(no subject)
WHO: Peleps Kaizoku Seki (as Johny Ridden), Rei Ayanami, Amuro Ray, Molly, Roy Fokker, Haman Karn, Kaname Chidori, Sousuke Sagara, Yzak Joule, Forte Stollen, Ivanovna, Bernard Wiseman, Shin Matsunaga (Did I miss anyone?)
WHAT: A Zeon raid on White Base means a call to the Black Sheep for aid.
WHEN: December 21
WHERE: Sci-Fi Sector, Side 3
Sci-Fi Sector - Side 3
In the year Universal Century 0079, the orbital nation known as the Principality of Zeon declared its independence from the Earth Federation, prompting the devastating One Year War. Side 3 is the location of Zeon, at the second Lagrange Point (L2), placing it on the far side of the Moon and out of sight of the Earth. It consists of some hundreds of orbital colonies, and the asteroid space fortress A Bao A Qu.
Each colony is a large, cylindrical spacestation holding roughly a million people, powered by a mixture of nuclear and solar energy. Within each colony, cities can be found, complete with manufacturing and commercial elements. The government of Zeon, however, directs their colonies in a totalitarian, fascist manner, to utilize their resources to the fullest in the war against the Earth Federation.
This makes this area a heavily militarized, tense place underneath the rule of the oppressive Zabi family. Nationalist rhetoric is at a premium, broadcasted throughout Side 3 nearly constantly. The military forces of Zeon are always on hand, stationed at A Bao A Qu, to protect their homeland and insure the populace stays in line for their war of independence against the Federation.
Somewhere over the horizon, there's a distant roar of engines.
The source becomes clear pretty quickly. A pair of Zanzibar-class mobile cruisers come blazing in low over the land, their engines rippling trees and kicking up dirt in their wake as they speed across the landscape. They're doing a very good clip, shooting like a bat out of hell towards their target: The good ship White Base. The speed of their assault is quite simply necessary to try and catch the ship unawares.
Their ventral launch hatches are already beginning to open. Dangerous... but necessary for fast deployment.
Aboard the lead cruiser, Captain Shin Matsunaga, the infamous White Wolf of Solomon, sits at the controls of his mobile suit, counting down the time on one of his readouts. He taps his helmet mic. "All units, prepare for launch on my mark."
Then he settles in to wait.
Not very many FZ-series Zaku II's have survived the war on Earth. The design - part of an attempt to make several new Mobile Suits under the aegis of the Unified Maintenance Plan - had fallen into disuse after Zeon became pressed to work on the development and production of its new suits, instead of making old and new suits similar in design. A few had survived, nonetheless.
One of those is the one that Bernard Wiseman is flying. The blonde-haired young man has his head bowed down and the helmet pulled over it, while he rests back in the chair of the Zaku. "Sergeant Wiseman, reporting, sir," he says into his radio. "I'm ready to launch on your word."
Ivanovna's response is immediate. "Yes, yes, I'm ready, hurry up." Her voice, filtered through a somewhat flat-sounding radio, is still heavily accented with Russian. She sits in the control area of the Zhuk II, a large Mobile Combat Vehicle that isn't quite so proportionately large here, at a whopping forty feet high and sixty across.
Other wanzers, smaller - only about twenty to thirty feet high - and painted in a dark grey approaching black with paler grey accents, surround it. There are about a dozen of these, mostly armed with machine guns, but a couple have shotguns, big metal combat rods, or giant pneumatic spikes strapped to their forearms. They also give various words of approval. Every one of them has had their usual backpack replaced with a jetpack, except for one; that one has no legs, instead using a big hover skirt, and it has a strange-looking backpack with two tall poles.
And next, comes a man.
No. /THE/ Man. The man with the plan, the red and black terror of the Feddie forces, the hero of the Battle of Loum, quite simply, the best Moble Suit pilot Zeon has...
"Johnny Ridden is in the /house/!" The Chimera Corps loaner grooves on in, pointing both of his fingers at the Nightmare of Solomon himself and giving the man a wink. "Ready to fry some Feddies, sir!"
Haman Karn knows of this attack through her Divine Crusader connections and the fact that many Zeon pilots are also DC members. She's decided that today will be the day when the history of the One Year War is forever altered. Today is the day she is prepared to throw everything she has at the White Base in an attempt to sink it. A call went out to all Divine Crusaders to provide backup to the main Zeon assault force. To this end, the DC command ship Legendra hangs in geostationary orbit over what will soon become a great battlefield.
Inside of the Lengendra's Launch Hangar, final preparations are being made to launch in aid of the Principality forces. The plan is simple, those who can surivive atmospheric re-entry on their own will go first, followed by those who cannot using inflatable heat-shields. Haman Karn has issued explicit instructions that the White Base must be destroyed by any means necessary and she means it.
Suting up in her purple and pink normal suit, the Commander of the Divine Crusaders, Regent of Axis and keeper of the flame of Newtype supremacy looks over at her newly rebuilt and remodelled Qubeley with a smirk. "Today we avenge the humiliations of the past, today we make them pay for every drop of Zeon blood they have spilt. We make them pay for the 30 bunch incident, we make them pay for all of their crimes, past, present and future. Today we raise the flag of Zeon high and cheer in victory. All units, launch. Victory or Death for the glory of ZEON! SEIG ZEON!"
The radio of Johnny Ridden's MS crackles, as Bernie speaks over it. "Captain Aznable?" he asks. "Is that your Mobile Suit?"
Shin also adds over the radio, "Good to have you with us, Captain Aznable."
Meanwhile, on-board the Lengendra, a decidedly out-of-place Mobile Suit rests in the cradles. While the GOUF Ignited looks like one of Zeon's, it's far more advanced than even the Gelgoog. The white-painted MS is the only ZAFT representative here, oddly enough, and its pilot is sticking close to his machine.
Yzak simply nods his head as Haman gives her speech. He doesn't even have the energy to comment, or make an addition to the speech...he just raises his fist and gives a lackluster "Seig Zeon" before tugging his helmet on and lowering the visor...just to make sure it works.
.oO(Let's just get this over with....)Oo.
Ivanovna totally fails to go 'Seig Zeon', for the record.
Ridden twitches, his hands squeezing into fists and his whole body shuddering with sheer AIR RAGE. This is why he changed his nickname from Red Blitz to Crimson Lightning in the first place! "Do I LOOK like that mask wearing fruitcake?! You people wouldn't know a brilliant moble suit pilot if he popped out of the ground and bit you in the face! Oh..."
Ridden turns around, suddenly, kneeling down and holding a pendant shaped like a unicorn. "Kycilia, my lady, my devotion, my horse-faced goddess, /you/ would never mistake me for that no account alternate lifestyle enthusiast Char Aznable...why, even that name sounds completely made up! 'Aznable', really..."
And then, there was a ship.
The ship.
The White Base!
The Pegasus-class Federation carrier has had a relatively easy journey across Europe after the Federation took Odessa, as Zeon has slowly been forced to pull out of Earth territories in the past few weeks. Now it flies along what was once Spain, headed towards the ocean. Once there, it'll be a flight to South America, where Jaburo finally, finally, FINALLY awaits. But first...
"...Sir, I'm getting something on visual..."
"Sir, enemy Mobile Suits, some identified as Zeon make! They're headed for the White Base!"
"Sir, we're-"
Bright Noah points, with all the drama by which Bright Noah must point, and barks out orders. "Send Amuro Ray to launch in the Core Booster. Send a call out for any assistance we can find, now!"
And as the call for help from the ever-so-British Bright goes out to the Black Sheep and IPA, young Amuro Ray launches from the White Base in the fighter- like Core Booster, scanning the area. Something feels...strange...
Roy, after getting the initial reports on numbers and scrambling the forces he can get together - realizes that they're going to be short. After sending back his forces en route communique, the Commander of the Black Sheep adds, "Contact Mithril, they're Fed freindly."
With that, the Veritech Commander climbs into Skull One and launches from the Prometheus, engaging the Super enhancements and rockets through the Gate. Just in time to come out the other side. "..dunno, sounds more like Ass Enable to me, kids. Tallyho!" he calls out as he streaks down into the atmosphere.
Kaname Chidori's Luck, as always when it came to giant robots, absolutely sucked.
She was in the White Base, dressed in jeans and a simple, baby t-shirt and jeans, visiting Amuro to give him his Christmas present. Indeed, she had been laughing with the pilot when he was suddenly called away, and the emergency bells inside the base started ringing.
"What's going on?" she cries, snagging the sleeve of a passing White Base staff member.
"We're under attack, I have to get back to the monitors!" A glance at the young woman's guest pass. "Come on, we better get you out of here."
"But--!" She's snagged by the wrist, and turned to head to a more secured location in the building.
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Amuro Ray says, "So, Haman is here. I thought I sensed another Newtype."
EVA-00 had been standing by; there is always an Evangelion unit that is prepared, and EVA-00 has not decided to commit suicide or attempt to murder any technicians lately. Three days without a mysterious technician maiming or death: An excellent record for NERV!
Rei sits in the plug. She thinks about that strange woman she encountered at that convention, and how she felt strange. Was that the person who, in another place, might have been her mother? But, she tells herself, that is ridiculous: she would not exist in any other world.
EVA-00 is shunted through Gates rapidly, emerging some distance from White Base at a full run. It holds a strange-looking weapon, something like a short- nosed gun with an armguard, but has no other weapons. The White Base deploys one of the standardized power supply cables, and the Evangelion slows down near the ship, flexible arms connecting the plug into the socket on its back.
Rei has nothing in particular to say over the radio, beyond the formalities of, "Eva unit Zero, present," so that White Base knows it's her, as opposed to Asuka.
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Roy Fokker says, "I think she's still got a mad on at me. I'll keep her busy. You guys take care of that base!"
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Forte Stollen whoosh. "On it."
Maybe it's a good thing that Molly doesn't really have much of a life outside of her career. It keeps her nearby the Arrow III at almost all times. When the call comes in over her radio, she's waist-deep in the guts of one of Wei's other racecraft, some dinky thing that's using the new solar cells. She's still got grease smudges on her face as she runs up the catwalk stairs to grab her partner from the dining hall.
Perhaps ten minutes later, they're passing through the main gate on their version of Earth and passing through the Terminus, Jordan hastily finishing his sandwich back in the gunner's turret.
