Titanic X: (Swings Abrams tank through door into view) Hello peeps~! Ready for another chapter?
Patriot-112: ...Nice entrance
117Jorn: (GOUF Ignited crashes through roof) Let's do this! :D
Chapter 3: Dancing with Angels
May 18th 2014 AD/CE 71
San Joaquin Pocket - Fresno & Madera Counties
California, United States
Lieutenant General John A. Toolan knew that today was possibly going to be a very strange day - but he did not believe it could be as strange as it had turned out so far.
First, there were the two kids and their guerilla group - who he had learned since were called the 'Black Swords of Freedom' - who presented their insane idea about hijacking Atlantic Federation mobile suits. Although the plan seemed insane, he knew he was running out of options, so he gave the go ahead.
However, amazingly not only did they pull through - but they got a shitton of Mobile Suits. From the raid, the men and women who they had sent with them had brought back a grand total of around thirty GAT-01 Strike Daggers, roughly twenty or so GAT-01A1 "105" Daggers, several GAT/A-01E2 Buster Daggers and GAT-01D1 Duel Daggers, and also managing to bring back enough supplies and ammo to keep said mobile suits functioning for a very long time.
That wasn't even the end of it. As not only had they secured the Mobile Suits, but they had reported getting the schematics of a new prototype Mobile Suit, as well as a fully functioning prototype as well that surpassed anything that the Earth Forces had stationed around them. And that wasn't the end of it either, as they had managed to link up with a team of five civilians - who were part of a defeated tank battalion - who successfully secured and operated the five prototype M1A3 Super Abrams, and gave a considerable amount of aid to Jordan's raid force, destroying six enemy Mobile Suits. And were also aided by a massive land-traveling Battleship Carrier with mobile suits that were even more advanced.
And yet that still wasn't the end of it, as now a massive AF Transport plane that was larger than a fucking aircraft carrier flew into the Yosemite International Airport, no longer playing an AF Transponder, but surprisingly a Canadian one, as the massive transport craft was captured by a Canadian Military force and their refugees - who had also succeeded in capturing four GAT-01A1 "105" Daggers, as well as six GAT-01 Strike Daggers that were onboard the massive craft when they captured it.
And now, what could be the biggest surprise of the day, was the arrival of three unknown Mobile Suits that did not match the AF configuration, claiming to belong to a group called ZAFT, and Jordan and Drew's team, along with the leader of the Canadian Force, and the five-man tank team were fast approaching them, along with the massive Battleship - which he had learned was called the Archangel.
As soldiers and Marines gathered to look at the two ships in awe, the Archangel and the transport landed on the runway, and soon their respective hatches open, and their respective crews stepped out. Of course the soldiers all tensed when they saw the AF uniforms worn by Murrue and the others. However as they came out, they also saw walking with them were Jordan, D.J and other members of BSF, along with Ron, Jessica and their respective teams, so they knew to keep their mouths shut for now.
The group approached where the General and his guards were, as D.J and Jordan stepped forward, saluting. "General," Jordan said with a large grin. "Mission was - as you can see - an astounding success."
The CO of the I Marine Expeditionary Force could only nod at that.
"Good work, you just bought a lot more time by capturing these machines…" He then looked at the bridge crew. "…and also getting us some allies."
Jordan nodded as he stepped aside as Murrue stepped forward. "General, may I introduce the captain of the Archangel, Captain Murrue Ramius," he said. "Captain Ramius, this is Lieutenant General John Toolan, commander of all U.S. Forces presently here at the San Joaquin Pocket."
Murrue nodded as she saluted the Marine General, who returned it.
"I have to thank you a lot, Captain," Toolan said. "If you hadn't arrived when you did, these two would've been dead."
Murrue nodded in return. "I'm glad I could be of help, General," she said.
Toolan then turned to Ron and Jessica. "And, you must be the one who commanded those tanks?" he asked.
Jessica nodded. "Yes, sir!" she said. "Me and my friends, actually. To be honest, I wasn't sure if we'd be of any use with them. But we did manage to decimate a large portion of the enemy base back during that raid. They never knew what hit them." She then gestured to her friends.
"This is my team." She motioned to a large man standing at six foot five with a mess of brown hair hanging over one of his blue eyes and he wore a tank top with blue jean shorts and leather combat boots. "Tony Larson."
She motioned to a woman with platinum blonde hair and dark blue eyes, her white tank top showing her athletic figure. She had a tattoo on her left forearm and she wore green cargo shorts with toeless boots on her feet. "Vanessa White."
Jessica nodded at Steven. "Steven Krane."
Then she looked at a man who was clad in a blue T-shirt and brown cargo pants with black boots. He had red hair and dark green eyes. "And Ben Goodall."
"We're the new First Armored Division, and we're going to try to support you the best we can," Steven said.
"Glad to have you here," the General said, with a small smile. "Nice to know we have something in our arsenal that can hurt those bastards." He then turned to the next new face - who was none other than Ron Pinkerton. "And you…?"
"Ronald Pinkerton," Ron said. "Acting commander, Canadian 22 Wing/CFB North Bay, or rather what's left of it. Apologies for the surprise my plane gave ya, but we only just recently switched that damn OMNI Enforcer IFF Transponder with a Canadian one, and we were beginning to run low on fuel."
"Doesn't help that Ron didn't have a clue how to do it!"
Ron glared at the shortest of his friends, who he had introduced as Tanner Armstrong. "I can put them together," he said. "I can't program them. Besides, we're civilians: military IFF is a little beyond me." He returned his gaze to the General. "My main job was getting those refugees to safety. Now I'm getting the hell out of here. This continent is lost, and it seems I'm the only one who seems to get that."
"So you plan on just giving up?" Jordan asked with narrowed eyes. "Let the AF win? Let them take our homes? Our countries? This continent is far from being lost Ron, we now have Mobile Suits, and people to use them. There may not be many, but now we can actually fight against them. Besides… where would you go? The Earth Forces are practically everywhere from North America to China. We have nowhere to run, Ron."
"I know that, Jorn, but what chance do we have?" Ron replied "We are outnumbered, outmaneuvered and outgunned at least one hundred to one! The only reason OMNI Enforcer hasn't completely taken over North America is China! Those bastards have the largest standing military on the PLANET. They're probably giving the Alliance more trouble than we are. Our best chance is to get the HELL out of North America and find someone who could actually stand a chance of beating them." Ron didn't mention ZAFT or Orb, mostly because he wasn't technically supposed to know about them.
"China's not doing as good as you think." The General said, surprising the others "They've got numbers, but lack any sort of experience, they're pretty much in the same boat as the rest of us… the only nation that seems to be putting up any fight against these guys, not only fighting them but also managing to kick most of them out… is Japan, and god knows how they did that, especially since the whole Fifth Carrier Strike Group got called back to support the homeland."
"Speaking of which..." He looked at Murrue. "You're wearing an OMNI Enforcer officer's uniform, yet you flew in to save our asses. So who the fuck do YOU work for, Lieutenant Commander?"
"We no longer serve OMNI Enforcer, or the Earth Alliance," Murrue said, her eyes narrowing a bit. "After they deemed us all expendable when they tried to have all of us killed when the Cyclops System in JOSH-A went off, we deserted and joined the Orb Union. We simply haven't gotten new uniforms."
"You pulled a Marko Ramius out of your ass, then," Ron said, causing Murrue to blink in surprise "A who?" She asked.
"Tom Clancy's Hunt for Red October," he said. "Long story." Ron was internally laughing, seeing as he just referenced the person who she was technically named after. 'This is fun! Haven't had this much fun since...'
That brought up a depressing thought, ending his amusement. "Either way, I'd rather take my chances off this continent than pulling a Thermopylae or an Alamo and dying a hero's death, which is kind of what you guys are going to try and pull," Ron continued. "I'm not risking my life or my friends' in a suicidal last stand."
"I doubt flying out of that big bird of ours is a wise idea to begin with, Mr. Pinkerton," the General said. "Radio chatter picked up increased AF movement since the Raid, and they've likely set up Anti-Air defenses with the arrival of your ship and the Archangel, even if we refueled your plane, you'd get shot out of the sky, and with the increase of AF Troops in the area… it's likely they're about to start their final push to overrun us. We're all in this boat together."
"He's right, and It's not suicidal, since we have a plan," Jordan said. "We have some reinforcements coming from Nevada, they'll help break apart the EA forces that have us surrounded here so we can launch a counterattack, and secure our flanks. With Mobile Suits now in our arsenal, we can take out their Launcher Daggers that have been pounding the shit out of us since day one."
"Wonderful," Ron groaned out sarcastically. "What the fuck is this, a modern version of the Trojan War? All the world's heroes coming to one place for everlasting glory? God, I hate my life. If I find the bastard responsible for this, I will find a way to send him or her to the Dead Space universe!"
In Afghanistan, Anton Podolski sneezed as the Osprey Tilt rotor continued it's flight to Bagram Air Base.
"Bless you," said Patricia, while Anton rubbed his nose.
'Someone is talking about killing me,'he thought, before smirking. 'Not that I can blame them or anything.'
"Ma'am! We're approaching Bagram… WHAT THE FUCK!?" shouted the pilot, causing Patricia to get up from her seat and head to the cockpit to see what's wrong..
"What's the…" she said, before her eyes widened at what she saw, parts of the base were burning with tanks and other vehicles of unknown design moving about. "Well, that explains why we aren't able to contact anyone outside of the base." Patricia said, "But who the hell ARE they? Those things don't look Chinese...or anyone else, for that matter."
The tanks (which bore a slight resemblance to the Abrams, Challenger and Leopard MBTs, if not for the second gun) turned their turreted guns toward the CV-22. "Oh, that's bad." The pilot said as the tanks opened fire, but they clearly hadn't remembered that the Osprey was one of the most agile transports ever built.
The tiltrotor banked right, avoiding most of the shell-fire, but the tanks were the least of their problems as AAA and missiles, the second biggest threat to aircraft, started coming their way.
"Shit, shit shit shit!" The pilot shouted as he moved the Osprey as fast as it could away from the Triple A before they opened fire again. "Everyone hang on, it's gonna be a bumpy ride!"
The Tilt-rotor continued to evade the Triple A fire, as well as launching countermeasures against the missiles, they did this for a few minutes, until suddenly, they stopped.
"They stopped firing," said the co-pilot as he breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank God..."
It was then the radio came alive.
"Attention incoming Osprey, please land immediately or we will fire on you," a voice said, which caused the pilots and Patricia to get pissed at that.
"WHAT IN THE HELL DO YOU THINK WE WERE TRYING TO DO, YOU ASSHOLES!?" the pilot shouted. "And what happened to the first FUCKING warning!?"
"You don't get one," the voice said. "Land NOW or you will be shot down."
The Colonel snarled as she looked at the pilot. "Do as the bastard says," she growled.
At that moment, the Osprey flew past what looked like several giant robots. They clearly had CIWS cannons mounted in the head, and those rifles looked like they didn't use bullets. "Doctor, I think your project just backfired in the worst way possible." The tiltrotor landed less than a minute later, and was quickly surrounded by enemy troops. All of whom were armed with assault rifles and rocket launchers.
"Uhh, maybe it was a bad idea coming here," said the co-pilot.
"No shit, Sherlock."
