trans_9 | Space Invaders!

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!"

Setsuna had initially been left... confused when he found himself back in the cockpit of his Gundam. Anger? Sadness?

But... he didn't have any time to think on it, as the blast from the Node hit him full force. Sure, Setsuna could communicate, but psychic defense? Not his forte. He couldn't even begin to form a thought as the psiblast ripped through his mind, all he could do was scream out in pain.

And piloting a mobile suit was beyond him right now, leaving him absolutely defenseless as one Shrike hit his suit with a psychic lance, followed by another. A third Shrike got in close, whipping along the side in a move that caused an explosion, forcibly ending the Trans Am Burst as more Shrikes piled on.

"Setsuna!" It was difficult to think through the lingering perception of an expanded, all-connected consciousness, but Kira's SEED factor pulled him back into his physical body in a white electric flash across his vision. Though still a bit loopy, he charged towards the unmoving mobile suit, drawing a beam saber and trying to hack his way through the Shrikes surrounding it.

Unfortunately, there were a lot of them and just one of him. There was no way he was doing it alone, let alone in his current mental state.

And Dhianeila, while she could feel that they were in danger, was barely conscious enough to do anything in response. The Ohm's attack, as well as the force of her own powers had left her more or less defenseless and exhausted.

But at least they accomplished something.

Allenby had escaped the range of the particle field just in time, leaving her with a clear head when the lightshow ended and Setsuna's suit just... sat there as a swarm of Shrikes closed in.

"Nobel Hula Hoop!" Allenby shoved as much energy into the circle of energy as she could and dove in after it along with Kira, lashing her beam ribbon right and left. She wasn't sure what the hell had just happened, but it had pissed off the Ohm real well so she assumed that something big must've been accomplished.

"Hey, wake up in there!" she yelled over the comm to Setsuna as she bulled into some more Shrikes--"OW!" Well, there went her foot. Allenby grabbed it in her free hand and started using it as a bludgeon. "Give it up, you pests!"

Tieria grimaces and his eyes instinctively clench shut as Seravee is swathed in light.

Gone was tangible reality, displaced by a vast, ethereal space. Gone was his sense of direction; there was nothing, no landmark, to orient his whereabouts. However, for all that was missing, it was what was suddenly there that was the most bewildering.

Voices flickered in and out of focus, muffled at times and crystal clear at others. Feelings and ideals that were not his own washed over his senses.

Where...

Before he could make heads or tails of the situation, the phenomenon fades and reality comes flooding back, punctuated by Seravee's sensors frantically screaming.

"Setsuna!"

The unit at Seravee's back deploys (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3pMtymGSOY&list=SL#t=17m57s), its various parts unfurling to reveal a second mobile suit. The successor to Nadleeh: Seraphim. Both Gundams hurtle through the fray, Seraphim dodging a mixture of Shrikes and debris while Seravee remains close behind to provide cover.

Not again... I won't lose anyone again!

"Cover them!" Yzak yelled into the communication line to his team, before his hands flew over a number of buttons and he did more than just ease his GOUF forward, just as disoriented as the rest of them who had been caught in the field. The mobile suit swung its beam sword madly into any Ohm that got in his way, Yzak trying his best not to be slowed down as he moved toward Kira, Allenby and Tieria.

Setsuna was in danger, they were all in incredible danger, and Allelujah knew that, the voices and consciousnesses of the raging battlefield echoing still in his head from force of the Trans-Am burst.

But that wasn't all who was lingering in his head in the aftermath of 00 Raiser's power.

Laughter burst through the still-rattling comm lines, melting with the open static, emerging from the blanket of darkness. Aggressive with violent abandon. It emanated like a shadow from the Arios Gundam's comm link, a rough frenzy that was nothing like the voice of its once-mild-mannered pilot.

"I don't give a shit what reason these bastards have," Hallelujah said, catapulting Arios into a soar from its defensive position. "They're not going to be able to beat us!!" This newfound maliciousness of its pilot was indifferent to Arios' recovering particle output as it morphed, rolled and accelerated to bypass Shrikes with dangerous ease. He hailed fire at groups of Shrikes locked on to Setsuna's position as he passed, a different target clear in his sights.

A smaller Leviathan.

Arios sped on toward the hulking bug as Hallelujah gunned the throttle, GN particles swirling in a fiery trail as it once again shifted to Gundam mode. Legs first, Hallelujah slammed the entirety of the mobile suit into the Leviathan with as much force as he could garner from the GN Drive, barking a laugh at the shudder of its weakened armor.

"Not so tough now, are you?" he drawled, dripping with condescencion as he drove the muzzle of his twin beam rifle into the Leviathan's carapace and began firing wildly.

Unfortunately for Setsuna, even with all the help, the situation was still lost. His suit was all but covered in bugs, he was too out of it to do anything about it himself, and even the Shrikes that were being blasted off were pulling off chunks of the 00 Raiser with it.

Eventually, one of them hit something critical, and a series of explosions, including a few in the main cockpit, rocked the Gundam. When it was all done, the 00 Raiser had lost half of its head, all of one arm and most of another, most of one leg, one of its wing binders was effectively hanging on by a thread, the control system was fried, and there was no communications at all from its pilot.

