Exhack
Inactive Member
ON, Fort Jarizas, Mazerin
Hangar B1
Yetsava 15, 935
18:11, Commonwealth Standard Time
"Attention Bahram Wing, you have been cleared for launch. Bay doors opening." The lightly synthesized voice of the Fort's FIOMNI unit said over the PA and communication systems of Bahram Wing's frames.
There was a sudden burst icy air as bay doors slowly slid open, exposing to them the bright cloudless, exterior of icy Mazerin, a desert of ice, snow and frosted crags worn down by great glaciers. There was no fancy takeoff strip, just a heated pad made of black Agridinn, designed to give a solid, uniform surface for the VANDR to propel themselves off of, and the snow-covered structures of the base forming an open-air enclosure around the launch area.
----
Malik would've opened his eyes, had he control of his own body. Instead, he was one with Shamshir, his giant bio-mechanical warmachine. This is it, Shamshir. It's time to launch! Mal and Shamshir, as one being, awaited permission to launch.
Zus Disengaged Parolovi from the racks, and began floating away from them, towards the opening. She was careful, as she had overheard a couple of hotheaded wingmates talking about a race, and did not feel like getting hit, or worse, becoming part of the race. She figured the slow and steady approach was the best one here. and besides, if they somehow saw combat, more fuel meant more time to fight.
Serhan's unit was already at the doors, and awaited at the pad long enough for Malik and the others to see him launch. Gasses flowing through the path of compressed space provided propulsion, and without boosting or particularly putting much thought into hitting full force, his unit began a fairly paced climb to the allocated patrol altitude. "Remain between two thousand and six thousand meters. Civilian craft in the countryside stay bellow our threshold and transports stay above. Understood?"
Shokhi and Shaorin shifted slightly, the former resisting the urge to giggle inside his brain. There was a pleasant tingling in his bones, one like he had never felt. Anticipation, indeed, was the greatest of all sensations. He stayed to the back, though. Shokhi was not a flashy creature, and like Zus he had no intention of being caught up in a race. Not while he was on duty, at least. Off-duty, there was plenty of time for racing... "Easy, Shaorin." As Serhan launched, Shokhi waited for the rest of the wing to launch before him, though the desire to burst out the gates like a raging bull was certainly strong...
As Serhan transmitted the details on the zone of operation, Jarita kicked it into high gear and blew out of the hanger, simultaneous charging her MASC drive for a jump. If anyone was going chase her, they were going to be in for a surprise as the VANDR blinked out into compressed space and suddenly reappeared a good distance ahead of the pack, charging for another jump. Reovan laughed with wild abandon as her organoid unit breaking speeds like nothing else could, the warmth of the prajna protecting her from the fierce weather and freezing temperatures outside.
Shamshir moved to the heated launch pad, final system checks finishing. "Understood, Marranr." Before he could reach the pad though, Reovan made a reckless jump, directly infront of him. "MEHTA! Don't Do that Again, dammit!" The Vayshirin mumbled under his breath, as the VANDR began to rise. "Shamshir, Malik Ibn Rashidan. Launching."
Malik increased his boosting speed, quickly falling in line behind Serhan and clearing the launch column. "Shamshir, We can't let our teamates get themselves killed, now can we?"
"Right!"
'Ismat's unit disengaged from the rack and headed towards the door. She made sure to steer cleer of the racing/showing off newbies, giggling quietly to herself at the joys of being a new soldier. Her VANDR casually floated outside before it instantly sped upwards, following after the others. The VIA Operative grunted a bit at the sudden increase in G's against her body. "Let's go!" she exclaimed to her VANDR.
Before too long, Zus was outside, the showboats having cleared the pad. She herself now launched, headed to the altitude specified by Serhan. She filed in Behind Malik, Figuring the slower-witted man would make a good meat-shield if push came to shove.
Zalus piloted Nara towards the hangar doors behind 'Ismat and smiled as Reovan rushed by. He sent a message to Shokhi "That girl is going to cause us all trouble... She won't cause the eyes any trouble."
"What's wrong, Ibn Rashidan?" Reovan's voice came over the comm as Jarita stopped in midair and the organoid frame turned to face the rest of the wing. "Too fast for you?" She laughed again and engaged her boosters to fall in with the rest of the group as it approached. The girl in the control pod was disappointed that Zalus hadn't raced with her this time. Opening a channel to Nara, she decided to ask him, "Something wrong? I expected you at least to race me out of there."
Shokhi launched quite steadily after Zalus and Nara, maintaining a distance of several meters behind him. Shokhi had no issues at all with bringing up the rear of the procession. He found himself laughing a little as he received Zalus message, and promptly replied: "Trouble can be good." It was, perhaps, the most forward thing he had said to anyone in the Wing yet. "I always used to go looking for it."
Mal couldn't help but crack a small smile at his wingmate's antics, as he opened a channel to Serhan. "Marranr, can we talk?"
Savitar laughed and shot off after Reovan, executing a MASC jump the instant he exited the hangar. "Oh no you don't!" he laughed over the com and blinked out, slingshooting forward to catch up with her. The cold didn't bother him at all as he was safely ensconced in the cockpit. Savi didn't wait for her, when he came out of it right close to her, he was already powering up for another one. "Heh. Think you can get away that easy." He taunted to her.
"Tighten our formation, Bahram Wing." Serhan sighed inwardly, as he was unable to move his mouth and did not feel like revealing any kind of exasperation to his wing. He had to admit, it felt good to be flying again, but this sort of thing was frankly quite annoying. "Keep it short." He answered Malik.
"Understood Lead." Shamshir quickly closed in, tightening his part of the formation atleast. A private line opened between him and the wing commander, a way for Mal to vent. "Marranr, I'm honestly worried. I fear for my wingmates, but I know that I have to protect them as family. Have any words of wisdom, tempered by your experience as a pilot and as a father?"
"Man you're such a buzzkill...." Savitar complained mildly over the comm to Serhan and waited where he was for them to catch up, keeping his sensors on his surroundings to avoid any nasty surprises. When they caught up with him, he used his boosters and got back into formation with the rest of them, going other their VANDR heads in a smoothy backward somersault motion and fell into line easily. "Tch.." he sighed and communicated over to Reovan. "Next time, we do it right." He said, chuckling at at the double entente.
"Yes Sir!" 'Ismat did as she was instructed, pulling in closer to Serhan. She stayed viligant, making sure that she wasn't about to run into the show offs.
It was an odd manner to phrase a very typical question. Serhan's white VANDR seemed to perk its head to the side, before he replied. "There is a cold weather outfit in your left hand storage compartment, in case you have to eject."
Mal sighed over the comms. "Sir, that's not what I meant!"
Zus simply kept in line with Malik, Ignoring him bothering the commander. She kept her mind on her flying and her sensor readings, making certain that nothing was around. If she could have, she would have rolled her eyes at Reovan and Savitar. The two were practically children.
Mal tensed up. "Sir, I want to know. What were you like when you started off as a runner?"
"At any rate, the analogy I made to a hiking trip will have to be redacted. Because as long as I keep that concept in mind, at least two of you will leave the formation to romp senselessly." Serhan said, feeling a little less annoyed by the improvement in the wing's formation. "Welcome to the Ghoroun Province of Northern Mazerin. They call this place the 'Howling Plains' because the rocky outcroppings are shaped in such a manner as to produce nightmarish howling during the nightime winds. Our mandate is simple.
Verify each navigation point, investigate distress beacons and provide escort to any vehicles that are lost and unable to navigate this region."
"Nightmarish howling..." Savitar said. "Dude I've so got to hear that." He quipped and brought up a location map for the Plains to see just how large it was and any key geographic features.
"Well, at least now I see what sort of boys we're flying with," Reovan communicated back to the only Iromakuanhe man enough to give her a race. She laughed again as Jarita barrel rolled and flew closer to the other organoid units, glad that she was only looking at the frozen environment outside and not actually out in that nightmare.
Mal couldnt help but smile. He smiled, thinking about the chances of this coincidence, and he finally understood atleast part of serhan. "Marranr Nejer, I apologize for disrupting you. I will be closing this private line now."
"Yeah but what can you do? They're all too busy thinking about following buzzkill's directions to think for themselves." Savitar sighed over the private line to Reovan. "We need to come out here one night ot hear that howling."
Shokhi mused slightly. The idea of being lost and unable to navigate... while on a planet... seemed astounding to him. Did people honestly get lost here? He prompted Shaorin for a map of the Ghoroun Province, smiling inwardly. Simple enough objectives, really, but everything was simple until something came along to complicate it.
Zalus shivered slightly which translated through the VANDR. "I would hate to get stuck on this rock without a heater. Lets hope we have nothing to do out there. Poor saps we might find." Zalus Kept in close formation as he was ordered to and followed the squadron.
