Gundam 00: Phoenix
Burden of Guilt
South America, Arvineo, February 18
Inside the embattled city, Viper and a team of three other soldiers had taken temporary residence in a partially blasted building. The sounds of gun-fire could be heard in the distance indicating their close proximity to the front. The sun was setting, changing the time to dusk, but the battle continued with tracers flaring up into the air indicating all sides did not intend to rest lest they give up ground they currently held.
"I'm telling you, Canada is going to win the upcoming Olympic Games in 2309," one of Viper's men said discussing about teams that were going to play during the upcoming Olympic Games.
"That is bull, China is going to win by a long shot, haven't you seen how many medals they won during the 2304 Olympic Games and onward? It was absurd," the other replied, albeit aggressively.
"Doesn't mean crap, I think those games were rigged," the other soldier argued.
"Pffttt, you're just jealous that the Chinese beat you stupid Canadians fair and square in most of the events, you're-" the soldier was abruptly interrupted by Viper gesturing over to the shattered window he stood by.
"Stop your talk about sports and take a look at this." Viper signaled for his men to look out the shattered window he was scanning through.
Several hundred meters away the squad could see several soldiers dressed in jungle pattern fatigues standing around a flaming Tieren which had fallen into a nearby building. Rubble laid scattered across the ground in all directions surrounding the mech.
One of the soldiers looked through his binoculars for a clearer look before turning back to Viper.
"So who do you think these guys are? Those radicals mentioned earlier or loyalist?" the man asked.
"Can't tell," Viper replied back. "Don't see much distinction between the two, we haven't even seen the radicals yet, my guess-"
The hiss left by a rocket's trail could be heard for only a second until an explosion sent up a cloud of smoke, obscuring the troops they were previously looking at. Moments later, gun fire and shouting could be heard coming from the area followed by the sound of a mobile suit marching towards battle became clearer and clearer.
"Oh shit," one of his men whispered as everyone went low. "I thought they were further out."
"Guess we were wrong, time to pack up," Viper ordered. He did not need a stray bullet, shell or rocket ending his life in an untimely matter, especially when they had not been given their orders to engage.
Gathering their equipment the small team began to move, bounding down the stars while the gaping holes left behind by what had possibly been a rocket attack.
His headset then came alive as they moved out of the building. Meanwhile, his team searched the area for better shelter, using cover and concealment where they could
"Team Five, do you copy? I want a status update of your position," came a voice as one of his squad mates pointed signaled for them to move to another abandoned building.
"We're repositioning. Fighting has spread to the edge of the city, I can't tell who's on who's side," Viper responded back.
"Roger that," the voice acknowledged before continuing. "Beacons are to be set-up, they will be used as our markers to rally our forces."
"Acknowledged, we'll get that beacon up, over and out," Viper replied ending contact with his superiors while he kept eyes on the point-man who soon entered into the building they had found.
It was a five-storey hotel which had been relatively untouched. It appeared to have been abandoned in a hurry wih luggage, carts and paper scattered across the first level. It looked like the civilians here either went to seek shelter elsewhere or had left the city. The dins of gunfire could still be heard from outside but it was much more distant then before and this position seemed more defensible than their last.
"Why would Arvineos need a hotel if no one ever comes to visit them?" one of his men asked out loud, wondering.
"You've never been to a hotel in your own country?" another member of his squad responded back before Viper called for a halt at the front desk.
With a gesture, his men began to set-up the beacon.
The moment they finished, he spoke-up with new instructions.
"Start moving whatever we can use as cover to the front, I want us to be able to hold up long enough for the others to get here if we come under fire." Immediately his men set off to moving what they could from tables to couches. "After that two people take watch while the other two search for the security room so we know what's going on in this building," he finished before he went over to help his men set up the defenses after they had acknowledged his orders.
He could still hear the battle which seemed to be intensifying, he only hoped it would stay where it was, or they were going to have problems.
