How To Hunt DRAGONs

[RagnaMail]

06:50 AM, local time
Para-Mail Runway 16N
Arzenal

Emmaraldi walked up to the open-air runway control center, clad in her 'flight suit'. The brunette was still self-conscious as all get-out about the distinct and blatant lack of material the so-called garment boasted as protection from the elements at a Mail's operating speeds. Even as she came up to the three others dressed like her she couldn't help but feel embarrassingly exposed. The short top and miniskirt of the standard prisoner outfit she could understand: it made it faster for the Overseers to search them by giving less places to hide things. This was simply beyond the pale.

It was clear she was uncomfortable in the outfit as the three other pilots turned and gave her an appraising look as one. She could feel her cheeks reddening a bit under the attention though she noted out of the corner of her eye that everyone else was pretty much ignoring them. The oldest of them seemed to straighten up even more than she had been, her arms crossed under the ample bosom she sported. The suit she wore was the exact same style Emmaraldi and the other two wore though hers was a lime green with matching visor.


"Ah, our new squadmate. I take it you found us without too much trouble?" Despite herself Emmaraldi found herself relaxing just the tiniest bit. This woman had the tone of a veteran in her field. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. She nodded and the woman nodded back. "Good. For future reference, I prefer to be on-runway about a half-hour before sortie time. Be punctual."

The other woman was simply watching Emmaraldi with a half-lidded gaze as she took a long pull off of an unbranded cigarette, held it for about twenty seconds, and released the smoke-filled breath up and out into the air of the runway with a contented sigh. Emmaraldi couldn't help but note that this woman with her white-and-green-tipped hair had two cybernetic arms. She knew the look would be seen, but it was an almost instinctual reaction. Her khaki gaze lifted to the woman's face as she saw the right hand casually wave the cigarette in acknowledgment.


"Be careful of the beasts, da? They like the taste of human flesh... Right, Klara?"

"Ease off her, Raisa," the other woman said with a tilt of the head towards her. Raisa smiled obliquely and took another drag of her cancer stick. The erstwhile princess gave the last of the three others a solid look, and he met her gaze politely. The two gave a nod to each other and once more Emmaraldi felt her eyes drift downwards to look at the last person.. And down.. And down.. Her head shot up and to the side as her eyes found somewhere else to be; the blush now clearly visible. All three of them laughed a little at her reaction; a throaty chuckle out of Raisa, an amused snort out of Klara, and a bellowing guffaw out of the young man.


"Oh, it's been a while since i got that kind of reaction from a woman! Glad to know I've still got it!"

"She's probably just not seen the suit on a guy before, Carlos. Don't get your thong in a twist," Raisa said before waving dismissively at the young man who stuck his tongue out playfully at her.

"Alright, you two. Enough teasing her. You should introduce yourself before we get going," Klara said as she butted in to reassert control. Emmaraldi nodded as she lowered her head back to a normal level; making utterly certain not to look down around Carlos again as she did so.

"My name is Emma Ro. As you've guessed, I'm new... Please don't be too harsh on me yet?" The three nodded, and Klara picked up a clipboard with a printed map with various symbols on it that Emmaraldi already knew about from her training to be a pilot. It was a printout from a predictive algorithm about where DRAGONs would be likely to appear at. As the briefing went by, the situation seemed like it'd be a standard patrol with perhaps some action. Her stomach did a little backflip as that thought sunk in.

---

"..So, it's time." The long-haired woman sat at her desk in a multi-story administration building and looked at a rotating feed of camera monitors from across the whole of the island prison-colony of Arzenal. Her domain. Her demesne. An immaculate French-tip enameled nail clicked a button and the rotating feed focused on one camera. The view was one of Runway 16N and more importantly the retreating forms of a quartet of Para-Mails going out on their patrol. It was almost certain they'd run into a DRAGON incursion where she'd arranged for them to go. They had enough fuel for a reasonable combat sortie.

Risa Halligan took a sip of the strong black coffee in her ceramic mug, the front of it covered in painted little cat pawprints and the phrase "Good Meow-rning" scrawled upon it. It was a wonderful mug, really. As the beverage warmed her throat and belly, she leaned back in her high-backed chair and thought. Surely her little discarded princess had what it took. She was running out of ideas on how to awaken Arzenal's Argent Devil, she had to bitterly admit. She had seen the specifications for the machine that had been 'randomly' assigned to the poor brunette, the true specifications of that machine. She had paid dearly to learn the secrets of that machine, and was irked to no end when she found out what the activation requirement potentially was.

"Good hunting and good luck, Emmaraldi Ro Britannia," she muttered over her cup before taking a deep sip in the otherwise empty office. "You'll need all the help you can get..."

