Friendship and a 120mm Machine Gun

by FreedomRiders

Chapter 5

- over the ocean -

The Base Jabber flew high over the air, having entered the vicinity what appeared to be some sort of massive desert wasteland mere moments ago. Rosa was asleep in her cockpit, silently snoring as the audio in her cockpit was blocked out. Her headset was still on, able to listen for anything Monroe might say in case he needed to wake her up.

Monroe was in control of the sub-flight system now, letting Rosa get some rest. It was almost the end of the day - with the sunset visible over the horizon. Beautiful sunsets were a rare sight on Earth, especially after it had been utterly devastated by the atrocities committed by Zeon during the One Year War, alongside the rumored Zeon Remnants operation that had nearly destroyed North America.

"Wow...ain't that a beauty..." he mumbled to himself, smiling at the crystal clear view before him.

Very far ahead beyond the land, the glimpse of the ocean glowed orange from the light of the sinking sun. The skies remained clean and the clouds only enhanced the glory of a world seemingly untouched by brutal war. Monroe considered waking Rosa up so she could see what all of this was before deciding not to do so.

She needed her sleep.

"I ought to wake her up when we near the ocean. Then it'll look really good," he thought to himself as he leaned back in her seat, continuing to fly the Base Jabber steadily. As he did so, he wondered about the status of the Atlas and the chances of locating it in the air. Planets were big, and he realized that the chances of actually coming across a Garuda-class craft was one in a billion, much less the chances of being able to figure out where it could be.

Even if they could stay in the air and keep searching nonstop, the necessity of landing was something that could not be ignored. What if they ran out of water or food? What if something attacked them? What if they needed to use the bathroom? Monroe immediately shot down the aspect of just going over the edge of the Base Jabber - not only as it unsafe, it just felt wrong.

With a sigh, he looked back out at the sunset before looking back behind him - trying to see if the Atlas was there - or at least anything of any sort of interest.

A gray flying Gouf flew behind them, at least a few kilometers.

Monroe gulped at once before slowly turning back to face the front. Waiting a few moments, he waited for something to happen - anything in case the Gouf was aware or even suspicious of having been spotted.

Nothing.

Monroe quickly took the time to act, and he switched on the receiver built into his headset. "Hey, Rosa-" he began. A loud and very guttural snore greeted him the second he pressed the receiver. Wincing, the pilot coughed and spoke up once more. "Hey, Rosa. Wake up."

Another snore was heard. Monroe growled and decided to wake her up the old fashioned way, with an elbow to the Hizack Custom's shoulder shield. The sound echoed in the air for a second, and the mobile suit jostled in place for a moment before there was complete silence.

If they were lucky, the pilot of the Gouf Flight Type wouldn't think anything of that little move - hopefully chalking the elbow down to some likely conversation happening between Monroe and Rosa. Judging by how the Gouf Flight Type's flight plan hadn't changed at all.

Then the Hizack Custom's mono-eye flickered on with a hum. Rosa's yawning could be heard as she woke up. The sound of muffled shifting suggested she was stretching, and Monroe slowly turned back to see if they were still being followed. Sure enough, the Gouf Flight Type was still flying behind them. It was armed with a large Gatling cannon mounted on a shield in the left arm. "Don't move or panic, but we're being followed. Zeon Remnants - looks like a late Gouf Flight Type," he said.

There was silence for a moment before Rosa spoke up once more, her voice calm as her Hizack Custom's mono-eye swiveled around. Thankfully, the backpack of the mobile suit was large, and the heads didn't automatically turn - simply only doing so in order to cover far flanks. "What do we do now?" she asked quietly, keeping her voice steady.

Monroe fell deep into thought for a moment before he looked back at the Hizack Custom, with the beginnings of a plan in his mind. “I'm going to grab one of your beam sabers in a second. Wait for my mark,” he said. "When I say go, I'll hand control of the Base Jabber off to you - got it?"

"What will you do?" Rosa whispered.

