Two and a half days after Operation Duality and their departure from the Shoal Zone the fleet continued to head out into deep space, using Mars as a navigational marker to drive themself further away from the Earth's Sphere in an attempt to buy themselves precious time. All personnel not directly involved in maintaining that course were on work rotation, switching every eight hours between working to prepare the fleet for the upcoming revolution and resting, guaranteeing that they would maintain an effective workforce while not burning themselves out. As in the original plan Carina was placed in charge during this inter-operational period, focusing all efforts into setting up a respectable fleet to overpower Side 3's defenders; a task she took very serious, causing her to spend almost every second she could working.
This feeling was shared by nearly everyone, including Amaury, who remained so busy that there was little room for talking amongst his friends save Marcus and Sam since they were living in the same bunk room as well as on the same work shift. This included Carina who, despite his better judgment telling him he should remain focused on their mission, seemed to be the focus of his thoughts. Without their daily conversations he felt a sense of loss, and deep inside he couldn't help but wonder about her conversation had Monty had gone. He was able to speak with her a few times briefly between shift change, but amongst the crowd of fellow soldiers coming onto shift, he felt that the rather sensitive subject should be left unspoken, and no matter how long they were able to speak it never seemed to be enough.
Reporting to the hanger of the Bastille in the early evening of the second day, Amaury looked around for Carina at shift change, but she wasn't anywhere to be found. Knowing that she had been basically working herself to death over the past two days, the by grew slightly concerned, and pulled someone aside that he was familiar with; Tome, a female pilot that was assigned to Monty's raiding party during Duality. "Tome!" He called out with a small grin, waiting for her to wave back, her dark curly hair standing out against her tawny-beige skin tone as it remained tied behind in a bun. "Hey dude, how's your eye?" Tome asked as Amaury shrugged, still looking around the room in search of the girl. Having still not spotted her he looked back with a bit of a concerned expression across his face. "It's getting better, not fast enough though. Have you seen Carina?" He asked as she shook her head, pointing a few mobile suits down in the bay where a blue Zaku similar to the one piloted by Monty during operation Duality sat.
"Last time I saw her she was working on that mobile suit. Start there, she has to be around here somewhere." Tome replied as Amaury smiled and thanked her, heading for the Zaku she had pointed at. Gravity had been disabled in the hangers in an effort to save energy as well as for easy of assembling the mobile suits, so the boy was easily able to kick off of the hanger floor and head right towards the Zaku. As he approached he looked all around on the outside, but couldn't seem to spot the girl anywhere. "Carina?" He called out at a normal volume, not wanting to yell too loudly and scare her should she be working on something.
Approaching the opened cockpit, which on this model dropped out and down like most Federation mobile suits opposed to the 'sliding door' type on the original Zaku model, he planted his feet and looked inside. Pausing for a second, a smile slowly crept over his features as inside sat Carina, fast asleep in the cockpit, which had to be the most uncomfortable bed in the universe, a her pen tucked behind her ear and a manual laying across her chest. She really had been working hard, hadn't she? Knowing that if she had woken up she would likely just return to working and not wanting her to strain herself any harder, Amaury decided to let her sleep. She wasn't supposed to be working anyway, so really wasn't any reason to wake her up.
He did however notice that it was a bit cold in the hanger and without hesitation he pulled the jacket he had been wearing over his flight suit off and, carefully to ensure he didn't wake her, laid it over top of her. Backing out of the cockpit he turned on the 'night light' inside the cockpit and closed the door almost the whole way to keep the sound out. Floating back from the machine's torso he looked up at its head, noting that this definitely was not a normal a Zaku, though he was oblivious as to what it might be exactly. Looking down however he noted that it was their shift's coordinator, a man by the name of Reo Ishutari, was assembling the crew for their assignments for the night, and knew that he would be looking for him. Kicking off of the Zaku he floated down towards him, spinning around right before he was to land so that he would land on his feet.
