The moment Alyza clipped the Hizack with her spray-and-pray fire, Rand was ready and waiting to put the finishing touches on with his Dra-C. Though its titanium alloy/ceramic composite armor outclassed its Zeon counterparts, the Hizack was still vulnerable to the Dra-C’s sustained gatling fire, if not more so due to its compromised shoulder. In seconds, the Titan mobile suit’s arm was blasted away from its shoulder and soon, the rest of the mobile suit followed as its exposed innards soaked up the rest of Rand’s sustained gatling fire.
But while the veteran pilot had been focused from the get-go and took care not to let himself overextend, that same discipline was only just now starting to come to the ever frightful Alyza. The petty officer’s momentary retreat had done enough to steel her nerves and the results were already showing as she emerged from her hiding place and set her sights on another incoming mobile suit. It was a Hizack much like the one Rand had eliminated with this particular one having just dispatched the dying Stettin’s sole remaining escort. Unlike the earlier Titan, this one was quicker to react to the sudden aggression, covering their vitals with its shoulder-mounted shield before returning fire on Alyza’s position.
<<”Don’t overextend, focus on keeping the cruisers covered! Rhen, link up with Tyvin!”>> In the midst of the veteran and rookie’s retreat, Helena’s three-strong group (plus Rhen) had arrived in force, providing the pair much needed relief with their more heavily armed mobile suits. The Lieutenant’s focus was on a Galbaldy Beta harassing one of Alimentarius’ wingmen, her Zaku’s beam rifle flashing multiple times to dissuade any further pursuit. And if her own beam rifle weren’t enough to make them think twice, the far stronger blast from Sebastian’s beam bazooka was there to hammer the shift in momentum home, the Galbaldy’s shield beginning to bubble from the near miss. Aron’s own bazooka provided the same relief to another of Ali’s wingmen and with greater effect, robbing a Hizack of its beam rifle after shooting through the weapon and arm both.
Good instincts and snappy reactions carried the Leipzig’s lead pilot out of harm’s way as her Gelgoog rocketed upwards and over her pursuer, the Hizack’s rifle fire spearing through empty space only for the Gelgoog’s own to come crashing down in response. A single beam slammed into its domed head, quickly followed by a second and third impacting its torso, flames erupting from the compromised machine and spraying machinery in a multitude of directions. And ever on the hunt for those who would stand against Zeon, Ali’s ire quickly shifted onto the one-armed Hizack reeling from Aron’s attack, the Titan quickly huddling behind their shield. Even so, there was still some fight in the Hizack as it adjusted its positioning before countering with its only remaining ranged weapon, the missile launchers mounted on its legs, a series of missiles streaking towards the Leipzig pilot.
Losses among the Titans began to steadily mount and few among Axis would let the chance slip away. Showered by the scattering remains of its EWAC ally, the Hizack Custom leading the dwindling squadron began turning its launcher onto the rushing Kampfer’s flight path only to realize too late that they were destined for a melee.
“Too slow, you’re too slow…!” Aldren growled as the Kampfer drew a beam saber with its free-hand and took a swing, the blade of concentrated minovsky particles slicing right through the launcher like a hot-knife through butter. Those nearer to Rand and Alyza fared only marginally better, if only for the lack of any real harm as Rhen opted to serve as a flighty distraction to their pursuers. Bursts of beam fire erupted from his Galbaldy’s beam machine gun at the incoming Hizack-types, forcing them out of their attack routines lest an unlucky round add them to those already lost. And fortunately for him, his mobile suit’s own advanced thrusters kept him from that same fate, retaliatory beam and ordinance fire either crashing into debris or flying off into the darkness of space.
--
“Feels like they’re mocking us here…”
It may’ve been overconfidence on Wolfe’s part but the sentiment was still felt amongst the rest of Alan’s group, the combined teams of the Zandra and Dresden pushing the Titans back with relative ease despite an early hit to Nhi’s Zaku. The sturm faust launched off by Zobeen forced the two bazooka-toting GM Quels split apart from each other with one cruising into the firing line formed by Alan’s group. A single firing rifle quickly became three, with each narrowing down the GM’s evasive options until a round lanced through its left knee and a string of follow-ups ripped open the navy blue machine’s chest during an uncontrolled spin.
The remaining GM Quel wouldn’t make the same mistake, the sole visor-equipped mobile suit opting to fall back and provide cover for the Galbaldy Beta with a fresh salvo at Alan’s group, the shells detonating into wide-spray of clay pellets. The nimbler Act-types helmed by Alan and Lapis had avoided the worst of the burst, the tiny projectiles leaving deep dents and cracks in the torso and shoulder armor but Ameh wasn’t so lucky. Pellets rattled across his Zaku’s frame with hardly a spot left undented or cracked, the vent of attached to the main camera smashed loose while its winch equipment had been out of shape. Fortunately for him, the beam rifle was still operational and the armor attachments had prevented the cockpit itself from being cratered with him still inside.
