RP: NSS Altomir [Mission 1.1] Gathering the Bearings

Saveli strapped the rifles over his shoulder, and turned about to exit the Panel Gate room. His mild limp toddled him a bit, causing him to shamble slightly, as was noticed by Alex. He looked in her direction for a moment, before looking down at the Neko she had held up.

"It's structural damage. I'll only be in trouble if I use my booster." noted Saveli, before marching out into the main room, Impaler rifle in his hand. He stepped along to the book-store, hobbling his way in with a mild ka-klunk with every haggard step. He spotted a few less the living NMX Nekos laying upon the ground. The Cohronl looked towards Bernhard and Devlin, spying that they had already looted their enemies. A small frown forming on his hidden face, he turned up the way to spy the Admiral DeLuca and her retinue. Instinctively, by drilled, military discipline, Saveli turned rigid his stance stiffening in the presence of a high-ranking officer.

He also saw that the woman did not have a weapon, in a battlefield of all things! Mu'Klamal would be displeased with this lack of armament. So, as he stood up next to Yuriko and Bernhard, he turned his rifle around so it could be held out to her with the butt of the gun facing the less-than-armored woman. He held out the spare cylinder battery in the other hand. The soldier tried to be as stiff and respectful as possible, still rusty on customs pertaining to the Nepleslians.

"Langraiv, do you need a weapon?" asked Saveli in his accented Trade, using his people's word for Fleet Commander.

On that, a mild panic rising in the back of his head. He turned his head aside, whispering to the nearest person, Yuriko, in laser communication.

"Is it out of turn to offer the common weapons of the enemy to high-ranking officers?"

Wordlessly, Bernhard exchanged one of the Impaler rifles and 3 magazines for his HPAR and its magazines. That gun, and his AS4GS, had followed him from 4th Fleet. It was his gun.

A quick check on its ammunition revealed the current magazine was down to a third of its capacity. It had been nearly full when Bernhard gave it away. Mort had fired hundreds of rounds and not killed anything? That... did not bode well.

The Neko slumped over as Devlin rounded the bookshelf, its body dropping to the floor. The marine's celebration was short lived, however, upon seeing his foe. The holes along the wall from the LSP's chemical rounds were inconsistent with the scorch marks on the enemy’s pads, proving that Devlin missed the kill, and making one, very sad Nepleslian. He looked back toward Bernhard to make sure he wasn't watching before kicking the enemy in the side. Consider yourself lucky that I didn’t get to you first, he mentally warned the Neko, but then recalled it, or not, actually, realizing she was a corpse now.

He put away the sidearm and retrieved the remaining Impaler rifle from the bodies, carrying it by his side as he followed the other marine onto the platform where everyone else was gathering for the…Admiral? One fight and Devlin was already getting a medal for his obvious valor? His parents would have been proud. He stopped beside the group and took up a smug stance as he awaited his award.

When it appeared to Violetta De Luca and her entourage that the Nepleslian marines at the bottom of their descent were in an accepting mood, Violetta and the Hostile-suited Krystian quickly passed the entryway. The senior officer turned to Krystian as he suggested she take refuge, and nodded in agreement with a small grimace. "Yes, that would be wise."

With Krystian remaining behind, Violetta hustled her way past the other armored troops, stopping in front of Saveli when he offered her a salvaged particle rifle. Violetta looked at the two pieces of outstretched equipment, exchanging glances between them and the marine holding them. She concluded that he offered her as much due to the fact that he was, apparently, in a state of firearm surplus, and as such, she was happy to agree. "Thank you, soldier," Violetta said, taking the weapon from him and hefting it a bit in her arms. It was sized for common Yamataian armor and infantry, easily used in her current state. She gave Savleli a simple nod, glancing over towards the two stairways before speaking to him through her headset. "Marine, help the Grand Admiral and the others; there were two NMX armorsuits in pursuit of us, they will need your firepower. I will take a more secure firing position."

Violetta did just so after she had finished speaking, hurrying over towards the decorative stone in the center of the tram platform, using its waist-high stone base as an improvised cover.

---

As Admiral De Luca and Krystian drew past the collective marines, the larger figure behind them paused at the front of the Liganda Tram Station's entry. Upon closer inspection, it was revealed that the giant person was, in fact, not an Aggressor powered armorsuit, but rather an incredibly large ID-SOL, standing a good 11 feet tall as he towered over the rest of them.

