Episode 20 - The Gate of Zedan

[Sume Gai]

-Rick Archer-

One might call what just happened lucky. The Beam Rifle shots took care of everything The enemy Missiles were shot down and then the Hizack pilot emptied the 120mm in the completely wrong direction. Rick, of course, wasn't a psychic and had no idea that Alex Lepac was abandoning the MS. This bit of information would have been irrelevant anyway; Rick's job was not to simply damage enemy machines but rather to destroy them and their plots.

That was the reason for what happened next. With the enemy MS drifting in space Rick himself came to a 'stop' and raised the Nemo's beam rifle. He took careful aim adjusting the rifle with a steady hand. With no hint of hesitation or remorse, Rick pulled the trigger and sent a single yellow beam at the Hizak's cockpit.

-Kenneth Graden-

En route to intercept the incoming Rick Dias, Graden saw Korbel disobeying his orders. He moved closer to order the boy to stop and that was when it happened. The Rick Dias was hit by one of the warning shots and then shot in the back by the second Pick one.

Graden watched with disgust; that rat had killed one of his own. From where he was it didn't look so accidental. It was the kind of act even a man like hated to see. Had the Pink rat not retreated Graden himself might have fired some "warning shots"

[Ziryab]

"W--w... wait," the words slunk from Raquel's lips. Moisture on her forehead began to form a bead of sweet from the Minovsky powered tension and sudden confusion began to along her nose. "The pink one. Did they--they just shot one of their own?!"

Defection? Attacker? Peacemaker? Her mind swirled. She wanted to know. Why was the first Rick Dias coming near them to warrant being shot by one of their own?

It wasn't until the other station reported and confirmed what her eyes were indeed seeing: that the pink Rick Dias was infact turning about and fleeing the scene. After downing one of its own comrades. It took a couple of mental tries but eventually Raquel managed to remove one of her hands from the helm to wipe the sweat away with a forearm.

"Captain Pizal," she piped up with eyes glued to forward and to her station. One tension inducer down, but what about the AEUG they were near? If they wanted one of their own dead, hopefully they weren't intended to have a fight with them here and now. "Orders, sir?"

[King Monkey]

- P field -
- Team 3 -

It was a fortunate thing that Jacob's combat computer spotted Sven's attacking mobile suit. All he wanted at the moment was to kill as many Titans as possible to avenge Clute and he was intent on making the fools in the Hizacks the first tallies on that balance sheet. It was only the insistent beeping of the warning system and the pop up of a display window that kept him from getting shot in the back.

He slammed on his thrusters and kicked in his verniers, throwing his Rick Dias into a ragged half circle that brought him around to face Sven head on. Even then he didn't let up. His Mobile Suit leapt toward Sven's and he thrust his left hand out leveling his beam pistol at the enemy and firing off a shot. His beam saber trailed behind him, held in a death grip in the right hand of his suit.

A loud noise echoed inside his cockpit, drowning out the noise of battle and he vaguely wondered what it was, not realizing it was his own shout of hate and rage.

- Bindra Team -

At first, Djorn didn't have any more idea what was happening than any of the other Axis members. Jim's approach could have been anything from a defection, to the actions of a confused pilot to an ill advised attack run. In any case, he was ready to shoot down the man if given half the chance. After all, the AEUG were only allies in theory. Eventually they would have to fall to the glory of Axis, too and if they could take out one of the pilots now, so much the better.

Only too late did he realize the truth. When the Rick Dias was cowardly shot in the back, he knew that Jim was a patriot who was only seeking to return to the comforting embrace of his homeland and that comfort had been obliterated by the Pink Rick Dias.

"Dirt grubbing scum!" he shouted as the Pink suit fled. Even if it was retreating, and was probably out of range, he fired some "warning shots" at it, and even applied his thrusters to begin chasing it.

[wonton bob]

- Hamburg Team -
- P Sector -

Bernard didn't wait to see if his shots found their mark. His vision had become blurred once again and blinking was causing him pain.

I can't keep this up

"“Get Alfred out! I’ll keep them busy!” Bernard was relieved when he heard Randy's request. With some effort he was able to pull back his Nemo closer to Al.

"R-Roger."

Grabbing Al's Nemo by the shoulder, Bernard was able to establish a direct line of communication. He cut off the video feed so not to scare the kid.

"Al. Time to fall back. You need a tow?" Bernard asked.

Along the way Bernard sees an important piece he left behind. His Nemo carefully picks up the jettisoned cannon. Seeing the warped barrel, he realizes why it didn't fire. "They'd kill me if I returned without this."


*********

- Axis -
- Bindra Team -

Matthew was stunned when the AEUG's Dias exploded. He stopped firing and watched the mobile suit break apart.

"Wh-Ha, Ha, Ha! Did you see that? I guess we're not the only rookies around here." Matthew taunted.

His baptism of fire caused images of glory to swirl around Matthew's head. Even if it was against weaker Titan units. Matthew continued to ridicule the Judas in the pink Dias.

"Ha, That coward pink one is running away...oops, time to adjust that sight!"

Watching the battle was fascinating at first but it became redundant after awhile, especially when you're sitting on the sidelines. With 2 kills under his belt, Matthew saw no reason to continue "guard duty". There were other capable pilots around, besides there was valuable combat data to study. As soon as he can see his movements in battle the faster he'll improve. With a quick about face he quickly plunges toward the hanger. "Ens. Korbel returning for maintenance."

[Lans]

- Hamburg Team -
- P Sector -

- Alfred

Al didn't really register what really happened to him after the explosion. To him, time seemed to go faster than it should be. He didn't really felt anything beside from the annoying red liquid that began to wet his right eyebrows. Only his trembling hands warned him that he wasn't in his normal self.

