Paul grumbled at the mech's act of defiance and fire again, he didn't imagine these mechs to be so sturdy. He simply must study their design after the battle provided they were still mostly in one piece. He decided to open up the comms for a moment, trying to think of the name of the one who was fighting these mechs with him. "Ms. Elstora?" He guessed the name from memory. "I want to take a look at these mechs after the battle so you mind not damage them too much?" He asked as he fired another shell to try and finish off his target. @Maleth
@Tuska "More damage sustained, Kaeleen." Gideon chimed in, but then came the engineer butting in with a request that quite frankly, sounded ridiculous given the circumstances. So Kaeleen replied to Paul "No, I'd like to stay alive thank you very much, rather than wasting time trying to keep them intact and so letting them get more shots off." With that said, the Starlex woman saw both Tank and friendly mech engaging the Raiders. So rather than waste time shooting some more, she advanced onwards raising the shield on her left hand while giving a sweep with the Arc Projector in the right arm should one of the Raider mechs try to get in her way and so need a reminder.
@BadDo9 Vern was listening in on the group chat and following the statuses of the allied and enemy identified targets on the dedicated screen for such information above his head. "Seems like they don't need our aid quite yet. Let's try to keep the interceptors away from the fight. Reduce power from auxiliary systems such as inner lightings, air conditioning, etc. to sensors. I want to know when or if more fighters, or even bombers will be deployed." The older brother instructed the false sister sternly, yet calm. When the railguns cooled down enough he decided to make a sharp 180 degrees turn over the side, rather than the typical vertical flip. His basic logic was that with this maneuver, they would split in separate directions which would leave one of the two interceptors right before his own nose to be obliterated by the Starseeker's railguns. Compared to a vertical flip where they would just accelerate and follow suit. Besides, he wanted to keep the altitude intentionally low to make it harder for the enemy radars to detect the gunship. While the Starseeker behaved more or less like in the simulations and test flights, it was still strange to have Kira as a de-facto co-pilot, rather than have Rhiner assist him primarily. Vern couldn't help but smile at the irony of being stuck in a spaceship, instead of fighting inside a mech. In a way he was a Wolff in sheep's clothing, as bad as the pun was. A mech pilot hiding inside the skin of a ship pilot.
< @Vulpas > Crow and Raptor grabbed at the beast as it lunged forwards once more, its jaws snapping as Raptor grabbed it by the shoulders and held it away from the hull. After that it was a simple matter to stab the drill forwards and pierce its hide, destroying the heart (or at least, attacking where the heart would logically be) and then tossing the thing to the side as it died. Raptor was now able to move once again, though he had been taught the dangers of this world. [Raptor: 85 HP] [Beast: 0HP] < @Wata @Maleth @TuskatheDaemonKilla > Kaeleen moved forwards towards the mech that was charging her with its fist raised, arc projector crackling with electricity as it approached. As it got close enough, an arc of plasma shot out and jolted the mech, potentially frying the pilot but undoubtedly frying the mech's systems as the thing fell over. However, its momentum kept the thing charging forwards far enough that Apollyon would get a metal fist to the face. Meanwhile, Snapping Turtle fired another shell at the Target that was simply standing there, but it made a quick movement that sent the round flying back behind the mech, hurting into a building. Paul could be sure that the pilot was smirking, but he didn't have a chance to make good on the facial expression as Yumi came up with Kingslayer and slashed, bifurcating the opponent and blocking a shot from the sniper, which slammed into the dead mech's back. [Kingslayer: 86 HP] [Apollyon: 70 HP] [Snapping Turtle - 89HP] [Raider Mech I (Right): -15 HP] [Raider Mech II (Left): -5 HP] [Raider Sniper (Long-Range): 50HP] < @Uriel1339 > As Vern executed his maneuver, the two interceptors indeed broke off, with one flying upwards and the other breaking off to the right. The ships were indeed fast, but the Starseeker wasn't a slouch either. Kira kept the two targets marked on combat radar while sending out long-range scans every few seconds. "All power relocated, and no new contacts on radar yet." Kira reported. The interceptors were not in any position to fire at the moment, so Vern had free reign on which he would pursue, if either of them. [Starseeker - 500 HP] [Verite Interceptor I - 25 HP] [Verite Interceptor II - 25 HP]
@BadDo9 "Keep your... Eyes. Open for any additional aircrafts." Vern instructed, not sure if Kira assumed so already based on his prior command. But considering how little time he spent with the ai version compared to the real deal, he just had to make sure his commands were understood. Vern pursued the closer interuceptor of the two, which is the one that made a right turn as he himself had turned left. He did not want to change altitude as of the moment and figured if the other interceptor would come down swoopin like a hawk, all he had to was pull the vessel up and the other one would have issues adjusting and keeping up with all the up and downs. Not to forget that the varying speed levels of moving with and against gravity was going to throw his aim off. Amateurs. The Rhinelander put his finger on the trigger, railguns cooled down and their magnetic accelerators fully charged. With a sly grin when the enemy got into the center of his crosshairs, he pushed the button down and released the projectile. Even without knowing whether or not the interceptor would go down, his eyes went immediately back to the radar for evasive maneuvers against the other interceptor. If possible, the older Wolff would try to swing the Starseeker around to meet the interceptor heads-on and give him a single missile as a parting gift. Figuring that the enemy pilot would not expect such move. From an enemy fighter maybe yes, but not a gunship as the Starseeker was.
