Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ Ronin Warriors: Illusionary War ❯ Assault on the Miraju Flagship ( Chapter 9 )

As the Kusanagi was making its way towards the Miraju fleet, another, unidentified ship, happened to be much closer.

"Commanders Primus and Garthis, we've reached the Miraju fleet.  The data you collected from your last mission was correct, they have sent a sizable force to a planet called Earth."

"Good.  Is the ship ready?"  Primus asked.
"Yes.  The APC equipped with the small M-Field generator is ready to go at your command."  the captain replied.
"Okay, let's lock and load."  Primus said, heading down to the hangar where a flying APC was standing by.  Various males and females, all of whom had elaborate beading in their hair, saluted Primus and Garthis as they entered the room.

Primus was a well built human with somewhat silvery hair, easy to mistake him for a Miraju if it were not for the angelic wings coming out of his back.  Garthis, on the other hand, was a tall humanoid being, looking almost mechanical, with yellow glowing eyes, no hair, and his skin a metallic hue.  He was wearing various body armor and was at the moment brimming with weapons.
"All right squad, listen up.  Our mission last time was a complete success.  The data we retrieved from that ship proved that the Prime Minister, and the captured scientists, are aboard this ship.  Give yourselves a round of applause."  Primus replied.

There was much cheering and clapping for a moment, as the noise faded out as quickly as it had began and Primus continued.

"We'll be entering through an airlock on Level Five.  Once inside, we'll make our way down to Level Six, where they're holding the prisoners.  Levels Five and Six are mecha hangars, so we should have plenty of wide open space should we need to fight.  Level Six, however, I believe where they store golems, so hopefully we'll be okay on that front."  Primus replied.
"The ship is ready to go sirs."  a beaded female replied.
"Excellent Rangu.  Let's get going."  Primus ordered, as soldiers seated on supply cases each grabbed a rifle with three barrels, as others with yellow markings on their shoulders picked up a different looking scoped rifle or a large launcher of some sort instead, as they made their way aboard their small  ship, hatches opening on the sides as most of the soldiers clambered in, while the remaining troops, Rangu, Primus, and Garthis themselves entered the center section.

"Let's get this show on the road.  SHIJUNI!!!!"  Primus shouted.
"SHIJUNI!"  the other soldiers shouted in unison, as the craft lifted off and made its way out of the hangar and towards the Flagship.

"Okay Rangu, we're never going to get near that thing unless we put on our disguise."  Primus replied.
"On it sir."  she replied, pushing a button.

The ship suddenly looked like a Miraju Dropship as they killed the lights inside and put on dimmer ones to be more evident that this was a MIRAJU craft.  The rogue dropship was soon hailed, as Primus made sure he was the center of attention, hiding his wings under a Miraju cloak they had stolen.

"Dropship, please identify yourself."  came a soldier aboard the Flagship.
"This is Dropship 6720, bringing the requested supplies to the Flagship."  Primus replied, hoping the intel they'd acquired on their last mission would allow them to land without incident.

Back aboard the Flagship, the soldier checked his references as to any and all ships that would be coming their way that day.  Sure enough, the number checked out, but that particular craft was not expected to arrive for another few hours.

"Dropship, you're quite ahead of schedule."  the soldier replied back to Primus.
"We misread the flight plan.  Regardless, we're ahead of schedule, so if you'll just clear us to land on Level Five, we'll be all set."  Primus replied.
"Level Five?  Dropship, my records here show you're bringing a shipment of food to Level Three."
 

Primus' and Garthis' team had managed to get their hands on information indicating that the Hoen Prime Minister and several scientists were being held on the Flagship, and that a dropship was scheduled to make a delivery there today.  The only thing they did not manage to find out was what their cargo was.

"Of course, I knew that.  We were planning to land on Level Five and then bring the food up to Level Three."  Primus lied.
"Very well.  You are cleared to land on Level Five.  Opening airlock."

The screen faded as a hole opened in the hull of the flagship, which Rangu steered towards and prepared to land inside.

Inside the ship, a call to General Quarters was being made as soldiers rushed to Level Five, prepared to intercept the obvious threat.

The small craft set down amongst hundreds of Miraju fighters and bombers, clearly prepared for the invasion at hand.