"You'll have to go alone, then," the Sund Wakir girl replied. "I'Timad himself could awake and arrive at my door and even he could not convince me to go out in that wasteland." Even the thought of being out there sent a chill through Reovan's bones.
Listening in on his wingmate's conversations, Mal let a chuckle out from his lips. "It's not the cold we should be afraid of, but the creatures that thrive in it. Something would have to be amazingly hardy to live out here."
"I would assume that's why we patrol in VANDR" Zus interjected "If anything DOES come out, we can take it. I look forward to a good fight, so long as we can win" she said, making sure to keep formation.
Savitar rolled his eyes at the mention of I'Timad and sighed some, but blinked wondering how the FUCK Malik hacked into their private line. "Well then I'll have to make her a fur coat of whatever's out here then, now won't I?" he cackled, confident in himself 150%. He changed the frequency to be encrypted to Reovan alone. "Talk about rude. Oh well, I don't blame you; but it sounds like a challenge."
"Proceeding to Navpoint Dom. Keep communications to a minimum." Serhan announced to the wing, as his unit accelerated forward to the front of the formation.
With an inward roll of his eyes, Shokhi accelerated forward in tandem with Serhan, maintaining a distance of several meters. Everyone was so chatty. Shokhi would dearly have liked to manage some interaction during his time off, but on duty he wasn't sure how appropriate the mish-mash of crossing communications really was. At least they were nearing their first objective now...
Reovan was about to reply once more to Savitar, but Serhan's order made her reconsider. At least the chatting had given her something to do rather than focus on the white nothing that the aerudirn and prajna were keeping at bay. Truely, if anything, Mu'Kamal's planet was what her nightmares were made of.
A wide, shit-eating grin went across Mal's face. Oh yes, this would be fun. "Shamshir! Keep up with Serhan! Begin weapons checks!" Almost immediately, the VANDR sped up, keeping behind the lead unit, Left arm CIVWS turning into a clawed manipulator with the field of charged particles around it, the right into the standard long sword form, both shockbites beginning to charge, and the PASD's unlocked; Shamshir notified him.
Savitar sighed some as he cut the communications lines off to fall silent and concentrated on what was going on around him cautiously. He'd begin to charge his shockbites. Since he could take that energy and turn it into whatever he needed instead of overcharging like Malik was doing. "Whatta dumbass." Savitar sighed at Malik and hung back, more prepared to provide cover fire if need be. Not his favorite but someone had to.
Serhan remotely powered down Malik and Savitar's weapons systems, and set them to unlock only at his discretion. While he might forgive them being overly eager, he wasn't going to let them parade over civilian airspace with anti-frame weapons powered up and ready to fire on the smallest radar ping. Small mistakes are fixed while they are small. He pondered to himself silently, as they began moving towards their first destination.
----
18:42, Commonwealth Standard Time
>> Reading multiple distress beacons... AFS reaction detected...
>> Matching thermal pattern... inconclusive...
"Bahram, we have distress beacons transmitting in the 'black frame attack' configuration." Serhan said over their communications, consciously unlocking Malik and Savitar's weapons. He could only pray from the bottom of his iced soul, they wouldn't use them on the wrong targets. "Our Priorities have changed. Protect the people on the ground and engage the enemy."
"If there is any enemy Serhan." Savitar said. "For all we know they could be caught in an avalanche or some other natural occurrence." Savitar said mundanely and chuckled. " But I'm ready to go." he cackled.
"Understood! Savitar, Reovan, Zus, Let's Go!" Mal immediately MASC jumped, heading towards the distress beacons. He would prove himself today, and he would make sure everyone came back alive!
Zus would have rolled her eyes, if she could. "Idiot" she muttered at Malik, following at a bit slower pace, charging her weapons and preparing herself to cover the idiot. "I'm covering Malik, Sir" she noted to Serhan, hoping the young pilot didn't end up getting them both hurt.
"Black. Frame. Attack. They were attacked by-" Serhan sweatdropped, suddenly feeling his sympathies for Malik deadened by the man's idiocy. Being eager was forgivable, but anything that foolhardy would earn him more than a reprimand or two. "Yes. Follow him."
Zalus readied his forarms as long swords and moved in towards the signature. " 'Ismat Come with me as we flank right to provide support incase things get nasty."
Savitar groaned in his throat at Maliks' over-zealous reaction to leap without looking. Then again, Savitar did that too but not in combat situations. "He's going to get himself hurt, or hurt the people in distress." He said without realizing the comm was open still. "You said black frame Serhan... know anything about something like that?" he asked, reading his weapons systems ready to go again.
Shokhi was nothing short of shocked by the brazen, thoughtless approach Malik took. Their priorities were to protect the people on the ground and engage the enemy - Shokhi counted those priorities in the order they had been given. The people on the ground came first. With an emotion from Shaorin that seemed analogous to a deep breath, he MASC jumped towards the distress beacon, not sure how ready he was, and knowing full well that it didn't matter.
When did he become wing second? Reovan thought to herself as she observed the distress beacons pinging in the distance. Instinctively Jarita flew into a formation behind Nara. The maneuver was just natural for the pilot to do so with her training partner. "Let 'Ismat go as she will. I'll back you up, just like at El Bazr."
"Heh..." Savitar let out, his eyes bright with amusement. "Well I'm not going to let allof you have all the fun." He said and jumped as well but stopped short and kept a distance from the main group, reaching out with his sensors to find the enemy unit.
'Ismat sighed. "Such a hot head, jumping the gun like that. And... sure," she replied to Zalus. She moved in closer, reading to jump. Her CIVW on her hands started to form into katars, while her feet formed into swords. "Now then, shall we go before a certain someone get's themselves killed?"
"It's basic knowledge, that black frames are just slang for VANDR mimics. Cheap imitations using technologies from the previous era. " The gleaming blue spheres that comprised the eyes of Serhan's glossy white VANDR darted back and forth, scanning the area for the nature of the enemy. His unit remained at the back, determined to gather as much battle data as possible and provide support the moment one of the recruit's skills faltered and needed assistance. Cheap imitations. They shouldn't bee too much trouble for an eight-man wing, after all. He thought to himself, before transmitting again.
A group of ten units, white-clad rather insectoid semi-humanoid shapes that seemed to be much more than simple imitations of the Erla VANDR loomed over the wreckage of a civilian transport ship. They seemed to lack arms or legs, instead having large curved shoulders and a long, cylindrical, tail-like fuselage. The head was like a pointed oval, actually quite similar to the shape of the So-M1's forearm guards, but flat and bearing a single yellow monoeye lens that darted back and forth.
----
As Malik and Zus were the first on the scene, all of the units opened up their shoulders, pairs of thin arms with three-pronged vice grips folding out from under them. Purple beam lasers immediately fired out from the narrow openeings at the center of the vice-hands, aimed directly at the two runners. Immediately afterwards, three of the units fled at a furious pace, kicking up tightly packed snow and ice as they jetted away.
"Shit" Zus muttered, Opening fire on the closer enemy units while bringing up her barrier-guard. Once she had fired every beam she had, she MASC jumped out of the way, hoping Malik had sense enough to do the same.
Unfortunately for Zus, she would find that the reaction speed of her MASC jumps was slightly more sluggish compared to its performance in space, and she had taken a few hits before she had gotten her defenses up. Her usual tactic of spraying the enemy with laser fire was also noticeably less effective, each beam only inflicting minor damage. In the span of a few minutes, she had roughed up one of the frames and severed one of its cannon arms, but also missed and scoured the hull of the transport with stray beams.
----
Serhan picked up the sensors disturbances as the trio of units left, and decided this might be a good time to put his wing second to the test. They should allow bandits to flee, especially not in black frames of such an unusual configuration. "Farouk, Sitari, Ka'salm. Break off and engage the enemy."
----
Malik immediately MASC jumped again, reappearing behind and above the knockoffs, speeding downwards at breakneck speed, pulling up and skimming the rocky ground in a zigzag pattern to avoid enemy fire, aiming at the one in the center of the formation, and one next to it. He opened fire, two lances of charge particulate death, alternating every four seconds with his CELBS. Multiple LEMBS and Star Locusts shot out, forming his CIVWS into blades. "They'll have to do better than crappy knockoffs like that!"
Malik's alpha strike successfully annihilated the enemy, but the combination of the severe damage to his unit's torso from the enemy laser fire and his sudden massive heat buildup as he fired every weapon at his disposal resulted in a rather impressive emergency heat venting prompt to appear, and his unit was suddenly unable to use propulsion, or for that matter, shields. It could still walk and attack, but it would need at least a dozen seconds before he could even think of firing a weapon.
----
"So these are the imitations." Savitar chuckled to himself and took careful aim on them with his forearm mounted weapons. He waited for his sensors to give him a clear shot from wher he was and opened precise fire on a unit he had a bead on. Acting at the team's sniper, and also tried to pick off the fleeing unit to keep it from reporting back to where it was going.
