New Phase 37
With the battle underway, the Earth Alliance ships crossed into the nation's territorial waters. The attack had commenced with a barrage of missiles. Those that weren't shot down by Orb's defensive forces wrecked havoc, destroying linear tanks and artillery batteries. Orb's navy moved out first to engage the invaders. M1 Astrays were deployed to defend the coastline, as was the Panzer.
Asagi, Mayura, and Juri's squadron were the first to enter the fray. Initial targets were Earth Forces fighters and VTOL aircraft, which were being easily brought down. But what came next was greatly different.
Mayura narrowly sidestepped a green colored beam and looked in the direction it had come from. There she spotted a mobile suit, colored blue, red, and grey, and it bared a slight resemblance to the Strike. "It's the Earth Forces' mobile suits!"
Not far away, Cade, Michael, and other Orb pilots had sighted the enemy mobile suits as well. Cade zoomed in on the oncoming enemies. The Strike Daggers rode towards the shore on craft that reminded him of Gulls, only these were aquatic units. They skimmed across the water's surface like oversized jet skis.
"Listen up!" the MS Commander shouted to Michael, Cade, and the other M1 pilots, "Aim for the carriers! The more that we take out there now; there'll be less to make trouble for us here later!"
Every pilot took aim and fired as ordered, striking the carriers. The explosions tossed the mobile suits into the sea, where they sank. However, large air transports appeared above and additional Strike Daggers parachuted down. Their allies on the water had been a diversion.
At that very moment, the Archangel and its mobile suit complement joined the fighting. The Freedom soared ahead, incapacitating any Strike Dagger in its path. Kira was ordered to assist the Orb navy and paused only when he targeted a swarm of incoming missiles.
Mu took the Aile equipped Strike and immeadatily started blasting. He was almost was having fun, now that he was piloting a mobile in an actual battle. He went in to support Asagi, Mayura, and Juri, who were just barely holding their own. He opened fire and caught a Strike Dagger in the lower back, destroying the machine. After a second and third kill for himself, the girls rallied and took out the remaining mobile suits.
"Not bad, but keep alert, girls!" Mu called, "More enemies are on their way!"
Further inland, Dearka watched the battle from a distance. He knew somewhere Cade was fighting, as was Miriallia. He couldn't stop thinking about them and how they were willingly putting themselves in harm's way after an offer to flee. He suddenly felt like if he could, he'd do at least something. But what?
On board Azrael's battleship, the four "biological CPUs" snapped the tops off the vials containing their respective dosages of Gamma Glipheptin, a performance enhancing drug. After downing the doses, they climbed into their Gundams. These new units were equipped with a new feature called Trans Phase Armor. This is system was more advanced than Phase Shift Armor, as it was designed to only activate right at the moment of any impact. Also equipped were newer powerful weapons and other defenses.
"Hey, boys."
"What do you want?" Orga rudely asked. The other three looked up at their monitors to see Azrael's face.
"I just wanted to remind you that you cannot damage Morgenroete or the mass driver." The Blue Cosmos leader said.
"But we can still do anything we want, right?" Shani asked, a disturbing smile on his face.
"Oh, yeah." Clotho smirked.
"Why don't you guys shut up?" Orga growled.
Gren sneered. "All right, knock it off. Save it for the Orb forces."
The hatches opened and the four Gundams were ready to launch. The first to deploy was the Raider, which immeadatily transformed into a bird-like mobile armor mode. Next was the Calamity, which leapt atop the Raider and rode its counterpart. The Forbidden followed, and then the Scorpio. The sinister quartet made a straight line towards the shoreline.
Not far behind, Simon Parallax was ready to launch in his GAT-01A1 Gunbarrel Dagger. While he planned to do what he needed in this operation, he thought he wouldn't face any enemy that'd give him a challenge. With the Gunbarrel Dagger's weapons, he estimated that the task would be easily accomplished.
The Archangel was engaging Earth Alliance fighters and VTOLs, when a new blip appeared on sensors.
"It looks like a mobile armor!" Chandra called out, "It's headed right for us!"
Everyone looked and saw the approaching Raider and Calamity duo.
"Take evasion action!" Murrue ordered.
The Archangel moved to the right in the exact moment the two mobile suits fired. The shots just grazed the ship's hull on the port side.
Clotho and Orga flew past, seeing what damage, if any, their run had done. Much to their disappointment, they saw that it was only a graze.
"That figures you'd missed." Clotho huffed.
"Well, I didn't see your shot do any better." Orga retorted.
The Raider made a sharp turn and the Calamity leapt off, landing close to a squad of M1 Astrays. Orga took aim and destroyed two with a shot from his Gundam's Schlag backpack mounted beam cannons. The remaining M1s fired back, but the Calamity dodged and unleashed more of its devastating firepower. The Orb mobile suits quickly fell.
