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<<[color=orange]I'll take Escort position if you can provide cover-fire, Castle. If even half of the spots is a hostile crawling out of the dirt, we're in hot water.[/color]>>

<<[color=#239C89]Solid copy, Starstrike.[/color]>> He replied. <<[color=#239C89]Focusing on target.[/color]>>

The Ajax spun on its heels, turning away from its role as a defender to an attacker. It hammered the foreign machine with the wrath of the forge god, its body both the anvil and the metal to be shaped. The enemy Orbital could take remarkable amounts of punishment, shrugging off armor-piercing rounds like it was nothing. To put it simply, it was a tough nut to crack.

Thankfully, if the Ajax was proficient at anything, it would be busting this proverbial bunker.

Between the attacks from Ajax and Odysseus, the fire support from Bedwyr and Starstrike, and the attack from it only seemed like a matter of time until the Bandit would fall to the onslaught of attacks. Perhaps its armor plating was made of some kind of special alloy-- it would certainly be something worth investigating in the future. Holden quickly pushed these thoughts to the back of his head; there were more pressing matters to worry about.

Like the scything beam of light currently erupting from the spines on the Bandit's back.

It struck the Bedwyr first, before slicing towards the Odysseus. Thankfully, both of them managed to walk away with only minor damage. The Ajax, however, as slow as it was, had little hope of evading the beam, which grazed its arm and cut into its torso. With speed borne of experience, Holden willed his Orbital's left arm upwards. The Ancile Buckler's anti-beam coating helped deflect and refract the laser's energy output to nothingness.

"[color=#239C89]Fuck.[/color]" Holden grunted as red lights flashed upon his HUD, and sirens blared in his ears. "[color=#239C89]Status report.[/color]"

The onboard computer's speakers blared to life, reading the situational report that was displayed on the HUD.

STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY:

ADAMANTINE ARMOR PLATING: [color=lightgreen]81%[/color]
HULL PLATING: [color=green]96%[/color]
ANCILE BUCKLER: [color=orange]72%[/color]

[color=green]ALL SYSTEMS OPERATIONAL.[/color]

"[color=#239C89]Could be worse.[/color]" Holden said to nobody in particular. The Ajax's Adamantine Armor Plating was not particularly well-suited to taking on energy weaponry, but it was still much better than relying on hull-plating alone. It certainly couldn't reliably take sustained fire from beam weapons though, and he knew it. As he pondered this, sonorous ping rang out within the cockpit, signaling that the Keraunos was ready to fire.

[color=f26522]<<Ground team, be advised. I'm coming in for a low pass on the second bandit. ETA is 20 seconds.>>[/color]

<<[color=#239C89]Roger that, Bedwyr. I'll slow him down.[/color]>>

There was a burst of noise as the uranium slug was launched from its cradle, fueling the first step. The Hypervelocity Cannon's magnetic coils then flared to life, further propelling that projectile at breakneck speeds. The target? The Bandit's torso, striking center of mass, right where the Oberth Reactor would be. Castle doubted that it would be able to pierce through, considering the HAG was unable to cut it-- but the EMI field should throw the machine for a loop, as it crippled system after system.

Assuming, of course, it had no countermeasures in place for an event like this.