Meanwhile in Alaska
While Colonel Rosen and company were forced down in Afghanistan and the BSF and Ron's group were getting ready for a fight with OMNI Enforcer, what was left of Alaskan Command, survivors from the Canadian Armed Forces that hauled ass toward Alaska after Edmonton was hit and, ironically, Russian Federation Army forces were closing in on what was once Joint Supreme Headquarters Alaska, more commonly called JOSH-A. After Operation Spitbreak, OMNI Enforcer practically said 'fuck it' and left the former Russian/American state alone. As such, US, Russian and Canadian forces were surviving. Barely.
Currently held up at Alaska was the survivors of the United States Navy's Seventh Fleet, originally stationed at Yokosuka Japan, but were forced to leave the island nation to defend their homelands. While the fleet had taken considerable losses, Carrier Strike Group 5 was among the survivors, including the Nimitz-class Aircraft Carrier 'USS George Washington'.
Also, from the west across the sea were the survivors of the Russian Pacific and Northern fleets, after being defeated by the Eurasian Federation's forces the survivors of the two Russian fleets made their way to Alaska, where they heard had almost no Earth Forces present. While both fleets had taken serious damage, they still managed to save many of their Submarines, as well as two Kirov-class Battlecruisers, and the RFS Admiral Kuznetsov.
The same could not be said about the Canadian's Pacific Fleet, however. They had taken severe losses during the fighting, and were now down to just a handful of ships, namely the few Halifax-Class frigates they had, along with the Iroquois-Class destroyer HMCS Algonquin, the Victoria-Class submarine HMCS Victoria, a Protecteur-class auxiliary oiler replenishment vessel, and a Kingston-Class minesweeper. Most of their military was scattered across the north, with what few survivors that hadn't made it to Alaska had headed to the few United States holdouts in the north that have not been overrun by the AF.
All in all, the combined forces in term of ships numbered around fifty vessels, while a large force it may be, considering the technological advantage currently held by the Earth Forces, the numbers almost meant nothing.
But then… fortune began to settle among the forces of Alaska.
After interrogating Earth Forces prisoners, they discovered the former location of JOSH-A, which was still a crater. However while the main facility was destroyed, some of the smaller bases which surrounded the main JOSH-A base survived the Cyclops System, and inside they managed to find a handful of stockpiles of EA Vehicles and Weapons, such as their Linear Tanks and Artillery, and they also managed to salvage ruined wrecks of ZAFT mobile suits they uncovered, as well as securing intact Machines in abandoned EA Facilities, likely used as samples for their own MS Development projects.
Among the many models were CGUE's, GiNN OCHER's, DiNN's, ZuOOTs, BuCUE's, and even a few GOOHn's and ZnO's.
With these MS, including the ones from the Spengler-class, which was called the Rumsfeld, the group had a force of over a hundred mobile suits. Of course the OS on the ZAFT had to be modified a bit, which of course, was thanks to Tom. Even so, it was going to take time to retrain the pilots to pilot the damn things. Time, unfortunately, was almost always not on their side. On the job training was ALWAYS the worst. But they were making the best of it. Dozens of pilots were relearning how to pilot at once, including pilots that were shot down that managed to eject. The Canadian CF-188 pilots, especially, gleefully looked forward to the day where OMNI Enforcer would be getting their asses handed to them.
As for Ryu himself, he was looking over the system of his 'newly acquired' Gundam. He now found out it's true name and model number was the GAT-X129 Wrath. He couldn't help but grin as he learned more about his mobile suit. It had Trans-Phase Shift Armor, just like the ones used by the Druggie Extendeds, while the most surprising features were the hardpoints for Striker Packs, and able to equip the Fortresta Mode Armor. However, his favorite feature was the 105mm M534 "Kattun" Beam Sniper rifle. And the day was coming where he would be using it to fuck everything up.
Like everyone was thinking, China was dealing damage to OMNI Enforcer, but the only thing they were really doing were pissing the RoEA branch of OMNI Enforcer off. Three and a half million cannon fodder troops were pissing them off, but unwittingly buying North America time to fall back. That time was well-spent, despite the heavy losses. China's PLAAF especially pissed off the ground troops until the Daggers were called in, and while the Chinese still had large numbers of MiG-21-based Chengdu J-7s and MiG-19-based Nanchang Q-5s and even a few Su-27/30 Flankers, the Daggers were slaughtering them.
As his eastern Canadian online buddy once told him, though, you couldn't spell slaughter without laughter. And at least a few people in OMNI Enforcer and even those among the fleet were laughing their asses off as the largest armed force sans OMNI Enforcer was slowly whittled down to nothing.
However, oddly enough while China was slowly being defeated, one of the few nations that was successfully holding their own against the Earth Forces were - surprisingly - the Japanese, as reports have come in about the JMSDF's navy largely still intact, and their ground and air forces were giving the EA a lot of trouble. Exactly how they were managing to pull this off was unknown since the Seventh Fleet left Yokosuka, but rumors were getting around.
He shook his head as he continued working on the OS to his specifications. For the past few days, he noticed how fast he was typing, much like that of Coordinators, or Second Generation Extendeds. Of course, he wasn't complaining.
There were also the refugees that finally came in from the east. Some were from Ontario, and a few were from North Bay. None, however, were the team that managed to be a pain in OMNI Enforcer's gigantic ass. One woman in her mid 60s kept asking if either of her grandsons had been seen, along with a younger woman in her late 30s who seemed to be her daughter. They took family seriously, and not even the remnants of the military were stopping them from looking for them.
"Please, has anyone seen my grandsons?" the 60 year old said. Ryu watched as they continued to make their rounds. The war had torn dozens, if not hundreds, of families apart. He could only hope that they could find their family, whoever they were.
San Joaquin Pocket, on board LCAM-X01A Archangel
Ron sneezed as he typed in the password and the separate access code to his Dagger's computers. 'Alliance idiots should've done this for the G-Project Gundams,' he thought to himself. Sure, Gundams fighting Gundams was awesome story-telling and all, but Ron preferred thinking practically. That was why he thought North America was finished, rightly or wrongly. As such, he was locking his Dagger down so no one could fuck with the OS. He saw no need to tune it, nor could he. It was perfectly fine.
But since he was planning on joining the Archangel's crew (in his words, they need someone with their head screwed on right, even if it was Ron) he wanted to make sure that no one could make sure he couldn't 'finish the job' when it came to MS combat. He pictured a few avoidable battles in SEED and SEED Destiny that could've been avoided or at least postponed for a short time had Kira just killed the pilots of the Mobile Suits he fought against.
The debacle over Mendel Colony was one such event. Kira rescuing the Eternal directly led to ZAFT tracking them to Mendel thanks to recovering the pilots from the disabled GINNs. That led to the Freedom getting its' ass kicked and OMNI Enforcer getting Neutron Jammer Cancelers. Sure, that last point was inevitable and everyone knew it, but they could've delayed it by a few days, if not months. Then there was Operation Angel Down. If Kira just killed Shinn, that whole thing would've ended differently. But Ron had no such issues. And if he could do something about that, he would.
Outside the Dagger, close by, Jessica looked at her team as they finally finished up resupplying their tanks. "All right. That's that," Vanessa said as she wiped her hands on her pants.
"Good," Jessica said. "Anyone have anything else to say?"
Steven just shrugged as he leaned against his tank. "I don't know if this is even practical, but don't you think we should ask Jordan if we can provide him with armored support?"
"Why would you even ask that to begin with?" Ben asked incredulously.
"Steven's got a point," Tony noted. He shrugged his shoulders and ran a hand through his hair. "I mean, Mobile Suits are good and all, but sometimes you need armored support, Ben. And tanks can get into places that Mobile Suits can't. Plus, when used in cities with debris and stuff lining the streets, it makes the tanks even more effective. Remember World War II when Germany was bombed and the Germans took advantage of the ruins to hold out."
"I know that!" Ben snapped.
"Enough," Vanessa said. "I know what you're saying, but Ben also has a point. We may need to act only if we have our own support of a Mobile Suit or in this case, a Gundam like Jordan's."
"Okay. But it still comes down to the question. Can we provide armored support?" Steven noted.
"I agree," Jessica said. "And that's what we're gonna ask him. It'll be a win-win for both of us. We provide armored support and his team protects us if we need it or are ambushed."
Steven and the others nodded. "All right," Tony said. "I'll go ask."
He stood up and walked over to where the Schwartz Calamity was parked. Jordan was outside the cockpit working on one of the legs.
"Hey, Jordan!" Tony called. "I got a question for you!"
"What?" He asked without looking in their direction, his attention focused entirely on the Schwarze and it's maintenance.
"We were wondering if you'd be needing any armored support during the coming battles!" Tony shouted.
"Possibly," Jordan said. "Though I doubt you guys will be getting many CQC matches like your last fight - you guys will be pretty much fucked if you end up going against more advanced and flight capable MS. The best you guys could do is provide long-range fire support, setting ambushes and such. Leave the heavy Anti-MS fighting to us."
"We understand that. And we're aware that we could get taken out," Tony explained. "But still, we feel that we can do so much more when it comes to fighting in the cities where an MS can't fight in close quarters. And if I'm right, we may be fighting in such a situation at some point in the future."
"Go Igloo if you want to keep fighting with those tanks, Titanic!" She looked up to spot Ron hanging out of the Dagger's cockpit.
"I know what you mean, Ron!" she shouted back. "But to be honest, sometimes nothing can beat a tank in urban warfare! Mobile Suits can move in a city, true, but can they fit inside spaces that are small?"
"Tell that to Packard! He fucked everything up!" That was a reference to Norris Packard, the badass Gouf Custom pilot from The 08th MS Team, who destroyed several Guntanks, very distant relatives of the Abrams, during one of the final episodes. Of course, he was trying to AVOID a direct reference: they weren't exactly alone.
"Not like what we know!" Jessica snapped. "In fact, we did just that as we fled from Aberdeen! We managed to defeat a Long Dagger in what was once Denver, and even though we did sustain some damage, we took it down. The whole city was a major war zone, and the Dagger was attacking any survivors. We saved them and they fled to the mountains. Steven's tank lost a track and got a mangled machine gun barrel, but we fixed it as we stopped over at an old Army base."
"And HOW many tanks does the US Army have left, hmm? You're not going to have a choice soon. And it's adapt or die."
"We know that!" Steven shot back. "Why do you think we're going to help?!" He stepped closer to Ron's Dagger. "The truth of the matter is, though, that this is all we know how to drive at the moment! None of us here can pilot an MS, and even if we did have extras, we wouldn't know how to pilot them. Tank driving is much easier, and we can snipe at enemy Mobile Suits from long range with these things! I have to agree, but we're just stuck with no other choice right now! And that means we'll find ways to adapt on our own, even if it means modding the tanks we have."
"As for how many we have left, I can guess that we only have about maybe fifty or so left if the wreckage is anything to go by," Ben muttered. "That's not much, but at least it's a start."
"Then you can take the fucking Leopards," Ron said.
"Huh?" Tony looked over. "Why? Those are yours."
"No, the Daggers are mine. The tanks belong to the Canadian Armed Forces. You're just borrowing them. Besides, I'm sticking with the Archangel, and a tank is zero help in space warfare."
