Episode 19: Vulkanus Under Fire
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 leading an AMS assault force on a mission to capture Vulkanus, the Preventer Corps's orbital base and construction facility.
Zhacque dodged the gatling fire of another Tempest and returned the favor with a three-shot burst from his beam rifle. To his left, he saw Private Treadwell's Taurus move a split second too late and lose its right arm to a megacannon blast. "Sir," he commed Roche, "we aren't going to be able to keep this up forever. We can't compete with them at this distance."
"Roger that, Lieutenant. Knights, listen up. The enemy are designed for ranged combat," Roche advised. "Holding the distance open plays to their advantage; move in close."
Julia Esroni, overhearing this, smiled. "Fools."
"Roger that!" Mariemaia said, pulling out a beam sabre and lunging toward Banza's Tempest. Her slash took off the Martian suit's right arm and megacannon. Then, a beam hit Mariemaia's Taurus II from behind, pushing it into Banza's Tempest. "Who fired?" Mariemaia barked.
"Friendly fire mishap!" Mike exclaimed. "You charged into my line of fire." Take that, bitch!
Rachel Banza kicked Mariemaia's suit away and squeezed the trigger of her left joystick; a peppering of bullets sparked off the Preventer suit's armor. Then, Banza's gatling clicked as it ran out of ammunition.
"Get out of here, Rachel," Julia Esroni ordered, charging forward, the blade of Oni's beam bracer springing to life. Banza's Tempest fired its thrusters and fled the battle, and beam bracer met beam sabre with a mighty crash as Julia and Mariemaia locked blades.
"Commander Une, the Medusas attacking our beam cannon emplacements have been destroyed. However, the new Gundam has evened the odds; we no longer hold the advantage," one of the crewers in Vulkanus Central Command announced. "In fact, more Medusas appear to be heading for our surface even now."
"Have the emplacements been manned?" Lady Une inquired.
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Then there's nothing more we can do unless the situation changes. Instruct the two Taurus squadrons I detached to hunt down the first batch of Medusas that they are to remain on guard against the oncoming waves."
"Understood."
Seated in her command chair in VCC, Lady Une thought furiously. Why would they want to capture Vulkanus? Certainly, they could use its construction facilities, but why not build one of their own and save themselves the casualties? It could be a demonstration of their power, I suppose... Of course! A jumping-off point for an invasion! Her eyes went wide momentarily before narrowing grimly. We'll just have to ensure that that doesn't happen.
Oni Gundam and Mariemaia's Taurus II separated. "You're not killing any more of my friends!" Mariemaia growled. Her hand flashed over to the keypad and punched in Z-E-R-O.
"Going head-to-head with a Gundam? You must have a death wish," Julia smirked. "Eat heat rod!"
Mariemaia saw Oni's left arm swing up, saw the heat rod burst from the bracer mounted on the left arm. She twisted her Taurus aside and cut through the heat rod with her beam sabre as it shot past.
"WHAT?" Julia's eyes went wide. "How'd she dodge my attack? Hmph. No matter; she won't dodge the next one. ENGAGE PX!"
"Rrraahh!" Coruscos Gundam slashed through five Taurus IIs and jetted away. "Well," Odel said to himself, "the Taurus IIs certainly seem to be on par with our Medusa IIs in terms of quality, which will give neither side a numerical advantage when we invade Earth." That's right, he thought. The AMS's next plan has to be an invasion. We already proved that we're not to be taken lightly by destroying the cruiser fleet, so the only reason for trying to capture Vulkanus is to obtain a forward base from which to launch an invasion, and Vulkanus's production facilities mean that reinforcements will be that much closer. He smirked. Of course, we have to take Vulkanus first; otherwise, all this is just useless speculation. Coruscos raised its left arm and pointed at a nearby Taurus; two panels on the large shield mounted on that arm popped open to reveal a double gatling. The Preventer suit was pelted with bullets and blew up. A group of Taurus IIs to Coruscos's left began firing their beam rifles at the white Gundam. "That's not good enough! Engage PX!"
"Odin! What are you doing?" Noin called as Odin kicked off from the hangar floor toward Wing. He turned in midair.
"I'm taking Wing back out," he replied. "I feel like I haven't done enough to help yet." Odin pushed himself into the cockpit. "Good," he said to himself. "The techs have topped off my fuel tanks." Wing Gundam walked to the hangar door. "This is Captain Odin Bernett in Wing Gundam, launching." The technicians in the hangar sealed their helmets, hangar door opened, and Wing leapt out into space.
