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The controls still shook no matter how tightly he clutched them. Oberschutze Yuji Takeshi grunted as adjusted the controls for the Minovsky Craft system. The enormous Apsalus II rested on the bottom edge of the stratosphere above Central Asia. The view is magnificent for the street-raised spacenoid from Side 3. The way the Earth's vibrant blue glow reached out into the depths of space. But below him on the ground is a different story. Harsh winds and dirt bashed the steppes of Central Asia as a violent duststorm sweeps over it like a tidal wave. Takeshi's communion with nature is interrupted when he spotted shapes on the horizon. But instead of Federal Tin Cods signalling an enemy intrusion, Takeshi saw the familiar dome cockpits of Zeonic Dopp fighters. A moment later, the leader of the flight of six Dopps is talking on his radio. "Dopp leader, identify yourself," ordered Takeshi. "Sir, this is Niner-Echo on combat patrol for this sector. We are replacements for the last CAP, sir. Over." Takeshi is not aware of any reinforcement for this region but shrugged it off as delayed information. At least he has friends in the sky. The SS officer went back to some more routine tasks before he looked up again. Something is odd. The Dopps are still flying towards him. Not only that, but they aren't flying in a cruising formation he recognized... "Echo-leader," barked Takeshi," break off your approach and maintain distance." Silence. "Echo-leader, by the authority of the Schuzstaffel, you are to change course, NOW!" Still no response, but the trap has sprung. Takeshi didn't know it, but the pilots in the Dopps are not Zeon pilots. Loaded with high explosives, the enemy Dopps went to afterburner as they closed the last half a kilometer to the Apsalus II. A sporadic last ditch spread of 40mm vulcan fire took out two of them in a pair of messy fireballs. The remaining four Dopps collided into the thick armor of the Apsalus II, exploding with the full force of their stored munitions. Takeshi is thrown around in his cockpit as the Minovsky Craft system destablizies and the mobile armor plunged into the sandstorm below like a tumbling beachball. The comraderie between the African Union soldiers and the local guerrillas symobilized the high morale. Even the raging sandstorm didn't dampen their spirits as Des Mielle stood ontop of a heavy transport and peered futiley through a pair of binoculars. If all goes well, today's events will bring him the biggest prize to this date. He stood next to the heavy transport Omar, the head vehicle of his new African Union Cover Operations 1st Unit of Action (AUCO 1st UA). Des Mielle's blazing success against Zeon installations had earned him credibility throughout the underworld lived by rogues. Now where is that Zeon mobile weapon? he wondered. It was at that point when he and the others around him heard a sharp mechanical sound above the howling of the wind. Their Zaku Worker and Petite Mobile Suit paused in their preparations as their pilots heard the sound too. Suddenly, the world darken and became clear again. Like the meteor that brought the dinosaur to extinction, the Apsalus II appeared directly above them. The passage of the speeding body of the falling mobile armor broke apart the sandstorm briefly for the entire AUCO 1st UA to look up. "Oh shi-!" they all said in unison with their leader, Des Mielles. A few of them dove for cover that they knew would not save them from such an impact. Back onboard the Apsalus II, Takeshi yanked, pulled, and toggled every combination of controls he can think off. It felt like he is inside a hamster ball dropped into the middle of a soccer match. Finally, the computer reoriented itself and the Minovsky Craft System went back online. Seeing the green status symbols caused a wave of relief to wash over Takeshi as he pulled hard one last time on the controls. The body of the Apsalus II narrowly missed the ground and the heads of the AUCO 1st UA by a mere 75 meters. Smoke from the Dopp kamikaze attacks trailed behind it as the massive energy pulse from the Minovsky Craft System scattered the AUCO 1st UA like little toys. Men, machines, and vehicles went flying over all the place. The situation is further complicated by the return of the dust storm. An hour would pass by the time Des Mielle got a good impression of the siuation. None of his soldiers are hurt, but the heavy transport Ozie took too much damage by the close encounter and