Gundam 00: Phoenix
To Ground the Phoenix
Lagrange 3, February 15, Celestial Being Asteroid base
"You sure you want to do this Tieria? You've only just recently recovered," Ian asked on Tieria's screen. The engineer could only be concerned. To him, this was far too soon.
Tieria didn't look back at him as he prepared the Virtue to head out. "I have to find out just what the Rising Phoenix is planning to do, I just can't sit by and watch this happen."
"Well, I won't stop you, not that I really can. Just make sure you come back alive, it's already bad enough how only Fedlt and Lasse are still left with and Lasse's too badly injured to do anything," he told Tieria.
"I'm guessing Miss Sumeragi has already departed back to Earth," Tieria noted.
"I don't blame her, she's been through enough, lately."
"At this point, nor can I ," Tieria began as all of Virtue's systems came online. "I'll be off," he finished, making his final checks.
"If you find Setsuna on your trip, make sure you bring him back to us, we need his GN Drive back. And it'll be nice to have him around, even if he always was a little too quiet."
"I will," Tieria responded. back as the bases docking bay opened and the Virtue took off.
Time to return to Earth.
Thar Desert, February 15, Phoenix Carrier
Outside on the ships open deck, Nena just took in information from the small portable computer given to her. It was one of the few things that could take her mind off the battle that happened just a few days ago. And learning new things always helped.
His words continued to echo through her mind, endlessly repeating themselves like a broken record.
She had never heard someone communicate to her through Quantum Brainwaves. She thought the only reason she had them was to access Veda and for increased reflexes, but now that she knew that the pilot could read and hear her thoughts and vice-versa it made her shudder. Who would ever want something like this?
The question of death also arose. Last time it was almost like he was toying with them by never actually staying in combat with each individual Gundam for more than a few seconds. How long did she have before he decided to kill her in the next battle?
She had previously promised herself to get better and improve her skills as a pilot, the title of Gundam Meister didn't seem to fit her or the others, but seeing this was a mockery to her. Not only were they forced to pull back, but they had been utterly humiliated through the pilot's display of ability and skill.
All this thinking could only make her groan. Too much too worry about. She needed to keep searching, to keep digging through the Rising Phoenix's files. She needed something to focus on.
Moments passed as she kept looking while keeping an eye out for nearby personnel. Slowly, she began to hack into the system and thanks to Rising Phoenix's generosity and her skill, she soon found more important documents and details to look at. Personal files, background records, all there, yet most of it was nothing that she really cared for.
'Nothing, Nothing, nothing..." she repeated in her mind as she skimmed through the database before something caught her eye and scrolled back up. 'Helana's data files? Interesting,' she said to herself as she looked to see a file about Helana.
Instantly her curiosity led her to opening the data file to discover it was about Helana and something that happened to her, the report written by one of the higher ranking crew members.
To Captain Wesker
Sir, I'm just writing to tell you that Celestial Being's armed intervention in the Taklamakan desert resulted in Sten's death along with the entire mobile suit squadron he served with. It's unknown if the original Gundams shot him down or the new ones, but either way Helana considers them both the same. The reason this is important is due to her personal history. Without her cousin, she likely wouldn't be the person she is today who is not only strong and careful with her emotions, but also a capable soldier. It was also her cousin who got her working and training at an early age to join the military before we found her so that she might do something with her difficult life.
Regardless, she knows her place and will likely not interfere with any plans. Just keep an eye out on her psychological health. I fear it could deteriorate. She already has difficulties socializing and fitting in.
From Lieutenant Yisandard, Helana's Instructor
For some reason, despite how little this seemed for a grudge, in her mind, she could only feel a hint of sadness. Helana seemed to have lost someone important to her. It was strange that the two people with a particularly dislike for the other shared something in common.
Nena then heard a noise as she turned in its direction to see Daveral coming from the lift.
He walked out and looked at her before looking into the horizon.
"So this is where you spend your time, cooking yourself and going over our database?" he asked with a slight grown due to the brightness which forced his eyes to readjust.
"It's better than staying inside and reading books," she replied back with a shrug. How could someone spend so much time reading novels and not get bored? Wasn't it all just the same?