"Everyone, get ready.  I'm pretty sure they're on to us by now."  Primus replied, as nanomachines emerged from their gauntlets and worked their way across their bodies, surrounding their heads in a helmet as Primus donned a stormtrooper-like helmet as they readied their weapons.

The ship landed as the hatches opened and troops filed out from the two side hatches, taking firing positions against crates, aiming towards the door on the catwalk overhead.  The door opened as masses of Miraju soldiers came charging into the room, aiming their weapons towards the extremely vulnerable troops on the floor below, many more heading for the elevators near the catwalks, preventing them from entering that way.  Even more started to file in from the two doors towards the rear of the hangar.

"Okay, now what do we do?"  one of the soldiers asked.

"We've got to make a break for the rear of the hangar.  If we read the plans right, there's an ammo dump at the other end of the room, with elevators headed down to the next level down, where the prisoners are being held.  Let's move!"  Primus shouted, aiming his mini-missile gauntlets at the approaching troops at the other end and fired, as the dug-in soldiers fired the sniper part of their rifle, dropping infantry left and right as more troops started to advance forward, firing at everything they could.  A few of the Hoen troops fell in the charge forward, but even more Miraju troops were cut down as anti-armor shells were hurled their way, taking out the Uranari Light Borgs that were making their way in.  As Garthis managed to get closer, he let the troops have it with his sonic cannon, knocking them off their feet and sending the rest diving for cover as the mini-missile launcher on his back delivered a few more blows to the enemy troops.  The troops towards the back taking sniper positions managed to take down many of the troops on the catwalk, but whomever has the higher ground usually has the advantage, as several of them were taken out as well. A few of the Hoen troops tossed grenades, which forced the Miraju forces to take cover as the Hoen continued to fight their way to the other side, taking defensive positions when they could, returning fire while the other group advanced, finally making it to one of the doors, only to find it locked.

"Great, this is just what we need.  You, slice that control and get us in there, we'll watch your back."  Garthis ordered.

One of the troops, who did not seem to be wearing as much armor, walked up to the control and began typing furiously, before long turning the light to green, forcing the door open and charging into the next room perfectly, troops in the room along each wall, down the center, with another bringing up the rear covering their escape route.  A portion of them headed for the elevator, and headed down, ending up in some sort of cloning facility.

"Great.  This must be where they make all their nasty troops."  one of the soldiers replied.
"We don't have time to figure out what it is the do in here.  Standby  to breach that door."  Primus ordered.

A charge was placed as the troops took cover, as Miraju forces on the other side were knocked back by the grenade that was dropped on their party, taking a bunch of them down, rounding the corner and taking position, only to find more troops than they could possibly handle on their own.  They had no other choice but to become prisoners themselves.

Deeper within the ship, one of the High Lords made his way into the throne room of Asterra himself.  This room was darker than the others, mostly due to light bothering their emperor more than it did the regular Miraju.

"Eminence, we captured the Hoen forces that attacked."  the High Lord explained.
"Good."  Asterra replied in a gravely voice.  "Did they know about the Champion?"
"No, my Lord.  They seemed to come only to save the Prime Minister and the captured scientists."
"Then we can proceed as planned." Asterra replied.

Meanwhile, the Kusanagi was approaching the Miraju flagship themselves.  The main differences being, they did not have the more advanced technology the Hoen had, they could not make their landing craft look like a Miraju one, so it was going to take quite a diversion and some extreme hotshot piloting skills to get the Phantom Express on board without incident.  Rowen, Navcase, Ryo, and Enzeru were on the bridge, looking out at the starry blackness before them.  In their leaving of Earth, they had barely noticed the Miraju ship in high orbit until after they were well away from it.  But that was simply an assault craft; they were looking for by far the most dangerous ship of the fleet, made even more dangerous by the being on board; Asterra himself, and Amaterasu knew what else.  In order for this to work, they had to get the Miraju's attention by getting dangerously within range of their ship, and then launching their landing craft in the midst of the firefight.  Rowen and the others climbed aboard the Phantom Express, hoping the craft was up to the task.  A few of Enzeru's smaller power armor and their pilots were also aboard for the ride.

Back aboard the Flagship...