While the Quel had to contend with pressuring Alan’s advance by its lonesome, the Galbaldy Beta made its move. Linking up with the only remaining standard Hizack in its squad, it raised its forearm-mounted shield and pointed it at Zobeen’s machine, the launcher built into it dispensing a pair of missiles at an increasingly close range. Ideally, their wingman would’ve followed it up with a carefully placed shot of their rifle but the moment was robbed from them after a burst from Wolfe’s machine gun raked across it. But as the rifle’s e-pac detonatd (along with its hand), Wolfe’s Gelgoog had continued on, leaving the final touches to Ashley and Nhi to handle. There was a more valuable target that had to be intercepted before they overstayed their welcome.
The Hizack Custom at the rear held a watchful eye over the engagement, refraining from firing into the melee else it hit one of its own by accident but now that their numbers had been cut in half, it finally went on the offense. A single round had already been popped off, tearing off the left leg of Lapis’ Act Zaku and it had begun lining up for a second before it was rattled by a burst from Wolfe’s Gelgoog, the veteran having slipped past the overworked GM Quel.
“There you are…”
--
It had taken a lot of restraint on his end to not kick decorum to the curb and charge right in alongside the rest of the Zandra’s pilots but, somehow, Fritz had kept himself in check. Lieutenant Marsali hadn’t given much in the way of orders, having trusted her fellow Gorgon to handle things at the rear while the other mobile suit teams organized in their own way. He wasn’t much a fan of such a hands-off way of doing things but he could see some similarities in how the Fenrir operated once upon a time. That each team could operate by its lonesome should the need arise. Though in the case of Fenrir, they ultimately functioned as part of a whole instead of running off without a care…
“Still, they’re holding them back better than I thought…” The ships had come out of the gauntlet largely intact save for the Stettin, its fiery remains a dwindling light from his position, and the Titan-marked signals continued to dwindle. Yet at the same time, he couldn’t help but feel something was amiss and not entirely from the Federation’s end either. His camera swiveled from the battle to those of the marines, half their number gathered around the Zandra’s rear. No doubt that the Lieutenant had noticed the departure of their commander for parts unknown, the accompanying units painted for a stealthy approach.
He kept his concerns to himself during their stay and they had certainly proven themselves more trustworthy than the monks but he was still wary of them. Marine units like theirs nearly brought Stardust to an end and only brought nothing but trouble, their prowess be damned. Whatever they were planning, they had better know their place or else join these Titan pursuers in the grave.
((Map and estimated positions of evacuation fleet is here!))
((The Weekly Woowig))
Once more, the Axis Recon Fleet shows its stuff against the Titans though not without taking some knocks of their own!
The Stettin has become a smoldering memory for those closest to it as Rand and Alyza work in tandem to blow away a Hizack with the latter turning her rifle on yet another, earning a spat of return fire on the patch of debris she used for cover.
Incidentally, though there were still more waiting in the wings to take a shot at the pair, the timely arrival of Helena, Aron, Sebastian and Rhen forced the Titans onto the defensive even more than before. The four pilots had managed to intercept their pursuers with varying degrees of success, their targets breaking off before they were shot down or outright losing an arm in one instance and even rescued the beleaguered team from the Leipzig. Not that Alimentarius needed such a thing, her own quick reactions resulting in one Hizack getting added to the pile and another cowering behind its shield as it launched off a series of missiles at the Lieutenant. Aldren yielded similar results, using his Kampfer’s agility to force the Hizack Custom into a melee engagement, slicing apart its beam launcher with his beam saber.
On the opposite end, the combined outfit of the Dresden team and Alan’s unit have managed to swat down yet another Hizack as well as one of the GM Quel reinforcements but they hadn’t gotten away lightly. Alan, Lapis and Ameh all had caught varying amounts of clay pellets from the GM Quel’s bazooka with Ameh suffering the worst, his winch equipment the only thing to have kept him alive. Lapis’ Zaku had even lost one of its legs after getting sniped by a Hizack Custom, the offender quickly coming under attack by Wolfe. Zobeen hadn’t suffered any setbacks but a Galbaldy Beta was looking to head him off, launching a pair of missiles from its shield at close range.
The evacuation is proceeding more or less on pace though some pilots like Fritz have noted the marine numbers have thinned, half of them flying off to parts unknown. It’s probably fine but who can say?
