trans_9 | Space Invaders!

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...

As Setsuna moved closer, she focused even harder, trying to pinpoint where exactly inside the Leviathan the Node resided.

When she felt it, she braced herself as she focused to send her projection to the area it rested. With such a strong feeling of power, she had no idea what would happen when she did. She hoped nothing would instantly overcome her, push her out and away, especially when such a strong surge of energy could be dangerous to her. But if she could do something, even use her own power to drive it away along with its allies ... well, she had done it before when the Tribe of Silver had come dangerously close to wiping them out. She certainly wasn't against doing it again.

But even before all of that, the first thing she wanted to find out was what the Node was. What it looked like, how it might react to her. Perhaps she wouldn't even have to try to drive it away at all, but even she with all of her optimism for learning and coming to peace knew that it was only a possibility, especially for a first try, and she was ready to accept that and act for an alternative.

Whatever Setsuna had in mind, Tieria could only hope he knew what he was doing.

"Setsuna!" He shouts over the intercom. It's not a command to withdraw, but rather a warning, as high-speed bursts of energy pepper the space around the 00, helping to pick off any Shrikes that block his path to the Leviathan.

However, Seravee could only provide so much cover. The Trans-Am system allowing him the luxury of rapid-fire was almost at its time limit. The Hyper Burst had nearly exhausted his particle reserves; he needed time to recover. He also lacked the deadly accuracy a certain mobile suit was capable of.

"Lockon!"

The blast from Serpenterra's main cannon hit the greater Leviathan just before it fired, causing its shot to go wide. The massive beam emanating from the creature's maw wiped out hundreds of smaller asteroids. It was possible a blast like that could have even destroyed something as big as Stacy.

While they were safe for now, there was still some bad news: unlike the Quarter, it didn't need to wait before charging up its cannon again. It began the process of powering up its main weapon almost immediately.

They bought some time, but it'll still be close.

Meanwhile, the smaller shots Eva had been peppering the lesser Leviathans chasing the Quarter wore through one of the beasts' armor, landing a killing blow. There was a wave of psychic energy as it exploded, sending another one hurtling into one of the larger asteroids nearby, killing it as well. The remaining Leviathans continued the chase, but they were beginning to wear down as well.

When Dhianeila sent out her projection, she could see the Node nested inside what appeared to be a bio-organic command center within the Leviathan--the room appeared even more alien than what you could find on Stacy. Its psychic aura was almost palpable, its blue glow filling up the room.

It didn't seem to notice her presence for now. It was far too focused on the battle raging outside to worry about a benign presence nearby.

This could be the opportunity she needs to finally connect with the Ohm, as the Node's defenses were lowered for the moment.

"Not a soldier. Not a slave," he muttered to himself as they approached. "I'm a Gundam Meister of Celestial Being, and I do this of my own free will!"

Now that he was in position, he hit the comm system. "All units, withdraw from this airspace at once." That was the only warning he would bother to give anyone before he went into Trans Am, then took things one step further and initiated a Trans Am Burst.

A stream of high density GN particles began to flood the immediate area, which, when combined with Setsuna's own quantum brainwaves, created a quantum telepathic field. He projected his own consciousness (his bare soul, literally, as Setsuna's astral form didn't include clothing) towards Dhianeila and towards the Node. He had escorted her this far, he wasn't going to let her do this alone.

When he arrived at the chamber, he did something he probably never would do in the flesh, and held out his hand for her. In this state, he didn't need words to convey his thoughts and feelings. It was an offer to her, a chance for her to understand him, and together, for them to start to understand the Ohm.

But she'd have to hurry, as not only did Trans Am burst make them a nice shiny target, anyone who's ship wasn't already designed to filter out the effects of GN particles would suffer a massive disruption in communications and all radar systems if they got caught in the field. They didn't have a lot of time.

And hesitate she did not, nodding and moving, reaching her own hand out to him. Whatever he had in mind, she trusted him - and if anything, she still had her own things to try if whatever he was about to attempt was stopped or interfered with.

This was... different... being so connected to someone else like this. Though his life didn't flash before her eyes, but he did let her get a genuine sense of who he was, scars and all.

Maybe now she'd understand why he said 'no' to her request that day.

(Because, while others would simply pull someone out of danger then pack up as if the job was done, for the Meisters, that meant the job had only just begun. He wasn't refusing to save lives, he was refusing to save someone in the moment, only to abandon them to a life along the same path that led to them being in danger to begin with. It wasn't enough for people to not die, not for them. Those that lived also had to learn to live better. He wasn't going to commit to anything less.)

Holding her hand, he pushed them forward until he was able to make contact with the Node. The fate of so many depended on this, their first contact...

Upon connecting to the Node, the two of them were bombarded with strange images that flashed by far too quickly to comprehend just now. It was almost like plunging into ice cold water, but after the initial shock, they would get a clearer look at the Ohm than any had ever achieved before.

From their current vantage point, they could feel the connections between the Ohm. The creatures they were fighting right now weren't actual Ohm any more than a hand is an entire human being. The Ohm--the real Ohm--were far, far away in another reality, yet still deeply connected with the creatures fighting now.

Looking deeper, they could sense the true Ohm themselves. Hundreds of trillions of minds, all connected. And yet, despite the way they appear, each one was and individual. Though the concepts with which they thought were far beyond what Dhianeila and Setsuna could comprehend, they could sense that each individual Ohm had their own thoughts, their own feelings.

Hundreds of thousands of lines of thought--discussions, if you will--sped through the massive network of minds. Each Ohm gave their input, and all of them reached a consensus. All of this happening in the blink of an eye.

It was all strangely ordered, and yet, at the same time, an absolutely organic process, one the Ohm had continued for uncountable eons.

It wasn't long before they noticed the intruders that had appeared, however. The discussions between the Ohm suddenly became more frantic. Some gave off images of confusion, others anger, others fear. Their presences began to withdraw from them, isolating them to protect themselves.

Only one presence among them approached them. It gave off images of power and protection from its mere presence. Somehow, despite not seeming to be any more important in the hierarchy of the Ohm than any other, it's presence seemed to carry a lot more weight and importance to it.

It spoke, saying only one thing. Despite thinking in entirely alien concepts from Dhianeila and Setsuna, the concept it conveyed was simple enough to understand.

{{LEAVE.}}

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ITP: MIND SCREW (and NAKED... IN... SPACE....!)