"Something...crazy," Monroe muttered, taking one more look. Sure enough, the Gouf Flight Type was still trailing them at a considerable distance - although it was much closer than before. Was it still focused on following them or would it try to initiate some sort of ambush? Monroe didn't know for sure - and he wasn't going to wait long enough to find out the hard way. "Wait for my mark."

"Are you sure?" Rosa asked.

"Yes. Now wait," Monroe hissed. The Gouf Flight Type remained behind them - trailing at least a kilometer away from the Base Jabber, maybe more. It didn't matter - not when the opportunity to take down another Zeon mobile suit was right in front of them. "Mark!"

Controls for the Base Jabber switched from the blue Hizack straight into Rosa's Hizack Custom. Despite her brief but clear preparation, she wasn't completely ready. With a squeak, she tried to take control of the sub-flight system - doing so after it wobbled for a few seconds.

Monroe had acted by then, his mobile suit having yanked one of the beam sabers out of the Hizack Custom's spiked shoulder shield before letting go of the Base Jabber. The blue Hizack dropped for a second before whirling around, lunging at the Gouf Flight Type behind them with a quick burst of the leg thrusters.

The Gouf Flight Type veered up, drawing the large heat sword from its shield as it began to swing. Monroe's Hizack activated the beam saber - the loud screams of energy and the humming of the I-field shaping the beam blade filling Monroe's ears instantly. But he didn't care.

He was only focused on striking this mobile suit down.

The Gouf Flight Type's blade was now glowing bright orange as the Hizack closed in, both hands carrying the saber as it prepared to push as much weight and force into its already impressive momentum down on the Gouf Flight Type. With a sword swing from both one-eyed mobile suits, the two melee weapons clashed. Sparks flew and a massive flash of bright combustive light struck both mobile suits with a vengeance.

The melee weapons of Zeon's mobile suits were conventional - a heat tomahawk for the Zakus, a heat saber for the Doms, and the heat swords of the Gouf. All weapons were superheated in order to melt through armor with ease. Thanks to their use of electromagnetic charges running through the internal coils buried in the weapons, they could temporarily withstand the power of a beam saber, albeit for a few seconds.

This meant that the clash of a beam saber's particles and the electromagnetic field that surrounds a heat weapon such as the Gouf Flight Type's sword made for a violent reaction. A massive explosion of light and scattering particles erupted, powerful enough to destroy a vehicle in proximity. The force was strong enough to repel both mobile suits from each other - but not enough to completely force one off of the other, especially when falling through the air.

Neither mobile suit suffered any blow - and the sparks began to warp the outer armor of both mobile suits, but damage had been done. The Hizack was now on top of the gray flight type mobile suit, the two of them falling out of control and spiraling towards the far away desert area.

Monroe gritted his teeth as he pushed his mobile suit to its limits. His newer and more powerful Hizack was lighter, faster, and stronger - but the denser armor of the Gouf Flight Type left both suits trapped on equal footing. And with the Gouf Flight Type meant for near unlimited sustainable flight, the more advanced mobile suit was left at a disadvantage in both the air and on the ground.

The Gouf Flight Type swung around violently, forcing the Hizack off of it. The Hizack plummeted for a second before Monroe countered - a massive burst of thrust escaping the backpack, halting the mobile suit’s just for a split second and closing the distance between the charging Gouf.

For the second time, both heat sword and beam saber clashed violently - the Hizack's thrusters working against the Gouf Flight Type's thermonuclear jet engines. The four main thrusters of the gray mobile suit weren't working - likely due to their consumption of propellant. Monroe's eyes flickered down to his controls - noticing his gauge for his mobile suit's propellant tanks. "Just over 82%. Damn!" he hissed as he quickly cut his thrust - intent on saving precious fuel.

The two mobile suits immediately plummeted the second the fuel stopped burning, the Gouf Flight Type's own propulsion not ceasing. Both of them shot towards the ground, pushing the Hizack and intent on shattering it against the harsh and rocky desert biome below. The Hizack's cockpit blared with alarms, and Monroe felt his linear seat working to counter the harsh G-forces pressing against him.

