His consciousness fully immersed in the VR control system, Melcor pushed the drone wing into a steep dive towards the first of the corvettes. Opening the engagement with a hellfire salvo, the four missiles weaved their way through the atmosphere towards the target.

OOC: move action: increase speed to alley speed and move 20 sq (100ft) closer to target (closest corvette). Attack action: fire hellfire missile at first corvette. Extra attack action (heroic surge feat): fire chain gun at closest corvette.

 06:16, Today: Melcor rolled 24 using 1d20+9. attack roll (missile).
  06:17, Today: Melcor rolled 43 using 10d6. missile damage. (ignoring 10 hardness)
 06:16, Today: Melcor rolled 24 using 1d20+9. attack roll (chain gun).
  06:17, Today: Melcor rolled 17 using 5d6. chain gun damage.
 

"Roger that, Gunny." Elsbeth responded to M'kira's orders.  She was moving as quickly as possible to engage the enemy.  With their enemy's superior numbers, they had to try and get into close combat as quickly as possible she figured.  Mobile havoc was one of her specialties - at least that is what the 359^th's Force Recon division of had prided themselves on.

Her inexperience with the mech was causing her some issues.  It took more than a moment to get used to controlling it.  She had expected the interface to be more like what she was used to in the Marines, but the salvaged nature of the technology meant that Elsbeth was not used to the systems and control algorithms.  As she and her mecha continued to lurch forward, Elsbeth found that the two muscle amplification systems present were not that helpful.  They were not perfectly mated and she sometimes found herself fighting the mecha's augmentation routines when they conflicted with her own armour's algorithms.  The two programs needed some time to recalibrate.

Still, that training time was a luxury they didn't have - so, Elsbeth was forced to learn on the job.  Forced to hoping that the heuristic algorithms would adapt in time.  As she moved to unleash her first volley, the tall CMC marine glanced at tactical displays to make sure that Poppy was still with her.  She clicked her teeth to cycle through the communications line until she was linked with her wingwoman.  "Ready to unleash mobile havoc, Miss Poppy?" she prompted, as her huge mechanized fingers depressed the trigger on the large plasma cannon while rocket box on her shoulder bucked as the first volley was launched.  Elsbeth didn't really bother to wait for an answer, when her HUD reticules painted sections of the incoming enemy green - she just cut loose.

  The first exchange between the ships went as expected. Incoming missiles and torpedoes were engaged by the automated defense systems, The corvettes' guns scored hits on the incoming missiles cutting their numbers down drastically. The battered dreadnought fared worse it's automated guns tracking sensor echoes, and missing the incoming weapons completely.
  A moment before impact T'risa manages to get a lock on the fast moving torpedoes. the heavy warheads detonating in a blinding flash short of the dreadnought sparing it what would have obviously been a massive amount of damage.
  With their main weapons already committed to the dreadnought, and the auto guns tracking a swarm of incoming missiles, the corvette in the lead caught the missile and gunfire from the combat drone on the chin. the anit-vehicle missile lacked the punch of an anti-ship missile, but it sliced through armor and still had enough killing power to deal damage.the light chain gun sent sparks and puffs of shell splinters flying as they slammed into he heavy ships armor, doing little more than annoying the crew
  With a thunderous crack the two corvettes accelerated and drove past the dreadnought, their main drives hurling the two heavy ships supersonic in moments carrying them almost to the horizon in a few seconds time. even with the advanced acceleration compensation of modern warships the two craft would take a while to turn and come around for a second run. leaving the Dreadnought free to fire in support of the ground forces or fire it's missiles over the horizon after the fleeing corvettes.


  On the ground the enemy infantry went for cover knowing better than to get in the way of Mechs when they started swapping hits. a single salvo of RPG rounds arced toward M'kira even with several round bracketing her the Valkiir wove through the salvo and sent her own salvo at her target. the rockets impacted squarely engulfing the lead mech in a ball of fire and shrapnel for a second. Her plasma cannon detonated in the smoke with a blue white flash telling her it too had found a target.
  When the Mech emerged, battered and trailing smoke from he smoke cloud. it fired off a salvo of rockets saturating the area around M'kira instead of targeting her directly. she barely avoided being hit directly by a rocket, but was still caught in the blast area of several. Her heavy armor doing it's job and soaking up the damage.
   Tiny on M'kira's wing sent a salvo of her own at M'kira's's target. her maneuvers crisp clean, and precise now that she was in the body she was born to. the enemy mech going down in a crash sending up dust and rocks as it slid to a halt, it's systems thoroughly wrecked by the tag team attack of M'kira and Tiny.


