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The fight with Synapse had been fierce, a heavy toll taken on the mobile suits from both sides. Anton had decided to press the attack rather than retreat, much like he had before. However, this time his numbers were greater, his soldiers were better, and he had come out on top. Aboard the bridge of the Falmel II, he and Stulinger looked at their cargo, damaged GMs and Columbus craft being ferried by Major Johnny Ridden and the resupply fleet back to Side 3 for disassembly. "Ahh... Even though they are mostly logistical craft, it is good to see a fleet this size, no, herr Vereschagin?" The SS mans grin matched the scars on his face, folding his gloved hands in front of them. All of their mobile suits had been damaged by Synapse, although none of them were unrepairable. Even Mendalshons Braw Bro, being towed by the Oka Nieba, was salvageable. "Yes, but that fleet that attacked our newtype is still in the area. We should be careful." Anton mused. He was not much of a man for being careful in general, but he had learned recently that there was a time and a place to strike. The loss of lives under his command had shown this. If you attacked too early, or against odds that were too great, no amount of heroism could save the day. Aboard the Admiral Hipper John Church sat, thinking of his wife, his child, he even thought of their new dog. He had only been away from his wife for about a month, but it had seemed much longer. He couldn't wait for the day he got to see her again. Carver and Howe sat in the mess hall playing cards, bonding as only Rick Dom pilots could bond. Howe had been mostly deployed for the ground war till now, but had adapted well to space, and it was becoming increasingly apparent amongst the crew that he was definitely a newtype. Ross wanted to meet Felix, a man who had actually been trained at the newtype labs at Granada. Mendalshon however had reportedly been injured in his escape from the Nasr fleet, and was on bed rest until further notice. Anton and Berthold were about to enjoy a glass of wine when the Crimson Lightning, major Johnny Ridden, started speaking to them over the intercom. "I don't mean to alarm you major, but scouts have reported an enemy fleet inbound. Six cruisers Portside, and another six Starboard." Where did that bastard Arcaile get so many ships. Bertholds eyes picked up. He'd gotten reports from agents in Side 7 about the size of their fleet. They didn't have that many. "Like I said major, this fleet is your jurisdiction. Tell us where you want us." Anton saluted Ridden. Although they were both the same rank and both MAF, Ridden was acting commander of the supply fleet. "Our units will take Starboard, yours Port." Ridden wasn't one to give out overly complicated battle strategy. He was a mobile suit pilot born and raised, and assumed others could handle themselves without direction. "Understood major. Do watch out for the one with a clown face painted on its cockpit. I hear the Jester is rather dangerous." Anton smiled. "Oh, that Federation newtype? I'll keep an eye out for him." Ridden smiled back. "Stupid stupid STUPID." Cherish yelled, slamming her fist against the door to the cellblock. She'd been under suspension on captain Melendez' orders, for losing her cool and 'punching a valuable test pilot.' It was clear the fleet commanders were starting to think of Danyan as something special, something a little more valuable than a simple Saberfish pilot. Cherish had never thought of herself as a pawn, but now she felt like one. She hadn't even been given clearance to act in the coming battle. The other pilots were already preparing for combat. "Hey, calm down in there. You're gonna hurt yourself." Came the voice from the MP guarding her cell. Cherish ignored it at first, but when her thoughts came back to her head, she realized. Was that a womans voice...? "The Seir and Asmodai will engage first, don't launch mobile suits till we see the fireworks." Arcaile said, his crew frantically working to keep the ships from hitting each other in such a tight formation and on such a dense M particle field. They were operating against heavy odds, and their only chance was to punch through quickly and take out the supply ships. If they could score a victory now they could cripple Zeons space forces. A defeat would mean... Well, Arcaile didn't want to think about that. He knew he was being aggressive, but he had to act now. "Are the Valley Forge and the Missouri going to rendezvous with the Seir and Asmodai in time?" Melendez asked, nervous. He wasn't going to back down on Arcaile, but he knew they were in a little over their heads. "Negative sir." Responded his sensor officer. Chan and his forces were still several hours out. If they waited for them, they'd miss the chance to strike, and let all that valuable hardware get away. Danyan, Candice and David clasped hands, ready for the battle ahead. They'd become excellent friends over the last month, and although Danyan was clearly the best pilot of the three, he was happy he could count on his two wingmen for support. Despite their drunken escapades and near sibling rivalry, they would protect each other through and through. Touching their flight helmets together, they broke and floated out of the Sleipners airlock, moving to their mobile weapons, still attached to the ships hull. "Arr! We be the pirates of the cockblock! Ready to gain us some booty, arrrrrr." Nolan laughed, fingering his eyepatch as he sat a steel toed boot on his first officers knee. "Would you please get off sir. You're needed on the mobile suit deck." "Right! Right, umm... Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Nolan laughed, kicking off the lieutenants knee and floating towards the door to the Pegasus class ships bridge. The lack of gravity caused the lieutenant to spin around in his chair several times and then float towards the ceiling, the rest of the crew breaking into laughter. "Enemy ships will be in weapons range in fifteen seconds sir. Six Salamis class vessels." The sensor officer aboard the Falmel II was barking orders at gunnery crews. A Gwazine class ships weaponry was devastating frontally, but on a broadside it had nearly as much firepower as two Magellan class battleships. "Primary weapons target ships one through three, secondary guns prepare to hit the stragglers." Anton ordered. His Rick Dom and Bertholds Zaku Kai were still on the maintenance deck, but there was plenty to do aboard the Falmels bridge. As the Salamis started coming into weapons range, a wave of missiles shot out from the Federation cruisers. "Fire the main batteries, AA gunners watch for those missiles." Vereschagin yelled, making a grandeoise sweep with his hand. The Gwazines three main guns fired, each scoring a direct hit. Two Salamis balloons popped like so much plastic, but the Seir was the third ship, taking a direct hit. It exploded instantly. The missile barrage from the real cruisers soared towards the Gwazine, but its heavy AA compliment went to work, shooting down each and every missile. "Excellent work, herr Vereschagin." Stulinger smiled. He knew they were balloons all along. "Main batteries change targets, fire at ships four through six. We'll take them out before the enter weapons range." Anton grinned. As soon as he finished his sentence a static beam of pink light shot out from the Asmodai, striking the Falmel's engines and slowly moving up the ship. "Sir, MPC fire inbound, we've lost decks fourteen, thirteen, twelve... It's tracking towards the bridge!" "What?! Shoot that Salamis down! Fire everything!" Anton yelled. A quick thinking gunner on the Gwazines secondary battery turned his turret towards the GM Snipers fire, shooting his MPC at the beam as it travelled up the Gwazines hull. The two mega particle streams collided, dispersing in a small cloud, and in the next moment the Gwazine fired again, destroying the Asmodai and popping the other two balloons. Neither Salamis ever got to fire its main battery. Arcaile didn't ask for a casualty count as he watched the Asmodai explode behind the fleet, knowing that he was committed. He ordered the mobile suits to launch, the fleet providing a missile cover. The Cockblock, Sleipner, Pliskin and Swordfish launched a huge barrage of missiles, fourteen mobile suits coming up close behind them. The Penguin, Himmler and Rommel had positioned themselves to block projectiles coming towards the convoy, and the Himmler took the brunt of the missiles, losing an engine and starting to stall a little. "Target that damaged Musai with the forward MPC battery. Cockblock, move in a flanking pattern, it's faster than the rest of their ships. Have the Charon pull back, I don't want to have it targeted. Once we break through fire at the convoy at will." Nasr yelled, holding tight onto his chair. They only had one chance. "Sir, three GMs just went down, it looks like enemy units coming out of the Penguin. Two Rick Doms and... That's too fast to be a Zaku..." The flight controllers mouth went wide, watching as the Zaku on her screen banked right, and then instantly shot left, a fourth GM exploding to a single bazooka round. "Get Danyan over there immediately. Tell the Ball pilots to cover us while we break through." Arcaile ordered, crewmembers quickly following orders as gunners prepared to target the crippled Himmler. Recieving the order from his command ship, Danyan breathed deep into his oversized helmet, the GM Jugglers bits detaching and the three of them moving quickly to intercept the Penguins MS. Candice and David moved to cover Danyan when they were ordered back, close to twenty Zakus moving from the now freed up Hipper and Falmel to engage the Nasr fleet. They would have their work cut out for them. Danyan moved the balls to far flanking positions, taking aim on the two Rick Doms even as he stopped his heavily armored MS. He'd take out the more dangerous units first, using the small size of his bits in their best capacity, a surprise attack. The three mobile suits came towards him, and he closed his eyes, not watching visuals but feeling out for the enemies location. After a few seconds he knew he had them, and took the shots. Four beams flew out of the two bits, one Rick Dom exploding as they pierced the cockpit. The other made a last moment dodge but still lost a leg, Danyans beam rifle taking him out a second