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"Here he comes... just as expected. I don't know why he keeps trying, honestly... the last time he damn near got killed." Hector waves a hand irritably at the nearby GM CCT, which is laying in a dust wallow with him, sighting down it's machinegun. He hefts his GM's bazooka a bit, aiming downrange. Overhead, the Dish floats high in the deep blue sky, the brilliant midday sun shining down. In the distance, four mobile suits can be seen approaching, with rather familiar markings. Licking his lips, Hector carefully aligns his bazooka's sights with the lead mobile suit, and depresses the trigger. Unfortunately for him, at the exact same time, Andrew decides to go to the right, to avoid the carcass of a dead water buffalo, so the round sails past his Zaku and slams squarely into the chest of the suprised Desert Zaku pilot behind him. The explosion causes the tan-colored mobile suit to fall over backwards as it catches fire, ammunition cooking off, the charge killing the pilot instantly. "Shit...!" The other three mobile suits split apart seemingly like clockwork, the two Desert Zakus leaning forwards and engaging their thrusters as they begin to ski over the ground at high speed, and the Zaku Cannon seemingly vanishing into the underbrush as it steps into a small pond and crouches, Chai sending his first round downrange with a THOOM, the shell landing right at the edge of the dust wallow that Hector is in and showering both GMs with dirt. "Stay cool and keep moving, Martel. They set up well, but there arn't enough of them to take advantage of it." "Roger that." The two Zakus increase speed as they close in on the wallow, the two GMs there tightening the grips on their respective weapons as they wait for the Zakus to close in. Hector fires first, sending another bazooka round downrange, but Andrew has been watching for just that, and turns to the side suddenly, the shell going wide. He takes advantage of Hector's reload time to skid to a stop, taking careful aim. Realizing what's coming, the other GM half-raises itself, but Martel smirks as she flips a cracker grenade through the air, and the CCT takes cover as the detonation throws up another fountain of dirt. "C'mon, c'mon... there!" Andrew smiles in satisfaction as the reticule blinking across the upper body of Hector's GM Ground finally changes from blinking yellow to red, and the lock-on tone sounds. Hector's reaction is paniced, and fear of death motivates him as he raises his bazooka and prepares to fire, but unfortunately for him, Andrew fires first, the recoiless round streaking across the savannah and slamming into the left side of his GM's face. The explosion tears and goughes the head, not decapitating it, but burning out the inside quite efficiently as the vulcan ammo within detonates. Shrapnel tears into the sights of Hector's bazooka, rendering it little more than a high-tech, expensive club. Yes...! We can do this! Andrew triggers another round from his cannon, which slams into Hector's mobile suit again, hitting the same spot as before, and penetrating down into the chest and out the back. Shrapnel tears through the cockpit of the GM, some stabbing into Hector's abdomen and stomach, but by a miracle, the jet of flame from the armor piercing round's passage misses the cockpit completely, so he's only knocked unconscious by the shock waves from the blast instead of flash-fried. Then a burst of fire tracks across Andrew's mobile suit, dancing across the leg before a grenade slams into the head of his Zaku, knocking it sprawling backwards. The pilot of the GM CCT screams out something incoherent as she charges forth, firing her magazine constantly, but standing up proves to be a bad idea as Chai slams a shell into it's arm, shredding the machinegun. As the GM steps backwards, off-balance, Martel's Zaku comes around, ducking as the GM's pilot frantically flails at her with vulcan fire, and presses her recoiless cannon against the cockpit hatch even as more vulcan fire destroys her cameras. "And down you go...!" She pulls the trigger, and the recoiless cannon fires into the GM CCT at point blank range, flinging it away from her as propellant, the round itself, the pieces of the pilot, and Minovsky plasma all exploding from the back of the mobile suit in an impressive conflagration. In the darkened cockpit of his Zaku, Andrew shakes the cobwebs out. "Martel, did we get him?" "Sure did, boss. They're both down and out!" Hector: 6 VP gained, 3 days damage, 3 days injury Andrew: 8 VP gained, 2 days damage The shape of Texas Colony spins slowly