---

---

When the elevator reached the top Nathan went straight for his machine, the GINN HMT was high maintenance because of the machine's thruster system. When he got to his Suit he double checked with the prep crew that his machine was ready to go and had a fresh battery installed. Once that was done he entered his machine right after someone checked his pilot suit to run his own final checks as the GINN was loaded into the shuttle waiting for the launch.

The wait was unbearable for the Carius, he never liked these rocket launches, he was told how so many things could go wrong and gave him a anxiety of these rockets, but he was willing to deal with these terrifying things. He allowed the speech to sooth himself as he took deep breathes and not thinking about a possible fiery death as his rocket launched upward into the heaven and then space. The shaking he received while going up was worse then waiting,

"Gahod damnit, hurry it up you damn rocket!" Nathan was happy he wasn't transmitting as he was squirming and maybe crying, not an elite pilot of the empire's best and brightest. Once things calmed down he got himself composed,

"Roger that, standing by for detach" Nathan responded to Tyr as he readied himself to start piloting.

---

Within the cockpit of his mobile suit, Gabriel gripped the sides of his pilot seat tightly as he was rocked side to side from the intense turbulence of the rocket as it propelled itself towards it's destination of space. In his mind Gabriel wondered to himself if he made the right decision on joining with this expedition into space something he was completely unfamiliar with, not only that but his expertise when it comes to the salvaging operation would either make or break this operation; Time seemed to slow for the scavenger as with each second the rocket flew, Gabriel would breath in and out in a rapid succession as anxiety and anticipation filled him a few more seconds and he would be in space for the first time in is life. As the rough turbulence started to ease up Gabriel would feel his body relax as the transmission from Tyr but the scavenger at ease somewhat.

"Affirmative Centurion Tyr, I'll start prepping for departure from the rocket."

Gabriel would immediately start pushing a series of buttons around his cockpit powering up his mobile suit into it's standby mode, not fully active but with the push of a few more buttons the mobile suit would fully power up. Gabriel would pull out a panel that had a keyboard and small monitor on it. Inputting the information he has from the documents onto the keyboard the monitor glowed with life as it started displaying the information for Gabriel to do one last quick check and review of the operation, once he was satisfied Gabriel slide the panel back into place as waited for the departure order from Centurion Tyr.

---

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Amaya watched him examine her for a few seconds before Looking down at Tama, who was doing it's usual rolling around and mocking the various sounds around them. "War is always something we humans can't seem to stop. It's in our DNA to explore and claim things whether we were meant to for our own reasons or for others who can't bring themselves to shed blood or give the order to send countless generations of young and old, skilled or fresh out of the academy into war under some flag just to become some name in a history book that will be lost in some library or destroyed from the war they started. Or as my mentor once explained human cares of battling ourselves."She spoke getting lost in her rambles pulling herself back to the actual topic. "I don't know how much help I can be yet as I am still learning this era's technology and understanding while piecing my own knowledge to make something work to be of assistance. every soldier is a unique story towards our future and a piece of our past."She added before turning towards the launch screens watching the various calls coming in and out for either signals for all green or a dreaded error.

"I have seen many take-offs and always had a child-like wonder to go to space to see what the stars actually looked like. To feel the wonders of no gravity on the body. To see the benefits that could help mankind in that type of environment. Between my duties and studies when I wasn't bed-bound I would turn on the broadcasts of various launch tests and ships fresh out of the testing phase getting ready for their first launches. As for how many launches I been on was only the one you found the salvage of." She replied listening to him speak of the struggle the empire has seen against the colonists. "I understand and hope my specialties will benefit to help yourself and the Empire."She spoke hoping she was saying the right thing.

She looked around the final launch sequence and final checks, as well as a great speech, rang over the speakers as she watched the screens allowing the same childlike wonderment to form on her face watching the rockets. "Be safe everyone.."She spoke to herself as Tama bounced beside her reciting "Be Safe! Be Safe!"

