Episode 12 - Operation Apollo

[mcred23]

- Team 2 -

It amazed all four men that they weren't fired upon. Team 2 was kicking up an insane amount of dust and debris and whatnot from their high speed approach, yet no Titan MS came at them. No ships put so much as a single beam towards them. There were MS moving around the ships they were heading towards, Eckardy thought they may be Rick Dias', which may have accounted for why nothing happened yet. And now, the Titans never would.

Eddie keyed his radio, which again barely cut through the Minovsky Particles, and slowed slightly. "Cowboy, Ian, hit the portside ship. Roy, you and me hit the starboard one. Everyone stay low and let loose. We'll simply fly in one side of their formation and then out the other and see where we stand. You know what to go for." And with that he kicked back to full speed and they split into pairs.

Greydon and Marvin rocketed in low towards the shape of the Titan Salamis Kai (The Buxoro) and each made ready. Both held their Clay Bazookas in their right hands, one of their beam pistols in the left. They quickly entered their weapon range and began to open fire. Both men put two rockets up towards the ship, while Marvin sprayed a half dozen beams towards it for what good it may do, as they kept racing foward.

At the same time, Eddie and Roy made their attack on the other Salamis Kai (The Hades). Roy, holding his Clay Bazooka with both hands, fired a single, aimed rocket towards the ships starboard twin-main gun, and followed this up with another, far more hasty shot simply pointed at the ship. Eddie fired but a single beam at the blue grey ship, intending to save his ammo for whatever MS they may encounter.

[Bezerker]

"Standing by" Dante said as he stopped and watched Nick move toward the two Rick Dias'. "Interesting suits, I wonder how they got through the lines..." Dante thought as he hefted his rifle, ready for the call to charge in.

[EfreetCustom]

Alex hears a muffled transmission from Pendragon, it is non understandable, but Alex knows what it he must be telling him. With a push with his Hizack, Alex stares at the enemy Nemo and then full burns his thrusters back towards friendly territory. The enemy nemo just floats in the blackness of space watching Alex fly away.

.....Next time......... Beams of energy bolt past Alex as he escapes.

[Folken Fanel]

The HiZack pilot Vantz had been fighting suddenly turned tail and ran. Vantz opened up a full salvo at the retreating foe with his vulcans and beam rifle. In the end, he'd sent four beam shots at it along with about two dozen vulcan shells.

Turning around, Vantz moved back to rejoin his teamates. As he does so, he thinks about the HiZack he'd been fighting. "Geez, that guy was really bad. First he takes a face full of vulcan fire from a guy whose aim is horrible, then he turnns tail and runs."

[Cybaster]

Gilliarme couldn't help but feel appalled at the lack of response from the Titans ships behind the Kirov, and took a very brief moment to analyze the situation; It was otherwise obvious, though, that the first threat to the Kirov that he was going to have to focus on was the AEUG Salamis Kai heading straight for the Kirov. If left unchecked and with the rear forces distracted by the AEUG Mobile Suits, that single Salamis Kai alone could do considerable damage to the Kirov even in a single ship-to-ship duel --- enough damage, possibly, to force Echo to withdraw early, leaving Daningan's wing open for an AEUG counterattack, and their mission to fail.

But this meant that either Beta or Delta would have to deal with the Salamis Kai and its Mobile Suits, and the other remain around the Kirov on point defence. However, if the Titans acted quickly enough, the Titans could turn this around right there and then; With the Salamis Kai gone, the AEUG Mobile Suits attacking the rear formation would end up overextending themselves, and when Alpha and Gamma returned they could effectively cut the AEUG defence force in two...

This, however, was going to depend on how quickly Alpha and Gamma got back --- if they were even listening to the withdrawal order at all.

"Ensign Fulton, Lieutenant Yamamoto, let's advance a bit and deal with that Salamis Kai heading straight for the Kirov. We'll start with their Mobile Suits and attack the ship when we have the chance --- we don't even have to stray too far. We really just need to hold its attention long enough for Alpha and Gamma to return and cut the AEUG force in two." There was no need to issue specific orders; both Samantha and Shin were veterans who Gilliarme was confident of in their abilities, and would know to be sensible in combat. If they needed specific orders, they would ask him. All Gilliarme needed to do was to keep an eye out for anything unexpected.

