Falling Skies: 7th Mobile Armor Suit Team (IC)

Shalashaska · Dec 24, 2014

Constantine, #800000

"Well, well, looks like you beat me to the punch." Rabbit's bemused tone caused Constantine to jump, having been lost in his own thoughts to the point he forgot he assigned Angel to establish a communication line between he and his wingman... Err, Wingwoman. Or was he the wingman? Technically he was a rookie...

"I suppose I did." He spoke tonelessly and he could hear her almost chuckle.

"Not everyone's like Astelion, believe it or not. So just try to relax." She advised and he huffed out a sigh and he could feel his eyes narrowing in irritation.

"Lady, I have been placed inside of a tin-foil robot that's had more problems than your average prostitute has had STDs. 'Relaxing' is not something I can easily achieve right now." He explained and this time her laugh was quite audible.

"I have to say, I've never heard that one before." She commented as she quickly reigned herself in, her laughter becoming sporadic chuckles.

"Well, I try my best to be original." Constantine spoke and he could feel a friendly smirk pass over his face.

"I can tell, Mr. Soldier." Sarah's voice came out low and amused and Constantine grit his teeth.

"So, exactly how many people know about that?" He inquired, quite curious as to whether or not his entire military history had been disclosed.

"Not a lot. All Tori told me was that you were a soldier, and when I tried to find out more, she shut me down. So, Mr. Soldier, what's the deal with you?" She questioned and he could easily make out her curiosity.

"If I tell you, will this end with us staring longingly into each others eyes as you console me about my demons?" Constantine questioned and Sarah let out a small laugh.

"Considering the fact we're in robots and you answered a question with a question, no. No it will not."

"Oh well, I tried."

"Top Hat, ready and standing by."

"Hatchetman, also ready"

"Retribution is ready."

"And, that's our cue. Remember, Mr. Soldier - try to relax." She said before switching over to the Public Comm Line. "Rabbit, standing by."

Sighing, Constantine shook his head as he did the same.

"Ikarus, ready for action."

Penultimate Pi · Dec 24, 2014

Adrian Harvey, #4444FF

Harvey actually blinked, giving an audible shrug. So Rick's weakness was an absolutely positive retort? That was a new one; it figured Harvey wouldn't be the one to discover that. The brother's apparent frustration was quickly cut into a warm-tempered grumbling by the arrival of their actual leader. And it seemed this time, Tori was getting rather fed up with Rick's tenacious, showy nature.

As the wannabe commander dejectedly padded back to the crates where the older pilots reclined, Harvey couldn't help but shoot Rick a moderated stern looking of his own. "Maybe next time, you'll think to leave the asshole-ing around to me," the Ace commented. The Astelion brother gave a seething glare, but spoke nothing. Rick was already being cracked down on enough since he socked Adrian in the jaw after that one sortie (with no real fault of the Ace, given his performance that time).

"That's Harvey, you'll be his wingman. Stick with him, and he'll show you the ropes sooner or later."

Adrian perked up, looking to where Tori was speaking. She was motioning to the Ace Pilot in reference as she spoke to that especially fresh pilot, White. Harvey had no preference to wingmen, especially when he was supposed to be the better man (as evidenced with his ultimately brief experience with Rick). As much as it was only technically a formation requirement, Tori was about as fond of certain formalities as Harvey was, for some reason or another.

So at this point, it was just to make sure the Ace didn't go off and do something especially out of line. Of course, in and of itself, the pilot that had the most issue with that was McKnight. Hardly an example of a 'knight', in Adrian's own opinion.

"Crew of the Lincoln, all hands, man battle stations. Repair and refit operations will be ceased in 20 mikes; set your watches, people. 7th MAS Combat Teams, prepare for immediate combat drop. All pilots on ready-alert. Fighter Wing prepped for combat launch in the next 10 mikes. This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill. We're going back in, people."

Several groans rang out just below the volume of the combat alert. They only had just been introduced to the recruits, and now they were already heading back into the fray. So much for that bed, Harvey thought forlornly, slipping off the crates and cantering to the upper platforms. Time for another sortie.

"Ready for ya, Harvey," the Warthunder's engineer piped up as Adrian approached, donned in his flight gear. While he would never say such a thing outright, Harvey was actually feeling rather anxious. Now that MAS arms for the UEE were in full swing, they were able to roll out wave after wave of new standardized Suits well-fit to challenge the likes of the Coalition. The Warthunder and its pilot were beginning to feel the pressure of years-old habits starting to fail, as both sides were packing more to outgun him.

Sarah and Tori were the best examples. Fresh from modernized training and into better, higher-tech Suits, both were racking up kill counts that would soon enough redefine the measure of an Ace Pilot. Hopped up in a prototype machine of his own, the experienced Jari also had a shot of his own at Ace status. And that was saying nothing of Aseleon or even White.

To say Harvey was feeling challenged wasn't entirely accurate; outdated was a more fitting term. He was a relic of an old age of MAS combat, where one had to risk themselves and their machine to extremes to even hope to get a kill. If this Ace had any intention of seeing this battle to the end, he needed to get relevant and come up with a more fitting strategy.

"...Harvey?"

"All good. The Sentry is my wingman, right?" Adrian fumbled out, snapping back to the real world. Henry Adams, his prime engineer, shrugged out his worries of the moment. Truth be told, he was thinking much of the same things Harvey was, but they hadn't exactly the time to issue him a new MAS unless the absolutely totaled the Warthunder, and that was several different kinds of bad ideas.

"You're paired with the new guy, huh?" Henry mused, confirming Adrian's blurting. "I trust you won't do anything too reckless this time, for his sake?"

"You trust me to fly the Suit, and I trust you fix up what's left of it," the Ace replied, quoting the agreement they had made on one of the 7th's first deployments to include him. Harvey slipped on the pilot's helmet, his face barely a set of blurred features in the tinted faceplate.

"...Fair enough," Henry sighed out, turning back to the console. That pilot had been here practically longer than he had. He wasn't clueless. He knew what worked. The only thing Henry was really worried about was if he knew what was better.

> Power engaged...
> Confirming Pilot Assignment: Adrian Harvey
> ...Confirmed
> Initializing systems...

> Quad-Core power Reactor = Full
> Calibration/Control in progress...
> Test Area Scan engaged... Done
> Calibration/Arms in progress...
> Control Engines activated

> All Calibrations Complete
> Final initialization... Done
> Standby for Launch

"Top Hat, ready and standing by."

"Hatchetman, also ready."

"Retribution is ready."

"Rabbit, standing by."

"Ikarus, ready for action."

"Storm, standing by." Recalling his winging with Logan, Harvey linked up a personal channel with the Sentry. "Sound off when you're ready, White," Adrian spoke, and after a moment of pondering, added, "And... just do as I say, not as I do. Because I'm going to be doing some things your flight trainers would not approve of."

Ascendant · Dec 24, 2014

"Sound off when you're ready White," blaired in Logan's cockpit, "And... just do as I say, not as I do. Because I'm going to be doing some things your flight trainers would not approve of." The comment made the rookie audibly chuckle as he replied to his wingman through the channel, "Don't worry about it. A few unconventional tactics never hurt anyone. Well, anyone that they weren't supposed to. Just don't get yourself killed. I'd rather not become the bad luck guy whose wingmen die." He casually threw his helmet on and stretched once more, contemplating the future. Hopefully I don't die either. None of us do. May our enemy die quick and painless deaths. Opening a channel to the entire squad, the dark man called out, "Rookie, standing by." Suddenly he exhaled deeply and felt a bead of sweat begin to run down his forehead as his heart rate quickened. A smile spread across his covered face, I'm actually nervous. This is kind of exciting in a fucked up sort of way. But we haven't even made contact yet...

FrostedCaramel · Dec 24, 2014

Reid, #FFD700

Reid looked over his datapad once more, he could never know his information too well and any little bit helped. Suddenly the tram car began slowing and the indicator in the small hold was flashing on the CiC marker. ''Here already, good good'

The door of the tram opened to a rather large room, mostly dark except for the dim blue lights and the glow of screens. Reid made his way past a multitude of technicians and bridge personnel diligently going about their work to prepare the Lincoln for its jump. He arrived to Lieutenant Commander Wates and a few other line officers looking over the coordinates that Reid had forwarded to them on his short shuttle ride from the Ulysses.

"Sitrep Wates?" Reid said quickly, it was almost time to go, and time couldn't be more crunched.

"Fighter Wings ready to go, all 12 lined up in their catapults, pilots and all sir. And the 7th is prepped and ready to drop. Final refitting is taking place, should be finished up shortly, otherwise the Lincoln is set to launch." Wates replied in his ever professional and yet matter-of-fact manner.

"Good, we jump when the refits are over then. Also patch me through to the Engineering Chief, I need to see if the reactors kinks have been worked out from our la--"

"Uh, hey Captain Reid..! I think you should take a look at this.." Interrupted Ensign Cleary, one of the technicians working the long range radar suite.

Reid cocked his head to the side to see where the voice was coming from, quickly he found the Ensign waving his hand off to the left of the map table. He made his way to the tech quickly 'If someone has the nerve to interrupt a CO brief it must be important, or god help him..'

The Ensign gulped, but continued, pointing at the screen, "I'm getting a weird reading over here. Its something big, and it's moving pretty fast."

A more experienced technician quickly leaned over, pushing the Ensign out of the way as he made space for Commander Reid to look as well.

"You idiot," the older technician berated him. "That's not a 'big thing', it's a jump signature..." The older technician's voice trailed off and his face grew pale. "A lot of jump signatures..."

"Wates, do we have any inbound fleets scheduled for refit any time soon?" Reid yelled back to his XO in a serious tone.

"No Sir, Not that I'm aware of." Wates replied, somewhat confused.

The older radar technician gulped. "Commander, I'm counting something along the lines of 50 plus jump signatures, are you sure there are no fleets heading our way?"

"Positive, there's nothing listed on the schedule. I don't know what it coul--" suddenly Wates was cut off as the warnings on multiple screens began sounding, and the light in the room changed from blue to red in seconds.

In the emptiness of space, just outside of the Space Dock's range of fire, a huge battleship warped into view, detaching its destroyer escort as soon as it exited light speed. Moments later, several other warships warped into view, releasing their clutch of destroyers as well. Following the larger capital ships were a flight of smaller capital ships and cruisers, which released their clutches of frigates and destroyers as well. The final force was larger than the combined might of the 5th fleet, 2nd fleet, and Cerol's Planetary Defense Fleets. Coalition ships then released their MAS', dozens of tiny specs in the darkness of space, the glint and light from their thrusters made them seem like a swarm of angry fireflies in the distance.

Moments later, the large flagship opened fire.

The Ulysses Station seemed to rock violently as a plasma blast struck it, melting into half a dozen floors and corridors in the tightly packed station hull. While not a spectacularly major hit, it was the preamble to another volley of plasma from the Coalition fleet, several more blasts hitting the station, others sailing off into the distance and hitting other vessels in the UEE fleet. A flight of missiles followed the plasma bolts, a large number being shot down by point defense guns, but a good number still striking the dock and the the fleets.

Red lights and sirens blared across the entirety of the UEE vessels, as they quickly tried to react to the sudden attack. The 2nd and Planetary Defense Fleet sluggishly moved forward to meet the Coalition invasion fleet, deploying their fighters as they attempted to combat the MAS threat that was quickly closing in. The majority of the 5th fleet was still docked with the Ulysses, but the ships that were battleworthy made moves to insert themselves into the battle, MAS' deploying from the 5th fleet Carriers to aid the fighters.

Reid quickly moved from his position behind the radar screen to his chair located in the back of the CiC with a clear view of all the techs and screens within, he flipped a few switches and looked towards Wates, "I need those docking clamps ejected. I don't care how, blow them if you have to. And get our fighters into the fray." his complexion remaining calm, his eyes darting from station to station no doubt trying to figure out the Lincolns next move.

"I want the 7th out there. Their objective is to stop any intrusion on the Lincoln, our point defense will focus on protecting the Ulysses. Everything else focus fire on the Coalition fleet, doesn't matter what ship, just slow them down." he said bracing as the entire Lincoln shook from a hit the Ulysses took.

Wates sounded from far in front of Reid "The docking clamps will be blown in 30 seconds! Brace!"

"Get me comms with Astelion!" Reid screamed across the busy CiC to the comms tech. "Opening a channel with MAS pilot Tori Astelion callsign 'Alpha' sir, you're good to go!" the tech yelled back over the chaos.

"Alpha, your team is currently being launched in defense of the Lincoln. Nothing gets past you, if it does we could be done for. Clear?" he said as the MAS rails began to move out into the void of space. The rails came up on screen as being locked in the extended position and Reid smiled at the thought of the safety they'd bring.

"Blow the clamps, and launch those damn MAS' already!"

Vietmyke · Dec 25, 2014

If the command for combat inspection didn't get the pilots moving, the blaring klaxons of the ship's scramble order did. The dull roar that was the sound of the hangar going about their business intensified by several degrees as the sirens spurred engineers and pilots from an already fast pace to headlong rush. Engineers sprinted to their stations, shouting things at one another and pointing at datapads and screens as machines and lifters with their mechanical arms quickly began arming the MAS's that still required servicing. Autocannon shells, plasma fuel, laser capacitors, and extra powercells were deftly handled by engineer's in Ultra-Light MAS's repurposed as lifter-exoskeletons as they loaded up the 7th team's weapons.

