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The Olympus Mons was filled with excitement, everyone eager to take one final crack at the fortress, and be out of this hellhole of a siege once and for all. Federation air superiority had been marginalized time and time again over the course of the week and a half long siege, through subterfuge, poor planning and an excellent defense of the air by Duchy forces. However, there was nothing to protect the base now, and all it would take is a single command from Revil to turn Odessa into a crater. The new captain of the Mons, Rear Admiral Alabaster Grans, was well liked by his men. Sitting aboard the bridge of the carrier, he watched as bomber after bomber was loaded with ordnance. Unfortunately for his men, Revil seemed to want to give the day to the troops on the ground. "After your men have neutralized the turrets, the mobile suit forces will move in. We want to take the base intact, so at that point I want your bombers to take a cover role. If possible, we'd like to capture enemy Dobdays, but destroy them if they're putting up more of a fight than we expect." Revil's voice in the comm was stern and straightforward. They had all been waiting a while for this day. "Understood General. Are you really alright with conducting the attack during our prisoner transfer?" Grans said, looking out at the milling of captive submariners on his deck. They had just gotten out of the brig, and it would take about an hour to count them and fill out the necessary paperwork before moving them via helicopter to the Drake. Revil would be taking Erwin and the crew of the 996 to Jaburo personally. On the deck, a ragged man in what appeared to have once been a Federation uniform, or possibly just fishing attire, was strolling across the deck, at home on the ship as it gently rocked back and forth. He pushed through the orange-clad prisoners, peering over the side of the deck to yell at the crew re-arming his mobile suit. "You be careful with that there mate! She's worth more to me than you are, best remember that." The deck hands refitting the Aqua GM looked up, but then almost slipped over the mobile suit as a wave crashed over its side, dunking it into the water for a brief moment. The leader of the Four Leaf Clovers chuckled, and then turned around, one Zeon prisoner looking at him with what could only be a mix of refreshing similarity and scornful disdain. Murchadh smiled, reaching out his hand. "Pity they have you here and not in the water, I was sore as bloody hell when I heard the 996 had been beaten' out here. I wouldn't have let you surrender if I'd been piloting then." Murchadh's smile did little to mask the hate in his voice, and although Erwin had never met the man, he returned the handshake. "A good morning to you too sir. Might I have the pleasure of your name?" Erwin was doing his best to be cordial. He had staved off a good bit of harassment from the Federation crew through being entirely cooperative about captivity, although he had made it very clear that he was still loyal to Zeon. "You might. You might not lad. All I'll say to the likes of you is this. When this war is done and over, if y'er still alive, then you owe me one hell of a fishing boat." Murchadh walked back out of the crowd, clearly on some business or other too important for Zeon prisoners. The group huddled together, whispering to themselves, wondering what would happen to them. Pushing her way to Erwin, Emma Creuzot got as close to his ear as she possibly could. "Sir... I can feel him." She said softly. A heavy wave batted the deck of the Mons, water spraying around the Zeon captives and yet again knocking the deckhands off of Murchadh's GM Aqua. "What do you mean Emma?" Erwin asked, looking at her with a puzzled expression. "I... I don't know, I just... He's coming." Creuzot whispered softly. "Hey Gentle! Bet you I'll get there before you do!" Vina coo'ed, looking at Allen's Guncannon. "But oh, I suppose you're not real used to piloting your own mobile suits are you." She let out another laugh, arcing her head back to see the battered and broken Blue Destiny lying by the side of the Halcyon, all but useless after the previous raid. "It would be best to keep your slimy tongue in your mouth little girl." Allen responded, his breath literally hissing hatred. He had been denied the prize of giving Garma's burnt corpse to Jamitov as a trophy, and now had to pilot a lesser, massed production model suit in the final attack. Looking on at Vina's black and white, winged Guncannon, he scowled. "Now now, don't be too harsh with each other." Daren said, his GM Sniper II walking up between the two. Fresh GM pilots brought up the rear, the mobile suit squadron of AFEF looking much more spectacular than it had since the initial attack. Although Ion and Hector were out of action for the day, there were now more than enough beam rifles to obliterate the remaining defenses. "Vina, I want you to cover Allens team as the Belle paradrops them behind enemy lines. I'll be taking the main group right up the front." Sanders said, testing the response time on his new unit. GM Sniper II's were impressive, and Daren remembered back to his time spent in Africa, and the prowess of the unit at the hands of Dino Fiddler. They had finally put the model out for limited production, and as one of the more important mobile suit officers in the ground war, Daren was given one of the first models. "Yessir! What's our ETA, mon capitan?" Vina responded lightly, eager to try out her new unit as well. Her three Fly Manta escorts hovered around the AFEF ships, the lot of them looking on to the base, small explosions rocking it as bombers made precision strikes on the few remaining turrets. There was little to no resistance at all, the remaining Zakus and Goufs hidden from view. "Looks like about five minutes now. I wonder how the rest of the fleet is doing." Daren said, the last part of his sentence trailing off, as he looked towards the North, and the remainder of the Federal battlegroup. Far to the north, White Base was moving westwards, repositioning itself for a concerted assault with Revils forces. Most of their teams had not been resupplied as well as AFEF, and they would have to go down to skin and bones to do a full strength assault on the wall. Odessas defenses were damaged, but they were still there, and there would still be fighting. However, Bright had just given out the final orders to the crew, who were more than a little