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They barely made 10 kilometers from the hidden entrance to the underground fortress of Gibraltar, when 1st Lieutenant Daren Sanders signals his team to stop. The lead GM Command pulls the breech on his 90mm GM Machinegun. Behind him, his MS Team took up a mutually protective formation. The loud rumbling of the Mediterranean Sea can still be heard at this distance despite the roaring sandstorm. The two GMPGT of Sander's Team took up flanking positions. Both Private First Class Susan Magnus and Jason "Cowboy" Holmes lift their beam rifles to survey the horizon. In middle of the triangle Corporal Elizabeth "Lady" Daniels in her Ground GM raises her 305mm Bazooka to her shoulder. Other than the sounds of the mobile suit engines, the team became quiet. After a few uneventful minutes, Sanders's voice broke over the radio. "Alright, let's keep moving." The four mobile suits began walking again, fighting the strong dust winds that swept across North Africa. Suddenly they see the bright light of an incoming missile right before it strikes Sanders's GM Command. Whole barrages of leg-mounted missiles explode the ground around them as Sanders's MS fell. "COVERING FIRE!" screams the Corporal as the GM Ground rushes ahead. The 305mm Bazooka burps three shells as the Privates fire their Beam Rifles at the direction of the attack. The Lady reached Sanders and is sadden to find out that a direct missile hit has blown apart the right leg. The Lieutenant however is firing his 90mm machinegun into the distance. The bursts of beam fire made temporary clearings in the sandstorm. In these clearings they can spot the shape of four Desert Zakus advancing on them. Zaku machinegun fire pelt the ground as the GM Ground began dragging the crippled GM Command. Sanders threw two grenades, stalling the Pink Panther Patrol for the moment. Suddenly, Susan Magnus in her GMPGT noticed the sound of rotors and jet engines. Pivoting to her left, she barely brought up her arm shield in time to absorb a hail of mini-missiles. She spots what look to be Gunship Helis and Dopps converging on them in the chaos of the sandstorm. Magnus smartly switches her beam rifle for her 100mm machinegun and began blasting at the Zeon aircraft. Meanwhile, the other GMPGT continues to pump beam interdiction fire. Soon, Lady passes the Cowboy while dragging Sanders. "Enjoying the ride Lieutenant?" asks Jason Holmes in his usual humor as he adjusts his sights. "Less talk, more shooting!" The North African Air Patrol and Iraqi Air Patrol continue to harass Sanders's MS Team in order to slow them down for the Pink Panthers. But the Desert Zaku IIs barely got close as the Federal MS began throwing grenades. As they got closer to Gibraltar, Sanders's MS Team manages to knock down two Gunship Helis and a Dopp in the midst of the confusing sandstorm. The Cowboy managed to get a lucky shot and blew the arm off a Desert Zaku II with his beam rifle before the Zeon patrols fell back. It took half an hour of dragging Sanders's ass back to Gibraltar but they did it. Daren Sanders 5 VP gained, 3 days damage Far, far away from the major battlefields of the Earth Sphere sat the privately-owned Asteroid Mine of Equity Return. Stationed in Mars orbit, the miners laboriously extract ore and other minerals from the rock. It's not the best existence but at least there is work. The machinery is turned off during the night cycle, much to the benefit of both the owners and the workers. It is during the artificial darkness that four individuals crept into different parts of the Asteroid Mine. With them are four bags of high explosives; two bags to each team. Sticking to the shadows, they reach their destinations and began opening their bags. Fifteen minutes later one team finished setting the detonators and began to walk out to disappear. Suddenly hands grab them and shouting started in earnest throughout the station. As the four culprits are brought before the now awake owners of the station, cautious men approach the ominous bags left behind. What they found confirmed their expectations. Samson Ellison hovered in higher Mars Orbit in his Rick Dom, the 360mm Giant Bazooka and his first panzer faust ready. He waits for the digital countdown to finish. As soon as that happens, the bombs planted by the terrorists will explode and Ellison will make his presence known. After that, he'll force the Asteroid Mine to capitulate to him and Ellison will be richer. Or so the plan goes. The bombs exploded as planned and the Rick Dom thundered forward. But no sooner had Ellison fired his opening shots did the rogue mobile suit get illuminated by lights and civilian laser sensors. Even before his panzer faust round and his bazooka