trans_9 | Space Invaders!

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.}}

The connections ... somehow it felt like what she had discovered of the Tribe of Silver. A mental connection between an entire race, spanning across even the universes. One of the many, many questions that had rushed into her mind at that moment were if they had other similar ways of living to the Tribe of Silver -- casting feelings such as fear and doubt away, using one single entity of the race to carry the feelings of them all so they could better focus on their goals without the hindrance of emotion. That was how the Tribe of Silver worked. When she met Prome-O, weren't there those who listened in who too gave their input? Spoke and communicated amongst one another until they could reach and overall decision on something.

Could this presence be something like Prome-O? If so, then this was important. Too important to listen to the Ohm's demand. So in turn, Dhianeila with as much power as she could muster (but not going overboard, especially not if she needed to act if things got ugly), attempted to respond, trying to send as few very simple, but very desperate feelings back to it.

We will not leave. We do not wish to fight you. We wish to understand you. To understand why you have taken the actions that you have. Why do you seek to destroy so many?

Unfortunately for Dhianeila, to the presence, her attempts at communicating were like listening to an animal making noises. There may or may not be messages in it, but to the presence, it was too simple to understand.

{{NO.}} was the first response, before a sudden rush of power exuded from the presence, pushing them away.

{{LEAVE.}}

They could struggle momentarily, but with such a powerful force against them, it was only a matter of time before the connection was broken.

Setsuna moved himself in front of the Princess to take the brunt of the force. Even though all he could do was struggle, and brace against it, he did so with the same unrelenting stubbornness that he did in everything else.

So if this alien thought Dhianeila's message was simple, Setsuna's was even more so, and conveyed easily by the glare in his brightly glowing eyes as he fought to try and regain some ground.

No.

She felt Setsuna's struggle ... and felt even moreso that despite how hard he did so, it was in vain. The Ohm's powerful push was too powerful for them to rail against for much longer. But the three of them, they were here, all within such a close proximity. And even though Dhianeila and Setsuna were trying to hard to communicate, they seemed to be making no further progress.

No further progress. For her, they had made so much already. But if there were any possibility, any at all to get some sort of reaction or feeling from this being, they had to take it.

Dhianeila was not only in tune to her own feelings and experiences, but her power to learn and feel the same from others helped her come to understand them as well. Feelings of fear, of ignorance and joy and struggle and the desperation of not only those she'd met from where she came from, but from the crew of Stacy. The hopelessness, the loss and the ever-burning question of why. Why this happened to them, why they must fight. Why their universes had to be attacked and destroyed for no conceivable reason. Mixtures of hatred and rage toward the Ohm, and yet feelings of willingness to understand them. The crew's mix of so many emotions ... she could feel them all. Just like she felt them of her fellow humans, and those she had met and come across in the universe she lived in.

And those feelings, all of those feelings were what she focused on, and what she tried to surge forward to the Ohm in some sort of attempt for any kind of other reaction as she reached, trying to make a contact with it even though this wasn't her physical form. She just feared that with the new oncoming burst of energy from the creature that her action might have been too late.

The presence hesitated slightly with the emotions and feelings Dhianeila projected towards it.

There was a sudden wave of emotion projected back at them. A mixture of incomprehensible rage and deep, unknowable sadness.

{{NO.}} it raged. {{MONSTERS. MURDER. MURDER.}}

{{LEAVE. NOW.}}

With a final push, the connection was severed. Dhianeila and Setsuna were thrown back to their own bodies, back into the midst of the battle. Only several seconds had passed since they had connected.

Unfortunately for them, several seconds were all the Ohm needed to retaliate against them.

Just as they regained consciousness, the Node they had used as their bridge to the Ohm assaulted them with a powerful blast of psychic energy. At the same time, a massive swarm of Shrikes began to converge on those who had been knocked out by the Trans-Am Burst.

They'd need to move quickly if they wanted to get out alive.

"TERI-YAAAAA!"

The first wave of Shrikes would be met by... a flying kick. From a Variable Fighter. Having ran out of ammo, Sonic opted to stay in the fight, maneuvering his fighter to strike out with its fists and feet, almost in a break dancing style. It was all he could do to either stay in the fight or have the machine not fall apart on him.

"Get out of here! NOW!"

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