That said, leading by example, Gilliarme moved his Marasai forward and upwards, taking care not to place himself unnecessarily between the Salamis Kai and the Kirov's line of fire, and trained his Marasai's Beam Rifle at the foremost of the Hamburg Mobile Suits' formation. With quick, controlled squeezes of the trigger, Gilliarme then sent a small burst of Beam Fire at the incoming Nemos, two each at the Nemos, and one towards the bridge of the Hamburg to draw its attention. "Lieutenant Ritter, Beta Team, remain on point defence with the Kirov. This can't be all the AEUG has on the defending side..."

[RGM-79 GM]

"Yes sir." Shin then thinks to himself 'It is about time.' He then has his Marasai follow Gilliarme's and he aims his beamrifle at the enemy MS and fires one beam at the cockpit of each of the Nemos and begins moving his MS in closer.

[Cardi Doorl]

OOC: Reading through all the RPs I missed while gone gave me a new appreciation for how many ways everyone can take jabs at my absence :/

IC:
- Alexandria-class Kirov -
- Combat Bridge -

The Kirov and Herakles slipped away from the fight at the front as more death flows through the almost-corridor made by the trail of craters. With so much to worry about, Trent scarcely noticed the report that other Rick Dias units had scored bazooka hits.

"They're a little late, but I suppose the suit teams are finally starting to withdraw," muttered Trent. The mobile suits in this vanguard had indeed taken far too long to start pulling back, in his opinion. They'd opted to stay in the thick and risk being outnumbered and surrounded.

"We're nearing the original formation, sir," reported Kellman gruffly, "But it seems more hostiles slipped past us than we'd initially thought."

- Alpha Team -

Stukov, in spite of himself, snarled a predatory grin as his target was inarguably destroyed. It's been too long since he'd last scored a clean kill.

Mercedes' target managed to escape, though. Mercedes started to pursue, but Stukov gripped her Marasai's upper arm. "Enough, Ensign," he intoned, "We'll withdraw now, as per orders."

Although she didn't respond verbally, it was clear Mercedes didn't like the prospect. Too bad for her; she knew full well this was a hit-and-run to draw the enemy out, and not the main event just yet. Stukov never much liked withdrawal, but he knew sometimes the only alternative was suicide.

Besides, Stukov had just received a distress signal from Leandro. Alpha Team's support unit was hardly designed to fight multiple enemies on its own.

But then something even more striking catches Stukov's eye; a trio of Nemos advancing brashly across the open, easily scattering a bunch of Hizacks from Herakles Team. Pathetic... he growled mentally.

"Ens. Ritter, regroup with Leandro and fall back to the main formation. I'll be there shortly."

"The hell-" Mercedes started, but by then Stukov had disengaged skintalk. With a huff, Mercedes turned her back on what she saw as an impulsive savage and regrouped with Leandro's battered Hizack Custom.

Stukov, drawing a beam saber into his left hand, careened toward the Von Braun Nemos from the side. It was time to show Herakles Team how to fight.

He let loose three beam bolts, then ignited his saber as he powered his thrusters for a hard approach.

((Stukov rushes the Von Braun Nemos with a trio of beam shots. Mercedes and Leandro fall back.))

- Kalinin Team -

The Hamburg Teams parting shots were clearly meant only to discourage Bate from changing his mind about falling back. Almost an obligation on the AEUGers' part, since he clearly had no wish to jump back into the fray in these circumstances.

Other circumstances though... "Team, let's get that red one away from the Kirov." he ordered, gesturing to Jim's Rick Dias. Squeezing off a duo of beam rifle shots, Bate kicked off the Lunar surface and advanced on Jim's Dias. His three Hizack teammates followed suit, with the two machine gunners chattering away and Runnels putting up beam fire.

((Whole Kalinin Team gang jumping up at Jim from below with welcome presents))

* * *

- Salamis Kai-class Kalinin -
- Combat Bridge -

"Where are our mobile suit teams?" bellowed Marshall Nguyen, "Why didn't the ones here react more quickly to intercept the enemy? All ships, open fire on these flank attackers!" Nguyen was furious. The enemy hadn't just penetrated to the back, but had even opened fire before anyone in the Titan formation had even woken up.

