Call to Arms
Rated PG-13 for mild language and violence.
Prologue UC 0083 Septermber 23rd
The Delaz fleet's latest mobilesuit, the Dra-C has been unveiled. In their heart's, the young pilots gaze at their new weapons of war. Being called upon, Lieutenant JG Thomas Harper is propelled into the prewar countdown. With much of his anger and frustration burning inside of him, Thomas must lead his comrades into war. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory "Call to Arms!"
Chapter 2 "Escort to Glory"
UC 0083 October 1st
"Your have to be faster than that Matt!" The Shoal Zone provided the Dra-C pilots the chance to improve their combat skills. Each passing second, they became more aware of their mobilesuit's. Thomas and Matthew were each entangled in mock combat. The Dra-C mobilesuits moved through the debris, their monoeye's scanning the area for their other unit to appear. Thomas spun in a 360 degree barrel roll, descending down upon Matthew's 6, he narrowed his eyes as his body released beads of sweat the cockpit helmet had to have been at least 70 degrees and up. He envisioned Matthew's Dra-C as that GM he shot up at A Baoa Qu. His mind played that image of him shooting up the GM countless times. The targeting circle danced around the small targeting computer screen. The Dra-C moving at incredible speeds as Matthew's Dra-C turned around quickly. "I got you now!" Matthew enjoyed this mock fight; he enjoyed many things in life. "Shit!" Thomas yelled, he never expected Matt to pull a move such as this. He banked right fast, the G-forces pressing him into the cockpit. The mobilesuit's monoeye turning on it's track to keep Matt in site. Gripping the controls tightly, Thomas made a bold move. "I'm not going to lose to you Matt, not today!" He narrowed his eye's, his foot pressed against the left foot peddle, the right propellant leg stopped all together as the Dra-C turned instantly on a dime. He turned 180 degrees. "Damn, where the hell did he go!" He turned his head to the left, he caught a glimpse of Matthew's Dra-C in the lower left corner of the left cockpit screen, and he was most likely coming around to strike from behind. Matthew looked forward, his feet pressing down on both pedals pressing down, increasing speed he entered the debris field of side 5.
Moving about he couldn't help but to notice the blue object speeding towards him. His cockpit turned red shortly, he turned quickly away and avoided the head on collision he would have had with Thomas. "You got me man, I will admit, that surly worked up an appetite for revenge. How about another bout?" Matthew turned his head, his breathing slowed as he opened a cockpit video with Tom. "You want to go for another round?" Thomas looked towards the video that appeared in the upright of his cockpit. "No, Matt, I'm running low on fuel and I'm just not feeling right. Let's get back to the Peer Gynt. "All right, I suppose we had enough fun." Opening his cockpit helmet screen, he rubbed his eyes. His nose begun to trickle blood. He wiped his face and turned the Dra-C towards the Peer Gynt. Matthew turned into a formation with Thomas; both Dra-Cs begun to emit high amounts of thrust as their monoeye's looked forward. They both sped off to their carrier.
The Peer Gynt and the Tisch were in a tight formation, the two proceeding towards earth. The Peer Gynt carried the Dra-C mobilesuits, aswell as the Tisch that carried 4 Dra-C suits. Both ships were painted a dark olive green. With the symbol of Zeon painted on their bows. The Peer Gynt released its guide beacon, the mobilesuit recovery doors opened, the Dra-Cs moved into position. Matthew rubbed his eyes, he lined the mobilesuit up with the recover claw attached to the launching rail, and the red mobilesuit bay was filled with countless technicians and mechanics. "Auto Pilot now engaged." The massage came onto the screen, both Dra-Cs begun to move inside.
On the left side of the mobilesuit hanger, Luis stood firm and tall looking at Thomas's Dra-C being pulled in. "I have only known him for a bit under a month, already I feel honored." Luis watched Thomas's Dra-C stopped, he knew Matthew was already hunkered down. As the Dra-C begun to stop, the cockpit hatch opened. Peaking out, Thomas noticed the Dra-C under him. He grinned as he kicked off the chest plate of the mobilesuit and towards the airlock door. Waiting a second, the door opened. He stepped inside and closed it. He sunk to the floor, both feet planted to the ground. The door to the one of many hallways opened. There were many doors around the mobilesuit hanger. He turned to the one closest too the airlock door. Opening it, the room was a brightly lit room, with many crewmembers sitting in chairs at the controls of the catapult and hanger. The looked at him for a moment and turned back to their duties. "I have the performance data for the Dra-C. I will have to admit, it's pretty good." He walked towards the control board, placing a floppy disk containing combat data on the Dra-C's performance. He saluted the men and moved towards the door. "Lieutenant," Thomas stopped and turned his head towards the voice. " Please wait in the briefing room, someone will be along to speak with you." Thomas looked surprised; he opened the door and stepped through. "What would they want with me?"
