Hello everyone and welcome back. Not much to say here so lets just get on with it shall we?


Chapter 6: Unit 8 take flight!

As I wondered through the halls of D-deck on the way to the infirmary the thoughts I'd had earlier on the changes that'll be made come to my head once more. It may seem rather redundant to focus on that particular topic again but again, the possibilities were endless in what could end up happening in regards to the overarching 'story' that is being played out.

Though perhaps the biggest question that has appeared so far will be what role will I play in it all. To state the obvious there had to be a reason as to why I- hell, anyone from Earth- was dragged into the middle of the conflicts that were to play out in the coming year (though that may change as well).

What was Earth's overall place in this conflict? Was it perhaps a system that had been colonised by the empire of EDEN or perhaps just a backwater that was floating somewhere in the middle of nowhere in the vast universe... though that theory could be considered false considering the Val-fasc hadn't invaded the planet for its resources yet.

Was it being protected by something perhaps, like a planetary-wide barrier that kept the fleet out?... nah, disregarding that they'd probably use some of their superior technology to destroy it why would EDEN choose to protect a relatively primitive planet- compared to them anyway- with such a device instead of one of their own systems?

In the end, it really was a mystery, one worthy of being solved by a certain detective of baker street...

Okay, that might be going a little too far but oh well.

In any case, I was just about to cross the door that I think led into the hanger when I suddenly felt the urge to stop.

There was no reason for this, there was no noise other than the alarm being rung repeatedly in my ears and there was no strange presence like the one that mystery woman had given off... so why did I feel the need to stop?

'...o...ou...em...ra...wa...ou.'

From out of nowhere the sound of static broke its way into my hearing and brought me to my knees as it threatened to shatter my eardrums. Throughout it all though I thought I could pick out some form of voice or message coming through but the sound of the static wrecked my hearing so much that I could barely make out more than a few clips of what could be words.

Worry began creeping up my spine though when the voice and the message continued to be spoken; it seemed whatever was broadcasting the message could tell I hadn't heard it and so continued with a louder, more commanding tone that the pain to my ears were immediately forgotten and I could focus on only the words.

'go...our...blem...fra...wait...you.'

When I heard it again the overall message came out all the more clearer but was still inaudible in some places in the middle. I'd managed to catch the words 'go' at the beginning and 'you' at the end as well as guess the words spoken after and before those first words respectively.

At the moment I was getting the sentence 'Go, your...blem...fra awaits you' but that was it. Your something blem fra something awaits you?

Emblem frame? Is that what is was saying? Your emblem frame awaits you... there's an emblem frame in the hanger waiting for me?

Just as I started pondering that possibility the voice finally seemed to completely break through whatever the static was and spoke its full sentence loud and clear:

'Go, your emblem frame awaits you.'

...So I was right, it was referring to an emblem frame. That brings up another question though, why was there an emblem frame in the Elsior's hanger if it wasn't being used yet? Why would it have been taken out of the white moon's weapons storage area if they had no pilot for it?

Was that mysterious woman the cause of it? Had they managed to convince Shatoyan to load this mysterious emblem frame because I would arrive to use it?

...That fanfiction theory is becoming all that more probable every time something weird happens.

At any rate, the hanger was right next to me; surely taking a quick look wouldn't-

No! That was a really bad idea. My position here was still unstable and could easily be turned on its head with me locked up for doing something I shouldn't.

Entering the hanger, without permission, during a battle would certainly count as a big no no in regards to that.

In the end I was just a civilian; doing as I was told and heading to my temporary post in the infirmary was by safest and smartest bet if I wanted to be treated without suspicion by every one.

And yet... the curiosity to see if what the voice- who by now I recognised as the mysterious woman's- said was true was quickly becoming a dominant centre in my thoughts. This was bad, as they say curiosity killed the cat and with Forte's words hanging over my threat that may be my fate if I abide it.

But still... the thought of piloting my own emblem frame-

Stop it me!

I slapped my face a few times to bring myself back to reality; no matter how cool it would be I would be dragged into a battlefield with no knowledge on how to properly pilot what I was flying.

I was more likely to crash and blow myself up then succeed or be blown up by the enemy.

