Code Geass: The Demon and the Dragon
Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass. If I did, then what you see below would be the show, instead of a fanfiction on the Internet.
Stage 21: Guren Dances, Sakanade Smashes
- The Professional -
One Hour Ago, Narita Mountains
There was something about this job that had Mischa nervous. Something in Zero's demeanor cued him that this was going to be different somehow. Mischa suspected that this may just be a battle where they wouldn't survive. This was reinforced by the sheer absence of Draco from the small convoy the Black Knights were taking up into the mountains. The rest of the new Zero Squadron was present, with Kallen in the Kyoto Group's Guren leading them for the moment. The Squadron lagged behind the Black Knights' convoy, which consisted mainly of small trucks and some pilfered Britannian APCs, escorted by a few teams of Burai carrying large containers.
Most of the 'normal' Black Knights didn't know that this was an actual military operation, they thought the Zero Squadron was going training in their new Knightmares while the rest relaxed.
On the subject of the Reikokus, Mischa found himself impressed with Draco's craftsmanship. Despite Zero's off-hand tone regarding the customized sixth-generation Frames, these were truly remarkable machines. In their standard roll-out configurations and color schemes, the Reikokus were black Frames with smooth, curved armor and wedge-shaped heads that reminded the Russian mercenary of those monitor lizards that lived on those islands...Komodo Dragons, he believed they were called. There were two standard cameras, protected by translucent hardened polymers, and an 'Advanced' Factsphere mounted in the center of the forehead, protected by a horn-like piece of armor when not in use. The cockpit used the Guren's motorcycle-like design rather than the boxy ones of Britannian origin, excepting Peter Wettengren's Reikoku, which used an expanded Brit cockpit to accommodate his large size.
A feature that separated the Reikokus from other Frames was their distinct modularity. All the parts were designed so that they could be easily exchanged with minimal effort and maximum speed. This also allowed for each frame to be customized heavily, as Draco had also made 'special' parts and weapons for them.
For example, Bellaci's Reikoku used parts with less armor than standard, and was painted an effective forest camouflage scheme for this mission. On one arm, he carried a large shield to compensate for the armor loss while the other held a Gauss Launcher, a device that utilized low-powered magnetic coils to launch grenades and similar ordnance. On one forearm, the machine had a 30mm automatic grenade launcher, while the other boasted a somewhat modified version of the Sakanade's deadly Pile Drivers. Along with this was one of the other Reikoku-specific weapons, a 75mm sniper cannon that the Italian loaded with High-Explosive Armor-Piercing shells, holstered on the right shoulder, and a sizable Knightmare Knife holstered on the right hip.
As well, The Professional's Reikoku had been altered to his liking. It'd been painted a forest camo as well, although with the added pieces of dyed fabrics and camo netting to break up the Knightmare's shape, obscuring its form. The only standard parts of the Knightmare were its head and core section, with the limbs and some minor parts replaced with models designed with insulating layers to reduce the Reikoku's heat signature. Weapons-wise, he'd had the fairly basic 15mm machine gun that all Reikokus could use attached to the Frame's right forearm, with a Titanium-Nitride Pile Driver on the opposite forearm. Mischa's weapon of choice was the Sniper Cannon, only using Armor-Piercing, Fin-Stabilized Discarding-Sabot rounds, with a few clips of High-Explosive Incendiary.
Attached to the side of his cockpit was an Electronic Counter-Measure unit, which would jam radar, using generating sensor 'ghosts' that would disorient the rookies and annoy the veterans. This specific ECM device could utilize Spot, Sweep, and Digital Radio Frequency Memory (DRFM) jamming techniques. Spot jamming focused all jamming power on a single radar frequency, Sweep shifts the power from frequency to frequency, and DRFM was a nasty technique that retransmits the radio energy a radar/radio broadcasts back to the source to mess up whatever the user saw/heard.