nearby, slightly off kilter, as a Ball from the colony finishes setting up beacons around the area. In the cockpit of his GM, David grins, waiting impatiently for the fight to start, tapping his paintball-loaded MG against his shield. Danyan sits more calmly, his eyes closed, trying to feel out the intricacies of the GM Juggler's psycommu system, while Candice floats quietly as well, seemingly not paying attention. Arcaile taps his fingers against his seat impatiently on the bridge of the Sleipner. "Alright, just to go over the rules one more time... you have to stay within the beacon area or you're disqualified, and the computer on the Sleipner will register hits from our weapons. If it says you've taken too much damage, you're dead and thus out. Winner buys the drinks." David nods impatiently. leaning forwards in his seat. "Yeah, yeah, we got it. Let's go already!" Smiling faintly, Arcaile leans back in his seat. "Very well, then..." He makes a gesture and the screen cuts off, and a second later, a green flare shoots from one of the Sleipner's missile batteries, exploding with a bright flash as the three mobile suits explode into motion. David zips out the fastest, racing towards the bridge of the Sleipner, which immediately begins to lay down a barrage of paintballs from it's antiaircraft cannons, forcing him to back away as red and yellow paint splotches cover his shield. He grimaces and fires a burst from his machinegun, but right before his GM's fingers tighten on the trigger, it's rocked as a hail of paint bullets from one of Danyan's balls slams into it's right side, and he quickly thrusts backwards, attempting to throw off Danyan's aim. The eerily accurate stream of paintballs suddenly stops, the Ball just hanging there, and he takes the opportunity to empty his magazine into it, starting to move back towards the Sleipnir as the Ball is registered as 'destroyed'. Frowning as his status indicator flashes, Danyan lifts his machinegun and aims at Candice as her GM swoops in, firing short controlled bursts, though they spatter off her shield, green fluourescent paint tracking off of it as she races in. The second Ball bit detatches, rotating slightly to bring the two paintball guns on it to bear, hitting the shield until it's literally covered completely, forcing Candice to throw it away. However, at this point, she's closer to the GM Juggler now, and her GM reaches back to yank a paint stick from the loop where it's attached to her backpack, slicing it towards the torso of Dayan's mobile suit... ...and missing completely, as he turns to the side, the slash leaving her GM completely open. "No, that won't work..." murmurs Dayan, as he presses his machinegun against her backpack and fires several shots. A few seconds later, Candice's screen turns red, showing she's been destroyed, and she grimaces, turning her GM to watch the rest of the fight. Danyan sends off his other Ball now, towards where David is attempting to attack the Sleipner's bridge; the gunners of the Sleipner are putting down quite a barrage, which has managed to keep him away from his target so far,and Arcaile is slightly handicapped by being unable to use his beam weapons. Concentrating, Dayan moves the Ball behind his target, a faint headache starting to rise in his brain, and then sends a command, the Ball suddenly ramming forwards and pushing the GM. Inside the cockpit, David is thrown forth against his restrains by the sudden acceleration. "Hey! What the hell!?" Taking advantage of the rather annoying GM's sudden cessation of movement, Arcaile waves one arm grandly. "Fire all missiles!" The Salamis suddenly vomits forth a missile barrage, even as David kicks the Ball away and slashes it with a paint stick, and he manages to dodge the first two, but the next nails him, splattering his entire mobile suit with fuschia paint, and the rest just kick him around as he curses. Then, the sensors on the Sleipner light up, as a heat signature flashes from above. Arcaile looks at one of the screens, leaing forwards in his seat, as the form of the GM Juggler dives down from 'above' the Sleipner, it's thrusters at maximum output. "Fire, fire, fire! Shoot him down!" "He's directly above us! We can't aim well!" Dayan cuts straight through the barrage, ejecting his external armor as it becomes saturated with paint, then breaks through as he accelerates even more, then fires his thrusters on full reverse as he approaches the Sleipner, coming to rest slightly below it's bridge, the camera looking directly in, then leaning back a bit, raising his machinegun, and pulling the trigger, splotching