Not a nice- or honourable- way to go out all in all.

I was at an impasse. To my left was the hanger door and straight ahead of me was the way that lead to the infirmary where Dr Cera was waiting for me. What seemed like an obvious decision in regards to a video game or a visual novel protagonist for a regular person like me the choice over whether to follow that persons words or not would change something.

It was clear this was a big choice for me to make. It was obvious that woman wanted me to make it now.

Would I continue to act the role of an uninvolved citizen of Transbaal... or would I take up the true role that had been decided for me?

It was a tough choice, a very tough choice, but in the end...


Tact looked towards the ongoing battle between the angel wings and the enemy fleet that had been left as a safeguard to catch anyone that managed to get this far away from the net.

There were currently seven of them surrounding the narrow space that was the battlefield; right between two asteroids. Directly in-front of them was a destroyer positioned at both ends of the gap between the asteroids and one that sat in the middle of the formation along with a cruiser. Further back two more cruisers and another destroyer moved to back up their allies by heading the Elsior's way.

In total there were four destroyers and three cruisers.

That had been the setting at the start of the battle. Now three of the four destroyers and one of the cruisers were gone. In other words the initial enemy had been dealt with. Now the emblem frames were making their way towards the remaining foes that were for some reason sticking around the narrow intersection between the two asteroids.

Tact intuition sent alarms ringing through his head but he had no choice but to ignore it; even if a trap was set up in that particular area the only way they could go was forward.

They would have to go through that area regardless of their wishes.

And so the emblem frames moved to annihilate the remaining opposition and-

"AH! Kung-fu fighters has been brought down to 20%!" Coco's sudden announcement shook Tact to his feet in shock. On a monitor a video of the last few seconds showed a laser being shot from a unseen angle towards the red emblem frame and just grazing the side.

Just a single shot, one that hadn't even been a direct hit, and yet it caused the kung-fu fighter to be thrown backwards through the vacuum of space like a doll would be lightly tossed around by a child as they ran around the house with it with sparks coming from the armour and creating a fire around the damaged hull.

"What... just happened...?" Tact barely caught Almo's whisper of shock and unconsciously found himself nodded in agreement to the question; because really, what had just happened.

While it was certainly true Ranpha's emblem frame had the weakest armour among them all to compensate for its speed a simple scratch shouldn't have been able to damage an it to that extent no matter the weapon.

At least no weapon the spiky haired commander could think of.

"A- at any rate, angel wings; retreat from your current position!" He quickly yelled out his orders in desperation to prevent another wound like that befalling another one of the angels.

That attack had been just a scratch, so what would a full hit do to any of the emblem frames?

Tact had no intentions of finding out and so ordered the retreat. The angel wings quickly agreed and moved away from the intersection between the two asteroids for around 4000 kilometres.

That was when the mysterious weapon fired a single laser once more.

This time the attack was aimed towards the trick master- Mint's emblem frame- and that too only grazed the surface of the ships armour...

The armour was brought down to 20% once more.

As Mint's screams echoed through the comm link that was present between the bridge and each of the angel wings Tact felt sweat begin to pour down his forehead. The situation wasn't good; once again they hadn't managed to track just where the laser had come from but wherever it was it seemed to possess an extraordinary range; as the original shot had been fired when the angel wings were around 2000 kilometres away from the intersection.

Add in the 4000 distance that had been made and the current range seemed to be at least 6000 kilometres.

That was insane, only the missile launchers on the trick master had that kind of range but this mysterious laser had managed to match that.

"O-oi, Tact! What should be do!?" Lester's normally cool tone was lost and replaced with raw panic at the current situation. Tact couldn't blame his best friend for it; nothing seen so far had shown capability of being able to do this so naturally surprise was the expected reaction to come from people.

He didn't have the liberty to experience that normal emotion however; as the commander it was his job to bring up a strategy to break through this new obstacle.

And so...

"Coco, have you determined the origin point of that laser yet?" He turned to the officer in charge of radar with a look of steel in his eyes.

"Y-yes, the origin point appeared to be originally under some form of stealth field generator that managed to hide from our radar but the laser seems to have caused it to stop functioning."