The rest of the Squadron had their modifications too, with the melee and assault members accompanying Kallen where she went, while the support and other troops suited to ambush and other less mobile positions were checking downloaded maps for good spots to camp.
While all this was running through Mischa's head, his external microphones picked up a comment.
"Hey, you think we're going to be building a spa with these excavators?" Tamaki.
"God must love stupid people. He made so many." The Russian muttered.
- The Demon -
Lelouch stood by as the JLF's look-outs blissfully played Go, ignoring the Black Knight's convoy ascending to the summit. It had been ease itself to get up to the small cliff their cabin was built on, with the Akuma's Armored Adhesive Landspinners. The look on their faces when he'd first entered the building had been amusing, and now they would completely ignore any Black Knights activity, and possess no memory of it if they had the inordinate amount of luck that would allow them to survive the coming battle.
As the column of armor, transports and Knightmares scaled the mountain, Lelouch pored over the Britannian force allotments, noting the exact layout of the Britannian encirclement and the forces that would proceed inwards. He took into account he position and roles of both Seventh-Generation machines, calculating speeds, routes, and artillery fire trajectory.
Then, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a flash of green against the backdrop of white. Muttering under his breath, the former Prince stepped outside and joined the Witch.
"C.C, why are you here?" He demanded.
"Didn't I say I'd protect you?" She replied, glancing over her shoulder.
"What are you, my mother?"
"Lelouch, why are you Lelouch?" She asked, ignoring the childish remark.
"I don't have the time to discuss philosophy." Lelouch muttered.
"Both you and Learme changed your surnames to Lamperouge, but kept your Christian names. You two can't let go of the past, can you?"
"C.C is going a bit far. It's not even human." C.C glanced back again, but this time her eyes had a look that gave him pause.
"Lelouch, do you know why snow is white?" Lelouch regained his disposition, and just stared. "It's forgotten what color it once was."
- The Black Knights -
While the majority of the average Knights stood around, chatting while the excavators spat out the dirt they dug out, Ohgi and a select few of the other, higher-positioned Black Knights stood by their new Frames, nervous. They felt a slight bit of relief when the intimidating Akuma descended from the JLF outpost and joined them. Zero climbed down from the cockpit and joined Ohgi in looking over the forest that covered the mountain, as well as the town at the base.
"Are we really going to do this?" The tertiary commander asked.
"Ohgi, don't you trust me?" Zero chuckled.
"Of course. I asked you to be our leader after all." Ohgi muttered.
"Then I want to hear only one thing."
"Yes sir." Before them, the sky became as steel when Britannian Knightmare transports descended beneath the clouds, and the land became dotted with well over two hundred of the blue Sutherlands the Britannians fielded. The Britannian line encircled the entire mountain, as entire companies of Knightmares began ascending the mountain, neutralizing JLF emplacements and defense troops as they did.
"And so it begins." Zero said, sounding pleased as the Black Knights reacted with shock and dismay to the sight. They were outnumbered, even more so than previous times. Compared to the combined-arms regiment that was being fielded at the moment, they had the equivalent of a mechanized company in Knightmare and armor numbers, with only twice that in infantry.
"You gotta be kidding me Zero!" Tamaki shouted, turning to stare at the armored form of their leader. "They've surrounded the entire range! And our escape route-"
"Is already cut off." The baritone voice of Zero interrupted. "If we wish to live, we must make our stand here!" Startled and frightened mutters broke out among the ranks as the enormity of their new mission pounded into the heads of the Knights.
"You're asking us to fight them head-on, and we're surrounded." Tamaki shouted back, his fist clenched over his rifle's shoulder strap.
"And it's Cornelia this time." Inoue, standing next to him added. "She's a force to be reckoned with, unlike Clovis and Kusakabe!"
"Indeed." Was Zero's calm reply. "It would be a miracle if we survived." Even Ohgi turned to confront him, eyes wide. "Even messiahs have to perform miracles to prove themselves. And so, we require a miracle as well."
