The Knights of Earth
Chapter 3
Pawn Takes Rook
Disclaimer: I don't own Aldnoah Zero otherwise this would be canon.
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-Landing Castle, Saazbaum's Office, Earth Orbit-
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Saazbaum, the leader of the Orbital Knights was having a very, very good day. Reports from his men were coming in that the Terran forces' were being completely smashed all across the globe. True there was a lot of resistance but that was to be expected. That would soon end though, after enough of those insignificant fools had been eliminated they would then bow down to their superiors and beg for forgiveness.
Saazbaum was broken out of his musings of the future when one of his subordinates came over the intercom "My lord, Sir Trillram wishes to speak with you!" he called and judging by the way he acted it was probably important. Saazbaum pushed the talk button and spoke "Put him through."
Within moments, Sir Trillram's face appeared on a large sphere-like screen on one of the walls that was directly across from his desk. Saazbaum stood up from his leather seat and addressed the orbital knight. While proper courtesy was required whenever two Orbital Knights conversed, - even if one of them was in charge of the whole group- now simply wasn't the time.
"Sir Trillram, my Landing Castle will be out of communications range very shortly in a few minutes time, so I'm afraid that I'll have to skip the pleasantries and get straight to the point; have you managed to deal with our rat problem?" Saazbaum asked.
Saazbaum knew the answer before Trillram even uttered a word. It was easy for him to tell given that the prideful smirk and arrogant demeanor that the Orbital Knight so often displayed around everyone else was now absent and in its place was someone who displayed both anxiety and a reluctance to speak.
Eventually though he managed to find his voice "For the most part it was my lord, all but one of the rats managed to escape, but I have her only escape route blocked off and all I have to do is wait for her to show her face and then I'll have her."
Trillram's assurances rang hollow in Saazbaum's ears and the leader of the Orbital Knight's scowl turned from one of annoyance and into one of near complete fury. "Trillram do you have any idea the gravity of the situation here, if any word gets back to the homeland on who really killed Princess Asseylum, all of our planning these past few months will have been for nothing. I highly recommend that you hurry and remove the remaining rat quickly, for your sake. If not I will be forced to conduct a meteor bombardment to make sure the little rat."
Even though the Nilokeras' defenses were near perfect Trillram still didn't want to test them against a full scale meteor bombardment. The pilot of the Nilokeras nodded nervously. Saazbaum allowed himself a small menacing smile to punctuate his next statement "Good. Now go! I expect results the next time we're in contact, so I suggest you finish your task as quickly as you can."
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-Shinagawara Academy, Nurse's office-
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Considering the sheer size of Shinagawara Academy it was only natural that it would have a decently sized nurse's office but this one was practically a miniature hospital. Equipment for everything save for surgery was ready and available for use. The size of the nurse's office probably had to do with the fact that the school was also capable of being used as a shelter in the event of a natural disaster. Of course what was happening now was not a "natural disaster" but instead was something else that was much worse. A continuation of the war that was supposed to have ended ten years ago.
On one of the occupied beds was a young woman by the name of Yuki Kaizuka. While her injuries weren't life threatening they were still debilitating; her left arm was broken and it was likely she suffered a slight concussion when she was knocked out earlier. For the past couple of hours she had laid in that hospital bed, completely unmoving but now she was starting to stir. Within moments Yuki's eyes gingerly opened up. As they did the young woman let out a pained groan as she started to sit up, rubbing the side of her aching head with her un-bandaged hand as she did so.
Before she could attempt to get off the bed however a pair of hands grabbed her by the shoulders and tried to gently push her back down onto the cot "Easy there miss Kaizuka, you need rest." Yuki recognized the voice of the school's physician; Doctor Yagarai. Despite Yagarai's attempt to make Yuki lay back down she still sat up as best she could "What's going on? Where are we?" she all but demanded.
The one who answered her wasn't Doctor Yagarai but in fact it was Marcus Graves who was leaning up against a nearby wall with his arms crossed over his chest and a bandage wrapped around his head. "We're still in Shinagawara. The infirmary to be precise," he explained before he walked towards the bed Yuki occupied.
"As for why, well that martian bastard is still in the area beyond the tunnels. He's just waiting for us to show our faces again and he's a patient son of a bitch I'll give him that."
"Where's everyone else?" Yuki asked noticing that there was no one else in the infirmary with her. "The other civilians we found are all in the gymnasium. It's probably one of the more secure areas in the school. As for Inaho and his friends; they've just probably just finished breaking into the training grounds to get their hands on the Sleipnirs and other military equipment being stored there. Inaho's working on a plan to destroy the bastard that wiped out Clydesdale platoon."
When Marcus finished his explanation Yuki looked utterly horrified. All but three members of Clydesdale platoon had just been killed. They had state of the art Kataphrakts and weaponry. What hope did Inaho and his friends have with a bunch of measly trainers? Upon seeing the look the young woman had on her face Marcus attempted to try and reassure his comrade "I know what you're thinking and quite frankly I don't blame you but we don't have a lot of options and besides Inaho thinks that there might be a way to circumvent that thing's barrier."