In order words the stealth fields only purpose was to create a situation where the lasers origin- probably a remote turret set up on the edge of one of the asteroids- could deliver a perfect sneak attack on unsuspecting ships that managed to dodge the original destroyers and cruiser.

However, for one reason or another the laser had missed, only grazing the target instead. Could it be there was a problem with the targeting matrix?

Or had it been set deliberately to function as a warning shot; to say that resistance was futile?

Either way, they were lucky.

"Bringing up the origin point on screen now." An instant later Tact discovered two new facts:

For one he'd been right that the 'turret' had been set up on the edge of the asteroid.

Second... the 'turret' wasn't exactly a turret... actually, he didn't exactly know how to describe what he was seeing on the screen.

Okay, in actuality what he was seeing was a giant sphere made of steel that from the data on the monitor stood at 50 metres tall with seven- yes, seven- cannons on its back all connected to an 'arm' that were all levelled towards the retreating angels. As stated earlier the main body was in a spheric shape with it being supported by a reverse Y-shape undercarriage.

It was one of the most bizarre creations Tact had ever seen... but he knew that it was an effective and merciless weapon.

In response to the second attack the angels continued to move away from the intersection- well, happy trigger (Forte) and Harvester (Vanilla) continued to move, Ranpha and Mint continued to fly as they needed to be repaired.

Something the green haired angel immediately began doing as they managed to get around 10,000 kilometres away from the weird 'object' that had the seven laser cannons.

Within no time at all the two damaged frames were back in complete condition... but that didn't change the situation. They were facing a new weapon with far superior range that could take out an emblem frame in a single shot.

In short, they were stuck and at the mercy of that 'object'.

"Tact... what now? the emblem frames aren't capable of attacking that thing without getting hit first and with that laser moving at the speed of light they can't dodge it." Tact took the words his best friend said to heart as he continued the analyse the picture of the sphere.

There had to be something... perhaps, if she was willing, Ranpha could perform dodging manoeuvrers to prevent the sphere from getting a lock? After all, that attack seemed to travel in a straight line so as long as it couldn't target it should be fine right?

Or perhaps they could have Forte's happy trigger- the ship with the most armour and firepower- take a charge with the other angels covering her with Vanilla continuously repairing everyone the moment they were hit?

No, the girls would probably hate that plan.

Then maybe-

"Hey Tact, mind filling me in on what's going on?" At the sound of familiar voice Tact raised his head back to the monitors...

To discover Will sitting in the cockpit of an emblem frame!

"Will!? What are you doing!?"


Earlier

...Hang on, hadn't the woman that had sent me here say something about implementing 'needed knowledge' in my head?

Yeah, she'd definitely said that and that was why I'd gained a headache during the encounter. Was it possible that the needed knowledge was the instructions and knowledge in piloting this mysterious emblem frame?

If anything, it was worth a check. It was that fact that led to me entering the hanger instead of moving towards the infirmary.

...In the end I'd decided to play that woman's game.

As expected the hanger was huge, easily spamming over several hundred metres in length and height to contain the five emblem frames that were stationed here. Tucked in at the far back was some form of control tower that was probably used to operate the hanger doors and serve as something similar to the control towers found in airports.

It was in a space that seemed almost hidden away at the very edge of the hanger that I found what I was looking for.

Sitting there just gathering dust was a silver emblem frame that was shaped into a giant condor with both of its wings holding a missile launcher and rail gun as well as seemingly holding a hidden compartment which probably held some kind of explosive charges. Connected to the back was a form of shield that was looped over the engines and the cockpit set up directly below it.

All and all I found it a beautiful piece of machinery.

"Hey, who are you?" I broke off from looking at the beautiful ship at hearing the voice of Creta who was looking at me in suspicion.

No surprising seeing as we hadn't spoken yet.

"William Johnson, the guy you picked up earlier." I said for around the dozenth time now- nice exaggeration me- before taking my focus back to the silver frame. It was... odd; just looking at it sparked some form of connection within me.

This machine was mine, this beautiful creation of steel belonged to me and me alone... it was that kind of feeling.

"What's her name?" I ended up asking after a few moments of silence.

