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The moon looms over the sparse clouds in the African sky. A big fat shadow slowly crosses the boundary from North Africa and into South Africa. The stifling humidity of the North Afican heat wave is soon replaced by the more moderate good weather of the southern half of the continent. Onboard the Fat Uncle-class transport, [i]BUbba[/i], Corporal Edward Knight lay awake in his bunk. He privately gave thanks for this oppertunity to strike at his country's enemies. Onboard is his Gouf mobile suit and his MS Team of two Zaku II Fs. He still remember the glory in the movies published by the Duchy of Zeon during the opening ground offensive. Knight hopes that Zeon will regain their momentum and bring a conclusion to this war with their victory. A good twenty miles to the southwest and a thousand feet above them, a Dish surviellance aircraft loiters. Unlike the more nimble Dopps and even the massive Gaws, the Fat Uncle transport easily appear on their monitors. An interception attack is soon coordinated. The Dish is part of the 14th Aquatic Search & Destroy Unit. While the Don Escargots are mainly ASW tools, their anti-air weapons would suffice against the Zeon transport planes. But the Don Escargots are slow, meant to wait and flush out submarines. The Federal forces need faster aircraft to slow down the transport. Luckily, the Fly Mantas of the 84th Fighter Wing are in range. Edward Knight was literally thrown out of his bed, struck the bottom of the bunk above him, and landed on the floor. His first thought was air turbulence but the bright flashes of tracer fire destroyed that idea. Shouting for his pilots to get to their Zakus, Knight pull over his pilot suit and ran to his Gouf. The [i]Bubba[/i] is in a middle of a wide turn towards north as its three AA guns fought to keep away the Federal aircraft. Sitting in his cockpit, Knight's mind is racing to figure out what he can do. He's a ground unit in the air. He is fighting planes. There has to be a way to fight back. The pilots in the mobile suits can feel the airframe groan due to the stress of the pressing battle. Knight needs to buy time for the [i]Bubba[/i] to cross into North Africa again. If the transport plane kept doing evasive manuevers, it will never get there... An idea came to him. A desperate idea but Knight rather die fighting for Zeon then sitting in a steel coffin. The wild attack and the darkness of the night caused more shaken nerves than actual damage. Despite outnumbering the aircraft, the Fly Mantas haven't brought the [i]Bubba[/i] crashing to the ground. One of their number actually got caught in the interlocking AA fire. But the inevitable is near as three Don Escarots got within range and began firing their 25mm AA guns. Pieces of the Fat Uncle-class transport broke away but the plane still flew. Suddenly the front doors blew open. Three Fly Mantas swoop in from the front to riddle the insides with 40mm rounds. What they encounter is a hail of 75mm and 120mm Zeon rounds. Crouching at the loading doors of the [i]Bubba[/i], Knight's MS team open fire at the Federal aircraft. The moon became obscured by the few clouds in the sky and very quickly only tracers can be seen. Two more Fly Mantas fell to the African soil. One of them collided into an unsuspecting Don Escargot and brought it down with it. The initative lost, the 84th Fighter Wing and 14th Aquatic S&D Unit broke off pursuit. The [i]Bubba[/i] is trailing black smoke anyway and with the weight of three mobile suits on it, the transport might not even make it home. But it did land where it would fight another day. Edward Knight, 5 VP gained, 3 days damage The Braw Bro was ill suited for long distance travel, but Felix made do as he tore into the steak that was his dinner on his way to rendezvous with the Vereschagin fleet. He grinned thinking back to the poker game that had left him flush enough to be able to eat steak well into the foreseeable future. Occupied as he was with his food, he didn't notice the blip on his radar until it was only a couple hundred kilometers away. The change from being Felix to Ravage was only perceptible by the change in posture as the young Newtype pulled his helmet from the air next to him, putting it on, before turning the Braw Bro toward the rapidly approaching enemy. It was only one feddie fighter- easy work for his mobile armor. In the Saberfish II Cherish looked forward to engaging the large mobile armor. Her teeth were fanglike in half light provided by the Saberfish's screens, Cherish