Chapter 47 Charge the Last Brigade
Thirty Minutes Later / Thirty Kilometers above the Pacific Ocean
Burning through the night sky at a blistering Mach 32, Strayed kept on course, traveling round the whole planet to strike the enemy from behind.
The skin of their VOB equipped Athena NEXT was licked by bright magenta-red plasma, heated to three thousand degrees by their passing; moving so quickly they had already gone to tomorrow, and back into yesterday.
Completely devoted to this mission, their last mission, Strayed counted down, by the minute and by the mile, until they entered combat once again.
From the dimly lit horizon, the green-tinted light of the sun shone through the polluted atmosphere of the cold and desolate world below, the second sunrise they had seen today.
On mission and on time, Strayed dropped the nose of the VOB, slowly plunging back down to strike distant targets half a planet away. Flipping a switch, the thirty-two high-yield nukes in the rotary launch bays started to charge their fusion warheads, as did the thirty low-yield nukes in the OGOTO cannon on their back.
Soon, their enemies would tremble at the sound of their name, one last time.
Fifteen Minutes Later / Great Divider – CIC – Jezreel Valley
Quiet.
It was too damn quiet. Anxious and wary of the coming battle, neither her friends nor the crew in the CIC were eager to speak, before all hell was let out. All Monika felt she could do was continue to stand at the holographic table, ready to issue orders as needed.
Sayori, Natsuki, and Yuri once again took their stations on the first, second, and fourth gun station, with Hustler One being given complete control of the third gun station, as well as providing advanced firing solutions to the defensive gun stations and control over the missiles.
Serena and Fiona were acting as Operators, providing up to date battlefield information to their Lynx. Serena was serving May, while Fiona would supply James, once he had returned to the area of operations.
Having launched a scout drone several minutes before, they were made aware of the forces protecting the Tall Trunk Fortress.
"Looking at fifteen Arms Forts, starting to move against us." Serena broke the dreadful silence. "Five Eclipse Class, eight Land Crab Class, and two Spirit Class Arms Forts. Of additional concern, two of the Land Crabs are Interior Union models, and one is a Torus model…"
"Judging by your tone, I take it that's a bad thing." Monika noted.
"The Torus model Land Crab is armed with four Sol Dios cannons, the same kind of Kojima weapon that destroyed this world." Serena clarified. "It's more powerful than even those Spirit Class Arms Forts."
"Great…" Monika groaned. "What's the specs of the Spirit Class?"
Viewing the hologram of the six hundred meter tall, 2.4 kilometer long hexapod land battleship revealed that the forward and aft sections were eight full aircraft carrier decks, stacked in sets of four, with two half decks on it's flanks. "Spirit Class Arms Forts are two hundred-million-ton land battleships with a deck space equal to nine supercarriers. They are armed with two triple barreled 2500mm Coilgun turrets, four quad barreled 1000mm Coilgun turrets, sixteen singe barreled 1000mm Coilguns, twenty VLS launchers with a total of 7,840 launch cells, and hundreds of CIWS turrets in multiple calibers."
"So those three Arms Forts are going to be the biggest threat…what are their positions?"
"The Spirts, Interior Union, and Torus Land Crabs are holding back Near Tall Trunk, under the cover of it's 10,000mm Anti-Arms Fort cannons." Serena reported. "The rest of their Land Crabs are positioned to the North, in order to force us into a crossfire. The Eclipse Class Arms Forts are climbing above our gun elevation, so they'll be firing on us for a while."
"Any sign of enemy Next?" Monika wondered.
"None…but they're here. I'm sure that all forty-three of the bastards are here." Serena assured her.
"So, we're going to be on our own, for at least ten minutes?" Monika clarified.
"The League believes that May and J17 are our only Lynx assets. They still have no idea that we aligned ourselves with the first AI, or that Strayed lives." Fiona added. "They probably want to try finishing off our Arms Fort with theirs, then hunting anyone left with the J series."
"This is my assessment as well." Hustler One announced. "However, The League likely has assets of their own we have yet to see."
"I don't want to play my whole hand to them just yet." Monika decided. "Let's keep the secondary guns retracted until we start taking missile fire."
"Aye, Commander. Retracting secondary guns."
"It's going to get pretty nasty here in a minute." Serena advised.
"We just have to hold out until James returns, to really kick this battle into high gear." Monika declared. "Sayori, Nine, once you are in firing position, fire on targets to the south. Natsuki, Yuri, you'll cover the north."
"Got it!"
"Affirmative."
"Sounds fun!"
"Will do!"
"One minute from contact." Serena warned. "Another minute after, we can begin to shoot back."
"No turning back now." Monika sighed. "All hands, battle stations."
The alert went out, causing tens of thousands of soldiers to tense, ten thousand droids to raise their alert status, hundreds of Armored Cores to move into launch position, and over nine million civilians to hold on for dear life; all of them in anticipation of a desperate and brutal battle.
"Ten seconds…" Serena warned again. The lumbering form of the Great Divider finally passing through the cover of the valley, slowly revealing itself to the numerous enemy Arms Forts waiting.
First to fire on them were the Land Crabs to the north. Monika grimaced with familiar disappointment as 1500mm, one-hundred-twenty-ton shells slammed into their side, their velocity and angle only slightly impeded by the energy shielding. Her body rolled with each volley, keeping her eyes on the battle even as her knees threatened to buckle beneath her, as thunder resonated on their starboard flank.
"Starboard armor holding, 98% integrity!"
"Fire from the south, expected in five seconds." Serena informed.
