With a grunt, Mark landed hard after blocking a full round of machinegun fire from the Guar leader. He'd been holding his own against the two Guars, but that was it. He had no advantage over them in his mobile suit. Reaching over to the left control panel with a black-gloved hand, he began to click off several safeties. He smirked as he watched the two Guars approach through the flattened forest area they were in, weapons trained on him.
"Let's see if you guys can handle speed…"
Grasping the flight stick firmly with his right hand, Mark let his left hand hover over the lever next to the safeties. He waited for the Guars to make their move.
---
"Sir, the enemy MS has ceased moving. It's just standing there."
Neal frowned. That was odd. The enemy pilot had been putting up a fierce, yet futile, fight up until now. Why would he stop all of a sudden?
"Santiago, keep on your guard. He might be planning something."
He heard Santiago laugh aloud over the comm.
"Sir, with all due respect, there's not a damn thing he can do. I'm going in!"
"Santiago…!"
Neal watched in anger as his subordinate charged the enemy Dray. He followed, albeit at a much more cautious pace.
---
"Captain! The Gundams… they've been…"
Galun stared incredulously at Ra Mira. 'No, they couldn't have been…'
"Sir, the Combine has them…"
Galun spewed several expletives from his mouth, as he pounded a fist on the armrest of his chair. After his short fit, he leaned forward as a growl emitted from his lips.
"Get Dr. Stephens to the bridge. NOW."
---
"Come on, come on, come on... That's it…"
Mark steadied himself as the right Guar charged, drawing its plasma sword, and raising it high above its head. It drew closer, the Guar's long, heavy metal legs smashing into the ground with each step.
"Shell Frame, purge!"
Mark slammed his left hand down on the lever, and the Dray began shaking heavily, the special machinery within beginning to work.
---
"What the hell…?"
Neal stopped his advance. The Dray was beginning to vibrate violently, and the shoulder pads seemed to glow briefly. His eyes widened in shock as he realized the enemy pilot's intent.
"Santiago! It's a self-destruct! Get back!"
The other Guar kept charging, Santiago not heeding his words, and jumped at the Dray. Just as it brought it's sword down to slash, the Dray exploded, covering the Guar in a massive burst of smoke and debris. Something small and black blasted out from within the smoke and zipped over Neal's Guar.
"Holy shit! What was that!?"
Neal turned quickly, and spotted the object that had flown past him. It was a small, black fighter-craft, with swept-forward wings and twin engines below and parallel to the rear rudder fin. It made a seemingly impossible tight Immelmann turn, and charged at Neal. Recovering his senses, he raised his machinegun and fired.
---
"Yahoo! This is more like it!"
Mark maneuvered the Drake fighter left and right, up and down, weaving in and out of the oncoming machinegun fire. He flipped the cover off the top trigger on the flight stick.
"Micro-missiles lock on… Fire!"
Two long tubes adjacent to the cockpit spewed several small pods out, and their tips exploded, letting loose several dozen miniature missiles that veered in towards the two Guars.
---
"Shit! Heads up, Santiago!"
Neal jetted his Guar straight up, and fired down at the cluster of missiles that were tracking him. Luckily, he managed to hit several in the center, and the resulting chain reaction left him free of pursuit.
"Lieu…lieutenant! Help me!!"
"Santiago??"
Neal looked down at where his wingman was, and saw that he had been too slow to avoid the other missiles. He watched helplessly as the other Guar attempted the same trick as Neal did, but was quickly caught on the legs by the first salvo. Without any lift, the Guar fell back down to take the rest of the missiles directly. It exploded before it even hit the ground.
"Dammit Santiago, why didn't you listen to me, you stupid son of a bitch…"
Neal found himself landing back in the town area, the enemy fighter flying a circle around him like a vulture. He glared up at the small fighter.
"Shit. That's not standard issue for Drays. Some sort of test-type? Hey, Ernest! Ernest, you got 'em yet!?"
Neal glanced over at the docks, and saw Ernest's Guar coming towards him.
'The hell…' he thought.
"Ernest, where the **** are the Rep mobile suits!?"
"Lanarow's got one, Sir, and he's going to destroy the other one. I couldn't make it in time to the other one."
Neal considering spitting in disgust, but didn't feel like having it on the inside of his helmet.
"Fine. Help me with this annoying fly, will you?"
He pointed the Guar's left hand at the Rep fighter that was beginning to swoop down.
"Yes sir."
As the small, sleek fighter came in, the two Guars opened fire. And missed. Every single shot. Neal heard Ernest curse.
"God DAMN! How the hell do we hit that thing!?"
Neal checked his time clock.