"Oh hey, good morning sir. Well, good afternoon I should say." Reo greeted the boy as he landed, causing Amaury to smirk and shake his head. "Reo, you don't have to call me sir." He replied, to which Rou pointed at him with his pen. "Actually I kind of do, as technically you do outrank me. I do it to everyone, not just you." Reo replied as Marcus stepped forward from behind Amaury, as well as Sam. "I mean, I kind of like it." Marcus replied with a sarcastic laugh, his arm still in a sling, just as Amaury's eye remained bandaged. "Of course you would, it only better serves to inflate your ego." Sam cocked off with followed by a laugh as a few others joined, Marcus staring the boy down sarcastically. "Oh yeah? Keep it up and I'm going to shoot you in the ass with a rivet gun!" Marcus yelled as Amaury spoke up as well. "Yeah that is true, how was it that we assumed Sam would die first, and yet both of us are wounded and he isn't?" Amaury asked as Marcus laughed as did the crowd, causing the blonde haired boy to cross his arms.
"Alright guys settle down, we need to get to work. Here's what we are going to be doing tonight." Reo stated as he began to explain what the plan was for the night, handing out each individual order on a piece of paper to the crew before dismissing them to perform the task, the more technically inclined receiving the more sensitive work while the others worked on tasks to suit their know-how.
The tasks ranged from impossibly complex to tediously simple; from loading ammunition into magazines to sorting through the massive piles of scrapped parts. It all needed to be done. The first shift of the day would typically consist of taking in scrap from the Warsaw, brought over in the hold of a small shuttle that was discovered inside of the old Julieta's hanger, piling it somewhat neatly into piles and sorting through it all. It was then logged and stored in an acceptable location where it could easily be found. That way when the engineers were working on the mobile suits on second and third shift, they could easily locate any parts they may need. The Warsaw's hanger was almost cleared completely out, and they had begun moving the few mobile suits they had finished repairing over to it.
Amaury's task for the night split in two different tasks, the first being to helping Marcus load the large 120mm ammunition into the large pan-style magazines, accomplished by flipping the magazine upside down with a machine, placing the ammunition one by one in their spot, and then using another machine to press the round down into place with a hydraulic press. This was not the way it was done during the war, but without the proper equipment, this is how they had to do it. Since Marcus could not left with his wounded arm even in space under their doctor's orders, he stood around and operated the ram and lift while Amaury lifted the 60lb rounds into place. Luckily the gravity had been disabled, for if not Amaury's back would have surely been broken, though he still did work up a sweat, causing him to unzip his jumpsuit and pull his arms free, tying the upper part around his waist while his torso remain covered by the t-shirt he wore beneath it.
His second task of the night would involve moving mobile suits for the engineers, which involved a lot of sitting and waiting around for tasks, but it wasn't so bad. It allowed him to familiarize himself better with the controls, and also gave him to stop and take a break for something to eat. After moving a headless, armless Zaku II F2 to a workshop station for retrofitting, Amaury went on break. Seeking out the crewman who would bring food for their break, he grabbed two sandwiches and two bottles of water; one of each for both him and Carina and headed back to where he had left her, sleeping in the Zaku. Since they never had that dinner, he thought it may be a nice surprise for her if showed up with something for them to eat, although he hoped she wouldn't be mad. Slowly coming to a stop on the top of its chest he sat the food down and stretched, yawning in the process.
These work rotations were wreaking havoc on his sleep cycle, and there wasn't a single moment that he didn't feel tired over the past three days. Looking over to the food he had grabbed for the two them, he contemplated waking her up so that she could eat too. But without knowing exactly how things were between her and Monty and not wanting to make anything worse his better judgment caught him, and he instead sat down and opened his own food container before picking it up in his hand and taking a bite. It was just a simple sandwich, but the crewmen that were assigned to keeping both crews fed understood their nutritional needs clearly, making it a rather hearty sandwich. And after a day's work, it tasted perfect. Looking out at the others who continued to work he couldn't help but feel a sense of accomplishment; a week ago they had nothing except an abandoned, decrepit building and hope, while now they had two massive vessels, a whole slew of mobile suits and the means of which to turn that hope into change.
In the cockpit below Carina stirred, opening her eyes slowly to see the inside of the Zaku's cockpit. Did she fall asleep? She knew that she was tired, but she didn't realize that she was that tired. Stretching her arms a bit she stopped, noticing that the cockpit door was shut almost all the way, and that the 'nightlight' on, both of which she did not do. Someone knew she was in there sleeping? Why didn't they wake her up? She could have been working this whole time! With a huff she began to sit up, realizing now that there was something on top of her; a jacket. Did Monty find her there and do this? It didn't seem like something he would do, or at least she had never seen him do something like this for her. Plus, she had never seen this jacket before. Grey in color and bearing the name of some local rock band on the back and several miscellaneous patches on the sleeves, it had obviously been worn quite a bit, but that didn't take away from its comfort. Thinking for only a brief moment more she realized who the only other person it could belong to, and draping the jacket over her shoulders she opened the cockpit hatch to confirm her suspicion. Stepping out onto the hatch, she immediately looked down to the deck of the hanger at the next shift while they worked. From above, and almost as if he could feel her standing there, the boy's head turned to her, seeing her standing and looking down to below.
