“Commander!” A nameless soldier called over the comm system that filtered through each and every one of the Leo mobile suits stationed at the Octavious Base in North America. Static followed that brief transmission before the commander could respond. He only had enough time to see the explosion the soldier's Leo's reactor created through the side view screen. The commander cursed under his breath as he barked orders at the soldiers in the Leo's closest to him, “Spread out! Find the enemy and surround them! We can't allow them to escape before the Specials Aries troops arrive!” He was about to set his own commander-type Leo to head towards the armory, a location that would most likely become a prime target for the enemy, when he noticed a new flash on left side view screen, opposite to where he'd seen one of his troops detonate beforehand. “What the hell?!” He called over the comm channel, “What just happened?!”
“Commander Sten, the fuel depot has been destroyed!” This time the transmission came from the communications tower near the center of the base. The commander cursed again before turning his Leo around and started it marching towards where the explosion had occurred. Before he could reach it, however, two more explosions flashed across his front screen, each giving off the distinct purple flash that marked the destruction of a Mobile Suit's reactor. “Damn them!” He shouted over the comm, the screen for which now showed that Leo's 3 and 5 had just been disconnected. “Commander, look the-” One of the Leo's that had followed the commander had only the time to point its finger towards a shadow just behind the flaming remains of the fuel depot when several large rounds pierced its armor from head to foot. This time, however, the reactor managed to escape unscathed as the mobile suit fell, however the pilot was not so lucky. One of the rounds had pierced the cockpit, leaving nothing but a bloody hole in the Leo's abdomen.
“God damn you!” The commander shouted, his anger taking over completely now, pushing him towards irrational actions. He fired the machine gun his Leo had been holding at the shadowed figure, sure that whatever it was would be destroyed by the armor piercing rounds. However, to his horrific surprise, the rounds seemed to bounce off the figure, leaving it completely unharmed. Green lights appeared near the top of the shadow in the shape of eyes as it moved, stepping slowly away from the wreckage. “What the hell is that?!” This time it was one of the soldiers cursing over the comm as the mobile suit stepped into the light. It was like nothing the commander had ever seen. The red and black suit looked so much more humanesque than the Alliance mobile suits did, though it had the appearance of a demon straight out of the fiction books. It had horns, wings, claws... All reminiscent of a dragon, and no visible armaments.. Just a shield on its left arm, and a strange device in its left hand... But, the commander knew even without weapons, a mobile suit was deadly.
“I'll get you!” One of the soldiers yelled over the comm as the lone Leo on the commander left dropped its machine gun and pulled a beam saber from its shield. The pink-ish beam sprang to life as the Leo charged forward to attack the mobile suit. “Idiot! We need to retreat!” The commander called over the comm, which now read only his own Leo and that of the young soldier. However, his words were all for naught, as just as the Leo was within a hundred yards of the new mobile suit, the suit lashed out with its shield arm. The shield produced a long whip like instrument that glowed red as it extended, reaching what the commander expected to be its full length as it cut through the Leo with so little resistance, the super heated metal melting the armor of the mobile suit like it was butter.
The attack had obviously hit something close to the reactor, for as soon as the whip was through the suit, the machine exploded into a brilliant purple flash. The commander shielded his eyes as the flash filled his view screen. He expected to find the other suit destroyed when he opened his eyes, the explosion of the other suit having damaged it severely at such a close range... However, when the light faded from the view screen, the new mobile suit remained, completely undamaged.
“What the hell is that thing?” The commander half-whispered to himself, as there was no one left on the comms to hear him. “Is it a monster...?” He shook himself, doing his best to regain his composure before tightening his hands around the joysticks that controlled the arms and weapons of the Leo. “You'll pay for this monster!” He yelled in his cockpit as he pulled every trigger, flipped every switch, and pushed every button that activated his weapons. The shoulder mounted cannons fired their volleys, the missiles in the shoulders launched, shells fell like rain from the machine gun as he fired round after round into the new suit.

“Idiot...” Faustus said from inside the Epyon as the last Leo on the base, a green commander-type, launched its barrage at his gundam. “So pointless...” The Epyon leapt to the side, assisted by the verniers in its legs, narrowly dodging the various munitions being fired, and launched forward, this time raising its right arm. The device the commander had noticed before lit up with green light before producing an abnormally long and wide blade of green energy.
“Oh god, oh god!” The commander shouted in despair as he struggled to shift the Leo around in time. “I'm sorry.” Faustus said from inside his cockpit, his voice muffled through the respirators of his pilot suit, as the Epyon's beam sword sliced through the enemy Leo, passing through its midsection, hitting both its cockpit and the reactor in one fell swoop. The mobile suit erupted into an explosion of purple energy, marking the end of the futile battle. “Mission Complete...” Faustus said, though the words would only be heard by him. “All mobile suits destroyed... Returning home.” With that said, the Epyon launched into the air. When it had reached an acceptable altitude, the gundam transformed into its flight mode and flew off to the east.

