I may have screwed up the order of my scheduling and written three Dragon Knight chapters in a row. I don't really care that much, but it does mean I'm not a hundred percent sure what I'm going to be doing with myself for the next little while. I'm definitely going to be getting those chapters out, but pacing might be a little weird. My hope is that I get off my lazy butt and write several ahead, but that's no guarantee. In the meantime, I've got more Alternate Gundam to get out and more globetrotting for the 1st to do. For now I can leave the in game missions relatively untouched, but I may play with where the 1st goes geographically (not that anyone cares, the game is ancient and I'm probably the only one who still knows it exists!).
The battle soon to take place at the Odessa mining facility in Eastern Europe was by far the largest operation the Federation had set about to undertake in the war thus far. Odessa, being the crux of all of Zeon's terrestrial mining operations, was overflowing with weapons. This included mobile suits of course. Needless to say, the 1st would be involved in the attack on the base itself, but for the time being, they were needed for prep work in and around Europe.
Due to their proximity to the operation area, the 1st was sent to the Caspian Sea where there was talk of enemy activity. Some of the allied forces selected to participate in Operation Odessa were moving into Europe by sea. Many of them noticed suspiciously high levels of Minovsky Particles as they passed through disputed waters, and worse, some lone ships had been lost at sea with no explanation. There was some talk of Zeon mini subs, but that was quickly dismissed.
With their proximity, the 1st as asked to escort a supply convoy bringing more ammunition and food to frontline bases crossing the area. Given the independent nature of the unit, whether the 1st's job was to guard the convoy or to investigate the area was left up to them. Marcan told the pilots she had her own opinion on the priority of both directives, but she wanted input from them before she gave any orders.
"I would think the top priority for us would be to protect our allies," Nicolas mentioned, "After all, why would they call on us if they didn't want our help?"
Marcan contemplated that for a moment, but then Ken spoke up, "We can easily do both.
"Explain," Marcan insisted.
"We'll have to be patrolling the area in our mobile suits no matter what mission goal we pick to emphasize. If we keep Tommy's Sniper GM G, Pat's Guncannon, and Nicolas's GM G on the carrier, my Gundam G and Ashley's High Performance GM G can watch out for enemies in the ocean. The particular area we're going through isn't too deep. Our mobile suits can investigate the area as we protect our allies from ambush."
Marcan nodded, "I see. Very well, I approve. Prep your mobile suits for another extended operation. And remember, beam weapons will not be effective underwater. So equip yourselves with conventional armaments."
"Aww," Ashley whined, "I like my ray gun. It makes me feel futuristic."
"The beam sabers will have limited use as well. If we encounter the enemy, don't let them get close to you," Ken reminded the group.
Ashley sighed, her antics having been ignored, "Right, no close combat…"
The 1st rendezvoused with the supply fleet after a few hours and got to work. Ken and Ashley established a perimeter around the fleet while Pat and Tommy scanned for long range threats. Finally, Nicolas watched over those two lest anything slip in close to the group. Just where the reports had said, there was a sudden spike in Minovsky Particles as they approached the suspicious area. From underwater, Ken and Ashley could see the source of the anomaly. It wasn't mini subs, but mobile suits. These weren't Zakus however, or even Goufs. They were a new model of mobile suit, and they appeared specialized for navel and amphibious warfare. The units were very big, the body and head shaped like a bulb with thick legs and powerful arms. Each hand bore massive yellow claws and the whole thing was painted a teal color to blend in with the ocean water. Even with the color it was hard to miss.
The mobile suit noticed them right away and turned toward them. Four red spikes on the mobile suit's chest started to glow and fired beams at Ken's Gundam G. He pulled his Gundam G out of the way with time to spare, but he was still close enough to be awed by the power of the attack. "An amphibious mobile suit that uses beam weapons as its primary armament? What kind of output must that thing have to allow that?" He glanced over at his side monitor. In the distance were a dozen hulls pushing their way through the waves. "If this thing gets even one shot off at them the supply fleet's finished!"
