"Ha!" Corinne Shourichi exclaimed, hands shoved proudly in her pockets. They were clenched into eager fists within her pants, legs coiled up with energy as though ready to pounce - an eager movement that would prove difficult from their current position, outstretched up into the sky and toes of the Captain's boots stretched up towards the ceiling of their transport. Shourichi's neck was craned slightly to allow her to stand on her head and stare at Adam. She was grinning at her SIC rakishly, as though unimpressed and amused in equal measure by his perceived reticence to pitch a tent.

"Camping is nothing, Summers," proclaimed the UTX commander. "Many a time I was bored while abroad and decided to go camping in my Supra. Once a bear discovered where I had parked in the woods and thought to peel me from the car like a sardine in its can. The memory of that fight will warm my blood even in the grave!"

Corinne somersaulted to her feet to follow Hazel, digging both of her elbows deeply into the collar of her subordinate and lacing the fingers over her head, as though she was ready to drive the mute into Irish soil like a nail.

"Regardless, despite our wishes, we've definitely been provided with accommodations. We're the protection detail; if they think we need protection from the elements and beds to sleep in if we're going to kick ass, then we'll let them labor under that delusion, yeah? Yeah~!"

Ireland. Now that's a place Anju's always dreamed of going to. It was only natural, considering the type of person she was and the type of drinks that were often brewed there. The things she'd do to get her hands on some genuine Irish alcohol...

However, the UTX team wasn't here for pleasantries like ale and beer. They were here on a mission. To snuff out any DC soldiers prowling about. Although, that didn't mean the ex-DC pilot wasn't up for a little bit of friendly conversation.

Corrine seemed to be having another one of her moments, as usual. So she decided to talk to Hazel for a little bit, just to break the ice even a tad.

"Say, Ada," Anju began, walking up to her and standing beside her, a hand placed firmly on the blue-haired AM pilot's hip, "I've been meaning to ask this for a while, but are you really okay being on the same team as an ex-Divine Crusader? Your face starts looking a little grim whenever you peek at my Guarlion, and I hate seeing a cute little thing such as yourself get all worried like that."

@Krayzikk

@Plank Sinatra @GarlandDaHero

She probably just hit it with the car...

Nevertheless, the mute cranked her neck as far back as necessary to regard her CO. It wasn't a great perspective; Corinne Shourichi was kind of upside down, and it was hard to determine whether or not her unimpressed stare was being conveyed correctly. Not that it was easy to see her face.... Regardless, she endeavored to convey her skepticism succinctly despite the elbows digging into her collar. This stare was interrupted when her colleague, Anju, stepped over and asked a... Rather pointed question.

Her eyebrows arched high over her glasses, though she gave the question due consideration while she bounced her PDA from hand to hand. Her stare was redirected, this time at the blue-haired former Crusader.

"No," She began, even her TTS somehow conveying the slow, hesitant nature of the answer. Her fingers didn't match, tapping out an answer that defied her usual laconic tendencies. "Admired Zoldark. Long time. He was a fool. Those that followed him were fools. Regardless of their intentions, Crusaders killed a lot of people I worked with. Me too, but for my own fortune."

"Guarlions are excellent machines. But I see the enemy." The mute paused in her tapping, long enough to remove her glasses to look her colleague in the eye directly. "But I'm sure I shot down some of your friends, too. You chose this side. We have common enemies now. Wipes the slate clean. But it will take time for me to be comfortable with it."

Niko Hiruko

@Crimmy@Krayzikk@GarlandDaHero@Crimmy
Nico adjusted his glasses and felt his cheeks warm as Corrine recounted the tale of how she felled the monstrous bear. He loved stories and made sure to read every detail of hers. He slid in closer to the group as they made their way to Ireland, his glasses told him Hazel's PDA was speaking for her and the tone seemed fairly serious so he decided not to read too much into it. It could be private after all. The technology was fairly advanced in his glasses, which transcribed every word it could hear. However it didn't offer much in the way of privacy. Of course that being said - he also couldn't judge the volume she was speaking at.

He examined the pink-haired woman for a second. She reminded him somewhat of ancient films he had seen, the shining hero who had come to save the day. Her demeanor sold him on that instantly.

At first he considered speaking with her, signing something. But he was pretty quick to assume most couldn’t understand signs. As such he simply slumped into his chair allowing the hero her peace and quiet. He would get the chance to speak with her or Hazel Ada Stoll later on in Ireland. He considered their mission, and what the food was like in Ireland. If he had researched properly it meant that there would be an abundance of wonderful warm stews available for purchase there. He hoped that was correct, once more his cheeks warmed as he flashed a content smile on his lips closing his eyes and awaiting arrival.