Amaya allowed her mind to come back to reality as her eyes and head turned towards the doctor "The worst thing I have dealt with. I think it would be one of the incidents of a pilot testing some of the early models of today's mobile suits. The full details are vague but I remember the pilot getting rushed into the medical theater. My Mentor and I were cleaning as a daily chore. The poor lad was maybe really twenties, maybe late teens, straight out of the academy and into the pilot program. Massive burns over 70 percent of his body, his left arm and left so burnt, you could smell and see literal holes of the burn charred from the flames. The smell of burning flesh still haunts me. My mentor tried for hours to save the poor pilot, but there was nothing we could do, the burns were too severe for us to save him. I could only imagine the pain and suffering he went through from the accident to his dying breath or even what life would hold if he had been able to survive." She spoke crouching down Picking up Tama as the little ball looked up at her.

---

@BlackMaiden

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The general ignored the discussion behind him as he watched the rockets continued to rise until they were but a speck in the sky. The doctor meanwhile sighed as he looked away from the general and to the woman. "I have seen my share of burns from fires of the fuel, mark of a saber or just a mere accident while cooking. The only time I remember clearly more than anything was the night of the first launch. After learning from all our mistakes, we didn't think anything would happen for a short trip up. If we knew we were unwelcomed, I would have gone in the first mobile suit myself. Who went up instead? Some happy scientists and an enthusiastic little girl." The doctor leaned on his cane for the first time for true support. "I felt like it was the first time I have had to amputate for someone. For a child... I pray none return as badly as her each time, whether the heavens listen to me or not." The doctor took in a deep breath and straightened himself, picking up his cane and tapping it on the ground before catching it. "We won't get anywhere sitting here. I wish them all the luck in the world to send those bastards to hell."

"Send them we shall. The colonist began this war, we will end it on our terms." The general rejoined the two as he walked away from the center of the room, still taking information from the personnel manning the terminals in the tower. "We launched our rockets to return to the stars and help reclaim items from our past, they sought to cut us down early, they will regret their choice." When he reached the pair he placed his hands behind himself, eyeing the eldest doctor momentarily before the youngest. "Comparing this to the conflict you've seen between the earth and the colonies, ours would barely qualify as a border skirmish."

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"I never had to actually amputate anyone by myself since I had more colleges and understudies that preferred that part of the operating therater."she said as she listened watching the now empty sky. "No one should ever have to amputate a innocent child. Things like that are haunting but a grim part of our reality when it comes to war or even just exploring the unknowns."she added before closing her eyes while crouching down sitting Tama back down. She opened them part way while folding her arms on her knees, watching the ball. "They are just flesh and blood. These battles more remind me of neighborhood bullies picking on the new kids. Wars back.[/color]

Amaya giggled lightly at the thought of her anology , allowing her mind to get lost in thought of her past her ice blue painted left index finger rolling lightly on top of the ball as it rolled as if enjoying the light pet of sorts. "Back in my time, war was much different and much much bigger and worse. Hundreds to thousands flocking to find any report on love ones making it alive. Seeing coffins return to just returning flags to even allowing love ones to say goodbye and baring the harsh hatred and grief of the love ones passing. War is horrible as hell is. I just hope that someday someone will learn from our past and maybe stop this senseless fighting for whatever reason they feel it was needed."she spoke before standing back up returning her gaze to the general and the doctor allowing her thoughts to return to the present.

---

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After her trip to the lavatory, Marie was surprised to see the staff nearby had moved. Guiding herself back to her seat she a saw where they had gathered to a crowd around the largest screen in the shuttle. The one news broadcast from Side 3 was reporting on a recent accident with the gathered crew disheartened.

