Georgius - The Reminiscence

-Lady Speranza- Kotanyi looked her in the eyes. -Please, sit down now, okay? The girl nodded. Please, she thought, let it be just wounds, even an arm and a leg... Or captivity... -It was, I think, twelve or thirteen hours ago. Our second to last target was S-491, a small planet with tropical climate when the Eternal Revolution allegedly set up a POW camp. We were, or should I say- still are, quite deep into their sphere of influence, though there is a path of only two jumps that leads to an unclaimed system and, if our charts are precise, through more desolate systems to the Kyeltse system, where we are currently heading. Speranza sat down and bit her lip nervously. Kotanyi's troubled expression was almost frightening now and the girl started to feel cold, though she was not sure why. -We didn't really expect much resistance. You know, can a prison defend against a carrier, even an escort one? So we all thought it would be an easy mission unless they threaten to execute the captives. We descended to the lowest orbit, registered several magnetic anomalies that limited our scanning capabilities to the optical reconaissance, and simply released the mechas. Fifteen, as no more were battle ready at the moment. In hindsight, I should've known better than thinking the Eternal Revolution could be unprepared to defend a prison camp... Speranza was shivering now. Kotanyi's voice was trembling and so was she. She didn't want to hear his next words, and yet she couldn't bring herself to stop him. -They had anti-air defencesstrong enough to stop us, shooting down three mechas and forcing the rest to retreat. The rest, but not him. Georgius broke through and engaged enemy mechas, because, believe it or not, they had six of them. Six! Protecting a prison, mind it! And yet he threw himself against them like a rabid wolf on a pack of dogs. You know, Speranza, that he was usually a cautious fighter? That time he reminded me of Bailiff, poor old man, but even Nicolaus was an elder with no regrets, not a furious madman. Georgius, he barely even decelerated before striking them, not even bothering to shoot first! Speranza felt her eyes becoming wet. She was no expert on fighting, in fact she barely even knew how to do it – she was a Vessel, after all – but normally, pilots lowered their speed before engaging the enemy for all the good reasons. Hitting enemy mecha on high speed meant a sure moment of uncontrollable spinning before regaining a straight flying path, thus making one extremely vulnerable. What was he even thinking? -It was horrifying, seeing him mad, desperate... and alone down there, yet sending anyone there was not an option, especially after they shot the torpedoes at "Paladin Adalbertus". And yet... It was somehow enchanting. It may very well have been the best fight of his life, or rather I'm sure it was, and by far. And I don't know how in all the heavens he did it, maybe the pilots were just prison wardens, maybe it's because he went right in the middle of them and they were afraid of shooting their own, but I swear he did took three of them with him. Kotanyi took a deep breath. -I'm sorry, Speranza. He was already beyond saving, I fear. When his mecha went down in flames, we cut the signal requesting him to go back. It's already a miracle that "Paladni Adalbertus" survived.