Trent Soren's Story

Today was going to be a good day. It was the day where everything was going to end, and the war was going to be put to rest. She’d personally make sure of it. For Mia, there was no greater satisfaction then knowing she was to be a part of crushing the Artomidians here and now. It was a foregone conclusion that the Stratians, with their superior technology and numbers would crush the naïve surface dwellers; so the ‘final’ push like this probably didn’t actually mean that much compared to the initial landing strike. Still, this was the moment where she’d claim vengeance. She’d make sure everyone of those self-righteous bastards…

"Senior Soldier Amelia Flay, this is Major Horatio Garlon...” The crackle of her headset radio relayed the orders from the tin-man, a bit of an unexpected change from the now familiar nagging of Sarah. It was a sign that things were finally about to get underway. With an eager curl of her lips, Flay began making some last checks to ensure everything on the Flare Runner was in order, narrowing her eyes a little at the Major’s orders. Just who exactly did he think he was talking to? She wasn’t some rookie – She KNEW the skies were hers – And anyone who begged to differ would be on the receiving end of a photonic laser.

“Reading you loud and clear Major. Just have to be as incredible as always and make sure you folks don’t get bombed to bits. Trust me, nothing’s faster than me in the air.” Mia replied, messing with the series of switches that would allow her to keep an eye on the positioning of Ghost Platoon. With any luck, maybe they’d encounter some unexpected resistance and she’d get a chance to save their scrawny necks. After all, those ‘stealthy’ squads never really seemed to be fond of glory; so they’d probably have no qualms about letting her bask in hero status.

After hearing the reply from the Major, Amelia quickly switched comms to her squadmates, the 5 other Arrow piercers that made up her company more than enough to deal with any straggling resistance that the Artomidians could muster. “So, everyone get that? I’ll be running cover for the Ghost Platoon, so I’m counting on you guys to hold the skies for everything else. Holler if you need me – But I don’t expect much resistance.” Laughing a little to herself, she was met with resounding affirmation, before the tiny commbox of Sarah appeared in the corner of her view.

“Listen up, all of you. With Mia providing cover for a stealth mission, you’ll need to break formation to make it seem like you’re just scouring separately. Watch eachother’s back, and maintain constant contact with your team. That includes you, hotshot.” Mia eyerolled a little at the personal touch, flicking the tiny screen and making it disappear. “Yeah, yeah, I got it. Yo, Trent, make sure I don’t do anything stupid, alright?”

“I don’t really think that’s possible with you Mia… But I’ll try to minimise the damage.” The ever cheerful voice of her friend voiced through the comms, drawing out a faint smile from the pilot. Today was going to be a good day.

---

For Laymin, there wasn’t any real questions on her mind – Or at least, none that wouldn’t be answered by the briefing while they were heading out. Though she was apprehensive about using a draco, she wasn’t about to show weakness in front of anyone. Besides, she’d piloted one before. Kinda. She had Vai and the AASTs anyway. Wasn’t like she would be on her own out there. She felt spurred on to say something morale raising, but figured that was better left to those in charge of the mission. So instead, she simply nodded and prepared to set off.

"Oh man, it's funny to think that was an attempt to hit me." Laughing to herself, Amelia swooped down low, deploying a few flares to dissuade the missiles trailing after her, causing a multitude of blinding explosions in the sky. Strafing the anti-air fire from the ground, she quickly pulled up into a vertical ascent, cruising upwards at high velocity before turning back the way she came - completely upside down as she closed in behind the fighter that'd made the mistake to cross her. With a smirk, Mia flicked open the top of her flight stick, revealing the ever shiny red button for the main gun. "Buh-Bye." With a soft click, the hyper-dense heated-laser ripped out from the front barrel, exploding in a burst of flame as it easily blew out the engine of the enemy fighter, sending it plummeting down in a spiral of smokey death. For a moment, Mia watched the shredding impact in smug satisfaction, eying the shattered pieces that scattered across the battlefield. Honestly, with inferior tech like that and rookies trying to use them, there wasn't anything that could take her down.

"Flay, this is Major Garlon. A radio jammer has taken out most of our radios. Requesting an airstrike on these coordinates."

Mia listened in to the latitude and longitude, plumbing them in to bring up the targeting beacon on her HUD. Well now, they thought they'd could hide in a puny little shelter like that? Geez, these Artomidians were just a bunch of cowards with cheap and pathetic tactics. "Roger that Major. Consider it done." Switching channels, Mia shifted her gaze to the aerial battlefield, looking for the nearest available pilots. “Soren, Garside, you're running with me. The rest of you, keep 'em busy. We're going on a little field trip.”

“So, that our target is it?” Trent looked up at the feed, the transmitted coordinates slowly rolling onto his own display. “Looks pretty bunkered down. Got a plan Mia?”

“Yeah, blow it to bits! Duh!” Came the enthusiastic, if slightly annoyed reply. Trent gave a small sigh, before laughing in spite of himself. “That's not exactly what I meant. Hey, Sarah, I take it you're getting this too?”

“Loud and clear.” Came the elegant reply, Sarah scanning over the map and details for the mission. Thinking quickly, she decided on the next course of action. “It's bunkered down fairly tight, and I don't want any of you idiots getting shot down on something simple like this. Flay, fly in fast, and just focus on keeping yourself airborne. Garside, you fly in second and drop a few shots to cover Flay. Soren, it's your job to use that time to drop your supply. Got it?”

“Affirmative!” Came the solid reply from the two male pilots. Mia simply eyerolled. “Yeah yeah, I got it, grandma...” Flying in low and fast, Mia deftly weaved back and forth, dodging the incoming fire and locating each of the defensive batteries. Garside was up next, preparing to launch a calculated strike on each of the shooters when-”Yeehaw!” Swinging back around for a second pass, Mia blanketed the ground with laser fire, blowing apart a number of the defences before dropping off her set of bombs, blowing the installation skyhigh. Weaving sideways to narrowly miss Garside, her hoots of excitement could be heard clearly over the radio. “Now THAT'S a fireworks show! Hey, Garlon? Radio's should be back online. Tell the ground pigs to pick up there game and keep up with us aerial aces.” Laughing heartily to herself, both Trent and Garside gave sighs. She ignored orders and showed off, again. Over the intercom, Sarah began explicitly reminding Mia that same lecture about restraint, orders, recklessness, blah blah blah...

