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The Bridge of the Titan was still tense after the recent battles, all eyes scanned the space around them for any continued Zeon presence. After encountering the Braw Bro and losing a ship, there were now four spotters on each ship. It didn't take long for one of them to shout. "We've got another one!" He yelled nervously. "What are you talking about? That's a cargo ship you moron, check the make next time!" "Hey don't get snappy with me, better to call it out first than give them the chance to take a shot!" "And what if we'd shot them because you cried Zeon wolf!?" Basque Ohm brooded in his seat, feeling surrounded by incompetence. Sick of their arguing, he stood up and silenced them with his words. "Send a message to the freighter. Tell them that civilian traffic in this area is prohibited. Move the fleet to block it's path." On the bridge of the Workhorse, the message from the blockade was ill met. The crew immediately burst into various reactions that all essentially cried foul of the news. "All civilian traffic is what? That's a load of crap!" John Cassidy yelled over the comm, about to order his ship to run the blockade when the federation's operator replied. "A battle has just ended, hostile forces are still in the area, we cannot allow civilian passage at this time. Any attempt to continue on your present course will be inadvisable." He said, the sentence punctuated with a single warning shot just off the bow of the Workhorse and two magellans moved directly in front of the ship. "OK! OK, we get the picture." John said, muttering something under his breath. The Workhorse stopped, and slowly backed off from the fleet. "I can't believe this, we've got a shipment to make and they're jerking us around like this...." John complained, tapping his finger on his armrest while trying to decide what to do now. John Cassidy: 2 VP Gained, No Damage The Wappas waited under the cover of trees, at the edge of a wooded expanse. They hid just out of sight, out of sight of anyone passing by, and anything looking from above. The trees grew closely to each other, as if they were all branches on some fallen tree, and the strange machines could only barely fit between the coarse trunks. But they had found their positions, and now they waited for Ritter's command. The Panzergrenadiers could only see his back and one of his hands, held up straight like an iron rod for the better part of an hour. A shadow darkened the forest. How long had they been there?! The Wappas had stormed out of the woods, and Ferusha had only just been able to maneuver away from them as they gnawed at her heels. Even now, they were threatening to overtake her as she thrusted away from the swarm, trying to get a lock on one of the annoying hoverbikes. A Wappa started to close the distance between them, and Ferusha fired the thrusters again, jumping backwards, still attempting to line up a shot. Ferusha landed, and felt a renewed surge of adrenaline. "There!" The Zaku's machine gun opened fire, staining the soily ground with paint, and a line of pigment spread across two Wappas, and as their thruster nacelles collapsed, they rolled bodily over the ground, knocking their passengers out of commission for the rest of the engagement. The rest of soldiers only moved forward, accelerating even more now, and Ferusha had used up nearly all of the rocket fuel her propellant tanks held. Ritter's men moved in, the distance between them and Ferusha rapidly shortening now that her propellant was gone. the Zaku walked backwards slowly now, stabilizing itself for an assault on the charging Wappas. Two Wappas bursted out from the pack and passed Ferusha, but she ignored them, as the bulk of the Panzergrenadiers were still accelerating towards her. Behind her, the hoverbikes readied a long steel cable, and waited in place for the monstrous machine to fall into their trap. Ritter signaled the rest of the Wappas forward, holding himself back, patiently waiting for his time to act. The Zaku finally encountered the wire, stretching it to its limits and dragging the two line-holding Wappas towards itself before finally stumbling over, falling heavily on to its back. Ritter saw his opening and brought the Wappa up to full speed, and as the vehicle passed the Mobile Suit, he jumped off, onto the Zaku's torso. He ran across the cockpit hatch, the impact ringing through the armor and into the pilot's ears, before stopping at the head and firing a magazine of paint rounds into the Zaku's camera. Ritter Novosad: 3 CP gained, Injured 2-1 Ferusha Glavadeen: 3 VP gained, Repairing 1-1 Brightly lit and under the ever watching gaze of cameras, the particular hallway in the Gwazine dedicated to prisoners provided a sterile looking