Colony Drop

[thirdtimesthechar]

Who: Char, the forces of Zeon (any or all of you who want to contribute), whatever allies decided to show up on short notice, and Viridi's minions as NPCed by her mun
What: Defending Zeon from Viridi's Reset Bomb
When: Dawn on July 2
Where: The skies above Zeon and the sea to the west of Zeon
Warnings: It's a combat log

Aboard the Rewloola - and surrounding it with every airship Char could muster in an hour - Zeon's defense forces array themselves on the predicted course of the nature goddess's meteoric wrath. Higher than anyone normally travels, all guns, bows, arrows, and anything else they could conceivably throw at the incoming Reset Bomb were trained up and westward. Char himself is ready with rifle and Nightingale, as much as those would even help - at the very least he could defend his artillery from any breakaway rocks or defending nature spirits.

"All ships," Char says, his words transcribed into signal flags to communicate with the other airship commanders even as he speaks over his Crystal to his higher-ranking soldiers. "We've sighted the meteor approaching at high speed from the west. All units are to move toward it at full speed and come about once it is within one half mile. Attempt to match speeds with it or safely enter its wake to maintain fire for as long as possible. We have about five minutes on target to destroy it, starting in two from this point. You are to do everything in your ability to grind it into dust before it strikes our homeland. Sieg Zeon!"

That curt set of instructions finished, Char gives to command to his captain to begin the all-ahead-full charge toward the interception point, all the while glaring up at the falling star. Nothing like this will happen to Zeon on his watch, even if he has to create a miracle with his own hands. That's what people like Zeon's do.

((Subthreads finished, go ahead and post to them. Threads below happen in chronological order, though there may be overlap if needed.))

Comments

The Screen - fighting Viridi's forces

[thirdtimesthechar]

As the defending forces charged to intercept the meteor, it becomes clear that Char's intuition about defending spirits was spot on as several of Viridi's minions sally forth to attack the ship.

[infinitejustice]

"Phase Shift, on."

Athrun's armor transitioned from a drab gray to a gentle red. Readying his shield, he also ignited the beam saber on his right wrist. He was ready for any enemies that would bear down upon him.

[forceofnature]

"Ooh. Spiffy. Remind me to get something for my troops in red."

Someone idly comments through telepathy for no particular reason.

"I'd hate to scuff up your armor. You sure you don't want to just sit this one out?"

[infinitejustice]

"Oh, you don't need to worry about that. I promise you, your forces will have trouble putting so much as a scratch on it."

Athrun raised both beam saber and shield in a salute -- even on the battlefield he intended to show courtesy -- then assumed a fighting stance. He wouldn't deny being scared, but he was also confident he could win. After all, this armor permitted him to fight Taryn to a draw; surely he could handle mooks.

"Now, come at me if you dare!"

[forceofnature]

"It's easy to brave when you haven't even seen the enemy yet. Talk to me in a few minutes."

Viridi signs off. ...And all hell breaks loose as the airship crosses that unseen boundary. Within moments, Athrun will be the target of six or seven Nutskis each shooting laser bursts.

...Still, he had a point. These were the mookiest of the mooks.

[infinitejustice]

For someone with Athrun's capabilities, it didn't take long to figure out the best evasion path and bob and weave his way through the shots. He was once again fortunate that the Magitek infusion procedure had enhanced his reflexes.

That said, he found himself unable to dodge some shots. But that's what a shield is for, right?

It doesn't take Athrun terribly long to reach the Nutskis, at which point he puts his blade to use. In a series of precise movements, he sliced at one enemy, then leaped to the next and attacked while in motion. Rinse, repeat.

[forceofnature]

There goes wave one. She really needed to give her basic troops some endurance training. The last Nutski will, in a display of sheer brilliance (for a Nutski), revolve rapidly around Athrun for several moments to get a shot in from the back.

...It manages to shoot off two before it is bisected.

Luckily for everyone, Viridi's troops are so eco-friendly they leave absolutely no remnants upon death.

Wave Two announces itself by dropping from the sky. A group of three Cacaws and two Lethiniums surround the lone soldier. The former begin to screech as loudly as they possibly can, the sound waves directed straight at Athrun. The latter unfurl their petals and begin to shoot.

[infinitejustice]

And thanks to Athrun's reflexes, he managed to block both shots with the shield -- though just barely.

The next wave, however, proved to be a little tougher -- if only because the screeching did a number on his ears. He instinctively moved to cover them with his hands, and cover them he did -- and he turned toward them, ignoring the other attack for a few seconds.

But just as it seemed it was a desperation move -- not like him to disable his arms, after all -- a second beam saber ignited on Athrun's left foot as he lashed out at the Cacaws with a kick. The joys of secret weapons, eh?

[forceofnature]

Somehow, despite it being quite likely that no one has the time to be staring into the depths of their crystals, Viridi's voice echoes loud and clear through the minds of all those on the ship.

"Forces of nature! Our long-awaited victory is almost at hand! They've taken so much from us already; let's show them the power of what they're dealing with!"

