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October 27th, Universal Century 0079 "Oh Garma... Why do you have to leave me." Icelina was nearly sobbing, but she held herself back. She didn't want her beloved to see her in tears. It was early mornining, the sun not yet risen over San Franciscos airfields. The Gaws engines were already revving up, the huge behemoth ready to fly into war. "Icelina... I don't want to leave you, but think of all the good men and women who will die if I am not there to lead them. I have to do this." The two embraced, kissing and holding each other as if nothing else mattered in the world. "Don't worry. Once we stop the Federation, I will come home. The war will be over, and we can be together forever." Garma smiled. Icelina let go, and the youngest Zabi turned, walking up the ramp and inside the Viktoria Luise, flight helmet in hand. He did not look back. The Gaw was sailing over the Pacific, just above a thick layer of cumulo nimbus. They had been flying for about ten hours now, and everybodies nerves were a little on edge. Garma had ordered them to change course just an hour after takeoff, and ordered radio silence so the change in position would not go through Zeon channels. The crew called him a maverick for taking an unsupported Gaw straight through Federation territory, but Garma believed faking out the Federations autonomous assault forces was worth the risk. The Dopp pilots were all waiting in the pilot lounge, simply assuming an ambush would come at any moment. Garma sat at the back, his shirt off, and the long ponytail he had grown in the past month pressed up against the locker. He felt relaxed here. He had always been a pilot first, more comfortable on the front lines than in a stodgy office, sending younger men to their deaths. While Gihren and Kycillia had taken the easy road, he had insisted on going through the academy with his brother Dozle, both of them earning top marks. The rest of the Dopp pilots loitered around, in all manners of undress. As was customary amongst fighter pilots, they addressed each other by callsign, some feeling their nicknames were more of a name than those given them by their parents. Iceman stood in the back corner, arms crossed. He didn't like Garma. Some upstart royalty brat telling him what to do, putting them all in danger. He'd do his job, but he didn't like it. Goose and Merlin were playing cards in the middle, ignoring the rest of the crowd. Poker was the only thing that mattered. Other pilots were eating MREs or doing push ups. Everyone was ready for the warning to blare on the intercom. For a while, Garma wondered if he would meet the Trojan Horse again at Odessa. His thoughts lingered to Char, wondering where his friend was. Char had gone MIA shortly after Seattle, and rumors of him frequenting bars had come up, here and there. He'd caught word that Kycillia had tracked him down recently. But Garma didn't remember the Char of the present, he remembered the Char from before the war. The one who was roommates with him at the Academy. The one he was always trying to beat. The one who had shot down more ships than he had at Lourm. The one who would always be his wingman, through thick or through thin. Char was the closest thing Garma had to a friend in this world. Suddenly the sirens began to blare, and Garmas eyes snapped open. They knew it would happen sooner or later. Pilots quickly dressed themselves, grabbing helmets and rushing for the flight deck. Garma slid into the cockpit of his Dopp, the dome nearly half the size of the small fighter. Six of them would launch at once, three from each of the Gaws two wingside hangar bays. AA gunners prepared to push bombers away from the Viktoria Luise, and MPC operators readied themselves to take shots at enemy destroyers. Garma strapped on his helmet, giving a thumbs up to the men at his side. "Flight leaders, this is mission control, we've got ten bogeys coming in from the west. Looks like Cods." "Cods, Mantas, if it's not a snail it's a damn fish, who cares." Iceman said. Goose laughed. The flight doors opened, and the pilots shot out of the purple giant. "Good hunting, lord Garma." "Stop with the 'lord' stuff, it's embarassing." Garma said. The two squads fanned out, pilots looking all around their glass canopies for signs of the enemy fighters. Minovsky interference was low, but the Cods still weren't showing on their instruments. "They gotta be in the clouds, I don't see them." Merlin said. He dropped lower, trying to get a better look. "Nothing around... Wait, wait. Iceman, coming from seven o' clock, shadows going under you in just a second." Merlin gained altitude, going behind Iceman and flying tandem with him. Icemans Dopp flipped around, the hotshot pilot looking straight up till he could see the light shadows in the clouds. "I see 'em. Hey princess Zabi, catch me if you can!" Iceman dipped into a dive, Merlin and Goose following. The three fired machineguns into the cloud, a pair of explosions greeting them. Tin Cods burst out of the grey cover, flying in all directions. Garma slipped in behind one, firing his machineguns and trying to get a lock. "Don't be too hot ice, you'll melt like a bad drink." Garma scored a kill. A Cod came slashing across his left side, but the Zabi dropped into a roll, pulling G's and pushing against the side of the canopy. He flipped back around, the slower Cod losing its lock and moving towards another Dopp. It was a pretty standard trick in Dopp vs. Cod fights, but one that worked consistently. Another Cod was behind Goose, firing intermittent barrages of shells. A missile locked on, but Goose released high heat countermeasures, losing the sight of the warhead. He went into a high turn, but was hit by strafing fire from another one of the Federal fighters. "Fuck, I'm hit!" Goose yelled, trying to pull back to base. Garma and Iceman were both on the man that hit their comrade, the Cod bursting into flames and exploding. "Good thing we're here to save your tail feathers boy." Iceman laughed again. He was full of bad puns. He and Garma downed the last Cods, and started moving back towards the Viktoria Luise. "Man, I'm used to being outnumbered worse than this..." Garma chuckled. Before he could relax, a number of missile warnings blared into his ears. He and Iceman broke in opposite directions, a number of warheads coming out of the clouds. Another wing of Tin Cods was directly under them. "Luise, you're not keeping your eyes on the radar. Shit works sometimes you know!" Iceman howled. He and Garma swivveled back around, flying literally on top of each other. Over a dozen missiles shot out of the two small craft, peppering and annihilating the Tin Cods. "How many was that?" Iceman asked. The wing started moving back to base once again, without a single casualty. "Sixteen total." The female comm operator chimed in. They were always girls. Bridge bunnies. "I think we're getting sloppy. There'll be more in Ukraine." Garma smiled. The fighters turned around as they got close to the Gaw, dropping speed and softly being 'grabbed' by the ships landing deck. "Hey Iceman." Garma added a few minutes later, the two back in the pilots lounge. "You can ride my tail any time." |