Savitar's attack struck the unknown white unit in the shoulder, as it was fleeing too quickly for an easy headshot with a long charge weapon like the LCPA. It did however, lose that arm and seemed to be swerving a little mid-flight.
"Shiiit" Mal quickly dropped altitude, nose diving like a retarded duck into the snow to cool down, trying to get his VANDR behind a nearby rock while avoiding fire. "Damn, I was too reckless."
----
Reovan put her training to the test, using short MASC jumps to dodge out of the way while watching Nara's back. Jarita charged her LCPA canon to be used against any hard targets that came in range and her LEMBs for point defense targeting any incoming solid munitions the bogies fired at Zalus's frame.
Not being among those instructed to engage the enemy, Shokhi's priorities were quite clear - his sensors picked up the wrecked civilian transit ship. Though he kept a backwards eye on the status of his wingmates and the other black frames, Shokhi's primary attention was on the wreckage, and he increased his speed towards the downed ship, scanning for any indication of survivors. The others, he was sure, could deal with the black frames for now. He would intercede if it became necessary, but civilians warranted greater concern...
----
Savitar chuckled a bit, that swerving flight would probably cause it to crash somewhere; they could find it later. He'd monitor the battle and continued to take shots at the units, especially any that were coming up on an ally to attack without being noticed. "We can find that white unit later, the way it's damaged will cause it to slow down and probably crash somewhere on the rocks." He reported to Serhan.
"I told you you'd get in trouble Malik." Savitar said, his attention shifting to pick off the enemies trying to capitalize on Malik's downed status. "Try to get to safety, I'll cover you." He said.
----
"Yes, You Were" Zus Hissed, a bit peeved at the damage to her own unit. She decided that it was time to make something explode, and let loose a large volley of Missiles, hoping at least some would get through. She continued jumping, now timing her jumps more appropriately, adjusting to the lower speed.
---
Hissing inwardly, Shokhi shot an angry communication out. "Watch your damn fire around the noncombatants!" Zus' spray of laser fire searing about the wrecked ship brought a rise of emotion out of him. Disapproving emotion. He set down on the ground lightly by the transport, keeping a watch on the Black Frames. They seemed to have their hands full so he sent a channel to the transport. "This is Vayshirin Shokhi Miyorh of Bahram Wing. Does anyone read?" Confirm survivors. Help survivors. Then move on to shooting things, if it became necessary.
Seeing that she wasn't part of the group ordered to pursue the fleeing units and now too far to help with the rest of the enemies, Reovan turned Jarita's attention to the ground and the civilian transport. The Sund Wakir girl was a little put off for missing the action, but she reminded herself that helping the people was just as an important of a task. "Need a little help there?" she asked as she boosted over towards Shaorin, trying to make contact with the survivors.
----
For a few seconds, the frames had focused their attention entirely on Zus and Malik, but that would clearly not last for long. Shokhi's sudden appearance was enough to have one of the frames bolt and attack him with charged claw weapon, while the others were rather aware of the sensors particles being emitted by Serhan and Savitar.
"Looks like we've got incoming." Savitar said and tried to use his fire-control computer to attempt to lock-onto the incoming units if possible while continuing to provide measured cover fire. But was mentally ready to get down and dirty in melee if need be.
----
Luckily, Reovan was still prepared from her previous plan and let loose with her LCPA cannon and LEMB lasers. She laughed at the thought that Jarita and Shaorin looked like easy targets to these guys. "What fools," the desert-born girl commented to herself.
Her LCPA blast crashing into her target's fragile midsection, Reovan's attack vaporized a large portion of its upper mass, a significant amount of the attack penetrating the shields. The enemy unit was sent reeling, crashing backwards in front of the transport. Still, it would not give up, and raising an arm at the Sund Wakir runner's VANDR to shoot it still.
Detecting the bolting black frame, Shaorin abruptly boosted up - it was attacking him with a melee weapon, which gave him some time to try to put distance between him and his assailant. And time to aim and fire his LCPA at the oncoming frame. "Help is greatly appreciated. Thank you." Fortunate that Reovan had come when she did, Shokhi far preferred the idea of fighting with help. He remained on the alert for any sign of return communication from the transport, but shifted most of his focus to the oncoming black frames.
Shokhi's blast on the other hand, had cleanly and effiency deprived the enemy of its head and left arm, as it had gotten too close for shields to provide any kind of adequate defenses against the heavy assault of his weapon and had gotten caught up in his attack at just the wrong time.
----
As soon as he had the capacity too, Malik immediately made a short range MASC jump, jumping into melee range with the furthest still in combat black one. His CIVWS would now come into play, quick broad slashes from the long sword, and powerful thrusts from the enhanced claw.
Savitar's sniping had been decent, his latest attack blowing through the torso of a unit that had already lost its shields from Zus' missile bombardment. It abruptly detonated mid-air, as it had attempted to catch Paralovi as it exited jump but had been caught by surprise on its own.
Zus Harrumphed at the exploding enemy in front of her, finding the next target and locking on to it before unleashing a concentrated, targeted volley of both Lasers and Missiles, before once again jumping away.
Savitar grinned a bit and carefully took aim at the remaining enemies; still waiting for his NI to lock onto the enemy units to unleash his homing lasers to strike them without striking his allies as well.
----
"Herdtitan dung," Reovan swore as she engaged Jarita's MASC drive to dodge any blast it was planning to fire at her and shove a CIWS blade right through it's monoeye to finish it off. She had to be quick, too, so that it's shot wouldn't endanger any potential survivors.
Her assault was quick and deadly, but the enemy pilot had aimed early enough to get a preemptive shot. Exchanging blows, her unit's main communications crest had taken a grazing laser hit and she, in exchange, had put out the unit's head, disabling it.
Shokhi watched the black frame fall with an internal smirk, and then returned his attention to the transport. There was a bit of pride at his efficiency and success, but the civilians were more important. Still no response. It was worrying him. As Reovan seemed to have the other black frame thoroughly dealt with, he again attempted to hail the transport. "This is Vayshirin Shokhi Miyorh of Bahram Wing. Does anyone read? Please respond."
Now that the immediate threat to the transport was gone, Jarita returned to Shaorin's side. "Any response yet?" Reovan asked Shokhi as she looked out for any other enemies who might decide that the two Erla VANDR were a good target.
----
Malik's attack was surprisingly, blocked by the (oddly named) white-clad enemy unit's own melee weapons, and strangely, they began to glow in a bizarre dark purple light and gyrate rapidly while deflecting his attacks. His ANIOS would register light damage to his CIVWS, with a biomass loss of 7% in the weapon system and significant damages to the control nodes inside of it. The nature of the weapon it had attacked with was such that it could block a particle-coated blade with impunity and actually inflict damage to a melee-oriented strain of Aerudirn.
Savitar blinked as his sensor registered the strange reaction Malik's enemy produced and shifted his sights to try and line up a careful shot at the unit's shoulder or head. "Keep it right there Malik, just for a moment." he said and when he thought he had a shot: Savitar took it, firing a single shot toward Malik's enemy.
Seemingly unable to hit his enemy, Malik switched tactics, moving away from the white knockoff and firing off two Shockbite blasts at it. "I think this guy is an ace. He'll probably end up escaping after trouncing one of us soundly."
The frame seemed to realize it was being sniped, and without so much as aiming, fired a spray of rapid laser fire in Savitar's general direction while spinning to strike Malik's arms. Dodging between the runner and Bahram's sniper, he knocked the hotheaded runner's arms hard enough enough that he fired directly into the snow, causing a massive geyser-like jet of steam, dirt and hot water to rise up from the ground. Malik and the enemy were now inside of a cloud of dust and rapidly freezing fog, still more oddly-well aimed laser fire coming at the sniper for some reason.
Malik quickly MASC jumped away and upwards, to get a good overview of the battlefield. "Savitar, I think he has a spotter hidden somewhere around here. Let's give him a taste of his own medicine then." Mal smiled, linking his targeting computer to Sav's, acting as his spotted as he rushed back in, firing his CELBS for 10 seconds each
Savitar perked a brow and suddenly MASC jumped off to his left and strafed behind a nearby rock formation and blinked. "Very clever." he said and waited for a moment getting data on the trajectory the AI had shown from the incoming shots. "Maybe but if' he's good he can trace my shots back to me, it's that' easy." He said. "Pay attention you idiot." Savitar said, his AI working to set up possibilities. "Don't forget the objective people, grab that transport and carry it away from the battle zone if you can." he suggested.
Malik was, in a sense, right. There never was a spotter, but the one that he was attacking was still receiving sensors data from its comrade. The one-armed unit Savitar had crippled minutes ago, returning with a vengeful fist poised to strike his flank and thrusters going full throttle.
