Episode 17 - Star-crossed

[Cardi Doorl]

- Chuikov Vicinity -
- Beta Team -

Jim's sudden intervention attempt had been unexpected, but Sven was quick to remind Wolf why he was useful.

"Tell me, Ashlyn," Wolf snarled, though Fritz was unlikely to hear his words through the Minovsky interference, "This pilot who just tried to save you - is he willing to die for you?"

As he said that, Wolf manhandled his AMBAC and verniers to change direction rapidly and, in spite of the G-forces wreaking havoc on his body, leapfrog over Sven's Marasai and swing the beam saber in his left hand vertically downward at Jim's Rick Dias.

- Buxoro Team -

Sometimes you get that feeling that you've come to a moment of truth, and the next few seconds are your chance to prove yourself. Make it or break it: either you turn your life around completely with your next action, or you fall and never get up.

Warren knew he was in such a moment just then, as Jacob's Rick Dias turned its attentions to him. He'd been briefed about how the standard-issue Hizack machine gun had limited effect on the high-performance AEUG model (don't worry, we're working on making the beam rifle standard for Hizacks, they said). So he'd need to take this close, since beam sabers could cut up Rick Dias' just as well as it could any other mobile suit. Warren would just need a quick, clean hit.

Yeah, I can pull this off...

Warren threw his machine gun at the incoming bazooka shells, then sharpened his angle to approach the Dias. The new angle allowed the second and third shells, which weren't detonated by the throw machine gun, to pass by Warren's Hizack. Warren reached back with his still-functional right hand and grabbed the beam saber. Warren activated the saber and brought it up in preparation to stab right through the Rick Dias' cockpit.

"Get ready, AEUG! I can take you down!"

-

Buxoro Team's leader recovered from Mello's deflection in time to see him regroup with two other Nemos. He did consider going after them, but then saw what was unmistakably one of the infamous AEUG Rick Dias mobile suits had arrived in the general vicinity and was duking it out with the rest of Buxoro Team.

Now, killing a Rick Dias was an opportunity he couldn't miss, and those Nemos were clearly no longer a danger anyway, right? So M-Hover turned his Hizack to face Jacob's Rick Dias and moved in.

[King Monkey]

The Titans may not have had much confidence in Hizack's going up against Rick Diases, but Jacob was far from certain about his technological advantage over the standard enemy suit. Even knowing from personal experience the grand leap forward his current suit was over the Nemo didn't give him too much confidence.

Besides, someone important once said it wasn't the machine that won the battle, but the pilot, or something like that.

He wasn't afraid of the Titan machine (well, beyond the normal terror of a battle) but the didn't have the disdain for it other pilot's might. So, he took the Hizack's attack quite seriously.

Releasing his grip on his bazooka, he draws his own beam saber, igniting it even as he draws it away from his body. He lays his Rick Dias in the classic GM II pose, rocketing towards his opponent.

But, rather than stabbing at the Hizack, he just uses his beam saber to deflect the incoming attack, turning it aside so that it barely grazes his suit's right shoulder. Then, he brings the pistol still in his left hand up and fires three rapid shots at the body of the Hizack from point blank range.

[Lans]

- Hamburg Team -
- Chuikov Vicinity -

Bernard’s face appeared on his screen, it’s clear since both of them are near. “Once we're in range lets get in contact with her Nemos. They probably need a time-out. Since the Chuikov will be last out, we can all provide escort till it's out of this mess... "

Randy observed two new Titans MS (Wolf & Sven) being outnumbered by friendly Rick Dias, thinking they’ll do fine on their own and paid more attention to the other. He heard Bernard’s on the line, “Sir, Elements of Team One still appear to be fighting off some Titans around the Chuikov. That lone Nemo is drifting toward a world of hurt if it's spotted,” Randy noticed Bernard grinned before he continued, “Time to put those feddies in their place."

“Copy that. Maintain course for now, I’ll make sure that lone Nemo reach into the safety of Chu-,” He just saw more fighting going on and drifted roughly toward their direction, “Hizack (Buxoro Team), 12 o’clock high! Close vicinity… too close. Bernard my friend, we’re being invited.” He grinned and throttling his control angling skyward.