the bridge windows with fire cone orange paint as a drumming reverbates throughout the bridge from the impact. The screens on the bridge turn red, and Arcaile leans back in his chair, looking annoyed. "Well done, Dayan..." Danyan Jouti: 6 VP gained, 1-1 days damage Candice Ro: 5 VP gained, 1-1 days damage David Renault: 5 VP gained, 1-1 days damage Arcaile Nasr: 5 VP gained, no damage The weather hadn't lifted yet, but to Touya, that was okay. The rain seemed to reflect much the way he felt, and found it oddly comforting. He had joined together with several other Federal teams the day before searching for a Zeon, but with the poor visibility and conditions in general, they had done little but watch as the odd aircraft peeked through the thick cloud cover. A flash to the left from a hilltop was all that announced the arrival of Zeonic forces. Mud and water exploded around Touya, who sent his GM Sniper Custom running for the nearest cover. Judging by the amount of fire, he estimated at least two enemies, probably Zakus. An abandoned and crumbling brick building appeared, and he made for the cover it provided. "Bad Feddie, this is mine," Edward Night stated with a grin, his Gouf standing from it's crouch and the 75mm machineguns in it's fingers unleashing a torrent of fire toward the high-performance Federal suit. "Shit!" Touya cursed, sending his GM bursting to the side as he pulled his beam pistol from it's storage hardpoint on the suit's leg. Firing rapidly it's full five shot capacity to keep the blue Gouf at bay, the Federal officer attempted to gain space from the Gouf while using him as cover from the Zakus, who had already ceased fire to move in against the lone sniper. Night, much more accustomed to his suit and how to use it, simply used the powerful thrusters of the Gouf to close the distance, pulling his heat sword out in a smooth motion. Steam rose from the blade as it glowed red, appearing to be some otherworldly and demonic thing as it closed in on the GM. Dropping the beam pistol, Touya activated the wrist-mounted beam saber and brought the weapon to guard himself. Stopping short of a full-on shoulder tackle, the Gouf threw it's heat rod out, the flexible weapon quickly wrapping the beam saber arm. Pulling foward, the Gouf cleaved the GM's arm cleanly at the elbow, stripping Shigetsu of his defense. "You lose," Night states, spinning his Gouf with a flare and beheading the GM in a smooth motion. Shigetsu shook within his cockpit, knowing he was at the mercy of the Zeon fighter and expecting the final blow as his backup cameras began focusing. His foward facing camera came online just in time to catch on of the Zakus launching a kick at the chest of the GM, knocking it to the muddy ground, and leaving Touya in darkness once more. Touya Shigetsu: 3 days damage, 6 VP Edward Night: No damage, 8 VP Cherish checks the gauges in the cockpit of her Saberfish, going down the checklist as she lifts off from the deck of the Swordfish, Nolan lifting off behind her. "Alright... now, this is just a little training, remember. We're going to simulate your mobile suit attacking the Swordfish so we can get in a little practice defending it from mobile suits." She advances the throttle slightly, boosting smoothly away from the Fuji through it's hatch, until she's a few hundred meters away. Nolan's GM zips out to it's position slightly more quickly next. "Right then... let's do it!" A flare fires from the Swordfish, and it immediately opens up with it's AA guns as Nolan engages his thrusters, zipping towards Cherish's saberfish like a fast, orange gnat, quickly growing as she pushes the throttle forwards. Hastily engaging rotational thrusters, she manages to sideslip Nolan's initial attack, a burst of paintballs narrowly missing as she pulls away. She advances the throttle all the way, knowing that Nolan will be coming back around, and quickly flips end for end as she thrusts towards the GM, opening up with a pair of missiles. Nolan is a little suprised by her quick reaction, but manages to easily dodge the projectiles, though he has to immediately go into acrobatics as the Swordfish's AA fire tries to nail him. "Hmm... how about this, then!?" Suddenly, he straightens out and his GM zips towards Cherish's fighter. Narrowing her eyes, she triggers the rest of her upper missile launchers and her vulcans, sending a barrage of paint balls and paint rockets sailing forth. Nolan manages to dodge most, but catches the rest on his shield, then quickly zips past Cherish, who is already turning to bring her weapons to bear on him. However, the speed