With this declaration, the airships of Zeon almost seem to cross some sort of individual boundary. One moment, nothing. The next, the skies are teeming with all sorts of fantastic creatures - flying acorns, giant chameleons, flying beetles, crystalline creatures exuding electricity, mushrooms sending wafts of toxic spores into the air. The most obvious threats, however, are the enormous, bony fish swimming calmly through the air.

All of these creatures, no matter how unusual it may be, seem to be capable of shooting projectile weapons and laser blasts.

"You should have stayed at home on the throne."

[thirdtimesthechar]

"Sorry, I should have been clearer. I'm a soldier first, and a ruler second," Char says aloud, then ignores the goddess's further words as he takes aim with his rifle and starts calmly and quickly putting bullets into flying mushrooms, handing empty rifles to a subordinate to reload and picking up new ones to keep his rate of fire up.

[forceofnature]

Char will find that his bullets make for a much less effective weapon against these troops than they do against humans. The moment a bullet strikes a Toxiecap, it will explode into a cloud of poison that scatters all over the decks of his ships. He may wish to avoid doing this in the future.

Overhead, a Lurchthorn begins to slowly descend. The bony fish-like creature seems unperturbed by everything that's going on, seeking only to swim by in peace. Unfortunately, that's its tail about to strike the mast of a ship there.

[thirdtimesthechar]

"Crystal!" Char yells, his caddy handing him a Crystal round to load into his breach for the next shot. Praying that these things affect pagan spirits that might or might not be undead as well as they work on everything else supernatual, he takes careful aim and fires a shot that should shatter the encroaching Lurchthorn's spine at the base of the tail.

[forceofnature]

The shot is accurate. The magical or otherwise supernatural basis of the crystal round is effective.

...The Lurchthorn, however, seems entirely unconcerned by the fact that it's just been severed in two. The head and majority of the body continue to undulate through the air while the tail end begins to plummet towards the ship. Hopefully, it won't land on top of the mast and destroy it, anyway.

[thirdtimesthechar]

At this point, Char ditches the rifle, charging forward with his saber. With a cry of "Fly, Nightingale!", and a slash of the sword, four beam-like blades of energy fly upward to cut apart the falling bone into lighter chunks before it can hit anything, more or less Char's whole strategy in microcosm.

[forceofnature]

"Have you ever even seen a nightingale? If you want fun words to use when you call your attacks, at least choose something appropriate."

Char may have ditched the rifle too soon. The head of the Lurchthorn has turned back around, and it appears to have given any strategy up in favor of ramming the ship at full speed. In the meantime, the falling pieces of fish tail land harmlessly.

[cecil_harvey]

BMG: The Red Wings

Flying in formation, seven airships break into view, emerging from the cloud cover.

"All hands, prepare to engage! Firing formation! Attack!"

Raising his sword and lowering it, all of the airships moved into a tight wedge formation and begin laying down cannon fire on the enemy creatures.

[forceofnature]

"Theme music? Look out, Char; someone's gunning for the position of lead protagonist."

As the ships fire, a group of creatures that look more at home in the ocean than floating in the air drop down from the sky. From their mouths surge forth a stream of bubbles, a rather futile gesture against cannonballs.

As the artillery passes through, it... -- Hold on. ...It doesn't pass through. Somehow, the cannonballs come screeching to a halt the moment they touch the bubbles, suspended in mid-air within the now-gigantic bubble shield.

"Nifty, isn't it? I spent half of my R+D budget on the Mahvas alone."

[cecil_harvey]

"Break!" Cecil shouted, as the airships immediately broke formation, some ascending and some descending and coming at the creatures from above and below.

"Fire!"

[dowhatyoudecide]

One sword in each hand, stretched out, Sara ran down the deck like a bird. She twirled and sliced up at one, then turned around and dodged another before it could even attack. Another stab at that one followed.

"We'll take these out, don't worry!"

[greyerrant]

"A bow or rifle would do you better here than a blade, I think, Mamzel!" Garviel booms, as his bolter fills the air with deadly magical energy, juddering in his grasp as he hammers a line of shot into the strange creatures.

[forceofnature]

"I'd say you should be plenty worried right now."

The voice that echoes in Sara's head is cut off by the massive whump of something extraordinarily heavy falling onto the ship. The mass of sentient rock immediately begins to stomp after her.

"Good luck fighting a rock with a sword or a bow."

[dowhatyoudecide]

Sara sliced through another one and jumped back.

"Somebody's got to take out the ones that get onto the ship!"

She called out, jumping to the side at another attack. The golem appearing knocked Sara to the ground just from the shockwave, her swords clattering. She ran to grab both of them and quickly get out of the way.

[greyerrant]

[ Garviel, being heavier than Sara, roars a challenge and tries to shoulder-rush the golem, an adamantine and ceramite projectile cannoning towards it, trying to hit it up high, overbalancing it and sending it off the rails if possible. ]

[forceofnature]

The Boomstomper will do Garviel's job for it. ...Well. Sort of. The part about falling, anyway. Except it leaps into the air and falls forward to try and land on top of Garviel. Whether or not it hits, it inflicts a significant amount of damage to the deck and sends damaging shock waves in every direction.

[dowhatyoudecide]

Sara senses it this time and jumps high to avoid the shockwave. She ends up landing on top of the monster, promptly jumping off, all the while wondering how she'll do any damage to it.