The glow of the screens flooded her face, blocking out her eye color and making them seem like silver orbs as she stared at the information that flitted across the computers in front of her. Cecil's fingers worked furiously across the keyboard of the station she was seated at. The virtual board's keys lighting with every tap she gave it. Hooked up to the computer system was a small chip that blinked every few seconds as she downloaded information onto it. Files upon files opened up for her as she got into the system that she originally had no access to in the beginning.

The door behind her was slightly ajar just in case she heard something and needed to leave in a hurry. Even so, she only had a few minutes, ten at most. Cecil had been working as a Kiritine lieutenant for a few years now, and was stationed on a research complex just outside of Kiritine's one and only colonized planet. Her mission had been to infiltrate the Kiritine army and gain intel on the Inukaitu project that they were working on. Most importantly, she had to get her hands on one of these mecha's and bring it back to the Drastonia and Orvanti armies.

It had been many years since she'd started this mission and now everything was boiling down to five minutes.

She had the recent coordinates of where the Drastonia's fastest vessel was located. The Nightengale was only a few leagues out of Kiritine air space. Based off of her last transmission a few weeks ago, they were getting ready for her. Whether things went as planned or not. She had one goal. Get out.

Research items on the Inukaitu flooded the screen as she worked. Most of it she couldn't download as it was encrypted, read-only files that couldn't be transferred no matter what she tried. After all, Cecil wasn't a hacker at all. Gritting her teeth she finally gave up and switched tactics. In order to get her hands on the mecha she was going to have to unlock some of the coding placed on the Inukaitu metal. That much she knew she could do since she'd been watching very closely these past few months. Being discreet about it had been difficult, but it paid off.

Pushing off of the desk, she went to another part of the console, her fingers flying across the keys, lighting it up like a million little fireworks. The screen pulled up one particular mecha that the scientists had been working on very heavily. This mecha was probably by far their greatest achievement and Cecil was about to snag it right out from under their noses. As far as she could tell, the mecha that was imbued with the Inukaitu intelligence metal was able to communicate to a degree to the pilot as well as shift the metal on its body to certain points if need be. It was, by far, a large step in their creation of mecha's with Inukaitu technology. Instead of being programmed into one solid shape, this mecha was more like a liquid metal that still retained it's strength and other properties, but the sentient being's control over itself was still non-existent.

Until now.

Cecil broke that code within a few keystrokes. Ordering the cockpit to be opened upon her arrival, she also ordered that the Inukaitu have more free reign than before though Cecil could only do so much for it. As she finished unlocking most of the codes to get it to do what she wanted, a loud buzzer rang out through the control room. Her gaze narrowed as the screens blew up a bright red color, flashing angrily at her. Standing abruptly, the chair went spiraling through the room as she wrenched out the small information chip and rushed to the door. Stepping out, she looked around quickly to note that no one was around. Yet.

Closing the door tightly, she quickly left down the hall towards the hangar of the research bay. The low heel of her tall boots hit the metal grating of the hangar bay shortly afterwards and Cecil noted that the scientists were all busy at their own work, having no care for her presence. This worked to her advantage as well since she'd made sure to make herself appear almost everywhere on the research station so as to have the scientists eventually ignoring her random appearances.

Taking a deep breath, she calmed her heart and walked towards the enormous green mecha that was on the other side of the catwalk. When she was only a few feet from the machine, the cockpit cracked open, hissing as it released itself and slide opened for her. A bit of a small grin curled her lips as she felt excitement and anxiety beginning to creep up at the back of her mind. Almost there! Almost done!

"Stop right there, Lieutenant Jiovia!"

She halted on her next step, her uniform curling around her slightly in the low gravity. She didn't turn around, her lips frowning as she glowered at the mecha that was right in front of her. Behind her, she heard several footsteps echoing across the metal catwalk and the click of weapons raised, aiming at her unprotected back. Flicking her gaze around the area, she noted a box full of random tools, nuts and bolts that the mechanics used to fix the machines during maintenance.

"What are you doing?" The man's voice was easily recognizable to her. It belonged to the General in charge of the research section and another part of the Kiritine army. His name was Urien.

"I'm sorry, General, but I'm not obligated to answer that."

She could practically feel his glower and grinding teeth, "You're not leaving this station, Lieutenant."

"Actually, I am. Also, I'm not a Lieutenant," she said as she looked over her shoulder at the man.

He was tall with an eyepatch over his right eye, a giant scar running down one side of his face and up across his bald skull. His uniform clung to his rather broad form as his fists clenched with his anger, making the muscles stand out a bit more. Cecil eyed the four men that stood around him on the catwalk then glanced over to the mecha.

It took her only a moment to calculate how much time she needed to make it into the cockpit. Her foot kicked the box off it's perch on a crate and it flew upwards. Twisting around, she launched another kick at it as it slowly tilted to face the group right behind her. As her foot slammed into it, the metal contents went flying across the catwalk, floating gently as they started their downward fall in the low gravity. Using the momentum from her kick, Cecil came full circle before sprinting towards the cockpit as fast as she could.

Shots were fired, some of them deflected in the debris she'd just caused. As she leapt up to the opened mecha, she felt several burns across her thigh and hip. Those didn't bother her, but before she could get in and sit she felt a couple more higher up. One grazed her arm, another her side. Gritting her teeth she flipped herself around using the bar over head and fell backwards into the cockpit. Bullets hit the metal all around her, ricocheting inside the cockpit and off it's armored body. A gasp escaped her lips as one made it through to pierce her through and through right above her hip.

Damn stray bullets, she cursed to herself as she quickly pressed her hand down over the wound. The cockpit began to close as she reached out and pushed a button on the arm of the chair she was in. Punching in a code on a screen right next to her, the machine hummed to life. A strange sound filled the cockpit as she started everything. It was a slight humming, almost too high pitched to catch. Cecil's first thought was the engines, but then realized that those were a deeper thrum than what she was listening to.

The high pitched sound was actually the Inukaitu as it shifted around on the body of the mecha, deflecting the bullets that still rained on it. Cecil smiled softly to herself. Taking hold of the controls, she pulled away from the catwalk, destroying it as she went. Drawing out the swords of the mecha, she destroyed as much of the research bay as she could before moving to the bay doors and cutting through them. As the gravity released out into space, the vacuum that she'd created tore apart the door and everything inside of it went flying outwards into the dark expanse.