of Nolan's mobile suit suprises her, and he doubles back, the GM's legs suddenly settling onto either side of her cockpit as he grabs on for dear life, Cherish immediately firewalling the throttle in an attempt to knock him away. "What the... get off, you idiot!" Cherish immediately goes into a series of acrobatics, but with the GM hanging onto it, her Saberfish now moves incredibly sluggishly, and her engines are starting to overheat, rapidly slowing it even more. Left with no other choice, she discharges her lower missile launchers into the back of Nolan's legs, spattering paint across her Saberfish in the process. Nolan triggers a burst from his vulcans into the hull right behind her cockpit,spattering cyan paint across the top, and prepares to swipe a paint stick across the cockpit... but all of a sudden, a missile from the Swordfish tags him directly in the chest, knocking his GM head over heels. Cherish: 7 VP gained, 1 days damage Nolan: 5 VP gained, 1 days damage John Seak floats quietly down the hall in the center of the Lunatic's Dream, snoozing peacefully as he dreams of a world of mathematically perfect crystal spheres. The faint scent of marijuana emits from the opening of his sleeping bag as Peter tows him down the hall, stifling a giggle as weight slowly increases, Jonas taking the other end of the bag as the two carefully carry it into the gravity wheel, their feet settling to the ground as their weight increases. "Sshh... don't wake him up. This is gonna be good!" whispers Peter as they carefully carry the sleeping bag up the stairs of the object set up within the wheel. Placing the sleeping bag carefully in the center of the stage set up there, they retreat to the outside, then wave to the crewman at a nearby breaker panel. "Alright, hit it!" Four incredibly powerful spotlights shine down on the sleeping bag, and Peter yells "Hey, John! Wake up! C'mon, it's breakfast time!" No response is forthcoming. "...what the hell?" Jonas climbs the stairs again, and opens the bag a little bit, revealing the peacefully sleeping face of John... and the earplugs pushed into his ears. "Dammit... he remembered what we did last time. Oh well, plan B!" Cutting a small hole in the bottom of John's sleeping bag, John stops briefly to don his Earth Federation customs officer uniform jacket before adjusting his cap, then procuring a fire extinguisher from his belt, smiling evilly as he places it against the hole, then jerks the trigger, jamming the pin to keep it down as he leaps backwards, raising his paintball rifle... John sails through his perfect world, the crystalline spheres turning about each other endlessly. He imagines he can see their orbits as they swing around one another. Too bad it's so cold here... cold... COLD!" His eyes open wide as he practically levitates out of his sleeping bag with a blood-curdling shriek, the sensation of freezing water blasting against his crotch more than sufficient to wake even a catatonic man. "AAAAAUUUUGH! WHAT THE CHRI--" *fut fut fut fut fut* He feels a series of stinging impacts against his ass and lower back, and howls with pain as hot pink pant spreads across his shorts and shirt. He turns, trying to shake the blurriness out, and brings his hands up to cover his face, as he spots what looks like two Earth Federation customs officers, rifles raised-- *fut fut fut fut fut* "OW! OWWW! STOP THAT, YOU LOUSY--!" A look of rage coming over his face, he runs towards the edge of the stage, tripping and falling off of it, though fortunately the gravity here isn't quite enough for his fall to do more than cause a minor annoy-- *fut fut fut fut fut fut fut fut fut fut fut fut fut fut* "I'm going to kill you two!" Peter and Jonas are practically doubled over laughing, and as John steps towards them, murder in his eyes, they break and run in opposite directions. "I hate you all!" Jonas Keller: 2 CP gained, no damage Hudson Kyle: 2 CP gained, no damage John Seak: 1 CP gained, 1 days injury It hadn't been a good week for Corporal Bossa-Nova. Her earlier attempt to move into the North African territory had been thwarted by no less than three Zeonic patrols: the Pink Panthers, the 4th North African Air Patrol, and the Blue Barracudas. The odds of running into just one patrol in the midst of the sandstorms was ridiculous but three? The odds boggled her mind. Today though things were expected to go much better. An alternate path had been found, and at the insistence of her superiors, Corporal Bossa-Nova was finally getting out of North Africa. Two standard GMs and a highly dependable hover truck on this quick trek joined