Gundam Wing: War in A.C. 200
a Gundam Wing Fanfiction
by Torankusu Senshi
Chapter 7: Plans for Defense-Unexpected Attack
The once proud breifing room of the Preventer Agency was no more. It retained it's cramped feel, despite it's immense size, it's colorless black walls, small black seats equipped with vid screens, and the 40 foot main monitor, similar to the one found in The War Room. However, it's affiliation had been changed. It was now the E.S.U.N.A.F. Base of Operations and Planning Center. Instead of the hundreds of young pilot brimming with enthusiasm, it was now home to merely the same amount of squadron commanders. They were all dressed in the badge and black colors of the newly formed Earth Sphere United Nation Armed Forces, and most of them carried an air of nervousness about them. Only the few that had participated as commanders or pilots during the Eve and Marameiya Wars, of which there were few, posessed an actual commanding air. All types of rank patches were worn on their left breasts, and they sat and chatted nervously among themselves. Each one represented a battalion, brigade, or squadron, each had the lives of others resting in his hands.
Wufei could tell that Zecchs hated this kind of gathering. The man was a few feet from the podium, his arms folded, looking down at the floor. Blonde locks of hair covered his expression. It was much better to talk to the pilots themselves, to get to know the men that would be piloting gigantic mobile suits in the Sphere's defense, the ones that you would soon be sending to their deaths. Wufei had never been a commander himself, and never wanted to be. The only responsibility and command he desired was the freedom to do as he wished, and the ability to fight for causes he chose, in the way he chose it. He needed only himself, and Nataku. Everything else was overrated, especially 'friendship.'
Heero had taught him that, a few days ago.
Unlike the rest of those present, Wufei and Zecchs forewent the E.S.U.N.A.F. garb in favor of their Preventer jumpsuits, a sign of respect to the men they had fought alongside with. Duo and Quatre, feeling a bit out of place in a such a large formal military meeting, kept to a small corner, talking in hushed whispers. It continued like this for some time, until Lady Une spoke up from the podium.
"Everyone, quiet down. You all must know by now the current situation, so I will not be getting into that. However, with the arrival of the aliens projected to be in about two days, you should know what we have found out so far, as well our strategy for battle when they arrive. First, I'll give you the report of alien capabilities that we've received."
Wufei noted, not without some wonderment, that Zecchs wore a blood stained bandage around his hand. Lady Une continued in that loud, commanding voice.
"The Alien mobile suits encountered on May 17 by the Preventers are of right now, one of our primary concerns. As far as we can discern, there are two classes of mobile suits used by the enemy. The first is the generic type, what we have codenamed "Tentacle,"for the mass amount of the tentacles outfitted on the suit's back. The second seems to be the leaders of the Tentacle types, and we have dubbed that brand "Angel," for instead of tentacles, large metal wings resembling angel wings have been placed."
She tossed her head to look at the technician in the row immediately in front of the briefing stage, brown hair swinging behind her to rest on her shoulder. "Put Tentacle on the screen."
With that command, the main monitor sprung to life, and the image of the Alien Mobile Suit called Tentacle appeared, almost life size, on the screen. Even as a simple picture it was a foreboding sight. It stood a full meter taller than any mobile suit, and it had the simple paint scheme of jet black. It's arms were more tiger like than human like, with the fists ending in huge, sharp claws. In the right set of claws, held firmly between the giant metal fingers, was a beam gun, in the left was a beam saber, as Preventer pilots were forced to learn the hard way. The legs seemed standard mobile suit fare. The mass of tentacles protruding from a small hump on it's back, and the seemingly helmeted visage of the suit made it look like a living nightmare.
"Tentacle is lightly armed, with only a beam rifle and a beam saber held in each of it's clawlike hands. The legs seem weaker than most mobile suit legs, and the only purpose we can discern is to stand up and house the massive retros that make it a speed demon. Tell your squadmen to be careful, this thing moves at almost the speed of the original Tallgeese."
Small murmurs could be heard throughout the room at that remark, everyone here was well acquainted with the obscene amount of kills that Zecchs had gotten through the use of his Tallgeese, and it's mortifying speed.
"The most deadly feature of this mobile suit is the tentacles, from which we derive it's codename. We have some footage of these in use, so take a look and see for yourselves."
After a quick order to the same technician, the screen flickered off a moment, then bright back to life. On it, for a moment, nothing but the peaceful and soothing sight of outer space could be seen. Unfortunately, the screams of dying men over the communications relay drowned out any relaxation effect it might have had. Men screamed and shouted warnings to each other, screams all eventually cutting off, replaced by a quick burst of static, then nothing. The only thing that could be seen of this was a few stray laser shots. Then, a Taurus flew onto the giant vid-screen. Immediately after him followed a Tentacle unit.