He gave a small chuckle at her response. "You would be surprised how enjoyable a good book can be. Not as exciting as a movie or the stuff everyone plays over the internet, but it lets me think. It also gives me the peace and quiet I need," he then took in a deep breath before continuing, this time his voice was a bit more stern. "I know what you're doing, hacking in to files that you're not suppose to delve into or see."
Nena looked at him blankly for a few moments. "How do you know I even looked in there." she said a bit surprised. A little bit of angry flared that she did her best to hide. Would Daveral really rat her out and get her in trouble? This was such a little thing
"Maybe it's because I just know," he replied as his tone went back to normal. "Or maybe it's just because I'm keeping an eye on you. Someone has to."
"Why, you think I may turn on you?" Nena defensively. "I don't need anyone watching over me."
Daveral could only give a light chuckle. "Oh it's not that bad. My parents used to do it to me. Annoying, but, well, I'd like to think I turned out alright," he replied as he then looked at her while leaning on the rails. "Don't worry I won't tell anyone, just promise me not to do anything stupid with that stuff alright?"
Nena gave a simple nod as her reply before she settled down and then asked him a question. "Where are your parents now? If they were supposed to be looking after you, then where are they?"
"I don't exactly know; my family tends to move around a lot, never in one place for long, but they're supporters of this group so they do know what I'm up to," he responded, his words genuine. "
"That must be nice having a family and a regular life," Nena then slowly said with a hint of jealousy. Everything she wanted and now, she didn't even have the former.
"I wouldn't call moving around and being signed-up for the Rising Phoenix as good will and dedication everyday life. I think the closest you got to that is Flint," he told her casually. "Anyways did you find what you were looking for in our database, about Helana? If it gets any sort of problem solved out I'm for it. And as I said, I won't tell anyone unless you do something stupid."
Nena nodded her head in response. "I think I have."
"Well, then, I'll leave it at that and let you handle it. I won't be the one to fix problems for you," he said with emphasis on the final part before walking back inside.
Coast of Arvineo, Pacific Ocean, February 15
Under the cover of darkness the Rising Phoenix fleet had already commenced its landing with their ground forces. Under Hiller's watchful eye, everyone on the bridge was remained relatively silent, focusing doing their duty.
Hiller watched as the 1st Rangers took the beach with no resistance, so far everything was going as planned, no enemy contact.
"1st Mobile armour is now deploying towards the beach, sir," the vice-admiral told him. "No sign of hostile activity."
Everyone watched as the second wave began to make their way ashore, the heavy support would be there soon.
"Good, let's keep it that way," Hiller replied.
A small crackle came out of the radio before a response from the forces on the shore. "All's clear," came a hushed voice from one of their front-line COs.
"Roger, now status report?" Hiller responded to the communication.
"I've sent one of the APCs ahead to check to see if the road is secure and its condition. We'll get back to you when armour arrives on shore and we're on our way."
"Any sign of the Arvineo Navy?" Hiller then requested from the vice admiral.
"Negative, looks like the stealth field is working, for now at least," he responded back to him.
Hiller could only be pleased, if all went according to plan, they may not need the Gundams.
Unknown Location, February 15
Ribbons Almark was in contact with the pilot of the white machine who he had named 'Final Judgement'. A fitting name as he would carry out any mission against those that he deemed as a threat and destroyed, like the Rising Phoenix group.
For now, Judgement would carry out his will until he deemed in necessary for the Innovators to become more widespread. And he had nothing to fear from this combat type. He would follow his instructions without questions so that Ribbons would not have to worry about any power struggle, he was completely obedient like a well-trained dog to its handler. He had ensured it.
"So have you sent the coordinates of their atmospheric carrier's location to the UN forces in the region and disabled their sensor beacons?"
Judgement nodded his head. "The Rising Phoenix has no idea I was there," he replied. "They won't know they're blind until the UN begins their assault on them," he added. "So, am I to head in as well?"
"No," Ribbons responded before continuing. "This time I want you to remain out of the battle. When the UN recognizes us as a valuable ally, I will allow you to fulfill your intended purpose. It will not be long at the rate things are progressing."
"I will wait until then," Judgement acknowledge in a humble manner before the screen flickered off.
