Muv-Luv Combat
White Noise

Glubina Mountains, Yuktobania, November 18

Osean Captain Kei Nagase, also known as Edge or Wardog Two had to consider herself lucky— not many Eishi live thru having their TSF shot down by Heavy Laser class. Or perhaps otherwise, she thought, that it would've been better had she died. At least dying in the light of a laser-class's beam is painless, or so she had heard. However, she knew that being eaten by a Soldier or Tank-class would be an excruciatingly painful way to die, and given her circumstances, death was a real possibility for her. Not many Eishi survive losing their TSF to laser fire, and even less survive being grounded in BETA territory. She knew her chances were slim at best— sure, her 9mm pistol could kill a Soldier-class, and if she could remain steady and actually hit the target, a warrior-class, but if a Tank-class found her, she was dead.

"I'm ok… I can keep going," she said, wiping the snow off her face. She walked up to the top of a small hill, keeping her eyes open for the tell-tale signs of BETA. If she got anywhere near that large herd that had been plaguing Yuktobania, she was done for, yet, her only hope of survival was to be spotted by human forces, which meant staying in areas where she could be spotted by a TSF… and she knew her friends, her squadmates, the Osean 108th Tactical Armored Squadron, Wardog, wouldn't just leave her behind.

"Protect Blaze..?" She said to herself, recalling her promise that she made— she'd never lose another flight lead- after losing Captain Jack Bartlett- his 'F-4/Type-82 Kai Zuikaku' crashing into the ocean near their home base, Sand Island. It was that very promise, that called her to action- that put her into the scenario she found herself in. She, had, without thinking, acted to shield Wardog's number 1, 'Blaze' from the attack, using her Takemikazuchi-F to move his TSF out of harm's way, but in turn was shot down herself, the night before. However, due to the intense snowstorm, any attempt at a rescue was rendered impossible that night. "I'm the one being protected…"

She looked around, and confirmed her worst fears- a large group of BETA had moved into the mountains- she could see Fort-class looming in the distance and a fairly sizable group of Grappler-class near them. She couldn't tell if there were any Tank-class, but it was a safe assumption- she instinctively started to back away from them, but caught a glimpse of fighting going on before she did— missiles lit the opposite hillside ablaze. At least the threat of the laser-class seemed to be absent, which was good for anyone coming to look for her. She breathed heavily, "I'll be alright… I know Blaze will come for me, I just know it…"

She knew the hilltop where she was far too risky— the BETA were only a few kilometers from her position there— and the missiles that had struck, while they could've been fired by a TSF, likely were long-range, so while she knew people were looking for her— or at least she hoped, knowing full well, that by standard Osean policy, she may be left behind- and the area sanitized. She instinctively started to run away from that mountain, away from the BETA, breathing heavily as she did.

"Just a little bit more! thought the dove. Just a little bit more and I will see the princess! Our happy days are about to begin again!" She, for whatever reason recalled some of the words of her favorite childhood story, the "Blue Dove for the Princess", or the Story of the Orion Poplar— which is more well known for the tale of the demon Razgriz, an old Belkan fairy tale of a dove who sought to save the life of a fair princess. It was somewhat ironic that she'd recall that story now- both the dove and his princess die— and here she was, a damsel in distress, waiting, hoping, for her knight in shining armor to ride up and save her. The thought though, still brought a fleeting smile to her face.

She kept running— like the dove in the fairy tale, she'd keep going as long as it took. She wouldn't try to hide- that'd mean her end the moment her Type-0 fortified suit's power ran out and her distress beacon went silent. Yet, she knew if she didn't elude the BETA with every bit of her ability, she'd die. However, her determination was soon shattered- as the all-encompassing sense of fear took hold. The most notable thing, besides the lumbering, grey creature in front of her, was the sickening sent of sulfur. She hadn't found her knight— but rather a demon far worse than the Razgriz: at least Razgriz returns, a great hero. No, not more than a few meters in front of her were BETA- a Soldier class was right there, and she could tell from the smell, while she couldn't see them, there were Tank-class nearby.