The Taurus was using it's own impressive speed to run, but to no avail. The Tentacle caught up with it swiftly, and the masses of appendages attached to it's back seemed each to triple in length. Shooting out with intense speed, they attached themselves to the hapless Taurus suit, who had no beam rifle on him, he must have lost it in the battle. The tentacles themselves seemed to pulsate, and only the gurgled scream of the pilot could be heard, as each tentacle pulled back on it's respective section of the suit, effectively ripping it to shreds. The Tentacle's many appendages let go of the remains of the pilot's mobile suit as if he was only an afterthought, and sped offscreen to a different part of the battle. The screen flickered, and switched back to the specification diagram of the suit.
The only thing to be heard in the briefing theater was dead silence.
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L1 Colony Cluster Delegate Marshall Reeves folded his arms across the desk before him. He spent much of his time in his ornately decorated office, these days, planning. Planning his rise, planning the fall of those woulw would dare oppose him...
Marshall Reeves was a very prudent man.
The Earth Sphere United Nation Armed Forces were now a reality. He had always known the day would come, although he had expected that the cause for it would be through his machinations. Unfortunately, it was not due to his years of scheming, improvising, and manipulating. The threat approaching was a deadly one, to be sure. One and a half million warships of anything was enough to be taken seriously, no matter how smart he was.
But, like everything else he had ever encountered, he was not without his ways to twist this to his advantage. He had plans in place, one that would guarantee a human victory, or, more to the point, HIS victory. Not one to trust in anything completely, he had plans in place for an alien victory, as well. He always planned for every contingency, it was the only reason he had risen from his lowly position in the beginning of his life, as the personal aid of that fool Dekim Barton....
And now, he had even more oppurtunities to work with. For that was how he thought of everything; people, cities, lives, thoughts, fears, and anything else that might be of use. Oppurtunities. Ways for him to use things to further his own power.
And the recent arrival of the Wing Zero could also work to his advantage, if played right. He could nuetralize the biggest threat to his eventual rise, the Gundams, before they even had a chance to discover the game they had been unexpectedly woven into.
Slowly, a plan began to form in the Delegate's head.
He reached a hand over to the comm system on his desk, pressing a red button. The number on automatic dial patched him through immediately to his personal staff.
It was time to use the private army he had been assembling.
A man's voice answered over the phone, nervous, as they always were. All of his personal staff knew what kind of a man he could be, especially when his demands were not met satisfactorily.
"He...Hello? Yes, sir?"
"Dispatch Mobile Doll Task Force 4. Begin Operation Sunset. Send me the vid-feeds in three hours."
"Sir!" came the smart response. He killed the communication set.
It was time to get the ball rolling, to put things in motion. His game, his plan, would begin today. His time had begun.
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The moments of uncomfortable silence after the Tentacle vid had been demonstrated were almost ubearable. To think that was just a sample of what they would all soon face......Fortunately, Lady Une broke the overwhelming silence, but not in a way that they would soon enjoy.
The vid screen flickered to life yet again, with an image much the same as the horror it had just displayed. Instead of the mass of writhing metal tentacles, however, these suits had large metal wingspans on their backs, of that same black colored metal. It made them truly resemble and Angel of Death, as the structure and purpose of it was not hard to figure out.
"The other mobile suits, the 'Angels,' are built much the same way. From what we can discern, the mobile suit's armament is two beam sabers, and two beam rifles. Both weapons are attached to it's waist, with the mobile suit being able to draw them at will. Structurally, from what we can tell, the Angel and the Tentacle are exactly the same, with only one major difference. The wings."
The monitor changed to a close up of the massive metal feathers on it's back.
"These suits are even more dangerous than the Tentacle model. Each wing is retrofitted with a thruster, and when all retros are ignited, the top speed of the Angel Mobile Suit is estimated to be in Gundam-class range."
That brought an unhappy murmur from the gathered commanders. None wanted to bring their men out to face a group of opponents that had Gundam-class speed. The Taurus and Leo suits they were to use were bad enough in speed compared to the Tentacle, but now they were forced to combat this monstrosity. It was at this point in the demonstration that most of the commanders realized something.
A lot of good people were going to die out there.
The monitor, thanks to some timely work by the technician, switched to a far away view of the Alien Fleet. One and half Million warships, all aimed for the Earth Sphere. This little vision of death did nothing to improve the moods of the commanders already brooding. After a silent moment of the star-blocking fleet in it's entiriety, the view changed, yet again, to an specification analysis of one of the warships.
"These seem to be the enemy's main mobile suit carriers, yet, they can figth off legions of suits all by themselves if pressed, as proved by a failed attack on one lone ship on May 17th. Out of the one a half million warships contained in the enemy fleet, this one seems to be the generic, with over 90% of them belognging to this category. The rest are varying ships which purposes remain unknown, as we have not seen them in combat."
