A single eye squinted through the sight to the huge cannon. The huge cannon was pointed directly at a standard MT. There was no doubt that the MT wouldn't survive an impact from the massive weapon. Ok. I only get one shot before this thing finds me. I can't mess this up no matter what. Or else I'm screwed. The AC's finger hovered over the trigger, hesitated for a second, then caressed it gently.

The huge gun let out a mighty bellow and cone of blue light leapt from the end, consuming the MT and incinerating it before it even had a chance to move. The pilot of the AC let out a huge sigh of relief, and sank back in the chair of the cockpit.

"Battle over, system disengaged." Well, so much for that. Now to get back to the base. The pilot waited for the transport to arrive, as the AC was unable to move for long distances with the huge weapon gripped firmly in its hands. A beep interrupted the pilot from his ruminations.

Hmmm? A message... from Kisaragi. After tapping out a series of commands, the pilot read through the message. Yeah... they damn well better pay me good for handling that monster. The pilot thought angrily as the message extolled his abilities and promised him a huge check.

Well, I'll be damned. I didn't expect them to pay THAT much. Must be an important weapon. The pilot brooded for a few minutes, then punched a series of keys. Well, let's see... This thing is called the KWG-STARSLAYER. Insane weight, insane damage, but only 10 ammo. I wonder why they think they can sell this thing. I don't know of any AC that can carry it, except for maybe a tank. The pilot's train of thought paused for a moment as he thought about just how heavy the weapon was. Maybe.

The roar of a loud engine interrupted his thoughts. The transport plane descended in front of his AC, and he lifted the rifle with a groan of exheration, staggering forward a few steps and letting it drop into the plane's holding bay with a loud crash.

"Careful you idiot! You might damage something!" The pilot grimaced as a female voice blazed over the comm, some emotion actually coming through despite the deadening quality of the transmissions.

"Shut up. I'd like to see you even lift this thing." The pilot ran a hand through his orange hair, and glared at the speaker with his lime green eyes. The female voice spluttered for a few seconds, then settled into indignant silence. "Yeah. That's what I thought." The AC staggered into the bay, shoving the rifle aside to make room for itself. The doors closed behind it and the plane took off with another roar of the engines.

----------------------

Inside the bay, the head of the AC popped up, then fell back, allowing some orange hair to emerge, followed by the rest of the pilot. The pilot happened to be a young man, with a clean-shaven face. Most of his body was hidden by a heavy combat vest, with large shoulder pads that protruded outwards. A thick plate protected his chest and back from harm, as well as insulating him from the elements. The pants he wore were equally heavy. Thick cloth and heavy metal plating covered his legs, and a light skirt of armor descended down to mid-thigh. Heavy combat boots rounded out the outfit.

Although the bulky armor completley covered his body, it could be surmised that he was extremley strong due to the fact that he could wear it and still move. He proved the latter by hopping off the core and onto a staricase next to the AC. Waiting for him was a woman who would be considered strikingly attractive by most men.

"Well, well. The hero returns in triumph." The woman was the first to speak, angrily tossing her mane of firey red hair behind her shoulder.

"Damn right he does. And let me tell you, that was no easy triumph." Following his angry retort with a huff, the pilot looked his female compainon up and down.

She was still in her work clothes. Due to the hazards of working on an AC, the clothes fit snugly to her body to prevent lose cloth from snagging on various parts of the machinery. There were some pads over the arms, legs, and chest of the outfit to keep her body safe from harm. The tight fit of the clothing revealed her moderately sized breasts, as well as the rest of her trim physique.

"Looks like you've been working on Gorgon."

"Yeah." The woman sniffed again, then gave the pilot a disdainful glance. As he was stared at, the man suddenly seemed to realize something.

"Damn, this thing is HOT." He pulled off the bulky armored vest, tucking it under his arm, then pulled off his shirt, revealing his well-muscled chest, which was shiny with sweat. The woman stared at him in disbelief, her gaze shifting between his body and the clothes he had just removed. "Stop staring Faye. It's not like you haven't seen me without a shirt on before."

The woman, Faye, stepped up to the man, and slapped him across the face as hard as she could. "You pig!" She snarled, anger causing her to blush. "If you're going to undress, do it somewhere else!"

"Woah, woah. Cool down there. I didn't realize it was that time of the month." The pilot was rewarded with another slap, this one even harder than the first. Oh boy... I'm going to feel that in the morning. Wisely keeping his thoughts to himself, he turned around and walked away, rubbing his cheek absentmindedly.

He looks pretty good... Faye thought with a blush, then quickly shook herself out of it. What am I thinking? He's just a pervert.

----------------------

In the cafeteria, a blue haired woman sat eating a toasted slice of bread with thick, pink-colored ooze on it. A cup of yellow liquid sat next to her, half-empty. Despite her best efforts to keep an impassive face, the fact that the food tasted horrible could be clearly seen in the way her eyes twitched every time she took a bite.

"Same old shit huh?" The pilot sauntered into the room and grabbed a slice of bread for himself, then a tube that was labeled 'SYNTHETIC FOOD'. Wrapping his fist around the tube, he squeezed it as hard as he could, a gout of pink goo erupting onto the toast. "Well, at least it's gooey this time. It's really nasty when it dries out." Holding a cup to a fountain, the pilot pressed a button with a free finger, and filled the cup up with the same yellow liquid that the woman was drinking currently, another expression of distaste finding its way to her face. The pilot sat down across from her, raised the glass and said "Cheers." Sarcasticaly before drinking half of it in one gulp. His eyes suddenly glazed over, and his head drooped down to the table. "Damn, that stuff's nasty. What flavor is it?"

"Beer and Lemonade."

