Gundam Seed: Killer's Realm
Phase 24: Normality, Part 2
Outer PLANT Defense Network
February 20th, 71 CE
1328 Hours
Captain of the very first Dojin-Class ship, Emile O'Clery had served in dozens of special operations over his twenty-year service.
This one, however, would undoubtedly prove to be one of the most memorable.
"Target Odoroki 1 at the metapolymer armor above the Supreme Council building, charge medium-yield positron blast. Ready to deactivate Mirage Colloid stealth field and fire simultaneously on my mark, followed by Ryuuzaken launch and stealth field reactivation." He barked, voice booming over bridge and intercom.
Inside his Ryuuzaken SOEIV, the members of Shoki Team made their peace in whatever way they could, excepting Gary, who was an immovable atheist. Karl just grinned.
"Mark!" For an instant, the Dojin was revealed, a vague cross between the ZAFT Nasca-class cruiser and the OMNI Drake-class escort ship colored a solid iridescent blue-gold color. In that instant, it fired the forward-most of the 'Odoroki' 150cm Dual-Purpose Positron Beam/Hyper Velocity Linear Cannons mounted on its dorsal survace, a slight white glare of positron-ambient matter interaction following the tightly condensed anti-matter projectile as it impacted on the twenty-meter thick shell of Aprilius One, annihilating the top nineteen meters of metapolymer armor.
Even before the gamma radiation burst from the annihilation reaction faded, six of the port-side SOEIV Gauss Launchers fired, sending six Ryuuzaken pods roaring (figuratively speaking) down through the last meter of metapolymer. Their outer coating of magnetically-adhered Mirage Colloid gas was scraped off, along with the 1mm thick layer of nanomachines, which quickly reconstructed the metapolymer in the wake of the pods.
PLANT Aprilius One, Supreme Council Building
February 20th, 71 CE
1329 Hours
"Guards!" Patrick bellowed, waving to the ZAFT guards around the room. They responded quickly, ZAMAS assault rifles coming up and aiming at Clyne and his supporters. "As you know, the punishment for treason is, and has always been death! NOW! FI-"
He was interrupted by an almighty CRUNCH coming from the roof, and the structure smashed inwards, allowing six large glossy blue-black dart-like pods to crash into the floor, monoatomic tips easily piercing the reinforced concrete. For a second, everyone, Radical and Loyalist, just stared at them. Then, with a hiss of depressurizing air, sections of their hull slid out and up, revealing shadowed spaces inside.
What stepped out frightened all of them.
From the lead pod, it was a silvery behemoth with a lion's skull for a head, while the other five were deep black monsters with skulls for faces.
Then a mechanically distorted voice issued from the silvery one with the lion skull, the being raising its shotgun-like weapon.
"It's Party Time!"
Without any ceremony, one of the black-armored ones lifted a strange weapon, a long-barreled gun with a foregrip, and some kind of computerized sight that was as large as a holographic sight, but instead of leaving one end open for the eye to see through, it curved down back to the gun's body. Just holding it by his hip, the beast unleashed a full-on automatic blast. The curious thing was, there were no gunshots. Or even muzzle flares. Not even the coughing sound of a silencer. And despite the hip-shooting, a firing position that had been derided for ages exponentially longer than theirs, he was perfectly accurate. The rest of the team of soldiers opened up as well, slaughtering most of the guards, with only Patrick's personal guards getting him - and themselves - out of the line of fire.
One rather imbalanced guard rushed them, charging straight for the silver one. It aimed the shotgun right at his legs, and fired, rendering them into bones with scraps of flesh attached, somewhat protected by the body armor.
What was terrifying for everyone, even their allies, however, was merely satisfactory for Shoki Team. Well, most of them.
"You see Topor? Steady as the Earth." Gary said smugly.
"Shut it Shepherd." Boris grumbled. He now owed his leader. Never should have taken that bet.
"Pardon me?" Gary shot back, his face almost matching his helmet's grin.
"Shut it, Sir."
"Alright, alright, no need to get snappy you two." Karl cut in, joining in the fun. Currently, he wasn't even using his shotgun, just his LMX 14.7mm Linear Magnum, the smallest linear weapon to use Hyper-Acceleration Technology. The 14.7x47.2mm tungsten carbide cored solid copper boat tailed hollow point - more simply called Lance - rounds it fired were a version of the same round the LMG Izanagi fired, and pretty much left anyone it shot in the face without a head, as attested by the ZAFT guard corpses lying about with only a lower jaw.
Gary had set his Izanagi to three-round burst, firing 7.62x51mm Lances. Due to the smaller size, and less mass, the 7.62 Lances had somewhat better range than the massive 14.7mm ones, so he had assigned himself to the hostiles on the outer edge of the building. By the time all of the Radical ZAFT guards were dead or fled, the room was completely emptied of everyone except for Karl, Shoki Team, and the Loyalists.
