Chapter 21

RedRat8- I see your point. Thank you for your praise. I do try to please as best as I can.

As for the EZ-8…actually yeah. I liked the design it had. The only problem I could see is that, unlike in the 08th show, the Federation wasn't lacking in much in terms of supplies to replace the Gundam ground types parts and weapons. So, I'm not sure of how to implement the EZ-8 logically. I'll think on it more.

As for the Mudrock. Yes, Agar will have it and he'll use it in the battle for California base.

RoyalTwinFangs- No, Haros won't be used like in 00. If anything, they'll be used as much children toys here. And perhaps be used to spy on people by the Titans or the Vist foundation.

Yeah maybe, but I didn't see how it could connect with the rest of the chapter, particularly the beginning, well. I think on the matter more when I upload double chapters.

As for the simulation mode…damnit. Well, I done goofed and forgot about that. I'll just try to explain that they did several simulations beforehand and wanted to see if he improved at all in a real-life mock battle. Or something.

As for the new MS, I doubt it. The gundam ground type was the best mass-produced gundam available. The rest were just one-offs.

As for the side stories, I might consider. I was actually planning to have some chapters dedicated to Shiro, and the retaking of California base, but I might do that instead.

Guest- He'll be angry of that, that I assure you. And yes, it was.

R reyes- Yes, this will go up to Unicorn. Then it'll be over.

Dragon lord Syed 101- Yeah, I suppose it does.

Revil's battlegroup

Ten minutes from Odessa Day

As the countdown to Odessa day was commencing, soldiers were making their final preparations. Checking their weapons for any malfunctions, sending their last letters to their families, and making their final prayers to whatever religion they believe in. As NCOs and officers were giving the men a final rundown on the plan, they looked over at the enemy, grimly wondering if they'll be the first to die or if they'll survive the battle at all. Revil, meanwhile, was sitting in the commander's chair of his Big tray. He was currently contemplating if their current plan will work. He had no reason to suspect that M'Quve will suspect the fake battle plans, but the man as been proven to be smart in terms of battle tactics before and he worried that the man will figure out and act accordingly against them.

"Too late to change our plans now." Thought Revil. "We delayed the operation a day already, we can't afford to give more time, otherwise more Zeon reinforcements will arrive." Looking at Selina, he asked what the forward recon groups saw.

"They saw the enemy packing up their AA defenses and bringing up more anti-armor in the front lines, sir. It appears that M'Quve feel for our trap." Though he heard the hope in her words, Revil wasn't as sure.

"Or he could be trying to trick us into believing that he fell for it." Said Revil before sighing. "Lets hope your right, though Selina. Cause the fate of many men are riding on this plan to succeed." Taking a deep breath, he ordered the operation to begin. Upon hearing that, the comm officers of the Big Tray began to radio in the order to the other battlegroups, telling them to move forward with the operation. It only took a few moments before the skies filled with scout planes and their escorts. As what little AA fire was peppering the skies, Revil prayed that their plan worked. A few minutes pass and the Big trays began to get targeting data from the scout planes on important enemy positions. With that data, the Big Trays began to put up a barrage that was soon grew in intensity as other artillery weapons began to get the targeting data and added their own firepower to the barrage. Within the first few seconds of the volley, they managed to destroy most of the mobile suits stationed in the first two defense lines, whatever anti-armor weapons were they had, and even destroyed the two Gallop battleships and crippling the Dabude. After two minutes passed, bomber soon arrived and launched smoke bombs on the enemy forces. Seeing this, tank columns and mobile suit teams charged in with the rest of the Federation forces following them.

"So far so good." Thought Revil as his big tray moved in with the rest of the battle group. "It seems M'Quve did fall for our trick, after all. We may just win this." With renewed hope, Revil watched as his forces engaged what Zeon forces were left in the first defense line and pushing forward to the scattered remains of the 2nd.

M'Quve

Later

"What do you mean the enemy has broken through our first two lines!?" Demanded M'Quve as a commander from their third line was contacting him about the breaking of the first two lines. "I sent sufficient arms to help repel the enemy. How could they breach them so easily?"

"Sir, the enemy started out with sending fighters at us before following up with an artillery barrage!" Yelled the commander as bombardment from the enemy's Big trays and whatever artillery they had began to hit their lines. "They pounded the first two lines to submission and charged right through to the 3rd line! With nothing left to fight, aside from a couple of mobile suits and a crippled Dabude as any actual opposition, the enemy just steamrolled through the first two lines. We're trying to fight them back, but we don't have enough antiarmor here. We need reinforcements!" M'Quve just gritted his teeth, realizing that he'd been tricked. Looking at the documents that Judock sent, M'Quve began to get a picture of what happened.

Revil must have figured out who was the mole in his ranks and had Elron and Judock arrested. He then proceeded to send him fake battle plans so that he'll plan and direct his forces accordingly to those battle plans. And M'Quve fell for his trick hook line and sinker.

"Well played, Revil." Said M'Quve as he threw the documents away. "Well played. But you're mistaken if you think that this will stop me." He then looked at the commander. "Hold the enemy as long as you can. I'm sending what mobile suits I can spare to assist in your defense." Before the man can respond, the connection suddenly broke. Frowning at this, M'Quve looked out his window to see massive explosion happening across the 3rd battle line.

Revil

Few minutes later

"This is battlegroup Delta, we're engaging the enemy in the 3rd battle line! They're holding their ground! Requesting reinforcements to help break through."

"This is battlegroup Sigma. Mobile suit team 7 managed to take out the Dabude and whatever mobile suits in our sector. We're moving up to the 3rd battle line now."

