Garrett roared around the corner in his warthog as he drove up a ramp with multiple security guards keeping people at bay as an Albatross sat on the platform, Magen and Helden loading the gear back on as Wilson started the transport up. The VTOL whined to life as Garrett parked the warthog and got out.
"Garrett, this is the captain what's your status?" Archerson said over a clip link on his ear.
"currently evacuating the area, grabbing our gear, and popping the DZ. Yours?" Garrett responded.
"heading down Elm street towards the bridge command base, however we have what looks like AMWSs running towards us, hostile, and owned by Albert to deter us. Guess he isn't gonna take KOS-MOS turning him down lightly" Archerson chuckled.
"understood. We'll intercept them then regroup. The Albatross is almost ready. Helden! Michaels! Mount up!" Garrett yelled out as both men looked at him and nodded, then jumped into the warthog.
"Pedal to the Metal!" Michaels yelled as Helden sat up in the passenger seat, a Spnkr 49 ready in hand.
"ready and willing sir!" Helden said with his Mexican accent as he gave a thumbs up. Garrett leapt back into the warthog and floored it down the ramp, gaining a bit of air before the wheels slammed down on the ground as they tore off to cut the AMWS squad from reaching the limos.
Garrett pulled the emergency brake and fishtailed around the corner as they headed parallel with Elms street.
"currently on highway 9, moving to cut them off, we almost have you on visual" Garrett said over the coms.
"what does he mean visual? Isn't he pretty far away?" Shion asked. Her words were answered as the warthog slammed through the railing wall and flew over the convoy of limos, slamming into the ground from twenty feet up before it skidded slightly and regained it's movement, before it turned and went down another street as the limos turned another direction.
"hey hey, try not to have too much fun out there you guys! This is an escort, not a gun and run!" Archerson yelled over the coms.
Garrett floored the gas pedal as the AMWS squad came into view, seven of them, all with assault rifles and rocket launchers attached to their shoulders. Michaels aimed the rail cannon on the back and fired, blasting the head off the lead mech. The first kill was theirs. They just had to finish the other six.
Rifle fire flew towards them as they fishtailed around a corner and headed down another street as the mechs chased after, firing wildly as the LRV swerved and cut corners to dodge the shells. Each round would have punched clean through the small vehicle, so Garrett had to use their mobility to keep from being taken out.
"head in there! Parking garage! It leads up! We'll have an easier time handling these bastards!" Michaels yelled as Garrett made a quick cut left, smashing through the control bar and shooting in, the guard yelling after them before jumping out of the way of the hostile mechs.
"how the hell did they get those things in here without the defense forces of the ship stopping them?" Helden asked.
"probably bribed a few to let them hold a small detachment, they were probably on patrol inside the ship to protect Albert when this whole shit pile happened" Michaels responded before firing 3 rounds towards another mech, knocking armor off the arms before a rocket flew towards them.
"Garrett! Scissor right!" Michaels yelled as Garrett did so, the big wheels having a difficult time catching a grip on the ground before gunning towards a ramp heading up. The rocket flew by and slammed into the wall, flames shooting from the explosion as they headed up the building.
"we're gonna run out of room to move soon!" Helden yelled as one mech tried to cut them off outside with a rocket flying through a wall opening, and Helden responded in turn with a lock on and an anti tank missile lancing out.
"Woo! Scratch one tin can!" Helden hollered as they went up another ramp, Michaels firing behind them.
"three more levels! We still got five of these Bendejos!" Helden said as Garrett flipped the warthog around with one deft roll of the wheel and went backwards as two mechs cleared the bottom ramp up. Both Michaels and Helden opened up as Garrett weaved and swerved back and forth as he headed towards the next ramp, both mechs exploding in balls of fire and shrapnel as the last three came up, shields on their arms.
"Keep firing you'll hit something!" Michaels yelled as they turned the ramp corner, reaching the top of the building and coming out on open rooftop.
"shit, we can't go any higher!" Michaels yelled as he fired a round, it punching into the shield of the lead mech before it returned fire, Garrett wheeling the warthog around the entrance and coming around behind them.
As the AMWS moved to follow, a quick slice from an unknown energy blade cut the head clean off, followed by a fairly high amount of chain gun fire hitting the next one in the chest, cutting through the armor quickly before the mech exploded. Garrett flipped the warthog around and stopped it, only to see a wisp of long white hair float around the corner and disappear. Someone just saved their asses, and didn't want to be seen.
