"Light 'em up!" Geoff called out, unable to wait any longer for reinforcement before attacking the incoming mass of enemies, the three rebels charging directly at them as gunfire erupted all around. The strike craft, small, traditional style space fighters, approached first at high speed, unloading their weapons at the hostile mobile suits, which all scattered to spread the attacking forces thin. "Whoever shoots down the most strike craft buys the beer when we get back!" Monty called out with a cheerful laugh, spin around and firing his 120mm, instantly scoring a kill and damaging another, the smoking fight peeling off making a large loop around to approach from another vector, while at the same time Geoff locked onto one of the unidentified mobile suits. "I don't think that is how it works." He corrected Monty, quickly approaching the dazzle-camo covered machine that fired its own weapon in rapid succession towards him. Stowing his machine gun on his back, he drew his bazooka and thrusted forward until he was just about to make physical contact with the enemy, at which point he immediately thrust back. Brought to an almost complete stop by his reverse thrust, he aimed his weapon down into the machine and fired, blowing off its left arm and boosting back away from him.
"He's got some skill, but that won't save him." Geoff huffed, having intended to blast the mobile suit's cockpit wide open, failing when the hostile pilot sacrificed his left arm to save his life. He too had never seen this kind of mobile suit before, and it was possible that they were some kind of non-Federation or Zeon mass produced model, though it was highly unlikely; they had to have come from somewhere else. "That's how it works if you are me!" Monty replied, boosting towards Geoff and smashing a strike craft from the air with his mobile suit's fist as it flew by. "You just want an excuse to gloat." Geoff fired back with a laugh, firing another rocket was an oncoming mobile suit who was not as lucky as the last, the round entering through the side of its torso, and upon internal detonation, caused the Minovsky Reactor to explode.
At the same time, Amaury had boosted up and above the two friends; three strike craft and at least one mobile suit following closely behind. Flying at top speed, he spun around and opened fire on the fighters, shredding all three into a large explosion, while the mobile suit emerged from the smoke swinging some sort of sold metal melee weapon down on him. Boosting away to avoid the swing, he fired at the machine, his rounds having very little effect on its oddly shaped armor plating. "That armor won't save you forever!" Amaury growled, reversing his boost so that he now flew towards his enemy, who prepared another swing of the large club-like weapon. Approaching very fast, Amaury narrowly missed the swing of the weapon and rammed into the mobile suit's torso with his unit's left shoulder, the spike penetrating into the cockpit, killing the pilot instantly as his blood sprayed out into space through the damage from the force of the impact. Floating back a second he boosted away, sensing another mobile suit approaching. "You bastard!" An unfriendly voice called into their communications, having finally locked onto their frequency.
"I'll kill you for that!" He screamed, quickly approaching the boy. Lifting his weapon as he boosted backwards, Amaury fired until his weapon was empty, dodging return fire from his opponent. The Zakum really was much more agile and responsive than the Zaku, and Amaury loved it. "Stand still!" His enemy yelled, firing his rifle again at the boy, who thrust down and away, but the enemy remained on his tail, spinning and chasing him no matter which way he jerked and zig-zagged. "This guy is on me pretty good…" Amaury said thought out loud as he reloaded his weapon and took a deep breath. He knew that he shouldn't' do it with his eye still healing, but with this enemy so intent to stay behind him, and itching to push the Zakum to its limits, he opted for something a little more frantic. "Let's see what you can do, Zakum!" He called out, boosting into a spiral as the enemy followed, firing his machine gun at the boy. Choosing a random point to break the spiral, he instinctively turned his mobile suit towards the hostile and travelled in an arc around him at high speed, almost as if he was gravitating around him, careful to keep the gap between the two of them.
"What are you doing kid?" His enemy questioned, attempting to keep up with him. Aiming his weapon down between his mobile suit's legs, Amaury opened fire again in bursts to help improve accuracy at this speed. As round after round stuck his opponent's suit, its armor began to chip away, until finally a stray round penetrated into the rear of the torso and damaged and internal mechanism, causing the suit to jar off course violently and make a run for it. "Fuck you kid, you damaged my Ratnik!" The enemy called out before gasping, watching as the Amaury approached at break neck speed and. Boosting backwards at his own top speed, the hostile tried desperately to get away from Amaury, though it wasn't working. "Can someone please help here?!" The pilot called as the two remaining strike craft responded, moving into position behind the Zakum.
