Mobile Suit Gundam : Vanguard Blitz
Chapter 3
The flight in was bad enough.He'd come aboard a light helio, racing in at low level to Suava military base west of the city of Orboss, no more than three officers to an aircraft.All had been summoned together, but Colonel Nevano Tional wondered just how much trouble could a few Forward Border Patrol Outposts expect from the already retreating Foundation army, when the frontlines were over four hundred kilometers across the border.From Suava military base, another helio took him alone to his command post, fifteen kilometers outside the Orka Forest and twenty kilometers west of the Deikumia Foundation border.The tall hills around the Southern Latana Plains held powerful radars, anti-aircaft batteries and mobile SAM batteries to prevent a Foundation air attack and two Mechanized Rifle Companys that made up the balk of his ground forces, now relegated to a patrol role.What a waste.Most of the outpost personel were active, far more than usual the Colonel notice and it brought a smile to his face, that the men and women under his command where not slacking off on there duties as usual.
Colonel Tional watched as a quartet of helios lifted off from their helo pad.The Y-18C Covera Ar was the largest hydrogen-2 fuel cell powered crafts, two disk shape hovercraft systems on each side.Equiped with a tri-barrel 40mm gatling cannon under its arrowlike nose and an additional two 20mm rotary cannon on each side.Under the side belly of the Covera Ar, attach to racks near the hover craft systems, mounted an eight rack High Explosives rocket pods, next to an infra-red beam guided four tube High-Explosive Armor Piercing anti-armor missiles, with a very effective electronic countermeasures system in a very versatile, nimble and well armored fast attack helio.The four Covera Ars circle the base once and headed of in a northeastern direction.Tional blue eyes scan the Covera Ars heli pad as his own helio landed on its own designated spot, and instantly notice that all eight of his Covera Ars were missing, the only helios in sight were the four Y-18D Covera Ki heavy attack helio, there had to be a very good reason why so many of his only airborne assets were aloft at once, when the amount of fuel he was allotted was not only carefully monitored by his residential adjutant, but was barely enough to keep a well rounded air patrol going for more than a few hours per day, someone will pay for his.
Speaking of the devil.
Major Suran Quito, his Executive Officer, came speeding up in a green jeep driven by a Staff Sergeant to meet him.There was something missing, but he was to hot up about his missing airborne assets to immediately discern what it was exactly..
" Why is it two-third of my entire airborne units are off the ground all at once, Major," Tional demanded, in the midst of setting foot on solid ground.
" I dispatch them in reponse to a sudden attack that happen within our patrol sector, sir," Major Suran Quito answered, guiding the taller Colonel towards the jeep's leather backseat." An unknown number of unidentified mobile suits intercepted an airlift heading for the frontlines and retreated before we could intercept them, sir." Quito inform him of the situation as he sat in his seat, with the young brown haired SSG up front at the wheels, who immediately gun the engine and veered off.
" How many and what do you mean unidentified suits, are you saying you don't know what type of suits launch this attack."
" Not at the moment, sir" Quito answered." We're assuming they're a Special Operations unit, with customized mobile suit units sent to disrupt our supply lines, we're not sure how well they did, but we've confirm several transports and fighters loses thus far. Major Guile was patrolling with the third when the attack took place and is currently in pursuit.The Second team left a few minutes ago to provide support, we've also confirmed that several MSs from the convoy that survive the initial assualt is already hot on the enemies tails."
Tional slumped in his chair as the jeep sped to his underground headquarters a few kilometers from his main base.' What is that pompous Syber Elite Major doing on the field with the third MBPG team.His mind rattled with the sudden turn of events, he turn to his XO with a stern look on his face." Inform the second team as soon as you are able, not to cross over into Deikumia.
" What?" Quito was stunned.
" Orders from the General.All Forward Border Patrol Outpost are to remain inside there sector of operation until further noticed.Those orders as I was told came directly from Revil."
Tional looked up at the clear blue sky.He had just come from a high level briefing involving all five Border Patrol Guard Battalions commanders and General Ronivich Gulisnita, CinC of the 11th Guards Defence Brigade; in which he had given his word that his sector of the border was safe and unpenetratable less than four ago, and now here he was, back in time to hear his sector of the border had not only been breach, but the trespassers had also launched a successful attack against an invaluable supply convoy, and no doubt delaying much need supplies from reaching the frontlines at such a critical stage in the war.The Colonel didn't believe in coincidences and he was also a man who hated to suffer a defeat without getting his pound of flesh in return.He was never more happier than when he was sitting at the cockpit of his TMS-17S Lupus Commander Type mobile suit unit and an entire MS team challenged him to a duel.He usually won.If he sat on his side of the border and waited...those Deikumia units would either escape deeper into their own country, or that major of the Syber Elite Division would claim all the glory, if he manage to intercept them before that happens.If that happens, he would become the laughing stock of the FBPGs.But if he could somehow manage to successfully destroy those special forces unit before the Major, without disobeying a direct order from his superiors, his BPG outpost would have gain a notch in notoriety that could help in allocating additional patrol units, even some of those new Lupus types, that was being pump out of TreVelera Corp like running water.Yes, he would get his pound of flesh.He pointed back to the helipads, where the four remaining Covera Kis rested.
