Gaojinizer- Stage 23
The Great Garsalan Wall
Another city destroyed by those creatures… For how much longer would this continue? That was the question on the minds of both the pilots, and those lucky enough to escape its destruction. What was first a jewel of the south, had become naught but a craterous wasteland… The somber mood on the ship was shared by all, even by their commanding officer, Pierre, who seemed to be permanently seeped in stoicism. Yet, as they all gathered in the situation room, he kept his face as neutral as usual.
“Here is the situation… It is decided that the Artemis will move with us, as we begin the next stage of the plan… We will be going to Columbia so that this ship can launch into orbit. The brass has decided that the only way we win is to take away orbital supremacy, so that the Garsalan can not so easily do what was done in Atlanta anywhere else. This has been dubbed Operation Orion’s Blade… Of course, we are expecting resistance. While we’ve hidden the location of our mass driver well enough, there’s no doubt in my mind that they’ll want to destroy us before we get too close to their occupation zone. So we shall be a spearhead, and break past their forces. Then, the operation can begin in earnest. We kill two birds with one stone, when they’re sufficiently weakened, then re-taking that zone will be a simple task… Let us hope we can free whatever people are left.”
With that explanation made, they stayed silent. This was not the first mass death they had experienced, no doubt, but to get used to this kind of happening was not an easy task. At the least, that fire, that determination he’d always seen within them, had not disappeared in the least. Within the bowels of the ship known as the Artemis, two of the former city’s inhabitants were stationed. Kyndall’s room was darkened, her eyes, red and puffy, a clear result of what had happened earlier. Though some who strolled outside the room thought of checking upon her, they decided against it. Perhaps, it was better to allow her to process this… Though she struggled with this, her thoughts flowed at a mile a minute, her family, friends, the places she liked to go, the place she called home… They’d taken it away from her, just as they had many others… She was going to make sure of it, they wouldn’t get away with this, her and Lucas would make sure of this.
The same one she thought about sat with his elbows resting upon his desk, fingers intertwined, seemingly Staring off into space. But as he delved further, and further into his thoughts, that began to change to no small extent, the formerly intertwined hands became balled fists.
“...Those Five… We’re supposed to praise them as heroes, yet, they somehow let that bomb be deployed?” The two clearly had gone different directions in who this anger, this sorrow was aimed at. Yet, they both rose all from their seats all the same, and began to exit their respective rooms.
Within an hour, the Artemis and Juzumaru moved forward alongside each other, In front of the ships, the Machina squad, and the mainstay Vanguard armor of the Atlantic collective, the XM-72 Riposte, joined them. Their armor took on a more angular, blocky shape, it was heavy upon the frame’s, and yet, the machines moved with an uncanny speed… The focus of all of those there was placed upon what had come to meet them, enemy machines numbering in the hundreds. Ships large and small dotting the sky as far as one could see.
“Well… Seems they were right. They’re not just gonna let us roll through…” Takeshi commented.
“Indeed… Utilize your Comet pulse Cannon, Inoue… Ota, Aim the ship’s guns at the enemy ships, the Artemis will do the same. We need to ensure that we can hold out as long as possible. Until the rest of our forces are finished consecrating and preparing to take advantage of the weakness we create, we’re on our own. After all, a strike too early would be doomining hundreds of thousands of infantrymen, and an untold number of armored assets…” As this was said, Kyndall focused upon the Garsalan force in front of her, with gritted teeth.
“Is that so? Fine… More for us.” While the woman spoke, Takeshi began to act upon the orders given, his fingers dragging upon the holographic display in front of him, and the yield of the comet pulse cannon being increased further, and further, until 70% had been reached, and light began building within the barrels. All the while Kyoko’s hands continually moved across the ship’s controls, standing behind her, were Kanta and Rakesh Goel respectively.
“So what you’re saying is, this could be the operation which ends the Garsalan landing on earth?” Kanta questioned.
“Who knows? But it’s possible. Nobody’s seen space since the first war happened. We don’t know how much they have up there, but it’s better than them being able to bomb us at any moment…” She turned her focus back to the battle at hand… Both sides lay in wait for the first move to be made, guns being aimed, and fire being prepared. This standoff was eventually broken by the scattering of piercing rays across the battlespace, the source being The Gaojinizer, and then, from the ships of the UFE, which, in response, the Garsalan fired as well. The light show had begun, and already, ships had begun to face their destruction on both sides. The Vanguard Armors of the UFE flew in a tight formation, the Machina squad at the very head. As their enemies flew forth as well to meet them, the Stingers separated from the Danzaman’s frame, and Han sent them toward the opposing machines. Cutting through their bodies with the fired streams of particles, the machines cut in half, or shot directly in their reactors, exploring time and time again. Those which were not destroyed, found themselves hit by either the Ripostes, who used heavy weaponry, usually anti-ship by Earth’s standards, to tear through their armor.
