Episode 14 - Disaster in Hatte

[Ascension]

-Dervish, Ready Room

Jim almost laughed. He would have if he had thought he could manage it without a coughing spell.

"Aw, c'mon, Lieutenant Commander, sir... Everybody embellishes their stories a little! What's a fishing trip without the monster that got away? What's a dogfight story without that one kill you know you earned but you just never quite confirmed? If you hate liars, you ought to be tossing a whole lot of people out of that proverbial airlock ahead of me, sir. I'm bleeding in a couple places and bruised in several more, why don't you go beat up on someone else for a while, sir? You beat me! You've had your laughs at my expense! Why don't you go pick on Miss I've-Never-Lost-A-Ship-Unless-You-Count-That-One-That-Time for a change? Or maybe you should have a talk with Mr. I-Hate-All-You-Zeke-Bastards? Please don't waste your time on little old me! I never meant to monopolize your attention, sir! I never meant to distract you from all the other shady characters around here! If you're going to play the lawman around here, sir, I'm not the only criminal in town."

Jim's eyes narrowed and his voice changed tones.

"Maybe you should ask the former Manhunter how he got to be top dog around here, sir. Maybe you should ask why we trust one of the few people on the fleet who has worked for our direct enemy with the most sensitive information available to us. Maybe you should ask why he handles the debriefings of any and all other defectors. So that he can tell them to play along, that he's got some big scheme going on? Maybe, maybe not... but if you're going after people with suspicious or mysterious pasts, sir... he's overqualified. He's got both."

Jim shook his head.

"I'm a small-fry, sir. You shouldn't waste precious time on me. Not when there are far bigger fish in the pool."

[The Big Zabowski]

"I know it'll be difficult to keep formation in a Shoal Zone like this, so let's just generally stick together and make strafing runs from a distance. If everything goes according to plan. We won't even be facing nearly as much fire as we did earlier. Other than that, just use your judgment."

Shin huffed a sigh to himself, the comm having been deactivated. Did Gillarme really think that sticking together was going to make them harder to hit? Hell, he did have a point because of the minovsky, but then there was also the problem of them being picked off all at once by some terrorist sniper suit.

That was something he didn't want to chance out there, and thusly, decided to step up to the plate once more in spite of his uneasiness of the situation. He thought he had a better idea.

"Sir, with all due respect, sticking together does seem like a good idea. But there also lies the possibility of us being ambushed even while we are the ambushers. I mean, they could launch some suits into the zone, and do so in a more covert manner.

Heck, even the Minovsky density could easily allow this to happen. After all, it did happen in the last fight with those Dias units that got near the Kirov. I say we divvy up the zone, lie in wait for them, and play a little bit of their guerrilla warfare on our own terms. That way, we can pick some of them off, and drive them into confusion before linking back up.

With the density as it is, this does sound iffy, but I think its better than the three of us being picked off by a single sniper.."

[Cardi Doorl]

- Alexandria-class Kirov -
- Combat Bridge -

There was no way he could see it through all the debris and the distance, but he could feel it. Trent could just feel that the enemy was getting close to exactly where he wanted him to be.

It'd been a long while since Trent had felt antsy before a fight. Perhaps because this time he was fighting on his own terms, a fight he entered voluntarily, too, rather than under orders. That, and more. The 4th Escort Squadron, as it was still known to him, had just narrowly escaped him before, in the process inflicting significant casualties on Taskforce Echo. Not this time, though. This time, the 4th would know nothing but pain.

- Mobile Suit Bay -
- Beta Team -

Alexandra reported in moments after Ryo.

"Good," replied Wolf, "Now for the waiting game."

He could smell it.

- Delta Team -

Samantha had remained silent up until Shin made his tactical suggestion. How they flew out there was directly relevant to how long Samantha's life would be, so in this case she spoke up.

"Shin, why the hell are you thinking about snipers in that meat grinder out there? With all the trash floating around out there, a sharpshooter's worthless. All the fighting will be up close, face-to-face. A sniper can't do anything except hope for a lucky shot. Besides, we need some aggression to take advantage of our surprise element so long as we have it. Ever think about trying to be aggressive, or is your manhood so far gone you lost that part of your vocabulary? We need to hit them. Not charging in like blind idiots, but we'll want to blitz the bastards before they can figure out what's going on."

