My real favorite is the one where Johnny slaughtered everyone but I can't pull it up.

The Future of Warfare
0079.10.15

Compared to some of the other sides circling the Earth Sphere, even some destroyed by the One Week War, Side 7 was a lonely place. The idea of it even really being a side was a bit of a joke, only two colony cylinders circling each other out in the expanse of space. Sides 1, 2, 4 and 5 had been devastated by the One Week War, massed use of nuclear, biological and chemical weaponry tearing the majority of colonies apart, and leaving the majority of those that remained intact ghost towns, full of nothing but corpses. Abandoned cylinders slowly drifted out of alignment, pieces of destroyed colonies or drifting warships battering at them until there wasn't much left.

However, even in Sides 1, 2 and 4, some operational colonies remained, and in each of them there were more inhabited colonies than there were in Side 7. Only the population of Side 5 had been destroyed fully, the only intact colony the heavily damaged Texas Colony, adrift until it had been given a small occupational force to act as a forward base for the Earth Federation in their fight to retake space from the duchy of Zeon.

Side 7 had been moved shortly following Operation British. It's normal, stable orbit opposite the moon was too far away for the EF forces at Luna II to adequetly protect it, so it was decided to move the two cylinders closer to Earth. The downside to this strategy was huge amounts of fuel had to be burned to keep the two cylinders in a stable orbit, but at the time the EF had resources to spare, although it was rumored that their reserves had finally been reduced to less than that of the Duchy, which was steadily strip mining as much of the Earth as they could. Green Noah and Green Oasis had been fortified with military bases, and because of a space colonies unique ability to test terrestrial and zero G environment mecha, Side 7 was turned into a research and development center headed by Admiral Jamitov Heimann. Side 7 and Luna II became the rear line bases for defense of the Earth, and although Zeon was able to push their defense groups back to their own doors and walk onto Earth, they had not yet been able to take either installation.

Jamitov had used Side 7 to create many potent Federal weapons projects. The RX-78 series of Gundams, the G-Armor, the Core Booster and the GM Juggler had all been built in these two cylinders. Jamitov had shown a great tenacity for being able to design new and better weaponry in all capacities of warfare, and because of this he flew through the ranks rather quickly, his extreme anti-spacenoid outlook overlooked. Anybody who knew Heimann knew that he was not merely superstitious of spacenoids like some of the EF brass, he was outright genocidal. Jamitov sincerely believed that a world without spacenoids would be a better place for humanity. Revil had viewed it with some irony when he transferred Heimann to a space colony himself.

Today, Heimann sat much as he would on any other day, deep in the bowels of his laboratory on Green Noah. It was a dark, forboding place, covered on all sides with wires and strange, barely luminescent viewscreens. Smoke rose from huge tubing at one end of the room, and several scientists worked in the dark at the other, the only true illumination in the place that of their white labcoats striking a contrast against the dark metal.

"Is unit one ready?" Jamitov asked, sipping on a glass of wine. He sat back in his chair, long nose and grey hair the picture of Earthnoid supremacy. Regular CMC shipments of wine from France were his poison, and he figured it was better that he drink his fill than let one drop go to the bastards that let Ma Qube and Kerane overrun the Eastern bloc.

"Sir, we're finishing the final callibrations now. We'll be ready to do the test in ten minutes." Came a response, scared technicians running back and forth, working overtime. After the Juggler had been finished, Jamitov had put them to work immediately on this new project. Jamitov didn't answer at all, merely picked up his cellphone, calling the comm team out at the spaceport.

"How long until unit two arrives?" He asked bleakly, clearly paying more attention to his drink than to his work. The answer came back. Two hours until unit two would arrive from Luna II. After they had finished the blueprints, one of the new Gundams had been built at each of the space front bases, to prevent the possibility of both falling into enemy hands. Jamitov hung up the phone, looking back at his scientists again.

"And has the test subject arrived?" Jamitov commented dryly.

"Sir, Petty Officer Jhouti arrived yesterday. He reports that the Juggler is working splendidly, he says he has total control of it now." Came the response. Jamitov's research team was proud of Danyan, they'd done the impossible: Created a fully functional newtype weapon faster than Zeon had been able to do so.

"I'm not interested in his performance. I simply want to know if he is ready to be used." Responded Jamitov. He would have spit on the ground if it wasn't for the delicious alcohol flowing slowly into his mouth.

~


Arcaile was still thinking about Rachel. The young captain of the Horatio had filled his last few weeks with happiness, and in the blink of an eye she was gone. Some captains would say that this is why you don't develop a personal relationship with your crew, but Arcaile had always taken the other approach. They were his men, they were almost his children, he couldn't not look at them personally. He cared about each and every one of them, this loss had just hit a little closer to home.