"All mobile suits engage! All gunnery teams, get active!" he reiterated as Curren's beam shots rocked the Kalinin.

The Kalinin's guns swung around and blazed death upon Curren's Rick Dias. The guns from the Ipswich and Rendarmel followed suit.

- Beta Team -

"Lieutenant Ritter, Beta Team, remain on point defense with the Kirov. This can't be all the AEUG has on the defending side."

That little bastard just issued orders to me!?

Two AEUG suits dashed through the middle of the ship formation. Wolf recognized them as the high-performance Rick Dias units, though one was painted blue.

"Beta Team, let's go!" He launched his custom Marasai off the ground and hurtled toward the two Rick Dias'. Hades Team was already engaging it, and Nick's unmistakable custom Hizack was trying to close in, seemingly looking to sneak up. Screw him; Wolf fired his beam launcher at the blue one. Moments later, Alexandra added in some potshots at the two in general from her beam rifle.

- Hades Team -

Before he even knew what was happening, Picard had his team commandeered by his XO. "Give the bastard an inch..." he muttered, then to Varis, "C'mon, Ens. Silverwind. Don't make me look bad." M-Hover pushed off from the Hades and, like Jason and Patrick, opened fire on the two Rick Dias. He concentrated mostly on the red one.

- Buxoro Team -

Lon Kou's threat indicator went wild as more AEUG mobile suits appeared. Four more Rick Dias mobile suits, these coming from an indirect approach.

"Buxoro Team, requesting support of any kind ASAP," he called out, knowing he and his team of lightly-experienced Hizack pilots didn't have good odds against four full-loaded Rick Dias. At the request, Nguyen ordered the Republic of Zeon forces to support Buxoro Team.

Upon receiving confirmation, Lon wasted no time in leveling his beam launcher against the Rick Dias at the head of the pack. After quickly ordering his team to hold fire for now, he let loose with a powerful shot.

At the same time, the Buxoro, Miguel Gaia, and Zomel were opening fire on the Rick Dias team in general.

[EZero8]

--Wes Curren--

"HOT S***!" Wes yelled out as the incoming fire went blazing past him. What he had thought was a safe sniping spot was no longer such a place, and he quickly zoomed around to avoid the incoming fire directed at him.

Luckily for Curren, he wasnt in that darned launch shuttle, and being in a Mobile Suit has its advantages. He dodged and weaved through the incoming AA shots, dancing around as he squeezes a few shots at tha Kalinin. He'll worry about the other ships later.

"Seems like their defenses finally decided to wake up..." Curren says with a smirk. One thing he loved about attacking ships... they're quite slow with defenses.

[Fritz Ashlyn]

- Fritz and Michiko -

After the otherwise easy trip past the Kirov (as far as enemy MS were concerned, at least), Michiko took a moment to realize her computer was wailing for her attention when Drossel, Miller and Kamek targeted her and opened fire. She put her Dias into a spin and dropped closer to the surface to avoid the opening bursts of machinegun fire. She righted herself, and with the help of the computer she slid the targeting pip onto Miller’s Hizack and fired back with a scatter round. When a few beams came from her right side, however, she wasn’t quite as fast with the sticks and she had to come to a jarring stop and chuck the bazooka out in front of her to avoid being destroyed. The bazooka was annihilated by one of Alexandra’s beams, but Michiko was much luckier. She quickly pulled a pistol off its rack and changed her angle of attack to account for the attack from the side.

Like Michiko, Fritz’ computer was also rapidly pointing out threats to him, but his managed to pick up an additional target. This one wasn’t boxed out like the others; it was indicated with an arrow telling Fritz the enemy was located almost directly behind him. Hoping Michiko could tap into whatever skill or luck had carried her this far, Fritz aborted his run on the Hades. He fired a series of verniers, gaining a bit of altitude before spinning around to face the new enemy head on. Fritz registered who this pilot was and what he had to do as the computer was moving his firing reticle and beeping a partial lock. “Te’litha...” Fritz muttered as he advanced on the striped Hizack. With his bazooka in an underarm firing position, he hoped his voice would cut through the Minovsky surrounding them. “You’re Nick Te’litha,” he said. It wasn’t a question.

