GUNDAM: 8 Squadron
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam or anything related to it. Gundam belongs to Bandai, Sunrise, Hajime Yatate, and probably some other guys, too. But I made up all the members of No. 8 Squadron, so, I suppose they're mine.
Universal Century 0079, December 22, Solomon:
"Johnson, Zaku! Left side"
Sergeant Luke Johnson pressed hard on the foot pedals and pushed his throttle to full thrust. He pulled the control sticks, turning his mobile suit to the left. He saw the area of space where had had just been fill with yellow fire. Suddenly, his main monitor was filled with a green blur as a Zaku flashed past him. Again, he hauled the controls to the left, but this time with his index finger pressed gently against the stick.
He saw his own yellow tracers following the Zeon suit then watched them impact it. The Zaku lost thrust, simply drifting through space for a fraction of a second, then exploded in a bright pink puff. Luke thrust back from the battle for a moment, trying to see who was winning. The Federation forces appeared to have an edge, but the Zeons had just brought up three more Musai cruisers and were beginning to push back a small force defending the right flank.
Luke was brought out of the trance-like state his tactical analysis had left him in as the radio suddenly crackled to life.
"8 squad? 8 Squad, come in."
Luke heard Captain John Mitchell, Number 8 Squadron's Commanding Officer"8 Squad lead, here, go ahead, sir."
"Captain Mitchell, the Zeons are breaking through on the right. 8 and 12 Squads are gonna go fill the gap. Move out, Captain."
Luke heard two clicks on the radio, the signal for an affirmative. Captain Mitchell then returned on the radio, this time adressing only 8 Squadron.
"Alright, team, you heard the Commander. Move to Sector 18 B. Allen, Thomas, you two are gonna have to nail those Musais. The rest of the team will give you cover, understood"
Luke and the other 8 members of the Squadron all double-clicked in reply and headed out to their assigned location. Luke fell into position along with the rest of the squad to cover Pete Allen and Jim Thomas. When Luke looked to check on those two, he saw their two GMs, shields upraised and Hyper Bazookas steadied, leading the team in against the enemy battleships.
As Luke's team closed with the enemy ships, he saw 12 Squad's 8 GMs and 2 RB-79 Balls fall into formation next to them. Luke pressed a button on his console and saw the clip from his 90mm Bullpup machine-gun drift away from him. He jammed a new clip into the gun and saw a full 30 rounds appear on his ammo counter. His attention returned to his controls as they two squads came within the Musais firing range. He checked his radar and saw the red blips of 12 Zakus approaching them.
His radio buzzed"8 Squad, this is 12 Lead. You guys hit the cruisers we'll handle these suits."
He heard Captain Mitchell acknowledge, then saw 12 Squad peel off from the group. Luke hastily raised his shield in time to block several rounds from one of the Musai's machine-gun turrets, then thrust toward the nearest cruiser. He opened a radio channel"8 Squad Lead, this is 7. Request two mobile suits to acopmany me on an attack on the far Musai."
The Captain's voice came back quickly"Roger, 7. 2 and 4 will cover you."
Luke clicked the comm twice. As the two suits formed up on Luke, he set his machine-gun into its slot on his GM's back and drew his beam saber. He ignited it and watched the pink blade leap up from the hilt. Suddnely, everthing seemed to move in slow-motion for a few seconds as Luke saw a blue and green Gelgoog sporting a commander's antenna launch from the Musai in front of him, narrowly missing him. He turned, but 2 and 4 had already moved off and were engaging the Gelgoog.
Two came over the comm"Go, 7. We'll hold him here for ya'."
Luke nodded and thrust off toward the cruiser which had, by now, aquired him and had opened fire. He easily dodged the heavy beams from its main guns, but its machine-gun turrets were beginning to give him trouble. He blocked another burst with his shield, then discarded it, the heavy metal having become too warped and shattered to be of any further use. In place of it, he redrew his machine-gun, firing quick, controlled bursts at the troublesome gun emplacements and noticing at least one explode, rending a small hole in the green ship's side.
