PHASE 3: The Blunder

[Cardi Doorl]

- Granzi Team -

Granzi Team was now in full pursuit of the now-somewhat-distant (just outside effective weapons range, we'll say) raider force that had so brutally attacked Copernicus with unclear motives. The suit teams from the Jeanie were out, all of them actually standing atop their mothership as the battlegroup advanced. Any suits from the Cynthia or Helga that weren't yet aboard would have to either catch up across the Lunar surface or, if that proved somehow impossible, stay in Copernicus and wait for the fleet to return.

[Sume Gai]

Turkle
-Bridge-

Harken was busy looking over every inch of the now visible Drake classes

"They don't look like they've seen any combat at all; there's-"

Harken's observations were interrupted when the CIC called out.

"I've got some ZAFT ships coming after our friends out there looks like a Nazca and two Laurasia"

Harken glanced towards the Admiral and asked "should we hail them or move to intercept, sir?"

[Xvlai]

- Nazca Class-Cynthia -
- Main Bridge -

Captain Zach Brant scanned his bridge crew. They were holding up well for such unexpected combat. At the moment they were slightly outside weapons range but in a few minutes that would change and the Cynthia would bring vengeance to the people of Copernicus. Absently gesturing with his right hand Zach remained gazing at space but talked to his weapons officer.

"I want firing solutions just before we get into range, the second we get in open fire on the Drake class ships. Warm up the CIWS, and hold your fire on the missiles until my order"

Continuing to gaze at his monitor, the weapons officer replied with a simple. "Yes, Sir"

Continuing looking out the viewpoint, Zach could make out with his clear eye the retreating enemy ships. The two Drakes didn't pose a problem but the other ship worried him. What in the hell was that big one? It couldn't have been the Archangel. I don't remember it having that many guns.

Walking over to the communication officers console Zach begins relaying orders. "Contact our trailing mobile suits, get them back here." He left what he was thinking unsaid. I don't like having so few out there to protect us and if they turn, and make a fight out of this, it will be tough.

He turned and looked at the commander's face. What is she thinking? We should be calling for reinforcements. An odd sensation was growing in Zach's gut, one that had served him true before. Discipline, and Shema's reputation were the only things keeping those flutters down. We are walking into a trap.

- Nazca Class-Cynthia -
- Mobile Suit Bay -

Robert was stuck inside his moblie suit as a team of engineer scrambled across his GuAIZ replacing his left shielf. He had also received another beam rifle after a less than happy engineer had told him to be more careful with them.

He hoped the finished soon so he could finish the enemy mobile suit he had been fighting earlier. But something nagged at him more, the fate of his team.

I wonder if Ed and Duke made it back.

[Random Zaku Pilot]

-HELGA

Hector landed his GuAIZ into the Helga. He stood in his cockpit for a few minutes before walking out with a completely bored look on his face he walked up to a mechanic.

"Not much damage but patch up what you can, make sure Replace CIW ammo and for the beams might as well but don't bother if you are busy, and the rest is obvious refuel and recharge" said Hector then walking off.

He walks passed a door that was a empty corridor. He lazily leans against the wall closing his eyes. "So tired" he said to himself as he looked up at the corridor ceiling.

[Terrace]

Helga

Winry guided her GuAIZ R into the hangar of the Helga, still feeling the adrenaline rush from her first real battle. She opened the cockpit hatch and flagged down a mechanic.

"I need some recharging. No damage fortunately."

[Gambit01]

-Turkle-Bridge

"Hail them AND move to intercept, but keep an eye on those Drakes; we'll be bringing them in for repairs...AND questioning," Hiroshi replied.

"Attempt a direct connection; This is Admiral Hiroshi Tanahashi of the 14th Ptolemaeus Lunar Patrol Fleet. Unidentified ZAFT fleet, state your name and intentions outside your jurisdiction."

A subtle gesture at Harken told the other man to prepare for combat.