Thankfully his computer hadn’t developed tunnel vision like he had, and it protested a sudden lock from the side. Fritz gritted his teeth as he burned off altitude and let a large beam pass overhead. It wasn’t quickly followed by others, so he assumed it was a beam launcher. Probably one of those Hizacks they were scattering around. He reoriented and continued his move in Nick’s direction.

- The Hamburg -
- Bridge -

Once the Titans had put up flares, Loweno was certain they would at least be falling back to a better position, but now he had crew yelling about attacking mobile suits. “Calm down! They aren’t even shooting at–“

**SH-OOOM**

Gilliarme’s beam burned past the bridge at a very uncomfortable distance. Draw its attention indeed. Loweno was, of course, the first to break the silence with an indignant grunt. “Wasn’t as close at it looked. Keep your shirts on, for God’s sake,” he muttered, crossing his arms, “...Divert a few of the smaller guns to assist McHale and the others,”. He unconsciously reached up to stroke his beard and sucked his teeth in disappointment when his gloved fingers found his recently clean-shaven face.

- Hamburg Team -

Ltjg. McHale cursed when he saw a new team of enemy MS making a run at their position. “Thought you guys were leaving!” he complained as the trio first concentrated on avoiding Delta’s opening shots. Surprsingly, Tulowitzki managed to avoid taking any damage, but the other ensign wasn’t as lucky; he quickly lost a good chunk of his Nemo’s right shoulder during his maneuvers. The three fired back, the bulk of their shots aimed at Gilliarme.

- Mello and Sumitani -

When Delta made their move, Mello and Sumitani were still close enough to notice. “Well, it looks like someone else wants some. Let’s go for 2 and 0,” Mello said, gesturing back towards the Hamburg. Ramon’s Nemo made an “OK” gesture, and the pair moved back in the ship’s direction to support McHale’s unit.

- Von Braun Trio -

“Hold it! Hold it!” the team CO ordered, grabbing the other undamaged Nemo and keeping him from continuing their charge. The three regouped and initiated touch contact in a semi-huddle. “Good job so far. Let’s take a breather and pick our next fight carefully. Those guys we manhandled are backing off,” he said. “Sir, most of the big ship’s MS are engaged, I think. They’re retreating anyway,” the headless suit’s pilot offered. “Yeah, okay. Let’s head for the middle of things and see if we can’t offer another base of fire for someone more organized,” the CO decided, his Nemo pointing in the direction that Stukov and Mercedes used to be. The three broke the huddle and began skimming in the direction of the thicker part of the fighting. No sooner had they changed direction than Stukov’s first three shots lanced through the quietest of the three Nemos, turning his green mobile suit into a pink fireball.

- The Dervish -
- Bridge -

The Dervish was close enough to plainly see the Hamburg’s near-miss introduction to Delta Team without binoculars or magnified visuals. “Forward gunners may open fire. Only concentrate on driving the enemy away at this point; AA teams stay on your toes,” Abbey ordered as he moved to the window to better see what was going on in front of the Hamburg. Gates drummed his fingers on his chair’s armrest and dryly asked, “Didn’t you send some of my new mobile suits to their rear? Shouldn’t I be seeing more explosions?”. He was practically fighting off a yawn.

At his station, Filmore was desperately trying to ignore all the noise on the bridge, artificial and
sponsor-provided hot air alike. Something had broadcasted on a friendly channel a moment before, and it repeated three times before ending. He kept running it back and listening to the recording, trying to make anything out through the horrible Minovsky interference. He amplified it. He slowed it down and speeded it up. Nothing. Just an obvious voice message, mangled in the sea of M-particles surrounding the battle. He couldn’t even pick out syllables.



...



“This is the Argama. Von Braun City is under heavy attack. Please return at once. You have been drawn into a diversionary attack. This is the Argama...”

[Ascension]

-Kalinin Team vs. Jim

Jim hadn't stopped checking his tail while making his attack run on the Kirov. He spotted the advancing Kalinin team shortly before Bates opened fire.

