|
Rain fell over the flat, open Central Asian plains, a slight drizzle obscuring sight beyond a mile. Maurice Jackson slugged across the plain, three GMs trailing behind. The four mobile suits marched slowly in a southeasterly direction, towards a rise of hills, behind which mountains rose sharply. Maurice kept his beam sniper rifle out in front, his eyes shifting across the open plain. His three GMs were equipped with their now standard issue beam spray guns and tower shield. "Ugh," Maurice announced, "I hate this rain. It hasn't ended since we left Federation controlled territory." "You think it is an omen?" Simpson Stewart, one of the GM pilots, piqued up. "Maybe," Maurice replied. Ever so slowly, the four mobile suits began walking up a low rise - in the distance, the Federation mobile suit captain could spot a number of bulging hills. "All I know is that this rain could be a problem. Can't see if we're going to be ambushed or not." Lieutenant Ajib Talloth's Dopp rattled as rain pelted his streaking fighter craft. "God, they desperately need to change our patrol patterns when there's bad weather." "Agreed," replied one of Ajib's fellow pilots. The lieutenant commanded the 31st Air Patrol, an air sortie out of Baikonour. "Wait," a third pilot called out, "I've got contacts, bearing....123 by 54 by 7." Ajib noted the coordinates, checking his own radar panel. His eyes confirmed his subordinate's announcement. A cluster of contacts moved close together on the very edge of his radar screen. It meant either aircraft or mobile suits. "Rick," Ajib ordered, "Contact the two nearest mobile suit patrols and have them move on enemy units." "Roger," Rick replied. "Dopps!" screamed Baran Koirala, one of Maurice's GM pilots. Overhead of the Federation mobile suits, six Dopps dropped out of the grey skies. Missiles jettisoned off the planes' hard points, a cluster streaking towards the GM suits. The four mobile suits scattered, each turning their weapons towards the sky. Maurice placed his beam sniper rifle on its normal storage rack located on the back of his GM Sniper Custom, pulling out his more effective beam pistol. He doubted he'd get a good shot off with the sniper rifle. As he finished changing weapons, the patrol of Dopps streaked back overheard, releasing a second volley of missiles at the now scattered Federation mobile suit. Most slammed harmlessly into the ground, while two struck Iga Wyrwal's GM, sending it sprawling towards the ground. The remaining mobile suits were ready, a hail of beam rounds firing skywards. A pair of beam rounds struck home, impacting the underside of two Dopps, sending both spiraling out of control, impacting into the ground. The Federation captain grinned as Dopp wreckage struck the ground. "Excell-" he began, only to be cut off as a fierce barrage of bazooka rounds rained down on their position. Several struck home, one impacting against Maurice's GM Sniper Custom, rocking his mobile suit. He wildly scanned for the source of the new fire, appalled to see four Zaku IIJs steadily descending from the hills that he and his comrades had been headed towards. "Shit," he yelled, "Focus on the cyclops'!" He and the other three GMs opened fire, beam rounds lancing forth from their weapons. The enemy Zakus began maneuvering as well, only after, however, one of the Zaku IIJs exploded violently as two beam rounds struck the Zeon mobile suit's chest. Another barrage of rockets rained down on the Federation's position, Iga's GM taking the brunt of the damage. "Fall back, Iga!" Maurice ordered, moving to cover the young corporal's retreat. "Understood," Iga replied, throttling his GM to full speed in the opposite direction of the Zeon forces. Several moments passed as Maurice stood tall in his GM Sniper Custom, protecting the retreating GM. Another enemy Zaku exploded violently, destroyed by a hail of beam rounds. A scream came over the radio and Maurice's suit shook from a tremendous explosion coming from his rear. Half-turning his mobile suit, he was shocked to see the remnants of Iga's mobile suit fall to the ground. Out of the mist of the drizzling rain, Maurice made out the shape of three black Doms. The enemy mobile suits maneuvered just nearly inside Maurice's range of fire. He recognized them immediately - what Federation pilot didn't? The Black Tri Stars were one of