmits, "Huh? Hey, aren't you that girl I talked to in the rec room?"
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Alina Luddite transmits, "Yes. That would be the one."
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Touya Shun transmits, "And you're out here in a Hizack? You're going to get killed like that!"
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Quatre Raberba Winner transmits, "She'll be safe."
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Alina Luddite transmits, "This is the only unit that I've been trained on thus far. And I have no intentions of getting killed."
The sabers can't penetrate the armor-- something that forces the white-haired pilot to grunt, closing her hands a little tighter into fists. The Zeta's grip mimics this, tightening up on the beam sabers in hand... but not tight enough to break anything, of course.
Twisting around while the sabers are held in a backhanded grip, the four Hastas start to take their turns swarming her with beam fire. Rachel's eyes widen, of course, and she pushes the Zeta to accelerate away from where she was standing at full speed. With the black v-crest shining, the Mobile Suit ducks between the first two, twisting around while the shield currently docked to the upper left arm is used to deflect the last of the shots. It isn't perfect-- the Zeta spins out as it becomes unable to break away safe and clear, a deep gash torn across the surface of the shield.
"Those Mobile Suits... they're psycommu!"
But how? How could someone control something like that? It would be impossible-- insane-- unless that machine, that one massive machine, has an equally massive psycommu system, not unlike Plantard Colony. For a moment, the thought terrifies her. It was bad enough that Zeon could manufacture something like that, but this...?
For now, Rachel seems to ignore the Hastas. Instead, the crimson red Zeta Gundam accelerates toward the massive Geminus again. The legs twist, the beam sabers disengage and the shield relocates to a canopy-style position. Accelerating straight on, a beam blade bursts forward from the shortbarrel gun mounted onto the machine's hull.
Banking hard to one side, she aims to drive the blade into one of the Hastas... and then use it as a cushion as she aims to keep on flying straight toward the Geminus, hit or miss!
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Roux Louka to herself, "And they say /I'm/ cold..."
Max blinks as he hears the buzz of a radar lock on the Valkyrie, but then spots the muzzle flash of the machine gun. He raises an eyebrow as his gunpod snaps towards the Hizack, but activates the foot thrusters to move out of the way of the machine gun fire, some of the bullets DO actually get to him, but they hit the left arm shield of the Thunderbolt, an add on for just this sort of occasion. Oddly, it doesn't leave any dents. Perhaps due to the pair of glowing disks that are on the shield.
Max however, is tilting his head at the Hizack. He knew better than to take it lightly, but there was something else there. Shrugging, he squeezed the trigger of the right stick, which, consequently, pulled the trigger of the Gunpod, firing an extended burst at Alina's Hizack...
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Captain Bright Noa transmits, "What're you.. nevermind. Roux, you'll need to provide Rachel and Touya with a clear path to the mobile armor!"
Damn, he wasn't fast enough! "Roux!" Camille called out the second the Z-II was hit, knowing that at least hadn't put her out of the fight/mortal coil. Ugh, bits, he he fucking hated bits. "It's not an automatic unit, there's a pilot there.." He spoke with the kind of Newtype-certainty most people eventually threw their hands up at and learned not to question, "..a powerful one!! Bits can only go so far, try to stay out of the machine's range and assist Rachel and the others against that abomination.
As if anticipating more disagreement, he continued, "Don't worry, i'll make sure it can't afford to sic those things on anyone but me.
Maybe Camille detects and sympathizes with Noriko's regret in fighting her fellow humans, or perhaps he's just trying to score up gravy points, but-
No, wait, she tried to shoot down someone on his second-string boner team, that shit's getting the wrath.
"If it wasn't for people like you...!" The hot-blooded youth curses, eyes squinting over the targeting reticulate and blasting purple beams of fury to assail the Federation suit, "Using a monster like that for your own purposes, you're no different from Neo-Zeon!!!"
Impossible? Maybe. But the Geminus is certainly controlling them, even if it makes Meriden's head ache to even try to steer this many at once. It isn't as bad as it used to be; she no longer throws up. But there is a reason that it is her in here, and not one of the other Newtypes from Augusta or Leipzig; none of the others she knows can manage it alone.
The hasta do seem to be a little less finely controlled after a few moments. They start to pull back, though not before firing on the approaching Touya with no real success. Folding back up into their triangular docking configuration, they actually try to deflect Rachel's awkward charge by sheer mass - but the red Zeta outpaces them on the charge, and they simply dock, unable to catch her. Compared to this, the stray fire against the Argama is merely desultory; it takes out the missiles but little else. Roux doesn't even get that much of a response, which may be a good thing.
The Geminus looks like it shivers for a moment. Seals across the plating unlock; Rachel gets pushed away as the upper half of the machine opens up, spreading wide, plates adjusting and parts unfolding, segments flipping or rotating...
The upper body of the Geminus is humanoid - but not very. It is still roughly triangular, with enormous limbs and a bulky torso. The chest has visible cannons in it, though, as does the 'waist' - and they begin to light up, significantly more accurate against suits than her previous attempts. While most of them spread their fire to try to force the suits back, some of the more sustained barrages are aimed at the Argama with intent to disable.
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Alina Luddite transmits, "If you would prefer I fall back, Captain, I can disengage."
In the meantime, while all this battling is going on, in the background - Vier Winnaar is stabbing through a series of random mooks with his beam saber. That is, cutting off the arms and legs of the units, then kicking them back towards the Argama. Somehow, he is managing not to destroy their cockpits. The Planetary defenders are doing their job in keeping the unit entirely free of damage. "I hope Bright won't hate me too much for this." Quatre mutters to himself, looking out of the right side monitor at the Argama being under attack. He was receiving some of the Katharon transmissions, and had noticed that his latest 'project' was also in the battle.
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Rachel Miu Athha transmits, "What the-- look out for the arms!"
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Touya Shun transmits, "/What/."
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Roux Louka transmits, "Guh!"
Macua Huitl hs proven to had good reflexes out her newtype senses and she's moving quickly but the reaction time the A-laws pilot didn't have was normal it was fast way too fast.
"Interesting your faster than I expected but still too slow!"
MAcua pulls back with hert machine dancing out of the way, while hte funnels are sent in waves again and again gain while the unit tries to make hrrself a target.
"Can you keep up with my dance It looks like I'm leading already."
Quatre is actually on the lookout for someone to tee off against, honest! He is just trying to find someone he could fight so he could lose and not have it look suspicious. That's right, he's not trying to win this one for the A-Laws, but he'll at least make it look like he is. The Mercurius slowly turns about, the Planetary Defenders crackling violently even in space as a few beam blasts get a bit too close for comfort. "But who..." He whispers to himself, slowly letting his eyes pass from one unit to the other. Not the Hizack. He couldn't bring himself to doing that. But then...
"What would Trowa do?" He mutters and suddenly finds Roux Louka's unit. "Right. Just go with what the mission requires, and try not to think too much about it." Also, use guns, many guns, and then some more guns. But this thing wasn't exactly equiped to /do/ that."Right then. Off I go." The unit pulls out the gigantic beam saber, lets it flare up, and by pushing his both feet down, the Mercurius rockets forth.
With the shields active in a neat dome around it, the red mock-gundam unit tries to make it as fast as possible to the Z II, and without any sign of warning them, he tries to cut at the nearest weapon he can find on the thing. It's not much of an attack, but as an opening move with that gigantic energy-dispensing saber of his, it'll just have to do.
Briareos grumbles softly, but soon the Gundam flew forward bull rushing right into danger. Those Funnels slammed into the armor of the Gundam, shredding off pieces of metal. However the mecha moved in faster and faster towards it target; Fearless in its collusion coarse.
Then last-minute, it swept to the side, before bringing around a Beam saber on Macua's unit. "If this was on the ground, I be a far better dance. However I bet you fight as well as you look."
Wait-- what?
In the moment of what he hoped was a distraction and a silent mental thought of 'forgive me Deunan' which his thoughts were always with. That lance on the GNX, came around to bare and then went to thrust the lance right into, hopefully, the backside of the Gundam.
Touya's doing a pretty good job of tearing the armor off, or so he thinks. But then the thing starts transforming, and he backs off to keep from getting smacked by any parts that happen to stick out. When it's done, he looks up and sees...something so dorky, he's almost certain it was designed by an eccentric scientist for a quirky grandchild.
"/What/." is all he says, too stunned by how ridiculous the thing looks to think about anything else. When the thing starts firing its beams, however, he's quickly snapped out of it and maneuvers back to where he was, figuring it's the safest place to be right now. And he's right, as none of the cannons are able to hit him from here...or at least, he's pretty sure they can't.
"Melua, lance." he says, getting a simple 'alright' in response. Granteed's chestpiece pops off, sprouting a handle and a crystallized Orgone blade, and he grabs it and thrusts it at the hole he made earlier. Just keep working it, he thinks, and it'll break down eventually.
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Touya Shun transmits, "What the hell is wrong with the A-Laws? Can't they just make a /normal/ mobile armor?"
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Macua Huitl transmits, "Tch. Your honestly suprised?"