"Hah! A challenger appears!"

Jim cut his main thrusters, allowing his suit to fall towards the Kalinin team, pulled by lunar gravity. He weaved his way through the team's long range fire and emerged from the barrage fairly unscathed, apart from a few glancing blows from the machine gunners.

"This should be a fun little test for my Dias!"

Jim focused his attention on Bate's Marasai. He knew that it would be the commander's suit. If he was able to disable it, the leaderless and probably inexperienced Hizack pilots would be easy to dispatch with the power of the Dias at his disposal. Or at least that's what he thought.

He raised his clay bazooka and fired twice.

((Falling towards Kalinin team under the influence of lunar gravity, firing clay bazooka twice at Bate's Marasai...))

[Gambit01]

-Dervish-
The Bridge

“Didn’t you send some of my new mobile suits to their rear? Shouldn’t I be seeing more explosions?”

Celeine looked over her shoulder at the sponser. "I'm sure if you go up closer, you'd be able to see lots of explosions. Care to do so?"

Everything about her tone suggested she was just being helpful, and those that recieved it would think as such; any side-observer would have to be an absolute moron wouldn't recognize the teasing, 'wow, you're an idiot' in her voice.

Gamma Team

If Nick was upset that he wasn't able to completely sneak up on one of the Dias', then he was outright shocked at what happened next.

"Te'litha....You're Nick Te'litha."

Wha-?

If he was attacked then and there, it would have been an insta-kill; luckily, his opponent repositioned itself to avoid a beam shot, and that was all the warning Nick needed to reorient himself and just barely dodge to the side.

Ritter....

"That son of a b**** is so close to me just killing him outright it's almost ironicly funny," Nick said outloud.

He frowned and turned his attention back to the oncoming Rick Dias.

"I'd ask how you know my name," he drawled as he edged his own mobile suit forward, "But it really doesn't matter."

He suddenly spiked forward; he stabbed with his right saber, using the momentum to, incase he missed a killing blow, carry him forward and attack with his left saber in a spinning slash. Even as he did this, he planned to bring his right saber at a downward's angle in 'front' of his back in order to intercept any blow that might come at the exposed area.

"As the saying goes, 'dead men tell no tales!'"

[Cybaster]

=Gilliarme Lasalle=

Seeing both the Hamburg and its Mobile Suits turn their fire towards him meant that Gilliarme was, at least, doing his job properly. Now, if he could keep both trained on him for long enough, Samantha and Shin would know what to do. On the other hand, both Alpha and Gamma teams had finally returned to the general area (sans Stukov, Gilliarme hadn't realized yet), evening the odds, so for now, he could concentrate on the Hamburg.

With all the fire trained towards him, Gilliarme wasted little time. Pushing his thrusters to full power, Gilliarme brought his Marasai into a left charge, barrel rolling as if dancing around the newfound hail of fire from the Hamburg, the Nemos' fire and the Hamburg's CIWSes blazing continuously to his right. Even so, while there was no way to completely avoid all that, Gilliarme had managed to do rather well; the bottom tip of his Marasai's right armshield was clipped by one of the Nemos' Beam Rifle shots mid-manuever and was promptly burnt away, but otherwise the entire right arm and much of the shield itself was still intact.

Once Gilliarme was at the Hamburg's starboard side, he quickly fired another two Beam Rifle shots first at the formation of Nemos while bringing his Marasai downwards into a right-moving circle, and then, strangely, fired his vulcans as an afterthought at McHale's Nemo specifically --- at that position, he had brought himself to the Salamis Kai's underside, and promptly Gilliarme fired off two shots at the Hamburg's engines and rear compartments proper while strafing back towards its bow side.

Gilliarme nodded to himself once. He only needed to keep their attention on him for a little while longer...

