Episode 26 - Operation Maelstrom

[The Big Zabowski]

-Hepburn-

"Well I ain't gettin' paid by the higher ups to let you kill yerself out 'ere.."

Jack kicked the burners in and came in from above and in front of the trio of Celeste, Michiko, and Jacob. As Nick and Jacob were locked in melee combat, Jack raised his rifle and popped off a shot near Jacob's Dias.. really close.

"Nick, disengage and lets go! We've been recalled!"

Not even waiting for a response from Jacob he brought himself between Jacob and Michiko, rushing the latter like a linebacker punching through scrimmage straight for a sack.

"You get the f**k back ya spacenoid hippie s**twads!"

As the Rick Dias grew larger in his monitors he mused to himself..

I'm probably gonna end up a freeze dried hamburger now.. but who the f**k cares. At least Friday 'll be off my ass.

[mcred23]

-The Kalinin-
-Bridge-

Nguyen frowned as Sunoue's Marasai landed and went into the hangar. As the tech crews went to work, Marshall began to wonder again about why only a single Marasai had returned. The fighting must have been quite heavy, as no other suits had returned to Echo's formation.

After a few minutes, he picked up his chair phone and pressed the button for the hangar. Nguyen waited a few seconds before one of the senior chiefs answered, knowing what the call was. "Sir?"

"What is the status of Ensign Sunoue's Marasai?" Nguyen asked, sounding bored.

"Uh, fine, sir. No damage. It's being refueled. We're replacing his rifle, even though he only fired it a handful of times. We're running a few checks, but he should be ready to go in less than five minutes, sir."

"Tell him to take off as soon as it is."

"Sir." The chief replied, which Nguyen barely caught as he hung up, just as the comm tech turned back to him.

"Sir, Lieutenant Runnels and Ensigns Craig and Hicks are approaching. Runnels reports damage to her suit."

"Bate's not with them?" Nguyen asked, letting slip a hint of suprise that nearly stunned half the bridge crew.

"No sir."

"Very well. Have them land and refuel as well, then move out for patrol as soon as their suits are ready."

"Yes sir." The man turned to once again relay the orders.

==================================================================

"Right..." Runnels mumbled as she slowly began her final approach to the Kalinin. She considered letting the machine land itself, but the damage to her suit's left leg had her worried just enough to want to control the landing herself.

Janice lined up on the Salamis Kai's big deck and came down slowly, touching the right leg down and using her thrusters to keep from tipping. She slowly floated down to the hangar hatch and then in, and quickly moved her suit toward it's berth, where it was locked down. She emerged from the cockpit just to see Hicks weaponless Marasai enter, moving fluidly enough to tell her it was the automated systems of the mobile suit doing the moves.

Runnels grabbed one of the mechanics who were now swarming over her machine, carefully scanning the damaged leg and every other surface of the suit, checking the obvious damage and looking for other, smaller damage that Minovsky Particles were known for. "How long to replace that leg?"

"25 minutes, minimum."

"S***." She muttered and kicked off the chest of her Marasai, floating down to Hicks' suit. She caught one of the mechanics assigned to his suit and grabbed him by the shoulder. "How fast can you guys refuel and rearm this thing?"

"10 minutes, ma'am."

"Get it ready, I'm taking it." The mechanic nodded and went off to check something near the head.

"U-Uh, what?" Hicks stammered as he poked his head out of the cockpit.

"Your suit'll be ready faster. Once mine is fully ready, take it out." She ordered, her tone quiet, in a somewhat vain effort to keep Hicks calm.

It didn't really work. Even in the zero gravity, she could see him shaking slightly. "B-B-But-" He tried to stammer some objection, but Runnels cut the young pilot off.

"We both use all the default settings, it'll be fine. This crap happens in combat. Head back to the ready room and catch your breath." She kicked off the cockpit hatch and floated toward a small office at the bottom of the hangar where the head of the maintenance crew was. It was also being kept sealed at the moment, and as Janice stepped in the airlock, she could see two people inside. When the airlock finally processed her through, she pulled her helmet off and grabbed a tube of water. "Any update on my suit, chief?" She asked before taking a drink.

"Longer, they have to replace the whole leg. You're taking Hicks suit?" He asked, looking at a report from Sunoue's suit.

