2018-02-28: When Birds Fly

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============================<* Gunsmoke Desert *>=============================

The Gunsmoke Desert occupies the northwestern portion of Ignas. This desert is different from Aveh's. Instead of rolling dunes of sand, it has dry and cracked ground, and the mountains that rim it also intrude into the interior, forming stunning rock formations that can look as beautiful as they look impossible. The settlements here are hard-pressed to survive, consisting of countless small towns. The lucky few are connected by railways to the Seed Cities scattered about the Gunsmoke. Many are lost to the sands, which cover them and a tremendous concentration of ruins from Filgaia's past. This makes these badlands the heart of Drifter activity in Ignas.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4z_CxmE0AkA
DC: You switch forms to CK-01 Jaeger!
DC: Jacqueline Barber switches forms to CK-01 Jaeger!
DC: Elhaym van Houten switches forms to Vierge!
DC: Noeline switches forms to Chevalier of the Dragon!
DC: Zed switches forms to Manic Blade Master Zed!
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

        The Fereshte.

        Gebler has no doubt immediately picked up on reports of a new flying object -- in no small part because of their own surveillance of Wayside village, unknown to most of its residents... including a certain tracking beacon that'd been installed along the hull of its one and only method of escape from the all-consuming power of the Demon of Elru.

        The ramshackle airship is currently perched along an oceanside cliff hugging a mountainside, along the west bank of Ignas. It is geographically not far from Lost July and its surrounding area, a more remote place than the Gunsmoke Desert and the rest of the Badlands...

        It's been a few days since the maiden voyage and the escape. The airship is a two-body vehicle, not dissimilar to that of a zeppelin or other balloon-based aircraft:

        (Image: https://imgur.com/a/clFTf)

        The top half is what you could describe to be ancient technology. Composed of the top hull of a Hyadean carrier, it has a resplendent chassis with lightweight, translucent blue metal spreading out into fin-like wings and an imposing dragonshead mast figure. The engines are perched along the back, as well as propellers and supporting fins -- currently, a mixture of Emma Motors as well as repurposed Kislevi Servo Motors stolen from the Warfront.

        The bottom half...

        ... well... it's very obviously an old, kind of rickety wooden sailing vessel, bolted together and plugged up from the damage sustained from its maiden voyage. It's held together by sturdy masts, and has enough space for what appears to be a miniature version of the village in the cargo hull underneath. It's very Wayside in a way -- made out of hard work, good feelings, ingenuity, desperation, and perspiration.

        Riesenlied is standing at the top deck as she listens in on the shortwave communication, the Ebon Wings' dragons circling in a perimeter to keep patrol. "Please keep your eyes peeled to the skies -- I don't want any surprises. Devet, how're the repairs on the Portside coming along?"

        "W-well, it'll be stable, at least. It won't... it won't make us lose altitude, but I've evacuated the folks and marked it off as a hazard zone right now."

        "It can't be helped... if we ever have to get into a combat situation, I'll try to make use of my powers to shield us," Riesenlied mutters. She holds her stomach and winces softly -- Siegfried's assault on her had not come lightly, and she was still reeling a little.

        "Just don't overdo it... we're all here to support you."

        "I know..." Riesenlied whispers, sounding a little out of breath. "We'll make it. Like Noeline has often said -- if they knock us down..."

        "We'll get back up, no matter how many times!"

        Riesenlied smiles softly. "That's the spirit."

<Pose Tracker> Tzadkiel (Airship) has posed.

Indeed, Gebler was aware of the Fereshte's activities the moment the airship took to the sky. Although the explicit details of what had taken place at Wayside were unknown for now, the most likely conclusion was that the settlement had been destroyed by the Quarter Knights, and the ship now carried what was to be had of the survivors, the Tainted leadership likely among them.

The shadowy organization's flagship, the Tzadkiel, was not in the operating range of the Fereshte when first alerted, but that situation was rectified in a matter of hours of full thrust as the craft pivoted from it's other vital mission to engage in cleaning up loose ends. The battleship appears first as a speck in the sky, and grows more visible at an alarming rate.

(https://i.imgur.com/przDlZc.jpg)

If the Fereshte has anything approaching a hailable radio frequency, the will receive the following message from a feminine voice, clipped with professional curtness.

"Tzadkiel to unidentified aircraft, you are hereby ordered to halt all activity and prepare for boarding and confiscation. Any attempt to resist or flee will be treated as an act of aggression."

Sounds like they mean business.

<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.

Kahm Yugh sat in the cleanly lit interior of a gear cockpit, absently scratching at his chest after a latest bout of last-second medicinal treatment, "All systems nominal." He repeated entirely to himself, double-checking all of the Hauteclaire's diagnostics in what was, at this point, more an act of ritual than anything else.

"They've just been hailed." He spoke into commlink between Lieutenants Van Houten and Voss. "Be ready to launch as soon as they move, and remember the parameters. If we can't confiscate the craft, it's to be shot down."

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

        Down in the bowels of the ship, a certain pink-haired mechanic is running around, squinting as she ducks under steam leaks and then immediately launches herself forward to spin a valve back towards closed. She's not a Metal Demon - but at this point, she kind of counts as an honorary member of Wayside, for all the work she's done there, and naturally found her way to the ship as a matter of course. (That course being 'wah, wah-- Miss Riese, lemme see the engine! Please!!')

        "--I honestly dunno how this thing is holding together, but we're getting there!" she exults aloud to anyone nearby, her face alight with the sheer joy of hurried and chaotic engineering; she's smudged and sweating, wiping at her brow from the effort - but there's evidently no time to waste, as she scurries nimbly across to the next leak before it can even burst from its pipe.

        "That corner next!" she directs a nearby Tainted, her voice sharper than usual in her urgency as she drags her pot into her lap. The spidery white lines along its surface have not stopped glowing throughout the flight, which might explain why she's looking so tired; she fishes into a pocket, tossing half of a ration bar into her mouth as she talks around it. "The pressure's gonna push along this pipe to the next outlet! Get ready to vent, okay?"

        Behind her and sat in an alcove is the familiar form of Big Shal - except not all that familiar, the golem having apparently shrunk down to be able to fit. Around its feet is a small pile of components apparently taken from the golem itself; the construct selects one, turns it over in its hands to regard it, then plugs it into place amidst the machinery in the ceiling. Instants later, the pot beeps softly, a duplicate part rattling inside of it.

        * * *

        Speaking of Noeline - she's flanking the Tainted leader, watching the skies for any signs of trouble. By rights, she should be on a dragon to do that sort of reconnaissance - but she doesn't look like she's about to leave Riesenlied's side any time soon. Not just for Riesenlied's benefit, either - the spy might look like she's in better shape, but she's nowhere near a hundred percent yet, one arm bandaged and generally looking rather worn out.

        She glances across at the mention of her name, then lets out a quietly amused breath. It doesn't last, as her expression turns more somber the next moment. "... I wonder what kind of an operating range the Demon of Elru can boast," she mutters; that's the worst of their worries as far as she can see it, with Gebler a close second - but both of them rather unknown quantities on the whole.

        The thought of that makes her gaze go distant, but she shakes it away as the cheer comes over her headset - and then sets her jaw as the Tzadkiel's warning sounds loud and clear over their radio link, cutting into the chatter. "... quite so," she replies to the other Tainted after a long moment, turning to regard an incoming speck on the horizon. "After all, we've faced down damn near everything else on this planet. --stand ready!" she calls, glancing once to Riesenlied before stepping briskly up to the edge of the deck.

        As she pulls her enormous twohanded sword from out of nowhere, the weapon simply melting out of her hand, the first swing makes the air thrum with the force of it. She can mean business too.

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

 
Elly van Houten is not having a good day, but much like Pollyanna, she has decided not to let it get her down. The cool and flint-eyed determination - the fruit of her decision, amorphous as it might be, to do more than simply and quietly fade - has stayed with her.

Reality has become far more complex.

The Fereshte. Elly has seen it, and it has a heartbreaking ramshackle beauty in its present condition. She gazes on it with a sort of mournfulness in her heart, a mournfulness that she worries will be seen and read and commented upon. Will her face be an open mirror into the depths of her thoughts? Will Major Yugh spot her worry for those small children, the lingering sense of pathos that has driven her warm fuzzy emanations for the Metal Demons - no, the Hyadaens - who have sought to live in peace?

In actual fact, Elly has been subdued but otherwise apparently normal. It could be taken as fatigue or re-adjustment to the controlled environment of Gebler's great ship, the Tzadkiel. Or maybe just... not being effusive. Elly is not the queen of bubbly extroversion, after all.

Anticipation resolves with a flash when the Major contacts her.

"Understood, sir," she answers Kahm, telling herself internally: Don't babble. Don't babble. Don't babble. "Systems are green here. Final activation check on A-S control..."

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

        Loren Voss isn't entirely certain he can pinpoint when he last slept, shuffled between missions with barely time to breathe let alone report in. Maybe fifteen minutes here or there with his eyes closed, but that barely qualifies under standards.

        Fortunately, the needs of the body can be put on hold for a while -- there's a whole range of stimulants for that (some mundane, not so much) and of course good old fashioned stress and anxiety.

        Theoretically, this should be simple. But, of course, the pessimistic medic has learned from experience that nothing ever goes as planned.
        And he's already possibly nearly died today.

        He's been quiet, as if in contemplation of something.

        "Understood." Stuffing the game piece with which he was fidgeting into a pocket, his gaze runs over the array before him, diagnostics check finishing its final pass.

        "All systems are green, sir. Ready on your orders."

        Of course it's all passing its checks today.
        He takes a breath, steadying himself.

<Pose Tracker> Id has posed.

Lydia Seren has been working day in day out to fix the Fereshte since she knows it's only a matter of time before there's another problem. She's been simultaneously learning finer points of Kislev engineering and teaching aeronautics to some apprentice engineers. Periodically she runs around and hits something with a hammer or tightens something with a wrench. Sometimes the wrench is also used to hit something. Periodically denizens in other areas of the ship hear her shouting things like 'We're geniuses! Geniuses! Geniuses!"

But then problems start occurring. Or rather, A Problem. Suddenly, there's (to Lydia) a random airship upon them demanding the Waysiders prepare to be boarded so they can confiscate all her hard work! The Fereshte does indeed have a hailing frequency but no, Lydia actually has no idea who these people are.

Fuck that shit!

Lydia tells her team to get the engine running. It's earlier than she'd like but at least she had a few days to conduct repairs. She then elects to hail back to the Tzadkiel (Riesenlied might want to stop her before she says too much).

"Eat shit, I don't know, Kislev or whatever? This is our intellectual property!"

She'd probably be going on longer if someone doesn't snatch the comms out of her very hand at this point. She doesn't stay still, though. It's with that she rushes to the wheel at the fore of the ship and the Fereshte takes off rapidly into the air. A slab of metal rips off it as it does so. Pay...pay no mind to that.

<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

Leon Albus is still aboard the Fereshte. He had been scouting ahead, while the ship was grounded. After all the trouble found at Lost July and the Pleasing Garden, caution seemed wisest. He looks up, alarm written clearly across his face, when he hears the words being broadcast to the Fereshte. Another airship out here can only be one thing. He feels a tingle up the back of his spine.

        A LITTLE LATER

"This is Leon," the captain of the Black Wolves says. He reaches his fingers up to his collar, loosening it, as he leans back in the cockpit. The blue Gear has been repaired ever since Josie Lovelace took it out against a Golem. The repairs had been extensive, but the crew at Wayside was able to help a little -- and he had some money to improve it. His eyes narrow, before he grabs the controls. "I'm moving to escort the ship."

The blue Gear rises up from the horizon; it falls into formation beside the Fereshte. Its single eye, center-mounted on its head, flashes once -- and with a snap of its arm, Weglaff unfurls its fold-out, forearm-mounted blade. He looks tense.

He sounds tense. "I'm afraid you'll have to take a raincheck," he says. "It may be awhile, seeing as we're in a desert."

DC: Leon Albus switches forms to Weglaff!
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline was impressed that the Fereshte had been able to make it this far. It hadn't been easy, certainly - their first flight was a little on the rough side. But, miraculously, it had worked - the ship that was held together practically through the hopes and dreams of those aboard it had survived its maiden voyage.

She was glad she had been there to witness it, and even more glad to have been aboard it. She had offered her assistance to Riesenlied and her people, and she's making good on that offer even now.

It was a pretty large vehicle and thus, there were some things that were difficult to take care of. And that is why Jacqueline can be found in her Gear, the CK-01 Jaeger, helping see to repairs. While her machine typically bore the symbols and color scheme of the Caravan Kinship, it had been refitted with armor plating that had not been painted yet.

She's currently helping fit something big back into place, being fed instructions through the communications system.

"Like...this?" She asks, holding it still so that it can be reattached.

Frankly, she was just glad to still be able to help in some fashion. There was only so much she could do around here that wasn't already being done by people who were more knowledgeable on the subject.

Little did she realize, however, that there would soon be more trouble on the horizon...trouble in the form of an airship. She's alerted first in the form of a 'beep' from her Gear's radar, and then as it appears in the sky.

It nearly causes her to drop the part she's holding.

"G-get this part situated, quickly!" She urges over her communications.

She doesn't know that there will be an attack, but she wants to be sure, just in case.

On another frequency, she adds...

"Shalune, please find someplace safe..." She urges.

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

MEANWHILE, IN THE KITCHEN
 
        Someone has been peeling potatoes dutifully. It's best to leave the matter as 'someone.' They are peelin' 'em like crazy. There are plenty to peel, also an amount that can applicably be referred to as 'crazy.' This someone might also be crazy? There's only so far one can give commentary on this situation, as it is soon about to prove irrelevant.
        There is an entirely different 'someone' who is, in a completely different flavor of 'crazy,' within the pile of potatoes. Meticulously, in the dark of night not long ago, a certain other someone measured his weight against a quantity of potatoes. Once he came to his answer, he allowed himself to be packed among them. He figures he would have accounted for mass well enough that one wouldn't have caught on until it was too late.
        The crate was placed at an opportune location for surveillance, but only for so long. It is no small feat to have remained as still as one has without feeling the compulsion to fidget or flex to avoid the onset of cramps... but it probably won't be long before whoever's in charge of potato peeling discovers who, or what, got inside.
        From the one opening available to their eyesight, they get a window view outside. It's been the same sight for some time. He is not certain when the Fereshte will be moving again, or where. Once it gets in motion, it'll become an educated guess. He's been staring at maps enough lately he could make some good ones.
        ...
        There's a glint of something in the sky. He blinks. His mind races with a narrow range of possibilities, arranged to some criteria or experience he doesn't have a full grasp of. They all tell him the same thing, from an astonishingly miniscule amount of information that would not be anywhere near enough for this same conclusion to be drawn by anyone else.
        Incoming aircraft. He can't stay here.
        The potato pile shifts as this other weirdo within goes for a satchel at their hip, recites a few syllables, flexes some fingers...
 
ONE RUDE AND INAPPROPRAITE SMOKE BOMBING IN THE KITCHEN LATER, HONESTLY, WHY WOULD YOU EVEN DO THAT IN THIS OR EVEN ANY CIRCUMSTANCE LIKE AT ALL
 
        There is a stowaway Ethius who was not seen (nor even asked) to have boarded the Fereshte rushing out towards the deck shortly before there's even a proper hailing. The point is long since moot, as by now everyone is mobilizing to the news. As it is, he's just there, out on the top deck a ways away behind Riesenlied, Noeline, and the other Tainted assigned up there.
        An abrupt, unexplained appearance as always. He already has his quarterstaff held upright in his left hand.
        "It would appear, from the movements I am witnessing, that they chose to announce their presence directly." He muses aloud. So, um, does this mean he's here to help? Maybe?

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Those who fought Id during the battle of Wayside generally didn't end up in a very favorable state of being by the end of it. Josie was seriously injured, people weren't sure how Neriah was even alive... and then there was Xantia, who aside from some minor bruises was just fine. She might have felt guilty about it if she'd taken the time to take stock of the situation after the battle. But as soon as she was able, she disembarked the Fereshte, saying only that there was something she needed to do.

Considering what Id said before, it was likely he'd be back. Knowing that at best she only managed to delay him with the damage she did to his Gear, to be able to properly fight him off, she was going to need her own Gear. Even though it wasn't long since it was heavily damaged fighting the golem Sado, this strikes her as the best idea right now. Experience has always been the best teacher in her experience, surely things will go better this time.

Certainly, protecting the Wayside fugitives is part of her motivation. But there's definitely something more going on between her and Id, considering how eager she always is to face him despite the obvious dangers involved. Even Id's own behavior towards her during the previous battle could be considered odd. After all, it wasn't on Xantia's own merits that she avoided serious injury back then. Though there's room for doubting whether it was intentional, the fact remains that twice over, it was due to Id's direct actions that Xantia was kept from being in much worse shape by the end of things.

And so, as fate would have it, another speck appears in the distance from the opposite side as the Tzadkiel, this one ground-bound, kicking up a large amount of dust as it approaches at high speed: the quadruped Gear Silvestris, in all its skeletal cat-like glory. Xantia tightens her grip on the controls, searching for Id's red Gear in the area. Not finding it immediately, she experiences an odd mix of relief and disappointment. At least she made it before anything awful happened.

There's just the little matter of an unknown second airship present, which initially makes her more curious than alarmed, but may complicate things for her more than she knows. Unbeknownst to her, Silvestris is a prototype Gear packed full of Solarian tech and meant for eventual use by Gebler. It was reported missing from an Aveh landship following an attack by golem Sado, the logical assumption being that it was captured by Kislev. But unconfirmed reports of its first sighting in months placed it among the combatants at the Kaiser's summer palace, interestingly enough fighting against Kislevi forces. And now here it is, Solarian property being piloted by some -lamb- or another. This may not sit well with all involved...

DC: Xantia switches forms to Hollow Gear Silvestris!
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

Matilda, aboard the Fereshte, has been trying to get herself healthy again. She's had a very rough week, and the wounds are starting to pile up; she looks worn-down, haggard, and only moreso without her coat. Indeed, in this place, in this time, she looks, more like a soldier than a compounder, with her strange salvaged armor and a decent amount of exposed, lean muscle.

She is also, frankly, too beat up to keep fighting... but what she does have is a Gear. The Honeybee has technically never been used for anything but broadcasting threat and getting Dean Stark hype -- since Matilda took it, anyway. Today... it looks like that's going to change.

She gets herself settled in the cockpit, breathing in and out. It's... still a new experience, honestly, and there are -- some elements of it, say, that don't come all that naturally to Matilda.

The Honeybee is... unassuming. Really, among Gears it seems almost a novelty -- understated solid-state blades of middling length and a sidearm. It doesn't look like a threat next to Gears like Silvestris or Weglaff.