"Forget it. Once Lanarow gets here, we're pulling out with what we got!"
"Understood."
---
Galun looked over his shoulder as he heard someone enter the bridge of the Unity. There were two people. One he recognized as Hal Stephens, the lead scientist and MS specialist onboard. The second Galun recognized as Westa Lanson, the chief Republic officer at the colony.
"Dr. Stephens."
"Captain."
Standing, Galun walked forward to look out the viewport at Ensign Gilder's running battle with the two Combine mobile suits.
"Dr., I'll be quick. Is there any way to stop the two prototypes? The Combine soldiers have just… liberated them." He almost spat the word 'liberated'.
Hal pushed up his glasses with one finger, and frowned.
"The Gundams were made to take on any possible force. The only thing I could see stopping one is another one."
The Unity's captain turned around.
"What about High-Density Plasma? Would that work?"
Hal involuntarily took a step back. Westa, who also realized the meaning behind Galun's question, burst out in anger.
"Captain! Using a HDP Cannon within a colony!? That's inhuman!"
Galun closed his eyes briefly, before looking at Westa.
"Do you know what those MS can do? HDP is a simple rash compared to the full capabilities of those weapons."
"But…"
Galun turned his gaze to Hal, who looked somewhat ashen in the face.
"Dr., would it work?"
"Theoretically yes… but…"
Galun walked back to his chair, and turned around.
"Haruto! Initiate activation for the HDP Cannon!"
"Ye…yes Sir!"
---
With a sudden burst from it's main thrusters, the Crusade launched from the interior of the space dock, and out to the battle-ravaged city. Following suit, Rachel activated her own thrusters, and flew up into the air to come down just forty meters short of the Crusade. Upon impacting the ground, Rachel was thrown against the restraints, almost crying out as the strap bruised her shoulder.
"Nnnnh… this is not too much different than that power suit we made during the fair last year. But the power is much higher… Can I really handle this?"
Looking over the control panel, she realized with relief that it was almost identical to the standard controls she and her friends had installed in a homemade power suit. Of course, this had extra controls for weapons and other stuff that they didn't have on a simple power suit…
---
Lanarow smiled as he landed. They got one of the prototypes. That's all that mattered.
"Lance! Lanarow, do you read!?"
He heard Ernest's voice over the comm. Looking around, he spotted Ernest's Guar over by the entrance they took into the colony.
"Ernest? Yeah, I'm here."
"We're pulling out for now. Let's go!"
Lance saw Ernest's Guar head into the shaft, just before that black fighter fired on the spot he had just occupied. Reaching over, Lanarow was about to blast up into the air when he heard a voice.
"Wait!!!"
Lanarow stopped. That was…
"No! Why did you follow me!?"
---
Somehow, by chance or some other reason, the two Gundams had a comm. connection. Rachel heard the Combine soldier's angered yell.
"To stop you! I already it before! I will not stand idle while you people do this!"
The other voice came back quickly.
"You're no pilot, no soldier! What do you hope to achieve with this!?"
Rachel was actually at a loss for words at that. She really didn't know. All she knew was she had to try to stop them, that letting them escape was NOT a good thing.
"I don't know. All I know is that I HAVE to stop you!"
---
Lanarow stared. The absurdity of the situation was driving him nuts. This civilian girl, who didn't even know her own reason, was trying to fight HIM, an experienced soldier and pilot.
"You… Who are you?"
The response was somewhat hesitant, but clear.
"Rachel… Lanson."
'Rachel…' thought Lanarow, before replying. "I am Lanarow Shade. Are you seriously going to try and fight me?"
Lanarow knew the answer before Rachel spoke.
"Yes."
He sighed. 'The world's nuts…' Flipping the top off his flight stick, he held a finger over the left red button and pressed it.
The Gundam, following the command from the control stick, reached a hand down to its hip armor, where a hatch opened to pop a cylindrical handle out. Grasping the handle, the Crusade drew its weapon and activated it. From the open end, a long blue plasma blade extended out.
---
Seeing the Crusade draw its weapon, Rachel checked her own controls, and found the correct button to push. The U Gundam bent its wrist, and a sword handle popped out from an underarm sheath into the waiting hand. The weapon activated, a long shaft of purple-white energy appeared from the open end of the cylinder. The U Gundam raised the energy blade, holding it with both hands.
---
"Captain… the Gundams, they're acting odd…"
Ra Mira sounded and looked confused. Galun, along with Hal and Westa, looked out the viewport. The two MS faced off with each other.
"Haruto, stop the HDP activation… we may not need it."
"Yes Sir."
