AN: Ah chapter four! It seems so soon that I uploaded the first chapter into our dreadfully small UC Gundam community and I am happy that I did. Any and every entry that provides another hopefully enjoyable story to be given to the fanbase is something good. Don't get me wrong I'd like this story to be more popular, to get mountains of reviews, favorites and follows but that has never been why I have written-I write to explore concepts that intrigue me, stories that intrigue me and hopefully intrigue the audience. Popularity is nice but has never been the goal, and so it won't be the goal with this story, hence why I had the first chapter open with a colony gassing.
That said I was very happy when I did notice that this story had a review last chapter, even if it is the only chapter that ever gets a single review I will be content because it was enjoyable to someone. Well with this dragging on how about we discuss the story? Alright this story finds Dieter directly after the last chapter and covers a bit more of the second day of the One Year War, ultimately I want to have pacing done well for this story so expect multiple chapters per day as the norm until we hit around January 10th aka Operation British. After that...well perhaps we can see if events pop up that may intrigue readers, also featured in today's chapter?
A bit of Dieter's backstory, prior military history, etc-expect stuff like this to occasionally be tossed in as just flavor text for the character and explain where this character was before the war, how he thought, what he did, stuff like that.
Anyway enough with the rambling, let's get down to the chapter I am sure you will all enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam, this spiel grows tiring after a while so nothing clever this time.
Zeon Battle Group under Captain Delaz
MS-06C Zaku II, battlefields of Side One, assigned grid position 98.17
January 4th 0079
0900 Hours
For the past four hours he had been killing the enemy. With his newly provided Zaku II C type he was finally given the pinnacle of Zeon's engineering. The first time he he stepped into the simulator for the then prototype generation one Zaku he instantly fell in love the series of machines. Yet even beyond that the Zaku II despite coming around after he had left training was something he had piloted a fair few times in the simulator. The C type though completely blew the old prototype he had been flying a mere day before out of the war. it ran smoothly, precisely-it was a perfectly crafted machine. Equipped as he was with the standard drummed 120mm machine gun and 280mm bazooka, of which contained within his suit's internal ammunition 'backpack' he had two special nuclear shells along with another fifteen conventional shells, four of which could be loaded at a time and fired in succession. With this machine he could operate longer, move faster, and carry more ammunition and weaponry, it was in every method feasible a step up from the generation one Zaku he had been assigned. With this suit he had so far downed another three Salamis, two of which were sunk by follow up attacks with by warships or additional Zaku, the final one he had simply blown apart with well placed rounds from his Bazooka, to add to this impressive achievement he had also destroyed another four Saberfish with his machine gun. With this suit he could truly meld with the machine, use it as a extension of his own being, pressing downward on the pedals and causing his suit to twist violently to avoid a incoming missile swarm he raised up the large tubed bazooka and took aim. Delaz's mobile suit detachment consisted of him and another fifty three pilots out of what had once been a standard sixty mobile suit compliment, Delaz had taken losses the prior day but so far it was only the Federation that was bleeding even as their fleet drew ever closer back towards their colonies at Side One. Their lines were shrinking, they were having to give up ground, reinforcements for Dozle's own battle group were incoming from Side Four and Three, the Federation likely had incoming ships as well but this battle would end long before they arrived.
Pressing down on the firing stud once his targeting computer had plotted the vector he released the volley of semi automatic missile fire, he fired again. The warheads sailed through the sea of debris that the exterior of Side One had become only for one missile strike the debris field impacting what had once been the aft section of a bisected Salamis cruiser, however the second warhead struck true and impacted the fuselage of one of the Saberfish that roamed the battlefield seeking out enemies to destroy, the craft erupted into a field of flame as its own payload and fuel exploded in the vacuum. "thirteen shots left huh." He allowed the bazooka to be lowered from its aiming posture as his Zaku went through the motions of reloading the sealed chamber, sliding shell after shell into it. He was careful to keep the specially marked nuclear munitions separate from the conventional explosives, if he was lucky he'd find a Feddie battle group and be able to let loose with the nukes.