An alert signal traveled from Miraju to Miraju as their sensors detected the Kusanagi approaching their position.  Asterra was quickly notified.

"What is it now?"  the being snarled, clearly in the middle of something, as a body seemed to have tentacles wrapped around it at the moment.
"Sorry to interrupt, your Eminence, but another ship has come into range of us.  It does not appear to be Hoen or Sensharan design.  What are your orders?"  the High Lord asked.
"Drop our M-Field and engage.  Whoever they are, they are no match for our power."  Asterra commanded.
"As you wish, your Eminence."  the High Lord concentrated and a psychic order resonated through the bridge.  In mere seconds the ship shed its asteroid disguise and the approaching Kusanagi got its first real look at a Miraju ship.
"Look at the size of that thing...it's HUGE!!!"  came the exasperated exclamation of shock from Ryo.
"It looks organic, no wonder we had trouble tracking their ships.  The Hoen must have found some way, I hope."  Rowen observed.
"Boss, do we really have to go aboard that thing?"  came Tengu's question.
"Yes, we do.  We must rescue these VIP's and get them away from the enemy forces."  Enzeru replied.
"Oookay...but it's our funeral."  Tengu replied.
"Cut the chatter Itazura, let's do this."  Okita said.

The ship lifted off and raced out of the hangar as the Kusanagi's weapons were aimed towards the flagship and volleys silently erupted from the weapons, as energy bolts, lightning bolts, magical fireballs, and other things shot out from the other ship.  Tengu flew like a madman, dodging blast after blast, barrel rolling out of the way of missiles and magic missiles flying back and forth, flying as fast as he could, engines pushed to the max.

"Does he always fly like this?"  Rowen asked the Lieutenant.
"No, this is only the second time we've had him try flying outside an atmosphere.  He's doing better than I expected under the circumstances."
"OH SHIT!!!!"  Tengu exclaimed.
"What is it?"  Enzeru asked.
"Their hangar just opened up boss!  They're sending out fighters!  WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!!"  he exclaimed.
"Stow it Itazura, they've probably been deployed to attack the Kusanagi, they'll probably leave us alone."  Okita explained.
"Then why are some of them heading for US?"  Tengu shot back.
"Damn.  Rowen, you and the others get in back and get your armor on.  I'll stay up here with Tengu until we're safely aboard that ship, Okita, you go back there too and tell everyone to get in their suits."  Enzeru ordered.
"Yes Ma'am."  Okita said, saluting and heading in the back, where Ryo, Rowen, and Navcase had already armored up, leaving their faceplates open at the moment, as Okita climbed into his Ikuza and closed it up.
"FASTER!!!"  Enzeru shouted in the cockpit.
"With all due respect, we're going as fast as WE CAN!!!!  That and we'll need to slow down otherwise we'll slam right into whatever they have regulating the gap between their hangar and the vacuum."  Tengu explained, bringing the ship in for its final approach as fighters proceeded to close in on them, as Tengu managed to dodge psychic bolts sent their way, as he slowed down abruptly and slid partway across the still open hangar, knocking fighters out of their way as pilots prepared to take care of the problem any way they could.  Enzeru slammed the release for the access ramp, as Okita raced down it, spraying the surprised pilots with railgun ammo, as the Ulti-max worked their way and used their own forcefields to allow the others some extra time to get out.  The two Seishi then made their way out and took down the remainder, as Enzeru and Tengu in his own power armor worked their way out of the ship as well.

"We better get moving.  It won't be long until they've sent for whoever repels boarders like ourselves."  Lt. Enzeru said.  Okita, take Rowen and see if you can find some sort of a terminal... if there is one."

From the looks of it, it was if a starship was squeezed into some sort of hollow exoskeleton of sorts, as pulses of light traveled along the ceilings, like nerve signals.  On top of that, there were the bodies of black and silver "stormtroopers" lying all over the place.

"Wait a sec.  That ship over there.  Doesn't look like the others."  Rowen pointed out.
"Careful man.  Not such a good idea to go investigate."  Ryo warned him.
"It'll only take a sec."  Rowen answered.
"All right.  We'll take a look.  Everyone, keep your eyes open."  Enzeru replied as the group slowly approached, flanking each other and keeping an eye out to either side as they neared the craft.  A few times, some of Enzeru's men swore they saw something moving, but brushed it off as their eyes playing tricks on them.  At last, the group reached their destination.

