Chapter 5. Sorry for the late update, I've been really busy. Thank you for being patient. I will let you all know what happens to my writing schedule down the road. Review!
Guest house, Japan coast, 1807.
The girls and two boys had started eating dinner. Sitting on the floor, in order, were Dane, Charlotte, Ichika, and Cecilia. Dane takes a bite of the meat and wasabi as the other three socialize. He looks over to see Ichika feeding Cecilia.
No wonder some of these girls get mad at him. He acts nice, but he's too dense for a normal person. What is his malfunction?
"Is there something wrong Dane?" A french accent says next to him. Charlotte had been trying to get his attention for the past couple of minutes.
"No, miss Dunois."
"You can do the same with me as you did with Cecilia. We're friends so just call me by my first name."
This wasn't part of my mission parameters.
Dane stands up, his tray empty, and walks to the exit. Every step he took, the girls watched him. He was a good looking guy to them, but the boy didn't care. The sergeant was there for one reason, and it wasn't to mingle with the other students. The door slides open and he leaves. As this happens, Rin and Laura stand up and follow. The German girl didn't see the other stand up behind her, but their objectives aligned.
Dane walks back to his room, but Laura catches up.
"Garrison."
He turns and locks eyes, or eye since she is wearing an eyepatch.
"Bodewig?"
She takes a step closer, being about 7 feet from each other.
"I have a question."
"Yes?"
Laura takes another step.
"Why are you actually here? Is it your orders?"
They both may be soldiers and have worked together, but Dane knew he could not expose his mission.
"Yes. My orders were to go to school, but an IS pilot who happens to be another male would draw too much attention in a normal school."
Her eyes narrow. "I see. Well, good night Garrison."
The two walk opposite directions. In a room just passed by Laura, Rin had heard the entire conversation.
Orders? What? Who is he?
2200.
A hooded figure leaves a room in the guest house. The figure quietly walks down the patio into some woods near the house. After a hundred yards, the figure finds a hollowed out tree. Reaching inside, he pulls out a rifle bag, and slings it over his shoulder. After going about 400 yards into the trees, Dane finds two trees right next to each other on a hill. The hill overlooks the house which made it a perfect perch for overwatch. Opening the bag, he sets up an SR 25 with a bipod and a 8x scope. Grabbing a sat phone, the boy hooks up a pair of black ear buds.
"Jaeger 4, checking in."
"I hear you Jaeger 4. Jaeger Actual enroute. ETA three minutes."
After setting up, he looks through the scope. He could see the entire guest house, all the way down, and Dane sees Ichika's room. About 250 yards down the road, a black van pulls up. The van was the one that Jaeger team issued when arriving in the country. The boy lies in wait, even with his lack of sleep lately, Dane is used to running on no sleep at all. Hours pass and nothing happens. The time was now 0400.
"This is Jaeger 1, Jaeger 4, stand down and return to the guest house."
"Roger that Jaeger 1."
Before Dane could put away the rifle, a twig snaps behind him. Quickly he turns and raises his rifle, and its blocked by a knife. The blade shoots towards his throat, but he draws his sidearm, pressing it to the unknown's head. As soon as this happens, the sergeant realizes who the person is. None other than Laura Bodewig.
"I see, you ARE here on a mission." Laura said.
"And you still can't sneak up on a person to save your life." Dane says back.
"Jaeger 4, what's going on? Come in!" Says Jake over the radio. Before he can respond, Laura snatches the radio away from Dane.
"Warrant Officer Shaw, this is Captain Laura Bodewig."
"Jaeger 4, what's going on? Come in!"
At the van, Jake sat at the radio, Karter and Audrey had suited up with kevlar vests and MP 5s.
"Warrant Officer Shaw, this is Captain Laura Bodewig."
The leader gulps.
Shit, this is bad. I know she didn't kill him, Dane doesn't go down that easily. But we've been compromised.
