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It was a pretty ragtag bunch. Well, at least three of them were. Emil was fiddling with his uniform, kind of nervous and wondering why he was assigned to this mission. He'd spent what, one week tops at Side 6? He didn't understand how that suddenly made him an asset. But he kind of liked being an asset. It was a nice feeling, at any rate. Yoritomo and Caleb just kind of stood there, not talking much. They were dead tired, after packing Calebs Gelgoog into way more boxes than they had envisioned. Who knew that when you broke a mobile suit into parts the parts were so small. They kind of stood there, in the shuttle. They didn't really know what to say. Veronica wasn't talking much either, but it wasn't as if she didn't know what she was doing. Before being a fleet commander, Veronica had been a special operative, trained to do this exact sort of mission. It was no wonder why she wanted to lead it herself. And here she was, captaining a tiny shuttle, the two of them headed towards Libot, complete with very real but hastily constructed battle damage. They were fleeing from Zeon, after all. As they fled, a dozen or more Zakus and even a Val Varo shot past them, moving towards the space colony and ignoring the Republic patrols orders to stop. The Zeon Expeditionary Force sat just outside the border to Riah, waiting and watching. "I can't believe Alex got away with it and we're stuck in jail." Derek said, angrily. He and Jack Murphy had been in a Riah Republic prison for hours, waiting for their superiors to get them out. They were having a difficult time of it. Jack found prison a little odd, sitting there in his chair. It wasn't as if he could really leave quickly if he wanted to, and yet he was locked up. It was somewhat amusing. The jail was pretty state of the art, which surprised them. What Riah lacked in a conventional military, it made up for in an amazingly well organized defense force. They were always everywhere all the time, and pretty impossible to outsmart, although fairly easy to outmuscle. Two guards were posted outside the cell, and Derek had already given up trying to annoy them for fun. They were like palace guards, unwavering in their statue-i-tude. Suddenly, the very space colony shook, and a pair of military MPs with what appeared to be a Federal officer came to the room. "Looks like it's already started." The officer said, handing the guards a sheet of paper. They nodded and opened the door. "What's going on?" Derek asked, confused as to the shaking of the colony. Were they breaking him out by force? Nah... "We got your ass out of prison Carter. And on top of that, Zeon is attacking the colony and the Republic is blaming us." He looked very, very annoyed. "You know how many people took photos of your armed mobile suit inside a Riah colony?!" "Uhh, sorry sir. Should we go defend the colony sir?" Derek asked, kind of perplexed. "You're damn right we are." The officer said. Derek saluted and ran out the door. Murphy wheeled himself along, following. "Not you Murphy, your GM is in ground combat mode remember. Fighting's outside the colony." "What?? Who's idea was it to refit the damn thing?!" Jack yelled, feeling suddenly like a third wheel. The fighting was intense, but very quick. The EF fleet moved itself around the colony, the two Salamis and Columbus using their AA to beat away at the attacking Duchy forces. The Republic antiaircraft guns on the space colony actually joined in the battle, but not until a stray Zeon shell accidentally hit the colony wall. GMs fought Zaku Kais, the Zakus having numbers and a slight advantage in skill. The antiaircraft support, and the Balls and Torieres supplied by the Riah Defense Force did not help very much. Felix blasted completely past the group, his Val Varo going around the other side of the colony wall. Meanwhile, Richard and Olivia descened on the lead Salamis, but expert AA gunners kept them from doing serious damage. Before they could find a way around the defense grid, a GM Command swept in behind them, hitting Olivias suit with a beam lance and taking out one of the Rick Doms legs. "HENSHIN A GO-GO BABY!" Turbulance yelled, strangely. Breakfisters eyes gleamed behind his helmet, his GM pushing the two elite Rick Doms back for a moment. However, Anya joined the fray, the busty Zaku pilot firing machinegun rounds and forcing Turbulance back. "Try to coordinate our Saberfish with the enemy fighters, see if we can keep each out of each others firing arcs." The Columbus captain ordered, floating on the bridge and watching the battle unfold. As he floated, he caught a small moving object that wasn't coming up on allied scanners. "The hell is that thing?" He asked, just as the bit fired on his ship. The Columbus was caught in between a half dozen mega particle streams, its reactor exploding in a triumphant fireball. Florian exhaled slowly, trying to ignore the pain in his head. Operating outside the Riah border, his bits were much farther away from him than in a normal combat scenario. While the battle raged on, the two shuttles slowly approached the closed landing bay. Veronica did not lose her cool, repeating the distress signal over and over and trying to get the colonists to open the bay and let them in. Bernie however, was freaking the fuck out. "This is CMC shuttle 83, repeat, this is CMC shuttle 83, I have wounded on board and I-AHHHH!" Bernie yelled, a Zaku and then a GM both flying straight by his shuttle. There was a reasonable chance that a single stray beam shot would kill all of them. Slowly the landing bay opened, but as it did, a Saberfish and two Guncannons rocketed out, Derek, Alex and Cassandra joining the fray. In seconds they demolished three Zakus, charging out towards the Duchy lines. "Alright, they'll be able to get in now." Banks said, grinning and dodging enemy fire simultaniously. He switched his intercomm on, relaying a message on public channels. "Enemy has sent out reinforcements, all troops retreat." The Rick Doms and Zakus moved back, not wanting to lose too many casualties in a battle without ship support. Derek, Alex and Cassandra pursued, but pulled back when the Talos suddenly exploded. A big, red mobile armor flew through the wreckage, Felix grinning at his victory. His surprise attack from behind the colony was a success. Derek fired cannon and machinegun rounds at the Val Varo, and Felix responded with his own weaponry, but the battle was not a long one. Both sides passed each other, moving back to their respective bases. A few minutes later, a very serious Veronica Wu and a ragtag and scared group of military children coalesced on the landing bay. "Why are we standing by for inspection. They can't inspect us. If they inspect us they'll know what we're carrying." Bernie and Emil both stammered, almost identically. "Shut up." Veronica said, grumbling. A group of people floated over, Veronica pleased when she saw who they were. "Why hello there Colonal." Steiner Hardy said, giving a quick salute. "We'll be your inspection team." "Pleased to meet you." Veronica said. "I hope we have a decent hotel. We're technically on shore leave you know." Emil Myberg - 1 VP, 1 CP gained, No Damage Veronica Wu - 1 VP, 1 CP gained, No Damage Yoritomo Naizen - 1 VP, 1 CP gained, No Damage Caleb DeGrau - 1 VP, 1 CP gained, No Damage Florian Cuyler - 6 VP gained, Injured 1 Olivia Baklitskaia - 6 VP gained, Repairing 3 Richard Banks - 6 VP gained, Repairing 2 Anya Wilds - 7 VP gained, Repairing 3 Felix Mendalshon - 6 VP gained, Repairing 2 Junichi Ghettid - 6 VP gained, Repairing 2 Alex Sentara - 4 VP gained, Repairing 1 Cassandra Elaine Beckett - 4 VP gained, Repairing 2 Breakfister Turbulance - 4 VP gained, Repairing 3 Jack Murphy - 1 VP gained, No Damage Derek Carter - 4/2 VP gained, Repairing 2 Roslyn O'Hara - 1 VP, 1 CP gained, No Damage |