Episode 14 - Disaster in Hatte

[Goose]

Dervish, Corridor outside Ready Room 1.

Jack has been one rather unhappy pilot lately. He's been in a fight with a teammate, he's tried to figure out just what the hell is going on, and he's had a breakdown. Oh, and let's not forget the reporter-lady and the arguments they've gotten into.

This has not been Jack David's week. No sir.

Well, at least he's had time to fine-tune his rifle to fit his sniping style, and to get his Rick Dias repainted in his low-viz black-blue-gray colors, a variant of the GM Sniper Custom's colors.

He walks up and slows as he hears Celeste's voice, and then MacAlpin, and quietly comes by behind them, listening as they talk, and his expression darkens as he sees Jim's battered face.

"... I wonder what my father would think... Man, I fought alongside his killer down there on Earth! I spoke to his murderer... and I didn't even try to avenge his death! What kind of a son am I? A lousy one, that's what..."

That triggers something in Jack that he's kept hidden; the sense of loss he felt when he was disowned by his family for joining the EFF. He ruthlesslly shakes it aside and comes before Celeste and Jim.

"Celeste," he says, nodding to her. "Jim, right? I'm Jack David. I have a question, Jim. Who did this?"

He glances back at Celeste, then again at MacAlpin, and adds, "While the AEUG has a more... physical approach to discipline, beating up a pilot before a combat op isn't the way to go about it." His lips twitch sardonically, as he adds, "Though I'm not exactly the best person to be delivering this message... look, kid, I don't know what the hell you did to piss off the guys who kicked your ass, but I think this is an overreaction on both sides..."

His voice trails off, and he looks at Celeste, his gaze filled with contrition tinged with sadness and other unreadable expressions, and says, "Look, Celeste? About earlier.... I'm sorry about that. All I wanted to do was to help, that's all. I didn't want you shutting yourself off the way I did."

[Cybaster]

Alexandra-class Kirov

"Understood," Gilliarme said, and took one last look at Samantha and Shin's Marasais before focusing forward again. It was a good thing he didn't end up having his Mobile Suit painted again as a practical joke; then again, if the Marasais already stick out like red sore thumbs, how much worse can a silver color scheme be? "Gilliarme Lasalle, Marasai, moving forward!"

Then Gilliarme's Marasai rocketed off the launch catapult, swerved around debris as he quickly plotted an approach path visually in his mind, and slowed his Marasai down a little to let Samantha and Shin catch up.

[Fritz Ashlyn]

- The Dervish -
- Ready Room 1 -

Eddie explained what happened in more detail than Marvin had during the trip down from the bridge. When he neared the end of his story, he shrugged and said, “And that’s it. Everything happened in... in the last four or five minutes. I don’t know what else to tell ya, man,”.

Fritz surveyed the room again. Michiko made her exit without saying anything as Fritz sighed and rubbed his temples. “Look... I can’t have people roughing up my pilots right before a possible flight. The next time Jim or anyone else from my team gives any of you trouble, either let me deal with it or handle things a little more professionally,” Fritz requested calmly. He headed for the door as well, but stopped to include, “MacAlpin isn’t a vet like most of us. I’m not asking for leeway for shithead behavior, but at least give the kid a warning before you start with the corporal punishment. Believe me, when you give someone a good whack after a warning, it’s much more effective,”. “Trust me,” he murmured to himself as he exited to the hallway.

- Corridor -

Outside the ready room, Fritz was greeted by the sight of a small crowd. Michiko had left just before him, and she had moved to where Jim was and hesitantly laid a hand on his shoulder. As Celeste and Jack talked to MacAlpin, Fritz glided closer to the open side of the semi circle they formed. He came to a stop just as Jack finished apologizing to Celeste. Fritz looked Jim over and shook his head. “Here’s a piece of advice. Consider it an order if you want. Stay away from Team 2. Team 1 is a different story; I can’t require you to play nice with everyone on the ship, but the least you can do is not try and pick a fight with Curren,”.

He turned to Celeste and added sincerely, “Thank you,”. He gave Jack a neutral look and explained, “Lt. Grunwald seems to be the one responsible. It seems Ltjg. MacAlpin lost his temper and attempted to strike a superior,”. Michiko’s vision dropped to the floor, but she didn’t shrink away from Jim. From the sound of it, Fritz hadn’t been told about whatever Jim had said about the defectors.