The comparatively small flier bursts through the Gate with the hum of the engines going full blast. It wheels around and reorients itself for White Base, slowly catching up on the familiar-ish form of the blue EVA-00. "Arrow 3 is on the scene!" Molly announces, gripping the handlebars tight. Jordan slurps down the last of his soda pop and tucks the crushed paper cup into a pocket of his BDUs. "--Yeah, what she said!"
There's something in the water. Something dark, something terrifying - something powerful.
"Captain. White Base is under attack."
"...I see. And Kaname?"
"Miss Chidori is still aboard, ma'am."
"...and Sagara?"
"Already in Arbalest and ready to dispatch at any time, ma'am."
"The other M9's?"
"It will take ten minutes to finish refitting them for land combat. Arbalest was done first in case of this sort of situation arising."
"...alright then. Rise to launch depth, and dispatch the ARX-7 via booster rocket to assist. Prepare the others for combat," says Teletha Testarossa.
"Aye, ma'am! Rise to launch depth, and dispatch ARX-7 Arbalest via booster rocket!" echoes Richard Mardukas.
The command echoes across the bridge of the TDD-1 Tuatha De Danaan, flagship of the Mithril Pacific Battle Fleet, the most advanced submarine in the world.
The waters part, and from within rises a beast of steel and plastic, a towering synthetic monster, a testament to the power of man's mastery of the waves. From its launch deck, a single shot, a behemoth of white dispatching for the field of battle, with Mithril's greatest ace of all within. Sergeant Sousuke Sagara says into his radio, "Uruz Seven, coming to assist."
Arbalest streaks toward the field of battle. With its jetpack, it will be there quite soon indeed.
The Tuatha De Danaan resubmerges, though staying close enough to sea level to fire a few missiles should it come to that.
Today's the White Base's lucky day. Maybe not /that/ lucky since Milfeulle is too busy making Christmas cookies to make it to the Lucky Star in time. There was one Emblem Frame on patrol that could make it, however, and tactically the best one you could ask for to save your little unarmed carrier's bacon. A battleship is just what the White Base needs, and by the White Goddess, she's going to get a battleship.
A purple and black blur jets out of the Gate - not quite as fast as Roy's Veritech, but pretty goshdarn fast given that she was built for space anyways. Black lasers of varying size bristle from the corvette's body, most notably the largest trio of cannons aimed directly ahead. Hidden inside the cockpit, the young stately dressed pilot nimbly flies her fingers across the futuristic controls and activates the ship's 'Go Faster' command. "Oi, tryin' to ruin the White Base's holidays? I guess its time to deliver a little holiday cheer of our own, girl!"
Forget Rei, Roy, and Sagara. You've brought on the wrath of Forte Stollen and the Space Battleship Happy Trigger. May the White Goddess have mercy on your souls.
Hey, there are guns on those Zanzibars! As they approach the White Base, the pair of cruisers begin to brake fairly noisily. The guns open fire, beginning to shower the area around White Base with bullets - a few of them stray towards the ship itself, but the rest are simply covering fire, intended to pin down the Trojan Horse while the mobile suits deploy.
Shin frowns for a moment. Something out there feels... off. He can't put his finger on it, though.
He'll have to take more care.
"Keep your eyes open; They've managed to get the word out." He then raises his voice. "All units: launch!"
The doors of the Zanzibars are both fully open now - and the first mobile suit out is a very distinctive one indeed. It's a Gouf - a white Gouf, complete with a slim antenna jutting from its forehead. Emblazoned across its chest plate, which is dark black, is the emblem of a white wolf's head over a green swoosh.
Behind the White Wolf of Solomon, Zakus begin to jet down from the Zanzibars, readying their machine guns as they come.
Shin has no need for a machine gun. He lines up White Base in his sights, his heat rod already active and aglow. He poises one hand over his controls.
"Commence the attack! Take care of their reinforcements; I'll take care of the Trojan Horse." And then - "SIEG ZEON!!!"
And then he jams on the thrusters. The white Gouf shoots forward like a bullet from a gun, blasting at top speed towards White Base.
Conventional wisdom states that the best way to destroy a ship is to hang back and blast it with heavy weaponry. The White Wolf of Solomon spits upon conventional wisdom. The white Gouf closes at shocking speed, turning towards the White Base's starboard flank - and, insanely, boosting right up as if to land on the leg on that side. Without hesitation he shoots forward and swings the heat rod in a series of brutal swings intended to carve straight through the big ship's 'chest' plating - and his steps are taking him closer to the head.
Who is man enough to do something as utterly NUTS as fight a massive land battleship at melee range?
The White Wolf of Solomon, of course.
The launch bay doors on the Lengedra open, disgorging it's colorful payload of death. A squadron of Gaza-C units in Mobile Armor mode fly forth, protected with a new heat shielding material they can power-drive through the atmosphere and reach the battle first. The Qubeley pilot slides herself into place and launches next, ready to deply her inflatable shield at a moment's notice. She cannot wait to enter to field of battle, cannot wait to avenge herself on all of her enemies and show the Black Sheep Squadron the power of the Divine Crusaders. For if their mission was only from man, it would surely fail but as they represent the desires of the entire cosmos, nothing can stand in their way.
"All DC units, this is Commander Haman Karn, I have launched and am en route to the battlefield. Estimated ETA is three minutes seventeen seconds. Do us proud. Let's defeat the IPA and Federation forces here and show them the strength of our convictions. Failure is not an option. The first one with a confirmed critical hit on the White Base earns a reward."
Haman Karn then relaxes a bit, leaning back in her seat, feeling the cosmos rush past her, reaching out her consciouseness to the theatre of operations below, seeking that one mind she knows will be there, the one mind she desires NOT to destroy. He would make a powerful ally if only he could be turned.
The Zhuk steps out slightly behind the others. Ivanovna does not seem to care that it is incredibly dangerous to leap from this high in a vehicle designed solely for ground combat; the hasty refits to allow it to jump are somewhat precariously attached.
It falls pretty fast. The jets it has do not really slow the Zhuk down appreciably; all they do is keep its feet pointed down, to avoid a fatal crash if it lands on its side or back. Ivanovna laughs the whole way down; fortunately, she keeps her radio off while she does this. It lands, heavily, with enough force to cause the belly of the four-legged tank to touch the ground; it stands up straight again with whirring noises.
The wanzers come down much more sedately, boosting with their jetpacks to avoid falling too fast. Their heat shielding is more tested and less makeshift; they'll be fine, although it will take them some time.
Bernie's Zaku FZ shoots out of the hangar of the Zanzibar. As it comes downward, it fires the thrusters on its back; the vehicle goes downward, its descent brought under control by the rockets. The young man's eyes narrow, as he scans over the screen and sees the White Base far below. Matsunaga is already on the move.
He reaches down and grasps one of the sturm fausts hanging from the skirt armor of the Zaku FZ. The rocket is aimed towards the ground, as he starts to draw a bead - and pauses as he sees the Arrow III.
"The hell is that?" he mutters to himself. He pulls the trigger and unleashes the rocket - sending it flying down, snaking just to the left, before it goes crashing downward.
Yzak Joule would, ordinarily, be using a ZAFT dropship to enter the Earth's atmosphere...but there are no Nazca-class carriers here, and thus no drop-pods. Instead, as the GOUF steps out onto the flight deck, technicians hastily attach a gigantic ballute container to the mobile suit, linked to a retro-rocket pack on the chest; additional retro-rocket packs go on the legs. Rather than using the catapult, as the mobile suit is now far too heavy, the GOUF simply fires its thrusters and launches clear of the ship; gravity takes care of the rest, as the GOUF turns about so the ballute pack is facing towards the 'ground' so many miles below.
A new comet lights up the sky a few minutes later, as the heat-resistant inflatable 'shell' breaks free of its container and allows Yzak safe passage to Earth. The retro-rockets occasionally fire to keep him on course.
Quite out of character for him, Yzak says nothing. His thoughts are entirely his own this time, it seems.
"Right then!" Johnny thunders, seeing as his point was obviously made and this 'being Char' busniess will NEVER COME UP AGAIN. EVER. FOREVER. so he can get to work. Strapping into his red and black custom Zaku, with a little unicron on the right forearm to remember his Kyclly Willy with, the Crimson Lightning roars out of the hangar!
"Hang on to your hangars, Feddies!" Ridden shouts over the all-com, screeching through the sky at terrible speeds, "The greatest ace in the Grand Dutchy of Zeon is here to fight for the honor of the Chimera Corps! Try my Crimson Lighting special delux set!" The ace howls out, pulling his Zaku's machine gun at the Happy Trigger and fireing a lightning fast volley at the massive starfighter. Hey, he's taken down carriers and battleships before.
The more standard Zakus of the First Directional Detached Corps are also touching down. These aren't aces, but they are just good old soldiers, about a dozen or so at the moment, each manning a regular JC-type Zaku II with a 120-millimeter machinegun. They move into position to try and cover Shin's advance, beginning to fire bullets towards some of the herotypes.
Operation: Shoot Stuff So The Boss Can Stand On Their Base And Kill Their Dudes.
White Base is big. It can take a lot of damage. It can't really dodge an ace Mobile Suit slicing at bits of its armor.
The ship quakes with the impact, Bright Noah jostled in his captain's chair. "-Is that a Mobile Suit going after us?"
"A white one, sir. There is a red one out there, too!"
The young captain sighs, as he quietly reminds himself that maybe, in a twisted way, being attacked by several Zeon aces and Syndicate badasses is kind of flattering.
Outside, the pilot of the Core Booster scans the area. He feels something pulling on his mind, lashing out and repelling instantly; he knows Haman Karn is out there from the radio, and from the distinctive Quebely suits. And yet, when he lashes out, he feels another presence. Odd.
The white Gouf, Yzak's. Very tempting to just shoot that right out of the fugging sky.
And IS THAT CHA-wait, that's not Char, nevermind.
And-...and did that white mobile suit just attack the White Base, in close range?!
"What do you think you're doing?!" Amuro flies in a swift arc towards Shin Matsunaga's Mobile Suit, firing from the twin rifles and staring. Who is /that?!/
Roy notices the launch from the Lengedra. That's where she'll be. And judging from Amuro's reports in the past, the girl will be trying to get close enough to play with Amuro's mind.
No way is Haman going to get a chance to mindscrew his little fro headed pilot. The engines of the Veritech flare brightly as he dives right into the middle of the cluster.