   Elspeth maneuvered in to attack position her mech raked by chain gun fire as the two Mechs facing her formed up into a wing and responded with trained precision to the unexpected presence of heavy armor facing them. none of the rounds found their mark her heavy armor functioning perfectly despite the Mechs hodgepodge origin.
  He Plasma gun went wide as the leader of her target group jinked out of the way. Her rocket however hit the mark and detonated with a satisfying gout of fire, smoke and fragments.
  "Mayhem's my middle name....well not really I don't have...oh forget it...YeaaaaHawwwwww" Poppy Unloaded her own rockets, concentrating them on the lead mech as well. Her whoop of excitement carrying ove both her loudspeakers and her helmet radio. her rockets found their target in rapid order, one, two three hits sent the mech tumbling as it's pilot found himself suddenly trapped in a wrecked machine.
  Balkiir and Rhic lined up on a third pair of Q'sa Mechs, as the slid into attack position the enemy mechs opened fire. Balkiir managed to slide to the side avoiding a rocket, unfortunately Rhic was out of position and took the rocket in the chest, the blast finding a weakness in the armor. the resulting explosion was as much from inside the mech as outside. when the heavy Armored machine slid to a halt it did not move.
  "RHIC!!! MAN DOWN!!! RHIC'S DOWN!!!!! "Balkiir slid to a halt enemy fire streaking past him as he turned first to aid Rhic, then swung around a surge of anger building to an explosive release as his sights settled on the Mech that had taken out Rhic and fired.
  The target mech was holed by the plasma blast and rockets, reduced to a burning mass of metal in the flash. It's partner mech swerving wildly to avoid a collision and bearing down on Balkiir as the two warriors squared off to avenge a fallen comrade.


 On the bridge T'risa felt her link with Rhic go cold, a surge of pain, surprise and then a wave of memories, jumbled, confused and impossible to sort out in the heat of battle.

  As the Mechs slugged it out Leo can find his way to the surface and move to engage the hostile infantry. Soon he spies six Q"sa warriors moving to flank the mech dual, several armed with shoulder fired rocket launchers in addition to their rifles and grenades. At the moment they are too focused on the battle to spot one lone man moving gracefully among the boulders and wreckage outside the ship.

---

ROUND ONE: COMPLETED
M'kira: 7 to mech points after armor
Rhic:   34 points through armor due to critical hit.

Round TWO
I need
Will save from T'risa ( No DC results dependent on will save)
Computer Use Check Maran: DC 15 to repair ship damage.

Corvettes are over the horizon at this moment however the ships missiles can be fired at them as they turn around for another attack.

to use missiles is an attack roll.

  His voice calm as it came over the comm system, Melcor relayed information efficiently, as always. "T'risa I'm going to have to redirect my fire, those corvettes could tank me all day. I'm going to hit the infantry." Information passed, Melcor returned his concentration to the PD drones. He wheeled the wing of vehicles around sharply and drove towards the infantry, unleashing a volley of rockets at the largest group he could find.

OOC: move action: maintain alley speed and manoeuvre towards infantry. Attack action: launch rocket salvo at highest available concentration of troops

  01:25, Today: Melcor rolled 24 using 1d20+9. attack roll (rockets)
  01:25, Today: Melcor rolled 29 using 10d6. rocket damage
   reflex save DC 15

M'kira's expression is dark hearing that Rhic is down, however this isn't her first battle. Soldiers and friends had fallen before she could only hope he was alive and that no more of them fell in battle. "Keep calm Balkir and mind your six they will be trying to get the advantage too. Keep your fire concentrated and watch each others back. Those ground troops are still out there and they had a heavy unit with missiles."