Marcus' attempts to reassure Yuki all but fell on deaf ears as she quickly hopped off the bed despite Doctor Yagarai's protests and marched right up to her friend.
When she was close enough she grabbed him by the collar of his pilot suit and started to shake him violently "Well where in the hell are Inaho and his friends? Talk to me damn it!" she practically screamed in anger even as Marcus started to beg her to stop shaking him so much. It was then that Yagarai got involved as he grabbed Yuki's shoulders and began to make an attempt to pry the woman off of Marcus. It took all of the doctor's strength but eventually he was successful in prying off Yuki.
After steadying himself Marcus looked at Yuki, his eye twitching in irritation "Are you done?" he asked and when he received no answer he assumed that it was a 'yes'. "Good now if you feel so damned strongly about this, then you should know that Inaho should either be in the conference room or in the main hanger."
With so much as a word, Yuki started to march off in the general direction of the hanger. She guessed that Inaho and his friends were probably still there, getting the Kataphrakts ready for battle. As she walked down the corridor that led from the infirmary she ignored the two pursuers who were protesting her actions and telling her to come back and that she should rest.
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-Shinagawara, Naval Yard-
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Lieutenant Marito was for lack of better terms, exhausted. He had just run for almost three hours nonstop from his destroyed Areion back to the docks where the military was still trying to evacuate citizens onto hovercraft. The entire area was almost completely choked with people desperate to try and get as far away as they could from the battlefield and to someplace that could be considered safe.
Of course it was unlikely that there was anywhere on the planet that could truly be considered safe anymore. Before the communications satellites were blasted out of the sky there were reports of Martian Landing Castles entering the atmosphere above dozens of major cities all over the world. Civilian casualty rates were impossible to tell at this point but there were some estimates ranging from at least ten to twenty-five million.
While Marito was tired from walking almost nonstop he still continued on towards the hanger where most of the people who were in charge of the area had gathered. The first person he saw was an ensign that was having his men get some of his subordinates' Kataphrakt's loaded onto the oversized flatbed truck. When the ensign noticed that Marito was walking towards him and he saw that he was a superior officer, he immediately stopped what he was doing and gave the man a crisp salute.
Marito ignored him and instead got straight to the point "What's going on here?" he asked. The young ensign gave the war veteran a strange look "Sir after all the civilians are on board we're abandoning the area. The Fourth and Fifth fleets were almost completely wiped out and the captain has ordered that we're to evacuate the city before any more of the martian fucks get here."
The lieutenant looked increasingly alarmed "But we can't do that yet. There are people that are still fighting out there!" he practically exclaimed. Before the ensign could respond, another voice called out from behind Marito; "Lieutenant Koichiro Marito you were the last one to arrive here."
Marito turned around and saw a young woman in a navy captain's uniform. She had short brown hair that was done up into a bobcut and had a very serious air about her. Flanking the captain was a female lieutenant with short black hair who was also wearing navy fatigues. Marito and the ensign gave the captain and lieutenant a respectful salute.
The captain turned to the ensign "Soldier go and get your unit packed up and ready to leave, I need to speak with the lieutenant in private. The ensign gave a quick "Yes ma'am!" and then ran over to help his comrades get their Kataphrakts loaded.
Deciding to get some information on who the woman in front of him was, Marito asked "And who are you?"
The woman didn't so much as blink before answering "I'm Captain Darzana Magbaredge of the amphibious assault ship Wadatsumi, 7th Fleet Escort Force." Captain Magbaredge then gestured towards the woman standing next to her "This is my XO Kaoru Mizusaki."
Not wanting to waste any more time on formalities Marito got straight to the point "There are two soldiers that are still out in the Northern District holding back the enemy advance and keeping several stranded refugees safe. Lieutenant Marcus Graves and Warrant Officer Yuki Kaizuka. They're the only reason that this place has still managed to remain secure!"
The captain shook her head "There's a radio jamming field covering almost the entire Shinagawara area. GPS is down also, so even if we were to mount a rescue we wouldn't be able to pinpoint their locations. Right now our responsibilities lie with getting the civilians who are already here out of the combat zone."
Marito looked shocked by this statement "But captain we can't just leave them out there we have to-" he started but was cut off by a familiar voice "Lieutenant Marito calm down." The group then turned towards the entrance to the hanger and saw Colonel Braddock walking towards them, an even expression on his face "We aren't going to just up and leave them out there."
Braddock then looked at the lieutenant and declared in a voice that brokered no argument "Lieutenant Marito take a platoon of Kataphrakts and a landing craft. I want you to begin a search of the city. If anyone gives you any guff about it then you can tell them that it was done on my orders. You have eight hours to find your friends, if you can't locate them by then I want you back here to assist in the evacuation is that understood?"