Sterling rolled his shoulders inside the cockpit of his MAS and took a deep breath before he pulled his helmet over his head and sealed himself within his flight suit. The helmet whirred to life as it booted up and connected to his standard issue neural implant, painting a heads up display over the helmet's faceplate. Sterling began starting up his MAS, grabbing the controls as he prepared himself. Sterling's Sentinel, like most modern MAS's forgoed viewscreens, instead the walls of the cockpit became a seamless display, representing what the 'head' of the MAS saw. The display would change as Sterling turned his head, the Sentinel's head synced to the movements of its pilot's head.

> Confirming Pilot Assignment: Sterling McKnight
> ...Pilot Confirmed
> Initializing systems...

> Reactor Unit: Online
> Shield Unit: Online
> Targeting AI: Online
> Weapon Systems: Online

> All Calibrations Complete
> All Systems Functional
> Standby for Launch

Sterling listened as the other pilots sounded off. As White finished sounding off, McKnight chimed in.

"Psycho, waiting on green."

Pausing, Sterling reached over to the controls and opened up a secondary channel with his wingmate, Gertren. "I've heard a lot about that MAS, Gertren. Excited to see what it can do."

"Combat is not how exactly I wanted our first flight with our newcomers to be." Tori said ruefully,

"It's a good thing the Captain told us to ready up." Sarah called teasingly over the comm.

"Can it, Rabbit." Rick replied grouchily, to which Sarah responded by 'politely' asking him to shove an obscene object up his arse.

"That's enough," Tori cut in, her voice all business. "We're deploying in a defensive formation in front of the Lincoln. Nothing gets through."

"Not unless it has an invitation and half a dozen autocannon rounds in its gut." Sterling said, with a grim chuckle.

"Top Hat, Hatchetman," Tori continued, ignoring Sterling's jokes, "You'll be forming up our center. Stand firm, and keep your finger on the trigger."

"Psycho, Justicar: swing out and flank right." 'Right' being relative to their operational plane, the horizontal axis of the Lincoln serving as their 'plane', with the nose of the ship indicating their 12 o'clock.

"Storm, FNG" Tori continued, referring to Harvey and White, "Do the same on the left."

"Rabbit, Ikarus: You two are going up high and right. Putting your backs against the sun should provide you with concealment from optical sensors. Ikarus, you'll be providing us with long range support. Rabbit will be designating targets and providing point defense. You two will also be primary operators for the Armstad missiles."

"Fucking Baptism by Fire." Tori muttered under her breath.

Straightening up in her seat, Tori cracked her neck and rolled her shoulders. "Remember to stay mobile. We're in space so there's little- if any cover. Keep moving, and keep an eye on eachother's shields."

"Alright 7th Team. Green light, lets go!"

Sterling braced himself in his seat, as the platform that held his MAS's began to shift and turn, angling him towards the opening hangar doors. A pair of rails extended from the bottom of his platform, reaching out just past the threshold of the hangar doors. The rails matched exactly with a pair of smaller platforms that his MAS's 'feet' would step into. As soon as the MAS stepped onto the slots for its feet, these platforms clamped the feet in place. The rails began to glow as power started to course through them. Breathing out deeply, Sterling counted in his head backwards from five.

four...

three...

two...

At one, the MAS surged forward, cables connected to the MAS's power unit snapping off with a powerful hiss as the platforms holding the MAS's feet rocketed forward along the electromagnetic rails, quickly ejecting the Lincoln's MAS's into the black void of space in mere moments. Sterling's head was forced to the back of his headrest as he was launched from the ship, quickly activating his thrusters as soon as he exited the hangars.

The view was incredible. Spectacular and terrifying at the same time. The void of space that surrounded the planet Cerol was now filled with dozens upon dozens of ships. Battleships, cruisers, destroyers and the massive Coalition flagship flew in slow motion, as flashes of light from laser cannons and railguns crossed through the black empty. Around them, tiny flecks of blue lights- the thrusters of MAS's and aerospace fighters, zig zagged and spiraled around, lights flashing as their weapons fired, silent flowers of orange and white fire appearing as they were destroyed by eachother's weapons.

Taking a quick second to orient himself, Sterling remembered just how much he hated space combat. No solid ground or cover, so fire could come from almost any angle- and at any distance, and the only thing keeping him from dying in a vacuum was his MAS shields and a few layers of armor. Ejecting into space during a combat scenario was essentially a death sentence, with all the chaos around, free floating pilots were liable to get hit by stray debris, weapons fire, and otherwise large metal hazards.

On his HUD, a timer for 5 hours appeared, and began counting down in seconds, representing Sterling's effective combat energy supply. When the 5 hours ran out, he'd have enough energy to continue moving, and if he wanted to push it, continue fighting. But typically the energy that remained after the timer ran out was emergency power to get back to the staging area. On the opposite side of his helmet HUD, his helmet displayed his unit's various ammunition supplies for his weapons, as well as a general display of his unit's overall structural integrity and shield state.

Flying to the 'right' of the Lincoln, Sterling formed up and held his Autocannon at the ready. Tori and her brother had taken up positions left and right of the 'center' in the empty area between the Heavies that made up the center, and the more mobile medium MAS's that formed the two flanks.

Several ships from the Coalition invasion fleet broke off to engage the Lincoln in particular, a Coalition Andromeda Class Cruiser and its two frigates advancing into engagement range as the Lincoln's two destroyer escorts desperately rushed to free themselves from the station's docking clamps and assume defensive positions around the Lincoln. Further behind the Coalition cruiser, was another Cruiser and a destroyer which slowly moved in a wide circle as they prepared to flank the Lincoln and the station it protected.

The Andromeda Cruiser deployed a clutch of five MAS's, while each of its frigates deployed another set of three. The combined 11 MAS's quickly accelerated to attack speeds, rushing ahead of their ships to combat the 7th MAS team and the Aerospace fighters deployed by the Lincoln.

"Intercept those MAS's!" Came the order.

Sterling keyed the throttle and shot off to the right, where three enemy MAS's peeled off to meet him. At the same time, another three enemy units veered off to meet the other flank, and the remaining five rushed the center. Sterling identified the three rushing them as standard Ferir Mk II's.

Rushing forwards to meet the charge of an oncoming Ferir MAS, Sterling rolled out of the way of a burst of autocannon fire. Passing by the Ferir, Sterling turned his MAS in a 180, and sent a burst of fire towards the back of the Ferir he just passed. The enemy took a trio of hits to the back and began to smoke. But before Sterling could finish the job, another Ferir flew in the way, defending its comrade, and fired at Sterling, who quickly moved to dodge the incoming fire, a glancing hit knocking off a quarter of his shield, which slowly began to recharge. A stream of autocannon fire hit the side of this second Ferir, and it boosted off as the first enemy turned around and returned fire, forcing Sterling to juke again.

The third Ferir maintained a steady stream of fire on Monica, rolling away as it launched a pair of missiles at her.

Penultimate Pi · Dec 25, 2014

Adrian Harvey, #4444FF

Hell was already upon them.

The arrival of an entire Coalition fleet was certainly something unprecedented. Moreso was the fact that this was a particular oversized array of craft enough to size out both a UEE fleet and a manned planetary defense garrison. It was a phenomenon much of the UEE simply referred to a 'superfleet'. And it was right here, taking them by surprise and by storm.

A shrill rocking of the Lincoln as ripples of force echoed through the Ulysses Station served as an additional jolt to clear the hangar for launch. Harvey was already feeling a thunder in his chest as UEE broadcast reports scrambled in, reporting damage from the Coalition's sudden attack. When it came to the size and performance of operations, the Coalition just couldn't be beat. An assault on a Coalition space dock back in Harvey's time was quite literally assisted suicide, and it wasn't looking to be any different for them as the Coalition moved to turn the tables.

He let out a bleak swear as he heard the squad lead blaring out commands for the 7th to protect the Lincoln. Firing up the motors again, Adrian affixed his Suit on the rails in line with the others, preparing for launch. Reflecting Tori's sullen words, the Ace turned them over a bit in his head. It wasn't the combat that Harvey was worried about - it was the enemy.

> Preparing launch sequence...

Flicking back to the wing channel, Harvey added his own orders into White's; the concept wasn't alien, but it felt strange nonetheless, for the time being. "You heard Tori. On my mark, fall in line to my rear right." With an iron grip on the controls, and his heart pounding tight against his harness, Storm prepared to engage.

> Launch in 5
> 4
> 3
> 2
> 1-

> Good luck.

He was thrown back close against his seat as the gravity of the Lincoln's hangar made way for forward G-force. As the machine was catapulted into the war-specked void, Harvey gunned the throttle, rapidly tearing himself into the battle. With a cry of "Mark!" into the radio channel, the Warthunder veered hard 'left' as Tori had directed.

The only sound that accompanied a pilot into space combat was just the hard roar of your MAS and the occasional cracking and blasting of your MAS being shot upon. He hated it. It was all the more reminder that death was but several feet away, all around him. He hated it. Storm surged forth to meet the leftwards opposition: a trio of Coalition Ferir Mk.II Suits. Goodie. Those things were always a bitch to punch through.

Harvey's voice clambered over the radio again, his blazing Suit grinding in the background. "Standard Ferir unit, White. Heavy armor, no shielding, Tesla-boosted maneuverability. Aim for center-mass to slow 'em down, and don't let up if you've got one nailed down." The leading Coalition MAS opened fire, forcing Storm to boost sideways as he returned fire, pelting the offending Suit with his own main gun.

"Keep yourself strafing, you don't wanna get caught in their heavy fire!" A second Ferir moved to directly intercept, and Harvey let forth another burst of cannon rounds to counter. Fancying itself a dodger, the enemy deftly shrugged aside from the lightly scarring rounds to assault the Warthunder with its own armor-piercing shots. The UEE Suit ducked down and open full thrusters forward, rocketing into a deadly game of chicken with his right arm winded up.

"If you can feint one of em out-" Harvey kept trying to talk, still interrupted by the pressure. The opposing Ferir passively kept firing, preparing itself to bolt away from the incoming charge - it wasn't prepared for melee combat yet. Another MAS attempted to stop Storm short with a hail of gunfire, only for it to be shunned by his energy shielding (down to 20%, for what it was worth). "-aim to disable!" Another blitz of gunfire roared from the Warthunder's cannon as it screamed forth, cutting off the Ferir's dodge attempt with a slew of hits.

Reversing thrusters, Storm reached out with the Suit's arm to roughly grab a limb and swing itself around the enemy machine. Still caught in surprise by the Warthunder's maneuver, it was exposed to another sharp thundering of cannon shots from close behind. The attempt to boost away was found disrupted by the layers of rear armor gradually shredding, bringing a violent crescendo to the bullets' pelting.

Before he could lunge forward to literally spike it down, however, Harvey's Suit rumbled and creaked in protest as the 'low shields' siren blared out. The assisting Ferir from before was getting more personal, looking to give the Warthunder a blitzing of its own, but for the meantime forcing it to fly wide to avoid getting torn up.

Another day, another dance with death.

Ascendant · Dec 25, 2014

The blaring alarms jolted White in his cockpit just before further jolts rocked the Lincoln, What? They're here? Now?! But the fleets aren't ready... They're going to be massacred... Tori's orders suddenly came in over the comms, causing him to nod an unforeseen affirmative as he got in line behind Harvey on the rails. "You heard Tori, on my mark fall in line to my rear right," sounded off in Logan's ear as he replied simply, "Understood, Storm."

It was then that he noticed his hands trembling on the controls. His nerves were starting to get the better of him as the launch sequence counted down, Damn it. I've trained for this. I'll be fine. I'll be fine. A few forlorn thoughts of past regrets entered his mind, but he shook them off as he tightened his grip once more, just in time for the launch sequence to end and send him thundering into the empty, black hell. The Gs slammed him back into his seat as he let out a groan and fought the controls to push his throttle to maximum and divert the thrust, sending his body sliding to the right for a moment as the MAS altered its course to follow Storm.

The G's bled off as his acceleration decreased without the extra force of the launch system, and as they traveled, he noted to himself, Man, it's surprisingly peaceful out here... Well, quiet, maybe. Besides the fighting. But even the fighting is almost... I can't expl- His thoughts were cut off by Harvey, "Standard Ferir unit, White. Heavy armor, no shielding, Tesla-boosted maneuverability. Aim for center-mass to slow 'em down, and don't let up if you've got one nailed down." As the leading MAS opened fire on Storm, White ran through his options. Harvey had something else to say but he hardly heard the man as he watched the situation. Within a few seconds two of the enemies had become focused on Storm, leaving... His shields rang out an alert as they dropped a few points, causing him to kick into full gear directly 'up', That's it, come this way you bastard... You think this older MAS is less dangerous, don't you...

The remaining MAS blasted after him, unleashing salvo after salvo of armor piercing rounds that White deftly dodged. The man's breathing intensified as his body sank into the seat, the G's building, Just a little further, the pair were quickly peeling away from the others. The enemy MAS, receiving no metal reply, had ceased dodging and focused entirely on aiming, trying to bring down White as it closed in on him, long enough for the man to line up a careful shot and blast his thrusters in reverse. Try to dodge this now you fucker, raced through his mind as his body began to be pulled away from his seat and his hand tapped the Fire button.

A single 50mm round discharged from his autocannon, searing through space at intense speed. The proximity of the MAS, combined with White's sudden acceleration towards the enemy and his unexpected firing, left the enemy damn near unable to dodge it. It slammed into the machine's rifle, shredding the weapon and sending shards of metal and debris battering against its hull and into space.

And without your weapon, that leaves... The enemy's shoulder-mounted Hammer pod opened one of its doors, causing Logan to immediately adjust his aim and send out another round designed to explode the missile inside its own pod. But it was not to be as the MAS banked hard to the right, avoiding the round and unleashing its payload, Damn. It then accelerated away from the missile to get distance, while still going upwards with White. He let out a few cannon rounds, one of which slammed into and detonated the projectile.