 

[Lukas]

7:05am, Arzenal Time
Singularity Point - South China Sea

An echoing roar shatters the sky, gathering steam as it is joined by others. Before long the sound more resembles a melody than an animals cry - a siren's call for those unfortunate enough to be nearby. Drawing them in with a somewhat subtle suggestion as the schooners dropped to water level. Radar signatures would show them beginning to move shortly after, the largest blip heading directly for the Indonesian coast while the smaller DRAGONs escorted. Splitting off intermittently, but never straying too far from their seeming leader.

The first sign of danger was a drifting fishing boat- its mast splintered and broken. What was left of the deck covered in bloodstains, the rest ruined by claw marks or missing entirely. No crew. Some of their catch was still flopping on the deck, barely alive fish gasping for air or feebly trying to flop their way off into the ocean.

A grim moment passed before the roar sounded again, this time beckoning the Para-mails. The sound grew louder even as it died off - a clear sign they were approaching. Three of the smaller DRAGONs would become visible within seconds, leaving ocean wakes behind them as their claws skimmed the surface. Was this their own version of a patrol? A response to the Para-Mail's incursions? Questions for their superiors, or something for the pilots to ponder once the moment had passed. But for now..

It was time to hunt.

===
Total forces:

Schooner-Class * 8

Brig Class * 1

Casualties: 8

 

[RagnaMail]

Emmaraldi was sitting up on the seat of the Villkiss letting the wind howl through her hair. She'd been told that this was an intoxicating feeling; just feeling the biting cold wind of the Mail's speed glide over her mostly-exposed flesh and shivering with a mixture of the bracing cold and a sensation of freedom. She knew that pilots of all stripes spoke of the simple joy of moving through the wild blue sky but she had dismissed it until now as mere hyperbole. This... This was where she belonged.

"Head on a swivel, Emma," Klara's voice echoed in her headpiece's speakers. She glanced over to the left and slightly up to see the squad leader looking down at her for a moment before she followed her own advice. Emmaraldi's gaze moved around in response as the formation moved towards the suspected coordinates. She swept the half-clouded sky around them then leaned a little over the side of her seat to scan the water below. DRAGONs were sneaky bastards by all accounts. She was about to sit down when she spotted the broken boat drifting aimlessly across the open ocean.

"Miss Klara, there's a ship down there. Ten o'clock low... Looks wrecked." Klara's gaze shifted over to it and a grim note overtook her tone as she spoke.

"Damn. Eyes peeled; we just came across a snack plate." She didn't make a move or issue orders to swoop down and investigate, so Emmaraldi took that and the grim tone to mean that she would be best served by putting it out of her mind. A few moments later the radar beeped on Villkiss' main panel as the display shifted to show a flicker of contacts intermittently dancing across her screen.

"These little shits think they're slick trying to dive for the weeds to throw us off. That'll be the Schooners, Emma," Raisa spoke up as she adjusted her position in the formation without being told to. Carlos had been largely quiet since they'd launched and was hanging back and above the three women. It made sense to Emmaraldi given his loadout for him to go for high ground. "The little ones never come out without at least one of the big ones to rally around. They'll be hard to miss with all the glowy bits, da?"

"Clear comms. Squad, shift formation. Emma, you're at point. Carlos you grab some sky and watch that cloud bank at two-thirty. It's big enough to hide the large ones. Raisa you and me on flanks left and right." Emma revved her thrusters a little bit to slide under the bellies of the rest of the squad and reach the front of their flight path. She was a bit lower than they were now; gaze scanning the ocean's surface before she spotted the pink blobs skimming the waves. The roars were still a bit distant but clearly far more than they currently saw. There was a faint reverb to the sensation of the challenging call but it might have been her imagination running while right on the cusp of joining battle.

The range was a little far. She gave the thrusters a tad more juice before leveling her acceleration out to roughly match her squadmates just behind her. Now she was in a better distance. "Permission to fire?"

"..Granted. Aim just forward of the base of the neck; it'll give you the best chance of a body shot," Klara said before Emma nodded to herself. Villkiss tilted a little into a very shallow dive for a second as the underslung gun spat a five-shot burst at the middle Schooner where she'd been advised to aim for. Once the round were away, the cold realization skittered up her spine. This was it, then. It was do or die, now.

 

[Lukas]

Do or die.

The signature rattle of Vilkiss's machine gun was enough to elicit a reaction, the side Schooners both splitting off in their respective direction. While the centre DRAGON flew...

Directly up.

Crimson jets streamed out from every shell that hit home, the bullets ripping through the Schooner-class like paper. One burst was all it took for the DRAGON to plunge into the water, the corpse rising to the surface after a second or two if Emmaraldi cared to watch. But while her first kill might have been a confidence booster it wasn't the only monster on the field.

