Episode 11 - Apollo, Son of Zeus [TE]

[RGM-79G GM Command]

After he had walked around for a bit Ryo headed back to the Officer's Club and got another beer before sitting down and starting to drink it. "I wonder what Laura and Marie are doing right now. Marie is probably in school right now, although she loves schoolwork anyway. Which I'm guessing is because of her mother. Well I'll need to fight better from now on so I can see them again soon." He then drinks some more of his beer.

[Gambit01]

Nick's shock of his sword being battered away was swiftly replaced when he saw Gilliarme coming in for a stab.

Looks like we both played our tricks once too often; did you think to fool me with a second feint, Gilliarme?

Rather then waist time blocking a stab that wouldn't come, he calmly waited for the split second that Gilliarme turned his stab into a slash.

Rather then awkwardly trying to block the incoming blade along his left arm or attempt another sword switch, he moved his own blade in an arc, the intent being to block Gilliarme's blade with his handle.

This would (hopefully) not only block Gilliarme's slash in an unexpected way, but allow him to stab at Gilliarme's right shoulder, forcing him to either take a hit or retreat.

[Cybaster]

It's a shame. Even I'm not infallible.

Seeing Nick gutsily block Gilliarme's rapier with the hilt, Gilliarme knew the danger he was in and reacted in the most natural way he could: He advanced suddenly, hilts locked onto each other and moving underneath his own rapier, and turned a little towards his right --- bringing both men out of the effective range they could attack with for the moment. Gilliarme nodded.

"Nicely done, Lieutenant."

Then Gilliarme shoved, pushing both him and Nick away from each other.

[EfreetCustom]

After the simulation traing Alex felt he needed a break and decided to head to this bar that a few Titan members talk of, the Thirsty Dog, and he left the ship. He walked around the area of the colony the ship was docked in but realized he had no idea where he was going, so he decided to take a walk rather than getting drunk in a bar that was un findable.

He walked around for about 45 minutes when he heared a tremendous blast noise, startled he fell to the ground. Alex then saw a great cloud of black smoke in the air and headed towards it.

I hope no one is hurt! he thought as he ran towards the blackness, upon ariving all he saw was a small building engulfed in smoke. "HEY! ANYONE HURT!!!" he yelled.

[Gambit01]

Nick jumped back, cutting the air with his sword in rapid strokes.

He felt that he had lost the first exchange, and was looking to 'win' this one. Instead, it ended in what Nick percieved to be a very clear draw.

Third time's the charm..

Rather then respond to Gilliarme's compliment, Nick charged forward, stabbing with his left hand to experiment how uncomfortable Gilliarme was against left-handed swordsman. Considering that the last two attempts of his offense were clever deceptions, he was somewhat curious how Gilliarme would respond to a more or less direct attack.

He was, however, fully prepared to block any incoming strike.

[Agent Fisher]

Lieutenant Brown stepped out of the hole in the wall. He heard someone ask if anyone was hurt and turned his head. He saw it was Lepak.

"No S***! Get to a phone and contact the base. Tell them to get med teams out here and to get the base locked down. Now move it, soldier." He reached down and helped a wounded man to his feet.

[EfreetCustom]

Following Lt. Browns' orders, Alex ran to a near by payphone and contacted the bases medical bay: "A med team is on its way!!!" he yelled to Lt. Brown.

"what happened?? said the operator, "I dont know, its a bombing i think" said Alex with a worried tone, "Get the base locked down now!"

Alex hung up the phone to help out a wounded soldier on the ground.

What the hell is happeing!!?

[Cardi Doorl]

- Gryps 1 Titan Garrison -
- Command Center -

"Yes, I understand. Thank you," muttered Cmdr. Lobanov, the man in charge of the Gryps garrison before returning the handset to its place. He turned to his command staff. "Listen up, there's been a bombing at that dive the enlisted men frequented - Dirty Dog, or whatever it was called. I'm ordering med teams to the scene immediately. Get this base locked down. Get men out there on the double; I want roadblocks and checkpoints set up on every intersection in a ten-block radius."

"Evacuate the Officers' Club, sir?"