@Write@Krayzikk@Plank Sinatra@GarlandDaHero@Shiyonichi

EFA Connacht Base, Ireland, Earth

"S'pose that means you won't be needing your beds," said an approaching young man, his voice flat as his eyes flickered towards Corinne's form. It was clear that he had arrived in time to hear their strange conversation, and the contents didn't exactly seem to endear him too much, not that the thin crease of his lips was suggesting anything else already. He dropped his hands stiffly into the pockets of his brown jacket, the sudden movement shifting the light of the Sun upon the LTR emblem emblazoned upon it.

"W'lcome to Connacht Base, UTX Team," he said, nodding a greeting. "I'm Avenida. Crane Avenida. The Prof told me to greet y'all and getcha things sorted so we can ..."

There was a slight pause. He seemed a bit disgruntled.

"... get some Feddie presence up north at the site."

The change in jurisdiction likely was colouring his interactions with the team.

"Not that we ne-"

The base alarms began to blare.



"Sonuvabitch."

@Krayzikk @Crimmy

Bian Zoldark was a fool. Anju never really thought of it like that. It was true, though; the man was responsible for, among other incredible feats, creating the Valsion, a machine with few peers. The only mech in the Divine War that came close was Shu Shirakawa's personal Granzon. However, instead of joining forces with the EFA to fight off the Aerogaters, Bian and the rest of the Divine Crusaders started a bloody war to determine who the true defenders of Earth would be. If he had only lent his and his soldiers' strength to the EFA, then the L5 Campaign would have been the only war to worry about. But that was not the case. As a result, countless comrades of Anju, Hazel, and the rest of the UTX team perished.

The thought actually managed to make Anju feel a bit sad.

"Yeah," Anju started, a less than enthusiastic tone in her voice. "Both sides lost a lot of people close to them. We can talk about more pleasant things after the mission, though, if you'd like." She finished her contribution to the conversation with a smile, just in time for a young man dressed in a brown jacket to welcome the UTX team to the base. Not soon after, however, sirens began blaring, informing those currently in the base about a DC Remnant sighting.

Anju gave a slight smirk and a chuckle. "Guess it's time for some action. Let's go, team!" The blue-haired former Crusader rushed towards the Tausendfussler, where her Guarlion was docked. It was going to feel a bit wrong, fighting fellow members of an organization she was once part of, but Anju's past in the Divine Crusaders was behind her now.

Right now, she had to take down the enemy with her new team.

@Plank Sinatra @GarlandDaHero @Crimmy

Enemies.

Anju was robbed of Hazel's attention rather quickly. Her response registered; the mute was appreciative that she had taken it in stride, rather than getting angry. It wasn't personal; any complaints she had about the former Crusader as a person had very, very little to do with her side in the war. The pad was not good for articulating complicated opinions. Perhaps she would write it out, when the mission was done. Silence might still be better than the monotone of her text-to-speech program.

But that would wait.

The girl extricated herself from underneath Corinne's elbows, with no small degree of effort, and double-timed back to the Taus. She tossed her bag unceremoniously back onto her seat on her way to the docking bay; her new machine was waiting. It looked like her old Mk. II M, is you swapped the colors. It blended in with the dim interior of the transport, gunmetal grays melding with the bay around it. The red glint gave it away. Even if she hadn't known where it was. The way the visor caught the light, reflecting it a deep crimson. It looked much like her old Gespenst, but it wasn't. She could feel it. The M had come to feel like an old friend, one she had endured alongside. It felt welcoming, but not soft; a familiar tool that could still turn upon her if she failed to respect it. The TT made her feel drafted all over again. It towered above her; heavier than the other units in the transport by far, emanating gravitas. It demanded respect. It would not guide her along like her old Gespenst, it would demand her concentration and her utmost respect. It was a towering marvel of mechanical design, a machine that had personally seen conflict worse than she had. Even powered down it was almost intimidating.

But she couldn't allow herself more than a moment to think about it. She wasn't drafted all over again. She had survived the war on her merit, not on her machine's. It was a Gespenst. She could pilot it. She would.

The mute climbed up to the cockpit, apprehension quickly overtaken by excitement. She couldn't forget her glee, either, at finally piloting one of the machines that she had spent so long admiring. She had no reason to be worried. This machine was more potent than her last one, something she could feel even in the first moments that she had spent inside it. Now she could test it for real.

Systems online...

The PT came to life under her touch, the familiar hum making its way into her bones. And something else with it; a feeling she had come to associate with the T-Link System, an phantom sensation she couldn't quite describe. A broadening of her senses, perhaps, though she was loathe to try and quantify it so.

But the machine was ready, and awaiting her command.

The Gespenst stomped clear of its housing, the ground shuddering faintly beneath the impact of its heavy feet. It might not have been as lithe a machine as that of her colleagues, but it was proven. In the right hands, immovable. Even without Hazel's own upgrades. The Tesla Drive came to life as soon as she was clear of the Taus, bringing her machine to a hover a short distance above the ground. She would not go higher until she needed to engage.

"Hazel Ada Stoll. Mk. II TT. Deploying."