His eyes drifted the bank of monitors that made up the cockpit's controls, his feet working the pedals and triggering the boosters attached to both legs of the Zaku while simultaneously firing up the thruster pack on its back. Zipping across the battlefield, avoiding broken warships and other debris and wreckage proved to be as much of a challenge as actually avoiding enemy fire. The entire battle line was clogged with wreckage from destroyed ships, mobile suits and fighter craft. His suit's radiation detection equipment warned him of the extremely high concentrations of subatomic particles-thankfully however due to his Zaku II's innate protection, he was confident that he'd be able to operate within it for as long needed. That was when he saw it a wave of missiles arching down the battlefield, his camera caught sight of one and his breath froze in place. They were long range, space flight capable missiles, he had little doubt they'd have been launched from Side One itself...had the Federation lured them into a trap? Or were they simply getting desperate now that they were beginning to overcome their defensive lines? Hand raising to toggle the communication grid to warn the Zeon ships of yet another barrage of anti ship missiles he was stopped dead in his tracks by their detonation. Crossing the field in a matter of tens of seconds, the missiles tore into front wave of incoming Zeon warships. That was when he realized just what the Federation had planned, The front lines were now vacant of any sort of Federal presence in sight, any Federal warship or forces had retreated for the most part across this grid, either falling back to Side One or reinforcing another sector. Nuclear detonations erupted across their front lines, lines now absent of the enemy and concentrated with incoming warships. For the next ten minutes, as ships burned like torches in the void of the space around Side One he could only think that it had been their own overaggressive strategy that had resulted in this.
If they had actually secured their positions, covered their advance by forces moving up from all the grids at once they could have prevented the Federation from catching a entire portion of Delaz's fleet within firing range of their nuclear arsenal. As the nuclear detonations faded and the light and clouds of dust and debris began to break up in the aftermath of repeated nuclear explosions he was again going to try to contact the Captain to get new orders, to order their advance...Side One was in sight, despite their losses they for the first time had the Federation outnumbered and outmaneuvered in this battle. "Captain Delaz, This is Lt Kries...sir we have a opening in this grid, I repeat we have a opening, I request diverting forces to this sector to exploit that. The gap won't last more then a half hour at most. I am having my Zaku's grid mapping software data forwarded to you...I will begin direct laser transmission within thirty seconds." Waiting for the laser transmitter aboard his suit to fire up left him with a eye busy to study the scopes, to ensure that no Feddie in a Saberfish got a lucky shot in on his flank while he was busy transmitting battle telemetry data...that was what he spotted his second surprise of the day. It was tens of thousands of miles away and yet even so he could make out the outline through the highest magnification on his primary camera.
Despite the density of the M particles, the radiation, the flashes and eruptions of fire that dominated the battlefield-somehow he managed to actually focus upon the sight.
Eyes widening as he stared downward at the scope only to jerk his head back up towards the camera, his viewfinder straining as he shoved his helmeted face against it-communications from their forward positions should have informed them of any fleet movement from the Federation forces on Earth which meant..."Captain Delaz...I am sorry sir but I will have to retract my prior statement, breaching enemy lines in massed assault will not be possible within fifteen minutes to half an hour. I sight Federal warships incoming from point 4.2 at L1...it looks like the Federation forces from Luna II have arrived."
Thousands of silhouettes began to appear on his scope before he turned off the device because of the incessant chiming.
"Well...fuck." He eyed as the the vessels that were skimming off of the other fields of the Moon, they'd been clever and used the Moon in order to slingshot themselves across its point, probably decreasing their journey time by hours. Not to mention ensuring that no one would be aware of their approach until they were directly in position to reinforce their lines. As the communication lines broke down into frantic screams of chaos at the approaching Federal force he eyed his ammunition load out-he still possessed the two nuclear shells.
Who'd have thought that some kid from the slums of Zum City would ever been given the power to split the atom at whim?
Nine years ago, despite not even being a decade out of the academy it felt like a age had passed since those hectic days. Deikun had died, the people warred in the streets against each other, the Federation, Zabi, Deikun and Ral supporter who had been banded together by the vision of their prophet now destroying each other in his absence. The economic sanction of Side Three had begun, for a little over a year their world deteriorated in that chaos but slowly order began to reemerge. The Munzo Defense Force was rechristened in Deikun's honor being labeled the "Zeon Military Forces". With that renaming sparked a new age in Side Three, rampant militarization began, even as factories closed down across the colonies yet even more opened up across to produce the tools needed for war. Civil firms that had once constructed civilian space vessels were now building the components for warships, Zeonic and Zimmad once civil contractors for colony construction became the producers of the first prototypes of combat oriented mobile suits. The military sector saw the dominant share of business the first year after Deikun as he knew it would for the next year and the next after that. The civil economic sector was doomed on Side Three, his parent's drifted from unemployment to job and back again as corporations that had been rooted into Side Three since its creation decades ago shut their doors never to reopen with the removal of their primary customers in the Federation. That this came at this early stage in his life could be no coincidence he remembered thinking but providence, despite only being less then a year out of primary schooling he knew that if his family were to survive these turbulent times he'd have to ensure it personally. At the very least the salary he garnered could be used to supplement their own income, and with no other future prospects save perhaps in a factory breaking his back as his parents now did. So he'd enlisted, August third of 0070 UC. That day marked his transformation from a simple boy fresh out of the public schooling of Zeon to Soldier of the newly formed Zeonic Military.