She looked down at the podium, and began reading the specifications of the ship, much to the horror of those present:
"The length of the ship is approximately one mile long, and 500 meters in diameter. The supporting armament, as far as we can tell, is esitmated to be one thousand tracking laser cannons dispersed at regular intervals throughout the length of the ship. If, as we think, all mobile suits had been dispatched in the Preventer's Last Stand, then each one carries four hundred plus mobile suits. The engines are standard fare, massive power generators located at the rear of the ship. There are no command centers that we have been able to detect, yet, but we aim to find the bridge as soon as possible."
"Now, for our biggest perceived threat: what we have codenamed, 'The Mothership.' "
The image on the screen switched to one of something even worse: The most massive and terrifying battleship any had ever seen, or even imagined, the old warships Libra and Barge not excluding. It stretched on for impossible length, with threatening beam cannons placed all over it's intimidating shape. It was something out of a nightmare, or a bad sci-fi....
"The Mothership is approximately 15 miles long, and one mile in diameter. We have yet to determine the amount of beam weapon emplacements on the ship, but at this point it appears to be in excess of thirty thousand. The number of mobile suits is impossible to determine, but the number 10,000 mobile suits is our best possible guess. Same engine locations as the others, and we have had an equally disturbing time locating the bridge. This is it, soldiers, we assume this to be their base of operations and planning center. We also assume their leader, whomever that may be, is on this ship. If you are forced to encounter it in any unplanned attack, it is advised you retreat IMMEDIATELY. Combat with this ship outside of a controlled battle plan has been deemed suicidal."
The screen once again shifted, to a view of the entire Earth Sphere, a map. The commanders shifted nervously in their seats, this was it. The battle plan. The manner in which they were to stand up for their race.
"The enemy ships, even at the moment, are slowly dispersing, so we expect that they intend to spread their number throughout our territory in an attempt to overwhelm us and enclose Earth. Projected entry points into the Earth Sphere are the L2 Colony Cluster, L3 Colony Cluster, Colony X-18999 area, and L5 Colony Cluster. The enemy is then expected to spread over the Sphere, maybe taking Earth as it goes, maybe not. The L1 and L4 Clusters are on the opposite side of their entry points, so they may take a while to get to those. This point has been dubbed the 'Event Horizon'. If they capture those colony clusters, they will have Earth surrounded, or will already have taken the planet, and they will be our last free strongholds. The bases at the entry points and at the Event Horizon will be the most heavily fortified. The restored battleships Libra and Barge, when completed, will be Earth's main defense. Until then, you soldiers based at the entry points need to hold them at bay. Event Horizon shoulders will be expected to lend troop support and provide shelter in their clusters when necessary. You will receive additional orders when you return to your squadrons."
There was a moment of uncomfortable silence, an unspoken goodbye in those last final words.
"And....good luck, everyone. Godspeed, and hope we all come out of this alive."
If only that were the case. Against the forthcoming enemy, Humanity would be hard pressed to survive, at all.
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Duo plopped down into the leather seat of of the cockpit with a sigh. He hated those kinds of meetings. All he wanted to do was head out for the enemy fleet, and show them exactly why he was the God of Death. Plans and squadron assignments were all well and good for the others, but he was a Gundam pilot. He would stand wherever he chose, it was the only way he knew how to do battle. And when those ships hit their Earth Sphere entry points, he planned to be out there, the beam sycthe of his Gundam swinging, to meet them dead on.
It was time to depart, and wait.
His fingers flew over the controls of the mobile suit HUD with ease. The hatch closed, and the rest of the previously blank and empty switches and monitors flickered to life, bringing status reports for systems all over the mobile suit. After a cursory glance to make sure all systems were a hundred percent, he set the Gundam into pilot mode, and laid his hand on the stick beside his chair, pulling up, his other hand manipulating yet more controls.
And from it's comfortable paddock, the Gundam Deathscythe, destroyer of countless men and women, roared to life. It's black visage lit up with blood red eyes, as if the mobile suit itself shared the attitude of the pilot. With a single thrust of it's massive engines, it blazed out of the hangar like a rocket, out of the bunker and into the relieving and welcoming sky.
He loved it up here. No matter what problems there seemed to be with the world, as long as he was in Deathscythe, ready to tackle them head on, everything would be okay.
To the side of the mobile suit, across the sky and closer to the ocean, were two more mobile suits. Brother suits of the currently piloted by Duo Maxwell, and wearing that same blood red visage. The water parted beneath their engine wash, almost as if the sea itself was anxious to move out of their wake. Gundams Altron and Sandrock approached the Deathscythe through the air, their weapons held at their sides.
Quatre's peaceful voice came over the comm set: "So, Duo, you're heading out already, too?"
From inside of his mobile suit, the cheerful pilot grinned. "I'm on my way to the X18999 Colony."