The mecha started to fold over on itself as Cecil commanded it to change into it's faster form. The thrusters powered up once the transformation was completed and she was soon crushed against the seat as the mecha shot off into the dark. Though not her first time in a mecha, she was unprepared for such speed and strength. For a moment, Cecil couldn't breathe. It took a few minutes for her body to adjust as she quickly streaked out of the research area and through Kiritine air space. She had to go as quickly as she could before the army was alerted of her actions and came after her. Reaching the Nightengale was priority.

~~~

The cockpit was cold. Too cold almost. Droplets of blood floated all around her, seemingly getting larger by the minute too. Her breath was short as she leaned against the seat. The mecha was on auto pilot towards the coordinates that she'd input into the console. The humming had started up again, though the sound was different. If Cecil had been in better condition she would have thought it to be her imagination, but as it stood right then, she felt as if the humming had a hint of concern in it's tone.

She laughed a bit, only to bit her lip and still herself immediately. Movement seemed to hurt so much. She wasn't sure how far she'd gone and was fairly sure that she'd lost consciousness more than a few times. Cecil was about to drop back into darkness again when static filled the cockpit, slightly pulling her back to the waking world. A voice was calling out to her.

"Unidentified craft, you're entering range of the Nightengale and Viper vessels. What is your intention?"

Really? You have to ask, Cecil thought to herself as she reached out for the button to link her communication, "Cecil Jiovia. Drastonian code: 4X15E," she answered in a weak voice.

The static lasted for a while as the person who asked for her identification ran the information. Finally an answer came, "Ensign Jiovia. Welcome home." The voice was different from the first one, male and deeper in tone. It was the Captain of the vessel.

Looking out of the image displayed before her of the area, she noted that indeed the Nightengale and the Viper were docked together, a little tunnel running between the two vessels as they hovered in the dark expanse, white glowing lights of stars thousands of leagues away glittering behind them. Commanding the mecha to dock with the Nightengale, Cecil's vision wavered as they approached the sleek black ship. Finally, she couldn't stay awake any longer and slumped in the seat.



Two days ago they'd been ordered to meet up with the Nightengale just outside of Kiritine air space, bordering the neutral zone and that of the Orvanti air space. Now docked with the black vessel that was Drastonia's pride, the occupants of the Viper had been told to meet on the Nightengale for a briefing as to why they were called out to the middle of practically no where.

Iriyn hadn't questioned the orders at all, simply following them as he always did. Even so, his curiosity was there, he just didn't show it. As he and his team from the Orvanti vessel started across the tunnel to enter the other vessel there was a slight warning that flared through the room. Something was approaching the two vessels. Ignoring the warning, Iriyn continued on down the hall until they entered the loading bay of the Nightengale.

By the time they got there, the vessel that had been approaching them was now loading into the hangar bay. It was a giant mecha, dark green in color and folded over in the shape of a plane, though the humanoid features still remained for the most part. The mechanics rushed to the mech, locking down in place and got to work on it. Shouts rang out across the hangar.

They couldn't get it to open, and they were worried about the pilot inside.

Iriyn, after giving the situation one glance, ignored this as well and continued onward to the place they were to meet with the Nightengale's team. He didn't have time to worry about another pilot, or anything else for that matter. He just wanted this briefing to be over with. After all, he was getting a little anxious. There hadn't been a decent fight with the Kiritine army for some time. Iriyn was itching to go to battle again.

This better be interesting. At least bring me something to destroy, he thought with a bit of a wicked smirk growing on his lips as he walked down the catwalk towards the doors on the other end.

---

---

A long and dark night once again, the window seemed so small as the stars winked in and out, playing out their lives among the heavens. It was odd thinking that way when one was constantly surrounded by night. It was space after all, even if it did seem as if the entirety of it was encompassed in the thickened glass before Frau's eyes. His gloved hand left a slight mark as he traced a constellation on the window, quickly disappearing as the heat was removed.

Sloshing his drink around a bit, he drained the last of it as he returned his intention to the woman close to him. She had said something, but Frau really didn't care enough to remember what it was or if he had really heard it in the first place. Four eyes. Why did she have four eyes again? The back of his gloved hand scrubbed at his eyes for a moment to make sure he wasn't already drunk, yet the two extra eyes persisted. Four eyes, what seemed like a forked tongue, green-tinted skin, blue hair...was she even a woman? her voice seemed to point to that affirmation, even if only slightly.

She was speaking again, and he was ignoring her again, instead trying to figure out how to get down from the desk. It was a long way down to the floor again, and even more so at his height. Falling would be easier, but that really wasn't something he was prepared to explain to his superiors when he reported in with a lump on his head. Not that he really ever explained himself anyway...

"Just stop talking..." Frau said abruptly as he stepped away from the window and walked to the end of the desk, studying the slight drop before stepping off and landing lightly on his feet. He knew it was a mistake as soon as he touched the ground. Noises filled the sky and lights swirled around him as the stars flashed and beamed red light all over him. Grasping his ears, Frau crouched over as he fell through the floor and drifted into space at the beckoning of the noise. It was so loud...It wouldn't stop...

Until his head hit the small ceiling over the frame of his bed. With a loud crack, Frau snapped out of the strange dream he had been plagued with and rubbed his forehead where he had struck it. Lately, he had been ridiculed with ridiculous dreams of aliens for what seemed like no reason at all. The shrink aboard the Vigilante said it could be the cause of the Inukaitu that had recently been absorbed into their everyday life, causing Frau to think of life outside the human race. 'Or maybe it has something to do with the terrible lo mein he had ingested before he fell asleep...'

Warning alarms were going off everywhere, inside his small room, in the hall outside, even the computer screen was flashing with an alert. The military was nothing if not redundant. Something had happened, or was about to happen, and Frau grumbled as he put his feet to the floor. Cold as always, the hard floor was unforgiving as he quickly changed and headed from his room.

A few people rushed past Frau as they hurried on their way, attending to the duties they were charged with. As they did so, Frau picked up on a few strips and fragments while hurrying along himself. "...yeah...alot of gunfire." "...she just jumped in and took off.." "....maybe it was those aliens..."

"Lieutenant Zweiholt, report to hanger two for deployment immediately!"

The announcement blared a few times as Frau picked up the pace and rounded the corner leading to the hanger Anubis was being housed in. More announcements followed, but Frau had his orders, nothing else really mattered at the moment as he hailed the officer in charge, directing crew to their designated stations. "What's going on?"

The man whirled on him ready to berate him on his approach and the way he should handle addressing a superior officer when he spotted Frau, his eyes noticeably raising to take him all in. "Our system was hacked and the Inukaitu mech research has been working on was stolen a few minutes ago." The man quickly spat out. "You're to bring it back immediately using Anubis. If you hurry, you can still catch her." 'Her'? That was interesting, he thought as the fragments he had caught on the way to the hangar began to fall into place.

The lift jolted and shot into the air quickly as he stepped on, and in moments he was level with the catwalk leading to Anibis's cockpit. Opening at his mere presence, lights began to flash on as Frau spun into the chair and was firmly latched in. Screens flashed into existence as sequences began and finished in fragments of a second. "Initiate launch sequence. Flight Conversion."

The Screens once again flashed for a moment before dissipating and the HUD began displaying information at a rapid rate. Anubis shook in combination of the rollers as they moved him to the launch bay, and the Inukaitu machinery converting the wings to flight mode. Slight swirls of dust and miscellaneous debris formed a mist as it was sucked into the confines of space, the launch bay opening and dropping Anubis into the darkness. Not even a fragment of a second passed before his craft responded and stabilized with the changes. With a flick of the controls, Frau could feel Anubis tense as the engines in the wings flared up. The speed was remarkable, powered by six exceptional thrusts, any other craft would be ripped apart.

