Arion looked up from the base statistics he was reading to see that he had almost reached the Rainer base, in Washington State. He took over the controls from autopilot and carefully guided his Zeus Gundam and chariot in to land.
Arion paused to look around at his destination. The view was breathtaking. The sun was peaking just over the mountains, striking the freshly-fallen
snow. The snow was pure white, totally unblemished and untouched. The sky was a deep cobalt blue, but the blue began to lighten where it met the sun. It was completely quiet, which was odd because of the variety of wildlife that lived in the area. Arion would have loved to just stay there and take in all the beauty around him, but he had a base to eliminate.
Looking at the surroundings from a fighter's perspective, it was a perfect place to hide a storage base. The mountains made it hard for any type of plane to get near the base without detection, if you didn't know exactly where it was. Plus, who would want to disturb all this natural beauty with man-made buildings?
The military apparently did. They had placed a base with one of the most advanced missile systems in the world in the Rainer mountain range. The base housed mostly mobile suit weaponry, plus several powerful bombs. Arion let out a sigh, releasing all the battle tension that had gotten pent up inside on the way up here. This would be one of his toughest fights ever. The Zeus Gundam design wasn't based on speed or long range combat, but close range combat and raw power.
His chariot only had two 240 mm cannons, so shooting missiles down was out of the question and he could only dodge so many. On the upside, there were few suits let to guard the Rainer base, only about 15 Privates, 10 Calvary, and 5 Enforcers. Arion preformed a final systems check and took off for the Rainer base.
****
"General Soldorin, something's flying right toward us," yelled a soldier at one of the control consoles. "It appears to be a mobile suit, but it has a design unlike any other suit I've seen."
A man in his mid-30's with black hair strode over. "What do you mean, a design unlike any other?"
"Well, it has a basic integral suit design, but it looks like it's inside some kind of chariot."
"Chariot?" Soldorin looked at the pull-up. "Hmm, you're right. Put the base on standby and shoot off some missiles at that suit."
****
Arion watched calmly as ten missiles rose, aimed directly at the center of the chariot. "Now it's time to party! Look out, 'cause here I come!"
He maneuvered a little to the left and shot off his cannons at the missiles. The bullets impacted five missiles, destroying them with a loud
'foom,' breaking the stillness of the morning. "Five down, five to go." He flew behind a large rock outcropping. Two of the missiles lost their course and impacted the outcropping, shattering it. Arion flew into the forest of huge pine trees, trying to use them as cover to shake the missiles. It soon proved
to be a fruitless attempt. "Hmm, maybe if I slow up long enough for them to be caught in the afterburn ..." He slowed down to allow them to almost impact him, then hit the turbo boost.
The last missiles blew up in the flames. "Perfect. Now for the base." He adjusted his course and flew for the base.
****
"Sir, the unknown mobile suit destroyed our missiles. What do we do know?"
"We wait for it to come closer."
"Wait for it? Why?"
"We can hit it with our beam cannons and use our mobile suits. I doubt it can destroy them both."
"Why not use the missile system? That would seem wiser."
"Because I plan to use that as a little surprise for our intruder."
****
Arion readied his chariot for landing when the cannon barrage began. He tried to dodge them, but got hit in the chest several times. "30% damage. Not a lot,
but I'd better be much more careful." He managed to land the chariot and Arion, in Zeus, jumped out.
He removed his Zeus Caliber from its ornate sheath and took the Thunder Hammer in his left hand. "Where are all the missiles I heard about? They must be using them as a last resort." A little beep came from the radar. 35 suits were approaching from behind him, 15 Privates, 10 Calvary and 5 Enforcers. "Looks like they decided to dance with me."
The Privates took out their 140 mm rifles and began firing at the Zeus. Arion fired off the verniers and flew toward the oncoming suits, prepared
to go in for close combat. Two of the Privates got in a shot a Zeus's head, damaging it's sensors.
"Goddamn suits." Arion threw the Thunder Hammer at the two Privates and hit the automatic return button. It impacted the unlucky suits, blowing them to smithereens. A powerful magnet in the hammer's handle drew it back to
Zeus's hand. Arion swung the Zeus Caliber in a wide arc, slicing through five suits. Several Calvary shot off their beam cannons. One caught the Zeus on the
left shoulder, lowering his maneuverability. Arion threw the Thunder Hammer at an offending Enforcer. Caught totally off guard, the Enforcer exploded, shattering sparks everywhere. Some of the sparks hit a nearby gas tank, causing it explode and setting off a chain reaction. All the other tanks nearby exploded and the entire area went up in flames. Some of the enemy suits that had been using the tanks as cover from rifle shots found that their cover had just become their worst enemy. Arion took a quick radar scan that showed only 12 suits were left in the fight. Arion stabbed the Zeus Caliber into the chest of the nearest suit and slashed downward.
