Cuke

Struggle for Side 6

"Understood. We'll move to intercept the GMs. Make sure you have our backs!" Erina had to push her engines to keep of with Camilla, who made no effort to slow her advance, even with enemy bazookas on the field. The girl had a penchant for darting off towards the first possible target. At least it lined up with their orders this time. "I'm right with you, Abel!" She called out, catching up to the Kampfer and readying her Beam Rifle. "We'll pound through their center and fan out to keep the pressure on!"

Three GMs with sabers at the ready came into Vandam's effective range in no time. She fired off several beam blasts intended more to break up their line than take them down. Then she slammed on the brakes, readying her axe and preparing to take a stab at whoever she was headed for!

Struggle for Side 6

"Copy that." Erina responded to her superior. "Send any leftovers my way. CPO Vandam, preparing to launch."
She respected her superior's abilities in combat immensely. She certainly didn't make it through the One Year War by chance. Even if she couldn't stand her outside of the cockpit, they at least had each others backs in a fight. Same went for the rest of the squad.

Just before launching, Erina checked her suit's energy levels. It was a habit of sort, especially since Hizacks had lower outputs than comparable Federation suits. She preferred to carry a BR-87A Beam Rifle over a machine gun in spite of this, though. It did mean that she had to use a Heat Hawk over the typically beam saber to conserve power, but this didn't really bother her all that much. Besides, her hip-mounted Missile Pods didn't make her feel like she was lacking in firepower.

Launching from the carrier, Erina was quick to take position at the Ensign's side. "I've got missiles ready, boss. When they get into range I can hammer them on your go."

Struggle for Side 6

Erina lay in her bunk, eyes closed. She took her off-duty time very seriously. She couldn't afford to pilot anything when not at 100%. The Hawthorne might as well be a giant coffin without suits supporting it. But given the atmosphere on board, there were days when Erina just didn't feel like bothering with the others. She hadn't seen a group this mixed up since boot camp. It couldn't be helped, since everyone in the AEUG was a turncoat of some fashion, but to be paired up with former Zakus? That was just nuts! There wasn't a day that went by where she didn't feel some kind of frustration from Zeon-garbage being spewed by her immediate superior. She'd quietly requested a transfer, but given how short-staffed the ship was, she was stuck with Quintzem.

The familiar alarm jolted the CPO out of her daydreams in no time. She was on the ground and getting dressed before the first alert had even finished. Then she heard good old Ensign Tomi on the comm. "How about the memory of the innocents lost, huh?" Erina groaned to whoever in the squad was around to hear it before reaching for her own radio. "Roger, we're on our way now. Keep my seat warm."

Arriving at the hangar, her blue Hizack was easy enough to spot. She'd gotten the machine back when it was brand new. At the time, the clearly Zeonic influence bothered her, but she couldn't deny that it was a big improvement over a hand-me-down GM. Eventually she decided that the look was fair game. Zeon lost the war, therefore the winner takes what they want. How ironic it was that those Titan bastards were fielding them in spades.

Since defecting from the EFSF, Erina had only been in a few skirmishes here and there. Mostly at long range with inconclusive results. Real engagements were hard to come by and her excitement to prove herself among her new allies drowned out any nervousness she had deep down. "So...twelve enemy suits, right?" She hopped into the cockpit and began the required checks. "That's more than enough to go around. Let's give those schmucks in J-Squad something to be jealous about."

Struggle for Side 6

Chief Petty Officer Erina Vandam
AEUG Mobile Suit Pilot - RMS-106 Hizack “Phantom”
24 Years Old, 5’8’’, Mid-length Black hair, Brown eyes

Erina’s father was killed in action during the early weeks of One Year War. Driven to follow in his footsteps, she became a Federation cadet after the conflict settled. As a Mobile Suit pilot, she was stationed in reserve at the L4 colonies. Despite never seeing combat, her strong work ethic and quick thinking saw her promoted to Squad Leader. She despises Zeon for the violence they brought to Earth and is highly dismissive of their beliefs or motivations. However, the emerging oppression brought by the Titans was quite disgusting in its own right, with the events had Colony 30 becoming a breaking.

Feeling helpless at her post, she defected to the AEUG a soon as word of it reached her. She hopes that by fighting against injustice, she can help convince spacenoids that many within Federation do care for their basic rights as humans. Internally, she isn’t entirely sure she’s made the right choice. None of her squad-mates agreed with her decision and there is a part of her that would rather take revenge against any emerging Zeon forces.