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 Center - attacking the meteor

[thirdtimesthechar]

Those ships that stayed in the air to reach the falling bomb executed their turnabout flawlessly, giving Zeon's forces and their allies the vital few minutes they needed to try and find a way to blast the bomb from the sky. Cannons, catapults, and ballista alike hurl their payloads at the meteor while volleys of rifle fire deflect off its surface, seeking a weak point...

[forceofnature]

"Ugh..."

The humans were more resilient than she gave them credit for. With a noise of irritation, Viridi watches as they make their way inevitably towards the bomb.

"You've done well so far, but I think you'll find this is more than you're prepared to deal with. I'm warning you now; you have exactly ten minutes to get out of blast range."

Even her forces seem to be vacating the area now. With the exception of one lone figure... One flame-headed creature with an impressive cape. Even as the ships fire, it darts around, its cape billowing wide to absorb any shots that it can intercept. Captain Flare seems to be the last line of defense for the Reset Bomb...

For when the ships get close enough, it becomes quite clear where exactly they need to aim. Five dully glowing points scattered across the head of the bomb.

[greyerrant]

"Ultramarines, you know what to do!" They nod, already lining up their bolters on the bomb, one posthuman hero for each point, as their bolters make the roaring bark which has become so characteristic of Garviel and his brothers since the Holy Grail war.

Garviel himself engages the flame-headed creature, firing one-handed at him while the other hand brandishes a chainsword, obviously challenging him.

[forceofnature]

Garviel is largely ignored for now. As his soldiers begin to shoot, Captain Flare flings its cape wide, expanding the cloth impossibly. From within its starry depths, something begins to stir...

[infinitejustice]

Among the fire, a few shots of concentrated light particles lance forth. Athrun is back a little further on the deck, holding his "new" weapon -- his gun had been modified to shoot light magic specifically for this operation.

"Let's keep firing! We need to take him down quickly!"

[greyerrant]

Garviel pours on the firepower, hammering shots at Flare, swapping magazines on occasion in order to keep himself from running dry of the mana-charged munitions that he uses to slay the foes of Humanity and the Emperor.

[forceofnature]

A large number of the shots fired at the World's Most Adorable Superhero are absorbed. They simply vanish into the cloak, almost as if it isn't a piece of clothing, but rather, a doorway.

...It soon becomes very clear where that doorway leads as a meteor shower erupts from Captain Flare's cape to smash against the ship. Though much smaller than the Reset Bomb, they're, well. Still meteors.

Captain Flare hasn't escaped unscathed, though - it doesn't show any damage, but it's clear that it's slowed down significantly. More and more shots make it through to strike the Reset Bomb. But it would continue to defend the bomb to the bitter end.

9 minutes.

[infinitejustice]

Athrun raises his shield to block. He could just tank the meteorites with Phase Shift, but he didn't want to lose more prana than he could afford. Despite that, a few did hit Athrun's armor, and simply bounced off without doing damage -- though they did throw up a ton of sparks.

Once the meteor shower dies down, Athrun takes a more careful aim at Flare. Deliberately trying to avoid hitting the cape, Athrun shoots.

[greyerrant]

[ Loken stands implacable against the meteors, no phase shift, just hard ceramite, adamantine, and flesh impelled by iron will underneath. His armor acquires even more scars and burns at the meteors slam into his shoulder plates, chest, and helm. And he returns fire, keeping the pressure on ]

[forceofnature]

"...Those were meteors. Hunks of rock three times your size traveling 70 kilometers a second? Someone's cheating here, and it isn't me."

Viridi's commentary aside, the meteors are enough to block Garviel's fire for as long as they continue to shoot forth from the cape. But even the largest meteor shower couldn't go on forever, and soon enough, Flare is wrapping himself back up in the warm and comfortable celestial cloth.

Athrun's shot pierces through the skies, as accurate as if guided by the hand of a goddess herself [stop helping them palutena!!] And on the moment of impact... Captain Flare simply vanishes.

7 minutes.

The bomb is open to attack.

[infinitejustice]

"Perhaps you should have looked into what we were developing instead of simply its side effects!" Athrun begins opening fire on the rock with his gun, though it's more to test the strength of the weak points. He's got enough mana left for a maximum of two shots from the Scylla, and he doesn't want to end up pouring everything into one shot when half a full-power shot's strength would suffice.

[captainofthe10th]

"Sons of Ultramar! Unleash hell!"

Garviel's marines stand up from their positions in cover and blaze away with their bolters, one engaging each weak point. It is almost like he had this in mind, bringing a single combat squad.

