~ Mobile Suit Gundam: One Year War - MK III ~

Main... If by Main you mean MAJOR EVENTS YO!

RPG

Main Rules Rogue Rules Joining Zeon Roster E.F. Roster Rogue Roster Zeon Shop E.F. Shop Rogue Shop Map Von Braun Bases Ships Fleets Battles Events Message Board

Prelude Sabine Rocos was in somewhat of a daze. Odessa was ablaze with preparations, everybody was doing something. Garma Zabi was even here to raise troop morale, and it was rumored that the Red Comet was here, and the Crimson Lightning would come tomorrow. Ramba Ral had died yesterday, Ma Qube was here, Kerane was here, Cima Garahau, all the top officers of the duchy were all in one spot. Sabine, however, didn't seem to have anything to do. Something was bothering her. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but it was definately something. She walked past a troop of soldiers in Panzer armor, hurriedly setting up trenches. A Magella attack tank rolled past her, and she didn't even notice. Eventually, she came up to Odessas officer fencing hall. For some strange reason, her soul urged her to stop, and she did. Turning and opening the door, she was suddenly snapped out of her gaze. She was fifteen feet away from Char Aznable. --- Anton Vereschagin and Johnny Ridden were in the planning room of the Penguin. Ever since they designed the somewhat botched assault on the Blockade fleets together, they had become instant pals. Currently, they were trying to figure out a way to save face. "We're going to land in the middle of the battle, you know that." said Ridden. He was looking at a report Anton had given him, and was a little worried about it. "That's what I'm counting on. Look, what better surprise could there be? They're going to need time to load the materials, and all the space possible." responded Anton. "I suppose... You really think we'll be able to land like this, though?" Anton grinned. "I've already ran simulations, man. And besides, it'll be freakin' COOL." "Heh. You're always out to make things spectacular, aren't you." Ridden grinned as well. The plan seemed set. --- The warden threw a party in the county jail. The prison band was there and they began to wail. The band was jumpin’ and the joint began to swing. You should’ve heard those knocked out jailbirds sing. Let’s rock, everybody, let’s rock. Everybody in the whole cell block Was dancin’ to the jailhouse rock. Aleksander Dolvich and the other three Federal prisoners at Odessa had all been moved to the same cell. What was even better, Cima had come to harass the Lieutenant again. He just had to. Spider murphy played the tenor saxophone, Little joe was blowin’ on the slide trombone. The drummer boy from illinois went crash, boom, bang, The whole rhythm section was the purple gang. Let’s rock, everybody, let’s rock. Everybody in the whole cell block Was dancin’ to the jailhouse rock. "Would you shut the FUCK UP!" yelled Cima. The cell guards couldn't stop laughing, they didn't like Garahau much either. Cima almost looked like she was having an ulcer she was so angry. But then, she was a very easy woman to piss off, Kerane probably would have sang along. Deitrof, Kocsol and Bergman didn't know whether or not to laugh, or be angry too. Number forty-seven said to number three: "you’re the cutest jailbird I ever did see. I sure would be deli- *BAM* The prisoner next to Dolvich fell down, a hole in his head from Cima's SIG P226. Dolvich's mood was instantly changed, and he rushed for the cell bars, trying to grab the bitch. He wasn't fast enough, however. "Why?! Just... Just... WHY?! YOU FUCKING BITCH! WHY?!?!" Yelled Aleksander. He was sick of her. She needed to die. "Paying attention to me now, are we, Lieutenant?" Cima grinned wickedly. "I would shoot you now, but Kerane isn't letting me. Apparently you're under his jurisdiction still, lucky you..." She trailed off, starting to walk away. "I hope we meet again before you die, Dolvich. I want to be the one to pull the trigger." Aleksander wanted to say something similar, but he was too angry. He'd get out of there. He'd get out and make her pay. For each and every life she'd taken. --- "And my full house beats your three of a kind once again!" grinned Eli Staedtler. He was on a roll. The crew of Ron Bentleys Admiral A-1 all threw their cards on the table. "Christ! How can this guy get so lucky!" muttered Rachel. "Must be whatever he's eating. Quick! How are my rations different from his!" demanded Ron to the man next to him. The guy just sort of looked at Bentley. "Hope my luck lasts me till tomorrow." said Eli. "Y'know what'd be really awesome'd be if I got to pilot that new officers unit. That GM Sniper II. You see it?" "Yeah, I saw it. My tank's better." grinned Bentley. "IS NOT!" "IS TOO!" "IS NOT!" "IS TOO!" --- Morganin Prelev wandered around in his suits hangar bay, in an almost unconscious rage. Everybody was dead. Everybody. He'd get them. He'd pay them back. He had to. "Icelina, Jaste, Laurana, Peter, Dmitri, all of them... Every last one..." He slammed a fist on the wall of the hangar bay. He didn't know how he'd do it, but he'd beat them. He'd beat the Federation. Not for the Zeon, not for Odessa, but for his friends. His comrades. He'd stop this assault for them. --- Garrith missed Tina. There was no way around it. He missed her, he missed his whole team. He looked outside his window, towards the advancing Federal forces. "I miss Tina..." ~ "I miss Lauren..." Garrith and Ryan both snapped out of it instantly. In two opposite ends of the battlefield, they were somehow looking into each other, almost like a mirror image. Neither knew it, of course, though Ryan had somewhat of an idea. "... Garrith... Frazier..." He shook the name of the man he'd never met aside, and walked away from his window. Being a newtype was all too weird. --- "How do the preparations look, Ryer" asked General Revil. They were aboard one of the three Big Tray classes, a few hours away from the base. "Good, sir. Helsing says he's ready, and I've already prepped Akio, Ron and Meleanis on what they need to do." answered Major General Ryer. The two were looking at a map of Odessa, trying to figure out their point of attack. "Excellent." --- "Have we gotten anything from Elran?" asked Ma Qube, pacing back and forth in his office. One of his aides answered instantly. "Not yet, sir. Are you really planning to use that?" she said, pointing to his Dobday. "The Antarctic Treaty doesn't mean a thing. Don't worry, I doubt we'll even need to." grinned Ma Qube, pinging a vase. --- She was fifteen feet away from Char Aznable. If the world was a movie, it would have panned into a closeup of their faces right then, and crazy fighting music would have started playing. Sabine instantly grabbed a rapier, that was conveniently within arms reach, and charged the Red Comet. "YOU?!?!" yelled Rocos, stabbing for Aznable. Char parried, going at her with a stab of his own. "I thought you were part of the Federation, dear Rocos." Char thrusted for Sabine's face, but she ducked and made a wide slash for his stomach. Char jumped back instinctively, using his newtype skills to land on a table in the exact spot to upturn it, blocking the next attack. Jumping over the table, he slashed at Sabine again, who jumped back instinctively as well. The two newtypes were both good opponents. "I thought you hated the Zeon, dear Casval." She stabbed for Chars helmet, but since he didn't really need the thing, he ducked, taking it off and using it as a shield to block her attack. Kicking her and knocking her over, he slashed with his rapier, which was blocked by her heel. ~Good. Think you can dodge the next one?~ ~Of course.~ The two grinned, and Sabine instantly went into a twirling kick, forcing Char to jump back. Using her momentum to stand up, she ran at her opponent, the two of them locking swords and looking at each other, murder in their eyes. ~You're as fierce a fighter as ever, Sabine.~ And then, all of a sudden, both of them dropped their swords, embraced each other, and started making out like their lives depended on it. "Dear god this guy was always a FANTASTIC kisser..." thought Sabine. Char pulled away. "Thanks." Sabine gave Char a look that could have frozen hell. He tried to kiss her again, and suddenly his lips were touching her gun. "... That's enough of that, now." --- *fifteen minutes later* --- "So you're really going to go through with it, huh?" asked Casval. The two had been deep in debate, sitting on the floor of the practice hall. Amazingly, nobody had come in. "Yeah... There's nothing else for me here. I'm not exactly sure why I did it in the first place. Are you still going through with it, mister 'Red Comet'" "I always was more patient than you..." Casval grinned. Sabine gave him another look. The two stiffened as the sound of a phone ringing came through the armor hall. Char frowned, pulling his cellular phone off his belt. He flipped it open, pulling the antenna up with his teeth. He held his pinky out, like a gentleman. “What?” he brusquely asked into the phone. “Char? Garma here,” Garma Zabi’s voice came into the phone. “You didn’t make it to my party!” “I really wanted to,” Char said, quite sincere. “I decided to practice fencing for a bit; I’m taking the Mad Anglers out before the Feddies have the waterways completely bottled in.” “Did Ma Kube ask you to do that?” Garma inquired. “Yeah.” “That guy’s a creep…” “I don’t think he’s planning on us winning the battle.” “Old Grizzly is leading the Feddies… don’t get too cocky yourself.” “I’m not too worried. Anyway, flip on a TV or something; I’m making a little announcement, and one of the PR boys grabbed a camera. Quick-like!” Garma exclaimed. Char nodded, standing up and ending the phone conversation. A monitor was built into the opposing wall; he walked up to it and flipped it on. Garma, in his dress uniform, appeared on screen. He was standing up on a table, and apparently had just put his own phone away. A general hubbub was brewing among the other Zeon officers and nobility who stood nearby. “Ah, you getting a good pickup from there?” Garma asked. “Fine, fine!” the PR man with the camera returned. “Allright,” Garma said, clearing his throat. “Ladies and gentlemen. Eight years and three months ago, the Zeon Duchy was formed from the pitiful Munzo Republic. On that day, following the ‘tragic’ death of Zeon Daikun, my father took the reins of the fledgling colony cluster and turned us into the force to be reckoned with today!” A sort of approving rabble went up. Back in the armor hall, Char’s face contorted. “Because we ditched the ridiculous idea that we could be free by ‘peaceful means’ as that pinko Daikun spouted off, the Earth Federation’s on the run!”  Garma continued, eventually posing a toast to his brother Gihren, whom he insisted was likely still making war plans inside A Bao A Qu. A few moments later, the broadcast was over. Char’s phone rang again. He snatched it, nearly cracking the LCD screen. “Well, what did you think?” Garma asked, still feeling quite energetic. “…it…was very nice… Garma,” Char said through gritted teeth.   “I still can’t write or deliver speeches as well as he can, but I think I’m getting there,” Garma added hopefully. “Anyway, good luck with the submarines.” “Same to you,” Char finished, signing off. No sooner had he pressed the END button than he hurled the phone against the hewn stone floor, shattering it into thousands of pieces. “That Zabi trator!!” he yelled. Sabine almost chuckled. "Aggressive, aren't we." Char didn't seem to be in the mood. He quickly calmed down, however. Walking across the room, he picked up a sword of his. A longsword, old and Russian. He handed it to Sabine. "Sabine, I have to leave in a couple of hours. Would you mind doing me a favor?" Sabine Rocos gave Char Aznable an entirely different look. "Anything." ~Outcome~ Sabine Rocos and Garrith Frazier +1 NT Kill Garma For the last two hours, Odessa had been pelted with shells. The young, dawn sky shown over Ukraine in a great number of yellows and oranges, making it look like another world. Clouds covered the sky, somewhat darkened with the dust and silt of all the shells. Federal air support had yet to be launched, but three Big Trays and two naval Battleships had been shelling the base constantly. A Dobday, 4 Howitzers and over eleven mobile suits returned the fire, but the Trays were spread out all over the perimeter of the compound, and were very difficult to hit. Shells plastered the dry, steppe terrain around the base, kicking dirt into the sky. There was very little vegetation, very little life, no birds, no beasts, the new sun beat down on what would be looked upon as the ideal warzone. Federal troops had surrounded Odessa, which instantly stood out as a giant black and grey blob of manufacturing equipment in the otherwise ancient terrain. Eli Staedtler and Maleanis Amyntor sat on top of the Walther Model, General Revils Tray. The Tray itself belonged to Eli, but Revil had "commadeered it" to lead the assault. Three other GM Ground Snipers sat with Eli, all with Long Range Beam Rifles hooked up to the Tray. Intelligence had reported that there were 2 Gaws and 2 Zanzibars here, as well as 2 Adzams, and an additional 3 Zanzibars would be descending from orbit. Four sniper units were not too many. Maleanis lead this squadron, and an additional five Type 61's and a Type 74 provided cover for the Walther Model. This was at the northwestern end of Odessa, probably the least guarded. Three Medea class transports, the Manfried, Deathtrap 01 and Studmuffin II sat here as well, two normal types and one C-88. GMPGTs, Type 61's and an Admiral were being loaded aboard, in preparation for a paradrop. Most of the Zeon forces were on the opposite side of the base, and it was unlikely there would be an attack from this angle. The terrain was too rough, it would be very difficult to fight here. At the southeastern end of the base, the Amiens, Colonal Ryer's personal Big Tray, sat, lobbing artillary rounds into the sky. This would be the main assault force, and it was here that the Federations demon assault force, the Admiral A-1's, were positioned. 12 Admiral Super Heavy Assault Tanks, spearheaded by recently promoted Master Sergeant Ron Bentley and his team, were lined up in preparation to attack the base. Backing up the 12 Admirals were a score of Type 61 Main Battle Tanks, and a Type 74 would be their comm unit. Another 74 sat by with the Agincourt, helping to coordinate everything.This is where the main highway going into the base was, and the terrain here was easiest. The plan was simple, the Admirals were to simply run over everything in their way. At the Northeastern part of the base stood the Agincourt, Major Hawkings Big Tray. This is where most of the African Assault Force was positioned, and here would be the MS assault on the base. A huge section of hills blocked the route here, and only mobile suits would be able to traverse it. 6 Ground Type GMs, including Joseph Raises unit, 7 base GM models, 2 of the enhanced Cold Climate models piloted by Lance Aurora and Ryan Long were here, led by Warrant Officer Akio Akamatsu's GM Sniper Custom. Another pair of Type 74's were positioned here, one with the attack force and one with the Tray. This force also carried a few fighters, 11 in all, mostly for anti-tank support. Inside the Black Sea was the Med. Fleet under Admiral Helsing. It had been shelling the base for the last day and a half, having just barely gotten there in time to miss the Mad Angler Attack Squadrons dissappearance. A full hundred fighters, including Lieutenant Amy Bauer Meister's Desert Eagle unit, were prepared to launch at any moment from the Nelson, Nasty Butler, Newton and Lila Litvak. Only about three score of these planes were dedicated fighter craft, there were over a dozen for anti-submarine warfare, a half dozen Tin Cods, and 40 to 50 mixed heavy bombers and fighter-bombers. The real fireworks would begin when they launched. Two battleships, Helsings Perry and the Ushakov, as well as the Destroyers Raphiel and Michelangelo were also part of this fleet. An additional 5 underwater MS had already been launched, preparing to protect the fleet from the enemy Gogg MSMs. The White Base, unfortunately, was too damaged to make it to the battle. The entire Federation side was worried, Ramba Ral had completely disabled the ship, and though the Matilda Supply fleet was repairing it, it very well might not make it to the battle. The Zeon were equally prepared for the battle. Having set mines and cut a layer of Trenches all around the base, they were more thanready for the assault. Ma Qube's Dobday, the Pennemunde, was busy exchanging shells with the Trays, Ma Qube at the helm. Some 50 Dopps, a half dozen Gunship Helis, the Azreal and the Seabastanius were there as well. Kerane was taking temporary command of the few remaning Black Knights, and it was said that Garma would be aboard the Seabastanius, though he hadn't made it yet. The Tirpitz and the Sigurd were both in drydock, ready for liftoff. Once the Federal sniper cover had been cleared, the Side 3 Resupply fleet would land, and be resupplied mid-battle. That was the general idea, anyway. The 5 Zanzibars would take off together, sending what would hopefully not be a final mix of supplies to Side 3. On the base itself was over a score of Magella Attack Tanks, and some twenty odd Mobile Suits, including the Karkals, Midnight Fenrirs and Cima Garahau's Zaku I team. These troops would provide a fresh reserve, in case the front line fell. Roy Greenwood and Cima were both very, very displeased about the entire thing, but orders were orders. Two platoons of SS shocktroopers in Panzer armor, equipped with 30mm anti-tank rifles surrounded the spaceport as a final line of defence. This group contained the bases six Xamels and five Zaku Cannons, which were already extremely busy. The bulk of Zeons forces were positioned in the Trench line, almost a score of Zakus and a half dozen Goufs of multiple different models. These were thinly spread out along the south and western edges, prepared to fight Admirals and MS alike with a variety of different weapons. Warrant Officer Morganin Prelev lead this group, positioned opposite the Admiral squadron. Garrith Frazier and his Zaku II J were positioned against the MS attack. Far to the front, beyond the trenches, stood the advance wave. Twelve mixed Goufs and Zakus on Dodai YS and Dodai II hovercraft, as well as five Doms and three Dom Funfs and three Gouf Flight Types, divided somewhat evenly along the attack line, prepared to engage the enemy MS while they were inside the minefield. This was the most trecharous area the Feds would have to cross, having to deal with mines, fire from the Trenches, and enemy MS, whereas the hovering suit battalion wouldn't have to worry. Against the Admirals was also the Zeeks trump card, a pair of Adzam mobile armors. In the water, most of the Zeon navy had already left with Char the day before. However, four Gogg units were prepared to launch an attack against the enemy Himalayas, once all the fighters were in the air and the Don Escargots could be dealed with. The waters of the Black Sea were indeed dark and treacherous, lapping against the Odessa docks. Finally, far, far overhead, the Side 3 Resupply fleet was preparing to land on the Odessa spaceport. Three Zanzibars, the Penguin, Bayern II and Graf Spee, headed by Major Johnny Ridden, all prepared to descend. The Helmholtz and Captain Pollo had also moved to assist, Frank Jager and Anton Vereschagin, and the rest of their team moving their suits into the Komusai capsules. They had something rather interesting planned. The only suit that didn't seem to be where it was supposed to was the GM Juggler. Sabine had been ordered to assist Morganin, her beam rifle was the only weapon the Zeeks had with a really good chance of piercing the Admiral A-1's heavy armor. However, the GM Juggler and her two Zaku II F escorts had yet to launch, they were in the hangar where Zeons prototype MS were handled. Aleksander Dolvich's black GM Sniper Custom was normally stored here, but it was gone. Cima had requisitioned it for herself. --- "You guys all set in there?" yelled Ron. He had to yell. Admirals were extremely loud, even when they weren't moving. He adjusted his new uniform and cradled his new 30mm anti-tank rifle, he had grabbed it off a dead SS Panzertrooper at Constantinople. "All set here!" yelled Rachel, the loudest of the bunch. Ron couldn't really hear the rest of his team, but encouraging hands patted his shoulders from all across the tank. They were going to kick some spacenoid ass. "Plans simple, guys! We're going in, we're ignoring their mines, we're running over their mobile suits, we're shooting at anything that's in front of us. Got it?" grinned Ron. He loved his tank. "Yes sir!" "Yep!" "Let's go!" "Ha, Taicho!" "Woo!" "I wanna kill something!" "Yeah!" "Lets get crackin'!" "Ready!" "All set!" "Roger!" "Si!" "Yessir!" "Ja Vohl!" "Allright!" "Lets get 'em! Full speed ahead!" grinned Bentley. He had quite a crew. --- "Target in the center, pull the switch... Target in the center, pull the switch... Target in the center, pull the switch..." "What the heck are you blabbering about, Staedtler?" grinned Maleanis. Eli was probably one of the top 5 soldiers in the entire battle, and he was having pre-fight jitters. "Oh, nothing, just preparing myself." grinned Eli. The four man sniper team was already in position. Maleanis took a shot with his ballistic rifle, missing another Zaku. "Damn, those trench buggers are hard to hit.. Oh well." --- Gonna kill 'em all... Every last tank... Fucking Federation... They killed Everybody... Prelev and his Zakus were all set up in the Trench. Prelev himself was armed to the teeth, as usual, prepared for the Admiral assault. Kill 'em all... Gonna kill 'em all... --- "We all set here?" yelled Akio over his comm. The entire attack force was buzzing