XXXXX
From the Laurasia-class warship, the members of Creuset's team boarded their respective machines, each finalising their launch procedures. A young white haired pilot by the name of Yzak Joule busily looked over his new machine, quite content with its weapon armaments, he entered into his unit, strapping himself into his cockpit and activated his machine.
Once the blue and white unit was running, he exited the berthing bay and lined his machine up in parallel with the tan mobile suit, Buster which was exiting its berth as well, as it did so; he received a communication from his friend/comrade.
"Hey Yzak, are you seriously taking that thing out?" Dearka asked him with a chuckle.
"Might as well use it, it'd be a good idea to see how well this oversized stick is." Yzak said as he had the Duel heft the shoulder mounted linear launcher cannon.
The gleaming black and white launcher sat in place, thrumming with power and strength. This neat piece of hardware was most certainly a hardy piece of firepower which he wanted to test for himself. He had decided that he would not hesitate to take his time shooting down the Strike, not after what happened with Miguel and the others who had been killed by the Strike. He also knew that the stakes involved in pursuing the Archangel was high, and letting them escape would only bring them further shame as an elite force.
He had thought back to his mother's insistence on him joining ZAFT's redcoats, he had been adamant about his goals in life, and he saw himself as something of a true coordinator. Yzak swore to himself he would see this war through, for his mother and his comrades in arms, he believed in the cause he fought for.
His attention was drawn to Dearka was busy humming to some tune whilst he waited in behind him. As the Blitz headed out, the launch bay was re-pressurised, as it opened up; he headed into the launching bay.
"All systems nominal, catapult power functioning. You have control." The operator informed him.
"Yzak Joule, Duel, launching!" He announced as he gunned the accelerator.
The Duel was catapulted from the ship, blazing a trail behind the Blitz. Behind it the Buster was loaded into the catapult, and Dearka pursued his comrades, all of them armed and ready for their foray against the Alliance Warship. Yzak anticipated a swift and brutal victory.
XXXXX
Back on the Archangel…
Ray had managed to situate the Eventide at an axis above the ship as he did so; he spotted the Moebius Zero zipping off around the ship, leaving a short trail of light from its exhaust as it burned a trail into the debris field. Mu made last minute exchange of words to encourage Kira; this was in order to keep Kira's hopes up and focused on the mission. Meanwhile Ray was busy killing some time, making a few scant manoeuvres around the perimeter of the ship.
The Eventide zipped through the open void at high speed, making sharp angled turns and quick course adjustments; it managed to get around the ship with relative ease. Strike had launched not long after the Eventide and took up position to the fore of the Archangel; Kira was doing his utmost to adapt to his environment.
Kira saw Ray and attempted to track Ray's movements, the speed of which Ray was pulling off his turns was amazing and almost mesmerising, the way Ray managed to do all of this on his own was a certain surprise as he never imagined many pilots being able to handle such forces, besides coordinators of course. Kira's focus was broken as he received a sudden message.
"Hey there kid, I'm assuming you've made a decision?" Ray asked with a certain edge in his time.
Kira recalled the way Ray had lectured him on his responsibility, it took him a moment but he replied. "I understand what's happening and I have to do what I can, if I want to keep my friends alive. I don't like wanting to fight like this, but I understand." The young man said with a sense of determination.
"Good, because you're going to be thrown into hell soon enough." Ray said with a grin and a tense tone.
Kira looked a little uncomfortable at this notion, but Ray then gave him words of encouragement.
"Don't worry; I'll be here if you need the assist." He said as he then asked. "I'm assuming Mu went over our little battle plan?"
"Ah yes." The teen replied in response.
Ray decided to remind him. "Mu will be going out in the Moebius Zero. He'll be swinging ahead from the flank and attack the ship ahead of the Archangel, this will open up a hole for the Archangel to push through and allow us to make a run for Artemis. Until then you and I will be defending the ship."
