Superdimensional Fortess Kaguya
Sortie 12
July 21st 2125AD
"Scepter lead to Hammer lead," Major Nanoha Takamachi spoke up over the commline as her VF-25S armored messiah cruised cautiously through space. "Nothing out of the ordinary to report aside from the anomaly. Over."
"Roger that Scepter Lead," Dustine replied back then hummed. "Keep your eyes out for anything out of the ordinary, okay?"
"Will do," Nanoha replied through a smile. "Scepter lead out. Ginga can you do a deep space scan. We need to see whats going on out here."
Yes Nanoha-sama!" Ginga replied happily.
Nanoha blushed. "You don't have to call me that, you know," Nanoha sighed.
"But..." Ginga blinked then gave her puppy eyes.
"Alright, fine," Nanoha sighed.
"Thank you Nanoha sama," Ginga smiled then glanced at her console. She hummed thoughtfully as she cycled through the data feeds them gasped. "There indeed is a gravitational disturbance this area...and some energies that we haven't even identified yet."
"It's not like the gravitational disturbances on Gaia when the Shadow mirrors showed up?" Nanoha blinked.
"No," Ginga answered her. Or at least I don't think so, Nanoha-sama. Still refining scans..."
Nanoha sighed. There was a lot of craziness in the universe, she just hoped this wasn't one of them. Why couldn't this turn out to be a nice, quiet mission?"
"Could this be another dimensional invasion?" Fate wondered.
"Hm," Fate hummed as she checked her instruments then mused over the commline. "Should we contact our allies and see if they're getting the same reading?"
"It's a shot," Nanoha hummed thoughtfully then nodded to Ginga. "See if the others are getting the same results, Ginga."
"Connecting with allied Heng-Shan and Brittonian ships now," Ginga notted over the commline. "Connection accepted...triangulating data with the ships and our units now."
"What have we got?" Dustine asked.
"It looks like a pentagram...and its rippling...something big is trying to push through..." Ginga noted then frowned. "Allied units are you getting the same thing as we are."
"This is Kan'u..." A woman's voice answered them as a squad of bulky looking machines patrolled a near by area. "We're getting the same thing."
"Kallen here from the 31st britonnian fleet..." Another woman answered as a group of smaller looking machines surged through space. "We're getting the same. What's going on?"
"We don't know," Nanoha shook her head then frowned as hole in space popped open with a flash of bright light. "But I think we're about to find out."
"Power surge!" Ginga yelled a warning.
"All units prepare for..." Dustine blurted then grunted as a sextet of ships slowly pushed through the distortion in space.
"Weapons hot!" Ginga reported eagerly.
"NO! Do NOT fire!" Dustrine yelled then blinked at their shapes. They were similar to their own ships or at least some of the ships that the Gaians used. "What in..."
"Those...look a lot like the space noah classes from our home planet," Aya Kobiyashi noted thoughtfully.
"Yeah," Rai noted stoicly.
"So coool..." Ryusei noted.
"Ryusei..." Rai sighed.
"Ginga can you try to hail them?" Dustine spoke up.
"Yes ma'am," Ginga noted then worked her controls then blinked when she recieved a message on her data screen. "Actually, they're broadcasting 'Don't shoot' in every known language."
"Ginga send a send down message to all allied units," Nanoha ordered.
"Yes ma'am," Ginga nodded and sent off a tight beam message to everyone in the area. "Message sent. Hailing channel is open ma'am."
"Dustine do you want to do the honors?" Nanoha asked, smiling as everyone gradually stood down and began to patrol the area.
"Sure," Dustine nodded, cleared her throat and spoke up on the commline. "To all unidentified vessels, this is Lt Colonel Dustine Ageni of the UN SPACY 341st expiditonary fleet. State your buisness please."
There was a delay for a moment then a handsome captain appeared upon her screen. "I am Captain Greogry Mann of the Royal Langran Naval Battleship Hirogane, Lt. Colonel. We are here on behelf of our nations."
"Langran?!" Ryusei blinked then asked them. "A...Are you from La Gias, captain?"
"We are, Lieutenant Date," Gregory Mann replied crisply then smiled. "Masaki Andoh speaks highly of you."
"You KNOW these people?" Dustine demanded. Dustine's brain kicked over after a moment, "Wait a minute...Masaki Andoh was he involved in...""