The Shrikes finally cleared out, turning their attention to more active targets to take down, leaving the Gundam to drift listlessly in the battlefield.

Those few seconds may have bought time for the Ohm, however they had also bought time for the Quarter those final seconds counting down, main cannon power levels reaching that key point of timing. With the main cannon mere seconds away from firing the main cannon, enough time to perform the manoeuvre that he as a swordsman was particularly fond of, one in which they had trained and performed during simulations, "Now is the time! Helmsman,Macross attack!" He ordered with confidence in his crew.

"Quarter all units, we are engaging the Leviathan in close range combat, it is time to finish this, Monster, Brace or clear the deck, this will be a rough ride," His gaze snapping across to tactical, "Ensign Eva, Ready main gun to fire immediately after the attack, let us give them a blow they cannot recover from," With the readings and charge level, the main cannon would be ready just in time for them to follow the initial attack with the knock-out blow.

Seraphim dips beneath the oncoming swarm of Shrikes while Seravee meets them head-on, beam sabers cleaving through whatever Ohm flesh they could reach. His time was limited, Tieria noted with gritted teeth, Seravee's GN condensers couldn't hold out forever. The fact that the Quarter was preparing to fire went without saying.

The jointed hands of Seraphim brace against the anterior of the battered 00 Gundam, the solar furnace at its back keening as it begins to propel both suits away from the lead Leviathan. They plunge through the chaos of alien remains and the smoking wreckage of asteroids, a thread of Shrikes trailing close behind. With Trans-Am out of commission and his particle count still less-than-satisfactory, Tieria could only hope that the cover fire provided by the other mobile suits would be enough to draw the Ohm's attention away.

"Setsuna!" He shouts again, hoping to maybe stir the pilot from unconsciousness.

Edited 2011-05-02 04:37 (UTC)

Feldt's eyes went wide as she saw the damage done to the 00 Raiser. She quickly opened a private line to the damanged Gundam. "Setsuna! Setsuna F. Seiei! 00 Riaser, respond!"

She got no answer from the Gundam Meister. She quickly opened the comms to all the Celestial Being suits. "Dynames, proved cover fire for Seravee and Seraphim as they bring the 00 Raiser back to the Quarter, then cover Arios. Seravee, after returning the 00 Raiser, provide what cover you can. Just be careful."

Feldt was good at making sure the Meisters survived, or at least, survived the best that they could. She really hoped that Setsuna was all right.

Eva nearly doubles over at her station as the wave of other voices hits her, faint as it is from their range. She bites her tongue and furrows her brow so hard she tastes blood and sees bright spots when she opens her eyes. She hates hearing soundless voices - hates it in thought speech and hates it now. It reminds her of being infested. It's even worse, knowing that they can all hear her too. They'll be able to hear her fear and anger and the ugly memories of slavery and torture bubbling up.

Privacy inside one's own head is an illusion she lost over a decade ago, but it still hurts to not be able to pretend.

She shakes it off, forcing herself to focus on the battle; any second left for self-pity and trauma is time when people may be killed and the battle may be lost. She can and will focus. Her fingers fly over the touch-interface of the console, then to her communicator. She's more than grateful for something to do with her hands.

"Roger that. Cannon readied in four...three...two...one..." She breathes a sigh of relief that's almost a laugh as the cannon lists itself as fully recharged. "Cannon is online. At your command."

Wash felt... something, strange and tickling at the back of his head, but there wasn't time to try and figure out what it was. He pressed the controls forward, leaning the Quarter until it approached headfirst, a lance and a much smaller target than the whole chest of the craft. There were so many Shrikes... he could only hope this worked. "Closing in!" he shouted, glancing at Eva. Her hands were shaking. His hands were shaking too - there was too much at stake here and they might have lost someone. Two someones, Wash remembered suddenly. Setsuna had a passenger.

The Quarter passed over the lifeless wreckage of Setsuna's Gundam, but there wasn't time to look for any life signs. He simply launched straight at the Leviathan. The huge Battdroid pulled back one of its arms and punched straight into the gaping hole in the craft's carapace. "Macross Attack, launching!"

Hundreds of missiles exploded from the arm into the center of the Leviathan. "Ready to fire main cannon, Captain!"

Sam was used to ignoring voices in his head. More recent had been Schmuz, of course, but there had been Meg, too. Hauntings, too, where the ghosts had tried getting into his head or Dean's. It meant that the voices that were trying to get in, the ones that he honestly had no clue WHERE the hell they'd come from, were easy enough to ignore. Besides, with the renewed attack, it wasn't like he had time to really think about it.

So he ignored the jangling in his mind and added his guns and torpedoes to the attack, doing his best to keep the Shrikes away from the downed mecha, staying in behind the Quarter to add coverage and avoid the cannons.

"Monster braced and ready, Quarter. I'm staying put - we need every gun we've got."

Rough a ride as this was, he's used to quite literally navigating a hurricane through the spirit world - he can handle this.

Without an absolute lock on a lot of targets, he saves the big missile salvo, but the artillery ship still has the four railguns, which fire into the void again and again, now that he has a shot.

With the Quarter being put into full use, he's not especially trying to pick off targets - just being precise enough to rake the leviathans and shoot into shrike swarms to buy the fighters as much room as possible to maneuver or fall back.

Space Invaders!

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