He lowered his head thinking he was in trouble, walking down the long ghost gray hallway, he moved towards an iron door, with a crumbling sticker saying "Briefing Room. Authorized personnel only." He pressed his finger up against the button to open the door. The door slid open, stepping inside Thomas clicked the lock's on his helmet. Removing his helmet, he sat it down on the long metallic table. A few minutes later, a tall looking man in a Lieutenant's uniform looked at him, with a pair of round black glasses and a brown battle helmet, the man held a clip board in his hand. "I suppose you're Lieutenant JG Thomas Harper? Is that correct?" Thomas nodded, keeping his eyes on the man. "You're being promoted to full Lieutenant, and you're in command of the first Dra-C squadron. I'm your commanding officer, Commander Gunmand. Your Dra-C is being fitted with a command antenna and the mobilesuit will be improved in speed and firepower. Just give the Chief technician your modifications and he will make sure they will be done." He slid the clipboard across the metallic table and exited the room. "Great, a command unit. Just what I always wanted." He chuckled for a moment and begun taking down ideas. Moments later, his squadron mates entered the room. Luis looked to Thomas taking down notes. "Hey Tom, we heard the news. So you're the squadron leader? Your getting a fancy mobilesuit upgrade, you lucky bastard!" Thomas turned and looked at him. "I wish I was, problem is I'm going to be drawing the most fire once we enter combat."
He turned back to the clipboard and went back to work. Luis looked to Matthew and Jonathan. "I suppose we should celebrate, luckily I have been saving a cheap 6 pack of beer in my locker." Matthew's eyes widened. "You had beer all this time and you neglected to tell us!" Jonathan looked towards Thomas at the table thinking of what to add to his Dra-C. "Guys, I'm going to go to bed for a quick nap. We will be on combat alert soon." Jonathan waved and walked out of the room. Luis frowned. "Damn, that kid is never any fun. Well, Matt, I suppose its just us. Matthew turned his head and looked down. "I have a physical. I have to be in sickbay soon." He walked out the door, leaving Luis with a large frown on his face. "Give it up Luis, it's clear they are not the party types. Let me finish this and we will have a cold one." Luis's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "All right, I'll see if I can get some cups with ice." He grinned and walked out the door. "I suppose I will go with the 60 mm vulcan cannon and the pair of 20 mm vulcan cannons on the shoulders, also with the Zaku spikes on the shield. With a Zaku command antenna, I must show my nobility on the battlefield. Well, I suppose I should turn this is." He stood up, pushed in the metal chair and walked out the door. Luis, looked at Thomas for a moment, he scratched his head and sighed.
Thomas walked towards the Chief's office on the lower levels of the ship, just under the mobilesuit catapult. "This place seems cozy." That paranoid feeling followed him along the hallway. He stopped infront of the chief's door. Straightening up he pressed the button, with a small beep the door slid open. It appeared to be a small gray office, with a sloppily built iron desk, with only a small light to provide illumination. A dark hair colored man behind it looking into a small laptop. Thomas cleared his thoughts and looked at the man. The Chief looked up from his laptop and narrowed his eyes. "Sorry, this will only take a second Lieutenant. Please sit down, I'll be with you for a second." Thomas looked for the closest chair and sat, he looked around the office. Pictures of the Peer Gynt in the shipyards of Mahal and then its refit at the Garden of Thorns. The Chief gazed up and looked to Thomas. "I suppose you have your refit requests along with your Squadron name and Executive officer selection?" Thomas gave him the clipboard. "I'm going for the 60 mm vulcan cannon, the shoulder vulcans and the Zaku spikes on the shield. I also want a high- speed output with a longer combat range. I value speed as much as I value weapo...." The Chief stopped him before he could finish. "I'm sorry, but we have no more special secondary weaponary. With the deployment moved ahead of time, we didn't bring with us spare mobilesuit parts. I can however, have the technical department replace the 40 mm with a 90 mm mmp-80 Zaku sub machinegun. That and it gives your mobilesuit a manipulator. I can also have the mobilesuit fitted out with external propellant tanks. With our recent dealings with contractors gone into hiding they are in much supply. The range will be extended, so will speed. You might not be as agile."
