Episode 20 - The Gate of Zedan

[hellbore]

- Hamburg Team -
- Adam -

Though he was moving away from it, the double explosion behind him still caught his eye. Adam 'tsk'ed at the implications and hoped it was a Titan and not someone from the New Yark.

...or Randy

Finally returning to where the rest of his team where defending against another group of Titans, he found he was approaching from the flank rather than his team-mates rear. Taking advantage of the unexpected opportunity, Adam accelerated and opened fire on Faraday's Hizack as he closed from the left and slightly behind.

[The Loser Villain]

-Buxoro Team-

Aaron sighed with relief as Tyler came to his assistance. And as Al pulled back he placed the Hi-Zacks left hand on Tyler's Hi-Zack's shoulder.

"Alright, lets get these two! We'll do a...." and then alarms screamed at him from the Hi-Zack's HUD.

Pulling back as Al and Adam's attacks came in. Al's aimed for Tyler and Adam gunning for him.

"Damit, can't even catch my breath!" He spun his Hi-Zack around to face the oncoming Nemo and was forced to another beam. "Now you pissed me off!"

Firing off a round from his beam rifle he then launched two missiles towards the Nemo as well.

-----------------------------

Axis
-Bindra Team-

"Aww sh*t!" Nikolai swore as his attack missed the damaged Hi-Zack.

Thankfully the Titans pilot couldn't retaliate right away due to him not having any ranged weapons. But, that didn't stop him from flying right at him, beam saber ignited.

Since the Hi-Zack still had 'ground' to cover, Nikolai let lose a barrage of beam fire from his knuckle buster and the two smaller beam guns. He hopped that the barrage would deter the Titan from his charge.

[hellbore]

- Hamburg Team -
- Adam -

Now having the attention of the Titan pilot, Adam used the verniers to push his Nemo 'down' and under the beam from the Hizack. Slowing and righting himself, he managed to avoid the one of the missiles missiles, but the other impacted on his shield, causing the material to crack and splinter, and slight damage to the left arm.

Adam cursed the Titans luck and discarded the ruined shield. Pulsing his main thrusters, he again began moving, this time toward the Hizacks and Nemos. Grabbing the beam rifle two handed, his Nemo struck a pose similar to that of the One Year War's Gundam and he fired twice at Faraday again.

[Xvlai]

- Gate of Zedan, P Field –
- Beta Team –

Sven blew through the two Rick Diases with no confrontation. The enemy pilots, who based on their fighting capabilities had seemed anything but rookies, had let him go by unmolested and made a huge mistake. The Dias with the cannon would not last long in close combat, and each second brought Sven closer to it as he ‘dived’ down towards it. A blip appeared on his forward monitor showing that one of the Diases had followed him. The thought of taking on two opponents unnerved Sven; he would only get one chance to take the new Dias out otherwise he would no longer have the upper hand. Good, now their formation is broken. Hopefully Wolf and Constantine can finish their opponents quickly.

As he raised his beam rifle and sighted the Dias with the cannon a male voice crackled through his intercom, “Leav… er …ne, ..ritter…unky.” The taunt from one of the enemy pilots unfocused Sven. Ritter? How would he know? Sven could not even fathom how the enemy pilot knew his identity; his mind raced as he tried to figure out how the pilot would have known. Sven would have died shortly after if it had not been for his blaring fire indicator bringing him back to reality. Rolling his Marasai to the left he avoided the deadly crossfire from the two Diases. He did not go completely unscathed though; a beam round fired by the Dias with the cannon clipped one of his shoulder spikes and turned it in a molten heap. A second voice, this one female, crackled over his intercom, “I.. eed. ome..help...” Even though he broadcasted the message over his team frequency he knew the other enemy pilots would hear it due to their proximity. “Ritter huh? I don’t know how you know who I am; but you will need more then help once I am done with you!” Accenting his threat he reached over with his left hand to grab a beam saber as he fired two rounds with his beam rifle at the now moving Dias with the cannon.

[Sume Gai]

-Bindra team-
-Graden-

Graden "pulled up" as the enemy leveled it's machine gun. His Machine groaned in protest of the violent maneuver but it held together. The fire passed below as Graden turned his climb into an arc and came down upon his attacker. He extended the Gaza's legs and used the makeshift claws to grab at the Hizack's arms in an attempt to restrain it.

-Balrampur team-
-Rick-

Rick saw his chance when one of his shots hit the mark and prevented his foe from retaliating. Rick knew the Hizack had only one beam weapon and if this Hizack was using a beam rifle that meant closing in would be to his advantage since the enemy only had a heat hawk for close range battle.

He raised his shield in case his foe recovered before he could close in. Rick began an arcing path towards the Hizack and with a few deft movements attached the rifle to his hip and drew one if his sabers from the rear skirt.

[King Monkey]

- Gate of Zedan, P Field -
- Team 3 -

"Maybe I am cut out for this support stuff," Jacob muttered to himself upon seeing the rather spectacular results of his last volley of shots. It was hard to tell if Drossel's Suit was really out for the count or not, but it was clearly not a threat for the moment.

Any satisfaction he might have been feeling disappeared when he heard Celeste's voice come over the radio. “...acob, hea...up...oving in... Clute. B...c...ful of...third Marasai.”

Clute? Why would Clute need help? His gaze dashed around his display until he spotted his commanding officer's suit in close combat with the Tiger Striped unit. He'd seen that pattern often enough to know that the pilot was dangerous in melee. Clute might not be his equal, but he didn't stand a chance against the Pearl of the Shoal.

