Scene 3A : A Looming Threat / Secret Weapon
- Ohrdruf Military Base, German borders -
"Division Wave!"
A wave of strong wind struck down several flying IS units in mid-air forcing them to land hard on solid ground. The wind was no ordinary atmospheric
turbulence, rather it was a special technique unleashed by a single woman standing atop the front bunker.
"Khh, Fall Back!" One of the IS pilots shouted, signaling her comrades to fall back and regroup. "Damn it, I didn't expect there were Pandoras guarding this base...!" the seven unit IS squad then creates a circular formation while they continuously shoot rounds after rounds of SMG bullets trying to break through the ambush of several Genetics Pandoras.
"...Confirmed direct hit. Proceeding to suppress enemy fire."
Julia Munberk, Genetics Panzer's top rank third year student and world's third strongest Pandora along with two Chevalier officer Pandoras were in command of a small platoon of Pandoras that defends the German Base. She only expected that they were only sent here to help reconstructing the aging stronghold, but never in her calculations that she would be encountering several unknown IS units in this base.
"..Disrupting enemy formation." The Maverick then unleashes another deadly gust at the cornered IS squad, forcing them to break the formation and spread out in the open ground. The IS pilots then find themselves in a lock-down as they are separated and individually engaging the Pandoras that are waiting for them at the side bunkers. Due to their superior numbers and terrain advantage all the hostile IS units are neutralized and pinned down by the Genetics Pandoras, but mostly done by their limiters using freezing.
"Damn it, we're surrounded!" One of the IS pilots then attempts to cut through the ambush, but ends up being slammed down into the solid ground by a Chevalier Pandora. The Chevalier Pandora further rendered the IS unit immobile by damaging her flight unit and let her limiter partner cast freezing around her area, with three other cadet Pandoras damaging the leg and arm unit.
"Hmph, I'm not impressed." The Chevalier Pandora mocks the IS pilot as she steps on her back, grinding the IS's backpack with her heels. She was
confident that they've already won the battle, until...
"...!? T-There's still more of them coming!" One of the cadet Pandoras then pointed at the mountain range where more IS units were descending into the area. They're composed of several heavily armored close to mid-range types, a couple of sniper and artillery types, and a few more nimble melee-type IS.
"Tch, reinforcements? Just how many of these damn machines we'll have to fight off?" The other Chevalier Pandora then looks at the new arrivals, "And just who are these IS pilots anyway? They don't seem sent by Phantom Task..."
"Assessing current situation, calculating enemy strength." Julia Munberk mumbles to herself, while re-summoning her SSS-type Volt Weapon and readies up for another surprise attack.
"Heheh, too bad." The pinned down IS pilot talks back at the Chevalier Pandora, "But looks like it's time to say your prayers."
"Quiet, you." The Chevalier Pandora then kicks the IS pilot's face, knocking out cold the now half-naked soldier.
"Behind us!" One of the cadet Pandoras shouted, after she heard some metallic clicking from the back prompting them to look at the IS unit who managed sneak behind them. The Pandoras fail to notice that there was an eighth member who detached herself from the main squad and used an optic camouflage system to hide herself and waited for a chance to strike. The cloaked IS unit then reveals herself and bombards the cadet Pandoras and limiters with several micro missiles, heavily injuring them save for the Chevalier Pandora who managed to jump away from the surprise attack.
The IS pilot deploys her modified beam rifle, activating its heat blade function. After she heats up its thrusters the IS charges towards the
Chevalier Pandora at speeds almost as fast as a bullet train.
"O-Optic camouflage!?Khh!" The Chevalier Pandora managed to evade the eighth IS's bayonet stab, but she loses her balance after she trips on the previously defeated IS's damaged armor.
"Damn it!" The Chevalier Pandora could only look at the glowing hot blade as she lies on the ground defenseless. However...