"This is 3rd armored division! We're under heavy enemy artillery! We need air support!" As the communication staff of Revil's big tray tried to listen and send the appropriate responses to the various field commanders out there, Revil was watching a holographic display of the battlefield. So far, things were going in their favor. After taking out the first and second lines, his forces were now starting to engage the enemies 3rd battle lines, where they have since prepared for them since the fall of the first two defense lines. Though they still had the upper hand in that the enemy was caught off guard with their little trick, the enemy was still putting up a good fight. Revil was hearing reports of Zeon soldiers not breaking and continuing to fight despite the massive opposition and the fact that they just broke their first two lines with ease. Such tenacity and bravery certainly deserved respect. Unfortunately for him, he was facing people with said tenacity and bravery. Humming to himself, Revil wondered when the enemies new mobile weapon will show up.

"Its probably in the fourth line as a final ace in the sleeves. Or is just waiting in reserve, ready to attack when we least expect it. I just hope the White Base crew can take it out before it does too much damage." Seeing that the right flank was getting hammered, Revil ordered an airstrike to be made on the Gallops causing that flank trouble. Looking back at the screen, Revil continued to monitor for any anomalies that can cause trouble for them.

3rd armored division

Private Allen went to the ground as a grenade went off, taking out several Federation soldiers. As medics rushed to the survivors, the private got up and rushed toward his commanding officer, one sergeant Dornan, as he rallied up those still able to fight.

"Get up, you morons! You aren't going to insult the Federation by dying today without taking out, at least, three of those Zeon maggots! Now get ready to hold the line! We will to hold out until either a tank group or a mobile suit team comes and saves our sorry asses!" With that, Dornan grabbed his rifle and hunkered down behind a destroyed tank. Everyone else either followed his example or went to the ground, hoping that they won't get hit with sniper fire or some artillery shell hits near them. Allen just gulped as he took his position with Dornan, who got ready to fight. As they waited for the Zeons to push towards them, Allen remembered how everything went.

It all went so smoothly. After they took the 2nd defense line, the 3rd armored division went forward of the rest of battlegroup Delta, hoping to be the first to gain some glory. Unfortunately, all it had was leave them vulnerable to enemy fire. When the enemy zeroed in on their location, they opened fire with their artillery, quickly suppressing and separating them. Once the barrage had ended, about a 3rd of the division was dead or dying with most of their vehicles destroyed or disabled. With the barrage gone, the survivors began to create a makeshift defense until the rest of the battlegroup arrived. Unfortunately, they were several miles away as the enemy was focusing their firepower on the battlegroup and the rest as they finished their sectors of the 2nd defense line and began making their way to the 3rd battle line, leaving them alone until the battlegroups pushed the enemy back. Allen hoped that would be soon because he was already hearing the sounds of Zeon fast attack vehicles coming. Just as he predicted, a group of thirty Wappa hover bikes were on their way to take out any survivors before they could link up with the rest of the Federation forces. Upon seeing the Wappas, Dorn told everyone to get ready. Aiming their guns, everyone waited until they were in range. Once they were, they opened fired.

The Wappa, like most Zeon vehicles, was poorly designed for Earth's atmosphere. Due to their Spacenoid nature, they had little to no experience when it came to designing effective vehicles to compensate for factors like Earth's atmosphere. But it seems the Wappa was a pinnacle of poor Zeon designs. The hover bike completely exposed the pilot to the environment and enemy fire, making it relatively easy for a soldier to kill the operator of a Wappa. And the only weapon it had was a heavy machinegun that had to be manually operated by the pilot, which meant they had to drive with only one hand, something that is advised against when operating something as fast as a Wappa. Though its intended role was that or a recon vehicle, the Wappa was still deployed as a form of fast attack by the Zeons due to its high speed. Unfortunately, the design of the Wappa worked against it in this role as the Federation soldiers managed to gun down ten Wappa pilots before the rest can open fire. When they did, the soldiers took cover while the ones on the ground prayed they didn't get hit. As the Wappas fired, the few type 61 tanks still operational open fired, actually taking out a few of the Wappas as they tried to evade. When they passed, the Wappa pilots stuck some explosives on some of the surviving tanks. Before anyone could get away, the explosives went off, either disabling the tanks or causing them to blow up when the explosives managed to get to the tank's ammo storage. The explosions also caught a few soldiers who were close to the blast.

Gritting his teeth, Allen took aim and fired a burst at a passing Wappa, who tried to stick an explosive charge on a surviving tank. The bullets hit the pilot, who then crashed into another Wappa, taking them both out.

"Nice work, private! Now keep it up!" Yelled Dornan as he took two other Wappas out as they tried to stick explosives on the surviving tanks. Allen just nodded as he fought back against the remaining Wappas, who went to just circling around the survivors, waiting for an opportunity to present itself where they can shoot one of the Federation soldiers. A dangerous cat and mouse game then commenced as each side took advantage of a mistake the other made and killed a soldier or two. Eventually, after a few minutes, the Wappas fell back. Confused, everyone got up and wondered why they retreated. They got their answer when one of the Federation troops saw two Goufs coming at them.

"Get out the anti-mobile suit weapons now!" Yelled Dornan as people began to scramble for the surviving jeeps they had, searching for their anti-mobile suit weapons, which were missile launchers equipped with special missiles designed to penetrate a mobile suit's thick armor and explode in the insides of a suit. Unfortunately, they could only grab three before the Goufs opened fired with their machine guns. The large shells destroyed the remaining tanks as they were the biggest danger to the Goufs as their main guns can penetrate a mobile suit's armor if hit at the range the Goufs were currently in. As the Goufs continued to approach, the three anti-mobile suit launchers were being set up and loaded. Once they were all loaded and set up, the operators took aim at the Goufs and fired. Upon registering the three missiles, the Goufs either sidestepped out of the way or flew up into the air to dodge the missiles. Dornan gritted his teeth as the operators reloaded the launchers as fast as possible. What the Goufs just did showcased the drawbacks of the portable anti-mobile suit weapons the Federation army had.

