Futuristic [DISCONTINUED] Dies Irae: Astral Fulcrum

LT. A. SVARGAI - GREEN OGRE -

Wounded - AWOL
Neuhabe Starport, Velika Prime
ThatWhichShouldBe ERode Steve Jobs
N/A

The general hospital took its toll on the lieutenant, especially the incessant murmurs of traumatized troopers and vagrants that occupied the general quarters. Following their actions in the city, Dr. Loxley oversaw Kairnseval and Svargai's rehabilitation needs away from AICA. An odd decision, given AICA's more favorable environment. Alas, it was prompted out of security measures. Even so, the decision to see to their medical needs did not exceed Loxley's agenda to monitor their post-augmentation check-up. Good intentions and efficient procedures did not keep the green oni from being wary of the good doctor's lethal ways and enigmatic motives - particularly so when he witnessed her executing a traitor without so much as a second to reconcile with her conscience. In fact, he wondered if she had any at all.

On the other hand, Amroi felt like a lab rat, and could not tolerate it any longer than he would at this wonderfully gloomy place. He had to get out, with or without Loxley's permission. Any place far from the cries of the wounded and the insanity of solitude in this asylum would be his haven.

After two weeks spent at the hospital within Central Disctrict, Amroi could not bear to sit around with the anger and sadness within competing to entertain him. Trading what he had on hands and a few packs of cigarettes that he snatched off of aloof reservists, Amroi eventually gathered the recent redeployment of the AICA graduates, following their award ceremony. Materialistic means made it all too easy for the green-eyed criminal. All in all, the award mattered little to him, as he would have slept through the ceremony as he did while it happened on television. Even when they personally attended to his bedside, the man simply shooed the officers away, preferring his quiet pillow. But the lieutenant did not pursue sleep, for the moment he closed his eyes, Durthai's perfect visage would come back to haunt him. A hole now resided in his heart, absent of the annoying light that she managed to instill in him.

In the darkest of nights, he would blame himself for her demise - believing that those that he tried to get closer and understand better would eventually be dead. He was a broken man, no better than the masquerading corpses that wandered past him day to day. Alas, he has yet to let go the memories of the one he considered his beloved Snowball. He believed he was cursed by her words, to forever cling to the morbid thing called hope. Could it really exist in a world so twisted? Perhaps he would find his answer soon, but not here. Not where one was left to the duplicity of one's rotting mind.

Despite his broken rib and concussion, Amroi weaved and snuck his way out the immaculate prison, where he finally found his way towards Neuhabe Starport with his rucksack in tow. The green-haired lieutenant with the cast over his arm and shoulder gradually waltzed his way past the guards, a niche ability he had picked up when training with Urliken. There, he stumbled upon a familiar blondie, unchanged. Strolling across the open facility, the oni quickly cast aside his personal gloom and greeted the hoplite.

"Still alive huh? ... Listen... I..." He paused, clicking his tongue slightly with his gaze fixed on the horizon before turning back towards Aeoun again. "... you were one big idiot for throwing yourself at the Deuce. But shaz ... thanks for having my back out there." Amroi expressed earnestly, extending his left hand for a handshake.

Turning his head, he noticed a fashionable lady and a blanche snout gawking at him. It did not take long for the green-haired man to acknowledge their presence with a nod. "The fashionista and the lizardman." He smiled, somewhat relieved to see them still standing. Rather than dwelling in his gloom, the man put on a facade to compartmentalize the losses of Durthai and Saimos. Yet here he was, still clinging onto this realm. The least he could do was to keep moving, despite the grotesque feeling that was brewing within him. For the time being, there were those that still stood amidst the blood and steel of the battle past. And that was more than enough to keep the oni on his feet. For the first time, he felt like he belonged somewhere, and he was hooked on the taste. Compelled to not let them down, his impulsive decision to go AWOL and return to the fold was justified. A selfish reason, but a sane one to keep the darkness at bay.

"What'd I miss?" He asked, raising his brow.

