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(1/31/04 6:19 pm)
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Serendipitous Chaos (Fog Offensive) Pt.1
Serendipitous Chaos (Fog Offensive)
Before you read this please realize that some will not be in many parts of this Big Event. Big Events are tricky like that, they’d end up being fifty pages if each person had the same amount of lines and scenes. So I’m sorry to those that didn’t have more important roles. Trust me, I’ll try to get you guys in more next time. Enjoy!
As Trent and Hiro gently set their MS’s down in the E.S.S. hanger located in Colony L7, Trent notices the boy begin to shake once again.
That dose should had keep him dozing for hours, Trent thinks to himself as he hits the cockpit hatch button. The hatch swivels open, a dull light entering Trent’s cockpit. He grabs the kid and throws him over his shoulder, the boy muttering ‘it’s close’ almost too soft for Trent to hear. Holding the boy for a while, Trent begins to notice the lightness of the small child. Considering the rather large hump on the boy’s back, he should be heavier than this. Trent takes note of this, still having a weird feeling about this child. Hiro stays in the hanger, wanting to work on his new custom MS while Trent takes the boy to his father, who would be waiting in the medical bay.
Once there, Bentho runs up to Trent, grabs the boy from his arms, panicking, “Gabriel! Gabriel!,” he says over and over as he places the boy on a bed nearby. “He’ll be fine, I just had to give him some sedatives before we left. They should have stayed in his system for longer but it seems they’re beginning to wear off. He kept saying, ‘it’s close,’ over and over. You have any clue what that means?” Trent tries not to sound suspicious of the scientist but that last part comes out rather suspecting. Bentho looks over at Trent, tears almost forming in his eyes, “I have no idea what that means, I’m sorry. Are you sure he’s going to be OK?” Trent nods, then turns and walks away to fetch the doctor on the clock. When he returns with the doctor, he asks him to give the kid something to help him wake up. The doctor gives the boy a shot and says, “it shouldn’t take too long.”
Natalya didn’t know what to say. It had been over a minute since she had said anything to Hal after his comment on the night she had gotten drunk. She felt so guilt, doing what she did with Razel and now being on a date with Hal. She wanted to tell him, but what would he say? She can see the awkwardness on Hal’s face as she sits there quietly. She had to tell him, she respected him too much not to. “Hal…?” she says, looking strait into his eyes, “there’s something I have to tell you.” Hal looks at Natalya, wondering what it was and why her voice was so soft, “you can tell me anything, Natalya.” Natalya barely opens her mouth, about to tell Hal the entire truth, and her cell phone rings. For a second she doesn’t answer it, caught in the moment and confused a bit. “Excuse me,” she says to Hal as she reaches for her phone. “Hello,” she answers politely. “Natalya, it’s Habbert Albaston, we’ve got a problem,” Natalya hears from the other side of the phone. Habbert explains to Natalya then and there about the mysterious fog slowly heading towards Earth. Hal watches as Natalya’s facial expression changes to completely serious, dead serious. “OK, we’ll be there soon,” she says, then hangs up the phone. “Hal, we’re gonna have to continue this at another time. We have to get to the Castle. I’ll explain on the way there.” Hal nods and follows suit as Natalya gets up and walks out of the restaurant.
Aboard the lead Vis Vires ship, Auray walks the halls greeting his soldiers and keeping up appearances. In his mind lately he’d been feeling the thirst for battle. Not a friendly spar with one of his compatriots, but a true honest to god life or death battle. He wasn’t one to attack without an advantage, no matter if he had the Earth Forces outnumbered or not. This to him is most frustrating, for all he had been waiting for is that rare chance to attack. Maybe it was how he was raised, maybe it was his own nature. Either way, he needed something to go down soon or he would lose it completely. Just then, like a sign from above he sees one of his soldiers running down the very hall he is walking. “Sir! Auray Sir,” the man yells as he runs down the hall. “What is it?” Auray says calmly as the man barley stops in front of him, out of breathe and trying to get something out. “there’s something you should see,” the man finally gets out. “Lead the way,” Auray says, then follows the man. The man, a Vis Vires scout, leads Auray to the war room of the ship, where he shows Auray something on the large vid-screen. Auray lets a small smile crease his face as he sees the sight of the dark fog slowly moving across the screen in the middle of space. Auray walks over to the console, hitting the ship wide intercom button, “Attention, would all of my generals please report to the war room.” Auray keeps it short and sweet, his anticipation causing him to get excited. This would be his chance.
