it had been four days since General Revil, Leader of the space forces had sent out the crew on a new Pegasus class base, there mission was to head towards a new Zeon Mobile Suit production facility, if they could take it down it would deal a serious blow to the Zeon Forces. they were fully equipped with new mobile suits for each other there pilots, This is were Luna came in, she was one of the five pilots on the ship, but she was by far the least experienced, she had shown major promise at the training academy in jaburo, but after the attack and massive destruction of it, she was thrusted into action, she looked out the window of her room, staring at the now fleeding earth as she slowly drifted away from it, her home. she had never been in space before, so this was different for her. then she saw, a flash of a red light. Then she heard the battle sirens aloud, she got up and ran towards the front main part of the ship to receive her instructions from the captain.

Yemi Dumuzi

The sirens were ringing. Yemi Dumuzi glanced up from her hardcover, squinting up at the upper walls of the hangar bay. Yep, the alarms were flashing red. She placed her book down on the makeshift desk of crates with a quiet yawn, her other hand moving to zip her half-adorned pilot suit back up. Her precariously short amount of peace and quiet was gone now. Time to get back to work on making ace. It'd help her out a lot if she did.

"You guys got the Guncannon prepped?" she called out over the the engineering staff. An easy smile adorned her face, the expression slipping onto her face with little difficulty. They were nice, useful people. Also very helpful, having worked to put together her customised mobile suit. Becoming friends with them had been a great idea.

"No worries mate, the puppy's a real ledge," was the reply from one of the hat-wearing engineers. "Those Zeek buggers won't know what hit 'em."

Yemi laughed, the notes ringing across the hangar. She gave a friendly pat on the man's arm as she floated past them on her approach to the Guncannon. It was good, having people this reliable with her. Her helmet was being slotted around her head.

"Thanks guys," said the mobile suit pilot, giving them a casual salute. She'd need to reinforce the friendliness later when she got back.

She needed them to make sure her machine was in tip-top condition.

It was just her luck, really. Why would she ever get a chance to just lounge in bed? She was Cairo Casablancas; there wasn't yet a euphemism with the word 'lucky' that she could be molded to fit. It wasn't enough that this cursed streak had to manifest itself in a nonexistent love life and in a disastrous trail of assignments, now she wasn't even allowed quiet moments of serenity in bed either. Attack by Zeon forces now, of all times?

It was probably taking off my bra that did it. Look at those mobile suit designs. They must just hate the idea of humans being comfy.

That thought was comfy, actually. It meant that maybe they weren't singling out Cairo specifically.

They can't make me put it on. I'll be in a cockpit. No one will notice.

Of course, knowing her luck, the one time she decided to stay comfy she would end up getting shot down and turned into a dead, pockmarked lump of cooked flesh inside her pilot suit. Like pork tenderloin with freezerburn. On the other hand...freezerburned and comfy.

Cairo Casablancas sighed and stood up, quickly inserting herself into an ergonomic but unflattering pilot suit and making sure to bring along her tape deck. Mobile suit combat in space wasn't anything like the old tank battles or dogfights of centuries past; in space, the only sounds you had to focus on were alarms, and those came with big blinking lights that could clue you into problems. There was no harm in bringing along music.

Should I do a shot?

Would one shot dull or sharpen her reflexes?

It gets thirsty in there. It'd be just my luck to die parched.

She ended up compromising and pouring herself one shot of sambuca con la mosca, with only one coffee bean instead of her customary seven. She would save the other six for her return, if she was somehow lucky enough to come back from this in one piece. They would give her something to munch on and calm down before she burrowed back into her bunk and rooted herself there like a big, lazy blanket oak.

Cairo ended up cheating on her way to Troy Horse's MS bay and eating another two chocolate-coated coffee beans. She justified this infidelity by reminding herself that they were symbolic of prosperity and good health. She could still save four for the return trip. Esquiline through Viminal.

When she reached the hangar bay, shuffling to her G-Fighter without much enthusiasm, her chief mechanic instantly took notice of her.

