Focus. That was what she needed. Focus to allow her will to merge with the will of Zephranthys, focus to allow her being to coalesce into Zephranthys's being, into one form.

Evangeline's eyes were closed behind the visor of the pilot helmet, closed in concentration as she felt nothing in her mind. It was more effective and less dangerous to merge with the Psycho Frame when one's mind was clear of all obstacles that could inhibit the Frame from fully merging with the pilot's psyche. It had become so easy for Evangeline to simply stop her mind that she often did it when she was not on a mission; she would spend hours on end, lying in bed, in a sleep-like state, her mind free of thought. True liberation.

At that moment, Evangeline ceased to be her own being. Zephranthys and Evangeline Arkanion were no longer two separate entities. In body, of course, with Evangeline seated in the torso of Zephranthys, they remained separate. But their minds were now intertwined and united. Evangeline felt the stream of emotions and thoughts pour into their shared mind from Zephranthys, but paid no attention to them. She only wanted to be her own person as soon as possible, away from Zephranthys.

"You know the usual drill," a bored voice sounded through the cockpit where she sat. "This is only a minor check, so forward, backward, arm movement, done." Evangeline said nothing, but with a thought, Zephranthys began to walk forward in the vast hangar-turned-experimentation bay. It reached the other end of the bay, and then walked backwards. Then it raised its arms, twisted its hands, and then returned them to the sides. It looked like some kind of bizarre robotic display.

"Okay, that's all, go ahead and leave it if you want," the bored voice droned on. At that moment, Evangeline slowly removed herself from Zephranthy's mind. Zephranthys resisted, and tried to hold Evangeline in, as it always did. The key was to remove the connection slowly and quietly, rather than sever it instantly. Slowly, Zephranthys and Evangeline separated, and then Evangeline opened the cockpit. Waiting for her, right at the level of the cockpit, was an elevator-like platform seeming to be simply drifting in midair. Under it was the device that powered it: a Jupitris booster, the same booster that powered the Psycho Frames. She stepped onto it, and it sank to the ground. She then stepped away from the platform, and began walking away.

She turned back briefly to look at Zephranthys. It stood looming over her, resembling a sleeping, humanoid anubite machine. But within it was a terrible being, never sleeping, very much alive. She shuddered, and then continued walking.

Roy frowned. He hated the killing, so he avoided it the best he could. Unfortunately, he could not always escape from taking lives. He had found that out the hard way, as he stood over the fallen wreckage of an enemy mech. "Shit...." he said, standing over the burning machine. He made his mech bend down and pick up it's combat knife out of the enemy mech's cockpit. He made sure to have stabbed it just above the pilot, but the flames from a gas leak burned him alive. Putting the knife back into it's slot on the side of his mech, Roy turned and walked away.

Pressing a couple buttons, Roy watches as a metal layer slides down over the thick glass cockpit window. He was at the Mercenary's tavern, where all the Mercenary's for the Earth Federation gathered to talk, drink, and rest. Roy was never one for drinking, but always open for a nap, so he reclined in his seat and drifted off......

"Synchronization rate at 78.998%," spoke the computerized diagnostic.

"Damn it," spat Jarvis. "Only 78! Come on you stupid machine!"

The darkness of the cockpit was only slightly abated by the dim glow of computer displays and flashing controls. Sweat dripped from the boy's brow as he tried to merge himself fully with his machine. Jarvis pounded his fist into a console with unnecessary force. A small green screen, the display for the internal and external temperatures, cracked under the blow.

"Synchronization rate at 89.997%," replied the computerized diagnostic.

"That's it!" exclaimed Jarvis. "Get angry. That's all, get angry. You want the same thing as me don't you Void. You want to crush them, crush them like they tried to crush us!"

Jarvis went through the motions of activating the console. The movements had become muscle memory by now. His fingers raced across the keyboard, punching in the variables needed to compensate for human error. He increased the rate of response for the right arm and decreased the rate for the left. This way his weaker side could match the speed of his stronger. It wouldn't help him to shoot and swing too soon thereby expending the already limited energy of the plasma blade. He did a quick test run, swinging the rifle out in front and firing a round. He immediately followed the shot with a perfectly timed dash towards the intended target. Finally he stopped just short of the enemy target and quickly pierced the cockpit with a jab of his plasma blade. The enemy mech twitched slightly and combusted. The fires of the explosion quickly devoured by the vacuum of space.

"Good job Lagan," interrupted a woman over the com. "The test is over, your tweaks to the arms' response times will be noted and sent to the engineers."

Jarvis finally let out a breath he'd been holding since he'd made the simulated dash towards his opponent. He began to slowly disengage his consciousness from the mech. He felt the AI's disappointment as the pilot retreated from it's mental embrace. The two shared a common enemy and a common desire to see them annihilated. In a way, Void was Jarvis's closest friend. The cockpit hissed as the top half slowly rose, revealing not space, but the metal square of the hanger. Jarvis climbed over the cockpit and dropped slowly down to the floor, zero gravity slowing his fall. He alighted softly on the metal floor and gripped a wall mounted handle. The handle began moving along the wall towards the door. Others passed the pilot, but either averted their gaze or tried to busy themselves with something else.

Fine, thought Jarvis. I don't need them. All I need is the Void, and our revenge.

Roy was shocked awake by explosions and gunfire. Shaking off the tiredness, he pressed the button that made the metal cover the windshield of his mech. Roy's eyes widened as he saw three rampaging mechs (Jupitris mechs, he could tell by the insignia) attacking everything around them. The tavern was in flames, and people were running left and right.