Fritz sighed and shook his head again at the situation. He was going to have everyone disperse, but the PA system beat him to it. Jane’s voice echoed out of the speakers in the hangar, “We are now at red alert. All personnel report to combat stations. All pilots, please stand by for launch,”. Once the voice died away, Fritz looked back down from the speaker over the ready room and gestured out toward the room that housed everyone’s normal suits. “You heard her. Let’s get ready to go. Sato, MacAlpin, stay with me,”. He had noticed Jacob, Team 3's youngest member, in the corridor as well, so of course that meant Clute’s whereabouts were unknown to him. That didn’t matter at the moment. He had an idea about their deployment that would keep Celeste near him so they could take care of their own business without endangering anyone else.

[Wedge14]

Pan was mere seconds away from delivering a punch of his own on the chief mechanic, before he heard the news.

He growled under his breath, releasing the chief mechanic from his grip. "I'll finish our talk. When we get back! You hear me doofus?"

The mechanic just looked away. Pan only smirked as he opened the hatch of his nemo. He wasn't gonna risk sprinting to the ready room to get his pilot suit on. He promised the Captain, and Melo that he'd be ready to launch in less then a minute any minute. No matter the circumstances.

The man got comfortable in his seat, and started preparing his freshly painted pink Nemo for combat.

"Just because i'm running in girl's colors doesn't make me less of a man." He said to himself wrapping his fingers impatiently awaiting the full launch order.

[EZero8]

--The Dervish--
--Somewhere...--

It wasnt particularly easy for Wes to vent his frustration after what had transpired earlier. While he had cooled off by a fair margin, his anger never went away easily. Lingering thoughts kept his temper going as he paced around a random hall fuming.

Luckily for him, the PA announcement regarding their red alert status coincidentally brightened up Curren a bit. It'll let him take out his frustration... if not on live targets like the Titans, at least he can bust a few asteroids or something.

Picking up his helmet on the floor nearby, he slings it over his shoulder and walks over to the hangar. He was already in his pilot suit while they were called to standby, so he didnt need to go through the hassle of changing.

[Goose]

-Dervish, corridor-

Jack cocks his head to the side and raises an eyebrow, then turns to look at Jim, his eyes peering over the rims of his amber-tinted glasses, then turns back to Fritz. "I'm not going to be picking fights or anything, if that's what you're asking about, Sir," he says. "I just think that it's a bad idea to be beating rookies before a combat op. I understand that Lt. Grunwald would want to defend himself, but this is overreacting." He grimaces, adding, "Although I think Sato would beg to differ, considering my own overreaction to her." He extends a hand to Michiko and says, sincerely, "I'm sorry for all that shit I put on you the last time we were face to face, Ensign."

[wonton bob]

- Salamis Kai-class Hades -
- Mobile Suit Bay -

The elevator carried Jason's Hi-zack upward to the catapult deck. Jason's focus was fixed forward and with a smile he keyed the mic.

"Miller, stay close and rely on your eyes..I bet the sensors won't be able to distinguish between debris and enemy suits especially with Minovsky particles in the area."

With his Hi-zack ready, Jason contacted the bridge.

"Ens. Drossel, Hi-zack launching." The Hi-zack propelled across the deck and was cast into space.

[Cybaster]

Salamis Kai-class Chuikov

Julian walked into the Hanger Bay in that same calm, slightly bland and humorless demeanor behind Caroline and Vantz, and looked up as their Nemos were being loaded up. Whatever this was, Nathan was not dismissing it as a false alarm, and Julian was not going to, either --- this battle being his or not.

He climbed into his Nemo and, staring forward as he waited for the preflights to finish and the launch order to come through, began the tedious wait, not putting it beyond Nathan Dombrowski that the wait would be tedious, either.

[Ascension]

-Dervish, Hangar

Jim just nodded grimly in response to Fritz's advice. Internally he was thanking his lucky stars that the Lt. Cmdr. apparently wasn't planning on spacing him... yet. Eckardy's report must have been rather unclear about the contents of that last rant.

