Episode 26 - Operation Maelstrom

[The Loser Villain]

- The Kirov -
- Hangar -

"Guess that does it," Aaron said as he finished checking his Barzam X-2 for anything that might have been planted on it, "Nobody is out to kill me... yet."

He looked around the hangar to see if anybody had been watching him. With Alpha Team's launch everybody was on standby, so it seemed that nobody was even paying the least attention to him. Figuring it was safer he'd wait for the launch order in the cockpit.


- The Buxoro -
- Hangar -

"Well, I suppose we could share sea stories. I'm probably the only One Year War vet in this outfit who isn't an ace; I started as a Boatswain's Mate, then got tossed into SAR duty, then got assigned to a GM team, then back to SAR duty, then to paperwork..."

Tim wasn't sure where Vlad was going with all of this info. They were going to launch soon and he was pouring a lot of his life out to them. Maybe he was afraid to die and wanted somebody to at least know who he was.

"I'm here for a really stupid reason," he said interrupting Vlad, "It was impulsive on my part and had I given it more thought maybe I'd be somewhere else. But I couldn't help feel betrayed at the time and all I could think of was revenge."


-The Dervish-
-Hangar-

"Well, I guess we all go port side until he's gone..." Eddie informed the Team 2 as it was there turn to launch and Adam Trask had yet to launch and held up the use of the starboard catapult.

"Copy that Eddie," Sophie said as she started to move her C-type Rick Dias to follow Marvin. Feeling that the over the shoulder cannon already added extra weight to the suit, she decided that a beam rifle would be the better choice since it weighed less then the clay bazooka and wouldn't tax her fuel.

Marvin had just taken off so the catapult had to recycle and as soon as it was ready the Rick Dias C-type was ready to go. "Sophie Coggs, C-type, launching!" The mobile suit rocketed down the catapult and off into space and Sophie made sure to form up with Eddie and Marvin fast, staying to the rear of them so she could support them with the cannon.

- Team 3 -

A couple of expletives flew over the radio from Wales Ingleshard as he tried to down a Gaza-C.

"Easy there," Terrace replied as he tried to draw a bead on the same Gaza-C that had just evaded Wales. As the target locked on to the Axis mobile suit he let a round from his clay bazooka fly.

"Got ya!" he yelled in joy as round slammed home into the left side of the Gaza-C. It seemed to linger for a moment and try to recover from the explosion that sent it off course. Terrace was ready to put another round into it and almost pulled the trigger when it exploded as it fuel tank ruptured.

- Bindra Team -

"We know how good of a shot our gunners are, let's put some distance between us and the Bindra!" LtCmdr. Graden ordered the team.

"Roger," Nikolai responded enthusiastically. Up ahead more explosions filled the area. He hopped that the explosions were AEUG mobile suits being downed by brave Axis pilots. As excited as he was to be in battle he knew this wasn't going to be an easy day.

"Lt.jg Meighan, is your Gaza operating alright?" Nikolai asked noticing that he wasn't keeping speed with the team.

[wonton bob]

- The Bindra -
- Hangar -

As soon as all the Gaza-C's launched all the lights flashed red indicating the status of the hanger had changed to a retrieval mode. Startled by the screams of the chief mechanic, Shellia dropped her soda and quickly joined the rest of the crew. Instantly teams of mechanics cleared their stations of clutter and readied themselves for whatever might be returning if anything at all...


- The Kirov -
- Hangar -

Jason carefully crept inside the hanger and took a good look around to see if Beta Team was anywhere in sight. It wasn't Ritter he was worried about but his goons who were seen roaming the ship that made him jumpy. Ritter had warned him to stay away and that's what he planned to do but those goons might act on their own. It was only a few months ago that he admired Ritter and most of the pilots on the Kirov but after witnessing their psychotic actions on the battlefield he knew it would only be a matter of time before he or Grace became a casualty of friendly fire. He tried to hang on as long as he could and even secretly testified to Tariq about the death of Ritter's father but Jason could no longer trust the organization especially now that Grace was involved and a future with her was all that mattered.

[Fritz Ashlyn]

- Near Gryps 2 -

- Alpha Team -

Stukov lowered the visor of his helmet as he plowed ahead into the heart of the floating garbage field. An Eye-Zack came into view and fled past them after nearly opening fire with its 90mm in a panic. "Oh thank God!" the pilot shuddered, his voice nearly cracking from the stress, "They're not far behind us,". "Six of them," the Russian grunted to his wingmen as his computer found each of the oncoming enemies. "Four," Dolk corrected his CO, breaking away to the left and climbing sharply. "I am seeing six, lieutenant. Check your computer," Stukov muttered, ignoring the suddenly broken formation.