She had been thinking about requesting a drone for support to lay down some suppression fire to make certain the ground troops either kept their heads down or had them blown off. However since Melcore was going after them it was best to leave the drones to support the Dreadnought against the Corvettes. She shakes her head with a look of wonder for a moment. Who would have thought that corvettes especially in extremely small numbers would ever be a threat to a dreadnought. Normally it would chew up and spit out a squadron of light units if they weren't careful.


Her expression still grim she lines up the Mecha that had fired on her in the tracking sights of her hud getting a lock. Then fires on it with everything she's got. "Say good night!"

"Good shooting, Poppy.  We'll have to give you middle name.  And a surname as well..." she intoned evenly over the commlink to her wingwoman.  "Let's see if we can smoke some more steel before they know what hit them.  Pincer and concentrate fire.  Maximum collateral damage..."  She let her HUD's predictive software forecast their trajectories and then relayed the combined coordinates and targeting to Poppy.

Elsbeth was more than slightly startled at Balkiir's vehemence and sudden outburst.  The fact that they shared a more intimate psychic link accentuated the strong emotional content.  It caught the CMC marine slightly off-guard forcing her to mistime her next rocket salvo.  The frame of Steel Three's mecha chassis bucked from the recoil as the rockets left their housing.

She bore down to concentrate, fighting back the roiling anger the was spilling over into the peripheral vision.  As her heartbeat accelerated due to the influx from Balkiir, Elsbeth tried to channel the emotion.  It was not unlike trying to harness her adrenal surges - one couldn't stop them, one hope to direct them in a more useful fashion.  She let a certain amount of instinct take over, the tall Praetorian was in her element now.  Fighting for her life in desperate battle with even more desperate odds.  "Stay with me." she told Poppy as she continued to weave through the battlefield, "and watch for crossfire."

As she tried to compartmentalize, Elsbeth found herself moving more easily with her second steel skin.  The calibrations completely, her armour's servos were not working with the mecha's augmentation instead of fighting - allowing her control both exoskeletons far more easily and naturally.  And none to soon, since she and Poppy were in the thick of things.  She kept her legs pounding, twisting and continually moving to try and minimize her exposure to any given enemy, even though they were trying to surround her.  She knew that stopping was certain death.

When the HUD alarms flashed with target lock, her right fist clenched and the trigger on the massive plasma cannon started to spit its cavalcade of superheated ionized gas at the painted targets.  Elsbeth nodded grimly, as she opened up the aperture on collumator and spread the plasma wide to gain wider coverage on the battlefield.

Leoulin moved from the ship, almost ghostly among the rocks, to his position flanking an infantry group that was trying to gain position on his friendly mechs... He moved in with speed to put his blade into one of them, focusing on the fellows with the rockets first.

OOC:Leoulin rolled 4 using 1d6. fire damage.
Leoulin rolled 10 using 1d6+7. ignore 6 DR+ any piercing from nanites.
Leoulin rolled 19 using 1d20+10. not counting surprise where available.

19 hits?  10 weapon damage(ignoring 6 hardness/DR, 4 fire damage

Syxis blinked at the screen, battle data flashing all over the place.

"Hm, let me see if I can get the ship to fire the heavier missiles at the corvettes. They annoy me. Adjusting fire power and resuming missile attack against corvette number one.

Bleep, bleep, bleep, the robot's fingers dances across the terminal in order to fire the more heavy duty missiles the ship should have in store.

T'risa's eyes shut, tears streaming from the corners of her eyes. A mans life gone in an instant. Her voice was tremulous, but strong as she continued to speak. She'd seen it before in her visions, one of many deaths, she had to try to keep things going for the rest.

"Acknowledged, I'll try to keep the corvettes fire off us."

Her voice sounded determined, but T'risa's mind wandered trying to manipulate the outcome of the battle so that they'd win. As a result her own concentration lapsed a little.

14:24, Today: T'risa K'mahda rolled 12 using 1d20+5. point defence.

 She worked quietly and yet quickly as she could on the computer interface trying her best to get the systems operational. She blocked everything else out except that one task, knowing her friends lives may depend upon her ability to get the computers to work for them.

