Xenogears: Ragnarok
Chapter 2
"I got thrown out of a plane, without a parachute." –James Bond, Moonraker
The doors to the hangar bay opened up, and Jason gaped at what he saw. The hangar was massive, filled with Gears of all kinds, including some Jason never saw before. He had to estimate at least 100 Gears inside the hangar.
"Dear God…" Bob said
"All right, just go searching for a Gear you like, try to make it quick." Jason said
They started running through the ranks of Gears, each looking for something suitable. Jason suddenly stopped after about 2 minutes of searching. Before him was a Gear unlike any other. Its head had been crafted into a skull-like shape. It was carrying an automatic rifle in its right hand, with a rocket launcher slung under it. Jason immediately knew he wanted to pilot this Gear. It's like a giant version of the Grim Reaper, a fitting name for this Gear, he thought.
"All right I've found my ride, how about you, Bob?"
"Jason, you've got to see this." Bob called over about 5 Gears away
Jason ran to where Bob was standing. He looked at the Gear Bob was pointing to. "Isn't this…"
"It is!" Bob answered. "This is Renmazuo! Billy's gear! I wonder how Gebler got it."
"Well, go and pilot it out of here. We can find out how it got here later." Jason said as he ran back to the Gear he wanted.
Jason scrambled up the Gear's ladder and into the cockpit. He pulled down a combat helmet, and strapped it on. Then he began to go trough the system startup sequence.
"Fusion Core powering up" said the female voice of the computer
Fusion Core? Jason wondered What the hell happened to the Zohar Modifier? Then he remembered some Gebler troops talking about stealing plans for a new and better Gear power source. Hmm…I guess the Fusion Core is that source.
He continued with the startup. The weapons activated and armed. Jason saw that in addition to the Machine Gun and the rocket launcher, he had 2 pulse lasers mounted in the chest of his Gear This should be interesting he thought. The startup sequence finally finished, and the Gear was Jason's to command. First thing Jason did was open up a communication to Renmazuo "Bob, how you doing over there?"
"Everything's good, all systems nominal" Bob answered
"Good. First things first," Jason said "Switch your IFF transponder to code Alpha-Tango-Foxtrot 7. This is the old code that the Rebels used. If they recognize it for what it is, they should be able to help us get back to Bledavik.
"Got it," Bob said. A few seconds later Bob's gear showed up as a blue circle on Jason's radar screen.
"All right, let's get the doors open and get out of here."
***
Meanwhile, on the bridge of the cruiser, an alarm went off.
"What's going on?!" Ramsus shouted
"We've detected unauthorized powerup of two Gears in hangar bay 1." Reported the sensors officer. "We've isolated their IFF transponder. They're using a rebel frequency, I think the pilots might be plotting escape!"
"Get all available pilots to the hangar!" Ramsus ordered. "We must stop those Gears!"
***
Jason heard the intruder alarms go off inside the hangar "SHIT! They must have detected our powerup. Bob, we need to open those doors fast!"
"It's not going to be easy!" Bob shouted, "The doors are designed not to be forcefully hotwired, or blown apart."
"Fine, you work on the doors, I'll handle whoever's coming to stop us." Jason said as he throttled up his Gear and marched towards the doorway back to the ship. Okay, Grim Reaper, he thought, Time to go to work.
The doors slid open, and numerous pilots stated running towards various Gears. Behind them came guards armed with rocket launchers. Jason brought the Machine Gun on line and targeted the soldiers. This is for 2 years of labor! He though as he pulled the trigger.
The Machine Gun belched out a stream of high velocity slugs. The bullets tore into the soldiers and pilots, sending 20 of them flying. Still more soldiers came running through, some of them now actively shooting at him. The small arms fire ricocheted off of Grim Reaper's armor. Jason paid it no mind as he fired a rocket at the doorway. The rocket exploded, throwing 10 soldiers into the air, and destroying the door controls. The door slammed shut, permanently. Jason looked to his left, and saw a Gebler pilot trying to bring his Trooper Mk. 100 online. Jason wouldn't give him the chance. He fired his Machine Gun and his rocket launcher at the cockpit of the Gear. The bullets shattered the glass, and the two rockets finished the job. The Gebler Gear's head was turned into a flaming torch as the Gear crumpled to the ground.
"I'm picking up multiple powerups, at least 15!" Bob said frantically "Give me some backup!"
"I'm on my way" Jason said as he started heading towards the bay doors. Suddenly an enemy Gear came around the corner. Jason's targeting computer identified it as a Beamos. Jason had ever encountered this kind of gear before, but he soon found it was aptly named. The Gear was armed with what appeared to be some kind of shoulder mounted cannon on it's right side. This cannon suddenly shot out a large laser beam at Grim Reaper. The laser carved into Grim Reaper's left torso, the force of the blast sufficient enough to cause the Gear to stumble.