While the anti-mobile suit missiles they had could disable a mobile suit in one shot if they hit the right spot, they relied on radar and the like to accurately hit the target, which meant that they're horribly ineffective when Minovsky particles were in the area. When they were, the missile's targeting and lock-on systems were, essentially, useless and forced them to rely on manual aiming, which allowed enemy mobile suits to dodge them with relative ease, so long as the pilot detected the missile quick enough. And it seemed luck wasn't on their side today and even more so as the Goufs aimed their machine guns and fired, shooting at where the missiles came from. The gunfire destroyed their surviving launchers and the operators along with killing a bunch of other Federation soldiers. Having been in cover behind a wrecked tank, Dornan, Allen and a bunch of other troops were safe along with some others behind other destroyed vehicles. Everyone else, however, was dead. If they weren't killed by the artillery and Wappa attack, they died from the Gouf attack, having been killed by flying shrapnel or the machine gun fire. Allen was shaking in his boots as he looked at his commander.

"Sir, what do we do?" Asked Allen, fear in his voice. "I don't want to die here. I got a little brother and sister back home to take care of." Dornan just looked at the boy and the others, giving a grunt. Most of the survivors were just eighteen or nineteen, very few of them were seasoned soldiers. If Dornan had to guess, most joined this unit because of the pay to help support their families and that fact it was less dangerous to be in an armored division than an infantry division as you have a massive tank covering you at all times. But look where that ended up, that massive tank got blown all to hell by a new player of warfare, the mobile suit. If he was told that a mech would beat a tank, Dornan would have laughed his ass off, saying a tank would always beat a mech. Well, he was eating those words now because the two Goufs were approaching the survivors, trying to determine if any survived. As he heard the sounds of heavy thumbing, Dornan looked at Allen again and the others, seeing them scared out of their minds on what the Zeons will do to them. Much as he wanted to comfort them and say it was all right, the sergeant knew that nothing he could say can comfort them that wasn't truthful. He wasn't going to lie to these boys just to provide them a brief comfort only for that to shatter when the Zekes torture and then kill them, that is if they don't kill them right here. Deciding to just remain silent, Dornan waited as the Goufs were about to reach their location. When they did, the survivors can literally see the mobile suit's shadow and its fearsome head. Just as the Goufs were about to scan for survivors, they suddenly jerked their heads forward and grabbed their shields from their backs. They raised them just in time as a barrage of machine gun fire hit their shields. The survivors were shocked to see this and were trying to process this. After a few seconds one yelled out and pointed to the Federation lines, where a team of three GM ground types were approaching their location. The survivors cheered as the GMs began to engage the Goufs, who charged forward, knowing that their guns will be useless against the GM ground types armor, and ignored what survivors were left. As the mobile suits got closer to each other, the grabbed their close-range weapons, either a heat sword or beam saber, and engaged in melee combat.

As two GM engaged one Gouf, the last one engaged the last one, having not engaged its beam saber, confusing the survivors as its opponent had its heat sword out. They worried for the pilots safety as the Gouf swung at the GM, but were stunned when the GM bent over, avoiding the strike, and bringing out its saber. As the GM was about to pass the Gouf, the GM activated its saber and stabbed the Gouf in the cockpit. The stab, fortunately, didn't cause the reactor to go critical and explode. Instead the stab only killed the pilot and disabled the suit. As the GM pushed the Gouf away from its saber, the survivors looked to see the other two GMs finishing off the other Gouf, having one distract it so that the other can go for the killing blow. With the area now clear, the GMs looked at the survivors, their AI having detected that there were a few.

"Are you alright?" Asked the mobile suit team leader as he approached the survivors. Dornan, the sole surviving commanding officer of the platoon, walked up to the GM and yelled out.

"Considering you're here, yeah. We are." The sergeant then looked around and saw the youngest soldiers in his commander were looking in awe at the GM, their savior. "Are there any other survivors of the 3rd armored division? We got separated from the rest." The GM nodded its head.

"Yeah, other mobile suit teams and tank groups have pushed forward to them, rescuing any survivors we could find. I recommend you pull back to, orders from your superior officers. APCs are coming to pick you up." Dornan just nodded, grateful for the orders. He then turned to his soldiers.

"Move out maggots! Our part in this operation is done! We're heading back to the sidelines!" The soldiers sighed in relief, some crying tears of joy, before beginning to pack up. With their job done here, the GMs moved forward, their part not done in the operation. As they left, they didn't notice Dornan looking at them, shaking his head that mobile suits have taken the spotlight in warfare now.

Revil's battlegroup

Meanwhile, in another section of the operation, Revil's battlegroup, along with battlegroup Sigma and Alpha, the battlegroup that Elron used to be in charge before Chase took command after Elron was arrested for treason, were charging forward to help battlegroup Delta, who was struggling to break through the 3rd battle line. This was largely due to the many Dabude and Gallop battleships in the 3rd and 4th defense lines raining down heavy ordnance on their heads. Delta's Big trays were doing the same but they weren't as intensive as the Zeons because they only had three, the rest were spread out amongst the other battlegroups. It appears they needed all their Big trays to break through the 3rd enemy line. Revil, monitoring the battle, watched as his Big Tray fired and took out a pillbox that was giving a column of tanks some trouble. With the pillbox gone, the tanks moved up and helped nearby infantry by taking out some entrenched machineguns suppressing them. With their threats gone, the tanks and infantry pushed forward. Just a few seconds after they did, however, a Dom came and opened fire on the tanks, taking out three tanks with its bazooka before bringing out its heat saber and going into melee range. The tanks tried to take it out, but the Dom was too fast and close for them to do anything effectively against it.

