A flurry of energy fire passed uncomfortably close to Hoki's cabin, inside Sabban's voice howled at her;

“Ha! That's our Casnel alright!”

They had dived back into the madness of no man's land once more and following the destruction it left in its wake, soon found the Casnel – Or perhaps it had found them too for that matter.

Now Sabban's muddy brown Neo-C and Hoki's cyan unit rushed through space, weaving through debris as needed, hot on their tail and closing fast was the Casnel firing wildly at them all the while.

That said Sabban's uncharacteristic excitement was more than just adrenaline, the Casnel was not what it had once been, in fact upon seeing it Hoki had subconsciously dubbed it 'The Casnel Repair'.

Just as they had hoped, the scars of Operation Deadlight were still fresh on the Casnel, its cuboid shield no where to be seen, its massive cannon completely absent and then there was its armour.

Most was still the gleaming, angular whites and silver of polished Goibniu – But across the torso in particular, the places the Neo team and Una had assaulted so firmly last time they met – Were plain grey portions, it was instantly clear to Hoki that this central armour was regular Lanthanides, same as the Nemos.

Of course none of this was to devalue the Casnel's worth – Even without the cannon or shield, this was still a top-tier G-type Casnel, its power generation turning the regular rifle in its hand into a far greater weapon, its speed allowing it to catch up to the Neo-Cs in seconds – Still Hoki's hope had been rewarded, the Casnel had weakness's this time, they could win!

“Now Sabban!” Hoki shouted over the radio, after patiently waiting for the Casnel to get to a certain distance from them.

Sabban's Neo immediately acted, turning on a dime the young man drew out an arc-staff from his waist and swung forward – Even the Casnel couldn't match the speed of this sudden turn, nearly ramming straight into his blade, it managed to pull up at just the last moment, but not before Sabban's blade cut through its rifle rendering it useless.

A moment later the Neo-C lurched forward blade first, aiming for the grey parts of the armour – The Casnel barely managed to draw its own arc staff – The two glowing blades locked in a violent spray of sparks.

Hoki moved fast herself, she had learned the hard way from her squad-mates that in a battle like this, only a fool waited for the shot – Sure maybe that's what a conventional sniper would do but Hoki had moved far past that – She was a front-line officer, she wanted to be here in the thick of it with her comrades and so she would find that perfect shot the hard way.

Angling around as Sabban began a fierce series of slashes against the Casnel, diagonal cuts, precession jabs, blunt strikes – Hoki made her way below them both and let loose her rifles blue beam of light.

The Casnel acted just barely in time, with a renewed effort it dodged Sabban's latest strike, then repositioned its free hand in Hoki's direction – The rifle bolt struck into its forearm – When the dust settled the arm was fine, if a tiny bit blackened.

'So that's his plan, protect his vulnerable core by blocking with the parts of the body that are still Goibniu!'

“Tch, I always thought this guy just had a good machine, guess the pilot ain't bad either.” Sabban growled over the line which had Hoki nodding in agreement.

Before the Casnel could right itself Sabban was already upon it again – Staff met staff as the two machine traded vigorous blows, circling around one another in an almost endless ballet of death – It would no doubt of impressed even Major Moncha to see just how far the sword skills of these two young pilots had progressed – Without its cannon and shield, Sabban was now able to hold back the Casnel all by himself, he didn't let up for even a second, never allowing it time to reach for another weapon or to back away – He kept the distance between Neo and Casnel tiny, the two arc-staffs clashed again and again – Sparks hailing with each impact, the blades beginning to warp and buckle under the sheer impact.

Hoki was hardly idle either, once more on the move in search of openings in the Casnel's defence – Moreover her eyes were constantly focused on the area around them, battles were still on-going all around, ships burning, Vijaiks fighting to the death – In the same way Sabban was shielding her from the Casnel, she had to make sure nothing crept up behind him.

Once again a shoot lined up, Sabban had finally backed away a little after one particularly heavy slash – Path clear Hoki took aim – Her attack soared through the air striking the Casnel's right hand.

