Chapter Two: Egypt Drop
March 7, UC 0079
Kain and Misa stood in the waiting area of Deck 3, where the Soaring Valkyrie, General Heisenberg's Musai, had just docked. It was a few minutes wait, before the General himself walked into the room from the loading platform. Ensign Kain snapped a crisp salute, and was almost immediately replied to with "At ease" from the General. Instead, the CO for the 23rd Mobile Assault Infantry shook his hand.
"Good to meet you, son," he greeted the Ensign, "It's good to know my unit is finally coming together. Now, while we are on our way to Luna II, I would like to pass on to you the plans for the Middle Eastern Drop Operations."
Kain nods and responds quickly: "Yes, sir. I do have a request," he gestures to Misa, whom looked like she had nothing to do whatsoever with being out in public like this, "I want her to come with us."
"Ensign, you do know that if something were to happen to us, she would be in danger as well, right?" The General looked rather concerned, "And this is obviously a civilian, as she is not wearing a military uniform."
"She is my—my personal—my student." It was a feeble scramble for words, and he was almost sure the General wouldn't buy it.
"Regardless of who she is, Ensign, she will need to sign a waiver, ensuring that traveling with us is her choice, and that if harm comes to her, we are not explicitly liable for her protection." He glanced over at the woman, adding: "Legal reasons, ma'am, nothing personal."
Kain nods, "She'll fill out the paperwork when we board the Musai."
Later that night, Kain and Misa were in the cabin assigned to the Ensign, talking to one another.
"Are you okay, Misa?" He lay on the cot provided, looking up at the woman.
"I... I have a bad feeling, Kain. I think something is going to happen..." She sat down on the cot and leaned on him.
"Well, of course something is going to happen, Misa, we're jumping in the middle of a war." He wraps an arm around her, smiling a little. "But we'll get through it, I promise you-"
A knock at the door, followed by: "Petty Officer Jenkins, reporting!"
"Enter, Petty Officer."
A man, roughly five and a half feet tall, with tanned skin and frizzy hair stood before the Ensign, saluting. Kain returned the salute, and spoke.
"What is the matter, Petty Officer?"
"O-oh, nothing, sir, I just came here to say I was in your platoon... I wanted to see who the new CO was, sir!"
"Jenkins, was it?"
"Yes, sir!"
"You're in 1st Platoon, right?"
"Sir!"
"When we get to Luna II, tell your PG to have my Platoon lined up and waiting. Not only will I be passing, but your Brigade CO will be passing as well."
"Yes, sir!"
"Go on, Petty Officer."
Jenkins gave a swift salute, followed by "Carry on," by the Ensign.
Misa looked over at the officer, and chuckled a little. "Look at you, all serious."
"What are you talking about? I'm always this serious."
She almost laughed, planting a soft kiss on his cheek. "You're cute when you act all tough."
"...!" Like many things she had done in the past, such as walking in to the shower while it was occupied, this surprised him. "You missed, Misa."
She tilted her head in confusion, only to be met by a soft kiss from the Ensign.
It was going to be a good night—and Kain couldn't have wanted a night with anyone else but her. He wouldn't lie—he had started developing feelings for this woman.
March 8, UC 0079
"Platoon! Atten-SHUN! Present ARMS!" The PG for 1st Platoon performed an about-face, and saluted as the Ensign and the General passed, though both stopped before the platoon, only for the General to give the Ensign a salute, which was almost immediately returned to him. The Ensign then turned to the Platoon.
"At ease," he began, and the entire Platoon went to parade rest. "First Platoon, you will be my pride and joy. You will bravely drop into the Middle East with me, and we will show those Feddie bastards what a real army looks like. Do you understand?"
"YES SIR!"
"Good men. Now, we have PT in an hour and a half, so I want you all showered and ready to work off those fat rolls you picked up while on leave. Move out!"
March 9, UC 0079
It was the day before the 23rd Mobile Assault Infantry dropped into the Middle East, and the stress in the air could be cut with a knife. Kain had not spoken to his Platoon yet, he was waiting until it was time to do the briefing before he did so, and was spending time with Misa.
"What is going to happen tomorrow?" Misa had her arms wrapped around one of Kain's, her beautiful hair draped about her shoulders, mirror-like eyes studying the Ensign closely.
"Most likely, we will all get our mobile suits into a GAW, and drop into the Operations zone. Each squad has one, since the GAW can only hold about four mobile suits, given you remove the Dopp. Depending on the concentration of the enemy when we drop, we could lose many men, or we could lose few to none. It all depends, dear."
She shakes his head. "You'll be safe... I'm sure of it." The woman in white leaned up and gave him a soft kiss on his lips, smiling a little. "Yeah, I know you will."
The General stood before the entire 23rd Mobile, in front of the schematic layout of the drop zone of Cairo, Egypt. He commanded the attention of the room, and that was more than apparent. The Ensign stood beside the General, listening to his speech.
"Each squad of each Platoon, you will be in your own GAW. There is enough space for four mobile suits in each one, so this is for the best. Now, Alpha Company: you are to drop to the South of Cairo, and proceed North. Bravo, you will land East, and proceed West. Charlie, West to East, and Delta, North to South. This should be a simple battle—like shooting fish in a barrel."