Finally, he had come close enough so that he could see the bridge of the big ship. He accelerated to maximum thrust and flew straight for the small room atop the cruiser. Within the space of a few seconds, Luke closed so that he was directly in front of the bridge and almost touching it. Then he simultaneously stabbed the beam saber down through the top of the bridge with his GM's right arm, and fired a long burst through the bridge viewport with the machine-gun in his left. Then, he thrust quickly away before the guns could target him again.
His elation over his small victory was cut short when he saw the floating wreckage of two GMs. They both bore the black wolf head insignia of 8 Squadron. Scanning the surrounding area, he saw the same blue and green Gelgoog that had narrowly missed him before and, now, had killed Two and Four. He saw it close with a GM and a Ball, both presumably from 12 Squadron. He saw the GM fire off several hasty shots from its beam spray gun. Luke realized that, if he acted fast enough, he might be able to save those two. He replaced his beam saber, shouldered his machine-gun, and activated his targeting computer.
He teased the stick left and right, slipping the crosshairs around the Gelgoog, but still never gaining a solid lock. The Gelgoog slowed as the pilot aimed and fired a burst from his beam rifle. Luke saw the Ball explode as his crosshairs turned red with a lock on the Gelgoog. Luke smiled and stroked his trigger. He was rewarded with the sight of his tracers chewing into the Gelgoog's right shoulder and tearing the right arm, beam rifle and all, off of the Zeon mecha.
After recieving that kind of damage, Luke expected the machine to retreat, but instead it grabbed a heat saber and proceded to cleave the GM in two. Luke gaped as he watched it explode and the Gelgoog, escorted by three Doms, move off toward a Gwazine class battleship. Luke shook his head and turned to help his squad with the two remaining cruisers.
Universal Century 0082, September 3, L-5 Colony Sector:
Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Luke Johnson pulled the throttle back to 60 and set his radar to long-range scan. He raised his GM's right arm, signaling for the group to stop. After a moment, Luke dropped the GM's arm and the group of five suits moved on. Luke pushed his thrust up to 80 and the other four suits followed his lead, the blue flame from their thrusters leaving a rapidly dissipating mist in the void of space. As they neared one of L-5's colonies, Luke set his radio frequency to a civilian channel used inside the colony.
"This is Lieutenant Luke Johnson of the Earth Federation. Is anyone there? If you can hear me, please respond."
But all Luke heard was static. Then, as if in answer to his call, a small scetion of the glass walled colony blew out into space and Luke saw a small object closing with his group. It took him a moment to realize what it was.
"Rocket" he cried.
He flitted his crosshairs around his display, desperately attempting to target the tiny warhead. Just as it was about to close in for the kill, Luke finally aquired a lock on the thing. He pressed the trigger under one of his thumbs and heard the low rumble of the twin, fire-linked machine-guns mounted in the head of his new GM Kai. Suddenly, a large area of the glass near the place where the missile had originated shattered as three Rick Dom IIs and a pair of Zaku FZs burst from the colony into space.
"Fall back and open fire"
Luke yelled, as thrust quickly backwards. He brought up his shield and the new 90mm Rifle that the new GM Customs and some officers' units were now carrying. He fired several rounds and saw several holes appear in one of the Zakus. The other thrust upwards and fired a grenade from the launcher slung under its machine-gun. Luke raised his shield and blocked the small explosive canister. Luke lowered his shield and was about to open fire on the Zaku, when several machine-gun rounds spanged off his left shoulder, almost piercing the armor. He turned and saw one of the Rick Doms, old style Zaku machine-gun in hand, continuing to fire at him.
Luke quickly thrust his GM Kai down and opened fire, trying to hit the Rick Dom's underside. He saw one of the Rick Dom's knees shred as the high-velocity rounds tore through the joint. The right leg came off below the knee and the Rick Dom became unbalanced. As the pilot struggled to regain control, Luke activated his targeting computer and easily settled the crosshairs over the now defenseless mech.
Almost before the crosshairs turned red, Luke fired a burst at the Zeon. The 90mm slugs sank into the Rick Dom's armor, leaving several large holes. A few of the rounds managed to puncture the cockpit hatch. Luke saw the air begin to seep out through the holes in the cockpit then, the hatch blew outward into space as the cockpit exploded. Luke ejected the now empty magazine from his rifle and slapped in a new one. He checked his radar; there were two of the Rick Doms left and Luke still had his entire team.