dissatisfied. "Reserve?! We're the best pilots here, why are we in reserve!" Amuro whined, taking off his helmet and throwing it to the floor. Bright shook his head and sighed, Sayla and Frau Bo moving in. They knew they'd have to take Amuro out of the room soon, or he wouldn't be able to leave without a black eye. "For the last time. We're the most mobile unit in the entire fleet. There are more than enough good pilots on the ground to take the fortress, we need to be in reserve in case anything happens. Do you understand?" Bright said, annoyance in his voice. Just then, Revil's voice came in on everyones speakers, the bombers in the distance pulling off group by group. "This is the General. Before we begin todays assault, I would like to personally thank each and every one of you for your hard work in this operation. Today, we will finally see it succeed. Commence the attack. That is all." The bridge crew of White Base stopped their squabbling, moving to positions. Bright ignored Amuro's comment, something along the lines of what did Revil know anyway, Matilda would have put him in the front. Something like that. Ship by ship, tank by tank, suit by suit, the Earth Federation Army started their final push towards the fortress at Odessa. At Odessas underground command bunker, teams of panzergrenadiers moved sandbags and temporary barricades to the doors, Ektig giving orders to the bases remaining defenses, his anger increasing as the bases turrets were taken out one by one. There was next to nothing left on the fortress. Kerane had snuck out in the bases only Sealance just before dawn, leaving his Dobday to help stave off the inevitable. Command had worked out a plan to hopefully get the remaining mobile suits off of the fortress, but without a heavy distraction the Federations reserves would simply destroy anyone trying to retreat. As the bombs fell, the bunker shook lightly, but they would have to take this position on foot in order to destroy it properly. Ektig knew this well, and his marines would defend it to the last. As the reports from his attendants came in, Hans waited for the proper moment. Picking up what looked to be a very old phone, he closed his eyes, giving his report to the mobile suit forces. "Move out now. Yes. Yes, everything is ready. Charges have been placed. The Dobdays will begin to move back in about twenty seconds. Good luck. Odessa out." He put the phone down forcefully, his gloved hand moving to a pistol. This was the day Hans Ektig had trained for, the day he would prove his patriotism in the line of fire. "Alright, lets see how many we can take before they get here!" Taking their cue from command, a half a dozen Zakus kicked off camouflaged tarps just east of the perimeter wall, hiding in holes in the ground that had been made by earlier shelling of the fortress. Cima's Zaku I was the first to the wall, the rest of the pilots moving into position moments later. They let down a barrage of cover fire, several tanks and GMs exploding as the group pushed on, the Federation forces nearing the trench line. Out of a miraculously undamaged bunker, Boraguard and the artillery team skated out onto the asphalt, momentarily stopping to fire their howitzers and missiles into AFEFs lines. Daren was forced to stop the troops, the expertly aimed missiles exploding all around their forces. "Jabberwocky, you stay on target, we'll handle these." Amy yelled, Blaine and the Odessa Eagle breaking off from Xanders flight group to engage Boraguard. The Xamels skated backwards, firing vulcans and missiles into the air, while a group of JCBs turned around to fly in behind them. Heindsheft switched the thrust outputs of his machines engines, the Xamel flipping around in a 180 spin in less than a second. Another missile barrage hit the JCBs dead on, the lot of them exploding. "Don't turn your back on me!" Kodos yelled, flying past Boraguards Xamel and dropping a pair of bombs into its 'legs', disabling them with precision shots. As he was moving back to a safe altitude however a Zaku tagged him from deep within the airstrip. Blaines Desert Eagle spun out of control, exploding shortly thereafter. "Bastards!" Amy yelled, firing vulcans into Bora's Xamel and then doing a quick spin, coming around at the other pilot. The Xamel zigzagged left and right, but was unable to dodge the missiles that shot out of Amy's fighter, hitting it square in the cockpit. The artillery silenced, Daren ordered his troops forward, looking up at the sky, eyeing Vina as she guided the Belle to the drop point. Xander, Maria and Patricia kept moving, going north for the Dobday class battleship Odin, which was slowly moving backwards and dropping a heavy shelling onto the edge of the base. With no air support, the group was able to move on a perfect attack formation, dropping bombs and firing MPCs into the treaded battlehsip. The Odin was hit dead on, explosions tearing apart its outer hull before one breached the reactor, the Dobday going up in a conflagration as Xanders team moved past. "Ken really is missing the fireworks isn't he." O'Reilly smiled, the group doing a long turnaround before moving on to the next Dobday. "Why are you thinking about him? Missing your boyfriend?" Maria responded, snickering lightly. "Are you talking about the fighter pilot or the dog?" Patricia added. Back at the trench, Cima and the other Zaku pilots were proving very effective at keeping the enemy down, using cracker grenades to keep them from moving to the trench line. Type 61's and GM pilots took up defensive positions, hiding behind their heavy shields as if to wait for the Zakus to run out of ammo. Shiro, Sanders and Burning were a little less cautious, the three pilots boosting into the air, using machineguns to guard themselves as they dropped down in the middle of the enemy. Cima blocked Burnings beam saber with her own heat hawk, dropping a cracker amidst her own troops and then jumping back towards the base. "Garahau, enemy Medeas have breached the southern line, you're being flanked." Ektigs voice crackled through minovski interference, Cima turning to see Allen and another group of GMs moving quickly to cut off her escape. As Shiro and Sanders finished off her line, Cima made her escape, smiling a little at the sound of the grenade exploding, not discriminating between GM and Zaku. "Was just leaving anyway. How's the Resolution?" "Still in one piece, it's waiting for you." The crackling voice from the bunker responded. A screaming Shiro came hurtling towards Cima's