TARRRPG Chapter 5: African Assault pt. 2

[Sume Gai]

Masaki Adoh

"Where are we, Meow?" Shiro asked but would not receive an answer. the Navigation system they had picked up before leaving the Gibraltar base had "exploded" about five minutes after leaving and Masaki unable to find his way back was left wondering again.

"hey I see lights ahead there must be a city Meow!" this time Kuro had spoken and sure enough a large city sat on the horizon.

"Hey Shiro, Kuro lets see if we can get some food in this place-"

"and directions...meow" Masaki glared at Kuro but nonetheless they agreed to land and get some food.

(OOC: tell me what you need Cybaster)

[Cybaster]

(OOC: Just have Masaki be Masaki. Cutting to the chase... ^^)

Calais

It took a while longer than that before Masaki finally found his way to the Grand Lighthouse Cafe --- and his waiting 'guest', who looked up from behind opaque sunglasses and smiled. Raising his hand briefly, he signalled Masaki and his familiars over --- Masaki was expected. After a pause, the man glanced at Shiro and Kuro, smiled and nodded in greeting at them, and turned back to Masaki.

"At last." The man greeted in a deep, polite voice, and gestured for Masaki to sit down opposite him. "Welcome, Masaki. As you no doubt see now, you are expected. Go ahead and call me 'Dreamer', for now. That will suit me fine, in fact. Do you want anything?"

The man, Dreamer, paused and smiled as he waited for Masaki to order.

"Now, I'm aware of you being a busy man, Masaki, so I shall be brief. I'm very well aware of your reputation as a Freelancer, Mr. Andou, and in this ongoing three-way battle between the Federation, Fandom and Divine Crusaders," Dreamer trailed off for a moment after the last name thrown. "I require...a little help from someone who is considerably outside their loop. Someone who gives plausible deniability if needs be, and yet has considerable fighting ability on their own if needed.

"Rest assured, Masaki --- you'll not be asked to do anything that is beneath your morals or asked to directly involve yourself in the ongoing war. For a pilot of your caliber, in fact, it should be a relatively simple task." Dreamer nodded. "You'll be suitably compensated for your troubles, of course. 60,000 credits --- 25,000 in advance for operations, up front, right here. You'll obtain the rest when you complete the mission. It's that simple.

"That is, of course...if you're interested."

[hellbore]

Hellbore raced along the corridors towards the reported open hatch, clutching his side-arm tightly. He ran into every corner he made, and his shoulder ached by the time he reached Gai's location. He saw the other pilot climb slowly up the access ladder. Hellbore moved closer to back him up.

[Lowind]

(OOC: Strike, Lets not verbose all that data and assume Leon told me everything "offscreen")

"I see. So that's what the Thanatos is capable of. We will be looking forward to your support in future battles." Lowind said as the communication line was severed at last.

"That's that. So Leon isn't a traitor... Wonder why he fled to the Thanatos and risk exposing the location of that secret weapon instead of just withdrawing back to here instead. His presence would really have helped with morale." He thought as he gulped down the water, not good at talking for long periods of time.

"Anyway, what happened to the carriers? I read the report saying that they were scheduled to be here before the battle just now."

"That's due to some communication breakdown, Sir. But I have confirmed they are en route."

"Sure hope they do..."

[Sume Gai]

Masaki Adoh

Masaki didn't like this guy he was treating him like a mercenary.

"Listen bub, all I want is to find Shu I don't need any side jobs and I'm not a merc."

[sephiroth00055]

Sephiroth

After days of training and tests in the simulators Sephiroth began to grow tired of the simulated combat. He yearned for the real thing. He approached the cyborg and asked him, "Where do I find Bian? All I know about this base is the simulators and my sleeping quarters. Now, tell me where he is. I need to have a word or two with him." He waited for a response.

[Sume Gai]

Alex Bloke

Sephiroth's demands were not unexpected.

"I cannot guarantee he will meet with you. Come this way."

Alex was aware of Kylern's actions but when he requested orders he was told they would send Lions for back-up and he was to continue monitoring Sephiroth. He turned and guided Sephiroth through the labyrinth of corridors to Commander Zoldark's office. He knocked twice.

