Gerard quietly muttered a prayer to himself, not to any particular deity or because he wished for absolution, but simply because he found himself more at ease once he did so. He was about to reap the lives of his fellow men in a bloody harvest, something he did not enjoy in the slightest. Mouthing the end of the ad lib personal sermon, the Frenchman took a deep breath as the Marauder stepped out onto the rails. [color=00746b]“Guillotine, aller au feu,”[/color] he subvocalised as he leaned forward in response to the sudden shunting movement of the rails. Relaxing back into his seat, his eyes remained fixed forward as he slowly slid into the sealed launching chamber. With a heavy clank, iron doors sealed behind him, shutting off the hangar from space. In front of him, a set of armorcrys doors slid open causing immediate decompression. Taking a deep breath, he smiled. [color=00746b]“On est pare comrades?”[/color] he asked quietly through the comms, [color=00746b]“aux armes!”[/color] With that, the rails shot forwards causing Delacroix to sink back into his seat, feeling the extreme g-forces pressing their invisible fingers into his body. As blackness filled his vision he felt a slight jarring sensation as the rail clamps released him, sending him shooting out towards his two comrades, one of which was already engaging the enemy.

[color=00746b]“Well done, Sous-lieutenant,”[/color] Gerard said into the comms cheerfully, though there was a hint of sadness in his voice if one was looking for it, [color=00746b]“your first kill, but remember there are still…15 of them.”[/color] Cocking his shotgun as his thrusters threw him forwards, he sped past McKnight and Williams. [color=00746b]“Guillotine making a beeline for the ships with Brick. Keep the others off our backs, si vous plait!”[/color] he keyed into the comms. Inside the cockpit, Gerard fiddled with the joysticks and pedals, dodging and ducking as various debris and munitions floated about. However, maneouvering a 50 foot tall machine was harder than most people thought, various ballistics and lasers crashing against his shield, although none large enough to cause any real damage. Keeping his left pauldron forward to protect the anti-capital charge attached to his hip, Gerard spotted a few of the Coalition MASs switch targets from the aerospace fighters to the two advancing UEE MASs. Slightly heavier fire started to rain down on them, putting some strain onto the Marauder’s shields. Lifting up the barrel of his scattergun, Delacroix fired off a few ineffective shots, the heated iridium rounds scattering too wide at this range to do any real damage, but it at least caused one of them to take more evasive action. As it did so, it swatted a passing aerospace fighter out of the air with its sword, shearing off a wing and sending it spiraling downwards. Speeding up, Gerard shot towards the falling fighter. Grabbing onto the dorsal wings of the fighter, he reversed his thrusters as he struggled to stop the fighter from its spiral. There was nothing to smash into, but a slow, suffocating death in space was worse than the swift one of a crash. With a small heave, he threw it back towards the Lincoln. [color=00746b]“Sokolov!”[/color] he said into the comms, [color=00746b]“make sure this one gets home!” [/color]
[color=ed1c24]“Tovarisch, this not the time for this!”[/color] the Russian replied.
[color=00746b]“Do it Sous-Lieutenant!”[/color]

Turning back towards the offending coalition Ferir, Gerard narrowed his eyes again. [color=00746b]“Shanks,”[/color] he said as he opened a private channel, [color=00746b]“I will engage le con, but we need to break through to the capital ships. Let us open up a path.”[/color] With that said, Delacroix fed more power to his thrusters and surged upwards as he loosened the belt of shotgun shells extending from the shotgun's drum. By now the few coalition MASs that had moved to engage them had closed, and started to spray the two of them with automatic fire, draining Delacroix's energy reserves. Gritting his teeth, Gerard fired off his grapple, the electromagnet slamming into the first MAS's chest. With a single tug and button, the chain started to wind up again, sending the two catapulting towards each other. While Gerard was prepared for this, the Ferir clearly was not, flailing its arms as it tried to keep a grip on its weapon. Extending his legs just before impact, the full weight of a speeding Medium class MAS smashed into the Ferir's top half, sending them spinning in zero gravity. [color=00746b]"I pass zis one to you, Shanks,"[/color] Gerard shouted into comms as he placed the barrel of his scattergun into his enemy's back. Detaching his electromanet, he pulled the trigger of the shotgun, simultaneously shutting off his thrusters. With a heavy bang and the hiss-twist of melted metal the damaged MAS flew towards Shanks even as the recoil sent Gerard rocketing away. Looking into the eyes of the Ferir's nearest companion, Gerard shouldertackled the MAS as he holdtered his scattergun, drawing his axe in one fluid motion. 

With a mighty swing, Gerard attempted to bisect the MAS at the waist but the powered blade of a sword parried, forcing him to counterbalance the reckless swing with his thrusters. Without a pause, Gerard grabbed the shaft of his poleaxe with both arms and reversed the swing, bringing the blade back up, scraping across the body of his enemy and leaving a large searing tear before smashing it back downwards with a full force blow. As the enemy brought his blade up to block it, the refined metal of the axe combined with the raw force behind it snapped it in half before the head buried itself halfway down his opponent's MAS, stopping just before the cockpit with a jarring motion. Wrenching the axe blade out of its newfound holster, Gerard swung horizontally, bisecting the arms and legs, leaving the cockpit slightly scratched, but the rest of the machine inoperable. Hopefully the recovery beacon was still working. As fire intensified on his position, the Frenchman grabbed the lower half of the MAS and lifted it up, using it as a shield. [color=00746b]"I require assistance!"[/color] he said calmly into the comms, feeling the bullet impacts on the armoured legs of the machine corpse.