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Camille Bidan transmits, "The DC aren't really aces at either."
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Roux Louka transmits, "There's someone inside -- what in the wor--"
The Variable fighter banks around in the free space, missiles exploding on the target. "Guess he's not all that after all..."
But Holland doesn't have the time to keep up his brief illusion of superiority. Head vulcans rattle against the Valkyrie, causing it to shake, small holes penetrating the armoring but not the cockpit. Damage shows up on the hud, but doesn't register as loud, muted greens instead of yellows or blaring reds.
That changes. The Gundam Double X's rod earns it's name, the oversized spear being charged staight towards the midsection of the Valkyrie.
It's a close shave.
Literately, even, as the beam pole-arm illuminates the back of the Valkyrie, stripping off the outer layer of armor cleanly, or as clean as a beam weapon can. A strike, but not as solid as Garrod may have liked.
"Guess he can swing that thing!" The Trainer Valkyrie responds by twisting around into its GERWALK mode, growing legs and arms, the gunpod aimed towards the Gundam DX's back as it shoots backwards, away from the Gundam and its armory.
Holland doesn't remember anything quite as demanding in recent memory, but it could be that the jobs are just becoming more dangerous. Too bad the pay wasn't.
Moments after her collision-- the charge working to her apparent favor-- the Zeta's angle shifts by way of verniers firing in a very selective manner. She doesn't get to move far, however, not while the whole of the Geminus starts to segment, open, and change-- change into a massive half-Mobile Suit, half-Mobile Armor. The limb does good at throwing the Waverider back through space, flipping around on all three axis before the main thrusters fire.
The Zeta Gundam banks, coming back around on the Geminus in a high-speed, high-G turn that comes straight out of the Federation's textbooks on how Graham Aker-- and not anyone else that values their lives-- should fly. Inertia pulls her back tight into the seat, and straight on toward the mammoth machine. It has arms now. It's massive, it has arms, and ...
... inwardly, she prays. She prays that it isn't like the Psyco Gundam.
The Waverider banks hard to the side, rolling out of the path of the large beam headed her way. She fires, but the blasts do little more than leave comical amounts of soot on the hull and don't actually deal it damage.
Accelerating again, the Red Zeta starts the change to return to Mobile Suit mode as it makes a rather daring lunge to invade the Geminus' personal space once again. Invade it... and to draw a stout beam knife in the process. As soon as she gets close enough, she'll aim the blade upward, hoping to hook it into some of the more sensitive workings of the massive Mobile Armor's left shoulder... and if she can get it to land, she'll even leave the blade in there!
The raw inability to hit the quick moving Valkyrie could possibly be frustrating for a more experienced pilot, but Lin seems to take each opportunity as a learning experience. Even as the blasts from the Gunpod strike hard against the Hizack's armor, throwing it spiraling backwards, she still keeps that same expression of focused calm.
Her gloved hands grip the control sticks tighter, trying to break out of the spin with small adjustments of the thrusters. Eventually the armored unit does come to a stop, hovering as Lin quickly looks over the damage report while simultaneously trying to re-aquire her target. While the other pilots of the Argama might not be exactly thrilled with her presence, it's one more gun to come to Katharon's aid - even if it is an out of dated one.
When she gets no word to fall back or disengage, Lin simply nods to herself, pressing down on the foot pedals and launching the archaeic mass-produced robot back into the fray. If nothing else, no one can question her bravery, unless of course they want to call it stupidity instead. With the missile bays already opened, all she has to do is re-aquire a lock on the fast moving Thunderbolt. It takes longer this time, the targeting system obviously damaged.
"Tssh." Lin mutters under her breath, maneuvering around other units in combat as she tries to keep Maximillian's Valkyrie in her sights long enough for a solid lock. Wait for it... Now! With a quick motion, Lin launches missiles from both bays, leaving streams of white across the sky as they race towards her target.
Noriko charges onward. Her soul burns bright and mighty! Truly, a staggering willpower!
She is also as psychic is a doorknob, so when Camille's rage flares in response to her attempted murder of Thursday's Camille-time fodder, Noriko does not even get a tingle. She squints a little, seeing the enemy unit survive the relatively weak assault, and powers on the thrusters, aiming to swoop in on Roux's Z-II and /electrospear her to extreme discomfort/ (also a feature of Thursday).
But no! Noriko's eyes tick to an alert on the sensors. "No you don't--!" Noriko snaps, and jerks the sticks to the side, her machine swinging around the incoming blasts surprisingly nimbly. She twirls the shock spear in hand, thrusting toward Camille for a /face-off/ while her beam cannon replies to his, aiming to score initial hits before they start murdering each other properly!!
"Original Zeta," she whispers to herself. "Going to have to watch myself...!"
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Rachel Miu Athha transmits, "... this thing is already worse than the Psyco Gundam..."
Particle beams stream across the Argama's bow. The edges of its runway deteriorate under the heat.
Captain Bright rocks in his chair, his level of irritation quickly skyrocketing. "Status of the mobile armor!?"
"It's taking damage but.." Caesar shakes his head. "..we're barely putting a dent into it! Whatever it's made of, it's strong!"
"Keep firing!" Bright demands. "Bring cannons up and let's try to put that thing to rest!"
The Argama's under-cannons swivel around, aiming for the Geminus. Energy coalesces around the rims of the barrels as the capacitors charge audibly. A split second later and a loud piercing whine serves as the report of the ship's cannons, bright pink lights that streak toward the enemy.
"Captain, there's something you ought to see..!" Ron Keith jerks a finger at the ops screen. "I'm detecting a localized spatial distortion! There's a micro-tear right off the Argama's bow..!"
"What!?"
Roux's mouth gapes open. "Oh my God! It transforms?!" she declares, probably unnecessarily. This means that this machine, leaving aside any of the horrifying details of its probably overbuilt and overfunded military potentialities, has at least one other super weapon. And if it's based on that damn Angel...
EARLIER
"Roux look at this, this mountain got all melty!" Beecha says, even as Roux rolls her eyes. Beecha seethes inwardly, eyes flicking hatefully downwards. Those are not the only mountains that can be lased.
BACK TO NOW
The Z-II's head lifts slightly. Roux feels something electrifying. Like an ice cube's running up her spine. But it's not Glemy Toto, it's --
The Gundam whirls around, a shimmering saber whipping into its hand as Roux blocks aggressively, forcing the enormous saber upwards and away from her immediate range. The other arm comes up to support the relatively puny saber, even as it glows like a little star. The Gundam's head vulcans chatter at the Geminus, even as its beam rays go wide, and Roux's voice raises a notch:
"Do you think just throwing your fancy Mobile Armor's enough to defeat our spirit?!" As the beam saber melts in the Z-II's hand thanks to its overstrained mega particle capacitor, Roux jinks upwards, away from saber shot.
"If I can take down all its escorts, they'll have to pull it back--!" And the Mega Beam Rifle's aperture yawns blackly right in front of the Mercurius.
Then everything goes pi-- magenta.
Shit! He missed!
As the Double X grazes the Valkyrie, Garrod immediately goes evasive and flips upside down, using his verniers to slide sideways out of the initial burst. One hand quickly snaps down to his waist where the beam rifle sits and whips it out, snapping off a single shot of it as his Gundam stays just one step ahead of the bullets that trace after him.
"C'mon you dodgey little thing, hold still for just oooone moment... there!"
With a sudden spin so violent that it almost gives him whiplash, Garrod spins about in the middle of dodging and lashes his arm forward, sending the javelin with it's point lasery tip of death sailing through space towards the Valkyrie.
Quatre, very calmly, looks out of his front monitor when the Z II's beam saber gets melted away by his own overpowered... thing. "My god, this is a bit rediculous. The output on this thing just too much." He makes sure not to force the saber too far down, but that reluctance to continue the strikes only ends up putting him into danger. "Oh!" His mouth opens for a moment, and immediately the Planetary Defenders move. Like someone throwing their arms in front of their face to protect itself, that's how natural this comes to the blonde Arab.
A shield of white 'lightning' gets formed between a fivesome of the purple-energy pulsing black disks which just move through space as if they were being moved around... like bits. But they aren't bits. Or are they? It doesn't matter. What does matter is that the gigantic wave of magenta is being held back by the Mercurius' defensive systems. The red unit itself quickly moves out from the path of the attack, then turns. A twosome of the Planetary Defenders end up moving a bit too closely inwards to the beam, and in a set of pink explosions, the Mercurius is suddenly minus two defensive items.
Not halting, it pushes that saber through again, this time aiming more accurately. Hoping to decapitate the Z II with as little strikes as possible, it just stabs towards the head. "Without a sensor, that pilot will have to run away. That will work too. Right...?" Quatre mutters to himself, a bit uncertain of his own words. He winces as he imagines the OZ base commander yelling at him if he didn't at least take down /something/. "I have to do this."
The Geminus weathers the shots against it with remarkable durability. Rachel finds something sensitive, judging by the sudden blast of sparks from the giant shoulder, but it isn't enough to disable the arm. The main guns of the Argama leave heat-scarred blasts along the outer frame, making it hard - slightly too hard - for Meriden to actually return fire accurately.