A cloud of condensed fire and explosive force spread out, obscuring his view as he heard bits of metal tapping against his suit, Thankfully I'm far enough away that the shrapnel won't penetrate... Wait, what's this? The enemy MAS suddenly rocketed through the cloud, alloy knife clearly at the ready, Fuck! Logan managed to just barely get his autocannon in the way of the knife as the Ferir slammed into his MAS, sending them spinning into space.

His HUD practically yelled at him in red light, "Critical Damage to Autocannon," as the pilot let out an angry roar, "God damn it! Useless!" The MAS shook as the enemy used its other hand to land a punch on the outside, "You son of a bitch!" Logan released the cannon and sent all six of his micro missiles slamming into the enemy's chest while yelling, "Enjoy," as he kicked off hard and thrust in reverse. Taking a moment to breath as he gained distance, he watched as the explosions rocked the enemy, tearing off alloy, Come on, that had to kill you...

An exasperated sigh escaped him as he saw it still floating there, clearly operational as it tore its knife from his weapon and threw the useless hunk of metal into space. For a moment they hung in space, their velocities still carrying them away from White's comrades, but Logan broke the momentary truce as he got his axe out and powered it up, a strip of plasma appearing on its edge as he accelerated hard towards the enemy. Its pod opened once more, suddenly sending out another Hammer missile as White approached, Are you fucking crazy?! You'll kill yourself too!

His eyesight began to black out as he dodged as hard as he could with such a short amount of time, barely managing to avoid the missile. As he tried to regain his senses, he felt himself lurch forward in his seat as the sound of metal cracking filled the air. Logan blinked as his heart skipped a few beats, his eyes sliding to the left. The alloy knife was suddenly enormous and in his face, cutting through the left side of his cockpit, having barely missed impaling him, Holy... Shit... The enemy ripped the knife out, allowing what little air was inside the cockpit to escape out.

The screens showed the Ferir winding up, preparing to bring the knife down as Logan panicked for a moment, Shit, the left arm controls are shot... My goddamned axe! Wait, if the left arm is useless... He reacted swiftly, twisting his mech and taking the knife directly into its left shoulder. Suddenly, Logan violently twisted in the opposite direction, throwing his enemy off him, for a few moments at least. He quickly transferred the axe from his useless left arm, Thank God the hand controls still work, just as the Ferir was closing on him once more. Using the force of the thrusters, he brought the axe sailing upwards as he dodged slightly to the right, watching the knife sail past his cockpit. But the axe made contact, slamming into the enemy with enough force to send the Ferir's right arm sailing off into space along with the shoulder-mounted Hammer pod.

Rocketing forward, he brought the axe up and over just as the enemy turned around and brought its arm up to shield its chest, and its pilot. But White wasn't aiming for the pilot. The plasma edge cut deeply into the remaining arm's connection to the torso, nearly severing it entirely. It seemed nonresponsive as he withdrew the hybrid weapon and slammed it into the joint once more, cutting the arm off entirely, "There! You have nothing left!"

Logan slapped the broken, black arm away and into the void of space with the side of his axe, and took a moment to take in the situation. His comrades were far 'below' him, in a sense, still fighting. His sensors showed Storm still tangling with the two from before, "Damn it, he needs me to take the second one..." Looking back at the armless MAS that he was practically attached to, he considered his options, But I'm not done with you yet... The pilot should be there... So if I cut here... Logan slammed the axe into the MAS's chest repeatedly, cutting deeper and deeper until finally, he cut through entirely.

Spurts of electricity leapt around the remaining torso as the head and part of the upper chest drifted away, leaving the cockpit open to the void. Inside sat the pilot, looking up at his MAS's head. Shock overtook Logan as he realized he'd suddenly been fighting a woman this entire time, Damn. She's good... The talented enemy MAS pilot suddenly kicked its drive and thrusters into gear, beginning to send them hurtling back towards the rest of the fight, causing a smile to spread on Logan's face, "You're tenacious, I'll give you that..."

He looked at his sensors and then looked back, "Ha, she's actually helping me get back faster, even though she doesn't realize it!" Carefully, he initiated his plan as he painstakingly brought his still functional right arm up and sent the mech's fingers into the cockpit. The enemy pilot tried to duck and dodge them, frustrating Logan, Damn it you idiot, if I fuck this up you're going to be a splatter of blood! Suddenly, an idea occurred to him as they quickly made progress back towards Storm. He twisted the controls precisely, rocking both MASs to the side, hard. Combining this movement with a deft pinch meant to force the pilot away, he successfully got her head close enough to controls to slam it into them when he rocked the pair, knocking her unconscious.

The thrusters of his MAS roared into life, slowing their velocity so he could focus without worrying about returning too early to the fight, Harvey can handle himself... I just need a few more seconds... Damn it, the straps! Another idea popped into his mind, No... That's fucking crazy. But a prisoner could be useful... Is capturing her worth it?? She's definitely a talented fighter... His thrusters accelerated once more, bringing them to a complete standstill as he unlocked his already fucked and vacuum-filled cockpit and turned his reactor off, feigning death in the void. Hopefully no one will spot me this far from the main fight, a dead MAS should be looked over, he thought as he clambered out of the cockpit and kicked off, drifting towards the unconscious pilot.

Logan gripped bits of broken metal, careful not to puncture his suit as he brought himself just above the enemy. The enemy. Which he was saving. Capturing, he repeated to himself. White unbuckled her harness and gently pushed her body up and away from the MAS, shortly kicking off himself and climbing back into his own MAS after a few seconds of spacewalking. Sealing the cockpit shut once more, he reactivated the reactor and closed his MAS's right hand around her body, bringing it down to his left hand and transferring her to it. Carefully trying not to turn her into a bloody pulp, he clamped the left hand around her unconscious form, Hopefully being there won't get you killed, I'll have to keep you in mind...

Swinging the pair of MASs around, he aimed the broken Ferir at the fight and accelerated at full throttle towards Storm and the other two enemies, Storm is mainly deal with the other one, so I'll get this one's attention... After nearly thirty seconds of accelerating and flying, he roared back into the battle and kicked off the broken Ferir, sending it slamming into the distracted enemy MAS as he called out over the comms, "Sorry about the delay, Storm! I finished off the pursuer! I'll take this one, you finish that one!"

He accelerated at full speed towards the disoriented and spinning enemy, his axe lighting up once more as he prepared to tear through the enemy, hoping Storm could finish the other one quickly. Logan doubted he could handle an undamaged Ferir in his heavily damaged Sentry for long... His face was covered in sweat now as he looked down at the unconscious body in his left hand, And I've got to avoid getting her killed in the process of trying not to get myself killed...

Mook-LandStrider · Dec 25, 2014

Monica Gerten, Red

Monica sat within Retribution as the countdown began to slowly fall. The full systems of the massive MAS began to slowly count down. She tilted her head to the side as all of the Head Up Display information began to display itself. She ran and hand down the area around the screen before holding her hands out and twisting her wrists. She brought them back releasing the clamps just as the launch sequence was initialized. When she heard the squad leader begin giving them orders and she listened closely to every word being said to her. She may have seen much death in her time but she never once disobeyed and order that she given unless it was beyond a word death. It was then that the last piece of the harness lowered and latched onto the back on her head. She felt it hold snuggly before raising her arms up and Retribution did the same. Only two Ultra Light Engineer MAS's came over and loaded the two Rocket Pods built into the Mech. The Point Defense Turrets were pre-loaded and were ready for action. That was when she heard her Wingman talk over the Comms to her "Thank you, I look forward to seeing what you can do. The MAS is just a tool for us to use.. It is up to the pilot to make a name for this weapon." She said in response.

Several minutes passed and the count down began to drop down to the last few seconds. "Five" She heard and she began to brace herself for the coming launch. "Four" Continued and she looked out to see the Engineers go running. "Three" continued as she ran a last glace over the large screen in front of her that encompassed the entire MAS cockpit. "Two" She heard as she clenched her fists . "One....." She heard chime several times in her head before she closed her eyes for a split second. She felt the clamps completely release as the MAS rocketed forward at an incredible speed. She felt herself being pushed back but the harness connected to her body kept her from moving. She flew out into the void of space and let herself breath in the quietness of it all.

The spectacle in front of her was picturesque in all aspects. The vivid flashes and resulting quiet explosions seemed to appear everywhere as the flashes streamed across the limitless void like massive lances colliding with a knights shield. She tilted her head to the side before blinking. Within a second of being in space she activated the MAS'S Tesla Drive to increase its mobility in flight. She stopped immediately and moved up to Psycho. "I am moving with you! I have your back!" She said to him over the Comm's as the two began to head right. The two quickly moved into their position as several coalition ships began to move into an intercept and engagement course with the Lincoln. Her targeting Suite picked up several incoming MAS units. Monica pulled the two large Hybrid Axe's off of her MAS's back and began to swing them around. She saw Sterling break off and move quickly towards them in an intercept course.

While Sterling moved forward she stayed back to gauge their movements with her Targeting AI. It was then that a MAS began to engage her at range. Her Targeting AI began to track the incoming rounds and plotted her a course to safely navigate it on the screen displaying the combat. She engaged her thrusts just as Missiles began to come her way. Just as she expected the Two Point Defense machine guns began to immediately open fire on the incoming ballistic missiles. All but one of the missiles being fired at her were destroyed causing her to pull her MAS into a twirl. The missile struck the Retribution directly causing the Grade 4 shield to flare. The Ferir pilot must have thought its target destroyed as it broke away from combat just as Retribution barreled through the smoke of the explosion. She cleared the remaining distance quickly before reaching the MAS. At the speed she was moving she knew she couldn't risk loosing an Axe.

When she passed directly over the MAS she used her targeting data and knowledge of the mass produced models to pinpoint the weak point in the head piece of the MAS. She pushed an arm down and gripped right under the neck piece of the MAS. As she passed by the tearing of gears in the Ferir could be seen as sparking began to show. As she continued past the tension on her own MAS'S arm was beginning to show before the head of the Ferir MAS gave way completely. With the MAS head in the right hand that still partially held the Axe she simply let it go before slicing it with one of her Axe's.

At the destruction of one of the three MAS'S she Commed into Sterling "One down.. Prepare to engage the other two.. Ill cover you." She said just as the first Ferir that Sterling engaged began to fire at him again. Monica hovered her a second as one of the shoulder in built Missile launcher batteries opened up and three homing missiles screamed out. The Missiles jettisoned their main canister and began to increasingly pick up speed as they screamed across the void. The second of the last two Ferir they were engaging picked up on the launch signature given off by Retribution and moved to engage her. Smoke pouring from this MAS as it seemed to be moving for a final Vengeance strike against Monica. She raised her Axe's as it began to move towards her. With the guidance systems of the incoming Ferir showing signs of malfunction from Sterling's recent spray of Auto Cannon fire.

Monica's Smart Target AI kicked in as she readied herself to throw the Axe at it. She reared her arm back just as it began to fire off several Auto Cannon rounds. Out of the four shot two hit her shield causing it to flare up and draining it by sixteen percent. She laughed "Die!" She yelled as she threw the massive Axe towards the Ferir as it continued to barrel towards her. With its guidance system in jeopardy and it smoking it struck home hard and sliced deep into the middle of the upper chest and neck area. Sparks began to fly before the MAS'S lights went out. Retribution rocketed forward and as she flew over head she ripped the Axe clear out taking the top peice of the MAS'S pilot cabin with it. "The Last should be distracted by the Missiles! Hes yours." She said as she continued to follow up behind Sterling to cover his Six.

FrostedCaramel · Dec 25, 2014

As the fight raged all around her, the Lincoln sat motionless and almost serene, restricted by the docking clamps that held her in place. Suddenly the seven massive clamps along the side of the Lincoln blew out at their connection points and the she was finally free from the station. Free to fight.

Inside the CiC the entire ship seemed to 'sink' as the clamps were ejected and everyone was pushed down by the force of the explosions. "All clamps show successful disconnection! We're good to go Captain!" yelled an engineer a few stations away from Reid.

"Helmsman take us up 400 meters, engines to full..." he said as the Lincolns massive engines roared to life, "Wates relay to the Mass Cannon batteries, they are to focus on the Coalition Frigates, don't let them in range!" he yelled as a warning began to blare, the Andromeda Class Cruiser was nearly in range 'Only a few seconds...'

"Ensign O'Keefe, bring the Armstads online. Target the Andromeda Class, take it the hell down." he said as he looked toward the young weapons officer, giving a nod in hopes of bolstering the young mans confidence.

"Ye-- Yes sir!" O'Keefe yelled back. With a few taps on his screen and a flip of a lever the Armstads were locked onto the Andromeda Class cruiser and prepped to fire, "Ready to go sir... But... How many?!"

"All of them." and with that the bays on the outside of the Lincoln began procedural opening from bow to stern. Moments later a volley of thirty Armstads was launched, flying up and away from the Lincoln enveloping the top side of her in their smoke trails. "Thirty away, twenty more are about to go!" O'Keefe yelled back to the Captain.

"We're in position sir!" came the sound of the Helmsman. "Good, now point the bow 60º down... Wates tell those Mass Cannons to open fire once we're stable..." Reid yelled to his XO "Aye sir!" the young XO yelled back, "AP primed and loaded!"

The view from the Andromeda class Cruiser was spectacular and terrifying all at once, the Lincoln ascended away from its dock and began to fire volley after volley of Armstad missiles towards the cruiser. Moments after the Lincoln appeared to have stopped moving it quickly changed its orientation as to place its top armor and all of its heavy Mass Cannons toward the Coalition fleets. The Frigate to the far left of the Lincoln began an attempt to maneuver down and away from the Lincoln, out of range of the Cannons gimbal but the Frigate was too slow to react. A curtain of red hot armor piercing rounds came screaming toward the Frigate, out of the six rounds fired in the first volley five hit, the first two tearing holes through the port side and the other 3 shearing away what little shields the Frigate possessed.

