Super Robot Wars ∀: Deep Space Gaiden - Part 1b: From The Other Side

[scorri]

Finally, he was out of the ship. Just him and his bot, ready to see what he could do. As Abrams hailed the incoming suits, Padric took a few sections to get used to the controls and the feelings of being in space. It wasn't like flying, not exactly. He was floating, but the response times were remarkable, even with his sped up reactions. He was still faster than the machine, but this was closer than any of the test bots he'd practiced in back on Earth. Still, it would be an interesting test of his abilities. Flipping through the options of weapons he had, he grinned and settled on a bazooka for now. If things went south and those suits got closer, he could switch, but for now this was a good warning shot type weapon if nothing else.

[Balcerzak]

Back up in the wild black yonder, Pavel was itching to get some firing in. Could be at the original target, could be at these new ones. Didn't much matter. Hell, actually... the orders to fire at will at the Selkie wreck had never actually been revoked, had they? There was just the additional order to make contact, and Rex was already handling that. Nobody could possibly fault him, if he just, you know, lined up his barrels, and started scorching the derelict. And if that spooked the interlopers into doing something a little more interesting, that would be all their misunderstanding of the situation. Yeah, no, this was a good idea, perhaps the best idea.

Getting in a few warm up exercises first, confirming appropriate mobility and function, so far matching the mechanic's story about keeping the craft in tip-top shape, the troublesome soldier then began lining up a shot at an inoffensive section of hull. He even made sure it was reasonably far away from the buzz of activity of their mystery guests.

Edited April 6, 2017 by Balcerzak

[Nanami Touko]

Flagship Down

"Incoming message from those EU mechs... Allison, what should we do?" A man's voice echoed through the cockpit of the primary mech, long rifle at the ready. They were likely out of range for precise fire, but it wouldn't hurt to get started on shooting at them. They'd already been spotted, after all.

Allison was panicking at the thought of being seen so quickly, though. As calm as the other man was, she was already shaking her head. "W-We have no choice, Xavier. They saw us. They have to die, r-right? If we go back to base now, we'll be killed for leaking this... We... W-We have to kill them or die trying." The hesitation in her voice was there only, her hands were already moving over her controls to get ready to shoot.

"Wait! Let's at least talk to them... They can't have gotten good details shots of our mechs at this range, or scanned us. Getting seen like this won't matter once the American force hits the shore anyway." Xavier tried to calm down his panicking associate, some of it seeming to work.

"F-Fine, that... That makes sense-- but! If they start aiming at us, I'm opening fire. I'm not going to die here to some random EU squadron! We should have backup soon anyway, c-commander Jamal was sending more suits over."

"Just hold your guns..." He groaned, accessing his communicator, and tuning it to the public frequency.

"European Space Force, we were not aware that we had drifted this far into EU territory. My name is Xavier, my associate Allison," aliases, the both of them, but they didn't have to know that. "We're with Russia's research branch," that would fly, the EU didn't have deep ties with them, "and were doing some tests on new space flight robots. I'm sorry, but that data is confidential. We won't be able to share it. I hope you understand, and we'll retreat from this sector immediately." Now buy it, and don't stare firing... You'll get to live longer.

 

[Phoenix]

"Russia's making space bots?" May asked. Her comms were off, but it was a legitimate question, enough to bear repeating if no one cleared up the matter.

Comm traffic was relatively quiet for a few moments. Their guests were likely waiting for a positive response that would see them safely away from this airspace ... just space. When Rex did speak again, he seemed a lot calmer. He likely bought Xavier's explanation. "Copy that, Xavier. Maintain your current heading and standby for further instructions."

"That's that, then ..." May threw up her hands. "I guess we guide them to EU borders and then start shooting wreckage." Or so May thought ....

