Rules of Nature

[Lars Langstrom]

"Contact! Minovsky signature detected! Evemy vessel bearing 040 far out. We have a signature. It's the Cairo!"

The timing couldn't have been any worse. Lars grimaced. Getting into an engagement this close to Von Braun was going to be difficult. More importantly, What are they doing out here? The possibilities descended in a downward spiral of bad outcomes. It was time to salvage the situation as best he could.

"Red alert. Go to condition red. Navigator, half full on right engine- bring us around to intercept."

Without looking, his right hand reached for the phone attached to his command chair and brought it to his ear.

"Jim, get to the nearest phone once you're ready."

They didn't have much time until they launched. Langstrom raked his fingers through his hair while thinking. We won't be the only ones who pick them up. There'll have to be reinforcements.

[Jim Anderson]

Jim had been reviewing logs to shuffle flight assignments.  Well, I like pairing off complimentary skillsets, but the 'normal' flight construction seems awful.  Just tailor it to what we need... well, shit he thought as the alarms wailed.  "Anderson" he said without preamble as he picked up the phone.  Well, that's a pisser he thought as it was explained that the Cairo was nearby.  "Ain't that a bitch.  Magnum scramble" he said, slamming the phone down and getting up.  Well, this'll be fun he cursed as he sprinted down to the ready room.  

"Magnum, Magnum, Magnum, all pilots up!  Magnum, Magnum, Magnum, all pilots up!" the PA screamed at the entire ship.

Jim slid into his normal suit, already going through his deployments.  Leave a couple with the ship on BARCAP, take the rest of the team in for recon he thought, reaching back towards the phone in the Ready Room.  "Taking six up for recon.  Configure one of the destroyer's groups for antiship and have them marshall with an escort group" he told Langstrom, laying out a deployment plan for them all.  

[Daniel Gage]

"If you come back alive, dedicate your victory to Mars."

Cryptic freak. There was no way to dignify that message over the communication channel with a response. Gage readjusted the straps connecting his helmet to his normal suit. He used his hands to stretch his neck a little and settle into the cockpit of his mobile suit. A lot of eyes were already on the Cairo. The Lieutenant hoped that he wouldn't become just another grave marker on the debris littering the lunar surface.

They were already given the green light to launch. The veteran methodically watched the large, purple mobile armor make its way out to the catapult and throw itself into battle. Guess it's our turn now. The Marasai slowly moved its way out of the gantry. He had a clear view of the shitshow in front of him. In a matter of moments the two battleships would be exchanging fire with each other- just to keep everyone on their toes.

"Commander, I'm ready to launch."

[Lars Langstrom]

Apr 11, 2015 21:45:32 GMT Jim Anderson said:

"Taking six up for recon.  Configure one of the destroyer's groups for antiship and have them marshall with an escort group"

Anaheim must be shitting themselves by now. Lars mused. The very presence of the Cairo was already going to create problems- not while they were uninvited and dumping jamming particles all over lunar orbit. We've gotta deal with this fast.

"I"ll make it happen. The Polaris will hold the line. Keep an eye on their mobile suit teams and don't let them get anywhere near Von Braun. You have launch clearance- launch whenever your team is ready."

Langstrom knew Anderson would do his job. Now it's time to keep my end of the bargain. The senior officer stood, facing his foes off on the horizon.

"Ready main batteries. Standby to fire."

[Yazan Gable]

Apr 12, 2015 4:48:03 GMT Daniel Gage said:

"Commander, I'm ready to launch."

"As am I Comamander." Jaime called back, "Gaspar 3 in position, ready to launch."

Jaime double checked his systems for what seemed like the hundreth time. Shifting his radio back over, he sent another message to his wingmate.

"Gaspar 2, come in Gaspar 2." Jaime called, settling into his cockpit. "I know you can hear me Gage. The new guy said that there'd be debris in the area, right? I don't much favor the idea of trucking straight through a turkey shoot to get in the neighborhood. Any word on trying that concealment stunt you tried our first sortie? This time, we might actually have time to set it up right."

[Fred Castle]

Fred was surprised when he'd heard the alarm, and the call for the pilots to get suited up to launch. He hadn't been up to anything important at least, not that it would have changed anything if he had, so he headed to the ready room and changed into his normal suit. He saw Anderson was there already of course, but the other man seemed to be the only one here so far. This would be their first time deplying under their new commander, and considering the drama surrounding that, Fred wasn't exactly looking forward to seeing how it turned out. Though hopefully Steiner and LeNoire were smart enough to drop their personal shit with Anderson once the shooting started.