Again the ridiculous heat resistance of the Goibniu held, but the force alone was enough to knock the arc-staff out of the Casnel's hand – Sabban didn't waste a moment, he boosted forth and grabbed the blades hilt.

Turning his machine pounced, two blades in an X pattern aiming straight for the Casnel's half-repaired torso – Its only choice would be to block with its arms – That's when Hoki would finish it from below--

Tink tink TinK TINK TiNk

Although Hoki didn't hear this sound, it was the noise made as the Casnel-Repair rose one fist and from it fired a rapid stream of tiny metal pellets – A sound akin to a pin-ball machine, far too mundane for the destructive damage that followed as a bullets rattled across Sabban's incoming machine.

Their source was a little rectangle on the Casnels forearm, where its cannon had once been – Imbedded in it was a circle spinning at an unholy speed as three small nozzles unleashed pellet after pellet.

The recoil was enough to send the Casnel's arm rearing back violently, causing the damage to spread from the Neo-C's chest over to its shoulder – Explosions roared out from Sabban's mech as it was flung backwards by the impact.

“Crescent-Moon-Rises!” Hoki yelled three words as fast as she could find them. She watched on her monitor as Sabban's smoking mech fled, making its way to the burnt out ruins of a nearby ship and quickly entering.

Hoki herself had ducked behind a thin sheet of metal, it would stand no chance of blocking the bullets of this new weapon and she found herself holding her breath as she waited to see if the Casnel had seen her take this hiding spot.

2 seconds, then 5, 10 – Hoki swiped away the sweat from her forehead, peaking her mechs head, its rectangular scope ever present, around the metal she caught sight of the Casnel, heading slowly down in the direction of the warship Sabban had entered.

“Sabban you ok?” she asked tentatively.

“Ya I'm fine. He took out the left vent and my shoulder – I'm as good as one handed but its not critical – Thanks for the coordinates.”

Hoki sighed in relief before getting back into the needed mindset; “It lost sight of me but it knows exactly where you went – Can you fight inside of there?”

“Not sure, this ship's been burnt to a cinder, my machine's having to crouch just to walk through, everything is narrow as fuck – What was that weapon, you get a good look?”

“Not really but at a guess it was some sort of miniature chain-gun, low stopping power, physical ammunition – Probably a test weapon they just stapled onto the Casnel as a backup options.”

Hoki mused.

“Sounds about right. Well no point complaining – It's close quarters in here Miss.Hoki, maybe you should head back.” Sabban replied in a lazy tone.

“You really think I'd ever abandon my precious student like that?”

Hoki said back, forcing a smile.

“Nah not really, but a man's got'ta at least offer right? Well then, round 2 huh, lets do this!”

****

The husk of a former warship Sabban had escaped into was little more than burnt out box – Every wall was blackened with dirty soot, metal panels floated past freely, the floor itself was warped and bumpy in places.

And of course the odd corpse, charred beyond recognition, littered the place, a reminder that this ship – That Sabban couldn't even hope to identify as either IAFS or TSU – And its crew all looked the same in death.

Although such morbid thinking weren't at the forefront of his mind as his machine continued its hunched over course through the narrow hallways – He had been mid swing when the Casnel had sprung its surprise weapon – 'Lucky' for him then the minigun had seemingly been designed to maim and disorientate enemy units, not to deliver finishing blows – That wasn't to say his machine was in a good state.

The pellets had riddled across his left shoulder and fan – Rendering both useless and reducing his machines ability to regulate internal temperature to boot – Moreover a couple stray rounds had ricocheted across his Neo's head, smashing one of its helmet mounted flashlights – This had the rather immediate effect of leaving Sabban with only one small spotlight to guide him through the otherwise pitch-black corridors.

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He knew for sure that should the Casnel catch up with him and fire a concentrated burst of those pellets at his unsuspecting back, Sabban's Neo wouldn't last long.

