Mobile Suit Gundam: Rogues

36. The Mission Comes First

Alissa exits her personal hanger while wiping her face with a towel that sits on her shoulders. She holds a tablet in her other hand and scans through multiple blueprints. She enters the public hanger  where multiple teams of workers are constantly working.

"Hey Alissa. How's it coming on your end?" Asks a one of the workers that Alissa walks up to.

"Hm? Oh I pretty much finished that ahead of schedule. I just decided to get a little creative and did some last minute upgrades. What about you guys?" Alissa

"Oh you know us. Just trying to keep up with you is all." The worker says then laughs hysterically.

Alissa simply smiles and shakes her head. Alissa is suddenly alerted by a couple of beeps coming from her wrist device.

"Hm? What is it boss?" The worker asks as Alissa checks her device.

"Proximity alarm? There's a... Oh shit. Everybody hit the deck!!" Alissa yells just before the large front entrance doors explode open throwing many off of their feet.

Smoke blocks everyone's vision but a towering silhouette leaves little for the imagination. As the smoke clears, a large mobile suit stands at the entrance with a rifle in hand.

"A m-m-mobile suit?! From where?! Who's it for?!" Worker 1

"Don't everyone just stand there all dumbfounded! get to cover now!!" Alissa

Hearing Alissa's voice snaps everyone out of their trance and they do as she says right away. The dust fully clears to reveal the small battalion of soldiers in white begin to carefully swarm in armed from head to toe.

"All of you only get one warning. Surrender all of your equipment including the factory issue mobile suits. Cooperation will result in no harm done. You have two minutes to comply." Says the voice coming from the loud speaker on the mobile suit.

"Pff. Two minutes? I don't even need two seconds to do this!" Alissa says as she types on her wrist device.

Parts of the walls and ceiling start to shift and reveal a multiple number of laser mount rifles. They all take aim after the mobile suit and the soldiers in white. 

"I'll tell you what? You get the hell out of my building and you can live to tell about it!" Alissa says having her voice echo through the a loud speakers.

"You now have less than a minute. Prepare yourselves." Says the voice from the mobile suit. 

Little did the enemy know, Alissa's true intentions were to buy time for her subordinates to get to cover and grab any weapon they are able to. Once Alissa noticed that everyone made it in their positions she lets out a relieved sigh. 

"Your time is up. Failure to comply will result in-" mobile suit pilot.

The voice from the mobile suit is cut off from the sudden barrage of lasers coming from the mounted laser rifles on the walls. 

"What?! Sorry! I can't hear you over the sudden barrage of laser fire aimed directly at you interlopers!" Alissa says as she continuously inputs codes on her wrist device. 

The mobile suit stumbles backwards until it ultimately falls on its back. The small battalion of people in white suits fall back and take cover behind of the hanger door frame and the vehicles that they came in. While using the cover they start to fire back after the mounted lasers.

"Bring them up now!" Alissa

As ordered, one of the workers make it to a console and immediately pull the lever on it. Flashing red lights appear throughout the facility and a line of large barricades begin to pop up halfway from the hanger entrance providing much more cover for all of the workers. 

"Everyone! Get to your proper stations now!" Alissa orders keeping everyone's thoughts in order under the current circumstances.

"Hey!! What the hell are you doing?!! Get your ass in gear already!!" One of the men in white yells after the pilot of the mobile suit. 

"Fuck you! This isn't as easy as it looks

The mobile suit finally gets to its feet and right away starts to fire after the mounted lasers on the walls. The mobile suit takes out about half of the mounted laser rifles when the large barricade lines begin to collapse down revealing a small battalion of a all terrain tanks positioned in three horizontal lines with their funnels aimed at the army in white. 

"If you think that you're having your way in MY area... You have another thing coming!" Alissa says from inside the lead tank.

Meanwhile, Tasca follows a stream of tunnels that ends at a ladder leading up to a manhole cover. Tasca looks back for a brief moment before she quickly climbs the ladder. She carefully lifts the manhole cover, surveys the area to see that she emerged to an empty but familiar street. Tasca quickly enters a nearby alley and hides when she arrived at the other end. She peeks her head to see that the Central tower where The Governor of Arbiterra Fritz is located. Tasca scans the entrance of the tower and notices the heavy security on the outside. Tasca pulls out a small device and uses it to make a call. Alissa pops up on the holographic screen just as her tank gets hit and shakes the screen. 

"OH! Hi Sis! How are you?~" Alissa 

"...... Alissa... Why are you in the Combat Tank?" Tasca 

"Oh you know... Field testing and... What not.." Alissa 

".... Alissa. You were not supposed to-" Tasca 

"I know I know but they broke my hanger doors and aimed guns at my peoples! They were really asking for it!" Alissa 

"For crying out loud Alissa you are supposed to be calibrating the g-" Tasca

"Already did that! both of them right before these white suits got here actually." Alissa says while operating her Combat Tank.

"... Just be careful!" Tasca 

"Awe~ you're so cute when you get worried... Hey, Where's Ares?" Alissa

"He's still in the underground facility." Tasca 

"Wait what?! Why's he still there?!" Alissa 

"There were complications that made him change the plan slightly." Tasca 

"Well, I can see why you're a little upset. It should be fine. It's Ares after all. Are you going to continue on or wait for him?" Alissa 

"I don't know... I should probably scout on ahead but I don't want anything to deteriorate any further. Are you doing alright?" Tasca

"Oh you know. Sunshine and rainbows! Besides, if things go according to plan then I should be fine in the next few minutes. Maybe you should go ahead and scout the area to make sure you have the right layout and information in place when things get started." Alissa 

"Maybe... But I-" Tasca would begin to say but is immediately interrupted by a sudden earthquake that shakes her off of her feet.

The earthquake lasts for a brief moment until it comes to a complete stop.

"Don't tell me." Tasca

"The machine is active! It looks like my device is attached but there's a slight interference. Shit. You have no choice but to make a move now Tasca." Alissa

"No. I need to go back and make sure that Ares-" Tasca

"No! Stick to the plan. You have to move forward." Alissa

"Like hell I'm leaving him down there!" Tasca 

"This is Ares Tasca. He always finds a way to make the plan work no matter what. We have to believe in our big brother the way he believes in you to continue the mission. Now go! Big sister's orders.~" Alissa says then ends the video call.

The feeling of frustration builds in Tasca to the point where she angrily ruffles her hair. 

"Both of you... First Ares.. Then Alissa. Always deciding things against other's best wishes as if it's their job!.... Why are they like this? They think that they can boss me around because I'm the youngest?..... Well I'll show them that I am not some petulant child that needs orders or saving." Tasca says refocusing herself. 

Tasca then moves towards her objective to continue the mission.