Disclaimer- I don't own MSG, Zeonic Front, etc. they are the property of Bandai Entertainment and their respective creators.
This is it. The Principality of Zeon engages the Earth Federation in battle for the final time in U.C.0079 . Who will survive?
Chapter 12: The Last Fang
December 28th UC 0079, 1300
A Boa Qu
"Did you go see Emily before we left" Austin asked, stirring his drink idly with a straw. He and Roher had stopped in one of the many officers' clubs on A Boa Qu for a drink following yet another strategic briefing. This one was thankfully quite empty unlike most of the others; there were a lot of men and women looking to drown their sorrows or acquire some liquid courage at this point.
"No." Roher answered shortly as he sipped his scotch.
"You're lying." Austin responded and fixed Roher with a glare.
"Ok. I may have gone to see her." Roher admitted.
Emily was Emily von Dryden, Roher's fiancée before the war. Her father had pulled the plug on their engagement when Roher left his engineering doctoral program to attend the military academy and become a pilot. They had kept in touch secretly for a while, but her letters stopped coming sometime before the Battle of Odessa. Austin had figured her father had pushed her into marrying someone else.
"And?"
"And what? We had lunch."
"ugh," Austin groaned, "you know what I mean. Did daddy put her together with that arrogant banker prick. What was his name? Something with an O if I remember."
"Olsson. And he tried, but she apparently refused." Roher sipped his drink again, "I mean, it was nice to see her, but nothings' going to happen as long as this war's still going on. Though she said her father had started to like the idea of us being together again after hearing I was with the Fenrir."
"Huh figures, status-hungry rat prick. At least the war's not going to be on much longer though. Guess you'll have to decide soon."
"Yeah. I guess. Anyway, how's Vera and the kids?"
"They're good. Rationing's hitting them hard, but they're at her parents, trying to pool stuff together. Erica's doing good in school; Jack's decided he wants to be a mobile suit pilot when he grows up. Vera wasn't sure if she should laugh or cry when he said that." Austin said, looking far away as he thought of his wife and kids.
"Hehehe. Guess his old man made the life look too good huh?" Roher chuckled.
"I seem to remember a certain Uncle Lou sending him some sort of play set for his 10th birthday in May." Austin laughed loudly as he finished his drink.
Roher did the same and left a small tip on the bar
"Guess we should head to the hangar, the rest of the team's supposed to arrive today."
When they got to Hangar 240 where the rest of the team was supposed to dock, they found absolute chaos. They floated to the window overlooking the hangar, one of A Boa Qu's largest, and saw a mass of military personnel, mechanics, and medics scurrying about. There were several hunks of charred metal that looked to have once been the cockpit sections of mobile suits.
"Was there an accident on the ship? Were they attacked?" Roher asked a passing corpsman, alarmed.
"No sir. They're bringing survivors in from Solomon." He said, barely slowing down to answer them.
Roher and Austin watched in horror then as the wounded were strapped to gurneys and rushed into the medical wing of the base. Most were in various states of dismemberment. All were burned. It seemed that, for every soldier that was taken to the medical wing, there were at least 2 more that were quietly taken to the far corner of the hangar where they were being sent down to the morgue.
"Hello Lou, Matt." Manning said quietly as he, Hepner, Renchef, and Swaggard floated up to the other two.
"Hello gentlemen, Charlotte." Roher said. "We probably should get out of here." he added as a team of medics rushed past.
They went back to the officer's bar that Austin and Roher had left just a few minutes earlier. As the bartender made their drinks, Charlotte explained what happened:
"We were picked up by the fleet after we took off in the HLV. Then we went to Granada and began re-training to fight in space. When the distress calls came from Solomon, we assumed that we would deploy right away, but Col. M'Quve wouldn't leave. When he finally gave the order, Solomon had already fallen. We were in charge of picking up the survivors. We found Lady Zenna and Princess Mineva. They're here to. We found them and the wounded. It was worse than anything I imagined. We brought them here as ordered, but I don't know if any of them will make it. I don't know if any of us will." Her voice trailed off.
They all sat silently for a moment, it was Swaggard who broke the silence: "Sir, how are we going to prepare for what's coming? There has to be something we can do."
"Yes, Lee. I have a meeting tomorrow with some of the other commanders to work on some strategy. In the meantime, I think we all need some rest."
December 29th 0845
Roher got to the briefing room early and took his seat. As the most senior officer, he sat at the head of the conference table. Austin had taken the rest of the team to train with the new recruits they had been assigned. With them included, the Fenrir boasted a strength of 33 mobile suits, though he was concerned over the recruits' lack of experience. He was soon joined by the other commanders: Commander Gabby Hazard, Lieutenant Shin Matsunaga, Lieutenant Commander Johnny Ridden, and Lieutenant Commander Anavel Gato. The Fenrir, Ridden's Chimera Corps, and Hazard's unit had been assigned to A Boa Qu's N Field under the direct command of Lord Gihren. Matsunaga and Gato's units, both comprised of Solomon survivors, were assigned to the S field under the command of Rear Admiral Aiguille Delaz.
"Good morning gentlemen." Roher began after the others had taken their seats. He waited as they grumbled their own greetings before continuing, "I think we all realize that time is short. The Federation will soon assault this position. Right now, I think the best use of our limited time is to best decide how we will proceed when that assault comes. Let's go over strength first. I have 33 pilots and 8 ships: the Zanzibar Hornuz as our flagship, 2 Chivvay- class battleships, and 4 of the re-fitted Musai types."