---

Rex's eyes narrowed at the monitor. He immediately had doubts about Xavier's claims, but he wouldn't kick off an engagement until he was some degree of certain. He had to examine Xavier's claim carefully, first. Oddly enough, no one thing Xavier had said bothered Rex, rather, it was the entire explanation as a neat little package that made Rex suspicious. Maybe they were with the research branch. Maybe they had just drifted into EU territory by mistake. The Russians had recently pitted Alkaev against a couple of rival companies to develop a mobile suit for them that could be optimized for space combat. That was what Rex remembered of the matter, at least. The problem with these mobile suits being here was that the only fully operational ship the Russians had that could accommodate any mobile suits at all wasn't anywhere near this sector--they frankly, knew better. If these two had merely 'drifted' into EU territory by mistake, they had been drifting for some days, now. Unlikely.

Rex considered the possibility that these machines had amazing operational range for mobile suits. They probably did, but that didn't mean they were Russia's new toys in development. With their focus on air based designs, as well as their new flight tech, the Alkaevs would likely be the first of their nearest competitors to get working test models in space, and even from here, Rex could tell these suits weren't their handiwork. Regardless, it was too early for long range test flights since this new competition for the Russian contract would have only just began recently. They weren't company prototypes, Rex concluded. Not a chance.

"Copy that, Xavier," Rex responded, nipping the growing silence before anything silly happened, "maintain your current heading and standby for further instructions." This was Rex's own little ruse, a way of keeping them in line while he resolved the situation.

The final point to consider was what to do about these two test pilots. Even if Xavier was telling the truth in its entirety, they had put themselves in one hell of a predicament by being caught this far away from their supposed allies. The Athena crew could shoot them down and make up whatever story they wanted to explain the disappearance. There was no love lost between Rex and the Alkaevs ... or Russia ... or any nation for that matter, so why not take advantage of the opportunity? These pilots likely wouldn't surrender if he told them to, so taking them in wasn't really worth considering, right now. They would just have to sift through the wreckage. Before joining the EU, Rex knew he would have felt some guilt immediately opting to shoot down two wandering 'test pilots', but nowadays he knew better.

"If you wind up in the wrong place at the wrong time, your life is forfeit," Rex reminded himself before turning his comms back on. He used the Athena crew's main combat frequency to speak directly to his CO. "Captain, this is Abrams. I'm about 80% certain they're lying to us. I can explain why later if you're interested-" Doubtful. "-but what's important right now is that they're in EU territory, flying mobile suits I've never seen before. I suggest we engage them and salvage the wreckage. We've got them dead to rights."

[Nanami Touko]

Maintain Heading

Shit. It seemed like they'd bought the story, but asking them to hold there was putting them on a timer they couldn't risk. If the EU squad did get in range to start scanning schematics, that cover would get blown like an impacting missile.

"Xavier, what now!? You've just gotten them more interested! It wasn't a bad call, but..."

"Keep your rifle hot, Allison." Xavier started the procedures to turn his on, as well. It would take a second; the barrel needed to charge. It was a rather impressive looking rifle, nothing like a railgun, or the stock standard beam weaponry that ANF mechs held onto. A quiet whir spread through his machine as it started to light up. Back to the comms...

"Acknowledged, EUSF. Maintaining this heading..." Until you're in my sights. Peaceful talking to get out of this isn't worth being discovered yet.

Allison readied her weapons as well, albeit quicker. Her mech's rifle was a similar design, though a lot smaller. Compact for closer fights. "Why'd they have to be in this sector right now? This is so stupid... We were just supposed to pick up the old ship's reactor core and leave."

Doubtful

"Do you now, Abrams?" Troy's snicker fleshed out into a full smile. "Then let's see who makes the first move." He switched to all comms, clearing his throat calmly. "To all units, we're now in a standoff. Abrams is confident these men are lying to us, but this is our airspace, and they are unidentified models. To put it this way: if one of you were to start something, we'd be entirely in the right over it. So, let's see who's discretion is best, yes?" This'll be a fun little activity to get a better handle on the attitudes of all of them... And I will see about Abrams after this. Curious that he'd be so confident so quickly.