"Well good morning!" He called out as she turned to look, immediately smiling once her eyes lay on the boy. So she was right with her guess, it was Amaury. She should have known right away that based on such a kind hearted gesture it was him, knowing well that he was capable and prone to such things. "Hey!" She called back, floating up to him as he reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her to the top of the suit with him. "I brought you something to eat. You are probably starving." He replied, handing her a sandwich and a bottle of water, the girl a bit surprised as her hands reached out to take the items. "Is this to make up for my broken promise of dinner?" She asked with a smile, causing the boy to laugh a bit. "Well, originally I had thought about that too. But I figured with what happened the other day, and without talking to you first, that it wasn't such a good idea." His reply forced her smile to fade, but after a moment she sat down next to him and setting the book that was still in her hand to the side, leaving the boy a bit surprised. Monty wasn't upset at all about their friendship? "I would like that actually." She replied with a smile as she opened her own food, thinking the same thing about the size and quality of the food, especially after how long she had been in this hanger.
"Are you sure this is okay?" He asked her quietly, his good eye shifting around the hanger for any sign of Monty, just in case; not a big fan of being struck with a thrown wrench. Or a bullet, for that matter. "Yes Amaury, don't worry." She replied as she took a bite of her food, releasing a hum of great enjoyment as she did so as the boy laughed. "I just don't want to get you in trouble. He can be mad at me all he wants, but I would feel pretty shitty if he took it out on you." He spoke right as he took another bite of his own food, watching as Marcus and Sam below moved the completed magazines to a storage rack across from them. "Well, he and I are fighting anyway, so he can be mad all he wants. He has barely spoken to me in two days, though he doesn't seem too upset about it, so why should I care?" She replied with a half hearted smile, which the boy could see clear. No matter how she tried to hide it, he knew when she was upset and knowing he was part of the reason caused his stomach to turn. In all reality he was likely the entirety of the problem, and although he was preparing to apologize, she stopped him as his mouth opened to speak.
"Don't even think about apologizing!" She stated as she pointed her finger at him, almost touching his face as she continued to eat her food, which held her full attention. She was stern at first but with a look from the corner of her eye, her expression softened. "I know you too well by now Amaury." She joked with a light blush, laughing as Amaury did the same. She really must have known him well if she was able to predict that an apology was about to happen. "Yeah, that's what got us in this mess to begin with." He joked, the girl's face blushing darker as she nodded. Taking a drink of his water he shifted himself to face her, his eye briefly looking up to the Zaku's head behind her. "Just… remember if you need me I am here." He stated softly, feeling the need to make sure she could still turn to him, though she didn't need the reminder. She smiled and nodded, finding it rude to reply with her mouth stuffed with food. "I'll never forget that." She whispered back, the both of them blushing before she took notice that she still had his jacket draped over her shoulders and that he was wearing short sleeves in the cold hanger, despite the fact that he had his jumpsuit tied around his waist.
"Here, your jacket." She began to pull it from her shoulders before he shook his head. "No, it's okay. You looked cold, so… I covered you with it. You can wear it." The boy nervously replied, unsure if the gesture was too much, but based on the smile across her face he knew it she must have appreciated it. "Thank you." She replied sheepishly, unsure at first but pulling it back over her shoulders anyway. He was right, she was cold and she did appreciate the warmth it had provided, though subconsciously the fact that it was his seemed to make it much warmer.
Amaury looked away with a smile on his face knowing he did the right thing, turning up to the head of the Zaku behind her. "What's the story with this Zaku? It doesn't look like anything from the archives or the manuals we have. Is it just that scrapped together?" He asked, looking down at the cockpit that she had exited from. "Even the cockpit is weird." Swallowing her bite of food and taking her own drink she shook her head, clearing her throat as she handed him the book she had been reading when she fell asleep. "It's actually mostly intact, save for some parts from Zaku F2's. It's a Federation MS-11; a clone of an experimental Zaku developed during the war that was captured and reverse engineered. They joints are magnetically coated, causing the joints to oppose each other and allow less friction during movement. The end result was a machine that was quicker and much more agile, while also receiving a boost in armor." She began to explain, placing what was left of her food back in the container and standing up, Amaury skimming through the small documented she handed to him. He hadn't really thought about it until now, probably from the rush of the moment and the need to focus on survival, but the Zaku II really did not seem to handle entirely well. From the statistics written in front of him, a comparative display between the MS-11 and a Zaku II, he could tell it was definitely an improvement. Standing up next to her the boy handed the book back and floated towards the head unit, which was different than the one pictured.