Which meant that it was left to him to deal with the final Suit of the enemy squad, unless Burke could help him.

Steeling his nerves and his resolve, he gripped the controls tighter and kicked his suit in reverse, the chest verniers blazing. The further away he got, the better. He didn't want to get into a saber duel in this new, bulky suit.

But, since he was traveling in a straight line backwards his aim could stay straight. "Have a taste of what I gave your friend!" he declared, pulling the trigger quickly and cycling through his weapons when the targeting reticule was settled firmly on Miller's Marasai. The results were a pair of 240MM shells and a Clay bazooka round hurtling at the Titan's pilot.

- Outside the Gate of Zedan's P Field -
- Bindra Team -

Djorn was less than pleased when his first volley of shots missed. Even more so when Korbel destroyed his target and got the first kill for their unit. "Hell and damn!" he cursed, quickly looking for a fresh victim to sacrifice on the Altar of Zeon Independence.

The Hizack that Graden was dueling with was the first he saw and as Graden moved to grapple it, Djorn pushed his MA to the limit, coming in behind the enemy suit. Just when it seemed that his intent was to ram the suit, he transformed to MS mode, drawing his beam saber and thrusting it forward to skewer the enemy suit.

[Ziryab]

>Axis<
>The Bindra<
>Bridge<

"Aye aye captain!" Raquel affirmed, locking her head locked forward as if the private reprimand never happened. Her face relaxed in a mild sense of relief that Pizal command is an act of foresight than defeatism. She tried not to feel some amount of shame for second guessing him while in the back of her beehived hairdo mind, she pondered his words to sort through a sudden confusion for her.

But I was informed of his veteran status, recalling. Assuming, that he was like any average Zeon warrior who survived the One Year War. This must be his first time as a captain, she mentally concluded.

"Turning to port and pulling back for the wind up," announcing her actions and eyes darting back and forth between the monitor and bridge window. The Bindra tilted almost completely to one side to avoid backing part of the ship into an asteroid, uncertain if it was real or fake. "Giving you full view gunner--let's see if you can throw a punch," turning to the gun operator and very swiftly darting her tongue at him.

Raquel turned back to the controls at her helm just as quickly to contact a relief helmsman to prep the ship's Komusai.

[wonton bob]

- Hamburg Team -
- P Sector -

Boosting backward to gain some distance, Bernard watched his shots go after Lt. Robin which also kept the cannon "in play". With Al on his way, Bernard felt a bit more secure until his sensors detected incoming rounds. Sacrificing his safety, Bernard took careful aim at Lt. Robin's Hizack and fired 3 shots with the beam rifle and let loose another round from the cannon just as Lt. Robin's 2nd shot grazes and warps the cannon's barrel. Working the pedals and exhausting the vulcan's ammo, he barely escapes the missiles that came afterward. Several alerts and error messages popped up covering the screen for the cannon's status.


* * * * * *


-Delta Team-
-Ltjg.Kyle Roberts-

Even with the Barzam accelerating at full speed, Kyle was able to use his thrusters and avoid Tanner's first shot but the second beam tore into the Barzam's right shoulder, rendering that arm almost useless, the beam rifle slipping through its' hand. Not backing down or stopping, Kyle swings the left arm holding the beam saber in an upward slashing motion as soon as he reached Tanner's Nemo. He was either gonna cut or plow through the Nemo.

"DIE! SPACENOID!"


*********


- Axis -
- Bindra Team -

Matthew's eyes lit up with exhilaration when he witnessed his first shot score a kill. All fears of contrition and qualms of his inexperience melt away. The corners of his mouth shot up revealing an uncanny smile.

"That's it? Killing is that quick? That easy?"

He then notices the damaged one-armed Marasai making an attempt at a charge with it's beam saber. While still in mobile armor mode, Matthew boosts his suit to the side toward the Marasai's right missing arm side keeping his distance while firing the linked beam guns followed by a second shot from the "buster".

"Your time over the Earth is OVER!!!"

[ScornMandark]

Dervish

- MS Hangar -

Rem watched the monitor as intently as the doctor, now focusing more on the fuzzy blue mecha than the overall battle. He knew the specs of every mecha that AE produced, and he had seen all of them in simulations. He was not as familiar with the overall system performance as the Doctor was, but he was getting there. Even still, this mecha's movements were at once unknown to him and somewhat familiar. It didn't move like an RMS-106 or -108, different than the MSA-003s and -99s...-178, -179, hell, the -14A...no, no...different. It started getting under his skin, this not knowing what it was. The drive to see one up close, to pull it apart and scan its systems, to put it through the system check course...What was it?

[Attomoku]

Gamma Team-

“Who are you?”
The almost existential question startled Nick, it seemed to echo in his mind rather than come over the radio.
“Death!” he yelled back simply.
Sabers still locked he fired his last few vulcan rounds near point blank at the Dias’s head, then pulling back from the deadlock, he went for another slash across the chest of the suit

Buxoro Team-

Elijah thought that he clipped the Nemo but couldn’t be sure as he moved to evade Bernard’s shots. With AMBAC almost completely readjusted now and the loss of the shield and forearm making his suit lighter he dodged the beams with some room to spare this time by pulling up and barrel rolling to the left hard to avoid the final shell. He took note of the loss of signal code burst from Picard with some bitterness. Coming out of the roll he loosed one more missile and two more beams at the Nemo Cannon.
He thought to himself that if things got any worse he may have to pull Buxoro and Delta back to protect his subordinates and the subordinates that Kamek had foolishly brought too far out with him.

