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Zeon has plenty of money The Zeon Expeditionary Force was on the move. Following the death of Synapse and the destruction of the supply fleet, command had given Jinyuan Industries a sizable increase in their forces. The fleet was still comprised primarily of test pilots and oddities, but now had a substantial cadre of ships and units backing them up. Veronica gazed out at her fleet, arms tightly crossed, her well trained eyes stern and thoughtful. The EFSF was still regrouping following their victories in orbit, and now was the time to strike. Inside the hangar of the Lucifers Fury, mobile suit pilots rushed to their stations, zipping up normal suits and moving to their machines. Emil Myberg was uneasy, confused almost, as he fumbled with his outfit. He still didn't really know what to make of himself in this war. He'd found a home with Zeon, and a lot of... friends, but something still wasn't quite right. He bumped into Florian, who was floating about at arms length at the top of the dressing room. Cuyler fluttered some hand signals to Emil, smiled slightly, and pushed his way to the hangar. Myberg was reminded that he wasn't the weirdest pilot on the team, and shook his head. The door opened up behind them, and Anya Wilds walked in, already fully dressed, helmet on one shoulder. She smiled, and gave the group a thumbs up. "You're supposed to get ready in here, not in your room." One of the higher ranking pilots said. Wilds smirked. "Only if you pay me." She responded, and strutted her way past the boys, hips wagging with feline precision. The Expeditionary Force slowly moved towards its target, Chivvays, Musais, Zanzibars and Jiccos primed, and ready for war. Aboard his custom painted Magellan Revised, Admiral Green Wyatt was having a cup of coffee. The single most decorated and most famous man in the EFSF, the Hood had the most recorded ship kills of any Magellan in the entire Federation. His tactical prowess was legendary. He was the commander of the forces at the 2 day from Earth line, and had held it quite admirably, despite increased Zeon activity in the area since the buildup of the fortification at Purgatorio. "Captain, I'm getting something coming from Purgatorio. Looks like a body of ships, can't really make them out at this distance." The Hoods sensor operator said, a young but portly man. "Mmm... So Mrs. Wu is on the move. How far out are they." Wyatt sipped his coffee, closing his eyes and reviewing combat records in his head. "A few minutes out sir. Their fleet seems rather large, should we retreat?" "No. They would overtake us. Signal Tianem and have him send reinforcements." Wyatt responded, relaxed and lost in thought. "Right away sir." The Hoods comm officer was a young, redheaded girl, already the veteran of several battles. She quickly typed up a set of coordinated on her console, when a small explosion was heard, shaking the ship. The lights flickered off for a second before emergency lighting kicked in. "Captain, I'm reading an explosion at communications. We've lost our laser beacon." Wyatt took another sip of his coffee, his eyes opening with a nod. "Sabotage, eh? Old Veronica certainly has a few tricks up her sleeve. But no matter. Minovsky particles to battle density, signal the fleet with morse code. Tell all mobile weapons to launch prematurely and watch for enemy newtype remote weapons. Have the Hyperion message Tianem, and load MIRV warheads in all missile banks. This is going to be a difficult battle, men." Wyatt took another sip, watching the small, blinking dots ahead of them get closer and closer. "Very difficult." GM, Ball and Saberfish pilots rushed to their machines, launching off of their ships and forming a defensive perimeter around the Federation vessels. The EF ships stopped dead in the void, waiting for the attack to commence. As the Duchy ships got closer and closer, a second group of twinkling lights started moving towards them from the fleets port side. "Captain, I'm getting a visual on a large number of enemy missiles, coming from the direction of the Conscon fleet. Please advise." "Fire a volley of MIRV warheads, target the enemy missiles. Tell all our gun crews to prepare to repel enemy warheads. That isn't their main attack, just a decoy." Wyatt put his coffee cup down, eyes still fixed on the enemy fleet ahead. His fleet was hopelessly outnumbered, but he had one big advantage on his side: The Wu family was predictable. Methodic in their planning. He had reviewed the attacks on Blex and Synapse, and found that the Zeon Expeditionary Forces plans were all drastically similar. First they would try to distract him with long range bombardment and attacks by their newtype weapons. Second, they would advance, using anti-beam chaff to shield their capital ships. Third, they would split into multiple attack groups, each with an individual target, and attempt to overwhelm his position. Interestingly enough, this method of ship combat was similar to Lourm era Federation tactics. Tactics that the admiral was confident he could effectively counter. An enormous bout of missiles shot towards the Federation fleet, but the Hood and the Hyperion were ready to repel them. Excellent anti-aircraft gunners, MPC fire, ball and mobile suit suppression fire, and the Hoods own missiles impacted the swarm, less than ten percent of the warheads hitting their targets. The damage was negligable. Guided by morse code signaling from the Hoods bridge, the Federation ships all tucked close together, refusing to allow the Duchy to split them apart. "Tell Florian to target the enemy Columbus carriers. Don't attack until we've removed their ability to resupply." Veronica barked, arms still tightly crossed. She watched the Federation fleet come into view, its mobile suit corps already launched. They were waiting for them. Florian closed his eyes, biting his lip as he concentrated on his Bits. The Weiss was positioned at the back of the fleet with the Long Haul, far from the combat zone. A single Zaku Kai escorted them. Florians brow started to sweat, small, nearly invisible drones moving ahead of the fleet, silently sliding into position. Without speaking, Florian mouthed the command, the four bits following his orders. They fired, cutting through the two Columbus class ships like they were wedges of cheese. Both carriers were cut in pieces, exploding seconds later and taking the remote weapons with them. Florian let out a sigh, shook his head, and detached another two bits from the carrier. It would take a while for them to reach the combat zone, but he was finally getting the hang of keeping himself going during a long battle. "Sir, both of our transports have been sunk. Enemy mobile suits incoming, their ships are splitting up." Wyatt nodded at the information, a sigh escaping his lips. There was simply no way he could have saved the transports, and it saddened him. Aboard the Lucifers Fury, Malak Lazarevich did his best to defend his Zaku. A lot of the ZEFs forces didn't trust the private contractor, their last contract with a group of pirates having gone very sour. Malak however, was determined to do his job, and to get paid in kind. He closed the door to his Zaku, wondering if his package had made it to the Hood in time. The mobile suits began to launch, the Federal fleet only a short distance ahead of them. "Everyone, head for your targets, the capital ships will cover us." Banks ordered, his Rick Dom II leading the charge on the Hyperion. He was amazed at how much clout Veronica had, how she'd gotten so many ships under her command in such a short time. He blasted ahead, Emil and a number of Zaku Kais following in pursuit. The RDII was a state of the art machine, faster, stronger, and more deadly than his former mobile weapon. GMs fired their machineguns, downing a few of the Zaku Kais, but the rest zipped into the enemy formation. There was a horrendous number of Duchy mobile suits, and the Federal line would be quickly overwhelmed. "Fire a broadside at the lead ship, but don't do it at full power." Wyatt said, gloved hands stretching as he watched the battle progress. A number of missiles shot out of the Athenas Wrath, exploding between the two fleets. Sparkling Chaff was dispersed, nullifying the Hoods broadside. "Prepare a second volley on my mark, full power. Tell all ships to launch all missiles at the main group. Don't they know Federation vessels have more rocket launchers than Zeon ships..." Wyatt smirked. Volleys of missiles shot between the two fleets, both sides taking damage as the warheads impacted each other. While the Duchy Jiccos kept the chaff barrier up, Wyatts Publics fired a volley of missiles into the Lucifers Fury, dealing heavy damage to it. Zakus swarmed the Publics shortly after, Yoritomo and his Action Zaku finishing off three of the ships with its beam rifle. "Tell Beria to withdraw from the combat zone. The Fury can't do much while that field is up anyway. Launch the second volley of missiles." Veronica ordered, the Wrath shaking as warheads slammed into it. At the far side of the battlefield, Junichi Ghettid and Felix Mendalshon moved in from the flank, going straight for the Hyperion. Its AA compliment was overwhelmed with the sheer weight of the enemy Zakus, close to fourty of them slicing apart the beleagered Federation defenders. If it weren't for the fact that most of the ZEFs ace pilots were still tuning new mobile weapons, they may already have been overrun. A pair of Balls moved to intercept the Val Varo, but Ghettid was already on them, his machinegun tearing the two pods apart. Mendalshon aimed his cannon and fired, striking straight through the center of the Hyperion. It started to explode, panel by panel, the huge Magellan taking some time to go under. "We're losing the Hyperion." Someone yelled, Wyatt carefully watching the sparkling field, eyeing its dispersal rate. "All guns, target the lead Musai.... Fire." The Hoods fourteen mega particle banks opened up, cutting through the chaff field just as it dispersed, before the next round of missiles from the Athenas Wrath could thicken it properly. Mega particle guns sliced through the Hardboiled, striking both of its reactors with expert precision. The Musai Scout Type exploded in a glorious fireball. "What the.. Was that the Hardboiled?" Emil looked back, shocked. A laser cut through the leg of his Rick Dom II, and he pulled away. A GM descended upon him in the next moment, but a bazooka round hit its side, knocking it off course. Anya Wilds flew past him, her HMT Zaku doing its best to keep up with the battle. At the back of the fleet, Caleb DeGrau spun round, coming down on the Invincible from above. While the Salamis Kais AA compliment was busy with lesser Zakus, the Gelgoog Cannon opened up on its target, beam machinegun and shoulder mounted cannon turning the entire Salamis into swiss cheese in nothing but a few seconds. The ship exploded, DeGrau flitting past it and moving towards the Hood. "Invincible has been sunk. Captain, we're getting multiple reports from our spotters. Enemy is using new mobile mobile suits, things I've never seen before." Wyatt nodded. Their GM Es were more than a match for the common Zaku, but not for these new machines. They were being overrun. Tianem was too far out of reach, and there were too many Zeon ships for the capsule to get away. He sighed, and got up out of his chair. This was the end. "All ahead, flank speed. Ram the enemies lead ship." Wyatt ordered. The four engines on the Hood blazed to life, the Magellan moving straight for the Athenas Wrath. "Arm our own chaff missiles, keep their shield as thick as we can. They won't be able to shoot us down before we hit them." the Federal commander ordered. He would have been right too, if it hadn't been for the number of beam weapons now being carried by the Duchies mobile suits. Veronica almost panicked as she watched, the Magellan sailing towards her ship on a collision course. Just before it entered the field of chaff, a number of beams shot through it on all sides, the Val Varo, Action Zaku, Gelgoog, and Florians remaining bits slicing Green Wyatt apart. Veronica Wu - 9 VP Gained, No Damage Caleb DeGrau - 8 VP Gained, Repairing 2 Emil Myberg - 8 VP Gained, Repairing 3 Richard Banks - 9 VP Gained, Repairing 1 Anya Wilds - 10 VP Gained, Repairing 3 Felix Mendalshon - 8 VP Gained, Repairing 1 Florian Cuyler - 8 VP Gained, Injured 1 Yoritomo Naizen - 8/2 VP Gained, Repairing 2 Malak Lazarevich - 8/2 VP Gained, Repairing +1 Junichi Ghettid - 9 VP Gained, Repairing 1 Robin Sayer pushed his aging C type Zaku model forward, sheltering a shuttle in between its arm and torso. The relic of a Zaku was quickly becoming the next Zaku I, and the Federation has a few of those models, so it was no surprise a pirate would be piloting the upgrade. As the Zaku approached the asteroid mine, it resembled a quarterback about to make a touchdown, unfortunately for this quarterback, he was intercepted by the enemy?s safety. After the recent attacks on Asteroid Mines all across the earth sphere, Zeon was being extra cautious with who was in their territory. Zaku machinegun fire struck his Zaku II, as Robin adjusted his suit so that the pellets were blocked by his shoulder shield, effectively protecting the shuttle. The shuttle shook from the impact, as the enemy moved ever closer; heat axe withdrawn. Robin tossed the Shuttle to the side, and fired a shot from his bazooka at the assaulting suit, in close proximity to his own suit. The shot took out the cockpit instantly, and the blast did little by scathe Robin?s unit, before it was swiftly extinguished by the lack of oxygen. After the engagement, Robin drifted over to the shuttle, grasping it gently as not to harm its contents, for it was a present for Zeon. Inside the box was none other than guerilla marines, and troop of Martian free men commanded by Jacobin. Jacobin was anxious to get out of the shuttle, as his reliance on Oxygen masks on Mars left him with distaste for being in tight spaces in space. Robin then looked down to check on the shuttle, opening communications. ?One Zaku?! They aren?t even trying! With our success lately, it?s like they are just handing us these mines on a silver platter!? commented Robin in his Irish accent, then complementing his statement with laughter. Jacobin remained silent, arming up himself instead of replying. His men did the same, watching the guerillas also onboard the shuttle. Jacobin didn?t trust them in the least bit, remaining always watchful and vigilant. Hired guns were scum that would sodomize their own mothers if they were paid to do so, and these lot were no different. Back in his Zaku II, Robin thrusted towards the asteroid mine, seeing no immediate entry from this sector. Referring to the pirate?s handbook, article 14, stating if something has no entrance, blow one up, he fires a shot at the facility?s hangar bay doors. Robin grasped the Shuttle inserting it into the hole, rather phallicly, and the infantry sprung to action. Zeon mechanics and technicians were slaughtered as they were sucked into space with no space suits. The combined guerilla and Martian marines then pressed on forward ?Make it out of this one, and I might get you all rounds of Harps next time we?re at the tavern.? Said Robin, inspiring some of the guerillas to fight harder. Jacobin has the Guerillas go on ahead, acting as a human shield for his men, and so that his men couldn?t be stabbed in the back as well. If need be, Jacobin would silence any betrayal with his Ak-47. Zeon soldiers sprang to action as alarms woke them from their slumber, alerting them of the enemy attack. ?This is not a drill!? blared from the intercom speakers. Soldiers exiting their rooms became