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"Bright, is there a reason you're only launching Kai, Hayato, and Amuro?" Mirai looked concerned. White Base was surrounded by friendly forces, but at the first sign of Zeon forces, only those three were ordered to sortie. "Mirai, I know you care about them, but we received confirmation it was just five Magellas. There's not much fightercraft can do about that." Bright rested his chin on his knuckles as he leaned forward in the captain's chair on White Base's bridge. "But, we have bombers..." Mirai knew Amuro and the others could handle it, of course she knew that. But it still bothered her that the Federation officials would be so eager to send children to fight even when it had normal soldiers around. "Yes, we do have bombers. If it was all my call, I would've done everything I could've to give those guys a break." Bright sighed. He was ready to trust Amuro again, and this was his chance to prove he was back to normal, or hopefully, even better than normal. The sounds of battle were audible over the audio montiors, Frau and a replacement for Sayla's operator position were carrying out their orders, relaying information and communicating with the pilots. It gave Bright a few precious moments to speak with Mirai candidly. As candidly as they could be with Marker and Omar listening, but those two didn't seem to get out much. Amuro was in the Gundam again. Even if he didn't want to fight, he didn't want anyone else in the Gundam. The luna titanium shield was mounted on the backpack at an angle, modifying the thruster exhaust profile slightly. Two hyper bazookas were slung over his shoulders - Bright had given him freedom of choice for his armaments on this sortie, and Amuro's exhaustive hours of research and studying Gundam's capability gave him an intimate understanding of ever facet of the Mobile Suit. Gundam had dashed ahead of Guncannon (if Amuro wanted to be his shield, that was fine with Kai) and Guntank, and strafed around the loosely grouped Magellas' line of sight. Guncannon caught up, just in time to be outside of the Magellas' sights, as they were chasing after the strafing Gundam. "Well, isn't that nice. Amuro just makes everyone's jobs easier, doesn't he?" Kai pulled the trigger on his beam rifle, blowing up the first Magella from the Top down. Hayato rolled up next to Kai and gave Amuro covering fire with the guns the Federation had at one time thought were effective hands. "Did you say something, Kai?" Hayato asked from the core block cockpit. "Nothing at all, short stuff." Kai laughed at his own joke. Sayla not being an operator meant there was no one bitchy enough to yell at him when he gave everyone else a hard time. Maybe letting Sayla be a pilot wouldn't be such a bad thing. After all, how bad could she screw up in that... thing? Hayato grimmaced and avoided responding to Kai. Which made Kai feel even smugger. The Guncannon and Guntank moved behind cover and continued spraying supressing fire. When Amuro was in one of these moods, it didn't do any good to get in his way. The Gundam jumped aside of a Magella's main cannon's shot, and the bazooka belched a response; a fiery, explodedy, Magella-destroying response. Amuro landed and jumped forward, firing on a Magella as he passed directly over its top. The next two Magellas were destroyed at the same time as Amuro fired at them with both bazookas. He had been silent today, but Amuro finally spoke up. "I'm hungry." The Mediterrenean Sea spills into the Aegean Sea which is connected to the Black Sea by the Sea of Marmara. This vital connection is the single road which Commander Nguen Vao Kai must sail through in order to reach Zeon-held Odessa. The three warships of Odessa Task Force Foxtrot boast a remarkable blend of fighters, mobile suits, and support aircraft. The Himalaya-class carrier Lhotse is flanked by the two Hillock-class cruisers Pasture and Cog. Tin Cods and Jet Core Boosters roared off the Lhotse's flight deck. Once they link up with General Revil's land forces, they would form the noose that will choke the Duchy of Zeon out of Odessa and eventually off Earth. But before then, Odessa Task Force Foxtrot will have to run a Zeon guantlet. The first to challenge the naval advance was the Ukrainian 1st Air Wing. Lifting off from bases built long ago by the Red Army of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the Dopps immediately clashed with the Tin Cod patrol over the fleet. Wild exchanges of air-to-air missiles created contrails throughout the blue sky as Federal aircraft scrambled from the flight deck of the Lhotse. The operators on both Dish and Lugunn aircraft worked feverishly to out manuever the enemy's planes. Just as the air battle began to tip towards the Federal Force's favor, six low-flying Gunship Helis opened fire. These rotary attack craft have snuck in under Foxtrot's radar screen, their wheels barely touching the water's surface. On cue, CIWS turrets on the Hillocks opened up with a vengeance. The Gunship Helis dispersed but are not fast enough for the computerized AA turrets. There is no relief for the control officers of Odessa Task Force Foxtrot. As the Gunship Heli threat is neutralized, the mobile suits of the Ukrainian Guard appeared. The three blue Goufs on Dodai IIs punched their way past a mixed formation of Tin