So far there were no major changes to the plan, even with the upcoming Rising Phoenix invasion of Arvineo. There was now only one thing he needed, and that would be someone who would be able to fund him in his desire to change to world how he saw fit; Alejandro's remaining wealth would only last him so long and Veda only had so much control on what he could obtain without suspicion.
Money was a major problem, without major contributors many of his plans would go to waste. He found this need for wealth amusing. Humans were so are tempted by the power of greed, that, with enough money they could eventually give in to their greedy desires. It was such an easy thing to play on and it had allowed him to get ahead of all the other such as Alejandro. They only saw what was in front of them.
He then remembered one of Celestial Beings major contributors. The Wang family with their enormous wealth would allow him to progress further with the plans after the Rising Phoenix had been brought down. As soon as he found out why the Wang Liu Mei had supported Celestial Being in the first place, he could play on her weakness, and then funding would not be a problem, not in the slightest.
Thar Desert, February 16, Phoenix Carrier
Wesker could only let time pass by as repairs continued forth on the ship. Most of the hull damage had been repaired, but the engines were still remained out of commission until they were back to one-hundred percent. While able to activate out of absolute necessity in the direst circumstance, it also seemed like a good way to permanently kill the reactor or cause an overload.
"So any thoughts on that new machine and its pilot?" Wesker then asked Kail, wanting his opinion.
"Well," Kail began as he swung his chair around to face Wesker. "If Nena's report is correct and that pilot can utilize Quantum Brainwaves. We're not going to have anywhere to hide if that machine gets close enough to us," he then continued, focusing on his work. "But I wonder if I can actually sense him, it's been a long time since I've had that feeling. It may have even atrophied."
"I don't think you can. Likely a different Quantum Brainwave level. And don't forget your brainwave abilities were..." he was then cut off by Kail.
"Damaged," Kail interrupted with a small sigh, "the mission where we were on heading to meet a possible contributor, but our jeep gets hit by an undetonated, forgotten anti-tank mine which sent me into coma for about a month. I haven't forgotten that." He then gave a weak chuckle. "But at least we did get support in the end and I ended up with a scar on my head, but that's all that matters right? Scars and funding." He rubbed the area on the back of his head which had the scar, concealed by hair.
"At least it didn't destroy your sense of humour," Wesker then continued on. "Now, what about the team's performance?" he asked.
Kail could only shake his head. "To be honest, against that machine, horrible. Against the UN, they're alright, but still too green. They lack experience and skill."
Wesker was then about to respond to Kail's answer before a sudden explosion rattled the ship that caused him to nearly be knocked out of his seat. Another then followed before it became a hailstorm that repeated itself that intensified
Instinctively, he set the ship on alert status with the flip of the switch and got on the intercom.
"All personnel report to your stations, I repeat all personal report to your stations. We are under attack!" he alerted the entire ship.
"Kail tell those engineers to get ready for those engines to come online I don't care if those things aren't ready," he then looked at to where Cray usually sat to see he wasn't there and cursed. "And get Cray up here, we need to get off the ground now!" he demanded with a hand slamming on his elbow rest.
Kail already was on it as he began shouting over their helmsmen's personnel intercom.
Wesker could only wonder as to of what could've disabled their outer perimeter sensor grid for the UN to slip past. If it worked with the UN then Kail would be right, there would be owhere to hide
Nena sat in her room, lying on her bed pondering if she should go talk to Helana.
She was still not quite confident enough to do it that came from a mixture of uncertainty and hate. Anyone who treated her poorly would get the same response. Yet, the question was to do it now or do it later when there was a possibility of someone not coming back next mission. She did not want to get blamed for Helana's death if it came from the result of the lack of teamwork.
She let out a sigh and prepared to get up before she felt the ship rumble which seemingly shook the entire ship and knocked her back into her bed.
The sound of the alarm then came ringing through the entire vessel alerting everyone to enemy attack.
"We've got enemy artillery beating down on us, all personnel report to your stations, I repeat all personal report to your stations, we are under attack," came a voice through the intercom.
"Big problem, big problem!" her Haro stated as it flapped its wings up and down to get her attention. Nena got back up and rushed to locker room.