AEOUN

OFF DUTY
Neuhabe Station
Steve Jobs ERode

Aeoun knew it had been a desperate, ridiculous attack. Him and Ogre had brawled with a man who stood a giant's height above them. He had placed all his bets upon his allies being able to obtain some advantage, prepared to fire into that furball or for greater help than a bunch of students to arrive. XM-2's harassment was an unwelcome hamper in that plan. The missiles and even the reflected blasts- Aeoun had weathered them upon his shield. Armor and shielding wearing away, but traded for extra seconds.

And then help came.

The Queen's own Blade. He'd heard the songs. His Mech had refused to respond properly, the strain of battling the Duke, so Aeoun allowed himself a moment of reprieve from his place kneeling on the ground, as the Blade exchanged words with the Duke. The usual banter between warriors that stood heads and shoulders above all others. They prepare for battle. And Aeoun tries to rise, his hand upon his own blade, as faltering as it was-

And then it's over.

Hah.

Aeoun gets to his feet, ready to fight the wounded Duke if they made a move, but content to allow the Duke to withdraw. With the arrival of the Ninth Fleet, this battle was over. The fleet would pick apart what Sorentine forces they could. And Aeoun allows himself to be busied with.... cleanup. The work of finishing off enemy resistance, taking surrenders. All the little things. And when Aeoun finally returns to his bunks, back to the base- He trains. They had come close to all dying that day. Way too fucking close. And he wasn't even close to a match to the Duke- Not yet.

Not yet.

===============
He shakes Amroi's hand, glad to see the man again.

"Wasn't anything else to do. Couldn't be sure he wouldn't start finishing the rest of the squad off."

Aeoun pauses for a moment, frowning.

"... Honestly? For our first field op, we didn't do bad. But... 'not bad' just wasn't that close to good enough against a man like him."

LT. A. SVARGAI - GREEN OGRE -

Wounded - AWOL
Neuhabe Starport, Velika Prime
N/A
N/A

It stung, like a hornet upon fair skin. But the Green Ogre was not the only one complicit in the wrongs that they collectively endured. In a way, it was a bitter retrieval of his guts to ferry himself back to the frontlines when he clearly did not possess such a will. Alas, someone had to fight the war. But more than that, someone had to correct their mistakes. It had to be him, Amroi reckoned, wishing for nothing more than a chance to get back at the Oprichniks. Far from an effective compartmentalization method, but vengeance was the only thing that mattered for him.

As they sashayed off to find their new bunks, Amroi reflected on Aeoun's recent words as he did the battle that came to past. Was the Duke truly human? The way XM-1 moved and executed the scenario flawlessly was not something a simulation from AICA could truly replicate. The gripping fear of the unpredictable enemy, armed with the same caliber of arsenal, as well as the stress of combat that insidiously ate away at a pilot's rationale, were some of the greater things that AICA cannot prepare them for. Even now, under the dim light of the Silver Tenet's innards, Amroi stood frozen at the mere thought of that dark warframe. But the crippled warrior could not find rest, for he found himself at the whim of a loud and noisy officer that waltzed past him.

"Oi kid. You're in my way."

Eyeing the scruffy old man in the ball cap, Amroi raised his brow slightly to find himself next to the busted console. "My bad, pops."

"You're from AICA, aren't ya?" The old man gave Amroi a certain look, before letting out a heavy sigh. "Sorry for your losses, kid. Were they close?"

"Not exactly." His eyes betrayed him, despite his level-headed response. Amroi was not himself, at least not his former self where he would react with urgency. Yet here he was, still jet-lagged from the hangover of a two-days coma.

"Well. You'll be happy to hear that we finished onboarded all the MOBIUS from AICA. Hang in there kid, there's plenty of killing to go around."

"When?"

"Can't wait huh? If you have a way to get us going millions of starretts in a matter of seconds, I'm all ears. Otherwise, hand me that wrench."

Submitting to the officer's words, Amroi followed the man around the ship throughout the day. Unbeknown to him, the minor details managed to keep his mind off the Duke.

________________________


Eyeing the cadets scattered across the ship, the tall commander of the vessel finally turned to his drowsy compatriot.

"What do you think?" He spoke.

"A double-cheese burger combo with extra fries and a berry shake." The white-haired officer replied in a low voice, with her face still planted against her slime pillow.