... Matilda kind of knows it, too. As the other airship approaches and requests surrender -- which Matilda, at least, does hae an easily accessible hailing frequency for and does hear -- her grip on the controls turns white-knuckled.

DC: Matilda Whitehead switches forms to Refurbished Gear Honeybee!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

        Due to Cassidy's apparent death, Gwen was understandably distant when she had managed to get aboard the ship, separating herself into whatever quarters guaranteed her some privacy. When she finally did emerge, she had the few pearls set on a piece of leather string around her neck, set over the handkerchief knotted around it. Of course, for some reason Gwen wasn't amenable to anyone really examining her, either.

        That much was clear, and it's a situation that would be remedied in the future, but that's a story for yet another day.

        Gwen yawns as she emerges from whatever nook she managed to shove herself into, a bare hand itching idly at the bedridden curls of her strawberry blonde hair. She notices the sky beyond the windows, blearily, noticing their landed position. There's voices on the intercom.

        Oh, right. She's... on a ship that can... fly... HOLY COW SHE'S ON A SHIP THAT CAN FLY, WHY WAS SHE DEPRESSED oh right, Cassidy

        "What's goin' on?" Gwen manages to ask around a second yawn. "Guardians, I needed that nap... Did somethin' happen?"

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

"...Fereshte artillery online," a dry feminine voice speaks up over an internal frequency. ...She's not that far from Riesenlied and Noeline, frankly, but just far enough, now that she's climbed up onto what she's claimed as her weapons platform. But there are no guns and cannons beside her. The Fereshte is a peaceful craft. What she has done, however, is put on heavy boots, some armor, and taken off her gloves. She was already here, after all, preparing. She figured that this was inevitable.

She's still too pale, looking a bit ill, after her experience with Harken--tired from drawing on a greater power than she ought be able. But she's had time to rest and get a few stimulants of her own, and that's going to have to be enough. She thinks on Riesenlied's words... and nods, slowly. "You'll be all right," she says, somewhat more reassuringly, over the shortwave radio.

Lily Keil does not mention to the others that she has never attempted to cast down at something so huge before, but she does pick up a set of binoculars and check for what look like weakpoints, anything she can target...

"You Gears ready?" she asks over the line, keeping her eyes open.

DC: Lily Keil switches forms to Lieutenant Lily!
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

        Riesenlied's expression drops as a shadow crosses the skies -- the presence of the foreign craft, the 'Tzadkiel'... just confirms a sinking feeling that'd been present in her heart for the last few days. She'd seen what Gebler was capable of, back during the Fairgrounds of Adlehyde -- their deployment from the air came seemingly out of nowhere, and in a remarkably short amount of time.

        She hears a crackling, and places a hand to her comms. Unlike Gebler's tech, her radio communications are particularly crude and would have more static in it.

        "This is the Fereshte. My name is Riesenlied, the acting captain of this vessel. We are unarmed and do not have hostile intentions. We have wounded refugees and children onboard, and we would like to request safe passage to our destination: westward, to Aquvy."

        Her heart sinks further within, because she knows that this is going to fall on deaf ears. But she has to try--

        Eat shit, I don't know, Kislev or whatever? This is our intellectual property!

        Riesenlied's eyes widen, as she stammers, "L-Lydia, please--" but she's thrown clear off her feet when the airship begins to lift and rise off the ground. She yelps and holds onto Noeline, finding stability in her two-hundred pound slab of metal anchored against the ground.

        She switches to friendly comms as she frantically hurries towards the wheel.

        "E-everyone, the Fereshte is taking emergency flight -- noncombatants, proceed to the cargo hull and secure yourselves!" She glances towarsd the Drifters and those that are assembled with Gears nearby. "Shalune, Maya, please see to the wounded as necessary!" Yes, a certain orange-gowned Drifter is certainly downstairs treating the wounded in her Nurse job change at present.

        "Ebon Wings, take formation around the airship and intercept their flanking manuevers!
         Leon, Matilda -- we're entering Formation A while the Feresthe enters the valley!
         Jay, Xantia, can you please provide them with backup?"

        'Formation A', they've discussed before, refers to utilising the forestry and clearings around the valley where the airship is headed to in order to deflect attacks and camouflage their assault.

                                      ~*~
                                                                               
                                  OBJECTIVE:
                                                                               
           The Fereshte is taking to the air in a running retreat!
 Feel free to pose moving over mountainous and forested terrain in your Gears!
                Survive against the Tzadkiel and Gebler forces!

GS: Riesenlied has attacked Leon Albus with Rising Heart - 'Seek the New World'!
GS: Riesenlied has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Rising Heart - 'Seek the New World'!
GS: Riesenlied has completed her action.
GS: Riesenlied heals Matilda Whitehead! She gains 400 temporary hit points!
GS: Riesenlied heals Leon Albus! He gains 400 temporary hit points!
DC: Morgan Newkirk switches forms to Restless Sinner!
<Pose Tracker> Tzadkiel (Airship) has posed.


There was a moment of silence when Riesenlied responded to the Tzadkiel's hailing. The same woman's voice returned, "Riesenlied. You are a known criminal and fugitive for multiple acts of hostility against humanity and Filgaia. Submit to Gebler's custody without resistance, and no further harm will come to your crew."

Perhaps it is a lie. Or maybe Gebler simply had a very different idea from Riesenlied of what constituted harm.

Either way, once it was clear the Fereshte was going to do the exact opposite of what had just been commanded, the Tzadkiel seemed to lose interest in any further communication. The airship merely pressed on, growing in size and enormity until the difference in size and class of the two airships becomes readily apparent. Although Riesenlied prepared her units for flanking maneuver, the battleship doesn't seem of a mind to play by conventional rules. Rather than come up on the side of the rebel airship, it bore down on it from above, using it's superior size and mass in an attempt to keep the other ship low to the ground and prevent it from making further ascent, the bottom of the Tzadkiel's metallic shell looming ominously. Multiple firing turrets rotated and locked into position, drawing their barrels down on the seemingly defenseless ship.

At the same time, a dozen points of light streaked out of the battleship's bow, flying in tight formation and drawing close on the Fereshte as well.

Gears.

<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.

Kahm felt the press of the Gs like a familiar caress as Hauteclaire catapulted from the Tzadkiel's gear deck, establishing the lead point of a formation that should be joined shortly by Lieutenants Voss's and Van Houten's respective gears. He immediately draw the white gear down into a blinding flyby that took by Feresthe's deck at a full thrust, long enough for the gear to scan and match a number of targets with known profiles in their military database.

POI RIESENLIED PRESENCE CONFIRMED
POI WHITLOCK PRESENCE CONFIRMED
POI HESIOD PRESENCE CONFIRMED
POI NOELINE PRESENCE CONFIRMED
UNIT WEGLAFF PRESENCE CONFIRMED
UNIT SILVESTRIS PRESENE CONFIRMED

Each result read out with a digital chime, earning a gruff acknowledgement from Kahm. How coincidental.

"Lieutenants, delta maneuver on the Fereshte. I'll take point on the bow, with the two of on either flank. Seems they have some gear support drifters, the one coming up on the head is a prototype unit we lost some months ago-Silvestris. Take care around it-it was untested."

All this was delivered crisply as the Hauteclaire shot back around the airship and landed forcefully at the front of the deck, measuring enough force the rock the contents something fierce.

GS: Kahm Yugh has attacked Riesenlied with Kahm Kick!
GS: Riesenlied takes a glancing hit from Kahm Yugh's Kahm Kick for 45 hit points!
GS: Disease! Statuses applied to Riesenlied!
DC: 1 turn has elapsed in the battle against Kahm Yugh! 4 turns remain!
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

 
Elly doesn't say anything reassuring to Loren. That, perhaps, will be more assuring to him than anything she could have said. Elly doesn't know. She's trying not to let herself slide into dark thoughts - she might have to act at her utmost at a moment's notice, after all.

And then...

GEARS - LAUNCH!

Vierge presses forwards, the hand of the Emperor resting on Elly's body and pressing her gently into the seat cushion. Darkness gives way to the light of the surface world; Vierge, in all of its novelty and slimly gracile beauty, takes flight for the first authentic combat engagement Elly has used the new-model Gear in. Hopefully, it will go better than her last major Gear operation.

She feels safe and cocooned (cuccooned?) in this giant of steel, on a visceral level. It is paradoxical, almost. The pop-ups reveal others are there, and Elly tries to control the sinking in her gut. Weglaff, she thinks.

I can't signal Leon directly, Elly thinks further. That would be tremendously bad. But perhaps if I indicate who I am... (Why didn't I think ahead, Elly excoriates herself even as Vierge banks left, lowering itself nearer to the ground plane. I never mentioned Vierge to him! He's not going to know it's me --)

(Unless...!)

-=-=-

The new-model Gear raises an arm as it closes the distance. In that arm's hand is a broad weapon, almost like a macuahuitl. The aerial Gear closes the distance like a devouring wind, cosing in nearby to swing the weapon downwards, letting momentum carry the combo forwards.

It is a pretty sharp and brutal combo. It may also be a FAMILIAR one. Though to be fair, Elhaym van Houten does not, usually, swoop down from the air before she whups on someone with a battle rod, the analogy was always going to have its limits.

Sweat runs down the small of Elly's back despite the neutral climate-control inside of the cockpit. Breathe, she reminds herself. Just keep trying and something will work out--!!

GS: Elhaym van Houten has attacked Leon Albus with Beat Storm!
GS: Elhaym van Houten has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Morgan Newkirk has posed.


Morgan had just come to find Gwen. I mean really. He just needed to get her, go on a little excursion. Because there is a non-zero chance that unless they find a body, Cassidy is just faking it. So she can have a nap or something. She's so damn lazy.

But when he found out the poor girl was that tired, well. He let her sleep. She'll need the rest. The Drifter and Guildsman just waited, patiently working on his own problems and his Gear. Broken as it was from the last battle.

...of course. Things just can't be that simple right?

When the airship takes off and the alarms start to scream the foxes head comes up and he just blinks for a moment. "...what the--"

One look outside tells him just what is going on.

"Something is happening." Calls the fox towards Gwen as he starts for his hanger. "Looks like Gebler finely took exception to someone else having an airship. Gotta love that constancy!" He calls towards her as he pats her on the shoulder.

"Don't die, we have something to talk about later! But I'm sure the'll need help somewhere, get topside! I'm getting my Gear!"

Because with that kind of firepower, this little ship is going to need all the help it can get.

GS: Leon Albus takes a solid hit from Elhaym van Houten's Beat Storm for 204 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

        "Uhhh-- sorry, no can do, Jay!" Shalune pipes up over the comms to Jacqueline, a bright grin in her tone. "I mean, Big Shal's here to keep tabs on me, but I'm kinda needed down below right now, Miss Riese's orders," she adds, which does seem to be a genuine statement as another hiss sounds out in the background, combined with a brief stunned yelp when the ship shifts from sudden extra weight. "Lyddie, three feet t'your left-ish! --anyway, uh, I guess get out there and give 'em hell, and that's the best way to deal with it!" she... cheers, over a sudden chorus of banging.

        She's not normally quite this devil-may-care, but this can probably be assumed to be a special case, what with the flying airship and all. Or, perhaps Lunata's starting to rub off on her a little bit. Either way, the Carakin may never be the same...

        * * *

        The ship jolts, but fortunately Noeline has the werewithal and the reflexes to catch Riesenlied before she can tumble to the deck; she grins faintly to herself as she steadies the Tainted leader, offering the other demon a smile of encouragement. "We are all behind you-- Cap'n," she adds, stressing the apostrophe - and okay, well, perhaps that last part is tease, but the first part is quite genuine.

        "Quite so, Mr. Hesiod," Noeline adds with a chime as she begins to step forward, a hand at her mouth as she grins behind it; it's almost like old times, except the smile is a lot more steely than it might otherwise be and her eyes are locked on the incoming ship, watching for any launches. "Apparently, they intend to board and confiscate. I intend to make a game attempt to pluck them out of the sky, myself," she adds with a huff of air - but then she truly has taken on Gears in combat before, bringing her speed and unnatural strength to bear. Perhaps it's not altogether far-fetched, as ideas go...

        "Fancy words - but I'm a bit of an expert at hiding behind fancy words myself," she comments back over the radio with a snort. She plants her blade against the deck - carefully, of course - and slowly considers the airship as it flies overhead, steeling her strength for whatever's to come. "Under whose jurisdiction? Under whose airspace? We are a long way from your employers - but then so was Adlehyde, I suppose. Are you so terrified of a bunch of refugees that you consider a weaponless aerial barge to be a threat to your air superiority?"

        It's halfway between a taunt and a genuine question - but there's no answer anyway, and Noeline didn't expect one. Instead, a Gebler machine comes rocketing in to disrupt the deck; the metal demon braces briefly for the impact, letting the ship rock and then using the backward momentum for a little extra speed as she pushes off the wood.

        The movement she draws isn't particularly long and isn't particularly high compared to the Gear she's facing - jumping fifty feet or so is rather beyond her capabilities - but the edge of her sword shines with force, and the crescent arc it draws in the sky seems to hang there for an instant, and then rocket unnaturally upwards to buffet against the Hauteclaire's armour.

        As a follow-up, more out of sheer opportunism than anything else, she brings the weight of her sword down on the unknown Gear's foot. Might as well do something with its weight, after all.

GS: Noeline has attacked Kahm Yugh with Drop Crush!
GS: Noeline has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

"Formation A," Leon repeats. "Roger. Miss Whitehead, I'm uncertain if you have much experience in Gear combat, or if you've engaged Gebler Gears in the past. They'll outclass us--so use the woods to the best of your ability, to even the odds. Let's move! Lily, stay sae up there."

The Weglaff begins to rush through the woods. The blue Gear, well-armored and fierce, moves fast; Gebler Gears, however, can fly.

Which is why, as the Vierge comes down, the trees can only do so much to keep it off Weglaff. The blue Gear turns, sharply, and swings up one arm -- and the forearm plate crumples inward, when the rod slams into it. Leon doesn't process the attack as akin to Elly van Houten's. After all, she typically does not come crashing down from the skies above.

But, he knows, she could be here. Fei passed on her note; she plans to leave. His muscles tense, as he looks at the Vierge. The Weglaff jumps ahead, to keep pace with the Fereshte. The large cannon in the chest spins up; then, a rain of shells tears through the trees, and comes crashing down towards the white-and-pink Gear.

GS: Leon Albus has attacked Elhaym van Houten with Impact Cannon!
GS: Leon Albus has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

        Neither does he say anything to her. He has his own suspicions about her intent, but they're not something that command wants to -- or is willing to -- listen to just before mission.
        Not from him and not against the golden girl, that is.

        For an instant, there's that familiar sense of weightlessness, coupled with that heady mix of exhilaration/dread that comes with flight as Schiehallion launches, the heavily armored Gear taking to the air.

        It doesn't last. Or rather, half of it doesn't last.

        Careful, runs the thought. Watch your positioning.

        It's always the worst part.

        "Understood. Assuming delta positioning." Loren's gaze drifts briefly to the console before him, to the long stream of readouts coming in across the screen. His lips press thin. "...Numerous POI detected, Major. 'She's' among them."
        Lily, that is.

        The heavy Gear picks up speed, settling in to the right as Elly's Vierge banks left. Similarly, Loren allows a fraction of his awareness settle into the Gear's circuits, flooding in a burst of ether into and through the amplifiers.
        As steady, as swift as the racing rapids. Not a trace of uncertainity to be found -- just a rush. This is what is bestowed upon him and his teammates as they fly forth, the forest an ocean of green underneath.

        "I'll keep it in mind, sir."

        The Gear slows a fraction -- it's good at that, the drawback of the armor plating. But only briefly, only as it completes its approach on the ship, giving the Hauteclaire time to complete its landing. Schiehallion comes in from the right as promised, drawing both sidearms as it closes and opening fire.

DC: MISS! Elhaym van Houten completely evades Impact Cannon from Leon Albus!
GS: Loren Voss has attacked Kahm Yugh with Haste Factor!
GS: Loren Voss has attacked Elhaym van Houten with Haste Factor!
GS: Loren Voss has attacked Loren Voss with Haste Factor!
GS: Loren Voss takes a solid hit from Loren Voss's Haste Factor for 0 hit points!
GS: Quick! Statuses applied to Loren Voss!
GS: Elhaym van Houten takes a solid hit from Loren Voss's Haste Factor for 0 hit points!
GS: Quick! Statuses applied to Elhaym van Houten!
GS: Loren Voss has attacked Riesenlied with SEG-V.Terra!
GS: Loren Voss has completed his action.
GS: Riesenlied takes a glancing hit from Loren Voss's SEG-V.Terra for 99 hit points!
GS: Kahm Yugh takes a solid hit from Loren Voss's Haste Factor for 0 hit points!
GS: Quick! Statuses applied to Kahm Yugh!
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

        It hurts, of course.

        It hurts to be branded a criminal and fugitive, for multiple acts of hostility against humanity... and she can't ever forget that she tried to give Siegfried another chance... she just spoke about her complance to Garrett days ago, and she can't agree with what she hears.

        "I have a duty to protect my brethren, and to see that they are allowed to live a life free from oppression," Riesenlied speaks. "From Lord Siegfried... from hatred and prejudice -- and from Gebler as well."

        The Fereshte is rather clearly far, far tinier than the Tzadkiel -- even with the components of the Hyadean carrier in tow, there's just no comparing the two. It may as well have been a battle between a proper warship and a schooner. But they had to press on, no matter what.

        Riesenlied bites her lip firmly as she holds onto a supporting rope, staring at the Hauteclaire as it leads the charge with the accompanying Solaris Gears deploying like points of light from the underside of the craft.

        Surprisingly, the Fereshte has a wee bit more resilience that it doesn't just shatter immediately -- the Hauteclaire's descent rocking the ship's bow but also dampened with a sudden emergence of light.

        Riesenlied's power.

        Similarly, the barrage on the Fereshte start to make their mark -- scathes of metal boarding and plywood are shredded apart by the Tzadkiel's might, but stop as soon as they hit the Hyadean carrier's metal. It shimmers a soft blue as the airship's almost organic wings tuck forward and--

        Dip low into the valley, taking advantage of the fact that there's more cover down there... and the fact that it can't gain much altitude without falling apart anyway.

"Lily, I'm counting on you to intercept as much of their forces as possible!
 Noeline, take Muni as a platform and stay mobile -- cover Lily's blind spot!
 Jay, please keep a vital eye on the ship's hull as needed...!"

        She... looks towards Ethius for a moment, genuinely perplexed at his sudden appearance, but then casts a faintly horrified look at the Hauteclaire when it arrives; she looks to Lydia, then steps forward, if only to protect her as needed as she steers. She must be suicidal, to try to face a gear on foot without a weapon...