Wufei's grim tone responded: "One would have thought you would head out to the L2 Cluster."
After a quiet moment, he got his answer: "Nothing left for me there, anymore. Hilde's on Earth, safe, and X18999 seems as if it'll be the center of all the action, so I'm there."
Before any of the other pilots could answer Duo, or inform him of their plans for War, something quite unexpected happened.
Just as the suits Altron and Sandrock pulled up to the other's side, beams of lasers struck the floor all around them.
Deathscythe shook and practically did a flip, landing hard on the ground, tidal waves of send being sent up on either side of it. He was no Trowa, that was for sure, he did not know how to make his Gundam perform like an acrobat. As Duo brought the Gundam's visage up and ignited it's retros, intending on heading right for the source of the blast, he heard Quatre's voice on the comm:
"Virgos!!"
And sure enough, as Deathscythe turned to look, they they were. Maybe twenty Virgos, each with that blasted beam shielding around them, and all opening fire on the surprised pilots. He could hear Altron and Sandrock readying themselves, and his own Deathscythe's beam scythe ignited brightly.
He yelled over the comm set as Deathscythe roared in at the opponents, full of the need for vengeance. "What the hell are Virgos doing over here?! The governemt only uses Tauruses and Leos!"
Quatre responded as his own mobile suit rammed straight into one of enemy's beam shields, causing a blinding output of electricty to be given off. "I don't know, I didn't think anybody used mobile dolls anymore, either!" With that, his Gundam brought it's heat shotels around the stunned shield, bissecting the Virgo suit at it's waist. Sandrock turned away, and engines flaring, blazed through the battle torn sky at it's next opponent, the explosion of the mobile doll behind him unworried about.
The talking stopped, and the real battle commenced.
Deathscythe weaved in at it's opponent through the air, causing it to turn anxiously the other way, then, using it's wrong direction, took that moment to slice his beam scythe through the doll's head. The God of Death flew through the explosion in a rage, his beam sycthe slicing throguh two more undefended Virgos as his mobile suit danced in between the beams in some soprt of demented dance, the blue trail of engines and the trail of destruction behind it the only sign that it was ever there at all.
Gundam Altron, it's beam trident lit and held firmly in it's hand, took to the batttle easily. Extending a flame thrower from it's shoulder, flames poured out at all the opponents, the 'Flames of Hell', as the pilot liked to call them. The mobile dolls, responding to their inner programming, activated their shields, and were saved from the onslaught. However, the two on the flank edges, becoming ready to attack, moved their shields to the side, expecting the Trident to have to swing at them. Instead, two massive claws breached their power suits, effectively impaling them and breaching their generators. The explosions reverberated through the still clearing wisps of fire, and the limbs retreated. Before the dolls could even process all of this, Altron was on them, the fire behind it very well suiting the mood of it's pilot.
Duo's voice came in over the comm as yet more Virgos fell. "Haven't fought dolls in a while, huh? Forgot how simple minded they were!" he declared as yet another Virgo fell prey to his scythe.
The battle continued for a long while, and despite their efforts, they knew it was one of the hardest battles they had ever been in. The Virgos did not worry about their own self perserverance, only about destroying their targets. They would have succeeded, as well, if they did not have the unfortunate luck that their targets were Gundams.
And so, after long minutes, the battle was concluded. The pilots remained silent, as if none needed to say anything, but they all had the same thought running through their head.
In the midst of all this crisis, someone was trying to kill them. A human, the very race they belonged to, and had recently sworn to protect.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Ex-trainee of the Preventers, and now Liuetenant of the Earth Sphere United Nation Armed Forces, Liuetenant James Carter was a man who knew his place. His girlfrriend, currently living in the L1 Colony Cluster, at the Event Horizon, was the best thing that had ever happened to him, and the reason why he fought. He may have lacked the innate skill or a Gundam class mobile suit that some others had, but just the same, he was happy. He would stand, and fight for his race, as he had always dreamed of doing. He would be a hero, if if no one but his girlfriend's eyes.
So, he slept soundly, unaware of events about to unfold.
Liuetenant Commander Slade slipped into the room, opening and closing the door with catlike grace. He had recenely been promoted, due to the fact that he seemed to have an innate ability to pilot mobile suits, and lead troops. There was even talk of building another Tallgeese, and bestowing it to him, such was his skill. He was proud of that, even though the people around him's amount of skill added up to almost nothing. He had one real enemy, and that was....
Best not to think about it. He had a job to do. Moving with that same grace to the peaceful body of Liuetenant Carter, he paused by the bed. And he drew the foot long blade he had carried with him.
A moment later, he slipped out, just as quietly. He had other places to be, after all. One mistake could mean everything.
The only sign he was ever there was the foot long knife stab through James Carter's heart.