Intercom cut in, there's no video input but Al knew it was Bernard's voice. "Al. Time to fall back. You need a tow?"

He tried to speak, but his throat felt really dry. He cleared his throat before answering weakly, "boy... I think, I'll do fine," He forced a thin smile while looking up at what left of his screens, "Where's everyone? Oh, fallback to Hamburg is it?" while inputting the Hamburg's position and trotting behind Bernard's Nemo Cannon.

- The Balrampur -
- P Sector -

- Karl

The Balrampur corrected her fly path after launching half of her missile load. Its captain ordered the ship to change direction earlier on, for better angle of attack. Despite their efforts the result doesn’t meet the expectation. Karl wasn’t happy. The Captain wasn’t surprised that Dogosse Gier would be a hard prey, he just didn't like how it get away unscathed after salvos from the entire AEUG fleet.

His only consolation comes from one of the lookout crew that reported numerous shared hits on several Titans ships that were and still running gauntlets for the Dogosse Gier. Soon, the ship’s MP cannons starting to blazed their guns again in timely manner, trying to score a hit under this horrendous MP interference.

His XO tried to micro manage their MS Team, trying to figure out their fighting conditions. Karl watched the input on his console, it showed him the Axis ships getting near on their position. Before he let go of his eyes, he saw something he didn’t like at all. “Yan, can you get the Axis ship on the main screen.”

Everyone’s neck seemed to stiffen up a bit after hearing the word “axis”. The main screen showed a ship with peculiar colour surrounded with even more contrasted objects. “Yan, does it look like a warning sho-,” he saw a red and pink AEUG new machine nearby. Before he could say anything, the screen shows something unbelievable.

“Alright, back to your stations!” Karl bellowed, trying to dismiss the problem from everyone’s attention. Chris, his XO already approached him. “Captain,” he asked. Karl can only replied, “We’ll address that matter latter. Send the video caps to Capt. Abbey for archieve, he might need it.” while he made a call to Abbey. “ah, on private channel please.” he waited before getting connected.

“Captain, the Axis ships are holding their direction into our position. They’re getting too provocative to handle. I purpose the Balrampur and New Yark to alter course, starboard deep 7-12 degrees into P field. That way we could keep distance from the Axis while keeping our pressing into the P field. I still believe we could put some harm on Dogosse Gier before it slips completely out of our reach.”

[Attomoku]

Gamma Team-

“This is all the Titans are good for, Nick… killing. You’re not protecting anyone!”
Nick blocked the weak blow but couldn’t bring himself to counterattack.
“Then it’s a good place for a walking corpse,” he replied suddenly very tired, “any day I get to live after November ‘83 is just a bonus. Besides, there is still something I’ve got to do…”
He snaped out of his introspection and leaned in towards the camera very business like.
“You have something you need to do too. You need to go back to whatever ship she’s on and tell Celeine that I got her message, then kindly tell her to get the fuck off the ship. I want you to drug her and leaver her in port if that’s what it takes. Leave Ed with her too if at all possible. Oh and tell Whatshisface that Wolf is mine! I don’t know kinda beef he’s got with that guy but you tell him that Wolf is going to meet his “destiny” at the business end of my Beam saber, just like his dear old daddy did.” He laughed at the memory, his voice edging toward the maniacal now.
“Yes, there is still something I must do! The Titans aren’t using me; I joined up for some revenge but now Im staying to correct an injustice known as Ritter!”
And on that note he broke the connection. Then, giving his best guess as to where Team 3 came from, he tried to kick Celeste back towards the direction of the Dervish before taking off back towards Echo.

Buxoro Team-

Since Al backed off, the missile exploded far away from lethal rage but the shrapnel and concussive force still peppered the suit and forced Elijah back a bit. As a result Brenard’s well aimed shots missed.
It was getting crazy out there and the team was in bad shape, they were running out of ammo, propellant, and limbs; he made the choice.
“Buxoro team we are falling back. I repeat we are falling back. Try and regroup with other units of Echo if possible”
The blasted remains of a Nemo floated by, it looked like it had been nearly bisected with a shallow saber cut. The rifle was still good regardless, so he ditched the battered heat hawk and took it. Meanwhile Tyler was used this chance while Randy was distracted to meet back up with the retreating CO.

[Fritz Ashlyn]

- Gate of Zedan, P Field -

- The Kirov -
- Bridge -

Trent winced instinctively as a minor follow-up salvo of rockets streamed across Taskforce Echo and peppered the other retreating ships with small explosions. One of the smaller fleeing transport ships was struck near its stern, and the glow of its engines disappeared leaving it drifting in place. “Captain,” Chief Kellman spoke up, “It looks like there are more of our mobile suits returning. Spotters and sensors confirm a pair of Marasais, and the Ipswich is reporting part of a Hizack team moving in our direction,”. Some of the deeper lines in his face softened as he seemed to relax a little. More pilots were coming back alive, and it would give them a better head start on pulling out when the 12 minute mark arrived. Bright light flickered into the bridge as a mega particle beam streamed past the Kirov, casting shadows across the captain’s face.

“Get word to Ltcmdr. Bate - have him move the Kalinin Team forward to cover anyone that is falling back,” Trent ordered. He began to rethink his running plan to get Echo out of the danger zone in time as Gojiro identified the Marasais as the rest of Alpha Team. The captain nodded at the news, and the hangar prepared to receive the incoming suits. “Looks like another successful sortie for Ltcmdr. Stukov,” Fyodor commented, eliciting a subdued but positive reaction from the bridge crew. When Mortimer returned to his spot beside the captain’s chair, Trent leaned closer to him and said, “Stand by to launch flares. We’ll give them a solid five minutes to break off and return to the ships,”.