Touya gets the worst of it, or he would if Meriden had managed the strike. The left arm simply detaches at the wrist, rocketing off at the Granteed in a rocket fist slightly bigger than the average mobile suit. It whizzes by, unable to actually connect...
...but it comes back moments later, in sync with the right fist detaching to pulp him between the two. Or not quite pulp; Meriden opens the forward hand, so that if she /does/ disable the Granteed she can retrieve the pilot. She doesn't like killing.
Compared to this, the mega beam guns firing at Rachel as she passes by them are mild irritations. It's as if the suit is charging for something.
It flipped!? What the flipping Gundam!? Holland's not ready for that, the Gundam going all vertical in comparison to the Valyrie that is taking a potshot at space.
A now smoking Valkyrie, as the single beam pierces the higher up section of the GERWALK. The acceleration away from the Double X works against it, though, as the violent spin of th Double X is a ploy.
For what?
For the giant spear that embeds itself into the Valkyrie. A javelin, even! "Not a good time for this!" Moments before the javelin sticks itself into the Valkyrie, Holland looks at it face first. The cockpit's moved as the GERWALK changes into batteroid, the spear slamming into a section that no longer contains Holland.
It then charges towards the Double X.
The gun taking two, three shots. "Think you got what it takes, kid?" He asks the cockpit that returns a harsh yellow glow, "Let's see you expect this!" The beams scrape by, but it's not the assault - it's the gun that's being swung straight towards the Gundam Double X! Brought fiercly around twice to knock the Gundam around!
While the Hizack might be a quick unit, itself, it seems as if this particular pilot doesn't quite know how to use that to their advantage. Rather than moving out of the way of the gunpod being fired at it, the Hizack simply braces behind the shield-arm, taking the brunt of the force as the main thrusters kick in, barely holding it in place from taking another tumble backwards.
Red lights show across Lin's screens, which certainly isn't a good thing. Gritting her teeth, the young framerunner tries to make sense of the damage readouts, although most of it goes over her head. Hadn't she reviewed this in the simulator? Probably, but the finer points seem to be lost in her dubious short term memory while trying to keep herself alive and in the fight. "Shut up already." She mutters, beating her hand against the console in just the right spot to get the damage alarms to fall blissfully silent.
"You're fast, I'll give you that." Her hands move across the controls, flipping a few switches as the missile pods close. There is a motion of the Hizack's arm as it unlatches a beam rifle from its back and clicks it into place on one arm. "Safety override is..." Her eyes search the controls, trying to find the right switch. "Here!" Aha! Pressing the right button in, the gun begins to charge to full power. "May only get one shot at this, so I better make it count."
It's strange how much the framerunner talks to herself in her cockpit, even without transmitting it on the radio. Perhaps it's due to being more used to having conversations with her former unit's A.I. "Full power." With a firm nod of her head Lin guides the beam rifle's aim with her hands firm on the control stick. Sweeping it in an arc meant to cross right in front of the Valkyrie's path.
"It's.. it's folding in space-time!" Ron Keith realizes as the digital representation of the tear folds in on itself. "It's too small, but it might otherwise disrupt our beamfire. We'll need to manuever the Argama out of the way!"
Bright nods toward Torres. "Do it!"
The Argama continues manuevering. Amid the dummy balloons that adequately intercept stray fire, providing a modicum of safety for the battleship. Its cannons continue depleting its payloads, firing beam after beam at the Geminus.
Macua Huitl is fast she reacts faster than one might expect even with how she was moving before she's actually. The machiune moves quickly more like a person than a might might. Not in the same way as a G fighter would. Still the piloting styles a little strance the attack misss its intented point but still conneted and Biareos gets a face full of head vulcans for his trouble.
"Sneaky. Still you alomost got me I guess I can't hold back for your sake."
That's when the funnels decend again this time they are comming from 12 different direct this time, they really are everywhere nd there's a lot of fire comming the cyborgs way.
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Rachel Miu Athha transmits, "Urgh... it won't be much longer, if I can just..."
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Captain Bright Noa transmits, "Keep going! Our weapons aren't doing enough! We're counting on you, Rachel!"
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Rachel Miu Athha transmits, "Sir!"
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Roux Louka transmits, "Dammit - this escort...!!"
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Touya Shun transmits, "I've got a hole in its armor over here. I'm going to see if I can widen it."
As a Newtype, Rachel has a very unique feel to her-- she exudes what she's feeling, she radiates it in a manner that is hard to ignore. She's one of those people that wears her heart on her sleeve, and she's actually quite proud of that fact. For the moment, there's a lot on her mind: A desire to protect, a desire to fight, a desire to /not lose/.
But for all the things she feels, she doesn't ignore the battlefield before her. Rachel's head tilts, glancing off to one side as she gets the spike of pressure welling up in her mind, sparking off like the firing pin of a gun striking. The Mobile Suit starts to bob, duck, and weave through the collective amount of beams screaming toward her through space, the Mobile Suit's shield lifted to defend her against the ones that come dangerously close to actually /striking/.
Swaying backward in the process of this, Rachel blows a hard breath out while her left hand dances across the glowing red holograph console in front of her. Her right hand tightens up into a fist once, then twice-- and the Gundam mimics the motion in an oddly lifelike manner.
Swinging an arm around, a slot slides open in that red Mobile Suit's forearm, revealing a pair of stout canister grenades. She fires, one after the other, before the left arm swings up to repeat the process again! All of them-- /all/ of them-- spiral through space, more dumbfire-style than any high-tech guidance, aimed right at the shoulder she's already thrown some damage to!
A Valkyrie charging into melee combat? Who does this guy think he is? Staren? Well, Garrod isn't about to be outdone by a Variable Fighter, that's for sure! When Holland charges towards him, he charges back, shield braced in front of him! The gunpod slams into the side of the Double X's gead, cracking the helmet and shattering one of the eyes... but that's not enough to stop the mass of the Double X from barreling right into the smaller Valkyrie and throwing it back.
With the brief moments the collision buys him, Garrod is quick to holster the beam rifle on his back once more, then grabs a handle form his hip. The handle is drawn free, dragging with it a long chain. A long chain that ends in a very brutal and heavy looking mace.
The DX's arm snaps around, dragging the mace through the air as he builds momentum. Faster and faster the spiked ball spins, until with a final flick, Garrod throws his arm forward and sends the bludgeon hurtling forward.
Then, because Gundam is absurd, the hammer sprouts /rockets/ just for MOAR POWER!
Roux attempts to parry with the other beam saber. This is notably less successful.
A deep score carves down the front of the Z-II's front, leaving a glowing slash that almost reaches into the block; Roux herself exhales sharply, having felt, she thinks, something --
"You don't have to do anything!" she answers the pilot sharply. "Even if you've been sent on escort for this thing, go back to your damn Ginger or whatever that ship's called!" How can she do this, she thinks - the captain's putting his trust in Rachel!? Her eyes narrow, sweat running down her back. Damn her!
Then she has something pop into her mind. "If you're so determined to protect this ship, then --" The Z-II leans backwards, legs spreading dramatically!
... as they slide back and out of place, the Gundam resuming its waverider form. With increased thruster force, sliding around in a twisting tight curve. It starts out some distance from the Geminus, but it's rapidly arcing inwards, aiming to hug along the front of the machine's hull and lure the Mercurius into its firing arc!
This will hopefully keep the A-LAWS from firing for long enough for the Captain to reach a better firing angle, Roux hopes, even as the Gundam twists back into its more humanoid configuration. To help this theory, the rifle slams forwards, a beam saber emitter at its tip arcing to life in what can not be described as either a hyper or a mega bayonet, but rather, a
The Thunderbolt jets out of the way of the full power laser blast. "yikes...that could've hurt if it hit." He says mostly to himself as he switches to Fighter mode and ZIPS right at the Hizack. Just before he rams it however, the Valkyrie switches right back to Soldier mode and tries to punch it with it's left hand.
However, if Alina's able to look at the fist before it lands, she may notice it's glowing...with those pinpoint barriers. That can't be good.
"Shit!!"
That wasn't good.
The Nausica's beamfire sinks into the Zeta like a hole puncher through...well...paper? It doesn't look pretty at any rate, armor is melting and some circuitry is exposed and you could almost swear Astonaige and the others hadn't even been half-done with the Gundam's maintenance before Camille jumped in and force them all to get the hell out of dodge.
The lone grenade sails out of the Zeta's wrist-port almost like an afterthought, cruising for the enemy's chassis.
"You're no slouch.." Camille ruminates carefully, considering a strategy that didn't involve 'beating each other to death' for a change. Unfortunately, idea day was yesterday.
"But you won't get the better of me!" The Gundam's right hand swings out with with a lit beamsword to intercept the Nausica's twirling shock sphere, opposing particles writing a blood conflict of their own across the infinite vacuum of space as unwitting pawns in the conflicts of incomprehensible steel gods. Verniers flare forward to press the assault after that initial blow, swinging the flexible plasma field up...
And down to the side, revealing itself as a feint for a crunching blow at the head unit with the shield!!!
