A Daring Thrust
West Siberia Territory

Few dared to mount an attack on Siberia because it's arctic conditions made it almost an impossible objective. Coupled with the massive stretches of land and the bitter cold, it was a natural wall of defense that had long kept the Japanese Empire at bay. While a full scale invasion was out of the question, High Command had seen merrit in Aluante's plan and had thusly granted him a bit of a larger force than he had expected.

The fleet had been steaming along steadily toward the border for awhile now and there was a sense of tension all across the fleet. Ranmaru remained in his Zaku II Command Type waiting for word on whether or not they'd be detected when finally word arrived from the Ryujin.

"We've successfully crossed the border! The snow storm must have given us cover." The Captain of the massive Dabude said, breathing a sigh of relief. But they weren't out of the woods yet as the Zaku Recon Types were deployed to get a good read-out on the area ahead of them.

Unfortunately, the Zaku's weren't so luck. As it so happened, someone had been watching afterall. A single shot pierced the air and struck one of the Zaku's dead in the cockpit, causing it to explode. Both sides raised the alert as the GINN Long Range Reconnaissance type retreated back to it's fleet. Unfortunately, they weren't so lucky afterall. While one Zaku went to relay the information to the task force, another lay in hiding to provide spotting information for the fleet.

The weather caused low visibility and allowed the Zaku Reconnaissance type to remain undetected while it recorded the position of the European Fleet which had just shifted course to intercepted the Japanese Forces.

"The best way to get them is with a sudden, unexpected, penetration." Ranmaru stated simply as the fleet held it's position. Various Zaku II's exited their ships as they prepared for combat. With the Coordinates zero'd in Ranmaru suddenly shouted "FIRE!".

The massive guns of the Dabude roared to life, sending their huge payload in the direction of the European's who did their best to avoid the fire. A massive explosion kicked up snow and dirt all around the Lesseps "HOW MANY ARE THERE?" The commander of the Lesseps hollered, but it was in vain, as the second salvo struck the Lesseps dead on. The massive cannons crippled the ship, knocking the Scale System out and causing the behemoth to collapse into the ground below as fires broke out all across the ship.

The massive barrage was followed by a smaller one as missiles from Gallop Class ships flew forward and struck the ground all around, BuCUE's skillfully dodging missiles while others perished beneath the hail of missiles and cannon fire, the Zaku Cannon Types beginning to unload their ordinance in the direction of the enemy forces which now glew with the fire from the Lesseps.

The Petrie Class ships managed to return fire and begin providing counter-battery, the fleets continued duking it out with one another although the Lesseps was struck once more by the Dabude's overwhelming fire power. The ship finally buckled and exploded in a glorious fireball.

BuCUE did battle with Zaku, the BuCUE's easily outclassed the Zaku I's in terms for performance, but the pilots of the Zaku I's were hardened veteran's for the most part and beat the BuCUE's in terms of raw skill. When one BuCUE would tackle a Zaku I, another would quickly rush up in support of it, lobbing the head off one of the BuCUE's before it could deliver the fatal blow.

The Japanese answer to the BuCUE's mobility was to form a wall of iron that could not be breached, Ranmaru's own Zaku II flying up into the air only to unload several rounds from his Bazooka in the direction of a charging BuCUE. Two rounds missed, but the third scored a direct hit on the BuCUE and blew it's legs out. Linear Tank's blitzed across the harsh snow, taking aim at the enemy ships as they skillfully dodged fire from the Zaku Machine Gun's.

They were desperate to do some damage, all of the tank's eventually deciding to focus their fire on a single Zaku II. The overwhelming firepower caused the Zaku II to finally collapse and explode. In the distance, another huge explosion ripped through the air as the Dabude scored a direct hit on one of the Petrie Class ships, causing it's magazine to explode and take the entire ship down with it.

Ranmaru charged onward, signaling for his troops to press the advantage now as they took aim at the Linear Tanks, making quick work out of them before turning on the remaining BuCUE's which were adeptly blitzing across the battlefield.

In the midst of the combat, Ranmaru felt a strange sensation, a tickling at the back of his neck that compelled to act. He didn't know what it was, but he soon found himself launching his Zaku II to the side just in time to avoid a fatal blow from a BuCUE. The BuCUE's beam saber managing to take the Arm off the Zaku II, which responded by pivoting and firing a bazooka round down directly into the BuCUE's cannons, causing the unused ammunition to explode and take the entire Mobile Suit with it.

"Sir, pull back!" The Captain of the Dabude pleaded, noting the damage of Ranmaru's Zaku II, to which Ranmaru just scoffed "Pull out? I don't think so. Press on!" Ranmaru commanded as his now one-armed Zaku II marched across the snow, firing his Bazooka at another BuCUE and taking it out. The Dabude fired another salvo and in the distance a Petire exploded. Out numbered and out gunned, the two remaining BuCUE's chose to surrender.

[Result]
-Ranmaru Alaunte 14 xp, Repairing 3
-Task Force Ryu Enters West Siberia
-13th Siberian Mobile Guard Destroyed