Seeing Haman's mobile suit in the crowd, he opens fire with the undercarriage lasers, just to get her attention as he tears through the middle of the formation and streaks around the other side.
Roy Fokker misses Haman Karn with his She asked for it! jab.
Kaname is headed for the transport area, in no will of her own. The staffer with her seems hell bent on getting her out of the base.
It may be just as well. She was a civilian after all, and she didn't want to be caught in the middle of a war -again-. It's happened way too much to her liking. The plan was, from what she could hear from the alarms, is to get her on secured transport to the nearest Gate. It sounded, really, like a good idea.
Except for the fact that it was a total warzone outside. When she points -this- little fact out, she's gifted with: "We'll take the 'back door.'"
"I'm telling you, this plan is COMPLETELY FLAWED! Nothing's gonna happen to me if I stay here!" she yelps.
"Trust me!"
Rei thinks absently that this is really far too many Zakus for a proper day. Her head turns, as does EVA-00's, but Amuro is already handling the berserker. As such, her duty is clear, and EVA-00 moves to stand to face some of the landed Zakus that are firing towards it, and by extension, the White Base.
Light flickers as some of the shots impact something not far from EVA-00's side. The AT Field, while not highly developed, is present. Rei raises the energy weapon, armguard and all, and carefully aims towards a cluster of the Zakus. She picks one, more or less at random, as a central target, and then pulls the trigger three times, firing a small spread of plasma blasts towards them.
This is not too bad, she thinks, not quite aware of the scale of this attack yet.
The guncannons poking out of the orange bubble on one of the Arrow's flanks withdraw, followed by the bubble itself. The empty space in the side of the craft is covered as a metal iris closes over it; on the opposite side, a matching iris opens for the mobile gunner's turret, slick twin barrels emerging to either side of it. "They're still too far away, Moll. Get me in closer!"
"Right, right," she grumbles into the two-way, pressing the pedals towards the floor as the ex-racecraft keeps gaining speed towards the enemy. "Just concentrate on your end, I'll keep us from getting hit."
Tapping a button on the discman at her hip, Molly shuffles through her playlist by heart as she prepares to sortie.
"...Can you turn it to--HOLY CRAP INCOMING." Jordan's request for 'something Caribbean' is interrupted by the Arrow's proximity alarm.
"ON IT!" Molly barely has time to think, only react, throwing the craft into a tight spin to her right, heading away from EVA-00. The craft comes out of its panicked barrel roll easily, Molly shifting her weight in the opposite direction and pulling easily on the bars -- the Arrow pulls up in response, rising swiftly and to the side of Bernie's mech. Jordan's cannons sound like a a World War II machine gun going off, laser rounds, arcing toward him as their ship barrels down (up?) on him.
The Happy Trigger is also big, about as tall as two mobile suits one on top of the other. Forte's tanked battleships before, so its with a wicked smile that she catches the Crimson Lightning popping up on her sensors next to the minor damage reports. "I was expectin' bigger fish, not some fruit sportin' unicorns," she snorts derisively as she taps in the next set of commands, a hand brushing past Eriol's long-forgotten good luck charm. "Gotta start somewhere. Sorry, pal - consider this a favor for all your teammates." The Emblem Frame loops around, a giant shadow falling across the rain-free Spanish plain, and begins its strafing run when It happens...
No, not Johnny Ridden's imminent demise. He's too cool to die that fast!
What does happen is... a guitar intro? Across the battlefield, there's the sound of real Heavy Metal coming from the Happy Trigger's loudspeakers, and a screechy voice begins to wail:
"There goes the siren that warns of the air raid
Then comes the sound of the guns sending flak"
"Out for the scramble we've got to get airborne
Got to get up for the coming attack"
Inside the cockpit, Forte would be blinking in stunned silence, if it wasn't that the guitars were jamming twice and loud inside as they were outside. "What. The. Hell."
"Jump in the cockpit and start up the engines
Remove all the wheelblocks theres no time to waste
Gathering speed as we head down the runway
Gotta get airborne before its too late"
"Dammit, that was the 'Fire The Lasers' command," the exasperated gunwoman mutters as she quickly re-types in her command, "Not 'Play Ranpha's Exercise Music'!" Lasers finally start to arc towards the Crimson Lightning, but the music refuses to die!
"Running Scrambling Flying
Rolling Turning Diving Going in again
Run Live to fly Fly to live Do or die
Run Live to fly Fly to live Aces hiiiiiiiiiigh"
|OOC| Amuro Ray says, "LISTEN TO MY SONG"
|OOC| Kaname Chidori says, "ROFL."
|OOC| Ivanovna says, "I REFUSE."
|OOC| Forte Stollen says, "YOU HAVE NO CHOICE, MAKE YOUR TIME"
|OOC| Shin Matsunaga says, "Must keep straight face."
|OOC| Kaname Chidori would have to beat on Basara if he was ever apped out of principle.
|OOC| Yzak Joule says, "Nyo~roooon"
|OOC| Amuro Ray says, "POWAAA TO DA DREEEAM"
|OOC| Forte Stollen says, "Whereas Eriol's 'good luck charm' gave Roy a steady supply of sheep plushies, it gave Forte her own battle soundtrack."
|OOC| Rei Ayanami says, "NEO-ZION GREATEST COUNTRY IN WORLD / ALL OTHER COUNTRIES RUN BY LITTLE GIRLS"
|OOC| Ivanovna says, "OH YEAH?"
The jet booster attached to Arbalest begins to sputter as Mithril's own 'white demon' finally reaches the battlefield...but Sousuke Sagara cannot fall now. He sees the situation. He sees what must be done. "Ready the line gun." He knows precisely what to do.
|Sergeant, you are completely insane|
"Affirmative."
The jetpack finally fails and begins Arbalest on a harsh descent, but it's stopped rather abruptly as SOusuke fires Arbalest's tow cable gun at one of the outcroppings on White Base, wrapping the cable around it and literally swinging off of it like some sort of insane albino ninja ape.
"Lock targeting pointer on the unit engaging White Base in melee. Prepare melee weapons, it looks like whoever's in that fighter will need some support."
|Engaging the enemy this close to White Base is incredibly dangerous! We could fall! Or get the base blown up!|
"Affirmative."
|Good. Makes it more interesting.|
"Stop talking nonsense."
Arbalest alights on one of White Base's various stable points, and draws the GRAW-2 monomolecular cutter from its clamp over the 'mouth' of the machine, and the molecule-thick blade begins to vibrate, ready for war.
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Forte Stollen can barely be heard over the sounds of Iron Maiden, "GAH! What the hell's goin' on!?"
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Nono says, "Nono thinks you have the radio on..."
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Forte Stollen says, "I didn't turn it on! And I can't shut it off!"
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Amuro Ray says, "There shouldn't be many civilian stations still broadcasting around here..."
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Nono cheerily "Satellite radio!"
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Forte Stollen wham. "Its those Ziggy Dion guys sendin' a jamming frequency!"
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Molly says, "Turn it up, I'm too busy to mess with my radio right now!"
Shin made his name as a space ace, but he seems to have had no trouble adapting to ground combat. While the Gouf isn't quite as fast as he would have liked, the sheer power behind it makes up for it. The white Gouf plods manfully along the White Base's foreleg, advancing towards the mount for one of those big yellow and blue shield thingies (shut up they look like shield thingies) - and towards the big ship's neck.
His ship kill count includes five Salamis-class cruisers and a huge Magellan-class ship, all at close range. He's happy to add a shiny Pegasus-class to the list, and in the process raise the spirits of his men by taking down what may be the Federation's deadliest weapon-
*ping*
With a sudden jerk he hits the Gouf's jets, leaping forward on the leg and tucking closer to the White Base's hull - a split-second BEFORE the Core Booster actually fires. The blaster fire zips past him... and splashes against the hull of the White Base.
The ace scowls. That was a close one. "...Nice shooting, eagle-eye." Then something occurs to him, and he frowns. Must be the boy. He swings out the Gouf's left hand and lets loose a volley of finger-gun fire towards the Core Booster even as the white Mobile Suit darts forward again, swinging a couple of strokes of the heat rod towards the White Base's neck - *ping* - before turning, again just a second before the Arbalest actually lands, aiming the finger guns at the intruder. "Nobody invited you up here, friend. Get lost."
Feeling the attack from the Veritech miss her by just a hair, Haman swears under her breath. She's at the mercy of her ballute at the moment, unable to turn and fire her main guns on the annoying human. "Fokker!" She hisses his name like a blasphemous epithet. "You get in my way once again you 21st Century Relic?" She's been doing her homework, "You'd be nothing were it not for your stolen alien technology. Just another pathetic Oldtype. Prepare to die, taste the sting of the future!"
The tail binder of the Qubeley raises a bit, just enough to allow four of her funnels to escape. Mentally commanding the wizzing little self- powered particle launchers, Haman orders them to attack Roy, to keep him busy while she reaches a safe altitude to detach from her inflatable heat shield and enter the actual theatre of conflict. The funnels whiz back and forth, launching their particle beams over and over again at Roy, a dance of death.
Zakus are not the world's most heroic Mobile Suits. The three targeted by Ayanami have turned towards her, beginning to fire their machineguns, but the blue-haired mechrider's plasma fire cripples the first one, knocking out a leg, then blows off the shoulder shield of the second, leaving some ugly rent damage along the arm. The third Zaku is able to boost out of the way, swapping its machinegun in favour of a standard Zaku bazooka. There's a heavy *FOOM* as the pilot lets loose with a missile, the projectile screeching towards EVA-00's chest.
The corpsmen are not entirely pleased with Sousuke right now. One of the Zakus on the ground loads up its bazooka, blasting a missile towards the Arbalest in the hopes of knocking it off the White Base - and damaging the ship in the process!
Haman Karn misses Roy Fokker with her Funnel Swarm! combo.
The Arrow III's cannons rain into the Zaku, laser bursts cutting the armor here and there. Pockmarks are left in the green armor, though none of them quite break through. Bernie still grits his teeth and drops the rod that the sturm faust had been attached to. It falls to the ground as the Zaku's descent continues.
This time, he pulls up the 90mm machinegun. The rifle is twisted and aimed at the ex-racer as it spins away. The barrel opens fire, sparks spewing out as heavy rounds cut an arc in the sky along the path that the Arrow III is following.
"Some kind of racer," he says with a grunt.