"Damn, this is SO not good!" Roy exclaimed from inside the mech. He had parked his mech a bit away from the building, so they hadn't noticed him quite yet.

Firing it up, Roy took the mech-knife on it's back and brandished it.

One of the Jupitris mechs noticed him, and started firing machine gun rounds at him. Roy used the knife to deflect most of the bullets, and the ones he didn't simply bounced off the mech's chassis.

The first strike took off the Jupitris's mech's legs in one fell swoop. The next was jammed into the back, missing the pilot purposely by a few inches.

The other mercenaries had already taken care of the other two by the time he was finished with that one.

"Geez, these guys are persistant!" he said, walking up to the mercenary group. They turned their mechs to look at Roy. He was sort of famous among them, and they had nicknamed him the raven, for when Roy shows up, it's a sign of an omen for the enemy.

"And to think, they just throw this stuff away, even the ammo nowadays..." Vincent said as he and two other pilots, who went by the nicknames Cross and Diamond, scavanged through one of the junkyard of Mars.

Years back people had opened up a small mech factory here on Mars, to help with mining operations. When one of the mechs or it's equipment broke, it was repaired if it was something simple, but more often than not it was tossed out. This way of doing things had created a sort of mech graveyard in the more remote locations of Mars, and it was within these graveyards/junkyard that Vincent and most of the other members of Meiwaku had found their mechs.

"I think we can salvage that old plasma sword...that drill's useless through." Diamond said as he moved aside a huge drill arm with a large crack running down the center of the drill head, to get at a very old prototype plasma sword. "You want it Grave? If not I'll keep it."

"No, that's fine. I got the Titan Blade, I don't need another sword. Besides, Gravemaker oesn't have the energy to use one of those things for more than a couple of strikes." Vincent said, "If you find any guns though, let me know. That last mission we were on, one of the Coalition mechs blasted my rifle in half. I'd like to get a new one ASAP."
-=-=-

An hour or so later and the three members of Meiwaku were on their way back to their HQ, well, one of them. Because this particular group had no real side in any of this, they had thre HQs. One on Earth, one on Mars, and one on Jupiter. They always had at least one member at each station working the system so that their mechs stayed unregistered to any group, that way they could work for them alland against them all. It just dependedon what the job was and how much they got paid.

In tow they had a hover cart full of spare parts, thrown out ammo, damaged weapons, and so on. Diamond usually had a god eye for what could be fixed and what couldn't, but it was up to Ratchet to actually fix it.

"Hey, guy's, I'm picking up some readings on our five." Cross, ever watchful of the radar, said. "I think it might be the Feds. we don't have anyo0ne else in the fields right now. So, what should we do?"

"I say lets just hurry up and get to the cave up ahead. As long as they don't see us, we'll be fine, cause we can hide there until they pass...hey, wait, Grave, what are you doing? Get back here!"

But Vincent wasn't listening. Earlier he'd noticed the blips on the radar before, and he'd been watching them, and was sure they were following his group. Now he had drawn his Titan Blade, and, without a word, started towards the blips, leaving his friends to hurry on to the cave without him while he distracted them. "Diamond, Cross, get to the cave and hide the goods. after that, if you want Cross, you can find some cover and give me back up. I don't know what kinda mechs I'll be dealing with. They could be standard Fed mechs, or maybe mercs." And with that Vincent was direction Gravemaker towards the blips, of which there were three, now that he was close enough for his systems to discern each target individualy.

Evangeline slowly slipped her card into the keycard machine, and the door leading to Lieutenant General Vais Rena's office in Jupitris slid open. The lieutenant general, who was in the process of viewing the latest reports from Jupitris-Federation combat on Mars, turned to Evangeline as the sound of the door opening. Rena's face was grim and weary, but she managed a smile as Evangeline entered. Rena knew the psychological duress Evangeline went through nearly every day--the pain and suffering Rena, in all her years in the military, could only imagine. Rena herself had never supported the Psychosis Project that gave birth to the Psycho Frames, and she had been outright against forcing Evangeline to pilot Zephranthys.

"I imagine you have everything ready?" Rena asked brightly. "They expect you on Mars by tomorrow, Earth-time."
"Yes," Evangeline replied. In contrast to Rena's enthusiasm, Evangeline's voice sounded more like a forlorn sigh of resignment.
"From these reports, the Feddies are only starting their attack," Rena abandoned the enthusiasm in favour of a grim businesslike mannerism. "We believe these brief forays into our territory on Mars is merely to scout out our firepower. The real assault is yet to begin, but they're stepping up their attacks and sending in mercenaries too. The big battle is coming up and the guys upstairs all want you on Mars when it does arrive. From what they're saying, you're going to be accompanied by another Psycho Frame pilot"--she quickly glanced at her monitor to check the name--"Jarvis Lagan is his name. I've never worked with or seen him, but his combat record's excellent--on the same level as you, the higher-ups are saying."

Evangeline said nothing, but merely absorbed what Rena was saying. She didn't want this Jarvis Lagan's help, but Evangeline had learned long ago the Jupitris Coalition wasn't willing to listen to her requests and complaints. Lieutenant General Vais Rena was more understanding, but she wasn't the one making the decisions--that was mostly General Yu Konami, the de facto leader of the Jupitris Coalition. The Council they had assembled was nothing more than a bunch of squabbling politicians, all of whom were in Kojima and the military's pockets.