shell struck the colony, a radio call to the "idiot causing noise in the middle of the night" began broadcasting. Ellison angrily tuned in and is welcomed by the sight of his four "hired men" on their knees. They have obviously been beaten and Ellison knew his plan has been compromised. The owner of the Asteroid Mine appears on camera and began a heated argument with the ARES rogue pilot. In the end however, he threaten Ellison," You want the 'Equity Return'? Then come in here and take it from us!" The rogue pilot can see armed men in the background brandish their weapons right before the transmission was cut. Ellison swore; they know he wants the mine intact and going in there alone is suicidal. Not with a thousand armed workers. The Rick Dom flew a few laps around the Asteroid Mine, firing a handful of bazooka rounds to see if he can force the occupants to change their mine. But a single mobile suit is not enough for a siege, nevertheless to dislodge defenders who knew the real estate is worth more than annihilation. With a disgust and a vow to return, Ellison departs the asteroid mine "Equity Return" with no thought of what would happen to his captured conspirators... Samson Ellison 2 VP gained, 1 days damage Antoni Silverthorn 1 VP gained, no damage After just successfully fending off a Zeon patrol, the GM Cannon and its team treaded carefully through the dunes of the Sahara desert, keeping a careful eye on their surroundings. Every dune, every hill could hide a Zeon assailant, and the idea of being in hostile territory didn't particularly put Cameron's mind at ease. And to make matters worse, reports of a Federation strike team being decimated in the general vicinity had further justified the need to exercise extreme caution. Having retired his spectacles for his pair of contact lenses, Cameron peered at the visual images being fed into the screens, looking for any sign of the enemy, including tell tale signs of recent activity, but the frequent sandstorms being kicked up in the area would mask even the biggest of footprints in little time, and his Dish had reported the departure of such a sandstorm a couple hours prior. The pilot's worries would be all too true in a few minutes. Three different mobile suits sat in silence, their entire bodies being covered with the fine particles of the desert. Each one beneath more than a meter of sand, the Zeon units remained in a crouching position ready to spring out of their hastily made enclaves to ambush the poor Federation team that would walk through them. But for hours they had waited, and waited, and Harry was getting a bit impatient at all of the hours spent in the sand coffins. "You know, I think it's getting better now. I mean, the sun's falling, and if we're lucky, we just might catch them by next Tuesday," the Gouf pilot remarked sarcastically, leaning his head back. Silence filled the void left by Harry's words for a good half a minute until Grant decided to reply, "Be quiet and just don't forget to tear off the canvas coverings from the bazooka once you break the surface." The Gouf's pilot rolled his eyes and mockingly repeated Grant's words in a high pitched tone, but he hadn't bothered to broadcast it to anybody but himself. Cervantes, on the other hand, sat silently in his seat with his uniform soaked from the profuse sweating he had done from turning off his cabin's cooling system, choosing to endure the extreme temperature variations of the dry Sahara. He had turned off all forms of communications with his team, and merely closed his eyes and tried to feel or listen to any disturbance on the surface that could signal the arrival of their foes. The desert Zaku's pilot knew of Cervantes' situation, and he wasn't particularly in the mood to strike up a conversation with Harry, but time was ticking, even Grant's patience was drawing thin. Getting ready to contact his impatient team mate, he was instead interrupted by a shocked man who was shouting out violent epithets, "Shit! Shit! Something just fell on top of me! Shit!" One of Cameron's GM teammates had inadvertently stepped right on top of the Gouf's hiding location, and the loosely packed sand gave way to the multi ton mobile suit, causing one of its feet to fall in and hit the close combat suit on its shoulder. Immediately, the Gouf began to push itself out of the sand pit, knocking the GM off balance and making it crash on its side. The GM immediately swung its beam spray gun at the Gouf, which had already shot its heat rod at the mobile suit. A beam shot out of the spray gun, thoroughly melting through and detaching the blue mobile suit's left leg, while at the same time suffering the loss of its right arm from the heat rod's electric shock. Simultaneously, a large 