Marito gave the colonel a thankful look and said "Thank you sir!" before rushing off to go and locate what he needed to begin the search.
With that out of the way Braddock turned his attention towards the captain of the Wadatsumi who looked a tad bit peeved that someone had just gone and countermanded one of her orders. "Colonel with all due respect, you know that we need every person we can get behind a trigger to guard the docks, if we send more troops out to search for people who could very well be dead then that will severely diminish manpower that we desperately need to keep the area secure."
Braddock let out a bated breath "I'm well aware of that captain but I'm not about to go and leave good soldiers behind if there's something I can do about it. Besides recon reports that so far there's only one enemy Kataphrakt out there and it's nowhere near here so I think that we can afford to have one platoon out looking for our lost compatriots."
Captain Magbaredge supposed that made sense but she still wasn't really convinced that they should just risk diminishing their forces just to go out and save a couple of stranded soldiers and a small group of refugees. However, Braddock was the higher ranking officer here so she had to go by his decision whether she liked it or not. Then the colonel looked around to make sure that there wasn't anyone else in the immediate area.
"Captain after we set sail I'm going to need you to take a slight detour to a small island outside of Japan." Magbaredge looked surprised at this. "Our orders are to take them to the sanctuary in Novosibirsk-" she started but the colonel wouldn't let her finish "I know what your orders are captain but I need you to trust me on this. The item on that island could very well be one of the keys we need to win this war."
That definitely got both Magbaredge and Mizusaki's attention. If there was something that could give them the edge over the Martians than they would definitely want it on their side. "Just where is this island located?" Magbaredge asked, both hope and curiosity laced into her voice.
A smile tugged at the corners of Braddock's lips "I'll inform you of the location as soon as we head out. For now though let's focus on the evacuation of the civilians."
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-Shinagawara Academy, Restroom-
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It had been a while since Inaho and the others had made it into the academy. Even as some of the other refugees had gone and made themselves comfortable in gymnasium, Inaho had been going over every piece of data that he had on the enemy Kataphrakt. Over the past couple of hours Calm and Inko had sent out a number of drones to get a decent reading on the Martian Kataphrakt.
While every single drone they had sent out thus far had been completely destroyed they did at least manage to get several video recordings of the machine. Currently Inaho was sitting on a toilet in one of the stalls in the restroom as he looked over the videos with a small PDA he found in the storage area of the school for the umpteenth time, ensuring that he didn't miss even the most minute of details. The last thing he wanted was for his strategy to be ruined because he overlooked some small detail and not even having to answer nature's call was going to prevent him from doing that.
As Inaho continued to go back over each and every one of the data that he and his friends had collected from the enemy Kataphrakt, someone began banging on the restroom door "Nao are you in there?!" demanded his sister. Inaho looked up from the PDA and towards the closed restroom door.
It seemed as though his sister had finally woken up and had probably heard of his plan to eliminate the enemy Kataphrakt from either Doctor Yagarai or Marcus, "Yes it's me," he said plainly.
"I know it's you that's why I'm here!" she shouted as she continued to bang on the restroom door "Do you have any idea what it is you and your friends are getting into?!"
Inaho looked over some more of the information on the PDA again before he responded to his sister's question "I'm perfectly aware that it seems crazy."
"Then why in the hell are you-" his sister started before Inaho continued over her "For some reason that Martian is obsessed with killing us. So in other words as long as we stick to the school he won't attack the docks or the city proper. Luckily everyone in this part of the city has already been evacuated."
Yuki understood that part what she still didn't get was why he of all people had to head out there in and was about to bring that up when she heard a flushing noise from inside the stall. A few moments later, Inaho had emerged from the restroom stall and saw that both Marcus and Doctor Yagarai had accompanied his sister to confront her little brother. And probably to make sure that she didn't injure her arm even more than it had already been.
Knowing that she should probably find out about what had happened to one of her students, Inaho declared "Okisuke is dead." A look of pure shock settled on Yuki's face.
Okisuke wasn't one of the best students but he was a really good kid and was one of Inaho's closest friends. Hell Inaho, Okisuke and Calm (after the latter's family had moved to Japan) had been near inseparable when they were younger. Yuki even babysat from time to time. For the first time in quite a while, Yuki was rendered completely speechless.
"You told me just a little while ago: 'make decisions as circumstances dictate. If you have to, trust your gut and make the call.' Isn't that what you always tell me Yuki?" Inaho then walked up towards the sink and started washing his hands "I'm convinced that this is one of those times."
"Then I'll do it!" Yuki declared all the while both Marcus and Doctor Yagarai looked at her incredulously. Inaho was about to point out her debilitating injury when Marcus decided to beat her to it, having decided that the time for silence was pretty much over at this point.
"Lady I hate to state the obvious but you're not exactly in the best of shapes to be going out into combat. You have a broken arm for crying out loud! And with that kind of injury you'd be lucky if you ever even managed to aim straight half the time!" the man practically yelled in exasperation.