later. Jhouti opened his eyes, looking for the third one, but he was gone. He looked for the pressure again, and jerked his mobile suit to the right just in time to have a 360mm shell hit him straight in the cockpit. "Ggh.. A red Zaku?" The Zaku II R2 spun around in a circle, the GM Jugglers heavy full armor plating stopping the shell and saving Danyan. He quickly tracked the enemy ace with his bits, both weapons firing out and Danyan completing with his beam rifle. Ridden ducked and weaved through all five beam shots, turning and taking one shot with his bazooka, then a second. The first destroyed one of the bits, the second bit dodging just in time. Taking an MMP-80 off his back weapons rack Ridden spun back around, firing the bazooka at Jhouti and the machinegun at his bit. Jhouti only had time to dodge with one weapon, and he shot the Juggler forward even as the 90mm shells tore through the second bit, causing it to explode. The two pilots chased each other for a few moments, Ridden leading Danyan in a complicated maze of loops and spins. Danyan wouldn't let go however, newtype senses and a more agile mobile suit allowing him to stay right on his enemies heels. He brought out his own machinegun, trying to tag Ridden as he went towards the Salamis class ships, a single round pegging his Zaku in the shoulder but causing insignificant damage. Ridden responded with his own machinegun, Danyan ignoring the rounds as they pinged harmlessly off the thick titanium armor plates covering his valuable GM. As Riddens clip went dry he flung the machinegun to his left, Danyans eyes following it for a split second. He knew it was a trick, but he also knew he could track his enemy without his eyes. He felt the enemy pilots pressure bank right, and he aimed his beam rifle to deliver the kill shot. As he was about to pull the trigger Danyan moved his head back just in time to see the panzer faust coming straight towards him from Riddens original position. The heavy missile slammed straight into the Juggler, tearing the extra armor plating away from Jhouti's cockpit. Danyan screamed and closed his eyes, his body rocking back in the chair. He opened them again and all he saw was a flash of red, the Zaku arcing past him as the heat hawk tore into his cockpit. Candice and David had their hands full, leading a half a dozen assorted GMs and GM Es against the brunt of Vereschagins MS force. Even though they were outnumbered more than three to one, they had the advantage, their GM Es much faster and more maneuverable and their pilots more experienced. Candice tagged her third Zaku around the same time as David got his third, the two groups pulling back a little as the GMs ran low on machinegun rounds. They'd lost two GM Es, but had destroyed nearly ten enemy Zakus. Reloading his machinegun, David was about to engage when a frantic order came from the Sleipner. "Our defense force is breached, repeat, defense force is breached. Get back here!" The Nasr fleet had never been given the time to punch through the enemy line. The Cockblock and the Pliskin together had destroyed the Himmler, and the fleet was just about to fire a volley of missiles into the supply lines when the Oka Nieba and Admiral Hipper moved in to cover them. Angry at seeing the Tivvay class ship again, Arcaile ordered everyone to fire on the red carrier ship and then pull off. The Tipper fired its MPCs, getting a glancing hit on the Swordfish even as the Charons Saberfish and the Sleipners missiles shot towards it. A huge number of projectiles hit, all but destroying the Admiral Hipper, but the finishing blow didn't come, the AA on the Oka Nieba and Falmel II repositioning to protect their sister ship. "Dammit. We need to get out of here. Load the anti beam warheads and order the retreat." Arcaile ordered. As he did so a huge explosion came to his left, the entire crew turning to look. The Pliskin, its reactor pierced by a single bazooka round, went up in brilliant fireworks, a single red Zaku coming out of the flames. "Shoot down that Zaku, get us out of here!" Arcaile yelled, but it was too little too late. The Crimson Lightning zigzagged between tracers and 180mm rounds from the balls, spinning around and boosting towards the underside of the Sleipner where AA was light. Ridden stowed his bazooka and came up underneath one of the Balls, grabbing it with his R2's hands and using it as cover as he moved up the side of the Sleipner. AA gunners found their mark but only killed one of their own, the ball exploding as Riddens Zaku landed on top of the bridge, grabbing the giant bazooka off of his Zakus back and pointing it straight at Arcaile Nasr. The entire bridge crew was killed instantly, the shell piercing the reactor moments later. The Sleipner buckled and heaved, bulkheads popping like a theatre snack as the ship exploded. Ridden looked at his magazine, only a single shell left. He bounced his Zaku off the exploding wreckage and turned towards the Swordfish just in time to meet a handful of 90mm shells, a GM E tagging him with what could only be a lucky shot. Riddens Zaku lost an arm and his bazooka exploded, Cherish trying hard to aim the stolen mobile suits machinegun. "STUPID STUPID