Episode 28 - Passage to Tartarus

[Ouroboric]

" The Zabi's and Deikun did'nt exactly see eye to eye ideologically though, i suppose ideologies always change, for better or worse. And I'm sure that pilot was simply a product of his circumstances, things will never be as clear cut in reality as we all hope.There have and probably will be countless newtypes on both sides between earth and space, after all we are all human, and just because one has evolved physically, doesn't mean that they can see the full picture yet, and understand their rightful place in the world, fruitless ideas like democracy will only keep the weak in charge, and the the evolved confused about their own path, hence why i believe that Zeon must overcome the federation ". Beyond Zeon, he felt that was the goal, Humanity must evolve, once Newtypes were in power, an aristocracy based on merit could be imposed, and with the heightened intuition of this new master race, people could focus on positive change, supporting only the best of the species, rather than holding back the strong for the comfort of the weak.

"I would hope that once we defeat the Titans and AEUG that a new era led by newtypes could usher in,i would prefer that those who have been blessed with that evolution would take their rightful place beside Zeon, and not in opposition. I know that's just wishful thinking though."He explained. He was getting anxious to go, it had been years since he had worked with the Zeon suppression force on the moon, in order to quell rebellious factions within the civilian population. "Headmaster Geraldo, your blood was spilled so i could arrive to this point, it won't be in vein, nor will your blood be the last that i spill in order to cleanse this world", he thought, humoring his own fantasies of newtype communication with the dead, of course a foolish man so blinded by federation rhetoric would of never become a newtype anyways.

[Scorpius7692]

"It will probably be a long time before your wishful thinking is made reality, but let's serve valiantly in the name of Zeon now so that reality can come true sooner." Jules said, suddenly feeling a little more respect for Astor Grange.

Jules pondered whether he should even continue this conversation. He had wanted to become calm, yes, but this conversation was making him too calm and relaxed. The clarion call to war to begin at any second. He had to be ready when it did.

And he had no doubt in his mind that it would.

[Ouroboric]

" Indeed", Astor briefly responded."Can you all really help me reach this goal though?, with a child as a figure head, i sometimes wonder if floating around in the asteroid belt has suffocated any kind of reason beyond Zeonic pride?"Astor wondered in his head. "An enemy of my enemy is my alley", that saying alone could describe his relation with Zeon, and while the nationalist and anti-equality sentiment had made him initially respect Zeon, years of pondering and waiting for a chance to act had left him slightly disillusioned with his allies.

[Fritz Ashlyn]

- Gryps 2 Space -

- The Dervish -
- Bridge -

"No change, sir," Jungst muttered over his shoulder to the captain, who was still studying the movements of the Axis unit on the overhead monitors. "Yes... Interesting how they seem to be ignoring force multipliers," Abbey responded, thinking aloud. The trio of ships that had broken away from the protective bulk of their main line was smaller and lighter than the three Endra-class warships ominously lingering beyond them. Instead of a full attack they were sending in an advance force, and from a pure numbers standpoint they had the advantage against Eckardy's and Sumitani's teams. Eight AEUG mobile suits backstopped by a single Salamis Kai were now waist deep in a small swarm of Gaza-Cs - at least a dozen thruster flares by his count before the area had turned into a furball - that had their own Endra-class and a pair of smaller gunships.

Yes, by the numbers it looked almost borderline foolish on his part to respond to their opening thrust with a single ship and two teams of MS. But wars are not fought on paper. Unless that unit was fielding multiple teams of combat veterans, they were in for a nasty surprise. Abbey rested his gloved hands on his hips and saw the blob of confirmed enemy units begin to overlap with friendly IFF signals. Of course, he had considered that the Zeon were doing precisely what he didn't expect from them, and even now it was possible that his pilots were in too deep to be recalled if they were engaged by a dozen expert War vets. Based on what he had seen from Axis in his brief time fighting and studying them, that was a very distant danger. Their most hardened men were needed elsewhere, even at Gryps. The Radish and the Argama demanded the attention of their best, not the 4th. And at the moment, he would have bet his mortal soul that any of his Rick Dias pilots were worth any four Gaza-Cs.

"Capt. Loweno is requesting permission to make for that Axis unit, sir. I... I think he wants to break off and attack them," Jane's voice brought him out of his thoughts, and she was obviously a little surprised at his over-the-top boldness. Abbey turned to her, a look of mild disbelief on his face, and responded, "Like hell! Tell André to stay in position off our flank,". He considered it further for a brief moment, and then added carefully with an exasperated sigh, "Tell him he's allowed to deviate off his current position within point six of our field to respond to the enemy, within his limited discretion. LIMITED DISCRETION. And remind him that discretion is usually the product of a sane mind,". "Yes, sir," Jane nodded. Abbey cursed under his breath and deliberately turned to look out of the forward viewports to limit his view of the Hamburg to peripheral movement. "If that moron gets himself killed, I'll murder him," he said quietly to Wade, shaking his head.

Wilson turned his bulky helmet slightly to respond, but Filmore interrupted them as he nearly shot out of his seat. "CAPTAIN," he sputtered, furiously typing at his controls, "IT'S THAT MOBILE SUIT--". One of the larger screens in the bank above their heads switched to a computer display of the forward area near Team 1. M-156 burned hatefully in a spot within their sensor range, causing Abbey's breath to catch in his chest. He turned to Drew, who was still peering out at the Zeon ships, and ordered, "Get that damn Anaheim doctor up here, NOW,".