"...The incident occurred approximately 1 hour ago, with respondent teams and mobile workers reaching the scene after securing the connected blocs. The rapid decompression of the bloc affected a total of 37 civilians, with 10 suffering terminal injuries. Reports from maintenance crews continue to declare bloc safety is their number one concern, and initial inspection of the damaged bloc prompts for negligence by the civilians of the area. Residents protesting for the return to Earth have immediately taken to the surrounding blocs to rally support in the wake of this devastation. When asked, the governor's office refused a comment stating the governor has departed for other matters. We go now live to-"

Marie didn't let the reporter finished and moved to the screen, turning it off before the scene could be shown. No doubt it was the same, an exterior section of the colony lost pressure rapidly, resulting in automatic responses barely able to save the occupants. Like having to fight against Theodore's rushed descent plan wasn't enough, this tragic event would only spur on her opponent's support to return to their ancestral home. "I know many of you feel for the loss of our neighbors, but we must continue to Port-1 lest we allow the protestors to take advantage of their deaths." Marie turned and faced her staff and crew. "If we return too fast the same tragedies will occur, in more gruesome ways. I do not wish to let us return to the ground only to be trapped by a lack of fuel, food or barbarians. Not even that insect will ruin our return voyage."

---

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The five rockets ascent went smoother as their altitude increased, along with the gravity decreasing as they curled over the Earth. Soon they came up alongside one another in a line, high above the Earth in their orbit. The four hatches began to move and allow the light to enter the central bay of each rocket. "Stable orbit achieved, you're clear to depart mobile suit team." The comms for the first rocket crackled through, with each rocket behind them confirming the same to their teams. The latches holding the mobile weapons down lifted up, allowing the weapons to leave the rockets. "Separate from your rockets and rendezvous with your teams. Defense team members will remain with the rockets per the plan, the rest of us will move together into the field." Tyr's voice broke into each mobile weapon as his mobile armor removed itself from the rocket with its verniers and turned away from the world to the debris field.

---

It felt like she had waited an eternity.

Yet even after the talking, and the briefings, and the endless checks were finished Skye found herself in the cockpit of her mobile suit. Waiting. Just like she always did.

It was something she had grown accustomed to, but this time it was different. Skye did her best to deliberately feel irritated, allowing her frustration to twist her face and reduce her responses to the launch crew and her comrades to mere grunts. She was desperate to distract herself from the fact her hands wouldn't stop shaking. Skye ended up gripping the control sticks inside her cockpit and squeezing them as hard as she could. Breathing in and out, in and out, in as a controlled a manner as possible. Making sure her comms were turned off so no one could hear her.

For all her impatience to skip the chatter and the grandiose rituals that proceeded the launch, Skye was just as eager to avoid the unpleasant parts of the launch...

The scary parts.

Skye had never told anyone, but when she closed her eyes she could see everything that happened in her father's rocket play out in front of her. She could feel the force of gravity beating down on her and the rocket shaking as they escaped the planet's atmosphere. She could still see her father's face and hear her own cheers as they saw the stars through the debris field above them. And she could feel the pain as she was slammed back in her seat as something hit them, once, twice, three times. Nothing she could do, or ever hope to do, could ever erase the memory of staring down at the blue planet through a wall of flames as her father desperately clutched the controls as the rocket plummeted back to Earth.

It was her first time going to space in what might as well have been half a lifetime for her. Skye had always felt the resources were in place to send her up. And no matter the justifications or the insistencies from her superiors, the propaganda girl always had a feeling that didn't fully believe in her. That they knew that she was afraid, that she could very well choke if she were sent back up in the blackness she had once fallen from.

And deep down Skye was afraid they were right.

Yet as Skye sat and ruminated, the launch countdown had begun and the Emperor's speech reached her over her radio. Sitting and listening, something hot began to build up in her gut. Bit by bit her hands stopped shaking, but her grip on her controls only grew tighter with every word.

In a few poetic, regal words Skye was reminded of the anger beneath the fear she held. Anger and hatred that no amount of self-preservation or even reason could hold back. Because no matter how scared she might have been, how eager she was to avoid ever seeing what she did on her father's rocket, nothing would stop her from ensuring the canners in space could never close their eyes without seeing something far more terrible.

No distance would keep her from making them suffer, and Skye reminded herself there was nothing she would not do to reach them.

