Mobile Suit Gundam 00: Heaven Strike Force
Phase IV
Inside an asteroid field holding some very large chunks of floating debris, both in the form of rock and metal, the Heaven Strike Force fleet led by the mothership Smirnov was scouring the area, searching for the elusive base of Fereshte. One carrier had released a group of fifteen mobile suits to aid he search, while the frigates and bombardment-type ships blasted the rubble aside to allow passage for the larger ships to enter the debris field. Aboard the Smirnov, a tall, brad shouldered man with a grey beard and a large scar over his right eye and cheek observed the field as the fleet searched. They had already encountered a selection of drones, but the defence systems were rudimentary and easily overpowered.
"I expected more of Celestial Being and their little friends," the captain said gruffly in a weathered voice. "If this is all they have in the way of defence, we shall have no problem."
"Sir," one of the crewmen called to the man. "The Leonhart has reported no further sightings in sector alpha-three, and is moving into sector delta-six." A beeping noise echoed from his console. "Update from Leonhart; they believe they have located the main structure hangar."
"Transmit coordinates to Raven and Condor, prepare for bombardment," the captain ordered.
"Yes sir," the crewman nodded, but abruptly cut off. "What the..."
"Something wrong, Staff Sergeant?" the captain asked roughly.
"The Leonhart's signal is stuttering," the man replied, confused by this unheard of occurrence.
"Put their sector on the monitor," the captain frowned. The image of the large frigate floating amongst the debris appeared on screen, then abruptly, a bright burst of energy shot through its hull as it exploded in a ball of fire. "What was tha-"
The ship shuddered violently as something tore through the port side of the mothership and burst out the end. A loud, powerful explosion ripped through the construction as it did. The crew was thrown into disarray as the energy blast shot through them, wondering what on earth could have caused this much damage to a class 3 mothership.
Moments before the devastation, a black craft began its approach to the field. The pilot ran a few commands in the console and started up the machines battle mode procedure.
"TEX," Rertyan said as he powered up the GN cannons in the nose cone. "Deactivate the boosters and reroute particle displacement from the main drive to the compression tank. Prime Death Arrow for firing."
"Authorising attack," TEX responded, the Haro unit routing the energy emissions of the primary drive into the necessary tank. "Current charge time, three zero seconds."
On the underside of the X-Cloak, a black cylinder lowered an lit up red as two large bow limbs unfurled from the sides. A red energy cord shot between the tips of the limbs, and drew backwards as the weapon charged up, using the high revolution rate of the drive to charge faster than normal.
"Set voltage to two thousand," Rertyan ordered. "Lock target on the nearest ship to the base and destroy it."
"Shoot to kill," TEX replied, confirming his target lock. "Ready to fire."
"Fire!" Rertyan barked.
A thin spike of red energy appeared at the barrel of the weapon unit briefly, before the bow drawstring launched forwards and sent it flying with great speed. The projectile fired out was a hyper-compressed rod of GN supercharged particles, using the same principles as a GN Bazooka and a linear catapult in one weapon system. The resulting dense projectile and high magnitude velocity resulted in a powerful weapon. The shot tore through the Leonhart's engine core, igniting the fuel and ammunition stores before sending the entire thing up in smoke. The arrow continued onwards, tearing across the Smirnov's port bow and through the engines, disabling its better manoeuvrability and heavier weapons, and then through one of the carriers, wrecking the suits and ship in one. Rertyan smirked darkly from within his cockpit.
"That ought to get their attention," he said, taking control of the flight systems again. "TEX, disable thermo-coupling dischargers and focus energy from secondary drives into the verniers and shields. Reroute primary drive energy to weapons systems."
"Death Arrow will be non-fuctional for six seven three hundred seconds," TEX informed its partner. "Course ill-advised."
"We're not going to destroy the enemy ships, Tex," Rertyan replied as he turned in towards the carriers as they opened up their suit bay doors. "We're going to distract them until the others come."
On board the Ptolemaios, the group hurried towards the coordinates, when a signal came in on the long range sensors.
"Detecting the enemy force," Feldt said, typing in the commands in the console to bring up the active battle readings. "Detecting that Archer Arios is two hundred seconds out, and that Reaper X has arrived."
"How does it look, Feldt?" Sumeragi asked.
"The ships seem to be scouring the field," the pinkette replied. "Most likely searching for Fereshte. They-" She cut herself off. "What on earth?"
"What is it, Feldt?" Sumeragi asked, worried.