This time, the enemy staggered their fire, starting with the Spirts and Interior Union Arms Forts, firing a total of twelve 2500mm Coilguns, fifty-six 1000mm Coilguns, and one-hundred-and-twenty-eight Strafing Lasers in the first volley. The heavy shells from the Spirits causing Monika to fall to one knee, even after their velocity had been halved. At least the shields could stop plasma rounds.
"Port armor at 94% integrity!"
Then the four Sol Dios cannons fired, their burst of light-green degenerate radioactive plasma sticking to the shielding, damaging it's cohesion.
"Port shielding is compromised! Energy levels falling!"
Then, lastly, one of the Anti-Arms Fort cannons on Tall Trunk fired, it's seventeen-thousand-ton steel shell flattening itself against Great Dividers armor, as though the energy shielding had barely stopped it.
Monika was thrown to the ground and clutched her head in her hands. Everyone seated nearly was as well. Lights flickered, and alarms blared. The massive shell had rung their hull like a bell, temporarily deafening everyone other than Serena and Hustler One.
"S-Status?" Monika asked, unable to hear herself at the moment. Hustler One understood her current condition, and supplied her with the relevant data from the holotable.
/STATUS:
/PORT ARMOR: 81% INTEGRITY
/WARNING: SPALLING DAMAGE DETECTED
/LEVELS DAMAGED: 6\7\8
/ESTIMATED CASUALTIES: 15,436
Baring her teeth hatefully, Monika wondered if there was something more she could have done. She hadn't expected that shell to hit as hard as it had, cutting through the shields and slam-dancing their insides. None of her command crew had warned her, however, meaning they had simply understood and accepted that they would be suffering mass casualties.
Although, Hustler had warned her that the energy shields would only mitigate the damage they received, not eliminate it.
"How long until we can return fire?" Monika spat.
"Just a few more seconds…" Serena noted. "Recommend we focus fire on targets, Land Crabs are a lot tougher than Giga-Bases. Also, avoid hitting Tall Trunk and the Torus Land Crab for the moment."
"Why…?" Monika questioned unamused.
"Torus combined Next technology with those Sol Dios cannons, meaning that each spherical cannon is fully independent, and behaves more like a Next if the main Arms Fort comes under attack. Let's try and keep all those cannons in one place for the moment."
"As for Tall Trunk, the base is designed to survive apocalyptic nuclear attacks. The cannons will be one of Strayed's primary targets." Hustler One promised her.
"Very well. Gunners, team up to take out each Arms Fort. I'm counting on you guys." Monika commanded.
Finally dragging their mass out of the valley, the first and second guns could start contributing to the battle. On the second gun station, Natsuki was the first one to find an enemy to return fire towards.
"Target identified! Land Crab Gator!" Natsuki shouted as her gun came out of the valley. "Firing!"
Land Crabs, being proper land battleships, had armor and redundant systems to take hits. Twelve high-velocity 1000mm shells slammed into the front of the enemy Arms Fort, damaging one of it's legs and penetrating several decks, but not causing enough damage to kill it.
"Tsk!" Natsuki hissed annoyedly.
"Target identified!" Sayori yelled out as her gun was exposed to the South. "Land Crab Python! Firing!"
Even as Sayori fired from her Gatling Railgun, the enemy Arms Forts returned fire, their rounds bleeding into their flanks, only slightly dulled by energy shielding.
"Starboard armor at 92% integrity!"
"Port armor at 79% integrity!"
Mercifully, the Anti-Arms Fort cannon currently looking down at them took five minutes to reload, meaning they had some room to breathe.
Room the Eclipse Classes would attempt to take away.
"Eclipse Class Arms Forts, lining for an attack run!" The Radar Operator warned.
"Target the lead ship with the missiles, let's see what we can do." Monika ordered.
"Confirmed. Targeting Arms Fort Pulsar." Hustler One announced.
The five flying Arms Forts kept in formation, holding at an altitude of four kilometers above, their massive Hi-Laser Cannons pointed down at the Great Divider, their missile tubes open. The massive plasma bolts struck the upper energy shielding, their mass punching through and scorching the upper deck of the land bound ORCA fortress. Soon after their missiles streaked down, aiming to do the same.
In response, Great Divider revealed it's other modification, deploying twenty-eight CIWS turrets, the same model of double triple barreled gatling guns normally equipped to the chin of Giga-Base Arms Forts. Once deployed from their crudely bolted on housings, the guns arched up, hosing the sky with long streams of 50mm Teflon-coated tungsten rounds, aiming to thin the barrage of missiles coming down. As well, the two massive missile turrets on the roofs of Cars Three and Four opened their cell doors, letting loose a volley of 6,528 missiles at the first of the Eclipse Class Arms Forts.
"Direct hit on Arms Fort Pulsar. Target is on fire, but still active." Hustler One reported. "Shielding prevented what missiles CIWS missed from striking the hull. Roof armor integrity at 97%."
"Eclipse Class Arms Forts are pulling away, expect another pass in a minute or so." The Radar Operator added.
"Damn!" Natsuki cursed. "These Land Crabs are tough! Fifth volley away!" She announced, trading fire with the monstrous land battleship. Despite the shells being only two thirds as large as what they were receiving, Great Divider shot more often with greater velocity. Land Crab Gator had already been mobility killed, but had refused to cease fire.
"S-Still on Target! Firing!" Sayori hesitated slightly, doing her best to cripple the Arms Fort she had selected.
Another minute of more of the same, and the two girls had finally killed the Gator and the Python. Each Arms Fort having taken over two hundred shells, fired through their superstructures, boring and spalling all the way through, till no one was left alive.
