Nonpoint_-_In The Air Tonight

—–

“Aye Sir!” The Trainees saluted as their commanding officer bid them goodnight. It had been a long day of training, and each student welcomed the coming nights rest; they knew they’d be doing it all over come early morning.

The lights went out all across the compound as it hit 10:00pm. The moon shone brightly across the valley this night, casting numerous shadows along the rocky terrain, only relenting when the occasional cloud masked the brilliant satellite. All was quiet aside from a low whistle from the winds, and the almost inaudible echo of the patrol units clanking steadily along.

—–

Braddigan’s console flashed as a message came across the screen. The pilot of the Leopard had been spending an extensive amount of time preparing for their assault on Uralsky. He checked, double checked and even triple checked his weapon systems; Braddigan wanted to be sure he was fully prepared. He wiped the sweat from his brow as the sun set to the west. The Leopard was fully loaded, and ready to roll.

—–

Lyric sat lazily in his suit, cockpit door open as he stared up at the moon.  It was the source of his impressive weapon, but all he could feel when he looked into it was sadness. There was a heavy weight on his mind as he sat there deep in thought.

Anton…

He still regretted the loss of his friend and comrade as he thought back to the battle at Siberisky. A thousand different scenarios ran through his head as he imagined if things had gone differently, if he had only done something different maybe he would still be here.

Lyric thought back to the events at Harare, where thousands of civilians lost their lives in the attack on the city. He was ready to take his on Uralsky, to avenge their lives and make the HRL pay for their atrocities.

“What’s this?” He looked up at his console as a message flashed across it. He raised an eyebrow and sat up in his chair as he opened the encrypted message.

—–

“I guess this is next on the list…” Ariel stated rather dryly. He wasn’t overly thrilled at the prospect as he briefly looked over some satellite images that Virag had provided. That man had begun to get on Ariel’s nerves, and had him wondering if he’d ever be rid of him. He patted Herr on the rabbit’s head before ejecting the disk and powering the Freedom up.

—–

Lachesis peered over at the strangely dressed Gundam fighter as the two of them took care of their final provisions and adjustments before their engagement. Each had their own methods of preparation; Lachesis ran her system checks, and ran over some strategies in her head, while Phil sat at the Rising’s feet, meditating. She crinkled her nose and stared blankly at the Gundam fighter, not knowing how to take the pilot of the Rising.

“You bout ready over there?” The young lady shouted from her open cockpit, interrupting Phil from his trance. He rolled his eyes and stood himself up, dusting the dirt of his kimono.

“Yes Ma’am.” He replied as he stretched lightly.

“None of this Ma’am shit…” She glared at Phil, watching him leap from the feet of his Gundam up to the cockpit.

“Of course… Shall we?” The Rising came to live and made its way through the forest, towards the mountain range that sprouted forth from its tree tops.

—–

Ethan sighed as he removed the Fin Funnels from the rack on the Nu’s back. He was happy to have the Heavy Weapon System Type, but it was almost pointless to carry the extra weight of the Funnels when he was weighed down by the extra armor. The newtype covered the funnels with some trees, and ran a few more checks on his suit to make sure all the systems were functional and that his new equipment was adequate.

He held the giant beam rifle in the suits hands and let out a slight grin as he felt fairly confident about this outfit. His thought process was cut short as he sensed that every one had begun to mobilize. The newtype hoisted the rifle over the suit’s shoulder and made his way towards the mountain range.

—–

Lyric Sate/ Braddigan Heart,

It has been brought to our attention that the monstrosity responsible for the massacre at Harare is present in your area. We understand that you have a mission to tend to, but one of your allies in the attack on Uralsky is the perpetrator of that attack. When presented with the opportunity, you are to take him out and capture him for questioning and to be dealt with accordingly. Your target is Maximillian Bagoly, pilot of the Destroy Gundam. Execute with extreme caution. Come back to us alive.

Atlantic Federation
Admiral Kirkland

—–

“That son of a bitch!” Braddigan slammed his fist against his controls as he finished reading the message from command. He was racked with guilt for the events that had taken place because he felt the need to ignore orders, but this time he would not repeat that mistake. He would make amends and do what was right…

—–

“That Monster is here?!” Lyric sat up even further in his seat as he stared blankly at the screen. He couldn’t believe that after all that had happened, that he was about to enter combat along side the god forsaken suit that had killed thousands his fellow country men. A million things raced through his mind at once as he tried to calm himself down.

“I see…” Lyric powered up his suit and made his way towards Ariel.

—–

“The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,”

“But I have promises to keep,”

“and miles to go before I sleep,”

“and miles to go before I sleep…”

Ariel recited eloquently as he floated high above the valley floor, moon at his back. The Freedom bobbed effortlessly in the night sky as the Double X and two Bertigos surveyed the area.