Zaku I, machinegun and beam saber in hand, but Amada had ventured too far onto the base. Passing a mobile suit hangar, his GMPGT was met with bazooka fire, a pair of hidden Zakus behind the buildings and ready for an ambush. Cima turned around, laughing as the badly damaged Gundam skidded across the asphalt, and fired another burst of machinegun fire into the Federal units as they crossed the wall. At the southern front, Daren and his men were moving quickly forward when the GM next to him exploded, three Magella attack tanks firing into their position. They'd been disguised as disabled units amongst the wreckage of other Magellas, and had been entirely overlooked. Daren aimed his beam rifle and fired, hitting the first tank through the belly, but its turret popped off, firing a round that struck his GM Sniper II's shield dead on. The shield shattered in two, Darens mobile suit being knocked backwards. He stumbled, watching as another GM exploded while his men rallied themselves. Before Daren could mount a counterattack, all three tanks went up in smoke, Vina and her Fly Mantas zooming past at a low altitude. Behind them, another group of GMs spearheaded by Gentle and his Guncannon moved in to greet them. "Better be careful, this base is more alive than it looks." Allen said, eyeing the metal airfield ahead of them. Slowly but surely, the AFEF units met up with Revils men, Daren and lieutenant Burnings mobile suits shaking hands before they moved on. In the distance, the Icelina exploded, Depp Rogs bombing Garmas love into an early grave. Aboard the Olympus Mons, operators were trying to move fighter groups around in a coordinated fashion, the sky above Odessa looking like a hornets nest as groups of fighters darted to and fro. Grans looked at a map of the compound, trying to figure out what the enemy was doing. "This Dobday here, at the northern end. It wasn't moved there until this morning, and not till after we repositioned White Base. That's their escape route." A video link from the Drake showed a deeply interested Revil, whose response came quickly. "Agreed. We need to cut them off, if they get out of the base they'll be able to retreat to Baikonour easily, this is still their territory. I'll have White Base move in from the North, your fighters move in from the South." Revil said, Grans nodding in understanding. Before he could give the pursuit order however, a voice echoed from the back of the bridge. "Sir! I have something on long range sonar, it's... I'm not sure what it is sir!" "Can you be more descriptive ensign, that isn't much help." Revil and Grans waited, wondering what the new contact could be. "It's a submarine sir, I'm getting a Duchy IFF now but... It's huge. Biggest submarine I've ever seen in my life." The aide looked puzzled and scared. "It'll be in firing range in less than two minutes." "A counterattack?" Revil said, looking up. "Now would be the right time. Could be air support coming from Alexandria..." "We have enough fighters to handle them and still take out a Dobday. I'll have Sealander, O'Reilly and Bauer Meister attack the northern end, the rest of the air crew can cover your Medeas." Grans responded. Revil agreed, and the video link ended. Looking at his crew, the admiral gave his orders. "Move the Escargots into a defensive formation and send our Dish units out to investigate. Tell Dolvich to launch his MSMs, but don't call the Clovers back yet. I want to see what we're up against..." Almost at the mouth of the Black Sea, the Grey Ghost moved forward quickly, doing little to mask its sonar signature and travelling at a very high depth. They were trying to get everybodies attention. Not fitting its name at all, the Ghost was painted a deep, ocean blue, and was camouflaged against the natural landscape of the ocean very well. The Mad Angler class lumbered along, a trail of bubbles moving to the surface in its wake, crewmembers preparing for the battle ahead. The first mate, one Alister Macpherson, was just about to give his final attack orders when one Laurent Auclair, still dressed in his hospital gown, walked onto the bridge. "C-Captain. You're still supposed to be in bed." Allister asked, a look of shock on his face. Laurent was carrying his own IV in hand, and had dragged the wheeled pole it was on across the entire length of the ship. There was no nurse with him this time. "A captain is not supposed to be in bed at a time like this. Truly, I am fine. Now we have a war to win, what's the situation." Laurent braced himself against the railing at the back of the bridge, a little winded from the turmoil of making it to the front of such a gigantic ship. The Anglers bridge was long and expansive, a sharp contrast to the confined bridge of a Jukon II. There were huge computerized displays of the outlying battlefield, showing sonar, radar, laser imaging, even complicated visual systems. Laurent did not feel at home here, but even so he knew what he needed to accomplish, and he knew that this was the right ship for the job. "Captain, we're not quite at the combat zone yet, ETA in fourty seconds..." Desya responded, one of his hands firmly on his headphones. The crew was still not quite used to Laurent being the captain of their ship, but amongst the Zeon submarine forces he had turned into a bit of a legend of late, and they were all wondering what he would do. "What's all this in front of me. What am I looking at." Auclair responded, holding his shoulders high and spreading his legs a little, bracing himself against the railing. Russell Chapmann, the Ghosts weapons officer, was the one to answer. "Sir, we have two Himalaya class aircraft carriers, two Hillock class destroyers, one Jukon II class submarine, over a dozen Don Escargots, and some half a dozen Aquatic GMs in front of us, new model units sir. They've started to move into defensive formations, and there may be more bombers coming from the mainland. Laurent nodded, still not knowing what to make of all the displays they were staring at. He reached into his hospital gown, pulling out his captains hat. Lodging it squarely on his head, TAF Captain Laurent Auclair grinned the grin of the suicidal. "Alright, here we go." Above the Mad Angler, five Dish aircraft buzzed low over the water, taking readings of the enemy submarine and tracking its position. A new model ship, orders had been given to get as much data as possible on the sub before it was destroyed by what looked to be an overwhelming majority in firepower. Aleksander had moved