Its two compatriots had wheeled around in the sky and were now rushing her down, jaws outstretched as they charged in for the kill. Up close they were almost the size of her Para-mail, with a bite large enough to snatch her up and still have room for seconds. With how fast they were moving she might have been able to kill one before it could touch her, but two? Less than a minute into her first sortie and Emmaraldi was already being faced with life-or-death situations. This was the life of a Paramail pilot.

And if she chose poorly, it'd be the death of her as well.

 

[RagnaMail]

As she saw the middle Schooner fall Emmaraldi glanced left, right, left, and right again as she tried judging the distance of the flanking DRAGONs. She took a breath of the air raging past her and gunned the engines again. Villkiss lurched underneath the fallen princess as she clawed for speed. The Cherenkov-blue of her ride's wings grew in intensity as she wheeled with the help of thrust vectoring and puffs of tiny maneuvering jets along the dingy sliver-white frame to align on the one coming from her right.

Turning to face the jaws of Death she rushed at gave Emmaraldi a new perspective: the depths of a DRAGON's gullet. She felt a shudder go through her arms as she maintained a deathgrip on the controls. She waited as long as she dared before firing another five-round burst, breaking hard right, and screaming for altitude to try and pass well up, over, and to the side of her charging opponent. With any luck the rapidly shrinking distance wouldn't give this second one time to dodge as she had momentarily played Chicken with it. In her rearview cameras she could see the other Schooner closing in rapidly as it saw her back; having probably sped up at the hopes of a distracted meal.

That one was met with a tight hail of fire as Klara and Carlos wordlessly gave Emmaraldi covering fire for her rear. Klara's weapon aimed for the bodyshots like she'd advised the new pilot to do a minute ago while Carlos had taken his time to try and line up a sniping heart-shot. Both were clearly professionals at this as they closed into their own comfortable distances while the DRAGONs were distracted by their new frontliner.

"No way it's only this many," Raisa said as she kept her heavy weapons up and scanning the nearby cloudbanks for new contacts. These had been the only three immediately visible enemies but they all knew that the scaly beasts travelled in packs; nay, small hordes would be a better comparison.

"Heads on swivel, people," Klara called loudly in response as she spared part of her peripheral vision to her Para-Mail's sensor bank display. "These guys never come alone!"

 

[Lukas]

Closer, closer, closer...

Once they were practically face-to-face the DRAGON roared one final time - a suggestion of sorts weaved into the cry. Any normal human would have locked up at that precise second, control of their body failing them at the one moment where it mattered most. But instead the magical attack simply dissipated on impact, leaving a shocked lock in the eyes of the beast. It only lasted a second before Emmaraldi's second burst utterly pulped its head and reduced the body into a spray of red mist.

Killing one did nothing to stop the other, claws outstretched as it tried to grasp the back of the Vilkiss! Only to be interrupted by a hail of fire from her allies. It had gotten close enough to spray the back of the machine with still-warm blood before joining the other bodies in the ocean.

Silence reigned, but only for a moment.

What little hope they might have had of this being the end was finished off by a shadow forming over the sea. The rest of the pack had finally come into view, the sun at their back as the smaller Schooners swarmed around a single large DRAGON. Red light began to dance over its shadow, the silouhette peppered with glowing holes that heralded the attack to come.

Hundreds of glowing projectiles were launched off the Dragon's body as it spread its wings, sweeping down towards the pilots like a massive shotgun blast. But instead of spreading out further as they fell the shots gathered into three distinct swarms - each changing direction in midair to chase down one of the Para-Mails.

Instead of charging in alongside this attack the Schooners were staying put, flocking around the Brig-Class and hiding behind it. The beast seemed to be comfortable in its current position, attemping to force the Arzenal fighters into a confrontation on its terms. While its focus was currently apparently held on controlling the attack, the bioluminescence that had dimmed when it was launched already starting to glow once more.

 

[RagnaMail]

Raisa was the first to spot them as the two Schooners met their violent end and Emmaraldi soared clear of the charge she'd had with her second kill. Her Para-Mail tilted into the movement of breaking away from the others to try and get an angle on the approaching Brig and it's escorts. "BRIG! Eleven high! Incoming!" Her shout was instantly heeded by Klara and Carlos. They split their positions apart enough to give each other room to dodge and Carlos transformed his Para-Mail to Destroyer Mode. The jetbike flipped the top and bottom sections of it's thrusters over and under the seat part; locking the machine into a humanoid configuration. It's sniper rifle raised and Carlos sent a single shot towards the Brig's head in hopes of scoring a lucky hit.

Klara took her chance and also transformed her machine to increase her maneuverability as opposed to raw speed. Brig energy shots were notorious for their tracking ability, though they weren't the hottest on turning radius. Her gun came up and she began pumping shots into the balls of light to try and give them something that wasn't a Mail to ram into and detonate harmlessly. They were closing in awfully fast, though. "Everyone keep moving! The shots are fast but bad at turning, so stay agile!"