"Of course, I had to add my own improvements to give it a bit of an updated touch, since the design itself is close to thirty years old. Improved boosters, an updated drive system; basic things." She teased, recalling the first day they had met, looking past the boy to two more identical units being constructed, one of which was almost finished while the other still missed its entire upper torso. "I call it the RMS-11 Zakum, the little 'm' on the end helping signify its mobility boost. From the parts we have salvaged and inventoried so far, I think we can make at least two more besides these three. We will just need to test them to make sure they perform well enough to be considered a successful modification. That being said, tonight when you guys are finished, these three will be alright to go into Warsaw's hanger and outfitted for combat; just so we have something to defend ourselves with. I had planned to stay until then, but I just… I'm so tired Amaury." She said with a yawn, rubbing one of her eyes with her hand. She really should go lie down and rest a bit, unsure if in an exhausted state she could continue to effectively design updates and modifications; something the lives of her friends depended on. Turning to Amaury she frowned, not really wanting to end their little lunch meeting.
"Can you make sure that gets done?" She asked with a pretend pout to try and win the boy over, though she didn't have to try hard. Smiling with a blush, the boy nodded. "Yes ma'am." He replied, causing her to punch his arm lightly. "Don't call me that!" She yelled as Amaury laughed, rubbing his arm and watching as she floated towards him, passing him by before wrapping her arms around his neck from behind, hugging him tightly. Experiencing a moment of slow motion once again, Amaury's face flushed red at the gesture. "H-Hey!" He nervously replied, though the wide smile across his face expressed just how much he did not mind the hug. "Thank you!" The girl exclaimed before letting go and floating away from him, her leftover lunch in hand. "I'll see you later!" She called out, floating towards the nearest hanger entrance as he waved back, wishing their meeting didn't have to end so soon. But he knew that she needed rest and with how hard she had been working, she deserved it.
"That doesn't bother you in the least bit?" Elise turned and asked Monty, who unbeknownst to either Carina or Amaury watched the whole thing from the flight control bridge above the hanger, leaning on the console in front of him to look down. "Nah," the man replied, stepping back from the window and leaning on console behind him as he turned to the woman. "Carina's a nice girl, but there are much nicer fish in the sea." He replied with a sly look, Elise looking away from him and crossing her arms. She wasn't sure if he was referring to her or not, but she really hoped that was not the case, showing not even the slightest hint of interest. "Plus, you gotta keep someone as important as her on a short leash; keep her focused. And what better way to do that than to keep her tied down?" Monty asked out loud, watching as a crane moved above them, lifting the missing upper torso towards the rest of the third Zakum. Not one for idle chatter, or for this man's gloating, Elise sighed and looked out the window at the mobile suit being assembled.
"What is the next step in the plan here? These kids can fly, but do you plan to take on the entire Federation with two veterans, six kids and a bunch mobile suits held together with duct tape?" She asked with a bit of annoyance in her voice, the sound of which caused Monty to laugh a bit. "You are very impatient, you know that Elise? You forget that we are not the only group of Zeon Reformation rebels out there, and like us, they too are itching for a fight. Don't worry; the plan will come together in time. Right now we need to focus on getting everyone ready to fight." Monty replied, turning and walking towards the control room exit, turning back to look over his shoulder at her. "Feel free to help out where you can." He stated as she scoffed and looked away from him, her arms still crossed.
"I'm not going to train your brats for you." She replied, the man laughing once again as he headed for the bridge of the ship to check on their status while Elise remained behind. Her eyes searched around the hangar bays, scanning face to face until finding Amaury, who climbed into the hatch of an incomplete GM in need of moving. So far he was the only rookie she had seen fly, and she really was not all that impressed. However, despite her mediocre opinion of his performance, his Newtype presence was immense, though she couldn't understand why. He didn't seem like anything special, yet she could notice his existence much more than any of the other Newtypes on the ship. There had to be a reason, but until that reason was revealed, she would not seek it out. She was there for one purpose, and for that one purpose she would remain neutral.