The first hellish weeks of the training he could still remember vividly. The Zeon program employed the standards of the former Federation which were tried and tested for centuries back on Earth, some traditions dating back even into the Middle Ages of the Pre Universal Century timeline. In that time he was shown the instruction into basic hand to hand combat, marksmanship and the military discipline that would now rule the rest of his life. He still remembered the first time he had worn the Zeon uniform, the material had been fresh and starched, its green dress pattern never tarnished or laundered. In that single moment he felt complete, it was if wearing that uniform made him apart of something that those outside of the military could never understand. That romantic notion was promptly kicked out of his head violently by the instructors over the following weeks as he underwent the basic physical training to see if he would even be a capable soldier. It also saw him introduced to one of the figures that would come to play a principle role later in his life-then Ensign Dozle Zabi. Despite being two classes of ahead of as the man had enlisted into the armed services of the Republic Munzo before the Principality had even been established. The former Major of the Munzo Defense Force had deferred not to retain rank in the prior incarnation of their nation's military but instead insisted upon the formal procedure of academy graduation much to his father's chagrin. he had become a familiar and large figure in his first years at the Academy. The man was to his knowledge still despite almost a decade having passed-the current record time holder for the "Kill House" a affectionate pet name given to the Academy's urban combat training center's clear room. A darkened maze of building interiors, grimy warehouses and the open vacuum of space. He didn't have fond memories of the place personally, damn thing was a hive of IR strobe mines, programmed radio interference modules and dummy targets that were rigged to explode in a glaze of anti personal solvent that was akin to the Tear Gas of the Middle Ages. His upperclassman however despite his fortune as being one of the children of the Sovereign leader of their nation was not coddled, if anything he seemed to thrive under the pressures and tribulations of the Academy. He was easy to get along with, approachable and seemed to live and breath anything military, anyone would be happy to have him in their deployment, but even then he had known that Dozle wouldn't languish under the command of anyone. Before his first year was completed, before his yearly evaluations were even started Dozle was undergoing officer aspirant programs
Years later when his sister Kycilia had come through the Academy, it was rumored that unlike Dozle she was given preferential treatment and privilege befitting that of royalty rather then any common soldier as Dozle had endured, but that was simple the large man's way. He viewed himself as no different then any of the other cadets in the Academy, if anything he preferred that even ground that Kycilia had avoided like a open vacuum. In the space of a normal four year graduate program, Kycilia had done it in three and half while Dozle stuck to the entire term, including the additional year for officer training. None the less while Dozle and he had grown as close as any could to one of the future rulers of their nation the day came when the giant departed after his class graduation and he was left without the comrade that inspired and drove him. Dozle had been a ideal Zeon soldier, he balked at no order, he excelled in every facet of the program from the martial to the intellectual. Once he was gone however he did not falter, he simply continued through the program. Every day he strove to endure the living hell that the instructors made the Academy, enduring the surprise assaults upon their positions by Academy Staff during routine patrols throughout the dense wooded areas that made up the Academy proving grounds. He fought in every conceivable environment that could be simulated artificially from the scorching inferno of the deserts of Earth to the desolate frozen tundras and Zero G environments of space. During his third semester at the Academy he had done well enough on the aptitude scoring for officership and that only added to his burdens there, now he had juggle the physical and mental labors normal of the academy along with those given to those who sought to lead the Zeon military in the next generation. During his fourth semester he had qualified for the position he had sought since joining the Academy, being a mobile suit pilot. To achieve such a lustrous and crucial role required even more commitment, even more studying and training. He excelled in that particular curriculum. None the less his fourth and eventually fifth semester came to a end and the trials and hurdles ceased and he was greeted as a equal of any man or woman of Zeon serving in its defense.
0075 UC September 20th, that dated marked his ascension from Cadet to Soldier. The graduation celebration was attended by both his parents although his father had been crippled by severe muscle atrophy or space sickness by that point and was restricted to a wheelchair. That was the fate he'd avoided, the result of a lifetime of working in zero gravity environments and habitats when off working on Federal ships. At his class graduation it had been Dozle who had delivered the closing speech, the man now a Captain stood before them and declared that they were charged with protecting the weak of their nation, that they were charged with defeating the enemies of Zeon. That they stood to endure whatever perils befell them because they were the Spacenoids chosen to undertake the defense of Zeon, that their lives as individuals now were at the behest and will of the state. That feeling that he had felt the day he had first worn his uniform resurfaced with a vengeance. He was the sword of his nation, the sword of Zeon. The day he had been given his graduation bars indicating he was a Lieutenant Junior Grade officially within the Zeon military. He was to be treated as a officer, not merely at the Academy any longer but in the entirety of Zeon, he was to be respected, and beholden to a chain of superiors leading all the way up to Supreme Commander Gihren himself and his father the Sovereign.
