Fettel was an extremely skilled pilot in his own right and he seemed to protect Kayra's Dom unit with aplomb and ease, giving her plenty of time to line up a shot at the functional and very much combative Salamis cruiser that they were engaged with. Still it gnawed at him that the Fury had not so much as opened with a salvo since their initial barrage to cover their approach. Had Captain Jaryk forged some plan that he hadn't informed them of in its entirety? "Kayra, you have to take the shot now," Fettel spoke in a reserved tone, the longer the fighting lasted the more opportunity there would be for the enemy to strike back. Furthermore Fettel worried that perhaps the two Salamis cruisers had already been able to get a may day signal transmitted through the stars to their allies, the Titans or the Federation, both would be equally happy to hunt those who claimed to be remnants of Zeon.
Kayra nodded inside the cockpit of her Rick Dom, the flickering red lock on appeared in her HUD, as it solidified bright red, signaling a lock she squeezed the trigger, the massive payload of energy from the beam bazooka caused her mobile suit to tremble for a second time. "Firing!" Her voice held conviction for her actions, the beam carried with it the righteous energies of Zeon, or so she thought. But there was something troubling, bubbling out there on the battlefield, waiting to be unleashed.
The horizon filled with the bright light, the rumbling of the impact could be felt through space immediately around the Salamis as the beam struck home. The Salamis guns still sounded off, but nearly in the numbers they had moments prior. The seemingly impenetrable carapace of the ship's hull was badly scorched, marred in points beyond recognition. The massive rocket thrusters had been destroyed, and Kayra nodded in appreciation of her fine shooting, "Target hit confirmed. Damaged looks extensive." -------------------------------------
The explosion of all of space itself seemed to encompass them, the bright light of the explosion was blinding, his Gelgoog R shuddered and rocked from the blast force. His proximity to the ship had been so close that he could have sworn he could taste the burning, smoldering metal in the air. Of course their was no air other than that which was recycling through his unit's life support systems. The brilliant light gave way and he seemed to find clarity in a number of things, he could see the reality of their situation and he acted on that. The knowledge that was suddenly 'gifted' to him. It could have been just the eyes of an observant man, but Tyrius Garrou was unlikely to be mistaken as such. It could have been the sly cunning of someone who saw an opportunity to make a little bit of an extra gain, to squeeze all of the proverbial juice from the fruit. But Ensign Garrou was not known a man who sought material gains, no, he was much, much simpler. His action was fueled by revenge, fueled by a hatred so deep it was in the core of his bones, seeped into his soul, threatened to turn everything he touched into blood and suffering, and he now fixated on the two wounded Salamis cruisers.
The GM Quels as well as the artillery units had been rocked and knocked around, their formation scattered by the explosion of the second Salamis' massive thruster array. Having peeled away from the Salamis, the Gelgoog R now hung in space, the beam bazooka that had been cast aside by Fettel in its hands, looming over the the two crippled Salamis units like an executioner in waiting. The voice that came over the open comm was one that would not be met with entusiasm by any, neither friend nor foe. Tyrius Garrou had not the authority to make such a command on his own, and yet here he was, with the means to exact a form of revenge, a dig so deep at the Federation and Titans forces that they would know some semblance of what he and his comrades had gone through for years.