Tyler kept his eye on Al and was prepared when he fired back. He skirted one by “side-stepping” right, but was a bit slow on the other. He caught the second beam on the oblique angle of his shield as he continued moving right, boiling the anti-beam layer and metal beneath, near the near the vision slit.
He fired back with 1 beam and 2 missiles

[Wedge14]

-Pan Heyden-

Pan frowned with anger as his opponent managed to roll out of his shots. To make it worse it sounded like the guy called him an A-hole. The bulky launcher was a saving grace, sure it was powerful, but Pan found it easy to read. It just took too long for a pilot to get a good shot beamed in with a gun that big. And given how quickly Pan was closing the gap between the two, it was just getting easier and easier for the experienced pilot.

"You're a punk Ritter " Pan said with a grin, before unloading another round at Fritz' sworn enemy.

-Jim MacAlpin-

"God-damnit you two!"
Jim yelled in frustration, he managed to peel out of the way of Constatine's shots but this new suit was giving him problems. Jim was not used to the acceleration yet, the increased G forces he was receiving from shifting the suit from spot to spot. To make Jim's situation even worse, Fritz the married man was being the white knight saving some girl he clearly lusted after, while Pan was probably near climax going through some sadomasochistic bullcrap.

"Screw this!" Jim yelled just blindly emptying his missile salvo allover the battle field.

-Gwendoline Brouillé-

Well it seemed that squealing in fear and firing into the enemy didn't work at at all. So Gwen quickly sang to herself "Inny minny miny MO!" She selected a hizack near the rear of the formation and fired in it's general direction. Well not really near it all, but she tried and that's what counts.

[mcred23]

-Team 2-

The situation went from crazy to insane as mobile suits from other units spilled in the area a few seconds after Eddie managed to take out the Hiding Hizacks' beam laucnher. Three Hizacks raced into through zone, one being smashed by a beam from a Nemo that continued to chase the other two, but leaving a beam rifle, which the -106CS grabbed and quickly fired a shot one handed, it had produced its beam saber into its other hand, at Marvin as it dove in towards them.

The shot was going to go wide, Marvin knew instantly, but still he moved. The Hizack Custom was coming 'down' toward him, so Marvin moved directly upwards, using the full speed of his Rick Dias. Marvin was getting highly frustrated as he aimed at the sniping mobile suit and fired his bazooka once, only to see a Hizack blunder into the warhead, damaging its backpack and removing a leg before it fled Marvins view. Even more annoyed, Marvin pumped the last three rockets he had at the -106CS, before tossing away the Clay Bazooka and grabbing his second beam pistol, for he didn't have any extra clips for the weapon and didn't have a free hand to load them anyway...

Eckardy had become distracted from the Hizack Custom. The stock Hizack that Marvin had accidently hit had blundered directly into Eddie and peppered him with 120mm shells, which did nothing to the Rick Dias' armor. Eckardy fired a shot from his beam rifle at the suit, which severed its left arm, but still the Hizack rattled away with the 120, charging in at Eddie in the the Hizacks attempt to perform the GM shield rush. But the Hizack didn't have a shield, and Eddies' Rick Dias Custom could barely be touched by the machine gun. Eckardy fired again, another shot from his rifle that was paired with a shot from the beam pistol, and this time it was enough. One of the shots, Eddie wasn't sure which, hit the poor RMS-106 directly in the head, burned through the torso and shot out the crotch, continuing on into the battle field, while the Hizack it had gutted sputtered and exploded in a yellow fireball.

Eckardy tried to turn back to find the Hizack Custom and Marvin, but somehow, between their moves and his own, they had gained some distance from him. Eddie could have fired, but chose not to. Moving to near his top speed, Eckardy moved closer to Marvin right as his team mate pumped rockets at the Hizack.

For a brief moment, Ian thought he had hit the Marasai, only to see it turn to face him and a random Hizack behind the Marasai take one of his shots. More Hizacks and allied Nemos were spilling into their area... or were they, Team 2 and this Titan team, spilling into theirs? Ian didn't really know, but the Marasai was charging at him now, spitting two beams from it's rifle at him. The attack didn't exactly catch Ian off guard, but he wasn't happy with it, and wasn't fully ready. The C-Type juked to its left, but to Ian, who had grown so happy with the standard Rick Dias, it was just too much equipment added or replaced. One beam was close enough to hit the barrel of his bazooka, slagging it into uselessness, prompting Ian to discard it and draw the one weapon he had left, a beam saber. The other beam missed cleanly, it didn't even left a tell-tale black streak on his red suit, but it did find a target. That beam hit a hapless Nemo, removing its left arm and the shield it carried, before that Nemo pilot had enough and tried to flee the combat zone.

Ian had not seen that, but it was not his concern. Keeping his beam saber unlit, in the slim chance that the Marasai hadn't seen him grab it, he continued to fire his other weapons. Still moving to his left, he further tapped his thrusters to move backwards slightly, firing three more shots from his 240mm cannon and another beam pistol shot, unsure of whether or not they would deter the enemy...