Yzak Joule, meanwhile, continues to drop. As soon as he's reached what he feels is a safe distance, the ballute and all its associated equipment are ejected with explosive bolts. The GOUF then spreads its wings and engages its thrusters, zipping through the air under its own power towards the White Base. The ZAFT-built machine raises its right arm and the four-barreled beam gun mounted upon it begins to fire a steady stream of energy blasts at the Legged Ship. Hopefully this'll distract one or both of Shin's assailants.
"Oh snap." Johnny Ridden says, as he gets an idea of JUST HOW BIG the Happy Trigger is, "That's a /fighter/?! Its as big as one of those IPA giants!" This is about when he sees Unit-00. "...oh snap TIMES TWO, its one of those IPA giants!" The Crimson Lightning pulls out his "Sig Zeon!" handbook, flipping through it. There are pictures of the various known giant-sized 'Evangelions' or whatever the damn feddies have. The red one is noted as 'Red Devil', but there's a question mark by it, which the black one has as well, the purple one, the Leviathan, is underlined three times, has a buncha exclimation points, and a "|:( We do not like you |:(" written on it.
Johnny Ridden looks up. Not purple, blue. Phew.
He turns, and sees that the blue one has exclimation points, and a little picture of a cruiser exploding. He can think of only one response to this.
"...AWESOME! That tool Char's never taken out /either/ of these types of ships before! Thinks he's so cool with his five battleship record...I'll prove who's best once and for all! Holy crap!" The last bit was because it is time to ZOOM up now, as the Happy Trigger gets closer-Ridden does exactly that, firing off turbo boosters as the Happy Trigger closes in, and attempting to charge overtop the Emblem Frame, running his heat hawk along its roof as he tries to pass it. "How DARE you insult the symbol of my courtly affection for the great Kycilla Zabi! I'm a KNIGHT, woman, and that means a vulgar opponent like you has already lost!"
Barring being exploded, Ridden then turns on the blue one. "Pilot of the Cruelian Cyclops!" Ridden taunts over the radio, because that is just how Zeon rolls, "Know that you fall today! -ha, I sound so epic." The Zaku fires a flare at Eva-00, intended to set off its strange forcefield...
...so that the small wing of generic green zakus under Ridden's command can converge on that, blasing out of their cover to fire missles, grenades, and laser blasts at the exposed spot in the ATField, hoping to rip a hole in the giants's infamous protective shielding!
Ivanovna's Zhuk stands up, slowly, and the turret turns left and right. Let's see. So many targets, so little time.
The main cannon of the Zhuk booms out as Ivanovna takes a potshot at the White Base; it's a big target and she has lots of White Base to choose from. A second time, off to the side, and then the Zhuk starts to walk backwards as Ivanovna looks around for her /real/ targets; the White Base is more of a distraction at this point.
She sees (and hears) the /loud/ mech. "Hey you!" she says, on local radio. "Stop with the damn /music/!" The Zhuk's turret rises as Ivanovna points it at the Happy Trigger, firing at the large flying machine. "And put some damn LEGS on that mech!"
The White Base bridge is in a panic, as they struggle to get their shields up to something decent. The ship is intact, but taking damage from that wily White Gouf. And meanwhile, Amuro...
*fsshiPING!*
The Core Booster swerves out of the way of Shin's gunfire, even as White Base takes damage from the friendly fire. Amuro curses; fighting this close to the ship is no good, and so he radios something to Sousuke.
'Let's try to lure him away from White Base if we can.'
The colors are custom, and that isn't a ZAFT Gouf; Amuro can tell that this is another Zeon Ace, and not some wannabe like the "Green Wolf." He attempts a sideswipe of the Mobile Suit, trying to use the twin guns to fire at close range. And as the Core Booster flies by, he feels something very strange, something he already suspected when he watched Shin dodge a shot a little too early.
*You are...?!*
Yeah, yeah, stolen alien technology that is a lot more kickass than you armored skirt wearing pansies, Haman! As the funnels are deployed, Roy makes a note of the several new blips on the screen, then with a speed that belies his capabilities, throws the C-switch on the control panel. The legs of the Veritech swing out as it hyper switches into the Guardian configuration. It damn near throws Roy's head forward, but he keeps it together.
The first shots from the funnel system streak by his Guardian mode. He spins the plane around, launching several missiles at the first funnel. Then he flicks the B-switch. Going to Battloid, Roy smiles. "Now now, it may be alien, but as you of all people should know, we adapt quickly." Moving with the speed of someone that second-guess the funnels, Roy snipes another one out of the air with his auto-cannon, before turning his attention on the transport Haman's mobile suit is locked in.
Bringing up the twin plasma cannons over the right shoulder, Roy keys up the firing sequence. "Really, trying so hard to get away, why don't you stay up here for a while and play with me, hmm? I'll show you a good time, fight you long time~"
With that, the cannons spew forth destruction.
"Come on!"
"Slow down!"
Kaname has no choice but to follow. And as she moves further within the transport area, in the outside, Ivanovna fires her cannon at the White Base, and Yzak does as well. Explosions rock her area, and a hole is blasted through the metallic walls. She is barely conscious of her body going flying along with a rain of debris. Her body crashes on the ground, rolling on the floor and thumping against the wall.
Luckily, she was athletic, even scarily so. The hit didn't really hurt her so much as the shock has. Whenever she gets up and shakes her head, she stares at the gaping hole in the wall, and all the mecha and firepower whizzing outside.
And, true to form, instead of running -away- from the hole, she heads towards it, pushing her head out and -staring- open mouthed at everything that's happening outside.
"Holy---"
This is conveniently cut off as the camera switches to another random mecha.
Roy Fokker hits Haman Karn with his Plasma Cannons! attack.
The AT Field brings the bazooka round to detonate at some distance away from EVA-00's chest. There is a black streak from the explosion, but the curves of the polymer armor remain intact. Rei does not smile, of course, but in an abstract, faint way, she is pleased.
The flare startles her, and her synch ratio dips briefly as her eyes ache lightly. The AT Field flutters to orange-patterned light -- just in time to get slammed in by concentrated fire!
It's not quite that easy, of course, but the blasts get through in part and tear streaks in the Evangelion's armor as it staggers back, Rei's teeth gritting as her eyes water at the ghostlike sensation of her abdomen being stabbed by small needles and pins. She thinks she's bleeding.
EVA-00 raises the weapon again, but the several shots it fires towards the Zakus are not well aimed, and may not accomplish much save disrupting their formation somewhat. It likely has finite ammunition, but Rei is used to having easy resupply points.
Gripping the triggers, Jordan grins in fierce first-blood victory. "Score! Take me around for another shot, Moll!" The crosshairs on his HUD blink back into green as they go out of range to try avoiding the Zaku's return fire. The Arrow II was a racing craft in its first life, all right... it's faster than almost anything on the field now even without the Hyperdrive, and its maneuverability isn't bad either. But speed trades off at the cost of a lighter shell and frame: their ship, while a vast improvement on the first two Arrow prototypes, is very light on armor. A few good shots is enough to blow out one of the engines and send her team limping home -- if they're lucky.
Luckily, it's piloted by the best team their Earth had to offer.
Molly jams down the pedals, engines screaming as she tries to outrun the volley of GIANT DEATH BULLETS. One or two ping WAY too close to her cockpit for comfort, one blowing a baseball-sized hole through the arm of her star-racer. Molly shudders at the impact --so close to the fuel lines-- and swings around, pulling the Arrow back towards Bernard. "Jordan, your shot's coming up!" The Arrow hasn't got its usual distance advantage, so she's going to have to make every drop of speed count if they want to last.
The crosshairs blip red over Bernard's Zaku. Jordan pulls the triggers.
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Amuro Ray says, "The person in the White Gouf, not Yzak, the other one..."
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Amuro Ray says, "I think...no, I can't confirm it yet."
Roy Fokker switches armor modes to Super Battloid.
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Molly grunts, "--Amuro?"
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Roy Fokker says, "Molly, you okay down there?"
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Molly says, "Yeah, I'm fine. Amuro, what ABOUT the guy in the Goof?"
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Amuro Ray says, "Newtype."
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Amuro Ray says, "Um, as in, he has-we don't understand it yet, but he can do some of the stuff I can, pretty much. At least, probably so."
Forte hasn't saved the universe three times over yet. (App Takuto.) Not even once, though there were a few close calls with Lost Technololgy that might count. (App Eonia.) So she doesn't quite have the reputation Amuro and Shin and Roy and Everyone Else has. (App Takuto and Eonia, dammit.)
However, she does have an Emblem Frame and a bitchin' soundtrack! Bruce Dickinson screams away as the Crimson Lightning plasma burns his way across the ship's top, and the guitar solo kicks in just as Forte swivels her around to follow the mech. "Oi, a knight," the soldier snickers as she lines up a second shot - but that one will never come as well.
The Happy Trigger floats in mid-air for a moment, then slowly spins around to face the Zhuk. Light sparkles off of the edges of the forward cannons, and all the Newtypes just got a feeling from the frame's cockpit along the lines of 'Oh No You Le Didn't'. "Legs?" The baritone woman's voice echoes coldly over the wailing, and now its Ivanovna's turn to face the fury of Forte. She's had this discussion one too many times with the lesser pilots. Enough is enough. "I don't need legs. I have guns!" BOOM. Lots of guns!
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Roy Fokker says, "Haman's up here, Amuro, so keep the head safe there."
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Amuro Ray says, "I know. I can feel her."
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Forte Stollen boomboomboom
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Roy Fokker says, "Yeah?"
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Roy Fokker says, "Well tell her I'm imagining her in a bunny suit at the moment."
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Amuro Ray says, "-That's actually not the funny joke I thought you were gonna make, Commander!"
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Amuro Ray says, "Dirty joke, I mean."
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Roy Fokker says, "There's some things, Amuro, that even I won't hit."
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Zekk says, "...sounds like you people are having a hell of a time."
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Molly | Jordan says, "So that means, like, aim for the head?"
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Roy Fokker says, "If you think you can hit it, Jordan."
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Forte Stollen is shouting loud enough to be heard over her heavy metal soundtrack, "She insulted the Happy Trigger! DIE!"
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Molly says, "Oh man, don't encourage him."
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Amuro Ray says, "I mean, as soon as I said that I could feel her, I thought you were gonna say," he deepens his voice to a Royish tone, "Copping a feel there, Amuro?" Back to normal, "or, something like that, I mean, uh, shooting now."
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Zekk says, "...oh yeah. Hell of a time indeed."