He then slammed the hammer sideways into the side of another suit, smashing it. Two Enforcers ganged up on the Zeus, firing their gattlings at the same time.
The fire impacted Zeus's verniers, destroying one of them. "Shit. There go some of my verniers. Looks like it's time to finish this." Arion threw his Thunder Hammer at one of the offending Enfocers while flying toward the other with his Zeus Caliber drawn. The Enforcer drew his heat saber and parried Zeus's blow, then struck out with a blow of its own. Arion whirled the Zeus around to dodge the blow and struck for the Enforcer's center. The Enforcer quickly brought up his saber to block.
Sparks flew as gundanium met titanium and the two suits clashed to get an upper hold. Arion grabbed the Thunder Hammer as it retuned to his hand and smashed it into the Enforcer's side. The Enforcer exploded on contact. Arion turned around and looked to see only ten suits were left. "Like shooting fish in a barrel."
The enemy suits that were left began a rifle barrage of shots. Arion dodged around the shots and swung the Zeus Caliber in a wide circle all around him, slicing through 8 of them. The two remaining suits began to retreat to a nearby warehouse. "Oh, no you don't. I'm not finished with you." Arion threw the Thunder Hammer at the retreating suits.
It hit one of then in the chest and slammed the one behind it. Both exploded into the warehouse wall, hitting the missiles stored inside. The missiles exploded, incinerating the warehouse.
***
The commnet was filled with obscenities, cries for help, and various orders. General Soldorin sighed. "We underestimated our enemy and that has cost us. All the suits are destroyed and the beam cannons are useless against ground targets."
"Do you want me to activate the missile system?"
"Yes." The soldier hit the activation button. Nothing happened. He pounded it again. Still nothing. "What the hell is wrong?" he yelled in frustration.
"The damn system must be blown. Can we fire them manually?"
"Not without a 10-minute delay, Sir."
"Do it."
Suddenly, the face of the Zeus Gundam appeared on all the vidscreens.
"Sir, the unknown suit is hailing us. Should I accept?"
"Accept."
The commscreen showed only static, but a voice broke clear. "You have 5 minutes to say your prayers. After then, the fire will consume the entire base. Adios."
The transmission ended, leaving the soldiers in panic. General Soldorin whispered, "So this is how it ends." Then the base exploded in a ball of flame.
Arion paused to look around at his destination. The view was breathtaking. The sun was peaking just over the mountains, striking the freshly-fallen
snow. The snow was pure white, totally unblemished and untouched. The sky was a deep cobalt blue, but the blue began to lighten where it met the sun. It was completely quiet, which was odd because of the variety of wildlife that lived in the area. Arion would have loved to just stay there and take in all the beauty around him, but he had a base to eliminate.
Looking at the surroundings from a fighter's perspective, it was a perfect place to hide a storage base. The mountains made it hard for any type of plane to get near the base without detection, if you didn't know exactly where it was. Plus, who would want to disturb all this natural beauty with man-made buildings?
The military apparently did. They had placed a base with one of the most advanced missile systems in the world in the Rainer mountain range. The base housed mostly mobile suit weaponry, plus several powerful bombs. Arion let out a sigh, releasing all the battle tension that had gotten pent up inside on the way up here. This would be one of his toughest fights ever. The Zeus Gundam design wasn't based on speed or long range combat, but close range combat and raw power.
His chariot only had two 240 mm cannons, so shooting missiles down was out of the question and he could only dodge so many. On the upside, there were few suits let to guard the Rainer base, only about 15 Privates, 10 Calvary, and 5 Enforcers. Arion preformed a final systems check and took off for the Rainer base.
****
"General Soldorin, something's flying right toward us," yelled a soldier at one of the control consoles. "It appears to be a mobile suit, but it has a design unlike any other suit I've seen."
A man in his mid-30's with black hair strode over. "What do you mean, a design unlike any other?"
"Well, it has a basic integral suit design, but it looks like it's inside some kind of chariot."
"Chariot?" Soldorin looked at the pull-up. "Hmm, you're right. Put the base on standby and shoot off some missiles at that suit."
****
Arion watched calmly as ten missiles rose, aimed directly at the center of the chariot. "Now it's time to party! Look out, 'cause here I come!"
He maneuvered a little to the left and shot off his cannons at the missiles. The bullets impacted five missiles, destroying them with a loud
'foom,' breaking the stillness of the morning. "Five down, five to go." He flew behind a large rock outcropping. Two of the missiles lost their course and impacted the outcropping, shattering it. Arion flew into the forest of huge pine trees, trying to use them as cover to shake the missiles. It soon proved
to be a fruitless attempt. "Hmm, maybe if I slow up long enough for them to be caught in the afterburn ..." He slowed down to allow them to almost impact him, then hit the turbo boost.