"Howdy, Ensign! We've got the slave rig wired as effectively as she can be!" Cairo felt confident enough in her ability to fly the G-Fighter Space Type by herself, and she was happy that at least no one could get killed if she was proven wrong, but it was still quite the gamble. Especially with all the power in this Luna Titanium puppy. "You'll be picking off Doms like flies with chopsticks!"

Cairo didn't tell him that she couldn't use chopsticks. Instead, she smiled unsteadily.

"Thanks, guys," she said with a nod of gratitude. "I'll give her all she's got - and plenty more."

That sounded like something cocky people said. Fighter pilots should be cocky. She learned that from that one American movie with the gay guys.

I'll never find a Maverick...

"Do one last systems check," she instructed the mechanic with a nod. "I'll just be a minute."

There was no getting around it.

She was gonna have to kill a lot of people if she wanted to have a chance to nap later.

Alright, y'all
Get your White Owls
Get your meth
Get your skins
Don't forget your 40s

And we're gonna do it like this!

I got
Fat bags of skunk
I got
White Owl dub
And I'm about to go get lifted!

(Yes, I'm about to go get lifted!)

I got
Myself a 40
I got
Myself a shorty
And I'm about to go and stick it!

(Yes, I'm about to go and stick it!)

En garde, Zeon.

Cairo Casablancas would let you try her Wu-Tang style.

Kat Staten

“Look alive, pilots!”

The Lieutenant crowed in midair, gliding through the hangar’s zero-g environment on a direct course to her own mobile suit. From exactly where she had appeared was a mystery, though she seemed to be coming from one of the hallways, but she was clearly ready. Kat Staten seemed practically manic in the way she jammed her helmet on her head and flashed anyone that happened to be looking a jaunty thumbs-up. Her helmet locked with a twist and a click, just in time to grab the railing in front of her machine to course-correct straight into the cockpit.

“Looks like the Zeeks wanna play! We’re gonna give ‘em what they want.” Jerking a thumb to wave any engineers away from her GM, the Lieutenant flipped the cockpit controls to lower the Jim’s hatch. It locked into place quietly while she busied herself with her harness, fighting back a little frustration when she fumbled one of the left buckles the first time.

She wasn’t quite used to the new digits on her hand, but it had been less than a week. Feddie brass didn’t exactly have time to let her go through a full PT cycle, not after big bad Zeon decided they wanted to bring the fight to her home turf. Now Kat was gonna return the favor real quick. Didn’t matter if a few fingers were a little stiff, they could work a switch just fine. She took just a second to enjoy the soft thrum as she brought her reactor online, sending power rushing through the rest of her Jim.

“Reactor normal. All systems green. Full tank a’ fuel, and a full mag in my gun. Finishin’ up pre-flight checks.” Kat fired off the updates into her mic once she keyed on her comms, putting her verniers through their full range of movements with a few deft movements of the sticks. No jams. Feedback normal. Everything was the way it was supposed to be, despite the fact that a Spartan wasn’t designed for space to begin with. The mechanics assured her it’d be fine. Not like she was designed for space, either.

A ground MS made her feel a little more comfortable. Least she wasn’t the only ground pounder they’d sent up here.

She keyed off her mic for a moment, isolating herself in the Spartan’s cockpit. Her left hand grabbed the dog tags floating in front of her, hung loosely from her neck, and gripped tight. Earth was a whole long ways away, and this sure as hell was no Type 61. No stock Jim, either. Couldn’t keep her head up when there wasn’t an up out there.

But those were still Zeeks, she was still a Feddie, and she still had a really big gun.

Kat murmured a few words into her clenched fist, too quiet for her to even hear, and let go. She rolled her head and shoulders to enjoy the satisfying pop of her joints. Her mic was live again with the flick of a switch and with an easy push on the controls the Spartan was moving, weapon in hand and stomping towards the catapult bay.

“Lt. Staten, preparing to standby in Catapult One. Minovsky dispersal online, and ready to roll. No one doing anything stupid out there or there’ll be fifty pushups waiting for you back here. Kick some Zeon ass.” Eyes running over her console, she directed her attention further outward; “Requesting launch control for Catapult One and a sitrep.”