her refitted Ground Sniper. In theory they would only need to follow a previously mapped out route, and in a few hours, they'd be home free. It hadn't gone that way. The storm had gone to near blackout conditions by the time they had left. The roads, landmarks, and topography that the map had outlined were horribly obscured by the raging storm. Every stop was followed by the rustle of maps, a flurry of hostile comments, and then a sharp order to keep going regardless of all the whining. “We're getting close, team,” Ion called over the comms while guzzling down the last of her water. She knew they weren't but she felt that it was important to break up the monogamy somehow. The rest of her squad didn't get a chance to respond. A flurry of missiles pierced the veil of sand, and in short order the team was thrown into chaos. They pushed their machines to evade and return fire, but in these harsh conditions, they couldn't do much of either. They didn't have to though. The missiles exploded all around them, showering their machines with even more sand, but that was it. None of the shots had scored hits. They were random. A Dopp pilot had jumped the gun, and thanks to the raging storm, had utterly missed his obscured targets. Corporal Bossa-Nova didn't give them a chance to make the same mistake twice. A quick order was followed by a flurry of fire that tore through the storm like a hot-knife through butter. They may have been firing blind, but the Dopps had made the mistake of giving away their position first. Half an hour passed like this. Missile fire would come in and a flurry of machinegun shells would answer it. The mobile suit team had so far taken relatively light damage. One of the GMs had taken a near direct hit to the backpack, but was still functioning thanks to some sort of miracle. Their guns were the worse off; the barrels were nearly molten hot and the ammunition was nearly spent. Thankfully no additional missiles ever came in. Another ten minutes passed before the Corporal felt it safe to move her unit forward, and then another five before she ordered the rest of her force to keep moving on. The thought to go out and search for confirmation of a kill crossed her mind, but she repressed it. The lives of her men were far more important. When it rains, it pours. While Jennifer Morales never really believed the maxim, her experience in Europe had begun to prove the motto true. Glad to be warm in the climate-controlled cockpit of her Gouf Custom, Morales watched her external monitors, rain falling hard. She rotated the Gouf's head, scanning the tree line. Seven Zaku IIFs, a Zaku IIK "Zaku Cannon" and an MS-09 Dom were arrayed along the top of a large, sloping hill, concealed among a line of thick trees. Camouflage netting and the rain easily concealed in darkness Morales' forces. "Are you sure the Feddies are coming?" Victoria Torrington, one of Morales' subordinates, asked over the radio. "Constantinople is going to be pissed that you borrowed six Zakus for nothing." "Oh, they're coming," Morales replied. "They've been hounding us for the last few weeks. They'll come. And then will kick their ass." "Excellent," Torrington replied. "Everyone know the plan?" Morales asked, checking the ammunition load out for her 75mm gatling gun. A chorus of "ayes" and "yesses" came over the radio. And now we wait, Morales thought, a wolfish grin on her face. And now we wait. "Goddamn weather," Tetsuya Morimoto cursed as he maneuvered his GM Cannon through the slog and mud along the banks of the Danube River. Behind him, five GMs, a GM Ground Sniper, a GM Command, and a Gundam MPGT followed, each equipped with their heavy weapon load outs. Nearly five thousand feet above, two Dish surveillance aircraft loitered, watching the skies and the ground for enemy movement. "Agreed," Will Barton echoed. Sitting in his Gundam MPGT, Barton was relieved to be on the offense against the Zeek bastards that had imprisoned him. "Where are we going again?" Qayin Gershom asked. "The top of that hill," Morimoto replied, pointing with his GM Cannon to a high hill east of the Danube River. The top of the hill, almost totally obscured by the rain. A line of trees stood tall on the crest of the hill. "We'll scout it out for Zeeks and clear them out. I'm pretty sure that they're up there. "Good," Barton replied. "I have a need to kick some serious Zeek ass." "Indeed," Gershom answered. He pointed to one of his GMs. "Top of the hill, Billy." "Yessir," Billy replied. Throttling to full speed, the GM began up the hill, while the rest of the Federation mobile suits came to a halt