Commander Zoldark, Pilot Sephiroth wishes to see you."

[Wingnut]

- Bian -

Bian was working quietly in his office when there was a knock on the door.
"Commander Zoldark, Pilot Sephiroth wishes to see you." came the voice of the cyborg pilot, Alex Bloke.

Although not looking forward to listening to him, Bian figured that he would have to deal with him sooner or later.

"Very well, send him in."

[sephiroth00055]

Sephiroth entered the room, and shut the door. "So, Bian... I have been on the simulators for days now. When are me and the Terror Judgment going to see some action?" Sephiroth said, with some hostility in his voice. "I beleive I have proven my skill to you. Had it not been two on one I would have beaten either of those other two. Anyway, you have to have something for us to do? He waited for Bian to answer.

[Cybaster]

-"Dreamer"-

"Ah. Of course --- I would be wasting your time if I had not accounted for that, Masaki. What if I told you that completion of this job will...eventually lead you to the Granzon and Shuu Shirakawa?" Dreamer nodded, not looking hurt by Masaki's retort at all. "See, what I need help on involves the fringes of the Divine Crusaders, but it needs to be discreet; This cannot result in a direct battle, which is where you would come in. The Divine Crusaders...That is where Shuu is, Masaki, as I'm sure you're no doubt aware --- and look at it this way, you're an hour and a half late coming here. You'll never find Shuu on your own that way...not on your own."

A pause.

"Trust me, Masaki. Help me with this, and Bian Zoldark will find you eventually --- even soon afterwards. And finding Bian will lead you to Shuu. That would be as close as you can get so far to Shirakawa thus far, at any rate." At that, Dreamer smiled and took one more sip of his tea, then looked back up evenly at Masaki. "With that in mind, are you willing to at least listen to what I would like you to help me with?"

[Sume Gai]

Masaki Adoh

Now the man had his interest. "So if I do this I'll find Shu? Fine I'll hear you out."

reluctantly Masaki took a seat and waited for Dreamer to continue.

[Cybaster]

-"Dreamer"-

"Excellent."

Masaki could've sworn Dreamer's smile got wider as he reached into his coat pocket, searched there for awhile, and finally pulled out three photographs from his coat pocket and laid them out on the table, in front of Masaki. Waiting for Masaki to take his own look at them, Dreamer's expression was otherwise unreadable. "That, Masaki," Dreamer said evenly, maintaining a calm glance. "Is your goal."

The first photo was that of a pretty, long blond-haired young woman with a spunky look, a blue bandanna around her forehead, and a curly-looking white top.

"Masaki Andou, meet Lune Zoldark --- sole daughter of DC Commander Bian Zoldark himself. Now, you must understand, Masaki, when your own father's a known, renouned and infamous revolutionary leader, everyone asks you about it," Dreamer nodded. "And overnight you become very important in the right hands --- in the wrong hands, even moreso. Having a natural wanderlust doesn't help, either, because it makes protecting you extremely difficult, and the more they try, the more you run away.

"That, Masaki, is Lune in a nutshell --- and pretty much why if you complete this, Bian --- and Shuu --- will find you. Here's your task. Obviously, we cannot let either the Federation or the Fandom grab a hold of her as a bargaining chip. The Federation cannot be trusted, and the Fandom...well, I'll leave it to your imagination exactly what they'll do to her if they capture Lune. We have to keep it discreet, as well; a sizable force looking for her will draw attention, and direct battle will be what Sterling is counting on. And obviously, she won't listen to a Divine Crusader, much less rely on one to protect her."

A pause as Dreamer took another sip of his tea collectedly.

"So that's where you come in. She's never met you before, she's your age, and to be honest...she has a better chance of listening to you. I want you to find her --- our last whereabouts pinpoint her somewhere over North American airspace, near Midwest America --- and escort her to a designated rendez-vous point where we can at least ascertain her safety and take over from there. The hardest part would probably be to persuade her to follow you and let herself go back to the DC, even if it's just temporarily; She's got a hard head. That's all there is to it."