Kellman nodded crisply and turned to Sergei’s station. “Trochinsky, prepare recall flares,” he barked, “Pavlichenko, relay the orders to the rest of the fleet,”. He deftly adjusted the Kirov’s position in anticipation of the signal launch and waited patiently for the captain. Trent consulted the countdown display again and then said, “Wait for my mark. We’ll give them another minute and a half or so…”. The timer blinked under 20 minutes and the silhouette of Axis moved another spot closer to its target.

- Hangar -

“I am fine, I said,” Stukov grumbled, pushing away the hand of a medic that was attempting to examine his head. He handed his helmet to the man and forced his way through the crew that descended on his damaged mobile suit as he headed for the rack Grace’s Marasai now occupied. “Hey, sir,” Leandro called out for his attention as the medical team began to move Jason out of the hangar. “Alvarez,” Stukov responded with a ghost of a nod, not deviating from his path. The grunt barely qualified as an acknowledgement, and yet Leandro felt like he picked up a hint of praise in the Russian‘s inflection. “Maybe I’m crazy,” he mumbled with a shrug as he floated up to the catwalk his teammates were on.

As Grace climbed out of her MS, Stukov folded his arms and waited for Leandro to catch up. “We successfully engaged the enemy and scored several kills,” the burly pilot began with no preamble, his voice carrying in the hangar, “You two were quite satisfactory today,”. Leandro’s mouth twitched but he fought off a frown. “Satisfactory? That’s it?” he thought. At this point it was becoming difficult to not be insulted by Stukov’s gruff style of leadership. He didn’t need praise heaped on him constantly, but this was getting redic--. “I’m glad you two made it back. You’re both talented pilots,” Stukov said in his normally grim tone. Then he smiled, an expression that sent a shiver down Leandro’s spine and made him chuckle at the same time. The mad Russian responded with a deep belly laugh that rumbled across the hangar, startling some of the nearby crew. He slapped Leandro on the back hard enough to make him stumble.

- Beta Team -

"Sir, he is in the regular Dias with the bazooka, he should be getting low on ammo,“ Haksson reported. Ritter’s face twisted into a sneer as he brought his crosshairs to rest on Fritz’ suit and fired off a quick shot. He had prayed for another chance to take on his sister’s murderer, and he wouldn’t waste the opportunity. Wolf’s first attempt was evaded, but he gritted his teeth and didn‘t let it bother him. The odds of Echo once again being pitted against the AEUG’s 4th Squadron, and on top of it in the midst of such a large engagement, were so small that Wolf believed with his entire being that it was the Destiny that had led him to Fritz again. Thanks to his computer, he knew there were at least 7 other Titans in the immediate area, and it was only a matter of time until they forced Ashlyn and his cohort into a mistake.

He allowed the pair of Hizacks behind him and Sven to catch up and move ahead before he took off again behind his subordinate and tried to line up another shot. Sven‘s voice crackled across the comm again as he advanced, "Affirmative, moving to engage the Dias with the Cannon,". Without responding to his wingman, Ritter changed the direction of his approach to leave the Hizacks straight ahead of the enemy, but he hesitated after raising the rifle again to aim a second shot. It took him a moment to realize what was going on in the midst of the AEUG team.

That irritating pilot in the pink Rick Dias had returned at a most inopportune time, and he was making a beeline for Ashlyn. “It doesn’t matter…” Wolf muttered, “We’ve still got you outnumbered almost 3 to 1,”. The targeting reticule glided across his HUD as he made his indirect approach, and it came to rest on Fritz’ Rick Dias again. He was about to press the firing stud when he realized Fritz and the pink one had slowed down. “Are they talking to each other in the middle of this?!” Wolf wondered, taking it as another insult on Pan’s part. With a low growl, Ritter angrily fired a trio of shots at Fritz. “This is IT! You’ll never leave the Gate of Zedan alive, traitor!”.

- Delta Team -

Cara breathed a sigh of relief when it looked like the pressure was finally being let off of Delta Team. She realized she was shaking slightly as she loosened her grip on the controls, and she took a few deep breaths to calm down. "Cara... let them go. Return to the Kirov to resupply,” Kyle ordered. Having someone that seemed clearly in charge of the situation (whether it was true or not) also went a long way to helping her keep her cool - if she had suddenly been responsible for more than herself, she knew things would have been even worse. Ltjg. Roberts continued giving orders, this time to the Juliet unit that had wandered into their area, “Hizack, This is P-field. Juliet's gone. If you have enough propellant withdraw with the escaping fleet otherwise refuel at Task-force Echo."

Ens. Stryper slowed down and turned to come closer to the pair of Barzams, and the monoeye of his Hizack tracked to the edge of its slit to watch Kyle’s mobile suit. The pilot from Capt. Kay‘s fleet sounded surprised and shocked at Kyle‘s summary of events, but he quickly responded “Ah… Roger that, sir. I’m right behind yo--”. The sudden explosion that consumed Stryper’s Hizack made Cara shut her eyes and recoil in her seat, and her Barzam was peppered with debris. The mega particle blast from one of the AEUG ships continued off into space through the expanding cloud of scrap. “Oh God!” she cried out, her death grip on the controls returning as her anxiety levels rose back up. “Please, sir, let’s get out of here,” she pleaded, moving ahead of Kyle on their trek back to the Kirov.

- Herakles Team -

Ens. Lepak made it out of his restraints and forced the cockpit hatch open in time to get an unobstructed view of Archer’s beam coming at him for nearly a full second. “Oh n--” was all he could rasp before the beam pierced straight through him and the cockpit behind him, doubling the Hizack over before it blew in half. The two main parts of the Titan suit’s bulk spun away from each other for a few moments before they exploded, completely obliterating the green machine. Herakles Team took its second loss of the battle in the form of a desperate man trying to bail out of his mobile suit. Court and Morrow were left alone nearby, still trying to get the better of Jonathan Miller.