the 996 and the Aqua GMs between the Ghost and the rest of the fleet, hoping to defeat it before it could cause any havoc. The Dish group was coming around for another pass when a missile shot out of the water, moving surprisingly quickly for a warhead fired at that depth. "Evasive maneuvers! Scatter!" One pilot yelled, the five circular planes quickly gaining altitude and moving in all directions. The warheads sides popped open, micro-missiles creating a cloud of destruction, firing dozen by dozen into the Federal fighters. All but one Dish was soundly destroyed, the survivor moving far into the sky where it could at least continue to coordinate the attack. Another half a dozen missiles shot out of the water, but these moved straight for Odessa proper. "A bombardment! Have our men intercept!" Grans yelled, orders being given to alert fighters at Odessas southern edge. A wing of Tin Cods moved in, firing vulcans at the missiles and destroying three. The remaining three slammed down onto the Odessa airstrip, the bases two Samson class supply trucks the intended targets. Both ships exploded, the Don Escargot and marine detail Vina had sent to capture them going up in flames. "They're destroying their own supplies?" Aleksander responded, his crew looking at him for orders. "All frontal tubes, fire at the enemy submarine, have our mobile suits move in behind for the killing blow." Anti ship torpedoes launched out of the U-996, moving on a collision course with their former captain. A quartet of Aqua GMs moved quickly through the waves behind them, laden with anti mobile suit and anti ship rounds of their own. "Captain, I'm reading four torpedo contacts, ten seconds to impact." Desya said, the warning music to Laurents ears. "Launch decoys in tubes one and two. XO, have your men ready to repel mobile suits." Laurent looked to Alister, who grinned and turned to Priscilla at comms. "Yes captain. Allum, you have your orders." Priscilla nodded, swivelling around in her chair and picking a phone up off her desk. "Aye aye. All units this is the Ghost. Prepare to repel mobile suits. Red team you have port, blue team you have starboard. Green team, I want you coming up point." "Mister Chapmann, I want you to prepare for a counterattack on my mark." Laurent said, looking at his weapons officer. He was feeling more and more at home by the second. The torpedoes from the 996 veered straight for their target, the Mad Angler class sub too huge to dodge even the simplest of attacks. Two spinning rounds were shot out of the Ghosts nose, moving straight between the four torpedoes, which locked onto the decoys horrendous sound signature. Spinning around in the water, the Federal warheads sought out the decoys, exploding harmlessly. The four Aqua GMs were ready, moving in front of the Grey Ghost and stopping horizontal, pointing their arms towards the Zeonic sub and firing their anti ship rounds. "Incoming warheads, point blank!" Desya yelled, looking back at Priscilla. "All teams, intercept now!" Allum responded. Hygoggs, Goggs and Acquys appeared out of the shadow underneath the behemoth submarine, firing nearly a solid wall of MPCs in a vertical line between the Grey Ghost and the Aqua GMs rounds. Every single torpedo was hit, the lot of them exploding just outside their termination point. "Mister Chapmann, if you please." Laurent smiled, watching the displays as they showed a half dozen rounds leave the Ghost and fire straight towards the 996. Auclair took a moment to think on the irony of blowing up his own sub, but he decided he would rather that than have it in the hands of another captain. "Helm, twenty degree downtrim, launch countermeasures and brace for impact!" Alek yelled, the crew responding quickly. The 996 managed to evade all of Laurents warheads, but its maneuvers pushed it away from the Federation Himalayas. "Tell Grans he's got incoming and move the ship around to flank them, lets not attack from the front when we don't have to." Alek ordered, the 996 turning its jerky evasive maneuvers into a battle strategy. "Admiral, I'm getting word from the 996, the enemy has launched MSMs and they look like they have some fight in them." The words reverberated on the bridge of the Olympus Mons, Grans nodding in displeasure. "Alright, call the Clovers back, have them deal with that bastard." Far ahead of the battlefield, the Four Leaf Clovers were floating aimlessly along the waves, shelling the fortress with their back mounted StS missile launchers. Donelly and his men got their orders, but as soon as they started returning to the fleet, a pair of contacts came in from behind them. "Acquys, no wonder we didn't see them before... Ah, Mons this is Clover one, we're a little tied up at the moment, but you save us a piece of that git and we'll be there 'fore ye know it." Murchadh hummed, swinging his GM around to intercept the enemy mobile suits. The 996's GM Aqua team was having a bit of trouble themselves. Laurents MS teams moved around to flank them, the Aquas using their superior speed to pull back towards friendly units. Launching grenades which exploded in blank ink, they were like a group of retreating squid, but they weren't quite quick enough. Torpedoes from enemy Hygoggs contacted one, and a group of Acquy's moved around their flank. The remaining three Aquas scattered in all directions, Goggs and Hygoggs tailing them. "Red three, I want you to move to position three niner four alpha three, you'll be backing up Red two. Blue team, see if you can't force them to the surface, we'll try hitting them with their own bombs." Priscilla was a much more active operator than Laurents last command, but he didn't mind. He wasn't used to guiding so many mobile suits at once anyway. "Captain, their snail teams will be on top of us any second, we need to dive." Desya said, straining his ears to keep track of everything at once. "Your orders sir?" Myung Ki Song, the Grey Ghosts helmsman, was a little greener than the rest, the young man scared at the prospect of fighting so many things at once. Laurent thought for a moment and then turned to Alister, speaking low. "How much punishment can this girl take?" Laurent asked, Alister shifting position to answer just as quietly. "A lot. A hell of a lot." Laurent grinned, looking back up at his bridge crew. "Mister Chapmann, I want buckshot in every single missile tube we have." On the deck of the Olympus Mons, Erwin and the rest of the U-996's old crew were chattering amongst themselves, their evac