And in an instant the rockets began to move and Skye was forced back into her seat, the world reduced to rumbling and constant shaking as the world streaked past. Skye closed her eyes, not to avoid seeing what was in front of her, but to remind her of why she fought and why she needed to kill as many enemies as she could.

---

When the rocket came to a stop Sky opened her eyes, wincing slightly as light poured in from the slowly opening side of the rocket. The walls and floors of the drum-shaped cockpit she sat in showed the surroundings of her Astro Flag as it's sensors kicked on. Engaging the battery Skye swore she could almost feel a low thrum of energy pass through her fingertips as the mechanisms and systems of her Flag flared to life. The control sticks she had clutched like vice grips on the way up suddenly felt natural and easy to move, requiring almost not thought or effort to do so.

Tyr's voice came over the radio and Skye could only smirk as she pulsed the vierners on the side of her Flag and gently 'rolled' it out the side of the rocket as the clamps released. The feeling of weightlessness took Skye off guard and she felt her stomach squirm inside her as the Flag rolled out into open space. Skye looked up, or technically down, at the planet, barely able to see the blue of the planet through the smog like haze and visible chunks of debris.

A twist of her controls and the vierners on the opposite side of her machine pulsed with small, visible blue jets. In an instant the Flag came to a stop, it's folded up space-craft like form pointed towards the large debris field ahead of them. As Skye looked around and took in her surroundings, a sudden surge of energy shot through her. The blue haired girl couldn't stop herself from letting out a laugh and grinning, the realization of how close she was finally hitting her. She looked straight ahead and engaged her thrusters.

"Roger that Tyr, I'll take the lead! Try to keep up!" Skye called out over the radio, and immediately engaged the Flag's thrusters before any objections could be raised.

Immediately Skye was slammed back in her seat as the large thruster array at the rear of the flag flared to life. One moment her Flag was near her rocket and the next it was shooting forward like a shot from a railgun, intense blue flames radiating from her engines as the Flag itself was reduced to a mere blue blur against the drab background of space. The G-forces Skye felt pushing on her were intense, but she smiled through it all and howled over the radio.

"YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

---

@veenknight343@Renny

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The battle in the simulator erupted quickly, with the three GMs in the center began firing down with two machine guns and one bazooka, too far out for their beam spray weapons. The Zakus defending retaliated, the two investigating the container changing their attention and began to move to flank the suits. Away from the fire fight, the GM approaching the area of the two pilots remained on alert as its allies reported contact, though knowing the federation suits were in an advantageous position against machine gun equipped zakus. As the sole GM entered optimal firing range for the two however, the simulator froze, an alarm blaring and the digital image disappearing as the loudspeakers began to blare out "Alert! Alert! Launch detected! Launch detected! All active mobile suit teams scramble!" The spectators looked around in surprise, before quickly spilling out of the simulator room along with all the pilots. The hangar's activity instantly sparked to life, with shouts and clangs heard as mechanics wrapped up their work and cleared checks with one another while ammo was pushed along to awaiting machines. Every human inside who wasn't busy rushed to the exits and to the lockers, pilots putting on combat suits and the rest equipping EVA gear for their own work.

"Get out of my way, no one touches my machine aside from me!" Hanson screamed at a pair of mechanics looking at his suit, who didn't bother arguing and moved to the next suit. Hanson slipped on the helmet of his suit and sealed it, as most have already done so before entering the hangar. Reaching his suit he pulled himself into the cockpit and started up the reactor, listening to it hum to life while the radio yelled out the orders. "Mobile suit teams, approach the carriers Petersburg (Laohu), Arthur (Laurasia) and Yekon (Pizarro class) once released from dock. Teams will retrieve you once you approach." The few suits ready to launch began to move off as a yellow warning light began coloring the hangar, going on for a full two minutes before a red light switched on, showing the hangar now being depressurized to open its doors. Every suit ready to launch pushed off one after another and began to direct themselves to a ship. Hanson, along with 5 others which included the new pilots, guided himself to the Laurasia with its catapult open.