Moments later Auray is surrounded by the people who he trusts the most, minus Pavidus. Auray sits in the commander’s chair, located at the end of a decently sized table. Behind him the large vid-screen shows a still of the fog rolling through space. Around the table sit Dmitri and Kalios sitting closest to Auray on either side, then Akujin and Tae siting further down. Each have their own reaction to the sight on the screen. Kalios ponders what it could be, his face showing curiosity. Dmitri’s face gives no hint of emotion, as if this thing on the vid-screen wasn’t worth their attention. What he feels inside is the fear for his son’s life, but he never flinches or lets that show outward. Akujin, as like Kalios finds the cloud to be interesting, like some new way to destroy something. He wonders what the fog could do in his control. Tae looks on with fear. Her fear shows in her eye, as Dmitri notices. Something about it scares her, makes her feel weak and unable to do much of anything. Auray tries to conceal the smile slowly forming on his face. This wasn’t the time for that, and he wouldn’t let himself do it. Strait faced and with no crack in his voice he stands and says, “the time is now. We have received our opportunity and we will not let it slip from our grasp.” He then explains everything they knew about the fog, which at this point was literally nothing. “I want all of your opinions,” Auray says, “don’t hold back. If you think attack is a bad idea, or if you have anything to add, please tell me. I value the advice of my generals. I wouldn’t be who I am without the people I trust.” Auray glances over at Dmitri, letting a bit of the smile break out in the corner of his mouth. Dmitri nods at Auray at the sight of the slight smirk.
Ramsi’s Taurus MS streams across the blackness of space, its jets on full and its pilot ready for anything. Ramsi benefited a lot from the vacation he had taken before the shit hit the fan. In fact he was planning on taking another week off, then all this canceled any chance of that. Ramsi wanted to do something for the people, something he could be proud of. He wanted to be a hero, someone his father could be proud of. He realizes at that moment that he may very well have to go against his own father to become the hero he aspired to be. He would do what he had to, no matter what. Ramsi checks his course, making sure he still remained on track towards what Pax Pacis Intelligence called, ‘a space anomaly.’
Hiro peeks into the medical bay, only slightly cracking the door open enough to see some of the room. After seeing Trent standing and talking to Bentho, he pushes the door open and walks in. “Is everything OK here?” Hiro asks Trent, patting him on his back. Trent nods, paying attention to Bentho as he explains how Gabriel isn’t his real son, but he was adopted. After Bentho finishes, Trent excuses himself and pulls Hiro to the side. In a tone of voice only Hiro can hear, Trent says, “Hiro, I need you to go dig up some information about our friend Bentho here. See if he really did adopt Gabriel or not. He works for Zephyr Research if that helps you in your search.” Hiro nods, knowing this means it’s still business time, “I’ll get right on it,” Hiro says, saluting Trent and heading out the door to find a computer somewhere. Trent walks back to Bentho, excusing himself for the quick discussion between him and his partner. Bentho continues to watch Gabriel twitch and fight his sleep. He wished he could do something for him, his son, but all he could do is wait.
While Trent and Bentho wait for Gabriel to wake, Trent asks Bentho various questions about the boy and about Bentho himself. Trent finally found himself doubting his doubts about Bentho, thinking, he’s too much of a nice guy, how could he be doing something wrong? Even though, his instincts told him that he’d better keep an eye on Bentho and Gabriel. Even if they weren’t doing anything wrong, they may lead to something bigger. Trent continues talking to Bentho about Gabriel and they eventually begin friendly conversations about what each did at work. Trent seems very interested in the research Bentho does, some of it concerning updated MS technology.