Everyone was turning and moving at the call; not trying to stay still for the attack to land. For her part Emmaraldi had completed her turn and was heading back to and up above the other three, and was leaning Villkiss into another turn to bring her nose back into alignment with the cluster of DRAGONs that were closing in. Her lips clutched even more shut than they had been before as she saw a solid third of the glowing oblong orbs heading right for her. Her conversation with the Overseer back in the hangar was echoing in her ears as she held her speed and waited for the approaching attack to get in range. Klara's reminder had simply helped her remember the briefing she'd received on the types of DRAGON that had been encountered before.

A Brig was the smallest of the heavy units, but it made up for the fact by firing homing energy globules that had rather poor turning but strong straight-line speed. Emmaraldi pulled higher in the sky again knowing that she was in a machine that as far as she knew didn't have the raw output to outrun a Brig's shots by itself. She'd have to go for a dive once they got close and hope she could splash them in the ocean or make the group after her collide with one of the other groups chasing the others. As the frontliner it was her duty to run interference and by God she wasn't going to mess that up if she could help it!

 

[Lukas]

What little guidance the shots had was still rather dumb - dozens of the projectiles detonating prematurely as they homed in on the incoming bullets. It was enough to stop the group approaching her if she kept her full focus on it, but every shot fired into the mass of glowing spheres was one not aimed at the swarm dragons. Once the squad of Paramails started to split up they charged as one, diving down towards the Arzenal group with a chorus of roars.

From Emmaraldi's perspective they were all heading directly for her Para-Mail! Whether or not this was actually true was irrelevant, but climbing was only drawing her closer to the pack. At this distance the swarm was just a sea of wings and teeth, growing rapidly and without a doubt baying for her blood. And behind them was the Brig, charging up another round of projectiles. Everything was starting to spiral out of control, and if they were going to regain the intiiative they neeed some sort of-

Interruption.

A single bullet, slamming into the skull of the Brig and knocking it sideways. It wasn't enough to kill the beast, but the spray of blood made it clear Carlos had hit something. The bioluminescence that heralded its magic abruptly faded out as the gigantic DRAGON turned towards him, seven eyes glowing now where there were once eight. Its body began to dip, the shadow the beast cast over the sea growing larger as it descended with wings spread. There was a new hatred simmering in its eyes, anger enough to risk engaging the para-mails without its escort. It wanted revenge. And it wasn't just the Brig itself charging him down - every one of the balls of energy not aimed at Emmeraldi had changed course, converging on Carlos's para-mail with killing intent.

 

[RagnaMail]

"Shit," Emmaraldi heard Carlos mutter over comms as he saw the orbs shift direction as the Brig descended towards the fray. If she'd spared the glance backwards towards him she'd see him immediately turn to the side, shift back to flight mode, and take off in a totally different direction. Klara moved to follow him as she called out to the other two women.

"I'll help Carlos, you two focus down those Schooners! Watch the Brig!" Klara fired another burst of ammunition to try and thin out the swarm of shots headed for their sniper while Carlos did some aerial maneuvers that were clearly practiced to buy her time to try and intercept the attack. This was a clearly-practiced maneuver as the two didn't even have to speak as they dodged and wove trying to shake off the attack.

Raisa turned her Para-Mail towards the flight of DRAGONs closing on Emmaraldi and began moving into range herself. Once she'd gotten close enough the shoulder cannons on her Para-Mail barked almost as one. The incendiary shells were aimed for the heart of the formation and the firebug woman felt she had a good chance to hit at least two since they were distracted with chasing Emmaraldi. She was also keeping an eye on the Brig as she was being largely unharassed so far in the engagement and could spare the instant it took to scout the battlefield. If it came into her range she'd probably pump a shot from her handheld cannon at it, but she was loathe to spend the shell if she couldn't get a reasonable shot.

Emmaraldi - for her part - had clearly garnered the attention of the majority of the DRAGONs in the skies here. The fallen princess heard the roar of Raisa's cannons and added her own fire towards the swarm of teeth in a ten-round spraying burst before she took the path of diving again for the ocean. The homing shots were approaching rapidly and she still needed to dodge those, so she needed more speed. As she moved for a rapid dive she would probably come tantalizingly close to the Schooners; close enough anyways that they'd be distracted from further attacks by Raisa in an attempt to try and catch her though she was careful about the spacing.

Her heart was racing, nay it was thundering in her chest. The rushing wind and bloodlust-drenched roars of the enemy were deafening her so that all she could hear was that thunderous rush. Khaki eyes flitted around the skies feverishly as she struggled to take in everything all at once; knowing that a single missed thing would kill her. This was a war. No quarter was offered or accepted by either side. Death was the only result of this clash of lives, and somehow she was strangely calm despite the terror and adrenaline that were flowing through her faster than her own blood. She'd been in this place before. She'd been born into this place before.