"Any extra help we could use, Tony," Jessica said. "And he's right. They do belong to the Canadians. And if we can't fight in space in our tanks, maybe we can act as fire support with the ship's guns."
"Right. We'll be sticking around as well, but we'll help in other ways," Steven added.
Tony nodded. "All right."
"Just don't do anything overly stupid. If you do… well, we'll be feeding the space vultures." Ron rappelled down using the zipline. "I'll be helping Dylan and Tanner if you need me."
Jessica and her team nodded. If anything, though, they would not mess anything up. They were determined to prevent that.
In the 105 Dagger that belonged to D.J., said pilot sighed as he listened to the conversation between Ron and Jessica's team. Truth to be told, he didn't care if any of them wanted to use either mobile suits, armours, tanks, or fighters. If it has a gun and can launch missiles, that was fine in his book. Of course, he knew Ron was right about tanks being useless in space, but they were still useful on the ground as they can troll the AF MS teams and make good decoys.
Jordan meanwhile was working on the Schwarze Calamity, as he was now working on the Calamity Packs it possessed, namely the Aile and Sword packs. When he looked through the technical specifications of the Calamity - as well as the other captured mobile suits, he discovered something about their beam weapons - namely their beam sabers and all bladed beam weaponry. Unlike in other Universes where Beam Sabers could collide with others, Cosmic Era beam tech had no repelling factor, meaning that two beams intercepting would just phase through one another.
This actually answered why during SEED Destiny, when Shinn and Athrun fought in the Destiny and Infinite Justice Gundams, why Athrun was able to slice clean through the Destiny's Arondight beam sword in the final battle - there was not repelling factor in either beams.
Hence why Jordan was working on fixing that error in their own Mobile Suits. It was surprisingly a simple correction in the particle output of the beam sabers and beam swords, which he managed to figure out with some help from Kira Yamato and the engineers of the Archangel, and the refits were quickly being applied to all Mobile Suits they had in their arsenal. Now, their Beam Sabers should be capable of intercepting EA Beam Sabers.
Aside from that though, his machine just needed a handful of other refits he saw fit, namely a slight change to the "Schwert Gewehr" Anti-Ship swords where - in addition to refitting the beams - altered a small flat area near the top of the sword where - if it hit an enemy Mobile Suit - would just bounce off doing no damage. He was told it was a weight, similar to how and why Helicopter rotor blades have something similar to keep them balanced and not flying all over the place.
Thankfully however it was a simple fix, as the area was flattened into an edge, and became a bit more like the Excalibur anti-ship swords of the Sword Impulse, also being capable of projecting the beam to surround not just the side, but also the full tip of the blade as well. He was also able to redevelop the hilts of the two Anti-Ship swords so they could connect into a double-bladed form - much like the Impulse Gundam could.
With those small edits, Jordan was far more confident with the capabilities of their Mobile Suits, since they now had a few advantages that the EA didn't have for the coming battle. Jordan was finding that he had an amazing knack at maintaining Mobile Suits, over the weeks he's worked with salvaged wrecks of EA machines, as well as fooling around salvaged MS Computers, so he was able to learn the insides and outs of Mobile Suits, however now that he had working and functioning models, he could do all sorts of things with them now. What time he wasn't spending with the rest of BSF or the Archangel crew he was spending working on the Schwarze Calamity and the other machines they had.
He said it's because he felt like 'this is where I belong', which had most of the others confused as to what he meant by that. However, the only one who got what he meant, was D.J.
The two were also working on kinks in the Strike E's design schematics, including the Noir Striker's beam swords, modifying them the same as the Schwarze Calamity. For Jorn, it was an opportunity to make one of the most popular Gundams from the SEED universe more deadly.
"Man, you and Kira are exactly alike," a voice said, and Jorn blinked as he looked up and spotted Chief Murdoch, with a bit of an amused smirk. "Back when he piloted the Strike, he'd spend a lot of his time working on its OS, working out kinks and allowing it to work properly… you just take it a step further and make the Mobile Suit itself better."
Jordan chuckled a bit, as he scratched the back of his head. "What can I say? I love working on stuff like these," he said, as he turned away from the Schwarze Calamity for a moment. "Since I was a kid, I loved robotics. I grew up watching shows like Megas XLR, Megaman, MechWarrior, Steel Battalion, Code Geass, Vandread… I love the idea behind massive machines fighting, and helping humans." He looked up at the Schwarze Gundam's face. "Technology was improving before this big universal merge happened… to the point where we could've had them… but I always thought the idea of piloting giant mecha was a thing of imagination and science fiction…"
He smiled. "But now… it's real," he said. "It's all real… Giant Robots, or as you call them, Mobile Suits… they're simply amazing. It's like a dream come true… granted, I wished my dreams coming true didn't involve all this damn chaos going on around the world, but… you take what you can. When I piloted the Schwarze here… I never felt so alive in my entire life, that thrill I got when in the middle of fighting, added to the awe of piloting such a magnificent machine. Mobile Suits are the future, the future of not just warfare, but for everything. Combat is just scratching the surface of what machines like these can do." He then chuckled a bit as he patted the armor of the Schwarze. "Ain't that right, Calamity?"
Murdoch could only look at, what he can describe, as a major mecha otaku. Unlike Kira who hated the very idea of piloting Mobile suits, THIS kid was different.
His thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of the 105 Dagger pilot - D.J. if he remembered his name - come up to them.
"Say Chief, does this ship have a paint shop here or something?" he asked. "I'm only asking because I need to repaint my 105 to avoid... friendly fire."
"Sure, plenty of it!" Chief said, pointing in one direction. "It's one of the few things we have a surplus of since we left Heliopolis, pick your colors."
"Yeah, good idea Patriot," Jordan said, nodding. "I heard the General had the Captured machines do the same - their repainting them in MARPAT and Camo color schemes though, not much for creativity."
"Could be worse. According to Mr. Jackass over there-" Murdock hooked a thumb at Ron, who was helping Dylan with his Sword Dagger. "He's not going to even bother repainting his Mobile Suit."
"Then he better hope his IFF keeps us from shooting at him by accident," Jordan said shrugging, "Though I can't blame him, since I ain't painting mine - Calamity is already in my favorite colors: Black, Red and Gold."
Ron then approached the trio. "I don't believe this," he muttered, causing the others to look at him.
"What?" D.J. asked.
"Dylan's Dagger's going to need a pair of extra beam sabers," he said. "Same with mine and Tanner's. Might as well have unit commonality."
"Where the hell are you going to mount them, huh?" Murdock asked, before Ron pointed at his forearm.
"There," he said. "On the Dagger's forearms. Nice way to surprise someone and I doubt anyone's going to be able to disarm our Suits that easily if those sabers are properly mounted."
Jordan looked at the Daggers, before he shrugged. "I think I could pull it off," he said. "Just give me a while and we'll see if we can mount them on. We've got plenty of spare parts from salvaged units we've destroyed over the week, so parts aren't a problem. I've got plans to make an upgraded version of the Strike Daggers for US Military use exclusively."
"Don't count on it," Ron said. "OMNI Enforcer, contrary to popular belief, isn't stupid. They'll take a few looks at those 'custom' Daggers and copy them. It's happened throughout history and it's never going to stop."
"Yeah, but it will take them time to make them," Jordan said, "Plus the upgrades I have in mind are pretty minor, just using the tech behind Strike and 105 Daggers. Add an additional Head Vulcan, an extra beam saber, give it those anti-armor knives like the ones Schwarze and the Strike have, as well as giving it more weapon choices like the Strike's Bazooka, Grand Slam Sword, and such. May make it so they can use individual weapons from Striker Packs as well without needing to mount the whole unit, like the Agni Cannon and Schwert Gewehr Sword. I'll just call it the Strike Dagger Kai or something like that."
"Well, in regards to OMNI not being stupid, to be honest we were caught off guard after we encountered a Long Dagger back in Denver. We bugged out due to thick smoke released by the fires raging in the city," Jessica said. "That pilot nearly wiped us out if not for the fires."
"Like I said, they're not stupid," Ron said, nodding. "They just have political leaders that are stupid. Like ZAFT."
Murdock glanced at Ron. "Wait, how do you know about ZAFT?" he asked a bit suspiciously.
"That plane I hijacked was at a base," Ron said shrugging while completely lying through his teeth. "I looked at the reports and memorized them."
"Similar story here," Jordan said. "Me and D.J. learned some bits about ZAFT through interrogated EA Soldiers and data we captured from raids on their camps and such." He leaned back. "It's all stupid… you're at war with these guys, just because they have altered genes? That's fucking stupid! It's like going to war with someone because they have a different language than you!"
Jessica nodded. "I know. I mean, you're all human, right? So why does the AF and EA hate them so much? All because their parents wanted to give them a better chance at life?" She shook her head. "Those bastards behind this need to grow up and have some sense beaten into their thick skulls."
Murdock sighed. "I'd agree with you on that…" he said. "Blue Cosmos is mostly to blame for that, they used to be a simple environmentalist group… then George Glenn, the first coordinator, admitted to the world what he was, and next thing you know they're a political terrorist organization who want Coordinators purged for their 'Blue and Pure world'."
"And that's why they need to get some sense beaten into their pea-sized brains," Jessica said as she leaned back against her tank. "Either that or they need to just get to know one of these…Coordinators? Then maybe they'll see that they're human beings despite their altered genes. They are far from space monsters."
"'For every Julian Bashir, there is a Khan Noonian Singh waiting in the wings'," Ron said, as he shook his head, partly quoting a line from Star Trek. "To be frank, I understand their fear. But there is such a thing as 'leave them alone, they won't bother you'."
Steven nodded. "We know. Coordinators… are human too, right? I mean, come on!" He threw his hands up. "It's just plain senseless in my opinion!"
"I agree," Vanessa added. "But we have to figure out what our next option is if we're to try and find some way to get back home. Or at least do something to try and end this."
Ben placed a hand on his head. "But how? That's where we're all stuck. And to be honest, they're right on something. OMNI isn't stupid. We need to think this through and find a way to outsmart them at their own game."
"The easiest option is to end the war between the Alliance and ZAFT." Ron said, "End that, then we'll have only two problems to deal with: killing those Blue Cosmos motherfuckers and sending you all back where you belong. Because honestly, you don't belong in OUR universe."
Jessica looked at Ron. "Wait! Are you trying to say we can't be of use?!" she snapped, getting to her feet in a flash. "Or are you talking about these guys?" She waved an arm at the Archangel crew.
Ron glared at her, anger seeping through his voice. "Use your head," he said. "The second they got here, the already politically and ethnically unstable planet was thrown into chaos. If we send them back, we'll get as close to back to normal as we can get."
Jessica relaxed. "Oh. Got it. Sorry." She rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "I just want to end this as soon as possible, and I kind of lost it for a moment."
"I doubt we can so easily go back to normal after this, Ron," Jordan said. "Our worlds have already merged… as impossible as the initial merge should be, I doubt that separating out worlds will be just as easy. Plus… if we can deal with Blue Cosmos, the Atlantic Federation, and this Earth Alliance… maybe they won't have to go."
D.J. nodded in agreement. "Plus, this 'Merge of the Worlds' did help in a few things…" he said, and the others looked at him in confusion.
"Like what?" Ben said, and they could see the small smirk on his face.