240mm shell went barely above the Gouf's head as it fell towards the ground, having accidentally dodged Cameron Sune's expert firing thanks to the loss of a leg. Realizing that a battle was well under way, Grant quickly found himself at the surface of the sand dunes with the 280mm firmly in his Zaku's hands, already taking aim at the back of a second GM. But before Grant could fire, a second artillery shell came crashing into the muzzle of the launcher which created a secondary explosion that forced the Zaku pilot to toss the weapon away before the the rest of the weapon detonated. "When the hell is he going to start helping us?!" yelled Harry, continuing the fire the Gouf's machine gun at the shielded GM, though the bullets were beginning to severely degrade the metal obstruction. Replying through clenched teeth, Grant yelled back, "I don't know, he'll show up some time! Just stay alive!". He struggled to regain his balance from being pushed back from the explosion. Regaining its balance, the Zaku reached down for its heat hawk and activated it, swinging it upwards towards the GM. However, the previous explosion had alerted the GM to the presence of the Zaku and it swung its shield through the air, connecting the large metal object to the Zaku's head. Staggering back from his Zaku's decapitation, Grant fired his vulcans and launched a panzerfaust at the GM's general direction while jumping to the side, hoping that nothing else would hit him. Fortunately for him, Cervantes Zuhr had shot out of the ground to the right of the GM Cannon while removing the cover from the end of his giant bazooka. Leveling the recoilless rifle at the forward leaning GM Cannon, the Dom Funf's pilot pulled the trigger, sending a high velocity pike into the Federation artillery unit's left shoulder, blowing it and the arm that attached to it clean off. "Cervantes! I've been immobilized!" yelled Harry, somewhat glad at the sight of the clunky Dom Funf. His cry caught the attention of the Funf, and it quickly turned in its own radius to orient itself for a shot at the GM that was already firing its head vulcans and 90mm machine gun at the immobile Gouf, who had managed to bring up its smaller shield to protect its chest. Recovering from the surprise attack, Cameron shouted out to the GM's pilot to warn him of the incoming danger while hastily firing his 240mm cannon and vulcans at the speeding Dom. But just as the GM took the warning to turn around to meet his new attacker, another shot from its giant bazooka found its way through the GM's reactor. The resulting explosion forced the Dom to stop in its tracks and regain its original target, but its momentary stop allowed the GM Cannon to hit the Dom's legs with 60mm and 100mm rounds, effectively shredding one of the Dom's turbines that provided the cushion of air. Annoyed at his loss of movement, Cervantes turned his suit around and took aim at the GM Cannon with his bazooka, but just as he fired, he saw the remaining GM aim its beam spray gun in his direction, the Federation pilot having decided to disregard the blindly firing desert Zaku. Shutting his eyes closed, he awaited the inevitable only to hear a deafening explosion from the direction of the remaining GM. "Solid hit, Ms. Steel," reported the Luggun pilot, circling far above the heated battle, "you completely destroyed one of the GMs." Susan tried to suppress her glee as she was lining up a second shot for the surviving GM Cannon. She could see its head turn towards her Xamel's direction just as the large mobile suit sent another shell into the air. Cameron, now missing his 240mm cannon from the Dom's most recent shot, jammed his control stick backwards causing his suit to jerk backwards, barely avoiding the Xamel's second shot. Fully aware that it was now alone against a dedicated artillery unit and two operational Zeon mobile suits, the GM Cannon initiated a full thruster burn to retreat from the scene of the battle, successfully dodging the rest of the Dom Funf's shots. With beads of sweat dripping off his face, Cameron continued to complete booster assisted jumps, growing calmer as the distance between the Zeon and himself grew larger, but his worries were far from over when multiple klaxons went off in his cockpit warning the corporal of numerous missile locks. Looking up, the GM Cannon could barely see several missiles flying straight for it before a series of violent explosions rocked its pilot unconscious. Peering through her magnified view, Susan couldn't help but make an even bigger smile at the sight of the explosions, and she could only say one thing: "Gotcha." Cameron Sune: 4 days damaged, 5 VP gained Cervantes Zuhr: 2 days damaged, 7 VP gained Susan Steel: 0 days damaged, 3 VP gained |