On the lead Vis Vires ship, Auray listens to each of his ‘generals’ speak their mind, one by one. Kalios has the first thing to add, “all I know is I’m sure Pavidus would seize this chance if he was here. With most of the Earth’s forces attention on that,” Kalios stumbles for the right word, then finds it, “fog…well then we might actually be able to get to through their defenses and get to the surface.” Tae seems as she wants to say something, and when Auray notices this he waves her to speak. She thinks for a moment, trying to get her wording strait, then says, “then what happens when they don’t stop the cloud? It could easily be headed strait for Earth and we don’t know what it could do. If we take over Earth now, then we’ll just have to retreat back into space before that fog comes and destroys it. I don’t see the point in attacking when we don’t even know if there will be an Earth to rule tomorrow.” Auray nods, saying, “you do have a point, Tae.” Dmitri grumbles something inaudible, but enough so for Auray to hear, “did you have something to add, Dmitri?” Dmitri shrugs a bit, then adjusts his cap on his head, “the way I see it, they’re gonna be able to stop the thing, no matter what it is. I know a lot of the people down there, and they’ll be able to do it. I say attack now while they’re defenses are down.” Auray nods and takes Dmitri’s remarks into consideration, then turns his attention to Akujin. “Do you have anything to add Akujin?” Auray asks. Akujin looks at the dark fog on the screen, considering all that was said in the past ten minutes, then comes to a conclusion. “I’m for attacking full force,” he says with confidence back his voice. Auray smiles, knowing very well that they were attacking now. He knew his generals would agree with him, mostly anyway. Auray stands, playing the current visuals of the fog moving towards Earth that a scout was filming at that time. Auray begins to speak strategy, the game plan for the assault on Earth, and the generals listen. After the planning is done, each of the generals and Auray himself leave to do they’re own pre-battle prepping and to gather the troops up.
Since the completion of his mission a while back, Razel had been relaxing and taking a break from the hectic world of MS battles. He’d been lounging around his apartment and going out only when he felt necessary. He had needed a break from the non-stop battles and drama that had been unfolding. Today he can feel that his vacation would been over, as a feeling in his gut telling him that something is off. It’s something in the air to him, something he can’t pinpoint. He’s almost waiting for the sign of something to happen, maybe it’s because of how long he’d been resting, and maybe it’s just the fact he had started getting antsy lately for battle. Either way he knows something’s about to take place. That’s when his cell phone rings, slightly in the distance him being in his living room and his phone being in his bedroom. He gets up from off the couch and goes to answer the phone. The caller ID on the phone says, ‘Castle.’ He answers the phone, “Yo.” The voice on the other line is none other than Habbert Albaston, the fallen Queen’s head advisor, who now runs all of England and the Royal Army. “Razel,” his voice stressful with a bit of confusion showing, “we’ve got a situation.” Habbert then explains about the fog and how at its current course it would hit either Earth or the Sun, both of which would be disastrous. Razel doesn’t seem too surprised or worried, he just responds with a “I’ll be at the Castle in half an hour.” Razel then heads to where he had kept Spera for the past couple of weeks, a local MS hanger. He gets in and gets his systems in line, getting used the controls. But like ridding a bike, he could never forget how to pilot, and so he does flying off into the sky towards the Castle in England.
Hiro comes running full force into the medical bay, Trent jumping to his feet as he enters the room, panting. Catching his breath, Hiro tries to get out the news he had found. “Trent…” Hiro says, then taking a deep breath, “…we got to go. There’s an emergency.” Trent doesn’t ask any questions, he just turns to Bentho and says, “stay here, we must go and take care of something. If you need anything, just ask the doctor, OK?” Bentho nods and goes back to watching Gabriel, whose body shakes slightly. Trent and Hiro run out of the room towards the hanger where their MS’s stand waiting for them. Once inside, they get each other on their com-screens and Hiro explains about the fog to Trent. Trent can’t believe what he’s hearing, thinking how it all seemed like something out of a bad sci-fi movie. The determined duo hit their jets and head off towards the fog, where their superior officers say they will meet with a task force of about 4 heavy ships and a few smaller ones.
As Razel approaches the Castle from above he notices Hal’s MS just landing on the platform outside of the hanger. He dives down and lands next to Hal, who appears on Razel’s com-screen moments later. “I take it you’ve heard?” Hal says, Natalya sitting on his lap. Razel sees this and smiles, then straitens up, “yea, Habbert called. You heading up there to check it out?” Hal nods, “yea, I just got to drop Natalya off, then we can head up there together.” Razel sits back in his chair, “sounds good.” Razel then finally waves at Natalya, she nervously smiles back at him, then waves back. Hal then opens his cockpit hatch, the ripcord hanging from its position. Natalya looks at Hal before getting off his lap. She stares into his eyes, and suddenly becomes aware of the danger Hal may be facing. Out of nowhere she leans in and kisses Hal, a kiss that stops time for Hal and makes the twenty-odd seconds feel like an eternity. Natalya leans back, a slight smile on her face, “you be careful,” she says. Hal nods and pushes up his glasses, unable to speak after the amazing kiss. She gets off of Hal’s lap, walking to the end of the cockpit hatch and grabbing the ripcord. She blows a kiss his way, Hal motioning as if catching the fictional floating kiss, and then she starts lowering down to the ground. As Hal closes his hatch, Razel stares at him from the com-screen, smiling. Hal sort of blushes a bit, not knowing what to say. Razel says something for him, “you slick dog you,” he says in a cheerful voice, “that was quick, I must say. We’ll talk about that later, right now we’ve got a job to do.” With that they both start up their engines and fly off into the sky and eventually into space.