"the Elemental Lords situation, yeah," Excellen browning nodded then explained. "La Gias a different universe than ours, Dusty chan."
"I see," Dustine mused thoughtfully recalling reading a report.
"Why are you here, Captain Mann," Kyousuke asked crisply.
"Heard there was a party?" he quipped, causing Excellen to giggle.
"Captain..."
"Sorry, just trying to lighten the tone." Captain Mann sighed then explained to the group. "We're here to investigate an intrusion of our world; Beings from this universe somehow slipped into ours and wreaked havoc on our nations."
"Beings from this world?" Bullet blinked then frowned. "Could they be the einst?"
"No, they were not, Lieutenant Luckfield," Captain Mann noted causing all of them to grunt. Dustine frowned thoughtfully to herself, noting that this captain knew a lot about this world. She guessed Masaki told them alot about the happenings on the surface but she wasn't sure. Moments later, familiar crab like images flashed on Bullets, Ryusei's and Nanoha's screen. "We met these during our patrols of Langran airspace. Do you know of them?"
"It can't be..." Ryusei frowned.
"Those are..." Nanoha husked.
"Oh dear," Lynette gasped.
"Yes we know of them, Captain Mann," Dustine stated then sighed. "We haven't encountered them but our allies have traded blows with them. They're called the Grel."
"The Grel, hm," Captain Mann hummed thoughtfully then wondered to her over the commline. "Do you know where they originate from, Lt. Colonel?"
"I'm sorry, sir, but we don't that yet," Dustine answered truthfully then confided. "We do believe they're concentrated in the Carina Sagittarius arm. That's where some of our allies are located sir."
"And where are we now?" The handsome captain asked.
"The Elysium system sir?" Dustine blinked.
"..." Gregory Mann sighed then rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I knew we should've followed the astral charts instead of Masaki's impeccable sense of direction."
"What, you got LOST?!" Ginga blinked
"Don't rub it in..." Greogry sighed.
"Where were you shooting for?" Dustine had to ask.
"The Sol system, actually." Gregory Mann noted.
"BAD PLAN." Dustine sighed then shook her head. "Since everyone's on alert over the Grel. They would have shot you out of space!"
"I guess we're lucky we ran into some familiar faces then?" Gregory smiled
"Damn right," Vita grunted.
"Perhaps we should exchange information on this new menace," Gregory hummed then nodded. "Meanwhile I'd like to deploy some of my troops to keep the ships secure."
"That's reasonable," Dustine nodded, curious to see what the people of Langran has to offer. "I'll radio command and let them know you're here."
"Right, Hirogane out," Captain Mann nodded and cut the link.
"Ageni to Wolfram, come in please." Dustine said crisply over the commline.
"This is wolfram," Hayate answered gently. "Go ahead Ageni..."
"Please go to full encryption," Dustine said seriously
"Alright..." Hayate nodded. there was a pause then hummed a few minutes later. "It sounds serious whatever it is."
"It is," dustine nodded, sighed and relayed what she witnessed to hayate.
Hayate remained silent then sighed. "I see. So a fleet from La Gias came to our universe in search of the Grel? Is that what Commander Mann said?"
"Yeah," Dustine nodded then mused. "They've got six 700 meter class battleships ma'am. What do we do?"
Hayate sighed a moment then offered. "Recommend that you escort them to the 146th fleet. I'll inform the Rear admiral of this new situation and send word to the rest of the fleet and our allies not to shoot at our...new found friends shall we say. Okay?"
"Okay," Dustine nodded then flicked a few switches and had a short chat with Gregory Mann. At first he was hesitant but then he agreed considering the risks of being attacked. The ships slowly swung towards the 146th fleet and cruised at a moderate pace. Meanwhile the ships began to deploy various models of Elemental machines.
"Well well," Dustine watched on humming thoughtfully as they streaked out of the hangars, banked around then slipped into formation ahead of the ships. "Not bad Not bad at all!"
"Hammer eight to Hammer lead," Sanya murmured over the commline.
Dustine blinked then spoke over the commline. "Go ahead Hammer eight."
"Several A class elemental machines are slipping into formation alongside our squadron, ma'am." Sanya reported then blinked. "Mm? Ma'am one of them is hailing us."
