|
Under the pockmarked surface of the Odessa airfield there was just as much chatter going on as above. The remaining battle-ready pilots on the base, numbering around thirty individuals, had moved to a briefing room underneath the airfield, away from the deadly barrage of Federation artillery. It was about three PM, and the cannons had lessened somewhat, but they never completely stopped. Sitting in the front row of chairs were Zhuuka, Karnika, and a very disgruntled Cervantes. It would be another day before his Gelgoog was ready, but the lost attack had seen a Dom pilot killed in a very salvageable mobile suit. He was an experienced Dom pilot, and thus he was being put in danger once again. Around him were many other familiar faces. Steve Myer, in his black SS outfit, stood by the far wall, and Eric sat in the back row, seemingly talking to himself at times. Boraguard and the artillery crew were all huddled together, and Cima, her long dark hair nearly glowing in the brightly lit room, was sitting by herself. The chatter of the pilots stopped as Garma Zabi, escorting Lucas Marcolini, walked into the room. "Alright men. We've had a pretty exciting week, but it is time to end our war, both at Odessa, and on Earth itself." The room became silent as Garma spoke, an aura of leadership pervading out of his person. "Never again will we get a better chance to strike down the Federation leadership once and for all. This is the plan..." "Mirai, is everything ready to go?" Bright asked, looking at a damage report and ignoring the rest of his crew. Mirai chuckled, walking up to the captain of the White Base and straightening his very badly arranged uniform. "You should look better captain, a messy jacket on the captain decreases morale." She said, smiling and then going to her post at the Pegasus class ships helm. "All systems green. Liam is scouting ahead in the dish. We're ready to attack as soon as we get the word from Revil." Mirai stated flatly. Meanwhile, far ahead of White Base, three Jet Core Boosters escorted Liam on a scouting mission dangerously close to the northern end of the fortresses AA emplacements. They had been given several days to scout out the surrounding area, and Liam had found a way to get around the shoreline gun batteries and within spitting distance of the base itself without going under fire. The Gundam was still a wreck, but Amon was used to fighters, and not used to simply sitting around. He needed to give them all the help he could. Zeon still had almost a dozen servicable fighters at the airfield, but they wouldn't take off except for the final attack now, giving Liam free reign of the skies. He whistled softly to himself, circling over flaming buildings and corpses of old mobile suits that littered the ground below. They had turned this base to hell in the last week, and it was a sight to see, impressive even compared to the shoal zones of Side 5. "Liam, are you seeing this? Check out four o'clock." One of the JCB pilots stated over the radio, Liam tilting his cockpit in order to see more properly. Slowly, the defenders of the base were moving forward, mobile suit after mobile suit getting into a more offensive position. At the far end of the base, he noticed the Kreuger moving out of the repair bay and towards the river that blocked off the southern side. "Yeah, looks like they're gonna attack again. Send an encrypted message to Revil right away." Liam said, wishing he could help more than this. The mobile suits of AFEF and the southern forces of the base moved forward, Ion remaining at her position fixed on top of the Silver Platter. Daren was still taking a rear command of the fleet, his GM Command had taken too much damage during the third day's assault. A brand new GM Sniper II had been sent from Jaburo, but more reinforcements wouldn't arrive till tomorrow. The two pilots watched as the remaining mobile suits and tanks lined up in front of the Big Trays. Allen Gentle in the Blue Destiny took the far left, almost by himself, while Hector Lagrama led the main force, consisting of three GMs, a GM Desert Type, and three Gundam Grounds. Behind them Guntanks milled around the Halcyon and Silver Platter, keeping up a steady line of shells going into the fortress. "Remember Ion, you've only got one target. Don't fire until you see that flying monster of theirs." Daren said, Ion smiling as she heard the orders. "Don't worry, I've taken down enough Gaws already, they stopped moving those things this way days ago." Aboard the Blue Destiny, Allen was livid, and lost in his own world. He had been neglected the entire siege so far. His orders had been all but forgotten in the initial assault, and the last Zeon attack had happened while he was asleep of all times. His glorious weapon, the Blue Destiny and his personal newtype bitch had