Auray had spent his time going over maps and information from the scouts he had placed in important positions. He had to prove himself, to all of Vis Vires. He had to show that he could in fact take over Pavidus spot as leader of the organization. More importantly, though, he had to prove it to himself. Not that self-doubt was in his nature, but he needed to know for sure if he could lead his forces into a battle where most of his soldiers would die. Everything has to be perfect in his mind. He wouldn’t send out his troops unless he had to, planning on using the first wave of Mobile Dolls first to wear down the Earth Forces. He has everything planned, next he would have to go over a few things with his generals, not to mention his technicians, troops, and pilots.
Time to gather the troops.
“All attacking forces please gather in the hanger. There will now be a briefing on the battle ahead,” Tae’s voice rings throughout the ship, and the other ships in the fleet. Dmitri just finishes writing something at his desk as the announcement blares over the loud speaker. He puts the paper in an envelope and sticks it in his back pocket for later, then walks out the door toward the hanger on the lead ship. As he walks into the hanger he enters a sea of men, mostly pilots, but also some technicians and other techies. Dmitri pushes through the crowd, most people getting out of his way due to their respect and/or fear of the somewhat of a legend. Dmitri gets to the center of attention, specifically Auray’s MS Pondera, where everyone crowds around. Dmitri rests himself on the MS’s foot, where most of Auray’s generals are also waiting, joined by the other respected members of Vis Vires like Xiefall and Nashiko. Soon enough Auray exits his MS, standing on the open hatch of his cockpit. On the other ships the troops watch Auray on large vid-screens, everyone’s anticipation growing as he exits the awe-inspiring MS. Auray says nothing at first, then, looking down at his troops, he hits inspiration.
“My fellow compatriots,” Auray starts, taking a momentary pause to collect his thoughts, “when I was handed down this responsibility as leader of Vis Vires, three things passed through my head: will my fellow soldiers accept my lead? What are the goals of this organization? And will I ever be able to live up to Pavidus as leader of Vis Vires?” The room is silent as each person listens intently on what Auray is saying. “I soon found that under my lead, every single one of you performed perfectly. That shows you have trust in me and I thank you. Eventually I figured out what our goal is, not the specific goal of taking over Earth, but the underlying goal of the search for more power.” At this the crowd roars in screams and applause, until Auray puts up his hand and everyone becomes silent again. “That’s as far as I’ve come, unfortunately,” Auray’s head seems to hang a bit low at this point signifying his shame in the matter, “for I have not yet successfully lived up to our great leader Pavidus, where ever he may be. Today,” he says, rising his head up to see his soldiers, “today not only will that mysterious fog help me to realize my dreams, but you all will aid in my quest for unbridled POWER!” The crowd erupts in cheers and whistles, yelling and screaming. Auray slightly smiles as he feels the rush of adrenaline already pumping in his veins. This was the moment he had waited for, the moment he took his soldiers into battle.
