Stage 7 - Battle On Wonbaek Island

The Juzumaru had at last begun to set out from Wonju. The ship was now carrying all five of the Machina, their pilots, along with Kyouko, who kept her spot as a mechanic. Despite their victories, it seemed that there were some things they lacked. Other crew members, chief among them, as well as a commanding officer. As the pilots sat in the common room, which lay just below the bridge. Lined with three tables, along with chairs. It was here that the previously mentioned pilots sat. They all apparently had similar thoughts, though Andrew was the first to comment on it.

"Looks like the brass doesn't see us as important enough to give resources…" Andrew noted. Among them, Diederick sat with an angered expression.

"The heir to Hohenzollern, and the pilot of the Valgeogant, not important enough?! This is an insult of the highest degree!"

As the noble tsked, beside him, Han shrugged.

"At least they gave this ship some weapons, and those repair bots back in the hangars…" He responded, in his normal fashion. After all, Han was always more optimistic, as they'd noted in their short time around him. But there was another member of the group who didn't share this optimism, or, at the least, not nearly as much of it.

"Repair bots from the 40s', a few missiles, and a Covalon peashooter… I don't think I'm wrong when I say that's not much." Andrew Responded

While Han put his finger up, as he attempted to think of a response, but, he ultimately came up with nothing. Leaning back into his seat as well, was the pilot of the Gaojinizer, Takeshi. Who listened into the conversation, and ultimately found himself agreeing with Andrew, and even… He glanced over at the Hohenzollern, even HIM. As much as he disliked admitting to that. Now, he had but one thing to say.

"This sucks…"

"You're telling me!" a feminine voice chimed in. Something that was followed by Kyoko descending from the bridge, her boots clanging on the metal stairs.

"I get access to all the Machina, but half the components are classified, and I'm not allowed to Research their inner workings?! How am I gonna show my prowess as an engineer then?!"

Takeshi, being one with little filter as usual, responded.

"Not like anybody asked you to come… I would've been fine with you staying in Shinkyo…"

Kyoko's gaze shot over to him.

"I heard that!"

"That was the point, Idiot!"

Idiot… the girl growled as she shot over to him, getting into his face.

"That's rich coming from someone whose plan was to shoot a kaiju until it died!"

"It worked, didn't it?!"

As the two continued their bickering, the other members of the Machina squad simply watched on in silence. Truthfully, still deciding whether they should get involved or not. Eventually, after about a minute or so, the two had finally gone silent, their eyes still boring into each other. Within a few moments, Kyoko let out a single sound.

"Hmph."

With her chin held high, and arms crossed, the engineer turned away, and made her way out of the room, and back into the bridge. All the while, Takeshi turned as well. That girl annoyed the hell out of him, that was for sure. How would he deal with her until he achieved his goal of destroying the Garsalan? In a way, she reminded him of the late Kuba Kimiko… But unlike her, he didn't see any likable traits. Either way, such thoughts had begun to make him think of Neo-Tokyo again. And wasn't exactly keen on standing there thinking about the past.

As such, he made his way back to his seat.

"With that out of the way. Let's just hope more of those roaches pop up. Then we can show them we aint' some band of dipshits who don't know what they're doing."

This much gained smirks from those in the room, even from Diederick, who was seemingly the odd one out.

"Best we can do." Andrew agreed.

It did not take long for alarm Klaxons to begin sounding throughout the ship as a whole. Of course, they all knew what that meant.

"It looks like our chance is coming soon." Haemon commented.

Now, the pilots got up from their seats, running toward the bridge. But, rather than ascending up the stairs, going to one of the two doors that flanked them. The doors slid open as the pilots entered, revealing a dimly lit room, with a holographic map of the surrounding area, displayed from a large table. A briefing room that had been added to the ship in the days before.

"Machina squad. I am Captain Maeng Sang Kyu of the Wonbaek fortress… We're finding ourselves attacked by three Garsalan Cruisers, your support is needed."

Takeshi cracked his knuckles, as he strolled over to the edge of the table.

