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In the skies above a backwater planet, two flight-capable Titans, a Miltia-aligned Vanguard and a mercenary Northstar, duked in an aerial dogfight that was normally reserved for aerospace craft of both the former faction and the Interstellar Manufacturing Corporation, the latter being the one the Northstar Pilot was contracted to work for.

The blue Northstar, emblazoned with a head of a white-and-black python opening its mouth fired its Plasma Railgun at the Vanguard only for it to miss. The Titan made a steep descent with its thrusters abruptly switched off to evade and switch them on again to resume an intense flight. It turned its body and fired two heat-seeking missiles at the enemy. Again, the Titan missed the target when the Vanguard made some hard maneuvers itself.

"Dammit!" The Pilot of said Northstar, a young lady with her blonde hair cut short, cursed at the situation while performing the maneuvers.

Suddenly, the Vanguard stopped and carefully aimed at the enemy Titan. The Plasma Railgun then opened fire with a full charge. It missed just like what happened with her opposing Pilot. With that, the mercenary turned around and quickly charged the railgun to retaliate.

"Firing!" The projectile left the semi-exposed barrel at a lightning pace. A moment later, it scored a hit just as the enemy Titan was about to move. "Hmph!"

The damage to the Vanguard was not severe, so the Titan dived at an angle to gain speed and attack from below while maintaining its position. The mercenary took notice of it and moved as well to do the same.

The aerial dance continued for several more minutes. The fuel tanks of each Titan were still enough to maintain the duel to the death as both of them fired their ordnance at each other.

Then, the Vanguard chose to flee. The Northstar mercenary, seeing her opponent flee from battle, decided to give chase in the hopes that it and its Pilot would not return home to their territory. The latter fired some of her remaining railgun rounds at the Titan. Two of them damaged the Vanguard; one of which struck the right arm which was projected to hamper its movement and, more importantly, the ability to handle its primary weapon.

"You ain't getting away that easily." The mercenary mocked.

Suddenly, the Vanguard abruptly stopped and turned around. Much to the mercenary's surprise, its railgun was fully-charged and ready to fire.

"Huh?!"

The railgun was fired and the projectile struck the right missile launcher. The remaining ordnance exploded, severly damaging the mercenary's Northstar. As well, its right thrusters were crippled in the explosion.

With that, the mercenary and her Titan was heading for a death spiral.

"Mayday, maday - Python 3's going down! Mayday, mayday!" She radioed her nearby allies in tho hopes that someone can find her.

"Warning: thrusters 1 and 2 disabled." The OS began to echo out the status. "Warning: thrusters 1 and 2 disabled."

The mercenary attempted to regain control in order to save her Titan from destruction from the fall. Using her remaining left thrusters, she tried to use them as a brake from the increasing speeds. The spin was slowly being straightened out but more had to be done in order to have a more positive outcome

"3000 feet…." The OS said the altitude reading.

"C'mon, c'mon!" The mercenary shouted.

The thrusters continued to slow their fall. Upon reaching 1621 feet, she managed to control the Titan's descent.

After several moments, the Titan struck the ground in a now-controlled descent. Damage to its legs was minimal, enough for the mercenary to bring it back for repairs.

"Huff...huff…!" The mercenary puffed. "Thank goodness."

She got out of her Titan to get some fresh air after spending time in the aerial duel. She knelt and breathed a few more times, feeling tired and somewhat grateful for the survival. However, disappointing her was the fact that she lost to a Militia Titan. This would displease her employers but knowing that they have declining power in the situation, they have to pick some options in order to salvage what was going to be left from the battle.

The, beeping from her radio was emitted and the mercenary wasted no time answering. "Ange, do you read?"

"Yes, Captain." Ange responded. "What's going on?"

"It's over. The Militia's going to overrun the place." He relayed the situation. "Regroup at the rendezvous point. We still have some chances left." The captain tried to assure her.

Ange clutched her fist in a fit of subtle rage. "Yes, sir." She turned her head towards her Titan. "Let's get out of here."

"Affirmative, Pilot." It responded before the mercenary embarked.

The two began to leave.

XXXXXXX

Sometime after their escape from the planet, the mercenaries of Strike Team Python arrived at Angel City to take a break from the fighting. Inside a Tiffany's Coffee outlet, Ange was sitting behind a wooden circular table reading a news report of what was going on in the Frontier.

"Are you okay, Ange?" A calm male voice asked her. She turned her head to see her fellow colleague, 27-year-old Hugo Lambert, holding his cup.

"Yeah...I'm fine, Hugo." The female Pilot responded while lowering her tablet.

"Still thinking of what happened back at New Alexandria? Better let it go, there are couple of good Pilots out there."

"But that Vanguard...I almost had him." Ange remembered what happened.

"I know that…" Hugo began to sit on the opposite end of the table. "...but as I've said earlier, there are good Pilots out there. Not everyone gets to have skills that good, especially if the one you fought was an SRS member. But for you, you are getting pretty close to hitting that ceiling."

"You really mean it?" She changed her mood a little.

"I'm trying to help. We have some free time to work out the problems. Maybe once you see that guy again, you should be able to take him out. And Ange, try not to make him your obsession."

"I get the memo." She reluctantly responded before releasing another question. "Hugo, I need some help. Do you have some beef with someone before?"

"No, but there is one event I can tell." Hugo began to explain. "During that time, someone hurled insults to me as I was trying to park my car. He thinks that it was his personal space despite being a public parking spot. I tried to talk him out of it, but he insisted and insisted until be brandished his knife. I disarmed him and reported him to authorities."

"That's it?" Ange asked.

"That's close to 'having beef with someone.'" Hugo nodded. "I didn't want to look for any more trouble. That's why I made sure not to use that as a reminder for what would happen if things would tend to go awry."

"Alright. Thank you for telling." The female Pilot gave out a slight smile before sipping some of the remaining coffee.

Suddenly, her tablet received an incoming message. Hugo's tablet also received the same thing. Upon opening them, both messages sent by Python captain Conall Taylor contained a deployment notice for Haven Resort.

"Looks like shit is about to hit the fan, Ange." Hugo uttered.

"I'll see you later." Ange followed and left the coffee outlet. Hugo paused for a moment before doing the same.

A/N: Before the next chapter of Legacy will be released, which is slowly forming, this fanfic will serve as a way to let out some ideas for the moment. For now, it will be a single chapter, but it will be expanded once I watched the anime of Cross Ange.

And for players, "Postcards from the Frontier" update has been released, so check it out.