"How did they manage to find us?" she muttered to herself as she stripped out of her clothes and into her flight suit.
When she was completely dressed, she grabbed her helmet and exited the room with her Haro in hand.
The ship rumbled again as she headed down to the lift with people scurrying back and forth to their stations.
"C'mon let's get going, we don't have time waiting to be shelled into the ground!" someone shouted behind her as he quickly turned her head to see Flint behind her.
The lift door then opened and quickly closed, however a hand then came through and the door reopened to allow entrance.
It was Helana and right behind her was Daveral, both ready to go.
"Just when I think we could last one more day without a fight," Daveral remarked with a heavy sigh.
"And this time we're facing artillery, likely a lure. They're going to be ready for us," Helana said as she took a quick look at Nena, eyeing her cautiously before turning to face the front.
When the lift made it down to the hanger, the pilots headed to their respective machines and boarded them immediately as crews on the hanger floor scrambled to get what aircraft they had left into the air.
Nena booted up the system and placed her Haro in its dock pod as another barrage of shells shook the ship. The worst sort of rainstorm.
The screens then came online, displaying her surroundings.
It was all out confusion. People rushed back and forth to their stations, fighters were hastily being loaded for their mission as their pilots jumped into their cockpits and began moving their fighters to their positions in the hanger while vehicles were quickly rolling back inside for safety.
The Gundams soon made their way to the ship's catapult, the massive doors opening up revealing explosions that kicked up blackened sand. However, the door immediately halted as a shell struck the door way, filling the launch bay with smoke and fire that soon dissipated.
"Door's damaged and catapults safety locks are still engaged, we can't launch," hanger control reported
"We'll walk out then," Daveral replied with the Lancaster dismounting the catapult while using its thrusters to fly out. The others soon followed.
Keeping its shield up, the Lancaster went out and proceeded to cover the entrance from bombardment until the other Gundams had managed to get out of the hanger and into the open. At that point, they took to the skies, all while avoiding artillery fire.
Wesker's voice then came over the comm. "We need you all to hold back the enemy as long enough for us to take-off, though it could take awhile. Be ready for a long battle should it arise. Priority one is to take out that artillery positions, if you cannot achieve the objective, at least stall them," he instructed everyone out in the field. "We'll try to keep you posted if anything else should occur, Wesker out."
Nena nodded her head in response as she looked in the direction from where the artillery was coming from.
"Listen up," Daveral then began before giving out instructions. "Flint, Helana, you'll engage those artillery positions. We'll draw enemy forces and engage them at range, I'll signal you when to launch the attack."
"Roger that," everyone acknowledged as the Gundams took off towards their targets at full speed to intercept.
Nena could only hope that the machine they encountered earlier would not make its appearance out here again.
Coast of Arvineo, Pacific Ocean, February 15
Viper watched through his scope as he saw the long line up of Rising Phoenix vehicles make their way into the base and quickly began unpacking and establishing their forward HQ for this position.
"Looks like they're here," Viper said through the radio to his superiors.
"Give the men the signal to go out and meet them, offer them whatever assistance you can provide," he was told before the radio silenced.
"Alright," he began as he turned to several squads of troops behind him, all waiting down to link up with the main force. "Well, let's go greet them." He then got up and quickly began jogging down a slight incline that caused rocks to bound down.
The sound caused several Rising Phoenix soldiers, dressed in a camo pattern matching to the terrain, rushing over, raising their AEU manufactured G98 assault rifles. A light, but powerful weapon thanks to its high calibre ammunition, if maintenance heavy and its hard kick it gave with each shot. Hopefully these men knew how to shoot well, if not, they would need to rely on the machine gun for all the work.
Viper raised his rifle over his head in a non-aggressive stance. "Flames."
"Cinder," one of the soldiers replied with the proper code word as everyone lowered their weapons. "So you're the forces we're regrouping with?"
"That's us," Viper replied as he turned to the troops behind him. "Well let's help them get set-up." he then said as immediately the soldiers behind him went off to help unpack equipment and start to dig in.
"I hope you people are ready for fighting in this terrain, you can expect fighting here in the foliage is going to get bloody and that some of the wild life here is inhospitable."
