"This is it, then," Ritsu commented as she and Lorenze entered NOAH's bridge, and took a look at the galactic map. "Our first operation." Lorenzo's eyes seemed unfocused as he glanced at the map, and then went to his seat at the corner of the wide room. "Let's hope it's not our last." Like angels of death, once the Framewerks took their place in NOAH with grace and nobility, they were akin to statues adorning a divine temple.

The vessel then blared alarms, and took to hyperspace, drifting light years in a blink of the eye, drilling through the very essence of the cosmos itself. The forces involved caused the stomachs of pilots inexperienced with spatial distortion to churn and twist, and Elora even vomited from the sheer intensity. She then realized her radio was still on, and Ritsu immediately demanded a status update. "I-I'm fine, I'll manage," Elora said, lying about her condition; she didn't want to let the others down, especially Katya, whom she adored like a wide-eyed little sister.

However, unlike Elora, another pilot took the experience harshly; not only did Lora, the pilot of Dynasty, vomit, but she vomited blood; her body functions seemed to harshly reject the spatial distortion, to the point it caused her to develop a stomach ulcer. She managed to open up communications for one last groan before she passed out, and Ritsu immediately called for a medic. After Lora was taken to the med-bay, Lorenzo cursed in the command channel. "Well, now that Shinkai proved herself unable to handle basic ship sickness, we are in for a field promotion. Cadet Romanovna, congratulations; you're hereby promoted to junior officer, and you'll take charge of Team Bravo. Dismissed."

NOAH then jumped out of hyperspace, and arrived on Leviticus IX. It was an industrial planet, it's surface having the record number of human-built structures built on the orange-tinted rock, and skies choked by black smoke emitted by countless factories and assemblies that concentrated on various colonies on the planet. While still in orbit, NOAH first flew above Joppa, the second most populated settlement on the planet. After Team Bravo performed an orbital drop, and landed on the colony, NOAH traversed the globe and then landed on the biggest colony, Troas.

The pilots on Troas saw that the entire colony had managed to secure defenses ahead of time alongside Joppa; the streets were filled with rows upon rows of infantry, troop vehicles and tanks, while the skies had fighter jets and bigger aircraft zooming back and forth. It was a massive entrenchment of military force on both sides of the planet. Yet, there was a lingering sense of dread in the ranks; some soldiers tried to distract themselves by playing cards or sleeping, while others simply stared at the sky with open eyes, waiting in anticipation for what was most likely to be their doom.

Ritsu began talking in comms. "Invasion's ETA is 2-20 hours. Take up defensive positions in the colonies, and prepare for attack. May your souls be as strong as steel. That is all." After her speech, Elora then spoke: "Umm, according to my calculations, M-Mist's radius will cover half of Troas, and 7/10 of Joppa. W-What should we do?"
Elora was especially nervous after hearing news of Lora. It felt like a bad omen, and for some reason Elora sensed that the omen was targeted at her in particular. But she quickly dismissed the thought; she decided that was her cowardice talking, and quickly took a bit of a braver stance in her seat. "What are your orders, sir?"

---

The moment she heard Elora vomit over the comms Katya felt her own stomach twist, in protest the sound being a all to clear remind of just what they ship was doing and how fast they where traveling. Another reminder came form Lora who seems unable to adapt to FTL travel and was sent to the med-bay. Katya feeling sort of bad for Elora and Lora, Elora in particular who now had to stay locked in a dirty cockpit.
Still with Lora out of commission Katya wondered what the old man and Ritsu would do about Bravo squad as it was now leader less and a man down. The answer being one Katya never expected would arrive mere moments after she began to wonder.

Hearing Lorenzo say she was now the junior officer, Katya face went pale as the blood drained from it. Not to mention it she was now in charge of bravo squad. What really nailed it in Katya hadn't been had the chance to give a yes sir or anything else before the conversation was brought to an end.
"I'm the junior officer ... what ... why ... but ... the hell would the old man pick me? I'm no leader. Sure I did some command training back home, but that was only the basics, but I've never used it! she said to herself, feeling her heart beat and stress level skyrocket. The sudden news sending Katya into a borderline break down. For several minutes started blankly at her werks screens muttering away to herself rocking back and fourth o so slightly. The young woman completely confused as to why she'd be picked. Given she was sure she had shown no qualities that an officer should possess and still at times questioned Harold. Although it was to learn what those in charge made the choices they did. After Katya didn't plan on staying a cadet forever, she went to move up in the ranks ... she just didn't expect it be like this.

However much Katya thought on it, she couldn't work out why she might have been selected and after rocking and muttering seemed to regain her composure at least a little bit. Taking in a deep breath. Katya let out a very loud frustrated and slightly worried sigh. The idea of leading others in battle even if it was just a one of thing ... seemed like a very daunting challenge that was suddenly thrust upon her. Although the idea that this was sort of test and in a way it was, helped Katya. As she was sure both the lieutenant and the old man would review her performance to see if she was fit to be the junior officer on a more permanent biases. Even if she never tried to become one of the officers when positions where being first decided. Katya reminded herself, if she had been picked she learn to fit the role. It seemed now she was going to have to learn and very quickly, otherwise her squad mates might end up paying. Taking in a deep breath, Katya felt even happier now she had yelled at Daniel having vented all that built up stress had been a god send. As now she was stressed again as she began to recall every thing she could from the little command training she had been given.

When NOAH arrived at Leviticus IX, Katya had claimed herself down. Although was still feeling worried about leading Bravo into battle. Worried she make a mistake and someone would end up dying. Katya wishing this had happened before they left so she could had talk with Harold and maybe gotten some advice. Sure right about now he was dealing with everything far better then her. As the Noah moved into position to allow Bravo to drop Katya sent one last good luck and fight well to the those in Alpha squad before discontenting them from her Array. Daniel getting a second message on a private channel.
"Better not get get killed Daniel you've got a promise to keep. Die and I'll some how make you pay." was all it read.

Planet fall was easy enough for Katya, quite used to deploying onto a planet form orbit. Skillfully landing the werk on ground as gently as its thrusters allowed. The squad landing in a plaza on the colones eat side not far from a cluster of residential buildings. As her werk followed by the rest of bravo touched the ground Katya could feel many eyes turn on her and the other. The feeling of so many looking at them was unnerving. Like they expected 5 werks to make the Cruxi go away. Taking in a deep breath Katya was still borderline breaking down. Right now she didn't want job of squad leader or title of junior officer, she wanted to give it away but knew she couldn't. She was picked so she take the burden weather she wanted it or not.
"Okay, Katya you gotta be strong for the squad. Your not ready, but you gotta do your best. Hopefully the universe is feeling generous and everyone survives the coming battle. Just gotta trust your instincts, use the clever brain you where given and work things out as you go. she thought to herself as she tapped on her comms to the rest of bravo squad.

"Alright! Listen up folks. As you heard we've potently not got long before the Cruxi come to turn this place into rubble. As you know we're here to stop that ... well stop the vehicles and mechs ..." Katya stated over the comms trailing of running out of words having no idea where she was going with that. Feeling disappointed as it was buying her time to come up with a plan.
"Okay! Firstly we need to found out the most likely places the Cruxi will attack and likely places they'll land ground forces. Also I want to know how the PDF have themselves set up. Defensive strong points and potential gaps and weaknesses. We need to know good place for us to set defensive positions. So orders are find out said information. Alright for now that's all." she stated sounding unsure if she was directing the squad to do the right thing. Katya having little confidence in her ability to lead at the moment.

FTL travel was different then normal high-speed travel. High speed caused higher than normal gravity. Zim was used to that because of his time on his home planet, he could handle that. However, FTL actually seemed to take matter, squish it as small as it could go, and then punch it through the firsts and textures of space in order to maneuver outside of physical constraints... Or something like that, Zim didn't really know. What he did know, was that after all the different experiences he had with FTL travel, it always left him a little nauseous afterwards. The orbital drop never seemed to make it any better. Though Black star was state of the art, and it was the smoothest reentry he had ever personally experienced, even once he was through the initial burn of the atmosphere he could use his thrusters to not only slow but control his descent, plus if he opened his armor wings he could control it even better, allowing him to glide a little and offset his trajectory. With all of this in mind, Zim aimed his week for a little outside of the drop zone in order to give some of the others more space for their drop and to allow him a head start on scouting the terrain.