04:50, Today: Maran rolled 22 using 1d20+10.

  I'm fine...they're dead." Balkiir replied as he calmed instantly. the rage of anger becoming something cold, methodical, and equally as lethal. His weapon came up tracked and fired as if he were taking painful effort to put the round precisely where he wanted it on the next Mech to enter his engagement zone. save us a seat ol' buddy."


13:39, Today: Balkiir Kovul rolled 25 using 8d6.
13:39, Today: Balkiir Kovul rolled 18 using 1d20+6. called shot cockpit.

  The second round of fire was just as fast and brutal as the first. Elspeth's rocket salvo was off course but it still caught the lead mech in it's blast radius. Showing the mech with rock and tungsten ball bearings from it's warhead. Her plasma shot was a glancing hit but it seemed to get some of it's energy through the armor of the lead mech of her target group.
   Poppy snarled angrily as she fired, her shots driving home with a vengeance. her plasma shot struck a boulder and began to disrupt, but not before it slammed into the Targets systems panel and sent a shower of spark, debris and molten metal exploding in every direction. Her rockets did the rest, toppling the mech on it's face in a smoking heap.

The survivor on Elspeth opened fire his chain gun spitting high explosive rounds in a steady stream as he tracked her movements. A round slammed into Her Mech and detonated although the damage seemed light for such a jarring impact.


M'kira was in the clear nothing but open terrain around her allowing her to maneuver the mech easily to avoid incoming fire.On her wing Tiny maneuvered with the same speed and agility as the pilot tracking her moves with an unnatural ease. M'kiras rounds savaged the enemy mech it's pilot seeming to have his hands full just controlling the machine after two resounding impacts.
  The Q'sa mech labored to track M'kira's fast moving machine. It's chain gun chattering and a flurry of rockets headed her way. it's rounds tracking her as if they were on a string leading directly to her. the chain gun barely scratched her pain the heavy armor of the mech absorbing the explosive rounds without any damage.
  The armor piercing rocket however detonated almost in the center of M'kira's back as she maneuvered dealing heavy damage to several systems sending alerts flashing across her HUD as the mechs computer rerouted circuits and kicked in back up to keep her in the fight.
 On M'kira's wing Tiny opened fire as directed laying down rocket and plasma fire on the lead mech to take it out quick and dirty. Her rocket shots landed with AI precision, however jinking to avoid terrain her plasma blast went wide. the rocket However did it's job, the damage it delivered enough to stagger a two tone armored fighting machine.

  As the mechs slugged it out in full Leo made his grand entrance. Blades flashing and music blaring he was int he center of the missile team. the Q'sa troopers were caught flat footed and scrambled to draw a close in weapon or simply get out of the small man's deadly dance of blades.
  His target was wounded the light combat armor he wore useless against his Psionic enhanced weapons. But the trooper managed to stay on his feet and hit back. the squad converged on Leo, but the graceful form always seemed to be a few inches to the left, or melted like water in the hands of one Q'sa who tried vainly to grab him from behind. even though they were not destroyed that squad was now useless int he larger fight.
   On his own Balkiir drove with a deleberate intent, his well aimed shot punching though the pilots cockpit and delivering a good bit of damage tot he pilot directly. while not enough to put the pilot out of action it was enough to force him to think twice about his attack.
  The Q'a's return fire was accurate the chain gun connecting but glancing off harmlessly, the rocket engulfed Balkiir with a spectacular ball of dust, flame and smoke but when it cleared the machine and it's pilot had shrugged off the attack and were setting up for the next shot.

---

Overhead the battle was a strike and fade. the Dreadnought showed no signs of being affected by the enemy attacks, and the enemy corvettes raced over the horizon pouring on the power to get out of the Big ships heavy gun range before they were reduced to wreckage.
  Syxis sent a salvo of missiles after the fleeing ships, but in the heat of the moment he forgot to lock the missiles warheads onto the targets sensor signature causing the missiles to fly straight and true into the upper atmosphere where they exploded harmlessly.
  A salvo of missiles arced back over the horizon. the automated system warning T'risa and firing on it's own. After an untold number of years covered in sand and dust the point defense guns were at less than optimum the sleet of armor piercing darts intend for the missiles instead found open air as the system fired on a sensor ghost and allowed the missiles through.
  T'risa also saw the sensor ghost and locked on, at the last instant her hands shifted as if driven my some outside force and locked onto empty sky. her rounds found their target shredding the lead missiles into burning scrap.