Bolts of beam and gun blazing became more frequent and crisscrossed over his screen, welcoming him into the danger zone. He fixed his throttle control while activating the weapon system. His Nemo flaring out on maximum thrust, approaching without fear of detected. The targeting system began to work, decorating his screen with red square for bogies. Randy selected the one (Warren) that made a daring charge into a Rick Dias and got the tone for solid lock.

“Let’s hurt some Titans.” Randy fired twice at the Hizack (Warren) from long distance, hoping to distract the Hizack team’s concentration.

(( Edit: Spelling and add some brackets for Warren )

[The Loser Villain]

- Buxoro Team -

(OOC: When did the Hi-Zack spelling change? I looked at the entry on MAHQ and its spelt Hizack, but on my MG kit is spelt Hi-Zack. Any ideas?)

As the Hi-Zack went past the Nemo, Aaron muttered a curse under his breath. He missed, but at least he took the Nemo's head off. The now decapitated Nemo bugged out, leaving him to turn his attention to helping Elijah in fighting against the Rick Dias. Except that more Nemo's showed up on the scene and it now looked like things could turn bad for the Buxoro team.

A cold chill went down Aaron's spine. The team had been performing really well and now they seemed to be outnumbered. Until the Nemo's bugged out with the two they had been fighting.

"Well, thank you for that," he said before noticing that Elijah's Hi-Zack had been damaged by the Rick Dias he requested help in fighting. "Oh shoot, that can't be good."

The Rick Dias was now being engaged by Warren and Picard and if he entered the fray it would be three on one. Numerical superiority along with the piloting skill of Picard should give the Rick Dias a run for its money, he just hoped that Elijah wasn't injured or even worse, dead.

He was going to begin his attack on the Rick Dias when beam fire came in from another AEUG Mobile Suit.

"Great, there goes that advantage." Hoping that Picard could hear him he radioed, "I'll hold off the incoming enemy sir!"

Igniting his thrusters he moved to intercept the incoming Nemo team. "Okay, hopefully this won't be the dumbest move I've ever made."

[Wedge14]

Pan didn't let his beam pistol's malfunction failure pull him down. Barely thinking twice about it he unracked his bazooka and sped off towards the rest of his team.

Pan's targets suddenly switched as he saw what appeared to him as a slightly damaged Marasai manhandle Jim MacAlpin's unit. He quickly accessed the situation and grinned maliciously.

Pan approached the unit on it's flank and as soon as Zeke's Dias started to drift he fired a shot at the Titan unit harassing Jim, and then with the power of a million exploding suns he jammed his control stick to the left pushing his suit out of the position he last fired from and fired again.

Pan had already dealt a devastating blow to Beta team. He wanted this wounded animal dead once and for all.

[wonton bob]

- Hamburg Team -
- Chuikov Vicinity -

“Hizack (Buxoro Team), 12 o’clock high! Close vicinity… too close. Bernard my friend, we’re being invited.” Emington grinned.

Bernard double checked his sensors and could only confirm 2 Hizacks nearby. Following his C.O.'s lead he was about to make for the Hizack (Picard) away from the Dias when his sensors picked up another Hizack approaching. Bernard hurriedly hit his comm and transmits the Hizack's location to Emington.

"Sir, hold up. A third 'zack is en route to engage us. Let's double team 'em and knock him out early."

Just having been refueled and reloaded Korbel, filled with merriment, was ready to battle this Titan all day if needed. When Bernard gets in range he steadied his aim and fires 3 shots from below hoping Randy would follow and attack from his location above. For a brief moment Bernard loses himself back in time.

"ZIEG!!..."

[Cybaster]

(Hee. I'm starting to think the real rule is that only NPCs are allowed to be Newtypes, period. It's a pretty effective way of curbing the munchkin and min-maxer population in the RPG, I must admit... :3 )

-Gilliarme-

Chuikov Vicinity

Gill had no intention of staying around to focus on Michiko --- Samantha would deal with her if she wished. Samantha. Sounds so much nicer than Sam, and yet...she hates it. She hates it because--- Instead, as soon as his Barzam had passed behind Michiko's Rick Dias, Gilliarme swerved around, the Barzam blazing back in Shin and the Chuikov's direction, and faced around Jack again after circling a few hundred meters left and forward just as the Rick Dias fired another beam shot at him.