Spain, February 18
Nena walked around the courtyard containing the memorial. Everything was the way it had been when she arrived. The craters, the setting sun, and the very same girl who continued crying over the loss of her parents and family.
She knew this was a dream, it had to be. There was no way she would find herself coming back her after what she experienced unless she had been dragged here kicking and screaming.
Still, even if it was a dream, she could only watch the girl cry. Somehow, she just couldn't look away as if her posture had been frozen to witness the pain she had caused the the poor girl. And with that, the emotions she had felt began to rise to the surface, despite her best efforts to suppress them.
After several agonizing moments of watching the girl slowly got back up on her feet and looked at her with her reddened eyes and endless tearing strolling down her cheeks.
"Why, why did you have to kill them?" she then said through her tears to Nena.
Nena's eyes opened wide. How did she know? Nena knew the girl couldn't possibly have known she was the one who did it, this must really all just be a dream, and bad one.
The girl then got up and walked towards her. "I lost my family because of you, mom, dad, their all gone because of you!" she then sobbed, continuing to walk towards Nena.
Nena immediately began to back away. Part of her wanted to yell back telling her that it wasn't fair that her and her brothers never got to celebrate, but somehow she held back on her argument and response.
Her back foot suddenly gave way. Nena found herself slipping backwards, falling towards the ground. Instead of hitting the ground she found herself falling through a dark void with no trace of where she previously had been. The world had completely disappeared
Voices then began to fill her head, accusing and tormenting her mind. This time she wanted to respond back but no answer would come from her mouth as more spoke, accusing her of her crimes.
There were so many voices, each of their words bitter with hate as they resonated through the void no longer content to stay within her mind. Now the voices could be physically heard, deafening her with words that continued to dig in and tear her to pieces.
Covering her ears and eyes, she attempted to tune everything out. She didn't want to hear it. There was just so much hate that she could barely even understand it.
'It's just a dream,' she told herself trying to ignore the accusations that continued to follow one after the other. 'You'll wake up and it'll all be over, you'll forget about all of this,' she continued to say in her mind.
The emotions of guilt then began to grow inside of her, reminding her of everything she had done. It was painful as the voices began then slowly began to fade away but her emotions then took over. It was worse than the accusations for the images of the names on the monument flashed into her mind along with their faces. It made her feel terrible, a feeling of disgust that she wanted nothing to do with. How could she live hating herself?
So many people had died, people she never knew, people she had never met and yet they appeared in her mind.
'Just leave me alone,' she screamed inside of her head wanting it all to stop. 'You don't know what's it like to be me!' she then added. 'I already have to put up with losing my brothers, so why do you have to torment me!'
'Because you deserve it!' came a voice in her head. The same voice that had come from the blonde girl mourning at the memorial.
The images continued to flood her head, now showing her brother's death in clear view to torment her once again. The previous nightmare which had the images of the white haired man and his gaze burning itself into her mind.
"My life was ruined by you, I have to put up with losing my entire family and the pain you've caused to my life," the voice then said.
Everything then turned back to normal as Nena found herself laying on the ground with a mobile suit looking from above emitting GN particles.
Nena quickly tried to get back up, but for some reason she couldn't move. When she looked down, she realized she was buried in rubble. Physical pain then began to build up in her as her senses came back. It did not start as much, but soon it became near unbearable, her mind and body pleading for this torture to end. A quick death was better than this. She could taste blood in her throat as she continued to be crushed by the rubble, slowly and painfully. And she could not breath while gasping for air only led to her coughing out blood.
"I have to live like this because of you and I'll never be the same again. I won't be able to live normally because of you!" the voice then came from the mobile suit as Nena managed to looked back up fighting the pain, just to glance where the voice was coming from.
The mobile suit then readied its weapon, lowering the barrel towards her. "Killing you won't do anything, but at least I can avenge my parents and make you pay for what you've done! You deserve more than this!"