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Roy Fokker snert. "Like I said, Amuro, she's not even worth that. You'd catch less diseases from a 35 year old streetwalker in Bangkok.
WHAT: A Zeon raid on White Base means a call to the Black Sheep for aid.
WHEN: December 21
WHERE: Sci-Fi Sector, Side 3
Sci-Fi Sector - Side 3
In the year Universal Century 0079, the orbital nation known as the Principality of Zeon declared its independence from the Earth Federation, prompting the devastating One Year War. Side 3 is the location of Zeon, at the second Lagrange Point (L2), placing it on the far side of the Moon and out of sight of the Earth. It consists of some hundreds of orbital colonies, and the asteroid space fortress A Bao A Qu.
Each colony is a large, cylindrical spacestation holding roughly a million people, powered by a mixture of nuclear and solar energy. Within each colony, cities can be found, complete with manufacturing and commercial elements. The government of Zeon, however, directs their colonies in a totalitarian, fascist manner, to utilize their resources to the fullest in the war against the Earth Federation.
This makes this area a heavily militarized, tense place underneath the rule of the oppressive Zabi family. Nationalist rhetoric is at a premium, broadcasted throughout Side 3 nearly constantly. The military forces of Zeon are always on hand, stationed at A Bao A Qu, to protect their homeland and insure the populace stays in line for their war of independence against the Federation.
Somewhere over the horizon, there's a distant roar of engines.
The source becomes clear pretty quickly. A pair of Zanzibar-class mobile cruisers come blazing in low over the land, their engines rippling trees and kicking up dirt in their wake as they speed across the landscape. They're doing a very good clip, shooting like a bat out of hell towards their target: The good ship White Base. The speed of their assault is quite simply necessary to try and catch the ship unawares.
Their ventral launch hatches are already beginning to open. Dangerous... but necessary for fast deployment.
Aboard the lead cruiser, Captain Shin Matsunaga, the infamous White Wolf of Solomon, sits at the controls of his mobile suit, counting down the time on one of his readouts. He taps his helmet mic. "All units, prepare for launch on my mark."
Then he settles in to wait.
Not very many FZ-series Zaku II's have survived the war on Earth. The design - part of an attempt to make several new Mobile Suits under the aegis of the Unified Maintenance Plan - had fallen into disuse after Zeon became pressed to work on the development and production of its new suits, instead of making old and new suits similar in design. A few had survived, nonetheless.
One of those is the one that Bernard Wiseman is flying. The blonde-haired young man has his head bowed down and the helmet pulled over it, while he rests back in the chair of the Zaku. "Sergeant Wiseman, reporting, sir," he says into his radio. "I'm ready to launch on your word."
Ivanovna's response is immediate. "Yes, yes, I'm ready, hurry up." Her voice, filtered through a somewhat flat-sounding radio, is still heavily accented with Russian. She sits in the control area of the Zhuk II, a large Mobile Combat Vehicle that isn't quite so proportionately large here, at a whopping forty feet high and sixty across.
Other wanzers, smaller - only about twenty to thirty feet high - and painted in a dark grey approaching black with paler grey accents, surround it. There are about a dozen of these, mostly armed with machine guns, but a couple have shotguns, big metal combat rods, or giant pneumatic spikes strapped to their forearms. They also give various words of approval. Every one of them has had their usual backpack replaced with a jetpack, except for one; that one has no legs, instead using a big hover skirt, and it has a strange-looking backpack with two tall poles.
And next, comes a man.
No. /THE/ Man. The man with the plan, the red and black terror of the Feddie forces, the hero of the Battle of Loum, quite simply, the best Moble Suit pilot Zeon has...
"Johnny Ridden is in the /house/!" The Chimera Corps loaner grooves on in, pointing both of his fingers at the Nightmare of Solomon himself and giving the man a wink. "Ready to fry some Feddies, sir!"
Haman Karn knows of this attack through her Divine Crusader connections and the fact that many Zeon pilots are also DC members. She's decided that today will be the day when the history of the One Year War is forever altered. Today is the day she is prepared to throw everything she has at the White Base in an attempt to sink it. A call went out to all Divine Crusaders to provide backup to the main Zeon assault force. To this end, the DC command ship Legendra hangs in geostationary orbit over what will soon become a great battlefield.
Inside of the Lengendra's Launch Hangar, final preparations are being made to launch in aid of the Principality forces. The plan is simple, those who can surivive atmospheric re-entry on their own will go first, followed by those who cannot using inflatable heat-shields. Haman Karn has issued explicit instructions that the White Base must be destroyed by any means necessary and she means it.
Suting up in her purple and pink normal suit, the Commander of the Divine Crusaders, Regent of Axis and keeper of the flame of Newtype supremacy looks over at her newly rebuilt and remodelled Qubeley with a smirk. "Today we avenge the humiliations of the past, today we make them pay for every drop of Zeon blood they have spilt. We make them pay for the 30 bunch incident, we make them pay for all of their crimes, past, present and future. Today we raise the flag of Zeon high and cheer in victory. All units, launch. Victory or Death for the glory of ZEON! SEIG ZEON!"
The radio of Johnny Ridden's MS crackles, as Bernie speaks over it. "Captain Aznable?" he asks. "Is that your Mobile Suit?"
Shin also adds over the radio, "Good to have you with us, Captain Aznable."
Meanwhile, on-board the Lengendra, a decidedly out-of-place Mobile Suit rests in the cradles. While the GOUF Ignited looks like one of Zeon's, it's far more advanced than even the Gelgoog. The white-painted MS is the only ZAFT representative here, oddly enough, and its pilot is sticking close to his machine.
Yzak simply nods his head as Haman gives her speech. He doesn't even have the energy to comment, or make an addition to the speech...he just raises his fist and gives a lackluster "Seig Zeon" before tugging his helmet on and lowering the visor...just to make sure it works.
.oO(Let's just get this over with....)Oo.
Ivanovna totally fails to go 'Seig Zeon', for the record.
Ridden twitches, his hands squeezing into fists and his whole body shuddering with sheer AIR RAGE. This is why he changed his nickname from Red Blitz to Crimson Lightning in the first place! "Do I LOOK like that mask wearing fruitcake?! You people wouldn't know a brilliant moble suit pilot if he popped out of the ground and bit you in the face! Oh..."
Ridden turns around, suddenly, kneeling down and holding a pendant shaped like a unicorn. "Kycilia, my lady, my devotion, my horse-faced goddess, /you/ would never mistake me for that no account alternate lifestyle enthusiast Char Aznable...why, even that name sounds completely made up! 'Aznable', really..."
And then, there was a ship.
The ship.
The White Base!
The Pegasus-class Federation carrier has had a relatively easy journey across Europe after the Federation took Odessa, as Zeon has slowly been forced to pull out of Earth territories in the past few weeks. Now it flies along what was once Spain, headed towards the ocean. Once there, it'll be a flight to South America, where Jaburo finally, finally, FINALLY awaits. But first...
"...Sir, I'm getting something on visual..."
"Sir, enemy Mobile Suits, some identified as Zeon make! They're headed for the White Base!"
"Sir, we're-"
Bright Noah points, with all the drama by which Bright Noah must point, and barks out orders. "Send Amuro Ray to launch in the Core Booster. Send a call out for any assistance we can find, now!"
And as the call for help from the ever-so-British Bright goes out to the Black Sheep and IPA, young Amuro Ray launches from the White Base in the fighter- like Core Booster, scanning the area. Something feels...strange...
Roy, after getting the initial reports on numbers and scrambling the forces he can get together - realizes that they're going to be short. After sending back his forces en route communique, the Commander of the Black Sheep adds, "Contact Mithril, they're Fed freindly."
With that, the Veritech Commander climbs into Skull One and launches from the Prometheus, engaging the Super enhancements and rockets through the Gate. Just in time to come out the other side. "..dunno, sounds more like Ass Enable to me, kids. Tallyho!" he calls out as he streaks down into the atmosphere.
Kaname Chidori's Luck, as always when it came to giant robots, absolutely sucked.
She was in the White Base, dressed in jeans and a simple, baby t-shirt and jeans, visiting Amuro to give him his Christmas present. Indeed, she had been laughing with the pilot when he was suddenly called away, and the emergency bells inside the base started ringing.
"What's going on?" she cries, snagging the sleeve of a passing White Base staff member.
"We're under attack, I have to get back to the monitors!" A glance at the young woman's guest pass. "Come on, we better get you out of here."
"But--!" She's snagged by the wrist, and turned to head to a more secured location in the building.
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Amuro Ray says, "So, Haman is here. I thought I sensed another Newtype."
EVA-00 had been standing by; there is always an Evangelion unit that is prepared, and EVA-00 has not decided to commit suicide or attempt to murder any technicians lately. Three days without a mysterious technician maiming or death: An excellent record for NERV!
Rei sits in the plug. She thinks about that strange woman she encountered at that convention, and how she felt strange. Was that the person who, in another place, might have been her mother? But, she tells herself, that is ridiculous: she would not exist in any other world.
EVA-00 is shunted through Gates rapidly, emerging some distance from White Base at a full run. It holds a strange-looking weapon, something like a short- nosed gun with an armguard, but has no other weapons. The White Base deploys one of the standardized power supply cables, and the Evangelion slows down near the ship, flexible arms connecting the plug into the socket on its back.
Rei has nothing in particular to say over the radio, beyond the formalities of, "Eva unit Zero, present," so that White Base knows it's her, as opposed to Asuka.
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Roy Fokker says, "I think she's still got a mad on at me. I'll keep her busy. You guys take care of that base!"
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Forte Stollen whoosh. "On it."
Maybe it's a good thing that Molly doesn't really have much of a life outside of her career. It keeps her nearby the Arrow III at almost all times. When the call comes in over her radio, she's waist-deep in the guts of one of Wei's other racecraft, some dinky thing that's using the new solar cells. She's still got grease smudges on her face as she runs up the catwalk stairs to grab her partner from the dining hall.
Perhaps ten minutes later, they're passing through the main gate on their version of Earth and passing through the Terminus, Jordan hastily finishing his sandwich back in the gunner's turret.
The comparatively small flier bursts through the Gate with the hum of the engines going full blast. It wheels around and reorients itself for White Base, slowly catching up on the familiar-ish form of the blue EVA-00. "Arrow 3 is on the scene!" Molly announces, gripping the handlebars tight. Jordan slurps down the last of his soda pop and tucks the crushed paper cup into a pocket of his BDUs. "--Yeah, what she said!"