Garrett checked his sensor display on his armor and detected an unstable IFF, similar to KOS-MOS. Ever since Mirie had made her flesh and blood, her life signs and registry on his HUD was difficult to keep track of, he had to hardkey her into the database to keep a lock on if she was in the vicinity, and even then she showed up as neutral, potentially friendly. This same sensor lock had just saved them, yet he knew perfectly clear that KOS-MOS was in a limo escaping the area.
"whoever that was, maybe a thanks would be liked, but we'll do it later, we still got one more" Michaels said behind Garrett as they aimed for the last mech coming up the ramp. The thing fired it's rocket pod wildly towards them as Garrett gunned the LRV in reverse, burning rubber as he backed up.
-----------------------------------------
Meanwhile
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"where did they go?" Shion asked as she looked out each window to watch for the warthog.
"probably decoying the squad coming to handle the convoy, don't worry about them, they'll be fine" Archerson told her as he checked the com listing.
"she's… awake… I don't know how… but… she's onboard…" Mirie whispered as the limo convoy came to a stop, before gunning it and heading down a ramp towards a highway. The ramp was suddenly cut off as an AMWS landed in front of them, and they diverted down an unfinished ramp area, then up over the highway. The convoy came to a halt as security guards jumped out of their trucks to protect the limos, firing as two more AMWS landed and opened fire on the surroundings, the convoy trapped.
"we gotta get out of here" Archerson said as Jr. leapt out of the limo, pulling both his pistols and firing at a nearby mech as the guards opened up. KOS-MOS leapt out and ran towards one, leapt, and fired her blaster rapidly as it's armor melted quickly, the last two rounds puncturing in and killing the pilot.
She landed only to find a second mech try and grab her, before she backflipped and tried to make her arm into her R blade. It didn't work. Instead, a golden bright light surrounded her arm, in the form of a blade, and she cut clean through the arm of the mech before it pulled back away.
"crap, another squad landing! Head's up!" Archerson yelled as he threw a plasma grenade, it sticking to the leg of the third mech and blew the foot off, the pilot trying to bail out as the mech fell backwards, before being cut to pieces by the security forces.
A second squad landed, as did a third, as ten AMWS walked towards them, killing half of the security.
"we're outnumbered! Damn it!" Jr. yelled as a lucky round from his pistol pierced the eye of one of the mechs, sending it tumbling to the ground. KOS-MOS called on her chain gun and opened up, the bullets doing mostly external armor damage before two brought up shields and walked in front.
"we don't have enough firepower!" Shion yelled as she fired her MWS.
"KOS-MOS, come to me" Mirie said as she started to channel what power she had into her hands, and KOS-MOS nodded. She stood in front of Mirie as the robed woman touched her back, and KOS-MOS gasped as her D-Teneritas began to condense over her chest, no longer requiring the transfer rods when she was a machine. The orb became much larger than she had previously done, and changed from blue to gold rapidly as she fired it, the round slamming into the ground and hitting every AMWS in the area. KOS-MOS pulled her knife from her boot and threw it, as Mirie threw her hands into the air as the knife pierced the sound barrier, hitting the bubble and destroying all the mechs.
"nice one!" Archerson said astonished as KOS-MOS retrieved her knife.
"oh no… another squad…" Jr. said sadly as a five man squad landed, this time with what looked like honor guard AMWS, fully equipped.
"I don't have enough strength for that again…" Mirie said as she fell to her knees, KOS-MOS backing up.
"KOS-MOS, can you?" Shion asked.
"I'm sorry, that took too much out of me, conventional weapons are my only alternative without Mirie to support me" she responded.
"then… I guess…" Shion said as she heard the lead mech order over loudspeakers "surrender, there is no escape."
Just as the lead mech aimed down at Shion when it stopped, the Albatross lifted up from it's spot below the unfinished ramp, the heavy VTOL equipped with four ARCHER XII missiles, and all of them arced lancing explosive death towards the squad, tearing it to pieces along with it's twin high explosive auto cannons.
"nice save Wilson" Magen patted him on the back as the VTOL landed, blowing wind and air around it as everyone watched and cheered.
