Lining all along the backwall of the Am-Fluchtig's hanger-bay was a series of outcropped boxes, filled with offices, breakrooms and the like. Una O' Conchabhair found herself sitting in one of these such rooms.
This one was intended for breaks, some old-fashioned vending and coffee machines were set up in one corner, benches lined the backwall and a countertop ran around the room at waist height - Above this three sides were all window to the ceiling, giving you a great view of the work going on below.
The room was also airtight, separate of the hanger-bay, though Una had been dressed in a space suit just in case, its helmet laid on her lap.
In front of her was a decent sized monitor projecting whole manner of data - From audio lines being transmitted between the three warships and the Nemos - To sensor information and even camera feeds - What she was seeing was the Fluchtig's battle net, of course no one person could process all this data, there was a whole team of people on the bridge to do that - But by tapping into it you could gain a front row seat to the battle at large.
Today's fight was not about stealth, it had been decided that once the initial ambush attack was complete, all units would be allowed to use radio at will - It would be about precious and teamwork, an all out assault, if the enemy hacked their comms lines then so be - And as such Una not only had audio, she even had video from some of the mechs like Kolme's.
She had been able to watch Tomo and Erfu fire off dozens of missiles via a camera on the hull of the Rinie, she could see a view from the Valliere of all the myriad lightning bolts crossing the night's sky as the battle raged on outside - It was quite the view.
Of course even Scarlet and Hoki couldn't of organised this level of access for her - Scarlet had explained it to Una, but she could barely focus on the explanation - She did her best to listen, but it hurt, it all hurt, her ribs hurt, her head hurt.
Una's mind was constantly swimming in an endless sea, she was here, she was awake, but it was so very hard to, too, hard! - 'Hard, hard, Hard, hard,Hard, hard, hard,hard, Hard, Hard,hard, hard, Hard,hard, hard, Hard--'
She clutched at her head and forced herself to slow down, as best she could.
Yes that was it, Scarlet had explained that she had once used the name 'Bela Grimizan' for a bit and by some oversight that login still worked - The Fluchtig's internal system had made something of a leap in logic, believing 'Bela' to be the new Emilia Sheen - A female Lt.Commander, holding the positions of squad leader & XO.
Sooner or later the computer would catch on to its strange mistake, but Scarlet said that didn't matter as long as Una got to watch as requested - Or something like that.
Standing behind Una, also watching the screen was a tall bald man in his forties - The Fluchtig's Head-Fitter, a man Una had spoken with a few times during her time here on the ship - The only familiar face Scarlet could find on short notice to watch over Una during the battle.
He was a very nice man and very good at his job - He stood smiling kindly wearing his more soot black then blue overalls, his spacesuit splayed out on one of the benches behind them.
She tried to remember his name, it was. . . Hard.
She turned back to the monitor in front of her - All sorts of voices could be heard;
"Sabban swap in."
"Roger."
"Captain, AA-33 reports damage, eta 3 min to active again."
"Roger that, tell them to take their time, Anti Air isn't our priority right now, better to fix it right."
"Roger Sir!"
But one set of voices had caught her attention most, it was less controlled, less composed then the rest, it was panicked;
"Lt.Tomo Sir, there's an enemy coming through no man's land, right at us! I can't hit it, I-- ARGHHHH!!"
"Benton? Come in Warrant Officer Benton?"
"This is Yates Sir, Benton is gone - Repeat, we have an enemy behind the defence line, moving to intercede."
"I'll go too."
"Right behind you."
"Hold your positions! Do not jeopardise the line, we all charge in there and what's stops more like him hitting us from behind? - Yates, keep eyes on and maintain your distance - 2nd lieutenant Shiri, move to intercept, use any means necessary."
"Got'cha Tomo-dear."
"Don't call me that out here for pity's sake."
The voices belonged to Tomo, Erfu and a number of other pilots from the flotilla - Una had gone out drinking with Erfu back in Bannerman - The woman was an elf and their legendary grace and beauty had left an impression on the girl - She wasn't sure if it was a crush, or just the same admiration she felt for Scarlet and Hoki, but Una definitely felt fond of Erfu.
