TWENTY SEVEN
DEATH INCARNATE
Review Corner
The Colonel: Cat suit is good. I will definitely use that for the next stories.
Central Continent, Planet Zi,
March 14, 2128
Diavel wished he could regard Saskia in any other way. She was the daughter of his once faithful wingman. He ran countless sorties with her father on his side. There was nobody else in the entire Helic Republic that he would trust his life in beside Saskia's father. He would dive to hell with Saskia's father on his side, knowing that they would make it back alive.
But Saskia came out as nothing but a troublemaker. She tried, and Diavel knew how hard he tried to walk in her father's footsteps. But every decision she made sabotaged her own chance to be a respectable soldier like her father, and put Diavel in a hot seat. And her most cardinal sin, in Diavel's eyes, was to choose the Gilvader as her partner. True, the Gilvader played an important part in foiling the coup d'etat 5 years ago, but it was still a monster at its core, built by the Guylos Empire with a sole intention to take on Helic Republic juggernauts. Diavel knew one day his decision to let Saskia go with her choice would come back and bite him. The moment he saw Saskia's face in the comlink, he knew the day was coming… fast.
Diavel's Salamander squadron spearheaded the Helic Republic's defense formation to take down the rampaging Neo Zenebas zoid. Equipped with plasma warheads, the squadron maintained a tight formation like a fortress. Two squadrons of Storm Sworder sandwiched the Salamander, escorted by dozens of Raynos. And down below on the ground the bulk of Helic Military stood on guard with their weapons hot, ready to take down the lone beast should Diavel's flying fortress failed.
Diavel's stomach tightened up in a knot as his radar beeped. The heat signature of a Gilvader leapt from the screen. Three unidentified weapons perched at its back; its front left leg was uselessly dangling on the side of the body. A small sigh of relief escaped his lips, knowing that the beast came into the battlefield with scars from the previous engagement, possibly with Saskia's Gilvader. But he didn't want to give Saskia credit yet. The Neo Zenebas Gilvader still had all its Gravity Cannons. Even with battle damages, it was still a formidable threat.
"Alpha Wing, fire Fox One Mike on my command!" Diavel said as he armed his tactical missile, reinforced with plasma warheads. He waited until his target reticule burnt gold, then mashed his trigger. "Fire!" His tactical missile zipped past his cockpit, leaving a long white smoke trail. Dozens other missiles followed suit, creating a wave of warheads in a collision course with the Gilvader.
The Gilvader roared in defiance and raised its Beam Smasher shield. All buzzsaws whirled in high speed, creating an acoustic resonance that enveloped the entire body of the dragon. The missiles crashed into the Gilvader, one after another, creating a blinding fireball each time. Diavel lowered his tinted helmet shield, hoping to see the Gilvader's charred hulk as it plummeted to the ground. But when the fireballs subsided, the Gilvader was still flying. It didn't even change its course.
"Fox Two Mike! Fire at will!" Diavel yelled on his comset. His second tactical missile soared, followed by myriads of similar sort. The missiles hammered the Gilvader like a cascaded waterfall. Plasma balls swallowed the metal dragon, but the acoustic shield stood fast, protecting the beast from the ravenous missiles and their plasma fireballs.
"All units break off! Take that thing down! Fire at will!" Diavel roared as he yanked his joystick back. His Salamander hurled its battlecry and unleashed a deadly barrage of laser. Much to his dismay, his laser pair bounced off the outer skin of the Gilvader before it even hit the armor. The Salamander threw everything it had, but nothing worked against the powerful acoustic shield of the Gilvader.
The rest of the Republic squadrons suffered similar fate. Torrential rain of missiles, ballistics, and energy beams failed to breach the shield. Nothing in the Republican arsenal could touch the Gilvader. Running out of options, a few bold Storm Sworders resolved to melee, stabbing and coring the dragon with multiple blades. The approach proved to be successful; the blades broke the acoustic barrier and started slicing the Gilvader's armor. The Gilvader fought back with its Maser blades, but the Storm Sworders used its blinding speed and agility to get away from the Gilvader's Maser weapons.
The few Storm Sworders laid out a blue print to defeat the Gilvader, and more flying zoids came within point blank range to sink their blades into the Gilvader's meaty armor. The Gilvader swung its tail widly, busting a couple of Raynos, but the Republic zoids had tasted blood. Taking advantage of the Gilvader's wide turning radius, the smaller zoids dove in and stabbed the monster zoid like drones. Soon the Gilvader's armor began to fragment.
The Gilvader, reinforced with human's intuition, quickly changed maneuver. The Drillgan units blazed, then emitted three long streaks of pure energy. The Republic zoids quickly dispersed, but the Gilvader spun in a sweeping motion, lighting up the vicinity with deadly Drillgan rays. A third of the Helic Republic airborne zoids exploded, consumed by the energy surge. Dozens other were mutilated; wings and limbs were tossed around every which way, while dismembered zoids screamed in mortal agony as they plummeted to the ground.