“What’s the word, Cap’n?”

Oh god. This took longer than I planned.

Capt. Quincy Talcner

Captain Quincy Talcner found himself sitting at the helm of his newly claimed ship, scrolling through the data in front of him. He only had a few amount of pilots and armaments for this mission, so he had better get himself familiar with them and the machines they'd be using. Four young pilots, as young as 16 up to 21. He felt like an old man.

"Dumuzi..." Ex-Air Force, looked like she talked her way onto his crew, piloting a modified Guncannon. Didn't look to be a bad set-up, with a much better targeting system than the original. Looked like this one would be taking shots from a bit of a distance. With that sensor, he'd most likely be relying on her for information should the battle move away from the Troy Horse's view. Next up was Casablancas. Younger than Dumuzi, she was a bit more of a quiet type, it seemed. There wasn't too much on her file besides her service record, but the young woman's abilities in the Core Block Fighter spoke for themselves.

Luna was the youngest pilot- no, youngest person entirely on the ship. Unlike Cairo's file, there was actually borderline no information on her file, other than the word "Jaburo," which explained what he was told planetside about having a "special" member on his team. That appeared to extend to her equipment as well- a Gundam. Talcner had never expected that this was going to be what his ship carried. The thought was terrifying, actually. Last was the oldest pilot onboard, Staten. For some reason, the name sounded familiar, but the captain couldn't place it. Seemed to be rather talkative, and somewhat headstrong; this was something constantly popping up in the file. Reading over her service report, it came to him- she was also a part of the the defense and retaking of North America. He must have seen her name among the reports he was giving after he was pulled. She was also recently injured, so-

"Sir! Enemy mobile suits inbound!" One of his crewmen called out, pointing out into space. Quincy sighed as he let his head fall, pinching between his eyes as he squinted. "Looks like nothing can start easily," he muttered, looking up at his crew. "Alright people, what's going on out there?" As reports filled in from his bridge crew, the man, sifted through them in his head, picking apart the information he was given. There looked to be five or six mobile suits incoming, based on the light coming from the thrusters. "Waters, pull up a video feed of those suits, I want to know what we're up against. And does anyone see their home base?" After varying degrees of the word "no," the young captain spoke into the intercom as he flipped the emergency lights on.

"Crew of the Troy Horse! We have enemy mobile suits incoming, all non-essential personnel report to safe areas of the ship. Pilots, head to the hangar. I've made sure your machines are all read to be launched. I'll be in contact with you once you've launched."

Yemi Dumuzi

"Aye aye."

Yemi floated into the open cockpit of her Guncannon, twisting her body around so that she would fit properly inside the machine. The zero-g environment wasn't really that hard to get used to for someone who had spent some time living in the colonies, and not even all those years planetside could get rid of her familiarity. It was just like riding a horse; you'd never forget how to do it. So it was with ease that she settled into the seat, locking in the buckles to the harness while quietly humming a tune.

Her hands reached out for the switches, playing with after another to test out the functions of her customised mobile suit. All systems were green. The reactor was humming to life with no problem. No compatibility issues with the non-standard Guncannon parts. A smile found its way to her face. That was good. Even if she'd run a number of tests already, it was better to be safe than sorry, especially before a sortie.

Besides, most of those tests had been held back on Earth.

She breathed in.

Engineers darted out of her way as the Guncannon Custom roared to life. The prototype artillery suit, in its crimson glory, was a heavy, powerful machine. Even when under the effects of zero gravity, the way it moved ... the way it lumbered through the bay ... there was no mistaking the weight it appeared to possess.

"If the El-Tee's taking Catapult One, I'll be on standby at Two."