"I'll be providing intermediate defence, and that means I'll be keeping off attackers from the immediate area of the Archangel's defences, you'll be aiming to keep any hostile that tries to go for the ship. But keep this in mind, you have to keep yourself alive, do not go too far out, or the Archangel won't be able to provide sufficient support. If you get into trouble, it might take too long for me or Mu to come in and help you."
Kira nodded. "I understand."
"In any case, good hunting and good luck, and remember, know your limits and don't push yourself more than you can handle or you'll find yourself at a serious disadvantage." He told Kira.
Ray closed the line before he sent the Eventide towards the rear of the Archangel, leaving a trail of fading light behind him, his Eventide was skirting along the sensory range of the ship, and he knew that this was going to be an interesting first encounter, as he'd need to gauge their abilities. He knew the Gundams were different here and they possessed a great deal of power, though revamp altered this somewhat.
Beam weapons weren't actually capable of straight out obliterating mobile suits, unless they landed a direct impact on the reactor, but in other circumstances, they just melted apart machines. This reminded Ray that he'd need to keep in mind about the Lancer beam rifle, as it was pretty damn powerful, he didn't want to accidentally kill one of the background characters without thinking.
In this battle Ray knew that he couldn't reveal the true capabilities of his machine just yet, if he did, he'd lose the advantage quickly, as Rau would prioritise him as a threat above all else. There was also the fact that the PLANTs supreme council will begin to look into his machine as a viable threat, they might dispatch a lot more to deal with the Archangel if that happened, that was not something he wanted to be responsible for.
He was sure that he could go toe to toe with the Gundams; the designs were all standard base designs, though if this is the revamp series, then he might have some difficulty. He knew that the updates included the Blitz being outfitted with an assault pack which could drain mobile suits of power and also the beam deflection emitters.
However that upgrade didn't come until later, it didn't seem like he'd run into any of such trouble right now, he'd have to be vigilant in the tactics which the Creuset team would employ, from the revamp there were a few tweaks in the characters, he knew that the team which was on approach from the after was going to consist of Yzak, Dearka, and Nicol.
Yzak he knew from all source material was a hot headed idiot who threw himself into the battle without a second thought, this leaves him openly vulnerable when getting countered, and of course he learns quickly so he isn't stupid enough to fall for a common tactic in battle. Yzak's unit should have a beam rifle and shield and swords, nothing fancy like the assault shroud until later.
Dearka was a laid back jerk who kept priding himself on being a skilled shooter, he was an arrogant pompous dick at times and he was abrasive, coupled with his tenacity in battle, he was as almost as stubborn as Yzak, but knows the weaknesses his suit possesses, he isn't looking for a quick death either, so he'll withdraw when he sees no other choice.
And finally there was the ever so critically thinking Nicol, the green haired kid was a rather tempered thinker, he's probably the only tactician in the entire team besides Rau and he's no idiot, he knows when and where to pick a fight. Of course if you can keep pressure on him, then it'll be next to impossible for him to counter easily, that said, he's smart enough to know when to back out of a fight and when to exploit an opening.
Ray stopped the Eventide roughly on the edge along the sensory range of the Archangel, patiently waiting for the trio of pilots to come in and attack, thankfully he didn't need to wait particularly long.
XXXXX
The ship's crew waited with bated breaths as their next engagement began, their newest operators were newbies but they were better than not having anyone manning the stations at all. Murue couldn't have wondered that they'd be forced to using civilians run the ship's advanced weapon systems.
On the bridge the crew were preparing for their immediate engagement, from the ship's sensor suite station, Romero called over.
"We have multiple silhouettes inbound, confirmed, three signatures from our six o'clock, Duel, Blitz and the Buster!"
"They're throwing all the captured units at us now?" The lieutenant said in shock.
The others were just as surprised to hear that they'd go up against all of the G-weapons at once, but their surprise was suddenly broken by the Captain who shouted over the CIC.
"CIC, respond!" Murrue called to them.
