Because of that, the small detachment of Strike Dagger mobile suits at this particular base were kept in special tarp-tents set up alongside the vehicle hanger. While crude, it kept the machines out of the elements, and allowed for maintenance to be preformed without a hindrance of being in a confined space too small to handle mobile suits. The total number of Strike Daggers stationed here was eight, which was a bit of a stretch with the lack of true mobile suit hangers, but to lighten the burden, two Strike Daggers had been assigned to Depot 234 and thus had a tarp-tent set up for their two Daggers.
While not a fortress like the long-gone JOSH-A Alaska base of the Atlantic Federation, this base, which was called Argama, was adequately armed not only with its mobile suits, but also a range of automated and main defenses, and a small squad of fighters and tanks. Even these meager forces were more than enough to make most would-be-attackers think twice about trying their luck against the Argama base defenses. As it was Argama base was on Lv2
However, even a lot of guns can be taken out by one gun with the gun-man has a good head with a plan on his shoulders.
Out of nowhere a beam-cannon blast hit one of the automated gun turrets positioned around the base perimeter, and proceeded to move down in a straight line and take out the other automated turrets positioned next to the first one.
One of the patrolling Strike Daggers turned away from his normal patrol route to look towards the sound of the explosions. “What the hell? Are we under attack?!”
”My radar didn’t pick up anything!” Another Dagger pilot shouted over the radio. “In fact the radar still hasn’t pinpointed any hosti-ARGHHH!!!” The pilot didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence as an orange mobile suit was suddenly in his field of vision and then his cameras went dead as one of the Sword Calamity’s Schwert Gewehr anti-ship swords sliced his Strike Dagger’s head clean off; while the other sword cleaved the right arm off before kicking the mobile suit onto its back.
“What the fuck isn’t that one of ours?!” The other Dagger pilot shouted as he fired his M703 beam rifle at the Sword Calamity.
Ed dodged the beam shots and boosted toward the Strike Dagger and sliced both arms clean off before punting the MS flat on its back. “I wonder if any of these guys are from my former Dagger unit.” He mused to himself. While he and Jane had become dissatisfied with how the Earth Alliance ran things, they knew good people in the ranks that weren’t Blue Cosmos flunkies hence why he had avoided killing the pilots of the two Strike Daggers. “Well in any case that ought to get their attention. It’s now up to them to get those suits out of the Depot and to the rendezvous point while I handle the Argama’s defense teams and disable their full ability to pursue us.”
************
Over at Depot 234 sirens wailed over loudspeakers attached to light poles around the depot. The two Strike Daggers on patrol suddenly stopped and took defensive stances as they readied themselves to attack and counter any incoming attacks. Armed guards rushed into the hanger and into strategic positions outside the hangers, rifles armed and brought up to bear.
Inside the hanger, Lowe, Jane and Kou each feigned surprise as guards and workers ran about around them. “Hey wha’tha fuck’s going on?!” Kou exclaimed in his false Osaka/New Jersey accent.
”The Argama base is under attack by a lone mobile suit! It’s been identified as the other Sword Calamity unit, and we think the perpetrator is after the units stored here.” A worker exclaimed as he passed by them.
A guard rushed by, stopping for a moment to point at them. “Are you three the drivers?” He asked, and with their nods he waved his arm in a “get moving” gesture. “Order EVAC-789 has been issued; get those mobile suits the fuck outta here!”
Order EVAC-789 that was what the three of them had been waiting for. EVAC-789 was a desperation order given when special military prototypes were in danger of being captured and were ordered to leave base without escort. If EVAC-790 had been issued that meant any suitable MS pilots would have to climb into the suits and get them out by piloting them, and if the order was EVAC-790-b the suits would be taken into battle.
However because with the exception of the pilots for the Strike Daggers no other MS pilots were registered to the Argama Base or Depot 234, hence EVAC-789 was issued instead of the other two which would have been more favorable to some.
“Alright bloke’s you heard the man, let’s saddle up. Dick, go start up carrier three and piggy-back it with the connector arms to carrier two, and then go get carrier four!” Jane ordered as she kept the British accent to go with her character as she made her way to carrier one.
Lowe and Kou meanwhile climbed into carriers two and three respectively. Kou started up carrier three and pressed a switch that caused two grapple-like arms to extend and open p as he drove up to the back of carrier two. A similar pair of arms opened on the back of carrier two and interlocked with the piggy-back arms of carrier three. Once the interlock was complete; Kou shut off carrier three’s engine and got out as the piggy-backed carriers started to drive out of the hanger.
Running into the second hanger where carrier four was located, Kou made a beeline for the driver’s side door through the hustle and bustle of workers and guards running about frantically. Unfortunately neither he nor a technician were paying attention to anything other than the tasks they had to complete in their minds that they didn’t see one another till they collided and crashed to the floor in a crumpled heap.
“Ow fuck! Sorry about that I wasn’t watching what I was-“ The tech stopped as he saw Kou’s beard was half-peeled off on one side, and one of the applied age-line make ups had fallen off. “What the hell? Hey this guy’s wearing a disguise!”
