The Dasvanu, unknown star system, Milky Way Galaxy.
Barely ten minutes and passed since the incident with the mech, but now it was official: it had been only a distraction or had sent out a signal that alerted their current attackers of their position. Biwig was now interrogating Dr. Leingod on any information that he had. "Do you have any idea on what those things that are attacking us are?!" the leader of the Vendeeni angrily questioned as he pointed to the numerous hostile dots that had appeared on a screen.
"By their numbers, it's probably a large swarm of Disorder Units: Martian weapons that had caused chaos back in S.D. 272 on Earth. They were also responsible for a number of incidents back on Mars years beforehand. These are probably an entire space fleet of them, but I can't identify and isolate the mothership from the rest of this swarm. It's probably out of range." Robert said in a calm tone.
"Warning! Shield Strength is now at 10%." the AI systems announced.
As one of the Dasvanu's cannons tried to lock onto a small Disorder Unit that had been identified as a Luciole Space-Variant, it suddenly switched its targeting to another Vendeeni battleship that had arrived to help and fired at its engines, destroying one of them in a single strike and causing a chain reaction that destroyed the support.
"Whoa, watch your fire!" A ship in the fleet transmitted to the Dasvanu.
"That wasn't us. There appears to be something wrong." Intelligence transmitted out.
As Biwig contemplated on what was going on, he heard a loud crash as something rammed into the Dasvanu.
"This is Lambda six-four! Enemy boarders have landed on the Dasvanu!" Biwig heard.
"All personnel, repel the boarders! I'll handle the bridge with Intelligence!" Biwig shouted.
As several soldiers left, Intelligence began a manual diagnostic of the Dasvanu's systems. It took only four minutes and then Biwig looked at the results. It was not good: the Dasvanu's weapon systems had been compromised.
"This is the Dasvanu! Our weapons systems have been hacked into by an unknown enemy and we are being boarded! I repeat, the Dasvanu has been compromised by the enemy!" Intelligence transmitted.
"Understood. Contacting another fleet to request emergency assistance. Whoever or whatever we're facing, they are relentless. Good, but relentless." another ship responded.
As Biwig readied his Disintegration Rifle, he moved into a small corridor and got a good look at one of the boarding enemies. It was a green quad-legged mech that barely fit into the cramped space that was the corridor. It ignored him and fired a green energy weapon at several other Vendeeni soldiers, many of whom died. Biwig didn't have any second thoughts when he blasted it and destroyed it.
"That's Disorder technology! This means. . . ah, damn it! Soldiers, We're through with these enemies! We need to find out how they're getting on-board and destroy it!" Biwig said as he rallied the remaining soldiers to him and cleared many of the Disorder Units from the Dasvanu. However, there was something odd. The Disorder Units were coming from the large, orange, and rectangular openings that had not been there earlier.
"All soldiers, watch those orange openings and destroy any Disorders that come out! I figured out how they're getting in!"
"How?" a soldier asked.
Biwig then brought up a screen that answered the soldier's question: a lance with a rectangular point buried itself into a virtual representation of a Vendeeni Battle-class ship, burning a hole into the ship's hull quickly and carefully.
"That's how these Disorders are getting on our ship: They are attacking our hull with those lance-like ships! Our weapons can't hurt those lances. They'll have to be manually removed when we get back to a spaceport for repairs."
Biwig then hurried to another part of the Dasvanu, where he saw a blur of black rush by and head through a suspicious opening. Remembering that he could breathe fine in any conditions due to his mask, Biwig followed it to see a man wearing a flight uniform complete with helmet get into a giant mech that then kneeled down to let someone that the Vendeeni leader could not see climb into the machine before it closed its cockpit, got back up, and then took off through a hole made in the ship's armor. Heading back to the bridge, Biwig notices that Robert Leingod had not moved from where he was left.
"Well, it's going to take us some time before we can figure out how those Disorder Units found us so quickly. I checked the radar screens with some help from Dr. Leingod and I found out what had hacked this ship's weaponry: A giant mech that had used the Disorder Units to distract the weapons systems while it dug a hole into the hull for it to enter." Intelligence said to Biwig.
Another screen popped up and it detailed the mech in question. Robert said in disbelief, "No way. . ."
"Damn! A Raven! No doubt that this one used the Disorders to occupy us while he accomplished another objective!"
"Sir!" a Vendeeni soldier that had returned said.
"What's the issue?" Biwig asked.
"Those lances that embedded into our ship are out of Disorder Units. More are on their way, but the really bad news is that Sophia Esteed is missing!"
"WHAT?! What do you mean missing?! You mean she's not on the ship anymore?!"
"Unfortunately so, sir. That Raven must have grabbed her and escaped while we were busy with the Disorder Units that had boarded."
"Damn! We'll have to scour the entire galaxy for her now! But regardless of that, we need to get out of here and fast!"