There's something in the water. Something dark, something terrifying - something powerful.
"Captain. White Base is under attack."
"...I see. And Kaname?"
"Miss Chidori is still aboard, ma'am."
"...and Sagara?"
"Already in Arbalest and ready to dispatch at any time, ma'am."
"The other M9's?"
"It will take ten minutes to finish refitting them for land combat. Arbalest was done first in case of this sort of situation arising."
"...alright then. Rise to launch depth, and dispatch the ARX-7 via booster rocket to assist. Prepare the others for combat," says Teletha Testarossa.
"Aye, ma'am! Rise to launch depth, and dispatch ARX-7 Arbalest via booster rocket!" echoes Richard Mardukas.
The command echoes across the bridge of the TDD-1 Tuatha De Danaan, flagship of the Mithril Pacific Battle Fleet, the most advanced submarine in the world.
The waters part, and from within rises a beast of steel and plastic, a towering synthetic monster, a testament to the power of man's mastery of the waves. From its launch deck, a single shot, a behemoth of white dispatching for the field of battle, with Mithril's greatest ace of all within. Sergeant Sousuke Sagara says into his radio, "Uruz Seven, coming to assist."
Arbalest streaks toward the field of battle. With its jetpack, it will be there quite soon indeed.
The Tuatha De Danaan resubmerges, though staying close enough to sea level to fire a few missiles should it come to that.
Today's the White Base's lucky day. Maybe not /that/ lucky since Milfeulle is too busy making Christmas cookies to make it to the Lucky Star in time. There was one Emblem Frame on patrol that could make it, however, and tactically the best one you could ask for to save your little unarmed carrier's bacon. A battleship is just what the White Base needs, and by the White Goddess, she's going to get a battleship.
A purple and black blur jets out of the Gate - not quite as fast as Roy's Veritech, but pretty goshdarn fast given that she was built for space anyways. Black lasers of varying size bristle from the corvette's body, most notably the largest trio of cannons aimed directly ahead. Hidden inside the cockpit, the young stately dressed pilot nimbly flies her fingers across the futuristic controls and activates the ship's 'Go Faster' command. "Oi, tryin' to ruin the White Base's holidays? I guess its time to deliver a little holiday cheer of our own, girl!"
Forget Rei, Roy, and Sagara. You've brought on the wrath of Forte Stollen and the Space Battleship Happy Trigger. May the White Goddess have mercy on your souls.
Hey, there are guns on those Zanzibars! As they approach the White Base, the pair of cruisers begin to brake fairly noisily. The guns open fire, beginning to shower the area around White Base with bullets - a few of them stray towards the ship itself, but the rest are simply covering fire, intended to pin down the Trojan Horse while the mobile suits deploy.
Shin frowns for a moment. Something out there feels... off. He can't put his finger on it, though.
He'll have to take more care.
"Keep your eyes open; They've managed to get the word out." He then raises his voice. "All units: launch!"
The doors of the Zanzibars are both fully open now - and the first mobile suit out is a very distinctive one indeed. It's a Gouf - a white Gouf, complete with a slim antenna jutting from its forehead. Emblazoned across its chest plate, which is dark black, is the emblem of a white wolf's head over a green swoosh.
Behind the White Wolf of Solomon, Zakus begin to jet down from the Zanzibars, readying their machine guns as they come.
Shin has no need for a machine gun. He lines up White Base in his sights, his heat rod already active and aglow. He poises one hand over his controls.
"Commence the attack! Take care of their reinforcements; I'll take care of the Trojan Horse." And then - "SIEG ZEON!!!"
And then he jams on the thrusters. The white Gouf shoots forward like a bullet from a gun, blasting at top speed towards White Base.
Conventional wisdom states that the best way to destroy a ship is to hang back and blast it with heavy weaponry. The White Wolf of Solomon spits upon conventional wisdom. The white Gouf closes at shocking speed, turning towards the White Base's starboard flank - and, insanely, boosting right up as if to land on the leg on that side. Without hesitation he shoots forward and swings the heat rod in a series of brutal swings intended to carve straight through the big ship's 'chest' plating - and his steps are taking him closer to the head.
Who is man enough to do something as utterly NUTS as fight a massive land battleship at melee range?
The White Wolf of Solomon, of course.
The launch bay doors on the Lengedra open, disgorging it's colorful payload of death. A squadron of Gaza-C units in Mobile Armor mode fly forth, protected with a new heat shielding material they can power-drive through the atmosphere and reach the battle first. The Qubeley pilot slides herself into place and launches next, ready to deply her inflatable shield at a moment's notice. She cannot wait to enter to field of battle, cannot wait to avenge herself on all of her enemies and show the Black Sheep Squadron the power of the Divine Crusaders. For if their mission was only from man, it would surely fail but as they represent the desires of the entire cosmos, nothing can stand in their way.
"All DC units, this is Commander Haman Karn, I have launched and am en route to the battlefield. Estimated ETA is three minutes seventeen seconds. Do us proud. Let's defeat the IPA and Federation forces here and show them the strength of our convictions. Failure is not an option. The first one with a confirmed critical hit on the White Base earns a reward."
Haman Karn then relaxes a bit, leaning back in her seat, feeling the cosmos rush past her, reaching out her consciouseness to the theatre of operations below, seeking that one mind she knows will be there, the one mind she desires NOT to destroy. He would make a powerful ally if only he could be turned.
The Zhuk steps out slightly behind the others. Ivanovna does not seem to care that it is incredibly dangerous to leap from this high in a vehicle designed solely for ground combat; the hasty refits to allow it to jump are somewhat precariously attached.
It falls pretty fast. The jets it has do not really slow the Zhuk down appreciably; all they do is keep its feet pointed down, to avoid a fatal crash if it lands on its side or back. Ivanovna laughs the whole way down; fortunately, she keeps her radio off while she does this. It lands, heavily, with enough force to cause the belly of the four-legged tank to touch the ground; it stands up straight again with whirring noises.
The wanzers come down much more sedately, boosting with their jetpacks to avoid falling too fast. Their heat shielding is more tested and less makeshift; they'll be fine, although it will take them some time.
Bernie's Zaku FZ shoots out of the hangar of the Zanzibar. As it comes downward, it fires the thrusters on its back; the vehicle goes downward, its descent brought under control by the rockets. The young man's eyes narrow, as he scans over the screen and sees the White Base far below. Matsunaga is already on the move.
He reaches down and grasps one of the sturm fausts hanging from the skirt armor of the Zaku FZ. The rocket is aimed towards the ground, as he starts to draw a bead - and pauses as he sees the Arrow III.
"The hell is that?" he mutters to himself. He pulls the trigger and unleashes the rocket - sending it flying down, snaking just to the left, before it goes crashing downward.
Yzak Joule would, ordinarily, be using a ZAFT dropship to enter the Earth's atmosphere...but there are no Nazca-class carriers here, and thus no drop-pods. Instead, as the GOUF steps out onto the flight deck, technicians hastily attach a gigantic ballute container to the mobile suit, linked to a retro-rocket pack on the chest; additional retro-rocket packs go on the legs. Rather than using the catapult, as the mobile suit is now far too heavy, the GOUF simply fires its thrusters and launches clear of the ship; gravity takes care of the rest, as the GOUF turns about so the ballute pack is facing towards the 'ground' so many miles below.
A new comet lights up the sky a few minutes later, as the heat-resistant inflatable 'shell' breaks free of its container and allows Yzak safe passage to Earth. The retro-rockets occasionally fire to keep him on course.
Quite out of character for him, Yzak says nothing. His thoughts are entirely his own this time, it seems.
"Right then!" Johnny thunders, seeing as his point was obviously made and this 'being Char' busniess will NEVER COME UP AGAIN. EVER. FOREVER. so he can get to work. Strapping into his red and black custom Zaku, with a little unicron on the right forearm to remember his Kyclly Willy with, the Crimson Lightning roars out of the hangar!
"Hang on to your hangars, Feddies!" Ridden shouts over the all-com, screeching through the sky at terrible speeds, "The greatest ace in the Grand Dutchy of Zeon is here to fight for the honor of the Chimera Corps! Try my Crimson Lighting special delux set!" The ace howls out, pulling his Zaku's machine gun at the Happy Trigger and fireing a lightning fast volley at the massive starfighter. Hey, he's taken down carriers and battleships before.
The more standard Zakus of the First Directional Detached Corps are also touching down. These aren't aces, but they are just good old soldiers, about a dozen or so at the moment, each manning a regular JC-type Zaku II with a 120-millimeter machinegun. They move into position to try and cover Shin's advance, beginning to fire bullets towards some of the herotypes.
Operation: Shoot Stuff So The Boss Can Stand On Their Base And Kill Their Dudes.
White Base is big. It can take a lot of damage. It can't really dodge an ace Mobile Suit slicing at bits of its armor.
The ship quakes with the impact, Bright Noah jostled in his captain's chair. "-Is that a Mobile Suit going after us?"
"A white one, sir. There is a red one out there, too!"
The young captain sighs, as he quietly reminds himself that maybe, in a twisted way, being attacked by several Zeon aces and Syndicate badasses is kind of flattering.
Outside, the pilot of the Core Booster scans the area. He feels something pulling on his mind, lashing out and repelling instantly; he knows Haman Karn is out there from the radio, and from the distinctive Quebely suits. And yet, when he lashes out, he feels another presence. Odd.
The white Gouf, Yzak's. Very tempting to just shoot that right out of the fugging sky.
And IS THAT CHA-wait, that's not Char, nevermind.
And-...and did that white mobile suit just attack the White Base, in close range?!
"What do you think you're doing?!" Amuro flies in a swift arc towards Shin Matsunaga's Mobile Suit, firing from the twin rifles and staring. Who is /that?!/
Roy notices the launch from the Lengedra. That's where she'll be. And judging from Amuro's reports in the past, the girl will be trying to get close enough to play with Amuro's mind.
No way is Haman going to get a chance to mindscrew his little fro headed pilot. The engines of the Veritech flare brightly as he dives right into the middle of the cluster.
Seeing Haman's mobile suit in the crowd, he opens fire with the undercarriage lasers, just to get her attention as he tears through the middle of the formation and streaks around the other side.
Roy Fokker misses Haman Karn with his She asked for it! jab.
