Mobile Suit Gundam:Vanguard Blitz Chapter 5, a gundam uc fanfic

Mobile Suit Gundam: Vanguard Blitz

Chapter 5

Pausing just short of the crest next to a tree, General Malik T.Velaz knelt on one knee, leaned against the tree, and began to pull the hood of his desert yellow camouflage parka up over his helmet.As he fiddle with the drawstrings of the desert yellow parka, Velaz scanned the crest of the hill to his front.Beyond it was the Deikumia Foundation border.While one would assume that Velaz's head would be filled with concerns and thoughts about the current ongoings in Deikumia, and the upcoming operation, it was not.Rather the founder of the Lucan Freedom Alliance and commander of the 1st Erin Sol Brigade was at that moment feeling a twinge of guilt about insisting on being issued the desert yellow parka.After all, the odds of him, the commander of an entire maneuver brigade with two tanks, two mobile suits and two mechanized battalions, needing to use the desert yellow garment to hide from the enemy was remote; even if he was the most wanted man in Lucan; with a bounty on his head so high that he never stayed in the same location for more than a few days at a time. As he had told the brigade XO when he was first given the parka." If it comes to a point where this is the only thing that is protecting me, then someone has really screwed up, big time." Dispite his own given orders that only infantrymen and scouts serving in the operation in Deikumia was to be given the scarce article, the brigade commander had muttered and connived once he had actually seen the parka for the first time until he had obtained the coveted desert yellow parka; Being the brigade CO also helped matters.Now that he was actually using the camouflage properties of the parka during his personal reconnaissance of the Deikumia Foundations border that another of his Companies would be rushing through in less than an hour, Velaz could justify having it.Of course those that knew him well knew that he enjoyed having the " neat" things, and no amount of justification could hide that. Still Velaz's staff felt no misgiving about indulging their commander.He was in their eyes worth it.

Malik T.Velaz, at age fifty-two, was a complex man who had the ability to deceive those who met him with an easy going manner.Physically he was equally unpretentious.A casual observer standing on the street corner of any heavily patrol Lucan city would never pick Malik T.Velaz out of a crowd as the commander of an entire military brigade.His five foot, eleven inch body and medium build would be classified as average.The 185 pounds he carried about was well distributed, although there was a hint of a spreading waist when he wasn't wearing baggy fatigues or oversized parka like today.Even if the observer were to look at Velaz face from a distance, there wouldn't be any detail similarity between his younger face that was plastered on hundreds of torn wanted posters and his current facial appearance, other than the fact that he wore his hair shorter than the average Lucanite male and his face still failed to betrayed the fifty-plus years his body had clocked.Even the facial expression that would have betrayed his personality and emotions was carefully hidden from view.The only external feature that differentiated Malik T.Velaz from another middle-aged Lucanite male was his eyes.His eyes betrayed Malik T.Velaz.

Like many veterans who had seen war and knew that they had not seen their last, his eyes were often fixed in a sad faraway gaze.Only those rare occasions when he allowed his mind to wonder, the sadness in his eyes would deepen and glaze over with moisture as his mind's eyes passed before him again and again a parade of faces and horrors of wars past.It was these memories and Velaz's determination to ensure that the parade didn't grow any longer that give him the drive that made him a successful strategic commander.And it was the sad realization that regardless of what he did, regardless of how successful he was, the parade would grow.For Malik T.Velaz knew that the one cruel hard fact that endured through the ages was that war meant killing and not all killing was done by your side.It was this sad truth that give Malik T.Velaz the one external characteristic that marked him as something different, something special.So Velaz, like so many other commanders in the past, stuffed his personal thoughts and emotions into a dark corner of his mind and revealed to his friends, subordinates and superiors only what they expected.

The sound of footsteps behind him caused Velaz to turned as he absentmindedly finished tying his hood's draw strings.It did not surprised him that it was Lugano Errot the brigade's operations officer making his way up the hill to join him. Further down the slope Velaz could see the road leading into Deikumia and watched as a captured TMS-17B Lupus B with a single 210mm cannon on its left shoulder and a 76mm heavy machinegun clench in its right hand trample by. " Lugano, this is taking to long.This is taking much to damn long."

Errot watched two more Lupus Bs equiped with the same armament as there brethren walked by without responding as Velaz continued his one sided conversation." We have to much shit going to Deikumia.This is suppose to be a simple stratagem, like we discuss, not a full blown engagement. The units in Jalen Company looks like they're making a permanent move into Deikumia."

Velaz paused to watched an ammo carrier for the FIST team that had pass by moments ago trundle on by." We, Lugano, damn, its to late to do anything about it now.Make a note, will you, get ahold of Delta Company and Jalan Company Ops officers and have them gave you a list of exactly what they took along.Its obvious that the commanders in those Companies don't understand the meaning of essential vechicles only."

Like a tennis match of ancient times, as soon as the ammo carrier passed and the next mobile suit team came closer, both Velaz and Errot snapped to watched their passing.With nothing better to do at the moment, and needing to escape the cramped confines of their own mobile suits; Velaz and Errot had left those suits, including their escorts down the slope to watched as the elements of Jalan Company began their move.Watching columns of military vechicles marched by, Lugano had once thought, was sort of like watching television.It was repetitive and required no thinking, a mindless diversion that was therapeutic, the perfect way, he had found a long time ago, for a commander to gave his mind a rest while appearing to be doing something and showing his face.Everyone, even the notorious Malik T.Velaz needed a break, even if it was but a short one.Like Velaz, Errot had stood on the side of the road watching vechicles of every description and size go by while allowing his brain to simply drift about and rest.Velaz's comments, his first in almost five minutes, were followed by a couple more minutes of silence as his brain drifted free again.