with commands, even 5 Type 74 crews couldn't keep up with everything. "All set here, boss!" "All set!" responded his personal bodyguards. They'd been through hell, him and his GM Ground pilots. The both of them were amongst the more skilled of the troops there. A third ace GM Ground pilot was with them, as well. Some of the best pilots in the world were assembled here. "All set on this front too!" responded Joseph Raise in another GM Ground. The GM team had to do a lot of work to catch up with the Admirals. "I'm set here as well!" answered Lance Aurora in her GM Cold Climate Type. "All set here!" said Ryan Long. There were a good half dozen newtypes here, his mind was flaring with impulses. Other GM pilots gave off their checks before Akio told his plan. "We're gonna go in slow, main press is for the Admirals. Ground types first, basic types in the rear. We're gonna take a lot of fire on the way, I want us to have a Luna Titanium shield, so to speak. I'll be guarding the Type 74 in the rear, my best place is providing sniper cover. Everybody clear?" The team answered energetically. With the order to move out, the sixteen GMs started trudging forward towards the base. --- "AVENGERS! ASSEMBLE!" It didn't really have the same ring to it. These guys wouldn't sound off... "Well... SHIT. Look cool, you guys, c'mon." Garrith muttered. He hoped the Seventh Star would get here on time, and he was busy worrying. His resolve was almost shot, but he'd been psyching himself up the entire time. In an effort to be as completely badass as possible, he got a pair of 3-tube leg missile pods, ordered one of the Zakus off its Dodai, and hopped on with a pair of heat hawks. "COMBIIIIIIINE!!!! CHAAANGE ZAKU RIGAAAAAAAA! SWITCH ON!!!!!" --- "How's things on your end, Mack?" said Amy in her Tin Cod Custom. Usually armed with a mix of bombs and anti-aircraft missiles, the thing was only armed with a Tin Cods usual AA armament today, 8 missiles in all. She'd need all of them. "Macks good. Lets knock them fuckers outta the sky!" grinned Mack Taffany, prepping his Eagle for flight. "Eagle two, Kevin Donovan, all systems green." responded Kevin. "Eagle four, Blaine Kodos, all systems green." said Blaine immediately, mimicking Kevin. "Eagle five, Patricia Avalon, everything's ready." said Patricia. Normally she was piloting the Flatmouse, but they'd given her a Tin Cod for this mission. "Eagle six, Brendon Tokurr, all blue." said Brendon. "Blue?" Asked Blaine. Their gangster was being silly again. "Yea' blue, cracka. You got a problem?" grinned Brendon, everybody laughed. Suddenly, General Revil came up on the comm. "This is Revil. All air forces are to launch immediately. I repeat. Launch immediately." "You heard the boss! Eagle one, launching!" said Amy. She was the first Tin Cod to leave the deck, but over a hundred fighters would follow her. The four Himalaya class ships, normally able to launch 14 fighters at a time, would actually take about three or four minutes to get everything in the air. The Zeeks launched their fifty-some Dopps immediately afterwords. The planes started to coalesce around the port, and the battle began. Amy launched a pair of missiles, and two Dopps went down. The first two casualties of the day. "Yeah! Take that!" yelled Eagle one, dodging over a dozen missiles herself and flying straight into the cloud of green mecha. Each Eagle took out a Dopp and began tailing a second, and another thirty Tin Cods quickly followed. Pilots picked out pilots, dogfights ensued. Missiles were completely untargettable, there was so much M-particle interference it was surprising you couldn't see it. A hail of missiles from a Fly Manta wing took out four Dopps, but a Gunship Heli found the Mantas, cutting up the squadron. Mack flew by, taking out the Heli, only to be beset from the side by three Dopps. These Dopps were instantly cut down as over ten Tin Cods descended on them, which quickly broke up as a half dozen Dopps started taking them out. The bases AA cannons started firing, taking out a good number of fighters between them. Jet Core Boosters arrived shortly, firing 35mm cannon shells and vulcan rounds into the mix. The Dopps, however, were decidedly faster and more maneuverable than the enemy, and definately putting up a fight. Amy took out a third Dopp with a missile, but was suddenly trailed by two. Her Tin Cod Prototype, faster than a normal model, still couldn't keep up with a Dopp. "Shit... I need backup here!" she said, dodging two missiles, a third, a fourth, a fifth. Dopps also armed more missiles than she did. "Take this, assholes!" yelled Blaine in Eagle four, ripping the pair of them up as he flew by. Turning his plane upside down and getting within five feet of Amy's cockpit, he blew her a kiss. She laughed, and the two broke off. Depp Rogs, slowly moving towards the base, started unloading their bombs. Multiple turrets, a Zaku, and many buildings shook and were destroyed, while the Tin Cods and Fly Mantas tried to keep the Dopps off them. The Jet Core Boosters each unloaded their huge bomb, and then, becoming much faster, turned into fighter aircraft. The battle was intense. --- "We're entering the enemy minefield, Sergeant!" yelled one of Bentleys two drivers. He popped his hatch and stood outside his tank, watching the battle. "Tell the Type 61's to get behind the Admirals! We'll plow a path! I see mobile armors! Start shooting!" He yelled. Waving his hands, 36 155mm cannon turrets started blazing on the tanks, them not even slowing down as the entire patch of ground by them started going up in explosions. Unfortunately their range check on the Adzams was off, and neither were hit. Responding with a hail of MPCs and leaders, the two Adzams managed to hit three of the tanks. The heavy reactive armor was no help against beam attacks, and all three tanks exploded. "Unstoppable my ass..." grinned one Adzam pilot, a newtype from Granada. He swerved out of the way as he dodged an Admirals main gun, but the other was struck by a hit from Bentleys tank. The armor exploded, but out of the explosion flew three Dom Funfs and three Dodai II sporting Gouf Customs, ready to show that they learned their mistakes from Constantinople. A Custom went down as its Dodai was hit, the suit being disabled by a mine as it fell and quickly run over by another tank. The other two Customs jumped off their Dodais as they passed the line, the two planes ramming into their respective Admirals treads, rendering both immobile. The Goufs landed behind the lines, instantly reaking havoc on the Type 61's. The Dom Funfs seemed to have considerably less luck, their 360mm bazookas could only seem to slow down one of the super heavy tanks. Two went down to the rain of heavy bore shells and the third pulled off, going to join the reserve line. "We need to get those Goufs! Tell the column to slow down and pay attention to them!" yelled Bentley. As soon as they did a sixth Admiral went out of the fight, lost to another MPC round. "We can't, sir! That Adzam will tear us to shreds!" yelled Davis. As soon as he did, however, a huge beam came from the completely opposite direction, piercing the Adzam and causing it to explode. Eli Staedtler gave the Admiral group, only a puff of smoke from their, a thumbs up. "We'll cover you Ron, get a move on!" "Allright Eli! Full speed ahead! Go!" yelled Bentley. Another two beam shots streaked past him, each finding a Gouf amidst the 61's. The six remaining Admirals fanned out, Type 61's covering their flanks. The Adzams had done their job, but Bentley would make the forces in the Trench quite, quite dead. --- “Ryer’s group is pushing up from the South; the Federal heavy tanks are chewing through our Doms with little issue. Both Adzams have already fallen.” “The enemy fleet is continuing bombardment; we believe they are receiving targeting data from Federal Flatmouse aircraft. Our air corps will be unable to destroy them.” The Odessa Command Center bustled with activity as aides and communication officers ran about, sheets of tactical printouts in hand. Zeon top commanders gave orders to troops in the field as the liaisons pushed the tactical pieces across the huge map. The blue cylinders representing Federal army groups were constantly pushing closer as the red Zeon cylinders were pulled back, or sometimes removed entirely. “Where’s the Fifth Panzer Group?” Ma Kube demanded, hands splayed across the map; he was looking somewhat worried. “Still lagging behind; the hit on the fuel storage has set back their advance at least two hours,” a Zeon general reported. “And the Ninth?” Ma Kube asked. “They have come in contact with Ryer’s Army Group South and have been beaten into a full retreat; our fourth defense line in the south will fall shortly,” said another. He frowned. Even with Elran’s complete defection of the entire plan for Operation Odessa, the Federal forces were simply plowing through Zeon lines. “Get me a line to Cosmoport Control,” Ma Kube demanded. A phone was presented to him. “C.C., the Feds are breaking through. All heavy lifter units are to increase the on-loading of minerals and raw materials tenfold. I want all HLVs to be off the ground in ten hours maximum.” He received the response. “I don’t care if you’re being hit by bombers!! Get those HLVs airborne!!” He hung up, and was then presented with another phone. “Supply HQ, where is my fuel?!” Another response came. “Well, how much longer do we have to wait?!” “Our first line in the East has fallen,” someone announced. “You’re being hit by artillery? I don’t care! I want fuel and ammunition NOW!! No excuses!!” Ma Kube yelled, slamming the phone down. “Sir, the Black Trinity has arrived,” an ensign reported, saluting. Ma Kube brightened a bit. Three pilots, each of varying height, entered the command center. “General, your orders?” Gaia, the average-height leader of the ace squad asked. “The Trojan Horse is going to arrive any time now. I want you to bring down the enemy mobile suit and the Trojan Horse itself,” Ma Kube flatly stated. The three nodded. “Then it shall be done,” Ortega, the largest, said. Mash, the short one, remained silent. Ma Kube dismissed them. “Dozle’s bumbling idiot nearly finished them off; you three should have no trouble,” he added. --- Under the water, the Gogg team was launched. The four excrutiatingly fast suits zoomed into range of the GM Aquas and GM Diver, which instantly gave chase. A good 20 torpedos flew from either side, and 2 Goggs and the GM Diver all fell. A third Gogg was trailed by a pair of Aquas, hit in the back with an anti-ship torpedo and sunk. The fourth Gogg managed to get free, firing its MPCs and torpedos at the Raphael. "Sir! Raphael sinking!" said the Perry's Comm officer to Admiral Helsing. As soon as he said it, the Gogg jumped out of the water, landing right in front of the Perry's main guns. "Let's pay him back! FIRE!" yelled Helsing, making an extravagant hand gesture. 