|
White Base tensed as a haggard truck barreled towards them, and Bright gave the command to land. Exiting the ship, they hailed the truck, finding a weakened Federation soldier in the vehicle. "Do butterflies fly in the desert?" "I'm from Revil... Do I look like I feel like fucking around with passwords?" "Odessa Day will begin... soon. It's the beginning of our new assault. We'll be fighting Kycilia's minion, M'Quve." "What? White Base will be participating in this?" "I don't know if we're ready for that," Sayla said. "Well, Mister Bright, White Base needs salt." "...What?" "Salt is a necessary nutrie-" "Fine - we'll make a detour to a salt water lake. We can extract it there. Just don't start preaching about salt. And don't bother me again unless it's actually impo- actually, just don't bother me. Ever." "Port! Return fire!" Ramba Ral had seen White Base's moment of weakness, an opportunity he would not chance to miss. He and his men had proceeded to chase down the Trojan Horse, and now, the Gallop's cannons opened fire on the pale stallion. The Gundam escaped from the launch catapault and landed crookedly. Sayla grimmaced - she had to do this. "I have to make contact with them, I have to find out about Casval!" "What the hell is Sayla doing in Gundam?" Bright screamed as everyone scrambled to understand what was going on. "I don't know!" Amuro shouted over the radio. "But I'm going out in Guncannon, I'll try to get her back in!" She had stolen the Gundam, and now White Base was stripped of its best weapon - Amuro. He was in the Guncannon, but without the Gundam, he was only half as effective. The Gundam struggled against a Zaku, and Sayla was unable to target the MS. Ramba Ral's Gouf lashed out with its heat rod, knocking the Gundam's Shield away, and toppling the Gundam. Guncannon arrived just in time - Ral was about to make the finishing blow. "Dammit, Sayla. She has her comm switch off!" Amuro cursed and fired on the trio of Zakus, disabling one with a surprisingly effective shot to the torso. The other Zaku was destroyed completely, not as lucky as his comrade. "Now would be a time to make a tactical retreat. You like men who make timely tactical retreats, don't you Hamon?" Ral mused. Sayla struggled to get the Gundam to its feet, but she managed somehow, and together with Amuro, who was dragging the disabled Zaku back to White Base, they returned to the ship. "Alright. Get the fuck out." Bright aimed a pistol at the opening cockpit hatch of the Zaku, along with Hayato and Job John. "No sudden moves or I'll blow your brains out." "I expect prisoners are treated according to the Antarctic Treaty?" The pilot asked, rising from the prone Zaku. "Yeah, sure, why not. Take him away," Bright said. "We'll have questions for him later." "And as for Sayla," Bright said over the radio. "What the fuck. See me on the bridge." "I thought you were smarter than that, Sayla. Did you do it to prove women could fight just as well?" Bright asked. "...Sure." Sayla arrived at the brig, brought there by Kai. Frau was about to feed the prisoner, but Sayla insisted she did it instead. "Hey," she whispered, nearing the captured pilot, "do you know what happened to Char?" "Char?" "I mean the Red Comet." "You know Char Aznable? I heard he's still on the front lines here." "...Thank you... so much." Amuro ran simulations based on that blue Mobile Suit he had fought - he hadn't encountered anything like it, not even with Char. Kai criticized his efforts, but Amuro didn't notice, instead running off data and numbers as Kai walked away. Meanwhile, Bright interrogated the captured pilot. "Where's Ramba Ral's Gallop? Where's M'Quve's mine? Tell me, or Job John here'll rip your balls off. He's done it to guys before. Tell 'im, Job John." Job John nodded gravely. Amuro rolled out in the Guntank as they spied the Gallop - his plan was in effect, but he hadn't informed Bright. "What are they doing?" "The prisoner's escaped!" Kai yelled over the radio. "What?! Have Sayla look for him!" She found Kozun in the lower communications deck, attempting to contact Ramba Ral. He found the right channel and contacted the Gallop. Sayla found him just as he finished at the console. Kozun reached for his gun, but Sayla knocked it away, and the battle outside began at the same time. Amuro was pushed back in the Guntank. His idea had seemed to be working at first, but now he had no choice but to switch to Gundam. Ramba Ral had launched. Kozun stole a jetpack and attempted to