Lt. Dolk forced every ounce of power out of his Griffin's thrusters and plunged ahead, the sea serpent and high output beam rifle menacingly at the ready. Several of the pink Gazas flitted into view as they picked their way through the debris chasing after the other Eye-Zack, but none of them seemed to take notice of the shadow of death that was slowly enveloping them. The blue devil dove into their midst at the far end of their ragged formation, the gossamer line of the cruel sea serpent trailing behind it. Dolk slammed his feet down on the pedals and shoved the controls, bringing the Griffin to a near-instant stop in the path of one of the rookie Axis pilots. Stone faced and ignoring the immense G-forces he immediately leveled his beam rifle and let loose, blowing the transformed Gaza-C cleanly in half as it tried to slow down and open fire.

The wide yellow beam had scarcely begun to vaporize the unfortunate young pilot when the sea serpent seemed to awaken and take on a life of its own, its long cable whipping forward to wrap snugly around the body of the closest intact enemy suit as it turned clumsily out of its pursuit path to engage Dolk. "You've been..." Dolk crooned, pausing a beat as the Zeon struggled, "Thunderstruck,". Electricity jumped from the serpent's handle down the length of wire in an instant, frying the Gaza and its pilot with high voltage. The dead and blackened mobile suit slumped away in an uncontrolled drift as the head of the serpent retracted and locked home on the handle with a snap. "Blackened is the end," Lt. Dolk commented, a smirk firmly planted on his face.

Back where Stukov was advancing with Pan, the Russian saw two of the enemy signals blank out within a second of each other. "Four..." Stukov rumbled, grudgingly giving Dolk a small nod of approval. The remaining enemies scattered wildly, their commander (if he was still alive) clearly losing control over his unit of undisciplined youngsters. In a way Stukov felt bad for them, but that would not keep him from doing his duty. "Do not allow them to catch the other EWAC unit. Driving them away is acceptable," Stukov reminded Heyden as he brought up his targeting controls. He was just getting ready to track one of the panicked suits when a pink blur crossed his field of vision. Using fully manual controls he swung the rifle's targeting reticle across the monitor with precision and fired twice. The second beam clipped the suit's legs, sending it tumbling right into a sheet of heavy construction metal where it exploded brilliantly.

"Kirov," Stukov spoke up after reluctantly switching the fleet channel back on, "I found something,".

- The Kirov -
- Bridge -

"Affirmative, sir!" Fyodor responded to the rest of Stukov's terse report. He turned around to get the captain's attention and said, "Sir, Alpha Team has engaged Axis forces to cover the Eye-Zack unit's retreat,". Trent cursed under his breath. They were going to be dragged in, just as he feared. He cleared his throat and raised his voice to order, "Launch mobile suits, but all ships hold position. I want all MS teams to advance into the debris, and for God's sake try to stay there. We don't want to get sucked into this battle - I want those EWAC Zacks or their data pods,". The bridge went to work, and Gojiro sounded the launch alarm in the hangar.

- Hangar -

"Sir, should we--" Daren asked, but Wolf quickly cut him off. "No. Let Te'Litha out first. I want him reacting to us, not the other way around," Ritter explained as he stepped his Barzam out of its rack.

[Fritz Ashlyn]

- Gryps 2 Space -

- The Dervish -
- Bridge -

"We're taking fire, captain," Jungst called out, interrupting a conversation between Abbey and Wade. Abbey looked to the monitor overhead and then out the bridge windows to the distant flashes of fire coming from the Bindra. "Return fire. I want a nice cushion of Minovsky between us while we're waiting here," he nodded, crossing his arms. "Sir," Jungst nodded, turning to his controls to notify the gunners. "All MS teams are deployed, captain," Filmore reported as the ship's guns began to fire again. "We've got to jump on them," Abbey encouraged, "Keep driving 'em back and close in on the laser,".

- Team 1 -

The Gaza-C that got lucky enough to not be blown away by Michiko's first shot tried to recover and counter, coming after her with a few hastily fired shots that sailed wide. Before the Zeon pilot could correct his aim he had to stop short to avoid a sudden death, but slowed his machine into Jacob's second shot losing his Gaza's head in the process. Michiko would indeed have finished him off given the time to come out of her evasive turn, but Fritz was on top of the Axis suit in an instant. Fritz drove a beam saber deep into the torso of the enemy that had been chasing Michiko, clanging against his suit and seeming to hover there with him for a long second before rocketing away as it exploded. "Keep moving! We're doing fine but don't let them slow us down," Fritz said as he sped up to catch up to Michiko. "I can handle it," she said with a slight frown, accelerating to stay ahead of him.

