"I've got a question for the two of you," Wes said over the comms as he finished strapping the additional payload to his MAS, grinning all the while. "Does it still only count as one kill when these babies go bang?" According to his systems, his shields were down to eighty percent, he had full missiles, and seventy-five percent ammunition for the GAW. Just enough to get the job done. "I've got a plan. Don't give me that look."
She had led the others back to Brick and as they exchanged the second charge to Disposal, he attempted a joking question, but Alice wasn’t really having it at the moment. She gave a frustrated, flanging huff as a response. She was growing impatient, and really needed to let off this steam. When Brick suggested he had a plan, she wasn’t able to communicate her reaction through facial expression, but she felt the tilt of the Eagle’s was enough to show her dubiety.
“What’s your plan, Brick?”
"My plan?" Wes asked, having noticed her frustrated demeanor. "My plan is for you to calm down and listen closely, robot. The others can handle themselves, they're not little kids." He waved his MAS' hand as they found themselves a brief lull in the storm to talk after the big show of colorful lights and explosions that had been the Wave Motion Gun.
"Those Coalition assholes are staggered right now, they'll be too busy regrouping after getting their asses handed to them by the WMG. My plan is to bumrush the hell out of them. They probably won't be expecting a frontal assault. All three of us fly at full speed towards their hangar, I'll launch all of my missiles and blow it open, throw the goods inside, and we get the hell out of there and celebrate back onboard Abraham. Sound good?"
"Or we could do this the proper way," Gerard said as he yanked the alloy knife out of his arm, "and cut our way into their reactors." Slowly flexing his fingers, the Frenchman clicked his tongue. Movement was down to 60% in his left arm thanks to a damaged servo but the majority of his systems were functioning sufficiently. Sparks occasionally flew from the gaping hole in his flank but that was more superficial than anything else. Drawing his scattergun and checking the belt through his HUD, He nodded invisibly. "I still have 76 shells left so I am ready for anything you choose," he said before he nudged the bombs on Shanks' back with the barrel, "but you get the final say bomb boy. Do you want to do this properly? Or do you want to cut corners?"
As Gerard offered his own plan to counter Wes’s, Alice only twiddled the Eagle’s fingers impatiently. She itched to go back to fighting, but Gerard’s plan was more methodical and likely to yield a more thorough destruction of the Coalition ships. “I concur with Gerard…”, she managed to mutter while the Eagle’s hands clutched her rifle. Whoever’s plan Wes decided on, at least she’d have the opportunity to personally terminate more Coalition soldiers. She still hadn’t used her short range ammo yet and her wrist shotguns were at full capacity. Perfect, since she likely wouldn’t be keeping her distance soon.
"We don't need to be thorough. We've got two bombs. That's double the explosion, right? If one's enough to bust that bunker, two'll be enough to blow it skyhigh, right?" He let out a shrug, physically letting his MAS imitate the gesture. "Whatever. Fuck it, charge!" Wes cried, setting his thrusters to maximum and leaving the two in the dust. Disposal's GAW silently screamed as it rotated, spitting out lead towards the remaining Coalition forces as Wes charged. Three dumbfire missiles from the ERB were also fired, set to explode on proximity to the enemy.
"I think you need to clean the wax out of your ears, Shanks," Gerard said as he fiddled with his controls, tossing the alloy knife aside, "good Capitaine Marquis requested that we hold onto a capital charge for an incoming cruiser that was coming to flank us." Assessing his damage reports, he licked his lips. He could really go for a drink right now, "You would not want to disappoint the capitaine, non?" he said half-jokingly. Shanks had had bad run ins with the captain...very bad run-ins.
"Just shut up and cha-" Wes cried as he was suddenly interupted by a blur of white as Eagle flew into combat, a hell of a lot faster than his own Disposal.
Almost instantly, the Eagle recklessly soared past Brick and his Disposal, the light MAS an undoubtedly a faster machine. The incoming Coalition were brutally intercepted as Alice slammed her Scorpion’s bayonette into the closest MAS and fired point blank into the cockpit, blasting a hole right through it. She continued using the wreckage as a shield while ignoring that the Ferir’s sustained fire had already broken through her shields and was starting to damage her. After taking down the first one, they had already managed to disable one of her missile launchers, but that wasn’t stopping her.
