章 90: NOVA SUPREME VS APOLLO COSMOS part 1
"Oh look! You are still with us, Captain India," joked Nanami, pulling up beside Singh's escape pod that is being flown back by AI to Lunar Alpha.
"F*** you," replied Singh. In a miraculous stroke of luck he managed to eject out to safety just in time before his Mecha is vaporised together with the 3 Deep Dwellers.
Nanami and Frederica pulled up next to Xiao Tian and Sean who had managed to re-organise the surviving members of Diamond Detachment for battle.
"Captains, are you able to hear me?" radioed Xiao Tian, talking to the 4 deployed space warships that were at Lunar Alpha for repairs, which consisted of 1 Einstein-Class heavy battlecrusiser and 3 Pasteur-Class frigates. The video images of their Captains appeared in his cockpit.
"Yes, what's your plan Lieutenant Colonel?" asked the 4 Captains.
"My plan is that the 14 Mechas we have box them in a clear section of space, afterwards, concentrate all of your firepower, especially the heavy fusion cannons on board the Einstein."
"A good plan," replied the Captains as they readied their plasma cannons missiles and fusion cannons for battle.
"On me," radioed Xiao Tian as he charged forward at the charging Deep Dwellers, taking them head-on.
"For the glory of mankind!" yelled Sean, charging after Xiao Tian.
"FOR THE GLORY OF MANKIND!!" yelled the 14 Mecha pilots in unison, unloading their arsenal at the monstrosities, lighting up the pitch black void of space with silent explosions.
(Lunar Alpha)
"And bring this wire over..." muttered Xu Qing, pulling the wires in an opened panel into place.
The railgun powered on.
"PERFECT!!" he exclaimed, immediately turning it in direction of the Deep Dweller swarms.
"I need a gunner!" he yelled.
Ariel climbed into the seat next to him. The 2 are separated by the barrel, similar to the layout of a tank turret.
Ariel turned on the touch-screen interface, checking the ammunition capacity.
"50 rounds, one full magazine!" she exclaimed in delight.
"We have restored one railgun, ready to engage!" radioed Xu Qing.
"Fire at will!" replied Xiao Tian.
He swerved out of the way of a tendril attack by a Deep Dweller.
He then activated Crimson Dragons's close quarter combat systems. The fingers on its robot hands straightened up and popped out slightly, emitting a laser each, able to cut through Deep Dweller skins thanks to their temperatures of 30,000 degree Celsius. The popped up fingers then circulated along the robot palm like a saw blade.
Wielding the 2 saws, Xiao Tian sliced through the tendrils of the Deep Dweller, fending them off, though it is still difficult, akin to using a fruit knife in a butchery.
"Fox 2!" yelled Xiao Tian, firing infrared missiles.
The missiles hit the the Deep Dweller, the pain it created drove it away, creating an opening.
"Now, Sean!" yelled Xiao Tian.
"On it!" yelled Sean, deploying his attack drones, flying towards the Deep Dweller at full speed, firing his arsenal, going for the attack.
Just as he was about to pull the trigger, the Deep Dweller suddenly vanished, and his attacks hit the air.
Recognising that the Deep Dweller just FTL teleported, he turned around to defend himself, but was still too slow, and is caught in its jaws.
To his shock, the Deep Dweller, carrying him, teleported again. Sean's vision went blank in a blinding screen of white similar to that of a broken computer's loading screen, and all of the sensors and systems of his Mecha went offline.
A split second later his vision is restored, though what awaited him is a catastrophic explosion.
"SEAN!!" yelled Frederica in horror upon realising what happened.
The Deep Dweller, taking Sean in its jaws, teleported them straight into the fusion reactor room of the Einstein-Class heavy battlecrusier, destroying the area and opening a huge cavity in the space ship as it did so, killing countless UNSSD crew members.
"Send damage control at once!" ordered the Captain, feeling the ship shudder as one section of the ship fell off thanks to the impact the resultant damage, its smoking remains drifting in space. "Dang it, power's down!"