The ID-SOL halted at the mouth of the twin escalator, glancing back behind him. He was dressed head to toe in a suit of light body armor, or rather what could have been considered 'light' were it applied to a Nepleslian of normal size. On the impressively-sized ID-SOL, the body armor appeared extremely cumbersome, but the giant's smooth and precise movements revealed that he was able to handle the folds and hard plates and woven fabric quite adeptly. A simple combat helmet, complete with a tactical visor, concealed most of his face. In one hand, he held a noticeably large(compared to the ID-SOL, rather average-sized) pistol. In the other, a large combat knife, held at the ready. The enormous Nepleslian stood stoic for a moment longer before lifting the visor of his helmet with the tip of his knife, revealing a rugged face beneath a well-trimmed dark-brown beard, eyes focused intently while his mouth drew up in a dangerous smile. Those privy on Nepleslia's military culture would instantly recognize the ID-SOL as Flint Vanderhuge, Grand Admiral of Nepleslian's 1st Assault Fleet. "Eyes up marines; two Mindy on fast approach."

Flint ducked into the opposing escalator stairwell just as the two figures on the marines' sensor suites appeared at the upper reaches of the stairs. They were Mindy armors, alright; either manufactured or stolen from Yamataia for use by the NMX and their mass-bred nekovalkyrja soldiers. The two began descending the stairwell almost as quickly as they had appeared, the both of them carrying Impaler particle rifles, as well as the menacing shoulder-mounted cannons whirring in several directions. They appeared to still be in chase of Violetta De Luca's small team of three, apparently unaware of the others in the subway station... or they simply did not care.

With Admiral De Luca so quickly agreeing to take cover, Krystian's job was made several times easier now that he was both temporarily relieved of the female-type's presence, and no longer had to glance nervously over his shoulder to make sure she was okay for the time being. However, this did not mean that the rest of this messed up operation was going to go any better -- as if it go down from being blasted out of low orbit. For starters, he watched as the other Marines (all of whom were strangers to him until his IFF system began to identify them) handed out firearms to one another as if it were Lewis Pasco Day, seemingly oblivious to the field-appointed bodyguard of two of their fleet's most important officers, and how he might have had a use for more firepower than his LSP. Of course, he felt he was likely doing rather well compared to some of those same Marines.

His shields were at nearly full strength and he had four full magazines of ammo for the LSP. He lacked anything such as missiles, but he felt the PLA system on his suit could serve as a sufficient substitute for the time being, at least until he could get better equipped.

Czarnecki's train of thought was suddenly robbed from him as the pursuers that had been after he and the two Admirals for the last city block or so finally appeared at the entrance. He whirled around, not a very graceful manuever in a Hostile, but it got the job done. They were ready for a fight -- and looking for him. Of course, it would have been flattery to think that the Mindy pilots were focusing on him out of some contempt for his get-away earlier, and didn't consider the other Marines a threat. Rather, they likely just had yet to realize the nest of Marine-green pain that they were about to stumble in to. So Krystian was going to happily oblige the two of them, to send them straight to whatever special hell the Creator had set aside for them.

His PLA announced his attack first, going for the nearest of the two, and aimed with the hopes that maybe the suit's shields were sufficiently weak enough to start causing damage for the pilot inside. Meanwhile, he drew a bead with his LSP on the second, having to back-pedal as he did so to avoid getting caught in their crossfire. That made the shot hard -- but Krystian had always been a good shot.

Steadying his breath.

Picking his target.

Everything that his instructors had yelled at him during boot camp was coming back to him in this moment.

Squeeze, don't pull, the trigger.

With that, he opened up with a long burst on the second of the two Mindy armors.

As Yuriko's team stood down, she inwardly had been surprised De Luca had survived what had happened in orbit. And quite frankly a little relieved. The Marines on the ground had already had a run of misfortune with the death of Admiralty to add to the list would have been an even bigger blow to dwindling morale.

Even so with the appearance of Flint, and his warning of two Mindy Armors she was already giving out orders.

"Alright, under the circumstances I'd say to not shoot the Mindy Armors. Since quite frankly Yamatai goes to war over a damned sneeze in their direction. Since these are NMX Suits, but it makes them no less dangerous." she unslung her HPAR at that.

