[X] Insist on continuing to search for your team and Alex team. However, you'll be doing it without Amuro's help. Some backup from Artesia's forces would be appreciated, though.
"I… Artesia, ma'am, thank you for the offer, but I need to continue looking for my friends." You look at Sicilia, who nods back. "I'm their leader, and my Captain entrusted me with a mission. I'm continuing on."
"Hold on," Amuro cuts in, clearly worried, "You can't go in alone! It's far too dangerous, I can-"
"Captain Ray, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but it's more important that someone you trust brings you up to speed." You counter, "After that's done, feel free to help, preferably with more weapons than just the waist beam cannon. Sir."
"Amuro, she'll be fine." Artesia reassured her friend, before addressing you, "Most of my forces will be withdrawing, but I'll leave you with one of my personal guards. She should be more than enough."
She heads back through the opening she made, leaving you and Amuro little choice but to follow her. The path of destruction goes through a couple of hallways and what appears to be an old restaurant, before exiting into what must have once been a gorgeous arboretum. Not anymore, as the screens that used to make up the fake sky are all dark and dangling, and all the plants are shriveled and pale, dead from exposure to hard vacuum.
Also, it looks like there was a Mobile Suit battle in here, so the ground is ravaged, and there are scorch marks all over the walls.
"Lady Deikun!" A new face pops up on your monitors as a golden Qubeley approaches the three of you, "I attempted to apprehend the Gundam, but they escaped! I apologize deeply for my failure."
The young woman has the same purple eyes and pale red hair as your Little Sis… in fact, she looks like a grown-up version of her.
"Don't worry, Camilla." Artesia talks to her guard, presumably, and you see Amuro mouth, "Lady Deikun?"
"Ma'am," An older man appears, apparently piloting a customized light green Zaku III, "Arlette and I searched everywhere, but we can't find the-"
He looks at Amuro and freezes on the spot.
"-Sazabi?!"
Artesia smiles a bit at that reaction, "Yes, Danton, we've located our objective, and a bit more. We're returning to the ship. Except for you, Camilla, please provide escort for our friend from Londo Bell here. She is attempting to rejoin her allies who are deeper in Axis."
Camilla nods obediently, "Of course, my Lady. Danton, I entrust the safety of Lady Deikun to you. Should harm befall her, I shall personally murder you."
"Haha, I didn't think you had a sense of humor, Camilla!" Danton chuckles, but trails off when she doesn't change her serious expression, "That… That was a joke, right? You're joking, of course. Right?"
She doesn't bother to answer him. Rather, she's rather focused on you now.
Sicilia leans forward in her seat, fixated on this Camilla woman. The two stare at each other for a while, long enough for Artesia to leave with the others. It's just you and this golden Qubeley now.
"I felt you before," Camilla finally speaks, addressing Sicilia, "back at Von Braun. You're… so young."
Little Sis nods, "I was asleep for a long time! Big Sis here woke me up!"
The older one looks to you, nodding, "You are her Master?"
What? Master? You, uh, you just nod, you guess.
"Take care of her." She looks past you, "I shall follow you. Don't worry, you're safe with me."
You really need to figure out what's going on with Sicilia and her sisters. Although you doubt that anything that has to do with mass production clones of a Cyber Newtype is simple.
Axis-Shipyard Five-Ten Minutes Later
Eris grips at her controls, swearing under her breath as she fires again at the enemy Jegan. But the damn thing has some kind of large, bulky backpack hooked up to an emitter of some sort on its left arm where the shield would go, and it erects a sort of… she doesn't know how else to describe it, a shield of sort made out of beams!
"Theo!" She ducks back behind the wreckage of a Komusai as the multiple enemy units rain fire down on her position from the derelict Gwazine at the other side of the shipyard, "I need fire on that weird Jegan!"
"I'm trying!" He shouts, his shoulder beam cannons firing downrange at the same Jegan as it steadily approaches their position, shield raised, "I can't get through that barrier!"
Mort tries firing at it, to similar effect, "Ditto, what the hell is that?"
Theo has to do a double take when he sees another similar-looking Jegan drop down from the Gwazine to follow its friend, "Uh, guys, don't look now but I think there's two of them."
"Damn it!" Eris looks around for anything she could use, and her eyes land on an old fuel truck. Maybe it still has propellant in it?
Without hesitation she picks it up and hurls it at the forward-most Jegan, which raises its shield to block.
The explosion is tremendous, but once the flames die she can still see the telltale glow of that beam shield… which flickers… then dies.