"...We don't have a name for her. No one's been able to get her to work ever since she was discovered with the rest of the emblem frames. All we have are her specs and the unit number: GA008."

008... unit 8. An unknown, completely new emblem frame that hadn't existed within the game. Another new variable that had been thrown into the mix of this coup for reasons probably known only to that mysterious woman.

And it was mine.

"Is that so? Well then, lets see if she rejects me as well." Ignoring Creta's objections and warnings I moved straight towards the unknown frame and placed a single hand onto the armour.

What happened next shook me to the core.

'Registration of pilot initiated.

Subject: William Haraway

Mental state: happy, if slightly confused with traces of shock... acceptable

Current status of compatibility with GA008: approximately 30%

...compatibility registered as acceptable for current situation.

Powering up systems; please enter the pilots seat master Haraway'

...I stood stiff as a statue with my jaw hanging out in shock. The voice that had come from the unknown frame... had sounded far too familiar to be a simply coincidence. The softness of the tone, the slight trace of amusement when addressing my mental state, the overall light-heartedness...

It could only be the voice of Hikari; the girl that had died in that story I told Mint.

As if that wasn't enough to raise an eyebrow over the fact that it had used my Mothers maiden name instead of my fathers was extremely strange.

As was the fact that this AI- for what else could it be?- knew my name; as if I were in its database.

How?

With these questions running through my head I entered the opened cockpit on autopilot and sat down into the chair; allowing the HALO system above my head to run its magic.

Within half a minute we were out the hanger... wait, what!? Considering Creta's earlier objections there was no way she was going to authorise me leaving the hanger within the emblem frame so how-

'Worry not, master.' Hikari's- no, the AI's voice spoke up once more. 'It was relatively straight forward to hack into the Hanger controls.'

'Don't admit to such things like it was a walk in the park!'

'...Have I performed an incorrect action master?' The voice suddenly became rather sad and acted just the way Hikari's saddened one did. 'I... I was merely performing the best course of action that existed in that situation. In order to assist the predecessor units we needed to leave and hacking seemed the most effective solution. Was I... wrong?'

A pressure that I hadn't felt in two years came over my heart. Despite the voice coming from a machine and not her just hearing Hikari's sad voice was pulling at chord strings in my heart that were making me want to beg for forgiveness for making the ship upset... wait a second.

How the heck did the AI hear that!? I hadn't said it out loud so-

'Quite simple Master, from the moment you connected to me we became able to speak with each other through your mind... think of it as a telepathic conversation between two psychics.'

'...So only I can hear you then?'

'Correct, though it may be possible for Miss Blancmanche to enter the conversation as well due to her abilities as a telepath.'

'I see... so what kind of combat abilities does this emblem frame possess?'

'As shown from the wings the GA008- no known name is currently available for this unit yet- possesses both missile and railgun armaments on each of its wings that possess a range of 4000 kilometres as well as explosive charges that are utilised by the spirit metre. In addition to those weapons and the shield that protects the rear of the frame the railguns can be swapped out to equip laser cannons to pierce through enemy armour- also at a range of 4000 kilometres.

'I see.'

I nodded to myself as I heard the information. In simple terms it was a frame that was build for multiple situations while focussing on defence to the rear... in other words it was a ship made to perform a quick hit-and-run tactic like an assassin. This probably meant that it was built to be fast and so didn't possess as much armour as it could similar to Ranpha's kung-fu fighter.

Hmm... if that's true then I'll have to be careful while in battle in avoid being surrounded. My role is to sabotage the enemy not face them head no after all.

...Damn it, I'm already getting into the idea of fighting even though I should be nervous as heck right now in regards to what everyone will be thinking and saying.

...Oh well, I'll have to cross that bridge when I get to it. For now dealing with the problem of the enemy is more important.

With that in mind I turn on a comm call to the Bridge.

"Hey Tact, mind filling me in on what's going on?"

"Will!? What are you doing!?" His shock spoke for itself but I didn't have time to worry about it.

"Let's talk about this later k? I think dealing with whatever's going on is more important; don't you?"