"Mindy Armor is thin, weak, they use their agility to their advantage along with modules to allow the suits adaptability in field. Even without carrying a gun they have forearm projectors that have multiple roles. Shield, Sword, Pulse Weapon or Beam. If they fire a constant stream duck for cover. And stay the hell out of melee range! Your ass'll be sliced up quicker than you can think."

"Two shots, center mass should crack the chest plate."

Saveli took to cover, hobbling quickly as soon as he was ordered to. An order from an admiral was surely one to followed, of course. Though, he was still amazed to see that even in a gritty and dirty Nepleslian society there was still a regal nature to some of their officers. DeLuca reminded him of a Sund Wakir caravaneer, though, most Nepleslian women reminded him of the Sund Wakir.

As he took to taking cover by the large structure in the center of the facility, he looked at the others. They all had their own faces, but those faces were hidden by thick metal masks. Devlin had been the first Marine he had met in this mess of a hole. Saveli wanted to know what his face looked like before either of them died on this battlefield. So, he unslung his Impaler, and looked towards the entrance to be taken aback by a monstrous sight.

Flint Vanderhuge

More massive than any Curdatl agri-hand he'd ever seen, and more war-like than any Sund Wakir. As the man went by, Saveli found himself taken by the man's confident aura. Even with little armor, he strode about as if it were little issue. His mind were brought back to the pictures he saw of the dream cathedral with the paintings of the saint Mu'Klamal in his stark white armor. It made the Cohronl wonder just how passionate Flint was about war, and if the Grand Admiral cared as much for conquest as the Saint of War and Rage.

Though as the Admiral passed, there came the new enemy of rival PA. Two Mindys, as they were called. More thickly armored and more well-equipped than their previous enemies. They reminded him of VAHINs, but more sleek and advanced. The Astral Vanguard's heavy infantry looked about as well-armed as that, but the Mindy's were to slender in comparison. None-the-less, he ceased his quite admiration of foreign culture peel out of cover to pop off a few shots with his Impaler Rifle.

So that was actually the Admiral, Flint Vanderhuge, in the flesh. It would all be great if it wasn't for the two new enemies appearing as Thomas checked his particle rifle, noticing how different the weapon felt, but still glad that he had something better than his LSP to use against the two Mindy.

He moved for cover, jumping back down to the subway tracks and trailing his rifle to the direction of the two enemy PAs and quickly firing at them with his newly acquired weapon.

Devlin blinked at the sight of the Grand Admiral’s toothy grin, quickly forgetting the award ceremony. The same face that had stared back at him from the cover of the recruitment pamphlets was now only a starving fanboy’s leap away from the Nepleslian. He was winded to say the least, and if the Hostile’s muscle suit was not there to hold Devlin’s knees together, he would have collapsed. He returned to reality in time to see De Luca move for cover as the rest followed suit. Two Mindy suits swooped in from the stairs and Devlin went prone, opting to diminish his hit box rather than boost for cover with an imminent threat at hand.

He repeated Yuriko’s advice through his mind as she said it, aiming the Impaler at the second enemy’s middle. The rifle’s grip seemed conventional enough, but everything else about it was alien, literally. Not sure what to expect from the gun’s recoil, he fired in quick bursts, trying his best not to drool over the fact that he was in a skirmish with Flint Vanderhuge.

Alexandra quickly moved more forward seeing as enemy showed up. Two mindies. That was bad, because they were too dangerous to engage up close and personal. If they were Daisies a swift punch in the head or two would be enough. Alex knew that from experience. But mindy with its laser blade or whatever it was, was too risky of a target to engage closely. Alex still also had to hold onto her prisoner which meant she could not combat properly. She could still help in other way, there were already plenty people near the entrance so she would get in the way.

Alex moved herself in between admiral De Luca and entrance to cover her. She would cover Grand Admiral Vanderhuge, but he seemed like he was enjoying himself in the battle. Grand Admiral also had only a large pistol and knife. Not weaponry used to engage Power Armours. To Alex her HPAR was useless right now. She already saw an Id-Sol using HPAR without power armour and Admiral Vanderhuge was the biggest and strongest Id-Sol there was.

"Grand Admiral I have a gun for you!" Alex shouted and tossed her HPAR his was, when she got his attention. It was still set on bursts. She meanwhile drew her LSP and payed attention to what was happening next.