"Well I do believe that's the sound of needing feddie presence up north. Less than five minutes on site, must be a new record."

Adam deadpanned to Aveindia, poking fun of successful accidental attempt of temping fate and how quickly the universe put him into place, as they always said the first mistake you make is tempting fate. Though he didn't stick around to see his reactions, as hilarious as that would be he had a job to do. The Ace ran to the Taus they came in not to long ago, the running back and forth meaninglessly reminded him of boot camp. Though less with the threat of more physical activity and more of active giant death machines, so just peachy. When he reached the transport, he wasted no time and entered the transport ship, quickly heading to the hangers.

Stepping into the his unit, a blue Huckebein M it was an odd color scheme, but it wasn't just for looks, part of the reason for it was that it helped him blend into the sky in combat, the other was because he just liked the color. He turned around and sat down on the leather seat. It been a few good hours since he had last stepped into the unit it more or less felt like it had only been a few minutes. At this point the unit was less of something like military vehicles and something more akin to that of a second home or maybe closer to that of an office cubicle... Maybe he did need to see that therapist if he was comparing the two.

Adam put on his pilot helmet he was going to be needing it if he was going to be going at top speed. Flipping three switches he turned on the main systems for his personal trooper with the soft sounds of machinery signaling that it had, then did a final check making sure that all systems were green and ready for combat. The main hatch closed and the he was no longer seeing the putside world though his own eyes but his PT as the screens came to like the PT's cameras capturing the area around him. The crew finished equipping the unit luckily for everyone involved, he didn't prefer to bring as many weapons as others did, preferring to keep things light for increased mobility. He waited until all the housing were moved out of his way before letting the unit take it's first steps causing the ground to shake under the PT's legs, though it was a bit softer than the heavier Geist that Hazel was using.

The PT and pilot exited the Taus and Adam fired up the tesla drive, causing the unit to float slightly and the unit to emit a low hum. As he got ready to deploy and deal with the issue at hand, he shouted out.

"Adam Summers, Huckebein MK II M, Launching!"

And the blue unit hovered meeting Hazel's unit.

a hot pink bubblegum crisis

Corinne Shourichi unzipped the front of her suit on her way to the hangar. For her to achieve total victory, her heart and bosom would need to swell with as much energy and zeal as the human body could muster. The tight confines of a suit would only restrict her angry chest!

Such restrictions were beyond her.

That was why, in case the Irish personnel wouldn't do it, she'd made sure to have her regular flight crew disable the usual amount of her safety limiters long before they had even left the moon! She had gambled on most of the Irish being unimaginative fops, and unfortunately, she had been proven right when she strode into the hangar and saw the stares she attracted. No doubt they were admiring the ornate craftsmanship on the metal butterfly she was now wearing, the steely finish of the mask strong and sure for a certainty, but clearly paling in comparison to her tungsten backbone and her alkaline spirit. What was the deal with these famine-stricken grease monkeys? They were humans, not spuds! They would return to their potato dirt if they did not organize! Galvanize!

"My new flight crew!" she proclaimed loudly, climbing up to the cockpit and cupping one hand around her mouth to be heard over the sudden roar of activity. "It is I, Saint Padraig come again! There are snakes in your skies, good Gaels, and so they have called me to serve you! In return, serve me faithfully until your last day under this blue sky that God gave us to rule, and I will return with victory in my hand and Jameson for all! I have loved you all from the moment my eyes laid on you! Éire go Brách, my motherfuckers! My fellow motherfuckers!"

The crowd of micks stared up at her adoringly. Beaming with all the radiance of Marianne, good goddess of humanity and liberty, Corinne Shourichi sealed herself in the R-Blade cockpit, chest heaving with glee at the animated contest of life and happiness to come.

"Corinne Shourichi, R-Blade! Shourichi Special coming up, sinfully sweet and served with love! Follow me, UTX, and we shall never walk in darkness, but forever in the light!"

---

"Declan?"

"Aye Keith?"

"You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Was that crazy broad the real pilot, or did we let a schizo sneak into the base?"

The other mechanic took a long, hissing breath; the air whistled through the gap in his front teeth.

"Shit, lad," he admitted, "I didn't think to check."

@Plank Sinatra@Shiyonichi@GarlandDaHero@Krayzikk@Write

Connacht Airspace, Earth

As the entirety of UTX Team took to the skies, they were joined by the personnel of the Irish base that had been available to respond to the deployment order. It was a limited number available to assist the experimental unit, with only six Federation Armoured Modules forming up in a V-formation alongside them. Four of them were the standard RAM-004 of Lion produced by Isurugi Industries, but the two taking point were slightly more distinct. One possessed a larger railgun, identifying it as the F variant, while the dazzling emerald colouring of the flight lead and prominently equipped Assault Blade immediately revealed it to be the improved V variant, a sign that its pilot was a commander.