Thomas frowned, he wanted to balence out his mobilesuit the best he could. He lowered his head then raised it again as a thought came across his mind. "Instead I have a better idea. Just somehow boost the range add the external propellant tanks. I have a better idea. Do you have any spare gatling guns onboard. a 50 mm gatling gun would do nicly. The Chief looked at him, "he turned his laptop over to face him." What we can do is, basicly add a smaller version of the gatling shield on the MS-07B3 Gouf Custom. Yet it will be attached directly to the arm. In terms, its a mini gatling shield. I believe I can have that manufactured." He turned his laptop around. He spoke softly, "Have you thought of a squadron name?" Thomas snapped his fingers, after thinking for a moment. "No, I have no squadron name yet. I believe will stick with Blue Squadron for the time being."
He looked to Thomas as he started stroking the keys on his laptop. "Well, Lieutenant, I will have it done in about 6 hours. It will be done before you cover Lieutenant Gato's rear-end. Go and get some rest." Thomas saluted the Chief; he gave somewhat of a half-assed salute back as he begun to get the modifications in order. Thomas exited the room, looking towards the hallway he went down, he begun to walk towards his quarters. "In 3 years, I go from grunt to Lieutenant. Amazing enough I'm piloting a drag racing MS with a mini-gun and a glow stick for weapons. Life can be really strange at times." He chuckled too himself as he marched too his room. That day, he kept his mind on more important things.
Thomas moved away from his thought's, he focused on the big picture.He thought for a moment on what his mobilesuit would look like once it was finished. He grinned at the thought and walked into his quarters. Opening the door, he noticed Jonathan sleeping in his bunk in the back of the room and Luis drinking a bottle of booze at the metallic table in the center of the room. Thomas nodded and walked further into the room. "Where is Matt, Luis?" He sighed and sat in his bunk, putting a knee to his chest looking agitated. Luis shurgged and took another swing from the long bottle. "I suppose he's off in sickbay, I think they want to breed us." He chuckled once at the thought looking to Jonathan. "Breed us?" He shook his head and sighed. "I suppose we are the most wreckless and have enough guts to pilot those "flying coffins." Thomas laughed and closed his eyes, he felt tired and annoyed that such much responsibility was put on his shoulders. He dozed off looking at Luis drink himself away.
"What time is it?" Thomas rubbed his eyes and rose from bed. He looked around and saw no one in the dark room. He noticed a small clock on the table that said "10:30pm." The first thing that came to Tom's mind was, "what is it I'm supposed to be doing right now?" He slapped his hand on his forehead and stood up quickly. "Damnit! I forgot about the damn mission briefing." He rushed to his locker and begun to dress. Walking out the door with his shirt loosely on and his pants halfway zipped up. He finished dressing in the hallway, he pressed his hands against himself and smoothed out the wrinkles in his uniform and entered the briefing room. "Attention on deck!" The room stood and turned attention to Thomas, with a half smirk on his face he gave a sloppy salute and sat down. "Sorry for the late arrival, I overslept." Looking at him, his squadron members.
Thomas stood up infront of a large television built into the wall. He turned and a map of the Earth appeared. He held up a small remote and the mood smoothened out. "All right, our mission is to form a perimeter around the Tisch. The Tisch will be launching the Komusai that will drop off and pick up Lieutenant Gato. If we spot any Federal ships, the Peer Gynt will take care of them. All we are to do is take care of any mobilesuits or cargo vessels that come along. We have no room for error, any questions?" Thomas looked around the room as Luis raised his hand, tilting his head back looking towards Thomas. "Sir, will we be expecting any Feddies during this mission?" His eye's gazed into Thomas's as he waited for an awanser. "Most likely, after the Lieutenant returns command expects at least a fleet of 2 - 3 ships to intercept us. Right now the only ships that can intercept us are Salamus class ships. Are there any other questions?" He looked around the room, into there eyes noticing unrest in them. "All right, now lets move out." He saluted and exited the room, following him closely his squadron members. Thomas walked silently, Matt at his side with Luis and Jonathan behind.