Yet, despite the losses they inflicted,a pattern had begun to set in, Even with all of the Machina fighting, one that had not gone unnoticed. Lucas Tsked as he let out a shot from the heavy railgun over his machine’s shoulder, smashing through the cockpit of A Garslalan Machine that had grown distracted.
“Dammit! There’s too many. You kill one, and two come to replace them!” What was at first 10 minutes had become 30, what was once 30 turned into an hour, one into two, and so on. This cycle was not only noticed by him. As the Chevalier Custom weaved and flipped in the air, dodging the shots the Gartsalan attempted to fire at it, the pilot within divided his attention just enough.
“...The enemy commander hopes to wear us down, just as we do them… I’ve been noticing some of their ships moving leaving the battlefield. But it doesn't make sense to split their forces now of all times? Could they be planning to pincer us? To strike at the territories behind us while we’re occupied? Either way, we’re facing a shrewd tactician.” Yet, it seemed that until they figured out a way to counter this strategy, they were stuck here. This fact was also known to the Commander, who headed the Artemis, Gonzalo Varela.
“If what I'm thinking is right, we'll need a detachment to stop that encirclement attempt before it begins.” It seemed that, despite only knowing each other for a short while, the two commanders thought in tandem. As Pierre spoke once more.
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“Inoue, Hohenzollern, the Bulk of us will. Need to stay here! We theorize the enemy has slowly been siphoning forces from here, and may attempt to push into the Collective. I'm sending you two to stop that before it's too late!” The two paused upon hearing these words.
“With him?! Tch.. Fine.” Begrudgingly, Takeshi shot off into the distance, and though the prince grumbled about the non-titled address, he went forth regardless.
“Do your best not to get in my way, Blondie…”
“That's my line, Urchin…”
The greenery and Mountains of Durango stretched out for miles below them, the wildlife had seemingly been scared into a Frenzy, no doubt a result of their battle. Though some towns and villages were visible, they had since been abandoned. Which was almost certainly due to not wanting to live close to the Garsalan. Let alone where they decided to settle themselves. At the least, this wilderness was a far cry from what they'd seen the last few days, but it seemed that this short burst of serenity was to be interrupted, as once more, their senses, not their sensors, alerted them to an incoming attack. Veritable lances of lightning raced toward their machines, which they'd just barely managed to avoid…
“What the?!”
“Who?” As Takeshi and Diederick respectively questioned this, they looked to the horizon to see an unfamiliar machine, which certainly explained the strange weaponry. The exterior is painted in a matte black with electric blue accents. The torso is heavily armored, with reinforced plating designed to absorb and deflect incoming attacks.The head, narrow and angular, with a single, ominous crimson visor…
“To answer your question, I am one you have both fought before… L’Fles Zu Jago… “
“.. A Garsalan… Spoke in our language?” Takeshi questioned.
“Translators exist for a reason, even we do not speak the same language. Some resist learning standard… that said, while you were formidable opponents, a lot of you must die here. As the new lord of this system, I must set a good example for my new subordinates… Face the power of the ma’vet! ”
The shock of a Garsalan speaking of two humans with anything but contempt, was replaced with a different shock. A crackling began to emit from the large, reinforced gauntlets which lay upon the machine’s arms. The ma’vet shot across the sky, striking both the Valgeogant, and the Gaojinizer as the Capacitors within began to activate. Within an instant, a searing pain entered the bodies of both pilots, pained yells echoing through their cockpits… Though what was happening was clear to those observing, to the two who were currently in the midst of being shocked, that wasn't the case.
It seemed their allies were having no easier time. The problem was easy to see. While the Garsalan could freely cycle fresh and exhausted troops, they could not, and the exhaustion of the Pilots began to show in the Machina’s performance. After all, it was the pilot who made the Aether generators work. Their minds which powered them.
“Dammit… something needs to change, and fast..” Haemon commented.
“Then maybe we need to disorganize the enemy… Takashi and Diederick still went back. Could they have run into someone strong? I want to go support them if that's the case.”
As Andrew commented this, Pierre placed a hand on his chin.