[Fritz Ashlyn]

- The Dervish -
- Bridge -

As Celeste passed Fritz as they prepared to leave for the hangar, she said, “Sir, if you wouldn’t mind, I need to stop by my room to change into my pilot suit. I’m not as daring as some of the more… colorful… aces of the War,”. Fritz nodded and was about to respond when an exited Ens. Hamilton entered the bridge and quickly reported, "Uh sir. We have an issue in Ready Room 1. MacAlpin attacked Lieutenant Grunwald,”. Fritz’ eyes narrowed and he turned to Celeste. “I apologize. I hope we have time to talk in the hangar,” he said, his voice a controlled monotone. He turned Marvin around by the shoulder and the two set out in a beeline for the main ready room.

“So MacAlpin just up and ‘attacked’ Grunwald? Doesn’t make a damn bit of sense,” Fritz thought as he followed closely behind Marvin on a grip. The Zeke kid was a braggart and a hothead, but it didn’t make any sense for him to just take a swing at Roy, especially since Jim put the Principality on such a pedestal. He had the feeling he’d have to sort out a mess when they got to the ready room.

- Ready Room 1 -

Michiko got to the ready room in time to pass Wes as he left. Jim had just shifted to a suspicious tone as he suggested, "Maybe you should ask the former Manhunter how he got to be top dog around here, sir. Maybe you should ask why we trust one of the few people on the fleet who has worked for our direct enemy with the most sensitive information available to us. Maybe you should ask why he handles the debriefings of any and all other defectors. So that he can tell them to play along, that he's got some big scheme going on? Maybe, maybe not... but if you're going after people with suspicious or mysterious pasts, sir... he's overqualified. He's got both... I'm a small-fry, sir. You shouldn't waste precious time on me. Not when there are far bigger fish in the pool,”.

Michiko’s eyes got a bit bigger and she stopped just inside the doorway. “...What’s going on?” she asked, her voice made to sound even more petite by hesitation. Her question was directed at everyone in the room, but her vision was locked on Jim. That comment about debriefing ‘other defectors’ only made things more confusing, since the room felt so tense.

- Inside The Shoal Zone -

- The Thunderchild -
- Bridge -

“Capt. Coates, the majority of the larger debris has been moved away from the entry area. We’re still detecting slightly elevated Minovsky levels, but the spotters and our MS unit still haven’t seen anything. Neither us nor the Gela are picking up any unnatural movement or sensor contacts that can’t be accounted for,” the helmsman reported as he stood at attention next to the captain’s chair. Coates grumbled something to himself and crossed his arms. “Stay in constant contact with the Gela. I know it’s hard in the middle of this crap, but we can’t risk wandering around out here blindly,”. In front of the ship, one of the Thunderchild’s Nemos darted through a cloud of smaller debris and pushed a chunk of something manmade out of the Salamis’ path.

- The Gela -
- Bridge -

Von Gyuden had moved from his chair to float between the comm station and the sensor boards so he wouldn’t have to rely totally on vocal updates. The petty officer in charge of communications turned his seat far enough to face the captain before he switched one of the audio channels over to a speaker setting. The open channel of the Nemo pilots squawked through, “...n’t see anything else, sir. *zzzt*ile we’re... ...ping the area in front of the ship. **crackle**ors negative on everything. There’s nothing out here that shouldn’t be,”.

The captain rubbed his chin and shook his head, “I don’t like it. Any of it. Even if we don’t find anything out of the ordinary and turn around, this is going to eat at me, I just know it. That Minovsky didn’t appear out of nothing,”. He gritted his teeth and waved at the comm officer, “Get me Capt. Coates,”. As the man established the connection, he observed with a smile, “Sounds like you’re disappointed we might have to announce an all-clear, sir,”. Von Gyuden humphed and replied, “Nothing would please me more, son,”.

[Cardi Doorl]

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

"Um, Sir, Ready to launch when instructed."