9 16" main guns blasted at the Gogg, completely, utterly and thoroughly making it quite very dead. The water battle won, the GM Aquas surfaced, starting to bombard the base with their missile launchers. --- Facing the Federal forces were Garriths group of nine Dodai armed Zakus and Goufs, and a few Doms to boot. A hail of beam fire greeted them, knocking four suits out of the sky, but the rest returned the favor, taking out a pair of GM Grounds. Their thick armor couldn't stand up to a Dodais missiles. Garrith was at the head of the squad, and he'd spent his last two minutes briefing his new ride on how to have Super Robot Spirit. "ZAKU MISSILE!" yelled Garrith, firing his leg pods with the Dodais launchers. Another GM Ground went down, and he ddetached his leg pods and jumped off, heading straight for Joseph Raise. "ZAKU CHANGE ATTAAAAAAAAAAAACK!" yelled Frazier. He was completely psyched for this. Jumping off his Dodai and landing on the ground, he slashed his heat hawk at Raise, who blocked with his shield. A second hawk went into the GMs leg, and Garrith jumped away as he avoided a beam rifle shot. A pair of Doms went down to Akio's beam rifle, sniping them from behind. Ryan Long took out a third suit, and the Federals were soon getting the upper hand. Joseph rammed Garrith, who landed on the ground next to a mine. Running forward and jumping into the air, Joseph hacked a Gouf in two with his beam saber, and turned quickly, ready to go after Garrith. "Take this! ZAKU TOMAHAWK!!" yelled Garrith, flinging one of his Heat Hawks at Raise. Amazingly, the thing hit the suits reactor, causing the GM Ground to explode in a violent explosion. The morning sky was almost turned dark as dust hit the sky, reactors were popping everywhere. Soon the sun would be blotted out by debris. "JOSEPH!" yelled Ryan, running towards Frazier. Garrith grabbed a fallen Zakus MMP-80, dodging Longs attack. The two suits faced off, and instantly realized who each other was. ~Ryan Long...~ ~Garrith Frazier...~ "You ok, Long?" answered Aurora after taking down another Dodai armed Zaku. His improved GM had a good jump on it. "... Yeah... You guys keep going, I'll take this guy." answered Ryan. The remaining GMs all boosted over a hill, leaving the two alone. --- Garma Zabi was packing up his belongings and preparing to leave for Baikonour. He'd already made his speech, and for him the battle was over. The 2 Gaws would launch at the same time as the five Zanzibars, providing too many targets for Federal snipers to shoot down. Everything was going according to plan. Sabine Rocos, at that very moment, was walking towards his office in a long, white hallway. Whistling a somewhat upbeat but positively sadistic tune, she carried a submachinegun in one hand and her sword in the other. All the guards had gone to defend this or that save one at the door, and he was quickly dispatched. Garma looked out the window at the advancing Admiral A-1 tanks. They probably wouldn't hold the base he thought, but at least the supplies would get out in time. He got his briefcase, exited his office, and was instantly face to face with a rather angry Rocos. "Shouldn't you be at your post?" Garma asked, raising an eyebrow. "Not really," Rocos flatly responded, whipping the longsword out of its sheath. It was flatly pressed against Garma's neck "..what..the hell...do you think you're doing...!?" Garma demanded, gloved hand firmly against the grip of his .45. "Casval says hello," Rocos muttered. Garma's eyes narrowed. His .45 was out of the holster at breakneck speed, but Rocos was still faster. She whipped the sword across his neck; Garma fired off a wild shot before he toppled over, already dead. “Zabi brat,” she flatly remarked, cleaning the hint of blood off the sword’s blade on his cloak. She sheathed the weapon, then headed down the hall, whistling the same tune. She rounded a corner and heard the familiar sound of metal armor clanking and boots hitting the floor. Three armored, trench coated Panzergrenadiers appeared around the other side, heavy anti-tank rifles shouldered. “…hi, guys…” she quickly remarked. The Panzergrenadiers paid her no heed, continuing their movement. Soon, they’d find out what she did; assassinating the Terrestrial Assault Force commander, and a member of the Zabi family, would be no laughing matter. "Better find some place to wait till this fight cools off... Or heats up, maybe..." She said. Ducking into an abandoned bunker, she noticed the cellblock as she did. "Heh. Might as well." --- Ryan charged Garrith, Garrith dodging just in the nick of time. The two were instant opponents for the oddest reason. Beam saber drawn, the GM CCT fired vulcans at the Zaku, which fired its MMP-80 back. Neither soldier could hit the other. "Who is this guy..." wondered Ryan, firing away. He jumped in the air and slashed for Garrith, who dodged. "Why do I feel like I know him... Why do I not want to fight him..."  He thought. Using the GMs additional speed and his better skills, he rushed the Zaku, Garrith blocking with the suits left arm, which was instantly cut away. "This feeling, what is it..." thought Garrith. Firing his MMP-80 at the advancing GM, Ryan blocked with his shield, and then rushed again, cutting the machinegun in two. Before he could take Garrith out with another swing, Frazier blocked with his own heat hawk. Garrith was a good pilot, but Ryan obviously had the better hand. ~Why are we fighting~ asked Ryan telepathically. He'd learned this trick recently, but could only speak this way to other newtypes. "Because we're enemies." answered Garrith. Using the Zakus superior strength, he knocked Ryan away and charged. Yelling out another Getter Robo war cry, he hacked a huge line across Garriths shield, who stabbed with his beam saber, striking the Zaku in the hip. Garrith boosted away, and Ryan responded with another hail of vulcan fire. Throwing his heat hawk at his opponent, Garrith picked up a fallen bazooka and aimed. Ryan hacked the hawk in two, unable to fall for the same attack that felled Raise. ~Why did you have to kill Joseph?!~ "What do you mean why?" "WHY?" yelled Ryan. He charged again, wanting to finish Garrith. The past month had made him a complete emotional wreck, he was losing faith in everything. However, before he got to the Zaku, the comm channels on both sides went ablaze. "ZanzikkkzzkkkVerechkkkzzzzzzzere!" "The Sikzzzzkkzkesupplzzzzkkkkkeet! Shokzkkzit down!" Ryans mind was instantly ablaze. Somethin was really, really wrong. He instantly turned around and blasted for the rest of the GM team. He knew they were going to need help. --- "Kkkzzk Atmospheric entry is confirmed. Present velocity, Mach 4. Angle stable, counting 28 seconds to manual stoppage of the coolant. Starting control of the Komusai." "Kkzzzk Heat shielding shows no abnormalities. Komusai 1, entering lower atmosphere." "Kkzzzzk Komusai 2, entering lower atmosphere. Lets teach these Earthnoids what brutal means." "Kzzzzkzzk Passed the atmosphere, present velocity Mach 0.9. Stopping the coolant, fuselage checked." "Kzkzzk HLV 1, entered atmosphere. May we have heavans blessing." "kzzzkzzk HLV 2 showing trajectory abnormality, fixing coordinates to point 2." "Ok... LETS GO!" "For the Zeon!" "For the Zeon!" "For the Zeon!" "For the Zeon!" Vereschagin always liked that phrase. Two Komusais, two HLVs specially refitted to lack rliftoff equipment and three Zanzibars all came into view over the base. Opening their launch doors, Dom after Dom after Dom started leaping out of the Bayern II, Graf Spee and Penguin. Johnny Riddens HMT Zaku was the last to leave, and as it did the HLVs and Komusai's burst open, Vereschagin, Frank Jager, and 8 assorted Zaku Kais, HMTs and even a Dom Funf falling to earth. A total of twenty one mobile suits descended on the base, aiming for their individual fall-points. The eleven Doms would attack the GM assault wing, and the ten Zakus would reinforce the Trench line. Two Doms went down instantly to sniper fire from Eli, Maleanis and the other supporters. The Graf Spee took a hit from another sniper, but wasn't destroyed. Eli's luck seemed to be running out. "Give those Earthnoids hell, Jager" grinned Vereschagin and he met up with Ridden. Landing sporadically around the trenches, the Zakus instantly jumped inside, grabbing weapons that were already awaiting them. Ridden, however, landed on top of one of the Admiral A-1's, and at the press of a button eight Cracker Grenades fell off his weapon racks. Leaping off the Admiral, all the Grenades exploded, shredding and completely immobilizing the tank. Somersaulting over a pillbox emplacement, Ridden landed inside the Trench next to Vereschagin and Morganin. "They've only got five tanks left, think we can win?" said Anton to the group. They had more than a score of Zakus and 3 Goufs in that section of the trench, and they were still worried. --- "Skirts! 12 o-clock!" Two GMs went up in flames as the Dom squadron landed. Taking out one of the skating MS with his beam rifle, Akio stayed back, giving his team support. Lance jumped onto one Dom, kicking its face off and bounding into another one, starting a saber duel. A GM Ground Type took a 360 bazooka shell to the shield, and then responded with its beam rifle, hitting the Dom in the reactor. In the resulting explosion, the rest of the Dom team broke off, redoubling their attack. Frank Jager cut through a pair of GMs with his heat saber, just barely dodging fire from Akio the entire time. By now only 3 GMs, 2 GM Grounds, Akio and Lance were left of the original division. There were still 6 Doms and a Dom Funf to deal with. Lance's GM CCT lost an arm and then a leg to his saber opponent, but before he could finish the GM off, Akio felled him with another round. His beam rifle was almost out of power. Another GM Ground fell to Franks rampant saber assault, but then two Doms exploded behind him. Ryan Long landed in the middle of the fray in his GM Cold Climate Type. Grabbing his beam saber, he charged Frank, cutting off both of his arms. The Dom Funf took out another GM, but it appeared like it would be too little, too late. "Shit... This guys good. Retreat for now!" yelled Jager. The remaining Dom and Dom Funf peeled off, Jager firing his scattering beam gun and then following. The remaining half dozen GMs were about to pursue, when General Revil came across the comm system. "This is Revil! All junior officers, issue an all-stop command to your forces. We will not engage them until the Zanzibars are in the air." Akio, Maleanis, Bentley and Amy were all surprised. Taking out another Dopp, Amy tried to think about how she'd get her troops back to the Himalaya. After she noted that that was her 11th. Just as she did, though, she noticed the enemy were returning to their own airstrips. Dopps had very low fuel capacities. Ron ordered a stop to his tanks, probably within firing distance of the Trench. The Zaku pilots in the trench system were damned glad, too. Bentley was pissed, he wanted to take out that base. New orders