The three missiles ERB missiles soon arrived after Eagle's charge, impacting with the enemy. One of them was a complete miss, the other only glanced one of the six, now five enemy MAS. The last missile, while danger close to Alice, was a direct hit, slamming into the body of the lone Mk. III Ferir. Its shields flickered after taking the brunt of the explosion. "Heel, Alice! We need to take out that squad leader!"
The last to charge headlong into combat, Gerard scratched his head. "At least finalise the plan..." he muttered to himself in the cockpit as he readjusted his posture. At a more leisurely place he sped after Disposal and Eagle, weaving through the proliferation of macroshells, missiles and bullets. Watching Alice viciously tear into one of the Ferirs, Gerard swore under his breath. He didn't know what the hell those engineers programmed into her but they had to tone it down.This sort of brutality was not worthy of a human...then again, she was an AI. "For once Brick is right, madamoiselle," he said as he fired a few shotgun rounds towards the enemy, "you need to ease up on the aggression." He was ignored. "Merde..." he muttered as Alice's MAS continued to rack up damage. Slowly raising his damaged left arm, he aimed his grapple and fired. At the Eagle. With a hiss and a bang, he attached the electromagnet to her and dragged her down out of the path of fire, barely saving her from an incoming barrage. "Keep your head about you, Alice," he said into comms as h"Wes, got anything to cause a distraction apart from the trash in your cockpit?"e detatched the magnet before speeding off.
"Ah..." Wes said over the comms as he looked around, his GAW now firing on the Mk. III. The shields on it were nearing the breaking point. "Oh, shit! I've got a winning cup ramen! Ten thousand credi-" A Havoc missile suddenly impacted with Wes' shields, shaking his craft but not breaking through. "I don't think they'll fall for it," he said as he surged his MAS forwards, facing the Ferir head on. Its energy saber suddenly flicked to life as it was brought out.
"That will do nicely," Gerard replied as he interposed his axe between the Ferir and Disposal, blocking the energy saber's downward progress. Planting a foot into the MAS's chasiss, he surged forwards. "Come on you little merde, let us dance."
Alice growled as she was reigned back from the battle and tried in vain to pull herself free from Gerard’s magnet. Her flanging, distorted growl echoed “Don’t treat me like a dog!”. As soon as she was freed, she blasted off back into the fray. But Wes was correct, the Mk. III had become a priority. After obliterating another Ferir into scrap, she flitted back to the squad leader. Their shields were down, giving Alice the perfect opportunity for a barrage of kinetic-plasma rounds, fronted by a missile from her one functional launcher, before darting back to the tw remaining Ferirs for their termination.
The two fighters flitted back and forth as they exchanged blows in a shower of sparks. Plasma edges clashed and scraped as Gerard met each swing of the saber with either the reinforced shaft of his axe or the glowing head. Both were receiving the occassional scrape as they dueled, as was inevitable though the majority of the damage was deflected by the shields. The Ferir was missing a few panels in its right flank, revealing internal framing and circuitry while Gerard was sporting several large gashes in his chassis. Catching the blade of the saber on the top of his axe, Gerard swing inwards with his right arm, sending the shaft into the side of the cockpit and staggering the enemy MAS's pilot through its shield. Following through with the blow, Gerard reversed the swing and smashed straight through the shield in a shower of sparks and scored a direct hit across the hull. "You were a worthy opponent," he said respectfully as he raised his axe high. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a white figure. His eyes widened. In a burst of fire, the Ferir III shuddered as plasma rounds slammed through its back, expending themselves against his own shield. Mere seconds later a missile impaced on its rear and detonated its core, sending debris and powerful force smashing into the Frenchman who struggled with his controls as he rolled through space. "Alice! Watch your fire!" he shouted through public comms as he righted himself, his own head still spinning. Giving a cursory glance to his stats, he saw that his shield was now dangerously low and shards of debris dotted his Marauder's surface. He made it a point to question Alice later about her reckless behaviour. He had never had to work in concert with her much before but this was just reckless...not to mention unnecessarily cruel and merciless.
