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It was not yet dawn, and already the shelling had begun anew. The EF bombardment crews had started switching the timing of their fire around in order to catch defenses off guard, forcing Zeon soldiers to stay on near constant alert. People were starting to get frantic on the base, and the injured count amongst base personnel was now higher than that of combat ready soldiers. People were forced into their mobile suits day after day, and important facilities had been secretly smuggled into evacuated buildings in the city to the east, places that would remain safe until the Federation found them once again. Food stores had been stolen from the city as well, an all out pillaging scene going on the night before. In the trench, a huge number of Zakus and Goufs displayed themselves, waiting for a Federation assault that could come at any time. In the area around the war factory, three Zeon pilots were enjoying some liesure time, something Cervantes had fought for hard with his superiors. Zhuuka and Karnika had been scheduled for a suicide mission, while he was on a short period of leave, his mobile suit having been irreperably damaged during the bombardment immediately following the assault on what was now known to the surviving defenders only as "day three." Ridden had left the frame of a brand new mobile suit in Garmas care, and he had personally assigned Cervantes, one of the best test pilots on the base, to pilot the new mobile suit, a Gelgoog. Cervantes had convinced Garma that Zhuuka, Karnika and he were a team, and there was no sense sending them out unless they were going together. There was no other mobile suit for Cervantes to pilot, so his girls were stuck too. "You know, from this distance it's actually quite pretty." Zuhr said, one of the two beauties on each arm. They leaned on the side wall of the war factory, watching the explosions rattle the land like low flying fireworks in the pre-dawn haze. He hadn't seen Jesus since day 3 either. Not since the boy decided to begin this horrible bombardment, something from which Cervantes thought his ears would never recover. The two girls, half asleep, cooed on his arms slowly, and Zuhr wondered, when his new unit was completed, if they would all immediately rush to their deaths. Maybe his fate would come sooner, the shells were getting closer and closer even now. Cervantes had decided that at least for the moment he couldn't escape his fate, it was surrounding him in the form of numerous enemy fleets and battalions, so he may as well enjoy the relative peace while he could. In the trench, life was much different. Some Zaku pilots had been there for as long as twenty hours, and about thirty minutes ago Garma had shown up personally. He had placed ace pilots at regular intervals along the line of earth, and stuffed as many mobile suits as he could into the trench this morning. It was still dark, but not black, that time of day when the sun has not yet risen but its light is beginning to show over the horizon. The young Zabi looked to his right and left at the men and women he had gathered with him. Cima Garahau. Eric Kyrion. Steve Myer. All incredible pilots. Garma still believed, in his heart, that Zeon would be victorious. "Sir, encrypted transcript just came in from Sanders aboard the Silver Platter. They're ready for a focused bombardment of enemy Dobdays, targeting the southern front first." "General, I'm getting word from Ms. Sealander, her two Medeas have completed their redeployment." "Northern Sniper teams report they are in position, the 08th is guarding them on a three part watch. Your orders sir?" Even at this hour, Revil was wide awake, staring at diagrams and displays, his brain consuming the constant information fed to it by his various aides and attendants. His eyes were half closed, deep in thought, as he calmly toyed with his beard. "Tell the sniper division they are not to fire unless the Apsalas is sighted. Have AFEF commence Sanders plan. We're going to lure them out with a light barrage on my mark." Revil said calmly, letting his eyes float up to the ceiling, thinking about future plans. "How are White Bases repairs going?" "White Base reported in at 100% combat capacity a little over an hour ago sir. The only suit non-functioning is the RX-78-1. I hear Liam has commandeered their Dish and is watching for secondary ambushes." An attendant spoke up over the din. "Should we reposition more units to guard them sir?" "No, if they can take on the Black Tri Stars, they can take on anyone." Revil mused, recalling how Gaia, Ortega and Mash had disabled his own Magellan and taken him captive at the battle of Lourm. He held those three Zeon pilots in high regard, and the names Bright Noah and Amuro Ray were quickly becoming legend amongst the Federation. As he mused, Revil peered forward, looking out towards the still dark sky. "What is that... Are there Zakus coming out of the trench...?" Garma took the huge, mobile suit sized Zeon flag he had been keeping in the trench, and held it high. As he did, thirty Zakus leapt over the earthen barrier, breaking into a full run for the Sir Francis Drake. They lobbed smoke grenades and started firing off cover fire from their machineguns, Garma taking up the rear, waving the flag frantically to egg them on. "MOVE! Lets get their attention people!" Myer yelled, using the impressive thrusters on his Zaku Kai to boost ahead of the main line, letting off wild shots with an MMP-80 under each arm. With him was the dark blue Efreet Custom, Eric at the controls while Marion watched for the Federation reprisal. At the same moment, Boraguard led the Xamel team behind the wall south, skidding towards the Halcyon and Silver Platter and accompanied by the bases five remaining Doms. The artillery mobile suits forgot their howitzers for the moment, using missiles and giant bazookas to attack their opponents. Most of AFEFs mobile suits had been moved to the back line for repairs, and only two GMs and a few Type 61s were between Boraguard and the Big Trays. "I want all of our aircraft in the air immediately! I want that spaceport destroyed while we have the chance!" Revil yelled, sirens now blaring throughout the fleet. "Tell any bomber pilots on our end to commence attack runs directly ahead of the Sir Francis Drake. Buy the mobile suit pilots time