the most feared Zeon mobile suit units. "Dear God," Baran yelled, turning his damaged GM as well. "Fall back!" Maurice yelled, nearly in panic. "Fall back!" A barrage of bazooka rounds and missiles fell amongst the remaining Federation mobile suits from numerous directions. All Maurice could do was watch in horror as the Tri-Stars moved to attack his subordinate, Simpson. Two of the Doms quickly approached Simpson's GM, both firing their 360mm giant bazookas. Each round directly struck the GM, each one knocking the Federation mobile suit backwards. After the two Doms broke right, away from the fighting, the third closed in, its heat saber slicing through the torso of the GM, destroying it immediately. "My God," Maurice cursed. His own mobile suit was rocked by bazooka and missile fire from the enemy Zakus and returning Dopps. He and his remaining fellow pilot, Baran, tried to move out in a southwesterly direction, but Baran's GM was ruthlessly cut down by one of the Tri-Star pilots, a ball of fire exploding outwards. Maurice slammed a gloved fist onto one of his console, his fist throbbing. "Goddamnit," he screamed. Another two bazooka rounds struck his GM Sniper Custom as he ran a gauntlet of enemy fire. The Zeon forces must have withdrawn - one minute he was fearing for his life, in the next he could only hear himself breathing. He was amazed he was alive. Checking his damage readout, he could only stare, shocked that his GM Sniper Custom could handle the amount of damage that it had. Maurice Jackson: 5 VP gained, 5 Days Damaged North Africa is starting to piss off Corporal Charles Freely. Sandstorms ravage the entire region, getting into everything. It got into his clothes, his equipment, his mobile suit, and most importantly his food. Even inside the confines of his cockpit, Charles can hear the screaming winds of the sandstorm. Hell, it even sounds like artillery falling at times- . Freely spills his breakfast of rations all over his lap as his Gundam Ground Type falls over in the sand. He got the mobile suit started up faster than he practiced. The GMPGT's eyes shine brightly as it flipped over and went prone with its 100mm machinegun ready. Explosions rock the ground around him and Freely strains his attention to find something to shoot at. The six Dopps were flying almost blind but they follow their pre-assigned attack run to the letter. At the appropriate moment, they empty their mini missile launchers into the drop zone and pull up and away from the sandstorm. As they rose above the dust cloud, the pilots could briefly see the darken masses of seven mobile suits converging to the center of their drop zone. Seven sets of tracers spat out in unison. Freely winces as he felt the missiles pepper his lunar titanium armor. Just when the bombardment seems to have ended he saw the unmistakable flashes of enemy tracers tearing up the sand. His GMPGT kicked itself forward and up into a standing position while blasting 100mm rounds. Enemy fire seems to be coming from everywhere but the sandstorm works for him too. He can't see them and they probably can't see him. With a good amount of luck he'll get close enough to- Andrew Vinsko's heat hawk caught into the left shoulder joint of the Gundam Ground Type. It started burning into the Lunar Titanium but then the Federal mobile suit twisted around and Vinsko lost his grip. He sees the twin eyes of the GMPGT turn at him but then he saw the reassuring mono-eye of Martel's Desert Zaku. A heat hawk buries into the right knee joint, jamming it and forcing Freely to drop to one knee. His 100mm machine gun as well as his vulcan gun continue to fire as the two Desert Zakus broke off. Zeon tracer fire zips past him, transfixing him but not quite hitting him? Very quickly, his ammo reached zero and the thundering of Freely's guns turn into shallow echoes of a breech opening and closing on nothing. Macinegun fire kicks up the sand around him but a minute later he's alive. Why? Why are they taking their- The 680mm Armor Piercing Fin Stablizing Discarding Sabot easily broke the sound barrier as it left the barrel of the Xamel. The sandstorm clears from the eruption of the cannon, making the scene clear as a play on a stage. The sabot sleeve dropped off in two pieces as the hyper kinetic energy penetrator struck the chest Lunar Titanium armor before the