" How long would it take to launch those Covera Kis to retrieve our wayward units?'
Quito stared at the helipad for a moment with a confuse look on his face." Three minutes at best, sir."
A smile arc form on Tional face." Get me the commander immediately, with minovsky particles covering this area, a direct communication with our wayward units will be impossible."
As he prepared to give the necessary orders to have the Covera Kis rely a message to the 2nd BPD team to remain on there side of the border, the thought occurred to him that the longer he took to give the order, the further the 2nd BPG team would get.At a mobile suit's average speed, every second he delayed meant the team would advance at least thirty-eight meters.The faster they went, increases the chance of the 2nd team of getting there in time to assist the third team.A few extra minutes could mean the difference between catching those mobile suits or letting them escape.Of course, speed could work against the 3rd BPG team.If they manage to catch up to those Foundation mobile suits, and ran into trouble, the rest of the battalion would not be able to provide any ground support in time to pull its bread from the oven.Orders were orders and, as they say, not following them could get you shot.Tional ordered Quito to have the Covera Kis commander to meet him in the briefing room.He had a special mission in mind for the commander.
" What about the third team, sir."
Tional thought for a second." As long their under the command of a Syber Elite Major, there's nothing I can do.His orders surpass even my own."
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The run from the border into the center of Vodina was fast, wild, and undetected.Following the same path of the 5th Scout Platoon that had led the charge into Eastern Deikumia three hours earlier, Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Erin Sol Brigade, under the comand of Captain Icina Phollia, prepared to turn southeast on the road for Anmen.While the high performance computer kept the Grave on a preprogramme course, Phollia lean forward in the linear seat cockpit alternating between looking down at the map she held in one hand and up at the camera view as she tried to read the street signs and look for landmarks she had been brief on.Not wanting to miss her crucial turned the computer had not been programme to make, Phollia paid scant attention to the scene around her.She noted that the street lights were still on, indicating there was still power at the sub-station and wondered how long that would last.Phollia didnt pay attention to the people of Vodina, until recently the Guild had impose a strict curfew, and most simply pulled the shades of their bedroom windows back to see who was entering their city this time.Phollia didn't even seem to be aware of a police car, lights flashing, as it came out of a side street, stopping just short of the main road leading from the border.The startle policeman driving saw the mobile suit, slammed on the breaks, and immediately backed up without hesistation or looking behind him.Though the police had no idea who or why the city was being over run with mobile suits, since the Guild 154th Guard Regiment that had recently occupied the city left a few days ago, he knew from a moments glance, these weren't Guild units and there was nothing he could do.
When Phollia saw the turnoff, she over-rode automatic control and gripped both control sticks, making a hard right.Tightening her grip on the twin sticks, Phollia grin as the Grave made the sharp turn that almost carried her into a line of park cars that lined the street.Once she was on the road to Anmen, Phollia leaned over to re-activate auto control and to look at her secondary cameras to make sure that the platoon following her also made the turn.In broad daylight it was harder to get lost, but she began counting mobile suits as they made the turn until her own Grave went around a slight curve that blocked her main view screen.By that time she had seen all three ERS-06Bs of her 2nd Platoon, as well as the lead modified MTR armored support vechicle, once a proud personal carrier, now relegated to a supply carrier in an age of mobile suit warfare, make the turn.
Satisfied that everyone in her company team would make the turn and that they were on the right road, Phollia turned to the main screen, looking at the shops and apartment buildings that lined the street on either side.There was little difference between the streets and shops here and those she had seen in Lucan.Those, in turn had reminded her of the streets and towns in Kalaro Isles, except that Kalaroians building were fewer, further apart, cleaner, and more colorful.Before turning her thoughts back toward her mission, it dawn upon Phollia that this whole region, with its buildings and dingy towns nestled in the hills and mountains connected by twisting roads, reminded her of the island nation of Kazan.Strange, she thought.In her year since being in Lucan, she had been with armored columns running and hiding through towns and across countryside without giving it a second thought.The idea of doing it in Kazan, however, was totally beyond her.When the last of the streetlights whizzed by below her as her Grave raced out the narrow streets of the town and into the countryside, Phollia looked backed at Vodina through her secondary cameras one more time.I guess, she thought, these people are already use to this sort of thing.
From the third story window of his small bedroom, a middle-aged Deikumian shopkeeper watched the parade of mobile suits and armored vechicles rolled by in the street below across the room, sitting up in their bed his wife wailed, struggled to over come her fright and joined her husband.Unable to do so, she called from the bed," Asef, has the Guild return?"
At first he didn't answer.It had been a long time since he had served in the army.But as a gunner on an SM2 Gaz tank station in Fort Bolus, he had been trained well to recognized enemy vechicles.The sight of those vechicles right there under his own bedroom window was a shocked.Finally, when he did answer, Asef meekly mumble." No, not the Guild."
