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The Mississippi glided with as much grace as a winged box could, across the skies over North America, a Dish flying high above them, relaying everything from weather reports to enemy activity to try and ensure this flight was a smooth one. "Ol Miss this is Frisbee, we've spotted a target." "This is Mississippi, roger that, location?" "10:30 and below you." The dish pilot replied, "We're also getting a signal from a sharpshooter on the ground, looking to lend a hand." "Understood, tell him to get set up and fire when ready." The Medea commander replied, switching his comm to the hangar and escort fighters. "All fighter units, launch immediately, target is an enemy Gaw flying over the bay ahead." Tin Cods spilled out of the Medea, igniting their engines on the way out and quickly looping back into formation just above the cargo plane. Jim Irwin's fighter formed the head of the group, and he glanced back to see that all fighters and escorts were ready to go. "This is Lt. Irwin to all fighters, let's give 'em hell." He said, hitting the throttle and leading the tin cods into battle. Garma sat quietly aboard the Viktoria Luise II, playing with his hair. A spotter gasped as he caught sight of a large number for Federation Fighters. His surprised shout nearly made Garma pull his hair out. "Sir! We've got a LOT of feddie planes incoming!" Garma sighed, they needed to get to California base, a bunch of antiquated fighters couldn't be allowed to stop them. He stood, and addressed the bridge. "Reduce Altitude and prepare to launch Zakus, we'll make this engagement short." He ordered, turning quickly and heading for the hangar. "Prepare my Zaku as well." The pilot of the GM sniper took careful aim as he dialed in the distance of the fleeing Gaw. "Almost, almost, what? It's going into the fog, damn!" He cursed, signaling to the Dish again. "Ol Miss this is Frisbee, sniper has lost sight of the target, repeat sniper has no shot." Fighters soared over the fog, looking for signs of the enemy, the Medea didn't trail behind, aiming it's own weapons and scanning the area. Suddenly, a Zaku popped out of the fog for a moment, disappearing as another jumped out and opened fire. The quick spray of bullets clipped a a Tin Cod, sending it spiraling into the bay. "Frisbee this is Mississippi! Tell that Sniper to switch to thermal sighting and find something to shoot at!" The sniper looked through his thermal scope, but the heat from the mobile suits, fighters and explosions was making it hard to tell what was what. He took careful aim at what he hoped was the Gaw, and fired. The GM Sniper sent out a stream of beam fire into the fog, missing the target and heating the air and water around it, further obscuring the thermal imaging. "Frisbee I've got no clear shot, I can't hit anything like this." The sniper complained, Frisbee relaying the failure to the Mississippi. Zakus continued their hide and seek strategy, but finally one jumped a little too high. A Tin Cod roared past, unloading it's 25mm machineguns as it rushed by, shredding the Zaku's left coolant hose, and breaking it's main camera. "I got one! I really got one!" The pilot said, his elation turning to terror as another Zaku appeared before him, all he could do was scream as it's heat hawk slammed down on his plane. "Enough of this! If they won't come out, we'll go in after them!" Mississippi's commander shouted, ordering the Medea down into the blinding fog. His gamble played a nice trick on the Zeons, the bulky plane's massive engines swept away much of the fog, revealing the Zakus, but not the retreating Gaw. ,br> "Don't just stand there, shoot it!" Garma ordered, three of the five Zakus opening fire as the fourth dragged the damaged one further from the fighting to check on the pilot. Bullets ripped through the now empty cargo box of the Medea, shredding it but doing little real damage. Looking up, Garma saw the Tin Cod's circling into a dive-attack on the exposed mobile suits. With a quick gesture, he commanded his men to fall back into the fog and meet back up with the Gaw. "Mississippi, this is Irwin, shall we pursue?" Jim asked, ready to scour the California coastline for that blasted Zeon plane. "Negative, our hangar's in bad shape, we can't risk taking more damage and being unable to support your fighters." The commander said, mentally kicking himself for making such a foolish move at the risk of so many soldiers. Battered, but not lost, the Federation planes regrouped and climbed out of combat range. Jim Irwin: 4 VP Gained, Repairing 1 Even in the most violent and eclipsing wars humanity have ever witnessed there is always that small lonely outpost that pretty much sleeps the days away. Soldiers stationed there pass the time doing their drills while the rest of the base carry on with their mundane tasks. To them all, it is as if war was just something they hear on the news. Such is the case in Overlord 7. The Asteroid Mine has been halfheartedly upgraded in defense once but otherwise remain unchanged. Afterall there is no immediate is there? But of course there is. It started out as a distress call. Pretty much the most exciting thing to happen for weeks. "What's up Charles?" asked the watch officer. "Looks like a damaged shuttle, sir. It was sighted to us by a mobile suit, Rick Dom it seems." "Great," muttered the officer in charge," we're a pit stop. Oh well, launch the Zaku to help them out and get the hangar bay open." It was all routine, as the mechanics watch the doors open and two Zeon mobile suits hung around outside. It was all normal... except for when the Rick Dom stabbed the Zaku II F in the gut with its heat saber. The explosion is only the beginning of the end as the shuttle landed. Everyone was still staring in shock as the doors of the shuttle opens and the first guerrilla fighter stepped out. Guns blazing, the armed gunsmen spilled into the interior of the facility. Overlord 7 had a platoon of Marines but with armed enemies in the base already, they can only offer token resistance. Surprise was complete, much to Samuel Riley's satisfaction as his Rick Dom lands in the hangar of Overlord 7. Samuel Riley - 6 VP Gained, Repairing 2+1 One of the difficulties of being a garrison commander is maitaining discipline. Unlike an attack force, a garrison is a force of