        The new-model Gear with the aerial weapon looks deadly and unusual -- Riesenlied has no doubt all of them have tricks up their sleeves -- but it's going straight for Weglaff... she can only hope Leon and Matilda can run interference long enough. Loren's Gear draws her eye as well, as it opens fire and rocks the bow of the ship; it rattles under the weight of the shots, prompting Riesenlied to drop to one knee and wince.

GS: Riesenlied has attacked Lily Keil with Rising Heart - 'Empathic Burst'!
GS: Riesenlied has attacked Noeline with Rising Heart - 'Empathic Burst'!
GS: Riesenlied has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Rising Heart - 'Empathic Burst'!
GS: Riesenlied has completed her action.
GS: Noeline takes a solid hit from Riesenlied's Rising Heart - 'Empathic Burst' for 0 hit points!
GS: Reload! Noeline gains 15 extra FP from Riesenlied!
GS: Jacqueline Barber takes a solid hit from Riesenlied's Rising Heart - 'Empathic Burst' for 0 hit points!
GS: Reload! Jacqueline Barber gains 15 extra FP from Riesenlied!
<Pose Tracker> Id has posed.

A presence noticed.

It begins as a faint red twinkle in the sky.

And then it isn't a twinkle at all. The shockwave arrives first, shattering several windows along the Fereshte. The ship wobbles somewhat but is able to maintain present course. Xantia can see the Red Gear lurch suddenly into a maintaining speed as it pulls up near the airship. For whatever reason, it doesn't try to swing The Fereshte into the Tzadkiel just yet. Its own comms open up. It's Id. Judging from the timing, he didn't even take proper stock of the situation.

"SOLARIS!!" Id screams. "They are mine! Leave and I'll destroy you all!" He did not use the word 'or' there.

His thrusters flare and the Red Gear moves closer to the Fereshte, lashing out with one hand to grab ahold of it by the deck. Okay, maybe NOW he intends to throw the airship at Gebler though he doesn't quite do it just yet. There's someone on his ship that he wants.

Actually multiple someones but he doesn't actually know that just yet.

"Riesenlied!" He bellows. "What secrets are you hiding?! I'll rip them from your bones! And the bones of your people if I must!"

To show he means business, a hand from the Red Gear raises up and fires a 'warning shot' at Leon Albus of red crimson energy.

Of course from an overtuned gear like that a warning shot is sometimes just a shot. Maybe...this isn't actually a warning shot at all.

Nevertheless, the gear is quick. It moves onward and rears back with its fist before striking at the Vierge's...pressure points?

That's what it looks like anyway, a series of fierce strikes against the chakra points if this was a human he was fighting. Fiercely. Brutally.

GS: Id has attacked Riesenlied with Oh Shit It's Some asshole!
GS: Id has attacked Leon Albus with Crimson Shot!
GS: Riesenlied takes a glancing hit from Id's Oh Shit It's Some asshole for 78 hit points!
GS: Id has attacked Elhaym van Houten with Ultimate Pressure Point!
GS: Id has completed his action.
GS: Elhaym van Houten guards a hit from Id's Ultimate Pressure Point for 115 hit points!
GS: RUIN! All positive status effects and temporary hit points purged from Elhaym van Houten!
GS: Leon Albus guards a hit from Id's Crimson Shot for 131 hit points!
GS: Disrupt! Statuses applied to Leon Albus!
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

Riesenlied's encouragement is -- nigh on constant, honestly. It's soothing enough, though, sometimes; it's motivating, and what's more, the opportunity to avoid thinking about her own plan frees Matilda up to think about other things -- like activating her trump card right away.

"I haven't -- this is actually to be my first engagement," Matilda notes to Leon, as she moves for the forest. She's invested in a much better operating system than the disaster that came stock on this thing, and it shows; her movement, at least, is very good, remarkably agile through even fairly dense forest.

"... It's really a pity that we have to fight in this," she mumbles to herself, before finally checking herself for firing solutions. She has one, on the Hauteclaire -- and she's inclined to take it. Rather than close in right away, though, she follows Leon's advice and uses the terrain to her advantage, sticking to the forest as she draws the machine's holdout pistol rather than one of its solid-state blades and fires off several quick shots. The Gear's free hand rests on a blade, ready in case the Hauteclaire gets close or a chance to advance presents itself.

GS: Matilda Whitehead has attacked Kahm Yugh with Swarming!
GS: Matilda Whitehead has completed her action.
GS: Lily Keil takes a solid hit from Riesenlied's Rising Heart - 'Empathic Burst' for 0 hit points!
GS: Reload! Lily Keil gains 15 extra FP from Riesenlied!
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

This day was not going to end peacefully. Jacqueline shuts her eyes and steps away from the Fereshte as she receives the warning that the airship is about to undertake an emergency launch.

"Understood." Jacqueline replies with a nodding. It's more to convince herself than to inform them, since she cannot see it. She hadn't expected to see Gear combat this day...but at the very least she wasn't unprepared for it.

Shalune responds to her, as well. There's quiet on Jacqueline's end, before she lets out a haggard sigh.

"...I know. I just..." She stops and shakes her head. "...Be careful, alright? And...take care of them."

She begans to move, using the terrain for cover while trying to assess the number of enemies and what direction they're coming in from.

"Hang in there, everyone...but be careful! Try not to take any unnecessary risks..." She urges.

She hasn't drawn any of her weapons yet. She's hoping she won't need to.

GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Riesenlied with We Will Endure!!
GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action.
GS: Riesenlied takes a solid hit from Jacqueline Barber's We Will Endure! for 0 hit points!
GS: Quick and Shield! Statuses applied to Riesenlied!
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Xantia, arriving right in the middle of things, doesn't fully understand what's going on. Nothing new there. But thankfully Riesenlied already knows who pilots Silvestris, and her transmissions make things clear enough to figure out that the other airship is Trouble. Even if that wasn't originally the reason for Xantia going off to retrieve her Gear - which thankfully seems to be in good shape again - she is more than ready to improvise.

"Okay, I'll be right over!" With that, she quickly identifies the friendly Gears and moves to rendezvous, aided by the Silvestris's exceptional land speed to catch up in no time flat. Although she wasn't around when 'Formation A' was discussed, the instruction to provide backup is simple enough. All she has to do is follow the others and do as they do. Easy!

Well, in theory it would be easy. She wasn't expecting the other airship to be carrying so many Gears, this rapidly complicates matters. She barely even started to get in anything resembling a formation before there are distractions everywhere, and Xantia is hit with indecisiveness, unsure which threat to focus her attention on. It doesn't help that she's looking more through her machine's external camera than using the sensors to keep a broad overview. A rookie's mistake.

But then, everything changes. The shockwave is noticed first, drawing her attention, though she already had a good idea of what she would see when she turns in the direction of its source. The red Gear... "Id...!" So he did show up after all! She experiences an odd mix of concern and elation.

This development immediately makes up her mind for her. With blinding speed, Silvestris rushes straight for Id's Gear and leaps directly at it in what can only be described as a pounce, trying to knock it right out of the air. And there's that voice again through the external speakers. "I can't let you do that! Fight me instead!" The Gear may be new, but this whole Xantia situation may be getting old at this point. She's always the same. She's always interfering.

GS: Xantia has attacked Id with Here We Go Again!
GS: Xantia has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily keeps on the commons; she has one running in her ear for now, just to make thigns simpler, to keep her hands free... Because she's definitely going to need her hands, she can imagine. THe airship presses forward, closer and closer, until it is not really anywhere Lily can get a good shot at it from here. ...Not a good shot, at least. She narrows her eyes, watching some of those turrets. But the lights...

The Hauteclaire is a Gear Lily knows well. She sees it rush out, feels it drop onto the deck, and Lily stumbles, having to grab hold of a support pillar in order to stop from falling. She narrows her eyes at it. The others, next--she cannot focus entirely on the battle with the other Gears, however. She has her own problems, now.

"You too, Leon," Lily answers. "We've got boarders. Time to take them out."

Gebler. Lily knows it's Gebler. Not just because Riesenlied said it; she can feel the Ether in the air. 'She' is indeed among them, right here. And Riesenlied calls that she's counting on her. But it gets words when--

Id shows up.

But she has a duty of her own. "On it, Riesenlied. I'd duck."

She throws both of her hands up, both aglow with blue light, circuitry gleaming--and throws them forward, a Gear-sized spear of pure ice crashing into existence at her hands one plane at a time, shooting straight for Hatueclaire's center mass in a flash of Ether.

GS: Lily Keil has attacked Kahm Yugh with Mistflash!
GS: Lily Keil has completed her action.
DC: Cassidy Cain switches forms to The Good Example!
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

        The unannounced guest of the Fereshte, that mysterious Symbologist, grasps the quarterstaff by both hands for balance as the deck violently rocks from the Hauteclaire's landing. He lacks Noeline's natural grace and charisma to match her grin and steady affirmation about the situation at hand... in favor of watching to the right, taking in account the formations of the enemy Gears - one with a rod to the left flank, a more heavily armored one to the right. It is nerves of steel that prevent him from diving when the Schiehallion fires its sidearms. That same sort of innate, latent knowledge and comfort of being able to read when a large, armed thing is actually going to shoot and where.
        This doesn't make the following shaking any less problematic to traverse as the Symbologist staggers forward, inadvertedly parting away further as a certain infamous Red Gear joins the fray from the left flank.
        Something stirs deeper within yet. He is but a man, of mere flesh and bone, a tiny and miniscule thing on the deck. The very size of an ammo round from the heavily-armored Shiehallion might just rip him to shreds the moment its pilot pulls the trigger, if they're of the mind.
        He doesn't seem too intimidated by this fact as he chances himself close to the edge.
        That dull stare of his dresses down the most thickly armored enemy Gear of the bunch, and a plan formulates in his mind. Just looking at the way the exhaust fans out already feels like it gives him all he needs to know to work with.
        Ethius is not on the communications network. They will not be privvy to what he has to say, or what he has to think about. Only that he is a man who believes himself capable and willing to risk a closed-casket funeral (or a soup can) for his burial - if someone like him even has anyone who would care to do him that honor.
        With a flittering of fingers and a series of chants, Ethius focuses a wider-area heat spell around where the sidearms have already fired, an attempt to turn up its latent heat - perhaps dissuade the large, armored Gear from going for another volley in the short term.

GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Loren Voss with The Barrel Isn't Warm Enough Yet!
GS: Ethius Hesiod has completed his action.
GS: CRITICAL! Loren Voss guards a hit from Ethius Hesiod's The Barrel Isn't Warm Enough Yet for 155 hit points!
GS: Jam! Statuses applied to Loren Voss!
GS: Kahm Yugh takes a glancing hit from Matilda Whitehead's Swarming for 103 hit points!
GS: Kahm Yugh takes a solid hit from Noeline's Drop Crush for 106 hit points!
GS: CRITICAL! Kahm Yugh critically Guards a hit from Lily Keil's Mistflash for 58 hit points!
GS: Id guards a hit from Xantia's Here We Go Again for 45 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Morgan Newkirk has posed.


After hurried words with Gwen one fox had rushed to his. The massive, broad shouldered humonoid frame of the thing so heavily modified now that whatever it was orgionally is concealed by layers of custom work. Deadly weapons brissle from the pods in its chest, the missile box on its shoulder, the rifle like weapon in one hand and Morgan smirks slightly as he climbs in.

"Byte!" he calls out, the VI blorping into existance as he faults into the controls. "Warm us up and find me targets."

"Fight?" The broken VI asks.

"Fight." Morgan confirms.

"Fightfightfightfightfight!"

The fox sighs. "One day I really gotta get you fixed."

"No."

"Just bring the weapons online!"

The massive war machine moves, shattering trees as it raises from concealment and turns its attention to the skies. Its Schiehallion that draws his attention, with its double hand guns spitting death into the side of the airship.

"Pick on someone that can fight back ya bastard." Growls the fox as he swims the targeting systems over the speeding Gear. "Bring em down into the forest, they can't maneuver as well in the trees as he triggers the weapons, missiles streaking suddenly up towards the Gebler machine, aiming to swat it back down to earth and give Riesenlied some time to get away at least."

GS: Morgan Newkirk has attacked Loren Voss with Air Fox!
GS: Morgan Newkirk has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.


Hauteclaire's diagnostics lit up with a bright green that was characteristic of overtuning, a sure sign the Loren's support was hard at work. "Appreciated, Lieutenant." Kahm said, as the gear's viewscreen zoomed in on the various hostiles. Noeline, Riesenlied, Keil, Hesiod, and more...it really did feel like a veritable smorgasbord of all the resources he'd leveraged as Marcus Rider over the year.

Another man might be sentimental, but Kahm had no room for sentiment against duty.

The fact that Noeline tries to attack the gear on foot is rather quaint, but the pilot seems to take it seriously. In a motion that seemed blitzingly fast for a machine of it's size, gear unhooked the massive blade on it's back from magnetic locks and half-turned on its axis, meeting the woman's blade with a neat parry. The second, crashing fall at the gear's foot is less guarded, and Noeline carves off a chunk of outer armor for her trouble-right before the same shifts upward as if to kick her clear off the deck.

Simultaneously, high-speed unknown appears on Kahm's radar, drawing his confusion until the visuals catch up with it, and his voice rackets urgently across Gebler private band.

"Do not engage that gear! That's an SSS!"

That was a code that was almost never used, and for good reason: it meant something extremely, and Kahm didn't have the time or the ability to pursue his own personal history with that gear. He knew there'd been reports, but to think it would appear hear, and shout the name of Solaris so freely...

Lily and Matilda's respective attacks force him to deal with the present, which he does by raising the Hauteclaire's shields. Both the icicle and the shells distort against and blue force field, warping but not quite managing to break through, as the Hauteclaire answers backs with repeated fire from it's wrist guns.

GS: Kahm Yugh has attacked Noeline with Kahm Kick!
GS: Kahm Yugh has attacked Lily Keil with Anti-Personnel Turrets!
GS: Kahm Yugh has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Anti-Personnel Turrets!
GS: Kahm Yugh has completed his action.
DC: 2 turns have elapsed in the battle against Kahm Yugh! 3 turns remain!
GS: Lily Keil guards a hit from Kahm Yugh's Anti-Personnel Turrets for 39 hit points!
GS: Noeline critically Guards a hit from Kahm Yugh's Kahm Kick for 20 hit points!
GS: Matilda Whitehead takes a glancing hit from Kahm Yugh's Anti-Personnel Turrets for 59 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

 
Elly feels her gut churn as Noeline's remarks come in over the comm. The Weglaff leaps away from her after several telling blows; Vierge stands still, almost balanced on one heel, pivoting to regard him.

Leon, she thinks, I'm sorry --

INCOMING ETHER FEED: The cockpit's readouts begin to glow more intensely, meters filling swiftly as Loren's arts channel into Vierge. With a swift blur that almost seems to leave twinkles in its wake, Vierge darts back into the sky, already twisting its combat rod round.

Something feels wrong.

Something's coming. Vierge's head turns slightly as the red gear appears with sudden, atrocious speed. Elly's eyes widen - "That speed," she says, "that's impossible. The pilot should be dead--" Even if this is more for her own benefit or perhaps that of god, she says it anyway.

The pilot shrieks. Bellows. He speaks of Riesenlied's secrets and an intention to rip them from her bones. Elly's mouth hangs open slightly and then she has no time to think because the red Gear is coming right AT her and there is the strange hollow 'thoom' and 'cloom' of the steel monster in which you hide being battered viciously.

Vierge does the logical thing and flits backwards, vernier jets firing with a sudden constellation of blue, but the plating is already deformed, the Gear's left arm twitching uncontrollably from signal interruption.

Elly tries to activate... something. A screen pops up in her peripheral vision -- and there's an error chime. Damn it, Elly thinks: It worked in the simulator! Am I having an anxiety reaction!? With this she forces out her breath and says, even as Vierge rises, "I won't - let you - do as you please!"

The Etheric structure was woven in her mind and shunted through the Ether amplifier, Vierge's powerful and mostly-fine slave generator having turbo-charged and greatly magnified the scope of the invocation at the EXACT point when Kahm's words come in through the signal. An SSS-class...

Elly's psychographs dive palpably. Fortunately, the machine finishes the spell for her.

Not a bolt - not a storm - but a near-physical SHEET of electromagnetic force, a flare of light powerful enough to be detected (if only just) if one were monitoring the battlefield from an orbital installation, descends from Vierge. The blow had already been lowered onto the red Gear; sadly, Xantia and Leon are near to it too.

"-- C-copy, sir!" Elly answers Kahm.

But perhaps it is too late.

GS: Elhaym van Houten has attacked Id with Thermo Barrage!
GS: Elhaym van Houten has attacked Leon Albus with Thermo Barrage!
GS: Elhaym van Houten has attacked Xantia with Thermo Barrage!
GS: Elhaym van Houten has completed her action.
GS: Loren Voss guards a hit from Morgan Newkirk's Air Fox for 123 hit points!
GS: Id guards a hit from Elhaym van Houten's Thermo Barrage for 69 hit points!
GS: Leon Albus critically Guards a hit from Elhaym van Houten's Thermo Barrage for 40 hit points!
GS: Xantia guards a hit from Elhaym van Houten's Thermo Barrage for 100 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

        The Hauteclaire's foot slams into the metal demon, but she's at least been prepared for some kind of counterattack; the downward sweep of her blade has planted it back against the deck, Noeline hidden behind its width as she uses the slab of metal as a literal wall. With her shoulder and her strength braced behind it, the Gear's swift kick does knock her backwards, the edge of her sword carving the start of a furrow in the deck, but she manages to keep her footing and not be thrown straight off the ship.

        "... stay safe," Noeline presses at her partner's command, her voice rather tight with concern. As much as she's ready to show defiance, she knows that Riesenlied and the others aren't nearly as indefatigable, and even she's starting to feel the burn. There's only so much they can do, despite their mantra. "You've got people below. Trust in them to keep this ship running, just as much as your own power, hm?" So saying, she's spared the Tainted leader an affectionate glance, puffed out a faint breath--

        --and leapt over the side of the airship, only to rise triumphantly on the back of Muni-Muni with an answering cry from only the friendliest and most rotund of Dragons.

        At least, that was the plan.

        Instead, an all-too-familiar red Gear suddenly slams into the deck, and this time she's the one who's nearly sent off her feet from the force and surprise of it, planting her sword into a tear in the deck to steady herself as she mutters rather a string of curse words under her breath. "--you-- what the hell is she supposed to be hiding? You've been inside her head!" she calls out of sheer built-up exasperation, dragging her hand back through her hair to flick out a long tail of it.

        Her mind is already working, trying to figure out how exactly to cope with both sides of the escalation they're facing down; there's really no answer to be found, not with Id's capricious nature, but that in itself suggests it would be more appropriate to cope with Gebler first. Better the devil you know, she thinks, even if that usually means their identity rather than their intent.