When it got in range, the Dom bisected one tank before stabbing another in the middle, killing the crew with the extreme heat of the saber alone. It then flew up in the air and using the last of its ammo in taking out the most of the surviving tanks. It was about to finish them off and go for the infantry when a Big Tray came and began its attack on the 3rd defense line. Seeing a bigger prey for it, the Dom disengaged and charged at the Big Tray, joining up with other Doms.

As they approached the Big Tray, its defense forces, consisting of GMs and tanks, began to open fire. Though the tanks failed to failed to hit their targets on account of the Dom's speed, the GMs, equipped with their AIs, were able to accurately predict the path that the Doms would take and fired their machine guns and bazookas at them. Though the machine guns failed to take out the Doms, lacking the penetrating power needed to punch through the heavy armor, the bazookas, in a few hits, took out several Doms before they could fire at the Big Tray. Seeing that the GMs would be a problem, most of the Doms, four in total, charged at the GMs, who numbered six, while two went to take out the Big Tray. Seeing the Doms coming, the GMs stood their ground and opened fired. The Doms, now prepared, dodged the GMs attack and opened fire with their bazookas. Seeing the incoming bazookas rounds, the GMs raised their shields to block the rounds. Unfortunately, one didn't raise it shield in time and was slammed with several bazooka rounds, taking it out, not even the Luna titanium armor it had was able to save it. Seeing that the Doms were now close, the GMs grabbed their beam sabers and engaged the Doms coming at them while the tanks dealt with the ones attacking the Big Tray.

As the mobile suits clashed, the Doms used their superior speed to take a swing at the GMs before the pilots could react. Unfortunately for the Doms, the GMs assigned to protect the Big Trays were all equipped with AIs on account of how expensive a single Big Tray was. Because of this, the GMs were able to predict the attacks and countered by ducking or raising their shields to block the heat sabers, though they lost the shields in the process. Before the Dom pilots could react, the GMs counterattacked, stabbing the cockpits or cutting the arms holding the heat sabers. With three down, the remaining Doms fell back and brought out their bazookas with their remaining arm. Before one could fire however, one was bit with a barrage of machinegun fire. As the Dom was hit with a barrage of bullets, a GM threw its beam saber at the suppressed Dom. The beam saber, hit the generator, causing the Dom to explode. The remaining Dom, seeing it was the last survivor, charged at the GMs, using it chest beam gun to blind the pilots. Unfortunately, this didn't effect the AIs, who aimed their guns and opened fire, obliterating the Dom as it fired a bazooka round at the Big Tray. Unfortunately, the rocket only hit the side armor, which held and didn't do anything to the Big Tray.

With their threat gone, the GMs went to help the tanks, who were fighting a losing battle against the Doms, having lost all but six to the Doms, but they did prevent the Doms from seriously damaging the Big Tray by forcing them to either take a shot at the Big Tray and be destroyed as a result or continue to dodge and miss hitting a vital spot of the Big Tray, like the bridge tower or the main forward guns. Seeing that the GMs were coming, the Dom pilots decided to sacrifice their lives to take out the Big Tray. With that in mind, the Doms charged, ignoring the tanks as they tried to take a shot at the Doms. Once they reached the Big Tray, they flew up to the tower and began to unload their remaining rockets at the bridge. From there, the first few rockets broke through the armored tower before the last two went inside the beast and blow up, killing the bridge crew, disabling the Big Tray. Relishing in their victory, the pilots didn't care as the GMs blasted them in retaliation. As this was happening, a comm officer was telling Revil of what had happened.

"Damnit." Swore Revil in his mind as he saw that one of his Big Trays were taken out by Doms. He needed all of them for the 3rd and 4th lines. Taking a deep breath, he ordered an airstrike to be done on the Dabudes and Gallops, followed up with a carpet bombing on enemy trenches the furthest away from their own lines. With those orders, fighter planes and bombers took from the closets make-shift airbases to take out the enemy battleships. Within a few minutes, the skies was swooping with Saberfish fighters, loaded with missiles and bombs. Upon seeing the Saberfish fighters, Dopp fighters were launched and the two fighters began a massive dogfight. One that the Saberfish was winning as, again aside from Mobile suits, the Zeons had very poor vehicle designs. Aside from superior speed, the Dopp was no match against the Saberfish as the escort fighters were making short work of the Zeon fighters. One pilot in particular was able to take out five Dopps at once with just his machineguns when they tried to take out the fighters he was escorting. This enabled the bomb-equipped fighters to make an attack run on enemy trenches, blowing them to smithereens and lessening the amount of fire the ground forces had to deal with. Other fighters launched their missiles at Gallop or Dabude battleships, either destroying the bridges with some well-placed missiles or taking out their exposed guns, making them essentially useless. With the airstrike done, the fighters left to refuel and rearm so that they can be useful in the final attack. Seeing that the airstrike was effective, Revil ordered all battlegroups to push forward, with no one disagreeing, the airstrike raised everyone's confidence and the Federation pushed with renewed vigor.

Zeon trench line

"Retreat! Retreat! Its hopeless!" Yelled a Zeon soldier as he got out of the trench he was in and began running for the 4th defense line. The man didn't get far before he was shot in the back by an officer.