She nodded, noticing the other man. "What are you doing here, sir?"

Parker, the XO, shrugged. "Came to find out what was going on, but Sunoue's suit doesn't tell much, 'cept he can't aim." The Lieutenant Commander smirked, while the chief frowned.

"Where is he, anyway?" Runnels asked, having not seen any other pilot suits in the hangar. The men both shrugged as another mechanic came up to the outside window and hit the comm panel there.

"Sunoue's ready, but he ain't down here."

"We'll get 'em. And keep quiet on that rifle, kid's still probably not used to space." The chief muttered, not in the mood about dealing with a pilot who might argue with the mechanics, as if pilots knew anything. He floated across the small room to a phone that was linked to the ships intercomm system. He pressed the proper buttons and kept his tone even. "Ensign Sunoue, your Marasai is ready, report back to the hanagr. Ensign Sunoue, your Marasai is ready." He clicked the phone down. "I feel I'm working in a damn mall..."

Runnels ignored the comment and turned back to Parker. "Any news on the battle?"

"Nope. You see anything?" He asked, pulling on his helmet to move back towards the hangar, which was still open to space.

Runnels shook her head. "Nothing. I got hit too fast."

"Great." Parker sighed and checked his helmet seals. "Back to boredom." His words were mumbled as he closed down the face plate and then stepped into the airlock, heading back to the sub-bridge where he was supposed to be. He headed up to the catwalk that led to the main exit from the hangar. Parker ended up in the airlock with the other two pilots, Hicks and Craig. The former looked as if he'd just come from A Baoa Qu, while Craig looked sleepy. Neither said anything to the senior officer as they moved out of the airlock, the two pilots heading off toward where their quarters were, while Parker grabbed a lift grip that would take him to the sub-bridge.

[wonton bob]

- Team 1 -

Ens. Bernard Korbel

Bernard twisted his suit to try to avoid Nick's response taking the majority of hits through what was left of his suit's shoulder. Another slap in the face was seeing the Barzam type ignore Bernard and go after Axis suits.

"RRAAAAGGH!!" he yelled out in frustration. With no sight of Marvin or the Gaza he was after, Korbel decided to pull back and return his damaged Dias back to the Dervish. Ignoring the critical alarms his mind was focused on the Axis pilot whose face was so familiar.



- Kirov Hanger -

Ltjg.Jason Drossel

Looking up at his Marasai gave Jason some mixed feelings about the upcoming final show down and his and Grace's plan.

Yep, not a scratch and plenty of ammo...if the real fight has this much confusion then our absence wouldn't be missed but if it's too confusing...

Tired and hungry he retreats to the pilot's room to await further orders as he wonders about the possible future they could have.

[blind_dead_mcjones]

-team 3-

"Whoa! Jeez, back off guys!" wes warned over the comm, not needing to be told twice, Wales reacted and increassed the thrust from the boosters in an effort to evade the incomming mega particle cannon fire, doing his best to keep in formation, unfortunately a couple of incomming blasts from the Dervish forced him to dive 'low' rather than 'high', separating him from the rest of the team.

to makes matters one of the Mandra's remaining gaza-C's decided to attack while he was cutoff, charging at him in mobile armour form firing its knuckle buster, wales grimmaced as he rolled on his own axis while accelerating, barely managing to avoid the beams and the gaza as it passed him, or so he thought, as he was lurched nearly out of his seat by a sudden impact, a pop up screen came up showing that the damn thing had latched onto his leg using one of its claw feet, throwing him off balance and making the Rick dias much harder to handle due to the extra mass

"rrghh, what on earth?!" he exclaimed, trying to shake the guy off and move forward, but the gaza-c remained attached like a limpet, and try as he might wales couldn't get a clear shot at him "let go ya freak, you tryin' to get us both killed or something?!"

[Xvlai]

- Combat Zone –
- Beta Team –

“Don’t let him out of your sight”

Sven had no intent of it. Weaving his Barzam past a few stray rounds he kept Te’litha’s suit firmly in his sights. Adjusting his position in the formation Sven ignored the crackled message incoming from his intercom. After all, dead men yelled the oddest of things before their impending doom and Sven had no interest in listening to Te’litha. Brushing the shrapnel field left by Beta Team’s missile volley Sven intently tracked the tiger stripped Barzam. He held his fire though; the clay bazooka would be worthless at this range.