"Damn, she's fast!" Mariemaia exclaimed, desperately parrying Oni's rapid thrusts and slashes. "If this keeps up, I'll be plasma!"
Then Oni Gundam broke off its attack and dashed towards Corporal Melissa Rivqin's Taurus, slicing it in half. The blood-red Gundam darted back and forth, cutting down each member of Knights of the Realm in turn: Roche Nattono... John Treadwell... Katrina Tubarov... Andre Breton... Brian Phinney... Each death briefly lit a portion of space with harsh fire as their suits detonated, and finally, only Mariemaia and Zhacque were left. Slowly, sinisterly, Oni Gundam turned to face Zhacque's Taurus II, and its optics flared silver.
"No!" Mariemaia gasped. "Not Zhacque..." But with the inevitability of an avalanche, Oni Gundam barreled down on Zhacque's mobile suit and delivered a devastating upward slash.
"NO!" Mariemaia cried as Zhacque's Taurus II exploded.
Then everything came back into focus, and she was breathing hard. Oni Gundam was on guard in front of her, its left arm cut off at the elbow joint. A quick scan of her monitors and readouts showed her that the rest of Knights of the Realm was still there. A Zero hallucination? she wondered. Must've been.
Without warning, a Tempest below her fired its megacannon. The beam shot upwards, blasting off her Taurus's left arm. Before Mariemaia could react, Oni Gundam lunged forward and severed her suit's other arm.
Dispatching the offending Tempest with a slash from each of his two beam sabres, Zhacque shouted, "Mariemaia! Get back!" His fingers danced across his keypad: Z-E-R-O. His thrusters fired, sending him rocketing between Oni Gundam and Mariemaia's armless mobile suit.
"Roger," Mariemaia answered. "Leader, I'm retreating to Vulkanus."
"I copy, Six," Roche replied.
"It's too fast! Aaaagh!" a Taurus II pilot shouted as Coruscos Gundam charged at her, zigzagging to avoid the beams being fired at it. Coruscos ripped through it with its beam bracer, dodged the explosion, braked, and pointed its shield at one of the other four Preventer suits. The panels concealing the double gatling popped open, allowing the guns to fire; a dozen micromissiles launched from the shield, and the beam bracer on Coruscos's right arm started firing. Odel swept the four suits with his beam and gatling fire, then charged off towards another cluster of Preventer suits, leaving the four Tauruses to detonate simultaneously.
Roche Nattono dodged the Tempest's megacannon beam and moved closer. The heavy-assault mobile suit allowed him to close in before flipping over and behind his suit. "Damn!" Roche swore, looking over his shoulder. He had just spun around, hoping to attack again, when a powerful beam lanced down from above and annihilated the Martian suit. Roche looked up and saw Wing Gundam salute with its buster rifle.
"Glad I could lend hand," Odin said as he sped past.
"Odin! What're you doing in a Gundam?"
"Volunteered. That's the second time I've saved your ass, Roche, and you still haven't thanked me for the first one. See ya later," Odin flew off toward the battle around Vulkanus.
"Huh. I never would've thought I'd run into that fool here," Roche muttered.
"How can these Tauruses be so difficult to kill?" Julia Esroni gritted her teeth. "How can they dodge or block every attack I make even when I use the PX system?" Abruptly, the blade emanating from Oni's beam bracer went from silver to green. "What? My time's up, damn. Should I risk going into overdrive?"
Before Julia could answer herself, Zhacque took the offensive. One beam sabre swept Oni's beam bracer aside while the other sabre was thrust at the Gundam's torso.
"SHIT!" Oni kicked Zhacque's Taurus II away and fired its shoulder-mounted machine cannons.
"Hn," Zhacque snorted, dodging the bullets with ease. "You'll have to try harder if you wanna hit me," he taunted.
"Coruscos, come in! Coruscos, do you copy?"
"I copy. Who's calling?" Odel answered.
"This is Stheno Leader. Sir, my squadron and I would be honored if you would allow us to fight at your side." A Medusa II came into view on Odel's left monitor. The most obvious differences between the Medusa II and the original Medusa were the addition of the large shield attached to the shoulder in place of the rotary missile launcher, and the replacement of the unwieldy beam bayonet with a beam gatling.