- New Yark Team -

"There's two more! Don't let 'em sneak up on you," Thibaut warned as his computer chirped for his attention. "I've got it. Stay on the others," Waclaw volunteered, sweeping out of his path to face the new threat with his shield still raised. The new pair of Gazas seemed to be confused by the lone Nemo turning to intercept them and hesitated, allowing the ensign to lay down a spread of fire and delay them further. "House, I'm with you. Let's get the first two. Ramon, you can help out Waclaw, we've got this," Thibaut said, speeding up to stay near Ethan. "Heey~! Message received!" Hard AE responded, rolling into a new course behind the ensign.

[Fritz Ashlyn]

- Gryps 2 -

- The Bindra -
- Bridge -

"Captain, we're at the edge of effective weapons range..." one of the bridge operators reported with a hint of eagerness. "Stand by to fire," Pizal responded after taking a deep breath. "Our ventral guns will have their field of fire blocked by the ship's bow and will be unable to fire from our current position, sir," Vada amended the news as he continued to work at his console. "I'm aware of that, chief," the captain nodded, leaving his standing orders in place. "Gunnery teams preparing to fire," the first crewman replied, passing along the go-ahead. "Hold position here, Mrs. Reyes," Pizal requested. The Bindra's dorsal guns finished tracking the far away targets and locked into place before spitting out a more dense hail of mega particle fire than the launch cover had been.

With the bridge windows lit up at quick intervals by the offensive output, it slowly dawned on Capt. Wald that the Trammel's MS team had yet to return. His brow knit, he called for the attention of the young comm operator and asked, "Has M'Quve given us any update on LtCmdr. Joson's team? They're getting to be overdue...".

- Julian Meighan -

"Ltjg. Meighan, is your Gaza operating alright?" Nikolai asked, causing Julian to speed up a little. "There's no need to worry about me, Tuzenbach. If I have mechanical problems I'll return to the ship," he responded. Looking ahead he realized they were advancing fast enough that they were effectively about to engage the AEUG. "Pay attention to them," he added as his computer began to pick out enemies. A squad of Nemos was the closest cluster of enemies, though one of them was making erratic movements and was either damaged or piloted by a very strange person. The next closest group was a team of Rick Diases that was quickly roughing up a unit of Gazas from the Mandra.

- Ahead of the Bindra -

"Jesus CHRIST, Cernel, what is that thing?!" Lt. Ball yelled on the team channel as he transformed and went full-tilt to get away from the blue suit that was all over them. Tannehill and Uzoma were dead in the blink of an eye and a single enemy suit was responsible. "I don't know, but don't stop moving. Johnson, Christine, don't slow down! Start working your way out of the debris and get to the ship," Joson answered, gritting his teeth at the display of raw power. "That ain't a AEUG suit, sir! I'm pretty sure the AEUG don't use those EWAC models either," Christine spoke up. Ball was doubling back to see if he could harass the unknown enemy to give the others a little time when Johnson was driven into a hunk of metal and destroyed by Stukov. "Goddammit, get out of here!" he yelled at his teammates, trying to keep himself between Dolk and Christine. "Trammel, if you can hear me, this is Joson - we're in deep shit out here! I think there's a Titans unit operating in the construction debris ahead of the formation!" Joson tried to contact their mothership to no avail. The garbage and Minovsky was too much at their range.

"Max, get the kid out of here..." Joson said, realizing how dire the situation looked after less than 30 seconds of combat. He transformed back into MS mode and flipped over to 'climb' back to the same relative level as Dolk. At least one of them had to make it out to warn the fleet.

[Inferno]

-The Herakles-
-Catapult-

Nobody needed to tell Orsino anything. The moment he heard that there was a message from the Kirov, he already moved his Hizack to the launch bay. He was chomping at the bit, with eight years of idleness to be atoned for. He heard some idle comments about extraction, and something about a recon team, but all he really processed was "Kill all resistance." After all, how did dead enemies hurt a mission?

The Hizack gripped the machine gun, with the extra drums and beam saber easily in access. The rabid dog's master was letting go of the leash. War and it's biggest fan were about to have a reunion. "Orsino Gerwulf, launching now." I'm back home. This is where I live. Not in the colonies or on Earth, just in cold black void of battle, surrounded by my enemies and my close friend Death. He cracked a smile of genuine joy. "Here I come!"