having been delayed by this new offensive. Emma clung to the first mate, watching as small explosions bubbled out of the ocean to the south. "It's him... I know it's him." Emma said, looking at Erwin with a smile. "Who? Who do you mean Creuzot?" Benevides responded, wondering what had gotten into the girl. "It's the captain." Emma answered. The two looked on towards the battlefield, watching as more than a dozen Don Escargots converged on one point and began dropping charges. The first bombs plopped into the water, it looking at this distance like rain on a lake, a beauty that disguised the destructive nature of what was going on in the ocean below. The next moment a large number of missiles shot up out of the water, firing micromissiles in every direction, destroying almost every single Don Escargot to a plane. "Holy... It is the captain! Only Laurent is stupid enough to be his own decoy!" Erwin yelled, taking off his hat in surprise. "Men! It's the captain! Laurents come to rescue us!" The Grey Ghost shuddered and cringed, bulkheads sparking and metal crunching together as depth charge after depth charge impacted the ship. Laurents hands gripped his IV and the railing, hoping that the wounds in his chest wouldn't take this opportune time to reopen. "Emergency dive! I want a damage report!" Laurent yelled, responses coming from all over the bridge. "Decks four and five are taking on water, we have substantial damage to the mobile armor hangar." "Captain, I've got torpedoes coming in from the enemy sub, they're moving on our left flank, ETA eight seconds." "Launch countermeasures, keep us going towards the Himalayas." Laurent responded, the bridge shaking as another torpedo slammed into the side of the ship. "Starboard observation tower has been destroyed sir, we're still in one piece." "Priscilla, get our suits between the Jukon and us, we can't take this kind of a beating forever." Alister yelled, Priscilla repeating the order to the Ghosts MS teams. Hygoggs broke off from the attack on the Aqua GMs, moving where they could use their MPCs to intercept fire from the U-996. Meanwhile, Admiral Grans was in shock at the loss of the Don Escargot team, as well as the inability of Dolvich to take care of the enemy ship. His crew awaiting orders, he got on the comm unit, asking for an open channel to Revil and the entire naval fleet. "Have the Stalactite and Stalagmite move South to engage the enemy from the far flank, somebody find where the hell the Clovers have gotten to. General, we're going to need some support." Moments later, Noah was on the phone with general Revil, the White Base slowly moving north to cut off the Resolutions escape route. "Understood sir, White Base out." He said, hanging up. "Mirai, change course for the Olympus Mons. Frau Bo, relay the following to the hangar deck. Sayla and Kai, Gunperry. Amuro, Core Booster. Hayato, Core Fighter. Everyone is to arm ASW weapons and prepare to engage unknown enemy submarine." "Aye sir." Mirai responded, giving the steering wheel that acted as White Base's helm a sharp turn. The Pegasus Class carrier swung around, moving straight across Odessa proper to engage the new threat in the Black Sea. Aboard the Silver Platter, crews were quickly trying to land their aircraft as best they could, scurrying to equip them with whatever anti submarine gear they had in stock. It was a mess, the pilots trying to go from ground bombing to ocean warfare on the fly. The bridge crew was coordinating the counterattack with Revil, trying to get as much off the ground as they could as fast as they could. It was in this confusion that a single Fat Uncle, using clouds and high altitude for cover, snuck up behind AFEFs two Big Trays. Peering out the front of the oversized helicopter, Jon Lin checked his machinegun, and then dropped into a freefall, a pair of Goufs moving in close behind. "Sir, I've got three enemy contacts, looks like a paradrop team. They're right on top of us!" The Halcyons sensor operator yelled, the three Guntank MPTs slowly turning around to look at the new targets. The Zeon units landed in the middle of them, the Goufs making short work of one Guntank while the other two backed away, firing machineguns into the group. Lin and his men guarded the assault with their shields, but even though the Guntanks pilots were veterans, they were not made to fight hand to hand. "Why didn't we see them? Where the hell are our spotters, this is a warzone!" The Halcyons commander yelled at his crew, moving over to the comm station. "Tell Revil we need an airgroup out here to shoot down that Fat Uncle. Don't let them get away!" Jet Core Boosters and Fly Mantas, previously en route to assault the Grey Ghost, veered south to take out the Fat Uncle. The Bubbas crewmen, satisfied with the results of their surprise attack, turned off course and moved into the clouds, Federal airgroups following. Lin and his men were still held down by the Guntanks surpression fire, but the tanks did not have substantial ammo capacities, and when they were spent they would be sitting ducks. With all their troops deployed on the base, there was little the Halcyon and Silver Platter could do. "Sir, I have more contacts, coming from the West. These are... I'm getting Federal IFF's sir. They're coming from New York!" "What?!" The Halcyons commander said, turning around and looking through the bridge glass towards the West. A GM Cold Climate Type and GM Sniper Custom leapt out of their Medea transport, Maurice drop kicking Lins Zaku Kai as he came down. In a few seconds both Goufs had been destroyed, Jons unit in a hasty retreat. Maurice's squad fired after him, Jacksons beam rifle destroying one of the Zakus arms, but the Zaku Kai was quickly away from the combat zone. "Leave him, it's just one Zaku. Lets see if we can help them on the base." Maurice said, looking on as the explosions still raged on Odessa proper. The half dozen surviving mobile suits were slowly but surely making their way to the Resolution, forcing the Federation to pay for every square meter of the base they took control of. As the GM line moved up, a group of SS operatives snuck out of a bunker, firing handheld RPGs at the mobile suits legs. The GMs feet exploded, the mobile suit collapsing into a useless heap just before one of its comrades fired its machinegun on the footsoldiers, splattering spacenoid blood over the cold ground. "This is slow going, at this rate they're going to get away." Burning said, looking at Sanders. The resistance had