'Maybe the Combine didn't get them both?' thought Galun. 'But, who would be the pilot?'
He continued looking as the horned blue and gold Gundam charged, its Plasma Blade at ready.
---
Episode Three, Complete
"Let's see if you guys can handle speed…"
Grasping the flight stick firmly with his right hand, Mark let his left hand hover over the lever next to the safeties. He waited for the Guars to make their move.
---
"Sir, the enemy MS has ceased moving. It's just standing there."
Neal frowned. That was odd. The enemy pilot had been putting up a fierce, yet futile, fight up until now. Why would he stop all of a sudden?
"Santiago, keep on your guard. He might be planning something."
He heard Santiago laugh aloud over the comm.
"Sir, with all due respect, there's not a damn thing he can do. I'm going in!"
"Santiago…!"
Neal watched in anger as his subordinate charged the enemy Dray. He followed, albeit at a much more cautious pace.
---
"Captain! The Gundams… they've been…"
Galun stared incredulously at Ra Mira. 'No, they couldn't have been…'
"Sir, the Combine has them…"
Galun spewed several expletives from his mouth, as he pounded a fist on the armrest of his chair. After his short fit, he leaned forward as a growl emitted from his lips.
"Get Dr. Stephens to the bridge. NOW."
---
"Come on, come on, come on... That's it…"
Mark steadied himself as the right Guar charged, drawing its plasma sword, and raising it high above its head. It drew closer, the Guar's long, heavy metal legs smashing into the ground with each step.
"Shell Frame, purge!"
Mark slammed his left hand down on the lever, and the Dray began shaking heavily, the special machinery within beginning to work.
---
"What the hell…?"
Neal stopped his advance. The Dray was beginning to vibrate violently, and the shoulder pads seemed to glow briefly. His eyes widened in shock as he realized the enemy pilot's intent.
"Santiago! It's a self-destruct! Get back!"
The other Guar kept charging, Santiago not heeding his words, and jumped at the Dray. Just as it brought it's sword down to slash, the Dray exploded, covering the Guar in a massive burst of smoke and debris. Something small and black blasted out from within the smoke and zipped over Neal's Guar.
"Holy shit! What was that!?"
Neal turned quickly, and spotted the object that had flown past him. It was a small, black fighter-craft, with swept-forward wings and twin engines below and parallel to the rear rudder fin. It made a seemingly impossible tight Immelmann turn, and charged at Neal. Recovering his senses, he raised his machinegun and fired.
---
"Yahoo! This is more like it!"
Mark maneuvered the Drake fighter left and right, up and down, weaving in and out of the oncoming machinegun fire. He flipped the cover off the top trigger on the flight stick.
"Micro-missiles lock on… Fire!"
Two long tubes adjacent to the cockpit spewed several small pods out, and their tips exploded, letting loose several dozen miniature missiles that veered in towards the two Guars.
---
"Shit! Heads up, Santiago!"
Neal jetted his Guar straight up, and fired down at the cluster of missiles that were tracking him. Luckily, he managed to hit several in the center, and the resulting chain reaction left him free of pursuit.
"Lieu…lieutenant! Help me!!"
"Santiago??"
Neal looked down at where his wingman was, and saw that he had been too slow to avoid the other missiles. He watched helplessly as the other Guar attempted the same trick as Neal did, but was quickly caught on the legs by the first salvo. Without any lift, the Guar fell back down to take the rest of the missiles directly. It exploded before it even hit the ground.
"Dammit Santiago, why didn't you listen to me, you stupid son of a bitch…"
Neal found himself landing back in the town area, the enemy fighter flying a circle around him like a vulture. He glared up at the small fighter.
"Shit. That's not standard issue for Drays. Some sort of test-type? Hey, Ernest! Ernest, you got 'em yet!?"
Neal glanced over at the docks, and saw Ernest's Guar coming towards him.
'The hell…' he thought.
"Ernest, where the **** are the Rep mobile suits!?"
"Lanarow's got one, Sir, and he's going to destroy the other one. I couldn't make it in time to the other one."
Neal considering spitting in disgust, but didn't feel like having it on the inside of his helmet.
"Fine. Help me with this annoying fly, will you?"
He pointed the Guar's left hand at the Rep fighter that was beginning to swoop down.
"Yes sir."
As the small, sleek fighter came in, the two Guars opened fire. And missed. Every single shot. Neal heard Ernest curse.
"God DAMN! How the hell do we hit that thing!?"
Neal checked his time clock.
"Forget it. Once Lanarow gets here, we're pulling out with what we got!"
"Understood."