"Well, as said in the message sent to you and Lagan, you're to report to the Gunsleeper in exactly one hour," Rena leaned back in her chair. "It's a Maori-class cruiser, hangar A-23. The Zephranthys and the Void have already been loaded onto it. All clear? Then good luck out there. I know, as someone who played a role--however unwilling--in your situation, I don't have any right to say this, but...do your best out there against the Feddies. You're fighting for a good cause."

Evangeline thanked Rena quickly, and turned to make her way to Hangar A-23. She may have been fighting for a good cause, but for all the wrong reasons.

"So, they are Earth Feds..." Vincent said, looking at the screen before him on the interior of Gravemakers chest, where his cockpit was located. "Looks like they're soldier mechs too, meaning their firepower is way more than mine..."

Vincent then punched some numbers into one of the calculation systems of his mech, which then scanned the three targets, figured out whay types of weapons they carried, and compared them to his own mech's abilities and weapons. The outcoming numbers weren't good. According to the system, he could maybe take on one of them, which was also a close range fighter with a plasma saber, but the other two were more heavily armed. One equiped with a gattling gun on his left side and missles on his right, the other with a large calibur rifle with an unknown type of round in the cartrige.

"Diamond, Cross, can you hear me?" Vincent asked over the closed circuit com system that linked all of the Meiwaku mechs, allowing them to chat with whichever members they needed do by speaking their name."

"This is Cross, I'm in position." Came the voice from the sniper of the group. "I can take out that mech with the saber, but the other two would take too many shots. I'm low on ammo from that battle last weak, against those mercs, so I only have...maybe seven shots."

"Don't worry about it Cross. Can you tell how close they'll be getting to the cave?" Vincent asked, "Or how close onto the trail of our base?"

"I got that for ya Grave." Diamond said, no doubt useing the new scanner he'd rebuit last month. He was always bragging about his inventions and rebuilds. "If they continue on that course they'll pass right by this cave, miss it by about two miles...but, they'll also be coming very close to the base. Think you two can handle them?"

Without waiting for a responce from his team Vincent sighed and urged Gravemaker forward. With the Titan Blade in hand he rushed towards the rifle toting mech, whic raised the alarm, turning all the mechs his way. From behind Vincent thunder rang out, and the center mech, the one with the saber, fell backwards, a large hole in it's head, through the let eye. This distracted the rifle mech, causing him to turn back, which gave Vincent the chance he needed.

Engaging the boosters set into his back Gravemaker surged forward and pierced the mech through the waist, cutting it in half just below the cockpit. As the top half fell the cockpit door burst open and the pilot escaped, virtually unharmed, and ran to the saber mech pilot. Together they ran off, leaving the gattling mech to fight.

Another clap of thinder, and a large dent appeared in the left side of the mech's head. As if nothing has happened the pilot directed the garrling gun towards Vincent and Gravemaker and began pouring bullets into them. Taking a few rounds to the left arm, having raised it like a shield, Vincent pilots Gravemaker behind a large rock. slowly the stone is chipped away, then missles fly out, not towards Gravemaker, but Cross. But Cross was quicker with a gun. He was able to shoot down all the missles before they got too close.

"Bastard!" Vincent yelled through Gravemaker's loud speakers, as he moved from behind the rock, getting the pilots attention, as well as taking a few more rounds. "Die!" When close enough Vincent raises the Titan Blade over head, then swings it downward. There was a sickeningly wet noice as the blade sliced the mech and pilot in half.
-=-=-

With this taken care of Vincent and the others regrouped at the cave, then they made their way on to the base, where Gravemaker was taken into the hanger for repairs and Cross began looking for ammo.

Roy had been wandering around after the incident at the bar, when he had stumbled across two downed mechs. One with no pilot....and one....with...two halves of a pilot?

"Tch! Who DOES that?" he said, furious at the loss of life. "You don't just go around cutting people in half!" his mech was leaned over the wreckage. Roy noticed that the downed mech looked somewhat familiar to him.

Roy shut down his mech and climbed out. He made his way to the other pilot's cockpit and looked inside. He drew back in horror. "Felix....." he had recognized the man from his past. "Please, just let it be my eyes deceiving me...." he said, tears starting to form. It was no use. The man had a scar on his right arm, identical to the one that Roy remembered Felix having.

Roy, much to his disgust, but in honor of an old friend, managed to bring both halves of Felix out. He climbed back into his mech, and used it to dig a hole in the ground.
Getting BACK out, he buried both pieces of his fallen comrade. He said a small prayer over the grave, that his friends soul might be taken into heaven. Roy fired up his mech again and put the dirt back into the grave. He salvaged some ammo from both mechs, and followed a trail of mecha footprints to a small cave.

"Hmmmm......they looked like scavengers of sorts, considering what they left behind. Just a couple of empty ammo boxes and unneeded weaponry."

Roy wanted vengeance for his friend, but had no way to track them from here.

"Wait a second! Man, am I stupid!" he said, he had totally forgotten about the possibility of another set of tracks. "I had assumed that there were TWO ways in." he went outside, and sure enough, there was a line of mech footprints heading......somewhere. Roy followed them though, he WOULD get his revenge.