As if sensing the two aircraft as they moved into position, Amaury cut his throttle for a split second, watching as one craft collided into the Zakum at high speed, exploding instantly while the other flew in front of him. "Guah, what the h-" The fighter pilot tried to call out before being destroyed by the boy's machine gun while he once again sped up to chase the damaged enemy. Wincing in frustration and fear, the enemy opened fire one Amaury again, attempting to shake the boy's chase with frantic movements. "T-This kid, he's a g-god damn demon! He won't give up!" He called out while spinning around and choosing a random course of direction to try and shake the boy again, thought it didn't work, and Amaury remained chasing him. "Kid, are you playing with your food?" Monty asked, looking up at Amaury's chase with a light chuckle. "Let him go; he's leaking fuel, he's out of the fight for now, and if you go any closer to their cruiser alone, their defense weapons will tear you up. We couldn't have that now, could we?" He asked again, though his last words seemed more cynical than cautioning. Amaury huffed and agreed, immediately breaking the chase and heading back towards the group, where Geoff had just finished off the fourth mobile suit.
"How's that suit handling?" He asked the boy as both Monty and Amaury thrusted to a stop near him. "It's much better than the Zaku II." He replied, as the EWACS operator chimed in again. "Nice job with those hostiles, guys. All of the strike craft were destroyed, as well as four out of the six mobile suits. Hostile cruiser is now within twenty five kilometers. She has slowed down, but shows no signs of stopping." He reported, bringing Amaury's attention towards the hostile ship in the distance. There was no way that was the only group of mobile suits and fighter that they had, especially since they still were advancing towards them.
"What do they plan to do?" Amaury questioned as he stowed the machine gun to his suit's back since all if its ammunition was depleted and switched to his 280mm bazooka. "Who knows; pirates don't tend to make tactically sound decisions, and it is very likely they are just charging straight at the fleet." Geoff replied, having dealt with pirates before during his time with the Federation. "We should assault it now, while they are regrouping. Catch them off guard; one of us goes left, the other right and the last from above or below. Hit them with the bazooka's in their soft spots." Monty attempted to make a plan without anyone else's input, though Geoff shook his head. "No, I think they are planning something else, closing the gap and buying time." He replied calmly, his eyes also watching the approaching vessel as Amaury remained silent, in no position to voice his opinion. "Well, you can do what you want, but I-" Monty attempted to make the decision for the four of them before the EWACS operator cut them off once more.
"Priority message; cut the chatter!" He called out, sending out an emergency tone over the frequency to prevent anyone else form talking. "All units, be advised; a large enemy force is being launched from the enemy vessel. Twelve mobile suits and counting; recommend retreating to regroup with the rest of the fleet, you'll be overwhelmed otherwise." The operator suggested as Amaury gasped a bit under his breath. Twelve mobile suits? How could they fight off a four to one advantage? After a brief silence, Monty sighed. "Alright, retreat back to the fleet. I had hoped that we could handle this, but obviously this is not going to be a simple task. Prepare the Warsaw and the Bastille for combat." He called out as he turned to head back to the fleet, Monty and Amaury following behind, watching as the two ships in the distance, slowly but surely turned to face the oncoming threat.
"Amaury, how much ammunition did you use?" Geoff asked, as Amaury looked to his display, just to make sure. "I'm out of 120mm, but otherwise I'm okay." He replied, Geoff thinking for a moment before replying. "Land on the Bastille and resupply quickly, that bazooka won't be enough against this many enemies. I'm still waiting for Sam, and where is Tome?" He asked, and with perfect timing, as just as he did so, Sam launched from the Warsaw. "Sam Raditz, Zakum Two: launching." He called out already on his way out of the hanger, causing Geoff to laugh a bit. "You are supposed to say something before leaving the hanger, but, regardless, glad you finally got out of bed." He joked, watching as the doors on the Bastille opened, knowing they were about to receive another ally, which he assumed was Tome. "Sorry, I was on the Bastille, but my suit was on the Warsaw." Sam replied as he came to a stop between the two ships just as the three others returned from the frontline. "What were you doing on the Bastille?" Monty asked as Sam blushed, luckily not visible through the colored visor on his helmet. "Overtime. Yeah, I was helping in the hanger." He lied, unwilling to explain the real reason he was late to the fight, and although everyone listening could tell he was lying, it didn't matter at the moment.