Karl marched up to Siegel Clyne, bowing his head in respect.
"Chairman Clyne, I am Major Karlton William Hertz," He was gratified to see a flash of recognition in Siegel's eyes, "and I am here on orders from Major General Andrew Victor Payne and Chief Representative Uzumi Nara Athha to escort you to the ZSS Gamow and take you and the rest of the Loyalists to the L4 facility."
"Thank you Major." Clyne said, nodding. "And who are these?"
"Special Operations and Intelligence Team Shoki." Karl replied. "No more questions right now though, we should get a move on." He motioned to Gary. "Shepherd, get your team moving, I want you on a high-rise in twenty minutes with a SitRep ready for transmit over the Network. I want a count of everyone and everything with a weapon, from rocks to high-powered anti-material rifles, you read me?"
"Yes sir." Gary nodded. "Topor, take temporary command. I'm going to that building right there." He said, pointing towards a thousand or so meter tall building.
"How are you going?" Boris asked, noting when Gary detached the assault rifle barrel from his Izanagi.
"14.7 Arbalest." Gary replied, reaching for his hip. Each and every OMU suit produced has eight Nano-tech Adapter/Magnetic Adhesive (NAMA) points all over their body, each capable of holding a piece of equipment up to 50kg in mass. There were two on the hips, two on the shoulder blades, and a total of four on the arms, two on the upper part and two on the forearms. Gary had attached to his right hip NAMA point a 14.7mmx60cm Hyper-Accelerated Barrel, designed to fire even 50kg rounds at speeds exceeding 12 km/s. He also ejected his half-spent box magazine, slotting it back into the 8-magazine container attached on his right upper arm NAMA, taking a similar magazine out of the container on the opposite arm and slamming it into the port with a satisfying click, and a slight humming sound as the Izanagi's barrel capacitors charged.
"Oh shit." Kuro commented. "Shepherd means business."
"I always mean business Chiyu." Gary said.
"This business means that I pass by corpses that are no longer identifiable as human." Kuro retorted.
"Cut the chatter and get a move on." Karl interrupted, now holding his shotgun in his right hand and his magnum in the other. Gary wordlessly set off, low to the ground and running at speeds no human, Natural or Coordinator, could match.
"Chiyu, you're in the rear with the Loyalists. If they get hurt, give them a spray of Nanites." Boris started. "Surin, your at the sides with Mjolnir. Me and Mr. Hurtz will take point." The team quickly moved into their positions and set off, black and silver-armored Orb troops surrounding Loyalist ZAFT guards protecting Loyalist PLANT Supreme Council members. None of Shoki Team could be bothered to tell who was who, and Karl was too busy keeping an eye out.
The group moved into the streets quickly, sending civilians fleeing in terror while policeman stood their with their jaws gaping. Boris activated his speakers.
"You might want to clear out." He broadcasted, startling each and every one in proximity. After maybe two seconds, they followed his advice.
Not five minutes later, ZAFT ground infantry was moving towards them, flitting in and out of cover behind cars, buildings, and the odd street sign. Then they started firing.
The ZAFT Armaments Modular Assault System was a good weapon. Bullpup configuration, magnetized sight attachment rail over the barrel plus secondary weapon attachment rail under the barrel, automatic and burst fire, corded HUD link, and chambered for 5.56mm steel/tungsten alloy penetrator rounds, it was ahead of most of OMNI Enforcers small arms.
With the OMU, it didn't cut it. For fun, Karl just stood in the middle of the street, letting them plug away at his armor. Due to the special control interface, a less advanced one compared to the one used in the Tetsujin Mobile Suit, Karl could sorta feel the rounds impact, almost like rain on his skin. After maybe twenty seconds of that, he advanced, Boris, Lilou and John having closed up shoulder-to-shoulder with him to fully protect the more vulnerable Loyalists behind them.
Upon closing within ten meters of the nearest ZAFT team, Karl levered the gauss shotgun and fired. A cloud of 5mm-long tungsten darts and 1mm-diameter steel ball bearings along with pre-loaded spall flew out towards the team, traveling at more than twenty times the speed of sound. The soldiers, as well as the car they were taking cover behind, were ripped into by the varied ordnance, losing limbs and having holes of various sizes and shapes blasted into them. It was only by virtue of their heavy armor that they weren't reduced to bits of fragmented bone and torn flesh.
"Damn, if Morgenroete doesn't make the best weapons...." Karl trailed off, with Shoki Team nodding around him.
"Shepherd to Mr. Hurtz, I'm in position." Gary called.
"Good, what do you see?"
"It's a lovely day, the sun is shining bright, and there are soldiers running around the city."
"Cut the crap."
