Saviors.

Klaxons screamed throughout the corpse of Harare. It was almost ironic that the streets remained empty, only a few individuals left to heed the sirens. “Why did they bother turning them on?” some grumbled as they decided whether to seek shelter or to stay where they were. Even the few that had survived and started rebuilding Harare knew that the shattered city was dead. They knew there would be no comeback for what was once a bustling metropolis. Though there were the intermittent sounds of construction, the city seemed like a massive graveyard. Only those that had no place to move on to stayed, all of them living in a purgatory while they waited for their borrowed time to expire.

—

Beneath Harare the soldiers grimly girded themselves for war. Like the city itself, the air of silence permeated every reach of the military base. The last battle had taken a number on the base and its denizens. Many of the lifts were still inoperable, covered by meters of burned metal and concrete from collapsed buildings. What was worse was the pervasive morbidity of the pilots themselves, most of them still dealing with the death of loved ones from the previous attack. Most of them had no illusion about what was to befall them, but something in each of them drove them to prepare to make every step a costly one for the ZAFT forces bearing down on them.

—

Despite the loss of the Halban in orbit, ZAFT’s high hopes were a stark contrast to the mood of their opposition. It was their crusade, to drive off those that had stymied humanity’s evolution, their passion. Reconstituted from the orbital drop, their forces had been divided into three separate groups. Attacking Harare from multiple angles was designed to force their opponents to split their remaining forces along three fronts, weakening them as a whole.

The detachable hanger of the Halban itself functioned as a headquarters, the chain of command making Admiral Hayes’ second the new commanding officer of the force. In many respects he lacked the traits that had made Fletcher Hayes such a successful leader, but the assault on Harare was relatively cut and dry, and well within his abilities.

“Begin the bombardment.”

All five battleships, plus their accompanying ZuOOTs, began their artillery barrage on the city, raining death onto the dead. There was a second reason for their split deployment, rumor had it that the Atlantic Federation had managed to smuggle an original spec Gundam X into Harare. The prospect of having to face a satellite cannon was enough reason to divide the fleet so that the X couldn’t wipe out all of them in a single shot. In common speak it was the definition of not putting all your eggs in one basket. It was also the reason that in the height of the bombardment three mobile suits flew along a pre-arranged course through the city, searching.

—

“I think I liked the desert better than this, eh Tin Woman?”

Shizuru rolled her eyes as Victor’s voice burst through the static over her COM. She mentally promised herself to strangle him if he called her that name again, but what he said was true. Harare was a graveyard, explosions pounding uselessly into the ruins of buildings that had already submitted to destruction. She wondered what kind of weapons left the three parallel trenches in the city that each mobile suit flew through, but the young coordinator quickly pushed the thoughts out of her head. Her only concern should be that of the mission; disabling the thus far fabled gundam with a satellite cannon. Flicking her COM on she asked if anyone had seen any sign of their quarry. She already knew the answer would be no, but her father had always taught her that it was important to maintain contact with one’s teammates.

“Any sign of the Gundam?”

The responses were as she predicted, a typically casual “Zilch.” from Victor, and a more professional “Negative.” coming from the third in their team. Her only interaction with Cameron Sune before this mission had been a duel, the more experienced pilot beating her handily. As she flew, she failed to notice the Daughtress spying on the Xeku Zwei from a mostly closed elevator beneath her.

—

“Sir, we have infiltrators, three of them flying through the trenches.”

The X’s pilot, sitting on a bench in the hangar’s ready room, simply nodded wordlessly at the report from the young pilot before picking up the helmet next to him and standing to walk to his Gundam. It was obvious the Daughtress pilot was in awe of him as he nearly scrambled to get out of the way, myths of those pilots skilled enough to be given gundams well told among the rank and file of the Atlantic Federation. He was young, and though he wasn’t still a greenie, it was doubtful that he would live the day to completion. Memories of being younger, and being chosen to fight alongside a gundam stirred as he stopped in front of the young man and studied him.

“Get to your mobile suit, you sortie with me.”

“Sir, yes, sir!”

Within the minutes the Gundam and the Daughtress were standing on a lift, the device rocketing them toward the surface to intercept the three mobile suits.

—

“Any word from the strike force?”

The young officer in charge of communications looked up from her panel, responding to the query with a concise “Nothing sir.”

“Let me know if anything changes.”

“Yes, sir. “

She let her fingers caress the ancient book sitting on the panel next to her before returning to her work, listening for any report of the Gundam X.