Luna sprinted into the hanger bay, she went to the back were her custom modeled Gundam resided, she nodded to some engineers prepping her sniper and calibrating the scope, she knew she would launch out last, Her entire training had been for this moments, all the practice simulations, all the target tests, but this was different. Real combat was something the sixteen year old prodigy had never experienced, she hoped her new allies, the ones she had barely even spoken too were capable of doing this without her, she wasn't sure how much help she was even going to be, but she wanted to help. As she loaded her self in, she flipped her helmet on and used her left hand to grip the rifle. "Systems are a check," she said as she watched her allies launch out. "This is Luna, I'm ready to launch captain, just give the go," she said as she stepped onto the launcher, her body was loose, something about being in her mobile suit calmed her nerves. Back at the training she was known as a deadeye shooter for a reason. But it was her calm collection that truly made her a fit for this long ranged combat. she felt the thruster begin to start up as she was given the green light, It was time for her to prove herself. It was time for her to keep her new comrades safe.

Kat Staten

"Lt. Staten, Jim Spartan; launching!"

The electromagnetic catapult sprang to life, rocketing her mobile suit forward and out of the ship. The force was sufficient to push her back against her seat, a silent reminder to take this seriously. She'd had simulated training for zero-g combat, but that didn't change the fact that this was new. Might even be a little disorienting, but Kat'd adjust quick. She had to set an example.

The Lieutenant didn't waste time either; the instant she was clear of the hatch her Spartan was dispersing Minovsky particles, creating a dense area where traditional sensors didn't work. Even her own IR radar was less precise, but a whole hell of a lot more specific than anything else. And the old Mk. I eyeball was still working perfectly fine. Said eyes narrowed as soon as she got a look at the enemy, directing her Jim to bring its minigun to bear.

"I count two Zakus, two Rick Doms, a Gelgoog, a Gyan, and a Zaku Cannon. Never seen the Gyan variant, but it looks quick." A grin spread across her face while she moved her shield to guard the Spartan's torso, opening the throttle wide and sending the machine rocketing forward already spraying fire at the Gelgoog in the lead.

"Engaging the Gelgoog! Let's see how well he dances."

As she finally launched out, her suit raised her arms up to scope out the enemy. As she saw in her reticle there was some zaku's flanking Lt. Staten, she brought a frim grip to the sniper and BOOM! the large beam blasts the head off a zaku on her side as she pulls back the system to let her canon charge once more, Her eyes surveying the entire battle field, she was seeing and confirming what Kat had said. "Captain, I can confirm. One Zaku down, I will stay in position and wait for the order to approach if deemed necessary." her face calm, her voice cold and emotionless. Anyone who knew her outside of combat, knew she was a bubbly and energetic young girl, but out here she was cold. She had been trained to look at a situation and remove all emotion. Her rifle finally recharged she turned and aims at the Gyan, the barrel begins to light up as BOOM! another shot fires. The Gyan dodges out of the way completely as it continues what it was doing previously.

Yemi Dumuzi

"Ensign Dumuzi, Guncannon Custom, heading out!"

Her machine rumbled beneath her hands as the catapult rapidly accelerated her off the Troy Horse, revealing the vast sea of stars before her. It was a beautiful sight to behold, each shining point of light in the inky darkness a reminder of the greatness that was the universe. But Yemi wasn't here for sightseeing, so the view didn't matter. What mattered was the increasing density of Minovsky particles thanks to the mothership and the El-Tee's machine. She carefully moved her mobile suit back. It wouldn't do well to get caught up in her squadmate's jamming.

Two Zakus, two Rick Doms, a Gelgoog, some Gyan variant and a Zaku Cannon. She could definitely confirm the enemy mobile suits that Staten had seen. Nope, only one Zaku - no wait it'd only lost its head. The beam hadn't been aimed low enough. Yemi pulled down the targeting visor, squinting slightly as her Guncannon Custom's targeting computer locked on. If the Zaku could still move, then she'd need to make sure that it was 100% gone. She squeezed a trigger.

A beam shot out across the darkness, striking the headless Zaku dead-centre. Blammo.

She'd thought that Gundam pilot was a close-range type of fighter. Not a sniper.

Ah well.

Her sensors, even through the Minovsky, began to lock onto another target. She reached up, adjusting her visor once more before her cannon's sensor suite identified her next foe. The Zaku Cannon. Was it modified too, like that Gyan variant? Yemi couldn't actually tell from where she was, but if it was just another normal Cannon, then she'd take advantage of its inferiority of her Custom. Their sensors wouldn't be a match. Not from this range.