Of course, in that same time, they had received so many return volleys.
"Starboard Armor at 80% integrity!"
"Port Armor at 61% integrity!"
"Eclipse Classes, coming back for another pass!"
"Nine, kill one of those please." Monika demanded.
"Confirmed, targeting Arms Fort Pulsar." It took a while to reload over six thousand missile tubes, fortunately, they had done it while the enemy had been away. This time, those six thousand missiles steaked up, and slammed into the compromised armor of the Pulsar, tearing it open and lighting it on fire.
"The Pulsar is going down!" The Radar Operator shouted enthusiastically.
"Three down, twelve to go." Monika noted.
"Yuri! Confirm my target!" Natsuki demanded. "Arms Fort Lion!?"
"Confirmed! Targeting Arms Fort Lion!" Yuri replied. "Engaging!"
"Nine! Target Arms Fort Cobra!" Sayori demanded.
"Confirmed. Engaging Arms Fort Cobra."
At this rate of attrition, Great Divider had a reasonable chance of surviving.
So The League would take it from them.
"Aircraft launch detected from Tall Trunk." Serena reported, analyzing the radar returns and heat signatures of the new targets. "Enemy Next confirmed! Forty-three units taking position at the base of Tall Trunk!"
"May, that's your cue." Monika ordered. "Launch the first assault force!"
"Aye Commander!" May shouted back over radio. "Merrygate 2, launching!"
"Launching Nineball Archange, Nineball Seraph, and seven Nine-Ball Suicide Battalions." Hustler One reported as well.
"Support battalion, launching!"
From the flight deck of car six, the three NEXT rated Armored Cores, supported by two-hundred and eighty 3.5 Gen Armored Cores and forty Normals jumped off the side of the deck, moving towards Tall Trunk under the cover of the Great Divider's guns.
"We finally got a read on the enemy Next." Serena reported. "It's a new model I haven't seen before, but the computer is reading it as the N-WGIX/v. Say…it looks kinda familiar-"
"Ahhhh!" Fiona gave an angry shout. "That's my design! They fucking stole it!"
"Fiona?" Monika asked calmly.
"…" Baring her teeth, Fiona bowed her head, calming herself to explain. "I designed a Core known as White Glint, built specially for my husband, and named in honor of Joshua. The League have made some modifications to it, but it is still largely my design."
"What are it's specs?"
"Very high-performance medium weight, with a whole lot of extra rear thrusters. The League modifications appear to…use those back thrusters more efficiently." Fiona begrudgingly acknowledged.
With the battle well under way, it seemed as through both sides had thrown just about everything at each other that they could. But there were still several cards yet to be played.
There was a timer, on the wall counting down. Monika had been waiting anxiously for it to finally reach zero, and it was, in just a moment.
Opening a radio frequency to all channels, both for The League and for her own forces to hear, Monika spoke.
"Report your status, Strayed."
"All good."
"You have knowledge and experience gained from walking countless battlefields, and you are armed with weapons of League and Machine origin." She had timed this statement well, as, by the end of the sentence, Strayed finally returned to radar range. The League saw the one thing they still feared; Strayed, on the horizon, burning towards them at Mach ten, angling down for an attack run. "And on top of that, this craft will ensure your victory."
"You seek a world wiped clean of The League. On that, we can agree. A world of order built by The League, is not one I can live in."
"So you abandoned mankind, to destroy them?"
"My will has not been my own as long as I can remember. If I am to be a weapon, then better it be one wielded by you. That is my choice, my will, my Answer."
Monika smiled, closing the radio channel. There were moments where James could really disappoint them. Other times, like right now however…
"He went off-script." Monika quietly cheered.
Diving at high Mach towards the array of Arms Forts south of Great Divider, Strayed targeted the most dangerous one, the Torus model Land Crab Tiger, armed with Sol Dios cannons. As it hadn't been attacked yet, none of it's cannons were currently airborne, which would have made fighting it much more difficult.
Opening the bay doors to each rotary launcher, four missiles were ejected quickly, their fusion engines ignited, propelling them down while the VOB equipped Armored Core pulled up, leveling out to pass by the front of Great Divider. In their wake, the four missiles, each a two megaton shaped charge warhead, detonated against the Sol Dios Cannon shells, tearing them apart, and neutralizing the threat of that Arms Fort.
Rounding the front of Great Divider, Strayed boosted sideways, under the guns and level with Arms Fort Lion. Already weakened by a several volleys, Strayed lined up another two nuclear missiles with the compromised armor, pulling up just in time, going vertical as the missiles caused partial internal detonations with the Lion, causing it's forward turrets to explode.
Over the battlefield, Strayed leveled out again, angling towards the four Eclipse Class Arms Forts lumbering their way back for another bombing run against Great Divider. Eclipse Classes were a lot weaker than traditional Arms Forts, giving Strayed special opportunity to wipe out the formation. Opening all bays again, Strayed let loose four high speed nukes, then turned to the front of the formation, dropping speed in the process. Even as the missiles struck, Strayed was already strafing the lead Arms Fort, the Quasar, with the twin rapid fire Strafing Lasers in the nose of the VOB. Targeting the engines, the Quasar started to go down.
Next on the hit list was the Accretion. Then the Magnetar, followed shortly by the Nebulae. Each massive aircraft breaking apart as they fell, blasted by nuclear fire and melted with accurate plasma bursts.