The horror of the massacre made Diavel's stomach churn. He dove straight at the Gilvader, all guns blazing, trying to take on the monster himself. His Alpha Wing rallied behind him. The Gilvader saw him coming, and it directed the Drillgan rays at him but Diavel slammed his joystick hard to the left, taking his Salamander to a barrel roll. His zoid barely missed the three energy beams but half of his Alpha Wing erupted under the intense heat. Charred hulks and burning splinters rained down like a hail of brimstone in biblical proportion. The remaining Salamanders went into disarray.
Diavel made a tight right turn and attacked the Gilvader from its side. The claws of the Salamander sank into the Gilvader's damaged leg. The Salamander screamed and heaved the leg upward. The Gilvader turned but it was too late. The Salamander tore the Gilvader's leg completely off. Tongues of fire burst from the nubbin, and the Gilvader spun uncontrollably from the sudden loss of mass.
But the Gilvader quickly regained control. Its plasma cannons lit up, peppering Diavel's Salamander from behind. Diavel pulled off every single dogfight maneuver, but the plasma bursts was too intense. Plasma darts ravaged the rear end of the Salamander. Smoke twirled from pockmarks on the leg armor. Diavel desperately banked hard right but the Gilvader's needle guns cut him off. Black greasy smoke billowed from the back of the Salamander, and wing shards flew every which way.
"Ground units! Take it down!" Diavel screamed, watching nervously as his Salamander was getting singled out by the Gilvader. Down under, Helic Republic ground zoids made up the bulk of the army, led by the indomitable Gojulas Giga squad, each carrying twin Republic Supercannons on the back. Two platoons of Konig Wolves with dual sniper rifles sandwiched the Gigas, aiming high to shoot the Gilvader down. The rest of the army consisted of eclectic zoids ranging from the fast and agile Ligers to the diminutive Gun Sniper.
Upon hearing Diavel's command, the Konig Wolves raised a wall of ballistics, blanketing the Gilvader in a murderous curtain. The Gilvader screeched as bullets punched through its wings. The thick plates of metal turned into perforated slabs, and two big Beam Smasher buzzsaws were busted out of their joints, rendering the black dragon unable to raise its powerful shield again. As the Gilvader slowly lost altitude, the Gojulas Giga fired the Supercannons. The Gilvader still managed to crisscross its fall, but the lower the altitude the more shots it had to sustain. In a matter of minutes its armor was reduced to jagged edged scrap.
But the Gilvader still had aces up its sleeves. Closing in to the ground, it fired its Gravity Cannons in unison. Four plana tellasite slugs sped in the air in an eerie whistle, then exploded into black holes 500 meters apart, encompassing the majority of the Helic zoids. The ensuing gravity turbulence turned the Helic forces upside down. Large zoids were trashed from black hole to black hole, breaching limbs and cannons. The smaller zoids were mercilessly crushed under the massive gravity storm.
The remaining Helic zoids regrouped and fired everything they had at the Gilvader. Losing most of its flying capability, the Gilvader absorbed a large amount of hits. The Gilvader's agonizing cries sorted through the boom of explosions. Pieces of burning armor flew in every direction. Plummes of black smoke covered the zoid, making it hard to see the actual condition of the beast. But everybody was certain that the Gilvader was getting closer to the end of its life.
However the Gilvader was not done. From the thick plumme of smoke a blinding ray of light emerged, enveloping the center of the Helic Republic rank. The few remaining Gojulas Giga exploded upon contact with the Drillgan ray, merging into a collective fireball. The shockwave staggered some zoids standing close to the explosions, and the flames torched a few Gun Snipers within close proximity. Once again the Helic zoids were forced to abandon their attack formation in favor of their lives.
From the air Diavel assessed the situation and even though the threat had been halted, the casualties were staggering. His Alpha Wing had been virtually massacred, just like the first encounter between Salamander and Gilvader some 70 years ago. The few remaining Raynos and Storm Sworders were just enough to make it a wing. The backbone of Helic ground force had been broken. Only two Gojulas Giga remained operational, the rest of them were obliterated in just two strikes. The smaller zoids were scattered all over the plain, and there was no way he could rally them to fight the Gilvader again. The Gilvader itself had been brutalized past its physical endurance but somehow Diavel questioned if the danger had gone.
And somehow the Gilvader kept moving. It was walking on 3 legs, and its wings were shredded to bits, but it kept moving, maintaining its course toward New Helic City. Since the Gilvader couldn't fly anymore, Diavel saw a chance to end this menace without sacrificing more Helic troops. If he could isolate the Gilvader he could crush it with Helic's Gravity Cannons.