"I have 40 mobile suits at my disposal, all based on the Dolos. There are also about 140 more mobile suits aboard ship with us, all under different units." Gabby Hazard said.
"My unit is based on the Dorowa and has about 20 mobile suits left and 1 mobile armor. Lt. Matsunaga will be joining us with about 20 mobile suits also." Lt. Cdr. Gato responded in turn.
"The Chimera Corps has 31 mobile suits, the Chimera, and several Musai classes of varying configurations" Ridden finished.
"Good. Now, I think we should go over a battle plan-" Roher began.
"It is my understanding that the Dorowa is only at half of its full capacity after the battle at Solomon. Why don't we transfer more suits there? Lady Kycilia is supposed to join us in S field, if the reports are true. Her forces will certainly add a lot to the effort there" Gabby Hazard interjected.
Roher turned to him, more than a little annoyed, "Commander Hazard, from what I understand, Lady Kycilia's arrival is still at least one day out, maybe more. S field is possibly the weakest defensive point and I want to make sure it is well manned. Also, I understand that the Dolos class is only equipped with 2 catapults, making it very hard to launch all of its suits in a timely manner. I think it would be better to keep the number of suits where it is and fill the empty space with ammunition and fuel for resupply efforts. Any more questions?"
"No, sir." Hazard said sarcastically.
"Well then as for strategy, here is what I propose: since my unit and Ridden's will launch faster, we will engage the mobile suits. Hazard, your people should deal with the ships as you launch. Matsunaga, your suits are better equipped for close combat, so you should deal with the suits while Gato's men handle the ships." Roher explained.
"Sounds good. My high mobility types should be able to take on those Federation suits rather well." Matsunaga said.
"Good. Now, the situation has the potential to unravel very quickly. If any part of the defensive effort fails, the Federation will penetrate our lines easily. Therefore, make sure you and your pilots launch with as much ammo and weapons as you think you will need to be prepared for any eventuality." Roher finished as the officers began to clean up.
"Can I add something?" Ridden asked.
"Certainly Lieutenant Commander."
"We have at most a few days before the Federation gets here. I know that we are all tired, but I think it is a good idea if we make a commitment to regular daily training, even if it's just in the simulator. We've pretty much all been given new suits. We will be no good to anyone, least of all out subordinates, if we get shot down right out of hangar because we don't know how to use them."
"Well said. If there are no more questions, I suggest we get back to our soldiers." Roher said to close the meeting.
December 31st U.C. 0079 1300
By 1300 on December 31st, the Federation attack was imminent. Their fleet was positioned to assault A Boa Qu from both the S and N fields. All pilots and ships had been placed on high alert and were awaiting launch orders. Zeon high command had decided to engage the enemy fleet with missiles, ships, and Gattle type fighters first, holding the mobile suits in reserve for the time being. Many of the Zeon soldiers and commanders doubted their chances of survival, no matter what Supreme commander Gihren Zabi claimed about the Federation forces being nearly wiped out.
"So that's the long and short of it everyone. We're launching as soon as his highness the supreme commander deigns to give the order." Roher said sarcastically as he finished his briefing.
"Huh. Well, as long as he doesn't give another idiotic speech, I'm happy!" Austin announced to the room.
"I dunno Matt, I maybe want to hear how the thousands of Feddies outside are just a frickin remnant!" laughed Renchef, drawing a few chuckles and a few more amused glances. Such were the advantages of serving in a unit under the authority of Rear Admiral Kycilia.
"Well, I wouldn't worry about it too much. We can always beat them with our chosen, superior race abilities!" Roberto chimed in, "Well, you guys maybe, I'm just excess baggage anyway."
"Hey! I haven't let anyone call you excess baggage recently!" Austin shouted back, laughing.
"As I remember, it was you who gave him that nickname in the first place Matt." Roher said
"Uhhhh I give up!" Austin shouted, pretending to flip the briefing table over.
"Okay everyone, settle down," Roher said, trying to regain some semblance of control, "Get suited up and ready to launch in 15 minutes."
The pilots had been given the option of transitioning to the new pilot suits when they arrived in space, if they wished to take them. All of them except Swaggard and Renchef had taken the upgrade. The new suits had thicker armor to protect against possible shrapnel, more insulation and an internal oxygen supply in case they needed to eject or the life support system in their suit failed, and a rudimentary jet pack.
Roher was zipping up his suit and grabbing his gloves when Austin floated over. He was wearing a brand new light blue pilot suit, and his helmet was already on.
"Think we have any chance at this at all Lou?" he asked.
"I honestly don't know Matt. I was just informed that Lady Kycilia lost most of her fleet in battle with a federation unit led by the Trojan Horse, so we're not getting any reinforcements there." Roher answered as they started towards the hangar elevator.
"Damn. So what's our plan? Kill as many as we can before we go?"
"No. We're not going out there to die. If it looks like the battle is lost and there's still no surrender or retreat order, I will give the order to withdraw myself. I've already arranged it with Captain van Dorn and the other ship captains." Roher said as her pressed the button that would send the elevator to the flight deck. They rode down in silence, but when they reached the flight deck, Austin grabbed Roher's arm before they left the elevator.
"Listen, Lou, there's something I have to ask you…"
"Don't worry Matt, I will look after Vera if you don't make it. Will you look after my mother and Emily if I buy it out there?" He asked his friend.
" Of course I will. Even if her father is a rat prick." Austin laughed at the last part.
