Coup De Grâce: Part I

The sands of the Algerian desert reminded Kale of his home as he leaned into the wind. With a wide brimmed “cowboy” hat to shelter him from the unrelenting glare, and a bandana to protect his mouth and nose from the fine grains of sand, he stood in the Dynames’ cockpit; watching through a bronze telescope pressed to his eye.

Insalah’s walls danced in the heat, even Kale’s trained eye taking a few minutes to separate the base and land fleet from the mirage. Collapsing the telescope against his chest, Kale retreated back into the shade and relative cool of his cockpit, quickly sealing it from the elements. He signaled the other three mobile suits that had joined him.

“They’re home. Let’s go pay them a visit.”

Even in the seriousness of the moment, Kale took a moment to grin as he pretended he was a cowboy in his mind. He could see himself riding his horse, chasing down a train with pistol in hand. Ruefully, he realized that his life wasn’t that far removed from his imagination, but it definitely lacked the glamour of the movies.

“We ride!”

Riding its new mount, the Dynames lifted into the air with the GN Arms Type-D attached. The frame bristled with beam cannons, and a massive missile pod, very obviously designed with the concept of “bigger is better” in mind.

—

For Cielo, the coming attack was much more personal than it was for Alex or Kale. Only Darius understood his feelings, both pilots of like mind about the attack.

“It feels so nice to be back in the sun!”

Azure’s smile once they had arrived in Algeria had been the biggest Cielo had seen in weeks, his twin’s mood lifting his own. The two both felt more comfortable in the warmth of the North African nation. He had his sister safely away from what was about to happen though, Cielo having set her up at a nice hotel in Algiers. Good and bad memories alike intertwined as he finished preparing the Virtue.

“I can’t wait to show them my Phoenix Flare. We’ll burn them from the Earth, won’t we guys?!”

Exuberant, almost to a flaw, Alex broke the silence that had permeated the group as they waited for Kale’s go ahead. It was Cielo who uncharacteristically spoke first, Darius chorusing the response in his own words.

“Yeah, we will Alex. They won’t know what hit them, will they Darius?”

“They don’t have a chance in hell.”

Formerly an AF soldier, Darius had turned mercenary with definite loyalties only to himself, Cielo and Azure, and the highest bidder. Though the money they could make from the raid was far from unappealing, Darius wondered if he would have taken the job even without the potential to profit.

“We ride.”

That was the signal, Cielo’s heart skipping a beat as he pushed against his controls to lift the Virtue into the air, quickly joining Armistad and the Dynames.

Both Darius and Alex kept their mobile suits planted to the dune, they both knew the plan, and they simply waited to play their parts.

—

Dimitri was the living embodiment of the means justifying the ends. Skimming only meters over the sun-glazed sand, there was an illusion of two Wing Zeros flying toward Insalah in their Neo Bird modes.

He had long since stopped wondering where his backup was, the Superior no longer figuring into either Strathmore’s or ZERO’s equations. As he flew to wage war on those that shed innocent blood, he sang Lady in Red to himself.

“I’ve never seen you looking so lovely as you did tonight. I’ve never seen you shine so bright…”

It was obvious who it was the song was for, Dimitri seeing Lamonica’s face clearly in his mind’s eye.

“I have never seen that dress you’re wearing, or the highlights in your head that catch your eyes. I have been blind…”

—

Even before the attack had begun, the land fleet was on edge. Stories of radars and sensors going wild before devastating assaults by the infamous Kale Armistad, and Deacon Gerard had spread even to the soldiers of the Atlantic Federation. A pair of Daughtress High Maneuverability types stalked along the charred and broken walls of Insalah; the devastation visited by prior attacks only increasing their discomfort as they watched the horizon for any sign of attackers. Neither noticed the two massive mobile suits diving from the noon sun.

Lacking the anti-GN sensors developed by the Earth Sphere Alliance from necessity, the entire fleet failed to notice the two black spots, flying against the sun, directly over the base. As a hail of beams rained down on the DT-4400 and General Moreno, nervousness quickly became pandemonium.

