Battles - September 2nd

Speed Bump

The good old days are over.

A battered Zeon flag flutters in the wind. The brillantly red fabric is torn at the edges and the white bands around the black emblem have turned gray from dirt. A short distance from the flag is an encampment. Overturned chairs and plates still with warm food sat around tents and portable equipment. The occupants however, are nowhere to be seen.

The whistling of artillery shells and the rumble of war machines are a clue to where the Zeon soldiers went.

~

A miniature version of the Earth Federal Force's Odessa campaign is now moving across the South African region. Two Big Tray-class land battleships flanked by a herd of heavy transports moved vigorously across the terrain. Munitions and ordinance boomed out of their gun turrets. In the distance, two large shadows swerve to avoid getting hit.

The Dom Tropical Test Type glided over the African soil with ease. The heavy artillery doesn't bother Roy Greenwood. It's everything else that does.

Greenwood grunted as his mobile suit swung around to avoid a pair of missile impacts. The Zeon mobile suits lobbed a few bazooka arounds into the sky to push away the harassing Jet Coreboosters and Tin Cods.

He used to have a partner but that Zaku II D type is now spread over five square miles of African ground. Without any other support, all Greenwood can hope is to make his way to one of the other Zeon patrols or Kimberlite-

- And then suddenly there was nothing left of the Dom TTT above the thigh joints. The smoking metal legs went another hundred yards before it tumbled into different directions.

Hidden behind a rock formation sixty yards away is Kurro Konishi. The doctor smirked as the large Xamel expelled the gigantic shell casing from its smoking breech chamber.

"So... can I have some ice cream now?" asked Pinnoco.

"No."

Outcome: African Union Victory
Kuuro Konishi - 7 VP Gained, Repairing 1+1
Aisha Vemunio - 1 VP Gained, Repairing 0+1



The Domino Effect: Siege of Vladivostok Continues

Alec Irusk stared out the "window" of one of the Vladivostok base's many buildings. That's what the Zeon troops stationed at the base had taken to calling the large holes left by the Federation shells. Most of the crew had been ordered to the base's intricate network of tunnels and cellars, to avoid personnel loss during the continuing bombardment.

Despite having taken shelter, the men were ready to break out of the tunnels to take the fight to their Federation attackers. The cold underground shelters were impressive, but cramped, and they were all running out of things to do, jokes to make about their attackers freezing in the snow, and patience. The bombardment had continued for days, and it seemed they lost more every day. They could not protect every building, every ship, every mobile suit, and every man. The base required maintenance, and there was not room underground for everyone.

Some wondered if their turncoat base commander was going to switch his allegiance back to the Earth Federation, in another attempt to keep command of a base facing overwhelming odds and a turning tide. Vladimir Antonov had thrown his desk at Akira Sasaki when she had respectfully asked him to martial his forces to drive away the Federation invaders. Tony Knight had been strangely silent when he'd tried to make conversation with the young officer, and Gilgamos Uruk could hardly remember that he was serving Zeon, not the Federation. It was a wonder he still was allowed to wear the uniform, and a testament to the state of Zeon's war effort on Earth.

The Warmonger was certainly not pleased. Still, it wasn't all bad. Morale was not completely shot. A few men had noticed that the enemy's GMs were ill-suited to the harsh climate, and had adopted a clumsy, shambling manner of walking. They talked about sending men into the field with nothing but trip lines, sending their enemies tumbling to the ground, where they would be easy targets for their own mobile suits and artillery. It was a common response to war - making it almost a game, finding humor in every situation, and pointing it out.

But the Warmonger knew that the game they were playing was dangerous, with very real consequences. The end of the war would just be the beginning of reconstruction, and everything that went along with it. Who knew how the men who served Zeon now would be treated after the war, and how they would regard everyone else? Never before had such a wide wedge been driven through humanity, separating them into 2 major factions. How could humanity survive such a split? Was reconciliation really possible after something like that?

Turning away from the window and the fires that burned around the base, he returned underground to plan for the imminent engagement. The siege was whittling away at their forces slowly but surely, but they could not destroy everything with artillery shells.

~

Aaron McCaskey, Edmund Blackadder and Thierry Mersault were not as amused by the trouble the GM pilots were having with the difficult terrain. They'd have to pull their act together if they were to mount any decent assault. Still, the number of artillery shells they'd managed to send toward the Zeeks was reassuring, and just enough to balance out the effect of the cold weather on the men's morale. They were just beginning to acclimate to the cold climate, but they were still just as ready to be done with operations here and leave for sunnier climes and easier times.

Aren't we all? Aaron McCaskey shook his head as he ducked back into the tent.

Outcome: Bombardment of Vladivostok Continues
Edmund Blackadder: 1 VP Gained, No Damage
Thierry Mersault: 1 VP Gained, No Damage
Aaron McCaskey: 1 VP Gained, No Damage
Alec Irusk: 1 VP Gained, No Damage
Gilgamos Uruk: 1 VP Gained, No Damage
Akira Sasaki: 1 VP Gained, No Damage
Tony Knight: 1 VP Gained, No Damage