"Well, it got rid of the current Administration running this country," he said, and then listed off a few other things. "It will also give the U.S. access to technology we don't have, be a wakeup call for those idiot politicians, and plus, even though it's ironic, no more stupid Gun Control Laws."
"I can understand the first two, but gun control laws? Seriously? With all this going on?" Jessica asked. "First things first. We take care of matters relating to the war, then we can focus on getting the US back on track and back to what it used to be before the Merge." Then she shrugged. "Or at least as close as it can get."
"I actually like the idea of the Atlantic Federation," Ron said. "Besides, unless you've forgotten, the US has gotten itself into things it had no right to far too many times. Get rid of any corporate and religious influence, and you're getting better, but eventually, someone's going to get the idea that 'America's number one' when it really isn't. I don't mourn the loss of either Canada OR the United States. I just wish it DIDN'T have to involve massive numbers of civilian casualties."
"I agree, but only if the Atlantic Federation is not a bunch of racist, imperialist bastards!" Tony hissed. "That is going way too far in my book!"
"Hence, killing Blue Cosmos and their backers." Ron said, "Get rid of them, you solve one of two problems."
"Or at least stall it," Ben muttered. "Blue Cosmos needs to be eradicated, meaning we have to terminate all and any remnants that could remain in the aftermath. That means we have to show people the end results of what could happen." He looked Ron dead in the eyes. "We have to show what Blue Cosmos does...if we can figure out what they're up to."
Tony's eyes hardened. "I know this may sound crazy, but I got a weird feeling from one of the pilots back during that raid. And… it seemed to me like…" He placed a hand to his head. "There was something wrong with that man. He… I could… sense… something off… And…" He removed his hand. "I think that that pilot was someone's child once."
Jessica and her team knew what he meant, even if he didn't outright say it. Vanessa gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. "We need to stop these guys!" she muttered.
"Way ahead of you," Ben muttered as he rolled his eyes.
"And we'll get to that," Jessica said. "But right now, we need to think about what our next move should be."
Everyone nodded at that.
"My God, I'm dealing with anime characters with self-inflated egos." Ron groaned "I'll go to the bridge and deal with the crew up there: maybe I'll find someone LESS dramatic."
Jessica and the team tensed, but let it slide. They had their own problems to worry about.
"Just for the record, we're just as real as you are, Ron," Tony muttered as he walked past them.
"Then SPEAK like you are," Ron shouted back as he walked toward the hatch and left the hanger.
Tony gritted his teeth, but let it slide. However, he knew he was right. They had to start thinking more realistically. But that didn't explain that odd feeling he had gotten from the Extended. It was almost like he had… an extra sense, so to speak.
That sense would prove to be invaluable later on in the war.
"Now that we have that out of the way," D.J. said, and turned back to Murdock. "What paint spray machines you got? Hand-held, or otherwise?"
Murdock grinned. "Follow me and see for yourselves," he said, and led D.J. and the other MS pilots away.
Meanwhile
Near the California/Nevada Border
The Refugee Convoy from Colorado was entering the final stretch of its push to the Sierra Nevadas, with Takeshi's Sword/Aile Dagger in the lead. They'd left Nellis AFB about six hours ago, and were getting close to the outer perimeters of the main US Military Encampment.
There hadn't been much in the way of combat so far, which had given Takeshi more time to tweak the OS and some of the other settings. He did have a little help - one of the other Refugees in the convoy was not only a Gundam Fan, but a Physics Major, so she was helping figure out just how everything worked and was supposed to work.
And two hours previously, they'd found the same problem Jordan had with the Beam Sabers and Anti-Ship Sword, and were working together in the cockpit to fix the problem, even as they were moving.
"I will admit it explains why Beam Sabers were always blocked with shields in SEED and SEED Destiny," Takeshi remarked as he tweaked the settings on the Beam Sabers, having already modified the Schwert Gewehr, "but seriously, how in the world did CE MS Designers manage to avoid putting a repelling factor into their Bladed Beam Weaponry? It seems like it'd be a very simple feature to add."
"It could be to time limitations," a feminine voice stated from behind him. "They may have cut back on some features in order to get their units into combat quicker, plus, what is the natural reaction when you see a sword coming at you?"
"Either get out of the way, or block it with a shield," Takeshi replied. "Still, if you can't get out of the way and don't have a shield, your next instinct is to reach for a weapon of some kind to use instead - and if you use a sword, you can turn your block into a counterattack with proper technique, though with energy blades you need some kind of repelling factor to make sure that works."
"And if you use these blades against the right opponent, then they would be caught off guard when the beams don't repel one another, although any pilot worth their salt would be aware of it," the woman informed. "Still, could be a useful trick when needed."
"Maybe," Takeshi admitted. "Still, I like having options." He finished his typing, then leaned back slightly. "OK, I've modified the Sabers to match the settings we gave the Schwert Gewehr. This should give the blades the necessary repelling factor. Thanks for the help figuring out the proper settings, Linda."
"Not a problem," Linda McTavish informed from behind him, her ocean blue eyes matching the grin on her face as she tucked a strand of her fire red hair behind an ear, she was wearing a simple tank top blue jean combo with a longsleeve shirt wrapped around her waist. "At least I'm actually able to put those ten years in university to use in something other than theory."
"Yeah, I know," Takeshi replied. "I spent over six years at Arapahoe Community College, learning how to write programming code as part of their Game Design and Development Degree Program." He chuckled. "Never thought that I'd be able to put that to use in working on a Mobile Suit's OS, but the code the AF was using almost reads like Javascript."
"Hah, tell me about it, but some of the vectors just made no sense whatsoever…" she muttered, more to herself than to Takeshi. "I don't think the guys who did the programming had the proper training."
"Probably," Takeshi replied. "Well, no use worrying about it - and any flaws as a result of their lack of program training will only help us out in the end." He frowned. "I'll do my part to ensure that no one else has to lose their family at the hands of the AF and their Blue Cosmos masters, like I did."
Linda placed a hand on Takeshi's shoulder, as a fire of determination burned in her eyes.
"We'll get them for what they did, Takeshi," she said. "For everyone they killed."
"Yeah," Takeshi replied, determination burning in his eyes, too. "No matter how long it takes, Blue Cosmos is going down."
"Agreed," Linda affirmed lightly, hitting his shoulder with her fist. "When everything went to shit, goddamn, we had to sacrifice a lot of people to ensure they didn't find us at Nellis..."
"Yeah, I remember we didn't find you until an hour or so before we left," Takeshi remarked. "How long had you been hiding out in that bunker, anyway?"
"Only seven days, although… it felt like years, trapped underground, not even half of the foragers and scavengers returning with supplies…they were told that if they even suspected of being tailed, we couldn't return to the base, just so that we could remain safe…"
"That had to have been rough, even if it wasn't that long," Takeshi remarked. "Glad we managed to find you, and that you agreed to join us." He then looked up at her and smiled. "And thanks again for the help on this thing."
"Glad to help," Linda assured. "At least it gets me away from the lab for a bit, I swear, some of those calculations the scientists are coming up with to try and explain what happened are giving me a headache… not to mention their rants…"
"Ouch," Takeshi muttered. "That's gotta be a pain…" Suddenly, there was a beeping from one of the monitors, causing Takeshi to take a look. "We're getting close to the location the forces in the Sierra Nevadas gave as their base," he informed, even as he brought his Dagger down into a kneeling position. "Probably a good idea for you to get out of here - yes, we can squeeze you behind me here in the cockpit if we need to, but if we run into a combat situation, I doubt it'd be too comfortable, practical, or safe for you to be back there."
Linda snorted in agreement. "Yeah, I'd rather not get knocks to the head," she informed as she squeezed around his chair to exit the cockpit. "After all, if every mobile suit is like this then we need all hands on deck to complete the algorithms."
"Yeah," Takeshi said as he opened the cockpit hatch, allowing Linda to step out and onto the machine's hand which he had positioned as a platform for her. "Once we link up with the forces ahead of us, and deal with whatever assault they seem to be sending our way, maybe we can chat some more - share stories about our lives before this mess happened, that sort of thing."
"Sounds good," she agreed, sending an easy smile at him. "I'll make sure to hold you to it."
Takeshi smiled back, mentally wondering why her smile caused his chest to tighten slightly, before manipulating the controls and gently lowering the hand with Linda on it to the ground.
Linda waved as she hopped off, before heading off towards the 'lab trucks' where all of the scientists and researchers that they had gathered were situated.
Takeshi closed the hatch, brought his machine to standing once more, and started forward again.
They had no idea when the AF would strike the Sierra Nevada forces again, so the sooner they got there, the better.
Meanwhile - San Joaquin Pocket
US Military HQ
Jordan, D.J., and Ron had been called by General Toolan to meet with him about something urgent, saying that they had some 'unexpected visitors' while they were away. Deciding to investigate, the three did as the General requested as they headed to the HQ of the US Forces were.
The three passed through a set of doors in the base, where they soon found the Lieutenant General himself along with a few of his guards, however they were not the only ones inside as there were also three figures also in the room - two men and a woman with an eyepatch, wearing black and purple ZAFT Normal Suits. Upon seeing them, the three immediately recognized them as the Tri-Star team from SEED Destiny, but they hid their surprise well.
"Well, when the fuck did the pirates get here?" Ron asked, as everyone looked at him as if he had grown a second head.
"Do you ALWAYS swear?" D.J. asked.
"When you have to deal with idiots back home, you'll quickly realize that normal words are useless when trying to get through someone's head," Ron said.
Hilda chuckled at his excuse. "Still, pirates?" she asked. "What gave you THAT impression?"
He pointed at her eyepatch. "THAT'S why," he said. "Besides, I thought a joke would break the ice."
Jordan sighed as he shook his head, before turning to the General. "Sir, who are they?" He asked, while he knew exactly who they were, he had to fake ignorance at the moment.
"These three…" the General said, gesturing to them, "claim they are from the Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty, that ZAFT group that we've been hearing about from EA prisoners since day one. They call themselves the Tri-star Team."
D.J. nodded as he looked at the group. "I can assume you're the 'space monsters' that these EA fuck heads are talking about." he said, acting like he didn't know.
Hilda sighed at that. "Unfortunately… yes," she said. "As long as none of you pull a…"
Ron took in a deep breath. "KHAN!" he shouted in a loud voice. "We'll be perfectly fine."
Jordan and D.J. looked at Ron weirdly once again.
"That sounded a lot like William Shatner," Jordan said blinking.
Ron shrugged "Don't know how, but I can change the pitch of my voice from a normal male one…" He said as he smiled for a moment before continuing in a different voice. "Or a schoolgirl's to just about anyone's. Been able to since I was 7."
Everyone gave him a deadpanned look.
"Please don't…" they all said at the same time, before D.J. blinked.
"Wait a minute, any voice?" he asked and Ron looked at him. "Maybe," he said. "I don't do it that often and I'd need to hear the voice a few times before I can try copying it."
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a candy. "Anyone want a Campino?" he asked. "Managed to get a few hundred packages out of Thunder Bay before the bastards caught up with us."
Hilda raised her hand and Ron tossed her a peach one before pulling another one out of his pocket. "Still, I can understand why they hate you: stronger, faster, smarter," he listed them off. "If I were in charge of the whole thing, I'd just get rid of the genes that cause diseases like cancer or AIDS and mental disorders like Asperger's Syndrome. But that's what ifs."