The Ensign stands, as does his Platoon. "First Platoon, I want you in bed at twenty-hundred hours."
"We drop at dawn," the General added, "23rd Mobile! Dismissed!"
March 10, UC 0079
"Misa... I want you to stay here."
"What?!" She slapped him on his cheek, hard. "I told you I was going to stick beside you until the end, and I mean it!"
"I couldn't live with myself if I got you hurt, though, Misa."
Any interjection she had was cut off by the loudspeaker.
"Delta Company, First Platoon, begin loading."
Ensign Blackbyrne gets up, ready to go into battle to protect the one he felt so dearly for—but she grabs his hand, and pulls him down, planting a deep, endearing kiss on his lips. "...I'm coming with you, and I don't care what you say."
"GAW carriers nearing destination. All mobile suits, prepare for drop."
Petty Officer First-Class Arcelio Odell felt a lump in his throat. He'd fought in Loum, and barely got out of there alive—now this? He'd be in the heat of the action, much more than picking off stray Feddies in Loum.
"All units, drop in five," Odell swallowed hard, gripping the controls, "four," the Petty Officer grasped the 105mm machine gun, "three," he checked to make sure his bazooka was hooked to his back, and his parachute was secured, "two," all four Zakus in his GAW came online—Petty Officer Third-Class Jenkins to his left, Petty Officer Second-Class Lars in front of him, and Chief Petty Officer Orlando to his diagonal left. "One. All units, drop to the Operations zone."
And with that, his heart was in his throat.
March 10, UC 0079 – 1200 hours
All had gone according to plan—other than the Federation forces having been more concentrated than originally thought. Alpha and Bravo company took most of the damage, while Charlie split off to the east and west to try and push the Feddies back to where Delta was supposed to be coming down from. However, 2nd Platoon of Delta had landed farther south than the plans had intended, 3rd Platoon and 4th Platoon had met up with Alpha and Bravo, and 1st Platoon landed where they were supposed to.
"Orders, sir!" Bullets whizzed by their heads, keeping the entirety of first and second squad pinned down.
"Second squad! Cover us on the left. Third and fourth squad, cover on the right and from above. First squad, on me! We're pushing forward!"
It was as if the Feddies didn't know what hit them, and the Ensign was performing beautifully, even under all of this stress. He had to keep a cool facade, though, to keep his men with high morale. Only one pilot was shot down, by the time the Feddie soldiers and their mobile suits were finished, and to Kain, one is better than his entire Platoon.
"Keep pushing forward, we need to meet up with 2nd Platoon."
"Chief!" Odell opened his cockpit and leapt out, rushing to the fallen, smoking mass of metal and wires that was CPO Orlando's Zaku. The sound of gunfire was distant—first, second, and fourth squad moved further south, to try and regroup with the rest of the 23rd, while third squad stayed back.
"Petty Offi-" Orlando was interrupted by a coughing fit, spitting up a couple ounces of his own blood. "G-get back... To the u-" he coughed a bit more, "unit..."
"Not without you, Chief." He picks up his squad leader, and starts dragging him back to his Zaku—Orlando had lost his left arm completely, as part of the cockpit hatch had collapsed inward on him, severing it completely. He seemed to have broken a few ribs, and Odell knew that his NCO was in no condition to keep battling.
"How's Jenkins, Od-" he grunts in pain, erupting into another coughing fit.
"He... He was killed in action, Chief. The Feddies got him."
"D-damn those F—cough—Feddies..."
To be honest, Odell didn't even know Jenkins—all he knew was that Jenkins wouldn't shut up about his wife and kids back on Side 3, and how they couldn't wait to see him when he got back.
Before he could power up his Zaku, he heard tanks and mobile suits approaching, and hid both himself and the Chief in his cockpit, waiting for them to pass. I don't know if I'm gonna make it back to the rest of First Platoon... Not with all these Feddies—wait! They won't be expecting an ambush from behind!
He powers up the Zaku, and, with great concern for the Chief Petty Officer, advances the Federation Forces.
"Ensign! Federation forces on our six!" Kain felt his stomach leap—he had not planned any Federation units would have circled around—that was his miscalculation, and it may have cost his squad—no, his Platoon—their lives.
"All forces! Focus on our twelve and our six! Make your shots count!"
This mission was utter chaos, and the Ensign was not any more comforted, even with Misa in the cockpit with him. In all actuality, it made him less comfortable. He had a weight in his stomach, he felt something bad was going to happen.
And it did.
"Enemy forces advancing!"
"Suppressive fire!"
"Ensign, watch out!"
"Misa—what are you—NO!"
"Ensign!"
Petty Officer Odell saw it all—the Ensign was shot down by the Federation mobile suits. He blacked out—and when he came to, the four mobile suits and the two tanks were just piles of scrap metal.
"The Ensign, is he...?"
"I don't know," a voice answered him, an unfamiliar voice.
Odell immediately got from his cockpit, calling a medic to his Zaku to handle the Chief Petty Officer, while he went to go check on the Ensign.
The sight he found was not pretty at all.
"Misa," the officer wept, holding the still, bloody figure in his arms, "Misa, Misa... Misa! Wake up, Misa, MIIIIISAAAA!"