SURPRISE ATTACK

(Lunar Alpha, The Moon, September 2134)

"Ow! Dude..." groaned Nanami as she is jabbed with a shot of dampeners roughly. 

Eddie then grabbed her up, slapping a set of custom-made shackles that were sent over from Japan. Such shackles are extremely durable, not even ex-Squad Artemis can break them with brute force. Similar shackles are then slapped onto Sean and Frederica. 

The members of Team Zero are escorted out of the space elevator, headed to the detention cells, where they are locked up in solitary confinement by the MPs. 

As they walked past the docking bay, they noticed that their Mechas are all wrapped up in nets, being slowly wheeled into hangers from the maintenance bays using mobile platforms.

"Real nice of them to still maintain our equipment for us," commented Sean. 

Sean looked at the dingy cell he is locked in, looking up at the security camera monitoring him, and gave a wink. 

(Surveillance room) 

Singh walked in, greeting the commander of the base. 

"Colonel, the Commandos would like a word," he said. 

Colonel Huntington looked at the 4 people waiting outside, asking Singh to bring them in. 

Lieutenant Kiyoji Sato, an Angel subspecies, Eddie and 2 other Commandos saluted Colonel Huntington. 

"We are here to discuss the security detail of the prisoners we brought in," said Kiyoji. 

"High treason," muttered Colonel Huntington. "Why are they sent here instead of the maximum security camps around the world? I know Sulawesi is not available for obvious reasons, but the rest?" 

Kiyoji whispered something into his ears, prompting him to frown. 

"It cannot be helped then," he replied. "My troops will be responsible for the external sentry, while you Commandos are in charge of the internal sentry, though I must apologise in advance that given our mission to safeguard the port and to maintain warships and other assets, there is not much manpower we can provide." 

"That we understand..." replied Kiyoji, freezing mid-sentence. "Um, sir?" he asked, terrified. "What is that outside?" 

Perplexed, the rest of them turned, seeing to their horror a Deep Dweller staring right at them, looking at them dead in the eyes through the reinforced glass observation window. 

Huntington looked at the beast, it followed his gaze, its horrifying eyes and appearance is mixed with some curiosity, the curiosity of a kid looking at a a spider in a sink that he is about to drown, that is. 

A split second later, the Deep Dweller attacked, yanking off a huge portion of the office, exposing them to the cold vacuum of space. The 2 other Commandos are caught in the ensuing explosion and killed. 

Kiyoji and Eddie quickly activated the pressurisation on their Exo-suits, maintaining their oxygen supply, and launched their grappling hooks into the door to prevent them from being sucked out. Eddie managed to grab onto Singh while Kiyoji grabbed onto the Huntington. The remaining staff in the office are not so fortunate, all sucked out and brutally crushed by the change in pressure from the pressurised office to the vacuum of space. 

Eddie and Kiyoji quickly pulled the 2 into the walkway outside and sealed the door. 

Huntington and Singh fell, gasping for air. 

"What the hell?!" exclaimed Singh. "Why did the alerts not go off?!" 

"Someone must have disabled them," replied Eddie. "There's a saboteur!" 

"Alert the Moon colonies, tell everyone to take shelter at once! Contact Lunar Bravo and Charlie, Mars Alpha and Bravo for back up!" ordered Huntington. "Notify Sulawesi at once!" 

Just then, a series of explosions are heard in the space port. 

"SINGH! Meet up with Diamond Detachment at once! Move out to intercept! Judging by the damage this is not a rogue, but a hivemind directed attack, there is more than 1 Deep Dweller!" he continued. "Kiyoji, get the Commandos to transfer Team Zero out."

"YES SIR!" yelled Singh as he rushed in the direction of the Mecha hangars. 

(Detention cells) 

Feeling the tremors and hearing the alarms going off wildly around them, the Team Zero operators realised something is seriously wrong. 

"Deep Dweller attack," analysed Nanami. "But the scale is massive for a rogue?" 

"That means its done by the hivemind," replied Xiao Tian. A visible frown of worry crept onto his face. 

Kiyoji and Eddie rushed in with the Commandos, opening the cells. 

"Everyone out!" yelled Kiyoji. "Follow us!" 

The operators are escorted by them through the emergency exits that lead to the Moon surface. 

Suddenly, a giant piece of burning debris collapsed into the exit, blocking their way. 

"Sh*t!" cursed Eddie. "We need to find another way out!" 

"Go back to the previous intersection, there is a door that heads to the Mecha hangars, we can detour to another section of the emergency exits from there," said Xiao Tian.

"Why should we trust you?" retorted a Commando. 

"You want to transport us onto the Moon surface, we want to evacuate safely, our interests align," replied Xiao Tian with a smile. 

Kiyoji stopped the Commando. "Lead the way," he said. "But if you all try anything funny." 

He moved his index finger to the trigger of his HK-416 rifle. "Understood?" 

Xiao Tian chuckled, gesturing them to follow him. 

They walked through the emergency exit, arriving at the hangar, and is stunned by the sight that behold them: 

The hangar looks like it was ravaged by a tornado, with burning debris scattered everywhere. UNSSD soldiers and ground crew are all buried underneath the rubble. Destroyed Mechas are thrown around haphazardly like broken toys in a trash can. 

Sean looked out at the observation deck, seeing to his horror that the 3 railgun batteries guarding the hangar gates are offline thanks to Deep Dweller attacks. 

Outside in space, what remained of Diamond Detachment is feebly warding off the swarm of Deep Dwellers, barely managing to hold them off. 

"All stations attention! Diamond leader is dead! I repeat, Diamond leader is—" the alert is cut off after a huge explosion, leaving static. 

"SH*T!" cursed Singh as he maneuvered his MS-9853 out of the way of a ferocious Deep Dweller, dodging its attack. 

