True to expectations, Bishop attacked first soon after Blur ignited her sword. He went for a simple stab to the most dangerous part, Blur's own arm, in a well-executed attempt to cut it off. However, if this didn't connect, his shield wasn't up fully. A perfect opportunity for a counter, and a riposte.

From the blade's design, Blur expected a slash rather than a stab, and by the time she realized it there was little time to properly block. Instead, a quick mental-check brought her thrusters online, and this time she paid no mind to the foreign feel. She darted from Bishop's path and brought her own blade up diagonally for the other NC's chest. Perhaps not the cleanest follow-up, but it was good to set a pace in swordplay so that if the opponent slipped out of it they could be quickly and severely punished. 

Bishop backstepped quickly, assisted by his own thrusters. [color=f26522]"Hmph, amateur."[/color], he would speak, mainly to himself. [color=f26522]"Would've been far simpler to just parry my sword and go for the jugular, then..."[/color]

Almost to taunt, Bishop then waved his sword around and did a faux-spitting motion with his NC's head. What a dick. Afterwards, he put his shield to his back and two-handed his heatblade. [color=f26522]" Although... has a certain passion. Cute."[/color], Bishop noted.

Blur backed up when Bishop moved again, preparing for another attack. But just as quickly as the pace had been set, it had been broken. Her opponent took a moment to do...something with the upper part of his NC, but then he did something she didn't expect. He set the shield away.

Her NC hunched slightly, as though preparing to pounce, and a low growl rumbled in the base of Eli's throat. [color=6ecff6]"Mistake..."[/color]

From above her left wrist the second energy blade ignited, and without a second beat she launched forward, aiming an opening slash with the second sword. His strikes might carry more power behind them, but if she could just set a quick pace and keep him from disengaging she might have a chance. 

Bishop made her furious, apparently, and took his bait. Just as planned. Just before the energy blade of hers pierced the armor fully, he bluntly, and simply kicked her back. Then went for a slash across the frontal armor, intending to open her cockpit to the radiation. What a dick!

She was flying back before she knew what was happening, and while Bishop was charging for his follow up her attention was more on stopping herself from falling to the ground. If the blade got near the pilotseat, the impact would likely kill her before the radiation, and there was little hope of blocking a full swing. There wasn't time to think, or plan, so instead she just reacted.

Blur fell flat on the ground, and could only hope she was out of the way of Bishop's slash. If she survived the next few seconds, her next move was a thrust-aided leg-sweep aimed at Bishop's feet.

As Blur went to move in, explosions were heard behind them, as well as other sounds of combat. Bishop paid no heed himself, expecting that Rook handled any other assailants, of course, the opposite was true. He didn't know that just yet. Blur made a good, if not perfect choice and bought herself some time, Bishop was swept off his feet and took some time and attention to quickly right himself in the air, but Blur had a perfect opening.

It wasn't ideal, she was still on the ground, but the space she'd been given was a relief. It had been a bad idea to try and go toe-to-toe with Bishop, he was a superior and well-trained swordsman, even if she wouldn't admit it. 

Then again, there was a saying about bringing knives to gunfights.

Blur whipped the NC-grade shotgun from the weapon slot on her back. It might not have been fast enough to catch him mid-air, but damned if the draw wasn't quick nonetheless. She didn't have to take aim into much account, they were in an enclosed corridor, but still she tried to fire low. Bishop had taken something, he'd said it himself, and in addition to just being an enemy pilot with possible information, whatever he had could have been valuable.

Bishop's legs gave out, fritzing, and small fuel tanks inside igniting. It continued to stand for a few seconds, but very suddenly, and very quickly, a small unit, the Wessex, jumped from behind Blur, over Bishop, and finished it off with a barrage of bullets to the head from above, then continued running down the corridor. The pilot had a few scant seconds to say his final words. [color=f26522]"S-serves me right, not taking it seriously. Doomed to obscurity, forev-"[/color], before his own NC's dead-mans' switch finished him off. As he didn't have much ammo to cook off, there were  actually still salvageable items, mainly small bits and pieces of armor, yet no computer or other actually useful bits. The broken frame of Bishop crumbled to the ground in rough, skeletal pieces.

Though the explosion wasn't massive, Blur shielded her chest anyway. When the dust had settled she got back to her feet and placed the shotgun away once more. A good chunk of Bishop was still intact, which was a relief, but she had little doubt that the pilot was anywhere alive amongst the wreckage.

Likely a pink mist, as it were.

[color=6ecff6]"Anything else around?"[/color] she asked over the comms, this time more to her teammates than homebase. If the second NC had slipped under the radar, their best bet was what they could see first-hand. Still, she doubted there were others, or they would have come out to assist their allies. So she made her way over to the smoldering remains of Bishop, scanning it over for signs of anything interesting. If she couldn't spot it, it was more likely Wessex could. 

Fate smiled upon the Smith's Rest unit, and the two most interesting pieces of Bishop were more or less intact, although they needed sifting through the rubble thoroughly. The heat-blade, disconnected from an energy socket, was cooling down slowly underneath what used to be one of Bishops' arms. Of course, it was blown in twain by one of the pieces of shrapnel and was likely dangerous to handle, but it could be saved, in theory. The NC's shield, being designed for that, fared much better, although with scratches and a dent.

The Captain spoke in everyones' ears again. [color=8882be]"We're getting two confirmations, one from you guys and one from Fairbanks. They called in for information on how the OP was doing, impatient bastards... anyway, with how damaged the outpost is, they're giving us salvaging rights as long as we do another freebie in a few days or so. Week at most. As well, confirmation that the two detected hostiles are destroyed. All's left is finding the reactor and shutting it down.[/color]

Just after that, with a hint positive emotion in her voice, [color=8882be]"Good job, everyone. Finish up and come home, we'll send out a few salvage teams."[/color]

That went remarkably well, for a first mission that had a speed-bump. Now, all that's left is to turn the reactor safety on and go home. Joe was handling that, or about to handle, right after Rook was confirmed dead.