Sean checked his Mecha's conditions, finding out to his horror that AC-9 is scrapped beyond repair, all that is functional is the escape pod.
"Guys, I need a hand here!" he yelled.
On cue, the Deep Dweller wedged in the wreckage shuddered, and a while later 2 Mechas appeared, collectively pulling it out, freeing Sean's escape path.
"Freddie, Nanami!" exclaimed Sean, seeing AC-2 and AC-3.
"RUN, SEAN, RUN!" yelled Frederica through the radio. She grunted, fighting off the Deep Dweller with Nanami.
Sean activated his escape pod, flying out of the wreckage, heading back to the hangar.
"My, my, this is sure a rough one," laughed Nanami sadistically as she deflected the tendrils with her plasma blade, activating her shield to defend herself from the attacks.
"Hey Freddie, our combo move?" she radioed.
Understanding her twin's cue, Frederica moved AC-2, flying in an upward spiral with Nanami, dragging the tendrils behind them. Through flying in the upward spiral, the tendrils are tied up and locked.
The 2 then directed their Mechas around, firing their arsenal from their Mechas and their drones, blasting the Deep Dweller's tendrils, and charging down full speed.
On cue, they sliced their plasma blades in sync, chopping off a huge portion of the Deep Dweller's tendrils, causing it to shriek silently in pain, flying off.
(Hangar)
"Cover him!" yelled Xu Qing. Ariel fired the railgun, using the fire control systems to accurately hit off the debris around Sean's approaching escape pod and to form a fire screen to ward off Deep Dwellers. The autoloader moved into action, pulling a round from the revolving disk underneath the turret and then loading it into the electromagnetic firing mechanism, firing.
Soon, Sean is pulled in by a metal arm and brought into the hangar.
"God damn it," muttered Sean as he used his Cosmic Energy magic to punch off the escape pod cover, unplugging his drive suit and climbing out with Singh's help.
Looking at Phineas who had came to check him, he immediately asked if he is still fit for battle.
"As expected of an Artemis," mused Phineas, "you are basically unscathed."
Singh chuckled, pointing to his fractured left arm now in a sling.
"Ok great!" exclaimed Sean. "Get me another Mecha, I am going back out!"
Sean turned to the ground crew.
"We are restoring 1 Mecha, but we need more time," said a ground crew personnel.
He pointed to the blast doors, revealing a MS-1870C unit belonging to Team Zero that is being repaired by the ground crew.
Sean then noticed a familiar, unpainted white Mecha stored in a corner. It's armour plating is still as shiny as a well polished ceramic tile, signifying that it is unused.
"Nova Supreme?" he exclaimed.
"You know that Mecha?" asked a surprised Singh.
"Yeah, I was involved in its construction," replied Sean. "Is it armed?"
"It should be, why?" asked Singh.
"Authorise my ID to its AI, I am flying it," said Sean.
"Are you serious?" asked a worried Singh. "Nova Supreme is still under testing and evaluation, it's not deemed combat ready yet!"
"I built it, I have confidence to tame it," replied Sean, trying to assure him.
After a brief hesitation, Singh ordered the ground crew to prepare Nova Supreme for launch.
Sean soon entered the cockpit of Nova Supreme, eyeing the control systems with a slight frown. While the Mark 6 Mecha has the same control interface as the Mark 5 MS-9853 and MS-1870C variants he is used to, there are some differences due to the new features built in.
After getting the hang of it, he signalled that he is ready for connection and launch.
As he prepared himself for launch, he noticed Phineas putting on a drive suit and rushing into the MS-1870C unit that has finished repairs.
"Doctor? What are you doing?" asked Sean.
"I am flying out with you," replied Phineas on the radio. "My Mecha grades are the best among the rest of us."
"Guys, I need you all to listen up!" Xiao Tian's voice came from their radios.