"You really can't lead us!" Tamaki accused. "I could-" As he spoke, he began to take his rifle in his hands, only for Zero to quickly draw his Britannian handgun on him. Around, the Black Knights stared. Then, to their surprise, Zero flipped the handgun around as though to toss it to Tamaki, and to even greater surprise, the breastplate of his armor folded apart, revealing his vulnerable chest.
"As members of the Black Knights, there are only two choices for you." He said. "Live with me, or Die with me!" For many minutes, the Knights stood, just shocked. "What's the matter, won't any of you challenge me?" Even as he spoke, Tamaki reshouldered his rifle and scoffed.
"Do whatever you wish." The chest of Zero's armor refolded into normal position, and he holstered his gun.
"Thank you. It's appreciated." Then, quickly, he quick-stepped to the Akuma and boarded it, hatch already closing as the Knights blinked at his speed. "All right! Everything is ready! Black Knights, take your positions and prepare for battle!" His words inspired the Knights to action, Devicers mounting Knightmares, infantry packing on weapons and ammo, and armor rumbling into their formations. "The Order of the Black Knights will now execute a surprise attack on the Britannian forces now assaulting the JLF base. Assault forces, descend to Point Three and attack the vanguard, Support, remain in position and bombard reinforcements and opposing support units! The goal of this operation is the capture of the Second Princess of Britannia, Cornelia!"
To the side, at the head of the Zero Squadron, Kallen closed the Guren's cockpit, even as the Frame's head, once receded into its torso, lifted up and revealed the face of the Guren. "The Guren shall cut open our path! Kallen, use the third excavator. You can do it in one shot, correct?"
"Yes sir." Kallen replied, all business. The Guren's right arm, an elongated silver appendage ending in a hand of slightly dull talons, reached out and closed over the end of the excavator embedded in the center of the row of machines, its tip deep into the earth of the mountain. "Confirming power levels. Radiation Wave Surge Emitter reporting all normal." The silver of the arm glimmered as internal capacitors charged. Kallen took a deep breath. "Transferring energy." Inside the silver limb, capacitors dumped all their energy into the claw, into a spherical chamber containing an enormous amount of super-compressed radioactive isotopes, powering microwave emitters that created a compact nuclear fission reaction, releasing enormous amounts of energy in gamma, x-ray, thermal and magnetic forms. This energy was directed through a red circular emitter in the claw's arm and into the excavator, which transferred that into the mountain's water table. After this, a bolt on the Guren's arm opened and ejected a golden cartridge, formerly the container for the aforementioned isotopes. Thankfully, judicious use of the Emitter would allow the isotope usage to be limited with each Radiation Wave Surge, hopefully allowing the weapon to be used throughout an entire battle before needing a reload.
On the surface, the effects of the wave surge went largely unnoticed. However, deep under the ground, water bubbled and expanded. A mere second after firing, the earth rumbled and in front of the line of excavators, cracked open, exhuming enormous amounts of steam and boiling water. Gravity pulled it down along the mountainside, the rushing torrent bringing with it enormous volumes of dirt and rock, turning into the largest mudslide seen in Japan. The force crashed into the Britannian companies on the eastern slopes of the mountain, burying or sweeping away entire platoons of unprepared Knightmare Frames, infantry, and armor.
For a second, the Black Knights stood, awed. Then Mischa spoke.
"Eat your fears and shit victory!" With that, the Knights simultaneously roared in cheer, and began descending the slope, Knightmares and Infantry alike.
"Thank you for that admirable summation of my purpose here, Mischa."
"You're welcome my lord."
- The Brits -
Jeremiah gaped in awe as the video feed from the drone relayed the sight of hundreds of thousands of liters of water, dirt, and rock cascaded down the eastern slope of the mountain, smashing into the units commanded by Alex and Darlton.
And also cutting off her Highness from the rest of the forces, with only her personal guard of Gloucesters and her knight, Guilford, to protect her. Then, the former Margrave noted a glimpse of something in the drone's feed, and maneuvered the vehicle to get a better view of the summit.