“What was that?” Lyric turned to face the Freedom as he inquired to his companion’s random statement.

“Nothing, nothing at all…” Ariel dismissed it as he stared down at the fortress below. Another battle, another day, it almost seemed a little too repetitive but c’est la vie.

“Its time.” Ariel muttered as he motioned to the Double X.  Lyric grinned as he got the cue to begin. A set of ‘golden’ wings spread out behind the Double X and began to glow as it began receiving the signal from D.O.M.E.

—–

“Steady… We’re about to get our signal.” Ethan motioned for the ground team to stay hidden as he felt the hell that was about to be unleashed. He brought his beam rifle to the ready position and waited patiently.

Lachesis was growing impatient as she watched the Nu motion with its hand that they stay still. She fidgeted in her cockpit, growing anxious at the thought of battle. Her GN Flag gripped the handle of its beam saber as she awaited the signal.

“What is the signal anyways?” Phil asked in confusion as he looked around at all the suits lying in wait.

“Ooooooh, that…” His mouth dropped as the whole valley was illuminated as bright as mid day with a giant pillar of light, raining down from the sky.

“About time!” Lachesis fired up her beam saber and rushed ahead into the valley, racing with the Rising as they descended into the chaos followed closely by the slightly slower Leopard and Nu who trekked behind the two melee suits, providing cover fire.

—–

“How beautiful…” Maximillian stared into the night sky as he watched the giant white pillar of death descend on the valley. The green eyes of the Destroy’s attack mode rushed to life, flaring a bright emerald as the suit came to life. It was time that he began wreaking havoc, and he giggled at the fact that the entire valley would be sitting ducks with no way of immediate escape.

The Destroy’s massive frame cast a giant shadow over the valley as he stood menacingly in front of the moon. The giant mobile suit trudged forward along the eastern plain as the wind rushed across the flatlands into the valley from his backside.

“Looks like a good night for killing.” The pilot grinned viciously as he began charging his weapons.

—–

Alarms echoed through out the mountain range as Uralsky came to life. Emergency lights kicked on and all able soldiers were up and running to their stations.  Luckily for them the first volley was a very poorly aimed shot that managed to take out a couple of the training buildings and puncture a hole in one of the mountain sides.

“Go Go Go!” The six lead pilots had taken up tactical points through out the compound as they tried to direct the trainees and other pilots to their appropriate assignments.

“Sir, there is a ground team approaching from the western side as well!” One of the Daughtress pilots came through the closed comm channel as he informed the lead Tieren All-Region type.
“Aye, keep me posted, take the Tieren unit with you and engage them. You know what to do soldier.” He radioed back as he continued to try and rectify the chaos within the base.

“Yes Sir!” The Daughtress team sped off to the west as the 16 Tieren’s dispersed into the network of trenches and the field of ‘junked’ mobile suits. They knew the drill as the diligently went to work. They all carefully took their places as they prepared for the worse, the pilots had been over these scenarios time and time again.

—–

“I guess that woke them up.” Ariel chuckled slightly as his beam cannons flipped forward and he brandished his beam rifle. With out a word he motioned to their escorts to descend and unleash their bits.

“Remember, the students are to be given a chance to surrender… they have yet to be beyond reconciliation.” With that the Freedom burst into the air, pulling a loop and then began descent into the battle field following the Bertigos closely.

“Umm… I’ll just stay here and… uh… do what I do.” Lyric Sate stayed high above the mountains, twin satellite cannons aimed at the base below. He had yet to see the giant mobile suit that his superiors had said would be there and was beginning to think they had received faulty information. His screen flashed as the charge on his cannon had been complete and he let loose another devastating shot into the valley.

—–

“Yeehaw!” Braddigan screamed, adrenaline pumping, letting loose an almost endless amount of ammo, firing in all directions, hitting junked suits and enemies alike. The Leopard sped along on its skates through the rocky terrain, blanketing the field with shells as he provided the two melee suits cover.

“He better be careful where he’s aiming…” Lachesis sneered as she ran her beam saber through a Tieren that had popped up from an outcropping behind her. She kicked the suit back into the trench and sped along, continuing to head for the heart of the base. Another one fell to the Rising’s pole arm, as Lachesis impaled another one that had tried to sneak up on her team mate.

“Thank you ma’…. I mean, good looking out.” Phil stopped himself, to avoid another scolding. The two suits stood back to back as they watched the battlefield fill with bullets as both sides were unrelenting. Phil saw the Nu in its Heavy Weapons outfit land several meters away before opening fire with its hefty beam rifle, taking out a few cannon turrets.