Inaho looked over at the lieutenant with a cocked eyebrow before looking back over at his sister and continued "Just like Marcus said, I can't let someone who's as injured as you are do this. People are on edge, you need to cheer them up and reassure them that everything will be okay." Inaho then looked up and gave his sister a small smile "That's something that we just can't do."
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-Shinagawara Academy, teacher's lounge-
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A few minutes later Inaho had lead Marcus and Yuki into the teacher's lounge which was now being used as a makeshift briefing room for Inaho and the rest of his friends. The curtains were down and a projector had been set up facing the room's only bare wall.
"Ever since we've arrived here, we've been gathering as much information as possible on the enemy Kataphrakt. Every time we send out a drone though it gets spotted and eliminated within a couple of minutes. Despite this however we've managed to discover how the barrier works and quite possibly a way around it." Now that managed to catch everyone's attention.
Inaho hooked a small cord leading from the projector into the PDA he had been carrying. As he did Marcus looked at the boy with renewed interest "Oh this I've gotta hear," he declared remembering how literally everything that was thrown at that monstrosity was rendered useless by that damn barrier. From his perspective it was pretty damn clear that save for something earth shaking it was doubtful that
Despite the interruption Inaho continued on "The bullets you two fired at it, they were absorbed, they didn't bounce off." It was more a statement than a question, one that neither Marcus nor Yuki contradicted. "And it's not just bullets, when an active sensor ping hits it, it doesn't bounce back."
The PDA showed a small arc approaching a red dot that was probably supposed to represent the enemy, the arc hit the dot but it was broken even as the rest of it continued onwards.
"This means that infrared, acoustic detection and lasers are almost completely useless," Calm declared with a shrug while Inko clarified a little bit further "There wasn't any echo return."
"It doesn't just absorb kinetic energy but also radio waves and lasers, I think that it's a special characteristic of that wall." With that Marcus and a couple of the others looked a little confused. Why would Inaho refer to that barrier as a wall rather than just, well a barrier?
Seeing the confusion in the group Inaho elaborated further "The energy field that covers its surface, you can call it a barrier I guess." he said with a shrug. "It's a barrier that can absorb anything that it comes into contact with. So if that's the case then how can it see what's on the other side? All information from the outside is blocked by the barrier so it's unlikely that the pilot can see or hear anything outside his cockpit. In my opinion everything on the inside of that barrier is completely black."
This time Inaho brought up another diagram which showed a circle and several arrows marked as: "light", "sound", "radio waves" attempting to pierce through the outer portion of the circle but they were stopped by what was presumably the barrier.
"Wait so if that's the case then how come he can see where he's going or even stand upright if that barrier absorbs everything?" Inko asked confusedly.
"She's got a point if he can't see where he's going how can he know what's going on around him?" asked Calm.
It was then that Inaho dropped another bomb of information on them "Despite how relentlessly he pursued us, he gave up the instant that we were inside that tunnel. I bet that he wasn't he one who was looking outside of the barrier, instead he's most likely using cameras to help him see, probably up in the air. However it's unlikely that he's keeping them too high up in the air as there would be interference from the clouds." It was true, ever since early that morning there had been a thick layer of cloud cover over most of the city.
"The very nature of this Kataphrakt's barrier makes it impossible to be completely covered in it. There has to be a blind spot so that he can send and receive information from his cameras. If we were to destroy all of the cameras it uses then the enemy would be forced to at least partially lower his barrier in order to see what was going on around him."
Marcus stroked his chin in thought. That made sense but still, it was obvious that the only reason that the cameras outside hadn't found them yet was because they were under cover, once they were outside that bastard would start hunting them down again.
"So what's the plan kid? And I hope it's a good one because we've only got one shot at this," Marcus declared. It was at that point that Inaho started to lay down battle strategy.
Two people would take one of the Kataphrakt trailers out of one of the tunnel entrances and drive across town out in the open drawing the enemy's attention away from the tunnel. The group would then fire smoke grenades, masking their movements. From there Inko would find a sniping position and destroy as many of the cameras as she could.
After that the enemy would be forced to either fight blind or lower his barrier. This would enable Inaho and the others to fight him on a more level playing field. If that plan failed, then the truck would lure the enemy Kataphrakt onto a nearby bridge that was over a large body of water. Inko would shoot out the sections of the bridge that the Kataphrakt stood on, sending it into the water. When the water rushed into the barrier, they should be able to find the area of the machine that wasn't covered by the barrier as the water would go around it and not be absorbed by it.
The only problem though was getting someone to use the extra grenade launcher while they rode in the passenger seat of the truck. Sure they could just use the ones they had for the Sleipnirs but they only had two per unit, not nearly enough to provide the smokescreen they needed completely blind the enemy unit if they missed a couple of those cameras.