"And have a stream of Titan uniforms pouring out of it? If there are any other bombers out there, evacuating the Officers' Club would just provide a juicy target, and I don't intend to do that. Lock it down, and send infantry to stand guard. We'll start evacuating them in small numbers later. Now start relaying my orders!"

- Outside -

In moments, the base was ablaze with activity. Medics were dispatched to the bomb site, as were ambulances from a local civilian hospital. Infantrymen, clad in the dark blue of Titan footmen and armed with rifles and submachine guns, deployed in trucks and APCs to set up checkpoints as per Lobanov's orders. Roughly a dozen headed for the Officers' Club.

- In Front of The Thirsty Dog -

Jonas Brown's commands were lost to Leandro, who stared blankly at what was left of Erebus. One of the unwounded men from inside the bar knelt by him and called, "Hey buddy, where you hurt?"

Leandro turned his head numbly to the man, but it took a while for him to comprehend what had been said. "I'm alright... I wasn't hurt..."

The man seemed satisfied with that and moved on to someone else who looked like they might be alive. The man, like Leandro and everyone else alive and dead who'd been in the vicinity of the blast, was covered entirely in ash and dust, giving him a ghostly appearance, and also making him hard to differentiate from anyone else.

-

Gedley turned to run, but didn't get far. He'd taken only a few steps before he ran headlong in a tall, beefy man in the uniform of the local police. Gedley scrambled to his feet, but the large cop grasped his wrist and held him in place with the same ease that you and I could hold down a small mouse.

"No!" screamed Gedley as he was pinned to the ground and handcuffed, "No no no no no...!" He went on and on like this in a state of hysteria as he was told he had the right to remain silent.

- Elsewhere -

"You there!"

The infantryman pointed and shouted at the junior-grade lieutenant accompanied by two female ensigns, all in the uniforms of Titan mobile suit pilots.

"What do you want?" replied Mercedes, annoyed.

"Titan personnel are not to be roaming the streets without authorization as of five minutes ago; we're on lockdown. I'll arrange an escort to get you three back to the gar-"

"Hold on," cut in Alexandra, "Mind telling us what happened to warrant this?"

"Listen girlie, I have places to be. You can hear that and everyone's life story when you're in the garrison. Now, these two," he gestured to two enlisted soldiers with rifles slung on their backs, "Will escort you to the garrison."

The soldier dashed off before another word could be said, no doubt intentionally. The two soldiers assigned to escort Mercedes, Alexandra and Dante were clean-shaven young men, probably just through basic.

"Let's go, ladies," huffed one.

[Cybaster]

Both cunning and persistant. Not bad at all.

Hence, for the moment, there was little Gilliarme could do to regain an advantage immediately, and he knew he was going to have to be patient. With Nick striking from his left hand directly towards Gilliarme's right, Gilliarme's response was to try to keep Nick's threat zone towards his left by keeping his rapier vertical and batting the attack inwards to force Nick to make a follow-through with a backhand swing rather than a second stab or inward swing.

He was, however, forced back a step by Nick's blunt blow, Gilliarme leaning backwards slightly to avoid the remainder of Nick's rapier tip.

[Bezerker]

"Hmm Lockdown huh, that sounds like a load" Dante said as he and the two ladies were led away. He looked at the the one who had spoke up. "Could you explain to me why we are being put on lockdown, and try to be nicer to the ladies here alright" Dante said in a calm tone. No matter what the guy did, he had worse from Nick.

[Agent Fisher]

Brown looked down the streets as a trio of military vehicles screeched to a stop infront of the bar. A sergeant ran out of the vehicle and shouted a question.

"Who's in charge?"

Brown spoke up. "I am, Lt. Brown."

"Sir," the sergeant said as he snapped off a salute. The sounds of sirens could be heard very close now. Brown looked at the opposite end of the street and two ambulances and a fire engine pulled up.

"Get your men in there and get the wounded out here for the meat wagons. And talk to the police, tell them to look for a teenager, he should look a little ragged." Brown said, recalling the kid he had bumped into. "Now move it."