"Tome Himare, Zakum Three; Launching!" Tome called out a few moments later, assuming her place amongst the group of now five mobile suits, her armament a little different; her Zakum carrying the same equipment as the others, but also the largest mobile suit weapon the fleet currently possessed; the 135mm Anti-Ship rifle. "Tome, how do you plan on using all of those weapons?" Monty asked, a bit concerned that the girl did not fully understand the power of the rifle and the inability of the weapon to be fired on the move, Tome shook her head and pulled the rifle from her back, allowing her machine gun to float in space next to her suit. "Oh, this isn't for me." She stated as everyone beside herself and Sam seemed confused for a moment, Amaury looking to Geoff on their communications panel to his right, who also seemed bit confused. As far as he knew, almost every mobile suit they had combat-ready was deployed into the field, and so were the pilots. Who else could it be for? "Then who is for?" Amaury asked finally as from the Warsaw a sixth mobile suit launched.
"Marcus Northwood, Zaku One; joining the fight!" Marcus exclaimed, flying forward from until he reached the rest of them, slowing to a stop next to Tome's Zakum as she handed him the rifle, and a single spare three round magazine the was attached to her suit's rear waist armor. "Marcus, you-" Geoff started to reprimand the wounded pilot for getting his mobile suit, but he cut him off in true, strong headed Marcus fashion. "Hold on Cap', before you go yelling at me, I might be unable to fly a mobile suit well, but I don't plan to do much flying with this baby." He defended himself, loading the anti-ship rifle and slinging it over the Zaku's shoulder. "Plus, you know I've got the best shot in the fleet at range." Marcus boasted, pointing to himself with his thumb inside the cockpit for all of the pilots to see, which caused both Sam and Tome to laugh. Although he had originally planned to scold Marcus, Geoff instead sighed and shook his head. He was right, he was the best shot with the long range weapons during their training, and he really couldn't knock him for wanting to take part in his friend's battle; especially battles he had been trained to fight. "Well, we could use all the help we can get at this point. Everyone assume a defensive perimeter around the fleet, Amaury and I are going to resupply quickly, and we will be right back out." He instructed as he flew towards the Bastille.
"Monty, I suggest you do the same." He added, Monty declining. "Nah, I've got more than enough. Just keep Amaury from having any more lunch dates while you are in there." Monty replied with a small laugh before boosting to his desired location, leaving Amaury speechless, his stomach turning with anxiety. How did he know about that, was he watching them? Or did someone else see and report it to him? And on top of it, why would he call him out in the middle of all of this? "Amaury, let's go." Geoff called to the boy, snapping him from his thoughts as his own mobile suit touched down on the deck and walked inside.
Nervously swallowing, Amaury turned and flew towards the hanger as well, landing inside only a few moments later. Touching down behind Geoff's GM as it walked towards the docking bays, he was careful to avoid crushing or walking into any of the crewman, though they understood to stay out of the way of the much larger mobile suits that towered over them. With all of their combat capable mobile suits deployed, the hanger was almost completely empty, save for the small piles of scrap pieces that remained unsorted, and it felt to strange to have so much space in the room that he had only ever seen packed almost to the brim. Moving into position in front of the bay next to Geoff's he watched the hangar bay doors close, and after a few moments the lights indicating a zero-oxygen environment stopped, an 'all clear' signal following shortly after. "Have them fuel your suit while you are here as well," Geoff ordered, opening his cockpit and floating out onto the walkway as crewman rushed to his side to see what he and his suit needed.