"It's what we're trained for." another soldier then said. "Remember, we're Rangers, and Rangers lead the way."
"Using the American Ranger creed I see," Viper replied quite amused. "Let's hope you'll live up to it."
"You can depend on it," the same soldier then saluted with the rest of the unit around him before heading off to get things set.
Viper could see these soldiers were quite determined to see things go through which was quite inspiring. Determination alone did not win wars, however. Had to play smart, not stupid. Any mistakes here, lots of people were going to die and it obviously wasn't going to be the enemy.
Thar Desert, February 16
As the Gundams fought in one area of the desert, the Ace squadrons fought in another, engaging enemy mobile suits guarding the artillery that continued to rain down shells to pummel the Phoenix into the ground.
The Death Wing, along with any remaining below-strength squadrons began their attack on the artillery positions with a barrage of long-range anti-air missiles at the artillery's air cover.
"Fox-Three, missiles gone," Willard announced as two air-to-ground missiles unlatched from the missile pod and raced towards the targets ahead of them.
The other Aces followed in tune with Willard, releasing a wave of long-range radar-guided missiles towards the designated enemy position.
"Ready for short-range encounter, they're closing," Willard instructed coolly. He could see enemy mobile suits flying into his sensor range and greeting his squadron with their own wave of air-to-air missiles.
Danger closing in, the Aces began to pop countermeasures against enemy missiles raced towards them from enemy Flags and Enacts all in flight mode which were equal in number.
Then, at the same time, hell broke loose as fireballs erupted in the sky as missiles detonated against false targets. very few actually hitting their targets due to the sheer amount of countermeasures deployed by both sides. Yet, the real fight began as almost immediately both sides ran into each other and a deadly dogfight in the sky began to unfold over the desert.
Making contact with the enemy, Willard began to chase one of the Flags which he had managed to tail. After a few intense moments of diving and circling, his computers got a lock, yet by the time he pressed the trigger, the Flag had maneuvered itself in such away that his computers were forced to recalculate while he had to readjust the angle of attack.
So much was going on around him, yet he had to tune it out enough to remain on target while staying alert. One wrong move could end up in disaster be it a stray enemy round, falling right into another enemy's crosshairs, friendly fire, or worse a mid-air collision.
"C'mon just stay still you bastard!" Willard exclaimed as he continued to tail the Flag through the chaos of a large scale dog-fight
Seconds passed into minutes, yet he still couldn't get the shot as he continued to give chase which saw him and his target gaining altitude. He would not let his prey escape; they weren't called the Death Wings for nothing. His ego just would not let him back off.
The Flag then began to turn around and began to descend, rapidly lowering altitude, Willard's Ace quickly reacting and continued its pursuit.
This time he had to make the kill, no more time to stall, he needed to shoot down as many machines as possible. This was as close he would get to a near-perfect shot.
When he aligned himself with the Flag for the last time and heard the computer's lock-on ping, he immediately launched a single short-ranged missile which raced towards the target.
In over a second, the Flag had been hit dead on and exploded. The remains spiralled down to earth with bits of flaming debris shedding off it with each passing moment.
"Bogey down," he then reported before looking over in the direction of the artillery. "Teller, if you can, try to outrun the enemy and make it to their artillery, you'll save us the trouble and draw a few of those mobile suits off us."
"Already on it, moving in on first artillery position. Keep us covered from the main group, over!" came a response from the squadron leader.
"Will do!" Willard confirmed as he saw his next target and began to track the bogey. "Listen up people, Teller squadron is going to draw a few of the mobile suits from the fight, but we've got to keep the majority off them, understood!" he hailed through the comm. as he fired off a quick burst with the autocannons.
Several confirmations came in over the comm. as their plan set into action.
Willard then fired another burst at the same machine he was chasing, the mobile suit swerving side to side to avoid the rounds and his missile lock. With another short burst, two to three rounds smashed through the wings of the mobile suit, but it remained airborne even if it flew slightly erratically due to poor balance.
Firing again, hoping to finish it off, he saw the mobile suit transform in mid-air to its ordinary form and quickly activated its defense rod which took the brunt of shells before it then fired its linear rifle . He pulled back on the controls to avoid colliding with the machine and evade its fire that saw him passing over the target it due.