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a Gundam Wing Fanfiction
by Torankusu Senshi
Chapter 7: Plans for Defense-Unexpected Attack
The once proud breifing room of the Preventer Agency was no more. It retained it's cramped feel, despite it's immense size, it's colorless black walls, small black seats equipped with vid screens, and the 40 foot main monitor, similar to the one found in The War Room. However, it's affiliation had been changed. It was now the E.S.U.N.A.F. Base of Operations and Planning Center. Instead of the hundreds of young pilot brimming with enthusiasm, it was now home to merely the same amount of squadron commanders. They were all dressed in the badge and black colors of the newly formed Earth Sphere United Nation Armed Forces, and most of them carried an air of nervousness about them. Only the few that had participated as commanders or pilots during the Eve and Marameiya Wars, of which there were few, posessed an actual commanding air. All types of rank patches were worn on their left breasts, and they sat and chatted nervously among themselves. Each one represented a battalion, brigade, or squadron, each had the lives of others resting in his hands.
Wufei could tell that Zecchs hated this kind of gathering. The man was a few feet from the podium, his arms folded, looking down at the floor. Blonde locks of hair covered his expression. It was much better to talk to the pilots themselves, to get to know the men that would be piloting gigantic mobile suits in the Sphere's defense, the ones that you would soon be sending to their deaths. Wufei had never been a commander himself, and never wanted to be. The only responsibility and command he desired was the freedom to do as he wished, and the ability to fight for causes he chose, in the way he chose it. He needed only himself, and Nataku. Everything else was overrated, especially 'friendship.'
Heero had taught him that, a few days ago.
Unlike the rest of those present, Wufei and Zecchs forewent the E.S.U.N.A.F. garb in favor of their Preventer jumpsuits, a sign of respect to the men they had fought alongside with. Duo and Quatre, feeling a bit out of place in a such a large formal military meeting, kept to a small corner, talking in hushed whispers. It continued like this for some time, until Lady Une spoke up from the podium.
"Everyone, quiet down. You all must know by now the current situation, so I will not be getting into that. However, with the arrival of the aliens projected to be in about two days, you should know what we have found out so far, as well our strategy for battle when they arrive. First, I'll give you the report of alien capabilities that we've received."
Wufei noted, not without some wonderment, that Zecchs wore a blood stained bandage around his hand. Lady Une continued in that loud, commanding voice.
"The Alien mobile suits encountered on May 17 by the Preventers are of right now, one of our primary concerns. As far as we can discern, there are two classes of mobile suits used by the enemy. The first is the generic type, what we have codenamed "Tentacle,"for the mass amount of the tentacles outfitted on the suit's back. The second seems to be the leaders of the Tentacle types, and we have dubbed that brand "Angel," for instead of tentacles, large metal wings resembling angel wings have been placed."
She tossed her head to look at the technician in the row immediately in front of the briefing stage, brown hair swinging behind her to rest on her shoulder. "Put Tentacle on the screen."
With that command, the main monitor sprung to life, and the image of the Alien Mobile Suit called Tentacle appeared, almost life size, on the screen. Even as a simple picture it was a foreboding sight. It stood a full meter taller than any mobile suit, and it had the simple paint scheme of jet black. It's arms were more tiger like than human like, with the fists ending in huge, sharp claws. In the right set of claws, held firmly between the giant metal fingers, was a beam gun, in the left was a beam saber, as Preventer pilots were forced to learn the hard way. The legs seemed standard mobile suit fare. The mass of tentacles protruding from a small hump on it's back, and the seemingly helmeted visage of the suit made it look like a living nightmare.
"Tentacle is lightly armed, with only a beam rifle and a beam saber held in each of it's clawlike hands. The legs seem weaker than most mobile suit legs, and the only purpose we can discern is to stand up and house the massive retros that make it a speed demon. Tell your squadmen to be careful, this thing moves at almost the speed of the original Tallgeese."
Small murmurs could be heard throughout the room at that remark, everyone here was well acquainted with the obscene amount of kills that Zecchs had gotten through the use of his Tallgeese, and it's mortifying speed.
"The most deadly feature of this mobile suit is the tentacles, from which we derive it's codename. We have some footage of these in use, so take a look and see for yourselves."
After a quick order to the same technician, the screen flickered off a moment, then bright back to life. On it, for a moment, nothing but the peaceful and soothing sight of outer space could be seen. Unfortunately, the screams of dying men over the communications relay drowned out any relaxation effect it might have had. Men screamed and shouted warnings to each other, screams all eventually cutting off, replaced by a quick burst of static, then nothing. The only thing that could be seen of this was a few stray laser shots. Then, a Taurus flew onto the giant vid-screen. Immediately after him followed a Tentacle unit.