ShotJon said:

"Grand Admiral I have a gun for you!" Alex shouted and tossed her HPAR his was, when she got his attention. It was still set on bursts. She meanwhile drew her LSP and payed attention to what was happening next.

Click to expand...

Flint turned with enough time to watch Alex's HPAR sailing across the room towards him. The man quickly stuffed his combat knife into the sheath hanging on the front of his chest, catching the weapon in one hand with his pistol still in the other. Compared to Flint, the HPAR looked alarmingly small; the Grand Admiral's size made most conventionally made Nepleslian weapons nearly unusable by him, and the HPAR looked to potentially fall into that category. Flint said nor acting on anything that would affirm this fact, accepting the weapon as he turned back and pressed his back against the wall.

---

Marines firing down the stairwell at the advancing Mindys would find it difficult, if not near impossible, to hit anything but the first advancing Mindy in the formation. It's frame, although small, covered most of the narrow hall. The shots collided with the first Mindy's shields, rebounding and deflecting the first few volleys. The duo of Mindy had differing reactions to the sudden appearance of additional Nepleslian marines. They had just been chasing three; chances were that they were not expecting a sudden ambush by more of them, and judging by their reactions did not have a definitive plan amongst them.

The Mindy at the rear of the formation (A) immediately activated its thruster in an immediate reversal, halting its advance in the stairwell. The NMX powered armor dropped to a kneeling firing position, picking up its rifle and strafing the edges of the stairwell's exit with suppressive fire. From the open position, it would be difficult for the soldiers to actually fire upon the Mindy without coming into direct line of fire of the lethal Impaler beams.

The NMX armor at the head of the twin formation (B) appeared to do the exact opposite. Upon realizing the situation, the Mindy immediately burst forward, a mechanism on the armor's shoulder hardpoint suddenly flipping forward. From the weapon, a number of miniature missiles surged forth from the confines, roughly 10 in number. The small warheads soared through the air in a hiss of propulsive force, a handful of them colliding with the ground immediately at the edge of the exit while several more targeting the marines closest to the ends of the doorway.

The missiles that aimed for the ground collided and detonated against the concrete, exploding into a thick plume of smoke and debris dug up from the small, plate-sized impact craters. The Mindy used this momentary confusion to boost past the marines at either side of the front door, before touching ground a few feet behind them. The NMX soldier skillfully rolled along the ground another few feet before reaffirming herself into a kneeling position facing the others, her weapon raised and her back to the rest of the room.

This placed the marines holding position at the front of the room in a potentially dangerous situation, flanked on two sides by enemies, with one in particular in a position to immediately fire upon them.

Alexandra hoped to stay out of this fight, but that was not to be. Enemy charged through the entrance and marines guarding the station were now between two enemies. Also next to Alex was Admiral De Luca who was more or less unarmoured. Alexandra frowned and peeked out to see the Mindy watching the entrance. She was turned back to nepleslian medic.

Alex quickly activated snake-skin. She caught neko prisoner she held by its legs and used boosted to cover short distance between fountain and Mindy. She twisted her prisoner around herself using her as a flail and smashing her against Mindy.

"Engaing enemy in the station!" She reported to no get shot by friendly fire.

The Marines by the stairwell tucked and rolled as small plumes of flame and concussive forces buffeted the armors. Their tumbling ended in the same manner as the Mindy who had fired the missiles, kneeling on a single knee HPAR up and ready to fire in two directions. One pointed toward the stairwell as Yuriko and the other had their own weapons pointed toward the flanker.

Activating the PPP System, Yuriko felt a sharp tug as her suit was pulled toward the Rest Area even as she fired the HPAR at the would-be flanker while the other Marine did the same.

There had to be a word, or some profanity, to describe what Krystian was feeling, but he was far too pressed by current matters to think of it at the moment. Instead, his mind was more focused on his survival. Stepping back from the doorway had saved him from the barage of missiles. As a result he was relatively undamaged and focused enough to react as the lead Mindy had come bursting through the cloud of smoke and debris. It wasn't the largest window of time to react in, the time it took that Mindy to cross the few feet between the doorway and the Marine's previous location, but it was enough for his survival instincts and his suit's systems to get him out of the way. He rolled towards the rest area, landing on a shoulder, and coming up in a crouch. Once there, by the southern-most column of the rest area, he set his sights on the Mindy that had come down in to the station amongst them, and began to move in to action.

