As the Strike Rouge entered the battlefield, Cagalli noticed how the overall feel of the mobile suit felt different from what she had been accustomed to. "The Integrated Weapons Striker Pack is supposed to be a combination of the primary characteristics of the Aile, Sword and Launcher Striker packs in one unit. If I have the Aile wings for mobility, why do I feel a bit heavier?" She then noticed a small icon pop up and flash in and out on the computer screen as the OS kicked in. "I never noticed this before. What is it?" She pressed a button and activated the icon.
A childish male voice (best to think of Larry the Titan from the Teen Titans season two episode "Fractured") interrupted her thoughts. That's because the pack itself is pretty heavy. You're not fighting in space where there's no gravity. So you need to get used to this.
Cagalli freaked out when she heard the voice. "THE HELL?!?"
Sorry if I freaked you out. I'm the pilot-assistant computer AI that Kira Yamato programmed when he created the OS for Natural use. And I just gave you the answer to the query that you made a moment ago. When you clicked the icon, you disabled silent mode and allowed me to speak with you.
"Alright. How do I put silent mode back on?" She didn't want to deal with the annoying AI voice now and have it distract her piloting.
I suggest that you worry about that later. I'm detecting nine mobile suit signatures descending on your position. Three GINNs, three DINNs and three units that are not registering in my database.
"What?!?" Cagalli checked her monitors and saw the DINNs and the GINNs ready their machine guns while three DoMZ units armed with hyper-bazookas. "There are more of them?!? You've gotta be fucking kidding!!"
Look at it this way. You have more targets to test out the IWSP on.
"You're supposed to be a helpful AI, right? So start helping!!!" Cagalli pressed her foot to the pedal inside her cockpit to cause her mobile suit to jump and avoid the DoMZ's hyper-bazooka shot.
"Damon! Oswald! Ashley! You're with me! We're going to meet up with Tammy and go for the Kusanagi!" shouted Zeke, the pilot of the DoMZ who fired at Cagalli earlier. Then the three GINN units and the DoMZ unit flew off to meet with their commanding officer.
As the DINNs and the DoMZs opened fire, she raised the shield on her mobile suit's left arm to block the shots before moving her suit's right arm to draw the "Midas Messer" beam boomerang from the shield. After her AI system told her where to throw to take the heavy wind factor into account, the Strike Rouge threw the boomerang towards the enemy. While they were distracted, she opened fire with her rail guns, her cannons and the Gatling gun on her shield. Her efforts yielded only one destroyed DINN while the other suits were able to avoid getting seriously damaged. She opened a channel to Lowe and Kou. "What are you guys doing?!? Get back here so we can take on the new arrivals!"
"Give us a minute to finish off this ZnO unit and this GOOhN!" Kou quickly closed his connection and fired the beam rifle that came with his "Trikeros" offense/defense system. The GOOhN hopped backwards into the water, causing the energy blast to sail over its head. "Dammit!"
"Don't worry too much about it! Jane's got that covered!" Lowe swung his Gerbera Straight katana to deflect an energy discharge from the ZnO's right phonon maser high energy cannon before he gave a battle cry and charged the enemy mobile suit.
Underneath the water, the Obsidian Abyss submarine crews and the underwater mobile suit pilots were getting frustrated because of how one lone mobile suit made life difficult for them. Jane's piloting skills were really shining in that battle however she kept a very close eye on her energy levels. If she runs out of power, her "Geschmeidig Panzer" energy deflection armour would be down and the intense water pressure would crush her suit and her along with it. 'Energy level is still decent. Time for another run at the enemy!'
As the wind blew stronger, the Obsidian Abyss mobile suit combatants found their shots to be going off course. Since it would take time to compensate for the wind factor, they opted to go for melee combat. Problem is that the two remaining DINNs have no melee weaponry and so they were ordered to go assist Tammy while Larry and Anna would make up the remaining melee combat numbers. Cagalli had other ideas as her mobile suit drew both anti-ship swords from her sides and flew up to attack the DINNs. The DoMZ units drew their 'heat sabers' and flew towards Cagalli but a few shots from Lowe's beam rifle forced them back. Lowe directed Red Frame towards the DoMZ units and noticed their beam weaponry. "Looks like I have no choice..." He put away his rifle and sheathed his katana before drawing both of his beam sabers from Red Frame's back. "Bring it on!"