"Sir, I've got captain Melendez on the line." The voice came up from the fore fo the bridge. Arcaile had almost dropped off to sleep in his meditation, and responded without opening his eyes. They had had a busy week, destroying a heavily armed Zeon blockade fleet just a few days before. It had been a major upset for the Federation, and it was theorized this single battle would turn the space campaign in the Earth Federations favor.

"Put him through."

Captain Melendez was already talking when the line was patched, the flamboyant man ever eager to impress anyone. Arcaile once theorized that only a captain who was that overbearing could keep Cherish in line, and although she didn't seem to get along with anyone else for more than ten minutes at a time, Woods had never had a problem with Melendez, or at least never had the balls to voice a problem with Melendez.

"-that we are to rendezvous with an unescorted Columbus going to Green Noah carrying sensitive cargo. They say we're to do this immediately. The Swordfish is going to change course."

"Mm... Maintaining vigilance are we?" Arcaile responded weakly. Before he heard the Fuji class captains response he gave the signal for his crew to cut the message.

"Right right... Lets change course. I hope they give us some sleep today, everybody could use it."

~


Altecha was glad that the buzzing in his ears had finally gone away. All week he'd been perpetually exposed to the sounds of heavy construction, a deal with the JDEG allowing him to start this ambitious resource project. In a joint mission to increase the failing state of the EF's resources and bulk up the defenses of Side 7, Chan had been put in charge of a project to build a cluster of asteroid mines in the vicinity of the Side 7 colony bunch. The first mine had been completed, the first of many, and the Valley Forge had just detached from its meager external spaceport.

"I suppose they'll be alright without us. Escort duty eh? It'll be good to see Arcaile and captain Melendez again." Chan muttered to himself, looking at the huge debris field of construction work that had yet to be completed.

"We have about twenty minutes till the rendezvous. Promise me you won't let that Saberfish pilot aboard again?" Tina Solvette, the Valley Forge's helmsman, sighed and rolled her eyes a little. Chan smirked.

~


Cherish woods, at that moment, was not her usual self. A lack of conquests aboard the Nasr fleet, and a growing feeling of uselessness as she saw more and more mobile suits and fewer and fewer Saberfish fighters, were starting to wear on her. She was currently one of the best pilots in all of the EFSF, exceeded possibly only by Danyan Jhouti, Yazan Gable, and Amuro Rey. However, she felt increasingly more and more useless, her Saberfish II only really good for destroying warships, much less for fighting mobile suits.

She looked at the mirror in front of her, and then at the tin full of pills below it. Regular visits to the doctors, plastic surgury to cover scars, a thousand and one near misses as a 120mm shell magically avoided her brittle fighters cockpit... Refusing to think about it any more, Woods slammed her fist against the mirror, and then went to find a towel to clean up the blood.

Also aboard the Swordfish, Nolan Harkin, Candice Ro and David Renault were sharing a pizza in the mess hall. It was relatively easy for pilots to travel between ships in a fleet, much easier in a non combat area. Once a course was set few maneuvers had to be made, and every Salamis class ship had several small escape launches for use in case of an emergency. These regularly served as small shuttles, taking people between ships as necessary. It was also entirely possible to simply step out of an airlock in a normal suit and float to another ship, although this sort of activity was usually only undertaken by technicians and pilots, as it scared the sense out of most people, even spacenoids.

"So Nolan..." David was interested. David was always interested. "Where'd you get that eyepatch?"

Nolan sort of looked at him a moment, a little surprised he'd ask the question so blatantly.

"Boarding action. Got shot."

"... Oh. Well, uhh... I guess that's cool. How many Zeeks have you shot down since then?" Renault was ever inquisitive. Candice, the quiet one of the bunch, simply ate her pizza, a little worried that she might offend Harkin.

"Can't say for sure, really."

This concept was completely alien to David, who had been cataloguing everything every pilot aboard the Sleipner had ever done. His fascination with being a pilot, with callsigns and teamwork and recording kills, made him more fit to pilot a bi-plane than a mobile suit really. The three stopped talking for a bit, continuing to eat their pizza.

I wish gimpy would come back...

~


Just outside the edges of Side 7's radar, another ship was ready for the days festivities. On special orders from lady Kycilia, the Musai Late Type Ermine sailed slowly into the reaches of Federal airspace. Crews prepped mobile suits quickly, five Rick Doms and one of the new Zaku Flipper recon units being prepped for takeoff.

"Captain, intelligence from our SS operative at Luna II has come in. The cargo is currently unguarded, but escorts from Side 7 will arrive shortly."

Captain Von Drugden, one of Kycilia's top men, stood amongst a bridge crewed almost entirely from black uniformed SS members. Ghiren and Kycilia were working together on this project, very aware of the distinct possibility of failure, and what failure might entail. Jamitov's R&D projects had already produced frightening results. Project V had unleashed the White Base and its crew upon the Earth, mobile suits that had very nearly killed Garma, and were currently causing great trouble for the East Asian front. Jamitov's men had stolen a Psycommu out of the newtype labs at Baldur Bey, and had created the GM Juggler, whose newtype pilot was gradually gaining renown amongst the SAF.