He followed Ashlyn into the Hangar and boarded his Rick Dias, groaning a little as he painfully settled into the cockpit seat and strapped himself in. Flexing his fingers he was glad to find that they still possessed their natural full range of motion, but he figured the pain alone would be enough to hamper his piloting skills out there. As much as he hated it, he'd have to stick with Curren for safety's sake... Wes would be able to cover him if he got in a tight spot.

That's when the grim thought hit him... What if Curren chooses not to watch my back in the heat of combat? What if he purposefully lets me get clobbered... sets me up? What if he allows the enemy to land a kill shot? Would there be a proper investigation into my? Would anyone even care enough about my worthless life to ask Curren what he was doing when I got fried?

Jim waited to launch with more trepidation than he had ever felt before about going into battle. Filled with doubts, racked with pain, facing the terrible contradictions of his semi-fictitious existence... he was, quite frankly, a mess.

((EZero, if the fight starts tomorrow, go ahead and assume I'm not going to have internet access at the next hotel. You can feel free to control Jim. Don't have him pull off anything too fancy due to his injuries, but don't get him too banged up before I get back.))

[EZero8]

OOC: I'll see what I can do. I'm not exactly in a good position to post often either with school...

--The Dervish--
--Hangar--

Curren arrived at the hangar no later than anyone else. Without saying anything to anyone, he merely climbed into his Rick Dias to await combat. It was obvious that he was gonna have to find a way to collaborate with the Zeke during the fight, but he wouldnt have much of a choice despite objections.

He waited to launch, rather hesitant to actually fight out there alongside the Zeke. What he expected was Fritz to probably pair them off... in a typical "leadership" fashion in forcing them to find ways to work together. Wes hated that.

Of course, pairing with the Zeke may or may not guarantee survival for either man. Being a dastardly Principality wannabe, Jim might shoot Wes in the back. Similarly, Wes might let a few shots slip by. That was something to be determined when the fight started; for now, things are all pure speculation.

[King Monkey]

Jacob was standing awkwardly outside the little circle formed by Jim and Celeste, watching from further down the hall outside Ready Room 1. Soon, the circle grew to include Michiko, Jack and Fritz. Now, it would just be weird to join them, so he simply loitered not far away. Of course, it was a little strange to just be standing there pretending to not watch them.

He's actually relieved when Alman's voice comes over the PA and rushes past the little knot of people to get to the hangar. He's already wearing his normal suit, so he pushes off from the balcony and glides to his Rick Dias.

In a few moments, he's inside the machine and has begun checking all his systems, ensuring that his pistols and sabers have full charges. He glances at the rack of bazookas next to the elevators, already picking out the one he wants. Bringing the arms of his suit up, he looks at the insides of them, the names written there inflaming his heart and steeling his soul.

"I will get a kill this time," he vows quietly to himself.

[The Big Zabowski]

Richard groggily opened his eyes, as an alarm klaxon wailed in the hall. It was barely audible, but it could be heard, indicating that they were now at full alert. SOMETHING had happened while he was out..

"Guess you're glad Breats was nice enough to ship you over here, eh lieutenant? Your aching body is going to enjoy our gravity block, I can tell you that much. Nothing like a warm bed and the ability to lay down in it."

"Yeah..but it doesn't mean squat when the ship is blown out from under you. How long have we been at station? How's the Gela?"

Richard could only worry about his friend Von Guyden and his ship..not knowing the peril that they now faced.

----

Meanwhile, on the Gela, Al and Norman had launched ahead of the others, moving out to station on the port and starbord side respectively. They scanned with hawk like vigor for those mines that had done somewhat of a number to their home. They were hard to ID but Norman eventually began to pick off debris, doing this for two reasons. The First was to clear a path, and the other was to do this without blowing himself up. He couldn't and did not want to run the risk of becomming the second commanding officer to have an unfortunate accident.

Al, could only watch as the acting CO went to town on the remains of Hatte, mines exploding from his shots, and from those of the Thunderchild's Nemo teams.

----

Shin, could only furrow his brow as he was lectured again, somewhat, by his CO. Normally, while in the Federation, he would passively accept this, and not really take it to heart. After all, he was a solider, and meant to take orders. But, now that things were changing, he began to feel more self expressive, and now found himself at issue with such a thing. Was it the Titans, or Gillarme that was doing this? It would have to wait, as he then got the order to launch.

"Ah.. Lt. JG Shin Yamamoto, Ikaduyo."