Natarle remembered where they were and quickly began to issue orders. "Right, arm helldarts, prepare CIWS for intermediate firing pattern. Charge valiants one and two."
"Careful not to hit the Strike or the Eventide." Badgiruel said as the weapon system targeted.
"Valiants are charged and ready!"
"Fire!" The order came.
XXXXX
From the aft of the ship the linear cannons fired off charged bursts, dispersing the gathered mobile suits, though it did little more than distract them, as for the actual pilots, they were quick to adjust to the attack pattern and move in to attack the ship. The suits split off, each circling around in one particular direction or another, their aim to split the defences across a wide area and then wear down the ship.
But as they close distance, they were beset by Ray in the Eventide. The Eventide's fighter form unleashed a burst of beam fire and machine gun bursts, harassing the mobile suits before they could effectively respond, his first target was the Duel. Ray spotted the armament change of the Duel and immediately identified it as the lost linear cannon which had supposed to have been taken by Rondo Gino in Heliopolis.
He didn't understand why it was here, but he could only assume that this thing was a pretty big threat to ignore, he gunned the Eventide and scattered the three machines with his barrage. In the midst of the confusion, the pilots caught sight of the Eventide and attempted to respond. Yzak attempted to reorient the Duel before firing a shot from his linear cannon at the offending craft.
"What the hell?" He said in confusion as his shot missed.
The machine dodged the shot, it was fast and nimble despite its size, but it was making another pass at him. Yzak had only moments to react; he took aim with the linear cannon and fired. The large linear cannon sent out a brilliantly lit streak of golden light, a metal slug ripping through the void and nearly striking the fast moving machine.
But his shot didn't connect as the fighter dodged again, this time making a quick flip and turn before it did G barrel roll and came back down on him, unleashing a burst of beam fire and laying into the Duel, Yzak was forced onto the defensive, but he was thankfully supported by the Buster, which unleashed a burst from its combined weapons, sending a concentrated attack against the offending craft, though it didn't have luck landing any strikes.
"What the hell is this thing?" Yzak said between gritted teeth.
"It looks like a fighter!" Nicol stated as he attempted to chase the craft down.
"A fighter which can out manoeuvre a mobile suit?" Dearka said incredulously as he attempted to hit the machine with his beam rifle.
"Doesn't matter, we're going to gut this damn thing!" Yzak yelled as he fired his linear cannon once more, sending a bolt of metal shards rippling through the empty void.
The Eventide dodged the strike and kept ahead of the attacks, making a swing around before letting loose with another burst from the Lancer, this time aiming for the Blitz. The attack managed to force the Blitz back and out of the way so the Eventide could use the close proximity to dissuade the others from trying to nail him while Nicol was in the line of fire.
The trio continued to bitterly tangle with the Eventide without a great deal of success, the Eventide continuing to harass them and roll away before they could strike back.
XXXXX
The battle Ray was fighting was pretty interesting, not nearly as gruelling as fighting in Indonesia or the Philippines, but this was certainly a battle, though a little surreal to him. Without the constant spray of gunfire and wire guided missiles or close air support raining death from above, it made it a little disconnected for him.
He wasn't on Earth, and his experience of space was only through simulated battles, but he knew the drill, keep your distance and take targets of opportunity, don't waste time and energy on things you shouldn't be doing and remember to keep situational awareness. The same old shit he had been doing for six years of his life, nothing's changed a great deal.
"Not so fast…" Ray said as he gunned the engines.
He angled himself correctly and took a few well aimed shots; two beam shots and a burst from his beam lancer, it was more than enough to get their attention, his attacks were blocked by the Duel as it could only dodge some of his attacks. The Duel's linear cannon spat back a burst of metal towards him, and he dodged, making a sharp pinwheel turn before circling around.
Beam shots from the Buster and Blitz went wide as they attempted to chase down the fighter before them. Ray was pretty much playing tag with the suits, though the difference here was that he was returning fire as he went along. The Eventide managed to make quick twists and turns, zipping around fire and lashing out against them, making sure to keep pressuring the trio.
