In a day that had been filled of magnificent explosions and exuberant laser weapons, the beam currently swirling & drilling into the side of the good ship Rinie, was perhaps underwhelming by comparison – But of course comparisons don't really matter, not when a bolt of light the size of a Vijaik, with multiple smaller beams of multi-coloured flare circling it, is cutting away at the life of your vessel.

As Sabban Vint approached the destruction from an angel, it finally stopped – Once the dust cleared, the view of the Rinie was not pretty.

As a warship it was designed as a sort of 45 degree triangle, with rolling rows of little windows and gun ports – Although Sabban knew it was a somewhat childish analogy, the thought that came to mind was a wedge of cheese, one with a massive corner having been chewed out.

He fiddled with his comms dials:

“This is our final order, all personal evacuate now, repeat, now!”

Sabban frowned and in spite of his hollow self, spoke back;

“Hello?”

A pause, then; “I take it you're that Neo pilot floating towards us lad?”

A heavily accented, older man's voice spoke back.

“Yup.”

“Well, not much for you here I'm afraid – If you want, you could help guide our lifeboats towards the Fluchtig.”

Sabban was quiet for a few moments, he already knew the answer but asked anyway - “And you?”

“Ah, someone's got to make it look like the Ship's still standing, or the enemy might shoot down those fleeing.”

The voice replied almost shyly.

It was no word of a lie, Sabban could see the little rectangular escape boats leaving from the Rinie's hanger-mouth.

Meanwhile its cannons were still shooting, meaning someone was keeping up the façade, though of course some careful observation would clearly reveal the guns were firing at nothing, aimed at random.

“No you Lt.Wally are catching the last boat!” Suddenly boomed a different, much more brash voice – Sabban had never interacted with the leaders of the Rinie but at this point he could guess them to be the Captain and second in command, Lt.Wally and the infamous Captain Batty.

“I could say the same to you Captain.”

Wally said back.

Sabban wasn't really paying attention, he was more focused on 'where' he was. Approaching from a parallel angel he was close to the Rinie but also had a different point of view and after a little searching he found it. Tucked away in the wreckage of fallen ships and mechs, was the attacker who had fired the abnormally large energy attack:

It was effectively a pistol in shape, one easily 3 times the size of a Neo – Stood behind it was a standard Ogre Vijaik, meaning the attack was all on that strange pistol shaped cannon.

It was also quiet far away, not surprising that the Rinie couldn't fight back, it was like trying to find a needle in a battlefield of endless Vijaik debris.

“Is your gunnery commander still there?”

Sabban mused.

“Huh? Ah no lad, 'fraid its just me and the captain.”

“Shame, I can see the enemy.”

“You can!? Well maybe if.... No I don't actually know how to aim the main cannons properly – You?”

“Nope, actually I don't even know how to give co-ordinate for that sort of shot either – I'm just a pilot.”

“Ah-well, nice of you to think of us – Now I'd get going lad, that thing can't be far off its next shot.”

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The Lieutenant was right again, Sabban could see the barrel of the pistol glowing, in a similar way to how the weapon had when it fired – Perhaps it was some sort of prototype or miniature version, rolled out now as the battle on both sides grew more desperate.

“Won't be enough – Once its done with you it'll just keep sniping off our ships one by one, the defence line will fall.”

Sabban muttered back.

It was Captain Batty's voice that boomed back this time;

“Indeed! Then stop whimpering boy and get back to your mothership – Our comms are down but you can go and warn them in person – Let them know of our lifeboats as well while you are at it! That Nate Novel is likely to panic without me around, see that he atleast has due warning of my departure!”

Sabban shook his head but said nothing – He doubted there was much good that would do, even if with warning the Fluchtig or Kolme's Nemo squads and they could stop this enemy, another would soon appear – A Casnel or a Fortress, more strange weapons or extra reinforcements - “Pointless.... I can't help them....”

He whispered.

He wasn't lying, the single shot in his rifle would do no good – The chances he could knock out the Ogre operating the gun from a side angel like this were stupidly low and he wouldn't have enough time to get behind it for a clear shot.

He could shoot at the gaint pistol itself but again its sides were probably heavily fortified and Sabban only had a single shot left – Moreover his helmet had been damaged, his cameras were barely functioning, visibly scratch lines permeating throughout them, and of course he had none of the long range targeting equipment that Hoki used – There was nothing he could do about the next shot.

Plus the Rinie was already clearly finished, 12 hours of combat against a decade old ship – Its paint was stripped away, many holes littered it where entire sections of the ship had been blown open, it was a miracle it had lasted this long.

The voices of the Batty's broke him from his thoughts;

“Now then Lieutenant, off with you!”

“The last boats already gone Captain, just us two now.”

Wally said back, a touch of genuine softness in his voice.

“What?! You idiot!”

“And what about you, you're still here my love.”

“!! - I am the Captain of this vessel, I shall stand with my ship to the very end!”

“And I am your husband, until death do us part right?”

No more words were spoken between the two, Batty didn't have anymore to say but Sabban could hear a faint rustling as the two stood closer together one final time.

Opposite that he could see the pistol's barrel now radiating bright light – The time had clearly come.

'There's nothing to be done, no way to save them and no point in saving them. That ship is finished, and more enemies are out there – Nothing I can do. I don't have power, my machine is buckled and it was never very good to begin with. I don't have abilities or a speical drug and I'm not like them.

I can't turn things around just by being me.

..... I hate people who self-sacrifice.'

Sabban gave into the flow that had always been beneath him, to the feeling of knowing what to do, of always having known what to do – To an ability he had never mastered, the latent potential of a different lifetime, of a different person.

His Neo-C, drifted in the last of the distance and outstreched its remaining arm, rifle held out proudly.

He didn't really aim, so much as knew exactly where to place the weapon – He pulled the trigger.

So too did the enemy, the massive swirling, pulsating silver beam ejected out of the gun in a long continuous stream, the multicolour lightning circling around it.

In mid air, the sleek blue line of the rifle bolt past by the magnitudes large blast of the pistol – The bolt slid by and slammed forcefully into the Pistol's outer edged.

The explosion it made was small, insignificant against the armour of the impressive tool, but it was enough – The pistol only halfway through its blast was sent into a mass of chain explosions along its body as the energy discharge backfired.

The cannon barrel exploded, cutting the attack short and causing both weapon and Vijaik to go up in flames.

Of course the half blast it had already fired continued onwards.

Sabban Vint smiled ever so slightly as the light engulfed his Nemo, eviscerating it in an instant.

The blast continued on, ripping straight through the bridge of the Rinie, the final blow causing the whole superstructure of the veteran vessel to rip, buckle and sink.

Two mechs, one ship and a strange weapon – Fell.