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While watching over the suits disembarking from the rockets, the usual chatter could be heard through the radio. Those new to the experience were still adjusting their suit appropriately while veterans bored of the loss of gravity freed themselves of the rocket and moved away from them. He didn't expect however was his radio to crackle out an excited scream from the legless girl. Now processing what she had said over the rest of the rabble, he turned to see her flag flying off, the blue light of the thrusters covering its silhouette. "Damn it fish, don't rush on ahead! All deploying squads, collect yourselves and follow suit! Gabriel with me!" Given her speed, she could easily enter the debris field before his mobile armor could catch up, he'd need the numerous sensors on the scavenger's suit if they passed a particularly dead zone of the field. He shifted his armor around, pointing at the fading blue light of the thrusters and engaged his own, bracing appropriately against the familiar acceleration of his 5 thrusters.

As he had expected, the suit ahead of him entered before his mobile armor had, and the sensors of his armor began to act out, with the radio messages from the rocket spaced out by static, while Gabriel's approaching suit could contact him reasonably well. "Small Sky, regroup at the edge of the debris field now, that's an order." With the movement of the field being erratic, there was no clear view of the suit, and now at the edge of the field he waited for the scavenger to catch up before he would continue, already knowing this was a mere glimpse of the insubordination he'd have to deal with. Perhaps the colonies could provide her an adequate lesson in following orders.

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Ayame waited for her chance to join the fray, once she found it the system froze on her,

"What? Gah! Well so much for an easy day today" the loud noise of the alarms went off right in her ears. She quickly deactivate her pod and popped it open, watching the people around her scramble she waited till it was less hectic for her to move to the locker room. Once she arrive, she quickly slipped into her pilot suit, a modified Earth federation pilot suit that had on the side of its helmet "Side 3", once she was in her suit she removed her earing and places on on the top of her locked before she put her helmet on.

She rushed over to the hanger were her machine was held, "I'm heading on the next group make it quick boy and girls!" she yelled to the mechanics that was getting her machine armed while she started her machines start up process. The extra arms each had had a shields equipped and the main armaments equipped with a beam spray gun and a Twin Beam Rifle, she also got a beam saber as a melee option. Once she was up for the catapult she joined a group heading towards the carrier Petersburg letting the other pilots in befor she herself entered the carrier.

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@BlackMaiden

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"Like I said, comparable to a border skirmish. We can't send up numerous ships filled with mobile suits to engage in uniform conflict, just what we can scavenge from above or below. Less uniform, even when people died in the past, nations were sure to keep track of the numbers and names. We can't always say the same about ours despite being fewer in numbers. However, I would say war is worse than hell, after all everyone is involved in war. Only those who brought damnation upon themselves will pass through Hell's gates." The general turned to the front as the rockets stretched out of the atmosphere and began their operation, coms were somewhat unclear so not all the words came through properly with the bases' equipment as the teams were halfway around the world.

For now they could only watch and assess the outcome, calculating incoming debris or supplies as they fall out of orbit without the team. "You possess an aquatic suit do you not doctor? We may request your assistance when retrieving the supplies. If our teams get lucky they may drop extra supplies down via re-entry gear. If we are lucky that is." he general looked over to the doctor quickly before returning his gaze to the screens, knowing the colonies would soon enough know what was coming to them, if they hadn't already detected the launches.

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Nathanial could only chuckle as he heard sky scream over the radio while he dethatched from the HLLV with some grace, when he detached he used too much thrust in the maneuvering verniers and nearly bashed his suit into the HLLV, looking around he was lucky he didn't hit anything other then his pride.

"Woah, sorry guys" he corrected himself and got his machine in proper orientation for him "Alright looking good so far. Teras, this is Lion I'm gonna scout ahead and make sure no Canners are in the area. Don't worry I wont go too far ahead from the pack like Skye, will radio back if I see anything before you guys catch up to me, Lion out." he finished as he started making his was through the debris field avoiding any of the denser packs of debris.