Episode 17: Demon Mischief
The year is After Colony 205. After the Senate's declaration of war, the Taurus II is put into mass-production. Armed with these new weapons, the Preventers once again feel powerful enough to provide for the security of the World Nation. All does not point in favor of the World Nation, however. Martian engineers, learning of the Taurus II's potential, have begun designing an upgrade of the Medusa. In addition, Odel Bernett, an elite pilot from MO-V and a veteran of the Eve Wars, has defected to their cause. Even now, he and Julia Esroni are headed to Earth, leading an AMS assault force on a mission to capture Vulkanus, the Preventer Corps's orbital base and construction facility.
"Colonel Bernett, we have reached the drop-off point and are under stealth. Major Esroni and Gale and Typhoon Squadrons have launched and are making their way in-system using the detachable stealth packs."
"Good. Have the technicians check over the main attack force one more time, and then send the pilots to their suits. We don't know how long it will take Major Esroni to accomplish her part of the operation."
"Yes, Sir."
"Also, see if we can move in-system ourselves at low velocity. The closer we are to Vulkanus when the Major completes Phase One, the more of a surprise advantage we'll have."
"Of course."
"We're coming up on the Lunar Base, Major Esroni. What now?"
"We find the entrance to their main hangar and slip in. Once inside, we'll ditch our stealth packs and start wreaking havoc. Gale Squadron, you'll remain outside to guard the entrance and make sure nothing comes up our backsides," Julia Esroni instructed her troops.
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Oni, this is Typhoon Eight. I've located the entrance and I'm sending the image."
The image of a large set of doors appeared on Julia's forward monitor. The doors were opening to admit a patrol of Taurus IIs. "Good work, Walters. Typhoon Squadron, let's go," Julia Esroni said.
"Roger that, Ma'am."
A spacesuited technician approached the commander of the Taurus II squadron that had just returned from patrol duty. "Hello, Lieutenant Hauksson. Any particular maintenance that needs to be done, or just the routine checks?"
"The routine maintenance is all, Sergeant Simmons. It's as quite as the grave out there," Hauksson replied, her voice transmitted by the comm in her own spacesuit.
"Glad to hear it." Simmons beckoned his team over.
Hauksson watched the next patrol leaving. "Simmons," she asked, "who's that leaving right now?"
"Hm? Oh, it's Lieutenant Kanzaki. Good officer, he is. Bit formal, but not cold." The hangar doors closed and the air was pumped back in. Hauksson removed her helmet.
"Yes. Well, I'd better get up to pilot country for whatever I have to do next. Paperwork, probably." She began to walk away.
"Later, Lieutenant."
A series of small explosions followed by loud clanging noises caused Simmons to look up. In the middle of the hangar stood eleven mobile suits bearing AMS insigniae. Ten of them, a dull, rusty red in color, had megacannons attached to one shoulder and in the other hand held a double gatling. The eleventh...
"It's a Gundam! Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Simmons screamed as one of the megacannons fired, sweeping the blast through the hangar.
"We're coming up on the Lunar Base. There's some kind of disturbance at the main entrance, so we're to go to the South Entrance," Lucille looked up from her communications console.
"Right," Odin replied. "I'm beginning our descent."
"Okay, we'll destroy the mobile suits in the main hangar, then blast our way out and proceed to the other hangars," Julia told her allies.
"Roger. That shouldn't be too hard; these new Tempests are powerful!"
A few people had managed to get into some Taurus IIs and were putting up a futile resistance in the cavernous main hangar, now filled with flaming fuel, debris, and the charred hulks of destroyed mobile suits.
"This is so easy," Julia commented, dodging a Taurus's beam rifle as she closed up the distance and slashed through it with her beam bracer.
"What? The main hangar is under attack? Yes, we'll be there ASAP." Noin turned the intercom to the South Hangar. "Gunny, Excelsior needs its suits pronto. The main hangar is under attack and they need our help."
"But Ma'am, we haven't finished the maintenance checks after your latest test flight yet - " He was cut off by Noin's glare. "All right, we'll skip the checks for now, but you'll still have to wait for us to top off your fuel tanks."
"Fine." Noin switched off the intercom.
"The main hangar is under attack?" Quatre asked. "By whom?"
"Martian mobile suits, eleven of them," Noin said grimly, walking quickly out toward the door. "Ten new types, heavily armed, and their Oni Gundam."