"Captain Bodewig, where is the Sargent?"
"He's here. I don't intend on revealing what you are doing here, but I have have one question. Why is Wolf here?"
Jake sits for a second. "Give me five minutes. Wilco?"
"Roger, Wilco."
The three get out of the van and stand near the back hatch.
"I'm going to tell her." The warrant officer says.
"Huh?" Audrey questions.
"What?" Karter asks.
"It was bound to happen. I'll take full responsibility for what happens afterwards."
Karter puts the SMG down and crosses his arms.
"You can't do that. Under our ROE, we are not allowed to expose our mission." The Marine states.
"Then what should we do Karter? Tell her it's a misunderstanding? She's smarter than that."
He shakes his head. "I don't know."
Audrey steps forward. "Are you sure we should say anything? Will she reveal it?"
Jake steps back into the van and gets back on coms. "Only one way to find out."
After a few minutes of explaining the mission, Laura give Danes radio back.
"I understand why you are here." She says.
"Thank you for understanding." Dane responds.
"There is one thing though."
Laura gets in the boys face. "If anything happens to my bride, I will hold you all responsible."
"Roger."
The German leaves the American in the woods.
"Jaeger 1, I apologize. I should've done a better-."
"Forget it Jaeger 4. This was bound to happen, just be glad it's a fellow soldier."
With that, Dane heads back to the guest house, not knowing what will happen with Laura. After getting to his room, he places the rifle bag in a secluded corner behind the dresser.
Jake and the others will come and get this later.
Dane unrolled the futon that came with the room and lay down.
I hope Jake knows what he is doing.After laying down for a few minutes, he finally realized something.
Wait, did she call the VIP, her bride?
The next morning.
Dane went about his normal schedule, working out, cleaning his weapon, and checking in with the team. Even though he wasn't around Ichika to protect him, Jake and the others took shifts on overwatch and on comms. Last time he checked in, it was confirmed that Tabane Shinonono was in the AO, which will complicate things.
Dane, back in his room, puts on his shorts and shirt when he hears a knock at his door. He opens the sliding door to see Charlotte in her IS outfit.
"Ms. Dunois?"
Charlotte sighs. "I told you last night, just call me Charlotte."
"Oh, right, sorry. Anyway, did you need something?"
"Yes, Miss Orimura told everyone with a personal unit to see her."
Dane nods. "Understood. I'll be over in a minute."
Charlotte leaves and Dane closes the door.
Wonder what this is all about.
Dane, Houki, and everyone else with a personal IS, in their IS suits, met in a small ravine that was engraved into the cliffs along the shore. The area was quite rocky. Soon they were joined by Tabane Shinonono, and after a long talk, she gave Houki her own personal unit, the Akatsubaki.
Before the testing could begin, a cell phone goes off. Everyone's heads turn to Dane, who pulls out his burn phone.
Jake.
"Excuse me, miss Orimura?"
Chifuyu nods, and the boy walks off. The girls and Ichika watch as he leaves, confused. The only ones who weren't were Laura and Rin, who knew exactly (not much for Rin.) what he was doing.
Dane goes past a set of trees and behind a boulder, facing the water.
"It's been 2 hours since my last status report Jaeger 1. And 6 hours since I was on overwatch."
"We have a situation."
Dane raises an eyebrow. "What are we dealing with?"
"I'm sending the Intel now."
Taking the phone off his ear, he looks at the screen. There were documents, pictures, schematics, hell even performance statistics of an Unmanned IS unit.
Silver Gospel?
"What happened?"
"Earlier today, the Gospel was being tested in Hawaii by the Navy and Israeli military contractors. During the exercise, it went rogue. Someone had messed with the ISs operating system."
"Any leads?"
"None, however we are currently questioning RD personnel."
Someone wanted it to go rogue? What would they gain from something like this? Dane asked himself.
"What's my mission?"
"Word on the street is that the IS Academy will get involved."