=Julian Meighan=

Seeing the Herakles team break away and withdraw --- as did pretty much the rest of the remaining Titans, possibly in reaction to the 4th's own forces breaking through their lines --- Julian took a second's breather, waved his Nemo's right arm (with the shoulder armor there dented, slightly torn, and otherwise barely hanging on from Pendragon's shots) at Vantz to signal him to follow, and boosted his Nemo towards Jonas and Caroline's locations. With the Minovsky density so thick, Julian had no choice but to place his Nemo's left hand onto his Team Leader's suit for communications. "What are your orders, sir? The Titans seem to be falling back and some of us have broken through their lines here---"

That was when Julian eyed Stukov's lone Marasai charging back at them --- and fire at some of the other Nemos. Hurriedly pushing off to the left to avoid getting caught bunched together, Julian began strafing backwards and countered at Stukov with two Beam Rifle shots of his own in retort. "If he's charging in like this, he's at least very confident in himself. Be very careful when dealing with him, Ensign."

[Wedge14]

"Lt. Heyden!!" Screeched the young ensign as their two teammates blasted by over head and towards the Hamburg.

"F*** em..." He said gesturing his Nemo's arm towards the Gela team.

And with that the Two Nemo's pushed out of the crater and rocketed behind their Squad mates. Pan not the one to miss out on things quickly overtook his teammates and took the lead.

Stray rounds that where intended for the Hamburg's attackers flashed by Pan and his team mates.

Pan bared his teeth glancing up at the cigarette taped on the inside of his visor, as he spotted the mobile suit underneath the 'burg.

"He's gonna take out the engines!!" Pan said aloud firing off a burst of three rounds at the Marasai as he approached with his teammates.

[The Big Zabowski]

As Richard settled his Nemo behind an outcropping of rock, he tapped a diagnostic button on the left of his console to run a quick ammo and damage count. Normally this would take a few seconds..but not today.

Bewoooo..op

His whole world went black. Monitors, displays, everything..died. It was as if god had a beef against his little foray into sneaking up on that sniper. It wasn't the most honorable thing to do, but this was war. And to Richard, it seemed that God wanted that "love thy neighbor" thing to hold true, even for the blue boobs of the Earth Federation.

"Sonomab***h...this is NOT happening!"

Frantically, for what seemed like agonizing hours he banged, whaped, wrapped, and beat on the consoles and buttons in an attempt to knock whatever wire or relay came loose, back into it's position. It took him nearly 5 minutes..he should know by having looked at his watch almost every second while craning his neck to see if he could hear ricochets off his Nemo's armor.

Then, as suddenly as everything went black, his monitors flickered back to life, targeting cameras spitting images back onto the once dark displays. He was hoping that the image was going to be somewhat welcoming as he had seen a retreat flare from the Titan's flagship moments before he touched down.

Nope, god wasn't on his side this time either, as a group of four Marasai were bearing down on the Hamburg, with Korbel apparently doing his best to fend them off. Richard's heart began to sink as he spotted the Titan's MS taking shots at the Hamburg's engines and defense cannons.

"God Damn it all! Why must you do this to me NOW!?"

His heart swelled in his gut as he jammed his feet down on the thrust pedals and made a jump, just as he heard a crackled, garbled transmission on the radio..it was Heyden.

"The...goi..for th...ines!"

"Heyden, I'm on your six! Korbel, with me, NOW!"

With a forceful push against his restraints he leaned foreword, gripping the sticks as hard as he could as he rushed up behind the New Yark's MS XO and serve as fire support in their attempt to drive off the Marasai assaulting the Hamburg. He wrestled the right stick foreword with a tilt back, bringing the gun arm up to bear. The left stick was then wrenched to his left as he tapped the thrusters and lined up one of the Marasai in his sights. (Fulton)

It was a long shot, but he had to shake them off and allow Heyden time to intercept the rest. With a few taps to the trigger on the right stick, he let loose two beams as his pipper toned long and sharp, ringing in his helmet.

"C'mon you damned Titty!"

[wonton bob]

Jason watched the Dias (Michiko) easily avoid their attacks.

Damn that thing is fast .

Jason keeps it in his sights figuring a way to compensate for its speed even while it attacks Miller. He continues to look on when it stops to avoid an attack losing it's bazooka in the process. As the Dias pulls out a pistol, Jason free falls toward it firing another burst from above.


* * * *

Bernard is traveling on the Hamburg's portside when he hears his comm crackle to life.

"Heyden, ... six! ... me, NOW!"