"Shit!" he growled as he pulled a lever. The Hizack was still holding the 120mm machine gun in its other hand, and it swung with all his might. The servos screamed as the machine gun's stock came around - smashing into the side of the Gouf Flight Type hard enough to leave a noticeable dent.

It was also enough for the Gouf Flight Type to lose its balance. Both suits were pushed off of each other by the counteracting force of momentum, and Monroe took his chance, deactivating the Hizack's beam saber and swinging his mobile suit's 120mm machine gun to bear upon the Gouf Flight Type.

*THOOM THOOM THOOM THOOM THOOM THOOM THOOM THOOM THOOM THOOM THOOM THOOM*

The Hizack's large drum fed machine gun blazed away at six rounds per second at the Gouf Flight Type - the stream of massive high explosive ton heavy rounds aimed haphazardly at the Zeon machine. Even with the stock wedged between the Hizack's body and the arm - as well as the relatively steady fall Monroe had managed, the machine gun's recoil mitigated much of that stability - with the powerful weapon violently pushing against the mobile suit firing it.

Most of the rounds missed by a long shot, with the other heavy explosive bullets came close. The Gouf Flight Type veered off to avoid getting hit before its pilot retaliated at once, firing a burst of what had to be 40 to 50 rounds in a two or three second long burst from its large 75mm Gatling cannon. Monroe's Hizack raised the shield on the left arm while angling its body to utilize the shoulder shield. All rounds bounced off both shields, as well as struck angled parts of the lower skirt armor.

The shields were thick enough that the impacted rounds merely left thin gouges, and the lower skirt armor fared little worse. The servos and tubing were left without any damage, and Monroe let out a quick exhale of relief as he realized that his mobile suit was fine. In the distance, the 120mm rounds struck the ground several kilometers away - each impacting round causing explosions large enough to obliterate a large house. The resulting booms were enough to shake the dust off of any rocks several dozen to almost a hundred meters away, and scaring off any critters or underground creatures nearby.

"Down twelve rounds..." Monroe mumbled as he eyed the weapons monitor in his control console. His 120mm machine gun was currently at a capacity of 84 rounds, though he still had the two full drum magazines left in the arm mounted shield compartment.

He was also currently still falling.

Left with no choice, Monroe quickly activated the thrusters once more, burning more much valued fuel as his mobile suit slowed its descent down to the ground. The landing was still very rough, the feet crating large craters underneath the Hizack as it touched down. "Propellant at 70%..." Monroe mumbled before looking up, aiming his machine gun to fight the Gouf Flight Type once more.

He was greeted to the sight of the Gouf Flight Type currently being chased by a Base Jabber, the navy green Hizack Custom on top firing its BR-87A beam rifle and the mega particle cannon mounted under the sub-flight system. "Rosa, what the fuck are you doing?!" he yelled.

"I'm getting him off your back!!" Rosa shouted as she veered the Base Jabber towards the Gouf's flank. However, the Gouf Flight Type wasn't running for long - pulling a 180 degree turn and blasting towards the Base Jabber.

The glowing orange heat sword looked ready to swing.

"Get out of there!" Monroe shouted.

"I got him!!" Rosa yelled.

"I said jump now!!" Monroe roared.

He was right to order it. The Gouf Flight Type had ducked, welll below the firing arcs of both beam weapons. Rosa's Hizack Custom jumped, acting purely on Monroe's panic - jetting into the air with the use of her mobile suit's more powerful thrusters.

The heavy blade of the heat sword impaled the Base Jabber a mere second later before carving through the back of the flying platform. As the Hizack Custom fell to the ground, the Gouf Flight Type blasted into the air - using its main thrusters for the first time as the massive gouge in the Base Jabber began to spark.

The Hizack Custom's thrusters blasted at full power upon its pilot spotting what was happening.

The explosion came seconds later.

The Gouf Flight Type had already escaped the blast radius as the thermonuclear powered Base Jabber exploded in midair. The sheer blast of the system utterly obliterated everything within a few miles. The ball of fire and raw force tore up the ground into a massive crater with the sheer power of raw air force. The fireball sent waves of scorching heat, cooking the sand and lighting up the entire area for dozens of miles.

