|
As the days went by, they were looking increasingly ragtag. Misha and Caleb did not get along, Bernie had brought a kid in to help. Really, a kid. Steiner had hired some mercernary to assist them and she was missing more than a few screws. Veronica watched it all from her bed, wrapped in bandages. At this point she was honestly pretty glad she'd been injured, it gave her a good excuse to not put up with any of the crews schenanigans. "Bernie, get that kid out of here." She grumbled, quite loudly. Al had caught Bernie and Emil working on the Zaku Kai in the woods, and at that point they were stuck with him. They couldn't kill the kid, because that would cause a media incident, and also because Al was such a cute little kid. But they couldn't just let him go either, so they'd come up with a compromise. They took him to the base, but made him keep their big secret. Luckily, he was a bit of a war buff, and things had gone along splendidly. He'd even spent a few hours helping Misha reconstruct the Kampfer. "Aw, but miss Wu! Misha and I were having fun!" Al stomped his feet, pouting like he did with his mother. "Da', boy is good help, much better help than Caleb." Misha said, pointing an oil stained hand at DeGrau. Veronica didn't care. Not only did she not want Al there, but she'd had to physically stop Misha from giving him vodka not twenty minutes ago. She was a mother, after all. "No. We're about to do our final preperations." She got out of the bed, painfully moving towards Al. Veronica got down on one knee, and scratched his hair like she would her own children. "If you're around here tonight, you could get arrested, or even killed. I wouldn't want to put your parents through that, okay?" Veronica smiled. Al frowned, but grudgingly nodded. He said his goodbyes and left the building. Steiner was happy to see Al go. He was much worse with kids, being more the bachelor type. He'd even wanted to kill the little tyke, before Bernie, Veronica and Emil had talked him out of it. Roslyn chuckled in the back, watching the scene unfold. She was startled that they were giving her so much intel. It hadn't started until after Veronica had been injured, and maybe they were making up for the lack of one of their men. She sat in on the briefing, feigning ignorince and comic senility the way she always did. However, she had her own plan, and it wasn't quite what Veronica and Steiner were laying out for her... "Maintenance crew huh. Alright, you guys go ahead." The gate officer said, giving a nod and waving them in after looking at their ID badges. Steiner, Garcia, Emil, Yoritomo and Bernie all waltzed right in, wearing Federation issue uniforms and carrying boxes full of 'maintenance equipment.' "That was easier than I thought." Emil said, looking around. He was honestly more than a little worried that somebody might recognize him. He wasn't really sure if the Federation knew he'd defected, but now would be a bad time to find out. "Shut up." Steiner said, sternly. Veronica had been too injured to go with them and lead the mission, but she was at least able to run CIC operations from their makeshift base. Both of Veronicas fire-honed skills were coming in very handy on this mission. They'd managed to get some electronic blueprints of the facility, from before it had been turned into a Federation base. Yoritomo kept the blueprint running in a makeshift app on his phone, pretending like he was texting while he led the team closer and closer towards the only room large enough to be a mobile suit testing facility. "Hi." Bernie said, waving at somebody and smiling as they walked by. The group gave him several mean looks. Bernie and Emil were certainly the third wheels of the operation, even though Emil had proved himself by saving Veronica not two days before. The crew turned the corner, and came across a small relaxation area, several Federation pilots lounging about and playing cards at a table. One was in a wheelchair, another wearing almost a Char Aznable like mask. It was strange and kind of surreal. Garcia and Yoritomo both stared at Turbulance, blinking repeatedly. "I'm the sexiest thing you've ever seen, I know." Breakfister smiled, his way of saying hello. He was used to the excessive attention, and revelled in it. "Hi!" Bernie responded, not knowing what to do. There were a few moments of unease, the groups awkwardly stopping and watching each other. Derek and Jack put down their cards. Yoritomo slowly put down his phone, hand starting to