The skies cleared, Strayed dived down, towards Tall Trunk, looking down the barrel of one of it's Anti-Arms Fort cannons. Releasing a single nuke, Strayed pulled up hard to avoid the incomplete space elevator sitting over Tall Trunk. The shaped charge warhead struck a shell already in the weapon, fusing it to the Coilgun barrel. The limited firing arcs of each cannon meant that the western-most cannon on the roof of Tall Trunk would not be a threat to Great Divider for some time, while the southernmost cannon would be a no-factor in this battle.
Flipping backwards, from climbing to diving, Strayed targeted the Arms Fort Spirit of Fathermight. Firing two missiles against the main guns of the Fathermight, they were forced to spin out of the way, as return fire from hundreds of CIWS guns attempted to intercept them. It was a moot point as they turned away, looping around the wounded and partly defanged Fathermight, reentering combat with it's own clones again.
"Careful Strayed!" Fiona warned. "I've analyzed the weapons on those enemy Next. Seems they are each using a pair of brand new rapid-fire Rail-rifles, high capacity missile launchers on their back, and what I suspect to be a pair of new model laser blades."
Even with the wide array of weapons, it's own clones, even the dreaded J24, were too slow as Strayed breached their lines at Mach ten. Setting it's sights in the middle of the formation, Strayed fired an accurate burst of Strafing Laser bolts on J38, followed closely by a direct hit by a nuclear missile. The specialized Anti-Arms Fort missile cored the enemy NEXT, and reduced J38 to so little black ash.
Area of Operations
Taking advantage of the fact that Strayed had just ran a nuclear missile through the middle of enemy NEXT formation, May, Novem, and Nineball Seraph led their formation of suicide Cores and support Normals within engagement range of the enemy NEXT.
The field of battle was nothing more than an array of sand dunes, spread out over the very few kilometers separating Great Divider from Tall Trunk.
"Never thought I'd die standing side by side with machines." May drew the word out with as much malice as she could spit, not that they would notice.
"How about side by side with fellow soldiers?" Novem suggested.
"…Eh, sure." May shrugged, the motion being copied by Merrygate 2. "I'm pretty heavy with this gun, draw them in and help me cut them down."
"Affirmative." This time Hustler One answered. The two fragments of the AI, Novem in the 03-Aaliyah, Nineball Archange; and the red and gold Nineball Seraph; took position in front of May, ready to intercept or cripple the enemy clones soon to be on them.
Not since 2345 had so many Armored Cores taken to a single battlefield.
At their back, three-hundred and twenty machines; forty of them manned, holding their position; and two hundred and eighty unmanned, ready to throw themselves away. Divided into eight battalions, the forty GA03-Solarwind Normals, being little more than mobile artillery, stood their ground at the rear of the line, opening up with missile and artillery fire. Six of the Nine-Ball battalions doing much the same.
The first of the Nine-Ball battalions took position with the NEXT, at standby for their final order. Pressing over the last ridge that separated the opposing forces, machine forces of ORCA clashed with clone forces of The League, with May caught right in the middle.
Leveling her massive gatling cannon against the first clone in sight, May held down the trigger, throwing 150mm shells down range in a long line of large tracers, cutting into the enemy NEXT. Only the Primal Armor kept the clone from immediately dying, as it disengaged, only to be targeted as Nineball Seraph rushed into the clone, burying twin laser blades to the hilt into their side, taking J11 out of the fight early. Novem dove against a fellow clone, driving them into May's gun, earning a burst of heavy armor piercing rounds to the back. Still, the clone backed away, mostly intact.
Intending to press their numbers advantage, the entire first battalion of Nine-Ball Cores crest the ridge, boosting at highspeed into clone lines. Even under the suppressive fire of all of ORCA's Cores, the force of J series clones returned fire at the smaller, exposed Cores, their new Rail-rifles just barely being deflected by the machine Cores energy shielding, but not stopped. The closest clones to the front focused fire, cutting down five Nine-Balls, their forms torn apart by high velocity munitions. Rapidly expending their own munition stores, the Nine-Balls split into five groups, closing into blade range, their left arms raised to slash.
Their first target was J36, the one most recently shot by May. The first machine to throw itself at the clone was immediately cut down, a new, five-pronged laser blade lancing out like fingers, cutting the machine apart, but not before it detonated it's package. The five-kiloton warhead going off within ten meters depleted J36's Primal Armor, and scorched it's black painted armor, but didn't kill it, only staggering the clone, such that it was momentarily vulnerable as three more machines jumped at it. Firing their laser rifles up to the last moment, the three machines swung with their smaller, out of date laser blades, compromising the armor, but not cutting through. Still, standing inches away, the machines detonated their warheads, finally killing J36 with a triple clap of nuclear ordinance.
In much the same way, J13, J22, J28, and J41 also fell to fanatical machines, taking multiple nuclear strikes to kill each clone. Over a quarter of the machines remained after these five clones were killed by them, only to be stopped by the remaining clones without being able to use their nukes.
"Looks like that first assault took out five clones." Serena advised, keeping a close eye on the deployed forces. "Deploy the second Nine-Ball battalion."
Forty more suicidal machines took to the front line, ready to throw themselves at the enemy, only to find that the enemy had come for them.
Knowing that the ORCA forces only possessed three NEXT on this field, the remaining thirty-five clones counter-attacked. Suddenly forced into close combat, Novem, May, and Nineball Seraph were separated, each caught with their own opponent to deal with. While the two fragments of Hustler One each crossed blades with a clone, May was left alone to deal with her own opponent.