"Always surprising to see another enemy ace," he noted as he came back for another pass.
'The only thing we can give the captain is time, there's no way we can take out every artillery position,' Willard thought about situation as he squeezed down on the trigger in hopes for a kill while artillery all over the battlefield continued to lay siege.
Daveral peered down through the scope for the beam cannon and fired at an Enact.
A single blue GN beam quickly travelled through the air towards the target which then turned to see the incoming projectile coming towards it. The Enact managed to react in time to avoid getting vaporized, but at the cost of its linear rifle. Immediately it flew off to regroup.
"At least you won't be hurting anyone with that anymore," Daveral remarked as he moved on to another target, readjusted, and fired.
It didn't matter if he managed to hit or not, his main goal was to distract the enemy mobile suits and keep them from focusing on the Variant and Zesus. They just needed to buy time.
He looked to see the shot tear through an Enact's cockpit before it exploded into a ball of flame and debris.
"Nena, any sign of trouble?" he asked, too busy focusing his sights in to properly observe his surroundings.
"Nothing so far," she replied back to him.
Daveral's mind relaxed, slightly. There was nothing he had to worry, yet. He proceeded to take more shots at the enemy mobile suits, hoping to draw more attention.
He then saw an explosion rip into the air slightly further away from the fighting.
There was a cheer from Flint who had seem to have taken a bit of joy from causing the explosion. "Yeah, artillery position is clear! Nobody is walking away from that!"
"Always one for explosions. Barely even a challenge, but you make such a big deal of it, " Helana then replied, unimpressed. "Moving onto the next target, Flint, stay in formation and follow me. If I get shot down, I'm blaming you."
"Sort of remind me of Michael, if a lot louder," Nena noted.
Daveral just shrugged with a 'hmph' as he continued to pick off mobile suits after he had opened a communications channel with Wesker.
"You better get the Phoenix airborne, judging by our sensors, there are just too many positions for us to handle," he told his superior. "Their smart, less then two to three guns per locations."
"We're still working on it, just take out as many as you possible can for now." The screen then went dark as the conversation ended.
Continuing to cover the Zesus and Variant, the Drei and Lancaster then began for the next site.
"So far so good no-" he was suddenly cut off as he heard warning signals begin to blare within the cockpit, a screen popping up to show the direction of the attack.
The Lancaster and Drei evaded as several crimson red beams separated them.
Daveral looked up to see at least four GN-Xs closing in on them and unleashing volley after volley of particle beams. Worse, one of them carrying a long-ranged rifle.
'I just had to open my mouth,' he thought before he then turned to face the incoming threat.
"Helana, Flint you won't get your covering fire, we're tied up with four GN-Xs here, you're on your own," he alerted them.
"Do you want us to get over there and help you?" Flint responded, concerned due to the danger that was confronting the Lancaster and the Drei.
"No, go on, Flint, you don't need to bring the rest of the team here. Focus on the objective, over and out," Daveral replied as he cut off communications with the two.
Immediately, he let loose a volley of GN missiles in hopes of disrupting their formation so that they could pick them off one by one.
And as he had hoped the four machines split up from each other firing GN Vulcan rounds to intercept.
"Nena," he then called, and pin-pointed the target for her screens. "Take out the one with long rifle, first!"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm on it," she replied with a nod as both machines began to open fire on the designated target.
The GN-X they had targeted came under heavy fire. In response, it quickly initiated defensive manoeuvres while managing to occasionally squeeze off shots in return.
This did not last long for the rest of the GN-X machines regrouped with their comrade, the missiles dealt, and began to open fire with their shorter barrelled rifles.
Immediately Daveral raised the Lancaster's shield in defense being too slow and bulky to evade this barrage of GN particle beams.
He then noticed a cloud of smoke begin to envelope both the Drei and Lancaster, Nena had deployed a single particle disruption canister. Either she knew what he was thinking or she was trying to ensure she survived. Either way, this was ideal
Lowering the heavy shield, the Lancaster then released another barrage of missiles towards the GN-Xs just before the smoke cloud fully concealed them.
The GN-Xs, this time remained together and quickly shot down all the missiles with quick bursts from their GN Vulcans, not a single missile managed to get close enough to cause any real harm.