As Carina had asked of him, Amaury assisted in moving the two completed Zakums over to the Warsaw at the end of his shift; Amaury bringing the first while Sam brought the second. They were not permitted to fly the craft outside from the path from the Bastille to the Warsaw, but just from the little bit he had flown the Zakum, he was impressed. Just as she had said, the Zakum excelled significantly past the Zaku at almost every aspect of flight in space, at least at low speed. A third suit was intended to come over, however due to some technical issues it was not completed in time by the end of the shift, and was scheduled to be completed at some point during the night. With the suits now being prepared for combat, Amaury and the rest of his shift went about their 'relaxation' shift; eating dinner, showering, some of them even playing card games and gambling in the mess hall. Amaury however was tired, and with still so much on his mind, he decided that it was best to simply shower and get some rest. Lying in his bunk, he looked across to Marcus who had just come in the room.
"How's the arm?" He asked as Marcus jumped, not realizing that Amaury was in the dark bunkroom. "Hey. It's getting better, though it's still no good for piloting. How about your eye?" He asked in return as Amaury yawned. "It's still red. The solution Carina gave me is almost gone, so another day or two and I'll be good; won't need to bandage it anymore or anything, which is good. Flying with one eye is a bitch." The boy replied as Marcus laughed lightly. "Yeah, I'm surprised you haven't stepped on anyone with a suit yet like that." He answered as Amaury shook his head with a grin. "I'm not that bad and piloting. Speaking of being bad at piloting, any idea where Sam is?" He joked, folding his arms behind his head as he closed his eye. "He's on a date, believe it or not. Of course, he didn't ask Tome, she asked him. Something about taking their dinner out to the rear of the ship." Marcus answered as Amaury remained silent for a moment, almost asleep in that short period of time before Marcus answered, his eye opening wide when he realized just what Marcus had said.
"Get the fuck out of here!" He exclaimed in shock, quickly shooting up to a sitting position to look at Marcus, who filled the room with laughed at Amaury's response. Tome? Tome had an interest in Sam? He could have never, ever guessed that; not even with a million chances. "I swear, I'm not making this up!" Marcus defended himself as Amaury shook his head. "How did that happen? I mean, look at Tome, and then Sam. It doesn't make sense. She is so upbeat and calm headed, while he's just… Sam!" Amaury bullshitted as Marcus pointed at him. "Really? You are going to question that pairing? You have the hots for Carina, who has to be the sweetest, kindest girl in this fleet, meanwhile you barely talk and when you do, you act like a dickhead!" Marcus called out, obviously joking as Amaury huffed and threw his boot at the man who knocked it to the side, lying back on his bed, dying from laughter.
"You are too easy to fire up, you know that?! He bellowed as Amaury rolled on his side away from him and covered himself with a blanket. "Goodnight Marcus." He stated, Marcus throwing his boot back at him and hitting his back. "Come on, don't be like that!" He called out as Amaury didn't move; he simply nuzzled his head into his pillow and ignored the hit, replying in a jokingly annoyed voice. "Goodnight. Marcus."
A few hours later on the bridge of the Bastille, Monty remained at the helm, watching as the two ships made their way deeper out into space. It was rather uneventful, but seeing as it was technically his job to watch over the operations of the Bastille, he knew it was important that he be there as much as possible; if for nothing more than to make sure his rank stood out amongst the others. "Everything still okay, ladies and gents?" He asked out loud to his bridge crew, who all responded in agreement. "Nothing to report sir. All systems clear, nothing on the sensors. We are golden." His first mate replied, as Monty nodded. "Good, let's keep it that way." He replied, leaning his head into his palm as he watched out into space, contemplating just how the next phase of the plan was supposed to happen, hoping that the Tortuga would be able to find its way back to them. The whole purpose of the their trajectory towards Mars was so that they would be able to rendezvous with the fleet without the use of long range communications, unwilling to allow their broadcast to be picked up on Federation observation posts, and he just hoped that the rookie pilots and navigator of the vessel could handle the flight.