"Your Highness!" He gasped, zooming the camera in towards the new Burai unit he saw. "There's another unit descending from the summit."
"Hmph." Cornelia scoffed, looking at the feed Jeremiah linked over to her. "So the JLF-"
"No milady, these aren't the JLF." Jeremiah interrupted, an act that in other circumstances would have merited an execution. He focused the drone's camera on the leading frame. "It's-"
"The Black Knights." Cornelia hissed, in the same tone as a curse, as the feed focused on the devil-masked Knightmare of Zero.
In the rearguard, Olivier and his Mabinogion unit perked up at the transmission, and the unit, as though a single person, simultaneously disappeared into the forest, only the tracks of the Arawns Landspinners showing their departure.
Back on the frontline, the first Sutherland unit to meet with the Black Knights perished quickly, the Akuma's battle rifle spitting Sakuradite-tipped rounds that blasted through torso and cockpit even as the Burai's unleashed hails of assault rifle rounds. The second unit, however, was wiser, taking cover behind some of the trees on this somewhat sparse section of the forest.
Out of nowhere, enormous Knightmares almost five meters tall emerged from the thicker part of the forest, crunching tree trunks aside and slamming into the Sutherlands. Hands with four thick, clawed digits reached out and tore into the Sutherlands, ripping apart cockpit armor, cracking open the hatches and spearing the pilots on the clawed fingers, before tearing apart the rest of the frame. One Sutherland was left of the six-frame team when the five Knightmares turned to it.
They were colored a light blue-gray, like dead human flesh, with black on the shoulders, head, and joints, and each one was huge and bulky, with a torso that looked like a tank's hull and rounded, elongated limbs. The Landspinners were almost twice the size as normal, extended out a half-meter longer than the standard Sutherland Landspinner and thickened considerably. The cockpit was almost exactly like a Sutherland's, except for added ports on the sides that held weapons the size of ones entire Sutherland teams carried. The head followed the aesthetic design most Black Knight and Japanese frames did, formed into a Samurai helmet with a bone-white Oni mask, and yellow-tinged cameras glared menacingly out from it. In the center of the forehead was a large camera, not a Factsphere.
A final, sixth Knightmare rolled out of the forest, with its fist leading. However, instead of punching the Sutherland, a blade, the housing of which was set in the same place as a Sutherland's Stun Tonfa, slid out and pierced straight through the cockpit, cleanly slicing into the pilot compartment and out the other side. In the same moment, the Knightmare drew its arm and blade back, the weapon now recognized as a Pile Driver coated in a film of blood before receding back into its housing.
Then the feed dissolved into static, with the red words of "ERROR" appearing on Jeremiah's Picture-in-Picture drone feed before blanking out.
"Princess Cornelia! Your Highness!" Jeremiah shouted into his microphone. The voice he heard back was not Cornelia's.
"Ara-ara, it seems the Black Knights have brought along a very powerful ECM device."
- The Demon -
"Good work Ohgi." Lelouch praised, even as the Sakanade the former terrorist leader was piloting moved its blood-drenched pile driver before its cameras.
"...yeah." Lelouch frowned to himself. It seems Ohgi isn't cut out for the brutality piloting a Sakanade necessitates. Oh well, I'll rotate him back to a command Burai after this operation. The Mass-Production-Model Sakanades were very different from the Prototype Learme had piloted. Rather than focusing on light-weight maneuverability, they were enormous and heavy Frames that packed quite a punch. The one-eighty direction in design had came after Lelouch and Learme had gone over their development projects and existing units, and concluded that they already had a surplus of high-maneuverability frames. Some advice from Mischa on some of the Euro Universe's recent developments, and inspiration from the Io's design had shaped the rest of the Sakanade's development.
Now, it was effectively a heavy support and command Knightmare, and as such, only some of the higher-ranking Black Knights, like Ohgi, piloted the six-Frame team that Learme had prepped.
