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Kalila's lips tighten in annoyance as her Gouf steps into another pond, almost tripping. In the pouring rain, it's difficult to see more than a few meters in front of her mobile suit without infrared sensors in the driving rain, but the infrared sensors are also making viewing the terrain a little more difficult. Still, it's nothing she can't handle... just irritating. The Zaku and Zaku Cannon slog along behind her, the pilots keeping their opinion on the weather, if any, to themselves. Bringing up the rear is Jonas's Gouf, painted in the usual SS stripes, the double lightning bolts on it's shoulder armor marking it's pilot for one of the elites. Kalila grumbles to herself again, imagining she can feel eyes boring into her back. "This time... this time for sure...!" A faint blob seems to appear ahead, and she switches back to visual tracking, showing her the glint of light as a GM turns it's head. Towards her. Cursing, she raises her bazooka and pulls the trigger, sending a shell arcing outwards into the darkness with a quiet *pfoom*, punctuated by a loud crack of thunder. Almost immediately afterwards, she spots a muzzle flash, as Cameron pulls the trigger on his main weapon, sending a round downrange... which arcs a few meters over Jonas's Gouf, exploding somewhere in the distance. In the cockpit of his GM, Cameron is in the midst of cursing out the Dish pilot. "What do you mean you can't give me good coordinates? They're practically on top of us!" "Sir, the weather down there, to be blunt, is crap. This Dish can't fly well in bad weather, and on top of that, the rain is making our attempts at look-down radar rather worthless. Also, we can't get a laser link through the clouds!" "God damn you!" Cameron snaps the radio off, an annoyed look on his face, and ducks in his seat as a round from a Zaku Cannon sails by. It proves even less accurate than his shot, however, exploding somewhere off in the distance. Lowering his targeting scope, he squints at the three mobile suits running his way... two Goufs, and a Zaku. He grimaces as rain drips across the faceplate of his GM, putting a large blob in his vision briefly, then pulls the trigger, a round exploding near the Zaku and riddling it's leg with shrapnel. The Zaku falls to it's knees, almost losing it's balance, but manages to take up a defensive position, returning fire with a rather inaccurate blaze of machinegun fire. The two Goufs charge towards the GM Cannon's position at full throttle, sprays of water and mud coming up with each step. "C'mon, go, go, go! This is the best shot we've had at this guy in weeks!" A volley of machinegun fire sails through the air around Kalilia's Gouf, a few rounds bouncing off her shield as she fires the last round from her bazooka one handed, tossing it to the side as she draws her heat saber as Steve sends a spray of 75mm rounds at the first GM's position. The GM fires in short, careful bursts, attempting to knock out both Goufs... he's obviously rather skilled. Unfortunately, the short distance combined with the small ammunition capacity of his machinegun means that he runs out of ammo far before Kalila does, being forced to huddle behind his shield as she runs up to him, drawing a beam saber and stepping forth to do battle. Spotting the indistinct shape of Jonas's Gouf through the rain, Kalila flashes it a quick hand signal, then steps forward, slamming her saber towards the GM, the GM parrying and thrusting towards her. She deflects the beam saber with her shield, a glowing line trailing across it, and flicks out her heat rod, the Federation mobile suit quickly jumping back and slicing it off... and then stiffening as a heat sword penetrates through it from behind. Inside his cockpit, Jonas smirks. "First kill to me!" An explosion suddenly slams into his shield, sending his Gouf sprawling-- at this range, Cameron is a little more accurate. "NO YOU DON'T!" Hitting her thrusters, Kalila vaults her Gouf into the sky, Cameron cursing as his next shot misses completely. He opens fire with his vulcans and machinegun as her Gouf lands near his position, scoring several more hits as he backs away hastily, sending bullets tracking across the Gouf's armor, tearing off several of the spikes and landing a solid hit to the right arm, causing the 75mm's magazine to jam, the gang-fire back into the ammo feeds, causing the arm to combust. Undetered, Kalila lunges forwards, slashing her saber through the barrel of Cameron's cannon as his GM stumbles backwards. "Shit! Back off, you spacenoid scum!" Raising his machinegun again, he empties it into the legs of Kalila's Gouf, causing it to topple over. Inside, Kalila punches the monitor hard enough that it cracks. After all this, to come so close and then fail at the last minute... "The one backing off will be you, you imperialist trash!" Dozens of 75mm rounds riddle the frame of Cameron's GM as Steve approaches at a run. The heavier armor on the legs helps some, but not enough, and all sorts of important bits and pieces start flying off as Cameron belatedly holds his shield in front of him. With no other recourse left, he flings the shield into the mud in front of Cameron, tripping him, then fires all of his remaining vulcans into his backpack, severing numerous power cables and disabling Steve's mobile suit. "There... you'd think you idiots would have learned not to mess with me by no--" Screaming incoherently, Kalila fires her Gouf's thrusters, sending it sliding and bumping along the ground towards Cameron, . Cameron, interrupted in the middle of his speech, backs up hastily, but not quite fast enough, and the heat sword transfixes his mobile suit's groin, sending it toppling to the ground. A short time later, the Zaku Cannon peeps out of hiding, marches to the position, and checks the three mobile suits. Assuming that Cameron is dead, it grabs a leg of each Gouf and begins dragging, the three mobile suits slowly vanishing into the distance. Outcome: Zeon victory Cameron: 6 VP gained, 4 days damage Kalila: 8 VP gained, 3 days damage Steve: 8 VP gained, 3 days damage Ross's Dom crouches behind a small