not seen combat yet, but today was the day. Today he would show them. He would show all of them, as he dragged Garmas lifeless corpse back to Jamitov for a private display. The murderous thoughts in Allens mind awoke the other being within the cockpit, and after a while he could hear her voice, ever so softly whispering from its cage. "Kill me." "All in due time, whore." Allen smiled. All over the battlefield Duchy units began pouring out of their protected areas, going along a similar route to what they had planned the day before. The majority of the Zakus moved straight over the trench, across the field that hand onced housed the defensive minefield, but had been blown apart by repeated Federal bombardments. Eric held the northern flank, Cima the southern, and Garma pushed straight up the middle, the group intent on pushing to the Sir Francis Drake and killing Revil. The Deutschland and Lillith took to the sky, using the final ten Dopps in the bases airforce to create a small defensive perimeter. On the southern front, the Kreuger blasted forward, escorted by the bases remaining Doms, with Steve Myer on top of the Gallop. There weren't many defenders left, but they would give the Federation a run for their money one last time. "Keep pushing! Don't stop until they're all dead!" Myer yelled, a bazooka on his Zaku Kais shoulder. He fired away in tandem with the Kreugers cannons, shots bouncing around the GMPGTs as they braced themselves, Hector and his crew moving into a defensive line to stop the intruders. Cervantes, Zhuuka and Karnika skipped around the western flank, launching 360mm shells at their opponents. Zhuuka scored a lucky hit on one of the GMPGTs heads, and the ruined camera forced the pilot to escape. Four more shots hit home, the badly maintained Gundam toppling over as its insides were battered by the barrage. Hector aimed his beam rifle carefully at the Kreuger, taking a shot, and then another. The large Gallop made an excellent target, and lance after lance of mega particles shot through the carrier. Doms slammed into hand to hand combat with GMs, Myer jumping off of the Kreuger as it exploded. He landed his damaged Zaku onto the GM Desert Type, firing his MMP-80's grenade into the suits cockpit. Bounding off, he contacted Hector, the two mobile suits locking arms and staring at each other. Another Dom exploded, and Myer knew that there simply wasn't enough of an offensive force to do anything more. The battle for the southern front already nearly over, he decided he had a duty as a member of Gihrens elite to take out one more Gundam before he died. Hector was reaching for the switch on his chest mounted vulcan even as Myer pulled the self destruct lever under his seat. Ion watched, her eyes going wide as an enormous explosion erupted from Hectors Gundam Ground, a column of black smoke rising from it and covering everything from view. She coudldn't tell if Lagrama was alright, there was nothing moving into or out of the smoke. She dropped her guard for a moment, and in that moment shotgun shells started slamming into her heavily armored GM. Instinctively she dropped the long range beam rifle, trying to protect it from damage by removing its possibility of being a target, and turned around. Staring her in the face, about twenty five yards away, was an enormous black mobile suit. It didn't give a match on her targetting computer, and the pure visual of the suit was blurred and out of focus. The suit reached for its hip and grabbed a bright red beam saber, and Ion did the same. She would have to beat this opponent quickly in order to continue to protect Revil from the Apsalus. On the Western front, Garma and the main line of Zakus and Goufs quickly found that the Federation had repositioned their troops, and a line of GMs and GMPGTs was seperating them and the Sir Francis Drake. Fly Mantas and Jet Core Boosters howled overhead, dropping bombs and anti tank missiles towards their position. One Zaku exploded under their weight, another losing a leg and flopping down in the thick mud, but Garma had brought all of his reserves into this operation. The might of Odessa base converged upon Revil, Zakus firing their weapons into the mobile suits covering their commander. Two GMs went down, Shiro and Sanders moving up to protect a third with their Luna Titanium armored mobile suits. They fired back with beam rifles, a pair of Zakus in the middle of the line exploding and scattering them. "Now's the chance! Charge into them!" Lieutenant Burning yelled, boosting his GM towards the enemy lines. A blue mobile suit sent out a wave of missiles towards him, Burning waiting for it and slamming his throttle to full gear. His GM leapt over Erics missile barrage, the two suits colliding and exchanging blows with their sabers. Burning pulled his beam spray