That statement made his wife's eye grow large with hope as she threw her hands over her mouth." Oh my lord, our army has return."
Turning, Asef looked at his wife.He was about to ridicule her for making such a stupid statement, but then stopped.In this world of theirs, turned upside down with the Guild invasion of their country, and seven months under strict curfew with the Guild's occupying rear guard regiments, anything beside Guild armored columns was a sign of hope, however small.So instead of chiding his wife for making a stupid comment, Asef walked across the darkened room, reassuring her as he did so." No, its only the Lucanites."
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Wide-eyed, Carlita Avena looked back at the burning wreck that was once a transport aircraft.From the bulk of the transport she could see intense flames burning it without mercy." What's going on? I could have sworn I saw that Gizen just before those Empus missiles struck."Almost as quickly as she had noticed it on her main screen, the mobile suit had vanish behind a wall of smoke, fire and burning metal. Suddeny from the haze of smoke, the Gizen appeared, racing out of the destruction, leaving a cloud of gray smoke like an abandone shroud of invisibility, metal fragments bouncing off its armored shoulders.
The mobile suit optics now stared at each other across the distance, one piloted by a train soldier, the other an ex-special force trainee officer, the sun reflecting off there thick armor as it gazed from above, unawares and uncaring about what is about to transpire, between the most destructive machines to be reborn.
Carlita Avena sat shock still, unable to do more than squirm in her seat as the Gizen from the transport stopped in midstride, flames burning behind it, gaving it an apparition look.For the briefest of moments she had hope, that maybe the pilot was the Captain and that he had survive the fall, but that thought vanish just as quicky as it registered into her mind.She had found him with his neck twisted in an ackward angle after all.Maybe it was one of the transport crews.No, none of them had been qualified as a mobile suit pilots, let alone an advance new model.Then who could this be.
She release the left side control stick with her left black fingerless gloved hand and stretch it forth to the communication remote console and changed the radio's frequency from the company commander net to Micekile Team's radio net and shift her attention to the main screen.
The young man who's face that materialized on her view screen was young, maybe a teenager, with no facial hair, angry eyes and an angular face that appeared shocked, confuse and suddenly contorted into anger. The man's black hair neatly cut short, civilian style, which clung to his forhead giving him a rudeness, bad boy type look.It was clear he was no Guild soldier, as he wore a gray t-shirt with a golden colored infinity loop emblem on the front, and it was surely no Deikumia soldier military uniform either.
" Wh-wh-who...," she stammered in confusion.
The young man's stared in surprise at first, then recognization down on his face, shooking his head in anger." Fuck off, bitch." screeched into her earhole. Then his hand reached forward and the monitor went black.
A look of surprise flash across Avena's face and she stared at the black screen, and her face slowly contorted into a mixture of anger and contempt.How dare that punk talk to me that way, no one talks to me like that.She cursed at the empty screen and depress the weapon selection pad for the support weapon, the Lupus X left arm rised the massive bazooka from its berth into a prefiring position.Avena smile as a circular roving recticle appeared before her eyes.I'm going to kill you, you snot nose punk.
The circular roving recticle turned red with an intermittent beep, leaving Avena wondering what exactly was that young man doing inside that mobile suit, even as her right trigger finger began to caress the trigger controls.
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Releasing the OFF switch for the communication console, Kailyn turned back to the screen before him, he had no intention of talking to that woman.He had already decided to kill her, and he didn't want to speak with someone he was about to kill-- it might bother his conscience.Kailyn didn't want his conscience to remember this.But he thought about the woman for a few seconds nonetheless, wondering what sort of person would do what she had done.He expected to find something monstrous about her, but he didn't.She had looked like any other beautiful woman he'd seen in Versa town.He looked up.The Lupus X shoulder weapon's rear puff smoke and a flash emitted from the massive barrel.
Oh Krill
Kailyn knew that vast physiological changes occured when an organism sense danger.Adrenaline flooded the cerebral cortex, jolting the heart rate and commanding the brain to make the oldest and most instinctive of all biological decisions--whether to do battle or flee.In Kailyn's case, defend or attack.
Over five years of amateur and professional military training had hone his brain to reacted quickly to any shocking encounter, but thirteen months of living easy and comfortable begin to show, he stood there like a deer in the front of moving headlights, too shock and unsure of what to do for a millisecond.Then he reacted, sidestepping the mobile suit to the right, next to a large rock mound.The rocket streak within a meter over his former position at almost the speed of sound, to end its near-hit into the collection of rock mounds behind him, creating an massive explosion that was shadowed only by the burning transport aircraft.
Inside the cockpit, Kailyn stared at the rear view monitor as a mound crumple into rock fragments and a cloud of dust.Another rocket sped towards the stationary Gizen on tails of smoke;but Kailyn had already move the Gizen sideways, deeper into the rock mound formations, evading the rocket with inches to spare.