Moments later a second volley was fired, this time the Frigate had had enough time position its heaviest armor toward the Lincoln and even managed to fire a few of the Coalition variant of the Armstad missiles. But it was no use, the ensuing fire bore three massive holes through the center of the ship, and sheared the bridge clean of its hull. The Frigate suddenly lay motionless in the dark of space, floating randomly as it spewed fire and sparks. Then as if all at once their was an immensely bright flash as the Frigates reactor failed, the blue explosion expanded out from the rear of the Frigate engulfing it and then expanded father out into space before collapsing back in on itself. Anything caught in the blast ceased to exist once it dissipated.

Reid looked on the main screens watching the battle unfold. "Confirmed detonation of one the Coalition Frigates Captain!" came the familiar voice of Ensign Leary.

"Focus fire on the second Friga--" he was cut off as the the Lincoln rocked violently from a hit "Damage report?!" he yelled as he righted himself in his chair.

"We took a direct hit from the Andromeda class sir...! Three armor layers penetrated! We have a hull breach in bulk head 24, minor damage... But confirmed venting taking place!" a damage control officer yelled from his station.

"Lock it down! Seal the damage!" Wates yelled from his position. "It looks like some of their missiles made it past our defenses..." Wates said as he studied a technicians station.

"Damn it, fuck the Frigate, Helmsman set our heading for the Andromeda class, full thrust. Wates prime the Wave Motion Gun, please god tell me it's charged!" he yelled, 'We'll have one shot at this at best, if we miss they won't give us another chance....' he thought in his seat.

"Sir if we leave that Frigate they'll wreak havoc sir!" a concerned tech yelled to the CO.

Reid quickly studied the screen displaying the situations of each 7th MAS pilot and made his decision. "Wates transfer 3 Armstads to the 7th MAS, give them to Ikarus, tell him he better take that fucking Frigate down or he's back to goddamn infantry!" Reid said to his XO in a less than friendly tone.

The movement of the Lincoln could be felt as it swung upwards to face its bow toward the Andromeda Class cruiser.

The Andromeda class was rather busy defending the seemingly never-ending hail of Armstads that the Lincolns repositioning almost went unnoticed, almost, it quickly caught onto the Lincolns plan as large arks of electricity could be seen jumping from the front of the Lincoln to its hull. The Andromeda fired one massive volley of anti-capital missiles at once, all for the Lincoln in the hopes of it taking the defensive once more.

The atmosphere in the CiC went from as calm as calm could be in an all out space battle to utter panic, radar techs began calling out anti-capital ship missiles, with the final count at about 230 missiles total.

Wates yelled desperately from the front of the CiC "Captain we need to evade! We're done for if we don't!---"

"Negative keep heading, tell me when we're set!... Everything focus fire on the missiles!" he yelled, as he clenched his hand around his wedding ring.

The Lincoln let loose a massive hail of fire all directed toward the missiles the Coalition Andromeda had fired, and one by one small explosions were seen as projectiles met their mark, but it was not enough, the missiles would make it through no matter how much fire was put down. "There's just too many..." a radar tech sighed, defeat obvious in his tone. Reid watched the Wave Gun charge rising as he clenched his fist around his ring as hard as he could.

>Maximum Charge... [BCOLOR=#00ff00]...Fire?...... . . . .[/BCOLOR]

Reid slammed his fist on his chairs arm and pointed to Wates, "FIRE"

The entire Lincoln suddenly went dark as all the electricity onboard shuttered for a mere moment, at the bow of the ship a massive sphere of plasma shining bright blue appeared to manifest from nothing and was released at immense speed toward the the Coalition Cruiser, it fed upon most of the missiles the Cruiser had fired and was quickly upon it melting the cruiser clean in half in the blink of an eye. The Cruisers two separate halves bellowed flames and glowed red hot at the points that the plasma had touched, throughout the ship escape pods could be seen being launched.

"Ship destroyed!" Leary rang out. The entire CiC seemed to sigh in relief as one.

Reid watched the main display to see the remains of the defeated cruiser "We still have another Cruiser and a Destroyer to deal with people! Don't celebrate yet!" Reid directed his attention to the two new threats quickly flanking the Lincoln.

'Ikarus had better finish that Frigate...' he thought as the Lincoln renewed its hail of fire towards the two ships.

Shalashaska · Dec 25, 2014

Ikarus, #800000

Sitting inside Archangel, Constantine watched silently as MAS after MAS was deployed into space. Leaning back in his seat, he allowed the straps of the prototype to clasp in front of his chest. Taking a deep breath, he tightened his grip on the controls until his knuckles began to turn white.

This was his first time actually being deployed into combat in a MAS, and he had the same knot in his stomach that he had when he went on his first, and last, Special Forces Mission.

'Remember, runt, stick with the pack. Try to go it alone and you'll become another statistic, but if you stick with us, you'll live to see another day.' The words of his former captain echoed in his mind and he exhaled the breath he didn't even know he was holding.

'This is it, Ikarus.' Sarah said over the comms, the support group naturally being deployed last..

5.

4.

Constantine closed his eyes.

3.

He could feel the subtle shift as clamps rose from the floor and snapped onto Archangel's feet.

2.

Instantly, the MAS was sent rocketing forward towards the exit and Ikarus's eyes snapped opened, the g-force forcing him back into his seat. As he neared the hangar's exit, the clamps released and Archangel was sent into space and Ikarus quickly activated the thrusters, a grim expression on his face.

'Come on you fucking tin can…' He mentally ordered as the MAS rocketed upwards while reaching behind its back, grabbing the collapsed autocannon. Detaching it from its back, Archangel hefted the contraption in its hand as quickly extended to its full size, now clearly a sniper rifle.

"Alright Ikarus, stay on my ass!" Rabbit yelled over the comms as her Sparrow shot past him and he made haste to follow. "Things are about to get hectic – we got 2 Ferir's coming our way." She informed and Ikarus took a deep breath.

"Roger dodger, preparing to engage." He acknowledged her information as he killed the thrusters while raising his weapon, hating the fact he couldn't feel its weight.

"It has heavy armor, but no shields. It'll be a bit fast due its tesla-boosted maneuverability, but our MASs will still have an advantage. Aim for center-mass to shut 'em down – with that cannon of yours, one to two shots should down it. If it gets close – don't let it fucking get close!" She ordered as her Sparrow shot forward, twisting and turning to avoid her target's fire.

Gulping down any apprehension he had, Ikarus strafed to the side to avoid a hail of bullets that would have done heavy damage to Archangel. Twisting, he ascended quickly as the Ferir continued to fire while moving, attempting to coral him into a close-range confrontation.

"Angel, enable Internal Targeting Suite." He ordered and several radars lit up in his vision, locking on in his aggressor. "You wanna play, motherfucker? Let's fucking play." He taunted as he spun to the side and the Ferir continued to fire in his direction as the rookie pilot formulated a plan.

Bobbing and weaving, Rabbit seemed to bounce around the Ferir, using the Sparrow's superior maneuverability to her advantage. Mentally, she was counting – counting the enemy MAS's bullets. They were firing in short bursts, attempting to conserve their ammo, so she knew all she had to do was wait and bait them.

'Third burst.' She counted to herself as she shot forward, apparently rushing them before strafing to the side just as the Ferir opened fire. "Fourth." She spoke aloud as the gunfire stopped and she knew they hadn't stopped firing willingly. Her suspicions were confirmed when the Ferir fired several rockets from its shoulder launchers and she did the same.

"Come on." Ikarus spoke to himself as he seemed to get ever so closer to the Ferir, his shield capacity now down to 45%. He knew it was risky, but he had to try. In the distance, he noticed the Lincoln join the fray.

>Incoming transmission.

'Attention, Ikarus – this is Lieutenant Commander Wates from the Lincoln. We are currently engaging an Andromeda class ship. We are requesting you guide 3 Armstad Missiles to an enemy friga-' The transmission died and Ikarus's eyes narrowed.

"Fuck!" He shouted as he sped up his plan, flying straight for the Ferir which quickly drew its knife, probably thinking the Archangel had a death wish. "Angel, deploy chaffs." He ordered and instantly a cloud of white spread out quickly with a large enough radius to cover both the Archangel and Ferir. Putting the thrusters on full blast, he relied on the targeting system to keep the Ferir highlighted just long enough to him to fly over the armored MAS.

Flipping around so he was upside down, he leveled the autocannon at the Ferir's back before firing. Instantly, a large ballistic round ripped through the cockpit and Ikarus flew downwards as part of the machine exploded and the rest drifted along lifelessly.

"Good job, Mr. Soldier. Pretty stupid and reckless, but good job." Rabbit chided as her Sparrow flew away from the remains of her own opponent, the machine completely destroyed. "Now, we have to get back-"

"I received a transmission from the Lincoln. Something about Armstad Missiles and an enemy frigate. What the fuck are Armstad Missiles?!" Ikarus interrupted and Rabbit went silent for a few seconds.

"Okay... Shit. Armstads are remotely guided missiles. Think cruise missiles." She spoke as they flew through space towards the Lincoln. "Shit… The Lincoln just got hit." Rabbit informed and Ikarus cursed.

"Okay, I have a question - If they're essentially cruise missiles, wouldn't we have to... Uh, control them?" He questioned curiously.

"Yes, we would. So, we return to the Lincoln, link up with the Armstads and then guide them to the frigate, understand? Wait... Shit! We got incoming!" Rabbit shouted as a Ferir approached them. "You complete the objective and I'll deal with this chumps." She ensured and Ikarus let out a sigh of relief.

"Will do!" He shouted as he flew towards the Lincoln, thrusters pushed to the max.

>Warning. Warning.
>Enemy Frigate Detected.

Angel blared and Ikarus muttered.

"Now is not the time!" He shouted, not wanting to hear something he already knew.

>Warning. Warning.
>Enemy Frigate appears to be preparing to launch missile barrage.

The AI warned and Ikarus could feel that same knot in his stomach. What was he supposed to do? If the frigate opened fire on the Lincoln while they tried to deal with the Andromeda...

"Angel, patch me through to someone on the Lincoln." He ordered and, within a few seconds the radio crackled. "This is MAS Pilot Ikarus. I am in the vicinity, prepared to receive the Armstads. Blind fire them on my position, I repeat, blind fire them on my position." He ordered and he could see three hatches slide open.

"I am such a fucking idiot." He stated to himself, not even caring if the comm-line was still open as he flew towards them.

>Warning.
>Oncoming collision detected.

"Yes, Angel, I can see that!" He shouted at the AI, pulling back on the thrusters. "Okay, Ikarus. Warheads explode - the body doesn't." He reminded himself in an attempt to boost his confidence as one missile shot right at him and he killed the thrusters quick enough for him to drop beneath it. Reaching up, Archangel jerked as it grabbed hold of the rocket and Ikarus quickly activated the thrusters causing him to break out into a spin.

Leveling slightly, he released the rocket and it shot towards the frigate. Without a chance to catch his breath, the other two rockets closed in on him almost instantly, and he flew forward, extending his arms before closing them around the rockets, holding both against the MAS's sides.

In the distance, the Armstad collided with the rear of the frigate and an explosion rung out, disrupting their planned assault on the Lincoln.

"Angel, divert any shield energy to the thrusters." He ordered and the AI quickly complied as the Archangel's thrusters fought against those of the missiles as he attempted to right their course towards the frigate. "Come on... You can do this..." He spoke through gritted teeth as he killed his left thrusters, allowing the missile to cause him to spin in place before he released it and it flew behind him towards the frigate. The trajectory wasn't perfect, but the sound of it colliding with the side of the ship was all Ikarus needed to hear.

"Last one...!" He shouted to him as Archangel spun around so it seemed to be 'laying' on the rocket. Using his thrusters in tandem with the rocket's, he flew beneath the frigate. Pulling up a safe distance away from the front of the ship, he yelled as Archangel spun around and hurtled the last missile straight towards the frigate.

Almost instantly, the entire ship exploded and Ikarus skirted around the edges of the blast, attempting to avoid any shrapnel.

Retrieving the autocannon which had magnetically attached to Archangel's back, he looked through the scope. He had to admit, watching as Rabbit flew around the Ferir with contemptible ease was like watching a rabbit bounce around a tortoise.

"Come on, baby girl…" He spoke to the weapon in Archangel's hands as the targeting suite activated and it locked onto the Ferir. Pulling the trigger, he watched as a hole appeared in the Ferir's mid-section. Instantly, the MAS turned towards Ikarus only to be sent careening when a volley of rockets courtesy of Rabbit slammed into it. Readying another shot, Archangel remained a distance away from the Ferir as the modified Sparrow flew around it quickly, pelting it with flechettes.

"Ikarus, wait for my signal to fire." Rabbit ordered before taking evasive maneuvers, steadily gaining distance. Leveling out, she fired a series of flechettes as the Ferir returned fire and a burst of bullets made contact with the Sparrow, scraping away at its shields. Suddenly, the shoulder compartments opened. "Now!"

Realizing what she was up to, Ikarus quickly aimed at the now exposed shoulder compartment and fired just as a missile exited and the ensuing explosion sent the MAS spinning to the side as its arm drifted away in pieces. Knowing retreat wouldn't be easily achieved, it simply raised its gun and continued firing away at the Sparrow which resorted to seemingly flying erratically to dodge.