gun into his chest, firing at point blank range, but the Efreet was already behind him, kicking his suit in the back. The Federal ace stumbled forward, turning around and facing off against Kyrion and Marion. "He's going left." Eric nodded, pre-emptively veering his blue mobile suit to the right, only to be met by a barrage of vulcan fire from Burnings GM. Burning leapt away backwards, training his beam spray gun on a Zakus reactor and firing. The two suits were seperated by the explosion, Eric losing his chance for the kill. "Marion what was that? Are you okay?" Kyrion asked, turning around and blowing apart a fly manta with his shotgun. Marion shook her head, slight tears welling up in her eyes. "I... I don't know. Somethings wrong." "Kill me..." A pair of Zakus exploded, Allen blasting the Blue Destiny into the rear of Garmas line. He emptied his machinegun into a third, pulling out his beam saber in the center of the enemy force. The reputation of the Destiny had preceded it, and several pilots stopped where they were, a single red Zaku II S coming between Allen and Garma. Allen juked left and then boosted forward, body checking the Zaku and then tearing it in half with his chest mounted missiles. Using the arm shield as a claw, he crushed the sundered Zakus cockpit, a twisted grin on his face as the voice inside the GMs frame grew louder and louder. "Kill me..." Cervantes saw the blue demon coming for Garma, and he quickly ordered Zhuuka and Karnika to turn around, stopping their assault on AFEF and moving straight for Allen. Zuhrs two wingmen turned to flank the blue Gundam, and Cervantes stopped short, aiming his bazooka straight at the mobile suits head. As he did, the Blue Destiny swung around, its eyes turning from a dark, empty blue to a bright, demonic red. Cervantes watched as the mobile suit disappeared from his view, his own personal nightmare standing right before him. The small Brazilian boy with the massacred face held out his hand, as if asking to be embraced, and Cervantes tried as hard as he could to pull the trigger, but his strength had left him. The next thirty seconds were a blur, but he could distinctly hear Zhuuka and Karnikas cries, the two pilots being torn apart by the berzerking mobile suit. The Destiny charged towards him, and in a terrified stupor Cervantes opened his cockpit hatch, leaping out just as Allens monster slammed a beam saber into his pilot seat. "Kill me..." "AHAHAHAHAHA... THAT'S RIGHT BITCH, KILL THEM ALL. KILL EVERY LAST SPACENOID AND I WILL GIVE YOU SWEET, SWEET DEATH." Allens yell was that of a psychopath, driven insane by an insatiable lust for blood. "I will take Odessa all by myself with this machine, all by myself... AHAHAHAHAHA" Garma saw the enemy weapon coming towards him, even as Cima and his best Zaku pilots were slowly beating Shiro and Sanders back. He turned and dropped his machinegun, taking out a heat hawk to match his brown Zakus puncher shield. If he didn't stop the Blue Destiny now, they would not last much longer. "Eric, I can hear her. She's in pain, we have to help her." "What are you talking about? Who?" Eric asked, turning the Efreet Custom to the south. Marion took over the controls, and the red eyed Efreet blasted through the Zeonic line, moving as quickly as it could for Garma and the Blue Destiny. High over the Black Sea, the Federal airgroup turned in for their final push on the enemy line. Two Gaws and almost a dozen Dopps were all that seperated them from being able to carpet bomb Odessa into the ground. Xander, Maria, Patricia, Kenneth, Amy and Blaine were making a B line for the Deutschland, while the groups remaining Depp Rogs aimed their missiles at the Lillith, the Stalagtite coming in behind for long range support. The Stalagmite was too heavily damaged to attack, and remained back with the Olympus Mons and the Asuka, protecting them from enemy marine forces. "Alright boys and girls, here's the plan. Everybody's going to cover Xander and let him get his shot. Two through the reactor Jabberwocky?" The Odessa Eagle smiled, looking at the Core Booster pilot as they flew through the skies. "Two through the reactor ma'am." Xander responded, doublechecking the energy ratio in his MPCs. Behind jim, Maria and Patricia laughed, their happy go lucky attitude filling the cockpit of every Federal plane in the area. "What'd you do to get the captains attention so often Xander? Have you been having relations with an officer? I think that's punishable by thirty days~" "Quiet now, we're entering the Gaws antiaircraft bubble." Blaine responded harshly, and the pilots all ducked and weaved as lines of tracers zinged around them. Xander dodged the Core Booster in and out, watching as Tin Cod pilots around him picked off Dopps and fired their missiles, creating a bubble that he could