The following years had seen him deployed across the home colonies from his native Zum City to as far away as Quintzem where he had been part of the November 0078 peace keeping mission to quash a radical terrorist element. That had been his first active deployment, his first taste of combat even before the war that would haunt his thoughts for the remainder of his life occurred. Despite being a accredited pilot he was not allowed to take one of their prototype Zaku units into the colony, the fear was that it would inflict too much collateral damage on a home colony. So he was restricted to flying Fighter Craft and Bombers the entire three week campaign. Despite being heralded outside of Zeon as a act of depravity and barbarity the quashing of that revolt had been a mostly bloodless affair, the radical elements were not expected to stand against the pride of Zeon military and they didn't disappoint after a few skirmishes within the first week they had broken rank and fled into the rat maze of the largest city in the colony. The chore of rounding them all up took an additional two week, in the end less then a thousand Spacenoids died be they rebel or civilian and the Zeon military lost less then thirty soldiers although more then a hundred were wounded in action, but the result-the predictable result came. The movement to overthrow the Zabi regime died in its tracks. Even then he felt his lip twitch in annoyance at the very notion of his own people being so stupid, so blind.
Did they not realize they owed everything to the Zabi's? Who had finally said enough was enough after Deikun had died? Who had stood up to the Federation and gained their freedom? So what if Degwin had all but abolished the fucking parliament? Deikun had done it all but in spirit anyway by the point the old man even took the throne. The Zeon Party was the majority seat holder in the Diet, they were a dictatorship for nearing a decade before the name change occurred. Even as a teenager he had seen that writing on the wall, were people so caught up in Deikun's rhetoric they couldn't understand the man was all but a King despite only having the title of Prime Minister? It was Dozle Zabi who rallied their military and threw out the Federation military presence, it was Kycilia who was in charge of their state police that had ensured that any Federation sympathizers were ejected from their newly formed nation. It was Gihren and Degwin who had done the bloody work of crafting a government out of the collapsed wreck that had become the national diet after Deikun had passed.
No one else had stepped forward, no one else had sought the vacant throne, were they to be blamed for seizing what anyone who could seize it would?
Zum City, Side Three
Palace District
December 25th 0078
1200 Hours
The Zabi's all of them were present atop the dais atop the stage that had been constructed upon the observation platforms overlooking the parading grounds. Degwin was atop his throne, the elder man looked down upon his assembled soldiers, at his side to the left was his eldest living son Gihren, to Gihren's left was his younger brother Dozle, to Dewgin's right Kycilia and Garma respectively. Beneath the royals upon the lower dais were the highest ranking non Zabi officers in the entire military consisting of Admiral Karn and General Schacht, and a variety of other officers of differing rank and position from Commanders to Colonels. The entire royal family was here, staring down upon the army that had been constructed over the prior decade. The Sovereign, Supreme Commander, Vice Admiral, Rear Admiral and Captain. All his superiors, all royalty and the government he had sworn loyalty to, he smiled faintly when he caught Dozle shifting uncomfortable in his chair that's size rivaled Degwin's throne. He hadn't met with Dozle since his promotion to Admiral two years ago but he was happy see that his old Academy friend was well, and happily married now if the national news was accurate. He also noticed that Garma was onlooking the spectacle with clear rapt interest, he had been aware of the youngest Zabi at the Academy but as he was in his graduating class by that point while the young man in question had been entering into his first semester. He recalled seeing him at the firing range and mobile suit testing grounds a handful of times but overall he had no connection to the young Captain, not like he did with his older brother who still was something of a mentor figure to Dieter. His relation to Kycilia was even more minute, he had been assigned in a few advanced placement courses with her but overall he didn't even think they had spoke the entire time they been in the Academy together. As for Degwin and his elder son Gihren, he had seen them at events like this, had seen both men on the television numerous times, heard their speeches and rants through radio broadcast, saw their influence everywhere but never had actually met in person with either. After all that was not his role, he was a soldier, not a commander, not a general or anyone of worthy rank to meet with the leaders of his nation. He was one of the tens of thousands stationed before the palace today, this was a day of pride. Celebration, they had quashed the revolt that one of their further colonies had erupted into. The military revenue was the standard Zabi fare, battalions of soldiers parading the polished marble walkways and streets that dotted the palace of the Zabi monarchy. He himself was dressed in his parade best along with the rest of his detachment in the Mobile Suit Corps, while they had yet to be deployed to the garrison at Solomon they had been touring throughout the homeland. Getting practice in with his Zaku was difficult under this circumstances but never the less he kept his skill sharp. The Federation was out there, building its strength for the day they would try to reclaim the colony that broke free of their grasp. His gloved fingers tightened upon the butt of his ZM-35 assault rifle, the thought of Federation ships dotting the skies of the colony, tanks rolling through its streets unleashing the chaos of his youth once again infuriated him.