[Fritz Ashlyn]

- Gate of Zedan, P Field -

- The Kirov -
- Bridge -

The lines in Trent’s face deepened into a frown as he watched Taskforce Juliet continue to flounder in S Field. The AEUG had pushed them back so far that there were enemy mobile suits freely moving into adjacent defensive fields as the Latium and her hard-pressed escorts continued to take a severe beating. Chief Kellman called his attention away from the display with more news. “Sir, control is reporting that the Dogosse Gier is preparing to leave the Gate,” Mortimer reported. His normally mournful appearance certainly seemed appropriate for the situation they were facing. Trent shook his head and said, “They may have taken too long…”. He folded his arms as best he could wearing his bulky normal suit. “If we fail here it’ll be more than just a disaster for Echo,”

“Captain, the Latium…!” Mortimer stammered. Trent’s vision rose from the deck and he turned back to the bank of monitors. A pillar of fire bloomed out of the top decks of the green Alexandria-class and it began to list, dead in space. “What?!” Trent croaked in surprise while more beam fire raked the surface of the Latium. It began to break apart as more sections erupted into fire. “Capt. Kay,” Chief Kellman said quietly. Trent watched in disbelief as the AEUG laid waste to Taskforce Juliet. “That could be us… That could still be us…“ After a moment, he regained his composure and organized his thoughts again. He asked Mortimer in a low voice, “What other friendly units are in S Field?”. Kellman responded, “A defense unit was moved there before Juliet, and several minutes ago we heard voice traffic directing another two into the area,”.

Trent blew out a breath through his teeth at the news. “We can’t leave the area until the Dogosse Gier is evacuated. As soon as she’s clear I’m going to ask for permission to withdraw. There’s nothing left here for us,” he said, turning away to move back to the windows. The red numbers on the display up above Mortimer’s helm control station ticked down to 37:42:00.

- Alpha Team -

Stukov attempted to cautiously close in on Wes Curren, but found things increasingly complicated by the presence of both friendly and enemy MS. A passing Nemo made a foolish attempt at intercepting him, and he dealt with it by accelerating and engaging with his beam saber. The AEUG pilot hesitated at the incoming melee threat and fired a poorly aimed shot that sailed over the Russian as he put his Marasai into a short bobbing dive. The Nemo tried to reach for a beam saber far too late to make a difference as Stukov came up at him in a sudden climb, turning it into a stabbing slash that carried him through and past the enemy. The Nemo crumpled in half and exploded behind him as he tried to get into a new position to attack Wes.

A Hizack passed in front of him, temporarily blocking his view and eliciting a few grumbled curses of annoyance. “You are a lucky one today,” Stukov growled as Wes slipped further away. He reluctantly broke off his attack and began to search for Leandro and Grace in the confusion. He flipped his Marasai upside down instead of wasting time on a turn and rocketed away from Curren the way he had come. “Now then… where are my two apprentices?” he thought out loud as he approached the area where Alpha had initially engaged Team 2. Several small windows popped up and closed in his HUD as he searched magnified views of the battle around him for his teammates’ units. After a few seconds, he caught a glimpse of Ian’s C-Type firing several cannon rounds. Deciding it was a decent way to continue his search, he boosted away in Greydon’s direction.

Nearby, Leandro clucked in disappointment as his first shot predictably missed Marvin by a mile. Not only was the rifle not his, but he quickly realized he had been slacking off keeping up his skill with non-launcher beam weapons as he tried to zero in the aim on the fly. The Rick Dias changed course to avoid the shot and then came up directly at him. It fired a bazooka round causing Leandro to instinctively twitch his hands to avoid the shot, but he was surprised to see another Hizack fly straight into it. When the friendly unit left his view Marvin was still headed right for him, and he fired a trio of explosive rounds to follow up the first. “Okay, okay…” Leandro muttered, taking a little time to aim carefully. He fired another shot from the beam rifle and then rolled to his left almost too late to avoid the first rocket. “Shiiiiiiiiiiii---” Leandro hissed as he accelerated into the evasive.

He pulled his Hizack’s arms in to avoid the first projectile as it streaked past. The second flew by as harmlessly as the first, but the third grazed his suit’s right leg and exploded, tearing the limb off raggedly at the thigh and sending him into an end-over-end tumble. “Aaaagh!” he yelled as cameras on the right side of his vision blanked out to static from damage and he felt the sudden rise in G forces in spite of the linear seat. He took a white knuckle grip on his controls and slammed his feet down on pedals that would begin to negate the uncontrolled spin. His partial view of space slowly stopped spinning (although his stomach did not) as he regained control, and he immediately put his damaged machine onto a new course to avoid becoming a stationary target. If Marvin wanted to try and finish him off, he’d have to wade into a growing number of Hizacks to chase him down. Leandro checked his new position and cursed under his breath as the damage summary began to scroll across his displays. It looked like the fight might be over for him.

Where Grace was still dealing with Ian, she smiled slightly as one of her two shots melted his bazooka into a useless lump and the other “missed” right into a passing Nemo. The hit on the other AEUG suit was enough to draw her vision away for the moment it took Ian to draw his beam saber, and she was unaware of it. She was, however, keenly aware of the next barrage that he unleashed in her direction. She abandoned lining up a follow-up shot to avoid the beam that got to her first, juking to the right to let it pass as she tried to figure out a way through the three cannon shots. The first passed on her left like the beam had, but the next two were closer together. “Ack,” she complained wordlessly as she changed her approach into a climb to clear the other two rounds. It left her in a bad spot, coming down at Ian inside his cannon’s main firing arc.

- Beta Team -

Wolf was rapidly losing what little patience he had. The punk in the dainty pink Rick Dias either couldn’t hear him or was ignoring him outright, and he seemed to be insistent upon making himself as big a nuisance as he possibly could. The distance between them was running out, and Wolf knew that his beam launcher was growing more and more useless the closer the two got to each other. He’d have to make a move to change the situation before his opponent took advantage. “**hzz**ou’re a punk, Ritte**ffzz**” Pan taunted him, his voice growing clearer as the pair drew closer to each other. So he did know who Wolf was... “You’ll serve as an example and a warning if you won’t cooperate,“.