- Kalinin Team -

“You heard ‘em,” Alpha said, waving his teammates forward as they moved ahead of the fleet. The four Hizacks slowly made their way closer to the main area of the battle, and then slowed down until they were practically holding position. “We’re here to make sure everyone gets out without the AEUG on their ass the whole way,” he said as he scanned the area ahead of them, “Looks like there’s more of our boys on their way in, so keep your eyes peeled,”.

[Fritz Ashlyn]

- Gate of Zedan, P Field Perimeter -

- The Bindra -
- Bridge -

Capt. Wald watched as his orders were carried out, but the abrupt result of the confrontation made his eyes widen slightly. The oncoming AEUG pilot was blown out of space, instantly removing the immediate threat. But the circumstances of the kill… had the gunners fired a little too close to the enemy, or had that other Rick Dias really…? "W--w... wait… The pink one. Did they--they just shot one of their own?!" Raquel asked, sounding incredulous. Pizal’s grip tightened on the railing in front of him. So she had seen the same thing he thought he had. Whatever had just transpired, it was almost certain that they would have to deal with the nearby AEUG unit in short order. The very large, very nearby AEUG unit. “Oh…” Wald murmured, his voice weakly trailing off when he realized what he might have just caused. He hadn’t thought about all the repercussions of opening fire on the AEUG at this point in Haman-sama’s plan. If he had ruined it… Never mind the personal disgrace - there would be serious hell to pay.

"Captain Pizal," Raquel asked, “Orders, sir?”. The captain swallowed, a heavy gulp made worse by his mouth going dry. He had to do something, though. This was still his ship. “I, uh…” he stammered, turning around after seeing the pink one fly away. So had that one been trying to attack them? Was it for intimidation? Was he trying to defect? Pizal clenched and loosened his hands as his mind raced. Orders. “Move, uh, move us to port,” he said, sounding indecisive. It would at least move them away from the 4th and give him some time to think. “Sir,” Vada piped up from his comm station, “The flagship of the AEUG 4th Squadron is attempting to establish contact via communications laser,”. Oh no. Pizal slowly turned pale. They would want an explanation, and he wasn’t sure he had one that they would find satisfactory.

“Fine. Yes,” he stuttered, waving for the connection to be made. He tried to draw himself up to his full height, and he nervously reached up and slicked his hair back. The static on the main screen disappeared, and the momentary blackness was replaced with the face of the AEUG commander. “Sir, I am Capt. Pizal Wald of the Axis battleship Bindra,” the captain said, managing to return to what was almost his normal ‘command voice’. His AEUG counterpart, a clever looking man that appeared to be in his late 50s, nodded slightly and responded, “Capt. Wald, this is Capt. Carl Abbey of the Dervish,”. Pizal quickly bowed his head and interjected, “Capt. Abbey, if you please, I would like an explanation for the actions of your pilots,”. “Have to come at him,” Pizal thought, “Control the tone and pace of the exchange,”.

One of Abbey’s eyebrows raised as his request. “Captain, I’m not exactly sure what you’re referring to,” he said. Was he lying? Wald could see cunning in his eyes, but he couldn’t tell if he was trying to deceive him. “I was… urged to make contact with your ship, because I believe there might be some kind of misunderstanding. The Bindra was authorized to operate in our field during this attack, and as far as I know our pilots have devoted their efforts to fighting the Titans,” Abbey explained. Pizal frowned. “Capt. Abbey, not two minutes ago a pair of your Rick Dias units approached my ship in what I interpreted as an aggressive act. We fired warning shots…” Capt. Wald began, but he fell silent when he noticed Abbey’s attention had been diverted to someone offscreen. The AEUG captain sighed and shook his head, and then nodded before returning his attention to Pizal.

“Capt. Wald, I apologize. I was just informed by my executive officer that there is evidence of an accident near your ship. It appears there was some sort of friendly fire incident in response to the warning fired by the Bindra,” Abbey said. He began to look more haggard at the news. Pizal’s control on his demeanor lapsed and he visibly relaxed his shoulders and posture as he sighed in relief. He quickly recovered, and some of his normal attitude rushed back to the forefront, “Captain, I hope for the AEUG’s sake that your explanation is correct. I am willing to ignore the error of one of your pilots as long as no further acts of aggression are perpetrated against Lady Haman’s fleet,”.

Abbey nodded at that, and answered, “Agreed. Again, I apologize if any unnecessary distress has been caused to your ship,”.

- Hallway -

"I'll go back, but you can tell Wald for me in advance..." Julian sneered bitterly, turning around and letting himself be escorted back to the Bindra's bridge. "...Nevermind. He'll never get it, anyway. Like Gihren never did..."

“Yes, sir,” the leader of the security team responded flatly. It was purely courtesy to Julian’s rank, and it was clear by his emotionless tone it was just meaningless words of “respect“. Whether he agreed or not wasn’t evident. He extended his hand, waving down the hallway so that Ltjg. Meighan could travel ahead of them. The four men arrived at the door to the bridge just as Pizal ended his conversation with Capt. Abbey. “Thank you for your cooperation, sir,” the detachment leader said as he waited for Julian to go back onto the bridge.