Target locked.

The more mobile suits she took out, the better her reports'd look.

Her shoulder beam cannon fired, light streaking towards the Zaku Cannon.

Cairo Casablancas
Now Playing...

"Ensign Casablancas, G-Fighter Triple-C."

...She needed a cool, unique catchphrase of her own.

"Back in a jiffy."

Oh my God.

There was absolutely no taking that one back. God damn it. Fuck! How was she supposed to be cool when sh-WUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH

BLUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH

It seemed that 'back in a jiffy' was, surprisingly, acceptable enough to launch her anyway. Cairo was flung out into space right after Lt. Staten's Spartan, with much less in-cockpit grace than her fiery commanding officer had displayed. That was to be expected, though; the Lieutenant was far more of a veteran than she was, and didn't display an ounce of trepidation at the thought of Zeeks lining up to kill her. That was just who she was.

Cairo wondered if it was her that came up with the designations for her unit.

I should be so lucky...

She was yanked out of her thoughts by the sight of a beam lancing through the sky, then another in short order; though the Gundam and Yemi's Guncannon had worked together to destroy a Zaku, the Pixie's second shot had gone wide of the odd-looking Gyan. The jousting mobile suit had recovered quickly, and was now clearly sizing up the four Federation units to see which would fall victim to that beam lance.

Watch him choose the Gundam.

Anyone would choose the Gundam. In the shadow of the distinctive mobile suit, a girl like Cairo would wilt, unnoticed, for the rest of her life. There was only one way for such a wallflower to get the attention of her prey.

I shall seduce him - aggressively.

On paper, the Gyan was a threatening high-mobility suit with a weapon that could pierce through either a ship or multiple mobile suits with no difficulty. In practice, such a suit came with its own heavy drawbacks as well - namely a lack of maneuverability and an inability to properly wield the weapon as easily as a suit like the Pixie could wield a beam saber, daggers, or even a rifle. A beam lance, like any lance, was meant for jousting. Traveling in a straight line and taking out its targets head on.

A G-Fighter like Cairo's would eat it for breakfast.

A lush, confident smile grew on the wallflower's face.

Cairo's twin-engine G-Fighter screamed in a straight line towards the Gyan as it charged forward, only spinning down and to the left when it appeared as though the lance would strike her. The fighter craft spun on a dime, as nimbly as she could ever ask for from a machine, and flew with its back right in her cross hairs.

Her mega particle cannon cross hairs.

Even someone with a hundred bajillion times Cairo's luck wasn't going to block a mega particle cannon with a Gyan's shield. They'd tear their mobile suit in half vertically just trying.

Oooh, this was so exciting. I need a pun.

"..."

I'm locking up!

"Hope you're ready for the next episode."

...

...

God, I suck.

With a wistful sigh, the totally-lame G-Fighter pilot fired both mega particle cannons squarely at the center of the Gyan's back.

Luna stopped and assessed the situation. The two rick Doms would be easier to take out with her sabres. SHe strapped the long rifle to her suits back and drew the two beam sabres from her back.

"I'm moving in for the two rick Doms" she reared her mobile suit back and pushed the thrusters full throttle towards the target. she dodged fire from there missile launcher like guns. She brings in the sabre as the rick dom pulls out its sword, the two sabres clanging of eachother. THe second rick dom thrust towards her. "that was close" she thought as she used the superior mobility of the Pixie to dash out of the way and then she twirled and landed a strike into the shoulder of the Zeon soldiers suit.

Some fire from one of the Zaku's fling at her, she moves to duck out of the way. Luna knew she was in dire straights,

she called over the radio system, "I could use some back up, I'm getting pinned down by the zaku," she blocks another attack from the two rick doms.