   Under Melcor's control the gun drones shifted and swarmed around darting into an attack run on the ground troops. heavy guns meant to destroy vehicles chewed the desert floor into dust and rubble, having even more effect on the lightly armored heavy weapons team occupying that patch of real estate. even fanatics had a breaking point nearly decimated by the attack they scrambled for cover and fired off random shots at the Drone A stray rocket struck the drone damaging it but not doing enough harm to bring down the machine.
  The other drones on automatic control opened fire in response to the ground fire. their chain guns chewing the gunner and his squad to bloody pulp in response to their attempt to down one of the drones.



OOC

Elspeth:
chain Gun hit : 4 pts damage to mech through armor
rocket hit: 4pts damage to mech through armor

M'kira:
Rocket hit: 40 pts mech through armor..( rockets reduce DR/harness by 10pts)

New System available: heavy mass Guns (Say thank you to Maran)

Moving gracefully she seems to almost dance as she avoids the Chain gun fire. Like a ghost moving here and there her ability seeing what could be split seconds before it does. At least combat wise. Unfortunately she wasn't familiar with this mech. Feeling the shockwave as her mech shudders violently all around her. Bouncing inside her shock frame she grits her teeth for a moment. There is a snap, crackle and pop smelling ozone and a faint brief haze as gases/smoke briefly fades into the air filtration system. She knew that she had taken a nasty hit various systems going yellow, and others red.

When the missle hits the fireball briefly engulfs her mech from behind. Shards of metle and molten slag go flying as armor is torn apart and internal systems take damage. A pocked crator in the back of her meck has twister metla and molten glowing areas where it's superheated. Smoke and gases trail behind her from the twisted metal. Some of it from systems as they burn out in a chaotic frenzy of mini explosions that happen in milliseconds as they fry themselves due to the battle damage. However for the moment she was still mobile and ready to fight. Pushing on her eyes flick over the targeting system as she maneuvers for the next kill with her team.

"I'm hit. This mech's taken some nasty damage but I am unhurt and able to continue the battle. Continue to concentrate fire folks. Let's finish this quickly."   She wasn't about to leave the fight unless ordered to do so. Hopefully she wouldn't take another hit like that. They would drink and morn their fallen friend in due time. It was still time to put the enemies down responsible for this battle. She's careful to protect her back evading as best she can while concentrating her fire on the most dangerous target still up. With their numbers reduced what was left should go down that much faster.

T'risa's heart pounded as she could feel M'kira's pain. "Don't try to be tough M'Kira, if you're hurt badly, you should withdraw." T'risa wondered how long they could keep up the defences of the dreadnought. The situation appeared to be getting worse. T'risa's visions flashed forward to the future where the dreadnought was being taken apart piece by piece. Then the voice came. Heavy Mass drivers online T'risa's eyes opened wide. "Fire on the corvettes and transports immediately."

T'risa's looked around the bridge for Maran "Well done!" she said her eyes and smile beaming happiness at the budding telepath. Her eyes smiled as she was sure the odds had tipped slightly in their favour and then came the next wave of missiles.

"Point defence active."

Elsbeth slammed hard on the throttle as she and Poppy blasted past the enemy mechs and banked hard for another pass.  She pushed her trajectory information to her wingwoman for processing.  "Criss cross pattern Delta." the tall Praetorian noted with clipped tones into her comm.  That attack vector was intended to optimize coverage in coordination with both Balkiir - who had no wingman - and M'kira's group which should allow Elsbeth to help maintain coverage support for the gunnery sergeant's injured mech.

She figured that giving the 'maximum collateral damage' sub-objective to Poppy was rather redundant; especially all things considered: her actions, her previous orders and her wingwoman's own natural proclivities.  Elsbeth had no intention of attempting to cramp Poppy's style - all that would do is reduce their effectiveness.  Something that they could ill-afford at this time.