Both Hizacks were far enough away that they wouldn't get ripped apart or evaporated - but the force still sent them flying. The Hizack Custom landed several miles away, skidding on its feet and stumbling for several seconds before it could properly land and brace. Its weapons were dropped, and they were sent sliding away on the ground.

Monroe's Hizack wasn't quite so lucky, having been a little closer to the blast. It too was sent flying, but the force was strong enough to send it smashing face first into the ground - digging up a massive trench of weakened rock and soft sand. It managed to stop sliding several hundred meters away, about a mile from where Rosa's mobile suit had landed.

Then the smoke and dust hit. As Monroe panted and gasped for air, he watched as his vision through the panoramic screens of his cockpit vanished with the clouds of thick smoke and dust. "Fucking hell..." he hissed as he tried to get his mobile suit up on its feet. The sounds of servos whirring was heard, and he could practically feel the Hizack's moveable frame forcing all of the sand out from its joints as it stood.

It took several minutes for the dust to clear before the lands around the mobile suits could be seen - barely visible thanks to all the dust still raining high in the air. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the area around them was contaminated - likely poisoning a massive chunk of the desert with gamma radiation.

Monroe sighed, glad for the fact that mobile suits were naturally vacuum sealed with their own portable and renewable air supply. Eyeing his instruments, he saw that the air tank was actively being used - with passive filtering systems cut off from the outside world thanks to the mobile suit's automated protocols. His mobile suit itself was safe as well - with the Minovsky particle interference working to mitigate much of the gamma rays exhibited from the blast. Still, opening his cockpit now was suicide.

As the Hizack began to walk in a direction - any direction, Monroe looked around, hearing the muffled thumps of his mobile suit's feet impacting the rock with every step below. "...hey Rosa! Where are you?"

Far away, a massive airship of gold and white approached the mushroom shaped cloud in the distance.

- elsewhere, away from Equestria-

The large wheel shaped mobile armor blasted over the Atlas, having performed a second patrol run of the area. The protocol over securing the perimeter of a landed Garuda-class Carrier was to cover the surrounding areas of the ship in a radius of a kilometer.

As far as its pilot knew, the other Asshimar was covering the opposite end of the perimeter, farther towards the open seas. They’d been flying at relatively low speeds for several minutes now, keeping the Atlas covered from the air while her crew performed maintenance procedures.

Switching his gaze from his instruments, he kept an eye out for any anomalies near the land. The coast was relatively unimpressive - consisting of what appeared to be volcanic rock structures and jagged mountains: not a single healthy plant in sight. Most of the plant life looked halfway at death’s door - and the entire region felt volcanic in nature, despite how far away the volcanos were.

The pilot sighed as he turned and looked back towards the ocean, where the second Asshimar was flying high. Below, the water shimmered similarly to how one in a fantasy dream would view the ocean. The sunset on his other side made for a pretty nice view as well-

A light alarm started blinking in his cockpit, breaking him out of his thoughts. Looking down at the control console, he saw a small notification and frowned before activating his helmet comms. “This is Ensign Lassus, reporting intake issues. Permission to land and perform a quick check and reboot?” the young man asked.

“Has the coast been rendered clear of any and all hostiles?” came the voice of the short range comms.

“Yes, sir,” Lassus answered.

“Permission granted. Make it quick.” Lassus complied, shooting off his response before veering towards land.

The Asshimar landed on the rocks, its landing gear touching down as the VTOL thrusters screamed against the surface. As Lassus powered down his mobile suit, he sighed and leaned back against his seat, listening to the slowly dwindling whine of the Asshimar’s thermonuclear engines. “I’m tired…” he mumbled to himself as he started the mobile suit's reboot and diagnostics process. As the control unit complied with his commands, the mobile suit’s panoramic screens switched off, allowing for the frontal door to slide open and reveal the outside world.

The man wore a G-suit, consisting of a blue one-piece flight suit designed to assist in the resistance of G-forces, in conjunction with a mobile suit cockpit’s linear seat. Armored pads on the shoulders, chest, arms, and legs were built in as well for assistance against potential crashes. His helmet was a modified version of the standard space use helmet - with a transparent visor and a built in comms unit.