---
"None." Shokhi sounded unsettled by that fact. Attacking civilian transports was about as low as one could get, as far as he was concerned. "We should try to move the transport out of harm's way - it's already taken friendly fire once." He waited for a response from Reovan, though Shaorin glided to one end of the transport...
Jarita nodded and took up a position at the other end. "Whenever you're ready," Reovan said to her very purple teammate as her frame bent down to help carry the transport back to the base. "With your permission," she radioed to Serhan, trying to get clearance to leave the area of operation.
----
"Yes. Take them to the outpost at navpoint Enact, I'm detecting warm bodies inside of the transport, so you shouldn't have to worry about the occupants." Serhan replied, his white VANDR's hands taking on a crackled glow. He had been itching for something like this for days, and that there was a single combatant who was any good was enough. "I'll intervene. Personally."
----
Malik rushed back into Combat with the white Knockoff, using the arm CIVWS to atleast try to get a scratch on the mysterious ace. "You! How could you bandits attack innocents?" "Such acts are Evil, and I will not allow them!"
"Huh?" Savitar blinked as the sensor detected the incoming mass rushing his side. Reacting naturally, he put a foot up on the rock in front of him and pushed off, sailing backward in a somersault; very narrowly avoiding the attack. "Persistence. I like that." He said and landed nearby and used his forearm mounts to protude a long sword and attempted to stab the attacker through the side and slice it's frame open, hopefully getting the cockpit. "Shit that was close."
"FINALLY! I didn't think you Commonwealth dogs had tongues for anything but licking boots!" A very enthused and rather amused male voice called out from the unit's loudspeakers, bearing a distinctly Mazerinii accent. It immediately strafed to the right, attempting to evade his attack but still getting a scratch in the process. Cannon arms opened fire on the now-open VANDR, and struck his chest sensors and upper armor with enough force to send off a few warnings on Mal's HUD.
Zus' replied similarly, firing a spray of CEMB laser fire on her missile blasts to keep her at bay and countering with a shower of its own heavy laser fire. It still took a number of hits, but nothing quite serious enough to keep it from strafing and circling to follow her movements.
"Shamshir, I know I said I wouldnt let you take any damage, but I guess things arent going as planned. Just bear with me, atleast let me drive this bastard off!" Mal responded ny aiming a kick at the knockoff's head. "I won't let you get away from here! For Everyone one person on that transport who was injured, I'll pay you back ahundredfold!"
Zus was beginning to get frustrated. Nothing seemingly worked; she could fire lasers all she wanted but thery barely worked; she could launch volley after volley of missiles and they were intercepted. all so.. so.. FRUSTRATING! Finally, after getting annoyed by her enemies' circling, she simply MASC jumped right in front of the white frame's path, then charged at it, taking a 'hands on' approach and grappling with it, wrapping around in a bear hug and violently slashing and stabbing the back of the unit.
Savitar's attack was oddly enough, blocked by the enemy frame's grappling fist, which had reached out and taken his melee attack. The hold would not last, as already the hand had began to crack and smolder on the pressure of his attack, but the long fuselage like cylinder that had been replacing its legs was now retracted and bent upwards, at him. Charging a weapon system which seemed to be similar to those fired in the hands, but significantly larger and generating a more powerful distortion wave.
----
"Ready." Shaorin lifted the end of the transport and, after ensuring that Jarita also had a secure hold and was ready, he began towards the outpost at Enact. Shokhi was a little shaken, though fortunately it didn't show outwardly thanks to the VANDR. "You took fire. You are alright?" Talking did a little to ease his growing discomfort as the reality that he had probably just killed sank in.
Jarita's Frame Runner was more stable over the fact that she just took fire and probably killed the pilot of the white unit she had destroyed. The training she suffered at El Bazr made her detached from it all, as if she could just pretend it was only as real as that final test had been. "I'm fine. Thank Jafar it was only a scratch," Reovan responded to Shokhi's concern. "And hopefully he'll continue to protect our passengers."
----
"Hm nifty little toy." Savitar said released a burst of lasers from almost point blank range and lashed out with his other arm in a claw configuration and attempted to push the weapon system to aim off to the side of up in the air. "Seriously man what's your problem?" he said over the loud speaker, trying to reach the pilot in the enemy. If he couldn't change the thing's trajectory Savitar would have to and would engage the emergency ejection function.
Zus literally ripped both shoulders, and the accompanying arms, off the frame, causing it to experience terrible power surges from the combined input of her particle-enhanced blades and the raw shock to its power network. The unit might have been a challenge later on if it had time to recover, but as is, was basically hapless before the might of the vicious assault of the young woman's VANDR.
“Hah. Is this some kind of lame Cohronl fighting style?” Malik's kick was narrowly avoided, and the enemy pilot had proceeded to grapple and toss him into the upright wreckage of one of his comrades. Less than a second after, he boosted up to his unit, throwing a few extra strikes from his gyrating fists to the VANDR's head, until he had nearly broken the crest on the head off.
Despite being able to maintain a lethal firing arc, the weapon never fired. Rather, the unit had been irreparably damaged by what appeared to be a pair of claws, and its reactor had been forcibly removed and discarded a few dozen meters away from the outcropping. A white shadow seemed to linger long enough to scatter some sensors-disrupting charged particles around, but had vanished.
Now floating over the battlefield, the white and blue frame of Serhan Nejem charged both of its LCPAs and had already targetted every remaining unit in his view withing a 5 KM radius.
"I won't Let you!" Mal fired off his Star Locusts, salvoes of missiles shooting up and into the unknown frame. "Who the hell are you?"
Savitar broke away and looked up at Serhan. "Phew, thanks man." He said to Serhan and watched for a moment staying in the chaff particles. Deciding to use it for a boon, Savitar switched to long range mode again and locked onto the seeming-ace and fired his missiles in an arc to streak toward the unknown VANDR. Deciding that at the moment, that thing was the biggest threat to try and hammer it from behind and get in some solid damage.
"There, Have fun with THAT" Zus spat at the literally disarmed enemy, giving it a nice roundhouse kick with sharpened CIVW feet to finish it off and push the wreckage away. Seeing Malik in trouble, Zus fired all the help she could manage, Lasers and Missiles. She noticed savitar doing the same; this guy would be hard pressed to avoid everything.
The enemy pilot didn't need to avoid anything. His fists plunged into the rookie frame's head and shoulder, he merely rolled, allowing the Vanguard-issue VANDR to take the brunt of the beating for its bizarrely constructed mimicry. Malik's sensors would be on fire, as the areas of his back, legs and shoulders experienced severe damage, and his shields were depleted to almost nothing. His unit leaked blue vapors and energy conduits sparked, glowed and fizzled as his unit tried desperately to repair itself from the extreme damage it had just received.
----
"Shut off your unit and jettison your reactor, bandit." The voice of the wing commander came in over the two tangled VANDR, a blade pointed at the head of the one that had been named 'Soono' as he burst out of compressed space yet again. Serhan sighed inwardly. This was the sort of gaffe that might completely demoralized a unit, but it would serve as a good lesson later on. At the very least, his office, their briefing room and their living quarters hallway would be spotless, and he'd have an excuse to drag one or two of them into simulation to beat some sense into them.
----
Malik tried to move his VANDR still, despite the massive damage that he had just incurred. "Shamshir! Shamshir, Move! Dammit, MOVE!"
"Well isn't this the shit." Savitar sat back and whistled. "I have to take back my statements about Serhan being a buzzkill now. That was awesome." He said and watched what was going on for a moment. He wasn't demoralized in the least and was highly amused by this; he'd had fun today and that's all that mattered.
"Dammit!" Zus Roared, Parolovi having the sense to mute her comms to not bother anyone else. 'Why can't they just play fair? That was a detestable move!" she continued yelling, but it fell on no one's ears. Her own unit had taken some damage, yes, but she was more concerned that the asshole bandit had made her damage an Ally. Certainly, she had never liked Malik, and intended to use him as a meat shield in the first place, but being taken advantage of and being made to shoot a wingmate was unacceptable.
"Storhan, this conduct is unbecoming of a Runner during peacetime. An enemy has every right to be as resourceful as you are, and pouting won't do any good." Serhan chided her dispassionately, tapping the top of the enemy VANDR with the flat of his blade. He didn't have the time to deal with childish games, from his enemies, nor his allies. "Well? Eject it or I'll disarm and dismantle your unit, thoroughly."
The unit complied, ejecting its compact fission reactor and shutting down. Despite being a shoddy imitation of the M1's capabilities, the unit seemed rather well-made, without so much as single extra becquerel in ambient emissions when its core was exposed.
"A recovery team is already on its way, and this site is being monitored by satellites. We'll continue continue to the outpost at Enact for a quick repair and resupply once they've arrived."
