Crash Landing

The wind whips past, audible even inside the cockpit of the Exia as Hermes hangs on for dear life. The Alvatore is plunging downards at maximum acceleration, and the vibrations are far from inconsequential.

“You people are completely crazy, you know that!?” Hermes has a look of disbelief and concern on his face as he looks at his altimeter; he knows the Exia can pull out easily enough, but that doesn’t make it any less unsettling to be descending at such a rate.

Over in the 00, Deacon grins, taking the time to clean his fingernails with the tip of his knife. “What’s the matter? Scared?” Finishing with the one hand, he jams the knife back into it’s sheathe for now, and grips the 00′s controls, quickly checking over his systems one more time.

“No way. I wouldn’t miss this for the world!” Hermes grins a cocky grin inside his cockpit, staring downards at the outline of the base as the Alvatore plunges through a layer of clouds.

This time, it’ll be different.

—

In the command center of Gander Island, a technician frowns at the main radar display, as it suddenly begins to flicker. A second later, he curses as it vanishes in a cloud of snow, along with most of the other sensors… including the innermost rings of sensors deployed around the base to detect mobile suits with GN Particles. Leaping from his seat, he slams the alarm nearby, a thrill of adrenaline rushing through the veins of every pilot on the base as they rush to their mobile suits.

The duty officer curses as he runs up a steep spiral staircase, until he reaches the top of a radio mast; with no other means of detecting the enemy easily, he pans a pair of high-powered binoculars around.

“That’s odd… the report had only the innermost ring turn off… and all at once?” A sudden glint of light far above him draws his attention, and he raises the binoculars, taking care not to aim them at the sun. Adjusting the controls, he frowns, then turns white as a sheet as the plunging form of the Alvatore suddenly reveals itself.

“Oh my God…”

Less than a minute later, Gander Island’s reinforced AA batteries open up. The lasers fire an initial pulse at maximum power, before settling down to a high refire rate, sending shaft after shaft of light into the sky, the missile turrets adding in their own barrage. With no radar guidance, the missiles are doing their best with infrared, but none of them so much as scratch the armor of the Alvatore as the giant mobile armor suddenly sprouts a yellow-orange GN Field of prodigious size.

The officer’s eyes open even wider as he suddenly realizes something: The plunging mobile armor isn’t going to stop!

“My god, he’s insane!” Grabbing the reciever of a telephone hanging near him, he quickly dials the general channel. “This is Lookout 4 to all units! Clear the decks immediately! The incoming enemy unit is on a sucide run! Repeat, clear the decks IMMEDIATELY!”

The base’s Aries take off as if scalded, scattering in all directions as amphibious mobile suits waddle as fast as they’re able and leap off of the sides of the platform. Beneath the waves, every gate opens as the hangars of the base empty themselves at frantic speed. The laser cannons increase their fire rate further, the crews blazing away beyond the saftey limits, one exploding as it overheats… but nothing stops the Alvatore.

—

“What are you waiting for? Eject, already!” Hermes is slightly frantic himself now, and would already have leapt off, but the massive number of missiles and lasers splashing across the Alvatore’s GN Field is more than enough to keep him focused on the plan for now.

“…three, two, one… Alright, separating!” The top hatch on the Alvatore suddenly slides back as the Alvaaron inside climbs out. A few seconds later, the Alvatore, on autopilot, changes it’s orientation slightly, angling straight down. The guns within it suddenly begin to blaze away as the GN Field drops, the lasers stippling burnt holes across it’s hull almost immediately. Still, the armor takes some time to chew through.. time the base won’t have. The Aries from the base shoot skyward next, frantically blazing away with their chain rifles at the golden behemoth, but they simply spark off the hull.

Suddenly a pink beam from the sky above the plunging Alvatore slams into one of the Aries, Deacon rushing downards, GN Long Blade extended in rifle mode. “Hey, jerks! Surprise!” Another beam from his weapon blasts outwards, hitting the same Aries again, this time in the cockpit. Deacon slams into the Aries as he swaps the weapon into sword mode, and finishes off the mobile suit with a quick slash that removes the upper right quarter. Pulling away, he continues his own rush downwards, as the other three mobile suits spread out.

The Alvatore takes out a few turrets by random chance, and one of it’s GN Drives explodes due to a lucky laser hit, but nothing on the base has the firepower to stop it cold, and less than fifteen seconds later, it slams directly into the platform, digging itself nearly half of it’s length into the concrete, before stopping. The shockwave from the impact causes concrete to ripple and flex like water, the entire base shaking as structural beams scream in agony. A piece of the platform flexes and detatches, dumping an entire row of turrets into the drink, the sheer noise stunning virtually all of the crew on the base.

The remaining five Aries pilots stare in awe at the massive mobile armor embedded in their home, almost as stunned as the crew, at least, until four mobile suits zip past them as though they were standing still.