"...Alright, we've hit a snag with an unknown enemy turret being placed on the surface of one of the asteroids." He quickly explained realising arguing wouldn't accomplish anything. "Its laser fire can pierce through and heavily damage any of the emblem frames while also possessing a long range of at least 6000 kilometres... both Ranpha and Mint have both taken just scratches from the attack and were both brought down to 20%."

...Damn, I didn't think such a thing was possible but already the fights have become hard as hell!

It was while thinking that that I was sent the data and image of the unknown turret... I was hit with yet another shock.

"B-Baby magnum!?" Yes, the main spherical body, the seven main cannons hanging on the back, the reverse Y undercarriage. What else could this be but the first generation object called the baby magnum!? [1]

"Huh, you recognise it?"

"...Yeah, it looks eerily similar to a super weapon described in a sci-fi novel I read once; though it was designed to fight on a planets surface instead of in space."

At hearing this Tact went into thinking mode which allowed me time to think of why the enemy would choose such a model. While it was true in the universe of where objects existed they were considered synonymous of war but it made no sense to have them here.

And yet here one was... and it was proving to be a difficult obstacle.

A single blast from the main gun could critically damage an emblem frame by merely scratching it, a direct hit would probably destroy the frame in one shot. On top of that it possessed an insane range...

The question was, what to do?"

'Master?' I could hear Hika-... the AI's concern echoing through my head but I paid it no mind.

In order to beat an object you have to be smart. Even if I wasn't just a flesh and blood soldier like the protagonists in that series and was instead in an emblem frame one false step would have me eating laser fire and going out in a blaze of shame.

Think, think, THINK!

...Hang on, what's up with the cannons? Giving a quick order to Hikari to enlarge the current image of the baby magnum brought me to seeing two broken cannons out of the seven main ones. Judging from how the material used to make them seemed to be melted off it could be assumed that the cause had been...

Ah, got it.

A smile crept onto my face as a plan came together.

"Tact, it seems this thing wasn't made properly. See the cannons? A single shot caused the whole thing to melt."

The spiky-haired man took a quick look before his eyes widened in realisation. It seems he came to the same conclusion as me.

"That means..."

"That thing only has five shots left before the main guns are all gone." I finished.

It was a simple design flaw; in order to maximise the power of the lasers they had neglected to fully create the armour or provide the materials needed to withstand the heat of the laser itself. Therefore whenever one of the cannons fired it became inoperable afterwards.

It was a literal case of a glass cannon; extremely powerful but little else in terms of combat.

Still, that meant that beating it was possible. If a emblem frame with the necessary speed to dodge the laser fire until either the object ran out of shots or until they managed to get within range of their own guns then it was victory...

Hang on, wasn't my frame built with speed in mind?

"...I've got it Tact." I finally spoke up after a few moments of contemplation. "My emblem frame was built to prioritise speed to sabotage enemy units so that the others could deal with the main threat. I could easily act as a decoy and dodge the cannons until they were all gone or try and take them out myself. Your call commander."

Tact didn't say anything for a few moments. He seemed to be weighing the pros and cons of either option in his head.

On one hand he didn't have to risk using more than one emblem frame by solely relying on me... and on the other hand he would have to rely on an untested, unreliable pilot.

In terms of pure strategy relying solely on me was the better option as it was a one over the many type thing.

In terms of personal feelings it was risking the life of a new friend- and a civilian to boot.

It was probably a difficult decision to make... but we didn't have time to dilly-dally. Rezom and his reinforcements were going were going to appear sooner or later and if we were still dealing with the 'object' by that time then we were going to be in serious trouble with a true pincer attack coming from both sides.

It was just when I was going to announce that I was going that Tact finally spoke once more. "Alright... I've decided to count on you for this Will. While Ranpha could probably do the same thing she's still a bit shaken from the earlier attack; with that being the case we've only got you to rely on."

I nodded in acceptance. "Got it, I'll be sure to deal with this as quickly as I can."

"Alright, just be extremely careful got it?" I gave another nod which signalled the end of the conversation. Tact shut off the chat and allowed me to concentrate on the daunting task before me.

I could feel sweat begin to pour down my brow as my nerves began acting up in worry. There was a serious chance I was going to die here. There was a serious chance of me blowing up in flames at the slightest mistake.