He lay in bursts of beam blasts, striking against the Duel and baiting the pilot repeatedly, to which Yzak responded almost predictably so, letting a barrage of attacks to trail after the Eventide in a trail of cannon fire scattering through the void. Masterfully Ray managed to dodge each attack, making minute turns and adjustments to avoid getting hit by the enraged pilot's assault.
Buster unleashed a burst from its combined weapons and let loose a barrage in an effort to gun down the fighter, but firing from a distance and with a weapon meant for battleships wasn't a very effective tactic against a fast moving fighter in space, or in this case a transformed mobile suit with a veteran military pilot. The shots were well placed, but they weren't fast enough to adjust to the fighter's ability to manoeuvre around the attacks or make quick twists and turns and weave through the shots.
In the end, all the Buster did was waste energy on a target that kept moving away from its attacks, just as Ray needed it to. This method of tying down the two biggest pain in the neck machines was crucial in ensuring that the Archangel didn't sustain serious damage and keeps moving towards safety, as for the Blitz, the Blitz was never meant for combat against warships.
The stealth unit was meant for getting into close combat and dealing fatal blows before an enemy could respond, on the other hand, if it was already detected then it was moot as it would be forced to battle as a regular suit. With the Archangel, they already knew how to fend off the single machine, which worked well enough.
Ray fired an anchor into a piece of debris and used it to swing the Eventide around to flank the Duel and Buster, as he slung the corner and came around, the Duel attempted an intercept, but he expertly dodged the shots and returned fire, glancing the Duel across the arm and striking its shield before forcing it back.
He knew that Yzak would be pretty pissed at that, seeing as he wanted to keep his track record perfectly levelled. This act was quite annoying for sure. As they continued to exchange blows or more accurately as the trio of Gundams attempted to chase him down with futility. Ray continued to stay on ahead, returning fire as he switched directions and continuously circling around.
Of course he knew that this wouldn't work for long, eventually one of them would break formation and go after the Archangel, as if on cue, Ray spotted the Blitz peeling off from the others, now making its way around and heading to the ship. Ray had planned to intercept, but he was stopped by the Duel now moving into range and keeping him pinned with fire.
He backed off and turned the Eventide around, making sure to avoid getting caught in crossfire with the Buster which had appeared from his axis and lay down a barrage. He immediately knew that there wasn't anything he could do about the Blitz; this one was for the ship's crew to handle.
"Archangel, one machine got past me, it's the Blitz, heading in from position, mike 223, green 34, Charlie 102, he reported in as he turned the Eventide around.
XXXXX
Yzak wasn't sure what was going on, they didn't hear anything about another machine on the Alliance warship, but whatever was going on, there was a new machine, and it was making quite a commotion. Laying down a series of beam attacks, this new fighter appeared to be armed with beam weapons, something they hadn't seen before on any prior mobile weapon besides their own and the G-weapons.
But it wasn't only this; the machine's speed was also what caused a lot more frustrating issues, the way it seemed to dodge liner cannon fire and beam fire and skirt past their efforts to down it. Whoever was operating it was certainly skilled, almost alarmingly so, they were good at making hit and run attacks, flanking manoeuvres and even strafing attacks.
"What's with this new fighter?" Yzak grunted in frustration as his Duel continued to unleash more shots.
"Yzak, I'm going to chase it around the debris on your 8 o'clock, turning at, blue 102, yellow 334, get ready!" Dearka said as he chased the fighter craft, laying down as much firepower as he could as he pursued the craft.
"Alright!" Yzak understood what Dearka wanted to do and he supported it.
Circling around at high speed, Yzak calculated the range, at which he should be able to get the machine with his linear cannon. He spotted the craft as it emerged from the shadow of the asteroid, he didn't hesitate as he fired. His shot struck centre mass as ruptured the craft, in a moment the entire thing went up in a fireball.