The comms were opened, and the face of a lantern-jawed man with an aquiline nose and wavy white hair (streaked with black) tied back into a ponytail appeared on the screens of the UTX Team's machines. A certain sense of smug bemusement seemed to infuse his being, which the half-smile he was sporting did nothing to disprove. And most importantly, when it spoke, it was immediately clear that he wasn't a native to the country he had been deployed in.

"Hell of an introduction to the country, eh UTX?" he remarked wryly. "I'm sure you were looking for something more hospitality, but what can you do, eh?"

With the speed at which Personal Troopers and Armoured Modules travelled, the five kilometres between them and the confirmed DC hostiles was not exactly a great distance to cover, and the Irish base's flight lead was keenly aware of it. His joking greeting out of the way, the man was ready to do business, attention shifting towards the enemy units that were entering range.

"Oof, tally sixteen hostiles at two o'clock, DC's on its A-game."

Nearly an entire squadron of Armoured Modules in DC colours had come to meet them, their composition as remarkably diverse as that of the defending Federation group. Two teams of four Lions hovered above the waters of the Abha na Sionainne, with two Guarlions each taking point respectively. Six Landlions, very likely equipped with Screw Modules, were slightly ahead of them, zipping across the surface of the river below them, clearly seeking to emerge at the Loch Aillionn.

They had a goal, and were ready to engage to achieve it.

"Hope a bit of action's a good enough welcome, UTX," said the flight lead with a chuckle. "This is Maine 1, we're going buster to the Lions to the east. UTX, good hunting on your end! Don't bug out too soon, eh?"

Even as the entire squadron of DC Armoured Modules fired off an opening salvo of Homing Missiles at the exact same time, the Irish team broke off from the formation, thrusters blasting them forth as they drew off the incoming attacks, attempting to weave towards the easternmost enemies.

---

Victory Condition: Destroy all enemies.
Defeat Condition: Any UTX unit shot down. Maine 1 shot down.
Battle Mastery: ???

"Rodger that Maine 1, try not to get blasted to little bits and watch your back out there."

Adam warned his fellow pilot like an overly protective mother telling her children not to hurt themselves on the playground before letting them loose. Adam aimed the head of his unit towards the homing missles coming his way and used the Vulcan to detonate the missiles. A volley of missiles meet a swarm of lead. Causing the sky to be covered in red fire and smoke.

The red headed pilot pushed three switches at his left side, two to readjust the thrusters to change for raw speed to focusing it's output to enhance the agility of the unit and the last switch to have his unit pull out his photon rifle which was strapped to the back of the unit and shifted upwards allowing the Huskie to draw the rifle and aim it at the swarm of flying lions.

As they got into range Adam took a few potshots at the enemy. It wasn't to kill, as the photon rifle was too inaccurate at this range, but he wanted to break the formation there was always one or two pilot that would panic at a volley of photon bullets rushing towards them and break formation. Sure enough one of the lion pilots broke off from the rest. Not taking this chance Adam pressed his attack using the photon rifle to lead the unit further away from the others Adam rushed forward and at the last moment drew his plasma blade.

Before the enemy unit could understand what was happening Adam was on him like a pack of wolves and after cutting off both of the unit's arms, he stabbed the unit in the torso going through it and into the left thruster of the lion and then using his units leg kicked it away from him. If the pilot wasn't killed instantly gravity would do the rest of the work for him. Pressing his advantage and using the momentum Adam turned his photon rifle to the rest of the enemy air units and unleashed another volley, providing support fire for the rest of his team.

Acknowledgement lights winked at Maine-1’s broadcast, but that was the only response from the Gespenst Mk. TT keeping pace with the rest of UTX’s units. It was the heaviest unit by far; when things got hot, it wouldn’t keep pace with the other machines on the battlefield. Not in raw speed. Lions were nimble things, and the sky was their domain. The TT was an interloper, objectively the most antique machine on the battlefield. No doubt the least feared amongst modern Federation units, let alone one of the Crusaders’ own aces. In other hands, maybe that would be the case.

Not this time.

Sixteen units, confirming Maine-1’s report. Local forces were engaging the eastern flight of remnants, leaving the eastern for UTX and the Landlions unopposed. That wasn’t something that could be allowed to stand. Someone would need to keep them from getting to the Loch, but to do that UTX would need to punch through their escort flights. Not so easy to do when there were enough craft to cover UTX one-to-one and then some. Too much of a stalemate for Hazel’s taste. They didn’t waste any time, either; Hazel could feel that they’d launched missiles even as her PT warned her of the same, and enacted countermeasures reflexively. Homing missiles were standard on Lion-series units, a weapon she’d encountered plenty during the war. Their tracking algorithms were far from sophisticated. No evasion built into them.

