Heeyyyy, I present to you a new chapter! Enjoy!

I don't own Armored Core and Muv-Luv

Chapter 5: After-Action

Somewhere in Sadogashima…

"Record new log entry."

[Recording Log…]

Loop 2, Log #19. September 12, 2074.

The attack succeeded. While there's a few mishaps along the way, we still pulled through despite the heavy casualties. The large amount of death toll is quite expected, though.

So initially, the plan for the invasion was this: The navy will launch a diversionary attack with the subs leading them. While the Harvester shooters are goin' at it, we LYNXes along with the first wave of the landing force will storm the beach. The first wave, along with me and Cyril, will be responsible for clearing the shores for the other forces, while the other LYNX will be destroying all of the shooters so that our aircraft, along with the rest of our forces, could go in. Sounds simple, right?

But you know the saying, no plan survives first contact.

So at first, everything went as planned. We landed our forces, wiped out the major threats, and we advanced to the Hive. But at that point, shit suddenly hits the fan.

We didn't account for any WATCHERs hidden underground, or an SS Strain sent in as reinforcements. Note to self: Tell the Intelligence Department to include muddy places as a possible danger area. Damn mud renders our Bio-Sensors partially useless.

Neo and Gerald managed to take out the Type-LAMPREYs, so there's not much of a problem for our ground forces to deal with. It's our aerial assets that suffered the most. Those sneaky Type-WATCHERs could've wiped out our aircraft within a minute if it weren't for my interference.

So, casualties. So as of now, we lost an estimate of 8500 men, 114 ACs, 463 MTs, 972 vehicles, about 2500 aircraft, and 46 ships. But then, that's not final as cleanup ops are still ongoing, but Omer sent a group of Eclipse AFs, so I'm not worrying too much about the death count rising up any further.

The Harvesters are getting smarter, I'll give them that. But it won't stay that way for long 'cause I got a plan. I'll talk with Cyril about it later, he might be interested.

While Thermidor and the others are still inside the Hive as they wipe out the remaining stragglers, I'm flying around the island, feasting my eyes at the sight of destroyed mechs and abandoned structures. These ruins gave the League the assumption that there's a high chance that there's still people around here. But then, as I was looking at the ruins, there's this question that popped out of my mind…

If the locals have a tech base that's advanced enough they can build combat mecha as big as the 00-ARETHA, why in the hell didn't they take any actions to reclaim this island from the Harvesters?

Is it because they were killed off? Have they lost the war that they declared this Earth a lost cause and left the planet? Or did they simply reach a stalemate?

You know what, I'll just go down the ruins and investigate. Maybe I'll get my answers that way. End log.

[Log recorded.]

"Open hatch."

[Hatch Opened. AS input changed to wireless mode.]

Leo opted to use his armor's boosters instead of using telekinesis to slow down his fall, seeing that he still had the migraine because he haven't done a psychic attack of that scale for a while now. The attack he used had a similar mechanics to the Gachirin's LETHALDOSE Assault Cannon, as it takes up the Kojima Particles in the Primal Armor and use it as a very powerful energy-based projectile that acts like Assault Armor.

Since his PA had a significantly higher concentrations of K-Particles than all known NEXTs, he can create up to a dozen Assault Armor-like projectiles that are more powerful than what any NEXT build could fire with a LETHALDOSE. But still, he used it to create an attack that wiped out hundreds of Harvesters at once at scattered areas all over the battlefield, hence the migraine.

Seeing that there's no hostiles around the vicinity, Leo jogged towards the destroyed mech. As he mentioned earlier, it is as big, if not bigger than the Aretha, and that was the biggest NEXT model the League have. But then, size is not the deciding factor in combat, but rather the capabilities.

He came closer and examined the mech. Just like his, it is using tubes for movement, but with different materials. Not to mention that said tubes are very thick, unlike the ones in his NEXT that are about 4 inches thin and that the way they were placed is analogous to the muscle fibers in the human body, although the design made his NEXT stronger and more flexible than even the best NEXT builds out there.