"Very well, Stheno Leader. I accept your offer. My objective is to break through the Taurus troops and capture Vulkanus. Understood?"
"Roger wilco, Colonel. Wait! There's a mobile approaching from five o'clock at high speed!"
Wheeling Coruscos around, Odel spotted the thruster light. "I see it," he said, magnifying the image. "It's Wing Gundam. Stheno Squadron, it looks like we won't be fighting side by side after all. You push toward Vulkanus; I'll deal with Wing."
"Thank you, Sir, but we'll stick by you to the end. Squad Two, head out to intercept." Five Medusa IIs darted toward Wing Gundam.
Wing raised its buster rifle and fired; two of the Martian suits were caught in the blast and disintegrated. Then Wing pulled out a beam sabre and quickly cut through the other three.
"Don't say I didn't warn you," Odel murmured.
"Get him!" Stheno leader barked. The remaining five Medusa IIs of Stheno Squadron fired their beam gatlings at the rapidly approaching Wing Gundam.
"I know that's you, Odel," Odin called. "I recognize that Gundam. Call your people off; this is between you and me."
Odel smiled slightly. "Stheno Squad One, cease your attack on Wing Gundam and head for Vulkanus. That's an order."
"... Roger that, Sir," Stheno Leader replied grudgingly. When he and the other four AMS suits had flown off, Odel turned his attention to Odin.
"So, little brother," he said, "have you come to talk, or to fight?"
"And the dance is mine," Zhacque said, his voice full of satisfaction as he slice off Oni's left arm at the elbow.
"I'm not done yet!" Julia shouted back, knocking the beam sabre from Zhacque's Taurus's left hand and bringing Oni's beam bracer up and then down on the Preventer suit's right arm, severing it. "You might be, though," she smirked.
In a flash, Zhacque's Taurus II reached behind itself and brought out its beam rifle. Firing a quick burst, Zhacque blasted the end of Oni Gundam's right arm to slag. "I don't think so."
"Grrrr!" Julia lashed out with Oni's foot, kicking the beam rifle spinning away. "All right; we'll call it a draw." Oni Gundam fired its thrusters and rocketed away.
"Commander Une! The guard units have been destroyed and our main forces are being routed. Multiple units of Medusas are working their way across our surface, eliminating our beam cannon emplacements. What should we do?" a panicked Vulkanus crewer cried.
I have no other option... "Put me online throughout Vulkanus and to our pilots," Lady Une answered grimly, picking up the microphone. "Attention, all Preventer Corps soldiers! The enemy is in the process of overwhelming Vulkanus's defenses. I have decided that to continue to resist would result in needless death, so I am ordering our main forces to pull closer to Vulkanus and cover our evacuation to the Lunar Base. This is Commander Une, out." Putting the mic down, she said tensely to the Vulkanus Central Command crewers, "Commence data purge in ten minutes. And then," she took a breath, "... ready the self-destruct device."
"Ma'am?"
"You heard me," Lady Une said. "Do it."
"Odel, I don't want to fight you, but if you're going to commit such a grievous mistake, I'll have to," Odin said.
"Be on your guard, then, Odin," Odel replied, charging with his beam bracer ignited. "And while you're at it, explain to me how what I'm doing is a mistake!"
Odin parried the first blow. "Creating conflict like this is counter-productive to Esroni's stated goal! If he really wants the Black Death to be destroyed once and for all, he wouldn't have derailed the peace negotiations by framing Ambassador Winner for murder and having his own Foreign Minister killed! He must know as well as I do that fighting a war like this will keep both sides from working against terrorists!" Odin pushed Coruscos away and leapt to the offensive.
"I won't argue your point about this war being a distraction," Odel shouted back, "but Governor Esroni did not have Minister Trivel killed, nor did he 'frame' Quatre Raberba Winner!" Coruscos Gundam dodged Wing's slash and fired its head vulcans. "The Governor is a good man," he said more calmly. "As I understand it, things happened this way: on the third day of negotiations, Trivel's aide became worried and sent a squad down to the meeting room to check on things. When the soldiers arrived, they saw Trivel, unconscious, slung over the shoulder of Winner's lackey, Rasid Kurama (Author's Note: I think I read somewhere that "Kurama" is Rasid's last name; if this is incorrect, please let me know), I believe. Kurama told the soldiers to drop their weapons if they didn't want Trivel hurt. The soldiers did so, and Winner collected two of the SMGs. Then Winner and Kurama made their way to the spaceport, where Winner's shuttle was waiting. As they were boarding it, spaceport security found Trivel's corpse, along with Winner's SMG. Ballistics tests confirmed that it was the murder weapon, and fingerprinting proved that Winner had been carrying it. When the shuttle launched, two Medusas were sent out in pursuit, but they were destroyed by more of Winner's Maguanac minions."
