Universal Century 0085, February 09th
Federation staging area Luanda, Angola
Major Litrac Tuliv of the 16th Mobile Division
Major Litrac Tuliv had not once thought that with all of his training, all of the testing of his abilities by numerous scientists to determine if he was one of the dreaded Newtypes that were slowly growing less and less wanted, did he ever think that he would finally get to see combat. Just being old enough to have signed up for the military barely five years ago and missing the One Year War just by a few days, here he was taking place in an actual combat operation to rid this particular part of Africa of the Zeon scum. The years of training with numerous older (albeit, better) Zeon mobile suits such as the Zaku 2, and the few Doms that the Federation had been able to "liberate" from surrendering Zeonic forces finally meant that he would be granted a brand new suit: something called a Hizack. As far as looks went, the machine reminded Litrac of a Zaku 2 in terms of looks from the outside, but inside and performance wise, the suit was in a class of its own. Able to seemingly outpace the GM 2s that seemed to be taking over for their older cousins, Litrac felt like Amuro Ray in his prime while piloting his personalized Hizack. And now he would finally get to prove that he was exactly what he had always envisioned himself in combat: a true force to be reckoned with.
Everyday for the past few months had felt like Litrac was waiting for the Christmas he didn't believe in fully, even though he still exchanged presents with his many believing compatriots. But it was with an equal amount of excitement and strange happiness that Litrac was filled with when he finally received word from his superiors that his mobile suit division and a few other groups were going to assault the African based Zeon forces' mining operations that still existed in what was the Congo. But before he could do major damage and utterly devastate the entire Zeon remnants, Litrac had to attend a massive meeting with his superiors and fellow division leaders to figure out what the plan of attack is. That is why he was hustling quickly through the war torn streets of Luanda, and getting strange looks from many natives, which possibly had to do with the fact that he clearly had the looks of a man who had spent most of his life growing up on the Russian steppes. And the Federation uniform was not the most welcome sight around an area that had never been the biggest haven of Federation goodwill, and it was present with some citizens still brandishing Zeon long coats during the cooler months, which didn't happen often but still enough around Litrac for him to have taken notice, and the numerous protests that had been used to decry any arrest of former Zeon sympathizers. No matter what Litrac wanted to think of the country that he had greatly learned to enjoy and taken to his heart, he knew that he must not take a partner of anyone here, or even worse, speak to anyone about anything Federation related. Not unless he wanted to answer to…them.
After Litrac's short sprint through the heart of the former Angolan capital, Litrac found himself face to face with the Federation headquarters and the newly formed Titan guard. Their mobile suits were unlike anything that Litrac would think for a group that were meant to hunt down and eradicate the final parts of Zeon, since the two new Hizacks and late model Zaku 2s that were holding their position in front of the impressive headquarters were painted in the obvious greens and darker hues of Zeon. It was a jarringly odd choice for a paint scheme, but the more time that Litrac spent around the suits and their pilots, the more it seemed to suit their rather rough and rugged nature. Regardless of the soldiers' demeanors, Litrac grew more and more thankful that he was on their side instead of trying to fight against them and their less than savory ways. As Litrac approached the armed guards who just seemed to want trouble to find its way to them, his paced slowed and he quickly began to fumble for his identification tag, trying to reduce the amount of annoyance he was going to cause the guards to a minimum. Finally, after a three mile sprint through some of the less friendly neighborhoods for a Federation officer, and leaving his vehicle in the middle of a packed market to surely be rifled through if not just stolen completely, Litrac arrived a few moments before the massive debriefing for the tentatively named Operation Diamond Rush. A quick showing of his identification and a quick grunt in response from the guard let Litrac into the base, and with more urgency in his step, he dashed into the building and took the elevator to the lower command levels, and finally arrived at his destination.
Finally inside the room, Litrac felt like the amount of men and women originally assigned to the mission had increased immensely from its handful of commanders to now a few dozen along with a couple of new Titan officers. One had the look of a long time Federation pilot who finally wanted to exact some sweet and deadly justice against the spacenoids, and some others reminded Litrac of overtly stern and humorless men and women who need to just go outside once in their lifetimes. After Litrac, finally squeezed past the line of Titans and found his place amongst the rather disheveled looking (when compared to the immaculately clothed Titans) Federation officers. And after a older and heavily bearded Federation commander Litrac knew by the name of General Waldon walked briskly into the room with a buzzing electronic writing pad in his hand and a executive officer calling for them to take their places, Litrac and the other officers knew that the briefing would begin and took their seats with the due haste that only years of military training would engrain in people.