"Who?" Dustine blinked.
"The elemental lord of the wind, Cybuster," Sanya noted in a hushed tone.
"Cybuster?!" Bullet and Kusuha gasped. Dustine blinked, frowned thoughtfully then glanced at the machine in the not to far distance. It was a bird like humanoid machine which had titanium plating, bird like feet, strong arms and hands and was armed with what appeared to be a sword. Dustine whistled thoughtfully then smiled when Kusuha answered the hail. "Is that you Masaki-kun."
"Hey, its been a while hasn't it," A young man answered happily.
"Its been at least six years," Kusuha nodded.
"How have you been, Kusuha," A male voice spoke up.
"Kuro-chan and Shiro too," Kusuha smiled.
"There's three pilots to that mech?" Dustine asked bluntly.
"Hmm..." Masaki blinked then frowned as he piloted his machine. "Kyousuke, Bullet. Who is this?"
"This is our new boss, masa-chan, her name's Dustine." Excellen explained as they flew on. "She's one of the top veterans in UN SPACY...and well the reason why we're here is...well...lets say its very complicated."
"They're not forcing you to do anything are they?" Masaki frowned.
"Nothing of the sort," Dustine answered him, smiling inwardly at how he was ready to protect his friends. "We're trying a new approach to protect the squad leaders from harm."
"Have you already met the Grel?" Masaki asked, frowned.
"No, this was a different matter," Dustine admitted.
"The Triolian's really ran roughshod over their command structure, Masa," Excellen noted as she sent over some data in a tight beam to the Elemental machines. "Thats why UN SPACYs doing this."
"So thats why..." Kuro noted.
"Sounds reasonable," Shiro noted then looked at Masaki. "Masaki, relax. They've volunteered their time to this unit. Back down. Okay?"
"Huhn," Masaki grunted then smiled a bit. "Well if Kyousuke and the others are fine with it then who am I to judge. You've got my back too, Ageni."
"That goes for me too, I suppose," A womans voice called out over the commline as a 20 meter humanoid robot designed to look like a woman caught up to Masaki's machine.
"Nice seeing you guys again."
"Lune," Ryoto and Rio cried happily.
"Good to see you guys too," Lune smiled. "Missed you."
"How was it in La Gias?" Ryoto asked.
"Oh you know this and that, Lune shrugged her shoulders then shook her head. "Dealing with pukes from the cult of Volkruss and the like."
"Are they still trying to bring THAT into your world?" Ryusei asked.
Dustine listened in, intrigued. The conversation between her team mates and their friends from another dimension was interesting to say the least. There were a few things that she didn't get and, since her superior was assigned to the Gaian system for a time, was determined to compare notes with Hayate later. She continued to listen silently then blinked when Sanya hailed her. She switched over to a encrypted channel and hummed. "Go ahead Sanya. Have you found anything?"
"Nothing too out of the ordinary...a few patrols from allied ships but..." Sanya hmmed then sighed. "But there is a training ship registered to the 00 production company at area 5a 3c ZX9 ma'am."
"Thats..." Dustine blinked, checked her scopes then looked to the right. "3 oclock high thirty minutes away."
"Yes..." Sanya nodded.
"What are they doing out there?" dustine asked.
"Training the understudies ma'am," Sanya nodded then hummed. "Some arumean fighters and ships are playing as the agressor teams though."
A veryt very frightening thought hit her. "So if this group landed here, would the Grel chasing them show up nearby?"
"Possibly." Sanya sighed.
Dustine sighed and barked out an order. "Alert those kids and our Arumean allies. I'll hail command."
"Yes ma'am," Sanya nodded then blinked when her sensors flare. "Defold!"
"Where?" Dustine blinked then saw the flashes of light of a defold in the same area where the training ship was. "That ship!"
"Dustine we're getting multiple emergency signals in area 5a 3c ZX9," Nanoha reported.
"Damn it!" Dustine blurted and banked to the right towards the area of space. She grimaced and flicked her comm to an open channel. "Attention all allied units! Grel sighting in area 5a 3c ZX9. All units, converge on that area!"
Dustine pushed her throttle to maximum, nearly redlining the engines as she recieved several will dos or negatives from allies in the area.