"Hold your horses, you big ape," replied M-Hover, "We have some waiting to do."

* * *

- Salamis Kai-class Herakles -
- Combat Bridge -

"Both pilots have reported in, sir," affirmed a bridge crewman, "They're both suited and ready."

"Good," nodded Berg, resisting a yawn, "Now let's hope the battle isn't over before we're called in."

[Psyden]

After Fritz is on his way, Celeste hurries to her room, bounding from wall to wall instead of taking the slow gripper. Upon reaching her destination, she darts in her room and hurriedly changes into her pilot suit. Within 90 seconds of entering her room, she’s exiting again, pulling the zipper up the last 3 inches, with helmet already racked on her backpack and both gloves in her mouth, the speed of her change only possible due to countless alerts over the course of the War and this fight against the Titans.

Fritz had gone off on grippers, like most other people, so if she hurries, she’ll make it to the hanger about the same time, or just afterwards.

If nothing else, she might actually get to meet some of the other pilots of the 4th AdvRon…

[The Big Zabowski]

"Shin, why the hell are you thinking about snipers in that meat grinder out there? With all the trash floating around out there, a sharpshooter's worthless. All the fighting will be up close, face-to-face. A sniper can't do anything except hope for a lucky shot. Besides, we need some aggression to take advantage of our surprise element so long as we have it. Ever think about trying to be aggressive, or is your manhood so far gone you lost that part of your vocabulary? We need to hit them. Not charging in like blind idiots, but we'll want to blitz the bastards before they can figure out what's going on."

Shin furrowed his brow in annoyance, but the Ensign did have a point. They did have the surprise element, and his suggestion may have given it up..but there's a thing called playing it on the safe side, that always worked for him in the Federal Forces, and saved his ass many a time.

Going in there and assaulting the bastards, and not knowing what else they could have picked up in terms of AEUG stragglers was a point that Shin was NOT going to take lightly, and he was sure as hell going to voice it to that woman.. Again, he was finding himself driven up a wall as before, and was beginning to doubt that his suggestion of "Lets sit around a table and hold hands" was going to work much longer..

She may need a swift kick in the ass before THAT was going to work..

Shaking his head in dismay, he flipped a com switch and answered the spunky Titan.

"Samantha, you want to go out there, and bull rush them thinking that they are still consisted of a bunch of half assed Nemos? For all we know, and what we saw in that last skirmish, I think those terrorists proved that they have some good aces up their sleeves..

I don't know where you Titans got your pride filled, inferiority complex, but it's just a load of bull.

Hell, they hacked up Gillarme's suit pretty good, and all I want to do is play it on the safe side like we used to do in the Feds. They could have linked up with another remnant of the VB defense forces...and gained a few more of those Dias monsters. But, I won't argue. If you want to go in there, guns blazing to catch them by surprise, then go ahead.

But if you get fucked up the ass by one of those Rick Dias, I sure as hell won't give a flying shit. Gillarme might go gallivanting in instead, and I KNOW you'd probably shoot him down before he'd help you. Right?

Gillarme, I say we listen to HER for now, and see how far that gets us.."

And with that comment, Shin again gagged a bit on a reflex while feigning clearing his throat.. He needed some Drememine right now..

[Cybaster]

At this, Gilliarme only frowned, almost rubbing his visor glass with his finger and thumb --- Here they go again.

It wasn't that his wingmen were outright wrong; On Samantha's end, keeping in motion in the Shoal Zone would be enough to confound any AEUG snipers they could hastily position, and to lie in wait would be dangling Samantha's temptation to wander off on her own too close to her. Plus, the Marasais, otherwise lightly armed and highly visible with the bright red color scheme, really weren't designed for the kind of fighting Shin was suggesting. On Shin's end, though, there was always that possibility, and wasn't the Ghost of Solomon during the One Year War (Lalah Sune, if Gilliarme remembered the post-war rumor mill correctly) a kind of sniper that used a Shoal Zone like this to her advantage? There was no telling what kind of hardware the AEUG might've received between then and now, and there probably were AEUG pilots that fought like Shin feared. Gilliarme wouldn't even put a Newtype Mobile Armor beyond them yet, for that matter.