"Looks to me like some sort of boarding craft.  Hatches on the sides to deploy some troops, more probably being carried inside.  Rowen, what are you doing?"  Enzeru asked quietly as Rowen started to make his way up the access ramp.
"I'm just going to take a look inside."  Rowen replied.

Carefully working his way aboard the mostly cramped interior, it became more obvious that this was a boarding craft.  There were two long benches along the sides, extra weapons, which looked quite beyond their own, along the back wall, and slumped forward in a chair directly in front of him at the controls, was a figure wearing the same black and silver armor as the other bodies.  This one seemed to be less built than the others, probably a female.  Dead?  That was Rowen's first thought, but as he neared the body it became more obvious to him that there was at least one survivor, as this one was breathing.  He began to reach out to touch, based on his assumptions, her to see how conscious she happened to be...

Meanwhile, the others had taken positions underneath this ship, again noticing something.  What they were not aware of was that they were being lined up in scopes, by surviving snipers.  Enzeru felt something was wrong, and happened to glance over to one side, as a suppressed shot went off, she shouted "SNIPER!"  pushing Okita out of the way, the shot barely grazing her shoulder.  "RYO, NAVCASE, GET DOWN!, OKITA, TENGU, FIGURE OUT WHERE THEY ARE AND TAKE THEM OUT BEFORE THEY TAKE US OUT!!!"  she ordered.

Inside, inches away from being able to give her a shake, "she" came to, elbowed him in the chest, surprisingly sending him flying in the other direction.  Yuri, he thought, was the only girl that could hit that hard.  Before he could blink or do anything else, he had a blaster pistol trained on him, as the figure shouted something that sounded foreign and familiar at the same time.  Putting his hands up, the figure led him out of the ship, as Enzeru and the others were still searching for the snipers, who by now had shimmeringly moved to new nests and prepared to fire again.  The figure still training her pistol on Rowen shouted something, and out of the blue appeared three more soldiers in the same black and silver armor, who threw back their hoods and cloaks and moved in on their new prisoners, motioning for them to come out of their armors, which they did.  They then shouted something else in their strange but familiar sounding language, presumably for Ryo, Navcase, and Rowen to do the same, who dismissed their armors after being shoved by one of them.

<"Where are Primus and Garthis?  Where have you taken them?"> the female demanded to know.
"We don't know!  But we didn't do anything to them!"  Rowen replied, knowing this was probably making no sense to them.
<"Miraju were the ones responsible for our fallen comrades, Rangu.  Not these people.">  One of the snipers explained to her.  About the only words that the heroes were able to make sense of were "Rangu", who they figured was the name of the person training her pistol on Rowen, and something clearly having to do with the Miraju.
<"Then they must know something about Primus and Garthis."  Rangu insisted.
"Look, if these two people you're talking about are your commanders, we don't know where they are!  We just got here ourselves!"  Enzeru shouted.

As the barrage of questions that our heroes could only guess at continued, Rowen's inquisitive mind was putting all of this together.  They'd seen Miraju before, so these had to be Hoen, he guessed.  But how could Rajei have picked up on their language so quickly?  As the Hoen, at least he figured they were, asked questions, he soon came to the conclusion.  The Hoen language and his own were similar!  They were simply putting emphasis on the middle syllable rather than the first, a common mistake of beginning Japanese speakers, or people who had no clue.  But he had to test his theory.
<"Are you four Hoen?">  Rowen asked, speaking the same words, but putting the wrong emphasis on them as the Hoen had, hoping his theory was right.
<"Yes.  We are Hoen.">  Rangu explained.  <"But who are you?">
<"My name is Rowen.  This is Ryo, Navcase, Lt. Enzeru, and the rest of her soldiers.  We're here to rescue Rajei."> he explained.

The four Hoen exclaimed the name aloud.  After lowering or stowing their weapons, they began pressing some buttons on their gauntlets, many in the group were ready to race back to the ship quadruple time, moreso after Tengu thought they were activating some sort of self-destruct.  However, his fears were put to rest as their underarmor receded back into their belt buckles, revealing some sort of linkup, something like what the Ronin used to use to connect to their armors.  The four reached up and removed their helmets, letting their bright red beaded hair fall as the helmets came off.  Rangu was indeed female, and a very attractive looking one, at that.