[Sume Gai]

Masaki Adoh

Masaki looked, slightly dispassionately, at the photos. He had to admit she was kinda cute though. He sat back and considered the proposition. If he took the offer he might be able to find Shu something he had so far failed to do.

"fine I'll do it."

Shiro and Kuro hadn't done much since the exchange began but Shiro decided now was the time to ask a nagging question.

"So how do think Masaki will get to the American Midwest Meow?"

"Yeah he hasn't found Shu yet so what makes you think he'll find his way to this Lune girl Meow?"

[Kylern]

-South Pacific-

The enemy didn't seem to notice him until the last moment... The 707 rocketed towards the two lumbering carriers with its confidence boosters giving it that extra thrust to get in close. Then Kylern did something really odd... He jumped from his board and sent it on a collision course with the last of the first of the enemy carriers.

Despite auto-cannon fire they were unable to shoot down the high speed missile and the beam engulfed weapon slammed into the side of the aircraft and plowed all the way through taking everything in its path with it. Throwing the 707s boosters into high power the pilot attempted to continue after the enemy plane until it finally touched down on one of its wings.

Now finally the enemy were able to deploy its mechs, 6 GN-Xs in all it seemed came out of the back of the carriers. Too bad for them Kylern had no intention of playing games and his board came back to him where he aimed it at the nearest GN-X. The weapon was in Launcher Neutral mode and after pushing the beam capacitor to to max he fired a beam that not only pierced the small beam shield on the units arm but incineratored the unit itself. Then he transformed the blade into its sword mode where he cut the wing right off the enemy aircraft carrier with the overpowered beam blade.

Kylern could feel the ship start to give under him as it began to lose airspeed. This was not the end though as he ran across the top of the ship using his oversized blade to cut through engines and everything else that stuck out from the ship. And finally it was finished with a powerbomb shoved into a thin part of the ship that connected the bridge to the rest of it. When the grenade exploded the bridge was blown clean of the rest of the vessel and it began to not only go down but go down in a blaze of explosion.

"One more ship and 5 more GN-Xs and this will be over. I am not a failure." It was now time to fight with the other mechs.

[Cybaster]

-"Dreamer"-

In response, Dreamer tossed something gently at Masaki, flinging his right hand outwards; It landed in Masaki's hands, revealing a circular puck-like gadget with a crystal display and a simple button at the bottom. "In that case, what you need is a compass, Masaki. This should help; Press the button to turn it on, press it again to turn it off. It'll tell you where you are in the world, what direction is where, and most importantly...which direction you're going.

"In Lune's case, though, it's a bit tougher. Your best bet once you get there is to scan for unidentified contacts that don't belong to either Federation or Fandom robots." Dreamer nodded. "And after you find Lune, bring her to Point Alpha, which is near Vandenburg. The compass will point you to it at all times. And don't worry about your advance payment; By the time you get out of Calais, it'll be transferred to you."

Dreamer stood up at that, arms crossed at a 90 degree angle behind his back, and nodded with a bow. "Best of luck to you, Masaki. My thanks for helping us on this endeavor."

[Sume Gai]

Masaki Adoh

Masaki watched Dreamer leaving unsure of what to think of the man. He had already accepted this and was eager to find Shu so he decided to set off immediately, if he could find his way back to the Cybuster...

(OOC: and if that's all you need I'll leave the rest to you and Wingnut)

[Strike Zero]

The man could sense that somebody had followed him. He cast a glance back where he'd came and found one of the Gundam pilots poking his head out of the hatch.

Brave of him to follow. But, utterly fruitless.

The man faced forward again, continued walking and came to a halt near the middile of the rear of the deck.

"Mirage Colloid system, deactivate," he said.

The voice-recognition audio sensors detected the speaking of this phrase and quickly triggered a response. There was a loud bending of air and the space in front of the man began to destort. Then, something began to appear. The shape of a torso, then arms, and legs, and finally a menacing horned head appeared, all seeming to shed some sort of invisible skin.

What revealed itself was the towering, dark form of the Gundam Astray Gold Frame Amatu. It was set down in a kneeling position, waiting to carry out its masters command.