Finding the area in which the fog is currently residing, Razel and Hal notice all the MS’s and ships littering the space in front of them. Razel and Hal both do a quick count of the ships occupying the area, both figuring about a quarter of each of the main forces of Earth out in space watching the fog roll through space. As they get closer to the mass of ships, they finally see the fog in the distance, to their naked eyes only a phantom blur in the distance. They zoom in on the anomaly and both of their mouths drop in awe, seeing the unearthly blob of seemingly nothingness floating in space. “Holy shit,” Razel says rather bluntly strait from his brain. Hal nods, agreeing silently at first then saying, “I second that.” Getting closer to the armada of ships, Razel sees a familiar face, someone he hadn’t seen for quite a while. “Follow me,” he says to Hal, then leads the way. Razel flies up behind a large MS looking like a medieval suit of armor standing next to a white MS with blue fire details. He pulls out his linear machine guns, clanging them against the large armor MS’s back, then opens a scrambled com-screen to the pilot of the MS. “Boom,” Razel says to the pilot of the MS. Trent, the pilot of the MS, smiles as he recognizes the familiar voice of Razel. “Long time, no see,” he says, smiling at Razel as he unscrambles the com-screen. Razel smiles back, holstering his linear machine guns. “Yeah, it has been a long time. Think it was when we had that spar a while back, right old-timer?” Razel says jokingly to Trent. “Hey, respect your elders you wet behind the ears youngin’!” Trent jests back at Razel, pointing a finger at him. Hal quietly floats behind Razel, getting the best view of the fog as he can possibly get from that distance. While Trent and Razel catch up, Hiro and Hal are busy doing scans of the fog and finding nothing, as if it wasn’t even there. “So what’s the deal here?” Razel asks Trent seriously, as if to say ‘let’s get to work.’ Trent sends all they know to Razel’s computer, “right now we’re just waiting for the higher-ups to decide what to do. Until then we’re to keep an eye on the thing and wait.” “I see,” Razel says, looking over the information and sending it to Hal. Hal looks over the information and finds nothing of use to them, unfortunately. “So we just wait?” Razel says annoyed. “That’s the gist of it,” Trent says, shrugging. “Well, that sucks,” Razel says, slouching in his seat. “Kids these days,” Trent says, taking a jab at Razel.
Ramsi floats in-between two Pax Pacis ships, watching intently the fog slowly moving closer to their position. Nothing is in his mind, other than the usual thoughts about his father and the offer he had proposed when he had last seen him. He had thought about it during his vacation, about just letting it all go and joining his father at Vis Vires. He couldn’t ever bring himself to do that, though. It would go against not only his beliefs but also his dreams. He didn’t want to hurt people to gain power, he wanted to help them to gain respect and devotion from the people of Earth and the surrounding colonies. Simply put…he wanted to be a hero.
On a conference com-screen, the leaders of the Earth forces discuss the fog which was the newest threat to Earth’s safety. Habbert Albaston of the Royal Army, President Ralcheister and Vice-President Culas Westin of Pax Pacis, and Admiral Kofista, leader of the E.S.S. forces all converse about the problem at hand. “The newest scans show nothing, not even proof that the thing is even there. What are we supposed to do about something that doesn’t even show up on our scanners?” Kofista says, in a gruff voice, his cigar bouncing up and down as he speaks. Ralcheister taps his fingers repeatedly on his desk, trying to think of something, anything. “We should just blow it out of the sky with all of the fire-power we got out there. Nothing could survive a full-out assault from the ships and MS’s we have out there,” Kofista growls, and almost demands. “It’s risky,” Culas injects, concerned about the safety of his soldiers, “we don’t know what the reaction will be.” Ralcheister nods in agreement, then stops, “it could be risky, yes, but what other options do we have? At the rate the fog is moving it will collide with the sun within four hours, most likely causing it to go supernova. What do you say, Albaston?” Albaston leans out of sight from the com-screen, whispering to someone in the room with him. After a few moments he sits back up, “I think it’s all we can do for now. If this doesn’t work, god save us all.” “Then it’s decided? We vote on full-assault?” Kofista says eagerly. Everyone seems to look at Culas, waiting for his go-ahead. With a heavy heart Culas nods and says, “if it’s the only choice…”
Gabriel runs faster and faster, not knowing where he is or is going. Around him is nothingness, blackness. The faster he runs, the more it seems like he is going nowhere. He’s desperate and alone, not knowing where to go, but knowing he can’t turn or it’ll be there. Sweat pours down his innocent face and his muscles burn from the overexertion. Just as he’s about to fall and pass out, a bright light shines from above, guiding him to a safe place.