Then Gill saw his chance. Instead of keeping the charge as he opted to and try to get the shot passing behind him, Gill instead sharply braked the Barzam and checked its forward movement --- causing Gilliarme to lunge forward into his restraints with a sneer of pain --- instead suddenly stepping backwards with the Barzam's maximum thrust and sharply turning sideways in. Then with a sudden Beam Rifle snap shot back at Jack's Rick Dias only a second-or-so after Jack shot at him, Gilliarme surged forward...and charged straight at him, the impact of the Rick Dias' beam colliding with the side of the Barzam's shield as Gilliarme nimbly sidethrusted right to avoid it and sending the shield spinning violently away, into the void.

However, it was Gilliarme's turn, and he immediately feinted downwards for a second with a dive and an upwards Beam Rifle shot angled at the arm joints, then pushed the right leg and leapt upwards right, closing the distance, and blasted the vulcans on the Barzam's head at the Rick Dias' cockpit while waiting for an opening to strike with the drawn Beam Saber in the other hand.

[Cardi Doorl]

- Chuikov Vicinity -
- Delta Team -

Shin's Barzam dipped "down" in response to the return fire. Clute's bazooka shell clanged off the side of the Barzam's head at too oblique an angle to detonate, but the link with the right-side vulcan pod was severed by the impact, which left a hideous dent across the side of the unit.

Rather than firing back at Clute, Shin's veteran instincts saw a more immediate opportunity in the other Rick Dias. Or maybe it was simply because Gilliarme was engaging it. Please, sir, let me take the risks. I can only fight so much.

Shin initiated a violent downward (from Clute's perspective) spin. He had to fire "up" between his legs, so to speak, to target Jack's suit, which he did and fired.

-

Eyes narrowed to slits as Gilliarme forced the target to pull away. Samantha never lost rhythm as she AMBAC-spun to face her enemy. You're Samantha I'm Sam It's not that way She had to slam her thrusters hard to change the direction of her movement and advance at Michiko again.

and it's you that did this to you We can be too weak in the tide. Sam wove into a wide barrel roll on her approach, gunning for melee combat but keeping her rifle ready.because I thought Lydo was any different from the sweaty Indonesians along the access road. dolled up without the dust and stubble and sweat for the cameras


- Herakles Team -

OOC: With both Psyden and EfreetCustom mysteriously absent, I'll micro-bunny their characters here just to assume they've fallen in with Kyle's withdrawal order.

IC:
Cara breathed a sigh of relief when it appeared clear Herakles Team would make a clean withdrawal from the fighting. Furthermore, all four had escaped alive. They were traversing the space between the warship formations, but away from the crossfire of said warships.

As she scanned around, hoping to spot any incoming dangers before they could take her by surprise, she wanted to be able to say something, ask something, report something in, just so there wasn't this silence in the team. But no words came to her. She ducked her head and continued keeping an eye out.

* * *

- Chuikov Team -

Caroline spotted the two Hamburg Team Nemos and at first was relieved. Then her IFF scanners identified them through the jamming and they weren't Jonas and Julian after all. Even still, the presence of friendlies who hadn't apparently forsaken her was some comfort, if it left her in the dark about what happened to the rest of Chuikov Team.

As soon as they appeared, they zipped off to fight elsewhere. Good of the greater numbers in the end, right? With a groan, Caroline rode out her machine's drift to the embattled Chuikov. She hailed the vessel, "This is Ens. Tucker. Nemo's in bad shape, low fuel. Coming in for a landing."

[Lans]

- Hamburg Team –
- Chuikov Vicinity –

“Holy Sh-#!” Randy yelled at himself when realized that his aimed shots would landed real close to Jacob's Rick Dias. He assumed that the Rick Dias would back off from the charging Hizack (Warren), clearly he was wrong.

Damn that bravado of yours Mr new Rick Dias. He grinned dryly.

He was about to move in closer before taking another shot when he heard Bernard’s voice in the background. "Sir, hold up… - third 'zack … route to engage us. Let's” He heard static and then, “-IEG!!”

Randy gazed at several points to search for the third Hizack while his targeting system still fixed at the first Hizack. “Where..” He realized Bernard’s unit is moving toward a certain direction. Through the console he zoom the area and noticed the silhouette of a Hizack. The console wasn’t sure and confirmed the unit as unknown, the IFF system are yet to work. He selected and confirmed the target as hostile manually using the right hand control while he retracted the left hand control, making the unit to spin for a moment to the left. Reorientating his Nemo to support Bernard’s attack while still moving toward the Rick Dias.

