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The Crimean peninsula stretched beneath them as the Gaw-class Icelina soared high above the clouds. Its weary crew is a mix of base personnel, soldiers, and what else managed to scramble onboard during the evacuation. They gave a good fight at Odessa and it shows on their faces. Most of the soldiers in the Gaw are relieved that their commanders are not fatalistic enough to order them to stand to the last man. Now, all they need to do is make it to Baikonour and redeploy for the inevitable Zeon counterattack. Getting there is going to be a real problem though. Even as the massive engines rumble under them, flight mechanics are in the engine compartments nursing the strained machinery. The Icelina took a lot of damage getting away from the former Zeon fortress, which worried the mechanics. They are right to be scared. From behind the Gaw coming in the direction of Odessa, a Federal Dish aircraft finally found the prey it was looking for. Not far behind the surveillance aircraft are the Medeas of the 42nd Brigade. Largely unharmed due to their late arrival in the Battle of Odessa, these transport planes are trying to make up for the tardiness with a determined attack. Federal intelligence knows that several Zeon aircraft had left Odessa airspace before the base was taken. It is the 42nd Brigade's mission to hunt them down. To this effect, the Medeas are surrounded by a swarm of Federal combat aircraft recently requisitioned. A combination of air-to-air and air-to-ground planes roared past the Dish aircraft as alarms rang on the Icelina. As the monstrous purple plane did a slow evasive turn, the eight Dopps that made up the Icelina's combat air patrol sped towards the attackers at full speed. Their comrades are on the Icelina and these eight pilots are all that stood between them and obilivion. A tornado of missiles and vulcan fire erupted where the Dopps met the Tin Cods. Despite the superior Dopp design and the early Tin Cod losses, there are simply too many Federal aircraft for the Dopp pilots to handle. The Dopp pilots soon saw Depp Rogs and Fly Mantas fly past them towards the Icelina. Then three pairs of beams shot out into the ranks of the 42nd Brigade. The Icelina knew it couldn't outrun the smaller aircraft so it will then stay and fight. Antiair fire blossomed from the damaged purple plane as the try to knock down another one of the now evading Medeas. A pair of Fly Mantas found a hole in the flak screen and unloaded their missiles into the side of the Icelina. The hangar doors open and a Zaku II J tried to use his 120mm machinegun to help but with little success. Meanwhile, the Icelina's main batteries roars again and the Medea-class California exploded. Ditching the Tin Cods, the Dopps double backed to push the Depp Rogs and Fly Mantas away from the wounded Icelina. If they can hold on, maybe they can prevail... But it will not be so. Unknown to the Icelina and her defenders, a GM Ground Sniper has taken up position under some camoflague on the land below. The pilot took his time until a single decisive pink beam shot punctured the Gaw from its belly to its tail. Like an eggplant full of gunpowder, the Icelina and all onboard died. Without someone coordinating the air battle, the Dopps fell soon afterwards. Finally as the sky grew quiet, the 42nd Brigade regrouped while being content with the day's work. Nigel Ferdinand: 1 VP Gained, Fatigued +1 "Federation craft spotted, 2 o'clock..." The Luggan relayed its coordinates to the Berkhalter some distance away. The duchy aircraft loitered effortlessly high above the black sea, the sun at its back, making it appear as a miniscule black dot against the sky. It had been tracking the Hillock, Ursula for some time and much to the relief of the crew, they had located it. The Federation craft floated rather harmlessly across the shimmering surface of the water, still heavily damaged from its previous battles, it made its way to the fallen Duchy base, Odessa. Smoke whisped from its hull as teams of engineers and mechanics took torches to the ship, trying their best to make what repairs they could at sea. Beep Beep Beep... "What is that?! I thought we routed those bastards out of the area!" The Captain of the Hillock looked up from his papers as a blip appeared on the screen, the radar team locating the Luggan high above their position; it was already too late. "Get a shooting solution, take it down!" Before the gun crews could make it to their stations, three more signatures appeared on the radar screen racing across the water's surface. A squad of ace Dom pilots skated effortlessly across the water, mist spraying in their wake as their thrusters kept them above the water. The one out in front spun around, skating backwards as he looked at the other two, shouldering his bazooka. The pilot smiled, patting his large gun and returning his gaze to the fast approaching ship on the horizon. "Let's make this quick, shall we?" Not far below the surface, just barely keeping up with the Doms was the still damaged z'gok S, belonging to Esther MacKernan. The red MSM sped along as well as it could after its encounter with the Federation Navy at Odessa. She had fled from that battle, but maybe she could make up for it here; at least that was what comforted her thoughts. The turrets along the Hillock trained their sights on the incoming Doms, hoping to take them out, or at least chase them off so that they could make it to their destination. No sooner did they have the Doms within firing range, before