been much heavier than they'd expected, their new GM pilots not anything like the battle hardened Odessa survivors. They pushed forward, a single solitary bunker sitting between the surviving Zakus and the Resolution at the far end of the base. The Dobday was pulling out of the combat zone as fast as it could, on a direct route for Baikonour. "We need to push now, they're going to make a break for it." Gentle said, his Guncannon rushing forward. A number of GMs and tanks moved after him, the Zakus starting a hasty retreat just like Allen had promised. Letting off one last burst of suppression fire, the Zeonic models turned and broke into a straight run, and for the moment it looked like the faster Federation units would overtake them. The Zakus bounded over the remains of the war factory, one being shot down by a beam rifle even as it leapt. Allen ran forward, but skidded his Guncannon to a halt about fifty yards from the factory as a familiar voice crept into his head. "Now!" As the GM line charged forward, two red hot heat swords cut open the side of the War Factory, the Efreet Custom kicking an opening into the side of the building. It leapt between the Federation attack force and the enemy Zakus, Eric firing all of his missiles and grenades in one fantastic barrage. Tanks and mobile suits exploded, the survivors dropping into defensive positions and slamming their shields into the ground to protect themselves. It took them a few seconds to compose their line, and by then Kyrion was already gone, not wishing to risk a head on fight with the entire Odessa fleet. The Zeonic units ran, catching up to the Resolution and grabbing onto its side, being carried away from Odessa on steady lumbering treads. However, two of the remaining units were hit from the sky, Vina Sealander, Amy Bauer-Meister and Xander O'Reilly moving in from the flank to cut off their escape route. "God I've had to wait a long time for this." Sealander chuckled, firing her twin gatling guns into the crowd of Zeonic MS. Erics Efreet was hit hard, but before she could finish any of the enemies a beam shot out from the bridge of the Resolution, squarely hitting the Guncannon Airbornes X-Drive. In a hasty attempt to stay airborne, Vina accidentally crashed into Xanders Core Booster, seriously damaging it. Moments later the black and white Guncannon was dropping out of the sky, tumbling on the ground like an oversized shell casing. Sitting on top of the Resolution, Cervantes' Gelgoog was aiming for Amy's Tin Cod, but Amy quickly pulled back, not wishing to go toe to toe with a beam weapon equipped mobile suit. Eric grabbed ahold of the Resolution last. Only three Zakus, one Gouf and his Efreet had made it out of Odessa, but it was more than nothing. Cima, he, Cervantes and Boraguard were all safe. The group turned their mobile suits around, throwing grenades behind them to deter the Federation from approaching. They had gotten away, thanks to Laurents surprise attack. The Grey Ghost on the other hand, looked more surrounded than ever. The two Himalayas were prepping their own depth charge and torpedo launchers, while the U-996 moved around to flank Laurent from the West, the Stalactite and Stalagmite from the East. Under the ocean, Murchadh had finished off the bases two Acquy's and was quickly moving in to engage the Anglers own mobile suit team, and in the air White Base was not too far off. Aboard the heavily damaged Stalagmite, crews were trying to get a definitive fix on the enemy submarines position. "Vector three niner three delta five, angle of attack eight degrees, ready to fire in fourty seconds captain." A weapons officer shouted, peering into an antiquated console. The captain nodded, looking out the bridge to the deck of the Hillock class destroyer. She was a good ship, although barely in the water. Peering out the window, he noticed something odd. A woman of exceptional beauty was walking across the deck in a bright yellow diving outfit, someone he had never seen before. "Corporal, who is that." He asked to the man next to him, who looked at the young woman. Slung over her right shoulder was a waterproof dufflebag, bouncing lightly off of her oxygen tank. She seemed totally oblivious to the battle going on, and was softly whistling to herself, a melody that could barely be heard from the Stalagmites bridge. "No idea sir... Never seen her." The corporal responded. As he did, the woman simply stepped off the bridge, sinking gracefully beneath the waves. A few moments later, A string of C4 connected to every ammunition magazine on the ship went off, the entire Hillock class being torn apart in a symphony of perfectly engineered explosions. Under the waves, Lia watched as the debris and flames danced along the surface to the water, taking a few seconds to admire her work before turning and swimming towards the mainland on the far side of the city. "Captain, one of the Hillock class destroyers has been sunk, but we still have other units coming from all sides." Desya shouted aboard the Grey Ghosts bridge, Laurent feeling a little lightheaded from all the action. He really should have been in bed. "Target the Asuka with everything we have except barrel one, I want a dela-" Laurents order was cut off, Nikonov shouting over him as the projectiles came up on sonar. "Numerous enemy contacts coming from the enemy carriers, ten, no, fifteen torpedoes, ETA fourteen seconds." Laurent changed his orders immediately. "FY rounds all tubes, set on a three second timer. Helm, thirty degrees downtrim, make it quick!" The Grey Ghost creaked and groaned as it dove, quickly sinking faster and faster into the depths of the Black Sea. As the barrage of warheads from the enemy carriers shot forward, a line of torpedoes from the Ghost exploded prematurely, blanketing the area in front of them with a line of thick, viscous fluid. The expensive Freeze Yard caught every last torpedo, the lot of them detonating harmlessly in front of the Mad Angler. Hygoggs and GM Aquas shot around the remains of the liquid, Murchadh engaging the enemy mobile suits after a long wait. He dodged MPC fire from one of the Goggs, coming down under an Acquy and spinning back around. Moving straight up, he fired his shoulder mounted torpedoes into the stealth unit, the Acquy popping like a tin can as the ocean pressure destroyed the now damaged MSM. The other Clovers squared off against Hygoggs, completely tying the team up and freeing Aleksander and his men for a firing solution. As he danced with