"The enemy force," Mileina replied, seeing the information too. "One of the frigates has lost contact, and one of the carriers too!"
"What?" Lasse asked. "How can that be?"
"Not only that, but the mothership has sustained heavy damages to their drive system," Mileina went on. "It appears that Reaper X dispersed a high density particle weapon moments before this."
"That must have been that weapon," Feldt murmured, remembering the words Rertyan had said when she had almost pressed that button; she was grateful she had not now. "The Death Arrow..."
"How long before we are within launch range for the remaining Gundams?" Sumeragi asked.
"Setting voltage to 800 will see 00 and the XN Raiser at the site in two hundred and seventy seconds," Mileina replied. "We can deploy in approximately one hundred and sixty seconds."
"Prepare the Gundams for launch," Sumeragi said. "We need to give Reaper support; it will be the centre of attention now that it's begun the attack."
"Understood," Mileina nodded. "Transfering Winged Cherudim to Deck 2 and 00 XN Raiser to Deck 1. Mr Seiei and Stratos, please prepare for launch."
Inside the cockpit of the twin-engined Gundam, Setsuna gazed at the updated information about the battle ahead. He was surprised that the new machine had housed so powerful a weapon, but he also understood that the machine would be centre of attention to all the Heaven Strike Force members in the area. On the up side, he told himself this was a perfect opportunity to test the XN Raiser's capabilities, and the 00 XN Raiser's new weaponry too. Equally, however, it was imperative that the machines worked harmoniously; a single problem in the balancing the drives during this usage could be critical, and may even spell disaster for the 0 Gundam's GN Drive if the particle discharge spiked abruptly.
In the other hangar, Lockon was making his final checks on the new addition to the Cherudim Gundam. The Boost Wing may not be the most offensive-powered support machine, but its abilities for the sniper unit was much greater than just this; the machine granted additional shield bits, GN Generators and particle storage tanks, giving the ability to defend harder assaults, dish out more high-calibre shots and increase the duration of Trans-Am significantly.
"How does the connection look, Haro?" Lockon asked.
"All clear! All clear!" the orange robot orb chimed from its docking port.
"How about you, Blue?" Lockon asked, turning to the screen on is left side. A blue Haro sat in a second port on the screen, this one in the Boost Wing itself. "Systems clear?"
"Systems check! Systems check!" Blue replied, its voice a little deeper than its orange counterpart.
"Alright, Cherudim is ready when you are, Miss Sumeragi," Lockon said.
"00 Gundam prepared for take off," Setsuna confirmed his machine as well.
"Alright, listen up," Miss Sumeragi said on the intercom. "We are about to launch Cherudim and 00 into the heart of the enemy fleet. Setsuna, I want you to give Reaper support at close range while Lockon provides strafing fire." As the forecaster spoke, the two machines were loaded into the linear catapults and readied for launch. "Ptolemy will provide missile bombardment and cannon fire on the enemy ships while the final preparations are being made to Seravee, at which point Tieria will join you and focus on taking down the ships. We cannot afford to let this battle be lost; if we lose Fereshte, we may well be defeated here and now."
"Understood," Lockon confirmed while Setsuna nodded. "Winged Cherudim, Lockon Stratos! Targeted and firing!"
"00 XN Raiser, Setsuna F. Seiei, taking off!" Setsuna said as both he and Lockon launched towards the fleet.
"How much longer on the modifications, Tieria?" Miss Sumeragi asked.
"Three hundred seconds," Tieria replied. "We are working as fast as we can."
"Understood," Miss Sumeragi nodded. "Keep working. We do not have long."
Allelujah pulled down the throttle as Archer Arios finally caught up to Reaper, and was shocked at the sight of the black Gundam being chased by a cluster of GN-X 609-t's, all firing their GN weapons like a swarm of angry hornets.
"What has he gotten himself in to?" the supersoldier asked rhetorically. "Come on, Marie; let's go help our new friend out."
The orange Gundam flew in as fast as it could, the GN cannons of the red machine docked on it back and its own blasters firing at full speed at the cluster of GN-X's and landing a few hits onto the red machines. A few turned to fight Arios, deciding to distract the winged Gundam, but soon came face to face with the orange machine's vast array of GN missiles and had to peel off of the attack to avoid their own destruction. Aboard the now-damaged Smirnov, the crew scrambled to shut out the damaged areas of the superstructure, the ruined engines left to their own devices in light of the destructive attack.