"You are doing just fine, Ma'am," Zim said via a text communication to Katya. Then after a moment to give her a chance to read it he continued via voice, "Permission to scout the terrain view the PDF defensive line?"

Assuming that permission was granted, Zim would take a moment to do another system check to insure that the landing hadn't done anything critical to the machine, make his last minute adjustments and then went out to map as much of the terrain as he could on the battlefield. There were topographical maps on file, and Zims time as a teraformer gave him plenty of practice reading g them, but nothing beat putting your eyes on it.

The massive jerk caused by the acceleration was good for many things: losing your lunch, spilling your drink, embarrassing bathroom incidents and faceplanting after what would normally be a slight trip. For Rooney, it did much more than that, the sudden jerk and force sustained by the jump snapped him out of his self-pitying funk and brought a clarity to everything that he'd never felt before. Everything was hyper definite, with a cold edge that he couldn't quite describe. All the shaking in his limbs were gone. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his half-empty box of cigarettes. Even this humble paper box looked like it could slice into his flesh if he handled it incorrectly. He flipped open the box and noticed everything also seemed to move in slow motion even though he knew everything was traveling at speeds faster than light. Lighting up, Rooney took ahold of his controls and switched on the Command channel.

"Private Rooney signing in for Team Alpha. Ready to roll any time the rest of you are." He took in a drag of the cigarette, and noted that it didn't seem to affect him much right now. Really it did more as a piece of oral fixation rather than a stimulant of any kind, which was fine by him. Getting hyped up by nicotine would only dim his understanding.

Serah took a deep breath, the silence being unbearable. She'd been met with a few, predictable reactions on her opinion of the mission but after that point nothing more was said. The tiny girl almost wanted to bring it up but was stopped by a message from Sigma. Apperently Iota had smuggled... Alcohol? "...Pfffft! Ahahaha!" she started to laugh, finding it genuinly funny. Serah'd accidentally slammed a button on her comm screen whilst flailing around in laughter and shut it off, so luckily nobody witnessed that. Once she regained her composure, Serah opened up various cabinets to try and find the mysterious bottle. She opened up one that was a little bit above her head and felt something bonk against it. "Ow!" The tiny girl felt the sting of that one really well, rubbing her head to try and calm down the ouchies. On the floor next to her was now that alcohol, something Serah took notice of almost immediately. Her chest filled up with pride after finding it, right before getting distracted by something else again. Caretaker sent over a file detailing everyone's mechs. Serah carefully read over it to try and get a better idea of what everyone did, since she actually didn't pay all that much attention in Framewerk simulations.

NOAH suddenly shook with alarms blaring, snapping the girl out of her reading session. "Wait, already?!" she cried out in surprise, having completely missed the message from Harold on what squad she was. She'd also not noticed her communications were off, not until that moment anyway. "Shoot!" Serah reacted quickly, pulling up the global channel before feeling the compression of NOAH's FTL drive overtake her. The girl didn't have anything to latch on to and conveniently forgot her seat belt, so once the ginormous ship exited hyperspace a bit of travel sickness was the least of her worries. Serah'd landed upside-down inside of her cockpit in a rather embarrassing pose if she were to be wearing a skirt. The girl needed a few seconds to recompose and when she did she scrambled back into her piloting seat. The first batch of framewerks were dropping from the ship and Serah wasn't among them.

The girl breathed a sigh of relief, looking over the her connections to see who was still on board NOAH. The squad she'd be paired up with looked to consist of Harold, Roger, Sigma and... the new guy, whatever his name was. Serah kept forgetting. It kinda stunk because the only she somewhat knew on this squad was Harold. Considering Serah's lax nature, she'd gotten into quite a bit of trouble with him already back at base. Hopefully that didn't come back to nip her in the butt. The girl looked through Atty's cameras at the outside world and witnessed the gloomy outlook. "Poor people..." she said with a pause. Serah felt Atty touch solid ground a little after, the sign it had landed. She then looked back over the communications. Much to her shock, everyone was muted! How did Serah manage that?! She quickly fiddled with a few buttons to unmute everyone, and sheepishly confessed her little mistake. "Um... I'm ready for the mission, but I kinda also didn't catch our orders from Hq. Oh and uh, ready for orders, Sir." Once she was finished speaking, Serah had Atty walk a short distance away from the colony, feeling a little uneasy. She also took a look around the area, trying to spot anything unusual by eyesight. She didn't really expect to find anything, it was more to relieve boredom.

---

Ariin heard Katya speak, he heard how she tried to sound commanding yet in truth she wasn't sure of her own orders. He opened a private channel and spoke, in friendly and advising tone. "Breath, relax, you know what your doing and you'll get us through this fine, commander." He added the last part to try and boost her moral, the truth was Ariin expected himself to be the first to get wasted if things went wrong.

He'd landed not far from the others and was slowly looking over his visual readouts as he rotated cameras. "By the way, I'm not going to be much use out on the front line. However with you can give a position to defend I can lock down and cover it. Paladin's specialized for defense rather than offense, since we also have Logic Gate on hand perhaps task Elora with getting us synced with PDF? Hero and Twilight would make excellent scouts while you could ready up with me and work with Elora to get out team ready for any and all attackers." Ariin finished his assessment of the team.

"Of course that's just my opinion commander." He said signing off, and waiting either be reprimanded or thanked.

---

Hearing Ariin speak up telling her to breath and relax, made the young woman frown. Really not wanting to hear those words as it reminded her that right now she was ready to snap. The word commander really hammering in the fact that right now she was leading these people.
Sitting in her cockpit in silence, she noticed Zim sent her a message but payed it no mind. Hearing him asking permission to scout the PDF lines, moments later.
"Granted." she simply stated before thought she should at least acknowledge Ariin.
"Thanks Ariin ... your faith is ... well I'm grateful for it ..." she said trailing off not really sure what to say to the young man.

Going quite she merely listened to Ariin as he started to speak aware of what he was saying was true. Having already planned to use Paladin defensively ... well mostly. Truth be told any battle plans she was thinking of where still in their early stages. As Ariin spoke Katya frowned again, feeling rather bad that someone else was having to provide her with what she considered advice. Katya sighing heavily as he finished speaking.
"Thanks Ariin, your opinion is ... at the moment helpful. I'm already planing on contacting the PDF. I can pick up nearly all their comm's on my hyper-wave. Knowing where they are getting hit hard was kinda a core thing, even before I ended up ... leading bravo. As to where to put you ... I'm working on that, hence the scouting. Outside of that I just dunno yet. I'm trying to working stuff out that really I'd of done before we landed." Katya stated, followed by another sigh.

---

Ariin smiled, she had changed from the girl he fought beside on the practice field before. He wondered if she was really ready for this, if any of them were ready for this. "I'm here to help. I know I've been a little distant from everyone since training day. I've had a lot on my mind." He said, not wanting to admit he had worried about the program itself and even skeptical of Lorenzo.

"So how is Caretaker? I remember last time were in the field we tries to work together and it didn't go great. Granted I still think were going to do great things, hell after this we ought to celebrate." He laughed a little and then checked his camera's yet again moving slowly looking around area seeing if their was anything worth looking over. He was in truth looking for any civilian that might not have reached the shuttles yet.

"Hey Katya... Did they burn your world too?" He asked as he kept scanning for any humans around them, he didn't find any. He just remember his own world, the shuttles full of children and adults rocketing into the sky. Cruxi ships bursting the ships just before they broke orbit corpses and debris raining down on the city. He remembered his mother smiling as she ushered the students from her class on board then told her children she loved them. Ariin remembered watching every other but the one they were on burst and fall back towards the planet. He was of three hundred survivors from the planet, a high number compared to the other planet in his system. "Because they burned mine, I don't want to see any more parents send their kids up in a shuttle before they die."