fly through. One round hit his left wing, but the sturdy Core Booster stayed aloft. He was already almost to the target range. "You've got a bogey coming in on you from above Xan, watch out fo-AHHH!" Kenneths yell resounded across O'Briens cockpit, Von Augusts gunners cutting him apart along with his plane. The Jet Core Booster exploded, and the happy attitude amongst Patricia and Maria ceased immediately. "Kenneth?! KENNETH?!" Maria yelled, turning her fighter around so she could see if he'd had time to eject. Xander, tears in his eyes, reached optimal firing range and took his shot, two heavy lances of mega particles ripping straight into the Gaws minovski reactor. The Deutschland exploded, taking Von August with it. Beaten down by missiles from the Stalactite and the fleets heavy bombers, the Lillith would be soon to follow. At the far northern end of the battlefield, White Base lumbered forward slowly, the few remaining Tin Cods in Matildas wing covering it like some sort of decorational escort. "We lost communications with Liam a few minutes ago sir, M particle readings are getting much too thick." Frau Bo said, her chipmunk like face looking up at Bright for orders. "Send Amuro out in the Gundam as an advance force. Hold Kai and Ryu back in case of emergency." Bright responded, looking at the pounding the primary force was taking at the far end of the battlefield. "You mean Hayato, sir?" Frau responded, a sad tone in her voice. "Yes... I'm sorry. Hayato." In the hangar deck, Amuro swung himself into the Gundam, adjusting his white and red normal suit helmet and putting his hands on the RX-78-2's controls. The catapult deck of the Pegasus class ship opened up, smoke and explosions covering the otherwise bright sky in front of him. "Amuro, taking off!" The boy cried out, lurching back in his seat as the Gundam was shot out in front of White Base. For a few seconds it was as if he was flying, soaring above ruined buildings and battered earth. Landing with a thud, Amuro walked the Gundam forward a short ways, looking to the right and left. It was quiet, too quiet... A feeling quickly went through his brain and Ray leapt the Gundam backwards, an old apartment building to his right melting in place as a barrage of mega particles scored the ground he had just been standing on. Turning and aiming his bazooka, he fired at the huge mobile armor in front of him. However, the Adzams armor was thick, and the shell did little damage. It fired another round of thick mega particles, Amuro leaping back to avoid them. "What is that thing? Bright, stay back! It'll destroy White Base for sure!" Amuro yelled, looking back at White Base. As he did, a small floating orb dropped out of the Adzams rear section, moving around Amuro. "Looks like he took the bait, wouldn't you say so Gylk?" One of the Adzams two pilots, newtypes that had been delivered straight from Flanagan, looked at his brother while carefully maneuvering the leaders. "I'd say so Max. I think the White Devil is ours." The other pilot responded, pushing Amuro closer to the building face they had pre-deployed the remainder of the leaders inside of. Amuro dropped his bazooka and reached for the beam rifle on his back, moving towards a clearing behind him so he could get a good shot. Normally he could read exactly what an enemy pilot would do, but this one seemed different, guarded somehow. He aimed for the center of the Adzam, but as soon as he did an electric current started cascading through his systems, turning them all off one by one. Amuro was close to being electrocuted as the leaders poured their charge into the Gundam, and he screamed out in pain. There was nothing he could do. "Captain! Amuro is in trouble!" Frau yelled, Bright looking at the battle scene ahead. "Launch Kai in the Guncannon, Hayato in the Guntank, and Sayla in the Core Booster! Bring that mobile armor down!" Noah responded, determined not to have his assistance at Odessa delayed by yet another ambush. Ion and Bishop's mobile suits pushed on each other on top of the Silver Platter, Daren evacuating all non-combat personnel as the two high powered weapons battled hand to hand on top of his ship. Ion yelled, kicking the damaged Katarl in the leg with her heavier Gundam Ground, while Bishop fired vulcan rounds into the GMs head and shoulders. His Katarl proving the stronger unit, he knocked Ion to the ground off of the Silver Platter, laughing as he brought an arm up to finish the last remaining sniper with his beam weaponry. Standing on the Big Tray, Bishop could hear the Federal comm signals, and he took a moment to smile at the sound of all of the prey awaiting him in the battleship below. "One fly left, and I'll deal with you all. All in good time..." Kratos said to himself. His hesitation saved Bossa-Novas life however, the