"ECM disposition?" Lelouch asked.
"Operating at full capacity, command link operating at 100%." Came the report.
"Good."
"ZERO!" Came the sudden outburst, and one of the Burai's accompanying Lelouch fell to no apparent reason as a troop of three Arawns thundered up the slope towards the Sakanades and Lelouch, halting just short of them. Then, the familiar black shape of a Mabon frame appeared out of the forest as though a ghost, slipping into place in front of the Arawns.
Before addressing the more apparent issue at hand, Learme quickly scanned the fallen Burai with the Akuma's Factsphere. The scan revealed relatively small rents in the cockpit and armor, symptomatic of the Mabon's signature needle gun. Firing depleted uranium-tipped tungsten carbide needles via horrendous gaseuous pressure, it was virtualy silent and invisibile.
Although, against the Sakanades' and the Akuma's armor, it was crud. Which explained the slight plinking sounds.
"You know..." One of the Sakanade pilots began. "Back in Shinjuku, I thought of the Mabinogion as fierce and skilled Britannian soldiers to be feared..."
"And now?" Lelouch asked, curious.
"They're really not all that intimidating." The devicer said, shrugging his Sakanade's enormous shoulders for emphasis. All around, Knightmare heads nodded in agreement.
Down the slope, Olivier shrieked through his Mabon's speakers in frustration.
"Oh, worry not my dear Mabinogion." Lelouch said, working his usual condescending tone into his voice. "You'll go out with a big bang." He flicked the switch that activated the command link between the Akuma and Zero Squadron. "Kallen, if you would..."
The Guren appeared from above, a red Frame with a glowing palm of death that clamped onto the head of the Mabon and blew the black frame into a pile of melted cermet and burning fluids.
To their credit, the Arawns reacted quickly, axes and swords and lance coming out to strike the Guren from multiple directions at inhumanely high speeds. The Guren's Titanium Nitride forked knife worked quick, deflectin the swords as Kallen swerved it away from the lance even as the claw grasped for the body of the axe-wielding Arawn. Not wanting to perish in the same manner as his commander, the pilot wisely reversed the Sixth-Generation Knightmare away from the deadly-looking clawed appendage. And yet, a section on the elbow swung out, extending the arm's overall length and allowing the claw to clamp onto the Arawn's midsection. The Radiation Wave Surge Emitter glowed red again, bubbling the Arawn's hull as it superheated liquids and gases under its surface before the radiation and energy reached the Yggdrasil Drive.
The other two fell quickly enough, the lance-wielder turning to flee before the Akuma's Battle Rifle rounds ripped it apart from behind, the swordsFrame being dismembered by the Guren's knife.
"Perfect. Now, Kallen, proceed as planned." The Guren left, moving to another point.
- The Queen -
Kallen was currently following Zero's plan, heading to a point when she spotted a lone Sutherland through the Guren's Factsphere, but when she looked on her sensor screen she saw nothing.
Was this unit trying to hide itself? Kallen tought as she turned the Guren around to confront the uit.
- Shifter -
Ian had been watching the battle taking place in Narita very carefully.
He was currently wearing the same outfit he wore when he met Mischa, his body appearing to be male right now.
His objective here had been to learn about the JLF and their command structure, and just as he'd gathered everything he needed, the Britannians had found the base.
He had planned to escape by disguising himself as a Britannian soldier, but the Black Knights showing up here, of all places, hadn't exactly factored into his plans.
And now one of their Ace pilots was coming after him. As soon as he was spotted he quickly retreated but the Guren was closing in fast.
"Damn, I can't outrun it in this bulky form."
Ian was quite familiar with Rakshata's work ,considering she had helped build the Knightmare he was currently piloting and he had (unknowingly to her) acquired all her memories on all her research and inventions, from what he knew the Guren was built by Rakshata for Japan, specifically the Kyoto Group.