But it was the way Shin and Samantha were projecting themselves against each other that grilled Gilliarme Lasalle. Samantha felt compelled to confront herself against Shin and had no subtlety whatsoever in doing so, and Shin was only escalating the conflict (probably to Samantha's delight as well). At the current rate, Gilliarme probably wouldn't have long to wait before Samantha and Shin actually tried to outright kill each other, resulting in one dead and the other likely defecting to the AEUG or Axis out of lack of options; The last thing the Kirov needed was another Nick Te'litha and Wolf Ritter in their midsts.

Which meant he was going to have to nip this in the bud. He opened the comm channel again to his wingmen.

"Both of you just calm down, there's no need to be slinging insults around at each other. Especially you, Samantha; I'm sorry about singling you out here, but you did start this one." Gilliarme shook his head visibly. If he really was going to have to deflate Samantha's ego a little to get through to her eventually, he might as well start now. "Very well, back to the matter at hand. Shin, there's always that possibility, true, but the Marasais are too visible with the current color scheme and really aren't designed for that kind of fighting. In a debris zone like this, we'll be fine against any snipers as long as we keep moving, and don't get too close to them or stray too far away from each other." That last sentence was really meant for Samantha more than Shin, and hopefully would alleviate Gilliarme's worries about her tendancies to wander off. Of course, he had a feeling that she would be doing that anyway.

[Kylern]

Kyle heard the Captain and mentally he gave a sigh. Then looking back he gave a glance at the Captain and wondered if he next comment was really wanted or needed but he would ask anyways.

"Sir do you really think we can make a difference in the battle? We are sitting on the Combat Bridge and lost our two experienced pilots. How many guns do we even still have intact and ready to fire?" He asked this since he wasn't sure what they combat ability of this ship really was. He only knew that they were lacking sorely. If he was to help at all he would need to know for sure what they had a ready.

[mcred23]

- The Dervish -
- Ready Room 1 -

MacAlpin began to rant. About midway through it, his tone changed, but neither Eckardy or Grunwald payed any attention to the words. Both glanced at each other and shook their heads, thinking the same things.

But the somewhat sudden arrivial of Michiko Sato got their attention. "What's going on here?", She asked, the hesitation clear as she stared at Jim.

Eckardy let out a long sigh. "Short version of events, mind you." He grinned and took a breath. "Wes and Captain Zeke there came in. Wes told the Pesudo-Zeke not to run from fighting those Republic guys we ran into, to which Ian informed Jimmy how they'd not hesitate to kill him. Jim became angry and started ranting about racism-"

"And made some subtle comments hinting that the Republic Of Zeon guys aren't good pilots and s***." Roy added.

"And that." Eddie waved to Roy, "Before Roy attempted to put him in his place using his AEUG-given right of corporal punishment." He grinned at that, "And informing how few of us like his 'Zeon Ace' act, least of all these real life Zeon aces." Eddie jerked a thumb at Roy.

He nodded. "So I decked 'em. Ian told him about the true quality of the Republic pilots and left. He looked pretty pissed off."

Eddie nodded. "So then Wes said some s*** and our little genius tried to kick Roy in the head."

"He missed."

"And him and Wes got into it." Eddie said, those words coming out as a sigh. "So Roy pulled his gun on Top Jimmy and reminded him that hitting those who are far more important than him is vewy vewy bad." Eddie waved his finger with the last words. "He got shoved around a little. I sent Cowboy to find Mein Squadron Fuhrer Fritz and I told Zekey that if he touched anybody who out ranks him again that we'd space him."

"Buck naked." Roy reminded.

"Yes." Eckardy snorted a laugh. "Buck naked!" He shook his fist and said it with emphasis. "And then he went on some rant neither of us gave a flying f*** about or payed any attention to and then you came in and asked whats going on and I told you what was going on. Kay? Kay." He clicked his tounge, winked and gave a thumbs up.

"Stick around and you'll probably hear the whole story again when Lieutenant Commander Ashlyn shows up." Roy said with a shrug."