—

“Alright, you all know the plan, let’s do it!” Deacon blazes away at the platform as he lands, immediately lunging forwards to fire his GN Short Blade into a nearby missile launcher, the wire retracting the blade as the turret explodes. Not to be outdone, Shuu lands a second later; not to be outdone, he whips out his beam cloth and entangles a charging Pisces, digging a heel in and swinging a few times, before launching it into the side of a hangar. Throwing himself after the unfortunate amphibious mobile suit, he smashes it through the wall, and the sounds of giant fists beating metal soon echo from inside.

Hermes swoops downards next, higher than the others; four of the Aries close in on him, blazing away, and a large, orange-yellow beam from the Alvaaron lashes through the space between them, catching two of them.

“Thanks, Lethe!” Junius waves somewhat distractedly as he toggles his GN Field on; laser fire is already starting to ping off his GN Field as he touches down, and he quickly drops his beam rifle and fires a barrage of beam rifle fire at the turrets near him, before popping it back on and floating his mobile suit closer.

“We need to pick this up a bit. Kale’s going to be waiting for targeting data.” Deacon flings a beam saber into yet another laser turret and lashes out with his GN Long Blade again, the two halves of a missile launcher separating and sliding off into the water. ”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m on it… just give me a minute… gah!” Hermes is struggling slightly as the rest of the Aries gang up on him; they can’t actually damage him, but they seem to be working relatively well together, evading his beam gun fire without effort. “Tch… Avalanche!” The extra condensers so recently fitted across Exia’s body suddenly raise their covers slightly, and a flood of green particles vomits forth as the Exia flashes forwards, a great deal faster than before. An Aries falls almost before it’s compatriots knows what happened, and Hermes comes around for another pass, grunting as acceleration, felt even through the Exia’s internal compensators, forces him into the restraints.

“Two… … three… and now, you!” Slamming right into the last Aries, feet first, Hermes rides it downwards, discharging his GN Sword/Rifle into it repeatedly at close range, a flurry of beams piercing the aerial combat mobile suit over and over. The pilot’s hatch snaps open and the man inside leaps flailing into the wind, the small glow of rockets from his jump belt igniting a moment later. Hermes pulls back as the Aries continues to fall, slamming into the drink, then follows.

Almost immediately, he grimaces as he sees incoming torpedoes on his sensors, and presses a button on his controls, the Avalanche gear separating as the Exia drops further beneath the waves. Another splash sounds nearby as the 00 plunges into the water next, Deacon stabbing it in the cockpit with his sword to get it off of him.

“Alright… targeting data… let’s see here.” Hermes engages the data link through Veda, and crosses his fingers. Kale’s plan had SOUNDED plausible…

—

“Datalink established! Datalink established!”

Kale sits up in his seat and tosses his cigarette out of the hatch, before toggling it closed and yanking the large, specialized sight into position. “Right. Let’s go, Penny!” The Dynames shifts slightly, aiming the large launcher on it’s tripod, and Kale pulls the trigger, a green streak leaving the end of the gun and punching into the waves with tremendous force. About a minute later, another one fires… and another, and another, and another…

—

“Get off me, you…!” Gerard grunts as he smashes another Pisces with his fist, before plunging his GN Long Sword into it, kicking the flailing amphibious mobile suit off of his blade into the path of yet another torpedo barrage. Nearby, an explosion sounds, as yet another Cancer explodes under the impact of Kale’s long-distance torpedo barrage.

About half of the base’s amphibious mobile suits are down, but they just keep coming: the pilots seem fairly skilled, and both Exia and 00 have been tagged by numerous torpedo barrages, Gerard managing to lose his GN Buster Sword, and Hermes having lost his shield and a beam knife, and also sporting a head wound where his head whacked into the monitor after a defective strap gave way. Various yellow lights abound on the status displays of both mobile suits, mostly at the joints, but nothing too severe’s happened so far.

“Deacon, how’re you holding up? These guys are a pain in the– gah! ass!” Hermex slams his GN Sword through another Pisces, then engages the data link again, frowning with concentration as he painstakinly designates two Cancers that have been hanging back the entire time and launching torpedoes at inconvenient moments. A short time later, two more torpedoes from Kale slam into them, pumping them full of GN Particles and exploding them from the inside out.

“I’m alright… there’s a bloody lot of them!” Deacon punts a Cancer in the camera before smashing it with the still-connected buster sword, sending it floating backwards as water pours in. The pilot curses and blows his ballast tanks, headed for the surface before his mobile suit floods completely, and Deacon fires off his GN Short Sword again, though his aim is a little off: the cable gets wrapped up in the propellers of a Cancer. The enemy mobile suit suddenly swerves to port as it’s props on that arm sieze up, and Deacon frowns, then curses as a torpedo from Kale slams into the enemy mobile suit, the explosion consuming the weapon. “Dammit!”