Velaz was busy watching the first of a long line of modified MTR armoured personal carriers began to roll by when Lugano Errot heard the rapid approached of footsteps and snapping twigs behind him.Turning, he saw the captain of Jalen Company, captain Jalen Myko, a slip of paper in his hand that Errot assumed to be a message form, headed for them.Why the CO of an entire company of mechanized troops was bringing it to them himself never once crossed his mind." Looks like a dispatched from the field, sir."

It took Velaz a moment to catch on, first looking over at Errot, then at the approaching company commander." Hmm.Must be an update from Alpha Company about the fight at the Vesti River.Seems like the Guild aren't wasting any time re-deploying their forces to cover their bare asses."

" Won't do 'em any good, General.Not with Phollia on the prowl."

The arrival of the company commander cut off Errot's retort.Momentarily out of breath and excited, the company commander looked at Velaz, then glanced at Errot.Errot nodded for him to go ahead and report directly to the General. Velaz, feeling good, returned the captain's salute and quipped." Captain Myko, what news from the new guard down at the Vesti River?"

The captain shooked his head as he reached out to offer Velaz the small slip of paper." No updates from Alpha Company after their report that they had defeated the rear guard detachment.This report is from the Marine Corps headquartes at Fork Point, sir.They just recieve a report from an asset code-name Lowrunner.Evidently the Guild carrier battle group that left Val Caras Harbour seven days ago has been identified as the Buchus battle group of the Northern fleet.According to this report, the Buchus battle group is currently attacking Kalaro Isles.The Marines has advised all units not involved in Operation Hell Strike to commence of monitering the situation.

Velaz had said nothing.He had expected this.He had suspected that something like this would happen. He constantly reminded his commanders and staff that things never go exactly the way they were planned, which, according to his admonishments, was why commanders were always needed to be forward and staff officers thinking. In the back of his mind, Velaz had been waiting for the Guild to drop the other shoe and reveal the next phase in its plans for weeks now.That it came in the form it did was a shock that he nor Errot had contemplated.

Errot, taken aback by the captain's announcement as much as Velax, responded first.Folding his arms across his chest and looking down at the ground, Errot grimaced." Great, just great.Kalaro's Isles is one of our major financial supporters, not to mention, if it weren't for them and Ratheon Institute, half our mobile suit pilots wouldn't have gotten the training they've had, or we'd never have completed the ERS series a year in advanced, things couldn't possible get any worst for us." Looking up at the captain, he asked if there was anything else.

" No, sir.We asked for additional information, but the marines at Fork Point gave us a wait-out. I don't think they have a good idea on what's happening over there as yet." Then as an after thought he added." Captain Inos Vesquez has already given orders for all units assign to Delta Company to prepare for immediate combat deployemnt the moment they arrive at their designated area of operation.

Velaz reached out and put his hand on the captain's shoulder ( the younger man, knees nearly buckle beneath him at that moment)." Well inform Captain Vesquez to proceed with the atmost haste but with extreme caution, that goes for you as well captain.

After a hasty salute, the captain turned and trotted off back to his command post carrier.

For several seconds, Errot watched Velaz in silence.Velaz was thinking, mentally absorbing the latest development and considering what actions, if any, he needed to take. Finally Errot spoke." General, should we considering having Charlie Company on standby in case Alpha and Delta Company need help to unass the Guild in a hurry and withdraw."

Velaz thought about Errot's question as he turned and looked at the last line of ammo and fuel truck carriers moving south." We're already using two of our best Companies to carry out an operation that has a thirty-five percent chance of success, a third company to provide support and if neccessary aid in there withdrawal," he mumble." We're using to much of our limited resources on this operation already." Then he looked at Errot." If that carrier battle group is hitting Kalaro Isles as was reported, we'll feel the effects soon enough, but until then, we'll just wait and see what's happening on our end before we get all excited and start making unnecessary alteration to the operation, lets go.We have our own operation to commence and Tera Cias base is a long way from here."

He nodded to Errot and made his way down to where his instrument of destruction knelt, antenna pointing proudly above its head, camouflaged like every suit in the LFA's arsenal with one exception, the GTS-04C Gyrig Custom rosed from its position to its full height of 15.2 meters minus the antenna, bearing the symbol of the LFA, the Grey Hawk of Lucan, wings generating a twister around a Blue Sphere of the Guild nation on its left breast plate, only LFA commanders with a rank of Major or higher bore this insignia.Scrapping the G5 380mm bazooka that was the primary weapon of the standard Gyriq, this version carried two TMG-20/R1 76mm heavy machine. A 310mm bazooka and a heat rapier were stored on its waist armor.

" Let's...began Velaz before he took notice of a blinking red light warning him of an incoming communication, he glance at the very high frequency that was a good source of information, but also a source of a mind splitting headache.He consider ignoring it for a moment and let the little bugger wait it out, but after a minute of forebidding and self consolation he toggles the switch to RECEIVE, shivering for a moment in anticipation." What do you want Aragon. Unless you have some vital information for me, I don't have the time for ur antics today." He wished his voice had sounded alot tougher than it did.