"Sir!" The sergeant saluted again and spun on his heels, shouting orders to his men.

[Gambit01]

Rather then allow his blade to be misdirected, Nick followed stepped forward, attempting to follow through with his strike and keep their blades connected; this was the first time that he had Gilliarme on the ropes, and he wasn't about to allow Gilliarme have time to recover and regroup.

Stepping forward rapidly, their blades ended up crossed again, only this time momentum prevented them from remaining in this rather nostalgic position for more than a second.

Nick ended up going past the side of Gilliarme, his sword screeching in protest at being dragged across its adversary. Switching the angle he held his blade to allow him to stab, his feet barely made contact with the floor again at Gilliarme's right.

[Cybaster]

Had Nick Te'litha not tried to move through Gilliarme's target zone and continued to push him forward at that manner, Gilliarme would've been forced further back without an opportunity to effectively counterattack properly, until Nick would potentially have him cornered by the end of the playing field.

However, Nick trying to move aside of him gave Gilliarme an opportunity to react accordingly --- as Nick stepped forward, tried to move by his right side and switched his blade angle to stab, Gilliarme suddenly took a step forward as well, but spun instead away from Nick, towards his left, as his right hand likewise flipped in a split second into a backhand grip --- the result being that Gilliarme was now smack in the middle of both of Nick Te'litha's arms, almost point-blank to each other.

In that position for a half-second, Gilliarme then spun towards Nick's right again, moving himself even closer to the side of Nick's rapier...and then, breaking free by ducking underneath Nick's arm while spinning, Gilliarme made his move: while still gliding forward, his right arm wheeled back instead, and stabbed his rapier backhand towards Nick's right waist in an opportunistic attack.

[Gambit01]

Gilliarme's counter caught Nick almost completely off-guard; his thrust was almost over-extended when he realised that Gilliarme was attempting a back stab. Nick, however, was acutely aware of the dangers of a backgrip stab; missing left you completely vulnerable, with only an awkward slash or retreat as your defense.

The problem was, Gilliarme timed it so perfectly, that it was pretty much a do or die situation for Nick.

Tilting back, Nick twisted his feet in an effort to angle his body so that the stab would narrowly miss him, making it so that by the time Gilliarme noticed his blade hadn't struck, he would be over-extended.

It was a narrow miss; had he not been looking at Gilliarme's sword from a bird's eye view, he would have sworn it hit.

Repositioning his legs so as not to twist his ankle, Nick brought down his blade in an angled overhead slash, hoping that, when Gilliarme's momentum spun him back face to face with Nick, Nick's blade would catch him across the shoulder.

[Cardi Doorl]

- Gryps 1 Officers' Club -

The infantry sent to the Officers' Club stationed guards outside the entrances and allowed nobody to leave or enter. A group went into the club itself, spreading through the different rooms and sections at a pace that was quick without being threatening or alarming.

Three entered the large room where two mobile suit pilot Lieutenants held everyone's attention with a fencing match.

"Listen up!" shouted the Staff Sergeant in charge of the infantry present, interruption of a duel be damned, "We're evacuating this building, so let's get moving."

- Elsewhere -

The infantryman who'd been doing all the talking was a 19-year-old first-class Private. Despite being Dante's junior in both age and rank, he had enough bravado that he may well have thought himself to be Admiral Jamitov.

"Listen f***er," spat the soldier, "We got a job to do, and it ain't bein' nice to b****es and flyboys, alright? Now let's get movin' to the garrison, 'cause we got a real emergency on our hands, and we gotta get your ungrateful asses to safety."

"Excuse me," snapped Mercedes, "I won't be spoken to that way."

"Shut up," grunted the rifleman, who turned to his compatriot and commented, "See? Ungrateful."

[EfreetCustom]

Alex was still a little shaken up about the whole incident that just happened, but glad no one that he knew was killed. He then saw Lt. Dante being yelled at by some new recruit. He then walked up to the two.

"Hey hey hey, calm down now, we're all shaken up about what just happened" said alex in a slow calm manner "Just be a little more respectful next time"

The soldier gave him a dirty look but said nothing.