The Twelve funnels came from /No where/! Seriously that is how it looked to the Cyborg. Combat data scrambling on his vision as he attempted to find the best means of escape, however no matter what he did-- there was none.
The Gundam was torn, shredded. The systems warned of a possible breach, and the Cyborg felt something maybe hit, maybe actually hit him. Or it was a sensor overload.
"...."
For a moment the GNX gundam floated in space, power seemed off. There was a minor debate if he should just back out of the fight or with a final strength of his ownself and with whatever the Gundam could give..
"...damnit..." He muttered softly to himself. The gundam's power started to rise back online. Now-- Common sense would say 'RUN AWAY!!' However Briareos like to take his chances. He like to push things to the max. It was a habit he picked up from being around Deunan to long in his life really. She was stubborn, it made him just as stubborn. She was brave, it made him even braver. She brought out the best in him..
And sometimes..
The worst.
The GNX suddenly comes back to life, Briareos overriding a few things in it from his hookup. With a sudden burst of speed the Gundam came charging in. The Beam Saber coming to life once more and with ferocious strikes he lashed out for the Gundam Fighter.
The lance goes in pretty easily, so at least Touya managed to wear down the armor some. As he pulls it out for another stab, though, Melua warns him of incoming projectiles. Very large incoming projectiles. He hits the reverse thrusters, just in time to avoid getting pounded between two gigantic rocket fists.
Jesus Christ, it really is a super robot.
"Touya, the Orgone extractor's output is rising! We can fire the Orgone Slave any time!" Melua informs him.
"Okay! Here we go!" Touya replies, mashing a Big Green Button.
The center of Granteed's chest, where the hilt of its lance was before, was already glowing a bright green. However, now there's an actual ball of Orgone energy gathering just in front of it, sparking and steadily growing in size. After a bit, it turns into a very large beam that is aimed directly at that hole in the Geminus's armor, surely enough to widen it further.
"ORGONE SLAVE!"
Roux is shouting at him. Damnit, did he keep his speakers on? The blonde quickly flips the switch a few times to ensure it is still turned off, before turning his attention to a Gundam. Which is... spreading its legs. A blush appears on Quatre's face. And somehow, for some reason, the Mercurius' head suddenly looks more red as well. Not entirely sure how this is possible, but it's happening, it's canon now!
Not waiting much longer, since the Waverider just rushed off, the entire unit quickly turns around and the beamsaber disengages. That is, only to let one of the Planetary Defenders dock with the unit's right arm, connecting with a tube from its back, and engaging a /gigantic/ beam saber. Geesh. You'd think Quatre was overcomensating for something. That, or its creators. Even the youth just stares at it in amazement for a moment. "Waaah.... biiiiig..."
He shakes his head. Concentrate. Keep your head in the game. You are not some kind of comedic relief character like Kamina. And thus, thrusters engaging once more, the Mercurius rushes after Roux Louka's Z II. The Planetary Defenders that are left deploy, and try to cut her off at a few momements, whilst three others remain to defend Quatre. "Get back here!" Quatre yells, still not using his radio however, and tries to overtake her so he can swing that gigantic beam saber at the sides of the Waverider, and perhaps cut its wings apart.
The Geminus is starting to take real, visible damage. Rachel damn near blows apart the shoulder with the grenades, though - while returning to her after menacing Touya - one of the hands clips the Red Zeta on the return. Touya himself manages a blow with the Orgone Slave, though the energy blast explodes into sparks when it hits some heavy plating. The Mega Bayonet does some more damage, scraping down the central axis, deeply; Bright's continuous pounding of the main guns adds to the damage.
Meriden is sweating. The Geminus is a strain for her. She is starting to fade, and she knows it; the Newtype pressure amplifies as she forces herself through the vague disorientation of running everything at once, doing even more than she knew she could.
Both the hands detach again, but one of them floats in front of the Geminus, palm spread; apparently Meriden is going to use it as the world's most expensive shield. The other flies off at Roux, attempting to punch the small mobile suit and knock it silly, or at least push it away from the mobile armour.
The big attack, though, are the hastas. Meriden is controlling ten massive individual remote weapons and it shows; the hastas do not do any fancy tricks, though they move quickly and smoothly; they swirl around, moving almost like a confused flock of starlings, before showering the area around the red Zeta with brilliant energy bolt after energy bolt.
Rather than trying to avoid the attack in a damaged unit, Lin just pulls hard on the already firing beam rifle, drawing it across the path of the incoming Thunderbolt. If nothing else, it's one last ditch effort at trying to do some damage before the inevitable.
The impact is enough to send the unit and framerunner backwards, sparks flying from torn off bits of armor. Dazed, Lin looks up at her console, squinting through the dim emergency lighting. "Well, that didn't work out like I'd planned." Even after all that, the girl somehow manages to smirk wryly. "Thank you. It's clear I still have a lot to learn." She murmurs, perhaps to herself, perhaps to the radio, but certainly not to any of the Katharon channels.
With her hands on the controls, Lin engages the few thrusters still left on the heavily damaged Hizack. She switches the radio and transmits, "This is Lin. Heavily damaged. Withdrawing back to the Argama." Somehow managing to avoid getting in the crossfire, the young framerunner retreats from this first battle, perhaps a bit wiser for it.
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Alina Luddite transmits, "This is Lin. Heavily damaged. Withdrawing back to the Argama."
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Rachel Miu Athha transmits, "We'll keep you covered!"
The Thunderbolt watches as Lin leaves for the Argama, but Max seems to chuckle, especially once he gets the name of the pilot. He then whistles as he looks over the controls. "whee, boy is this one heck of an upgrade." As he flies though, he listens to the radio...
Macua Huitl isn't even finished with the funnel's barrage she's not finished at all. Still she's not infalable as Briareos chases her dowen and keeps trying to get in close. She isn't counting the mobile suit out of the fight just yet. This is what saves her as the GNX comes at her, it's trying to attack her. She pulls out her own beam saber and moves to parry the majoriy of the stiekle one gets past and hits her arm and forces her to pull back as it's non operational at this point.
The funnels however are operational, and are attacking trying to picke apart the entire mobile suit save everything but the cockpit block, she's aiming to wreck the suit.
"Rethink who your working for next time? Who knows what mercy you'll be given!"
"Shit!"
Head vulcans ring out as the missile swarm closes in on Garrod, but the sheer volume of missiles is just too much for him to shoot down before they explode all around him, rocking him with multiple blasts from all sides. Garrod lets out a cry as he grips his controls as tight as he can, getting throw side to side by the shockwaves... but his Gundam is made out of sterner stuff it seems, as it weathers the brutal assault.
Garrod huffs a bit as he opens his eyes, head still ringing from the explosions, "Alright... if that's the way you wanna play, then let's play..."
The verniers flare bright for a brief moment before the Gundam suddenly shoots forward, charging the Valkyrie down. Breast launchers and head vulcans make their presence known as a hailstorm of munitions is rained down upon the Valkyrie, followed quickly by a flurrious series of shots from the beam rifle.
The shots continue as the Gundam hurtles right up to Holland's position, ending only when Garrod gets into melee range, where he switches up at bthe last second to deliver a single kick to the gut to knock the Variable Fighter off balance and leaving it open to one final, seering shot of the rifle before the Gundam Double X rockets away.
A grenade explodes a little, damaging Nausica's armor. Noriko barely notices.
More noteworthy: Camille suddenly surging at her! Noriko's eyes focus, muscles tight. In space, one mistake is death! She lunges with the shock spear, but Camille batters it aside! But Noriko Takaya is not one so easily beaten!
She grips the left-hand control stick tighter, shoving it around the control channel quickly, driving it forward in a sharp thrust toward Camille - which glances off the shield en route to Noriko's head unit, which snaps back and sparks from the force of the hit. But...
/She has more weapons than that/.
Noriko lets the state of affairs linger for a moment, drifting silently while her unit compensates for the damage to the cameras.
The question is, does Camille notice this is because she's just holding down the beam cannon's trigger for as long as it will let her /before/ she blows his entire body off.
Orgone in its energy form just doesn't seem to be working. That armor deflects it too easily, making any further beams pointless. This doesn't leave Touya with many options, except the lance. At least the Geminus is too busy attacking the others to focus on him, giving him some time to think.
"Touya, I have an idea." Melua speaks up.
"What is it?"
"If I'm right in my thinking, we've punched through into its internal mechanics. Use the Tempest Lancer and try to flood it with Orgone."
"Got it," Touya says, turning back toward the monitor. "Orgone extractor, full power!" The lance in Granteed's hand suddenly starts glowing just as brightly as its chest did when it was about to fire the Orgone Slave, and excess Orgone is vented from its back, forming what looks like some sort of energy cape. It's a short flight back to melee range, and when it's there, Touya thrusts the lance into the hole again, this time using it to channel the Orgone directly into the Geminus.
"TEMPEST LANCEEEEEEEER!"
The Valkyrie backs off as the Gundam is thrown about. Maybe that'll be it? "Sorry kid, business is..."