Another explosive round headed his way kept him from considering the situation for too long. “This is your last chance to tell me,” Wolf spat, turning his approach into a wild corkscrew that let Pan’s rocket fly through the ‘center’, “Where is Ashlyn?!”. He fired one last hastily aimed shot with his launcher before chucking the weapon out ahead in between himself and Pan. It looked like neither of them were going to change course or back down. Wolf drew a beam saber and fired a stream of vulcan rounds ahead of him into the spinning beam launcher, causing it to erupt into a pink fireball between him and Heyden. He ignited the saber and dashed ahead, turning his approach into a short, clipped dive that changed into a violent climb.

Wolf was not one to foolishly overestimate his level of skill as a pilot. He wasn’t deluded enough to think he was the best (he wouldn’t readily admit it, but he knew he wasn’t even the best pilot within Taskforce Echo), but he was deadly clever - and that was often the only opening he needed. He could tell Pan was an experienced pilot, and he was counting on the explosion of the beam launcher and their proximity to each other to put them on more equal footing. “People like you will never understand!” he growled, stabbing out at Pan as they closed in on each other.

Constantine eagerly pressed forward when he saw the effect his attack had on Jim while Sven kept the other two Rick Diases busy, but he recoiled in shock and fear when the wide-hipped mobile suit turned and fired off another cloud of missiles. The binders on MacAlpin’s suit opened up and emptied themselves, sending a fire-tailed rain of two dozen spray missiles into an arc of space in front of him. “Oh Jesus!” Constantine cried out as he struggled to move his Marasai out of the way of the wide area of attack. His hands trembled at the controls as he began to avoid several of the spray missiles that came close, and he yelled a curse as one of them struck his suit’s right foot. It exploded, taking the end of the limb with it and causing a couple of nearby missiles to go off and spray his suit with shrapnel.

The Marasai’s monoeye blew out, causing Constantine’s HUD to break into static momentarily as backup cameras took a second to fill the gap. The whole time he managed to keep control of his suit somehow, and his jaw set in anger once the immediate danger had passed. He renewed his attack on Jim, firing another beam at him as he waited to see a full summary of the damage to his suit. What he did not see was the havoc Jim’s salvo had caused behind him where several Hizacks were waylaid by the explosions and debris from the spray missiles. One was destroyed outright and another two floundered in place, damaged severely and with injured pilots.

- Delta Team -

Cara didn’t immediately understand why one of the Nemos attacking her suddenly broke away and abandoned his attempt, but she was grateful for the quick decline in pressure. Hard AE’s sudden exit left her facing the confused Thibaut Chareux, but she managed to work up enough courage to prevent the Nemo Cannon from intimidating her. “Back off!” she yelled, firing a duo of shots at the menacing AEUG machine. She had lost track of Kamek, but she still had a small display in her HUD that had managed to stay focused on Kyle’s Barzam. “Lieutenant Roberts!” she called out, trying to move in his direction, “Let’s regroup! I could still use some help here…”.

- Herakles Team -

Lt. Weeks cursed double after recovering from Rick’s hit when he realized something was wrong with his rifle. He clicked the firing stud again and again, and the only thing that happened was a sizzle and a useless crackle of electricity at the tip of his beam rifle. “Stupid thing!” he grunted, throwing it away in irritation. He pulled his suit’s heat hawk and turned it on as Rick continued his approach. Weeks ground his teeth in irritation as the blade of his melee weapon began to glow as it heated up. “Come on, then! Don’t underestimate me, spaceman!” the Herakles CO challenged Rick, raising the heat hawk in an offensive pose that Zaku models had been employing since the last war (albeit his with one arm missing, considering the damage to his MS).

[Fritz Ashlyn]

- Outside the Gate of Zedan’s P Field -

- The Dervish -
- Bridge -

The counter on the bridge rolled below 37 minutes, and the representation of Axis on the computer display crawled another space closer to the Gate of Zedan. “Still no movement from the dock areas in P Field?” Capt. Abbey asked, leaning forward in his seat towards the windows where Barrique was still observing the battle with his binoculars. His XO shook his head and responded, “No, sir. Looks like the general evacuation is happening on the other side of the rock. Still no sign of the Dogosse Gier,”. Abbey leaned back into his seat and sighed, partially in relief. The longer they put the screws to the fleet trying to protect P Field, the longer the Argama and Radish had to break through. And once they did, nobody was getting away from the Gate.

The captain checked the feed showing the Axis ship that had been ‘observing’ the battle from near their position, and noted that the Bindra was backing closer to the 4th. An explosion out in front of the Zeon ship made it clear it was still dealing with problems of its own. “If they come any closer, they’ll drift into our operational area,” Abbey thought as he watched the Bindra continue to slowly lumber in the AEUG’s direction. If Axis units got too close to the fighting, things could get… difficult. “Sir, should we warn them about their position?” Wade asked. Abbey watched for a moment longer, and then shook his head. “No… They seem to be capable of protecting themselves. And I think it was made clear to our pilots that we’re not to engage the Zeon,” he said, rising from his chair to approach the helm, “But if they spill over into the battle going on in P Field, things will be complicated for everyone,”.

- Hangar -

Dr. M cocked his head to one side as he caught another brief glimpse of the blue Titans suits that were zipping around P Field. Like Rem, he was scrolling through a list of mobile suit models in his head trying to find something to compare it to. The picture quality was too low and the suits were just too far away for him to make out much. “Mr. Banner,” he said quietly, leaning closer to his associate, “When we are next back in Amman I believe we have some investigation to pursue,”.