"Thanks you crazy old man." Roher chuckled and slapped Austin on the back, "Let's go welcome the latest tourists to Side 3."
As the entered the hangar of the Zanzibar, Roberto, Renchef, and four of the rookie pilots were waiting for them. Roberto was instructing the rookie pilots on the proper launch settings for their MS-14 Gelgoogs. Since the Hornuz was a Zanzibar II, the suits would launch by means of a catapult on the port side of the ship, which the rookies had not been trained for. Renchef was already up in the cockpit of his MS-18E Kampfer, checking his ammunition and fuel settings.
"Ok. Everyone, let's get set. I'm thinking we only have a few minutes before the launch order is given." Roher said as he and Austin approached the other pilots.
As if on cue, the loudspeaker in the hangar bay came to life and Capt. van Dorn's voice rang through the ship, "Attention all hands, attention all hands: Lord Gihren has given the order for our mobile suits to engage the rapidly advancing Federation forces. Mobile suits to the catapult!"
"Alright! Here we go!" Austin exclaimed, slapping the other pilots on the back as he kicked off towards his new mobile suit.
Roher climbed up into the Gelgoog Jaeger and began the startup sequence while he secured his helmet and pulled his gloves on.
Austin launched first, followed by Roberto and the rookies, then Renchef, and finally, Roher himself.
As Roher was released from the catapult and sped through space, he opened up a channel to all the Fenrir pilots, "All Fenrir pilots, this is Roher. Remember, our target is the Federation mobile suits. And don't disregard those blue ball pods, they are equipped with a 360mm cannon, our armor cannot withstand that. Be careful, good luck!"
As he finished speaking, he saw the blue trails of the Federation mobile suits and gun pods heading for them. Gihren's asteroid missiles came whizzing out from behind them, tearing through the advancing mobile suits and ships. Some unsuspecting pilots got caught, but most were able to maneuver their suits out of the way of the slow-moving projectiles. The battle was on.
Austin led Roberto and the rookies into the approaching Federation mobile suits. He activated the auto-lock and brought his massive 880mm Raketen Bazooka up.
"Let's do this!"
He fired two rounds in quick succession, blasting one of the approaching GM's into a mass of burnt parts in space and tearing the right arm of another. Before he could fire a third time, he had to quickly dive to avoid a torrent of 90mm shells from the two mobile suits approaching behind their less fortunate comrades. His new high mobility Zaku was much faster than the Federation suits, by the time they had completed turning around, they were already face to face with the muzzle of the bazooka.
"Bye bye!"
One lost most of its upper half to a shell, while Austin's heat saber quickly sliced through the armor of the other.
"Johnson! Don't get too far from the rest of the unit! Damn it!" Austin called to one of the rookies, but it was too late, his Gelgoog had been surrounded and was filled with bullet holes.
"Damn you!" Roberto slammed his Gelgoog into reverse and sped back toward the quartet of GM's that had killed their teammate. Leveling his brand new beam rifle, he let loose four rapid shots, sending yellow spears lancing through the torsos of three of the suits. The fourth was able to bring his shield up to block the shot, saving his life but losing use of his left arm for the effort.
As the GM pilot took aim at Roberto's approaching suit, his suit exploded in a hail of bullets as Renchef's Kampfer flashed past.
"You owe me lieutenant!" He called as he darted through the advancing Federal mobile suits, 2 MMP-80's spraying a multitude of shells into the enemy.
"Thank you sir!" Roberto called after him, before following after Austin with his men.
In another part of the battlefield, Fran, Swaggard, Hepner, and Manning led the rest of the recruits in the defense of the carrier Dolos. They're task was to guard the rear of the advancing Zeon MS and protect the landing and re-launch of those returning to the carrier to refuel and rearm. Maj. Fran led this team, composed of Zakus and Doms, in the effort from the cockpit of her green MS-09F Dom Funf. Hepner and Swaggard each commanded a team of three other mobile suits. Swaggard still piloted his re-fitted MS-09R Rick Dom, while Hepner piloted the MS-09R-2 Rick Dom II.
"Die you bastards! Die! Die! Die!" Fran screamed manically as she blasted mobile suits left and right with her new beam bazooka. She had destroyed 5 suits almost immediately after launch, one of them by physically ripping the pilot out of the cockpit with her suit's hand when the weapon overheated. She was being given a wide berth by the other Zeon pilots.
"The major seems a little on edge, don't you think?" Swaggard commented as he sent another 880mm round tearing through one of the RB-79 Balls.
"Just keep your attention on the enemy in front of you Lee!" Hepner answered back as she downed one of the new command type GM's with her heat saber. "Oh shit!"
She swore and tried to dodge as a beam saber flashed at her from the right, taking off part of her bazooka. There was no way she could draw her heat sword in time, so she backpedaled at full speed to give herself more time. The move was unnecessary, as bullets from Manning's sniper squad ended the enemy suit's advance with a neat shot to the cockpit.
His team piloted the newest Zaku II model, the MS-06FZ. Their units were made with the "B" type "Fritz Helm" head unit and had been optimized at Granada for sniper operations. They had magnetic feet that were secured to the top of the Dolos and were picking advancing Federation suits off from there.
"Ok. Next." Manning said to himself as he took aim at the bridge of one of a pair of Salamis-class cruisers that had somehow penetrated A Boa Qu's missiles, mobile suits, and the Zeon fleet. "Bingo."