Capt. Quincy Talcner

Quincy leaned back in his chair, fist raised to his mouth. Reports were still coming in from his officers, although nothing stuck out. They still didn't know where the enemies' base of operations were, and the scanners were picking up nothing besides space debris. Dammit! Where are they? The captain watched from the view of the bridge, beams flying every direction, lights zipping around the emptiness of space as each piece of machinery dashed about, locked in combat. His eyes were skimming across the battlefield, imagining it from a top down perspective. This was much different than commanding from the ground- there was so much less information given to him from satellites when he was the one in space.

As he looked, a glint caught his eye. "Hey, Waters."

"Sir?"

"Zoom in on the edge of that bigger piece of debris over there, starboard side."

"Aye," the junior officer said, manipulating one of the monitors on the bridge to refocus. There! A dark purple piece of metal was peering out past the corner of a destroyed satellite. The curved piece of metal matched up to the hull of a Musai-Class vessel- the beak-like tip nose of the ship was hard to mistake. "Found you," Quincy muttered, eyes narrowing. "Hernandez, Long! Take aim at that satellite debris, Let's try to scare away these bastards." Quincy flipped his radio on to his pilots.

"Listen up, we've spotted their vessel. It's a Musai-class cruiser, and it's hiding behind that piece of debris to our starboard side. I'll have someone send you data on their location. Dumuzi, cover Luna, and stay safe."

---

Lieut. Roman Nocte

From the cockpit of his Zaku Cannon, with sensors, his radio, and warning lights screaming at him alike, Lieutenant Roman Nocte's palms were getting sweaty. This wasn't even his suit, dammit! He slammed the control sticks forward, the machine nosediving as a powerful beam flew over his head. As he flipped upside down, his targeting sensors laid their electronic eyes on his aggressor- it looked like a Guncannon, maybe? It was lacking a second cannon, though. On it's opposite shoulder, it looked like it had a sensor assembly attached. A custom job, more than likely, that just made it very similar to the machine he was using. Shit, that was close.

The young pilot winced as another explosion shook the suit- another Zaku had just gotten shot down- they were dropping like flies. That unknown suit was taking on both Rick Doms the crew had, and it looked like a small craft was facing off with the Sarge. Fairfax had just now started engaging the Feddies, whipping out his beam rifle and taking a few pot shots at the incoming GM. As the his own target lock engaged, Roman pulled the trigger, firing his own cannon right back at the bastard who had nearly killed him.

Yemi Dumuzi

Ah damn, she'd missed. That Zaku Cannon was faster than she'd thought it would be. Did it get modified for space use? Her Guncannon's vernier thrusters fired to life, pushing her out of the way of the projectile before it could strike her. It probably wouldn't have been able to do more than a dent anyway. A 180mm was nothing to the Luna Titanium armor of her machine. It made her a good meat-shield too, but that also meant that their Gundam kid was going to owe her.

"Coming your way, Gundam Girl," she broadcasted, her mobile suit firing off another beam from its shoulder cannon at the Zaku Cannon before darting after her squadmate. If it hit, the guy would be toast, but she couldn't be sure. She was going to have to help out the kid and the enemies there first, and besides, it would be easier for her to land a shot if the Zaku Cannon was closer.

The beam rifle in her Guncannon's hand fired, light streaking past the Pixie and straight into the Zaku II's backpack while it was distracted. A second later, her mobile suit was already on top of it, thrusters flaring as she emptied a clip from the machinegun in her other hand into the Zeonic grunt's chest. That was another Zaku gone. There weren't going to be a lot of people going back to the Musai once the battle was over, if there was even a Musai to return to.

"Might want to pull back a bit, Pixie, okay~?"

Her mobile suit turned. Another beam from her rifle blasted through space, striking one of the Rick Doms attacking the Gundam in the side. She'd gotta clear those Zeons away from her squadmate as quickly as possible. Then get back to the Cannon. If she could lure the thing closer, maybe the Pixie could take care of it. Mutual back-scratching.

As the zaku and the rick dom get handled by the guncannon, Luna thrusts her pixie up and around the back side of the other dom. It quickly shifted and swung at her , with one saber she disabled the sword, with the other she brought it across slicing wrote through the chest , she then jetted back as the rick dom explodes, she turned her attention to the zaku cannon, "thanks for the assist," she said to her squad mate.

