[color=f26522][center][h2]Ensign Chloe O'Connor[/h2][/center][/color]

Chloe took a deep breath from inside the drifting Shrike, picking up the conversation on the short range transmitter and trying not to look at the bright red Fafnir drifting across from her. The Bloody Valkyrie. Her first ever mission and she was hovering yards away from the Bloody Valkyrie himself. Her hand unconsciously tightened around the controls as she tried to remind herself where she was. She was controlling one of the fastest and most advanced war machines ever created; she was the best of the best, and she had nothing to fear.

Even so, she nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw the other Fafnir drift closer to her. The pilot was a kid, just like her, though clearly lacking in the good sense to be nervous."What's the maximum output on that thing? I've always wanted to fly one," he asked with a clear, high voice. Chloe furrowed her brow and opened the short-range channel to respond... And then something exploded.

Acting on instinct, Chloe jetted backwards from the Fafnir and powered up the Shrike's autocannon. The Coalition pilots scattered in front of her as her scanners beeped to notify her of enemy weapon systems powering up. She heard Atalyah's orders as though they were coming from underwater. [i]Don't fire first,[/i] he said, the dream of peace resting on those three fragile words.

The Coalition rookie had lagged behind his counterparts in the movement backwards; it was foolish to think you could see panic on a machine, but something about the Fafnir's jerky movements and the way it clutched its ceremonial autocannon gave the impression of a soldier who wasn't listening. One of the other Coalition MAS's moved closer, as though trying to get his attention, but the Fafnir stayed rigid, debris from the explosion bouncing off its armor, its autocannon aimed directly at the closest UEE MAS: her. Chloe's MAS screamed again that his weapon systems were powering up and she hovered in space, staring at the ornate machine across from her, knowing somehow that its pilot was staring at her too.

"Don't do it," she breathed, her voice nearly cracking into a sob as she clutched the trigger on her weapon. "Don't..."

The autocannon fired in slow motion. The Shrike was already moving when the shots went sailing past, wing boosters firing to move the machine laterally away from the fire. Chloe responded with a quick burst of autocannon fire that was absorbed by the Fafnir's shields and brought the machine down, hoping to throw off the enemy pilot's aim by moving in three dimensions. "I've been fired on!" she screamed into the squad channel. "The rookie is shooting! He freaked out and he's shooting!"

It looked like her skills hadn't seen her to the end of the war just yet after all.