"Wolfram to hammer lead..." Hayate spoke up on an ecrypted channel.
"Kinda busy here Hayate," Dustine frowned. There was a slight chance her engines might explode if she taxed them too hard. Tough. There were kids in trouble. She would NOT fail them.
"Just be careful out there..." Hayate warned her then offered a suggestion in a gentle voice. "Also rely on your team mates and your new found allies, that is all. Over."
Dustine sighed and nodded even as Hayate cut the link. "Will do."
"Scepter to Hammer..." Nanoha spoke up as she and her combined squadron chased after her.
"Nanoha..." Dustine murmured as she raced towards the firestorm of explosions occuring in area 5a 3c ZX9.
"Take it easy...we've got your back," Nanoha noted.
"Yeah, roger that," Dustine nodded as Nanoha's and Meia's squadron flanked hers, forming a wedge as they surged through space. "Here's the mission. The training ship is surrounded, we need to break through to them then defend until reinforcements arrive. Allright? Now, lets save these kids."
"YES MA'AM!" The others harmonized, streaking towards the battle in space. Meanhile, the Langran battleships and their escorts trailing behind the combined squadrons. Their crews kept watch and ready for anything. The assault force surged on towards the looming battle, the pilots determined and ready to protect those who were under siege by this new enemy. Dustine smiled grimly as herteam mates kept the banter to a minium as they edged closer and closer to the battlefield.
Dustine tried to pick up what was going on, but interference had picked up. She couldn't pick up anything but static.
"Damn it...they're jamming the their communications now," Dustine Dustine growled then flicked a few switches on her console. "Long range radar shows a mess of mechs out there."
"We're getting it too," nanoha reported then sighed as Dustine shot ahead a bit. "Relax. We're just at the edge of what commaned calles the Grel's 10th defensive line. The fight is still going on from what I can see. So that's something."
"Right..." Dustine sighed.
"Do we have a plan?" Fate had to ask.
"Take out the monitors and the other battleships," Dustine murmured then sighed as her radar picked up a few on her medium to short range scans. "I don't want them oneshoting the practice ship."
"what about the battlepods..." Nanoha asked.
"We don't know what we're up against...but I'd use lethal force," Dustine nodded. "Take them out and do not stop until I say so."
"Understood!" Nanoha, Fate and the others called out.
Dustine smiled then blinked when Excellen chimed up on the commline as she sent over some Data. "Dusty chan here's what our friends from Langran use. Put it to good use okay?"
"Right.. Dustine looked over the data and hummed. "Area affect attacks...should be useful..."
"Yep..." Excellen nodded then grunted when a warning chimed over her headset. "They're here...coming in hot."
"Enemies of the Grel Empire...disappear!" A voice hissed over the commline as dozens and dozens of crab like battlepds surged towards the intercepting force.
"All units evasive manuevers!" Dustine blurted as she rolled out of formation and banked right. Almost immediately a battlepod was on her tail, blazing away at her with plasma cannon fire. She cursed, gerwalked backwards, changed to battroid and whirled around with gunpod in hand.
She let a burst from her gunpod fly then blinked when the bullets ricocheted off its heavily armored hull. "What?"
The battlepod banked around then charged after her, causing the pilot to grunt and switch to fighter mode. "Damn it!"
"Dustine this units are...!" Nanoha blurted.
"I know! Switch to high penetration rounds or lasers if you have them!" Dustine blurted and as she dove away whirled around and fired off a salvo of high penetrating micro missiles. The machine dove and weaved as it tried to shake the micro missiles off then exploded in a cloud of smoke and fire when the micro missiles plowed through its thick armor.
"Missiles still work, at least," Dustine sighed as she banked away to deal with another target. It was close in range then blasted the dark maroon crab like battlepod with her rapid fire converging beam guns. It took a bit but she was able to frag another battlepod. "That's another."
"Break hard right Dusty chan!" Excellen barked causing her to grunt and did what she was told. A heavier battlepod, which strangely looked like an invid shock trooper streaked by and swept around to to follow Dustine. The heavier battlepod charged after her then backtracked when Excellen blazed away at it with her oxtongue launcher.
High peneratration rounds and beam energy streaked towards the target tearing gauges in the battlepods thick armor. Excellen blinked then grunted. "It hasn't gone down?"