---
Galun looked over his shoulder as he heard someone enter the bridge of the Unity. There were two people. One he recognized as Hal Stephens, the lead scientist and MS specialist onboard. The second Galun recognized as Westa Lanson, the chief Republic officer at the colony.
"Dr. Stephens."
"Captain."
Standing, Galun walked forward to look out the viewport at Ensign Gilder's running battle with the two Combine mobile suits.
"Dr., I'll be quick. Is there any way to stop the two prototypes? The Combine soldiers have just… liberated them." He almost spat the word 'liberated'.
Hal pushed up his glasses with one finger, and frowned.
"The Gundams were made to take on any possible force. The only thing I could see stopping one is another one."
The Unity's captain turned around.
"What about High-Density Plasma? Would that work?"
Hal involuntarily took a step back. Westa, who also realized the meaning behind Galun's question, burst out in anger.
"Captain! Using a HDP Cannon within a colony!? That's inhuman!"
Galun closed his eyes briefly, before looking at Westa.
"Do you know what those MS can do? HDP is a simple rash compared to the full capabilities of those weapons."
"But…"
Galun turned his gaze to Hal, who looked somewhat ashen in the face.
"Dr., would it work?"
"Theoretically yes… but…"
Galun walked back to his chair, and turned around.
"Haruto! Initiate activation for the HDP Cannon!"
"Ye…yes Sir!"
---
With a sudden burst from it's main thrusters, the Crusade launched from the interior of the space dock, and out to the battle-ravaged city. Following suit, Rachel activated her own thrusters, and flew up into the air to come down just forty meters short of the Crusade. Upon impacting the ground, Rachel was thrown against the restraints, almost crying out as the strap bruised her shoulder.
"Nnnnh… this is not too much different than that power suit we made during the fair last year. But the power is much higher… Can I really handle this?"
Looking over the control panel, she realized with relief that it was almost identical to the standard controls she and her friends had installed in a homemade power suit. Of course, this had extra controls for weapons and other stuff that they didn't have on a simple power suit…
---
Lanarow smiled as he landed. They got one of the prototypes. That's all that mattered.
"Lance! Lanarow, do you read!?"
He heard Ernest's voice over the comm. Looking around, he spotted Ernest's Guar over by the entrance they took into the colony.
"Ernest? Yeah, I'm here."
"We're pulling out for now. Let's go!"
Lance saw Ernest's Guar head into the shaft, just before that black fighter fired on the spot he had just occupied. Reaching over, Lanarow was about to blast up into the air when he heard a voice.
"Wait!!!"
Lanarow stopped. That was…
"No! Why did you follow me!?"
---
Somehow, by chance or some other reason, the two Gundams had a comm. connection. Rachel heard the Combine soldier's angered yell.
"To stop you! I already it before! I will not stand idle while you people do this!"
The other voice came back quickly.
"You're no pilot, no soldier! What do you hope to achieve with this!?"
Rachel was actually at a loss for words at that. She really didn't know. All she knew was she had to try to stop them, that letting them escape was NOT a good thing.
"I don't know. All I know is that I HAVE to stop you!"
---
Lanarow stared. The absurdity of the situation was driving him nuts. This civilian girl, who didn't even know her own reason, was trying to fight HIM, an experienced soldier and pilot.
"You… Who are you?"
The response was somewhat hesitant, but clear.
"Rachel… Lanson."
'Rachel…' thought Lanarow, before replying. "I am Lanarow Shade. Are you seriously going to try and fight me?"
Lanarow knew the answer before Rachel spoke.
"Yes."
He sighed. 'The world's nuts…' Flipping the top off his flight stick, he held a finger over the left red button and pressed it.
The Gundam, following the command from the control stick, reached a hand down to its hip armor, where a hatch opened to pop a cylindrical handle out. Grasping the handle, the Crusade drew its weapon and activated it. From the open end, a long blue plasma blade extended out.
---
Seeing the Crusade draw its weapon, Rachel checked her own controls, and found the correct button to push. The U Gundam bent its wrist, and a sword handle popped out from an underarm sheath into the waiting hand. The weapon activated, a long shaft of purple-white energy appeared from the open end of the cylinder. The U Gundam raised the energy blade, holding it with both hands.
---
"Captain… the Gundams, they're acting odd…"
Ra Mira sounded and looked confused. Galun, along with Hal and Westa, looked out the viewport. The two MS faced off with each other.
"Haruto, stop the HDP activation… we may not need it."
"Yes Sir."
'Maybe the Combine didn't get them both?' thought Galun. 'But, who would be the pilot?'
He continued looking as the horned blue and gold Gundam charged, its Plasma Blade at ready.
---
Episode Three, Complete