As he climbed out of his massive transformed mobile suit, he slid down the rather steep ramp before landing half a meter from the ground, stumbling for a moment. As he took a moment to look around, he sighed. Like he saw while flying, the areas close to him were mostly barren and arid in nature, similar to some of the places he’d seen in what remained of Australia. It was almost eerie.

As he waited for his mobile suit to finish its several minute long rebooting process, he failed to notice the blue scaly shape creeping up on his blind spot. He didn't hear it - nor did he suspect it, and it was perfect for the would-be predator that slowly approached him.

As Ensign Lassus sat against the rocks, he stared up at his transformed mobile armor in all of its glory. Two massive beam rifles were mounted on the sides of the large craft just above the wings mounted on the sides of the leg units. The huge smooth round shape was rather odd to the ensign - but he'd long conceded that it proved to be very aerodynamic under full power.

He could also concede the fact that its mostly orange and green color scheme allowed it to look very much like a massive cheese wheel on forward kneeling legs. With a snort, he sighed and rubbed his eyes - eager to get some rest as he waited for the Asshimar to finish its work. The mobile suit had an alert for when it was complete, so he wouldn't need to worry very much over keeping watch. Besides, it wasn't like anybody was going to try and steal it.

He closed his eyes, finally able to let himself relax for the first time in a long time. He was tired, bored, aching, and utterly stressed out. What was the harm in some shut-eye?

- POV: Ember -

As the unknown bipedal...thing drifted off to sleep against the warm rocks, Ember took the opportunity to sneak past it and towards the massive and oddly shaped flying machine in front of it. Having lost all interest in going after somebody who was now asleep, she could at least start exploring whatever this odd technology was.

She crept one step aboard the ramp, eyeing the alien or whatever to see if it woke up. No reaction whatsoever - it was fast asleep.

A second step then.

Still nothing.

A third step that was a little faster.

A snore was heard.

Ember climbed up the rest of the way, slowly clambering inside what appeared to be a ball shaped room of sorts. The walls were gray and were covered in lines neat and evenly spaced from each other.

Inside the large room was a large chair suspended in the center, covered with all sorts of gadgets and controls that Ember didn’t recognize. She didn’t think anybody could recognize whatever this stuff was. It was large enough for her to sit in - with quite a bit of room as well. On the back of the seat looked to be some arm of sorts, connected to the back of the chair to hold it in the air.

Climbing up on the chair, Ember sat her scaly butt down, shifting in her brand new seat to see how it felt. To her surprise, it was relatively comfortable, yet sturdy. It wasn’t very cushiony like she heard many ponies liked: but it was far from being like the literal rock all dragons used to sit or lie on.

Then there were the gizmos all over the weird machine. “So this thing is flown, huh?” Ember mumbled to herself as she reached up, trying to touch some of the weird buttons or odd flat gray parts of the panel near her.

Flying machines weren’t alien in nature - Ember heard of the hot air balloons and the airships Equestrian ponies used, and she was well aware that anyone could make something that flew if they knew how. But something like whatever she was sitting in didn’t look like it could fly. How could it when it was essentially a giant wheel with short wings?

She continued to tamper around with the odd controls, flicking levers and pressing buttons curiously. A thought in the back of her head told her it was a bad idea, or it at least warned her to be careful. But she pushed it to the back of her mind: intent on exploring the most interesting thing that had touched down in the Dragon Lands.

She’d regret these thoughts moments later, as she pressed a button that set off some sort of alarm - a series of short but very loud and very quick beeps. Choking on her breath, Ember began pressing buttons left and right in an attempt to silence whatever had just happened.

Ember froze the second she heard the yawn from outside the odd wheel ship, and she shot out of the chair - hiding behind it via hanging on the arm holding up the seat. The young dragon looked around her, essentially panicking as she tried to figure out a plan of escape that didn’t involve a fight. She wasn’t quite so good at combat yet.

