Gundam 00S: Star Struck Episode 3: First Fight

Chapter 5: Intervention
A few quiet hours of flight brought the group close to their destination. During this time Ransac had taken the opportunity to further familiarize himself with the suit. It still handled perfectly, matching his commands almost as fast as he could input them. The only system he was worried about was the GN-Claws. He had never used remote weaponry before. When he had trained using the Agas he had always utilized the beam saber and rifle, that was all he needed. Syrene had said they would automatically adjust to him, but he wished he could have at least gotten used to them before the sortie. “Doesn’t matter now though, I’ll just have to work with it.” he said to himself. “We’re approaching our target.” Announced Strafe. Ransac reviewed the sensors and confirmed this. They were only 3 minutes away from the nuclear power plant. “Here’s a thought, if someone needed to generate this much electricity, why wouldn’t they just plug into the Orbital Elevator and take what they need? It’s a lot easier than reactivating an old power plant.” Said Dom. “Why don’t you ask them yourself? Incoming enemy units!” Announced Longshot. The group instantly shifted to defensive maneuvers. This was met with a barrage of beam fire coming from ahead of them. “I’m detecting four squads of AEU Enacts. Three more about 2 minutes behind them.” Said Ransac. “A little extreme to guard an old facility isn’t it? Just what don’t they want us to find out?” Said Dom as he dodged more beam fire. “Less talking, more fighting back! Longshot! Give them a taste of that sniper rifle!” Snapped Strafe. Longshot immediately switched to his sniper rifle, rotating it to aim directly at the enemy. Three loud whine’s and following explosions announced he had met his mark. “Would you like fries with that?” Said Longshot. “Ransac, Rush Gundam, eliminating targets!” Ransac maxed out the thrust of the Gundam, bringing him directly in front of an enemy Enact. Just where he wanted. With a relative easy, Ransac brought the right arm of the Gundam and delivered a devastating back hand to the head of the Enact. The head was sent soaring off of the mobile suit. To follow up, Ransac delivered a kick to the chest of the mobile suit, sending it careening backwards. The Enact suddenly exploded, having been shot by a particle beam. Strafe roared past his kill, switching to mobile suit mode to deliver a barrage of rapid beam fire before switching back to maneuver around. His barrage met with success, destroying two enemy units before they could react. The enemy attempted to match his maneuvering, only to be suddenly vaporize by a large beam. Dom brought his twin beam bazookas to bear, firing another blast from each towards two other Enacts, who failed to dodge and fell to the group as a heap of scrap. One of the enemy managed to get close, pulling out a sonic blade to take him out. At the last second Dom swapped one of his bazookas for a beam saber, entirely removing the limb holding the blade before swinging around to deliver a blast directly to the chest of the mobile suit. “I thought these units were supposed to be good? Guess they just don’t make quality mobile suits like they used to.” Said Dom. “Heads up, the other squad has arrived, engaging them now.” Announced Longshot. Within four seconds about half of one of the squads was removed by Longshot’s sniping. They countered by sending a barrage directly at him. “Now that’s not very nice. Shield Bits!” Four armor plates suddenly flew from Longshot’s Agas, flying ahead to directly block the approaching beam fire. The Shield Bits managed to block nearly every shot, coming out without a scratch. During this time, Longshot had taken out another 4 mobile suits with more beam fire. Meanwhile, a group of four Enacts had managed to force Ransac away from the battle, two of them engaging him at close range while the others supplied long range support. It was becoming difficult to counter and evade. “Well, now’s a good as time as any to get used to them! Claws!” From the edge of the Gundam’s hands, the GN-Claws erupted into action, immediately flying towards the Enacts supplying ranged support. The Enacts tried to shoot them down, but every shot fired missed as the claws rapidly evaded each. Before they knew it, the GN-Claws were literally tearing them apart. Ripping through limbs before coming around to take off the head and thrusters, leaving them unit without sight, weapons, or means of flight. The two Enacts dropped like stones. “Whoa, that was brutal, guess Syrene was right, I don’t have to worry about them after all.” Thought Ransac in awe. He almost forgot about the other two Enacts, barely dodging a slash from a sonic blade. Without the claws attached, the hands of the Gundam were now free to utilize other weapons. Without hesitation Ransac pulled out a beam saber and dispatched the remaining two Enacts with ease. “I’m detecting a rising heat source from within the plant! It’s going to explode!” Announced Dom. “What?! Why would they do that? Don’t they need it for something?” Asked Ransac hurriedly. “They’re probably finished, these Enacts were sent most likely to buy time, and if we don’t shut that thing down, the explosion will spread radiation for miles, not to mention take us out in the process.” Replied Longshot. “I’m heading down, give me cover fire!” Announced Dom. Ransac rushed over to protect Dom as he landed his Agas, utilizing the GN-Claws to lay down a barrage of beam fire while taking out any unit that got close. Longshot helped by supplying further beam fire from behind him. “Hurry up kid, I don’t like waiting here while you mess around with explosives.” Snapped Longshot. “I’m almost done, initiating the emergency override now!” Dom replied. Ransac watched the scanners carefully, making sure the heat from within the plant didn’t unrepentantly spike. When it didn’t, he sighed a deep breath.” “They’ve retreated, we’ll need to report this back at the base.” Announced Strafe. With that the team began flying back to the base.