Suddenly his computer chirped a warning. A quick glance at the computer followed by a visual conformation told him everything he needed to know. An AEUG team of four Rick Dias would intersect or be in position behind Beta Team if they continued on their course. Marking their position on his computer, and using his clay bazooka to gesture at the approaching thruster flares, he broadcast to the rest of the team, “Sir, AEUG Unit approaching fast, what are your orders?”

[Kite_Ishma]

-Hamburg

Kite took a deep breath, quickly running a systems check as he strappedinto his Nemo for the second time today. Once everythign red green across teh board he opened a comm to the bridge. "Thanks for taking me in, allow me to return the favor. Where d oyou guys need me?" Considering he no longer had an assignment nore a ship that he knew of to give him a directive it only made snese that he would work as much as he could from here until he was re-assigned.

He sealed his helmet and grabbed the controls as the cockpit lit up fully giving him a full view of the MS deck. To be honest thought he wasn't too thrilled about how this fight had been going for him so far, and he would be sure to make up for it.

[Rob DS Zeta]

-Kalinin Hangar-
-Arc-

Arc flew out of the bathroom, having just gotten his helmet secured.

"Of course, they call me during the five minutes I use to take a d*mn leak." he grumbled as he dodged a few crew members to reach the hangar. One thing he noticed as he passed through were that the others had finally gotten in and their suits were being repaired and whatever.

Noticed Runnels squawking with some guy in a small office on the deck. He sighed, knowing that they were probably chastising the data from his first ever space combat outing. Looking back at it, Arc realized that he hadn't really done anything of merit. Space was so... chaotic. It really made him miss base duty back on Earth. At least he didn't have to worry about attack from every angle imaginable back then.

Finally reaching his Marasai, Arc noticed that, just as the guy on the intercom had reported, the pinkish terror was clear of mechanics.

"Well, at least they got it done." he told himself as he put himself in the cockpit and strapped in. With moments, he was cleared and gone.

"Ensign Sunoue, going on patrol..."

Floating forward dully, Arc rolled his eyes at thought of patrol in space. Patrol on Earth was boring enough, but this... This was either going to make his day or kill him.

With a steady sigh, the young pilot pushed his Marasai towards the debris field, intent on looking like he was doing something.

[Inferno]

-Herakles, MS Deck-

As the three pilots stood around, Marco decided that there was something that had to be taken care of. "You two will head back to your quarters and await further orders. I need to speak to the commander." He floated backwards as Criss and Orsino progressed to their rooms.

-Pilot Quarters-

It was only a short journey, but with nothing but Orsino and some bad memories to accompany her, it seemed like an eternity to Criss. Suddenly, he spoke. "Do I scare you?"

Criss stopped and thought. Was it some kind of trick? Was he trying to lure her into an excuse to beat the tar out of her? She could lie, but decided against it, knowing he would be able to tell. "Yes."

"Why?"

The words just flowed naturally. "You kill people brutally and sadistically and get pleasure from it. You don't respond to anything short of a threat, and even then you see it as a challenge. You give off this feeling that you could turn on us in a moment's notice. You're unpredictable." Criss took a deep breath. Her heart was racing. How would he respond?

Much to her surprise, Orsino simply chuckled. "On the contrary, I'm very predictable. If I see a fight, I'll join it. If I can shoot something that won't shoot back, I'll shoot it. If I think an officer's full of crap, I'll let him know that. If I know I can't stand a chance, I'll back off. I do know my boundaries, Ensign. In fact, I'd say I know more than anyone else on this ship."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I think you know that I don't particularly believe in any one cause. Because of that, I tend to have an unbiased viewpoint when it comes to these things. And the Captain is far too lost in his 'Titans now rise' BS to see what's going on."

"Well if you're so smart, what's going on?"

"Already told you. The Titans are screwed. We've lost Gryps II, and by now the AEUG probably have it. And there's a decent chance somebody might be enough of a man to use it. Meanwhile, Axis is growing like a beautiful tumor out in old Zeek space, and it won't be too long before their P-O-S suits start becoming a real problem. Meanwhile, Jabitov and Bask have dropped the ball so many times, I suspect that by now someone else has taken command from them. Maybe even that pretty boy from Jupiter. If that's happened, then the entire chain of command goes nuts. It might not look like it, newbie, but we're on a sinking ship."