"I got no problems with it, honestly," Jordan said shrugging. "You look human, act human, have the same DNA as a human even if it's enhanced a bit, so you're still human in my books."
D.J. nodded in agreement. "I was raised Catholic, but, I was taught to accept anyone, no matter what their race, creed, religion, atheism, or genetics," he said. "Of course, I will never accept racists, fascists, or any other asshole dictator."
"And, then we get to the thousand dollar question," Jordan said. "Exactly why are you three here? No offense, we could use all the help we can with the AF all around us, but why are you here in the first place?"
The three looked at each other before Hilda sighed.
"We were not sent here officially, perse," she said honestly. "Things up at the PLANTs had taken a turn for the worst."
"Operation Valkyrie, I presume?" Ron asked suddenly, and the three ZAFT pilots blinked in confusion. "What?" Mars asked.
"The July '44 bomb plot against Adolf Hitler," Ron said, rolling his eyes. "Did you even BOTHER studying military history?"
"Fuck you, buddy!"
"Sorry, you're not my type."
Hilda raised a hand to end the argument before it could result in gunshots. And since Ron's hand was reaching for his Browning HP, it was going that way. "We don't work for ZAFT directly," she said. "We support someone by the name of Lacus Clyne."
Ron fought hard not to scowl at the mention of her name. He believed Lacus was naive and stupid, and the many, many choices she made supported that belief. From stealing the Eternal to flying the Infinite Justice down to Earth during the battle for Orb in Destiny, there were at least a dozen ways she could've got herself killed. Still, he held his tongue.
Jordan however mentally smiled, knowing that they may have support from Lacus. Opposed to Ron's beliefs, Jordan saw Lacus as something of a Cosmic Era equivalent to Leia or Padme from Star Wars. Sure there were a few things she could've done differently, but in the end things turned out alright for the most part. Though he knew things would have to change now with their worlds together as one.
"I'm hoping that Miss Clyne is wishing to help us?" The General asked.
"We were sent simply to find out what was happening here on Earth," Hilda said, before she sighed/ "We didn't think it would be this complicated though… I mean… two worlds merging together? Are you shitting me?"
"Confused the hell out of us too," Jordan said, shaking his head. "But it's the only thing that makes sense… But right now, we just gotta learn to deal with it, and move on. And to kick the Atlantic Federation in the ass for everything they've done to us." He then crossed his arms over his chest. "But what will you do now?"
"Well," Hilda said, "There is no way we're going back up to space for a while… and either way, the Atlantic Federation and Earth Forces are our common enemy… and I doubt we'd be able to punch through the AF lines on our own. So it looks like we'll be sticking with you for a while… you look like you could use the help anyways. Hopefully we can get a message to the rest of the Clyne Faction, and get some extra help down here."
"And how do you propose we do that?" D.J. said. "Most of our communications are caput, and the majority of our forces are in the southern part of the Country. Not to mention the other nations are in total shit themselves."
"Like I said earlier, if we end their war, we can end this one soon after," Ron said. "And maybe try and reverse this whole trans-universal crap after that's done. They don't belong here any more then we belong there."
"That seems a little too simple." Hilda said.
"Sometimes, lady, the best solutions are the simple ones," Ron retorted.
"Sometimes, but not all the time," Jordan said. "Too much has changed for things to simply go back to normal if we found a way to do that. The best thing we can do now is learn to just deal with the fact our two worlds are merged permanently, and hope that we can find a way to live together." He sighed. "But right now, that's the least of our-"
Before he could finish however, a soldier ran into the room. "General, sir!" he shouted with a quick salute. "We have a problem!"
"Report, what is it?" The General asked.
"We're picking up a lot of AF Radio Chatter," The soldier said, "And scouts are reporting a large mobilization of AF Forces, we think they're about to attack!"
The others eyes widened as the General cursed. "Damn, I hoped we'd have more time..." he said. "Get the forces on alert, and man the defensive positions! Get everyone with two arms, two legs and a gun ready to fight, and get our Mobile Suits ready to prepare for the defenses!"
The soldier nodded with a salute before he ran back out the door.
"Well," Jordan said. "There goes the calm before the storm. we'd best get back to our machines and get ready for a fight." He turned to Hilda. "I suggest you head to your machines as well, ma'am," he said. "We're gonna need every experienced pilot we can round up to pull this defense off."
Hilda just smirked. "Hey, the AF is your enemy as it is ours," she said, as she and the other Tri-Stars stood up. "Lead the way."
Meanwhile - Near Nevada/California Border
Takeshi had put his Dagger into a run, not wanting to waste power with the vernier thrusters if he could help it - using the verniers might get him to the destination faster, but he figured he would need all the power he could get once he got into the battle.
As soon as they'd picked up the increased radio chatter, the Colonel in charge of the convoy had ordered them to double-time it, to try and get to the fight in time to make a difference. Takeshi was in the lead, outpacing the tanks and remaining aircraft that were following him in, while a few tanks and AA Vehicles remained behind to cover the Passenger and Lab Trucks, which were bringing up the rear.
'I hope we can make it in time,' he thought. 'The forces we're linking up with have probably managed to steal their own MS by now, too, but they'll need all the help they can get.'
"Hey Takeshi! We got a problem!" said one of the National Guardsmen in one of the tanks. "I just got more chatter on the horn! It appears the AF is about to launch their attack any minute!"
"Dammit!" Takeshi swore. "We need to get there now! Everyone, double-time it!" He then switched to the channel with the Colonel's personal tank. "Colonel, if you haven't gotten in touch with the forces we're linking up with recently, you might want to - let them know we're almost there!"
"I already did!" the colonel said. "But I doubt the Atlantic Federation will be as patient! We are moving as fast as we can!"
"Roger that!" Takeshi reported. "I'll see what I can do to get there faster. Here's hoping we make it in time!"
Meanwhile - With Athrun & Sergeant Baker
"Everyone down!" Sergeant Baker shouted as the vehicles he lead took cover behind what foliage they could find, and the Justice and four GuAIZ's also crouched down low to avoid being spotted. Soaring overhead were several squadrons of Atlantic Federation F-7D Spearhead Fighters, and Transport Planes soared overhead in formation.
"Ho-ly shit…" Collins muttered on their private comm they had set up. "That is a LOT of planes…"
Baker's eyes narrowed as he looked at them all. "They're heading towards the base…" he muttered. "We don't have much time left, we need to double time it!"
"Hang on, three more contacts," Franz said. "Wait… are those G-Weapons?"
Athrun blinked in surprise as he looked up at the formation - and sure enough there were three machines which bore a strong resemblance to the original G-Weapons at Heliopolis, however they each appeared very different all the same. One was colored Teal blue with orange trimming with large cannons aligned across it. It was riding on top of a second G-Weapon which was shaped like a bird, colored black and red. And then there was a third, with a large backpack and armed with what looked like several cannons and a massive scythe blade in its hands. All of them keeping up with the formation of AF forces in the air.
"I don't like this…" Baker said on the radio. "We need to double-time it back there! They're gonna need all the help they can get against these guys!"
Athrun nodded as the AF aircraft finally passed over them with the Mobile Suits, before the American and ZAFT forces came out of their cover and continued their path back to base - much more quickly now.
Meanwhile - Back at San Joaquin Pocket
Archangel Hangar
Jordan quickly hopped into the cockpit of the Schwarze Calamity once again, as he put the Gundam through its startup sequence again. He was offered a Normal Suit from the Archangel, however he saw little point in wearing one while in atmosphere, since they had none of the armored variants that could actually protect him from shrapnel. "Patriot, you ready to go?" he asked as the Calamity's eyes flashed to life.
"Ready! Man! Murdock and his boys did a good job," he said, referring to the new paint job his 105 Dagger now had: dark tan limbs, green torso, shoulders, and head, with hints of dark brown and dark grey in some areas. "It will help keeping my Dagger hidden more."
"Good," Jordan said as the Mobile Suits in the Archangel's hangar began to move, the first machines to be launched being the Freedom and the Strike. "Jessica, I want you and your team to keep a fair distance from the EA Forces," he said. "Your tanks are good, but they're useless if we end up fighting Phase-shift equipped mobile suits. Just keep your distance, and focus on fighting Daggers."
"Got it!" Jessica said. She turned to her team and nodded. "Alright, everyone! Mount up! We're rolling out!"
Her team nodded and hopped into their vehicles. Once on board, Jessica checked over all the systems and keyed the comm. "Tank 1, ready!"
"Tank 2, good to go!" Tony said.
"Tank 3, all systems green!" Steven added.
"Tank 4 is set!" Vanessa chimed.
"Tank 5, all prepared," Ben remarked.
"All tanks set, Jordan!" Jessica reported. "Just waiting for the order."
Jordan nodded, as the Freedom launched from the Archangel, along with the Strike Gundam armed with the Perfect Strike Pack. Next listed to launch was Jordan and D.J in their respective Mobile Suits, as he headed towards the port launch bay, while D.J entered the starboard one.
As the doors shut behind him, Jordan quickly selected the Aile Calamity Pack onto the Schwarze, which was very similar to the Strike's only configured to operate for the Calamity. It had the same loadout including two Beam Sabers, and a 57mm High Energy Beam Rifle. However Jordan took one of the spare Combine Shields from the IWSP Striker Pack, and added it on in exchange for the normal shield it had.
D.J. requested the full IWSP Pack, as it attached the 105 Dagger's hardpoints.
"Schwarze Calamity and 105 Dagger, you're clear for take off!" said Miriallia as Jordan gripped the controls, cracking his neck a bit.
'Let's do this,' he thought to himself before he took a deep breath "Jordan Tackett, Schwarze Calamity Gundam, Let's Rock and Roll!" He shouted as he launched out of the Archangel, doing a short spin before he hit the thrusters of the Aile pack and quickly soared back into the air.
D.J Grinned a bit. "D.J Cobb, 105 Dagger, Moving out!" he shouted, as the 105 Dagger was next to launch up into the air, soon joining Jordan.
Following Jordan and D.J. into the catapult was Ron's more or less standard 105 Dagger, although he had opted to use the IWSP's Gatling shield rather than the standard one. In the cockpit, Ron downed a large amount of what appeared to be grape juice in a 2-liter Coke bottle before capping it. "105 Dagger-"
"Just send me out, damn it!" Ron shouted, as he wasn't one for fancy take-off lines. He had better things to worry about. The Dagger was launched out without too much warning, followed by Dylan and Tanner's 105s, which also carried an extra beam rifle.
The Daggers and Gundams took to the sky, as Cagalli in the Strike Rouge launched next, along with the Archangel's complement of Astrays soon moved towards the defensive lines where the U.S Forces were holding their positions.
While they moved out, Jordan mentally went over their defense plan once again. They had only so many Mobile Suits in their arsenal, and even with Jessica's team of M1A3s, what was left of their armored force would not stand a chance against AF Mobile Suits. And what few aircraft they had wouldn't stand a chance against them either.
Which was why, once again, they were using the terrain to their advantage. Most of their tanks and armor were situated in areas of good cover where the AF Forces couldn't see them, as were their infantry units who were equipped with whatever anti-tank & armor weapons they have. They had situated numerous anti-air positions as well to keep their F-7D's under control, but they could only be so effective.
