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It was tough for the Zaku II Js as they continue their trek through Central Asia. Nervousness grips the MS team but they have their duty. Bless them that they haven't run into any of the enormous Earth Federal fleets. They heard the news of Odessa preparing for the worst and of course they heard the news about Garma Zabi. But the EF they are fighting now is much different from the EF back when they invaded Earth. Suddenly they saw a large shadow in the clouds in the distance. One of the Zaku II Js stops walking and points. Soon the others did the same and the squad leader starts shouting orders. The air crew of the Weldea-class transport Memphis Belle are feeling pretty good. Around them are twelve Tin Cods flying in formation with them. The enemy should be preoccupied with the massive three Task Forces on the offensive. So this should be a pretty relaxing flight. Once they got to their destination however, it will be completely different story. They were adjusting flaps for turbulence when the first set of tracers went by them. Several of the rounds went through the hull, but thanks to the paper armor of the Weldea the bullets exploded after they exited the other end of the plane. As the pilots fought to bring the Weldea into an evasive manuever, the first pair of Tin Cods race ahead. They soon discover what was shooting at them. "Memphis Belle! Pull up another ten kay feet, repeat ten kay feet!" shouts the lead pilot," those are Zakus on the ground!" The squad leader of the Ural Mountains Patrol watch as the tracers from the 120mm Zaku machineguns fall short. He correctly guessed that the large transport plane is climbing to an altitude his squad can not reach. Fortunately, he has a backup plan. "Corporal! Get word to the Odessa Air Defense Line and give them our coordinates!" The frighten air crew manages to calm down as their plane settles at the higher altitude. The Zeon ground to air fire has stopped and there is no loss in aerodynamic performance. But they knew something is still wrong as eight of the Tin Cods split away and the remaining four start to yell at them. In the distance the high performance engines of six Dopps brought them clashing head first with the eight Tin Cods. Bursts of rapid vulcan fire and hastily fired missiles pierce the clouds. Two Dopps manage to get pass the defending patrol and manages to cut another series of holes into the side of the Memphis Belle before they are chased off by the other four Tin Cods. The Weldea's futile AA turrets barely kept up with the fighters. The battle continues on and soon the high fuel consumption Dopps had to break it off. They tried their best and some Tin Cods were downed, but the Memphis Belle flew on to her destination. As the Federal fleets arranged themselves to bombard Zeon's Odessa Base, two Medeas split from the Autonomous Federation Expeditionary Force and moved high above one of the patrol routes used by the outer defenses forces of the region. The Odessa Defense Line tank group, composed of six relatively untested Magella Attack tanks rolled nervously between the grounds seperating Odessa from the Federal Fleets. Even the commander did not feel comfortable parading around in plain view of such a vast collection of firepower, and cursed the fact that he couldn't get a cushy gig defending the base proper. "Alright! Let's do it!" Vina Sealander shouted high above, the bottom of the Medea Trick dropped open, releasing the Jet Core Booster, Gundam Mass Produced Ground Type, and Guntank contained within while the Ivory Port released the Vina Sealander in her Guncannon and the three Fly Mantas that made up the flight group nicknamed "Worst Holy Kings." Sealander managed get get the first shot in, firing with the beam rifle she had equipped for this mission and destroying the bottom of one of the tanks. The pilot did as he was trained and seperated the top, but the Jet Core Booster followed up Sealander's attack and blew the flying top to pieces with vulcan fire. The Gundam Ground Type fired with it's 100 mm machinegun, but the tanks were now attempting to flee, the three Fly Mantas strafing the fleeing tanks. The three mobile suits touched down, Sealander immediately loosing rounds from both shoulder mounted cannons, destroying the nearest tank completely. The Gundam managed to destroy another while