A few moments later, she heard footsteps, followed by a second yawn as the odd bipedal alien climbed aboard his ship. He sat in the chair, momentarily shaking the seat just a little as he began pressing buttons and levers, just like Ember had been doing. Only this time, it did something for him. Soon, she heard the door close and a loud hum around her, though the momentary panic she felt from that vanished into awe when the walls suddenly turned into the environment outside the ship.

Almost literally, in fact. The gray metal has faded away to reveal what had to be impossible teleportation. She was back outside? Ember reached out with growing hope, hoping to feel empty air instead of metal.

Her claws tapped more metal.

Darn, still trapped.

“Diagnosis done,” the alien said in a clearly male voice, startling Ember. “All systems nominal and all bugs clear. Requesting a return to the Atlas.”

Before she could even furrow a brow, another voice was heard, much smaller and barely noticeable. “Permission granted.” Where had that voice come from?

“Roger that - returning to base,” the alien controller muttered, and the sound of a loud mechanical whine powering up was heard moments later.

Ember needed to leave, now. She reached towards the back of the chair. Maybe she could knock him out and find a way to open the door before he knew what hit him. There was a handle on the back of the seat. Maybe that did something?

She reached for the handle and pulled: before yanking an entire object off of the chair. Ember cursed: it wasn’t some kind of lever, it was a separate piece.

And it made a loud ‘clack’ sound.

“What the-“ the alien turned around to come face to face with Ember.

The dragon panicked and did the first thing that came to mind: swinging what she was holding in her hands into his helmeted face.

The impact was followed by the sound of shattering and a yell of pain as the ship they were in took off screaming into the sky.

Comments

[KnightOfZaku]

Thanks for another awesome chapter!

So now the Federation and Zeon's war has officially come to Equestria. If that was Celestia's airship that appeared at the end of the battle. With that radiation spreading from the Base Jabber's destruction. I wonder how many ponies will affected by it and if Celestia will be able to help them or if the Minovsky particles will somehow hinder her magic.

And there's what happened with Ember. I'd like to think nothing too bad is going to happen because of her curiosity. But since the Federation soldiers are in a new land and they're confused as hell I wouldn't be surprised if they decide that all dragons are hostile and adopt a "shoot on sight" policy because of Ember's actions.

[FreedomRiders]

11701673
Mwahaha
You underestimate a human’s ability to find a smol blue dragon cute

[KnightOfZaku]

11701675
It seems I did.
th.bing.com/th/id/R.905903b82db0dcb4e27673bb72a49919?rik=%2fxwo93wJxIyKvA&pid=ImgRaw&r=0

[Mix-up]

Fun chapter, I wonder if we will see more the Zeon side of thing? I wonder how amber managed to site in the MS chair with her tail in the way? And, how soon will the Equestrian finally manage to get in contact with either sides?

[FreedomRiders]

11701734
Next chapter
For both Celestia and Twilight

[FreedomRiders]

11702206
Those last two storage racks belong to Rosa and Monroe - and they’re not aboard the Atlas.

[FreedomRiders]

11702221
Same, but those never saw more than a few units built, and the Guntank II did enter mass production before the Gryps Conflict.

Also imagine: two Guntank IIs holding a defensive line alongside several tanks with artillery and rockets

[Stalin with Da Spoon]

Hoooooo boy, Ember may have just caused a major diplomatic incident.

Plus, the Equestrians seeing what was essentially a mini-nuke go off will cause them to PANICK.

[FreedomRiders]

11702921
Rosa is in the Earth Federation, but her past is shady and Titans has shown interest in her, which is supposed to clue people in on where she could’ve come from

Monroe and the rest of the Atlas are Federation.

[FluffyPanzer]

Based Gouf Flight Type being based

[Emperor Draxgaroth]

11702992
just started watching Zeta... and man do l hate the Titans.

[Unit 26-Fe]

11723381
Its okay, their loss is guarantied because 1st class dumbass Jerid Messa made fun of the autistic kid's name. Now Watch as Kamille Bidan DESTROYS HIS ENTIRE CAREER.