Halderai was sitting in a groundside spaceport, specifically in a cafe that catered to travelers either not staying in any of the nearby hotels while waiting for an earth side means of transit to their actual location, or otherwise were waiting for the shuttle up into orbit and needed a quick bite or coffee to tolerate exiting the atmosphere. Of course, he wasn't actually introducing himself as Halderai to those who he was currently chatting with, using the alias Ivan Rasputin currently, and wearing a full suit. Granted, in his suitcase was the pilot suit that he wore for actual operations and using his own mobile suit, and said suitcase was resistant to modern scanning methods, throwing out a false reading of items normally found in a suitcase that were not contraband. It was subtle, and absolutely useful for how he was operating. Currently, he was waiting for a new shipment of Suits coming down, with his GM smuggled in a hidden compartment of the massive cargo carrier where other miscellaneous cargo was supposed to be. Bribes had been spread around to avoid checking those miscellaneous supplies, and the weight written off as anomalies. It was going to have a two hour lay over, the same time a launch exiting to a commercial meeting in a luxury space station. One Ivan Rasputin was booked on the flight to that craft, and as the announcment was made, Halderai smiled and shook hands with his 'friends' that he had met. "That's the announcement for my flight, travel safely. No rest for the wicked, eh?" That got some chuckles and best wishes for his meeting, which he gladly took with an easy smile. If only they knew where those wishes of luck were going towards, it wouldn't be so quick to offer them.

Passing through security without event, Halderai slipped off towards a side passage that was forbidden to civilians, authorized personnel only and all that. The only guard there went to raise his weapon, and recognized who the man approaching was. Handing over a bribe to the guard, the man looked the other way, the arrangement already made. What the man didn't realize was that within about ten minutes of him opening the envelope to check the invoice, a powder that would be breathed in would induce a heart attack, and leave it looking like a sadly unavoidable heart attack. Of course, by the time anyone realized that wasn't natural, the mission would be done. Entering the cargo container, he slipped into the back compartment and sealed the door behind him. His custom FMS-002 GM was waiting for him here, and he smiled as he clambered up and entered the cock pit. How fortuitous that loyalty could be rented so easily, and getting a GM smuggled in as a captured mech that would eventually get lost in paperwork, never to be found again in any reference. That expedited with a data virus attached to any reference to the suit would mean no paper trail, and the news would only know of a sudden terrorist attack on another military base. Hell, this was even coincided to occur with another operation to attack another base completely, and he smiled to himself as he ditched the suit in favor of his pilots outfit, and settled into the cockpit formally, suit tucked away in the suitcase. Now to wait.

---

It wasn't terribly long, the crate stopped and the GPS in his suit pinged that he was in the correct location. Game time then, he slipped out of the cockpit, a bag in his hand as he slipped out of the cargo container. The new Suits had already been moved out for inventory, and as it was only three or so in the morning, only a token guard patrol was in front of them. A silenced pistol took care of them before an alert could be sounded, and he clambered up each of the new suits, planting charges in each of the cockpits, capable of causing the reactors of going critical, but only if in a very certain location. Of course, the design schematics showed such things clearly enough, so once he was done, he left each suit apparently unharmed and ran back to his GM, boarding it and bringing it online completely. Of course, he also opened up the hidden compartment and moved fast, leaving the open cargo hanger and preparing an explosive round in his Dober gun, equipping it and zeroing on the barracks. Of course the pilots were not in there, but it would wake them up. He fired, the round punching into the building and going off, killing quite a few people outright and leaving the rest contending with a burning building with the stability compromised. Alarms went off, and soon enough he saw the first of several Suits coming out of the cargo hanger, and as the first one raised a weapon to open fire, Halderai triggered the explosives.

The cargo hanger collapsed as the Suit's detonated and collapsed, throwing the structural stability completely out the window and burying any survivors, which there would have been none. Returning the Dober gun to its hard point, he produced a beam saber and rapidly sped towards the Command Leo, forcing him to equip his own saber in a desperate attempt to defend himself. Blocking the first strike, Halderai stepped the GM back to avoid the counter strike, running the saber right into the cockpit now that the Leo had left itself open. This instantly killed the man and the Suit was destroyed, and Halderai began humming an old song for the recently departed as he ran from the base, practically no survivors, and the few that were left would be in critical condition, and would have no idea what occurred. Job done, shipment destroyed as well as a base effectively rendered useless. He would head for a local factory that was sympathetic with his organization's cause, and had a means of transporting his GM back to base undetected, which Halderai would travel along with. While at the factory he would send a burst transmission on a channel set up for reporting the mission status, sending a Mission Complete.

"A simultaneous attack..."

The black and bronze silhouette of the Aries streaked across the sky at top speed, little more than a blurred dot against the setting sun as it rushed towards its destination. The pilot grimaced slightly with distaste, the only expression visible beneath the concealing helmet and facemask she wore. Data scrolled across her vision, satellite images of two separate sites where, only five minutes previous, two small training bases had each been attacked at exactly the same time. In both cases, the method was similar: a lone enemy unit appearing out of nowhere and using the advantage of surprise to eliminate all of the rather green pilots on base before they had a chance to overwhelm the intruder. In fact... it was too similar. The culprit behind this new act of terrorism was obvious at a single glance: Freiheit.

"Tch," The young pilot hissed, irritably bringing up the next satellite image available to her in a sidebar of her HUD. This wasn't a new tactic, by any means. Given the tactical inferiority of the enemy's units, most of the anarchist faction's few successes had been through surprise or underhanded strategies. However, there was something different this time... something that had warranted her orders to deploy without any delays. Evidently, even waiting for her squadron to mobilize constituted a "delay," which explained why she was now pushing her Mobile Suit to its highest speed, pursuing a target she knew nothing about, without any backup to speak of.