Still aiming down the scope, Ikarus fired a shot at the Ferir that skimmed its head and the MAS redirected its fire to the prototype. Strafing to the side, Archangel still suffered damage to the thigh and side, having depleted its shield when redirecting the missiles. Aiming to take the heat off Ikarus, Rabbit let off a string of flechettes in the Ferir's back, causing it to release its gun, knowing reloading wasn't an option.

Instead, it took hold of its knife and the plasma-charged blade seemed to hum even in the dead of space as it slashed at the Sparrow and the MAS flew backwards, narrowly avoiding slash. Activating his thrusters, Ikarus shot forward towards the Ferir's back as it holstered its weapon. Activating its wrist blades, it stabbed them into the back of the MAS's mid-section as its wrist turrets activated and subsequently unloaded into weakened section.

Attempting to shake the prototype off, the Ferir activated its thrusters and began to spin, stopping only when Rabbit took advantage of the situation and buried the P120's sharpened edge into the MAS's head from above. Pulling away, Archangel floated motionlessly as Sparrow did the same, both pilots waiting for any sign of movement.

"Target down. Okay, Mr. Soldier, consider me impressed. But, when I said the Armstads were to be manually controlled, I didn't mean that in the literal sense." Rabbit spoke over the comms with a chuckle. She had to admit, it took guts. Sure it was absolutely stupid and suicidal, but it took guts. Sort of. "What if they would have went off, though?" She inquired and Ikarus sighed.

"I took a chance that they were like your standard cruise missiles. Most of which, when used in ship-to-ship combat only explode when the pointy end makes contact with something and stops moving, hence why I never stopped the Armstads movement. I just... Altered it accordingly." He explained with a nervous chuckle. He felt like puking.

"Why didn't you just control them remotely?"

"No time. I couldn't risk the frigate firing on the Lincoln before I could receive the Armstads, link up to them and then target the frigate. I had to do something and I had to do it then." He explained and she laughed.

"Well then, Mr. Soldier. That's a fine way of thinking. I like it. Now, let's get into our assigned position." She ordered while flying off, Ikarus right on her tail.

"Roger dodger."

Iben · Dec 28, 2014

Jari, #99ccff

Shifting his MAS onto the launch ramp, Jari braced himself for the G's that were soon to follow, as the female voiced AI began to count down. Jari grinned before gritting his teeth and grabbing hold of the controls, it wasn't as bad as breaking the sound barrier during a hot drop on some godforsaken planet, but that didn't mean launching into space was comfortable.

> 5
> 4
> 3
> 2
> 1
> Launching!

Greeted by flashes of autocannon fire, beams of laser, the dull explosions of missiles in space and the ships dying quietly in the void, Jari let himself drift for a moment to get his bearings. He saw with a chuckle that Sokolov still sported the same customized red and black PTX-088 Ceturion MKI, although he was certain it has been modified quite a bit since he had last seen it in action. It was however clear that it had been changed from a long range artillery unit to a surprisingly agile heavy, with the intention of providing to close support to the squadron and enough firepower to take even the heaviest of MAS out of the fight. Attached to the hip of the bulky mobile armor suit was the plasma edged hatchet from which Sokolov had gained his call sign.

Putting full power to his forward thrusts, Jari sent the Thunderbolt rocketing forward and he placed himself in between the Lincoln and the approaching Coalition mobile armor suits. Sokolov had only managed to form up beside him when the space the pair of veteran pilots had just occupied exploded with bursts of light as missiles struck the Lincoln, although the ship struck back with vengeance and Jari noted with grim satisfaction that one of the Coalition frigates had been reduced to space debris. "We hold the line Sokolov, the Lincoln will have to take care of the the Coalition ships and their missiles themselves...At least until we get rid of the Coalition MAS."

"Roger. I have 5 Coalition MAS heading towards us," Sokolov said pausing for a brief moment,"I've got 3 Ferir MK IIs, 1 Ferir Mark III and one heavy, a Hardballer Mk I."

"Confirmed," Jari replied after casting a quick glance at the targeting data from the advanced radar suite of the Thunderbolt. "Always outnumbered, never outgunned."

"Da, those Coalition bastards never fight fair," Sokolov replied with a characteristic laugh. "What's the plan? I don't like the looks of that Mark III, those bastards are always tough to kill."

"Focus fire, we take them down one by one," Jair suggested, not that there was much choice, the Hardballer alone meant doom for the Lincoln. "We start with the heavy, he has the firepower to cause some trouble for the Lincoln and then we get rid of that MK III if we have a chance. We have the shields and armor to outlast the regular MK IIs alone, if it comes to that"

With a deft pres of a button, Jari brought the targeting suite of the Thunderbolt online and held his crosshairs over the bulky frame of the heavy Coalition MAS. As the crosshairs turned a solid red, confirming that the targeting AI had calculated the ideal aim point, Jari depressed the trigger on the joystick and fired the two plasma cannons of the Thunbderbolt. He watched with disappointment as only one bolt of plasma hit dead on, killing the shield of the Hardballer in a shower of sparks as the other plasma bolt thundered harmlessly past the Coalition machine. Seeing the near miss, Jari swore silently to himself wishing they'd had more time to test out the weapons. Tapping a series of keys to apply a slight correction to the aim of the offending weapon, he danced easily out of the way of the return fire from the Hardballer and its escorts.

From the right of his MAS, Jari saw the flash of the heavy autocannon Sokolov used in the corner of his eyes and watched as several tons of armor were stripped from the Hardballer, which quickly broke upwards and back in a controlled spiral. Smelling blood in the water, the three Ferir variants moved into to support the lumbering machine and the two UEE pilots were sent dodging the screen of missiles that came racing their way.

Dodging the incoming fire, and feeling himself being thrown around the cockpit as rounds caught the heavy shield of the Thunderbolt, Jari saw one of the MK IIs detach from the others and make a break for the Lincoln.

"Sokolov, tag that bandit! I've got the other four!" Jari shouted. "If we let one of them through, the Lincoln is done for!"

"On it," Sokolov replied.

Opening fire on the nearest Ferir, Jari firewalled his throttle, pushing him back against his seat as he moved to flank the three remaining suits. Spying hesitation in one of the MK IIs, Jari quickly added an element of lateral thrust to his motion, sending him spinning around the surprised pilot. Quickly switching his firing group, he depressed the trigger of his joystick and watched as his laser blackened the armor of his chosen target. Panicking the Coalition pilot fire all of his weapons in reply, forcing Jari to go vertical over the enemy MAS. With his sole goal being to keep all three of the Coalition suits busy, Jari quickly engaged his thrusters again, sending Thunderbolt forward and poured fire into another MK II. He trusted Sokolov to take care of the Ferir, all he had to do was keep the other two busy...and survive. The blaring alarm of incoming fire, caused Jari to switch his direction of travel with a well-timed application of thrusters and he only caught the opening burst of fire from one of the MK IIs autocannons.

"Bastards!" He heard Sokolov roar and soon after he saw that the radar signature of the charging MK II had vanished."Got him! Stay alive Jari, I'm coming back to your fight."

"Roger, the bastard in the MK III is sharp Sokolov, no messing about this time. Give me some cover!" Jari shouted, suddenly reversing his thrusters and darting away from a stream of plasma fire that threatened his shield.

"Affirmative, missiles away," Sokolov replied and Jari breathed a sigh of relief as the heavy missiles from the Centurion, scattered the Coalition mobile armor suits. "One Hit!" Sokolov shouted as one of the Jackhammer missiles struck the sides of a MK II, tearing most of the left arm off and leaving the Coalition MAS smoking black smoke for a moment. Unfortunately, the Russian pilot had not time to celebrate, as a bolt of plasma from the MK III caught his shields dead on and sent even the heavy UEE Mas reeling backwards from the impact. "Shields hit, low power, your turn to act as cover Jari!"

"Roger!" Jari replied, firing both plasma cannons of the Thunderbolt at the dangerous MK III and tagging one of the MK Is with red beams of laser fire. It was enough to force the enemy pilots to move, but the MK III with his increased maneuverability managed to shift himself just out of the line of fire and Jari was once again left swearing. Switching his aim, Jari caught the MK III with his rapid firing pulse lasers, which lit up the shields of the MK III as they made contact. No rookie, the pilot of the MK III, deftly dodged as soon as he noticed his shields being hit and fired a trail of missiles at Jari, before using accelerating away from the UEE Heavy.

Jari grinned, happy to be on the offensive again, a reprieve from plasma fire was all he needed. Formulating a simple plan, he spoke over the comms, "Sokolov, fire another spread of missiles, I don't care if you hit, just get their heads down! Especially that damned MK III."

Without waiting for Sokolov to launch the missiles, Jari slammed his throttle full forward and rocketed towards one of the MK IIs, firing only a quick burst from his laser batteries, before barrel rolling around and over the Coalition MAS, who clearly hadn't expected the Thunderbolt to be sporting a state of the art Tesla Drive. As Sokolov's volley of heavy missiles struck the Coalition suits and forced them to evade or focus their fire, Jari found himself coming in on the 9 o'clock of the Hardballer. Opening up with his plasma cannons at close range, he tore threw the heavy shield of the Coalition weapon. Slamming his pedals full left, he fired all six lasers of his MAS, turning layers of Coalition armor into metallic slag. Drawing the continuous fire downwards across the enemy MAS as he spun past it, Jari cut downwards toward the cockpit, holding his fire only when he had left a deep trench running from the left shoulder of the MAS to the hip.

"The Heavy is down! Switch to the MK III," Jari shouted to Sokolov over the comms, leaving the now dead Coalition heavy drifting in space, as he avoided the angry fire of one of the MK IIs that had realized only a moment to late that he wasn't the target. The Thunderbolt shuttered again, as the MK III found pilot found his aim and hit the shield of the Thunderbolt with a bolt of plasma and one of the MK IIs got lucky with its main cannon.

> Warning Shields at 50%

"Jari! Break right!" Sokolov shouted and Jari listened, slamming his pedals full right and dodging a stream of autocannon fire that was intended for his MAS.

"Thanks, I think they mean business now Sokolov!" Jari jested, returning fire towards the Coalition machines and readying his missiles for launch, as he continued to move across the dark void of space.

Vietmyke · Dec 29, 2014

"The Last should be distracted by the Missiles! Hes yours." came the voice of Gerten over the comm as she dispatched two of the Ferir's they were engaging with quick, vicious swipes from her MAS's plasma axes, launching a flurry of missiles at the last one, which flew away desperately as it tried to avoid the explosive tips.

"I got him! I got him!" Sterling called out. His MAS boosted as it accelerated and tailed the Ferir which flipped 180, its weapon firing while it flew backwards. Sterling rolled out of the way as the Ferir sprayed autocannon rounds at him, tearing up the missiles that trailed behind him, which exploded into blasts of light and smoke.

Sterling tore out of the smoke, swirls of the gray cloud trailing behind him as he blasted towards the Ferir, autocannon firing in one hand, the other arm cocked back. A quartet of autocannon rounds rocked the heavy armor of the Ferir, which responded by desperately loosing a pair of hammer missiles back at Sterling. His MAS's Smart-Targeting AI quickly identified and locked onto the missiles flying at him. Using his Autocannon, Sterling fired a trio of rounds into one of the missiles, causing it to explode with smoke and fire, and rolled at the last minute, juking past the second missile, which turned on a wide angle as it attempted to reacquire its target.

Sterling's Sentinel was now upon the Ferir, the long barrel of the Coalition Suit's weapon rendering it ineffective as the mass of Sterling's MAS crashed into it. The Sentinel slammed its knee into the Ferir, denting its armor, as Sterling sent a follow up blow, the cocked arm of the Sentinel rocketing forward, forearm blade deploying. The force of the moving arm and deploying blade allowed Sterling to easily rend through the 'neck' of the Ferir, embedding the blade deep into the back of the enemy suit. The blade must have destroyed some of the finer mechanisms within the Ferir, as parts of the suit began to power down- sparks crackling along the edges of his blade. Retracting his blade, Sterling kicked away from the Ferir- its head smashed into scrap metal, body motionless. Leveling his Autocannon at the chassis, Sterling slowly drifted away from the Ferir, ready to fire if it moved. It didn't.

Sterling's sensors pinged and he glanced over at the remaining Coalition Cruiser and Destroyer. Out of the belly of the Cruiser came another 5 enemy MAS's, a pair of Hardballers and a trio of escorting Ferirs. They were still a ways off. Closer to them was another trio of Ferir MAS's, which were making short work of one of the Space Dock's Naginata Squadrons, the four heavily armored machines more than a match for the dozen aerospace fighters. The remaining 4 fighter's tore through the center of the 7th team's battlescape, the Ferirs pursuing them.

"We're getting torn to shreds over here!!" cried the squadron leader, his fighter trailing smoke as a Ferir shot at it "We need support ASAP! We need--" the fighter's distress call cut off as his fighter exploded into a ball of flames. The remaining fighters breaking up and scattering.

The three new Ferirs now within the 7th teams battlefield changed targets, and moved to support a nearby squadron leader, a Ferir Mk III and its two remaining Mk II's as they combated a group of UEE suits.

"Shit." Sterling growled, "Those Hardballers back there are trouble, but if all of those MAS's hit the center, they'll have more than enough firepwoer to tear the Lincoln a new one!" With that, Sterling hit his throttle and boosted off after the new combatants, collapsing the flank onto the center of the team's formation.

"Negative White!" called Tori over the squadron comms. "You're MAS's arm is dead and you're cockpit is breached! Fall back to the Lincoln before you get yourself killed!"

"Rabbit, Left Flank is hurting, support it, now!"