Shin let some of his native tongue slip into his launch mantra, something he hadn't done in a LONG while. Things were definitely changing. With that in the back of his mind, he boosted out, and formed up with Gillarme as they began to weave through the debris, Shin continuing to be wary of his little Sniper phobia..

[RGM-79G GM Command]

After hearing the order to launch and seeing Wolf launch Ryo moves his Marasai onto the catapult, "Lt. Ryo Naka, launching." He says before launching out of the ship's hanger and begins to watch where he is going and making sure to avoid the debris while making his way over towards Wolf's Marasai.

[Psyden]

As the group disbands and everyone heads for their own suits, Celeste leaps for hers. The start-up is easy as she flies through the checks, which are quickly becoming routine, even with her lack of time in the suit.

Within moments, the suit comes alive and walks over to the weapons rack, where she picks up her bazooka, again which is loaded with case shells. In the narrow spaces of the Shoal Zone, such a weapon will be even more valuable, when in a moment, an enemy can pop around any piece of floating debris large enough for him to hide behind. It is this kind of environment where Celeste had honed her skills as a mobile suit pilot and had developed her technique with a beam saber. In fact, this very Shoal Zone, the ruins of Hatte where she did so. It seems that fate has brought her once more to the graveyard that stood as mute testament to the hate that Humanity still carries in its heart. Echo has set up a trap. They better hope that in the setting, they have not trapped themselves. Shoals are notorious for their difficulty in maneuvering. The fighting could very easily shift, and the debris can be sent careening into a ship at the lightest touch.

All that is the Shoal holds no allegiance, either good nor evil…

Celeine, I WILL bring Nick back for you.

[Cardi Doorl]

- Beta Team -

Wolf glanced back, taking advantage of the panoramic monitor to check behind him. There was Ryo's Marasai, keeping up well enough. Good: hopefully this was a sign Ryo wouldn't show the same hesitation he exhibited in the last fight. Not far behind Ryo came another Marasai - no doubt Alexandra's. Beta Team was the tip of the spear.

It was after a good while of juking and weaving through space trash toward those sporadic flickers of explosions that Wolf came upon a sight he'd been hoping for: the obscured view of a pair of warships. They were definitely active, too, rather than wreckage left over from the war. On them were the shapes of mobile suits. Mines exploded around the rebel formation as chattering vulcans lashed out to find the deadly explosives.

Wolf put up his Marasai's left hand and gave the hand signal for his team to spread out and fire at will. Upon doing that, he twisted his machine downward, but also aggressively forward so that he was headed toward the ventral side of the first ship he saw (Thunderchild) and let loose a bolt from his beam launcher in its general direction.

-

Alexandra had been last in Beta Team to launch, so she found herself behind Ryo for the most part. She wanted, however, to be near Wolf. It wasn't that she felt she'd be helpless without him so much as she was anxious to fight at his side.

Then she, too, saw the AEUG units. There was simply something about the way they moved that even someone like her could tell they were active units rather than tumbling debris. They were too busy trying to get away to hide at all.

Alexandra nearly missed Wolf's downward maneuver, but caught it from the corner of her eye just in time to follow. She didn't care whether or not Ryo followed; she just wanted to stay near Wolf. As Wolf fired his beam launcher, so Alexandra fired twice with her beam rifle in the enemy's general direction. Getting precise shots with all this interference, she decided, would indeed be difficult.

- Delta Team -

"Ens. Fulton, launching," announced Samantha. Moments later, she was in space, following Gilliarme and Shin's Marasais. Beta Team was farther ahead: Samantha thought she saw beam fire flashing further ahead, but with all the junk floating around, it was hard to say for sure.

- Hades Team -

Picard, like Wolf over in Beta Team, glanced back. Three Hizacks from his team. He presumed the closest to him was Silverwind's, as he'd launched alongside him, but with Minovsky messing around with sensory equipment he couldn't be sure which of the other two was Drossel and which was Miller.

The Marasai units from the Kirov were, naturally, getting to the enemy more quickly than Hades Team's slower Hizacks, a fact which had M-Hover gritting his teeth in indignation. Were his Hizack a true extension of his body, he'd have been gripping his beam rifle more tightly.

"C'mon, Hades Team," he growled, " We're not letting those Kirov assholes upstage us, not when we have a bona fide war hero in the lead."