The Taurus was using it's own impressive speed to run, but to no avail. The Tentacle caught up with it swiftly, and the masses of appendages attached to it's back seemed each to triple in length. Shooting out with intense speed, they attached themselves to the hapless Taurus suit, who had no beam rifle on him, he must have lost it in the battle. The tentacles themselves seemed to pulsate, and only the gurgled scream of the pilot could be heard, as each tentacle pulled back on it's respective section of the suit, effectively ripping it to shreds. The Tentacle's many appendages let go of the remains of the pilot's mobile suit as if he was only an afterthought, and sped offscreen to a different part of the battle. The screen flickered, and switched back to the specification diagram of the suit.
The only thing to be heard in the briefing theater was dead silence.
__________________________________________________________________________________
L1 Colony Cluster Delegate Marshall Reeves folded his arms across the desk before him. He spent much of his time in his ornately decorated office, these days, planning. Planning his rise, planning the fall of those woulw would dare oppose him...
Marshall Reeves was a very prudent man.
The Earth Sphere United Nation Armed Forces were now a reality. He had always known the day would come, although he had expected that the cause for it would be through his machinations. Unfortunately, it was not due to his years of scheming, improvising, and manipulating. The threat approaching was a deadly one, to be sure. One and a half million warships of anything was enough to be taken seriously, no matter how smart he was.
But, like everything else he had ever encountered, he was not without his ways to twist this to his advantage. He had plans in place, one that would guarantee a human victory, or, more to the point, HIS victory. Not one to trust in anything completely, he had plans in place for an alien victory, as well. He always planned for every contingency, it was the only reason he had risen from his lowly position in the beginning of his life, as the personal aid of that fool Dekim Barton....
And now, he had even more oppurtunities to work with. For that was how he thought of everything; people, cities, lives, thoughts, fears, and anything else that might be of use. Oppurtunities. Ways for him to use things to further his own power.
And the recent arrival of the Wing Zero could also work to his advantage, if played right. He could nuetralize the biggest threat to his eventual rise, the Gundams, before they even had a chance to discover the game they had been unexpectedly woven into.
Slowly, a plan began to form in the Delegate's head.
He reached a hand over to the comm system on his desk, pressing a red button. The number on automatic dial patched him through immediately to his personal staff.
It was time to use the private army he had been assembling.
A man's voice answered over the phone, nervous, as they always were. All of his personal staff knew what kind of a man he could be, especially when his demands were not met satisfactorily.
"He...Hello? Yes, sir?"
"Dispatch Mobile Doll Task Force 4. Begin Operation Sunset. Send me the vid-feeds in three hours."
"Sir!" came the smart response. He killed the communication set.
It was time to get the ball rolling, to put things in motion. His game, his plan, would begin today. His time had begun.
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The moments of uncomfortable silence after the Tentacle vid had been demonstrated were almost ubearable. To think that was just a sample of what they would all soon face......Fortunately, Lady Une broke the overwhelming silence, but not in a way that they would soon enjoy.
The vid screen flickered to life yet again, with an image much the same as the horror it had just displayed. Instead of the mass of writhing metal tentacles, however, these suits had large metal wingspans on their backs, of that same black colored metal. It made them truly resemble and Angel of Death, as the structure and purpose of it was not hard to figure out.
"The other mobile suits, the 'Angels,' are built much the same way. From what we can discern, the mobile suit's armament is two beam sabers, and two beam rifles. Both weapons are attached to it's waist, with the mobile suit being able to draw them at will. Structurally, from what we can tell, the Angel and the Tentacle are exactly the same, with only one major difference. The wings."
The monitor changed to a close up of the massive metal feathers on it's back.
"These suits are even more dangerous than the Tentacle model. Each wing is retrofitted with a thruster, and when all retros are ignited, the top speed of the Angel Mobile Suit is estimated to be in Gundam-class range."
That brought an unhappy murmur from the gathered commanders. None wanted to bring their men out to face a group of opponents that had Gundam-class speed. The Taurus and Leo suits they were to use were bad enough in speed compared to the Tentacle, but now they were forced to combat this monstrosity. It was at this point in the demonstration that most of the commanders realized something.
A lot of good people were going to die out there.
The monitor, thanks to some timely work by the technician, switched to a far away view of the Alien Fleet. One and half Million warships, all aimed for the Earth Sphere. This little vision of death did nothing to improve the moods of the commanders already brooding. After a silent moment of the star-blocking fleet in it's entiriety, the view changed, yet again, to an specification analysis of one of the warships.
"These seem to be the enemy's main mobile suit carriers, yet, they can figth off legions of suits all by themselves if pressed, as proved by a failed attack on one lone ship on May 17th. Out of the one a half million warships contained in the enemy fleet, this one seems to be the generic, with over 90% of them belognging to this category. The rest are varying ships which purposes remain unknown, as we have not seen them in combat."