"Well Loki, I guess we have no choice but to face your younger sister" Ian said as he turned the Loki around to face the Guren while still moving forward "And I have good ideal who's piloting it" he said as his Geass began to glow.
His body began to shift. When the change was done, his body appeared to be female now. Ian removed his mask, showing that he was now in Kallen's form. It had actually been rather easy to get, after that fiasco at the Refrain warehouse he'd heard about.
Last Week, Tokyo Hospitol
Shifter watched as the two twins left, currently disguised as a doctor.
He had been watching the Black Knights very closely after he obtain Mischa's memories. He now knew where their base was and detailed information about some of their most valuable personnel.
He'd decided it would be best to learn more about each of the senior members individually. Using a high-ranking member like Mischa was too risky. So he
decided to start with the one that was easiest to get to. Ian had learned after infiltrating the school that she was visiting her mother, who was being treated for a drug addiction.
He opened the door and stepped into the room. Kallen was still by her mother's side.
Shifter placed his hand on Kallen's shoulder "Miss, I'm afraid visiting hours are over and that I must ask you to leave."
Kallen nodded.
"Right" she said, putting on her sickly act.
The 'doctor' smiled. "Don't worry, we'll do everything we can for your mother."
Kallen look up at the doctor. To her, it was strange for a Britannian, even a doctor to speak so kindly about Elevens. She look into the doctor eyes and for a split second she thought she saw a flash of red.
"Well then miss I must ask again that you leave." he reiterated.
"OK" said Kallen as she left.
Shifter look back at Kellans mother.
"If only you knew how much your daughter cares for you as wel." he said, as he walk out the door
Now
And while Ian was changing the Loki had been scanning the Guren.
"OK Guren, let's see how you handle the Loki."
- The Queen -
Kallen watched in astonishment as the Knightmare in front of her, from the head down, began breaking down into a 1,000 pieces and started rearranging itself. When the transformation was complete, Kallen was now facing an exact fascimile her own Knightmare.
"What the hell is that thing!" she cried as the Knightmare put its Landspinners in reverse and charged at Kellen with its right claw raised, preparing
to attack as the real Guren would.
Kallen, without thinking, caught the claw with her own. But just as she was about activate her Radiant Wave Surge Emitter, the Fake's arm detached. Surprised (and thrown off balance) Kallen was unprepared for the Fake Guren's next action. This involved it sweeping its feet under the real Guren's, causing it to tumble.
By the time the real Guren got back up, the Fake was long gone. Kallen looked down to see that the claw that detached was breaking down into hundreds of pieces. She considered trying to chase after the fake but she still had a mission to do.
"I have to inform Zero about this later." Kallen muttered, as she sped off to the point where she was to intercept Cornelia
- The Shifter -
Once the Fake Guren was far enough away, it came to a complete stop. Ian sighed (still in Kallen's Form)
"Whew, that was close" he/she said as he/she started typing at the controls.
"Switch to cloaking." Ian said, and the thin film of gel that the Loki's body was coated in started to changed to bend light, thus making it virtually invisible.
"Your sister's a real monster Loki. Had I not been able predict the pilots movement we might have been in trouble" Ian said as the Loki speeded out of Narita. "I guess it's getting about time for me to test those two, Mao should be getting here any day now."
- The Black Knights -
In the meantime, the bulk of the Black Knight's Burai teams had regrouped around Zero and the Sakanade team, the latter leading against the push of the vanguard of Cornelia's troops, joined by some of Zero Squadron while the rest of the elite unit assisted from afar when time merited.
Alex, in particular, pushed ahead of the heavy, lumbering, and god-damn terrifying Nightmares, in a sub-team consisting of himself, Kojiro, and Wettengren. While Alex and Sasaki had the standard laser-sharpened mono-edged titanium carbide Knightmare Katanas, and used them to much deadly effect in close with the Sutherlands, Peter had sheathed his in exchange for the twin axes that had once been wielded by the Arawn that had been killed by Kallen.
