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Irony is a peculiar thing. Less than five days ago, the aggressive autonomous ground forces of the Duchy of Zeon were on the gates of the EFF headquarters. Time after time they pounded their way into the compound, only to have final victory be just out of their reach. Now the hunters are cornered in their own nest. The day before, the soldiers at California Base watched as a large Federal naval force take up siege positions. Veterans of the Odessa campaign shudder at the familiar sight. Their hope now lie in the autonomous forces that arrived ahead of the Operation Star One fleet. The Schutzstaffel Tactical Fighting Unit has a reputation well known by friend and foe alike. Success now once again rest on the shoulders of the fleet commanders: Lieutenant Alec "Warmonger" Irusk, Sturmbahnnfuhrer Raven Tarasova, Sebastian Brennan, and Captain Marina Nimue. What began as a rumor among the soldiers of the California Base garrison soon turn to standing orders. The Zeon military is not going to sit there and get slaughtered like sheep. The STFU will ride out and meet the sieging army. Those who wish to join them can do so. As a final frenzy of activity rumbles through California Base, a voice crackles over the airwaves. Not many people recognize the voice of Alec Irusk, but the former artillery instructor has a voice that command attention. Private Gai Kaiser and Corporal Gil Krundel found a wireless set in the hangar. Together they grouped around it with other pilots. Corporal Gilgamos Uruk was stepping out of an aid station at that moment. As the unlicensed doctor walked past, he stopped to listen. "Terrestrial Assault Force. We stand, on the ground that was once commanded by our late commander, Lord Garma Zabi. This has been the home of our operations for the past year, and as such, we stand at a precipice. The Federal Forces have decided that they'd have enough of us knocking on their front door, and have decided to pay us a visit." Captain Tony Knight paused outside the Zaku II J that he was given. It is the only spare mobile suit around and will have to do. Knight cupped his headset to hear what is going on. Already, the wheels are turning in his head. "Well, it would be rude to ignore our guests. And I hope they enjoy our Zeonic Hospitality, which we are most famous for. Troops, Fellow Officers. Comrades. I am proud to call you all friends as we storm into battle, weapons charged with our great cause. We will beat back the enemy force, and they will go crawling back to Jaburo." Panzergrenadier armor is always a hassle to put on, even for Raven Tarasova. Meanwhile, Captain Nimue had patched something over the ship's intercom. While it pales against the speeches she heard in the SS, Tarasova has to admit it kept her mind busy as she struggle with the armor plates. "And we will follow them, pounding against their door yet again. They will rue the day they challenged us on our own ground, and we will make them pay. For the Glory of Zeon Zum Deikun, and victory for the Principality. Sieg Zeon!" Outside the Zeon fortress, the Federation is also on the move. The tenacity of the Zeon military has been startling. But the EFF's ability to hold off against the strongest Zeon offensive gave them confidence in their own military. That revived strength brought the Federal Forces to the edge of California Base. On the other side of the world, the same is happening to Baikonour. It is a day of reckoning for these two Zeon fortresses. It began with a giant dust cloud that rose up against the Zeon base. An armor spearhead of Type-61s lead by Staff Sergeant Cray Vermillion. His tank still has damage from the previous day's battle. But the grizzled veteran knew that the missing armor plates didn't really help when you're fighting mobile suits. Experience has shown Cray that the additional speed can come in handy. On either side of the tracked vehicles are the more modern mobile suits. Private Charles Gano held the right flank while his fellow GMPGT pilot Edmund Blackadder held the left flank. Both ground MS still need repairs but both are betting that their resilient Lunar Titanium Armor can see them through. Advancing with them is Lieutenant Aaron McCaskey. His GM Command Kai is similar to the regular GM Command mobile suit saved for one feature. McCaskey is amused as he watched the Learning Computer; it was like watching a child grow by the second. Out to sea, Private Thierry Mersault had arrived on the Himalaya-class Highlander. His Guncannon Harbor Defense Types lined up on the flight deck with other ASW units. The naval warships are steaming closer to land so that the air units can have better striking range of the base. It began with artillery. It