Bentho’s face stretches in relief as Gabriel pops up awake from his slumber. He seems disoriented but not confused by his surroundings. Bentho hugs him hard, muttering about not ever wanting to lose him again. Gabriel just looks down at Bentho and tips his head, not understanding. “Where am I?” Gabriel asks simply. Bentho lets go of Gabriel and explains, “you’re on Colony L7, in an E.S.S. medical bay.” Gabriel thinks for a second, “I was walking, then I felt a pain in my neck, then I woke here. What happened?” Bentho didn’t even really know what had happened, in fact he never even asked the E.S.S. man about where he had found his boy. “I’m not sure myself. Once Trent gets back we can ask him all the questions we need to know. Until then you should just rest.” Gabriel seems more relaxed now, as if he’d forgotten whatever it was that had bothered him earlier, but in fact he hadn’t. He’d only feel this way because of the dream he had before waking. About a great bright light, and a voice calling to him, soothing all his pain.
“This is it,” Auray says, hiding his true excitement, “get to your positions, we’re moving out.” Auray sees over a thousand of his soldiers salute him with respect and pride. The men occupying the hanger disperse and get into their MS’s, Auray and his officers head to the war room of the lead ship. All are silent as they walk together down the hall, each of them readying themselves the only ways they know. Some think of what they have to accomplish, some what they are fighting for, and some stay completely blank in their minds. Once at the war room Auray sits in his lead chair, swiveling around to watch Earth get closer on the giant vid-screen. This is his moment; his time to accomplish what Pavidus had trained him for all his life. He would live up to his expectations, no matter what the cost.
Razel gets interrupted from his bullshiting with Trent as Albaston appears on his com-screen. Trent straitens up as Kofista appears on his com-screen, not wanting Kofista to see him goofing off with Razel. In the distance Ramsi gets a call from Culas, as does each of the Pax Pacis pilots in the area. All of these men have the same orders for all of the pilots waiting for word on what to do about the fog rolling in: full assault. “So we’re just gonna fire into the thing and hope we destroy it?” Razel asks Albaston, confused. “That’s right Razel, it’s what we decided on.” “Well, if you say so,” Razel says with a little hesitation, “what about the other matter?” Albaston gives Razel a dirty look, frustrated with the youth’s lack of patience, “not over this channel. We’ll contact you when the time is near.” Razel gets the point, and drops it.
The pure energy that radiates in the area can be felt on the hairs on the back of everyone’s necks as every MS and ship charge they’re weapons for the assault on the fog. Razel pulls from the back of Spera a rather large rifle, almost as long as Spera itself. He aims carefully at the mass of translucent black, as does everyone else with their weapons. Trent with his linear rifle, Hiro with his beam Vulcan, Ramsi with his concealed buster rifle, Hal with his ‘Megadriver' Linear Gatling Cannon, and everyone else with one piece of weaponry. The ships charge their cannons and everyone’s fingers cross. Hal sits in his MS, wondering if this was the right thing to do, him being of scientific mind would have liked to study the anomaly closely. But soon it would be too late for that.
Bentho sits next to the resting Gabriel, never taking his eyes off of the child. Gabriel sits wide-awake, staring at the ceiling tiles above him. The boy’s mind is blank as he stares, a somewhat peaceful expression on his face. Gabriel daydreams as he stares, far away from that medical bay on the colony. He runs through a meadow barefoot and naked, his back flat and without flaw. Just then he hears a voice in the hall, E.S.S. pilots passing by the medical bay on their way to the hanger. He only hears a small portion of the conversation they have, but what he hears is enough, “…the thing is creepy, it seems to roll in just like fog on Earth.” Gabriel suddenly catches up with his subconscious, remembering everything he had to do. His heart begins to beat faster, sweat dripping from his brow. He wants to get up, run far away from this place. But instead he’s paralyzed for the moment, unable to move even a single muscle. Bentho sees Gabriel sweating and the look on his face. “Grabriel. Are you OK?” he says into Gabriel’s face, beginning to get worried. Bentho’s voice is enough to snap Gabriel out of his fear, getting up and running out of the room at full speed. Bentho sees as Gabriel turns the corner towards the hanger and runs after him in a panic.
All at once every energy weapon in the area fires at a common target, the black fog floating closer and closer. A horizontal rain of blue, yellow, and purple energy streams across the blackness of space, a beautiful sight if not for the circumstance. At first the beams hit the cloud, seemingly dispersing some of the thick mass, then the momentary celebration comes to a halt. The fog regains its full form, like a cloud of smoke would. After that everyone continues firing, ignoring the sight and just trying to destroy the threat. Some scream, some become frightened fearing the worst. The beams continue to hit the fog, though the fog seems to just engulf them all. The beams seem to do nothing to the semi-physical anomaly, dissipating into the mysterious fog as if not even hitting anything solid. After a minute of steady firing, the assault comes to a halt and everyone stands there, wishing they didn’t see what they see at that moment: the fog unharmed.