"Damn!" May cursed, swinging her massive cannon on target, getting a short burst in before they dodged away. Coming at her from a new angle, May was forced to spin away, protecting her massive and unwieldy weapon from laser blade slashes. She was fortunate that James had spent an equivalent to forty-three years kicking her ass, as in her next move, she exposed her left side, raising her blade to defend…only to quick-boost into her enemy with a thrust, her blade aimed and penetrating the cockpit of J18.
But not everything could go so well. The League counter-attack hit them so fast that the second Nine-Ball battalion wasn't even able to arm their suicide warheads. They engaged desperately with laser blades but were quickly cut down by the larger and stronger N-WGIX/v Cores.
May saw how one clone was especially brutal, charging the smaller machine Cores, tearing into them with hateful abandonment. The machines refused to back down, even cut in half, but being able to do little to stop the ultraviolence propagating their lines.
She knew who this clone was, as it changed into striking distance.
Two Nine-Ball units rushed forward to defend her, putting themselves into J24's path. It mattered little, as one was kicked onto it's back while the other one was cut in half at the waist. The upper Core, still aiming with it's plasma rifle, was then lanced by a Rail-rifle, it's internal systems perforated by high-velocity shells. The core that had been kicked back started to aim up, only for J24 to place it's right foot on it's chest, pinning it to the sand, and thrust with it's right rifle, firing directly into the Core.
As another clone closed in to back it up, May raised her gatling cannon to defend herself, hoping to at least take this one down…
A proximity warning for high yield ordnance warned her to back up, just as four high-speed missiles hit between the League and Machine battle lines, forcing The League back as they avoided the nuclear explosions that only momentarily blinded them.
J24 wisely backed off, leaving it's fellow clone to continue to pursue May. Movement from the right caught her eye though, as a heavy aircraft dived into the clone, slamming it's nose into the sand.
Strayed.
Still moving at a blistering Mach ten, Strayed dragged the clone under the nose of the VOB, firing point blank with the twin Strafing Lasers directly into the enemy Core. Between the heavy plasma striking it from the front and the sand it was being dragged over, the clone melted away under the abuse, being reduced to a black stain in the sand.
"Damn! We took down J06, J29, and J43, but lost the entire second battalion." Serena reported. "Looks like The League are backing off, so you've only got a second before we push with the third battalion."
Then, who May had been able to identify as J24 moved to the back of the line, and spoke on an open frequency.
"Tsk. How untenable."
Great Divider – CIC
"Ballistic missile launch detected from Tall Trunk." Fiona reported.
"…" Monika sighed. "Okay. Will we survive a strike from a nuke that size?"
"Not only will we easily survive, but that missile is at such a velocity that it will not penetrate our PDC grid." Hustler One answered. "Recalculating…missile will fall short of the Arms Fort and our line of Armored Cores…"
"…Really?" Monika stared closely. "What the hell are they aiming at?"
"Ballistic missile set to impact in thirty seconds. Target…J24."
"What…?" Monika questioned. "What's going on?"
"Notice, ballistic missile is separating." Hustler One continued updating in real time. "Reading high Kojima Particle density…but not a warhead."
Watching from an external camera feed, Monika saw as the missile dropped it's outer casing, revealing a spinning metal vase, with retro-thrusters firing to slow it down. Then, this structure split vertically into five pieces, spinning slowly as they descended, while J24 jumped up, intercepting this strange structure.
The five structures, each about ten meters tall, then started to orbit J24, holding it in the air on fifteen large thrusters, three thrusters to a structure. They held their positions in orbit of the N-WGIX/v Core, forming a loose, cone shaped sphere.
"What the fuck is that?" Serena questioned.
"I see, they've completed it." Hustler One realized, unfazed.
"What am I looking at here?" Monika questioned, dread forming in her stomach.
"Records indicate that this unit is known as the Vortex Orbit Core, multiple independent magnetically suspended external boosters that function in a similar matter as the VOB Mark Two." Hustler answered. "This unit trades off the VOB Mark Two's internal missile bays for five Strafing Lasers, extra Primal Armor, and the greatest calculated maneuverability of any machine I have ever seen."
"Shit…" Monika grit her teeth. "Can Strayed take it down?"
"Strayed is the only one who could defeat it." Hustler One assured her. "Even so, the readings from that machine are off the charts. Even with all the upgrades we gave it, Strayed isn't even putting out half the power of J24."
"Then it will be a fair fight." Sayori spoke up, a dark calm in her voice.
Area of Operations
"Strayed, you are ordered to intercept J24!" Monika demanded. "That is your final order!"
"Affirmative."
Having successfully defended May, Strayed looped back around, closing on J24, near the base of Tall Trunk. Testing the strength of what the data feed identified as a VOC, they fired a long burst of plasma bolts from their own twin Strafing Lasers, the double thick Primal Armor J24 had easily deflecting the damage.
Then, J24 moved, plasma thrusters screaming like an echoed whistle played in reverse. The evasive movement was precise and stable, with half the acceleration time and none of the drift of a standard NEXT.
Rolling out of the attack, Strayed blew past at high Mach, then was forced to evade as rapid fire Strafing Laser bolts arched past, J24 returning the favor. What was interesting was that J24 could force the VOC to orbit at a high RPM, turning the entire assembly into an outward pointing gatling gun.
Well, at least they had done their job and gotten J24's attention. Strayed angled up to leave the current combat zone, to get J24 away from anyone it might hurt. Matching course and keeping up, J24 pursued, followed shortly by two of it's fellow clones, ident tagged as J01 and J02.
It was the most they could do at the moment, take three of the clones out of the combat zone.