- Hangar -

"Everybody take it easy for a few," Sager said as the cockpits finished cycling for the last time, a relative quiet settling in in the hangar. There was still the background noise from the battle-related activity going on, and the ever-present rumble of the ship's engines and guts, but now that the Dervish had launched her MS the cavernous hangar was somewhat calm again. Chief Polk hooked his boot on a railing so that he floated in place perpendicular to a catwalk, and looked 'down' at his crew and work area recovering from the fleet's vigorous launch procedures. Now the wait began. He reached up and rubbed his neck through the thick seal of his normal suit, trying to work out the stiffness that was creeping in. He'd lead his crews through more than a few battles, so why did this one feel so weird?

Down below the head mechanic's temporary perch, Dr. M, notebook in hand, had planted himself firmly in front of the largest monitor in the hangar to watch the battle unfold. He had only just opened it and jotted down a few short thoughts when one of the bridge crewmen whose name he did not know elbowed his way into the small crowd packed around him. "Uh, Dr. Merkwürdigliebe?" the young man asked, butchering his surname only slightly, "Capt. Abbey wants you on the bridge,". "Oh?" the doctor asked, not looking away from the monitor or his writing, "I suppose there's some issue with, eh, one of the Rick Do-- Rick Diases?".
Drew fidgeted, hesitant to talk around so many hangar crew about the reason he had been sent to hunt for Dr. M. "No, doctor. We've, uh... We've got a potential sighting of that mobile suit y--" he began to answer in a roundabout way, but the AE designer spun around to face him as soon as the words "that mobile suit" left his mouth. "I see," Dr. M said, snapping his notebook shut and rising from his unsteady seat on a squat container, "Lead the way,".

- The Hamburg -
- Bridge -

"Hard to port," Capt. Loweno commanded the helm, a lopsided, conspiratorial smile spreading across his face as he turned away from the comm station. "Limited discretion," he shrugged away Lt. Stalvern's inquisitive look. The ship began to turn and slowly peel away from the stationary 4th Squadron, and Loweno could feel the renewed rumble of the ship's engines working running through the deck. He glided to the bridge windows and eagerly watched the light show that was ramping up where friendly suits had already met the Axis feelers. He intended to move the ship to a position that was slightly more exposed and separate from the Dervish and New Yark that would let him more directly engage the Axis ships and mobile suits without putting the Hamburg herself in direct danger... Well, not TOO direct. The enemy would have to have a serious breakthrough to take a run at them, and the ships would be firing through thick interference.

In the meantime, they could set up in a nice firing position and take annoying shots at those Axis vessels. "We've reoriented, sir. Slowing into our new position," Stalvern announced as the view of space stopped its slow swirl. "Good. Hold up here, and make sure the observers and gunnery teams are ready to work," Loweno nodded, heading for his command chair. A beam among the myriad others ahead of them caught his attention for a split second, but he quickly dismissed the thought that struck him. It looked too much like any other mega particle beam to be from whatever hit them near that debris field during Maelstrom.

- Team 1 -

A sharp volley of beam fire rushed past Fritz courtesy of Jacob, who seemed to be getting more and more agitated. He'd have to stay close to him to keep him from doing something foolish. Besides those M-156 units, there was at least one team of Hizacks making their way closer that he knew he couldn't ignore. Putting on blinders was an easy way to a quick death. He'd seen his share of pilots in the last days of the war hone in on an enemy so much that they were needlessly killed by another they hadn't even seen as soon as they took out their target. Fritz' vision drifted to the Hizacks as he estimated their speed and direction, and when he looked back to the Griffins a second later a third one had emerged at high speed from... somewhere behind the lead two, accompanied by a loud burst of mostly-static across the radio that was likely a yelled threat.

He hesitated for a moment. Something about that broken up, bellowed message struck him as familiar, as strange as it sounded. He couldn't even make out two clear adjacent syllables, and yet... He didn't have time to consider it further, as the sheer speed of the Griffins put them well within effective weapons range at an uncomfortable rate. The one Jacob had fired at before took aim and retaliated again, this time his shots more well aimed and deliberate. Before he could yell a warning to Markado, the most erratically moving among them let loose with a rifle shot of his own at the young pilot.

Fritz readied his suit's clay bazooka, bringing up the targeting controls as the enemy team seemed to be nice enough to ignore him for the time being. For this outing he had decided to pester Sager into having one of his teams load mixed magazines. His first shots would be explosive, but after that he'd be firing scatter rounds. Putting some distance between his suit and the others in Team 1, he tried to boost ahead a bit to divide Alpha's attention as he drew a bead on Dolk's mobile suit and fired a single bazooka shot.

- Al -

Al froze for a moment, his mind taking a long second to process the sudden explosion of activity their team was dealing with. Kou was being fired upon by at least four enemy suits, but had yet to ask for assistance; as far as he could tell his team leader was doing fine on his own as he broke formation to return fire. He panicked until he located Paris, who was doing her best to deal with the attention of the Kwire Gazas. "I'm right behind you!" he called out, ignoring the pounding at his temples and the queasy feeling that was rising up in his stomach. He slowed briefly, staying in his GM pose to track Ens. Moore's Gaza before letting loose a three shot burst at the distracted enemy.

[Fritz Ashlyn]

- Dolk -

When Dolk saw that their new friends were in range, he flipped his Griffin back 'upright' and hung back as Stukov and Pan opened fire on the cannon toting Rick Dias among them. He scanned the others, looking for his own target, and noticed one of them sliding away to come at Alpha from a different angle. "One mile over we'll be there and we'll see you," Dolk babbled, stopping his absentminded drumming to grab the controls and send his suit into an acute climb. His targeting system plucked the Rick Dias from the background noise and the reticle hovered above it. "I will remember you," he said, his Griffin bucking sideways to avoid the rocket that was suddenly fired at him, "Your silhouette will charge the view of distant atmosphere,".

"Call it morning driving through the sound, and even in the valley--" he droned, firing a pair of large beam rifle shots at Fritz' MS. The S-Type Dias rolled out of the way in time to avoid them, but Dolk used the instant of intervening time to boost closer. His sea serpent slithered into the suit's left manipulator but stayed dormant there for the time being as he shifted the beam rifle to track Fritz. Another Rick Dias fanned out behind the first - Michiko fired an explosive rocket and a beam pistol shot in an effort to force him to keep his distance - and he dipped into a sort of head first slide to pass beneath her fire to maintain his press on Fritz.

- Wolf -

"Until he follows us, consider this a free-fire zone. There are no friendlies here," Wolf ordered, his team still headed straight for the flank of the distracted Axis unit. There were clearly engaged with the AEUG already, making Beta's rapid approach even more abrupt and surprising. They had no assistance. They were at the far end of Echo's operational area. Multiple people within their own fleet wanted Wolf dead. Daren swallowed hard and gripped his controls tighter. They hadn't been noticed yet, despite what looked like long-range fire coming from the radome-equipped Barzams far behind them. Their quiet approach couldn't last much longer, as they neared the edge of those warships' visual weapons range. "Don't stop moving. If you require assistance, call for it," Ritter rasped, rocketing ahead of them into a turn that adjusted his course to follow the direction the furball was rolling, "I need both of you alive for the end of this,".

"Well," Nwosu considered, "I suppose that's intended to be comforting,". He brought up his weapons screen and began tracking the closest targets, the Gazas from the Mudra. His Marasai was slower than his superiors' experimental Barzams, but he had done an admirable job of keeping up and staying close alongside Sven during the wild trip.

[Fritz Ashlyn]

- Gryps 2 Space -

- The Bindra -
- Bridge -

There was a sort of collective wince on the bridge as the Mudra and her escort ships slammed headlong into the thin AEUG defense that had been sent to counter them. "No change in orders from the Trammel," Vada reported. It was unnecessary, the captain realized, because M'Quve was likely to contact him personally when they were ready to move again. Part of him wanted to send his mobile suit team out NOW, to help Finalan's detachment sweep the small AEUG force aside so they could strike at the enemy's ships, but he didn't dare disobey M'Quve's orders during an operation of this magnitude. If they were going to take back the laser and secure Princess Mineva's victory, they'd have to follow their orders and not commit themselves to foolishly heroic acts. He turned to speak to Raquel but froze, the intended small talk vanishing from his mind as he saw a distant (but clearly approaching) bunch of thruster flares far off their port side.

"Vada, what is that?" he demanded, thrusting a finger at the oncoming mobile suits, "Have the observation crews fallen asleep? Find out what's going on!". Vada and a couple of the other crewmen on the bridge went to work, barking orders at observers and calling up magnified sensor views to get some idea of what was headed their way. "We're not certain," Vada answered a few tense moments later as a blurry shot of the trio appeared on a large monitor, "But it looks like a Marasai and two other Titans MS that appear to be Barzams,". Wald folded his arms and looked at their projected flight path. They were headed right for the growing battle ahead of the Mudra, and judging by the Bindra's slow reaction, they hadn't been spotted yet. "Warn Capt. Finalan and give a heads-up to our Gaza team. We may have to engage soon..."

- Ball -

Ball was typing simple commands into his computer during the tense wait the team was in for, highlighting AEUG mobile suits and preparing certain custom weapon and transformation controls beforehand to speed up his reaction time, when Gina contacted him to warn about the wandering Titans team. He switched back to the team channel, thankful that they were all still fairly close to each other so that interference wouldn't play havoc with his voice. "Attention, everyone. I've just been told by control that there's at least three Titans mobile suits far off the unit's port flank that's heading for the Mudra and that delightful engagement going on ahead of us," he began, trying to figure out the enemy's purpose while he was still relaying the message to his own men, "If it's just three MS, they might be more dangerous than they look. If we're not sent after them then I'll be very surprised,". He glanced to his left, where the Gazas from Bacon's ship looked to be champing at the bit even more than the Bindra team.

From his time in the Trammel fleet and the Axis military in general, he knew Rudd Bacon was characterized with a short temper and very little capacity for patience. If he didn't jump in early and screw something up at Gryps, it would be a minor miracle. But now it looked like about the right time for Wald or M'Quve to send somebody up to help Finalan. So why so quiet from the command ship?

[Cardi Doorl]

- Titans Taskforce Echo Vicinity -
- Alexandria-class Kirov -
- Combat Bridge -

Trent had risen from his command chair and was surveying through field glasses as mobile suit forces from three sides ground inevitably into each other. Distant streaks, blooms, and flares from the broader battle lit up and died out all over his field of vision, but Trent’s concentration was fixed on his own task.