The launch threw him into a euphoric rush, the adrenaline rushing through his veins. His smile grew to ridiculous proportions as he shot out of the catapult and fired all his thrusters. "Honey, I'm home!"

[The Green Flame]

-The Herakles-
-Hangar-

Sitting in his Hizack Alex listened to the situation while deciding on his loadout for the imminent launch. Alex settled on a Machine Gun, spare drums included, and Beam Saber loadout when the order to launch came.

"Alright you heard em everyone" he said as the Hizack made its way to the catapult which had just launched the ever eager Orsino, at least he could launch with the rest of the team. Catapult resetting for the next launch, the Hizack settled itself in "Alex Weber, launching!"

Thrusters flaring, the Hizack moved to catch up with Orsino "At least wait for the rest of your team before blasting off on your own"

[Inferno]

-Gyrps 2 Space-

Did I go off on my own again? Heh, it has been a while. "Sorry about that sir." Orsino smirked as he pulled his Hizack back to meet up with Alex's. "It's had to have been years since I flew a combat mission. Can't wait to sink my fangs into something, you know?"

The monoeye was already scanning the area for enemies. Orsino could make out the flashes of beam weapons, and at some points he saw glimpses of pink MS's. "Looks like Axis is really pulling out all the stops for this one."

His eye turned to gaze upon Gryps 2, then snapped away as if he was unworthy of looking at it. "Can't blame them. I'd do anything to be able to have and hold that baby." More than anything, Orsino wanted to see the laser fire. He might never see another colony drop, but a colony laser, that would be something else entirely. Such slaughter on such a scale... Beautiful.

[wonton bob]

- Team 2 -

Upon launching Bernard oriented his Dias B-type clutching both beam pistols and rockets in the direction of team 2 already ahead of him. Quickly flickering a few buttons brings up a camera view on the monitor which he zooms in on team 1 already heavily engaged in action.

"God speed," he whispers to himself as he joins up with the rest of team 2 and keys his comm.

"They might be rookies but as a swarm they're dangerous but 'nuff said, whaddaya say we put the fear of god in them," he asks Eddie.



- The Kirov -
- Hangar -

Jason initially hesitated when the word was announced, it dawn on him that time was up and he and Grace would have to go with the only plan they could think up.
As fast as he could he leaped up to the cockpit and closed the hatch. Switching his systems on he waited for the start-up sequence to end. Closing his eyes he prayed that things would go their way.

[Inferno]

"If it's anything like what Ghiren had at A Baoa Qu, I think it's pretty important to hold on to." Marco shot out with his beam rifle in hand. "I'm pretty sure you remember what that did, right Orsino?" Marco could still remember the horror at seeing Revil and much of the fleet vaporized by Ghiren's last minute back-stab. He liked flying and fighting, but Ghiren's indiscriminate attack... That wasn't an act of war, it was cold blooded murder.

"Heh." Orsino remembered differently, recalling his false horror concealing his joy that a boring armistice was averted and he could end the war on a more proper note.

Marco looked at Orisno's Hizack and the image he painted on the shoulder. Some snake eating itself... Does this idiot have a deathwish? He turned to Alex. "We're waiting on the other rookie before moving to engage, sir."

"Assuming she's not going to break down crying like the coward she's been acting like." Orsino muttered. I almost punched his #$%&ing lights out. The least she could have done is tried to break it up. "Kid's got no hope on the battlefield if she's scared by a simple fistfight." Orsino instantly shut his mouth when Marco turned his suit to look at him with a glare that could have made Dozle Zabi cry like a baby.

[King Monkey]

- Team 1 -

The Minovsky density was getting high enough that the communication between Fritz and Michiko was starting to break up. He caught the part about moving and enough of the rest of the message to figure it out. It was more Michiko's tone than her actual words that told him what she was saying when she replied.

"I've got you covered, Sir," Jacob chimed in over the radio. He accelerated as well, picking up speed to match the two Mobile Suits ahead of him. He drew his attention away from the field directly ahead of him briefly, however to scan the entire area. There were no immediate threats coming at them from the flanks, so he put his full attention back on the people before him, his gaze going past the immediate threats, briefly to look at their ultimate goal: the colony laser.

- Ahead of the Bindra -

Djorn spotted the AEUG suits engaging the unit from one of the other Axis ships. "I've got targets, Sir," he radioed to Pris. "Shall we assist our fellow patriots and engage the enemy?"