Weapon..weapons ," Kailyn's eyes dropped over the four buttons of the weapon selection pad and depress the nearest switch, in the midst of the Gizen's armor being covered with falling dust and rock fragments.The primary weapon on the Gizen left arm, the MS-TS1S3 quadruple-barrel 25mm gatling gun came online, and an octagon shape roving recticle immediately appeared on the main screen.Manipulating the Gizen's head to face the Lupus X, he watched the green octagon bounce from one side of the screen to the other, before resting over the kneeling mobile suit, already in the middle of adjusting its massive barrel in his general direction.It took nanoseconds for the green octagon to turn red with the blueish colored Lock On words, and he wasted no time.The Gizen and Lupus X fired simulthaneously upon each other.
Kailyn felt the chatter of the primary weapon throughtout the cockpit as the hail of 20mm APFSDS and 25mm API rounds connected with the 380mm rocket at three hundred meters distance, resulting in a massive explosion of sharpnels and dust.The entire area in front of the Gizen's main screen vanish into a dust cloud.Kailyn squinted, his eyes trying to catch the faintest glimpse of the Lupus X. Not a trace of the 40 foot machine could be spotted in the dust cloud and neither could he tell if it was in the path of the high-velocity tracers that continously expel forth from the multi-barrels.
The swirling of the 20mm gatling gun ceased abruptly as he release the right control trigger after expelling just 160 rounds.The threat reciever beeped loudly.Kailyn eyed it.A G-band warning unique to mobile suit directly from above.As if on cue the gray and brown Lupus X appeared in the cirrus clouded sky above, thrusters flaring a bluish-white, bazooka muzzle lowered for a death dealing shot.On instincts only, Kailyn quickly pulled both control sticks back, reversing the Gizen at full throttle as a round object appeared from the mammoth barrel with smoke on its tail.The impact of the 380mm bazooka round came seconds after he had backstepped away from its path of impact.
As the Gizen stumble backwards from the speed of its reverse, a rock mound Kailyn failed to noticed tripped the massive machine backwards, just as the Lupus X's bazooka barrel flash once again.The 380mm shell struck between the legs of the toppling mobile suit at incredible speed, splinting the ground open and creating a concussion wave that knocked the Gizen completely on its back.
' Stupid, stupid,' he cursed himself angrily.Keep a damn eye out on your surrounding area at all time.Highly pissed, Kailyn began manipulating the suit to its feet, when a rocket type roaring sound drawed his attention to the main screen picture, he stared blinkly at the main camera as the Lupus X thrusters flashed out a hundred meters away indicated by the range finder, dropping the mobile suit on solid ground, its right hand reached for its waist armor and unlatched a massive blade, that was silverish black one moment and suddenly went white before his eyes.' This type of Lupus even has a heat blade.'
He had just managed to raise the Gizen upright when the Lupus X's legs thrusters kicked dust and hurtle the suit towards him, heat sword raised for a killing blow.Kailyn knew he would never get the Gizen to it feet or level the primary weapon for a shot before the heat blade got within touching distance of the Gizen.
Right on cue, the Lupus X swirled the heat blade forward and easily stretched the blade outward for a single thrust aim at the cockpit located within the torso area.
Kailyn glanced at the weapons screen and vaguely noticed the words" Vulcan cannons." As a last ditched effort his left hand reached forward and brought the recticle for the head vulcan cannons online and depress the trigger long before the recticled could confirm a lock, feeling the all to familiar chatter that was more or less than powerful than the primary weapon.The twin lines of tracers stitched a path between the void that seperated the two suits and connected with a surprisng effect.The Lupus X studder under the barrage of high velocity shells and impose its empty left arm in front of its torso to protected itself, against the hail of tracer rounds that exploded on impact upon the Lupus X with little sign of penetration, while its thrusters blasted the mobile suit back and away from the tracers path.Kailyn manipulated the Gizen's controlls standing it to its feet, just as he release the triggers for the vulcan cannons.
' That bitch, swore Kailyn inwardly, no fucking way she's that good.It's got to be that new Lupus type, it's like an S-type with a higher performance.He silently admitted to himself that that had been close, to damn close, but know that he had an idea of this Lupus capabilities.
Unfortunately there was little time to contemplate his next move.The Lupus X cut on its forward speed and closed the forty meter distance between the two suits faster than he could consider bringing the gatling gun up to fire.In desperation, the left arm of the Gizen rised its shield and took the full force of the downward slash that appeared before him.The impact of metal against metal vibrated throughtout the mobile suit as the heat sword met the surface of the shield and seperated, leaving a deep molten gush, and setting the twin controls vibrating in his hands.
Kailyn quickly glance at the weapons selection pad, and immediately thumbing the weapon on the list, that he had excel at.Outside he could hear the Gizens hydraulics moving, he saw through the main screen as it reached across to the left waist armor with its right arm, gripping the hilt of the heat sword and drew it out.
The Lupus X's pilot clearly saw the new weapon and close in quickly, heat sword in it's hand raised upward.As the four meter sword descended, Kailyn reacted and parry it with the Gizen's own heat sword, intercepting the blade before it could connect and both heat swords ringing loudly as they seperated.He twist the sword across his torso in a guard stance, as the Lupus stepped backwards, as if the pilot had been caught by surprise.