His shot tore through the bridge, traveling at a upward angle. It took out the secondary steering bridge as well as the main command bridge. Without steering control, the ship careened off course and collided with the second vessel. He downed several more GM's and Balls in quick succession. It was obvious from his vantage point that the Zeons had far superior mobile suits, both in offensive and defensive capability. However, it was also apparent that the experience and numbers of the Federal forces gave them the advantage. He could tell that most of the Zeon pilots, even some of those assigned to the Fenrir lacked the ability to maneuver their suits correctly, let alone fight an experience and determined enemy. Even the best of suits could only take so much punishment before it failed.
"Here comes some more!" Swaggard called to the rest of the team as Federation reinforcements arrived.
Led by a team consisting of 4GM Commands, it was a unit of about 15 mobile suits and almost twice as many Balls.
"Damn it!" Fran swore as she swung her saber into one of the suits. She was back to back with Hepner, who was also limited to her saber after losing the bazooka to the GM's beam saber earlier.
"Get out of there! You're too close, we can't get a shot! Forget it!" Manning yelled as he disengaged the magnets, drew his own heat saber, and dove into the melee.
As they sliced their way through the Federal throng, Swaggard found himself face to face with two of the advancing GM Commands. He could just barely make out a "4th MS Team" patch painted on their chests. He let loose his last few shots from his Raketen Bazooka, they easily dodged.
"These guys are good!"
He threw away the empty bazooka and brought up an MMP-78 machine gun that he had brought into battle bolted to his suit's rear waist armor. He sprayed bullets in the direction of the GM's, but they dodged those as well. The few shots they couldn't avoid embedded themselves harmlessly into their large shields. Apparently annoyed with his resistance, on the GM's brought up a 90mm machine gun and fired a bust that hit the torso of Swaggard's Dom, sending shrapnel into his cockpit. The shards of glass and metal pierced his pilot suit, staining the green material red with blood. His right arm now useless, he reached over and grabbed the right stick with his left hand so he could continue firing, even as he retreated. The GM that had not fired at him charged with beam sabers drawn. Despite being clipped several times by Swaggard, he kept advancing, the light weight of his suit coupled with the reduced speed of the damaged Dom allowed him to overtake it. He brought both of his beam sabers down in a giant "X" through Swaggard's suit. His mooneye flickered and died before the suit itself erupted in a spectacular explosion.
"Swaggard's been hit! I say again: We've lost Swaggard!" Hepner announced as she, Fran and Manning attempted to charge after the GM Commands, but were blocked by more Federation mobile suits.
"Son of a-" Renchef yelled as he reversed course and headed to their location, Roher's Gelgoog Jaeger right on his tail.
Renchef ended several pilots as he blasted through space with his MMP-80's constantly firing. When those were emptied, he threw them aside and drew his shotgun, which made short work of any Federation suits that dared to cross his path. Roher guarded his rear with his beam machine gun, keeping a steady barrage of beam fire up against the approaching enemy. One suit dared to charge his left side brandishing a beam saber, only to have its pilots life violently ended by a burst from Roher's forearm machine gun. When they reached the rest of the team, they found them surrounded on all sides by mobile suits. Hepner's Dom was badly damaged and Manning's suit had lost its left arm and leg.
"Incoming!" Roher announced as he blitzed the Federation suits at full speed, riddling them with rapid beam fire. As they turned to fire up at him, Renchef came in with his beam sabers from behind and sliced them to pieces. Roher flipped over in space and hurtled back towards the enemy, impaling the last GM on the end of his own beam saber.
"We need to return to the ships for re-arming and to get you 2 new suits."
"Sir, I'm getting an emergency transmission!" Hepner said, patching the message through to Roher.
Read Admiral Kycilia appeared on the view screen in Roher's cockpit.
"Lt. Col. Roher." She said.
"Yes ma'am. What are your orders?" Roher responded.
"My Gwazine is arriving on the field. We have lost our mobile suits in combat. Escort my shuttle to the fortress."
"Yes ma'am! You heard her, to the Gwazine!"
They reached the ship and escorted her shuttle to one of the fortress's numerous hangars with surprisingly little resistance. When they had all landed, Manning in more of a crash than a landing, they met her in the lounge just outside the hangar.
"What is the state of your unit?" She asked Roher as he approached.
"We're down to about ¾ strength. We've lost Swaggard and a handful of our rookies. We have 3 mobile suits out of commission: Austin's and Manning's Zaku's and Hepner's Dom."
"That many, in only 2 hours? Not good. I am heading to the command center. Wait here while your suits are repaired, refueled, and rearmed. I will see what we can to about getting new suits for you three." She said, indication Hepner, Manning, and Austin, "You are doing well. Get whatever rest you can while you wait." She finished, giving them a rare small smile before heading into the lift with her aide.
The team waited for 2 and a half hours inside the fortress while the battle raged outside. The mechanics managed to locate another Zaku IIFZ for Manning, though without the sniper modifications. They also found an old Zaku IS which they quickly prepared for Austin. Hepner was given an MS-06R-1 high mobility type Zaku II that had been left in the hangar when its pilot was killed by a Federation missile strike. These suits, along with the others, were prepared in one of the fortress's launch bays, ready for the Fenrir to launch into combat once again.
"Ok everyone, Lady Kycilia has issued us new orders." Roher began as the Fenrir suits filed up to the catapult for launch, "We need to focus on their heavy battleships, they're getting too close to the fortress and their heavy guns are doing a number on our own fleet. Engage enemy mobile suits as the opportunity presents itself."