Arrays of cameras and speakers dotted the assembly ground, towers of television crews and personal rushed back and forth trying to cover the event for the Zeo Net as best possible, the state sponsored media was present along with several smaller civilian private corps that seemed to be doing everything from recording the royal family as they sat upon their thrones and talked among themselves, to the soldiers parading across the Zum City Palace grounds. They had paid his division little heed but that was alright, they were a mostly untested unit with their own veterans being those who had fought in the rather brief conflict at their far flung colony of Quintzem and battling poorly equipped and ill trained terrorists was little to compare to those who stood within the ranks of the Royal Guard or other distinguished units that were receiving all of the media fanfare.
His detachment was made up of roughly three hundred pilots from the Mobile Suit Corps under Admiral Dozle's battle group was mirrored by dozens of sections of similar number all spread across the vast parade grounds. The flag of Zeon flew aloft in the artificial breeze of the homeland, the sigil of their nation dotted the monuments across the area. This was the heartland of Zeon, the principle resting place of it and its ideals, in Zum City all lived beneath the ideals of contolism, of the Zabi royals. Obviously that wasn't enough for some like those of Quintzem. Today while the rest of the Sides and Earth celebrated Christmas and awaited eagerly the new year to come, Zeon prepared. Tank divisions and Mobile Suits flanked the scores of infantry battalions that surrounded them. Their military presence was undeniable, the rumors of preparation for war with the Federation had only become increasingly more frequent throughout the past year and this month alone had seen a solid increase in military spending and build up, the factories that where his parents had once been employed now operated around the clock producing anything from guns and ammunition to Zaku mobile suits and Musai warships. Even now their fleet grew ever larger, there simply wasn't enough time in the day to make additional weapons, their host now stood as strong as it ever had been, as strong as it ever would be. A generation raised for the war that was to come in mere days.
Throughout the prior year the Federation had only become increasingly more bold, in the aftermath of Side Six declaring its own independence years before the Federation had stepped up its efforts at economic ruination of the people of Side Three. They'd intercept their supply shipments once they left the territory controlled by Side Three, the problem of hijacking their trading and commercial vessels had become so rampant that the Zeon military now was required to escort any private ships to and from their destinations across the Sides. Often times Federation forces would only desist once it became clear that battle would break out if they continued on course, even then a few skirmishes broke out-absent from the eye of the greater solar community, battles between those of Zeon and Federation done beneath the attention of both parties greater population. Of course that wasn't how the Federal controlled media presented it, in broadcasts they declared that these were defectors from the fascist regime of the Zabi's, that they were liberating themselves from that repugnant society. Of course press ganging the crews of privately held vessels did not endear the people of the Federation to Zeon and while political dialogues between the government of Side Three and Federation took place presumably to correct this grievous series of incidents, nothing would ultimately come of it. The Federation wouldn't bow down to any sort of political pressure from Side Three, it would continue its activities of trying to weaken those who sought freedom from it at any cost.
Within the dais Degwin turned to his eldest son and Gihren merely gave a nod in reply clearly it was time for the Zabi heir apparent to make his announcement. Gihren rose from his seat and approached the podium upon the edge of the dais, all of the hushed conversation and discussion immediately cut off with the urging of officers to pay attention to their Supreme Commander. He did his part by elbowing his neighbor lightly in the stomach to cease his chattering with a female engineering technician from the look of her uniform. "My brave and loyal warriors of Zeon, I come to you today not a royal but as a fellow patriot! We stand at the precipice of a new age, a new era that will be built by you! The valiant soldiers of Zeon! The defender of her dreams and hopes!" The roar of cheers that erupted from the assembled soldiers was deafening, the military of Zeon was a beast to be unleashed, they merely needed to be given the order. However the Supreme Commander merely raised his hand and the crowd silenced near instantaneously. "It has been a long road to this point, all of us have struggled to achieve greatness for our nation, a nation that was left abandoned by those who sought to rule us! The accursed Federation denies us the basic rights of human beings! The right to self governance! And when we finally cast them out how did they respond? They tried to starve us out, they called us malcontents and rebels. We who live in harmony with the universe, who do not poison our home planet are looked down upon the wealthy of Earth, they do not acknowledge us as equal! When it is in fact they who are beneath us!" The roaring that erupted at that proclamation made the prior outburst seem quiet. It was thunderous, even Dieter couldn't contain his zeal any longer and let out a cry of "Zeon!" Cries of 'Zabi, 'Sieg Zeon' and 'Hail the Principality' broke out across the varied collection of armed forces present. Be they under Dozle or Kycilia, Marine or Army, Space Attack Force or the Homeland Guard in the reserves, despite the internal rivalries and politics that divided their military with healthy competition and striving to succeed-in this moment they were united.