Edited April 6, 2017 by Nanami Touko

[Dandragon]

The unidentified models, specifically their pilots named Xavier and Alison, had given their story. Two Russian research pilots that got lost. That seemed fair, right? Everywhere in space looked the same, so it wasn't that out of the ordinary for someone to get separated. Everything was fine. They could just let them be on their way and-

And nothing ever seemed to be simple. Rex had messaged the CO that he didn't trust them. And didn't immediately explain why. Sasha quickly fumbled with the comm controls to say her own piece. "Wait! Wh-what if they're telling the truth? We can't just shoot them down if their innocent! We gotta hear them out, r-right?" Sasha didn't sign up for shooting people down without a good reason. She wanted to hear them out further, and give them the benefit of the doubt. That is, until she looked back out at the two models.

Whether Sasha was completely on edge or was able to see what was out in the distance further than she thought, no one knows. But in those moments, Sasha could have sworn she saw the two unidentified models aiming down at them. At Rex. Her eyes widened, and through reflexes that even she didn't know she had, Sasha had taken out the 'Onyx Railgun' she had picked up, and quickly aimed her sights down on the first one she saw, in one swift motion, and yelled 'Look out, Rex!,' as she pulled the trigger, and unleashed an electrically charged projectile straight at either Xavier or Alison. She didn't know which one. All she knew was that she had fired before they did.

[scorri]

And people thought he had an itchy trigger finger back on Earth... The exchange between the captain and the crew had barely finished when Freshman decided to take what appeared to be a hasty and poorly thought out shot. Barely holding back a sigh, he flipped on his mike and commented, "Well I suppose that settles the question of who's going to shoot first. Private, if you're going to shoot, make sure you're actually doing something useful with it." As he was talking, his hands were flying across the controls, making sure his weapon was ready to fire. "For instance, try aiming carefully before you release the shot and letting your companions know you're starting a fire fight. I'm moving in closer and firing. Someone cover me. Civvie, better if you stay out of this one, especially if Abrams is wrong and those are Russians." Better to not start an international incident with test weaponry after all.

 

Revving his bot up to full power, he moved slightly ahead of the rest of the crew before stopping and taking a quick second to assess the bots as best he could. With a small grin, he quickly aimed the bazooka squarely at the suit that appeared to have a slightly longer gun than the other. That one was more likely to have long range it seemed. "You're a sitting duck." The bazooka was launched, and Padric was already starting to prepare for evasive maneuvers before he even knew if he'd hit or not.

[Ether]

Well, not the most elegant way to get things started, but it had been done. The first shot had been fired, by one of their own... well, the winner would decide who fired first, that was just how things went down. Revving up her Aventuro's thrusters, Makenna charged to the front of the formation, ready to soak any incoming fire. She was easily the most robust of the pilots and machines deployed, after all. 

"Itchy trigger finger, Williams? As long as we wipe them out, then they shot first, right? Just try to keep it on lock a little longer next time. Stay behind me, no way in hell any of you are better at taking a hit than me." Makenna noted over comms, watching for any signs of fire to intercept, as her aventuro's missile pods opened, unleashing a hail of ballistic fire on the two suits, accompanied by several shots from the Aventuro's cannons and her own M80. Heavy artillery indeed.

[Balcerzak]

"Tch," Pavel clicked his tongue. He'd taken too long, and once they'd actually responded to the hail from Rex he'd have to stretch his excuses further than he'd prefer. It would have been simpler if they just hadn't answered, or had waited just a little longer. Ah well, now's the boring part. Releasing his hands from the grip of the controls, he leaned back in his chair and sighed. If he hadn't been wearing a helmet, and if he'd had an audience to put on a show for, he might've gone so far as sticking a finger in his nose and picking it with a bored looking expression on his face, but as it was he just rolled his eyes and stretched.