Around Harare the shelling continued, a continuous stream of rockets and artillery brutally pounding away at the ruined city. It had been nearly twenty minutes since they had engaged the city, but there was no sign of resistance. The enemy was determined to make them go into the city itself, something the forces of Operation Lilium wasn’t going to do until they were assured that there was no satellite cannon waiting for them.

—

It was Cameron Sune’s coordinator reflexes that had saved his life as he managed pull the beam shields mounted to the Victory 2’s arms over his cockpit to block a burst of beams that had come from seemingly nowhere. His legs, devoid of protection, exploded as lines of pink energy skewered them. Even as the red haired pilot struggled to recover the V2, he looked for the source of the beams. His eyes settled on a mobile suit emerging from between the desiccated corpses of two skyscrapers.

“I have positive contact with the target! He’s in sector Beta 23.”

—

Shizuru and Victor immediately flew out of their respective trenches as soon as they received the message, both moving with all haste to reinforce their comrade. Turrets that had chosen to remain hidden before suddenly appeared, firing at the pair as they flew into their lines of fire. Both mobile suits managed to score an emplacement each, Shizuru paying for hers with slight damage to the Xeku’s formidable armor from a laser beam. Despite the distraction of having to fly through beams that seemed to appear from every angle, it was Shizuru who radioed the temporary headquarters in the Halban’s reentry capsule to update them on the mission.

“Lilium Command, do you read?”

Though the constant explosions interfered with the signal, an almost entirely static-muted affirmative was radioed back to Shizuru.

“We have located the target, and are proceeding to engage, we will radio once the threat has been neutralized.”

It was impossible to tell if there was a response, only static coming over the line. Both the Unicorn Unit 2 “Banshee” and the Xeku Zwei converged on each other’s position in the center trench, safe from the turrets’ line of fire as they blasted toward where the Gundam X and Victory 2 fought.

—

It was a lopsided fight as Cameron dodged the legless Victory 2 away from the Gundam X, and the Daughtress that fought with it. He knew that if it had been a fair fight, he probably would have won, but the Gundam X’s ambush and the fact that there was also a Daughtress made it a fight simply to survive. Keeping his cool as he retreated, his beam rifle scattered shots of energy around the two mobile suits, both moving to evade the beams. Even the coordinator had to respect his opponent’s skill as the Daughtress landed in the V2’s path, its intent clear as it stood with a beam saber ready in hand. Too bad for him, Cameron thought as he nudged the V2 slightly to the Daughtress’ left at the last moment, the massive wings of light cutting the mobile suit in half as the Victory passed.

“Blast!”

Even as he dispatched the Daughtress he realized that the Gundam X was preparing to make the shot that Cameron doubted he could block. It was only when a rocket slammed into the Gundam’s side, sending it staggering, did he realize that his allies had arrived.

“We got this one Cam.”

Victor grinned as he fired his beam magnum in its standard mode, his smile faltering slightly as the Gundam recovered enough from Shizuru’s panzerfaust to boost into the air above the beams. The pilot was obviously good, but he was confident enough in his own abilities to take on the pilot. Though mecha-girl wasn’t his first pick for a wingman, she did survive Insalah, which had to mean something…

“Alright Tin Woman, leave this to me, I don’t want you getting hurt.”

Inside the Zwei, Shizuru ignored the jibe, spraying wildly with the 120mm machinegun. Most of the shots missed, but those that were on target were blocked by the X’s massive shield. She smiled as she dove in for what she felt was going to be the kill.

”Remember that defense is one-sided, and even the strongest armor has a chink.”

The wisdom of Altecha Chan ran through her mind as she used the X’s hiding behind its shield as an opportunity to get close, the mobile suit not able to attack as she continued to bombard it with missiles.

It was only when the shield suddenly split in half to reveal over a dozen barrels did she realize her error, a mass of beams spitting the Xeku Zwei in mid-air. Spinning wildly from the direct hits, Shizuru managed to avoid cratering her mobile suit, the Xeku pulling up just enough to hit the earth at a skid. Though it was a somewhat ignominious way to be disabled, it provided Victor with the opening he needed. Quickly switching out his mostly depleted e-pac for a fresh one, he unleashed a full powered shot from the Banshee’s magnum. Though the pilot was able to block with his own shield, the sheer power of the beam was more than enough to warp the X’s beam harmonica beyond use or recognition. Part of him worried about the pilot of the Xeku Zwei, but the Gundam X leveling its beam rifle at him forced him to focus on the fight. As Victor tried switching in a third e-pac, a beam struck the Unicorn’s shoulder, the impact causing him to drop the battery.