- Gate of Zedan, P Field -
- Team 1 -

Fritz could see the moment’s hesitation he caused by mentioning Wolf when Sven was almost taken out by Michiko’s panic fire and his own harassment shot. The Marasai rolled out of the crossfire at the last second and the pilot seemed to recover quickly. If he knew enough to be surprised at Wolf’s name, he must be at least a relatively competent pilot. The Ritters didn’t get people involved in their sham unless they had some talent to offer. The voice of this particular toady crackled into Fritz‘ ears through the Minovsky interference, “Ritter h**kHz** I don’t kn**zzz**ow you know **vvvsss**ut you will need more then help once I am**kzzzbzt**”. He predictably moved away from Fritz and continued his attack on Michiko’s cannon type.

“You and your master are the same. It’s meaningless prattle! The only destiny you’ll find serving Ritter is an early grave. If you’re lucky you’ll wake up and realize you’re being used,” Fritz retorted, moving closer to Sven. He kept his weapons aimed squarely at Haksson as he continued to pursue Michiko. He knew there was no convincing a pawn that the Ritters were using him to play a sick - and losing - game. Fritz was an anomaly among Ritter followers. A mistake. Somehow his conscience had survived and laid dormant after the elder Ritter’s slow indoctrination work had taken hold. When Fritz saw evidence of what had been done at 30 Bunch and elsewhere in the name of the Federation, he realized he was living the same lie and his conscience had awakened. What he had done hadn’t been for the good of the Earth and the Federation like Wolf Sr. had convinced him - the horrible things he had done had been for the sole benefit of the Ritter family. What he had done and allowed to happen horrified him.

He pressed down pedals and worked controls, and his souped-up Rick Dias leapt forward as it accelerated to close in on Sven’s Marasai. “Leave. Her. Alone!” he commanded, firing a pair of beam pistol shots at Haksson.

Michiko was slightly frightened when it became clear one of Wolf Ritter’s men was trying to chase her down, and the tone Fritz took with him didn’t help to calm her. He had told her what the Ritters were like and what they had done to him, and she had seen for herself how dangerous the younger Wolf was in combat. Something about the way Fritz told Sven he was being used made her deeply sad. It was clear he was speaking from experience. A pair of beams from Haksson speared out across space at her mobile suit, and she switched her computer back to fire control for the beam pistol and stopped moving slow enough to get a shot in with the cannon so she could properly evade. The best she could manage at the moment was a high speed skid that took her closer to Fritz and Sven both that let the shots pass to her left.

She tried to line up return fire while still on the move, and her computer chirped at her momentarily as the crosshairs hovered across Sven’s Marasai. She fired two shots from her beam pistol before the chance passed. The way Fritz yelled at Haksson made her feel like a big brother had shown up to beat up a bully from school and her cheeks flushed crimson, and it was only partially because she was irritated with her own reaction.

- Team 3 -

Luke Burke was so busy rushing to assist his CO with Nick Te’Litha that he didn’t notice the trio of blue mobile suits that swooped in behind him. Their delta formation split apart in a flash, and when Burke thought he saw movement in one section of his monitors they were already gone from the projected rear view image. He was concentrating on switching over to close combat controls when a Griffin slammed one of its spiked shoulders into his Rick Dias, bringing it to a violent and sudden stop from high acceleration. Burke rocked forward in his seat at the collision, the metallic taste of blood trickling into his mouth. The skin connection piped tinny, distant music into his cockpit. He looked up in wide eyed surprise to see a dark blue MS straighten up from it’s stooped ramming posture. It was so close, it filled his forward vision.

The Griffin’s sleek head raised until Luke could see the unit’s Gundam-like face, and its sinister eyes flashed green. A primal fear rose within Burke as he scrambled for his controls. He had to run. He had to get away from it. He was about to turn and burn every drop of fuel he had left to escape when a nearly invisible wire extended from a weapon in the Griffin’s hand. It wrapped around his Rick Dias’ right arm up near the torso once, twice, thrice, four times until the limb was firmly entangled. “W-what? No!” Luke muttered in confusion. It wouldn’t let him go. He couldn’t run. Electricity crackled down the length of the wire until it arced across his Rick Dias’ body, shorting systems and mangling the arm’s control. Burke recoiled from his controls as the blue light flickered and nearly blinded him.

It was over nearly as soon as it began. The wire receded, snapping back into place at the end of the Griffin’s handheld weapon. Luke managed to suck in a ragged breath as he watched the deep blue suit back away slightly. “What is it doi--”. The Griffin roughly slammed a lit beam saber down into the top of the Rick Dias’ head, eradicating Luke Burke instantly and gutting the cockpit as it totaled his mobile suit. It backed away from the dead MS as it began to explode, and the three blue suits were on their way again. All of this had taken just over 20 seconds.

“Death!”

Clute reeled at the answer. Nick had yelled it at him in the same instant he had heard the whisper of Luke passing. He could feel danger emanating from the Marasai as it struggled against him like a wild animal. Music. He pushed against Nick’s beam saber as Te’Litha began to fire his vulcans. A few of the rounds splashed across the Rick Dias’ “face” shattering the monoeye as Nick reared back to attempt another slash. Clute moved his saber to block it, but the jolt never came. When his backup cameras flickered into place he found that Celeste Angelina had come between them, and it was her beam saber that had saved his life. “Celeste…” he said, the pulse in his temples still pounding.