Taking a second glance at the Mobile Suit in the image, she grimaced again with slight displeasure. Even with the interference of smoke and flames on the image quality, it was still very plain to see that the winged Mobile Suit in the image was not a GM. Larger in size and far more formidable, it was evidently designed with a Human shape in mind, although Kyrieh could not tell much more than that besides the fact that it looked a little too fancy to be a mass-production unit. So, what was it, then? A prototype? Or perhaps some kind of custom model based off of the GM's frame, but advanced both in capabilities and aesthetics? Well, at the moment, that was sadly unknown, and unknowns were a thing that the Chevalier and Squadron Commander hated.

She sighed. The last that had been seen of the mysterious unit, it had been flying due eastward from the base it had destroyed. She had been northeast of the location, and had deployed to the southeast to intercept the unknown target. She didn't know what kind of speed this thing had, but it must have been at least on a level with her own Aries to warrant her being commanded to move so quickly, and so far out. She had probably overshot it by far, which would make finding it difficult. But if she didn't catch and identify it, then she would be failing in her mission, and that was something she could not allow. Still, it was easier said than done to catch a vanished craft one knew nothing about.

Clearing a bank of clouds, Kyrieh reached the target zone, and idly flicked a switch to activate her suit's enhanced long-range scanners. If the enemy was showing up any time soon, she wanted to know about it. To her surprise, however, she immediately got a result, something which should have been impossible. How could anything move so fast as to cross that great a distance in so little time? Even her Aries couldn't manage speeds like that, no matter how far she pushed it. At the very least, they'd need to have been moving at speeds only attainable, even for the most state of the art Mobile Suits, in zero gravity! More surprising still, however, was the fact of how close the enemy unit already was. Not only was it within range of her scanners, but it had already almost entered firing distance of her long range cannons. That meant she had no time left to lose, then. In an instant, she flicked up a targeting window, the familiar reticle appearing across her HUD. Lining up her sights, she immediately dropped her Aries out of flight mode, and drew its rifle. The advanced weapon shimmered faintly in the light as she took but an instant to line up her shot.

Her weapons and radar systems were much longer ranged than those of average units. Being somewhat of a sniper, or a counter-sniper at the very least, the range of her rifle generally was equal to the farthest extent of the very best Mobile Suits' radar systems. Even for a new-fangled unit like her target, at the very most, they'd realize she was there about the time she started priming her weapons. That gave her about a second a best to make good on her advantage of surprise while the enemy was still trying to locate her where she flew against the sun, invisible to the naked eye due to the light glinting off of her own machine. In the split second between recognition and reaction, Kyrieh, the Chevalier of Lightning, made her opening move.

"I've got you," She hissed, and, with the ringing of her target lock, she braced herself against her pilot's seat... and pulled the trigger.

In an instant, three loud roars, like a cascade of rolling thunder, rang out across the sky, and three deadly rounds propelled themselves one after the other directly at the head of her target, giving the enemy pilot naught but an instant to realize he was being targeted. The first step would be to neutralize its sensory package. Next, clip its wings. Then, knock out whatever weapons the enemy was carrying. Finally, eliminate it. But first, she needed to see exactly what this thing could do...

"Kyrieh Kaminari, reporting," She said, opening a channel with the officers running the operation. "Have reached the designated point and located the target. I've engaged the enemy."

The creak of the door had alerted an older man to the presence of the merc who had entered the room. The elder person in this situation was of a higher rank, commander or captain or whatever it was, the raven-black haired man couldn't care less about rank, truth be told, which is why he failed to salute or do any of that usual bullshit other 'servicemen' had to do in order to make the big dogs happy. Lucky, they were to have him be at their side. The funds offered actually quite lacking, he obviously had an ulterior motive for joining, though nobody could figure it out. Certainly wasn't money, or he wouldn't have joined, and he'd already done some good damage in operations against Freiheit so it didn't look like he was a spy. Of course they would still be suspicious, but that's all they could be.

The superior officer, obviously used to this lack of respect after simply ignoring him as if Nero had brought his hand to his head, began speaking. "Look, mercenary, I don't have the time to brief you on every detail, so keep your trap shut." his words tinged with a venom quite deserving of a retaliatory fist to the face, but Nero refrained from doing so. He listened with open ears and narrowed eyes. "Commander Kaminari has left to possibly intercept what we believe to be a member of Freiheit that, less than twenty minutes ago, launched an attack on a base, effectively silencing the whole of it by itself. There was actually a simultaneous attack on a separate base, but Kaminari reported in not five minutes ago that she had engaged the enemy." the man explained.

Nero folded his arms and sighed, bored of this conversation. His glance, almost a glare at the officer, was probably uncalled for. "And what of it? Kaminari is a good pilot, as far as I can tell. Do you really want me to assist her? You're better off throwing a brick at her head to get her attention than you are sending me with her. She doesn't like me." he laughed. "Then again, nobody does."

The man shook his head. "No, you're to investigate the other point of attack and escort the rescue teams back to base."

Nero's eyes widened. "What? Why the hell would I do that?! You pay me to kill, not to babysit!" he growled.

"We pay you to listen to orders, and that's what you will do or you'll receive a 'dishonorable discharge' with not a cent to your name, hear me?" his voice, that of a real superior officer's would be intimidating to all but the more experienced men on the base. Nero wasn't scared, but he wasn't stupid either. This man wasn't 'fucking around' as he liked to say.