Frau didn't keep track on how long he had watched the sensors of his HUD when the tiny blip appeared on the screen. His face split in a small smile, but moved back to a frown as another blip pinged. This one was larger, much much larger...The first signal seemed to vanish as it converged with the larger one. Frau slowed his craft before he got any closer to bring up the image of this new found signature's source.

A curse left his mouth as Frau identified the ship on his HUD. He saw them, and he was sure they could see him.

---

---

Tap.



Tap.

Relic's index and middle fingers slapped against the cockpit of the Gemini's Shadow, keeping in tempo of a song that he had been listening to for the past few minutes. He, along with a group of four other pilots, laid about on the hangar bay, each doing particularly nothing much to pass the time.

Unofficially, they were simply known as the Killjoys by the Nightengale's crew, earning that nickname for the number of enemy mecha that each have blasted apart, though the specifics differed from pilot to pilot. Officially, they were simply one of the Nightengale's flight security details, standing by for whenever the pilots were needed. Each member of the four-man crew operated a K-24I Fury mech, similar to Relic's own Gemini's Shadow, sans AI capabilities.

While Relic was generally placed on security detail due to the limitations of his personal mecha, he wasn't part of the Killjoys by any means, and as such, he hadn't cared much for learning their names. His personal "Hammer" sidearm was securely attached to its usual magnetic holster, and the same for the ATR that was magnetically clamped securely to his back. "Spectre," as he was commonly referred to by the crew members, was one of the few Drastonian pilots who had the special privilege of carrying his own weapons while on board.

"Spectre, why do you keep tapping your fingers like that, you listening to a song or what?" One of the Killjoys shot him a question, though the question in itself was rhetorical. The armor-clad pilot silently nodded his head as a confirmation, not actively caring enough to give the sod a verbal answer.

Suddenly, the Nightengale's klaxon sounded off, warning whichever crew members to clear the hangar bay deck as a [currently unidentified] mecha was approaching and its pilot soon to be unloaded. Just as suddenly, Relic pushed himself from his mech's cockpit, landing on the steel plated deck floor below him with a hefty thud, the other pilots doing the same. Within minutes, a sizable path was cleared for the incoming mech, a roughly jet-shaped war machine of a dark green color scheme, yet it still maintained its humanoid shape. The armored pilot simultaneously drew his rifle as he called out with a heavily pitched voice, "Unidentified mech on deck!"

He had watched as the mechanics and engineers rushed to lock the large mechanical being in place, staying alert in case he would have to defend the crew-members if the pilot seemed to be hostile. As minutes passed, the work crews increasingly failed in their attempts to extract the pilot within.

"Pilot, no need for the weapon. Ensign Jiovia is piloting that mech, but we can't seem to get it to open."

One of the engineers that passed by Relic had alerted the pilot the situation, and Relic dashed across the deck towards the dark green war machine, sheathing his rifle as he ran. Knowing fully well regarding whatever negative effects that may be caused on a pilot whose cockpit is unable to open, Relic vaulted himself across a few nearby boxes and catching a ledge on the mecha's knee, immediately pulling himself into a climb over the framework to reach the cockpit. "When a mech's cockpit is unable to open, I just happen to have my own key."

Relic, as he reached the cockpit, secured himself over the hatch, activating his "Cookie Cutter" while he located a seam to jab into and manually pry open the cockpit's hatch. It didn't take long for him to forcibly crack the cockpit open, however something strange occurred as he reached inside to scan the pilot inside: the metal plating within the cockpit striked at him!

Reflexively, he returned the "friendly" gesture, striking back at one of the plates that attempted to shove him from the mecha. He noticed the pilot's - Cecil's - body signatures starting to drop, and barked out at a nearby crew member, "Get medical down here ASAP, we have an injured pilot!" as he attempted to extract the pilot from the overly protective cockpit of the mech. "Damn it, I'm a friendly!" His heavily pitched suit sounded off a warning, Relic about to ready himself to strike back at any future metallic jabs from the mecha's inner plating.

A good thirty seconds passed, and Relic had successfully extracted the pilot from her selfish mechanical body, before disengaging the magnetic holds that secured his suit to the mecha's outer frame. The pilot pushed himself from the mech onto the catwalk, the injured female held securely in his grasp, before dropping himself and the pilot in his arms onto the catwalks and stairwells below them to reach the deck. "Look alive, sunshine."

With a final thud, the two pilots were on the hangar bay's deck, though Relic was able to feel the shock of the fall despite his suit absorbing most of the impact, and the female pilot in his arms was bleeding from what appeared to be gun wounds. A handful of the medical crew were already there, and Relic had handed her over to medical care, who had already began stabilizing the injured pilot...

---

---

Sasuke resided in his personal quarters, laying on his bed, pouting. His anger had gotten to him and now he was in "time out". Really the captain had just asked him to go and cool down. The impatient boy had been begging and begging for the captain to check on his sister Cecil. His authorities refused, saying they had the chance of blowing her cover and they couldn't risk that. Eventually he exploded and yelled at them to give him a chance to speak with the sister he hadn't seen or heard in so many years. He missed her so much and every second he was worried about her. He never wanted her to go on this mission, he begged his dad to make him go instead, but the stubborn man refused. At first Sasuke was jealous that after all his hard work, she got the biggest mission of a life time, but then he realized he was being selfish and began thinking of all the dangers his sister could go through. He knew there was a chance she could die, and that sickened him.

Anyways, there was no going back now. All Sasuke could do was "cool down" and die of boredom in his room. Eventually he grew hungry, so he decided to travel over to the mess room and ask one of the chefs, Eli, to provide him with a snack. The amazing cook was an older woman, one who had grown quite close to Sasuke, in a family sort of way... Please... They greeted each other with warm smiles as Eli prepared one of Sasuke's favorite snacks. Ooey gooey cheesy bread. Yes a grilled cheese sandwich. The boy was simple that way, it wasn't like he was going to ask Eli to conjure up a perfectly grilled steak and homemade mashed potatoes on the side, which was indeed tempting to him.

In the end he ended up back in his room, slowly eating the delicious sandwich as he thought about his sister some more. He was about half way done with his snack when the Nightengale's alarm went off. Sasuke knew instantly what the sound meant. He dropped his plate and ran as fast as he could to the hangar bay, he knew it had to be his sister, who else?! As he was running he thought if his sister was successful, she had to have been if she had landed in he hanger bay with an unidentified vehicle. He was out of breath as he reached the hangar bay, only to find a terrible situation. There was the unidentified mech, but he didn't care about that, he saw the group of medical care in the area and bolted to find who was being worked on. When he caught a glimpse of his sister's purple hair, his heart sunk. Something went wrong. All the worst case scenarios were going through his head. Is she going to die? No she can't... She can't!

The worried boy used all of his power to get to his sister to get a better look at the situation but the nurses held him back. Eventually he gave up, letting the doctors focus on his injured sister. He knew he wouldn't be able to help, so why was he trying? He noticed Relic nearby. He looked as if he knew what was going on, especially since he hung out in the hangar bay all the time. Sasuke walked over trying to recompose himself. He asked in a calm but worried tone, "Relic, do you have any idea of the status of my sister? Does she look like she'll.... pull through?" Sasuke got a little choked up while asking the horrid question.

He was out patrolling for the Viper as he saw the jet fly by. In the Aegis, he saw that it was an unidentified Mech. "Let this one pass." He heard his comm say. "All units do not engange unidentified Mech, she is with us." The commanding Officer said. Malik shrugged. He was floating around as he had his hand crossed behind his back. "So boring..." He told himself, then took out a picture of him and his family.

It was his 17th birthday and the last birthday he celebrated with his parents. He smiled and chuckled as he remembered his little brother going around with cake splayed out on his shirt screaming for somebody to help him take the cake off. He then thought about his mother when she saw the boy and laughed a bit more. "What in the world am I doing...?" he asked, putting the picture back into his pocket. "I can't believe I'm self-pitying at this point." he scolded himself. "And besides, not like I can come back to them. Now I need to stay focused for enemy troops that might have followed our latest visitor." He grinned as he opened up a comm link to the engineering bay.