PAUSE
Hangar B1
Yetsava 15, 935
18:11, Commonwealth Standard Time
"Attention Bahram Wing, you have been cleared for launch. Bay doors opening." The lightly synthesized voice of the Fort's FIOMNI unit said over the PA and communication systems of Bahram Wing's frames.
There was a sudden burst icy air as bay doors slowly slid open, exposing to them the bright cloudless, exterior of icy Mazerin, a desert of ice, snow and frosted crags worn down by great glaciers. There was no fancy takeoff strip, just a heated pad made of black Agridinn, designed to give a solid, uniform surface for the VANDR to propel themselves off of, and the snow-covered structures of the base forming an open-air enclosure around the launch area.
----
Malik would've opened his eyes, had he control of his own body. Instead, he was one with Shamshir, his giant bio-mechanical warmachine. This is it, Shamshir. It's time to launch! Mal and Shamshir, as one being, awaited permission to launch.
Zus Disengaged Parolovi from the racks, and began floating away from them, towards the opening. She was careful, as she had overheard a couple of hotheaded wingmates talking about a race, and did not feel like getting hit, or worse, becoming part of the race. She figured the slow and steady approach was the best one here. and besides, if they somehow saw combat, more fuel meant more time to fight.
Serhan's unit was already at the doors, and awaited at the pad long enough for Malik and the others to see him launch. Gasses flowing through the path of compressed space provided propulsion, and without boosting or particularly putting much thought into hitting full force, his unit began a fairly paced climb to the allocated patrol altitude. "Remain between two thousand and six thousand meters. Civilian craft in the countryside stay bellow our threshold and transports stay above. Understood?"
Shokhi and Shaorin shifted slightly, the former resisting the urge to giggle inside his brain. There was a pleasant tingling in his bones, one like he had never felt. Anticipation, indeed, was the greatest of all sensations. He stayed to the back, though. Shokhi was not a flashy creature, and like Zus he had no intention of being caught up in a race. Not while he was on duty, at least. Off-duty, there was plenty of time for racing... "Easy, Shaorin." As Serhan launched, Shokhi waited for the rest of the wing to launch before him, though the desire to burst out the gates like a raging bull was certainly strong...
As Serhan transmitted the details on the zone of operation, Jarita kicked it into high gear and blew out of the hanger, simultaneous charging her MASC drive for a jump. If anyone was going chase her, they were going to be in for a surprise as the VANDR blinked out into compressed space and suddenly reappeared a good distance ahead of the pack, charging for another jump. Reovan laughed with wild abandon as her organoid unit breaking speeds like nothing else could, the warmth of the prajna protecting her from the fierce weather and freezing temperatures outside.
Shamshir moved to the heated launch pad, final system checks finishing. "Understood, Marranr." Before he could reach the pad though, Reovan made a reckless jump, directly infront of him. "MEHTA! Don't Do that Again, dammit!" The Vayshirin mumbled under his breath, as the VANDR began to rise. "Shamshir, Malik Ibn Rashidan. Launching."
Malik increased his boosting speed, quickly falling in line behind Serhan and clearing the launch column. "Shamshir, We can't let our teamates get themselves killed, now can we?"
"Right!"
'Ismat's unit disengaged from the rack and headed towards the door. She made sure to steer cleer of the racing/showing off newbies, giggling quietly to herself at the joys of being a new soldier. Her VANDR casually floated outside before it instantly sped upwards, following after the others. The VIA Operative grunted a bit at the sudden increase in G's against her body. "Let's go!" she exclaimed to her VANDR.
Before too long, Zus was outside, the showboats having cleared the pad. She herself now launched, headed to the altitude specified by Serhan. She filed in Behind Malik, Figuring the slower-witted man would make a good meat-shield if push came to shove.
Zalus piloted Nara towards the hangar doors behind 'Ismat and smiled as Reovan rushed by. He sent a message to Shokhi "That girl is going to cause us all trouble... She won't cause the eyes any trouble."
"What's wrong, Ibn Rashidan?" Reovan's voice came over the comm as Jarita stopped in midair and the organoid frame turned to face the rest of the wing. "Too fast for you?" She laughed again and engaged her boosters to fall in with the rest of the group as it approached. The girl in the control pod was disappointed that Zalus hadn't raced with her this time. Opening a channel to Nara, she decided to ask him, "Something wrong? I expected you at least to race me out of there."
Shokhi launched quite steadily after Zalus and Nara, maintaining a distance of several meters behind him. Shokhi had no issues at all with bringing up the rear of the procession. He found himself laughing a little as he received Zalus message, and promptly replied: "Trouble can be good." It was, perhaps, the most forward thing he had said to anyone in the Wing yet. "I always used to go looking for it."
Mal couldn't help but crack a small smile at his wingmate's antics, as he opened a channel to Serhan. "Marranr, can we talk?"
Savitar laughed and shot off after Reovan, executing a MASC jump the instant he exited the hangar. "Oh no you don't!" he laughed over the com and blinked out, slingshooting forward to catch up with her. The cold didn't bother him at all as he was safely ensconced in the cockpit. Savi didn't wait for her, when he came out of it right close to her, he was already powering up for another one. "Heh. Think you can get away that easy." He taunted to her.
"Tighten our formation, Bahram Wing." Serhan sighed inwardly, as he was unable to move his mouth and did not feel like revealing any kind of exasperation to his wing. He had to admit, it felt good to be flying again, but this sort of thing was frankly quite annoying. "Keep it short." He answered Malik.
"Understood Lead." Shamshir quickly closed in, tightening his part of the formation atleast. A private line opened between him and the wing commander, a way for Mal to vent. "Marranr, I'm honestly worried. I fear for my wingmates, but I know that I have to protect them as family. Have any words of wisdom, tempered by your experience as a pilot and as a father?"
"Man you're such a buzzkill...." Savitar complained mildly over the comm to Serhan and waited where he was for them to catch up, keeping his sensors on his surroundings to avoid any nasty surprises. When they caught up with him, he used his boosters and got back into formation with the rest of them, going other their VANDR heads in a smoothy backward somersault motion and fell into line easily. "Tch.." he sighed and communicated over to Reovan. "Next time, we do it right." He said, chuckling at at the double entente.
"Yes Sir!" 'Ismat did as she was instructed, pulling in closer to Serhan. She stayed viligant, making sure that she wasn't about to run into the show offs.
It was an odd manner to phrase a very typical question. Serhan's white VANDR seemed to perk its head to the side, before he replied. "There is a cold weather outfit in your left hand storage compartment, in case you have to eject."
Mal sighed over the comms. "Sir, that's not what I meant!"
Zus simply kept in line with Malik, Ignoring him bothering the commander. She kept her mind on her flying and her sensor readings, making certain that nothing was around. If she could have, she would have rolled her eyes at Reovan and Savitar. The two were practically children.
Mal tensed up. "Sir, I want to know. What were you like when you started off as a runner?"
"At any rate, the analogy I made to a hiking trip will have to be redacted. Because as long as I keep that concept in mind, at least two of you will leave the formation to romp senselessly." Serhan said, feeling a little less annoyed by the improvement in the wing's formation. "Welcome to the Ghoroun Province of Northern Mazerin. They call this place the 'Howling Plains' because the rocky outcroppings are shaped in such a manner as to produce nightmarish howling during the nightime winds. Our mandate is simple.
Verify each navigation point, investigate distress beacons and provide escort to any vehicles that are lost and unable to navigate this region."
"Nightmarish howling..." Savitar said. "Dude I've so got to hear that." He quipped and brought up a location map for the Plains to see just how large it was and any key geographic features.
"Well, at least now I see what sort of boys we're flying with," Reovan communicated back to the only Iromakuanhe man enough to give her a race. She laughed again as Jarita barrel rolled and flew closer to the other organoid units, glad that she was only looking at the frozen environment outside and not actually out in that nightmare.
Mal couldnt help but smile. He smiled, thinking about the chances of this coincidence, and he finally understood atleast part of serhan. "Marranr Nejer, I apologize for disrupting you. I will be closing this private line now."
"Yeah but what can you do? They're all too busy thinking about following buzzkill's directions to think for themselves." Savitar sighed over the private line to Reovan. "We need to come out here one night ot hear that howling."
Shokhi mused slightly. The idea of being lost and unable to navigate... while on a planet... seemed astounding to him. Did people honestly get lost here? He prompted Shaorin for a map of the Ghoroun Province, smiling inwardly. Simple enough objectives, really, but everything was simple until something came along to complicate it.
Zalus shivered slightly which translated through the VANDR. "I would hate to get stuck on this rock without a heater. Lets hope we have nothing to do out there. Poor saps we might find." Zalus Kept in close formation as he was ordered to and followed the squadron.