"The street in front of you is lined with infantry, and they're bringing up ZIFVs from the garrison. I've also spotted some with portable missile launchers and high-powered rifles." Gary reported, perched atop the high-rise. "Want directions?"
"Yes." Karl said.
"Proceed ten meters down the road and take the next intersection left. There's only a company of infantry there, and only about ten of them have any threatening weapons."
"Only a company he says." Boris muttered.
"You're perfectly welcome to take on the mechanized infantry division forming up right in front of you Topor. I'll just sit here and watch as you get ripped to shreds by the ZIFVs' autocannons." Gary mocked.
"Hey! Eyes on the prize Shoki Team." Karl reprimanded, shooting a trooper who got a little close for his taste. The shotgun blast from two meters disintegrated his torso, sending arms, head, and lower body flying. "Topor, Mjolnir, suppressing fire."
"Yessir!" Came the stereo reply. They moved forward of the group, Boris emptying the remnants of his nearly-depleted drum magazine before reloading and letting John take up the slack, the Rapid Assault specialist's 7.62x51mm armor-piercing, fin-stabilized discarding sabot phosphorus-coated tungsten carbide 'Asp' rounds riddling those foolish enough to stick any part of their body out of cover with heated armor-piercing bullets. Actually, since they also penetrated the cars the ZAFT soldiers were hiding behind, they pretty much killed anyone he shot at.
By the time Boris slapped in a new magazine, this one loaded with 14.7mm 'Halberd' rounds, steel versions of the 'Lance', most of them within twenty meters were dead. This, of course, didn't stop him from spraying those forty meters down the street with a liberal dose of magnetically-accelerated titanium carbide-cored steel.
- Quis est a Iuguolo nisi a Iuguolo? -
IMPACT IN 3.....2......1......
With a crunch of hardened polymer and condensed hybrid metal matrix armor, five objects impacted all over the surface of Aprilius One, averaging one thousand fifty meters away from each other, revealed when the thermal stealth fiber-cloths covering them floated away, before igniting in a spontaneous combustion. Then they unfolded, turning from sharply angled spheres into two to three-meter tall humanoid machines. All shared similar features, from the visor that curved from the edges of their faces into a point about where a man's nose would be, to the clawed manipulators ending each arm.
OMEGA 1 COMMENT: THEY FORGOT TO MENTION THE FACT THAT THE 'GLASS' IS ACTUALLY HIGH-DENSITY TRANSPARENT ARMOR POLYMER.
ALPHA 8 CHALLENGE: TWO TERABYTES OF PORN SAYS THE STEALTH CLOAKS DIDN'T WORK AND THEY KNOW WE'RE HERE.
OMEGA 1 REPLY: YOU ARE SO CRUDE. DEAL.
GAMMA 4: I'M IN.
ALPHA 8 REBUTTAL: FUCK NO YOU PEDOPHILE.
GAMMA 4: AW.
OMEGA 1 COMMAND: ENOUGH. ARGONAUTS, GATHER ON MY SIGNAL.
The machines moved across the surface of the PLANT, unnoticed by those beneath. One was more heavy-set than the others, with spike-like parts on the backs of its calves, shotguns on its arms and cannons protruding over the shoulders. Another had gatling guns placed on its forearms, wider feet and a mortar on its shoulder. The third had a mass of fangs carved into its face under the visor, a sniper rifle on the forearm, with a flamethrower on the opposite arm. Its shoulders were occupied by rocket launchers
OMEGA 1 COMMAND: ALPHA, CARVE OUT AN ENTRANCE.
The smallest one of them, a blocky 2.35 meter-tall machine with long, sharp-tipped claws holding what had once been a heavy machine gun, now removed of its stock and standard grip, instead attached to ones resembling a large assault rifle, nodded and angled his torso towards the polymer surface. Two blades extended from each forearm, a meter long, before slashing down twice. There was a rush of air, before the first three machines jumped into the make-shift entrance. Then the PLANT's emergency systems came into action, spraying quick-solidifying cement into the rushing air flow. The material stuck to Alpha 8 and Omega 1's surfaces, quickly sealing to them and impeding their joint function.
Until they did the equivalent of a flex, cracking the cement off. The fragments slid off of Omega 1, a three-meter tall machine with curved surfaces, a 20mm cannon of some sort on his right shoulder, a two-meter blade extended from his right forearm, and a 9mm rifle on his left.
All around them, the ZAFT mechanized infantry division had been forming up to deal with Shoki team and the Clyne Loyalists stared.
ALPHA 8 EXULTATION: HAH! PAY UP.
OMEGA 1 RESIGNED: FINE.
TRANSFERRING DATA FILE: 'XXX 1-5', 2 TERABYTES.
TRANSFERRING......
TRANSFERRING......
TRANSFERRING......