"How can we help you, Pilot Malik?" He heard the voice say. "I just need a report on that unidentified mech. Who was the pilot? Why are they here now?" He had asked the engineering as he passed a hand through his hair. "The pilot seemed to be injured. She was a woman of brown hair and purple highlights. Her name seemed to end with Jiovia-" The engineer couldn't finish his sentence before Malik stopped him. "A woman with her last name being JIOVIA!?" He yelled in the comm as he heard a groan from the engineer. "Yes, a woman with the last name of Jiovia. Now go back to your patrol." He said, the comm link closing.

He couldn't believe what he heard. Was Cecil alive!? No that couldn't be. Only her brother survived. He checked the HUD and saw a small light appear on it, not looking like any ally mech since no patrol was assigned out there.. This time, no orders had been received. He grinned, finally getting what he wanted. A bit of action. The Aegis, on that thought, sped towards the unidentified mech.

Not taking anytime to be lazy, Malik drove forward and in half a minute flat he had arrived at his destination. He saw the weird mech and knew it wasn't Orvanti OR Drastonian. He flicked the speaker of his mech on and said, clearly audible to the dog-shaped face Mech in front of him, "Give me a name or code that gives me reason to not attack you here. You are in forbidden space flying an unknown mech. State your business here or be prepared to get attacked." he told in the microphone, targeted to the mech in front of him. He started typing on his keyboard to he side, bringing down a screen and checking the data banks for this weird mech. He sighed, not knowing what he'll find about the mech.

The Aegis' shield was up and sword out. If the fight was to come, Malik was more then ready for it.

It wasn't but ten minutes that he'd walked into the briefing room and alarms sounded off a second time. Glowering he looked around the room where the officers were sitting and waited. Iriyn had an idea as to why the alarms were going off though, a red light in the corner of the white wash room flashing rapidly in time with the blaring siren. The speakers in the room clicked on and a female voice rang out through the room.

"All hands to battle stations! Pilots to launch when cleared! Detaching from the Viper in five minutes."

Iriyn's scowl deepened as he glanced over to the two men that were supposed to be briefing him and the other pilots on the situation as to why they were out there. Granted, he was early to this said meeting, but he wasn't a fan of the current situation. How redundant.

Shoving himself from the seat, he crossed the room in a few long strides and left without a word to either of the people. Iriyn moved down the hall, dodging a large group of people who were transporting someone to another part of the ship. A quick glance down and he noted the bloodied black uniform of the Kiritine army, her brown hair highlighted purple along the front that framed her delicate face.

Iriyn, other than taking note of her appearance, spared no other thought to her or the people that were around her. They were most likely getting her to one of the medical tubes on the vessel in the med-bay where she would be healed of her wounds. The technology was one of the latest that Drastonia and Orvanti had compiled. Basically it would elevate her bodies natural healing abilities to close the wounds far faster than normally. Still, with so much blood loss as it had looked, she would need at least three days in the med-bay before allowed to do anything.

Crossing the now chaotic loading bay where the mecha's were, Iriyn made his way to the doors that would take him to the bridge that connected the two vessels. In a few minutes that bridge would fold back onto the Viper and the two ships would be free to engage in the oncoming fight as they saw fit.

Iriyn took to his own vessel in a matter of seconds. The loading bay here was just as chaotic as the other one. Unbuttoning his uniform, he opened it up to the suit he had underneath. Jumping up over the railing, he let his body fall slowly down to the catwalk below the one he was crossing and to the lift that would take him up to his own mecha. Malik was already out in his own, having been ordered to do patrol rounds when they first docked with the Nightengale.

Powering up his mecha, he reached into a small compartment on his left and pulled out his gloves and helmet. Once those were on and the cockpit closed securely, he opened a link to the bridge, "Koatyn, ready for launch."

"Cleared," a female voice answered him, one of the tacticians on the bridge of the Viper.

The mecha was moved from it's loading space out onto the launch pad. Once there, he was shot outwards into space. Iriyn didn't go far though as he maneuvered the mecha to fly straight up and right over the outer hull of the gray vessel. Dropping down onto the metal, he engaged the electromagnetic system in the mecha and locked himself in place on the vessel, the 'feet' melding onto the outer shell. The enormous rifle came up and the system inside the cockpit changed into that of a scope lined up down the barrel of the weapon.

Tapping a button he opened a link to Malik, "Kiritine followed that pilot. The vessel she had is most likely theirs. They'll want it back. Don't let that happen, and try not to wreck your machine this time," he ordered with a sharp, clipped tone.

The moment he let go of the communication to the pilot that was on his team, the Vipers tactician came over the radio, "No sign of the Vigilante yet. Keep your eyes opened for it. Radar has picked up a sizable group of thirty mecha's. All are standard except for one at the moment. Most likely it's from the Vigilante. Priority is the Nightengale. Protect that vessel, and should the Vigilante show, cover the Nightengale's retreat, second priority are the enemy mecha's. You're free to engage."

Iriyn's smirk returned then as he turned his attention to the incoming wave of mecha's. If he recalled, this area was Kiritine air space, or just outside of it and there was a research facility around there. Most likely the mecha's were from the research facility. One of the divisions sent to protect the facility and most likely from the base located on the colonized planet that belonged to Kiritine. For the moment there were only thirty mecha's, but Iriyn was sure that size was to increase as soon as other teams mobilized on the planet.

He could see the planet far off in the distance. It looked like a little marble to him right then, but that didn't mean much time wise. With a powerful vessel, one could reach their position fairly shortly. Not that he minded really, the more the better. It had been some time since their last confrontation.

"Finally, something to do," he muttered to himself as he took aim at the first mech to get into his range. The shot was going to streak right over Malik's machine, but Iriyn was known for his rather... risky shots. Tightening his finger on the trigger of the control, the rifle hummed to life as it charged up rapidly. Pulling the trigger all the way, the blast exploded from his rifle and streaked out across the expanse. As predicted the bright blue beam of particles ripped right over Malik's machine and tore through the mecha that had been headed for him. Iriyn didn't relish the kill or the fact that he may have startled Malik, thinking the young pilot should be used to it by now, and searched for his next target.

The rifle fired again, the blue beams now lighting up the dark expanse as Iriyn practically unloaded from his safe position.



On board the Nightengale, the Captain of the vessel drummed his fingers against the arm of his chair, "That was a quick response."

His second turned to look at him with a frown, the man shook his head a bit, "It's not like this was an easy mission. I'm sure she was caught in the middle of something that alerted them far too quickly that she was a spy. Although, she did make good time to reach us before the bulk of the research station's troops were even rallied. We won't have much time though, the planet is far too close and they'll be sending their own troops out soon enough."

"The Viper has engaged in the fight," the Captain mused as he watched the streaks of blue light flit across the enormous bay windows of the bridge, "Have the pilots engage as well. We'll push them back before we return to Drastonian air space, though I'm sure that retreating isn't going to stop them."

The second nodded his head and relayed the order to the tactician's who then gave the message to the pilots in their mecha's. The launching sequences commenced as the Nightengale unloaded her hangar bays into the open expanse before them. The Captain watched with a slight frown on his face. The mission, as it was, had gone smoother than he'd expected. Ensign Jiovia had done an exceptional job. The details of the mission were kept from most of the Drastonian and Orvanti military sections, only a small handful having full knowledge of the operation. Hence the reason for the two vessels to have been called to where they were right then.

The mission was at it's end and the details could be disclosed finally so everyone was caught up. It seemed that would have to be put off though as the Kiritine army was very intent on getting back what was theirs. It must be highly valuable, the mecha that she stole, The Captain thought sourly as he watched the battle unfold. After a moment he straightened in his seat, "Scan for the Vigilante She'll be out there, I'm sure. Let me know as soon as you see her."