“Delta Team, take some shots at their cruisers. I don’t want them feeling safe here.”

- Delta Team -

”Rockets!”

Kyle’s warning might not have been necessary, considering the enemy attack came from extreme range, but it was appreciated nonetheless. Leandro dipped down and to the left as the attack sailed by over his shoulder. It was a surprisingly well-placed shot, all things considered. The attacker was, after all, using a mobile not equipped for long-range warfare.

“They won’t waste ammo like that for long, I don’t think,” Leandro said as Trent’s command came in. “Aye, capitán. You heard that, Kyle?”

Leandro only had to cycle his target upward for his radome to start feeding targeting data for the New Yark itself. “This should shake them.” He fired a red bolt at the Salamis cruiser.

* * *

- AEUG 4th Squadron Vicinity -
- Alpha Team -

Stukov took his Griffin into an abrupt ascent, allowing Jacob’s second volley to just barely sail under its feet. He continued on this new vector, taking him “above” the AEUG suits. He drew his beam saber into his left hand as he did so.

It was clear there were merely four Rick Diases in the immediate vicinity - good enough for Alpha Team. Not far off to the left flank, though, was another Dias Team engaging the Herakles Hizacks. “Nunavut supports Herakles,” he murmured. Alpha Team had no need for the auxiliary Hizack trio.

Just as Stukov spoke the last syllable in the brief order, the Griffin with the hammer-and-sickle insignia redirected to a sharp downward angle at Team 1. Dolk had honed in on the apparent lead Dias - that would be his kill. Stukov cycled targets away from the cannon unit to the regular Dias working alongside the lead and zeroed in on that. At this point the Russian was close enough that some of the details on the forward Diases were growing visible. The heavy beam rifle filled the cockpit with a harsh yellow light as it fired at Michiko, the Griffin never letting up speed as it careened forward. Alpha Team and their Team 1 counterparts would soon be at close range.


- Nunavut Team 1 -

The three Hizacks from the Nunavut had already shifted direction in response to Stukov’s command, likely to be the last they receive directly from him, considering Alpha Team was now in deeply engaged with the enemy’s high-performance mobile suits.

Herakles was already entangled with, and outnumbered by, Nemos and Rick Diases as Nunavut Team 1 approached.

Iarocci was not enthusiastic about taking on AEUG Diases, but the Nemos were the closer enemy anyway. As Herakles Team launched its counterattack, Iarocci’s men moved in to follow a short distance behind and below them.

Iarocci shouldered his machine gun and opened fire on the pair of Hard AE and Thibaut. Chandekar and Komorowski followed suit with their own machine guns.

[Cardi Doorl]

- AEUG 4th Squadron Vicinity -
- Refit Transport Ship Zarm -
- Bridge -

“What the hell!?”

It wasn’t clear who’d blurted that out when Echo’s Iota Team opened fire on the Zarm. All three shots raked just by the dorsal hull, leaving long scorches but not piercing the armor.

“Titans? All the way out here?” the ship’s captain couldn’t restrain himself from blurting his first thought.

The rookie crew got off lucky thanks to Minovsky targeting interference, but that luck certainly wouldn’t hold out. After all, the Zarm was little more than a large freighter hastily refit for military duty to maximize Zeon’s MS carrying capacity for the Gryps recapture operation. It had a small number of anti-MS guns, but it certainly wasn’t up to the task of surviving long on its own against mobile suits.

The meager CIWS gear on the Zarm swiveled around and opened fire on the approaching Marasais. Meanwhile, the bridge was a scene of barely-contained chaos as Lt. Idown, the young skipper, tried to maintain some professionalism.

“Identified at least three Titans Marasais incoming. Another four approaching the forward Gaza teams and… Barzams?”

“Pull us in closer to the Mudra!” Idown’s hands constantly tightened into fists and relaxed, only to start again, while his voice was more of a shout than he’d wanted it to be, “Request support fire, and mobile suit support! These Titans are flanking us!”

The communications officer, in a fit of panic, forgot his training - finished only recently anyhow - and sent individual support requests to all ships in the Trammel sub-unit, as well as a general distress signal. The helmsman took the ship into its slow curve closer to the better-equipped Mudra.

- Zarm Team -

If the pilots of Zarm Team had been more experienced, they would have recognized that Kou wasn’t just evading their attacks: he was doing so almost casually. As it was, all they could see was that their target wasn’t dead yet, so they needed to keep shooting.

“Get in close!” snarled team leader Ltjg. Tek, who had Ens.Lebim following on his heels. “It’s four to one now! We can suffocate him easily!”

Ens. Norlan, meanwhile, had become Kou’s target. He cut left in a jerky evasive move and lucked out; Kou’s shots only sheared off part of Norlan’s right shoulder plate rather than landing a solid kill. He and Kelof both switched to mobile armor mode and picked up speed to close the distance with their target while firing their dual beam guns.

Tek and Lebim, both their Gazas still in MS mode, advanced in a slightly different vector. They fired intermittent knuckle buster shots, while Tek drew his beam saber into his left hand.

[Tangerine]

-Team 3-

Irene saw her rounds nearly found their mark and she got Delta Team’s attention. Ironically, from her point of view now the Titans shifted their attention to the New Yark cruiser. “Oh, just great...,” Irene muttered to herself. From bad to worse.