"All units, focus on that damned machine!" the captain barked. "Authorising full aggressive force!" He looked to the crew on the bridge. "What forces are in the area?"
"Detecting a mobile armour matching the design of the winged Gundam nearing the battlefield," the Staff Sergeant in charge of the radar responded, going to longer range scanners. "I am also detecting another two machines which have launched from a ship matching the layout scans for the Celestial Being mothership."
"Detecting energy discharge from mothership," another office said. "GN weapons targeting the fleet."
"Activate anti-beam field and bow cannons," the captain announced. "Take power out of the port engines and reroute to weapon coolant exchange unit. Contact Condor, send them to investigate the Leonhart wreckage, and send Raven the coordinates of the Celestial Being ship. If we can disable the ship and destroy their hidden workshop, we can defeat Celestial Being here and now!"
"Yes, sir!" the crewman nodded as he sent the respective orders out.
"Sir, we have detected a fellow Heaven Strike Force unit in the vicinity," the radar operator said. "The captain is offering assistance, but their force has already been damaged by the new Gundam."
"Offer them our gratitude and accept the offer," the captain said gruffly. "Also, send the technicians to examine the damage areas, I wish to know about that weapon which destroyed the Leonhart so easily."
"Yes, sir!" The captain sat back as he thought.
"What is this machine's capability? What is the secret behind this Gundam?" he wondered quietly.
As the blue and green Gundams joined the battle, they quickly took in the number of mobile suits chasing their comrades while a number of ships began to move closer, preparing for anti-mobile-suit warfare of their own. A way from the battle, the large mothership lay in wait, its engines damaged and the port side smouldering in places, the remains of the damage from Reaper's attack still evident. Lockon turned his attention to a squadron escorting a bombardment-type ship into the asteroid field, heading for the destroyed frigate.
"Setsuna," the sniper-unit operator said, turning his Gundam towards the ship. "I'm going to deal with these jokers; they may be getting close to Fereshte. Help Alleljuah, Marie and Rertyan with those mobile suits."
"Roger that," Setsuna nodded. "Moving to eliminate targets."
The twin-drive of 00 Gundam sprayed a hail of green GN particles as it took flight at speed, the blades of the improved Raiser unit in hand and ready for use. Setsuna joined the blades into their buster sword form and drew a GN Pistol, drawing the attention of the Heaven Strike Force units and bringing a few in closer.
"About time you got here, Setsuna!" Alleljuah called, detaching the GN Archer, transforming Arios into its mobile suit form and firing a burst of GN laser fire into the crowd remaining in a fluid single motion. "Where's Lockon and Tieria?"
"Cherudim is dealing with another ship," Setsuna replied as his sword arced through the torso and arm of a GN-X and destroyed it. "Servee is in its final stage of preparation. What is your status?"
"GN particle generation is stable," the supersoldier nodded. "But I'm running out of missiles, and we've only just scratched their numbers. These guys mean business."
Rertyan's fingers tightened on the controls as he turned around and fired a barrage of missiles into the GN-Xs, but many dodged the projectiles without trouble.
"Dammit," he sighed. "That was the last of my missiles." He paused and clicked his tongue. "Guess I've got no choice; this is too ineffective. Setsuna, Alleljuah, I need you two to keep them off of me for a few minutes or so."
"What are you planning?" Setsuna asked, partly out of curiosity, but also because he was still uncertain of the new Meister's loyalty.
"No time to explain, you just have to just me this once, Setsuna," Rertyan said calmly, preparing his machine. "Can you do that?"
Setsuna paused; it was not in his nature to openly trust someone without any information about them, but at the same time, while he did not know what the dark Gundam was capable of, he had a feeling in his gut that what Rertyan was planning was in their favour. He sighed after a moment, a muttered 'damn' passing through his lips before he responded.
"Alright," he nodded. "But not here; lets move to a more defendable location."
"I've got a much better place already in mind," Rertyan smirked. "Follow my lead."
The black Gundam darted forwards, aiming for the enemy mothership. Setsuna's eyes widened as he followed the machine, in disbelief of the man's plan, which appeared to be suicidal in design. However, he followed on all the same, the twin drive of his machine allowing him to stay close without too much trouble. Arios and the GN Archer also followed nearby, cannons firing at the units following them and holding them off a little. When they were nearing the range of the mothership's more precise weapons, Rertyan finally put his plan into action and separated Reaper from the X-Cloak.
"TEX, begin cloak mode," he ordered, transforming his machine into the mobile suit form. "Let's give them a show."