reach for the pistol hidden in his jacket. After a few seconds, Alex Sentara was the first to speak. "That's an interesting accent man. Where are you from?" "Oh. Uh, Australia." Bernie said. It was the first thing he could think of, looking up at the ceiling and trying to remember his history lessons. They actually had assigned cover stories, but Bernie was way off the mark. "Oh yeah? Sorry you're on leave out here. I hear we just recaptured the outback." Derek said, looking back at his cards. "Yeah, it's real pretty this time of year. Snow everywhere." Bernie said, laughing a bit. Steiner coughed loudly, the rest of them were already at the other end of the room. "Ah. Work to do, excuse me!" Bernie said, waving slightly and rushing off. The group quickly made their way down the corridoor. "They seemed like nice guys." Murphy said. He dropped the hand of cards. "I gotta fold and get out on standby though, my shift today." "Yeah... Sucks to be you." Alex said, snickering. He tossed a chip into the pot. "I'll raise you." "Breakfister Turbulance doesn't back out from a fight!" BT said, matching the raise. The two stared each other down like schoolboys. "You two are ridiculous. I'm out." Derek said, tossing his cards on the table and leaning back. He looked up at the ceiling, idly. Alex Sentara and Breakfister Turbulance stared at each other, both refusing to show their cards or speak for literally two or three minutes. It was a mexican standoff of epic proportions, both soldiers trying to gain the upperhand in comic manliness. It was as if showing their cards and winning the game was not the point, they each had to make the other cavve before the real battle ocurred. "Hey..." Derek said, talking to himself while Alex and BT stared each other down. "Wait a second... Wait just a damn second." He suddenly jumped out of his chair, knocking the table and all the cards onto the floor. They would never know who had really won. "That group was a bunch of moonfucks! Right now it's summer in Australia!" While the infantry made their way into the secret Federation base, the Cavalry finished preparations for their debut. Misha and Caleb, having donned their flight suits and strapped themselves into their cockpits, had finished their nearly sibling-like rivalry, and were now men of war. Misha drank a gulp from his flask, keeping a good buzz going for the battle to come. "All systems ready." Caleb said, checking the energy on his beam machinegun. If the capture operation failed, it would be his job to destroy the enemy Gundam. "Alright, you two are clear to launch. Good hunting." Veronica responded. She winced a little, her bullet wound throbbing. The Kampfer and Gelgoog slowly stood up, destroying the entire building around them as they rose. Calebs red mobile suit blasted off into the air, quickly reaching the zero G center of the colony and hovering there. Misha took the ground route, the Kampfer soaring down highways just above the civilian traffic. Over at the Riah colony defense station, an aide hurried to the commander on duty. They were badly equipped, but Riah always responded to an incident with a surprising amount of speed. "Sir, we're getting numerous eye witness reports, there are two Zeon mobile suits inside the colony. They're heading straight for the Federation base." An aide yelled, rushing towards the commander. "What? If we'd never allowed them into the colony things like this would never happen..." The commander grumbled. Their colony defense force was mostly designed around combating infantry and terrorists, and had a very limited ability to deal with mobile suits, much less state of the art units with ace pilots. "Get the Federation commander on the line. They're the ones being attacked, they should deal with this." He grumbled. The aide quickly sent a message to the Federation base, the response almost immediate. It wasn't as if they hadn't detected the mobile suits as well. "Sir, they say that the enemy mobile suits have not attacked Federation property yet, so the Federation will not respond." The aides face was white. "They add, Riah has a self defense force, it should defend itself." "Blasted Federation." The commander gritted his teeth. "They're moving in on the school district, sir." As the Kampfer and Gelgoog roared along, a hasty defense of Dracken E's and missile loading trucks formed a blockade across the highway. Civilians were evacuated as best they could be, but it only took a few minutes for the two mobile