Now that her target already spotted her Dias there's no way she could score a hit against them. Trask’s transmission punched through the interference and as quickly as she could she chased the rest of her team.

On her way she radioed her team as she was uncomfortable about the Barzams. "We need to fend off those long range suits somehow before somebody get hurt. At this point they got clear shot at New Yark,” and then she spotted another Hizacak Team making a run to the already crowded air space. "Watch out enemy reinforcement. Detecting more Hizack. 3 of them."

Approaching from 3 o'clock direction Irene found herself making a good angle against Marco and brought up her bazooka. She fired her clay shot once at Marco when Alex’s Hizack suddenly crossed her crosshair and Dias' targeting system acquired another lock. What's the hurry? she thought about the hurried Hizack and fired her beam pistol twice at Alex.

[blind_dead_mcjones]

-Hamburg team-

"right!" replied paris as she juked her nemo around to avoid the barrage of beam shots, feeling a mix of joy that al was helping out and anxiety that he might be overexerting himself.

taking advantage of the situation she let go of her shield, backpedalled a bit then flew under it, taking aim at the underside of Emmers' transformed gaza as the shield was perforated into tiny pieces

as the targeting reticule hovered over the suit she pulled the trigger, two carefully aimed beams sent streaking toward the Gaza-C

-team 3-

"We need to fend off those long range suits somehow before somebody get hurt. At this point they got clear shot at New Yark.....Watch out enemy reinforcement. Detecting more Hizack. 3 of them."

"wonderful" wales replied sarcastically "those blue M-156 things are getting a little too close as well"

"alright!" trask yelled in frustration "just give me a minute"

"we don't have a minute" retorted wales "we're about to get swamped on two fronts and you're having us waste time sitting here taking potshots at them!"

trask opened his mouth to say something but thought better of it, the situation was approaching clusterf*** but arguing was only going to make matters worse, it didn't help that he wasn't used to being in a command position. a small text window opening up on his screen drew his attention. it had been sent by wes

++ spilt into two groups, one to intercept, and the other to support team 1 then regroup with a pincer maneuovre++

trask didn't like the sound of this, but it was better than no plan at all.

"orders from wes, here's what we're gonna do. kawamura, you take ingleshard, intercept those hizacks then go looking for the barzams you mentioned. wes and I will move forward to plug the gap and give team 1 some breathing room against those blue suits" he paused for a bit "when the word 'Normandy' is given you sweep around, head back to us and hit the blue suits from behind. ready? move!"

as soon as trask finished he and wes broke formation, going straight ahead while aiming at alpha "team 1 be advised, firing for effect in your direction." trask informed them before pulling the triggers three times in alternating order rather than both cannons at the same time, firng at stukov then dolk, dolk then stukov, and finally the last two at heyden.

(OOC: bunnying wes a bit to keep things moving along)

[wonton bob]

- Titans Taskforce Echo Vicinity -
- Delta Team -

"Roger that," Kyle replied taking a look at the extra data from his radome. Adjusting for Minovsky interference, he aimed his beam launcher at the New Yark and fired.



- Iota Team -

Grant was disappointed when the Transport ship took no hits and saw it maneuver closer to get cover fire. "Split up to divide their fire and sink this thing!" he barked to his subordinates. Grant's Marasai roared in full speed drawing fire from it's small number of anti-MS guns which nipped at his heels. He hooked his suit back to come in on the Transport's starboard and fired twice.

Jason hesitated before moving in, he was worried about getting deeper in enemy territory with Grace and having no way out but he figured the faster they sink the ship the faster they can move on. Working the pedals he accelerates toward the Transport's portside zig-zagging to avoid the ship's anti-guns. Guided by the on-board comp he aimed dead center and fired when a lock signal was attained.


* * * *

- Team 2 -

Bernard's HUD showed 2 Gazas break off and approach on an intercept course. A passing thought entered his mind about the Axis pilot he encountered but it had to take a back seat as both Gazas had opened fire.

The B-type jetted forward and used its thrusters to boost right to avoid one shot, raising his left beam pistol he quickly returned fire, then instantly dove in full acceleration to escape the second shot. While passing underneath he opened up on the other Gaza with the phalanx gun.

* * * *

- AEUG 4th Squadron Vicinity -
- Kwire Team -

Ltjg. Emmers instinctively rolled to the side dodging a beam but loses sight of the other. "I can't. I can't--" he blurts out. The surprised pilot desperately looks at his monitor when suddenly the whole cockpit shakes.
Indicators on the monitor highlight a damaged right claw. Emmers rapidly shuts down power to that area stopping the electrical static covering the stump.

Ens. Moore smiled as he saw Paris' Nemo fumbling around and thought he might actually be able to get his first kill as his comp confirmed a target lock on her Nemo. He was so eager that he almost missed the alarms warning him of incoming fire. A white light on the monitor blinded Moore as one of Al's beam tore through his left shoulder binder. Panicked, he backed away screaming in terror from the other two shots. One clipping his left hip.

Aldrich and Kell sat watching the events unfold and immediately jumped in to save their comrade. "Moore! Fall back, we'll cover you!" Kell assured his frightened team mate. Both Gazas with guns raised flew in front of Moore, shielding him from any other shots, firing their knuckle busters at Al's Nemo.