Zeon Battle Group under Captain Delaz
Gwazine Battleship: Gwadan, stationed thirty seven thousand kilometers out from Side One
January 4th 0079
0500 Hours
"All ships provide suppressing fire, allow our mobile suits to reach the enemy lines! Full bombardment!" The order aboard the ship intercom resounded, the stern and disciplined voice of the chief gunnery officer rang out across the hangar. They were entering into effective firing range for their primary weapons then, the flagship would move into support the fleet, while the Gwadan possessed considerable firepower easily outclassing any three Musai in the entire navy in terms of effective combat utility it wasn't invulnerable none the less it was slightly inspiring to hear. After all if the ship was moving up, it was at the request of the Captain, or more likely at the request of the only notable superior to Delaz here at Side One-Dozle.
However the message of the gunnery officer was soon replaced in his mind when the Captain himself's voice began emanating from the speakers. "Soldiers of Zeon! Today we fight for our homeland! Show no mercy to these cretins who dare stand in our way! We will prove the legacy of Deikun true today through nuclear fire!" The short but inspiration speech cut off and everyone resumed working, it was not due to lack of impact but the fact they were soon to be heading into battle once again that this announcement was not met with resounding and thunderous cheers surely.
The lead mechanic broke the monotony of the hangar with his sudden barking announcements.
"All mobile suit teams, will be launched in ten minutes, I repeat mobile suit teams will launch in ten minutes."
"Last minute checks and preparations!" The lead technician barked as he drifted from his work station on the upper gantry of the massively large hangar bay. "Disconnect suits from their charging lines, prep the reactors for immediate start up, begin last minute checks on the fuel lines!" The man was a professional if nothing else Dieter thought as he watched the spectacle before his eyes drifted to his assigned Zaku unit. Designation 109, the machine stood proud in the hangar, its numeric sigil bearing the shine of fresh paint and grease.
Kicking off of the deck and floating towards the platform overlooking his own assigned Zaku he noted a single technician that was going over the assigned last minute prep work before the mobile suits were launched, this would be a good place to lodge his request. He did had done so before on the Wrath but they didn't have access to half the assigned weaponry of the Gwadan, Delaz clearly let his men hurt for nothing when it came to equipping them as lethally as possible.
It was a good tactic for a captain to be sure.
"I request to have my Zaku outfitted with type 98 Bazooka rounds." It was a simple enough request to make of a technician who just happened to preforming maintenance on his newly assigned mobile suit. The technician turned to him with a practiced and easy motion of merely swinging while hanging upon the rigging of his mobile suit, he glanced at him with a odd look in his eye-a cross between concern and outright confusion at the oddity of such a request, surely he wasn't the only Zaku pilot requesting nuclear ammunition.
However that casual posture immediately evaporated once he noted that upon his normal suit was the ranking insignia of a full lieutenant and immediately kicked off to the deck, descending ten meters in but a handful seconds and immediately shifted into a formal stance of a subordinate. Even as he lowered himself down to the deck floor, he met his look blankly even at his confusion, whatever issue this man had with that idea surely would come to bear shortly so there was no need to actively try to antagonize the man who was looking after his own mobile suit.
"Sir those are nuclear shells...are you sure we were given authorization to use NBC weaponry?" The mechanic questioned as he stood at attention matching his gaze evenly.
"Captain Delaz has them aboard his ship, they were used by pilots yesterday. Certainly we were given authorization to use them, besides even if we weren't the Federation is using them. We couldn't deny ourselves the advantage even if we had agreed to such a restriction."
"This close to a colony? I mean, I..." He merely shook his head at the shocked line of questioning-there was little he could do to reassure the man other then tell him the truth. The truth that Zeon was overall indifferent to the killing at least in the case of one colony so far. Colony 13 was case and point, they'd kill anyone who stood against them. Anyone who was in the vicinity of those who stood against them. 'What did those people think? Building those bases and faculties in colonies?' They were viable targets, the loss of life was...unfortunate but military priorities had to take precedence. Besides would the people of Side One or Two or Four weep for those who died to secure their freedom? He doubted it.