pilot taking a flashbang grenade off her suits hip and throwing it at the black Katarl. The grenade exploded in Bishops face, and he fired his arm mounted beam gun just as Ion boosted out of the way, the sniper GM sliding on the ground. Her cockpit was rattled beyond belief, and her systems started sparking and exploding. One monitor shattered, glass cascading into Ions arm and neck. The woman cried out, but determined to complete her mission, reached for a machinegun that was laying on the ground, dropped by a fallen GM days before. She picked it up and aimed at Bishops suit, firing and hitting the Katarl straight in its right arm. The limb exploded, Bishop deciding his mobile suit was worth more to Zeon than the loss of that sniper. He turned around and blasted away, determined to leave Odessa and find a new battlefield. All he would meet if he stayed here was a real death. Glass digging into her arm and sticking out of the side of her neck, Ion began to cry as blood trailed down her body. She moved the GM back to the Platter, climbing on top of it and picking up her rifle again. "Are you alright?" Daren asked through the comm, not knowing what had happened. "I got cut a little, nothing serious... I can keep fighting." Ion answered, yelling in pain as she gripped her suits throttle. Daren ordered a doctor sent up to her cockpit, but when he got there Ion refused to leave, not until the battle was over and the Apsalus was shot down once and for all. Well ahead of AFEF and the southern line, Allen was facing off against Garma, the 08th MS Team and Burning at more or less a stalemate with the remaining Zeonic forces. Eric and Marion flew between the line, trying as fast as they could to catch up with their commander. "Do it..." Allen hissed, watching angrily as the berserk Destiny waited, watching for an opening. The brown Zaku, axe and puncher shield in hand, was not moving. Garma had fought this enemy before, he knew he had to remove both the cockpit and the head in order to stop its movements. The blue GM, shield and beam saber in hand, mimicked the MS-06's every move. For a moment the battlefield was silent, the leader of the Terrestrial Assault Force facing off against the most hideous monster the Earth Federation had ever created. "DO IT." Allen screamed, pushing back and forth on the throttle. "WHY WON'T YOU KILL HIM ALREADY?!" His mouth was almost frothing at the idea of Garma dead, but the Blue Destiny would not respond to his commands. "Wer're not going to make it in time!" Marion cried out, Eric watching as she flew down the battle lines in a desperate attempt to save Garma. The Efreet Custom landed on the muddy earth some twenty yards behind Garmas Zaku, and the noise broke the silence. Garma and the Blue Destiny charged each other at the same time, weapons raised and vulcans firing. The brown Zaku ducked down, a stab from Allens beam saber taking out its left arm, but then came up in a jump to the Destinies side, Garma intending to cleave the suit in two with his heat hawk. However, Marion knew him now, and this time she was faster. Bringing her shield arm up she deflected the heat hawk, and turning on its heel, the Blue Destiny slammed its beam saber through the Zakus cockpit. In one, fluid motion, Garma Zabi was dead. Allen licked his lips, watching as the fallen Zaku slid off of his suits beam saber, and thudded coldly on the ground. The red eyes on the Destiny started to dim, and control of his suit was returned to him. He turned towards the remainder of the Duchy lines, only to see a dark blue mobile suit charging towards him, a heat sword in each hand and red eyes that he had seen somewhere before. In the underground command bunker, Ektig relayed final targetting information to Lucas, the Apsalas sitting in a hidden missile silo towards the northern end of the base. News of Garmas death was quickly reaching the rear line, but the SS commander ignored it, trying to give a final report he had heard from Kratos to Marcolini. Lucas being deaf, he furiously typed at his keyboard, a coded signal being sent to the Apsaras's launch site. Lucas looked at the message typing out on his display screen, holding his rosary close as the doors to the old missile silo opened up. He read it again, starting the M craft system that would propel the behemoth Apsaras towards its target. Wind howled and swirled around the monster as it slowly lifted out of the silo, coming up on the battlefield and turning slowly towards its target. Sniper has not been neutralized. Proceed towards secondary target. "In the name of the father, the son and the holy ghost..." Lucas began, the Apsaras turning towards the northern end of the battlefield. Aiming for the Bhatan, it suddenly lurched forward, flying towards Ryers Big Tray and charging its mega particle cannon. Aboard