The slow constant humming that was on the other end stopped suddenly. Velaz waited silently for two minutes, before becoming silently worried that he had insulted the person that had save the lives of his men and his own during the battle of Gictor during the Lucan campaigne and had supplied him with a constant source of information over the last six years, information that was impossible to come-by.

" I'm sure by now your aware of the going ons at Kalaro Isles, but lack any real definitive information, well let me enlighten you. So far the Buchus battle group has only acquire and maintain aerial supremacy," spoke Argon, for once getting straight to the point of his communication.

Velaz grimaced. " Ground troops."

" Surprisingly no ground troops, although the battle group is carrying one mechanized air rifle company and an entire MAU with it,' replied Aragon. A Marine Amphibious Unit consisted of a reinforce battalion of mechanized troops." Add that to the four flights of CT-30Cs that hasn't move off of three of Senna Air Force base's airstripes in the last two days, things may not look good for Kalaro Isles in the next few days."

" Can Kalaro handle that," Velaz asked, leaning forward to within an inch of the main screen, but not seeing it altogether.

" With a carrier backing them up with nonstop air support!" Aragon snorted." Beside's targeting radar, communication, anti-aircraft and SAM installations, they haven't done anything out of the ordinary. I think it has something to do with the Northern Fleet still being anchored at Val Caras, once they began to move, well you can guess what happens next."

Velaz slumped in his seat." So we don't have as much time as we thought.How long before the Northern fleet begans to move?"

" A day, two at the most.Kalaro Isles will fall, that much is certain, and when it does the air threat against the Foundation will at least double, same story goes for your forces on Foundation soil and at Tera Cias.Well I did bring some good news, that recon unit you sent into Guild through the Latana plain did get in a moderate hit in on the Guild before they retreated, enough of a hit to hold off reinforcements and supplies to the main force gathering at Gulvanized base for several hours."

" Bloody hell, that was stupid of the mobile suit team CO," Velaz said." Did they manage to escape."

" Surprising yes, of course they did have help in regards to that, but they're a man down, and their survival won't be assured for another couple of hours. What happens in the next few days will determine the outcome of this war."

Velaz grind his teeth slowly." Its to late to change our plans, everythings already in place and moving ahead as plan.There's nothing I can about Kalaro Isles or a single mobile suit team out of my reach, as it stands they're on their own."

Most of his message went unheard, as Aragon had already broken contact, but Velaz let the last sentence slip out nonetheless.He snapped the main camera picture to his escort; four Graves and Errot's Lupus S.

Velaz dial over to the unit frequency." Lets's move it. Single file formation, Delta B pattern. 2nd squad on point, 4th squad at six.You know the drill, no comm until we reach within Tera Cias defences.We have one hundred and forty klicks to travel and not enough time to cover it. Let's move out."

The last of Jalan's Company's modified MTR carriers were entering the border of Deikumia as the sun was descending west, when the mixbag of LFA mobile suits began their slow trek northward.

A young crewman speaker had announce sunset an hour before, which meant all hands below deck, lookouts at there post and deck inspection underway, but Vicati would not be denied this last chance for a scenery of untold beauty, even if it was only for a moment.Sunsets at sea far away from the polluted city air, with a sharp horizon for the sun to slide under was a sight for her of such beauty that she found herself truly enjoying.What she saw now was just as good as the first time she had experienced a sunset at sea.She stood with her hands on the rails, first looking downed at the foamed alongside the freighter's sleek hull, then after a brief moment of preparation, up.Born and raised in Lucan, and then with the Guild sudden occupation, Vicati hadn't known or cared about stars until coming abroad the SeaGazer, and now the discovery of the wide, bright belt of stars overhead was a constant source of wonder for her.

A hatch open, and Varl, all dress in a olive tactical pants and black shirt joined her on deck." Darken ship, what the hell does that mean." Varl said irrated, he was clearly annoyed about something and she knew exactly what.

" No lights and absolutley no smoking," Vicati said sharply, slightly annoyed to have her precious solitude destroyed.

" Crap," A previous lit cigartte butt sailed over the side.Varl was silent for several moments, then he looked at Vicati." How you holding up?"

Vicati snorted quietly." I'm fine.Neko's the one that wasn't so lucky.If he'd waited like he should have instead of running off to safety, he'd still be alive and we'd have one extra mobile suit in our unit."

" He was a little rash, but it doesn't matter, no matter how many times you revise the situation, it won't change a thing about what happened." Varl voiced sounded tired.' No wonder, Vicati thought, he's been overlooking the repairs and re-arming of our mobile suits ever since we came on board.Anything to keep busy.' The elder pilot pointed to the northern sky." In just over a day from now we'll pass close to Kazan territorial waters and drop off those tech guys and all that combat data they've accumulated from our Graves, a few hours after we should be in Fork Point in the midst of a bunch of fucking marines."

" Marines," Vicati sat down and leaned back, her head leaning way back to watch the curtain of white dots.Beneath them the ship's hull churned the water to foam with the whispering sound of continously breaking wave.Somehow the sound and the sky matched each other perfectly." Well, atleast we get to teach the Guild a lesson inside their own border and get a look at their new suit in action.That suit, that was unbelievable."

" No doubt about that, I've seen the gun camera footage twice and what those techies came up with from analyzing its movements and weapons. Its better than those Lupus X by far and way ahead of those Lupos.That's bad news for us and the Foundation."

