Sasuke Jiovia's Story

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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.

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."

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.

"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.

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...

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"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.

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.