Wes on the other hand had his hands full of steel as one of the other MAS moved into melee with him. He had been caught off guard by Gerard's duel stealing habits, and in the mean time had the front of his GAW sliced off by an alloy knife. The weapon could still fire, yeah, but he didn't want to risk his right arm blowing the fuck up. Pneumatic air spewed into space as he triggered the detachment program, the clamps and hoses that normally encased his arm now flew away, and he barely even caught the GAW itself.
"This is Brick, main weapon disabled, still functional," Wes called to his team as he sidestepped a two handed stab by the Ferir. His right fist smashed into the MAS' face, crunching through alloys and components but only dealing minor damage. Another right jab, this time punting in its chest. The alloy knife slashed back in response, but Wes blocked it with his forearm, the shield taking the impact. His left arm grabbed ahold of the other MAS' arm. Wes firmly planted his legs on the enemy MAS' chest and began to pull. It would've been a lot cooler had they been on the ground. Without sound, it was only just a visual thing. Either way, the Ferir's fist pounded on Disposal's body, but he refused to give until finally the entire thing ripped off. Wes then beat the Ferir over the head with its own arm.
As she raced to the last two Ferirs, she took a moment to look back at her team mates. Gerard’s shields were diminished and his machine was dotted with shrapnel, clearly damaged from the destruction of the Mk. III. Her anger began to subside and she took a few moments to think. Her recklessness had not only brought damage to her own MAS, but had brought harm to her friend. Her anger was replaced with embarrassment, and she turned around, carefully going back to Gerard. The movements of her machine had become deliberate again. As if a light suddenly returned to her personality, along with her characteristic flange, she gently asked, perhaps with a hint of hesitation
“Are you alright, Mr. Delacroix?”
"Oh, no 'are you alright' for Wes, eh?" Wes called as he went after the last two enemy MAS, expending two of his air to air missiles while engaging in close combat with the other one. Almost immediately Wes let out a grunt as the Ferir's alloy knife broke through his shield, cutting deep into the guts of Disposal. Warning signals flared, but he ignored them as he slammed his fist in kind.
"A little bit banged up, but I still live," Gerard replied as he started to go over his diagnostics. His right arm was essentially gone by now, several shards of shrapnel having pierced the carapace at close range and overall power supply was down along with the shield. "You must learn to control yourself, Alice, or you will really get yourself hurt," he said to her through a private comm. As Wes's dialogue played through his cockpit, he couldn't help but raise his lips in a tight smile. "You have so many scars on that body of yours that I'm sure a few more won't matter."
Alice began flying towards the last Ferir. She wasted no time in slamming her fist into it’s head, shooting her wrist shotgun into it’s eyes. With it’s optics disabled, she grabbed it’s arms, crushing them under the Eagle’s fingers, and pulled it closer to her. Pressing the barrel of her working missile launcher against it’s cockpit, she fired her last shot, and the machine was quickly destroyed in a flash of bright light. With the last Ferir destroyed, she raced back with Gerard and Wes to the Coalition cruiser.
A huff was heard over the comms as Wes drove the fist straight into the midsection of the Ferir he was engaging. Clenching said fist, he pulled back, bringing a plethora of important bits and wires that obviously meant major damage. The Ferir began jerking rapidly, servos struggling to maintain order before Wes put an end to it, headbutting the Ferir and destroying its optics. [/color][color=662d91]"I suppose that doesn't matter. Another purple heart will just mean a bump in paycheck! Plus, I get to lounge around in medical while you all work."
“My apologies Mr. Delacroix…”, Alice asked before turning to Shanks. While her current body still lacked a mouth, she needed not a smile as she reloaded her weapons.
“Yes, Mr. Shanks. Let yourself be War’s canvas, that she may paint the horror and beauty of her destruction!”
"Please, knowing Capitaine Marqis and Trapp, you'd be back on your arse in a day," Gerard shot back as he started forwards, "Now lets cut our way to the reactor, shall we? Alice, I'll leave the last one to you." With that, Gerard sped towards the cruiser, staying just below the firing arc of its turrets. Taking adeep breath, he started to swing his axe into the hull, leaving glowing red streaks along it and creating deep gouges. Creating a large red X in its first armor plating, he stood aside. "Wes, if you please?"
"Ah, the marvels of modern medicine," Wes contemplated aloud over his comms, following right behind Gerard. Standing on the deck in a low hunchover, Wes put both of his fists together, raising them over his head as the pistons worked their asses, pressure building before bringing them back down with a crash, smashing through the plating with a resounding crash of vibrations through the hull.
