Post by wingstrike on Sept 7, 2012 16:56:51 GMT -5
Chapter 1 - Unity
MS Saga: Chronicles of the heroes
“Begin testing.”
“I’d say that if this works the company will be fine for the next three years.”
A group of scientists stood in a lab working.
“Let’s just make sure it works first, then we’ll celebrate the breakthrough.”
The others nodded.
“It was thanks to you though sir, but you really don’t have to be here working with us.”
“I prefer the lab any day to my office, you never really know how to work a company until you’ve become a real part of it.” The lead scientist was Cecil Harlow, a slightly short individual with shoulder length brown curled hair. After the fall his family’s company, among the rest of the world’s industries, he and his sister had rebuilt it. Now leading one of the top medical technology companies he insisted not to be tied down to a desk.
Suddenly his phone rang, Harlow steped out of the lab and answered it.
"Harlow."
"Cil it's Rowan."
"Hey Rowan, haven't heard you in a while, do they not give you any free time in the MS Division?"
Rowan didn't sound at ease though.
"Listen to me, you need to get out of there, now."
"Why what's going on?"
Back at the base Rowan double checked the screen in front of him to make sure this wasn't some horrible nightmare.
"Something's coming, we've lost communication with all the bases these things have passed."
"Well what are they?"
He didn't reply for a moment.
"Mobile suits, it's like the Fall but worse. One of the contacts is heading straight for Brussels."
Whatever had Rowan and the military on edge was heading straight for them.
"Mobile suits? Are you kidding or something?"
"Find Natalie, get out of there."
The line went dead.
Harlow stood there for a moment; the shock of what he'd just been told hadn't sunk in yet.
Quickly he sprang to action, ordering an immediate evacuation of the building he ran over to the hospital block and barged into his sister’s office.
“Cil what the hell’s going on here?”
He quickly explained the phone call he had received. Minutes later they were heading out of the city as fast as they could, as they drove past other buildings more people were seen beginning to evacuate. Clearly word had spread quickly that something was approaching the city and whatever it was, people didn’t want to stick around to find out.
“Get me a sitrep now!”
“Tangos are heading for the city, thirty seconds until contact.”
“Strike teams, 180 seconds to intercept.”
A satellite feed displayed the city and the surrounding area.
“I want that target painted! What’s the report from the ground teams?”
One of the officers turned to the commanding officer.
“No sighting yet.”
"We have confirmation from the Channel fleet on missile readiness."
As soon as these unknown suits came into range of a ground team they'd tag it with a laser and have the fleet in the channel fire off a barrage. That is, if they ever got the chance.
"Sir we're losing contact with eastern ground teams."
"Enemy signals now detected within the city."
All over the city people looked up to see a group of mobile suits hovering in the air, they panicked, running as fast as they could to get away from these new machines. The last thing people saw was a blinding white light.
"Natalie, look."
She stopped and looked behind her, the city was gone. Reduced to nothing in a manner of seconds. Natalie turned forwards again and placed her head on the wheel, she started sobbing.
"They're all gone. Everyone, gone."
Her brother placed an arm over her, trying to reassure her.
"Nats."
She looked up at him.
"We need to be strong and keep going."
She nodded, dried her eyes and started the car. They drove further out into the countryside until they came across a large house, home. They went inside and sat down.
"We should be safe, whatever those were don't seem interested in the countryside."
Natalie saw her older brother feeling the same pain as she did, but he was suppressing it, bottling it up so that it wouldn't effect him.
"There's got to be some kind of resistance against these things. By now everyone in Belgium will have evacuated major cities but we can't keep running."
Natalie didn't hear him, she was drowning in the memories of people she'd just lost. So many lives gone in the blink of an eye, hadn't people suffered enough already when the Fall happened?
"Natalie?"
She snapped back to reality.
"Sorry?"
"Remember how apparently there was a civilian emergency radio network during the Fall?"
"You think someone's sending out a beacon?" her eyes had changed, for the moment she was going to put this behind her.
He nodded, Cecil explained that they probably had attacked places like the US and Asia before Europe so potentially there could be survivors there.
"So what do we do?" she asked "And so what if there is a beacon active?"
"It means we can get information on anything, resistances, tactical plans, patterns. If someone is staging a fight they'll need help. Whatever attacked us needs to be driven back, that makes it everyone's fight."
"Yeah, you're right. We need a plan."
Quickly Cecil grabbed his laptop and started it up, their parents had had this house designed with certain safeguards in place for after the Fall. A program that allowed a laptop to use the aerial to look fo radio wavelengths for example and decode them.
"Anything?"
The screen showed a new wave pattern being picked up.
"Some bright spark is sending a ton data on what they call the 'UE'." He decrypted it and started to read. "Good god."
"What's wrong?"
He pointed at a particular piece of data, if correct explained why no-one had heard from the US government for over a year. One year ago the UE had attacked the entire northern continent, teams sent in to investigate never returned. Eventually survivors were rumoured to have made it to Europe, stories spread of how the major cities had been razed to the ground. More recently communications were lost with Russia and Asia too, very likely for the same reason.