Criss grunted. Almost reflexively, her face contorted in a hostile expression. Orsino smirked, knowing her hostility cemented his case. "Oh, and about the whole 'sadistic murderer' thing. If you don't like killing people, then why'd you join the military?" He lefter alone with her thoughts as he walked into his room.

-MS Deck-

Marco floated over to see Alex as he got out of his suit. "Uh, sir? there's somethi-er, someone I'd like to talk to you about."

[Tangerine]

- the Hamburg -

"What's his name?" Irene asked as she grabbed the communicator from the nearby table. She was resting at a small room near the MS maintenance bay when Kite activated his Suit.

"I think it's Kite Isha or Kite something, I need to take another look of his Suit's log entry and registry," one crew answered while scratching his forehead a small pleasure after hours of work in vacuum environment on a bulky normal suit and sealed helmet.

"No need for that," she tapped her communicator and spoke to Kite. "This is Lt. Irene Kawamura, currently the acting CO of this ship. Listen, Kite I need you to look after another Nemo from this ship. The pilot is Ens. Paris, I'll upload her Suit's data to your unit."

A male voice filled the communication, "Stand by for data uploading... Done and your unit just got launch clearance form the bridge."

"Don't do anything stupid, come back with or without her," Irene said while resisting the urge to fly the Suit herself and go out there to find Paris. “Good luck!”

[The Green Flame]

-The Herakles-
-MS Deck-

As the hangar crews rushed over the Hizacks for emergency repairs, Alex floated down from his own machine and pulled one of the mechanics aside "So what are we looking at here?" he asked as the crew went about their work.

"Just some damaged wiring for your own Hizack and a couple of spots with banged up armor. We should be able to get you going in short order. As for the rest of the team well....." the mechanic trailed off as his eyes strayed over to the mess of the other mobile suits "The Lt and Ensign Gerwulf are both missing a limb a piece but we can replace em in enough time. Ensign Haze's machine is definitely staying in the hangar for awhile. It's more or less intact but a slight breeze would probably cripple it"

"I see......Fix up Marco's then Orsino's. If we have to go out again I want at least two of us out there" he stated before the mechanic saluted and returned to his duties. It would be some time though before at least his machine was good to go and he would have to report in to the Captain eventually.

"Ah he's gonna kill me" he thought aloud when saw Marco come floating down 'Uh, sir? there's somethi-er, someone I'd like to talk to you about.'

But some things came first he supposed with a sigh "It's Orsino isn't it?"

[Inferno]

-MS Deck-

"Well, him too. Actually, my primary concern is Criss. She seems pretty stressed over the fight. I'm thinking she needs to take it easy for the next few days or so, help her get adjusted to the stress. She had a pretty close call out there."

He took a deep breath and though about what he was about to say. Before he could change his mind, he voiced his request. "Sir, with your approval, I'd like to take sole authority over Orsino. I think he actually has something resembling respect for me, and I don't want to take the risk of getting him to listen to anyone else. I think I can keep him in line outside of combat. But when he's in the field, just let him go. As much as he disgusts me, I can see why we keep him around. He's actually a damn good pilot. I'll handle his discipline, but we'll also stick with the alibi from before."

Marco exhaled deeply. What the hell am I doing? I hate his guts. How can I go without killing him? But I'm the only option. He'll eat Alex alive, same with Berg. And Criss... Ugh, I left her alone with that psycho. I'll have to talk to her.

[Kite_Ishma]

-Hamburg, launching...

Kite made sure to pay close attention to the orders filling his comm. He went over the data of the Nemo he was going after. "Got it....last position locked in too so I'll start my search around that area." The Nemo made its way toward the launch pad and took its position for launch. "And don't worry I'm not used to making stupid decisions," he muttered as the countdown started. the Nemo crouched down slightly, bending its knees and leaning forward before being slung out into the dark abyss surrounding the Salamis-Kai.