It was then Wes remembered the concept of depressurization. The oxygen inside the cruiser had to go someplace, and it went there fast. Wes' Disposal rocked upwards as the four pieces went flying, crumpled and bent from the destructive force of Wes' fists. Disposal spun in a circle for a few moments while Wes gagged, feeling sick as retro thrusters fixed his path. "Huh. I forgot that was a thing. Physics and shit," Wes said as he remembered back to those science classes he spent dozing off.
Giggling softly at her own hamminess, Alice began flying towards the last Ferir. She wasted no time in slamming her fist into it’s head, shooting her wrist shotgun into it’s eyes. With it’s optics disabled, she grabbed it’s arms, crushing them under the Eagle’s fingers, and pulled it closer to her. Pressing the barrel of her working missile launcher against it’s cockpit, she fired her last shot, and the machine was quickly destroyed in a flash of bright light. With the last Ferir destroyed, she raced back with Gerard and Wes to the Coalition cruiser.
Alice watched patiently as the two began chopping and slamming their way through the hull, until a rush of pressurized air was expelled from the opening. It sent Wes spinning towards her, and according to her calculations concerning his speed and spin, she would have collided with the charge had she not moved out of the way in time. Then their mission, as well as their lives, would have been cut short.
“Be careful, Mr. Shanks. The target is the cruiser, not me. Besides, learning is fun!”
"It probably would be fun if his brain were not the size of those flavour sachets of the ramen he is so fond of," Gerard ribbed as he climbed into the new opening, entering a world as dark as the space outside. Opening his searchlight, Gerard started in towards the secondary hull beyond the bulkhead. "If I remember correctly...the reactor should be somewhere towards the rear of the ship..." he muttered to himself as he felt along the thick metal plating of the inner hull. Scraping his fingers across the hull, Gerard nodded inside his cockpit before reeling his remaining working arm back and slamming the axe hard into the wall, leaving a large dent and a glowing, cherry red mark from the plasma head. "You have your target, Wes, have at it," he said into comms.
"Gimme a moment, pneumatic pressure has to build back up. I've been throwing punches like crazy lately," Wes said as he followed suit, raising one arm to punch as the system built back up. After a few seconds, the fist cracked like a gun, slamming straight into the weakened section. This time Wes was ready for the influx of pressure, already having magnetized the bottom of his MAS to the ground. Along with the metal plates flying away came the fresh bodies of technicians who had been working on the hull. Those who had no suits quickly died in the vacuum, while those who did scrambled to not get sucked out. Wes whistled. "Poor bastards. Almost feel sorry for them."
Gerard could only bite his tongue and grit his teeth as he watched so many lives get snuffed out in an instant. "...lets go..." he said as he entered into the interior of the ship. The process repeated itself four more times as they smashed straight through in the most direct way. Finally, after meetin very little resistance in the form of ultra-light MASs which they easily dispatched, they found the reactor. A glowing, blue mass of plasmasised promethium and iridium, Gerard grabbed the anti-capital charge off of Wes' back, elicitating a whine from him. "I assume I would be better at using this, Shanks." he said in response. With a deft hand, he attached it to the reactor and started the procee sof booting it up. Pulling the handle up and twising it before depressing it again, numbers popped up on a small screen. Rotating the handle again, he set the timer and strongly yanked the handle off, priming it for detonation. "Let us leave," Gerard said as he crushed the handle and threw it aside, "we have two minutes."
"Y'think command would give us something extra if we stole some of their tech? We could probably just take their reactor with us." Wes grinned as he imagined the look on the Captain's face if they showed up with an entire reactor.
"Well, Mr. Shanks, our charge is currently placed on the reactor. I would hope you would mean to take the reactor back without the anti-capital charge, or else we would be doing the Coalition a service. That, and we have less than two minutes to replace the charge, and remove the reactor."
"Case in point. Let's get the hell out, then," Wes said before keying in command. "Yo. We planted the bomb, Captain. It'll blow in two minu- no wait, one minute, fourty-five seconds. We're returning back to base."
"Not to mention," Gerard said as he indicated the crushed handle, "I have already initiated the failsafe. Now let us leave."
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