to get in their gear." Revil yelled, slamming his palm against his desk. His comm officer opened a channel to the entire fleet, fear in her voice. "This is the Sir Francis Drake to all aircraft pilots. Broken Arrow. I repeat, Broken Arrow." Emergency fighters and combat patrols immediately moved towards the western edge of Odessa, Fly Mantas and Jet Core Boosters starting to swarm Garmas line, dropping all of their ordnance in a single wave. Garma slammed the standard in the ground, signaling the Zaku line to stop short and drop to the ground, starting to fire towards the Big Trays and into the air. Several aircraft exploded as they went past, but at the same time the ground was set ablaze with a huge number of bombs and warheads. GMs followed up with precision beam strikes, the Sir Francis Drake taking out a pair of Zakus with its forward mega particle cannons. "We won't be able to hold here long if we don't attack. What are you doing?" Marion asked, looking at Kyrion over his shoulder. He let off all of the Efreets missiles early, taking aim at a JCB with his shotgun. "Don't worry, his excellency has a plan." Towards the south, Allen Gentle was woken from his bunk in the Memphis Belle to the sounds of sirens and machinegun fire. He groggily stumbled out of bed, shoving a huge poster of Jamitov aside so he could see himself in the mirror. "What the hell... What time is it..." He mumbled, unable to think, a hangover and battle sirens tearing his head apart. On the Olympus Mons, Xander was up feeding Cora, and quickly ran to his fighter, foregoing the flight suit and jumping into the Core Booster. He launched away, the entirety of the Federal airforce trying to bomb Odessa from the rear while the mobile suits were away. However, they saw a line of Dopps doing patrols between them and the base, as well as a pair of Gaws and two Adzams flying at high altitude. "Target the Dopps, O'Reilly, you and I will take out that Adzam on the right." Amy called in through the crackling radio. The Desert Eagles fanned off, guiding the Core Booster through the dim sky to its target. Xander almost thought he was dreaming, everything had come to him like instinct, he'd gone from feeding his dog to killing the enemy in just a few minutes. More and more planes launched from the carriers even as a torpedo hit the Stalagmite, heavily damaging the Hillock. Word came in on the comm to take out the enemy submarine, but the fighter pilots ignored it. There were plenty of Don Escargots in the air. At the northern hills, deep within a partially residential district, Karen Joshua, Eledore and Michael, and two GM Snipers had set up residence, and were still on alert for the Apsaras. "This is the perfect distraction for them to take a shot at Revil Mitch, stay frosty." One of the pilots said to the other, the two dark green GM Grounds barely visible and around heavy cover. "Karen... I'm getting some weird sounds. I think somethings around here but... It's moving real slow, I can barely hear it." Eledore said to the 08th Gundam pilot, eyes closed and hands on his ears. "What do you mean you can barely hear it? Where is it?" Karen asked, checking the magazine in her machinegun. "I... I don't know." Eledore responded. Michael was already writing his will to Bibi, and as usual was not any help. Kiki was fast asleep, too used to the sound of gunfire for it to wake her up anymore. Before the group could converse any further, one of the GM Snipers exploded, a dark shadow moving around inside the city. Karen quickly fired on the snipers former position, but there was nothing there. Out of the corner of her eye she caught the light of a beam saber, but turned too late, the assailant already planting the blade through the second snipers cockpit. The GM Ground fell with a thud, Karen firing on the shadowy mobile suit in front of her. It wasn't like any Zeon weapon she'd seen before. In the dark pre-morning sky she could barely see it, but it looked like a large black suit, with what appeared to be wings and no mono eye. Kratos disengaged his beam saber and leaped backwards, taking a few hits from Karens 100mm but avoiding any fatal damage. Karen kept firing as the black mobile suit landed on top of a building and pointed one of its forearms towards her in almost a mock salute. She hit it with another two rounds, but then a blast of mega particles shot out of the black suits forearm, scoring a direct hit on her GMPGT. The suits right arm and shoulder exploded, shraphnel slicing into Karens cockpit and hitting her all over her right side. She screamed in pain, and in the next moment the Katarl was gone. Meanwhile, the Doms and Xamels skated towards the southern front, moving straight for the Silver Platter. The two snipers towards the south, Ion and his AFEF companion, quickly dropped their LRBRs and picked up their own machineguns. Ion fired carefully, destroying one Xamel and heavily damaging Boraguards second, but repeated 360mm shells struck the other sniper, the suit being destroyed beyond repair despite the thick luna titanium armor. Daren ordered an MPC salvo fired point blank, and the Silver Platter managed to evaporate a pair of Doms. Moments later Hector was running up from behind the Halcyon, his GMPGT prepped and ready for combat. Knowing the element of surprise was gone, the group turned away, firing two black flares into the dim sky as they returned to the base. "That's the signal people! Get back to the trench!" Garma yelled, Myer and Garahau echoing his commands. The Zakus threw a line of flashbangs, running back to the trench as quickly as they came. Well behind the battle line, in the underground command bunker of Odessa, SS commander Hans Ektig looked at a report even as he heard sounds of victory coming from all across the communications channels. Apsalas repair status: 9 hours until completion Boraguard Heindsheft - 7/2 VP gained, 2 days damage Eric Kyrion - 6/2 VP gained, 1 days damage Bishop Kratos - 7 VP gained, 3 days damage Steve Myer - 6/2 VP gained, 2 days damage Cervantes Zuhr - 1 VP gained, no damage Lucas Marcolini - 1 VP gained, no damage Ion Bossa-Nova - 4 VP gained, no damage Allen Gentle - 5 VP gained, no damage Xander O'Reilly - 5/2 VP gained, no additional damage Hector Lagrama - 4/2 VP gained, no additional damage Daren Sanders - 1 VP gained, no damage Vina Sealander - 1 VP gained, no damage |