A flash in her mind drew her back for a split-instant to a distant throne room. A child in chains for a crime she didn't commit judged by her own blood who had already dismissed her life as nothing of consequence. Those eyes of the Emperor's were like a demon on high; in her mind's hallucinations she swore she saw a flicker of Death in them before they changed to a glowing slit and a random shriek from a Schooner she was passing well under brought her to her senses. Yes. Emmaraldi had been here before. She refused to die here. She'd faced Death once before, and she would repeat the feat of escaping the Reaper's clutches once more!

 

[Lukas]

Emmaraldi's first burst was rewarded with a bloody mist, but it did relatively little to stop the swarm of claws and teeth. Relative to the shell that hit home seconds later, at least. Those ever-present roars were overpowered by animalistc screeches of pain and fury as the pack was engulfed in flame! Several of the dragons were killed outright, flaming corpses plunging into the sea below - but four of the Schooners lived. Burned but not yet completely dead, the fire only driving them madder.

Claws, bullets, teeth - death repeatedly missed her by inches, and one of the Schooners was unfortunate enough to stray into the homing shots that were still on target. Three remained, and while any one could kill her it was clear the opposite was also true.

Carlos's maneuvering was more than the homing bullets could handle. For now he was somehow gaining distance on the magical assault - giving Klara plenty of time to blow them out of the sky. All this did was forestall the inevitable however. Seven glowing eyes still tracked his Para-mail, each tinged with a primal sort of fury as the Brig bore down on him. Nothing seemed to distract it, the blast from Raisa's cannon drawing blood but barely even drawing a flinch.

It wanted his head, and was going in for the kill heedless of the consequences. And perhaps in doing so it had opened itself up a killing strike in return?

 

[RagnaMail]

As Klara finished off the rounds after Carlos, the commander and sniper turned back towards the fray and formed up on each other for a few moments until Carlos got into his preferred range and shifted back into the humanoid mode. As he brought his rifle to bear on the battlefield before him he grunted in surprise.

"Huh. New girl's doing better than our last replacement. If nothing else she's got baiting the Schooners down pat."

"Skies around you are clear," Klara responded in a more professional tone knowing full well Raisa and Emmaraldi could hear the comm line just as well as she could. "I'm heading back in to support. Don't get too distracted back here!" Carlos grunted amusedly at her before leveling his rifle at one of the three remaining Schooners chasing Emmaraldi and letting fly with a supersonic crack of a round aimed for the heart of the beast though from this angle it was more likely to hit the shoulder of one of its wings and pinion it. Klara gunned her thrusters and raced towards the remaining fray at an impressive clip. She was too far away at the moment to make her own weapons be effective since her own gun had a bit of a spray to it despite her best efforts.

Raisa was unbeknownst to the others grinning from ear to ear as she'd seen her shells hit home. The beautiful flaring fwoosh of her beloved flames made her a little giddy to the point she almost began laughing. You could take the arsonist out of the wild, but you couldn't crush her passion for her blistering work so easily! She lined up a shot from her handheld cannon at a second of the three remaining Schooners and simply aimed for center-mass; being careful to appropriately lead her target to maximize chances of hitting. A slight shudder in the frame of her Hauser-configuration Para-Mail told her the shoulder cannons had cycled their next shells into place and her grin grew just a fraction of an inch wider still.

As she'd felt more than heard or saw the detonations of the pack that chased her Emmaraldi pulled sharply out of her dive and fought merciless gravity for altitude again. She opted for a simple vertical climb instead of anything fancy; Villkiss basically standing on it's thruster blooms as it clawed for height once more. She risked a glance at her rearview camera-mirrors and was rewarded with the sight of the few remaining Schooners being lined up on by her squadmates. There were still a couple of magic bullets but the sharp vertical climb would probably take them out of the equation for long enough for her to focus on the big prize.

The fallen princess' gaze locked to the Brig. That was the true problem here. She was doing all this maneuvering because of that scaly purple bastard and it's homing magic bullets more than the smaller ones she'd been dancing with up to this point. Villkiss' path leveled out slightly as while she was clearly going for altitude she was also moving to flank or even get behind the Brig. Even a creature as adept at aerial combat as a DRAGON had to obey the laws of both physics and it's own anatomy. She was faster in the turn and the shiftable configuration of her propulsion gave her more pinpoint control than the massive leathery wings would.

Her right hand's middle finger seemed to have a warm pulse at the thought of the DRAGON. She instinctively flicked her gaze towards the sensation to note the strange but beautiful ring that had been included in her flight uniform given to her by Visorface.