Razel feels a rush of emotion, slamming his fist down on the console in anger and frustration. As he does his com-screen shows Albaston looking rather grim due to the assault failure. He takes a deep breathe and tells Razel the news he has for him, “The Vis Vires fleet has been spotted en route to Earth. Here’s the coordinates, you know what to do.” Razel takes a look at the fog rolling closer, then looks back at Albaston, “what about this?” Albaston inhales deeply, then exhales, “there’s nothing you can do now. We’re going to discuss our options and we’ll get back to you as soon as we have something.” Razel nods and the screen goes black, once again showing the fog in the distance.
Around the world, at each and every fort, base, and facility of the Earth forces, MS’s and ships begin to launch into space. With the loss of about a quarter of each of their forces keeping watch on the fog, the Earth forces are at a disadvantage against Vis Vires. As Culas is about to leave the war room of the main Pax Pacis headquarters, Ralcheister stops him with a hand on his shoulder. “You know you don’t have to go out there, it could get messy,” he says with a fatherly tone. Culas looks at him and nods, “I know,” then zips-up his space suit. As he walks away Ralcheister sighs, wishing he could also fight along side his troops, but realizing he has been too old to do that for a long time.
Sitting alongside the inner wall of the E.S.S. Accepiter, Black looks up from his slouch and sees Jennifer sitting across from him. He nods to her and she seems to remember where they knew each other. Jennifer gets up from her seat and sits next to Black. “Haven’t seen you since the spar, how’ve you been?” she asks friendly, a smile on her face. “Just still tryin’ to get used to these rules I have to follow. I’m not used to being held back like this. Things were different when I worked just for the money.” Jennifer looks at him with a twisted grin, “you were a mercenary?” Black nods, “yup, made good money, too.” Jennifer leans back a bit away from Black, “is that all you think about?” Black looks at her and shrugs, “that and the thrill of battle.” Jennifer sighs and sits back, awaiting the signal for their arrival.
“Listen, Hal,” Razel says after opening a com-screen through to him, “I got something I’ve got to do, a request from Albaston. I want you to stay here and watch the fog.” Hal pushes his glasses up from his nose, “no problem, I want to do some more scans on this fog anyway. I think I may be able to figure out a way to stop it at least.” Razel nods, impatient with Hal’s overexploiting, “I got to go. Hold this place down, K?” Hal nods to Razel. Razel flies off toward the Vis Vires fleet now getting closer and closer to Earth. He eventually meets up with Trent, who had just told Hiro to stay and watch the fog as well. The two fly off into the distance, Ramsi noticing the jetstreams fly off out of sight. Where the hell are they goin’?, he thinks to himself, turning his attention back to the fog. Just then his com-screen pops up with Culas’ face, “Lance Corporal Talex, get yer ass to these coordinates or yer gonna miss all the fun!” Ramsi smiles slightly and salutes Culas. “Oh,” Culas adds before he shuts the com-screen down, “be careful out there, Ramsi.” After a thumbs-up from Culas and a ‘you too’ from Ramsi, Culas shuts the com-screen down and Ramsi flies off toward the coordinates given to him.
Inside the hanger, Gabriel sneaks quietly around, searching for a vacant ship he would be able to get into with minimal effort. He finally finds a small yet fast looking ship with its door wide open. He sneaks around to the ship and slips in the door. But before he can get into the ship completely, he’s stopped by something tugging at his cloak behind. He turns and sees Bentho holding on to the back of his cloak, his expression of sadness and not anger. “Why do you do this? Am I not a good father?” Bentho asks, on the verge of crying. Gabriel turns his head, looking into the cockpit of the ship. Bentho begins to cry, grasping on to the cloak and crying into the fabric. Gabriel’s left hand reaches up to the clasp holding the cloak on his own body. With a flick the clasp comes apart, and the cloak falls to the floor. Bentho’s eyes widen and his outburst of emotion pauses, all attention on the fully naked boy in front of him. Instead of a disfigured hump on the boy’s back, Bentho sees two glorious white feathery wings. Bentho also notices the lack of genitalia, or for that matter the lack of any sex-defining characteristic. He remains without speech, the sight too much for him to handle. Gabriel stretches the wings out to their full span, the movement feeling good after months of keeping them still. Gabriel then turns and faces Bentho, his eyes a blue no man could possibly have. “I must go now father, God is calling” Gabriel says with a tear forming in his eye. Bentho almost protests, but then understands. He must let go of his son, the one he’d lost long ago. “Goodbye, son,” he says, trying to hold back the tears. Gabriel slightly smiles, one tear cascading down his cheek. He nods and says, “goodbye, father.” With that he shuts the door and heads to the cockpit, knowing he’d never see Bentho again.