The last missiles blew up in the flames. "Perfect. Now for the base." He adjusted his course and flew for the base.
****
"Sir, the unknown mobile suit destroyed our missiles. What do we do know?"
"We wait for it to come closer."
"Wait for it? Why?"
"We can hit it with our beam cannons and use our mobile suits. I doubt it can destroy them both."
"Why not use the missile system? That would seem wiser."
"Because I plan to use that as a little surprise for our intruder."
****
Arion readied his chariot for landing when the cannon barrage began. He tried to dodge them, but got hit in the chest several times. "30% damage. Not a lot,
but I'd better be much more careful." He managed to land the chariot and Arion, in Zeus, jumped out.
He removed his Zeus Caliber from its ornate sheath and took the Thunder Hammer in his left hand. "Where are all the missiles I heard about? They must be using them as a last resort." A little beep came from the radar. 35 suits were approaching from behind him, 15 Privates, 10 Calvary and 5 Enforcers. "Looks like they decided to dance with me."
The Privates took out their 140 mm rifles and began firing at the Zeus. Arion fired off the verniers and flew toward the oncoming suits, prepared
to go in for close combat. Two of the Privates got in a shot a Zeus's head, damaging it's sensors.
"Goddamn suits." Arion threw the Thunder Hammer at the two Privates and hit the automatic return button. It impacted the unlucky suits, blowing them to smithereens. A powerful magnet in the hammer's handle drew it back to
Zeus's hand. Arion swung the Zeus Caliber in a wide arc, slicing through five suits. Several Calvary shot off their beam cannons. One caught the Zeus on the
left shoulder, lowering his maneuverability. Arion threw the Thunder Hammer at an offending Enforcer. Caught totally off guard, the Enforcer exploded, shattering sparks everywhere. Some of the sparks hit a nearby gas tank, causing it explode and setting off a chain reaction. All the other tanks nearby exploded and the entire area went up in flames. Some of the enemy suits that had been using the tanks as cover from rifle shots found that their cover had just become their worst enemy. Arion took a quick radar scan that showed only 12 suits were left in the fight. Arion stabbed the Zeus Caliber into the chest of the nearest suit and slashed downward.
He then slammed the hammer sideways into the side of another suit, smashing it. Two Enforcers ganged up on the Zeus, firing their gattlings at the same time.
The fire impacted Zeus's verniers, destroying one of them. "Shit. There go some of my verniers. Looks like it's time to finish this." Arion threw his Thunder Hammer at one of the offending Enfocers while flying toward the other with his Zeus Caliber drawn. The Enforcer drew his heat saber and parried Zeus's blow, then struck out with a blow of its own. Arion whirled the Zeus around to dodge the blow and struck for the Enforcer's center. The Enforcer quickly brought up his saber to block.
Sparks flew as gundanium met titanium and the two suits clashed to get an upper hold. Arion grabbed the Thunder Hammer as it retuned to his hand and smashed it into the Enforcer's side. The Enforcer exploded on contact. Arion turned around and looked to see only ten suits were left. "Like shooting fish in a barrel."
The enemy suits that were left began a rifle barrage of shots. Arion dodged around the shots and swung the Zeus Caliber in a wide circle all around him, slicing through 8 of them. The two remaining suits began to retreat to a nearby warehouse. "Oh, no you don't. I'm not finished with you." Arion threw the Thunder Hammer at the retreating suits.
It hit one of then in the chest and slammed the one behind it. Both exploded into the warehouse wall, hitting the missiles stored inside. The missiles exploded, incinerating the warehouse.
***
The commnet was filled with obscenities, cries for help, and various orders. General Soldorin sighed. "We underestimated our enemy and that has cost us. All the suits are destroyed and the beam cannons are useless against ground targets."
"Do you want me to activate the missile system?"
"Yes." The soldier hit the activation button. Nothing happened. He pounded it again. Still nothing. "What the hell is wrong?" he yelled in frustration.
"The damn system must be blown. Can we fire them manually?"
"Not without a 10-minute delay, Sir."
"Do it."
Suddenly, the face of the Zeus Gundam appeared on all the vidscreens.
"Sir, the unknown suit is hailing us. Should I accept?"
"Accept."
The commscreen showed only static, but a voice broke clear. "You have 5 minutes to say your prayers. After then, the fire will consume the entire base. Adios."
The transmission ended, leaving the soldiers in panic. General Soldorin whispered, "So this is how it ends." Then the base exploded in a ball of flame.