Vicati stared up at the various un-name constellation.Some enterprising crewman trying to get more than on her good side, had told her the center of the galaxy was out there, including their real home word, some planet call Earth.He'd even went so far as to say there was a black hole out there preventing other humans from finding this planet. A black hole, the most destructive force known to physics, and it made the forces under man's control appear puny by comparison.But men were a lot easier to destroyed.

Suddenly the ship wide intercom belched loudly." Attention all hands, this is the Captain speaking.Our WAR-2 and WAR -8 reports inbound signal contact, possible fighter search radar, approximate range thirty-eight miles, bearing two-three-zero and closing, speed five hundred knots." Vicati and Varl shared a glance in the growing darkness.They both knew the WAR-2 and WAR-8 systems aboard the SeaGazer were passive detection systems- they did not require the use of radar to pick up an enemy presence.

The captain was still speaking."All hands, action stations, all hands, action station, this is not a drill.All mobile suit pilots, report to your units immediately."

" Damn, here I was thinking we'd gotten away scout free," Varl muttered making a break for the hatch with Vicati hot on his tail.

" Well lookie what we've got here," the SC-03 pilot said quietly." This has got to be that freighter the Colonel told us about." RIO, what esle is in range."

" Nothing, not another surface ship for over a hundred miles."

" Well the last two freighters were legit.Lets make sure this one's too before we get trigger happy and sink this bastard," the pilot was frustrated, after over an hour of searching, only two freighters had been tracked and both had the necessary IFF codes to confirm their authenticity, this last freighter had to be the one they were looking for, it was their last hope, he didn't have the fuel to search for another.

He pulled the commit trigger on his stick grip to the first detent and instantly the usual symbology on the HUD was replaced by the infrared video.

There was the freighter! They were almost on top of it, looking straight down at it.There was a bunch of people on deck, seemingly doing a bit of nothing,' the pilot heart sunk.Even as he looked, the freighter was changing aspect as the turret under the plane's nose swung to keep the ship in view.Now the freighter appeared upside down, as if the plane was diving over it.

The radar altimeter warning sounded, indicating they had dropped below the 450 feet he had programme.The pilot's eyes flicked to the gyro.Inadvertently he had ease the nose over.He released the stick button and pull the nose back to the artificial as it replace the IR video on the HUD.

" Looks like another legit freighter to me," the RIO chirped in the back." This was a dumb fucking idea, the Colonel had to know these are the main shipping lanes.If those fuckers took a freighter its going to be near impossible to find out which."

" I agree, this was a waste of time, I'm going to contact them," the pilot began reaching for the communication switch.

" We did that twice with those two freighters, and both give us the same bullshit story we couldn't prove, about making a cargo run we have no way to confirm," the RIO said frustrated, stopping the pilot's index finger within an inch of the switch.

" Well if you have a better idea, let me know," the pilot yelled back.

The radar intercept officer thought for a second and silently grin." Lets troll, make a mad pass, drop a flare and see what they do.If they're legit, they'll try to make contact with us and if they're not."

' If they're not, they'll probably shoot us down,' the pilot thought, he had no illusions about his ability to swim to land or if the parachute even work, but he had to admit inwardly it was a brilliant plan.He toggled the stick-trigger and glanced at the IR display, remembering to cross-check the gyro and the flight instruments as he did.He was perspiring profusely.This was hairy, dangerous flying, add that to the fact that the aircraft he was flying was older than his military career.Any mistake, he knew would be fatal.

The pilot put the plane in a climb while the RIO reset the armament panel to release one flare.Dropping flares wasn't going to solve the Colonel problems, but it was a start.

When all was ready, the pilot carefully descended again and circle the freighter at 600 feet, about four miles away.He knew he was far enough away that he was invisible to the men on the boat.

" You ready?" the pilot asked the RIO.

" Fuck no, but go ahead anyway!"

The pilot turned on the exterior lights.He cranked on a four-G turned and pointed the plane nose at the freighter.The radar altimeter warning sounded.He didn't have time to reset it.

Down they came, 400 feet, 300, the throttles forward against the stops.He level at 230 feet, two miles from the freighter.He squeezed the commit trigger as far as it would go, authorizing the computer to release the flare The flare was gone.

A few seconds later a brilliant light illuminated aft and below them." Shit, flares burning," the pilot yelled as he dropped the nose and left wing and began a descending spiral turn.Someone aboard the freighter panicked by the sight of the ghastly white light of the magnesium flare and fired a belt fed 14.4 millimeter machinegun.

" Idiot?" Captain Herovich growled.The tracers from the machinegun didn't even come close to the bright light that he knew was a flare.It had been a worthwhile gamble on the part of the pilot and it had paid off." Now they'll shoot at us for sure.

"All ahead flank speed! Mobile suits on deck, shoot that plane down, Helmsman, be alert."

" Sonofabitch." the pilot rolled hard right and flipped off the lights with his left hand.He kept the nose coming up and turning in.A moment later a line of tracers weaved, trying to connect.It was of a much larger calibre and far more accurate than what he had seen pass meters under the flare.

The shells reached for them, crossing just under the plane.The pilot was rolling and jinking, turning hard to get away from the freighter and the guns.

The gunners was shooting bursts of five and six shells. ' God, they're close.'

The pilot kept climbing as the streaks crossed above the cockpit.As the end of a tracer string went by he hauled the stick forward and floated under negative G.