"This is Ensign Tyrius Garrou of the 117th Zeonic Navy battalion, serving under Captain Jaryk of the Abyssal Fury. Federation and Titans forces, surrender your mobile suits to us immediately or I will open fire on your Salamis cruisers. Your choice is to continue fighting, in which case your cruisers will be destroyed and you will be killed down to every last man or you may surrender now, your lives will be spared if you comply. You have exactly 1 minute to decide your fate, then I decide for you!" ----- Jaryk shot up in his Captain's chair and glared at the communications officer, "What the hell is going on out there? Open a line to Romav now!!" There was a more than a hint of anger in Captain Jaryk's voice. "Lieutenant Romav, situation report immediately, what the hell is Garrou doing? If they surrender their mobile suits then they're more foolish than we thought, but if they intend to comply allow them to do so. We've been put into this position by Garrou and now we don't have much choice but to go along with it..." Jaryk grumbled, but he couldn't hide his wry smirk. There was a certain amount of cunning that Jaryk liked about Garrou, but he knew that was not the Ensign's motivation. There would be no corronnation when or if he returned, no, there would be a holding cell for Ensign Garrou. -------
"Twenty seconds!" Garrou was running out of patience, the Federation mobile suits thus far formed a defensive perimeter around the lead Salamis, but knew if they attempted to counter assault the madman with the beam bazooka would sink their cruiser and they would in turn all be killed. If they were good soldiers though, they would want to battle tooth and nail, to the last man if need be. There then came a crackle and hiss "This is Captain Klassen, you are a monster. I've heard of your Captain and from what I've known of the man he would not approve of these underhanded tactics! You're a bastard and-" Tyrius cut him off, "Captain Klassen, think of your men, how many of them are you willing to sacrifice for the sake of your pride?! Our pride has been quashed and held underfoot for years, you will yield now!! Yield or be destroyed! Your time is up, your answer!"
Klassen again came over the comm, over open channels "All Federation and Titans pilots, stand down. Ensign Garrou is it?" The Captain questioned as if sickened to be beholden to one of such a low rank. "All Federation and Titans pilots, exit your mobile suits slowly, anything that looks like hostile action will result in the desctruction of your two Salamis cruisers.
The flickering lights of mobile suit pilot jetpacks could be seen around the mobile suits, in a small flock they glittered in against the black sea of space as they retreated back to the Salamis. They seemed to be complying. "Fettel, take a squadron and collect the surrendered mobile suits." Garrou gave orders, but Fettel listened all the same. Being the madman with the gun seemed to hold that kind of sway over others. Kayra could only shake her head in reaction to this situation, "We're not terrorists, we shouldn't take hostages like this..." She lamented, but the course was set in this moment, but she would never view Garrou in the same way, she would have a hard time seeing him as anything other than a mercenary looking for a war to wage.
Fettel's focus was crystal clear, he was a hardened soldier, he would not be dissuaded by these less than admirable tactics employed by Tyrius, in fact he thought them to be somewhat clever. But their would be time to give the man his due only if they managed to get away with this assault turned hostage negotiation and heist rolled into one. "Enemy mobile suits have been collected," Fettel's Dom, along with 6 others retrieved the remaining GM Quels, the GM Cannon and the HiZack Cannon.
You're a monster! Your heart is cold and you just want to see others bleed because you've bled! The voice seemed to wash over him, startling him, though there was an almost soothing tone to the woman's voice. Tyrius quickly cycled through the comm channels but he couldn't find the source channel. Suddenly alerts flashed all throughout his HUD in his cockpit warning of a threat approaching at high speed. "****!" One clean signal turned into 10 suddenly, a missile barrage from the one target that had eluded them. The GM Full Bernean erupted back into view, missiles rocketing from it as the pilot of the mobile suit made the stand that Tyrius thought he had broken from this group of Federation soldiers. Tyrius pushed hard on the thrusters, quickly gaining altitude to avoid the initial salvo of missiles, but he could not avoid them completely, just the brunt of damage. The right leg of his mobile suit was struck and his mobile suit became less responsive as he lost use of the extra thruster array. "Die!" He roared, firing the beam bazooka he didn't have time to get a clean lock, and he could only target one of the Salamis cruisers, he chose the more severely damage cruiser, determined to get a kill. The far Salamis cruiser erupted into bright pink and yellow flame, the blast wave leapt out and slammed into the mobile suits that surrounded it. The pilots who were scrambling back to their mobile suits that they had left were caught just outside of the blast radius. Some were flung away from the ship and closer to their mobile suits. Quickly regaining them and enacting what little they could in the way of resistance. Others were simply incinerated in the blast -----
"I can still take them down Captain!" Lieutenant Colonel Marya Jaegyn pleaded with Captain Klassen, seeing what the situation had disolved into, this was a battle that the Salamis could not escape from, and their ploy to catch the Zeon remnants by surprise had failed, but it was an admirable effort. Klassen's voice gave one final order to Jaegyn, "Marya, it has been a privilege to have you under my command, your father, Admiral Jaegyn would be proud of what you've done here today, but now you must leave, you alone can make it back to Solomon now. That's an order." Marya fought back the tears that formed in the corners of her eyes, hidden from view on the screen by her visor, she reached out a hand to the screen, her trembling voice could not hide her sorrow "Roger that Captain...Goodbye Uncle James." The Full Bernean tore away from the battle at such speed that was unbelievable, none of the Zeon mobile suits present could match its escape trajectory or speed.