"Why? Isn't this a State's affair?"
"The Gospels current position and lethality are making it an international affair. Anyway, this mission is second to Jackknife. If the VIP goes, you go. Copy?"
"Roger that."
Dane hangs up and joins the others.
When the boy joined the other IS pilots, Maya had rushed towards them, handing Chifuyu a cellphone.
"I'm afraid there is something I need all of you for." Chifuyu says.
"Hang on, who is that strangely dressed woman?" Asks Maya.
"That's Tabane Shinonono." The teacher replied.
The pilots and their teachers go into what looks like a headquarters of some kind. The group sat around a holographic map while Dane stands in the corner. As Chifuyu reviews the situation, Dane continues to think of the circumstances surrounding the Gospel.
There is something I don't get. Why head towards Japan? Mainly its flight path. There is nothing out here. Unless…
"Garrison, is there something wrong?" Asks Chifuyu.
"No ma'am."
I'll report this to Jake after the Gospel has been neutralized. Until then, I'll have to continue playing along.
As the briefing went on they finally had a plan. Requested by Tabane, the plan was to send Houki in, due to her ISs incredible speed, with Ichika to use his one off ability.
"Any questions?" Asks Chifuyu.
"I have a suggestion." Dane raises his hand. The girls and Ichika look at the boy. Dane goes to the map and zooms in on the area of operations. He points at a group of rocks.
"These rocks are about half a mile away from where we are engaging the Gospel."
"Your point?" Asks the teacher.
"If I can get there, I can support Orimura and Shinonono with the Launcher."
"You are aware that once the operation begins, you will only have five minutes to get there and set up, right?"
"Yes ma'am. That will be enough time."
The group looks back at Chifuyu.
"I understand, you will accompany them on this mission."
"Roger that."
About 40 minutes later.
The group had set up on a cliff inland facing the ocean. It was situated on a small peninsula. On the other side of said peninsula, Dane had activated the Aile Strike. With his mask off, he downed a bottle of water and tossed it to the side.
Once I take off, I do a hook shaped route going from northwest to northeast at phase line alpha, so the wind is at my back for max speed. That way, I'll make it in about three minutes.
Chifuyu gets on communications.
"The mission brief is Orimura, Shinonono, and Garrison will engage the Gospel. She flies, he shoots, and Garrison shoots more. Let's blow that thing away people."
Danes mask closes over his mouth, the horns appear as the helmet comes over his head, and the orange glasses go on and he get ready to launch.
"Commence operation!" Says Chifuyu.
After a few seconds, Ichika and Houki take off.
"Okay Garrison, you are clear to launch." Says Maya over the radio.
"Roger, taking off."
The ground around the peninsula rumbled as Dane launched towards the ocean. He begins moving northwest, nearly breaking the sound barrier.
Back at the headquarters. The other female pilots were amazed at the speed of Houkis' Akatsubaki.
"Such speed." Laura states.
Charlotte looks at Chifuyu. "Miss Orimura, will Dane be able to keep up?" She asks.
"So far he's keeping pace with the appropriate arrival time. In other words, yes."
"Garisson has turned northeast and is one minute from his firing position." Maya reports.
Dane at this point was moving faster. Within that minute of changing his heading, he spots the rocks. There were about seven or so large boulders poking out from the water's surface.
"Launcher Strike."
The Strikes pack disappears and the Launcher is equipped. Finding the largest boulder, he lands with a loud thud and gets into an almost crouched position. He wanted to be prepared to fire at at least 75%. On his Heads Up Display, the Gospel was flying to his left at an angle about a of a mile away. Houki and Ichika were about to engage the IS.
"I'm in position." Dane says over the comms.
"Alright, we'll engage the Gospel in ten seconds." Says Houki.
The two engage the Gospel, and Dane aligns his sights.
Let's try 75%.