He gritted his teeth in frustration. "...Fine. But why are you wasting my time with it?"

"If you're going to stay in the military for long, you'd best learn when you're allowed to speak, soldier." came his reply, earning a twisted frown from Nero, who was obviously unhappy with the response. "But if you must know, one of the bases wasn't completely wiped out before they could retaliate, and we're not sure that it was just because they were 'green' that they were killed. You're on standby in case Kaminari requests support because your Gelgoog--"

"Grunt." he corrected.

He closed his eyes. "Grunt is the fastest mobile suit we have ready to assist. Now go, you're wasting time."

"Fine." he said before turning out the door and shutting it a bit harder than one should, but not slamming it. He had mixed feelings about this, maybe.

Nero would, after swapping into his suit, board Grunt and fire the beast up, the sound of hard-earned coin going into the machine quite audible with its extra thrusters and the some extra plating on the arms to keep them from becoming useless if hit with a few small rounds. He took off, like a bolt, from the base and continued towards the opposite one that had been tended to by the other, a female squad commander who Nero thought hated him with a passion due to his lack of obedience when issued orders for the most part. You could only occasionally get him to listen if it involved something other than killing stuff. If you gave him the order to take someone or something out, he'd probably do it before you gave him that command. Sweeping the floors and cleaning MSs? No way in hell would he do that, and some people disliked that about him. He didn't even show respect for rank, treating everyone equally like crap. The only reason they hadn't dropped his ass was because he wasn't green and he was efficient, like they had hoped.

Training

"Alright. O-Two, you are cleared to end simulation."

"Copied."

The crimson red Mobile Suit, an MS-14Jg Gelgoog Jager, stopped and straightened up, before powering down. The single red sensory device flickered out and the hatch on it's chest opened, revealing a young man sitting inside, dressed in a pure white pilot suit. He stepped out and grabbed hold of the cable, lowering himself to the ground. As he did so, he removed his helmet, letting his golden, blonde hair tumble down. Another man, dressed in crimson similar to the Jager, stood nearby.

"How was it Nel?" the man asked. The younger one looked at him with his blue eyes, a smile on his face.

"Your Mobile Suit is incredible, sir." Nel replied.

"Indeed, but don't get too attached Nel." his instructor chided. That almost wiped Nel's smile off his face.

"D-Did I fail sir?" he asked cautiously, dreading the answer. His instructor kept a very, very solemn face, and Nel's heart sank. Then...

"COURSE NOT! You did great so far today in the simulation. " his instructor cooed, catching Nel into a headlock. Nel groaned helplessly in the older man's arms. "The thing is, you passed, but I ain't handing over Jager to you. Jager's my baby." he released Nel and looked at him. "You weren't planning to have Jager did you?"

Nel rubbed the sides of his aching head and shook his head. "No sir, I was expecting something more plain, you know? Something a greenhorn would be using."

"Well, that's your surprise kid. Come on. To the hangar."

Hangar

"There, this lil' beaut is yours." Nel's instructor stated, patting the reinforced metal foot of a blue-black MS-011-SMS Gelgoog. Nel's eyes widened as he looked up from the Mobile Suit's feet to the very tip of it's backpack thrusters.

"M-mine? Mine to keep?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the MS, reaching out to touch the metallic feet.

"All yours kid. Now you gotta take care of it, and make sure it ain't got any scratches ya?" his instructor replied, then rubbed his chin. "From what I've heard, this particular unit has a reactor and an engine, made from some worker in the tech & engineering department. Turns out that worker handed over that private project over to the MS department. Test pilots found the unit quite remarkable for a regular, unmodified soldier's unit."

Nel stood there, stunned. He was standing before his very own MS unit...which was sporting his original engine project. He felt it, almost a feeling of complete joy, the type that parents feel when they see the birth of their child, their child growing up, their child getting married. This was truly HIS MS. There was not going to be anything like it, just his his instructor's special Jager unit. It was like a dream come true. He stood there, mesmerized until he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see his instructor holding out a folded up uniform to him. It was blue and black, just like the Gelgoog.

"You don't need those white-I-have-no-Mobile-Suit-yet suit now, you are wearing this from now on." he dropped the suit onto Nel's hands. "Now off you go Nel!"

Nel tucked the suit between his arm and body, then using his free hand to salute. "Sir."

“Hey You, what are you doing here?” called out a guard near the front gates of the base to a young male that seemed to be loitering around. “Hey I’m talking to you!” The same guard said as he marched out of the gate and straight towards the young man, reaching out for him; and just as he was about to grab his shoulder. The Male turned quickly grabbing the guard’s arm and launching an uppercut right under the guards chin sending him up, and back. He smiled as the guard hit the ground, already speeding his way past the gates and into the shadows of ammo crates and the like. He watched as several guards ran towards the front gates, smiling as he realized his attack on the gate-guard worked as a distraction as he made his way into the munitions warehouse, setting a few explosives near the ammo and such setting the timer for ten minutes; just enough time to get out of the base. He hid behind a large door, hearing shouting closing in on his position; a man ran in with a gun, and when he was in range he reached out snapping the man’s neck as he ran by, and dragged him behind the door.