"You'll have to go alone, then," the Sund Wakir girl replied. "I'Timad himself could awake and arrive at my door and even he could not convince me to go out in that wasteland." Even the thought of being out there sent a chill through Reovan's bones.
Listening in on his wingmate's conversations, Mal let a chuckle out from his lips. "It's not the cold we should be afraid of, but the creatures that thrive in it. Something would have to be amazingly hardy to live out here."
"I would assume that's why we patrol in VANDR" Zus interjected "If anything DOES come out, we can take it. I look forward to a good fight, so long as we can win" she said, making sure to keep formation.
Savitar rolled his eyes at the mention of I'Timad and sighed some, but blinked wondering how the FUCK Malik hacked into their private line. "Well then I'll have to make her a fur coat of whatever's out here then, now won't I?" he cackled, confident in himself 150%. He changed the frequency to be encrypted to Reovan alone. "Talk about rude. Oh well, I don't blame you; but it sounds like a challenge."
"Proceeding to Navpoint Dom. Keep communications to a minimum." Serhan announced to the wing, as his unit accelerated forward to the front of the formation.
With an inward roll of his eyes, Shokhi accelerated forward in tandem with Serhan, maintaining a distance of several meters. Everyone was so chatty. Shokhi would dearly have liked to manage some interaction during his time off, but on duty he wasn't sure how appropriate the mish-mash of crossing communications really was. At least they were nearing their first objective now...
Reovan was about to reply once more to Savitar, but Serhan's order made her reconsider. At least the chatting had given her something to do rather than focus on the white nothing that the aerudirn and prajna were keeping at bay. Truely, if anything, Mu'Kamal's planet was what her nightmares were made of.
A wide, shit-eating grin went across Mal's face. Oh yes, this would be fun. "Shamshir! Keep up with Serhan! Begin weapons checks!" Almost immediately, the VANDR sped up, keeping behind the lead unit, Left arm CIVWS turning into a clawed manipulator with the field of charged particles around it, the right into the standard long sword form, both shockbites beginning to charge, and the PASD's unlocked; Shamshir notified him.
Savitar sighed some as he cut the communications lines off to fall silent and concentrated on what was going on around him cautiously. He'd begin to charge his shockbites. Since he could take that energy and turn it into whatever he needed instead of overcharging like Malik was doing. "Whatta dumbass." Savitar sighed at Malik and hung back, more prepared to provide cover fire if need be. Not his favorite but someone had to.
Serhan remotely powered down Malik and Savitar's weapons systems, and set them to unlock only at his discretion. While he might forgive them being overly eager, he wasn't going to let them parade over civilian airspace with anti-frame weapons powered up and ready to fire on the smallest radar ping. Small mistakes are fixed while they are small. He pondered to himself silently, as they began moving towards their first destination.
----
18:42, Commonwealth Standard Time
>> Reading multiple distress beacons... AFS reaction detected...
>> Matching thermal pattern... inconclusive...
"Bahram, we have distress beacons transmitting in the 'black frame attack' configuration." Serhan said over their communications, consciously unlocking Malik and Savitar's weapons. He could only pray from the bottom of his iced soul, they wouldn't use them on the wrong targets. "Our Priorities have changed. Protect the people on the ground and engage the enemy."
"If there is any enemy Serhan." Savitar said. "For all we know they could be caught in an avalanche or some other natural occurrence." Savitar said mundanely and chuckled. " But I'm ready to go." he cackled.
"Understood! Savitar, Reovan, Zus, Let's Go!" Mal immediately MASC jumped, heading towards the distress beacons. He would prove himself today, and he would make sure everyone came back alive!
Zus would have rolled her eyes, if she could. "Idiot" she muttered at Malik, following at a bit slower pace, charging her weapons and preparing herself to cover the idiot. "I'm covering Malik, Sir" she noted to Serhan, hoping the young pilot didn't end up getting them both hurt.
"Black. Frame. Attack. They were attacked by-" Serhan sweatdropped, suddenly feeling his sympathies for Malik deadened by the man's idiocy. Being eager was forgivable, but anything that foolhardy would earn him more than a reprimand or two. "Yes. Follow him."
Zalus readied his forarms as long swords and moved in towards the signature. " 'Ismat Come with me as we flank right to provide support incase things get nasty."
Savitar groaned in his throat at Maliks' over-zealous reaction to leap without looking. Then again, Savitar did that too but not in combat situations. "He's going to get himself hurt, or hurt the people in distress." He said without realizing the comm was open still. "You said black frame Serhan... know anything about something like that?" he asked, reading his weapons systems ready to go again.
Shokhi was nothing short of shocked by the brazen, thoughtless approach Malik took. Their priorities were to protect the people on the ground and engage the enemy - Shokhi counted those priorities in the order they had been given. The people on the ground came first. With an emotion from Shaorin that seemed analogous to a deep breath, he MASC jumped towards the distress beacon, not sure how ready he was, and knowing full well that it didn't matter.
When did he become wing second? Reovan thought to herself as she observed the distress beacons pinging in the distance. Instinctively Jarita flew into a formation behind Nara. The maneuver was just natural for the pilot to do so with her training partner. "Let 'Ismat go as she will. I'll back you up, just like at El Bazr."
"Heh..." Savitar let out, his eyes bright with amusement. "Well I'm not going to let allof you have all the fun." He said and jumped as well but stopped short and kept a distance from the main group, reaching out with his sensors to find the enemy unit.
'Ismat sighed. "Such a hot head, jumping the gun like that. And... sure," she replied to Zalus. She moved in closer, reading to jump. Her CIVW on her hands started to form into katars, while her feet formed into swords. "Now then, shall we go before a certain someone get's themselves killed?"
"It's basic knowledge, that black frames are just slang for VANDR mimics. Cheap imitations using technologies from the previous era. " The gleaming blue spheres that comprised the eyes of Serhan's glossy white VANDR darted back and forth, scanning the area for the nature of the enemy. His unit remained at the back, determined to gather as much battle data as possible and provide support the moment one of the recruit's skills faltered and needed assistance. Cheap imitations. They shouldn't bee too much trouble for an eight-man wing, after all. He thought to himself, before transmitting again.
A group of ten units, white-clad rather insectoid semi-humanoid shapes that seemed to be much more than simple imitations of the Erla VANDR loomed over the wreckage of a civilian transport ship. They seemed to lack arms or legs, instead having large curved shoulders and a long, cylindrical, tail-like fuselage. The head was like a pointed oval, actually quite similar to the shape of the So-M1's forearm guards, but flat and bearing a single yellow monoeye lens that darted back and forth.
----
As Malik and Zus were the first on the scene, all of the units opened up their shoulders, pairs of thin arms with three-pronged vice grips folding out from under them. Purple beam lasers immediately fired out from the narrow openeings at the center of the vice-hands, aimed directly at the two runners. Immediately afterwards, three of the units fled at a furious pace, kicking up tightly packed snow and ice as they jetted away.
"Shit" Zus muttered, Opening fire on the closer enemy units while bringing up her barrier-guard. Once she had fired every beam she had, she MASC jumped out of the way, hoping Malik had sense enough to do the same.
Unfortunately for Zus, she would find that the reaction speed of her MASC jumps was slightly more sluggish compared to its performance in space, and she had taken a few hits before she had gotten her defenses up. Her usual tactic of spraying the enemy with laser fire was also noticeably less effective, each beam only inflicting minor damage. In the span of a few minutes, she had roughed up one of the frames and severed one of its cannon arms, but also missed and scoured the hull of the transport with stray beams.
----
Serhan picked up the sensors disturbances as the trio of units left, and decided this might be a good time to put his wing second to the test. They should allow bandits to flee, especially not in black frames of such an unusual configuration. "Farouk, Sitari, Ka'salm. Break off and engage the enemy."
----
Malik immediately MASC jumped again, reappearing behind and above the knockoffs, speeding downwards at breakneck speed, pulling up and skimming the rocky ground in a zigzag pattern to avoid enemy fire, aiming at the one in the center of the formation, and one next to it. He opened fire, two lances of charge particulate death, alternating every four seconds with his CELBS. Multiple LEMBS and Star Locusts shot out, forming his CIVWS into blades. "They'll have to do better than crappy knockoffs like that!"
Malik's alpha strike successfully annihilated the enemy, but the combination of the severe damage to his unit's torso from the enemy laser fire and his sudden massive heat buildup as he fired every weapon at his disposal resulted in a rather impressive emergency heat venting prompt to appear, and his unit was suddenly unable to use propulsion, or for that matter, shields. It could still walk and attack, but it would need at least a dozen seconds before he could even think of firing a weapon.
----
"So these are the imitations." Savitar chuckled to himself and took careful aim on them with his forearm mounted weapons. He waited for his sensors to give him a clear shot from wher he was and opened precise fire on a unit he had a bead on. Acting at the team's sniper, and also tried to pick off the fleeing unit to keep it from reporting back to where it was going.