You're a monster...You won't get away with this. I am Marya Jaegyn, the Huntress of the Titans Marya's voice called out over space, she refused to look back to see the last of her comrades mount what little of a counter assault they could. Her voice carried across the stars as if searching out the bastard who enacted this whole screwed up situation. Tyrius Garrou, I'll remember your name, I'll see you buried. Tyrius couldn't hear words, but he felt an aura, the same woman as before, again he checked the comm channels, frozen in place he searched in vain, then finally held his head as if they could somehow block out the feelings. Marya streaked across the stars, she had just enough fuel to return to Solomon, but she would make sure that she got back out onto patrols, she would hunt down that bastard Garrou. ---------- "We've no choice now..." Captain Jaryk said somberly, he'd been secretly hoping that Garrou's wild bid would pay off, but now it had blown up in their faces and every second he allowed the last bits of this battle play out he risked the lives of his men. "Full barrage!" The gunnery commander looked at him for a moment with a questioning look, to do so would put their own men at risk, but it also went against the code of honor that Jaryk had hoped to follow here. He did not want the crews dead, he wanted their ships dead in the water, nothing more. The Abyssal Fury opened up with all of her particle cannons, the Hyper particle cannon lead the way, striking home against the remaining Salamis.
The lancing bright light the roared across the stars towards them produced a light so bright it could have been the sun for all they knew, Captain Klassen simply smiled and sat down in his chair, nodding his head and wishing his niece luck one final time "Goodbye and Godspeed Marya." Then the blast struck and the Salamis was torn to shreads, the full barrage of the Fury simply chewed her foe to pieces. --------- Captain Jaryk's voice came over the comms loud and clear "Lieutenant Romav, destroy any remaining enemy resistance and then you are to escort Ensign Garrou back to the Abyssal Fury at once! If he so much as tries anything you are to gut his cockpit, I want his mobile suit salvageable. "Garrou, you're a damned fool and you very nearly got my men killed today! You will face sanction when you return to the Abyssal Fury!" Jaryk seethed with every word. "Romav, see to it that Fettel gathers up what mobile suits we were able to obtain through Garrou's ass backwards scheme, I won't have this abomination of a mission a total loss." Jaryk left the comm silent after that, he stood up and stormed off the bridge "Security team with me, we are taking custody of Ensign Garrou upon arrival!" His limp was nowhere near as noticeable now, fired up with adrenaline from combat and from having his hand forced to excessive death toll by his foolish Ensign. His patience had been tested long enough. ------------------------------ Romav: You have been charged with escorting Ensign Garrou back to the Abyssal Fury. While you are unpleased with Garrou's methods, you can't help but note that your force has now obtained 6 additional mobile suits, granted 4 of them are GM Quels, but one is a GM Cannon unit and a HiZack Cannon unit, all of which appear to be fully functional. You finish your grim task of eradicating what little paltry resistance is left before deciding what you will do about Garrou.
Garrou: Having heard the voice of an unknown woman, seemingly without the use of the comms system at all you are left startled and shaken. You are frozen, remembering the words that were spoken to you and for the moment breathing heavily, holding your head. The orders of Captain Jaryk and Lieutenant Romav do not even register with you, so taken aback by the events of what happened during combat. Your fate is largely out of your hands now, but you are so shaken by what is happening that you can only focus on one thing...Marya Jaegyn.
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