"now, where's Garrett?" Magen asked just as the warthog smashed through the side of the building railing, landed on top of another building and kept going, before falling again towards the unfinished ramp nearby, the force of the landing rattling everyone in the vehicle as Garrett hit the emergency break and flipped the warthog, before driving in reverse as Michaels fired up. The mech was still not taken out, as it blocked most of the rounds with it's tower shield as it constantly returned fire.
"nice landing Garrett" Archerson said as Garrett brought the LRV to a stop in front of them before kicking out.
"Garrett, are you alr-" KOS-MOS tried to ask as Garrett ignored her, pulling a sniper rifle from the side carriage and propping it against the front of the warthog.
"um…" KOS-MOS tried to say before Archerson ran forward and grabbed a rifle.
"how many left?" Archerson asked.
"one, but he called reinforcements, I think it's the last squad" Garrett responded as he cocked the huge rifle, the sabot round inserting into the chamber. Garrett sat there, silent, as he tracked the mech flying over both buildings before landing on the ramp on the far side, before firing a thunder crack followed by a rocket and a rail round. All three pierced the mech, and the laws of physics bent the armor into a funnel shape out the back before it exploded in a ball of flame.
"clear?" Michaels asked.
"all clear. Last squad has been intercepted by security on com channel 4" Garrett said as he shouldered the sniper rifle, a low magnetic KLUNK heard from the armor.
"check for wounded, I'm hoping some of the security survived. How in the flying hell did they get that many inside this ship?" Archerson asked.
"planning" Magen responded as she checked the pulse of one of the security officers.
"heads up, I've got an unknown nearby" Garrett said as he suddenly crouched, everyone else suddenly becoming aware they were being watched.
"Mary…" a low voice was heard echoing.
"who the hell…" Michaels said as they aimed their rifles around.
"KOS-MOS… I cannot believe we all exist together… inexcusable.." the voice said.
"Garrett, you got a lock?" Archerson whispered as Garrett aimed around with the rifle.
"one" he said before a woman landed in front of them, twenty feet down the ramp, and stood up.
"what the fuck…" Greys said as he aimed his sniper rifle at her.
"please, do you really think that that weapon will have any effect on me?" the woman said.
"T-elos! how did she get onboard? how is she still alive?!" Shion gasped out as she stood there, white hair flowing backwards.
"that was probably the pod in the back of that truck Garrett saw, she was being held captive somehow, but you got me how you can keep her in there without her breaking out. Albert must have somehow caught her somewhere" Jr. said.
"hmmm... maybe my rounds won't normally work..." Greys responded before ejecting his clip and slamming in a red covered one.
"but this sure as hell will" he said with no emotion added, and aimed again.
"humph, you've obviously allied yourself with even more useless baggage… Mary, why did you do it? Why are KOS-MOS and I even still around?!" T-elos yelled as she took a step forward.
"I… cannot go by that name anymore T-elos. That name is of a person who no one here knows, and since then I have changed. my name is Mirie" Mirie said as she watched T-elos.
"so what, a name doesn't change who you are" T-elos smirked.
"maybe so, but that is not what has made me different now, and KOS-MOS, as well as you, are both no longer who or what you once were. You no longer can hold a grudge against us, as your previous allegiances have died" Mirie responded.
"do not tell me who my allegiances lie to fool! You who went against the only way to protect this universe! You have doomed us all!" T-elos yelled.
"there is another way… one that may benefit us all. There is still a way to save our universe, for peace. You would also be able to exist, T-elos" Mirie said.
"you expect me to just say it is alright after everything has happened? You are truly delusioned little prophet" T-elos growled.
"you have said it yourself, you wish to live. Considering that both you, KOS-MOS, and I, are of different souls now that you are living, why would you fight against a hope to continue doing so? To be yourself?" Mirie asked.
T-elos was in silence as everyone watched, three rifles aimed at her.
"I will not force you to come with us, I simply offer a chance to see what we fight for is right. You may leave at any time" Mirie said.
"whoa whoa whoa, you're gonna trust her? How do you know she won't kill us in our sleep?" Jr. asked.
"she won't, because she's curious as to how we will go about this. If I know how she will act, she will want to see this to the end. Her effort has died at Zarathustra. She has no connection to anything. She simply wants to survive. We can give her more than that, if she wants it" Mirie walked forward and offered her hand out, T-elos taking a step back.