At the exact moment, the Raider began an assault on the Orb navy. Cannons tore into the ships, explosions ripping them apart. The Raider swung its mace-like Mjolnir hammer weapon. It shot forward, crushing the bridge of an unfortunate ship. Before it could move on, the Raider was slammed hard and nearly crashed into the sea. The Freedom stayed still momentarily as Kira checked the condition of the Orb navy. Several ships were heavily damaged and one was incapable of continuing on in the battle.
A warning alarm rang and Kira saw the Raider was coming back. He blocked the Mjolnir and fired several shots at the enemy mobile suit. The Raider transformed back into its mobile armor form and streaked towards the Freedom, its weapons firing.
Meanwhile, Mu and Asagi, Mayura, and Juri almost had their sector secured at last, when a new mobile suit approached. Another team of M1s surrounded the Gunbarrel Dagger, but they didn't realize what armaments it possessed. Parallax looked around, locked onto the nearby targets, and deployed the gunbarrels. The four pod-like weapons shot up and opened fire. The rounds blasted right through the Astrays and destroyed them.
Mu was stunned by the display. It was just like when he had operated his old Moebius mobile armor. Of course, many of his former Earth Alliance comrades had said he was one of a select few who could use those weapons with such skill. He wondered who the pilot could be.
Asagi brought her M1 up next to the Strike. "Commander, what is that?"
"Girls, stay back! This guy's different from the rest!" he exclaimed. He then charged at the new enemy.
He fired the beam rifle at the Gunbarrel Dagger, which was blocked. The Gunbarrels were launched again and circled around the Strike. Mu barely got out the way as the rounds came seemingly from every direction. One after another he dodged incoming fire from each of the barrels. He pulled away to a safer distance.
As he stared at the enemy mobile suit, a strange sensation of familiarity suddenly crept on him. Mu couldn't understand it. He only felt such a presence whenever Rau Le Creuset was nearby. How was it possible?
Parallax began to breathe deep as the gunbarrels were drawn back. He had to admit that the Strike's pilot was very skilled, but he was certain the enemy would make an error soon. He brought up the beam rifle and fired. The Strike dodged and rushed forward, drawing a beam saber. Parallax tossed the rifle away and brought out his own saber and ignited it. The two weapons clashed in the back and forth melee.
Further away, the M1 team, Silver Astray, and Panzer kept up the defensive against the landing forces. In spite of numerous Strike Daggers being taken out, more would appear. Suddenly two dark shapes appeared overhead and landed. The Orb forces looked to find a green mobile suit wielding a large scythe and a dark gray and white mobile suit that carried a battleaxe weapon.
"What the hell are those?" an Orb pilot asked.
Cade's eyes were widened in surprise. "New Gundam models."
The duo started their attack on the group. The Forbidden went in first, firing its railguns. The shots hit an M1, blasting away its right arm. Another volley tore through the chest, destroying it.
The other M1s opened fire on the Forbidden. However, the green beams sudden curved away in an entirely different direction, as if the Gundam had some device that shielded it. That was thanks to the Geschmeidig Panzer system, and none of the shots hit their mark.
"Oh crap, it just deflected the beams." Michael said as he saw every shot being redirected.
Suddenly a long object appeared out of a blind spot and impaled an M1 directly into the cockpit. Cade looked to see the second Gundam's arm was extended. The Scorpio drew back its arm, revealing a clawed weapon where its hand was. A second later, the weapon shot a pair of green beams and Cade maneuvered out of their path narrowly.
"Great, what else does that thing have?" he thought.
He got an answer in the form of another weapon, this time a tail-like beam weapon mounted on the Scorpio's back. The twin guns unleashed a rapid fire assault. The Panzer took a number of hits, but it still stood, returning fire its gatling.
Gren sneered and unfolded the claw back into its original hand form and gripped the Kazarian axe. He launched his Gundam forward, taking a swipe at the Panzer.
At that moment, Michael and the last M1 were having their hands full against the Forbidden. With beam rifles all but useless, they had to try something else. The problem was that they didn't know what to do.
The Calamity continued its path of destruction against the section of the Orb base where it had landed. Soldiers scrambled and what M1s hadn't been already destroyed were falling to the Gundam's intense weaponry or to the few Strike Daggers that had snuck in to aid it.
In the confusion, Dearka found himself running to find cover wherever. He took refuges behind the wreckage of a crashed VTOL. He realized he couldn't just stand around anymore. Looking around, he spotted a familiar mobile suit head visible inside one of the hangers that were left standing. He took a deep breath and ran with all his might to the hanger. He made it inside before another nearby explosion rocked the ground. He them climbed into the cockpit and hurried to power up the OS.
The duel between the Strike and Gunbarrel Dagger was all but stalemated. The melee was swift and fierce, beam sabers slashing and being blocked and countered. Mu was having the most difficult time, seeing as his mobile suit piloting skills weren't those of an ace. His opponent seemed to at an equal strength, but he didn't know how long it'd last.