Without hesitation he launched the Gizen towards the suit, heat sword poised for a side slash.The Guild suit backed itself suddenly and quickly away from slash area, its heat sword tossed from its right hand to its left, catching it with ease, while its right hand went to its rear.Kaiyn had trained with and against enough Lupus B-types to know what that meant.
He quickly released the right stick, and his now empty hand flew across the thrusters activation controls, pushing the throttle stick forward and depressing the right thruster control foot pedal with to much force.The result should have- launched a normal mobile suit into a high powered jump; but he had no idea at the time, that the Gizen was anything but a normal suit.Its backpack, leg built and back thrusters binders flared to life.The thrust coming from those nozzles was so intense, yet focus, that Kailyn only felt being slammed against the seat with the sudden pressure of acceleration.The mobile suit shudder uncontrollably as it shot upwards within a matter of seconds.On the main screen a line of tracers fire zipped pass, but Kailyn was to shock at the brown and green landscape dropping away at a dizzying rate to take notice.
'Bloody Krill,' Kailyn screeched as his stomach began to knot up and he suddenly felt as if he was going to throw up.
Suddenly he remembered Oban and Rouk lying somewhere down there in their own pool of blood, their only mistake was trying to help other's in need and the person responsible for ending their life was somewhere beneathe him.The anger that swell within him felt like a cold blast of air against exposed skin.His left eye shed a single tear that burn with a mixture of helplessnes at not being able to stop what had happen and frustration at stumbling with a machine that should be as easy to control as riding a bike, part of him knew he may not survive this battle and worst of all he may not get his revenge, as the Gizen shot upwards on tails of fire, he slowly didn't care whether he died or not.One way or another, he was going to kill that bitch.
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All hell was breaking loose.It was like a nightmare except you woke from those, Athan reminded himself.Atleast two Covera Ars were over head, scanning with there digital and optical tracking systems, a flight of four Lasper interceptor fighters had shown up on his radar screen and the two Lupus X-types from the convoy were still in pursuit, a squadron of Lasper interceptor fighters had shown up on the tactical display monitor, and now he detected five objects approaching from the ground and to top it off a single AT-31 gunship had join the party.
Athan and Varl had nibbled the odds down some.For the past eleven minutes, fancy foot and team work had killed a Lasper and damaged a Covera Ar, but the situation was deteriorating.The Guild were mobbing them, and they would not be able to keep them at arm's length much longer.In the time it had taken to localized, lure and kill a Lasper flying at supersonic speed, the Lupus Xs at the edge of his radar screen had closed three kilometers on them, making them near dead center on his radar.Like a boxer against a puncher, they had the advantage only has long as they could move and keep them away at the same time.
" Any ideas, Varl? Athan asked, moving between a pair of tree trunks and ejecting his empty gatling gun, the 1.8 ton weapon, with feed system and drum, dropped with a mighty crash that shock leaves from the surrounding branches.
" We could split? Varl answered." Alternate between keeping our radars off and on.
Athan contemplated that option.So far he was the only one to have his radar transmitter working, if only for ten seconds out of every four minutes.He knew any longer would carry the high probability that his radar signals could be detected at a far greater range than his own radar was capable of reaching." Two risky, there's no guarantee we'll link up later."
" Its a gamble," Varl admitted." But what isn't."
Athan cursed angrily." There's suppose to be a wide open field a few kilometers ahead.A couple of helios and fighters shouldn't be a problem once we hit open ground, its that gunship I'm more worried about."
" With those Lupus along, we'll have alot more trouble if we stick around here to long."
Athan swore silently.Signaling with the Grave's empty left arm, he turn the mobile suit until he was facing southwest, and ran, even as the shape of the massive gunship flew over ahead, its four 40mm vulcan cannons, raining shells upon the trees below.
Athan stared at his secondary cameras for a second, as several 40mm rounds split the tree he had been using as cover just seconds earlier." Shit, ten seconds earlier and that could have been me."
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Meanwhile the Gizen had climbed above four thousand meters indicated by the altimeter, Kailyn in a momentary fit of rage, made his decision.Tightening his grip on the twin sticks until his knuckles went white, he pulled a general enable trigger on the left lever, while skillfully manipulating the control sticks.The Gizen suddenly stopped in mid-climb, backed flipped a hundred and eighty degrees and dove head first, firing its thruster binders, catapulting the mobile suit in a steep angle straight down towards the greenish landscape.Kailyn's eyes alternated between the main scrren and threat reciever intrustments;nearly every TMS-17 series was capable of carrying a nasty missile launcher and he had no intention of blundering into a quartet of SAMs.
There you are, you murdering bitch." Kailyn ease back on the sticks and reduce thruster output.The Lupus X was a hundred meters south of where he had left it and moving forward at a good pace." I won't let you get away."
He would never truly realize at that exact moment, he began piloting the mobile suit like a veteran or a craze maniac.The Gizen shot downwards on tail of flames with skillful manipulation of it's psychotic pilot.From below, the streak looked simply like another shooting star, except this one was more adaptable at changing its course in mid-air.