Her hand instinctively pulled to the left and then right suddenly, in order to maneuver evasively.  She continued to move at speed, trusting in her mecha's inertial compensators and gyroscopic gimbals to work with her to keep her relatively safe.  The pock marks from the chaingun flak were nothing to her, as long as she could continue to give more than she got.  If nothing, as a Praetorian, Elsbeth was a giver (at least in her own way)...

The explosive bolts securing the lid to her third, and last, pepperbox of rockets blow open as she readied the deadly payload.  Bringing her mecha around for another pass, she felt the servos buck and whine under the strain of the tight maneuver.  She pushed the speed into the red as her mecha moved into attack position.  She tried to time it just right; so, that there was some coordination with the other group to give mutual defense - the hope that they could be a quantity greater than the sum of their individual parts.  As the reticule from her HUD painted the prioritized targets, she squeezed the trigger, launching her rockets and plasma cannon in sequence - the blistering harbingers of Death moving out into the battlefield.

Her lips curled in a feral smile, Elsbeth nodded grimly, "Go forth, my children... Seek to convert the heathens."  She added to herself (though obviously it was present over her telepathic link as well), Convert them to their constituent molecules...

Syxis mumbled "Now that's good news..."

With the aid of the now online defense system Syxis remained concentrated on taking out the vessel pest. His previous attempt had failed. Now with some help of technology this effort should work.

" Moving to your right flank, bring them too me. I'll loose these guys on my six and ambush your tangos."Balkiir heard M'kira call out a hit and began to maneuver. The Big marine wasn't an artful Mech Jockey but he was simple tactical and effective he drew the two mechs pursuing him into a boulder field and began to maneuver to loose them in the clutter.
  Between the smoke dust and debris stirred up by the battle the Marine managed to loose his pursuers and then position himself to fire in support of M'kira and her wingman. the Now targetless Q'sa mechs began to search for their target unwilling to give up after only a few seconds of loosing sight.

  Mikira's fire was deadly accurate on her target. The heavy impact of her weapons sending up a ball of dust and fire, the mech rocking violently as it fought to keep control as it jetted across the ground in hot pursuit of M'kira. The armor piercing rockets made short work of the Mech's heavy plating jets of super heated copper from their shaped charge warheads punching deep into the enemy. The plasma gun wasn't the best weapon for use against heavy armor but it turned a fist sized patch of armor into vapor and seemed to have had enough punch left to deal some internal damage.
  On her wing Tiny opened fire, her plasma shot going wide, but her rockets finding their mark. The Q;sa reeled again his mech taking three powerful hits in the space of a few seconds. In it;s haste to avoid ending up as a pile of burning wreckage. It collided with a boulder and went tumbling. tossing up a cloud of dust and gravel as it executed a text book "newbie slide" into a pile of debris.


  As M'kira and tiny dealt with their remaining targets Elspeth made her move. Her guns finding their mark with precision that would bring tears to the eyes of her gunnery instructors. The Q'sa mech was hit hard, by the rockets another puff of oily black smoke and shards of metal marking several hits. The heavy machine protested and spun slightly leaving it in position for a Brutal onslaught of the trailing rockets.
  even before it took a plasma hit the machine pitched forward and slammed into the ground rolling across the terrain at full speed until it came to a stop. Smoke boiling out of it's cockpit and engine compartment from a deadly hit from the rockets.
   Meanwhile Leo was dancing with his new partners. who seemed to have skipped a class or two at Madam Buglizards dance academy armed with only combat knives and rifle butts they were no match for the Lethal Battledancer among them.

---

Overhead contrails began to form in the sky. twelve fiery trails in perfect formation as a Squadron of Valkiir Broadsword fighters dove headlong into the fight. Missiles, rail driver, and plasma rounds pockmarking the ground where the enemy infantry had taken up positions. a second swarm of missiles arcing over the horizon to where the O'maeda transports were hiding out from the brawl.