Honestly, it all worked out. Just like it always did. Sometimes she couldn't understand just what Sarah was so worried about.

=Mia , Trent, and Garside delt a crippling blow to the Artomidian defenses. While the perspective of Mia's reckless flying may have appeared to be abnoxious for her wing-mates, from the Artomodians below on the recieving end, the sight was purely menacing. The Arrow piercers blanketted the area with rapid hot fashes of light up photonic death, littering the ground with explosions and fried corpses. Despite the battleships best efforts of repelling the attacking arrow piercers with anti air fire, the easily manuvarable arrow piercers struck them down, causing them to errupt in explosion where their remnents began to sink in the sea below.

The Stratians in the trenches to the north meanwhile, kept their heads down low so not to be peppered by the machine guns holding them at bay, until they heard a sound that was like music to their ears.=

****Bsssshhh***** *****Bsssssssh**** *****Bsssssshhh**** ******Bssssssshhhhh*****

=the sounds of the lazer cannons firing off blast at the machine guns, annihilating everything around them is heard as the arrow piercers zip by, roughly a hundred feet above them. The Stratians in the trenches raise their fist in the air and cheers on the Arrow Piercers for saving their asses.=

(C> A familiar voice to the Ghost Platoon comes on the com links for the platoon.= This is newly appointly 2nd Lieutenant Azmeen Seriph, Commanding Officer of Ghost Platoon. Communications is back online, and hostile artiliary has been wiped out. You are clear to advance on Sulta, Victory is in our grasp, Hail Strata.

The Stratians in the trenches looked to one another a bit in confusion. That little shit is our C.O. now?
Garlon must have promoted him for getting the coordinates to him.
Whatever, we got our break now. Lets finish this. Hail Strata!

=All of the North team Ghost Platoon as well as the other platoon troops in the trenches with them shout out Hail Strata and roar a battle cry as they climb out of the trenches and charge the Sultan lines with bayonetted rifles. Shooting, skewering, and killing a quickly waivering Artomidian defense that begins to be falling back.=

=At the sametime Azmeen Seriph is running back to rejoin his team, in a less hazardous field he has ran twice before. Every step of the way from behind the exterior of his helmet, a smug grin lyes on the mans face.=

“Who could sleep on one of these things...” Shyvell muttered, before remembering that both her comms were on, and she was speaking to a superior officer. Uncomfortably shifting her footing on the surface thanks to the magnetic attachment, she decided to clarify a little. “Either way, I'm ready. Not that I'm an expert in aerial combat...” Which was precisely why Vai was steering the Draco and she got the fun position of being on top. She wasn't a pro gunner or anything either, but the pulse-cannon she'd received from the AAST soldiers would do the trick. After all, it'd be kind of hard to blame her aim with a computer targeted sight.

Turning in the direction those fighters were supposed to be coming from, Laymin levelled her weapon, hefting it onto her shoulder. Hopefully the wires wouldn't get tangled or anything like that, as it'd taken an embarrassingly long time to find a way to connect the wires into the power pack on the back of her suit. It was then that the orders were relayed from the intelligence officer – Shyv has never met her, but from the brief chatter she'd heard, she sounded like a cheerful enough person. The news she received wasn't nearly as well received, as Vai and her were ordered to split up – One to deal with the incoming air-force, and the other to continue the primary mission. Seeing as Vai was team leader, he'd be heading with the AAST's to the battle point... Which meant she'd have to break off and take on those birdies. Fun.

“Alright, alright, I'm going...” Laymin responded to Vai, the urgency of the stealth team making it away before the enemy spotted them critical leading the team boss to get a bit snippy. Disengaging her magnetic attachment and sliding backwards on the Draco, Shyv jumped when she reached the edge, taking a moment to free fall before engaging her suit's thrusters, slowing her descent to a steady hover, before lowering closer to the ground, perching herself on top of a large tree. Checking her suits energy levels and specs, she waited, watching the sky for the enemy as Vai trailed off into the distance. Five on One, even if she was backed up by the battleships – If she got shot down, not only would she be dead, but those frigates wouldn't stand a chance. “No pressure...” She muttered to herself, wondering if the faith to carry out the assigned task was with her or her suits capabilities. Either way, the lack of any real support wasn't comforting.

“Alright, I can do this. Enigma, keep me updated on things alright? Last thing I need is getting sandwiched by ground forces while taking these things on...” Turning her eyes skyward, Laymin spotted the glint of metal in the sky, tracking her sights on the lead aircraft. Hmmph, it was kind of obnoxious having a red paint coat like that. Made her job easier. With a slight chuckle, she wondered if people thought the same thing about Vai's Eniknight. Easing her finger along the trigger, she decided to take her shot, capitalising on the element of surprise...

---

“Alright team, we've got our orders – Let's go sink us some battleships.” With a wide smirk, Flay began guiding her team to the battle area, tracing along the outline Sarah had forwarded to them. With her overclocked ship, it didn't take long even over the short distance to end up blazing ahead of the pack, already intent and eager to wipe out the naval force all on her own. With a somewhat annoying buzz, Trent's voice filtered into her headpiece. “Come on Mia, Sarah wants us to stick together. Let us get in the action too, y'know? You'll need cover if something goes wrong too-”

“Something goes wrong? With moi? Trent, when has things ever gone wrong for-” The warning alarm blared out as ground fire streaked towards Flay's aircraft. Swearing, she turned drastically to the side, barrel-rolling and lowering her height to help destroy the anti-air's angle of fire. What the hell was that? She wasn't even at the friggin' target point yet! “Intel needs to work on their shit more than the freakin' monkeys...” Flay growled over the radio, ignoring Trent's calls of concern and switching her focus to Sarah's channel. “So boss, next time give me some warning about the ground forces.”
“Ground forces are still pulling back from the other outposts – whatever just attacked you is likely an ambush that anticipated your arrival and planned to intercept and protect their fleet. I can't be certain of their numbers, but you should wait for your squad before getting in their recklessly-” Flay glared a little, pulling up drastically as another shot blasted her way. Pulse fire like that would definitely put a big dent in her hide – And she wasn't about to let her shiny baby get damaged after cleaning it for today's victory celebration. Still, they were definitely ground based – and the fact she hadn't encountered any other fire meant it was probably a single installation...