"Stand your ground, soldiers! Desertion is a capital offense! And I will shoot you all if any of you leave your trenches and run like cowards! Now do your nation proud and fight! Today, we will tri…" The officer didn't get to say anymore when a Federation tank column came and fired at the section of the trench the officer was in, taking him out and any other soldiers that were near him. The remaining soldiers just gulped before opening fire on any Federation soldiers that were out in the open and not behind an armored tank or APC. The Federation, meanwhile, charged toward the remaining trenches, where soldiers from both sides engaged in brutal hand-to-hand combat. Fighting each other with their rifle butts, knives, or even their fists on occasion. One soldier in particular was hitting a Federation soldier repeatedly with his helmet. After bludgeon the man to death, the soldier took a deep breath and looked out of his trench to see a Zaku destroying a column of type 61 tanks and throwing a grenade at a platoon of Federation soldiers, killing most of them and scattering the survivors. Upon seeing this, the man smiled. Even if it was now, technically outdated, the Zaku was considered a symbol of Zeon might. It fought in the early battles of the One Year War and was the major factor in their victory in Loum. And even in the fight to Earth, it enabled them to fight against the much larger and technologically advanced Federation to a stalemate. Truly, it had no equal in the Federation arsenal, aside from the Trojan Horse and its mobile suits. So, when the man saw a Federation mobile suit coming at it with a team of two others, he wanted to laugh.

The thing wasn't as elegantly designed or as inspiring as the Zaku. It had no face to speak of. Just a blue visor where the eyes were and a chin. The thing was blocky and ugly too look at with its color scheme. And the emblem of the Federation made him want to destroy it with his bare hands. This thing could hardly be called a mobile suit. He so wanted to laugh and humiliate the ones that designed this thing. But it appears he won't have the chance as the three mobile suits encircled the lone Zaku. He growled at this. Damn Federation. They were cowards, the lot of them. They'd rather use their superior numbers and nothing else. They don't give a damn of a fair fight and being true men. They'd rather win at all cost and threw the notion of honor to the ground. Expecting the Federation mobile suits to gang up on the Zaku, the soldier was surprised to see one motion for the others to leave and help the other Federation forces. After some slight hesitation, the two other mobile suits left, leaving the Zaku to face the lone Federation mobile suit.

"It appears that this one has some backbone." Thought the soldier as the two mobile suits attacked each other. "Pointless though. The Zaku will win. That Federation lacky doesn't even know how to operate a mobile suit right." He then watched as the two suits duked it out, he watched as the two fired their weapons as they charged at each other, not damaging the other in any significant way. Seeing their guns were useless, they tossed them away and drew out their close combat weapons. The Zaku swung first, bringing down its heat hawk at the federation mobile suit, who went in for a stab. The watched in anticipation as the heat hawk went down, believing the federation mobile suit was finished. He was then shocked when the mobile suit stopped its attack and side stepped, causing the Zaku to miss and allow it to slice the arm carrying the heat hawk off. The man watched in disbelief as the arm fell to the ground, not believing for a second that a federation mobile suit just beat a Zaku, a tried and tested mobile suit that beat the Federation back numerous times. "Impossible! It..its just a fluke! It must be! The pilot got lucky. The Zaku will show it." And it appeared to will as it tackled the federation mobile suit down, sending it to the ground. Before it could get up, the Zaku slammed its foot repeatedly at the federation mobile suits head, eventually breaking the blue visor and exposing the innerworkings of the federation mobile suit. As the mobile suit tried to recover, the Zaku went to grab its heat hawk. When it did, it went over and brought it down on the mobile suit's chest, seemingly ending the battle. Sighing in relief, the man smirked as the Zaku towered over its opponent in victory. "Beginners luck, like I thought. The Federation can never hope to make a mass-produced mobile suit that can beat a Zaku. If they can't do that, then they have no hope to beat a Dom or a Gouf in a one on one fight." The man was about to fight in his trench when he got the sight of the downed mobile suit twitching. Looking back to see if his eyes weren't deceiving him, he watched in disbelief as the mobile suit brought out another saber-like weapon, slash at the Zaku's legs and then proceeded to stab the Zaku in the cockpit. The man watched, horrified, as the Federation mobile suit pushed the Zaku away from its saber, now the victor of its fight.

"It can't be! It can't!" Thought the man as he tried to rationalize this without giving the Federation any credit. "The mobile suit got lucky! That's it! It only won due to luck! If the Zaku didn't fall for it, it would have won! I'm sure of it! Sneaky Federation! Can't fight honorably at all! That's why this war is being fought! Because of you! Mark my words, even if you win this war, true Zeon fighters will always fight you, no matter what! Because we see you for what you are! Monsters and cowards. Nothing more!" The man kept this level of thought, even as the federation mobile suit came and began to drag its beam saber along the trench areas that were fully under Zeon control, incinerating anyone close to the saber and inadvertently killing the man in the process, who was so engulfed in his thoughts that he didn't see the beam coming at him until it was too late. All across the 3rd defense line, Federation forces were taking ground and elimination any Zeon forces that weren't able to retreat in time. Stragglers fought as hard as they could but the battle was over, the 3rd defense line fell. And now the final phase of the operation would begin.

Revil

"Excellent work people!" Said Revil as the 3rd defense line fell. "Now we just have to take the 4th and this battle will be over." He was about to give his orders when a comm officer spoke out.

"Sir, incoming message! Its…from the enemy?" Raising an eyebrow, Revil told the man to confirm that. "Its in an enemy frequency, sir. Its on an open channel too." Wondering what this was about, Revil ordered the message be played. Once it played, Revil soon recognized the voice, having heard it from video feeds back when the Antarctic treaty was being signed. M'Quve.