The weapon then fired as Nena could only stare into the light as it streaked through the sky towards her. She wanted to scream, but she simply couldn't
Immediately Nena woke up her eyes wide open as she then turned her head to look at the nearby clock to see it was two 'o'clock in the morning.
The dream was still fresh as her mind constantly replayed it through several times causing her to lay silently in her bed staring blankly through the darkness up towards the ceiling
She didn't know if she wanted to go back to bed now, fearing the dream would repeat itself and possibly turn into something far worse She thought it was at its worst when she saw that pilot of the white machine in her dream killing her brothers and then her but now it seemed she was wrong, very wrong.
The emotions towards herself never truly left as she hoped; it lingered around reminding her of what she had done to the girl and remembering the names of the dead on the monument. It made her want to talk to someone about this. The sooner she could shed these emotions, the better she would be. Living like this forever would not be an option, not for her.
Reluctantly, she looked back at the clock and forced herself to close her eyes and get some rest. She needed her energy for tomorrow. She wanted at least one day where she could just be like everyone else and not have to worry about piloting a Gundam or having anything to do with being a Gundam Meister, as life had set out for her.
Spain, February 18, Rising Phoenix Base
Inside a massive hanger lay the Phoenix under rapid repairs to get the vessel back into action while transferring all the unnecessary material and personnel to the base they were at.
The vessel also saw the retro-fitment of several heavy flak cannons in exchange for more powerful missile batteries and CIWS systems that were to replace the aging weapons. It did not that long for all weapons fitted to the Phoenix were modular in design.
"About time we replaced those damnable flak cannons, I don't get why we didn't do this sooner when we had the money to do this," Kail commented as systems on his screens lit up to show the retro-fitting of new weapons.
Wesker just shrugged his shoulders. "They were a good deterrent. Also, how often do we return to one of our major bases that can actually house the Phoenix"
"Not enough," Kail responded.
"Exactly. It also does not help we've been in more front-line engagements than I would have liked. Regardless, I guess I had this coming," Wesker then replied before turning to Craig who slowly spinning around in his seat, bored. "How long would it take us to reach Arvineo once we leave?"
Cray kept spinning as he brought up several images on the main monitor with the push of a button.
"About two to three days if we're being cautious about UN patrols in the area. Now, if you wanted to head out in a fighter, full speed, then just maybe a couple hours," Craig told the captain as the image on screen, which was a map of the globe, began to trace a dotted red line of their planned course.
Wesker then turned back to Cray after the path had been marked out. "Good, if the fleet needs help we can quickly send over squadrons while we are still en-route. They made need it."
"Sir, the information you wanted," came a voice of one of the bridge personnel who promptly handed him a data pad.
Wesker grabbed the data pad and let the man take his leave with a gesture.
"Excellent," Wesker remarked after he had skimmed through the clipboard and data pad. "We'll be able to have four fully armed squadrons in the air, possibly more if needed."
"That better not be the entire base's complement." Kail responded. "Last thing we need are the primary bases being unable to defend themselves."
"It'll be fine, this base will still have enough aircraft and pilots to defend itself and that's not adding in the automated defenses. It also relies on our enemy finding it first."
"What about the white Gundam? If Nena comes back there is a chance he may find her, us and the base," Kail then said to Wesker still cautious about the transferring of aircraft over to their operations.
"Then we won't be at the base when we call for their return, simple as that Kail," Wesker answered. He understood the man's good intentions, but it was better to use assets they had rather than letting them go to waste.
Kail's look of concern disappeared though that did not stop him from giving a slight sigh. "Reasonable enough," he simply said as he turned back to his console. "So you think our people in the city will be okay?" he said, changing the topic.
"Absolutely, that city is not known for violence and the streets have been rather clean of any criminal activity, our people made sure of it."
Craig then spun around. "Our people, as in killing criminals off or tipping the authorities off?" he asked curiously.
"A bit of both. Sometimes force was needed in the worst case scenario. I would rather not have the criminal elements interfering with our ability to keep our operations running or harassing my people. Rapid insertions once Intel is gained, leave nothing left," Wesker explained.