always does. The big heavy caliber guns of the Everest-class Iowa signaled the beginning of the bombardment. Smaller Hillocks joined in and soon the Big Trays of the ground force let loose with their heavy weapons. The response from Zeon came back before the first shells landed. Xamels and Zaku II Js line up their shots as the Dobday-class Midgard open fire with its heavy cannons. The three Jukon IIs of the California Base tore the waves open as their missiles rose to the sky and began to straddle the Star One navy. The Zeon response came much earlier than expected for the EFF attackers. Then to their surprise, a giant rocket plume rose to the sky. The Zanzibar-class Chimera lifts up to the sky, officially the last Zeon vessel to leave the California Base spaceport. An urgent call went out for Federal aircraft to intercept it but they are too far out of position. A wave of Dopps from the Zeon air force made the effort more useless. As the sky over California Base turned black with the aerial battle, the weight of the Zeon's sally forth pushed the hardest on the Star One Ground Force Alpha's naval blockade. The Desert Eagles dove down at the water as various Zeon MSMs fan out among the naval warships. All sense of order came apart as Federal MSMs drop into the water. The acoustic disturbance of so many objects thrashing about the water and the continuous booming of heavy artillery forced pilots to be only able to identify targets mere feet from their mobile suits. Gil Krundel's Grabro sped past GM Aquas struggling with Z'Goks as he used his mobile armor to body check the Perry. The Hillock is lifted out of the water before Krundel broke its back over the Grabro. Alec Irusk grapples with a GM Aqua, trying as best as he can to avoid the swinging Beam Pick. He shoves the Federal MSM up against the hull of the Ditch where he then punched it hard in the chest with his claws. The pilot is crushed in his cockpit and Irusk barely got away in time before the GM Aqua detonated inside the Hillock's hull. Gilgamos Uruk pondered for a moment the odd duality of his job as a soldier and his hobby as a medicine man. That thought went out the window as he struggled with the large mobile suit Zock as Uruk navigates the busy waters. You would think an amphibious mobile suit would be at home in the water, but Uruk has found the Zock not that intimate with the water. Still, he will try his best. The crew of the Chimera were startled greatly when their Himalaya took an immediate 45 degree list to port. To their horror, they saw the Zock try to pull itself on board. The sheer weight of the large scale mobile suit is nearly capsizing the carrier. Then a pair of explosions engulf the Zock. A short distance away, the Big Tray-class Sir Francis Drake ready its batteries for another shot. Her expert gunners hope to dislodge the Zock before it's weight pulls the Chimera under. The captain was about to give the order to fire again when an unfamiliar voice spoke up from behind him. "I'm sorry dear chap, but that is mighty impolite won't you agree?" asked Hans Bond. The SS agent shot the captain clear off his chair and a short firefight erupts on the bridge. As Hans Bond steps over the bodies of the bridge crew, he grimaced as he grabs hold to a railing. Zeon artillery is till falling around the Sir Francis Drake. It is already too late for the Zock though. The reactor core suffered too much damage. In the minutes left to him, Uruk leaps out of his cockpit and onto the flightdeck of the Chimera. Running past the stunned Federal crewmembers who are still hanging onto railings, Uruk leaps off the far edge of the flight deck right before the Zock exploded. The Himalaya itself is also snapped into two as it dies with the Zeon prototype. Back on the Pendragon, Captain Marina Nimue is having an episode of deja vu. Much like the time back in South America when the SS tried to reorganized the STFU fleet, there are contradictory orders. The Pendragon's orders from the SS are to support the capture of the Sir Francis Drake. Marina has seen Tarasova off with her infantry and Panzergrenadiers mere minutes before. Yet, here are orders from the Zeon defense command to destroy the ship and lay down support fire. There is only one answer though, despite Marina hoping for better coordiantion. Her smoke rounds began to swallow up the dockyards and port as the submarines of the STFU move out. Her expert crews drove them around the sinking hulls of other Jukon IIs. The Federal Don Escargots are having a grand time. No matter where they drop depth charges, they are bound to hit something. Despite the advances made in the water, the inland battle is much worse. Sebastian Brennan is holding the line with Gai Kaiser's Galbady Alpha in