---

The second the words "I'm here to help" where uttered Katya felt grateful to Ariin and felt bad she had made little effort to interact with him. Maybe he wasn't such loner after al.
"Yeah I think we all have. This whole squad Sigma stuff been a big change ... still get stomach ache from the bases food." she said a little laugh aware he meant something different, but wasn't in the mood to pry.
The moment Katya heard Ariin ask how Caretaker was. Katya ran her hand along console in front of her.
"She's good. Working well, although I still not used to this left leg. It just feeling clunky, I dunno. It just different, maybe it me. I've spent far too much time in Caretaker in the last year. It almost feels like it my skin." Katya stated remembering she needed to active her rifle at some point before the fight. Thumbing a few controls mindlessly, Katya heard a question that sounded really personal. Which Ariin confirmed when he mentioned they burned his home world.

"No my world is lucky. It's well protected, considered important because of the raw ore it provides to the war effort. The worst we worry out back home are worms that could eat a werk like it was nothing and those that would rather steal then work. Assholes, I hated dealing with them. But I'll admit it was good training, had to be it got me noticed and into Sigma." Katya stated smiling slightly, at the thought of her world. She missed it, Katya hoping she get to see the sand dunes again and the mining outpost that was her home.

Giving a moment of thought Katya felt she wanted to ask one question that popped into her mind when Ariin mentioned his world got burned.
"So is that why you fight? Not for revenge but to protect other family's?"

---

"Yeah, I had to raise four younger siblings alone. No money, no help, and no friends." He explained as he continued to wander around the area. "My world was this huge farming center, provided food around the sector. My father worked the land, my mother was school teacher." He chuckled a little. "I used to complain about living in the middle of nowhere and not having big cities." He sighed and touched his false eye before pushing his hair back carefully.

"I had to beat other orphans, steal from others, and lie to officials. Just to keep them fed, clothed, and safe." He explained as he began to towards the edge of the city to look out. "Broken families never heal. So I want to prevent what happened to me from happening to others." Ariin explained as he moved looking at things. "That's good you know? You've got people to go home to... I'm not going home, not even to Mars. Military owns me, I'm a convicted murderer, so I guess that just expect me to die out here fighting." He said as he finally stopped looking out sighing.

"Probably want some context to that. I stole from an officer, two MP's chased be down and beat me. My sister saw me and screamed... They got the look like men about to do something despicable, pulled a knife. So I took the knife and killed them, of course one managed to shove the knife in my eye." He said touching the implant again. "When I woke up the guy I had pick-pocketed was sitting beside me. Told me he owned me, I was to enter the Framewerk program. That was three years ago, they send my pay to my siblings." He finished doing his best not to sound upset about the whole thing.

---

Katya listened to Ariin speak, the young woman thinking at their core they where not all the different. Although their reasons where different for being here. They both wanted to protect others.
"I can respect someone who fights for someone other then just himself." Katya stated not sure what to say about his story, feeling she should tell him something in return. Double checking her comm's muting everything but the private to Ariin.
"I would say sorry for what you've had to go thought, but at this stage I doubt it would mean anything but pity. However I'll let you in on a secret. I had a choice to be here, in the military. Truth be told I'm actually running away from home. If I wasn't here I be digging for ore like my mother and my mothers mother. I doubt I'll ever go home. I don't think I could face what I have coming. Anyway that's a secret. Sooooo Ariin your werk, is it fast? I'm thinking this battle might require us to move to different positions quickly. I know tight streets are a no go for you, down to size. Still I don't to push your werk to do something it not made to do. I learned that never ends well the hard way." Katya said as she began to do a rifle check. Unmuting her comm's.

---

"Ah, well if you ever leave the military. My sisters would be happy to have you if you don't want to go home. You could find work on Mars plenty of pilots jobs." He told her as he moved again wandering a little. "No it's not very fast. Faster than you would think but still hardly fast when compared to other Framewerks. However it can take punishment, strongest armor fresh from the forges of Mars. Paladin's a tough guy always has been." He answered as checked the railguns and shield set up. "...And thank you Katya, for listening. If we both make it out I'll treat you to something not made by mess hall cooks." He answered as he got ready for orders. They would be here soon, the time for talk was over.

---

The moment Ariin mentioned Paladin wasn't fast, Katya wasn't surprised. It didn't look fast but she though it was best to ask, given she hadn't looked at it specs having no need to before. Maybe it was something she need to do, after this provided Ariin didn't die on this world.
"It's fine, I'm always happy to listen to others. I'll hold you to that promise, I always like eating food those butchers don't make." she said, sighing.

Ariin had provided a distraction given her time to bury her feelings. While still not confident in her ability to lead, she felt calmer. Giving a deep breath. Katya decided she should provided Ariin a task then set to work on her own.
"Ariin I want you to look for points we can set up defensive positions. Also any area's you think might work well for that rail gun of yours. I expect to see you working hard, slacker ... thanks" She said with a laugh closing the channel setting to work to get into contact with the PDF commander. Thinking for a moment Katya opened a channel to Mai and Elora.
"Cadet Twilight, get moving. I want you hunting for place's Cruxi might land ground forces. Cadet Liu'un I want you to find the places in the colony the Cruxi will try to attack." Katya stated sounding a tiny a little more confident.

"...Neo Angel...deploying for atmosphereic entry..."

As Mai braced herself for deployment, she then thought back to the private conversation she had with Harold and Daniel.

* * * * * * * * * *

"...thank you sir's. I do apologize for the secretive nature of my framework. While certain spec's have to remain secret...I'll try none the less to give you a general rundown on what my framework is capable of at the moment", Mai droned.

Then, perhaps catching the two pilots on the private line off-guard, Mai's voice seemed to "change". Change in that she stopped sounding like a drone and more like a normal person.

"...first off, my framework is humanoid in shape so thanks to the software installed on various mass-produced weapons, it can handle the basic stuff. Rifles, machine guns, rocket lanchers, laser rifles...if it's not a "unique" weapon to a framework, Neo Angel can most likely weild it. Sadly...Lorenzo couldn't supply my requests but instead issued two Magnum Pistols from a prior framework I used to pilot. Eight shots each with two clips means I have thirty-two shots to work with. Although not a long range weapon nor rapid fire, it does have power at close to just shy of mid range before accurracy becomes an issue."

There was a pause before she continued speaking in a normal voice.

"I also have a bunch of mini-trusters through my "wings". With the standard booster in the middle of the frameworks back, I have additional thrust and "dodging" ability since i can aim the mini-trusters in just about any direction. For a medium framework, I can be shockingly quick and agile assuming I can handle the sudden change in directions, which I am trained for, so in a sense, "rapid-deployment" or "hit-and-run" tatic's fit into Neo Angel's specialty. Though again, it can fill other roles with mass-produced weaponry assuming I have those on hand. It's also because of this that the Neo Angel also has a pair of beam sabers for melee combat."

There was a sigh before Mai's voice sounded like her typical "drone" self before she said, "I'd say more sir's but anything past that is classified. Apologies."

Sigma flipped the switches deftly as the instructions were indicated through the intercomms, only stopping to clench her teeth slightly before entering to hyperspace. The memories she had inherited told her it wasn't going to be pleasant, so she stiffened and gritted her teeth.

"Roger that." She added, while taking the rattling in stride, as she readjusted herself after the jump. For what it seemed a long time she stood speechless, without making any input other than the hard-drilled operational maneuvers and routine checks to keep her framewerk functional.

One Down before we engage in actual combat, huh. Well at least it's not the Cruxi killing half of the team outside the jump. She mused mentally, accessing some of the not-so-flattering memories of Irina.

And there it was, teams were made. Elora, Ariin, Katya, stay safe. She thought to herself, before turning her eyes to her own team. Rooney is in my team, as well as ...Harold. She shivered. Well, not everyone had to be palatable to work with, this was her duty, not her hobby.

And then the voice of Serah Gene blared through the intercom. Sigma gritted her fist and performed a mighty facepalm, before interjecting in a private channel towards the girl.

"Hey you, at least pretend the pilot part." She said, the intercomm showing a furrow...which failed to be threatening, as it looked like a ten-year old scowl. "See these people looking miserable? We need to avoid them being killed. From the bad guys. Which are airborne. You know, Cruxi. Bad Guys. Um. Yeah. And well, there's also a giant orb-slash-pilot-blender which we have to watch out for." She paused "Get it? Defend Hobos. Kill Bad guys. Avoid Pilot Blender."

Sigma repeated the last sentence, emphasizing each word. She then eyed the flask Iota had smuggled earlier.

Goddamnit Iota, now I'm tempted too. Maybe later.

If any of the terrified civilians in Leviticus IX dared open their windows and peek outside as they cowered in their homes, they would see titans walking down their streets with stomps that shook the earth, their bodies so large they could only see the lower part of their chassis. In another time, they would have been considered gods, but now, they were mere soldiers; a grim truth of the opposition's might.
Squad Sigma was split, and had to work on two different sides of the planet. Out of Squad Alpha, Atty arrived first, and scoured the area to the west of the landing zone, but didn't find anything unusual in the city. The rest descended down upon the landing zone, and barely prepared themselves due to their officer's sudden drop in confidence.

Squad Bravo was more efficient in this regard, in no small part thanks to junior officer Katya's efforts in organizing. Paladin and Caretaker moved towards the local Planetary Defense Force base, where Katya managed to contact the local military and set up communications with them, ensuring there was synergy between the two units. When they discovered the base was made of incredible dense crystallized Carbonox and thus practically indestructible, Paladin took up a defensive position by climbing on top of the building's roof.
Cadet Twilight set up a shooting spot in a wide avenue predicted to be used as a landing zone for enemy infantry, and Cadets Zim and Elora worked together in mapping out the colony and possible weak points.

Then, about 2 hours, 27 minutes and 12 seconds later, the moment of truth came as a flash of light from the sky.
Wormholes suddenly twisted into existence, followed by them vomiting out spaceships that looked partly metallic and partly organic in a horrendous mix of biotechnology; there was no doubt it was the Cruxi fleet.
Suddenly, a painful screech emerged from the Framewerk command channel, followed by static; the Cruxi jammed the entire planet's comms network, and even prevented the Framewerks from contacting the command channel, except squad Bravo, who managed to get a boosted signal through the jamming thanks to Caretaker's Hyperwave Communications Array, opening up the intelligence pathway like the mythic Moses would part the ocean in humanity's ancient lore.

The gargantuan battleships released troopships and war machines like an angry beehive, and the sky was colored with green fire as plasma rained from the sky. Troop ships quickly descended down and opened fire on the PDF forces as hordes of aliens resembling insectoid gorillas and wielding highly-advanced plasma rifles began assaulting the streets, decked out in personal barriers that absorbed bullets like sponges. Among them were also nightmarish long-legged beasts that crawled and jumped at astonishing speed, leaving the soldiers in disarray and chaos as their own corpses were turned against them.

But this was only a prelude to the true insanity that was to come, signaled by quakes that shook the very ground like it was the apocalypse; Cruxi War Machines wielding either super-powered plasma cannons or giant glowing scythe-like arms emerged in groups of three around the colony. Elora cried out as her estimates turned out to be wrong; they weren't as spread out as she predicted and willing to take over key objectives like power plants and such. Instead the groups seemed to form a circle of some kind. But then she realized why, and her breath escaped her as she gazed above the city.

A strange substance dripped down from the sky and landed in the area surrounded by the CWMs. It constantly swirled and changed color, and throbbed, pulsating like a living creature. Then, the pool of goo twisted up like a tornado and formed a glowing sphere resembling a miniature planet.
To Squad Sigma's horror, the seemingly invincible super weapon was deployed at both colonies.
Harold seemed to panic as he rushed straight at Mist, attempting to shoot it down while it was still forming.
The Rostosov endured the heavy barrage of plasma cannons directed at him. The Magus also set out, and attempted to flank it as the Framewerk moved to the north charging up a shot of his Lightning ElectroLaser that he believed would outright destroy the strange, twisting liquid.

But, as with many tales of war, this one would end with death. A sudden sharp sound of what seemed to be air rushing into fill the void rang through the air. The Rostosov was hit in it's exposed back, sending it falling down, and the resulting bombardment of titanium-melting hellfire quickly sealed any hope of saving him. Another shot landed on the Magus, hitting it's firing arm and tearing it off, causing the Frame to fall over from the impact. As a result, the LEL missed hitting the deadly sphere, and the weapons managed to fully form into their imposing figures at both Troas and Joppa. It turned out that the two were hit by weird units that seemed to act like snipers. Then, in the distance they could see strange shapes prowling through the streets, running on all fours, until they saw the building-sized monstrosities that headed towards them, their tentacle-like appendages whipping around in a frenzy.

All around the planet, the fires of war emerged, and they were of unnatural color, origin, and end. The valiant PDF troopers, with their superiority in numbers, barely held back the appalling assault, with no end in sight for the nightmare. With the heavy casualties incurred before the battle has even begun, it seemed as if there was no hope left for the valiant pilots of Squad Sigma...

---

To the east of Troas lies Nazareth, a tiny colony of only 150 million. While not as important as the two capital colonies, it is a major source of agriculture for the planet, filled with big domes wherein fertile crops are grown and distributed to the other colonies. To protect it, an auxiliary unit was sent in to protect the valuable resource; the Doom Squad. Named after a mythical space marine who has been believed to have fought a one-man war against an otherworldly invasion, it is led by the squad officer Jason Diavolus, and includes Xane Sterling, Celeste Sezia and Barry Montreno. As the planetary attack began they were given orders to stand their ground and repel any invaders, but suddenly a new order came from their HQ after a bit of static: "Troas is under heavy assault. Head out there and eliminate the threats. Ov-" The comms suddenly turned to static again.
However, it was then that Nazareth was also attacked; by two Cruxi War Machines and a single tentacled beast that roared as it charged straight at Jetto Chosa's direction. The battle for Leviticus IX has begun.

Jason "Phoenix" Diabolus | Doom Squad Officer | Nazareth

---

Deep blue eyes opening slowly, the boy took in the soft glow of his frame's cockpit. Reaching forward from his seat, the boy gently pat the command console in front of him and spoke softly to the frame. "Ready, Ribasu? This is the real thing." He said before a sudden, painful screeching echoed through the cabin. The boy let out a yelp of surprise as he covered his ears and rapidly hit some controls to reboot the comms. When they came back up, the soft blue glow from the diagnostics displayed in front of the boy. Apparently the command channel was offline, meaning either they were being jammed or got taken out. Jason was willing to bet on it being jammed, which meant the assault was underway. He was finally about to face his enemy, get revenge for all his loved ones back home. As he thought about this, the boy's gaze shifted towards the picture in the corner of the cockpit. A relic from when he still had his family, their last trip to go camping together. A new determination gripped the boy as he flipped his comms online, ready to communicate with his squad.



"Troas is under heavy assault. Head out there and eliminate the threats. Ov-" came a static filled voice on command's line. Immediately, Jason flipped his side on to transmit in return. "Transmitting in the blind, command was received, over. But first we need to deal with inbound." he said in a calm voice before switching to his squad link. "Alright, hope you two got your warpaint on. We've got inbound, so we need to mop up quickly here. Troas is under heavy assault and they need our help. Jetto, transform and give me details on any weak point you see on hostiles. I'm also going to need you to draw some fire from one of the warmachines. Stay alive." The boy said as he watched the massive opponents charged towards Jetto Chosa. As he was talking, the boy had begun firing up the Railgun's charge sequence. Going for a quick charge, Jason settled for a shot that would pierce light armor, and dent medium armor. As he did so, the railgun would pop up over his massive frame's shoulder and target the tentacled beast that was charging his friend.



"Guardian, engage the Warmachine on your Three O'clock. Sniper range at first, try to see if we can get them without having to get in close. I've got the beast." The boy said as he checked on the charge of the railgun. It was a clear shot from where Ribasu was to the charging beast. Thanks to their current location on the outskirts of the city. Without further ado, the boy let his shot rip from the railgun. Like a bolt of lightning, a sudden streak of light appeared between the large gun and its target as the shot raced across the distance between faster than the blink of an eye. Accompanied by a thunderous roar and a small shockwave from where the projectile left the barrel. The attack seeming to be like a masterbolt thrown by some god or titan from above. After his shot fired, the boy flicked the switch to open his missile silos, ready in case the beast was still standing.