It had been an odd addition, but she'd simply taken it as a gesture of wishing her good luck and so had worn it into battle. As she turned towards the offending Brig fully, she was settling onto it's right flank and approaching rapidly. The beast would doubtlessly be able to see her coming if it spared a glance from Carlos. She wanted it distracted. She wanted it to focus on her. She asked Villkiss for strength to bolster her own will and she swore in the marrow of her spine could swear the frame felt like it was trying to respond.

It would take a set time to actually close the distance to engage the Brig properly but now she was making the DRAGON choose: pursue the pilot that stole it's eye and offer the flank, or wheel to the new threat and leave itself open to further punishment from afar. There was some half-mad half-giddy part of her that was hoping it would turn.

 

[Lukas]

The trio of surviving Schooners seemed focus on Emmaraldi even to their own detriment, heedless of the shot that struck one of them fron the sky. Raisa's second incendiary struck one of the others, with the third vanishing inside the cloud of fire. It was no longer pursuing the Vilkiss, charging out of the fireball with Raisa in its sights! The still-flaming DRAGON let out a frenzied cry as it barelled down on the Hauser, a lifespan measured in seconds still enough to pose a mortal threat ot the pilot.

All of Emmaraldi's altitude changes had well and truly thrown the bullets off. Those few projectiles that remained were slowing, still trying to catch up as the magic that sustained them started to fade away. No attack could last forever and she'd managed to outlast this one alongside the Schooners. It was an impressive first showing for the first half of the battlem but the Brig still remained. The real prize of the battle, especially if they could freeze it safely.


But even without the Schooners one Brig was enough to kill the squad. They couldn't slack, not with victory within sight! Three eyes still tracked the Vilkiss, but while the Brig was aware of the new target it seemed to dismiss her. Ignoring her as she approached, waiting for the Para-mail to get closer.. closer.. the beating of its wings seemed to slow, muscles across the beast tensing up...

And with a single powerful beat, it rolled in midair - flinging itself sideways to try to crush the Vilkiss with its sheer bulk. While the DRAGON was still focused on Carlos, it wasn't stupid enough to ignore another fly buzzing up on its flank.

 

[RagnaMail]

Emmaraldi approached the Brig at speed having leveled off and lining up a strafing run. She was aiming to be as close as she dared before firing to give her rifle rounds the maximum chance of penetrating the much tougher hide of the DRAGON. A solid thought to be sure. However there was a problem with her plan. The Brig clearly had other ideas.

As the wall of iron-hard flesh twisted in the air towards her Emmaraldi instinctively twisted her controls into a barrel roll as she tried maneuvering the Villkiss beneath and past the rotating bulk. Upside down now, the Para-Mail came into momentary contact with the beast's hide as they just barely avoided the deadlier version of the collision. The whole frame shook the fallen princess to the marrow as a horrible screech of grinding metal, ablating scales, and a godless shower of sparks flew towards the ocean and into the air in the path of the barely-surviving Villkiss. She didn't even have time to scream before the moment passed and she was on the other side of the Brig.

Her blood was probably pure adrenaline at this point. Khaki eyes shifted her gaze instinctually to the displays fashioned into rearview mirrors to see the tiny screens filled with the Brig's rotating belly to show it was still mid-roll. This wasn't a thinking movement anymore as she slammed the pedals at her feet and with a squealing hiss of maneuvering jets wheeled herself back into an upright position; now facing the Brig as it completed its attack. Her hands twisted the control sticks as Villkiss fought momentum and seemed to hang in one point in the air for a few precious seconds. Her machine twisted it's form as she recovered her momentum and began to go forward.

As the Villkiss closed around her to the Assault configuration the throb in her right arm finally hit her attention. Glancing at the sensation as the machine finished it's transformation she could see a fleck of the Brig's scales had somehow managed to embed itself in the back of her hand and start her bleeding on herself. A disgusted twitch of her mouth came and went as she risked the momentary action of freeing her right hand from the controls and flicked hard at the wrist. The shard popped out and banged a bloody edge against the green-stoned ring on her finger. The warm pulse came through her middle finger again; nearly vibrating her hand before she turned her gaze back to the Brig and gripped the controls again.

One problem at a time. She'd probably just hit a nerve. That was fixable. This DRAGON had to die, though. At this range and speed the Brig had passed her by a second or three ago, but a howling burst of thrusters drove the now-humanoid machine forward towards the back of it's prey. The rifle was switched out for the unadorned, gleaming sword blade as she came in like a comet on the Brig's rear left side. With a wholly unneeded warcry, Emmaraldi sought to bring the blade crashing down through the rear of the left haunch; if not severing a big chunk of flesh at least striking deep and trying to hit a major artery. The tail was watched but hopefully with this angle of approach the beast wouldn't have time to react.