Meanwhile, as for what few aircraft they had, pilots were being being armed mostly with Anti-Ground weapons, as they are told to focus on providing ground support, and to avoid dogfights with the F-7D's or engaging enemy Mobile Suits. Just to act as quick strike aircraft. While they did have a small squadron of Fighters armed with Anti-Air missiles, they were more or less intended to distract the Spearheads.
As for their new Mobile Suits, while they had modified their Beam Sabers already, it was highly advised to all pilots to avoid engaging in Close Combat with enemy mobile suits, and to engage them at range, as many were taking similar positions to the tanks - staying in cover to take the Earth Forces MS out by ambushes.
Those pulling the most close-up fighting would be the Astrays, the Strike, Strike Rouge, the Freedom, The Tri-Star's and Jordan, D.J., and Ron's team. Since they had the most experience with piloting mobile suits above them all. The Freedom would be capable of destroying most of the AF's Mobile Suits, being far superior than them all, and with Mu piloting the Perfect Strike, and the more advance and experience Astrays and GiNN HM Type II's providing support will go a long way in making sure they hold their defenses.
And of course, there was the Archangel, which was easily the most heavily armed and armored thing the U.S had going for them right now. With all of its firepower, they hope to use it to push the AF out of the pocket, long enough for their reinforcements to show up, and hit the AF From behind their lines.
"All teams, engage and destroy," Ron said on the comm. "We can't leave any of these mother - OH, SHIT."
BGM: 'Megalith Agnus Dei' Ace Combat 4 OST
If there was something they hadn't learned to hear from Ron, it was a sense of fear in his voice. If anything, he was calm, albeit angry for reasons they didn't know. "Three Mobile Suits, incoming!" Ron shouted before he spoke on the private comm channel made for D.J., Jordan, and Ron to use. "It's the fucking Druggies! Calamity, Forbidden, and Raider!"
"Shit! I didn't expect for us to face them this soon," D.J. growled. "We were lucky to avoid those other two in the depot, but now these guys…"
"Worry about the Butterfly Effect later!" Ron shouted "We don't stand a chance in HELL against them; not with these things! Leave them to the Freedom! We'll keep the cannon fodder off Kira's ass!"
Jordan nodded. "Right!" he said. "Let's hope Kira can handle them on his own… hopefully Mu will be able to keep at least one of them off him. If we do end up fighting one of them… just call for help from the others! Focus on the plan, people!"
After receiving acknowledgments from his friends the group continued their attack on the grunts, while the Freedom moved ahead and engaged the three GAT Gundams. Jordan himself went after a group of Strike Daggers who began to fire their beam rifles at him.
Ron, on the other hand, had a few other ideas. "Dylan, I want you to piss those fuckers off as much as you can," he said. "Tanner, give the Freedom support fire, but don't target the one with the scythe."
"Why not?"
"Geschmeidig Panzer: basically that son of a bitch can bend the beam so it can't hit." Ron answered. "The only thing that can actually hurt that fucker at range are BSG-caliber railgun rounds. And we don't have a Battlestar, do we?"
"Good point," Tanner said. "What about you?"
"Oh, I'll be pulling a Packard and killing the guys Dylan pisses off." Ron said with a smirk.
Jordan began his own fight the the group of three Strike Daggers which were fast approaching the defenses. 'Here it goes,' He thought as he drew out the Calamity's beam saber in his right hand, before raising the Combine Shield on his left arm, and fired away a few bursts from his 30mm Gatling Gun.
This got the attention of the Daggers as they turned and opened fire with their 57mm Beam Rifles, and Jordan maneuvered the Calamity around their shots, weaving through them as he fired bursts from his Gatling shield when he could, all while closing the distance.
One of the Strike Daggers decided to take it in Close, as he holstered its beam rifle and brought out its beam saber, and charged at the Schwarze Calamity. This caused Jordan to smirk a bit, as the EA pilot was in for a rude awakening about his beam sabers. He moved the Calamity to intercept, as their beam sabers approached one another. The EA pilot was obviously thinking their blades would just phase through one another, opening him up for a quick strike to the Calamity.
Imagine his surprise where their two Beams connected, and locked in place for a good few moments, before the superior repelling factor of the Calamity's beams actually forced the Strike Dagger's beam saber to short out, allowing him to just slice the Dagger across the middle, before jumping away as it exploded.
Jordan grinned as he held his Beam Saber in his machines hands, staring at the two remaining Strike Daggers, both pilots obviously stunned at what had just happened. "Yeah, didn't expect that, did ya?" He asked, "Bring it on!" he then charged forward once again, to finish off the two.
With D.J., he was facing a pair of Duel Daggers led by another 105 with a sword pack. He drew the anti-armor swords of the IWSP striker, as said pilot smirked.
"Okay, who dies first?" D.J. and the first to step up was the Sword 105 as it drew it's Schwert Gewehr and charged at him, "So predictable," he said as he blocked the large sword, the anti-beam coating on the blade preventing it from being cleaved in two. Then he used the second to strike out and eviscerate the enemy 105.
Meanwhile, Ron was doing exactly what he said he would be doing: using tactics Norris Packard used during his last battle with the 08th MS Team to tear the enemy units apart. Oh, Dylan got the lion's share of the danger, but Dylan prefered fighting in close quarters. Ron was more multirole, and the Aile Pack was a perfect balance of ranged and melee firepower. He would've preferred the Perfect Pack, but the Archangel only had the one at that moment in time.
And, true to form, he was trying to end it as quickly as possible by aiming for the cockpit and killing the pilots. This might've been frowned upon by some, but Ron saw it as denying the enemy important resources: in this case, trained MS pilots. Cruel, but such was war.
Meanwhile, Jordan had made quick work of the last two Strike Daggers he fought, as he proceeded to move towards his next target: The 105 Daggers armed with Launcher Strikers. He knew they needed to be taken out before they could open up on their positions again, and cause havoc for their forces. He sped towards where he saw five of these such units moving into position, escorted by a handful of Strike Daggers.
"Jessica," he said on his radio, "focus fire at Three-Zero-One East, Launchers and Daggers. Draw some of them off."
"Copy that! Firing at Three-Zero-One-East!" Jessica said, and a few moments later a salvo of 130mm shells impacted the area where the Launcher Daggers were moving, followed by another salvo of 90mm shells which managed to knock out one of the launchers. Before the Strike Daggers could move to intercept Jessica's tanks, they were already hauling ass out of there under cover of the trees.
Using the momentary distraction to his advantage, Jordan accelerated forward as he fired a long stream of 30mm rounds at the next Launcher Dagger, his rounds hitting the torso segment, ripping through the armor before the machine fell down, its pilot likely dead. Jordan then ignited the Combine Shield's Beam Boomerang, as he then tossed it at the third Dagger, the boomerang spinning forward, and slicing in half its Agni Cannon while it was in the middle of deploying it, and the boomerang turned around and returned to Jordan's grasp.
Before he could put the boomerang away, two of the remaining Strike Daggers tried to jump him from behind, however Jordan quickly responded using the Calamity's higher reaction time to spin around, as he intercepted the first Strike Dagger's beam saber with his shield, and the second he caught using the beam of his Beam Boomerang. The same results as before happened, as the second Dagger's beam saber shorted out, and Jordan stabbed him in the head of his Mobile Suit with the Boomerang, trailing it down as he sliced the machine in half down the middle. He then shoved the next dagger he held with his Shield away, before he tossed the boomerang towards it, not bothering to spin it to ensure the boomerang returned as it hit the area where the cockpit should of been.
His sensors went off, as he leaped the Schwarze Calamity back into the air, narrowly avoiding a salvo of 120mm Rounds and Gun Launcher shots from the remaining two Launcher Daggers, the first one raising its Agni as it tried to get a good lock on him. Rather than give him an easy Target, Jordan sped around, moving to flank the Daggers, using his superior speed to his advantage. The Launcher Dagger fired a few shots at him, but Jordan managed to avoid being hit.
Staying low to the ground, Jordan once again pulled out his 30mm Gatling shield, and opened fire at the second to last Launcher Dagger, his shots blasting off its head and right shoulder, therefore taking out its Weapons Pod, head vulcans, and its ability to use its own Agni Cannon. However the pilot was still stubborn as he used his remaining arm to draw out an ES01 Beam Saber, and charged at him.
However, Jordan just ducked his machine, slashing his own beam saber through his left arm effectively removing it, before he reached out, grabbed the second ES01 Beam Saber the Dagger still had attached to its hip armor, igniting it, and tossing it at the last Dagger, hitting it right in the Agni Cannon, causing the weapon to explode taking its left arm with it, before speeding forwards and removing its right arm as well.
With all of the launchers either destroyed or disarmed, leaving only the two remaining heavily damaged Daggers unable to fight, flew up into the air. "That should give you an excuse," he said to the EA pilots, "Now go home!" And with that he flew away, looking for his next set of targets.
"Launcher Daggers taken care of," he said. "They won't be bombarding us for a while now."
"Took care of a Sword Dagger and two Duel Daggers,"said Patriot. "Now heading for another group."
"I don't think those Daggers like the way Dylan and I are screwing with - FUCK!" That caused Drew to look over and spot the Raider fly over toward Ron's Aile Dagger, guns blazing. The MP MS fired its' beam rifle into the building it was standing on, collapsing it and sending Ron's machine downwards and out of the Raider's attacking arc. "Fucking Christ! I'm pinned! A little help would be nice!"
The Raider moved to attack once more, but before it could attack a voice cried out over loudspeakers, "WAIT!"
BGM: Machine Robo: Revenge of Chronos OST "Emissary of the Sky"
Literally everyone on the battlefield stopped what they were doing and swiveled to the source of the voice, where a lone Mobile Suit stood, cloaked in the shadow of trees that towered above it.
"In this world," the voice said, "those soldiers who fight under the command of genocidal racists, never questioning their orders no matter what civilian casualties occur as a result… those soldiers are called 'Fools'."
An AF Dagger Pilot, who had slightly more brains than the rest of his fellows (or at least enough to know that the mysterious voice was referring to them) shouted in reply, "Who the hell are you, calling us fools?!"
"YOU DO NOT DESERVE TO KNOW MY NAME!" the voice replied, seconds before the Mobile Suit leapt out of the shadows, revealing itself to be a '105' Dagger with the Aile and Sword Packs somehow mounted at the same time as it drew its Schwert Gewehr, and threw its Beam Boomerang at the Raider.
In the Aile Dagger's cockpit, Ron was facepalming. "Why do all the people that manage to hijack an MS do over dramatic speeches instead of JUST SHOOTING THEM?!" he asked. Maybe it was just him, but he liked practicality. And that guy had the element of surprise, so he could've killed the Raider. But NO, he had to make a speech instead. Still, that guy saved his life, and that was something he wasn't complaining about.
Off to the side, a few Strike Daggers were poking around in the woods to try and find whoever had shot at them. One of the pilots stuck his machine's head into the brush, only to come face-to-face with a pair of 90mm cannons aimed directly at his machine's head, the 130mm cannon of a tank aimed right at the torso. The pilot blanched as the guns roared, sending his machine flying back from the close impact before an explosion resonated as the shells detonated.