the ocean around them began to erupt in fury. Shells fired from the Berkhalter rained down around the Ursula, rocking the ship violently. Welders that had been working on the side of the ship fell helplessly into the ocean, equipment scattered everywhere as the Hillock's crew slowly began to realize their fate was already decided. The three Doms fanned out, all taking aim at the center of the ship before releasing their rounds. The shots rang true and collided right into the side of the ship's hull, the metal shuddering under impact before breaking. Water began to seep in, as it slowly lost it buoyancy, the Ursula began to creep below the waves. Moments later a few torpedoes struck against the bottom of the Hillock, followed by a MPC blast, snapping the ship in half; Esther let a smile cross her face. Shells continued to rain down around the sinking ship, as the Doms came to a stop a safe distance away, they watched with a feeling of accomplishment as the last of the ship was lost below the turbulent waters. Not wanting to risk being seen on the open water, the three Doms turned around and made a b-line for the Berkhalter. Esther MacKeran: 6/2 VP Gained, Fatigued 2 Side seven, ripe for the picking.... aside from that giant space fortress and Federation fleet. The Zeon Expeditionary Force stayed well away from that lot as it sought out a more isolated target. "Perhaps some other time.." Aleksandra Beria thought aloud, looking on as the Side and it's military compliment slid out of view. "Enemy ship identified! Our intel was right on the money, strange that the Feds would have a leak so high up the chain..." The spotter reported, musing about the pathetic nature of federal security. "Begin attack preparations! Spread out, leave it no where to run!" Beria ordered, her fleet split into three groups to form a three-clawed pincer attack. The Columbus-class transport Tobias wouldn't stand a chance against the might being thrown against it. All the box-ship's captain could do was order it's two mobile weapons to launch. Alexa strapped into the G-armor, sending a remote boot-up command to the Zephyr Phantom. "Rachel, this is Winters, prepare for launch, all safeties off." Alexa radioed to the robot. It's digitized voice range back in acknowledgment. "Codename 'Rachel' confirms startup sequence. Launch preparations complete in five seconds. Orders received, full combat mode, all safeties off. Loadout and ammunition count complete, launch preparations complete, Launching in 10....9....8..." The machine continued counting, Alexa began to tune it out. "I guess it's not like there's any truth to that silly mechanic's superstitions about naming your machines..." Alexa said to herself, about to radio the bridge for launch clearance when the Phantom interrupted her. "...2...1... Good hunting Alexa, Rachel in Zephyr Phantom launching!" It said in an almost energetic tone, roaring out of the Columbus hangar and leaving it's human handler dumbfounded. "Uhh..... OK. Alexa Winters, G-Armor, Launching!" The force of the catapult seemed impossibly intense as the G-Armor rocketed out of the hangar, Alexa immediately began to attempt contact with the Phantom. "Rachel this is Winters where did you... Oh shit..." She cut her words short at that, in awe at the absurd amount of forces moving against her two machines and one little cargo ship. "Alexa, incoming!" Phantom transmitted, dropping down in front of the motionless G-Armor and spraying beam machinegun shots into the onrush of high-mobility Zakus and Rick Doms, forcing them to split off and make a fresh attack run. Snapping to her senses, Alexa quit thinking about the odd familiarity of the machine's tone and focused on the task at hand. As her oversized fighter went on the offensive, the Tobias crew made a final salute to it's only defenders, staring down a beam barrage unlike anything the transport crew had ever seen. in an instant, the Tobias was torn asunder, bleeding flames and exploding. "All mobile suits, focus on the two remaining units!" Felix ordered, his Val Varo swooping in from behind the initial attack to take the lead of all MS forces. He quickly locked onto the G-Armor, charged his mega particle cannon, then watched as a Rick Dom and a Zaku HMT exploded in front of him. Zephyr Phantom rushed in from below, drawing attention from its ally and downing a Zaku HMT. As units began to surround the lone robot, beam fire ripped through their ranks as the G-Armor's cannons thundered out lances of mega particles. With mechanical precision, the Phantom continued picking apart the Zakus, but Alexa wasn't being out-shined so easily. G-Armor took aim at a Rick Dom still trying to find Phantom's blind spot, and let loose a pair of missiles, streaking to their target and blasting it's legs off. The disabled Dom spiraled out of the battlefield, it's pilot fated to die slowly. "This is ridiculous, it's only two units!" Felix shouted, firing his vulcans and missiles and watching in shock as the Phantom weaved through the barrage and didn't even slow as a missile strike cleaved it's left leg off. Pulling around for another pass, again he charged the mega particle cannon, and fired, but Phantom evaded, only losing a chunk of it's shield. "I"ll get you on this--!" Felix's words were interrupted by a beam cannon shot shaving one of Val Varo's claws off. The sudden shift in balance spun him off course, and Phantom capitalized, emptying the beam machinegun into Val Varo's hide, shredding the Plasma Leaders as they were deployed and negating Felix's best shot at