Cursing Kou spin on his hands off the floor, twist-kicking the tech out cold as he did so and sprung to his feet. He ran as fast as his legs could move as bullets began to whiz past him as he sprinted for the carrier. However he was cut off from going for the driver’s side door as a hail of bullets tore into the cab of the carrier. Quickly altering his course, Kou climbed up the ladder on the side of the carrier and leapt onto the flatbed, frantically climbing up towards the cockpit of Sword 01 as bullets shot all around him. He reaches the hatch button and slams his fist down onto it, popping the hatch open and climbing in as fast as he could and shutting it closed right as soon as he got inside.
Not even giving himself a chance to catch his breath, Kou started up the mobile suit, bringing down the command keyboard to add a few tweaks to the OS as the mobile suit started up. Once finished he pushed the keyboard back and grasped the control sticks, making the MS push itself upright, throwing its legs over the side to get up and stand fully. Once his equilibrium was balanced, he pressed down on the foot pedals which in turn made the Sword 01 start to run from the hanger.
Pressing a button to turn on the radio to the right frequency to contact the others, Kou exclaimed. “Lowe, Jane you better haul ass! I just got discovered when my beard peeled off some after I crashed into somebody. I’m making a getaway with the Sword 01, just get yourselves past the gate and onto the highway before they call reinforcement from the other base that’s a few clicks away from the one Ed disabled.” After a second he then said sheepishly. “…Sorry I fucked up.”
Jane’s voice came over the radio professional but also sympathetic. “Even the best laid plans can go wrong.” After a second Kou hears a loud CRASH sound over the radio. “Well the gate’s not a problem anymore, but you better watch out for those Strike Daggers Kou, Lowe and I were well past them by the time they started to close the gate again, you on the other hand have to go right through them.”
”Roger that.” Just as Kou shot off the radio one of the Daggers came into view with its beam saber drawn to avoid shooting the depot from a misfire. Deciding to return in kind, Kou drew one of the Sword’s Schwert Gewehr anti-ship swords and parried the Daggers own swing. However suddenly the right elbow of the Sword 01 gave out, the sound of the hydraulic moving parts grinding together as they caved in on themselves could be heard. This caused the Schwert Gewehr to slide down against the beam saber as the uselessly gave out. Growling Kou twisted the MS so that the Schwert Gewehr ended up slicing the Strike Dagger’s right hand off as the arm fell limp to the side and dropped the weapon.
“What the fuck?” Kou exclaimed in disbelief and anger, quickly turning to face the second Strike Dagger as it too came at him beam saber drawn. Bringing the left arm up, Kou pressed a secondary firing trigger which launched the Panzer Eisen rocket anchor which tore the lower portion of the Dagger’s right arm off and with a flick of the wrist the anchor swung around the took off the Dagger’s head. Then the Panzer Eisen itself died and fell to the ground instead of retracting itself. Growling again at his mobile suit’s mechanical problems, Kou pressed a button to cut the towline and started to run toward the edge of the depot. As he neared the fence, Kou pulled forward on the sticks while pressing the booster button, taking off for a long-jump. He landed on the road with both carriers not too far in front of him.
A sickening crunch followed and the Sword 01 nearly fell over if Kou didn’t hit the booster again to take to the air. “What the hell’s wrong with this suit?!” He punches a button to bring up a schematic and a last-order message from the Sword 01’s database. “After rigorous field-testing, Sword 01 was ordered to be loaded up for transport…ah fuck me! They had this thing loaded up and shipped off without maintenance?! No wonder its falling apart! There’s no way we can get away with this thing and live to tell about it!” As he saw he was approaching the road quickly, he adjusted the boosters and gave a few extra bursts to remain airborne as he positioned himself over carrier two and three. As Sword 01 started to descend and the piggy-backed carriers pulling away, the hatch opened and Kou leapt out and onto the back of carrier three as the Sword 01 make a crash-landing on the road behind the moving vehicle.
Grumbling in minor pain, Kou sat up against the foot of the Buster Dagger on the carrier and took out his walkie-talkie. “This is Kou, I’m onboard carrier three now.”
”Why the hell did you leave Sword 01 behind?!” Jane exclaimed over the line.
”The hydraulics and internals were shot. There was no way I could run or boost-jump with it to the rendezvous point and not slow us down.” He pants. “According to its data-base the orders to have it and the other suits shipped out were after they finished using it in a shitload of tests and they didn’t get to perform maintenance on it because the orders specified the suits be prepped for transport ASAP.”
Lowe sighs over the radio. “Guess it couldn’t be helped, but I don’t like the idea of them getting their hands on the Sword 01 again.”
Suddenly a loud explosion erupted on the road behind them, and a pillar of smoke and fire could be seen rising up behind them.
”Who says I was gonna let them have it back?” Kou stated into the radio as he grinned to himself. “Gotta love self-destruct mechanisms.”
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(Posted Mon, 06 Jun 2005 20:45)
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