"And hang around another month and you'll get to see the movie of it." Eckardy placed his hands on his hips in a somewhat heroic-looking pose. "'The Ready Room, starring Eddie Eckardy.'" He concluded with a cocked eyebrow and a half grin, which prompted a snort from Grunwald.

[Bezerker]

Dante readied himself for the fight ahead. "Ok, I didn't get hit last battle, I am improving just have to keep my cool, and improve even more this fight maybe even.." Dante thought as he heard a call from Nick come over the com.

"This is Dante, reporting in, are you ready for this Nick" Dante said with a voice that tingled with excitement.

[King Monkey]

Jacob was frozen by the action surrounding him, especially when the gun was drawn. His stomach gave a heavy lurch as he expected at any moment to see McAlpin's brains spattered all over the place. After all, they were threatening to space the man and had already struck him several times. Who knew what this gang was capable of.

Fortunately, the worse didn't happen and he relaxed a bit. Though, his stomach lurched again at the flip, rather one sided explanation Eckardy gave of the events that occurred in the ready room. Feeling sick and disgusted by pretty much everyone who outranked him and thought that gave them license to abuse everyone with a lower rank, he slipped out the door before he said, or did something that would get him "corrected" as well.

[Fritz Ashlyn]

- The Dervish -
- Ready Room 1 -

Somehow, Michiko found Eddie’s narration of events unsatisfying. Particularly since he neglected to go into detail about the part that sounded very much like it had to do with her. Unfortunately, she couldn’t press the matter, because she was soon moving out of Marvin Hamilton’s way as he was led into the room by Fritz. Fritz rapidly surveyed the room before pointing at Jim. “You. Wait outside.”

He paused for a few beats before demanding, “God damn it, Eddie, what the hell is going on down here?”. This wasn’t the Spacy any more, this was Sgt. Ashlyn dressing down replacements back during the war. His vision darted to Roy and then at the man’s holster. On their way down from the bridge, Marvin had finally given Fritz a few details, including Grunwald holding Jim at gunpoint. Fritz’ hands balled into fists and he stepped forward until he was just inches from Roy’s face. “Lieutenant, I don’t care who you are or how you people handled things, but don’t you ever point a firearm at one of my pilots again. And if you do, the next time a trigger gets pulled around here, –“ Fritz growled, his voice at a volume just loud enough to get his point across. He stopped as he realized the word he had barely cut off.

He was going to call Grunwald a spacenoid. At one time that would have been one of the worst insults he could have mustered. He took a moment mentally to calm himself, and continued at a calmer tone, “You come to me the next time one of my pilots causes trouble,”. He backed off and shook his head. Somewhere on Luna, his wife was smiling. Fritz sighed, “Let’s make this quick. Several of us need to suit up, and I have to talk to MacAlpin."

- Bridge -

Jane frowned at the trouble her controls were giving her as she struggled to maintain a communications link to the Gela. “Captain, the Gela and Thunderchild are finishing their sweep of the entry area. I’m having difficulties staying in constant contact because of low Minovsky levels and increased patches of debris around the ships,” she announced, shaking her head at the interference. Abbey frowned slightly and folded his arms. The same feeling that was beginning to gnaw at Capt. von Gyuden was starting in on him. His instincts were telling him that this chase’s finale wouldn’t be a simple return trip to Von Braun. He looked out from under the brim of his cap at the ruins of Hatte and remained silent.

- Sick Bay -

In full, glorious gravity, the Dervish's doctor leaned over Lt. Barrique as he finished examining his ribs. "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," he chuckled.

- Inside The Shoal Zone -

- The Gela -
- Bridge -

“That’ll be it, sir. The Nemos are finishing up ahead of the Thunderchild,” Shearer declared, leaning back in his seat with just a little relief. Von Gyuden tacitly peered out into the junk and rubble around his ship for a few more moments before nodding, almost as if he felt defeated in some way. He sucked his teeth and turned to Jackson to announce, “Stand by to take us out of the shoal. Communications, please confirm with the Thunderchild and then prepare to send an ‘all-clear’ to the Dervish. We’re done here,”. The bridge crew went to work, several of them quite happily due to the lack of combat. The search had been relatively tense, but the order to declare an all-clear had more or less dispelled all of that pent up energy.

