Wow, 50 reviews. (Sniff) I've never had 50 anything before.
thanks to everyone whose reviewed, or read this fic so far.
Yes, I know, i killed Piastol, tearing SoAL canon to sheds in the process, but this is SoAL is it? no, this is LoAS canon, so I can allow it, even though like I said before, her death was one of the hardest things I've ever written.
(Sigh)
Anyway, On a lighter note, if you go to my Deviantart account (website on my profile),you'll find the title sequence to TVNW. At last. It's without credits at the moment, seeing I don't know who'd play who, but I might relese one later. Let me know what you think.
Anyway, hope you like it.
THE FINAL BATTLE
PART II
Carlos gripped the side of his console as the ship rocked again. The Destruction of the Sirius had left the crew of the Lynx with a dilemma. With the Flagship destroyed, the Captain of the second flagship, Tomas Vigoro, was having trouble trying to gather the Third Fleet together.
What was worse, The Lynx was trying to hold her ground over the skies of Nasrad, as the Cannons from the city tried to shoot her down.
Fortunately the Lynx was small and fast, and not many of the shots met their mark.
"Blast it!" Belleza cursed as the ship was rocked by cannon fire, "I wish Vigoro would get his act together!"
"Vigoro couldn't get his act together if it was presented to him on a plate!" Carlos spat as the Lynx was again hit by cannon fire, "He's seen less war action then my little finger and only joined because he thinks every girl likes men in uniform and who own a lot of cannons!"
Belleza smirked as the ship rocked again, "I guess we'll have to take matters into our own hands eh?"
Carlos nodded with a smile, "Aye sir!"
Belleza nodded before turning to her crew.
"Mr. Hawkins, prepare for a low dive down towards the dock, Miss Madrid, prepare to fire everything we got at those cannons. Don't hold anything back. Those things are designed for long range, that's the reason our ships are being shot down. If we can take them out, we'll have a better chance at taking the city."
"AYE AYE!" came the reply.
Carlos braced himself as the Lynx suddenly dropped into a steep dive, ignoring the sound of Vigoro jabbering in his earpiece.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING LYNX!" He cried, "GET BACK IN FORMATION NOW!"
Carlos clicked the outer channel off, smiling contently as the Lynx began to pull up from her dive.
"FIRE!" Belleza bellowed!
"TORPEDOS AWAY! MAIN AND SECONDARY BATTERIES FIRING!" Madrid cried as the ship, "CITY CANNON TWO HAS BEEN DESTROYED! TIME TO TORPEDO IMPACT…TWENTY SECONDS,"
"Well done!" Belleza looked triumphant as the Lynx pulled out of her dive, "Turn around so we can…"
BOOM!
Everyone was thrown from their feet as something exploded on the ship.
"Engineering reports we just lost the starboard engine!" Carlos cried, "Diverting power to port engine but they don't know how long it will last."
"Can they make an educated guess?" Belleza looked tense.
Carlos paused for a moment, "Judging from the amount of screaming that's going on down there I'm gonna hazard a guess that it won't be long enough to abandon ship."
He paused again, wincing slightly as the Engineer bellowed down the intercom at him, "He suggests we attempt an a emergency landing."
"Where exactly?" Belleza gestured out the main window, "This is hardly a great landing spot!"
Carlos look as though she was stating the obvious, but before he could reply, his eyes widened as the Engineer cried something down the intercom, accompanied by the stuttering of the engine in the background, followed by it dying completely.
He swallowed thickly, "The engines just died," he said quietly.
Belleza gasped and quickly shot a look through the window.
As the Lynx dipped. Through the Main window came the City into view.
"By the Moons," Carlos whispered, "We're going to plough right through it…"
"MR. HAWKINS PULL UP!" Belleza cried.
"I'M TRYING MA'AM!" The poor Helmsman cried back as his hands flew over the console, "BUT IT'S KINDA HARD WHEN YOU HAVE NO ENGINES!"
Carlos felt Belleza grab onto his arm, "We'll kill hundreds, maybe thousands," she whispered furiously.
"It's not like we have a choice," Carlos muttered back.
Belleza nodded, before standing in the middle of the Bridge as the ship hurled towards the city.
"ALL HANDS BRACE FOR IMPACT!"