Chapter 6: Conflict

“We’re being sent out again?! What for?” Demanded Dom. “Stop yelling, this one is important.” Snapped Strafe. It had been a month since the first sortie of the group. Over that time the group had continued to gather information for Celestial Being. Though this had begun to drag on more and more with each mission. Despite the excitement during their first mission, those that followed were relatively quiet, with no trouble stirring up. The group could only believe one reason as to that, Celestial Being was doing better than predicted. The Armed Interventions held out by the main branch had met a string of success, it appeared the Gundams were invincible to the world. The most well known of these so far was an intervention in Moralia, in which the Gundam Meisters had single handedly destroyed a force of over one hundred mobile suits within five minutes. “Stop complaining, we got the easy job, we’ll be filled in once we launch.” Said Longshot. With that he left the room for the hanger. “A simple break is all I ask.” Sighed Dom as he left the room behind Longshot. Strafe turned halfway to look at Ransac. He gave a sharp glare at him through the corner of his eye before leaving him alone in the room. Ransac sighed as he watched him go. Ever since Ransac had become the pilot for the Rush Gundam, Strafe had become increasingly hostile towards him. He had been insulted by what he saw as being passed over despite his experience within the group. Despite his best efforts to fix this however, Strafe had remained hostile. “Come on slow poke! We’re going to be late if we wait on you again!” Shouted Dom as he saw Ransac enter the hanger. “I can sortie faster than you can Dom!” He replied “Ya? Put your money where your mouth is!” With that Dom jumped into his Agas. Ransac rushed over to the Rush Gundam, rapidly climbing the ladder into the cockpit. With a flip of a switch the cockpit sealed shut. Within a few seconds later, the group had launched. “Told ya Dom, you can pay up later.” Said Ransac over the com. “Alright, enough games, you are to head to Moralia, something’s going on there and we need to know what it is!” Announced Commander Daryl. “Roger, heading there.” Replied Ransac. Within a few hours the group had made it into Moralia. Ransac checked sensors to make sure they hadn’t been detected, Moralia would be on high alert after what the Gundams did. “Be careful guys, we’re in enemy territory now.” Warned Longshot. “Careful for what? Celestial Being tore every mobile suit they had apart. Only thing we have to worry about is a bad wind.” Replied Dom. “They could’ve gotten new mobile suits by now, Dom. And we’re approaching their base now.” Announced Strafe. After their defeat by Celestial Being, Moralia had abandoned their primary military base in order to ensure they didn’t end up on the business end of another armed intervention. It was now empty of any remaining mobile suits and personnel, where they had been sent, nobody knew. “I’m detecting heat signatures in there, I thought this place was abandoned?” Said Dom. “It’s supposed to be, I’m not detecting anything large enough to be a mobile suit, they could be civilians.” Said Longshot. “Guys, I’m detecting mobile suits coming from behind, at high speed by the looks of it.” Announced Ransac. “Tierens? Do they think those will actually beat us?” Dom laughed before launching forward to engage them, the group following close behind. Ransac rushed forward, preparing to eliminate one of the enemy mobile suits. Before he could get close enough to strike however, a strange pressure suddenly built in his head, forcing him to pull out. “What is this pressure in my head? Is it the pilot?” It was at that moment that Ransac noticed something about the Tierens. These were designed differently than the standard Tieren, they featured more thrusters and seemed to maneuver much better then they should be. “Guys, heads up! These are Tieren Taozi!” Alerted Ransac. Immediately Ransac rushed forward to engage his opponent again. The moment he got close again the pressure returned, this time stronger than before. It quickly became agony to just be near this opponent. “Ah, my head! This pain is unbelievable!” The pain threw Ransac’s concentration off of piloting the Gundam, causing a well executed swipe of the GN-Claws to become a full out crash onto the ground. The Tieren Taozi seemed unaffected however. Pulling out it’s gun it prepared to fire. At the last second it dodged a barrage of beam fire. “What the hell are you doing? Do you think piloting that thing makes you invincible?!” Snapped Strafe as he engaged the enemy pilot. Strafe continued to charge down his opponent, quickly switching between mobile suit and fighter modes to attack from him all directions. The enemy, however, was not going to go down without a fight. The Tieren Taozi suddenly stopped retreating under Strafe’s assault and fired a shell from it’s gun. To Ransac’s amazement, the shell actually connected, tearing off the arm of Strafe’s Agas. Ransac suddenly realized the pressure was gone again. Instead of directly attacking however, he opted for a safer approach. “Claws! Fly!” The GN-Claws soared from the Gundam, immediately engaging the Tieren Taozi from all directions. To assist the GN-Claws, Ransac pulled out the Gundam’s GN-Rifle to assist with long range bombardment. The enemy proved to be difficult to hit however. With seeming ease he appeared to dodge everything thrown at him, including the GN-Claws. He even managed to destroy one of the claws with another shot from his gun. Suddenly his luck ran out, the Tieren Taozi had it’s gun arm removed by a particle beam. “Don’t tell me you need our help for one mobile suit.” Said Longshot as he continued to fire his Agas’s sniper rifle. “This isn’t an ordinary opponent, Longshot! Keep your distance!” Warned Strafe. “Hey guys, his buddies are backing off, looks like they’re retreating.” Announced Dom. As Dom said that, the Tieren Taozi suddenly stopped moving. It’s head turned to look directly at the Rush Gundam. Right at Ransac. Before another shot could connect with it though, it rushed off to join it’s fellows in retreat. “Let’s get out of here guys, this is bigger than we thought.” Said Strafe. “You don’t think that was what I think it was do you?” Asked Dom. “Shut up! We’ll talk about it later.” Snapped Longshot. Ransac thought he knew exactly why Longshot had said that. The enemy pilot had been a Super Soldier. And it terrified him as nothing had before.