Their mission was simple. Get combat data of the new unit, and destroy the Columbus carrying the second unit before it arrived at Green Oasis. Unfortunately, due to the lack of MAF personnel in the space theatre at the moment, Von Drudgen, despite asking for backup from Odessa, had not recieved any. Major Vereschagins brand new Gwazine class battleship could have arrived in time for the operation, but Vereschagin had neglected to give the go order. He'd just have to do it himself.

"Move the Flipper and Jacob's Rick Dom into the Komusai and launch it towards Green Noah. The rest of us will deliver an attack on that Columbus. Full speed ahead." Von Drudgen ordered. He knew speed was his only advantage in this operation.

"Full speed ahead, aye-aye captain."

~


Floating in his normal suit, the bulky helmet wasn't bothering Danyan nearly as much as it had been the last time he'd been at Side 7. Since his deployment aboard the Sleipner, there had been little order from Jamitov, just repeated requests for status reports. More reports for the GM, less for the pilot. Dani was a little unnerved at the manner with which the Admiral had regarded him, even moreso today. It seemed he hd a new toy, and the only reason Danyan was around now was to test the new toy against the old toy.

He'd also had a strange encounter just moments before leaving the airlock. As he was putting on his normal suit, Danyan had been confronted by five rather large, muscular mechanics. They'd said they'd given him a present, and would hope that he'd "use his fists to beat that monstrosity" as they put it. He wasn't really questioning their positions as mechanics, but it had been odd all the same. Danyan was always good at realizing when something was odd, a feat he'd gotten much better at recently.

"Petty officer Jhouti, are you ready to begin?" The voice came into his portable communications unit just as Danyan reached the Juggler, which was floating on its own out in the black, fully equipped with every armament it had. Grenades on either hip rack, a second beam gun on the back, a beam gun in the right hand and a 90mm in the left, and armor plating all over it. Was he only fighting one mobile suit, or an army?

Jhouti closed his eyes and concentrated, the eyes on the Juggler lighting up and the hatch opening before he had even accessed any of the controls. He wasn't yet able to access the higher Psycommu functions from outside the mobile suit, but a trick like that, however difficult it might be, might impress Jamitov.

It was then that he saw it. As the extra armor plating covering the cockpit opened up, Jhouti saw himself looking at an enormous, black and red, joker face, as if taken right off of a deck of cards. The three prongs to the hat ended in golden bells, and the face smiled lividly against the contrast of the regular mobile suit colors. The words "Jester" were emblazoned on a scroll below.

Huh... Guess that'll give princess new material. Dani thought, slipping into the mobile weapon. He connected the wires in the cockpit to the back of his helmet, no longer especially necessary, and closed the hatch.

"Ready and waiting command. Do I get to see this thing, or are you gonna keep it hidden a while longer?"

Dani didn't really get time to respond as three lances of bright pink mega particles shot towards the GM Juggler. The two ball bits detached instinctively and shot left and right, Dani picking the Juggler up in a tight spin and dodging the rounds. He hadn't seen him coming. He always sees them coming. The GM Juggler swung back around, looking at the heavily armored Gundam coming at him. He levelled his beam gun and fired, the mobile suit dodging quickly and expertly.

Why can't I feel him.

The Juggler strafed left, Dani getting a bead on the Gundam below him. It was white and red, with two large shields on pivoting balls over its shoulders. In one hand was a monstrously large beam rifle, a small pistol in the other and a second one of the large rifles across its back. It was covered in armor plating just like the Juggler. Dani moved up and the mystery Gundam followed, aiming and firing its beam rifle. Round after round lanced towards him in a line, the first beam machinegun in the Earth Sphere seeking towards its target.

Dani pressed a switch and all the armor plating on the Juggler popped off, destroyed as the beam machinegun cut through it. The Juggler itself dodged left, needing speed over armor when it came to a mobile suit with so many beam weapons. Steadying his mobile weapon, Danyan took a pair of shots, the first going over the Phantoms shoulder but the second hitting it int he chest. The armor plating melted and bubbled but was not pierced, the beam resistant coating absorbing the shot at the expense of the added armor.

"He's got speed and armor on me." Dani said to himself, shooting forward and behind the weapon. He fired again, the Phantom spinning around and dodging the beam rounds. Jhouti levelled his 90mm machinegun and fired, but the two shields on the Phantoms shoulders swivelled around, perfectly blocking the shot as it returned fire. A beam cut through the Jugglers left foot, melting it as Jhouti barely dodged again. He still couldn't feel him.

The two ball bits fired from left and right of the Phantom, but it sped forward, increasing its speed. Without the ability to sense where his target was going, Danyan couldn't line up a surprise attack like he was so apt at doing to Zeon units. He'd have to take this fight with a more conventional approach. He sped the Juggler over the Phantom again, using his 90mm to give cover fire and the ball bits to fire ahead of it, forcing it to stop its movements. Running out of 90mm shells, Danyan tossed the machinegun away and grabbed a beam saber, coming into melee range and hoping to surprise its adversary. Too close to aim the overly large beam machinegun, the Phantom swivveled its two shields behind it, the beam pistol in the other hand coming to the fore.

"Shit." Dani muttered to himself as the pistol fired, pulling left just in time. The beam ate through the armor left of his cockpit, but only did superficial damage. Was Jamitov trying to kill him? As he pulled back the Phantom brought out its beam machinegun, starting to fire both weapons along with its vulcans. Danyan took a pair of flash grenades off of his hip racks and threw them between them, the resulting flash blinding the Phantoms optical systems and buying him a few seconds. He tried to fire again with the bits, but the white and red Gundam pulled back, dodging the shots.

That pilot doesn't like to attack and defend at the same time... Dani thought to himself. He fired off several rounds of his beam rifle, taking careful stock of the remaining ammo. The Phantom twirled and spun, dodging shot after shot, strafing away from shots from the first ball bit. Danyan held the second in reserve, taking a careful moment to aim his last rifle round below and the bit to the back of the Phantom. As he fired, he took a shot with the second bit, creating a cage of mega particles that the Gundam couldn't escape from.

The left shoulder shield on the machine swivveled into position and blocked the shot, the shield melting away as the heavy mega particles of the ball bit ate through it. Lifting up its pistol arm, the Phantom fired, the shot going straight through the bit and causing it to explode. Feedback went to Danyans brain and he cried out in pain, but regained his composure after a moment. Both he and the phantom mobile suit tossed away expended beam weapons, pulling out secondary guns from the racks on their backs.

~


"I've got one Musai coming in behind the Columbus. They're almost in missile range." Melendez' comm officer announced. The Nasr fleet was coming up ahead of them at full speed, trying to create a wall between the Columbus and its pursuer. "Four mobile suits with them, looks like Rick Doms."

"Launch everything we've got, tell them we're making a show for the Admiral. Protect Cherish and let her take out that ship."

With shouts of yes sir and aye-aye captain, the mobile suits of the Nasr fleet launched. The Valley Forge, Sleipner and Pliskin, happy to be back amongst each other once again, moved into formation between the Columbus and the Musai and opened fire. Captain Von Drugden, at the helm of his own vessel, pulled to the left, dodging the shots from Arcaile and his fleet. The Rick Doms pushed ahead, firing shots at long range towards the Columbus. One shot hit the frontal hull, but moments later the Zeon mobile suits were overtaken. GM E after GM E came upon them like lightning, tearing the mere four Zeon mobile suits apart, Candice and David each getting a kill.

The Musai aimed its guns carefully at the Columbus, Drugden knowing he only had one chance to blow up the enemy cargo before being destroyed. He was given a lock-on confirmation from his staff, and gave the order. The Musai's four MPC's belched forth their armament, but Drugden was shocked as the blasts dissipated off of a fine cloud that was suddenly between him and his target. A lone Saberfish II blasted through the haze, Cherish doing a straight B line for the enemy ship.

"Ugh... Stupid orders... Stupid ship... It's like this is all I'm good for..." Cherish muttered. Two anti-ship rockets shot out of the Saberfish II's top section, pre-programmed expertly. One went for each engine reactor just as Cherish's 12 anti MS missiles slammed into the Musai's bridge. In a second it was turned from a fully functional ship to a derelict wreck, blasts from the Nasr fleet turning it to less than that moments later.

As the Musai was exploding, Nolan caught another vessel shooting towards Green Noah out of the corner of his eye. He went off after it, the GM Light Armor able to quickly overtake the Komusai. A Rick Dom and a strange looking Zaku II E dropped out of its rear, the Rick Dom going for Nolan as the Zaku II went for the duelling area. Nolan aimed for the black Zaku first, a shot of his beam rifle hitting and destroying it. The 360mm bazooka on the Rick Dom blasted a shell towards Nolan, who blocked it with one of his GMs arms, the heavy round tearing the arm apart. Aiming, Nolan fired again, the Rick Dom exploding as well. He tried to issue an order to the Komusai to surrender, but the SS crew detonated a heavy bomb aboard the ship less than a minute later, self destructing it.

~


Dani dodged another five shots from the Phantoms beam machinegun, pushing the thrusters on the GM Juggler to their limit to avoid the shots. This pilot had impeccable accuracy, and the Gundam was much faster and more maneuverable than his GM. He threw a grenade out at it, trying to conserve much needed beam gun rounds, and the Phantom merely pulled backwards, dodging the explosion. Comparing the two, the Juggler was moving much more, the Phantom only making minor corrections and adjustments to dodge shots. The only break Danyan had gottenw as in the realization that the Phantoms pilot didn't like to attack and defend at the same time.

The one remaining ball bit came up behind the Phantom, firing off several rounds. The Phantom swivveled away, spinning and taking several shots at the bit as it turned around, but the ball dipped down into a spin, dodging the fire. Only concentrating on one bit, Danyan was able to control it much better, maneuvering it almost as well as he maneuvered his own mobile suit. The two units made another pass, lances of mega particles nearly missing each other. Danyan grimaced as a shot tore through his shoulder, spinning around to fire a beam at the Phantoms back. It struck the beam resistant armor plating surrounding the Gundam, melting the armor but doing no damage to the actual mobile suit.

"The Phantom is performing flawlessly sir. Petty officer Jhouti seems unable to predict its actions. It's as we suspected, a newtype can only sense the actions of a human pilot." The research team aboard the Antioch seemed pleased. Jamitov grinned, another glass of wine in his hand.

"Computer driven mobile suits will be the new way to fight Zeons mobile weapons, once the Zephyr Phantom is mass produced. I'm glad that a bastard spacenoid working for the Federation will usher the rest of his kinds deaths. How does it feel to fight a machine, Danyan?" Jamitov laughed. Jhouti had served his purpose, but the little Jester wasn't of any use anymore.

However, even though the comm system aboard the Antioch was turned off and minovski particle interference was thick, Jhouti, trying to find some way to beat his enemy, heard what had been said.

It's a computer...?

The two mobile suits zipped past each other again, trading near misses. Danyan circled his GM around, firing straight forward and a little low. The Zephyr Phantom swerved upwards, returning fire with its vulcans. Both of them were low on ammo now, Danyan only having two rounds left. However, Danyan was also low on fuel. He made another pass and did the same maneuver again, the Zephyr Phantom dodging in the exact same way. In a moment of astonishment, Dani didn't dodge quite in time, a beam pistol round severing the GM Jugglers left leg.

"If it's a program, then I can trick it."

Dani took his one remaining grenade, priming it on a timer and dropping it next to his GM. He pulled back, trying to get away from the battlefield, the Phantom flying towards him in pursuit.

"What, is he trying to run away?" Jamitov asked, a little perturbed. The research team tried to get Danyan on the comm, but Jhouti had lost his radio long before, repeated beam shots taking out system after system but just barely missing the cockpit.

As the Phantom chased the Juggler, the remaining ball bit zipped up behind it, grappling it and latching onto it. The two weapons struggled for a second, but then the one remaining shoulder shield swivveled in a tight circle, bashing into the ball bit and throwing it clear of the Phantom. The computer driven Gundam turned around, shooting its beam machinegun straight through the ball bit, destroying it. Dani ignored the feedback as he turned the Juggler back around, charging forward and aiming his rifle. Only one shot left, he thought to himself.

The Gundam turned back around, and both of them fired at almost the same time. The Gundam dodged upwards as the shot came on a slight downwards arc, beam blasts tearing through Danyans arm, destroying it and the beam rifle. He kept his pursuit, pulling out his remaining beam saber in his GMs good arm as the Phantom soared upwards, trying to get a good shot. Before it could get a lock it slammed into the floating grenade, which exploded from behind the Gundam, damaging it and sending it rocketing forward. In that moment Dani pushed his thrusters to 100%, the Gundam not having enough time to dodge as Danyan's beam saber slammed into it. The slash barely missed the cockpit and the computer systems, but tore through the Gundams upper torso, splitting its head in two. Without any sensors, the Gundam stalled a second and then turned around, blasting back to Green Noah for protection.

"What the hell?! What the hell was that?!?" Jamitov was livid. Danyan had actually won.

Jhouti sighed and powered down his mobile suit as quickly as he could, trying to avoid accidental explosions. His GM was down its right arm, left leg, right foot, right shoulder, and had a number of surface 'wounds' in the armor. It was a wreck. He himself felt terrible, headache spiking again from overexerting himself.

He thought better of parking the Juggler in the hangar at Green Noah, sensing the anger coming from the Antioch, and made an excuse that his medicine was still in the Sleipner. Arcaile was more than happy to oblige, the Nasr fleet escorting Phantom unit 2 back to the base. Jamitov couldn't believe what he'd seen. The pinaccle of Federation engineering beaten by a spacenoid. He punched his chief researcher in the face and threw his cap to the floor on the bridge of his Magellan, profuse apologies surrounding him.

"Maybe we can find a way to turn Earthnoids into newtypes, sir... A kind of artificial newtype, perhaps?" Came a voice from one of the researchers behind him, a doctor Murasame.

@ Gray


Too Agressive


The fight with Synapse had been fierce, a heavy toll taken on the mobile suits from both sides. Anton had decided to press the attack rather than retreat, much like he had before. However, this time his numbers were greater, his soldiers were better, and he had come out on top. Aboard the bridge of the Falmel II, he and Stulinger looked at their cargo, damaged GMs and Columbus craft being ferried by Major Johnny Ridden and the resupply fleet back to Side 3 for disassembly.

"Ahh... Even though they are mostly logistical craft, it is good to see a fleet this size, no, herr Vereschagin?" The SS mans grin matched the scars on his face, folding his gloved hands in front of them. All of their mobile suits had been damaged by Synapse, although none of them were unrepairable. Even Mendalshons Braw Bro, being towed by the Oka Nieba, was salvageable.

"Yes, but that fleet that attacked our newtype is still in the area. We should be careful." Anton mused. He was not much of a man for being careful in general, but he had learned recently that there was a time and a place to strike. The loss of lives under his command had shown this. If you attacked too early, or against odds that were too great, no amount of heroism could save the day.

Aboard the Admiral Hipper John Church sat, thinking of his wife, his child, he even thought of their new dog. He had only been away from his wife for about a month, but it had seemed much longer. He couldn't wait for the day he got to see her again. Carver and Howe sat in the mess hall playing cards, bonding as only Rick Dom pilots could bond. Howe had been mostly deployed for the ground war till now, but had adapted well to space, and it was becoming increasingly apparent amongst the crew that he was definitely a newtype. Ross wanted to meet Felix, a man who had actually been trained at the newtype labs at Granada. Mendalshon however had reportedly been injured in his escape from the Nasr fleet, and was on bed rest until further notice.

Anton and Berthold were about to enjoy a glass of wine when the Crimson Lightning, major Johnny Ridden, started speaking to them over the intercom.

"I don't mean to alarm you major, but scouts have reported an enemy fleet inbound. Six cruisers Portside, and another six Starboard."

Where did that bastard Arcaile get so many ships. Bertholds eyes picked up. He'd gotten reports from agents in Side 7 about the size of their fleet. They didn't have that many.

"Like I said major, this fleet is your jurisdiction. Tell us where you want us." Anton saluted Ridden. Although they were both the same rank and both MAF, Ridden was acting commander of the supply fleet.

"Our units will take Starboard, yours Port." Ridden wasn't one to give out overly complicated battle strategy. He was a mobile suit pilot born and raised, and assumed others could handle themselves without direction.

"Understood major. Do watch out for the one with a clown face painted on its cockpit. I hear the Jester is rather dangerous." Anton smiled.

"Oh, that Federation newtype? I'll keep an eye out for him." Ridden smiled back.

~


"Stupid stupid STUPID." Cherish yelled, slamming her fist against the door to the cellblock. She'd been under suspension on captain Melendez' orders, for losing her cool and 'punching a valuable test pilot.' It was clear the fleet commanders were starting to think of Danyan as something special, something a little more valuable than a simple Saberfish pilot. Cherish had never thought of herself as a pawn, but now she felt like one. She hadn't even been given clearance to act in the coming battle. The other pilots were already preparing for combat.

"Hey, calm down in there. You're gonna hurt yourself." Came the voice from the MP guarding her cell. Cherish ignored it at first, but when her thoughts came back to her head, she realized. Was that a womans voice...?

~


"The Seir and Asmodai will engage first, don't launch mobile suits till we see the fireworks." Arcaile said, his crew frantically working to keep the ships from hitting each other in such a tight formation and on such a dense M particle field. They were operating against heavy odds, and their only chance was to punch through quickly and take out the supply ships. If they could score a victory now they could cripple Zeons space forces. A defeat would mean... Well, Arcaile didn't want to think about that. He knew he was being aggressive, but he had to act now.

"Are the Valley Forge and the Missouri going to rendezvous with the Seir and Asmodai in time?" Melendez asked, nervous. He wasn't going to back down on Arcaile, but he knew they were in a little over their heads.

"Negative sir." Responded his sensor officer. Chan and his forces were still several hours out. If they waited for them, they'd miss the chance to strike, and let all that valuable hardware get away.

Danyan, Candice and David clasped hands, ready for the battle ahead. They'd become excellent friends over the last month, and although Danyan was clearly the best pilot of the three, he was happy he could count on his two wingmen for support. Despite their drunken escapades and near sibling rivalry, they would protect each other through and through. Touching their flight helmets together, they broke and floated out of the Sleipners airlock, moving to their mobile weapons, still attached to the ships hull.

"Arr! We be the pirates of the cockblock! Ready to gain us some booty, arrrrrr." Nolan laughed, fingering his eyepatch as he sat a steel toed boot on his first officers knee.

"Would you please get off sir. You're needed on the mobile suit deck."

"Right! Right, umm... Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Nolan laughed, kicking off the lieutenants knee and floating towards the door to the Pegasus class ships bridge. The lack of gravity caused the lieutenant to spin around in his chair several times and then float towards the ceiling, the rest of the crew breaking into laughter.

~


"Enemy ships will be in weapons range in fifteen seconds sir. Six Salamis class vessels." The sensor officer aboard the Falmel II was barking orders at gunnery crews. A Gwazine class ships weaponry was devastating frontally, but on a broadside it had nearly as much firepower as two Magellan class battleships.

"Primary weapons target ships one through three, secondary guns prepare to hit the stragglers." Anton ordered. His Rick Dom and Bertholds Zaku Kai were still on the maintenance deck, but there was plenty to do aboard the Falmels bridge. As the Salamis started coming into weapons range, a wave of missiles shot out from the Federation cruisers.

"Fire the main batteries, AA gunners watch for those missiles." Vereschagin yelled, making a grandeoise sweep with his hand. The Gwazines three main guns fired, each scoring a direct hit. Two Salamis balloons popped like so much plastic, but the Seir was the third ship, taking a direct hit. It exploded instantly. The missile barrage from the real cruisers soared towards the Gwazine, but its heavy AA compliment went to work, shooting down each and every missile.

"Excellent work, herr Vereschagin." Stulinger smiled. He knew they were balloons all along.

"Main batteries change targets, fire at ships four through six. We'll take them out before the enter weapons range." Anton grinned. As soon as he finished his sentence a static beam of pink light shot out from the Asmodai, striking the Falmel's engines and slowly moving up the ship.

"Sir, MPC fire inbound, we've lost decks fourteen, thirteen, twelve... It's tracking towards the bridge!"

"What?! Shoot that Salamis down! Fire everything!" Anton yelled. A quick thinking gunner on the Gwazines secondary battery turned his turret towards the GM Snipers fire, shooting his MPC at the beam as it travelled up the Gwazines hull. The two mega particle streams collided, dispersing in a small cloud, and in the next moment the Gwazine fired again, destroying the Asmodai and popping the other two balloons. Neither Salamis ever got to fire its main battery.

Arcaile didn't ask for a casualty count as he watched the Asmodai explode behind the fleet, knowing that he was committed. He ordered the mobile suits to launch, the fleet providing a missile cover. The Cockblock, Sleipner, Pliskin and Swordfish launched a huge barrage of missiles, fourteen mobile suits coming up close behind them. The Penguin, Himmler and Rommel had positioned themselves to block projectiles coming towards the convoy, and the Himmler took the brunt of the missiles, losing an engine and starting to stall a little.

"Target that damaged Musai with the forward MPC battery. Cockblock, move in a flanking pattern, it's faster than the rest of their ships. Have the Charon pull back, I don't want to have it targeted. Once we break through fire at the convoy at will." Nasr yelled, holding tight onto his chair. They only had one chance.

"Sir, three GMs just went down, it looks like enemy units coming out of the Penguin. Two Rick Doms and... That's too fast to be a Zaku..." The flight controllers mouth went wide, watching as the Zaku on her screen banked right, and then instantly shot left, a fourth GM exploding to a single bazooka round.

"Get Danyan over there immediately. Tell the Ball pilots to cover us while we break through." Arcaile ordered, crewmembers quickly following orders as gunners prepared to target the crippled Himmler.

Recieving the order from his command ship, Danyan breathed deep into his oversized helmet, the GM Jugglers bits detaching and the three of them moving quickly to intercept the Penguins MS. Candice and David moved to cover Danyan when they were ordered back, close to twenty Zakus moving from the now freed up Hipper and Falmel to engage the Nasr fleet. They would have their work cut out for them.

Danyan moved the balls to far flanking positions, taking aim on the two Rick Doms even as he stopped his heavily armored MS. He'd take out the more dangerous units first, using the small size of his bits in their best capacity, a surprise attack. The three mobile suits came towards him, and he closed his eyes, not watching visuals but feeling out for the enemies location. After a few seconds he knew he had them, and took the shots. Four beams flew out of the two bits, one Rick Dom exploding as they pierced the cockpit. The other made a last moment dodge but still lost a leg, Danyans beam rifle taking him out a second later. Jhouti opened his eyes, looking for the third one, but he was gone. He looked for the pressure again, and jerked his mobile suit to the right just in time to have a 360mm shell hit him straight in the cockpit.

"Ggh.. A red Zaku?"

The Zaku II R2 spun around in a circle, the GM Jugglers heavy full armor plating stopping the shell and saving Danyan. He quickly tracked the enemy ace with his bits, both weapons firing out and Danyan completing with his beam rifle. Ridden ducked and weaved through all five beam shots, turning and taking one shot with his bazooka, then a second. The first destroyed one of the bits, the second bit dodging just in time. Taking an MMP-80 off his back weapons rack Ridden spun back around, firing the bazooka at Jhouti and the machinegun at his bit. Jhouti only had time to dodge with one weapon, and he shot the Juggler forward even as the 90mm shells tore through the second bit, causing it to explode.