It was hard, her mind swirled and swirled - Her body was in so much pain that any moment of clarity was coloured by more pain - But Una wanted to hear it - She tried to reach forward, her hand feebly moving towards the screen.
The Head-Fitter was an attentive, kind man - It was part of what Una liked about him, like her Father had been, if more practical. He saw Una's movement and happily reached forward to the screen himself and turned up the volume for her - She nodded as best she could in appreciation.
"Decreased Altitude, NOW!!
----
That's good deary, well done. Retreat back, I'll stop his next move myself - Tomo's ordered everyone else to hold the line, we can't have it collapsing now can we?"
"Right, ma'am, sorry..."
"Tomo I'm moving in to engage now"
"Roger. And errr, be careful ya here, Erfu."
"Hehe, always am - Now then, Bring it on asshole."
The line was soon filled with impact sounds as Erfu's machine clashed with the Vijaik-Special - Although Una didn't have a camera feed for this battle, the sound alone told a story - Until finally.
"YaGhhhHHHHH!"
"2nd lieutenant?! You all right?"
A horrendous banging noise began to fill the airwaves, an inorganic, irregular pounding that drowned out all the other lines in Una's little room.
"What's that sound?!"
"Oh nothing kids, just the enemy pounding on my front door."
"What?! Can you back out!?"
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
"No need, he's about to be armless!! Just. One. More. PUSH!!!"
----
"Oh crap, oh crap Tomo no, I'm so sorry, Tom-- ARGHGHHHHHHHHHH -----"
"Erfu? Lieutenant?! Erfu report in for god's sake! ERFU!!!!"
"She's.... lieutenant Tomo Sir, the enemies gone back into no man's land - Lady Erfu Sir, she's gone..."
The head-fitter stepped forward awkwardly and muted the line, "Best not think about that to much..." He muttered.
'Hard, Hard, hard, Hard, hard, HARD'
It was like no other word would cross Una's mind.
A moment later something did manage to catch her attention once more, the rumbling shape of the old MBT Mk2 heading towards the ship's roller shutter doors which were quickly being raised. On the other side was two Neo's, one with a spear impaling all the way from its visor, out to the back of the head - It carried with it a second machine, a customised C-variant Neo with a blackened, gouged out cockpit block.
Una noticed the Head-Fitter fidgeting a little behind her, and he being the attentive sort noticed her gaze;
"Oh it's nothing, don't mind me - I was just thinking I might know a way to get out that damaged head unit and get that unit back out into the field double-quick. But that's just silly, Chief Pel will know two dozen better ways no doubt." He laughed.
'Hard, hard, Hard, hard, Hard--' ".......Go" The words tumbled softly from her mouth.
"Eh?! What, no I couldn't I promised Miss.Scarlet to keep you company."
'Hard, hard, ....' "Come back when.... you're done."
Her head began to clear slightly.
"What, well I - Alright but I'll be back in ten minutes at the most, promise." The fitter said back, rushing over to put on his space suit.
She nodded softly.
"Ten minutes at the most! You need anything, anything at all, just call - Not just me even, ain't a soul on this ship who won't come running to you if you call ok? Just ten minutes I promise."
He said as he opened the door and left.
Una turned her attention not to the monitor, but to the old MBT Mk2 helping the two damaging Neo units into the workshop - She clutched the helmet in her lap a little tighter.
****
"He duped me Kolme! That bastard played me like a fool!!" Scarlet's eye darted to her machine's glovebox, she roughly tore it open with such force a couple of the syringes began to drift out - She grabbed one nearly hard enough to shatter it in her grasp and flipped off the cap in one movement.
"Don't you dare Scarlet!" Kolme yelled across the comm line - She hesitated, a week was such a short amount of time and yet his voice was just enough to make her hesitate;
"Or what? I'm gonna take this damn drug and tear that guys fucking spleen out!" She roared back.
"We're not beaten Scar, so we acted a little too quickly, so what? Your rocket launchers are remote right? You've still got an arm right? Or can the Scourge not fight one handed?!"
"Oh fuck you Kolme!"
"Scarlet! We have this, we just need to keep it together a little longer, I need you."
The syringe hovered over her skin, ready to take the dive - "Then what should we do huh?!"