the Bhatan, crews screamed as they saw the monster coming for them. "Commander! We need to get out of here!" The helmsman yelled, looking back to Ryer. The dark brown haired, mutsauched man looked on with a face of anger at the mobile armor coming towards him. The air defense unit would never make it before his ship was destroyed. "You idiot... There's no time." Ryer said, low and to himself. The base destroying MPC on the behemoth fired, the entire sky lighting up as it cored through the Bhatan like a hot knife through butter. The Big Tray exploded, the commander of the Earth Federations European Front disintigrating with the blast. "Amen." Lucas muttered, signing a cross and turning his mobile armor around. Dozens of incoming projectile warnings flashed across his screens as the task forces Tin Cods swarmed on his position, firing every missile they had at the Apsaras's mighty shell. The mobile armor groaned and strained, rounds hitting it over and over. Trying to stay afloat, Lucas flew the behemoth north, eventually finding an area to crash land well away from the battlefield. Even as the Bhatan exploded, Eric and Allen faced off, their two EXAM powered mobile suits being given a wide berth as the surviving Zeon pilots slowly withdrew. The Marion in the Efreet was fueled by anger, the suits eyes glowing red, while Allen was no longer being given the support of his toy. He let loose a burst of suppression fire with the head and chest mounted vulcans, the Efreet dodging left and coming at him, both heat swords swinging. Allen brought up his shield arm to block, leaping away as the Efreet cut through the luna titanium in the Blue Destinies arm, severing the appendage. Allen landed on the ground, still firing his vulcans. Marion feinted right and then came in from the left, but Allen swerved just in time, blocking both swords with his beam saber. Dropping backwards, the Blue Destiny let the weight of the Efreet topple it over, kicking outwards and sending Eric and Marion into the mud behind him. Standing back up, he put more distance between himself and his opponent, checking the magazines in his vulcans. There weren't many rounds left. "Marion we have to go, they're calling the retreat order." Eric said, slamming his hands on the controls. "We have to help her. We have to end her pain." Marion responded, not letting go. Just then machinegun rounds bounced on the ground by the Efreet, the 08th MS Team moving in to help Allen as quickly as they could. "We won't be able to beat him here, we'll just die. We'll save her, I promise." Eric said, looking the translucent, winged girl in the eye. Marion began to cry, but nodded, letting go of the controls. Eric turned around and boosted away, leaving Allen to be retrieved by the 08th and the remainder of AFEFs mobile suits. "Everyone, push them back into the base! We have to strike now while their leadership is in shambles!" Revils voice echoed through the cockpits of the Federal units, the surviving Zakus scattered and running back to the trench as fast as they could. The Big Trays began to move forward, with full intention of destroying Odessa entirely before the sun set. They hadn't gone more than fifteen seconds however when a thick, German voice began echoing through the air. "This is the commander of Odessa Base, Hans Ektig. If you move any closer, we will fire a nuclear warhead at the Sir Francis Drake." Even without General Revils order, the crews of the Big Trays stopped in their tracks. Behind the perimeter wall, a missile was slowly raised out of its silo. Muffled voices were all asking the same things. Was that really a nuke? Was Zeon going to break the Antarctic Treaty? "Should we continue sir?" Came the voice of Revils helmsman, looking back at his general. Revil thought for a few moments before issuing his orders. "We'll stop for now. Have Liam circle the base and ascertain whether or not that warhead is really carrying a radiological signature. And get me White Base on a secure channel." The defenses of Odessa finally beaten, Zeon had played its ace in the hole. Because of the threat of nuclear strike, the base remained intact. At least for another day. Boraguard Heindsheft - 6/2 VP gained, no additional damage Eric Kyrion - 5/2 VP gained, 1 days damage Bishop Kratos - 5/2 VP gained, 2 days damage Steve Myer - 6 VP gained, dead 7 days, promoted to Oberscharfuhrer Cervantes Zuhr - 5/2 VP gained, 2 days injury, Vendetta specialization gained Lucas Marcolini - 5 VP gained, 5 days damage Ion Bossa-Nova - 5 VP gained, 3 days damage, seriously injured 7 days Allen Gentle - 6 VP gained, 4 days damage Xander O'Reilly - 6 VP gained, 2 days damage Hector Lagrama - 5 VP gained, destroyed 6 days, upgrading to Gundam EZ-8 Daren Sanders - 4/2 VP gained, no damage Vina Sealander - 1 VP gained, no damage |