At least they didn't have the problem of looking for a driver for the truck. The girl that Yuki had rescued earlier had already volunteered her services to help. When Marcus heard that kid talk she seemed very determined, obsessive even. It was very likely that the kid had watched that martian fuck kill someone she cared about. That mere thought caused Marcus to tighten his fists in anger. The only things those fucking savages were interested in was killing those that they thought were beneath them so they could take whatever caught their fancy. Those bastards weren't superior, they were just parasites.
"Excuse me."
A rather determined voice brought Marcus out of his dark musings and caused him and the rest of the group to turn and look at the door. There stood the two girls that Inaho had found earlier in the day. The older one had a very determined air about her but the younger girl seemed very nervous about something.
Marcus ignored Calm who said something about a "Scandinavian babe" and instead focused his attention on the girl that was literally right past the door "I've heard you need someone to help you to fight back against that Orbital Knight. I want to help."
The assembled group looked around at one another before looking back at the two girls "You do realize what it is your asking, right? You could very well end up getting killed if things go wrong."
The girl seemed to think about this for a moment but her determined expression soon returned to her face. "I know that but I feel as though that this is my duty." That comment alone caused Inaho to cock an eyebrow in interest. He hadn't expected that kind of response, but at least they had the person that they needed to help with the plan. Now everything was in place.
While the girl seemed convicted to go through with her statement, her much younger friend looked at her with a look of pure concern "but mil-" she started before the older brunette elbowed her on the side, silently telling her to shut up. A couple of members of the group looked as though they were curious about what the girl was about to say but they figured that it was probably just a younger sister concerned for her sibling or something along those lines.
"What's your name kid?" Marcus asked. "My name is, Annette, it's nice to meet you all," she said before everyone else in the group proceeded to introduce themselves.
With the introductions now out of the way, Calm looked over Inaho and asked "So when do we get started?"
"Now," he declared.
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-Shinagawara, Northern District a few minutes later-
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For the past hour and a half lieutenant Marito had been searching the northern sector of the city along with Friesian platoon as well as a few students who had volunteered to try and help find their missing friends. It was tedious work to say the least, having to check almost everywhere but it needed to be done.
Given that there was an enemy unit equipped with a seemingly impenetrable barrier in the area, the unit couldn't very well just walk around using loudspeakers to declare that they were part of a rescue team sent to evacuate civilians. Doing that could inadvertently end up giving away their position to the enemy. Considering how quickly and easily Clydesdale platoon had gone down thanks to that monster, there wasn't much hope for the search team if they came across that monster or if it found out where they were.
So far Marito and the others had managed to find a few handfuls of straggling refugees who were still trying to make it to the docks but none of them had any information on where Marcus, Yuki or any of the students were located. At the rate things were going it was unlikely that the search team would be able to find Yuki or the others before the deadline was finally up.
Marito scowled as he heard Friesian 88 report in that he hadn't found anything other than just a few abandoned cars and buildings. The veteran's frustration continued to build as the rest of the members of Friesian platoon gave similar answers throughout their own search zones.
The lieutenant was about to go and take his Areion to another location where the refugees could have gone when he heard one the students who had volunteered to come and help, Nina Klein come over the comm. channel "Lieutenant Marito, uh-sir! Three flares have just appeared in the sky from the north east!"
The newly reinstated lieutenant looked over in the direction that Nina had said the flares were at and sure enough there were a trio of red flares slowly falling back down to earth. Marito knew what three red flares meant. Initiating attack. Instantly Marito's eyes widened in realization as to what his students were about to do.
Marito spoke into his radio "All Friesian platoon members, return to the ship immediately. Helmsman how long will it take us to get there?!" Marito demanded.
"Five-ten minutes tops sir!"
With that Marito's eyes widened and his Areion started to immediately pick up the pace. If those kids were going to take on that Kataphrakt then they would probably end up getting themselves killed. They had to get them out of there before that monster managed to spot them!
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-Shinagawara, just outside of the Northern Sector-
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The main section of the city was completely deserted even though on any previous day it would have been completely bustling at this point and anyone would be very hard-pressed to find some peace and quiet somewhere in the city. Marcus had found the whole thing was surreal, and a bit disturbing to say the least. It was almost like everyone had just vanished into thin air.
Marcus shook his head and pushed those thoughts out of his mind. He needed to focus on the task at hand, not look at the scenery.
To the man's left were a couple of orange painted Sleipnirs, both of which were being piloted by Calm and Inko the latter of which was carrying a lever action grenade launcher and a sniper rifle. Calm's Kataphrakt meanwhile had a pretty standard loadout that consisted of a 75mm assault rifle with an underslung grenade launcher and a pistol. Marcus himself had the same loadout as calm did seeing as how he was never much good with a sniper rifle.
Calm's voice soon came over the comm. channels "Hey everybody I've spotted that damned pill bug it's a little over a ten blocks to the southeast of our current position."