Raisa - for her part - sniffed dismissively at the Schooner charging her as she tilted her thrust backwards and kept pace with the mortally-wounded creature before attempting to fire another handheld cannon shot down the thing's roaring throat. She should have no trouble evading the beast even as she pushed for a little altitude of her own just in case.

Carlos had been lining up a shot on the Brig's face again when he saw the bulk try to slam into Emmaraldi. "Emma," the helpless cry rang out as he and the advancing Klara watched the dingy white machine come out from behind a shower of sparks and ground-off scale. What caught their attention though, was the fact that the Villkiss was still airborne. It looked to them like the dingy frame was shedding it's grime as they watched their squadmate actually rush forward with the blade now drawn; the dusky and dirty coloration giving way fleck by fleck to a far more pristine silver-white as previously dull coloration was accentuated by gleaming golden trim. The visor-camera flashed a vicious carmine as they lost full sight behind the Brig's beating wings as the Villkiss roared in for it's slash.

"What the fuck?! How is she still alive after that hit," Carlos cried out and Klara was forced to silently agree as she absentmindedly sent a short burst of machinegun fire towards the Schooner chasing Raisa as extra insurance.

 

[Lukas]

At first the Brig seemed satisfied by the impact. Its eyes glanced down for a few seconds, scanning the surface of the ocean for what it assumed would be the wreckage of its unfortunate target. Instead it saw nothing. Uncreognisable confusion flicked across its face. The pest had survived? How?

It looked up seconds too late, catching site of the Vilkiss just as the blade cut into flesh. Its tail swung around out of instinct but came by too slow to hit. Leaving enough time for Emmaraldi to obtain her poudn of flesh. There was enough force behind the strike to cleave right through the brig, severing a large chunk of its haunch and giving her a rather gory sight. Blood flowed freely from the wound, putting the beast on a timer.

How long could it last? The only creature on the battlefield that truly knew was the Brig, and it wasn't telling. Instead it rolled over again with a roar of pain, wings flapping to enforce some sort of stability as it began gathering what mana it could. This time the luminescence was muted, pulsing rapidly as the DRAGON called on what remained of its strength. It might not live, but it was going to take as many gnats with it as it could.

Raisa was in a much better position, the lone Schooner narrowly dodging the cannon shell only to be cut down in a hail of machinegun fire. With its demise the sky was clear of smaller DRAGONs! They'd be granted an uninterrupted view of the Vilkiss's changes and the Brig bearing down on her. It seemed to have momentarily forgotten about Carlos, but that assumption would soon be proven false. Many eyes grant an unmatched field of view, and some of the Brig's were still flicking in his direction regularly.

 

[RagnaMail]

As the shudder of the blade's impact shivered through the frame of Villkiss, Emmaraldi's eyes were wide and taking in everything about the wounded DRAGON. She was ready for this bastard to try that rolling trick again, and her forward momentum combined with the rigidity of the otherwise unsevered fesh let the Mail actually stride three steps across the back as the Brig leaned into the turn once more. Now springing into the air to fully rely on the thrusters as the beast spun a little away from her the other three pilots could now see the machine's silver-white-and-gold coloration; not a speck of grime and only a smattering of her prey's blood to mar the paintjob now.

"Holy shit! Girl's got moves," Carlos shouted in admiration even as he lined up another shot from his sniper rifle towards the Brig's head once more. Getting into range as the last Schooner fell to ruin, Raisa charged forward roughly alongside Klara to get into their optimal ranges.

"Fight's not over, Carlos! Let'em have it," Klara roared as her machinegun loosed a proper hail of bullets towards the Brig's chest as Raisa's two shoulder cannons and another round from the handheld one all followed the bright stream of Klara's gun. The detonation would be massive if they all landed, but Emmaraldi would be sheltered by the sheer bulk of the DRAGON's mass.

Emmaraldi saw the rising glow of the neon elements of the Brig. She knew what it meant, and she wasn't going to allow that! Like a streak of silver in the unobstructed sun Arzenal's Argent Devil came screaming in on wings of Cherenkov-blue flame as the blade came forward to lead the charge. She'd be coming in slightly from the Brig's mid-flank right and up; the blade now slick with blood flying away in the rushing wind aimed to ram itself with a two-handed grip right along the spine at about where the rib cage would end going into the abdomen.

 

[Lukas]

Bullets and shells hammered the DRAGON from every angle, the bullets doing little as the beast twisted.. but Raisa's detonations were significantly more successful, knocking the beast off balance as it tried to counter Emmaraldi's movement. Carlos's snipe was enough to pierce its skin, buying time for the final blow...

Emmaraldi's strike cut deep into the Brig, tearing through flesh and scraping against the bone. High-pressure jets of blood spurted out from around the cut, coating the blade in a deep red as one final screech shook the skies. Was it finally over..?

