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Following the Second Earth Descent Operation, the Midnight Fenrir sets up for operations on Earth.

Chapter 2

Breakthrough

1200 Universal Century 0079 April 10

It was one month since the Fenrir landed on Earth. The Eastern portion of North America had been captured rather early on, and the other landing operation around the world had also met with success. However, the Zeon's target in the west, California Base, proved a difficult nut to crack. Lt. Col. Jonathan Spencer was in charge of the battle to capture the 20 or so installations of California Base. His failure to do so in a timely manner was becoming an embarrassment to the Earth Assault Force and the Duchy itself.

1st Lieutenant Charlotte Hepner hurried down the corridor of the former governmental headquarters in New Yark. Col. Zabi had taken them over for his own use. The members of Fenrir had been summoned to an emergency meeting in his lordship's conference room-this could not be good. She had been negotiating, rather, fighting, with the supply corps for the three Zakus that were due to the unit before they landed. The supply corps had insisted they couldn't give them to, as they called it, "an experimental unit with no real frontline purpose." Now, she was late to the meeting. As she ran into the room, she found Col. Zabi beginning his briefing.

"Your Lordship, I'm so very sorry for being late! The supply corps, and idiots and the Zaku and…." She panted, out of breath and nervous beyond belief. This was Garma Zabi after all, the heartthrob of Zeon. She didn't want to disappoint him.

"Charlotte, Charlotte, calm down! Take a breath and have a seat. You didn't miss anything. Don't worry about it." He replied with his characteristic smile as he brushed his hair out of his face.

"Listen, guys, I'm not my sister," Garma said as he readied a map display on the wall, "I'm a very easygoing commander- if you try your best to perform your duties, that's good enough for me. Now, on to the task at hand. As you may know, Lieutenant Colonel Spencer in California has been unable to break the Federation forces there. This stalemate has to end immediately. I cannot proceed with any plans for a search for and an invasion of Jaburo until I can assess what technology the Federation has in California that we may face and that we can use." Garma said as he switched the digital map to an aerial photo of the BajaPeninsula. "Now, here's the situation- the Federation has placed the HQ of their submarine fleet here," he said, indicating a location, "it is protected by a network of powerful gun turrets. They are ¾ the size of a Zaku, and they are capable of destroying pretty much any of our units in a single shot. The defensive network is situated so that we cannot advance on any one of their positions without being attacked by the others. What's worse is that the Feddies have deployed their fighter copters, which wreak havoc on our gravity bound mobile suits." The colonel paused for a moment before he continued.

"Spencer has lost almost all his mobile suit forces to these turrets and helicopters. I can't send any mobile suits from the other areas of California, but we must cut off the opportunity for the Federation commanders to retreat by submarine. I have decided to send your unit to destroy the gun turrets and secure the submarine dock and construction facilities. I will also accompany you in my own mobile suit, it is clear that that idiot Spencer cannot conduct this assault. Wheels up in 45 minutes!"

As the briefing finished and Garma left the room, the Fenrir pilots were all stunned by the news that Garma Zabi himself would conduct the operation with them. However, the full weight of what they were about to do did not become apparent to them until they were preparing to drop from the Gaw attack carriers into the battle zone raging below. This was their first real combat operation as the Midnight Fenrir- the enemy was ready and waiting for them this time. The green light blinked in the hangar bay, and three Zaku I's and three more Zaku II's dropped into the battle zone. Also falling with them was a singe MS-06Fs custom Zaku II piloted by the youngest scion of the Zabi family. Only ten such units were ever made, and the machine was certainly something to be reckoned with, as a group of federation pilots soon found out. As Garma hit the ground, he found three fighter copters screaming their way towards him, guns spitting out the fire of their 60mm gunpods. His orange and green Zaku lifted its shield, a shoulder shield from a standard Zaku II fitted with a handle, to deflect the shots.

"Hahaha- you worthless pieces of Feddie crap!" Garma exclaimed with glee as he let rip with the four 40mm vulcans in his suit's head. The fighter copters fell in pieces to the ground.

"Fenrir team, head for those turrets!" he ordered as he moved toward the nearest battery. Across the battlefield, Austin's team was moving toward three turrets grouped together from their only unprotected side. His two wingmen put up a barrage of machine gun fire while he charged in close. While they made short work of any federation copters or tanks that got close to him, he smashed a hole in the top of each of the stone turrets with his heat hawk. As soldiers began to flee their installations, knowing their time had come, he shoved a large cracker grenade into each turret and boosted away as they detonated in a cloud of fire, dust, and debris. As all this was happening, Roher and Garma advanced under a smoke screen from their grenades and dismantled another battery set into a rock formation and a final battery was obliterated by the mega particle cannons aboard a Gaw.

"I'm seriously starting to wonder what's wrong with Spencer; e destroyed those gun turrets in all of twenty minutes!" Garma commented as the inept commander's troops finally moved out of their earthworks and trenches toward what had once been the Federal positions.

"That wasn't hard at-"

"My Lord, take cover!" One of Spencer's few remaining pilots shouted as he tackled the colonel's Zaku. A projectile whistled through the space that had just been occupied by Garma's cockpit and exploded against a nearby mesa. Their monoeyes swiveled towards the source of the round to see six Zaku II's painted in Federation blue and tan emerging from an underground hangar.