Much to his surprise the fighter exploded in a ball of flames, engulfing his machine and sending him packing.
"I did it!"
Unfortunately the Duel didn't see Eventide detach from the asteroid it had passed and manoeuvre around to shoot him. Yzak only had a split second's warning before his linear cannon was destroyed by the Eventide; the blast damaged his armour and sent the Duel packing, Dearka seeing his friend in trouble, leapt into relieve him before he was completely gutted.
"Yzak get back!" He yelled as he sent a barrage down on the Eventide.
The burst sent the fighter off and running back around into the debris field, meanwhile the Duel and Buster regrouped. Yzak cursing as loudly as could as he examined the damage to his machine.
"Fuck, the right arm manipulators are damaged, it's just functional, and the shield's taken a beating."
"Yzak, you should pull back, you've already sustained damage to your machine, keeping this up is a bad idea."
"Shut up, I'm not out of tricks yet…" He said.
Yzak couldn't use his right arm manipulators anymore so he switched the shield from his left to his right
"I'm not fond of this, but it'll have to do." He said as he flexed the controls.
"Fine, but you're down to melee, don't forget that."
"I know damn it, let's get going, there's still that Strike we can deal with." Yzak gritted as he struggled to bring the controls back.
The duo headed back to join up with Nicol in his attack on the ship. Yzak couldn't help but feel angry, their first time using these machines in battle, and they'd already gotten them damaged in some way shape or form. This wasn't turning out the way they had imagined, that was for sure, and it was all thanks to a bloody fighter craft of all things.
'You'll get yours bloody raven.' He thought as the two of them rushed to regroup.
XXXXX
On the Archangel the crew noted the return of the Eventide, looking unscathed and ready to provide aid, which it did almost immediately. The bridge crew was surprised at how fast the fighter was, being able to keep out of reach of the Buster and Duel and keep them from attacking the ship, the Blitz was still there, attacking them, but with the Eventide's return, the Blitz was now on the defensive.
Ray's beam attacks were very to the point, and he pressed the attack, chasing the Blitz away with ease. As he did so, he was contacted by the ship; Miriallia looked at him with genuine surprise on as she inquired.
"Ray, where are the other machines gone?"
"I've disabled the linear cannon on the Duel, and damaged it lightly, it can't engage in ranged combat, but I'm sure it'll attempt melee if it could. The Buster depleted a lot of its missiles, so it'll likely rely on its primary armaments from now, though with the energy used, it might be half way now."
"You managed to fend off the two machines on your own?" The Lieutenant Badgiruel said with genuine surprise.
"Yeah, and I'll deal with the Blitz soon enough." He said as he continued to battle the black G-weapon.
Murrue was impressed, the man knew what he was doing, with the armaments of the two other machines down depleted, and it pressed them hard to engage effectively, leaving only two machines with the capacity to battle them on equal terms. This certainly alleviated some of their troubles, but this continued to raise more questions.
The most obvious being the fact that the Eventide was wielding beam weapons, and the other was the impressively advanced manoeuvrability of the craft. Being able to keep ahead of its enemies without much difficulty, this certainly rang bells in Murue's mind. She knew that the Earth Alliance was attempting to produce new mobile armours capable of fielding beam weapons, but this was a first in terms of a single fighter craft being able to do so with such high speed.
Of course this only did raise a lot of questions, mainly the power source and the hidden capabilities of the Eventide, no doubt that Ray was hiding a few abilities away from the crew. She thought she would need to pry into this later, but for now they were able to press on to Artemis, though the time was running out on whether or not Lieutenant La Flaga would be able to break through soon enough.
It was then they were alerted by Romero who called in.
"Ma'am the Duel and Buster are approaching."
"Understood, provide firing support, keep them distracted and off from the Eventide." She ordered before asking. "What's the status on the Strike?"
"It's deadlocked with the Aegis, looks like they're in melee right now." Romero reported.
