Operation Rapture

Military: Battle

Humanity's time is short. That is, if we don't make one crucial strike soon. In striking our last two cities, the Mechrion made one fatal mistake, leaving a gap in the forces that surround their mothership.

In the aftermath of the strike on Safe Zone 1, humanity is not long for this world. The Archangels are battered, and few, and even fewer are the Titans which they piloted. If a solution exists, it must be found fast. After much searching, one slim chance was found. In sending such a large attack force to the Safe Zones, they had left a large gap in the forces that surround their mothership. The Mechrion mothership, visible in the night sky, as it rests its tip on Earh's moon, usually has a substantial force surrounding it.   If the Archangels are to take advantage of this gap, they must act now. Every functioning Archangel, and Titan of both the defense force, and the Armageddon Division must come together as a single massive strike force. In all, seven hundred Archangels were able to fight, including the newly formed Sierra Squad, consisting of Michael Ward, Charles Jefferson, Johnathan, and Christopher Moore, Bethany Khanna, and Archangel Commander Mason Lewis. This squad would command the entire strike force. The objective was to board the Mothership, find its E.Z. power core, and use humanity's last nuclear device to destroy it, causing a E.Z. feedback that would destroy the ship.   It took every available dropship to carry that number of Archangels from the Earth's surface to the Moon. The trip took three days. Three days for seven hundred Archangels being crammed in their titan's barely pressurized cockpits. Once they got close, the Archangels activated their neural links, and got ready for a very bumpy ride.   Once they entered Mechrion Space, it became a very bumpy ride. Mechrion Stingers intercepted the dropships. While the dropships had countermeasures, and methods of fighting back, many still were destroyed, and so too were the Archangels and titans the destroyed were carrying. Still, the Archangels' invading force pushed on.   Once they were about fifteen miles from the Mothership, the dropships released the titans, and the Archangels inside. The titans would use their jump-jets to slow their approach until they reached their insertion point. Any titans too heavy to mount jump-jets were given a back-mounted rockets to serve the same purpose. These rockets would be ejected from the titan's back once it landed. A quick head count revealed that the strike force of seven hundred had been reduced to just five hundred in the chaos.   The Archangels were pulled to the Mothership's hull by its artificial gravity. It took the combined beam cannons of five titans to make a hole large enough to fit even the smallest titans. Total insertion time was fifteen minutes. Sierra Squad was the first to enter the Mothership. Commander Mason piloted the NA-T29, which was the largest, and most powerful titan on the market.   The Archangels arranged themselves in five strike forces of one hundred Archangels each. The Heavy Titans would stay around the edge of the group, serving as cover for the rest. Just behind them were the CQ Titans, ready to charge forth and face the Mechrion in melee combat, in which the Mechrion were vulnerable. Amongst them were the Command Titans. In the inner rings of the groups were the Sniper Titans. The Scout Titans would fulfil their purpose in going ahead of the strike forces, and reporting their findings.   These strike forces would split up, and search for the Mothership's power core. There was reason to assume that the power core was that of Element Zero. Even a small explosion placed on the core would cause an E.Z. feedback, destroying the entire Mothership. The Archangels would have to find it first.   As the search went on, the strike forces became more, and more isolated. Sierra Squad was all gathered in the same strike force. It took two hours of searching for the Archangels to realize, they have not seen any Mechrion. Suddenly, the air got heavier with suspense. An attack could come from anywhere at any time. Not long after someone in Sierra's strike force pointed this out, they lost contact with all other strike forces. Mason ordered the remaining Archangels to assume the worst until proven otherwise.   Still, they pushed on. They would lose contact with their scouts as well. Everyone raised their weapons, waiting for an incoming attack. From the shadows ran a lone scout titan. In a single strike, the entire right half of the titan's torso disappeared. The resulting flame revealed something which the Archangels hadn't seen before. Something many times larger than even the largest of the Heavy Titans. A single neon blue blast of the same weapon critically damaged a Heavy Titan as every titan in the massive corridor opened fire. The thing fired back, the blasts gliding through many titans, and destroying them.   It took the combined fire of all surviving titans before the thing took any damage at all. Michael noticed another neon blue blast charging at the muzzle of its primary cannon. A well-placed blast from his large beam cannon hit the ball of charged energy, explosively dispersing it, crippling the weapon, and exposing the machine's E.Z. core. Christopher Moore fired six of his eight medium beam cannons at the core, destroying it. The resulting blast tore open the walls of the corridor. Of the one hundred Archangels and titans, there were now only forty. Through one of the titan-sized holes in the walls, was the E.Z. power core the Archangels were looking for.   Guarding it was something else that was previously unseen. Johnathan Moore named it the Archon. When it saw the Archangels, there was a brief pause before it acted. It bore no weapon, and seemingly no armor. Instead, an energy that looked like magic poured from its hands. The blast vaporized a quarter of the remaining forty titans. In its chest was two E.Z. cores. When Michael ruptured one of them with an all-weapons, it did not send any explosive feedback throughout the rest of the machine. Johnathan was quick to try and correct this.   In his CQ Titan, he dashed to the Archon, used his jump pack to carry himself up to the thing's chest, and thrust his sword deep into the core. The explosive feedback launched his titan back, and immobilized it. The E.Z. blast also disabled the nuclear device that Johnathan's titan was carrying. He opened the cockpit, and saw the fruits of his impulsive action. Ultimately, he had to climb into his brother's titan. As a head count was issued, and all titans made a systems check, it was revealed that Commander Mason's cockpit was breached by the Archon's attack. He could no longer return to Earth. However, he had an idea as to how he can still be of use.   He gave an all-frequency order, saying that he would stay behind to detonate the core with his own nuclear reactors. The nuclear device was destroyed, so someone would have to stay behind and perform this task. He refused to put one of his fellow Archangels in this situation when he himself could do so. Since his own cockpit is breached, he would be unable to return to Earth with his own titan anyway.   Michael tried to contest this, saying things like "Earth still needs you." or "You are the only one capable of leading the Archangels." Mason responded with "Look around you! We are all that's left of the Archangels. There's nothing to lead. If I do not do this now, there will not be a humanity to defend either." Ultimately, Michael was forced to follow the orders of his commander. He ordered the remaining twenty-eight titans to retreat back the way they came. Still, there was no contact from the other four strike forces.   As they drew closer to the hull breach they had made, the Mechrion presence became more and more dense. Losses among the last twenty-eight became more and more severe. By the time the Archangels got to the exfil point, only four titans were standing. Michael's, Charles' Bethany's, and Christopher's which held both Christopher and Johnathan. They sent out another all-frequencies order for a dropship to provide evac. Pilot Jamey Vega was the only one to respond.   She swooped in, and picked up what was left of Sierra squad. Once she was pointed toward Earth, she sped up to full throttle, narrowly escaping Mechrion pursuit. Once they reached minimum safe distance, Archangel Michael Ward gave Mason the word to detonate his reactor. With no response, the Mothership rumbled, and shook, and slowly collapsed in on itself.   Once they came back to Earth, they found that the Mechrion had all fallen. It was a common assumption that the Mothership was the center of their hivemind, and would disable the rest of the Mechrion forces. The day had been won. Over a hundred years of being on the backfoot, finally over. However, this day alone was not without cost. Now the Archangels Mechanized Infantry Corps was all but gone, with only four functioning titans, and only five total Titanmasters remaining. Rebuilding would take many generations. Only once the rebuilding is complete could humanity reenter its Golden Age.