would need to be repaired before it can move again. The Apsalus II itself is nowhere to be found. Only a cluster of Dopp wreckage is sighted by Des Mielle's scouts. Des Mielle - 1 CP gained, No Damage Yuki Takeshi - 5 VP gained, Repairing 4 "It's done..." Nadia spoke softly as the conventional sensors of the three zeonic suits began to fill with static. The turbines of the Minovsky Particle Scattering equipment spinning rapidly as the Zaku filled the area around the Duchy pilots with M. Particles, masking their presence. "Beautiful!" Laredo Veil exclaimed as his black Zaku floated just behind Nadia's test unit. The lenses of his camera gun adjusting, and readjusting as he trained it on the Blex Fleet. He took several readings of their target as the Zaku II E's sensors ran several different filters on the group of ships. The Schuzstaffel agent smiled, pleased at his equipment as he began relaying data to his two accompanying suits via wire transmissions. "Your turn Florian..." Laredo and Nadia both turned their attention to the massive Schnee Weiss as it floated their lifelessly and quietly. Their company hadn't spoken a word since they launched and he had yet to respond to any of their banter, but Nadia grew slightly concerned as she was still recieving no response from their newtype friend. "Uh, Cuyler?" Veil inquired as the MAF Dom just sat there. Inside the beast of a machine, Florian stared blankly at his screens, the faint glow of the monitors illuminating his face, creating an eerie light in his eyes. The young newtype couldn't quite put his finger on it, but there was a feeling nagging at the back of his mind. It wasn't the usual emanant danger, but more of a feeling of emptiness; something was off. The sickly boy seemed to shake in every slight movement of his hands, uncertainty and indecision visible in his body language. Where was Shiv when he needed her? "Cuyler?" He heard them, but what did they want? He was just a tool to them was he not? or at least it seemed that way at times... Siobhan... "Coordinated from Untersharfuhrer Veil have been recieved sir. Permission to fire?" The Musai's first mate requested a confirmation to fire on their target as the communication techs relayed the firing coordinates to the gun crews of both ships. They plugged the information in quickly, drawing up a firing solution before the Captain could even acknowledge them. "Fire away..." The man turned to the communications crew with a grin upon his face. "Acknowledge the firing solution, lock on and give them hell." He turned away as the main cannons of the two Musai ships began to glow and pulse to life as they charged full of energy. 23%... 48%... 89%... 99%... The officer nodded as the monitor showed the charge had reached its max."FIRE!" All stood still as twelve massive beams of energy ripped through the void of space, hurtling violently towards the Blex Fleet. The crew held their breath as they watched their shots crawl across the blackness of space; rewarded with a hit to the rear of the STS-36 Columbus B Type. Several small explosions could be seen crawling down and around the underside of the craft, not a kill, but they maimed it and gave their friends the distraction they needed; the fleet began to scatter and go into defensive formation to fend off an attack from their right. Laredo smirked as an explosion appeared on his cameras, though it quickly disappeared as he realized their offensive weapon had yet to acknowledge that he'd even participate in this engagement."Cuyler! Damnit!" The boys pupils refocused as his monitors were crowded with the Schuzstaffel soldier's face yelling at him. "Damnit boy! Do it now! while they're distracted!" Florian snapped back into reality, gasping as if he hadn't been breathing, sweat beaded across his forehead, dripping down the side of his face. His sweaty palms grasped the controls of his suit as he tried to gather his thoughts. The Schnee Weiss began to move, its red monoeye flashing to life as it adjusted itself. "Dear god..." Nadia shook her head, breathing a sigh of relief as she saw bits dropping from their binders behind the massive mobile suit. "You had us worried there kid..." but she got no response from the newtype, just the sight of 9 small bits blasting off into the distance, and the Dom going lifeless again as Florian sank into concentration on his remote weapons. What am I missing... Florian submersed himself deep in thought, fighting off his distractions as he felt his way towards the