In light of this he took every turn and twist he could as he snaked through the dilapidated warship – Some corridors were too narrow or with ceilings too low for him to pass, forcing him to skip those – But every now and then he found one that would accommodate the Neo's height and width, he stepped into one such turn as he spoke into his radio;

“So Miss.Hoki, any plan?” He said half-jokingly.

Whether Hoki retreated or held her ground, it would be pointless for her to follow Sabban into the ship – She was for good reason a Sniper, close-quarters combat was by far Hoki's biggest short-coming and her machine wasn't particularly optimised for it either.

Combined with the fact the heavily damaged warship would be near unidentifiable and Sabban really wasn't sure what support his former instructor could really provide – And yet to his surprise Hoki's voice came back with a firm determination;

“Sabban you'll have to trust me and I coul--, No I probably am wrong but I think its our best shot at getting you out of there and taking down the Casnel.”

Sabban allowed himself a small grin, more of a smirk really – He didn't often have much to smile about these days but the young man trusted Hoki more than she knew and her determined voice was all he needed to hear;

“Go for it, what do you need?”

With a slight moment of surprise at Sabban's instant approval, Hoki began to explain;

“I'm confident you are in a Hresvelg class Battleship, or what's left of it – I think it split into parts when it sunk and the part you're now in is the reactor portions of the ship, it'd explain the ceiling being too tall for a residential area but to low for a hanger bay – If that's the case then I need you to find me a number, any number.”

“A number huh?” Sabban muttered – He swung the Neo's head from side to side, the dim light showing little – Just as his enthusiasm began to wain he spotted it, a small speck of white – Moving the Neo's large palm next to it, large clumps of black soot fell away to reveal two white numbers and a letter painted onto the corridor wall.

Now he was really grinning; “C33 boss.”

Hoki sounded excited too - “Perfect, Sabban I want you to head to the end of that corridor and wait for the Casnel to pass, ram it with everything you've got left, into the opposite wall – I'm hoping, no confident that it'll crumble and you'll be back in open space where--”

“Where you'll be waiting with a shot all lined up!”

The man laughed.

“Exactly, but.... But I could be wrong, trying to identify a ship this badly damaged and then trying to remember its layout based on blueprints I studied months ago – This is a massive gamble Sabban.”

“Heh, Miss.Hoki you worry too much – I like working with people like you, ya' see the big picture stuff. Leave the little details to me alright.”

With that Sabban got to work, moving the Neo to the end of the corridor turning it around and putting it in a crouched position like that of a sprinter on their mark, and of course turning off the flashlight, immediately bathing the entire corridor in complete darkness – He would have to hope the Casnel had its lights on in order for him to see it coming, or so he thought when a quiet ping echoed on his right-hand side:

The Neo's sensors had been useless for hours now, what with the massive energy discharge of the weapon 12 or so hours ago and the endless array of warships in continued conflict, it was perhaps no wonder – And yet in the tightly confined and enclosed space of the hollowed out warship, Sabban's Neo had managed to pick up a single trace, a little green dot showing the Casnel casually making its way towards him, Sabban laughed, “Good old Nemo 27 hey?!”

He messed with the dials on his left and a loud clunk sounded throughout the machine as the bulkhead lowered disconnecting the limp left-arm from just below the shoulder.

In total darkness, Sabban and his machine had laid their trap – The tension raising with every-step the Casnel took, the adrenaline rising by the moment – The little green dot got closer until;

“HARRRRRGHHHHHH!!!” Sabban roared as he flung the Neo's controls to full, the machine rocketing through the short offshoot corridor.

The Casnel, an arc-staff in one hand, was taken by complete surprise as the Neo rammed headlong into its mid-riff, a blink of an eye later the two machine hurtled violently into the outer wall of the corridors – The reinforced metal buckled and bent as the spikey extremities of the Casnel pressed into it with almighty force – And yet.

The wall held.

The thrusters died down. The Neo hung in the air, head and arm pressed into the Casnel.

It moved one hand, firmly clamping it atop Sabban's shoulder – And with the other, it rose into the air its weapon, igniting a standard orange glow of the arc-staff.