She looked down at the podium, and began reading the specifications of the ship, much to the horror of those present:
"The length of the ship is approximately one mile long, and 500 meters in diameter. The supporting armament, as far as we can tell, is esitmated to be one thousand tracking laser cannons dispersed at regular intervals throughout the length of the ship. If, as we think, all mobile suits had been dispatched in the Preventer's Last Stand, then each one carries four hundred plus mobile suits. The engines are standard fare, massive power generators located at the rear of the ship. There are no command centers that we have been able to detect, yet, but we aim to find the bridge as soon as possible."
"Now, for our biggest perceived threat: what we have codenamed, 'The Mothership.' "
The image on the screen switched to one of something even worse: The most massive and terrifying battleship any had ever seen, or even imagined, the old warships Libra and Barge not excluding. It stretched on for impossible length, with threatening beam cannons placed all over it's intimidating shape. It was something out of a nightmare, or a bad sci-fi....
"The Mothership is approximately 15 miles long, and one mile in diameter. We have yet to determine the amount of beam weapon emplacements on the ship, but at this point it appears to be in excess of thirty thousand. The number of mobile suits is impossible to determine, but the number 10,000 mobile suits is our best possible guess. Same engine locations as the others, and we have had an equally disturbing time locating the bridge. This is it, soldiers, we assume this to be their base of operations and planning center. We also assume their leader, whomever that may be, is on this ship. If you are forced to encounter it in any unplanned attack, it is advised you retreat IMMEDIATELY. Combat with this ship outside of a controlled battle plan has been deemed suicidal."
The screen once again shifted, to a view of the entire Earth Sphere, a map. The commanders shifted nervously in their seats, this was it. The battle plan. The manner in which they were to stand up for their race.
"The enemy ships, even at the moment, are slowly dispersing, so we expect that they intend to spread their number throughout our territory in an attempt to overwhelm us and enclose Earth. Projected entry points into the Earth Sphere are the L2 Colony Cluster, L3 Colony Cluster, Colony X-18999 area, and L5 Colony Cluster. The enemy is then expected to spread over the Sphere, maybe taking Earth as it goes, maybe not. The L1 and L4 Clusters are on the opposite side of their entry points, so they may take a while to get to those. This point has been dubbed the 'Event Horizon'. If they capture those colony clusters, they will have Earth surrounded, or will already have taken the planet, and they will be our last free strongholds. The bases at the entry points and at the Event Horizon will be the most heavily fortified. The restored battleships Libra and Barge, when completed, will be Earth's main defense. Until then, you soldiers based at the entry points need to hold them at bay. Event Horizon shoulders will be expected to lend troop support and provide shelter in their clusters when necessary. You will receive additional orders when you return to your squadrons."
There was a moment of uncomfortable silence, an unspoken goodbye in those last final words.
"And....good luck, everyone. Godspeed, and hope we all come out of this alive."
If only that were the case. Against the forthcoming enemy, Humanity would be hard pressed to survive, at all.
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Duo plopped down into the leather seat of of the cockpit with a sigh. He hated those kinds of meetings. All he wanted to do was head out for the enemy fleet, and show them exactly why he was the God of Death. Plans and squadron assignments were all well and good for the others, but he was a Gundam pilot. He would stand wherever he chose, it was the only way he knew how to do battle. And when those ships hit their Earth Sphere entry points, he planned to be out there, the beam sycthe of his Gundam swinging, to meet them dead on.
It was time to depart, and wait.
His fingers flew over the controls of the mobile suit HUD with ease. The hatch closed, and the rest of the previously blank and empty switches and monitors flickered to life, bringing status reports for systems all over the mobile suit. After a cursory glance to make sure all systems were a hundred percent, he set the Gundam into pilot mode, and laid his hand on the stick beside his chair, pulling up, his other hand manipulating yet more controls.
And from it's comfortable paddock, the Gundam Deathscythe, destroyer of countless men and women, roared to life. It's black visage lit up with blood red eyes, as if the mobile suit itself shared the attitude of the pilot. With a single thrust of it's massive engines, it blazed out of the hangar like a rocket, out of the bunker and into the relieving and welcoming sky.
He loved it up here. No matter what problems there seemed to be with the world, as long as he was in Deathscythe, ready to tackle them head on, everything would be okay.
To the side of the mobile suit, across the sky and closer to the ocean, were two more mobile suits. Brother suits of the currently piloted by Duo Maxwell, and wearing that same blood red visage. The water parted beneath their engine wash, almost as if the sea itself was anxious to move out of their wake. Gundams Altron and Sandrock approached the Deathscythe through the air, their weapons held at their sides.
Quatre's peaceful voice came over the comm set: "So, Duo, you're heading out already, too?"
From inside of his mobile suit, the cheerful pilot grinned. "I'm on my way to the X18999 Colony."