California Base's trenches. The Zeon Gundam is doing its best to dwindle the EF force while keeping an eye out for the STFU's signal. The signal that they captured the Sir Francis Drake- An ear-piercing warcry nearly shatters Brennan's ears. Both the Zeon Gundam and Galbady Alpha looks up as they see a Zaku II J somersault over a pillbox and into battle. Tony Knight gave another cry as he landed, blasting 120mm rounds everywhere. Suddenly a beam caught his borrowed MS through the right knee, tripping him. The Zaku II J struck the ground but kept rolling. Cray Vermillion was locking his sights on a slow and old Zaku I when the Earth shook strangely beneath his tank. A split second later, Knight's Zaku II J rolled into his Type-61. The tumbling Zeon mobile suit crumbled the tank and several others like it on its deadly journey of inertial momentum destruction until it is stopped by the hull of the Black Rock. The commotion caused by Tony Knight and the smokescreen from the Pendragon made Sebastian Brennan miss the signal to fall back to the captured Big Tray. Suddenly, the GMPGTs of Charles Gano and Edmund Blackadder jumped into the trench with him and Gai Kaiser. A wild melee of sorts started with mobile suits tripping over one another. Somehow, the Zeon Gundam and Galbady Alpha manage to pull themselves out. Gai Kaiser's mobile suit lacks any weapons but the Zeon Gundam at least has a beam saber in one hand. At that point, Aaron McCaskey shows up with his GM Command Kai blasting. The 90mm rounds bounced off the Zeon Gundam's Lunar Titanium armor but it did distract Sebastian long enough for Charles Gano to fire a beam rifle shot up the body of the Zeon Gundam. The suit fell over and the moment it hit the ground, the cockpit hatch opens. Brennan leaps out, pistol drawn but is drawfed by the GM Command Kai. Then with a shout of gibberish common to him, Gai Kaiser's Galbady Alpha dropkicks McCasky into the trench. The GM Command Kai lands on top of the two GMPGTs, pinning Charles Gano and Edmund Blackadder. Back out at sea, Thierry Mersault's Guncannon HDTs are running out of ammo. There are too many targets in the water around the Highlander and he's not sure who is who. This works out in Marina's favor as her smokescreen finally floats over the naval fleet. The ships of the STFU group around the disabled Sir Francis Drake as the last of the planned artillery support falls. Raven Tarasova hovers reloads her machinegun as she steps over the corpses of the Federal crew. She can hear the confusion and requests for orders on the Big Tray's radio. If they want to leave, the time would be now while the EFGF is trying to organize itself. The SS officer can see from here that the EF air force now has air superiority over California Base. Their heavy bombers are pounding the buildings to smithereens. So like many times before, the Schutzstaffel Tactical Fighting Unit collects its members and under a veil of concealment escapes to fight another day. Alec Irusk - 9/2 VP Gained, Repairing +2 Gai Kaiser - 11/2 VP Gained, Repairing +3 Gilgamos Uruk - 11/2 VP Gained, Destroyed 6 Seriously Injured Gil Krundel - 9/2 VP Gained, Repairing +2 Tony Knight - 11/2 VP Gained, No Additional Damage Akira Sasaki - 10 VP Gained, Repairing 5 Raven Tarasova - 9 CP Gained, Injured 2 Charles Gano - 10/2 VP Gained, Repairing +2 Cray Vermillion - 9/2 VP Gained, Dead 7 Edmund Blackadder - 10/2 VP Gained, Repairing +3 Aaron McCaskey - 10/2 VP Gained, Repairing +4 Thierry Mersault - 10/2 VP Gained, Repairing +3 Baikonour - The largest fortress on Earth, in terms of the ground it covers. Set high up in the Ural mountains, it has long served as Zeon's main gateway from Earth to Space. The base commander, Lilienthal, is well-liked, both by his troops and the civilians who populate the area around the base. The direct connection to space has been profitable for most of them, and the fearsome Zeon fortification has seen them through the bloody war relatively untouched. No more. Children cry in their mothers' arms as artillery fire peppers the city. The Zeon installations are being targeted, but even highly-accurate targeting systems are not perfect. Bombs intended for Zeon hit homes and city streets far too often. Fortunately, Lilienthal ha taken some pains to facilitate the evacuation of the entire civilian population of Baikonour into makeshift emergency shelters in the Ural mountains, away from the fighting. A few transports have worked wonders, turning a thriving metropolis into a spooky ghost town. Or at least it was, until the Federation started pushing. Aircraft swarm the skies like locusts, scores of Dopps intersecting with even more Tin Cods and JCBs, which swarm around the few Don Escargots and Fly Mantas, trying to protect