“Pfft. You don't know me very well Sarah, reckless is my middle name!” Charging forward, Flay fully intending to bomb whatever anti-air facility they had out here, triangulating their position based on the last shot...

---

“Shit, I think it's spotted me.” Shyv grumbled, grinding down the tree to ground level and shaving some bark before taking off at a run. If she kept her energy systems low, they wouldn't be able to spot her until it was too late. Closing in, a nice clean shot to that ship's underside should take it out...

“Not good.” Laymin muttered, holstering the pulse cannon on her back as she broke off into a run, forced to give ground to the arrow piercers as she took cover behind a rocky outcrop. So much for the element of surprise – They'd regrouped and gone on the offensive far faster than she'd anticipated. No doubt they'd close in to the battleships. Hopefully they wouldn't ignore her, as if the five of them really wanted, no doubt they could focus on evading her and taking down the ships. If they were going to make a play, it'd have to be now.

"Lindwurm to Shyv. I want you to release a chi pulse on my mark, widest possible dispersion. We'll scramble their sensors for just long enough to get a shot off from the fleet. Immediately after, open up and blow them out of the sky. Mind, though. The lead unit looks to be moving a lot faster than the others. Lead on it to compensate." Laymin was more than a little relieved to hear that the Lieutenant had already formulated a bit of a plan to give her the edge in the skirmish. Guess the word on blondes wasn't entirely accurate.

“Roger that ma'am. Just give the word.” Intensity and focus in her voice, Laymin began focusing, building up the reserves of energy for the burst as she took a deep breath. She'd have to expend a fair amount of energy to ensure getting the fighters in range, but if it all went to plan they'd wipe the air force before they even got to retaliate. As Aerionelle's confirmation came through the communications, Laymin immediately exhaled, giving a bit of a shout as she slammed her palm into the ground. Whipping the air around her, the swirling wave of blue burst out,bending the trees and scattering leaves as the blast radiated out all around her. Recuperating briefly, Laymin unstrapped her weapon, grabbing the pulse-cannon and lining the sights up. The blasted thing kept trying to automatically track the lead arrow piercer, but that certainly wasn't helping here. Switching on to manual targeting, Shyv could only hope that her aim was up to scratch. Other than that, the rest was up to the fleet.

---

“Damn it, that was supposed to flush them out...” Flay grumbled as her fly-by assault went without so much of a glimpse of their ambusher. Still, she hadn't been off. The shot had definitely come from around there, and no doubt their bombardment had suppressed the unit at least for the moment. Explained why there wasn't any retaliatory fire for the moment, at least. “The hell guys? We're the Elite Piercer Squadron! We can't afford to lose rep being held up like this, let's just sink the stupid battleship and come back for-” Flay stopped mid-sentence as some strange pulse ripped through her ship, scrambling a number of her key interfaces, including communications. EMP? No, that'd be ridiculous, she had shielding from that kind of thing. Either way, sensors were down. It was a trap.

Immediately breaking formation and spiraling to the side, she began random evasive maneuvers as she filtered through the sky. Glancing back through her windows to see the rest were following suit, it was a relief to see them scattering just in time as the bombardment came in, long range shots from the battleships blanketing the sky in a hail of gunfire. Shit, they'd been baited into firing range, and had gotten held up long enough for supporting fire! To hell with these guys! Communications down for the moment meant even if she could come up with a plan without Sarah, there'd be no way to spread it to Trent and the others, nor could she inform HQ.

“Flippin' Heck!” Flay screamed in frustration, shutting her eyes for a split-second. When she opened them again, she gave a sharp breath of panic, gritted her teeth and pulling up and to the side with everything she had, the pulse-blast ripping through the air below her, centimeters from the hull. She'd been so worried about the battleships that she'd completely forgotten about those ground forces. For a brief moment, she caught sight of her adversary – a simple grey power-suit adorned with some sort of pack and glowing blue pulse-cannon. She'd never seen a solitary ground unit like that... Nor one with the energy to carry and use a cannon of that size on their own. “Slimy bastards....” Flay growled as she began ascending rapidly, breaking higher above the clouds. Greater altitude would give her better reaction time against the ground fire – Not to mention the battleships would have a bit harder time lobbing their shots at her when taking height, wind resistance and cloud coverage into consideration. Leveling out her aircraft, Mia glanced around the area, looking to see who of her squad had followed – or if anything else was trying to kill her. Just what exactly was that unit anyway? And how had it disrupted her sensors? Taking the moment's reprieve to try and repair her systems, it seems the distance she'd made from that suit, along with the time between the burst was slowly bringing things back online. Including her long range sensors.

“Hmm... Something else is up here...?” Looking to the HUD, Mia's eyes lit up as she realized just what she'd discovered. An enemy unit, attempting to slip through the sky undetected. It was the perfect cover, except they forgot to account for one thing. Looked like it was her lucky day. “Heh... cowards like you don't deserve to be in a war...” Amelia chuckled to herself, turning her thrusters up to full pace, hovering in place before jettisoning after the stealth team in the southern airspace. Closing the gap in the blink of an eye, at a speed like this, a carrier like that wouldn't stand a chance of evading. From the bottom of her Arrow Piercer, a blade of light surged forth, rippling with energy, a pure high-intensity photonic-cutter, and a signature weapon of Mia's custom Piercer. Streaking over the top of the Draco, the blade would rip through and rend the enemy aircraft, cutting clean through the armor and shredding it in two. One down, and just one more Draco to go. She'd taken out the lead craft, so it'd be interesting to see what the pilot of the second Artomidian vessel would do. “It's only fun when they run...” Mia stated a little coyly, turning back around for another pass...

As the red arrow piercer slipped high into the skies above her, Laymin didn't really think anything of it. It was impossible for her to aim at something from that distance, so instead, she shifted her aim to one of the nearby fighters, completely unaware of the grave consequences that allowing that fighter to escape her would cause. As she focused her sights on the nearest available target, the bone-chilling scream that filled her ears caused her to halt her shot, a wash of dread sweeping over her and settling deep in the pit of her stomach. Listening in helplessly with grim brooding, she attempted to brush it off and focus on the task at hand, drawing up her sights again. These bastards... Quicker she could deal with them, quicker she could get to Vai. Shit... It was her fault they'd been caught out, and now...