Sabban braced from the impact to come down on him and crush his feeble body from behind – Instead a voice came through;

“It's you guys right? The people from the Fluchtig?” Said a voice he'd heard just once before during the St.Aardig's day party – The voice of someone bumping into an old acquaintance at the pub, more quant curiosity than concern – The voice of the Casnel's pilot, 'Helt something or other...'

“......What of it?” Sabban murmured back. He didn't talk to enemies, he didn't talk much outside of combat in fact, but in this moment Sabban knew that the second his enemy's curiosity faded, his life was over.

“I knew it! What are the chances eh? Like something out of a story how we keep running into each other, though I guess you guys were hunting the Curadh for a while so maybe it's not that surprising really.

So hey listen, before we go back to the 'fight to the death' stuff, can I ask something.”

Sabban felt very irritated, by the man's childish voice and careless nature but decided to play along – He needed time to think of how he'd get out of this now that Hoki's plan had failed;

“Go on?”

“Well I was just wondering if you could let me speak to that other girl, Una right? It's just ever since you lot took Major Moncha from us-- Oh that's not me looking for revenge or anything, it hurts, a damn lot it does but you guys lost people too – No it's just ever since he died, I think maybe I understand her better no – I kinda want to talk to her again”

“Heh.” Sabban laughed, a crooking, hacking, droll cacophony of broken sounds - Dragged out of his throat and bitterly projecting into the microphone.

“Ummm, sorry I know that's a pretty crazy request, my bad...” Helt added, clearly uncomfortable.

“You bastard, you think this is a game? You think you can take us so causally as to have a fucking chat in the middle of a battle!

You piece of shit, you killed Una, the hell did you think was piloting that MBT – Una died to kill you and you, YOU DIDN'T EVEN HAVE THE DIGNITY TO STAY DEAD!!”

Sabban had seen red, he didn't allow Helt to respond – His Neo-C was known for the large booster pack on its back, he had hesitated to use it in an enclosed space like this but now couldn't care less.

Every thruster and booster across his machine roared to life at its maximum setting – An inferno of blue fire erupted out the back of the Neo as its continued to slam the Casnel into the wall behind – Slowly it buckled more, crunched and warped until finally--

Crack

The two machines cartwheeled over each other again and again as they flew back out into open space at a ridiculous speed, once more surrounded by explosions of battle on all sides, by others fighting their own dances to the death and far beyond that, the sole obverses of it all - The stars of the universe.

The Casnel rose its free arm, arc-staff reigniting as the spinning came to an end, it readied to swing down and end Sabban.

The young man didn't care, Hoki's bolt would arrive any second and finish this once and for all – He didn't care whether the Casnel's staff or Hoki' rifle hit him – They had won.

And just as expected a beam of light blasted through the Casnel – But the light was orange not blue and it had not come from a rifle.

“M-Miss Hoki what are you doing?” Sabban asked stupefied.

The arc-staff of Hoki's Cyan-Neo C had cut through the small of the Casnel's back, all the way out to its lower abdomen.

“Sorry, I couldn't be sure the rifle wouldn't hit you.”

She said back a little shyly.

Sabban's instincts flared, every atom of his being sparked with information he knew to be true, had always known and would always know to be true, “HOKI DODGE!” He roared in the next instant with all his being, but it was far too late.

Hoki Bachika was a brilliant sniper but a lousy swordsmen, her blade had hit home true but it had failed to pierce the Casnel's cockpit, its core – Now no doubt it was finished, its reactor would be either shutting down or going critical as they spoke but that could take a few minutes – And even a few seconds was an awfully long time this day.

Charging all its power into the thin arc-staff, the blade suddenly changed colour to a vibrant fiery red – The sleek line of energy seemed to grow in size and ferocity, into a massive flaming saber - The glowing blade almost looked as though it were alive, doubled in size and flaming over the Casnel's head.

The mech they had chased for so long, now impaled by Hoki's arc-staff, twisted its waist and swung its might weapon out - Scaring through the ill-prepared shape of Hoki's mech.

“HOKIIIIIIII!!!!!!”

****