[Fritz Ashlyn]

- Outside the Gate of Zedan’s P Field -

- The Dervish -
- Bridge -

“God damn it, Richard,” Abbey rumbled, smacking the armrest of his chair with the palm of his hand in frustration. “What the hell happened out there, Rich? Who was it?” he asked. In the middle of his tense conversation with Pizal Wald, Capt. Keaton from the Balrampur had contacted the Dervish. Barrique had quietly taken Keaton’s call and relayed the information to Abbey, who had managed to assuage Axis’ fears of attack. Barrique shook his head and answered, “I’m not sure, captain. Jungst went through the video recording and notified me about a friendly fire accident between two Rick Diases, but I haven’t personally seen it yet,”. Abbey’s vision fell and he muttered, “Son of a bitch…”. “Capt. Keaton is still on the line, sir. Wants orders to respond to the Axis repositioning,” Barrique added, gesturing to the handset at Abbey’s side.

This was the absolute last thing Abbey needed to deal with in the middle of the AEUG’s largest operation of the entire war. He knew he had at least one pilot dead, and now the Axis were stirred up over whatever had happened near their ship. He had to make sure the Bindra’s captain calmed down and stayed that way, and that the 4th could carry out the rest of the plan. The background noise on the bridge increased slightly as the operators began to talk amongst themselves about the lost Rick Dias. “Wes is back,” Filmore announced, causing several of the crew to look at each other. Well, they could cross him off the list. So who was it that wasn‘t coming back? Abbey wanted to know just as badly as they did, but he didn’t have time to dwell on it.

The captain picked up the handset and said, “Stand down, Karl. Looks like whatever went down near their ship got them riled up, and I can’t blame them. Stay on your toes and report any further suspicious movement,”. While the captain was taking care of the immediate aftermath, Richard walked over to Jungst’s station and had the video record restarted from the beginning. The dim lights of the bridge caused the bright areas of the screen to reflect off of Barrique’s sunglasses as he watched what happened to Jim MacAlpin replay in slow motion. A deep scowl spread across his face when he realized what he was seeing. His hands instinctively balled into fists. “Heyden,” he spat as the explosive round tore into the back of Jim’s suit.

- Hangar -

"Guilty as charged, Ensign. Rem Banner, Egghead Adjunct to Genuine Genius. Or something like that,”. Rem paused as he saw Dr. M fumbling with his normal suit, but soon continued, "The distinguished gentleman is Doctor Gerhard Merkwürdigliebe, one of the top MS designers at Anaheim,”. Sophie could see the dark circles underneath the engineer’s eyes as he properly introduced himself, "Sorry about that, I'm still running on about no sleep for 3 days getting all these upgrades in motion… Rem Banner, Anaheim Engineer. Mostly electronics and systems. No offense, but what happened? Crash harnesses usually keep blunt force trauma down to a minimum,”.

Sophie shook his hand and answered with a humph, “Yeah, that’s what I hear. Guess I have bad luck with seatbelts - I was nailed by one of their rockets and got slammed into my controls. Doc tells me it’s a bad fracture in my shoulder, so I get to stay strapped into a harness for a month or three,”. She patted the bulk stuffed into the left side of her normal suit for emphasis. After a second look at Rem, she said, “If I were you I’d disappear into my quarters and sleep until we get back to Luna,”. “Heads up! Suit on the way in!” Sager yelled, startling Sophie as the crowd of mechanics dispersed to get to work. Chief Polk kicked off the floor to shout directions as Curren was guided into the hangar and towards one of the Team 2 racks.

- Gate of Zedan, P Field -

- Team 1 -

“MacAlpin’s dead…”

Fritz’ focus on Wolf Ritter melted away entirely when he heard Pan Heyden’s voice. He slowed down in shock, letting his immediate chance at a counterattack go to waste. He must have heard Pan wrong. “What?!” he asked in disbelief. That couldn‘t be right. The kid couldn‘t go and get himself killed without Fritz having a chance to help him out. And Pan was supposed to take care of him… “What happened? You were supposed to stay with him!” Fritz said, getting agitated. He let out a choking cough, forcibly holding something more back. A burst of anger? A sob? He hadn’t reacted this way to a comrade’s death since the middle of the last war. His breathing sped up. “You were supposed to be with him!” he said, shaking his head.

The urgent alarm from his computer almost went unnoticed as he sat in shock. A red arrow frantically blinked in an effort to get his attention as Wolf’s attack speared in at him. Almost too late, he realized he was still in the middle of a war zone and he slammed his feet down and jerked the controls to the side, rolling the Rick Dias and causing it to leap forward with a sudden high power burst from its thrusters. The last of the three beams tore through the suit’s left arm below the elbow, blowing the limb off at the joint and damaging the bazooka. “RITTER! Um Gottes willen, laß mich in Ruhe für EINE SEKUNDE!” Fritz pleaded, his voice almost breaking with frustration as he struggled to right his mobile suit.

Michiko gasped when she heard Pan’s message, and she managed to save herself from a similar attack that left her without the use of the 240mm cannon after the barrel was clipped by a beam rifle shot. Tears rolled down her face as she continued to keep out of the Hizacks’ line of fire. When Fritz cried out at Wolf she couldn’t understand his words, but she plainly heard the tone of a man begging for respite and it hurt her almost as much as the news of Jim’s death. She continued to fire ’down’ at the enemy, scoring a minor hit on one of the pursuing Titans with a beam pistol. “We have to get out of here! Please!” she said, hoping Pan and Fritz would realize how quickly the noose was tightening on their position. She didn’t care if they could hear her crying or not.