Savitar's attack struck the unknown white unit in the shoulder, as it was fleeing too quickly for an easy headshot with a long charge weapon like the LCPA. It did however, lose that arm and seemed to be swerving a little mid-flight.
"Shiiit" Mal quickly dropped altitude, nose diving like a retarded duck into the snow to cool down, trying to get his VANDR behind a nearby rock while avoiding fire. "Damn, I was too reckless."
----
Reovan put her training to the test, using short MASC jumps to dodge out of the way while watching Nara's back. Jarita charged her LCPA canon to be used against any hard targets that came in range and her LEMBs for point defense targeting any incoming solid munitions the bogies fired at Zalus's frame.
Not being among those instructed to engage the enemy, Shokhi's priorities were quite clear - his sensors picked up the wrecked civilian transit ship. Though he kept a backwards eye on the status of his wingmates and the other black frames, Shokhi's primary attention was on the wreckage, and he increased his speed towards the downed ship, scanning for any indication of survivors. The others, he was sure, could deal with the black frames for now. He would intercede if it became necessary, but civilians warranted greater concern...
----
Savitar chuckled a bit, that swerving flight would probably cause it to crash somewhere; they could find it later. He'd monitor the battle and continued to take shots at the units, especially any that were coming up on an ally to attack without being noticed. "We can find that white unit later, the way it's damaged will cause it to slow down and probably crash somewhere on the rocks." He reported to Serhan.
"I told you you'd get in trouble Malik." Savitar said, his attention shifting to pick off the enemies trying to capitalize on Malik's downed status. "Try to get to safety, I'll cover you." He said.
----
"Yes, You Were" Zus Hissed, a bit peeved at the damage to her own unit. She decided that it was time to make something explode, and let loose a large volley of Missiles, hoping at least some would get through. She continued jumping, now timing her jumps more appropriately, adjusting to the lower speed.
---
Hissing inwardly, Shokhi shot an angry communication out. "Watch your damn fire around the noncombatants!" Zus' spray of laser fire searing about the wrecked ship brought a rise of emotion out of him. Disapproving emotion. He set down on the ground lightly by the transport, keeping a watch on the Black Frames. They seemed to have their hands full so he sent a channel to the transport. "This is Vayshirin Shokhi Miyorh of Bahram Wing. Does anyone read?" Confirm survivors. Help survivors. Then move on to shooting things, if it became necessary.
Seeing that she wasn't part of the group ordered to pursue the fleeing units and now too far to help with the rest of the enemies, Reovan turned Jarita's attention to the ground and the civilian transport. The Sund Wakir girl was a little put off for missing the action, but she reminded herself that helping the people was just as an important of a task. "Need a little help there?" she asked as she boosted over towards Shaorin, trying to make contact with the survivors.
----
For a few seconds, the frames had focused their attention entirely on Zus and Malik, but that would clearly not last for long. Shokhi's sudden appearance was enough to have one of the frames bolt and attack him with charged claw weapon, while the others were rather aware of the sensors particles being emitted by Serhan and Savitar.
"Looks like we've got incoming." Savitar said and tried to use his fire-control computer to attempt to lock-onto the incoming units if possible while continuing to provide measured cover fire. But was mentally ready to get down and dirty in melee if need be.
----
Luckily, Reovan was still prepared from her previous plan and let loose with her LCPA cannon and LEMB lasers. She laughed at the thought that Jarita and Shaorin looked like easy targets to these guys. "What fools," the desert-born girl commented to herself.
Her LCPA blast crashing into her target's fragile midsection, Reovan's attack vaporized a large portion of its upper mass, a significant amount of the attack penetrating the shields. The enemy unit was sent reeling, crashing backwards in front of the transport. Still, it would not give up, and raising an arm at the Sund Wakir runner's VANDR to shoot it still.
Detecting the bolting black frame, Shaorin abruptly boosted up - it was attacking him with a melee weapon, which gave him some time to try to put distance between him and his assailant. And time to aim and fire his LCPA at the oncoming frame. "Help is greatly appreciated. Thank you." Fortunate that Reovan had come when she did, Shokhi far preferred the idea of fighting with help. He remained on the alert for any sign of return communication from the transport, but shifted most of his focus to the oncoming black frames.
Shokhi's blast on the other hand, had cleanly and effiency deprived the enemy of its head and left arm, as it had gotten too close for shields to provide any kind of adequate defenses against the heavy assault of his weapon and had gotten caught up in his attack at just the wrong time.
----
As soon as he had the capacity too, Malik immediately made a short range MASC jump, jumping into melee range with the furthest still in combat black one. His CIVWS would now come into play, quick broad slashes from the long sword, and powerful thrusts from the enhanced claw.
Savitar's sniping had been decent, his latest attack blowing through the torso of a unit that had already lost its shields from Zus' missile bombardment. It abruptly detonated mid-air, as it had attempted to catch Paralovi as it exited jump but had been caught by surprise on its own.
Zus Harrumphed at the exploding enemy in front of her, finding the next target and locking on to it before unleashing a concentrated, targeted volley of both Lasers and Missiles, before once again jumping away.
Savitar grinned a bit and carefully took aim at the remaining enemies; still waiting for his NI to lock onto the enemy units to unleash his homing lasers to strike them without striking his allies as well.
----
"Herdtitan dung," Reovan swore as she engaged Jarita's MASC drive to dodge any blast it was planning to fire at her and shove a CIWS blade right through it's monoeye to finish it off. She had to be quick, too, so that it's shot wouldn't endanger any potential survivors.
Her assault was quick and deadly, but the enemy pilot had aimed early enough to get a preemptive shot. Exchanging blows, her unit's main communications crest had taken a grazing laser hit and she, in exchange, had put out the unit's head, disabling it.
Shokhi watched the black frame fall with an internal smirk, and then returned his attention to the transport. There was a bit of pride at his efficiency and success, but the civilians were more important. Still no response. It was worrying him. As Reovan seemed to have the other black frame thoroughly dealt with, he again attempted to hail the transport. "This is Vayshirin Shokhi Miyorh of Bahram Wing. Does anyone read? Please respond."
Now that the immediate threat to the transport was gone, Jarita returned to Shaorin's side. "Any response yet?" Reovan asked Shokhi as she looked out for any other enemies who might decide that the two Erla VANDR were a good target.
----
Malik's attack was surprisingly, blocked by the (oddly named) white-clad enemy unit's own melee weapons, and strangely, they began to glow in a bizarre dark purple light and gyrate rapidly while deflecting his attacks. His ANIOS would register light damage to his CIVWS, with a biomass loss of 7% in the weapon system and significant damages to the control nodes inside of it. The nature of the weapon it had attacked with was such that it could block a particle-coated blade with impunity and actually inflict damage to a melee-oriented strain of Aerudirn.
Savitar blinked as his sensor registered the strange reaction Malik's enemy produced and shifted his sights to try and line up a careful shot at the unit's shoulder or head. "Keep it right there Malik, just for a moment." he said and when he thought he had a shot: Savitar took it, firing a single shot toward Malik's enemy.
Seemingly unable to hit his enemy, Malik switched tactics, moving away from the white knockoff and firing off two Shockbite blasts at it. "I think this guy is an ace. He'll probably end up escaping after trouncing one of us soundly."
The frame seemed to realize it was being sniped, and without so much as aiming, fired a spray of rapid laser fire in Savitar's general direction while spinning to strike Malik's arms. Dodging between the runner and Bahram's sniper, he knocked the hotheaded runner's arms hard enough enough that he fired directly into the snow, causing a massive geyser-like jet of steam, dirt and hot water to rise up from the ground. Malik and the enemy were now inside of a cloud of dust and rapidly freezing fog, still more oddly-well aimed laser fire coming at the sniper for some reason.
Malik quickly MASC jumped away and upwards, to get a good overview of the battlefield. "Savitar, I think he has a spotter hidden somewhere around here. Let's give him a taste of his own medicine then." Mal smiled, linking his targeting computer to Sav's, acting as his spotted as he rushed back in, firing his CELBS for 10 seconds each
Savitar perked a brow and suddenly MASC jumped off to his left and strafed behind a nearby rock formation and blinked. "Very clever." he said and waited for a moment getting data on the trajectory the AI had shown from the incoming shots. "Maybe but if' he's good he can trace my shots back to me, it's that' easy." He said. "Pay attention you idiot." Savitar said, his AI working to set up possibilities. "Don't forget the objective people, grab that transport and carry it away from the battle zone if you can." he suggested.
Malik was, in a sense, right. There never was a spotter, but the one that he was attacking was still receiving sensors data from its comrade. The one-armed unit Savitar had crippled minutes ago, returning with a vengeful fist poised to strike his flank and thrusters going full throttle.