The TT responded better than she could have hoped. She was used to her Mk. II, had grown accustomed to how it reacted. but the TT felt almost like an extension of herself. Thought became action almost seamlessly. A flick of the wrist killed the Tesla Drive, in the same breath gunning the Gespenst’s primary and left lateral thrusters. Gravity took hold and the machine dropped like a rock, rolling on its side to look up at the enemy. The Drive kicked back in and stabilized its flight but not before the TT’s hands found its weapons. The next moment was half targeting sensors, half intuition; the mute let go of her conscious thought and trusted that she knew what she was doing. The Burst Railgun crackled once, twice, thrice in a single volley; the first projectile lanced through the missile altering course to hit her while the latter two continued on their course to the Lion that fired. In her gut she knew it was the right angle, and she knew the TT could follow through. The Lion was quick, but she was willing to wager its pilot wouldn’t bank on the same shot putting him at risk. A gamble, yes; but that explosion could mask it. She trusted her gut.

Not enough to refrain from hedging, though; the rifle in her machine’s right hand reported second, aimed at the same Lion.

”Summers. Anju. Breaking through their line. Cover me. On mark.” Her comm reported monotonously, but clearly; it wasn’t a request. Hazel didn’t much care what ground she had to give instructions. Her decision was clear; someone needed to cut off the Landlions, and the TT was best suited to it. If she could just break through their line. From below them, perhaps, they wouldn’t notice. If they did… She’d deal with that if it came to it. Bracing herself for the discomfort that would come, opened the thrusters wide and slammed the controls as far as they would go. Inertia didn’t agree with her, it pushed her against her seat hard, but she was accelerating; with any luck her colleagues would keep their attention off the PT passing from below.

It was their first outing. Playing it safe wouldn't win this. Time for a leap of faith.

”Mark.”

@Krayzikk

After Maine 1 gave Anju and the rest of the UTX team a rather brief hello, the blue-haired ex-DC focused her attention on the battlefield. Through her HUD, she could see both Hazel and Adam already focusing their firepower on her former comrades. As she gripped the controls of her Guarlion tightly, she figured it was about time for her to do the same. The armored module began accelerating through the Irish skies, its pilot keeping a close eye on the HUD and an ear focused on the comm unit.

Before long, she heard Hazel's communicator pass a command on to her and Adam. She took a brief moment to scan the area and see what her plan was.

From the looks of things, Hazel was planning on taking down the Landlions by her lonesome while Adam and Anju directed their attention towards the airborne AMs. It was a good thing she was smart; the Lions and Guarlions would easily outmaneuver and gun down the Gespenst without cover fire. And Anju was more than happy to help out.

"Roger," she acknowledged, getting her Burst Railgun prepped for firing. As soon as ”Mark.” came out through hers and Adam's comm units, Anju quickly pressed down on the button linked to her Guarlion's right arm, launching a volley of shots at a fellow Guarlion. Specifically, she was aiming for the torso, where the tesla drive was located. Once the drive was destroyed, the entire machine would come crashing down, leaving it as easy pickings for the rest of the UTX team. Anju was planning on closing in on the unit once it crashed and delivering a finishing blow with her assault blade. The fewer AMs Hazel had to deal with, the better.

When Corinne Shourichi was young, she'd had a dream of Maine-1's violent death over the cerulean skies of his homeland.

...

Okay, that was a lie. But it certainly was certainly specific enough to sound prophetic, and were she to prevent that violent death in the next half hour, she would be able to bludgeon the team into accepting her as their Oracle from this day forth. In this technologically-advanced day and age, the traditional legitimacy of monarchs like those who had once ruled this very country was dead. The models for totalitarian legitimacy over the past couple centuries had been rooted deep in charisma and mysticism, born through the personality cults of vivid, idealistic, glorious visionaries who just so happened to be the military leaders who remained loyal to the people during military coups. As long as she remained loyal to her team and demanded their loyalty in return, their hero worship of Corinne would follow them to the afterlife!

Oooh, that was the good stuff. She would be the most benevolent military leader the world had ever seen, and she would harness the power of self-fulfilling prophecy as evidence of the divine lineage she was always certain she'd sprung from. If Maine-1's survival was to be the cornerstone of her team's unyielding adoration for her, then Corinne Shourichi would ensure that he would stand like the Rock of Cashel for centuries.

All she had to do was have a little faith in her uptight deputy - and trust Hazel was good for something besides playing in sims and lustful glances.

"Don't finish without me, hikikomori!" Corinne exclaimed. "Big sister will be back in a minute! Maine-1--"

The R-Blade, painted the distinctly beautiful shade of red that dripped from Aphrodite's wrist, had turned towards the haphazard lions. The majority of the homing missiles, designed to drive the Irish team into the clutches of the eastern team of Lions, were promptly eliminated by a spray of the Shourichi Special's Vulcans.

"--don't die. Your accent is a gift from an almighty God."

Inside the R-Blade's cockpit, a bright blue eye winked behind the blued steel of a butterfly mask.

Now, how in the hell was she supposed to keep a deaf-mute girl alive long enough for her to smash up the Landlions?

