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It was only the heavy rumbling of the Medea's engines that hid the sound of Corporal Tobias Kendrick Obrien's impatient pacing. The EF Test pilot has finally departed the North American continent, cross the European continent, and about to enter Asia itself. The bulk of the Earth Federal Force's offensive went in this direction. It is to Obrien's relief that he is finally out of the maintenance hangar and heading back to where all of the action is. The problem is that it is such a LONG trip on the Iolar. Not far from the pacing pilot is Private 1st Class Cayden Maxwell Teague, napping while he can. He is still smarting from Tobi's childish "attack" on him back at the hangar. Nothing major, just another minor prank in their long history together. Cayden is sure Tobias will be preoccupied soon enough, once this thankfully uneventful trip is over. No one took notice as Tobias stopped pacing, looked at the cieling, then ran to the Medea's flight deck. Uneventful only to a certain point that is. With the miserable state of Odessa, Zeon's Earth forces have refocus some of their resouces towards Baikonur. The six Dopps of the Baikonour Air Defense Wing is one such measure and the fighter craft split up into three pairs before racing towards the Iolar. As one, they all launch a wave of missiles towards the Federal transport. The Medea's flight crew were at first astonished by Tobias appearing on the flight deck, but then the proximity alarm rang. Two of the Iolar's four engines exploded and the transport craft began to dive. Someone over the noise cried "Dopps!" As equipment began to toss and turn in the Medea's hold, Tobias crawls over to the doorway. A minute later, the Medea stabilizes some as the crew activated their VTOL thrusters. But the Iolar is still going down fast. Tobias can sense the Dopps coming back for the kill and fights his way into the cockpit of the GM S-type. As he powers up, Tobias sees Cayden securing himself in his own cockpit. The Dopps came in with 20mm fire and their squadron leader was surprised to see the Medea opening its rear doors. Suddenly a shape jumped out and open fire. One Dopp explodes but the others moved out of the way. The Baikonour Air Defense Wing watched on as the unmistakable shape of an MS went plummeting towards the ground with no parachute. Then another stream of 100mm fire tore through another Dopp. Cayden is holding on to the door of the falling Medea and shooting his machinegun at the Zeon fightercraft. As the fightercraft regrouped to finish off the Medea, more 100mm fire came from the ground. It was erratic but persistent. When another Dopps got hit, the squadron leader signals his group to disengage. Cayden watches the fightercraft move out of range as his burning plane tilts and did a "controlled crash landing" into the ground. Fifteen minutes later, he finds Tobias's GM S-type lying on its back in the dirt. Popping the hatch, Cayden shouts, "You idiot! Those engines are good but they aren't strong enough to keep you flying!" "Hey, at least they are strong enough for me to survive landing!" Tobias shouts back. "Well c'mon, that mechanic is going to be pissed again." On that note, Cayden's GM S-type grabs Tobiea's GM S-type by the right ankle and proceeds to drag it back to the heavily damaged Medea. Tobias Kendrick Obrien - 4 VP gained, 2 days damaged |