"Oh."

One word made its way out of the Neko pilot's mouth as she felt the shock of the leg being run through by Aether.

"Oh dear."

She quickly refocused her aim to the Crooked Demons, remembering that they were much more of a threat than the Dark Demons, offensively. Her momentary lapse in mental tactics completed itself, just as she realized this, and she began taking whatever shots she could, as quickly as she could, and as accurately. While dodging, of course.

"Mark, focus your aim on the CDs! If you're out of ammo, then at least turn the Feathers into shields or rams! We won't last much longer if. . . Nevermind that, just do it!" Taela told her partner decisively, exhaling before taking another shot. Opening up the communications with the bridge, she barked, "We are getting battered out here! Is the ship completely out of offensive power from that last battle? And what do these people even want?!"

Mark made no reply to Taela. Truly, he'd already started turning the feathers on the Crooked Demons as soon as he realized their mistake. Nonetheless, he was feeling very stupid at the moment. There must be something to it, something too the way they were acting. His thoughts turned to investigative journalism, and the times he'd been attacked. Why would someone attack with no provocation? What must they have hidden up their sleeve?

"Maybe we found something we weren't supposed to see." Mark offered, sweat sliding down his head and gathering at his collar, "And maybe they think we actually know what it is."

Asynch threw her spent enemy away, Yoshiko's frame's own trajectory shifting from the reaction, entire panels of armor from the Asura drifting away on their own course alongside shrapnel and semi-molten amoebas from the Crooked Demon. "I- I don't like this anymore," the Freespacer whimpered to herself, pulling away from any combatants and engaging targets opportunistically rather than in her normal aggressive fashion. Weapons fire opened up from the frame's various emplacements sporadically now, sparing ammunition where it counted, and letting off longer bursts where the weapons drew power directly from the mecha's powerplant.

Warning! You are out of Ammo - Again
Suggestion: Use Energy Weapons
Observation: Is this going to be a habit, Lucien?

"Shut up!" Lucien scolded the AI for its observation on the Scotsman's reckless use of ammunition. In his mind, ammunition was made to be spent rather than go unstable with time.

Either way, the AI was right. He did have energy weapons. Well, he had an energy weapon, which when compared to what he was firing before could be categorised as 'piss-weak'. Gamma Ray vulcans and Ultraviolet Pulses only going to keep the Scotsman alive as long as he had power, and his power allocated to his weapons was starting to drain.

"Shinji, wot do we do now?!" He asked his de-facto leader.

"I guess this is it." He muttered. If the Atuan went down, they were all going to be stranded and at the mercy of the enemy forces in orbit. Kelly sat with the others of the OriSec Away Team, mutely watching the volumetric footage of the ensuing battle, wincing as the Pink frame was pummeled. The Nepleslian reminded himself that it wasn't Yoshiko in there. It was @synch. No. That didn't make it any better. The thought made him feel even worse than before, causing Kelly to spiral deeper down into despair. The screeching creek of metal being torn back jostled Kelly out of his dark pit though; Yuno had finally managed to open the scorched lockbox, and extract it's contents. Kelly pried his eyes away from the battle, and turned them to the Neko.

"Well, it's not going to solve all our problems, but if you really want to, this'll make it feel like nothing's wrong in the world." Yuno's strong voice spoke, softening. In her arms was a single bottle of Lorath wine, cradled in a rich red velvet cloth like a newborn child. At this Kelly started, surprised.

"Is that?"

"Yes. I still remember you filching this. Never felt the right time to open it came around, well, until now that is." Yuno went on, a wry smile on her face. "What do you boys say?"

Soon enough, the group sat in relative silence, gently sipping at the wine as the scene flickered and flashed. The loosing battle went on, but they were happy, if only for the moment.

*****

The internal camera's feed was a little grainy, but otherwise watchable. It's lens focused on a single Impulse clad figure as she fought off the boarders before finally succumbing. A young Yamataian girl dragged herself out of the wreaked armor as blood wept from an eye. As the slim, figure barely managed to get onto it's two feet, another menacing Demon rounded the corner and shoved through the bodies.

It's laughter echoed through the hallway as Yoshiko cowered.

There was a slight flicker in space, followed by the pulse and glitter of beam weaponry that smashed against the Yui's shields. In the moment later when space normalized, the image of a large cruiser of verdigris glass and matte brass seemed to materialize as if the light it released was suddenly released. The vessel strode forward, beam turrets pulsing and repeatedly smashing the smaller vessel until the pirate craft's hull ensconced in a crackling corona of blue and white.

With the Yui's attention firmly in hand, the still unannounced vessel pressed the attack, began to scramble vehicles to intervene on the continuing battle. Dozens of frames and powered armor poured out of the vessel, gliding through space towards the embattled Atuan. Light danced across their ornate shapes as they launched swarms of attack drones and scattered beam fire over the attacking Crooked Demon formations.

"OIF Atuan, this is the Seigan Solutions mercenary vessel ISC Keren. Corporate has hired us to provide support during this operation."

The voice was that of an older man, strangely accented, but stern and thoroughly professional. "We will be intervening now."

Taela was silent for a few moments and was likewise immobile as the mercenaries materialized. She watched as they began their assault on the Yui's and Demon Armors' forces, not even firing anymore. It was, to say the least, nothing short of a miracle for the Neko, and a sigh let out afterwards encompassed this feeling of relief. Opening up communications again, she asked, "Bridge, are we allowed to return to the Atuan? We've got a gaping hole in our leg."

"Wait a minute, Kitty." Mark interjected just as Taela finished her request, "Why don't we get behind them and let them draw the fire while I ramp up the CECS and try to reacquire Captain Cornrow's Signal? We lost comms with them when this whole mess hit the fan. I bet I can bring 'em back, though."

Lucien blinked as he watched the source of his most immediate problems go down in a blazing ball of explosions, ripping the crooked demons to shreds before him.

He blinked for a moment at the ISC Keren and scratched his head as he radioed a reply to the ship, "Fock me mate, yer more than welcome to intervene!" He then scratched his chin, "Remind me t' buy ya a round if we survive this!"

He then radioed the Atuan, "Oi, 'ooever's alive. Now that th' cavalry 'as shown up, shall I head back to roost fer a few, or do ya want me t' continue fightin' the fightey fight?"

Vici finished grinding enemz demon against the hull of the Atuan. She then saw welcomed help. "Meine freunde, don'T toss you rifles away yet. Ich kann nicht if you noticed but we had boarders!" she said over comm. "I am heading to hangar, prepare some big gun for me there, I am already in Impulsu armour." She said into communication. She was ussualy good in listening orders but she had none at this time.

She still had enough ammo in he mecha but she want it to be ready for any emergency. Like third Yui showing up. ISC Keren will hande itself and VIci is more needed inside. She did not know about other but she was trainged infantrywoman and could help a lot.