A high-powered cannon deployed from its back and targeted excellen's machine. Excellen blinked grunted as she barely avoided the hight powered blast. "Mou! Is that anyway to say hello?"
"Move Excellen!" Kyousuke blurted as Reise and Flickerei streaked upwards at full power plowing their stakes into the heavily armored battlepod. Ryusei and Mai, flying in the R-1 and the ART-1 banked hard right, transformed and streaked towards the damaged unit.
"T LINK...DOUBLE knuckle!" They both shouted as they rammed their fists and buzz saws into the heavily armored trooper cutting into it as Reise and Flickerei pounded their pile bunkers into the unit. "GOOOO!"
The quartet seperated with precision timing as their actions severed the machine in half and exploding in a bright fireball. "Pile bunkers and high powered rounds seem to work too."
"Yup yup..." Excellen smiled.
"Also, bare hands," another pilot noted, ripping one unit's leg off then beating it with it. The bulky tan machine kicked it squarely in the pod sending it tumbling through space. The squat mech tossed the limb away, chased after the battlepod then rammed into, rapidly punch through its thick armor "Atatatatatatata!"
The tan and bulky machine plowed through the machine boosted away then made the v sign with its fingers as the battlepod exploded.
"You are already dead...just kidding..." The pig tailed pilot quipped.
"Mio...quit fooling around..." Another pilot sighed as she blasted a machine with a cone of water.
NO jokes, damn it," Dustine growled as she blasted another, "these kids suffered serious losses. We're gonna make the Grel pay."
"Yes ma'am...jeez what's with that woman anyway," Mio murmured then blinked when Nanoha pinged her. "Hmm?"
"We'll tell you later, just focus, Mio," Nanoha replied.
"Yes, Nanoha-oneesama," Mio sighed.
Dustine sighed then turned her attention back to the fight, swirling around and blasting the heavily armored mechs with her rapid fire converging beam guns. She snarled as it took some time to chew through the armor until the battlepod exploded.
"Damn its armor is a bitch to get through with lasers."
"Who needs lasers?!" A Heng-shan pilot blurted over the commline as he chased after one, reared back, then swiped at a battlepod with a giant axe.
"Right..." Another Heng-shan pilot blurted as she cleaved a battlepod in half with what appeared to be a sycthe.
"Nanoha, can you get me one of those axes or even that sycthe?" Fate noted thoughtfully. "I like them. They..call to me."
"I'll look into it," Nanoha mused nonchalantly.
"Don't tease," Fate mock grumbled.
Nanoha smiled and banked around, blasting another crab like battlepod. "Divine shooter!"
"H...hey..." dustine stammered.
Fate grinned sheepishly at Dustines reaction then launched another salvo of micromissiles at another battlepod. "Photon lancer!"
"You guys don't have to call out your attacks too you know," Dustine sighed.
"But its fun," Nanoha shrugged then grunted when she saw three officer units chasing after Bullets machine. She flicked a few switches, watched the officer battle pods dog the tiger like super robot with plasma cannon fire. "Bullet, Kusuha. Break hard right!"
Yes ma'am!" both replied and the tiger like super robot broke away.
"Devine..." Nanoha shouted as she lined up her shot then yelled out as she pulled the trigger. "BUSTEEEERR!"
Dustine and Fate blinked as a hot pink salvo of beamfire lanced out from her beam cannons muzzle tearing through the trio of officer battle pods. Dustine whistled while Fate called out to Nanoha. "Nice shot, Nanoha."
"Thanks Fate," Nanoha smiled.
"You two are such geeks," Dustine sighed.
"What was that Lt. Colonel?" Nanoha said in an all to familiar tone.
"No time for that! Just keep at it!" Dustine growled at that then blinked as an angelic machine bearing a royal Aru crest flew past her. "That was arumean...what..."
Moments later an officers battlepod chased after with its plasma cannons firing. Dustine snarled and swept around, giving chase. Erika Hartmanns fighter swept around to backing Dustine's machine up. She watched it as it beared down on the angelic machine then growled as the battlepod scored a few hits on the machine. She growled and increased her speak as Erika, Hugo and Aqua swept in alongside her. "Oh no...not on my watch. Simurgh Splendid M#221 Break hard right!"