"Excellent that means that our plan is working," Inaho replied in his normal deadpan voice. Marcus cocked a brow at the response and then shook his head and once again hoped that Inaho knew what he was doing. Sure he was a pretty bright kid and he excelled in combat theories but the reality of it was much different than how it was on paper. So many things depending on the enemy doing exactly what everyone needed them to do. At the moment things were going fine but that didn't mean that something wouldn't change.
Marcus shook those thoughts out of his head and decided to just go with the plan for the moment. If something did manage to go wrong then he'd have keep the kids covered as they made it to safety. That was of course assuming that there was anywhere that could be considered safe now.
"Inko, I need you to head for nav. point delta after you fire off your grenades, Calm go with her and provide support if necessary. Instructor Graves I need you following at least thirty meters away from the truck during the pursuit. I'll let you know when you're needed."
With that having been done, everyone, even the brunette girl seated in the passenger side of the truck (who was using a much smaller hand held launcher), fired smoke grenades into the air. As they did, Graves started praying to whatever deity was out there listening that Inaho knew what he was doing and that everyone would get out of this mess with their lives. Soon everything above two stories was covered in a thick grey smoke that seemed almost impossible to see anything above them without using thermal or electromagnetic vision.
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-Shinagawara Academy-
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For several minutes, Yuki Kaizuka stood looking out at the direction that her little brother and his friends had gone down and hoped to god that they would all come back safe. She didn't care if they were victorious in the fight or not, just that they all managed to get back safe.
Yuki was about to head back inside the school when she heard loud noise that sounded an awful lot like the Amphibious transports that the military used coming from the shoreline. The young woman turned around and sure enough she saw one such transport heading right in the direction of the school. Right outside of the bridge portion of the ship Yuki could see the outline of Instructor Marito who was holding onto the guardrails with one hand while waving at her with the other.
"Marito!" Yuki shouted in surprise and delight.
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-Sir Trillram's Kataphrakt-
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In the past few minutes Trillram's mood had changed dramatically since the last remaining rat had shown her face again. At first he was elated that he would finally tie up the last remaining loose end in Lord Saazbaum's plans, and that he would not be forced to see if his Nilokeras' defenses could withstand that of a meteor bombardment. Then that elation turned to anger as a group of orange colored Kataphrakts began firing smoke grenades up into the air like there was no tomorrow.
How were these insignificant little insects able to figure out how to evade the Nilokeras?!
Well it was no matter, even if his Kataphrakt was temporarily blinded there were a few ways for him to eliminate this poorly thought out attempt at rendering this poor attempt at escape useless.
"Those damned insects, if they think that they are able to outwit me that easily then they're even more stupid than they look!" he exclaimed before he activated the Nilokeras' communicator. Slaine had remained in the area after dropping Trillram off for some reason or another. Therefore it was more than likely that he'd be able to hear Trillram.
"Slaine!" he yelled angrily "Are you still there? Answer me now!" he ordered. Within moments Slaine's face appeared on one of the communication screens. Ordinarily Trillram would have taken a rather perverse pleasure in seeing the little bastard so uncomfortable but now wasn't the time for such things. "Uh, lord Trillram, is there a problem?" he asked somewhat nervously.
"There is a transport truck trying to escape. Find it. Now!" he roared. Slaine gave a quick "yes milord!" and Trillram then cut the transmission. The time for playing around with his prey had long since passed, Trillram was going to slaughter them all as quickly as he could.
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Inko and Calm were heading towards their designated position and Inko had already started to set up the sniper rifle. Calm meanwhile was looking around for any sign of any additional enemy forces. So far the plan was going exactly as Inaho had predicted. The damned pill-bug was searching almost blindly for the group, or rather the truck that Rayet was driving. Why the bastard was so interested in killing her, Calm honestly had no idea but he didn't care, so long as Inaho's plan ended in slaughtering the son of a bitch who had brutally murdered Okisuke.
Inko was just about finished setting up the sniper rifle and her Kataphrakt was lying down prone on the ground just a couple dozen meters away from him and had already activated the weapon's EMF (Electro Magnetic Field) vision function.
Just like it sounds, the EMF vision was able to detect electromagnetic currents in machinery, even through walls. Ordinarily it would be unwise to use such equipment in a city type environment due to all the machinery that would be in use. However since the city had been mostly evacuated by this point, the power stations had all shut down. The only reason that Shinagawara's highschool had remained active was because of a series of backup generators that could be activated in the event of an emergency.
Thanks to the sniper rifle's unique little feature, the Martian Kataphrakt's flying cameras stood out like sore thumbs. "There they are I see them!" Inko cried out in surprise, having been afraid that this part of the plan wouldn't work. Within moments Inaho's voice came over the comm. channels "Good, now shoot them."
Inko obliged him and aimed the sniper rifle towards the closest flying camera and pulled the trigger.
