trans_9 | Space Invaders!

"Roger that, General."

Eva has to admit, she is a bit excited to use the main gun. That swell of eagerness is a good way to counteract that anxiety of knowing they'll have to recharge.

She identifies the bridge easily, but has to wait a few seconds after spotting it to make sure she won't waste the cannon on the bulkhead. "I have a shot."

She bites down on her lip and fires.

The Leviathan was unlike Allelujah had ever seen. It took him several moments of just looking at its approach on his sensors, Trudy's commands ringing crystal clear in the background, to really feel the weight of the situation. There was no reply of 'roger', any sort of indication that he had heard her orders, or that he would follow them—only that he shifted Arios back into jetfighter mode and shot off towards the frigates. He coasted far out of the line of the Quarter's fire, the entire frame of his Gundam rocking in its wake.

Her plan was sound and that was enough for him.

Allelujah opened a comm link to Celestial Being, already keying a sequence into Arios' controls. "Setsuna, I'm going to use Trans-Am!" Knowing that the bigger the ship, the bigger the lag, they couldn't waste time on the smaller of the Leviathans. He returned his grip to the control and fired forward.

"Trans-Am!"

As the GN Drive at his back leapt to life and scattered its condensed particles across the backdrop of stars, Arios streaked across the sky at top speed, leaving afterimages in its wake like the tail of a comet. GN missiles burst from the weapon pack locked at Arios' sides in a barrage of light and sailed for half of the frigates.

Now he was on limited time, and he needed them to chase.

Wash saw the targets come up on his display and tugged on the controls - the Quarter was so responsive like this he didn't have to wrestle her the way he did as a carrier - trying to give her a clearer shot. "That better, Eva?" he asked, glancing at her. She'd done well in the sims and the defensive cannons took out quite a few shrikes through this battle, so he could only hope she'd do as well with the main cannon.

The overwhelming amount of Shrikes on his display was starting to give him the shivers, but he held the Quarter steady. "I am a leaf on the wind," he muttered to himself, glaring at the Ohm out the forward window.

'Vadum would save that particular talk with the General until after they were out of this situation. Ordering his bridge staff specifically during the middle of a battle? That did not sit well, nevertheless battlefields are no place for arguments. Pressing past that he nodded sharply to his crew as a sign to do as ordered.

Watching on as Eva and Wash worked together to bring the Leviathan into line of fire, mandibles clicking as it came into sight. It was a large one but not as large as the one that had taken on the Shadow of Intent, even after the main cannon fired he cast his gaze across to Eva and Wash, "I want that cannon ready to fire again at the soonest possible moment, all beam cannons lock on same target. Track those Frigates, if any get close prioritize cannon fire,"

Michael wasn't sure what surprised him more: The size of the Leviathan, or the knowledge that it - like all of the Ohm forces - was one gigantic living organism, like the Vajra had been. "That is one very large bug," he muttered to himself, before hearing Trudy's order.

It made sense, really. There was no way that the VFs' small-arms would be able to damage that armored behemoth; they were much better served dealing with the small fry. Time to rely on one of Ozma Lee's flight plans - one of the ones that he'd had the chance to teach them.

"You heard the lady, boys. Skull Squadron - Holy Lonely Night!"

That meant speed, and lots of it. Switching to fighter mode, Michael gunned the throttle to full, feeling the G-Force press him back into the seat as he threw the Messiah into a barrel roll evading oncoming fire. Missile pods slid open, and then his ship erupted in smoke with the launch of dozens and dozens of micro-missiles, all of which spiraled out at different targets in a graceful barrage of death.

The VF-25 only had enough ammo to launch a salvo like this a few times a sortie, but damned if it wasn't worth it.

Edited 2011-05-01 00:06 (UTC)

"Already on it," Eva says, locking the beam cannons on and tracing the location of the Frigates. They don't seem to be getting close enough yet to warrant switching the cannon priorities, but obviously that could change in a second. She makes sure to keep her sensors tracking them in her peripheral vision. She spares only a brief look at Wash, a little half-smile for piloting well-done; he makes her job so much easier when he flies like that.

Edited 2011-05-01 00:12 (UTC)

Zouichi listened to Michael's voice over the comms -- uh. Had they gone over this flight plan? Well, might as well follow the leader's example.

He shifted into Fighter mode and punched it, hard. The Nightmare screamed forward, twin beam cannons blazing. Only a few barrages of the missiles left but if there were any time to use it, he figured this was it. He triggered the next launch, setting the void of space ablaze with bright blue projectile trails.

Did he fire enough missile? He thought he should fire more missiles.