“...Laymin, disengage as fast as you can, and then get to Vai. Retrieve him if you can. If it's already too late..." Laymin froze again, focus diverted to her superior as the orders came through. "I want you to utterly destroy any and all remains, retrieve his Eniknight crystal, and then continue the mission. Don't let anything fall into enemy hands." She had been expecting it, but even so, it was a blow deep to the pit of her stomach. She was a soldier, first and foremost, so carrying out her orders should have been primary. But still.. But still...

“God damn it!” Shyvell swore as she unleashed another energy blast, shooting just wide of that custom piercer as it travelled through the forest line. That one... That thing was responsible for all this. If she could get it... If she shot that down then.. Then maybe some of the guilt would go away. Maybe then, she'd have something to tell Vai's family after all this... Grimacing some more, she attempted to focus down on her shot, but her mind was still elsewhere, berating herself over the events that had just occurred.

Tanman rolls 1d36 and gets 9(9). Miss.

Once again, the pulse-rifle went well past it's mark, tearing a scar through the sky well ahead of her target. Damn it this thing was utterly useless! Stashing the cannon onto her back, Laymin took off at a run, finding another high tree. Forget attempting to shoot flies out of the sky – She was coming up there to get up close and personal with those Stratians...

---

“This is quite the jam we're in...” Trent muttered to himself as he split off from the others, heading out towards the source of the bombardment that'd hit his wingmate. Flay could handle herself for now – In fact, she seemed to be enjoying herself. His priority was to carry out what they'd intended to do and then maybe he'd get the chance to relay orders back to HQ and let them know what the hell was going on. Flying out over the water, it didn't take him long to find the fleet, jetting over them and releasing his bombardment...

Tanman rolls 1d26 and gets 1(1) -_- Miss.

CRRKKCLNNKK! The sound rumbled about his hull as Trent glanced to his systems. The hatch was stuck, now of all times? “Lady luck is certainly not smiling today...” Trent grimaced as he continued his run, praying that his evasive manuevers didn't make him a sitting duck for the warship...

It was time to take that aircraft down. Hovering in place as the red fighter shot towards her, Laymin braced herself. It'd be difficult manoeuvre, but if she could get hold of that ship, she could rip through those wings like paper. The tricky part would be getting close enough to latch on. Still,whoever that pilot was, seemed they weren't afraid to come in close. Greeted by a hail of fire from the Arrow Piercer, Laymin darted back and forth, skillfully weaving between the laser fire as she closed towards the enemy aircraft. Like a dance, she closed the gap to be moments away from another impact. It was now or never.

Tanman rolls 1d36 and gets 11(11). Miss.

Flying upwards to avoid the craft, Shyv activated the magnetised boots, aiming to latch onto the wing of the ship much like she'd seen one of her comrades do previously. What she didn't expect was to be heavily repelled as she was sent spiralling forward, struggling to stabilise herself for a moment before shaking off her disorientation. What the hell had happened there?

With a grin, Flay smirked as the enemy unit was left behind in her dust. She'd taken the time to reverse the polarity of the magnetic density field after that bug had latched on earlier. Repelling off any other boarders wouldn't be too much trouble from now on. Performing a spiralling U-turn, she came in with guns blazing at that single unit. Whoever or whatever it was, they were no match for her mad skillz.

Elsewhere, Trent had been performing a heavy overhaul of his system, trying to identify the issue with his ordnance. Frustration reaching it's peak, he slammed his fist onto the console, and was met with the ironic green light to indicate that whatever the problem was, he'd fixed it. “Best not look a gift horse in the mouth...” Trent muttered, wheeling his Piercer back around to fly over the enemy fleet. With their efforts distracted on his wingmates, he let loose a flurry of explosives onto the decks below...

Tanman rolls 1d26 and gets 20(20). Hit. 3 damage.

Plumes of fire and smoke erupted from the vessels beneath him, likely taking on heavy amounts of water from the explosive damage. Now empty of his mortars, Trent turned his focus back to the battle... Before coming to his own conclusion about the actions he should take. He had to warn the commanding officers of the incoming threat – If he could get clear of the radio disturbance he might be able to get off a message. Gunning his engines, he made his way back towards the temporary HQ...

ANG Battleship -1/5 DESTROYED

=The battleship trying to maneuver for evacuation was cut down before it could fully turn around. The arrow piercer piloted by Trent peppered the ship with his weaponry. The remnants of the shio began to steadily sink into the water shortly there after.
Trent really didnt know how much of an achievement he got out of downing the naval vessel, as it was the source for their communications being jammed. Almost immediately did the stratian pilots regain their communication.

(> Our battleship near the south team has been sank, our jamming capabilities have gone offline

Enigma reported.

(Redtail 4's turn: Tsuiakari)

Smiling, Redtail 4 watched his HUD as his boosters finally read completely overloaded. Any moment, they'd be exploding, taking both him and the ship on which he road down. But, he realized, there was a more important target he couldn't allow to get away. One of the fighters had broken away from the rest of the group, and was aiming to transmit a distress call back to the rest of the Stratian forces. That could not be allowed. He didn't doubt that Laymin would be able to continue jamming enemy comms via her unit's Eniphoton/Chi fields. But, if that fighter got away...

Nothing to be done, then. His boosters had the power to carry him, even if they were overloading. The fighter on which he hung would be passing close to the fleeing craft within a moment, and then...

(Rolled 15. Hit. Target: Trent Soren.)

Leaping from the tail of the fighter craft, the AAST dropped just as the fleeing fighter passed beneath him, coming down hard on the wing of the craft as he guided his fall using his dying thrusters. Then, in the next moment, his boosters went critical.

"Not so fast," He said. Then, with the force of a small bomb, he exploded directly on top of the fighter.

Trent had been flying as fast as he could across the battlefield, his intention to give warning to his superiors as quickly as possible. Instead, he was met with something he could never have seen coming. With a steady thud, his Piercer was thrown out of it's stable flight as he was forced to compensate for a sudden and unexpected weight on his left wing, heavily pulling back on his flight-stick before turning to see what hit him. Through the tinted glass of his canopy, he could make out the figure, armour cracked and dented, flames still smoldering across his back as a pillar of fire flickered into the sky from his boosters. Like staring into the maw of death, Trent could only watch transfixed as the masked soldier turned to face him, standing and staring down at him as Trent watched his own expression stare back from the reflective surface.

"Not so fast."