"This is Vendeen Fleet 17, we have arrived to help!" A Vendeeni Battle-class ship transmitted.
"This is the Dasvanu, we have suffered serious structural damage and our shields are no longer functional. Recommendations?" Intelligence transmitted.
"Return home. We'll handle the Disorder threat here."
As the Dasvanu's engines roared to life, Biwig said to everyone, 'Hold on to something! This is going to be a bumpy ride back home, boys!"
Then, the Dasvanu jumped into slip-space and warped away. Meanwhile, inside of the bridge of a stealthed Colony-Class Battle Carrier, a man wearing a flight uniform walked in with a young girl who appeared to be 17 years of age.
"This is the Bridge of the Battle Carrier known as the Anger of Mars. From here, me and two other Ravens have been operating for the past six months or so. The exact date that we awoke is the problem, though. We can't remember, but all of us awoke some time before today. Alright, this Cyborg has rambled enough. My name is Strider Stormblaze. Who are you?" he asked.
The girl then answered, "I am Sophia Esteed. Nice to meet you, Strider."
"Well then, from what information that I have gathered and the tracer on his mech, my buddy Tyree Frostmorn has ended up on Elicoor II. We'll be heading there once my other allies arrive."
"That won't be necessary, Strider." a female voice said.
Two female Ravens, one of whom had blond hair and the other had dyed Emerald green hair, entered the Bridge. "So who's this girl?" The emerald-hair asked Strider.
"Sophia Esteed. We'll be heading for Elicoor II now. Get ready."
To be Continued. . .
Infodump: Some things to answer here include the space Disorder Units and the Martian space tech.
Space Disorder Units
Luciole Space-Variant
Description: This thing is shaped the same way as the regular Luciole, which is a flying Disorder Unit that appears twice in Armored Core 2. The first time one of these is faced is on the Hammerhead Space Station while another is fought on Phobos. The Luciole Space-Variant has pathetic armor, but its weaponry packs a serious punch and they often show up in massive swarms, easily overwhelming combat fleets from Federation, Aldian, or Vendeeni space with sheer numbers.
Weapons: Pulse missiles, Plasma Launchers, energy guns
Armor: Weak
Speed: Mediocre, unable to attain warp speed.
Boarding Lance
Description: These things are prepared by Battle Carriers and then launched into space with the intent of piercing an enemy ship's hull and delivering their Ameise payload inside to cripple the enemy's ability to fight.
Weapons: None
Armor: Decent
Speed: Fast
Battle Carrier
Description: A space vessel that is exclusively Martian technology, Battle Carriers prepare and deploy Boarding Lances from their foundries. Battle Carriers come in two varieties: the Colony-Class and the Hive-Class. The Colony-Class is more heavily armored and has a higher carrying capacity that the more offense-oriented Hive-Class, which is also faster. Essentially, the main backbone of the Martian space fleets are not Battle-class ships, but Battle Carriers of both the Colony and Hive classes.
Colony-Class Stats
Weapons: Pulse Cannons, Plasma Launchers, Pulse Torpedoes, and Orbit Drones equipped with Antimatter Cannons
Armor: Extremely Durable
Speed: Slow-Mediocre range
Hive-Class Stats
Weapons: Pulse Torpedoes, Plasma Launchers, Pulse Mortars, Pulse Cannons, Antimatter Cannons, and the 'Force of Phobos' Beam weapon
Armor: Durable
Speed: Fast
Martian Weaponry
Pulse Torpedo
Description: An energy warhead capable of causing great destruction, but its power is mainly used to destroy shields since only five of these are needed to bring down Space-Time Displacement Shields and their Vendeeni and Aldian equivalents and one instantly causes other shields to collapse.
Pulse Missile
Description: An energy missile that is weaker than the Pulse Torpedo in terms of sheer power, but these are smaller and harder to intercept and destroy.
Plasma Launcher
Description: The main weapon on Martian Battle Carriers and battle-class ships, these have a very long maximum range and fire very fast for something that has the capability to destroy enemy fleets before their weapons can be used. Not very effective against shields, though. Was created unintentionally while developing a similar armament, the 'Force of Phobos.'
Antimatter Cannon
Description: This weapon is a standard armament on Martian spacecraft, so it is not surprising that they are mediocre in all stats.
'Force of Phobos'
Description: A massive beam weapon that has not been used against the Vendeeni, Aldians, or Federation yet, but it is capable to destroying a planet with a single shot. Ships, shielded or not, don't stand a chance against this weapon.
Pulse Cannon
Description: Found on both Disorder Units and spacecraft alike, the Pulse Cannon is a Martian weapon that is useful against armor and shields equally and has both long range and a fast fire rate.
Pulse Mortar
Description: Only used on planetary targets, the Pulse Mortar is an effective way to destroy targets on a planet's surface without causing much collateral damage in the process.
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