"We don't know how long we will be out there and the last thing you want to happen is running out of fuel during a firefight." Amaury acknowledged while backing his Zakum into the docking bay, waiting for a crewman to signal that his suit was secured before he turned it off, the Minovsky Reactor behind him coming to a purring stop. Pressing the hatch release button he removed the harness that held him securely to the seat during flight as well as his helmet, taking a deep breath of the cold hanger air as he did so. Reaching forward and taking the grab bars in his hands on both sides of the cockpit, he pulled himself towards the entrance, stopping as Carina floated down onto the hatch from above, blocking the exit in front of him. Having also been thrown from her sleep by the blaring General Quarters alarm, she too did as was required and reported to the hanger to help with the incoming repairs and rearmament of their brave pilot's mobile suits. "Hey!" She called out as he looked up to her, the smile on her face bringing one forward from the tense expression on his own. "Hey." The boy replied, watching as she backed up onto the hatch, allowing him to exit and stand as well.
"How did it fly?" The curious engineer asked, looking at Amaury's now uncovered bad eye, the blood having mostly cleared and having no sign of any further damage as of yet. "It flies very well, you did an excellent job." The boy replied as the girl blushed a bit, looking at the crewmen that floated up and instructing them to load two drums of 120mm ammunition onto the Zakum, as well as to top off his fuel reservoir. "I had my doubts. The last thing I want to do is get someone killed because I miscalculated something somewhere." She admitted, looking up at the Zakum, several dings and spots where paint was missing noticeable, though it didn't matter since they would all need a paint job eventually. Not fond of her doubt, he tilted his head to the side a bit as a small frown appeared. "I trust you and your work, don't doubt yourself." Amaury said softly to avoid the lingering ears of any of the flight crew, causing her smile to widen and the blush to maintain. "And in combat?" She asked her next question, causing Amaury looked up at the Zakum's head, recalling the maneuvers he was able to conduct, as well as the words of his enemies. "Well, one of the enemies called me a demon, so… I guess I would say it does very well. " He replied with a small grin as the girl looked up to him.
"A demon huh?" She asked, smiling up at him and pushing back against the mobile suit with a small laugh. "Amaury the Demon. I don't know, that doesn't seem like the Amaury I know." She hummed, laughing a bit still as the boy's face darkened, causing him to shake his head, when from the corner of his eye he realized she was still wearing his jacked overtop her flight suit. He stared for a brief moment, before looking up at her eyes, still focused on him. "You can keep it, you know." He said softly, leaving the girl a bit confused, her head tilted to the side. "Keep what, Amaury?" She asked as he pointed to the jacket, causing the girl to look down at it and then back up in embarrassment. "O-Oh, n-no, it's your jacket, I just… f-forgot to take it off." She replied quietly, not entirely sure if she had actually forgotten or just chose not to remove the source of her warmth. Sensing that she may have kept the jacket for a different reason, his cheeks darkened a tad as he looked down.
"It's okay; I want you to have it to… remind you of me." He whispered back, knowing that underneath her cheerful and inquisitive attitude she exhibited as she watched her hard work performed, she was likely afraid just like the rest of them. He understood that sometimes an item belonging to someone else could bring the memory to the person in possession of it, and knowing that he brought a feeling of safety to the girl, hoped the jacket could provide some of the same; especially should he fall in combat against such overwhelming odds. Seeing Geoff floated back to his GM, looking over to the two as he came to a stop. "No lunch dates." He joked, poking fun at the two as well as mocking what Monty had said. "We've got to roll Amaury, the fighting is about to start." He added, hearing a single large caliber shot ring out from above.
Her wide eyes focused on the boy in front of her as her faced burned intensely, her hands subconsciously feeling the fabric of the sleeves around the palms of her hands since the jacket was a larger size than what she would typically wear. He wanted her to have something to remind her of him? Why would he say that? Did her not forgetting mean that much to him? Watching Geoff approach she paid no mind to what he said, her racing heart drowning out the sounds around them. Did he want her to think of him? Why else would he give her the jacket? Her eyes shifted back to Amaury as he nodded to Geoff and then turned back to her, a small frown on his lips. "I have to get back out there. Be careful, okay?" He quietly asked, his face red from both his exchange with Carina as well as Geoff's joke, which luckily Carina must not have heard. Watching as Geoff's hatch closed and the GM became active again, he turned back to the Zakum and floated towards the entrance to his own cockpit; Carina's eyes remaining locked onto him as he did so. Could she really just allow him to set off to battle without saying something after all of that? No, she had to do something. Right as the boy was about to enter his suit the girl flew towards him and wrapped her arms around his stomach from behind, burying her head into his back as he stopped.