Parallax thought he saw an opening and launched the gunbarrels. Mu immeadatily saw this and pulled back. Blasting one with the Strike's Igelstellungs, he leapt and swiped at another, slicing it in half.
Parallax drew the remaining gunbarrels back, when something unforeseen happened. His head began throbbing and the lower part of his vision seemed to be turning red. Opening his visor, his fingers felt around his eyes. There was something wrong and when moved his hand back and looked he could see blood on his gloved fingers. He was bleeding from his eyes. He didn't know why this was happening, as it never occurred before.
The Archangel was under fire from a wave of Earth Forces fighters. Missiles and gunfire battered the hull. The aircraft flew past and circled around for a second pass. Suddenly, a green beam shot out and blasted two of the fighters. A swarm of missiles took out over half of the others. Those that remained swung back and retreated for the moment.
The crew looked to see where the shots came from. On the screens was a very familiar mobile suit.
"I can't believe it." Sai said, "It's the Buster."
"But why would he want to help us?" Pal asked.
No one answered before Dearka's face appeared on the monitor. "Archangel, pull back for now. I'll cover you."
Murrue gratefully obliged and the ship backtracked closer to the shore.
The Calamity had now moved on to seek a new target, when a proximity alarm sounded. Orga zoomed in and caught sight of the Freedom being pursued by the Raider. As it the enemy Gundam was driven closer, he took aim with his Todesblock bazooka and got the Freedom in his crosshairs.
A warning flashed inside the Freedom's cockpit as Kira spotted the second enemy machine. A moment later he found himself in a deadly crossfire. With the Raider firing at his back and the Calamity's barrage below him, there was nothing he could do besides dodge. Projectiles flew past and beam rounds were being blocked. He then maneuvered quickly, dropping out of the line of fire from the Raider. The rounds streaked down and pelted the Calamity's body. The Calamity toppled and the impact of its fall inadvertently set off the Todesblock. The projectile launched and struck a wooded hillside. The explosion tore through, leveling it.
Back at the beach, the fight wasn't going well for the defenders. Apart from the Panzer and Silver Astray, only a single M1 remained. It was now trying whatever to at least damage the oncoming Forbidden. Drawing a beam saber, the Orb pilot charged. The Forbidden's Nidhogger heavy scythe slashed across the M1, separating its torso and both arms from the elbows in one swipe. The pieces peeled away and fell before the unit exploded.
Now it was a two-on-two battle. Shani turned his attention to the Panzer, which still engaged with the Scorpio. He fired his mobile suit's railguns, the beams zipped by the Panzer and nearly hit the Scorpio as well.
Gren turned his machine towards his follow pilot. "Damn you, Shani! This one's my kill!"
"Not if I get it first." With that Shani fired his Gundam's Hresyelgr cannon, the powerful crimson and sapphire beam traveling in an arc.
Cade saw the beam coming at him and he jumped back out of the way. A second shot was fired, but this time the beam arced and nearly decapitated the Scorpio.
"Shani, you idiot!" Gren growled. He retaliated by firing several missiles at the Forbidden, one of which scored a hit. The Gundam was knocked back and Shani was losing his temper.
"What the hell is wrong with you, Gren? If anything, you're the idiot!"
"Shut your mouth!" Gren countered, "You're a jackass who can't aim straight!"
"Take that back or I'll kill you!"
"Just bring it!" Gren challenged, rushing forward and raising his Kazarian axe.
The Nidhogger and Kazarian slammed into each other. The Forbidden and Scorpio clashed, their pilots seemingly forgetting the present battle. Cade and Michael were dumbfounded by the duel.
"What is wrong with those guys?" Cade asked.
"I'd say a lot." Michael replied. However, if the enemy units wasted time fighting each other, then there'd possibly be the chance to strike while they were preoccupied. He took aim at a pair of Strike Daggers that landed nearby and blasted them.
Back in the air, Kira was in a dire situation. For several moments he could focus strictly on the Raider, but now the Calamity had gotten back to its feet and resumes its attack. Kira evaded a shot from the Calamity's Schlag beam cannons, but it left him open. The Raider's Mjolnir hit the Freedom from behind, sending it spinning down.
Orga saw his chance and fired the Calamity's chest mounted Scylla cannon. The beam looked like it would score a direct hit, but then a new shape appeared. A new mobile suit suddenly was in front of the vulnerable Freedom and blocked the shot.
Kira looked to the mobile suit and wondered who it could be.
Athrun looked the Freedom. In spite of his orders to capture it and kill the pilot, he knew he wouldn't be able to do so. With Lacus' words still fresh in his mind and after his brief conversation with Reverend Malchio, he knew what should do for that moment at least.