Chapter 19 – The First Salvo
Standing at the center of C&C, Tina watches the screen before her as one of the spotters on the roof zooms in with the telescope he is using. The view changes, focusing on a large group of MTs and Normals flanked by tanks and other armored vehicles. "How many?" Tina asks. "A lot." One of the officers manning the C&C with her replies. "Reading twenty MTs: Ten OWLs, and ten CR-MT85BP. Counting thirty Normals behind them, and twenty armored vehicles."
"They put the piloted MTs in front?" Tina asks, surprised. "Yes ma'am." The officer replies. "That's not right." She says to no one in particular. "Put up the tactical display." The screen before her changes, to a topographical display in black and white. Mars base is displayed by a large Blue X, the advancing enemy forces in reds of various shapes. A large green circle surrounds Mars Base, the first of the MTs crossing its border. "Targets are in range." Another officer calls out. "Hold fire." Tina orders him. "Ma'am?" The man asks, confused. "Hold fire." She repeats. "Let them get a little closer first."
"Status." Valkyrie calls out over the comm.. "First wave has just entered the defensive perimeter." Tina replies, going over to the communications station. "We're just waiting for them to get close enough to hammer. I'm worried though: The MTs are at the front of the attack."
"Keep me informed." Valkyrie orders her. "Roger." Tina replies before going back to her original position. Looking at the tactical display, Tina sees that over half of the enemy forced has crossed the border. "Open the comm., general frequency." The communications officer gives her the thumbs up after several seconds. "Alliance forces." Tina says loudly. "You have entered Outer Heaven territory. You have ten seconds to start turning around before we open fire." Tina makes a cutting motion with her left hand, and the communications officer closes the comm.. "There." She says. "That should take care of UEG's new rules. Status on the enemy force?"
"They're about eighty-percent in." The Officer watching the radar replies. "That should work. All missile batteries, one salvo, fire on my mark." There is a brief flurry of activity as the C&C crew work to carry out her order. "All stations reporting ready." The communications officer calls out. "Fire!" Tina shouts. The second the word leaves her mouth, a large patch of yellow dots appears over Mars Base on the tactical display. Watching, Tina waits for the impact when another Officer shouts. "Incoming fire from the arms fort!"
"What?" Tina exclaims, whirling to face the man. "How?" Looking over her shoulder at the tactical display, Tina watches as most of the missiles, halfway to their target, suddenly disappear. "Bastards!" She exclaims, the floor beneath her shaking slightly. "Report!"
"Spotters on the roof confirm the arms fort firing!" The communications officer calls out. "Put him on!" Tina orders as she goes to his side. The officer complies, and a new voice joins the growing cacophony. "I repeat! Arms fort-"
"Start from the beginning." Tina orders him. "What happened?"
"The arms fort fired a large volley of ordnance ma'am!" The spotter says frantically. "They blanketed the area ahead of the first wave and destroyed the missiles in flight!" Tina curses loudly. "Status on the mines?" She calls out. "No response!" A female officer calls out. "Damnit! They knew we were going to do that! That's why they put the MTs in front. Did anything get through?"
"Minimal damage to enemy forces." The radar officer calls out. "Wait, new contacts! Detecting a large number of CRANWELL transport choppers inbound!"
"AC's or MTs?" Tina shouts, looking over at the tactical display. "ECM interference is preventing a positive ID!" The radar officer replies. "But visuals seem to indicate MTs or Normals." Cursing, Tina debates what to do for a split second before shouting out orders. "Pull the spotters back in and activate the rooftop defenses! All gunners fire at will at anything that crosses into firing range of the target scrambler! Seal all eastern entrances and alert the defense forces in that area to expect a heavy attack! Get the warlord."
"I'm here." Valkyrie replies before the communications officer can do anything. "They shot down our first salvo." Tina warns her. "We got CRANWELLs incoming with who knows what and still no sign of any ACs."