STUPID!" The woman yelled, blasting towards Ridden and firing her vulcans. Ridden picked up his one remaining panzer faust, firing it at Cherish's GM as he boosted away, heading back to the safety of the Vereschagin fleet. Cherish let the panzer faust hit her, half the GM exploding and the other half going into a spin as it began to drift through space. She was picked up by Candice, who slowly carried her back to the Swordfish, David carrying the GM Juggler. Anton Vereschagin - 10/2 VP gained, no damage Berthold Stulinger - 11/2 VP gained, no damage John Church - 11/2 VP gained, no damage Darius Carver - 11/2 VP gained, no damage Ross Howe - 11/2 VP gained, no damage Felix Mendalshon - 11/2 VP gained, no damage Arcaile Nasr - 9 VP gained, dead 7 days Danyan Jhouti - 9 VP gained, seriously injured 7 days, Vendetta specialization gained Cherish Woods - 8/2 VP gained, Hammerhead callsign gained, upgrading to G Armor 7 days David Renault - 9 VP gained, 2 days damage Candice Ro - 9 VP gained, 2 days damage Blackguard Attacks Texas Colony They were surrounded on all sides by the angry ghosts of times now long past, the eerie shadows and occasional thud of small bits of debris had the young crew of the Blackguard on edge, even though it was a "ghost" ship itself. Side 5, also known as Loum, had bore witness to the worst of the One Week War. Dozle Zabi and his Zeon Attack Force had clashed with General Revil and his 1st Combine Fleet, and many of the participants in that battle never left. Rather than spoofing a transponder signal as the captain of the ship, Schutzstaffel Hauptscharfuhrer Leon Rieger, normally did when travelling, they broadcast no signal as they approached their destination. The sole survivor of the vicious and bloody Battle of Loum, Texas Colony had been claimed by a small Federal contingent as a repair and resupply station recently, a small but dedicated crew maintaining a meager facility inside of the derelict cylinder. The only interest the Zeon held in the colony was for the purpose of dropping it on Jaburo, which it was no longer capable of doing due to the extensive damage sustained during the battle. Instead, it simply existed within the debris, not fully dead but no longer alive either. After a long period of careful travel through the debris of the shoal zone, the Blackguard made it to the nearest point it could manage while remaining under cover of the debris. "Bring us to a halt here, Sturmmann Rodriguez," Leon Rieger spoke as he made a stopping motion with his hand. "Send a message to Wedfire and his men to get underway." The Blackguard's Communications and Sensor Officer, Grif Simmons, gave the go code to the waiting Marines. The small compliment, wearing normal suits with a small thruster pack at the waist, set off toward the colony, the actual infiltration simple enough with the state and size of the colony and base crew. Upon the ship, the remaining crew could only wait for the next stage of the operation to begin. Brevet Ratenfuhrer Sam Wedire, or as he preferred to be called, "Sarge", led his men along the interior of the colony toward the Federal facility. Within his head, he kept a silent count for the mission time. They had twenty-four hours to signal the Blackguard, but the faster this was done, the less resistance they'd face from the Federals. The small group arrived at a lit building, one of the only ones within the entire resort colony. Gesturing quickly and precisely, Sarge stepped back as one of the Zeon Marines moved foward and slapped some putty on the door near the latch, then shoved a small metal pin in. Stepping back and giving the thumbs up, Sam pressed the button on the detonator. A burst of light and smoke accompanied the small explosion, the door sliding open with the latch no longer holding it in place. The few Federal soldiers inside the Sensor building stood little chance as the young idealists stormed the room, and after checking to see if the adjacent rooms were clear, Sarge sent the signal to the awaiting Blackguard that the operation was "go". "We have the signal, sir." Grif stated as the code signal flashed across his display screen. Behind him, the entire bridge crew stiffened as they prepared for what was to be their first combat sortie. "Take us in, tell Reese to have her crews ready if there is any resistance." Rieger commanded from his chair. The Musai began foward, leaving the shadows of the shoals and moving toward Texas Colony. "Sir! Contacts, looks like some of their mobile pods!" Grif reported, a shudder running through the ship as a 180mm shell impacted the ship's hull. Reports of minor damage came over the intercomm system, nothing vital having been damaged. "Main guns target their AA. Our own will target those pods." Rieger spoke, keeping his gaze steady upon the colony. Burst of green light shot into the darkness, explosions appearing in space and on the colony surface. After a brief, but spirited intial defense, the Federal forces ran out of weapons to use against the incoming Musai. As the black ship slid into the now defenseless bases docking bay, what few soldiers remained surrendered. Texas Colony was now a Zeon possession. Leon Rieger: 10 VP gained, minor damage |