Alex's Reikoku had stuck with the standard black paint, only adding red and gold trim. The katana he used to great efficacy was his main armament, although the Reikoku also had one of the 30mm Submachine Guns that most of them carried as side-arms as well. Sasaki's was a green with golden secondary paint, and had the Rising Sun of the Japanese flag painted on the chest, almost as though the Samurai-like Knight was challenging a Brit to make the shot. Peter's was bulky. That was the only way to describe it. In some ways it was similar to the Sakanades, although it was still quite maneuverable.
Fighting with primarily melee weapons against a force of Knightmares that used moderate-caliber rifles wasn't as easy as others, such as the white-head Frame, look. For one thing, it necessitated the judicious use of cover and maneuverability, both Sasaki and Alex weaving in and out of the forest, behind the shield-toting Reikoku of Peter, and dashing out to deal with the latest team of Britannians, all the while firing Slash Harkens and the like.
It helped that the ECM from the Sakanades and some of the Reikokus was electronically cutting off each Knightmare Frame from the other, severely degrading their unit integrity. They tried, they did, but simulator courses and the brutal, degrading 'training' of Mischa, Tony, and Draco had well-taught how to make use of enemies that couldn't keep up their fire zones.
Alex darted his Reikoku forward while a Brit Sutherland reloaded his rifle, his mate a bit too slow on the uptake to get off more than a three-round burst at the Frame's feet before a Slash Harken made of the same materials as Alex's Knightmare Katana sliced off its head and Factsphere. As his buddy finished shoving an ammo clip into the rifle, he was met in the center cockpit by a flurry of 30mm ignited magnesium-tipped armor-piercing incendiary rounds. As that Sutherland's Yggdrasil Drive ignited and exploded, a third one darted out of the forest, Stun Tonfa's raised. Alex turned, katana slicing in a 180-degree cut that quite easily carved the Knightmare in half, while Sasaki jumped in to deal with the remainder of the Sutherland team, twin Katanas cutting of limbs and heads, bisecting torsos all with only moderate effort to dodge rifle barrels and tonfas.
"Zero Squadron, Assault Team, spread out and commence with individual search-and-destroy." Came Zero's voice, over their command link. "Sakanade Team, switch off the ECM momentarily. Tanaka shall show the Britannians one of the many reasons they should fear the Sakanade." As they did so, one of the Sakanades stepped forward, lifting a large weapon from one of its hardpoints on its back. This specific weapon was termed by the technical manual as the Thestalos Super Incendiary Flamethrower. Now, distinguishing this model from similar flamethrowers used in history all over the world was its design and materials used in said design, as well as the fuel and ignition method for the flames. Compared to a standard flamethrower scaled for Knightmare use, the Thestalos was rather oversized, practically the size of the Sakanade's cockpit block, in order to make room for a super-high pressure pump that allowed the weapon to spew flames at around 230 to 260 meters. The fuel agent was a compound called Napalm-C, also called Liquid Plastic Fire, Ultra Napalm, and Satan's Vomit. Based off of the Napalm-B formula, but adding Nitroglycerin, Liquid-Latex, cyanoacrylate, Powdered Thermite, and a polyurethane adhesive. Instead of the usual pilot light, the Thestalos used an extreme high-temperature plasma torch that completely ignites the somewhat stable Napalm, while also making it pretty colors such as magenta, green, or bluish-white.
These, combined with other factors, made the Thestalos flames burn at a temperature of approximately 1850 degrees Centigrade for up to 15 minutes.
None of which the Britannians knew, to the dismay of the Sutherland team that foolishly rushed Tanaka's Sakanade. At a command from Zero, the rest of the Sakanade team and the Burai accompanying him held their fire, allowing the Britannians to open up on Tanaka. Sadly, the 4th Generation Chobham armor, a larger version of the same plating used on Zero's armor, itself a derivative of the Io's. As such, the performance of the Sutherland rifle rounds was less than stellar.