Luke set his radio to his squad channel"All units, status"
Luke heard someone begin to reply when they were cut off by a burst of static. Luke looked frantically around the starfield, trying to find who had attempted to respond. That was when he saw the rapidly dissipating area of gas and debris that had one been one of his GMs. Just to the left of the remains, one of the remaining Rick Doms thrust up into some of the debris from the colony. Luke set his throttle on full and fell in behind the Zeon suit.
He was about to aquire a lock on the Rick Dom when a large piece of metal from the colony exterior blocked his view. The large object was drifting slowly toward him, but at Luke's present speed, it was nearly impossible for him to avoid it. He quickly pulled up the GM's rifle and emptied the entire magazine into the steel sheet. It seperated into several smaller pieces and again began to drift toward Luke's mobile suit.
Luke raised his shield and battered his way through the remaining metal debris. When came out on the other side of the shards, the Rick Dom had dissapeared. Luke checked his sensors, checked his viewscreen, and then thrust hard down and to the right, avoiding three shells from the Rick Dom's rapid fire Raketen Bazooka. Luke raised his rifle and squeezed the trigger sevral times, but all he got was a series of clicks.
Panicking, he checked his ammo counter and saw it was a blinking red "00". Cursing, he threw away the rifle and drew the beam saber from his backpack. As the Rick Dom closed with him, he pressed one of the secondary weapon buttons on his control stick. He watched as the bright yellow darts from the 60mm vulcans in his GM's head followed the Rick Dom across the starfield.
The Rick Dom suddenly stopped and quickly thrust the other direction. Luke twisted his control sticks to the right, once again chasing the Rick Dom with vulcan tracers. Several of his rounds finally managed to impact with the enemy suit, tearing a stacatto pattern of jagged holes in the mobile suit's side. It lost power momentarily and just as Luke thought it might be able to return to the fight, it collided with one of the large chunks of the colony shell.
Luke smiled, but his happiness didn't last long as he heard the low beeping of a threat indicator issue from his sensors. He whirled the GM to the left just in time to be slammed by the shoulder of the remaining Rick Dom. He hit several of his thrusters, trying to slow his uncontrolled motion. Suddenly, the Rick Dom was upon him again, this time, armed with its heat sword. Luke juked his machine to the right, heard a sound of shearing metal, and then the Rick Dom was past him.
He checked his damage schematic and saw that the Rick Dom's sword had taken off his GM's entire left arm below the shoulder. He scanned the small area of space he had previously occupied and saw it, his suit's left arm, shield still in hand, become part of the colony's debris field. His attention returned to the battle at hand as the Rick Dom approached him again.
Luke turned toward the enemy suit and fired off a long burst from his vulcans. Just as many of the rounds found their mark on the suit, his vulcan ammo ran dry. Luke thrust to the left again and this time, the Rick Dom passed on his right side, taking the other arm and its beam saber cleanly off as it did. Luke now realized he was completely out of weapons. He turned to see the Rick Dom charging him again.
Again the large, purple mecha drove its shoulder into the GM, shoving it into one of the larger pieces of the colony debris. With one hand, the Rick Dom pinned Luke's suit in place against the debris. With the other, it drew back its heat sword and aimed to thrust it directly through Luke's cockpit. Luke shut his eyes and waited for death. Then, there was a flash outside his cockpit. Luke opened his eyes and saw the Rick Dom disintegrating in the center of a pink beam.
Luke opened his cockpit hatch and floated out into space. Looking to his left, he saw what had destroyed the final enemy: the Endurance, the Salamis class cruiser to which 8 Squadron had been assigned. Luke smiled, drifted back into his GM's cockpit, activated the distress beacon, and waited for pick-up.
END CHAPTER ONE
NEXT CHAPTER: ENDURANCE STARDUST
Ok, that's my first Gundam fic. Any good? Please review, but keep criticism constructive Hey, BTW, has anyone ever wondered why all the explosions in Gundam are PINK? Anybody else think that's weird? Also, if anyone's wondering, yes, the Gelgoog was Anavel Gato. So, I'm planning on continuing this on up through Char's Counterattack. Next chappy coming soon. :)