The RIO was screeching in the back." They're shooting at us, they're actually fucking shooting at us." His voice had gone up an octave.

Now they were up into the safety of the clouds, which glowed from the flare below.

The pilot kept climbing." What did you expect them to do, blow kisses at us."

In a calmer more excited voice, the RIO added." Well, I think we just found the bastards."

" Sounds about right," the pilot said, turning back towards the freighter." Time to blow this sucker out the water.In the mean time start relying the message back to the colonel that we've found them.And don't forget Cirrus Two and Cirrus Three they should be close by.Try and raise em."

" Take care of that freighter and I'll handle the message."

" Good," the pilot swore as he dropped below the cloud, and the infrared instantly showed him the freighter, five miles away and riding the waves at full speed in front of him.The pilot centered his gunsights pipper on the freighter." What the fuck-damn! I got a red light on the portside ASM-10.Sucker won't arm."

" Message is out.Cirrus Two and Three will be here in four minutes.Well play with the bastard," the RIO yelled.It didn't work.In the haste to get off the ground, the missiles controls had not been fully attached by the weary ground crew.

" I still got one working.Ready!"

" Well shoot the sucker already!!"

The missile dropped clear of the wing and fell thirty feet before its engine ignited.The SeaGazer's large deck was lined with men, many holding hand-launched SAMs and two mobile suits hoping to intercept the incoming radar guided missile.

" Rocket coming, low on the horizon, portside," At least we have good lookouts, the captain thought.He estimated the distance to the horizon, and give the missile a speed of a thousand kilometers per hour.

" Right hard rudder!" he screamed.The helmsman threw the wheel over as far as it would go and held it down, as Athan burst into the bridge, out of breathe and eyes popping out there sockets in fear.

" There's no way you can outrun a misssile, captain," Athan said gasping for air.

" I'm aware of this.Why aren't you in your mobile suit and on deck defending this ship like the rest of your team."

The black-hulled vessel was turning radically to starboard.As she did so, the ship's heeled in the opposite direction, the same way a car rolls away from a turn on a flat road, which artificially raised the waterline on the vulnerable portside.

" There's barely enough room for two mobile suits on deck, let alone three," Athan answered.

Several crewman aboard fired signal flares, hoping to decoy the missile away, but all the missile's mircochip brain cared about was the enormous blip that occupied the center of its radar seeker head.It noted that the ship's heading was changing slightly, and altered its own course accordingly.Half a mile from target it armed its warhead.The crewman aboard the SeaGazer instantly fired an even dozen SAMs.

Three locked on the ASM-10 engine exhaust plume, but were unable to turn rapidly enough to hit the incoming missile and continued past it.The SAM were joined by a gun that sounded like a chainsaw, but the radical turn of the SeaGazer reduce its owner's line of sight and the crewman's barrage of flares and SAMs simply blinded the Grave's optic from identifying which was the ASM-10 and which were SAMs.

" All right..." the pilot whispered.There was no stopping it now.

The missile struck the SeaGazer hull six feet above the waterline, slightly abaft the bridge.The warhead exploded at once, but the missile body kept moving forward, spreading two hundred pounds of jet fuel that fireballed into the cargo deck.Two crewman, thrown off their feet by the impact, accidently triggered their SAMs straight up.

" Its a hit. We got warhead detonation.Looks like..." The pilot eyes was strained at the IR display to assess the damaged.

" Rudder amidships!" the captain had expected to be knocked off his feet, but the missle was a small one, and SeaGazer still had two thousand tons of mass.He ran out to the bridge wing to survey the damage.As the ship returned to an even keel, the ragged hole in her side rose ten feet from the lapping waves.Smoke poured from the hole.There was fire aboard, but the ship should not flood from the blow, the captain judged.There was only one danger, the captain rapidly gave orders to his damage-control teams.

The SeaGazer emerge at twenty knots from the smoke, a fifteen-foot hole in the ship's side.Smoke poured from the opening, but the pilot knew at once that the damage would not be fatal.He could see several crewman on the upper deck, some of them already rushing towards the ladders to fight the fire below.

" Where the fuck's Cirrus Two and Cirrus Three?" the pilot asked.The radar intercept officer didn't answer.He switched radio circuits.

" Cirrus-One, this is Cirrus-Three, we got you on radar, preparing to release our missiles, and follow up with a pass of twenty-mike-mike.We can do two or three passes, then we gotta bail for home, do you copy."

" That's a roge, Cirrus Three.Target has a pair of mobile suits on deck. And watch out for handheld SAMs, I've seen em fire about fifteen of the bastards."

" Roger that Cirrus One."

" First rounds of drinks are on me once we sink this tin can and head home."

" Roger, copy, keep clear we're releasing our missiles now."

The Cirrus pilot continued to orbit three miles out.Her pilot didn't see the fighters until a quartet of smoke trails appeared in the distance.The two Cirruses were a few feet apart, perhaps twenty feet over the water and losing speed rapidly when compare to the four missiles moving ahead of them.

Oblivious to the incoming threatsVicati and Varl both watched from their main screen picture as the single Guild fighter circle around the SeaGazer well out of range of their gatling gun's targeting sensors.

" He can't stay out here all day," muttered Vicati." He's got to be low on fuel, we just have to hang on for a few minutes."

"Maybe he doesn't have too, he's probably already made contacts with the rest of his sqaudron and is vectoring them in on our position while we speak."