He turned around, directing his plasma cannons at the beast, firing, wounding the Deep Dweller. Seizing the chance, he gave chase, deploying his plasma blade and missile pods, attacking the Deep Dweller ferociously. 

The Deep Dweller shrieked, teleporting itself behind Singh, biting down on his Mecha left arm, shattering it in a split second. 

"IS THAT ALL YOU'VE GOT?!" yelled Singh. He pushed his repulsion jets to maximum power, charging right into the face of the Deep Dweller, jabbing the plasma blade deeply into its skull, locking himself onto the monstrosity. The Deep Dweller moved wildly, charging erratically into several other Deep Dwellers. 

"FIRE ON MY POSITION!!!" he yelled into his radio. 

"Negative," replied the crew of an Einstein-Class heavy battlecruiser. "Detach at once!!" he ordered. 

"THERE IS NO OTHER CHOICE! FOR THE GLORY OF MANKIND!" yelled Singh defiantly. 

The crew member sighed. He aimed the heavy fusion cannon batteries at the area, opening fire. 

"Good night, comrade."

A jet of purple light are emitted from the barrels, shooting them out at the the pile of Deep Dwellers. The Deep Dwellers are instantly vaporised by the blasts, that's the only way to kill a Deep Dweller, as they can no longer regenerate and heal their bodies when there is nothing to heal. 

"Oh my God..." muttered Sean in shock as he watched the silent blast. He turned to his teammates and his downed comrades on the floor. 

Out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed 4 Mechas safely held in one side, it's the Crimson Dragon, AC-2, AC-3 and AC-9, the Mechas of Xiao Tian, Frederica, Nanami and Sean. They have miraculously survived the initial attacks. There is still 1 electromagnetic catapult active, enough to launch the 4 into battle. 

He turned to Kiyoji and Eddie. "They need help, free us! There are 4 Mechas there we can pilot!" 

Kiyoji hesitated. 

Choosing to put his faith in his comrades, Eddie unlocked Sean's shackles. 

"F*** this," muttered Kiyoji as he ordered the rest of the Commandos to free Team Zero. They immediately got to work, freeing their comrades underneath the wreckage, pulling them to safety. Phineas and the medics among the Commandos quickly attended to those unable to move and walk on their own, while Ariel and Eddie helped bandaged the lightly wounded ones. 

"Listen up!" yelled Xiao Tian, and they snapped into attention. He has taken command being the highest ranked officer around them. 

"I need you all to prepare the 4 Mechas there for launch! Nanami, Sean and Frederica, come with me to fend off the attack! Phineas, you and the other medics immediately pull the heavily wounded ones to safety. The rest of you try to restart the railguns, we need all of the firepower we have!" 

"Let's go!" yelled Santos. 

The 4 of them and several ground crew members rushed over to the Mechas. Xiao Tian, Nanami, Sean and Frederica quickly put on the drive-suits they found, rushing into the cockpit of their Mechas. Around them, the ground crew immediately got to work starting the fusion reactors of the 4 Mechas and pulling off the safeties on their weapons, as well as starting the electromagnetic catapult and the launch pads, cleaning the area of debris using heavy construction robots that they managed to salvage to make room. 

The 4 of them stepped into the cockpit, connecting to their Mechas.

"Neural handshake initiated."

A tingling sensation enveloped Sean's body, with a metallic taste in his mouth as his MS-1870AC unit, AC-9, powered on and begun its configuration. 

"Long time no see, old pal," bemused Sean at his old Mecha. The holographic touch screen interface light up. 

Nanami's voice came in. 

"We don't have our full ammunition due to the rushed deployment" she said. "Make them count." 

"Ready for launch!" radioed the ground crew after they finished clearing the area, opening the launch platform. 

The 4 Mechas are transported into place. Soon the electromagnetic catapult activated, launching them downwards out of the station in batches of 2. 

Sean and Xiao Tian exited the space station first. They immediately fired their repulsion jets, flying to join the battle. 

(Command room)

"WHAT?! All of the Moon stations are under attack by Deep Dwellers and they cannot reinforce us?!" fumed Huntington. "AND COMMUNICATIONS TO THE EARTH AND MARS ARE STILL DOWN?"

"Something appears to be jamming our transmissions!" replied a UNSSD soldier. "Singh killed 3 Deep Dwellers in a suicide attack, but there is still 7 more!" 

"DAMN IT!" he yelled. "How many assets are we left with?" 

"Diamond detachment took heavy losses, only 10 Mechas are left functional," replied a UNSSD solider. "The UNSSD Space Force warships belonging to the sector fleet docked here, while all operational, also took significant damage." 

"Our own firepower and that of the Moon surface?" asked Huntington.

"All down," was the reply he got. 

He slumped back into his chair, defeated. 

"What do we do now?" he asked. 

Suddenly, 4 Mechas flew past the Command room, charging into the battle. 

"It's the Dragon!!" exclaimed an UNSSD soldier excitedly. 

Xiao Tian opened the "wings" of his Mecha, charging up the 2 heavy fusion cannons.

"Now!" he yelled. 

Sean flew ahead, piloting AC-9 head on into the Deep Dweller ahead. He fired his arsenal of missiles and plasma bolts, wounding the monstrosity. He flew and made a hard swerve, dodging its attack, and then plunging the plasma blade into its jaw, forcing it open, just in time for it to catch and swallow the fusion cannon blast from Crimson Dragon. 

The Deep Dweller's head is blown off, along with a huge section of its torso, its blood splattering all across the battlefield. Despite still being alive, it can no longer join the battle, as it will take months or even years for the injuries to heal. 

This silent explosion in space quickly boosted the morale of the remaining UNSSD soldiers, restoring their confidence to fight on.