Black Amethyst !2gDpgouF02 2008/09/28 (Sun) 19:27 No. 9182 ▼ File 122263007181.png - (306.40KB, 480x361 , 03 - Skirmish (part 2).png)
"That we will, Commander. Bruckheim, Aurora, all systems nominal. Just sit back and watch."
You launch hastily, reactors at full capacity, and join up with the rest of the Sixth Squadron. You arm your particle rifle and look carefully at the monitors. For now, the targeting monitor only indicate the five enemy ships but it’s only a matter of time before they launch their own machines. Most likely they will be fighters: The Celestial Empire being behind in technology as always are almost exclusively using “Crusader”-class fighters. However, you’ve heard rumors about Margatroid Techs having developed an All-purpose mobile suit for their troops. You don’t know if it is true or not but you yet have to see one of your own eyes. That wouldn’t be too surprising though, Margatroid Techs have been making many breakthrough lately for the Empire which slowly but surely start catching up.
-“Here’s the plan boys, Squad Two and Seven will take on a frigate each and will get rid of their Anti-MS weaponry. Squad Six will split in two and take down the fighters as they launch. Squad One will attack their CS and destroy the “Longbow” cannon.”
You nod silently to the Major’s plan. Just as usual, she’s going all out from the very beginning, not giving the enemy a single chance to react.
-“Squads Three and Eight on standby!” concludes the Major before launching her own machine towards the center of the enemy formation.
Squad One is being led by the major no Fujiwara herself while Vice-commandant Kamishirawa takes command of the two carriers. Rumors are that the Lunarian Kaisers will be gifted with a Lunaria-class cruiser shortly, but this is yet again only rumors. The forty Mobile suits scatters and heads toward their objectives.
-“Okay listen up, especially you the rookie from Apollo, we’ve got two ships to annoy so we’re splitting up.” The voice of the flight leader for squad six replaces the Commandant’s in the speakers “ Lys, Geril, Halser, Ryo, with me. The others you’re taking care of the other one.”
Your group splits in two and the flight commander charges toward the first vessel. You head toward your objective as well. As you approach, the Maiden-class is already launching it’s fighters, just as expected. You rush in and open fire with your particle rifle. Three thin yellow beams hit the first catapult of the enemy vessel. You reverse the thrusters and fly backward to disengage from this risky position and barely avoid the fire of the five Stallions on this side of the ship. You take a better look at the vessel and try to register the exact position of it’s weaponry. The five stallions near the catapults, five other stallions at the rear, same on the other side. Five L-296 turrets, three cannons each. Finally, there’s the “Bow” on the front of the ship which is currently not deployed.
The five mobile suits of your group engage the enemy vessel with caution. You’re only five versus a considerable amount of firepower. The Maiden-class is probably one of the most annoying Celestial ships as it is half-way between a carrier and a destroyer, combining a decent capacity with a considerable firepower. Before you could destroy the catapult, a handful of fighters had already launched: Crusader models like you thought. You count half a dozen of them on the targeting monitor.
-“Watch out pals, those are L-296 pulsars! They fire a lot faster than normal laser turrets!” the voice of one of your female comrades warns the rest of the group.
-“We know that already!” replies another
-“Hey! Don’t get all cocky and die on me you moron” counter the first one.
-“As if! I should be the one worrying about you, talking like that on the comm., Instead of focusing on the battle.”
-“Well” you start “While you two are having your little lover’s quarrel, I’ll be taking care of the mobile units before they flank us”
The two others immediately stop and nearly get hit by the continuous fire of the stallions.
A fourth voice joins the chatter -“Well well well. Looks like the even the rookie caught up on you two.”
-“Why you...” the second pilot is nearly raging over the comm. .
In the meanwhile, the ship’s turrets rotated to the right and aligned towards the mobile suits. Adding to the already omnipresent fire of the Stallions, a barrage of white beams starts showering your group. This girl wasn’t kidding, those L-296 have quite a good firing rate.
Your group is forced to adopt a defensive strategy, focusing on dodging and occasionally firing their particle rifles at the celestial fighters. The combined barrage from the Stallions and the turrets fill your general direction with 15cm bullets and white 90cm lasers. You can make it, but won’t be able to keep this for long. This is where the celestial forces are forced to admit they are facing Elite Forces. Where regular soldiers would have been crushed by the firepower in mere seconds, the five Lunarian mobile suits are still unharmed, although exhausting their power quickly.
-“This can’t go on like this, we’ll worry about those fighters later!” shouts the girl who spoke first.
-“You’re right, we’ll go with the rookie and take out those turrets first, else we’re not going to make it. Kaori, Hiroko, you’ll keep those fighters at bay while we move” says the guy who argued against her earlier.
-“Roger that.” You acknowledge simply. “Five turrets, three pilots, whoever destroys least pay a drink to the others when we get back.”
-“Willing to spend all your money already?” Replies the girl before laughing.
The three of you push the Auroras to their maximum and waltz around the net of bullets and lasers, grazing numerous projectiles on your way to the support ship. Before long, you land on the vessel. The two others are still behind. Standing between two turrets, you smile. Now you are in a dead angle of the stallions and the turrets can’t fire without causing damages to the ship. They are defenseless. Quickly reacting, the fighters are ordered back to protect the vessel but are hammered of yellow beams as Kaori and Hiroko, ready for this, close in from the flanks and quickly take down the fighters.
You look with satisfaction at the small red dots disappearing quickly on your targeting monitor. Truly a convenient weapon for close-range battles, this particle cannon. Unlike lasers, they travel the void at an incredibly faster speed and reach their target almost instantly, making dodging nearly impossible. The downside of this weapon being that it fires by shots of tree instead of a real rapid-fire and it’s considerably shorter range.
You let go of the rifle and grabs the Ruby-laser pistol fixed on the side of the mobile suit and activate it. Once again a short-range weapon, this pistol of a very high-density laser is designed for anti-ship combat. Despite being only a small 25cm ray, it has roughly the same firepower as the 120cm laser turrets on a Lunaria-class cruiser. Demanding in energy and still unstable, the ray cannot remains focused for long and will scatter if not shot from a very short distance, namely, the situation you’re in right now.
You arm the pistol and grab the nearest turret, shoving the pistol into its central cannon and smash the trigger. You immediately take off from the ship as the small red beam hits. You fly backward towards the next turret and use your MS’s other arm to protect yourself from the debris of the explosion. A gaping hole is now replacing the turret in the hull of the vessel. You repeat your attack on a second one and take some distance once again.