---

Serah was cheerfully humming one of her favorite songs as she had Atty walk along the outskirts of the colony. She wasn't really seeing anything of note. It's then that Sigma opened up a private communication channel with her, causing Serah's attention to be drawn to that. "Hey you, at least pretend the pilot part." The little girl had said to Serah, who felt a little insulted. "H-Hey! I can't help it..." Serah replied, realizing Sigma did have a point. The younger girl then repeated the mission briefing in a delightfully childlike manner, nearly causing Serah to crack up. "All right, all right. I'll look out for the 'Pilot Blender'." Serah giggled and reached to turn off the private link. But then all hell broke loose. Wormholes opened all over Troas, high in the sky, with Cruxi dropships beaming out and causing carnage. Even the commander, Harold, was quickly caught and neutralized in all the chaos.

Sigma stood there, witless. The wormholes. The ominous shapes. It all felt like deja vú. She had experienced it before. And at the same time she had not. Those were Irina's memories, firmly imprinted in her mind. Her limbs felt like lead, refusing to move. That thing, standing proud like an alien-made sun amidst the battle, the veritable wrath of an uncomprehensible demigod soon to be unleashed in the battlefield.

"NOO!" Sigma couldn't rein her emotions as they spiked in a surge as Harold, the squad leader had decided to fight back. Brave. But short lived. She cradled her face with one hand. "Headless." Her ominous words were said once, but the implications echoed in her mind. It was then when she looked at the bottle. The very one Iota had introduced in her cockpit.

Serah wasn't in any better shape than Sigma. Her face went pale as she looked at Rostosov getting torn into pieces, feeling all of the blood drain from all parts of her body. The girl was numb to the synchronization drop with Atty for the first few moments, but Sigma's scream jolted her back to reality. "Right... Keep calm. Save your emotions for after the battle." Serah had to remind herself, gripping the side of her seat tightly.

Sigma unscrewed the cap of the bottle with her teeth, as she gripped the controls, her hands typing up like possessed, bringing commands forth to the Eiswolf. In one gulp, she downed it all, before looking at the still open communication.

"...Welp. We're fucked."

Serah almost had to laugh at how blunt Sigma delivered that line. But she couldn't be right, could she? "Probably, yeah..." Serah replied in an almost as blunt tone, leaning back in her chair. She saw that Yeager and Magus were still functional. "Y'know... I'm not keen on this 'doomed' thing." Serah joked flatly, opening up a relay with the other two framewerks. "Rostosov KIA. Careful everyone." Serah told the rest, then dropped comms again. "So, what do we do?" She asked Sigma, sounding a lot colder than you'd expect from someone as cheerful as her.

It was then when Sigma looked at the scene once more, her scowl accentuating as she loomed over her controls. The bottle in her hand was squashed violently.

"We..." She hesitated for a second. "We..."

"WE KILL EVERYONE OF THESE BASTARDS UNTIL THERE IS NOTHING FOR THAT FUCKER OF LORENZO TO ANALYZE! ORAH!"
She added, breaking in a cynical laughter, her pitch dropping significantly, very much like a teenaged Irina, as she uploaded her targetting systems into the communication. "I'm not Elora, but please work you piece of shit" She concluded.

"I'll take care of the snipers. Just don't let others near me." She concluded. "You keep peeled, and don't let the blender get you. Your weapon is one of the few things that can tip the scale."

Serah was slightly taken aback by the sudden shift of persona to say the least. The last thing she'd expected was Sigma to yell at the top of her lungs, not to mention she even dropped Lorenzo in there. "Okay, that's totally not like you at all." Serah heated up her thrusters and dashed once to the west. It was probably a good idea to get as far away from that pulsating monstrosity as possible. She looked over to her left and right, spotting two tentacled beast Cruxi. They were pretty far away and didn't seem to be capable of ranged attacks, so she should be able to keep them away from Eiswolf. "I'll keep these two off of you. Cover my flank!" Serah yelled over to Sigma, firing off a few sickles of energy at the northern tentacle beast. They were probably easy to miss but it'd flush them out at least. The girl moved one of her barrier wings to face her target and had the other hovering at the back of the right thigh, trying to shield herself from an unexpected shot.

"This battle needs a hero. Like that sick bitch of Irina. And I can do Irina." Sigma gritted her teeth, as she aimed at the southern sniper-like unit, at what she guessed was the vital area. "One." She pressed the trigger to execute her attack, as she ignited her boosters and drew back, adjacent to Serah, in order to keep the other framewerk secured.

Katya had stopped working, coming up with battle plans with PDF commander until the last second the Cruxi arrived. Both of them trying to workout the best way to hold Joppa. Sadly thought no amount of preparation would ready the Bravo squad and the PDF force, passing along what information Sigma had been given in it briefing about the MIST. Hoping in some small way it would help or at least keep the PDF from directly attacking it and getting a lot of people killed. As much as she didn't like it she hoped the PDF would leave the MIST to her and the rest of Bravo who in her mind had a better chance of eliminating the threat. As to how to do that Katya had a few ideas, but wasn't sure if any of them would work Or usable once the fighting started. It would all come down to how the enemy deployed themselves, hopefully Elora predictions would be right. As it would make taking out the Cruxi out a little bit easier.

When the sky was lit up with Flash of light, Katya stopped what she was doing knowing what that flash meant. Wincing as her comm unit screeched at her, Katya looking at her Hyperwave seeing a jamming field was in place. However the array automatically boosted its signal and was able to maintain a link to the command channel, Katya breathing a sigh of relief. As the array sent a automatic status update to the NOAH. Looking up Katya watched as the first wave of Cruxi came crashing down on the planet like sandstorm.
"By my ancestors ..." she muttered trailing off distracted by a something else that fell from the sky. It unlike the troop ships or plasma that was raining down on the planet. Whatever this was seemed to pulsate and swirl like it was alive. When Katya saw that something else was her eyes went wide.
"SHIT! They've deployed MIST already! Crap! I was hoping for some time before we had to deal with that." Katya stated to herself looking up at MIST feeling a pang of dread, Katya finding the weapon to be quite intimidating.

The moment the weapon was fully deployed Katya noticed she and Paladin along with PDF base where in it firing range. The young woman cursing as she opened up a line to every member of Bravo squad to give order.
"Time to rise to the occasion Katya ... I hope ... I don't get my comrades killed ... I don't think I'd be able to live with myself if I did." she thought her worry about buggering up her first command creeping back into her mind. Her sync rate dropping slightly as her confidence in her ability to lead once again dropped. She needed at least part of the battle to go well before she could place any trust in herself and if things went horribly wrong, Katya wasn't sure what she'd do.

Clearing her throat Katya pushed the negative feelings as deep downing into her as she could. It still lingering but for now she could ignore it and focus on leading her squad no matter what happened, she could break down and cry later provided she lived though the battle.
"Alright Bravo this is it! I'm trusting all of you to do your best, together we will hold this colony!" She said, trying her hand at giving the squad a few words that might inspire them and project that she was confidant in herself and the squad to do it's job. Recalling in her training commanders should appear to be confident, as it was meant to help with squad morale. As she spoke Katya pulled up a battle plan she worked on in case the Cruxi didn't land in the predicted areas. Minimizing it Katya took a quick deep breath now was the time to give her first orders.

"First I'm ordering all of you to spend as little time a possible in the MISTs range of fire. We don't know when they might fire that thing so be careful. Right Ariin and Zero engage the Cruxi in grid H3, I'll back you two up. Mia engage Cruxi grid H8. If you need to try to lead it towards the PDF base me or Ariin will then back you up. Elora there's a Cruxi in grid F2 do what you can to keep it busy, if you can destroy it by all means do so, but don't push yourself. We'll back you up as soon as we have eliminated our targets."