"Continuing movement." Crow said as the beast was finished he would begin once more moving towards the direction of the enemy flank. As c row moved he did at a lessened speed to watch out for more vines or the possibility of more raptors or other hostile environment life.
Paul made a disapointed frown as he saw the mechs he wanted to study destroyed, either bifurcated or having its internal electronics ruined. He placed his chin on top of a fist as he saw that scene play out, he would have to refine the Snapping Turtle's targeting systems after the mission. Missing so much was just annoying and wasteful, ammunition doesn't grow on trees. Then again even if it did that wouldn't make it free since agriculture still costs money, after all just because oranges grow on trees doesn't mean everyone has oranges. Though the main point is he did not enjoy missing and quite frankly who would enjoy missing? As he was lost in fairly frivolous thoughts there was a fairly loud ding courtesy of Carla brought him back into the actual moment. There was still a sniper out there taking shots at the mechs, he should try and find it.
The Kingslayer did a quick spin to disengage and raised its defensive options to block sniper shots. Yumi was falling back to cover behind the Snapping Turtle, since they actually had a chance to fight the long range mech from this position. "You can fire back at it any day now!" As soon as she got a clear location of the sniper and her ranged teammates kept the shooter busy, Kingslayer would make its move and advance to deliver the hurt up close and personal.
Mech shaking due to the fist to the face from the now deceased attacker, Kaeleen pressed onward towards the ship, deliberately staying within the sniper's line of fire. Gideon inquired "And what value would staying in a sniper's sight have?" She replied "It's valuable because you get clear data on where the sniper is.... And we do have the Particle Projector." Gideon sighed. Still, the AI went looking for the sniper, with a spooling-up Particle weapon ready for the sniper should they reveal themselves with another shoot, while the human focused on piloting the mech.
< @Vulpas > As Crow continued to move forwards, He would eventually reach an old road which, if he took it, he would rendezvous with the rest of his team. He could try going deeper but there was no telling what he would run into if he did. < @Uriel1339 > As Vern let loose the magnetically-accelerated shell, the interceptor that he was aiming for pulled a quick maneuver - though it wasn't quick enough as it clipped the wing and sent the thing spinning wing over wing, theoretically heading towards the ground. Nevertheless, Kira would keep some sensors on it even as they swung around and moved head-to-head with the other. "Missile away." Kira reported, her warfare suite locking on before the projectile was loosed. However, there was a sudden glitch in the locking, and she dove in. The interceptor spun to the side and the missile flew past it, not even turning before the safety function caused it to explode. A few rotary cannon shots blasted against Starseeker's armor as it flew overtop. "Something is spoofing dummy signals for missile locking." she said with a frown in her voice. "It was not active until now, so I missed it.. and it was not expected, that is proprietary defensive technology under testing in Rhinelander labs." However, before much else thought could be given to that, an alert came on the radar scanning. "We have a bomber heading for our ground-based allies. Henvet class." Kira reported, marking them on the screen in front of Vern. The Henvet class would have also been docked inside a Halcyon-class during the deployment times. < @TuskatheDaemonKilla @Wata @Maleth > The sniper would never had disappeared, however from Snapping Turtle's position it was hidden between the lower position and the buildings between them. It was off-center to the east on top of a rather large building, and it was quite obviously lining up for another shot. Apollyon spotted it and loosed a shot of charged particles, impacting right below the enemy's feet due to acceptable variations in aim regarding range. Then came another heavy report, and a flash as the sniper fired. At the same time, a missile lock sounded in Yumi's cockpit, this time the streak slamming into her back and cracking some of the armor there. The sniper's blast slammed into Apollyon's foot, crushing through some of the armor and weakening the structure there, though it was slight enough that it shouldn't cause any issues, unless it breaks from stress. And at the same time, an air contact would appear on their sensors, a rather large bomber-type craft gliding its way towards them.