in a loose line. Billy's GM reached the top of the hill, standing only meters from the tree line, examining the forest. "See anything?" Gershom asked. "No, I don't think so," Billy answered. He turned his GM to face down the hill, and waved the GM's arm. The rest of the Federation mobile suits began up the hill as well. "Wait for it," Morales said softly, her 75mm gatling gun aimed at the torso of the GM. "Wait till they're closer." The GM turned back to face the trees, continuing to scan the forest. Morales could have sworn for a moment that the GM had looked directly at her Gouf Custom, but the GM moved on. The combination of the rain, the coming darkness, and the thick forest had concealed her suit perfectly. Several moments later, eight more Federation mobile suits, most of them GM models, reached the crest of the hill. Gavin Mitchell, one of Morales' pilots, whistled. "A lot of Feddies." "Yes," Morales replied, a wicked grin on her face. "FIRE!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, letting off a burst from her 75mm gatling gun, the burst landing squarely on the chest of the GM. Along the tree line, the other nine Zeon mobile suits opened fire. The Zaku IIFs from Constantinople opened up with Zaku bazookas, their rounds lancing forth from the darkness of the forest, striking several of the Federation mobile suits. Mitchell, wielding his Dom's large 360mm giant bazooka, also fired, while Torrington began firing her 180mm shoulder cannon and Ibrahim Il-Shahin began firing his 75mm machinegun attached to his Gouf's left hand. A tremendous volley of fire from the Zeon mobile suits crashed into the loose line of Federation suits, completely catching them off guard. The GM that Morales had aimed for was a target for several other Zakus and Mitchell's Dom, and within moments exploded violently from the impact of a half-dozen Zaku bazooka rounds and the concentrated fire from Morales' 75mm gatling gun. As the GM exploded, debris rained down over the new battlefield, and the Federation mobile suits began returning fire. "Holy shit!" Morimoto screamed as the tree line exploded in a brilliant stream of fire from concealed Zeon suits. unprepared for the valley, Morimoto staggered as two bazooka rounds struck his GM Cannon. "Return fucking fire!" he shouted. Frantically, Morimoto began firing his 240mm shoulder mounted cannon into the tree line, desperately hoping to nail one of the Zeek bastards that had surprised them. Several meters to Morimoto's left, one of Gershom's GMs exploded. The Federation line opened up. The GMs began firing their 100mm machinegun, while Gershom opened up with his beam gun and Barton leveled his 180mm artillery cannon and began firing into the woods. For several moments, both sides viciously exchanged fire, both sides taking damage. One of Barton's GMs exploded as four Zaku bazooka simultaneously exploded against the GM's torso. To Morimoto's right, an explosion ripped through the woods as one of the Zeon mobile suits exploded. "Keep pushing them," Morimoto yelled, firing another round from his shoulder mounted 240mm cannon into the forest. This time, Morimoto shouted in glee as his round impacted against one of the Zeek Zakus, which exploded. Rain pouring all around her, Morales cursed as she rapidly lost two of the Zaku IIFs that Constantinople had lent her. "Close in!" Morales ordered. Throttling her Gouf custom forward, she bounded out of the woods, let another burst from her 75mm gatling gun loose against another GM, and punched the release button for the arm gatling gun. As the shield gatling gun smashed against the muddy ground, Morales grabbed her heat sword, activating it. Facing a nearby GM Ground Sniper, Morales charged. The Ground Sniper, equipped with its 100mm machinegun, swung it face Morales' charging Gouf Custom, letting a burst of fire off. Morales dodged sideways, taking several machinegun wounds in the torso, and fired her heat whip. The heat whip struck against the Ground Sniper's machinegun with force, knocking it out of the Ground Sniper's hands. Continuing her charge, Morales swung downwards with her heat sword, barely missing the enemy mobile suit. Taking a sidestep, Morales slashed at the Ground Sniper a second time, striking the suit's arm shield. "Die!" Morales screamed, swinging for a third time, looping off one of the Ground Sniper's arms at the elbow. "Haha!" Morales yelled in glee, and stabbed forward with her heat sword, skewering the enemy suit through the torso. The Ground Sniper fell backwards as Morales withdrew her heat sword, landing violently on the muddy ground. "Shit," Barton