"If they are destroyed so be it, I don't care-those people who lived under the collar of the Federation are no Spacenoids, they are dogs."How had he come to say that? Merely a day after his own crisis of conscience? How had he come to say that after his own brush with the prospect of killing civilians in mass with merely the flip of a switch? Was it simply because he was so introverted that the prospect of killing people in combat plagued him naught? If that was the case then why would killing people after all bother him? 'I am definitely going to burn in hell.' That thought brought the corner of his lip upward into a small smile.
How many people had he killed in combat now? How many soldiers of the Federation? Hundreds at the very least, why would those in Colony 13 be any different? A mere number, when he had drifted to sleep in the bunk assigned to him aboard the flagship, he had worried about nightmares, terrors conjured from his subconscious from the trauma of battle but nothing had surfaced. He slept as easily as he did back at home, if anything he slept better then his initial days aboard the Zeal coming into the war, he no longer had any doubts or nervous anticipation. He only had his duty, his resolve and his strength. It was enlightening and startling, he didn't consider himself some unfeeling monster, a psychological train wreck of a person...and yet he did things, things that society at large would label horrible and felt nothing at the thought of it.
Is this what his parents had warned him about? It was so easy to forgo any notion of humanity, only a day at war and he was seemingly alright with the concepts that had plagued philosophers and scholars throughout human history-for centuries back in the Middle Ages they had proposed thesis after thesis trying to come to terms with the monstrous acts that humans would commit against other humans. Slavery, Genocide, Terrorism, causing untold amounts of Extinctions of other species living upon the Earth. Perhaps if the Federation had treated their homeland with proper respect, recognized their sovereignty...this wouldn't be needed. That had not happened, and it mandated a response.
The Federation only understood one thing: force. They'd force their position to them, they'd conquer space and once the Feddies retreated to Earth they could lick their wounds and come to the bargaining table, the Federation would be forced to acknowledge their position then.
"We are targeting civilian colones?! Don't tell me at Side Two you..."
He merely continued to stare at the man, his posture, his image, his very being in that instance seemed aloof, indifferent. This man would get no answers of reassurance from him, he could only do his duty. As a soldier of Zeon the luxury of morality was something none of them could afford. Even so he held out hope that his brother in arms here would see reason, would do as he was told and not raise any further fuss, so far no lines had been crossed the man had merely raised legitimate questions of if they had been issued authorization. Even so...he knew that it wouldn't end here, given the man actually raised a commotion about the usage of nuclear arms being used, clearly he was the type to hold his ground.
"Fucking hell...you don't care do you? You don't care if you kill kids or old people, Feddies or no people don't deserve just to fucking disappear in a blast of radiation and heat!"
"Don't you dare lecture me!" He growled out at the mechanic. "Load the nuclear shells into my Zaku or I'll have you charged with insubordination!"
"...No sir I cannot do that sir."
Eyes widening in pure unadulterated disbelief he bellowed out a cry of outright fury as he flung his gloved fist forward into the other man's face shattering the bones of his nose beneath his thick fingers and knuckles. The momentum of the punch launching the man off his feet from the deck and leaving him pressed against the wall. "Traitor!" He spat as he turned his back to the fallen mechanic who was floating limply in the hangar bay, He scanned the room before flagging down another technician. Dressed in the familiar stained coveralls of the mechanic corps of the Zeon military, he stood nondescript in the hangar none the less he'd entrust his orders to him. "You! Load my Zaku with nuclear 98 shells, and get some of the MP's down here to throw that fucker in the brig."
The technician only had to glance at the other soldier who still floated noodle like in the zero g of the hangar, blood forming into thickened globs as it flowed out of his twisted nostrils to come to grips with the situation. He stood straight, saluted before agreeing without any noticeable hesitation. "Sir. Yes sir!"
Zeon Battle Group under Captain Delaz
MS-06C Zaku II, battlefields of Side One, assigned grid position 98.17
January 4th 0079
1100 Hours
Pulling his feet back from the petals he allowed a moment for him to survey the carnage before him, the twisted metallic hulks of warships that were cooling in the darkness of space. They had breached enemy lines, finally after several hours of continued unrelenting battle, the Federation forces had been overwhelmed with a mass nuclear assault that simply destroyed their forces. "Enemy lines in grid-98 have fallen Captain Delaz-we are on schedule." He killed the transmission as he allowed his fingers to drift to the straps of of his helmet before undoing its internal seal and allowing it to float free of his head. The battle group from Luna II had been overwhelming in its sheer makeup, thousands of vessels of all make and designation from battleships and carriers to cruisers. This was the true naval might that the Federation had been boasting of for a decade, it was power that they thought the people of Side Three could never compete with.