"Preparing alternate mode," TEX confirmed as the support machine resumed its normal mode. "Engage docking ports."
Abruptly, the cockpit of the X-Cloak separated from the rest of the machine. It drifted for a moment or two, then spun itself into position and reversed closer to Reaper, the chest piece of which had opened up. A trail of red light lit from the mobile suit to the cockpit, the docking beams leading the small piece of the machine into place. As it reached the machine, and the clamps sealed on the end, the cockpit swung downwards into the hollow chest cavity and locked into place there. A red pulse of light flowed from the join.
"Stage one complete," TEX confirmed, already running the the program for the next stage as a series of missile tubes unfurled from the mothership, all aimed on the black Gundam. "Begin stage two."
Aboard the Smirnov, the captain smiled; the new Gundam was in the middle of something, and in no position to fight back, and the winged Gundam and double-powered Gundam were busy with the GN-Xs. It was almost too perfect, but he decided to take the opportunity which had made itself known to them.
"Target that machine," he ordered. "All missile racks, lock on to it. I want it destroyed now!"
"Charging GN missile pods," one of the arms sergeants announced. "Thirty seconds to firing charge."
"Good," he smiled. "Men, watch carefully; you are about to witness the destruction of a Gundam, the second one ever to be destroyed. Feel pleased to be part of this fleet on this day."
"Target has been locked, sir," the arms sergeant announced. "Charge cycle completed."
"Fire at will," the captain said, leaning back in his seat.
"Fire!"
The projectiles burst from their tubes, their thrusters burning brightly with red particles as the GN fuel began to deplete. The explosives swarmed in a cluster, all aimed for the target machine and arching in on it like the claws of a giant hand closing on its prey. The crew watched with intent and baited breath, waiting as the small explosives closed in. Suddenly, the screens lit up as the missiles burst one by one, exploding prematurely and leaving red-gold blossoms on the battlefield. After a few moments, nothing could be seen but the particle debris of the missiles.
"Did we get them?" a female deckhand asked nervously after a few seconds more of silence. The arms sergeant looked over the report.
"N-negative," he replied, surprised. "All failed to reach the target. "No particle blaster discharged were detected either. Something made them detonate early, but it was not a beam rifle, nor another missile..."
"Such a strange machine..." the communications operator murmured just as the fog dispersed around the machine. "Detecting the Gundam once again, sir."
The crew watched as the black machine appeared once more, surrounded by several floating devices, each tethered by a red docking beam to the machine. From the first glance, they could see two GN cones jutting from the devices linked to the shoulders, and what looked like a pair of fists on the ones connected to the forearms. Before they could question it, however, the parts began to take position, moving in on the docking ports selected. What they saw was a machine which startled all of them.
The chest piece had become more armoured, defending the cockpit both from attack and from sight. The legs had lengthened and thickened to support the new additions, and the shoulders had broadened to accommodate the additional drives mounted in the shoulders. The arms where tougher looking, like they were encased in gauntlets, and the blade on the right arm was now much larger. The head was now larger and the mouth guarded, a slight neck brace look about the cranium. Attached to the left leg was a folded bow, laying in wait, and behind extended the two booster arms, the mounting brackets having docked with the back of the machine.
"Wha- What happened to it?" one of the deckhands asked. "Where did those parts come from?"
"It must have been carrying them in that other part," another replied anxiously.
The eyes of the machine flashed as the long curved blade moved round as a long shaft extended from it. The hand gripped the staff as a flurry of black particles poured from the three drives and the booster arms, producing a pseudo cloak of darkness around the machine.
"Th-this machine," one deckhand stammered. "Is Death itself..."
Rertyan rolled his shoulders as his machine completed its merge with the X-Cloak. He checked all the systems while drawing his signature weapon.
"How are we doing, TEX?" he asked.
"Dispersal stable," the Haro confirmed. "Reaper-X Gundam ready for battle."
"Alright," Rertyan nodded. "Balance the systems, engage the drive balancing, synchronise spin." As he spoke, three red rings lit up behind the drives, interlocking to form what looked like a three-way Venn diagram. "Stabilise Tri-Drive."
The Meister brandished the scythe, an intimidating action to serve as fair warning that he was to attack them, then he charged. The machine was quick, quicker than the crew of the Smirnov had expected, and swung the scythe, the large blade cutting into the starboard cooling core and causing the tanks to rupture. The ship shuddered as it trained its cannons, but it was struck hard in the underside and lost its targeting systems.