fleet, guiding his bits nimbly through space. The young boy waited until the last possible moment to jettison the housing of each bit and weaved his bits in and out of the fleet almost unnoticed. I see you... Florian brought his nine bits slowly around the damaged Columbus type B and the remote weapons began to resonate with energy. Before the rest of the fleet could notice what was going, nine lances of energy penetrated the hull of the ship, skewering it from all sides. One shot glanced the reactor and sent the ship and all its personnel up in a huge explosion, engulfing a couple of near by GM E's that were rushing to assist it. "Damnit! what just happened?" Commander Blex watched as the beams of energy disappated into the pitch black of space. The monitors zoomed in on a few small flashes as the cameras traced the flitting bits as they moved to target another ship, only to watch them become lifeless seconds later. "Blow them away! find their source!" Several GM E's launched to engage the enemy suits. "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Florian screamed in pain, sweat pouring down his face as he tried to claw through his helmet. The frail boy curled into a ball as his mind began to throb with pain and emotions. He felt them... all of them... Their screams echoed in his head, their cries for help, and final memories flooded his. Wh...wha..what ha-ve... I done... "STOP IT!" He screamed again, rolling in his cockpit as he flailed about in pain. The voices in his head, all the psychic pressure, finally became too much and the boy passed out. Siobhan... Their channel, just seconds ago filled with the newtype's fit of pain suddenly fell silent, and all the two pilots could do was sit and stare - speechless. Their moment of awe was all but too quickly interrupted as their alarms began to sound, a squad of GM-E's heading for there location. "Shit! I think the boy is fried my friend..." Nadia moved her Zaku in front of the lifeless Schnee Weiss, thickening the cloud of particles exponentially in hopes to try and cover a retreat. "I think we'll have to fight a few of them off..." Laredo discarded his camera gun and wielded his machine gun, aiming into the oncoming mass of GM-E's. He knew he wasn't outfitted for combat, but he needed to insure their escape anyway possible. "I suggest you ready yourself Nadia..." "Yeah yeah yeah..." The female pilot brandished her own machine gun and began firing into the mass of enemies. The bullets riddled the armor of the GM's not doing a whole lot of damage from that distance, but it was enough to cause them to break formation. About five went one direction, while six broke to the other, several drawing beamsabers while the others covered them with machine gun fire and occasional grenades. A few bullets and a couple of grenades landed home on the Schnee Weiss, rocking it in place, destroying the binder on its back, and violently knocking Florian around in the cockpit. "Shit... there's too many, and Cuyler here has become a liability..." Laredo began to back pedal as he fired, taking the head off of one GM, before disabling its arms. Dealing with the larger group, Nadia wasn't having any easier of a time. She shouldered her bazooka and took aim at them, the first two dodging, but leaving the last GM to be hit square in the chest, the cockpit crumpling and the suit exploding. "We can't fight them off..." Laredo winced as he a pink lance of energy pierced his zaku's shoulder, knocking him off balance. With out thinking, he held his machine gun up to the GM's head, blowing it away before twirling around and blasting away at the cockpit at point blank range. "We need a diversion!" Satisfied that the density of the particle field was optimal for their escape, Nadia ejected the Scattering equipment and kicked it towards the enemy units. A sadistic grin spread across her face as she shouldered her bazooka and aimed it at the drifting equipment. "Ready for this?" Laredo just stared blankly as he watched Nadia level her bazooka at the jettisoned equipment pack. "Grab Cuyler..." Following the scattering equipment carefully, she aimed and fired, sending the pack up in a giant explosion, pushing the GM's in all directions, engulfing a few in its blast. Taking advantage of the distraction, Laredo grabbed one arm, while Nadia grabbed the other, and they high tailed it out of there. Florian Cuyler: 7 VP Gained, Repairing 3, Injured 2 Laredo Veil: 7 VP Gained, Repairing 3 Nadia Adelaide: 7 VP Gained, Repairing 3-1 |