"Who's the pilot? Do we know?" Trowa asked, falling into step beside her, his flight suit's helmet under one arm.
"Latest intel says that she's Major Julia Esroni, the niece of the Governor. AMS Majors are equivalent to our Captains," Zechs answered for Noin.
"A woman?" Wufei asked.
"Yes, and an excellent pilot by all accounts," Noin said sharply.
"They're issuing us new flight suits? Why, Sir?" Melissa Rivqin asked.
"I couldn't tell you, Corporal. If you ask me, the old ones work just fine, but R&D has perfected a model with some supposedly significant improvements, and Commander Une apparently agrees with them," Roche Nattono said, leading Knights of the Realm Squadron into their locker room just off the hangar. Five lockers lined the walls on either side, and on the wall opposite the door were ten recessed alcoves with curtains for privacy while the pilots got into their flight suits.
Mariemaia opened her locker and looked at the brand-new flight suit hanging there. "It looks like a wetsuit with some armor plating and a backpack thingy attached," she said dubiously. She looked over at Melissa, who had the next locker to the right. "Whaddya wanna bet that these were designed by a guy with us women in mind?"
"No takers, Kushrenada. I'm all for the benefit of the doubt, but notice that the armor seems to be strategically placed to accentuate the female figure," the non-commissioned officer replied.
"What figure?" Katrina Tubarov, a private, put in from Mariemaia's left. "Unlike you two, I don't have one."
"Lucky," Melissa said.
"No, I'm not. I'll look awful in this," Katrina complained.
"You're lucky, I tell you. I haven't even put this thing on yet, and I can already hear the guys drooling," Melissa said.
On the other side of the room, Zhacque had taken his flight suit out of his locker and was holding it out. "How the heck is this supposed to keep us pressurized? I assume the backpack is the air supply, but it's got thrusters in it, too, so there can't be much air."
"Well, Mr. Benson?" Roche turned to the technician who come in behind them. "I thought you people said these improved on the older versions."
Odin landed the shuttle in the South Hangar and exited. "Whoa! They didn't tell us the Gundams were here!"
"Get out of the way!" an engineer shouted, pushing him aside. The hangar was full of frantic activity.
"What's going on?"
"Mars is attacking the main hangar, and we've got to get these suits ready for combat yesterday!"
Noin, with Zechs, Wufei, Duo, Trowa, and Quatre in tow, strode through the personnel door. "Gunny! How close are you to ready?"
The engineer who had pushed past Odin landed in front of Noin. "Almost done, Commander. One of the boys thinks he spotted something wrong with Tallgeese III's verniers, so he's checking it out. We're currently refueling your Taurus II and Deathscythe. After that, we're done."
Lucille, Dick, and Aretha allowed themselves to be politely ushered out of the hangar, but Odin stayed put. "What about Wing?" he asked.
"They are improvements," the techie replied. "Allow me to explain. While, in fact, there is no air supply, the backpack unit contains a small and highly efficient air scrubber built around a culture of hyperphotosynthetic bacteria. The culture is provided with light by an array of LEDs and receives nutrients from the gel it grows in and the waste products of the pilot. The plumbing connections, by the way, are the same as the old model. Also in the backpack are separate reservoirs of nutrients, a stimulant, and a counter-stimulant and accompanying micropumps. These fluids are constantly pumped throughout tiny capillaries in the material of the suit, providing the pressure necessary to prevent decompression. On either wrist, you'll notice a control panel. That lets you determine whether or not to dose yourself with the stimulant or counter-stimulant; don't worry about setting dosage levels, the biosensors built into your suits will provide that information to the microcomputer which is also in the backpack. If you anticipate a prolonged battle, you can set your suit to provide a new dose of stimulant as the previous one wears off. If, for any reason, you wish to counteract the effects of the stimulant, use your wrist controls to provide a dose of counter-stimulant. The stimulant, counter-stimulant, and nutrients are delivered by microneedle patches on the arms."
The gunnery sergeant turned to look at him. "What about Wing? It's fueled, loaded, and charged, but there's no-one to pilot it." He turned back to Noin.
"I could pilot it," Odin offered.
Noin looked at him. "Who are you?"
"Captain Odin Bernett, Ma'am."
"Ah. From MO-V, right?"
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Good. Welcome to Excelsior Squadron, Captain Bernett."