He couldn’t help to notice his unit's turning and spins to the left is a bit sluggish, making him remember the loss of the entire Nemo’s left arm for AMBAC and the absence of shield. Randy saw a pinkish bolt and realize that Bernard already began his attack while his targeting system still working on the aiming solution.

He got the lock tone and barked, “Bernard, move in. I’ll make him occupied!” With that he fired twice at the new Hizack (Aaron). He quickly gazed again at the Rick Dias’ direction, looking for the finale of the duel against the Hizack.

[Kylern]

-Herakles Vicinity-

As the team returned to their home ship Kyle checked his unit as well as the others. "I want a status report on all your units. I know we all have an ammo and fuel shortage but I wanna know your units situation. If we are all still functioning I want a resupply and for us to return to duty." He ordered his as he himself needed a new shield and a beam rifle recharge. He had destroyed his opponents but his own was still functioning, but out of power.

He had it returned to a recharging station as well as his unit hooked up for refueling. He wanted to return to battle because they had gotten held up by just two enemy units. He found that rediculous but what could he do. He had been trapped fighting with that crazy enemy unit and the others had been rather slow to get their own opponent under control.

"Bridge this is team leader Roberts. We had encountered enemy resistance and need ammo and fuel. Once we are ready we can return to the battle if needed. Do you have an order for us?" He sent the message to the bridge from the small hangar of the ship.

[The Loser Villain]

- Chuikov Vicinity -
- Buxoro Team -

As much as Aaron hated going up against an enemy with a beam rifle, he did like the fact that every shot fired screamed the direction it was traveling in. Unlike the machine gun rounds that had a tracer every five rounds and were often hard to tell were the other rounds were. So, as the alarm system in his cockpit screamed at him that an enemy had achieved a lock-on he could see the three beam rifle shots coming up at him.

Even though he began evasive maneuvers quickly, it wasn't going to be easy. The first shot flew past his left shoulder as he rolled left, and the second came close enough to cause the paint on the spiked shoulder to boil, but the third punched through the shield mounted on the left forearm. It flew from the arm, cause damage to the hard-point it was mounted to, but the arm was still functional.

"Damn, there goes the extra ammo..." he said to himself as the alarms blared in his cockpit again, this time two beam rifle shots were coming in from another direction, "Ah sh*t!"

With little time to dodge Aaron boosted the Hi-Zack upwards, causing the first shot to sail under the feet, however the second round found home on the right foot, going clean through it before the foot exploded. More alarms rang in the cockpit, this time announcing the damaged caused and the decrees in thruster output.

"I knew this would be tough," he said as beads of sweat began to form on his brow, "but this isn't good at all."

Seeing the predicament he was in with both Nemos targeting him from long range, he realized he have to make it harder for them and get close to one. The Nemo (Bernard) that had shot at him from below was closer, so Aaron decided to dive in on him and get as close as possible, making it harder for the other Nemo (Randy) to target him without hitting his wingman in the process.

"Here goes," Aaron said as he pushed his thrusters to the max output, realizing that he was now down to half fuel, and dove at Bernard's Nemo. Targeting the area as best he could at high speed, he held down the trigger and let the 120 mm spew twenty rounds, leaving him with half a magazine. The machine gun fire was not fired to damage the enemy, but to suppress his movement. If any rounds scored home it would be an added bonus.

[wonton bob]

- Hamburg Team –
- Chuikov Vicinity –

Bernard watched the Hizack desperately evade most of their shots.

another face to haunt me at night..

Bernard's stomach turned. His blood lust quickly faded as the enemy's projected course was automatically thrown up on the HUD. Silencing the alarms Bernard quickly turned sideways giving the Titan a smaller target. Raising the shield and bringing up the rifle along side it, Bernard wanted to shoot. He could have fired at the Hizack since it was coming down straight down at him fast. Probably too fast to maneuver and avoid any shots. But instead chose to brace himself from the hit.

The 120mm rounds pounded the already weakened shield. Unable to retrieve a new one when he refueled, the bottom part actually gave way and let a few rounds bore into the left thigh causing minimal damage. Opting not to use the beam rifle again, Bernard opens up with a burst from the dual 60mm vulcans. Knowing it won't kill the Titan he aims for the machine gun, staying put actually gives him a better aim. This will hopefully hinder the Hizack's attack and make him think about his situation a bit more.