“Nick? It’s you, isn’t it Nick,” Celeste said, knowing Te’Litha could hear her through their temporary melee connection. She tried to arrange it so that her image would appear in his HUD. “I tried to contact you before. I’m a friend of Celeine Caro’d…” she explained quickly. Attempting to talk to Nick in the past had been less than successful. He had ignored Fritz outright and continued to attack him. Her only hope at this point was talking fast and getting his attention with Celeine’s name like she had tried in the past. Maybe Fritz had come on too strong, and he would be willing to listen to a woman.

- New Yark Team -

“Ha!” Tanner laughed when he scored a clean hit on Kyle and saw his opponent lose his arm and the beam rifle with it. What he didn’t realize was that Kyle Roberts was set and determined to take him out one way or another at close range. Tanner didn’t even have time to reach for a beam saber before Kyle was upon him. “DIE! SPACENOID!” he heard as the Barzam’s saber tore up through his Nemo, slicing it in half nearly vertically as the Titans MS kept going past him. Tanner did not laugh again as his Nemo exploded. Hard AE swept into the area where Mello’s Nemo had been in time to see Tanner get wiped out. “No! D-damn it! Attacking and avenging, hoo~!” Ramon yelled, speeding up to come at Kyle. He racked his beam rifle on his Nemo’s hip and pulled a beam saber, getting ready to counter Roberts’ next move.

Thibaut leveled off, avoiding Cara’s next two shots with a slow, deliberate evasive to prevent taking damage to his cannon. He could tell he seemed to be up against an inexperienced or unconfident pilot, so he decided to press his luck a little. Moving forward again, he fired off a couple of cannon rounds and a follow up with his beam rifle. How the enemy reacted to a larger barrage would dictate how he would capitalize on the attack. There was no need to put himself in unnecessary danger now that Ramon had left him to fend for himself.

[Fritz Ashlyn]

- Gate of Zedan, P Field -

Lt. Dolk tapped his feet like was playing double-bass pedal for the track he was listening to as he sped away from Burke’s broken mobile suit. “It’s so easy,” he said as he scanned the battlefield for his next victim. Because of the Griffin team’s proximity to Gamma and the Dervish’s Team 3, he noticed the clump of suits around Nick’s Marasai. “Oh well, wherever… Wherever you are - Dolk’s Griffin ‘s gonna get you no matter how far,” he muttered as he gestured for his two companions to follow. The sea serpent in his suit’s hand was at the ready as the trio streamed in towards the battle between Gamma and Team 3. The speakers in his suit continued to pump out heavy metal as he oriented his suit directly at Nick’s Marasai and Celeste’s Rick Dias.

[Fritz Ashlyn]

- Outside the Gate of Zedan’s P Field -

“What the?!” the Hizack pilot that still carried a machinegun yelled as Graded avoided his 120mm fire and came down at him, claws grasping like a bird of prey. He fumbled to move out of the way but was too late, and both of his arms were grabbed by the Gaza-C’s claws. His manipulators squeezed down trying to struggle out of the enemy’s grasp, inadvertently firing off the remainder of his ammunition. “Let me go! Get off!” he growled, putting his Hizack into a slow tilt backwards as he continued to struggle against the Gaza’s claws. His left arm slipped free and he tried to throw a punch, but it just twisted his restrained arm and mangled the machinegun, leaving him still trapped.

The damaged Hizack charging Nikolai made an impressive effort to wade through the high volume of beam fire Tuzenbach sent his way, and he got fairly close before the first beam from the knuckle buster clipped his skirt. The Hizack “stumbled” and slowed a moment as the skirt armor melted and tore away before it continued to make an attempt to run Nikolai through. “That’s not enough!” the Titans pilot said defiantly as he closed the gap. Their leader, the Marasai pilot, growled in frustration as Matthew flitted out of reach and opened fire. "Your time over the Earth is OVER!!!" Korbel taunted him, making him even madder. “Don’t lecture me, you Zabi-loving scum!” he retorted, spinning through and over the beam fire. It was obvious that he was a fairly skilled pilot, and it must have been sheer numbers that had gotten him damaged attacking the Gwadan. He charged ahead again, desperately trying to get close enough to take a swing at Matthew.

- The Bindra -
- Bridge -

“Aye aye captain!” Raquel responded to the captain’s orders, “Turning to port and pulling back for the wind up,”. Pizal folded his arms and watched as the ship continued to maneuver, noting how well Chief Reyes controlled the large military vessel. That was a veteran in action. Speaking of which… “Meighan. Where is Lieutenant Meighan?” Capt. Wald asked, looking around the bridge. His gaze was met with a shrug from one of the operators. “Someone go find him,” he ordered, waving them away. If they got close enough to the AEUG fleet, he wanted his informed advisor present. The gunnery teams continued to provide sporadic support for the Gaza team, spurred on by Raquel’s teasing. The Bindra was drifting closer to the 4th Squadron’s defensive position, as well as the boundary that marked the edge of P Field where Team 1 and Echo’s Beta were engaged.

[Lans]

- Hamburg Team –
- Near P Field –

- Randy

The Nemo entered the area and quickly registered numerous contacts. Randy knew it’ll be much faster if he jump into Buxoro’s position but he wasn’t in the mood for making up for another mistake.

After watching the contacts' placements, Randy made a slight calculation and picked a target based on his prediction. Tyler Hizack popped up in the HUD. With the optical zoom video image in his screen, he changed his angle of attack. Lowered the throttle down for a moment to ease the direction change, allowing him to enjoy a moment of respite. Even in space, flew in high speed take toll on human body.