“Damnit!”

He cursed as he dodged a second shot, but was quickly struck by a third and fourth beam from the Gundam X, not able to reload to engage from afar, nor willing to try to close the distance between them to use a beam saber. It only left him one option, the Unicorn’s “Newtype Destroyer” mode. Part of him didn’t want to activate the system, the strain on his mind incredible, but it had to be done for the attack to be a success. As he prepared to engage the Laplace Program a voice suddenly burst over his radio.

“Reload, I’ll cover you!”

Cameron, in the V2, streaked in between the two mobile suits. The massive wings of light were deployed, the coordinator using them as a barrier to defend his ally while using his own beam shields to defend his cockpit. Though the wings of light and beam shields made for a formidable defense, they didn’t cover the entirety of the gundam, the X’s pilot picking off the Victory 2’s head with one shot, and his exposed gut with a second, the damage disabling the mobile suit entirely. As the Victory 2 fell to the ground, behind it the Unicorn was visible, it’s beam rifle pointed directly at the Gundam X.

“Adios amigo.”

Without a shield to defend itself with, and no opportunity to dodge, the Gundam X took the entirety of the beam magnum’s energy head on. Armor and circuitry burnt in the sustained blast, the X keeling over once the shot was finished. Victor gave a brief whoop before sending confirmation of the mission’s success to Operation Lilium’s head.

“We’ve disabled the gundam, you can proceed with the attack.”

Miraculously the voice that responded, a young woman’s, was untainted by static.

“Roger that, you three pull out, your mission is complete.”

“Amen to that sista.”

Not wanting to hang around incase any other mobile suits appeared, Victor quickly moved the Unicorn to pick up the headless and legless remains V2. With the V2 secured to the Banshee’s back, he moved over to the immobile Xeku Zwei.

Taking the beam magnum, Victor poked at the gray-blue mobile suit repeatedly. Tap tap. Tap tap tap. Tap tap. Poke. Nudge. Tap tap…

Shizuru, a small trickle of blood running from a cut above her eye, awoke from her unconsciousness. She knew instinctively what was happening as she came to, promising herself for the second time that she was going to end Masada’s life. Her metal finger tapped the COM on.

“Leave me alone, I’m fine. Did you get him?”

“Was there any doubt?”

Chan let the comment pass as she worked her controls to shakily pull the Zwei back to its feet. With the Xeku back to its feet, she turned to see the Unicorn Unit 2, and what was left of the V2 on its back.

“So what are our orders now?”

“Go home and partay!”

The pop of what was undoubtedly a bottle of bourbon being opened in Victor’s cockpit was audible.

“Alright, let’s go.”

—

With the nonexistent threat of the satellite cannon removed, Operation Lilium proceeded as expected. The Zelman and Alastas rolled in from the south. From the north there was the Donovan and Capolla, the Juchan approaching from the west.

The tide of the battle ebbed and flowed as each side vied for dominance. Blood was shed as the Federation pilots stuck to their tunnels and elevators, forcing the coordinator forces to come in after them. It was slow, and it wasn’t merciful, each inch of ground paid for with lives on both sides. In the end though, it was the Earth Liberation Army that won, the remaining Harare defenders unable to handle the sheer number of mobile suits and ships fielded by ZAFT. Even after a retreat was sounded, only the remaining two Gundams survived, the Leopard and Airmaster tearing through a squad of ZuOOTs and DINNs as they escaped toward Mogadishu.

Once it was obvious that there was no further resistance, the loudspeaker on the various ships proclaimed how ZAFT was coming to save those that were weak, to save the sick and infirm. It called for all to rally to them for food and medical supplies.

Nobody came.

—

Outcome: Harare is captured by ZAFT.
Xeku Zwei: 13 VP, 3 days damage.
Gundam Unicorn Unit 2: 13 VP, 3 days damage.
Victory 2 Gundam:  13 VP, 3 days damage.

Harare Losses: 4x Daughtress, 2x Daughtress Weapon, 5x Anti-Aircraft Laser, 18x Missile Launcher, 4x Beam Cannon.

Operation Lilium Losses: 4x ZuOOTs, 3x DINN, 10x GINN, 2x BuCUE, Moderate damage to the Zelman, Light damage to the Alastas, Light damage to the Cappola, Moderate damage to the Donovan, Light damage to the Juchan.