The transmission barely comes in but Bernard is positive he heard Lt. Barrique's voice. Bernard's Nemo skims the surface as he passes underneath the Hamburg. Alarms ring suddenly as his targeting systems pick up a Marasai (Lasalle) at close range. Startled he fires three shots at its direction. It had already fired at the Hamburg. Bernard would do his best to make sure that pilot won't get back to boast about it.

[RGM-79 GM]

Shin boosts up and goes over the shots fired at his Marasai and then fires two beams each at two of the Nemo's center torso(Ltjg. McHale and Tulowitzki) and then boosts in closer to one of them(Ltjg. McHale) and prepares to fire again.

[Psyden]

As Pendragon sees the Marasai (piloted by Stukov) start rushing the enemy, he cuts his thrusters and enters into a crouch as he lands on the Lunar surface to kill his momentum.

With a wave of his arm towards the Kalinin Team, he opens a com to Lepak in an effort to communicate.

“Lepak! You go on ahead and link up with that team over there, I’ll help out this guy! Now go!”

With that, he springs into action, launching himself off the ground with both the suit’s strength and with full thruster acceleration. The Marasai’s pilot doesn’t seem to have noticed the Nemos he was just engaging and is charging right under them. There is no way for his to warn this pilot. He can’t catch up with him either. The best thing he can do is draw some of the enemies’ fire long enough for him to do what the Titans pay him to do, or at least until he actually notices.

It seems all I am doing today is drawing other people’s fire for them… And I am not even being ordered to do so, I must be insane or something!

He takes aim at the first one to respond, who just-so-happens to be the same one he was sparing off against moments before. Luckily, surprise is on his side as he lets loose with a well aimed 3-round burst, which is quickly chased by a second set of 3 after resting the weapon. Of course, the proper care has been taken so that Stukov won’t add to the statistic of friendly fire.

[Agent Fisher]

Brown zigged when he should have zagged, a stray beam rifle shot drilled his chest, dropping him in one hit. He didn't even have time for a final thought before he died, such is the nature of battle.

[Cybaster]

Having not noticed Brown's death yet, Gilliarme saw that by firing on the Hamburg he was now stuck in the conundrum of having the Mobile Suits from two teams firing on Delta Team. For the moment, much of the Nemo fire was concentrated on him, and Shin was beginning to make his own attack run on the Nemos that were distracted, but one was engaging Samantha. Gilliarme frowned; If he didn't successfully continue posing himself as a greater threat, they'd eventually turn their attention on his wingmen, and outnumbering them two-to-one would defeat Gilliarme's purpose entirely.

He had never fooled around at all, but nonetheless, having done what he had set out to do in drawing the Salamis Kai's attention long enough for Alpha and Gamma to return, it was time to diffuse the situation, and quickly. I'd better deal with the ship first and check on Samantha and Shin...

As beam fire from the Hamburg and Gela Nemo teams blazed around him, Gilliarme maximized his thruster output and, instead of swinging wide for more Beam shots at the ship (causing most of the Nemos' shots to miss save two that grazed his Marasai's right leg and top armshield tip), suddenly pushed up --- bringing his Marasai parallel and near point-blank to the Hamburg's bow side and diffusing the effective range the Hamburg's gunners could take shots at him. At the same time, in that effective position, Gilliarme drew his Beam Saber into the left hand to carve at the hull in passing as his Marasai ascended, bringing himself close in towards the Hamburg's bridge compartment as quickly as he could to make one slash at it...

[King Monkey]

Lieutenant JG Jacob Markado can wait no longer. Even without orders from the ship his Mobile Suit is standing on, he can't sit and watch the Hamburg his former ship be carved up by enemy forces.

"I'll save you!" he shouts to no one in particular, given the Minovsky Interference is going to kill the radio waves in a matter of meters.

He kicks his thrusters to life, skimming along the surface of the Dervish. He watches as an enemy Suit performs a rather impressive display of attacking, slicing into the Salamis Kai with his beam saber.

Lining up his bazooka, he waits until the Suit slows slightly at the height of its attack before pulling the trigger.

A high explosive round shoots out of the massive tube and toward the Suit (Gilliarme.)