were issued to the Federal troops. Since the Ridden fleet has made such a show of force, and nearly decimated the GM attack group, they would wait till the Zanzibars lifted off, and then attack them with GM Snipers. Eli was about the only Federal happy about the new orders, however. The Zeeks were all ecstatic, it looked like Ridden and Anton would save the day. The shelling continued, however. Big Trays, battlehsips and Xamels poured out their main batteries, wrecking buildings all across the base. The only building tha was a no-fire zone was the bases War Factory, that had to be kept intact. Hour after hour, soldiers sat in their mobile suits, waiting for the attack order to be given again. Over by the spaceport, word of Garmas death had passed to everybody, and that plus the stocking of the Zanzibars had left the entire base in a frenzy. --- On a hillside not far from the Federal field headquarters, three self-propelled howitzers fired off their shells; the shots streaked towards the flaming Odessa base. The sheer heat of the gigantic barrage from dozens upon dozens of artillery units was causing unnatural visual effects. Some distance away, the Federal top brass looked over their tactical maps inside the Big Tray’s bridge. “Word from our Flatmouse reconnaissance units: increased activity is sighted at the Spaceport. The Zeon forces may be planning a full-scale withdrawal.” “There’s some rabble on general communications that some high-ranking personnel have been killed; whatever happened, it’s really stirring things up. Zeon radio chatter just tripled.” “White Base is proceeding behind schedule, hopefully they'll make it here before the Zanzibars can take off. ETA to evacuation, 12 hours.” “Admiral Helseth is reporting that his bombardment is increasing trajectory fifteen points to better target entrenched Zeon forces.” Revil nodded approvingly, giving his beard a healthy stroking. “The enemy has read our every move so far, but we have overcame them with superior firepower.” “Our long-range attacker units are preparing for possible strikes against Spaceport targets. Activity has increased heavily, but we are still not seeing any confirmed launches.” “We have recovered our air corps with roughly a 43% casualty rate; still well under acceptable limits.” “Very well, then,” Revil remarked, nodding. “Keep up the pressure; they’re bound to crack eventually at this rate.” --- “Go! Go! Go! Get it loaded and stowed, hurry!!” a trooper yelled, waving on truck after truck loaded with raw materials and other supplies as they drove into the HLVs. Every now and then an artillery shell from the Federal howitzers and naval vessels would strike nearby; Federal aircraft could also be seen at the top of the HLV launch bunker, whizzing overhead and sometimes dropping a bomb on the vicinity. The HLVs were heavily armored from above for just this purpose. Along with the raw materials, a small number of prototype mobile suits, as well as disassembled mobile armor components, were also jammed into certain HLVs. Every matter of everything important was getting packed away, and with great haste. Meanwhile, inside the Odessa Command Center, Ma Kube and his top leaders looked over the weakening situation. No matter of Elran’s leaked intelligence could seem to do them any good; the Feddies had already punched much further in than originally expected, and despite the fact that Revil had seemingly given an all-stop order to his land forces, the base was still in danger. “HLVs three, four, and five are fully loaded and awaiting launch commands.” “We’re still waiting on two, six, and eight to finish onloading.” “The Zanzibar-classes are also undergoing cargo transfer and refueling; estimated twelve hours until they can launch.” “Our defences have crumbled at the advance line at the hands of Federal autonomous units. There’s still a power vacuum near Sector Forty-One, suggest our land forces pull out from that point.” Ma Kube was looking more and more stressed as the time went on. Odessa was to be the death knell for the Federation; instead, it appeared that through nothing more than sheer brute firepower, they were going to carry the day. “Report from the Mad Angler squadron! They’ve cleared the Bosporus undetected; the Federal naval fleet was unsuccessful in picking them up.” “Depot No. 4 is reporting they are depleted; our mobile corps are suffering heavily from low fuel supplies.” --- "Now's the time..." Sabine thought. Everybody was busy and the sun had just set. Exiting her bunker, she immediately started running for the cellblock. Almost as fast, she was spotted by a division of assault troopers. "There she is! That's the woman that killed Garma Zabi!" they yelled, instantly openning fire with their AK-103's. Ducking into the cellblock, she returned fire with her submachinegun, an H&K MP5 9mm Parabellum. She cut off the guards head with her sword, and dashed over to the Federal holding cell, shooting off the lock. "Thought you'd never get here." grinned Dolvich. He kicked the door open and he and the other two prisoners grabbed their captors pistols, H&K USP's. He'd known Sabine was planning on defecting since just before his attack on Constantinople, and she'd been slipping him better food whenever she could. "I take my sweet time." Rocos replied. As soon as she did several loud pistol shells echoed across the hall. Dolvich turned around and saw Cima Garahau shooting at him. "I thought I might get a chance to kill you here after all..." grinned Cima. She and Dolvich shot at each other, Cima missing and Dolvich grazing Cima's cheek. The wound was minor, but it would leave a rather permanent scar. Another shot from Cima hit Sabine lightly in the arm, forcing her to drop hars sword. The four escapee's ran out of the cellblock where they came, Aleksander grabbing Sabines weapon. As soon as they exited though, they were confronted with about three dozen assault troopers, and even a handful of SS Panzergrenadiers. Sabine Rocos and Aleksander Dolvich looked at each other, and both grinned. Sabine tossed Alek the submachinegun, Alek tossed Sabine the sword, and they both charged. Two Zeon troopers were felled almost instantly to Chars blade, another three going down to submachinegun fire. Aleks two buddies each felled a pair of soldiers with their pistols, but were then taken out by machinegun fire from the Panzergrenadiers. Dolvich charged, emptying his clip into another three troopers and then going in the midst of them, forcing them to shoot at each other. Taking a hit in the shoulder, he grabbed one of the fallen troops rifle and ran behind the slow Panzergrenadier team, knocking two out by bashing their heads together. They fell, and he instantly was at one of their MG-3's. Sabine ran at another five opponents, hacking them to pieces with a grace almost completely reserved for anime characters. Cima and her goons came out of the cellblock, firing at Aleksander and indiscriminately hitting their own troops. "Take this, Garahau!" yelled Dolvich, opening fire with the Panzergrenadier machinegun. Over a dozen soldiers were instantly downed, but Cima, Deitrich and Koczel seemed to be just quick enough to duck back in the cellblock. Throwing a pair of grenades grabbed from fallen men, Sabine hacked off another head and then grabbed Alekzander, the two instantly running for the MS hangar. "Christ, where'd you learn to fight like that?" said Alek, looking at all the blood on the womans face and body. "Char Aznable taught me." replied Sabine. Aleksander didn't have time to wonder as the two skidded into the hangar, dodging bullets the entire time. Aleksei, Seville and Kristof were waiting, rifles already ready. "Get in your mecha, guys, we're leaving. Now. Panzergrenadiers and all that." said Rocos. Running past a Dodai II with the words "Born to Kill" on it, she started climbing in her GM. "Hey! What about me! The bitch has my GM!" yelled Aleksander behind her. He was hoping she had some sort of plan... "Uhh... Shit. Well, there's a lot of suits here, take one!" responded Sabine. She powered up the full armor GM Juggler, and stood on the now hovering Dodai II, piloted by Aleksei. Seville and Kristof were already in their Zakus. Aleksander looked around, instantly spotting a dark blue suit, sporting a pair of heat sabers and a wide array of missiles. Jumping into the things cockpit, he instantly felt somewhat strange, as if he wasn't alone. Shaking the feeling off, however, Dolvich powered up his mecha. "We're gonna have about 20 tanks and just as many suits to deal with out there, Dolvich. You ready?" said Sabine. "As long as I get to kill Garahau, I'll make it through the night." answered Aleksander. --- Meanwhile --- Miles to the southeast of the massive fortress, a number of Zaku II mobile suits waited inside a small emplacement.. Each Zaku sported the powerful 175mm Magella Top Cannon, bipod deployed against the dirt. Zeon troopers with anti-tank rifles, rocket launchers, and other matters of small arms took refuge in camouflaged positions. Scopes were adjusted and safeties were flicked off as the Zeon forces prepared for the arrival of enemy incursion. Suddenly, a Humvee bearing Zeon colors bore over the hill, screeching to a halt before the trench. A trooper popped out of the hatch, bearing a megaphone. “The White Devil is coming!! He’s going to kill us all! Run!!” the trooper yelled. He pulled back into the Humvee, which then tore around the trench-line. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, the left-most Zaku simply stood up, got out of the trench, and began running down the road towards Odessa. The rest of the troops panicked, doing likewise; minutes later, the defense line was completely deserted save for the sounds of retreating Zaku footsteps. Eventually, sure enough, the repaired White Base crested the hill, hovering about a hundred feet off the ground. Matilda’s repair crews had done their best; additionally, the ship had been provided with two new Guncannon units; the Guntank, it was decided, would not be rebuilt. The Gundam lead the way. “We’ve reached the defense line…” Amuro reported. “No sign of the enemy.” “Looks like they’ve high-tailed it out of here,” Kai, reporting from Guncannon 102, said. Hayato was piloting unit 103. “Bright, the enemy defensive position is completely abandoned,” Hayato remarked. “Well, I suppose that makes our job easier,” Bright radioed from the White Base. “Allright, let’s proceed to the rendezvous point. I hope Revil doesn't mind that we're behind schedule...” The trio of mobile suits and their carrier continued along unmolested. A while later, a scattering radio communiqué broke through. “… under… three enemy mobile… skirted-types with…” it said. “Frau, can you trace that radio transmission?” Bright asked. “It doesn’t sound good.” “I’ll try,” she returned, running over the controls. Eventually, she came across the proper frequency. “Unit Three is going down! Why hasn’t the White Base responded?!” Matilda Ajan’s voice came across, yelling to her Medea’s copilot. “We can’t get through! Zeon’s jamming our- no, wait! We’ve established a line!!” the copilot exclaimed. “White Base! This is Unit One! We’ve been attacked by Zeon Dom mobile suits! We need your assistance, now!” Bright paled. “We’re on our way! Mirai, full speed ahead!” he yelled. “Full speed ahead!” Mirai repeated, pulling the ship’s throttle backwards. A double bell rang, indicating the command had been received. The ship’s rocket engines, usually used only for space travel, fired up, accelerating the carrier to even greater speeds. --- “Feh! Gaia, they’re so weak!” Ortega exclaimed, watching one of the Medeas go down in flames. He ejected his Rateken Bazooka’s spent clip, slapping a new one in. Gaia’s Dom Funf skated out ahead, making an all-stop signal. “Allright, boys, that should have gotten their attention,” Gaia stated. “Mash, finish off that last one, then we’re going after the Trojan Horse.” Mash gave an affirmative grunt, boosting into the air. He rocketed past the Medea’s cockpit, ending his jump above it. The cockpit crew blanched. Mash fired an 880mm missile, blasting the Medea clean in half. His Funf hit the ground with an earthquake-like shock, reassuming full stature. “Commander, M-Particle readouts just spiked,” Ortega said. “There they are. Allright, men, hit ‘em hard!” Gaia ordered, pointing his Funf’s finger at the approaching carrier. The Dom Funfs’ thermonuclear jet engines let out a loud whistling noise as they powered up, kicking up dust all the way. --- “Bright, I’m picking up three mobile suits approaching at high speed!” Frau exclaimed. “Ground units!” “Alert Gundam and the Guncannons! Intercept course!” Bright shot back. “Setting course,” Mirai reported. The White Base began rotating to face the new threats. On the ground, Amuro, Kai, and Hayato spread out, beam rifles ready to go. The shrill whistling grew louder. At that instant, the grove to their left exploded as a Dom Funf, painted black and purple, screamed through it. Hayato’s Guncannon took a hit, blasting its right cannon and parts of its shoulder clean off. “Contact!!” Kai yelled. Both Amuro and Kai opened up with their vulcan guns; the Funf neatly dodged to the left, their barrage hopelessly missing. “Amateurs…” Ortega snickered. Gaia and Mash burst out from the opposite side, their heavy bazookas bared and ready. Another pair of missiles were fired off; these crashed into the back of Kai’s Guncannon, knocking it flat on its face. “Damn! Some power!” Kai exclaimed, trying to get up again. The Doms shot past him, their bodies moving like downhill skiers. “They’re fast!” Amuro noted, firing off his beam rifle. The Doms simply jerked to opposite sides, the shot harmlessly passing through. “Give it up, Feddie!” Gaia whooped, lining up a shot and letting loose. Amuro quickly raised his shield, catching the high-powered warhead. The missile blasted clean through the heavy guard; a jet of plasma fired through, hitting the Gundam’s torso. Amuro shouted something incomprehensible, trying to stabilize the Gundam’s backwards fall. He fired his thrusters, ending back on his feet some distance backward. Ortega’s Dom came to a rest nearby. “What, is that all?” he asked quizzically, snickering. “Damn it, hold still!” Kai barked, raising himself. Ortega looked at the grounded Guncannon like it was some kind of bug. “Shut it!” he yelled, delivering a swift kick to the Guncannon’s head. The mobile suit flipped over, now landing on its back. Ortega raised the Rateken Bazooka again, lining up a close-range shot. “I think I’ve had enough of you!” He was about to fire when a beam saber slashed through the Rateken Bazooka’s barrel; the muzzle clanked to the ground, steaming. Ortega frowned, looking over to the Gundam; one of its beam sabers was missing. “Oh, give it a rest, will ya?” “Get lost,” Mash muttered, delivering another bazooka shot. This time, Amuro saw it coming and jumped ahead, the missile passing under its frame. Mash raised an eyebrow. Ortega chucked his worthless bazooka. “That takes care of the other one,” Gaia mentioned. Amuro cocked a wild eye towards the third Dom’s position; the Funf pulled its heat saber out of Hayato’s Guncannon’s groin; gyroscope smashed, the Guncannon fell over. “Damn it all!” Hayato exclaimed. “YOU!” Amuro yelled, pointing at Gaia’s Funf. Gaia laughed. Suddenly, his Dom bowled over as two machineguns stitched across its back. “Commander!” both of the other Black Trinity pilots exclaimed. Matilda’s Medea soared by overhead, anti-aircraft turrets re-aligning to finish the job. “Matilda! What’re you doing?! Get out of here!” Amuro screamed. “Oh, you wish!” Ortega bellowed, firing his thrusters skyward. Matilda saw the Dom rapidly approaching from below. “It’s getting within range! Take us higher, hurry!” Matilda ordered. “Trying! The air frame is about to shatter!” the copilot returned, pulling back on the stick as hard as he could. The Dom’s tremendous frame roared in front of them, mere feet from the cockpit. Matilda and her copilot blanked. “NO!!” Amuro bellowed. Ortega smashed the Dom’s fists into the Medea’s cockpit, smashing it flat like an overripe fruit. A hail of glass and aluminum shot out from each side as the Medea abruptly began plummeting downward. Amuro, Kai, and Hayato were both frozen as the world seemed to hold still for a second. The shattered glass, the Dom’s fists, the falling Medea. Bright, Mirai, and Frau were horrified beyond reason. They were brought back to reality when the Medea hit the ground, its fuel supply blowing up. Ortega’s Dom gracefully landed, posing like an athlete. “You bastards!!!” Hayato yelled, rolling over and firing his beam rifle at Gaia’s Dom; the Funf’s shoulder armor flew off, landing on the ground nearby. “Go to hell!” Gaia yelled, raising his foot in preparation for stomping. Another beam cut across his mobile suit; this left a huge singe across the Dom’s chest. “That’s it! Ortega, Mash! We’re gonna hit that mobile suit with a Jetstream Attack!” “Right, boss!” Ortega said. Mash nodded. The three mobile suits spread out in a circular pattern around the Gundam, equidistant from each other. They spun around it like cannibals making some bizarre dance. Amuro’s eyes darted left, then right, then left again as he tried to keep track of the mobile suits. “Jetstream Attack!!” all three yelled. Their famed move, memorized by each like clockwork, flew into action. Ortega’s Dom whipped its heat saber out; the blade glowed bright orange. Mash readied his Rateken Bazooka with a special transuranic clip; Gaia drew his own heat saber, taking a different stance. “GO!” Mash fired his bazooka, Ortega charged in for the kill, and Gaia readied his saber for the finishing blow. Kai and Hayato gasped; it looked as if the Black Trinity was going to have him in pieces in a matter of seconds. Amuro, on the other hand, literally saw things differently. All he saw was white, save for the three Doms. They moved lazily, slowly, leaving after-effects of themselves behind them. At once, Amuro saw his opportunity. As Ortega hurled towards him, he grabbed his remaining beam saber in his left hand and jumped straight up. “It can fly?!” Ortega shouted. Mash’s Rateken Bazooka shot slammed into his Dom Funf’s face an instant later. The Dom went up in a huge fireball, heat saber spinning through the air like a baton. As he sailed through the air, the Gundam went completely upside down; he lined up a shot with the beam rifle and fired. Mash’s Dom Funf toppled over with a seared hole through its stomach. As Amuro came down, he flipped again, landing behind Gaia’s mobile suit. A massive beam saber cleave split the Funf open from the right shoulder all the way down to its skirt. Electricity played over the huge tear. “There’s…just…no way!” Gaia exclaimed. The Dom’s heat saber fell out of its limp hand; seconds later it fell forward, hitting the ground with a cacophonous THUD. Amuro stood up and replaced his beam saber. The Funf exploded in a massive blast, pinging bits and pieces of mobile suit off of the Gundam’s back. “I don’t believe it,” Bright said, slack-jawed. “He just knocked out the men who captured Revil… like they were amateurs… What strength…” The Gundam lay silhouetted with the flames from the Dom’s burning wreckage behind it. --- Back at the battle --- Eli was getting jittery. They'd been ordered not to fire on the Zanzibars until they were in the air and had booster rockets attached, that was the most vulnerable moment. He knew he could hit one, but he had the special job, as the best sniper in the group, of hitting two. Revil wanted him to down two Zanzibars with one shot. Maleanis was watching the base, trying to pick off troops with his ballistic rifle. So far, he'd only downed one Zaku Cannon and two Magellas. "You think they'll launch soon?" asked one Sniper pilot. The team was very, very nervous, it was like the entire battle was suddenly being fought by the four of them. "They've attached boosters. Probably gonna launch in the next five minutes..." said another. It was already pitch dark out, they'd been waiting for an awful long time. This wait however, was quickly abrupted. A Dom Funf Rateken bazooka round slammed into one Sniper, destroying it completely. "Shit! Scatter, guys! Ambush!" Fran grinned aboard his Dom. The Midnight Fenrirs and Karakal teams had snuck behind enemy lines in order to ambush the sniper team. Sick of the orders to stay back in the third defence line, Roy Greenwood had established a plan where the four of them would remove Federal sniper cover. "Get the GMPGTs and the Admiral out of those Medeas! We're going to need them!" yelled Maleanis. A shot from a Rateken bazooka destroyed the Studmuffin II, a pair of damaged GMPGTs exiting the flaming ruins. The Admiral was quickly out, it was one of Rons boys, and started firing. Eli swung his LRBR around, aiming and firing at a Karakal Zaku II D. The suit immediately melted apart, exploding shortly thereafter. Roy Greenwood jumped up on top of the Walther Model, cutting two other Snipers to shreds with his double-edged heat hawk. Staedtler grabbed his beam saber and faced off against the major while Maleanis went after Fran. Hitting the Doms leg, Fran fell over, slamming an 880mm bazooka round into the Admiral. The thing started bellowing smoke and started moving slowly, but responded with a hail of cannon fire, almost completely taking out Frans Dom. Before it could, however, Fran grabbed a pair of Panzer Fausts, both hitting and managing to destroy the tank. Maleanis then aimed for the other Fenrir, managing to hit it in the cockpit with his rifle, killing Sandra. "Lucky..." Staedtler made a lunge for Greenwood, Greenwood moving straight into it. He wasn't worried about his own personal safety, as long as he could take out this sniper. Cutting straight through Eli's suits right arm and head with his heat hawk, his Zaku was cut in half by Eli's saber. "SEIG ZEON!" Yelled the Major, hitting his ejection seat. The front armor on the Zaku shot off, and his seat was blasted into the sky. All four GM Ground Snipers had been taken out, the Zanzibars would lift off. Revil had seen the whole thing from the bridge of the Walther Model. He was instantly on the comm system. "We just lost all our sniper support! Zanzibars are launching in five minutes! Ryer, DO SOMETHING!" Staedtler kicked the door open to his ruined mobile suit, walking across the deck of the Big Tray. "Crud... Crud shit crud... What am I gonna do..." he said. He couldn't shoot down a single ship without a mobile suit. Then he looked to his left, and saw Maleanis's GM Sniper II. He was suddenly the happiest soldier on the battlefield. "Hay Amyntor! Can I borrow your ride?" --- Master Sergeant Ron Bentley heard Revil's message, and instantly went to action. If one thing the Feds had had the power to take out a Zanzibar, it was an Admiral.   “Full command to the other armored units!” Bentley shouted. “Don’t let them escape! After them!!” Rachel rammed the Admiral’s throttle forward, and the gigantic monstrosity lurched ahead, smoke blasting out of its huge exhaust funnel. The other Admiral tanks took the hint and lurched ahead as well. The base proper was not that far away; a single trench, laden with enemy mobile suits, was all that separated them. “Surge ahead and squash the enemy like the bugs they are!” Inside the huge trench line, the now quite-insane Morganin Prelev waited among other mobile suits. “Shit! Captain, Octo-Tanks approaching from dead center!” a private radioed. “Prepare your weapons and open fire on my command!” the squad leader, in a C-3 Gouf, ordered. “Target your enemies and fire at will!” Dozens of rifles, machineguns, grenade and rocket launchers, and virtually every other matter of weapon opened fire, sending a cacophonous roar down the trench. Bullet casing began to pile up in large numbers. Bentley, firmly seated in his commander’s chair, watched the Zeon mobile suits open fire through one of the periscope-like cameras. For the most part, their shells harmlessly bounced off the Admiral’s thick armor. A few rockets connected, obligating an explosion as the reactive armor panels exploded, blowing off the shaped charges. “All guns, open fire!” Bentley ordered. His Admiral corps returned fire with a resounding volley of their own; the tank directly behind his fired its flamethrower, scorching a pair of Zakus in the process. The tank vibrated from the impact of the enemy shots, but continued pushing ahead. The enemy mobile suits took refuge behind their trench, not wishing for another barrage to crush them entirely. The Admirals joined in, firing their flamethrowers indiscriminately. The Zeon mobile suits got up and let loose a second time; one of the A-1s took a severe hit and began badly smoking. Two more missile rounds struck an exposed joint in its armor, and the tank seemingly exploded from the sides like splattering water balloon. “They’re still coming!!” a Zaku pilot exclaimed. “We’ve gotta pull back, or we’ll be overwhelmed!!” The Zaku’s machinegun ran dry; it slapped a new one in place, only to receive a cannon round to the face a second later. The mobile suit toppled over, disabled. To Prelev, the sight of the tumbling Zaku reminded him far too much of the friends he’d lost so far. He stood up, taking a look at the rapidly approaching Federal tank column. He ducked down again before another burst of machinegun and cannon fire tore him apart, but he had seen what he wanted: a single Admiral A-1 sporting a command pennant on its radio antenna. That was the one he was looking for. “Maintain order in the ranks! Fight!” Bentley yelled. The Admiral rumbled as its main cannon fired, completely obliterating another enemy mobile suit. “This day will long be remembered as a tribute to our glory! The Admiral is invincible!” One of the tanks fired off his grenade launchers. The high-arcing explosives took out more enemy mobile suits. They fired back, blasting a huge rend in the right-most tank’s armor plating. The trench was barely more than ten tank lengths away. The Gouf next to Prelev stood up, preparing to fire a Giant Bazooka at the enemy. A cannon round caught it in the sternum, blasting it backwards and leaving it slumped against the opposite wall. Another Zaku, whose clip had ran dry, quickly grabbed the launcher, firing it off at an approaching tank. He was rewarded when a blast blew off one of the tank’s turrets, sending it flying into the air. The Admirals shot back, this time hitting another Zaku at the conduction cable juncture at its skirt. The Zaku went down, falling on a rack of Panzerfausts in the process. “Look out!!” someone yelled. Prelev looked up to see the sky suddenly disappear as an Admiral appeared overhead; its spinning tracks plinked dirt onto his mobile suit. The behemoth tank easily crossed the trench before its center of gravity had dragged it down. Across the trench, another began to cross. The Zaku with the bazooka prepped its last round, then jammed it against the Admiral’s underbelly. “YOU IDIOT!! STOP!!” the unit leader roared. The Zaku fired, causing the Admiral to blow up from below. A massive fireball shot through the trench, immolating most of the remaining mobile suits. The burnt-out Admiral’s hulk sank into the morass as well. “That’s…all…I’m…going…to…take!!” Prelev exclaimed. He grabbed his souvenieur GM shield in one hand, puncher in the other, and hurled himself over the trench line. The tank with the command pennant loomed before him. “That’s the commander! All guns, shoot him down!” Bentley ordered, pointing. The Admiral’s numerous machineguns and cannons opened fire, pinging off the stolen Federal shield. The flamethrower went as well, this charring the Zaku’s feet and leaving the shield blackened. Finally, a direct hit from the main cannon blasted the shield in twain, leaving the Zaku completely unprotected. Prelev screamed something incomprehensible and whaled the tank with his puncher shield. A huge armored bulkhead collapsed, causing an explosion to run out around the armor’s edges. It also knocked out several turrets, giving Prelev some degree of cover. Another firm punching left a second giant dent in the armor, this time causing bits and pieces of the stuff to go flying into the air. “DIE..YOU..FED..SCUMBAGS!!” Prelev howled, pummeling the tank. “That guy’s a madman!! Blow him up!” Bentley demanded. An operable machinegun opened fire at him, stitching holes across the Zaku’s back. One whizzed through the cockpit, missing Prelev himself. Finally, the puncher shield twisted and broke, falling off Prelev’s hand. Now, he jammed his shoulder against the side of the tank and boosted for all he was worth. Sure enough, the massive tank began being pushed sideways, machinegun fire tearing him up but unable to put him down. “Commander! We’re going to fall!” Dickerton yelled, pointing to a huge man-made crevasse close-by. The constant artillary and bomber barrage had done its work. “Give it all it’s got! Full power!!” Bentley yelled. The tank’s treads spun into overdrive, throwing up two huge rooster tails of dirt behind them. Another machinegun salvo further disfigured Prelev’s Zaku. The Admiral began hanging over the edge, starting to tip. Finally, Bentley realized the truth. “That’s it! Get out, now!” he ordered. “Commander?” a gunner asked. “Just go!!” he shouted. Prelev’s thruster pack exploded, causing the Zaku to flop forward onto the tank’s battered carcass. This pushed the tank off the edge, and it began sliding down the embankment. The escape hatches blew off and Bentley’s crew began jumping for their lives. Prelev himself struggled to try and keep his mobile suit from toppling over the Admiral’s other side, where it would surely be crushed. Bentley threw his hatch open, and grabbed the Panzergrenadier anti-tank rifle he had pilfered a week earlier. With no regard for his own safety, he fired twice at the Zaku. Something he hit did not agree with that; a huge fireball erupted through the Zaku’s torso even as the ridiculous force of the rifle’s kickback nearly knocked Bentley out of the tank. Finally, the Zaku’s mangled body was knocked over the Admiral’s frame; the tank hit the ruined mobile suit, flipping over on its side. As his crew watched in horror, the tank finally came to rest, upside down. The surviving men and women saluted the burning mass of armor. The Trench had been breached. --- All across the ruined Spaceport, HLVs began blasting off, leaving huge smoke trails behind them. The ground rumbled every time one of the massive lift vehicles went airborne, eventually enough that some of the battered surface structures began falling over. A single HLV bunker, however, housed something far less utilitarian… “That’s all! The Federal Forces are breaking through into the Cosmoport!” “Rear-line units are beginning to retreat from combat; additional enemy air units are beginning their attacks.” Ma Kube was aghast. However, he had one trump card left. “Give me a direct line to the Federal Forces radio frequency,” he demanded of a junior officer. The man saluted, bringing him back a phone shortly thereafter. He cleared his throat. “Gentlemen of the Earth Federation, this is Ma Kube, commander of this base. I have grown weary of your attempts to take our base, and as such, I am afraid I’ll have to take extreme measures. Within our base is a single nuclear missile, which we are quite prepared to use. Though I would hate to break the Antarctic Treaty, we really do wish to keep our hands on this ground. Cancel your attack or we launch. Your decision.” --- “They’ve got a nuke in there?!” Bright yelled, exasperated. “No way! They’ve got to be bluffing!” Mirai insisted. Outside, Amuro and Kai were equally shocked. “Bright, transmission from headquarters!” Frau announced, putting it up. “White Base, this is Revil speaking,” the Supreme Commander stated. “I assume you’ve just picked up that enemy communiqué. Air reconnaissance is showing they’ve got a live nuclear warhead prepping for launch as we speak. We’ve come too far to go back now; you’re the only unit that can intercept it in time. Stop that missile!” “I’m on it!” Amuro replied, making a salute. He wasn’t done giving the Zeon a thorough thrashing quite yet. Without another word, he fired the Gundam’s jets, taking off. A rousing “good luck” came up from the other crew. “Fuel systems checked! We’re good for launch!” an officer reported. “Main control, prepare for disengage. Disengage in thirty seconds!” another said. The huge nuclear missile began vibrating as its engines engaged. “Disengage! We are in the green!” the first returned. The missile rumbled out of the HLV bunker, taking off and slowly, lazily curving towards the Federal headquarters miles away. An alarm sounded inside the Big Tray. “Missile launch confirmed. The RX-78 is on an intercept course,” one of Revil’s men reported. Revil nodded. “This entire gambit is resting on him now,” he said. “Let’s hope he doesn’t mess up.”             “Amuro, the missile is an old Mark Twenty-Three,” Frau said over the radio. “Use the beam saber directly behind the warhead, that ought to do the trick!” “Allright! This is it!” Amuro exclaimed. The missile was easily visible now, and he was gaining on it quite quickly. He fell to the ground and made a jump once more; this would be his opportunity. One swing was all he would get. He took it and made a quick prayer. The beam saber slammed through the missile’s body, lopping the warhead clean off. The missile continued flying on, now relatively harmless, as the disabled warhead toppled to Earth. “Got it! Missile, deactivated!” Minutes later, the Big Tray shook violently as the warhead-less missile slammed into it. It was a somewhat comedic sight a little while later, but it served as a lasting reminder of exactly how close things had come to a Zeon triumph. --- Ma Kube had seen all of it. He was done. “All right, I think we’re done here,” he flatly remarked, taking the radio again. “Attention all Zeon forces! We are withdrawing from the base. I repeat, this is a general withdrawal. Take all appropriate procedures. That is all.” --- The Zanzibars were preparing for their liftoff. Final safety checks were made, and all five wre prepared. The Penguin, Graf Spee, Bayern II, Tirpitz and Sigurd. On the floor of the cosmoport, however, the Zeon troops were having one hell of a time. The Efreet Custom, piloted by Aleksander Dolvich, tore through a pair of Zaku Cannons, jumped on top of a Magella Attack Tank, and then fired its himing missiles right into a Xamel. Aleksander didn't know what made this suit so powerful. It was high-performance, yes, but there was something else about it. It was almost like it gave him a sixth sense. Sabine was making short work of the enemy herself as she moved for the Sigurd. Taking out a Cannon and another Zaku while shrugging off shots of all kinds thanks to her Full Armor module, and dodging a great deal as well thanks to her Dodai II, the GM Juggler seemed almost invincible. Seville and Kristof were another matter, having a great deal of trouble with a trio of Magella Attack Tanks. Luckily, however, the tanks couldn't seem to hit in the dark, and they were gaining the upper hand. "Christ, the things we do for that woman!" said Seville, downing one tank with his machinegun. Kristof took out another, the head popping off and blasting out one of his suits legs. Sabine and Aleksander rushed for the Zanzibars, ignoring the some 5 Xamels firing at them. They had to stop the Sigurd from launching, that was Sabines ship. The captain had even painted "Born to Kill" on the side. Sabine blasted through a Xamel, getting their first. Aleksander was stopped however, taking a hit to a beam rifle. Turning around, he was face to face with his own GM Sniper Custom, piloted by Cima Garahau. "Oh..." grinned Aleksander, taking out his second heat sword. "Let's end this." responded Cima, activating the suits two fixed beam sabers. ~Need any help?~ came a voice in his head. Alek knew it was from Sabine, though he wasn't quite sure how. "I'll take care of the bitch. You get that ship." answered Alek. Cima grinned, she almost liked being called 'the bitch'. The GM charged the Efreet, which fired 18 missiles at its opponent. Cima jumped in the air, evading the rounds, which tore up the dark cosmoport ground behind her. Landing next to the Efreet, she swung in a wide arc with both sabers, Alek barely jumping back in time. "You've gotten better..." He grinned, making another charge. Blocking both swords with her sabers, Cima responded. "I think you've gotten worse." The two jumped back again, Cima deactivating her sabers and pulling out a pair of beam pistols. Aleksander jumped into the air in the Efreet, dodging four beam shots and landing to one side of the Cosmoport. A fifth and sixth went straight for him as he landed, and it didn't look like he could dodge them in time. However, just before they hit, the Efreets mono-eye turned red, and it almost instinctively dodged out of the way of its own accord. "What?!" said Cima. Dolvich was wondering the same thing. The body of a strange girl appeared to him, fully unclothed, floating, almost transparent. ~Help me...~ Dolvich simply watched as his mobile suit took on a life of its own. Dashing towards Cima, who pulled out her beam rifle, the Efreet dodged everything coming at it with almost Newtype prowess. ~Help me...~ Cutting off the GMs right arm with a heat hawk, Cima cursed, tossing a smoke grenade on the ground before boosting away. Federal suits could always outjump Zeon suits. The Efreet didn't have much time to worry, however, as it was instantly engaged in a firefight. The defence lines had fallen, and by now a general retreat was being ordered. Zeon Zakus were engaging the remains of Akio Akamatsus GM squad on the cosmoport grounds, as the Zanzibars were taking off. Dolvich watched, it was like his suit had a life of its own. "What is this thing?" he wondered. ~... Destroy them...~ The Efreet charged into a trio of Zakus, hacking all three of them apart with its heat sabers. It then moved straight onwords to Akios team, taking out Chris's GM Ground Type. "CHRIS!" yelled Akio, activating his saber and charging the Efreet. Ryan grabbed his own saber, going to help. He felt something, strange, about that suit. ~... Destroy them all...~ --- The Penguin fired its thrusters, and started top take off. The Graf Spee and Bayern II quickly followed. The Tirpitz was soon to follow, but the Sigurd had yet to get off the ground. Sabinre was above it, trying to reason with the captain. "Listen, you guys. I'll be frank: I never had any intention of fighting this battle for Zeon. The Zabis fucked over me and my family and I still want my revenge. But like I said, if you stick with me, you might just live to a ripe old age and be able to tell your grandchildren war stories. So, you've got two options: You help me tear apart this base or I can kill you. It's your choice." Sabine had a way with words. The old, gruff captain issued the order, and the Sigurd stopped its thrusters. Sabine turned around in the GM Jugger quickly, however, she sensed something. Aleksander needed help. As soon as she did, a gigantic explosion went across the sky. The Bayern II exploded, struck right through the reactor by a shot from Eli Staedtler, in Maleanis Amyntors GM Sniper II, using the GM Ground Snipers Long Range Beam Rifle. --- "YEAH! This suit ROCKS! Can I keep it?" said Eli. Maleanis laughed. "Why not... I'm sure command will give me another one." "W00!" --- Anton, Ridden and Ma Qube watched aboard the Penguin. The Seabastanius and Azrael quickly left off for Baikonour, that would seem to be the last line of defence in Asia. A second shot from Staedtler hit the Seabastanius dead on, causing it to go up in another ball of flame. "Damnit... Looks like we lost..." said Ridden. "Hey, our plan worked, at least. And we did manage to get three Zanzibars into the air." responded Vereschagin. "Yeah... What the HELL is going on with the Sigurd?" asked Ma Qube. The Zanzibars went into orbit, whre they would meet up with the Helmholtz and Captain Pollo. This would probably the last supply mission for the Ridden fleet. Tatsuma would be happy. --- ~Destroy... Help... I can't... Stop...~ The Efreet Custom was facing off against Akios GM Sniper Custom and Ryans GM Cold Climate Type. Dolvich was just watching, the voice echoing in his head. ~I can't Stop...~ ~What did you say?~ ~I... Can't... Stop...~ The Efreet charged at Akios unit, hacking off both of its legs with a quick heat saber attack. Ryan parried with his beam saber, able to keep up with the almost telepathic speed the suit was operating at. ~Help... Me...~ ~Who are you?~ ~Alek!~ The Efreet was about to slash into Ryans GM when Sabine jumped onto the field, jetissoning her Full Armor module in defence of her comrade. Trying to push the two suits apart, she took a heat saber to the arm as Ryan Longs beam saber destroyed the Efreet Customs head. Suddenly, the suit stopped moving, and both Ryan and Sabine felt more normal... More being the operative word. Sabine and Aleksander exited their mobile suits, preparing to be arrested by Federal personell. Aleksander had just killed a Federal soldier, even if it wasn't by his own hands, and Sabine was a known traitor. They both knew very well that they would have to face court martials. However, the battle was won. Odessa was a smoking ruin, but the cosmoport and War Factory were both intact. They'd even captured a Zanzibar. The Big Trays rumbled towards the base proper, followed slowly by the White Base. Off in the distance, Garriths Gallop, the Seventh Star, was picking up Zeon survivors. The good soldier that he was, Revil ordered his troops not to attack it. They'd already won the day. The sun would rise in a few hours. --- Meanwhile, in the Pacific Ocean... --- "Herr Danzig, prepare to launch our assault on Honolulu base." Serafin Del Azul was preparing his assault at last. Little did he know what was in store for him. As the crew of the Le Petit Prince prepped their stations, the comm officer was suddenly given a coded message from SS command. Instantly, the officer passed it along to the bridge crew, who all nodded. Turning, they pointed their guns at their commander. "What is the meaning of this?" asked Serafin. He thought he'd trained them to know they'd be shot for treachery. "Serafin Del Azul. You are under arrest for harboring a known double-agent and traitor to the Zabi cause, assisting in the assassination of Garma Zabi, allowing the fall of Odessa, and giving intelligence to the enemy. You are to stand trial for treason at Vladivostok." --- End --- ~Outcome~ Federal forces take Odessa Joseph Raise - Promoted to Sergeant, dead, 6 days Lance Aurora - 20 VP gained, 4 days damage Ryan Long - 12 VP gained, 3 days damage, promoted to Corporal Ron Bentley - Promoted to 2nd Lieutenant, dead, 6 days Akio Akamatsu - Promoted to 2nd Lieutenant, 13 VP gained, 3 days damage Eli Staedtler - Promoted to Sergeant, upgraded to GM Sniper II, Sniper Specialization gained, 5 VP gained, no damage Maleanis Amyntor - 10 VP gained, requesting new mobile suit, 6 days Aleksander Dolvich - 20 VP gained, upgraded to Efreet Custom, in Federal Custody for intentionally killing a fellow soldier. Sabine Rocos - Changed sides to EFGF, rank changed to Corporal, 1 days damage, 15 VP gained, "double-edged sword" callsign gained, in Federal Custody for defecting to the Zeon Garrith Frazier - 15 VP gained, 4 days damage Morganin Prelev - Promoted to 2nd Lieutenant, dead, 6 days Anton Vereschagin - Promoted to Sublieutenant, 10 VP gained, no damage Frank Jager - 3 days damage, 15 VP gained Serafin Del Azul - 10 VP gained, in Zeon custody for assisting Sabine Rocos in her defection Reinhard Engel - 10 VP gained, no damage

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