Still though, Xavier and Allison huh, those didn't sound like Russian names, and the one that spoke didn't seem to have an accent, but then again, that might not mean anything. Supposing he better not get too relaxed, Pavel leaned back forward and once again took up the controls, swivelling about a little and taking a bit of a closer look at "Russia's" newest in space flight technology. They were still a great enough distance away that even maximum magnification wasn't showing much, but it made him feel better at least.

As Pavel was giving the unexpected craft a closer look over, the comforting (haha) voice of their captain came over the comms with a bit of an update. Apparently the pilot that had taken point on the communications had something that trumped his own mere suspicions, elevating the (now) enemy's status to downright liars, rather than just fairly fishy. It was pretty clear the situation was weapons free, and in fact, Troy rather seemed itching to throw down. Very well, let's not disapp--

OK, that certainly happened, in the midst of protesting that it's possible they'd read the situation wrong, Miss Music's actions were at odds with her words. Pavel watched the spark fly right toward the model he'd currently been scoped in on and checking out, stealing the march on him and opening herself up for later ridicule as a hypocrite, or just plain excitable. Boyscout put in a request for covering fire, and the rest of the squad began moving into positions, almost instinctively falling into a routine.

"Right, right, laying down a spread for you now, just make sure you put it to good use," he fired back across the comms, then proceeded to unload several shots from both barrels of the twin rifle, trying to mix it up between leading the targets, and aiming at their current positions. The goal was to force the enemy to stay on their toes, neither allowing them to remain as they were, nor to advance in a calm collected manner. If everything went as he intended, their only option was to fall back on more erratic, less careful maneuvers, hopefully leading to mistakes that could be exploited by one of the others.

 

[Nanami Touko]

Marvelous

"How interesting!" Troy was at the edge of his seat, taking some deep breaths to try and control his heart rate. It wasn't working very well, the hand on his chest clutching the area making this evident.

"I never figured that Williams to be a quick shot. Perhaps she'll be more interesting than a stock rookie. She certainly is so far! Now, let's get this all on tape, and see what these 'Russian' robots can do."

"Yes, sir!" came one of the quiet crew in his bridge, a zoomed camera starting on the engagement. Makenna, Padraic and Pavel all fired off rounds following the rookie, leaving Troy only barely able to contain his excitement.

You've got to stay calm or you won't be giving any congratulations after this, but it's so nice to see something like this after so long!

Return Fire!

"Tch!" Xavier flashed his hand to the right of his control panel as the rounds came flying in, Allison charging her robot away from the site of impact. Sasha's rushed shot flew past them both, but every other barrage made direct contact with Xavier's mech as Allison stared back not in shock, but in anger.

"Now they're going to know everything! You should've let yourself get killed!"

The smoke from the missiles explosions started to dissipate into space, Xavier's mech coming out entirely untouched. There was a faint green glow around it, an orb of some energy encircling the robot. He sighed, then gritting his teeth. "We just have to kill them. This is their fault, starting this instead of letting us go."

"EUSF! As it's clear you have no intention of any peaceful talks, we will have to dispose of you. For the world's culmination!"

Rifle charged, Xavier aimed the barrel at the person who had fired first, a heavy hum drowning itself out into the emptiness of space, as a concentrated stream of energy poured out at devastating speed, charging straight at Sasha.

Allison wasted no time either, shots firing at the hulk near the front. "Let's see all your armor stop these!" Most ANF and EU beam weaponry produced green or pink emissions, but these strands were blue, and practically glowing against the backdrop of space. Getting hit by it was likely not a good idea, even for the more heavily armored craft.

[Phoenix]

"What should I do here?" May winced. Things had escalated so quickly, and with the whole team moving ahead to intercept the two targets near the Selkie, she was left sitting roughly between the team and the Athena. "I'll just quietly follow along for now," she decided. She pushed Merrygate forward and drifted toward the right, the same way Rex seemed to be doing. She wasn't sure what he was doing, but if she was going to be providing any kind of fire support, May wanted to have a clear firing line ... one that would stay clear for the foreseeable future.