easy targets for the ruthless guerrillas as they opened fire. It was easy pickings for the time being, and Jacobin and his men fell behind, conserving the ammunition. The closer they got to the armory and command center, the more resistance there was. As the group moved deeper into the facility, they were slowly being outnumbered as the enemy marines were now prepared to fight. Ahead of him, Jacobin saw bullets tear through the less experienced guerillas as the enemy fired their guns. Jacobin then moved to the center, where there was a gap in the line from fallen guerillas. Jacobin blasted his way forward, breaking through enemy lines with rounds from his AK-47, and his Martians backing him up. Upon reaching the armory, Jacobin throws a couple pipe bombs inside. Upon explosion, the blast killed unaware soldiers, still putting on Kevlar vests. His free men shift their attention to the right at what seems to be several more regiments of men, running in their direction. The Martians take the initiative, opening fire, while trying to avoid incoming fire with their unmatched reflexes. A stray bullet takes out Jacobin?s oxygen mask, and he panics slightly. In the brief time he is frozen, he is struck by more bullets, snapping him back to reality. Jacobin places his hand on the open wound, applying pressure on it, while firing the Ak-47 with his free hand. As his forces make it to the last regiment, defending the command center, Jacobin?s ak-47 runs out of ammo. Before he lets an enemy soldier get another shot on him, he disregards his ak-47 to the side, and flings his large bowie at the enemy, impaling him in the forehead, almost splitting his head completely open. With the support of his Martians, Jacobin secures the command center. Jacobin Conroy: 7 CP Gained, Injured 1 Robin Sayer: 7 VP Gained, Repairing 0+1, Injured 2 "Steady..." "Steady..." "Hold..." The listening posts had picked up a disturbance along the coast line as the 42nd Brigade made land fall, sending its mobile suit contingent ahead to scout the area before flying the Medea's over. Roy Greenwood and the Karakals were aware of their presence and alerted the capetown Guard to be on the look out. The winds whipped up a small cloud of dust as the desert type suits laid out across the dunes, using what brush and trees they could as cover. It was only a matter of time before the Federation suits fell into their trap. "Dish 1 reporting, enemy signatures last sighted just ahead. No visual confirmation." The Federation's dish aircraft loitered high above the plains trying to relay any information they could to give the ground team a heads up. They had been tracking the Karakals for a short time, but lost track of them in a patch of dense forest along the edge of the savanna. "Aye, looks like they're hiding o'er th're in those dunes." Thorvald scanned the area that the Dish speculated they would be, but found nothing. Over there... Marion's ethereal hands pointed to an expanse of land just to Thor's left, the young girl identifying their location. The blue giant's eyes flashed as its head turned in their direction. "O'er this way Slater." The Blue GM changed its path and made way towards the awaiting patrol. "They're moving in on the Greenwood and his crew, what should we do?" The capetown Guard Zaku's had been tracking the scout party for some time, managing to escape the eye of the Dish Aircraft in the sky. As the leader of the group began to speak their radars began to pick up a mass of signals in the skies. Much to their dismay they looked up to see several squads of fighters and bombers flying over head. "Oh Shi-" "Sir! I think they've spotted us. I thought we lost that damn craft!" A transmission came across Roy Greenwoods Dom's speakers as he tried to think of how to rectify the situation. There were a whole lot of air craft descending on their location, and a few rather impressive machines coming at them on the ground. "Hold..." "Hold..." Roy waited until the GM's were almost on top of them before giving the order to attack. "NOW!" All hell broke loose as the Capetown Guard attacked from behind in unison with the burst from the Karakals. Greenwood's Dom skated around the outskirts of the fray, firing his bazooka into the mess, striking a few hits, destroying a GM in one of the blasts; one glanced off Slater's gundam, deflecting the shell, sending it smack into the cockpit of a CCT, the remains of the suit falling lifeless to the ground. At the rear, the Blue GM was handling the Capetown Guard with ease, sidestepping one zaku to impale another with his beam saber. The group was no match for Thorvald and Marion. "Major Greenwood, we need to retreat, the Capetown Guard has fallen, and we can't fend off these suits and the incoming aircraft." Roy looked to the sky and saw the reinforcements amassing in the skies. His subordinate was right, it was time to make their retreat. The Major leveled his bazooka at the feet of the Blue Destiny and let out successive shots, creating a cloud of dust and enough chaos and confusion to allow their retreat. Nigel Ferdinand - 1 VP Gained, No Damage Aurem Senaiha - 1 VP Gained, No Damage Kyle Slater - 7 VP Gained, Repairing 2 Thorvald Siggurdson - 6 VP Gained, Repairing 1 Marion - 5 VP Gained, No Damage |