disabling the robot. "Damn it!" Felix cursed, his machine's thrusters flickering as the smoking mobile armor pulled away from the Federation duo. "This is Mendalshon, attack failed, send reinforcements!" He shouted, calling his remaining forces to cover him as he tried to pull around for one last cannon shot. Before he could try, a missile struck home on his underside, the blast dangling the cannon from it's mount. Val Varo had done all it could, and Felix knew it, with a signal from his working claw, he and his surviving men retreated to the safety of their ships. "The enemy's position blocks our escape route." Phantom said, returning to it's usual monotone voice. Alexa knew that in robot terms, it mean they were screwed. "Well I guess we'll have to escape right through them!" She replied, as the two of them blasted off in pursuit of the battered mobile armor. "The enemy is approaching fast!" The spotter on the Fury's bridge cried, most of the crew muttered words of shock at the thought of two units taking on an entire fleet. "Send out the Weiss, Action Zaku and Zaku Kai, and get those Rick Doms refueled and back in the fight!" Beria shouted, her demanding tone seeming to cast aside all doubt in her crew. As the Phantom and G-Armor reached the ships, they were given no chance to make an attack or try to force their way past. Tiny, flickers of light danced around them, suddenly spitting beams of death their direction as Florian gave the mental word to strike. Beams ripped the treads off the bottom of the G-Armor, but Florian's eyes widened as the Phantom evaded each shot. His heart skipped a beat as the soulless machine actually killed a pair of bits. Before he could order any more into the fray, the Action Zaku dove in, firing it's beam gun in concert with the remaining bits and pulling a split second turn as He fired a panzerfaust point plank into the Federation robot. As the smoke cleared, both pilots were shocked to see that the Phantom was simply gone, only a shield and shattered arm remained. Florian didn't waste time, ordering his funnels to seek out the one presence he could feel, Alexa. As beams chewed away at her armor, she did all she could to dodge and return fire. It was no use, Action Zaku was too fast, and she couldn't find the source of all these beam shots. But there was one thing left she could do, a Zaku Kai moved into range, firing it's panzerfaust. Alexa had little trouble dodging the slow-moving shell from this range, and lined up a beam cannon shot. With a brilliant bolt of light, it was not meant to be. One of the bits sheared her cannons clean off, and the Kai Kai moved in for the kill. In desperation, she flipped the G-Armor quickly and ejected the rear half, sending it spiraling into the Zaku. The shock of the collision did little damage, but the armed missiles had better luck. As half her machine detonated, it nicely took the Zaku's legs with it. Ghettid wouldn't go down so easily however, and as he spiraled away, he launched the grenade from his machinegun, getting a solid bead on the cockpit. Alexa didn't even have time to cry out as the massive shell crushed her to death in the split-second before exploding. "Looks like it's all over," Ghettid said, catching the shoulder of Yoritomo's Zaku, "Be a pal and tow me back to the ship?" Florian's mind spiked at a sudden feeling, a new presence? No, he'd felt this before, but before he could find it, it was gone. Scanning the area, he redeployed his funnels, alerting his two comrades that it was in fact not over. Before any of them could question the perceived threat, a beam saber impaled itself into the Action Zaku's leg. "The hell!?" "Above!" Ghettid shouted, pushing off from Naizen and firing upward at the twisted visage of Zephyr Phantom screaming downward at them. It was missing an arm, a leg, half it's head, and it's torso was splayed open from the panzerfaust, but still yet it charged on, remaining beam saber in hand. Ghettid kept firing, but his momentum had pushed him too far, and hopes of getting a good shot faded with each passing moment. The Phantom ignored him, and instead curved toward the Action Zaku, who's magnetic coating wasn't enough to move it away from the beam saber swinging down at it. With a rapid slice, the Zaku's right arm fell away, beam rifle in hand. Kicking the Zaku in the chest, the Phantom spun a circle, searching for the newtype unit. Florian shuddered in his seat, like a ghost haunting him, this presence kept appearing and disappearing, this feeling would shake his soul one moment, and the next he could sense nothing. There is was again, it had found him! On reflex he commanded the funnels to fire at the machine charging head-on at him, but the robot was too fast, and when it detected the remote weapons, increased it's throttle to maximum. Florian winced in fear as he ordered the funnels to fire non-stop, beams tearing into the Phantom but not stopping it. As the distance closed, finally a beam pierced the reactor, and a massive sphere of flame erased the disturbing machine. Florian let out half a sigh, which quickly turned into a gasp as the feeling hit him once more. Before he could move, a beam saber came spiraling out of the blast, slicing the Weiss' head off and careening off into space. The explosion faded, the Phantom was in little burned pieces, it was truly over. Alexa Winters: 5 VP Gained, Killed in Action Felix Mendalshon: 7 VP Gained, Repairing 4 Florian Cuyler: 1 VP Gained, Injured +2 Yoritomo Naizen: 7 VP Gained, Repairing +3 Junichi Ghettid: 7 VP Gained, Repairing +2 |