Stretching the left arm to its fullest, the 25mm gatling gun of the Gizen screeched with the sound of a chainsaw at full power.The entire mobile suit shudder in mid-air from the recoil of its primary weapon cutting loose at full burn.Lines of tracer fire spat forth across the empty void to explode the rocks behind the running Lupus X and quickly began snaking there way forward behind the running suit.The wildly scattered shells connected with the Lupus X's left shoulder armor with 25mm and 20mm darts.Kailyn cease firing within two hundred meters of the mobile suit and extended the heat sword upwards over the Gizen's left shoulder for a final downward slash.The Lupus X's own backpack thrusters flare on, kicking up a cloud of dust and blasting the mobile suit in an arc, and out of range of his heat sword.The Lupus X left arm, lost its gripped on its own heat sword, the weapon free falling to the ground and snapped its righthand, still holding the heavy machinegun forward and fired a burst at the airborne unit.
Instinctively Kailyn pulled the Gizen in an upward climb, the tracers missing him by inches, biting his trembling lip at the speed of the climb, he flipped the mobile suit around in mid-air, reducing thruster output to land the mobile suit with ease several hundred meters away.His mind recoiled from the near hit, but remain even more shocked at the Gizen's reaction speed.Had this been a Lupos he had been piloting, he thought.He shudder to think what would have happpen just now.
Kailyn began to feel dizzy now.He will himself to focus his thought anywhere.Gazing towards the Lupus X four hundred meters away, he snapped to focus like a static fill television screen, that someone had given a solid smack to clear the blurry picture.' Enough , he thought, time to kill this bitch and be done with it once and for all.
l
Avena had been shocked by the ability of the pilot to avoid her brutal long range assault, and even more shocked when close range combat had been just as ineffective, especially when most pilots avoided melee combat at all cost. This young man shouldn't even be able to move that suit, but he was was more or less operating it at its peak performance. Avena was not the kind of person to get careless, especially in a fight for her own survival, but she could swear that young man piloting the Gizen, was operating the suit as if he had prior knowledge of its controls.One minute he was barely able to dodge a bazooka shell at eight hundred meters distance and now he was doing aerobatic feats, in the midst of firing that gatling gun no less.Avena knew her Lupus X could never outpace the Gizen on terms of ground mobility or performance nor could its titanium/high ceramic composite armor handle more than a moderate burst from those 20mm APFSDS and 25mm API rounds.
She had expected this battle to be over in less than a minute, destroying this suit as per her plan and killing this punk kid as a mer bonus, but she had seriously underestimated this guy's ability to pilot that suit.Now she could only stare transfixed at the mobile suit as she tried controlling her breathing.This punk was seriously trying to kill her, and clearly showing that he could.
This was unlike anything Avena had ever experienced in her six years of piloting mobile suits.This was definetly not like training in a control simulated battle, she had to admit had it not been for those two weeks of workouts at Senna AFB, familarizing herself with this Lupus X, those tracers would have done alot more than stripe away a few armor platings on the Lupus's left shoulder armor.With a quick glance at the status diagram, her faced twisted into shock as she could clearly saw that the left arm was in the red zone, indicating its usefulness at reaching her Gyan 380mm bazooka locked on the left back hardpoint and as well as leaving her with no way to reload her heavy machinegun, which was down to its last 30 rounds.To top it off, her computer began screaming about the multiple areas of external damages that was slowly beginning to gave her a headache.She forefinger the manual over-ride and stared ahead, trying to think up a tactic and came up blank. She was just a buck sergeant after all, trained to fight and carry out orders, not think to up tactics, that was for stupid commanders that got themselves kill dropping out of an airplane.
As she stared in mute disbelief at the main camera high quality picture, the Gizen took a few steps forward, like a predator sizing up its chosen prey for a final attack, before she could blink, the Gizen's thrusters flared behind it, pushing the mobile suit forward at an unbelievable speed and closing the distance between the two suits faster than she could think to bring the 76mm heavy machinegun up to get a clear shot.In an ackward motion, the right arm of the Lupus X jabbed upward with the heavy machinegun, and she pull the trigger long before the barrel could raise above the grass.The lines of tracers exploded the ground as they walked upwards towards the high speeding suit, leaving a cloud of dust and debris in there wake and obsecuring her view, she quickly switched to infrared and watched through the cloud of dust as the heat bloom that was the Gizen snapped its shield forward, intercepting the lines of tracers at point blank range and then she saw a flash that went across her machinegun and barely managing to open thrusters and power jumping backwards and away, before the Gizen could follow up with an upward slash of its heat sword that still manage to catch the edge of her mobile suit's protruding torso.She could feel the mobile suit shudder from the near fatal wound.As it was, there was a sizzling, burning rubber type smell inside her Lupus X cockpit that told her just how close she had been to certain death.
Who the fuck is this guy!she yelped to herself shockingly.Son of a bitch nearly had me that time.It was only instinctive action she had bounce backwards.Luckily only her machinegun had suffered the first slash, the molten metal already beginning to cool.