“That's an idea… Whoever is leading this force may have joined that detachment in case we figured out his strategy. Good thinking, Howard, go…”
Howard nodded, as his machine shot off into the distance, though it looked to the Garsalan as if this was a simple retreat, a desertion, perhaps.. For the Gaojinizer and Valegoagant, they continued their attempts to press the attack upon the Ma’vet, yet it seemed that the swipe of their respective weapons did little but hit air as their opponent continually eluded them with little effort.
“It will take more than that, Humans!”
In a short time, from the machine’s wrists, gunbarrels became visible, which shot forth destructive rays that cleaved through the armor of both, try as they might to get out of the way in time. What were they to do in this situation? None of their attempts at attack were working, and it seemed their opponent’s fresh state compared to theirs did not help in that regard. Diederick attempted to change their situation, perhaps, by giving his blades more reach, the aether pushed into then expanded the length, and he attempted to dive in and attack once more, but it seemed even this wouldn’t be possible. As what looked to be mental tentacles, from the machine's back, moved to grab the Valgeogant’s arm, and within moments, an electric shock was deployed, one that resulted in his pained yells echoing once more.
Before The Gojinizer could do much to help in that regard, Takeshi found himself in the same situation. There was little doubt about it, the two could certainly die in this battle, if they did not get support at some time… Apparently, that support was soon to come. As a war cry echoed in the sky around them, with L’fles looking around to the source of this, until it slammed into his machine, leg outstretched, and nearly flung him around his cockpit, and as Andrew grasped and ripped the tentacles away from his allies’ machines, distance was created.
“There you two are… What are we dealing with?” Andrew questioned.
“The enemy machine deploys electricity, for the most part, it seems to ignore our armor and hit us directly… The Valgeogant already has some structural damage…” Diederick explained.
“Yeah, you might be best suited to this, Andrew…” Takeshi admitted. He supposed that wasn’t wrong, after all, if one factored in armor alone, The Kaizenbuster was the solution…
“His shocks don't seem to get through my armor nearly as well, that’s our ticket… He may not suspect you two still being in the fight with the damages he’s given you. When I give the signal, Pierce his cockpit.” In little time, the Kaiznebuster had closed the distance between the two machines, throwing a flurry of impact booster enhanced punches, and kicks, to which L’fles found himself having to quickly avoid.] Knowing quite well that his shocks did little damage from the earlier encounter, the particle launchers in his wrist would be the crux of his attack. His machine’s Arms extended as he weaved around a left hook, a rapid volley of shots were sent forth, aiming at the very same spot. Though the shots did nothing at first, they gradually began to shear through the armor the machine made use of. But strangely enough, the machine did not even bother to dodge the attack. Rather, within, The pilot gritted his teeth, even as the tentacles began to deliver a shock taking advantage of the hole created. He began to move his machine’s powerful arms to lock the enemy machine within. L’fles mandibles chittering in surprise.
“What?!”
“NOW!”
This shouted word resulted in the two machines which had seemingly gone dormant, rushing toward the general’s machine, which, to no surprise, led to the garsalan troops rushing to his defense. In their damaged state, the oncoming swarm would certainly prove to be an issue… But what was to be done-
An earth-shattering boom sounded, as a high velocity projectile slammed into one of the Smaller garsalan ships. And the forces of the new Fi’gas found themselves facing a different issue, an oncoming tide of Earth’s forces. Warships, Landships, Vanguard Armors, anti-ship batteries, had come in full force. Yet, L’fles Zu Jago’s mind had not shifted to the change in the battlefield especially as two blades, one curved and one straight, entered his cockpit at the very same time, the intrusion ripping apart the metal, destroying his screen and console before tearing apart the Garsalan within… All three withdrew, as the machine combusted into a ball of fire.
The result of the battle was clear, the Fi’gas had reached his end, and earth’s forces had begun moving to relieve their troops within. As if to make matters worse, disorganization began to spread throughout the Garsalan ranks with the death of their leader.
…
The Campaign into the Mesoamerican Occupation zone was by most means, a success, they’d managed to break through the remaining forces, even capturing Garsalan figures who had not yet managed to evacuate, some of which were involved in the Garsalan Sciences… The strangelly organic Garsalan architecture was built over what little remained of the major cities that this area used to hold. But it seemed that this overwriting did not stop at just structures. Regretfully the preliminary surveys revealed very low amounts of people, in the thousands at most, who’d managed to hide deep within the wilderness, or underground. Many of whom hadn’t even known the happenings of the past few months, even decades. But such was to be expected in their isolated states. It seemed that the Juzumaru would proceed smoothly in its plans, as Columbia was reached, and for the time being, the pilots, and crew, relaxed as they could… After all, a new stage of the war was about to begin.