Once the shouting had chilled out and they were just patrolling, as he closed in on the main hanger of the base, his eyes lit up as he made it inside smiling a little. “Heh…fell for the distraction, and left me your toys..” He said with a smile. He made his way around towards a Leo climbing into the cockpit and turning it on. “Here we go..” He said as he toyed with the pedals and joystick, before marching it out of the hanger, alerting every single guard in the base. “Hello people, sorry I had to do this” He said as he ran it straight of the base as the timers clocked down and the munitions warehouse blew, taking the entire warehouse and most of the main building of the base, by the time the chaos had died down, he was already way clear of the base.

He stopped the Leo near an old run-down building climbing out of the cockpit as he smiled, walking inside the building. “Mission in Italy complete the base has been destroyed, and the munitions warehouse has been dealt with, I’ve also captured a Leo, I need an airlift back to base, for me and our Mercenaries new toy” Once he finished radioing in he walked back out to the Leo crossing his arms leaning up against the wall of the building, to await his ride back to base, hoping it wouldn’t take too long, he really wanted to get the hell outta here and back to the base, he wanted to finish some custom work on his gundam.

To most, the sudden attack would have come as a surprise; one that would have left them as nothing more than a pile of smoking debris decorating various locations across the surface of the infernal planet below... However, Faust was not most. He had already considered the appearance of a new enemy, and the Epyon had picked up more than a few bits of information from the Octavious base's comm channels that lead it, and by extension its pilot, to believe that an attack force consisting of Ares mobile suits was in the area. After it had picked up this bit of information, the Epyon had started its usual procedure of playing the various possible futures through Faust's mind, never once returning to the same scene. The system had literally thought of every outcome and had force fed Faust every tactic to avoid the almost certain destruction that would await any less than aware pilot.
As it were, it came as no surprise when the Epyon's long range sensors started feeding the cockpit warning signals, outlining his left view-screen in red. Faust immediately punched in various commands on his left console while pushing the joystick that lay over his head forward, pushing the Epyon into its transformation out of flight, or dragon mode. As soon as the legs were freed, Sage pushed the verniers on the legs into full, launching the gundam upwards, narrowly avoiding the dober shells.
“Well, that was close.” Faust said with a smirk as he finished the command sequence on the console. The words “I-Field Generator Activated” flashed across his front view screen as a field of yellow electrical energy began to circulate around the Epyon, forming one of its few protections against the various ranged combatants that Freiheit had expected him to encounter. The I-field would divert any other projectiles launched his way... At least, for a time it would. It could only last for a total of five minutes before having to cool down, which easily took twice that time. Faustus used the time it alotted to focus on the attacker and maginify the image of the mobile suit on his central HUD.
“Oooh, an Ares, eh? Little too fast to be one of the usual mooks, eh? And the hardware's a bit different. Must be a command type, eh Eypon?” The cockpit took on a reddish light seemingly in response to those words and a large reticle appeared on his central screen. “Wipe out the Alliance officer and any other mobile suits in pursuit, eh? Mission Accepted.”
The Epyon's whip extended from its crimson shield as its free hand grasped the hilt of the large beam sword, which had been housed in the shield during dragon mode, and drew it, the blade activating as soon as it was clear. “May your gods have mercy upon you.” Faust said as he pushed the Epyon's verniers to maximum, pushing the gundam into a full charge towards the modified Ares, its whip arm preparing to strike the suit with the now heated weapon. “For you shall find none here!”

"Tch," The young commander uttered, grimacing slightly with distaste beneath her mask as the enemy unit showed exactly what its capabilities were. True, she hadn't been banking her hopes on a direct hit - this new unit had obliterated an entire military base, without any support to help it, and was pretty clearly a custom model - but still, it was rather disheartening to watch the seemingly impossible speed of her enemy - both the unit, and its pilot - as the instant she raised her weapon and fired, the enemy unit began to move, darting aside with quite considerable speed before the shots had even crossed half of the distance between them. As Kyrieh realized, this simply couldn't be possible. A reaction that fast simply wasn't something a Human could do. That left two options. First, this pilot had somehow been enhanced, either physically or by advanced computer systems - some kind of autopilot, maybe? Secondly, one of her base premises was flaws. First, she might not have been dealing with a Human - unlikely as it seemed, perhaps this was some sort of unmanned test prototype? Second... the enemy had known she was there the entire time, and thus possessed scanning systems far beyond current technology. This, too, seemed unlikely, and yet...

She had no more time to think over possibilities, however. A bright red light flashed across her HUD, and she realized she had been acquired as a target by the enemy. It was fortunate, then, that the young commander had already begun her next move before the attacker set about its retaliatory actions. In an instant, the adversary had drawn its beam saber - a gigantic weapon which dwarfed current models, registering energy far beyond the level of standard sabers, whether they be Alliance or Freiheit in nature - and, with an unbelievable surge of energy from its verniers, sent itself hurtling towards the Commander's own Aeries at tremendous speeds. Kyrieh's eyes widened in shock. That unit was clearly as heavily armored as the toughest of the Alliance's Mobile Suits, and yet it could move at such speeds?! What kind of engines did that monster have?!