occuption. It's supposed goal is to secure and repluse any attempt to take over the occupied error. In reality, a garrison is there as a deterrent whose real activities consist of counting the days until they rotated to more "active" postings. Such are the miseries of the commander of the asteroid mine Overlord 8. It is slowly becoming a Herculean effort to keep his men up to training standards nevertheless battle readiness. But thankfully at least something interesting is happening today. A shuttle had radioed a distress call and is being brought in by a mobile suit. The garrison commander has his men out to practice recovery and repair procedures. At least that's different from their usual excerise drills. James Radcliffe watched from the controls of his Rick Dom as the doors to the asteroid mine open. Slowly, the shuttle is pulled inside. He waited until the first mooring lines are connected. The former banker turned pirate shoved the barrel of his 90mm machinegun into the Zaku II F's chest before emptying the entire magazine. The Zeon pilot didn't stand a chance as the rounds ripped into him at point blank range. Then while the going is good, Radcliffe gunned his engines. The Rick Dom flew to the idle Mega Particle Cannon. The turret is pointed outwards towards empty space, its gunners not aware of the real threat. A 360mm bazooka round ended whatever resistance the gun emplacement could have given. Inside the base, the situation is even worse for the Zeon garrison. Equipped for rescue and recovery, the garrison is caught unawares as armed guerrillas cut through them. Some fought back with their personal sidearms but the outcome is inevitable. James Radcliffe - 6 VP Gained, Repairing 2+1 With the Pirates of the Black Rock?s operations at full throttle all around earth sphere, it was only a matter of time before Overlord 3 would get hit. All was silent in the asteroid mine as Zeon workers ceased operations to call it a night, but suddenly from the darkness came a shuttle escorted by Zaku II C-Type. The shuttle was letting out an S.O.S. signal, so instead of the lone Zaku II opening firing at the intruder, he opened communications. Robin Sayer handled the talking, explaining how his musai was shot down by pirates and that the escape shuttle was greatly damaged in the escape. The lone Zaku II lowered his 280 mm bazooka, and escorted their new guests to the hangar bays. As the shuttle entered, Robin explained how he would remain outside to stand guard and make sure they weren?t followed. Within a few moments, sounds of gunfire and flashes were seen and heard, for from out of the shuttle sprang guerrillas that quickly disposed of the Zeon personnel, and making their way through the facility. Without marines to defend, the asteroid mine was quickly overtaken. Meanwhile outside, Robin opened fire on the Zaku II with the Zaku?s120mm machinegun. The bullets tore through the skirt armor, as the outclassed pilot tried to fire back. Robin swiftly tossed a cracker grenade by his opponent, missing the target. ?You missed me, you bastard!? yelled the enemy pilot. Robin laughed and then targeted the grenade with the machinegun. The blast sent the Zaku flying, and gave Robin the opening he seeked. He thrusted forward and lunged at the Zaku with a heat hawk, almost severing the torso from the lower body, killing the pilot instantly. Robin soon landed his Zaku II in the hangar bay and then made his way to the headquarters where he communicated his success to the other pirates. Outcome: Pirates of Black Rock Victory Robin Sayer: 7 VP gained, Repairing 0+1 401(k), once known specifically as a retirement savings plan, but now an asteroid mine space fortress under ownership of Zeon, named humorlessly after the very same savings plan, and as the mine produced resources, one may understand why the facility would be called 401k. In the darkness of space, Jacobin Conroy adjusted his oxygen mask to insure it was securely fastened, for he knew all too well the consequences of oxygen deprivation. The rest of the Martian freemen under his command did the same, arming up and preparing for combat. As the shuttle landed on the other side of the asteroid, where anti-aircraft turrets could not target the shuttle, the door was propped open. Jacobin soon jumped out, issuing his men to follow. They hopped in Zero Gravity until they reached close enough to the facility. From there they chose to crawl to avoid being seen, the whole time he kept himself behind his men. The group snuck into the mining tunnels, easily traversing through them. These mines were nothing compared to the hardship he faced at Stillwater. Following the tunnels led to a backdoor entrance of the facility, and Jacobin then made his way through. There were officers standing outside and keeping guard. Jacobin hopped over to the first and quickly slit his throat with a bowie; if the cut didn?t kill him, the loss of oxygen would. Jacobin then quickly faced the other guard; swiftly impaling the bowie into the guard?s chest. Jacobin proceeded to enter the facility, gaining the attention of several marines. Without further adieu, the alarm was triggered, and marines were sounded. Jacobin blasted his Kalashnikov; the bullets tearing through the bodies of the two marines who were sounding the alarm. Jacobin stopped firing after he realized that the two men were down, and the marine who had sounded the alarm?s arm was severed from its body by bullet fire, still clutching on the alarm. As more marines soon blocked the corridors, Jacoin left them a few surprises; several pipe bombs burning the marines to a crisp. His troop of marines easily overwhelmed the remaining marines with more rounds and pipe bombs. Meanwhile in the headquarters, Veronica Wu was being informed of the attack by her secretary Alice McMadden, who was overseeing Zaku Kai production in the fortress. Wu instantly gave the order to retreat all non-essential personnel, Alice included. Remaining marines held off the Martian pirates as Alice lead escapees to the hangars to get in a shuttle and retreat. As the shuttle launched, Jacobin secured the headquarters, effectively taking command on the fortress. Jacobin then used the communications relay to communicate with the others, and more specifically Robin Sayer. Outcome: Pirates of Black Rock Victory Jacobin Conroy: 7 CP Gained, Injured 3 |