My gun! The realization hit her as the Lupus X continue to take short bounces backwards at her command, trying to put as much distance between herself and the Gizen as possible in the least amount of time.Swearing in frustration, she threw the remains of the machinegun to the ground in contempt, it scatteredd across the ground meters away from reaching the Gizen.
Avena bit her trembling lip, nearly drawing blood, even as her hair fell into her eyes, stinging them and obsecuring her view, while sticking to her forehead with sweat.This was not how this battle should be going, even as she brush the hair away from her eyes with her right hand, she could tell she was clearly outmatched.How can he posssibly pilot that mobile suit, without every having seen that type before.Only a rare few officers are even given that...
The line of tracers took her by complete surprise, interrupting her train of thoughts, the rounds raking her mobile suit across its torso and toppling her Lupus X backwards and over onto its back with the force of the kinetic rounds, against her commands.She screamed in surprise, as the falling sensation lifted her out of the chair and slam her back against the seat in the impact, she bang her fist against the console when the system momentarily lost power, leaving her frighten and in complete darkness for several seconds.Then the sounds of thundering footsteps approaching caught her attention, her blue eyes looked up into the main screen as it flicker back to life, instead of the clear blue skies on her screen , she saw the multi-barrel of the Gizen's gatling gun pointing down at her.She stared up in at the flickering main screen picture in pure rage, daring the young man to shoot.
She watched through her main screen as the Gizen's head looked up suddenly.
Four hundred meters behind Avena's downed Lupus X, salvation came in the form of a quartet of Y-18C Covera Ar helios used by the FBPG, having picked up their signal on radar and the commotion, they had approached cautiously in pairs to investigate.What the pilots had seen visually, had made no sense in their minds.It clearify quickly enough for them.
Avena watched in dismay on her secondary cameras, as a line of tracers from the Gizen's gatling gun tore through one of the hovering helios armor with little resistance.A second later, the helio blew apart into a blinding flash eruption of flames, composite materials flew everywhere.The burning wreckage dropped into the grass, evens as its brethrens scattered to evade the tracers in shock.
Frustrated Avena manipulated the controls, and the Lupus X stood on its feet with help from its backpack thrusters, just as a helio release a pair of HE rockets that slam into the Gizen's gatling gun shield.The mobile suit stagger backwards under the blast of the twin explosions, and retialated in the midst of backstepping, blotting this unlucky helio from the sky under a hail of 40mm vulcan cannons exploding rounds as the head spark with the flash of the rotary cannon.Although she was concern that some of her own country men were under fire, there was little she could do with an unarm mobile suit.The thought" better them than me," flashed through her mind.For a moment, Avena was ashamed that she could harbour such selfish thoughts at a time like this.However, she immediately was able to rationalized by reminding herself that she was only human.With that, she commanded the Lupus X to face the direction of the Guild border and took to the air.Whether or not those two remaining Covera Ars could bring down the Gizen (r) was up to the skills of the pilots, but she had no intention of sticking around to find out who won, especially in a weaponless mobile suit.
l
I had her... another two seconds and she would have been dead.Damn Covera Ars," Kailyn swore to himself angrily, as he raised the gatling gun shield against the hail of high-velocity tracers, that were trying there darnest to drill into the only source of protection he had, but to no avail.
In the midst of dodging a pair of rockets bent of claiming his life, he could make out the distinctive thruster flare of the Lupus X on a sub-monitor of the Gizen escaping and with it, any hope of ever avenging his friends murder.In a momentary fit of rage, the suit stopped on his command and he twisted the shield, exposing its gatling gun multi-barrels to return fire.Two distance smoke trails streaking down towards him caught his attention, and he had to move to evade, ruining his aim and preventing some serious damage to the mobile suit.
Running backwards he found out, was alot easier with this Gizen than it was for any other suit he had previously piloted, and he kept the Gizen's head locked on a helio as he stagger back.The octagon shape reticle went red, quickly Kailyn depress the trigger sticks, sending twin lines of high velocity exploding rounds from the head vulcan cannons.In a satisfactory flash, another helio came crashing down in a ball of flames.
For the first time ever in piloting a mobile suit, more than a year now, Kailyn found himself slowly beginning to enjoy it.He had learned the basics, like boring homework because he had to and not because he wanted to and that fact alone had made him hate it, but now there seem to be a thrill to it after all, like a hole in his life begging to be fill.Knowing that the simplest mistake could claim your life, but still having the courage to face death and laugh in his face, while giving him the finger.Even the suit was becoming familiar, yes, the Gizen was one hell of an awesome weapon.He was still amazed at the incredible power at his fingertips and the feeling, that he controll it where he sat was almost beyond comprehension.
Even as he considered what these new feelings meant, he began to feel an almost symboitic relationship with this mobile suit, like the sensation of riding a roller coaster and he had to clung on for dare life.Of course no one ever died while riding a roller coaster.
Behind you! the thought came like a thousand needles piercing into his skull and into his brain, there was no real pain, just a nagging sensation of impending dred.