[Destroy Gundam]

- Nazca Class Cynthia, Mobile Suit Bay -

The shield that Marcus had brought back had been replaced with an undamaged one. Although the one that had saved him from taking a lot more damage wasn't a total loss, the technicians had told Marcus that repairing it to the point where it would be useful would more than likely take longer than it would for them to end up in battle again. The recharging and re-arming was complete, all that remained was for the order to launch to be given again. Marcus looked out of the GuAIZ's cockpit to try and see if Darius had landed. So far, the leader of the second team had not. He was worried, but outside of launching without authorization to go look for Darius, there was little Marcus could actually do about it.

"I hope he's alright. Of course, if he was just screwing around all this time, Commander Granzi's not going to be happy with him. Then again, the fact that he caused a lot of damage with his reckless piloting's not likely to leave her in the best of moods either...I just hope the man's alive."

[Sume Gai]

Turkle
-bridge-

"get to it Coms officer, and make sure you use both ZAFT channels and the emergency channels, also ready a message for our pilots." Harken switched on his Mic to record his message and then began

"This is Captain Harken, We are moving into a potential combat situation, be ready to engage; if you are fired upon you are free to fire back however firing before you are attacked or an order is given will be considered insubordination."

[EZero8]

Josh landed after his teammates had, and manuvered his GuAIZ to its usual hangar spot as the crews began resupply and patch-up work as soon as it powered down.

"Next time I won't be limited to only a saber and CIWS..." Josh muttered. Of all things, his railguns were the most conserved weapons, for piss-poor reasons.

Unlike the others, Kidden remained inside his unit as he cooled down. No use stepping out when everyone was on alert.

[SNT1]

-Turkle-
-Mobile suit Hangar-

"yeaaaaggghhh!" Mike let out a slurred battlecry after hearing Harken's announcements. Looks like there will be an interception. "Remember your training... and stuff. We're in superior machines, but don't rely too much on it... and stuff... " Mike wasn't exactly good at this 'leader' thing.