Recollecting themselves, the two Ferirs facing Storm feinted retreating before they swung back in charged him in full force. Firing their Autocannons at him, the two Ferir's attempted to circle around Storm, keeping themselves opposite of one another, so the veteran pilot could not face one without exposing his back to the other. Pressing their numerical advantage, the Ferirs flew in ellipses, as they changed between circling close to him, where their autocannons would be more effective, and circling further away from him, where he would have more difficulty returning fire. Firing a steady stream of glowing autocannon rounds at him, the two Ferir's followed up by each launching a hammer missile at him- both of which promptly exploded before they found their mark. Rabbit, in her custom Sparrow rocketed past them, spiraling as she began to turn for another pass.

In the center, the Ferir Mk III and its remaining Mk II's faced off against the two UEE heavies. The Mk III moved to engage the Centurion, while the two Mk II's attacked the Thunderbolt. The Ferir MK II's advanced rapidly on the Thunderbolt, both splitting in different directions- leaving the Thunderbolt in the center as they tried to circle around him, autocannons firing. They peppered the Thunderbolt's shields, and one of the Ferir's slowed as it prepared to launch a missile to finish the job.

A pair of blue white plasma bolts rocketed into the Ferir as its launcher opened, slagging its shoulder and back. Severely damaged, the Ferir slowly turned to see what had just fired at it, when a second pair of plasma bolts followed the first and struck its head and its chest turning the MAS into a floating metal husk, spinning away erratically from the force of the bolts. Tori's MAS tore through the empty space that the Ferir once occupied, bright blue flames bursting from the thrusters of her Plasma Boosters. At the same time, Rick in his Sentinel drove off the Mk III which had landed a debilitating blow with its plasma cannons onto Sokolov's arm.

The damaged Centurion began to fall back to the Lincoln, as Rick in his Sentinel took its place. At that moment, the three additional Ferirs arrived, closely pursued by Sterling- one exploding as a trio of Claymore missiles struck it in the back.

The Coalition suits now found themselves outnumbered, the Mk III and its three Mk IIs facing off against half of the 7th Squadron.

ON THE BRIDGE OF THE LINCOLN

"Captain! Gemini I and Gemini II have completed their unlocking procedures and have formed up on our flanks!" Wates called out to Reid, as the two heavy destroyers surged onto the battlefield, laser cannons crackling as the upon fired on the remaining frigate.

"Captain Reid! Priority transmission coming up on holodeck 4!" Called out a communications officer, as one of the four displays that flanked by Reid's command chair came to life. The face on the holodeck was none other than the face of the vageuly serpentine seeming nephew of the Emperor, Admiral Ardin.

"Captain Reid," Ardin said in a voice that was not so much commanding as it was expectant, "I am now giving your MAS squadron a priority command. You are to send your entire team to protect shuttle, as it exits the Ulysses and escort it to your ship immediately."

Coming up on another screen was an image of the Admiral's shuttle- very recognizable even in the void of space with its opulent gold trims and crests, as well as the sigil of the Imperial Dynasty on it. In a formation around it was a trio of Sentries, painted the jet black of the Imperial Service, as a fourth one stayed behind to draw fire from a oncoming trio of Ferirs. The lone Sentry was easily overwhelmed and exploded into a blast of fire as the shuttle and its remaining escorts continued fleeing towards the Lincoln.

Penultimate Pi · Dec 29, 2014

Adrian Harvey, #4444FF

Beads of sweat were rippling down his skin as Harvey struggled to retain the safety of his Suit. His inability to finish off that beaten Ferir now proved to serve additional challenge to him; the damaged Suit was opening full fire on Storm to hold his position. It allowed the remaining, least scathed machine to divide his attention between the two UEE MAS's efforts.

Falling back and below, Storm looked back to White. At the present time he was locked in what looked to be a power struggle with a badly scarred Ferir, their weapons all long since discarded. All except one: the plasma hatchet still in the Sentry's left hand. It would appear he had gone for the weapons first and lost his own in the process, but there was no reason for the struggle when he could just end the fight with a swing of the axe.

"What are you waiting for? Finish that bastard off, White!" Harvey bleated into the radio, the fatigue and pressure of combat beginning to tear at his composure. It worsened as there was no response. No droning lull of the Suit's workings, no breathing, no sirens - not even static. Another splash of sweat dripped down, accompanied by a cold shiver. "White, respond! White!"

A groan rolled off of the pilot's tongue as he let off the trigger. Under so much fire, the cockpit had torn open some and was starting to depressurize, leaving him with only the flight suit's reserve oxygen. If he couldn't get back to a proper atmosphere within several minutes, he was a dead man, complete with the heavy metal coffin of his MAS. His radio blared out, and he had to struggle to decipher the words.

"Lighter, give me a stat...!"

A couple of blinks. They stung from the sweat and parched air, now quickly becoming a lack thereof. "Losing pressure, I'm on reserve O2," Lighter panted out, fiddling with the thruster controls. "The Drive's still up, but main thrusters are out. I'm not going anywhere fast."

A frustrated sigh breathed over the communication channel. "Rose is out, but she's managed to take the Sentry with her... We need a new plan." The sound of shifting controls and the rumble of the other Ferir's motors followed, as Stryker turned to glance back at Versis-A.

A chain of blasts tore through Versis-A, from a destructive fireball behind to a devastating blast at the side... punctuated with a tremendous explosion down the middle, setting off the final reaction that blew the frigate to pieces. Along the edge of the explosion, a unique UEE MAS was skirting, pulling away from the carnage with its thrusters.

Shit.

His breath was starting to get labored. Lighter needed to calm down, or he was going to burn though the rest of his air in less than a minute. "Tertiary boost... main gun, and the Hammers," he carefully spoke. "We can still take down an MAS with that, right?"

Stryker blinked back to his squadmate, refocusing priority. "Right... right. That last Suit, I'll lead him out and we can flank 'em," he panted out, still shocked some at the resistance they were putting up with. "On my mark- ohshit-!"

As Storm put on the throttle to give chase to the fleeting pair of Ferirs, he was caught healthily off-guard by the Sentry rocketing aside him. Using the empty shell of the enemy MAS as some weaponized surfboard, he struck the distracted Ferir a impacting blow as its back was turned. Harvey fought the controls again to right himself before he went barreling into the dog-pile of Suits, then turned to look at the previously de-powered UEE MAS. It had been downed, right? Why else would the MAS be powered down, with its pilot unresponsive?

"Sorry about the delay, Storm! I finished off the pursuer! I'll take this one, you finish that one-!"

"What the hell do you think you're doing, White!?" Storm cried out, furious with a hint of relief and a spoonful of worry. "Shutting off your Suit in the middle of a battle? Take it from me, that's a goddamn death sentence!" Playing dead in an MAS was all sort of wrong. Not only did it give both enemies and allies the wrong impression, but with the Coalition, they'd blast you to pieces just to be sure. The last Harvey himself tried that was back in that lost battle against the Coalition space dock. The only reason he survived that was by being thrown into one of the UEE Carrier's open wounds. Never, never again.

"Negative, White! Your MAS's arm is dead and your cockpit is breached! Fall back to the Lincoln before you get yourself killed!"

The remaining Ferir was recovering, pulling up its autocannon and opening thrusters to open fire on the stationary forms. In a burst of desperation, Storm boosted forward, grabbing a rough hold of White's MAS to pull it away. Rapidly fiddling with the controls and instruments of the cockpit, Harvey firmly and more calmly ordered, "You heard her, White. You're not armed to do anything else right now-!" As he opened up another burst of fire from his own gun, he continued, more shaken, "Return to the Lincoln; hurry!"

Pushing away from White's Suit, Storm weaved forward as best as he could against the last Ferir. That wasn't it, though, as Adiran's efforts were diverted by another burst of fire from behind. The two enemy Suits moved to orbit Storm, so as to continually flank him and prevent him from breaking out so easy. This continued for a few painful moments, as despite the Warthunder's best efforts its shields were drummed down, and so too was its alloy plating beginning to crumble.

"Rabbit, Left Flank is hurting, support it, now!"

When the finishing blow, a pair of Hammer missiles, were launched, Adrian diverted boost direction hard. Flipping the trigger on flares and chaff, he was given leeway to blast away as Rabbit swooped in with gun to the artillery. "Oh, fuck me, goddammit!" Storm swore out in ultimate aggrivation, sweeping around as tightly as he could afford, trying to close the distance on the less damaged of the Coalition machines.

With his rush bringing him in closer, the Warthunder managed to let off another burst of autocannon fire that smashed at the Ferir's right arm before it could complete a counter-attack. Impaired as it was, the enemy now was at extreme odds trying to keep Harvey at bay, randomly and ineffectively spraying out with the limp arm. The weapon itself finally gave out under Storm's continued assault, and then the Warthunder was upon him. Adrian could practically hear the other pilot swear in fateful panic.

The enemy moved to get its alloy knife out, but Storm had more momentum. He careened out with his right hand, and before the MAS could escape, clothes-lined it in the head. That definitely threw the pilot for a loop, as the distorted vision tossed the Tesla-boosted machine into a tailspin. Harvey pulled around into a more solid position on the disoriented Suit, and threw another punch, right for the chest.

He thrusted the control stick forward, flipping out the cover on the big red button and slapping it firmly with a thumb.

Harvey ejected the Pile Bunker, jetting that oversized lance right into the heavy metals of the enemy torso. The supersonic burst of sharpened tungsten tore through the unshielded armor painfully, generating such shrill piercing noises that in-atmosphere, the untrained ear would easily be left painfully deafened. For a split second, the pilot would find himself suddenly and violently impaled by the massive lance. Then he became another body in the void as all went black.

"God, that took too long."

> 12-1 "Stryker" Status: ELIMINATED
> 12-3 "Rose" Status: SYS. FAILURE

Lighter gasped once more, his breathing getting short. This shouldn't be happening. It was an easy mass kill, a set of under-equipped UEE flunkies easily crippled by the massive fleets at the Coalition's beckon. He didn't want to believe he was just fodder, that the ancient design of the Ferir he piloted wasn't meant to last, at this point in the war's evolution. As much as he was told his sacrifice would always be honored, he felt it meant nothing if he could do nothing.

The Versis was gone. Nowhere to run, few excuses to give, no honor to give, in the conditions he was in.

That interfering UEE MAS peeled in again with almost gleeful twirls, boasting a customized Light-grade Suit. It wasn't fair! Those rats couldn't be better; the Coalition had long mastered the MAS! It couldn't be like this! In a desperate, furious cry, Lighter unleashed everything he had, holding down the trigger on his main gun and madly thundering out with his remaining Hammer missiles.

Then, setting a glancing eye to the radar, he noticed something odd. That other Sentry, the one that had been downed- it was still active, now trying to flee the battle! It didn't take but a second for a bloodthirsty sneer to cross Lighter's face, his hard breathing continuing in spite of his thinning atmosphere. He backpedaled with the remains of his Suit's propulsion, using his autocannon to fend off the other two pursuing UEE suits - and then, catching up with the crippled Sentry, took aim...

You just think you can take down Rose and walk away, you United Sons-of-Bitches!? Think again!

Ascendant · Dec 30, 2014

"Negative, White! Your MAS's arm is dead and your cockpit is breached! Fall back to the Lincoln before you get yourself killed!"

Logan gritted his teeth for a few moments, considering whether or not to follow orders until his broken MAS was suddenly pulled away, followed by Harvey ordering him to retreat as well. The man grumbled for a moment before replying, "Understood," just as Storm pushed away from the newbie. Sighing, he pulled his Sentry around and engaged full thrusters back towards the Lincoln's hangar. As Rabbit tore through the missiles and continued to show almost inhuman piloting ability, Logan couldn't help but think to himself, God damn, that woman is like a fiery demon... Rabbit... What an inaccurate callsign.

He was almost sad as he retreated towards the Lincoln, until he remembered his prisoner, Hopefully she'll know enough to make up for it. Wouldn't it be something if she joined us, annnd she just happened to be grateful for saving her li- A series of 70mm rounds battering his shields suddenly broke Logan away from his ridiculous daydream as his Sentry screamed at him that the shields were completely gone, "Fuck me!" The next second his cockpit roared that the left thrusters had failed, followed shortly by his MAS begin careening into a right-to-left uncontrolled spin, "Fuck, this son of a bitch!"

The G's began to intensify as White felt his body begin to be drawn towards the right side of his cockpit. Evasive action was impossible as he felt vibrations of further 70mm rounds penetrating other pieces of his armor, "Fuck fuck fuck!" He quickly disengaged the right thrusters and almost instinctively activated the maneuvering thrusters to position his Sentry in an upside-down position, rounds rattling on his armor. Alarms were sounding all over his cockpit, things like right leg lost, systems failing, but Logan had no time for that as he poured a careful amount of energy into his thrusters once more.

Miraculously, he managed to arrest his spin, only to leave him facing his enemy, one of the Ferirs from the left flank. The enemy MAS's shots seemed to be getting less and less accurate, giving Logan a few moments to consider his options. His helmet was filled with red lights, indicating numerous system failures, as well as the complete loss of the right arm and legs, Shit, the right arm had my axe... Left arm is useless... Can hardly maneuver... I'm completely out of options... Only one thing I can do. White quickly looked at his radar and observed the Lincoln's movements, adjusting his trajectory carefully before letting go of the controls, sitting back in his chair, and looking up at the roof of his cockpit, A little help would be nice.

Inside the enemy MAS, an increasingly disoriented Lighter tried his hardest to aim, "Come on... you... son of... a bitch...!" He pulled the trigger one final time, sending another burst of 70mm rounds into the depths of space. The sight of penetrating through the core of the broken Sentry brought a smile to his lips as the lights on his enemy went out, "That... was for Rose!"

Across the UEE squad comms, Rabbit suddenly called out an angry, "No!" as she finally caught the Ferir, using the momentum of her Sparrow to send the blade of her P120 directly through the damaged torso of the enemy, slicing it, and the pilot, cleanly in half.