  " Hammerfall in thirty A male Valkiir voice sounded over the combat channels. The code word for a full out Valkiir Hearth Guard combat drop echoing with a hint of pure feral glee as the Male Marines of the Valkiir prepared to unleash pure hell n the enemy." You girls head home and grab a cocoa We'll handle this roach problem for ya." The male Drop leader teased as more fiery streaks began to appear over head.
      At the core of each spear of super heated air was a drop capsule carrying an Elite hearth Guard trooper. in full power armor and carrying the heaviest infantry weapons available. Few hostiles ever saw the face of a Valkiir Male in combat, fewer still survived, and those who did would never repeat the same mistake that brought them into conflict with the massive troopers again.

---

  Marshal K'mahda... Prepare to fire your main battery at following coordinates. A cool composed voice crackled across the comms on the bridge.A voice T'risa hadn't heard in years. Archduchess J'dai herself. an Imperial battlewitch who had yet to loose a battle. I will signal ten seconds before you are to fire.....by the way I am glad I was not wrong about you...well done lieutenant."

 

---

The slight interuption of focus was just enough for the missiles fired at the fleeing ships to miss there target. But the enemy ships were still turning for another attack run. unable to reply with anything but their light missiles which turned into fire and debris as the point defense guns burped in unision.

"You heard the Hearth guard. Pull out so they can have fun dealing with the few bugs we left for them to squash." T'risa could override her order though she thought unless the battle witch in her friend saw a good reason for them to stay she wouldn't. The fighters and the hearth guard would mop up here easily.

Unless ordered otherwise M'kira starts to pull back providing cover fire if needed for anyone in their group that still had enemy fire trying to kill them. "Of folks stay sharp we still need to keep the heat on as we pull back. Provide cover fire for anyone these bugs see fit to keep shooting at." Most likely she thought that would be Balkir if they didn't show a little common sense and try to bug out.

"Support the guard until they're landed and formed. Keep pressing the engagement until the guard have signalled they're ready, then withdraw to the ship." She looked over to Syxis "Prepare to fire main batteries at location I am putting into fire control. Fire on my mark"

T'risa plugged in the coordinates into the fire control system. Sending the data to Syxis station. At the appointed moment, only one word escaped her lips. "Mark"

"Roger that, Gunny.  Marshal." Elsbeth intoned in response to the dual set of orders.  She banked her mecha hard, trying to bring her plasma cannon to bear on the enemy.  The servos whined and her HUD display flashed some yellow and red alarms in response to her high-G maneuvers.  She felt like she was getting the hang of piloting this mecha.  And as such, the CMC Marine was starting to push the machine more and more.

"Poppy, you heard the Marshal." the armoured Praetorian prompted her wingwoman, "High-Speed Havoc™ until the cavalry arrives.  Lay down support and suppression fire."

Dutifully, Elsbeth started to lay down suppression fire.  She continued to move her mecha around as wildly as possible - confident that Poppy would be able to keep pace with her and attempting disrupt the enemy as much as she could to keep them from engaging the incoming Valkiir Hearth Guard corpsmen.  As her mecha's finger depressed the trigger of the plasma cannon, slaved in response her own finger's action, Elsbeth smiled and leaned hard to rotate her mechanical body and force the high-energy beam into a dispersed pattern to cover as much space as possible.  Her jump jets were activated simultaneously to help with evasion control.  She was less concerned with hitting a particular enemy target - though, the truth be told, Elsbeth was not above being opportunistic, if the circumstances presented themselves...

A single touch of Syxis' index finger onto the screen was enough to follow T'risa's order. Well...that and a confirmation consisting of a single word: "Fire"

M'kira provides the cover fire needed to ensure her peoples safety or as close to it as she could get. That and to make sure the Hearth guard had a easy landing. They would mop this up fairly quickly. The enemy had already lost a lot of it's fire power and now the situation would leave them badly outnumbered and outgunned.

If the bugs were smart they would surrender or flee the battle field. If neither was a option the Hearth guard intended to extend it would be their last day on this world or any other.