"We don't go off half-cocked, plan our next steps first."
"Valen."
A tall imposing man walked into a room several thousand kilometres away.
"They've spread through Europe." he said gruffly.
"I know, they're tearing a line from east to west, most likely they'll go for the UK and circle back to hit the Scandinavian counties."
The large man stood there, unimpressed. "We should go out and fight them."
"Marco you know we can't, even if we took all our suits we don't have enough skilled pilots. You know as well as anyone I don't want to stay cooped up in here but we are not going out on a suicide mission. We'd be overwhelmed in a matter of minutes. For now we stick to surgical strikes."
Marco paced around the room, Valen in the mean time kept his eyes fixed on the large table showing a real time map of Europe.
"What about Briar?" suggested Maro.
"For the last time no, I am not sending this team into a no-win scenario. We bide our time and hit them at their weakest points, soon we'll salvage enough to attack them in tougher spots. Trust me, as soon as we have the strength we'll go out and raze them to the ground."
Marco said nothing, if there was one person he wouldn't gladly flatten it was Valen. Instead he turned and walked out through the door, as the it began to close Marco stuck his head through the door.
"Valen."
"What is it?" asked Valen, looking up from the map.
"That green haired chick's back, again. Says she wants to talk to you, again."
Valen tried to resist the urge to go up them himself and show them what life was like lacking a major joint in the body, or the limb it was attached to.
"Tell them I'm busy and we're not interested, and do something to stop them waltzing in through the front door."
He nodded and left.
Valen wanted to go our and scrap some U.E. units as much as Marco did, but there was no chance that he would go out on a death wish. After all, his genetic enhancements made him stronger, faster and smarter, not crazy.
"This is absolute nuts."
A beam sniper rifle blast tore through the air, and another and another and another. All of them struck a different suit in the enemy aerial squadron and crippled them, each U.E. suit sent crashing down to the ground. Even if they had seen the shots come at them they wouldn't have seen their source, a cloaked mobile suit hastily made its way across the ground surrounding the orbital elevator: a massive pillar stretching up into space.
It had taken decades to build but it's purpose quickly made up for the time. An orbital elevator was an incredibly efficient method of travelling to space and back, a number of high speed linear trains allowed both cargo and passengers rapid transit either way. The U.E. had left it intact, some speculated that there was no need, destroying it was a waste of energy, others believed that the U.E. themselves were using the elevator for their own needs.
As the surviving member of the defence teams, Axl Zephyrtek had made it his personal responsibility to try and take back the elevator. Even if it meant a one-man crusade in a custom sniper mobile suit. It had been difficult to make progress as it was literally one suit versus an army.
MS Saga: Chronicles of the heroes
“Begin testing.”
“I’d say that if this works the company will be fine for the next three years.”
A group of scientists stood in a lab working.
“Let’s just make sure it works first, then we’ll celebrate the breakthrough.”
The others nodded.
“It was thanks to you though sir, but you really don’t have to be here working with us.”
“I prefer the lab any day to my office, you never really know how to work a company until you’ve become a real part of it.” The lead scientist was Cecil Harlow, a slightly short individual with shoulder length brown curled hair. After the fall his family’s company, among the rest of the world’s industries, he and his sister had rebuilt it. Now leading one of the top medical technology companies he insisted not to be tied down to a desk.
Suddenly his phone rang, Harlow steped out of the lab and answered it.
"Harlow."
"Cil it's Rowan."
"Hey Rowan, haven't heard you in a while, do they not give you any free time in the MS Division?"
Rowan didn't sound at ease though.
"Listen to me, you need to get out of there, now."
"Why what's going on?"
Back at the base Rowan double checked the screen in front of him to make sure this wasn't some horrible nightmare.
"Something's coming, we've lost communication with all the bases these things have passed."
"Well what are they?"
He didn't reply for a moment.
"Mobile suits, it's like the Fall but worse. One of the contacts is heading straight for Brussels."
Whatever had Rowan and the military on edge was heading straight for them.
"Mobile suits? Are you kidding or something?"
"Find Natalie, get out of there."
The line went dead.
Harlow stood there for a moment; the shock of what he'd just been told hadn't sunk in yet.
Quickly he sprang to action, ordering an immediate evacuation of the building he ran over to the hospital block and barged into his sister’s office.
“Cil what the hell’s going on here?”
He quickly explained the phone call he had received. Minutes later they were heading out of the city as fast as they could, as they drove past other buildings more people were seen beginning to evacuate. Clearly word had spread quickly that something was approaching the city and whatever it was, people didn’t want to stick around to find out.
“Get me a sitrep now!”
“Tangos are heading for the city, thirty seconds until contact.”
“Strike teams, 180 seconds to intercept.”
A satellite feed displayed the city and the surrounding area.
“I want that target painted! What’s the report from the ground teams?”
One of the officers turned to the commanding officer.
“No sighting yet.”
"We have confirmation from the Channel fleet on missile readiness."
As soon as these unknown suits came into range of a ground team they'd tag it with a laser and have the fleet in the channel fire off a barrage. That is, if they ever got the chance.
"Sir we're losing contact with eastern ground teams."