suits to traverse the entire colony. The fact that Riahs defense forces were even able to position themselves so well so fast was a testament to their organizational skills. Missiles and bazooka rounds fired on the Kampfer, but Misha easily dodged the blasts, two rounds of his shotgun decimating three Dracken E's before he shot past the defenders. At the Federation headquarters, a Pegasus class ship in dock with the colony, the operations commander watched the scene on Riah national TV. "Ugh, those weaklings. Alright, bring the Grey Phantom inside! Tell the base to launch whoever htey have on standby!" The Pegasus class ship slowly moved inside of the colony, the inner workings of the ship dock containing a giant airlock designed for just such a purpose. The ship was huge compared to the inner colony walls, casting a giant shadow on the cities below. GM Commands and Guncannon MPTs were loaded onto the ships twin catapults, preparing to attack the Duchy invaders. "I can't believe it was my turn on watch when this happened." Derek sighed, his GM Command launching and blasting off towards the attacking mobile suits. Since his unit was still in ground combat configuration, it would be unable to boost into the center of the colony and fight in the zero gravity area above. Misha and Caleb saw the attackers, but continued to advance undeterred. Misha fired a pair of Panzer Fausts at the incoming GM Commands, destroying two of them just as they went off the catapults. While they were still tethered to the Grey Phantom they were more or less sitting ducks. Caleb boosted down to the ground, ducking behind a building. Jack aimed, but didn't want to shoot through the city walls, lets he injure civilians inside the colony. "Shit." He said, trying to think up a way to attack. He holstered his beam rifle, taking a saber off its recharge rack. The red mobile suit was still hiding in the urban environment. "Where are you.." Murphy grumbled. As the two units stalked each other, Misha downed another pair of Federation mobile suits with twin bazooks. He would not be outdone. Jack caught a flash of red, Caleb and the Gelgoog sliding out to his left. He turned, slashing upwards with his beam saber and slicing off the Gelgoogs left arm. However, the beam machinegun was in the right, and Caleb let out a volley of shots, point black, shredding Jack Murphy's body and melting his legs into his chair. The shots sailed through several buildings, the mega particles dissipating before they reached the colony wall. The GM Command slumped over to the ground, lifeless, and the one armed Gelgoog and Kampfer continued to make their way to the Federation base. Inside the base, the Zeon insurgency team was pinned down. They'd hoped to find Roslyn already inside the base, but she had other plans, and hadn't shown up. Her disapearance was the least of their worries however. Hiding behind a group of crates, Bernie fired a shotgun, Emil a pistol, and Steiner an SMG. Their gear was a little rag tag, but they were holding their own, the pilots all experienced marksmen with excellent reaction times. The Federation seemed to only have a small number of Marines on the base, and they were having trouble getting the group away from the Gundam. Yoritomo threw a grenade onto a set of stairs going up into the second story ramp, the explosion buckling the thin metal and preventing reinforcements from making it down below. However, there were several officers on the ramp above, and they were doing a good job of pinning them down. Garcia kept them at bay, holding an SMG in each hand. "God damn it Bernie!" Steiner yelled. He fired another round of shells, two Marines ducking back behind a wall. It was then that the masked pilot from before slid into view, pistol raised in hand. He didn't take any kind of cover, instead dropping a smoke grenade and kicked it towards the Zeon group. The grenade went off, black smoke enveloping the entire mobile suit hangar. BT fired his pistol again and again, scarily accurate despite the visibility disadvantage. Both Emil and Garcia were hit, bullets lodging into Emils rotator cuff and Garcias torso. Alex and Derek were right behind BT, firing wildly into the smoke. The Zeon pilots returned fire, hitting all three of them but unable to cause serious damage. The three Federation pilots advanced, mere silhouettes in the smoke. It was a dangerous gamble, but one the EFSF was willing to take. "We've got to get to the Gundam while there's still time!" Garcia