---

Rex watched for a moment as the rest of the team charged in. If there was one thing he was learning from this, it was that he sorely missed his old squad, even the members he didn't get along with most days. The old days were long gone, though. Adapting to this new team and CO was going to be quite the chore. He switched the comms back on when he heard something interesting from Xavier. "Ah, so that's what you're researching, then," he mocked, "well have at it. Show us just how good those suits are." He switched off. "Haro, keep the cameras on them and the sensors at maximum sensitivity. We'll try to get some supplemental combat data." That would be much easier with a good vantage point and fewer weapons blaring and interfering with the readings. Normally Rex wasn't one of the units that would be gathering data, but given how far off the Athena was, some up close recordings definitely wouldn't be a waste.

"Prime weapons?!" Haro asked.

Rex hesitated. He wasn't keen on providing full fire support when the team was barely coordinated to begin with. He also had the combat data to worry about. "Just the hip cannons for now," Rex decided. They were extremely high powered, but wouldn't muck up his sensor readings, which made the rail cannons ideal. He brought Rebellion up to full throttle and began drifting to the right as he caught up to the bulk of the group, intent on positioning himself just outside of the main exchange. The enemies' return fire arrived in bright blue apparel before Rex had gotten into position. Still, so far so good ....

[Ether]

That was one hell of a barrier, Makenna noted to herself, as the smoke cleared and the pointman of sorts came out apparently unscathed. She could already surmise the contents of the returned radio, which gave her time to consider the situation. Using the Aventuro's cannon was ill-advised as it ran from the machine's power source directly. A barrier of that potency would surely take a toll on the suit's energy stores, and if they could drain those, they could fire through it. That meant her missiles and M80 would be the weapons of choice going forward, saving the Aventuro's beam cannon to finish the job once the barrier was down. Depending on the make of it, her hammer might be capable of busting straight through the field entirely. It was worth trying, at any rate.

That wasn't all, however. The return fire was... odd to say the least. A different coloured particle from standard ANF or EU energy rounds. She had caught it early with her enhanced senses, and managed to move out of the line of fire despite the Aventuro's size and bulk. Flipping on the private squad channel, Makenna announced her intentions.

"I say best bet is force them to drain their batteries on those barriers. I'm gonna close in and see how well melee works on them. Greenfield, those things managed to null all of my regular ordnance, so if you wanna test that fancy gun of yours, you've got a healthy target in that barrier." The CPO offered, moving the Aventuro closer to the strange duo.

[Dandragon]

The bright blue light heading towards Sasha was coming at incredible speed. And it was a miracle Sasha was even able to react in time. Or at least...partially in time. Spliting her attention between moving out of the way of the shot and having the Chevalier hold up the shield did not help in long run, as the shield was hit by the attack just as she was moving to dodge. And oh, how the sparks flew. The shield didn't last long against the oddly colored beam, though it put up as much of a fight as a slab of metal could. But both the shield, and the arm up to the elbow attached to it, was completely blown off. She looked back, and saw the useless metal limb of the mobile suit now completely suspended in the zero gravity of space. And she was horrified. That could of been me! "Uh...P-Private Williams, here. M-my arm...it's off..." She could of sworn that mobile suits were made of sterner stuff than that, but she had no idea about the weapon that the unknown fired at her.

[scorri]

Padraic grumbled as the shield was revealed and the mech was completely untouched. The bigger surprise came in who was hit and who wasn't. Well Freshman being hit wasn't crazy surprising, though the damage was, but the bigger surprise was the hulking mech being quick enough to get out of the way. Seemed like Tank Girl knew what she was doing. It'd be interesting to see which of them could react faster... "Focus Padraic." That was one of the problems with this whole setup in his brain. His brain could think very fast but sometimes it ended up going down a path he never intended. "Nice dodge Ta... Mak. Newbie, fall back. With your mech being that damaged, you're no use here. Get to safety.  If you insist on staying out here, make your way over to me. I've got a repair module on board, should be able to patch you up enough that you're not going to fall apart. Civvie, if you're going to fight, fine, but stay back. We're clearly not dealing with Russians here, but still can't have you getting killed. I'm opening fire. Keep an eye out Mak."