Leoulin took a few seconds out from actively hitting opponents to change his music with his free hand as he wove between and around opponents in a moment of eerie silence... then came a somber jazz like sound but it was difficult to place the instrument... it was an O'Meadan instrumentalist of some skill... actually Leo's brother... but it was a sad tune, frequently used at funerals.  Honest recordings of his brother were very high in demand.  The youth was so good that most were happy to get flawed copies of his work.  Society always had liked the younger brother more.

Leolin liked his little brother too.  It was respect for Rhic that he played this piece.  Most wouldn't know it, but Leo's brother or father played more than ninety percent of the music he listened to.  His regard for Rhic was paid testimony by playing a piece that was rare indeed.  He didn't need to say anything further, and anyone who thought he was backing out of the fight first was corrected harshly as he slammed his arm home in the gut of another of his power armored adversairies.

OOC: Leoulin rolled 18 using 2d6+9. damage.
Leoulin rolled 26 using 1d20+8. strike.
Ignores 6+ Dr

  The battle was won, With the Heavy forces landing to the rear, and the Dogged defenders in front of them showing no sign of Letting up the Q'sa Made a dash for the plains through the rapidly closing noose of Hearth Guard troopers.. Right into the guns of a heavy unit of Hearth Guard drop mechs.
   While M'kira, Elspeth and Poppy pursued the fleeing Enemy Balkiir broke off and streaked to the fallen Mech piloted By Rhic. The Big man bailing out and Hammering at the warped and punctured hatch of the mecha ignoring the heat and jagged edges of the gaping wound in the metal of the mech. His radio call of " man Down, Require assistance." Jarring to both Valkiir and O'maeda ears alike.
  While the Valkiir did not shelter their men, and their men fought as fiercely as any, and were perhaps more fearsome than their women, in most cases. The loss of a man when only one birth in seven resulted in a boy, was still a bitter pill to swallow.



   The Dreadnought rotated and elevated it's main guns, tracking a point may hundreds of miles overhead. The steady stream of tactical data did not do the full scope of the battle justice. Overhead hundreds of craft and dozens of heavy ships slugged it out in a "to the death" battle.
  The Image of the Massive Dreadnoughts Prometheus and Kronos trading fire with a squadron of Qsa cruisers and battleships was shocking. the sheer volume of fire being thrown out by the Titan Class Dreadnoughts was staggering. The sight of a Q'sa dreadnought breaking up and a second burning as it began a death roll, was enough to draw a cheer. The two Leviathans had dealt as much damage as the entire joint fleet combined.
  As the targeting cue settled on the coordinates directed by the battle with there was a slight moment of confusion the space was empty, devoid of any target larger than a fighter. Syxis reached to the firing control, his hand wrapping around the pistol grip controller and squeezing.
   Almost at the same instant the eruption of a hyperspace point filled the screen and the truly fearsome bulk of a Q'sa dreadnought filled the point targeted. There was no doubt there was a high probability of impact, but when the alien leviathan unleashed her full fury into the aft section of the Prometheus the elation of a successful shot was tempered by the realization it might have been a second too late.
    The triple lances of pure disruptive energy from the ancient Ship sliced into the exposed aft of the Alien warship. a moment later a massive secondary explosion ripped through the engines and spewed molten vapor and shredded armor in an expanding ball from the ships hull. A psychic scream of rage filled everyone's head, the mental assault was focused unerringly at T'risa.. the source of the attack and the commander of the badly damaged Q'sa flagship was without doubt. it was SHE, and SHE was angry at her moment of triumph her ship was mortally wounded by one of her own weapons.

At this moment, since obviously not enough was going on, T'Risa's badge began to chirp and it played a message from Aziza.
"Ms. T'Risa, I am being hope this message finds you not too injured or being infested with excessive and varied worms and diseases.  I am unfortunately being in difficult circumstances, the Strange Wonderful Black Bird with the Cunning to use Tools and a Love of Shiny Objects was being just attacked by a hostile formation I was being spot on recon drone.  They sent in pursuit which I am being shoot at, and then they were being surrendered.  I am not being trained to deal with surrendered enemies, or what rules are being at which point people start calling reasonable anti-parasite searches 'inhuman.'  Is there being pamplet I can read as quickly as possible to figure out next course of action?"