“Take cover!” Ethan alerted the ground team to avoid any splash from their team mate’s massive cannon. A pulse from the impact spread through out the valley, as rocks flew violently over the terrain.

“Hurry! While they’re recovering!” Ethan motioned to advanced as the three other suits emerged from their shelter.

“What did we hit?” Braddigan asked inquisitively.

“They got the Command Center, we can’t waste any time.” As soon as the words left Ethan’s mouth his eyes grew wide as he swung around to try and block the attack. The heavy armor had slowed the suits reaction time and he ended up losing his beam rifle as one of the Daughtresses cut clear through it with one of its beam sabers.

—–

Whistling the ‘Hall of the Mountain King’, Maximillian smiled sadistically as he began pressing buttons and pulling on triggers. The area illuminated with an array of beam weaponry that would shame a rave. Rocks began crumbling as he fired indiscriminately carving into the mountain sides, destroying all terrain that his beams fell upon.

“Here I come.” The giant mobile suit lumbered into the valley as he fired shot after shot, not letting up.

—–

“Shit!” Ariel barrel rolled to his left, weaving in and out of Anti Air fire as he tried to avoid taking too much damage. He was very relieved his suit held up so well to the conventional fire as each bullet that managed to land just fell by the way side.

The two Bertigos were not so fortunate, their bits had taken out several turrets, and causing problems but their armor did not hold up as well. Ariel was cursing as he watched one of the suits get shot down by a volley of anti air fire… and beam shots?!

“Where the hell did the beams come from?!” The Freedom’s pilot scanned frantically for the source as he continued to dodge everything he could. He found his answer in the form of 6 blue mobile suits appearing from the other side of the artificial mountain top. Ariel quickly found himself having to dodge their GN beam rifles as well as the constant artillery from the ground. Things were not going as planned.

—–

“He’s here!” Lyric spun his suit around to face the east as he saw the end of the valley being lit up with beams, chaos erupting everywhere. There was no mistaking it that the giant suit he saw was the one that had killed his country men.

“I see the monster for myself… I wonder if this is what they saw before they died…”  He paused momentarily debating what he should do. He had his orders, and he yearned to take vengeance on the monstrosity. His mind was made up quickly as his console beeped at him once more, signaling he was ready for another shot.

—–

Braddigan’s screen zoomed in on the eastern most area of the valley as he saw the light show from where they were engaged. His teeth gritted as he realized what he was seeing. With out a word, the Leopard spun around on its wheels, and jumped into the tree cover and disappeared. Moments later the suit reappeared on the north side, skating along the mountain walls, as he sped along towards the Destroy. He would not let his pride get in the way of what was right this time…

—–

“Where the hell did he go?!” Phil asked in shock as he watched one of their support suits dash away.

“I’m not sure, but we could use your help over here McCormick!” Lachesis growled as she clashed beam sabers with one of the Daughtress units. It was bad enough that they had to be conscious of the remaining Tieren’s that could pop out at any time, but they were now outnumbered by the Daughtress team, four to three.  The ground unit was struggling, and having trouble pressing on as they kept sustaining damage from the enemy’s artillery.

Ethan slayed one of the Daughtresses through the torso, throwing it into a Tieren that had popped its head out over a bunker, before turning to help Lachesis who was trying to take on two at once.

“I think at this point it may be best to retreat.” Ethan rasped as he struggled to react with the heavy armor.

“I haven’t heard Lyric’s weapon lately, and I’m starting to get a bad feeling about all of this.” The newtype kicked his opponent into the one engaged with Lachesis as he thrust back and landed away from the enemy suits.

“You all go!” Phil began to spin his naginata in a defensive pattern, reflecting bullets back at the suits firing them, as well as deterring his primary attacker.

Ethan looked at Lachesis before taking off. He did not need to be told twice, but he continued to fire his hyper bazooka at the trenches to try and keep the Tieren suits in check while they made their escape.

“This hand of mine burns with an awesome power!” The Rising pulled its right hand up in front of its chest as the hand began to glow.

“Its burning power tells me to defeat you!” Phil reared his fist back and lunged into the air. The Mobile Fighter came crashing to the ground, slamming its open palm against the ground causing the Daughtress to fly backwards, and creating an explosion of earth and rock. Phil took the opportunity and followed his comrades in their retreat.

—–

“Where the hell did…” Ariel looked to his left as he saw the Leopard skate across the ground and the Double X descend from the skies towards the Destroy.

“Shit…” The Freedom was rocked with a barrage of beam rifle shots hit him in the shoulder, destroying one of his beam cannons. Before he could look up to see his enemy he had been surrounded by the six All Region Types.