The trademark gleam of the Gundam makes it through the smoke and mirrors of the misile onslaught. "...Not over yet, huh." The dry tone rings through the red tinted cockpit, up until the verniers brighten it up as well.
The hailstorm of fire makes it almost impossible to see a way through. The batteroid's thrust brings it to an opening, only to be blasted back in to the center, where it almost escapes the punishment before being onset by vulcan fire. "C'mon, there's got to be a way out!" The thrusters kick as one of the arms are torn off.
A beam shot severs a leg, leaving a nice molten stump.
The single kick from the Gundam tosses the Variable Fighter away from the assault, the beam shot searing through the center of the Valkyrie batteroid mode. The cockpit flickers before going dark, and Holland slides on a helmet. He's going to need it.
- Click*
"Yeah this is Novacaine... Going to need a pickup G-State." Pause, "Yeah, you'll never guess who I saw here too. And /what/."
Whatever weapon designers the A-LAWS have are starting to /really/ get inventive. However they managed that.
Then Gundam GNX gets torn way which way it can, not before its clawed hand swings in for retribution. It may not been enough, but it was the biggest F you, Briareos could give and all Macua might hear over the comm back to her 'recruitment' comment was just a bark of out right laughter.
Yes, the former federation soldier, former mercenary, was laughing at her. He may be beaten, he may be on the losing end, but apparently he found her funny.
However all said and done. Briareos did grumble at the end, mostly cause he let himself get distracted; That was something he knew better. So as he forced the last power of the Gundam to drift him out of harm's way and for safe pick up. This lead to him unhooking himself and slamming his fists on the console of the Gundam. The poor console broke under the combat cyborgs strength, before he started to laugh again. "..idiot!" He yelled at himself before shaking his head. "..I can't believe I did that.."
Briareos then flips a few switches before putting out the beacon for pickup, as he just shut down his optical sensors, leaned back in the pilot chair, and let his mind roam.
After listening to a bit of chatter over the radio, Max switches the Thunderbolt into Fighter mode and starts flying towards where Briareos is, to cover him as Meriden ordered him to. However, On the way, he does fire a missile at Garrod Ran's Gundam Double X (you know, the same one he was supposed to have followed out after dressing his valkyrie up as a sailor scout, woohoo!)
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Rachel Miu Athha transmits, "... heh..."
She can feel it. She can feel Meriden at this point, feeling those emotions that are quite similar to her own. The love, the determination, the willingness to fight to protect things that are important to her. All the while, she feels so much more-- not just from Meriden, but welling up inside of her. This is as the overlay on her HUD, located to her lower left, indicates that the core feature of the MSZ-006-P2/3C Zeta Gundam P2/3C Type has fully prepared.
The "black box system," if you will.
The ten Hastas come blazing toward her in orthodox patterns as that black box comes online, a feeling creeping up inside of her. It preys on the darker parts of Rachel's soul, the thoughts and whispers of a woman that is now dead by the hands of Judau Ashta, Camille Bidan, and herself. Once upon a time, Rachel Miu Athha was a single light of hope in a dark and raging hurricane of anger, fury, wrath, and sadism. Rachel doesn't even feel the odd grin that peels across her face in the process.
The Gundam twists around as it flits and flies backward even further from the Geminus proper, dodging away from the remote Mobile Suit-sized remotes as they come closer and closer. It ducks to the left, sways to the right, and even spins itself around in a circle to evade another one of the shots-- and then the last one to fly her way strikes the Mobile Suit's shield. The eyes burst once with a brilliant green.
To the Newtypes at this battlefield, something feels wrong. Very, very wrong. It starts with a pulse-- a ripple that can be felt very easily, one that seems to unerringly interrupt communications for a split-second with other psycommu-controlled weapons... but it focuses on one point, on one machine-- the Geminus. The tracking for the Hastas will read, very simply, with two words:
NO RESPONSE
Wordless, the smile on Rachel's face widens as her bangs seem to shadow over her eyes. Once upon a time, she was a lonely girl that sat in the cockpit of a massive, terrible machine known as the Psyco Gundam. That machine put a crack in her very psyche, a fracture that may or may not have ever really healed over the time she's spent in Katharon, the time that she's spent healing with friends. That crack once widened into a fissure, before it seemed to heal like a scar.
Maybe Haman woke something up inside of her all over again.
Rachel lifts up her right arm moments after that pulse strikes, as those Hastas float as though they were dead in the water. As she does, the Zeta follows suit, fingers fanned out and palm turned up in a very dangerous, very suggestive manner. With a twist of her hand, the Hastas spin around...
... and face the Geminus.
All ten blitz forward at once, darting to one side, to another, and spreading out all over the place. They don't fire at Touya, they don't fire at Macua, the Argama, or anyone else... they just /swarm/ the massive Mobile Armor, each and every blast aiming to rip a gash somewhere in it's armor.
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Macua Huitl transmits, "Fire dancer, target down."
Roux has gotten quite good at avoiding a fisting, and the fisting Meriden levies in her direction is agilely avoided, the Waverider coming up into a loop right into "Oh god dammit!"
The Z-II's left wing projector is sheared off in a cataclysmic sparkle of scintillant neo-electronics, the arc playing over the Geminus's nearby hull as Roux struggles for control. The lack of the wing isn't a problem - it's the blaring, screaming noises of warning. There's no risk of fire, either, thank space-Jesus...
"Damn you!" she shouts at Quatre's machine, even if she's heedless of the identity of the pilot beyond him being (probably?) male. Her face flushes; the Z-II damaged badly again, Rachel Miu Athha showing her up, and the Argama under brutal attack. That ripple comes outwards, washing over her like a subtly reeking splatter of something she doesn't want to touch...
Shuddering, Roux raises up the nose of the Waverider, the Z-II's thrusters moving in reverse mode. The cannon yawns in front of Quatre's field of vision again, almost inevitably, before there is that shrieking silent magenta ray of incandescent blast!
Beams streak past the Argama once more.
Something is wrong, though. That little tear in space.. /reacts/.
"Captain!!" Ron Keith is urgent. "..Something's gone wrong! Anti-neutrinos are flooding out of the tear! Something's going on! Our shipboard time is-- is--!"
Bright seems.. unfocused. He stares, blinking as if in a haze. "Time..?" he asks, dreamily. "..Time? Never.. enough.."
Everything goes white..
..and Bright Noa is whisked across the great chasm of space/time. Pulled in directions that mortal man was not meant to go.
From a legendary past..
White Base Federation Remnants Fleet The Battle of A Baoa Qu December 31 NCA 110
White Base thrusts toward A Baoa Qu amid a constant peppering of explosions.
"Almost.. there..!" Mirai winces as she bares down on the ship's steering wheel. "Just... a little more..!"
A Gespenst MK-I explodes just ahead, its blue body coming apart at the waist. Bits of its armor pelt the bridge glass, rendering a gasp of horror from the Yashima navigator. She's seen pilots die before, but seeing it head-on is a horror that is felt just as keenly as seeing it the very first time.
Nearby, a fearful Sayla watches as the radar becomes crowded. "..A squadron of Gelgoogs are taking off! Along with something in the lead! It's big.. and it's.. it's moving at three times the speed than anything else! I.. I think it's Char!!"
Lt. Bright spares Sayla a glance. She had to know it'd come to this. "Dispatch the Aggressors unit to intercept!" he barks out. "Tell them to clear a path for Amuro to engage Char!"
Nearby, a lone warrior cast in white, red, blue, and yellow turns its head toward the action. Its eyes glow yellow and inside, a boy no more than fifteen years of age, swallows his courage and rushes toward his destiny...
If you still have a stable of love
Somewhere inside your small trembling heart
You will bring lasting peace
YOU TAKE OFF
YOU TAKE OFF
YOU TAKE OFF
"Captain...!"
Into a tumultuous present..
Argama Operation Super Robot War The Battle of White Star December NCA 120
Crystaline replicas of Zentraedi battleships assault the Argama as it nears the engine section of the White Star, Ze Balmary Empire's base of operation of its Earth Invasion.
"Hull integrity down to seventy percent!" Ron Keith bleats out the unfortunate news. "We're not going to sustain more of this treatment!"
Bright scrunches his brow. "What the hell is going on out there!? Why aren't our gunners shooting that thing down! What's the status of the White Star's engine?"
Caesar observes his screen. "Still operational! Roux and Ibis are en route! Rachel and Cagalli are entangled with an elite unit!"
An irritated Captain slams his fists against the arm-rests of his chair. "Damn it! Coordinate with our other attack groups! Tell our forward gunners to clear a damn line toward the entry shaft for our pilots!"
"Captain!"
To an uncertain and vulnerable possible futures (??)..
Nahel Argama Bright Fleet The Battle of Balmar ??-??-12? NCA
The operations console overloads, catching Ron Keith in a blast of sparks and concussive force. He's launched right out of his seat, his body nothing more than a ragdoll in the near-weightlessness of minimal-gravity. He slams against the bridge floor with a muted thud, his head lolling to the side. An awful wound has ripped across the side of his cheek, down to his neck. Blood seeps out in tiny pearls and he isn't moving.