"Tanks get to cover now! Mobile suits- open fire on those bastards!" Garma shouted as he fired his machine gun from the ground, 120mm shells tearing into the lead Zaku.

As the first attacker fell, the second prepared to fire its bazooka at Col. Zabi and the other Zeon soldier. Before the Federal pilot could fire, Austin bull rushed him with his Zaku I's shoulder and hacked him apart with an over-sized heat hawk. As he began to take apart another of the captured mobile suits, the remaining three were pinned down by machine gun fire from Austin's wingmen and Roher's squad. Faced with such a response, the Federation pilots faltered and began to back down the ramp into the base. Their retreat was halted by a hail of 105 and 120mm shells. The captured Zakus fell, lifeless, back into their hangar.

"Charge! Into that hangar now!" Garma shouted as he got back on his feet. He led the way into the bowels of the Federation base.

California Base's underground facilities were built in ancient groundwater caverns. Guided only by radar that was only partially effective due to Minovsky Particles, the Zeon troops made their way towards the enemy's headquarters.

"All teams halt." Garma called after they were a ways into the passage, "Spencer says that his men above ground are heading toward the surface command center for this region- the enemy commanders are attempting to flee in their submarines. We need to capture their facilities before the dry-dock is flooded and the gates opened. I'm uploading a map from the ground penetrating radar to your suits now- each team take a route and secure the enemy positions as you go. We have only ten minutes until they open the gates."

The teams split up and headed into the darkness of California Base. Soon, Roher and Garma arrived at what appeared to be a mobile suit hangar."

"Attention! All teams- we have discovered their mobile suit hangar- it is empty. Be alert for mobile suits in the area- use challenge-response before opening fire." Roher said as they moved cautiously through the tunnels beyond the hangar.

After capturing the ammunition storage chamber, they saw a distinctive pink mooneye in the cavern ahead.

"Loum! Loum! Respond or we will shoot!" Roher called as he leveled his 120mm at the approaching mobile suits. He gripped his controls, preparing to pull the trigger when a response finally crackled through the radio.

"British! Jeez, Captain- you're a little jumpy!" Austin responded as his Zaku materialized out of the darkness. "Have you guys seen any of those captured suits down here?"

"No, nothing," Garma answered as he came up behind Roher, "Have you seen any soldier?"

"No, my lord. Only Type 61's and auto-turrets."

"I'll bet they're all around the command center, trying to protect the sub launch." Roher postulated.

As if to confirm his suspicion, the comm. came to life with screams from the Spencer troops' Zakus

"Reinforcements! Help! Under mobile suit attack! Ahhhhhhhh!"

"Shit, we better hurry!" Austin shouted as he began running down the passage he had come from. The others followed him to the opening into the largest cavern. They could see the other Zakus pinned at another entrance to the cavern, struggling to return fire from nine captured mobile suits.

Austin and his wingmen swung their bazookas out from the rear armor of their Zakus as Roher's squad, along with Garma, began to flank the opposing force. The first barrage of explosive shells knocked out two Zakus and damaged a third. As four of the remaining seven mobile suits turned to face the new threat, they were ambushed by the Zaku II squad firing their machine guns on full auto at their backs. As three more federation soldiers fell, Garma rushed in with his heat hawk drawn. He disabled the last of the machines that were firing at Austin and turned to face the last three. As he did so, the most alert of the three pilots whirled around using his boosters and fired a barrage of bullets that tore through the Fs type Zaku II's knee and leg power cable. Garma's suit sank to the ground, paralyzed as the federation pilot continued to chew his suit up with machine gun fire. His arm fell off before he could get it around to the machine gun on his back, and at least two shells imbedded themselves quite near to the cockpit. The shock of the impact caused the monitor on Garma's left side to explode, sending shrapnel into his left arm. Before the Zaku pilot could fire another barrage and end Garma's life, Roher leapt in front of the youngest Zabi's suit, firing his machine gun at the Federal Zaku. His aim was much better than the federation pilot's was and he hit the blue machine's cockpit dead center. Noticing their comrade's demise, the last two Federation pilots tried to turn in an attempt to repulse Roher's attack, but it was too late. One fell to a hail of 1200mm shells, and Roher impaled the other on the spike end of his heat hawk. As he finished removing the weapon from the remains of the cockpit, Austin sent several bazooka rounds into the command building the Zaku's had been protecting. The Federal offer of surrender quickly followed.

"Colonel Garma, are you okay?"

"Yes, Captain, I'm still here. Lieutenant Hepner, do you read me?"

"Yes, sir," the operator answered over the radio, "what is it."

"Tell Spencer that we have taken the sub dock an command center- their escape is cut off. We also need some MP's down here to handle the prisoners. And we need a medical team.

"Are there…are there casualties, sir?" She asked nervously

"Just my own mobile suit and some of Spencer's. I took some shrapnel in my left arm to. Nothing serious."

"Whew. Okay, I'll notify Spencer." Hepner answered before terminating the communication.

End of Chapter 2