"Please be careful." She stated loud enough for him to hear the words, not carrying who heard or saw any of it. Frozen in place as time slowed, Amaury released a small gasp, feeling her arms wrap around him. Looking to his side slowly, he saw the girl's dark head of hair against his back, bringing a blush across his features. "I will. I promise." He replied softly, though she was still able to hear it loud and clear. Letting go of Amaury's stomach, she drifted back onto the catwalk in front of the Zakum as it slowly began to move out of the way, her eyes remaining locked to Amaury as he donned his helmet, the hatch closing behind him as the Zakum's eye illuminated, his reactor humming loudly in the hanger. Stepping forward onto the deck, Geoff's GM picked up his spare magazines the flight crew placed in front of his machine and locked them in place before proceeding onto the catapult, just as all of hell let loose outside, the side of the gunfire deafening. Stowing the machine gun once again he equipped his bazooka and loaded the fresh magazine, waiting a few seconds before the hanger doors opened, revealing the battle outside. "Let's hang some pirates!" He called out to Amaury as he catapulted himself out into the fray, Amaury walking forward to wait for the catapult to reset, his eyes locked forward out of the hanger at the explosions and tracers whizzing all around. This was it; this was real warfare in space, not a little skirmish like last time. Shouldering the 280mm bazooka, he took a deep breath, awaiting the green light to launch as his ears began to ring; why now?
"Here they come!" Tome called out as the enemy assault approached, their own pilots spread into a defensive position around the vessels. Marcus positioned himself atop the Warsaw, kneeling to brace his mobile suit as he aimed the massive 135mm rifle. Zooming in on the approaching fleet, he had to zoom back out to bring the whole strike force into focus. "They sure brought the party…" He groaned as the EWACS operator confirmed his displeasure. "Twenty eight strike craft this time, along with sixteen mobile suits; twelve are the same type as earlier, four are unknown types." He called out as Marcus targeted one of the four unknown types, aiming right for center mass, likely where the cockpit was. "Well, there is about to be fifteen." He replied, preparing to fire as Tome flew by and looked to his Zaku, smirking to herself. "You've only got six shots, don't miss!" She called out as Marcus scoffed. Even if it was only six shots, these rounds were extremely effective, and he was going to slay many pirates with them. "I don't miss." He replied calmly, holding his breath as he pulled the trigger; firing the single round heard from inside the ship. Creating a large flash a thunderous sound, the projectile left a whizzing trail of fire right towards its target. Striking the mobile suit dead on, the round struck deep into the suit's chest and detonated; its payload of titanium ball bearings shredding the machine from the inside out, causing it to fall behind and explode, taking at least two strike craft with it. Watching the shot and result, Monty's eyes widened.
"I'm impressed Marcus, but now that they know where you are and what you are packing, try and stay alive." Marcus scoffed at Monty's tease, preparing himself for another shot. "I'd like to see them try." Firing again, this time he struck one of the other common suits, destroying it instantly as well, but as the enemy fleet approached, he did not have time to fire another shot. "Damnit, they are too close!" He exclaimed as both the Warsaw's and the Bastille's main cannons opened fire on the approaching suits, though it was more to disrupt their formations, the small suits impossible to hit with the main cannons unless sitting completely still. With the enemy now close to the fleet, Monty, Sam and Tome scrambled to intercept the oncoming attack force, avoiding incoming fire as well as outgoing as their own fleet's point defense guns opened up. "Let the fleet handle the strike craft, aim for the mobile suits!" Monty instructed as he eyed up one of the new model suits approaching him. With a grin he boosted towards the suit as it opened fire twice with a large caliber bazooka, both rounds missing as Monty dodged left and right at high speed, closing in quickly quick.