"Umm, sir…" A voice called out, interrupting his thoughts and forcing him to turn his gaze to the crewman monitoring the sensors. "What is it?" He asked, somewhat annoyed as the crewman turned to him. "We are picking up something moving behind us. It… it's large and coming at us fast." He answered, his voice a bit shaky from both nervous tensions with the discovery of the object as well as having to report the bad news. "How is that possible? No more than five minutes ago you told me that everything was clear. How did you miss this?" Monty asked, now even more agitated as his mind tore through thoughts rapidly. It couldn't be a Federal patrol; not out here. "I-I'm sorry sir, but it wasn't there five minutes ago." He stuttered again as Monty's First Mate walked over and looked at the screen. "He's right; I saw the scanner, it was clean. It's about forty kilometers and closing fast." He reported as Monty slammed his fist into the captain's chair and stood to his feet, he pointed at the crewman in charge of the outside cameras.
"Get me the Stern observation cameras, now!" He commanded, the whole bridge nervously watching the screen as it loaded, the system still buggy following the hacking during Operation Duality. "Come on!" Monty angrily called out, biting grinding his teeth together. Hanging outside of direct visual range and undetectable by their sensors, they had to be pirates; likely those they had just robbed, using a Minovsky Particle scattering device to block the Warsaw's and Bastille's sensors. How could they have found them? Were they trailing them the whole time? His question was answered as the cameras came into focus, and there as plain as day, at what had to be a distance of no more than thirty kilometers, was a cruiser painted black and white stripes, reminiscent of the old pre-World War One Dazzle camouflage used on naval vessels. "You've got to be fucking kidding me!" Monty screamed, just as the communications officer on the bridge turned to him and pointed forward to the large display in the center of the room, just above the center bridge window. "Sir, the enemy vessel is hailing us." She relayed as Monty looked up to the screen. "Put it through." He demanded as she did so, though it didn't really matter as he knew what this was. As the screen illuminated, they were greeted with the image of a heavyset man sitting in the ship's Captain's chair, a neck length beard and several facial tattoos contrasting against his bald head, which bore the letter 'K' in the middle of his forehead.
"Well, well, well. This is the crew who robbed us, eh?" He asked with a heavy laugh, Monty grunting in the displeasure of the whole situation. "What do you want?" Monty questioned angrily, not willing to strike idle conversation with the pirates that quickly approached from behind. "What do we want? Are you fuckin' kidding me kid? We want our property back, as well as the two ships you stole from the reclamation company." The pirate lord called back as the crew of his bridge laughed, while the crew aboard the Bastille's bridge stood in fear. Their ship was not necessarily larger, but it was clearly a warship, with four separate quad-barreled turrets; two in front, one on the rear, with an additional under the bow. That kind of firepower would decimate the two modified Clop-Class light cruisers they currently operated, on top of whatever mobile suits they carried. With nothing else to say, Monty attempted to plead with the crew; not from fear, but in an effort to save the lives of any given soldier in his fleet from the coming battle.
"These suits are going towards the freedom of all who live in space. You of all people must understand that. Surely there must be some deal-" He pleaded as more laughter from the enemy ship filled the bridge, cutting him off. "That's real funny kid. Who do you think you are, Char Aznable? Give me a break. There is no hope for a 'free people' of space; that died years and years ago." The pirate lord mocked as Monty grunted in frustration, knowing that his attempt to spare anyone on the ship had failed. "Prepare to have the majority of your crew slaughtered before your eyes, and the rest become property of the Kidds Void Gang." The pirate lord boasted before severing the communications call, no longer willing to chat with his prey. As the video ended, the entire bridge turned to Monty who angrily stared at the screen. He looked at them all and then turned back to his communications officer. "Get me the Warsaw. All hands, man your battle stations!"
Sitting straight up from a dead sleep at the sound of the alarm, Amaury's heart raced, this being only the second time now he had been awoken by a General Quarters alarm during his time in space. "Now what?" Marcus questioned as he looked over to Amaury as suddenly the two of them began to float off of their beds. Knowing the protocol should they be attacked was to disable the gravity to allow more power to the drive system and main weapon, both of them looked at one another and immediately rushed to get dressed, a woman's voice now broadcasting overhead at almost a deafening volume. "General quarters! General Quarters! All personnel, this is not a drill! Man your battle stations! Repeat: Man your battle stations!" The nervous voice called out as Amaury struggled to find the boot that Marcus had thrown, flipping his bunk into the wall before discovering it wedged in the back. "What is this? Who could have found us all the way out here?!" Marcus called out to Amaury who, while pulling his boot on, floated down the hall next to their room towards the hanger. "I don't know." Was the boy's simple response, unable to formulate anything other than that as they entered into the hanger, spotting the few mobile suits that the Warsaw had received and prepped for combat; two of the new Zakums, a single unmodified Zaku II and Geoff's custom GM; repaired and modified since their Operation Duality.