---

---

Frau scanned every bit of information that rapidly flooded across his screens as he held his position just inside the range of the large vessel's radar. Simultaneously, Anubis was relaying the information quickly back to the Vigilante, they were seeing everything he was seeing. Even the small blip that appeared just before the comm link was hailed and a patrolling mecha interposed itself in his line of sight.

"Give me a name or code that gives me reason to not attack you here. You are in forbidden space flying an unknown mech. State your business here or be prepared to get attacked." (Malik)

"Attack is inevitable." Frau's eyes thinned at the sound of the pilot's voice. The fact the pilot didn't know one of Kiritine's most powerful mechas by sight combined with the fact that he actually had the gall to suggest an attack would be avoidable at this point told Frau that the pilot was incredibly ignorant, or not worth his time. Simply put, Frau was inclined toward the latter. "I am Lieutenant Frau Zweiholt. You have stolen from the Kiritine Military and we will have what is ours returned." He flicked a quick switch, audibly cutting off the communication with the other pilot disrespectfully.

Frau knew his name would carry weight, even if seeing his mech didn't. Not many Orivanti or Drastonia pilots worth anything didn't know the name of the pilot who attacked and annihilated the Drastonian base a while back. But even as he said it, more mechas showed up on Anubis's radar to line up across from the Inukaitu-imbued craft. But Frau held his ground, there was still no one on the field he considered a match for Anubis. The only craft Kiritine even suggested would be was now firmly docked in the large ship behind the pawns in front of him. A pity really...

Faster than Frau had anticipated, Kiritine mechs began showing up on his radar, approaching the, yet undetermined, battlefield at a fast rate. A few dozen at the least. "Combat sequence initiate." Even as the words formed in his mouth, Frau could feel the Inukaitu shifting, as if it anticipated what was to come. More like a predator than highly advanced machinery.

But Frau wasn't waiting around. Anubis seemed to jet to the side almost instantly as a blue flash seared past it, easily avoided as the mecha shifted its wings. Its engines flared to life and Anubis soared at an insane speed across the space as another shot was fired into the approaching Kiritine pilots. Easily skirting around the Pilot's craft that had addressed him earlier, as well as the long-rifled nuisance, Frau's HUD lit up with multiple targets behind the two as he engaged, ignoring them completely.

Anubis's Combat configuration locked into place just as his spear smashed into a Drastonian-marked craft, nearly ripping the arm off. The wing-like swords now situated on Anubis's left arm finished the job, slicing the mech from head to taint in a swift motion, before the Inukaitu responded with a burst of his remaining thruster that accelerated Frau out of the way of a gatling burst. This was becoming child's play to Frau. The inferior mechs around him put up nearly nothing in terms of resistance. Anubis's speed and Inukaitu enhancements were far above the capability of anything on the battlefield.

"This is Lieutenant Zweiholt to all Kiritine pilots," He snapped over the transmission as Anibus Crashed the spear through the cockpit of an unwitting foe, "Pursue, the enemy crafts, no foe leaves this battlefield alive."

While Relic watched the medical transport the female Jiovia to the Nightengale's infirmary, he hadn't noticed a certain older brother approaching him from afar. He had asked Relic a question regarding the status of his sister, if she was going to recover. Facing the pilot who was worried about his sister, Relic returned a semi-friendly reply, yet still monotone and emotionless due to the helmet's speakers.

"Chin up, soldier. I'm sure your sibling will make a recovery-"

He was interrupted by the sounds of another alarm, warning of incoming mecha, this time a verbal speaker calling for battle stations.

"But enough of that. Suit up, we're going to have some fun."

The armor-clad pilot immediately turned around, dashing towards where his personal mech, Gemini's Shadow was being relocated for launching. The mech was different from the others in the launch lineup as it didn't actively require Relic - or any pilot for that matter - in the cockpit, since it was largely controlled by an AI called GEMINI.

As the mech was being locked onto the launching pin and lining up for the launch, Relic scrambled into the cockpit, the reverse hatch closing and sealing above him as he situated himself aboard the cycle-style control system and clenching his fists around the two joysticks. The Killjoys, the four other pilots of similar mecha, had already launched and were in route to their positions to defend both cruisers, and Relic was soon to join them. "This is Spectre, ready for launch."

This is always the best part of piloting a mech.

"You're cleared for launch," a male voice replied to the request, speaking the magic words that Relic wanted to hear.

Shoving the controls forwards, the systems roared to life, the launching pin slingshotting the Gemini's Shadow into the void of space, the mech spiralling into a barrelroll before Relic shifted the direction towards the battlefield.

However, he was just a few seconds too late, as he watched the last Killjoy pilot fall victim to the central mecha's spear piercing their cockpit. The mech was one that Relic couldn't forget, as he had piloted against it once before in the past. Anubis was the personal mecha of the Kiritine officer, Lieutenant Zweiholt. Knowing how greatly a threat the central mecha possessed, Relic opened a channel to all Drastonian and Orvanti pilots that were present.

"Spectre to all pilots, that mecha is Anubis. Focus all fire onto it, or you will not be going to live to see another day. Repeat, focus fire on that one mech. I'll make sure the other pilots won't bother you much."

Without giving other pilots time to reply, he closed the channel before suddenly changing into strike mode and allowing GEMINI to take over the mech's controls. This sudden appearance of his mech's signature on a pilot's radar was Relic's personal version of stating that he was on the battlefield.

"I am Lieutenant Frau Zweiholt. You have stolen from the Kiritine Military and we will have what is ours returned."

He grinned at this. "That's what I wanted to hear." He managed to say before a streak of blue got shot over his shoulder. He ducked in his mecha, turning behind as soon as he realized it was friendly. "I swear you need to stop treating allies like pawns." He said to himself as the orders were given to him. "Don't wreck my machine?! I'll do what I want you..." He stopped, grumbling as the comm link was closed. "I'll show you..." He said, then he was about to turn around to fight the Anubis but then he realized it had disappeared.

He grinned, realizing how it did as he saw the line of light from the engines to his right. "Oh boy! He's fast! This is great practice!" He said with a laugh and then saw the army of Kiritine. "Right after I deal with these." He told himself. With this, the gray mecha sprung to life and fired off into the enemy line, too fast for most to anticipate. His sword streaked through the Mechas like it was paper, his grin on his face as he cleaved two in a row a gigantic smile on his face. His shield's claw left it's docking, grabbing onto an arm of an enemy mecha and crushing it within his grip. With a reel, the mecha was dragged to the Aegis before it got sliced in half from the sword.

He grinned, now knowing the surprise would've been gone as he turned around, flew off back to the Nightengale as he went for the fastest guy of them all... the Anubis and with a gleeful grin, he came in fast and hard, his sword going for the Anubis' stomach where he know's his sword will do the most damage... what he was hopeful for was to not actually kill the man in one shot, wanting a duel with the infamous pilot.

"Don't wreck my machine?! I'll do what I want you..." Malik's voice came over the com, but Iriyn shut it off before the boy could continue.

Iriyn's finger pulled the trigger again, the REX shuddering from the recoil of his weapon as it fired yet another blue particle beam out into the fray. A dust explosion eruption from where his shot hit, marking his thirteenth kill of the day. His grin hadn't faded away as he turned his mecha to the next pilot to meet their demise. Then a voice came over the communications, an order to all the pilots. It was from one of the pilots that was from the Nightengale.

"Spectre to all pilots, that mecha is Anubis. Focus all fire onto it, or you will not be going to live to see another day. Repeat, focus fire on that one mech. I'll make sure the other pilots won't bother you much."

Iriyn glanced around the screen that displayed the entire fighting area before him, trying to pin point where the Anubis had gone off to. The golden mecha streaked across his view headed straight for the Nightengale. It moved so elegantly, brushing through the other pilots that were not on an ace team. Even if an ace went up against him, they would find it difficult to hold off against him.