"DAMN IT! THERE'S BEEN ENOUGH BLOOD TODAY! LEAVE!!"

[The Loser Villain]

- Chuikov Vicinity -
- Buxoro Team -

The pilot he was attacking was no idiot. The stance the Nemo took was a prefect defense to his dive, especially since the enemy had superior firepower. Strangely though the pilot didn't open fire with their beam rifle.

The damage his 120mm rounds were doing seemed minimal at best and as he got closer to the enemy he couldn't help but wonder what they had in mind for a counter attack. Then the 60mm vulcans on the Nemo came to life and tore into the Hi-Zack.

Several rounds struck the scope on the 120mm and would cause a good deal of harm to his ability to aim. The rest of the rounds sunk into the left half of the chest doing superficial damage.

Quickly putting the breaks on the dive and pushing too the right of the Nemo to get out of the way of it fire, Aaron quickly took stock in the situation. "Sh*t, if my aim is going to be off I'm not sure how well I can hold this guy off. And the damage to the foot isn't going to help much ether."

His only option now was to try and get back to where the others were and hopefully defend against the two Nemos and one Rick Dias.

Without taking aim he fired a burst of five rounds at the Nemo (Bernard) just to keep him on the defensive and began to try and make his way towards Picard and Warren. Hopefully he could continue to dodge the attacks of the enemy and make it back in one piece.

[EfreetCustom]

-Herakles Team-

"This is Ens. Lepak reporting in sir, My Hizack is a little beat up and is pretty much at empty for fuel and ammo. Just need to recharge and i'll be right back out there with you sir!"

Alex was apprehensive about going back out but he had a duty to complete and he felt as if he was useless in the last skirmish because he wasn't able to take care of one Nemo. "I'm not gonna let a Nemo stop me this time!"

[Fritz Ashlyn]

- Outside Side 2 -

- The Dervish -
- Bridge -

Abbey had reluctantly returned to his command chair as the 4th Squadron’s big Irish-class completed it’s long 180-degree turn. With the bridge windows facing the wrong direction, he was unable to see everything with his own eyes and was forced to rely more on the fuzzy images piped in from cameras and the word coming in from observers to continue commanding the fleet. Every AEUG ship but the Chuikov had completed its full course change, and the captain was waiting for word on Dombrowski’s situation. Capt. Abbey’s vision drifted from the monitors above the windows to the darkness of space that stretched out in front of them. Hatte had become firmly cemented as a place that would conjure up bad memories for the rest of his life.

Reports started coming in from observers that two red mobile suits were approaching the ship, and Jane spoke up to make sure the gunners didn’t get jumpy. “Captain, it’s Eddie and Marvin,” she explained after straining to make out the repeated message. Abbey nodded and had word passed along to the hangar and the gunnery teams. “Eddie, you and Marvin are clear to land. Sager’s crew is ready. Sounds like you won’t be heading back out too soon though, so take it easy,” Jane said with a smile as she passed the word along to the Rick Diases. “Prepare a withdrawal flare. There’s no reason for us to waste any more time here,” the captain ordered, frowning as he reminded himself of their failure to assist the Argama.

- The Chuikov -
- Bridge -

On his own ship, Capt. Dombrowski was dealing with similar emotions, although he was also quite unhappy about all the assistance that had to be given to his ship and MS team. A weaker man would admit to being ashamed. His XO‘s voice mercifully stopped his train of thought before he agitated himself. “Captain, Ens. Tucker is preparing to land,” he timidly reported, obviously put off by the captain’s look. Dombrowski’s eyes narrowed and he asked with an icy calm, “Just Ens. Tucker?”. The lieutenant gulped, “Y-yes sir. None of the others have returned yet,”. Dombrowski folded his arms and snorted an affirmative, and his XO gave a quick salute before returning to his other duties with a stealthy sigh of relief.

- Clute & Jack -

Despite the tough situation they found themselves in, a hint of a smile flashed across Clute’s face when he saw his bazooka round bounce off the enemy’s head. The smile was gone by the time the new enemy MS went into a spin that made Clute grimace just watching it. When it raised its weapon, Clute kept his hands loose and ready to evade whatever was coming, but as immediately obvious that the Barzam’s target was Jack David. “No you don’t,” Clute admonished his foe, advancing cautiously at the upside-down MS as he fired another explosive round.