He wasn't aiming for her, but given she was moving forward, if she moved in a way he didn't expect, there was nothing he could do once the missile had left the bot. Still, she was quick enough clearly. Flipping weapons through to a rifle, he muttered, "Lets see how you deal with a bullet instead of a missile." Taking aim, he fired at the second mech that he'd ignored the first time. Maybe this would result in a slightly better result.

Edited April 22, 2017 by scorri

[Nanami Touko]

Close Range

"Just an arm... Allison, I'm going in close. The rifles are strong, but I'm not a good enough shot. Keep firing!" Xavier stashed his rifle behind him, pulling out a beam saber, the flash of the blade glowing the same bright blue. Whatever energy this was, it wasn't standard fare by any means. Let's see if you can handle me with one arm... With a second's pause, his machine's thrusters burned on to maximum, charging ahead at blinding speed towards the damaged Chevalier. The Gs hit him hard from such a quick motion, but Apotheosis solders weren't slouches when it came to training. "Come on! Let's have at it!"

Allison was re-calibrating for another round of firing after missing the Aventuro, as the enemy Jinete took fire on her. She hadn't the time to react, but her machine's automatic barrier turned on, the same green glow, deflecting the incoming ballistics. It gave her a bit of a shock though, changing targets towards the smaller, more mobile machine. "Not gonna die to you EU dogs, not gonna die!" More rifle fire blasted out towards it, as she bit her lip and took evasive actions to move around their group. Just have to last until reinforcements get here, that's all!

Attack the Heart

Troy smiled, starting to heave a bit, the weapons firing rounds and searing energy through space, the Athena's cameras catching every second of the carnage. "Ahhhhhahaha, what a rush, what a foolish rush... Gods, it hurts, but it's been so long! I can't stop watching! Men!"

"S-Sir?" The ensign closest to try spoke up, scared by their captain's change of mood.

"Bring us closer! Whatever these things are equipped with, I want to see how strong they are. Let's test the ship's Mega Particle Beams, shall we? Surely they can't stand up to something so severe!"

"Yes, sir... A-All hands, Athena forward."

"Ahh, one last thing... Ugh, G-Greenfield. Come in." He groaned, biting his lip, and shaking his head, finger tapping at her icon on the display console. "You, get in there. I want to see what my ship and your mech does to these things."

[Phoenix]

May stared blankly at the unfolding battle as the Captain ordered her to fight. It hadn't been very long after Padric's suggestion, either. It seemed morbid curiosity was driving that decision more than anything. "Beam weapons don't seem very effective against those things," she murmured to herself. She'd have to wait for some sign the barriers were down or just try to punch straight through them. "Yes, sir," she replied over the comms.

Going up to full throttle, May pushed Merrygate well around the far right side of the skirmish, hoping to make sure her allies weren't in her firing line. "If I'm doing this I might as well go full ham. Starting maximum charge."

"Maximum charge?" That sounded like Rex's voice. "Isn't there a problem with the system you're still trying to figure out? You'll be a sitting duck after firing that thing ..."

"Not necessarily ... though Merrygate's probably going to be pretty banged up, yeah," May admitted.

[Dandragon]

"R-right." Things were already not looking up for the private. Already, she had been made far less effective in a fight, her Beam Tomahawk usually requiring both hands to wield effectively, and she had lost her shield, too. Not to mention that oddly-colored beam that those Russians were using seemed far too devastating for her. At the very least, she hadn't heard any sort of disapproval from the Captain to her retreating back to the ship, so that clearly meant it was okay, right? Sasha began moving her mobile suit towards the now approaching vessel, opening the comm channel once more to request the doors be opened for her to land.