A quartet of pink beams from the GN Arms lanced the General Moreno, the ship seeming to survive relatively unharmed after the energy from the GN cannons had dissipated. Less than a moment later nearly a quarter of the entire vessel was blown off as a series of explosions ripped through the craft, the blasts claiming a nearby Daughtress. The DT-4400 was in better condition only by virtue of its sheer size as one of the gun and anti-aircraft carriages exploded from Cielo’s burst.

The panic increased as a rain of missiles trailing green particles blanketed the base, destroying mobile suit, structure, and damaging ships alike. With all the chaos wrought by Cielo and Kale, Alex and Darius were both able to easily slip into the base, their abilities put to use as they began wreaking havoc on individual mobile suits.

—

Explosions dotted the sun, the brilliance of the beams, and shells alike visible even at high noon. Dimitri hugged marginally closer to the dunes he flew over as he streaked toward the base, doing his best not to give away his presence. In a fugue he watched the largest of the objects with an intensity he hadn’t ever known, even in the thrall of the ZERO system.

His mind at first refused to process what it was he was seeing, but ZERO allowed no denial of the facts. Kale Armistad was free, and hunting again.

End of Part I.

Coup De Grâce: Part II.

Both the DT-4400 and General Santander fired every weapon in their arsenals. They filled the air as thick as they could with beams, artillery, and anti-air munitions in a desperate bid to drive off the Vultures long enough for them to make it into the desert. Intermittently, Daughtresses outfitted with 500mm cannons would pop out from heavily armored cars hooked up to the train, firing a few shots before ducking back inside of their armored vehicle as it slowly began creeping toward freedom.

—

In the base’s prison cells, a squat concrete building toward the rear of the base, Marcus O’Hare pressed up against the bars to his window in a vain to watch the assault. He didn’t see the massive shell diving down on his building, but the telltale whistle of descending artillery was enough of a hint for him to leap away from the wall. The misfired round decimated the concrete wall, throwing O’Hare against the metal bars that made up the door of his cell. Despite his throbbing back, and skull, O’Hare knew opportunity when he saw it, and he quickly fled through the newly created opening, intent on search for his mobile suit so he could get the hell out of a dodge.

—

Darius’ Throne Zwei slashed through his second Daughtress of the day, the massive buster sword cleaving the MP unit in half much to his satisfaction. It wasn’t just the money that had brought him there, he decided. He had left the Atlantic Federation because they had enhanced him, made him better, but then imprisoned him and tried to make him into a weapon. No, he grinned as he searched for another mobile suit, it wasn’t about the money at all.

There was little COM chatter between the Vultures, even though the battle was easily in their control. The Virtue and Dynames both hovered over the base, harrying the armored train and remaining Tenzan with prodding shots. Enough firepower to convince them they were in danger, but not enough to destroy them. Kale had other plans.

—

Alex whooped as the Phoenix blew two parallel holes in one of the few remaining Daughtresses on the base. It was obvious that there were more mobile suits as beams and shells flew from around corners, but they lacked enough intensity that the grazing shots that did hit weren’t enough to discourage him as he gunned for another Daughtress.

—

“Sir, we don’t stand a chance if we wait much longer.”

Concussive blasts shook both the commander, and his subordinate inside of the DT-4400. It was obvious that they were out numbered, the number of Daughtresses around the base rapidly dwindling. The Federation captain closed his eyes as he tried to make the decision of whether to try to preserve his mission, or his life. Another explosion made up his mind for him, the officer opening his eyes.

“Do it. Drop the cargo, we’re going to make a run for it.”

The ensign was gone without a salute, the importance of the command outweighing formalities.

Within moments the heavily loaded rear cars filled with precious materials for the Atlantic Federation defense effort, disconnected from the slow moving train, the massive machine suddenly accelerating as it exploded through a metal gate laid over the tracks. Beside it, the General Santander, performed similarly as it plowed through the concrete barrier around Insalah, both vehicles making a run for it.

Neither realized what was waiting for them already in the desert, or that everything they were doing was going to Kale’s plan.

—

Inside of the Dynames, Kale couldn’t help but to smile as he watched the train and Tenzan make their run for it. In his mind he was riding his horse up along the steam engine as it fled from him and his banditos. Protected by a GN Field, the Dynames didn’t seem to notice the shells bursting against its barrier as Kale dived the gundam toward the ground, pulling up enough to fly parallel with the desert.