A cold shivering sensation pass through his spine, and his body reacted before he could knowingly command it to, turning the Gizen around to the left and open firing on the Covera Ar with pinpoint accuracy with the head mounted vulcan cannons, milliseconds before the recticle could confirm a lock on.The Covera Ars pilot was soley concentrating on getting a pair of his HEAP missiles on target that the twin lines of tracers hit the stationary hovering helio before the pilot could react.The 40mm exploding rounds riddle the helio's armor with as much resistance as a cold slab of butter would a hot knife.The Covera Ar vanish into a deafening boom and a ball of flames, as it crumble to the ground.
He stared at the burning wreckage in shocked." What...what just happen." He slamped into the chair, his face twisted in confusion." Bloody krill."
Kailyn angle the Gizen's head upwards to scan the sky for anymore aircrafts, mainly helios for several minutes and made a quick visual scan of the surrounding area.He notice something odd, and he angle the optics forward and looked in to see what it was. There was a pair of fuzzy dots not two kilometers away.Kailyn eyes narrowed and he zoomed in that direction.A pair of blurry helios jump in on the main picture screen.His right hand reached out to depress a general-enable button, dropping the Gizen on its left knee." More Covera Ars.Shit, the Guild Border Patrol Guards."
They didn't appear to be heading in his direction, in fact they didn't seem as if they were aware of him at all, Kailyn became calmer knowing that fact.He knew what this mobile suit was capable of, and a pretty good idea what those Covera Ars were capable of.He had the superior capabilities and armor, but some pilot could always get lucky, the nine months of non-stop intense mobile suit training had taught him that much.That was war.Now he just had to figure a way to leave the area unnotice.He was alternately thinking about that and wondering about where exactly will he go, when, out of the corner of his eyes, the trees began shaking, curious he angle the cameras in that direction. Several minutes later from within the treeline, a green and yellow mobile suit emerge, and the pair of Covera Ars that had been hovering in the distant leapt forth like a pair of wolves, nose bursting with fire and he could only sit back and watched.To confuse, and unsure of what exactly he had gotten himself mixed up in this time.
l
" So there they are." the pilot of the lead Covera Ar said, as he climbed from a low level pass above the forest tree tops.The radar monitor showed almost white on the screen, a thick spoke of shapeless clouds moving one-six-nine.It could only be those Foundation special forces heading deeper into Deikumia Foundation territory and spewing a whole lot of minosvky particles as cover.
" How far away are they," the gunner asked from the front seat.
" Atleast half a klick out and moving quickly," the Lieutenant answered." The minovsky particles increased in intensity two minutes ago, so there's got to be two or three suits tight together and spewing the stuff like no tomorrow."
" Do we even know for show how many there are?"
" No, Corporal." The pilot shook his head." We'll know once we hit open ground, until then your guess is as good as mine."
The Corporal nodded.The nearest Foundation control military base was easily over five hundred kilometers northeast of their current position.At that distance, the unit they were tracking had to be mobile, which meant few.He thought for a moment, the element of surprise was gone, but those MS had to be low on ammo after the chaos they had cause, right.Unless they had a resupply point nearby that we don't know about" Okay, where they now, sir."
" Got them!Right there, bearing two-three-four.Heat source confirmed"
" Might as well drop a signal flare on their position for that gunship to know we have them, and head to our intercept point."
One minute later the signal flare was dropped where they saw the IR forms were moving towards, the flare spew a red smoke trail upwards.The pilot increase power and turned wide right as the eighty foot wingspan AT-31 brought its firepower to bear on the area, spitting high velocity tracers from its eight rotary cannons.The pilot watched for a moment, before turning southest at thirty feet above the trees, to join the rest of the Covera Ars that should have already been in position.
He had been to the Southern Latana Plains on the Foundation side of the border twice, today would be the first time for an actual combat engagement.He'd never take on a mobile suit in real combat before, only in a simulation, but he knew strength was in numbers and seven Covera Ars could handle a couple of MSs.Right.
Soon, he thought.The location they had chosen to wait it out, was entirely an open field, there would be no where to hide for miles.The pilot turned his eyes from the screen to his own weapons controlls.
The HEAP system would be the weapon of choice against a MS.A laser guided, anti-armor missile, the HEAP provided a fire and forget capability.The projectile would home in on a laser 'Spot' that was projected from ground observers, other aircrafts, or the launching aircfraft itself.Today, the missile would be guide autonomously through the laser designator in a mastmounted sight.Once the Covera Ar's designator had painted the 'target' with a laser beam, the computer would keep that beam center on the target so long as it remain stationary, the HEAP missile would be self directing.
Two HEAP missiles per MS is all its going to take.Now we just have to get into position and wait for those fools to come to their own funeral.So ingross was he in his thoughts that he fail to realized, that the MSs they were tracking were heading on a southeastern course.In the opposite direction a Foundation unit would want to go, if they were a Deikumia special forces unit everyone thought they were, they were staying rather close to the Guild side of the border.
