Armored Core: The Defining Moment
Chapter 3: Secrets Revealed
By KirKTimN

Disclaimer: I do not own Armored Core or any name in Armored Core.

Panzer I
1200 Terra Standard Time

A dark blue AC with light blue trim came up to the giant ring. It was a hover tank type that had a heavyweight exceed orbit core. In each hand, it held a Karasawa MK II and a linear cannon on it back.

"Well boys this is it," Archon said into his mic as his AC Zenith Strike turned to face his squad. "Is everyone ready?"

"Templar here. Everything's green." He was the squad's second in command. The blue eye-slit on his white middleweight AC Crusader pulsed once. He had a laser machine gun and an energy shield on his arms. On his back was a rack of micromissle launchers on each shoulder.

"This is Arbiter. I'm ready." Arbiter was the squad's long range expert. He had a blue hover AC named Psionic Storm with a camo pattern. His AC was equipped with a long range laser cannon and a small missile launcher on its shoulders. In one hand it had a sniper rifle, and it had an energy blade on the other.

"Zealot's ready to go," the squadron's close range Raven said. His lightweight AC Fenix was equipped with VIXEN legs and a pair of ELF2 blades. He had PEGASUS boosters on his shoulders.

"Corsair here. I'm good." He was the only Raven in the squad that wasn't using a traditional AC. AC Artanis had no visible weapons what-so-ever. Nor did it appear to have hands or feet. Instead of walking, it glided from place to place using jump jets situated where its feet were. Each of its arms ended with the muzzle of a laser gun. It also had the unique ability to change to a flying mode. This made Corsair the squad's scout and air support.

Zenith Strike turned back towards the ring. It was huge, no gigantic. It was big enough for three AC's to go in at the same time. It had strange drawings and writing all over its circumference which made the strange ring look old yet new at the same time. Another strange thing about the ring was the fact that it was tilted at a 45-degree angle.

"Okay, Executor Squad. This is Gate Station 1. We're starting up the sequence," said a comm officer in the control center of the research base that was built inside the asteroid. The commandingofficer looked over to a tech who started typing on the holoboard of his computer.

"Sequence initiated. Generators are energizing the ring," reported the tech. "Estimated time for activation. 30 seconds."

"GS1, you're absolutely sure this is a gate right? Not some sort of weapon?" asked Archon.

"There's only one way to find out Executor Lead," came the reply from the comm officer.

"5 seconds. 4… 3… 2… 1… Activating," the tech said.

Energy cackled and surged around the ring and arced across the diameter. The sparks of energy kept arcing and met in the center of the ring. Soon, the bolts became beams and started to rotate around the center. The beams started fanning out and created a solid disc of light within the ring. Pulses were being emitted from the center, and when they hit the edge, they headed back towards the center again. The pulses became more frequent and the asteroid started to shake.

Finally, there was a loud boom and the disc became black, and everything suddenly became quiet and still. The ring looked stable with the gateway inside it and purple arcs of lighting occasionally jumped into it from the edge. Inside the control center, everything was a mess. Shelves and desks were turned over, but, fortunately, the projectors for the holocomputers had been secured to the floor so they were still working fine. The commanding officer slowly stood to his feet and looked around.

"Is everyone alright?" Various affirmative groans and grunts came from everyone in the room. The techs started cleaning up the mess caused by the gate activation.

"Sir, you gotta see this…" said a tech who was already at a computer.

"What is it?"

"Well, it appears that we were right. It's some sort of gateway. Everything looks stable from here."

"What about those purple energy bolts? And where does this gateway lead?"

"The bolts seem harmless. They must be an effect of the gate. As for where it goes, launching probe right now… Unable to determine where the gateway leads to."

"What do you mean 'unable to determine'? What happened to the probe?"

"I don't know, sir. We just lost signal."

"Well we have no choice… We'll see what Executor Squad wants to do."

Arbiter blinked twice and shook his head. He checked all his systems to make sure everything was ok.

"Executor Lead, this is GS1. We've seemed to run into a problem. This… thing is a gateway alright. The problem is we dunno where it goes. We've sent a probe but the signal was lost due to unknown circumstances. I don't want to risk losing good men like you on this, but we don't know when we'll get another opportunity. So, I'm leaving the choice up to you. If you want to walk away and wait for another chance, no one will blame you, and it'll be a lot safer. But, if you want to go for it now we'll do our best to make sure everything goes alright. We'll maintain contact for as long as possible, and you are to report in every hour," said the commanding officer over the comm.

"Okay, men. You hear that? This is what we've been waiting for, and now, they're not sure if it's safe for us. Personally, I didn't wait this long just to wait even longer for them to make sure it's safe. But, I'm not going to make any decisions without you guys. So what'd you say?"

Each of the Ravens gave their go aheads for the mission.

"Alright. Gate Station 1, this is Executor Lead. We're going for it."

"Acknowledged, Executor Lead. Good luck."

"Executor Squad, move out! Templar, you're with me. We're going in first. If we meet trouble I want to hit it hard. Corsair and Zealot, you're behind us. Corsair, once we get through, I want you to do an overhead sweep and report what you see as soon as we're through. Zealot, I want you on point defense. If anything gets too close you nail it. Arbiter, you bring up the rear. You have the longest range, so you can hit everything before we can even from the back. Also, I want you to watch our backs and blast anything before it gets too close. Well what're you waiting for? An engraved invitation from the Ninebreaker?"

The AC's fell in and walked up to the gate. Zenith Strike looked up and around as if to take in the vastness of the ring. Then, without another word, Executor Squad stepped into the unknown.

AN : Ok. Very sorry for the super long wait. Had my birthday, Thanksgiving, and finals to deal with. Also, just had my wisdom teeth pulled so I'm still a lil woozy. Anyways, I hope ya'll enjoyed this chapter. Personally, I don't think it's all to great. It seems kinda weak to me, but who knows, maybe you'll like it. I know it's a sudden jump in characters, but I have good reason for this. Seraph and Tigress will be back in the next chapter (that's what I'm planning anyway) so don't worry. So relax, read, and review! Tell me what you think, and I'll fix anything that might need fixing. Thanks!