The Soldier-class BETA slowly began to turn around and started moving towards her, and she started backing up, praying that she didn't back into another Soldier-class, or worse. "Blaze… if you can hear me…" She said, knowing her fortified suit's transmitter was still working. She drew her pistol and pointed it at the head of the Soldier-class… unlike the Grappler, and Tank-class, the 'heads' of the Soldier, Warrior and Laser-class BETA were relatively weak, and should be shot directly- it'd kill the BETA. Of course if a person with only a handgun was that close to a laser-class, they were dead, as the BETA do tend to surround and protect the laser-class— but even a 9mm to the eye of a small laser-class would be fatal to it, she quickly recalled a portion of her training, not like knowing how to kill a laser would help her— she knew she had to elude the tanks, and kill the Soldier. If she didn't do both, she was going to be little more than BETA food… sure she'd get a two-rank promotion, but she wouldn't be going home.

She took in a deep breath- and squeezed the trigger, twice, bracing herself against the recoil and putting a pair of hollow-point rounds into the forehead of the Soldier-class BETA, which slumped over, thankfully for her, dead. Her eyes trained on the area behind the dead Soldier-class, and to her horror, she spotted the Tank-class that she had noticed earlier… and there was, predictably, more than one. There was no way for her to run— tank-class BETA can easily reach speeds of 80 kilometers per hour, much faster than any human.

She closed her eyes, "Well, I'm sorry, Blaze… I won't be able to…" she said, when suddenly a loud series of gunshots rang in her ears, and the few Tank-class BETA that were moving on her position exploded. She looked up, and hovering along the tree-line was a gray-white TSF. It had glowing blue sensor-arrays, and in its hands, two XAMWS-24 close-range Assault Cannons. It was none other than an OADF F-23 Black Widow II Hive-infiltration fighter, an advanced, third generation TSF, co-developed with the F-22A Raptor, however, despite its performance- out performing the Raptor in nearly all areas, was only adopted by a select few nations, thanks to its immense cost- Osea being one of them. She knew, that there would only be one squadron that would possibly have fielded F-23s to rescue her, and it would be one pilot… "Blaze!" she called out, upon seeing the F-23 land in front of her position.

"Nagase." The Eishi responded. "We've come to get you out of here.. Just hold on… there's a nice group of Tank-class BETA headed this way… Chopper, Grimm, cover Edge. These tanks are mine."

"Good job, kid!" Another voice called out, Kei recognizing it immediately, as Alvin H. Davenport, otherwise known as 'Chopper'. She smiled, looking around, and seeing the distinct blue glow of the multiple F-23's sensors, and then she looked back at Blaze's TSF, flipping forward its four mount pylons, each armed with an additional XAMWS-24. The cannons opened fire, and the wall of red that lie in front of the TSF, and her exploded in flames— the F-23's Assault Cannon system had eight 120mm shells each, and with four mount pylons, it could, when configured for gun-sweeping, mount up to six of these specialized weapons, meaning it could forward an immense amount of firepower, and by use of 120mm Canister shells, even amassed tank-class were little threat to the forward firepower of the F-23.

She looked on as Blaze unleashed hell into the BETA, knowing she was going to be alright…


Author's Note: ...There. Did it. (Ok, I -may- do more of these one-shots.) By the way, I think it's a terrible move by the BETA to even think about landing on Strangereal, if the superweapons (Excalibur and Arkbird!) aren't ruining their day, the fact that the XB-70 Valkyrie (read that as "XG-70 Hi-MAERF"), and the F-23 aren't cancelled things is... still amazing fanfic bait though. Also, the Razgriz, while "officially" F-14D (F-14Ex, Muv-Luv style) pilots tend to use whatever the hell they want to.