The first thing he did was focus his PLA on the Mindy. He knew the shields were up, but he wanted to pummel them down. That way his PLA would begin working away at the pilot within to turn them in to something that was close in appearance to the "special sauce" on a Neppies three-pound slim burger.

Along with that was his LPA, going through the quick, but precise sequence of events that he had done before. Aim, get a solid sight picture, steady his breathing, hold it, and squeeze the trigger. He began to open up with repeated short bursts on the Mindy's back and side to start wearing away it's shields, with his PLA still opening up on it as well.

Perfect timing. Bernhard smiled as he raised his AS4GS. A Mindy may be fast but in this small space, maneuvering would be difficult. By firing shotgun shells at them, he would be able to utilize that disadvantage to its fullest. "Going for the second one!"

With his thrusters, Bernhard boosted past the Marines and towards the Mindy still in the stairwell. When he was meters away from the Mindy, Bernhard began his attack. He fired his PPP, set on Push, at the Mindy and followed by a quick succession of two shells from his AS4GS. The first was a solid metal slug, designed to kill through sheer kinetic force. The second shell was a plasma spread, effective at short ranges like this and absolutely deadly to armor.

ShotJon said:

Alex quickly activated snake-skin. She caught neko prisoner she held by its legs and used boosted to cover short distance between fountain and Mindy. She twisted her prisoner around herself using her as a flail and smashing her against Mindy.

"Engaging enemy in the station!" She reported to no get shot by friendly fire.

Click to expand...

Violetta ducked beneath the rim of the fountain, pressing her back against the warm concrete and clenching her eyes shut in anticipation of Alexandra's sudden charge.

As the captive neko was swung, however, it deftly twisted its body inward and made itself shorter in result, causing Alexandra's swing to miss by mere inches. Using the momentum of the swing, the NMX neko reached down to its ankle and produced a hidden combat knife from beneath the material of her uniform pants. When Alex reached the tail-end of her wide swing, the neko twisted back again, suddenly wrapping itself onto the opposing shoulder of Alex's Hostile. The neko gripped against the cold metal, quickly raising the knife and attempting to bring it down against Alex's neck.

Despite the heavily armored collar, there were still small areas only protected by the nanomuscle material layer to facilitate rotation of the faceplate and head, which would yield quite easily under proper opposing pressure. The neko raised her knife quickly and brought it down once, just missing a crevice near Alexandra's collarbone by a fraction of an inch, the dull blade glancing off the durandium plates. Undaunted, however, the neko raised the knife again, no doubt having found the necessary corrections to land a proper, possibly more lethal hit.

---

Flint, using the second separate stairwell as cover, was not amongst the targets chosen by Mindy B's salvo of miniature missiles. As such, he had no qualms about joining the other marines in giving the advancing enemy a generous welcome, however there was a problem. As Flint raised the HPAR he was given and attempted to fire, he found it difficult to work the trigger; simply put, his hands, in particular his fingers, were too large to operate the gun successfully. After a few tries, Flint cursed silently under his breath. He already knew that he couldn't use standard Heavy Penetrating Assault Rifles, but part of him wanted to try anyway. Defeated by his impressive size, Flint resorted to firing his pistol, a single loud report resonating from the chamber.

The Mindy (B) was assaulted by returned fire the moment she breached the doorway, as was no doubt expected. The several salvo's of shots collided, bounced and bent around the slightly form-fitting shielding system in place, quickly overloading it. Once her shield were visibly broken, the Mindy immediately set her own boost to her right, towards the Rest Area and one of the large support columns within. The NMX soldier was able to give out a few retaliatory shots as she flew, however, which were aimed at the closest one to her partner; Bernhard.

Bernhard's charge put him in a grim danger-zone; he was instantly susceptible to two angles of fire, from both Mindy's A and B for only a second or so. Mindy B's shots landed first, several thin beams of energy colliding with his Hostile's shielding system. Enough time had passed between his last engagement for them to reassert themselves, but again they melted beneath repeated fire just the same. Mindy B's last shot struck Bernhard's armor in the back just below the fission-fusion reactor, the force of which causing his boost to waver and pull off course.