Kite took a look at the data once more and headed for the coordinates he was given and headed of for that area. Still a few furballs around. I should be careful not to get sucked into any skirmishes for the time being. Gotta find this Nemo. Must be important to actualy send someone out looking at a time like this. I'm used to seeing a CO mark someone like this as MIA and going to look for them much later. Well at least I'm following orders from someone with an apparently good head on their shoulders.

The Nemo shifted slightly to change its direction and continued to move through space at full speed. It's shield casually held slightly forward covering the torso while the beam gun stayed ready in the right hand

[Ziryab]

-Axis-
-ahead of the Bindra-

"Ho, Graden! Ho, Tuzenbach!" Pris announced as her Gaza-C neared Kenneth's and Nikolai's position with Djorn's Gaza-C flying off to one side of her. She settled back into the seat of her cockpit, shoulders beginning to slump.

"As usual, sir, you miss out on an entertaining brawl. Got messy so Djorn and me decided to check out early," the one arm of her mobile suit jerked a thumb back off into the distance of cluster composed of the Spach Team, AUEG Rick Dais variants and Titan units. "I take Matthew and Julian have already landed?"

[Rob DS Zeta]

-Bindra Team-
-Lt. Cmdr. Graden-

"Ho, Graden! Ho, Tuzenbach!"

Kenneth breathed a sigh of relief at the return of Pris and Djorn. At this point, anything was better more AEUG and Titans units.

"As usual, sir, you miss out on an entertaining brawl. Got messy so Djorn and me decided to check out early. I take Matthew and Julian have already landed?"

"Korbel's flying his scrap back to the Bindra," Graden reported, rolling his eyes at that particular fact. "As for Julian, he was flying near you, Tuzenbach, wasn't he?"

[Inferno]

-Balrampur Team-

Kou was somewhat unnerved by the Titans flares. Does that mean Bate is here? He was a bit unnerved, but he continued on. "All right, guys, we need to engage the MS directly ahead. Team 3 has already made contact, and our offensive will cover them. Let's go!"

The four nemos shot ahead, moving to engage the Trammel's team.

[wonton bob]

- Bindra -
- Hanger -


Amid the chaos occurring in the hanger Matthew exits his Gaza without any assistance. The hanger crew were able to brace the torn safety net with thick cables in time to catch his wrecked mobile suit.

Matthew's legs buckled upon landing on the catwalk and his sides ached in pain. Mentally and physically drained, the young pilot turned back to look at his Gaza.
The sight left a bitter taste in his mouth but he came to realize that he was not ready yet. Angered that he ran in fear then frustrated when he charged in without thinking, both of which could have gotten him or others killed, he walked away with his head down. "I just wasn't ready..."


Shellia tried to wipe the sweat from her brow but smacked her visor instead. Sighing in relief she opens the comm to the bridge.

"CPO. Northran reporting. 2nd Gaza has been netted and the pilot seems to have no injuries. I won't know for sure till I take a good look at Matthew's suit but from the looks of both Gazas we could probably make one operational unit."

Shellia waits for further orders not looking forward to the extra work especially when other suits are still out there that could be in equally bad shape.

[The Green Flame]

-The Herakles-
-MS Deck-

"That was my next guess. Well regardless I planned on taking her off for awhile. Her Hizack needs some real work done on it before it goes out again though it shouldn't take too long" he agreed when Marco suddenly paused, seemingly unsure of what to say next but collected himself and explained what he was requesting.

With a sigh Alex shrugged "You sure know how to take the tough jobs. Take him if you want but with the way things are going as of late, I doubt it'll matter." he paused in thought for a moment, thinking about how on edge Criss was after the recent sortie. More than likely it was caused by Orsino.

"I'm headed up to the bridge to report to the captain, I'll leave Orsino to you. But keep Criss away from him, I'd rather her not have a breakdown thanks to him"

[The Loser Villain]

Gamma Team
"Hold for what? They just gave the damn recall order Faraday. You get Drossel back to the boat; I'll go after Nick...The stupid f**k."

"Wait, he isn't worth..." Aaron trailed off as Jackson had already flown off and due to minovsky particles he wouldn't even hear his message. "S**t! Fine, get yourself killed then!" He spun his Barzam around and flew back towards the Kirov.