...But I couldn't back down here. I'd chosen this path and I was going to see it through to the end. With that feeling in mind I got GA008 moving towards the target... I'm seriously going to have to name it when this was done.

Regardless, the next minute consisted of just me flying towards the bridge in-between the two asteroids in silence; no other channels from the angels opened up and the AI stayed silent throughout that tense minute.

It was when I reached the 6000 mark that things picked up.

The moment I entered that range the camera following the actions of the 'object' showed the giant sphere moving its main cannon in aiming directly at my position and firing a single shot towards me.

I narrowly dodged the shot in its entirety by the skin of my teeth.

As expected the cannon that had fired appeared to have melted down upon firing the laser.

Four shots left.

I clenched my hands around the joystick type steering controls and continued moving forward. I twirled around the area in several 360 spins in an attempt to throw off the 'objects' aim while moving slightly from side to side to further confuse the aiming mechanisms.

This seemed to work slightly as not a single shot was fired for the next 1000 kilometres.

5000 to go until we were next to each other. 1000 more until I was in range with my own weapons.

Then the fourth shot rang out through the emptiness of space and I was sent flying as I was grazed on one of the wings; critically damaging the exterior of it and all but destroying the guns on that wing.

Thankfully the explosive charges within didn't ignite otherwise I probably wouldn't have survived.

Pain, a dull pain came to acquaint itself with my head as the shaking of the frame caused me to bang against the controls.

A faint trail of blood fell from where I'd hit it but I didn't have time to deal with that. The hull was down to- you guessed it- 20% and half of my available weapons were gone.

The insult to the injury? I was still in the 6000 range so Vanilla couldn't come and heal me. With that being the case I immediately began moving once more just in time to avoid the fifth shot.

Two left... and a strike from either one- graze of otherwise- meant death.

Definitely feeling the pressure now.

'Master, please allow me to-'

"You don't need to do anything right now." I cut off whatever it wanted to say while moving to dodge the sixth shot.

One left.

"Just one left... C'mon!" I burst forward; having the chrono string engine move at its maximum speed I charged ahead.

5000

4800

4600

4400

4200

4000-

It was fired, the moment I entered attacking distance with my railguns and missiles the final shot was fired. I twisted and turned the frame with all my might and...

I was blown away, not from the laser striking me... but from the frame being pushed aside as the familiar image of the harvester took the laser shot head on with its shield.

An explosion set me flying at an accelerated rate while the harvester was sent flying in the opposite direction. By some sheer miracle it hadn't exploded- maybe the shield had managed to defract the light coming from the laser somewhat?- but it was obvious just from viewing it with the human eye that it was seriously damaged. Flames sprouted from where the circular shield was and the lack of movement from the thrusters showed they were offline.

The harvester had well and truly shut down.

"VANILLA!" I moved in an instant; using nothing but a pure sense of will I managed to cease the movement of the frame before blasting it forward towards the harvester at the fastest speed I could muster.

Everyone else must have heard the plan from Tact and so had been counting the number of shots as they were all moving to the 'object' but I paid them little mind.

All I could focus on was the green haired girl that had clung to me for the last hour.

She had to be alight.

She had to be alright.

SHE HAD TO BE ALIGHT!

'Master, please calm yourself; I am detecting life signs from predecessor unit GA005 meaning the pilot is still alive.' At the AI's words I felt immediate relief. Sh-...it was right; acting like this will probably only make things worst.

I have to keep calm less I make that girl worry.

By the time I'd made it to the Harvester and managed to get it to stop it seemed the rest of the girls had managed to destroy the 'object' and were mopping up the rest of the fleet. With the knowledge that I was safe to move the ship for the time being I used the still operable wing to drag the damaged frame as slowly as I could towards the Elsior.


Well, that's the end of the chapter guys... told you the fight would suck.

[1]: The baby magnum, for those who don't know, is a product from the light novel/anime heavy object which was create by Kazuma Kamachi; the writer of to aru majutsu no index. I do not own it.

Anyway, stay tuned for next time where I'll have Shiva's debut and we deal with the ramifications of Will's choice.

Until then, see you next time.