Jack’s breathing sped up as Gilliarme turned to face him again, and his grip tightened on the sticks. He hadn’t exactly been friendly and open with his teammates lately - not since they were absorbed into the 4th, to be honest - and his dour mood and strained relationship (particularly with Celeste) left him with a feeling like an intense pressure weighed his body down. “Now is not the time,” he told himself again. It was an excuse he had been turning to for weeks. “When will it be time, Jack?”. His tunnel vision melted away just in time for him to react to Gilliarme’s first shot. He slid his Dias to its left, and then dove ‘down‘ in a short roll.

A flash at the edge of his peripheral vision told him another beam was incoming from a different direction, and he pushed the pedals down to accelerate forward… His eyes centered back on the view ahead of him in time to see the second beam Gilliarme fired just before it melted its way across the side of his suit’s head. The sheer brightness of the attack made him reflexively squeeze his eyes shut and raise a hand to shield his face. The monitors to his left warped briefly before they finally buckled out and popped, showering him with heated glass. When his hearing returned, he realized he was screaming in pain in a pitch black cockpit.

He sucked in a painful breath as faint pounding noises moved across the outside of the suit’s armor. Reaching out with his right hand, he had just gained a tentative grip on the control when the remaining monitors leapt back to life. He moaned when he saw the condition his left arm was in. He reached up (not even bothering to try with his left arm) and roughly pulled his helmet off, hissing in pain as it dragged across another wound. Then he realized there were still at least two Titans in the immediate area trying to gun him down. With less than half his monitors functioning properly, he turned his Dias to the left to try and locate Gilliarme. His breaths quickly becoming ragged, he sloppily smashed down the buttons to put him on a friendly channel and said slowly, “This is Lt. David… I need assistance…”.

“Jesus!” Clute gasped when he saw the hit Jack’s Rick Dias took. To add insult to injury a smattering of vulcan rounds splashed across the suit while it appeared to float dead in the water. “Jack! Jack, get up!” Clute pleaded as he turned his Dias back in his wingman’s direction. Lt. David’s mobile suit jerked to life and then made a slow lazy turn to its left. “Stay away from him!” Clute yelled, firing a round at Gilliarme, who was closing in on Jack.

- Michiko -

Surprised at Samantha’s sudden change of direction, Michiko was too preoccupied to see Jack’s brush with death. She decided to play it safe and let Sam come to her, so she slowed down and switched out her weapon for a beam pistol. If Clute and Jack kept the other two busy, surely she could down one of the new models on her own. For insurance, she drew her beam saber and left it turned off in her suit’s left hand.

- MacAlpin & Fritz -

Jim was so fixated on Wolf’s Marasai and looking competent in front of Fritz that he was totally unprepared for Sven’s interruption. “Wha?!” Jim yelped as he rocked forward against his restraints, his beam saber stopped cold against Haksson’s. The voice of that man, Sven, mechanically trickled coldly into his ear, “Let’s say the favor has been repaid, AEUG,”. Before MacAlpin could even register what he had heard, he found himself reeling from a knee to the chest. He nearly panicked, but resisted the urge to fight his controls like an incompetent rookie. Then he saw Wolf Ritter appear above him like the angel of death. He swore the d*mn thing’s monoeye flashed brighter and time slowed down as Ritter began to swing his beam saber.

Fritz’ reaction time was considerably quicker than he would have guessed as he sprang into action, burning up most of his remaining fuel to dash across the distance that separated him from Wolf, Sven and Jim. He reached out with his beam saber, just barely positioning it in time to keep Wolf from hacking MacAlpin in half. “Leave him out of this!” Fritz grunted, pushing back against Wolf’s blade. He reached out long enough to contact Jim’s suit with his free hand and ordered angrily, “Get back!”.

That same hatred that made him reckless with his own safety and fuel supply started to rise up again. “What will your father say when he’s told another one of his b*stard sons is dead?” Fritz hissed, pushing back harder against Wolf’s beam saber. How could he properly explain to anyone how the elder Ritter had poisoned his mind? Eight years ago he had been turned into a simple tool, a blunt instrument to be used for the benefit of a family he would never truly be a part of. The seeds of distrust and hatred for spacenoids had been expertly planted and cultivated until he was an unthinking minion of “the destiny”.