A steady flow of hydraulic fluid pushed the mobilesuit launch doors open. Inside the cheery red room moved with excitement. The gray launch racks extended from the mobilesuit bay. "Mobile Suits now launching, all personal clear the deck!" Inside of the small control room a group of people busy preparing to launch the Dra-C's. The Peer Gynt turned 20 degrees as the mobilesuits inside begun to start up. Inside of the cockpits, the pilots thought of their missions ahead. Thomas looked up as he was pressed back against the cockpit seat and launched into space. One by one, the mobilesuits from the Tisch and the Peer Gynt launched. A slight beep echoed through all 8 mobilesuit's cockpits. Thomas grinned as he turned his head to look at the earth. "All mobilesuits, spread out. Blue 2 (Matthew), stay on my 6. Blue 3 (Luis), cover the Peer Gynt from behind. Blue 4 (Jonathan) cover the Komusai. All right guys, lets earn our paychecks!"
"Son of a bitch!" Luis yelled, as he turned his head to look at Thomas's unit. Pressing the communication button he franticly spoke. "Commander, we have 3 Space Combat Gundams. Someone tipped the Feddies off!" Thomas turned his head, the monoeye turned and zoomed in on the approaching threat. "Damn, there on to us. All units, form up into pairs. Matt and I will take the first two, Luis and Jonathan take the other. They only have 100 mm machine-guns. Just be careful, they have a chest vulcan and possibly a mini- missile launcher." He leaned forward and banked hard. "Matthew, stay on my 4 O'clock. I'm going to need you on my back." Matthew looked ahead, keeping his eye's focused mumbling something. "Remember the simulations, keep your eye on the Feddie."
"Enemy mobilesuits approaching sir!" Graddle looked forward and slowly leaned and stood up. "All ships come about, begin anti-MS fire. Do not hit our mobilesuits!" The Helm officer slowly turned the wheel towards port, the ship slowly leaned towards port. The Tisch's gun-turrents slowly turned, yellow bolts of mega particles streamed throughout space, causing the Federal mobilesuits to avoid. The Peer Gynt followed with 120 mm machine-gun fire, yellow traces all around the ship, forcing the mobilesuits to stay away from the Tisch and Peer Gynt. Graddle gripped the command chair tightly. He turned his head quickly to the Communications officer. "Jam their radios, we can't let the Federal Forces find out about this operartion!"
Thomas focused more on the enemy than he did Anaval Gato. "Let the Tisch's guns cover Gato, lets focus on those Feddies!" Cheers over the radio followed as the four mobilesuits charged on. Thomas pressed hard down on the foot peddles. A higher output of thrust each second as the G forces pressed down upon Thomas. Pulling into a diagonal left dive, Thomas sprayed off a burst of 50 mm gatling fire upon the lead Federation mobilesuit. A few explosions shook the mobilesuits, the Gundam raised the GM shield it carried and fired the 100 mm machine-gun in response to the threat. Blue propellant lit up the area as long traces of it gave away the mobilesuits positions. Thomas and Matthew where separated, Thomas lost him as soon as the first 100 mm shells were fired. Yellow traces exploded infront of Thomas as he moved away from the tailing Gundam. "Damn, I can't shake this bastard!" 100 mm fire sped past Thomas, his Dra-C pulled a 180 degree spin. Waiting for his chance, he sped upwards letting the Gundam fallow him. Cutting his engines in a 180 degree spin, he activated his beamsaber. Quickly inverted himself, at the last second, exposing his suits chest as the beamsaber slashed from right to left, penetratin deeply into the Gundam's chest. Yellow plasma and minovsky particles filled the Gundam's cockpit as the Dra-C sped by destroying the Gundam,which was just cut in half. Spreading it's debris to the four winds.