It raised its arm ahead of it as it came on, telegraphing its surprise attack just seconds before it occurred. To simply point at her own unit would have been both meaningless and tactically stupid. As such, the moment it brought its limb into position, Kyrieh could assume that it was readying some kind of attack with a built in weapon. In an instant, she, too, had brought her unit's free hand up, and, triggering the beam saber concealed within the wrist of her machine, brought it in front of her while simultaneously strafing to the side in an anticipatory movement. This evasion was not a moment too soon, for in the next second, some kind of high-speed projectile came streaking forth from the opponent's arm, blazing a path across where her own unit had only just been. To her surprise, however, this wasn't any sort of missile or Dober Gun. Rather, it was a gigantic, red-hot, bladed whip! The mechanics behind such an intricate weapon must have been staggering, to such a degree that it shouldn't have been possible, let alone practical, to use, and yet, it was evidently fully functional, for the enemy was now deploying it without hesitation or fear. Quickly, the Commander reversed her thrusters, darting backward to evade any further sweeping from the weapon and raising her suit's rifle to release another salvo. In an instant, she had lined up her shot and fired, the three shot burst streaking across empty space in an instant. The distance between them was still so small that, without a doubt, the shots could not miss a second time. Yet still, despite that, the Commander was stunned yet again, for a mysterious energy field her scanners had mistaken for the unit's thruster trail flared to life before the shots could even connect, detonating them harmlessly while protecting the enemy from even the force of the shockwave.

"What is this...? Some kind of shielding?" The Commander murmured in surprise. She was beginning to understand the strategy this unit must have employed already. With its tremendous speeds, it could close distance in an instant, and strike with furious and unmatched speed in close-quarters. Meanwhile, its thick armor and its mysterious energy defenses would protect it from harm at the hands of units such as her own, forcing enemy combatants to close to melee-range, where they would be hopelessly outmatched. Still, there must have been several drawbacks to this strategy. Thrusters that powerful shouldn't have been possible - at least not by modern standards - especially not under atmospheric pressure. At least, not for a sustained duration. If strained by continuous use, perhaps they would run out of fuel? Furthermore, that energy field had to be immensely strong, to deflect three high-speed shots from her own weapon. In that case, surely leaving it active would take a tremendous toll on the suit's reactor, wouldn't it? In that case, the path ahead was clear: outlast the enemy unit. With her own Mobile Suit's light armor and many thrusters, she'd be able to keep her distance while raining down a token amount of attacks on her target to keep it busy, until at last that energy field gave way, or the enemy fell from the sky, helpless. Since it didn't seem to have much in the way of ranged weapons, this strategy could probably effectively employed. Still, it didn't make any sense to have a unit with no guns. In that case, she'd need to keep moving as quickly as possible, while striking as best she could.

Reasoning thus, she darted left, then shot upward, vaulting her own unit over the head of the enemy and folding its legs into flight mode while it was still upside down. In an instant, she had acquired her target, and fired off a barrage of the unit's short-ranged secondary gattling guns - her missiles and long ranged railgun were too important to waste, and she needed to see if the enemy's energy field could deflect a wide spread of shots (it did) - before flaring her thrusters. Due to her suit's being in flight mode, this normally would have caused the unit to hover off of the ground. However, she was also upside-down. Instead, her unit streaked downward like a comet, coming full circle and arcing beneath the enemy unit - making sure to stay at a reasonable distance from the enemy, so even with its tremendous speed, she would be able to react in time to evade or defend herself - with incredible speed, rolling over once again in mid-air and unfolding as her unit righted itself, disengaged for a moment from the enemy. As she thought - there was no damage to the enemy's frame. Grimacing, she braced herself, and prepared for the enemy's next attack.

So this is how it took out an entire base. It wasn't that the trainees didn't have time to react. Rather, it was that even if they did, any reaction would have been useless. And yet somehow, I need to incapacitate an enemy like this? Damn.

"This is Chevalier Lightning. The enemy unit is more formidable than expected. It possesses speed on the level of my own Mobile Suit, and has employed some sort of strange defense field to deflect my shots. As things are, I don't think I can hope to reach it. I'm going to use a less proactive method, instead."

Halderai was cruising down the road, for all intent, purpose, and appearance he looked like a cargo truck driver. Despite the availability of airlifting and what not, ground transit still had uses where either there were no accessible airports or some other reason prevented easy access to air transit. The drive had been uneventful thus far, no patrols stopping him, no sudden retaliatory attacks, just an easy cruise. He caught the edge of a transmission and tuned in on it, catching the burst and hearing who it was, chuckling to himself. Well, well, looks like he had a new toy then, and chuckled as he boosted the message to base, and shot off a reply. "Oi, Soki, command hears ya loud and clear. Hope you didn't scratch the paint on the new suit." He finished the message and chuckled to himself again, continuing to cruise down the road, having the entire thing to himself for as far as the eye could see. He continued driving, humming to himself now as he cruised, and an all too familiar sight caught his eye. Weapon discharges up in the sky, barely noticeable by the human eye. Hell, he wasn't even sure if it was weapon fire, or some weird anomaly. Pulling the truck off the road, he grabbed a pair of binoculars out of his bag and leaned out the door's window, looking through at maximum enhancement. Sure enough, it was some advanced MS and, what a shocker, a suit another one of his employer's more loyal soldiers used all too frequently. Hell, he recognized the thing simply because of its design, and he leaned back in the truck cabin and grabbed the secure radio and dialed through the different comm channels they used, seeing if he couldn't find the one that man was on.