<"YOU KNOW RAJEI?  HE'S HERE?">  Rangu replied ecstatically.
"Uh Rowen, what's going on here, how come you can suddenly understand them?"  Ryo asked.
"It's simple.  Their language is remarkably similar to ours, that's how Rajei picked it up so fast.  It'll take some getting used to, but I think we're okay."  <"So what brings you guys here?">  Rowen asked.
<"We came here to rescue our Prime Minister and captured scientists from Asterra, but I fear the attack may have failed.  I know not how many of us survived.">  Rangu explained.
<"Well, if you guys can help us find Rajei, we'll help you out.  We might as well stick together.">  Rowen explained.
<"THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!">  Rangu exclaimed, practically hugging Rowen to death.  Rowen turned beet red and also slightly blue from this, as Rangu blushed a little and let go.
<"Let's move out then.  SHIJUNI!!!!">  Rangu shouted.
"SHIJUNI!!!!"  the other Hoen shouted.

The Hoen donned their helmets and reactivated their nanite armor as the group moved forward.

"Does she have any idea where they might be?"  Enzeru asked.
"Rangu says they're probably on the next level down.  That's where they were headed."  Rowen explained.  The group climbed on the elevator one of the snipers pointed to in the next chamber and they took it down to Level Six.
"Looks like they breached the door.  Wish there was a way to see what we're up against without them finding out--"  Enzeru replied as she was pushed aside and blocked by one of the snipers.
"He says they've got something for that."  Rowen explained, as no sooner did he say that a mechanical arachnid thing crawled down the sniper's back and crawled up the wall and across the ceiling.  Everything the droid saw was seen in the HUD of the sniper as it looked into an open door.
"He says they're all in the brig.  The Prime Minister, the remaining troops, Rajei, and Garthis."  Rowen replied.
"Garthis?"  Ryo asked.
"Rangu says he's the second in command.  He's a Sensharan, some other race than the Hoen."  Rowen explained before he had to translate for the sniper once again, explaining that he'd spotted Primus in the interrogation room.
"Now what are we supposed to do?"  Ryo asked.

"We handle it like soldiers.  Rowen, ask them how many guards are in the next room."

Rowen relayed the information to the sniper, who in turn replied back to Rowen that there were six.

"Can we take them down?"  Ryo asked.
"Yes, but not by charging in there powers and weapons blazing.  Tell the snipers to pick their targets, and ask if they've got any way to make this go quickly."  Enzeru asked.

Rowen again relayed the message to the snipers, one of whom pulled out a grenade of some sort.

"He says it's a light grenade.  It'll blind them and give us enough time to drop the guards and get the prisoners out in due time."  Rowen explained.

The snipers began conferring with each other, using hand signals as well as their comlinks to figure out who was going to deal with which guard.  One of the snipers had a different weapon than the other two a more dedicated sniper weapon than the three barreled weapon the other two had.

"Nanajin is one of the best snipers the team has.  Only the most elite sharpshooters in a commando unit get assigned that weapon."  Rangu explained.

Nanajin used various hand signals as the three got into position and trained their weapons on the target.  Nanajin tossed the grenade into the room, as the prisoners in the room recognized it and covered their eyes instinctively, as the civilians were ordered to do the same, as the charge went off, sending out blinding light that surprised the guards as the snipers quickly dropped all six, Nanajin training his rifle through the entryway as the other two switched over their weapons and headed in to make sure things were all clear before the others came in.

"Everyone all right?"  Rangu asked.
"We're quite fine Rangu, what are you doing here?  And who are all these people?"

Rangu and Rowen quickly filled in the two commanders of everyone in the other group, and explained how they had gotten into this predicament, with additional aid from Rajei himself.

"So let me get this straight.  You guys are heroes from a distant planet, the same one Rajei ended up on trying to run from the Miraju.  The Miraju are poised to invade your world, or at least making it look like it, but more accurately they're going to leave once they have Rajei, or the people there make some effort to fight back.  And we've never seen any orange and green portals like the ones you're describing."  Primus said.
"It's probably a good idea that we get ourselves out of here and back to the hangar before they figure out that the guards here haven't checked in."  Enzeru said, which Rajei passed on to Primus and Garthis.