Roher's Gelgoog shot off the catapult just ahead of Renchef. Just ahead of him, Austin, Roberto, and several of the recruits had formed up to blitz 3 Salamis-class cruisers that had bunched together.
"Felix, Art, form up behind me. We're attacking that battleship group to the left. I'll take the Magellan and the Salamis on the right. Felix, you take the Salamis on the left and that supply ship lurking behind it. Art, keep the mobile suits off us."
"Let's do it!"
"Roger that sir!"
As they sped off, Austin was just starting to make a run on the enemy ship with the smaller 280mm Zaku bazooka. While not as effective as the newer 360mm or the gigantic 880mm, it was still a formidable weapon, especially in Austin's hands. He sent two rounds into the first Salamis's missile port missile pod, causing a massive explosion that split the ship in two. He looked over at the other ship to see Roberto and the other Gelgoog pilots speeding towards the bridge, firing their beam rifles into the hull of the ship. By the time Roberto pulled up in front of the bridge and blasted its command crew with his rifle, all of the forward turrets were inoperable from their fire.
"Good job tenderfoots! Alright, let's get those supply ships. Dumb bastards, coming into a battle. Oh shit! Evade! Evade!"
As they turned towards the Columbus – class vessels, they dropped their doors open and release not mobile suits or pods or even fighters, but a torrent of small missiles. Despite the age of his suit, Austin managed to dodge the missiles and take cover behind the hulk of the ship he had destroyed. Roberto and the rookies were not so lucky however. Roberto's shield was halved by one of the projectiles and part of his skirt armor torn off. 4 of the rookies that had been with him were killed when they could not maneuver their suits out of the way in time.
"Ok. Time to die now you jackass!"
Austin rushed forward and discharged a round into the bridge of one of the ships, before rolling over and, throwing away his now empty bazooka, drew a MMP-80 and let loose a deluge of shells into the other ship. They didn't explode, but were left as smoking hulks in space.
"Nikki, Dietrich! Stop gawking around! Engage these mobile suits now!" he called as he charged forward into the advancing enemy, firing his machine gun. The two other pilots quickly recovered and followed him in their Gelgoogs.
Meanwhile, Manning and 5 of the other new pilots were engaging mobile suits as well. As Roher and Renchef made short work of the ships, they kept up a steady barrage of machine gun and bazooka fire against the approaching Federation suits. Even as the unit of Zakus downed unit after unit, there were always more to take their places.
"Let's do this Felix: You go below and hit them with your machine guns, I'll go above and strafe." Roher ordered, readying his weapon.
"Alright, just don't shoot me!"
Renchef pushed his Kampfer to its top speed and, on his back facing the underside of the Salamis-class, began firing both of his machine guns, as well as his vulcan cannons into its hull. Above the ship, Roher flew just behind Renchef, firing a storm of small beams through the top of the ship. He disabled the forward turret and AA battery before flying in front of the superstructure, riddling it with beam shots, and then over it and down the stern of the ship, disabling the engine. The flew on, leaving that ship lifeless. The flew next to each other in tight formation heading for the Magellan that had been following the Salamis. The split at the bow: Roher took starboard and Renchef took port. The followed the same program, firing into the ship as the sped along its length, finishing with a barrage to the engines that put the ship out of commission. Afterwards Renchef dumped both of his empty machine guns and pulled out 2 of the Kampfer's chain mines, releasing them into space.
"That should give these jokers a nasty surprise if they try to penetrate here." He laughed as he drew a giant bazooka that was stored on his back and sped off after Roher in the direction of more Federation ships.
Meanwhile, Fran and Hepner led the rest of the rookies in a charge on more Federation ships.
"This is going to be bad" Hepner said as she checked her ammo and fuel.
"Well yeah, all we have are Zakus and 1st edition Rick Doms with rookie pilots. They'll get eaten up by the AA fire." Fran agreed as she sped up, "Let's try to thin them out," she extended her communications to the rookies, "alright you guys. Captain Hepner and I are going to thin the enemy AA fire out. Follow close behind us and destroy the rest of the ships!"
She pushed her boosters to maximum power and flashed towards the first ship, a Magellan-class. She took aim with her Giant Bazooka, blasting 360mm holes in the AA batteries, destroying some of the guns outright and disabling others. She moved on, letting the other pilots handle the destruction of the ship. Hepner did the same as she flew between 2 Salamis-class ships. The raw speed of her high mobility Zaku, coupled with her skill as a pilot, allowed her to dodge the fire thrown at her almost too easily. Her machine gun threw out a relentless stream of bullets, penetrating the turrets and killing their crews. She also destroyed the outboard gunnery bridges as well for good measure.
As they exited the formation of vessels, they were met by more crowds of GM's and Balls.
"Dammit! Listen up! There's a formation of enemy mobile suits beyond the ships! Be aware of enemy fire when you exit the fleet formation!" Announced Fran as she and Hepner began to deal with the suits.
Fran emptied her Bazooka, taking out a GM and 2 Balls in the process. She drew her heat sword and proceeded to engage them in close combat. 4 Balls were sliced in half in rather quick succession. The GM's on the other hand were harder to deal with and required more precision. The first 2 were destroyed before they could even lock on or draw their own beam sabers. Fran's third target was not so stupid. He attempted to engage Fran with the saber, only to miss when she quickly changed direction with a blast of her verniers and dashed to his right. He attempted to bring his saber around, but his arm was lopped off before he could. Followed by his head.