[RGM-79 GM]

Shin put his drink down and began to look around and that was when he saw his new commander. He then walked over to the Staff Sergeant and asked "May I ask what happened?"

[Cybaster]

It was lucky that Gilliarme was likewise aware of the risks involved in a backhand stab --- it was good for opportunistic attacks like the one he made, but when the opponent was aware it was a poor defence. Hence when Gilliarme was aware he missed, he knew he was going to act fast or be killed --- and the best he could hope for in the next two moves was a draw given an opponent like Nick Te'litha.

Finishing his glide, Gilliarme wheeled sharply around in an almost leaping spin, and Nick's rapier, as it came down, made its contact onto Gilliarme's upper right shoulder the exact moment the first of the soldiers marched into the hall and announced their intentions. Stopping in mid-stride, Gilliarme smiled.

His own rapier point, now pointed forward around the same time he began his spin as he repositioned his backhand grip quickly, was touching Nick's left waist at the same time. The result was a draw.

Withdrawing his rapier afterward and tossing it onto the ground, slamming into the floor tip-first and swinging, Gilliarme nodded as he removed his fencing mask. "You were a wonderful opponent, Lieutenant Te'litha," Gilliarme said gently, the only slight hint of bitterness in his expression given to the armed guards who had nearly interrupted the match and not Nick himself, while walking towards his duffel bag and beginning to loosen the remainder of his fencing suit. "And I hope we can spar again in another time."

Noticing Shin likewise, Gilliarme gave an assuring nod to his wingman and sighed at the guards.

"What the Lieutenant asked is my inquiry as well, Staff Sergeant. What is the cause of the sudden evacuation order?"

[Gambit01]

A....draw?

Nick was incensed!

He couldn't stand the fact that he had to ackowledge someone else as his...equal! It was more then frustrating, it was humiliating! Nick could have stood loosing and chalked it off to the rear-liner having more time to keep in practice; he would have loved winning, no mistake about it. But tieing?!

Ripping off his mask, he glanced over at the Staff Sergeant.

"Make it a triple inquiry from three superior officers, Sergeant. What's going on?"

[Cardi Doorl]

- Gryps 1 Officers' Club -

The Staff Sergeant had been chosen to handle the Officers' Club, rather than be among the many young soldiers sent throughout the streets, for a reason. He was experienced, having been through the grinder of the big war, and thus wouldn't cause confrontation by copping an attitude. He took in the triple inquiry from Shin, Gilliarme, and Nick before replying calmly but with authority, "Some terrorist whackjob threw a bomb at The Thirsty Dog; everything's on lockdown by the Commander's orders."

- Elsewhere -

Of course, the kid handling Dante and the girls was the exact opposite: an angry kid who thought he had something to prove.

Annoyed by Alex Lepak's appearance, but not feeling the guy was worth his time, the soldier turned his shoulder to the newly-arrived pilot and led Dante and the ladies away. Someone else could deal with Lepak for all he cared.

- The Thirsty Dog -

Leandro, distraught as he was, did what little he could to help the EMTs deal with the wounded, at least after one of them confirmed he was in no need of medical attention himself. At some point one of the senior EMTs told him his help was appreciated, but that the medical staff could deal with the rest on its own.

That left nothing to distract Leandro's troubled mind. He wandered down the sidewalk, thinking briefly about going back to the Kirov to take a shower and get a clean uniform so he wouldn't have so much ash and soot all over him. However, he noticed a crowd watching a local cop struggle with some unruly shouting kid.

"What's going on?" asked Leandro, his voice a little raspy.

The bystander he'd asked rose an eyebrow at the state of Leandro's hygiene, but responded normally nonetheless, "I think that kid over there's the main suspect for what just happened."

Leandro blinked. That kid couldn't have been any older than his mid-teens. Somehow, Leandro couldn't believe that a kid so young could do such a thing. Sure, rebels groups have used young recruits to bolster their numbers all throughout war, but Leandro was hardly the type to bring that up to immediate memory.

"This war just gets crazier and crazier..." he murmured as he slinked off to the colonial harbor.