"This rat is fast!" The pilot called out as Monty thrust in close and drew his heat hawk with his suit's other hand. Striking the bazooka with the heat hawk, he lobbed it in two and fired his machinegun into the suit, though it simply boosted back and away, the rounds not entirely effective against this thick armor. Tossing his damaged bazooka and drawing a titanium axe from his back, the hostile pilot directed his thrust back towards Monty and slammed his axe down, the rebel leader blocking with his own melee weapon. "Your little GM won't hold back the power of the Dubisar for long!" He gloated, pushing Monty's hawk back a bit. "Dubisar? Is that made up or something?" Monty teased as he lifted the knee of his GM violently into the Dubisar's chest, knocking it back and giving him the opportunity to boost back.
"Those three other suits are heavily armored. Tag them as Dubisar." Monty addressed both his fellow pilots as well as the EWACS Operator, who acknowledged with a single word. "We'll crack 'em open all the same!" Tome called out while engaging two Ratniks and a Dubisar, shooting one of the Ratniks down with her machine gun while avoiding another's melee strike before boosting away. Despite this being the girl's first battle, she was extremely confident with her piloting abilities, and did not seem phased by the enemy numbers or the heavily armored foe which now chased her through the sky above the Bastille. "Tome you've got two on your tail; recommend evasive action." EWACS Command relayed as Sam boosted straight towards her. "Not for long!" He called out, ramming his Zakum into the Ratnik, knocking him off of the girl's tail. "Guah! What are you insane?!" The pilot angrily called to the boy, swinging his axe into Sam's shoulder; the blade becoming stuck in the armored plate.
"No, I'm just not a big fan or pirates!" He called back, shoving the barrel of his machinegun into the waist joint of the Ratnik, opened fire and tore the suit in half; boosting backwards and away before it exploded. "Good job Sam!" Tome called out as Sam blushed and scratched at his neck nervously. "Don't mention it!" He replied with a grin, looking up as two more Ratniks boosted towards him, both with their melee weapons ready to swing. "Shit!" He exclaimed, boosting away with them in chase.
Turning around to fire behind her, Tome rapidly fired her machinegun at the Dubisar on her tail, trying to find some kind of weakness in its armor. "What the hell is this thing made of?" She questioned as the pilot who followed snickered. "Wouldn't you like to know!" He yelled, boosting forward and swinging at her, dodging to the right to avoid the strike. However, although she avoided the melee swing, the Dubisar's other arm lifted up with a 90mm machine gun and opened fire on the girl, striking her Zakum several times and damaging the bazooka on her back, forcing her to eject it before it exploded. "Get off of me!" She exclaimed in anger as the Dubisar continued to follow tightly behind her, matching her speed with his own. Below on the deck of the Warsaw Marcus watched her unsuccessful attempt to break the Dubisar's flight pattern, frustrated that he wasn't able to help her much from his location.
"Tome, bring him towards me." Marcus called, formulating a plan in his mind; if she could get the enemy pilot to fly right towards the Warsaw, he would have a shot. "Roger!" She acknowledged, seeing no other option at the current moment. Banking to the left and descending down from above the ship, she headed right towards Marcus, boosting at full speed to avoid the swing of the machine at her tail once more. "Murder this guy!" She called out as she spun and flew away from the Warsaw, leaving a straight line of sight for Marcus, who had already locked on to the target. "Gotcha." He stated out loud, discharging the rifle once more, instantly reducing the incoming Dubisar to a flaming ball of debris that slammed harmlessly into the deck in front of him. "Good shot!" Tome called out with a cheer as Marcus pretended to 'tip his hat' with his helmet, looking down at his sensors as he noticed two blips quickly approaching from behind. "Shit, I've got two coming in quick." He called as the two Ratniks thrust from behind the Warsaw's bridge, one with a machine gun, the other with a missile launcher.
"There he is, the dead man with the rifle!" One called out as the other locked on with the missile launcher, setting off a warning signal inside of Marcus' cockpit as he scowled. "Lord Kurin promised big pay to whoever brought him that rifle, and that's gonna be us!" He continued as the soldier with the missile launcher scoffed. "Well, what's left of it anyway!" He exclaimed as he fired two missiles.