The technician continued: "You will notice that there are two sets of seals on the inside of the neck, and that the neck of the suit widens substantially. If you look at the helmet, you will see a piece of flight suit material hanging down, with a set of seals at the bottom. Before you zip up the suit all the way up the neck, put the helmet on. The lower set of seals on the inside of the neck will mesh with the seals at the bottom of the material hanging from the helmet. Then, you should zip the neck up and attach the seals at the edge of the neck to the seals at the edge of your helmet. The helmet contains an integrated personal comm system and a polarized visor. To close or open your visor, find the dial located at your ear on the outside of the helmet, push inwards, and turn the dial up to open or down to close your visor. The hoses leading from your backpack unit hooks into either side of the front of your helmet and provides you airflow to and from the air scrubber so that you can breathe when the visor is closed.
"This flight suit will enable you to survive in vacuum for up to 120 consecutive hours. At the end of that time limit, the suit will administer a fatal dose of the counter-stimulant. This dose will not kill you immediately; if your body is recovered within the next twelve hours, the chemical process can be halted by an equal dose of stimulant. Are there any questions?"
Sergeant Andre Breton raised a hand. "I do. How do we use our thrusters?"
"Oh, I didn't say?" the techie looked surprised. "The wrist panels also have directional controls for your thrusters, which function by venting any waste gases that the bacterial culture cannot metabolize from a storage tank."
"... I see...," Andre Breton said.
Suddenly, the alarm klaxons began to blare. A voice over the intercom said, "Enemy suits are attacking the Lunar Base. Enemy suits are attacking the Lunar Base. Squadron commanders, scramble your squadrons and prepare to render aid to the Lunar Base. This is not a drill."
"Well, Mr. Benson," Roche said. "Now we'll see how these fare in the field. Knights, into your flight suits, and then get to your Tauruses!"
Knights of the Realm Squadron's members rushed to the dressing alcoves.
Seven mobile suits launched from the South Hangar of the Lunar Base and began to fly towards the entrance to the main hangar.
"According to reports from various units, the entrance to the main hangar is being guarded by a second squadron of the new mobile suits," Noin said over the comm. "The new mobile suit types are armed with a megacannon, a double gatling, and some missiles, so exercise caution."
"Well, Mariemaia, you look quite attractive in these new flight suits," Mike noted, looking her up and down as they kicked off the hangar floor and glided up to their cockpits.
"Yeah, 'cause I'm practically naked," Mariemaia snapped in reply, grabbing onto the cockpit hatch and opening it. "On the other hand, you're lucky on two counts, Mike. Not only do you get to check out hot girls, but the one-size-fits-all philosophy hides how small you are, doesn't it?" She threw herself into the cushioned pilot's chair and strapped herself in.
Mike's face contorted, and he was about to spit back an angry retort when Roche interrupted.
"Stop that, you two. This is no time to be endangering unit cohesion. We are heading into combat here, and we need to work as a team."
"Yes, Sir," Mariemaia said. "Sorry, Mike. I just felt like every guy in the squadron was checking us three girls out, and it made me angry. I don't like being turned into a sex object."
"Apology accepted," Mike said graciously. Fuck you, bitch.
"Knights of the Realm, launch!" Roche commanded, and the ten Taurus II mobile suits darted out of Vulkanus's launch bay.
"There they are," Trowa said. "Ten Martian mobile suits." A blast from a megacannon took off Heavyarms's left leg. "Damn! There go half my micromissiles!"
"Well, so much for the stealthy approach," Odin dodged another blast and fired Wing's buster rifle, destroying two of the Tempests.
"Evade!" Noin yelled as a barrage of megacannon beams shot toward Excelsior Squadron, followed by streams of gatling fire. The Gundams, Tallgeese III, and Noin's Taurus II scattered.
"Two can play at that game," Zechs fired his megacannon, Trowa unleashed his double gatlings, and Noin added an answer of her own from her beam cannon. Their volley resulted in three satisfying explosions.
Deathscythe, Altron, and Sandrock fired their thrusters and rocketed down towards the enemy suits, where they were met by a storm of micromissiles.
Duo swore as the micromissiles impacted on Deathscythe's cloak. "Damn! These things have almost as much firepower as Heavyarms!"
"And their armor is thick," Wufei noted, dispatching one of the enemy suits with a series of three strikes: a slash from each end of Altron's beam trident and a finishing blow from a dragon fang. "Unfortunately for them, however, they are no match for Nataku in close combat."