"Good job," Yzak's voice called out to the rest of the Blade Squadron, quick and sharp and loud after the Quarter had fired. "Let's keep them covered for a second shot!"

But that certainly wouldn't be easy; turning his GOUF around, Yzak's eyes went wide. "Shit...! Incoming!" he warned, as a swarm of Shrikes (were they working together? or did they just happen to be headed toward the same place? he couldn't tell) that had accompanied the Leviathan sped forward toward the Quarter. The white mobile suit raised its arm, wrist-mounted beam cannon shooting off an array of blasts at them - a couple of the targets scattering or reeling from impact.

The initial blast from the Quarter's main cannon connected with the main body of the larger Leviathan, its carapace cracking slightly under the force. Beyond that, though. It seemed undamaged. The blast did seem to have the effect of causing the beast to speed its pace, intent on closing the gap before they could fire again.

They'd need to get a lot closer if they wanted to take it out.

The smaller Leviathans started moving faster as well, surprisingly agile despite their looks. The missiles from Skull squadron's barrage took out more of the Shrikes that were escorting them, but the Leviathans themselves were more resistant to the attacks. It was obvious that they now prioritized the Quarter as their primary target after it had fired its main cannon. They moved in formation now, each taking shots with their own main cannons, firing massive orbs of psychic energy towards the larger ship.

If they were going to get out of the way, they needed to do it now.

"Holy..." Allenby just had to gawk at the thing for a second. Then she snapped herself out of it. This wasn't any different from the Devil Gundam except for the shape. They were all fighting together to defend this planet from that thing and its lackeys. That point was highlighted when the Wraith dropped a defense drone by Nobel Gundam. "Thanks, pal!"

She didn't know if Nobel Gundam had the raw firepower needed to put a dent in any of the smaller Leviathans and certainly not the big one, but she could handle the Shrikes. "Got it!" she replied to Yzak, just as the small Leviathans began moving in closer to the Quarter. Well, dammit. She soared into the Shrikes, lashing out with her ribbon and praying that her foot would stay attached. That defense drone was doing a bang-up job too. "Hey, Blade Squadron!" she said on their channel. "You wanna try takin' out some of those cannons?"

"Preparing mass release of compressed particles. Haro, activate the Raiser System."

"Raiser System charging! Raiser System charging!"

While Allelujah was busy running interference with the smaller Leviathans, and keeping the Shrikes occupied, Setsuna had taken up position somewhere beneath the battle. He maneuvered around until he had a good line of fire, and once he heard the beep that informed him that the Raiser System was full charged, he hit the trigger.

"TRANS AM RAISER!"

He fired off a beam of energy that was about about as large his own Gundam, and fired it into the underside of one of the lead frigate sized Leviathans. The beam still persisting, he literally pulled the shot towards another of the smaller Leviathans, followed by a third. Though by the time he crashed the beam against the large Leviathan itself, the others might realize what he was actually doing.

He wasn't actually shooting at anything. That was a beam saber, one with a blade several hundred kilometers long. It was also a bit difficult to wield, but with a roar he pushed on the controls, he got the beam to make one slash across the same area of the large Leviathan where the Quarter had done its damage. The blast may not have been as powerful as the Quarter's, but that energy was still potent enough to add to the damage already done.

He quickly cut off the beam after that last swing, not wanting to completely kill his reserves. And he'd need that energy too, since his light show just drew one hell of an audience.

That was-- it was a beam saber? Not an actual blast? For a moment Kira couldn't help but just gape in awe at the power of Setsuna's mobile suit - but then he remembered what that red light meant. It meant that Setsuna was now on a timer.

And with a flash of light in his mind, Kira saw the battlefield, and noticed just how much attention Setsuna had drawn - it was far too much for him to take care of on his own. So, time to even the odds a bit.

The DRAGOONs launched from the Freedom's back, zipping through space to swarm around the 00 Raiser in a protective screen, forming a field of fire to blast any Shrike that looked too close. Kira opened fire on his own, twin beam rifles and railguns adding extra firepower to the covering barrage.

"Setsuna! We'll cover you!" Kira shouted over the comm: whatever differences existed before this were set aside, because now they had a mission to do - together.

And all the while, Dhianeila tried her best to keep her focus, trying to stay steady in the Raiser as it moved, gripping to not be tossed about at the attacks from outside. Even though she hated it, even she knew that sometimes one had to fight, one had to do what they could to defend oneself. Her and the rest of humanity would have been wiped out long ago if they hadn't done just that. But everything, the pain and struggle and warfare and destruction ... it came to an end, an end as a result of reaching out to understand. And they had learned, they had grown because of it. She still believed so deeply in what they discovered was the Tribe of Gold's intention of the Nodos, the Labors, and everything it caused.