"Damn it!" Bright cusses. He's leapt out of his chair, knelt to join his man on the ground. He's got a hand on Ron Keith's throat, checking for a pulse that he cannot find. "What the hell is going on out there!?" he looks up, angered. "Why the hell is that defense system still operational!?"
Caesar has nothing but bad news to report. "Habakkuks have broken through defense field S! They're keeping the Double X, Gunbuster, Wing, and Wing Zero from targeting the Geber GanEden! Starboard anti-air countermeasures have been decreased to twenty percent, Megillots are swarm--!"
The report is cut off by a sudden whooping of radiological alerts. "--Captain!" Caesar calls out, his voice stricken with panic. "Keiser Ephes is firing its forward weapons arrays against the Nadesico-B! Her Distortion Field isn't going to hold out for long!"
Nahel Argama rocks against the repeated assaults.
"Ngh!" Bright grunts as he weathers the trembling of his ship. "Radio Ghingnham Fleet and have them bring their mobile suits around to intercept those Habakkuks! Dispatch Camille to assist the Nadesico! And tell Astonaige to launch our secret weapon! It might just be the only thing that'll cut through the Ephes!"
Moments later, a very disturbed Astonaige orders his knuckle-draggers to load a series of three jet-craft onto the primary catapults. In the cockpit of the lead jet, a black-haired man grins wide and predatorily. He glances to the men on his left and right, and lets out an entirely self-confident nod.
The blastdoors recede..
Do you have courage?
Do you have hope?
If you want to fight for the future..?
Now is the time
Catapults discharge and the trio of jets streak across the runway and into a violent cosmos. The pilot of the lead jet lets out a thunderous cry unlike any other, cutting across the din of celestial combat...!
"CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANGE! SHIN GETTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONE!"
"Captain!"
...
Ra Cailum Londo Bell Taskforce In orbit of Earth ??-??-12? NCA
Axis is making its perpetual, dreadful crawl toward Earth. Even now, it proves its legacy of sorrow...
The tiny points of bright light surrounding it are hundreds of brave men and women seeking to change the tide of battle for either side.
A RGM-89 Jegan explodes brilliantly after pierced well-placed bullet by an RPT-014 R-Ein.
Captain Bright Noa rides out the shuddering of his ship from the safety of his command chair. He glances over his shoulder, his silver-flecked brow arched like a cat. "Status report!" he barks near-instantaneously.
"Portside firepower operating at twenty-two percent efficiency!" one of Ra Cailum's bridge officers reports. "The Vesalius II is taking heavy damage.. the enemy Musaka-classes are just pounding the hell out of it! Amuro is moving out to engage the Sazabi and its Jagd Doga escorts! And the SDF-1 is still twenty minutes out from providing reinforcements!"
Bright's fists slam against the arm-rests of his command chair. "Twenty-two? Damn it! What're our gunners even doing!? Withdraw Octo-2 and Octo-4 back to support Joshua! Launch Rachel to provide Amuro with backup!"
You can change your destiny
Beyond the time
You can change your future
Beyond the darkness
We can share the happiness
That day we've been looking for
That day we fell in love
The Captain's eyes glance up to the timer. His heart immediately sinks, though he doesn't dare let it show on his face. Mirai...
AXIS E.T.A. TO EARTH - 00:14:12
Fuck it.
"Arm the warheads!" Captain Bright demands with no short order of courage. The Antarctic Treaty banned the use of nuclear weapons in times of warfare. But this is no ordinary battle. "Firing solutions on Axis's center mass!"
"Captain!"
...
And beyond the very limits of the barriers between dimensions!!
???? ???? ???? ???? NCA ??
An aging Bright recoils in horror as a DCSMH-??C Valsion II hunkers down in front of the bridge. Its Divine Blade Kai drawn, gleaming and dreadful in the light. The mechanical menace thrusts, driving the sword against the dura-glass surface.
Clink!!
The tip begins to overload the glass's integrity. It chips and little cracks begin to work their way across the surface. The sound of it is awful, screeching through the bridge. The cracks widen, the glass giving way...!
..and then...
CRUNCH!!
The Valsion II suddenly spasms, its thrust stopped. The crunch continues and the Valsion shakes as if possessed. Horrible teeth gnash through blue armor, ripping and tearing chunks of the Shadow Mirror Super Machinery Humanoid apart.
These teeth belong to none other than the gaping, drooling maw... of EVA Unit-01!
"Sorry I'm late!" Shinji Ikari, the Third Child, chirps over the radio. His picture pops up on-screen, a video-feed link of a young man brave beyond his years offering a little salute. "Traffic was a bitch!"
Even faced with an almost assured destruction, Bright lets out a sigh of relief. A grin edges at him. "Good work, Lieutenant. Now let's clean this mess up and push toward the enemy base!"
"Captain..!!"
....
NOW
"Captain!!" "Captain!!"
"CAPTAIN!!!!"
Bright Noa blinks awake. He glances around, his vision shaky thanks to Ron Keith violently shaking him. "Wh--?"
"Captain!" Ron Keith shouts once more. "What're our orders!? A-LAWS are continuing to attack and we're losing ground! Our pilots are getting battered out there!"
"What?" Bright clenches his brow. His faculties return. Where did he go? What did he see? What does he need to do right at this moment..?
The answer, as these tend to be, are ineveitably simple.
Bright Noa ascends to his feet. He points..
And across time, space, and dimension, the Bright Noas of this multiverse collide. One after the other, they rise from their command chairs and point toward the enemy.
"What're our gunners doing!?" The Bright Noas demand of their crew across time and space. His brow furrows.. and in unison, they command..
Past
"Increase!"
Present.
"The!"
Future??
"BARRAGE!"
Across all possible limits, when stories are told of great men and women in times of peril there is one maxim that remains true.
You and the Captain: makin' it happen.
That's one Valkyrie down... and it looks like here comes another one! Garrod snaps his beam rifle up and takes a shot that soars over Max's left wing, but fails to hit. His next shot meanwhile just wings the missile as it trails towards him. Before he can take a third shot, the missile strikes and blasts his Gundam back, "Man... today is jut not my day for shooting down missiles..."
Damage readouts seem to be okay for the moment... with that in mind, Garrod pushes forward and engages his verniers once more to launch off in pursuit of the Thunderbolt. His beam rifle snaps up once more... but this time he takes careful aim before pulling the trigger, and sending a single pink streak towards Max.
Meriden Almace's focus is interrupted by a sensation Meriden has never felt before. It's the same kind of thing as if, when she was reading, someone came up behind her and stood in her light; or maybe the sensation of playing music, only to be interrupted by someone's cell phone. Neither is quite right.
NO RESPONSE
It takes Meriden a few moments to feel the hole where the hastas were, in her mind, mere moments ago, to figure out exactly what happened, and to recover from the shock of having her mind - paying attention to so many things - have several of its processes simply aborted.
The Geminus just /hangs/ there. The Argama shells it and it barely moves. Touya shreds a hole into - partially through - the Geminus, and it just sits there and takes it. Only when its own hastas move against it does Meriden actually recover, though not fast enough to avoid being shot by them. Her own weapons!
The psychic pressure against Rachel becomes intense. Meriden is young, and partially untrained, and somewhat erratic - but she is also very strong, and she is essentially yanking back in a mental tug-of-war. It makes spots dance in front of Meriden's eyes, and her head feels like someone is pulling something from the back to the front. Through it. The thruster hands eventually return automatically and lock, because Meriden is paying no attention whatsoever to them.
She yells, mashing the transformation systems. The Geminus continues to unfold; its lower segment flips down and open, spreading into a single central leg with four support struts and a lot of additional lasers. Another yell, and the Geminus almost literally explodes into lasers, beams blasting out in all directions like a fatal corona of light. Anyone nearby is at risk.
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Macua Huitl transmits, "It ... transformed?!?!?!"
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Roux Louka transmits, "Again??"
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Touya Shun transmits, "What. The. FU-"
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Touya Shun cut off by lasers
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Captain Bright Noa transmits, "Touya..!"
The Blue Thunderbolt banks to Garrod's left, then kicks it's legs out to barrel roll over the laser, before switching to Soldier mode again. Spinning around as it changes, the Valkyrie continues flying towards the Argama as it fires at Garrod's Gundam with it's gunpod. Short bursts are shot at the gundam, but makes no sound...no air to project it.
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Touya Shun transmits, "...I'm alive."
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Touya Shun transmits, "Damn, that hit hard. I can still fight, though."
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Captain Bright Noa transmits, "Keep it together! I'll need you to throw everything you've got into destroying that.. menace!!"
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Touya Shun transmits, "The Orgone extractor's running low, but I think I have enough for one more burst."
Damn, this one is good! With grit teeth, Garrod goes completely evasive as bullets rattled after him, staying just ahead of the short bursts as he maneuvers around and tries to get an opening. Unfortunately, Max is doing a good job at keeping him on the defensive so he can't retaliate. So it's time to get inventive!