She thruster forward with her twin sabres , she was gonna engage the zaku cannon. She dodged another blast from him , as she dashed closer.

"I'm engaging, " she yelled hoping she didn't get in the way of the fire fight

Cairo Casablancas
Still Playing...

The Gyan had turned to face her, shield raised slightly to guard from the inevitable.

The first shot struck the mobile suit's shield, blowing the shield arm, and a good chunk of the torso it was attached to, into smithereens in the time it took to blink. If he wasn't already dead by having part of the cockpit sheared off, the unfortunate Zeon pilot was surely atomized by the second mega particle cannon striking his suit's unprotected cockpit. The high mobility suit had been completely wiped out, nothing but a lower leg and the top of a cranial unit's crest still floating in midair to mark where it had been.

Cairo exhaled slowly, foot tapping slightly anxiously, and made a split second decision on what to do next. While she'd been engaging, Yemi's Guncannon and the Gundam pilot had ripped through the Zakus and the Rick Doms, and both had directed their attention on the Zaku Cannon. Meanwhile, the Lieutenant's GM was squaring off alone against the Gelgoog variant - which, now that she had a look at it, was boasting a performance nothing short of nightmarish.

If she dies, I'm so getting promoted.

The thought was a cold lance of panic, impaling her vertically. Cairo quickly turned her G-Fighter and flew behind the Gelgoog's back, so that the Spartan would face the approaching Ensign over the Gelgoog's shoulder. Cairo focused momentarily--

--and fired three missiles at the propellant tanks on the Gelgoog's exterior, hoping to ignite them and destroy the mobile suit before it could rip the Lieutenant apart.

It's cool. I'm not a hero or anything.

Lieutenant Kat

Heh.

The Gelgoog’s beams struck, but not where the Zeek wanted them to; beam treated shield, not vulnerable armor. The singes left behind indicated that sustained fire might be an issue, but he never got the chance. The Spartan was already in motion, its thrusters changing up its trajectory in unexpected ways.

She had to break off her use of the minigun, though, because there was now an ally in the way; something Kat appreciated, but made her job harder. Especially since as cocky as he was, the Gelgoog pilot somewhat had his wits; he ejected the tanks and put the pedal to the metal to put some distance between him and the explosion. It only half worked, he was thrown forward and put off balance, but there was now a new wrinkle; the G-Fighter was in her line of fire.

Change of plan.

She tossed aside her gun, she'd grab it later, and drew the Spartan’s beam saber. The Gelgoog was rabbiting, firing his thrusters ‘up’ to try and get away vertically. On paper, he might have beat out the Spartan’s specs. Maybe. Not something Kat really gave a damn about.

The growl that went through her mic sounded almost animalistic, and her Jim was in pursuit before anything else could be said. A few more beams hit her shield as soon as he realized, but it was much, much too late for that. A smoke grenade left her Jim and exploded as she drew near, instantly taking visibility down to zero. The Spartan and Gelgoog had both vanished into the aether, fates unknown.

It should have been like fighting with her eyes closed. For every other Jim pilot out here in the Earth sphere, it probably was. But in a Type 61, smoke became your friend real quick. All she needed to do was keep track of where she was near the nice big heat signature on her radar. He wasn't a complete idiot, either, he'd traded in for his naginata when he realized he couldn't see. She could see it. Which meant he could see her too, now.

The naginata screamed towards her, and a little voice in her head hoped her fingers worked right. The rest of her ignored it. The Gelgoog's beam weapon stopped a few feet short when her shield slammed up into its forearm, and her saber relieved it of its hand above the wrist and batted the hand contemptuously aside. He slammed the Gelgoog's knee into her middle, trying to create space; he should have tried to fall back, he'd have created more time, but he was just fighting a Jim. Why bother?

Cocky Spacenoid fuck.

Rather than out, Kat made sure she swung up, suspended almost inverted over his head. He thought she was simply gone, he still couldn't see clearly in the smoke. He relaxed.

Up until her heat knife slammed into its head, making his infamous monoeye go dead.