With her orders given she hoped the rest of Bravo would respond quickly and do as she wanted them. Right now she didn't need someone doing their own thing. Katya thinking that only by working as a unit would they have and hope of winning this battle. Not wanting to waste anytime Katya positioned herself within the PDF to provide a good firing position on the Cruxi war Machines aiming at one of them she fired a shot. The battle had began, Katya now fully focused on the tasks she had at hand.

Zim had been waiting, so when the flash of light ripped open the sky Zim immediately started charging the Wave Surger that covered Blackstar's left hand. It wouldn't be enough time to have it ready to fire in time to attack incoming machines. As the plasma blasts fell from the sky it became abundantly clear that Zim wouldn't need the range immediately any ways as a pod of three CWMs and a fourth unit of some kind landed within striking distance. It didn't take more then but a moments hesitation before the command came through the cleared comm line. Zim was to be a front line combatant in H3 with remote support from Paladin and Caretaker.

"Understood," Zim said as he activated the thermal switch on the Scythe, he kept Wave Surger charging. When the enemy was this close there was no need to activate the stealth functionality of his equipment, but he kept his armor wings down for the added protection. There was likely little to no advantage that it would give him. He glanced over at this sync rate: 52%. Still no time for fancy maneuvers, but it should be enough to get him where he was intended to go. "Alright, Partner, lets see what we can do!" Zim said to his Framewerk. He punched the throttle forward hoping to make a charge on H3 and catch the Cruxi while they were still getting situated on the ground.

Three silvery biomechanical masses stood there together. As he approached he prepared to engage in basic evasive maneuvers, the armor wings may be able to take some damage, but the truth was that it was still too early in combat to count on that keeping him safe. Once he was within H3 he opened up his wings and folded them out of the way. He would try his luck on one of the ranged combatants if he could, trying to take one of them out before they had a chance to engage Caretaker and Paladin.

Blackstar was designed to be able to take apart an opponent piece by piece and leave important parts behind for study, but Zim wasn't experienced enough yet to know what he could and could not cut off to incapacitate his foe. For now, he aimed for complete destruction. With the Scythe low to the ground Zim hoped to take a cut up through the torso at a diagonal from Zero's right to left. This way, if the CWM dodged he was in position to follow through with a second attack, a horizontal swipe intended to take off the 'head' of the unit. Ideally, Zim would have made this into a full 360 swing, but he just wasn't comfortable enough doing that kind of maneuver just yet. So he played it safe and kept with the smaller motions.

For Mai, what happened wasn't anything new for her. If anything, it was "trial by fire" all over again from her first division days.

From what she gathered over the erratic comm lines, they had already suffered two possible casualties...the same two cadets she was speaking to before on a private comm line just before deployment.

Harold and Daniel.

But this was also the reason why she was trained the way she was trained...emotions were nothing but trouble during combat. And her "fears" of this unit's "influence" on her seemed to be for naught. After all, she didn't feel anything right now as the sounds of combat raged outside her framework.

But...was that the "true" reason why her sync rate was so low?

Then, her new squad leader came onto the comm line.

"First I'm ordering all of you to spend as little time a possible in the MISTs range of fire. We don't know when they might fire that thing so be careful. Right Ariin and Zero engage the Cruxi in grid H3, I'll back you two up. Mia engage Cruxi grid H8. If you need to try to lead it towards the PDF base me or Ariin will then back you up. Elora there's a Cruxi in grid F2 do what you can to keep it busy, if you can destroy it by all means do so, but don't push yourself. We'll back you up as soon as we have eliminated our targets."

Orders were orders.

"Roger. Seven in the Neo Angel. Mission start", Mai droned on the comm line.

Mai also didn't comment on her name being mispronounced as "Mia" or even Katya using her first name over her callsign "Seven". Right now, the battle is all that matters.

From her current position in G6, Mai uses the Neo Angel's mini-thrusters to gain an additional movement space to position H7. Drawing her two Magnum Pistols, she fires one shot from each one at the tentacled Cruxi in position H8 (Left Pistol ammo: 7/8. Right Pistol ammo: 7/8. Reload clips = 2).

The Cruxi itself was an unknown to her as she quickly approached but considering the sheer number of enemies in Joppa's combat zone already, speed was of the essence here. As much as she wanted to get combat data on this unit, she had to take it down quick then proceed to the next target.

---

A blinking red light hovered in front of him, hazily, Daniel swatted at it, trying to get rid of the annoyance, but his hand just passed through the haze. He shook his head and tried to sit up, finding himself restrained. The hell..? Then the situation dawned on him. He reached about blindly and yanked open the compartment containing the bottle of 'liquid courage' and yanking out the cork with his teeth, gulping down a burning mouthful. "Sorry buddy, I would share if I could." All around, red alarms were flashing, though the one that had awoken him had a persistent beep- it was the last text communication he had recieved before the signals were jammed.
Better not get get killed Daniel you've got a promise to keep. Die and I'll some how make you pay.

The burn of the alcohol in his system and the message brought him back to his senses, rapid recall style. Wilton jerked forward and started flipping switches, demanding diagnostics and putting Magus back under his control. To the best he could tell, the mecha was laying splayed out and mostly intact, excepting the arm laying a sector away in D3. Luckily, Magus's design had kept the damage from spreading down to it's core systems. Tentatively, he reactivated visual sensors and the local navigation, instictively picking up the bottle of alcohol and taking another swig as he realized his position. It was clear that they were cut off from global command, but localized... might get through. He tuned to the localized coms and took a deep breath.

"Magus reporting from E3." Daniel stowed away the bottle of alcohol and cracked his fingers, trying to sound cheerful. "Thinks are looking pretty bad over here..." his voice shook a bit as he turned Magus's head, trying to focus on D5, "...I can't make out Rostosov. A sniper took off my arm." He slowed down and was quiet for a moment. There wasn't much to say. When his voice haltingly came back, it was quieter. "There are three CWM's a sector east of me... ...Someone spar with Katya for me when you get back." Honestly, he wasn't even sure there was someone capable of listening, but it helped to talk. He had to analyze the situation, and figure out what he could do.

The first issue was that he had been shot from far off- there hadn't been any enemies nearby during his initial manuver. South would only take him closer to Mist, and East was death. If he headed directly West he would run into one of the tentacled beasts, which he wasn't certain of their weaponry. North was another such beast. If their movement was at all similar to his own, the best option was to dash to sector C1, which would put him out of range of any medium range weapons from the Cruxi squad and hopefully out of the movement range of the tentacled beasts. Quickly, he set the coords, prepping Magus's boosters and planning his movement patterns. He waited for the last second to have Magus stand, not wanting to draw any attention to the fact that he was alive.

>Boosters Ready
>Activate?

Daniel aimed for a simple manuver, pushing up into almost a racers stance, crouching with his one good arm out for balance, aimed towards sector C1. "Activate Boosters." Magus didn't need verbal command, but habit does as habit is. As the mecha took off, Daniel glanced at some of the pinned pictures and let the G force push him back in the harness, draining the last of the alcohol.

In a way, it was pointless. Magus was unarmed- the capacitors would take a long time to recharge, as he had drained them all in the inital LEL burst that had gone astray. Temporarily, he should be safe, but it was a checkmate. The beasts in A3 and F1 would have him trapped, even if they couldn't kill him immediately. Squad Sigma couldn't afford to save him, doing so would back the entire squad into the corner.

He closed his eyes for a moment, smiling to himself. "Come and get me, you bastards." Daniel shakily wiped a tear from the corner of his eye and forced a chuckle. Hopefully he would occupy the monsters long enough for Squad Sigma to pull ahead.

Everything seemed to happen around Roger in silence. Well, not really. Truth be told, the entire situation was quite noisy when you got down to it, from the humming of the Framewerk's cockpit, the crash of the drop, the static of the newly jammed Command Channel the wet squishing of the formation of Mist, and the hell fire that destroyed the Squad Leader's machine to the state of scrap metal. The thing is that all this sound, this noise was something in the background. The situation was rather dire, but none of it seemed real. It processed that Harold was dead and they were surrounded by Cruxi, but none of it felt real.