Perhaps they saw that this was the best way to jolt interaction between ends of the galaxies, and thread the universe together with starways. If the Tribe of Gold, with their power to foresee the future, saw that our actions would bring ruin to the universe, they would have stopped us.

They would have stopped us. And didn't those in the GIA mention something about the Ascended? Dhianeila was certain that the Tribe of Gold fell into some category like that, that they were somewhere. They who created universes and led those who dwelled in them to come forth, interact and evolve and eventually ... discover the power to join them, and move from beyond their own universe.

So she tried. Tried to send her thoughts and feelings to the Ohm at large-- even if one of them somehow responded or understood, it could be a gigantic step toward putting an end to this. And while she did that she also tried her best to feel for them - feel something, any intention or feeling that wasn't intent to kill. Please. Please... her mind called out desperately. Though she doubted the drones that attacked were the ones worth trying to communicate with. It had taken her a very long time, not to mention an extraordinary amount of power and focus to find those in the Silver Tribe-- the ones who had hunted them, that held no evil intention. That's because they that did not fight were safe, and much more further away.

"Setsuna..." Tieria murmurs, stunned. Seravee's cockpit is incandescent from the intense light emanating from the 00's beam saber. Nevertheless, his speechlessness is fleeting, and his grip tightens on the controls.

He interlocks the GN Bazookas at Seravee's anterior, the chambers reverberating loudly, to combine them into a single weapon before shouting, "Trans-Am!"

The solar furnace at Seravee's back thunders. The color of the Gundam's armor shifts from white to a brilliant, burning red, and a dense sphere of particles begins to accumulate at the mouth of the bazooka. It swells to nearly three times the mobile suit's size.

"Hyper Burst, full release! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNNylgnultU#t=18m21s)"

The globe of energy is hurled from the GN Bazooka, speeding towards the lead Leviathan. It finds its mark, burrowing into the hull of the living warship, augmenting the damage already done at both the hands of the Quarter and Setsuna F. Seiei.

'Vadum watched the battle unfolding with sharp attention, noting the lack of damage their first shot had done, yet approving of the firepower the other squadrons brought be bare on the Leviathan that was rather intent on having the Quarter as its prize. His mind working rapidly over the situation a plan formulating in his mind. The leviathan wanted them up close? It would soon have them one way or another, but not until they were ready to deal a fatal blow.

Calculating the times involved he nodded to himself, "Helmsman, use the asteroids for cover from the leviathan's cannons, let them chase us for the moment, give the Monster clear lines of fire when you can," He ordered quickly, that should save some of the power from the shields, "I want to know the moment that the main cannon is at ninety-five percent charge!"

"Quarter to Monster, if you get a clear shot, take it, be prepared to get below deck or detach when the time comes,"

The attacks from the 00 Raiser and the Seravee certainly left their marks. A massive, gaping wound in its armor could be seen where their strikes connected with the larger Leviathan, though it still continued to live.

In fact, aside from wounding it, all they'd managed to do was severely piss it off.

It came to a halt, numerous tendrils of psychic energy whipping out to slam into the smaller targets surrounding it. At the same time, its gargantuan maw opened up, psychic energy charging up to fire its own main cannon, many times larger than the Quarter's. It would be a while before it could fire, but when it did, it was obvious it would cause a hell of a lot of damage.

Meanwhile, the shots from the lesser Leviathans went wide as the Quarter moved further into the asteroid field. They continued to give chase, but the cramped spaces funneled them like a bottleneck, making them easier prey than they were before.

As Dhianeila focused her power, searching for something to connect with, she would find another, more powerful psychic signature hiding within the larger Leviathan. It wasn't exactly what she was looking for, but it was, perhaps, something just as good.

A Node. A connection to the Ohm collective as a whole.

It would be dangerous, but it could be just the chance they were looking for.

"Gāo yáng zhōng de gūyáng¹ - What does it take to kill that thing?"

Wash was only too happy to hide the Quarter in the asteroid field, maneuvering around the huge rocks with ease in Battdroid mode. He trusted Eva would get any firebugs the squadrons had missed.

It was kind of encouraging that the Leviathans were following him, but at the same time... "Come on, see if you can fly like I can," he said, smirking at the space bugs through the window. He spun the huge robot around rocks like a dancer, hoping one or two of the frigates would get cocky enough to slam themselves right into the rocks.