"You just had your lunch." The Admiral shook his head in disbelief.

"Oh. In that case... I'm not interested."

"You're hopeless."

"Does it really matter? We're practically throwing kids into the meat-grinder at this point. But at least on the Silver Tenet, they will be informed before they find their final destination. Even so, they survived the Duke in a close-quarter combat with minimal support and no exit strategy. So I'd say our fighting chance sits somewhere between eleven to eleven point forty-two percent. Does that answer your question, Admiral?"

"Ten is good enough for me." Dargais replied, eyeing the hologram that was being monitored by his subordinate. "Any luck with Red Sparrow?"

"Nyz. Kraban yr dormui." She replied, waving her hand about boringly.

"Keep trying. The sequence will rotate in two hours. Use the Hex if it comes down to it, but the intel must be solid by the time we launch." The Admiral nodded, rubbing the woman's head slightly. "Double-cheese burger, extra fries and berry shake. Anything else?"

She then simply gave the Admiral a thumbs-up, prompting him to leave the bridge. Left to her own device, the woman cracked her knuckles and got back to detaching the holographic strings of encoded model.

LT. C. URLIKEN - RITTERBRUDER -

Active Duty
Silver Tenet, Neuhabe Starport, Velika Prime
N/A
N/A

"You're a quick learner. Thanks for all the help today, kiddo. Might make an Ordinance Master out of you yet. Hahahaha." The man bursted into a laughter, slapping Amroi on his shoulder as a praise.

Before long, the public-announcement system would echo across the hall: "ALL MOBIUS PILOTS TO THE BRIDGE FOR BRIEFING. ALL MOBIUS PILOTS TO THE BRIDGE FOR BRIEFING."

"That's you. Best get goin'."

Amroi nodded, handing the console PDA back to Limaye. "Be seein' ya, pops."

Putting away his things, Limaye quickly jogged towards the hangar.

________________________


The AICA cadets, battered and worn, were far from defeated. Forming a school circle around the Admiral upon their arrival to the bridge, the window shields were shut, as the hologram table in the middle of the room lit up. Standing next to the green ogre, Cyra gave him a soft look to which the man simply gave her an acknowledging nod. While she was unsure if he was truly ready for their next mission, Cyra was glad to see him still standing. Though she still had her concerns for his state of mind. Before long, the Admiral raised their voice.

"As of this day, you answer to me. I only have one rule in this unit - live. I don't care if you have a sucking chest wound or if you get limbs blown off. Walk it off, and live to fight again. Now, onto the exciting part. The attack on Velika is, unlike what the news would love to spin, unintentional. I'm sure you have had your moments of respite in between, whereas a deliberate deployment of their troops to overwhelm our planet's defenses would have taken years to action. Unplanned, unconditioned, they are no doubt regrouping and recuperating. This is our chance to break the stalemate. Meloran." Dargais then zoomed in on the planet system. "Their logistical bloodline runs through here. We're gonna burn everything and fall back. This will be an aeronautical combat operation, so we will have supply flotillas set up in the rear for your convenience. Timeline should be less than three hours. But during that time, I expect you all to destroy everything in sight. This is a straight-forward search and destroy mission, so any complications that occur should be neglected. Estimated enemy defensive positions are marked here, on the periphery of the planet's outer ring. Reinforcement chains and hidden forces will be forwarded by our WACO. Questions - go."

"Expectation of enemy's relative strength and response time on the surface?"

"Irrelevant. We will only be focusing on destroying their extraterrestrial supply forts - denying hostile ships from docking here."

"How accurate is the intel?"

"Ninety-nine percent. If you want the intricate details going into the procurement of said intel, I regret to inform you that it is something we have up our sleeves and will be taken to my grave."

"The MOM, Mr. Limaye, will make sure you have enough juice to punch through the armored cruisers when you make contact." Dargais then swiftly swiped his hand across the hologram. "Reassigning your squadron callsigns now. Study the battleplan until you can replicate it by memory. Combat data will be expunged within five days, which is our arrival time and date. So take your time now to go over the details before it is wiped. Deployment grid will be announced once we are there. Oh and welcome to the Strategic Assault Group Echelon. Or whatever the shaz SAGE means. That is all, now get the hell off my bridge."

SEPULCHER - WACO -

Active Duty
Silver Tenet, Meloran Prime, ML-4 Frontier System
N/A
N/A

The sunny morning saw the rise of the Admiral, as they quickly ejected from their bunk, of which was littered with countless piles of written ciphers. Despite the advent of axite drivers and universal ports, the habitual commander preferred the toils of hand-written notes. It was almost ironic, as he was the one to instill the sense of importance with Meloran's data, but seemed to have worked out their operational integrity via parchments. Among the piles of nonsensical codewords and drawings of the Meloran defenses was a completely different layout compared to the one that was given to the pilots. While the discrepancy was fatal for those that pressed their minds to it, the Admiral needed to see what they were capable of in order to adjust his plans accordingly going forward. By expecting the unexpected, one could achieve the primary regulation that he laid out for the inexperienced pilots. He needed to know, or rather, believe that they were capable of achieving the impossible. Unlike the previous generation of pilots, of whom were more machine than human, these young souls possessed something that was needed to draw out their full potentials.

Donning his coat, the man left these thoughts behind as he entered the bridge with a heavy expression. Across the digital board was his WACO, whose fingers were consistently abusing the weight of the nearly-worn mechanical keyboard, as their sleepless eyes continued to batter the dissipating pixels upon the hologram's projection. As Dargais approached Sepulcher, her eyes widened, as she ran her fingers across the digital projection.

"By the Stars. You did it." Dargais raised his voice, raising the piece of paper on his hands for Sepulcher to review, of which was nearly identical to her codes.

"Red Sparrow is in play. We are ready."

"Out-shazzin'-standing, Sep. I want this replicated and plugged into our fire control systems for the operation. Adjust for marginal error probability if needed."

"And the saplings?"

Dargais gave a wicked smile. "They'll just have to take a leap of faith. Just like I did with you. I'm feeling mighty good today."

"By the by, our fighting strength just returned to one-hundred percent." Sliding the projection with the flick of her hand, Sepulcher showed the recording of a new pilot boarding the Silver Tenet.

"Looks like she still got some fight left in her. Gran-"

"Access is already approved, and appropriate privileges are granted. The ol' man already onboarded their MOBIUS."

"Always one step ahead."

"It's what you taught me, Admiral."

"Heh. What can I say. I am a good teacher."
________________________

Upon her arrival at the starport, she was greeted by her old comrades.

"Look who's back for more." Amroi noted, prompting the others to cast their gaze upon Judyth.

"I still got a score to settle." A grim voice emerged, as the once-energetic woman was now donning a stern expression. Even the ogre was less inclined to lean back into his sarcasm, knowing full well that she was projecting his own unspoken sentiments. With her duffel bag in tow, she locked eyes with the oni, before turning towards Cyra, of whom was quick to snatch their belonging.

"I'll show you to your bunk." The feline offered. But just as they were ready to board the Silver Tenet, Judyth was stopped by Amroi, whose firm but tranquil hand fell upon her shoulder.

"All in due time. Until then, stay the course." He muttered softly to the woman. His eyes teeming with concern, despite its brilliant glow. Judyth's eerily silent turn of her head forward broke his caution, as she continued to march on with an infectious shroud of fatal dissonance.

A few days would pass, before the Silver Tenet began to sail. In between, Cyra and Amroi were keen to keep their eyes on Judyth, of whom had kept to herself since their return from the hospital. Their wrathful remorse could be felt in their newfound habits of finding solace in the physical-training facility. Rarely did Cyra find her outside of the gym, as if Judyth had made it her own home. On their final day at Neuhabe, Amroi joined Judyth, as the two trained together in close-quarter combat. With every punches weighing down on the ogre, Judyth's relentless barrage of her fists was felt to the bone by the stalwart Amroi.

"Keep your head in the game, princess!" He remarked, reeling back to take a breather.

"I could say the same to you. Stop pulling your punches." She replied, throwing herself at him again.

"Hey!" He shouted, parrying her right hook, before being caught by a leg-sweep. His right hand retracted from his guarded posture, supporting his fall, before kicking upward - forcing Judyth into a defensive posture. With distance established between them, Amroi broke left and drew Judyth to throw her left fist. When she did, Amroi grabbed her wrist and initiated a lunge forward. Closing his distance, he fell into the embrace of Judyth's lower torso, where she could not react in time. Having tackled her, the oni threw the berserker against the ground, but not before being jabbed by her left jab. Atop the woman, he pinned her down with a stern look. Sweat fell from his face, as he furrowed his brows.

"Enough!" He exclaimed, demanding Judyth's utmost attention as she found herself unable to break from his lock. "How would Snowball feel if she saw you like this?! Snap out of it!"

The more Judyth struggled, the more visibly upset Amroi got. "They're dead!"

Judyth finally loosened up her fists upon the ushering of the unspoken words. When her resistance fell, Amroi finally turned away, averting his gaze in shame, as Judyth soaked in his concerned words.

"Are you not angry!?" She retorted with a burning voice of rage.

"You think I'm not angry?!" He turned to face her, gritting his teeth as his heavy breath matched hers. "We already lost Felix, Saimos, ..." He paused, before finally being able to utter her name. " ... and Snowball. I can't lose you too."

For someone perceived as a selfish survivor and swindler, Amroi has never shown this side of him before. It shattered Judyth, as she now found more than a carefree fighter. Before her now was a broken friend, of whom she was quick to forget in her fit of rage. Gradually, she understood that she was not the only one laden with pain. Towering above her, the ogre was far from his name. Tears finally fell from her brilliantly melancholic eyes. Slipping her hand away from his, she confided her emerging weakness in him, feeling his sweaty cheeks gently as she turned his attention towards her. Locking their eyes, the two spared their words, letting the awkward silence seep in. The prolonged silence brought forth certain moments that they shared in the past as comrades. For Judyth, it reminded her of their camaraderie during their days at AICA and that she would not want him to suffer the her unstable state of mind. For Amroi, Judyth in this moment was the manifestation of his own anger and he would do everything in his power to make sure it did not consume her. The one truth they both understood was that they only had each other to brave the storms ahead.

Before long, the alarm would ring, announcing the imminent departure of the Silver Tenet. Breaking away from their oddly profound trance, Amroi got up and offered his hands. "The fight isn't over. You can kill as much as you like on the field, but as the standing rule of the Admiral goes - you have to live first."

Taking his hands, Judyth got up from the ground with a renewed perspective, as she reflected on her memories of the fallen. She gave the man a nod, finally conceding to his words.

The Silver Tenet, alongside a multitude of other vessels, began to make their climb towards the upper atmosphere. The magnificent sight of the Ninth Fleet departing for battle was cheered on by the crowds within the devastated city.
________________________

Judyth slowly found her old habits again, as she began to reintegrate herself among the other pilots. The common topic of late circled around Dr. Loxley, of whom has yet to make contact with them since their transfer to the newly-established Strategic Assault Group Echelon. While they shared their concerns for the Director, they were also wary of her enigmatic silence. Cyra, in particular, chose to keep her distance with Major Pakston, of whom was less than inclined to disclose his absence during the Battle for Velika. Despite having trained under him, Cyra found more reason not to confide in him. Perhaps it was not meant to be known, but with the outlying events that transpired during the operation on the planet, Cyra was unsure if it was a wise decision to comply to the need of war especially when her ultimate mission was to find the truth behind her brother's disappearance. But she would have to reserve these thoughts for another time, as they now prepared for battle.

/// Periphery flight path achieved. Maintaining vector one-seven-zero. Synchronization with Pillars successful. All personnel, secure equipment. Jump sequence initiated and imminent. All personnel, secure equipment. ///

The Silver Tenet, alongside her screening vessels drifted past Velika's outer defenses. As they found themselves staring into the magnificent dark void of the universe, the hyperspace Pillar unfurled before them. Communications between the fleet and the planetary defense stations led to the eruption of light that set the space before them ablaze. Harnessed energies finally broke the void's perpetual darkness, manifesting a cloudy rift before the Ninth Fleet.

/// All ships, prepare to jump. Estimated arrival time - Seventh Day of Syrken, zero-two-hundred hours local time. Make your plans accordingly, commanders. I want standard Karlan formation when we get out of our jumps. ///

The PA then counted down from thirty seconds, before the entire fleet zoomed past the observation stations and disappeared into the open rift. With the final roaring engines of the last vessels sucked into the abyss, the rift would follow suit.
________________________

Slotting into their battle uniforms at the behest of the blaring alarm, Cyra followed the others to the armory. With haste, they put on their ECOS and packed some spare Evocati ballistic plates. Given the zero-gravity environment of the upcoming battle, there was no need for the extra weight when they will be inside their MOBIUS most of the time. But given their taste of combat on Velika, the young cadets learned the lesson of preparations. Even if they did not take it to heart, it was prudent for them to emulate Major Pakston's actions - given his experience in the field.

"Operation Firebird is a go. All ships - open fire!"

The dark void of space would lit up, as flashes of crimson muzzle flares ignited the start of the battle. Under Dargais's orders, the Ninth Fleet commenced their attack on the unsuspecting supply stations and scattered corvettes. Radiant explosions followed before energy shields were erected, as the Sorentine forces began to mobilize its armored cruisers for a defensive interception.


"Time to get to work." Dargais said to Sepulcher.

"This is WACO Sepulcher. Noctis Squadron, you are cleared for takeoff."

Noctis squadron, composing of Pakston, Svargai and Kairnseval, was the first to launch from the Silver Tenet. Their mappings were quickly made obsolete as the layout of the planetary defenses and supply station coordinates were completely different from the one they were given by Dargais.

"WACO to Noctis. Maintain formation and clear a path towards their primary orbital station."

"This isn't right... We're not walking into a trap, are we?" Judyth commented, as the trio flew straight into the enemy's line of cruisers to engage and thin out the enemy drone fighters.

"Too late for that now. We have to thin out the swarm. Work your way left. I'll join you when the heavy cruisers are gone!"

Splitting up, Noctis quickly made short work of the enemy's first line of defense, forcing the hostile vessels on their flanks to withdraw and regroup. Yet, despite their tight formation, the Ninth Fleet's firepower were unable to overpower their turtle formation. With their powers diverted towards their frontal shields, the Sorentine fleet gradually reversed, keeping the Ninth Fleet within their line of sight, forcing the attacking force into a stalemate in the intense exchange of fires.

When the Ninth Fleet's guns were beginning to overheat from the constant bombardment, Dargais sighed heavily as he turned towards Sepulcher, of whom had just captured a lone vessel via Noctis's integrated battle-camera. She gave the Admiral a nod of confirmation.

"Just as planned. No reason to prolong this boring ruse. Deploy Bellua to these coordinates."

"WACO to Bellua and Umbra. You are cleared to takeoff. Coordinates to follow - Zephyr-Two-Druid-Niner-Five. Locate and destroy the isolated vessel. Umbra - remain on station to back up Bellua. Save your missiles."

Filled with questions, Bellua hastily deployed and intercepted the lone cruiser that strayed from the enemy formation. Upon closer inspection, the vessel seemed static with its engines cut. Returning fire at the approaching MOBIUS, Bellua was intercepted by swarms of fighters that tripled the size of a standard cruiser's capacity. Quickly picking up on the anomalous detail of this odd vessel, Bellua combined their firepowers and managed to pierce the vessel's ammunition cargo, forcing a magnificent explosion that could be seen from the Silver Tenet's bridge from thousands of miles away. With the vessel destroyed, the primary orbital station behind the enemy fleet quickly dissipated, while the real orbital station materialized just a few hundred miles from the annihilated cruiser. With the mobile relay station disguised as a cruiser destroyed, so too did the magnified camouflage field - reverting the battlefield to precisely the battleplan studied by the MOBIUS pilots beforehand.

"A Domain Illusion System. I've heard about it, but never thought to see it used here. Looks like Red Sparrow's gamble paid off." Dargais noted with an intrigued smile before continuing. "Have Umbra and Bellua mop up the station."

"What's the rule of engagement?"