"Dear Revil. Congratulations on getting this far. You've certainly earned your position as a general. Unfortunately, this is as far as you go. And I have just the means to prevent you from proceeding any further." Revil narrowed his eyes at that. What was M'Quve up to? "If you don't pull back your forces immediately, then we'll be forced to use our nuclear missile." Everyone's eyes that heard that widened their eyes in shock while Revil just narrowed his. Was M'Quve insane? Usage of nuclear missiles were banned completely by the Antarctic treaty. What was he thinking? "Now I'm fully well aware that the usage of nuclear weapons was banned by the Antarctic treaty, but I also would like for my nation to win this war, even if it means that I have to break the Antarctic treaty. So, I'll say this again. Pull back all your forces, or be prepared to lose them all in a nuclear explosion. I'll give you half an hour to make your decision." With that the transmission ended. Once it did, everyone looked at Revil, who was sitting stoic in his chair. After a few minutes, the man looked at everyone and waved his hand forward, telling them to move ahead. Looking at each other, the comm people gave his orders, trusting his judgement. With everyone else at work, Selina looked at Revil.

"Are you sure that is the wisest course of action, sir?" Asked Selina, fearing for hers, Revils, and every other Federation soldier in the Odessa region. Revil just sighed before speaking.

"I'm afraid my hands are tied Selina. We have to take Odessa or else we'll lose this war. We've put much at stake in this operation. Both in terms of resources and soldier moral. I won't let a threat of a nuclear bomb prevent us from winning this operation." He then looked at Selina. "And if M'Quve indeed does have a nuclear weapon in his disposal, then I'm afraid that the White Base will have to prevent them from using it." Selina just gulped at that, not liking the odds of them being able to stop the launch. She calculated the odds and they weren't a pretty sight. Nodding her head, Selina left Revil, who began to order a comm officer to inform the White Base that they have new orders.

The wider battlefield

Few minutes later

Within moments, all the battlegroup heard Revil's orders regarding the nuclear threat, and followed them, even if some commanders wanted to pull back and retreat. With the combined might of all four battlegroups, the Federation fought with everything they had against the Zeon's final defense lines, which were the strongest.

The remaining Dabude and Gallops, three and six respectively, opened fire on mobile suit teams and tank columns as they approached, their large caliber guns obliterating the first few before the rest scattered. In the skies above, fighter bombers and their escorts began making their attack runs as Dopp fighters and remaining anti-aircraft guns tried to stop them. Though a few were lost to enemy fire, the majority managed to drop their payload on the enemy forces, taking out entrenched Magella tanks, small artillery batteries, pill boxes, and even the occasional Zeon mobile suit who was too distracted in shooting the fighters to notice that several bombs were approaching it. A 2nd wave of bombers then approached, this time unleashing smoke bombs to cover the advance of the Federation forces. With the Federation forces covered with smoke, the Zeon forces were forced to fire blindly in hopes of actually hitting their enemy.

The Federation forces, meanwhile, hunkered down with mobile suits as a vanguard. They were waiting for the Big Trays to commence their artillery barrage. Unknown to the Zeons, hidden among the bombers were surveillance fighters equipped with various scanning tech and cameras to help map out the enemy's positions. Though Minovsky particles have interfered with the scanning tech significantly, to the point that the planes had to be extremely close to the enemy, they still managed to get good enough data for the Big Trays to open fire on enemy hard targets, like the battleships. Aiming all their long-range guns at the enemy, the Big Trays opened fire, which was followed up with Guntank support and various individual artillery units. The retaliation fire from the Federation rained down on the Zeons, who were forced to hunker down as the barrage went on, taking down their pillboxes, mobile suits, and even their land battleships. But that wasn't all. As the Zeons were hunkered down, the Federation moved in with the mobile suits in the front. Undeterred as the barrage continued, tank columns and mobile suits opened fire on trenches and enemy mobile suits that tried to attack back, taking out a good chunk of the front lines before they retaliated. Surviving, entrenched Magella tanks focused fire on the GMs, taking them out in a few hits, while hidden Zeon mobile suits, who had been hiding in large holes made for them, flew out of their fox holes when enemy GMs approached them and began hawking them apart with their heat weapons. The Federation, not willing to lose their momentum, pressed forward as the barrage ended and the bulk of the force arrived with the Big Trays in the middle providing support fire.

Revil

"This is 04th mobile suit team leader! I lost my wing mans and I'm in the thick of it! Requesting assistance now!"

"This is 09th MS team! We read you. We're on our way! Hold on!"

"This is tank column five! We just taken out a Dom and a Zaku! We actually taken a mobile suit out! Hel…"

"This is tank column eighty-nine! We've encountered a damaged Gallop still firing its main guns at us! We're taking it out now! Firing solution at grid four nine! Fire!"

"This is platoon nine of the 8th armored. We're engaging the enemy in the trenches. Its chaos here. I lost good men in these. Requesting a flame unit to come here and…Jenkins watch out!" The sounds of machinegun fire ended the transmission.

"General Revil! This is colonel Chase! I've just received word that the new enemy weapon is engaging the White Base! It seems that the Zeons truly want that ship gone. I'm sending fighters to help them take it out now. This is our chance! Let's take Odessa today!" Revil just hummed as he took this in. With the new enemy weapon distracted with the White Base, this was a boon and curse for them. A boon because it prevented that thing from engaging his forces. A curse because its distracting the White Base from taking out M'Quve's nuclear missile if his threat wasn't a bluff. Praying to whatever gods there were, Revil watched as his forces steadily pushed back the enemy. They were taking casualties, especially their mobile suits despite their AIs, but it was clear that they're winning this battle. It seemed that victory was in their grasp. Revil was about to give his last orders when one of his comm officers yelled out.

"Sir! We just got confirmation of a nuclear launch!" Yelled the comm officer. Revil clenched his fists at that. Damn M'Quve. What is he thinking? Even if the missile turned the tide, the backlash for the violation of the treaty will turn people from the other sides away from Zeon and to the Federation, who had upheld the treaty to this day. Springing into action, he turned to the man.