The tanks bailed out of there as fast as they could go, relying solely on their speed and the terrain to give them cover.
"Nice shot!" Tony said over the comm.
Steven grimaced. "Maybe a little too close for comfort though," he said.
"Heads up! Got more Strike Daggers firing close to our positions!" Vanessa warned.
"All tanks are to split up and launch hit and run attacks from the depths of the woods as far back as your main guns will allow you to fire from! Max range is needed, and stay in the woods unless you have no choice but to go out and cause chaos!" Jessica ordered.
"Right!" they all said.
Within minutes the tanks split up, vanishing in every which way possible while staying hidden.
Meanwhile, Jordan flew over the battlefield as he watched as the long awaited reinforcements from Takeshi's group finally arrived, as tanks, IFV's, APC's and infantry struck the AF's rear lines, while Takeshi battled it out with enemy Mobile Suits. 'It's about time you got here, Takeshi,' he thought with a smirk. 'Nice entrance, though.'
He began to make his way forward, but suddenly he felt… something, jolt in his head, followed by his warning alarms going off. "SHIT!" He shouted as he pulled back on the controls, as the Schwarze Calamity stopped right before a series of missiles, a beam and a Rail gun shot nearly hit him. He traced down the source, and groaned as he saw a very familiar looking Long Dagger in Fortresta Armor.
"You again…" he muttered. "How the hell did they manage to fix you so fast?"
Obviously, the enemy pilot didn't answer, as the enemy simply flared their thrusters and ascended to engage him, firing his beam rifle all the way up. Jordan rose his shield to block some of the shots, while dodging the others.
"Alright, buddy…" Jordan muttered, "You want a rematch? I'll give you a fucking rematch!"
In a another area, D.J. dropped another Strike Dagger, which was missing its head and legs.
However, before he can move onto another group, his alarm alerted him and he jumped out of the way as a beam like the Launcher Striker streaked past.
"Whoa shit!" he shouted, and he turned and his eyes widened as he saw what fired the beam launcher. "Oh fucking great, a Sword Calamity!"
Indeed, standing before D.J. was the all too familiar Calamity-type Gundam, very much like Jordan's recently acquired Schwarze Calamity, but very different considering it was colored in a blue, yellow, black and color scheme, only causing D.J to groan once again.
"Oh shit..." he muttered. "Please don't be..." He zoomed in on the shoulder of the machine, and sure enough, there was that all too familiar Sakura Burst symbol that the and Jordan saw just a day prior. "Rena… shit..."
In the cockpit of the Sword Calamity, Rena looked at the 105 Dagger in it's new paint job, and immediately felt it was the same Dagger she fought before back at the depot. She grinned, and knew that no plane was gonna save this guy's ass.
"Okay pal, let's see if you improved, shall we?" she said as she readied her swords.
Meanwhile, Ron had gotten out of the building he had collapsed. And he was PISSED. Unfortunately, this was a problem. That bottle Ron had been drinking out of? It had ground up stimulants in it. He hadn't actually slept since the whole debacle began. And with the added adrenaline in his system, he had basically turned into a berserker.
And a few Daggers that thought he'd be an easy kill would be the berserker's first victims. The Aile Dagger charged toward them, the Gatling shield firing all the while. "What the fuck?!" The Pilot shouted, "This guy's in-" The pilot never finished his sentence as the bullets tore the torso apart, killing him in a brutal, if quick, fashion.
"Fuck! Stay behind the shields!" The Second Pilot shouted "Those bullets can't kill us-" Ron drew a beam saber to counter that argument prior to hitting the closest Dagger in the head with the side of his shield before impaling the cockpit with the beam saber.
"Fall back!" The third pilot shouted, as two beam rifle rounds struck near Ron's Aile Dagger, getting the angry man's attention. It was another Aile Dagger, but the blue paint had been replaced with a more practical brown.
"I'll take this son of a bitch on!" A feminine voice called out, coming from the newcomer. And that only made Ron angrier. That voice reminded him of one of his brother's more annoying girlfriends. Wasn't her, but that didn't matter.
Meanwhile, as Ron's next battle began, Jordan's battle with the Long Dagger continued as he used up the last of his Gatling Shield's ammo, blasting away the shoulder mounted Railgun of the Long Dagger. This did not bode well with the enemy pilot, as he once again charged forward, a beam saber in one hand, and a shield in the other.
Jordan raised his arm for a downward swipe, however the Long Dagger rose his shield to deflect - having already learned his lesson about the Schwarze Calamity's improved Beam Sabers as he now avoided clashing them. With his other hand he tried to stab his own beam saber into the Calamity, only for Jordan to raise his own shield to block the attack, however in the process of this the Long Dagger sliced in half the 30mm Gun barrels, however it didn't matter since it was out of ammo.
"Screw you!" Jordan shouted as he shoved the Calamity forward into the Long Dagger, forcing it off balance before he swung his beam saber again, which cleaved through the Dagger's right shoulder where the missile launcher resided. While he was unable to get a clean cut, he sliced through the missile launcher itself, causing an explosion which heavily damaged the rest of the machine's Fortresta armor, and its head unit.
Apparently, that attack must of been enough for the pilot - with most of his weapons gone, he couldn't fight much more. The Long Dagger jumped up into the air, as it began to fall back. "Next time, you won't be so lucky!" a male voice shouted on the comm, causing Jordan to blink as the Long Dagger retreated.
Takeshi was thoroughly enjoying himself - before the merge, he'd been a closet adrenaline junkie who got his rush through video games, but now? Now it seemed that he'd gone into full-blown combat-fueled adrenaline junkie mode, a large grin on his face as he cleaved through Daggers one after another. He was also mentally smirking at how well his Rom Stoll moment had gone, though like with the Kamina moment earlier, it didn't feel… well, it didn't resonate with him as truly matching him. He'd need to keep switching it up with each battle until he found out which character he meshed with the most.
Jessica's tank unit crept up on a few other Strike Daggers and opened fire, sending shells rocketing down the battlefield until they hit, blowing a few Daggers up and letting one fall to the ground with both arms and a leg missing. The tanks then split up, heading deeper into the woods before heading back and circling towards the rest of the fighting. "Jorn, need any help?" she called over the comm.
"Nah, just finishing up here," Jordan said as he sliced through another Strike Dagger, before drawing out his Beam Rifle and firing a few shots at incoming Linear Tanks. "Got a sit-rep?"
"The General says we're holding our ground so far," Jessica said. "We've only lost a few Mobile Suits, and the EA forces are in trouble with Takeshi's team hitting them from behind. He caught them by surprise it seems. But the EA still aren't falling back - and Kira is still fighting the Extendeds."
Jordan frowned a bit as he looked up in the sky, and saw - sure enough - Kira was still in the Freedom, fighting the Raider, Calamity, and Forbidden. He took a glance at his machine's power - he was nearing the yellow zone with nearly 57% power now, so he still had some time before he had to return to the Archangel to recharge. He felt like he should help Kira… but those were Extendeds. They were a very large step above what he's been fighting so far. He did not want to get himself killed.
However, at the same time he didn't want to get Kira killed, since he is one of the most vital people in the Cosmic Era, and losing him - and the Freedom - would be very very bad. Also… part of him just really wanted to see how he'd do against an Extended pilot, especially to see how well the Schwarze Calamity did against the original Calamity.
After a moment to weigh his options, he mentally groaned. 'This is fucking stupid,' he thought, before he accelerated upwards towards the sky to help Kira in his fight.
Kira in the Freedom was fighting against the three new Gundams. He had to admit, these models were MORE superior than the ones built at Heliopolis. If their weapons and performance were anything to go by. The fact that he was outnumbered three to one was not helping either, as the three Gundams continued to try and outflank him.
Kira fired a blast from his Balaena Plasma Beam Cannons at the Forbidden, only for his shots to be reflected by its Geschmeidig Panzer shield as the beams bended around, and then it returned fire with its own Eckzahn 88mm Railguns, forcing Kira to dodge. However suddenly the Calamity showed up at Kira's flank, riding the Raider, its Plasma-Sabot bazooka raised. "DIE!" the pilot shouted, as he began to pull the trigger.
However, suddenly, a new voice shouted, "Think fast, bucko!" Causing the Calamity to look down, just as the Schwarze Calamity rammed itself into it, knocking it off the Raider as it fell to the ground.
"WHAT THE HELL!?" shouted the Calamity pilot as the Gundam fell to the ground.
"You okay, Kira?" said Jordan and Kira nodded.
"Yeah, thanks to you," the Freedom pilot said.
The second generation GAT series Mobile Suits were NOT happy with that, and their day was about to get worse as Tanner's Launcher Dagger managed to actually hit the Raider, knocking it out of the fight as it was too badly damaged to continue the battle. "Holy shit!" he shouted. "I did it! Ron, do you read? I hit the bird one!"
The unfortunate part was the his best friend wasn't even listening. He was too pissed off and busy with the 'ace' Aile Dagger pilot to do anything. "Fucking Christ!" The pilot shouted "How the hell is he still fighting me?! Is he a goddamn Coordinator or something?!"
She lashed out with a saber, but Ron deflected with the shield and hacked off the saber arm, followed by dumping a few dozen gatling rounds into the unit's legs, sending it crashing to the ground. With that over, he aimed at the cockpit, but while the gatling spun, it didn't fire. Ron was out of ammo. But he kept the weapon pointed at the Dagger.
Jessica's tanks came charging out into the battle, darting and weaving around amidst the fighting. Several Strike Daggers were caught off guard by this as the tanks opened up with their guns and took out three Daggers with the 130mm cannons. As one of the Daggers tried to grab one of them, the tanks split up and one of them parked directly in front of the Dagger and it tripped, falling flat on its torso. The tank backed up and the five vehicles engaged their smoke, vanishing back into the woods.
"Dammit! Who did that?!" the pilot of the tripped Dagger yelled over the comm as he got his machine to its feet.
He didn't last long as Dylan's Sword Dagger bisected the machine. "Hey, uh, Titanic, right?" Dylan said, "Can you go check on Ron? That's not normal for him to do that. He usually just kills them, not stands over them like some gloating villain."
Jessica replied in a flash. "On it!" she said. She contacted her friends first. "Guys, keep 'em off my ass!"
She turned her tank around and charged out of the forest back into the fray. She dodged and weaved around the fighting, her eyes narrowed as she spotted Ron's machine. She sped through the fray, her teammates backing her up every step of the way. "Ron!" she called over the comm. "Ron! Goddammit, Ron! Answer me!"
She got no answer.
The Dagger pilot got out of her cockpit, but quickly had a M2 .50 caliber machine gun pointed at her for her trouble. "Aw, fuck. Those idiots with the antiques?"
"Hey!" Jessica yelled. She swerved her tank to the left as the pilot opened up. She barely dodged it. "That was way too close…" she murmured. The other tanks engaged a smokescreen, further confusing the enemy. Jessica wasted no time trying to contact Ron once more.
"Ron! Answer me!" she called.
Still no answer. Growling, she contacted her friends. "Guys, keep this Dagger pilot off my ass! I'm gonna see what's up with Ron!"
"Got it!" her friends said.