"Kiyoji, you, Eddie and the rest of my men take arms and search the space station at once, this may seem ridiculous, but the only explanation for that is that somehow they have one of our own to help them target our vital areas and weak spots, this is why the Deep Dweller attacks have such strange precision," he analysed. "And the traitor is most likely within the station itself."
"The rest of you, keep that railgun active and help to repair Mechas and rescue casualties."
"On it!" replied Kiyoji. He turned to see Santos, James, Jay and Louis gearing up into the Exo-suits stored in a corner, taking the HK-416s and loaded magazines from their wounded comrades.
"Ready for battle, Captain," grinned Louis, pulling the charging handle.
"Lets go," said Kiyoji, and the 6 of them moved out.
In the meantime, Sean's drive suit connected with the Mecha's AI, and Sean is soon launched out, with Phineas behind him.
Just as the 2 are about to join the battle, a blaring red dot appeared on their 3D holographic interfaces.
The same red dot appeared on the interfaces of other Mechas as well as the radar screens of Lunar Alpha and the space ships.
"There is an unidentified object approaching!" exclaimed Nanami. "Strange, its RFID says that its a friendly UNSSD asset, but why can't I identify it?"
The object appeared in the centre of the swarm of Deep Dwellers, miraculously, none of them attacked it.
All of the senior UNSSD personnel stared in shock at the object.
The object is a Mecha, coloured in the colour schemes of the Sun: red, radiant gold and white. On its back are 2 giant crescent curves that bend backwards, housing extra repulsion jets that heavily resemble that of the rays of a star like the Sun, which hence gave it its name:
"Apollo Cosmos," muttered Huntington, seeing it.
Apollo Cosmos is a hero of the past, its a Mark 4 Mecha that gained fame during the proxy wars between Earth and the border worlds of the Veo Empire 20 years ago, one of the small "hot war" skirmishes of the Cold War between the Veo and GOMCA. After the war, it became a technology demonstrator for UNSSD to test out new equipment, hence still able to keep up with its successors.
Upgrades are only a part of its longevity though, its continued relevance is sustained by its last pilot, Martin Jacques, an Inari UNSSD special forces operator hailing from France who earned the title of the best Mecha pilot in UNSSD, an honour that is unfortunately lost in an accident that happened sometime after the former Squad Artemis' mission in Spain, where both him and Apollo Cosmos are brutally killed and destroyed.
Hence, seeing Apollo Cosmos in one piece is a shock for all of the UNSSD members, as it essentially is similar to witnessing a ghost.
Their radios cracked, and a familiar voice came in from the public frequency.
"Hello there!"
"It's the Inari bastard!" recognised Sean, hearing "Spectre" 's voice. "If he is here, that means that Big Sis and the rest on Earth ran into trouble!" he thought worriedly.
"How are you flying Apollo Cosmos?" asked Nanami.
"Some questions are better left unanswered," "Spectre" chuckled. The Deep Dwellers around him resumed their attacks, prompting the UNSSD Mechas to immediately return to battle.
"We need to buy time for the Einstein! Hold them off with all you have!" ordered Nanami. "Watch out for Apollo!"
"I will handle him!" yelled Sean, volunteering to take on Apollo Cosmos. "Hmph, a Mark 6 against a Mark 4, I ain't scared!" he declared.
He locked on to Apollo Cosmos with his long range active radar homing missiles.
"FOX 3!"
The missiles fired, "Spectre" grinned, quickly maneuvering, popping flares as he did. The missiles hit the flares, enveloping the Mecha in harmless smoke.
"Spectre" cleared the smoke, surprised to see Nova Supreme missing.
It then appeared behind him, wielding its plasma staff, going for the kill. "Spectre" quickly turned around, blocking the blow with Apollo Cosmos' shield in the nick of time.
"Not bad..." exclaimed "Spectre". He is excited at finally being able to have a proper Mecha showdown.
"This will be fun."
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