environment not unlike that of a medical facility. Multiple rooms lay side by side and flanked the single hallway that eventually looped back into another entrance. Clear laminated glass allowed full surveillance of the captives, though there was a portion of each cell which was cordoned off by frosted glass, giving its occupants a sense of privacy when having to eliminate wastes. Normally impregnable by even the most wily and cunning, this was Wu Jinyuan in question here. He did not sit by idly and doom himself to fate; no, he would take his chances as dictated by atmospheric noise. Whispers here, mumbles there, and soon the plan began its countdown. Having received an urgent plea for medical attention, several Federation guards went down to the brig accompanied by a doctor. After instructing the healthier persons to maintain distance, the guards unlocked the door to the cell and allowed the doctor inside to inspect the ill prisoner. Of course, sickness was just what the Zeon prisoners wanted their captors to suspect! Surprise! In a flash the unhealthy prisoner showcased a sense of revitalization and violently pushed the health care worker into the guard standing in the doorway, and thereby signaling to the rest of the Zeon that the escape attempt was now underway. Overpowering the guards proved simple enough during the confusion, giving a current tally of four incapacitated Federation guards to three Zeon casualties. Go Zeon, right? So far. So far. Little attention was paid to the lone prisoner still held back by two centimeters of bullet resistant glass, and ironically it was one of the EF's own. Marc Simmons watched the entire event unfurl while being unable to help, so he just stared at the four injured marines floating near his cell. "Hello?" he called out to one of the marines that just came to after the Zeon prisoners had left. Groaning and working a tourniquet around his right arm, the marine replied under great pain, "Sort. Of. Busy. Here." Marc opened his mouth before pausing for a moment to think about the situation. After much (very little) deliberation, he decided against making any smart alec and disparaging remarks and floated aimlessly in his cell waiting for the situation to resolve itself. "I knew these little shits would pull this off," cursed an unhappy Issa Kobayashi as he secured his ballistic helmet before brass checking his weapon. "Honestly, can't a professor get some study time around here?" Rachel Arronax's little gift once again allowed her to sense a disturbance in the Force rather early, already waiting in the doorway of the armoury for the rest of her companions to get ready. "This helmet, it doesn't make my head look too big, does it?" she asked, tugging on the protective garb and looking at a murky reflection from one of the end lockers. "It does not," answered the reserved Native American while giving the girl a stern look. The three were soon joined by fully three squads of marines as the Earth Federation's foot troops rapidly converged onto the last reported position of the escapees. Cameras were being destroyed as soon as the escape artists came into view, but it still allowed the Federation surveillance teams to adequately track the fleeing captives. The bridge crew of the Monarch busily worked to relay pertinent information to their infantry counterparts, allowing the latter to eventually set up an effective ambush point along the suspected routes of escape. Gunfire was now pouring down one of the Monarch's many hallways once again as Wu Jinyuan and his merry band of followers hid behind cover from the very dangerous Federation gunfire. Jeanne Schwert found this the perfect time to accuse the womanizing Jinyuan for being too rash and impatient, while Siobahn occupied herself clearing a jam from her rifle. The entire situation looked grim for the prisoners; Zeon casualties quickly stripping the manpower so desperately needed for Jinyuan and friends. Eventually a rather lucky shot from a ricochet embedded itself into the MAF captain's left calf muscle causing him to curse rather loudly above the gunfire and conduct a quick check on his leg before resuming the fight. Unfortunately for the mastermind of it all, the situation appeared now hopeless and he began to issue orders for his group to abort the mission and surrender, as life was much more appreciated than death. He really shouldn't have expected a ship's bridge crew to fair well against trained infantrymen and it was clear from the onset that once they were bogged down by the ambush, their chances of leaving the ship deteriorated to nil. After disarming the enemy, the Federation soldiers escorted the newly captured men and women of the SAF and MAF back to their cells, individually calling them out one at a time to be