Nearby, Hepner was having problems with her own opponents. Two commander GM's with beam sabers were trying to pin her down from both sides. Unfortunately for them, her suit was faster than theirs and allowed her to lead them around the battlefield, never quite letting them catch up to her. Unfortunately for her, the Heat Hawk didn't give her enough reach to attack one of them without risking getting skewered by the other.
"Looks like you could use some help their Captain!"
An orange and black Zaku II R-2 high mobility type flashed in from her flank and riddled one of the GM's with 120mm shells. When the other one tried to follow him, it stopped dead when a yellow beam lanced through its cockpit. Hepner looked to the origin of the beam to see a red and black high mobility Gelgoog as it darted away, back into the battle.
"Thanks guys!" Hepner called after them as she picked up a machine gun that was clutched by the disembodied arm of a Rick Dom. It was half full. She quickly scouted the wrecks around her and pulled a few drums off of another disabled suit. She didn't even think about the pilot, she was used to doing what she had to do to survive at this point.
A flash bulletin came across the text messenger on their suits' HUDs: "Supreme Commander Gihren Zabi dead. Rear Admiral Kycilia Zabi in command."
"Can you believe that Lou?!" Renchef exclaimed as he turned another Federation pilot into hamburger with his shotgun.
"No surprise. Kycilia probably blew his brains out or something." Roher answered.
"Not sorry to see that bastard go!" Austin joined in, almost gleeful as another Federation officer fell before him, "although not sure it will help. Both Dolos and Dorowa have gone down."
"Damn! What the Hell?!" Roher bellowed at his radar.
"What's going on? Lou?" Matt asked as he signaled Roberto to follow him towards Fran's position.
"Delaz is pulling his fleet out of the battle! Gato's with him!"
Austin swore loudly. The loss of a whole fleet was only going to hasten their defeat, which they did no longer doubt.
Soon after, Roberto and Austin fought their way over to Fran and Hepner's forces. They were accompanied by another pilot, the last of the new recruits that had been assigned to them. Fran and Hepner also had only one of their recruits left.
"Manning's in trouble, we better head over there." Austin told them as flew past. He had evidently run out of ammo. His Zaku was now sporting a Dom's heat sword, his own heat saber on his skirt armor, and a GM shield in his left hand. His mobile suit was relatively undamaged. Roberto's was missing the lower half of one of its legs.
The other suits followed Austin as they sped back towards the fortress. The found Manning and 3 other pilots on its surface, trying their hardest to repel Federation forces intent on landing on the fortress and forcing their way inside. Their advance was covered by artillery fire from the Trojan Horse type ship they had encountered at Jaburo, the Blanc Rival. Though the Gundam was not there this time; Schmitzer had seen to that.
"This is not good. Listen up! Fran, O'Keefe, and I will attack the ship. Everyone else, get those mobile suits!" Roberto ordered as the came upon their comrades.
"Look at you, taking charge! Good Job! You heard the man, let's go!" Austin said approvingly, leading Hepner and the remaining recruit pilot against the mobile suits.
Fran readied a bazooka she had taken from a GM on her way back. It was the same caliber as the Giant Bazooka and held more ammo. She followed behind Roberto and O'Keefe as they blitzed the battleship. The two Gelgoogs kept up a steady stream of fire, taking out most of the forward turrets.
"I've got the engines!" Fran called as she readied a multi-lock on both engines and the bridge of the warship.
She sent rounds into the engines first. They penetrated just forward of the air intakes used during atmospheric flight. The ship slowed as those rounds detonated and the engines began to shut down. Fran continued firing until most of the engine compartments were little more than charred hulks before reloading and taking aim at the various maneuvering thrusters.
O'Keefe aimed his Gelgoog at the front of the ship, between the front hangar "legs" and began a blitz at high speed. He had exhausted his beam rifle's ammo earlier and was now brandishing an MMP-80. He locked on to each of the turrets and fired a short burst at each of them as he passed. The ship was only outfitted with 2 beam cannons on the "shields" on either side of the ship, so his bullets were more than enough to detonate the solid shells inside the shell-firing turrets that remained after the initial assault. The AA guns on the ship weren't fast enough to track his high-speed attack, and the bullets flew through empty space after he had already passed. On the way back, he used a missile launcher mounted to his left arm to destroy the two large beam cannons.
Roberto was the last one to make his attack. His charge was made difficult by the fact his target was the ship's bridge, which was in the center of a nest of AA guns. As he headed in, he simply dodged up and down, as the change in elevation was difficult for the Federation guns to manage. Once he got closer to the ship, he began to dodge in all directions and fly erratically. The gunners were too slow to follow his movements with their guns and the automated turrets began firing uncontrollably when the control computers couldn't track and predict his trajectory and crashed. He pulled up in front of the superstructure and discharged 2 shots into both the main and secondary bridge, effectively dispatching the control of the ship, both in terms of command and steering. This, coupled with Fran's attack, meant that the ship began to careen out of control toward the asteroid.
Meanwhile, Hepner and Austin attacked the Federation mobile suits from the rear, destroying several of them in the surprise attack, before the rest of them got wise and turned around. Manning and his men fought the Federation suits hand-to-hand as they had exhausted their ammunition. Manning himself had just finished dispatching a GM with his heat saber when he was confronted on his right side by a heavily armored GM Cannon. It looked like something of a cross between a standard GM Cannon and a Guncannon. Manning was able to dash backwards and out of the way of his first shot from the back mounted cannon, which flew out into space. The pilot attempted to draw a beam saber from his left hip, since he too seemed to have exhausted his machine gun ammunition. However, Manning was fast enough to attack him with the heat saber first. While the enemy was able to escape before his whole arm was severed, it was rendered useless by Manning's slash and the saber hilt fell to the ground.
They faced each other, seemingly in a bubble as the battle raged around them. Manning recognized the emblem on the GM's chest as the same emblem that had been displayed by Lt. Agar, the Fenrir's nemesis and the one that had killed Schmitzer. He had not been killed as Roher had thought after all.
"So you're still alive?" Manning said into the radio, hoping the enemy would pick it up amongst the chatter.
"I am. And it seems that you will be the next of your unit to fall. Your commander was quite easy to dispatch, I must say." His voice came back, oily this time and menacing, rather than angry.
The main advantage of the Zaku II FZ was its speed and thrust. Manning knew that Agar needed to set his feat in order to fire his main gun, otherwise his suit would be knocked off by the recoil, which was more severe in zero-G than on Earth. If he could dash to the side and then quickly change direction and charge Agar before he was prepared to fire, he might have a chance to beat him. When he noticed that Agar was getting ready to fire, he ignited his boosters and dove to the side. When Agar tried to follow him, he quickly changed direction using a liberal amount of thrust from his vernier thrusters and charged the Federation pilot. He wasn't prepared for the speed with which he closed the distance and was unable to bring his saber up in time. Instead, he ended up tackling the enemy to the surface of the fortress. He tried to bring his sword up to stab, but he had given his opponent all the time that he had needed.
With the need to brace his mobile suit gone, Agar was free to ready the cannon. He quickly hit the "load" button and then activated the aiming system. Fortunately for him, there was little aiming to do, as Manning was already on top of him. He pointed the cannon at the center of the FZ's chest and pulled the trigger on his left hand control stick. The shell penetrated the Zaku's body and exploded inside, sending parts of the generator, reactor, engines, and the contents of the cockpit through the back of the mobile suit and into space. Roher and Renchef, who had just arrived at the site of the melee, witnessed Manning's death at the hands of Agar.
"You bastard!" Roher charged forward brandishing his beam saber, followed close behind by Renchef. Agar attempted to get up, but was quickly kicked in the face by Roher, who then beheaded the suit. Agar was barely able to climb out the back of his suit and take cover before his cockpit was filled by shotgun pellets from Renchef's weapon.
"Listen up!" Roher called over the comm, "Lady Kycillia has decided to abandon the fortress. She has ordered us and the remainder of the Chimera Corps to guard her retreat. Get back to the hangar to re-fuel and re-arm."
They landed in one of the mobile suit hangars near the space ship dock where the Chimera, the ship Lady Kycillia planned to escape on, was docked. As their suits were re-fueled and re-armed for the final time, Roher looked out at what was left of his unit from the hangar floor. Of the 33 suits that had launched under his command at the first sortie, only 10 remained. Both Swaggard and Manning were dead. And now the Fenrir and Chimera corps were tasked with the impossible: defending a single ship against the rapidly advancing Federation forces. When the word was given, they entered their cockpits again for the last time of the war.
"Here's the plan, "Roher said as he strapped back into the Jaeger, "once the Chimera launches, it will head immediately for Axis. The Gwazine is guarding our retreat with what is left of the fleet and will follow us. Lady Zenna and Princess Mineva have been brought aboard the Gwazine, and so that is our secondary defense target. Any questions?"
There were no questions to be asked, only last minute prayers to be said, a moment to collect their thoughts before the elevator brought them to the surface of the fortress and back into the fray.
When they came out, there were Federation mobile suits everywhere. Roher led the Fenrir to where the Chimera pilots were, taking cover in the craters of the base near the elevator that was bringing the Zanzibar up to the surface. Roher opened fire with his beam machine gun as he took a position next to Johnny Ridden's Gelgoog. He downed 5 mobile suits and Ball pods in quick succession, but there were still more coming.
"Ridden! How much longer?" He called over the comm.
"About two minutes until the ship can take off! Damn!" He swore as a beam tore his left arm off.
"I don't think we have 2 minutes!" Roher continued firing, trying to spray as many beam shots towards the enemy as possible. He wasn't concerned about kills anymore, just about disabling the suits enough that they couldn't destroy the ship or shoot down the mobile suits.
Roher stole a glance over to the Chimera as it began ascending into space under its own power, only to see a small figure darting toward the bridge. He saw a flash, and a not even a second later, the bridge of the ship exploded.
"Shit! We're abandoning this position! To the Gwazine!" He shouted into the comm as he slammed his booster pedals to the floor and blasted away from the asteroid, into the Federation fleet.
"What's going on?" Austin asked as he followed his commander, firing his machine gun indiscriminately.
"Someone just killed Lady Kycilia! We have no reason to remain here anymore!" Roher answered as he cut a GM in half with his beam saber.
The call soon spread like wildfire that Lady Kycilia was dead. Zeon troops began fleeing in every direction or making suicide runs directly into the heart of the Federation forces. Ridden followed them as far as he could, but he was swarmed by Federation pilots. The last the Fenrir saw of him he was fighting in the middle of a group of GM's with his beam saber.
"Go on! Get out of here!" He called after them as they closed in on him.