"No problem here, we'll be right there!" Takeshi shouted.

With no more words, they ran back into the previous room. Quickly putting their pilot suits over themselves. Black, with red lining them, as well as a helmet. With their suit up finished, they began running toward the hangar bay, followed by the other pilots. As they made their way to the machines, Diederick began speaking.

"I want to make this clear before we go to battle. Don't get in my way, Commoners. I have the honor of my house to upho-"

"Yeah, yeah, honor this, house that, let's focus on the fight." Takeshi cut in. Something which resulted in a frown from the noble. Regardless, he bit his tongue. With a few more minutes of running, they'd arrived in the hangar, where their machines sat secured. As the pilots approached them, the hatches on their cockpits parted, and wires dropped to allow them in, they did so swiftly, and began to activate their machines. All of them shared similar cockpits, with a 360 degree display of the area around them, along with a holographic display. Takeshi was the first to make his way toward the opening cargo bay doors, making the machine begin walking. Something followed by Kyoko's words coming into the pilot's ears.

"Alright, you're all cleared!"

"Heh, Good… Inoue Takeshi, Gaojinizer, Ready to kick ass!" The crimson light from the Gaojinizer's thrusters began to streak behind it, as it flew out into the sky, making waves upon the open ocean as it did so. Soon enough, the Kaiser Valgeogant stepped out next.

"Diederick Van Hohenzollern, Valgeogant, Launching!" No sooner did the Valgeogant burst outward, the cape on its back flowing in the wind the thrusters pushed out. Now, a blue light streaked across the sky. Beginning to head toward the same target the Gaojinizer did.

Up next, was the Danzaman X, which launched out of the ship soon after the two, leading to a dark blue streak moving across the sky.

"Han Chen, Launching!"

Now, the pilots of the two- seemingly twin machines launched, purple and red respectively.

"Andrew Howard, Kaisenbuster, Let's do it!"

"Haemon Florakis, Great Sanvolner, commencing maneuvers!"

Now, the machina began a quick approach toward the Wonbaek Naval base. For quite some time, the space in front of them was clear of any signs of battle. But, after 10 or so minutes, that was no longer the case. 1 of The UFE's Beijing class carriers, launched from the dock, flanked by 2 Lagos-class cruisers, and 10 London Class Destroyers. In addition to the base's defenses, the ships themselves tried to attack. The Lagos class cruisers and destroyers firing off missiles, railguns, and Covalon cannons alike. While the Beijing class launched out both rockets, and the machines that were within its hangar. The E-06 "Ironfury" Fighters. Which most of the UFE's nations had become fond of using, as well as the Sino-Thai Alliance's trademark Vanguard Armors, the Chiyou.

The Orange colored machines were created with aerial combat in mind. With thin, agile frames, and missile packs on each shoulder. Along with a Covalon Saber, and rifle. However, as the Ironfuries and Chiyou found themselves fighting the Garsalan S'fans, it seemed the engineering that went into them was for naught. They were dropping like flies in the midst of the assault. The advantage in technology simply seemed too great to overcome. All the more reason that the pilots were even more eager to jump into battle.

"I'm going in. Impact Boosters, on!" Andrew yelled. No sooner did his machine change its way of flying, almost looking like it was ready to shoulder charge its targets. And that it did, the sound barrier shattered as it flew across the sky. Though the rapid approach was noted by a Garsalan pilot, it was much too late, the machine was obliterated as the Kaizenbuster ran through it. One soon turned into two, two, into three, and so on. Eventually, Andrew stopped, but by then, it'd already caught the attention of both the enemy forces, and his allied ones. This much was met by confusion from the Garsalan, after all, they didn't all know the events of the past few days.

"Whed dha harr?!" "What the hell?!"

"Whu'r neshaila air dhed?!" - "Who's machine is that?!"

Eventually, a squadron commander came forth to confront the unknown machine.

"Ezfreail irruis esdaiulr, Whed rusn esa irrui ilnas?..." "Explain your actions, What lord are you under?..."