The Agni cannon barrel glows for a second, then a red beam is launched towards the enemy. At the last second, the attack is noticed by the Gospel, who proceeds to dodge.
Damn. This thing is good.
Dane fires twice, trying to lead it into the second attack. It fails. He tries three attacks, then four attacks. They fail. At the bottom of the HUD, a vessel was moving away from the combat zone. Both boys notice this and try to avert the attention towards them. Over comms, Dane can hear Ichika and Houki arguing about the vessel, who they believe are poachers.
"Forget about them! They're just criminals!" Houki yells over comms.
"I can't turn my back on them!" Says Ichika.
Dane realizes that Ichika won't focus on the mission unless the vessel was out of danger. The boy seizes fire and launches himself diagonally towards the other two IS pilots. Getting about 200 feet above sea level, Dane charges the cannon.
"Warning, cannon at 125% power. Warning cannon at unsafe levels." The Strikes AI said.
"Override, code: Hunter."
The warning disappears and Dane fires. The beam was much larger, being about as wide as a sedan. It slams into the water about fifty feet away from the small craft. There was enough force to turn the boat so it could leave at full speed and the boy joins the arguing pilots.
Houki and Ichika continued to argue about saving them, while Dane continued to engage the IS. The Gospel produced small spheres of energy and launched them at the three. Dane and Houki dodged last second and Ichika was hit.
"Ichika!" Shouts Houki.
Damn! The other boy thought as Ichika hit the water below. Thinking quick, Dane flies down to the water and hits it at as much speed the Strike could muster. Houki looked down for signs of life. After a few seconds, Dane shoots out of the water, carrying Ichika without his IS activated. Handling him to Houki, Dane faces the Gospel.
"Get him out of here. I'll give you guys some time."
"But-!" The girl tries to interfere.
"Just go! Ichika doesn't have time!"
Houki begins to fly off with Ichika. She looks back for a second then proceeds to speed up.
As the two disappear, the IS and Dane stare each other down.
Best time for me to use it. The Strike is more ment as support. But since I'm by myself……
"Perfect Strike."
While still in the air, the Aile pack and sword packs appear on the Strike with the launcher pack. The red pack begins to rev.
That operating system you used better work Cecilia.
With the sword in his right hand, launcher in his left, he darts towards the target. He swings the sword in various directions, all which are dodged by the Gospel. It backs up about 20 feet, but while it's doing that, Dane fires the launcher. The beam barely scratches the Gospels shoulder. The target fires more of the spheres and Dane flies away from them. He looks back and they are right behind him.
They trace?
Flying backwards he fires his Instellung at the spheres, which proceed to explode. As Dane recovers, the Gospel has gotten behind him. It goes to attack him up close, but the boy shifts to the right, and it goes past him. Using the sword pack, he fires a hook that grabs onto the Gospels leg. As it drags him through the air, Dane adjusts the thrusters so that he doesn't flail in the air. Putting the launcher back to his pack, he draws his beam rifle and opens fire. The Gospel took evasive maneuvers to avoid the attack. Dane then uses the Instellung again, missing again. After a few minutes of this, the cable on the hook snapped with a metallic snap. The Gospel stops, and Dane gets ready to engage again. As he prepared himself, the Gospel faces away from him, and flies off.
Oh no you don't.
Dane accelerates, trying to keep up.
"Warning! Warning! Aile pack malfunctioning! Aile pack malfunctioning!"
What!?
One of the thrusters on the pack sputters and smoke pours out.
I can't keep this up. I have to fall back.
With that, Dane flies towards the direction that the other two went in.
The medics had taken Ichika to the infirmary right after Houki returned with him. The girl was in a state of shock, he was in a coma. As the medics and miss Orimura leave, Houki and the rest of Ichikas friends wait at the beach for Dane to return.
After half an hour or so, they see the damaged Strike fly over the horizon.
"There he is!" Says Laura.
As she says this, another thruster from the Strike explodes. Dane crashes into the water, and slides onto the shore about thirty feet from where they were waiting.