"Can we move to support?"
"No, they're too close, and they're drifting further out of range." The officer reported.
"Damn it." Murrue muttered as she watched the visual display on the battle between the Strike and Aegis.
Their attention was drawn to the trio of machines which had no regrouped and were now engaging they, missiles and beams lashing out at them. The Buster having combined weapons and struck a blow against the portside wing of the ship, the explosion rocked the ship, sending everyone rattling in their bones from the shock.
But the Eventide swooped in and chased the Buster off, laying down a barrage of beams, the attack kept the machine from focusing fire on them while they only had the Blitz to worry about in terms of ranged combat. Thanks to the Duel being unable to wield any weapons besides its beam sabre all it could do was dance around the edge of their defence area.
Murrue couldn't help but wonder how long they'd be able to sustain this sort of battle front for. They were drawing closer and closer towards the Nazca-class ahead, but there was still more time for the Lieutenant to breakthrough. She gritted her teeth as the ship shook from another explosion.
'He'll get through.' She kept her trust that the lieutenant would succeed.
XXXXX
With the Duel, Buster and Blitz, things looked very grim, the battle had gotten nowhere and fast, their engagement was continuously dragging on and on, with little to no success. The fighter craft was still harassing them and baiting them into attacking; their attacks weren't able to make contact thanks to the speed at which Ray was able to keep ahead of them.
The Duel was still going at it, even though it's right arm was damaged, it was still able to use a beam sabre in its place but with trying to chase down the Eventide, it was a futile gesture. The fighter was too fast to keep up with.
"What the hell is with this thing, it keeps coming back for more!" Dearka grunted as he tried dodging another burst of beam fire which nearly lanced the Buster's left arm.
"Yzak, we're wasting a lot of energy, this fight's draining us a lot." Nicol warned as they continued to exchange fire.
"Why, why the hell can't down this one machine? It's a damn fighter, not a mobile suit!" The hot headed pilot snarled as he tried to pin the machine down.
It was either weaving through his shots or sped ahead of his attacks, he was beginning to hold total and utter contempt for the bastard operating the machine. Their strategy was failing to pieces and it was clearly going nowhere fast, with the ship being able to hold its own against them with the support of the fighter, it was clear that they were going to lose out when it came to firepower.
Duel was in no shape for a fight with the ship and the fighter, and Buster had lost a lot of its ammunition, keeping this fight going was a good way to get killed. Blitz was the only one which remained active at least in terms of armaments, and thanks to the fact that Nicol knew better than to let the enemy machine tie him down in a competition for range or speed.
He had learnt quickly in terms of keeping his machine from getting blasted apart by remaining at a range which he was able to quickly dodge. Nicol didn't need to see that things were bad, he called to his fellow teammates.
"Yzak, we can't keep this up, our machines have already used up more than half our power, if we keep this up we're going to be overwhelmed."
"I hate to admit it, but we don't have much choice, Nicol's right." Dearka said as he attempted to defend himself.
"Fuck…" Yzak muttered angrily.
The Duel's pilot then noticed the Strike still battling it out with the Aegis. "If we're going to pull back, I'll at least add the Strike to my list of kills." Yzak said bitterly as he turned his machine around and went to join the Aegis in its dogfight.
"Hey wait up!" Dearka said as he turned to join.
Nicol was the last the go after them, but not before examining the scene of the mysterious fighter regrouping with the ship, he turned and chased after his teammates.
XXXXX
On the bridge the crew sighed a breath of relief as the 3 G-weapons peeled off, none of them looked interested in keeping up this futile battle. They broke away only for Romero to report in.
"Ma'am the Duel, Blitz and Buster have all pulled away, they're moving to engage the Strike!"
"What?" Murrue exclaimed.
The screen displayed the machines going off to where the Strike was, and it was still engaged in a fight with the Aegis of all things. This didn't bode well in any sense, the Strike was struggling with just the Aegis, and getting thrown in with the other G-weapons put it at a severe disadvantage to put it mildly.