One more hit like that and I could be in trouble! It blew off 50% of my armor on the left torso! Jason thought as he regained his balance. He brought the Machine gun up and pressed the trigger. A stream of bullets lanced into the Beamos's armor, blasting away armor plating in scores. Jason followed up with two rockets, that bracketed the laser cannon. The Beamos reeled backwards from the assault, and Jason could see that he had hit some internal components. A lot of firepower, but not a lot of armor, and only one weapon. Must be a light Gear. Jason thought. Time to see what these pulse lasers can do! He pressed the trigger for the pulse lasers. A flurry of green darts stabbed out at the Beamos. It's almost like a laser machine gun! Jason thought as he walked the lasers over the enemy gear, right at the laser cannon. The pulse beams blew through the already thin armor on the Beamos, and hit the charge capacitors for the cannon. The capacitors blew apart in a massive explosion that tore the right side of the Gear apart. Unable to deal with the sudden shift in weight, the enemy gear spun and crashed to the ground. Jason had no time to celebrate, as he put Grim Reaper into a run and started to head for the bay doors. He saw that Bob was currently trying to rewire the door controls with one of Renmazuo's hands, while firing the wrist mounted gattling gun on the Gear's free arm. Jason saw the gattling bullets knock down a Wand Knight that got in the line of fire.
"Bob, what's the status on the door?"
"I can't rewire it easily, I think we'll have to try something else!" Bob answered. He now brought both of Renmazuo's gattling guns into play, blasting the leg off of a Beamos.
Jason then saw another Beamos standing in front of the door, trying to draw a bead on Renmazuo. "Oh no you don't!" he shouted as he brought all his weapons to bear on the Gebler Gear. The first rocket smashed apart the light armor on the Gear, the machine gun and pulse lasers punched through what was left, skewering the fusion core. As the core went critical, it created a massive explosion that consumed the Beamos, and blew apart the hangar bay doors.
"Well, that's one way out of here!" Jason said "Come on Bob, we're getting out of here!" Both pilots jumped their Gears out of the Gebler ship, and fell towards the ground almost 10000 feet below, both pilots using their Gear's jump jets to slow the rate of descent.
***
- "General Ramsus, they have escaped the hangar" said the Tactical officer
"Very well, send out pursuit units, 10 should do it." Ramsus answered "Also, bring laser turrets on line, target the escapee's Gears"
"Roger, should I deploy the Elements?"
"No, their time for combat will come."
***
- "Where the hell are we?" Bob asked
"Right now, it looks like we're over the desert that surrounds Bledavik. I think we're just north of Dazil. Once we land, we should head north, we should reach Bledavik."
"That's assuming we survive the trip down." Bob said "I'm picking up 10 enemy Gears, and the Invincible is charging weapons."
"What about the Devastator?" Jason asked.
"Still continuing on present course. I guess they don't think we're a major threat to warrant two battleships." Bob said sarcastically
"All right, we should try to fight our pursuing Gears, but keep moving so the Invincible can't target us easily. Also, keep flying northward. The closer we get to Bledavik, the more likely somebody will come to investigate." Jason said. He turned Grim Reaper around to face his pursuers. "Come and get it!" he yelled as he fired rockets at the lead Gears, two Wand Knights. The rockets struck, and the Gears were knocked off course, smashing into each other. A series of pulse laser bolts blew one of the Wand Knight's fusion core, consuming both Gears in a fireball of destruction. Bob opened fire with Renmazuo's Ether guns, blasting apart a Trooper Mk. 100. An enemy Sword Knight flew directly at Jason. Unable to get a solid target lock in time, Jason punched the enemy gear with Grim Reaper's left hand. The Sword Knight grappled with Grim Reaper, intent on bringing it's cutting blades into play. Ed saw out of the corner of his eye, that one of the Invincible's laser cannons was about to fire at him. Quickly, Jason swung the Sword Knight around to shield his Gear, and then pushed away from the enemy by shooting the Sword Knight with his rocket launcher. The battleships laser cannon fired, and hit the Sword Knight in the waist, blasting the legs away from the upper body. Without the leg jets to support its flight, the Sword Knight could only tumble endlessly towards the ground.
***
"The resistance is heavier than I expected." Ramsus said as he watched the Sword Knight's demise, "Deploy 10 more gears to take out those escaped Gears, then have the Invincible resume course for Base Solaria."
***
- Meanwhile, while Bob and Jason were fighting for their freedom and their lives, Citan, Billy, and Maria were on patrol 20 miles south of Bledavik. Citan's comminicator beeped
"Colonel Uzuki?"
"Yes, what is it?" asked Citan
"This is sensor control. We've picked up aerial explosions and what may be weapons fire 30 miles south from your position."
"Can you confirm?" Citan asked There hasn't been fighting for almost a year now, It's probably just bandits he thought.
"Well, the signals are sort of faint…it could be a mal…wait a minute! We just got a .6 magnitude quake from that position. That area is geologically stable! Something is definitely going down there!"
"Fine, we'll go check it out" Citan answered "Billy, Maria, follow me; there is a disturbance south of us."
Fenrir, Renmazuo II, and Sebzehin headed south, towards the disturbance