"don't worry, you will not disappear, you are yourself now. You are welcome to join our group, T-elos" Mirie asked. T-elos looked down at her hand and thought over her options. She finally put her hand slowly, and placed it in Mirie's.
"we will all die before this plan of yours comes to fruition, and I will never see my hopes ever gained if you fail" T-elos said through gritted teeth, clearly angry.
"we will not fail. Trust me" Mirie smiled.
"drop your weapons boys, settle down" Magen finally said, a collective sigh of relief from the marines as T-elos and Mirie walked back to the group.
"you were the one who handled the two mechs on the rooftop" Garrett asked.
"and you were the one who can't dodge their fire at such close range" T-elos responded.
"hey, we could have handled it! Tell her Garrett" Michaels griped.
"she's right, we wouldn't have been able to maneuver up there" Helden said as he placed the rocket launcher in the passenger seat.
"try not to make it so common to save your pathetic hides in the future" T-elos smirked before walking towards the Albatross.
"we would have survived the fight, we can exit our vehicle at anytime, ma'am" Garrett responded.
"I was referring to the marines" she said before turning around and sizing Garrett up. Now that he was standing she clearly underestimated him, standing at seven feet tall and not a part of him unarmored, and she had no idea how he was outside of that vehicle in combat besides the round he fired at 900 yards towards the mech.
"hmmm… maybe not all of your baggage is useless…" T-elos whispered and stared up at the pair of blue goggles, and despite her not showing it, felt a twinge of fear at seeing his armored form.
"we should get to the bridge and figure out what's happening outside" Helmer said behind everyone.
"right, the med teams should be here any minute to help the wounded" Shion said as she climbed up into the back of the Albatross and took a seat, as did the others. KOS-MOS took a seat at the opening to the Albatross, as did Mirie, and T-elos sat on the opposite side, watching them.
"clip the cables and let's move!" Archerson yelled as Garrett helped mount the warthog on the back of the huge VTOL, before jumping up and grabbing a latch handle from the ceiling and clamping his boots down in front of KOS-MOS, staring out of the bay door. He gave the thumbs up to fly, and the armored transport lifted up from the ground and headed across the ship towards the bridge.
"I've got com chatter on three different channels sir, all of them heavy with combat" Wilson said over his shoulder as Archerson stared forward.
"I'm gonna hate myself for saying it, but lemme see what's going on" the captain said.
Wilson sighed and pressed the loud speakers inside the ship, as sounds of combat were heard from many of the ships.
"this is Alpha-Niner! We're hit! Blowing pod!" "this is the Chernobyl, we've taken heavy damage, we're just a transport ship! Please help us!" "federation cruiser Artanis coming to assist, sit tight Chernobyl" "we're hit! Decks 9-14 are destroyed!" "we need reinforcements!"
The captain turned the channel off as everyone looked downcast, the fleet tearing itself apart and at the same time separating itself into multiple groups.
"it's damned fucking chaos out there…" Magen said as she slammed her fist into the side of the ship.
"landing in three, two, one" Wilson said as the huge wheels flipped out from the bottom of the ship and clanked against the ground, Garrett the first to jump out and blow the latch controls for the warthog before sprinting towards the door to the elevator, Helden following as everyone clambered out.
"clear" Helden said as Garrett nodded and opened the door, sweeping the inside before everyone ran in, and he entered and closed the door.
The elevator rose to the top and everyone exited onto the bridge, the huge multi tiered room dwarfing even that of the Durandal, but circular, not spear shaped.
"we've lost the Northern Light! Two more frigates just went down!" a 100-series realian said as they furiously typed away at their keyboards.
"finally! You guys made it!" Miyuki said as she ran up to them, followed by Allen.
"ya, we got here as soon as we could, what's happening out there?" Shion said.
"well, for the most part, it doesn't look good. U-TIC and the pilgrimage fleet are unloading into anything they see while trying to forcibly land, anywhere, and Albert's fleet is causing havoc by making half of the fleet staying with us mark as hostile IFF tags as they try to take control of the city you were in. The Federation seems to be on our side however, which is good, as most of the ships aligned with us are just transports" Miyuki explained.
"wait a minute, how the hell did they find out we were in Mombassa?" Jr. asked.
"trajectory tracking, exit vector, datalogs and passage access and heat stress outside the Elsa, come on moron you should have this tech even at this day and age" Magen responded as he watched the view screen.
"hey shut your trap I was just asking!" Jr. yelled as he didn't like being insulted.