"Knight Seven, this is Knight Leader. The rest of Knights of the Realm is pretty beat up, so we'll continue on to the Lunar Base, since it's closer than Vulkanus at this point."
"What about Six?" Zhacque asked.
"Lieutenant Kushrenada is capable of looking out for herself, Lejeun. I'm sure she'll make it to Vulkanus in one piece. Come on, let's go." Roche answered.
Zhacque sighed. "Roger that, Sir." He turned his Taurus II to follow the rest of the squadron as it flew toward the moon.
"So Winner was carrying the gun for a while. It doesn't necessarily follow that he was the one who pulled the trigger. It goes against everything else I've ever heard about him! It might not have been on Esroni's orders, but Winner was framed, which makes this war, and your part in it, a mistake." Again, Wing Gundam leapt to the attack, stabbing and slashing at Coruscos; Odel's Gundam parried and dodged, evading each strike.
Odel's lips quirked in a bittersweet smile. "You're talented with a beam sabre, rookie, but I've still got your number," he said softly. "Engage PX!"
"OH SHIT!" Odin yelled in alarm as Wing lost its right arm to Odel's lightning-fast slice. "Odel, I hate to say this, but if you're gonna play hardball, so am I." Odin pressed the muzzle of Wing's buster rifle to the torso of Coruscos Gundam. "I've still got a shot left in this baby, and it can turn you into an expanding cloud of plasma. So whaddya say we live 'n' let live?"
"Don't be so sure that you can hit me, little bro," Odel said, darting around behind Wing Gundam. "Remember, I've got the PX system."
"Point taken," Odin acknowledged. "And you don't be so sure that I can't." With that, Wing kicked Coruscos away and fired its thrusters, speeding away. "Wing's faster than that clunker you've got, so don't bother trying to catch me," Odin called over his shoulder. Then Lady Une's voice came over Wing's comm.
"Attention all Preventer Corps soldiers! The enemy is in the process of overwhelming Vulkanus's defenses..."
"... I have decided that to continue to resist would result in needless death, so I am ordering our main forces to pull closer to Vulkanus and cover our evacuation to the Lunar Base. This is Commander Une, out." Mariemaia listened as her Taurus II neared one of Vulkanus's many hangars.
"We're giving up?" Mariemaia asked incredulously. A group of Medusa IIs swooped down on her damaged mobile suit, their beam gatlings blazing. "Damn, I better eject!" Closing her helmet visor, she opened the cockpit hatch and pushed off toward the hangar opening. Turning slowly as she floated through space, she watched her Taurus II blow up. Beam cannon turrets picked off the Medusa IIs moments later. "Oh, well. It's not like I wouldn't've had to ditch it anyway," she muttered. "Brrr!" she shivered, "it's cold as hell out here! ... Let's see if I can't hasten my arrival any..." Her movements had thrown her off course. She moved a hand to the control panel on her wrist and activated the tiny compressed gas thrusters on her spacesuit's backpack. The vibrations, though slight, traveled from the backpack, through the fabric of her spacesuit, to her helmet, and finally to the air inside her helmet, producing a hissing noise.
All over Vulkanus, crewmembers were rushing into other people's quarters and hurriedly packing their personal effects. In VCC, Lady Une watched the battle continue to unfold while her frenzied subordinates coordinated the evacuation effort. In the hangars, organized chaos reigned as technicians rushed to prepare shuttles for departure: loading the necessary cargo and getting passengers on board.
Into one of these hangars, Mariemaia arrived. Ignoring the frenzy of activity, she looked around. When she saw that there were no more mobile suits in the hangar, she strolled over to an unoccupied computer terminal and started searching for a mobile suit she could take to battle. There must be a spare suit here somewhere, she thought.
To be continued in Episode 20: The Angel of Deliverance