" Shit, that means we can have..." Just then, Vicati noticed the four blips on her radar monitor closing, and alarm sounded within her." We've got incoming, five o'clock."

Without confirming or wasting a moment, both mobile suits turned as much as the small space on the deck of the ship would allowed to face the incoming supersonic rockets.From the left shoulder universal hardpoint, both Graves 40mm gatling guns whine with a metallic sound.A sheer wall made-up of hundreds of 40mm HE shells met the lead ASM-10 missile head-on, ripping it into a thousand pieces of fragmented sharpnels and propellant.

The next ASM-10 approached the freighter's bow and was blasted out of the sky by Varl's gatling guns, too close aboard.Fragments ripped across the freighter's deck, killing a dozen exposed crewman ( who were still trying to subdue the fire).

The third and forth missiles came aft.Both mobile suits tracked the rear ASM-10s, destroying it in ablaze of glory before its brethren vanish from their optical cameras.The missile hit a second later. A rolling boom! causing Vicati to jump in her suit as her Grave's gyro stabilizers straggle to maintain the suit's balance, but she didn't fail to see two slower, but yet fast moving objects form a blurry shape on her IR screen." Shit, fighters."

No one else saw them come.A moment later, the water around the SeaGazer side turned to froth from the short falling rounds, then her main deck was hidden with sparks.A sudden small orange fireball announced the explosion of a handheld SAM, burning jet fuel and shrapnels whipped over bridge, narrowly missing Athan and the captain.

" What was that," the captain gasped.

" More fighters.Must have come in low, following their missiles path.Its not over yet.

The fighters split, passing left and right of the ship, which continued at twenty knots in a wide circle.No SAMs or tracers followed the Cirruses away, and both turned, re-formed, and closed in on the SeaGazer's bow.The target was the superstructure.A moment later the freighter's bridge was peppered with several hundred rounds.Evey window was blown away, and most of the bridge crew killed, but the ship's watertight intergrity hadn't been damage a whit.

But the fighters didn't escape unscathed this round.With the imaged of the fighters centered on Vicati Grave's main camera screen, she flipped the missile enable switch, which automatically fired a radio interrogation signal at the fighters.A friendly plane would have responded to the radio signal--both did not.

" Clear to shoot! Vicati shouted as an after thought, she took one quick glanced at her secondary cameras and swore at the human remains littered on deck and fired all three ' Closer' missiles.The missiles disappeared from visual range and into the darkness...but far out on the horizon, she say a bright flash of light and a stream of fire--that was a hit.

But there was no celebrating this victory.She knew there were at least two more fast moving jets out there, and word had already reached them, about a Guild carrier battle group just a few hundred miles away carrying ten times as many fighters, that could easily and quickly send the SeaGazer to the bottom of the Lagrange Ocean.Her little counterattack merely brought them a few precious minutes, perhaps even an hour.But as long as they were on this ship, they were sitting ducks.

The Captain surveyed the damage.His helmsman had been blown apart by a half dozen exploding bullets and every man present on the bridge was dead.It took a second for him to overcome the shock and noticed a crippling pain in his abdomen, his dark jacket darkening further with blood.

" You've been hit, Captain." Only Athan had had the instinct to duck behind something solid.He look at the eight mutilated bodies in the pilothouse and suddenly the inside the protective composite armor of his mobile suit looked like a very safe place to be.

" I must get this ship to the nearest port.Go aft.Tell the first officer to continue fighting the fire.You Lieutenant, must supervise the defence of this ship topside.We must get my ship to port at all cost, the information we've obtain about that new mobile suit must get to Kazan."

" I'll do that, but first I'll get you some help," Athan ran out the door a holding a portable radio as the captain went to the wheel." Vicati, Varl, can you hear me?"

" We copy LT.Those bastards were already on us by the time we picked them up on radar, Vicati manage to bag one of the suckers, but there's atleast two more out there," Varl said.

" The crew on the bridge's dead, the captains hurt bad, so what ever you do, keep those fuckers away from this ship, you reading me."

" You got it LT."

'Shit.This is turning into a fucking nightmare,' Athan thought as he recklessly run forward.

" Look's like the fires under control," the RIO commented sourly.

" Yea, how do you think they manage that? Shit, that tin can should've gone up like--but it didn't" As the pilot watched, the huge mobile suits shifted position, widing their arc of defence far more than their previously position, but that didn't matter, now that he knew they carried missiles as well as a highly-accurate rapid fire cannon, he had no intentions of getting any closer.

" If you want to head for home, we got thirty minutes of fuel," RIO adviced.

" The Colonels not going to like this one bit," the pilot muttered, already dreading his return trip." Get a full recording of that ship and those mobile suits, and just who the fuck are these guys anyway."

" Info on the ship's on the computer system, what the..," the RIO stuttered, "The ship's classified as a Vescuz class freighter, its registered to the nation of Kazan."

" Kazan. Ain't that a bitch, maybe the colonel won't be so pissed off we didn't sink this sucker after all.Okay, lets join Cirrus-Three and head home."

" The fires are out, by God!" Athan proclaimed." There's alot of damage to your equipments, mainly from water, but the fires are out!" His expression changed when he saw the captain.

The Captain was ghostly pale.The onboard medic had quickly bandage his wound, but there had to be internal bleeding.He struggled to hold himself erect over the chart table.

" Come to three-two-nine."