the Guncannon rotated into a proper firing position. The combined fire from the four aircraft had disabled an additional two Magellas, leaving the lone fleeing Magella alone on the battlefield. "Think we should let 'em go?" Nick Rio questioned from inside of his Gundam, the head turned toward Sealander's Guncannon, which appeared similarly relaxed. "Nah.. Raven? Blast 'em." Vina replied. The Guntank gunner's only reply was a twin boom from the mobile artilery platforms howitzer cannons, the shells whistling through the air until the impacted on the lone tank, annihilating it. Vina Sealeander: 7 VP gained, no damage Over the hissing static of heavy minovski-particle interference; a plaintive sound echoes in the darkness. "gkhsskkshk is Salamis Eight-Four-Nine-Two to any ship in range: Have ssskghhgkksss Zeon weapon of unknown type, and have - Captain, nobody will hear us; the long range transmitsskgghhggkkkssss" "Keep trying," comes a second, weary and harassed voice. "Use the directional array!" "Captain," calls a third voice, faint in the background, "Decks two, three gkkkssshhttsss venting atmosphere; we have to seal kkssssgghghgggks" "Have encountered unknown enemy weapon system!" The first voice starts again, "It's power is unbelievable! It's fired" there's a long burst of static, "...substantial number of shots. kssggsksssssss of time before it finishes us-please, we need immediate reinforcement! kgsssgggsssskghtttssybody out there, please respond!" On the bridge of the Blackguard, Leon smirked. Whether his ruse was successful or not, all it would take was a single response. One arrogant, snarky, "You can't fool us, Zeon scum!"; or better yet, a genuine response to a cry for help, and his brilliant gunner, Asri, would feed targeting information straight to the Jormungand Cannon. The Federals-if they weren't running in comm. silence-would never know what hit them. Altecha Chan floated over to the Eastwoods comm unit, placing his ear close to the speaker so he could hear the distress call better. It sounded genuine. The IFF was genuine. Zeon didn't have access to those sorts of codes. Should they go help? They would be engaging the enemy fleet again in just a few minutes. Maybe they could spare the Swordfish... He looked at the rest of the bridge crew for advice, but none came. The last two days had taken a heavy toll on them. They needed a respite from this conflict badly, there wasn't a soul in the fleet who hadn't lost a dear friend in the last two days. Chan floated back to his chair solemnly, and was about to give the order to help, when Danyan Jhouti's voice came over the comm. "They're lying." "What? How do you know?" Chan asked, puzzled. "I just do. They're lying." Dani said. He was already seated in the GM Juggler, preparing for launch. "I think I'd trust Gimpy on this one, she's a genuine mind reader." David Renault's voice echoed around the Thoroughbreds bridge equally loud. Chan smirked, closed his eyes a moment, and then gave his orders. "You heard the man. Ignore it, we're going ahead with the operation. Broadcast minovski particles and prepare to launch mobile suits." Altecha ordered, his bridge crew quickly moving into action. Church tapped his fingers against his chair, nervous and concerned for the fate of his fleet. The Olympus Battlegroup, nay, the Vereschagin Fleet, was a shell of what it once had been. The two battles with Synapse, the skirmishes in this very same area where he now was being repaired. The battles with the Sleipner and the Valley Forge. Wyatt. Texas Colony. He'd been in this war for too long, and it was far too late to pull out now. He sank a little bit deeper into his chair next to Fuhsts, wondering about too many things. He hadn't seen his wife in over a month. How was his child? Their dog? What had happened to Anton? How was Operation Odessa going? How were the civilians aboard the Blackguard? What would he do with that civilian pilot Phillip? Did any of it really matter at the end of the day? Soon the Saudi Arabia would effect repairs on the Gwazine, and they would be able to leave for the relative safety of Texas Colony. The break from combat wouldn't last long enough. it would never last long enough until the war was over. As Church silently vented to himself, he didn't notice the gloved SS man walking up from behind his chair and peering over it. "Ahh... Good morning, captain