"The Normals just moved ahead of the MTs!" The radar officer calls out. "Contact!" Another officer shouts. "AC forces engaging the southern perimeter!"
"South?" Tina asks. "It's a pincer! Alert the northern perimeter! Valkyrie, deploy now!"
********
"Jouster, Raiden, south! Maya, Jerky, north! Sumika and Bomber support the eastern defense! Amazon and I will try and take out some of those CRANWELLs! Kain! Do what you do best, but your priority is to take out White Glint or any other NEXT that arrives on field!"
"On it like a ra-" Kain starts to say when his AC is rocked, the screen going white for several seconds. "Confirmed fire from the arms fort!" Tina shouts. "Were we hit?" Valkyrie asks. "N-Negative!" Tina replies. "But it was close! Too close to us, and the incoming units!"
"It's a distraction." Jouster says. "Trying to keep our heads down while their forces move in."
"Well whatever it was." Sumika adds. "They can't do it again without risking hitting their own forces now."
"Move out!" Valkyrie shouts. "Where we going?" DK asks him. "Which side has the most shit to shoot?" KAin asks. "Looks like, wait! Contact! Two ACs moving in from the west fast!"
"Mine!" Kain calls out. Turning his AC, Kain punches the OB, and flies out towards the two contacts. Watching them get close, Kain sees that they are both bipedal units equipped with bazooka arms and missiles. "Heavy hitters." Kain says. Cutting the OB, Kain fires the KAWASARA at the lead AC. Taking the hit, the AC explodes violently, a mushroom cloud forming over the blast, surprising Kain. "Holy shit they're bombs!" Kain shouts, quickly realizing the Alliance's plan. Looking for the other one, Kain curses when he sees it has already past him, OB still going strong. "Oh no you don't!" Kain shouts, punching the OB. Giving chase, Kain fires again once he gets close, but the AC evades, surprising him yet again. Growling slightly, Kain waits until he gets closer to the AC and activates his grenade launcher and fires a round, and quickly follows with a shot from the KAWASARA before cutting his OB. The AC dodges the grenade, and flies into the energy round, exploding.
"Damn." Kain curses. "That was close. If those things had reached the airstrip. Get Tina on the horn!"
"Already told her about the Trojans." DK tells him. "Good." Kain nods. "Let's go see what else we can kill before whitey shows up."
********
Dual chain guns firing, Jouster peppers the Normal with rounds until its core explodes. Boosting backwards from the explosion, Jouster turns on another Normal, firing a three-shot burst from his linear AST rifle before charging forward with a swing from his MOONLIGHT. "Incoming from above!" Raiden warns him as the second normal explodes. Boosting backwards, Jouster starts to look up, when a large MT lands before him. Letting out a surprised shout, Jouster reacts, activating his dual-chainguns and firing. "CR-MT98Gs!" Jouster calls out over the Mars Base frequency when re recognizes the quad-legged MT. "Watch yourselves!" Taking out the one before him with his laser blade, Jouster sees more coming from above, the CRANWELLs returning towards the arms fort once their deadly cargo has been deployed.
"I thought the warlord was going to take out those transports?" Saru asks. "Good question." Jouster replies, switching frequencies. "Jouster to C&C. What's the status on the transports?"
"This is C&C." The communications officer replies. "Be advised that there are enemy fighters in the air. Armed escorts prevented us from dispatching the first wave."
"Damn." Jouster curses. "They've thought of everything." Switching back to the general Mars Base Frequency, Jouster Listens for Kain as he avoids fire from another of the quad-legged MTs. "Kain, where you at?"
"Oh, you know." Kain replies. "Just blowing shit up and trying not to get blown up in the process."
"Watch it!" DK shouts in the background. "Fuck." Kain curses. "Alliance didn't spare the weapons for this assault. These Normals are packing some big guns."
"Thanks for stating the obvious!" Sumika shouts. "We need support on the eastern front! MT units are breaking through the defenses!"
"On our way!" Valkyrie calls out. "Kain, where are you?"