Anju was already focused on one Guarlion, and seemed to have a good shot lined up on the unit's Tesla Drive. She was loathe to whip out her beam rifle so early in the fight, too; she never knew when she'd need to save it for something bigger and cooler, which was Corinne's philosophy for all things in life except for her money and her virginity.

But she had a railgun.

That could be cool.

...

That could be pretty cool.

So she fired the railgun downwards and facing from the east, through the side of the Lions' formation as they zipped over the water.

It was pretty cool.

@Plank Sinatra@GarlandDaHero@GarlandDaHero@Shiyonichi

Connacht Airspace, Earth

"Appreciate it, UTX," replied Maine 1, smiling wryly on the small screen. "Only dying here's going to be these bandits, eh?"

He casually saluted as the comms blinked off, the Irish team having made contact with the Divine Crusaders.

On the western half of the battlefield, responses to UTX's rapid assault varied amongst the wing of Lions. Before the fragments of Adam's unfortunate victim's soul could even fall prey to the uncaring grasp of gravity, one of the other Lions in the formation broke ranks in a sudden burst of incredible speed, Homing Missiles deployed immediately to meet the volley of fire from the mass-produced Huckebein's rifle. Explosions dotted the short gap between them, clouds of smoke and shrapnel blotting out the blue sky and obscuring Adam's view. Radar would tell that the Lion had charged straight into the plume of black, but the Divine Crusader was unwilling to let UTX's second-in-command take advantage of that information.

Vulcans strafed Adam from above as the Lion burst free at an upwards angle, the Armored Module refusing to let down its fire even as it dropped down from above the Huckebein, sunlight to its back. The motors of its blade whirred to life, the spinning teeth crackling with noise and energy as it entered close-range, cutting down at the Huckebein in hopes of sending him to the grave the same way Adam had closed the book on the other Crusader.

The Lion in Hazel's sights, on the other hand, was barely able to dodge of the path of the first burst, the flying frame having thrust backwards as the missiles exploded between them. It wasn't enough to stem the second set of shots however, with the projectiles from the TT's Burst Railgun crackling into its left "arm", annihilating it and the Assault Blade it was holding in a fireball that threw the Divine Crusader into a spin, thrusters puttering frantically to regain some semblance of control.

Before a shot from Corinne's G-Railgun disintegrated the entire lower half of its body, the entire machine erupting into a conflagration seconds later as a suited figure ejected out into the air.

So soon after initial contact, two of the Divine Crusaders' Armored Modules had been destroyed by UTX, yet rather than be demoralised by the loss of their comrades, the survivors seemed to advance with greater intensity than before. The Lion that had charged at Adam aside, the flight lead was very much on the ball, the Guarlion's rapid movements taking it safely out of Anju's line of fire before she could even press the trigger on her handheld railgun. It ducked and weaved through the sky, strafing past the former DC pilot with a barrage of Vulcan fire from its chest.

An attack accompanied by a surprising spread of M13 Shotgun shells.

The other Lion of the western wing instead turned its attentions upon the untagged R-Blade, firing off its own railgun in the direction of Corinne before following it up with a salvo of Homing Missiles from its inbuilt launcher.

On the surface of the water below, one of the Landlions had noticed Hazel's descent, and immediately rotated around, its treads continuing to carry it backwards along the river. However, it was ready to intercept - as was a comrade seconds later - the duo proceeding to fire off a blast each from their own Burst Railguns.

A quick check of the eastern half of the battlefield would show how Maine 1's flight was faring. One of DC's pilots had ejected from his Lion safely, and while three of the Federation's units were pursuing the survivors, the Guarlion lead was managing to keep up quite well with a combined assault by Maine 1, the F variant and another of the Irish Lions.

Adam frowned as the smoke covered his view at this point he was stuck if he charged head on he'd probably get met with a whole squad of Lions with guns aimed directly at him. The bright side was due to the heat, ash, and smoke they won't be able to launch another volley of missles until it clears. The red headed pilot prepared himself and started to mentally plan out his next move, when he heard three beeps, warnings sent by his machine that an adversary was approaching at high speeds.

"Crazy bastard!"

Just like how he wasn't willing to go though the curtain of smoke he expected the enemy to do the same. It was risky, but it payed off for the Lion pilot as he caught the Ace off guard just for a moment and the Huckebein was showered with the first volley of Vulcan bullets. Luckily Vulcans where meant for for soft targets and as a testament to that fact, the bullets either bounced off or just left dents in the armor, but even with that fact it wasn't wise to ignore them, as if you were lucky or unlucky, the bullets could find their way into a joint in the armor and damage several internal mechanisms. Causing a state of the art war machine to turn into a metal brick.

Adam took evasive maneuvers twisting and spinning to dodge to the oncoming Vulcan fire before the Lion readied its killing blow intending to give Adam a taste of his own medicine. As it brought down it's sword, the Huckebein suddenly did a 180 turn meeting it's blade with the Lion's, Adam wasn't going to fall for his own tricks.