Grabbing the handle of the G-Hammer once more, Garrod snaps his arm up and whips the long chained mace up in front of him, spinning the morningstar around in front of him until it's little more than a whirling blur. Amazingly enough, this is sufficient enough to deflect all the bullets that come raining down on him, giving him the opening he needs to send the mace sailing towards Max like a giant metal torpedo.
"Man, I can't believe that worked!"
The Geminus transforms just a little bit more. It becomes something larger, even more terrifying than it was before, but the pilot of the red Zeta Gundam can't be bothered to react to it that well... if at all. Instead, she continues to transmit that strange feeling, that same odd sense that isn't like the Rachel that so many people-- aside from Roux, anyway-- have come to know and love. It isn't gentle compassion, that sort of completely naive and innocent nature she's been known for.
The mental tug of war begins, and it becomes a horrifying, violent clash of minds. Rachel's shoulders shift as she starts to chuckle a second time, her expression unchanged. Those golden eyes remain wide open under the veil of her bangs, pupils pulling into tight and constricted pinpoints as she fights, for constant control of the ten Mobile Suit-sized remotes.
Sixty-four beam cannons start to fire, blasting through space in a way that promises pain to anyone even remotely close to her. Touya isn't even a factor in the white-haired girl's mind right now, instead focusing on what's heading /her/ way.
The left arm lifts, palm presented, as the Zeta Gundam becomes a shining light in space, engulfed in a golden glow. The aura brightens, brighter and brighter, until a perfect sphere of energy surrounds her. A great number of those blasts strike that marble of light head-on, but they only /push/ the Mobile Suit backwards, the beams bending around the sphere before continuing forward, off into the depths of space. The entire situation seems entirely impossible.
But it's happening. Ten HUD markers, all tagged one thing.
NO RESPONSE
The Zeta Gundam's hand rolls forward before the fingers shift. After a moment, they close into a fist, with a bit of authority.
The hastas shift back into their wedge-shaped form as the dusky-skinned girl releases a brief, momentary emotion that could only be equated to something like 'sadism,' a twisted and heartless emotion that preceeds them choosing their targets well. These psycommu remotes do not fire again, but instead make suicidal dive-bombings straight at the Geminus again. Two go for the 'head' in specific, but the other eight attempt to drive themselves straight into the massive Mobile Armor from all sides-- stabbing, and stabbing, and trying to ram straight into the machine until something important... or someone... breaks.
Max just happens to bring up the shield just in time to block most of the force of the thrown mace with the shield of the Thunderbolt. even with the pinpoint barrier up, it still makes a significant dent in the shield and arm of the Valkyrie.
Alarms go off as the integrity of the shield starts to bend a bit. "Mmmf. Well, this has been a really good test run, I'll admit!" Too chipper for his own damned good. ugh. "But, it's time for you to go boom." He then changes the Valkyrie to fighter mode, flies straight at the Gundam Double X and fires off a barrages of missiles, pulls up, switches to gerwalk mode, fires another barrage, then completing the arc, flies behind Garrod and starts firing his gunpod at the gundam's back. Where...did that come from?
The sickening crunch of metal declares the Zeta's victory in it's gambit, just as the overwhelming sense of danger overtakes all of Camille's senses in the wake of the ozone-smelling air preceding the full fury of the Nausica's weaponry.
'CAMILLE!'
You keep searching for your path But it's not so clear
"What-" The vaguely familiar, uncertain voice that called the Zeta pilot back to the battlefield months ago torments him yet again as the other mobile suit fires at point blank rage, whiting out his cameras and slamming the youth so hard back against his seat-as the Zeta was fired clean /off/ the Nausica-he nearly blacks out.
You keep livin' in your past Till you disappear
In a spate of questionablel consciousness, the things he perceives are many. Rachel was a bloody-handed dove reaching for a brillaint sun that burnt her even as she quenched the flames with her own tears. Roux was a pillar, a sole ship amidst a sea of churning, ever-chaotic turbulence. Bright seemed young, seasoned and old all at once as he barked orders on an infinite number of decks.
Every second that you're gone I wish you were here
Was that a large star he saw, blinking in the horizon?
I know that you may have doubts But put away your feaaaarrs
It couldn't have been a comet, they were like...
Do you believe in a sign?
"RACHEL!!!!" Camille was suddenly back into the game, snarling forth with the moxy determination of the underdog as the Zeta blasted back full force for the Nausica!
SEARCHING To try to find a better way..
"I won't let you!!!" Two beam sabers flash out this time, inviting Noriko to join the dance of sadistic plasma.
CRYING But you'll neeeeever get away..
Touya can see that he's doing some major internal damage to the thing now, and he keeps up the attack. Until, that is, it transforms AGAIN.
"What. The. FU-" he starts, but gets cut off when a whole bunch of beams slam into the Granteed, throwing it away from the Geminus and causing some serious damage. One of its arms is even missing. It just floats in space for a minute, inactive.
Inside the cockpit, Touya is trying to calm himself down, reassure himself that he's still alive. That was far too close for his liking. Still, he's not dead, and Granteed is able to go a little further. After contacting Captain Bright to tell him he's still alive, he turns to Melua.
"Any ideas? We don't have enough energy for anything big." he asks her, and she checks the data and starts thinking.
"Stab it in the head with the lance. That's about all I can think of." she answers, shrugging. Touya sighs.
The hybrid machine starts moving again, turning to face the Geminus. Fortunately, it still has a grip on its lance, and there's just enough power for one last high speed charge. The 'cape' appears again, fluttering in a nonexistent breeze, and the battered Granteed takes off, crossing the distance in a matter of seconds. Touya yells at the top of his lungs the whole way, so much that he becomes hoarse before he even reaches the Geminus, and plunges the lance straight at the spot between the mobile armor's eyes.
There are no words to the song playing for him, but it's his theme song all the same. Even if it is a little different than usual.
LIMIT OVER
> Macua Huitl transmits, "It ... transformed?!?!?!"
> Macua Huitl transmits, "The mobile armor transformed!"
"What!?" Bright stares at the vision of Geminus unfolding in space. A chill races down to the base of his spine. "Is this.. another Gunbuster!?"
"Keep firing!" the Admiral commands with a pump of his fist. "We need to buy more time for Rachel and Touya to finish the job!"
The Argama deploys its Mega Particle Cannons from its 'shields' on either side of its body. The weapons arrays extend out, barrels clicking into place and charging with power. They fire short, precise shots for the core of the Geminus.
Sometimes, you just have to match mega particle cannons... with mega particle cannons.
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Macua Huitl transmits, "GARROD?!"
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Rachel Miu Athha transmits, "... urrh... ghh..."
Balmar Orbit
Bright Fleet
The Battle of Balmar
??-??-12? NCA
The battle was bad they were working with everyone they could even Gym himself, they were here. Macua riped another Balmarian Knight apart with her Mobile G fighter's bare hands they were getting over run. They couldn't get through. She turned and felt something comming a terrible power. It wasn't from the Geber GanEden, no it was something else. The Nadesico-B was taking heavy damage it's Distortion Field wouldn't last long. Where were her siblings she couldn't hold out for ever but what had they launched.
Macua could onlys stare slack jawed at what was forming. "They...unsealed it?!?! Shin... getter Robo?!" had they realsed something worse than the Geber GanEden? It was too late worry, all that remained was to rip the Balmarian empire apart by cutting out it's heart. She turned her Gundam around and moved to follow after the Shin Getter Robo, to what fate she had no idea.
"COME ON! TIME TO BREAK YOUR MISRABLE LITTLE EMPIRES BACK ONCE AND FOR ALL!
Now
Macua stares as the A-laws mobile armor bears down on the Argma, Rachel opens up with every funnel she can get her hands on, Thankfull hers are spared and she turns her attention to the Mercurius. The funnels pull away from the downed GNX and turn their attention to the Mercurius they just start comming out of nowhere and shooting it.
"Where do you think your going, I don't think so!"
Then Garrod goes down to a Valkyrie and any other newtype near by would feel a massive spike of rage and fear directed all at that little blue and white Valkyrie. Someone just agrooed Macua.
Funnels. Why must it always be funnels!? Quatre however, has learned how to deal with funnels in this suit now! The Planetary Defenders come to life again and quickly spin around in a spiral, forming a set of shields around it and begin to rotate so that the disk themselves are out of harm's way whilst the shields take the impact from the laser blasts. At the same time, the Mercurius turns around.
"Who..." Quatre whispers, "Who is..." His eyes seek. "You!" He finds Macua. Pressing his feet both down, the verniers once again come to life. Having just defeated the Z II, he has time to fight another. "Come on... shoot me down already." He isn't using his speakers, just talking to himself! "Come on... I don't want us to win." But he has to make it believable. That's what he keeps telling himself. Speeding forth, he grabs with the unit's hands for two of the rotating Planetary Defenders.
Two gigantic beam swords deploy from them, and the unit rushes out above Macua's unit, before lashing down with both arms. Just like he would use his twin Heat Shotels! This is about the time where people really ought to be going 'I recognize that style of combat!!!'
Noriko, because she is completely unpsychic, detects not even a glimmer of any particular signs, except the one where her consoles are telling her the Zeta Gundam's power output is rising radically, and that's probably bad!!