Blinding light then broke forth as Trent gave a pained yell. The explosion rocked his entire craft, engulfing it in smoke and flame. A trailing plume could be seen dipping downwards, and amongst the sky, Trent's craft could be seen plummeting from the clouds, barely intact as pieces of debris tumbled around him. His descent approaching dangerous velocity, Soren made no visible effort to recover his craft from its fall...

Trent HP: 2/5

((Woops, my mistake. I thought I posted in here saying I’d get something up today. My bad. I’ll fill in for both my characters now.))

She was tumbling, freefalling from the sky as the fires that had blazed in front of her briefly rendered her immobile. Despite her pleads with her body to move, pain and the bitter stun of shock prevented her for the moment, limiting her to a feeble body wide twitch. She was losing, horribly. With the loss of what little support she had, she was expected to take on an entire squadron of Arrow Piercers by herself. And in this sort of scenario, failure meant death. Turning her visor slightly, the red streak of the devil’s craft came into view, flying right towards her and intent on slicing her clean in two. The reflection of that blade in her sight, a moment of visions flashed past Shyvell’s mind, words also driving thoughts past the haze of pain. She wouldn’t embrace death. She wasn’t about to die here.

“You're dead meat!” Flay declared triumphantly as she swooped in, HIPC aimed to cleave through that Eniknight and bisect her stomach. She’d be getting a medal after all was said and done, that was for certain. Single handedly wiping out an enemy stealth force was legend material. This was it!

Tanman rolls 1d36 and gets 21(21). Hit. 5 dmg.

Pulses of energy streaming down the suit as Shyv sprang to life, Mia’s smirk at seeing the Eniknight make contact with the cutter rapidly changed into one of disbelief. “What?!” Sparks were flying from the underside of Mia’s craft, a heavy sound of splitting metal as the Eniknight swung a foot clean into the underside hull to create a foothold, piercing the material. Glowing in the light of the photons, Laymin held the HIPC in one hand, bright sparks pulsating and zapping out as the energy from her suit equaled that of the blade of light. With her other hand, she gripped firmly on the underside of the craft. “T-that’s not possible!” Mia exclaimed; the High-Intensity Photon Cutter was able to shred anything except- With her own glowing photonic shield over her palm, Laymin wrenched the blade back, redirecting the heated laser and stabbing it through the underside of the craft and clean into the weapons system, setting off a few critical alarms and small explosions in Flay’s craft. As the numerous warnings flared up on the console, Flay rapidly hammered at her keys, watching the Eniknight literally punching holes in her craft and ripping wires from the inside. Finally, her command went through, ejecting the outer armour and cutter weapon system from her Piercer’s frame, leaving her with just her Photon Cannon system. It’d let her stay flying, but despite being exterior damage, her core systems were definitely having trouble recovering from losing so many connections.

Amelia 'Mia' Flay: HP: 5/10

As the damaged unit was released, so too did Laymin start falling, the Cutter shut off as it lost power. Amongst the hunk of junk and wreckage, Shyv was panting, putting down that last ditch manoeuvre to survival instinct and adrenalin. Either way, she was alive – and as long as that was the case, with this suit, she could do this.

---

He was tumbling, freefalling from the sky as the fires that had blazed in front of him briefly rendered him immobile. As the dullness of unconscious began to fade, vision and the world began to return in front of him, the ground far below him rapidly coming closer in proximity as his inevitable impact closed in. Fires still flickering around him, the stench of blood and singed flesh overwhelming his senses, Trent coughed, forcing himself to slowly sit up. Dazed, and unsure why he hadn’t met the embrace of death, he weakly began reaching forward to the console. He needed to survive – and he just needed…

A final explosion marked the end of the Arrow Piercer as it collided with the ground, shards of metal splintering out and a plume of smoke rising from the blaze. Trent watched this, the fire reflecting in his eyes as he limply sat in his chair, heavily rocked about in the gusts of wind as his parachute was tugged back and forth. What a mess that’d gotten to be, but in the end, he supposed he just had to be thankful he was still alive – Though it hurt like an absolute bitch. Flay would probably call him a baby, but he’d like to see how she’d cope with having a suicide bomber explode on her face. Thankful that no enemy unit seemed to have caught sight of his descent, Trent made a painful and rough landing in the sand, his chair hitting the dirt and toppling him face first into the ground. Releasing the straps and rolling out from his eject seat, he lay panting in the sand as his chair was dragged off by the parachute into the water. Staring up at the sky, he was dimly aware of a shadow in the trees, curiosity provoking him even now as he recovered from the ordeal. As the branch snapped, he looked over as a figure tumbled out, rolling down the incline of the beach to be next to him. The masked pilot that’d taken out his craft, charred and very much dead. Sighing as he looked up to the sky again, Trent briefly glanced back to the dead soldier.

“Fuck you pal.”

Trent HP: 2/5 Status: Withdrawn from combat.

((I’ll feel bad if Laymin wins this due to negligence on her oppositions part, but hey, maybe people’ll post to catch up…))

Gritting her teeth as she felt the pain and wind shooting past her bare skin, the singed burns were aggravated further by contact with the outside air, though in spite of all the pain Shyv was grateful that it was all she had to endure for the moment. Nothing critical was damaged. Her unit was still operational. She could still fight. She’d loitered for a moment after taking out the leader - A near fatal mistake that now had her once more struggling to right herself amidst the clouds and debris. The unit that had zipped by her had impacted what little remained of the red craft, shattering it to pieces that tumbled down all around Laymin. Moments before the ram she’d slipped away, ducking just below the fighter. Everything was hostile to her, so her immediate reaction had been retaliation, her hands moving with lightning speed as she grabbed hold of one of her explosive canisters, slamming it hard and upwards onto the bottom of the craft that had just so narrowly missed, though she was completely uncertain if she’d even managed to get the bomb anywhere close to her target. Flipping to right herself as she fell from the sky, she looked off to the distant clouds…

Tanman rolls 1d36 and gets 22(22). Hit. Boom.

The sky around AP3 exploded into fiery shards as the bomb reached the end of its timer, a deep and thundering boom echoing as clouds were bathed in red death. AP3 barely even had time to register their own demise as the charge ripped through the bottom of his craft, instantly frying the pilot and craft to a pile of tumbling ashes. Shielding her eyes as she continued to plummet towards the ground, Laymin desperately looked around for the remaining aircraft. Just how many was there? She couldn’t remember… There was definitely more… She wasn’t finished. Not yet.