"Enemy signals now detected within the city."
All over the city people looked up to see a group of mobile suits hovering in the air, they panicked, running as fast as they could to get away from these new machines. The last thing people saw was a blinding white light.
"Natalie, look."
She stopped and looked behind her, the city was gone. Reduced to nothing in a manner of seconds. Natalie turned forwards again and placed her head on the wheel, she started sobbing.
"They're all gone. Everyone, gone."
Her brother placed an arm over her, trying to reassure her.
"Nats."
She looked up at him.
"We need to be strong and keep going."
She nodded, dried her eyes and started the car. They drove further out into the countryside until they came across a large house, home. They went inside and sat down.
"We should be safe, whatever those were don't seem interested in the countryside."
Natalie saw her older brother feeling the same pain as she did, but he was suppressing it, bottling it up so that it wouldn't effect him.
"There's got to be some kind of resistance against these things. By now everyone in Belgium will have evacuated major cities but we can't keep running."
Natalie didn't hear him, she was drowning in the memories of people she'd just lost. So many lives gone in the blink of an eye, hadn't people suffered enough already when the Fall happened?
"Natalie?"
She snapped back to reality.
"Sorry?"
"Remember how apparently there was a civilian emergency radio network during the Fall?"
"You think someone's sending out a beacon?" her eyes had changed, for the moment she was going to put this behind her.
He nodded, Cecil explained that they probably had attacked places like the US and Asia before Europe so potentially there could be survivors there.
"So what do we do?" she asked "And so what if there is a beacon active?"
"It means we can get information on anything, resistances, tactical plans, patterns. If someone is staging a fight they'll need help. Whatever attacked us needs to be driven back, that makes it everyone's fight."
"Yeah, you're right. We need a plan."
Quickly Cecil grabbed his laptop and started it up, their parents had had this house designed with certain safeguards in place for after the Fall. A program that allowed a laptop to use the aerial to look fo radio wavelengths for example and decode them.
"Anything?"
The screen showed a new wave pattern being picked up.
"Some bright spark is sending a ton data on what they call the 'UE'." He decrypted it and started to read. "Good god."
"What's wrong?"
He pointed at a particular piece of data, if correct explained why no-one had heard from the US government for over a year. One year ago the UE had attacked the entire northern continent, teams sent in to investigate never returned. Eventually survivors were rumoured to have made it to Europe, stories spread of how the major cities had been razed to the ground. More recently communications were lost with Russia and Asia too, very likely for the same reason.
"We don't go off half-cocked, plan our next steps first."
"Valen."
A tall imposing man walked into a room several thousand kilometres away.
"They've spread through Europe." he said gruffly.
"I know, they're tearing a line from east to west, most likely they'll go for the UK and circle back to hit the Scandinavian counties."
The large man stood there, unimpressed. "We should go out and fight them."
"Marco you know we can't, even if we took all our suits we don't have enough skilled pilots. You know as well as anyone I don't want to stay cooped up in here but we are not going out on a suicide mission. We'd be overwhelmed in a matter of minutes. For now we stick to surgical strikes."
Marco paced around the room, Valen in the mean time kept his eyes fixed on the large table showing a real time map of Europe.
"What about Briar?" suggested Maro.
"For the last time no, I am not sending this team into a no-win scenario. We bide our time and hit them at their weakest points, soon we'll salvage enough to attack them in tougher spots. Trust me, as soon as we have the strength we'll go out and raze them to the ground."
Marco said nothing, if there was one person he wouldn't gladly flatten it was Valen. Instead he turned and walked out through the door, as the it began to close Marco stuck his head through the door.
"Valen."
"What is it?" asked Valen, looking up from the map.
"That green haired chick's back, again. Says she wants to talk to you, again."
Valen tried to resist the urge to go up them himself and show them what life was like lacking a major joint in the body, or the limb it was attached to.
"Tell them I'm busy and we're not interested, and do something to stop them waltzing in through the front door."
He nodded and left.
Valen wanted to go our and scrap some U.E. units as much as Marco did, but there was no chance that he would go out on a death wish. After all, his genetic enhancements made him stronger, faster and smarter, not crazy.
"This is absolute nuts."
A beam sniper rifle blast tore through the air, and another and another and another. All of them struck a different suit in the enemy aerial squadron and crippled them, each U.E. suit sent crashing down to the ground. Even if they had seen the shots come at them they wouldn't have seen their source, a cloaked mobile suit hastily made its way across the ground surrounding the orbital elevator: a massive pillar stretching up into space.
It had taken decades to build but it's purpose quickly made up for the time. An orbital elevator was an incredibly efficient method of travelling to space and back, a number of high speed linear trains allowed both cargo and passengers rapid transit either way. The U.E. had left it intact, some speculated that there was no need, destroying it was a waste of energy, others believed that the U.E. themselves were using the elevator for their own needs.
As the surviving member of the defence teams, Axl Zephyrtek had made it his personal responsibility to try and take back the elevator. Even if it meant a one-man crusade in a custom sniper mobile suit. It had been difficult to make progress as it was literally one suit versus an army.