Once Iriyn located the mecha in question, he waited. Watching Frau weave his way through the pilots easily. He tracked him, watching carefully as the Anubis steadily grew closer to the Nightengale. Then Malik appeared, finally having caught up to Frau. Malik lunged forward, his sword headed straight for the stomach of the golden mecha.

Iriyn fired.

The blast streaked between the two of them, just barely edging past the Anubis without touching it or the blade that Malik wielded. Once the shot faded out, he flipped the com on again to reach Malik, "Idiot. Only someone with a death wish would do something stupid like that. Leave him, I'll-" Iriyn would have continued his reprimand, but a warning flashed across his screen and he looked over to it. His eyes narrowed as he tapped a few keys and the image grew larger.

The enormous red hulk of a ship was edging into the battle field. The Vigilanti had finally made it's appearance. Gritting his teeth he changed tactics as he opened his link to all the pilots including both vessels, "The Vigilanti has been sighted."

Immediately after his call, the captain of the Viper issued his orders next, "Nightengale, begin your retreat, the Viper will follow behind with covering fire. All teams to shield both vessels in the retreat, do not engage the Vigilanti and do not stray from the perimeter of the vessels!"

Turning, he faced his REX back in Malik's direction, "You heard them, fall back," he said with a bit of growl to his tone. He hated retreating.

Even so, as he eyed the steadily approaching Vigilanti he knew that there was no winning this fight. They were unprepared for the Kiritine's pride and joy, not to mention the upgraded mecha's that were aboard it for sure. In addition to that, there was not only the ace pilot Frau to worry about, but the other one as well. Jericho Mason was a wrecking ball if there ever was one. Jericho alone could decimate the many lower pilots that each vessel had, leaving only the aces and they wouldn't last long against him in a drawn out fight.

Still, Iriyn couldn't help the itch to wanting to get the chance to fight against him.

Beneath him, he felt the Viper changing course as the Nightengale started it's retreat back into safer air space. Her engines ignited, burning hot with a pale blue color as she powered up and soon was streaking in the other direction away from the fight. A handful of mecha's chased after her, but even Iriyn knew they wouldn't last long in a chase against that ship. The Viper's own engines hummed to life, sending a slight vibration through out the metal and through Iriyn's mecha. Shifting REX around, he aimed his weapon into the chasing Kiritine army and essentially unloaded into the battlefield as both Drastonian and Orvanti armies retreated.


A soft moan filled her hearing. Consciousness was slowly beginning to fill her being as she lay upon a hard mattress. Cecil's eyes opened up slowly and all that she saw for a moment was a brilliant white light to which she immediately squeezed her eyes shut on. Shifting around a bit, she found that she was surrounded on either side by a wall of some sort. Reopening her gaze, she looked to see what it was, fearing at first that she'd not made it out of Kiritine and was instead, captured.

When Cecil noted that it was a medical tube that was around her she sighed. A head popped over the edge of the tube and smiled warmly at her. She did not recognize who it was, but didn't feel threatened either. Slowly she tried to sit up, but the man reached down and gently pushed her shoulders so she couldn't get up, "Easy there, Ensign. Don't push yourself. We only just got you in the tube and it's started healing only a few minutes ago. Don't make it worse alright?"

Slowly she nodded, "Sasuke...?" her voice cracked, dry from loss of blood and lack of liquids.

"The whole teams been ordered to protect the Nightengale. We're retreating from Kiritine airspace. Seems the Vigilanti was sighted. We couldn't take on that vessel even if we wanted to. Besides, we just got you back, can't have you out and fighting already. You've done enough already, get some rest."

"I want to see my brother," Cecil fought back, her voice having an edge of stubbornness to it.

The doctor sighed a bit as he frowned, "You'll see him soon. I promise. Now go to sleep. Will it make you feel better if I told you I'll wake you when he comes?"

Cecil had to think about that for a moment before she finally resigned herself, "Fine. Thank you," she muttered. It irritated her, but once he left and she was alone with nothing to do but lay there, Cecil could feel her weariness taking over again. She tried, but she couldn't stay awake and was soon asleep once more.

---

---

Between the blade and spear combo and the amazing speed that Anubis was capable of, the area surrounding Frau and his mech was quickly becoming the quickest way for the Orvanti and Drastonian pilots to throw their lives away. A sphere of scrap and destruction was forming around him quite quickly, any pilot daring to fly within his range was quickly torn to pieces. Every slash brought the terrifying mech closer to the Nightengale and recovering the stolen mech.

It had seemed like an eternity had passed when Frau felt the first unified volley scatter into Anubis, the Inukaitu shifting on his surface as it attempted to deflect most of the damage. A small smile split Frau's features as he recognized the signature of Gemini's Shadow, he had been wondering how long it would take 'Spectre' to join the fray. Frau didn't know the man personally, since a clash of the two would most likely lead to the end of one or both of their stories, but Frau made it a point to know his enemies--the one's that mattered at least. It was a trivial matter to figure where the order had come from to concentrate fire onto Anubis. From what he had seen so far, Frau suspected the thing inside Gemini's Shadow was the only other pilot on the field with half a tactical mind. He would be insulted had the enemy not began fighting back harder.

A quick burst from his forward-firing wings brushed a few minor blasts aside and propelled Anubis to his aft, the prehensile tail catching the mech trying to flank him by surprise. With a twist and opposing thrusts from his engines, Frau had the helpless idiot thrown in front of the next volley of fire, tearing into the metal hull and shielding Anubis for the most part. 'That death is on you 'Spectre'', Frau thought wryly.

The move brought him to face with his next victim. And to Frau's great pleasure, he recognized the mech that had initially hailed him before the fighting broke out (Malik). No remorse crossed Frau's mind as his own blade raised to brush aside the horribly planned linear attack against Anubis. The twist not only positioned Frau to brush away the thrust aimed at his mech's core, but his spear put him in an advantageous reach to out trade the lesser mech. Shaking his head slightly as Frau timed the move, he whispered silently in disappointment. "Rest in hell kid--!"

The warning that blared on his HUD saved Anubis the glancing blow as he ripped the controls to the aft, the powerful beam cutting the two pilots off from each other. Frau's mech began to shift again, quickly shifting the wings back to their original positions as he activated the Flight configuration. The enemy mechs were pulling away suddenly and Frau took the opportunity to fall back to the Kiritine line, the Vigilante now well within sight. If the large and hulking ship had come this far already, Frau knew it was too late to catch the Nightengale as it made its full withdrawal. The fight was over, the enemy had their prize.

But even as he watched the enemy as they pulled out like the cowards they were, Frau was not satisfied. He opened his comm to all the Kiritine pilots, both awaiting orders, and those just entering the battlefield. "Attention all pilots with long-range firing capability. Unload all remaining payload and devastate the enemy as they retreat."

The order was cold and almost inhuman, but the enemy had been rewarded with the prize they sought, and Frau was not going to let it slip away without a price.

"Fire."

Warnings flashed all across his screens as he fired off beam after beam into the gathering ranks of the Kiritine army. Iriyn ground his teeth as he watched the bombardment tear through them. Even so, his heart rate accelerated at the excitement of such a display. They were hell bent on destroying what they could of both Drastonia and Orvanti. Both teams lost a large amount of mecha's in the bombardment.

Iriyn switched tactics and was now aiming for the missiles that were launched at the vessels. His only reasoning was to protect the only thing that was getting him out of there. The explosions were getting far to close for his comfort. With there being so many, and the Vipers' mecha's dropping like flies, Iriyn was hard pressed to contain his own little area and not take a hit. Even so, one streaked past him and exploded not but a few feet from REX.

The impact rocked the vessel as well as Iriyn, who cursed softly to himself as he gripped his controls tightly for some semblance of balance. Being tossed around was not something he was very fond of. Multiple warnings were going off inside his cockpit as he stayed locked onto the hull of the Viper that was tailing the Nightengale in their hasty retreat.

Once he was focused again, he noted what it was that the warnings were alerting him to. However, by then it was too late. His gaze watched the battlefield that was his screen and ground his teeth once more. The Vigilanti had positioned itself just right so that the cannon was facing right in the path of both fleeing ships. In a matter of seconds, it was glowing as it powered up. Opening the com, he called out the warning, "Evasive maneuvers! Both vessels!"