"well, regardless, they're setting of anti ship weapon systems and anti-air torpedoes, we can't follow them. We need to think up a plan, and soon. First, we need to save this fleet" Miyuki told everyone.
"if only we had the E.Ss available…" Shion said.
"we do" Momo told them.
"what?!" everyone gawked.
"we were able to find the parts of the destroyed E.Ss and rebuild them, with some of the old professor's blueprints left behind for the Erde Kaiser power plant. They won't act like they did with the animus relics inside of them, but they should still be better than any AMWS. We could at least help outside" Momo said as Wilson started to interject.
"uh, that's all good and all, big mechs on our side, but, from what I see, we got some narly looking boarding craft comin our way guys, and they seem to mean business."
"this is gonna take some effort then. We can't fight on two fronts" Miyuki said.
"leave that to us" Archerson responded.
"what? How?" Shion asked.
"we don't have mechs, which suits us just fine. Leave the ground pounding to us grunts inside the ship, go handle the outside. Marines!" Archerson barked and everyone saluted.
"suit up and rock and roll! Garrett, handle defense of the cargo bays, Wilson, Helden, reinforce the engineering, Magen, Greys, cover armories, make sure they can't gain anything to reinforce their offensive grid, Michaels, you're with me on bridge guard duty, keep em from breaching security here" Archerson ordered as all of them acknowledged.
"above all, give em hell for our namesake" Archerson smirked.
"sir! Yes sir!" the marines barked and left the bridge as Garrett surveyed the transports.
"what's wrong Garrett?" Archerson asked as he checked the view screen as well.
"wonder if they know any covenant tactics while they board" Garrett looked towards Archerson.
"you thinking Battle Cluster 42s break down is gonna happen here?" the captain asked.
"I think it would be a good idea to keep our mobility high in the event they do bring something on board" Garrett responded.
"understood. Keep me posted if they drop any presents for our welcome committee" Archerson said as both men walked to the bridge and went down.
"that leaves us" Shion said as Momo ushered them towards another elevator that headed to a special armory.
"wow, I can't believe you repaired all of them…" Jr. mumbled as they walked in, looking at the Asher, the Dinah, the Reuben, and the Zebulun.
"wait… we can only pilot three of them…" Shion suddenly said sadly as she looked at the wise Reuben.
"I will pilot it. Someone has to keep everyone from doing something stupid before I can even figure out what you intend to do afterwards" T-elos said as she walked towards the machine.
"no! that's my brother's! I won't let you!" Shion yelled at her.
"Shion, despite her harsh nature right now, she is trying to help us. Let her. It will do us no good to have no trust between either of us, someone must take the first step towards making the other feel more comfortable in the current state we are in" Mirie said behind her.
"alright… but I don't want to see any damage to it! You got that T-elos?" Shion said.
"as if those fools could ever touch me…" T-elos responded and leapt up to the cockpit and closed the hatch.
"KOS-MOS, let's go" Shion told the blue haired woman, and she nodded as both got inside Dinah and started it up. Errors crisscrossed over the tablet screens as they tried their best to alter the OS.
"Miyuki, we can't get her to start, the OS is problematic" Shion yelled down below.
"That's cause it's in testing mode, disable it and unlock the security cage" Miyuki yelled up.
"alright, trying it" Shion said as she typed in a flash of access codes. The cage uncoupled and the Dinah came to life, as did the Asher and the Zebulun.
"alright everyone, let's show these bastards they can't mess with us" Jr. said over the coms as they moved to the bay doors nearby.
"This is Captain Peterson of the F.S.S. Oredos, we're sending a small detachment of fighters and AMWS to escort you through the area, combat is heavy, good luck" a man said over com channel 7 to the Dinah.
"understood Captain, thank you for the assistance" she responded as she keyed in the IFF information of the Federation squadrons coming to help.
"time to see what the repairs have done. Captain Archerson, what's happening on your end?" Shion asked.
"Stand by, They're latched! Check your targets, watch the crossfire! Standard attack formation, humans up front, mechs in back. The instant they get through, let em have it!" the captain said on the other side.
"good luck Dinah, Archerson out" he finished before closing the com channel.
"KOS-MOS, let's go" Shion said as KOS-MOS nodded, the bay doors opening.
"come back safely" Mirie said down below as Miyuki watched next to her.