        So in the end she leaps off the edge of the ship anyway; Muni-Muni is already waiting for her below, and she pats the dragon on the neck with a pleased sort of huff. "I'm relying on you. Let's keep everyone a little more safe, hm?" she encourages, closing her eyes as the dragon gives an eager sort of cry in return - and suddenly swoops down into the tree line. Any camoflage she gains from the action might be a little given away by the gleeful 'Muni--!!', but at least she seems to be having fun as she dives between the treetrunks.

        When she reemerges, it's in a sudden vertical climb alongside the ship, aiming for the Hauteclaire's blind spot. Stood up and balanced atop the happy blob of dragonkind, Noeline's finally got her sword gripped in both hands, her eyes alight. This time, rather than sheer force, her blade seems to ebb with the faint suggestion of a Guardian's power; this time, when she suddenly swipes three coordinated arcs into the air, their clean white edge is replaced with one of blurred and shifting grey.

GS: Noeline has attacked Kahm Yugh with Tricolor Order!
GS: Noeline has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

        Riesenlied's eyes shrink as she--

        --she can sense Id's presence before she sees him. Laevateinn's link, perhaps unbeknownst to them, was always active between them... and then the star appears in the very distance just confirms her sinking suspicion further. "Not now...!" she whispers, clinging harder as she coughs, a splotch of red appearing against her bandages as a wound reopens.

        Riesenlied! What secrets are you hiding?! I'll rip them from your bones! And the bones of your people if I must!!

        "W-what... what?" Riesenlied sounds profoundly confused, calling out, "What secrets?! I've spoken most everything I know against you...?!"

        Nasrin barely shifts inside Riesenlied's conscience. She sighs.

        Perhaps she herself still doesn't understand it. But there's a cry of pain as the splash of power rains against the Fereshte; the cargo hull starts to flare red with a siren as Devet and Cetiri busily continue to erect more bulkheads and continue receiving assistance from Big Shal with additional parts. "Egghh... hang in there, Fereshte!"

        She takes a quick moment to yelp and drop onto the floor as Lily's iceflash erupts through to the Hauteclaire, wincing for a moment. The cold doesn't last long, however -- Ethius' power heats the air up soon after and erupts upon the sidearm of the Schiehallion.

        There's a quiet pip as the Hauteclaire attempts to swat Noeline clear off the Fereshte, grimacing as the turrets in turn continue to pepper and make holes on an already fragile deck... until once more, that barrier comes into light once more to dampen damage that should already be fatal. The Vierge's thunderous blast of lightning causes her to reel for a moment -- an Ether using Gear? Just like Lily's...!

        It's rather clear to Kahm -- Riesenlied is holding the ship together, her power faintly reverberating through the deck and through its hall.

        And that power is doing more than just protecting the ship; Gebler has made analysis of her blood and her cells before. Loren has noted it as impure, unstable. But where the Metal Demons decree her as unworthy... she has made something of it, shaken to the Guardians' presence as she has been.

        As Riesenlied raises her empathic awareness, thin trails of light start to emanate from her body. Gossamer weaves of photonic trails emanate and coalesce around the Hauteclaire as she makes a desperate attempt to breach her conscience to the pilot's, unaware it's anyone she knows.

        Stop this!!

        Her presence is laced with the raw resolve of her emotions -- full of anxiety and concern for her people; full of a desperate desire to reach out for coexistence... it may come like a sudden shock, like a ghastly apparition. A being that exists outside of the physical realm. On a fundamental level where light and Ether exists. But the Hauteclaire is equipped to deal with such supernatural threats too...

GS: Riesenlied has attacked Kahm Yugh with Rising Heart - 'Wave-Particle Duality'!
GS: Riesenlied has been weakened by Disease! They take 0 hit points of damage, and burn off their temporary hit points!
GS: Riesenlied has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

The autocannon fire plinks against Matilda's Gear, but the truth is... she knows enough to tell that it's not really a threat, and barely bothers to correct her course. She's naturally cautious enough to end up sidestepping a few things on sheer reflex, but for the most part, she just continues to play strike craft for the Fereshte.

She sees an opportunity, or at least thinks she does, as she notices the relatively low threat of the wrist cannons, though. Her Gear shifts forward, moving at a speed that might be surprising from the totally unassuming machine. The pistol gets put away, and both of those solid-state blades come out mid-movement.

Her attack is surprisingly simple, but remarkably elegant for the role she's been placed in; she lists the Gear to one side and lashes out with both blades from the same angle -- with... the flat? Truthfully, her plan is to disorient the Hauteclaire's pilot and create space for the Fereshte to keep moving.

GS: Matilda Whitehead has attacked Kahm Yugh with Make Hay!
GS: Matilda Whitehead has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

A crimson wave of light rips through the air. It almost shreds through the armor of the Weglaff in the blink of an eye. However, he notices that glint of light at the very last moment, and he swings his forearm up. The red blast of light smashes into the armored plates on the forearm, even crumpled, and it disperses over the arm instead of shred the machine. The armor, still, is badly burnt. He grits his teeth, a hiss caught in the back of his throat. "That's..."

He knows that person. He saw him, when Wayside fell. His silver eyes widen, slowly, as he gets a good look at Id -- before he narrows his eyes. "...The Demon of Elru!" All the lessons -- all the willingness that Matilda expressed to learn them -- is forgotten. "Whitehead, don't hesitate to run. He could destroy all of us by himself."

He turns, looking up at the Red Gear. The machine turns, then -- and bolts in closer to Vierge. Leon swings back one of the Gear's arms. He sends a transmission: "I suggest your focus be on the Red Gear!"

Except then Weglaff throws a punch at Vierge.

GS: Leon Albus has attacked Elhaym van Houten with Break Duster!
GS: Leon Albus has completed his action.
GS: Elhaym van Houten takes a solid hit from Leon Albus's Break Duster for 268 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

        What gets Loren's attention is the sudden scroll of yellow down one of the screens within the cockpit.

        ABNORMAL WEAPONRY TEMPERATURE FLUX DETECTED declares the reporting.
        Just moments before he catches sight of how high it's arced. The damage reports -- reading the signal from the sidearms and their own analysis of what they've just experienced -- suggest that the firing is most definitely damaged. As if parts of them have outright melted from the temperature spike.

        Schiehallion banks, jets engaging, the Gear rounding back on this side of the ship; whoever did that definitely has Loren's attention now.

        The important ether circuitry in the sidearms is left untouched, reads the diagnostics reporting, only barely noted by Loren as he directs his focus to the deck, but this could present a problem for anything less exotic.
        Someone has just done something very unexpected.
        Something oddly familiar. Something he's seen, somewhere before.

        A sweep via the tactical scanning array reveals a likely candidate. "...Oh, of course," Loren mutters.

        "Major," he announces on channel. "The Diabolos' Destroyer's present." He pauses. "Usual methods included."

        He has time to strafe the deck, sinking a portion of his etheric force into the sidearm's rounds.

        Then a flurry of an alert marks its way across the band as something comes screaming into range across his sensors' reach.

        What is that feeling... Quashing the twist in his gut, Loren takes a breath.

        His response is delayed a handful of seconds further as he skims the sensors' pickup (what they could pick up), a dry: "...I can see that."
        He thinks at least one of those values is probably an error there, but he's not completely sure. And if you're not sure, you're dead.

        "Support incoming," he announces to the both of them in the next instant, gaze flitting from that screen to his own diagnostics, to the positioning of the rest of the squad.
        Careful, runs that thought again, before he sheds a fraction of his ego, and shapes ether into a glittering shell.

        Pins it firmly, in a glint of white light, to Major and Lieutenant alike.

        INCOMING announces Schiehallion's defensive alert subroutine, jolting him from that brief trance. He can see it -- from the forest below. Dodging the array of missiles isn't likely, but--

        He doesn't have to dodge. Schiehallion appears to drop for a splitsecond, a honeycomb of light blazing about the Gear as he engages defensive protocols at the last instant. Not without a mark -- the missiles leave their mark, scorches of grey-black against the stark white of the Gebler Gear.

        And the Gear continues to drop. Scanning the forest for the point where he thinks he saw the missile fire erupt from, Loren again threads his awareness into the ether amplifiers, a single breath marking the passage of will to action; earth is the element he favors, and earth stands beneath the trees.

        If he's pinpointed this right Morgan will have a bit of a problem on his hands as the earth below him rises to provide him with a very sharp-edged hello.

        The heavy Gear doesn't stay low long; it rises in a drawn-out arc, returning to its harrying position alongside the Gear. Where Kahm might direct his attention to the ship itself, Loren now takes aim for one of the Gears accompanying it, once again announcing his intentions with a rapid-fire shot from the ether sidearms.

GS: Loren Voss has attacked Ethius Hesiod with SEG-V.Terra!
GS: Loren Voss has attacked Kahm Yugh with Barrier Order!
GS: Loren Voss has attacked Elhaym van Houten with Barrier Order!
GS: Loren Voss has attacked Loren Voss with Barrier Order!
GS: Kahm Yugh takes a solid hit from Loren Voss's Barrier Order for 0 hit points!
GS: Shield! Statuses applied to Kahm Yugh!
GS: Elhaym van Houten takes a solid hit from Loren Voss's Barrier Order for 0 hit points!
GS: Shield! Statuses applied to Elhaym van Houten!
GS: Loren Voss takes a solid hit from Loren Voss's Barrier Order for 0 hit points!
GS: Shield! Statuses applied to Loren Voss!
GS: Loren Voss has attacked Morgan Newkirk with Terra Vector!
GS: Loren Voss has attacked Jacqueline Barber with SEG-V.Terra!
GS: Loren Voss has completed his action.
GS: Jacqueline Barber takes a solid hit from Loren Voss's SEG-V.Terra for 188 hit points!
GS: Kahm Yugh takes a solid hit from Noeline's Tricolor Order for 190 hit points!
GS: Kahm Yugh guards a hit from Matilda Whitehead's Make Hay for 85 hit points!
GS: Matilda Whitehead takes Cover! She gains 100 temporary hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Id has posed.

Lydia smiles over to Riesenlied. "Don't worry, Riese. They might have better tech...but they have smaller dreams!"

While this is a very cool line, it will not protect her from artillery. She kicks a crate over three feet to the left. She definitely does not let go of the wheel.

"Heh heh... they can't outrace us." Lydia says, totally oblivious that the carrier is falling back for other reasons.

The red gear is still damaged from its incursion at Wayside. Whatever happened between it and Id didn't fully get repaired. Quarter Knights are no joke. It still seems to be moving strong though. The pilot must be determined to chase after Riesenlied even in this situation.

"Why is Solaris here...?!" Id demands of, well, Elly while not knowing she is Elly. "Are they after her too!?"

The gear turns its head towards Riesenlied. "I was there! I saw what you did!" He is clearly more berserk than normal. He's still pissed at Siegfried's 'rejection' and whatever he saw Riesenlied do, that doesn't seem to be helping any. Is it a misunderstanding or something more? Even Id isn't sure, but Solaris's presence is pissing him off. The red aura ripples around Id's gear in irritation as the gear charges up to do something terrible, crackling chaotically and randomly about with only the thinnest veneer of control.

Id is briefly stopped when Xantia jumps his gear. It's unexpected only in the sense that Id didn't see Xantia in his rush to catch up to the ship. He reaches out behind him and aims to slam Xantia's gear into the deck. "Who are you!?" He yells, finally reaching a pretty frustrated point on this whole Xantia thing. He aims to keep slamming Xantia's gear down with every punctuation of 'Who are you!?' that follows. "Who are you!? Who are you!? Who are you!? Who are you!? I know there's a you behind the you!"

His attack is cut off before he can do more damage by Elly who unleashes an electrical blast against the Red Gear. Id hisses through his teeth as the lightning channels into him. He straightens the gear up slowly and turns to look at the Vierge.

It's her. She's working for them still! She lied to us about Loren!

He had to end her. Her presence was dangerous to his plans. The easiest way to be free was to end her. It wouldn't really end her anyway, he knew, so it was barely even a crime. He's done worse.

???

Fei looks up slowly from his chair. That voice. He stands himself up and reaches forward.

The boy with the unkempt hair appears before Fei and shoves him back in the chair.

"You won't get in my way either!"

HERE

The red gear suddenly lashes out for Leon's gear, intending to seize hold of one of its arms and essentially judo flip it to the other end of the ship.

"You..." Id says. "You're going to die here, girl." Don't let her know who you are. "Your people will burn." Don't tell her too much they'll kill her. "They will be cast down from their lofty tower and it will be the sweetest day of my life."

He dives in and throws a vicious strike for the Vierge's gut.

Id's stats are halved!

Or at least...it should be.

GS: CRITICAL! Kahm Yugh takes a solid hit from Riesenlied's Rising Heart - 'Wave-Particle Duality' for 0 hit points!
GS: Shieldbreak! Statuses applied to Kahm Yugh!
GS: Id has attacked Leon Albus with Kung Fu Is Bullshit!
DC: MISS! Ethius Hesiod completely evades SEG-V.Terra from Loren Voss!
GS: Id has attacked Xantia with Mountain Crusher!
GS: Id has attacked Elhaym van Houten with Mysterious Interference!
GS: Id has completed his action.
GS: Morgan Newkirk critically Guards a hit from Loren Voss's Terra Vector for 45 hit points!
GS: Elhaym van Houten takes a solid hit from Id's Mysterious Interference for 246 hit points!
GS: Leon Albus guards a hit from Id's Kung Fu Is Bullshit for 147 hit points!
GS: CRITICAL! Xantia takes a glancing hit from Id's Mountain Crusher for 274 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Watching her spell impact on Hauteclaire's shielding, crash into a blue force field, she narrows her eyes. ...But she doesn't get to stare very long; she has to make her assessment quickly. Her hand turns suddenly, palm in, and a barrier of black power erupts around her. ...Most of the bullets of course go to either side of her, given that she is far smaller than the targets the Gear traditionally targets; some impact her barrier, causing it to shimmer and passing the force of that impact along to her, even reduced. When it fades, she is looking for her target again.

...That was far better an exchange she can hope for with a Gear so far, and she damn well knows it. She'll have to step up.

...All the more difficult in Id's presence; it lingers at her mind, an alarm, the fears of those on the ship sliding around her consciousness almost entirely blocked out by the wall of Id, causing her to have to stand stock-still for a few moments to try to curtail the asheer power of it, the nausea it brings. And when he crashes into the deck she starts to fall, landing against the pillar again, breathing heavily. "That--"

But Ethius's magic she recognizes; she has some assistance on this front, at least. Lily pushes herself back up, tries to block out her focus on Id out there, talking about Solaris. ...Trying to block the fact that she hopes he makes good on his threats against them. Burn... Burn, burn, it lingers in her mind, fills her thoughts in a way that lets her think away from Id's assault on her psyche. Does he even realize she's here?

Lily lifts her hand, and the glow turns red-orange, the color of flames, as she stares towards the Gear that she saw in her Kislev Army days.

The Gear's heat sensors are likely to detect what's happening first, if Ether sensors don't do it. But starting where Hauteclaire is, just in front of where Lily judges the cockpit to be, is an explosion--and then a series of explosions, bursting into a column of fire.

GS: Lily Keil has attacked Kahm Yugh with Conflagration!
GS: Lily Keil has completed her action.
GS: Kahm Yugh takes a solid hit from Lily Keil's Conflagration for 316 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

        The action flies around the ship faster than Gwen can follow. Added to this are the frequent shaking and blows against the ship itself or targets around it.

        How do people actually handle flying and shooting things at the same time? Gwen could certainly do that on a horse, but _horses can't fly_.

        And there, in the middle, is Riesenlied herself, obviously doing more than just watching the battle, much like Gwen tries to.

        There could be something Gwen could do, beyond, say, sticking her ARM out a window and risking losing it all over again. That, while tempting, isn't something she's quite willing to do, right now.

        Stepping towards Riesenlied, Gwen settles a bare, metallic hand on the Hyadean's shoulder. It's been a while since she's tried something like this. The last time, Gwen tried powering a terminal found in a cave with her own ARM.

        "Riesenlied. Can't pilot a Gear, n' I can throw magic around or anythin', but I think I can give ya a boost. If you'll allow for it." If she thinks of Riesenlied as like a very, very delicate computer, maybe this could work.

        When Riesenlied indicates her consent, Gwen's hand tightens, slightly, the courier closing her eyes.

        It's like handling a teacup.

        A person needs to be aware of the fragility of the material, aware of the pressure they need to place, just so, on the handle to pick it up. With a human hand, it's easy to take for granted that their grip, if applied roughly, won't have a high chance of breaking it through touch alone.

        Imagine if that teacup was something else. Something alive. Something with a heartbeat, a mind, a soul. Something stronger than a teacup, but a million times more fragile at the same time.

        Now, Gwen feels the beat of her own heart, and presses the space of a few beats of her body's own energy out through the line she establishes, translated through the complex machinations of the Mockingbird, into the body she's pressed her hand on. Changing its song again, and again.
 
        In the end, the output is nothing like the severe charge Gwen put through that terminal in Berry Cave, but perhaps it's the very thought that counts.

<Pose Tracker> Morgan Newkirk has posed.


There is a vicious smile from the fox as he notices his missiles slam home. Even though the defensive screen. Though the response is almost immediate, the way the other pilot moves. He's good. Dropping though the trees as he moves his Gear in its direction. No weapons fire comes in Morgan's direction though and for a moment he is suprised, lulled into thinking he has kept the cover he needs...

...but then Byte starts to shrill.

"Etheretheretheretherether!"

The ground rises up to meet the Sinner as trees crumble in the roar of earth and magic. The last tree falls around the big Gear, leaving it exposed...but the shards of earth were stopped by the massive metal arm of the war machine. Its right arm pierced though in places as he uses the strength of the Gear to simply snap it off, leaving the impaled spikes in the forarm as he raises the left arm towards Loren's Gear.

The left arm being the one that holds the massive energy canon that suddenly ignites, a beam of charged particles leaping forth to try to slam into the Gebler gears center of mass.

The Sinner might not can fly, but it can do the next best thing.

Try to swat the Gebler forces right out of the sky.

GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Riesenlied with Follow the Mockingbird!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
GS: Riesenlied takes a solid hit from Gwen Whitlock's Follow the Mockingbird for 0 hit points!
GS: Reload! Riesenlied gains 15 extra FP from Gwen Whitlock!
GS: Morgan Newkirk has attacked Loren Voss with White Fox!
GS: Morgan Newkirk has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

        Ethius' movement is much more restricted than first appears. He is not of the mind to try and lure shots back to other parts of the deck to endanger those gathered. He is a flesh-and-blood target. Just one strafing round of those earthen etheric rounds should be enough to disable - or eliminate - him from the picture.
 at the Schiehallion's pilot will find, however, is that this doesn't seem to inconvenience him much as he takes off on a short sprint of what maneuvering room he does have. His eyes remain firm upon the weapon firing them - never blinking, never flinching. The man appears far too much in tune with the angle the white armored Gear is strafing, deftly maneuvering through the rounds that whiz past him with a final tumble just as the strafe volley comes to an end.
        He can feel one such round scrape just past the left side of his head, or brush against his heel. Those are only the two possible brushes with death in that instant which contained at least twenty.
        His landing is less graceful, slamming his right forearm up against a wall to stop himself as the Schiehallion breaks eye contact. A powerful emotion fills the air. Panic. Disarray. Despair. His heartrate raises, as his ears acknowledge the raw destruction and fury happening upon the side of the deck opposite of the one he is watching...
        ...But something holds him together.
        That day, his very earliest memory. He saw machines much like these converging upon his position. They never saw him. Why was he there? Was he running from them? He didn't move to engage them then, that seems probable, but...
        Ethius staggers back towards the edge he attempted to harass the Schiehallion from. It has dropped in altitude. He takes notice of the other Gears moving to harass it. There's Jay's Gear. The other one, it...
        ...He finds himself staring at Morgan's deployed Gear, for a time, a hand to his forehead. Something about it. Not so much 'is this friend' or 'is this foe,' but, 'is this...'
        ...What is he doing?! The heavy Gear has just provided a small opening at its current orientation. They're distant. Ethius takes the hand off his forehead and flitters his fingers. If he can keep any exhaust jets in sight, just long enough, to be able to properly visualize (and make with the according minor adjustments via chants and hand movements), he just might...
        ...Be able to conjure a sizable chunk of dust into one of the exhausts as it rises back up, as he concludes the Symbological spell in question to an announcing display of geometric patterns in light.

GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Loren Voss with Exhausting an Exhaust!
GS: Ethius Hesiod has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

There's a lot going on around her. It's hectic. Of course, this was a largescale battle, it's to be expected. It reminds Jacqueline a lot of Adlehyde, to be honest...

...Except with Gears. She hadn't had a Gear, back then. She does now, but she's only been in one real fight with it...

...and it is not long before one of the Gebler Gears goes for her, making this her second. She's attacked with a barrage of rapid-fire ether shots, and is unable to get out of the way in time.

"A-ah!" It's a short cry as she's bombarded. She whirls on them and the Jaeger draws its ARM from where its hidden.

She recognizes the Gear ahead of her from the fight to save the Grudiev statue from destruction. She hesitates, for a moment...but draws her weapon, anyway.

She fires at the Schiehallion. The bullet doesn't inflict much physical damage, but that's not its intention - it's primary purpose was to weaken the opposing Gear's energy output, to lessen its ability to cause harm.

It's accompanied shortly after by a message in plaintext, if Loren chooses to accept it and his Gear is capable of receiving them.

'These people just want a place to live safely! Leave them alone!'

GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Loren Voss with Stun Gun!
GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action.
GS: Loren Voss has activated a Force Action!
GS: Loren Voss guards a hit from Morgan Newkirk's White Fox for 172 hit points!
GS: Loren Voss guards a hit from Ethius Hesiod's Exhausting an Exhaust for 142 hit points!
GS: CRITICAL! Loren Voss guards a hit from Jacqueline Barber's Stun Gun for 91 hit points!
GS: Weaken and Jam! Statuses applied to Loren Voss!
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

While already leaping into action, Xantia takes the opportunity to send a transmission to Leon and the other nearby allies: "I'll hold off Id! Don't worry about me, I'll be fine!" She certainly sounds confident, despite what happened the last time she tried to fight an enormous threat with her limited experience as a Gear pilot. But Gear or not... she just feels like it would be best if she was the one fighting Id. Even if she doesn't come out of it as well as she did before. It's just something she has to do.

Though Silvestris is successful in its attack against the red Gear, unfortunately, Xantia leapt without looking, also jumping right in the middle of an electromagnetic field as it washes over the collected combatants. The quadruped Gear suffers the expected consequences, sparks visibly flying as its systems are thrown into disarray for a moment, until it seems to sort of... adapt to it, weathering the last few seconds of the attack stoically. A mystery-- or not, to those familiar with its energy-absorption capabilities.

Conveniently, Xantia is saved from having to consider the new element of Vierge for the moment, as Weglaff steps in and punches it. Not so conveniently, Id manages to grab her Gear by the tail, and use it as a blunt instrument against the Fereshte. That wasn't the plan, that's the opposite of keeping it safe! In a desperate bid to get free, Xantia puts the energy Silvestris managed to absorb just now to use, discharging it from the Gear's tail in the form of electricity before wiggling free, flipping over, and landing on the deck right-side up.

"That's what I want to know!" is the only answer she has to Id's question. Obviously there is a 'you behind the you' involved here... her true self, the one she doesn't remember. Fighting Id... she's not sure if it's been helping to find out who she is, but he did propose a possibility last time. "I don't think it's what you said, if I was just meant to fight you, I... well, there was a moment when I--"

Obviously Id's not going to wait forever while she collects her thoughts, so before anything else, Silvestris leaps down from the airship. No sense in getting it caught up in whatever comes next. Meanwhile, Xantia frowns deeply, thinking back to that moment. The moment she rushed back to continue her fight with Id, only to catch him trying to reason with Siegfried, witnessing the violent rebuke that followed. That's the moment she lost her seemingly eternal drive for fighting him. Why was that? If she didn't know any better, it was almost like... like...

Xantia has an answer by the time Silvestris reaches the ground once. Even though she sounds very unsure about its accuracy. "I felt... sorry for you?"

GS: Xantia has attacked Id with Electric Discharge!
GS: Xantia has completed her action.
GS: Id guards a hit from Xantia's Electric Discharge for 69 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.


Noeline drops offs his radar-for now, but Kahm hardly expects she's disengaged. For the moment, the Hauterclaire turns it's attention on the Honeybee as it swings for the gear with the flats of its twin blades. The white gear met both at once with it's larger sword, nonetheless thrown off-balance by the momentum behind the attack-maneuvering on the small surface area of the Fereshte is a trick proposition.

Fortunately, Hauteclaire can also-you know-fly. The gears thrusters quickly stabilize, and the sword ignites with a cool blue ionization along the edge as the gear twists violently in a motion break the bladelock between itself the Honeybee, aiming to deal a crippling blow to the other gear in the process.

Noeline resurfaces at this moment, her triple blows criss-crossing along the back of the white gear and causing to shift it's step slightly forward-right into Lily's awaiting conflagration.

The temperature in the gear's cockpit suddenly spikes dramatically, not unlike the inside of an oven, but Kahm appears cool as a cucumber despite the involuntary sweat beading upon his brow. He sighed a bit in clear irritation as he keyed in several subroutines. "Status." He commanded.

"TEMPERATURE APPROACHING ABLATIVE TOLERANCE LIMITS" The terminal responded, as the exterior armor protecting the cockpit proceeded to redden and melt, fusing in such a way that would make conventional extraction...well, a pain in the ass.

"Very well, we'll play seriously." Kahm answered, seizing the less-used control orbs situated on either side of the gears conventional flight stick, pouring a surplus of his furious power into them. The inside of the cockpit lit with an etheric blue that soon extended to the whole gear as it initiated on of those very trump cards Riesenlied had fears, ravenously absorbing all ambient energy in it's vicinity: The guardian power in Noeline's sword, the remaining ether in Lily's attack, whatever energy there was to siphon out of the Feresthe itself. All was fair game for the taking.

Including, it would seem, Riesenlied's own unconventional strike. Her meeting of minds stuck something like an iron wall-was that the interface of gear's ether machine interfering, perhaps, or did it come from the pilot itself? It is threaded with a similar resolve: To protect Filgaia at all costs, to stave off the decay, to do whatever is necessary for survival.

Kahm roiled back in his chair at the unwarranted intrusion, unphased by the pleas of the woman's soul other than to turn his attention on her. The source of the phenomena was plain, and he was short of patience. With the demon of Elru present, they needed consider expediency.

Hauteclaire moved forward instantly, it's hand coming down in an open palm where Riesenlied stood next to Gwen. It came down not in a crash, but receded just as quicky-with Riesenlied gone.

The gear engaged it's thrusters and flew backwards off the deck, raising shield more powerful than before once the tainted leader was within it's grasp. They would not be penetrated easily.

"Lieutenants, make all attempts to disengage from DD and allow it to focus on other opponents. With Riesenlied, we can retreat to the Tzadkiel and let command decide how to deal with the ship." He said, pulling a handle and purging the worthlessly fused cockpit hatch from the gear's frame. Cool air immediately flooded Kahm's face, and his eyes looked on the outside world plainly, a lifted sidearm trained on Riesenlied from his seat.

"Riesenlied." He spoke calmly, "Don't try to resist any further."

GS: Kahm Yugh has activated a Force Action!
GS: Kahm Yugh has attacked Matilda Whitehead with ECM Drive!
GS: Kahm Yugh has attacked Lily Keil with ECM Drive!
GS: Kahm Yugh has attacked Riesenlied with ECM Drive!
GS: Kahm Yugh has attacked Noeline with ECM Drive!
GS: CRITICAL! Lily Keil takes a solid hit from Kahm Yugh's ECM Drive for 234 hit points!
GS: Kahm Yugh drains Lily Keil! Kahm Yugh gains 400 temporary hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Tzadkiel (Airship) has posed.


The Tzadkiel had pulled back from the carnage when the demon of Elru appeared, supporting the Gebler gears with logistics and intel from afar. Given that the Commander's personal gear had not launched and tried to personally wrestle Id to the ground, one can presume he must not actually be present on the deck.

Even so, it's not going to abandon it's own to fate. A series of long-range missile salvos come in successive waves, reasonable indiscriminate, but the thickest of them assuredly focused on the crimson red gear.

GS: Kahm Yugh has canceled their attack on Matilda Whitehead.
GS: Kahm Yugh has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Blade Ignition!
GS: Kahm Yugh has completed his action.
DC: 3 turns have elapsed in the battle against Kahm Yugh! 2 turns remain!
GS: Matilda Whitehead takes a glancing hit from Kahm Yugh's Blade Ignition for 148 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

 
Leon closes in after Vierge executes her attack. Elly's guard seems down - it must be that - because his blow connects clean and the pink-and-white Gear recoils, as if struck. Which, really, makes sense. In the cockpit, Elly reels, the blow sending whiplash through the Gear's frame, though thankfully too dilute by scope to whiplash her own spine.

At this exact point does Schiehallion's invocation reach the Gear. "..." Vierge's pilot has no reply to Wiglaff. Indeed, it might not be unreasonable to think that the blow raised some kind of a shield.

Vierge's head turns then towards the Red Gear. Not unreasonable, given that it's the primary threat, probably. Indeed this reasoning is justified when it lunges towards her, that occupant speaking with such terrifying words. Even the Major is afraid of this stranger, Elly thinks bleakly.

The blow is like God's hammer against the red hot ingot of divine iron; much like that iron, Vierge's abdomen dents. Not the armor acquiring stress points from impact; the operational spaces compact there, a huge hollow noise filling the Gear as Elly makes a noise something like "ukk" and is thrown back, only, perhaps, fine engineering keeping the machine from being ripped asunder.
Or something else.

"... I," Elly answers.

Instruction comes in.

Elly's eyes are shadowed. There is another effort for her to reach out into that system, that hidden jewel within Vierge; at least, she thinks bleakly, he didn't break it, but the activation cycle doesn't go through.

I can't just, Elly begins to think, even as she falters in the momentary gulf. She makes her mouth move, answering that man even as Xantia storms in to get some punches in. "I might," she says to him. "But I won't -"

Kahm is speaking. Retreating with Riesenlied. Letting command - no, she thinks, why is it all going so WRONG, why didn't anything - I don't want to be here - why did I ever come back - I -

There is a wavering that suddenly collapses into a higher order of integrity as Elly's voice slowly raises. "I won't let you hurt any of them--!!!"

Vierge raises its right hand, sweeping it forwards. What good is this going to do? There is a sudden surge of Etheric power in the amplifier of the machine as Elly makes a wordless rising noise in the back of her throat --

                                If I'm a destroyer...
                                Then I'll destroy this Gear!!

That raised palm suddenly flickers. The air in front of it is shredded into a donut-like toroid of subatomic particles, the protons and neutrons flying out with a brief but ultimately harmless flash of alpha radiation and neutrinos because the real purpose here is the sudden shrieking, tearing thunder of RAW ELECTRONS, emitted in something half-ray and half-thunder bolt right square at the red Gear's head component!

After this, Vierge starts flitting backwards again with those pondskimmer flit-swoops.

GS: Elhaym van Houten has attacked Id with Anemo Shockwave!
GS: Id guards a hit from Elhaym van Houten's Anemo Shockwave for 310 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

Weglaff is flipped -- sent flying backward. Before it hits the ship, though, Leon fires the thrusters. Weglaff rises up, and lands shakily on the wooded hillside. The ground shifts a little underneath the Gear. He looks out through the viewport, peering towards the Vierge -- watching as it actually does what he suggests, and turns on the Red Gear. He nods, once, to himself. Good, he thinks.

He hits the thrusters -- and then the ground under the Weglaff gives way. Ground crumbles apart, and the Gear goes sliding down a steep hill face. He knocks a tree over, as the Gear descends.

"Gh--damn!" Leon swears. "Lily! Riesenlied! Hold out, I'm--"

The Gear tumbles down to the very bottom of a ravine, coming to a knee. Leon winces; it seems the damage to the hill side from Id's shots, not to mention stray blasts from Gebler, was severe. "I'm going to have to catch up!" he transmits. "Hold out as long as you can!"

GS: Elhaym van Houten has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

        Riesenlied looks plain horrified as Id accuses her of 'what she did'. "I-- what... what did I do?" she scant has any idea; she's dispersed herself into fundamental particles as early as Adlehyde, when Lily Keil stabbed her with a greatsword of pure hatred and forced her to scatter... but it's without an inkling of why it triggers him so that she asks.

        She looks horrified as Id lashes after Xantia, wincing as he continues shouting at her -- "Xantia! Hold on-- hang on!" she scarce hears Leon's warning to Matilda, as the Red Gear instead turns towards--

        "T-the new model? What? Why?"

        She's rattled for a moment, uncertain; who... who is Xantia? What... did she do? Lily's barrage of superheated Ether fills the air, and Ethius joins and seizes the Gear's exhaust with his magic in turn.

        Id seems more unstable than ever, and she doesn't know why... but she doesn't want anyone else to suffer at his hands under her watch...

        Leon falters behind, with a quiet gasp as she says, "T-that's fine. Rendezvous at Point 7B, we'll meet up there!" she announces; she's sounding more and more frantic, her power dropping--

        --and then Gwen is there. She looks at her for a moment... and lets out a quiet, tired sigh. "... thank you, Gwen. Let's--" she flinches a little as her power courses through her.

        "Everyone -- we can't bring the fight back to the Gunsmoke Desert; there's too many villages and towns to consider taking this back in November's direction." She clenches her teeth, not believing what she's going to say next--

        --but it's interrupted shrieks as Hauteclaire's arm suddenly shoots forward. She tries to struggle, but is caught in its snare, ever so suddenly.

        "Lydia! Everyone -- we only have one other choice -- move in the direction of Lost July and the Pleasing Gardens. Use the floating Elw ruins to try to shake them off our tail--"

        And then ... suddenly ...

        The etheric blue surrounds the area. The Hauteclaire's secret power absorbs ambient energy within the area--

        --including those photons that had dispersed around the machine. "Ah-- aghhhk--"

        It's a problem when you exist as a form of energy when energy is being absorbed from the very air itself.

        Such, that when Riesenlied is brought up to Kahm's cockpit, she's very barely conscious--

        --only long enough to glance towards Kahm's face...

        "... stop..."

        That's all she gets out, before she slumps over, unconscious.

GS: Riesenlied has completed her action.
GS: Riesenlied takes a solid hit from Kahm Yugh's ECM Drive for 177 hit points!
GS: Kahm Yugh drains Riesenlied! Kahm Yugh gains 500 temporary hit points!
GS: Noeline critically Guards a hit from Kahm Yugh's ECM Drive for 31 hit points!
GS: Kahm Yugh drains Noeline! Kahm Yugh gains 439 temporary hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Leon's voice comes over the radio, but Lily says nothing for a long few moments.

...But before that happens, Kahm's counterattack slides in. Kahm plays it seriously, and the etheric blue that crashes outward feels like a vortex to Lily, a shockwave in reverse, something that drags the magic from her body straight towards it. Her patterns gleam dangerously and then burn dangerously, her body working overtime as she looks pale, screams for an instant at the straight and falls to her knees. She feels weak; she tries to stand back up, and cannot, dizzy, nauseous. Whatever it was that he just did, it felt like dying.

"A-ah..." She looks up to see Riesenlied grabbed, but for long moments later, she cannot do anything. This is why she says nothing; she can barely move. ...The energy Kahm absorbs, meanwhile, is vital, is dangerous, is vibrant and fierce. Lily's Ether is strange... and brings with it a tinge of something unstable at the moment. Lily was already pale, ill; now it is worse. She manages only late, "Leon... meet you..."

Riesenlied's directions come. ...Riesenlied's directions...

"Hesiod..." She murmurs, though she cannot hear him. His spellcraft... May be something she needs. But for now--

She grits her teeth, still on her knees, and holds out one arm, with great effort. It hasn't suppressed her magic--only drained her badly. ...So she focuses, gathering more pwoer inside her, her body still searing as with it, her patterns starting to glow golden.

She clenches her fingers into a fist. "CLEAR!" she calls into the radio, and radiation levels in Kahm's immediate person briefly spike. It's followed by another explosion, this of golden light, shattering.

"You--won't--HAVE HER!" Lily calls. "You can... Try to drain me again, try to take away my magic again, but I'll... I'll..."

She says this along the radio conversation this time, on a channel that can reach Gebler. "I'm coming for you, Gebler. Every single one of you."

GS: Lily Keil has attacked Kahm Yugh with Alphashock!
GS: Lily Keil has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

        INCOMING helpfully the onboard defensive array announces. From below, a quick glance tells him. Not enough time to allow the ablative shielding to take the hit, certainly not long enough to roll the heavy Gear out of the way.

        ENERGY SIGNATURE ANALYSIS ON LOCK: MATCHING...
        Beam weaponry. From that? Blue eyes widen, and within the heart of Schiehallion, the medical officer takes action. Shunting power with a flurry of gestures across the consoles, the Gear holds its action in the air, a great purple-white honey-comb hemisphere of force burning into existence mere seconds before the barrage strikes home. The barrier does little to kill the shockwave; it rattles the heavy gear, seconds ticking as the allotted power for emergency shielding is expended.

        Smoke swirls for a moment about Schiehallion as the light of the shielding finally gives out; though the marks of that latest bombardment show, the Gear maintains its positioning.