"Cleaning up on the north side. Sill no sign of any AC presence yet, regular or NEXT."
"Getting some weird readings though." DK says. "When you get the chance, we need a little support over here Kain." Jouster tells the other Raven. "Alright, gimme a sec and-"
"Incoming fire from the Arms Fort!" Tina suddenly shouts. "Brace yourselves!" Looking around, Jouster has a second to register a flash of yellow before the world around him goes white as snow. Blinking he tries to find something, anything, to tell him what is going on, when reality suddenly comes crashing back, hard. Grunting as he gets thrown to the side, Jouster manages to regain his senses and his control over his AC in time to boost out of the way of more fire from the 98G MTs. "Report!" Tina calls out. "I'm fine!" Jouster shouts back. "Eastern defensive perimeter, report!"
"This is Bomber! Eastern defensive perimeter hit hard! Sumika is down!"
"I'm up!" Sumika replies shakily. "Just, surprised. What the hell happened?"
"I don't know!" Tina replies. "Valkyrie, Amazon, move to and support the eastern defensive perimeter!" Cursing, Jouster takes out another MT with his rifle. "How are we doing?" Jouster asks his partner. "We've almost taken out all the MTs, but the Normals are snipping us!"
"Harpy has just confirmed a spotter vehicle at the edge of the Target Scrambler's area of effect." Tina calls out.
********
"Kain, take that spotter out!" Valkyrie shouts. "We'll hold the eastern defensive perimeter until the ground forces recover!"
"On it." Kain replies, taking down another normal with a shot from his KAWASARA. "Harpy, give me eyes on the damn thing."
"Harpy is out of range." Tina tells him. "Co-ordinates have already been uploaded to your map."
"Got it." Kain tells her, hitting the OB. Adjusting his course, Kain flies eastward, shooting down the occasional enemy as he goes by. "AC detected." DK warns him. "It's one of the five from before, hold on. . . yeah, it's AC Sight Hawk."
"That name sounds familiar." Kain says, cutting his OB. "Sight Hawk was part of the Vertex rebellion." DK tells him. "According to the data we have, this guy is the original Crow's great grand kid."
"He's about to meet his great grandpa." Kain growls, switching to the general frequency. "All right you shit heads! That spotter's going down! If you don't want to get scrapped along with it, you better get the hell out of my way!"
"I don't think so!" A voice replies. "This is Crow. The target is in place! Spring the trap!"
"Oh shit!" DK exclaims. "Massive energy build-ups around us!" Looking around, Kain catches sight of a shimmer to his right. Aiming at it with the KAWASARA, Kain fires, and the shimmer explodes when hit. "Look out!" DK shouts. Boosting backwards, Kain quickboosts left, then forward, then boosts into the air to avoid three large columns of energy. "What the hell was-" Kain starts to shout when a fourth column hits them. "HEP Shield down!" DK warns him. Dropping to the ground, Kain fires another round from the KAWASARA at the next shimmer, taking it out as well, "What the hell are these things?" Kain asks.
"No idea!" DK replies. "AC Sight Hawk above us! Energy build-up starting again!" Cursing, Kain activates his gatling as he takes out the third shimmer. Sight Hawk meanwhile, fires from above, pelting Dark Knight with machinegun rounds and rockets. Quickboosting backwards, Kain spots the spotter vehicle, and aims at it with his KAWASARA. Seeing this, Sight Hawk drops down towards him. "Die!" Crow shouts. "You first." Kain replies, boosting forward. Surprised, Sight Hawk boosts away from Kain as the last two unknown weapons fire. Easily dodging the first, Kain smiles as Sight Hawk takes the second round in the back, arcs of energy shooting across his AC. "It's some kind of EMP weapon!" DK says. "That's how it took out the HEP shield so fast!"
Seeing that Sight Hawk is momentarily paralyzed, Kain fires the KAWASARA, taking out the spotter vehicle as he starts to hose the AC down with rounds from his gatling. "Spotter down!" Kain calls out on the Mars Base frequency. "How are we doing on the front?"