Emmers at this time was able to reassess the situation and fired a volley at Paris more so to keep her distance before deciding to link up with Ens. Moore.

[Attomoku]

Gamma Team

Lt. Te'Litha

Nick took his time for once, here near the end, watching the ebb and flow of things. He knew that Wolf wanted him to follow, and Ritter had chosen good bait with the thought of killing all those Zeon wretches that would be around him. But, he also knew not following Wolf instantly would just infuriate daddy's boy more and make him more prone to err when the time came. Besides, despite his snake whispering in his ear, he'd managed to rationalize that there were plenty of Zeeks out here waiting to be wiped out, and Wolf couldn't get all of them, so Nick was gonna' take his sweet time in getting around to taking care of Ritter.
In the meanwhile Nick was going to actually do his job. He and the rest of Gamma had coasted in the shadow of the Nunavut Team but now Nick lit out and accelerated. As he did, he spotted a pair of funny looking Dias break towards Alpha's engagement and the one with a pair of overslung cannons open fire towards the mad Russian's team. Nick unleashed a stream of 120mm hail towards the two to cut them off as he started to close the gap. "Can't have that, can we? New guy, Hepburn, keep 'em bottled up! Then take 'em out!"

((OOC: Firing towards Trask))


Iota Team

Ltjg. Kelborn

Grace let out a sound of mild disappointment that their initial attack failed considering they had gotten this close undetected. While the computer attempted to recalibrate for the level of interference she followed Grant in for a second run on the Axis transport. While Grant went "left," and Jason pealed "right," Grace followed "over," a fraction behind her teammates, letting the AA guns divide their attention between them while she strafed the center. Putting her time under Stukov to good use, she dodges the little AA not already occupied, puts another pair of beams into the Zarm and a final parting pot shot towards the bridge before breaking right to form back up with Jason.


Buxoro Team

Tyler and Vlad followed in silence behind Lt. Robin as he took them on a long arch that ended near the Mudra's skirmish with Team 2. They were still barely in visual range of Iota, off to their right, and they were going to keep whatever enemy MS were deployed out here from messing with Iota team as they did their thing. "Ok stick together and we'll hit from the side!" Elijah said as they came in on the left flank of the Axis forces already engaged with AUEG Teams. "There" Tyler highlighted the area were Eckardy and the pair of Gaza's were closing fast. "Right, Tim and I will take the Dias, You two pour fire on those Gazas" Elijah ordered as he was lining up a careful shot on the Custom Dias, squeezing one off as Tyler and Vladimir brought their rifles to bear on the lead (transformed) Gaza and fired off a quick pair of shots each (1 at Eckardy and 4 total at Koe)

[Cardi Doorl]

- AEUG 4th Squadron Vicinity -
- Team 1 -

“Michiko, above you!”

Celeste Angelina sprang into action as she caught up to the rest of her team. She hit the thrusters on her Rick Dias to lunge toward Michiko and fend off the incoming M-156. She fired off a shot from the beam pistol in her mobile suit’s left hand. The right hand carried a beam saber, waiting for Celeste to get close and fight to her strengths.

- New Yark Team -

Return fire came hard and fast as the Hizack density nearly doubled in an instant. Thibaut had to break upward, away from Hard AE, as Marco’s beam and Nunavut Team’s bullets streamed in. Hard AE banked a sharp right, shield held firmly to midsection to allow several 120mm rounds to slam into it rather than into his cockpit, but he otherwise maintained his forward course toward the charging Orsino.

While he had his shield at midsection, Hard AE switched him beam rifle to the left hand and drew a beam saber into the right hand. Thibaut, meanwhile, moved to close their formation again and, rather than return fire at Marco, fired a shot at the oncoming Orsino.

-

Even in the cockpit, Mart could feel his shield taking in a few MG rounds that he couldn’t avoid in a leftward strafe. He fired another shoulder cannon shot at Alex, but followed up with several shots from his beam rifle as well.

Stamble’s target methodically counterattacked with a beam rifle volley. The relatively new AEUG pilot dipped “under” the shots in a fairly textbook evasive maneuver. “Mart! I don’t want to get split up from the Lieutenant!” He swerved left to regroup with Hard AE, all the while still firing at Criss with his rifle.

[The Loser Villain]

- Team 2 -

And just like that one of the Axis units jumped on them. At this range the cannon would be useless, so Sophie would have to use the beam rifle. As the slower unit of the group it was important to stick with one of the others for support in close combat, so she maneuvered closer to Cowboy. It was also important to keep the enemy on their toes. She targeted the nearest Gaza of the Mudra team and fired two beam blasts.

- Buxoro Team -

"Ok stick together and we'll hit from the side! There! Right, Tim and I will take the Dias, You two pour fire on those Gazas"

"Copy that Elijah," Tim responded to the Lt.'s orders and let loose two shots towards the Rick Dias (Eckardy). "What do we do if the rest of those Gazas attacking decide to get frisky with us?"

- Gamma Team -

"Can't have that, can we? New guy, Hepburn, keep 'em bottled up! Then take 'em out!"

It was easy to figure out that 'new guy' was Nick's name for Aaron. But he was thankful that they weren't fighting off psychopathic teammates and at least taking on the AEUG.