Von Gyuden stopped at the windows as he waited for everything to be taken care of. Something in the back of his mind was telling him that if he just stood here and looked hard enough, he’d be able to find the Titans. He was pulled back from his thoughts by his helmsman’s narration of the crew’s progress. “Captain, Thunderchild confirms all-clear. Sending message to the Dervish now. Our egress is plotted out and locked in,” Jackson grunted dutifully. Beckenbauer drummed on his console as he added, “Dervish confirms all-clear, sir,”.

The captain finally breathed a small sigh of relief before turning to head back to his chair. “Excellent. Take us out of here at a safe speed, Mr. Bergsel. Have our pilots stand dow–“

“Captain, spotters have noted wreckage off our starboard bow that is in our direct path,” Shearer nervously reported. “Mark says it drifted closer to us. That doesn’t make sense,” Erik muttered as he peered at his equipment. Jackson, slightly annoyed at the chatter, grumbled, “Steering around it. We waded this far in and you’re still worried about a tiny piece of junk like th–“

**B-KOOM**

The Gela had practically turned it’s flight path directly into a small mine, which did it’s job spectacularly, albeit without much result. The ship was jarred as the explosive went off near it’s bow, and the bridge went into an uproar of activity.

“No damage to the forward section! Christ, are we lucky or what?”

“Cancel that all-clear message!”

“Slow us down and get a mobile suit up here!”

Von Gyuden stood on his chair’s footrests and bellowed “RED ALERT!” over the din.

Shearer picked up his station’s handset and connected directly to the hangar. He plugged his uncovered ear with a finger to block out the noise on the bridge and announced, “Red alert. Red alert. All personnel report to combat stations. Mobile suit team, deploy immediately to scan for –“ he fumbled for the right word, “– for mines. Do not use the catapult for launch,”.

- The Thunderchild -
- Bridge -

The situation on the Thunderchild was much the same as the warship rapidly switched to red alert status. Capt. Coates pounded his chair’s armrest and commanded, “Damn it! Get a Nemo in front of the ship and tell him to vulcan anything that looks like it could house explosives!”.

The two ships slowed to a safer pace as the mobile suits that were already deployed fanned out and began destroying pieces of debris from a safe distance. Most of the rubble they hit was simply junk, but here and there a fireball confirmed the presence of more mines.

- Outside The Shoal Zone -

- The Dervish -
- Bridge -

Back at the 4th’s flagship, Abbey had just ordered the rest of the fleet to red alert status. Gates sat up in his chair as if he was eagerly awaiting the appearance of the enemy he wanted so badly to chase across the earthsphere. “Stand by to launch mobile suit teams. I want them to lead us in. Move us into the shoal zone at the fastest possible speed... and someone remind André to keep the Hamburg close to us,” Abbey ordered rapidly. The Irish-class rumbled at it lurched forward, followed by the rest of the squadron’s ships.

Jungst shook his head, confused, and nudged Filmore to show him the sensor readings. Filmore couldn’t make heads or tails of it either, and he shrugged and thumbed over his shoulder at the captain. Jungst nodded and swivelled in his chair to get Abbey’s attention. “Sir, we might have a problem. I can’t be certain, but it appears that the Gela and Thunderchild have drifted out of their search area. Either that or they got confused by the debris and moved out too far,” he affirmed.

The look of confusion spread to Abbey and he shook his head, “What? How did that happen?”. Jungst shrugged and answered, “No idea. If my gear is working, they’re farther in than we intended to search... and in a section connected to the marked ‘entry area’, not in it,”.

[Folken Fanel]

"Y'know, we're not even sure if they're out there yet or not," she pointed out, "The captain's just a little... umm... cautious..."

Vantz looked up at Caroline and gave her a cocky grin. "Come on, what've I got to worry about? We've got some of the best pilots in the AEUG in this group, if you listen to some of the mechanics. Besides, with you and Lt. Julian watching my back, I'm good to go."

Just then, Julian walked into the room. "That's good, your enthusiasm. Make it happen, Vantz. Just don't forget to defend yourself out there, too."