"Marcus, get to the bridge and see where you can help out. Amaury, on me." Geoff's voice suddenly calls out from above as he floats towards his mobile suit, pointing out towards the hanger door. "The pirates we stole these suits from are coming back for them, and us. Prepare yourself for a fight. Where is Sam?" Geoff called as Amaury followed behind; heading for the nearest Zakum while Marcus, although not happy about being stuck on the ship due to his injury, did as instructed. "I'm not sure. He should be any second, I would assume." The boy replied as the two split ways, each heading for their own suits. "We can't wait for him; he can join the fight when he gets here. Same plan as last time, follow my lead." Geoff instructed as he reached his GM and opening the hatch disappeared inside. "Right!" Amaury acknowledged as he reached what would now be his Zakum, doing the same.
Slamming into the seat he instantly began to run the ignition sequence, his fingers moving feverishly through the motions, flicking buttons left and right. His eye watched the hatch close and the yellow warning lights outside in the hanger flashing, instructing all personnel to prepare for the hanger to depressurize, becoming untenable for anyone not wearing an airtight helmet. "Amaury, don't forget to announce when you take off." Geoff stated as soon as the radio connection between the two of them established, stepping onto the mobile suit catapult and locking his feet in. "It's import so that the EWAC controller upstairs can tag your suit on their sensors. This isn't a hijacking anymore, this is actual warfare; keep your head level, stay calm. You will come back alive." He finished as the green light at the edge of the Hanger entrance illuminated, signaling that the catapult was set to launch on his command.
"Warsaw command to all mobile suits organizing for launch; sensors indicate six incoming mobile suits supported by ten smaller strike craft, all of which are jamming all identification processes. Fleet defense systems are active; keep them as far from the fleet as possible." The controller stated as calmly as possible while Geoff positioned his GM in a launch position, aiming his currently equipped 120mm machine gun forward in anticipation. He also had on his mobile suit a single, three round 280mm bazooka with one spare three round magazine, for a total of six rounds and a single Heat Hawk. Amaury watched Geoff's thrusters ignite and begin to glow in preparation for the launch, and a second later, he spoke. "Geoff Walker, GM Custom: taking off." He calmly stated as he launched himself, his suit catapulted from the ship with great speed, maintained as he boosted towards the enemy. Stepping forward from his mobile suit's docking point and onto the deck of the hanger, he waited for the catapult to retract, taking the time to go over his own weapons, which appeared to be the same setup as Geoff's; a 120mm in the hand with a spare drum on his side, a 280mm on the back and a Heat Hawk on the other side. It was good enough for him, having no preference at the current moment, and as the catapult locked back, he stepped onto it. Clicking his feet in place he listened as another voice came over the radio. "Monty McNeil, A better GM Custom: taking point." Monty's voice called out, forcing the boy to sigh at Monty's horrible joke, watching outside of the hanger as his engine trail followed towards Geoff's, and soon his would as well.
Not wanting to wait any longer, Amaury locked his suit's leg into the other catapult and took a deep breath, waiting for the green light to illuminate in front of him, which seemed to take an eternity. Reaching up he opened his visor for a brief second and removed the bandage from his eye and threw it to the side, closing the visor again just as the light turned green. This was it. "Amaury Dietrich, Zakum One: Launching!" He yelled, pressing the launch button to his side as his suit was instantly catapulted to well over sixty kilometers an hour in a matter of a few seconds, and before he knew it he was out in space once again. Throttling up, this time at a slow pace to avoid immediate injury to his eye, he flew toward the two friendlies in front of him, who had slowed down for him to catch up.
"Hey kid, glad you made it!" Monty called out to him, flying backwards in a flaunting manner as Amaury remained focused on the approaching batch of enemies. "Let's get these guys." He replied, watching as his screen illuminated the mobile suits and zoomed in on them. These suits did not appear familiar to him at all, but that wouldn't stop him from destroying them. "They will likely be trying to pass by us and take on the Warsaw and Bastille. We can't let that happen." Geoff advised as the EWACS operator came up on the air. "Twenty seconds until contact; stay frosty boys." He warned as Amaury scowled. If they wanted to get to the fleet, they would have to go through him!