Cagalli forced herself to keep her eyes on the retreating DINNs. "Damn! The weight's slowing me down! Disengage the IWSP system!" After the heavy pack fell off the Strike Rouge, she pressed her mobile suit towards the DINNs, not noticing the Jet Dagger L coming up from behind her.
Warning! Enemy mobile suit approaching from behind! Cagalli turned around in time to see the enemy within striking distance.
"Gotcha!!" shouted Larry as he raised a beam saber that he drew from his mobile suit's hip earlier. Before he could attack, a lancer dart hit the right arm at the elbow joint, destroying the Jet Dagger L's right arm entirely. Then the Gold Frame itself tackled Larry's mobile suit and put some distance from Cagalli. "Bastard!!!" Larry used his unit's left arm to grab the Mk315 "Stiletto" rocket-propelled anti-armour penetrator on his left hip armour and tried to stab Gold Frame's head. Kou pushed Larry off in time and somersaulted away to avoid being stabbed before boosting itself into a forward dive to perform a twist spiral slash with his beam saber. The mobile suit got sliced into pieces before a spectacular explosion took place.
Kou opened a channel to Cagalli as she continued to chase after the DINNs. "Don't get too cocky! Even though they have no melee weaponry, they are still formidable opponents in aerial combat!"
"I'll keep that in mind. By the way, your ass is still in trouble when this is over with!!" The hot-headed Orb representative cut the transmission and left Kou with a sense of dread of the foreseeable future.
Then a general radio transmission was heard by all three units. "Red Frame! Gold Frame! Strike Rouge! Can you read me?!?" The voice belonged to Jack Kagor, an M1 Astray pilot assigned to the Kusanagi.
"I read you! What's happening?" asked Lowe as he held off the two DoMZ suits with his beam sabers. 'I can't keep this up for too long! Red Frame's going be out of power in fifteen minutes!'
"The enemy forces are getting too close to the facility for comfort! We could use some back... ARGH!!!" The trio heard a brief explosion before they lost the signal.
"Dammit!!" Lowe dodged the next attack before he made a run for Morgenroete. Cagalli followed him, having been able to catch up to the DINNs and destroy them.
"You two get going! I'll cover you!" Kou got into position to block the DoMZ suits from getting closer while giving Lowe and Cagalli time to make a run for the facility but he failed to notice Anna's Dopplehorn Dagger L closing in on him. As soon as she got in range, she fired her cannon attached to her backpack. Kou held on tight as the impact shook his cockpit. He cursed as he saw sparks fly off the "Trikeros" from the damage. While the right arm was still usable, the "Trikeros" system itself was useless now. He cried out as another shot hit the right side of his mobile suit hard.
"I don't care what Tammy said! I'm going to kill you!!!" screamed the woman in pure anger before she fired again. He barely dodged the attack when he felt the impact of another energy weapon shake his cockpit. Standing not too far from the dock, a ZnO had came out of the water and fired its phonon maser high energy cannon to cause some damage to his "Maga-no-Ikutachi" backpack. One of the claw-wings was singed with circuits sparking while the other was less damaged but unable to operate none the less.
The odds looked bad for him with two DoMZ units, a Dopplehorn Dagger L and a ZnO converging on his position. As the Dagger L and ZnO continued to fire, Kou gripped the controls tightly, the Gold Frame shaking and falling to its knees from the hail of enemy fire. The power meter warning alarm continued to fill the cockpit with its warning siren as the continuous fire took its toll on the Phase Shift armour, causing the battery to drain to dangerously low levels. He gritted his teeth, body trembling as a surge of adrenaline and anger coursed through his being. His eyes flew open as he saw a Seed explode in front of him. His eyes were wide and vacant but very alert as his next sentence was sent to Anna and the attacking OA mobile suits over the radio. "I will not die... BY YOUR HANDS!!!"
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(Posted Thu, 11 Aug 2005 01:04)
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