"Damn it," he then cussed. "It's now a waiting game," he noted as both sides had stopped firing due to the disruption cloud. "They can't hit us, but we can't hit them and if we move out of this cloud they'll shred us."
"What do we do now?" Nena asked him, impatiently. Her hands were tightening around the controls. "We can't wait in this cloud forever."
Daveral eyes narrowed as a frown appeared on his face. "All we can do is get ready to fight and hope Helana and Flint can hold on their own."
The Variant and Zesus raced through the air while evading linear rounds from the Enacts and Flags that were in pursuit. They were gaining more and more distance between them and their pursuers who were also forced to avoid incoming fire from the two Gundams, lowering their effectiveness at range.
"So they're saying we're on our own?" Helana muttered. "Being with you is bad enough," she added. Flint may be good, but he was reckless and he could be annoying. The annoying part was what bugged her the most. Far too much shouting for he liking.
"Yes, and I don't care what you think of me. Now let's get destroy the next artillery position and take the heat off the Phoenix," he replied.
'Like we don't already know that,' Helana muttered as both machines continued forth, engaging anything that got too close to comfort.
They closed in on the position with an ever growing horde of mobile suits behind them. They would need to make this quick.
Checking her screens, Helana spotted their target with the computers locking on and getting a better view of what they were up against. Unsurprisingly, there were only a couple Tieren artillery units, but something seemed wrong. They did not seem to be firing. Were they possibly out of ammunition or were they reloading? She still couldn't tell.
"Well, here we go!" Flint shouted with exhilaration to Helana's dismay. The Zesus roaring off at full speed, leaving her in the dust. He was being far to reckless.
"Flint!" she shouted, trying to get his attention, but by then, he had already reached the target. His mobile suit was far faster than hers at top speed.
In seconds the Zesus had managed to get close up and slashed through the closest machine that presented itself. The Tierens could only sit helplessly as they were cut down on by one, falling like dominos. However, they did not explode or remain still. Instead, she spotted the machines beginning to spark, violently. At that moment, they detonated in a giant ball of sparks.
The Variant slammed down onto surface grounding itself before raising its defensive shield as the wave of violent energy came over.
Helana's eyes widened as a scowl appeared on her face. "Knew it," she said, gritting her teeth. No wonder they had made so much distance between them and the enemy while the artillery did not even respond to their actions. They had gotten overconfident against the previous batteries that the UN knew they would walk into the next one without halting.
"Wh-what's goi-" Flint's link to the channel suddenly disappeared.
"They detonated an EMP trap," Helana stated with anger. They should have known better. She then looked to see the mobile suits coming back around, predators ready for the kill. "And we fell right into it."
Helana immediately began checking her systems. So far, nothing had fried and everything vital for the Gundam seemed to be working, but communications had been knocked out. A few other secondary systems such as the drones and their targeting were also out. They would need a full restart and systems check, but there simply as no time out here.
Immediately she began to shoot at the approaching machines with the Variant's beam rifle, trying to stop them, but with their superior numbers and no way to call for backup, she would be hard pressed to protect both of them.
There was only one thing to do.
Nena felt herself being pushed to the limit as she was forced to evade or block the particle beam fire from all four GN-Xs which, instead of spreading their shots around, had decided to concentrate fire on the Drei. They knew it was needed to cover the Lancaster's flank. With it gone, they could easily destroy the slow moving fire-support Gundam.
The Drei opened fired at one of the GN-Xs, but the shots simply dissipating off its coating. Too much energy was lost at longer ranges, especially with the particular weakness of the Drei's new GN Drive, even with the upgun.
As another wave of particle beams raced towards her, the Lancaster suddenly came out in front, blocking the shots with its heavy shield. Once the enemy had ceased fire, it lowered the shield and fired its last payload of GN missiles supported by beam cannon fire.
One of the missiles struck, imbedding itself into the left arm of a GN-X and detonated, ripping the forearm apart before a beam shot severed the entire arm at the shoulder.
The machine with the long-ranged rifle, however had taken the time to line up a shot and fired at the Drei which was hiding behind the Lancaster.