"Doesn't that sound a bit extreme like really extreme, don't you think? I mean just killing everyone who was a part of that criminal group, was it necessary?" Cray then said voicing his opinion.
"I'm simplifying it too much, those who were on the target list were killed, those who were left were told to either cease what they were doing or we were going to tip off the police or worse. I think they've got the message," he paused before going on. "Besides someone had to eventually take matters into their own hands, especially how they thought it was a good idea to raid our manufacturing facility and make off with aircraft components and sell them on the black market. They had to be held responsible if the authorities would not do it."
"Seems like you take everything pretty seriously," Cray then stated a little surprise how extreme things could be at even the lowest levels of operations.
"Of course he does," Kail then said, his back still turned. "If he didn't, we wouldn't last as long would we?" A hint of sarcasm could be heard in his words.
Wesker shrugged at the comment. "Someone has to do it. I think that AEU training had something to do with it as well. Incredibly harsh discipline, probably kicked every hint of my rebellious years out me"
Kail then moved onto a completely different subject, his back still turned as he continued to type in his console to make sure everything was installed properly. "Hey have you ever thought that Daveral may be attracted towards Nena and vice-versa they seem to spend a lot of time together."
"Not my concern unless it affects the mission's performance. Beside the closest thing they will likely get to is just being friends. That's like asking if you and me are attracted to each other just because we talk and discuss things to each other almost every day or another members of the crew for the matter."
"Eh, that's a scary thought; attracted you that would be the most awkward situation and everything just goes downhill from there once the rumors hit the masses. But if they do have feeling for each other you're going to have to owe me a beer if I'm right," Kail then told Wesker.
Wesker could only sigh in disbelief. "I am not placing any bets; now just get back to work."
"Understood," Kail said with a slight chuckle.
Spain, February 18
Nena sat staring blankly at the seat in front of her. Daveral sat beside her on the bus which made it way back to the bus stop they had departed from. Shopping, touring the city, and looking at the scenery, it was enjoyable and made Nena wish they could spend more time here, but she couldn't fully enjoy it. Everything was still going through her mind as it had last night; she just couldn't stop thinking about the moment she lost her focus on something.
She then looked at Daveral who was reading a novel.
"Uh, Daveral," she began shyly which immediately caught his attention as he looked up at her. "Have you ever felt guilty about what you've done?"
"Maybe, I don't enjoy it but I know I can't let it distract me or my friends. It may cost lives," he said in a low voice that no one else could hear. "Why, are you troubled by yesterday's trip to the memorial site and you need someone you can relate to?" he asked her. "Because I thought you would be more eager than this being here in the city and all. So speak up what's the matter?"
"It's just, well, I just can't stand myself, I mean it's like I don't even want to be me. The names on the monument and that girl I saw haunted my dream last night, it was worse than my last nightmare," she told him keep her voice low as well.
"How so?" he then asked her.
It took her a moment to find the words before she then replied.
"Well, I heard voices, accusing me of what I've done, and hearing the girl's voice made it all the worst. When I hear or even think of her, I just get that awful feeling, the one where I hate myself," she spoke quietly, in a depressing tone.
"And you said going there wouldn't change anything," he said with a sigh, though his eyes seemed to understand her troubles. "Looks like you're going to have to live with it. It's all I can really say."
"How can live like this if I can't stop thinking about it every second? It's just so depressing having to know what I did was...wrong," she said back to him the last word emphasized with extreme reluctance. SHe did not like to admit that she was wrong in anyway. "Damn it, already have to put up with losing my brother and now this?" she then added. "Oh, I wish I wasn't so stupid and none of this may have happened."
"Can't change it now unless time machines are invented," he replied. The words stung because it was true. There would be no going back. No way to fix the mess she had got herself into
"Could always do something to focus on. Maybe whatever we do next in the future will bring some peace of mind," he then suggested to her.