Church. It is captain Church now, yes? I hear you're ranking up very quickly these days... Someone in high command must like you. It is best to stay on the good graces of high command, Ja?" Berthold leered over John, who was instantly awake. John didn't know yet how to properly deal with the man, he found Leon much more to his liking. Before their conversation could go any further however, the lights on the bridge of the Gwazine went to a dim red. "It's Task Force 35. They're attacking again. It looks like the Niebelungs ruse didn't work after all." Fuhst leapt out of his chair, yelling commands at the crew. "I want everybody aboard a mobile suit immediately. Point defense of the ships, everyone. Is the Gwazine mobile?" "Negative captain, we have maintenance personnel all over the ship. Neither the Zeus nor the Saudi Arabia can fire thrusters at the moment." John, in a daze, pushed himself into the air over the top of his seat, grabbing the back and propelling his body towards the door. "Alright, get ready to fire everything we have at them. Watch for that White Devil, Ross Howe is to engage it as soon as possible. Have Felix Mendalshon put in the Braw Bro and towed to Texas with the Jicco, I don't want to lose that mobile armor along with the Gwazine." Using nearly all of their fuel to fly towards the Zeus as fast as possible, the Thoroughbred, Swordfish and Tigers Claw launched a volley of anti beam missiles, the last in their storehouses. They had nearly ran out of 'special' warheads of many types over the last few battles, and their mobile suits were running low on 90mm magazines. This would be the last chance they got. ARE YOU READY DANI? \(^_^)/ "Yeah... Lets do this." Inside the Thoroughbred, Lucy and Danyan prepped for launch straight into the center of combat, Candice and David preparing from the Pegasus classes other hangar. Aboard the Swordfish, an angry and battered Cherish Woods strapped into an equally battered G-Armor. She liked the sound of Chans tactics this time, and was behaving to the best of her ability. They'd strike hard, strike fast, and break through the enemy completely. Everyone was watching the lightboard on the catapult hangar, waiting for it to go green, when Danyan for no began to scream incoherently, the newtype clutching his helmet and shaking it back and forth. "GET OUT OF THE WAY. GET OUT OF THE WAY NOW YOU'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!" "What.." Candice asked herself, concerned at the fear in her friends voice. "What's going on Gimpy, come back to Earth here." David asked, concerned but mocking him as he always would. Aboard the bridge of the Eastwood, Chan didn't hear Danyans cry, but he was able to see the Tigers Claw as it spontaniously combusted, the entire ship and all its GMs exploding in a spectacular display as a white ball of light shot through it. "Target neutralized captain. That was the last round. We won't be able to fire again until we refuel at Texas." Asri said cooly, looking over the displays of the Jormungand cannon as it floated next to the Blackguard. "Allright, lets hope Church can fight his way out of that mess. Send a coded signal to Conscon, tell him the Niebelung requests his assistance." Leon said, smirking as he used the name of his ships alter ego. Even though they were down a ship and 5 mobile suits already, Chan demanded they press the attack. With Lucy, Cherish and Danyan heading the charge, the group went through the rapidly thinning chaff haze, the Gwazine waiting to open up and fire. Because of its relatively immobile status, the faster Federation warships had engaged it from above, and the likelyhood of getting good shots off was low. There was no chance of the secondary cannons getting in range whatsoever. The Zeus's nine remaining Rick Doms and eight remaining Zakus launched, fanning out in a defensive formation to block the enemy fire. A hail of missiles from the two Federation ships were shot down by AA gunners and a number of Zaku machineguns, and pilots started to pick beads on enemy targets. "Ross, you handle the Gundam. Berthold, you go for the newtype. I'll try to get around their flank, we do outnumber them." John said, the three pilots shouldering their weapons and moving out in different directions without a word. They trained shots on the Federal MS, but were dumbfounded when the first wave of shots