Ray then appeared on screen. "Hey there… damn, piloting against three of those pricks took a toll on me, just let me catch my breath."
"You've done a lot; we can't thank you enough, but the Strike." Murrue began, Ray cut her off.
"I know, they're moving off to overwhelm Kira, I told that kid to stay close to the ship…" Ray muttered as he caught his breath. "Alright, I'll head off to assist."
Murrue said with some concern. "Are you sure? You seemed to have used a lot of energy keeping the machines off our back."
"Not a problem for me, the Eventide can handle it, besides rescuing that idiot is a lot more important." Ray said as he swung around the flank of the ship and sped off at high speed.
As Ray's unit rushed off to support the Strike, Kuzzey asked. "Ma'am should we signal Lieutenant La Flaga and tell him what's going on?"
"Please do." Murrue said to their communications operator.
As they watched, they spotted Kira's unit begin to falter under the combined firepower of all 4 machines, either due to the continuous battle having been fought between Strike and Aegis or Kira's reckless use of energy, the Strike's PS armour had finally exhausted itself. The white and blue coloured armour faded and the suit was suddenly turned to its default greyish white.
It didn't take much effort for the Aegis to transform and grapple the now powerless machine. It was also at this time that the Archangel fired its main cannons, unleashing a burst of positron fire at the Nazca-class ahead of it, this indicating that the passage way was now clear, the Archangel's engines burned brilliantly as it sped onwards.
Captain Ramius called from the ship. "Ray, the Strike's lost power and has been captured by the Aegis, we need you to help and recover Kira, please hurry we're going to be breaking through the gap at any moment." She said in earnest.
"I'm already on my way, I knew this would happen." The man said with a sigh before he added.
"Captain, I need you to prepare the Strike's Launcher pack, and get it onto the catapult, I'll drive the others away from the Strike and allow Kira to make a docking in space, the suit's power systems should be enough to return back to the battle and fend off further attacks." He told them.
"Seriously?" The woman said with a little scepticism.
"I can't engage any more than I have, and my Eventide's running low of power, I can only provide support and return, Mu will be able to return, so with the Strike ready, it'll be enough."
"Understood, good luck." Murrue told him.
Ray had pretty much said a bold faced lie, but this was to keep them from suspecting the Eventide's true capabilities, it worked for this situation, and it would most likely buy him time to think about future approaches to this topic. As he headed onwards, he used Eventide's full burners, dumping as much energy into the thrusters as possible.
He burst through the formation of suits, with his beam Lancer and missiles, letting them know he was onto them. The Gundams split off trying to shoot him down, but Ray had hoped for them to open up a hole in their formation to which they did. He made a beeline and began to attack the Aegis.
The scenario turned on its head, as Ray managed to break through to the Strike, unleashing a burst from his Vulcan machine guns, he sprayed the Aegis with bullets, the impacts wouldn't do much against the phase shift armour, but it was enough to get Zala to break off his control over the Strike.
Within moments the Aegis pulled away and transformed in order to defend itself and retaliate against the Eventide, however without much success as Ray pulled around and began to strafe the mobile suit from various directions. Ray knew that this wouldn't work for long, not with the Buster and Duel right behind.
"Looks like you got the kid freed!" Ray heard his com channel come to life.
"Yeah and you took your sweet time getting back here." Ray said as he continued to pelt the mobile suits with beam shots and dodge retaliatory fire.
The Moebius Zero had made its return, firing off its main gun and unleashing its multiple barrelled pods, swamping the Blitz with fire and chasing the others off. It allowed Kira to break off and return to the ship while they tied them down from pursuing Kira, or at least slowed them down long enough for him to get away and rearm.
Mu was able to go and keep the Blitz and Aegis busy with his mobile armour, while Ray drew the attention of the Duel and Buster, which were both determined to down his sorry ass fast, but without luck. Duel was still attempting to melee him while the Buster let loose constant barrage attacks, again though, Eventide was too quick for getting pinned by heavy fire.