The Drei shook as the particle beam slammed in. The coating managed to absorb the shot, but the force had caused some internal damage that would need fixing later.
With a growl, Nena immediately looked up at the machine that had fired at. Locked on, she fired away with the GN Handgun and several missiles from the shield pod, hoping to take her foe down for no one got away with trying to kill her. They would pay.
Two beams from the Handgun pierced through the rifle forcing the GN-X to drop it before it exploded, but rather than pulling away, it drew out its beam saber and charged at her just when she thought she had the upper hand.
"I've got him, I've got him," she heard Daveral say as she watched as dozens of particle beams from both the Lancaster's carbine and beam cannon race towards the GN-X, attempting to shoot it down as fast as possible.
Nena could only grow more impatient as the thing got closer and closer. "We're not going to bring it down at this rate!" she screamed as she drew out the Drei's beam saber and charged the machine. They needed to kill it now.
"Wait, don't go breaking-" Daveral was violently cut off as the second unharmed GN-X began to open fire at him. Shots dissipated off the armour forcing him to turn and engage before he took too much damage. "Damn!" he cried out.
"You're mine you bastard!" Nena shouted, the Drei lunging forth with its beam saber.
The two collided with both the GN-X's and Drei's sabers sparking as they locked in the air. Both remained locked in, trying to do their best to overpower the other. In Nena's hand's, the controls threatened to be pushed back from the amount of force the GN-X exerted. Not wanting to be left defenseless should the attacker break through, she maximized the amount of power going into the Drei and its beam saber at the cost of other systems.
At that point, the GN-X was pushed back before Nena transferred the particles back to the GN Handgun and open fired. Three shots glanced off the GN-X as it dodged, but a fourth managed to go straight through the head, destroying the primary optics and sensors of that mobile suit.
Another volley quickly followed destroying the machine's beam saber and the hand that grasped it.
"You're all mine,' Nena could only think with a smirk.
"Enemy behind you, enemy behind you!" the Haro then warned, breaking Nena's concentration on the target and forced her to locate the new threat.
Nena immediately turned around to see the GN-X that had lost its arm due to Daveral's barrage, lunge in, beam saber drawn and striking in a sweeping motion to maximize the amount of killing space. Instinctively, she squeezed on the trigger, shots blasting out of the GN Handgun and into the machine, but it didn't stop or change course. The pilot had confidence in his machine's durability, despite earlier damage.
"Just go down already!" she screamed as she continued to press down on the trigger, and prepared to evade.
The Drei suddenly then rumbled as headless GN-X grasped around it and held it in place, its Drive working at maximum capacity to keep the Drei from escaping or using any weapons with the incoming machine still moving in for the kill.
Her eyes widened as the charging GN-X got closer and closer.
No, no. Not like this. Trapped like an animal who could do nothing. She did not deserve to die like this. There was still so much to do. Her brother still needed to be avenged and she needed to keep living.
"I can't die like this, I just can't!" she screamed out loud as it continued to approach. Fear and horror took over. She began shouting even more, hoping they would stop.
"Nena!" she heard her named called to see the Lancaster immediately trying to take down the machine with a barrage of beams, before the machine he was fighting slammed into him, making sure there would be no interference.
A few tears had already fallen down her cheeks. This was it.
Just when it seemed about over, a devastating pinkish hue beam came down from above and all but vaporized the GN-X, its silhouette twisting and evaporating as the beam enveloped it.
The GN-X that was grasping her, immediately let go, but before it left, it activated its GN Claw. With quick punch, it ripped through the back of the Drei nearly puncturing through the side of the cockpit, tearing out bits of metal and electronics in the process before it fled. The pilot knowing it was time to leave, rather than risk his chances on another blow.
Part of Nena's cockpit exploded, forcing her to shield herself. A pain then tore through one of her arms causing her to scream. Reeling her right arm in, she clutched it against her chest as blood began running down. Bits of shrapnel were lodged in her flight suit, revealing soft flesh underneath.
"Is that Celestial Being?" she then muttered behind all the pain as she grasped her wounded arm.
She could only look in awe as the Virtue's presence caused the remaining GN-Xs to flee the battlefield.
Once again Celestial Being had saved her life.