“Cielo, you know what to do. Darius! Alex! Come on boys! Ride’em cowboys, we gots us a runner!”

Without waiting for a response, the GN Arms’d Dynames was giving chase, any mobile suits left to oppose them in the base itself, Darius and Alex were on the train’s tail almost as quickly as Kale.

—

The only mobile suits left at the base, the Virtue hovered over the wrecked remains. Deliberately connecting the large GN Bazooka directly to the Virtue’s GN Drive, Cielo licked his desert-chapped lips as he activated the gundam’s most powerful weapon.

“Trans-AM.”

Turning pink, then red, the Virtue’s rate of particle compression for its GN Bazooka began climbing rapidly on its screen. A haze of pink particles danced around the barrel of the gun as it charged, Cielo pulling the trigger once the Burst Mode held steady 97% compression rate. The beam was brilliant, tearing through the already battered remains of the base. Part of the blue-haired pilot’s mind said “You made me, so here I am,” as he obliterated the base. It took nearly thirty seconds for the Virtue to reduce the base to molten glass and charred concrete. The first portion of his mission done, Cielo turned the then normally colored Virtue to catch up with its companions.

—

In his head, the chorus of “Crusader” thundered as Dimitri flew the Wing Zero parallel to the train, but at a distance of nearly a kilometer so as not to be seen. He was acutely aware of his experience with the ZERO system, no longer a tool that rushed at anything that moved. Instead ZERO allowed him to see the subtleties of the pursuit, see him the optimum moment with which to attack.

“You are terrorists. You are my enemies.”

Banking sharply, the Wing gundam tore toward the convoy and its pursuers, the group not noticing the jet shaped mobile suit transforming as it closed the distance between them.

—

Kale cut into the four Balients that had popped out of one of the still numerous cars attached to the nuclear powered train. Though their pilots were moderately skilled, against the far more experienced and overwhelmingly powerful Dynames and its subflight system, they had no chance.

Along the ground the number of functional weapons mounted to the General Moreno and DT-4400 were dwindling rapidly. One of the remaining Daughtress “Fire Wallaby” types appeared on the General Moreno’s deck, it’s 90mm rifle sending a scattered rain of bullets on the closer Throne Zwei. Before it had a chance to do more than pester the orange mobile suit, Darius dispatched a GN Dagger to slam into it the bulky mobile suit, sending it toppling off the edge of the land battleship. Though the impact didn’t fully destroy the mobile suit, the fact that it fell in front of the massive DT-4400 did.

With Darius dealing primarily with the General Moreno, Alex was left to tangle with the nuclear powered engine. The firing from Daughtress Weapons had grown more frantic as the Phoenix’s mega particles wreaked havoc on the train, a car at a time.

“The heavens shall burn tonight with our will!”

Despite his jovial attitude, and infrequent outbursts, Alex took the fight seriously. At times he almost frantically maneuvered to avoid the hail of munitions the train was still able to throw at him despite its rising damages. As he took aim at one of the train cars that carried some of the Daughtresses that had been taking pot shots at him, every alarm seemed to go wild inside of his cockpit. A massive streak of energy swept in front of him, only Alex’s newtype senses and the Phoenix’s speed allowing him to avoid the beam that drilled into the carriage near the front of the train.

The blast was enough to topple the entire front half of the train, the massive “ship” skidding off of its tracks and into the General Moreno, the Throne Zwei disappearing as it was caught between the two vessels.

“Kale Armistad, for the crime of terrorism against your fellow man, I will carry out your execution.”

ZERO had told him true, Strathmore streaking toward the Dynames with both of its beam sabers in hand. Not close enough to slash the nigh-mobile armor, the Wing Zero sprayed away at Kale’s gundam with its machine cannons, the bullets having no effect against the powerful GN Field.

Undeterred, he pressed the Wing Zero closer, slamming his beam saber ineffectively against the GN Particle barrier. Though his attacks had little to no effect on the Dynames, it forced Kale to keep his barrier up, unable to mount a retaliatory strike without leaving himself open.
“Phoenix FLAARE!”

