Armored Core: Lunar Battle

Chapter 11: Calm

The three ships continued on their way towards Lunar at full speed. It was the eight hour of the trip, and all but one raven was asleep. Onboard the transport ship, Decimantion, the cockpit of Zeo Streak II was open and glowing. Pilan was finishing a little bit of work she needed to get done. She had confirmed when the three ships would arrive to Lunar and deploy them, and she was using what time she had to effectively come up with a plan. She shut down her AC and exited the hanger to return to her 'room.' She was stuck sharing a room with Chris, Sara, and Royal Mist, so it wasn't going to be a great night. 'I just hope they get their message in time….'

The night eye on lunar beeped, getting the owner's attention. Destructor woke up within the cockpit and looked around him. Dark had returned earlier that day and was relaxing with Doom. Shrugging off some sleep, he checked his console. The computer spoke. "Receiving transmittion…shall I play it?"

Destructor sighed. "Who'd the hell….open it." he said sleepily. He looked as a screen opened up, greeting him with a Zeo Matrix symbol. He recognized the emblem, for it said Zeo Streak II under the words. "Pilan…"

Sure enough, Pilan's face appeared on the screen. Her reddish brown eyes pierced him, even though she had sent this some time ago. She showed him a smile. "Destructor, it's Pilan. I'm hoping you're still alive right now, for I'm going to need your help."

'She needs my help?' Destructor thought. 'How the hell can I do that? She's stuck on earth while the three of us up here are on lunar..'

"I'm on my way to Lunar now," she said, lighting up his eyes. "Lunar had declared war on the earth corporations, so earth retaliated by sending a raven team of their own. We'll be arriving at 0900 martian time. Once we're there, we will begin our attack on Neo Core." Her smile died. "I am worried, though, because we lost five ships to those defense turrents and lost so many ravens and personnel because of it. I'm afraid they may take out these ships as well." She looked at the screen. "This is where you come in. Provided you are still able to fight, we will need you to take down the planetary plasma cannons. Its my guess they will begin firing around the time we arrive close enough to even orbit. It will be risky for us if the cannons are still active, for the only way we are getting off of these things is if they land or we are to jump from the access ramp. NO drop pods." She looked sadly at the screen. "I really don't want to be asking to much of you, but you are all I can count on when it comes to taking on the cannons. If this mission fails, Neo core will wipe out both raven nests and the corporations. Earth could barely take one assault, they can't take another, and neither can our homeland." She looked away briefly. "If we get down safely, we can combine our forces and take on Neo Core itself." She reached for the controls again. "I really hope to see you when we get there. Until then, all I can say is this.." She then speaks in a language that hasn't been used for ages, looks sadly at the screen, then cut the transmission.

Destructor looked at the screen for some time, digesting what he had heard. 'She's coming….she's finally coming…' He looked at the clock, his eyes widening. "Shit!" He jumped out of the AC and ran for where Dark and Doom were sleeping. He looked upon the two sleeping right next to each other. He felt bad about having to wake the two now, but he had two. "Hey, get up!" he said a little loudly. Both of them awoke with a start and looked at Destructor with a dark look on their faces.

"What the hell are you waking us up for?" Doom said irritably, her blue dyed hair half covering her steel blue eyes. She is rather athletic in build and only a year younger than Destructor. Dark looked as well, his rust colored eyes looking at his commander under a matt of black hair. His lean and mildly muscular body hid the fact that he was also 17.

"We're moving out now!" Destructor said, moving back to his AC. "Get into your Acs and follow me. I'll brief you on the way." Dark and Doom looked at each other, shrugged their shoulders while sending a quick glare at Destructor, and moved to their units.

Nick and Jen sat in the cockpit of their Acs in silence. They had decided shortly after noticing the crew quarters that it would be better to sleep in their Armored Cores for the time being. They left the room to Eddy and Linda, hoping those two wouldn't start up again with their fighting. "Jen," Nick said finally, breaking the silence. A vid window opened up on his screen, revealing Jen.

"Yeah, Nick?"

"Do you think that just twelve ravens will be enough for this operation?"

She blinked in surprise. "What's this, the ace worrying about a mission?" she asked teasingly, a mild smirk on her face.

Nick couldn't help but chuckle slightly. "Yeah, I guess…" he muttered. Jen frowned at him on the screen, then closed her eyes, sighing.

"Nick, meet me on the floor, now," she said before closing the link. Nick blinked in surprise and looked at his view of the hanger from the Misteye. He saw the core of Hunter IV open and Jen jump down to the floor. He then followed suit and exited his AC as well, landing on the hard metal floor with relative ease. Before he could even look at her, he got the urge to back up quickly. He made his move just in time, for Jen had thrown a punch at him.

"Jen, what are you…" He couldn't finish as she lunged at him with another attack.

"You're the ace here," she said as she threw a kick at him, which was blocked. "You should be thinking about how we can win down there." Nick frowned as he tried going on the offensive.

"Don't you remember what happened with the Mars attack force?" He said, lunging at her and grabbing her wrists to stop her from attacking again. "They never made it to Lunar!" Her eyes widened in surprise, she had never seen the full report on the television. All she knew was that some of the Ravens were still on board the ships when they were destroyed. "They were attacked by surface weapons once the ships were in drop orbit!" He noticed the look on her face, frowning slightly. "They died because they couldn't get out of the ships fast enough, and the few who did were shot out of the sky by the cannons before they could get out of their pods! If you think we're in a different situation, you're wrong!"

Jen looked at Nick in shock. He lightened up. "So far, we have had no contact with that martian attack team, excluding Pilan. By the off chance we DO get through the main defenses, we will need to worry about what Neo core's still got to defend with against an AC strike." He looked at her, then said. "I'm sorry if I sound harsh, but that is how war is played. The enemy will use any and every tactic they can think of to eliminate their threats, even if it means fighting an AC with an overpowered cannon." He turned to his AC. "Listen, just get some sleep and get ready for whatever may happen tomorrow, ok? I'll try my best to keep us alive, but I can't promise anything with certainty." Jen nodded and went into her AC, but couldn't get any sleep at all. Nick had a similar problem, mostly because of how he acted around her.

In the raven's quarters on that ship, Ed and Linda each had a bed. Neither one said a word to each other aside from agreeing on being in different beds. Everyone aboard the three ships were either now getting some sleep or trying to.

I greatly apologize for two things. 1) Not being able to keep chapters flowing. I've been sidetracked and busy since the last post.

2) This chapter is far too short and crappy, but it is all I have to offer. This is proof that I'm still trying to write this thing. I promise, the next chapter should more than make up for my blunders.

Next chapter, the battle begins. I wish to thank all that have stuck by and waited ever so patiently, but I now must ask for a little more, for I can't guarentee the next chapter being out within a week or two. I'll try, but I can't promise. So, till next time…