A junior crewman barely old enough to shave was on the wheel." Right to three-two-nine, captain."

" You have to lay down captain," Athan said softly.

" I must get my ship and crew to a safe harbour first,"

The SeaGazer ran almost due northwest, westerly wind and sea on her beam, and water was lapping at the missiles wound.His earlier optimism was fading.Some seems in the lower hull had sprung from the missile impact, and water was entering the ship from the second missile impact, though so far the pumps were keeping up with it.There was over one thousand tons of cargo that would never make it to Kazan.

" And where exactly is that captain, we're a full day from Kazan at the most, get medical attention first, then we can decide where to go for repairs," Athan persisted.

" Repairs you say, this ship is finish, those Guild fighter no doubt was able to identify this ship, it can never return to Kazan, as to where we'll find a safe harbour that's easy.I've already made contact with the port authorities of the country of Kalaro, I've informed them about our situation and who we are.They seem to be having some troubles of their own, but we can enter their BolZie harbour safely.In the main time tell your people to stay alert.One more successful attack could finish us off and then informed them, that they have done well and I am proud to have sail with them on this operation, and would glady do it again."

The attack on Phollia's position west of the Vesti River was slow to develop, reflecting the Guild Battalion's surprised that a large enemy force had been able to deployed so close to Anmen without detection, his uncertainty of the precise location and composition of that force, and his standing orders.

While the loss of his entire advanced rear guard detachment of five tanks before they could provide him with any detail information was regrettable, at least the initial garble report of their platoon leader gave him something to work with.The report that they were being hit by long range tank and mobile suit fire, and subsequent reports from a recon unit that arrived moments later, confirmed that the engagment had taken place two thousand meters east of the bridge.Base on the information he had at hand, he assumed he was facing a flank screen by a mobile unit.That would account for the speed with which those Deikumians had arrived at their positions and the presence of mobile suits.But for the life of him, he could not find out where they had come from, were they a misplaced unit.If so, a deliberate attack, he decided, rather than a hasty one, would therefore be more effective, since a series of progressively larger attacks would allow the Deikumians to grind up his combat power a little at a time.One full-blooded and coordinated attack, with all the combat power he could bring to bear, would not only scatter the screening force, it would leave his forces in the proper formation for further attacks if need be east towards Vodina.

There was, of course, the problem of crossing the river.Destruction of the highway bridges complicated his mission.As the Guild battalion assemble north of Anmen, its commander and his staff pondered their options at the junction where a highway turned west toward the Vesti.As a large number of frightened refugees struggled to get around, past, or through the mobile suits, tanks and personal carriers of the battalion, the Battalion commander realized that only two real choices existed.He could either move his forces to the north and cross another site or conduct an assault crossing southeast of Anmen.

His choices of options, however, was limited due to his literal translation of his Brigade Commander's standing orders. If, those orders had stated, an attack originated at the Brigades rear, he was to deploy his Battalion from their positions at Quize to Anmen.From there he was to cross the Vesti via the highway and railroad bridge, which the orders would assumed would be intact.Once assemble on the west side of Vesti, the Guild Mechanized Rifle Battalion was to attack north along the highway, into the flanks of the attacking enemy force, using Vodina as their objective.Unable to contact the commander of the 137th Rear Guard Brigade, the Guild Battalion commander felt he had little choice but to carry out his standing orders to the letter.Every unit on the front lines depended on the success of his operations.Besides, as one of his staff officers commented during their discussion, the number of refugees was multiplying by the hour, which run the risk of saboteurs and spies.It was, the staff officer pointed out, unwise to turn around and countermarch back through Anmen to a crossing east.Seeing as that his battalion was already 80 percent assemble east of Vesti and ready to strike north, the battalion commander decided to follow through, trusting his luck and the skill of his soldiers, which he greatfully admitted to himself were all battle harden already.

Although Phollia's Alpha Company were the only unit in a position to face the brunt of the Guild counterattack, that did not mean she and her company had been abandone, Captain Inos Vesquez CO of Delta Company began to concentrate those assets available to the company that were not directly involved with the current operations at the Vesti River.The first asset turned south in support was an JA-12B Blindspotter, a tactical communications intercept, direction-finding, and minovsky dispersion system mounted in a modified MTR-personal carrier.It was used to search for and locate signals from radios in a non-minovsky particle laced invironment, and Vesquez, working through the Company's intelligence officer, prioritized the task of the Blindspotter to finding and locating the command element of the Guild MRB he knew was somewhere in the area and then the fire direction center of its supporting artillery company, which he knew would not be to far behind.Since the Guild battalion was no doubt on the move already it would have to used the radio to coordinate its subordinate units, Major Telia Sterlon, the company's officer responsible for gathering, analyzing, and producing intelligence on enemy activities and strength, felt that they would have no problem locating either of their designated targets once contact was made with Phollia's unit.

In addition to the Blindspotter, Vesquez checked with the Company's fire support coordination officer, or FSCO, also the CO of the fire in-support team (FIST), to ensure that they were ready to provide counterbattery fires as well as defensive fires and to double the FIST ability to provide a sustain amount of fire on the Guild's positions once located, he'd allocated the FIST from Jalen Company into Delta Company.An artilleryman Major Alvador Latinni, known as Big L, never missed an apportunity to promote his fellow red legs.Taking Vesquez over to his map board inside the Company forward CP, Latinni briefed him on the deployment and preparations of both FIST teams now supporting Alpha Company.Four units, he pointed out, which was deployed south of Anmen, was in place and prepared to fire in support of Phollia.To counter enemy artillery, the four TMS-17B Lupus B from Jalen Company were deployed and oriented southeast.When Latinni was finally finish, Vesquez looked at Latinni in the eye." L, I would like to ask one thing."