Wufei's grim tone responded: "One would have thought you would head out to the L2 Cluster."
After a quiet moment, he got his answer: "Nothing left for me there, anymore. Hilde's on Earth, safe, and X18999 seems as if it'll be the center of all the action, so I'm there."
Before any of the other pilots could answer Duo, or inform him of their plans for War, something quite unexpected happened.
Just as the suits Altron and Sandrock pulled up to the other's side, beams of lasers struck the floor all around them.
Deathscythe shook and practically did a flip, landing hard on the ground, tidal waves of send being sent up on either side of it. He was no Trowa, that was for sure, he did not know how to make his Gundam perform like an acrobat. As Duo brought the Gundam's visage up and ignited it's retros, intending on heading right for the source of the blast, he heard Quatre's voice on the comm:
"Virgos!!"
And sure enough, as Deathscythe turned to look, they they were. Maybe twenty Virgos, each with that blasted beam shielding around them, and all opening fire on the surprised pilots. He could hear Altron and Sandrock readying themselves, and his own Deathscythe's beam scythe ignited brightly.
He yelled over the comm set as Deathscythe roared in at the opponents, full of the need for vengeance. "What the hell are Virgos doing over here?! The governemt only uses Tauruses and Leos!"
Quatre responded as his own mobile suit rammed straight into one of enemy's beam shields, causing a blinding output of electricty to be given off. "I don't know, I didn't think anybody used mobile dolls anymore, either!" With that, his Gundam brought it's heat shotels around the stunned shield, bissecting the Virgo suit at it's waist. Sandrock turned away, and engines flaring, blazed through the battle torn sky at it's next opponent, the explosion of the mobile doll behind him unworried about.
The talking stopped, and the real battle commenced.
Deathscythe weaved in at it's opponent through the air, causing it to turn anxiously the other way, then, using it's wrong direction, took that moment to slice his beam scythe through the doll's head. The God of Death flew through the explosion in a rage, his beam sycthe slicing throguh two more undefended Virgos as his mobile suit danced in between the beams in some soprt of demented dance, the blue trail of engines and the trail of destruction behind it the only sign that it was ever there at all.
Gundam Altron, it's beam trident lit and held firmly in it's hand, took to the batttle easily. Extending a flame thrower from it's shoulder, flames poured out at all the opponents, the 'Flames of Hell', as the pilot liked to call them. The mobile dolls, responding to their inner programming, activated their shields, and were saved from the onslaught. However, the two on the flank edges, becoming ready to attack, moved their shields to the side, expecting the Trident to have to swing at them. Instead, two massive claws breached their power suits, effectively impaling them and breaching their generators. The explosions reverberated through the still clearing wisps of fire, and the limbs retreated. Before the dolls could even process all of this, Altron was on them, the fire behind it very well suiting the mood of it's pilot.
Duo's voice came in over the comm as yet more Virgos fell. "Haven't fought dolls in a while, huh? Forgot how simple minded they were!" he declared as yet another Virgo fell prey to his scythe.
The battle continued for a long while, and despite their efforts, they knew it was one of the hardest battles they had ever been in. The Virgos did not worry about their own self perserverance, only about destroying their targets. They would have succeeded, as well, if they did not have the unfortunate luck that their targets were Gundams.
And so, after long minutes, the battle was concluded. The pilots remained silent, as if none needed to say anything, but they all had the same thought running through their head.
In the midst of all this crisis, someone was trying to kill them. A human, the very race they belonged to, and had recently sworn to protect.
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Ex-trainee of the Preventers, and now Liuetenant of the Earth Sphere United Nation Armed Forces, Liuetenant James Carter was a man who knew his place. His girlfrriend, currently living in the L1 Colony Cluster, at the Event Horizon, was the best thing that had ever happened to him, and the reason why he fought. He may have lacked the innate skill or a Gundam class mobile suit that some others had, but just the same, he was happy. He would stand, and fight for his race, as he had always dreamed of doing. He would be a hero, if if no one but his girlfriend's eyes.
So, he slept soundly, unaware of events about to unfold.
Liuetenant Commander Slade slipped into the room, opening and closing the door with catlike grace. He had recenely been promoted, due to the fact that he seemed to have an innate ability to pilot mobile suits, and lead troops. There was even talk of building another Tallgeese, and bestowing it to him, such was his skill. He was proud of that, even though the people around him's amount of skill added up to almost nothing. He had one real enemy, and that was....
Best not to think about it. He had a job to do. Moving with that same grace to the peaceful body of Liuetenant Carter, he paused by the bed. And he drew the foot long blade he had carried with him.
A moment later, he slipped out, just as quietly. He had other places to be, after all. One mistake could mean everything.
The only sign he was ever there was the foot long knife stab through James Carter's heart.
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