"We've managed to rebuild the eastern defensive perimeter." Someone Kain does not recognize calls out. "But the defenses are trashed. We need anti-vehicle support!"
"Armor is rolling your way east wall." Tina replies. "Kain, finish off that AC and move to support." Kain fires two round from the KAWASARA into Sight Hawk, taking him offline. "Consider him finished." Kain says. "Hey, still two invisible thingies out there!" DK shouts at him as they fire. "Relax." Kain tells the AI, Quickboosting backwards to avoid both shots. "Quit playing around Kain!" Tina shouts at him. "I'm going!" Kain growls. Taking out the last two weapons with his KAWASARA, Kain starts to boost back towards the defensive line, when he catches sight of something on radar. "Heads up!" He shouts, turning and boosting the right as a flock of missiles comes towards him.
********
Landing, White Glint watches as the Last Raven executes several quickboosts to avoid her missiles. "Spotter vehicle has been destroyed." Captain Arman Haldric reports. "I saw." White Glint replies. "It lasted longer then expected. I did not think we would be able to fire. Regardless, the attack is going as planned. Order the next wave to commence their attack. I will deal with the Last Raven myself." Missiles evade, the Last Raven finally takes notice of her.
"About time you showed up." He grunts. "My apologies for keeping you waiting." White Glint tells him. "But my attention was required for the first stage of the attack. You are vastly outnumbered, and the Sky Claw will rend your base to pieces if necessary. Surrender now and I will see to it that your lives are spared and you are unharmed."
"Lemme think about that one." The Last Raven says. He will attack, the thought occurs to White Glint. "How about, no!" The Last Raven fires his KAWASARA at her, but White Glint is already on the move, quickboosting to the side and taking to the air. Switching to her rifles after firing another pair of missiles, White Glint flies towards her target. The Last Raven meanwhile, activates his OB, and shoots past the missiles and under her. Surprised, White Glint turns around, cutting her boosters and falling, Quickboosting backwards to avoid another shot from the Last Raven's laser rifle.
Firing in retaliation, White Glint sees two of her five rounds hit the Last Raven's shield, but unlike before, it shows no sign of weakening. Undaunted, White Glint boosts forward, shooting from both rifles. The Last Raven evades the round with a quickboost, then fires a shot from his KAWASARA. Taking the hit, White Glint is surprised to see the energy round hit her primal armor, and punch through it, striking her in the core. "How?" She exclaims in surprise, boosting away from the black AC. Checking her AP, she sees that the hit had done much more damage then before. Activating her OB, White Glint shoots past the Last Raven, putting some distance between them.
Once he is out of firing range, White Glint cuts her OB and starts to turn, but instead quickboosts aside when the Last Raven comes flying at her with his OB active. Cursing, she puts three rounds into him as he flies by, his strange energy shield absorbing most of the bullet's kinetic energy before passing through and hitting the AC. "Recalculate enemy AC variables based on current combat data." White Glint orders. Her AC's systems comply, and after several seconds, a new set of numbers appear in the bottom right hand corner of her screen. "Impressive." She says when she sees them.
Avoiding the Last Raven's next two shots from his KAWASARA, White Glint keeps the distance between them. "You going to stand and fight?" The Last Raven demands. "Cause if you're just going to run away, I'm going back to the real fight."
"I was surprised at your sudden increase in performance." White Glint admits. "Your AC, despite its size, performs as though it were a true NEXT."
"Got some upgrades." The Last Raven replies simply. "You're not going to complain about me cheating are you?"
"Far from it." White Glint replies, grinning beneath her helmet. "This will make our battle much more enjoyable now that we are on equal footing. Come, show me your true power!"
********
"Whoa!" Kain exclaims, as he boosts aside to dodge fire from White Glint. Before he has a change to retaliate, White Glint takes to the air and flies towards hit, more rounds coming from her rifles. "Damn, I think she just got excited!" Quickboosting away from the NEXT as he activates his gatling. Firing several short bursts at the white NEXT Kain manages to drive her back momentarily, long enough to get his bearings and brace himself for her next attack.