Just a little more. That was all she had to hold out for.

Though Laymin claimed to have no faith in Artomidian religion, right now, she felt she needed a god on her side…

---

Trent managed to get to his feet after a while, scrounging about the sand. It wasn’t safe here, not yet. That unit up there… It was destroying everyone in his company. He couldn’t tell who was being shot down, since the Arrow Piercers were identical in design. All except one.

“Mia!” Trent shouted in desperate panic as he saw the craft explode, his eyes transfixed on the battle. Slowly, he sunk to his knees. There was just… No way… Mia was the best pilot… She… She couldn’t lose… Devastated as he watched in horror, it took him a moment to register just what he saw hurtling towards the ocean. As realisation and recognition dawned, he pushed himself up from his knees, starting at a stumbling walk before breaking into a full run. “Amelia! Hold on!” Shouting up to the sky, Trent could feel his heart sink equal to Flay as she hit the water, disappearing into the foamy blue abyss. Throwing off his military jacket, Trent dived into the ocean, putting the years of training to work as he swam out to sea. He had to get to her. He just had to. He couldn’t lose the only person…

“Flay!” Trent shouted, now completely lost amongst the water. His eyes stung from the salt, and the waves were making it impossible to triangulate his location. Had she hit the water around here? Should he be diving under to find her? Would she even be alive when he…

“FLAY!” Trent shouted again, before taking a deep breath, ducking underneath the water. Surfacing only when he had to, he panted heavily before going straight back in. When he next surfaced, he was choking on water, tears masked by the waves buffeting him. “Fl-Flay! Come on, this isn’t funny!” Desperately searching, Trent once more dove below, but his efforts were unrewarded as he surfaced, his aching body now sobbing. “Amelia…” Trent whispered quietly. Treading water, he reflected on himself. He’d never been good at anything. Never good enough when it counted. This… This was no exception.

“God damn it!” Trent swore, a rarity for him before a sudden and violent wave toppled him under, knocking the air out of him. Beneath the surface, he felt himself carried by the current, before colliding with a shallow sand bank. Opening his eyes, he was surprised to find cool air brushing against his face, a natural collection of sand raising him above the tied. And next to him, almost like she was sleeping peacefully, was Mia. Trent couldn’t stop crying as he hugged and held her, before common sense finally wormed its head. It took some time, but the first aid training was all worth it as he felt Mia’s pulse return, along with some choked breathing. Finally, Mia spluttered to awareness, Trent breathing a sigh of relief as he leant over her, sopping wet and dripping from head to toe.

“H-hey… I’m glad you’re alright…” Trent managed after a moment, Flay still staring at him as she regained her senses. For a moment, their eyes met, then…

“AH!” Trent yelled out as he was headbutted by the rapidly sitting Amelia, her face somewhat reddened, partially by embarrassment, but mostly from her own unbridled rage as she looked up to the sky. “That… That THING almost killed me!” Flay stated in fury, standing a moment before slipping, giving a wince at both the rough landing and her attempt to use her broken arm sending pain through her body. She could be thankful the cold water was numbing her wounds, along with the salt helping to clean the injuries. Unaware of the criticality of her injuries, Flay continued to spout words of rage and revenge, demanding the use of Trent’s Arrow Piercer amongst other unrealistic demands to have her vengeance. Eventually, the voice of reason won out however, Trent helping Flay up as they made their way along the beach. There was a recall and rendezvous point a bit further away – If they could get there, they’d be able to get assistance, along with inform their superiors of what transpired. Or at least, that’s what Trent intended. They weren’t out of the woods yet, so he’d be grateful if his co-pilot would be able to shut up long enough for them to get to a safe zone…

((I felt like I hadn’t posted for these two for awhile. Let’s see if I can’t get them back into the scene.))

From behind Major Garlon, there was some sort of commotion as shouts and words of surprise could be heard over the sounds of combat. Slowly but steadily, the bobbing of a fiery red head was seen, words slowly being made out as she got closer… “No, screw you – I know what I’m- Let go you asshole! This is frickin’ important!” Shoving past the infantry troops that had been attempting to dissuade her, it drew out a heavy wince from her. Flay’s arm had already been forced into a splint, the best temporary measure they had considering the ‘ace pilot’ of the Stratian forces refused to receive proper medical care for the moment. There was a battle going on, and until it was won and the Artomidians were dead and buried, she would not be sitting out… Although it did feel like maybe she had internal bleeding and some fractured ribs too.

Regardless, she staggered up to the tank that the Major had occupied, leaning heavily against it as she looked up to speak. “Those fucking bastards… We were sent to deal with a mother-fucking boat and instead ended up fighting one of those freaks!” Flay gestured wildly with her unrestrained arm, before slamming it against the tank. “What the hell is wrong with our intel division?! I lost all but one of my pilots to that bitch in a suit! How the hell did we not know anything about this Tinman?! How the fuck can we just run away from this humiliation?!” Flay unrealistically demanded an explanation from Garlon, her frustration and rage at the situation easily making the rebellious soldier ignore any proper conduct as she stormed towards the Major. It took Trent’s firm nelson-grip to stop her going any further, but even in her anger, Mia had given some important information. She knew that those things weren’t just machines. That one she’d met face to face. It had spoke. It was human. Still struggling with Trent, Soren eventually managed to throw Mia to the ground, stopping her from making any more of a fool of herself as he looked up to the Major, giving a salute.

“Apologies for her insubordination, sir. I’ll be sure to see her escorted from the battlefield so she can recieve the appropriate punishment. What she was trying to say is that she fully understands your decision, given a single one of those… Units managed to destroy our elite air squad. We’ll see to it that you get the full report once we’re out of combat.” Trent grimaced a little, uncomfortably moving to try and drag Mia back out to the rendezvous point, though she was till protesting back at him and generally making the whole thing very difficult. They hadn’t managed to get more than snippets of the radio chatter after making their way over, and were only just now finding out how horribly the events had turned. He respected the Major for making the most of a difficult decision – And what the man didn’t need right now was someone like Flay barking at him that it was the wrong one.

While Garlon had been hopefully awaiting any response from other units outside of the Tank and Ghost Platoon, he certainly wasn't expecting the Fighter Pilots to be so.. direct in their method of communication.