The two units clashed in an aerial sword fight only disengaging to takes potshots or evasive maneuvers before meeting each other's blades once again. It was pretty clear who would eventually win the match if this continued on and it wasn't Adam. Time wasn't on his side, sooner or later the smoke would clear and he'd have to deal with a volley of missles and the aggressively charging Lion pilot.

Adam deployed his chakram, hiding it's formation behind his unit and away from the field of vision of the other pilot. He went for another sword clash swapping several slashs between the two before swinging the chakram around and hopping to get it lodged into the back of the Lion.

Watch me, Shourichi.

I got this.

Her faith wasn’t misplaced. Anju and Summers pulled through, and drew their attention away from the Gespenst screaming through the air. She was past their lines before they even realized what had happened, a gunmetal comet streaking through the Irish sky. By the time the Crusaders realized, she was too far gone for them to act. They had their hands full with the rest of UTX, there was no time to chase down a single Gespenst. They would have to hope their vanguard could deal with it.

What worry, after all, was a single Gespie?

The Landlions didn’t miss a beat, one swiveling immediately to fire on the PT rocketing down from above. One of its comrades did the same, two sets of Railguns taking their shots. Their firing trajectories were on point; their paths would cross at exactly the right time for them to nail her machine. Could she take it? Probably, but that there was too much risk involved. She knew that they’d strike home a second before her computer did, and she’d decided on her course of action already. The Gespenst was already programmed with the movement data it needed, it was simply up to the pilot to act on it; that was Piloting 101. The TAC-OS took most of the fine tuning out of the equation, and let the pilot simply pick their course of action. Pilot education, even just the crash course, was then centered around knowing what decisions to make.

One of the big lessons, the very first they taught you if you took a Tesla-Drive-equipped machine, was that it didn’t take the enemy to kill you. If you made the wrong decision, your own machine could make you blackout and crash. Physics was a cruel mistress. The machine would try and warn you if you were pushing the limits, but it’d obey.

Lateral movement would be too slow. Odds were at least one of the rounds would hit if she tried to move aside.

So Hazel slammed on the thrusters in full reverse, and felt her harness snap tight around her torso while her stomach tried to force its way up her throat. The TT slashed its speed by two thirds in the span of a few heartstopping seconds, Hazel’s blood rushed to her head and she saw red. The little voice in the back of her head reminded her that this was redout; she was experiencing somewhere over four times the force of Earth’s gravity. It was pushing the blood away from her feet, increasing blood pressure inside her skull drastically. Its increasingly quiet commentary emphasized that if she maintained it, she would black out in a few more seconds. She didn’t really like that voice’s negativity, but fuzzily admitted to herself that yes, it had a point.

She just needed to hold it…. A second longer…

The rounds lanced by a couple of meters ahead and below her, and the color receded from her vision. It had been close. Really close. Her positioning was just right, or the negative g-forces would’ve kicked in too early and fucked up her brain. But it worked. It worked, and now she had her own angle.

Ignoring the wet feeling on the top of her lip, Hazel triggered the thrusters again and resumed her advance. She was keeping above the Landlions, almost lying flat on the Gespenst’s stomach in midair once she repositioned. The Landlion’s firing angle would be a lot more awkward if she could stay above, and it wouldn’t be able to use its body-mounted Machine Cannons at all. Better for her that way, she could strike just fine. Her lips curled back as if in a silent snarl, letting instinct take over and fire her Burst Railgun at the Landlion that fired first. She needed to make short work of these units, or they’d reach the Loch.

Better to strike from more than one angle.

Bidden more by her will than any mechanical command, a pair of bladed devices ejected from the TT’s frame and unfurled, flying towards the second Landlion at an angle. The pilot had never used them in real combat before, only in simulations, but she’d make it work. The devices didn’t need manual control. They were at her command. If she was fortunate, the Crusader wouldn’t expect them to come at him from the side.

”T-Link Ripper!”

@Crimmy

Anju grimaced as she watched the enemy Guarlion dodge her Burst Railgun fire seconds before the firearm even launched its ammunition. She should've remembered how fast the armored module line could be; she was piloting one of the top tier models, after all. With that knowledge renewed, she swiftly evaded the vulcan fire by strafing to the left, then to the right once the enemy AM's shotgun fired its rounds.

Once the enemy DC pilot used up his turn for attacks, Anju ignited the boosters on her own Guarlion and rushed towards her foe, gripping her Assault blade and prepping it to strike. "Tricky bastard," Anju growled as she zeroed in on the opposing AM's speed. "Let me show you just how fast a Guarlion can move!"

With that, Anju kicked her Guarlion's booster into even higher gear and, once she was within range, made a vertical slashing motion towards the enemy. Specifically, she was aiming for the module's shoulder, where one of the Break Field generators was housed. Once it was rendered inactive, then the Guarlion would be prevented from using its signature Sonic Breaker technique. Considering how dangerous it was, capable of destroying a PT with a single direct hit, the sooner it was prevented, the better.