The machine wordlessly broke off as Dustine and Erika dove in, changing from fighter to battroid and blazing away at the officers battlepod. The peneration rounds chewed through its armor, but it wasn't enough to take out the battlepods powercells. Dustine growled as the battlepod whriled around then transformed into fighter mode. She boosted away as Hugo swept in, rearing an arm back and slamming Pinpoint barrier pike into the battlepods armor. The pike pierced it explosively sending off sailing through space where Aqua swept in and cut in half with two energy swords. The pair of suits boosted away as the battlepods powercells overloaded, setting off a chain reaction that turned it into a bright fireball.
"Not bad," Dustine noted thoughtfully and chased after another crab like battlepod who was dogging another Simurgh Splendid Mass produced model. Dustine frowned as the battlepod clipped its angelic like wings bad then barked out over the commline. "SSM M#212 brake left."
"Yes ma'am!" The Arumean pilot blurted, swinging to the left. Dustine smiled grimly as she fired off a fullisade of beam fire at the battlepod. The battlepod banked away from the fullisade and whired around to take a shot at Dustine. Dustine growled and banked right, dancing a dangerous dance with the battlepod until she unloaded a fullisade of beam and cannon fire into the the Battepods armor at point blank. The salvo ripped through the battlepod, killing its pilot and smashed through the pods powercells. Dustine boosted away just in time as the battlepod exploded.
"Whew. That was close." Dustine grunted, looking for the damaged Simurgh Splendid M then grunted when it charged past her only to beset by three battlepods. The Unit was ripped in half causing Dustine to curse then boost away as another battlepod chased her. A thought came to her mind then called out over the commline. "Lamia If you're using the AngelG, be careful. These things are taking out a unit similiar to yours. Over."
"Hnnnrah!" Lamia yelled out as she sliced a unit in half in a machine that was different from her stock in trade. She then sighed and called out over the commline "I'm not at the moment, Dustine-sama. I'm in the Vysaga this time."
'...Sama?' Dustine arched an eyebrow then had a thought as Erika, Hugo, Aqua and she blasted the battlepod with a fulliside of beam and missile fire. "I see, keep moving then. We're half way to our objective."
"Roger Dustine-sama," Lamia replied cooly and cut the link.
Dustine blushed at that then ramped up the speed just a bit as the squadrons surged out of the first group. They flew on, dealing with attackers as they came as one whole unit dispatching them. As they did, a peppy song crawled through jamming.
"Isn't that..." Fate blinked.
"Its River!" Erika stated crisply then called out to Dustine. "Chief! The trainees are still..."
"They're still going at it!" Dustine interrupted her then checked her panel. The outlook looked grim. There were a handful of Grel ships closing in on the beleagured training ship. Within that handful three very nasty looking monitors and one battleship. She rammed her throttles to the stops once more and barked out an order. "All units! Lets give them some breathing room! Langran battleships...give us some supporting fire!"
"YES MA'AM!" The squadrons replied and burst forth.
Michiko danced and sang River with the trainees as the battle raged on in the trainingship.
She and the other trainees were doing their best to encourage the other pilots, but despair was begining to weigh her down. They'd had no reply to their distress beacon, and were running low of precious ammunition.
'We've got to keep going!' Michiko thought as she danced with the others.
'Somehow someone might of heard us!' Makoto danced next to a green haired girl.
'Surely they had...!' The green haired girl thought grimly.
"Enemy battlepod inbound!" The captain blurted in their headsets earpieces.
The ships anti air salvoes plinked harmlessly off of the armored battle pod as it charged at the bandshell. The group squealed as it rushed towards them then gasped when a devistating salvo of beam and cannon fire ripped through the machine. The battlepod exploded as Nanoha's, Fates and Dustine's fighter barrelled by.
"Hammer lead to training ship...your reinforcements have arrived," Dustine replied over the loudspeaker as her variable fighter swept around the ship. Dustine frowned as she took in the damage. It was worse than she expected and was happy that the Langran ships were forming up along side it.
"What took you so long?!" The captain of the training ship joked as the girls on the dance stage brightened quite a bit and continued to sing.
"Yeah, yeah, we were held up a bit by your pushy fans. What do ya do?" Vita snarked as Scepter squadron and the SRX team formed up on the ships left flank. Lotus and Lancer squadron formed on its right flank while Hammer took point. Dustine's fighter swept around the ship, gerwalked a bit as it neared the flying bridge and bandshell.