It started out with a loudmouthed voice in the background moving through the ranks as they were stopped to regroup. Until the red head menace known simply as Amelia Flay shoved her way through the rest of the ranks to start yelling at Garlon. To say he was surprised to see her was an understatement. He had been hoping for a radio communication saying that their route was secure, not an injured Flay and Soren. Through his confusion and bewilderment, Flay began her assault on his ears.

“Those fucking bastards… We were sent to deal with a mother-fucking boat and instead ended up fighting one of those freaks!” Garlon's eyes only widened even more at her first statement. They hit the air force first? But... how many? Did they prepare this entire strike, see our every move? He only registered Flay once again as she flailed around before hitting herself with against the tank. “What the hell is wrong with our intel division?! I lost all but one of my pilots to that bitch in a suit! How the hell did we not know anything about this Tinman?! How the fuck can we just run away from this humiliation?!”

Garlon didn't have time to register this extremely useful piece of information, as Flay was threatening to do something dangerous before her partner Soren finally threw her to the ground, giving the dumbfounded Major a salute afterwards. “Apologies for her insubordination, sir. I’ll be sure to see her escorted from the battlefield so she can recieve the appropriate punishment. What she was trying to say is that she fully understands your decision, given a single one of those… Units managed to destroy our elite air squad. We’ll see to it that you get the full report once we’re out of combat.”

Horatio pinched the bridge of his nose, giving out a heavy sigh as he did. "If we make it out of this, a report on my desk would be a blessing." Garlon, of course, was hinting at the fact that he could be instantly stripped of his rank and discharged dishonorably - even killed - for his insubordination. "I understand her frustration, and don't bother with her insubordination: right now, that seems to be the theme." Again, hinting at it with a sullen look until Garlon finally clued into the report that Flay had basically roared in his ears. Paling, he turned to both Flay and Soren with a panicked look.

"Soldier Flay, did you just say that those things are humans in a robotic suit of armor?!" Garlon's eyes were more than concerned: confusion, and even a tinge of fear was instilled as he finally ran through everything she said: it had destroyed their entire unit, and that there was somebody inside that thing.

Now Garlon would have waited, if he had seen flickers of slow movement from the robots. "Everybody! Move towards the secondary LZ now!" He turned back to the two air pilots before pointing to the inferno. "If you haven't noticed, Flay, those robotic soldiers did more than just take out your squad."

"Soldier Flay, did you just say that those things are humans in a robotic suit of armor?!" Major Garlon’s voice rang out loud and clear, the red headed ace dragging her sorry face off the ground, sitting up slightly as she looked up to the tinman. “Of course they are! What the hell did you think they were?!” Flay replied with notable arrogance in her voice, like she had always known it as such. Clearly she didn’t take into account how personal her experience was, taking her knowledge completely for granted.

Regardless of her response, it seemed he had more pressing matters to deal with. barking orders to everyone for the retreat – A bitter, humiliating word for Flay. Running with their tails between their legs like cowardly dogs… She felt absolutely pathetic. All of them were so useless! Mentally raging to herself in unrealistic denial, the sharp words of her Major brought her back to attention, as he, at least to her, seemed to scold Mia for her previous words.

"If you haven't noticed, Flay, those robotic soldiers did more than just take out your squad." The hint of cynicism, spite, or whatever it was irked Amelia, and she almost blew out another lashing retort. Almost. There was enough of a truth to his words that even she could see that such a reaction was out of place. No one liked to lose, and she wasn’t the only person coping with the loss. Her solution was to go out there and mess up the bastards that’d taken her squad from her. Ideally, that’s what everyone else wanted to do, but it’d take time and planning. She didn’t like that side of things, but it wasn’t like she’d have much of a choice.

“Aye sir…” Flay mumbled, shoving off the ground as she moved off with the rest of the soldiers. Trent seemed to move up to speak to her, complaining again, mentioning about how reckless, stupid, etc. etc. she was. It wasn’t what she wanted to hear right now, so with another venomous tongue, she less than politely told him to sod off and stormed her own path towards the rendezvous point. She needed to burn off some steam, not listen to some stupid lecture from him. Maybe after that, she’d have time to talk more in depth with the Major about those suited freaks.

More specifically, how she’d be getting a chance to kill them.

Garlon shouldered Flay's biting retort, and watched as she mumbled a defeated Aye sir... before getting off of the ground and moving on. He watched her go for a bit before turning back to have the continuous drone of the signal groaning through his coms. It puzzled him, hearing that they were to retreat all the way back to Archacello instead of just staying at the base for extraction. Had the war turned bad that fast? His brow furrowed as he thought about it for a bit, but the Major's mind ultimately came to the decision that it simply wasn't the time to worry about such trivial matters. The Generals had issued a much needed retreat, and he would get them there.

Horatio turned his head the direction of the front lines, shock rippling through his face as even the Minion was being recalled. The shock only lasted a few moments as the guns were readied toward their direction, and a slight sense of fear and disbelief overtook him as he wondered why in the hell they would be preparing to fire at their own men. A shudder went through the Major as he whipped around to see the robotic armored soldiers flying towards them. Instantly, his mouth opened and a command, which came out as a sharp bark, not too loud.

"Enemy approaching!" He turned his gatling gun arm towards the incoming units before stopping slightly. "Wait for my signal to engage the enemy." This order was a little quieter, relying on the coms more to get the point across. Horatio's thought process was simple: if they were targeting the Minion, the robot soldiers would fly overtop of them without so much of a blink. However, they may also be told to engage the enemy, so Garlon would wait until signs of attack from above. If there were none, he wouldn't give the order to attack; since they would overpower their small force quite easily, Horatio hoped that the Minion was their priority. "I swear if anybody lets a single bullet loose..." He mumbled to himself, regretting it slightly as he hoped the coms didn't pick it up. Didn't need the rest of the soldiers in any more fear than some of them already were.

=General Minos stood facing the long window overlooking Artomidia, arms folded casually behind his back as he listened to what the Major said. He let a moment slip by before speaking, wanting to put emphasis on the Major's remarks= Ah yes the robotic soldiers.
=The General turned back towards the others and leaned down to pick up a remote and pointed it at the large monitor broadcasting the two way conversation between those in the current room and Argyle. The streaming footage of Argyle goes split screen, the space on the screen being dominated by footage recorded by Major Garlon's brigade during their encounter with the eniknights. In the footage everyone can see from the Stratian perspective the eniknights sustaining the attacks of the Hell Minions then almost effortlessly tearing the two limb from limb. More footage can be seen of the eniknights zipping directly over their formation to engage the distant Hell Minion.=

You could say you owe your camera man your life. It's the main reason you are here as you are and not in cuffs. Had this footage never reached me you would be on your way to a military tribunal right now where they would handle your desertion from combat a little different than we will today. For what I am about to show you, keep in mind nearly the entire squadron was wiped out by one of these.