"Is the White Base able to intercept?" Asked Revil. Another comm operator yelled out.

"They just sent the Full Armor to deal with it. The rest are dealing with the new mobile weapon and its escorts. Are fighters are engaging them now." Hearing that made Revil looked at the man.

"Tell the fighters to keep the enemy at bay. We can't let that nuke go off!" The operator then scrambled to relay the orders. "The rest of you! Tell the battlegroups to move forward! There no point in trying to escape the blast." The others, knowing he was right, began relay his orders to the right people. Seeing that the Zeon forces were still holding in an area around two Dabudes, Revil was about to give another order when he felt the barrel of a gun at the side of his head. Keeping calm, Revil looked to see a young soldier holding a pistol at his head. The guards in the room, seeing this, rushed toward Revil, guns at the ready. Selina, stunned to see this, simply stepped back as the young man held a gun at the general's head.

"You're insane, Revil! We just gotten confirmation of a nuclear missile and you want to continue forward as if nothing happened!" Yelled the man, his hands shaking. Revil, knowing what is up, raised his hand as soldiers encircled around them, waiting for a chance to take the man down without him taking a shot at the general.

"Lad, I understand you're afraid and that you think my actions are that of the stereotypical Federation general but let me assure you that I would never sacrifice the lives of my men needlessly. The many lives lost this day are something that will weigh in my heart, but that's the life of a general. To send people to their deaths to win a battle or war. The threat of nuclear fallout will not change that. Besides, its too late to turn back and run. Even if some manage to escape the blast radius, the fallout will surly kill them. It's a lose and lose scenario if we turn back now. The only way we can win is to push forward and put our lives in the hand of the White Base. That's the only way we have a shot on surviving and winning this operation." Revil then watched as the man pressed the barrel of the gun to his forehead, not willing to be intimidated.

"Its not the only way! If we pull back now and the White Base does succeed, then more lives will be saved! When the Zeons see that a nuclear missile was used by them with their own caught in the crossfire and see that the Federation cares more about their soldier's lives than the Zeons care about their own, they'll surrender outright. No more have to die! They'll lose their will to fight and we can take them all as POWs! Why can't you see that, sir?!" The soldiers looked at each other, wondering if this man was hearing what he's saying. Selina, meanwhile, was slowly crouching toward the man's back, hand on her pistol. If he focused on Revil for a bit longer, she can take him out. The soldiers, seeing this, kept their eyes on the man, keeping the ruse that they're the only ones there. Revil, meanwhile, saw what Selina was doing and kept his eyes on the man, trying to keep his attention on him.

"A noble suggestion, soldier. And one that I would take if it were true. But I don't have the luxury of taking that suggestion. What if the Zeons will continue fighting, seeing that the launch of the nuclear missile was forced because of us. A last desperate attempt to win this battle. They could be inspired to continue fighting with the launch. Or more likely, they don't even know about the launch at all or even the missile's existence. M'Quve may have kept his common soldiers in the dark of the missile and only his top brass knows of it. They all could be totally oblivious to the missile until its too late. And when we tell them the truth, they'll just think it's a Federation lie and continue fighting. Another thing, if they see us pull back, they'll think we're retreating and shoot us in the back. Or even pursue us, their confidence restored. I'm sorry, lad, but my decision is made. I know you don't understand my decision and agree with it, but please trust me on this." Upon hearing that, the man pressed the barrel even further on his forehead.

"You're just making excuses!" Yelled the man as his trigger finger was beginning to twitch. "I thought you were different Revil, I truly did, but you're just like the rest. Corrupt and uncaring to the men under his command and those that you fight against. You're a fraud and this Federation is nothing more but a system for the rich and powerful. You're a…" He couldn't say anymore when Selina slammed her pistol's butt over his skull and pushed his gun away from Revil, wincing when it fired and hit the ceiling. With the general safe, the soldiers rushed and detained the man. After they escorted him out, Selina began to check Revil for any injuries.

"I'm so sorry for that, sir. I hope he didn't do anything to you." Said Selina as she checked Revil's forehead. The man just gently pushed her hands away and raised his hand.

"Its alright, Selina. I'm alright." Said Revil as he straightened his collar. "Let's just go back to the task at hand. We have an operation that needs tending." Selina was about to say that they may not get the chance when a comm officer yelled out.

"Sir, we just got confirmation! The Full Armor disabled the nuke! Not only that, but the enemy mobile weapon is disabled!" Upon hearing that, everyone cheered out, praising the White Base's crew and its accomplishment. Revil just let out a small smile before ordering that all battlegroup to charge forward. Once everyone heard that the threat of a nuke was over and that the new weapon is gone, the Federation commanders ordered their men in charge, victory now assured. The Zeon forces fought hard, but the outcome was clear to all. Operation Odessa was a success. Odessa was now in control of the Federation.

Later

Revil

"Sir, we just got confirmation of this, but thirty minutes ago, a Zanzibar class cruiser had taken off. Moments after the nuke was launched." Revil just sighed when he heard that. M'Quve. Seeing that the battle was lost, the man must have fled with his officers. Shaking his head, Revil looked at Selina.

"What about the resources here? How much have the Zeons mined?" Selina just flipped a page in her clipboard before speaking.

"Well, we're still piling the data from the computers, but it appears to be a fifth of the natural resources here." Revil frowned. That was more than enough to keep Zeon going for a long time. Still, this was a victory and he wasn't going to let that interfere with the success. Though many Zeon forces escaped, he already sent forces to find and destroy them before they could cause future problems for them. The rest were busy taking down any stragglers and securing the mines as well as the city. For him, however, he was waiting along with he other commanders for the White Base, who was landing before them, to congratulate the crew for their valor. Selina was with him, eager to see her daughter again. In a few minutes the entire White Base crew and their reinforcements got out of the ship and walked toward the assembled officers. Bright Noa walked up to Revil and saluted.