((1 - Motherless goat of all motherless goats))

"I feel it," she spoke, eyes blinking open quickly when she did. "Inside the Leviathan."

But now came the challenge and the questions. Would getting close to it benefit them? Even if it were close enough for her to focus her projection on, perhaps, coming face to face with the Node. The Ohm forces were growing ... the crew was in danger. Even if nothing would come of this battle in what Dhianeila was trying to accomplish, perhaps some sort of interference with the Node would be of a benefit, cause a retreat. Something.

Sam, for his part, was doing his best to provide backup to the mobile suits. The X-Wings were fast, but he had no idea what the other squadrons were doing. Best to keep back out of the way and wait for more orders while offering cover fire to the suits and the Quarter as best he could.

"What the hell is it going to take to take these things down?" he wondered aloud, shifting his focus to just one of the Leviathans, trying to get some sort of crack in the armor. Something they could take advantage of.

"Se recarga a tu madre," she curses at the cannon, which is taking a bit longer to recharge than she's comfortable with. Given how it barely damaged the larger Leviathan, it's probably not even worth it to use the smaller guns on it. Better to use them to dispatch any Shrikes that make it past the Squadron.

Thankfully, the auto-targeting software makes it possible to still aim while Wash is pulling his acrobatic stunts through the asteroid field. "Taking out some Shrikes at 8 o'clock," she says, and shoots the smaller weapons at them.

Zedd could see the main Leviathan preparing to strike. It needed to be stopped and stopped now.

"Attention all fighters, Serpentera will give the Quarter the time it needs to strike!" Zedd called out, the Putty maneuvering the massive dragon forward, not caring as the various strikes tore into the dragon WarZord. "Putty, main cannon, half power! If we can even interrupt their shot, it'll give us the chance to obliterate this thing!"

With a nod, the Putty set up another shot, firing another burst from its giant maw, this time to counter the Leviathan's shot.

Allenby raised a hand to shield her eyes from the light of Setsuna's attack. That... that was a beam saber? The thing had to be as long as Neo-Sweden's own space colony! The blast that came from CB's other mobile suit was almost as dazzling.

And yet, it looked like all they'd done was install a new window on that thing's side. Allenby snarled, for one fleeting moment wishing she had the raw firepower to open it up wider. But Kira was right--she was sure those two Gundams would need a breather after using those techniques.

...Damn, that cannon looked like bad news. She swooped around the psychic blasts and checked her readouts. Well, at least they were penning them up some. She lashed out at the Shrikes that had been drawn by the CB Gundams' lightshow, not willing to let anything get past her. "So how long before you guys can do that again?"

"Buy us eighteen more seconds," Eva answers quickly, knowing that in a firefight eighteen seconds could be the difference between life and death for everyone.

Eighteen seconds.

Allelujah was beginning to feel the strain of the Trans-Am's effects as he negotiated the deadly airspace, making hard veers and banks while firing off vulcan gun rounds to avoid the psychic attacks lashing out from the Leviathan. He couldn't use his Quantum Brainwaves anymore and Arios suffered for it, damage burned into its beam shield emitters from narrow escapes.

And that wasn't all.

"That's the time limit, Setsuna!"

Allelujah volleyed off his last round of GN missiles, the iridescent green trails of particles spiraling into explosions against the last of the smaller Leviathans. He retreated back closer to 00 Raiser and Seravee while shifting into mobile suit mode, following the Freedom and Nobel Gundam. The burning red of the Trans-Am system faded from Arios' armor, leaving Allelujah with a dramatically decreased particle output rate that would make high-speed dogfighting too dangerous until he could recharge. But he wouldn't stop there, not with the Leviathan readying to fire off its own cannon. Allelujah leveled his twin beam rifle and continued to provide cover fire against the Shrikes for Setsuna and Tieria and any of the Rogue Squadron that entered into his range.

"Roger," was Setsuna's response to Dhianeila. Unlike her, he didn't bother to ask a ton of questions about what would happen next. Actually, he didn't ask any questions at all. He just... went.

Using every last ounce of power that his suit could still spare, he made a run right towards the Leviathan. En route, he hit two buttons in his cockpit, disengaging the last of the safeties on his GN drives. He still had one more card to play.

"Not a weapon," he said to himself, dodging most of the psychic tendrils of the large Leviathan, and barreling through the rest, heading right for that open wound. "I'm not a weapon. Not a destroyer..."

He didn't know if this was a good idea or a flat out suicidal one, but... it didn't matter if it was good or bad. It was something that he needed to do.

He just needed to get them close enough...

Re: Leviathan Approaches!

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject