Post by Ketara on Nov 11, 2009 19:35:51 GMT -5
I'll start.
Zeon Submarine Nine Ninety Six
"How's your coffee, Mr. Benevides?" The two officers were enjoying themselves with what time they could. The U-996 had been on patrol in Federation waters for quite a while now, and had just picked up a load of supplies at a secret rebel outpost in southern Brazil.
"South Africas best, Mr. Auclair. When do you think we'll be getting some orders from command?" Benevides smiled a little. The 7 man bridge crew of the Jukon II was a pleasant place, no matter how much Peter Weiss tried to sour the mood.
"Maybe if we dive deep enough they won't be able to reach us. Get me a report from the sealance, I'd like to know what's going on in our ocean today Mr. Ida." Auclair looked at his communications officer. The crew of this particular Jukon was very lax on regulation, Auclair caring about his own men far more than military doctrine. However, they were still fighting the war, and they were fighting it well. Though he had been in relatively few engagements compared to some, Laurent seemed to have a knack for submarine combat.
The three crewmen aboard the sealance, an impossibly quiet transport and scouting mini-sub, were just barely surfaced, surveying the waters ahead. All seemed quiet for the most part, but out of the blue a grey dot slowly appeared on the horizon.
"That's... Hillock class bearing three clicks north by northeast! We'd best go back and tell mom Daniel." the Sealances captain, Edwin Base, slapped his driver on the shoulder. Behind them, the sonar operator in the three man sub added in.
"Looks like there's something underneath it too. Is that... A Jukon?"
~
"You know, I'm getting the hang of this ship. Zeon's designers really are pretty good, for spacenoids." Captain Thomas Brite smirked aboard the EFU-01. A captured Jukon, it had been transferred to Jaburo to test the brand new Aqua GM mobile suit. Two of the units were currently floating under the repainted Zeon ship doing maneuvers. Above them, the Crag was on guard duty, the heavily armed Hillock class destroyer a spectacular ship for anti submarine warfare.
Above the Crag, a Don Escargot and a Dish were on patrol. The Aqua GM was a brand new weapon, and everyone was on alert to protect the two mobile suits as they tested their operations in ocean conditions.
"This is Bluebird to Frogs Legs, I'm looking at a small blip on long range radar, three clicks south by southwest." The Dish's crew was very good, sighting the Sealance where most would just consider it to be a radar anomaly.
"This is Frogs Legs, we'll go check it out. Tell the Crag we've got company."
Captain Hernando Menendez aboard the Crag was expecting trouble, he'd been known to have a sixth sense when it came to that kind of thing. Lighting a cigarette, he paused for a few seconds before issuing orders to his crew.
"All hands battle stations. Assume we have an enemy submarine inbound. Tell the oh one and have those GMs prepped for combat duty."
~
"Captain, I'm reading a large aircraft coming straight for our position, sounds like a snail sir." Irene's hands were clasped tight around her headphones, here eyes shut. Auclair nodded, looking to Ida.
"Is everything prepared?"
Yes sir, we have confirmation from the sonar torpedo. One enemy Hillock, one enemy Jukon, two unidentified mobile suits. MSMs are in the water, the Sealance will be locked down in twenty seconds sir."
"Captain, are you sure you can handle this?" Peter Weiss, black suit looming ominously over Auclair, was actually considering withdrawing. The Federation already had one Jukon, they didn't need two.
Laurent ignored him. Despite the fact that he was a paper pusher at heart, Auclair for whatever reason had decided that today he would have his cake and eat it too.
"Get the tech department on the line. How many FY rounds do we have?"
"Twenty eight sir." Creuzot, the U-996's ballistics officer, was an excellent shot, one of the best in Zeons surface navy.
Auclair nodded, a small black phone in hand.
"Missile bay, I want you to transfer the warheads on six Freeze Yard torpedoes to ballistic missiles." Auclair was formulating a plan quickly. Fighting this many targets at once would take a lot of ingenuity.
"Captain, that's a lot of work, it'll take us more than an hour to-"
"Good, do it in ten minutes." Laurent hung up the phone.
"Missile bays one and two load M warheads, dive to combat depth, speed to ninety percent. How long till the snail contacts?" Crewmen started grabbing on to railings as the submarine began to speed up.
"Three minutes sir."
"Very good Irene. Now we wait."
Aboard the Don Escargot, crewmen were trying to acquire the 996's position, sonar operators getting data in laser pulses from bouey's floating on the surface.
"I think I've got it captain. Priming ASW weaponry, lets see if we can shoot them down before the 01 arrives."
"Roger that petty officer. Fire at will."
Auclair kept waiting, counting in his head. The air was getting more and more intense by the second. Nobody could actually see the enemy, everyone in the Atlantic was operating with cloaks and daggers.
"Missile bays one and two fire. Hard turn to port in four seconds. Get me a firing solution on the enemy Jukon." The crew of the 996 held on as the ship prepared to turn. Aboard the EFU-01, sonar operators were doing the same thing.
"Torpedo bays one through four, fire." Brite ordered. Four torpedoes shot through the water, skimming fast towards the Zeon submarine. As they did, two rockets burst out of the surface under the Bluebird and the Frogslegs, detonating a thick cloud of minovski particles.
"Captain! I've lost all reading from the boueys, we've lost contact." The sonar operator of the Frogslegs was visibly irritated.
"Come around and try to re-acquire. That field will disperse before too long."
"Torpedo tubes one to four, fire. Tube three prepare a noisemaker." Auclair looked at Creuzot, who was hard at work. "Erwin, I want you to take control of the MSM operation, I have too much to think about here."
"Roger that captain. Daniel, I want the Z'Goks to move ahead, lets have the Acquy dive, I want it to move over here..." Benevides pointed to a position on Ida's map. The comm officer was ploting courses for the three MSMs, using laser transmission to guide them around to hopefully flank the enemy mobile suits.
The two Z'Goks raced towards the combat zone, comparitively quiet compared to the large warships in the water. Seemingly ignoring them, torpedoes from the EFU-01 and U-996 flew towards each other under the waves, proximity detectors catching each other, the lot of them exploded between the two subs. Another two torpedoes shot out of the smoke and debris, the 01 trying to finish the job. However, as it did so a fifth torpedo launched straight from the U-996, delivering a powerful sonar signal. The two EF torpedoes sonar guidance systems locked onto the noisemaker, turning around and heading away from Auclairs Jukon.
"I've got confirmation... The MS acquisition computer can't relate those shapes to anything. We've got a new model Federal MSM here, stay sharp." The lead Z'Goks pilot, simultaniously paying attention to sonar, IR and visual feeds, flanked out to the left, guided by Benevides directions.
The two Aqua GMs, much faster than a Z'Gok underwater, split off to acquire their targets. Each launched a pair of small anti mobile suit missiles, but as they did several rounds shot out of the Z'Goks head missile launchers. The missiles exploded in a cloud of sticky purple goo, the Aqua GMs torpedoes slamming into this nebulous substance and refusing to detonate.
"We're gonna have to get in close, our mobile suits aren't designed to fight at this range." The second Z'Gok pilot muttered. Hopefully this new Federation model would be deficient in hand to hand.
"Forward VLS, fire on the enemy subs last known position. Rear VLS, standby and wait for the Bluebird to re-acquire." Menendez watched as the huge missile launch system in front of the Crags bridge turned into position. Dozens of depth charges shot out into the water, slowly sinking towards Laurents men.
"Torpedo tubes one two and three, fire and prepare to arc above the enemy Jukon. Four through six, arc below. Fire!" Auclair's mind was racing, trying to think how to best outwit the enemy submarine. Hopefully they weren't quite used to everything a Jukon could do just yet.
"Captain, we have six torpedoes inbound. Impact in twenty three seconds." The sonar operator of the 01 tried hard to track the six sounds above all the other chatter.
"Launch countermeasures, dive on my mark."
Two small canisters dropped out of the bottom of the Jukon, venting gas that emitted an insane amount of noise. Three of the 996's six rounds veered off course, crashing into the countermeasures and detonating.
"Ten seconds sir. Nine, eight, seven..."
"Dive! Dive now!"
The EFU-01 suddenly lurched lower into the water, the remaining three torpedoes blasting over the top of the hull. Before they could turn around, the seeking warheads punched through the surface of the Atlantic, expert gunners from the Crag swivveling AA machineguns and shooting at them. One round managed to connect, a torpedo detonating in the air and setting off the other two rounds.
"Good shooting men, we need to protect that ship. Rear VLS, prepare to fire." Menendez ordered, the captain of the Crag lighting a second cigarette.
"Captain, tech crew reports they have four FY missiles ready for you sir." Creuzot was hard at work programming various torpedo trajectories on the fly. Auclair nodded, happy with how well his bridge crew was performing.
"Alright, get them loaded in bays three through six. Missile bays eleven and twelve load some buckshot. I want noisemakers in torpedo tubes one and two, four through six ready to blast the hell out of that Hillock. Creuzot, plot the following coordinates."
"Laurent, particle density is dropping back to safe levels, that snail will be on us again soon." Ames had to keep track of multiple sensors at once, the particle density level always in any sensor operators mind, in space or in the Atlantic.
Aboard the Bluebird, Irenes prediction was quickly coming to fruition.
"There she is... Captain, I've re-acquired. Feed the following coordinates to the Frogslegs. Zero zero four niner five, depth twenty three hundred." Signals were quickly bounced between the Dish and the Don Escargot, the Escargot carefully planning how to drop its payload.
"Roger that bluebird. Depth charges in the water."
A half a dozen rounds dropped out of the Don Escargots hold just as a further two dozen shot out of the Crag, all straight on target for the U-996. At the same time, the EFU-01 fired its torpedoes straight at Laurent, nearly two score warheads heading for Auclair and his men.
"Captain I've got torpedoes, charges, they're throwing everything but the kitchen sink sir!" Ames jerked her headphones away from her ears. If she heard all of those explosions going off at once she'd have such a headache she'd be out of the fight for good.
"You heard her, launch all of it. Prepare tubes three through six for the counter." The crew of the U-996 held on tight. Four missiles shot out of the top of the Jukon II, detonating in thick purple clouds and creating a barrier between the Jukon and the ocean surface. Depth charges from the Frogslegs and the Crag slammed right on target, sticking harmlessly to the expensive Zeonic compound. The two noisemakers from the Jukon II shot out, diverting the 01's torpedoes, four warheads shooting out behind them and veering towards the Federal warships.
"Captain, I've got four torpedoes inbound heading right for us. Impact in... No wait, they're locked onto the Crag!"
"Hard to starboard, see if unit two can deflect them. Ready all tubes for another attack." Brite was angry. They'd wasted too much time and still hadn't taken out this single Jukon.
The four torpedoes from the 996 headed straight for the Crag, the 01 attempting to dodge out of the way. As the rounds zipped towards the destroyer, one of the GM Aqua's came up behind it, a beam pick in each hand. Latching onto the rear of one of the torpedoes, the Aqua GM pushed off of it and veered it into a second torpedo at the same time, the explosion causing all four rounds to detonate.
The second GM was trying to acquire a target, but the test pilot wasn't quite as good as the men in the Z'Goks, backed up by Benevides's expert directions. One Z'Gok came around behind the Aqua, but even as it did four grenades dropped off the legs of the mobile suit. Exploding between them, the Zeon MSM had to move back, going to the surface even as the Aqua GM spun around and fired torpedoes. The Z'Gok dove into the air above the Atlantic, dodging the enemy warheads and spinning around in a circle. Pointing a three clawed arm at the Bluebird, it fired its MPC, narrowly missing the Dish aircraft. The Crags gunners swivveled to target the Z'Gok, but it was in the water again before they could fire.
Benevides, one hand grabbed ahold of a railing tight and another on Daniel Ida's shoulder, called back at Auclair, his troops finally in position.
"Laurent, surface the ship."
"What?? That's suicide." Weiss looked at the 996's executive officer, trying to push the will of the SS onto the bridge crew as best he could. "I'm going to have to countermand that order by will of Gihren Zabi's executive mandate to-"
"Surface the ship! Prepare to fire countermeasures. Get M warheads in nine and ten. Do we still have buckshot in eleven and twelve?" Laurent and Erwin trusted each other totally. The entirety of the 996's bridge crew ignored the SS officer on the bridge, who quickly realized he wouldn't be able to tell them what to do.
"Captain, the enemy Jukon is surfacing. Should we cease fire?" The sonar operator of the EFU-01 looked a little perplexed.
"Negative, launch everything we've got at them. They're bluffing." Brite grinned. They were finally going to shoot this troublesome rat down.
"Captain, six contacts, more torpedoes. Impact in ten." Irene was starting to get a headache just from tracking so many things at once.
"Right, blow everything, get us through the roof as fast as you can. Launch countermeasures, load all tubes and prepare to return fire." The 996 crew gripped their positions even tighter as the ship began to rise. Helmsman and co-pilot Alonso Kiernan and Adrian Neville pulled back hard on the helm, the U-996 moving quickly to the surface of the ocean as two gas filled canisters dropped below it.
"Frogslegs, this is Bluebird, the enemy ship is surfacing, I repeat, the enemy ship is surfacing. I'm giving you coordinates now." The Dish and the Escargot, still working in tandem with each other, were in almost perfect positions to fire at the Jukon II as it broke through the waters surface.
"Roger that, preparing a trajectory. Missiles away."
The EFU-01's torpedoes veered off target below the Jukon even as the Don Escargots sailed right on target, slamming into the side of the U-996 as it surfaced. Gunners and missile operators on the Crag veered their turrets towards the Jukon, which was now a sitting duck surrounded by enemy targets. All eyes were on Laurent and his men, and it seemed that this time they were done for.
"Fire everything we've got at them, lets sink those Zeeks once and for all." Menendez smirked, taking a long drag on his cigarette. Less than a second later, the bridge of the Crag exploded, Menendez and all of his officers dying instantly. On the other side of the ship where no one was looking, the U-996's Acquy fired its MPC through the bow of the ship, missiles recently expended.
"Excellent work Erwin. Launch nine and ten and then tip back into the water, fire eleven and twelve in two seconds." Laurents crew cheered, the first winning shot had been delivered. Two M particle warheads launched out of the U-996, detonating almost immediately. Even as they did, the Jukon II rolled on its side like a whale, anti-MS multiple vector missiles launching out of the following two rounds at an angle. The missiles that Laurent conveniently referred to as buckshot opened up, dozens of smaller rounds spraying out of the main vehicles in a cloud of explosives. The Bluebird and the Frogslegs soared over the Jukon II at the same time, straight into the path of the incoming missiles. Aboard the bluebird, crewmen tried frantically to get out of the way.
"Enemy missiles incoming, I'm plotting us a course through, hold one sec- SHIT, particle density through the roof, I've lost everything. Captain, we're blind!"
The two Federal planes slammed into the Zeonic buckshot, exploding as the remainder of the rounds peppered the hull of the Crag, disabling the vessel. The Hillock class destroyer slowly started to sink, injured crewmen panicking as they tried to find lifeboats.
"That's one down. Fire tubes one through four, prepare five and six and get me a damage report, I want to know how bad that snail hit us." Auclair smiled, easing up a bit. Now it was one on one, and hopefully the Don Escargots strike had been superficial.
"Load gel rounds in tubes one and two and fire with the rest, we need to take them out." Brite yelled at his crew, starting to get a little frantic. Two captured Freeze Yard warheads shot out of the 01, erupting in a purple cloud as the other four warheads shot out in front. Auclair wasn't prepared to have Zeons own special weaponry used against it, and the 996's torpedoes stuck harmlessly into the substance. However, the crew of the 01 didn't seem to be coordinating quite as well as the Zeonic Jukon, their FY rounds blocking the escape route of one of the GM Aqua's. The GM pilot lurched his machine to a halt in front of the cloud, and as it did he was shot through the reactor by one of Auclair's Z'Goks.
The second Z'Gok raced after the 01's torpedoes, trying desperately to get a lock. Firing its MPCs underwater, the pilot managed to nail one of the torpedoes, but the resulting explosion only caught an additional two. One round headed straight for the 996, and Laurent was running out of ways to respond.
"One contact coming straight for us. Impact in ten..." Irene was sweating heavily, worried that this was the end.
"Orders captain?" Kiernan at the helm was ready to try to dodge, but they all knew it wouldn't make much difference.
"Dive, launch countermeasures and return fire. Start praying people." Auclair responded. The noise making canisters shot out of the 996 yet again, but this time the warhead wasn't quite close enough to them, continuing to veer straight for its target. Two torpedoes launched out from Laurents Jukon, heading straight for the 01.
"I've got two more incoming, impact in ten. I don't think we can shake these ones." The 01s sonar operator was already praying, as if listening to Laurent above his own captain.
"Prepare for impact. Emergency surface." Brite knew he'd been beaten. The three torpedoes slammed into their targets, two hitting the 01 and one hitting the 996 respectively. Laurent and his crew were thrown around the bridge of the 996, Laurent hitting his head hard on the railing he'd been holding on to. Blood started trickling down his face as he yelled out for a damage report. The 01 however fared much worse, the entire Jukon exploding in the water. Luckily for Auclair and his men, the enemy round had hit the mobile suit bay, exploding and destroying a part of the Jukon II that was mostly empty. Seeing its mothership explode, the remaining GM Aqua turned tail and fled, much faster than the Zeonic Z'Goks could catch.
~
An hour later, Erwin Benevides and Laurent Auclair sat on the front deck of the U-996, each cradling a hot mug of columbian brew and watching the sunset. They'd had to surface the ship for repairs, but hopefully they'd be under way again in less than a day. Laurent, a bandage on his head, was contemplating his earlier decision to engage with his good friend.
"So what made you give the order to attack, Laurent. We're honestly pretty lucky we didn't all die back there." Benevides trusted his captain, but this wasn't standard operating procedure for the French captain. Was he getting more into the spirit of the war, or was this merely a fluke? Laurent closed his eyes, thinking for a moment and taking a sip of his coffee. Turning to his executive officer, he smiled as he gave his answer.
"Too much caffeine, old friend. Too much caffeine."
Zeon Submarine Nine Ninety Six
"How's your coffee, Mr. Benevides?" The two officers were enjoying themselves with what time they could. The U-996 had been on patrol in Federation waters for quite a while now, and had just picked up a load of supplies at a secret rebel outpost in southern Brazil.
"South Africas best, Mr. Auclair. When do you think we'll be getting some orders from command?" Benevides smiled a little. The 7 man bridge crew of the Jukon II was a pleasant place, no matter how much Peter Weiss tried to sour the mood.
"Maybe if we dive deep enough they won't be able to reach us. Get me a report from the sealance, I'd like to know what's going on in our ocean today Mr. Ida." Auclair looked at his communications officer. The crew of this particular Jukon was very lax on regulation, Auclair caring about his own men far more than military doctrine. However, they were still fighting the war, and they were fighting it well. Though he had been in relatively few engagements compared to some, Laurent seemed to have a knack for submarine combat.
The three crewmen aboard the sealance, an impossibly quiet transport and scouting mini-sub, were just barely surfaced, surveying the waters ahead. All seemed quiet for the most part, but out of the blue a grey dot slowly appeared on the horizon.
"That's... Hillock class bearing three clicks north by northeast! We'd best go back and tell mom Daniel." the Sealances captain, Edwin Base, slapped his driver on the shoulder. Behind them, the sonar operator in the three man sub added in.
"Looks like there's something underneath it too. Is that... A Jukon?"
~
"You know, I'm getting the hang of this ship. Zeon's designers really are pretty good, for spacenoids." Captain Thomas Brite smirked aboard the EFU-01. A captured Jukon, it had been transferred to Jaburo to test the brand new Aqua GM mobile suit. Two of the units were currently floating under the repainted Zeon ship doing maneuvers. Above them, the Crag was on guard duty, the heavily armed Hillock class destroyer a spectacular ship for anti submarine warfare.
Above the Crag, a Don Escargot and a Dish were on patrol. The Aqua GM was a brand new weapon, and everyone was on alert to protect the two mobile suits as they tested their operations in ocean conditions.
"This is Bluebird to Frogs Legs, I'm looking at a small blip on long range radar, three clicks south by southwest." The Dish's crew was very good, sighting the Sealance where most would just consider it to be a radar anomaly.
"This is Frogs Legs, we'll go check it out. Tell the Crag we've got company."
Captain Hernando Menendez aboard the Crag was expecting trouble, he'd been known to have a sixth sense when it came to that kind of thing. Lighting a cigarette, he paused for a few seconds before issuing orders to his crew.
"All hands battle stations. Assume we have an enemy submarine inbound. Tell the oh one and have those GMs prepped for combat duty."
~
"Captain, I'm reading a large aircraft coming straight for our position, sounds like a snail sir." Irene's hands were clasped tight around her headphones, here eyes shut. Auclair nodded, looking to Ida.
"Is everything prepared?"
Yes sir, we have confirmation from the sonar torpedo. One enemy Hillock, one enemy Jukon, two unidentified mobile suits. MSMs are in the water, the Sealance will be locked down in twenty seconds sir."
"Captain, are you sure you can handle this?" Peter Weiss, black suit looming ominously over Auclair, was actually considering withdrawing. The Federation already had one Jukon, they didn't need two.
Laurent ignored him. Despite the fact that he was a paper pusher at heart, Auclair for whatever reason had decided that today he would have his cake and eat it too.
"Get the tech department on the line. How many FY rounds do we have?"
"Twenty eight sir." Creuzot, the U-996's ballistics officer, was an excellent shot, one of the best in Zeons surface navy.
Auclair nodded, a small black phone in hand.
"Missile bay, I want you to transfer the warheads on six Freeze Yard torpedoes to ballistic missiles." Auclair was formulating a plan quickly. Fighting this many targets at once would take a lot of ingenuity.
"Captain, that's a lot of work, it'll take us more than an hour to-"
"Good, do it in ten minutes." Laurent hung up the phone.
"Missile bays one and two load M warheads, dive to combat depth, speed to ninety percent. How long till the snail contacts?" Crewmen started grabbing on to railings as the submarine began to speed up.
"Three minutes sir."
"Very good Irene. Now we wait."
Aboard the Don Escargot, crewmen were trying to acquire the 996's position, sonar operators getting data in laser pulses from bouey's floating on the surface.
"I think I've got it captain. Priming ASW weaponry, lets see if we can shoot them down before the 01 arrives."
"Roger that petty officer. Fire at will."
Auclair kept waiting, counting in his head. The air was getting more and more intense by the second. Nobody could actually see the enemy, everyone in the Atlantic was operating with cloaks and daggers.
"Missile bays one and two fire. Hard turn to port in four seconds. Get me a firing solution on the enemy Jukon." The crew of the 996 held on as the ship prepared to turn. Aboard the EFU-01, sonar operators were doing the same thing.
"Torpedo bays one through four, fire." Brite ordered. Four torpedoes shot through the water, skimming fast towards the Zeon submarine. As they did, two rockets burst out of the surface under the Bluebird and the Frogslegs, detonating a thick cloud of minovski particles.
"Captain! I've lost all reading from the boueys, we've lost contact." The sonar operator of the Frogslegs was visibly irritated.
"Come around and try to re-acquire. That field will disperse before too long."
"Torpedo tubes one to four, fire. Tube three prepare a noisemaker." Auclair looked at Creuzot, who was hard at work. "Erwin, I want you to take control of the MSM operation, I have too much to think about here."
"Roger that captain. Daniel, I want the Z'Goks to move ahead, lets have the Acquy dive, I want it to move over here..." Benevides pointed to a position on Ida's map. The comm officer was ploting courses for the three MSMs, using laser transmission to guide them around to hopefully flank the enemy mobile suits.
The two Z'Goks raced towards the combat zone, comparitively quiet compared to the large warships in the water. Seemingly ignoring them, torpedoes from the EFU-01 and U-996 flew towards each other under the waves, proximity detectors catching each other, the lot of them exploded between the two subs. Another two torpedoes shot out of the smoke and debris, the 01 trying to finish the job. However, as it did so a fifth torpedo launched straight from the U-996, delivering a powerful sonar signal. The two EF torpedoes sonar guidance systems locked onto the noisemaker, turning around and heading away from Auclairs Jukon.
"I've got confirmation... The MS acquisition computer can't relate those shapes to anything. We've got a new model Federal MSM here, stay sharp." The lead Z'Goks pilot, simultaniously paying attention to sonar, IR and visual feeds, flanked out to the left, guided by Benevides directions.
The two Aqua GMs, much faster than a Z'Gok underwater, split off to acquire their targets. Each launched a pair of small anti mobile suit missiles, but as they did several rounds shot out of the Z'Goks head missile launchers. The missiles exploded in a cloud of sticky purple goo, the Aqua GMs torpedoes slamming into this nebulous substance and refusing to detonate.
"We're gonna have to get in close, our mobile suits aren't designed to fight at this range." The second Z'Gok pilot muttered. Hopefully this new Federation model would be deficient in hand to hand.
"Forward VLS, fire on the enemy subs last known position. Rear VLS, standby and wait for the Bluebird to re-acquire." Menendez watched as the huge missile launch system in front of the Crags bridge turned into position. Dozens of depth charges shot out into the water, slowly sinking towards Laurents men.
"Torpedo tubes one two and three, fire and prepare to arc above the enemy Jukon. Four through six, arc below. Fire!" Auclair's mind was racing, trying to think how to best outwit the enemy submarine. Hopefully they weren't quite used to everything a Jukon could do just yet.
"Captain, we have six torpedoes inbound. Impact in twenty three seconds." The sonar operator of the 01 tried hard to track the six sounds above all the other chatter.
"Launch countermeasures, dive on my mark."
Two small canisters dropped out of the bottom of the Jukon, venting gas that emitted an insane amount of noise. Three of the 996's six rounds veered off course, crashing into the countermeasures and detonating.
"Ten seconds sir. Nine, eight, seven..."
"Dive! Dive now!"
The EFU-01 suddenly lurched lower into the water, the remaining three torpedoes blasting over the top of the hull. Before they could turn around, the seeking warheads punched through the surface of the Atlantic, expert gunners from the Crag swivveling AA machineguns and shooting at them. One round managed to connect, a torpedo detonating in the air and setting off the other two rounds.
"Good shooting men, we need to protect that ship. Rear VLS, prepare to fire." Menendez ordered, the captain of the Crag lighting a second cigarette.
"Captain, tech crew reports they have four FY missiles ready for you sir." Creuzot was hard at work programming various torpedo trajectories on the fly. Auclair nodded, happy with how well his bridge crew was performing.
"Alright, get them loaded in bays three through six. Missile bays eleven and twelve load some buckshot. I want noisemakers in torpedo tubes one and two, four through six ready to blast the hell out of that Hillock. Creuzot, plot the following coordinates."
"Laurent, particle density is dropping back to safe levels, that snail will be on us again soon." Ames had to keep track of multiple sensors at once, the particle density level always in any sensor operators mind, in space or in the Atlantic.
Aboard the Bluebird, Irenes prediction was quickly coming to fruition.
"There she is... Captain, I've re-acquired. Feed the following coordinates to the Frogslegs. Zero zero four niner five, depth twenty three hundred." Signals were quickly bounced between the Dish and the Don Escargot, the Escargot carefully planning how to drop its payload.
"Roger that bluebird. Depth charges in the water."
A half a dozen rounds dropped out of the Don Escargots hold just as a further two dozen shot out of the Crag, all straight on target for the U-996. At the same time, the EFU-01 fired its torpedoes straight at Laurent, nearly two score warheads heading for Auclair and his men.
"Captain I've got torpedoes, charges, they're throwing everything but the kitchen sink sir!" Ames jerked her headphones away from her ears. If she heard all of those explosions going off at once she'd have such a headache she'd be out of the fight for good.
"You heard her, launch all of it. Prepare tubes three through six for the counter." The crew of the U-996 held on tight. Four missiles shot out of the top of the Jukon II, detonating in thick purple clouds and creating a barrier between the Jukon and the ocean surface. Depth charges from the Frogslegs and the Crag slammed right on target, sticking harmlessly to the expensive Zeonic compound. The two noisemakers from the Jukon II shot out, diverting the 01's torpedoes, four warheads shooting out behind them and veering towards the Federal warships.
"Captain, I've got four torpedoes inbound heading right for us. Impact in... No wait, they're locked onto the Crag!"
"Hard to starboard, see if unit two can deflect them. Ready all tubes for another attack." Brite was angry. They'd wasted too much time and still hadn't taken out this single Jukon.
The four torpedoes from the 996 headed straight for the Crag, the 01 attempting to dodge out of the way. As the rounds zipped towards the destroyer, one of the GM Aqua's came up behind it, a beam pick in each hand. Latching onto the rear of one of the torpedoes, the Aqua GM pushed off of it and veered it into a second torpedo at the same time, the explosion causing all four rounds to detonate.
The second GM was trying to acquire a target, but the test pilot wasn't quite as good as the men in the Z'Goks, backed up by Benevides's expert directions. One Z'Gok came around behind the Aqua, but even as it did four grenades dropped off the legs of the mobile suit. Exploding between them, the Zeon MSM had to move back, going to the surface even as the Aqua GM spun around and fired torpedoes. The Z'Gok dove into the air above the Atlantic, dodging the enemy warheads and spinning around in a circle. Pointing a three clawed arm at the Bluebird, it fired its MPC, narrowly missing the Dish aircraft. The Crags gunners swivveled to target the Z'Gok, but it was in the water again before they could fire.
Benevides, one hand grabbed ahold of a railing tight and another on Daniel Ida's shoulder, called back at Auclair, his troops finally in position.
"Laurent, surface the ship."
"What?? That's suicide." Weiss looked at the 996's executive officer, trying to push the will of the SS onto the bridge crew as best he could. "I'm going to have to countermand that order by will of Gihren Zabi's executive mandate to-"
"Surface the ship! Prepare to fire countermeasures. Get M warheads in nine and ten. Do we still have buckshot in eleven and twelve?" Laurent and Erwin trusted each other totally. The entirety of the 996's bridge crew ignored the SS officer on the bridge, who quickly realized he wouldn't be able to tell them what to do.
"Captain, the enemy Jukon is surfacing. Should we cease fire?" The sonar operator of the EFU-01 looked a little perplexed.
"Negative, launch everything we've got at them. They're bluffing." Brite grinned. They were finally going to shoot this troublesome rat down.
"Captain, six contacts, more torpedoes. Impact in ten." Irene was starting to get a headache just from tracking so many things at once.
"Right, blow everything, get us through the roof as fast as you can. Launch countermeasures, load all tubes and prepare to return fire." The 996 crew gripped their positions even tighter as the ship began to rise. Helmsman and co-pilot Alonso Kiernan and Adrian Neville pulled back hard on the helm, the U-996 moving quickly to the surface of the ocean as two gas filled canisters dropped below it.
"Frogslegs, this is Bluebird, the enemy ship is surfacing, I repeat, the enemy ship is surfacing. I'm giving you coordinates now." The Dish and the Escargot, still working in tandem with each other, were in almost perfect positions to fire at the Jukon II as it broke through the waters surface.
"Roger that, preparing a trajectory. Missiles away."
The EFU-01's torpedoes veered off target below the Jukon even as the Don Escargots sailed right on target, slamming into the side of the U-996 as it surfaced. Gunners and missile operators on the Crag veered their turrets towards the Jukon, which was now a sitting duck surrounded by enemy targets. All eyes were on Laurent and his men, and it seemed that this time they were done for.
"Fire everything we've got at them, lets sink those Zeeks once and for all." Menendez smirked, taking a long drag on his cigarette. Less than a second later, the bridge of the Crag exploded, Menendez and all of his officers dying instantly. On the other side of the ship where no one was looking, the U-996's Acquy fired its MPC through the bow of the ship, missiles recently expended.
"Excellent work Erwin. Launch nine and ten and then tip back into the water, fire eleven and twelve in two seconds." Laurents crew cheered, the first winning shot had been delivered. Two M particle warheads launched out of the U-996, detonating almost immediately. Even as they did, the Jukon II rolled on its side like a whale, anti-MS multiple vector missiles launching out of the following two rounds at an angle. The missiles that Laurent conveniently referred to as buckshot opened up, dozens of smaller rounds spraying out of the main vehicles in a cloud of explosives. The Bluebird and the Frogslegs soared over the Jukon II at the same time, straight into the path of the incoming missiles. Aboard the bluebird, crewmen tried frantically to get out of the way.
"Enemy missiles incoming, I'm plotting us a course through, hold one sec- SHIT, particle density through the roof, I've lost everything. Captain, we're blind!"
The two Federal planes slammed into the Zeonic buckshot, exploding as the remainder of the rounds peppered the hull of the Crag, disabling the vessel. The Hillock class destroyer slowly started to sink, injured crewmen panicking as they tried to find lifeboats.
"That's one down. Fire tubes one through four, prepare five and six and get me a damage report, I want to know how bad that snail hit us." Auclair smiled, easing up a bit. Now it was one on one, and hopefully the Don Escargots strike had been superficial.
"Load gel rounds in tubes one and two and fire with the rest, we need to take them out." Brite yelled at his crew, starting to get a little frantic. Two captured Freeze Yard warheads shot out of the 01, erupting in a purple cloud as the other four warheads shot out in front. Auclair wasn't prepared to have Zeons own special weaponry used against it, and the 996's torpedoes stuck harmlessly into the substance. However, the crew of the 01 didn't seem to be coordinating quite as well as the Zeonic Jukon, their FY rounds blocking the escape route of one of the GM Aqua's. The GM pilot lurched his machine to a halt in front of the cloud, and as it did he was shot through the reactor by one of Auclair's Z'Goks.
The second Z'Gok raced after the 01's torpedoes, trying desperately to get a lock. Firing its MPCs underwater, the pilot managed to nail one of the torpedoes, but the resulting explosion only caught an additional two. One round headed straight for the 996, and Laurent was running out of ways to respond.
"One contact coming straight for us. Impact in ten..." Irene was sweating heavily, worried that this was the end.
"Orders captain?" Kiernan at the helm was ready to try to dodge, but they all knew it wouldn't make much difference.
"Dive, launch countermeasures and return fire. Start praying people." Auclair responded. The noise making canisters shot out of the 996 yet again, but this time the warhead wasn't quite close enough to them, continuing to veer straight for its target. Two torpedoes launched out from Laurents Jukon, heading straight for the 01.
"I've got two more incoming, impact in ten. I don't think we can shake these ones." The 01s sonar operator was already praying, as if listening to Laurent above his own captain.
"Prepare for impact. Emergency surface." Brite knew he'd been beaten. The three torpedoes slammed into their targets, two hitting the 01 and one hitting the 996 respectively. Laurent and his crew were thrown around the bridge of the 996, Laurent hitting his head hard on the railing he'd been holding on to. Blood started trickling down his face as he yelled out for a damage report. The 01 however fared much worse, the entire Jukon exploding in the water. Luckily for Auclair and his men, the enemy round had hit the mobile suit bay, exploding and destroying a part of the Jukon II that was mostly empty. Seeing its mothership explode, the remaining GM Aqua turned tail and fled, much faster than the Zeonic Z'Goks could catch.
~
An hour later, Erwin Benevides and Laurent Auclair sat on the front deck of the U-996, each cradling a hot mug of columbian brew and watching the sunset. They'd had to surface the ship for repairs, but hopefully they'd be under way again in less than a day. Laurent, a bandage on his head, was contemplating his earlier decision to engage with his good friend.
"So what made you give the order to attack, Laurent. We're honestly pretty lucky we didn't all die back there." Benevides trusted his captain, but this wasn't standard operating procedure for the French captain. Was he getting more into the spirit of the war, or was this merely a fluke? Laurent closed his eyes, thinking for a moment and taking a sip of his coffee. Turning to his executive officer, he smiled as he gave his answer.
"Too much caffeine, old friend. Too much caffeine."