(Sorry if that contradicted anything you might have had in mind, Soul_Alchemist, I'm just dying for some character interaction though :P)

(no, it's fine. the only thing is that there were 3 downed mechs, not 2, but that isn't so important :) )

While Gravemaker was being looked over in the hanger Vincent was helping Diamond unload the supply cart peice by peice while Cross took care of the larger parts with a wench. They had several parts they could use, but most would have to be taken apart for scraps, or only small parts of them could be used. There were several spent rounds among this all, and they were seperated out and given to another member of the base who would clean them and recycle them so they could have more ammo.

"Hey, you guys got the rest of this?" Vincent asked when there were only a couple of part left to go over. "I was thinking of checking on Gravemaker."

"Sure, go on ahead Grave." Diamond said. "We should be able to take care of this. Of, so what about the plasma sword? I know your mech doesn't have the power, but I was thinking I could cut it down, make it a saber instead, maybe give it a seperate power sourse."

"I'll say this. You get it made and I'll try it out, and we'll go from there." Vincent said with a laugh, giving his friend a thumbs up before taking a step back, onto the convayer belt system, a moving sidewalk really, that took them from place to place.

As he rode the belt, as they called it, he looked around the base. All around him people were busy. some were taking the junk he and his group had brought in and were taking it apart, down to the nuts and bolts, seeing what was still useable and what wasn't. At another point they were melting down the scrap metal to be reforged later as the outer armor for their own mechs. Further down the line they were changing out parts, taking the damaged hand of one mech off and replacing it with a new one. And finally, at the end, the repair hanger where he would find Gravemaker.

"Ah, there you are Grave. I was wondering when you'd be back." Ratchet said,yelled really, as he waved from high up above Vincent. "Gravemaker really took a beating. I'll need to replace a few peices of his armor, but other than that it looks good. Might need to repair one of the servos in the right shoulder though."

"Whatever you say Ratchet, you're the mech master after all." Vincent called back up with a laugh. "I think I'll step out for a few minutes, get some fresh air."

Zethya's silver eyes scanned the desolate and destroyed Mech lab in front of her. Although she was used to seeing this type of carnage and desolation in flashes of memory that she got occasionally, seeing it in perswon was a whole new level of feelings.

Quite dreary, is it not?

The iron-ladened vioce flickered through the woman's thought process. Slowly, she nodded.

"Very. Tell me why you had me come here again, Rin."

You will see soon enough. There are some things of importance that I need to collect. Uploads, you would call them. I just hope that we don't run across any Mechs while we are out here. You're still recovering.

Zethya scowled. "I'm fine. Since when do you worry about me?"

I did not say I was worried. If you die, I cannot fight. I'm looking out for myself, not for your sake, Zethya.

Zethya smiled at that comment. After only two months, and four battles of being merged into one sentient being, Rin-Chi and Zethya could almost finish one anothers' thoughts. They may be a team, but that did not mean that they always fought together. Rin-Chi was his own type of Mech. No Mech had ever been made that had his own thought process apart from his piolet. Because of his 'circumstance', Rin-Chi had been abandoned. Zethya, a wandering Mercenary with no past and no memories, had come across the machine by mere chance. At that time, Rin-chi had tried to take over her concuiosness for his own advatange, but the girl had fought back, and had won. A pact was formed. The Human and the Mech would help each other.

The door to Jarvis's room slid open with a slight swish. Jarvis stepped over the threshold and dropped on to his bed. As he stared into the pillow a slight leak in his emotional dam appeared. Hints of loneliness began to pool around his normally cold demeanor. But Jarvis was stronger than that. He didn't need others, all he needed was the chance to fight. The chance to hurt the federation.

He turned over and gazed at the ceiling. A small blinking light tugged at the corner of his vision. He turned his head towards a small shelf on his right. On it lay a tripod shaped device. A blinking red light on the device's top informed Jarvis of a waiting message.

"Play new messages," spoke Jarvis.

"You have 1 new message," replied the machine. "First new message."

Ironic that most conversations Jarvis had seemed to be with computers.

"Psycho Frame Pilot Jarvis Lagan," spoke a gruff militaristic voice.

Jarvis recognized the voice immediately, General Yu Konami, head of the Jupitris forces. Even to a person like Jarvis, who disliked most everyone, the general came off as a pompous blow-hard of a man. He always liked to order the Psycho Frames about like his own personal honor guard, when he'd had almost nothing to do with their creation or regulation.

"You have been assigned to the front on Mars. You will report to the Gunsleeper in hanger A-23 at 21:00 hours. Psycho Frame Pilot Evangeline Arkanion will also be reporting to the Gunsleeper. I expect nothing but the best results from you two. Good luck and god speed."

Jarvis smirked to himself and let out a small chuckle. This was it, he was going to be able to show the federation who he was. He was going to make sure they knew his name, even if he had to burn it into every corpse he left. He turned to the holographic clock hovering above the door. It read 20:15 hours. He needed to get a move on. Jarvis quickly changed into his uniform and ran a comb through his hair. He holstered the small revolver on his belt and threw a few essentials into his rucksack. As he grabbed at the various items he came across a small silver cross on a chain. He held it up to the light and contemplated it.

A lot of good it did you dad...

Jarvis packed the cross into his bag and headed out the door.

"We still have another hour before we'll even be ready to go," the captain of the Gunsleeper grunted at Evangeline as he threw orders around at his crew, who were loading other supplies onto the hangar. Standing in the hangar, already moved, were the Void and Zephranthys, looming over her like judges of the dead. The captain turned back to her. "Hey?" Evangeline simply continued to look forward, as if the captain had never spoken. The man simply shrugged and continued to yell at his crew. This kind of behaviour was not unknown at all, for Evangeline to simply be removed from the world for a few moments, as if though her body had remained on this plane of reality, her mind had moved on. Her eyes stared blankly up at the two Psycho Frames, as if regarding a power far greater than herself.