Cods and Jet Core Boosters. Federal aircraft dwindled as the Zeon mobile suits punctured the fleet's outer air defenses. But there are too many enemy aircraft at this point. Eventually, their advance stopped as the three Goufs are forced to fend off enemy fighters from shooting the Dodais out from under their feet. As the sky changed from calm blue to a raging inferno, three dark shapes menancingly approached Foxtrot from below. The three Goggs of the Black Mantas stirred from their hiding place and pounced on the ships. The fleet's collection of Don Escargots picked up the underwater activity almost immediately. Four GM Divers deployed into the water, just in time to see the baffles of heavy torpedoes fly past them and detonate. The explosion knocked sailors off their feet as the three Federal warships rocked heavily. The thundering sound from the depths paused the battle for a moment. But then the fighting returned, more fierce than before. A Gouf, stripped of its Dodai II, snared a Tin Cod in its heat rod as it plunged into the water. Don Escargots laid a line of depth charges where it splashed down, sending the Gouf to a watery grave. The Goggs did no better as overwhelming number of Don Escargots and experienced GM Divers picked them off one by one. Eventually this result is reflected upon all of the Zeon attackers. Dopps, Lugguns, Goufs, Dodais, Goggs, and Gunship Helis alike sank beneath the waves. Among them are the wreckage of Tin Cods, Jet Core Boosters, and Don Escargots. They make fitting company in the afterlife. November 3rd, Universal Century 0079, Operation Odessa was drawing near. The multiple task forces assembled by General Revil had diminished, their remnants merged into the Combined Odessa Task Force. Revil had accounted for such things in his strategy however, and enough forces remained to allow some confidence for victory in the days to come. Nearing their destination, the large combined fleet split in half. The land force, composed primarily of Big Tray class battleships, was making a semicircle in the west. It's naval counterpart had circled around to the east, to join with surviving Task Force Foxtrot and extend the formation eastward. The Autonomous Task Force headed by the White Base, was moving to complete the circle and give the spacenoids only one option for escape: to leave the planet. "What are you doing!? That's useless in the defensive lines, get it on the HLV now!" Master Sergeant Rhett Paruta shouted, shifting his eyes across the field to his fellow soldiers from the G-Force fleet. "All of you, lets get this shit packed up!" He ordered, jogging off to help guide a Samson into a nearby HLV. As the Zeon soldiers made every effort to both set up defenses and prepare to abandon Odessa, they were interrupted by the surprising sound of General Revil's voice as he prepared to begin a speech in response to the one delivered by Garma Zabi recently. "Fellow citizens of the Earth Federation, I come to you this day with news we've all been waiting too long to hear. It appears Zeon is finally finished denying the truth. The truth that they could not make good the threats of Gihren Zabi. The truth that Zeon is, and has been for the better part of this year, exhausted." Revil's voice was quiet, almost sad as he spoke. "Zeon has fought hard in their denial of this truth, spreading themselves thin as blindness has driven them on without the soldiers or equipment to achieve their goals. Now have they succeeded? No, their tired and understaffed forces have been pushed back to Odessa, with nowhere to run but back to Side 3. Has Gihren Zabi's ambitions to eliminate the Earth Federation come to fruition? No! His malicious intent has only further weakened his own military, wasting countless lives in a war doomed to failure!" His tone began to rise as he continued, pausing at the last line to let it sink in. "Earlier this year, I challenged Gihren Zabi that if he actually believed he could succeed in his demented plan for genocide, that he go ahead and try. Well he did try, and he failed, and his people paid the price. Gihren only saw corruption in the Federation, and corruption he could've defeated. But he did not see the truth, he did not see the good men and women who stood up and turned the tide against him. And now those good men and women are taking the fight back to Gihren Zabi. I ask you Gihren, will you open your eyes to the truth? Will you see that your soldiers cannot continue, that this war will end soon?" Revil stood, leaning forward on the podium as he concluded. "Citizens of the Earth Federation, the Zeon have been forced back from your homes, back to Odessa, and soon, back to space. I have not done this. All of you, who heeded the call to arms, who fought bravely and put your lives on the line. You are the ones who prove Gihren Zabi wrong. You are the truth that Zeon denied!" At those words, the transmission ended, and Revil immediately turned to his executive officer. "Inform all fleets, commence the siege." Alec Irusk: 1 VP Gained, No Damage David Anderson: 1 VP Gained, No Damage Duncan Keystone: 1 VP Gained, No Damage Ferusha Glavadeen: 1 VP Gained, No Damage Marko Dresner: 1 VP Gained, No Damage Ota Naomi: 1 VP Gained, No Damage Persephone Dawn: 1 VP Gained, No Damage Rhett Paruta: 1 VP Gained, No Damage Yuji Takeshi: 1 VP Gained, No Damage |