“I'll be taking this, Zeek.” She growled, using surface transmission to make sure he heard, before she wrenched the knife backwards and tore the cranial unit away with it.

Her saber immolated his cockpit before he could respond, reducing him to irrelevant. She didn't bother finishing to cut the suit in half at the waist, the eggheads might have some use for it, using her thrusters to ‘right’ herself and survey the world outside the thinning cloud. Her trophy hung carelessly from her knife, while she kept her saber held tight to her right. The glowing purple melded with the green of her visor, the two lights the first things visible in the smoke.

“All pilots, sound off.”

Lieutenant Kat (And NPCs)
@Plank Sinatra @Crimmy @Deadlyrose9641

The immediate fight was resolved. If you could call it a fight, given how quickly they’d dispatched their Spacenoid foes. It was more like a bloodbath, though that didn’t really fit either given that all their foes were vaporized without a trace. The point is, as Lieutenant Staten surveyed the battlefield, the fighting had wrapped up. The Zaku Cannon’s shoulder and right arm were sheared off by Yemi’s shot while it tried to dodge, only a few milliseconds saving him from instant death in the vacuum of space. His respite didn’t last long. Even refitted for use in space the Cannon was still a fish out of water, and with the Pixie it would’ve had a tough time even on Earth.

Out here, it didn’t stand a chance.

The Pixie’s sabers destroyed it before Lt. Nocte had a chance to do much more than make his peace. The Zeonic mobile suit vanished in a purple puff, and the last active target on the battlefield with it.

Which left the Musai. Or rather…

“Eyes open, girls.” The Spartan sent her trophy drifting back towards the ship, sheathing her knife and saber while she maneuvered back towards her point of origin to grab her gun. Nothing was showing up on her IR sensors, at least nothing useful. The number of beams getting bandied about meant anything useful in the vicinity was just noise. This was going to be more complicated. “That was seven mobile suits. Musais only have room for six.”

“Which means we’ve got one more out there, and potentially five more enemy contacts on board. The Horse will support us, we’re going to find ‘em both and sink ‘em or drive ‘em off. Savvy?”

The Spartan pointed.

“Somewhere in that debris. Casablancas, I could use a lift. You and Yemi are the only ones packing the ranged firepower to sink ‘em, so Luna and Yemi are going to travel as a pair, and so are you and I.”

Yemi Dumuzi

"Aye aye, El-Tee."

Sticking close to the Gundam girl was definitely an idea she'd been bouncing around too. Not only was her fellow Luna Titanium girl packing some heavy firepower with those beams (even if it was less than her own Guncannon's), but those Zeons who might be hiding in all those rocks were more likely to aim for the Pixie than her. Yemi had nothing against her fellow pilot, but they needed to alternate playing meatshield for each other; you scratch their back and they scratch yours and all. Besides, the more attention that the Gundam diverted, the less likely their enemies were going to see her cannons coming.

Becoming an ace would do wonders for her reputation. People always liked talking to "heroes".

Would getting friendly with someone given a Gundam help too? Questions, questions; it wasn't always a guarantee, not when she'd heard on the grapevine that not everyone on the brass was a fan of that Newtype crew with the Shooting Star. Ahh, politics. Being suspicious of anyone who looked like they could shake things up a bit too much for your liking.

The Guncannon Custom shifted slightly, its bulky mass drifting through the inky black to link up more closely with the Pixie.

"Let's try and get along, okay Gundam Girl~?"

The tone of her voice through the broadcast was mildly chipper.

@Deadlyrose9641@Krayzikk

"Get along?" Luna said over the common without meaning too, she knew she hadn't been close with the others , but did they think that was out of malcontent, nevertheless, this was combat and that Musai needs to be taken down.

"R-right I've got your back, Yemi." She then pushed her gundam forward a bit towards the debris. "Let's get that ship then?" She asked hoping for a better que,

She thought on herself for a moment, she had been given the gundam for her combat ability , but she scored rather poorly in the leadership column.

She thruster forward and tried to scan around but she couldn't seem to find the Musai