"Sir, Sabban says 60 seconds more, at most." Hoki suddenly interrupted over the line."
"Got'cha Hoki-lass, we'll be ready. Now look Scar, we talked about this in briefings and what just happened to your left 'and proves it - That things shield is pure energy, like an Arc staff cube thingy."
Scarlet scowled, "Ya and?"
"And nothing, I don't understand the science for crap - But you've noticed it too right? Every time the shield activates, 8 little rods pop out of the Casnel, front and back - 8 points makes a cube, so what happens if we could knock out one of those points?"
Scarlet listened careful if impatiently, to Kolme's idea and realised what he was saying;
"....Doesn't matter how much power he has, if those poles are what focus that power into a shield then we just got to break one?" She muttered, then grinned - She slammed the Enhancer back into the glovebox.
"Alright then." Kolme answered, clearly relieved, "Sabban back off in 10 seconds, for the next five minutes Scarlet's going to tank, you'll do hit and run distractions - Hoki feck the safeties, melt your rifle if you have to, you're covering for me."
"You sure you can hit it? Those rods are pretty tiny." Scarlet sneered. It made sense for Kolme to do this, the Casnel had fought Kolme the least, the older man had the best chance of getting a clear shot.
"Sure I can, I've got a really big barrel." Kolme said back, an almost audible grin of his own.
"If you miss I'm taking the damn drug."
"Scarlet, if this fails, I'll take a shot of it with ya." He laughed back a little bitterly.
She smiled, "Alright then, let's go!"
****
Moncha's cockpit was filled to the brim with rattling, the circular walls looked as though they were shaking - Terrible grating noises echoed throughout the mech from his two heavily damaged shoulders.
He had been making the arduous journey back through no man's land when he had spotted it - Perpendicular to the battle between warships, nearer the Curadh then the Fluchtig, a second battle was on-going - The Casnel and four Neo-Cs.
That was fine, he'd seen Helt let his anger get the better of him as the boy flew off to chase the machine Moncha loving called 'Big-Red' (The heavily armour, red Neo-C), what had sent shivers down his spine was the state of battle.
The Neos weren't just holding their own, they almost looked like they were winning - Big Red taking the most direct approach, a sniper he recognised from Station 9, taking pot-shots, a brown Neo dipping in and out - And finally, most concerningly, a fourth Neo with a large cannon strapped to its back, holding back from the fight, trying not to be noticed as it edged nearer to the Casnel's blind spot.
Moncha had borderline change course on instinct - He knew he should return to the Curadh, he needed to tell them how weak the enemies defence line was, moreover by now they would be developing a plan, a counter-attack or an escape route, perhaps permission had come to deploy the fortress, or maybe there had been friendly ships closer by then first thought - Whatever the case the Captain would need him, be waiting for him.
And what exactly could he do to help Helt? He burnt out one arc-staff fighting the last opponent, his arms were one hit away from literally falling off - He was armed with only the chipped blade of the Calabar-rapier and a short bladed arc-staff that looked more like a dagger - An almost identical set-up to what he'd used when first facing the Neo-squad back at station 9.
And despite all this, despite knowing this was wrong - He couldn't just abandon his precious subordinate.
Pushing his tattered machine far past the speeds it was built to tolerate, Moncha had a single track to where he needed to go - Too narrow a track in fact.
Pellets bigger than a man's head rattled across his mech's torso - He'd been so focused he hadn't even seen the enemy coming.
Quickly he turned his machine and took a defensive stance. A little ways off from him was a lone Nemo, no not quite. It had the yellow visor and more narrow head Nemo's were known by, but the rest of the body was all Neo-C, circular bulkhead, battle-kilt and a massive booster unit on its back - In one hand a regular Arc-Staff, in the other a shotgun.
Moncha knew this muddy brown unit, he had faced it in Station 9, almost destroyed it.
He had talked with its pilot, or rather been interrogated by them - Ensign Sabban Vint - A man who looked to be a bit older then Helty, but who after talking to Moncha had decided was probably a bit younger, made mature through strife and loss, rather than age.
He also remembered Sabban's words from that 'interview' all too well;
"I'd of beaten you too in a fair fight!"
'Hold out a little longer Helty, I've got to settle this first....'
****