escape out of White Base's dock, but as he was about to escape, Sayla was forced aside, and a White Base crewman launched a bazooka round at him, decimating his body and scattering it to the winds. Sayla gasped. "...Sayla... I..." The crewman stuttered. "No, don't feel guilty." "Cockpit conversion complete!" Amuro was ready to launch. "Are you ready to go, Amuro?" Sayla came over the comm. "Sayla!" Amuro was surprised. "I'm sorry about what I did before" "The Gouf is here!" The bridge notified all pilots. "Try to free the Guncannon, Amuro!" Amuro launched from the catapault and fired on the Mobile Suits closing in - but he couldn't hit the Gouf. "It's not fast enough! Kai!" Kai pulled away from the redoubling Zeon MS, thankful for Amuro's interception. Ramba Ral's heat rod exploded as it wrapped around the Guncannon's arm; Amuro's targeting wasn't too inaccurate. White Base's beam cannon's fired on the Gouf's position, missing, but knocking it away from the field. To White Base, he had disappeared. "Argh! I've got the worst luck, the shockwaves screwed up the body joints. I hate pulling back without a fight. Men! Withdraw." Amuro breathed in. He... had failed. "I asked you to launch in Gundam. You disobeyed me. We could've all died." "But Guntank was more useful in that situation!" "Not when the Gallop was involved." "...I know... but we're not real soldiers." "Get your God damned act together, Amuro." "Sir..." Amuro moved away, back to work on Gundam once more. He was in the hangar, and he heard voices. Amuro listened. "Even Omar's been in the simulator." It was Bright's voice. "What do you think, Mirai?" "He's young, but he's not unqualified." "We can put Hayato on Gundam." "It's your decision to take Amuro off Gundam, then?" "Yes." Amuro walked through the doorway, and Mirai looked aghast. "Amuro!" "You heard everything?" Bright asked? Amuro couldn't find any words. With tears in his eyes, he ran away. "Amuro, where you going?" Frau chased after the strangely dressed Amuro. He was heading towards the hangar. "I'm leaving - don't try to stop me." Amuro reached the Gundam - and launched, forcibly. "Amuro! What's he doing?!" Bright yelled at the crew. "He's running away!" Frau tried informing the base, but she was too late. The Gundam disappeared into the night. The calm of the sea off the North African coastline was shattered by alarms as the crewmen of Odessa Task Force Foxtrot's ships scrambled to identify three enemy contacts cutting through the water toward them. "Confirmed, three Gogg units approaching fast, GM Diver team, prepare to launch!" Captain Nguen Vao Kai leaned forward in his chair, clasping his hands in front of him and speaking. "Fire a volley of torpedoes ahead of our units, I'd prefer to at least put the Goggs off balance for our boys." As thought to punctuate his order, the loud hollow sound of torpedo launches could be heard even in the bridge. Just behind the underwater missiles, GM Diver units dropped into the sea and sped off in the same direction. "Torpedoes!?" A Gogg pilot shouted in fear, madly dodging the anti-ship weapons. "They must've spotted us," The Gogg commander muttered, thinking, "What to do.. what to do..." "Sir! I have five large contacts, same bearing as the torpedoes. Judging by their movements, they're outfitted for underwater use." The third pilot called out, still evading torpedoes. "We're in over our heads here, retreat!" The commander said, pulling back on his controls before being interrupted by one of his subordinates. "I don't think they're gonna let us sir!" He yelled, evading long range gunfire from a GM, only to dodge into a torpedo. The explosion had a similar effect to a depth charge, disorienting the remaining Goggs as the GMs closed in, firing their torpedoes and machineguns. At five on two, the Goggs were hard pressed to mount an offense. Shortly thereafter, a pair of explosions distorted the surface of the sea, and five GM Divers signaled their return to base, followed by an undetected parting gift from the last Goog. GM's began pulling themselves back on deck. "Incoming Torpedo!" A sonar operator shouted, but too late. A final shot fired by the commander's Gogg streaked through the water, catching up to the GM Diver team and driving it up out of the water, and into the Lhotse's hull, leaving a massive dent before falling away and erupting in a puddle of flame floating in the sea. "Sir, it's confirmed, the pilot is dead." "Cease recovery, we can't keep Revil waiting..." |