        And not without returning the favor, perhaps. Brow furrowed, Loren once again releases his ego and shunts a fraction of his will out into the world.
        It comes from above, this time. Glinting in the sunlight, the ether made manifest through the Gear's might rains down in a storm of crystal shards. The foliage caught in its path might be reduced to ribbons. And Morgan?

        There, from the deck -- a Symbological spell is cast. There's but one person aboard that Loren knows could attempt such a thing. Where the spell is cast to remains a different question.
        One that's soon answered. The dust swirls, catching in the exhaust ducts. Something -- a spike of corrosion in just the right point, perhaps -- trips a sensor; the medical officer hits the jets and opens all internal ports, in an apparent attempt to flush out whatever Symbological trick Ethius has just set for him.
        He remembers what happened to Ortell's parts.

        The Gear's sidearm trains on the deck, dropping after that purge attempt in line with the ship as it proceeds forward.

        A shot of electricity comes in an answer. Maybe it's hitting some fragility introduced by the dust. Maybe some connections closer to the surface were exposed by the damage inflicted by the beam cannon or the missiles from before. Whatever it is: Jacqueline introduces Schiehallion once again to the concept of a short.

        OUTPUT DECREASED. REROUTING POWER THROUGH AUX SYSTEMS reads the hasty scroll of text. The pickup is fast -- at least there's that, he thinks, thanks to the repairwork since Bledavik.

        But that's not all.

        If there's one thing -- and the support Gear is functionally good with a number of things, combat-related or not -- Schiehallion can do well, on-the-fly retrieval, analysis, and format translation is one of them. Loren might not be an information specialist like some operatives, but to an extent medical/support is a jack-of-all-trades--

        The message comes through, scrolling across his screen.
        Blue eyes narrow at it, deep in the heart of the heavily-armored Gear as it again rises.

        "'Leave them alone'?" he voices, addressing her and the lot of them. "No. You were given the terms. Surrender or perish."

        It's not a statment that goes unpunctuated. Both sidearms, switching to standard if concussive rounds -- earlier lingering damage inflicted on the weapons or not -- turn on the deck. Anything and anyone in the way might be fair game.

        Orders come in after. In the relative -- relative the operational word -- silence of the cockpit, his gaze settles on the red Gear, on the one who seems intent on doing battle with it.

        "Understood," he responds to Kahm, before shifting channels.

        "Van Houten!"

        She's the one trying to kill him. He knows that. Letting her handle this on her own might solve an entire set of problems, in way.
        But...
        His mouth twists. Disgust, but at who?
        He breathes ether, lets it flow freely. To--

        And once again opens fire.

        In the end, he has his code, as a medical officer, and as a person. It means something.

GS: Loren Voss has activated a Force Action!
GS: Loren Voss has attacked Morgan Newkirk with Terra Limit!
GS: Morgan Newkirk critically Guards a hit from Loren Voss's Terra Limit for 71 hit points!
GS: Loren Voss has attacked Lily Keil with Concussive Rounds!
GS: Loren Voss has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Concussive Rounds!
GS: Loren Voss has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Concussive Rounds!
GS: Loren Voss has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Concussive Rounds!
GS: Loren Voss has attacked Elhaym van Houten with Haste Factor!
GS: Loren Voss has attacked Id with Cover Fire!
GS: Loren Voss has completed his action.
GS: Lily Keil critically Guards a hit from Loren Voss's Concussive Rounds for 12 hit points!
GS: Jacqueline Barber takes a solid hit from Loren Voss's Concussive Rounds for 102 hit points!
GS: Disrupt! Statuses applied to Jacqueline Barber!
GS: Elhaym van Houten takes a solid hit from Loren Voss's Haste Factor for 0 hit points!
GS: Quick! Statuses applied to Elhaym van Houten!
GS: Ethius Hesiod guards a hit from Loren Voss's Concussive Rounds for 27 hit points!
GS: Disrupt! Statuses applied to Ethius Hesiod!
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

        For the time being, Noeline's instinctive decision works out; something seems to drag Id's attention away from Riesenlied, instead focusing first on a different Gear and then rolling right around to one of the Gebler machines. From her point of view, this is a temporary improvement, though it's debatable if she'd still feel that way if she actually knew the identity of the pilot. Sometimes, it would be kind of helpful if she could be even half as psychic as Riesenlied appears to be.

        But it's not like any of them are out of danger yet, either from Gebler or Id's rather all-encompassing definition of 'friendly fire'. The red Gear doesn't seem the sort to stop any time soon, and Noeline sucks in a tight, uncertain breath as she spies Riesenlied collapse to the deck, an icy feeling lodging itself inside of her.

        ... it doesn't make it any easier, when Gwen comes to her partner's aid, but at least for just a moment Noeline believes that they might make it through this - before the Hauteclaire dashes her hopes with a swift motion, her eyes widening as the mech shoots its hand out to grasp the quickly failing Riesenlied, who goes limp in its hold.

        Underneath her, Muni-Muni automatically climbs for height out of sheer concern. On top of the dragon, a roar that Noeline wasn't aware was building inside of her lifts out of her throat - and without even consciously realizing she's on the move she's suddenly left Muni-Muni's back in a wild, launching movement. The combination of the two carries her up to the Hauteclaire's shoulder, landing roughly there in the midst of its power. The ebb of her own internal power is recognizable, dragging her limbs down - but she powers through it as hard as she can, pushing her limbs onwards.

        Her sword feels too heavy in her hands all of a sudden, but that almost works out for the best - she simply lets its momentum carry her upwards, cresting the armored shoulder and sliding down the other side, the strike picking up momentum and speed as she slams down into the Gear's wrist blade-first. "--WHY--" she punctuates the strike.

        "--why can none of you just leave well enough alone?! Why must someone always demand that we die, wounded and lost, for the sake of their goddamn superiority complexes?!"

        She's evidently not done, two more shattering strikes downwards echoing the cadence of her words - then she braces, and sweeps her sword upwards in a rising slash aimed directly at the Gear's cockpit.

GS: Noeline has attacked Kahm Yugh with Infinite Slash!
GS: Noeline has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Id has posed.

"...What."

Id is being told someone feels sorry for him. It's a new experience, honestly. It's also not a great one. "What. You were made to feel sorry for me?" Id actually starts laughing. "For me?! Do you know how many people I've killed? How many have died because of me?! Yet it's me you choose to feel sorry for!"

The electricity from the tail slams into the gear. It just tanks it and the energy disperses around the red gear. Despite everything, it doesn't seem to be effective. At least, not against the gear itself. The red gear takes hold of the Silvestris once more and suddenly flies off the Fereshte, snapping back and fully intend on dragging Xantia along with it. The missiles launched from the Tzadkiel chase after it and rest assured, they aren't going to try to avoid hitting Xantia just because she's in close range with the Demon of Elru. They may have already written Xantia off for dead.

The explosions detonate around the demon (and Xantia's own gear) as he dives back down for the Fereshte, intending to slam Xantia down hard into the deck and drag her along.

Elly hits him with a thunder ray right in the cockpit. The resulting flash is so bright that the Red gear is fully enveloped in it and the force enough that it drops Xantia's gear partway through its dive. Maybe Elly really is a prodigy. Maybe Elly's ether is off the charts because for a few precious moments, it seems like that might be it.

But then a large red blast erupts from that flash, lancing out towards the Hauteclaire. It actually tries to slide across the Hauteclair and hit the Tzadkiel as well but at that distance it ends up just flashing out overhead. A near miss thanks to the blinding light produced by the lieutenant Elhaym van Houten.

Lydia says, "Riese!! Damn it!" And she twists the ship around, flying the ship towards Lost July.
Heuddenly one of the exhaust panels bursts into flames. Okay maybe 'flying' is starting to be a generous term here.

The red gear bursts out of the light and slams into Elly, not allowing it to flee. It keeps pounding at her gear with its fists. "You'll save them?!" He yells, pounding and pounding with relentless fury, more like an animal than a man. "If you knew a half inch of their secrets, you'd have abandoned that country ages ago!"

The red gear raises its hand once more. It wasn't supposed to go like this! It wasn't supposed to go this way! Even with anti-causality, he can't win here?!

He slams it one last time for Vierge's head. "What they do in their secret little labs!"

"I'll kill everyone here," Id says. A threat he nearly succeeded in capitalizing on back in Wayside. "I'll kill them before they get taken to that living hell! Riesenlied alone I'll let live so she can feel the Promised Pain she vowed to carry!"

???

"Stop...!" Fei struggles against the boy's hands. Somehow, he's stronger than him in here despite his small size. "Stop it...!! Stop hurting Elly!!"

"She lied to us, Fei! Don't you get it? It was just gathering intel for her! Whatever we meant to her meant nothing more than her duty! How do you think Gebler found this ship? Luck!? Who was hanging around the village all this time, making friends? Who do you think is responsible for this?!"

Fei hesitates. He looks away and ceases struggling and the young boy lets go of him.

No, that's not what happens

Fei lashes out with his hand and grabs Id's arm before he can fully pull away.

"No." Fei hisses. "Even if you heard the same things, you don't understand her at all...!"

"Then tell me, Fake," The boy says. "Tell me what I don't understand."

<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

Matilda goes blade to blade with Hauteclaire -- and holds her own, at least. She continues her approach of giving as little ground as possible, of using her blades rather than her machine's significant speed to handle incoming blows. The blade is a little too much for her, though, and she has to give ground and take a modest gash in the upper arm -- which leads in turn to Riesenlied getting grabbed...

... and Matilda decides that it'd be really best if she just backed away. Going in with those solid-state blades threatens to get Riesenlied hurt... but there is something she can do, at least, from her current position.

Matilda draws the Honeybee's pistol again, but rather than firing several shots all at once, she takes a nice, healthy, long time to sight in a single shot. It's aimed for a joint, rather than center of mass; Matilda isn't looking to cause damage -- she just wants to lock something up and provide more time for people with better precision to do things.

GS: Id takes a solid hit from Loren Voss's Cover Fire for 109 hit points!
GS: Loren Voss takes Cover! He gains 100 temporary hit points!
GS: Matilda Whitehead takes a glancing hit from Loren Voss's Concussive Rounds for 57 hit points!
GS: Disrupt! Statuses applied to Matilda Whitehead!
GS: Id enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Id has attacked Kahm Yugh with Radiance!
GS: Id has attacked Xantia with Flying Blaze!
GS: Id has activated a Force Action!
GS: Id has attacked Elhaym van Houten with Flying Blaze!
GS: Id has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

Matilda goes blade to blade with Hauteclaire -- and holds her own, at least. She continues her approach of giving as little ground as possible, of using her blades rather than her machine's significant speed to handle incoming blows. The blade is a little too much for her, though, and she has to give ground and take a modest gash in the upper arm -- which leads in turn to Riesenlied getting grabbed...

... and Matilda decides that it'd be really best if she just backed away. Going in with those solid-state blades threatens to get Riesenlied hurt... but there is something she can do, at least, from her current position.

Matilda draws the Honeybee's pistol again, but rather than firing several shots all at once, she takes a nice, healthy, long time to sight in a single shot. It's aimed for a joint, rather than center of mass; Matilda isn't looking to cause damage -- she just wants to lock something up and provide more time for people with better precision to do things.

The instant she fires, though, she's sideswiped with Loren's concussive rounds; she shot first, so it's probably fine, but the attack puts the Honeybee extremely off-kilter nevertheless.

GS: Matilda Whitehead has attacked Kahm Yugh with Blight!
GS: Matilda Whitehead has completed her action.
GS: Elhaym van Houten takes a solid hit from Id's Flying Blaze for 562 hit points!
GS: Kahm Yugh guards a hit from Lily Keil's Alphashock for 104 hit points!
GS: Kahm Yugh critically Guards a hit from Id's Radiance for 51 hit points!
GS: Kahm Yugh guards a hit from Noeline's Infinite Slash for 133 hit points!
DC: MISS! Kahm Yugh completely evades Blight from Matilda Whitehead!
<Pose Tracker> Id has posed.

"...What."

Id is being told someone feels sorry for him. It's a new experience, honestly. It's also not a great one. "What. You were made to feel sorry for me?" Id actually starts laughing. "For me?! Do you know how many people I've killed? How many have died because of me?! Yet it's me you choose to feel sorry for!"

The electricity from the tail slams into the gear. It just tanks it and the energy disperses around the red gear. Despite everything, it doesn't seem to be effective. At least, not against the gear itself. The red gear takes hold of the Silvestris once more and suddenly flies off the Fereshte, snapping back and fully intend on dragging Xantia along with it. The missiles launched from the Tzadkiel chase after it and rest assured, they aren't going to try to avoid hitting Xantia just because she's in close range with the Demon of Elru. They may have already written Xantia off for dead.

The explosions detonate around the demon (and Xantia's own gear) as he dives back down for the Fereshte, intending to slam Xantia down hard into the deck and drag her along.

Elly hits him with a thunder ray right in the cockpit. The resulting flash is so bright that the Red gear is fully enveloped in it and the force enough that it drops Xantia's gear partway through its dive. Maybe Elly really is a prodigy. Maybe Elly's ether is off the charts because for a few precious moments, it seems like that might be it.

But then a large red blast erupts from that flash, lancing out towards the Hauteclaire. It actually tries to slide across the Hauteclair and hit the Tzadkiel as well but at that distance it ends up just flashing out overhead. A near miss thanks to the blinding light produced by the lieutenant Elhaym van Houten.

Lydia says, "Riese!! Damn it!" And she twists the ship around, flying the ship towards Lost July.
Heuddenly one of the exhaust panels bursts into flames. Okay maybe 'flying' is starting to be a generous term here.

The red gear bursts out of the light and slams into Elly, not allowing it to flee. It keeps pounding at her gear with its fists. "You'll save them?!" He yells, pounding and pounding with relentless fury, more like an animal than a man. "If you knew a half inch of their secrets, you'd have abandoned that country ages ago!"

The red gear raises its hand once more. As he does so, Loren comes in with several shots that rip up the armoring. It's a palpable strike finally on that gear but the red gear doesn't turn its hand to retaliate. It is wholly focused on Van Houten. Loren has his duty, he has right of action, but does he have the Power to make what needs to happen? No. The hand is briefly delayed in its strike.

Still, it wasn't supposed to go like this! It wasn't supposed to go this way! Even with anti-causality, he can't win here?!

He slams it one last time for Vierge's head. "What they do in their secret little labs!"

"I'll kill everyone here," Id says. A threat he nearly succeeded in capitalizing on back in Wayside. "I'll kill them before they get taken to that living hell! Riesenlied alone I'll let live so she can feel the Promised Pain she vowed to carry!"

???

"Stop...!" Fei struggles against the boy's hands. Somehow, he's stronger than him in here despite his small size. "Stop it...!! Stop hurting Elly!!"

"She lied to us, Fei! Don't you get it? It was just gathering intel for her! Whatever we meant to her meant nothing more than her duty! How do you think Gebler found this ship? Luck!? Who was hanging around the village all this time, making friends? Who do you think is responsible for this?!"

Fei hesitates. He looks away and ceases struggling and the young boy lets go of him.

No, that's not what happens

Fei lashes out with his hand and grabs Id's arm before he can fully pull away.

"No." Fei hisses. "Even if you heard the same things, you don't understand her at all...!"

"Then tell me, Fake," The boy says. "Tell me what I don't understand."

<Pose Tracker> Morgan Newkirk has posed.


The Restless Sinner stalks forwards, smoke trailing from is arm mounted canon as it vents heat. The power output from the machine is much higher than it has any right to be. The efficiency of its systems entirely out of line with what should be a Filgaian Gear. Just the energy weapon that it carries proves that, though its not perfect.

The venting heat systems, the lack of flight systems. Its still not up to what Gebler would even call baseline, but it is getting there. Even the electronics and sensor systems seem far out of line from the usual.

Mostly because a VI is running half its systems.

"Againagainagainagain!"

"Yeah I see it," Morgan growls as the targeting warning cries out for attention. The massive machine moves faster than it has any right to, planting one foot to swing its damaged arm in a wide arc. It smashes the tops of a handful of trees, almost looking like random flailing. When it is anything but.

The trees fly into the spray of shards, wood shredding under the impact but it takes the brunt of the power out of the Ether attack.

The spin of the Gear continues as he whips the controls back around, bending his knnees and slamming a foot to the earth as he tilts back enough to bright the shoulder and chest mounted weapons into play. Stinging, burning barbs of bright red energy. Not nearly as powerful as his main canon, but all the more insidious as they are ment to melt and and weaken armors and barrier systems. Searching out the weak points on the other heavy Gear.

GS: Morgan Newkirk has attacked Loren Voss with Osaki-Fox!
GS: Morgan Newkirk has completed his action.
GS: Xantia takes a solid hit from Id's Flying Blaze for 504 hit points!
GS: CRITICAL! Loren Voss critically Guards a hit from Morgan Newkirk's Osaki-Fox for 35 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

It's hard for her to keep track of everything that's going on, but she does catch one thing.

"R-riesenlied!" Jacqueline shouts, surprised. She's been taken...but there's nothing she can do for her right now.

Before she can fully return her attention to Schiehallion, Jacqueline finds herself being fired on once more. She moves through the trees, trying to evade, but the bullets still find her all the same.

That's what happens, when you get caught in a firefight. Fortunately, her Gear seems to be holding up...it was fairly durable, at least. She'd thank Kislev for making them so sturdy, if they wouldn't be upset at her for her methods of acquiring it.

She quickly switchs ammunition types and takes aim at the enemy Gear again, firing on it once more. This time, her target is the enemy's fuel reserves. She fires on the Gear, with a bullet that'll gradually drain them until repair systems can deal with the leak.

And then, another message -

'Under whose authority? They've suffered enough! Leave them in peace! Have you all no shred of humanity left?'

Hopefully the frustrated tapping of keys isn't picked up over her communications...

GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Loren Voss with Fuel Snipe!
GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action.
GS: Loren Voss critically Guards a hit from Jacqueline Barber's Fuel Snipe for 16 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

        Much goes on around Ethius on the deck, but his attention seems far, far too focused upon his chosen side of the Gebler Delta formation to address as he inwardly works out a number of his own logistical hurdles about what he's seeing now... what he saw back then... how does it all come together?
        It, so far, does not, as he paces idly backwards onto uneven, pockmarked ground away from the railing to sacrifice some visibility of the armored Gear for some more freedom of movement. This costs him, as some ambient light shows and other stray fire briefly obscures Ethius' ability to visually track where the sidearm is pointing, and when - and robs him of key visual cues as to when it is likely to fire.
        He draws his left arm inward to a quick slurring of Symbological syllables to another spell, as concussive rounds sweep the deck - starting from where he is currently standing.
        Bright, flashing, loud sparks of electricity fire off as the bullets strike against him, with a requisite grunt of pain. Each bullet is far larger. More mass. More push. Just one direct hit should kill him.
        Whatever barrier he just put up, it ratchets it down to 'heavy blunt trauma' as one such round bounces off his scalp from the respective electrical deflection. The concussion rounds deflected this way deform into gnarled cylinders that clatter and roll about the deck as Ethius grabs at his head and falls to a kneel. The world around him gets blurry... sound loses clarity, mere airy noise as people continue to shout orders and challenges. The drama surrounding a captured Riesenlied is lost on him, for the moment.
        His breathing grows more labored by the moment. That day. What was going on that day? The earliest he could remember. Was I running from them? I didn't engage them. That would've been a reasonable course of action not to, for how many were there.
        He's certainly engaging them now. Any one of them could probably move to attempt to sweep him off the deck entirely if they were of the mind.
        He staggers towards the wrecked railing. He could fall off at any time - it is damaged from all the rounds sunk into his position. Just like that day, when, from behind that boulder, he decided to...
        ...
        ...
        Ethius is not on the communication networks. He's not even supposed to be here, in the classic sense - he stowed away without telling anyone. They probably would've let him on if he asked, but nope, he acted as though he were infiltrating an enemy stronghold.
        His vision sharpens, as he takes watch of the large Gear's movements. If I am not here to run from them... I did not run from these giant metal machines today... then am I...?
        He sucks in breath as he fights back the latest concussion to add to the tally. He casts once more, waiting for the Schiehallion's current movement and drift to come close enough for best effect, for his best chance...
        The chanting intensifies as he opens his eyes wider - like some kind of fury - finishing off a series of gesticulations as he whips the aiming hand - in this case, his right - forward to a final call shouted louder than usual.
        "Surge Bolt!"
        The electricity from his outstretched hand arcs outward, snapping through the air at a distance it doesn't seem like it should be able to maintain its charge or its direction - looking to jump onto the scorched white Gear's systems, to forcefully short out and overload any number of useful redundant systems or what have you in an instant... at a scale that probably shouldn't be possible coming from a single human body - let alone a Symbologist.

GS: Ethius Hesiod has activated a Force Action!
GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Loren Voss with Surge Bolt!
GS: Ethius Hesiod has completed his action.
The Carakin(#804Ten)
The reliable vehicle and storefront of the Caravan Kinship! The Carakin is a fairly large, wheeled vehicle made of a rather
durable material. Parts of the vehicle itself and be folded out to form stalls and shelves for the Caravan Kinship to do business,
and the back, where the kitchen is located, opens up to allow for ease of delivering the meals cooked for hungry visitors.

The inside of the Carakin itself is actually quite comfortable. No expense has been spared in making it serve as both a mode of
transportation and a safe living space on the road. There are a number of compartments within that serve as rooms for the members
of the Kinship, as well as a dining section. There's probably a place for storing all of their goods in there somewhere, as well.

Basically, it's the JRPG equivalent of an RV. Just...try not to think too much on whether or not this vehicle should be capable of
actually moving...
GS: Loren Voss has activated a Force Action!
GS: CRITICAL! Loren Voss takes a solid hit from Ethius Hesiod's Surge Bolt for 206 hit points!
GS: Jam! Statuses applied to Loren Voss!
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

 
The best they are doing, Drifter and Gebler elite alike, is to keep the red Gear from slaughtering everyone. Elly feels her gut knot further, especially wondering how - how Riesenlied is - yes, that comes back to her mind. But Leon too, and Lily who she can tell is around and about here somewhere purely from the sense of her magic.

Then that horrible red Gear sends out that light and then it's coming towards her and Elly feels part of her curl up and squeal and scream and thrash and cry and beg for forgiveness and--

-- that is not the part of her in her body --

Slam! Crack! Vierge does crumple beneath those blows, even if there is a valiant effort to block with the arms, an effort which perhaps keeps the Gear operational; the left arm hangs loose, attached but visibly smoking, after Id's words ring out. Elly feels tears in her eyes well up as the final blow smashes in the front of Vierge's face. The green eyes of the Gear go dim, one of the optical assemblies slumping visibly downwards.

He speaks of laboratories and cruelties. Distantly she hears Loren. The tears spill out of her eyes. The screens before her are dark, her vision of the world reduced to several small panes from the emergency backup cameras, which are more distributed throughout Vierge's frame. Dim. Shadowy. Flickering.

He'll kill everyone here.

Prayer is a curious phenomenon. It is half meditation, half wish, and a tiny bit something else. Though it is not a key part of the imperial cult within which Elhaym van Houten has grown up, deep in her heart she prays, wishes, pleads with the heavens for a miracle.

One comes. It takes the form of a chord and a synthetic female voice telling Elly in the tongue she heard from her mother: "-Boot successful. Error: launch door failure.-"

Elly's eyes open.

Do I even need to see him? she wonders. But how can I -

Of course, Elly thinks.

-=-=-=-

In the physical reality, the half-shattered frame of Vierge spreads its arms out, at least as much as it can manage. It may come off like some kind of command system failure until four lancing rays of chromatic energy erupt out from behind the machine, three on the right and one on the left. (The one on the left, tragically, ends up firing near the Schiehallion. Not dead on, but certainly close enough to sweat. Don't run into it, Loren!)

After this four lights fall out from behind Vierge, twinkling in the falling light as Elly speaks aloud. "So you'll spare them by killing them...? You'll decide the fate they deserve, just because you happen to be strong... that isn't mercy. You're not going to do them any favors -- to turn your strength against them like that --!!"

Those twinkling lights rise upwards. There may be a brief glimpse of objects perhaps the size of a coffin and similar in shape, and that may not be the worst analogy in the world, for as they rise up in quatripodal formation behind the faltering Vierge, they all fire at once - centered, focused, on the red Gear. A single greeting of force itself - a distillation of the brew that Elly threw out spontaneously, to dazzle and shock the red Gear.

Vierge's operational arm sweeps before the Gear even as Elly speaks again. "I don't know anything about justice or who wronged who or what's happened to this planet or anything of that but I can't just, watch, and see people DIE for NOTHING -- GO! GET AWAY FROM HERE!"

The Animum Ether Response-Offensive Drones twinkle and spiral behind Elly, elongating outwards and rising up into the sky, seeming to vanish. They move with atrocious speed, themselves buoyed with Ether, lacking anything other than a mirror-smooth finish. They can barely be perceived.

Soon enough they open fire, their shrieking pinpricks of eye-agonizing force lancing to box the red Gear in, to present geometries of impossible safety, to challenge and to strike. New wells sprout in the mountains far below; clearings form where the stray shots make impacts and vaporize trees by the half-dozen.

There is no heat, save where metal reacts. There is only energy: a sheer refulgent force of utter annihilation.

                                Maybe this is something only a destroyer can do.

GS: Elhaym van Houten has activated a Force Action!
GS: Elhaym van Houten has attacked Id with Thermo Cube!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

        The palm of the Hauteclaire presses and grabs ahold of Riesenlied with a precision that mades Gwen's earlier comparisons to teacups and hand strength pale. This is on a level beyond her own ARM, controlled by someone who clearly has experience.

        Especially since, being right next to that hand, Gwen could have easily been squished.

        Which brings Gwen to an important question, as she feels the pearls against her neck.

        What Would Cassidy Do?

        When the Gear's hand retracts with its prize, Gwen had also disappeared, though in the thick of battle and the added distraction of Noeline a few moments later, the courier's disappearance would be understandable. The cockpit opens, revealing a very familiar face, sans the characteristic black clothing. If Gwen could have seen the man behind the Gear, she would have recognized him as the the very professional, private investigator Marcus Rider.

        But she's not really in sight of the goings-on, clutching desperately to the Hauteclaire's hand, trying to ignore the feel of air against her back as she crawls, like a cockroach fleeing up the underside of an unsuspecting person's sleeve, up to the source.

        Seeing Noeline, Gwen doesn't have much time to signal her, or give her an idea of her crazy plan. She instead moves swiftly, attempting to sync her movements with Noeline's own, making a crazy dart towards the unconcious Riesenlied being held there. She has one shot at this.

        Kahm will likely see the shocked look on Gwen's face as she sees the man's face, recognizes it, and finds the drive needed to possibly punch the man drain from her.

        She can't punch him.

        She can only try to grasp onto Riesenlied, and, throwing her momentum behind her in that nanosecond where she changes plans-

        Leaps into the air. Towards the ship that-

        -is really too far away to get to. Not to mention, her grip on Riesenlied, if she manages to even get her free, isn't secure enough to clutch onto her as she enters into free fall, spiraling down.

        Somewhere, Gwen imagines, Cassidy is laughing.

<Pose Tracker> Tzadkiel (Airship) has posed.


The Tzadkiel weathers the storm admirably, though the glancing strikes of the red gear's crimson bolt does give the tech aboard the bridge a good fright. Leadership prevails, however, and a flurry of activity begins aboard the ship as urgent transmissions from abroad are received. (No, not Lily's; mostly they looked at one another and shrugged at that).

Moments later, the orders are related to the Hauteclaire, Schiehallion, and Vierge at once, "All units retreat to the Tzadkiel! We've had an urgent communication about high energy readings at Lost July and suspect Guardian Statues are involved. This takes precedent over all current orders!"

<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.

"You should consider your situation." Kahm continued, never letting the barrel of his gun leave it's sights on Riesenlied's head, "While the Quarter Knight sacked Wayside, we moved on the Photosphere. The Teardrop is ours now, and your former Master's time will soon be at an end. Your ship can be tracked by us at any time-no corner of Filgaia is safe. What happens to your people is of little concern to me, but we can't allow you have that ship. End this, before they all perish needlessly."

Elly's power reaches Hauteclaire's sensor even at this range, prompting Kahm's brow to knit in quiet interest. The AERODs...she'd mastered them on her first deployment? Remarkable...

Noeline emerges over the gear's shoulder, carving her anger into the gear's wrist, tearing armor plating, circuitry, and even into the actuator. As Kahm is not fully at the controls, little is done to stop her rampage-until she directs at the now open cockpit of the gear.

There, blade will meet blade, Kahm's having emerged in furious downsweep to counter Noeline's momentum, empowered by all the ambient energy flowing into him from the Gear's ether machine. Some of it sat unevenly in him-Keil's power, he suspected-but it was far more tolerable than the while, enormous energy he'd dealt in his fight against Azazel.

"I'm not here to give you answers, Noeline." He proclaims, sword clashing with thunderous, force as followed with a boot heel square-aimed at the woman's chest, "You, who know nothing of this world's shape."

Id and Lily's blazing bolts of ether strike simultaneously. Despite Lily's considerable willpower, her ether cannot reach past Hauteclaire's absolute boundary, and the furious attack strikes the barrier at one angle as Id's energy hits another, their volatile force tilting the gear on to the side-which beneficially causes it just slip out of the way of the Honeybee's perilously aimed shot.

This also has the effect of gravity pulling Riesenlied out of Hauteclaire's grip, which had slacked under the assault. Or at least that would've happend, if Gwen Whitlock hadn't mysteriously appeared and done gravity's job for it. There is a moment where the eyes meet, and while Kahm's face does not bear nearly the expression of the surprise that Gwen's does, something unexpected does twinkle in his eyes when she executes her insane maneuver, as if to ask: What the hell was that point of that?

No matter. Kahm titched, settling back onto the controls just as the orders came down from the Tzadkiel. No time to recover them-the orders from command took the utmost priority. The gear violently spun about to shake off it's stowaways, and made a beeline for the mothership at full thrust.

"Roger that. Lieutenants, disengage and make all due haste back to the Tzadkiel. We've a long day ahead of us yet, and the Fereshte won't get far in it's condition."

GS: Kahm Yugh has attacked Noeline with Heavy Swing!
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Once again, Xantia is completely distracted from anything else except the fight with Id. Granted, Id isn't one to take your eyes off, but in the process, she's completely missing what's happening aboard the Fereshte. To Riesenlied. But as long as Id is distracted... that's helping, right? She has to believe it's helping, and she's not just doing this out of some strange selfish desire that she can't even begin to explain. She thought there was something important about fighting him specifically, but... is that really all there is to it?

Xantia gets berated even by Id himself for claiming she feels sorry for him. She doesn't have much of a defense to offer. "I-I didn't mean... I know that!" It's just that factually knowing you shouldn't feel sorry for one of History's Greatest Monsters apparently doesn't necessarily prevent it from happening anyway. She's not sure what that says about her. Part of her hoped maybe Id would get it, but he's only making her feel more stupid for it.

And not just verbally. Xantia is taken for quite the unpleasant ride as her Gear is dragged along at speeds that few are equipped to handle. Id and his Gear may handle it fine, but Silvestris is losing pieces of itself even before missile blasts are brought into the equation. The Vierge's interference saves it from getting slammed hard into the Fereshte's deck, but after the beating it took, it looks like it might fall apart on its own on the way there. Its 'face' is barely recognizable as one now, its stretched-out, bent out of shape rows of teeth even more disturbing than they were before. It wouldn't be at all surprising if Xantia wasn't even conscious at this point.

And yet... shortly before its landing on the Fereshte, Silvestris turns in the air, managing to land - or moreso crash - on its feet. That wasn't automatic balancing, it was manual correction. Against all odds, Xantia is still conscious. A fact made evident by a transmission received by both Id and Elly's Gear. "Stop..." Barely conscious, judging by the faint sound of the voice. Yet, insistently, it repeats, "Stop it..."

Stop... what, exactly? Stop fighting, would be the obvious answer. But why to both of them? No explanations are forthcoming. Instead, a rapid energy buildup is detected from Silvestris. While on its involuntary ride along with Id's Gear, it had been siphoning some of its seemingly limitless energy. Now, all of it is concentrated in the beast-like Gear's tail. Segments open and lock into a different configuration, electricity cracklingly dangerously as a massive charge builds up. It's a rather dead giveaway that something big is coming, but as Id is being kept rather occupied by Elly, it may yet come as a surprise when the lightning cannon activates, sending a powerful focused bolt of pure energy in the red Gear's direction.

That'll be the end of it. Having spent everything it had left after firing, Silvestris will power down without so much as a whimper. Much the same goes for Xantia, who won't be exiting the machine without assistence. But before that happens, she still manages to add a puzzling statement, meant for Id but still also audible by Elly.

"I... want to... see you again..."

GS: Xantia has attacked Id with Hi-Voltage Cannon!
GS: Xantia has completed her action.
GS: Id guards a hit from Xantia's Hi-Voltage Cannon for 136 hit points!
GS: Id takes a solid hit from Elhaym van Houten's Thermo Cube for 194 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

        Gritting her teeth, Noeline watches as her unnaturally large blade - a solid slab of metal more or less the same size she is, five feet and an inch thick - simply slams into that of Kahm Yugh's, and catches there against it. If surprise flickers over the metal demon's face, she doesn't show it - but then she doesn't have the luxury of showing something like that.

        "Fuck your arrogance," she snaps back all too bluntly, her eyes alight with rage as she spits the words out. "Just pretty words for a bully to hide behind, Mr. 'Rider'. I've been called a parasite more times this week than you could ever count, and so I should know."

        For all her anger, the demon still has the presence of mind to brace herself against the incoming strike; rather than risk continuing to fight a losing battle, she instead lets the kick carry her backwards, feet skidding along the Gear's arm.

        Aware of a presence behind her, she uses the momentum to whirl around on the spot - and only needs a moment to realize the situation, to grit her teeth and press forward. Her sword simply winks away, melting back into her as if it were nothing, and then she's let herself slide down the back of the Hauteclaire's hand, brace, and push out into the dizzying air around them with her arm outstretched towards Gwen and Riesenlied.

        "--RIESE!" she cries in terrified rage, and the sheer effort of her downwards dive is the only thing that allows her to grasp onto the other demon's hand - first fingers, and then a more solid grip onto her hand. With her teeth gritted, it's all she can do to hold onto her - and though she desperately tries to sweep her hand downwards towards the courier, Gwen's much too far out of reach. "Three down! Need a pick-up! Muni-Muni!" she calls into her headset, voice muted by the wind.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

        Riesenlied struggles and-- draws a faint, wan breath as she pulls her head up. "... I ..." there's a rather hoarse breath as she whispers, "... will not abandon those that we have promised to save. I may not know secrets this world holds... but I will never...!"

        Her consciousness is starting to wean back into her, as she starts to sense the grip of the Hauteclaire around her better. Noeline is there-- as she always trusts her to be; she has to...

        Lily's amazing power rocks the Hauteclaire's boundary, shaking and loosening the Gear's grip on her -- and she chooses to act at that point.

        "I will never abandon the new world I seek...! Muni! Grab hold of us both...!" Riesenlied cries, reaching her hand down towards Gwen with wide eyes-- "--Gwen!!" she's too far... she can't... if she could just summon a portal--

        --ghh... she's too weak for that...

        She whips her head up. "Noeline...!" she reaches her hand up instead.

        Muni-Muni responds well to Noeline's command and catches the both of them in their fall, but finds herself too high and moving in far too fast a speed.

        "GWEN!"

        ---

        The airship rocks against the indefatigable pulses of energy erupting against them -- Elly's unfathomable burst of power from the AERODs, Ethius' thunderous shatter of electricity against the Schiehellion...

        In the near distance, the floating pyramidic platforms of the Pleasing Garden can be seen, the glass crater of Lost July below it.

        "Lydia, we've lost power from the servos," Cetiri reports from the intercomms down below. "Our only option to not get crushed is to land on one of the Garden platforms! Hurry! Only you can steer it!"

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

        Riesenlied struggles and-- draws a faint, wan breath as she pulls her head up. "... I ..." there's a rather hoarse breath as she whispers, "... will not abandon those that we have promised to save. I may not know secrets this world holds... but I will never...!"

        Her consciousness is starting to wean back into her, as she starts to sense the grip of the Hauteclaire around her better. Noeline is there-- as she always trusts her to be; she has to...

        Lily's amazing power rocks the Hauteclaire's boundary, shaking and loosening the Gear's grip on her -- and she chooses to act at that point.

        "I will never abandon the new world I seek...! Muni! Grab hold of us both...!" Riesenlied cries, reaching her hand down towards Gwen with wide eyes-- "--Gwen!!" she's too far... she can't... if she could just summon a portal--

        --ghh... she's too weak for that...

        She whips her head up. "Noeline...!" she reaches her hand up instead.

        Muni-Muni responds well to Noeline's command and catches the both of them in their fall, but finds herself too high and moving in far too fast a speed.

        "GWEN!"

        ---

        The airship rocks against the indefatigable pulses of energy erupting against them -- Elly's unfathomable burst of power from the AERODs, Ethius' thunderous shatter of electricity against the Schiehellion...

        In the near distance, the floating pyramidic platforms of the Pleasing Garden can be seen, the glass crater of Lost July below it.

        "Lydia, we've lost power from the servos," Cetiri reports from the intercomms down below. "Our only option to not get crushed is to land on one of the Garden platforms! Hurry! Only you can steer it!"