He did not dart ahead, though his hands strained against the controls. It took a great deal of willpower not to dart ahead and take a shot. Those Nemos didn't stand a chance against him and his Gaza. It was only a matter of whether or not the other unit would be destroyed before they got there.

[Xvlai]

- Alexandria Class-Kirov –
- Hangar Bay –

Sven’s hands moved with practice as he rechecked the seals on his normal suite again. Using his free right hand he thumbed through the frequencies until he was on the teams. He had half listened to the announcement to launch but even now he could feel his adrenaline kicking in, that state of mind where everything seemed to be in a rush and yet was crystal clear. He wouldn’t mind it really. In part he was hoping that it would block out the memories of the Shower Room which remained a constant presence night and day.

His Barzam’s mono-eye thundered on as he brought the suite slightly forward but not quite leaving the rack. Eyeing the clay bazooka on the wall he transmitted to the team, “A debris zone? Sounds like a high possibility of accidents involving the enemy happening to me, luckily we have explosives which could turn that heap to slag.” He knew Elliot would be listening, but Black didn’t seem to be in the business of picking stupid henchmen, if they had a plan it would happen out there and Sven didn’t care if they knew or not.

[mcred23]

-Team 2-

Eckardy continued to move at a slow crusing speed, with Marvin following somewhat behind and well to Eddie's right. They shifted downward slightly, keeping clear of the angles of fire from the 4th's ships, as the rest of the team moved to join. Sophie's C-type Dias joined up, hanging back it was well suited to, while Bernard came up last.

"They might be rookies, but as a swarm they're dangerous, but 'nuff said, whaddaya say we put the fear of god in them?" Korbel said, his transmission slightly garbled by a few clicks and pops of static even at the close range, which also blurred the small video of the pilot.

Eckardy grinned as he keyed the team channel. "Don't get too cocky, old man. Alright, boring ol' Team 1 looks to be making a good dent in 'em," Eddie made the Rick Dias Custom wave the beam rifle at the area where Team 1 was, "So lets just follow them. Bernie, you take the lead with that B-type and if you find a nice spot for us to sweep through at the Axis ships or whatever looks good, go for it, and be ready to start dumping those missiles. Me and Marvin'll follow ya and do whatever we do, and Sophie comes last and blasts s*** with that big cannon, and we'll see how long we can pull this off." Eddie ordered hopefully, doubting unit cohesion would last very long once they got engaged.

"Roger." Marvin responded, so simply and quickly that Eddie might have mistaken the sound for random static had his face not appeared on the communications monitor and given a quick nod.

[mcred23]

-The Kalinin-
-Hangar-

The Kalinin team had been waiting in silence for several minutes, for there was nothing for them to do. The bridge could have been updating them on whatever was going on elsewhere, but it wasn't strictly necessary information, although there was no way of predicting that fact, something Bate had questioned Nguyen about a handful of times and given up on, for Nguyen wasn't going to change his stance. If it was deemed important enough by the Captain of the Kalinin, it was passed along to the team.

Finally, without warning, the communications tech appeared on the small comm screen in all of the Marasai cockpits.

"Launch."

The young man's face was gone in an instant as the hangar buzzed to life. Crew rushed away, clearing any loose gear and making sure they were out of the path of the Marasai team. They were all experianced, and like Bate, they didn't fully trust the three younger pilots either.

Bate frowned as he walked the Marasai to the elevator. "Situation? Orders?" He hissed into the comm link. Marshall Nguyen's face appeared, emotionless as ever, in everyones cockpit, but he addressed Bate.

"The Kirov sent a team to support the recon team and has engaged Axis Zeon units in a small shoal zone. We are moving in to extract the EWAC unit, or their data pods. Do not advance past the debris. Kirov wants us to avoid contact with AEUG units and the main combat zones."

Again the comm screen went black as Nguyen told them all what he felt they needed to know. Bate cut his own comm so that the rest of the team didn't hear his curses of annoyance. They already had their orders as the elevator took him up to the deck. The Marasai stepped off, allowing the elevator to bring up Runnels suit as Bate locked into the catapult. As the head of the second Marasai began to emerge from the Salamis Kai's hangar, Bate was given the green light. "Alpha Bate, launching." He grunted before his Marasai was became a thruster flare moving away from the ship.