The Lynx hit the expansive port with a sickening crunch, bulldozing the main gate like it was paper.
On the Bridge, consoles sparked and erupted into flame, causing their crewmembers to leap away in alarm. Girders from the ceiling fell around. Windows shattered, pipes burst. Then Carlos saw it.
It all seemed in slow motion. He watched as a particularly large support suddenly fell, causing a good hunk of the ceiling to collapse with it.
"BELLEZA LOOK OUT!" before he knew what was going on in his head, he ran towards her, pushing her out of the way as it came crashing down.
Suddenly the whole world went black and a searing pain went up his right arm, before the sounds of the Lynx and the cries of Belleza were drowned out by silence.
The Lynx continued it's deadly course though the city. She smashed though shops and houses as they had been made of wet mud. People screamed and tried to get out of the way of the rampaging giant. Some were lucky, others were not.
The Lynx tore through the main gates of the palace as the great white building fast approached, spraying mud and dirt into the usually crystal clear water that surrounded the Nasultan's home.
The Lynx hurtled into the Palace, smashing through the front door, causing a good portion of the building to fall in around it. With a groaning sigh, the Lynx finally ground to a halt, her nose deeply entrenched in the Palace, a trail of carnage behind her.
Belleza coughed and choked as she picked herself up from under the remains of a console.
She looked up hesitantly, wondering why she could see sunlight through the roof.
Her eyes widened in horror as they landed on the pile of debris sat in the middle of the remains of the Bridge, Carlos's arm lying limply under it.
"CARLOS!"
Her energy suddenly rejuvenated, Belleza immediately started throwing things from the pile, clawing desperately at the wreckage.
"Don't let him be dead, Don't let him be dead, It's my fault if he's dead," she thought desperately as she threw bits and pieces of the roof over her shoulder.
Then she found him.
He lay under the support, a girder seeming to have pinned his right arm to the floor.
Blood was streaming down his face from his nose and mouth, combining with the dirt and grim that covered his features. The shoulder plate bearing the Valuan crest had been neatly snapped in two and was digging into his neck.
A wave of relief washed over her as Carlos slowly opened his eyes, squinting slightly.
He managed a small, painful smile, "Hey…Belleza," he sound as though it was taking all of his strength to say every word, "How…you doing?"
Belleza couldn't help herself. She cried. She felt those hot droplets traces lines through the grime on her face, "Carlos, thank the Moons you're alright."
"I…wouldn't…go that far…Ma'am," he said weakly, "I…can't…feel…my right…arm,"
Belleza frowned, before taking a closer look at the limb.
She gasped in horror.
The girder hadn't just pinned Carlos's arm to the floor, it had severed it just below the elbow, where the armour didn't cover it.
"Carlos…I'm sorry," she bit her lip, "I'm afraid you've lost your arm."
Carlos blinked in surprise, before leaning his head back and saying one word before he passed out again, "Damm,"
"Carlos?" Belleza started to panic when he fell silent, "Carlos! Oh no, you're not dying on me!" She kept slapping his face, "Don't you dare die on me Commander!" She whispered furiously as she took his left hand, holding it close to her heart, "If you die, I'll demote you down to Loo Scrubber!"
"Captain?"
Belleza looked up, looking relieved when she saw Lt. Hawkins and Commander Madrid, holding each other up,
"Ma'am?" Madrid looked weary, "The Cannon's Ma'am, They've stopped firing. I think Nasr has surrendered. The Andromeda is coming to our aid now," A small smile appeared on her face, "We've won."
Belleza returned the gesture, "Yes commander, I believe we have," She gazed down at Carlos, who was trying his hard to stay conscious.
As the Andromeda loomed overhead. Belleza suddenly thought of all the brave men and women who died in this eleven year war on both sides. Of the innocent citizens who had got caught in the crossfire, and as the lifeboats came down with doctors and medical supplies, one thought went through her head,
"Was it really worth it?"
Got two more chapters to do, a aftermath, and a three years later, which will be kind of like an abstract from LoAS.
I can't beleive I've almost finished this, seems like only yesterday I was uploading the first couple of chapters, getting only one review a week from Desert Lynx.
Oh, a note to XxKalasxX, I've taken note of your question, and am going to put it into my FAQ, which I'll post on my old website sometime soon.
Anyway, see you next week.