If bottling them up was the order given, Aaron thought it best to fly 'up' to their relative position and let loose a stream of 120mm fire at the two Rick Dias variants. He fired two more one second bursts in front of them to keep them in place. (Firing at Wes and Trask)

- Bindra Team -

"Attention, everyone. I've just been told by control that there's at least three Titans mobile suits far off the unit's port flank that's heading for the Mudra and that delightful engagement going on ahead of us. If it's just three MS, they might be more dangerous than they look. If we're not sent after them then I'll be very surprised."

"Why don't we just get the jump on them while they're focused on pursuing the Mudra? ... Uh Sir!" He followed up with the sir as fast as he could. Nikolai knew he spoke out of turn, but if control wasn't giving clear orders, then Lt. Ball should.

[mcred23]

-The Mudra-
-Bridge-

Captain Finalan sat lazily in his command chair, smoothing his ends of his pencil moustache with his left thumb and forefinger. The crew was at full alert and reporting him regularly whenever something seemingly important happened, but at this point there was little to report now that their mobile suit team, and those of the accompanying transports, had begun to engage. They were too far from the battle to make out more than tiny dots of mobile suits moving around, and thin lines of beam fire back and forth. The lookouts were focusing on that battle and the distant AEUG formations, wary of enemy action.

The young soldier manning the communications system leaned forward, pressing his headset tight to his ears, before speaking. "Say again, Bindra?" he said, which prompted Oswald to shift in his chair, wondering what the Bindra needed now. The tech turned to face the captain, pale. "Sir, the Bindra reports possible incoming Titans to port..."

"What?" Finalan asked skeptically, reaching to call the lookouts, when the flashing of weapons fire began around the Zarm. The transport began to return fire and shift closer to the Endra as a trio of Titan Marasais continued to fire on the ship.

"Return fire!" Finalan commanded, louder than he intended. Almost instantly, the forward guns swung to port and began to fill the space above the Zarm with more beam fire. He took a quick breath to calm himself before issuing more commands. "Alright, recall the Gazas right now, all of them. And contact the Mandra and request reinforcements..." He hadn't even finished speaking when a series of flares fired out and exploded high above the Mudra, the recall order for the mobile suit units. The Minovsky Particle interference was far too great to contact them, but not so in the other direction, and the comm tech quickly set about requesting support from M'Quve.

In the distance, several of the lookouts noticed more mobile suits heading to the battle from port, the same direction the other Titans were coming from, but with their own ship in danger and those suits well away, it wasn't reported.

==================================================================

-Mudra Team-

Pamnell and Weghoz saw the Rick Dias avoid their fire, and return with its own. They split wide and up to avoid the single beam shot as the Dias went downward, only for Weghoz to catch most of the machine gun fire, which wrecked his Gaza-C's left hand and damaged the left binder to a slight degree.

The two were about to dive and chase the Rick Dias when the recall flares from the Mudra went off. Neither pilot was sure why they'd be recalled so soon, but neither questioned it. Pamnell flipped his machine backwards, spraying five shots in the direction of Bernard's Rick Dias, and began to race back to his ship at full speed. Weghoz was already slightly ahead of him, having not even bothered to shoot. Neither thought of any of the other actions developing around them, only following their newest order to get back to the ship.

Amecas and Raymont ran into their own trouble. None of their poorly fired shots came anywhere near the pair of Rick Dias they were dealing with, who promptly returned fire. Amecas juked the wrong way and instantly knew it but couldn't move again quickly enough as a rocket hit his Gaza-C in the right foot, taking off the leg from the knee down and spinning the machine out of control for moment...

And right into one of Sophie's beams, which Raymont had pulled up to avoid. The beam hit the Gaza just below its left hip, causing major damage to the thrusters and other systems, but somehow the machine held up and continued to fly, which allowed Amecas to regain control. He found himself close to a Rick Dias with a shoulder mounted cannon. Going on instinct, Amecas moved in at full speed, unaware and uninterested at what damage this was going to his engines, firing a half dozen blasts at Sophie. Meanwhile, as he avoided the shots, Raymont saw the recall flares and promptly rocketed away from the enemy and Amecas, unaware of what was still going on.

Smith and Koe were pressing in on their target when it returned fire. The Rick Dias' beam fire wasn't well aimed, but one of the shots hit Koe's Gaza just between the claws. The impact of the beam burning through its armor knocked the machine upward, something Koe made worse by attempting to pull upward himself. He nearly regained control, only to fly into a hail of beam frie from the incoming Buxoro team. A pair of shots speared through simultaneously and Koe's Gaza exploded in a brilliant white flash.

Smith reacted, instantly more concerned about what the incoming team of Titans would do to the rest of his team than the Rick Dias, which he temporarily forgot about. He banked directly into the face of the incoming Marasai team and began firing his knuckle buster as fast as the weapon would allow, not aiming at an individual unit.

[mcred23]

-Team 2-

Marvin grinned when he saw the one Gaza-C get hit, only for that to disappear as the Gaza somehow righted itself and charged at Sophie. "Oh s***..." He muttered and charged in to help, firing a single shot from his beam pistol at the Gaza-C and nothing else, worried he'd hit Sophie's machine.