*Kabooom!*
A fast projectile then smashes into the arm unit of the attacking hostile IS, disarming her bayonet rifle and damaging the arm unit. Several more rounds of heavy bullets rains down on the disarmed IS, further damaging and disabling her machine. All of the combatants then looked at the direction where the metal slugs came from. What they saw is another squad of IS units that began firing on the incoming IS reinforcements that descends on the mountain range. Unlike their reaction to their opponents, the Pandoras immediately recognizes the armored squad that's coming towards them.
"Schwarze Hase!?" The Genetics Pandoras are amused to see that these elite armored squadron were flying above them and fending off the remaining IS units that attempts to get near the old fortress.
The silver-haired Schwarze Hase commander then thought to herself as she looks at the hostile IS units, "Those machines, I think I've seen them before..." She then gave an order with a strong voice, "Secure the perimeter of the base! Our only objective is to prevent them from taking over the base, so don't chase them too far!"
"Roger!" All of her units then positioned themselves to encircle the base, while at the same time fires away at the hostile IS units that are still advancing towards the base.
"Khh, they came sooner than we anticipated..." The enemy IS unit Captain doesn't want to leave her defeated comrades behind and bring news of defeat to her superiors, however she's also hesitant to fight head-on the combined forces of Schwarze Hase and Genetics Panzer Pandoras that are already overwhelming them.
"It can't be helped...Retreat!"
Decided that the battle is already a lost cause the enemy leader orders her squad to escape from the area, leaving behind her fallen comrades that have already been captured by Genetics Panzer Pandoras and Schwarze Hase units.
"You came late." Is Julia's greeting to the commander of Schwarze Hase, Laura Bodewig, as she landed in front of the Genetics Pandoras.
"Any damages to your side?" Laura asks with a cold tone.
"Nothing really. Just some broken bones, deep wounds, and damaged pride." A Chevalier Pandora answered, while she holds her bleeding arm.
"I see." Afterwards she then inspects the broken IS machine that she shot down earlier. "Maverick Models, huh? I never thought I'll be seeing one in action out here..." She then began accessing the IS core with a portable scanner and looks through the database records of the fallen enemy IS unit.
"You recognize these machines?" Julia asks with a stern look.
"Yes." Laura replied, "This IS unit is the prototype of our own Schwarzer series, but looks like this one has been modified for use with an unregistered IS core."
"So you have any idea who are these people then?" One of the Chevalier Pandora intervened.
"I don't." Laura added, "They are stolen from our armory before we could even dismantle these prototype units. Even with our digital surveillance systems we didn't saw the culprits themselves, so it could be anyone we would suspect, including Phantom Task..."
"Stolen?" Julia asks with a confused look, "What do you mean?"
The silver-haired IS pilot answered, "A year ago we found out that the armory containing the Maverick units are empty, with evidences that the
electronic locks are hacked from the outside. And it happened two days before the designated date of dismantling those machines."
"Then who would've stolen these machines? Don't tell me it's an inside job?" One of the Chevalier Pandoras raised a question.
"We could just ask these pilots themselves. It would be much faster and easier that way." Laura then looked at the unconscious IS pilot who was earlier knocked unconscious by the Chevalier Pandora.
"No good." Schwarze Hase second-in-command Clarissa Harfouch intervened into their conversation, "These IS have built-in self-euthanasia devices attached to their backpacks. They are programmed to activate the moment the AB (Absolute Barrier) would be depleted and the pilot becomes unconscious."
"So they're willing to sacrifice their lives to maintain their secrecy, huh? That's some wicked measures to conceal their identity." Said Laura, while staring at the corpse of the IS pilot.
"They're not working for the former Stasi... are they?" The Chevalier Pandora suggested.
"Unlikely." Said Julia, "The German government had already relinquished any other kind of military activities to Chevalier after the funding of Panzer and
Schwarze Hase."
"Why do you think they want this old base anyway?" The Chevalier Pandoras then looked at the long-forgotten stronghold, "I don't think there's something of special value in this base. And this site isn't really an ideal place to build up an army..."
"Now with that in mind..." Clarissa asks the Pandoras, "Why you guys are here?"
"We were only ordered to escort these engineers to repair and restore this old fortress." Julia then points out the workers, engineers and scientists who are hiding inside the main command post of the base.