sleeves even hit the ground. The sabot drilled its way through, crunching up all the metal and mechanisms in the torso of the GMPGT. In the span of a second, the two ton sabot round flattens the chest armor, cockpit, pilot support systems, and reactor into one ball and out the back of the GMPGT. It was going so fast with so much force that the reactor exploded a hundred yards behind the GMPGT; which topples with a hole in its torso. The rest of it exploded in a final funeral pyre for the dead Federal pilot. Susan Steel leans back from the targeting scope on the Xamel. For a heavy artillery mobile suit, hitting a target at 400 yards is not something to boast about. But you shouldn't be lenient with destroying Gundams. The Xamel raised a small arm to acknowledge the Desert Zakus whose tracers allowed her to target the GMPGT in the sandstorm. With that, they return to the 302nd Combat Group. Andrew Vinsko - 7 VP, 1 days damage Susan Steel - 7 VP gained, 1 days damage Charles Freely - 6 VP gained, dead 7 days The Pacific Ocean is a vast emptiness to those who travel its blue waves. The thundering waves against the Zeon sea transports hide the ocean depth. Dark clouds choke the sky as a light rain drizzle the deck around Sergeant Eugene Rice-Ionesco's feet. Despite the heavy Zeon coat he is wearing, Ionesco could barely suppress the chill that crept up his spine. His convoy consists of two heavy transports for his mobile suits. It is a gamble going without aquatic mobile suits, no air support, and no Jukon escort. Well, they got this far to the South American coast. It is only a hundred or so miles to go before landfall. The rumbling of the ocean waves fade into eerie silence a hundred feet under. There, the four GM Aqua's of the Experimental Anti-Marine MS Team got into position for their attack run. It was easy enough to see the three targets above them and to the north. The problem is, they don't have enough heavy torpedoes guarantee to sink each ship. They're going to have to concentrate their full inventory of heavy torpedoes and then finish off the ships with regular weapons. They trail the convoy for a small distance to watch for any irregularities. Half an hour later, the first Aqua GM let loose their torpedoes Night turned to day for a split second as white-hot explosion illuminated one of the heavy transport ship. The ship rocked heavily as it slowed. The two convoy ships broke formation as Ionesco rush against the railing to see what is going on. Two minutes later, he could make out the wake of another wave of torpedoes ram straight into the wounded heavy transport's port side. Steel groaned as the bow began to slip into the waves as the crew of the doomed ship frantically tried to find a solution. His heavy transport ship reached the end of its first evasive maneuver when it is struck in the stern by a torpedo. Unfortunately for it, the ship had turned into the final wave of torpedoes. By this time, all Ionesco has left of his force is his personal Zaku II G and the Zaku II K on his transport ship. As power came on in his cockpit, he watches one of his Dom mobile suits slip out of a hole on the hull of the transport and sank into the sea. The heavy transport however, is barely floating. Dead in the water with a heavy list and a burning superstructure, it lingers there like a dazed animal. Ionesco's transport is in a turn, dutifully circling the crippled ship. Suddenly he sees the head of a mobile suit pop out of the waves and open fire before Ionesco could react. The transport ship exploded in an inferno. A huge underwater explosion signals the end of all of the munitions carried along with it. Now, Ionesco's Zaku II G stood with his Zaku II K on the lonely crippled heavy transport. He signals to wait for his command to fire. Both mobile suits held their 120mm Zaku machineguns steady. They know their ship is next. Four silhouettes rose out of the water and open fire. The Zeon pilots return fire with a full burst from their machineguns. Tracers caught one of the Aqua GMs in the crossfire, blowing it apart in the icy water. Their transport ship is hit once but above the waterline. The other two Aqua GMs disappear. The Zakus stood there on the deck weapons ready for the next four hours but no more attacks came. Lucky them. Eugene Rice Ionesco - 5 VP gained, 1 days damage 2 days injury |