Had the horrible things he had taken part in and allowed to happen been a part of him all along, or were they artificial programming that that man had hard-wired into his brain during the war? He asked himself that every day. “Your father is a monster, Wolf. I’m not killing on behalf of the Ritters any more - this is for my future!” Fritz growled. All he could think about was the blurry black and white picture he had seen a month and a half ago and what it meant for his real family. There was no way in hell he would raise a child in a world run by men who were capable of the things Ritter was. “Men like me…”

[wonton bob]

- Near Salamis-Kai Class Chuikov –

Without reacting Bernard watched the Hizack break off and turn. The Nemo remains still as the Titan's parting shot was way off. As the targeting system automatically attains a lock, Bernard lowers the beam rifle.

We all can live...at least for a few more hours.

Bernard watches the Hizack travel toward the continuing battle. Dispirited, Bernard double checks the damage done to the right thigh.

I guess we're all doomed to repeat the same mistakes..

Not able to hear Emington's transmission, Bernard decides to focus on the Chuikov which has yet to fully complete a turn to follow the rest of the fleet. The Nemo discards the ruined shield before it starts to move toward the Chuikov. Bernard eyes the battle but decides the greater need is assisting the Salamis-Kai.

Pathetic. we're fighting for scraps when the universe is large enough for all of us..

As the Nemo reaches the Chuikov, it stretches its arm to make contact with the hull. Bernard wanted to make sure they understood his commitment.

"This is Ens. Korbel. Hamburg Team. I'm on escort duty until we all get out."

[Gambit01]

Nick just raised an eyebrow in response to the rather widely placed shots.

"Stukov...WHY haven't we been able to kill this imbecile yet?"

With that bit of slight frustration in mind, Nick charged once again, trying to close the distance between himself and his enemy once again. This time, his sabers formed a pincer, like a giant pair of sheers, and he clearly was attempting to saw Curren in half.

[Cardi Doorl]

- Chuikov Vicinity -
- Buxoro Team -

Warren might have escaped Jacob's attack had it not been for Randy's distracting long-distance shots. When the pink beams snapped by, Warren flinched. That was all he needed to screw up his reaction time and freeze up as Jacob's beam pistol shots sank into his Hizack's torso. The reactor breached and...

-

Picard only then noticed Ltcmdr. Ritter's signal flare for withdrawal and grudgingly acknowledged that a general retreat would mean his team would have to fall back or else face encirclement.

To ensure his own men complied, M-Hover fired off his withdrawal flare. Warren's Hizack exploded at the same moment. Elijah's Hizack was still there, but it had taken some heavy damage, with a decent chance that Elijah himself was still alive.

Picard snorted. "Aaron, go grab Elijah's Hizack. I'll fight these bastards."

He said that while thrusting backward (which isn't toward the Echo ships) and firing two of his hip missiles at the Rick Dias that had wrecked Warren, and in the same movement turning his torso to fire his beam rifle twice at Randy's Nemo to force it to back off from Aaron.

- Beta Team -

Ah, so the blue Dias was indeed Fritz Ashlyn again.

"Tell yourself it'll happen, Ashlyn. If either of dies today..." Wolf shoved his beam saber to knock himself and Fritz away from each other. As he shot back, Wolf also pushed off Sven. Pan's bazooka shot whistled between the Marasais as the push sent them in opposite directions. "I'll see to it that it's you."

In spite of the taunt, Wolf recognized his opportunity to kill Fritz had been all but wasted by then. With the other mobile suit teams retreating as per his order, staying too much longer would only mean he and Sven isolated and surrounded. While wheeling back in withdrawal back to Echo's ships, Wolf sprayed his vulcans at Jim to force him to keep his distance while firing a final beam launcher shot at Fritz to kill the man at the last moment.

- Delta Team -

It had worked with perfect timing. Shin had figured the Rick Dias would evade his shot but, in doing so, would be in a poor position to deal with Gilliarme's attacks. A beam ripped through the side of the suit's head.

How odd, then, that that was enough to render the machine lifeless. Momentarily confused that a head hit would be enough to silence the formidable Rick Dias, Shin took aim to peg it a second time when he remembered there was another Rick Dias in the immediate vicinity. He glanced over to Clute's Dias in time to see him fire the bazooka.