The man cast one final glance at his pursuer, then turned and lept into the air. Amazingly, the jump carried him all the way up to the Amatu's cockpit. He landed at the opening's edge, and slid inside, closing the cockpit hatch behind him. Setting the Captain's body down gently beside him, he then proceeded to begin the start-up sequence. In seconds, the Amatu came to life, its generator huming with power.

The path was set. It was time to leave the stage.

The Amatu raised its right arm, pointing its Trikeros to the sky, then fired a specialy-mounted weapon pod into the air. The weapon was an EMP bomb--one final gift for the ship that had been his home for the past couple of days. The Gundam then leaped into the air, spread its wings, and sped off along the opposite direction of the Osprey's flight path. Flying at full speed, the Amatu would be able to escape the blast radius in time.

But the Osprey wouldn't.

The blast as the EMP bomb went off was less than spectacular, but the crew would no doubt be feeling the effects of the weapon very soon...

[Wingnut]

- Ryker, Osprey bridge -

The blast came without warning and suddenly many of the Osprey's systems began shutting down.

"Report!"

"Sir, we're losing power all over the ship. It's like we got hit by an EMP or something." came the reply to Ryker's inquiry.

"Initiate "Dead Stick" emergency landing protocol immediately."

"Roger!"

"Dead Stick" was a technique not too unlike the scenario where a lone pilot would have to land his plane with the engine off. Despite the Osprey being much larger than a fighter, the process was largely the same. It was also fortunate that the Osprey had cleared the mountains and had nothing but open desert in front of her to land on.

Several minutes and many kilometers later, the Osprey managed to land safely on the desert sands.

"Damage report."

"Sir, all primary electronic systems are out. Backup systems are not responding either."

Ryker was now faced with a dire situation of being trapped almost behind enemy lines and it would take hours to fix the damage caused by the blast.
"Begin repairs at once."

Help however was on the way as Ryker had just gotten the laser communication from the satellite that Lt. Ryder was on the way back with substantial firepower that could help the Osprey out of the jam she now found herself in.

- Wingnut, Osprey hanger -

Whatever just happened, it managed to bring down the Osprey without anyone knowing about it beforehand.

After gathering himself from the landing Wingnut turned to the rest of the hanger. "All right, I don't know what just happened that caused us to crash, but we should be prepared for the worst. Get all mobile suits ready for combat ASAP. The Fandom may try and attack while we're down here."

Fortunately, the hanger was the one place on the Osprey designed with extra electromagnetic shielding and thus the mobile suits were spared the effects of the EMP that was set off.

[Kylern]

-South Pacific-

The large carrier started to go down as the 707 pushed off it. A few more aims of its large beam weapon Kylern fired a burst of shots into the back of the ship creating more explosions and sending the massive carrier plumbeting into the ocean in a ball of fire.

The enemy now began its counter attack as the five remaining GN-Xs fired on him with their beam rifles. Using his Confidence boosters Kylern thrust vectored from side to side as he slowly lost altitude. Whatever shots he could not dodge he reflected away with the Gun-shield on the other arm. A random GN-X drew its beam saber and entered melee with the slowly falling 707. But during its swing Kylern blocked with his own massive sword. Upon connection with the blades the Temjin released a beam discharge from the sword overwhelming the enemy unit and disintegration it with a wave of beam energy.

"Another one down... Whose next?" Very cliche but he was getting into this. The other GN-Xs held back and fired on him with their beam rifles instead of entering melee. Kylern just transformed his weapon into its slider mode and took after the last surviving carrier with his enemies in hot pursuit. One poor GN-X didn't notice as the white mech dropped a powerbomb right in its path like a mine destroying the unit as it plowed into the explosive. 3 more units to take down as well as that last carrier.

[Zangetsu]

After the crash Zangetsu raced down to the hangar. In mere moments he had doned his pilot suit and climed into the Sonicscream's cockpit. 'Okay running through the start up, bringing all weapons and systems online.' he thought. Seeing as it was pointless to launch he walked out of the rear hatch, and once he was clear took off into the sky. "Okay everyone so far the sky is clear for now but, that crash isn't going to go unanswered for long. I'm going to need some support out here." he said as he serveyed the area.