"Sorry mate, good try shite luck!" Ray said as he did a flip and turn.
He strafed the Buster from the flank and managed to disable one of his beam weapons, causing it to explode in a brilliant explosion of light, the Buster was now drawing back as it realised it was outgunned. Duel was covering the Buster with its shield, but a burst of high powered fire interrupted the battle.
Strike had successfully docked and was coming back with full armaments and energy, laying down punishing levels of fire against the other Gundams. It was at this point that the Creuset team couldn't keep up the fight, deciding to withdraw at the lack of energy and armaments to match this battle.
"Phew, that was a close one." Ray said as they returned back to the ship.
"Tell me about it!" Mu said with an exhausted sigh. "I've had my fair share of close calls but nothing like this." He said promptly.
They returned to the ship, one after another landing as quickly as possible before the ship made a furious run to the safety of Artemis. Down in the hangar, the trio were welcomed by the crew cheering them on; their first sortie and they had gotten out of it alive. It was certainly an achievement, especially for Kira, who had survived the worst of it all.
As they approached Artemis, Ray went over to greet Kira.
"Hey there kid."
"Ah Ray!" The young man said with a look of gratitude. "I have to thank you for helping me."
"No worries, I won't abandon my wingman so readily. Besides, it'd look bad to lose the Strike after all the trouble we went through." Ray said with a smile.
"We should be safe now right?"
"Umm, actually I wanted to make sure of something."
"Huh?"
"Did you put a lock on the Strike's OS?"
"Not yet, why?"
"It's very important that you do, look, not to go into too much detail, but there aren't people who share the same views as you do, and would likely exploit your abilities for their own agenda. I'd like for you to safeguard the information in your machine ASAP. I'll be waiting in the mess hall getting something to drink; I'll meet you there or somewhere later, alright?" He asked the young man.
"Umm alright." Kira said understanding, he watched Ray drift away to the hangar exit.
XXXXX
Ray downed a bottle of Gatorade he had on his suit, the energy drink certainly gave him a little more kick, he was exhausted, it had been a year since he had to operate a machine at full calibre, and this was the seventh time he'd operated a flight unit in real combat since his days in the military. It wasn't nearly as bad as attempting to pull of run down on an insurgent base.
His body shook for that experience, but this one kept him running back and forth so much, your sense of direction has to adjust to looking in all directions. Spatial awareness was a very important thing to remember in real life, it wasn't like in Gundam where it was some kind of special trait, it was an ability most people learn when driving or piloting.
Rubbing his arms, he felt the stiffness in his body subside, as he did so, he picked up his compact computer and signalled into the Eventide. Ray didn't waste any time contacting Alice.
"Alice, have you prepared contingency plan Alpha?"
"Preparations are complete, I've got the dummy program prepared for use, all relevant files have been uploaded, is there anything else you require?"
"No, not yet, just remain on standby for contingency beta; if things don't work out in the given time, we break out of here ASAP. Just remember to have our window of opportunity prepared before they notice." He told the AI.
"Understood, remaining on standby."
"I'll be preoccupied, if I don't contact you again after I've been taken then enact emergency contingency plan gamma, it'll be really ugly, but it'll work."
"Very well."
Ray smiled inwardly.
'Showtime ladies…'
XXXXX
AN: Alright, I've got a few announcements, this story's got a ton of updates coming, and I'm not even joking, I've made eleven chapters in advance, so don't worry about content not arriving.
The issue is that the story diverges into three potential routes, which I'm not sure I want to take any of them yet. And also I'm going on vacation for a few days soon, so I'll be uploading a new chapter on Sunday or Saturday, keep on the lookout.
This chapter wasn't as action packed, and next chapter will be much shorter.
But here's the thing, Chapter 5 will be an ugly business, and you'll see why.