"Dane!" The girls shout as they run towards the crash (except Houki.).
As they got to him, his IS had turned grey from losing power. The Striker packs disappear and he lays on his back. Reaching down to his shin, he pulls out and twists a lever. The front armor and the helmet slide back and Dane sits up.
"Dane! Are you alright?" Asked Charlotte.
"I'm fine." He responds as he stands up.
"What happened?" Asks Laura.
"The Gospel fled, when I tried to pursue it, my IS couldn't take the strain."
Cecilia looks at him with a sad look. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have messed with your IS. My fighting style is different than yours, I should have known better."
"Its alright. It is a prototype after all." He dusts off his hands. "How is Orimura?"
"He's in a coma. When Houki got here, Ichika was unresponsive but alive." Responds Rin.
Dane looks over where Houki is currently sitting. "And how is she?"
"Physically, she's fine. Emotionally is a different answer." Charlotte said.
The boy goes towards Houki but is stopped by Laura. "Give her some time. We will talk to her later."
Dane nods and the group leaves Houki.
An hour after returning, it was decided that Dane could not continue in the operation. All Dane could do now was watch. Its 2150 now.
Dane sat in his room in his usual attire, waiting for something to happen. All of a sudden, his phone vibrates. He looks at the screen.
Outside the guest house perimeter. 20 minutes.
Audrey?
The sun had set and it was about 2200. There was a road that went toward the guest house. Said road was also a kilometer away from the peninsula that Dane had taken off from.
The boy had walked to about where the road turns off away from a set of trees. Inside that set of trees was the van that Jaeger team was using. As he approaches, Dane notices a commercial truck, with a large trailer, parked next to the van in the road facing the way he was walking. From the woods, Jake and Karter join the teen.
"Took you long enough. We thought we had to go bash in your door just in case you got yourself a girlfriend." Jake jokes.
"What've you got?" Dane asks.
"A present." Responds Karter.
"From who?"
"The Secretary of Defense." Says another male voice.
Coming around the truck was none other than Lt Colonel Grant. Dane salutes but is dismissed by Grant.
"So Secretary Sam Wilson gave me something?" Asks Dane. He's never really gotten gifts from Sam so it was weird for him even though had known him for a while, and Sam Wilson got him into Wolf. As they go to the truck, the trailer opens and Audrey jumps out.
"Okay Dane you're gonna love this." She says as she puts a necklace, in the shape of a blue diamond, around his neck.
Grant grabs a tablet from the back of the container. "This is your replacement IS."
He hands the tablet to Dane, and the teen looks over the contents. "Sir, this is a very important IS, I shouldn't just take this."
"I order you to use it." Grant orders.
"Yes sir." Dane gives up, rather quickly.
As they talk a laptop that Audrey carried begins to beep and she opens it.
"I believe this IS should be in your hands. No, it needs to be in your hands." Grant says.
"Sir, may I ask how you know?" Dane asks.
Grant puts a hand on his shoulder. "Trust me. After all these years, I haven't been more positive in my life that this was made for you." He reassured him.
"Uh, we have an issue sir." Says Audrey. She shows the screen to the group.
"This is coming from One of our satellites. The girls that are friends with the VIP just engaged the Gospel on an island about 30 miles of shore."
"Oh shit." Says Karter.
On the screen was a map and several small blips. All of a sudden, another blip appears. Audrey looks at it and types something up.
"It's Jackknife sir."
Grant looks at Dane. "It's about time you put that IS to the test."
Dane salutes. "Yes sir."
Ichika flies over the water, heading towards where the girls were fighting. Byakushiki had undergone 2nd shift when he left, so now he has a fighting chance. His radar light up, an IS was approaching from behind. He turns to see a familiar face getting closer. Ichika smiles and the person is on ear shot. "Perfect timing. Are you ready for this?"
Thanks for reading. Review!