The two pilots chased each other for a few moments, Ridden leading Danyan in a complicated maze of loops and spins. Danyan wouldn't let go however, newtype senses and a more agile mobile suit allowing him to stay right on his enemies heels. He brought out his own machinegun, trying to tag Ridden as he went towards the Salamis class ships, a single round pegging his Zaku in the shoulder but causing insignificant damage. Ridden responded with his own machinegun, Danyan ignoring the rounds as they pinged harmlessly off the thick titanium armor plates covering his valuable GM.

As Riddens clip went dry he flung the machinegun to his left, Danyans eyes following it for a split second. He knew it was a trick, but he also knew he could track his enemy without his eyes. He felt the enemy pilots pressure bank right, and he aimed his beam rifle to deliver the kill shot. As he was about to pull the trigger Danyan moved his head back just in time to see the panzer faust coming straight towards him from Riddens original position. The heavy missile slammed straight into the Juggler, tearing the extra armor plating away from Jhouti's cockpit. Danyan screamed and closed his eyes, his body rocking back in the chair. He opened them again and all he saw was a flash of red, the Zaku arcing past him as the heat hawk tore into his cockpit.

Candice and David had their hands full, leading a half a dozen assorted GMs and GM Es against the brunt of Vereschagins MS force. Even though they were outnumbered more than three to one, they had the advantage, their GM Es much faster and more maneuverable and their pilots more experienced. Candice tagged her third Zaku around the same time as David got his third, the two groups pulling back a little as the GMs ran low on machinegun rounds. They'd lost two GM Es, but had destroyed nearly ten enemy Zakus. Reloading his machinegun, David was about to engage when a frantic order came from the Sleipner.

"Our defense force is breached, repeat, defense force is breached. Get back here!"

The Nasr fleet had never been given the time to punch through the enemy line. The Cockblock and the Pliskin together had destroyed the Himmler, and the fleet was just about to fire a volley of missiles into the supply lines when the Oka Nieba and Admiral Hipper moved in to cover them. Angry at seeing the Tivvay class ship again, Arcaile ordered everyone to fire on the red carrier ship and then pull off. The Tipper fired its MPCs, getting a glancing hit on the Swordfish even as the Charons Saberfish and the Sleipners missiles shot towards it. A huge number of projectiles hit, all but destroying the Admiral Hipper, but the finishing blow didn't come, the AA on the Oka Nieba and Falmel II repositioning to protect their sister ship.

"Dammit. We need to get out of here. Load the anti beam warheads and order the retreat." Arcaile ordered. As he did so a huge explosion came to his left, the entire crew turning to look. The Pliskin, its reactor pierced by a single bazooka round, went up in brilliant fireworks, a single red Zaku coming out of the flames.

"Shoot down that Zaku, get us out of here!" Arcaile yelled, but it was too little too late. The Crimson Lightning zigzagged between tracers and 180mm rounds from the balls, spinning around and boosting towards the underside of the Sleipner where AA was light. Ridden stowed his bazooka and came up underneath one of the Balls, grabbing it with his R2's hands and using it as cover as he moved up the side of the Sleipner. AA gunners found their mark but only killed one of their own, the ball exploding as Riddens Zaku landed on top of the bridge, grabbing the giant bazooka off of his Zakus back and pointing it straight at Arcaile Nasr.

The entire bridge crew was killed instantly, the shell piercing the reactor moments later. The Sleipner buckled and heaved, bulkheads popping like a theatre snack as the ship exploded. Ridden looked at his magazine, only a single shell left. He bounced his Zaku off the exploding wreckage and turned towards the Swordfish just in time to meet a handful of 90mm shells, a GM E tagging him with what could only be a lucky shot. Riddens Zaku lost an arm and his bazooka exploded, Cherish trying hard to aim the stolen mobile suits machinegun.

"STUPID STUPID STUPID!" The woman yelled, blasting towards Ridden and firing her vulcans. Ridden picked up his one remaining panzer faust, firing it at Cherish's GM as he boosted away, heading back to the safety of the Vereschagin fleet. Cherish let the panzer faust hit her, half the GM exploding and the other half going into a spin as it began to drift through space. She was picked up by Candice, who slowly carried her back to the Swordfish, David carrying the GM Juggler.

Can you post the one where Kyle learned to hate Zaku Ks after one blew up all of Australia? I really liked that event for some reason

That was from OYW 1, it's gone forever.

What about the one where Dan ran into the Tri-Stars and the Apsalus?

I like the one Gray posted best :/

When Liam Amon killed a Tri-Star, that just made me feel good.

Damn that Zaku Cannon. Damn it to hell.