Unbeknownst to the pirates, the pilot of the Schwalbe responded over the Gjallarhorn line. 

[color=a187be]"Major! My suit is entangled in a line, but I don't think it's been damaged badly. One hostile has had the sensor array knocked out, but four are still active. I haven't seen the ship they launched from, but I believe it's close."[/color]

As if on que, a larger Ahab reaction began to rapidly increase. It had been on the sensors before, but blended in with all the junk out in the debris zone. 

~~~

Meanwhile, Holly was exploring the controls and displays in her new mobile suit. Her [i]Stolas[/i]. Martin had called it a Gundam, what did he know about it? And how? Or was he lying? It seemed farfetched, what he had told the Gjallarhorn officer. And now Holly realized. [i]Only[/i] the Gjallarhorn officer and the two "Gundams" had heard that. They had a channel that the [i]Witch[/i] couldn't hear. 

~~~

As the [i]Mercurial Witch[/i] approached through a corridor in the debris, the captain floated above her chair on the bridge.

[b]"I'm not interested in Gjallarhorn interference. All weapons open fire."[/b]

Mick hesitated before relaying the command, [b]"And... Familiar Squad?"[/b]

[b]"Let them scurry. Rats are cheap."[/b]

The forward facing guns swiveled into position, and began to fill the void with shells. 

Immediately, the ship that Holly and Martin had entered rocked with impact. Inside, Holly instinctively lifted Stolas's legs, so that the mobile suit floated independently of the wildly shaking ship. She didn't know what Martin was playing at, but she thought quickly and keyed the comm frequency that Familiar Squad used, relaying odd of the Big Boi's LCS. 

[color=f7941d]"Thom, Kurt, Fox,"[/color] in her haste and confusion, she forgot to use their callsigns, [color=f7941d]"Take shelter in this ship, bring the hostage in too. If the enemy tries to follow, they'll have to take the same entrance. So we'll be sheltered from friendly fire, and have the advantage in close quarters."[/color]

She had to make it reasonable, but what she really wanted was for them to enter the ship with the rest of the gundams.

She swapped channel to the one only Stolas and Ipos were using. 

[color=f7941d]"I don't wanna work for Old Hilde either,"[/color] the last space rat who had used that nickname for the Captain was given to the Bosun, Holly never saw them again, [color=f7941d]"But what the hell are you thinking? We can't fight the [i]Witch[/i] with five mobile suits, no matter how fancy. If we turn them over we might get to pilot them though..."[/color] There was a note of panicked pleading in her voice. Things were going sideways fast, and she was looking for a way out.