"Hey boss, where'd you find such a nice dance partner? Normally the folks opposing us can't dance to save their lives." Halderai didn't rush to bail out of the truck and power up his GM suit just yet, especially if the hostile suit had help show up. That, and he was currently way out of range of being able to do a single thing to affect that battle going on up there, and the truck should go unnoticed while powering up his suit would most likely set off all sorts of red flags. He kept watching the fight through his binoculars, staying off to the side of the road for now. That hostile suit could sure move, he gave it that much credit. Looked like a custom job, based on an Aries, and probably would run circles around just about any other standard MS. Probably a commanding officer of some sort, considering the work that had appeared to have been done on the unit. Considering the speed that suit could probably generate, it had to have run ahead of any potential reinforcements, at least for the moment. Try and stop the friendly before it got away after whatever strike it had made. This was what he did for the moment, observed and tried to figure out more about the hostile suit.

As expected, the enemy Ares reacted perfectly to the Epyon's attack, darting backwards to avoid it. Of course, the pilot had to be more than a little surprised by the heat rod whip. After all, such a thing was probably very rarely seen... And most would assume that such a weapon would be impractical, especially when acting as a mobile suit's primary ranged weapon. One would assume that, once the surprise effect was lost, such a weapon could easily be countered. However, those under the influence of such ideas typically ended up dead.
“Well, well...” Faust said at last, the words echoing through the cockpit as this “Chevalier Lightning” character barraged the I-field with more ammunition than those at the Octavious base had even had the chance to fire off. The Epyon had tapped into their comms just in time to catch the woman's (and he was more than a bit surprised to find it was indeed a woman) identify herself and give her short report. “This one really makes those others look pitiful. I almost want to see what else she can do... Almost.”
Faust punched several buttons on the terminal as he brought the Epyon around again to attack the enemy Ares. Various system commands flew across the bottom right corner of his primary viewscreen as the Epyon brought the heat rod whip around in an upward swing, the red hot metal streaming behind the shield as the arm was quickly raised. As this was done the Epyon began feeding new intel through Faust's mind, bringing about the possible outcomes of what he was about to do.
With a few more commands punched into the terminal, the Epyon system activated a few more programs, each put on hold until Faust activated them. The Epyon's beam sword arm tapped against its side, the beam sword attaching to a small (relative term, of course) instrument protruding from the lower section of the hip. When the beam sword was raised again it had a long cord attached to it that fed it power directly from the Epyon's reactor. With that done, Faust punched a few more commands into the terminal, just as the mercenary, Halderai, happened across the scene of the battle. With a thought, the Epyon switched the comm channel to one of their private channels. “This one seems to know a few more steps than the others... But, this song is hardly over.”
Faust neurally activated one of the programs he input earlier and returned his hand to the joystick controlling the right arm and the weapons attached, now abandoning the terminal he'd been so urgently punching commands into. The I-field that had been providing such an adequate defense against the various munitions fired at it began to pulse red as Faust brought the Epyon's verniers to half output, pushing the mobile suit into ridiculously fast charge. As soon as the distance was closed, the Epyon brought the whip back down diagonally, seemingly aiming to dissect the Ares. As the attack was made, the sword arm rose to the side, as if to attack with a horizontal strike. The I-field pulsed red once more, then suddenly burst outwards, the field changing to an electrical field meant to fry the the opposing mobile suit's systems. This attack would, naturally, burn away the generator's energy instantly, but it should bring the battle to a quick end.

The young commander watched as, during her flight over the enemy unit, it reacted with astonishing speed, slashing up with its mysterious whip towards her own Mobile Suit as she passed overhead. In an instant, she had brought her beam saber to bear, turning aside the sweep from her unit's body, only to have the whip snap around her guard. It was only by a lightning fast flick of her own mobile suit's wrist that she managed to drag her blade along the edge of the whip, breaking its momentum just in time to save her unit's arm from being severed at the shoulder. As it was, the enemy weapon grazed along her unit's forearm, ripping a away a chunk of armor plating as it passed. A damage report flashed up on Kyrieh's HUD, but she dismissed it instantly. No significant damage had been sustained. Her fighting capability would not be hindered. Nonetheless, she would have to be cautious. Attempting to parry such an unpredictable weapon would only yield the same results, perhaps worse.

She had no time to make a plan, however, for in the next instant, the enemy unit had raised its blade yet again, and, in the next instant, had flared its thrusters to lunge towards her own Aries, its whip raised overhead while it at once leveled its saber for a horizontal strike. As it brought down the first weapon, the Commander had already sprung into action. Cutting thrusters on the right side of her machine, she flared those verniers on the left, darting in the opposite direction just in time to slip out of the path of the whip. At the same time, she had raised her beam saber once again. Not wanting to risk a direct clash - her own unit's motors were doubtless inferior to those of the much bulkier unit, and her miniaturized mass-production saber was far inferior in terms of energy, which would make a weapon lock decidedly disadvantageous - she instead cut thruster power entirely, allowing her Aries to fall backward as, with a slight cut of her blade, she turned the enemy weapon aside, grazing it for naught but a split second and guiding it away from its intended target using the enemy Mobile Suit's overwhelming strength and speed against it. In the same instant, she kicked her unit's verniers up to maximum power, launching upward. Sparks tore across the sky as her own blade ground along the edge of the enemy's saber before slashing upward. The attack's aim was sure, perfect, and, overextended as he was by his attack, he would be carried by his own speed and force right into the incoming blade. Even with armor like that this unit possessed, it wouldn't get off unscathed. If her weapon connected on its current course, it would cut right into the unidentified terrorist Mobile Suit's cockpit, killing the pilot instantly.