Great Divider – CIC
"Confirmed, Strayed is being pursued by J01, J02, and J24." Fiona reported. "They are leaving the combat zone."
"Excellent." Monika nodded. "What's his status?"
"Outgunned, outnumbered, and outclassed." Fiona surmised. "So situation is normal."
"Good to hear." Monika acknowledged. "What about enemy Arms Forts?"
"All Eclipse Classes shot down. Land Crabs Tiger, Cobra, and Lion destroyed or rendered combat ineffective."
"Starboard cannons, engaging Land Crab Anaconda!" Yuri announced.
"Port cannons, engaging Spirit of Fathermight!" Sayori added.
"Cut them down!" Monika demanded. "Leave not a single Arms Fort left standing!"
"Aye aye!"
"How many enemy Next are still active?"
"Thirty, though just twenty-seven in this AO." Serena answered. "Tsk! Three enemy Next just broke off towards our rear doors!"
"Right. We planned for that." Monika glared. "Get him ready."
Car Six
Landing on the flight deck of Car Six, the three clones, J31, J44, and J48, charged up the ramp leading to the interior of the Great Divider.
At the rear door, J44 charged ahead, leading with laser blade as it took out the outer door. It hadn't even gotten through the slash as it was staggered by a massive plasma bolt, melting it's outer armor. A split second later, thousands of high caliber shells tore through it, ripping off it's arms, and breaching the cockpit.
Surprised, J31 and J48 looked up through the damaged outer door, seeing the slumped but active form of a 00-Aretha, it's massive plasma cannon and four 150mm gatling guns pointed towards them.
"Sorprende a los hijos de puta." Enrique Elkano announced. The Aretha had been stripped of non-essential systems, turning it into a shielded, oversized Normal with massive weapons, and therefore easily manageable even for a Lynx as out of practice as him. "Bienvenidos a vuestra muerte, Demonios de la Liga."
Wary of facing an Aretha in an enclosed area, the two J clones retreated back down the ramp, towards the deck of Car Six. They were ambushed again as the twenty Nine-Ball Cores that hadn't committed to the battle jumped up from where they hid in the aircraft elevators, tackling and grappling with the N-WGIX/v Cores.
The first Core they hit, J48, was held down by six of the machine Cores. Unwilling to use their nuclear suicide this close to the Arms Fort, the other four Nine-Ball Cores attacked with sadistic brutality. The armor of the N-WGIX/v being too thick for their older model laser blades to effectively penetrate, they plunged their claws into exposed mechanisms, ripping and tearing with hateful savagery.
In short order, they had torn the larger Armored Core limb from limb, then tore into the cockpit, crushing the clone pilot.
The other clone, J31, had noticed the attack from behind, retaliating with laser blades, instantly cutting down four of the machine Cores with it's long, forked blades. Grabbing another Core in it's large hands, it pulled it apart, legs torn out from under it, then reached again and tore the crippled Core into halves again. Using the dismembered pieces of an Armored Core as crude clubs, it slammed them into the top of another Core, crushing it flat.
The remaining four machines that had gone after J31 managed to grapple with it then, just as Enrique had walked out to the top of the ramp to provide fire support to the allied machines.
"Fire." Hustler One demanded.
"I can't hit it without wiping out your guys." Enrique warned it.
"Fire!"
Shaking his head, Enrique followed the order, firing first with the massive plasma cannon. The blue bolt of super-heated plasma splashed on top of the five Armored Cores, melting the armor of the smaller Cores. Even so, they held on, their melted armor sticking to J31's Core, further restricting it, as Enrique opened up with the four large gatling cannons, tearing all of them apart.
Great Divider – CIC
"Incursion defeated." Hustler One announced.
"Excellent work." Monika praised her machine ally.
"Arms Fort Anaconda defeated!" Natsuki shouted.
"Switching target to Arms Fort Bear!" Yuri declared.
"Hey um…need some help here!" Sayori complained. "Spirit of Fathermight is not going down!"
"You gotta keep hitting those weapon emplacements!" Serena advised. "Especially the missile launchers! Spirit Class Arms Forts have very poor damage control in their magazines! If you can hit enough of them, the whole thing will light up!"
"You heard her Sayori!" Monika ordered. "You and Hustler need to hit those missile launchers to kill it."
"It's not an easy target, especially at this angle, but I'll try!" Sayori replied, more sure of herself.
"Starboard armor at 70% integrity!"
"Port armor, down to 44% integrity!"
"What's the status of Strayed?" Monika requested more quietly.
"Still running." Fiona grimaced. "Trying to get J24 as far away from the combat zone as they can. Of course…that also means we won't be able to support them if they need any help. Kinda feels like…"
"I wanted him out of the AO with that thing, I didn't tell him to sacrifice himself." Monika assured her. "He's still our best fighter, and someone we can't afford to lose…someone I don't want to lose."
"Ballistic missiles detected from the north!" The Radar operator shouted. "Their target appears to be Tall Trunk!"
"That is my reinforcements." Hustler One announced. "Best I could do on short notice."
"And their target?" Monika requested.
"The other Anti-Arms Fort cannon."
Tall Trunk – Roof
Deployed from the ballistic missiles, twenty Nine-Ball Cores, along with one Nineball Seraph-B Core, evaded and engaged various air defense turrets on the roof of the Tall Trunk fortress, with half the Nine-Ball Cores having survived to land on the roof, beginning their work to clear defenses from the fortress for future invasion, and targeting the second Anti-Arms Fort cannon.