She hovered in space as the group of trainees smiled up at her as they continues to sing.
'Big sis,' Michiko thought.
Dustine smiled as she looked down at the bandshell. Moments later a young girls voice called up over the commline."Ageni-sama, we are getting to critical levels of arms and power. Do you think you could covcer us as we recharge?"
"Yeah..." Dustine nodded then mused. "We'll cover you."
"Thank you!" The trainee pilot replied then flew off to the ship's hangars. "All units Return to base for rearming and refueling."
"Yes ma'am," The other trainees replied. At the same time Dustine got her teams in place to defend the retreating pilots Frankly, Dustine was impressed they had held out
Dustine blinked when the next wave surged towards them then frowned. "Look alive people. We've got more Grel battlepods inbound."
"Yes ma'am," Excellen and the others called out. She loved this kind of fight. Long odds! Limited ammo! But hey she could save damsels in distress! So that was a plus.
Her customized personal trooper hovered in space, only a occassional twitch of jets moving her around. Best save fuel, this could be a long fight.
Alt Eisen Reise meanwhile dashed about a little, firing its chain gun at times while staking a battle pod at others. Kusuha's and Bullets tiger like mech used its polearm like weapon to stab and slash at opponents, sometimes in time with Heng-Shan mechs and sometimes alone.
Below and off to the side, Raidese's R-2 powered moved about on the training ships hull, assisting the ships anti air destroids. He blazed away at one with his mamga cannon,
slashed at another his beam chakram then grunted when a pair of gunners called for assistance. "This is gamma 12...we're having some trouble here!"
"Roger, R-2 Powered, on the way," Rai called out over the commline as the R-2 Powered banked around and sped towards them, seemingly skating over the armored plating. The R-2 was quickly joined by a slender machine which was sporting some missile launchers and a pair of beam cannons on its back.
"This is Lotus 12, Miki here, I'll support you," Second Lieutenant Miki Ageni spoke up as they barreled towards the belegeagured gunners. One of their comrades yelped as a fullisade of plasma fire tore through his unit, destroying it in a bright fireball. "Damn it! Rai! We've got to..."
"Yeah," Rai grunted and the pair blazed away at the battlepods with their beam cannons. Two of the battlepods were caught in the crossfire, the high velocity rapid fire salvos from the cannons ripping solidly through their armor like it was nothing. The battlepods exploded into bright fireballs while the survivor tried to sneak up on the super defender.
Rai noticed it then grunted, boosting over a bit and slashed the unit in two with his beam chakram. The pilot howled before the battlepod exploded into a bright fireball.
"That's that. Lets go."
"Yes sir," Miki nodded. The battle raged on as the squadrons defended the embattled ship. The grel kept coming in waves and the unit and their allies dispatched them quickly. Dustine admired their tenacity...but their numbers were troubling. Also, the their ships were continuing their advance.
"Wolfram to Hammer, how's it coming," Hayate called out on a encrypted line.
"Badly," Dustine answered, "we're holding our own by the skin of our teeth."
"That bad?" Hayate asked.
"They're continuing to advance, small craft and their ships," Dustine called out as the Langran ships began to fire upon the Grel ships. She watched the salvoes impact on the thick maroon colored armor, explosions rippling on the surface. "They've got tough armor. We need more help."
"We've got reinforcements on the way but its gonna take some time," Hayate noted.
"Leave that to us," A woman's voice called out over the commline.
"That's?!" Dustine KNEW that voice, even as Hayate cursed.
"Clear sector 22B of fire. We're coming in fast and would rather not be fragged with friendly fire." The voice continued.
"All unit Clear sector 22B of friendly fire! We've got friendlies coming in fast and hot" Dustine barked out an order even as sixty ships seemed to appear out of nowhere on the rag-tag battlegroups left flank.
"Ma'am! They're from Archangel!" Ginga reported.
"I know..." Dustine sighed.
Sleek and fast variable fighters also emerged from nowhere and dove into the battle. The fighters first launched a salvo from their added missile racks, saturating the enemy ranks with deadly missiles. Dozens of battlepods exploded then charged at the new sleek and fast variable fighters.