He also noticed the weapons it had, and this made him raise an eyebrow. "An oversized sword, and a gun that looked like that old submachine gun model I've seen in Neo's gun collection. What was it called again, FN P90? Yeah, I think it is." He muttered to no one in particular. He might bring those back with him for analysis. He admitted that the sword looked cool, but his laser blade is still cooler.

He also noted the boosters behind it. "Vector thrusting, huh? I guess that makes it somehow capable of sustained flight, and looking at the mech's design, it probably have the speed and maneuverability of a helicopter."

He then climbed up to the cockpit that seemed to be breached from the outside, and boy he was a bit ticked off at the design. "These things, these… machines, that are much larger than most NEXT frames we have, are being controlled by a bunch of buttons, some pedals, and a couple joysticks?! At least our Normal ACs use a combination of an integrated haptic exosuit, voice recognition, motion capture, and brainwave pattern recognition for the controls! Hell, only the first generation Armored Cores use buttons and joysticks. I bet these things only got preprogrammed move sets. Controlling these things must be a nightmare…" he internally ranted, ignoring the dried bloodstains all over the pilot seat.

Before he went out of the ruined mech, he took a sizable chunk of its armor with his telekinesis, and he was quite surprised to find that it's more lightweight than he expected. "Wow, I guess my calculation's wrong. Whatever's in the material these guys used for their mechs, it made these things light enough that they can possibly fly as fast as a plane. A plane!"

Pocketing the sample, he went down the mech and proceeded to the nearby house. He tried to search for any clues to figure out something, anything as to what happened here. Fortunately, his search ended when he found a few nonfictional books in one of the rooms for him to read. What's more, he also found a computer, but…

"Man, this thing's old. Very old." He sighed. This computer is probably dated in the late 20th to early 21st century. Computer models like the one before him are already considered as antiquated and very rare back home. "Good thing I still know how to operate 'em. And I know just the right thing to make this thing work."

He then took the computer's system unit (along with its cable and AVR) and carried it off with his telekinesis towards his NEXT's cockpit. He remembered that he had a few stuff in his cockpit's storage compartment that he once thought that could be of use in the future, and he was right about it.

He took a cable with alligator clamps in both sides, a small hydrogen fuel cell, a standard-issued Mk. IX Multipurpose Nanoshifting Tool (MPNST) that could morph to any tool the user needs due to it being made of nanomachines, and a few meters of wire. Taking off his helmet, he then set to work on powering the unit and wiring it to his NEXT's interface.

Once he gets all the info he needed in the computer, he'll try to fix the electronics in the dead mech so he can get some more clues.

Meanwhile, at Yokohama Base…

"Lieutenant Sandek, welcome to Yokohama Base." Radhabinod offered his hand to the Polish officer as a greeting, which the man shook in response. Sandek isn't alone as he brought a couple of Spetsnaz operatives with him, but they have no other orders but to protect him on the worst case scenario, which is the unknowns being hostile to them on contact.

Though he hoped that such a case won't ever happen. They're already having a hard time against the BETA, and they can't afford a three-way war looking at the situation they're facing right now.

"A pleasure, general. Were you informed why I'm here?" he inquired. "Yes, and it seemed that there's a high probability of Espers within the ranks of the unknowns, and your superiors are interested to know who are those individuals. Anyway, Ms. Kouzuki will brief you on the details of the situation at Sadogashima, follow me lieutenant." The general answered.

At the conference room, both Yuuko and Yashiro are observing the live footage of Sadogashima as they waiting for their visitor to arrive. A few minutes later, Radhabinod and Sandek entered the room and Yuuko exchanged greetings with the latter.

"Ms. Kouzuki, a pleasure meeting one of the greatest scientific minds of this era." The lieutenant greeted her, which the scientist nodded in return. He then turned to Yuuko's assistant, "You're Trista, also known as Yashiro, correct? I trust that you've been fine in your stay here?" the girl said yes in reply.