"Officers. Men. Women. This is the day that you have been training for over these past few months, and finally, I am proud to tell you that we are going to hit the Congo and afterwards grind these Zeon rats from the rest of Africa." A small cheer rose from the Federation officers, while the Titans sat still in silence. Ever the patient and serious ones, Litrac thought solemnly as he hooted along with his comrades. The older man continued and suddenly the screen behind him filled with the map showing the area of Angola and Congo that would be the battlefield and quickly numerous lines filled it designating detachments of troops and Zeon displacements. "Our plan is simple, head for this remote jungle fortress known as Persephone's Garden and take it out. Along the way, there are numerous listening posts and scouts that must be quickly and as quietly as possible be subdued before moving on to the main base. If they catch wind of this too soon, it will just be a slog the entire trip and this battle could quickly become nothing more than a seesaw of whoever can throw the most weight in behind them and make their enemy crumble. And I don't intend to crumble." A small amount of laughter escaped the throats of the Federation officers, including Litrac himself. "But you are not simply going to use mobile suits in this operation, because as luck would have it, a Big Tray is still around that will serve as my own personal mobile command post and I will personally lead a contingent of armor to distract them hopefully." The Titan officers seemed to not be especially pleased with the knowledge of having to fight underneath a Federation officer, but Litrac knew that they needed to just be big boys and girls and do as they are told. General Waldon looked intently towards the few that still muttered amongst themselves, and after his stare brokered silence, he went on, "As well, it seems I have been able to use some of my influence to get us some aerial support in the form of the Blanc Rival and Albion Pegasus class ships to watch over our asses, so hopefully, those Zeon flies won't be bothering all of you too much." Waldon took a deep breathe before he continued to the final part of his tactical review, "This battle is not going to be a simple task because we do not have a real clear knowledge of what the enemies' numbers are, but just trust in yourselves, your fellow pilots, and your suits, and this battle will be done before dinner time. We launch in seven days' time, so get your shit together and get your ducks in a row. Come this time next week, we are going to be buried up to our necks in Zeon corpses." As the general began to step away, Litrac could see that he muttered something close to, "hopefully" before finally taking his leave, leaving the officers some time to plan out their attack.
Litrac quickly stepped up and joined some of the other Federation officers that had begun to gather around one of the many touch screens that lit up the room and showed different plans of attacks. It was amazing to Litrac that a general actually trusted his own soldiers enough to plan for themselves and at best just give a light outline on what he wanted them to do, as well as lead from the front himself and probably getting killed in the process. Visions of the devastating Solar Ray Cannon devastating the Federation and Zeon fleets in the waning moments of the One Year War made Litrac shiver with fear. But Litrac knew that he could not focus on the past, and instead must focus on the task at hand, and hopefully get himself and most if not all of his soldiers back alive while defeating the Zeon who dared to reside still on Earth's surface.
"Hey, major…Litrac isn't it?" Litrac looked astonished that anyone would know of him, but he quickly noticed that it was a young, beautiful woman who looked like a local resident of Angola, though her accent spoke as if she actually hailed from the east side of the continent. She held out a strong callused hand that Litrac took without any thought and introduced himself and as he began to question her own name, she cut him off with an enthusiastic, "Alma Aweys, helmsman aboard the Blanc Rival under lieutenant Agar's order to retrieve what the plan for the assault will hold for us. I was under strictest orders to speak to you."
Litrac knew that his was face was nothing but a puzzle, so he went ahead with what probably not the smartest question he could ask, "Why me? I am just a fresh major who is finally getting a chance to stick it to the Zeons and your wanting to pull me."
"Exactly major, you're fresh and," Alma's eyes flashed towards the Titan officers who were gathering away from the Federation officers and seemed to cast their eyes down on the many Federation officers who only outnumbered them and it was a look of…fear almost, "possibly more 'open' to any discussion from prying ears."
Even though Litrac knew that it was ludicrous that anyone should be fearful of the Titans, since they may be tough, they were on the Federation's side unlike the hated colony dropping Zeon, he had a feeling deep inside of him that told him that there was truth in what this very afraid woman was telling him. So with some reluctance, Litrac took her hand and began to let her lead him out of the command room.
Before he could free himself completely, one of Litrac's closer companions, Captain Timothy Balton, that had until this moment been busy figuring what to do with his older yet still functional Ground Gundam team noticed Litrac beginning to leave and stepped in to stop him and Alma. "Hey, Litrac, where ya going? We got a battle to plan out here. Don't you want to do that, or since you are some freak ace now that you think you can lead your team with no real direction?"
Litrac laughed nervously, but noticed Alma's uncertain and fidgety nature to his right, so he knew that he must think of something before arousing his friends' wonderment, along with that of the Titans' so he quickly thought of a sound strategy that had been flowing in his head for a while since he saw the main battle plan. "Have my division lead the assault on posts 12 through 17, and we will take the river approach to Persephone's Garden." Litrac turned his head towards Timothy and a rather heavily built and tanned man whose hair was nothing but a beautiful twist of darkness, "Hey Timmy, I would love if your group helped to give me some flanking support, and Fetuao, I know we need your support group to keep our asses out of the fire. Think ya'll could give it to me?" They both quickly nodded their approval, though they were still a bit more baffled to Litrac's quick exit, but it seemed much less abrupt than before, so Litrac and Alma took their leave quickly. Though before they both finally reached Alma's transportation vehicle, Litrac felt obligated to finally ask a rather important question, "Alma? What the hell is this all about?"
Alma looked around cautiously to ensure that no prying ears were within range, and after her caution was rewarded with stillness, she spoke up, "I am afraid it deals with something that as far as Earth is concerned, never happened and the real reason why we are heading towards the Congo." Alma unlocked her automobile's doors and as they shut, she finished her statement, "Major, tell me something: do you know anything about Operation Stardust?"