Using his injured arm, Marcus boosted back and away from the missiles, which slammed into the deck of the Warsaw, creating a rift in the ship's hull, storage spilling forth into space. Luckily all that part of the ship was for was storage, and there shouldn't have been anyone inside of those bulkheads during a General Quarters status. Nonetheless, Marcus growled in anger. "You bastards, you will pay for that!" He screamed as the two prepared to fire again at him, but were distracted as one of the ship's bridge defense guns came online and opened fire on them, forcing them to evade. Returning fire the two Ratniks destroyed the gun, and turned back to Marcus, gasping in shock as instead Geoff's GM sped towards them.
"What the- GUA-" One exclaimed in his dying breath as Geoff slammed his heat hawk into its cockpit before turning to the other and striking it with his bazooka, blowing off its right arm as it floated there stunned, attempting to catch its bearings. "F-Fuck you, you son-" The other attempted to curse as Geoff blasted him again, destroying the mobile suit. Relieved, Marcus sat back in his seat and sighed, looking up as Geoff boosted away to chase another target. "Keep up the good work." He stated as Marcus jokingly saluted, stopping when he heard Sam's voice on the radio.
"Can someone please get these things off of me?" He called out, spinning around to discharge his weapon down at one who dodged and returned fire, striking Sam's left foot, damaging his thruster and causing him to slow down. "Damnit!" He cursed as Monty approached him, having broken off his fight with his Dubisar foe to help the blonde haired fool. "Hold on kid, hold on; I'm coming." Monty replied to his call for assistance, boosting towards the damaged Zakum. Approaching behind Sam and the two bogies, he flew overhead and drew forth his bazooka, firing all three rounds in rapid succession to attempt and disrupt the attack, striking one of the Ratniks in the back, the blow knocking out its reactor and causing it to drift aimlessly in space without power.
"Leave him; he'll suffocate before anyone reaches him." Monty stated with a sadistic tone, turning his attention to the remaining Ratnik on Sam's tail and attempting to boost before being forced to avoid a ram attack by the Dubisar he had fought before. "Where do you think you are going?!" The pilot exclaimed angrily as Monty smirked. "Nowhere now; kid, you still have one. Shake him." Monty called Sam as the boy grunted in annoyance. With a damaged thruster and a quickly approaching enemy, he had to think fast.
Dropping down into the area between the two carriers, he sped in and out of the formation, flying as close to the fleet's carriers as possible. "Come on, come on…" He mumbled out loud, hoping that one of the point defense weapons would catch onto his plight and assist, however based on how fast they were moving it became evident that it wasn't possible. "You are not going to lose me that easily!" The hostile pilot exclaimed as Sam spun to open fire, only releasing a few shot before the Ratnik chopped his machine gun in half; the boy escaping as the weapon detonated. Flying towards the hanger of the Bastille didn't notice its doors were opened still for launch, and mistakenly allowed the Ratnik to catch on. Seeing an opportunity to strike at the enemy fleet in a big way, the Ratnik diverted from tailing Sam and sped towards the open hanger doors. "Screw the little fish, I'm going for the big game!" He exclaimed, signaling to Sam that he was no longer being followed. Spinning to see where the enemy was heading, he gasped.
"Fuck, there is a Ratnik heading towards the Bastille's hanger!" He cried out as every one of the pilots immediately turned their attention to the Bastille, the feeling of impending catastrophic loss imminent. As the Ratnik spun around in front of the ship he adjusted himself to land at the opening of the hanger, spotting the crewman inside floating all around, as well as Amaury's Zakum on the catapult, about to launch. His ringing, he heard Sam's cry as the Ratnik landed at the foot of the Bastille's hanger, Amaury's mind immediately slowed, unwilling to believe what was happening. "Well, well. Looks like it's going to be a bit messy in here." He stated through his external speaker with a maniacal laugh, destined to kill every crewman and destroy the ship. No… that couldn't be allowed to happen! "No…" Amaury mumbled as the man continued to laugh, his eyes frantically searching the area between him and the Ratnik. "No…" He repeated again, as Carina and the rest of the crew watched on in horror at their approaching death. The man's laughing continuing to terrorize the crew as he lifted his machinegun to open fire into the hanger, targeting the Zakum first, just as Amaury finished looking for crewman in the line of fire.