---
"None." Shokhi sounded unsettled by that fact. Attacking civilian transports was about as low as one could get, as far as he was concerned. "We should try to move the transport out of harm's way - it's already taken friendly fire once." He waited for a response from Reovan, though Shaorin glided to one end of the transport...
Jarita nodded and took up a position at the other end. "Whenever you're ready," Reovan said to her very purple teammate as her frame bent down to help carry the transport back to the base. "With your permission," she radioed to Serhan, trying to get clearance to leave the area of operation.
----
"Yes. Take them to the outpost at navpoint Enact, I'm detecting warm bodies inside of the transport, so you shouldn't have to worry about the occupants." Serhan replied, his white VANDR's hands taking on a crackled glow. He had been itching for something like this for days, and that there was a single combatant who was any good was enough. "I'll intervene. Personally."
----
Malik rushed back into Combat with the white Knockoff, using the arm CIVWS to atleast try to get a scratch on the mysterious ace. "You! How could you bandits attack innocents?" "Such acts are Evil, and I will not allow them!"
"Huh?" Savitar blinked as the sensor detected the incoming mass rushing his side. Reacting naturally, he put a foot up on the rock in front of him and pushed off, sailing backward in a somersault; very narrowly avoiding the attack. "Persistence. I like that." He said and landed nearby and used his forearm mounts to protude a long sword and attempted to stab the attacker through the side and slice it's frame open, hopefully getting the cockpit. "Shit that was close."
"FINALLY! I didn't think you Commonwealth dogs had tongues for anything but licking boots!" A very enthused and rather amused male voice called out from the unit's loudspeakers, bearing a distinctly Mazerinii accent. It immediately strafed to the right, attempting to evade his attack but still getting a scratch in the process. Cannon arms opened fire on the now-open VANDR, and struck his chest sensors and upper armor with enough force to send off a few warnings on Mal's HUD.
Zus' replied similarly, firing a spray of CEMB laser fire on her missile blasts to keep her at bay and countering with a shower of its own heavy laser fire. It still took a number of hits, but nothing quite serious enough to keep it from strafing and circling to follow her movements.
"Shamshir, I know I said I wouldnt let you take any damage, but I guess things arent going as planned. Just bear with me, atleast let me drive this bastard off!" Mal responded ny aiming a kick at the knockoff's head. "I won't let you get away from here! For Everyone one person on that transport who was injured, I'll pay you back ahundredfold!"
Zus was beginning to get frustrated. Nothing seemingly worked; she could fire lasers all she wanted but thery barely worked; she could launch volley after volley of missiles and they were intercepted. all so.. so.. FRUSTRATING! Finally, after getting annoyed by her enemies' circling, she simply MASC jumped right in front of the white frame's path, then charged at it, taking a 'hands on' approach and grappling with it, wrapping around in a bear hug and violently slashing and stabbing the back of the unit.
Savitar's attack was oddly enough, blocked by the enemy frame's grappling fist, which had reached out and taken his melee attack. The hold would not last, as already the hand had began to crack and smolder on the pressure of his attack, but the long fuselage like cylinder that had been replacing its legs was now retracted and bent upwards, at him. Charging a weapon system which seemed to be similar to those fired in the hands, but significantly larger and generating a more powerful distortion wave.
----
"Ready." Shaorin lifted the end of the transport and, after ensuring that Jarita also had a secure hold and was ready, he began towards the outpost at Enact. Shokhi was a little shaken, though fortunately it didn't show outwardly thanks to the VANDR. "You took fire. You are alright?" Talking did a little to ease his growing discomfort as the reality that he had probably just killed sank in.
Jarita's Frame Runner was more stable over the fact that she just took fire and probably killed the pilot of the white unit she had destroyed. The training she suffered at El Bazr made her detached from it all, as if she could just pretend it was only as real as that final test had been. "I'm fine. Thank Jafar it was only a scratch," Reovan responded to Shokhi's concern. "And hopefully he'll continue to protect our passengers."
----
"Hm nifty little toy." Savitar said released a burst of lasers from almost point blank range and lashed out with his other arm in a claw configuration and attempted to push the weapon system to aim off to the side of up in the air. "Seriously man what's your problem?" he said over the loud speaker, trying to reach the pilot in the enemy. If he couldn't change the thing's trajectory Savitar would have to and would engage the emergency ejection function.
Zus literally ripped both shoulders, and the accompanying arms, off the frame, causing it to experience terrible power surges from the combined input of her particle-enhanced blades and the raw shock to its power network. The unit might have been a challenge later on if it had time to recover, but as is, was basically hapless before the might of the vicious assault of the young woman's VANDR.
“Hah. Is this some kind of lame Cohronl fighting style?” Malik's kick was narrowly avoided, and the enemy pilot had proceeded to grapple and toss him into the upright wreckage of one of his comrades. Less than a second after, he boosted up to his unit, throwing a few extra strikes from his gyrating fists to the VANDR's head, until he had nearly broken the crest on the head off.
Despite being able to maintain a lethal firing arc, the weapon never fired. Rather, the unit had been irreparably damaged by what appeared to be a pair of claws, and its reactor had been forcibly removed and discarded a few dozen meters away from the outcropping. A white shadow seemed to linger long enough to scatter some sensors-disrupting charged particles around, but had vanished.
Now floating over the battlefield, the white and blue frame of Serhan Nejem charged both of its LCPAs and had already targetted every remaining unit in his view withing a 5 KM radius.
"I won't Let you!" Mal fired off his Star Locusts, salvoes of missiles shooting up and into the unknown frame. "Who the hell are you?"
Savitar broke away and looked up at Serhan. "Phew, thanks man." He said to Serhan and watched for a moment staying in the chaff particles. Deciding to use it for a boon, Savitar switched to long range mode again and locked onto the seeming-ace and fired his missiles in an arc to streak toward the unknown VANDR. Deciding that at the moment, that thing was the biggest threat to try and hammer it from behind and get in some solid damage.
"There, Have fun with THAT" Zus spat at the literally disarmed enemy, giving it a nice roundhouse kick with sharpened CIVW feet to finish it off and push the wreckage away. Seeing Malik in trouble, Zus fired all the help she could manage, Lasers and Missiles. She noticed savitar doing the same; this guy would be hard pressed to avoid everything.
The enemy pilot didn't need to avoid anything. His fists plunged into the rookie frame's head and shoulder, he merely rolled, allowing the Vanguard-issue VANDR to take the brunt of the beating for its bizarrely constructed mimicry. Malik's sensors would be on fire, as the areas of his back, legs and shoulders experienced severe damage, and his shields were depleted to almost nothing. His unit leaked blue vapors and energy conduits sparked, glowed and fizzled as his unit tried desperately to repair itself from the extreme damage it had just received.
----
"Shut off your unit and jettison your reactor, bandit." The voice of the wing commander came in over the two tangled VANDR, a blade pointed at the head of the one that had been named 'Soono' as he burst out of compressed space yet again. Serhan sighed inwardly. This was the sort of gaffe that might completely demoralized a unit, but it would serve as a good lesson later on. At the very least, his office, their briefing room and their living quarters hallway would be spotless, and he'd have an excuse to drag one or two of them into simulation to beat some sense into them.
----
Malik tried to move his VANDR still, despite the massive damage that he had just incurred. "Shamshir! Shamshir, Move! Dammit, MOVE!"
"Well isn't this the shit." Savitar sat back and whistled. "I have to take back my statements about Serhan being a buzzkill now. That was awesome." He said and watched what was going on for a moment. He wasn't demoralized in the least and was highly amused by this; he'd had fun today and that's all that mattered.
"Dammit!" Zus Roared, Parolovi having the sense to mute her comms to not bother anyone else. 'Why can't they just play fair? That was a detestable move!" she continued yelling, but it fell on no one's ears. Her own unit had taken some damage, yes, but she was more concerned that the asshole bandit had made her damage an Ally. Certainly, she had never liked Malik, and intended to use him as a meat shield in the first place, but being taken advantage of and being made to shoot a wingmate was unacceptable.
"Storhan, this conduct is unbecoming of a Runner during peacetime. An enemy has every right to be as resourceful as you are, and pouting won't do any good." Serhan chided her dispassionately, tapping the top of the enemy VANDR with the flat of his blade. He didn't have the time to deal with childish games, from his enemies, nor his allies. "Well? Eject it or I'll disarm and dismantle your unit, thoroughly."
The unit complied, ejecting its compact fission reactor and shutting down. Despite being a shoddy imitation of the M1's capabilities, the unit seemed rather well-made, without so much as single extra becquerel in ambient emissions when its core was exposed.
"A recovery team is already on its way, and this site is being monitored by satellites. We'll continue continue to the outpost at Enact for a quick repair and resupply once they've arrived."
PAUSE