* * *

- Alexandria-class Kirov -
- Combat Bridge -

"Hold fire until we get closer," commanded Trent. With all the debris, the Kirov couldn't see the enemy. That alone wasn't a problem, as they could determine the enemy's general location based on the mines' explosions. The problem was that friendly mobile suits would be in the vicinity, so firing mostly blind like was just as likely to hit Titans as it was to hit rebels. The ships would have to hold fire until they'd come closer.

[wonton bob]

- Inside The Shoal Zone -
- Near The Gela -

Having seen the explosion from the Gela, Bernard curses himself for not stopping the hidden mine. Bernard's Nemo stations itself near the bridge, like a goal keeper, using his vulcans at any fragments that stray too close.

"Damn mines. Someone doesn't want us poking around...or want us to leave in a hurry."

Worried at that last thought, Bernard looks at his near useless sensors which reveal nothing.

[Goose]

Strapping into his Rick Dias, Jack quickly powers up, flipping switches and entering commands. His rifle has been calibrated and optimised for better accuraccy, and he smiles grimly as he prepares to launch.

He's no stranger to the Shoal Zone, having been on patrol there during Operation Stardust, but he's well aware that it's not the best place for a sniper to be.

Still, there's more to sniping than just shooting from far with a clear shot. The Shoal Zone will be like the urban sniping training he underwent...

Oh, who am I kidding? Work out here is going to be up close and personal, he thinks grimly. I've got a pure beam armament, so I'm screwed if we need to kill a ship. Well, I guess I could snipe the turrets. He opens a channel to Celeste, takes a breath, and says, "Celeste? Jack here. Listen, I just want you to know... we got your back. Whatever you're dealing with, you're not alone."

* * * * *

Meanwhile, in his Rick Dias, Clute has also opened a channel, this time to Jacob. "Jacob, you're my wingman on this op," he says. "Things are going to be really tight, and I'll feel safer with you watching my back. Let's try to head out when we're called this time, okay?" he asks, adding in a joking tone to his nasally voice. It doesn't quite work...

"I have confidence in you, Jacob. You're still green and rough around the edges, but you're a good kid, and I'm glad to have you watching my back."

Clute ignores the fact that when a mobile suit team leader tells his most junior subordinate to be his wingman, there is no room for discussion.

[ORegan]

a little bit ago

Picard told Miller to "hold his horses, you big ape" and Miller didn't say a word after. As Picard and the quiet guy launched, so did Patrick.

now

Patrick followed Picard, on the right hand side. He was equipped with a beam saber, rockets, and the machine gun. He was ready to fight when told to by the team leader.

As Picard said to hurry up, or something to that extent, Patrick sped up to the full extent of his mobile suits capabilities.

[jim1899]

The Hamburg's
-Hanger-

Jimmy was looking around while the mechanic crews try to fix the little problem he have on his Nemo. Jimmy than think about how life have been for him, not much to say actually, just in the past, OYW was one of the stuff that somehow always stuck in his mind. That was when most of the good guys are the earthnoids which is the Federation and the other is the evil Zabi family rule Zeon, but now in his current situation, both AEUG and the Titans have both ex Federation and Zeon soldier serving in both fraction. Than suddenly Jimmy receive a com link relay “Sir, the problem with your Nemo have been fix, you be able to launch any time you needed.” With that Jimmy open another com link to the Hamburg captain “Sir, may I have permission to launch? If I have permission, I be staying on guard near the Hamburg, may look out for any item that may come across.”

[RGM-79G GM Command]

Ryo sees the AEUG forces before seeing Wolf give the signal to spread out and fire at will and then goes to the left of where Wolf went and then sees Alesandra follow Wolf, 'Didn't she see what he wanted us to do? Well I won't break radio silence to bring it up, and she could still split up I guess. And besides, with all this Minovsky interference it would be hard for her to understand what I'm trying to say.' He thinks to himself before moving a bit closer to the enemy ship and seeing that they have Mobile Suits already launched and around them, before aiming at one of the enemy ships (Thunderchild, since I don't know the name of the other.) and fires three shots from his beam rifle in the general direction of the ship's bridge, hoping to catch them at least slightly off guard before they start their counter attack even though the attack will more then likely miss from this range.