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0079.10.20 "Are you absolutely positive that this is going to work? I am not a man with your form of expertise Mr. Jesup, but I do believe that Zakus and Doms were not made for atmospheric re-entry." Frederick cringed, holding on to the back of Clydes chair for dear life. "Oh quit 'yer frettin'." Clyde shook his head. Slowly, the door to the airlock opened, Martian atmosphere starting to pour in quickly, small boxes and bits that hadn't been securely tied down slamming against the back of the hold. They had been working on this plan for some time now, although because of the attempt on Jonas' family it had to be modified quickly. The nature of Amador city, and the limited resources both available to Keller and on Mars in general, made the entire operation a difficulty. For one, they had no access to a spaceport, the only one on Mars going straight into the mouth of their adversary. Even if they did, the Lunatics Dream and Madmans Ire were interplanetary craft, and were not designed to land in a conventional spaceport. Only ones with sophisticated drydocks such as Jaburo or Odessa could house their massive frames. Two, Amador city had a substantial military garrison, even though it contained no mobile suits. Jonas had done his best to purchase state of the art equipment through illegal channels in the Earth Sphere, and all of his pilots were very skilled. However, getting them onto the surface was, as Clyde put it, going to be as tricky as finding a miner with all his teeth. The two interplanetary ships creaked and moaned, the winds of the upper Martian atmosphere beating against their hulls. They'd gotten as low as they possibly could to prevent the Zakus from melting on re-entry, any farther and the ships would have been torn apart by Mars' atmosphere and gravity well. The Lunatics Dreams six mobile suits grabbed each other by the forearms as they prepared to take off. Three Doms, one Zaku I, one Zaku II HMT, and one Zaku Worker. In front of them, held by Keller and Jesups Zakus, was a large black metal box. It contained food, water and oxygen tanks that the group would need during their one day hike up Olympus Mons, and would double as a small atmospherically stable building for them to rest in. Mars' atmospheric pressure was enough to keep a man comfortable, but you still couldn't breathe it. Jonas hadn't talked for the last two hours, brooding over what could be happening to his family, what he would do to the man who hurt them. Seak and McEvoy had been on the comm system all day with friends and acquaintances, calling in favors. They had put every ace in their sleeves into this operation, gathering contacts, friends, and fellow union members to the cause. This would not be a mission to conquer a city, it would be a mission to remove a cancer from a healthy organ. Kyle and Ellison, at the ends of the group of six mobile suits, were checking the equipment. Having the strongest mobile suits, they were on the ends of the line, and they were more than a little worried. Hudsons mobile suit was especially important, as he would lead the direct assault on the base when the time came. Finally, Montgomery and Jesup were in the middle, Frederick riding piggyback in the Zaku Worker. Clyde had come up with this idea, which had made Frederick more than a little worried. He hadn't thought to voice his concerns when they bought the "spare parts" for the Diplomat on Side 6, but now he was visibly concerned. "Clyde, I think perhaps we should reconsider this. Is there any reason why we really have to-" The wind was knocked out of Fredericks stomache as the six mobile suits were launched on the improvised catapult system, shooting out of the Dream and hitting the Martian air at full speed. The six mobile suits crouched, holding on to the latches Clyde had welded to the shuttle heat shielding and praying. The good doctor clenched his eyes tight as the group went into a spin, circling and circling until Hudson and Samson vented the jets of their Rick Doms, righting the makeshift waverider into a proper position. They started to fall, and fall, and fall, going faster and faster, the heat shield below them starting to turn from black to grey, to dark red, to orange, to yellow... Everything happened in the next moment, a blur in the eyes of the seven ARES members. A stretch of turbulance kicked the heat shield out from under the mobile suits, the shuttle panel flapping and spinning behind them as it started to buckle and melt, the material not being the quality the vendor had said it was. Clyde lurched forward in his seat and slammed the button that activated the parachutes, automated balancers opening the shutes on the other five mobile suits as well. The six pilots slammed back into their seats, Mutt yelling as the stitches on his back lit up with pain. The lot of them held onto the box carrying their supplies for dear life, knowing that if they lost that too they wouldn't have enough oxygen to make it to the summit of Olympus Mons. The mountain was already in view, the huge gentle slopes of the giant looming over them like some sort of ancient diety, a diety that they had to conquer to free the rest of their world. The next two minutes were easier, the mobile suits gradually cooling down as the parachutes dragged their fall to a gentle soar. Jonas' chute broke, a small piece of shraphnel breaking off his mobile suit and cutting the straps, but the rest of the crew held on to his Zaku, unwilling to let their leader fall. After the two minute flight was complete, they dropped their suits about 500 meters above Mars' soil, and used their suits booster jets to glide the rest of the day. Settling down a few hundred kilometers from the base of the mountain, they looked up into the sky. "Sure hope that diversion idear works..." Hudson said to himself, whistling softly as he watched the lights. Thousands upon thousands of fireworks, of all shapes, and sizes, burst over the high stratosphere, lighting up Mars' red atmosphere with bright and vibrant blue. The idea of the diversion had actually been Forniers, the man always did want to liven up peoples days a bit. However, it was Jonas who had decided on the color for the fireworks. Jonas thought about his reasoning for this as the six of them started their long, slow march up the mountain, freezing winds picking up as if to harass them on their course. Jonas had said he wanted to give his family their first blue sky. |