For a few moments, Lighter could see open space where his legs had been, the planet taking up much of the view. He coughed up a bit of blood as he muttered, "So this... is how... I..." The sentence went unfinished as the upper half of the Ferir drifted, its pilot still clinging to the controls.

The broken Sentry drifted with retained velocity towards the Lincoln, finishing crossing the void of space in under ten seconds before slamming, back-first, onto the metal flooring of the Lincoln's hangar. Technicians desperately got out of the way as fast as they could, the broken metal husk sliding about the hull for almost fifteen seconds before finally coming to a rest near the back of the hangar. The locks on the cockpit manually disengaged as a battered pilot pushed his way out of the machine.

His suit had been punctured in multiple locations by metal shrapnel, but Logan seemed not to notice as he looked at the left arm of his totaled Sentry, still somewhat hilariously positioned to strike downwards at an unseen enemy, yet now lying across the hangar deck. A smile played across his face, "I did it... Somehow... No clue how the hell she survived that... Or me..."

A small swarm of support personnel rallied around Logan's Sentry, some trying to help Logan, and others trying to get the machine out of the way. A medic ran up to the man, barking at him, "Sir, I need to look at your wounds!" White waved him off as he climbed off the mech and began walking over to the left hand, saying as he bled through tears in his suit and around chunks of metal embedded in his body, "I'm fine, honestly."

The medic looked at him as if he was a mad man before turning around and ordering for a stretcher and possibly some sedatives. Logan, meanwhile, simply watched as the engineers disengaged the left hand's grip and brought the pilot down to the hangar floor, "Still unconscious, huh? Not surprising, I guess... It really hasn't been that long..." He attempted to scratch his head but found only helmet as dizziness began to overtake him, "Fuck me, that was intense..."

Two stretchers were brought out as Logan knelt down next to the incapacitated woman, most of the engineers moving onto other duties, primarily getting the damn machine moved so others could safely land. The dark man noticed something black on the woman's hip and reached over, unholstering it and bringing it up to his face, "Hmm, nice pistol. You've got... good choice." By this time that annoying medic was back, saying something Logan couldn't understand. He merely chuckled and handed the medic the woman's pistol, barely managing a near-incoherent, "This... mine now... mmk," before passing out and falling over onto the deck.

Mook-LandStrider · Jan 3, 2015

Monica Gerten, Red

Monica watched as Sterling dismantled the MAS'S head unit. She couldn't help but smirk at the scene. For the first time things among the group were going rather well. Not to many individuals have died yet and the team was a strong force to say it lightly. She was among veterans of countless battles. She wasn't along in the area of being a Pariah among the rookies. She knew that others would understand her morbid attitude that was slowly falling to more of a facade as the horrors of her past began to finally push to the front. But, now wasn't the time for her to sit and ponder on her military past.

She couldn't help but think back to her first assignment even in this. a heated battle ground. The noise and the smells of the battlefield began to flood into her mind as if a minor flashback was beginning to form out of her thoughts. She shook her head and the MAS followed her movements due to the harness latched onto her. She began to laugh slightly at the images playing back constantly. That single day left the largest impact on her. Nothing since then had ever come close. It was then that she began to wonder if she could keep putting up the fake 'I don't care' attitude anymore. Her emotions were overpowering her and it was becoming more and more common. No longer could she hide it. It had to come out and it had to be soon.

She finally pulled herself together after three seconds on momentary paralyzing thoughts and looked up to see Sterling beginning to move. She forced herself to push forward "Alright.. i'm moving with you. I would move to intercept but I do not feel like dying.. yet.." She said with obvious signs that her mood was changing. She flew up next to Sterling and moved her head over to look at the MAS. 'So fragile... yet so strong..' she thought to herself as she felt the depths of her stomach begin to move. She needed to get something to keep her mind busy and the approaching line answered her request.

Upon reaching their destination she let her mind swim once more but in a direction that began to fuel her rage. It was something she did to stop the pain every so often. She poured to depression and sadness into pure hatred and rage. It fueled her fury and it fueled her lust to destroy. The drawn back is that she became reckless and almost asking for death. Normally she used it as a last ditched effort to save herself but at this moment she needed to suppress the feelings plaguing her mind.

She groaned loudly before focusing her eyes on a MkII Ferir breaking off and following slowly behind its two other buddies. She looked down to Sterling "I will move to engage that straggling MkII." she said before breaking off from Sterling and raising her altitude as the Tesla drive kicked in and sped her towards her target. It was then that it turned around and saw her coming. It raised its Auto Cannon and began to fire at her. She spun down and dodged most of the incoming fire. A Auto Cannon round impacted her shield making it flare.

She suddenly came to a quick stop and four missiles shot out of one of the two Missile batteries built into 'Retribution's' Chest. The Ferir instantly switched to the defensive and it began a quick evasive maneuver while firing. Taking advantage of the Ferir being now split up from its comrades she quickly went up after it. One of the four missiles struck it causing its Auto Cannon to be blown apart. The explosion riddled the space between them with parts floating from the crippled Ferir.

When she closed the distance and was about to swing down with one of her Axe's she saw a MAS hand shoot out and grab Retribution's wrist. Monica snarled and brought down her left Axe. The arm holding her was cut off before a knife was thrust out and nearly struck her armor. She snarled and blocked it with one of her Axe's. She raised her leg and kicked it making Retribution follow her movements. Now with space between them the Ferir opened its only Missile battery mounted on his left shoulder and fired two Missiles her way. Now with the Missiles streaming her way the partly crippled MAS began to try to fly off.

Monica's Smart Target AI kicked in as the hull mounted Anti-Ballistic Missile systems kicked in and began to fire at Missiles. She then flew up with one of the missiles trailing her and plotted and interception course with the fleeing Ferir. She put her MAS into full throttle with the Missile trailing behind her and gaining on her quick. She passed by the Ferir and quickly flew down making the Missile changed courses and smash into the Ferir. The Ferir took the direct hit and began to spin out and a increasingly fast rate.

Monica flew around and latched directly onto the MAS as it spun. She lowered her MAS's cockpit close to the Ferir's before holstering the Axe on her back. She closed her MAS'S fist and drove it into the opening created by the Missile strike. She then began to tear the internal parts of the MAS out before kicking off and firing two Missiles at the crippled MAS. The two Missiles cleared the spacing and struck the MAS directly causing a large explosion. "One MAS down...." She said before turning and quickly returning to where Sterling and the others were regrouping.

FrostedCaramel · Jan 4, 2015

Reid, #FFD700

"Close the Channel--" Reid said motioning toward the communications officer, "And get a hold of Rabbit and Storm, scramble them to the Admirals position. Get him to this ship." he said as he looked over his display.

'There's a Cruiser and a Destroyer left... But at least Gemini I and II are good to go...' he thought as he moved his attention to the screen showing the two coalition ships currently flanking the Lincoln on both sides. 'No matter which one we face, we're open to the other one. If only I had those Gemini free of that damn Frigate--'

"Commander, Ikarus has successfully taken care of that last Frigate sir! Not entirely sure how though..." Reids' XO yelled from farther forward in the CiC. On the same screen Wates was looking at was a playback of Ikarus seemingly holding onto one of the Armstaads to guide it into a hit, 'Crazy MAS pilots' was all Reid could really think as he caught a glimpse of the stupendously courageous act of idiocy that may have just saved the Lincoln.

"Good, we can move the Gemini into a better position for that Coalition Destroyer." Reid said eying the monitors at the front of the CiC. The two Coalition ships were closing and had begun opening up with their laser batteries, the entire Lincoln shook throwing some personnel from their positions as the shields absorbed the incoming Coalition fire. "Shields holding at 83% sir-- 81%!" the damage control officer said as the Lincoln took some more light fire.

"Helmsman! Bring us around to that Cruiser, I want the rail cannons focusing on any missiles heading our way, and get those mass drivers to start laying down the hurt... This Cruiser needs to know who the fuck it's messing with." he said as he searched the screens looking over the status of all his pilots in the fight.

'Lost one fighter, another is limping back to us.... Two MAS are damaged and out of the fight, one's already back and being seen to... Dammit this was too sudden, no one was ready.' he thought as he clutched his wedding ring tight.

Hangar Deck
EENS Lincoln

"Brandon, we've got a fighter heading back! Get ready to catch her it's Rome... She took a helluva lot of damage!" the Chief Mechanic yelled through the radio to DC3 Oliver, Brandon.

"You got it Chief, I'm ready when she arrives.." His mind drifted for a few seconds, Rome was one of the nicer pilots. And by nicer he meant one that he had gotten to know, especially on a handful of occasions in the mechanics inventory room, 'Please be okay'.

From off in the distance a fighter trailing smoke and sparks in the void of space came into view, "Dammit she's missing an entire stabilizer, you'd better be Johnny-on-the-spot with that arrest DC3!" came the Chiefs voice again. "Of course I will Chief!" he yelled back through the radio as Rome closed the distance between her and the Lincoln.

"Here she comes on my mark..." Said the Chief "Three... Two... One--- FUCKING MOVE BRANDON--!" came the Chiefs shocked voice as a UEE Sentry came careening through the hangar bay, heavily damaged and under no control. Brandon barely cleared his position as the Sentry screeched past tearing away his console just moments after he had jumped, Brandon let out a sigh of relief... 'Damn'

"Chief how do we stop Rome?!" he screamed over the radio as personnel rushed to the broken Sentry that had left a line of destruction across the hangar. "We pray Brandon, we pray..." came the Chiefs voice as once again a giant hulk of UEE property came screaming through the hangar, sparks flying. 'Dear god..' Brandon thought as the fighter touched down on the hangar floor and immediately began to slide out of control, barreling through an out of service shuttle and going into a roll as it crashed into a stack of supplies, fire spouting from where it came to a stop.

"God please no..." Brandon said as he ran across the Hangar to Rome.

"Sir, we have a situation in the hangar!" yelled Wates from the front of the CiC, "One MAS 'safely' retrieved and one fighter unknown sir... It doesn't look good down there."

"God dammit what happened?!" Reid yelled from his command chair.

"Still working on that sir!" came the damage control officers voice.

Hangar Deck
EENS Lincoln

DC2 Winters ran across the hangar bay, fire extinguisher pack ready as he approached the heavily damaged UEE Sentry. "It's the fucking new guy!" yelled another Damage Controlman as the hatch manually released.

Out climbed none other than the new MAS pilot they had just received earlier that day, bleeding from all over. But there was something weird about the MAS, in its left hand, "Is that a person...?" Winters said astonished at the site.

Engineers scrambled to unclench the Sentry's arm and let the person free. 'Isn't that a Coalition Pilot...' Winters thought as he slowly reached for the key to the hangars armory locker.

"Commander we can't win this fight, even with both Gemini, we still have 8 minutes until the Wave Gun is ready to fire again--! We can't hold like this!" said Wates far in front of Reid.

"73%--!" Came the worried voice of the damage control Officer once more.

"Alright then, start pulling back the fighters, I want them no farther than 800 meters from the Lincoln. Tell the 7th to hold those damn Coalition MAS back until the Admiral is on board. Then we're out of here, we have a mission after all... And tell the Gemini to be ready to dock at a moments notice" he clicked a few buttons on his command chair and looked over the ammunition status of the 7th. 'Most of them are running low...'

"I understand we are currently engaged, but this is not a fight we can win. As you all know before the Coalition appeared we had a mission, we still have that mission there's nothing we can do for Cerol right no--"

"We can't just leave our comrades sir!" came a voice from the front of the CiC

Reid gave a stone cold glare towards the voice. "All hands prep for jump."

Shalashaska · Jan 7, 2015

Sarah Core, #99ccff

Sarah Core was a somewhat of a relaxed woman who was able to get along with just about everyone, even Rick, while doing her job efficiently. But everyone has their limit and she was beginning to reach hers. She was on the move with Ikarus to reach the area designated by Tori to provide supportive fire, but, said order was overridden almost back to back. Left Flank needed assistance. Escort the Admiral's Shuttle back to the Lincoln... She wasn't a stranger to orders changing in the middle of a battle, especially space combat, but she had to admit it was beginning to get ridiculous.

Gunning the Sparrow's throttle, a grim expression crossed her face when she saw a Sentry go down, a trio of Ferirs practically using it as target practice. She wasn't saddened by the death of another MAS Pilot - no, she had seen too many good people go down and she'd become somewhat numb to the sight of it. Instead, she got angry. Because with every death the 101st suffered, that just meant more pressure on those left alive. Yes, it was a shame another valiant pilot died, especially considering he was outgunned, but she couldn't be concerned with the dead.

Only the living.

Shooting past the Ferirs, she twisted and turned while ascending, doing her best to dodge their fire. She was officially playing a dangerous game. A Ferir? Child's play. Two Ferirs? A little difficult but manageable. Three? That was practically suicide, even for her speed-oriented MAS. It had extra plating, yes, but nothing that would save it from a barrage of missiles from three Ferirs, and the last thing she wanted was to wind up like the recently destroyed Sentry.

Heading straight down, a signal went off on her screen informing her that one of the Ferirs had managed to lock onto her. Great. Just great. But she could probably flip it so it would work in her favor. Hopefully. Taking a deep breath, she focused when her AI informed her missiles were inbound on her position and she waited before deploying chaff, covering the area in a white fog. Explosions lit up the area behind her and the force of the explosion sent her flying downwards faster than she had intended.

A mixture between a yell and scream ripped through her throat when her Sparrow careened to the side and she realized one of the Ferirs must have anticipated her move, having been waiting far below her with a mass of bullets that had her name on it.