Of course, all the changed when she saw one of the unknowns charging straight at her. Her eyes widened at the blue beam saber, the same color that had annihilated her suit's left arm. Sasha quickly switched her priorities to getting away from the fast-approaching mecha, changing directions from the ship. Setting her thrusters at maximum power, she dodged the swift strike of the glowing sword, this time having none of the robotic limbs being removed, forcefully. "H-he's coming after me!" She yelled into the already activated comm system, clearly scared of whoever was inside coming after her specifically with their deadly, unknown beam weapons. Sasha continued her efforts to dodge any other attacks the mobile suit would throw her way, unsure of how long she could keep this up without any help.

[Ether]

"Let's see how they handle this, huh?" Makenna asked the open air, as her thrusters revved up to maximum. One of the mystery mechs had pulled out it's melee weapon and rushed past her, making it's specialty clear. If the other one was hanging back, which it was, and had even gone so far as to change targets to attempt to shoot down Padraic, that meant that this pilot likely preferred long ranged combat. Well, that could be stopped.

"I'm gonna trust that those of you in back can take care of the one that just rushed in. Let's see how strong your barrier is, bastards." The CPO added, as her Aventuro rocketed forward towards the long-ranged machine, quickly closing the gap to the point where Makenna could take a hard swing with her thruster hammer. Even if that barrier could block the blow from her melee weapon, unless it was capable of completely nullifying the kinetic energy of her charge, the machine should still find itself careening into the wreckage from the blow.

"Show me what you've got!"

[Nanami Touko]

Target Not Yet Acquired

"Stay still!" With a frustrated swipe of energy through space at the retreating Chevalier, Xavier chased it, trying to get a good lock on the machine. Whoever was piloting it was definitely good at dodging, but they couldn't do so forever, as another manic swipe of the sword through space went clean through one of the Chevalier's legs.

"Tch! Tenacious bastard, aren't you!?"

His partner wasn't so lucky. Rounds concentrated on the Jinete, not expecting something so huge to move so fast, Allison had little time to prepare for the Aventuro's assault. Her barrier was automatic, but Makenna's strike had worked as intended, colliding with the barrier and launching the unknown back through space and into the wreckage of the Selkie. Allison struggled to remove her helmet and she vomited into the cockpit and passed out, the heavy force throwing her senseless, despite the machine's shock absorbers. A timer popped up on her main hud.

[Balcerzak]

The initial salvo had done nothing, powerful shielding in place seemed to have protected the unknown craft more or less entirely. Pavel supposed that would explain why the pilot hadn't bothered even attempting to dodge any of the incoming fire. Cocky bastard! The weapons also seemed rather supercharged, as one of the shots had melted through the runt's shield and shieldarm. Things were shaping up to be reeeal interesting. As their squad pretty much abandoned any semblance of formation, with a couple circling wide around, Big Mak rushing in, and the wounded lamb attempting to retreat, the situation had turned into pretty much a free reign chaos. Do what thou wilt, and all that. That more or less suited him just fine.

What wasn't just fine, however, was the enemy's dogged persistence on targeting the weakest member of their flock. That seemed to be a move more born out from sadism than desperation, and that certainly wasn't going to fly. The only bullying Pavel approved of, was bullying he was engaging in himself. The private had been doing a pretty decent job of dodging, up until a savage slice took off the bottom chunk of one of the machine's legs. While there were still enough other thrusters for her to make use of that she wasn't stranded, that certainly was going to be a noticeable cut to mobility.

Jetting over to the action himself, he managed to get himself interposed before any lethal follow-ups, his twin-rifle shots fired along the way lighting up the green barrier from before and not much more. "Damn girl, if it's not one thing it's another," Pavel called out to his beleaguered comrade. "Unless you're fixing for a lecture from the old man, don't get yourself scrapped out here." He deployed some of the nanites from the repair pack his Chev had been outfitted with, though it was questionable how much that would help, then he concentrated on making things as difficult for the enemy soldier as possible until the experimental weapon from their happy green smiley faced friend was ready. Pavel was still using the twin barrels for now, though he was a quick enough draw on the tomahawk, hell really with any weapon, that he could easily switch in a pinch.