Just as they crested the top of the fortress at full speed, they were beset by a group of 3 GM's. One quickly fell to a blast from Renchef's shotgun, and another to a barrage from the Fenrir's machine guns and bazookas. The third, however, was able to dodge the opening salvo, and sent a beam straight at Austin's Zaku I. He was able to dodge enough to avoid a fatal hit, but the beam cut through his left arm and leg, disabling them.
"You bastard!" He shouted as he let loose another barrage that ended the pilot's life and left he mobile suit as a lifeless hulk in space.
"Matt, how bad's the damage?" Fran asked as she came up from behind.
"Not too bad, I should be able to make it back to the ship.' He answered matter of factly as the team kept going.
As they sped towards the Gwazine's location, a transmission came through from Granada on all channels: "Attention all Zeon officers and soldiers. I am Prime Minister Darcia Bakharov. Supreme Commander Gihren Zabi, along with Real Admiral Kycilia Zabi, have lost their lives in battle. The Republic of Zeon and the Earth Federation have agreed to a cease-fire. I have lawful authority to give the order: immediately cease combat and lay down your weapons. I repeat: immediately cease combat and lay down your weapons. The war is over." The message continued to play on repeat until Roher shut the volume off.
"I doubt the Federation's just going to let us walk out of here, we need to get to that ship!"
They soon came in sight of the Gwazine and its escorts. It had launched just before Kycilia's ill-fated attempt at escaping. The small flotilla had made it quite far before being beset by a small group of Federation ships, clearly positioned to stop any forces from escaping towards Axis. Mobile suits dashed around the ships, the Zeons more concerned with keeping the Federation suits away from the Gwazine than with attacking the Federation ships. The Zeon forces were led by a Gelgoog Jaeger, the same suit that Roher was piloting.
The Fenrir wasted no time in diving into combat. Austin kept his damaged suit near the Zeon ships, providing cover fire with Hepner and the remaining trainee pilots. They appeared to have lost Roberto and 2 other pilots in the melee around the fortress. Roher, Fran, and Renchef charged toward the 3 Federation ships.
"Here's the plan: 1 ship each, "Roher said as he took aim at the Magellan, "I've got the Magellan.
The three pilots flew towards the ships, taking aim at the vital locations on each vessel: the superstructure and engines. Roher went in first, firing his last few shots from the beam machine gun, finally exhausting his ammo. He managed to disable about half of the engines and out enough holes in the main and secondary bridges to ensure that whoever wasn't killed by the shots was sucked out into space.
Renchef attacked the bridge of his Salamis with the head mounted vulcan guns that he hadn't really used for most of the battle. Just as Roher did, he didn't try to decimate the bridge, only to render it incapable of controlling the ship. As for the engines, he unslung his last chain mine and wrapped it around the ship's single engine as best he could before flying away at top speed to avoid the explosion which not only disabled the engines, but took half of the ship with it. Fran had also quickly dispatched her target using the Raketen Bazooka she had taken from the fortress when they last launched.
Back at the Gwazine, the rest of the Federation mobile suits had been dispatched thanks to the efforts of the Zeon pilots.
"Midnight Fenrir, thank you for your assistance," the pilot of the Jaeger said, but we cannot afford to be slowed down by taking on additional mobile suits. You will have to find your own route of retreat."
In their cockpits, the Fenrir pilots all gasped in surprise. The pilot of the Gelgoog was Char Aznable.
"Captain Aznable, you may wish to reconsider your position." Roher said as he flew up near the other Jaeger. It was finally time to use the secret that the Fenrir knew about him. Roher held his beam saber in his hand, just in case threats didn't work.
"And why would I do that?"
"Because otherwise you will die."
"Are you threatening me lieutenant colonel?" Aznable asked, bringing up his beam machinegun.
"No sir. I won't raise a hand to you. I can't guarantee what the crew of the Gwazine will do when they hear what the Fenrir knows, however." Roher said, choosing his words carefully; if he misspoke, Char might just shoot him before he had a chance to finish.
"What are you talking about?"
Bingo.
"Lord Garma. You led him into a trap. We heard the whole thing over the radio, and I have the recording ready to play at the push of a button. Wonder how our allies will react to a man who murdered the darling of Zeon. Oh, and before you think of shooting me, all of the other Fenrir pilots here have the same recording. It will get out no matter what." He hoped this last bluff might stay Char's hand. There was silence on the other end of the line for a few very long seconds.
"Gwazine, make room for the Fenrir to land in the hangar."
The flew up into the hangar and moved to berths around the walls and ceiling. There were a depressing number of open ones, even with the Fenrir suits. Just as Austin entered and the blast door began to close, the intercom came on: "Attention! Attention! There is a Federation Magellan class coming up fast from behind us!"
"Damn it!" Char swore, most of the suits in the hangar were damaged, low on fuel, and out of ammo. Some were even already docked with the ship and would take a few minutes to be ready for combat again.
"I've got this. Lou, remember what you promised."
"Matt, what are you going to do?!" Roher yelled as Austin Zaku disappeared out of the closing hangar door. To Roher's knowledge, he hadn't taken a weapon with him.
Despite his protestations, the hangar crew wouldn't unhook the Jaeger from the Gwazine so that he could launch himself. He was forced to watch on his radar as the small green dot that was Matt headed towards the large purple dot that was the enemy ship, picking up speed as he went until both disappeared. He turned off his radio so the others couldn't hear the sobs as the Gwazine sped away at full speed, leaving the Earth Sphere behind.
End of Chapter 12
THE END