Mindy A also took advantage of Bernhard's sudden vulnerability, having more time to do so than her partner. Immediately, the armored soldier rushed forward, returning fire as she did so. Bernhard's first shot was near impossible to miss, now that they were so close in proximity; the solid metal slug struck and actually pierced Mindy A's shield, the shot landing dead center against the breast of her armor. However, most of the velocity of the shot had been lost, deteriorated by the shield system, and was not able to do enough damage to halt her. Before Bernhard could fire his second, more lethal round, the two soldiers had met in close quarters, with the Mindy in marked advantage.

The NMX Mindy delivered a boost-assisted sidelong kick to the Hostile's abdominal area. The force of the blow, undeterred by shielding and the askew path of Bernhard's forward thrust, caused him to careen right back out of the stairwell, his Hostile hitting the ground and sliding directly towards Alexandra. The Mindy landed back into a kneeling firing position almost immediately, drawing her rifle up and firing at Bernhard's sailing figure.

Saveli, situated near Violetta and Alex, had full-view of the daring, but mixed tactics this squad seemed to display. He kept his rifle ready even as Bernhard rushed mightily into the fray. Though, just as he leveled himself for another shot, the Neko being drug about by Alex had turned on her. The Iroma had little idea just why she was trying to use the neko as a club, or something, but the concept had turned on her. Now she was greatly at risk of having a powerful being sink a knife through her nano-muscle. So, with a quick turn, Saveli put his own Impaler Rifle up at the Neko, and fired to get the mangy cat off her victim.

Thomas popped back up from the subway tracks and moved to take cover by the rock in the middle of the station, watching as the Mindy delivered the kick to Bernhard, and brought his Impaler rifle to bear. He aimed towards the same Mindy once he was behind the rock and squeezed as many shots as he could at the enemy PA before his gun ran dry.

He fumbled with the unfamiliar weapon for some vital seconds, trying to figure out how to reload it, and finally managed to replace the battery under the barrel, then continued firing.

Alexandra raised an eyebrow as her weapon started tossing about and soon even became wrapped around her. Of course that happened while, she was braking from her use of booster, so at first Alex had enough to do with just keeping on her legs. That let the kitty bastard to try and slit her throat. Now how embarassing would that be.

"Oh bollocks!" Alexandra stated. Important was that she did not let go of Nekoes legs, because if she would she would probably not be able to caught her again. So there she was in 2 ton power armour, powered with two fusion generators. Alex reckoned that should make her stronger then one little neko. So what she actually did was pulling on Nekoes legs to get her off her. Either the neko would let go or Alex would be suddenly holding only the half of neko.

Devlin bit down on his tongue as the initial missiles sent vibrations along the platform and under his prone figure, rattling his body like a tuning fork. He had some trouble looking down the sightless barrel under pressure, but the SAVTech’s aim-assist helped tracked the Mindy’s (B) approach as she rushed the platform through a veil of smoke and dust. Devlin continued to squeeze the rifle’s trigger in quick motions with the shots arching around the Neko’s shields. The others seemed to take notice as they resorted to CQC, some even taking a cat into a combat as a mace.

Devlin growled as the rifle 20-shot battery died in time for the Mindy’s shielding to shatter. He threw the rifle aside, realizing that he had neglected to scavenge the bookstore for extra ammo. He switched for his LSP just as the Mindy (B) retreated into the rest area and out of the marine’s sight, leaving a trail of particle beams in its wake as Bernhard was caught in a crossfire. Devlin looked for a clear shot at the Mindy (A) in the stairwell, but could see no way from his position in the middle of the station. Frustrated, he closed his eyes as he tried to think of a safe, sensible approach of lessening the pressure on the P1C while exhibiting self-control in the face of war.

“Fuck it!” Devlin yelled over the fighting, tucking his sidearm away and picking up the Impaler rifle he had discarded as he jumped to his feet.

He tossed the rifle in the air and caught it by the barrel, holding it with both gauntlets as if it were a club. The Hostile took off in a run, raising the Impaler as he proceeded around the corner, trying to avoid Mort's shots. If the NMX didn’t want to play fair, and decided to gang up on his new friends, then the Nepleslian would have to resort to big stick diplomacy, capitalizing on the “big stick” end. Bellowing a battle cry, Devlin twisted his hips upon reaching the Mindy (B) and swung the rifle across, into her side, using the extra momentum from the windup to try and knock the Mindy off balance.