"Stupid son of a...!" She trailed off, eyes burning in fury as she gripped the controls as tightly as possible, her knuckles turning white. Inwardly seething she flew around the Ferir, keeping its sights off her as she glazed over the damage report. Her shield had absorbed most of the damage, with the only thing she really had to worry about being a left shoulder joint. Not bad; she'd survived under worse conditions.

"Storm, I need you over here ASAP. I've got three Ferirs and I'm engaging one now. Ikarus, get into position and provide covering fire for the Admiral's Shuttle." She spoke over the comms, her AI ensuring her words reached both pilots. Jerking on the controls, she stopped her evasive maneuvers and shot backwards, spinning around to face the Ferir while unloading a mass of Flechettes. Didn't penetrate the armor, and she wasn't surprised, but it packed enough force to cause the MAS to be knocked back.

For her Sparrow, it was best she maintained her distance. It was a hit-and-run machine designed to keep moving while delivering strong attacks. Sure she didn't have anything that could really penetrate armor from a distance, her Flechettes being most effective at Mid-to-Close Range while her blade could get the job done quickly, but she needed to understand her enemy pilot first. It was very easy for Sarah to get an understanding on whoever she was dealing with based solely on how they acted and reacted - if the Ferir went full-blast at her and wasted its ammo, that meant she was probably going up against a rookie and it would be an easy takedown. If they fired in bursts, then that meant she'd have to be a little more careful with that she did, but so long as it was one on one, she had the utmost confidence she'd pull through.

Iben · Jan 9, 2015

Jari, #99ccff

"Right on time," Jari said with a grim smile, watching one of the two Ferirs harassing him explode in flames. Seizing his newly returned advantage, Jari reversed his throttle building some distance between him and the remaining Ferir MAS without offering a chance for the no doubt surprised Coalition pilot to disengage, at least not without eating two bursts of plasma to the back. Broadcasting over the squad comms he specified his intention of sending his troublesome opponent to an early grave, "I've got this bandit covered, that leaves the MK III and the MK I."

A difficult customer instead of panicking at the sight of enemy reinforcements, the Ferir pilot instead maintained his focus and continued trying to score hits on the Thunderbolts heavy shields with his autocannon. His aim wasn't bad, Jari had to give him that, but with only one of the Coalition MAS shooting at him Jari knew that he could outlast the other pilot or rather his MAS.

Firing his heavy lasers all at once, Jari sent the Ferir rocketing through space in a spiral as it attempted to dodge the burning beams of light. The enemy suit was moderately successful in its maneuvers and Jari managed only to perform some moderate damage in turn to right shoulder of his newly selected target.

Continuing to fire with his bank of pulse lasers, the UEE pilot had to engage his lateral thrusters to avoid the incoming burst of autocannon and missile fire that the Ferir launched at him in reply at the apex of its maneuvers. Hearing a detonate harmlessly against his own shield, Jari considered for a moment replying in kind. However, missiles were best used at some range and unsure of how much longer the engagement would last Jari decided he would rather have a full payload of missiles to employ.

Instead, Jari took aim again with the heavy plasma cannons of the Thunderbolt, ignoring the burst of autocannon that ricochet off his own shields, he traced the flight path of the Coalition MAS with his targeting piper and when it shone a bright red, he fired a solid burst and watched as the heated plasma bolts slammed into the already damaged left side of the Ferir MAS, sending pieces of armor and structural components drifting into the space.

Unwilling to go quietly, the Coalition pilot threw his now heavily damaged machine back at Jari, opening fire with all that he had left. The UEE test-pilot felt a tinge of respect, for a moment, before he brought his sights over the shuddering enemy suit and depressing the trigger of his controls for seconds, he watched a growing line of orange spread over the torso of the Coalition MAS. With a final shudder and volley of ineffective fire that missed, the Coalition suit ceased to move as hydraulic fluid and oxygen leaked into space.

Vietmyke · Jan 11, 2015

Realizing their disadvantage, the remaining Ferir Mk III and Mk II began to fall back, weapons firing as they retreated from the superior UEE force in the center. Sterling opened fire, and caused the remaining Mk II to smoke from damages, but hesitated to pursue the retreating figures. Pushing forward on the two retreating units would mean putting themselves out of position as the oncoming wave of Hardballers and Mk II's hit them. The had the advantage for the moment, but as soon as the retreating Coalition MAS's linked up with the next wave, the tables would turn.

"7th Team, begin falling back." came their squadron leader's voice over the team channel. "We're jumping as soon as Storm and Rabbit retrieve the Admiral's shuttle."

"What, we're just leaving?" Sterling demanded, obviously disliking the idea of retreat, despite his ragged state.

"Thats right McKnight. We're getting out of here."

Sterling keyed the comms to respond, but was cut off by the other Astelion twin.

"Hostiles coming back for seconds, brace yourselves!"

Ahead of them, the the Mk III and Mk II had linked up with the pair of Hardballers and their 3 Mk II escorts, and had turned around to re-engage the UEE Pilots. Sterling surged forward with the male Astelion following suit, the two Sentinels moving ahead of the rest of the formation.

"Rick! Hit 'em Hard!"

"I know! I know!"

"Gerten, J, follow our lead!"

Sterling flipped up a pair of switches and brought his Sentinel's targeting computer to his eyes. His Smart-Targeting AI quickly began identifying target locations, a dozen small red crosshairs appearing on the seven oncoming Coalition units. He targeted each enemy MAS at least once, and put extra targets on top of the Mk III and the two Hardballers, undoubtedly the most dangerous of the bunch. His targeting AI continued lazing targeting reticles on the enemy MAS's, while a green light winked on in the corner of his eyes- a confirmation light from Rick. Sterling flipped the safety case off of his Claymore system's firing stud and jammed his thumb down on the button hard, while simultaneously pushing forward on the throttle.

The two doors on the upper portion of the Sentinel's legs popped open, revealing half a dozen round-tipped missiles in each leg. Missiles burst out of the pods in quick succession, the forward throttle from the Sentinel countering the recoiling force of the missiles. From the two Sentinels, a total of 24 missiles screamed towards the Coalition MAS's, leaving behind white vapor trails as their tips pulsed with red light. Glowing autocannon slugs sailed through the black space as the Ferir's tried to shoot down the oncoming missiles. Several exploded mid flight, but several more found their targets.

Orange orbs of light and smoke lit up the enemy formation as two dozen high powered Claymore missiles exploded amongst them. Without even waiting for the smoke to clear, the two Sentinels opened up with their autocannons, pouring fire into the clouds of smoke, the high velocity shells causing smoke and vapor to swirl away as the soared by, the rounds that missed helping to clear the smoke. As the smoke cleared, the enemy formation was revealed.

Pushing forward through the smoke was the Mk III, its armor scorched black from the damage sustained after its shields failed, alongside a Hardballer missing one of its plasma cannons, and a smoking Mk II which had suffered considerable damage. Behind them, the second hardballer and a Ferir drifted, lifeless, another Ferir reduced to little more than a humanoid shaped husk, and the third one reduced to scrap metal. The Mk III fired a trio of plasma blasts at the Sentinels, which attempted to roll away as a blast collided square with Sterling's Sentinel-its shield flaring intensely before failing, sending Sterling rolling backwards.

"Gerten! J! Hit them! Now dammit!" Sterling shouted over the comms, cursing as he fought to regain control of his MAS. The inside of his cockpit was flashing red, as a warning sign repeatedly flashed across his screen, warning him that his MAS had lost shields. More red flashed by his ammunition counters, as his missiles read empty, and his weapon's magazine had 120 rounds remaining.

The Admiral's shuttle and its two Sentry escorts raced towards the Lincoln, a pair of Ferir's chasing behind. The third Ferir was occupied with a particularly flighty Sparrow.

The Ferir facing down the Sparrow must have wanted to finish the engagement quickly, because it rushed at the UEE MAS, its weapon muzzle flashing brightly as it let down a constant stream of heavy autocannon shells- only to be frustrated as the Sparrow pilot seemed to move just ahead of his stream of fire.

The two Ferir's chasing the shuttle, fired burst after burst of autocannon shells at the ship- which managed to survive through a combination of sheer luck, and the Sentry units using themselves as physical shields against the heavy autocannon fire. However, as autocannon fire ripped into the Sentry units, one of them get an unlucky hit- an autocannon shell ripping through the unit's head right as its shields failed. The damaged Sentry spun out of control, regaining control just in time to get picked off by another quartet of autocannon rounds- the heavy shells ripping into the cockpit of the machine, rendering it lifeless.

Penultimate Pi · Jan 11, 2015

Adrian Harvey, #4444FF

"Oh, shit...!"

White was in more than a bit of trouble now. While Rabbit had drawn out enemy fire and Storm had managed to spear down one of the Ferir machines, the last MAS on the flank rocketed itself towards the rookie's Sentry. Without any weapons to counter the assault, the UEE MAS was quickly sent into a corkscrew of lost control. After a bit of effort pulling out the spear and securing the rearming process, the Warthunder moved back to the Lincoln in pursuit.

Despite opening full throttle, Harvey just couldn't keep up with the other Suits; they all had either a headstart against him, or in Rabbit's case was just far quicker. As tempting as it was to open fire in support, Storm's current mag was starting to run short, and he might risk harming the rookie otherwise. Desperate not to let a young life be ended so soon, Adrian cried out over comms, "Rabbit, take 'em out! Now-!"

It went so fast, but not fast enough for Sarah to beat the Ferir. With its final act of hard autocannon fire, the Coalition Suit managed to tear through the Sentry's midsection, severing the core. In a cry of "No!" and a strained moment later, Rabbit exacted her revenge with a hard swing of her weapon's blade, slicing the battered enemy MAS clean in half in kind. The 'left' flank was practically clear now, the opposition now mainly pouring in from the front.

Harvey barely choked out a few breaths to stabilize himself as he manged the Warthunder's speed to stay in control. It was just the core, he told himself, the Sentry was still mostly whole. He was still drifting toward the hangar, as long as he could make it-

"7th MAS Team, we have priority orders from Admiral Ardin: Your entire team is to protect the Admiral's Shuttle and escort it to the Lincoln. Rabbit, Storm, the Captain has issued you immediate commands to scramble to the shuttle, at the following coordinates..."

Storm blocked out the transmission, still holding the throttle towards the Lincoln. The aforementioned waypoint lit up on the Warthunder's radar, but Harvey payed no attention. He merely tracked White's movements, pushing aside the corpse of that last Ferir while Rabbit burst away to follow the orders. The kid was just that, too young to die so outright like this. If Adrian had to, he'd take the bullet first. As much as he wanted to see this war to its end, he wasn't going to let anyone else suffer like he had.

The flow of tension was finally cut as the disabled Sentry tumbled haphazardly into the open MAS hangar. There were so many things that could've gone wrongs in those moments, but by some miracle it all turned out green. Storm reclaimed himself, adjusting his aim on thrusters to carry him below the Lincoln.

"Storm, I need you over here ASAP. I've got three Ferirs and I'm engaging one now."

"Hold your horses, I'm on it," Harvey responded in deadpan, putting himself back in the battle mindset. Emotions don't fly a Suit. The Warthunder opened up throttle again, propelling itself towards the fight over the shuttle's fate. Despite the Imperial Sentries' equal numbers to the Coalition squad firing upon them, the Sentries' position as defensive units left them unable to properly fight back, hence the 7th's intervention. Sarah's custom Sparrow was making a fool out of one of them, which left two more for Storm to deal with. And this time, he'd do it properly.

As shields ticked back to full, Storm lead out his attack with a burst of HEMP missiles at the closest Ferir. Caught off guard, the enemy MAS turned attention to the Warthunder's attack, only able to intercept two missiles before being struck by three more. While its ally continued the fight against the a shuttle, the Ferir was forced to fend off Storm, continuing his bursts of autocannon fire and adding in his own Hammer missiles.

With another ejection of flares, the Warthunder throttled off hard to the side. The aim was to make a wide loop to try and encircle the enemy, pinning him between Storm and the counter-fire from the Sentries. Harvey's own surge of autocannon fire aimed for the weapons systems again in an attempt to disable it more outright. The maneuver met no success against the A70, but the Hammer launcher was crippled under a few stray shots. Adrian continued to guide his MAS in wide, swerving loops around the Ferir's autocannon aim, pressing on forward in spite of his shield alert screaming in protest.

Now sufficiently aggravated, the Coalition machine burst forward to meet Storm in point-blank. His mistake; the Warthunder swerved out again as the distance closed, and Harvey let loose with his half his other missile silo and another flurry of M182 shots.

Drake furiously fought for control over his MAS, the explosions rippling throughout the machine's body throwing out the balance. How in the flying hell was that shuttle even still flying under these conditions? It had to be literally powered by fucking miracles. There was only one enemy MAS fighting him, and it was making short work of his craft. These guys were not screwing around, that much was for certain, but it still did nothing to earn his respect.

"Tiger, I need a hand! This guy's ripping me apart-" Drake cried out over the communications, stopped short by the sight of the enemy. He had finally regained stability, only to be face to face with the enemy machine. Drake had but a moment to ponder his loss- they were so close, the shuttle was right there! All it would take was-

A massive spike tore through his torso in less than an instant; by the time the second had ended, the pilot was long dead.

Falling Skies: 7th Mobile Armor Suit Team (IC)

Edgenoble

Penultimate Pi

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No One In Particular

God's in His Heaven, All's Right With the World.

Vietmyke

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Penultimate Pi

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Flying In A Blue Dream

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Iben

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Vietmyke

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Penultimate Pi

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No One In Particular

Flying In A Blue Dream

God's in His Heaven, All's Right With the World.

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Iben

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Vietmyke

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Penultimate Pi

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