She often had wondered why she did not receive her orders directly from General Yu Kojima. Some said Kojima, knowing the psychological damage his project had wrought on the young woman, was uncomfortable having to speak to her directly. Others went so far as to suggest he feared her power, and the power of Zephranthys. Regardless of why it was, she always received her orders from a subordinate of Kojima, and she hardly minded that fact. Evangeline did not want to take her orderss from the man who had destroyed her life without ever speaking a word to her. She had always preferred Vais Rena; somehow, the young Lieutenant General seemed to understand Evangeline, at least better than the other military figures, who tended to be rough, severe, and exceptionally ruthless. Some had said that the Earth Federation's military was cruel and heartless, but the generals of the Jupitris Coalition, many of whom she had met, sent a rather different message.

Evangeline turned her mind to Jarvis Lagan. She had heard little about him besides that he was a formidable pilot with a deadly kill record, pursuing some kind of vendetta against the Federation. Evangeline herself saw no difference between the Federation and the Jupitris Coalition; they were the same thing fighting for slightly different ideals. She only hoped Jarvis Lagan would know to stay out of her way--both for her good, and for his. She had only once before gone into 'psychosis'. That was the term for when the synchronisation rate with the Psycho Frame exceeded 120%. At that point, the pilot's mind became completely merged with the Frame--so completely that the two entities conflicted, both desiring control over the being. It would then rage out of control, destroying and annihilating without distinction. Evangeline had been the only Psycho Frame pilot to ever go into Psychosis, and the memory of it haunted her forever. Since then she had always wished to operate alone, afraid that if she went into Psychosis again, the massacre that had occurred last time could be avoided...

Jarvis strolled into hangar A-23 just around 21:00 hours. His steps were even and determined, no idle pleasantries would halt his stride. Small earbuds blared instrumental tones of violence and triumph into his psyche. The small silver crucifix, his only family heirloom, now swung from his neck with each forward motion.

The crew of the Gunsleeper were busy loading and storing various supplies and ammunition. That was good, though Jarvis. This way he wouldn't have to deal with some scrub trying to interrogate him about the Psycho Frames. As he came closer a loud voice, deep in tone, began to become audible even over his blaring music. The sound was coming from an important looking figure who was busy pointing and gesturing at various areas of the hangar and ship. Jarvis knew this was the captain, and so headed straight for the man.

As his stride took him closer to the man, another figure became apparent. This person stood off to the side of the captain staring at the two psycho frames caged and ready for loading. She, for it was apparent by the contours of her suit, was clothed in a pilot's suit shielding her face from view.

Evangeline, thought Jarvis. He'd only ever heard of her, the first Psycho Frame pilot. She was the only person to have achieved complete synchronization with a Psycho Frame unit. Jarvis would be lying if he said he wasn't jealous. With that much power he could annihilate the Earth Federation forces single handedly. There were rumors about how much damage it could cause the human psyche. It didn't matter to him. But even so, she was just another person. He wouldn't let her distract him from his goal. So he merely nodded curtly as he passed and proceeded to the ship.

"Alright, get the last few things loaded and then get ready to board!" the captain roared at his crew. "Get ready to get going!" The crew responded with a few unenthusiastic mutters and mumbles; a few others, glad to be off of Jupitris and into the action of the Mars front, shouted in glee. The crew loaded the last few crates of ammunition and supplies onto the Gunsleeper, and then began heading towards the crew section. The captain pulled into the ship and walked to the cockpit, sitting next to the primary pilot.

Evangeline barely registered the approach of Jarvis Lagan, and so she did not respond to his curt greeting. But she was at least relieved that he wasn't the talkative type, or so it appeared by his greeting. She would have preferred a quiet, uninterested person to an enthusiastic, inquisitive pilot. She slowly turned as the hangar doors began to slide shut with a mechanical whirring, and began walking further into the Gunsleeper, towards the passenger section. She reached it; it was completely empty. Evangeline and Jarvis Lagan would be the only people in the passenger section, so she expected the journey would be passed in silence. That suited her perfectly.

She slipped into one of the seats that allowed a view of what passed outside the Gunsleeper; at the moment, it showed only hangar A-23, but soon it would be a window to stars, comets, asteroids...things that had long fascinated Evangeline. Before she had been forced to pilot Zephranthys, she had always wanted to be an astrophysicist....she shook her head. Now was not the time to dwell on such things. She reached her hands up, and slowly removed the visored helmet. As she did so, an eerily beautiful face appeared; the only blemish was a small scar that ran down her left cheek. Her short black hair fell to her shoulders, and her black eyes gazed out as they prepared to launch from the hangar.

Time: 23:30 hours, Earth-time

"We will be arriving on Mars in one and a half hours," the captain's voice echoed through the ship over the comm system. They had slowed from the burst of speed that had brought them this close to Mars, and now Evangeline gazed out the window, watching the stars. For her, they were the most amazing wonder; space and its physics were the most fascinating thing anyone could think of. She remembered days in the station when she could sit out in the space observation section for hours, her eyes scanning the virtual pages of their extensive database. Those were days before she had been forced to pilot Zephranthys, before the war...