Without even a second's hesitation, she brought her tank up close to Ron's Dagger and scrambled out of the hatch, but left the engine running for evacuation. She scrambled up the leg of the machine like a monkey, relying on climbing instincts long forgotten since her childhood days. She reached the top of the torso in less than fifteen minutes. She spotted the latch for the cockpit hatch and popped it open.
She peered inside and stared at Ron lying slumped over in the seat. "Dammit!" she muttered. She got into the cockpit and undid the straps, hoisting the large Canadian over her back. She was now running on adrenaline, so she relied on that to help her get the big Canadian out of the cockpit and down to her tank. Once she was back on the ground, she lugged him over to the vehicle and laid him inside before scrambling back in and closing the hatch as a barrage of machinegun fire barely hit her. She gunned the engine and shifted into reverse before heading back out.
"Hey! This is Titanic X here!" she said to the man who had contacted her initially. "I found Ron! He's unconscious and I'm bailing him outta here!"
"Fuck!" Dylan shouted. "I'll get his Mobile Suit: no sense in leaving it behind for the Alliance, right?" Dylan's Sword Dagger broke into a dead run, and he fired a burst of 40mm cannon shells at the Dagger pilot, who ducked back into her cockpit.
"Fuck!" she cursed. "Outgunned and out of ammo!" Only one real option. Surrender. She threw her useless weapon away before getting out, hands raised. "Don't shoot! I surrender!"
"You what?!"
"You heard me! I surrender!"
Dylan sighed. "Titanic, can you send a tank to pick her up?" he asked. "I'll get the Dagger. We just got our first POW."
"Got it! Steven, head over there. We got ourselves a POW," Jessica said.
"Roger! On my way!" Steven replied. His tank spun around and darted through the battle, finally coming to a stop in front of the woman. He popped the hatch and poked his head out. "All right, lady. Get in. But no funny stuff!" he said.
She didn't bother resisting. Still, they kept a gun pointed at her at all times as she climbed onto the tank.
Steven nodded and slammed the hatch down as he tore off, the woman clinging to the guns as he barreled back towards allied lines.
Meanwhile, back with Jordan and Kira, they flew back to back as they now faced just the Forbidden and Calamity, which were continuing to fly circles around them, as the two pilots fired at opportunity, but the Extended pilots would either dodge or block with their shields.
"Jordan, how's your power?" Kira asked.
Jordan sighed as he looked at the power indication, which was beginning to reach the red zone "Shit… you don't wanna know," he said. "Getting into the 30's… I'm gonna have to pull out soon."
"Fall back," Kira said. "There's only two of them now."
"Yeah, but they're still both aces," Jordan said. "One's gone, but you still gotta fight these two goons. Freedom is pretty damn good, but I don't know how you'll do against these guys on your own."
"Don't worry about me, you just get out of here and recharge!" Kira replied.
However, before Jordan could move, suddenly the Calamity made its move as it jumped forward, swinging its shield arm like a club, forcing Jordan to raise his own shield to block. "Fuck!" he shouted.
"I'm gonna get you, you damn copycat!" Came the voice of the Calamity's pilot - Orga Sabnak - through the radio, causing Jordan to blink.
"Copycat?" he asked. "The fuck are you talking about? Your IFF says you're the X131 Calamity. Mine's the X132 Schwarze Calamity! Completely different!"
"It's still a fucking Calamity!" Orga shouted as he shoved Jordan's machine back, separating him from Kira, leaving Clotho in the Forbidden to deal with him.
"Ah, but mine is better. Yours is older," Jordan said smirking as he shoved the Calamity back. "Hence why it's one number higher. Plus, mine can actually fly - yours just hovers and has no close range weapons."
"Just shut up!" the Extended pilot shouted, as he fired his Schlag Beam Cannons at the Schwarze, but Jordan jumped back into the air, avoiding the blasts. However Jordan looked at his power readings, and winced as he saw he was already hitting 20%.
"Kira, I'm pulling out!" he called out in warning as he began heading back towards the Archangel. "Just hang in there!"
Kira nodded and turned back as the two remaining Extendeds attacked him again.
Meanwhile, with D.J., said pilot was not having a good time as he was fighting Rena. Which the female Ace was making it difficult for him.
"Dammit! This fucking sucks!" he shouted as he raised his shield to block a swing from her Anti-Ship Swords. D.J. drew out his own Beam Saber, attempting to cancel out her own, but she jumped away as he swung - obviously having heard of what the Beam Sabers from the US Mobile Suits do against theirs.
"SHIT!" he shouted. "So much for that idea."
He then put the Beam Saber and took his swords back out.
"Okay little Sakura, if that's how you want to play…" He then charged his 105 forward, while Rena's Sword Calamity waited for him, swords at the ready.
Across the battlefield, the US Forces and their new allies from the Archangel and ZAFT were fighting the OMNI Enforcers, with great success. Mu piloted his Perfect Strike against Strike Daggers, destroying them with superior firepower, the Tri-Stars sped across the lines with their GiNN's, decimating 105 Daggers, Cagalli lead the Orb pilots with her Strike Rogue and their Astray's as they supported the US Armor and Mobile Suits, bombarding enemy lines, and the Archangel herself was barraging the EA Forces with its beam cannons and missiles, destroying the EA's forces at long range.
This was the sight seen by Athrun, the Collins Team, and Sergeant Bakers forces as they moved over a hill, and watched the battle play out, many of the US soldiers having wide eyes at the sight.
"Holy shit!"
"We gotta get through THAT!?"
"Some of those suits have MARPAT Camo, that means our guys captured some of those things."
These were some of the conversation that Athrun heard on the radio as he looked at the battlefield in front of him. However, he then spotted something that caught his attention the most. In the air, was the ZGMF-X10A Freedom, fighting against two of the G-Weapons they had spotted earlier.
"The Freedom…" he muttered as his eyes widened. "Kira!"
He watched as the stolen ZAFT Gundam dodged a few beam blasts, before the scythe wielding one attempted to slice it down the middle, only for the Freedom to dodge and kick it away. Athrun gritted his teeth, as he remembered what happened since January, since the attack on Heliopolis, to their clashes in space, too their battle on earth…
…to Kira killing Nicol, and him nearly killing Kira in return for revenge...
He was conflicted on what to do… either to help his once best friend, or follow the orders that his father gave him. He thought about what Lacus said, back at the PLANT's before he left…
"It's tough, isn't it, kid?" said Wil from his GuAIZ, breaking him out of his thoughts.
"What?" he said.
"You're conflicted whether you should help your friend or not," he said, causing Athrun's eyes to widen.
"How did yo… wait, Lacus," he said, and he heard Wil chuckle.
"Yup, me and the rest of the team are Clyne supporters," he said. "Though we kept our mouths shut about that. We were told what to expect…" Wil sighed. "I know what you're going through, Athrun… I was in the same position as you were a year ago."
Athrn looked at him in surprise. "What do you mean?" He asked.
"I had a friend… a Natural, lived on earth," Wil said. "He was a good friend… we knew each other as kids, but when my family left the AF, we never saw each other again… until the war began… on the battlefield…" He let out a long sigh. "He was… different. Brainwashed with Blue Cosmos propaganda… I could barely believe he was the same kid I knew as a child, but..."
Athrun was stunned by this info and by the way he didn't finish, it ended badly.
"Do me a favor, Athrun. Don't make the same mistake me and my friend made," Will said. "You still have a chance to make some amends… I don't."
Meanwhile, Kira continued to fight with the two Earth Forces G-Weapons, as the two tried to double-team him. The Forbidden swung its Scythe at the Freedom, which he intercepted with his shield before he kicked him away. But the Forbidden recovered quickly as it began firing its Eckzahn Railguns at the Freedom, forcing Kira to take evasive maneuvers. In the cockpit of the Forbidden Shani growled. "Orga! Get him!" He shouted.
"Eat This!" Orga shouted, while the Freedom's back was turned, firing his Scylla Multi-phase energy cannon at the Freedom, the beam fast approached as Kira noticed it, beginning to turn around but not fast enough to intercept.
Just moments before the beam hit however, the ZGMF-X09A Justice appeared, raising its shield to take the bulk of the blast, before spinning around and firing a shot from his beam rifle at the Calamity and Forbidden, not hitting either of them, but catching them off guard. "WHAT?"
Kira looked looked and saw the Justice, his eyes widening a bit seeing a bit of a resemblance from the Aegis, but the main difference was the winged backpack.
His thoughts were interrupted by the voice of the pilot, a voice he recognized all too well.
"This is ZAFT Special Forces Agent Athrun Zala." Athrun said, causing Kira's eyes to widen further "Can you hear me, Freedom? Kira Yamato I presume."
"Athrun..." He muttered, before the Calamity and Forbidden got their act together, and continued their attack on the new Mobile Suit. The Justice blocked an attack from the Raider, as their shields collided before the Justice forced it back, drawing its double-bladed beam saber and charged at it.
Kira, narrowing his eyes, drew his own beam saber as he charged back into the battle. "What's the big idea?" he demanded. "Is ZAFT going to stick its nose into this battle?"
It was quiet for a moment, as Kira blocked a strike from the Forbidden's scythe, as the Justice slammed its fist into the Calamity's face. Athrun then spoke again.
"That's half true, since we need to find out what the hell is going on here in the AF. But… this fight, right now, is of my own will." Athrun said.
Kira's eyes widened again as the Justice continued to fight. "Athrun..." he muttered, as the Calamity fired its Ram Cannon at the Gundam, only for Athrun to dodge them as he moved forward. Meanwhile, Kira, knowing to focus on the battle, fired his beam rifle at the Forbidden, but his shots were deflected by its Geschmeidig Panzer as the fight continued.
Around the battlefield however, the sudden arrival of the Justice caught many of the forces - both the Atlantic Federation and US Army - by surprise as they looked up, watching as the Calamity and Forbidden now fought the Freedom and Justice.
With D.J. and Rena, they too stopped as they saw the battle up in the sky. The former's eyes widened as he saw the Justice.
'Oh shit, Athrun is here,'he thought, as he was not expecting Kira's best friend to show up as well.
Just launching from the Archangel was Jordan, now in a fully recharged Schwarze Calamity, who looked up and saw the Justice and Freedom, his eyes wide with surprise. 'The Justice…' he thought. 'Athrun's here already?'
At that moment his sensors went off again, drawing his attention too another force of US Soldiers and, surprisingly, ZGMF-600 GuAIZ's that were attacking the rear lines of the OMNI Enforcers alongside Takeshi's group, adding even more pressure to the enemy's offensive lines.
"Ho-ly shit." he said, and then grinned a bit. 'Looks like the odds on the home team just went up.'
Patriot-112: And that's a wrap! Looks like things are about to get more... intense.
Ron the True Fan: Sucks to be OMNI Enforcer. And, in a way, us. By the way, people, don't do drugs: otherwise, you'll end up like I did in this chapter.
Takeshi Yamato: And I do another Expy Moment! However, I will not be expying Kamina and Rom Stoll on a regular basis. I do have a character in mind to have as my 'Expy Style' for the rest of this story, but I won't say who it is at the moment. I will give you a clue, however: CHESTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
117Jorn: He's not the only one who's getting Expy'd… I've got my own ideas… hehehehehe…
Ron the True Fan: We are all screwed. Ja ne, everyone.
Patriot-112: Yup, see ya later peeps!