There was a delay between the firing of the new model's shots, but something about the situation gave him an overwhelming sense of dread. He moved on instinct, leaping over some nonexistent attack. The Gundam G jumped slower in the water due to the resistance. As his mobile suit ascended through the water, he noticed a quartet of beam cannon shots pass just barely below the Gundam G's feet. Ken's eyes tracked the beams back to the thing that fired them.
"There's another one on that shelf!" Ken called out to his ally.
"Understood. I have this one under control," Ashley returned as she swiftly approached the nearer one. It was her first time in combat with the new enhancements and she was taking to them well. The enemy unit couldn't get a clean shot at the fast moving target. And in spite of the warning about staying at a distance, Ashley closed. The size of the enemy meant it had to have tough armor. Without the power of a beam rifle, she had to get close and pummel it with her machine gun for all it was worth. And while those claws clearly weren't just a decoration, it was too bulky to specialize in melee combat.
As she got closer, she opened up with the machine gun. Bullets pummeled the hulk, but it did little damage. Ashley landed in front of the thing, taking careful aim and shooting out the main camera. It took a swing at her with its claws, but Ashley and her High Mobility GM G was far too quick. With its camera damaged, the enemy mobile suit picked itself up and started to speed away. Its odd shape made it streamlined, so it moved like a submarine through the water. That, Ashley decided, was where the rumors of mini subs came from. Even with the improved thrust, her GM G couldn't keep up with the mobile suit turned sub and it started to pull away. She fired one last long burst that caught it in the bottom of the foot. It looked like one of the engines blew out, but it kept on pulling away into the murk until she lost sight of it.
Ken meanwhile, was dealing with a much more aggressive opponent. The rate of fire of the beam cannons on the new enemy model wasn't fantastic, but it was enough to keep Ken on his toes with his mobile suit's slowed reaction time. He had to react to the attacks before they even came, and he was. Once he got close he dodged above the enemy to get a good shot at it, but something about where he was felt wrong. He changed direction and then noticed another red spike on the enemy unit's head. As he got out of the way, it glowed and fired off another beam. Had he stayed where he was, the blast would have skewered him.
With all of the beam cannons preparing another shot, Ken had a safe shot with his rocket launcher. The blast kicked up a huge cloud of dust that obscured the target. Suddenly a deadly yellow claw shot out of the dust and grabbed onto something metal. To the Zeon pilot's disappointment and confusion, it was only the rocket launcher. Suddenly the Zeon mobile suit shuddered. The dust settled to reveal the Gundam G pulling on the extended arm of the new mobile suit. By bracing its foot against its enemy's side, Ken's mobile suit tore the arm clean off the enemy, sending it crashing into the sea floor.
By the time the Zeon pilot shook the stars out of his eyes, he saw only the Gundam G, pointing its rocket launcher, that it had retrieved from the separated arm, right at him. "I surrender! Please spare me White Devil!"
Ken accepted the surrender and sent the signal to Marcan and the fleet. But privately he wondered about the Zeon's "White Devil" comment. That was what the Zeons called Amuro and the Gundam. He dismissed it as some of the escort ships arrived to pick up the captured mobile suit and soldier. The Gundam G and Gundam looked enough alike that the soldier must have just mistaken the two. That had to be it…
Meh. Not my best, but I'm okay with it. I actually got someone to read this who I know and can talk to face to face about it, so I know what some of the core problems with it are. With that in mind, a lot of these have been really first drafty with that in mind. I'm not setting about to fix the problems that have been mentioned to me because they're second draft sort of things. That's not to say I'm trying to phone these in or anything, it's just that I know a big way that I can improve this story and I want to get this structure down so I can get to doing that.
I don't think I did anything too important in this chapter, but I am starting to further set up some stuff in the future, so that's good. I hope my characters are coming across well enough at least. This is probably going to expand the most when I get back around to it, but I want there to be at least something of merit here on the first draft.
Gundam geek side note (that have some mild spoilers of you don't know MSG): I'm aware that there was only one Zock created during the One Year War according to official sources, but again, I'm going by the game with this story. And you fight a lot of those stupid things in the game. They're pretty fun to play as though. I'm trying my best not to oversaturate the battlefield with mobile suits since there weren't really any serious mobile suit battles going on until the Battle of Jaburo, but the game is all mobile suit combat because, let's face it, that's what you buy a Gundam game for.