After many preparations, he steps up to the launch pad again.
~~~~


-Helga-
-Mobile suit Hangar-

AFter landing, Carrah was quick to prepare the mechanics. Her machine had a mangled head. "Please, fix what you can, if... possible" A bit shy that everything else didn't get as much damage, she closes her eyes for a bit to catch her breath.

[ZGMF-X28A Nu-Liberty]

Soon enough, the mechanics had finished resupplying Michael's GuAIZ-R, and the battery recharge was almost finished, as well. He would be ready to relaunch when the time came. Seeing that pretty much everyone had managed to make it back, at least he could launch knowing he had some backup.

Still sitting in his cockpit seat, Michael was in deep meditation, taking himself back to the Second Battle of Jachin Due. The reason he deserted wasn't for personal reasons, but more for moral reasons. He had deserted a corrupt power that had once been full of pride. Now, Michael merely waited.

[Kavik Ryx]

Manichi Hanger

Dalos stood by his Dagger L. Being assigned as a backup, he saw no real need in standing by in the cockpit. It was a real shame because he always wanted some excuse to beat up members of Blue Cosmos. But for now all he did was check up on his unit's armaments.

[Xvlai]

- Nazca Class-Cynthia -
- Main Bridge -

"Sir, communication coming through on all channels. It seems it is from an Earth Alliance fleet, they are hailing us as the 14th Ptolemaeus Lunar Patrol Fleet, and the Admiral in charge seems to be a Hiroshi Tanahashi. They want our unit name and to know our intentions, sir"

Zach was still gazing at Shema when the communications officer's announcement interrupted his train of thought and rocked him back on his feet. Tanahashi? It couldn't be the Lunar Wall could it? I thought he died in the battle of Jachin Due. Frowning Zach mentally brought up the ZAFT records he had read of the man. Intelligence reports never painted him as the type to attack a neutral city. They all painted him as a carefree child, except when he entered combat.

"There is another Earth Alliance fleet out there?" Turning he glared at his crew. "Why did we not know about this?" The crewman in charge of enemy detection visibly flinched then bent over his console furiously going over it again. Moments later he looked back up, "Sir, it seems there is another fleet out there. I cannot make out how many ships though, sir." The green coat looked at his console again, and without looking up continued, "It seems they have moved on an intercept course with us."

Sighing, Zach turned towards Shema, this was her jurisdiction not his. But his position offered him the ability to offer advice, even when it was sometimes not asked for.

"Sir, I advise that we do not respond. The Admiral in charge of their fleet is formidable indeed. And my gut tells me that this is a trap."

[Random Zaku Pilot]

-Helga

Hector not expecting to do much in the help of his machine maintenance stalked off to get something to scrounge up. Hitting his locker he found some of the ration bars and small ration can he ditched a while back. "Wonder if this stuff still good" looking at the date.

Opening the box he looks dumbly at the contents "Maybe I should have paid more attention about this... oohhh crackers and cheese" was Hector speaking to himself grabbing the items he was familiar with. He began eating it before it hit him.

Eyebrow twitching he decided to follow instructions on how to prepare the meal. Ten minutes later he is walking out of the room with the pouch in hand sighing while eating some sort of beef rice mixture.

"Hmm not bad just needed sugar and salt and cheese and crackers in it to taste passable" said Hector out loud grabbing a drink to wash the stuff down. He then enters the Hanger and watch people work.

(OOC: not really sure how MRE's work or whats basically in definitely not the ones in gundam if they had any)

[The Big Zabowski]

"Darius! Darius!"

The Comm was still out on Darius' GuAIZ, the cockpit now dimly lit by a single emergency light mounted in the roof of the cockpit. cables dangled down in the pilot's face as he wrenched with the right control stick, forcing the most amount of power he could into the legs of the suit as he trudged back toward the city dome.

It was then that the GuAIZ shuddered from the contact of Duke's GuAIZ arm to the remaining scorched shoulder armor of his right arm stump. Again, the Comm was out, and Darius just shrugged off the assist as the endorphins and adrenalin running through his veins staved off the searing pain of chunks of cockpit display that had embedded themselves in his side.

"Fucker is gonna pay for this damn thorn in my side.. Mark my words that damned ship and it's monkey s**t crew are going to pay for this."

Darius then began to feel the pain in his side reach along his arm, and up his neck. Curious, he felt over to his left side, thinking it was just nerve endings acting up, but in fact to his horror he felt his entire left side impacted with shrapnel.

"Oh god.."

As he reached up to his head he felt a 8 inch chunk of cockpit armor embedded in the side of his helmet..and without thinking yanked the chunk from the armored headpiece. Fearing the worst, he felt up to the side of his head..and felt nothing. But there was a slippery texture..

He looked down to his hand, and found it only covered in oil and dust, and breathed a sigh of relief.

"It appears that not only do we coordinators have superior genetics, but superior luck as well."

Darius chuckled nervously as he looked back up to the backup display on the front screen, the Cynthia and her two escorts had begun to pull out of the city. What were they doing? Were they running? No..

He then saw the flash of thruster flares in front of the Granzi Fleet. They were chasing those monkies back to earth. Finally someone had their head screwed on right up on that bridge. Whether it was Brant, or Granzi herself, was something yet to be seen by the young Red. With a few taps to the display screen, he checked his fuel levels..