Kaname is headed for the transport area, in no will of her own. The staffer with her seems hell bent on getting her out of the base.
It may be just as well. She was a civilian after all, and she didn't want to be caught in the middle of a war -again-. It's happened way too much to her liking. The plan was, from what she could hear from the alarms, is to get her on secured transport to the nearest Gate. It sounded, really, like a good idea.
Except for the fact that it was a total warzone outside. When she points -this- little fact out, she's gifted with: "We'll take the 'back door.'"
"I'm telling you, this plan is COMPLETELY FLAWED! Nothing's gonna happen to me if I stay here!" she yelps.
"Trust me!"
Rei thinks absently that this is really far too many Zakus for a proper day. Her head turns, as does EVA-00's, but Amuro is already handling the berserker. As such, her duty is clear, and EVA-00 moves to stand to face some of the landed Zakus that are firing towards it, and by extension, the White Base.
Light flickers as some of the shots impact something not far from EVA-00's side. The AT Field, while not highly developed, is present. Rei raises the energy weapon, armguard and all, and carefully aims towards a cluster of the Zakus. She picks one, more or less at random, as a central target, and then pulls the trigger three times, firing a small spread of plasma blasts towards them.
This is not too bad, she thinks, not quite aware of the scale of this attack yet.
The guncannons poking out of the orange bubble on one of the Arrow's flanks withdraw, followed by the bubble itself. The empty space in the side of the craft is covered as a metal iris closes over it; on the opposite side, a matching iris opens for the mobile gunner's turret, slick twin barrels emerging to either side of it. "They're still too far away, Moll. Get me in closer!"
"Right, right," she grumbles into the two-way, pressing the pedals towards the floor as the ex-racecraft keeps gaining speed towards the enemy. "Just concentrate on your end, I'll keep us from getting hit."
Tapping a button on the discman at her hip, Molly shuffles through her playlist by heart as she prepares to sortie.
"...Can you turn it to--HOLY CRAP INCOMING." Jordan's request for 'something Caribbean' is interrupted by the Arrow's proximity alarm.
"ON IT!" Molly barely has time to think, only react, throwing the craft into a tight spin to her right, heading away from EVA-00. The craft comes out of its panicked barrel roll easily, Molly shifting her weight in the opposite direction and pulling easily on the bars -- the Arrow pulls up in response, rising swiftly and to the side of Bernie's mech. Jordan's cannons sound like a a World War II machine gun going off, laser rounds, arcing toward him as their ship barrels down (up?) on him.
The Happy Trigger is also big, about as tall as two mobile suits one on top of the other. Forte's tanked battleships before, so its with a wicked smile that she catches the Crimson Lightning popping up on her sensors next to the minor damage reports. "I was expectin' bigger fish, not some fruit sportin' unicorns," she snorts derisively as she taps in the next set of commands, a hand brushing past Eriol's long-forgotten good luck charm. "Gotta start somewhere. Sorry, pal - consider this a favor for all your teammates." The Emblem Frame loops around, a giant shadow falling across the rain-free Spanish plain, and begins its strafing run when It happens...
No, not Johnny Ridden's imminent demise. He's too cool to die that fast!
What does happen is... a guitar intro? Across the battlefield, there's the sound of real Heavy Metal coming from the Happy Trigger's loudspeakers, and a screechy voice begins to wail:
"There goes the siren that warns of the air raid
Then comes the sound of the guns sending flak"
"Out for the scramble we've got to get airborne
Got to get up for the coming attack"
Inside the cockpit, Forte would be blinking in stunned silence, if it wasn't that the guitars were jamming twice and loud inside as they were outside. "What. The. Hell."
"Jump in the cockpit and start up the engines
Remove all the wheelblocks theres no time to waste
Gathering speed as we head down the runway
Gotta get airborne before its too late"
"Dammit, that was the 'Fire The Lasers' command," the exasperated gunwoman mutters as she quickly re-types in her command, "Not 'Play Ranpha's Exercise Music'!" Lasers finally start to arc towards the Crimson Lightning, but the music refuses to die!
"Running Scrambling Flying
Rolling Turning Diving Going in again
Run Live to fly Fly to live Do or die
Run Live to fly Fly to live Aces hiiiiiiiiiigh"
|OOC| Amuro Ray says, "LISTEN TO MY SONG"
|OOC| Kaname Chidori says, "ROFL."
|OOC| Ivanovna says, "I REFUSE."
|OOC| Forte Stollen says, "YOU HAVE NO CHOICE, MAKE YOUR TIME"
|OOC| Shin Matsunaga says, "Must keep straight face."
|OOC| Kaname Chidori would have to beat on Basara if he was ever apped out of principle.
|OOC| Yzak Joule says, "Nyo~roooon"
|OOC| Amuro Ray says, "POWAAA TO DA DREEEAM"
|OOC| Forte Stollen says, "Whereas Eriol's 'good luck charm' gave Roy a steady supply of sheep plushies, it gave Forte her own battle soundtrack."
|OOC| Rei Ayanami says, "NEO-ZION GREATEST COUNTRY IN WORLD / ALL OTHER COUNTRIES RUN BY LITTLE GIRLS"
|OOC| Ivanovna says, "OH YEAH?"
The jet booster attached to Arbalest begins to sputter as Mithril's own 'white demon' finally reaches the battlefield...but Sousuke Sagara cannot fall now. He sees the situation. He sees what must be done. "Ready the line gun." He knows precisely what to do.
|Sergeant, you are completely insane|
"Affirmative."
The jetpack finally fails and begins Arbalest on a harsh descent, but it's stopped rather abruptly as SOusuke fires Arbalest's tow cable gun at one of the outcroppings on White Base, wrapping the cable around it and literally swinging off of it like some sort of insane albino ninja ape.
"Lock targeting pointer on the unit engaging White Base in melee. Prepare melee weapons, it looks like whoever's in that fighter will need some support."
|Engaging the enemy this close to White Base is incredibly dangerous! We could fall! Or get the base blown up!|
"Affirmative."
|Good. Makes it more interesting.|
"Stop talking nonsense."
Arbalest alights on one of White Base's various stable points, and draws the GRAW-2 monomolecular cutter from its clamp over the 'mouth' of the machine, and the molecule-thick blade begins to vibrate, ready for war.
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Forte Stollen can barely be heard over the sounds of Iron Maiden, "GAH! What the hell's goin' on!?"
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Nono says, "Nono thinks you have the radio on..."
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Forte Stollen says, "I didn't turn it on! And I can't shut it off!"
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Amuro Ray says, "There shouldn't be many civilian stations still broadcasting around here..."
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Nono cheerily "Satellite radio!"
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Forte Stollen wham. "Its those Ziggy Dion guys sendin' a jamming frequency!"
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Molly says, "Turn it up, I'm too busy to mess with my radio right now!"
Shin made his name as a space ace, but he seems to have had no trouble adapting to ground combat. While the Gouf isn't quite as fast as he would have liked, the sheer power behind it makes up for it. The white Gouf plods manfully along the White Base's foreleg, advancing towards the mount for one of those big yellow and blue shield thingies (shut up they look like shield thingies) - and towards the big ship's neck.
His ship kill count includes five Salamis-class cruisers and a huge Magellan-class ship, all at close range. He's happy to add a shiny Pegasus-class to the list, and in the process raise the spirits of his men by taking down what may be the Federation's deadliest weapon-
*ping*
With a sudden jerk he hits the Gouf's jets, leaping forward on the leg and tucking closer to the White Base's hull - a split-second BEFORE the Core Booster actually fires. The blaster fire zips past him... and splashes against the hull of the White Base.
The ace scowls. That was a close one. "...Nice shooting, eagle-eye." Then something occurs to him, and he frowns. Must be the boy. He swings out the Gouf's left hand and lets loose a volley of finger-gun fire towards the Core Booster even as the white Mobile Suit darts forward again, swinging a couple of strokes of the heat rod towards the White Base's neck - *ping* - before turning, again just a second before the Arbalest actually lands, aiming the finger guns at the intruder. "Nobody invited you up here, friend. Get lost."
Feeling the attack from the Veritech miss her by just a hair, Haman swears under her breath. She's at the mercy of her ballute at the moment, unable to turn and fire her main guns on the annoying human. "Fokker!" She hisses his name like a blasphemous epithet. "You get in my way once again you 21st Century Relic?" She's been doing her homework, "You'd be nothing were it not for your stolen alien technology. Just another pathetic Oldtype. Prepare to die, taste the sting of the future!"
The tail binder of the Qubeley raises a bit, just enough to allow four of her funnels to escape. Mentally commanding the wizzing little self- powered particle launchers, Haman orders them to attack Roy, to keep him busy while she reaches a safe altitude to detach from her inflatable heat shield and enter the actual theatre of conflict. The funnels whiz back and forth, launching their particle beams over and over again at Roy, a dance of death.
Zakus are not the world's most heroic Mobile Suits. The three targeted by Ayanami have turned towards her, beginning to fire their machineguns, but the blue-haired mechrider's plasma fire cripples the first one, knocking out a leg, then blows off the shoulder shield of the second, leaving some ugly rent damage along the arm. The third Zaku is able to boost out of the way, swapping its machinegun in favour of a standard Zaku bazooka. There's a heavy *FOOM* as the pilot lets loose with a missile, the projectile screeching towards EVA-00's chest.
The corpsmen are not entirely pleased with Sousuke right now. One of the Zakus on the ground loads up its bazooka, blasting a missile towards the Arbalest in the hopes of knocking it off the White Base - and damaging the ship in the process!
Haman Karn misses Roy Fokker with her Funnel Swarm! combo.
The Arrow III's cannons rain into the Zaku, laser bursts cutting the armor here and there. Pockmarks are left in the green armor, though none of them quite break through. Bernie still grits his teeth and drops the rod that the sturm faust had been attached to. It falls to the ground as the Zaku's descent continues.
This time, he pulls up the 90mm machinegun. The rifle is twisted and aimed at the ex-racer as it spins away. The barrel opens fire, sparks spewing out as heavy rounds cut an arc in the sky along the path that the Arrow III is following.
"Some kind of racer," he says with a grunt.
Yzak Joule, meanwhile, continues to drop. As soon as he's reached what he feels is a safe distance, the ballute and all its associated equipment are ejected with explosive bolts. The GOUF then spreads its wings and engages its thrusters, zipping through the air under its own power towards the White Base. The ZAFT-built machine raises its right arm and the four-barreled beam gun mounted upon it begins to fire a steady stream of energy blasts at the Legged Ship. Hopefully this'll distract one or both of Shin's assailants.