"Weapons free, spare no ammunition. Divert some of our corvettes to resupply them if necessary. I want that thing reduced to nothing."

"WACO to Umbra and Bellua. Weapons free on the enemy supply station. Be advised, we will dispatch some supply vessels to rally point Zephyr-Five-Seven, in case you need to stock up."

"All ships, concentrate fire on the remaining ships. Unload everything!" Dargais ordered, prompting the fleet to resume their barrage with renewed intensity.

Memorized to the smallest of details, SAGE pilots quickly won the field. Complemented by their renewed faith in the Admiral, Bellua and Umbra eventually destroyed the orbital supply station and managed to deal a finishing blow to a docked battlecruiser that imploded. It's chaotic destruction swallowed the entirety of the Sorentine's supplies and ammunition in the system. With only less than ten percent of the enemy defense fleet routing, Dargais ordered his fleet to stand down.

Thousands of crippled ships floated past the victorious Farbanians as they prepare to make a withdrawal from the system.
With the Silver Tenet and the Ninth Fleet arriving back to friendly lines on Hyrun Prime, SAGE was summoned to a debrief by the Admiral. Joining them was Dr. Loxley, whose presence was marked by a conference call relayed from Velika. Still reluctant to get out of their gears, the pilots spared little time to assemble in combat-ready posture.

"Now that I know what you all are capable of, while being able to follow my number one rule to survive, I look forward to having you all winning this war for us." Dargais noted. "I've already sent my recommendations to the higher-ups. As much as I would like to press on, the Grand Director thought it wise to personally evaluate your battle assessment and monitor your augmentation processes. We're dropping anchor on Hyrun, with a facility already set up for the Grand Director to receive you all while the rest of the fleet reorg for the next operation. Be on standby for my call."

"I will see you all on the ground. And Admiral, please send my regards to Sepulcher."

Dargais's eyes narrowed at the mention of Sepulcher, as Loxley's line disconnected.

"That will be all for today. You are all dismissed."
________________________

Drifting past the floating graveyard of metal and lifeless carcasses on ML-4, the Duke and his wingman scoured the field before returning to their carrier - knowing full well that the enemy had already left long ago. But even seemingly-futile procedure can prove insightful. Following their retreat from Velika, the Duke finally got the answer to his innate question of when the Farbanians would retaliate. What he did not expect was the Farbanian's underwhelming forces' capabilities to be so potent. The only conclusion to be reached was the presence of their Titan counterparts - Mobius.

"What a disaster..." XM-2 said with a heavy sigh, as the devastation of Meloran's defensive fleet was a bitter pill to swallow following their less-than-desirable results on Velika. While it was far from an attack on the Sorentine homeworld, the loss of Meloran's fleet and the destruction of their supply hub would greatly diminish the Sorentine's morale for the war. Especially with their latest innovation, the Domain Illusion System, being neutralized so easily. More than blood and steel, it was a deep cut into their pride as a technologically-motivated people.

"Now the odds are even." The Duke muttered to himself, as he began to piece together the purpose of Meloran's attacks. While he has yet to pinpoint the mastermind behind such a bold and lethal move, the Duke understood just how capable they were with just one quick look at the aftermath that would go down as the biggest intelligence failure in Sorentine history. Raising their voice over the comms as the Titans finalized their landing sequences, the Duke's wingman finally assuaged the man's expectations.

"Colonel. Message from Vol-Tirkai. They want us taking charge of Sentinel!" XM-2's pilot got out of their Titan, as they paced their steps beside the Duke. Their bright green eyes teeming with questions, as the Duke seemed unfazed by the information, but rather confident. "You don't seem surprised..."

Turning towards them, as they continued to make their way past the loading bay, the Duke answered. "We needed an excuse for command to give Sentinel to us. The Farbanians just gave them one. Inform the Arebys and get my shuttle ready."

"Understood. What's our next move, Colonel?"

"Let me worry about that. Your job right now is to make sure everyone is ready to fight, Diplomat. That means attending the soiree on Meloran tonight. In gown and heels - proper. If I see you outside the dress cod-..."

"Alright, fine, fine! Anything but the Webflix subscription!"

"Does me good to see you can still follow orders."