"Y'know, Wufei, you're right. They suck at close combat even worse than Trowa does, and that's saying something," Duo said, slashing through a Tempest. Another Tempest, behind Duo, took aim at him with its megacannon. "What?" Duo looked behind him as the megacannon charged. "SHIT!"
"Oh, no you don't!" Odin shouted, plummeting down, Wing's beam sabre drawn. With the weight and momentum of Wing's dive behind it, the sabre ripped through the Martian mobile suit's neo-titanium armor, cutting it in half.
"Hey, thanks, Bernett!" Duo called.
"Don't mention it, and call me Odin."
"Sure thing. I'm Duo."
Quatre destroyed a fifth Tempest with a double slash. "And I'm Quatre. Good to have you as a teammate," the blond Arab put in.
"Major Esroni! This is Petty Officer First Class O'Connors of Gale Squadron! The Gundams have attacked our position and wiped us out. I'm the only one left, Ma'am - Aagh!" His transmission ended in a burst of static.
"And that's the last of this group," Trowa said after saturating the last Tempest with gatling fire and watching it explode. "That leaves just the Gundam to deal with. Heavyarms won't be able to balance with only one leg, so I'll head back to the South Hangar."
"Roger that, Trowa. The six of us should be able to handle a single Gundam without you," Noin answered. "Go on back." As Heavyarms flew away, Noin switched her comm channel. "Would you care to open the door for us, Zechs?"
"Stand back," her husband warned, aiming his megacannon at the closed and armored hangar door.
"Attention, Typhoon Squadron! This is Major Esroni. Gale Squadron has been wiped out by the Gundams. We must assume that their next move will be to come after us. I am therefore ordering all units to rendezvous in the Northeast Hangar. Our mission here is complete; from there, we'll blast our way out and signal Colonel Bernett to initiate Phase Two."
"Roger that, Ma'am. Squad Two wilco. Over and out."
"Squad One copies, Oni. Squad One, over and out."
"Oni, over and out," Julia switched off her comm and set off down the corridors to the Northeast Hangar.
"Knights of the Realm Squadron, form on me," Captain Roche Nattono ordered. "Flight mode, wedge formation. All pilots, report in."
"Knight Two, all green and rifle fully charged," Mike answered.
"Three here. Fully charged and all lights green." Mariemaia recognized Corporal Melissa Rivqin's voice.
"Four reporting; green across the board and fully charged." Private First Class John Treadwell.
"Knight Five, full charge and green." Private Katrina Tubarov.
Mariemaia reported, "Knight Six, cannon fully charged. All lights read green."
"Knight Seven, rifle reading maximum charge. All systems green," Zhacque said.
"Eight, charged and green." Sergeant Andre Breton.
"Knight Nine, rifle at max and systems green." Lance Corporal Brian Phinney.
"Ten, ditto." Private 1/c Peter Weiss.
"This is Knight Leader. Cannon charged to capacity and all systems register functional. Knights of the Realm, move out," Captain Nattono ordered. The ten gray and white Taurus IIs sped off towards the moon.
The inside of the armored hangar door glowed white-hot and bulged inward until finally it burst. Tallgeese III, a short distance ahead of the Gundams and Noin's blue and white Taurus II, stood with its feet planted on the lunar surface some distance from the door, its megacannon pointed at the huge hole that had been melted in the door. An awful howl sounded as the hangar's atmosphere was sucked into the vacuum of space. In corridors leading off from the hangar, bulkheads and blast doors closed to prevent the entire base from losing containment. Some of the doors had been twisted and melted out of shape by the marauding Tempests, and air continued to howl into the void. Fires went out as they were robbed of oxygen, and doors continued to close until the area open to space had been completely shut off.
Duo drew a sharp breath as he surveyed the damage the attackers had done. "That's gonna be one expensive repair job."
"One mobile suit did all of this?" Noin wondered disbelievingly at the debris-strewn cavern as her customized Taurus II entered the chamber which had once housed hundreds of mobile suits. The others followed.
"It seems so," Quatre said, shock evident in his own voice.
Then, from one of the unclosed passages, five Tempests emerged in single file. "Shit! It's the Gundams!"
"More of these things? Well, that explains the level and the area of destruction," Wufei said.
The two groups of mobile suits confronted each other across the airless, rubble-filled space.
To be continued in Episode 18: Defense of the Lunar Base