“Well I have to say this sure doesn’t look very favorable…” He drew his two beam sabers and spun slowly in place as he waited to see who moved first. He saw a GN rifle barrel begin to glow, and he quickly reacted, slicing the Tieren’s arm off, and twirling around and impaling another one, but left himself open to several well placed beam rifle shots through the torso, ripping apart the HiMAT system.

The Freedom began to plummet towards the ground as he stared into the night sky. He started to close his eyes as he saw 6 bits come racing from behind him and blanketed the sky with shots as they tried to disperse the 4 remaining mobile suits. Ariel felt his descent slow as he realized the remaining Bertigo had caught his suit.

“Lets get out of here chap…” He let out a sigh as the two made a course for the Fallen Leaves, the Bertigo’s bits covering their escape.

—–

The Destroy paused as he saw the Double X descending to his position. That had not been a part of the plan he had been informed of, and had stopped his destruction to open a comm. to the incoming suit.

“Why are you straying from the battle?” He asked indignantly as he was upset that he had to hold off his rampage to converse with a soldier that couldn’t follow directions.

“You were responsible for Harare…” Lyric and Braddigan spoke in unison.

“What, another voice?” Maximillian turned his attention to the ground as the Leopard came to a screeching halt, dust settling in his wake. Both suits took aim at the mad titan as its green eyes flared defiantly.

“Ooooh, I see.” An evil smirk curled across his lips as the Destroy lifted its leg and went to stomp on the Leopard, who pushed off and barely skated out of the way.

“You worthless soldiers are from the Atlantic Federation eh?” His voice rasped disdainfully over the two suits’ comms.
“You killed thousands of our country men! You’re a monster with no shame!” Braddigan spit as he glared at the towering suit before him. He roared as he went tearing across the plains towards the Destroy’s feet, weaving in between his legs he slid to a stop behind the suit and let loose a volley of all his ammo, slamming missiles, grenades, and bullets into the suits ‘backpack’.

The shear volume of artillery slamming into the back of the monster stressed the suit’s transphase armor and managed to actually damage it, puncturing through the armor and damaging the pack’s usefulness. Maximillian tried to transform into attack mode, but the backpack stalled, negating its other form.

“You little shit!” Max swung his suits leg, catching the Leopard this time, sending it flying into a wall. Braddigan couldn’t help but let out a smile as blood ran down his forehead.

“You will pay!” Lyric shouted as he let loose a giant blast from his beam cannon. The Destroy managed to pull its arms up, throwing up its positron reflector, and grunted as he tried to withstand the blast.

The beam splashed against the field and washed over the gundam and around it as it pushed him back into the mountain.

“Nice try…” Max dropped his arms to reveal a blast of energy exploding from its chest as Max forced a smirk across his face. The shot claimed the gundam’s left leg as it tried to dodge. Sweat poured down Maximillian’s face as he took aim with the chest cannon again, but the Gundam Double X dodged this time, trying to collect the energy from D.O.M.E. as he evaded the barrage of the Destroy’s arsenal.

Lyric was breathing heavily by this point as he brought the Double X between its legs and took aim at the exposed back of the Destroy, letting loose a final blast of light that overtook the monster.

The recoil from the final shot, mixed with his own momentum sent him tumbling into the mountain side, breaking off the collectors and the barrels as it landed.

—–

“Gimme your hand.”  Braddigan reached into the Double X’s cockpit and helped Lyric out. The two felt a sense of peace as they watched the Destroy lay in ruins at the mouth of the valley. They ignored the looks from their team mates as the Stealth Carrier, Fallen Leaves arrived to pick them up.

“I’m not going to even ask.” Ariel shook his head as they loaded the damage gundams. He stared into the distance as he saw a search party from the fortress heading towards their location.

“Let us be gone from this place, nothing good will come from us staying…” They jumped into the ship and disappeared into the night, lucky to have their lives.

—–

“I found one of the attackers!” A pilot sent a flare into the sky as it stood over the wreckage of the fallen colossus. He motioned for the rest of his search team to meet at his location.

[b]Click[/b]

They all held their pistols at the near unconscious pilot as he stirred slightly in his suit..

“He’s alive!”

—–
Outcome: Uralsky stands
Destroy: 15 vp, 4 days damage, 3 days injury, Captured
Gundam Double X: 15 vp, 4 days damage, 2 days injury
Leopard: 15 vp, 3 days damage, 1 days injury
Freedom: 13vp, 3 days damage
Nu: 13 vp, 3 days damage
Rising: 14vp, 3 days damage, 1 days injury
GN Flag: 13vp, 2 days damage

Uralsky Losses: 1 Daughtress, 2 Tieren All Region Types, 8 L2 Tierens, 4 L3 Tierens, 3 cannons, 4 missile launchers, 6 anti aircraft machine guns