"NO!" Amaury screamed at the top of his lungs, pressing the catapult release and launching himself towards the Ratnik as he did so; he had to act! With time slowed, he lifted his bazooka up and timed his shot perfectly to prevent fatal back blast to the crew as he flew down the tracks towards the exit, blasting into the Ratnik's torso and knocking it out of the hangar. Boosting full speed as his Zakum broke free of the catapult tracks he then rammed into the Ratnik, pushing it even further away before boosting himself to a standstill. "Get away!" The wide eyed boy screamed at the pirate as he fired his remaining two shots, both of which penetrated the cockpit and detonated the mobile suit's reactor, disintegrating the machine instantly as the other five pilots, who had held their breath throughout the ordeal, sighed in relief.
"Holy shit…" Tome whispered to herself, watching how close The Movement came to failing their mission as well as the ferocity of which Amaury resolved the problem. Unbeknownst to her however, the boy inside was frozen; his eyes rapidly scanned over the debris in front of him while his breath quivered and his hands shook, remaining silent; frozen in place. "Amaury, are you okay?" Geoff called at the boy's silence while slashing his way through yet another Ratnik, growing even more concerned by the moment. "Amaury?" He questioned again before finally, after almost fifteen seconds, Amaury shook free of the trance he was in and reloaded the bazooka, boosting up to engage the remaining enemies as the fight continued above. "I'm fine." He replied as he stowed the weapon and once more drew his machine gun and heat hawk, chasing after one of the remaining Ratniks that opened fire in anger at the destruction of his friend.
Frustrated by the current course of the battle, the pirate lord slammed both of his fists into the Captain's chair he sat in, pointing out towards the enemy fleet. "How is it possible that this ragtag group of thieves is defeating us?!" He yelled as those on his bridge looked at each other, not willing to say anything that may upset their captain, which ironically only made him more infuriated. "Someone answer me goddammit!" He called out, slamming his fist into the chair and his boot into the deck as finally his first mate stepped forward. "Calm down Lord Kurin, you will give yourself another heart attack." He stated as the pirate lord scowled at his first mate, and then looked down to the display at his right, showing that almost all of their mobile suit forces and strike craft had been eliminated. "Not only will we need to replace all of this equipment, but also we will need a whole new crew by the end of this!" He called out into the air angrily, resting his head in the palm of his hand as his other hand rapped its fingers against the chair.
"We need to end this now, before we lose the entire fleet." He stated, turning to his first mate, then the two guards who stood behind his chair. "Deploy the Blitz models. I had hoped to have finished the renovations before using them, but we have no choice." He ordered as the two behind them nodded, the first mate pointing for them to go and prepare while he turned back to the lord, who grabbed his wrist to pause his exit, his eyes watching with a long distance optic as Amaury blasted the Ratnik from the hanger of the Bastille. "Those mobile suits, the custom Zakus; bring them to me as whole as you can." He instructed, assuming that the suit was the cause of the boy's performance. The first mate watched the camera and nodded. "Yes, Lord Kurin." He agreed before leaving the bridge, destined for the hanger as Lord Kurin smirked in anticipation for the recovery of his new toys.
Finishing off the pirate ace in the Dubisar, Monty turned back to the fleet, ensuring that only minimal damage had been done to either ship. "Status report." He requested from the ship, knowing that many of the enemy mobile suits had been destroyed, but unsure on the total amount. "The enemy force has lost eleven of their sixteen mobile suits, and all of their strike craft. The enemy vessel is continuing to slowly advance on our position however." The operator replied as Monty smirked and crossed his arms, watching around him as the remaining mobile suits fought his pilots. Even after losing the majority of their fighting forces they were still going to attempt and capture the fleet using their cruiser. "Well, that will be their funeral." Monty stated with a grin, closing his eyes for a moment before the EWACS commander dispatched an emergency tone over the radio again. "Warning! The enemy carrier has launched three more mobile suits." The controller announced as Monty's attention returned to his screen. "Only three? Do they really think three mobile suits will turn the tide of this battle?" He asked with a small laugh, though the controller was not happy. "The three mobile suits are approaching at an alarming speed; almost double what any of our own suits are capable of; recommend evasive actions immediately!" He stated as Monty growled watching the three suits approaching the group of his soldiers, darting across the sky almost light lightening. "What are these things?" He asked, boosting up towards the combat to assist in the coming escalation of the battle.