The Nemo broke free its initial approach, accelerate and flew straight to Tyler’s position. In silence Randy watched his target in the HUD as the distance growing less and less. He ignored the lock-on-target tone and continued his pursuit, deciding that he could afford a few more seconds to track down this one. And then it happened. Just when Randy matched his speed, Tyler’s Hizack caught in an awkward moment after evading a beam attack. Its side burnt by the second beam attack. Randy seized the opportunity and fired three times in a calculated spread at Tyler.

(( Al edited post below ))

[Wedge14]

[Pan Heyden]

Pan slammed on his brakes and juked to the left as he saw the bulky beam launcher coming his way. Wolf was probably expecting him to close the gap, but now since the Titan decided it was time to lose his gun, Pan wasn't going to play fair.

Well that was the plan, but Pan wasn't expecting that gun to explode. As Ritter fired Pan instinctively moved back to the left expecting the shots to be aimed at him. The exploding gun caught Heyden off guard, but didn't prove to do much damage.

Ritter was probably better then he gave himself credit for as he was suddenly on top of Heyden, beam saber going for the kill. Pan angry that he fell for such an obvious trick, hit his thrusters violently barely getting his rick dias and himself out alive. He pushed back trying to get some distance he had previously tried to get rid of as he fired a bazooka round towards Ritter's unit.

[Jim MacAplin]


"Do you even know what you're fighting for??" Jim asked himself aloud before taking aim at the crippled enemy.

Jim was only sure that he was fighting for himself at the moment. This Titan wanted him dead, and Jim wasn't going to allow himself to die today. No Titan would take his life.

"Eat this!" He yelled as he started to pelt Constatine's suit with a reckless and endless barrage of beamrifle fire.

[wonton bob]

- Hamburg Team -
- P Sector -

Puzzled at the alerts from the weapon's status and its sudden automatic shut down of the cannon itself, gave Bernard an ill feeling. He could override the comp and see if it fires but decides to heed the warnings and eject the dead weight. A quick tap on the control panel detaches the damaged canon. With a hiss, wires release and the weapon floats away.

More incoming rounds are detected from Elijah's Hizack. Since he came out of a roll firing, his shots were off. With the Nemo a little faster, both beams flew harmlessly overhead but the missile zipped by the Nemo's torso and exploded behind Bernard. The Nemo arches back and then is sent flying forward. All the monitors cut to static at the initial blast as Korbel is thrown back into his seat then sent face first into the panel shattering his visor upon impact. The ache in his back is nothing compared to the searing agony in his eyes. The blood and sweat running in his eyes didn't help much. Forcibly blinking reveals nothing but a dark blur. Alarms echo in the cockpit as Bernard feels for the comm.

"Kerrrfl. Mii Eyyss Aal!" Bernard gurgles his communication to Al as blood from his nose pours down his throat.


* * * * * *

-Delta Team-
-Ltjg.Kyle Roberts-

Kyle ignored Tanner's death and instead focused on another target in the area that was picked up by his sensors. His comm came to life with Ens.Shiranui's voice.

“Lieutenant Roberts! Let’s regroup! I could still use some help here…”.

She must be frazzled if she forgot I'm only a jay-gee. Where the heck is Kamek?

"Cara--form up on me!" Kyle barked. Hopefully using an informal tone will snap her back into a better frame of mind. Kyle sees the sensor which shows the target hasn't given up its chase. Upset about your friend?

The one-armed Barzam stops and spins around to face Ramon fully extending the left arm pointing the beam saber toward Ramon. With doom looming over the situation and the chatter over the comm, it all starts to affect Ltjg. Roberts. He will not run. Nor will he be hunted like an animal for defending his home.

"C'MON! LETS GO!" Kyle roars. The Titan pilot is determined to fight to the death. He will not be taken prisoner. "WANNA SETTLE THIS! THEN LETS DO IT!"


* * * * * *

- Axis -
- Bindra Team -

Matthew briefly gained enough distance from the Marasai to transform into Mobile suit mode.

"--you Zabi-loving scum!"

Matthew smiled at the Titan's retort. The voice of his enemy had revealed a bitter old man who let his unchecked emotions lead his squad to certain death.

"Where are your comrades? Surrender Now!" Matthew claimed. Without waiting for any response, Matthew fired 2 shots from his stationary Gaza-C and pulled out a saber from the recharge rack in the shoulder binder with the left arm.

[Lans]

- Hamburg Team -
- Near P Sector -

- Alfred

Adam’s appearance bolstered the young man’s spirit. He quickly glanced at Bernard to make sure of the situation before continue to harassing Aaron, but before he could fire... A beam lanced toward his position. Shocked by this, he could only made a slight roll before the beam cut just above the Nemo right wrist and pierced the beam rifle. He saw a hole in it before it erupted from inside and blew up like a giant firecracker. Only his instinct saved him by pulling the Nemo left arm to the torso while counter rolled the Nemo to the right.

Al faced the explosion that thrown him like a ragged doll strapped in a linear chair. It last for a second or two. His screen couldn't register anything for a while, and Al failed to see that Bernard also got nailed by the Buxoro's. Before he could do anything, the warning threat warned him of incoming attack. He pulled the throttle backward, falling back at emergency speed. Not a moment too soon, a missile passed through above his Nemo. And then another missile struck something in its path and exploded couple of meters away.

The worse are yet to come. ""Kerrrfl. Mii Eyyss Aal!", Al listened to Bernard's voice in the radio. “Bernard! Hang in there!” He jumped into action, ignoring the fact that he already lost his rifle. Charging ahead at breakneck speed, he targeted Elijah using Vulcan to draw his attention. He yelled, "I won't lose another friend!" while drawing the beam saber from its socket.

(( Edit: Typos )