It seemed to freeze in midair, blood streaming out from the dozens of wounds pockmarking its body. The 'Devil's final blow had caused enough of a shock to finally finish the beast off, whatever magic being used to hold it up swiftly fading as well. With gravity taking its due the beast soon smashed into the water, massive waves capsizing the boat that had drawn the Arzenal pilots to this location in the first place. The corpse floated to the surface soon after, turning the sea around it a peculiar shade of red.

No more DRAGONs would grace this battlefield. Before long all that was left was a distant ringing in the Pilot's ears and the gentle sound of the waves. Likely interrupted by whatever celebrations they cared to perform.

 

[RagnaMail]

As the Brig fell, Villkiss let gravity and the beast's bulk pull the blade free even as it remained in it's two-handed grip. As Emmaraldi watched the corpse surface the silver-white Para-Mail hovered on thrusters as the other three came up to Emmaraldi's position in their own Assault Modes. They minded their spacing as they clustered within a region meant to be covering for the silent young woman. A few extra moments passed as the three elder members of the squad swept the surrounding airspace to ensure they were truly alone. After a few more moments Raisa piped up on the communications line.

"Ahh... Emma? You still with us?"

Her reply was a raspy panting as the fallen princess both reveled in the glow of victory and was clearly coming down off her adrenaline surge. The other machines pivoted their heads towards each other knowingly; cheeky grins on their faces though obscured at the moment. It took a couple of seconds but Emma managed to clear her throat and finally decided to give a proper answer.

"I.. That was good, right? I did good, right?" Carlos laughed out loud at that, and the two women chuckled as well. It was a wonderful sound to Emmaraldi's ears. It was a clearly approving one. Klara spoke up next.

"You did perfect, Emma. That was a little reckless in the middle there but you've got good instincts for this work. Now go fly down there and freeze the body so the cleanup crew can deal with it." Unseen, Emmaraldi nodded at the order and Villkiss' thrusters finally dimmed their glow enough to lower the machine into range. Villkiss' left hand came into position and a green-teal blast of energy surrounded a projectile that came out of the left arm to drive into the gaping wound her sword had left in the Brig's carcass. Almost as soon as the round penetrated an air-rending screeching grind pierced the air as the Brig's flesh yielded in several places to what seemed like a glacier in it's torso. The Freeze Bullet did it's work and within moments the corpse was encapsulated in a small iceberg; gently floating and ready to be hauled away.

"That'll keep it on ice until the cleaners get here," Klara continued as she watched the freezing take place. A few button presses on her controls sent the proper signal to the designated frequency before she spoke up again. "So I'd say so far so good. We should head back now while we've got fuel. Form up, squad." The four Mails shifted into their flight configuration and they formed up to head back towards Arzenal. She didn't voice it but Emmaraldi was once more enjoying the sensation of the chill wind rushing over her skin. It felt like a fire was inside of her now; a spark enkindled from that feeling originating at the ring. Once they were on their way home to the prison island Klara finally broached the subject. "Emma I gotta ask. What the fuck is with that Para-Mail?"

"What? I'm not damaged anywhere am I?" A momentary panic set in as Emmaraldi leaned this way and that to try and survey the source of the question. It was at this point that she noticed the now-pristine coloration of the machine she controlled. She sat back down on the seat and pondered before speaking further. "Huh. Guess that scrape bumped off the grime? Didn't realize I'd hit the Brig that hard."

"...Seriously? Emma, you practically soloed the Brig! It usually takes a whole squad to fight one, and you basically just flew up and shanked it! Are you sure you're not a pilot before this," Carlos said as he waved his left hand for emphasis as they cruised back to base.

"Positive. This is my first combat sortie, Carlos."

"Fuck. If this is a sign of things to come we're gonna be getting some fat paydays in the future! That kill was super clean; you usually gotta blast the things half to dust to get them to drop!" Emmaraldi smiled at the cheer in the man's voice. This was clearly the right choice for her. Things were looking good so far.

---

Once back at the runway they'd departed from, Emmaraldi got off of Villkiss and laid flat on the warm tarmac; splayed out in the sunlight and soaking in the delicious warmth of the sun-heated poured stone. Raisa looked at her with an amused smirk even as an Overseer trotted up to the quartet.

"Good work, prisoners. Your accounts will be credited for the kills as usual. Prisoner Emma Ro," the man's voice rang out as the others looked at the man looking down at the splayed-out Emmaraldi. "The High Overseer wants to speak with you. Alone. Get dressed and report to her office ASAP."

As the man walked away with his message delivered Raisa lit up a cigarette and took a long drag before voicing what the others all thought with a release of nicotine-laced smoke. "Well that's ominous as shit..."