"So, you wanna play rough now eh?" Kain asks. "Fine, let's rumble!" Boosting forward, Kain fires a long burst from the gatling and a pair of rounds from the KAWASARA. White Glint, still in the air, easily avoids the two energy round, though takes some punishment from the solid slug hail storm being fired at her.
"Kain report!" Tina shouts. "Tangling with Whitey right now!" Kain replies. "And, Whoa!" Kain quickboosts to the left to avoid a point-blank missile from White Glint's left back launcher. "Real busy right now!" Kain shouts, firing more rounds from both weapons into the NEXT. Her primal armor starting to deteriorate, Kain presses the attack, firing a round from the KAWASARA that connects with the shield, depleting it. Firing second time, Kain manages to hit White Glint point blank before she activates her OB, quickboosts to the side, and goes shooting by him.
Spinning around, Kain activates his own Over Boost to follow her, but quickly cuts it, boosting forward to avoid another hail of missiles from White Glint a short distance away. "Oh, she's good." DK remarks. "Yeah." Kain says, a grin appearing on his face beneath his helmet. "This is going to be fun."
********
"Last Raven has engaged AC White Glint." Tina reports over the Mars Base frequency. "What does that mean?" Bomber asks. "It means we're not going to get any help from him for awhile." Sumika replies. Checking her radar, she sees that the re-enforcements of MTs and armor have arrived, but are still trying to get into position behind the hastily erected barriers put up earlier. Ahead of them, another wave of enemy units is fast approaching, this one consisting mostly of Normals boosting towards them. "We're not going to survive this." She says out loud. "Not without some way of. . ." An idea coming to her, Sumika starts entering trajectories into her AC's advanced sensor system. "Tina!" She shouts. "Sending you firing co-ordinates! Lock on and wait for my signal!"
"Understood!" Tina replies. "Let's go Bomber!" Sumika calls out as she boosts forward. Boost hopping over the makeshift barricade, Sumika heads towards the advancing line of Normals. "What are we doing?" Bomber asks. "Making a fire break." Sumika replies. "But we have to slow down the advance first." The first Normal coming into target lock range, Sumika activates her weapon arms. The long, rectangular barrels that make up the LEO weapon arms spilt apart, and twin beams of red light come shooting out, hitting the Normal dead center. Staggered, the Normal tries to recover, but another set of lasers and a few missiles from Heavyrain's weapon arm launchers take it out.
"Hold the line!" Sumika shouts, firing on the next Normal. "All support units, slow fire until I give the signal!" Switching to her right back GLL grenade launcher once the second Normal is down, Sumika fires at another Normal, while one of Jessica's large MPX 'Titan' missiles strikes a fourth Normal, demolishing it. Checking her radar, Sumika sees more Normals coming towards them, the two ACs getting their attention. "Now, break!" Sumika orders bomber as she boosts away from the approaching wave. "Tina, now!" High above them, missile launchers and heavy cannons lining the skin of Mars Base fire at the approaching wave, the massed Normals easy targets thanks to their focus on the two ACs.
"All support units, fire!" Sumika calls out. "Pick off the stragglers!" MTs and armor fire their weapons, raining more death on the units missed by Mars Base's opening salvo. "Enemy line decimated!" Jessica calls out. "Yeah, but theirs two more coming." Sumika grimaces when she checks her sensors. "That's the problem with AI units: it's all about the numbers."
"Numbers we don't have." Valkyrie says as she and Megan land near the defensive line. "Fall back for re-arming. We'll hold the line until you get back."
"Roger." Sumika responds. "On our way." Sumika starts boosting around Mars Base to where the MBUs are setup. "Are we winning?" Jessica asks. "Don't know." Sumika admits. Looking up at the sky, she sees that the sun has almost set. "One thing's for sure though: It's going to be a long night."