A loud boom resounded throughout the area and Inko watched as one of the flying cameras exploded. 'One down,' Inko thought as she lined up her sights on another one of the cameras and pulled the trigger. This process continued until one after another the cameras that were being used by the enemy Kataphrakt were all but wiped out.
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"Those damned insects!" Trillram all but screamed as one after another, his monitors were filled with nothing but static. How could they find the cameras he was using, they were small enough that it would be near impossible to spot them unless they were in close range!
At this point Trillram would have no other alternative than to deactivate the dimensional barrier if he wanted to find out where in the hell that little rat had gone. The Orbital Knight punched in a series of commands into the main terminal and within moments the Dimensional Barrier had been deactivated. Even though the barrier was down the Nilokeras had more than enough armor to withstand most of the munitions these insects could throw at him.
Just after he had finished disengaging his Kataphrakt's barrier Slaine's face appeared on the communications screen again "My lord I've found the truck you're after. Their heading for the bridge that's just a few hundred meters from your current location!"
The arrogant smirk that Trillram almost always wore returned to his face and he nodded to Slaine before proceeding to cut the communications link. With that he started to make his way towards the bridge that Slaine had specified.
In less than a minute Trillram found himself right behind the truck as it started to make its way to the bridge. As Trillram started to close the distance he began swatting at the truck. The driver inside was able to avoid the first few swings but eventually the Nilokeras managed to graze it just enough that it skidded across part of the bridge and finally came to a complete stop.
For a moment or two Trillram smirked at his victory. Soon though the gloating expression on his face became even more pronounced when the door to the passenger side of the van opened. It appeared as though the rat or one of her friends had decided to come out to beg for her life. When the person got out and Trillram managed to get himself a good look at her. It definitely wasn't the last rat that was for sure, instead it was some brunette girl.
Trillram turned on the loudspeakers of his unit, "What's this? Do you intend on pleading pathetically for your life? Well if so, then go ahead and do it already!" He would so enjoy this. After they were done pleading for their lives he would squish them all like the worthless bugs that they were.
"Leave here at once you vicious brute!" the girl demanded. At that Trillram cocked a brow. This certainly wasn't what he had been expecting. Trillram was about to demand to know what in the hell that pathetic little insect was talking about when something that would prove to be the most shocking moment in Trillram's life.
The little brat in front of him was engulfed in an almost blinding flash of light. When the light finally faded her highness, Princess Asseylum Vers Allusia stood in the brunette's place. Trillram's jaw dropped and his eyes widened to the point where one might wonder if they would pop out of his head.
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-A few moments earlier-
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Thanks to the swipe by the Martian Kataphrakt's oversized arms, the truck had skidded out of control. For several seconds it slid along the pavement of the bridge that connected Shinagawara before it at last managed to finally came to a stop some distance away from the pursuing mecha.
After the truck finally came to a complete stop, Rayet put her foot down on the gas pedal only to find that the truck wouldn't move. Instead there was only a loud groaning noise coming from the rear of the truck. The rear tires must have been damaged when that bastard swung at them. "No, no, no, no," she muttered to herself as she continued to apply pressure on the gas pedal only to receive the same noise as earlier in response.
Rayet looked over at Annette who had pretty much already collected herself and had a determined air about her "Get out of here," Rayet insisted before elaborating further "It's me he's after."
Annette shook her head "The rendezvous isn't scheduled for another thirty to forty seconds, I'll buy us that time!" she declared and before Rayet could say or do anything the other girl opened the door to the truck and headed out.
The red haired girl heard the Orbital Knight demand that Annette start begging for her life only for her to call him a "vicious brute" and to "leave immediately".
Rayet actually cocked a brow at that one. Did she really expect something like that to work? The redhead moved towards the passenger side of the truck to get a better look at what was going on but when she did she found that Annette had been engulfed by a very bright light. When it finally faded, the princess of the Vers Empire stood in Annette's place.
Curiosity pulling at her, Rayet got out of the truck and walked towards the clearly alive member of the Vers royal family. As she did she ignored the screams of disbelief that were coming from the Orbital Knight's loudspeakers. She wanted to demand to know how in the hell the princess was still amongst the living.
The Orbital Knight then said something that Rayet all but knew was coming "Well then, if the rats from earlier were too incompetent to kill the right one, I guess I'll have that honor myself!" he yelled. He started to raise one of his Kataphrakt's massive arms in preparation to squish them like an ant underneath a boot, when there were several loud booms coming from behind him.
The oversized Kataphrakt lurched forwards for a moment before turning around to face a slightly smaller orange Sleipnir that held had an assault rifle aimed directly at it, the barrel still smoking. "Little interloper, you'll pay for this!" the man screamed before the Martian mecha charged at Inaho.
The Sleipnir let loose a torrent of oversized explosive rounds at the Martian Kataphrakt. Several striking the left arm as it moved to protect the chest area of the machine. The damage done to it was easy to spot as much of the armor was already starting to be torn away from the body.