- Team 3 -

Celeste gripped Clute’s escape pod closer to her Rick Dias’ chest as Nick blocked her attack. “Then it’s a good place for a walking corpse,” he replied, “any day I get to live after November ‘83 is just a bonus. Besides, there is still something I’ve got to do…”. He stopped looking to the past and leaned in towards the camera. “You have something you need to do too. You need to go back to whatever ship she’s on and tell Celeine that I got her message, then kindly tell her to get the ZOINKS off the ship. I want you to drug her and leave her in port if that’s what it takes. Leave Ed with her too if at all possible. Oh and tell Whatshisface that Wolf is mine! I don’t know kinda beef he’s got with that guy but you tell him that Wolf is going to meet his “destiny” at the business end of my beam saber, just like his dear old daddy did,” Nick cackled, returning to a more normal tone of voice, “Yes, there is still something I must do! The Titans aren’t using me; I joined up for some revenge but now I’m staying to correct an injustice known as Ritter!”

Before Celeste could reply, her HUD snapped back to a view of space as Nick backed away, breaking skin talk to plant a kick into her mobile suit. Celeste let herself float backwards uncontrolled for a few seconds as she collected herself and waited for Te’Litha to leave. She opened the visor of her helmet, and wiped tears away from her eye before righting her suit. The tiger-striped Marasai was gone, and behind where they had been locked together drifted the empty hulk of Clute’s Rick Dias. She moved closer and put away the beam saber to free up her other manipulator, and then grabbed hold of the fried mobile suit to begin towing it slowly back towards the Dervish.

- New Yark Team -

Thibaut and Ramon covered over half of the distance to their ship in total silence. The younger man had grown to like Lt. Mello, but he knew Ramon had been his friend for years and he wasn’t sure what to say. After moving closer to Sumitani’s Nemo, Thibaut reached out and offered, “Sir, I know you and the lieutenant knew each other for a long time… I don’t know what it’s like to lose someone like that,”. “Say, say, say, say!” Ramon responded, trying to sound upbeat, “Corey is in a better place. I, Hard AE, will continue our struggle,”. Thibaut nodded and tried to smile. “Yes, sir.”

[Cybaster]

-Julian-

"You still can't see three minutes ahead of you, can you, Wald?"

Julian supposed it was karma, really, as he stood on the bridge next to one of the consoles, arms crossed sardonically, staring at Wald with disdain; He had been an Axis spy, volunteered for it, in fact, within the AEUG, and now Wald had treated him as an AEUG spy within Axis in turn. And that was perfectly reasonable; You reap what you sow. Regardless, the whole thing and seeing what happened didn't help Julian forgive Wald's impetuousness any --- just another who read the most glaring reports and ignored the rest. That impetuousness killed MacAlpin, ruined any chance of him defecting to Axis proper, and even after that Wald was still belligerently demanding answers from the AEUG. And since the Bindra decided to finally drop all pretenses of their suspicions of him being a double agent for the AEUG, Julian was going to return the favor --- he saw no need to be courteous anymore.

Was the Bindra really relying on this fool to lead them into battle when the time comes, Julian wondered? Of course, Wald was not the worst --- there were even bigger fools in Axis that Julian had to wonder why they were even soldiers, much less pilots; Especially Mashymere Cello, that lovestruck idiot. Julian winced; Mashymere Cello, in a word, was a sycophant, a Knight of Haman whose primary virtue was not in actual skill or efficiency but a strange, absolute devotion to Lady Haman, to the point where he carries a rose around at all times (even in space!). Whereas Julian had to admit that the people in the AEUG earned their stripes, it was a wonder whether or not Mashymere managed to buy his with that devotion.

The thought of being transferred to the Endra, under Mashymere's command, made Julian shudder --- even Chara Soon, in all her ample-chested glory, was more bearable than he was.

Pressing a button on the console, Julian replayed the entire scene with the two Rick Dias on the Bindra's viewscreens, of Pan and the Bindra gunning MacAlpin down with his Bazooka. "Captain, next time, if you read my reports, read all of them --- especially that supplementary one on some of the pilots in the 4th and why I'm concerned about the name 'James MacAlpin'. I want you to take a good look at what happened today. Remember it. See that your actions had killed off a perfectly good AEUG pilot that most likely intended to defect to us, Wald --- and in this war, every bit counts. We're still immigrants here, technically. One day, when we finally move against the AEUG, we'll need all the support we can gather: from the Colonies, from Earth, even from the enemy, from the AEUG itself, Anaheim, you name it. It'll be the key to our victory because despite our military strength compared to the AEUG, the AEUG are natives and have the advantages of the 'home team'. They're not going to give it easily, so every bit helps. We'll need to work for that support in the days to come --- and one such chance was ruined because you couldn't tell your pilots to stop shooting for one minute.

"And another thing? If you're worried that I might be a double agent for the AEUG, say so. I have nothing to hide from Lady Haman, and I certainly hope you don't, either."

[The Loser Villain]

Titans
- Buxoro Team -

"Yeah!" Aaron yelled with pride as his missiles caused damage to Al's Nemo. It may not have been a kill, but it put him out of the battle. Rather then gloat he began to scan around for any other AEUG Mobile Suits and caught sight of Randy's Nemo cannon just in time to see it fire at him.

"Woah," he remarked as he struggled to dodge the fire, "That was close."

“Buxoro team we are falling back. I repeat we are falling back. Try and regroup with other units of Echo if possible”

"Copy that Lt.," he said with a sigh. They'd done their job and there was no point in getting killed over it now when they were in horrible shape.

Maneuvering his Hi-Zack he fell in line with Elijah and Tyler, trying to keep up since his Hi-Zack's thruster output had been reduced with the missing leg.

"I'll cover our six," Timothy chimed in, "Since my Hi-Zack's in better shape right now."

'Yes, you'll have to explain that at some point,' Aaron thought. But, he wasn't all that concerned, Buxoro team would make it back alive again!

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

Axis
- Bindra Team -

Jim MacAlpin's Rick Dias seemed to completely fill Nikolai's view screen. He was so focused on the Mobile Suit, that when it exploded he thought his own Gaza-C would be consumed in the fiery blast.