Up in the cockpit, the pilot noticed something showing up on the ship radars. He quickly brought it to the attention of the captain. "Could it be a Jupitris patrol?" the pilot suggested, examining the tiny, colourless blip on the radar. At that moment, it suddenly identified it: a Tomahawk-class light cruiser. A Federation ship.
"Shit..." the captain swore under his breath. "What the hell're the Feddies doing out this far?!" At that moment, the ship rocked slightly; one of the Tomahawk's three double-barreled beam cannons had blasted and glanced the side of the Gunsleeper. Five smaller blips appeared suddenly on the radar--the Tomahawk had deployed Mobile Frames.

"Attention, crew and pilots," the captain's voice, calm and collected, spoke through the comm system. "We are under attack by a Federation cruiser--Tomahawk-class. It has deployed five general purpose Mobile Frames. We are preparing the Frames in the hangar for deployment--they will hold off the enemy Frames while the Gunsleeper engages the enemy cruiser in combat." Evangeline looked away from the window, and slowly stood up, showing no surprise or excitement at this event. She slowly slid the helmet back onto her head, and began walking towards the hangar.

Zethya picked up a small, bright disc from one of the crashed computers. "All that trouble for this one little thing." She muttered.

Zethya...the Jupitris Station is under attack by the Federation Rin's vioce ran cold with excitement.

"Honestly, I don't want to know how you know that. We're not ever close to the Station, Rin." She sighed and made her way out of the building. "Time to move. I don't have time for their stupid fighting. We've got work to do. I've helped you, now it's your turn."

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"Evangeline Arkanion? The first Psycho Frame piolet? Why on earth do you want her dead?" Zethya cocked an eyebrow at the obviously drunk man sitting across from her.

He started to say something, but she cut him off. "You know what, don't bother. I don't need to hear your pity story. Get someone else to do the job. I don't kill." Zethya tossed her head back, drowned her shot, and left. That guy had gotten under her skin. Worse, she didn't even know why.

Jarvis realized as soon as he entered the room that it would only be Evangeline and himself on this trip. Relief flooded over him at this new knowledge. He could tell already that she had as much of a desire to converse as himself, and without any other pilots aboard he would be able to pass the journey in silent contentment. So he strolled past Evangeline, this time without a glance, and sat himself down away from the windows. He popped in his ear buds and allowed the odd yet enjoyable mix of electric guitar and classic violin carry him away.

As the journey progressed Jarvis dosed off for a bit. He hovered just beyond waking afraid to progress further for fear of the nightmares that might wait. When he woke only a few moments later he saw Evangeline, this time without her helmet. Her appearance was something of a surprise to Jarvis. From what he'd heard she almost never took off her pilot's suit, preferring to hide herself from others. Many had taken this as a chance to speculate on her appearance. The most prevalent rumor was that her face had been irreversibly mangled by some accident with the psycho frame. Those rumors were far from true. Her face could almost be described as Angelic. The only contradiction to such a statement was a small scar on her cheek and eyes empty of anything but the faint glimmers of sadness. Jarvis knew how that felt, it was in him too, buried beneath inconsolable rage. He turned away from the angelic pilot. Looking at her could only bring back memories he cared not to remember.

Time: 23:30 hours, Earth-time

Jarvis's introspection was interrupted by a ringing tone, followed by an announcement.

"We will be arriving on Mars in one and a half hours," announced the deep voice of the ship's captain.

Jarvis stood up to stretch when suddenly the ship rocked knocking him to the floor. The shock wave was familiar to Jarvis, the ship had been hit by plasma fire. The captain soon came back over the coms, solidifying Jarvis's assumption. He was already out the door heading for the hanger. Evangeline calmy followed, her helmet once again covering her face. Jarvis was running at full sprint towards the void. He knocked over a technician as he scampered up the ladder to the cockpit. He jumped into the seat and allowed the cockpit to envelop him.

His thoughts became calm and focused. The pressure of the White Void's consciousness pressed down on his own merging the two.

"Synchronization rate at 92.578%," spoke the computer.

"That's better," replied Jarvis.

The green glow illuminated the darkness of the cockpit casting Jarvis in a strange light. Warped shadows covered various parts of his visage, combined with his eager grin they presented the image of a truly frightful individual. He gripped the control sticks with white knuckles and began moving the Void forward. With the same purposeful stride Jarvis often illustrated the Void made its way to the Gunsleeper's catapults. He positioned himself on top of a large steel platform. Restraints attached themselves to the Void's feet, locking it in place. Numbers appeared on a holographic screen in the cockpit.

3.

2.

1.

LAUNCH!

The White Void was thrown at tremendous speed into the vacuum of outer space. The small form of the red planet glistened in the distance, and a fleet of enemy mechs were awaiting him, much closer than the planet.

Evangeline watched as the Void blasted into space towards the enemy mechs, and then turned away to look back down at the Zephranthys controls. She activated the Psycho Frame, and immediately felt Zephranthys begin to merge with her mind. The Synchronisation rate displayed onscreen placed it at 102.32%--Evangeline's sync rates tended to be unusually high. The Zephranthys moved onto the catapult, and after the restraints activated it followed the Void into the emptiness of space--or at least, it would have been the emptiness of space, if not for the Tomahawk-class cruiser and the team of Federation mechs.

The Zephranthys withdrew the spear-like weapon attached to its back, and glanced around for the nearest target. That came when one of the enemy Frames charged at it, determined to grapple with the Zephranthys. The Psycho Frame boosted back away from the mech, and activated the spear; energy began to coalesce around the blade. It swung the spear in a wide arc at the enemy frame, and though it did not made physical contact with the Frame, the Federation Frame recoiled as if stabbed through the chest, and then stopped moving, beginning to drift in space. Meanwhile, the Gunsleeper fired one of its beam cannons at the Tomahawk, smashing into the enemy cruiser and causing it moderate damage.