Runnels expertly moved her Marasai onto the catapult as it recycled, it wasn't that hard to do, as back in the hangar, Craig was slow getting his Marasai out of it's berth and onto the catapult. The delay was slight but obvious to everyone. "Janice Runnels. Marasai. Launching." She reported like her commander, and similarly showing emotion, before her takeoff from the Kalinin. In an instant, she was well away from the ship, moving to join Bate, who was waiting in a hover a short distance away.

Craig was next, having figured this part of things out for himself fairly easily. The catapult came back for him, he commanded the Marasai to step on, the catapult locked him down automatically, and he made the Marasai crouch slightly for reasons he'd never bothered to remember. Gripping the beam rifle in both hands because it was something else training had told him to do for whatever reasons, Craig got the green light. "Dwayne Craig! Marasai! Away!" He yelled every word, slightly unhappy he hadn't been able to work a 'roger' into it all to mess with Hicks as he moved to join the senior members of the team. He wasn't really concerned about anything at the moment, it wasn't any different from a normal patrol...

Hicks was anxious and nervous, now even more than before. This time, the chance of combat was far greater than before, almost a certainty. But somehow, he got the Marasai onto the elevator without a problem, but that was about it. It raised the Marasai into position, but Hicks tried to step off too quickly and the mobile suit nearly tripped. Hicks managed to recover and walked to the catapult, long since reset, but couldn't get the feet locked down. It took nearly a minute before he finally got the feet into the exact position they needed to be, and they locked down. It took him another few seconds to remember to crouch slightly before he got the green light. "R-Roger Hicks. RMS-108 Marasai. R-Ready..." He stuttered, cutting his own comm channel as he was launched, which prevented everyone else from hearing his minor squeal of terror. Hicks opened his eyes to find himself a few dozen meters away, the G shock behind him. He let out a deep breath, and slowly moved to join the rest of the team as they waited for the fifth and final pilot to come along.

[Rob DS Zeta]

-The Kalinin-
-Hangar-

Arc breathed calmly as he watched the other members of the Kalinin's MS team go off. He counted them off one by one. First Commander Bate, then Runnels, then Craig, and Hicks. Now it was his turn. Finally, he would be taking the fight to the dirty Zeons.

He carefully guided his Marasai through the steps to get it on the catapult. He had almost wanted to beat his head against something while Hicks was struggling with his MS's feet, but he was too tense. Now was not the time for silliness. He had to stay focused.

Finally, he locked the Marasai's feet in position. Putting the MS into a crouch, he watched his dash eagerly for the green light. When it flashed green, he opened his comm.

"Arc Sunoue. Marasai. Launching!" he announced before being thrown out into space. The walls of the ship blew by him so fast that he could barely register them as he went. Then it was just him, his Marasai, and space. A couple dozen meters ahead he spied his team. He eased his suit up behind and waited for Bate's orders.

[Ziryab]

—Axis—
—the Bindra—
—bridge—
“Holding position” Raquel chimed as she brought the ship to a halt, lowering its output and tapping bursts of retro. Any further comment from her was held in mouth by the captain's mention of the Joson team. She turned to the digital numbers of the operation's clock and tried to remember when first mention of Joson's pullback came.

The equation caused her lips to pucker inward sourly. And any signal from them was likely drowned out by the increasing Minovsky particles. We're any among Joson's veterans? Maybe not. Their numbers were small enough as it was, and more so when compared to how many green Axis pilots where now undergoing their first battle.

She should her head, mentally writing off Joson's team.


—ahead of the Bindra—
Unsullied greenhorns and death dealing veterans, Pris harshly cut her eyes at bursts of spheroid explosions, their rapidity changed and sped her mental calculations brought upon by Djorn's question.

"TSK!" Forgone conclusion either way, she hissed to herself; her minds saw all roads ending in both the Nemo and Rick Dias squads doubling up on her team with half of them (the Rick Dias) probably being hardened pilots.

"Been answered for us!" Her Gaza-C 'leapt' at the dispersing beam fire from a Nemo that went wide. Dissatisfied, she grunted at the machine upon noticing it flew towards them shield first.

"Loop back and thrust, Djorn!" She quickly commanded as her own Gaza-C already in mobile suit mode began to flip in a loop, pointing its head at Waclaw's Nemo while pointing the beamcannon at him.

"Keep them all in front and chomp," shots from her beamcannon intending to corral Waclaw back to his team punctuated her order. "Commander--eweryone," announcing even though the others already knew. "Four Nemo engaging and four Rick Dias soon arrive!"
((Unaimed fire at Waclav))

[wonton bob]

- Team 2 -

"Don't get too cocky, old man."