[scorri]

Padraic had been preparing to shoot again when the incoming salvo caught his attention. Thankfully his mech was quick and his reactions were quicker. Yanking his mech to the side and back, he started to aim again when his target was blasted backwards by Mak's swing. "Damn... That's an effective way of dealing with it I suppose." Pressing down on the income button, he called out, "In case it wasn't clear, maybe try physical weapons if you have them. Our guns seem useless right now."

[Nanami Touko]

Burning Conclusion

The automatic barrier tossing Pavel's shots aside, Xavier didn't slow his speed as he clashed with the other Chevalier model, beam sword hitting Pavel's recently started axe, sparks from their colliding energy flying out into space. Xavier didn't break their clash tough, slowly but surely his own sword cutting through the beam erupting from the edge of Pavel's axe. Without intervention, it would cut straight through, and into the man's machine. Xavier tried to hail Allison while he waited for his intended ending of this skirmish, getting a No Return signal back from her machine.

Shit... It was good working with you, Initiate. "Commander Jamal, come in. Cancel those reinforcements. This EU brigade is tougher than expected... Unless I can manage to take them all down, solo... We aren't coming back."

A deep sigh reverberated through Xavier's cockpit in response, responding over the frequency back at him, "Affirmative, Intermediate. For the world's culmination. Make sure that your suit self destructs properly, should you find yourself outmatched. I'll make sure to monitor the two of you until I see confirmation of that, or until you radio back. I'll cancel Allison's as well, should I see victory..." The voice cut out, as Xavier shut off his radio.

"Not comin' back, this time. We either found the luckiest rookies, or the most out of place Aces... What a mess."

[Balcerzak]

Oh shit shit shit, the enemy's fancy weapon was steadily eating into his beam tomahawk, and Pavel was running out of time. He'd thought he'd been prepared enough for this, and it had been in-line with Boy Scout's timely comment about switching to melee, though given the fact that the "Russian" was constantly closing that had pretty much been a given anyway. But it seemed even that might not work, given the difference in power levels.

"Goddamn. Just so you know, mechanic, this one's on you," he grumbled, frantically going over his options. No choice but to be daring, and if this failed, then that would be on him and they'd tie up the score. There wasn't any time to wait for the cavalry to come in though, if something was going to happen, it would have by now. He gave only last push forward before releasing the grip on his energy weapon, while simultaneously jetting backwards with all possible thrust. With luck, the enemy would be caught off-guard and topple forward from inertia, allowing him to quickly re-adjust the angle into a full rotation and retaliation. The Gs from the constant changes in momentum would be something fierce, but amped as he was, and with all the training he'd been through, it wouldn't be anything he couldn't handle.

"Chevalierrrrrrrr Kiiiiiiick!!!"

[Nanami Touko]

You're-- Mine!?

It would only take a few more seconds, and his plasma saber would be meeting with the Chevalier, instead of its axe. Rather than get what he wanted, Xavier found himself slicing right through it and into space, camera swiveling to find the target-- but not in time, as the mechanical foot collided with his robot's side, the shield unable to form in time. As Xavier went about correcting his flight, being knocked about in zero Gs, he coughed, shuddering some. That hit had done more damage to him than his robot.

"At least this is a good field test... Need better shock absorbers. Getting hit isn't an option, if the Gs are too strong..."

With his course corrected, saber out again, his camera locked onto the Chevalier once more, charging towards it. "No more tricks!"

[Ether]

Her assault worked to it's intended effect, the unknown machine careening into the wreckage, and all vital signs from within the cockpit disappearing from the view of her T-link... after a few moments of radio silence, and no movement from the machine, Makenna was confident enough to make her call.

"Long range unit disabled, lack of brain activity from pilot suggests deceased or unconscious. Should I move to capture it now, or does the rest of the team require backup for the melee unit? Over."