Vantz nodded at his superior and said, "Don't worry sir. I've been hitting the sims a lot ever since Captain Dombrowski's little training excercise. I won't go down without a fight."

[mcred23]

- The Dervish -
- Ready Room 1 -

"God damn it, Eddie, what the hell is going on down here?” Fritz asked after sending MacAlpin outside, with Marvin re-entering the room after he had left. Eddie didn't get a chance to respond before Fritz stepped to Roy's face and spoke to him quietly.

When Fritz finished, Roy snapped a crisp salute. "Yes sir." He said, not bothering to mention that the gun had been unloaded. Ashlyn probably didn't care.

Eddie scratched the back of his head and began speaking, his tone serious, as if in combat. "Quicker version Fritz. Wes Curren and MacAlpin came in here. Wes yelled at him to not run off from the Republic of Zeon units if we see them again. Ian told Mac not to underestimate them. Jim brushed him off and then started ranting to Wes about racism and some such bulls***. Roy punched him and told him how we feel about his claiming to be a Zeon ace and crap. Ian told him about the quality of the Republic troops and left." Eddie paused to take a breath. "Wes said some stuff and then MacAlpin tried to kick Roy in the head an' missed and then got into it with Wes. Roy came up and pulled his gun on Jim, which got him to stop f***in' around. The gun was unloaded and then he pushed MacAlpin away and I sent Cowboy to get you." Another breath. "I told Jim not to lay a finger on a superior officer again or we'd space 'em. Then MacAlpin went into some rant about your history or some crap like that-" Eckardy had heard some rumors of Fritz' past shortly after the Dervish has joined the 4th, and knew he had at least been in the Titans, "- and then Michiko asked what happened and me and Roy told her a slightly longer version of events." His voice got slightly higher in pitch near the end, and he finished by letting out a long breath.

He took a few deep breaths and gave a shrug. "And thats it. Everything happened in-", Eddie glanced down at his wristwatch, "-in the last four or five minutes." He paused and gave another shrug. "And I don't know what else to tell ya man."

[Psyden]

Celeste comes to a stop outside the Briefing Room mere moments after Fritz disappears past the doorway and just in time to see Jim MacAlpin exit. She curiously looks the young man over, wondering what this young man had done to deserve such a thorough beating.

“You ok…?”

Her now gloved hands move to the pouch on her left hip and pull out a piece of sterile gauze, normally reserved for patching injuries to one’s self in case of injury, right along with the patch for the pilot suit and tape to secure the both of them.

“It isn’t a tissue, but it should work.”

She glides over to towards him and stops about 3 or so feet away. Its not that she considers him a threat. Obviously, guy is the cause of the disturbance, but he had been… neutralized. Someone in his shape probably wouldn’t put up much of a threat. However, he DID just get the $@&# beat outta him, and it was likely for a very good reason. But everyone here is on the same ship, and petty feuds can ruin moral. Someone needs to help defuse the tension, and from the sound of the voices, and some of the names she caught during one of their recitations of the events, there had to be, at least at one point, one of the teams, and very likely a good portion of the other, which means that this person is probably felling like everyone is against him. It’ll do him some good to feel like there’s at least one person on his side. If he feels he’s not alone, it might be possible to re-integrate into the ship’s crew, make him one of them again.

“I’m Celeste Angelina, and you are…?”

Her prompt is, of course, polite.

[Cardi Doorl]

- Alexandria-class Kirov -
- Combat Bridge -

And then, quick as lightning, the sign came. Flickers of orange fireballs, just visible through the debris. The time had come. This was a moment of truth.

"Kirov, Hades, advance and fire at will. Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Hades teams launch and advance toward the signals. Let's move!"

- Mobile Suit Bay -
- Beta Team -

"This is it," growled Wolf as launch clearance was confirmed, "Wolf Ritter, Marasai launching."

Wolf's personalized Marasai shot out from the Kirov. He immediately had to wrestle his controls to maneuver around the thick debris. He had no time to look back and see if Ryo and Alexandra were keeping up; Echo had to hit the enemy immediately, and Wolf intended to do that and more.