The Jegan emerges from the smoke, that emitter on the arm mangled and torn, along with a portion of the arm itself.
"Heh, I'm all for field tests," She smirks, popping up out from behind cover and leveling every beam weapon she has at it, "but you picked the wrong test targets!"
Shoulder Beam Cannons, Beam Rifle, and Thigh Beam Cannons all roar, the veritable wall of fire virtually deleting the Jegan on the spot, save for a bit around the reactor. It collapses in a heap of slag, barely recognizable.
"Overkill much?" Theo asks as he changes targets to the second Shield Jegan, which has begun to retreat back behind friendlies.
"If it works, it works," Eris shrugs, "I don't have a second fuel truck though. How about for that second one, we-"
She doesn't get to finish, as at that instant a small golden Funnel zips down from the ceiling and attacks the Jegan from the front. It raises the shield to defend, and it works… and they don't notice the three other Funnels that take up position behind it. The Funnels fire again, and the Jegan falls, melted clean through from the back.
"Hey guys!" A familiar voice laughs over their comms, "Miss me?!"
Eight enemy Mobile Suits, two Jegans, three GM IIIs, two cobbled-together Guncannons, and one GM Custom.
Easy enough.
You scream down from the upper level, smashing into the top of the Gwazine in the middle of the enemy formation. You spear one of the Guncannons from behind with your Heat Blade, while Sicilia seizes a GM III with the Claw. She shoots the Beam Gun, then hurls it into one of the Jegans. The survivors scatter, taking fire from your team, but the GM Custom faces you down.
"What is this guy doing?" You mutter as it steps forward, tossing aside its Beam Rifle and Shield, before drawing both of its Beam Sabers. Are they an idiot? Shouldn't you just shoot him and be done with it? What point is there in obliging a Saber duel?
…
It'll be fun, that's what.
"Stay back, everyone," You tell the others as you convert both Composite Shield Boosters into Heat Blade mode, "This one is mine."
Around the two of you the battle rages, Camilla's Qubeley using her Funnels to herd the Birnam Pilots towards your team who absolutely decimate them now that their formation is broken. But your world narrows down to you and this GM Custom.
"Um, Big Sis?" Sicilia pipes up, "Can't we just shoot him?"
You shush her gently, "That'd be rude. Let Big Sis take care of him."
The GM Custom's eye flashes, and an audio feed plays, "Thank you for accepting my challenge. There aren't many with honor these days."
The man sounds old, likely a OYW veteran if he's opting to fly a GM Custom. You just laugh at his praise.
"I don't know what you mean by honor, old man! I just think this'll be fun!"
He doesn't reply to that. That's fine. This exchange isn't about words, after all.
Both of you boost forward at the same time, locking blade to blade. Beam grates against Heat Blade, and the blows rebound. You both put a little distance between each other, then clash again. You went for his cockpit, but he parried. He went for your chest, you parried.
You've trained in melee combat before in the sims, but this… this is unlike anything you've ever done in the sims outside of shits and giggles (like the A Baou Qu sim you ran with the parameter set to melee-only). And it's different. When he slashes and thrusts, it's like you can tell what direction it's coming from! You're one step ahead of him, but he's skilled, deflecting your slashes just as well! You've got this Newtype intuition thing going for you, but he's just a seasoned veteran!
Strangely, you find this kind of combat fun. Not like the rip and tear kind of glee you get when you brutalize the opponent with your Heat Blades, but it's like a contest of skill. Killing you is just a secondary goal for him, you get the sense, his real aim is to prove his superiority at melee combat! How he's survived so long, you don't know, but apparently fate favors this guy.
Also, as a soldier of fortune he must have a good reputation. You doubt he'd be able to find a job otherwise, with such an old MS. He must have customized the hell out of it to match the performance of the Woundwort… kind of.
Truth be told, your Heat Blades are just really damn big. Every move you make is telegraphed in the dozens of meters.
He jumps back, dropping into some weird stance that he obviously programmed into his MS. Looks like it's straight out of a martial arts movie.
"Behold," he speaks, "the ultimate technique I honed through countless battles during the One Year War! HEAVENLY BEA-!"
A single Beam Rifle shot cores his cockpit from the side. It just stands there in that stupid pose for a second, then collapses like an abandoned puppet.
… Lame.
Off to the side, at one of the many entrances to the Shipyard, Christina's Rick Dijeh lowers its weapon as her team files in behind her.
"Oh," She looks at you, "Sorry, it's just, he was open."
"No need to apologize," Eris chuckles, coming over from where she finished off the last Birnam MS, "Any longer and I think Cybele was going to start shouting attack names too."