Flinching in his restraints he jerked the controls and the mobile suit to fly backwards.

"Why, why'd he kill his own...." he trailed off, as he had spoken to nobody in particular he didn't feel the need to finish the sentence.

He felt his heart beat faster, but it wasn't fear that cause his pulse to increase, it was anger. No, it was more then that, it was rage. He felt nothing but hatred towards the AEUG at that moment.

Gritting his teeth together, Nikolai could feel tears well up from his furry. He started to wish more then ever that they would start fighting the AEUG, back stabbers such as the pink Rick Dias had no right to live in Lady Haman's world.

Stopping his Gaza-C's backwards momentum he adjusted course and flew closer to the Bindra. He's stay to guard it till they gave to order to land. Every minute he waited he could feel his hatred burn.

He never met Jim MacAlpin, didn't even know his name, but his unsuccessful defection inspired Nikolai. Unfortunately, it inspired him to kill.

[Xvlai]

- Gate of Zedan, P Field -
- Beta Team -

A smirk crossed Sven's face, the enemy pilot's computer had seen him but he would not react fast enough. He had chosen this paticular Rick Dias not because it was much of a threat had it been given a chance to continue to fire at the Titan units from range, but more so because he had no paticular wish to get in the way of Wolf and Ashlyn. The other Titan units should be able to handle Ashlyn's wingmen as well. Even though his forehead was wet with sweat and his visor had slightly fogged up his eyes never left the Rick Dias as it turned around and fired seamlessly in one crisp manuvear. Feeding more power to the thrusters Sven's Marasai boosted up as the beam passed between the Marasai's legs.

Thumbing his Vulcans Sven fired a long burst at the Rick Dias. Although his Vulcans would be worthless in piercing the Rick Diases armor they should provide a good distraction to the pilot. Reigniting his beam saber in his left hand Sven slashed horizontaly from right to left at the Rick Diases chest, "I cannot let you interfere with this fight AEUG."

[wonton bob]

-Delta Team P-Field-
-Ltjg.Kyle Roberts-

The blast caught Kyle off guard.

"Dammit!"

Debris shredded the Barzams right leg. Thankfully he had started to move off before the beam struck or else he would have been swallowed up by it. The Barzam floated dead in space for a minute before the monitors flickered back to life.

He bashed his fists on the panel, letting some of his frustration escape. "Damn this war. Damn this.." He was right in front of me...I could of..done..

The Barzam floated a few more minutes before its sensors lost sight of Ens. Shiranui. Starting up what little propulsion he had left, Kyle started to make his way back to Echo at an even slower pace thanks to more damage from the blast.

[Lans]

- The Balrampur –
- the bridge -

“I understand. Hopefully Loweno would feel the same, or else this could turn into a disaster. The Balrampur would resume its duty, Keaton out.” Karl ended his call with Capt. Abbey. He stop for a moment to think about the situation, a single beam shots from the ship’s starboard side caught his attention.

He gave a quick order, he cannot defuse the situation but it would be good if he can prepare for it. “Have her down egress, 5 degrees until she’s clear. I don’t want our ship in line of fire between Axis and the rest of our ships, especially the Hamburg.” His XO, grinned hearing his Captain last comment while the rest of the crew seems to ponder why.

“Chris, have you contacted our MS Team?”, the one being asked shake his head and replied, “No joy, they’re too deep into the P sector.”

Karl sensed trouble but can only keep it to himself. “Carry on, let me know if you find something.”


- Hamburg Team –
- Leaving P sector -

- Randy

Emington saw the last of the Buxoro team starting to withdraw from the area. He checked the area once more before starting to catch up with the rest of his team.

“You’re okay buddy? He checked first on Alfred, and was surprised that the boy was looked alright on the video. Stay tough we’ll get you into the Hamburg no matter what.” While he checked at Al’s suit, he was startled at Bernard’s Nemo Cannon’s condition.

Randy was about to open the channel but stopped when he saw Adam approaching. Changed it to Adam, “Damn, I though I lost you. Where’ve you been?” Randy chucked seeing his team is intact, although Al and Korbel’s condition might be worrying. He would initially wait for Adam’s reply but seeing the Hamburg starting to get close he decided to follow the procedure first.

“Emington to Hamburg, requesting permission to land. Please standby for medical team, we need quick medical attention for 2 persons.”

He tuned the line for private and called Korbel. “Bernard, what’s your situation? Let me know if you need some assistance. Either way, I’ll have the medical team on standby on The Hamburg since Alfred seems hurt in his head. You’ll land first, Al and I would follow.”

[Drei]

-Balrampur Team-
-P Field-

Johnathon's Nemo was still heading toward the Hizack, holding one beam saber in both hands with only the right hand saber activated. He planned to use the other one as a surprise attack if he could get close enough to the enemy. The Nemo gained little distance before Court fired again at Johnathon. The bullets were too fast for Johnathon to react properly and ended taking most of the bullets to the Nemo's shield and lower torso. The Nemo was directed upward more than it was forward when Morrow fired his beam rifle, but Johnathon was too worried about whistling he heard from some sort of air leakage. The beam rifle shot was fairly accurate as it still his the Nemo's right leg, melting out a chunk of the inner 'thigh.' "No, no, no! I can't fix it right now! I've got two of them!" Johnathon shouted as he quickly glanced for the leak. He gave up the search quickly, instead withdrawing his beam saber in his right hand in favor of the beam rifle.


The Nemo was still heading 'up' relative to the Hizacks while Johnathon was panicking over how to react to them. He instinctively fired the beam rifle three more times, each getting less accurate as he payed more attention to the whistle than his targets. After firing, he reached for a compartment on his suit that had a thin cloth-like substance. Johnathon started fiddling with it so he could close the leak, paying no attention to the Hizacks.