This much gained silence from Andrew, and a smirk crawling onto his face… By now, his mandibles began to chitter. With a deadly edge in his voice, he spoke once more.

"Alrwas na irrui-" - "Answer me, You-"

"Tes'Li Wedsh uid!" - "Commander, Watch out!"

The commander quickly snapped his attention away from the machina with his subordinates warning… Only to turn, and see the Valgeogant rapidly approaching, One of its many greatswords in hand. No sooner than he saw it, was the edge of said blade plunged into the cockpit… Something that was followed by it exploding into a ball of fire.

"Zu Tielzi Tes'Li!!!" A pilot shouted.

"Denl aid, rhuud dhan nuwl!" Yelled another.

No sooner did they begin firing their guns at the machina, an action followed by the cruisers that brought them here. But this didn't last much longer, as the Danzaman began to approach the battle…

"Now then, Stingers, fly!"

The "Singers", five drones, with cannon barrels extended from their oblong bodies, split from the Danzaman. Within, the pilot's eyes moved across both the map of the area, and his camera display. Until, with his targets confirmed, he hung back, and sent them in. The weapons began to constantly shift their angle, and position, firing off purple beams, and tearing apart the Garsalan Machines…

This much relieved the pressure on the ships below, allowing for them to reorganize their formation. Within the command room of the fortress, Maeng Sang Kyu watched with a smile. Promptly standing up from his seat, and throwing his arms up, he yelled out his next set of commands.

"Let's get moving! Take advantage of the confusion in the Garsalan forces, and get the Anti-Ship Battery on those cruisers, do some damage before we moveon to stage two! Don't let them do all the work!" The captain yelled.

"Yes sir!"

Apparently, one of the Garsalan pilots decided to go out on their own. With what looked like an oversized bazooka held in its hands, it stopped just 500 feet above, aiming at the anti-ship battery, and getting ready to fire.

"Cuyas na, I'n llaisailr e lliraiul Weshaen!" - "Cover me, I'm firing a fusion Warhead!"

Five other S'fan's came to its defense, watching for any of the opposing machines. They couldn't let them get through, lest the shot be disrupted… However, there was one they didn't calculate for. And while the red-tipped warhead made its way out of the barrel, Haemon and the Savolner entered its path..

Within the cockpit, Haemon dragged his fingers across the display, eventually, bringing up a diagram of the machine, which showed three generators, on the forehead, chest, and left shoulder weapons, marked as Kinetic Defenders. As he tapped the display, a field of green light appeared in front of the Machina, and as the warhead touched it, it exploded as one would expect.

From there, the pilots' worries seemed to be over. That was just one of the primitive's machines destroyed, they'd simply have to resupply… Or at the least, that was what they thought until the smoke cleared, and the machine was seemingly unsctathed. They did not have much time to ponder what happened, before Takeshi rushed toward them, letting out a war cry, and drawing the deathscythe. Slicing apart all five machines within seconds.

Watching the ongoing battle from one of the cruisers was Mengits Tes'li, the Commander of the leading ship. He had no idea the terrans had not one, but five machines capable of destroying Garsalan ones, with this much ease, at that. The situation was only going to get worse if he didn't do something… But that was the question, what was the "Something" that could be done in this situation. But his worries were quickly cleared, as one of the officers on the bridge rose from his seat, turning around and speaking to him.

""Sais, dha Danul Zu Glucceucs G'thera Zu Kalis her essaiyan!" - "Sir, the Demon of Glucceucs, G'thera Zu Kalis has arrived!"

So, HE was here… He'd engaged with many other species over his career and still inflicted heavy losses. Though most of them were primitives, it was impressive that he could do so himself. If that was the one they sent, then this was over for these Xenos. The subject of the thoughts sat within the cockpit of his personal-made Orbital Decimator, waiting to be launched from his ship. It was an annoyance, being brought from one system of primitives to another. Did they truly not believe him capable enough? He would simply have to prove otherwise… The mothership was swallowed by a ball of fire as it began re-entry, homing in on Wonbaek island.