hill as the rising sun tracks across the expanses of the savannah. He's been waiting here for almost two hours, and the Zaku pilots with him are starting to get kind of antsy, though they arn't doing anything about it as of yet. His Dom's massive bazooka's paint is scratched and faded, as is the paint of his own mobile suit, testifying to the long hours spent travelling in the grassy plains, through more than one dust storm. "How do you know they'll be here, sir?" Ross waves off the concerns of the Zaku Cannon's pilot. "Relax... they've taken this patrol route every day for the last week. They're just a little late today, that's all." He brushes a nonexistent piece of dust out of his face, and squints... finally spotting what he's looking for, a trio of slowly moving specks in the distance, carrying small shields and machineguns. "Targets confirmed. Don't attack yet... remember, these are the Ground Types, they have excellent armor. Wait for them to close in..." The three GMs slowly march closer, closer, closer... "Wait for it... wait for it...." ...and pass the hill. "Go!" The thrusters of Ross's Dom ignites as he roars out from their hiding spot. Ross carefully targets the furthest GM to the left, pulling the trigger as a round erupts from his massive bazooka, and the two Desert Zakus with him blaze away enthusiastically, if a little inaccurately, with their machineguns from their positions around the area, a cannon shell flying in as well from the Zaku Cannon. The combined barrage causes Ross's target to explode, the other two GMs taking some minor damage as they spin around, going back to back and opening fire with their machineguns. Ross frowns; the machinegun fire didn't do much to the three mobile suits, though his bazooka had a more than satisfactory impact. "Keep firing!" Unsuprisingly, the two GM pilots opt to ignore the two Desert GMs plinking at them in favor of the big, angry Dom zipping around them, and open up with their machineguns. Ross jinks and strafes, many of the rounds going wide, though a few track across his mobile suit's chest, one impacting on his scattering beam gun, putting it out of action. Returning fire with two more bazooka rounds, Ross hits the shield of one of the GMs squarely, knocking his target to the ground as the shield is separated from it's owner. The second GM suddenly turns and swats an incoming cracker with it's shield, causing it to fly back the way it's come, landing between the legs of the thrower. The Zaku pilot's eyes widen briefly, then the cracker detonates, sending his mobile suit flying skywards in pieces. Gritting his teeth, Ross triggers his last couple of bazooka rounds, which slam into the legs and arm of his target, knocking it to the ground as the explosions deform the tough armor of the mobile suit, twisting and gnarling the mobile suit's frame. Tossing his bazooka aside, he draws his heat saber, swooping in... ...what was that...? ...and then on a sudden feeling, his Dom slides left instead of right, the beam saber slash of the first knocked-down GM going wide as it lunges to it's feet, spraying him with vulcan fire. Ross quickly stops his Dom, rotating it 180 degrees with lightning speed, then suddenly lances forwards, his saber slamming into the cockpit of his target almost before either he or the pilot can react. "...the hell? How did I...?" The second GM, unfortunately for Ross, proves not quite out of the fight, and the pilot takes the opportunity to empty his machinegun into Ross at close range, the Dom's camera shattering along with several of it's leg thrusters becoming perforated. Ross hastily jumps back as electricity arcs over the surface of his mobile suit, wincing as the damage reports flood in. "Alright, that's enough! We're pulling back!" The remaining Desert Zaku throws a smoke grenade, and the three remaining mobile suits hastily retreat as aircraft begin to appear in the sky... Ross Howe: 7 VP gained, 3 days damage The pair of GMs flanked Ion Bossa-Nova's GM Ground Sniper, desperately trying to cover their superior's back in the wiping and howling winds of the North African dust storm. Bossa-Nova had hoped that the massive dust storm would provide cover for her forces entering Zeon-controlled North Africa, as her previous attempts had met with failure. "Jesus," one of the GM pilot's cursed, "This weather is terrible." "Agreed," Bossa-Nova replied. She was glad that she had gotten her Ground Sniper outfitted for the African desert. "We have to carry on regardless." Her suit's audio system suddenly picked up the familiar whine of Dopp jet engines. "Dopps," she yelled. Overhead, a trio of Dopps screamed through the dust storm, dropping a dozen missiles nearly on top of the Federation forces. The Federation mobile suits quickly scattered, each equipping their 100mm GM machineguns, their best option in the environment. Bossa-Nova opened up with his machinegun, spattering 100mm shells into the air, doing her best to strike at the Dopps. Suddenly, the sand dune nearby her GM Ground Sniper exploded, sending up dirt and sand, revealing a pink Zaku II-D "Desert Zaku." Zaku bazooka in hand, the pink mobile suit swiftly directed its weapon at Bossa-Nova, firing a 280mm rocket her way. "Zakus!" Bossa-Nova cursed, backpedaling. The rocket round struck Bossa-Nova's chest, violently shaking the Ground Sniper. Her GM's opened up with their machineguns on the new target, allowing Bossa-Nova to fall back. The Desert Zaku quickly throttled to full speed, strafing past the Federation mobile suits. "There's two more!" screamed one of Bossa-Nova's pilots. Rocket fire rained down on the Federation mobile suits, a second rocket jarring Bossa-Nova's Ground Sniper. The Dopps made another overhead pass, strafing the Federation forces with 20mm vulcan fire. Scanning the new battlefield, sand whipping by, Bossa-Nova knew she was in trouble. Another sand dune collapsed under the weight of a quartet of charging Goggs. "Screw this," Bossa-Nova said, her Ground Sniper haven taken damage, "Back to Gibraltar." Ion Bossa-Nova: 6 VP gained, 2 Days Damage, Blockaded by the Pink Panthers, Blue Barracudas, 4th North African Air Patrol |