Bernard smiled at Eddie's response.

Bernie, you take the lead with that B-type and if you find a nice spot for us to sweep through at the Axis ships or whatever looks good, go for it, and be ready to start dumping those missiles.

Catching up to Eddie's Dias, Bernard gets a clear visual of the pilot. "Roger that," he acknowledges.

Finally. I get to see just how fast these things really are

Using the stick he flexes the verniers before firing them up to full acceleration and boosts away from the team in an arc near team one's location where his sensors immediately picks up several enemy thruster flares nearing the New Yark team's last known position.
"Axis reinforcements approaching the New Yark team!" he alerted his squad by the comm and quickly types the message via the comp in case of heavy static.

Readying his weapon and targeting systems it seems that Bernard would have to do a fly-by and strife a few Gazas to help alleviate the pressure off of the Nemo team but the real prize was behind those Axis suits--the Bindra.

[Fritz Ashlyn]

- Near Gryps 2 -

- Alpha Team -

The area immediately around Dolk was strangely quiet after his initial assault of Joson's unit, with the three survivors either scrambling to get away or maneuvering around him to avoid drawing his attention. He was taking a moment to calmly manage the speaker controls on his arm console when an object drifted closer to him that his computer registered as being something other than debris. The sea serpent spun in his suit's hand and was deftly racked on an open spot on the Griffin's skirt armor, and the lieutenant carefully reached out and caught the drifting data pod. "...always on surveillance. The eyes, they never close..." Dolk muttered, his suit's green eyes glowing to make his point.

"--*zzz*mmel, this is Joson! *kzzt*ngaged a Titans*bkzz*--"

The suit's head menacingly turned as if to listen as an open radio communication trickled in from somewhere nearby. The computer probed the area, struggling to filter out the garbage and compensate for Minovsky interference, but after a moment or two another Gaza-C was tentatively shaded and boxed in red on his monitors. He spun in place to face it instead of changing position, interested to see how brave one of them would be after the smashing they had taken. He didn't have to wait long, as Joson's purple and yellow Gaza stumbled into the small clearing he occupied and immediately broke away when he realized how close he was to Dolk. "I see you," Dolk grinned, shooting upwards with a sudden thruster burst. He put a twist into his climb and rolled over into a turn to come back down in the direction the enemy had gone.

Stukov, meanwhile, pushed ahead into the field after splitting up with Pan. The Kirov had no doubt launched the taskforce's suits, giving him less time to operate without unnecessary interference. As he started to sweep for the surviving Axis forces, he caught a glimpse of a duo of Gazas heading away from him. "Do not make this any more difficult than it has to be," he grunted, firing a pair of barely-aimed shots to get their attention as he accelerated to give chase. One of the fleeing enemies briefly twisted around long enough to ineffectively fire back, allowing Stukov to close the gap. "Turn and fight or retreat, make up your mind!" Stukov growled as he began to fine tune his aim.

[Fritz Ashlyn]

- Gryps 2 Space -

- Team 1 -

"We're making*zkk*me room. Moving up..." Celeste reported in, scooting forward from her original firing spot to rejoin the team. She accelerated from a near stop to move closer to Jacob as he turned to fall in behind Fritz and Michiko. "I've got you covered, Sir," Jacob spoke up to add as they formed into a rough box formation. Fritz turned in his seat to check the team's flanks as his computer began to chirp for his attention again. "Eddie's bringing his people up - let's move on and let them hit the survivors here... There's a new group of enemies advancing," he told his team. He was getting ready to roll into a new heading when he noticed how far one of the Axis ships had advanced. "Scratch that--" he amended his orders, "If I know Eddie he's going to expect us to run interference so they can screen through here,". He subtly changed direction and Michiko flowed quickly behind him. "Let the Nemos back us up, and focus on the new contacts," he said, telling his targeting computer to bracket all the new enemies it had detected advancing on the New Yark team.

- New Yark Team -

Waclaw chuckled as the closest pair of Gazas advancing on him aggressively opened fire. "Got a couple of live ones here," he announced to Ramon, who sped forward to come to his aid. Waclaw kept his shield between him and the enemy as he cut speed and used his verniers to juke sideways out of the bulk of Pris' initial attack. "And more of 'em coming. Heads up, guys," the ensign added when he realized Pris and Djorn were backed up by at least 4 other Gazas. "Say, say, say! 10 on 4 isn't very fair!" Hard AE protested, "Okaay! Fall back to receive support from the Rick Diases! Hooo~!". Waclaw and Hard AE split apart to turn in different directions, making themselves harder targets as they worked their way back in the direction of Thibaut and House.