TRANSFER COMPLETE
OMEGA 1 WARNING: DON'T STARE TOO LONG OR YOUR CIRCUITS WILL FRY
THETA 9: 1 5M45H!
The bulky Argonaut, Theta 9, leaned back, the spikes in its calves extending out and firing into the ground, securing it. The cannons targeted two 'ZIFV' Infantry Fighting Vehicles and fired, the HEAP shells penetrating the armor and exploding inside the crew compartment even as the arm-mounted shotguns fired, shredding five soldiers in front.
A second later, Gamma 4 shrugged, a slight twitch in the shoulders, before opening fire as well, the twin tri-barreled gatling guns firing death in the form of 7.62 full-metal jacket hollow-point rounds, riddling ZAFT soldiers with bullet holes. Alpha 8's action was more direct, and very effective, the right arm's dual monomolecular claws reaching out to snag a soldier, tearing him in two from shoulder to hip before the left limb's machine gun opened fire. Then it paused, startled.
ALPHA 8 STARTLED: THIS.......THIS IS YAOI!
OMEGA 1 SMUG: OF COURSE. MANY WOMEN LIKE IT, MYSELF INCLUDED.
...........
Not party to Alpha 8 and Omega 1's private and revealing conversation, Omicron 6 opened fire....literally, the oxygenated magnesium-phosphide-enhanced napalm spewing out to burn ZAFT soldiers, even melting through ZIFV armor to ignite ammunition. The sniper rifle on its right arm began to track soldiers at greater distances, barking once in a while to send a 13mm steel round blasting into their skulls. At that point, the former death-row inmate's emotions matched those displayed by the fanged grin carved onto its face.
- Quis est a Iuguolo nisi a Iuguolo? -
"What the fuck!?" Gary whispered, the feed from his Izanagi's extended range guncam transmitted directly to his OMU, which in turn relayed the data directly through his nervous system to his brain.
"What? What's going on?" Came Karl's voice.
"Linking the feed to you." After a second, the same sights that Gary saw was displayed in Picture-In-Picture windows on the HUD of Shoki Team's OMUs, beamed directly onto their eyes by low-powered lasers and holo-emitters.
The feed showed five centurion-like machines rampaging among the ruins of the mechanized infantry division Gary had seen earlier, shooting indiscriminately and destroying everything in sight.
"Yob Tvoyu Maht!" Boris swore. "They're slaughtering everyone!"
"And they're none of our concern." Karl said coldly, "Don't tell the Council, or any of the other PLANTs people. Just get a move on."
"Yes sir." Shoki Team chorused.
"Mjolnir, I want you to set up anti-tank mines as we go along."
"Yessir."
"Shepherd, keep an eye on those.....machines. If they get anywhere near us, eliminate them."
"Alright."
Wordlessly, the OMU-suited Orb troops increased their pace, forcing the Loyalists to jog a bit to keep up.
They didn't even make it two meters before they ran into a patrol of Radical ZAFT troops. Quite literally so in Karl's case, when his heavy armored bulk smashed into the lighter trooper and sent him crashing through the polymer wall of a Starbucks.
One particularly unfortunate soldier came close to Lilou, without seeing her. In moments, she drew her combat knife, a 30 centimeter-long high-compressed monomolecular sharp blade of monocrystalline titanium carbon nitride with oscillators built into its core. The moment the knife left contact with its sheath, the oscillators began vibrating it at inordinately high frequencies. Lilou held it like a pickaxe, the blade jabbing straight down from the heel of her hand before stabbing the ZAFT soldier next to her in the stomach before moving behind him and stabbing backward, the knife angled to pierce his skull.
John's method of dealing with the patrol was less fancy, messier, and a heck of a lot more efficient. He grabbed a 20mm grenade out of the container attached to his hip NAMA point, hit one of over a dozen buttons built into its base, and dropped it into the mouth of the Gauss Launcher attached to the underside of his Izanagi's rifle barrel. This was one of a few very special grenades, using what was called H.E.M.P.E.R.V.Y.N.E.C.D, a combination of chemicals that was ordinarily about as dangerous as charcoal. However, when charged by an internal Gamma-ray laser, it became explosive proportionate to the charge. In this case, John had it on an extremely high setting.
Thus, when he pulled the launcher's trigger, the grenade was fired at sonic speed into the remainder of th e ten-man patrol, before exploding like a hundred-pound bomb, rendering the soldier it impacted on into tiny flying bits and sending the rest flying.
- Quis est a Iuguolo nisi a Iuguolo? -
The sound of an explosion drew the attention of all the Argonauts, even the dim-witted Theta 9, who immediately targeted his cannons on the area, his advanced sonic location and radar-imaging sensors locating the point. Mere seconds after the explosion, Theta 9 fired a salvo of six HE shells into the area, covering a 10-meter diameter zone of death.