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

        He's fairly certain -- with a review of the targetting system displays, with even the briefest glances of the forest below -- that he didn't subdue the target. A frown darkens his face.

        INCO--

        Schiehallion's alert doesn't get a chance to finish before Loren reroutes power to shielding, once again.

        "I know. It's coming from below, again," Loren mutters to the computer, also knowing it won't help -- it's no adaptive AI, just a very simple and singularly focused one.
        It's a palpable hit: it rocks the heavy Gear, forcing it just a little higher against its previously steady position alongside the ship. Maybe it's a little more in the way of a gain against the marauding military group. It just also doesn't seem to do more than that, a theft of the Gear's attention and shielding and positioning.

        It's regrettably, for Jacqueline, still active by the time she attempts her own shot against it.
        (Though less regrettably for Loren.)
        The bullet, aimed for where fuel reserves might be on the Gear, pings off, with but a shift in altitude -- this time controlled; are more incoming from below? -- to show for it.

        Within the cockpit, another message is delivered. One blond eyebrow is raised.

        And to the world: "The only authority which matters. Ours. I repeat: those are the terms. Will you die here, Lamb?" One sidearm dips towards the forest below; the other lifts for the ship.

        And it's into this tense moment that Ethius interjects.

        His focus divided already against two positions -- with multiple hostiles below -- Loren has not a chance to accept an incoming strike from a third.

        The bolt hits the Gear dead-on in the chest, arcs of electricity spiking from various damaged points across the Gear's plating. They'd been minor, before, the bulk of them.
        Not so minor now. Rocked by the hit, and demonstrating -- before auxillary runs a pickup and reroutes -- the tell-tale signs of a system short once more, the Gear is forced into a more defensive flight away from the ship.

        MULTIPLE SYSTEM FAILURES DETECTED announces the computer. Loren bites back an oath and informs it: "I would have never guessed."

        And it's in the middle of this that he spots Van Houten set upon by the red Gear, and interjects.

        The shots ring out against the red Gear. His arms shake, if just for a moment. Loren takes a breath, slowly now.

        It does little to help.

        AERODs.
        Like all Gebler soldiers, he's heard of them. Only the most elite are able to use and control them effectively--

        The cold ugly twin pulse of envy and despair billows upwards from his gut and wraps around his heart, fans out across his shoulders, sinks down both arms. And he'd heard she was capable of using them. They're of the same class, the two of them, and she's still leagues beyond--
        That's why they put up with her--

        He banks again, the heavy Gear rolling out of the way of the apparently wayward
but with malign intent
burst.
        'Watch it', part of him wants to say.
        Doesn't say. It dies somewhere, swallowed down before he can even take a breath for the words.

        And across emergency channels then comes the most urgent orders imaginable, interrupting this scene.

        Pull back. They're being requisitioned elsewhere, effective immediately.

        "...Tch." Voice returns to Loren at last; Schiehallion jets backwards, banking into a wide turn before it -- with the others -- makes an abrupt and unexplained retreat for the Tzadkiel.

        They'd seemed so intent on stopping it just before. What would cause them to pull back now?

<Pose Tracker> Id has posed.

Id isn't smiling as he drags Xantia into the ship's deck. He feels the strength fading from his strikes. He tried to fight too much too soon. The seal is starting to reassert itself, he realizes. He finds himself annoyed that Xantia is being so reckless. That attitude would get her killed, he knew. It would kill her sweet little old grandparents in the Baskar village the moment Solaris knew about her, truly knew about her. It didn't matter WHAT she was, because what she was--clearly--would be enough to draw their greedy little hands.

Didn't you listen to her when she talked about her childhood?

Xantia siphons off energy. Siphon off limitless energy and the energy it comes from is still limitless but what she has is enough to get the red gear off of Elly. The blast slams into the side of the red gear and it is pushed to the edge of the Fereshte.

How they bullied her over her hair?

"You act like you know me, but I don't know you. I would know you," Id says. "I don't know what games they played with your mind, but clearly they did a number on you." The red gear straightens. "Wait there. I'll be with you in a moment."

How she had to adapt and how it made it easier to get along with others?

But then Elly is talking to him and despite himself, Id is drawn to listen. He watches the strange maneuver from the Vierge with curiosity but thinks little of it. He's been power beyond measure he thinks little of it. Not when he is trying to find Riesenlied in the crowd. He couldn't save her, he thinks, they're going to do all sorts of terrible things to her and it will be his fault. Death would be better. Oblivion is a kindness.

"They don't know anything." Id says. "They don't need to understand. Neither do you. You work for the very people who see these people as livestock. If you lived in that gilded cage of yours, you could live happily until your dying days. War doesn't suit little chicks such as yourself."

The gear starts to run for the Vierge.

So? She still tricked us

The AERODS are state of the art technology. Even Id is unaware of them and even though he doesn't know, he doesn't think he needs to be careful. He is power incarnate. The blasts slam into the red gear and for a moment it doesn't seem like they'll do enough anyway, even as they sheer and blacken the armoring of the red gear.

It wasn't just the hair you idiot!

<Pose Tracker> Id has posed.

But in that mysterious room in Id's mind, Fei pulls Id backwards, slowing him by infinitesimal time. He shouldn't be able to seize control of this body but somehow, when that girl is involved, he is able to.

In the physical realm, Elly claims she knows nothing. She claims that even so she can't watch people die for nothing. Evidence, such as when she faced down Kent, indicates that this is true even for Id.

She always had to pretend to be someone she wasn't, don't you get it?

The last blast slams into the red gear and sends it flying, punctuated by Elly's command. It doesn't destroy it. Of course it doesn't. But it hits the thrusters and sends the red gear tumbling backwards and off of the airship.

It's hands grab at the edge with enough force that the airship lurches beneath Id's power.

But she showed us enough of her true self

The red gear starts to pull itself up but there's no force behind it. The AERODS are a destroyer's weapon but in spite of his argument against it, he can't help but appreciate it.

And we know the last thing she wants to be doing is hurting the people here!

Gradually the gears start to lighten their grip, as if the robot itself was losing strength. Id bows his head. "Why... Why are you always like this?" It's just to himself. Elly can't hear it. "Let someone else carry the weight of the world. Let Riesenlied do it."

Stop thinking about your own difficult situation for a moment, and think about her own! You're not the only one who is suffering! Can't you feel it, all around us? It's so loud, so painful, I know you can!

"I'm so tired of seeing you die." Id punches repeatedly into his control console, sending sparks flying. "I'm so tired of seeing your pain! I want to see your smile! I want to see your joy! I want to see you free from the chains of fate that bind you!"

We can't punch the malevolence--no, the poison that exists in all of us away...Not really!

But the color fades from Id's hair. It settles into a brown. His hair covers his fair and he finally lets go.

But we can try to heal their hearts, just like she's always done for us!

Fei stands up from his chair and flings Id back into it, staring down at him not with anger but something more like pity.

"You won't remember this," The boy says. "I won't let you. Whatever you think you learned here, you're not going to get to keep it."

That's what Elly taught us to do! Don't you get it? It's our turn now to do it for her!

Fei smiles back down at the boy.

"I don't have to remember what I always know." Fei tells the boy. "You have all the memories of the universe, but you forgot what really mattered."

He steps through the screens.

The red gear plummets out of sight.

That's what happens.

That's what needed to happen. Everything, from Ida forcing Id out, from the destruction of Wayside, to this.

All to make this moment of realization, all to make sure the lesson of who Elly is won't be forgotten.

<Pose Tracker> Morgan Newkirk has posed.


The Sinner moves forwards, stalking like some vengeful angel as it advances on the Gebler forces...only to have them melt away before it. The machine of war stands there for a moment looking at the damages and the wounded as Morgan's sensor scan follows the flight of the wounded airship. His ears flickering though the chattering radio bands. He doesn't have the full EW rig in his machine. His VI can't handle that much in the way of processing...

...one day. It will be.

It's because of that he sees the Gebler gear grasp Riesenlied and pull her away from the ship, only at the last moment to have the damage become to great, the loosing the grip as two figures start to fall.

...wait two...

"Gwen? WHAT THE BLOODY HELL ARE..."

The Sinner's lugs begin to pump as he slams commands into the Gear. It's not built to be a fast machine. It can't fly...

"Byte! Activate those things!"

"Badbadbadbadbad!"

"Shut up and reroute power!"

"Fine!"

The Restless Sinner can't fly, but it can jump.

Jets on its hips and legs suddenly roar to life turning the surrounding forest to ash. The multi-ton machine hurls skyward, slow at first but gathering speed as Morgan jams those hated analog controls to get his corse to intersect with Gwen's fall. One damaged hand reaches out to cup around the Courior at the perfect moment of intersection...

And then the rockets start to cut out.

"Right," Comes Morgan's voice from the external speakers. "This is gonna be a hard landing..." As gravity exerts control of the machine again and it starts to plummet. "...and I haven't exactly tried this out before." Inside the cockpit the pilot keeps an eye on the fuel and the heat gages as the feeling of weightlessness takes him as the machine drops out of the sky.

And just before it hits the ground with enough force to crumple its legs like tinfoil the rockets ignite again, slowing it just enough for the landing to be jarring but not deadly.

There is a stumble from the big Gear as he glances up towards Elly and Fei's duel in the sky.

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

        The chaotic swaying and piloting that is necessary to get the Fereshte to pull its direction towards Lost July and its more recent, incredible discovery at last exploits Ethius' insistence on staying near the edge. One hard shake and bump later, Ethius goes into freefall--
        --were it not for ruptured railing that makes for a tolerable ladder, as the great white Gear starts to pull back. Ethius' feet hang in thin air, and yet, he doesn't flail. Reasonably secure in his position though clutching for his life from a sharp pain that runs up his shoulder, he watches the Schiehallion jet backwards, away - too far away for any of his spells to reach.
        Ethius isn't on the communication networks. He knows not of calls to fall back. He is making the immediate assumption that they might yet pull around and attack again. So focused on the flank he was trying to defend, much of the minutae of the incredible power on display seems to sink into being a slurry of ambient noise signaling - in vague terms - where is a safe place to stand or not.
        There is nothing safe about hanging onto the railing that seems ready to peel off and collapse further, as the mysterious half-masked man strains to pull himself up. Any time he has to put weight upon that shoulder is agonizing... but he can't slow down. He clears the top of the deck to once again stand as his eyes scan the horizon, the surrounding area. His reasons for being here - two years ago, and now today - are forced to once again be at pause as he has to relocate to more secure ground to brace for any further collisions or emergency landings - or to watch for other parting shots that aren't actually yet coming.
        The individual dramas of those being caught, those finding an emotional bridging, those finding life-changing affirmations... once more, he seems all to ready to distance and divorce himself from all of these for sake of...
        Stowing away in a pile of potatoes? That's as good an answer as any! There's bigger problems afoot just yet!

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline's shot is poorly timed, it seems - as far as she can tell it bounces harmlessly off. What was that, some kind of shielding? As she begins switching out for a different kind of ammunition, the man speaks again. It gives Jacqueline pause.

"...Who in the world are you people? And what do you mean by 'Lamb'...?" She mutters to herself, though communications might be able to pick it up. There's something about the way he says it that gets under her skin, that irritates her.

It's as this is going on that the dynamic seems to change - the airships, both of them, start to change course. The Fereshte has taken quite a bit of damage, that much she can tell from this distance.

And then, so does the Gear she was fighting.

It retreats with Jacqueline's response halfway typed-out and she sighs, leaning back in her seat, massaging her forehead.

...She hoped she had been of some use here. Provided just enough of a distraction...

She wouldn't be able to catch up to any of them at this rate, but at least she knew where they were going.

The Pleasing Garden.

Why there, of all places...? She hoped there would be something left of it when she arrived.

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily knows full well that Solaris is unlikely to consider her much of a threat. ...Even escaping from their custody, that's a different sort of action, a different sort of classification. She is a curiousity, at best, something to be studied. ...But she intends to make that their peril. In time.

She does not know AERODs, does not know all of Solaris and Gebler's technology, but she can hear what is said over the radio. Hear about being tracked, of what happens. ...The only authority that matters...

Lily watches as her power does not penetrate the shield. She watches as it, and Id's attack, tilts the Gear. ...And she watches the Gear's sudden retreat--all of their sudden retreat, amidst the great power she feels from...

She looks to Vierge, blinking a few times. That power... Is it familiar...?

Regardless, Lily has not yet been able to stand. She looks to Riesenlied, hears her speak, can tell where they are. ...Can see that Id, too, abrubtly falls. She cannot say why. There is a lot that she cannot say right now.

She huffs, where she is, breathing heavily, but she hears Jay's question. She looks up again, and says into her radio, "...They're people behind Aveh's success. They think they're better than all of us, have strange technology..."

"And they need to be destroyed."

She slumps back where she is, pulling herself into a seated position to rest. There is more yet, that she can do.

"...Gear squadron, recommend withdrawal," she says more officially. "We've got a breather... For now." A pause. "...I'll be back down to the deck... In a while..." She closes her eyes.

<Pose Tracker> Id has posed.

MEANWHILE

"Steering." Lydia says. "Well, it's kind of only turning in one direction right now but sure. Sure we can do that. And hey, if we fall to our deaths at least we'll probably land on some asshole drifters in Lost July. Win Win."

She glances over to Lily as she says that they need to be destroyed but doesn't comment beyond a, "Well, I feel bad for them, being wrong all the time."

The airship is going to be spinning around a lot as Lydia tries to 'land' the airship on one of those floating platforms on the Pleasing Garden. You know, without smashing the ship and killing all the--

--some of

Well the non-freaks-of-natures on board. Lydia isn't sure who those are but they probably exist, she reasons, as she gives one final suggestion to anybody on the airship.

"HOLD ONTO YOUR BUTTS!"

And then--

"I MEAN SOMETHING SECURED YOUR BUTTS AREN'T SECURED!"

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

        From within the shell of Big Shal, who appears to have bulked up into a padded landing seat with someone enclosed inside, there's an impish snicker: "--hey, maybe some of us are secure in our--"

        Perhaps it's for the best that noise drowns her out.

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

        Seeing Riesenlied being rescued by Noeline granted Gwen one small blessing: her crazy stunt wouldn't cost Riesenlied her life, anyway.

        Gwen just has enough time to smile before the two become pinpricks in her sight.

        As torturous as spiraling endlessly down in the sky can feel, it's probably a small blessing that, by the time Morgan's Gear manages to grasp into Gwen, she's temporarily knocked out cold. She doesn't feel the jerk of the gear's hand as Morgan tries to adjust for a potentially fatal landing, as well as the crash.

        They're both alive, but it came at the cost of Morgan's gear.

        As Morgan stumbles out to watch the skies above, Gwen's mouth hitches up in a wince as she begins to come to, still clasped in the dearly departed Restless Sinner's grasp. "Nh.... uhm..." She looks to the wrecked gear, then back to Morgan, then back to the gear.

        Somehow, a 'thank you' doesn't seem to be enough.

        She groans. "I'd hug you rite now but I'm kinda... waitin' for the world to stop spinnin'... n'... oh Guardians, that gear..." She flops back in the gear's grip, not even bothering to get out. This is fine. She really doesn't want to walk or stand right now. "They... niver say anythin' 'bout... the fallin' part... in gella novels..."

        She raises one unsteady hand, and gives Morgan a thumbs up and what she hopes is a convincing enough wink. "I'll pay ya back... some... how... But I guess you're my hero now?"

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

        --ttthhhHHOOOOOOMMMMmmm--

        The Fereshte lands with an enormous and resounding noise -- displacing a whole lot of soil all at once and causing the platform it lands on to careen and place itself on an angle and possibly cause a Brute 4 challenge to spawn to whoever unlucky sods run this next.

        The understudies cough and whimper, "I'm alive..." "Me too..."

        Cetiri hollers, "Then get off your keisters and put these fires out!"

        Well, on the flipside:

        Gebler's gone, having been called to an even more higher priority task (support triage, how does it work, ugh).

        The airship is... still... mostly in... well, it'll need repairs, and is on fire, but it doesn't look like anyone is particularly injured, even if everything's upended and a mess in the cargo hull--

        --but looking rather comfortable in her pile of freshly peeled potatoes is... Val, who's just now able to see again from the fading veil of a certain someone's smoke grenade.

        "What a handsome spud," she nods to herself.

<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

Matilda can't actually pressure the Hauteclaire; the Honeybee reflects its owner. It's a workhorse with a lot of heart (quite literally), and it tries so hard... but in the end, it's up against so much. So much superior technology, natural sorcery -- all these things...

... When the recommendation comes from Lily to retreat, she sees no reason not to. They've accomplished their objectives, even if to Matilda it feels very barely like that's the case.

"... Honeybee en route," Matilda says, a little flatly, over the comms. The machine's first outing wasn't bad, to be sure -- all told it's mostly got nicks and scrapes -- but there's part of Matilda that just feels... unsatisfied with it, just the same.

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

 
Clumsy, blind, and powered by a desperate heart, the AERODs fend off the demon.

Slay him? No. Some monsters you don't kill.

In Vierge's cockpit Elly gasps and whines piteously. The AERODs operate by mental force. She did not bring any of the drug that would have been part of protocol to use - and indeed doing so might have been a very bad moment. The passion she felt, poorly defined as it is, fades.

One of the parking cameras shows her a grainy image of the red Gear leaving, or falling; it moves behind a ridge, and it doesn't come back, it doesn't come back, it doesn't come back.

Eventually Elly calms.

The AERODs are programmed well and return to their cradles within Vierge, damaged though they are by the neccessity of a forceful egress. Elly feels a certain guilt about Vierge's state, the battle damage, the wounding, the conflict and the violence she's had to visit on others. There was nothing purifying about smashing Leon, nothing glorious to have visited a blast on that woman, on Xantia, who had only struggled to battle this creature.

Things aren't done yet.

To herself, alone in the electric tomb, Elly says in a quiet voice, "I'm sorry," and she doesn't know to whom.

To the world at large she says nothing. Anything would be worse than nothing.

For a second she thinks: I could flee. I could follow the Fereshte. They might receive my signals, and... perhaps they'd fire on Vierge. Perhaps they would deserve that, or perhaps she would deserve that.

Lingering on the knife edge of exhaustion, Elly's hand is forced by the same sort of miracle that had just saved untold souls. A low fuel chime.

"... I suppose they're thirsty... I..."

It's better if I leave more quietly anyway, Elly thinks (rationalizes) to herself. She shifts to single-hand control as Vierge vectors back to the Tzadkiel, and her other hand runs over the smoothed edge of Vierge's console.

"... thank you; I promise I'll treat you better," Elly says. It's childish, she knows - Vierge does not even have the approximation of a semi-autonomous intelligence to hear her. But perhaps it's not bad to be childish right now.

She wonders how quickly they'll be able to overhaul Vierge. The answer may surprise everybody!