another Hygogg, Murchadh fired one of his scissor anchors, the weapon latching onto the blue mobile suit and dragging the Aqua GM towards it. He pulled out a beam pick and slammed it into the enemy units reactor, kicking off of the Hygogg as it exploded. "Sir, my teams are tied up fighting enemy MSMs, that Jukon will shoot us down any minute now." Priscilla said, trying desperately to organize the Ghosts MSMs and take orders from Alistir at the same time. Laurent closed his eyes for a moment, snapping them open and looking to Chapmann. "Not if they're busy protecting those carriers. Chapmann, previous orders, fire everything we've got." Laurent put a hand on the weapons officers shoulder, who quickly programmed the torpedoes trajectories. Alistir followed up with Priscilla, giving her a grin. "Everything, Allum." The U-996 had just completed a turn, and was now perpendicular to the Mad Angler, ready to deliver a killing blow. Weapons crews plotted their trajectory while Dolvich grinned, waiting a moment to give the order. "Captain Dolvich, multiple torpedoes coming from the enemy sub, they're on a collision course with the Asuka. Fifteen seconds!" The sonar operator yelled, Alek slamming his fist into the wall beside him. "We were too slow. I need FY rounds in every tube, create a covering screen!" The Jukon jerked to the left slightly, firing torpedoes out of every tube to protect the Himalaya. Zeon made Freeze Yard rounds shot through the water, creating a wall of the gelatinous substance behind them that caught the torpedoes before they could reach the Himalaya. "Didn't think you'd let us use your own technology against you so easily." Alek chuckled, amazed at how useful the Duchy warheads could be. "Captain, I'm still reading one contact. They weren't all torpedoes!" The sensor operator yelled, Dolvich looking onward in shock. Aboard the Olympus Mons, the old crew of the U-996 looked on with amazement, watching as their captain fended off an entire Federal fleet for longer than they could have ever dreamed. Suddenly a string of explosions went up right in front of them, a line of torpedoes heading for the Asuka blocked by a gelatinous wall. However, right in the center of the blast a single line of white shot through the water, straight towards the Federal carrier. Erwin and Emma watched on as a dark blue Hygogg burst out of the water, dropping two huge rockets from its arms as it flew over the Federation Himalaya. It looked like some sort of Greek God at a sporting event, uprighting itself and sailing through the air as the two rockets bounced across the Asukas deck like boulders. A moment later the Hygogg was in the water again, one of its warheads coming to a stop as it crashed into the front of the Asukas bridge. Both rockets exploded, tearing the Himalaya in two. As the ship began to sink, Laurents men aboard the Olympus Mons' hands went up in a tremendous cheer. "Asuka, sunk!" Desya yelled, the bridge crew of the Grey Ghost taking a moment to clap in response. "Captain, I'm picking up a laser signal from the Dish overhead. They're painting us. That Hillock will have a guided strike on us real soon." A voice from the back of the bridge called out, Alister looking at Laurent with fear on his face. "In our condition we can't take a direct hit from that Hillock." Laurent nodded, a plan already formulating in his mind. "I need a pair of M-bombs in the missile launchers, raise us to a bombardment depth. We'll have to take out that Hillock before the Dish can get another lock on." Laurent said. As he did an explosion rocked the ship, rounds from the Jukon slamming into their side. "Captain, deck six is taking on water, we can't take much more of this." "Just a little longer." Laurent said, gritting his teeth as his chest began to throb, blood starting to appear on his hospital gown. The shadow of the Angler started to shimmer into existance as it moved dangerously close to the water, the sole surviving Dish floating above it and radioing telemetry back to the Stalactite. "Looks like they're going to surface, now's your chance. Position is delta three niner alpha zero five-" The crew of the Dish stopped short as a pair of missiles flew past them, moving into the sky. For a second they figured they were dead men, but the next moment a pair of MPC streams shot through the two warheads, destroying them before the rounds could detonate. A single Core Booster flew past, Amuro swinging back around to watch for the next round of missiles. "Sir, Minovski rounds destroyed, they didn't detonate. I need another twenty seconds for another round, we're sitting ducks." Chapmann said, the Ghosts crew gulping even as the Angler rocked from another direct hit from Aleksanders Jukon. The Stalactite moved into a firing position, coming around so it could bring all of its 122 VLS launchers to bare on their target. "Captain, I'm.. I'm reading six torpedoes coming from far south, they're headed straight for that Hillock." Desya said, listening closely into his headset with shock on his face. Puzzled, Laurent watched the forward displays in disbelief. The torpedoes moved straight towards the Stalactite unhindered, all six hitting it dead on as the destroyer readied its deathly salvo. The Hillock was sunk almost immediately, Priscilla breaking the silence aboard the bridge. "It's Commander Char!" Laurent looked to the comm officer with surprise, but the next moment the video screen at the top of the bridge came to life, a masked and uniformed Char staring at the Grey Ghosts crew, Elran in full MAF revilry at his back. "We couldn't let you have all the glory captain." Char said, smiling as he enjoyed Laurents reaction. Snapping out of it, Auclair gripped the railing in front of him, yelling at Myung to dive the ship. Overhead, Amuro's Core Booster spun around for another pass, going low to the ground by the area where Murchadh was battling the enemy MSMs. A Gogg shot out of the water, hoping to tackle the plane in midair, but Amuro was expecting him, and one pull of the trigger later was flying straight through the exploding mobile suit. At a higher altitude the ungainly Gunperry circled around, its launch doors open to show six huge anti-ship ASROC launchers. "Kai, would you stop thinking of yourself for a moment and fire the damn thing?!" Sayla yelled, watching for the next missile barrage to come from the battered Angler. Kai groaned from the back, putting in targetting data and pressing the switch to fire the first of the missiles. "I