Recovered from the initial surprise of the attack, Eldridge had transformed the Phoenix Gundam into its bird mode, the mobile suit igniting in a “super attack” as it slammed into the Wing Zero from behind. Even the powerful Gundanium armor of the Zero was damaged, a combination of hairline cracks and a massive molten welt extending from the point of impact.

Dimitri grunted as the Wing tumbled through the air, recovering enough to transform into its Neo-Bird Mode. Both of the buster rifles fired, a pair of beams crackling toward the Phoenix Gundam, one of them clipping the fellow transformed mobile suit along its right wing.

Seizing advantage of the Zero’s focus on the Phoenix Gundam, the Dynames lowered its barrier, all four of its cannons firing in unison at the mobile suit. Almost as if it knew to expect the attack, the Zero dipped beneath the quartet of beams, transforming as it climbed up in a u-shaped arc. Whipping out a beam saber, it slashed as it flew upward, cleaving the barrels of the twin-beam cannons sticking out from the Dynames’ right arm.

Though it lacked a cutting edge like the GN Arms Type E, Kale smashed the Wing Zero with his right arm, the exhausted missile pod crumbling from the impact, the Wing Gundam stunned by the force of the blow.

Beneath the aerial fight, Darius pulled the Throne Zwei free of the small pocket that had protected the Zwei from total annihilation. Seeking the source of his situation, he sent his gundam into the air, all of his remaining fangs flying from their binders.

With the Phoenix Gundam attacking him from below, Dimitri stomped down with his gundam’s foot, catching Alex’s mobile suit directly on the nose. However as before, defending against one mobile suit left him open to another, Kale successfully tagging the Wing Zero’s titular appendages with a direct hit from the two large beam cannons in the GN Arms.

Suddenly losing one of the wings was enough to send Dimitri and his gundam plunging toward the ground. Struggling to recover himself from the drop, Strathmore had no chance to avoid the number of daggers that flew at him, each one burying itself in his mobile suit’s armor.

Even as he fell, ZERO continued to force feed him information, the Earth Sphere Alliance pilot realizing that a fourth mobile suit was closing in on his location. Slamming into the ground next to the twisted wreckage of the Moreno and DT-4400, the Wing Zero’s impact was loud enough to be felt even by the gundams in the air. Dimitri’s vision turned black, white stars punctuating the darkness as they flew around like frenzied fireflies. He staved off unconsciousness as he pulled out the Twin Buster Rifle, firing a beam aimlessly into the air above him. ZERO offered him only one solution, and it ended in a dead end.

There are worse ways to die I suppose. He thought to himself as he opened up his cockpit, grabbing his pistol and a small metal cylinder with a red button on it. Above him the Dynames was hovering, while the Virtue, Throne Zwei, and Phoenix were descending, obviously intending on finishing him. Like hell he was going to give them that chance. He mashed down the button on the self-destruct mechanism in his hand, firing his pistol at the nearest mobile suit as he sprinted away from his gundam. He was almost halfway through his pistol’s magazine when his entire world turned white.

—

“Crazy son of a bitch.”

The Virtue and Dynames were the least affected by the blast, the two of them hanging back while Darius and Alex had gone to capture the pilot. The explosion had annihilated the remains of the Tenzan and the DT-4400, both the Throne Zwei and the Phoenix caught in the shockwave.

Despite his animosity towards the Earth Sphere Alliance, part of Kale felt bad for the pilot, the man’s body lost somewhere in the desert. The life of a bandit was a strange thing, he thought.

“Cielo, you get Darius, and I’ll get Alex.”

There was no time to linger, nothing left of value except what they would comeback later to salvage and sell.

—

It was so hot, Dimitri’s eyes were unable to focus as he dragged himself forward a few more steps. He wasn’t sure whether he was alive or dead, the pilot stumbling through the brilliant desert.

Outcome: DT-4400 and Insalah destroyed.
Wing Zero: 13 VP, Upgrading 8 days
Dynames: 12 VP, 2 days damage
Throne Zwei: 12 VP, 3 days damage
Virtue: 13 VP, 2 days damage
Phoenix: 13 VP, Upgrading 8 days
Geymark: Freed.