Eddie had almost the same reaction when he saw one of his shots hit the Gaza-C in mobile armor form, only to see it go down from a series of shots from an incoming team of Titan Marasais which he computer belatedly alerted him too. "What-where the f*** did these bastards come from?!" He groaned, sliding to his side to avoid a shot that was aimed at him. The other Gaza had turned and was heading toward the Titans, while Eddie was still heading away from them, and continued to do so, knowing the rest of his team was somewhere in the direction he was headed. Eckardy rapidly popped off seven shots from the beam pistol in his left hand, and followed that with three slightly better aimed shots in the direction of the lone Gaza and the Buxoro team, hoping they'd all be occupied long enough for him to regroup with Team 2.

[Tangerine]

- Team 3 –

Irene fired one last shot at Alex while hearing Trask’s transmission. “Wales, you heard that. Follow me.” Her Rick Dias reoriented herself like a gymnast before launching off toward the Nunavut Hizack Team. She glanced at rear video before focusing on forward screen and saw the new arrived Hizack Team gave chase to AEUG Nemos. Their chains of yellowish dull tracers lining up against Hard AE and Thibaut.

It’s always like this, you can’t really tell who’s winning or losing…

She open radio transmission again when the lead Hizack is within bazooka range. “Wales, I’m going to zero on their formation. Keep advancing, tell them we meant business,” as soon as she finished her Rick Dias began her salvo.

Two clay shots were aimed at Iarocci but likely to score on any of them. Explosive shells were chambered in after quick reload and two were fired at the target’s likely course after the two initial shots.

[Inferno]

-Herakles team-

Orsino quickly brought his shield up to deflect the shot. Nothing was going to break his stride. He was getting closer and closer to the Nemo. Any second now he would make contact. He had put away his machine gun and had his beam saber in a jousting position, braced for impact...

Marco danced around the shots. As much as he wanted to cover his teammate, he knew Alex and Berg only wanted three Hizacks coming back. He scowled, bringing his gun to target Irene's Rick Dias. He fired a brief beam shot, hoping to take advantage of her focus on Alex.

Meanwhile, Criss hung back, lining up her shot at Thibaut. Taking her time and using her distance, she let out three precise beam shots at the Nemo before quickly pulling away.

-Hamburg team-

Suddenly, the idea of how one mobile suit could take on plenty didn't seem so hard for Kou. He was a veteran, these guys were all rookies. They were sloppy and undisciplined. He didn't even need a mobile armor to survive this. He brought his Nemo up and around them, evading their vicegrip perfectly. He quickly zipped behind them, letting out a few more shots, albeit poorly aimed. Kou had traded accuracy for speed, and even though he could think faster and outwit them, fighting back would still be a problem.

-Mandra team-

"That will be enough from both of you," Brutus coldly said. His stoic demeanor hid his inner rage. Their heresies were utterly intolerable. In fact, he had to resist the urge to execute both of them on the spot. "We represent the will of our deceased lord Ghiren and his ambitions. We fight for the Principality of Zeon and our Zeonic race of supermen. To suggest n the slightest that we are not the paragon of virtue in this damned time is utterly preposterous and entirely treasonous." He was calm on the exterior, but homicidal inside.

[Ouroboric]

Astor was confused ? Was anything beyond "Sieg Zeon" a heresy to this man?, " How pathetic" he said under his breathe so that no one could hear. " I think you misunderstood, we're on your side here!", Astor claimed, trying to appease his superior. " We ARE supermen after all,so lets all promise to come back alive, with at least 3 feddie corpses to our name each?", he suggested.His bloodlust was rising, he could hardly wait to pull the trigger on his enemy, he hated the pacified life of a non combatant,"Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of the women", an old saying from the old century that glorified the spoils the war, and left a permanent mark on him as a young man.Astor felt as if his time drifting around on Axis had aged him decades, only his malice against the federation, and hatred for his father, the former federation politician kept his fiery, youthful spite alive.

[blind_dead_mcjones]

-Team 3-

not needing to be told twice, wales immediately took up position alongside irene as they broke formation, keeping his attention towards the hizacks they were to intercept while he swaped beam pistols so as to allow the one he'd been using to charge up again

his radio crackled to life when the pair got close enough “Wales, I’m going to zero on their formation. Keep advancing, tell them we meant business,”

"sure thing" he replied before taking aim at Komoroski's hizack and opened fire, double tapping the trigger four times in quick succession and then moving to draw his beam sabre, refraining from activating the blade.

the computer then highlighted one of the far off hizacks, a beam rifle equipped unit that opened fire at one of the nemos before pulling away, without even thinking he sweeped the targeting reticule over the mobile suit (OOC: at Criss) and fired two more carefully aimed shots, then increassed the ammount of thrust to the verniers in order to close the distance on the Nunavut team.

--

"son of a-" trask yelled as he pulled back on the control sticks, narrowly avoiding a stream of tracer fire, before he could look to see where the shots came from he found himself juking again to dodge a second volley.

great, so NOW the rest of them attack right after we split up.

not paying attention to where wes was, he centered his crosshairs on the origin of the third stream of 120mm rounds, unable to detect or lock onto anything he returned fire with the beam cannons anyway.
"you want my attention? well you got it." trask muttered under his breath.

-Hamburg team-

gotcha! Paris thought exitedly as one of her shots found their mark, it didn't destroy the gaza but it was better than missing entirely, enboldened by her good fortune she pressed on, avoiding emmers' loosely aimed shots without much difficulty and opened fire again, first aiming a few shots at the pair covering ens. moore before taking one potshot at emmers' as she drew her beam sabre.