never signed up for this you know! I'm a photographer! A photographer and a coward, neither of those things should be on a job like this!" The Olympus Mons started slowly making its way north, Grans deciding that the shoreline of Odessa was now a safer place than the ocean to the south. The Zeon prisoners on deck watched with awe as planes, mobile suits and warships exploded in vain attempts to take down their captain. Erwin hardly noticed the small blinking light below the ship, but a flash caught his eye after a few seconds, and he looked over the side to see a Sealance bobbing up and down in tandem with the hull of the Himalaya. Two of the Ghosts marines were watching for enemy sightings with rifles, a short blonde haired SS man holding a small mirror to the sun. He motioned to Erwin, asking him to jump overboard. Erwin looked back at all of Laurents men, knowing that at most only two or three would be able to fit in the small recon sub. In that moments hesitation, a Federal marine saw the sealance as well, and he called for the alert patrol, three soldiers leaning over the side and firing their rifles at the small purple craft. The Zeonic marines fired back, the two groups having difficulty landing shots amidst the waves. By now Emma had seen what was going on as well, and she and Erwin looked at each other. "Go. I need to stay here." Erwin said, and Creuzot nodded. She leapt overboard, the SS man catching her and quickly closing the hatch to the sealance. The miniature sub dropped beneath the surface, the Federal marines quickly grabbing Erwin and the rest of the Jukon crewmembers and leading them below decks. The Sealance moved quickly back to the Ghost, past Murchadh and his three GM Aquas, who by now had destroyed half of Laurents mobile suits and driven the other half back. However, the Clovers were low on ammunition, having been outnumbered nearly two to one the entire battle. A salvo of torpedoes from the Ghost forced the GM Aqua team back, Murchadh cursing as the small Sealance weaved through friendly fire and dove underneath the huge shadow of the Angler. "Captain, the package has been retrieved." Priscilla said, Laurent nodding and taking off his hat. "Then lets get out of here. Helm, 180 degree turn, we're leaving this battlefield." Laurent smiled, looking at the first mate. "Ships yours till I get out of bed." Auclair walked out of the bridge, Alister saluting him and then taking his eyes back to the battlefield. As the Mad Angler turned around, the U-996 moved into its wake, hoping for a point blank salvo that couldn't be avoided. "That Jukon isn't going to let us get away." Desya said. "They're gaining on us, if they fire we won't be able to do anything. "Chapman, fire that sleeper." Alister said, the weapons officer flicking a single switch on his console. A time delayed torpedo that had been launched earlier, floating in the Mad Anglers previous position was activated. Aboard the U-996 the sonar operator almost leapt out of his chair. "Captain, torpedo, it's right underneath us!" "What?!?" Dolvich yelled, the underside of the Jukon II splitting open as the warhead hit home. Water pouring into the bridge, Alek ordered the submarine to make an emergency surface, the Jukon II coming above the waves only to float like a dead whale. One hour later, ground crews were scouring the length of the base, rooting out survivors, enemy pilots, and non combat personnel. The sounds of war had quieted down somewhat, although there seemed to be a dull hum permeating the fortress. Not a sound, but more the lack of sound. There were no explosions in the distance, markers of artillery that had missed its target. There was no rattle of an enemy machinegun, or soft hiss of a beam rifle. There was no sound of jet engines overhead, or the light purr of a minovski reactor in its startup sequence. The mechanical screetch of mobile suit joints couldn't be heard, the base was, for the first time in over a week, quiet. Inside the underground bunker, Ektig and a dozen fully armored Panzergrenadiers sat, machineguns watching the entrance that wound upwards in a spiraling staircase. The staircase was lined with bodies, Federation marines that had tried, and failed, to secure the area. It was the last building in Ukraine still under Zeon control, and Hans would rather die than see his ground taken by Earthnoids. However, even here, it was quiet. The marines had made several strong attempts to take the command bunker, and two of Ektigs men lay dead at the doorway. But for some ten minutes now, no assaults had come. "You think they're going to gas us?" One man asked, his red spectacled mask hanging loosely from its clasp. The lot of them laughed, knowing that any such attempt would be useless. The armor that Ghirens panzergrenadiers wore was designed to operate in the vacuum of space, and their air supplies would hold for half a day even if the bunker was pumped full of G3 gas. The mans broken silence was met by the answer to his question however, as the thud of a mobile suits legs was heard softly overhead, twenty meters of concrete seperating them from the sound. The men looked up, one of them muttering the words all of them were thinking. "Beam weapons." The bunker was silent once again, the dozen Schutzstaffel men looking to each other without fear, fully embracing their fate. Knowing that at this point nothing could be done, Hans Ektig stood up, taking off his black mask and placing his outstretched hand towards the heavens. Saluting Side 3, the commander of Odessa began to sing. "Der Tag gluhend heib, Oder eiskalt die Nacht." One by one, the other spacenoids stood up, taking off their mask and joining Ektig in his salute. "Es braust unser Panzer, Im Sturmwind dahin." And as the song ended, a GM Sniper Custom above them aimed its rifle straight down, Maurice coldly pulling the trigger. Eric Kyrion - 4/2 VP gained, 2 days damage Boraguard Heindsheft - 4/2 VP gained, destroyed 6 days Cervantes Zuhr - 1 VP gained, no damage Jon Lin - 6 VP gained, 3 days damage Laurent Auclair - 1 VP gained, heavily damaged, promoted to Major, Logistics Specialization gained, +2 NT (Emma Creuzot) Maurice Jackson - 6 VP gained, 1 days damage Murchadh Donelly - 7 VP gained, 2 days damage Allen Gentle - 7/2 VP gained, no additional damage Vina Sealander - 7 VP gained, 3 days damage 3 days injury Xander O'Reilly - 7/2 VP gained, no additional damage Hector Lagrama - 1 VP gained, no damage Ion Bossa-Nova - 1 VP gained, no damage Lia - 1 CP gained, no damage |