"Not enough to get there, but I guess this Duke guy can hail them to get a recovery team out here. This piece of shit ain't going to make that run.."

With that in mind, Darius throttled up the thrusters and hovered along the surface in pursuit of the Granzi fleet as it took up chase with the pair of Drakes that were escaping the combat zone.

[Wedge14]

-Edgle Glendrin-

Ed sat on the foot of his mobile suit quietly his helmet still sealed. The young man had trouble reflecting on what had just happened. So many people had just died, and they could do nothing about it but add to the deathtoll.

-Erin Bruist-

The loud mouth girl was quite out of place. She sat in her cockpit silently as she received the orders to not to hesitate to fire. She couldn't help but wonder if this was some kind of elaborate drill.

-The Hedland-

Vicks was sweating now. The Hedland had taken some catastrophic damage, but it had lured the ZAFT fleet from it's den. But as a wounded animal limps along the predators will stalk behind them.

"Captain we can only get our main engine to 60%"

"Wheres the engineering team."

"They're on it."

"What about our communications array..."

"Still in operation."

"decrease to 45% Tell them our engines completly shot. Request immiediate assistance."

"Sir but!?"

"Just do it!!!"

[Ziryab]

-cloaked Girty Lue class, Nosi-
-Main Bridge-
-Above Lunar Surface-

"Aaaand tag!"

Completing a second pass by the Nosi speed upside down across the length of Copernicus City, catching up with the battered Drake class Hedland and Durnfell that were now emerging from the city.

"Direct laser communication," Cherryh said, holding back the urge to roll his eyes while rolling the ship over, righting itself up with its stomach to the lunar surface. "Congratulate them on their bravery and stuff like that. Then tell them use OMNI as a shield. No need for heroic sacrifices," he demanded.

Not that Cherryh had much concern for anyone within the Atlas fleet save for himself. Much like someone else within this fleet he was, even considered himself, to be more of a mercenary among them. But if the people aboard the Hedland and Durnfell were to survive this then they would surely around for another day to sacrifice themselves in his stead.

"They can drop into cloak then rendezvous with us once OMNI is occupied," engaging the Nosi's own cloak before they were within range of 14th to be identified. Leaving two Drake class ships visible to both OMNI and ZAFT.

"Anything further you want to say to them bosslady?" Turning towards Briana.

[Terrace]

Turkle

Terrace stood by in the cockpit of his Dopplehorn Dagger L, a feeling of nervousness growing in him. So he was finally going into combat. He should've felt more excited about it, but all he could do was pray that he would come through it alright.

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

Helga

Winry got something to eat while post-battle maintenance was being performed on her GuAIZ R. From what she understood, the Granzi Team was giving chase to the terrorists that had bombed the city, but stood a high chance of encountering a legitimate EA fleet.

She sighed. While nothing was exactly going wrong, things were certainly going weird.

[Cardi Doorl]

OOC: Ugh, sorry guys. I had this RP done yesterday, but for some reason I thought I'd posted it when I hadn't. Anyway, here goes.

IC:
- Lunar Surface -

Something was wrong here. There was no indication that Darius had heard anything Duke said. Maybe his radio was out? Maybe he was injured in such a way that he had hearing loss, or physically couldn't respond?

Whatever the case, Darius ignored Duke and turned to face the ships and skimmed along the surface after them. Duke grumbled, but trudged his own GuAIZ to the apparently deaf Red's unit. With a few thruster hits, Duke positioned his suit in front of Darius' and hooked his arms under Darius' mangled limbs.

Duke didn't know if Darius knew Morse well (though perhaps he should; Duke only knew it because he'd learned it in the Academy, so if Darius earned a red uniform... well, there was no guarantee Darius would understand). Moving on from an ellipsis-ravaged sentence, Duke transmitted via Morse code - by tapping his GuAIZ's "knuckles" against Darius' GuAIZ's torso - "I LIFT YOU TO SHIP HANG ON"

Duke then launched off, trying to pull Darius' tattered GuAIZ with him.

- Nazca-class Cynthia -
- Main Bridge -

"Advice noted," Shema's cold gaze never left the ships that rapidly grew larger, "It appears our friends had their own friends outside the city indeed, playing OMNI policeman. Launch all combat-worthy mobile suits immediately and determine firing solutions on the Drakes. Do not fire or advance without my orders." Shema recalled reports of a large vessel of an unknown type among the two Drakes attacking the city, but now it was nowhere in sight. That thought ran parallel to her multitude of other thoughts as she called to put through to respond to 14th Fleet, despite Zach's suggestion.

"14th Ptolemaeus Lunar Patrol Fleet, this is the ZAFT Granzi Team. We are in pursuit of two Drake-class escort ships and a battleship of an unidentified class that fired upon our mobile suit forces within Copernicus. We intend to capture or destroy the attacking units in return for their unprovoked belligerence. Stand down immediately; we will fire upon any impediment to our justice."

[hellbore]

The mechanics had told Adam that the entire arm would have to be replaced. They had rigged a spare up, and as soon as they had finished the alarms rang out calling all pilots to launch. He asked the chief if his suit was ready for combat, and received a thumbs up for an answer. He swung up into his cockpit and looked over to see what Marcus was doing, waiting for the man to get ready.