A few things did register, like the fact that everyone else seemed to have some plan of action by the way that their Framewerks were moving, and that he would need to get moving if he didn't want to go out like a bitch. Sigma seemed to be firing at one of the snipers and Serah at one of those big, tentacle mother fuckers. Roger tightened his grip on the controls of the Framewerk and willed it to move over to stay by the smaller machines.

"I've got your backs," he said, changing the comms channel to talk to the girls. "We aren't going to make it through this if we don't stick together." He doubted that they would make it out alive, but he wouldn't say that. They would need to spread out some eventually to avoid potential AoEs, but the dangers of spreading out were far more significant at the moment. He pulled the trigger to his machine gun and let it open fire all over the Tentacle beast. If anything else, it would help act as suppressive fire.

Ariin turned to his targets in a group of Cruxi war machines that had landed just so behind them. His shield pointed their main force as to protect himself and Caretaker from incoming fire. He fired for the one in center, two sets of twin blasts. He wanted them dead fast, that little planetoid looking thing would be next if he had anything to say about it.

After firing Ariin flicked on his comms. "If anythings still moving in H3 its your's, Katya you mind if I focus fire on the ones in the center. Go for the snipers, I got the range and the damage if you want to start popping them next." He asked letting the gun cool a moment he next round would be one shot, he'd have to make sure it hit its mark.

Nobody could have anticipated the sheer ferocity of the Cruxi assault as it came planetside. As their communications were mostly disabled, the Planetary Defence Force went into disarray. PDF troopers, despite their determination, were mowed down by the superior firepower of the green-clad troopers, the streets soon filling with rivers of blood and streaks of green plasma. The troopers in Troas were especially hit hard by their lack of command as they were caught in crossfires like blind rats in the rain. Joppa on the other hand fared better, thanks to Caretaker's Hyperwave Array and planning with the local commanders granting some semblance of order and stability in the otherwise chaos-filled districts. A cacophony of screams and weaponry blared out across the colonies as a grim battle unfolded. But above, an even bigger clash ensued, as titans trampled over buildings while struggling for supremacy.

---

In Troas, counterattack was immediately initialized against the alien invaders, with some pilots looking to avenge their fallen officer. AA-XOTRY moved to intercept the Cruxi Tentacle Beast located in the north-west of the colony. As soon as the creature saw her, it grabbed the two buildings in front of it and slingshot itself through the air, aiming a claw straight at the light Frame, seemingly as single-minded in its carnage as a mindless animal. With the bounding creature in a direct line of sight, the red Framewerk swung its glowing sword and shot out a razor wind of subatomic particles. The attack proved effective against the nightmarish mix of flesh and metal as most of its tentacles were cleaved in two. The creature crashed through an entire block of the neighborhood, crushing it to rubble. However, this only caused the beast to turn more angry as it lifted its head and screamed with enough force to break glass, revealing to bleed a green slime as it charged at Serah with the speed of a bullet train, writhing tentacles shooting right at her. It seemed the poor girl was about to meet an unfortunate fate...

Until Yeager burst into the fray with lightning speed. Though Roger fumbled over his controls and caught a hospital with the Frame's foot, almost falling down while demolishing it utterly, he nonetheless managed to keep his motion through the air, and arrived at the nick of time between Serah and the foul bioweapon; covered in dust, but nonetheless ready to fight. The machine gun, despite it's humble roots, still ripped apart the aberration in such a close distance, filling it full of holes and sending it falling down right before the two of them. The sinuous appendages flailed in the air, and the cut ones spurted out green gunk at high pressure like disgusting hoses, splashing over the crimson Framewerk's chassis in a lewd manner before life finally left them. With the pressure reduced from the north-west, Magus relocated to position. Still unprepared after his initial shot failed, Daniel could only wait for his capacitors to recharge. Only time could tell whether he would last long enough before he was overpowered.

Alongside her comrade, Eiswolf also engaged the enemy. Already having taken a defensive position, it didn't take long before POLARIS re-adjusted the weapon's scope to a southern Cruxi machine that was responsible for Harold's death. The trigger was pulled, and the Rail projectile screamed through the air as it found its mark right in the center of it's body, between armor plates. The sniper fell over with naught but a shrill yet flowing electric sound, akin to a drowned computer. With the unit neutralized, Eiswolf moved into formation, with Sigma nearly back-to-back with the other two remaining members of their squad.

The northern sniper unit was visibly affected by the southern unit's destruction, as it dropped down to street level by uncoiling it's wire-like composition, unable to be hit by long-ranged fire. Then, in it's low position, it slithered through the streets, dashing to the northwest. It lingered just outside the firing range of Mist, who seemed to float idly in the middle of the warzone, seemingly oblivious. However, a careful eye saw how the patterns of colors and iridescent hues that randomly shone on the glow seemed to somehow react to the events around it, like a red streak that flashed when Roger made his move. It was clear the seemingly eldritch thing had an awareness to it, and that it seemed to bid it's time before flooding the earth of the sinful like the God of ancient scriptures.

The tentacle beasts around Troas sniffed the air and growled as they pounded on all fours, running closer towards the cluster of human machines with malicious intent. The southern squad of Cruxi War Machines was still shooting Rostosov's remains when Eiswolf's shot went past them. They then turned around, and moved in to attack Eiswolf and the rest. The three seemed to act unnaturally efficiently as they leapfrogged each other in perfect harmony despite their unreadable random patterns; it was almost like they could read each other's minds, so synced were they in their actions.

However, Serah played the chess game several moves ahead, and had a barrier shield covering her vulnerable rear as it reflected the shots from the plasma cannons, saving her squad in the proximity. However, the wing overheated and broke from the sheer barrage of infernal death. As the other death squads moved away from Mist, the guardians of humanity still persevered with no additional casualties. But the enemies were closing in on them in a tide of chittering metal and snarling jaws, and already their defenses were breaking down. Was this to be the last stand of Squad Alpha?

---

Joppa, while as bogged down in the emerald hell as the other colony, had a more valiant resistance to their fighters, with PDF soldiers ripping and tearing the huge guts of their demonic enemies. Katya Romanovna, the brave field officer of squad Bravo, howled tactical commands even as the PDF building was blasted with pure plasma. Thankfully the structure proved as durable as human souls of greatest steel, and Katya countered with a well placed burst of neon rounds. Katya used the support of the building to her advantage as scratching light blue streaks hit their target across the distance, and the bolts of energy severely damaged the war machine, causing it to stagger from the impact and lean on a crumbling building with a dismembered leg.

Elora breathed heavily, her hands shaking as she gripped the controls. This was it, the moment of truth. This was the moment that she has trained for her entire short life; that she has been created for, she thought to herself. A massive panic began to surface when she spotted swarms of ant-like shapes running around, burned to ashes by the spreading alien fires. But this time, it wasn't her fault. She was there to save these people. Her eye only twitched as Katya's voice shouted out of her communications. She nodded, her mind forgetting that her superior couldn't see the body language. "Acknowledged," she said, not a stutter in her voice as she activated the cloaking device, and blinked out of visual existence. "Engaging F2."

She felt disturbingly serene as she dashed through the battlefield like an outside observer, past the squad of killer mechas that were out to murder her friends as if they were only passerby people on a street. She guessed Lorenzo did something right when he subjected her to the horrors of the mock battle, as having lived through that nightmare, she knew what to expect. And just like what happened in that traumatizing training session she began her scanning protocols on the sniper, not giving a thought that she was floating next to a horrible wiry mass with the only objective of causing death.

Once she was done collecting the data she transferred it to her squad. With no time to attack it, she decided to instead simply appear before it. And just as she thought, the long-ranged machine immediately dropped down to the street and slithered away. However, Logic Gate was suddenly taken from behind by tentacles, and Elora shrieked in horror as she realized the snarling monster dashed right up to her rear; if she had more combat experience she could have avoided the grapple from dashing such a long range, but right now her egg Frame was tightly wrapped up in the slimy appendages, free for it to do whatever pleased it. "Help!" She screamed, hoping someone would rescue her from the most unfortunate of fates.