One Schwarze Hase member asks, "So why there's an order to restore this base anyway? It doesn't really makes sense to me."
"we're only told the details of the mission, not the purpose of it." Julia commented with a stoic voice.
"we're not going to start questioning orders, aren't we?" Said one of the cadet Pandoras, which puts an ambivalent feeling on the Pandoras and Schwarze Hase IS pilots as they are all thinking why they are gathered in this place.
"Clarissa, We're going back." Before her units further give more unnecessary remarks that could cause more commotion she orders her units to prepare carrying the fallen IS units back to their base for further investigation, "I hope you don't mind taking these IS pilots with us."
"Not really." Julia coldly replied.
"I see." Laura nodded, "I take it that you can handle everything from here on?" She asks returning the cold tone.
"Of course." Julia answered sternly.
"Very well." Confirming Julia's answer Laura then looks at her squadron and commanded, "Schwarz Hase, move out!*"
"Yes, Ma'am." Clarissa responds, along with other Schwarz Hase units to carry the fallen IS back to their HQ, leaving behind the Pandoras who remained on the base.
"Questioning orders, huh?" Julia thought to herself, as she looked at the silent night sky.
- Chevalier Grand Canyon Base -
"So, any updates about the current whereabouts of that damn thief?"
Raddox Phantomime, the current commander-in-chief of Chevalier is in a vexed mood as the situation in the main Chevalier HQ is clearly dire. Sitting on his office table while facing the holographic images of several Chevalier officers he discusses the very incident that caused the commotion.
"None, sir." Sgt. Richard Heathcliff answered, "Currently there are no reports of any suspicious individual that matches our criteria."
"None, huh?" While Raddox taps his cigar on an ash tray, "Tch. To think that our security systems would be this unreliable..."
"Do you think that Gengo Aoi is behind all of this incident?" Col. Leonard Schweitzer intervened, "We all know he's been too secretive ever since he became the top researcher of this organization."
"Probably not. That old bastard doesn't even have the need to pull out a dirty trick like this just to make fools out of us..." Raddox added, "I bet somewhere at this moment he's laughing at us while we're panicking like this just for a stolen weapon..."
"Hold on." Lt. Alfred Hughes then asks a sensitive question, "Just exactly what kind of weapon was stolen from us?"
"I'm afraid I cannot disclose that information yet." Raddox only brushes off Alfred's questioning about the details about the stolen weapon.
"Raddox, we all know how sensitive this information would be. But if you can't give us any details about this stolen weapon then it would be outright
ridiculous to just randomly search for it." Alfred just scratches his forehead and then rest his head on his hands after he heard Raddox's answer to his
question.
"But we know who the culprit is." Under-secretary Marks Spencer joins in the conversation, "This information is enough, right?"
"You knew?" Alfred raises his eyebrows as he looks at Spencer with a deadpan face.
"Yes, and unfortunately..." Spencer closes his eyes and continued, "She was one of our most outstanding soldiers in our ranks."
"...What!?" All of the Chevalier officials attending the meeting almost stood up from their seats after they heard Spencer's revelation.
"How can this be?" Strategic advisor Oland Myers is in a conflicted state while he still copes on what he heard, "Didn't she realize that we Chevalier are
just doing our part protecting humanity?"
"I say that's no big news." Gen. Tomohiro Suigetsu commented, "Remember those 'dirty jobs' that you guys forced your Pandoras to do? She's probably one of the Pandoras that are already fed up on how we used them as mere political deterrents. I bet she thinks of us as nothing more than just power-hungry tyrants who will do everything to protect our own interests. In fact I'm quite surprised that there is still no major uprisings within our organization even now."
"But, didn't she realized that if she betrayed Chevalier she's also betraying humanity's hope for survival?" Oland argued, "And, we were just protecting our organization from being manipulated by private companies-"
"You're just trying to control their incomes for your own benefit!" Tomohiro angrily raised his voice, "Because of your damn greediness you even attempted to do a hostile takeover against them through military force! Let me remind you that this organization is no mere political tool!"