cursed as he throttled backwards, dodging a blow from a Dom's heat saber. Drawing out one of his beam sabers, Barton stepped sideways, dodging a second slash from the Dom. Behind him, Barton's Gundam MPGT shook violently from the explosion of another mobile suit, though he wasn't sure which sides' suit it was. Focusing on the Dom, Barton stabbed with his beam saber, which the Dom easily maneuvered around, and it finally landed a blow against Barton's suit. Barton was just barely able to block the heat saber with his arm shield, the saber sinking deep into the shield. With quick ferocity, Barton stabbed the Dom through the torso with his beam saber, skewering the enemy suit. Barton backpedaled as the Dom exploded, raining debris on Barton's suit. "Sweet Jesus," he muttered, turning to face the battle. The Gouf Custom that had charged out from the woods was facing his Gundam MPGT. "Mitchell!" Morales screamed in fury. Without regard with the raging battle around her, Morales charged her Gouf Custom towards the Gundam GMPT, heat sword at the ready. Letting out a guttural roar, Morales swung downwards at the Gundam, which barely was able to backpedal out of the way. Morales swung again and again. A burst of machinegun fire from one of the remaining GMs struck against the Gouf Custom, sending Morales staggering to one side. "Stay out of my way," Morales yelled, turning to face the GM. Grabbing a fragmentation grenade from the Gouf's magnetic rack, Morales tossed it at the GM, sending the enemy suit backpedaling. The Gouf staggered again as the Gundam MPGT slammed itself into Morales' suit. "We've got to fall back," Gershom yelled over the radio. His GM Command had sustained serious damage from a series of Zaku bazooka rounds, and he had just finished cutting through a Zaku with his beam saber, letting the two halves of the Zaku fall uselessly to the ground. "I know," Morimoto cursed, now firing his 100 machinegun at one of the Zaku IIFs. "We've taken too many causalities." "Fall back!" Barton echoed, throttling away from the charging Gouf Custom. "Dish 1," Gershom asked quickly over the radio as the remaining Federation forces began to fall back, the last of the GMs providing covering fire. "Are we clear to retreat?" A crackling voice came over the radio in return. "Yes sir, Master Sergeant," the pilot of Dish 1 replied. "It loo-. Oh good god!" Mujib Mohammad Shahryar, sitting in the spacious cockpit of his Apsalus I, sped across the rainy sky of central Europe, hunting down a particular Gundam MPGT. "Sir," one of the two Dopp pilots accompanying the massive mobile armor announced, "I think I've spotted a pair of Dishs, maybe two thousand feet up." "Hrm," Shahryar murmured. "Not exactly a Gundam, but they should do." Powering his Apsalus to full speed, Shahryay gained altitude. Several minutes later, he spotted the circling Dishs. Off to the east, he spotted the massive exchange of weapons fire, clearly from at least a dozen mobile suits. "Hrm," he said again. "They must be watching out for their friends. Blue 1, Blue 2," Shahryay ordered his Dopps, "Take out the one on the left. I'll take the one on the right." "Acknowledged," the Dopp pilots yelled in unison, drifting to the north. Shahryay streaked towards his Dish at top speed. "This thing, for the most part, is a piece of junk," Shahryar said to himself. "But I have one advantage over this Dish. Size." The Dish finally seemed to notice the streaking Apsalus and began to dive downwards, desperately trying to avoid Shahryar. A small smile on his face, Shahryay continued on his course, streaking closer and closer towards the Dish. Shahryar laughed loudly as he slammed his Apsalus at full speed into the Dish. When he struck against the Dish, the aircraft exploded violently and the Apsalus shook violently. He laughed more. As Morimoto staggered towards the Danube River, he turned skywards, watching in horror as two massive explosions could be spotted in the rain clouds above. He turned to look up the hill where the Zeeks had flipped the ambush back on to the Federation, watching as a third GM exploded violently. "Fall back, goddamnit." As the Federation mobile suits fell back from the battlefield by crossing across the Danube River, Morales brought her Gouf Custom to a halt. "Victory!" yelled one of the Zaku IIF pilots in glee. "Victory," Morales echoed sadly, Mitchell's death heavy on her mind. Jennifer Morales: 8 VP, 2 Days Damaged Mujib Mohammad Shahryar: 8 VP, 2 Days Damaged Will Barton: 6 VP, 3 Days Damaged Qayin Gershom: 6 VP, 2 Days Damaged Tetsuya Morimoto: 6 VP, 3 Days Damaged |