Theo stares at the fallen GM Custom, muttering in disbelief, "What kind of bizarre behavior was that?"
Mort makes his MS shrug, "You find all sorts in paramilitary. Anyways, I guess we found Alex Team."
"Yeah, where were you guys?" Eris asks, a bit exasperated. It's a feeling you share.
Christina goes silent for a few seconds, before reluctantly answering, "We… got lost."
"Oh, but hey!" She quickly changes topics, looking to the Qubeley, "Who's your friend?"
Camilla pops up on screen again, "I am Camilla of the Republic of Zeon's Royal Guard. Pleased to meet you."
She turns to you, "Now that you have found your allies, my mission is complete. I will return to my ship."
"Bye Bye!" Sicilia waves, making Camilla nod before she cuts the line and heads down towards the hangar doors at the far end of the Shipyard.
"… Okay, Commander Mackenzie, the Captain asked us to find you." You look back to your fellow team leader, "We've finished scouting out the enemy forces. They possess a Mobile Armor, but it wasn't active the last time we saw it. We want to take it out, preferably with your help."
"Wait," Eris cuts in, "Weren't we supposed to report back in with the Bellerophon before we did anything else?"
"Yes," you admit, "but while we didn't leave any survivors here, a Gundam belonging to this group, they're a paramilitary organization called Birnam, by the way, got in a fight with me and a few others. It managed to get away, and no doubt told the others that we're here. I don't think we have much time before that Mobile Armor is up and running, and even with all of us I don't want to fight that thing while it's active."
You send Christina and her team the photos you took, and you hear a sharp intake of breath from her.
"Do you know about that Mobile Armor?" You ask her. If she does, maybe she knows what it's capable of!
"…Maybe," she answers cryptically, "Everyone, come here. Contact links only."
Weird, but okay. Everyone links hands and switches to secure local communication. Only you all will hear what's about to be said.
"Okay, so what I tell you doesn't leave this mission, although it's fine to tell the Captain so long as we tell her not to tell anyone who doesn't need to know." Christina begins, "I'm under an NDA. If they get wind I told anyone about this, Anaheim is going to sue my ass all the way to Jupiter."
Everyone nods. Sounds a bit dramatic, but you wouldn't wish Anaheim Electronic's Legal Team on anyone.
"Back when I worked with them, this was around 0083," She continues, "I saw some materials from another development team. I wasn't directly involved, but I saw enough to need to sign an NDA. That Mobile Armor has the exact same layout as a Mobile Armor AE developed called the Dendrobium."
"A top-secret Mobile Armor?" You muse, "Huh, what about it entailed the secrecy?"
"I don't know, all things considered the specs were nothing earth-shattering," Christina shrugs, "but that's neither here nor there. What is relevant is that this Mobile Armor is likely highly-mobile, designed with a plethora of weapon systems, all designed to engage multiple Mobile Suits at the same time and come out on top. It's likely controlled by a docked MS as well."
"I see," Eris nods, "What do you think our chances are if we have to fight it?"
She cringes, "Not good. We don't have any heavy-hitters here. The Dendrobium had an I-Field. If this one does as well, then our only hope would be-"
Christina trails off as she looks at Mort, noticing all his empty missile tubes.
"-nevermind. No hope. We don't stand a chance against it."
"All the more important that we take it out now, before they start it up." You propose, "Don't you agree, Commander Mackenzie?"
"…Yes. I do agree. I just worry that it's already active." She shakes her head, "If it is, we'll be destroyed."
"So we should get this done quickly." You insist. Eris raises her hand excitedly.
"Oh, Cybele! We're pretty close to some of the Mobile Suit hangars, the ones where they keep the good stuff, supposedly! Maybe we should go looking for some extra firepower, if we're going to duke it out with a Mobile Armor!"
That does sound like a good idea, but…
"That gives them more time to activate the Mobile Armor," you point out, "and what if we don't find anything useful?"
There's quiet as everyone considers what has just been said.
"They're all valid plans," Christina finally says, "Personally, I think we should launch an attack as soon as possible. If we really do need more weapons, we can retreat and search then."
Unspoken, is the risk that someone might not come back if it really is active.
[] Agree with Commander Mackenzie. That Mobile Armor must die, and ASAP.
[] Argue to return to the Bellerophon. The Captain needs to know about this before you do anything.
[] Argue for Eris's plan. You would rather approach this fight loaded to bear, and if you don't find anything and the Mobile Armor is active, retreat is always an option.