Inside the cockpit Trillram was starting to panic. This wasn't supposed to be happening, Even without the dimensional barrier, the Nilokeras' sheer size was supposed to mean that it had more than enough armor to shrug off such attacks.
The orange Kataphrakt then fired off a round from the grenade launcher at the arm that was blocking the way. The pilot's aim was true and the explosive struck the elbow joint of the left arm causing an explosion big enough to blow everything past the elbow clean off. When the oversized arm fell off its joint, it caused the Nilokeras to trip over its own severed limb.
Trillram had difficulty keeping his machine from falling over due to the sheer size and weight of the now missing left arm. Instead he continued to barrel forwards, this time he wasn't even bothering to use the Nilokeras' remaining arm to defend himself. He had to kill this meddler now before Asseylum or her rat friend had a chance to-
Suddenly a loud boom filled the air and Trillram felt something impact the Nilokeras lower section, hard. It must have been that sniper that had destroyed his cameras earlier! On one of the screens to the left Trillram that showed the current status of the Nilokeras' systems, told him that the left leg had been severely damaged and was no longer functioning. Trillram started to feel the Nilokeras tip forwards and he knew that he was going to crash into the ground.
Within mere moments that prediction came true. The Nilokeras crashed into the asphalt and a number of red warning lights filled the cockpit even as most of the monitors started to fill with static or just go out completely.
Trillram could hear the sounds that the orange Kataphrakt made as it advanced towards him and he began to push and pull at the controls. They wouldn't respond no matter what he did. This couldn't be the end, he couldn't possibly get killed by an upstart just like that!
Mere moments after Trillram began to despair he heard a familiar voice over the communication's screen "Sir Trillram this is Slaine Troyard do you hear me? What's going on? How is Asseylum still alive and why is she on the bridge?!" he called out looking almost concerned at Trillram.
Without even needing to think twice Trillram spoke into the communicator, his voice on the verge of hysteria "Slaine, kill her! Kill that bitch and her friend now! And when you're done kill this filthy upstart!" There wasn't much of a response at first, other than Slaine's face becoming one of pure and complete shock. Eventually he managed to utter the word "What?" in question that Trillram could hear over what sounded like gunfire which was coming from the orange Kataphrakt. It was probably trying to shoot down the Sky-Carrier.
Trillram's scowl deepened and his eyes became more and more wild looking "You heard me you pathetic whelp! If it gets out that she's still alive then my entire clan and several other members of the Orbital Knights will be branded as traitors! Now do something right for once in your pathetic life and shoot them!" he screamed desperately.
A look of realization came over Slaine's face before it became one of pure malice "You were one of the people behind the assassination attempt. You started this whole war!" he yelled anger filling his voice. Slaine glared at him for a few seconds even as Trillram started to threaten the boy again, declaring that he was betraying the Orbital Knights and that he would suffer a traitor's death.
If Trillram had been in a more stable state of mind at the moment he would have realized how ironic and hypocritical such statements sounded. Eventually Trillram stopped screaming at Slaine and the blond haired boy that Trillram had treated so poorly said three simple words "Goodbye sir Trillram." Then the communication was cut and even though Trillram continued to try and scream threats and pleas for mercy into the communications line, it was no use. Slaine didn't respond.
Trillram looked up and saw through one of the last remaining video screens that the orange Kataphrakt was heading right for him. Fear gripped at his heart as he knew what was about to come next.
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-Inaho's Sleipnir a few seconds earlier-
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Inaho had since ceased shooting at the Martian flying machine. At first he had been worried that the Bat was going to attempt a rescue of the enemy unit. However that wasn't the case, instead the pilot had just continued flying forwards. At first Inaho had thought that the pilot was simply getting ready to come around so that he might have an easier time of hitting him rather than his comrade.
However that seemed to not be the case when it simply kept flying away, clearly attempting to leave the combat zone. Deciding that it wasn't worth the trouble to waste ammunition on an enemy unit that was already out of range, Inaho turned his attention to the downed enemy Kataphrakt in front of him.
The Sleipnir he piloted marched forwards, reloading the assault rifle as he did with a fresh magazine of explosive rounds. Once Inaho was close enough he aimed his weapon downwards at the fallen enemy. He reached over and switched his communicator on to an open channel on the off chance that the enemy pilot would hear him speak. "This is for my friend," Inaho declared stoically as he pulled the trigger on the controls.
Loud booms filled the air as high-explosive rounds impacted the wreck of the pill bug Kataphrakt again and again until all that was left was nothing more than a burning, smoldering chunk of metal.
When the enemy finally defeated, Inaho noticed something very odd on one of the monitors. Next to Rayet was princess Asseylum herself. For a moment Inaho's eyes widened a fraction, not really believing what he was seeing before he accepted that what he saw was indeed reality. His eyes then returned back to their normal, calm shape as he thought 'That is interesting. That is very interesting.'
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To be continued.
A/N: I hope this uber long chapter pleases my readers.