[forceofnature]

Unfortunately for the attackers, the Reset Bomb chooses that moment to begin to bank towards the left, rendering three of the five weak points inaccessible. Down below, the isles of Zeon are beginning to come into view as tiny, white dots in the ocean. It seems the meteor is adjusting itself towards its final location. Unless the ship rapidly readjusts position or an individual flies off to do solo battle, the other three points are physically blocked by the bulk of the meteor.

The two points that can still be engaged from the side will explode after about thirty seconds of fire in a brilliant flash of light.

6 minutes.

[thirdtimesthechar]

Of course, it was more than possible to attack at least one of those points from a point on the hull of the Rewloola, even if they weren't visible from the deck. Fortunately, the commander of this operation was dumb enough to take a flying leap over the side earlier, and now he's clinging to the side with one hand, both feet, and a dagger wedged in the planks of the hull.

It's doubly fortunate he hung onto his saber, too, as he's now using it to blast away at the hidden weak spots with its magical energy blades. He can only focus one or two at a time dangling thousands of feet in the air above the sea, but when all he has to do is slam them into the target, that's all he needs.

"Athrun! Cecil!" he shouts, hoping his Crystal has chosen this moment to hear his words, as he has no hands free. "Get those morons at the helms moving around the rock! We need all weapons on those weak points!"

Well, if they didn't hear him, hopefully they would figure it out immediately.

[infinitejustice]

"What the--"

Well, THAT was a hell of a surprise. Athrun had to actually take a moment to remind himself that he'd just been given an order.

"Yes, sir!" Fortunately there was a pipe for communicating with the bridge nearby, so he shouted those orders into it. Once that was done, he ran back to the bow, hoping he could get a clear shot.

[greyerrant]

[ Garviel and his crew just keep pouring it on from their present locations on the deck, bolters unleashing white bursts of deadly energy as they churn through cartridges. ]

[forceofnature]

Huh. These creatures gave cockroaches a good run for their money. Viridi refrains from snarky commentary, given that they were getting down to the wire here.

Char's single shots are much slower and much less effective than an entire battalion of soldiers unloading their weaponry into the bomb. Still, either he gets off a lucky shot at some unseen weak point of the weak point or the conservation of ninjutsu is briefly in effect here. 5 minutes to go and the third point explodes in a blast of smoke.

The ship begins to turn. For a full minute, all that can be heard is the sound of Garviel's crew futilely shooting at the impenetrable bulk of the meteor. And though Char continues to plug away, the final two just don't seem to want to budge.

Behind the attackers on deck, a flame-headed superhero steps forth from the dimension beyond his cape and flings it open wide. A sneak attack from behind. The meteor shower strikes from the back without any warning whatsoever.

4 minutes.

[thirdtimesthechar]

Char eventually gives up on blasting away at the meteor as it spins, unable to maintain focus. With the skill of a man who's spent too much of his life aboard a ship, he uses his dagger and the hilt of his sword to help him scramble up the side of the Rewloola, hauling himself up level with the deck just in time to have a premonition of Captain Flare's sneak attack and keep his head down, then clamber onto the deck itself and fling a half-dozen energy blades at the bastard so that everyone else on deck could focus on the Bomb.

[infinitejustice]

Athrun had no chance to brace himself this time, so the meteorite knocked him over in a burst of sparks. He was unhurt, though, so he quickly climbed back up and whirled around. He put his gun away and activated a beam blade, then leaped at Flare.

[greyerrant]

[ Loken and all of his troopers are flattened against the deck, unbraced and unprepared for the meteors from behind. They growl, all of them angered by the attack that seems without honor. ]

[leave_it_to_a_goddess]

"I hardly think you're going to need a quarter of that to stop the bomb before it lands," came a response - via the same telepathy that Viridi had just used, though distinctly a different voice.

"If I lose that bet, I'll see if I can give you an extra miracle or two to finish it."

[forceofnature]

"You are such a poor sport, Palutena. Do you see me randomly tossing around miracles in the middle of battle?"

An enormous bunch of grapes appears in the sky for no reason and plops onto the deck of the airship.

"Ooh, look, I can do divine intervention, too."

[leave_it_to_a_goddess]

"Please. With a line like that, I doubt that I'll have to take the effort on any more interventions."

[forceofnature]

No response as an enormous kumquat appears in the sky and plops onto the deck of the airship.

"Hey, this is kind of fun."

[leave_it_to_a_goddess]

Palutena simply glares skyward from her post on Char's flagship.

Not over telepathy, but using her own voice, Palutena muttered, annoyed. "Prissy little preteen..."