"Must be stale beer. Or stagnant lemonade." The orange-haired pilot looked up to find the woman's piercing brown eyes staring into his own. "What? The rest of us don't have your eternal optomism Kenja."

Kenja smiled, and the other pilot couldnt help but smile back. "Well..." she began, "The food will get better, just like everything else. Don't worry about it Sander."

"It's LY-Sander." The first pilot, now known as Lysander, sighed and propped his head up with his arm. "How many times do I have to tell you two that?" He took a bite of the toast, and his only reaction to the horrible taste of the ooze was to sigh. "What flavor is THIS? Oranges, beef gravy and stale bread?"

"Correct."

"Damn, I'm good." Lysander paused in mid-chew, then took a look at the bread, with the pink 'SYNTHETIC FOOD' on top of it. "There's something I don't get though. If it's orange, beef gravy and stale bread flavored, why the hell is it pink?"

"I don't know, maybe they genetically mutated it." Kenja rolled her eyes and stood up, getting another cup of the 'stale beer and lemonade'.

"Great. Just what I need, to be eating mutated food. Wait a second--" Lysander looked up and glared at Kenja, who was giggling behind her hand like a schoolgirl. "Very funny. You knew I would believe that didn't you?"

The blue haired woman smiled radiantly before walking over to him and draping herself across his shoulders. Lysander was unable to supress a blush as her ample breasts pressed into his back. He quickly put down his toast and covered his face with his hands, the orange, beef gravy and stale bread taste long forgotten. "Oh come on Sander..." Kenja purred as she ran her hands up his arms and pulled his self-imposed mask away from his face, giving his cheek a gentle caress after his hands were gone. "You know you like it..."

As luck would have it, a certain redhead was feeling rather hungry at the moment, and had also made her way to the cafeteria.

Kenja and Lysander were shocked out of their entranced states by an equally shocked gasp. Lysander looked over to see Faye framed by the doorway, her face ghost-white and her eyes like saucer plates. Oh shit. Anyone but her. The orange haired pilot's head quickly drooped, but Kenja pulled it back up again and started rubbing her hand up and down his cheek. "Sorry. But he's mine... right Sander?" She cooed into his ear, and nibbled on his earlobe as she smiled coyly at the other woman.

Danger danger Lysander, danger danger!

Oh man. I can't believe this is happening AGAIN. Well, there are two ways to deal with this deathtrap. One is to say that I'm not hers. But then she'll slap me, and say how much her feelings have been hurt... and the other one will yell at me for hurting her friend's feelings and probably slap me as well. Two is to say that I'm hers. Then the other will look at the both of us, say "You...." and slink away, then they'll start fighting again. Well, I suppose I could "be a man" and have them both yell at me... but... Lysander quickly reflected back on just how hard Faye could slap, and decided that he didn't want her hands anywhere near her face. Yeah. I'll go for two.

"Yep." Lysander pasted a goofy grin all over his face as he nuzzled Kenja's arm. "I'm allllll hers..."

"Youuu..." Faye's eyes quickly melted into a death glare. She pointed at Kenja, her arm trembling visibly. "I'll get you for this!" The redhead spun quicky on her heel and stomped away, her hunger forgotten as she fought down the tears.

"My... she's certainly a testy one today." Kenja was still welded to Lysander's back, and she'd even slipped her leg around his stomach.

"Look... Kenja..." Lysander rubbed his head, quickly continuing as he felt her lick the back of his neck. "I appreciate the uh... advance... but... uh..." His voice faltered again as she licked his neck a second time. "Look... I have things I need to do..." He sighed as Kenja's hands found their way under his shirt. "Please Kenja, not now. There are still things I need to do."

Kenja sighed heavily. "It's fine."

"Sorry. But you know the situation I'm in."

She sighed again. "Yeah, that happened to me once in high school... not a pleasant situation." The pair untangled themselves and Lysander got up, falling to his knees. "Hey, are you ok?"

"Yeah, my legs just fell asleep. This isn't going to feel good when the blood starts coming back into them."

----------------------

Lysander managed to make it to his room, despite the pins and needles feeling in both of his legs. With a tremendous sigh of relief, he sat down in front of his computer. Let's see... time to check for messages! Hey, one from Kisaragi. Quickly typing over the keyboard, he opened up the message and read it.

As he read, his expression quickly went from hopeful to neutral, then from neutral to downcast. And as he read the final line of the message, he couldn't help but make some sort of cry of disappointment.

"Ah jeez!"

"What happened this time? Did something get caught in your zipper again?"

Lysander winced. "That was a cheap shot Faye." She simply smiled at him as he continued "Actually, Kisaragi isn't paying me for that last mission." The smile was quickly wiped off the redhead's face.

"What!? Then what ARE they paying you with!?" Lysander pointed into the bay, where the massive STARSLAYER laser rifle lay on its side.

"That useless thing!?"

"Sorry. I didn't think it would happen this way. I thought they'd actually pay me. They said the mission paid well too." Lysander sighed and his head drooped, fully expecting to be slapped at any moment. After bracing for the attack that didn't come, he looked up to find his female companion smiling at him. If she's smiling... that can only mean...

"You'll always be my idiot Lysander." She sighed somewhat wistfully, then kissed him deeply on the lips. Lysander's eyes went wide, but he did what came naturally to him. He kissed back.

Finally they separated, Faye with a coy smile, and Lysander with a thoughtful look on his face. "I don't get you. First you're ready to kill me, then you kiss me." His only reply was a wink, and the peace sign, as Faye slipped out the door and resumed course to her original destination. The bathroom.

The orange haired pilot sighed and walked over to the phone. He picked up the receiver, and stared at it for a few seconds.

I just don't understand those two sometimes.