Noriko, however, is good at this job. The Zeta lunges at Noriko, and she snaps in response, moving quickly, because she knows she has to, knows if she doesn't /react/, she will /die/.
The pile bunker thrusts outward, snapping up to parry one of the beam sabers; the pointed chisel drifts away soon after, Camlile's beam saber slicing through it after a moment's hesitation. SHe whips up the lancer, one, two, three parries before it's cut through, and so is her armor scored. She grits her teeth, preparing another counter...
Meriden's calling the reatreat. Everyon'es going. Right...right.
She thrusts away from the Zeta, suddenly shifting back, and then throttling up and back toward the A-LAWS rendezvous, keeping an eye on the rear for pursuit or retaliatory fire. Her eyes narrow - focus, even now.
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Macua Huitl transmits, "Someone get that Damn Valkyrie! before it goes after someone else!"
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Macua Huitl transmits, "I'll deal... The hell?! how fast is it!?"
Macua Huitl has gone after a unit class she's never seen before, she's paid for that as it does some thing unexpected, some very things of unexpected. She pauses at the style? Wait a second she's sure she's seen it somewhere but she's being mauled and needs to pull out of close combat. Shes pulling away, this suit isn't made for this too much.
Macua's still got some power left in the funnels and goes to remind the unknown unit of this as blast after blast comes from 12 different points again. She can't back out but the damage to her machine is too much. Still she can't leave her back open like this either so she's got to go till that thing dies or it flees...
It's hard to say what causes her to release the funnels, the hastas. Maybe she simply chose to give it up. Maybe she wanted to just bury those things into the massive mobile armor to make a point. Maybe she had a reason to it all...
... or maybe that prototype system just couldn't hold out with all the stress being put upon it-- or the pilot's mind. The link breaks, and the hastas are returned to Meriden's control while her opposition lurches backward, her unprotected head slamming back against the backboard-style seat, her body going tense and rigid.
Her head is pounding. Everything inside of her mind is screaming, every synapse blazing like a white-hot poker was being stuck directly into the pain centers of her body.
'RACHEL!!!!'
His voice echoes across the void-- inside her head, inside her heart.
Her eyes snap open as if she had been asleep for hours, the tired and weary Katharon pilot suddenly coming back to realize everything that's going on around her. The Geminius is retreating, the Nausica among others covering it's retreat. Her hand comes up to her face as she feels warmth, blinking once, then again as her eyes water a little-- and tears float in perfect spherical droplets in front of her eyes, all while a few droplets of blood hang at the edge of her left nostril.
"Camille..." she says, her eyes closing. Her shoulders shift a bit, the young woman feeling all sorts of things at once-- regret, fear, and a little bit of shame, to boot. She knows she did something wrong. She /knows/ it.
Her voice is too low for the audio pickups to catch: "... What happened...?"
"Recall our pilots!" Bright motions with a wave of his hand. "And let's get out of here before they send anything else after us!"
Earth Federation Veterans Association ??-??-??? NCA The Future
"/Godduh/.." Duo Maxwell, age fifteen, lets out the most pained groan of all time. "C'mon old man, you're takin' for-EVER!!"
Ca-click. Ca-click.
An elderly Bright Noa advances his walker one step after the other. His body stooped gently by the ravages of age, though by some grace of god, his luxurious mane of close-cropped curls is left untouched. It, along with his moustache, are completely white. His sideburns are still long, still far from regulation.
He turns, glancing over his sagging shoulder to the array of photographs atop his nightstand. Hundreds of young people -- courageous to the very last. To call them anything short of men and women would do them a disservice. They stand proud, smiling as they crowd together. Sometimes they wear similar uniforms, sometimes they do not. They have only two things in common.
1. They all stand beside a white battleship.
2. Despite their differences, they've become tighter than any ordinary family.
Bright smiles to himself, a slow and slightly quivering look. "Did I ever tell you.." he starts looking toward Duo, "..you're as much of a queer as your father is? Goodness. I think I'd take that pretty little girl with silver hair that knew entirely too much about everything over you."
Duo rolls his eyes. "What/ever/, old man... c'monnnn! The ship's waiting!"
Clack. Clack. Bright advances with his walker once more. "..Saaay," he murmurs in thought. "Did I ever tell you about the time I punched the man from Mars, Banjo Haran??"
"AUUUUUUGH." Steam pops from Duo's head, "OLD MAN YOU'RE KILLIN' ME!"
NOW
The Argama continues firing disuasive bursts of firepower at the remaining A-LAWS forces.
"Hrm," Ron Keith makes a sound. "..That uh, space tear.. seems to be closing up. I guess it was.. nothing at all?" He lifts his shoulders in a shrug.
"Ya!" Beecha lets out a laugh as he spins around in his chair. "How ridiculous would it be if some stupid space thing caused us to flash back and forth in time in some overly complicated, self-indulgent mess? Hahaha...!"
Bright glances sidelong at Beecha and glowers. "...."
Funnels continue to come after Quatre. With two Planetary Defenders being wielded by the young man's Mercurius, its defenses are quite a bit weaker. One gets released quickly, so it can pull and grab at a beam rifle at its side. He begins to blast at the Funnels. Those things were dangerous, and he rather not die. But as much as he tried, he just could not take even a single one of them out. He really should leave the ranged gunplay to Trowa. Quatre is sure the guy would be telling him right about now to DISPENSE MORE AMMO!
Not waiting one more moment, the Mercurius rushes forwards and continues to dispense more ammo, like Quatre was taught to do. The funnels strike on the shields, slowly taking one... two... three defenders out, destroying them too in those pink space clouds. Why explosions in space are pink, who will ever know!? But either way, Macua now has to deal with big yellow beams of energy coming her way.
With Garrod Ran now floating listlessly in space, Max simply shrugs. 'all right. With Meriden leaving, I might as well go too." He says before switching back to Fighter form and heading back to earth. Inside of an hour, he's having ice cream. the jerk...
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Rachel Miu Athha transmits, "... that ... that Mobile Armor..."
The only sound Camille hears is that of his own haggard breathing amist the dim red hue of the Zeta's auxiliary power coming online as the computer diverted only the bare minimum energy necessary to sustain the pilot's life and awareness of his surrounding. The Nausica loomed before him like an implacable foe in the wake of a trade-off that left them both on equal, shambling grounds.
It was the very definition of the a stand-off. The next move would decide which one of them lived.
How long had it been since he'd danced this close to death? Since he'd felt there uncertainty interspersed with the excitement, the undeniable /thrill/ that could only be provided by a worthy opponent?
This wasn't some Codarl, there was no enigma here. He understood this enemy all too well, and while he deplored fighting, there was some part of him, some hidden, maligned side of himself and all men that craved it, relished conflict, sang words of love to war.
His eyes narrowed, hand tightening on the flight sticks as he forecasted the enemy's move. The time was now...!
'Camille...'
Rachel's voice, not the unknown, but hers, slipped withing his mind like a subtle wind, just as the retreated flares crossed the space relative them and the Nausica retreated to fight another day. The Newtype's killer streak fell out of him like rapidly deflating air. That Red Zeta, like he'd suspected all along...
The Zeta Gundam beat a quick retreat of it's own to the battle-worn Argama. They would talk about this later.
"I'm glad you're okay, Rachel.." His voice sounded not unkindly over the radio, "Let's get of here before they get any more ideas."
He hesitated, than spoke again, "You...you really saved the day, you know."
Macua Huitl has to recall her funnels to recharge they are running low on power at this point, she'd chase down the VF, but it's running. This unit isn't fleeing, she takes out several of the defenders but it's not down yet. She's also got it up close again, damn that things's fast, it's really fast. She however is able to dance her way through the incomming fire just barely and pulls her machine's rifle. The rifle is a bit odd it's got an under slung section, but just what is it? A grenade launcher? No it's firing now and a number of beam blasts, but also solid slug rounds? Is she trying to overload the other machine's defences also she's now distratrc she feels something from Rachel, she's also aware of Camille but both are all right, still there's that last A-laws unit it's not /running/
Quatre suddenly realizes... he's alone. He's been left behind!? Was he not paying attention? Had he been that lost in the situation of the battle? He tests his radio, toggling its switch. "VIER WINNAAR! I REPEAT! RETREAT!" A loud voice suddenly comes blasting through the soundbox. "HAAAA!" Quatre is startled. "Right! Coming, coming!" He quickly engages the shield saber and swats at Macua's unit, but fails miserably to land another blow.
The sudden beam-physical assault rains down on the shields, ramming them at full force, and suddenly there is a gigantic explosion in space. And using that moment of confusion and inability to see, Quatre turns his Mercurius around and speeds away.
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Macua Huitl transmits, "Fire DAncer returning to hanger."
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Touya Shun transmits, "Well...I guess we won."
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Rachel Miu Athha transmits, "... y-yes... I-I'm sorry, sir, I... I need to... my head is..."
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Camille Bidan transmits, "Don't worry about it, Rachel."
<Radio: B - Katharon Secure> Camille Bidan transmits, "We'll talk about it later."