He wasn't sure if he'd caught it in time as the blast radiated out from the cannon and streaked towards them. The Viper had begun it's movement, but was far too late and took the brunt of the cannon weapon through the starboard side. The engine that was located there began to burn before exploding, causing the ship to rock violently a second time. With one of the main engine's lost, the Viper limped behind the Nightengale. Iriyn wasn't sure what the status was on the the other vessel as he was far too concerned about his own.

"Destroy all incoming missiles, stay close to the Viper," he ordered through the com link to all the remaining pilots that hadn't taken the hit. Readjusting REX he shifted the weapon around as he re-situated himself to continue the covering fire as they retreated as quickly as was possible.



The vessel rocked, waking her from her sleep. The movement was sharp, making her body roll just enough so as to pull at the wound and bring her out of her deep, comfortable sleep. Cecil grimaced as she took a deep breath from the motion and looked around. Warnings were still going off and the staff of the medical bay were bustling around. With so much noise around her, Cecil was surprised that she'd slept at all.

Her musings didn't last long, nor was she able to relax again to fall asleep. Another, more violent shudder wracked the entire ship, tossing things around that were not secured. Screams filled the room as an explosion sounded inside the medical bay. Random items began to float around as the lights flickered in and out before fading out. The power of the tube she was in went out as well. Looking around, she noted that the red emergency light in the corner was still on, reflecting smoke that filled the room.

She could taste it too.

Something must have happened. Reaching down, she gripped the side of the medical tube and hauled herself over the entire contraption before pushing off of it towards the doors. Thankfully there was still enough power to open the door for her as she approached it. As she came out into the darkened hallway, she noted that down towards the end where it headed towards the bridge, there was light. So only the back end of the ship has lost power... one of the engines maybe? she thought to herself as she hovered outside of the medical bay.

Leaning forward, she reached out for the wall and started down the hall in the low gravity. One hand wrapped around her waist as she could feel that her wounds -at least the deepest ones- hadn't quite finished healing yet. When she got to the com link she wanted, she punched in her code and opened the link to the bridge. A males face met her, his black clothes and sleek hat telling her that she was speaking directly to the ship's captain.

"What happened?" Cecil asked, worry filling her voice as her first thoughts were of Sasuke.

The man frowned at her, "Ensign, you shouldn't be up and around right now."

"I'm fine. What happened?"

"The Vigilanti was sighted and fired their cannon. We barely avoided major damage, but two of the engines on starboard side were grazed by the blast and have lost power. The Viper is in worse shape than we are and barely keeping up. We're almost out of the battle zone."

"How much longer do you need?" Cecil asked, her mind working around the possibilities.

"A few minutes at most, and no you may not deploy, Ensign Jiovia. You're injured and the last thing we need is to have you playing around in that new mecha you just stole from Kiritine. They want it back, you'd be handing it right back to them if you went out in it right now."

Cecil frowned as she watched his face on the screen. She knew he could see her, but he didn't budge on his order. Finally she sighed, "Sasuke?"

This time the captain sighed, "I swear you siblings drive me crazy sometimes. Fine last we heard. Now go back to med-bay."

"Power's out in med-bay, Captain. I can be more use to you doing something rather than sitting around doing nothing."

"Denied, return to the med-bay, Jiovia," and the link was cut as he shut off the communication to the bridge. Grinding her teeth, Cecil sulked as she started back towards the medical wing. Maybe she could help them there, but she really wanted to be outside, helping fight and protect the vessel. Damn it all...

---

---

"Chin up, soldier. I'm sure your sibling will make a recovery- But enough of that. Suit up, we're going to have some fun."

Relic wasn't much of the emotional type, but his words still comforted Sasuke. Although the thought of suiting up sickened him. I can't... Sasuke clenched his fists as he watched the suited man jump into his mech and fly off. He couldn't move. All these terrible thoughts went through his head and he couldn't focus. Though his anger was building up like no tomorrow. He would be perfect in battle, but he wanted to be by his sister's side. His stomach ached and his head started to hurt. All the alarms going off around him were nonexistent in his mind.

He looked at his mech, wanting revenge on the people that hurt his sister. But his emotions probably would effect his fighting. He knew he would get himself killed, so he decided to go against his orders and find his sister. They haven't seen each other in forever for Pete's sake.

Sasuke ran through all the doors, trying his best to get to his sister. All he could think about was her well being. Then all of the sudden, the Nightengale jolted. Sasuke barely caught himself on the railing on the sides of the hallway. He frowned. The battle must be intense out there... Then he realized that the jolt came from the back of the ship, where the med-bay resided. He started to pick up speed as he started to worry even more about his lovely sister.

When he reached to the door of the med-bay he stopped. He started to think of what he was going to say or do even. Hug? Kiss on the cheek? Handshake? It had been so long since the siblings have seen each other that it may even be awkward. Sasuke started to question further as he thought about their parents, and how they haven't had time to really mourn... Well Cecil definitely hadn't had time. He furrowed his brow as he started to remember all the things his little sis had missed... All the secrets... The truth behind their parents deaths. Sasuke shook his head and went to punch in the code to open the door.

The door slid open to a darkened hallway. The power must be out. His eyes then widened as he saw his sister walking through the hallway to the medical bay. What's she doing up?! A giant grin appeared on Sasuke's face as he ran towards his sister. He hugged her gently and picked her up slightly, trying to avoid her injuries.

"Cecil!"

Not knowing what to say, Sasuke just stood there enjoying the embrace.

"And yes, I know. I should be helping on the battlefield sis. But it's been so long... I was worried about you... I mean... what if I was to lose... you too?"

His eyes glossed over as he poured his heart out to his sister.

He growled, being absolutely useless as his allies were torn apart from the fire. He winced, seeing all of the explosions and growled again at the thought of the Anubis had left. He had felt so weak against it, and he knew he was an above average Pilot. He knew his Mech's capabilities, but right now he was stuck there, praying to whatever out there that had kept him alive. He thanked Iriyn without an open comm, the shots still being fired. He then came back to himself, eyes widened.

His Aegis flew off, blocking the shots that got fired mercilessly and saving a couple of lives. He grinned, keeping his sword up and running, as he took down a few stray Kiritine soldiers as they left, his mech flying left and right in a great burst of speed. The only thing he was good at was to protect. That's why he named his Mech the Aegis. His talents at saving a life could be hailed as miraculous. Three mechs were saved.

He was also hailed for another thing.... a trick that would allow most of the people to leave alive. He opened a comm channel to the Vigilanti "This is Lieutenant Malik Dowe. I advise all personel to start retreating. I will use that trick to allow our troops to retreat without much harm. I'd need cover fire from Iriyn. Permission to deploy Aegis." He said through the comm, his shield starting to open up. "Permission granted, Lieutenant. We are sending a message to the REX now." he heard through the comm. "Roger, deploying." He said, and then fell back a couple more feet.

This is where the magic happened. He typed in command after command, a serious frown on his face. Aegis moved it's arm up infront of it's chest like it were about to block a blow. Oh and this block would go down in history. He thought to himself how the first round would be on him if he ever came back from this. During this time, he took a second to open a comm link to Iriyn. "Hey, I'm about to do the stupidest thing ever. Mind giving me covering fire as I allow the ship to retreat?" he called into the comm. He kept typing. He didn't wait for the answer though.

The shield of the Mech would start opening. Black pads on the inside were filled with hexagons. "Alright! Let's make everything usless!" he yelled, slamming a key in his mech. The black screens started humming and a small, yellow hexagon-filled field came from the pads. Then it began to grow and grow. Soon it spanned the length of two Nightingales wide and one up and another down. A huge square blocking all incoming fire, blaster bolts just getting absorbed within it, the missiles exploding. "Aegis deployed, you have 60 seconds before it fades." He yelled in a comm back to the Nightingale. Then he opened a comm to ally still on the field. "I've deployed the Aegis. You have 50 seconds and counting. Retreat to the Nightingale now." He groaned, his power shutting down within the mecha just to keep the shield up. "This is what happens when you call me a kid!" He yelled at nobody.