Thibaut had just fired at one of the original pair of Gazas he and Ethan had chased down when the new orders came through. "D-did you say 10 on 4? Where are they getting all of these things?" he gulped, breaking off his attack to join the rest of his team in a more defensive formation. "12 on 4 if the ones Team 1 was hammering make it over here and we don't get any help..." Waclaw grunted, firing several unaimed shots back in Pris' direction.

[Fritz Ashlyn]

- Gryps 2 -

- The Bindra -
- Bridge -

"Do what you have to do, Wald. I don't want you to move from that spot until my mobile suit team is back - something strange is going on," M'Quve frowned. Like Pizal he was not wearing a normal suit, but unlike the Bindra's captain he was very dapper in his own custom uniform instead of a standard Zeon officer's togs. The commander of their little fleet calmly crossed his legs and added, "Once I get that fool Bacon under control and those reinforcements arrive, we'll establish dominance in this field and repel the attack,". "Reinforcements, sir?" Wald asked, confused by the potential revelation but encouraged by the prospect nonetheless. "Indeed. Mistress Haman is holding some of our forces in reserve - I've sent a request for... assistance... to the flagship," M'Quve answered, a hint of a smirk on his lips. Wald straightened up and squared his shoulders confidently, "Excellent, sir. We'll hold here,".

As the connection closed, the idea that M'Quve may have been stretching the truth a little to keep the Bindra fighting bravely didn't enter the captain's mind.

- Julian Meighan -

"Attack them! Quickly, before they clump together," Julian urged, still not doing much himself to help. He did, however, speed up enough to finally join the rest of the team properly as they prepared to attack. After Pris opened fire on Waclaw and Ramon, he decided to put on a show and added to the attack with some lazy support fire with his own knuckle buster. The vast majority of the shots were far off the mark, but gradually they crept close enough to the Nemos to help Pris accomplish her goal of corralling the enemy squad back into formation.

- Joson Team -

"That's right, follow me you bastard," Joson muttered, swallowing hard. He was sweating bullets as he watched the blue monster dive down to pursue him, and he rolled around a jagged piece of debris to keep his enemy from getting a clear shot at him. Still on a completely open channel in the hopes of piercing the interference, he broadcast again, "Trammel, this is LtCmdr. Joson. I've engaged a Titans MS team in the debris field - requesting assistance,". A blocky yellow beam flashed past on his right, causing him to jerk away and cut off his call for help. He got a better look at the suit chasing him when a small window popped up in his forward monitor, showing the Griffin coming after him cradling an Eye-zack data pod tucked in the crook of its arm like it was carrying a football. "Gotta give Max more time to get out of here..." he said to himself, cutting speed momentarily to throw his suit into a rough climb before rocketing ahead again at full acceleration. Another pair of beams streamed by, both blindingly close as they seemed to miss by mere meters. "Are you trying to hit me or not?" Joson growled, transforming into MA mode. He swept the nose of his suit around to charge the Griffin only to find that it was no longer behind him. "What the--?!" he said through gritted teeth.

WHAM

Dolk shoulder charged the Gaza-C from the side, and one of the long shoulder spikes pierced the right 'leg' of Joson's suit blowing it off at the middle joint and sending him tumbling away. Joson fought to regain control as his Gaza rammed into a piece of debris, sending it further into an uncontrolled spin. By the time he righted himself and fully regained control, the Griffin had seemingly disappeared again. "Damn you! Stop toying with me!" Joson demanded, coaxing some speed out of his battered suit.

Where Max and Christine were trying to escape from Stukov and Pan, Lt. Ball cursed under his breath when he realized what a mistake it had been to slow down and turn to fire at his pursuer. "Christine, keep moving! Get out of the debris and make a run for the closest ship; we've got to warn the fleet!" he called out to his young wingman, hoping he could hear the entire message. "Y-yes sir," the junior pilot responded, the terror plainly apparent in his voice. "All right... Let's see what I've got left in the tank," Ball said quietly as he decided what he had to do. Joson had split away from him and Christine to give them a shot at escape. Now he had to do the same to give the kid a realistic chance at making it out of the garbage field. "That's far enough!" the Zeon veteran growled at Stukov as he cut across Christine's tail to head off the Griffin. He fired several shots to make it clear he was turning to take a stand, and the Griffin seemed to slow down as if its pilot was acknowledging what he was trying to do.