"AI, open the main cargo hatch." Reaching above his helmeted head, Isaac flicked switches with a practiced ease that made looking at what he was doing unnecessary. As one hand worked above, the other made itself busy strapping into the harness that would hopefully prevent him from bouncing about the cockpit like a pinball.<br/><br/>"Beginning pressure equali-"<br/><br/>"No time. Open the main cargo hatch."<br/><br/>"Ensign, the cargo container is currently outside of the enemy sensor range, it is unnecessary to risk losing equipment from explosive decompress-"<br/><br/>"Everything in here is bolted down, and the Elyandra is a sitting duck. Blow the goddamn hatch, that's an order!"<br/><br/>Safe inside of the cockpit of his machine, Isaac heard the sound of the air within the cargo pod rush out into the void, sounding like a tempest even through his helmet before it all went quiet. Arms and legs gliding into the control gauntlets and leg braces, the Halberd slowly sat up, the HUD screen before him flickering from screens of diagnostic data to a live feed of the outside. At the same time, the green visor flickered alight, as if the mech was opening its eyes. "Set Input Sensitivity Ratio to 3.5, and patch into friendly communications."  The free arm of the Halberd reached out and gently pushed the mech out of the cargo pod before gunning the throttle. Taking in the scene, Isaac's eyes quickly darted from the Children's ship to the Elyandra on his sensors... then to the signature of one the likes of which he had never seen.<br/><br/>"We in visual range?" Sweeping the HUD projecting the view of the outside, all he could make out at the moment was stars, despite all of the hits lighting up his radar.<br/><br/>"Negative... at this speed, visual contact will be made in one minute, seventeen seconds."<br/><br/>As the cockpit fell quiet, Isaac found himself replaying the countless simulator missions in his mind's eye. Maneuvers, tactics, strengths and weaknesses of enemy mechs, everything he had absorbed in the past few months of his training. He had been on patrols before, sentry duty and the like, but this unexpected development would be his first time in actual front line combat... And from the looks of it, against a far more superior force. Isaac could hardly tell of his heart beating in his throat was out of anxiety, or just plain excitement!<br/><br/>"Now within visual range, Ensign."<br/><br/>Squinting his eyes, the HUD followed his eyes and zoomed in on the ships he was now approaching at nearly top speed. There was the Elyandra, whom seemed like she had seen better days, and there was the Children, rapidly bearing down on her and... The unidentified ship. "What the hell is that?!"<br/><br/>"Scanning... Unknown. Ship does not meet any make or model in the UHF database. There is a large transfer of energy in progress between the unidentified craft and the Elyandra in place. The Elyandra is badly damaged. Energy from the unidentified craft appears to be bolstering the Elyandra's systems."<br/><br/>"Mark the unidentified craft and its assets as friendly. Let's not kill the good Samaritans."<br/><br/>"Affirmative. Units marked. Incoming hostiles." The AI pulling the HUD out of zoom and panning to a cluster of fast-approaching specks, arms and legs rapidly starting to sprout from their forms as they came into focus.<br/><br/>"Set the GAU-9's rate of fire to level 1 and activate the Sensor-Assisted Targeting System. Arm the AVMs. Countermeasures will be launched via mental cue."<br/><br/>"Affirmative."<br/><br/>Isaac waited impatiently as the cross-hairs traced across the HUD, the Halberd's sensors aiming the massive Gatling gun bolted to its right arm, the left hand gripping a handle fixed above the barrel assembly for stabilization. As an eternity seemed to pass for a lock to be established, Isaac veered hard to the right, evading the hail of rounds now sailing at him from the trio of Children's mechs closing on him. Dancing through the void, the cross-hairs on his HUD finally merged, lighting up in that lovely shade of green announcing a successful lock-on. A manic grin pulling at his lips, Isaac flexed his index finger. The Halberd copying his movements exactly, it pulled the trigger on the massive weapon in its clutches. The deafening roar of the Gatling cannon might have been lost in the vacuum, but there was no questioning the power of the weapon. The entire cockpit<span style="font-style: italic">shook</span>as burning white tracers belched from the weapon. Without any air or gravity to slow them down, the rounds the size of a small child's forearm would hit just as hard at any distance as they would if Isaac shoved the muzzle down the enemy's throat. This was demonstrated to lethal effect as the tungsten-tipped depleted uranium rounds slammed into the Children mech in the center of the formation. The first to the shoulder, the next to the hip, before the rest of the burst tore the cockpit asunder and struck the reactor.<br/><br/>Isaac had to resist the urge to continue firing into the dead hulk as it exploded, finding himself still unsatisfied with the how quickly the pilot's death must have been. As he watched the pieces of mangled plasma-sheathed metal pelt the remaining Children mechs breaking formation, it finally dawned on him that he had just taken a human life. He had killed, but the only feeling that seemed to come to mind was disappointment at how the pilot had not suffered enough to his liking. What was happening? What was wrong with him? The memory of the last moments of his family gave him the answer: Absolutely nothing. The Children of the Dying Son were NOT Human... They were animals, vermin, a plague to be purged... A plague he would personally cure Humanity of.<br/><br/>"AI... Make sure the Elyandra and its pilots know we're out here... Let's see if I can't become an Ace before formally introducing myself to the Captain..."<br/><br/>"Affirmative, Ensign."<br/><br/>With that, the Halberd surged forth into the void, chasing after one of the remaining Children mechs like a hawk diving upon a hare.