They were wrong.
The drifting wreckage dotted hundreds of kilometers before him, despite only fighting in a field that measured roughly two hundred square kilometers, it was a impressive display of destruction. Hulks of Musai cruisers, Columbus carriers, Public assault boats, Magellan battleships, Salamis cruisers and more vessels of makes and displacements that he couldn't pick from memory decorated the space-along with the charred remains of their crews floating in the vacuum, smoke and flame trailed from the destroyed vessels. Even now explosions still occasionally resounded off of one of the ships, indicating that munitions within had detonated or over pressurized hulls had breached outward, it was a sea of destruction. It was a beautiful thing to him, in that instance he truly understood what it was to be a soldier. The Federation was bested in earnest, the cost had been high, higher then he'd ever dreamed it would be, who knew how many thousands of the Principality had fallen here, the losses from Side Two were utterly dwarfed in comparison even so...The Federal fleet was broken, Side One was vulnerable to their assault. They had won, and that feeling of victory resounded within his breast, it was the greatest feeling he had ever known, he felt complete-he felt in that instance what the Zabi's had been speaking for a decade was true.
They were the chosen, they were the inheritors of the Earth and its people, they were the superior race of Zeon.
His eyes drifted across the other lines, it was more or less the same story-the Federation forces were still trying to put up a ultimate futile struggle, yet more nuclear explosions bloomed into existence consuming the vacuum of space in blinding light only for it to fade into darkness once again. They were breaking through, in another hour, perhaps two they'd be at Side One and this war would be all but over-they would have the grand victory promised to them by Dozle Zabi. That was when he noticed, enhancing the image and taking a still with his primary camera his lip curled upward-off in the distance perhaps a few thousand meters he saw the familiar color scheme of the Commander of the Space Attack Force himself, the Royal Zaku was fairly well known in known in the Mobile Suit Corps due to its distinctive color pattern, and the gold engravings that adorned it. It was then that he noticed that the suit wasn't engaging the enemy it was merely overlooking the carnage that the battlefield had become.
Kicking up his thrusters, his feet upon the pedals he forced as much power into the boosters as he felt comfortable which approached the suit, he opened communications only to find the channel already in use and a frantic heated debate ongoing over it. "We cannot pull back! We cannot let these losses be for nothing!" Whatever reply that came from the other end only seemed to infuriate the Admiral even further as he heard the massive man grind his teeth together before he relented. "Very well, we will resume the offensive tomorrow." He had never heard the Admiral so irritated, so infuriated before but it struck him then and there what his words had meant. It was then however that his own presence on the field mere hundreds of yards away, hovering in place became apparent to the Admiral. "Zaku unit 109 identify." The order was sharp and all but barked, but clearly the Admiral was having a bad day so he relented immediately not mention...he respected Dozle, he was one of the few superiors he had ever encountered who was truly put everything into being a soldier, he wasn't some political crony who was handed a appointment, he lead men because he was born to do it.
"Lieutenant Kries Admiral and I must say it is good to see you again." He stated respectively as he brought his Zaku's own right arm up in a impromptu salute its massive fingers stopping just meters before the main camera in a showing of the absolute command he had over his newly assigned suit.
"Kries...Kries...Dieter! Hah! It has been far too long since the Academy." The man seemed to laugh out only for a moment as the situation once again was brought up, the wreckage of mobile suits, fighter craft and ships drifted around them, Side One like Side Two before it had become a mass grave of Zeon. How many of his own classmates from the Academy had died here today? How many men did Dozle consider that he failed today? "I was given the task to lead these men...how many thousands died here believing in my ability to command?" The Admiral seemed to drift out into a line of melancholic thought-as the Admiral hadn't requested his input he wouldn't give it but...He didn't believe Dozle had failed the soldiers of Zeon here.
If anything him being here inspired them to fight all the harder, but because he hadn't been asked to speak he wouldn't. It wasn't his place as a soldier.
AN: Well here we are at the conclusion of chapter four-I do hope you all enjoyed it and will consider favoriting, following and reviewing alright? Not to stress that point, but it does make me feel good at the very least...anyway see you all next time for the next installment into The 'Solider of Zeon' and what Dieter gets up into in the aftermath of the initial victory at Side One. I won't lie, it will likely involve the usage of mobile suits in efforts to kill Feddies :P
Till next time!
-Reborn Akatsuki