This, was their escape... he grinned through his scowl.

Cecil hadn't been paying attention to her surroundings as she was trudging on back towards the medical bay. Her gaze was locked on the floor before her as she used the wall to keep herself steady. The vessel shook, shuddering from explosions that were going off around it. The young pilot had half a mind to dismiss her orders and go to her mecha anyway and join the fight.

That was until strong arms wrapped around her and lifted her up slightly.

"Cecil!"

Her heart raced as she winced slightly though he was being gentle with her. Her gaze was wide open though once the aching became dull again in his embrace. She breathed out slowly, her head falling forward onto her brothers shoulder. The warmth he had was something she'd missed so much.

"Sasuke..." she hardly spoke at all as she let him hold her.

"And yes, I know. I should be helping on the battlefield sis. But it's been so long... I was worried about you... I mean... what if I was to lose... you too?"

It wasn't till he'd spoken that part that she felt the overwhelming grief of a loss that she'd no time to prepare for a few years ago. Reaching up as best she could, her fingers curled into the back of his uniform tightly. Burying herself in his chest and shoulder, she cried. Cecil hadn't cried in years and this was the first time since being a child. Her voice was muffled as she was pressed hard against him, but her cries were not lessened. Cecil trembled, shaking as she released all of her pent up grief and suffering.

"Sasuke... Sasuke..." she hiccuped before her legs gave out and the only thing holding her was her brother. Even then she still cried. It was getting to the point where a headache was pounding at the back of her skull and she knew that sooner or later she was going to be asleep whether she wanted it or not.

Cecil cried his name several times as she clung to him, unable to stop. The young pilot was unsure as to how long she cried, but the sounds of the ongoing battle slowly faded away. The intercom buzzed on with a warning that she barely heard, "Hangar bay prepare to receive all returning mecha's and start maintenance. We will reach Silver station in Drastonian air space in twenty minutes."

The fight... what happened to the others? Cecil thought wearily as she was starting to calm down from her crying. However, as she slowly stopped shaking and sobbing on her brother, her eyes started drooping and things were becoming harder and harder to make out. Whatever was happening next she didn't know for she was soon asleep on Sasuke.



"Koatyn, prepare covering fire for Ensign Dowe. He's releasing the Aegis" the order came over his communication link and Iriyn frowned, his teeth grinding together as he looked out across the battlefield to spot the golden mecha doing exactly what he'd been told.

The com link buzzed again and Malik's voice filled the cockpit of the REX, "Hey, I'm about to do the stupidest thing ever. Mind giving me covering fire as I allow the ship to retreat?"

His machine was opening up it's shields to help take the brunt of the assault from the Kiritine line. From experience, Iriyn knew that the machine would lose power during the process and would be unable to move while the enormous shield was in place, not to mention right after.

"Stupidest thing ever? Are you trying to convince me, because I already knew that, moron," Iriyn snapped back and locked onto the closest target that had thought about trying to finish Malik before the young pilot could get up the shield. The Kiritine mecha exploded as Iriyn's blast went right through it. He took out three more mecha's that attempted to get close right before the enormous shield was erected. Then Iriyn switched tactics.

Turning, he aimed his weapon directly at Malik. Punching a few keys on the console, the humming in the cockpit grew louder as the enormous weapon charged. Once it was full, he fired the weapon. The magnetic charge took hold of the back of Malik's machine and began dragging him with the Viper as they made their escape. Explosions of all kinds rippled across the vibrant shield the boy had erected. Iriyn knew it wasn't going to last much longer, 30 seconds at most if he'd been counting correctly. In light of that, the elder pilot pulled back on the controls and the weapon glowed brightly as it pulled Malik backwards towards the Viper.

"Idiot kid," he muttered, but his lips had drawn up into a grin of sorts. The shield would be dropping soon and it seemed that the Kiritine line of fire had all but exhausted itself. They were mere specs in the distance by that time, and looked to have no intention of pursuing the vessels into enemy territory. His other hand drummed along the arm of his chair as he watched the shield finally begin to give way, "Pity... we didn't get to see him."

"The Nightengale has requested landing in Silver. It's the closest colonized star and in Drastonian air space. ETA is twenty minutes. Return to your stations for damage reports and personnel count."

Iriyn sighed as he listened to the order given by the captain of his ship. He still had to wonder what it was exactly that they'd been brought all the way out there for. Hopefully that would be answered once they got to Silver. Iriyn idly watched the screen as he continued to haul Malik's machine with them until the boy's mecha regained it's power. The aftermath of the violent, but short battle was clear. A lot of mecha's had been destroyed. There was no way for him to know whose was whose at that point. Iriyn supposed he would find out once they docked at Silver and took a head count.

Propping his head up on his free hand, he glowered at the darkness that was space, when will we fight again? he thought to himself.

---

---

Frau watched the scene unfold without any emotion showing on his set features. Mech after mech had been shredded in the flurry that had followed his order to fire upon the retreating enemy. Sure, Kiritine had lost quite a few pilots in the skirmish, but the trade off had definitely seemed to lean heavily on Drastonia and Orivanti's side in terms of loss. Even still, Frau kept his eyes studying the crippled ships as they traveled out of any reasonable pursuit range. He was one of the few pilots that knew how much Kiritine had lost this day. And he was not looking forward to returning to the Vigilanti without the stolen mech.

As the golden shield began to dissipate, Frau turned from the field and allowed Anubis to drift back to the massive red ship at his rear. The kid's shield had saved more lives than Frau was happy with, and he couldn't help but regret not destroying the mech when they had stopped face to face. A missed opportunity, but one he wouldn't allow again...

The bay doors opened, Anubis docking easily while the damage reports began popping up as his mech was scanned. The Inukaitu had prevented the majority of the damage he had sustained, and that only made him frown once more, the lost mech still prevalent in his thoughts.

"Lieutenant Zweiholt," the intercoms erupted has his cockpit cracked open and he stepped onto the catwalk, "report to debriefing immediately."

"Great..." he muttered as he made his way down to the bay floor. This wasn't something he was looking forward to.

Before he could get very far, he overheard a few of the other pilots as they boasted about how many of the enemy they had killed and how they were unstoppable on the battlefield. For some reason, Frau was more than annoyed at the actions and strode over to the pilots. Two saw him coming and backed away at the glare on his face, something in his eyes telling them it was time to leave. The third, wasn't lucky enough to be facing his direction and continued to run his mouth. For some reason, Frau snapped.

Clamping the man's arm in a vise-like grip, Frau twisted it around behind him and used the leverage to pin the man against the railing, leaning quite close as the man began to wail in surprise. "No one cares what you did out there today. You won't be commended, you will receive no rewards, and you definitely won't be getting any praise for running your mouth. We lost today, that's it nothing else matters."

"Lost?! Are you an idiot? You should have seen how many we killed out there! Lieutenant Zwei alone---!" His eyes grew wide as he twisted enough to see Frau standing there, giving his arm another twist.

"We didn't achieve our objective. That's it. The enemy now has the experimental mech."

"B-but...it's only one mech! It won't make a difference!" The man made his final plea, only to be greeted by Frau pulling his head around with his free hand. Pointing the man's gaze directly where Anubis stood in the bay.

"That is what you are up against now." Frau's tone cooled a bit as he watched the man take in the sight of his beautiful mech. "The mech they stole can rival any machine we have, even Anubis." Releasing the man to crumple on the floor, Frau regarded him for a moment as the reality of the situation began to sink in. "You'd better pray they don't choose a relatively talented pilot to operate that craft, or you won't survive another skirmish like today's."

Turning on his heel, Frau continued down the catwalk, leaving the pilots to wonder where their future's would take them as he headed toward his debriefing.