Then, levering the Thestalos at the team, Tanaka opened fire, sheets of magenta-green flame pouring out to cover the lot of the Sutherlands. Upon contact, the fires stuck to the armor of the Knightmares, quickly melting much of it into slag while the heat burned into the interior of the Frame. The fortunate devicers died quickly with the ignition of their Yggdrasil Drives' Liquid Sakuradite, the unlucky ones suffering as the Thestalos' flames burned into their cockpits, roasting them alive.
- The Orange and The Brits -
At this moment, Jeremiah actually wished the Black Knights had continued to jam them. It would've been better than witnessing this...this...atrocity.
The screams of Michael, Reynold and Karius' units burning alive affected the entire force, and the sight of the enormous blue-gray Knightmare, like the walking corpse of an ogre, belching out flame over their Sutherlands...it was daunting at the least. The only saving grace was that the heat seemed to melt the internal comms cameras in the cockpits, saving the rest of the force the horror of seeing their comrades cook.
"Cornelia." The voice rasped suddenly through their speakers, remaining ECCM from the Britannian forces distorting it somewhat, but the voice was still identifiable as Zero's. "I ask that you surrender, before I am forced to destroy the rest of your forces."
"I will suffer hell itself before I surrender to the likes of you Zero." The Princess snarled back.
"Very well. Do it." At the instant Zero ordered, a laser-like streak of Sakuradite-red came from the summit, and blasted into one of the Gloucesters of Cornelia's guard. For a bare instant, Jeremiah saw the Knightmare's torso melting around an enormous gaping hole carved into its torso before it exploded.
- The Dragon -
Learme grinned as his Knightmare lifted the camouflage net up and away, even while replacing its rifle on the cockpit holster.
"I'm going to have some fun here." He said, his synthesized dual-voice hissing out onto the airwaves. With a single flex of its legs, the Ryūō leaped off of the small bluff it had secluded itself under, Landspinners folding out from its calves in preparation for landing. Switching off the radio, Learme instead switched on the speakers, and allowed the heart-felt joyous cackle he was holding in out. Distorted by his helmet, and then further distorted by the Ryūō's speakers, it came out like the ululating roar of some mythical beast.
Just the effect he wanted.
- The Author -
Yessssssss, finally, the part I've been aching to write for so long! Or, well, a part of it at least.
My apologies for the week-long delay, I had to celebrate a significant event in my life, but now things should get back on track.
In other news, Velshard's designs still rock, and in this case, roll (I'm going to hell for the bad joke, aren't I?) And the Production Sakanade's technical file is going to seriously melt your brains through your ears. No, seriously. I still think I'm missing a milliliter of brain-juice.
Rereading this over, I realize that the Mabinogions have gone down from the 'OMG' level of badassness I originally intended, to an almost Team Rocket-like laughability.
Review Replies:
Infinite Freedom: No they weren't.
Yes he is.
Silverscale: My bad.
Alex Yamato: Battle, and post-battle humurous situation with a smidgeon of bodily harm.
Oh yes, majorly, G Gundam was too Super Robot, and the idea of Lacus competently piloting a Gundam induces a similar feeling.
Meh, I'm fine with playing as existing pilots and Gundams, although a Gundam game with Armored Core-like mechanics sounds appealing.
Yeah, this arc might not actually go by that quickly, although I'll be sure to make that Omake good.
Kojiro Kun: Thanks.
I actually meant to write that out during the Refrain arc, but forgot. Heh.
I didn't think I had enough Ashford Academy moments, so I added that.
Short as it was. Pity about Olivier
Voltair27: Funny thing, I actually have the designs for something like that, and it shows up much later.
kaitou28: If you think that's bad, you should check out Velshard's contributions to my Killer's Realm stories.
Darth Brain: Thank you for the 200th review Darth.
Thanks. I'm not actually quite sure how the Rebellion as a whole is going to go this time around...still working on that.
And about your fic, go ahead.
Knightmare Gundam of Ni