"What's going on?" the captain bellowed. "Locate it and destroy it!"
"We can't, sir!" the arms sergeant replied. "It's moving too fast and sporadically; we can't get a trace!"
"Damn! Contact Colonel Ovechkin! Request urgent assistance!" the captain shouted as another swipe of the scythe crushed the Smirnov's rear escape pods and the launch controls for them. "And someone get it away from the ship!"
Rertyan smirked at the suitable damage he had dealt; in truth, he could have stopped them already, had he sent the scythe through the bridge of the ship, but that seemed too brutish for his tastes. He preferred to make them suffer a little first by disabling them. He would have continued his routine disarming of the ship if not for a call from Lockon.
"Damn, they have one of the new models here!" he informed the others as his shots were blocked and deflected by the GN Field of the Ravager's left arm. "And another one has also appeared; model number GN-X 753-H."
"The Hunchback," Rertyan sighed. "Setsuna, with me; we need to deal with the Ravager and Hunchback before they gain momentum on us."
"Roger," Setsuna nodded. "Alleljuah, proceed with the plan; Tieria should be here soon to initiate stage three."
"Roger," Alleljuah nodded, shooting out at multiple GN-Xs as they attempted to stop the two multi-powered Gundams. A torrent of pink energy shot from the outskirts of the battlefield as the final Gundam approached, its large hand-held bazookas separating from the shoulder-mounted ones. "Here he is now."
"Seravee, engaging enemy mothership," Tieria stated, turning all his attention to the bridge. "Trans-Am! Face Burst Mode!" The face of Seraphim dropped downwards, green particles pouring from the exposed second face as the large Gundam began to glow red as the Trans-Am took effect. The six cannon united with each of the bazookas, energising simultaneously and producing a huge sphere of GN particles before the machine. "Hyper Burst Mode, firing particles!"
The orb surged forwards, aimed on the ship. Inside the bridge, many crewmen abandoned their posts, running for cover, while the captain stood quite still, eyes wide and mouth open. As the pink light began to illuminate the cockpit, he let out a final sigh.
"It seems I misjudged you, Celestial Being," he said as the boulder of energy surged into the bridge and exploded, crushing the ship and leaving it a flaming wreck for a few moments, before, with a blossom of red particles, the GN Tau drives ignited and self-destructed, taking the ship up with them. Only one or two escape pods got away in time, but were lost to the debris field.
The remaining ships stared as the great mothership the Earth Sphere Federation had just produced was reduced to nothing but debris and fiery GN particles in the air. They could hardly believe it; the ship had been boasted about by its manufacturers to be the ultimate ship, yet the Gundams had easily dispatched it as if it was nothing but dust in the wake of a tornado.
"Damn you, Celestial Being!" one of the bombardment-type Captains shouted, infuriated.
"Sir, we have to retreat," one of his Lieutenants informed the man. "If they destroyed the Smirnov-"
"I know," the Captain hissed. "But we have a mission to complete, Lieutenant. Now, target the enemy base and prepare the bombardiers for use!"
"Yes, sir," the Lieutenant sighed, relaying the instructions to the crewmen. "Prepare to fire GN Stampeder."
The front of the ship began to shudder as the hull opened up, unfurling a large cannon with two GN Drives mounted in the back of the weapon, a trio of targeting apparatus opening up and beginning to target the large asteroid near the wreckage of the Leonhart.
"Target located," one of the fire control operator informed. "Range is good."
"GN Drives currently at thirty percent heat and rising," the second operator informed. "Time to firing capacity, approximately three minutes."
"All GN-X units, focus defence on Raven," the Captain barked into the communications. "Condor, prepare ordnance to launch following the Stampeder fire!"
"Order confirmed," the squadron leader confirmed. "Hunchback and Ravager are currently engaging the sniper Gundam currently. Alpha team, give support to Hunchback and Ravager. Bravo, focus on Condor and give support. Charlie and Delta are to engage the remaining Gundams. Proceed with formation Z3."
The GN-Xs all began to move to their destinations, hopeful that soon, their enemy's base would be little more than rubble in the void.
Okay, I'm going to leave it there for the moment, but I have been working on this for too long, and now I have ideas for my other works to do.
Anyway, I hope you're enjoying the story so far, and hopefully I will post again soon.
For now, I'll say goodbye.
Next chapter will see the climax of the battle, and also the information for the next mobile suit, the Hunchback.