fired, Danyan, Cherish and Lucy sending out such a hail of beams that they took out five of the Zeonic mobile weapons almost instantly. "Oh lord... Fall back to the Zeus, use the AA for cover fire!" John yelled, but very few people heard him, the minovski particle interference already too thick. Lucy gunned down a third Zaku and then aimed for Ross, who barely managed to dodge the fire from the Phantoms beam machinegun. Is that pilot a newtype... Such a heavy pressure... Ross stared at the Zephyr Phantom and the GM Juggler, the two units flying close enough to each other to touch one another. He spun around quickly, dodging beam fire and moving his bazooka to his backpack. Taking out two panzer fausts, he aimed at the two Federal units, preparing to fire. Letting a blast from his scattering beam gun go off, Ross prepared for the next moment carefully. As he expected, both units dodged. Following their pressures, he fired off one panzer faust in each direction. However, to his surprise, one struck the GM Juggler dead on, destroying its outer full armor plating, but the shot to the Phantom missed entirely. What the... I couldn't... Does that thing even have a pilot?! Ross wondered, and it would be the last thought he would ever have. Beam rifle, beam machinegun, and ball bits came at him from all sides, piercing his already damaged Rick Dom in a dozen different places. The black and purple mobile suit exploded, and in the next moment Danyan stopped, dropping his mobile suits speed to a halt. "... Why... Why can I still feel him..." Dani asked, taking off his helmet and beginning to cry. Lucy moved in for defense, blocking a barrage of 120mm rounds that would have killed Danyan otherwise. WHAT'S WRONG? ARE YOU MALFUNCTIONING? Dani simply couldn't respond. As the mobile suits, as the people, died one by one, their souls briefly entered his, and he felt their pain, their grief, their sorrow. He couldn't respond. He couldn't take it anymore. He slowly went unconscious, the last thing he saw being that of a black Zaku Kai speeding straight for him. Berthold, heat hawk raised, was determined to kill the Federation newtype. Lucy was trying her best to stop the ranged fire from the Rick Doms and even the Zephyr Phantom couldn't be in two places at once. Luckily for Danyan however, it seemed that today he had more than one friend. Berthold came down on the GM Juggler but was stopped by David Renault, who shot a barrage of 90mm shells into Bertholds Zaku and grappled it right in front of Danyan. Stulinger grimaced, a shell having nicked the helmet of his mobile suit and broken it. He looked around for a moment and saw the Zeon units routing, help nowhere in sight. Quickly grabbing hold of the Federal GM E, he pulled the lever on his Zakus self destruct mechanism, taking his beloved pistol to his head at the same time. "Sieg Zeon." The Black Zaku Kai's reactor dropped its I field shielding, exploding in a huge ball of orange light and taking Renaults GM E with it. Mere seconds after Stulingers final act of patriotism, the Zeus began to explode, Cherish's G Armor, Melendez' Swordfish and Chans Thoroughbred filling it with more holes than it could cope with. The explosions made their way to the nearby Saudi Arabia, both ships going up in the time it took Melendez to stand up in his chair, saluting their bravery and vigilance. Now speeding away from the battlefield as fast as he could, Church looked for any survivors he could find. He managed to locate Philips Zaku I amongst debris that was rapidly flying away from the Federal wreck, noticing the Conscon fleet as it sped towards their rescue shortly after. Aboard the Eastwood, Chan's sensor operators saw the incoming Zeonic fleet, and he ordered the retreat. This was enough. They could rest a little now. They had own. Altecha Chan - 11 VP gained, promoted to Lieutenant Danyan Jhouti - 11 VP gained, promoted to Petty Officer 2nd Class, 2 days damage 6 days injured Lucy - 0+1 VP gained David Renault - 11/2 VP gained, promoted to Chief Petty Officer, dead 7 days Candice Ro - 11 VP gained, promoted to Chief Petty Officer, 4 days damage Cherish Woods - 10/2 VP gained, promoted to Officer Candidate, 2 days injured +1 days damage John Church - 8/2 VP gained, no additional damage Ross Howe - 8 VP gained, dead 7 days Berthold Stulinger - 8/2 VP gained, dead 7 days Leon Reiger - 9 VP gained, no damage |