"Okay, let's end that here. Pointless debate won't get us anywhere. What's important now is capturing that woman and retrieve that weapon." Spencer cuts in their argument, leaving an uneasy feeling on both men.
"Khh..."
"Hmph."
"So, who's that traitor who stole our latest weapon against the NOVAs?" Alfred asks, in hopes that he will be given a reasonable answer.
Spencer then presented a picture of a red-haired woman complete of her full biography on a hologram. "Marina Fujimiya, 23 years old. During her days as a Genetics student she was known as the Scarlet Crimson. After her two years of service she's promoted as Chevalier's 2nd division Captain and stationed here in Grand Canyon HQ. Last seen as an escort to Gengo Aoi along with Lt. Su-na Lee while he's visiting West Genetics six days ago."
"So, how do you think we can capture her?" Gen. Suigetsu presents a question, "We're still clueless as to how did she managed to outsmart our security systems and sneak past behind our backs to get that device even though this place is a heavily guarded facility and only a few selected staff are involved to create that weapon. Not to mention no one knew where she is hiding now."
"Captain class Pandoras didn't have much authority on the R&D department, so she probably took with her someone who knew about the project and used him/her to reveal the whereabouts of the device." Alfred hypothesized, "Then she escaped from here using a military plane exclusively reserved for immediate deployment units since that's the only way she can get through all the checkpoints and surveillance systems around here without arousing suspicion."
"So you're saying... she could be anywhere near any of our Genetics branches, right?" Leonard asks, with a slight unconvinced tone.
"It's possible, assuming that she didn't cut halfway through her predetermined route." Alfred then produced a holographic map on the center table, with lines and points representing the pathways and landing ports of their military planes.
"Then let's do something like this; we're sending several undercover agents to every Genetics branch to confirm her location and after we secured her there we'll send in a special team composed of staff of our choice to capture her." Spencer suggested. "Even if she attempted to deceive us by landing outside the designated points, it won't be too far away from any of our Genetics branch."
"We're not going to use nor notify the rest of the original Chevalier Spec Ops team?" Gen. Suigetsu asks with a doubtful look.
"No. Personally I want this operation to be clandestine as much as we can." Spencer answered the General's question, "We can't afford to have another public scandal just because of information leakage. Don't you agree, gentlemen?"
"Agreed." All of the Chevalier officers replied in unison.
"One after another, huh?" Raddox then rummage through his stack of papers, then picks up a certain folder that grimaces his poker face.
"I can't believe that our own soldiers were turning against us." Raddox massages his forehead while he looks at the list of several former Chevalier Pandoras that are labelled MIA, "I just hope this list won't get any longer..."
"If the public finds out that there are scandals like this among our organization we would lose credibility from the public and they'll shift their support
to the IS program." Myers continued, "What's even worse is they would replace our Pandoras with IS pilots and shut us down for good."
"Many countries that are members of our organization are planning to compose their military of Pandora soldiers once the Nova threat has been neutralized." Spencer speculated, "If we can convince the public that we are a more reliable fighting force than those IS then we can just bury those issues with our own propaganda."
"But even so, very few are willing to join our organization to fight the NOVAs due to the mortality rate of Pandoras on the field." Field Commander
Sasagami Kouichirou speaks formally, "Though there's only a handful of people who had a passing aptitude to IS piloting, some of our promising recruits were now shifting to enroll at IS Academy as we speak."
"That is quite problematic indeed." Spencer commented, "But, I don't think Gengo isn't going to be too troubled even with this in mind."
"Well, we do all know that there's always been a hidden trump card within that old bastard's sleeves, which often makes us being played right into his hands every time." Myers continued, "Gengo had already been aware of this fact but he doesn't seem to be too concern about it."
"In the end, it's only a matter of time before we completely lose control of public trust, huh.." Raddox comment fills the conference room with such
heavy atmosphere that it makes the Chevalier officials scrupulous at their seats.
"As much as I want to disagree, You're right..." Spencer replied, closing his eyes thinking carefully what they must do in their next move...
Part 1 of 2 end