"Oh snap." Johnny Ridden says, as he gets an idea of JUST HOW BIG the Happy Trigger is, "That's a /fighter/?! Its as big as one of those IPA giants!" This is about when he sees Unit-00. "...oh snap TIMES TWO, its one of those IPA giants!" The Crimson Lightning pulls out his "Sig Zeon!" handbook, flipping through it. There are pictures of the various known giant-sized 'Evangelions' or whatever the damn feddies have. The red one is noted as 'Red Devil', but there's a question mark by it, which the black one has as well, the purple one, the Leviathan, is underlined three times, has a buncha exclimation points, and a "|:( We do not like you |:(" written on it.
Johnny Ridden looks up. Not purple, blue. Phew.
He turns, and sees that the blue one has exclimation points, and a little picture of a cruiser exploding. He can think of only one response to this.
"...AWESOME! That tool Char's never taken out /either/ of these types of ships before! Thinks he's so cool with his five battleship record...I'll prove who's best once and for all! Holy crap!" The last bit was because it is time to ZOOM up now, as the Happy Trigger gets closer-Ridden does exactly that, firing off turbo boosters as the Happy Trigger closes in, and attempting to charge overtop the Emblem Frame, running his heat hawk along its roof as he tries to pass it. "How DARE you insult the symbol of my courtly affection for the great Kycilla Zabi! I'm a KNIGHT, woman, and that means a vulgar opponent like you has already lost!"
Barring being exploded, Ridden then turns on the blue one. "Pilot of the Cruelian Cyclops!" Ridden taunts over the radio, because that is just how Zeon rolls, "Know that you fall today! -ha, I sound so epic." The Zaku fires a flare at Eva-00, intended to set off its strange forcefield...
...so that the small wing of generic green zakus under Ridden's command can converge on that, blasing out of their cover to fire missles, grenades, and laser blasts at the exposed spot in the ATField, hoping to rip a hole in the giants's infamous protective shielding!
Ivanovna's Zhuk stands up, slowly, and the turret turns left and right. Let's see. So many targets, so little time.
The main cannon of the Zhuk booms out as Ivanovna takes a potshot at the White Base; it's a big target and she has lots of White Base to choose from. A second time, off to the side, and then the Zhuk starts to walk backwards as Ivanovna looks around for her /real/ targets; the White Base is more of a distraction at this point.
She sees (and hears) the /loud/ mech. "Hey you!" she says, on local radio. "Stop with the damn /music/!" The Zhuk's turret rises as Ivanovna points it at the Happy Trigger, firing at the large flying machine. "And put some damn LEGS on that mech!"
The White Base bridge is in a panic, as they struggle to get their shields up to something decent. The ship is intact, but taking damage from that wily White Gouf. And meanwhile, Amuro...
*fsshiPING!*
The Core Booster swerves out of the way of Shin's gunfire, even as White Base takes damage from the friendly fire. Amuro curses; fighting this close to the ship is no good, and so he radios something to Sousuke.
'Let's try to lure him away from White Base if we can.'
The colors are custom, and that isn't a ZAFT Gouf; Amuro can tell that this is another Zeon Ace, and not some wannabe like the "Green Wolf." He attempts a sideswipe of the Mobile Suit, trying to use the twin guns to fire at close range. And as the Core Booster flies by, he feels something very strange, something he already suspected when he watched Shin dodge a shot a little too early.
*You are...?!*
Yeah, yeah, stolen alien technology that is a lot more kickass than you armored skirt wearing pansies, Haman! As the funnels are deployed, Roy makes a note of the several new blips on the screen, then with a speed that belies his capabilities, throws the C-switch on the control panel. The legs of the Veritech swing out as it hyper switches into the Guardian configuration. It damn near throws Roy's head forward, but he keeps it together.
The first shots from the funnel system streak by his Guardian mode. He spins the plane around, launching several missiles at the first funnel. Then he flicks the B-switch. Going to Battloid, Roy smiles. "Now now, it may be alien, but as you of all people should know, we adapt quickly." Moving with the speed of someone that second-guess the funnels, Roy snipes another one out of the air with his auto-cannon, before turning his attention on the transport Haman's mobile suit is locked in.
Bringing up the twin plasma cannons over the right shoulder, Roy keys up the firing sequence. "Really, trying so hard to get away, why don't you stay up here for a while and play with me, hmm? I'll show you a good time, fight you long time~"
With that, the cannons spew forth destruction.
"Come on!"
"Slow down!"
Kaname has no choice but to follow. And as she moves further within the transport area, in the outside, Ivanovna fires her cannon at the White Base, and Yzak does as well. Explosions rock her area, and a hole is blasted through the metallic walls. She is barely conscious of her body going flying along with a rain of debris. Her body crashes on the ground, rolling on the floor and thumping against the wall.
Luckily, she was athletic, even scarily so. The hit didn't really hurt her so much as the shock has. Whenever she gets up and shakes her head, she stares at the gaping hole in the wall, and all the mecha and firepower whizzing outside.
And, true to form, instead of running -away- from the hole, she heads towards it, pushing her head out and -staring- open mouthed at everything that's happening outside.
"Holy---"
This is conveniently cut off as the camera switches to another random mecha.
Roy Fokker hits Haman Karn with his Plasma Cannons! attack.
The AT Field brings the bazooka round to detonate at some distance away from EVA-00's chest. There is a black streak from the explosion, but the curves of the polymer armor remain intact. Rei does not smile, of course, but in an abstract, faint way, she is pleased.
The flare startles her, and her synch ratio dips briefly as her eyes ache lightly. The AT Field flutters to orange-patterned light -- just in time to get slammed in by concentrated fire!
It's not quite that easy, of course, but the blasts get through in part and tear streaks in the Evangelion's armor as it staggers back, Rei's teeth gritting as her eyes water at the ghostlike sensation of her abdomen being stabbed by small needles and pins. She thinks she's bleeding.
EVA-00 raises the weapon again, but the several shots it fires towards the Zakus are not well aimed, and may not accomplish much save disrupting their formation somewhat. It likely has finite ammunition, but Rei is used to having easy resupply points.
Gripping the triggers, Jordan grins in fierce first-blood victory. "Score! Take me around for another shot, Moll!" The crosshairs on his HUD blink back into green as they go out of range to try avoiding the Zaku's return fire. The Arrow II was a racing craft in its first life, all right... it's faster than almost anything on the field now even without the Hyperdrive, and its maneuverability isn't bad either. But speed trades off at the cost of a lighter shell and frame: their ship, while a vast improvement on the first two Arrow prototypes, is very light on armor. A few good shots is enough to blow out one of the engines and send her team limping home -- if they're lucky.
Luckily, it's piloted by the best team their Earth had to offer.
Molly jams down the pedals, engines screaming as she tries to outrun the volley of GIANT DEATH BULLETS. One or two ping WAY too close to her cockpit for comfort, one blowing a baseball-sized hole through the arm of her star-racer. Molly shudders at the impact --so close to the fuel lines-- and swings around, pulling the Arrow back towards Bernard. "Jordan, your shot's coming up!" The Arrow hasn't got its usual distance advantage, so she's going to have to make every drop of speed count if they want to last.
The crosshairs blip red over Bernard's Zaku. Jordan pulls the triggers.
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Amuro Ray says, "The person in the White Gouf, not Yzak, the other one..."
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Amuro Ray says, "I think...no, I can't confirm it yet."
Roy Fokker switches armor modes to Super Battloid.
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Molly grunts, "--Amuro?"
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Roy Fokker says, "Molly, you okay down there?"
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Molly says, "Yeah, I'm fine. Amuro, what ABOUT the guy in the Goof?"
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Amuro Ray says, "Newtype."
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Amuro Ray says, "Um, as in, he has-we don't understand it yet, but he can do some of the stuff I can, pretty much. At least, probably so."
Forte hasn't saved the universe three times over yet. (App Takuto.) Not even once, though there were a few close calls with Lost Technololgy that might count. (App Eonia.) So she doesn't quite have the reputation Amuro and Shin and Roy and Everyone Else has. (App Takuto and Eonia, dammit.)
However, she does have an Emblem Frame and a bitchin' soundtrack! Bruce Dickinson screams away as the Crimson Lightning plasma burns his way across the ship's top, and the guitar solo kicks in just as Forte swivels her around to follow the mech. "Oi, a knight," the soldier snickers as she lines up a second shot - but that one will never come as well.
The Happy Trigger floats in mid-air for a moment, then slowly spins around to face the Zhuk. Light sparkles off of the edges of the forward cannons, and all the Newtypes just got a feeling from the frame's cockpit along the lines of 'Oh No You Le Didn't'. "Legs?" The baritone woman's voice echoes coldly over the wailing, and now its Ivanovna's turn to face the fury of Forte. She's had this discussion one too many times with the lesser pilots. Enough is enough. "I don't need legs. I have guns!" BOOM. Lots of guns!
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Roy Fokker says, "Haman's up here, Amuro, so keep the head safe there."
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Amuro Ray says, "I know. I can feel her."
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Forte Stollen boomboomboom
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Roy Fokker says, "Yeah?"
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Roy Fokker says, "Well tell her I'm imagining her in a bunny suit at the moment."
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Amuro Ray says, "-That's actually not the funny joke I thought you were gonna make, Commander!"
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Amuro Ray says, "Dirty joke, I mean."
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Roy Fokker says, "There's some things, Amuro, that even I won't hit."
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Zekk says, "...sounds like you people are having a hell of a time."
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Molly | Jordan says, "So that means, like, aim for the head?"
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Roy Fokker says, "If you think you can hit it, Jordan."
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Forte Stollen is shouting loud enough to be heard over her heavy metal soundtrack, "She insulted the Happy Trigger! DIE!"
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Molly says, "Oh man, don't encourage him."
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Amuro Ray says, "I mean, as soon as I said that I could feel her, I thought you were gonna say," he deepens his voice to a Royish tone, "Copping a feel there, Amuro?" Back to normal, "or, something like that, I mean, uh, shooting now."
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Zekk says, "...oh yeah. Hell of a time indeed."
|Y-Black Sheep Squadron| Roy Fokker snert. "Like I said, Amuro, she's not even worth that. You'd catch less diseases from a 35 year old streetwalker in Bangkok.