- Delta Team -

"Fine," murmured Samantha, after remaining silent through Shin's response and Gilliarme's solution.

Then came the launch clearance. Samantha gripped her Marasai's controls and waited for her teammates to launch ahead of her.

* * *

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

Picard launched immediately from the Hades, Varis doing likewise just moments thereafter.

"The AEUG will regret the day it crossed Picard Kamek..."

[Cardi Doorl]

- Salamis Kai-class Herakles -
- Combat Bridge -

Roberts began to rattle off a series of inquiries.

"Ensign," replied Berg, his short patience waning, "All we really need to do in this plan is fire at the enemy's formation from our position and not get ourselves killed. We only lost our forward starboard single-barrel gun so we still have much the firepower of an intact Salamis. Just sit back and don't worry."

* * *

- Salamis Kai-class Chuikov -
- Ready Room -

Lt. Jonas Anderson, clad in pilot suit with the helmet hanging off the backpack, rounded a corner of lockers to where his subordinates were. Vantz spoke with no shortage of bravado. When they'd spoken some hours ago, he'd made passing allusion to having been shaken after the fight outside Von Braun. Jonas couldn't be sure whether he'd fully overcome that or was simply overcompensating. If there were to be a fight - and right now nobody was sure whether or not there would be one - they'd all find out which was the case.

"Alright, team," he announced himself, "We're on alert, so let's get out to our suits five minutes ago." Dombrowski wasn't exactly the kind of man who liked to be kept waiting.

[Kylern]

- Salamis Kai-class Herakles -
- Combat Bridge -

"My bad sir... I guess I'm just getting excited. This is my first real battle." He said feeling ashamed of loosing his cool. He didn't mean to question things he just wanted to know what they were doing and so on and so forth. He gave a sigh and took a big breath to get himself calm again. Though his foot was twitching a bit but he used his other to step on it and stop it from moving. He was looking like a fool and he didn't like that at all.

"Sir lets send these rebels to their maker and help end this war." He said trying to sound inspiring or at least optomistic. It wasn't his time to die anyways... at least he didn't think it was.

[Ascension]

-Dervish, Corridor, Outside the Ready Room

Jim smiled as best as he could and chuckled weakly while accepting the gauze. Now he knew what to do to get pretty girls to talk to him... get beaten up.

"I'm Jim... Jim MacAlpin... Celeste Angelina, huh? The 'Angel' part is appropriate... You just said the first kind words anyone has favored me with in... well, it was only several minutes, but it felt longer..."

He laughed again, but broke off into a bout of coughing.

"Sorry about that... I guess my 'comrades' in there kinda did a number on me..."

He sighed.

"In retrospect, yeah, I guess I screwed up... and I'm sure I said a bunch of stuff I'm going to regret in about sixty seconds or so... and probably some stuff I didn't even mean at the time... I just ramble when I get mad, y'know? I can't help it, I just go off... like a bomb or something... and... and... I just... I just..."

Jim's battered body was racked with a choking sob.

"I just miss my dad, y'know? I just miss him so much... and sometimes... sometimes when I think about how I'm on the same team as his killer now... I just wonder why I'm here at all... I wonder how I ended up here in the AEUG. It's not that I don't hate the Titans... it's just... 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..."

Jim shook his head.

"I don't even know why I'm telling you this... I don't know why I'm bothering you with all this... I've barely even met you and I'm already spilling out my life story! Don't mind me. Don't bother with me. I wouldn't want you to get caught up in this whole mess, Angel... and Fritz will be coming out of there any second now to claim what's left of my hide. If you don't hear from me again, it's probably because they tossed me out an airlock and gave my suit to a mechanic or something."

-Chuikov, Hangar

Caroline honestly didn't expect anything to come of this alert. She dismissed it as just another one of Dombrowski's flights of paranoid fantasy. She just boarded her Nemo as ordered and sat there in the cockpit doodling on her notepad (I know AF flight suits have notepads on the legs, I assume that a pilot's normal suit ought to have them too... even if they aren't animated) and waiting. Either something would happen eventually... or it wouldn't. Either way, she was more or less prepared.