[h2]Baron Wilhelm[/h2]

The old man smiled with satisfaction a glee, maybe he'd still get a few more medals before he shuffled off this mortal coil!

[b]"Such eagerness Lieutenant Dvalin! But do not worry, there will be glory enough for-"[/b]

Wilhelm was interrupted by a blip warning him of an energy discharge at a distance. Before he could react, the boarding shuttle was hit.

[b]"All units, scatter and return fire!" [/b]

The baron placed his trust in the aim assistance of his mech and fired a green colored charged particle blast directly back at the source of the energy signature, not accurately enough to hit the enemy Core, but close enough to make it move instead of shooting. As his own Black Knight moved, it crashed into a large piece of debris a few seconds later. It almost looked like age had already gotten the better of him, but his idea soon became clear as the metal sheet was pushed and soon obstructed Onyx-9 from further incoming fire. He continued to push the debris so it started drifting toward the Venture.

[b]"[i]Damn it, my denture is rattling.[/i] Onyx-9, here's some cover! It won't block a plasma bolt, but it will hide your insertion a little. Godspeed!"[/b]

The Ironside pulled away from the debris, its shoulders caved in by the strength of the impact.

[b]"Hippo 7, with me! We'll break through the center and keep the enemy distracted, Armatus and Phantom take the flanks and provide overwatch. For Prince Cassian! For the Empire! Forward!"[/b]

The command mech charged in without hesitation, flying toward the enemy quickly and turning in awkward angles, using the debris to break line of sight and charge out again in another direction. It was some impressive flying, maybe not in terms of speed or maneuvers due to the limitations of the aging Black Knight, but it never the less flew in a pattern showing expert knowledge in how the average mech pilot handled its machine as not a single shot seemed to come close to hit it.

This was all the more impressive because in the mech's cockpit, the old man piloting it was basically doing it blind, the high G maneuvers making him black out almost every moment as he clenched down on his denture and performed everything from muscle memories and with blind trust in the fading lights that was all he could see from his dashboard.


[h2]Captain Mika Ganishka[/h2]

In her chair, Mika sighed and shook her head negatively. [b]"This is amateurish."[/b] She declared. The XO gave her a glare that said a lot about his opinion of 'Mika' and 'professionalism', but after being chewed out by her and rebuked by the prince himself he didn't dare to speak up. The captain rolled her eyes and decided to elaborate, if anything for the benefit of Cassian whom she felt would do well to learn a thing or two about commanding.

[b]"Don't get me wrong. These four are leagues above most of what the sector can throw at us, but this is embarrassing. Why wasn't the van decided earlier? Why does the old man have to distribute battle roles? This whole thing feels like it was thrown together last minute." [/b]That's probably because it kinda was. [b]"Once we arrive at port we need to do some training exercises so everyone knows their job and the fucking transport shuttle isn't caught off position like this again."[/b] She declared.

[b]"Welp, sure glad I didn't send my guys in there."[/b] She instead commented at the misfortune of Onyx-9. [b]"Good news is that this means we can rule out the fire ship hypothesis, if these schmucks fired at the transport instead of our Cores it means they still have their guys inside the Venture. And also, since everyone just rushed in and the Phantom hasn't detected mines, the field is probably clear. Tighten the course and get us closer to the action."[/b]

[b]"Captain, Phantom has a lock on the enemy Cores for out ship's weapons."[/b]

Mika laughed at the idea. [b]"What, she thinks we're made of money?  I'm not wasting good missiles on 3 miserable Cores. Railguns. Railguns and lasers are cheap enough though, fire mid-sized batteries AROUND the enemy formation though, at this distance we won't hit shit anyways so try to coral them together and prevent them from maneuvering, the Lance will take care of them."[/b]

Next on the menu, the Percheron. This question made her run her finger on her lips as she looked at the battle display and how to better approach the situation. [b]"...I don't like this. Damaging the core like that if you want to take the ship is amateurish, and amateurs don't have Cores."[/b] She honestly wanted to leave the ship to its faith, but again she eyed the Prince. [b]"...Tell Hartwig and his damage control team to prepare to launch a shuttle, we'll pass between the Venture and the Percheron and launch him while we can cover his approach, but tell him to haul ass, it will be a very short window."[/b]

The finger on Mika's lip lowered itself on her chin as she considered the last element that bothered her. [b]"Now... these Cores had to have a carrier, so where is the mothership..."[/b] Looking at the battle display, she let her mind wonder, trusting in her instincts, or rather in the Drift as she closed her eyes and looked out for... something. Finally she squinted them open.

[b]"Sharlin. Phantom, whatever, this is the captain, can you hear me? Can you take your sensors off the battlefield for a moment? I'd like you to scan around grid... Epsilon-Orange. Sending telemetry."[/b] She lazily said while signaling one of the officers on deck to do so. "Rest of you also keep scanning for anything out of the ordinary. If you find another cargo ship I want it pinged on my screen, leave nothing to chance."