"I've got you!" She proclaimed triumphantly, directing what power wasn't poured into the thrusters straight into her gleaming saber as it disengaged from the enemy's weapon and cut straight across the space between them in a heartbeat. In the next instant, her flight had carried her past, moving on the opponent's outside to keep out of reach of the dangerous heated whip as she swiftly disengaged...

...and then began to plummet helplessly towards the ground, for in the instant before she had struck her target, something completely unexpected had happened: overloading its own protective energy field, the enemy unit had created an overwhelming electromagnetic pulse, shorting out all of her own Mobile Suit's systems - including its beam saber - just in time to cause her to careen harmlessly past, her attack not even leaving a scratch on the enemy's hull plating.

"What?! He predicted my counterattack? Just what kind of capabilities does this unit have?" Kyrieh murmured with an attitude somewhere between frustration and reverence as she swiftly set about activating countermeasures, trying to bring her falling unit back online as its thrusters gave out, allowing it to plummet at terminal velocity down, down, down, through the countless miles between the lofty heights at which it had flown, and the Earth far below. But, if there was one thing the young Commander never did, it was panic. And so she kept calm, hastily bringing backup power online, then using this to jump-start her unit's reactor. Within less than half a minute, her thrusters flickered to life, and she leveled out a great distance below her target, thwarted, but unharmed. In an instant, she had already set about her counterattack. The enemy had dissipated his own defensive energy field, which meant he was now vulnerable. Now was her chance to exploit that weakness. Raising her rifle, she locked onto her target, and readied to fire. However, at the same time as she did so, she also took aim with her secondary weaponry. In an instant, she had opened up with over a dozen micro-missile launchers, releasing a storm of homing projectiles streaking upward towards the demonic enemy unit in a whirling, writhing cloud. In the next moment, she took a deep breath... and then pulled the trigger, releasing first one, then two more bursts from her mainstay weapon in quick succession. The strategy was simple: her opponent would be warned of the incoming missiles long before they struck home, and would attempt to dodge them, only to - hopefully - veer right into the course of her suppressing fire, and be caught by it. She didn't expect the enemy to be destroyed, but, at the very least, she'd deal some damage, and that was all she needed to regain her lost initiative. The enemy had made a grave mistake, lowering its shields and allowing her the advantage of distance. Now, it was time to make her counterattack!

Nero was perhaps hoping that by some miraculous event, that he and the rescue teams would be attacked while they were picking up any and all survivors on before heading back to their base. He was hoping that maybe, just maybe, that he wouldn't be forced to continue mindlessly walking around in his personal Mobile Suit as if he were a zombie programmed to. However, by the time that he even got to the recently demolished base, they had already found a majority of the survivors (which were very few). He only needed to wait for near half an hour before they decided that the only people left were dead and unable to be saved. He was of course with the emergency rescue team whose job was obviously to save people in an emergency. Cleaning the base of bodies and identifying them was not their job and so that would have to wait for just a bit.

It was just the sound of the massive steps he took in his mech, the sound of the motorized joints moving and the sound of him sighing in both frustration and boredom that the mercenary could hear. He hated the fact that he, a mercenary of high renown and feared by all...... escorted people that need not be escorted back to their base, which he just left. Because it was such a quick attack, he highly doubted that they were going to try to disrupt emergency operations, especially because it'd be expected that they were on high-alert. But nope. They send Nero to do mindless tasks he didn't really give much of a shit about, and they did so on purpose. That kind of disrespect should cost them, or so the young man thought as his Suit took slow, irritating steps in unison with a small convoy.

*Beep*

Nero patched in a familiar voice.

"Nero, Squadron Commander Kaminari might need assistance." the man who had sent Nero on this very pointless escort mission blared over the com. "She reported encountering and engaging an enemy unit with an unidentifiable defensive system. We're going on the assumption she's hesitant to call upon support and taking the initiative."

Nero couldn't help but chuckle upon hearing this. He was so very happy he could stop escorting this tortoise of a convoy when he could be killing stuff. Yes, he was so simple as to simply want to kill something. for in his short but death-filled life, he became an death addict long ago. His mouth was curved into a cocky smile as he prepared to leave. "Yeah, yeah! Just point me to a target and shut up already!" he demanded back.

"....I'm sending you all the required information right now." came his voice after a small pause. Nero could only hope his tone was getting to the old man - it'd make him smile. "You are our closest unit. Make haste". With that, the man cut communication and left Nero to his work.

As promised, Nero began receiving the coordinates of a certain Squadron Commander's position. While the thought of escaping this boring job was exciting and welcomed, he was a bit unhappy when he saw where Kaminari was. The trip, needless to say, was not one he was going to enjoy. Her being quite far away. His unit was - compared to nearly any other mass-produced unit - he wasn't in possession of the swiftest unit. Kaminari definitely had some good speed on him and he didn't doubt for a second that she was spoiled. The 'princess' with an attitude.

Then again, he really shouldn't be complaining.

And so the man made way with haste to where he was needed, and hoped the battle wouldn't be over when he got there.