treated by the Federation doctors. Trust and the good faith were now out the window as a result of this recent battle, and the Zeon captives could now expect less benevolence from their overseers. Wu Jinyuan: 2 CP Gained, Injured 3, Escape Attempt Fails Marc Simmons: 4 CP Gained, No Damage Rachel Arronax: 4 CP Gained, No Damage Otaktai Lone Wolf: 4 CP Gained, No Damage Fierte Arluin: 1 VP Gained, No Damage It was business as usual for the Solomon Defense Fleet. Though some days things could get a bit tedious. The flow of trade that passed into zeon space was vital to the continued war effort. But such traffic also raised concerns of infiltration. So any none zeon ship wishing to pass through the area was required to have all of their paperwork in order. And it just so happens today one ship wasn't quite so organized. That ship was the Donkey. "Whats the hold up?" asked a Senior officer on the bridge of the Gwamel. The comms man he was addressing turned to face him. "Sir this vessel is taking a long time to get us the correct information." he replied. The Senior officer made a face. "Punt them out of the order. Lord Dozal will have no delays. If they want to go over so bad have them try again tomorrow and be sure to stress that they have their papers in order." said the officer. The Comms man saluted and passed along the message. The captain of the Donkey balked at being given such a message. He made a few attempts to smooth this confusion over. But all his talk was ignored. And considering the fire power the blockade possessed. The Donkey had little choice but to pull back and try again tomorrow. The Urals. Rocky. Big. Snowy. A little smelly, too. "Des, whaddya see?" Harsh whispering finally makes it to Des' ears. "Shut up, I'm almost done." Des was starting to feel the unease in his team, sitting still so close to a military base wasn't something you got comfortable with as long as you had to rely on camouflage, natural or otherwise, to hide you. "The mine's definitely active, you writing that down?" "I got it, I got it." "Only one hangar's active." Des peered over his shoulder at the anxious man writing down what he was reporting "Look, I've got it, okay?" "Fine." Des returned to his binoculars. Des Mielle: 3 CP gained, No Damage The creaking of metal straining against metal reminds Lilliana "Larry" Frisby of his age. The Zaku Worker pressed on as a Type 74 loaded with Bedouin raiders kept at its heels. The sight made Frisby chuckled to himself as he pets the sleeping form of Gunther. The dog breathes steadily as it sleeps on Frisby's laugh. Somehow the screaming winds of the Central Asian steppes combined with the rocking motion of the mobile suit had sent the dog into a deep slumber. Frisby wished he can sleep as well but there is still a long journey ahead of him before he can rest. Unknown to the African Union soldiers, the Duchy of Zeon isn't going to turn a blind eye to them. The Listening Post of the Grey Snakes made quick contact with an offshore Jukon. The U-11 confirmed firing coordinates with relayed by the Zeon ground team as the Gray Snakes's four Zaku II Js struggled to their feet against the strong wind. There is a problem for the Zeon forces. The weather conditions made it hard for the offshore Jukon to hit the rogue force with pinpoint missile strikes. They will have to settle for a saturation bombardment. With that in mind, the Zaku II Js took position a safe distance from the kill box. The leading Zaku II J spotted the African Union group as the Zeon MS shouldered their 280mm bazookas. One of the Bedouins in the Type 74 radioed that they may have spotted a good place to rest. The Type 74 is speeding towards that location now. Everyone is eager to stop and put their feet on firm ground once again. It is what saved the lives of the Bedouin and the Type 74. Just as the hovertank was ready to report all is clear to Frisby, the first of the Jukon's missiles straddled the Zaku Worker. Streams of 280mm Bazooka shells pummel Frisby's position as Leg Missiles added to the chaos. It was as though Frisby is being cooked inside a popping bag of popcorn in a microwave. Gunther is barking and clawing around the cockpit, both dog and master trying to regain control of the situation. Panels shattered and instruments burst into flames as the Zaku Worker toppled to the ground. When the final sound of the explosions died off, all the Grey Snakes saw is the dirt cloud kicked up by the explosives. Satisfied with their day's work, the Zeon forces withdrew. Four hours later, thanks to the furious efforts of the Bedouin tribesmen, the hatch of the Zaku Worker is pried open and a still breathing Frisby is dragged to safety. Gunther got a bone for his trouble. Lilliana Frisby - 5 VP gained, Repairing 5+1 Injured 2 |