Hazel Ada Stoll tried so hard to impress her glorious Captain. It was precious. It was absolutely endearing. Corinne would need to draft up a rewards plan for the members of her team who assumed the heavy mantles of heroes. She could make a devil's food cake or something, and perhaps even slip Hazel and Summers some edibles. Such an action, however, would only be likely to get her barred from preparing her own food.

Then again, Hazel and Anju paddled down the same streams. Perhaps the shut-in glasses girl would appreciate a complimentary sext.

Corinne was so busy contemplating food, sex, and a jet lagged nap that she didn't even pay attention to the missile alerts. She had already known they were coming, and her body operated while her higher brain functions were preoccupied with her thoughts. Her instincts ceded control away slowly as she executed her maneuver, riding above the enemy's railgun strike. Her own motion path cut perpendicular through the railgun's, and a couple of the Homing Missiles - those furthest forward in the salvo - were obliterated by the last vestiges of energy from the railgun strike. A 180 degree spin of the R-Blade placed the remaining missiles square in firing range of her Vulcans, obliterating them harmlessly as the Shourichi Special completed its aerial rotation.

The R-Blade lifted up its beam rifle again, as the rich girl inside its cockpit eyeballed the shot with a rakish grin beneath her butterfly mask. Then the beam fired, down upon the outclassed Lion, the latest victim of the pink-haired poacher.

@GarlandDaHero@Shiyonichi@Plank Sinatra@Krayzikk

Connacht Airspace, Earth

Adam's surprise attack made contact with his opponent, but not in the way he intended. The aggressive Divine Crusader had noticed the swinging chakram barely in time, the sharp edges of the Huckebein's weapon instead biting into its right side, only stopped from cutting through the cockpit by its missile arm crunching down, disabling both one of its weapons and halting Adam's strike, breaking apart the chakram. However, it was clear that the victor of that exchange was the UTX pilot, a fact that the Lion was immediately aware of. And for that reason, its engines cut themselves off, dropping the Lion downwards to the surface of the river in an attempt to bring Adam to a watery death. A seat ejected from the cockpit as the AM fell, the parachuting pilot having chosen to sacrifice her machine to defeat a worthy opponent.

Corinne finished off the last Lion with her shot, the enemy pilot unable to keep up with the specs of Mao Industries' newest mass production prototype. They did not even have the time to eject, their body likely disintegrated by the beam that lanced straight through the AM's cockpit, shutting the machine down in an instant.

It fell towards the river, crashing against the surface with an uneventful thud.

They would join Sionann in her grave.

To the Landlion pilots, Hazel's movements could be considered inhuman. The latent Psycodriver potential that the quiet young woman possessed gave her an edge, her T-Link Rippers zipping across the river in a manner that was entirely unexpected. Her opponent had never fought a Psycodriver in battle, and that simple lack of experience proved to be the Landlion's downfall. It was sliced apart, exploding into a deadly conflagration that also forced its partner off-course.

That one Landlion took a second to realign itself, firing another railgun shot at Hazel. Another Landlion broke from the advancing pack to join its comrade, but this one dropped beneath the surface of the river (an action repeated by those moving in the direction of the Loch as well), choosing to zoom towards the Gespenst by moving along the riverbed. They had become desperate, ready to stop the obstacle to their goals at the lake where the Institute had set camp.

Anju's opponent was equally fast. They were both Guarlions, after all. And its pilot, a DC veteran like Anju, could tell exactly what the UTX pilot's plan was. If she sought to take out his Tesla Drive, then he would not give her the opportunity. His Guarlion was enveloped in light, its shoulders crackling with energy as it charged straight towards Anju, Break Field fully active.

Would her blade be stronger, or would his charge succeed?

On the other half of the battlefield, another of the DC Lions had fallen, while the Guarlion was on the retreat as the rest of Maine Team harried on. Victory seemed to be coming quickly to the combined Federation force, and two of the Irish Lions were breaking off from the attack to leave Maine 1 and his two wingmen to dance with the DC Guarlion, ready to assist Hazel in her chase of the Landlions.

They didn't make it.

Two loud blasts rang out across the Irish countryside.

The two unfortunate Maine Team Lions were, in a moment, no longer there. Only bits and pieces of metal bordering large holes.

As they fell to the Earth, three new enemy IFFs appeared on their radars. Appearing from nowhere, as if they had simply teleported into view.

To the east were three shapes. Two black-coloured Barrelions, floating menacingly in the air.

Two railgun projectiles emerged from their direction, piercing through the remaining two basic Lions on Maine Team.

They flanked another AM, jet black in colour.

A red cross had been painted across its chest.

A Guarlion Custom.

Red eyes flashed.

---

Victory Condition: Destroy all enemies.
Defeat Condition: Any UTX unit shot down. Maine 1 shot down.
Battle Mastery: Steal the Guarlion Custom.