"Ma'am what are those?" Erika Hartmann asked.
"YF-30 Black widows...Archangels newest fighter." Dustine said. "Also, classified."
"Wouldn't you know...?" Erika noted.
"I said they're classified..." Dustine stated again.
"Sorry..." Erika murmured and watched a pair of battlepods tussle with a single black widow. Dustine was mildly awed that the fighter's big gun could punch through the Grel armor. Not easily, mind you, but better than them.
"Hell, we may end up having to sign nondisclosure pledges when this is all over," Dustine added.
"Oh you will," The same familiar voice noted crisply as a black widow swept up next to them in gerwalk mode. Erika Hartmann looked at it closely and was very impressed. It had Forward swept wings, a pair of canards on its dorsal and ventral surface and an impressive array of weaponry.
Dustine switched to an open line, "Erica?"
"Yes?" two women answered.
Dustine sighed then tried again. "Big sis...?"
"Yes," Erica sounded amused.
"Thanks for showing up, we needed that," Dustine nodded and glanced out at the battlefield. The Archangel capital ships and mecha were driving the Grel ships back. "Wow."
"I see the grel are trying to break off." Erica spoke up then asked. "Shall we chase them down?"
"We can't let them escape," Dustine noted tiredly, exhaustion in her voice.
"You cover the kids," Erica said seriously. "My people wil go after the Grel. Okay."
""You've done enough, I think," Erica noted calmly her mech taking in Dustine's unit. "Your worn out and pushed to your limits, little sis. I think your excalibur is too."
"Yeah, guns have nearly ran dry, felt like we were fighting for hours on end," Dustine sighed
"Here..." Erica offered a spare long arm then nodded. "Take this."
"Thanks. Now get after them. We can't let them report to their homefleet and have an assault force on our doorstep." Dustine noted.
"Right!" Erica half salutes and then was off. "Epsilon one to all units! Charge after the retreating units!"
Dustine watched her go and smiled as the rest of the Archangel ships and small craft surged towards the retreating ships Grel ships.
"What now, ma'am," Captain Viletta Badim asked as her R-Gun Powered floated next to her team's units.
"Reform on me, standard formation all of you," Dustine noted.
"Yes ma'am," Viletta nodded and spoke up. "You heard the lady. On the double everyone."
Dustine smiled as they slipped into formation and called out to them. "Good job all of you. Thanks for all the hard work...and thanks to the Langran forces for staying."
"Like we'd run from a fight like this?" Masaki quipped.
"Your welcome, ma'am," Viletta spoke up then hummed. "What now?"
"Lets return to base," Dustine nodded then looked at the group. Also I want someone to try to tow one of the wrecked Grel fighters. We need to see what makes these things are made of."
"Who gets to go out?" A pilot wondered.
Dustine hummed thoughtfully then looked over at Excellen's Rein Weisritter. "Excellen will you do the honors?"
"Oakey Dokey!" Excellen smiled then sped off to catch a battlepod. She found one which was mostly intact and carefully brought her personal trooper along side tghe groe.
She fired a magnetic clamp at it and smiled as it caught hold of the unit. Excellen grinned as she tugged it along behind her. "Whoo hoo, I hooked a whopper!"
"No time to joke, Excellen," Kyousuke sighed.
"uh oh," Excellen blinked
"I HATE when you go Uh oh. What happened?" Nina grumbled.
"It's emitting a signal! Energy spiking!"
"Get clear!" Dustine ordered then sighed when Rein Weiss detacted the clamp then zipped away from the damaged machine. The battlepod blew up in a bright fireball leaving nothing in its wake.
"Did that pod just self destruct?" Ryusei asked.
"Looks like it," Dustine noted the frowned as she called out over the commline. "Don't touch the other damaged units we're all ready worn out as it is. We'll let EOD teams take care of them. Lets get these kids home and escort the Langran ships to our fleet. Erika, set up a spacial anomoly beacon, warning people away."
"Why not a battle warning?" Erika Hartmann asked.
"Because I don't want pirates trying for salvage."
"Ah, point..." Erika nodded and worked her controls setting the waypoint.
"Good," Dustine nodded then sighed as the squadrons and the ships slowly turned towards the 146th fleet. "Lets go home..."
EOF