He started, "Alright, you all know why I'm here so I'm not gonna ask about that. Say, you're planning to send an envoy to contact these people, yes?" they all nodded in confirmation. Yuuko piped in, "It's not just UN. The Shogun herself and a representative from America are joining us, so we have to move the schedule 2 days from now because they're coming in as well tomorrow to meet the unknowns."

Jerzy rubbed the bridge of his nose upon hearing the news. "Right, Americans. The Japanese I can understand, but Americans? They're likely up to no good." He then asked Radhabinod, "Who's the American envoy, anyway?" the general shrugged, "The only thing they told us is that their envoy will also act on the behalf of Alt V."

"Alt V, huh? Looks like they're thinking the unknowns have the technology they need to speed up the construction of the colony ships." The lieutenant surmised. "What of the Europeans? Are they sending in a representative as well?"

Yuuko shook her head, "They haven't said anything yet. They're likely busy dealing with their own problems as of late." He held a look of understanding at her answer.

"The unknowns… Is there anything to take note about them? Have they succeeded in their attempted invasion?" he inquired. She motioned him to the live footage being presented. He slightly widened his eyes upon the sight.

"By God, they've actually done it…" he muttered in shock. He was told that the unknowns held advanced tech, but not to this level that he's seeing right now. Yuuko then began, "They managed to take the Sadogashima Hive 12 hours from now, utilizing technology more advanced than ours. An example to their technological superiority are the energy weapons and other powerful weaponry they've used against the BETA to great effect. Hell, the BETA sprung a trap for them, only for it to fail within mere minutes."

Now this piqued his interest much further. "Tell me more."

Back to Leo…

Leo was whistling various nursery rhymes as he was nearly done fixing the electronics of the ruined mech he found. The old computer only had little help as he only saw civilian documents and other miscellaneous files, but he supposed that anything counts, so he saved them for future references.

"Just connect this two wires and… done!" his face had a victorious grin as he saw the cockpit light up to life as the instruments started to work once more. He then checked if everything's up and working, and upon seeing no errors, gave himself a nod of satisfaction.

"Okay, let's see what you've got…" he muttered as he fiddled around with the buttons. Most of them didn't do anything, which meant that they were for the components outside the cockpit that doesn't work anymore. However, one button opened up the communications of the unit.

He then heard radio chatter over the comms, but he can't understand a thing in what they're saying. He can only discern that they were speaking in Japanese as he caught on a few words from the locals that he heard from Kasumi. "I wish I took her offer to teach me Japanese…" he depressively thought.

A very faint sound of jet boosters were picked up by his ears, which prompted him to get out of the cockpit and see what made the noise. After looking around for a while, he was no less surprised to see a delta-winged drone flying around the vicinity, and he's very sure that it's not one of theirs.

"Must be the locals…" he mused as he cheekily grinned and waved at the drone. He's wearing his helmet, so it wouldn't hurt to do so without jeopardizing his identity. However, his vacant time seemed to be over as the built-in comms in his helmet crackled.

"Leo, the hell you've been doing here?" Kasumi said as he saw her NEXT along with Thermidor's. He replied, "Nothing. Just exploring and finding some clues. The battle's over now?"

She rolled her eyes, "It has been for the last 15 minutes. What are you doing with that machine, anyway?" he replied, "just doing some investigations. Things are much clearer to me than before with regards to these folks."

"Right. You want to bring that thing back to base?" Thermidor asked. Although he wishes that Leo says no, he already knew the answer. He mentally cursed himself, "shit, why did I even suggest that…"

"Yeah sure, why not."

"Damnit. Just, carry that thing yourself, okay? We're not going to call any lift choppers for that."

"Aw, come on!"

Okay, that's 2.3 K words! So, contact will likely happen in the next chapter. I dunno who I should put as the American envoy that is a pro-Alt V, so help me please! Either PM me the name and description of an OC, or give me an existing Muv-Luv character that fits the bill. That'll be all, folks! JaphetSkie, signing out.