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"Well, Ensign, for now, this is your bridge, so make use of it while you can." Captain Pertaenwarld took the opportunity to wipe his finger under the arm of the captain's chair while Rachel Arronax looked over the bridge. He wiggled his nose before clearing his throat to continue speaking. "I'm glad you've shown in an interest in broadening your horizons." Ensign Arronax twisted her mouth into a light frown, still uncomfortable at her apparent talent at sending men to their deaths. "Thank you, Captain. I'll do my best..." She averted her eyes from the bridge crew, nervousness and the anticipation of unsoothable guilt still assailing her consciousness from just beyond the borders of her mind. The captain felt cold daggers of equal parts empathy and fear drag across his skin, even if he didn't understand how or why. Uncomfortably, he resigned himself to forging the first link in the chain of events to come. "Report on the decoy fleet's status," he demanded, crossing his arms behind his back and stretching his neck. "Sir, the fleet is holding course, 0.001 deviation from expected parameters, no axial drift. In short, they look like they're the real deal." The response came somewhere from the captain and the ensign's left, nearly mechanical in efficiency. "The ensign is in charge right now, you will address her directly." Ensign Arronax peered over her shoulder at the captain's chair. Captain Pertaenwarld's eyes shifted back and forth momentarily, a sudden sense of distress chewing at his stomach as he worried someone else was about to sit in his chair. He sighed mentally and looked at Rachel, nodding her towards the chair. "You can sit here for now, Arronax. Just don't reach under the arms...it's, hrm...sharp, there. For the sake of all that is good, sit down gently!" "Unterscharfuhrer, the Federation fleet within artillery range, shall we fire?" The radio crackled even this close to the asteroid base. "Make it so, soldier." Unterscharfuhrer Veil was in no playful mood, Purgatorio's modifications had long been underway, yet he still felt the base was unfit. Disdain for the rabble running it? Perhaps. That aside, the Federation's appearance was an undesirable circumstance, but he would bend it in his favor. He had something prepared. "Let them face our p- Did the artillery barrage just strike?" "Yes, sir... this is..." The crackling filled in the gaps between the words "And nothing blew up." "Sir. They all popped." Buzz. "BALLOONS! Prepare for their real ships." Veil fired his thrusters, repositioning his reconnasaince Zaku to better look for the Federation's ships. A Salamis, a Salamis, ah, there! A big red Sala- Gwazine? Damn it all, it's the Monarch. As if in response to Purgatorio's call, a barrage of missiles stormed towards the base, like an echoing voice in a pitch-black cave. "Scramble Saberfish and all Mobile Suits!" Rachel Arronax commanded the bridge while her fingers dug into the arms of the captain's chair. This time, all of the men would have a fighting chance instead of being throw into a blender, only for the strongest, in a twist of Darwinist cruelty, to emerge alive. "...And...Have the Narwhal fire all MIRV ballistics." A granite serenity hardened her face. "FF-S3 Saberfish, Crosser Falcon launching-- give my regards to Purgatorio!" The Saberfish's eight primary rocket thrusters fired, ejecting it from the Delphinus's hangar, before propelling it to the far reaches of the fleet's rear flank. "Gundam, Kobayashi launching." The prototype of the White Devil accelerated from the hangar, followed by two RGM-79s, ready to target the asteroid's defenses. "Foley launchin'!" The GM Command threw itself from the Gwazine and about-faced, looking to see who was coming next. It was Simmons. It was ALWAYS Simmons. "Marc Simmons, mass production Gundam-type Mobile Suit, launching!" "Simmons, for fuck's sake, stop calling it that!" "Whatever, grandpa, you just remember to fix it up when I get back-- unless you want the Federation to lose this war!" Simmons exited the hangar too, this time increasing the number of people who didn't want him to come back to approximately 17. As the Mobile Suits exited the hangar, the Narwhal's lethal payloads released the warheads from their shells. A cloud of warheads advanced on the Mobile Suits advancing from the asteroid base, MPC turrets firing. The Zeon MS tried to dodge, but the number of explosive munitions was too much for all of them to dodge without harm, and impacts rocked Zaku frames before engulfing themselves and their prey in a ball of fire. An explosion detonated a Zaku passing Laredo Veil, fragments from the shredded machine shooting into the side of the recon Zaku. Veil swore. His warning systems opened up a damage analysis screen, showing the severity of the damage. The whole left side of the Zaku wasn't working, the arm was locked in place by dented metal and twisted actuators, while the leg had internal damage, thrusters disabled, and perhaps the whole frame was cracked. "I'm pulling back-- I can't do anything out here at this rate. Focus all fire on the ships! All of it!" He began to turn to the asteroid, but just at the edge of his monitor, he saw something coming towards him. Two GMs... one looked strange, almost like the Sniper type that had helped take the damned ship to begin with. "I need support, now!" Veil screamed into the radio, surviving Zeon pilots nearby began to head his way, but-- they were pierced by Simmons' machine gun fire, machine gun fire that he wasn't about to let go unnoticed. Fortunately, Foley had already muted him, Simmons never had anything important to say anyway. The wounded Zaku began firing wildly, both weapons and propulsion systems, but the wounds were severe, causing the Zaku to appear to seize pathetically as the GMs closed in. Foley sighed. "Poor bastard." He pulled the trigger on his beam gun. "Sa-!" The base continued firing into the Federation fleet, still unaware of Veil's untimely demise, but they were making progress, even if their forces were rapidly diminishing and their defeat seemed soon at hand. The mega particle cannons blasted away, still trying to score anything more than a glancing blow against the three battleships, the chaotic battlefield between them challenged their accuracy. Finally, a beam lanced a ship-- the Narwhal! The Narwhal was heavily wounded, but it was still capable of maneuvering, though its combat ability was severely lessened. In the bridge's scramble to check their status, they noticed something peculiar. "Captain, asteroids incoming-- they're weaponized!" The field of asteroids propelled themselves into the formation of ships, colliding with all of them. The Narwhal made it out relatiely unscathed, the asteroid collision only aggravating the damage already done by beams and not opening a new wound. The Delphinus was smashed in the prow by a trio of asteroids, making it look limp and flaccid. The Capella survived the first blows, but asteroids kept coming. It seemed like all of them sought out the Salamis, and it struggled to maneuver away. Another asteroid hit it in the hangar. Another in the main rockets. Another in the bridge. Another... and it exploded it. GMs swarmed in on the asteroid's guns, damaging them where they couldn't fire to defend themselves. They were crushed and mangled by the Gundam and GMs. The last remaining Zeon forces, the Gattles all challenged the lone Saberfish by circling around the fleet. It was over in an instant, and the pilot would never go on to explain how all of them blew up at once. The base's defenses were gone. All of them. "Ensign. I believe our forces have returned." "They have, Captain." "Are you prepared to finish the operation." "...Yes." They're defenseless! They might surrender... "They won't surrender." But maybe they will. "They won't." Ensign Arronax waved her arm and gave the order. "Fire main cannons." The flash of beams shone out and hit the base. "Roll on Y axis, fire secondary cannons." The asteroid shuddered. "Fire main cannons at will." She looked away for a moment before steeling herself to watch. "Fire main cannons." The base broke apart, like an egg cracking. The continued barrage of the recharged cannons finally chipped away at the asteroid's integrity, melting and vaporizing iron and steel until there was nothing usable, let alone intact. It was in fragments, pieces not even large enough for a Mobile Suit to hide in. "Your duties are completed, Ensign." "Yes, Captain." Ensign Arronax excused herself from the bridge. Rachel Arronax: 7/2 VP gained, No Damage Patrick Foley: 7 VP gained, Repairing 2 Marc Simmons: 7 VP gained, Repairing 2 Otaktai Lone Wolf: 7+1 VP Gained, Repairing 2 Issa Kobayashi: 7 VP gained, Repairing 1 Laredo Veil: 5 VP gained, Killed in action The Mediterranean Sea looks no different than the waters off the East Asian coast. But the crew of the U-77 Lorelay are more than happy to put as much distance as possible between them and yesterday's ambush. The Lorelay narrowly escaped from the surprise Federal attack with only the experience and wit of Captain Marina Nimue. Along the way, they got a resupplied with consumables, ammunitions, medical supplies, and other small equipment. For actual repairs, the submarine will have to reach a proper repair facility. Back under way, the crew themselves congratulated themselves on their achievement and cementing the reputation of Marina as "Lady of the Lake". As the lax atmosphere in the wounded Jukon II carried on, an individual moved about the ship unnoticed by the crew. He is wearing a Zeon enlisted uniform yet something about his demeanor as he avoided groups of crewman made him suspicious. A rather charming special operative noticed this by accident. Hans Bond was stepping through the bulkhead door to the mess hall when he saw the man exit trying to be inconspicious. Bond never saw the crewmember before the supply drop and quickly followed him. About a few kilometers away, the Big Tray-class Hood skimmed over the shallow waters off the coast of Crete where the Aegean Sea began. On the bridge, Lieutenant Nigel Ferdinand scanned the horizon through a pair of binoculars. It is strange to be commanding from the ground instead of the birds eye view he was used to. Then again, being in something that can actually take a few hits unlike a Medea is very comforting. Ferdinand blinked hard as he looked at his watch. His eyes are tired. Sleep eluded him as nightmares of those who died under his command haunted him. If it wasn't for Melissa, Ferdinand wouldn't know how to endure. The watch ticked as time moves onward. Any moment now, thought Ferdinand. Hans Bond looked up the signs that he passed as he followed the suspicious crewman closer to the bow of the ship. Whoever this man is, he knows the basics. Any casual follower would not notice anything unusual about where this man was going. But Hans Bond is not your normal observer. His eyebrows burrow as the reality of the situation struck him. With his eyes on the door that the man disappeared behind, Hans Bond pulled out his gun from its holster. The man was in the middle of pulling over a scuba harness when he felt the barrel of a gun press against his head. "Uh-uh, I'm sorry my dear chap but it's much too soon for you to leave," advised Hans Bond," especially without a cup of tea." A moment of silence. "It is much too late for you, dead man." Then someone flipped the world upside down. Captain Marinas Nimue held onto the persicope mounting on the Lorelay's bridge as the whole ship was tossed to the size. This is happening much too often, she mused. "Report!" she bellowed over the sound of klaxxons. "Explosion on Deck 8! Structural integrity failure! Emergency bulkheads are closing!" "Bring us up!" ordered Marinas. As dangerous as the surface was, if they cannot control the flooding, then they would need to evacuate. "Captain! Sonar reports machinery anomalies on the surface!" "What?!" At the worst possible time! "Computer confirms generator plant for Federal Big Tray-class!" "Abort emergency rise!" shouted Marinas as she counter her previous order," Bridge to engineering! How bad is it and can we hold any type of depth?" "Captain, our sail just broke the surface!" Excited shouts came from the lookouts on board the Hood as they saw the sail section of the Jukon II break the surface of the water. The water churned and boiled as the massive vessel tried to dive against despite its injuries. "Get those Fly Mantas there now," ordered Ferdinand," and prepare for bombardment." As three Fly Manta ground suppression fighters raced towards the submarine, the heavy turrets of the Big Tray turned. The triple boom of the heavy artillery cannons announced the flight of the armor piercing rounds. Hans Bond pushed himself off the ground slowly, the world still spiraling in his mind. Then someone kicked him in the stomach, sending the SS operative rolling over the deck floor. His hand struck a metal edge and the pistol went flying into the corner. Bond looked up in time to see the terrorist charge him with a scuba knife. The experienced Zeon agent easily tripped the terrorist. Grabbing the knife hand, Bond slammed the terrorist to the ground. They grappled over the knife for a few seconds until Bond threw it away. Then the terrorist headbutts Bond, throwing the Zeon operative off him. The two man staggered to the feet with the terrorist throwing the first punch. Bond parried and with one strong move uppercutted the terrorist. Pivoting on his heel, he judo chopped the terrorist at the side of the neck. The terrorist went down hard, slipping on the deck as he did so. His head struck the edge of a metal seat with a loud CRACK. Hans Bond quickly ran over only to find that the man snapped his neck on impact. The Zeon agent sighed. "The Big Tray is still firing at us!" Marinas was watching the depth guage. "What of their aircraft?" "No Don Escargots for now. But so long as that Big Tray is there, it'll only be a matter of time." "Weps! Where is my damn targeting solutions?!" "Ready to fire!" "Launch all tubes! All head full, right full rudder, bearing 170!" To his dismay, Ferdinand saw through his binoculars the bubbly trails of numerous torpedo tracks. His frantic orders came too late however as the torpedoes exploded close to his Big Tray. The hovercraft system strained then suffered a partial failure as the high explosive warheads cracked the tough armor of the Big Tray. Crewmembers are flung around as equipment slid on the moving deck. The Dutch prince held onto the railing as he pulled himself to his feet. "How bad is it?" "Propulsion systems are hard hit sir! We need to set down on land!" Gritting his teeth, Ferdinand gave his consent. "Call back the aircraft as well." It was a while before either side could relax again, each one fearing that the other was stalking them to finish them off. But as the Hood moved onto the island of Crete, the Lorelay sailed up the Aegean Sea. Nigel Ferdinand - 5 VP gained, Fatigued 1 Aleena Andrelle - 1 VP gained, No Damage The sun started to rise, one last time. Dawn over Southeast Asia, one of the most miserable, hot, sweaty, wet places in the entire solar system. It was no wonder its people had left in such a hurry. Aldo and Donny weren't talking much, limbs slack inside their cockpits, mobile suits covered with dense forestation. Aldo thought he would be able to hear the roar of the aircraft in the distance by now, but the incessant murmerings of insects, the ruffling of undergrowth, and the soft hiss of the wind permeated his ears. It sounded like crap. Maybe they shouldn't have killed them. The thought did run through his head, for all of a few seconds. Orders had been explicit to deliver the captives to Lhasa, and they would have made a bit of sense if they hadn't killed Hugo. Aldo had a strong belief in the time honored principles of blood for blood, and like he had said, he was under Kycillia, not Ghiren. Then they'd heard that the 87th was moving in on their position. The god damned 87th. Aldo couldn't even count the number of times he'd battled them over the last two months. They'd always beaten him back, or gotten away without serious damage. They had ultimately won the day at Manila and at Seattle, and fought the TAF to a standstill in Guatemala. The Basterds couldn't just run away from such an enemy, and after their stunt in the cellblock yesterday, they couldn't exactly go home. "I can see them now." The voice of the young man crackled on the speaker. One young SS soldier had volunteered to stay with them. His name was Jolian Goebels, the Virgils demolitions expert. He was perched on a high tree over the two hidden Doms, with a small two way intercom wired directly into the two mobile suits. Aldo, Donny and Jolian had come up with the plan together. "Good. 'Bout sick of all this waitin' business, don't those Earthers know how to move faster than a cro-magnon." Donny mumbled, knocking his bat with a clunk against the side of the cockpit. He was in more than just a foul mood. "Thanks for comin' along on this joyride Joe. You mind if I call you Joe?" Aldo asked, taking his very last cigar out of his pocket. He lit it up, and took one long, gratifying puff. "Not gonna make much difference is it sir." Jolian responded. He was leaning over the branch of a tree, watching the distance with a pair of binoculars. They had a chip in them which corrected for M-Particle fogging. "Not really." Aldo exhaled slowly, smoke rings floating into an eerie daze at the top of the cockpit. "So tell me the plan again." Donny asked, impatiently. He wasn't the type who was much used to waiting, and although he followed orders, he wasn't too happy with stringing his suit up with planetary muck and then sitting in it for his long. "Well Donny. As you know, I am a simple man. I don't much understand all this high ballin tech the engineers give us, but I remember one thing they told me back on Granaydah. See, this here gun o' mine, it's kind of tempermental. And if you mess with a few settings, it explodes real nice." Donny smirked, cracking his knuckles. "You mind if I fire it? She'll make one hundred." Donny asked. Aldo was taken aback for a moment, remembering his scalping order back in China. Thailand was just as disgusting, if in different ways. "You go right ahead Donny. I think this gun'll fit you well." Aldo laughed. He carefully moved the beam bazooka over to Donny's mobile suit, making sure not to dislodge their cover. The two Doms lay in wait, directly behind the abandoned Dobday class land battleship, the Virgil. Oh, but how he'd forgotten. He hated Thailand. Jarvis was aboard the Gofannon, watching the small green speck in the distance. The Tray rolled through the jungle, disturbing trees and growth wherever it went. Ahead of it was a huge number of aircraft, tanks, mobile suits, artillery units. They had an entire army here. "Yeah, I can see her now. They're not launching any aircraft are they." The Dobday was quiet, not an ounce of movement around her. "No sir. Their ship is running a minovsky particle field, appears to be operating at normal capacity." Jarvis nodded, thinking a moment before giving his orders. "Launch everything, tell them to fan out slowly and expect an ambush after we shell it. Start shelling the thing and target its treads, I want to capture it if we can." The two Big Trays heavy cannons moved slowly towards the Virgil, shells blasting through the sky and striking all around it. Mobile suits of all makes and sizes rumbled towards the Duchy battleship, while the Mississippi and Missouri soared on ahead. "I don't like the looks of this. Tell Scott and his team to move on ahead, see if he can find any stragglers to the northwest. They'd probably retreat to Central Asia." Irwin ordered. He had decided to keep his Tin Cod in for repairs, and was captaining the Mississippi instead. Aldo and Donny remained silent, even as the shelling began around them. The majority of the rounds hit the Dobday, which crumbled under the weight of Federation artillery, but was not destroyed. The two Doms behind it were protected from the bombardment, while Jolian relayed the positions of the advancing mobile suits. Far to the northwest, the the Dodais rumbled along, carrying the Virgils crew and their mobile suit compliment. They were going to take Xavier, Ritter, Rose and their men as far as they could into Asia, hopefully all the way to Odessa before they ran out of fuel. Xavier had heard about the two attacks on the Lorelay already, and was eager to rendezvous with Marina and make sure she was okay. The Virgil was much too slow, so it had to be sacrificed. "Yup, Jim was right." Scott Archer said, zeroing in on his target. A few Jet Core Boosters flew behind his Verit-- Core Booster, all aiming for the Dodai II in the rear of the convoy. "Finus, we've got company. You think you can handle it?" Xavier asked. They had no air cover, and the Dodais were overweight with supplies and machinery. They'd be sitting ducks if somebody didn't stop those fighters. "Yes sir." Finus responded, his Dodai swerving around to meet the fighters head on. His Gouf Custom sprayed out volleys of gatling fire, destroying two of the JCBs and severely damaging a third. Archer rolled away from the fire, shooting out the legs of Finus's Gouf and melting away his Dodai with MPCs. Finus lifted his gatling up as his suit began to freefall, taking wild shots at the enemy aircraft instead of trying to stabilize his descent. One round shot through one of the Core Boosters twin engines, causing smoke to billow out of the plane profusely. The Gouf Custom crashed into the treeline below, Finus blacking out in the force of the crash. "Well... Fuck." Scott was a man of few words, but they were always relevant to whatever trouble he'd gotten himself into. He turned the Core Booster around, deciding to land his jet instead of tearing into the Zeeks and dying in the process. "No sign of an ambush. Hell no sign of anybody, this ship looks deserted." Arianna's GM S Type slowly moved through the muddy, flooded land and the thick trees. They couldn't maneuver very well. The shelling had lasted a few minutes, and the Dobday didn't look like much anymore. The command unit had snapped off at the neck, the cannons had all been torn off, and the forward armor was full of holes. While he was firing, Jack had noticed that there was a strange lack of ammunition explosion as rounds hit the battleships turrets. "It time yet?" Donny asked. The beam bazooka was almost starting to steam, he had turned it on a little early. "Not yet Donny..." Aldo answered. He took another puff of his cigar, savoring every last sinful taste. He'd taken this one from Sanders personal effects after he killed him. Bigby moved towards the Dobday, cocking his head and watching it quizically. Cray's tank started lumbering along the side of the battleship, and Jay Tessa moved her GMPGT towards the thing and kicked it. The metal conk reverberated around the forest, audible to everyone in the area. "Now." Jolian said, still perched over the tree. Donny didn't need to be told twice. He pulled the trigger, the overheating beam bazooka firing a tremendous volley of superheated particles directly through the center of the Dobday. It struck the ships reactor, which went critical and exploded, tearing into the forward maintenance deck where they had moved the entirety of the ships ammunition supplies. The fireworks were magnificent, the entire forward end of the Dobday exploding triumphantly, bits of jagged ship scrap sailing through the trees like a 50 meter wide shotgun blast. "Pretty..." Jolians eyes went wide, a huge steel spike cutting him in two a moment later. Mobile suits were thrown in all directions, shraphnel cutting them apart and slamming them into the muddy and sticky earth. Not a single Federation unit was spared, the exploding Dobday incapacitating everything in a frontal arc around it. "Good plan boss. Think that's 100?" Donny asked, revving the thrusters on his Dom. He tossed the bazooka back to Aldo, and the two mobile suits stood, shaking off their thick cover. "Yeah, you probly got somebody in that mess." Aldo laughed. As the smoke began to clear, the two Doms zoomed forwards, moving out of the remains of the Dobday, past the Federal mobile suits and towards the two Big Trays. "The hell was that?!" Jarvis said, eyes wide at the spectacle. The entire forest was on fire, something that would end up turning a sizable portion of Thailands natural rainforest into smoldering wasteland. Aldo and Donny sped forwards, easily dodging the relatively small resistance before them. Aldo fired his machinegun, cutting up one of the remaining GMs that was still standing. "Shoot them down! Somebody fire!" Ackart yelled. But everybody was too shocked by the exploding Dobday to understand what was going on. The high speed Doms were within throwing range of the Gofannon almost immediately. "Hey boss." Donny said as the two mobile suits slammed into the side of the Big Tray. They dug their legs into the dirt, holding onto its air cushion as the battleship lumbered forward. "What's up Donny." Aldo asked. They wouldn't have very long before the enemy mobile suits recuperated and took them out. "Sieg Hugo." Donny laughed. "Heh. Yeah. Sieg Hugo." The commander of the Basterds took one last puff of his cigar, and dropped it on the floor. Grabbing the controls, Aldo picked up the beam bazooka in both hands, slamming it like a baseball bat into the side of the ship. It didn't have much of a charge left in it, but the particle reaction was enough to pierce the reactor to Aldos Dom, which was enough to pierce the reactor to Donnies. The two Doms exploded, the Basterds final triumphant attack tearing the Gofannons air cushion to shreds. As the fires in Thailand raged on, the Tray came to a rumbling, unceremonious halt. Aldo P. Armistad - 7/2 VP Gained, Killed in Action Finus Yamamoto - 7/2 VP Gained, Destroyed 6 Injured 2 Ritter Novosad - 1 CP Gained, No Damage Rose Adeline - 1 VP Gained, No Damage Xavier Brennan - 1 VP Gained, No Damage Cray Vermillion - 7 VP Gained, Repairing 3 Edmund Blackadder - 8 VP Gained, Repairing 2 Jack Murphy - 7 VP Gained, Repairing 1 Jay Tessa - 7 VP Gained, Repairing 2 Seth Yamanu - 1 CP Gained, No Damage Jim Repairing - 1 VP Gained, No Damage Jarvis Ackart - 7 VP Gained, Injured 1 Arianna Elvy Saoirse - 8 VP Gained, Repairing 3 Bigby Wolfe - 7 VP Gained, Repairing 3 Scott Archer - 7 VP Gained, Repairing 3 |