"I'm pleased to report that we stopped the nuke and taken out the new enemy weapon. We have the pilot of it alive along with a few other prisoners." Revil nodded at that before extending out his hand, which Bright took and shook.

"You all are brave young men and women." Said Revil to all the White Base crew as they all stared at him. "I'm sorry that you all had to endure such hardships without much help from us. The fact that we allowed it for so long is an error that had gone on for too long. So, allow me to say this, from this day forth, you won't fight without Federation support. We'll now have your backs as we continue our fight with the Principality of Zeon. You have my word." With that Revil, let go of Bright and saluted the man, who saluted back.

Operation Odessa- Operation Odessa was perhaps the bloodiest battle that occurred on Earth's soil in the One Year War. The Federation, lead by general Revil, led a massive attack on the Zeon mining base on Odessa. The idea was that, by taking Odessa and its valuable mines, they'll struck a blow to the Zeons war effort. Though the operation ended in a Federation victory, there were many variables that could have allowed the Zeons to win the day.

The first being the traitor Elron. Having been paid beforehand by the Zeons, the man revealed much of the Federations war plans to the Zeon commander, M'Quve, and would have likely prevented his own battlegroup from doing anything significant in the battle, thus leaving the Federation with only three battlegroups and leaving one of their flanks exposed. Fortunately for the Federation, Elron extended his role as a mole too much and Revil was able to expose him and arrest the man before he could sabotage the operation further. However, that wasn't the only thing he did. Revil, having suspected a mole was in a high ranking position, told all of his subordinate officers that they would be changing their battle strategy as well as delaying the operation. This was, of course, a fluke and Revil leaked fake battle plans to M'Quve, who thought they came from Elron, who had his fellow mole, Judock, tell him so. This, of course, made the Zeons change their battle line configuration to better deal with the new battle plans. Something that was taken advantage of by the Federation.

The fake battle plans had that the Federation will first start off with a blitzkrieg with the mobile suits at the vanguard that would be soon followed up with a mass charge of APCs filled with troops. To counter this, the Zeon forces placed most of their anti-armor weapons on the first defense line, hoping to take them out there. Unfortunately for them, the Federation didn't follow up with this plan and instead went with their original plan, which stated an airstrike will first happen that was soon followed up with an artillery strike. Completely caught off guard, the 1st and 2nd lines were devastated and the Zeons found that they were low on anti-armor weapons, forcing them to rely solely on their tanks, mobile suits, and land battleships to do anything against the Federation armor. To make matters worse, the Zeons were still packing up their AA guns to be sent to the back lines. So when the bombers attacked, they also took out a significant portion of the Zeon's anti-air capabilities, thus giving them more room to order airstrikes on key enemy locations.

Of course, the shock didn't last long and the enemy soon regroup and fought fiercely against the Federation, who steadily pushed them back. It was here that the Federation showed their experience in fighting in Earth's atmosphere as well as the Zeon's inexperience in fighting in it. Federation fighters mopped the floor with Zeon fighters, scoring an easy four to one kill ratio while Zeon Wappa bike operators were nearly all wiped out when they tried to make fast attack runs on Federation forces. Despite this, Zeon mobile suits held the Zeon forces together, serving as a beacon of inspiration for Zeon forces, even managing to destroy a Big Tray. This, however, was exploited by the Federation's new mass-produced mobile suits, the GM ground type, who destroyed the suits with relative ease, especially those that had an AI installed. The sight of seeing their beloved suits getting destroyed by the Federations new toys, demoralized Zeon forces and made many flee, which made it easier for the Federation to break through. Eventually, despite fierce opposition, the 3rd line collapsed, and the Federation made their way to the 4th battle line. Unfortunately, this was when M'Quve revealed his last gambit.

He threatened to launch a nuclear missile at Federation forces unless they withdraw. Knowing that he couldn't retreat and that doing so will cause morale to plummet, Revil ignored the ultimatum and Federation force pushed forward. This led to M'Quve to launch a nuclear missile, not caring that doing so will cause him to lose many of his own men. Fortunately for both sides, the White Base crew managed to intercept the missile and prevent it from unleashing its payload. To make matter even sweeter, they disabled the enemy new weapon, even capturing the pilot. Military analysts have concluded that, if the enemy weapon wasn't so focused on the White Base, it would have been an enormous headache for the Federation. Its mega particle cannon would have shredded anything in their arsenal, including the Big Tray battleship. With news spreading that the nuke was stopped and the new weapon was disabled, Federation pushed forward with much vigor, knowing that their victory was now assured. With one final push, the Federation broke through the last defense line and began to secure the city of Odessa.

Though many Zeon soldiers and equipment escaped and the cost of the battle was high, the operation was a major tactical victory for the Federation. Not only have they managed to impede Zeon resource gathering operations, they've also taken out a major Zeon base. The operation also boosted recruitment from the various sides still loyal to the Federation and improved morale across the board. The Zeons had also, inadvertently, aided the Federation. When news spread that the Zeons have attempted to launch a nuclear missile, thus violating the Antarctic treaty, sides that were previously on the fence of who to support, like side 6, were outraged. Protest occurred in Side 3 and the other sides were beginning to consider to supporting the Federation in the war as the Federation has, so far, upheld the treaty and have made no moves to violating it. All in all, Operation Odessa was a boon to the Federation and a curse to the Principality, both in terms of military objectives and PR as well.