The Zephranthys then unleashed its next weapon; the six wing-like binders attached to its back suddenly removed themselves from the Psycho Frame, and, guided by Evangeline's mind, began to fire one of the Frames with their beam machine cannons--an ability that had taken Evangeline much time to learn to utilise, to deadly effect. The Frame's arm was blasted into shrapnel, but the Federation pilot, determined to do some damage, guided the damaged Frame right at the Zephranthys--only to meet the blade end of the Psycho Frame's spear. The Zephranthys pushed the Federation Frame off of the spear, and allowed it to simply drift in space.

(Sorry I haven't posted in a while, I've gotten sidetracked with other things.)

Roy stopped following the tracks and looked up. He could see what looked like small explosions in distant space. "Damn....that's not good." he commented, and pressed a few buttons on the side of his cockpit. Roy had installed a zooming function onto his mech, and used it to watch the action unfold.

"Those are psych frames...? No, Psycho, psych-out...." Roy sighed. "Well, even if I can't remember the name, I've heard enough rumors to know that they're dangerous." Roy had a habit to talk to his mech, as some mech users did. "Well girl, I doubt we can take them, but if we catch them off guard, then we might have a chance if it's a one-on-one. They might even force me into overbrute mode." he chuckled. "I doubt that they will though, I've only ever had to use it once. Don't worry though, you know I've practiced with it, just not with you. I wouldn't want to damage you, now would I?"

Roy made his way to a place only him and a few of his buddies knew. It was a place they brought all their spare parts. It was kept hidden from the Federation and the Coalition alike. His mech stepped over a rock, and Roy got out. He bent down to the rock, and lifted it up. There was a small keypad underneath it. "Let's see....what was it again? Oh! Yeah, hahaha, now I remember. 5......9.....6...3....1. There we go!" he smirked.

Roy turned around to see an opening, just big enough to fit a mech, rise from the ground. He hopped back into his mech and stepped through. The opening melded back into the ground, and a light came on. He hopped out of his mech again, and looked at all the parts lying around. "Hmmm.....I'm pretty sure I can make an energy weapon with this thing." he said, turning over a part here and there. "Aha! There we go!" he exclaimed, making his way over to a small pile. "If I use this....and this....and that...I should...heh....if I use that too, it would amplify the power!" he rubbed his hands together and got to work. He fastened part after part to the top of his mech. After a while, he had a Medium grade laser and a small grade laser next to each other, programmed to fire at the same time.

"The aiming on it shouldn't be off, I'm pretty sure I calibrated it right...." he said, putting in a mecha battery into a slot on the side of the Thundersoul. "That should be enough energy to power the lasers...." he said, climbing back into his mech. He lifted up the opening cover with his mech's arms, and walked out, being sure to shut the cover behind him. Roy looked up again. "They're still at it, eh?" he smirked, wondering when they'd come down.

"If I use this....and this....and that...I should...heh....if I use that too, it would amplify the power!"

We've got company, Zethya...

The human vioce reached Zethya's ears before Rin's got to her mind. "Noted." Curios, but wary, she changed course, comming upon a male human who seemed to be working on his Mech. Rin knelt beside her, trying to hide as much of himself as he could in the trees. It didn't work very well.

The way Evangeline and the Zephranthys dispatched the enemy mechs was almost entrancing. Jarivs couldn't help but smirk at the way she'd both defeated and in a way humiliated the enemy pilots. They'd failed to even lay a metal hand on the Psycho Frame before being utterly destroyed. But Jarvis knew he couldn't be left out. He couldn't live with himself unless he managed to kill at least two of the enemy mechs.

The White Void moved about from side to side in a zig zag pattern. Its greatest strength was it's mobility and agility. What it lacked in armor it made up for with speed. A Federation unit made its way toward the Void, probably guessing that it would stand a better chance against the less armored mech...it was dead wrong. Before the mech could come within 40 yards of the Void Jarvis had already lined up the sights of the plasma rifle. A small reticle of green light lined itself up with Jarvis's eye. Once the sight had locked on to the enemy the reticle flashed and Jarvis swung the rifle up. He fired only once, and before the hit had even been confirmed began boosting towards the mech. The shot took off the head of the enemy mech taking out its computer targeting system and computer visuals. As the Void reached the flailing mech the enemy's cockpit suddenly became transparent, in a hope of being able to fight back. But the enemy pilot was only able to scream as the light particles gathered around the Void's arm and a plasma blade pierced the mech's cockpit. The blade went straight through the man cutting him into two gory, charred pieces before the mech combusted propelling Jarvis back a yard.

Jarvis was stoic and calm, even after such a brutal kill. When Jarvis synced with the Void, he poured all his hate, his malice, and his anger into the psyche of the mech. It left him able to make calm and impartial decisions, while the mech handled the pain and brutality. Jarvis turned his mech towards another enemy, this one with a shoulder mounted plasma cannon. The weapon was unwieldy and enormous, it dwarfed the very unit attempting to utilize it. But the mech had already been preparing to fire while Jarvis had been engaged. The Psycho Frame pilot was only able to register the telltale collection of light particles before the mech fired a beam of superheated plasma at Jarvis. The Void reacted first, it boosted quickly to the right and only recieved a glancing blow. The left shoulder cannon was melted into scrap and a small red hologram informed Jarvis of all other damages. Aside from the cannon he'd only lost a layer of armor coating on the left side, nothing to worry about. On the outside, the Void's usual white visage was marred by the black residue left from the cannon. If anything it gave it a more maniacal appearance.