"Matthew where the hell are you?" Luis looked franticly, looking for the other two Feddies. The Dra-C's monoeye sped around on it's track looking for enemy units. An explosion caught Luis's eyes. He noticed Matthew in a beamsaber duel with the "02" unit of the Federal Gundam team. The endless flashes from the beamsaber's was the only thing they saw. The enemy Gundam had one beamsaber out, possibly because it ran out of ammunition for it's 100 mm machine-gun. Matthew charged forward, firing the vulcan gun at random places. Shots harmlessly splashed against the Gundam's head, instead the Gundam stopped and opened it's arms. A stead flow of yellow traces sped by in a straight line. Without much time, a click was heard. Followed by two more he ran out of ammunition. "02, pull out of there. They have us out manned and outgunned. Will come back for these Zeon bastards later!" The Gundam released several flair shots and turned tail and ran. Just then, a massive bright light sped by them, the Komusai 2 had managed to slip past them.
Their mission was only to protect the Komusai, but the side objective was to eliminate all Federal members in the area. The four Dra-Cs formed into a tight formation. Thomas leading, with Matt on his rear position. Luis and Jonathan fallowed closly behind. Thomas clicked several switches turning his head to look at his views. "All units listen up. With Gato descended to earth we have a new objective. Those Feddies have information that could doom this entire operation, seek and destroy. Break in pairs, Matt with Jonathan, myself and Luis. Lets nab us some kills!" He closed the cockpit, pressing down on the foot peddles hard, thus sending the Dra-C forward at an alarming rate.
"Damn these Zeeks don't know when to quit!" Yelled the Lt. Cmdr. He was apart of the 101st recon team. Assaigned suped up Ground Combat Gundam's for space. He and his wingmate, kept in close formation. His wingmates guns were dry, yet the other had half left. "Their coming up on us fast, I'm reading 40 mm vulcan guns as their primary gun weapon. They can't hurt us from distance but in melee their deadly!" Yelled the leader. His wingmate increased thurst, it was clear he was going to run out of fuel soon. Their mobilesuit's resembled Ground Combat Gundams, excpet their foot pads and backpacks were slightly altered with more thruster and vernier mounts. Unit 01 was leading, while 02 was speeding past hoping to run into their carrier and get picked up.
Graddle looked out of the main bridge window. The gun fire from both ships had stopped, seeing both enemy units fleeing away. Graddle looked to see an Ensign standing behind him with a clipboard. The Ensign, was roughly 5 feet tall, long brown hair in a pony tail and jade green eyes. He handed Graddle the clip board. "Sir, I have the results of the battle." Graddle raised and eyebow, he turned his head and looked at the Ensign. "The Tisch has used up 25% of its anti MS ammo. While we have used up 10% of ours. The Feddies lost one mobilesuit of unknown type while our mobilesuits are hunting down the other two." Graddle thought for a moment and turned to look back out at the pursuit. "Ensign, radio blue sqaudron commander. Tell him to use whatever methoids nescessary to prevent those suits from escaping. If possible I want him to capture the mobilesuits. Make it a priority one transmission." Graddle turned away, handing the Ensign the clipboard and sat into his seat. The bridge crew chose to ware their normalsuits while Graddle did not. He looked troubled, most likly hadn't slept for days. He buried his thoughts into a datapad.
Thomas raised an eyebow as his communication unit recieved a priority one transmission. He acitvated the comm to see the Ensign Graddle had just spoken too. Thomas released a slit smirk to see the Ensign worry about getting the communication right. "Captain Graddle wants Blue Squadron to distroy or capture the enemy units. He would prefer you to Capture them. This becomes your first priority." Thomas thought for a moment, how would he capture two recon mobilesuits with mobilesuits that could hardly fight off a GM? Thomas looked back into the screen. "Tell the Captain we will do the best we can. Harper out." After he closed off the massage he turned his head to see Matt closly on his right. "Blue Squadron, this is Blue Leader. Carrier wishes for us to capture enemy units. Aim only for their camera units, once they are blind they can't fight. The second unit appears to be running out of fuel, so focus only on the first.
"Lead, this is Blue 2. Why does carrier wish for us to do that?" Matt looked to his left looking at the command unit. Its new weaponary made him envyous. Thomas replied in a low voice, "I'm unsure but we do as we're told. Blue 2 with me, we will blitz the first. Blue 3 and 4 fallow the second unit. Attack camera units only. We want the pilots alive." Without any questions, the group went foward. Thomas and Matt kept into a tight formation, while Luis and Jonathan moved away towards the faster enemy unit. It wasn't long before the first unit had caught onto their plan and sharply turned and righted itself opening fire with its 100 mm machinegun fastly running out of ammo. Thomas raised the Dra-C's shield, the shells almost punching though while he moved to avoid the rounds he forced Matt to move away. When the Gundam ran dry, it threw the gun stright at Thomas's mobilesuit. He moved out of the way letting it float away.