[hellbore]

- Hamburg Team –
- Entering P Field -

- Adam -

Adam was bemused to find that instead of joining his team in the field. They had returned to find him. He was quickly sobered by the damage to Al and Bernard.s Nemos, with one of them even holding the deformed barrel of the shoulder cannon.

“Damn, I though I lost you. Where’ve you been?”

"Sorry lieutenant. I was caught by two Hizacks and needed to retreat. I've already resupplied, so I'll take guard duty while you guys get fixed up."

Hearing that both Alfred and Bernard needed medical attention suddenly made Adam feel incredibly guilty about not being with his team. He squashed down the feeling, knowing it would do no good now, but he would return to it later.

A quick couple of bursts brought him around and next to the other Nemos in a position to assist any of the three should they need it and also still lookout for any threats to the team of the Hamburg.

[Sume Gai]

-Rick Archer-

Rick pulled away from the Hizack he'd just slain. as with his last kill he Ran his eyes across his instrumentation to check the status of the Nemo. As before there was no notable damage however this time He noted his consumables were low. His fuel was about to drop below 30% and, more notably, his beam rifle was almost empty. he needed to begun returning to the Balrampur. In turn that's exactly what he did. He'd chased his last foes too far out anyway.

Yet as he returned the flashes of the fight between Jonathan's Nemo and two Hizacks quickly cuaght his attention. It was obvious to Rick that the allied unit was struggling. Just as much as destroying Titans was part of his job, Rick acknowledged that helping allied units was another part. Despite both his lack of fuel and his low ammo Rick turned from his return course and moved towards the fight Maintaining a slight sideways movement rather than charging the enemy straight on. He emptied the final two shots from his rifle at the closer Hizack.

-Shellia Northran-

Aboard the Bindra Shellia had a hard time dissipating the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. The ship had yet to take any damage and as such she and the other mechanics were currently unoccupied. Shellia couldn't see the fight but she could still her snippets of information from around the ship. What she heard made her immensely uncomfortable.

A few younger gunners had screamed when they had been attacked by the titans; to Shellia some of them sounded like death screams sending shivers down her spine. She managed to maintain composure by reassuring herself that as long as she wasn't sent to make field repairs that no one was killed. The girl stood in the hanger in her normal suit; only she knew her anguish

-Kenneth Graden-

The snarl hadn't even faded from his face when Graden faced another 'problem'; Korbel was returning to the ship yet the battle was still raging in front of them. In fact if Graden were to guess things were about to become the most intense meaning they needed everyone ready.

"Korbel!" Graden began with a gruff bark. "Where do you think you're going? our job isn't done here yet." The two weren't very far apart and thus Korbel should be able to hear him and likely make out the simmering sternness in his voice.

[King Monkey]

- P Field -
- Team 3 -

Jacob ignored the staccato pinging of the phalanx rounds on his mobile suit and the flashes and sparks they raised and the vibration they sent through the controls, not because he was so seasoned that he knew that they wouldn't really hurt him, but because he was too angry to care. All he wanted was to punish the Titans for all that they'd done and no low caliber bullets were going to stop him from doing just that.

He almost didn't bother with blocking the beam saber. Only at the last moment does something remind him that if he's dead he can't avenge Lt. Tideland. His own beam saber comes up, clashing with Sven's and crackling angrily. The momentum of the Titan's blow pushes it on and the edge of his saber bites into the armor of the Rick Dias' upper arm but thankfully stops there.

"And I can't stand by and watch you Titan animals kill any more good people!" he shouts in response to Sven's challenge.

He snaps off a shot with his pistol at point blank range before shoving with his beam saber to get a bit of space. He drifts back for only half a second before thrusting forward again, stabbing at Sven's Mobile Suit with his beam saber.

[wonton bob]

- Hamburg Team -
- Leaving P Sector -

Bernard was glad to hear Al was still with it somewhat mentally. But he was more relieved to hear Randy's voice come through, it meant two things: 1. The enemy had been dealt with or withdrawn. 2. Someone with experience is on sight. “Bernard, what’s your situation? Let me know if you need some assistance. You’ll land first, Al and I would follow.”

At this point Bernard's eyes were almost swollen shut, it didn't help that he kept rubbing them. If he had the strength he would rip them out and be done with the problem. Bernard fiddled with the comm while still connected with Randy.

"Ah. I'm just about flying blind here. 'Fraid took some pieces of visor in my eyes. I got this thing on auto but landing is where I draw the line on trusting the comp. Besides its starting to shake really bad...musta taken some real damage, huh?"


*********

- Axis -
- Bindra Team -

"Come on!" Matthew gruffed.

Hearing Graden reprimand him in front of others and after the small skirmish set him off. Matthew knew the Lt. Cmdr was a veteran but didn't know if he'd turned coward or the long gap between wars had "rusted" his skills. Matthew wanted to find out at this moment which type of officer he was dealing with.

"Sir, The Titans are all but whipped here. We're just wasting time watching their death throws. Since Axis is about to hit we should down one of the nearby AEUG's sally K's during the commotion. Of course you can order us to stay and watch the fireworks if your not up to it. Sir."

[Sume Gai]

-Kenneth Graden-

Graden had picked up on the fact that Korbell was calling him a coward. It had been hard to miss. "BOY!" Graden was not happy. "It's hypocritical for you to call me a coward when you are the one running." Graden leveled the knuckle buster at the insubordinate pilot.

"Unless you are in dire need of maintenance you are not to return till this fight is over. Avoiding conflict with the AEUG rats are Lady Haman's orders; do you intend to question Lady Haman?"