A smile lit across Latinni's face.Sure, Captain.What is it?"

" Is artillery ready."

Less than seven miles away, the efforts of Vesquez and Delta Company were, at that moment, completely unknown to Captain Icina Phollia and Alpha Company.After having parked their suits and MTR ammo carrier in the lee of a stone barn, or what was left of it, the crew of the MTR settle in to watch and wait.Perched high in the cockpit hatch of her mobile suit, their was little for Phollia to do but to watch and wait.Across the river in the darkness, she could see very little.The cold, pale moon, hanging low in the sky behind their positions, was turning everything gray and creating deep, dark shadows.She could hear, however, what she couldn't see from deep in those shadows, the sounds of tracked vechicles winding their way slowly and laboriously along the forest trails drifted across the river.The crisp, cold night air seemed to magnify those sounds, making it difficult to accurately judge the precise location or size of the approaching enemy, what concern her, was no matter how hard she listen, she could neither hear or feel the ground vibrate under the weight of several multi-ton mobile suit units advancing forward, not one.With nothing to do but wait until the Guild show themselves, Phollia could only wait, watch and calculate.At the moment, she had the feeling that her company had been deployed on its own to capture the far side of the moon.

The rest of her team shared her foreboding.After a night of furious activity and no sleep the lull and silence left each member to deal with his or her own fears, apprehensions, and natural desires to drift to sleep as best they could.Misha, peering at the infrared screen, slowly traversed the mono-eye turret as he searched the treelines across the river for the enemy.Here and there he could see indications of vechicles concentrations as the exhaust from those vechicles heated the trees they sat next to.The sap in those trees, heated by the vechicles' exhaust, spread that heat throughtout the trees.As a result, some trees were warmer than those trees which were not near any vehicles.Misha's thermal screen picked up this temperature difference and provided him with a good idea of where the enemy were.With a map in his lap, he kept himself occupied by trying to correlate his sightnings through the infrared screen with their location on the map.Every few minutes, when he had some substantial change, he pull out his handheld two-way radio and contact Phollia.After a few seconds Phollia would make contact, Misha would inform her of what he had.Making a mental note, Phollia would acknowledge his efforts, then return to her position on the open cockpit hatch from which she would study the areas Misha had reported, but her mind was miles away from what her eyes were seeing at that moment.

Both Specialist Louis Zakan the driver, and Specilist Guy Elvano the radioman were less vigilant.Not that there was much for them to do.Though Phollia should have had one of them out on the ground to provide security, she didn't want to scatter her crew or exposed them to the artillery barrage she expected to precede the Guild attack.When it came, Phollia wanted to be able to move and move fast.People wondering about in the dark in the middle of an artillery barrage would handicap her just when she would need them the most.Beside's, Phollia stated, she had Mitsuba's team running point.Mitsuba's security measures, which of course weren't the best, at least provided her team with some degree of early warning.So Zakan and Louis stayed put in their assigned positions, drifting in and out of fitful periods of sleep.

Five hundred meters away, inside the dark confines of her mobile suit, Second Lieutenant Mitsuba had no trouble staying awake.There was, of course, the incident earlier that evening that had given her the scare of her life.Every time she thought about it, she felt anger, frighten and worst of all embarrassment over that fact that she had not only been asleep during her first engagement with the enemy in Deikumia soil, but she had fumble the most basic of all leadership requirements, timely and accurate reporting.The consequences of that incident were immediate and embarrassing.The visit by Alpha Company Commander, during which time she had recieved a not so subtle lecture on what a mobile suit team leader/ any team leader was expected to do in a combat situation, was bad enough. That Mitsuba had expected.Even the relocating of the company commander's own Grave closer to her position was not totally unexpected.Though it showed to her subordinates that she lacked confidence in Mitsuba's abilities to report to her in a timely and accurate manner, Mitsuba could have dealt with that slight too.

What really bothered Mitsuba, though, was the fact that she had failed in front of a foreigner, and another woman at that.As a professional officer, such thoughts weren't suppose to even enter into the equations.She was, after all an LFA soldier, an officer at that, serving the organization that had a single objective, free Lucan from the Guild grasp.

So it was no surprise that while Icina Phollia was busy pointing out to Mitsuba that she needed to do a better job of reporting the next time, her words were blocked out by Mitsuba's own thoughts.Over and over in her mind, as she sat there listening to Phollia, Mitsuba kept telling herself that she didn't need to be taking this shit from a damn foreigner, who had no idea what it meant to be a Lucanite, how it felt to be a second class citizen in your own country, how it felt to watch your country get stripped naked of its resources.Even after Phollia left, Mitsuba found herself unable to concentrate on the matter at hand. Instead of maintaining the presence of mind that would be needed to deal with the coming fight.Mitsuba instead went over and over in her mind the earlier engagement, ending each review by mumbling to herself the same question." Who," she quietly asked herself." does that bitch think she is?"

With her mind occupied with thoughts that ranged from self pity to anger Mitsuba was too busy to noticed that the yellow low-charge indicator light on her control panel had lit up.