The Nineball Seraph-B variant was a black and gold stealth Core with bomb bays in the place of it's missile launchers. As the other Nine-Ball cores worked their way across the roof, eliminating League forces and weapon emplacements, the Seraph-B Core flew towards the barrel of the easternmost cannon, landing on the lip of the weapon.
Opening the first bomb bay, the AI Core grabbed one of it's two megaton nuclear bombs from it's internal rack in the external back thrusters, tossing the bomb down the barrel of the massive cannon, flying back towards the few remaining enemies on the roof even as the bomb fused the cannon in it's wake.
Fully aware of the incursion attempt, The League sent a pair of J series clones to stop the machines. J12 and J35 flew up, past the edge of Tall Trunk, to rain fire on the machine Cores. Knowing of their suicidal resolve, the League clones kept a safe distance from all the machines, killing them before they got close. As J12 stayed high, J35 went low, to engage the Seraph-B Core.
Even as one of the more advanced machines on the battlefield, Nineball Seraph-B was still only a Gen 3.5 specification Core, lacking access to vital League components. Crossing blades defensively with J35, being forced back by the larger and stronger Armored Core. Seraph-B did have one advantage though, being an experimental variant of Hustler One's designs.
Thrusting with laser blade to skewer the machine Core, Seraph-B vanished from sight, leaving J35 confused, until a laser blade scorched it's knee joint, fusing the mechanism. Slashing in retaliation, J35 struck nothing, only for it's outstretched arm to be cut off by a blade that came out of nowhere.
Left crippled and confused, J35 watched as the air shimmered in front of it, revealing the stealth Core as it seemingly phased back into existence, twin laser blades primmed, as they thrust through it's cockpit.
Nineball Seraph-B, equipped with optical camouflage, quartered the enemy Core. However, J12 had easily killed the remaining Nine-Ball Cores on the roof, leaving Seraph-B alone. Diving on the machine, J12 moved in close, long and wide blades nearing scorching Seraph-B. Firing with plasma cannons defensively, Seraph-B ceased fire, activating it's optical camouflage while switching back to it's blades.
Knowing what was coming, however, J12 triggered it's Assault Armor, forcing Seraph-B back as it's outer-armor and stealthy metamaterials melted under two kilotons of in-the-face Kojima contamination. Left staggered, Seraph-B was too slow to react to J12 thrusting it's blade through the machine Core.
Mechanisms going slack, J12 twisted it's blade, burning the interior of the Seraph-B Core, sure it had killed it. As it was pulling it's blade arm back, Seraph-B surged to life, grasping the arm extended towards it with one hand, while the other hand reached behind it. Pulling itself down the length of the laser blade impaling it, Seraph-B stared down J12, then slammed an armed, two megaton nuclear bomb into it's cockpit block with it's free hand.
J12 and Seraph-B were reduced to a black stain on the heavily armored roof of Tall Trunk.
Area of Operations
Begrudgingly, May had to admit, the machines had earned her respect. But that simply wasn't enough.
Forty at a time, they had been sent into the League firing line. Forty at a time, those half-sized Armored Cores had crested the ridge, charging head long to their deaths. Forty at a time, the machines were cut down before they could all deliver their nuclear ordnance.
The results achieved by the Third, and the Forth, and the Fifth, and the Six, and the Seventh Suicide Battalions had been disappointingly sobering. Two hundred Nine-Ball Cores cut down for a mere three J kills; J08, J19, and J37.
Admittedly, they hadn't expected for the J clones to adapt so quickly to the tactic. Even as biological drones, they learned fast. The forty GA03-Solarwind units to the rear of the ORCA lines had been nothing more than support artillery, and were quickly eliminated. Outnumbered seven-to-one, May, Novem, and Nineball Seraph stood back-to-back, facing off against a final push.
"That…could have gone better." May complained, holding fire as the new battle lines were drawn. "I've got gatling ammo down to 30%, enough for a few kills, but not enough to stand them off for more than a minute."
"Combat flight one, be advised." Serena radioed in. "You have no support. Strayed is outside the AO, the 00 and back-up Nines have retreated to within the Arms Fort, Arms Fort weapons are already tasked, and all Armored Core and Normal reserves are spent. Sorry…but you'll have to survive on your own."
"Yeah…copy…Operator." May grimaced.
"Recommend depleting your ordnance, no reason to let it go to waste." Serena suggested.
"Oh I'm going to be so pissed if I die with a single bullet left in my mags." May grinned.
"Command to Merrygate 2!" Monika shouted. "If you can, retreat and rearm! You'll just have to hold the line at-"
"Are you calling me fat, commander?" May questioned, feigning insult.
"Uh…what?"
"I might be a bit slow in this Sunshine, but I still know how to dance with the best of them." May assured her. "Besides, you said it before pretty well. I've no means of retreat, I'll have to kill them all if I wish to live! And that's exactly what I plan to do!"
While they had been talking, the remaining twenty-one clones had slowly drawn in, meter by meter, tempting and testing their targets as they slowly closed to a range where they could not escape. May challenged them with a charge, deploying her OGOTO cannon that she had been holding in reserve for just a moment like this.
With both her massive gatling gun and nuclear armed OGOTO, she opened up, on the first target in front of her, first with a small nuclear round striking the clone, staggering them and stripping Primal Armor, followed by gatling fire that tore into their armored shell, then another nuclear round to cripple and kill their Core, removing J20 from the field.
Her reckless charge had broken the encirclement, but also made her an exposed target. J34 closed on her flank, intent on driving a blade through her cockpit. They were intercepted by Nineball Archange, who fired off their own nuclear shell, getting the clones attention on them. Trading plasma and missile fire for railgun shells, the machine Core risking everything as it boosted forward to point-blank range, thrusting a laser blade through the clone's cockpit.