the bombers until they can loose their payloads on Zeon's finest on the ground. The normal ebb and flow of a normal air battle is completely obscured, as squads of fighters are constantly entering and exiting the battle. It is the Federation who is outnumbered on the ground, but not by much; squads of Zakus and Doms are hard-pressed to hold the line against the Federation's array of Big Trays and GMs. Goufs patrol near the front lines, taking out GMs with their retractable heat rods, while trying to avoid being cut to pieces by the persistent fire from the GM machine guns, and the Federation's 9 Big Trays, sending round after round thundering into Zeon's front and back lines. A Gaw screams through the air on its way to the ground, brought down by 2 squads of JCBs, which shoot back to a carrier, hoping to re-arm before the battle is decided. Aisha Vemunio looks with satisfaction and relief as the doomed Gaw hits the ground 400m behind her ragtag group. The African Union has managed to make significant progress over the battlefield, despite its being littered with mobile suits and artillery fire. Collateral damage had been kept to a minimum, and their losses to this point were completely acceptable, in Aisha's eyes, though still regrettable. War was messy business, and sometimes, she almost wished she could trade it all away for a quiet time at a local medical school. It was time. "Charge!" She yelled, throwing her GMPGT into high gear across the rocky terrain, as she and the others raced toward their target: An enemy Zanzibar-class vessel. Imagining it in the AU's possession had put stars in the eyes of many of her recruits, and they had listened eagerly as she'd explained her plan to them. The reasoning was that a small group of infantry and MS wouldn't be spotted as they made their way within striking distance of the Zanzibar, and the crew would be helpless against the charge of guerrillas. A mile or so behind them, Malak Lazarevich cursed as his GM Sniper II was hit with a stray spray of machine gun fire. It hadn't damaged any of his suit's vital systems, but it had thrown off his aim. The Zeon Gaw would never know how close it had come to meeting the same fate as so many of its brethren. But, the sky was full of Gaws, and he easily found another target. He grunted in satisfaction as the green giant ploughed a deep trough into the broken Earth below it. Like fish in a barrel. Hopefully, the AU would manage to secure the Zanzibar - though he doubted they would. In any case, he was getting out of this battle while the getting was good. Already, the Federation forces were being pushed back; the superior number of Zeon mobile suits was proving the tipping point, and although the EF was definitely king of the skies, air-to-air missiles and strafing runs were only so effective, and the bombs would eventually run out. The GMs were not running back to the Big Trays yet, but they were definitely retreating. Broken units reformed, and were split apart again by the superior Doms and Goufs, and the Zakus took every opening offered to them. Suddenly, the ground around the AU advance began to shake, and a full squad of Zaku II Js rolled over the hill. Aisha cursed, and engaged the two leading the charge. The Rick Dom II and GM Ground charged with her, and fought bravely, but they were outnumbered, and she was forced to give the order to fall back, while knocking a Zaku's machine gun from its hands. She took up the rearguard, returning fire on the pursuing mobile suits. Realizing that their machine gun fire was having little effect on her luna titanium armor, they focused their attentions on dodging the fire from her almost-exhausted beam rifle, and mowing down scores of guerrilla fighters with their machine guns. Tears glistened in her eyes, but she wiped them firmly away as she took her beam saber and met the following Zakus head on, oblivious to the battlefield around her. After seconds of fierce fighting, it was somehow over. Her GMPGT was barely standing anymore, but there were no more pursuers. She set after her remaining forces with a grim determination. Commander Lilienthal looked with satisfaction from his Dobday-class land battleship as the GMs were forced back to the Big Trays, and the Federation line began to retreat. They had done well, holding off the Federation advance, but their enemies would almost certainly try again later. They would have to do something about their air presence, if it was possible. He had lost many good men today, and the fact that he had saved many more civilians did not lighten the burden of command. Baikonour would stand as long as he and his men were there defending it. Aisha Vemunio: 7 VP Gained, Repairing 4 Malak Lazarevich: 6 VP Gained, Repairing 3 |