With most of the amphibious mobile suits down, the rest start to pull back, firing off more torpedoes to cover their escape. Breathing hard, Hermes lets them go for now, retracting his GN Sword as he floats upwards. “They gave up… ugh. Let’s get out of the drink, I want to see the sun again!”

—

The battle on the surface has bogged down into a bit of a stalemate; most of the turrets have been cleared off of one side of the base, but missile fire keeps being directed in by men using the base’s telephone system when they spot the Alvatore. The Kowloon crouches behind the ruins of a hangar, occasionally leaning out to snap off a burst of machinecannon fire. Junius does the same on the other side, with an occasional beam rifle shot.

“This is taking much too long.” Shuu’s face is disgusted in the cockpit of the Kowloon, and Junius looks somewhat befuddled. “Well, yeah, but what can we do–” “Throw me.”

“What!?” “You heard me. Throw my mobile suit.” Frowning, Junius straightens up a bit, reaching over to pick up the Kowloon.

“Chokyuu… Hao…” The Kowloon begins to glow green, it’t's limbs beginning to rotate at high speed, the Alvatore somehow managing to maintain a grip without effort.

“…this is messed up.”

“Den… EI! DAAAAAN!”

As the Alvatore heaves the Kowloon forwards, it takes off like a rocket, a green blurring streak that smashes straight through the wreckage in front of him. Curving to the right, the streak that is the Kowloon tears through an entire row of turrets, leaving a trail of smashed metal in it’s wake, before ceasing and landing on both feet, the sun shining behind it as every turret on an entire side of the base explodes simultaneously.

“…well, shit.”

The Exia and 00 rise from the waves, behind the last row of turrets, catching the crews by surprise. They rotate frantically, but this close, there’s no escape, and it’s a simple matter for Deacon and Hermes to slash through the last few, which soon join their brothers in explosions.

The four mobile suits meet at the center of the base, surveying the smoking wreckage around them.

Hermes wipes the sweat off his forehead, looking about at the scene. Escape boats and rescue launches frantically move away from the base.

“I guess that makes two. I suppose that wasn’t so bad after all… my freaking head hurts, though.”

Deacon frowns as his console starts beeping. “Wait… it’s not quite over yet. I’ve got an incoming contact here from the southeast.” The 00 lifts back into the air again, raising it’s altitude as Gerard heads off to deal with the intruder.

An Aries? No, it’s moving too fast.

“Hey, everybody! I’m here to help!” With a goofy grin on his face, Aromaru waves the Justice Gundam’s shield in the air as he spots the 00 coming towards him. Suddenly, a pink beam shoots from the 00 towards the Justice, and Aromaru barely manages to get his shield in place in time to stop it. “Hey, what’s the big idea? I came here to help, and–”

“Shut up! Get lost, you damn vulture. This is our base and you arn’t welcome.” Deacon grabs the massive buster sword attached to the 00′s left GN Drive and pulls it into his hand, lunging at the Justice with a sharp movement forwards. Aromaru yanks back on the controls, barely managing to avoid the thrust.

“You jerk…! I don’t have to take that from you… take this!” Deacon moves nimbly to the side as a flurry of green beam fire lashes through the space where he was…

…and impacts amongst the Alvatore’s GN Drives, where it sticks out of the platform. Hermes’ eyes widen at the sight, as do Junius’s– not least since the drives are beginning to glow rather brightly.

“Oh, fuck me!” Junius slams his GN Field on to maximum intensity as he backs off, leaping into the air. “Gerard, run!” Hermes grabs the Kowloon, almost clotheslining it in his haste, and starts to fly, right behind Junius.

Meanwhile, Aroma scratches his head as the 00 suddenly stops fighting him and flies away, moving as fast as it can. “That was odd… I wonder why he st-”

—

The Alvatore’s GN Drives suddenly explode, gangfiring in a spectacular display as a massive wave of GN Particles lashes out and converts everything on the upper surface of the base to glowing slag. A fountain of yellow-orange fire lashes upwards into the sky, and a massive shockwave hits the mobile suits around the base, slamming them pinwheeling into the water. Gerard and Junius fare the best because of their GN Fields, but Hermes and Shuu arn’t so lucky, taking quite a bit of banging about.

The explosion is mostly focused upwards and outwards, but, about a minute after the explosions stop, the entire base suddenly leans slowly to the side at about fifteen degrees, with a loud, groaning creak of metal.

Results: Rogue Meledy wins, Gander Island falls; Justice Gundam loses
00: 13 VP, 3 days damage, 1 day’s injury
Dynames: 12 VP, no damage; gains ownership of Gander Island
Exia: 14 VP, 3 days damage
Alvarron: 13 VP, 3 days damage; Alvatore MA is lost
Kowloon: 14 VP, 3 days damage, 2 days injury
Justice: 10 VP, 3 days damage
Gander Island: All turrets destroyed, command center destroyed, all hangars destroyed, main sensor array destroyed, heavy structural damage, 2 x Pisces escapes, all other MS destroyed
All Rogues recieve 550,000 cr