still amused by Melendez's yelling at her over the radio as she left the Swordfish. The zeon weapon grew larger by the second as the Saberfish closed in, Melendez suddenly pulling the Saberfish to one side, juking out of the way of a gold mega particle beam. Cherish lined up the Braw Bro and mashed the red button on her centre stick, all twelve of the Saberfish's missiles firing at once. If there was noise in space, the Saberfish would have screamed past the front of the Braw Bro, avoiding another mega particle beam as she looped around for a second run at the mobile armor. Inside of the Braw Bro, Ravage seethed as he missed again, the missiles' impact throwing off his aim. It was like trying to hit a mosquito with a baseball bat as the larger Braw Bro followed the fighter's movements. Computer screens displayed the Braw Bro's status, red showing on his armor where the missiles had hit. There was damage, but it was insignificant against the mobile armor's bulk. One of the wire-guided mega particle cannons detached from the mobile armor, giving pursuit faster than the mobile armor itself could as Ravage followed Cherish's fighter with his mind. The ballet of the Saberfish avoiding the wire-guided weapon only lasted seconds as the fighter narrowly avoided a direct hit from a beam, the close proximity to the mega particles warping the Saberfish's wing. None of the words that came out of Cherish's mouth were befitting a woman, but they were par for her nature as she fought with the spinning Saberfish. The fighter span off course, still pursued by the beam cannon, the lack of control ironically saving it and its pilot as two more golden beams missed. Even in the heat of combat, and potentially moments from death, Cherish smiled as she enjoyed every moment of the engagement. The entirety of the Nasr fleet closed in on the engagement, Arcaile grimacing as he watched the modified Saberfish engage the mobile armor. Cherish Woods was an asset when she followed orders, but it was times like that, that any commander would want to space her. Melendez had asked him not to fire until her pilot was clear, but at the rate things were going he wouldn't have a chance. "Yuu, get me a line of communications with that Saberfish." His voice was level, but his bridge crew knew there was an undercurrent of anger, the young communications officer working to punch a signal through the m-particle interference. The only advantage the maverick pilot had offered him was that she was keeping the mobile armor from noticing the fleet for far longer than was expected. Yuu looked down at Nasr from his post. "Captain, I have a signal to her." Arcaile gave the order to prepare the fleet to fire at once before turning his attention to his communications officer. Send her this message, and don't wait for a response- Petty Officer, you have fifteen seconds to clear the battlefield before I fire, I will not be waiting for you just because you disobey orders. Yuu swallowed a bit before relaying the ultimatum, and then closing the connection as per Arcaile's order. He didn't repeat the quick blast of obscenities her heard as he closed the line, but he was visibly flushed by their nature. Cherish sprayed the Braw Bro ineffectually with her 40mm guns as she made one last pass on the mobile armor. The commander's message was loud and clear, and despite her rogue nature she didn't feel like dying to friendly fire. "Toodles big boy." With that she blasted the Saberfish II as far and fast from the Braw Bro as she could, the pink beams rending the space behind her as she left. It was Ravage who did the fighting, but Felix could feel the impending danger. The Braw Bro turned up, only two of the pink beams hitting the newtype weapon as it dodged. Ravage/Felix cursed as he saw the line of ships advancing toward him. How could he have let himself become so distracted as to let a whole fleet get the drop on him?! Even if it were fully repaired the Braw Bro didn't stand a chance, Felix reacting on newtype instinct alone as he mashed the emergency escape button, the Braw Bro's cockpit rocketing out of the mobile armor. Felix watched as dozens of pink beams obliterated the swiftly shrinking mobile armor. Without anything left to do, he turned the cockpit toward where he was supposed to meet the Vereschagin. Felix Mendalshon - 5 VP gained, 6 days damage Cherish Woods - 7 VP gained, 2 days damage Arcaile Nasr - 5 VP gained, no damage Danyan Jhouti - 5 VP gained, no damage David Renault - 5 VP gained, no damage Candice Ro - 5 VP gained, no damage |