yelled, holding his shoulder as he jumped over the barricade. He ran towards the Alex, but Breakfister shot him down, shooting out his knees with his keen, all-seeing eye. At the same time, a young woman in a pilot suit ran into the smoke, despite several Marines trying to caution her as to the danger. Christina had been ordered to use the Gundam to defend the base from mobile suit attack, and she intended to do just that. Steiner and Yoritomo couldn't quite make it to the Gundam in time, Christina jumping in and immediately closing the cockpit. Shotgun rounds pinged off the hatch as soon as it had closed. "Damn it! We've got to get out of here!" Steiner yelled. Emil and Bernie did their best to lay down cover fire, the group using the smoke and the confusion to run out the launch doors, which were slowly opening in order to let the Gundam out. They dropped their guns, hoping their disguises would be enough to get them off the base and into the city streets, where the Federation would not have the jurisdiction to pursue. Christina ran the Gundam out in front of the base, Alex in its full armor configuration looking Misha and the Kampfer dead in the face. Misha took one final swig of his flask, knowing they couldn't escort a captured Alex back to Zeon space any more. The Kampfer raised its bazooka, firing two shells into the Alex. However, it didn't do any damage at all, even given the short range. The reinforced Luna Titanium armor was simply too much. Misha grinned, and moved to a cargo truck that was parked just outside the base. Punching into it, he took out a long and devilish looking chain mine. "What the hell?" Christina mumbled. Her only weapons were the Alex's fixed armaments, whereas these Zeon pilots seemed excellently prepared. Misha swung the chain mine around, the magnetized weapon latching on to the enemy mobile suit. It exploded in a huge conflagration, smoke trailing high into the colonies zero gravity center. At the same time, Caleb and the Gelgoog landed beside the Kampfer. "Shit, didn't leave me any did you." Caleb mumbled. A moment later, the still undamaged Alex emerged from the smoke, raising an arm at the Kampfer. A machinegun popped out of its forearm, the rounds sailing straight into the Kampfers cockpit and killing the inebriated Russian. Caleb responded instantly, the veteran pilot raising his beam machinegun and firing. A full fourty rounds blasted into the Gundam, anti-beam armor plates evaporating and the Luna Titanium underneath melting away. The Alex was shredded, completely destroyed by the barrage. "Christ..." Caleb said. The entire mission was turning to absolute shit. Caleb quickly blasted off into the sky, moving for the still birdlimed hole created in the forest by the Zaku Kai in the previous battle. It had been their original escape plan. He hoped the rest of them had made it out safe and sound, and was not expecting the huge explosion that pierced the fabric of Libots hull behind him. Looking back, there was a huge gaping hole where the building next to the Federation base had been. "What the hell..." Caleb said, jaw ajar. Outside the colony, a small CTC transport was circling, on a geosynchronous orbit with the Federation base. Roslyn O'Hara and her crew waited, firing grappling hooks and quickly grabbing the remains of both the Alex and the Kampfer. The Zinnia blasted off, quickly moving to the rim of Side 6 space before anyone was the wiser. Late that evening, the Zeon crew had secured transport off of the colony, and were sitting in the shuttlecraft. Steiner and Veronica tried to assure to the rest of them that this was actually a victory, but Emil at least was seriously bummed at their failure to capture the Kampfer. Bernie let out a long sigh, the adrenaline finally fading from his body. It was then that he noticed. He had a new text message on his phone, from earlier that day. Hey, Saw you playing with Al earlier today. You're pretty cute. Al gave me your number, I hope that's okay. He said you won't be here long, we should go out for a drink sometime while you're still here. Christina MacKenzie Veronica Wu - 12/2 CP Gained, No Additional Damage Emil Myberg - 12 CP Gained, Injured 3 Yoritomo Naizen - 12 CP Gained, Injured 2 Caleb DeGrau - 9 VP Gained, Repairing 3 Breakfister Turbulance - 10 CP Gained, Injured 4 Alex Sentara - 10 CP Gained, Injured 2 Derek Carter - 10 CP Gained, Injured 2 Jack Murphy - 8 VP Gained, Killed in Action Roslyn O'Hara - 5 VP, 5 CP Gained, Upgrading 4 |