She just shook her head at him. "There's nothing I can do, nothing and doing what we're doing now won't change things for me." Her words had gotten heavy to the point where it seemed where she was just admitting defeat and wanting the world to just move on without her.
"Aren't Gundam Meister supposed to help change the world for the better?" he then whispered into her ear so that no passenger on board could hear him.
She once again shook her head at Daveral's response.
"I'm not a Gundam Meister anymore; I don't even deserve the title for what I've done," she then continued. "There is just nothing I can do that can change anything for the better and make things up to the girl."
Daveral then sighed. "Then you'll just have to live with it or find some way to mend it yourself there's nothing I can really do to help you," he then turned back to his book, seemingly sad that he couldn't do much to cheer her up or find a way to solve her problem and leave her the way she was.
Nena then just went back to staring at the seat wondering and worrying about what she should do. She either had to live with it and suffer every waking moment with guilt and regret or maybe just end it now and let her be with her brothers. This world never needed her, right? Although she didn't want to die and had to stay alive for her brothers' due to their sacrifice, she just didn't know how she could live like this for the rest of her life.
All of this was just so difficult to get over for her. She didn't want to be depressed forever because of what she's done, but the only thing she could do to make anything up was to continue to help the Rising Phoenix and hoped the world changed for the better and maybe lessen the burden of her guilt inside of her. At this moment, it was all she had.
South America, Arvineo, February 19
Admiral Hiller looked through the monitor at the several Arvineo high-ranking officers along with Rising Phoenix officers, all staring cautiously as if the other was going to try something while they awaited for the uprising's leader to come into the meeting.
The two sides had agreed for a meeting and an uneasy cease-fire had been imposed until the outcome of this meeting had been decided. So far not one side had backstabbed the other, both sides were ready to start blasting each other on the battlefield should this meeting fail spectacularly.
Earlier talks had managed to get them here and both sides were willing to have their main leaders come to talks. It wouldn't be in person for Hiller, however, as he neither had the stupidity or courage to risk himself to an unknown potential enemy. Leaving was just too dangerous and risky so he would be talking through the proper communication channels provided.
The door in the room then opened as the Arvineo commander walked in and sat in his seat. He was fully dressed in a clean uniform with multiple medals adorning his chest. He was a bony man with his thick black hair cleanly combed and only facial hair being that of a stubble while his face was relatively unwrinkled and eyes showing determination for what he felt was right. He seemed to be in his mid-thirties although one would say he was even younger due to his facial features which made him appear possibly more youthful then he actually was.
"May I introduce myself, I am Colonel Elliot Renko of Arvineo's formerly in charge of the 12th Infantry, but I just happened to be called "Commander" if you want to refer to all the groups now under my command," he spoke in a rather pleasant mood with authority in his words. "And you are?" he asked staring at the screen that portrayed Admiral Hiller.
"Admiral Vance Hiller, commander of the Rising Phoenix forces you see here," the admiral announced, introducing himself though not as formally compared to his counter-part.
The commander nodded his head at the response. "So tell me exactly why you are here again?" he then moved on.
"To get your country to join the UN, even if it's by force," someone promptly answered before Hiller could speak much to his chagrin. It seemed most wanted this over and done with which he could not blame them for.
Elliot rubbed his chin.
"I see," the man then turned towards the admiral. "And you're the one in charge of all of this, of the Rising Phoenix?" he then asked Hiller as he pointed his finger at the Admiral's screen for a split second.
"In this area, yes," Hiller replied.
The man then thought to himself for a second before continuing onto his main question. "So are you willing to support us in our endeavor to take our country from the loyalist? It may be a dark day in our countries history, but I can assure you it will be a welcome change once this is finished."
"As long as you don't backstab us and willing to support us against the UN if they attack our forces." Hiller responded in a firm tone.