Team 2

"Yeah, lets not. I lost track of where the f*** Bernie and Cowboy ran off to. If your alright on ammo an' damage, lets just start headin' foward and try an' find them schmucks."

"I'm good Eddie. Enough fuel to last me a bit, only real damage is the right arm, so I'll have to use the left for a beam pistol or the saber. Lets hope I can put this cannon back to use."

Team 3

Seeing the Gaza-C clamp onto Wales' Rick Dias was an interesting sight to see. While it was funny looking, it wasn't a laughing matter because the Axis Mobile Suit was slowing him down and making him a prime target.

Terrace flew over to Wales and after matching speed, grabbed one of the binders on the back of the Gaza-C. With other arm he pulled a beam saber and put the hilt to its back. With the two Mobile Suits touching the Axis pilot would be able to hear him.

"Let go and surrender or I'll put a hole right trough your cockpit and pry then pry your crappy Mobile Suit's hands off my buddy's leg!"

Bindra Team

"Ho, Graden! Ho, Tuzenbach! As usual, sir, you miss out on an entertaining brawl. Got messy so Djorn and me decided to check out early. I take Matthew and Julian have already landed?"

Nikolai's ears burned at the mention of Julian.

"Korbel's flying his scrap back to the Bindra," Graden reported, rolling his eyes at that particular fact. "As for Julian, he was flying near you, Tuzenbach, wasn't he?"

"Yes sir, he was... until he bought it... he's dead sir." Julian wasn't his favorite person, not by any stretch, but the death of any Axis pilot was a blow to the war effort.

[blind_dead_mcjones]

-debris field-

"uhh...uuurrgh"

blearly and unfocused, paris goraned as she eventually came to, lazily looking around as she tried to fgiure out where she was, the last thing she remembered before blacking out was charging at a hizack, and nothing after that

wincing, she struggled to move her limbs, various cuts on her suit and pieces of glass floating in the cockpit made her dimily aware shrapnel filling the cockpit along with the panoramic monitor being completely offline, she pushed on the pedals and moved the sticks around but to her dismay nothing happened, she was just floating here, alone.

agitated by the felling of loneliness she pressed the buttons on the control panel, trying to see if anything was working, eventually she found the emergency radio distress function, and jammed the button to turn it on as hard as she could before slumping back into her seat again, she knew that the emergency setting was a blanket channel that could be heard by anyone, firend or foe, and that the chaces of it being picked up were slim due to minovsky interfereence but she didn't care, she just wanted to get out, and to see someone elses face

"help...somebody.." she croaked out, feeling exhausted "...please....."

-team 3-

"Let go and surrender or I'll put a hole right trough your cockpit and then pry your crappy Mobile Suit's hands off my buddy's leg!" terrace yelled at the axis pilot

though he was grateful that terrace had come to his aid, wales refrained from getting too excited, time felt like it was slowing down while he waited to see if the Axis pilot had the brains to give up, and felt that any minute that ship they has planned to attack would train its guns on them

wales moved his beam pisol and bazooka to cover terrace's rear, knowing there was at least one more gaza nearby and it just wouldn't do if his wingman was shot trying to save him from the nutter that clung to his leg

[Kite_Ishma]

-debris field-

Kite sihged gettinga bit annoyed. He was praying that this pilot was still alive because they would soooo owe him for this. The young pilot did his best to avoid any and all engagements for the moment. Doing all he could to avoid drawing attention to himself as he closed in on the coordinates he was given. His attention was split between teh space around him and the data he was given.

The green machine paused for a moment while a slight force of thrust from the left shoulder turned the machine with a shallow dip as it looked up slightly at a shane. Thought it was just a crispy arm of a mobiel suit. A few more minutes passed as he continued on slowly having been reached his designated area.

His prayers were slowly answered when he heard a crackling over his comm. Problem was he couldn't make anywords or anythign out...just random static that just started. As he moved on a bit faster to try adn get a better fix on the signal he heard a slight strain of words

"-ebody..... please..."

That must be the pilot...sounds like a woman... He sighed clearing his head for tha moment as he continued to search. He didin't want to respond just yet, since that must have been on an emergency broadcast. Meaning anyone could hear it...and if he responded and the enemy happened to pick up. Well they could be in some deep crap.