The combined group made it back to the elevator, and quickly took it up to the floor they were on.  The commandoes went in first, scanning the hangar for any foes that might have reentered in their absence.  Satisfied that it was clear, the group motioned for the others to enter the hangar as well.

With all points covered, the Ronin group made its way inside, making absolutely sure nothing had been missed when the area was cleared before, as they made their way carefully towards their respective crafts.

"This is way too easy.  They may not know much about us being here, but they certainly know that the Hoen are here, so unless they're complete and total idiots, they've set up a trap for us.  There's nobody and nothing guarding the ship, so we're extremely ripe for an ambush soon."  Enzeru explained.
"Primus and Garthis say they agree with you.  They could be hiding anywhere."  Rajei said.
"How could they?  I don't recall there being M. Field generators that small."  Rangu said.
"M. Fields?"  Rowen asked.
"It's a device the Miraju use to create illusions to hid their ships and bases. But there are none small enough to hide them in a hangar like this one."  Rajei explained to those in the group that were not as Miraju-savvy.

"Good, we're almost out of here.  Let's get in the ships and get back to the Kusanagi before we run into any other problems."  Enzeru replied as the group hurried inside their respective ships and hurried through pre-flight as quickly as they could, lifting off and heading as quickly as they could for the Kusanagi, which was still pounding away with its weapons at the enemy flagship.

"Damn!  Our mothership's gone!  We won't be able to get back to base with what little power we have, and we don't equip these things with faster than light capability!"  Primus shouted.
"Come back with us guys.  I'm sure Mia won't mind a few more boarders."  Rowen said.
"Yes, she's very nice and would be happy to have all of you, at least until we can get in touch with the rest of the Hoen forces."  Rajei explained.  "Fine then.  We'll stay with you until we can find a way to get back to the rest of the fleet."

The hatches on the Kusanagi opened, and the two craft flew on board as they pulled away and worked their way back towards Earth.

"WHAT?!  MORE OF YOU?"  Mia shouted in shock that in trying to rescue one Miraju, they had inadvertently brought back one Prime Minister, six Hoen scientists, three snipers, one rocket soldier, two engineers, a bunch of infantry, AND Rajei.

"Where am I going to put all of them?"  Mia exclaimed.
"Well, we could probably put most of them in Rajei's room, maybe a few in one of the spare bedrooms, the VIP's can stay over at Kinjiro's place, possibly whip up some extreme anti-Miraju gear."  Rowen said, explaining his plan for trying to cram several more guests into the Koji Mansion.
"C'mon Mia, these guys are soldiers.  They're not going to be a burden."  Ryo explained.
"Fine, they can stay.  But if things get out of hand, they're going to the palace."  Mia said.
"We understand, ma'am, thank you."  Primus said.

The Prime Minister and scientists were quickly shuttled over to Osaki, where Ms. Jishou quickly made a priority to modify translators to the Hoen nuances so that interlingual communication would be possible and they could get to work on ways to combat the Miraju.

Meanwhile, back on the flagship...

"WHATTTTTT?!!!!"  Came the extremely angry reply from Emperor Asterra when he was informed that not only had they lost Rajei, they had also lost the rest of their Hoen prisoners.

"I do not care how long it takes, or how many native inhabitants must be blasted into submission, or whatever else must be done, YOU WILL FIND THE HOEN CHAMPION, AND THE PRIME MINISTER, AND KILL EVERYONE AND ANYONE WHO AIDED THEM!!!!"  Asterra shouted.
"Do not worry, your highness.  I will find them, and destroy them."  A cloaked figure replied.
 

NEXT EPISODE:

ROWEN:  Well, we've managed to free Rajei and Asterra's other Hoen prisoners, so I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say that he's not happy.

RAJEI:  Indeed so, Rowen, and he will stop at nothing to get them back.  So we best be on our guard, and ready at several moment's notices to counter the attack.

RANGU:  It's next time on Ronin Warriors:  Illusionary War;  A Worthy Blade Appears.  See you soon!.