The pace quickened as Unit 02 ran out of propellant, leaving it easy killings for Luis and Jonathan. "Blue 4, move 50 degrees outward, incase the pilot bails I'll need you to pick him up!" Luis turned his sights onto the Gundam fastly coming into range, it turned around and pulled its beamsaber. The pink blad illuminating the cold blackness of space. In seconds, the two where in melee combat. Luis activated the beamsaber, the Dra-C was in point black as the Gundam striked. Luis deflected the blade with the mobilesuit's beamsaber pushing the hand it was held in away. He thrusted the 40 mm vulcan gun foward putting it merly a foot away from the Gundam's exposed face and he fired until the barrel was overheated. When the muzzle flashes dissapeared, the Gundam's face looked as if it went one on one with a colony! Unit 02, disabled and blind harmlessly floated away after being mauled in the face with a 40 mm vulcan gun. Luis grinned, yet alarms flashing all around the cockpit due to the vulcan gun's overheat and the gun's depletion of ammo. He pressed the communication wide band to reach the Feddie pilot. "To the enemy unit, consider yourself a prisoner of the Delaz Fleet!" Thats all there was to it, the enemy pilot was faced with defeat. It shut down all systems except life support. Luis marked the enemy unit as friendly and waited for the recorvery vehical to come to the area.
"Ahhhhh Shit! They nabbed my wingman." The Lt. Cmdr inside Unit 1 yelled as he had little more than 50 rounds of vulcan ammo and a 50% powered beam saber. He kept jumping in different directions, darting like a shooting start to stay away from the two Dra-Cs closing on him. They were now entering a debris field, this debris field was mostly colony wreckage from Operation Britian with several Salamus and Musai wrecks in. Most of the hulks, which had been picked clean for parts floated their showing off their battlewounds. The Gundam unit, now with scorch marks upon its chest area used the debris to hide.
"Matt hes gone into the debris field, scramble pattern 001. We will wait for him to make his move. Use infared sensors to find him. Most the debris in this area most likly are cold so it wouldn't be hard to find him." He closed off all communication and shut down most of his high heat generating systems allowing his thrusters to move him into a hiding location. He switched to infared sensors scoping the debris for the enemy mobilesuit. Slowly, Thomas and Matt scanned the area, making quick and deep sweeps. However, this Feddie was clearly a vet pilot.
Slowly, each unit moved thoughout the debris field looking for one another. Matt had drifted far into another area while Thomas stayed in his looking for the Gundam. Meanwhile, the Gundam pilot had done the same, but not equipped with infared sensors. Thomas floated slowly, the monoeye sliding on its track picked up what looked like a Federal mobilesuit. "gotcha!" He yelled as he sped foward engaging his beamsaber. He slashed 3 times at the unit, making a diagnal pattern. The beam quickly darted thought the mobilesuit. However, it did not explode. It turned out to be a Zanny mobilesuit. The kitbash of a Zaku and an early GM. It floated away as proximity sensors picked up a Gundam moving in from behind. "Shit hes behind me!" Thomas, franticly turned about, his mellow green eyes focued onto the screen as he saw the Gundam attempting to lunge the beamsaber at him. Thomas reversed the speed sharply as the Gundam's saber came within 2 feet of the armor melting the paint and scorching the area black. He turned the Dra-C 180 degrees to face the Gundam. Beamsaber still activated his saber and the enemy's clashed releasing a white light that could be seen for miles. Matt could only look on as he moved as fast as he could through the debris.
