[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/nOAKdIx.png[/img]
[sub][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCgC2dnEnco]haha fuck yeah, yes//well this fucking sucks, what the fuck[/url][/sub][/center]

Their shrill, anguished yells reverberated through Gypsy Soul, from her armor to her very core, to the beating heart of the pilot within. 

Not that her heart was beating very fast. For some reason, Gypsy felt unnaturally calm inside - like anticipation had been building in her chest, and she had now gone through the worst of whatever she had silently feared to face. Sure, she felt a few drops of sweat, licking down the inside of her face's cold, metallic surface. Her hands were certainly clenched. But that was pilot's instinct, her body reacting to imminent vaporization. Inside, she was poised. She wished the same could be said for her poor, screaming Orbital.

[center][color=ed1c24][i]//Engage retreat! Y!Y!//

No.

//Preparing communications suite. Engage retreat! Y!Y!//

No.[/i][/color]

...

[color=ed1c24][i]//Communications suite offline. Diverting power to Samadhi. Samadhi functionality rating raised to 4.//[/i][/color][/center]

The cascade of beams that Gypsy faced down should have been beautiful, by rights. But they were no true gold; they lacked glitter, the power and allure that had drawn humanity to the metal since it formed its earliest notions of currency. These beams were diseased, ugly - not aurum, but jaundiced. Gypsy Soul raised its Looking Glass and blocked the beams contemptuously. She barely even felt any buck from the impact. That was good; she hadn't been certain that the Chiron Works defensive mechanisms would be as effective against enemies that could only be hypothesized about, but the ablative coating definitely seemed to do its work. 

[i]Bedwyr[/i] and [i]Odysseus[/i] were providing support, launching extensive salvos at the alien from behind. She appreciated the effort, and maybe they would even get lucky and hit some weak point in the monster's spindly lower half. But she doubted they were so lucky - and the alien might even have hated Gypsy enough to survive no matter what they managed to shoot. The Orbital sensed her intent. 

[center][color=ed1c24][i]//Alert. Alert. Melee range imminent.//[/i][/color][/center]

<<[color=ed1c24]Hey, thanks. You boys are real gentlemen. We should get drinks.[/color]>>

[center][color=ed1c24][i]//Error. Do not do this.//[/i][/color][/center]

<<[color=ed1c24]Deploying Samadhi. Gypsy Soul, engaging.[/color]>>

To the creature, the sight of the Orbital, scarlet saber in hand as it approached, must have felt like pulling away an old, delicate scab - and digging fingers into the fresh wound underneath.