"All units, retreat to Red Line," Diavel barked. As his troops gladly carried his order, he switched to different frequency. "Aspencade, this is Blue Streak. I need saturated fire on grid Q-niner-twelve, authorization code Red – Sigma – Sigma – Three – Alpha – Green…"
"Gravity Cannons ready, Sir," somebody on the other side replied. "Confirmed target: Quebec – Niner – Twelve…"
"Fire for effect! Now!" Diavel roared and climbed almost vertically. The Salamander's high service ceiling enabled it to reach a safe distance from the potential black hole while still able to observe a wide area. His radar picked up a disturbance in gravity field, indicating the advent of the Gravity Cannon shells. Diavel floored his pedal, taking his Salamander to the edge of its service ceiling, and waited with anticipation for Helic's mightiest weapon to work.
The Gilvader sensed the shift of gravity field, and Royce's knowledge of the powerful weapon reinforced the zoid's defensive capability. It fired off its Drillgan cannons, blanketing the inbound Plana-Tellasite bombs with pure energy. The shells evaporated, little by little, until what was left of them were pebble-sized shells. They struck the ground and exploded, but the resulting black holes were too small to do anything. The Gilvader walked through the black holes and hurled a long, shrilling battlecry, taunting the Helic Republic to throw everything it had.
"Negative impact, I repeat, negative impact!" Diavel stated. Sweat beaded on his forehead even though he was flying in sub-zero temperature. "Fire for effect! Now now now!"
The second Gravity Cannon assault came in hard and fast, but just like the first time, the Gilvader fired its Drillgan cannons and reduced the Plana-Tellasite shells to marble size. The beast continued its rampage as if the Gravity Cannon assault didn't bother it.
"Keep firing! Keep firing!" Diavel screamed over the comlink.
"With all due respect, Sir, this does not work!" the officer at Aspencade Fortress replied. "See yourself with a plan or find us all dead!"
Diavel realized that he underestimated the staying power of the Gilvader. He knew history; he knew that Guylos' Gilvaders had wiped out Helic Republic's finest divisions at the Devil's Maze, and would have flattened New Helic City if luck didn't turn away from the Empire. But he failed to take into account human's intelligence in the rampaging Gilvader. The human-zoid union semed to enhance the zoid's combat prowess tenfold.
"All units, return to base," he sighed in defeat. "Regroup with the National Guard at New Helic City. Defend the capital at all cost." He then switched frequency. "This is Marshall Diavel, Helic Republic Military. Where is Saskia van Leewenhoek?"
"Marshall," Laeta's face popped up in his screen. "Heart yearns for good news…"
"My force had failed to stop the monster. We hurt it yet it is still operational. I am taking my troops to barricade New Helic City."
"Backdraft Organization will extend hands," Laeta replied with a hint of opportunity in her voice. "Yet it is not absent prerequisites. First, Backdraft zoids and personnel shall come and operate within Helic Republic territory absent meddling hands of Helic Military. And take note, this includes Saskia van Leewenhoek."
"Granted," Diavel sighed in defeat.
"Second, Backdraft shall take carcass of Gilvader."
"Negatory!" Diavel barked. "The beast must be destroyed, not to be revived by bands of nuts, least of all Backdraft Organization! Helic Military shall put hands on carcass to guarantee the total dismantling of it!"
"It is non negotiable. Backdraft shall help but upon agreed prerequisites."
"Then Helic Military shall engage Gilvader at the city gate. We have prevailed against titans, and hence we shall prevail again!"
"To what cost? Blood of able soldiers? Future of children of the Helic Republic? Is heart willing to sacrifice more citizens of the Republic?"
"They are good soldiers of the Republic, sworn to protect Helic Republic with the cost of their lives!"
"Yet with a simple cost, none shall suffer more. The solution lies in your willingness to give up a zoid that has never been yours in the first place."
Diavel didn't know where the Backdraft Organization stood in the wake of Neo Zenebas and Helic's fragile relationship with Guylos Empire. The organization seemed to focus more on entertainment rather than domination of Planet Zi. But he made a mistake of letting go the Gilvader that was in his grasp, one that he didn't want to repeat. That Gilvader had to be destroyed. The problem was how much it would cost him – and Helic Republic – to do it. Would he be Captain Ahab that sacrificed the lives of his crews for the death of one beast?
"How do I know Backdraft will not use the Gilvader against Helic Republic?"
"Backdraft Organization has many things in mind; Helic property is not one of them."
"Fine," Diavel finally relented. "You have 6 hours to clean up Saskia's mess. Do whatever it takes; Helic Republic will not interfere with your business. Yet after 6 hours you must take leave. If I see any of you still within Helic territory, I shall seek death and destruction upon your units."
"Nice doing business with you, Marshall Diavel," Laeta nodded and cut off the link.