He thought about giving Anderson some shit about it being his first time properly leading them, but he was using the phone and likely speaking with the Captain so that would have been a terrible idea. Besides that, they were supposed to be preparing to launch, which meant getting themselves and their MS ready to go. So once he had his normal suit on, Fred had gone out to his Rick Dias, and after climbing into the cockpit he activated the machine. He had it grab a clay bazooka once again, though he only had one magazine of clay rounds in reserve since he didn't really expect to use them much.

[Benjamin Regard]

A quiet trip to Von Braun would be too much to ask for, Ben thought as he hurried into the ready room and began changing. He was apparently trailing behind as both Anderson and Castle were already set to go, the former discussing something on the phone and the latter on his way out the door. Things had barely settled down since the business in the hangar and they were being thrown out into the fire again. Not the ideal but their new lead had a plan in mind which was good enough for Ben.

Zipping up his suit and securing his helmet, Ben shot Anderson a quick nod as he headed off for his own machine in the hangar, one of the many Rechts the Polaris had for defense. “Guess I’m in for one more ride in one of these. I sure hope Anaheim has something better than this in store for me.”

[Hilda Steiner]

Hilda had been sulking in her stateroom before the alarms went off.  The bastard's been keeping an aggressive drill setup, I'll give him that, but who the hell does he think he is, taking me from squadron leader to just another pilot?  she asked herself again.  Lars hadn't been much help with that either, and she'd certainly been dealing with that other members of the squadron seemingly preferring a son of a bitch Titan for their CO.  Of course, her complaints were cut short by the wail of the alarms and a Magnum launch call.  She kicked off the wall and was headed towards the ready room for her normal suit that fast.

Changing without the slightest hint of concern for her modesty, she scowled at Anderson.  Magnum Launch protocols meant that they got to their birds as fast as possible and worried about a proper briefing once they'd launched, and she simply sprinted towards her Dias and Anderson yakked away on the phone, getting at least something cursory as she sealed up her suit and kicked towards the flight line.

Once she'd airlocked into the hangar bay, she kicked straight for her Dias, locking in as fast as the maint crew got her ready to launch.  She quickly got lined up in the queue behind Castle and Regard, both of whom were already moving towards the catapults in their units.  First man to their bird wins... she grumbled as she slewed over towards the cats herself...

[Julian Miller]

Reaching the hangar after a quick pit-stop to don his flight suit, Julian held his helmet in one hand as he pushed off of the balcony's hand-rail and towards his waiting machine. He was pleased to see that yellow and green that had been the factory colors of his Asshimar had been replaced by the traditional black and blue color scheme of the Titans and featured the red gryphon that served as his personal heraldry. At least this way the mono-eyed machine seemed a bit more familiar and less like the Zeonic knockoff that it appeared to be. It wasn't much but it was something.

Still, even as he swung into the cockpit of his machine, Julian wasn't feeling great about this situation. The Cairo had been discovered before their little recon operation had even begun and now they were being forced to rush into a battle that they had all meant to avoid. Frankly he couldn't help but blame Scirocco for this whole mess. While the man couldn't have predicted the appearance of an AEUG ship, the same one that had given the Cairo trouble before, the fact that he wasn't calling it all off only confirmed Julian's earlier suspicions that this was all just an excuse to throw the team into a crucible and see what they were capable of.

Placing his helmet on his head and activating his machine, Julian guided the Asshimar into place behind Jaime's Quel. What Julian was really waiting for was to hear what exactly their team's orders would be. Would they continue on with the original recon mission despite being discovered already or just commit to fighting the AEUG here and now before escaping. Those were two among a multitude of possibilities and Julian was curious as to which one would be decided on.

[Victoria Sinclair]

Victoria sat in the cockpit of her Marasai and adjusted her jacket idly as the mobile armor flew out and everyone moved into position. Gage and Neston were readied up and soon enough so was Miller. "I'm sure that behemoth is going to ruin someone's day but we're not going to be doing much from here." Lowering her helmet's visor, Victoria knew that she'd rather be able to manuver then be stuck in the hanger with the armor open to let the suits out.

"Gaspar 1 to team we're launching, we'll provide screening for the Cairo until we get orders." If anything they'd get to see this purple monster in action and see if this mercenary was worth the money Jamitov was shelling out. "Miller you're welcome to join us your choice." With a quick walk behind Gage's Marasai ready to launch when it was free.

