Disclaimer: You know the drill

Chap. 11

"So what the emergency Chief?"

All of the Space Knights assembled in the briefing room. Aki sat in her usual seat and motioned to the monitor.

"We have detected a fleet of Radham that is on course straight to the Earth. The fleet is not large in size, so risk battling them will be low."

So, we have an easy mission for once." David joked

"There's no purpose in fighting a weak opponent." Wufei countered.

Aki continued, "Not quite. We've also detected a second wave coming in from the opposite end of the Earth. Due to its considerable size, we believe that is the main fleet."

Natasha looked closely at the monitor, "So the first is a decoy?"

"No and yes. Although not as powerful, the first group can do considerable damage to the Earth if it gets close enough. We can not allow either fleet to reach Earth. Therefore, you will be divided into teams. Each team's purpose is to destroy its designated fleet. Yumi, you and David will take the main fleet while Natasha and Dead handle the first one."

"But dividing our forces like that will pose a significant problem."

The comment came from Trowa, which surprised everyone. Aside from Heero and Dead, Trowa spoke the least out of everyone

Hayato turned to him, "Hey, are you saying we can't handle it?"

Aki cut him off, "He's right. That is why two of you will be piloting one of these.  These Sol-tekka suits were constructed here, so they're not military issue. Each pilot will back up a group to assist in the battle. That should be enough to take down both groups. Wufei, you and Quatre will pilot the Sol-Tekkas. The rest of you will monitor things from below. Heero, you will pilot Dead."

Duo put his hands on the back of his head, "Great, I get the desk job for once."

"Don't take this lightly. We must be kept informed to the Radhams movements in case they have something else up their sleeve. The operation will commence in 5 hours. Wufei, Quatre, you will stay and learn the operations of the machines. They're not like the standard Sol-Tekkas, so you'll need the practice."

Wufei and Quatre responded, "Yes chief."

"Dismsssed."

_____

4 hours, 50 minutes later

"Hey Dead. How are ya?"

Duo was visiting Dead in the hanger deck. Dead was standing outside on the wall, not moving or responding.

"........."

Duo leaned on the wall nest to him, "Well, I won't be up there with you. So I guess you'll have to handle yourself this time."

"I have a pilot."

"You mean Heero? No offense to the guy, but he speaks about as much as you."

"You should take a lesson from him."

Ha! Was that a joke? I must be rubbing off on you. Come on, don't look so glum."

"Attention, Space Knights. Operation commencing in 5 minutes. Take your stations immediately."

Duo straightened up, "Oh, well. I better get going. So I guess I'll catch ya later."

As Duo turned, Dead's eyes widened with realization and then a faint smirk appeared.

Hmm. You shouldn't use the same lines over again, Duo. Or is it Deathscythe?

The Knights launched out into space together before separating on their missions. The first group headed toward the moon where they were to intercept the Radham. Quatre suited up in the Sol-Tekka and launched out, flying next to Dead and Heero. As they flew, speckles form in the space before them and soon those speckles became monstrous creatures.

Goliate announced, "Here they come."

Natasha added, "Let's do this."

Natasha and Dead grasped their Tekka-set crystals and raised them up.

"Tek-Setta!"

Two beams of light shot out of the transports and rematerialized in their alternate armored warrior forms.

"Tekkaman Vesna!"

"Tekkaman Dead!"

The two tekkamen sprang into action, with Dead taking the lead in the assault. He swooped through them in a flare of light and vaporized any that came near him. Meanwhile, Vesna was doing her own share of damage with her lancer while Quatre covered her with the quantum energy rifle. The Radham were being destroyed left and right, but they continued to attack.

"This is getting out of hand. There's not supposed to be this many."

Meanwhile in headquarters, the remaining ones were monitoring the battle.

"Chief, there's something wrong here." Vesna called in. "It seems the first wave had been hiding its numbers. There's twice as many here."

They gotten smarter. Aki quickly stood up. "Duo, come with me. Vesna, we're on our way."

"Roger."

The two of them ran for the docking bay to the Blue Earth 2. Yet during their rush, they hadn't noticed that Trowa was missing.

The battle raged. Dead, Vesna, and Quatre continued to fight, but the numbers were against them. Ont of the Radham got through and attacked Dead. But Quatre rushed in and stopped the alien creature, but not before receiving some damage of his own.

"One of my boosters has been damaged."

Another score of Radham came at him and he fired on them, taking many down, but unable to hit the others. They had come in range when a swarm of energy flew out of nowhere and destroyed them. Quatre turned to see his savior.

Trowa.

The orange gundam began its assault as it sent a hail of energy projectile at the approaching Radham. The Radham exploded with each shot, yet their numbers continued to increase. As the others fought, the Radham began to separate the Knights from the Gundam. Heavyarms was still holding his own, until flashes of light caught his attention.

"I guess they decided to take me seriously."

Approaching was a squad of Radham tekkamen, all flying toward him at full speed. Heavyarms fired the first round, but they dodged the fire. Heavyarms quickly re-aimed and fired again, destroying two and injuring four other. However, they continued to come at him. Meanwhile Quatre struggled with the controls, but the single booster wasn't enough. And he still wasn't in range to fire. And Vesna and Dead are too far away. I can't reach him. Not like this. But maybe... The tekka-set crystal formed in his hand. But I can't reveal myself to the others. There must be a way to save Trowa.

The Radham tekkamen encircled Heavyarms and continued attacking. The beams began to diminish in power an eventually stopped altogether. Heavyarms showed signs of fatigue and the Radham charged in for the kill. Quatre grasped his crystal.

"Tek-set...!"

A burst of energy suddenly flew out and wiping out the Radham attacking Heavyarms. Quatre cut himself off as he watched a blue and red form swooped into the battlefield.

"Chief!"

The scarlet tekkaman continued her assault as she leaped off Pegus and brought her lancer down on the Radham, one-by-one with sheer brutality. It was then that Dead, Vesna, and Quatre managed to get through and join her. The three tekkamen fought valiantly as Heavyarms recovered and joined in. Within minutes, all Radham were destroyed, leaving them with the mysterious tekkaman.

"Identify yourself."

Heavyarms didn't reply, rather his shoulder cells opened and charged.

"Voltekka."

Several beams of energy flew out in various directions. Pegus quickly ignited its boosters and flew, dodging the beams. But Aki noticed something strange. I don't get it. Why use a Voltekka like this at close range? It was then that she turned and saw the reason. The gundam was heading for the Earth and was too far away. A distraction. It was a distraction to escape.

Vesna watched him disappear, "Hmph. So much for gratitude."

The Knights regrouped aboard the Blue Earth 2. Meanwhile, as his Sol-tekka was being picked up, Quatre gave a small sigh of relief and his tekka-set crystal faded away. That was too close. But we can't keep this up forever. He looked down at the Earth. What does the future hold for us gundams?

Trieze is now ready to take the future by its reins. With a vast military power at his disposal, he launches Operation Daybreak by using the Gundams as puppets. Even worse is that in doing so reveals their identities to the Space Knights, who must now confront them. Next on Gundam Tekkaman: Scenario of Bloodshed.