"That is nonsense!" one of officers shot out, nearly leaping out of his seat. "You want us to join the UN but also engage them if they attack you. How do you expect the UN to actually allow us to join after all of this? We'll not be meatshields to liberate our own country!"
"We are only here to get pro-UN supporters into power here. They can control the country after the UN and ourselves leave," spoke one of the Rising Phoenix officers. "Besides I doubt the UN's main concern will be you if you are all truly into the idea of leaving your isolationist policy behind. I bet their main issue is with us rather than you. They'd probably be content to see who comes out of the smoke if it were you alone."
"True," Elliot said. "The world is content to see how issues go unless it truly concerns the big players. Now what cause do you have for doing this? Surely there's some real motivation behind this? Don't tell me you're doing this for the sake of violence and government toppling."
Hiller wondered if he should answer, but it didn't seem to matter since they would be gone soon enough, either dead or alive. He also didn't want this group to think they were some lunatics who invaded for their goals alone..
"Here to unite the world by forcing countries with no allegiance to join with the UN to form a unified world. The UN will have to take measures to keep all members under its flag safe or suffer the consequences," Hiller then told the Colonel Elliot Renko. "If you doubt me, then I have nothing more to say about our motives."
"I good deed if done properly. Methods...extreme, but it won't earn you much sympathy from anyone until centuries later when they come back to this topic," Commander Renko said in response rubbing his chin once again, he didn't seem to doubt Hiller's answer. "Sounds almost like Celestial Being and their talk about how they were to end armed conflict via force, although your goal is trying to target the problem closer to its source," he paused before he moved on. "If you do succeed in your task what will you do, are you going to keep watching the world in case things don't go as planned?"
Hiller gave a slight nod. "Well, there's more but it's best to let Wesker tell you himself once he arrives if that ever happens."
The man raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. "Hm, and who might this Wesker be, is he one of your group's leaders?" he asked inquisitively as he rubbed his chin.
"You'll have to ask him yourself and see how open he is," Hiller answered back, unwilling to go that far. "I'm not going to go into detail; I'll let you know for yourself, he'd probably want to be here, but I'm risking any use of long-range communications. Got to keep the UN out of our business."
He then went back to the topic at hand and the reason why they were all here. "We're willing to accept your offer for a temporary alliance with you; do your people accept though?" Hiller then noticed his people nodding their head and whispering to each other in agreement despite a few complaints, mainly on their sincerity and true goals; they were willing to go along with this, for now.
"We can't join you if your people don't agree."
"Give me a moment while we discuss this," Renko replied. He gestured for his entire to leave who left leaving a few Rising Phoenix officers uncomfortable. Would the betrayal begin here?
Minutes passed as the Arvineos continued discussing with each other. The Rising Phoenix officers also discussed amongst themselves about possible outcomes and if this truly was a good idea. They supported it since it was the admirals choice and would help them greatly in their task, but some weren't sure if all the words the Arvineos had said were truthful and wondered if this was just a power grab for the sake of power.
The door then opened after about what seemed to be hours for Hiller. The officers and their leader retook their seats, ready to reply as each officer gave a nod to their commander ready to go along with the agreement.
Renko nodded back to his men before he responded to the old admiral.
"We find it acceptable and are willing to join forces with one another," the commander simply said before he then brought out a folder and opened it before sliding it towards the Rising Phoenix officers. "This contains information that you might find interesting such as enemy stockpiles. Consider this a gift of thanks, our early payment for getting what my people eventually want."
"It is agreed then. We'll aid you in your task," Hiller responded as the group proceeded to continue their discussion on what they should do next and how to coordinate their efforts.
Eastern Asia, February 19, UN transport fleet en-route to Arvineo
Inside the briefing room surrounded by leading members of the regiment and Soma, Sergei could only rub his head in disbelief. He had just read the latest report that the government of Arvineo just sent them. They may be stubborn but they weren't stupid enough not to accept help now.
Everyone was relatively silent as they waited for their commander to finish going over the information who was standing in the front of the room. Everyone was quite eager to know what the Colonel had to say about the situation that had transpired.