[Fred Castle]

As he moved his machine to the catapult to launch, Fred saw Regard and Steiner were the next two out and ready, he knew she was pissed at them for not feeling the same way about Anderson as her. He wasn't thrilled about it, but he wasn't violently opposed to it either, though it helped that he he'd known a few guys who went into the Titans when they were first created. Still, she wasn't trying to shoot them in the back over it right now, and he needed to get off the ship as quickly as possible.

He'd decided not to bring the shield, since it had gtten in the way of his bazooka during the last battle, and besides that it didn't let him store magazines like Federation shields did either. Once he was good to go, Fred hit his comms, "First Lieutenant Castle, heading out." he said, before hitting the release for the catapult so he could launch. He had never liked using a catapult, since he'd always been used to walking the machine or doing an air drop to get where he needed to be, the sudden rush from the catapult was just a terrible feeling.

Once he was off the ship, he took up a defensive position as he waited for the others, he was too far off to reliably target or hit anything, and moving in alone was a death wish at best. Hopefully Regard and Steiner wouldn't take too long, but he also hoped the rest got to their machines soon too. The enemy wouldn't care if they were ready or not, they'd just have an easier time with their own mission if the A.E.U.G. machines and pilots took too long.

[Daniel Gage]

Apr 12, 2015 22:34:26 GMT Yazan Gable said:

"Gaspar 2, come in Gaspar 2. I know you can hear me Gage. The new guy said that there'd be debris in the area, right? I don't much favor the idea of trucking straight through a turkey shoot to get in the neighborhood. Any word on trying that concealment stunt you tried our first sortie? This time, we might actually have time to set it up right."

"There's nothing but junk down on the surface. Stay out of directly out of their line of site down there and we should be able to pull it off- Just try not to let those beams hit your ass on the way down. Gaspar 2, Marasai, launching!"

The red mobile suit catapulted out into the void after the sudden shock of acceleration. Gage quickly got his bearings- mobile suits were coming out of the Polaris like a pack of angry hornets defending their hive. They didn't have much longer. Gage awaited the others to get into formation before making the descent.

[Edward LeNoire]

“And just when I was starting to drift into dreamland...” Eddy quipped sarcastically as he hopped off of his bed and rushed out of his quarters. Grabbing the nearest lift-grip, he zoomed down the hallway and toward a turbolift that would take him straight to the hangar and ready room. Floating inside the car, Eddy punched in the destination and leaned his back against the wall as the turbolift zipped through the network to where he needed to go. After a few moments, the car stopped and Eddy floated out into the hallway.

Coming into the ready room as Steiner left, Eddy strolled over to his locker and took out his normal suit, changing with little fuss on his part. Looking over at Anderson as he barked orders on the phone, he quipped as he grabbed his helmet. “Just when I was about to catch forty winks. What’s the play, Anderson?”

[Katharyn Holcroft]

"All right." Katharyn muttered to herself as she made her way to her GM QUEL. She wore her flight suit, helmet in hand. Strapped to her belt was the same dark brown leather holster she always wore, and inside that holster was her sidearm. She always carried it on a sortie, and she always checked it back into the armory upon her return.
"It would've been to much to hope for, I suppose, for us to be able to get clear and down to the surface before the enemy spotted us."

She strapped herself in, put on her helmet, and started up her GM. She checked the armament - the 60mm vulcan guns, the single beam saber, the beam rifle - and of course, the shield. Satisfied, she maneuvered into position behind Miller's new model, which she noted with some interest now sported darker colors similar to those of her QUEL - proper Titans colors. It still irked her, but the colors were certainly an improvement...if only the Marasais were similarly colored instead of that bright red, they wouldn't be such eyesores. Still glorified Zakus, but not as much of an eyesore all the same.

She cut off that train of thought instantly, focusing her attention on what mattered: the battle that was about to begin.

[Yazan Gable]

“Affirmative Gage.” Jaime braced himself as the catapult fired, launching him. He quickly reoriented himself to the terrain, thankful that beams weren’t coming in quite yet for a hot exit, and fell into formation as Gage’s wing. Jaime took a position behind Gage, back and to the right, keeping his shield in position that it would catch any stray fire tracking Gage, while he would be in position to offer suppressive fire if need be.


“You ready for this Gaspar 2?”