=General Minos clicks a button on the remote and the footage is replaced by the cockpit view of Amelia Flay's ace arrow piercer, doing combat maneuvers and positioning to engage Laymin's eniknight. Much to the people monitoring the footage, they see Shyv's eniknight quickly jam its foot into Flay's cockpit where the footage then cuts to static.=

It appears you weren't the only person here who had bad luck with these things Major Garlon, this footage actually was recorded by one of our top aces, Soldier Flay whom with her wingman soldier Soren are expected to arrive here any time now =The General said looking at a pocket watch then turning to the president= due to what you have just seen, Soldier Flay is on her way from receiving medical attention Mr. President

=President Rodnem waves it off as it doesn't bother him that she will be a little late= Understood General.

=General Minos looks up at Major Garlon and Seriph and speaks once more= To summarize things Major, though you did disobey a direct command closer examination of the situation has determined that you can not be faulted for the loss of Sulta and that you were basically the wrong C.O., at the wrong place, at the wrong time, with the wrong enemy. However you did disobey a direct order and we cannot have our officers becoming defiant to their superiors, there for you are going to be bumped down to Captain, and your brigade will fall under my jurisdiction until either you have proven to me capable of commanding this brigade again or I find someone else more suitable for the position. That said your unit's first role under my command will have something to do with what President Rodnem has to say, I would look at it as a privilege Captain Garlon.

=General Minos turns to the President= That is all I have Mr. President

::petra would slowly cross his arms.even that he was reprogrammed some past life expressions did quirk up here and their.::.....::he would scan the video with his eye and replay it over and over again in his mind.to pay attention to every detail.every moment or maybe a weakness he could take advantage of::......odd.......::from under his cloak they can see a a part of his metallic arm and a typical uniform but more without the bells and whistles. No rank would be showing ether..::...but something in the video did caught his attention like he has been there before::.....::he would let it go::...:he did not personally believe these things where not cyborgs,androids,or things of that nature,there movements where clean and flexable to show to him their had to be someone inside.but he could be wrong::......what is my role in this unit to hunt down these things?::that's the thing about MDS,great warriors in the battlefield to be feared and Grim was a heavy hitter...but tac was not in their programming::...::this time he had the turn to general minos and the president::......it was easy enough to be his executioner..::now feeling like he was not being put to good uses.he was wanting to get back planet side to do his job::.....

Argyle smiled wildly at the footage taking in and savoring every little piece. He mumbled to himself as if to avoid another zap "Hehehe I love snuff films". The two labcoats next to him became as uncomfortable as any to be in his presence for too long. They anxiously waited for their turn to speak on behalf of Argyle on the significance of his being there so as to hand him over to someone else by the end of the day. Argyle's smile persisted throughout the proceedings.

The sound of the double doors opening behind Garlon and the other two soldiers drew a number of turned heads, expecting the arrival of the rambunctious pilot and her squadmate. What they instead received was half the duo in the accompaniment of another ‘legend’. Trent Soren slowly followed in behind his commanding officer and gave his salute in time with her own, nervously looking around the group and trying his best to get his bearings.

“Sarah Lorian, CO of the Tactical Piercer Squadron; and Soldier First Class Trent Soren, It’s an honour, President.” The black haired tactician’s sharp eyes were unfaltering, meeting eyes with each person in the room and conveying an edge of unrelenting focus. There was only the briefest of eye flickers about the room, analysing each individual, but not a shred of her emotions were seen in her appraisal. The same could not be said of Trent, who rather nervously broke eye contact with each person before ending up looking at the floor. He was a confident fellow normally, but the rank and general intimidation power of everyone in the room far outweighed the lowly soldier, who gave a sigh that was slightly more audible then he intended. He was just really grateful Sarah had insisted on coming along with him to this meeting – He wasn’t sure how well he would have gone by himself.

“Senior Soldier Flay is currently undergoing treatment for her internal injuries. It was my judgement she was unfit to respond to the summons, and as such, I will be representing my unit in her stead.” Sarah elaborated, having moved to take a seat at the table without a word from anyone. With all the seats taken, Trent somewhat nervously filed in to stand behind them. Shutting her eyes a moment and taking a deep breath, Sarah lifted a set of files from where she’d set them down in front of her, sliding them across the table to the President and General Minos, before sliding a final copy over to Garlon and Seriph for examination.

“Though my analysis is only a rough and preliminary estimate, even if taken on a conservative level, the performance of those ‘unique’ units are terrifying. Their manoeuvrability, acceleration, speed, firepower and defences are well beyond anything I’ve ever seen.” Sarah was pensive, not even consulting her own copy of the file in front of her. For the short time the footage and information had been available, she’d already compiled a number of terse estimates around the capabilities based on the movement within the footage, along with the specifics and parameters of the units they’d been seen engaging with. The figures were astounding, and if it had come from anyone else, there’d be reason to doubt the analysis.

For those who weren’t aware, Sarah Lorian was a former pilot and veteran tactician, decorated with numerous accolades. A gifted and well respected individual within the Stratian Military, her brilliant and inquisitive mind could be considered unrivalled amongst her colleagues. With her fundamental understanding of physics and technology, it’s a bit of a wonder she ended up as a soldier in the military rather than a scientist or something of the like. Still, her efficiency is not to be questioned, with countless victories under her command, and a minimal casualty rate, her nickname of 'The Valkyrie' is well earned. Perhaps her only downfall, at least in the eyes of the Stratian military, is her low sights – refusing all opportunities for promotion and continuing to work in support and logistics; her position as CO of the TPS and Agent of the Intelligence Division where she’s remained the past few years.

“That said, and given the collection of personnel present; am I wrong in assuming that this meeting is indicative of a counter response team to this unprecedented threat?” Not batting an eyelid, Sarah’s manner of speaking could be seen as offensive in the presence of the President. It didn’t seem to bother her. Either way, it was more courteous then Amelia Flay would have been.