As Gabriel exits the hanger he feels something inside of him, a voice calling from deep within him but far from where he sits. The voice tells him where to go, and what he has to do. For the first time since he had been brought into this desolate life of his, he finally knew what he had to do. All the years of running were going to come to an end, and hopefully he could save the people he loved. As he hits the thrusters the ship jerks forward and he takes off toward his destination, where ever that may be.
“Send out the first wave,” Auray says out loud, a technician follows the orders, sending out the first wave of Mobile Dolls to meet the Earth forces’ fleets. Auray turns his attention to the newest member of Vis Vires, Nashiko. “Let’s see what you can do,” he says to the rookie, nodding. Nashiko stands and walks out of the war room without a word. “Akujin, Xiefall,” Auray says, turning once again, “go keep an eye on our newest member, would you? Make sure we don’t lose him.” Akujin slowly gets out of his chair, Xiefall following suit but looking more hesitant than his ‘mentor,’ wanting to watch the battle on the big-screen. As Akujin and Xiefall leave, Dmitri leans in to Auray, “you want me to go watch them now?” Auray slightly smiles, knowing very well Dmitri’s dry sense of humor. “No, no, my friend,” he says with keen focus, “we wait here for the real prey.”
As Jen is about to open her mouth to speak, the alarms begin to sound, followed by flashing red lights scattered around the holding area. Black and Jen both jump up, grabbing their spacesuits and heading in the direction of the docking bay. Once there they enter their MS’s, flipping switches and hitting buttons to ready the metal machines for battle, all the while every pilot on each and every ship doing the exact same. Falcona, aboard the E.S.S. Galvion, readies her Taurus for the battle ahead of her. This being her first real skirmish her nerves feel like ice water and her heart beats a mile a minute. Trying to calm herself she concentrates on the task at hand, checking and calibrating her MS’s systems before she would be released out into space.
All at once, as if it were planned to a ‘T,’ the battleships on both sides release their MS’s in a frenzy of confusion. The Vis Vires Mobile Doll Sagittarius’ flood out of the docking bays, seemingly in formation but then scattering as soon as they exit the ships. Out of the lead Vis Vires ship comes Nashiko, Akujin, and Xiefall. They stay close and strategically position themselves surrounded by Mobile Dolls. From the E.S.S. Accepiter comes Black and Jen, along with the many Taurus MS’s piloted by the other E.S.S. pilots alike. Falcona exits the E.S.S. Galvion, never hesitating and perceptive to her surroundings as soon as the darkness hits her. The nervousness for her, not unlike all other rookies, disappears with the introduction of danger. Culas heads the Pax Pacis pilots into the fray, adorning his Gundam Valen in an awesome display of leadership. The two forces, Vis Vires and most of the Earth forces, seem to create two walls, each heading toward the other in an unavoidable and predictable collision. The first to see action is Culas, who starts the battle off right, using his excellent speed and power to slice through twenty-odd Mobile Dolls right off the bat. Seconds later all hell breaks loose and every MS in the area takes off, targeting the nearest enemy in the mass collection of metal and weapon fire.
Black and Jen stay together, if not by on purpose then by complete chance. Once they realize the other beside them, they begin to act as a team, staying back-to-back and slashing anything that comes close with their Linear Sabers. Falcona fires her Beam Rifle off, hitting most of the confused Mobile Dolls, but missing most due to their linear sabers splitting or diverting the blasts. She never backs down, continuously firing her beam rifle at each target as her eyes land on them, one by one. Nashiko concentrates on the E.S.S. Taurus’ due to the fact that his own Taurus could barely compare to the Pax Pacis Peacemakers. Akujin and Xiefall tag-team whatever opposing MS’s they can, spinning around and slashing the petty MS’s into pieces.
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