The other machine Core, Nineball Seraph, being lighter and faster, performed several hit and run attacks, slowly bleeding the enemy with each burst of their arm mounted plasma cannons. Diving on a clone that May had just staggered and evaded, J05, Nineball Seraph nimbly broke into their guard, striking them down then finishing off the clone with it's own twin blades.
Her support lagging behind, May deployed the other weapon she had been holding onto, the Orbit Weapons on her shoulders. Sending the simple command of "defense", the eight drones oriented themselves over and around her Core, keeping optimal firing angles at each attacking enemy, and shooting down any incoming missiles. All the while, she kept up her reckless advance, defending herself simply by making her front a kill zone for anything that tried to stop her, as J39 quickly found out, as she burned through it with her two cannons blazing away.
However, seeing her ammunition run down below ten percent, May tentatively held fire, drawing in her enemy to more certainly score a kill. Her tactic working brilliantly, as J10 moved to cut her off, intending to engage her in close quarters. Allowing the clone to get dangerously close, May fired off one of her few remaining nuclear rounds, staggering the enemy during their attack run. Lancing her gatling gun low, she jammed it into J10's midsection, then lifted, forcing J10 up on the end of her gun, and pulled the trigger, emptying the gatling gun directly into the League NEXT, bifurcating it.
Dropping the enemy she held on her spent weapon, May flung the massive weapon out as yet another clone charged her, the surprise purge causing J21 to trip and spin, their bulk slamming back-first into May. Grappling with the clone, May held it as Nineball Seraph charged in, driving it's blades to the NEXT's midsection while May held it's arms up, followed shortly by May using her hands to tear the enemy into halves.
Intercepting J32 before it could attack May from behind, Novem knocked the League clone into the ground, holding it down as it deployed it's back mounted missile launcher, firing point-blank the remaining missiles in the rack, before it drove one of it's fist into the compromised armor, reaching inside and tearing out vital components of the enemy.
The furious pace of combat had set them at a much more favorable fourteen-to-three, a questionable advantage that they wouldn't be able to capitalize on.
"Merrygate 2 reporting, down to my last three rounds." May announced, raising her arms for a desperate last stand.
"Nineball Archange reporting. Two cannon rounds left." Novem added.
"Nineball Seraph reporting. Missile racks empty, plasma cannons fused." Hustler One summarized.
Standing back-to-back once more, the remaining fourteen clones closed in, certain of their imminent victory.
Yet all May could do was smile madly. Undeniably thrilled, damning her own life, and hungry for just one more kill.
Great Divider – CIC
All Monika could do was stare hatefully as her three NEXT were surrounded and cut off. Spent of ordnance and bearing deep battle damage, the outnumbered ORCA forces had fought desperately and bravely, taking down more than could ever be asked of them. Yet their fates were all but sealed.
Their main guns were still busy dealing with enemy Arms Forts, and the remaining Cores they had defending the rear were desperately needed to hold that line, as they lacked both speed and survivability against the League NEXT.
Though they might be able to hold out for a while with the resources they had now, without at least one NEXT to break the enemy, it would not be long until they were spent, and the ORCA Brigade was forced to capitulate. They made their gamble, and this was the result.
The next step for the enemy would be…
"Commander! Massive aircraft launch detected from Tall Trunk!" The Radar Operator reported. "Looks like another boarding party!"
Once ORCA lost their NEXT, there was nothing stopping the League clones from clearing the roof of it's defenses, allowing however many infantry was needed to finally break the ORCA rebellion.
With Strayed still occupied with J24 to the distant South, this would be the end of their war against The League, so bitterly close to their last chance for hope.
"Launch detected…IPBM!" The Radar Operator added to the hopelessness.
Monika couldn't help but smile, shaking her head at their predictability. So certain of their victory, The League would start "The Answer Plan" early, already sending up a world-cracking missile to wipe out one of the distant worlds humanity called home in the cosmos above.
Switching her view to the distant missile rising out of range of any of her weapons, Monika could only passively watch as everything she fought for was lost forever, as the world would be warped to the cruel designs of The League…
Until an angry red line lanced the IPBM from the sky.
"What…What!?" Monika realized, desperate hope burning in her heart, as the battle paused for a very brief moment at the unexpected interruption of The League's plans. "Report!"
"Checking!" Fiona shouted back, equally as surprised. "Looks like an orbital laser strike from high orbit! Previously unidentified weapon platform!"
An unknown benefactor had made their first move, followed closely by their second.
"We have inbound, all directions!" The Radar Operator shouted with growing desperation. "Five thousand! Ten thousand! Twenty thousand! The tracking computer just gave up! Unknown contacts closing fast!"
"I see." Hustler One added calmly.
"What!? What is it Nine!?" Monika shouted, confused and desperate for hope.
"We may still win this day."
Author's Note: Hope I didn't keep all of you waiting too long this time. Just finished writing chapter 48 and felt ready to post this one. This should be enough of a preamble to the conclusion of this project that I've been suffering through these last three years. As always let me know what you thought!
This chapter, James and Monika's first lines together were of course taken from Armored Core Verdict Day, and something May says is a refrense to Halo Wars 2. As a bit of a pre-emptive precaution, I became very lazy and uninspired in the next chapter, "stealing" some dialog from a source or four. At the very least I promise to cite it extensively. Sometimes I just can't help myself.
To Guest: Yep.