Eagerness would be the last emotion he felt, though. A large portion of the Army had just gone rogue and were attacking the loyalist forces in the country. They were also well -quipped from what Intel has said containing some rather advanced weapons that they shouldn't have even gotten their hands on such as Flags which were relatively limited to only the Union states only.
Sergei then finally looked up after, planning how to address the troops. It would be best to give them the bad news so they would know what to expect. No secrets between soldiers.
"The situation has just gotten a whole lot worse. We've got coup against the government from a portion of their own military. They are well-equipped when compared to the rest of the nation's military strength. They must of had this planned in advance and the chaos caused by the Rising Phoenix has only accelerated their plans," he said to everyone as people immediately began to speak to each other about the news they had just received.
He signaled for everyone to settle down and to enter silence before he went on. "Nonetheless we are still going to forward with the operation, our main objective to still to eliminate the Rising Phoenix, we can worry about the situation after we've mopped up with the main threat."
One of the people in the room then raised his hand before speaking as everyone turned to him. "Sir, is it possible that these rebels could be working with the Rising Phoenix?" he asked.
"We don't know," Sergei simply said to the man. "But we can't let that change the mission, the Rising Phoenix itself must be eliminated first before we take any action for what's going on the ground in Arvineo. We must prevent the Phoenix from escaping the area, those are our orders from high command, understood?"
He then shut the lights off with the flick of the switch while an image was projected onto the screen showcasing the upcoming battle plan against the Rising Phoenix.
"Currently we know the Rising Phoenix fleet is in this location from what satellites can see from space and overhead flights by the Arvineo military. Our first objective is to eliminate them to prevent the Rising Phoenix grounds forcesfrom leaving the area." The colonel then pressed the switch with his thumb as an arrow showing a mobile suit pointed towards the fleet. "Five squadrons of Enacts will be deployed to engage the enemy first catching their attention." Another arrow then appeared that pointed towards the side of the enemy fleet. "Then formations of Orca submersible mobile armours will come in on their flank and proceed to engage the fleet, targeting destroyers first to cripple their anti-air defense." Pressing the switch again it showed another arrow which lobbed down on the fleet from the direction of the first arrow. "Finally two squadrons of GN-Xs will attack the enemy from above, diving in on them catching them off guard."
"What about enemy fighter squadrons are they to be ignored till we engage the fleet?" a question came.
"That's what the Enacts are for, they will draw the attention of the enemy aircraft and the fleet's guns as the rest of the unit moves in for the kill. And luckily many of their planes are operating inland so it'll mean a weakened aerial defense," Sergei replied before clicking the button which showed their fleet. "If the enemy can manage to hold back the initial assault, the fleet will be sent, split into three different group and then engage. If that doesn't succeed and they're stronger then we anticipated we will fall back and regroup at this position near the coast here," he pointed out the position on the map for everyone to see.
"What time of day will the battle take place?" someone else then said to Sergei.
"It will be a night fighting operation. We want as much of an element of surprise we can possibly get, your equipment is more than sufficient enough to get you to the target and back," he addressed to the soldier.
Soma Peries then spoke up from the group "Colonel, if the Gundams appear are we still supposed to go after the fleet?"
"If they do enter the area or any operation zone for the matter, only the GN-Xs are allowed to engage unless told otherwise by my orders only. Our main focus point, as I said, is still on the fleet. No matter what happens you must inflict as much damage as possible, understood, Lieutenant?" Sergei responded as Soma nodded her head in response.
He then let the lights come back on.
"You're all dismissed, a summary of the op will be transferred to you shortly so that you may better brief those under your command," Sergei then said as he watched everyone leave.
This was going to be a tough mission and he was going to be in charge of the first major operation the UN forces will be going through. Still it was impressive to see soldiers from the different powers willing to operate under one banner andif everyone does their part they still had a chance, even against the newly created odds.