Black Star creaked as it crouched down and then blasted off. It still felt clunky and unresponsive, but Zero was able to overcome his issues with pure practice; having trained in VR how to advance from cover to cover between buildings, he zig-zagged to the trio with only getting a single hit of a plasma cannon to his armor wings, causing it to weaken from the heavy mass of energy. The scythe-wielding Frame struck the enemy, but the outcome was left unclear as suddenly a volley of tungsten slugs from Paladin's mighty Pmpey weapon system impacted and sent Zero flying. When the dust cloud cleared, he was surprised to see that the entire group was eliminated right then and there, the wreckage lying scattered in pieces and one with it's torso cleanly cut in half. However, to his horror he realized that Black Star lost both Armor Wings to Pompey, akin to the volcanic end to the ancient Greek city. Zim also lost 2% of his Synchronization Rate from the painful, yet horribly real experience.

Neo Angel moved to attack the southeastern aberration, and landed a double shot of cannon-sized armaments to the creature. The beast cried out and staggered in pain, yet it was still alive as it slingshot itself right into Neo Angel's face, one eye bleeding out green fluids right on top of the formerly pristine Frame, tainting it's wings. Then the beast seemingly died out of nowhere. At first Mai didn't realize why, until the critical damage screens appeared; the Frame was shot by a lone, undisturbed Cruxi sniper who got her in a clear line of sight. The Frame fell down, having been pierced in the middle, and dropped one of the magnum pistols it was holding, forcing her to stay in place and search for it during her turn, or flee without it. Mai felt her synchronization dropping by 4% due to the pain she felt in her own gut.

With one Frame falling, the other Cruxi pressed their advantage. The central squad of Cruxi dashed right nearby the mess where Black Star was left lying, while the southern squad retreated outside Mist's radius; the weapon, like it's Troas counterpart, had it's surface of colors react to the battles, with a big yellow circle spreading when Paladin's barrage hit it's mark. And like it's brother, it simply stayed there, like a spectator to a gruesome Colosseum fight. Despite Katya's best efforts, they were still faced with a verminous tide of alien monstrosities, and already they are incurring damage. At this rate there may be none left to stand before the might of the Xenos...

When her rounds hit the CWM, Katya felt a wave of satisfaction. That satisfaction however was very short lived as Katya checking her map to see where her squad was saw Black Star had already arrived in H3, that moment she realized a flaw in her orders looking at Paladin her werks sensors told her Pompey was mere seconds away from firing.
"Oh shit! I forgot to tell Zero to wait!" Katya thought as she was about to tell Ariin to not fire watching in horror as Paladins mighty Pompey unleashed a volley of tungsten slugs towards the CWMs and Zero. Katya praying to the universe or whatever higher power may that existed she just hadn't gotten one of her comrades killed. Luck or maybe mercy of a high power Katya saw Black Stars readout stay active on her map, meaning he had to of survived. Katya giving a sigh of relief, now she hoped Black Star was still able to fight.

However, before she could ask she saw the unit she sent Mai after fade of the map Katya pleased to see something had gone right, it was then she heard Elora scream help over the Comms, Katya eyes going wide from the sound as she glanced over the map grid she sent Elora to.
"Dam it." she thought slamming a fist into a console before her, pleased no one could see the outburst of anger. Katya really unable to contain her negative emotions properly at this time. It was only then she noticed Elora had sent data on the Cruxi sniper unit.
"Crap, now is not a good time for this Elora." Feeling a wave of frustration that she quickly buried, she didn't have the time to be frustrated at her squad mate now. What she needed to do was try to save Elora before the Cruxi killed her. Looking down at the map Katya quickly began quickly put a plan together lacking the time real think it out and the experience to actuarially predict how the Cruxi might move in an effort to counter it. Katya merely hoped this plan that she would call hastily put together would work. So far her command her yielded mixed result. Right now all she hoped was no one under her command would die, the rest was unimportant.

Her comms already open Katya took a deep breath as she mentally readied herself to give orders once again, hopefully this time it would play out better
"Ariin I want you on those snipers. Eliminate them quickly as you can start with prick in D2. Zero if you still able to fight I want you on the CWMs in G2. Mai I want to engage the tentacle beast F7, avoid the CMWs, do not engage them on your own. I'm going to try and help Elora." Katya stated looking at her map seeing where she could attack the tentacle beast from, seeing no matter where she went trying to help Elora was going to be risky. Pulling her werk away from the building Katya began make her way to G3

It would place her right in the middle of two enemy units so she hoped Zero was up to the task of engaging the CWMs. Hopefully they would be more interested in attacking him then her. Then all she had to worry about was a tentacle beast. Which Katya was positive would go after her, hopefully thought she'd have enough time to fire at the beast holding Elora. Katya thinking it was the best course of action unwilling to go deeper into the MISTs range just in case something made it fire. Even if that would grant a quick death it was one Katya refused to even tempt. If she was going to even tempt death Katya would go out in a blaze of glory or at least try to take some of the enemy out with her. That was if things went extremely bad Katya aware that was a very possible. This plan was a real roll of the dice.

As Katya moved to G3 she opened a comm channel on across every PDF channel she had access to. Hoping to provide to support for herself and the rest of her squad even it was only slight and would most likely do very little.
"To any PDF units in the area of G3 and H7, still active any assistance you could provide to my units would be greatly appreciated." Katya stated closing the channel, she wasn't sure if anything would come of it but she hoped. Arriving in G3 Katya quickly took aim at the tentacle beast holding Elora, Katya doing her best to target the beast in such away that would avoid hitting Elora. Having gotten a good aim or simply ran out of time to aim due enemies advancing on her location she fried at the beast. As she fried Katya hoped her shot would find it mark and would be enough to allow Elora to break free. Having fired Katya figured it be best to try and withdraw to a more safe location, thinking it be somewhat safe Katya started to make her way to H3. Now out of the MIST firing range she was reluctant to go back in it.

Zim's shoulder burned slightly from the initial Plasma Blast. He focused through it and pushed his way past the pain. "Keep Moving," Zim told himself, "Its nothing, just a scratch, keep moving." He weaved through the city terrain, closing the distance on his target. Just as soon as his Scythe had made its arc through the first target the world became a flash of white. A deafening ringing in his ears, he shook the white lights from his eyes and the ringing started to fade as well. The burning in his shoulder was worse now and spread through both arms, a glance around at the status indicators told Zero that Blackstars wings were gone, that explained the pain in his shoulders. He glanced over at this sync rate next, 50% sync. He had fought on worse, in simulations and in mock battles. He was pleasantly surprised when he looked over and saw the full charge indicator on the Wave Surger. Through the ringing in his ears, Zim heard the next command, go after the CWMs, this time without the over fire from Paladin.

"Come on Buddy," Zim said to his Werk, "We aren't done yet. We got more work to do."

Over the comms Zim responded, "Blackstar is still active, commencing attack on G2."

He pushed the control sticks to upright his partner. He had to fight the controls the whole way up. Without the wings the balance was off different, and with the slightly lower sync rate then he had become accustomed to, he really had to depend on all of the practice he had gone through to get to this point to get off of the ground.

Once back on his feet, Zim flipped the switch to targeting mode for his Wave Surger and targeted the three CWMs in G2. The over-sized fingers of the weapon opened up and fanned out, like a dragon's claw grasping the sun, a ball of energy built up in the palm of the weapon before a long prolonged beam reached out across the distance, moving Black Star's hand slowly, he sweapt from his right to left, hoping to do damage to all three of the CWMs. Having never used the weapon in real life, Zero was shocked by the heat of the weapon and the total lack of kick from the weapon. Once the weapon finished its discharge the claw like fingers pulled back, still open to expose the werk's regular manipulator as it actively worked to reduce the heat build up.

Zim had no idea if the Active Cloak was going to work, due to its integration into the armor wings, and Seeing the bio-mechanical nature of the Cruxi, it was entirely possible that these war machines saw with their eyes and not with sensors. All the same, Zim flipped the switch to turn on decoy mode, so that if the CWMs in G2 were still active and not disabled they would not know which target to hit. Whether it worked or not, Zim would use evasive maneuvers once again to close the distance as he moved into finish the job.