I won't have enough time but I can still Then the shell slammed into the Barzam's right leg. It would've been a fatal hit had Shin not pinwheeled to the left, but in the end he hadn't had enough time to evade the shot completely.

Once he'd regained control of his mobile suit, damage indicators whining about the now-useless (and gone from the mid-thigh down), Shin squeezed a return shot at Clute, then took a wide loop path to join up again with Gilliarme

-

Sam tightened her barrel roll as the Rick Dias slowed down and switched to a beam pistol. I can't blame them. We all have wars to win and theirs They needed assets to expend. He needed assets.

The first shot was a lead-in, cameras fired before proper aim was established in order to get the target off-balance. sitting there like a fool a little girl wondering if The following shot was made more carefully, with intent to actually hit.

[Cardi Doorl]

- Near Alexandria-class Kirov -
- Alpha Team -

Stukov sped in closer to the Rick Dias. The AEUG suit's wingman had already flown off elsewhere, with this one apparently willing to remain isolated. He couldn't seem to decide whether or not to accept the end.

Wes' retaliation was fired in obvious haste. Not surprising, considering he was facing a double-team. Stukov wouldn't be the one to cut him slack. He sped in closer to the rebel unit as Nick attacked with his scissor move. The Russian "under" the two units, so he was facing up at their feet rather than engaging from the side. He fired up thrice in a fanning pattern, sweeping right to left.
-

With Ian's Rick Dias out of sight past the Kirov, Leandro wasted no time switching targets to Wes' suit. That Nick from Gamma Team was moving in close while Stukov circled under. Leandro would have their back.

Leandro put some more distance between himself and the Kirov's dorsal side, then fired. With Nick's Marasai so close to the enemy, it was too dangerous to aim directly at the Dias, so Leandro instead aimed somewhat off to the side.

- Kalinin Team -

Kalinin Team had been posted on the Kirov's ventral side, but hadn't acted quickly enough to intercept Eddie and Cowboy. Gritting his teeth, Ltcmdr. Alpha Bate resolved not to let this third Rick Dias - Ian's - get away unscathed.

"Kalinin Team, let's go!"

Seeing that the Marasais from the Kirov were fighting in a way that endangered the ship, Bate maneuvered "downward" to be as level (as it were) with the Rick Dias as possible. His Hizack teammates followed, Cranston and Kuwani firing short bursts from their machine guns. Bate and Runnels held off on using their beam rifles just yet, instead moving in closer.

[The Loser Villain]

- Chuikov Vicinity -
- Buxoro Team -

As he moved to regroup with the rest of Buxoro team, Aaron kept checking his 6 o'clock, almost sure that the Nemo he had just fought would be in hot pursuit. What he saw instead was nothing, which he couldn't quite believe. Why would a pilot let a wounded enemy get away? However this wasn't the time to think about such things, especially since he was now near the rest of the team.

As he turned his head to look at the area where Buxoro team was located he saw Warren fighting the Rick Dias that had damaged Elijah's Hi-Zack. And before he could lend a hand he saw the beam pistol fire sink into the Hi-Zack and then it exploded.

"No," was all he could say, and it was more of a whisper then anything. He and Warren had both arrived on the Buxoro on the same day, had both been perplexed by Picard's ways and had both been possible XO's till Elijah arrived. And now he was dead. It was the first time Aaron had seen a comrade die on the battlefield, and with the war going the way it was, it probably wouldn't be the last.

At first he didn't notice the signal flairs that signaled the retreat since he had been focused on the bright explosion that had once been Warren's Hi-Zack. But then Picard's voice came over the radio.

"Aaron, go grab Elijah's Hi-Zack. I'll fight these bastards."

If his Hi-Zack hadn't been damaged he would have protested and tried to help Picard out, but since his machine wasn't 100% there'd be no way he could stand up against a Rick Dias.

"Yes sir," he responded as the Lieutenant went to engage the enemy and keep them from attacking him.

He then maneuvered his Hi-Zack over to Elijah's and grabbed it by the right arm. With the decrease in speed due to the damage he wouldn't be able to travel very fast, but with Picard fighting the enemy it wouldn't be too hard.

As the two damaged Mobile Suits retreated to the Buxoro, he tried to see if Elijah was okay. "Sir, are you injured? Sir!"