Jarvis didn't waste any time. He targeted the shoulder of the enemy mech and fired quickly. The plasma shot pierced the reactor within the mounted plasma cannon. The gathering of light particles was no longer centered around the barrel of the cannon but rather around the mech itself. It only took a few moments before the cannon ignited itself and a flash as bright as any star engulfed the area surrounding the mech. Jarvis shielded his eyes as a shock wave rocked the Void sending it careening. He righted the mech immediately and watched as the light slowly dissipated, without a trace of the enemy mech to speak of.

Roy was watching the battle when he was slightly startled by a voice.

"Enemy detected at four o' clock, Roy. No hostility shown, but be wary all the same."

"Huh? Oh, thanks thunder." he said, whipping around to face the poorly concealed mech

He pointed to it (His mech has fingers :D) and said over his mecha's speakers: "Hey! You! Friend or foe?"

((I may have said this before but beam/energy/plasma etc weapons are not mass produced on Frames.))

Evangeline watched Jarvis fighting with interest. He lived up to the praise she had heard for him from Lieutenant General Vais Rena, and he was clearly a powerful pilot, but she found his methods too vindictive and brutal, too focused on destroying the pilot viciously. Evangeline herself saw no distinction between Frame and pilot; destroying either served the purpose of stopping the enemy Frame. She didn't care about inflicting pain or brutal death on the pilot. What did the Federation mean to her? She had no anger towards the Earth Federation or its soldiers; she didn't believe the propaganda of the Jupitris Coalition that declared that the Federation was the 'bad guys'. There was nothing that made the Jupitris Coalition any better than the Federation in Evangeline's eyes.

Her thoughts were interrupted as she realised there was still one mech left. The Tomahawk had attempted to escape, but the Gunsleeper had jammed its solar boost capabilities, and destroyed its engines; the cruiser was left drifting slowly, unable to move itself. The Frame, realising it was trapped, attempted to fire at Evangeline. The Zephranthys weaved a strange pattern through space as it dodged the spray of bullets. Then it lifted the spear and threw it like a javelin; the blade pierced through the torso of the Federation Frame. Probably killing the pilot, Evangeline knew, but that made no difference. She made her way to the Frame and retrieved the spear from it calmly.

She surveyed the scene around her. The Tomahawk was drifting peacefully, almost as if it had been abandoned for centuries. It contrasted deeply with the destroyed mechs scattered around it. The captain's voice suddenly echoed through the Zephranthys's cockpit. "Hmm, that all? Wow, the Feddies have been getting rusty lately! Or maybe you two are just good."

This was not the entrance to Mars Captain Arthur Wainwright wanted.

"Action stations, action stations, set condition one throughout the ship, inform the docking crew to ensure the 'Frames are kept in their launch tubes, but do not launch, I repeat do not launch. Helmsman, bear the ship on course for sector alpha-alpha-delta. Engineering, cool down our solar boost drive as soon as possible, and make for flanking speed; we may need to get out of here real fast, and I want as much space between us and those phycho-Frames as mechanically possible." His orders were barked, and within an instant, the ship lurched, the inertial dampeners only compensating a second later as the ship made a hard turn to port. Red lights flashed along the walls, as people on the bridge scurried back and forth, checking various data-feeds as the each of the crew members attempted to verify what was going on exactly.

Finally, the long range scanners confirmed the zoomed in image in front of the captain, creating a digital overlay to the large frontal view screen at the front of the bridge. A small Federation ship was under attack by a Confederation craft. It was far away - the solar jump thankfully landing them near the other side of the red planet - but caution was a virtue that Arthur resolved to maintain. Call signs for the Frames launched from the crippled starship were faded out, the last one turning from green to gray as his life support cut out, debris sensors picking up what was left of the unfortunate pilot as the enemy craft smashed through it. The fight was far away though, and getting further as the engines rumbled to life, pulling the Valkyrie away from the conflict.

The F.F.S. Valkyrie was another Tomahawk-class ship, similar to the one now crippled. However, unlike the powerless starship ready to be torn to pieces, the Valkyrie was ready for punishment. Green lights lit up all across the ship, indicating full battle-readiness within moments. Her guns swiveled, maximizing their firing arc as Valkyrie made for a wide orbit of the red planet, hoping to buy itself some time before any exchange of fire may emerge. So much for the rendezvous Arthur thought to himself, raising his hands to massage his temples as the ship settled into a more relaxed course, Mars' gravity well doing much of the work for the ship. Sighing, he tapped his Federation pass code into a data slate, and started hailing any Federation troopers present on the planet, hoping that he was not actually alone in the forsaken place.

((I hope that was a good start ^^*))

"That really depends on you." Zethya said as she stepped out into veiw. She looked up at her Mech. They seemed to be conversing, and the thing moved. Without a piolet.
"Are you with one or the other?" Zethya returned her attention to Roy.

Roy was kind of shocked to see a mech with out a pilot that functioned. "Er.....I'm with the federation, if that's what you mean. Well, I'm a mercenary, but they're the ones paying my meal ticket." He shutdown his mech and climbed out. "I'll assume since you didn't ambush me you're a friendly, correct?"