Thomas was now fighting franticly, a saber move here or there keeping the enemy away from his weakly armored mobilesuit. He moved backwards 10 feet and darthed upwards towards the north just before the Gundam fired the last of its ammo turning a lifeless hulk that used to be a Pazock class suppy vessel into swiss cheese. Thomas regained himself and focused the suit to be facing the Gundam which was now below him. Sweat dripping from his face, debris floating in between them. Thomas made his move, putting the shield to cover the Dra-C's exposed chest. He watched as the Gundam did the same, at the last second the Gundam attempted to pull to the side and lunge it's saber into the Dra-C's side. Yet Thomas moved sharply to counter, his beamsaber, striking the other with much force knocking it out of the Gundam's hand and into space. The Gundam off balence was no defenceless as Thomas charged in fiercly, position is spiked shield he slammed it down with full force onto the Gundam's exposed and bulky cockpit. It crumpled the armor in and with that it shattered the moniters in the cockpit sending shards of glass into the enemy pilot's body killing him in a very painful way.
"Enemy unit inactive!" The sensor officer aboard the Peer Gynt announced. Graddle, this time looked up and over to the sensor officer. He raised his left arm, pointing it at the helm. "Full speed ahead, we must recover all mobilesuits. Inform the Tisch they will be taking onboard our Dra-Cs. Inform security to past guards along the mobilesuit deck. We will take aboard the enemy mobilesuits. Once all mobilesuits are recovered set corse for home base!" The determination in his voice made the Helm officer shake in his boots. As he carried out his orders.
As they landed one by one, the mobilesuits were greeted by countless many personal floating around. Thomas opened the cockpit hatch, the beamsaber still heated from overuse, as he pushed out of the cockpit he smiled and saluted. He raised his arm towards the ceiling infront of the Dra-C. "Sieg Zeon!" They each raised their arms, following in the chant. As they chanted, Anaval Gato had descended to earth. In the next week, they would be on the road to war.....
Next Chapter: "Glory to Zeon!"
Prologue UC 0083 Septermber 23rd
The Delaz fleet's latest mobilesuit, the Dra-C has been unveiled. In their heart's, the young pilots gaze at their new weapons of war. Being called upon, Lieutenant JG Thomas Harper is propelled into the prewar countdown. With much of his anger and frustration burning inside of him, Thomas must lead his comrades into war. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory "Call to Arms!"
Chapter 2 "Escort to Glory"
UC 0083 October 1st
"Your have to be faster than that Matt!" The Shoal Zone provided the Dra-C pilots the chance to improve their combat skills. Each passing second, they became more aware of their mobilesuit's. Thomas and Matthew were each entangled in mock combat. The Dra-C mobilesuits moved through the debris, their monoeye's scanning the area for their other unit to appear. Thomas spun in a 360 degree barrel roll, descending down upon Matthew's 6, he narrowed his eyes as his body released beads of sweat the cockpit helmet had to have been at least 70 degrees and up. He envisioned Matthew's Dra-C as that GM he shot up at A Baoa Qu. His mind played that image of him shooting up the GM countless times. The targeting circle danced around the small targeting computer screen. The Dra-C moving at incredible speeds as Matthew's Dra-C turned around quickly. "I got you now!" Matthew enjoyed this mock fight; he enjoyed many things in life. "Shit!" Thomas yelled, he never expected Matt to pull a move such as this. He banked right fast, the G-forces pressing him into the cockpit. The mobilesuit's monoeye turning on it's track to keep Matt in site. Gripping the controls tightly, Thomas made a bold move. "I'm not going to lose to you Matt, not today!" He narrowed his eye's, his foot pressed against the left foot peddle, the right propellant leg stopped all together as the Dra-C turned instantly on a dime. He turned 180 degrees. "Damn, where the hell did he go!" He turned his head to the left, he caught a glimpse of Matthew's Dra-C in the lower left corner of the left cockpit screen, and he was most likely coming around to strike from behind. Matthew looked forward, his feet pressing down on both pedals pressing down, increasing speed he entered the debris field of side 5.
Moving about he couldn't help but to notice the blue object speeding towards him. His cockpit turned red shortly, he turned quickly away and avoided the head on collision he would have had with Thomas. "You got me man, I will admit, that surly worked up an appetite for revenge. How about another bout?" Matthew turned his head, his breathing slowed as he opened a cockpit video with Tom. "You want to go for another round?" Thomas looked towards the video that appeared in the upright of his cockpit. "No, Matt, I'm running low on fuel and I'm just not feeling right. Let's get back to the Peer Gynt. "All right, I suppose we had enough fun." Opening his cockpit helmet screen, he rubbed his eyes. His nose begun to trickle blood. He wiped his face and turned the Dra-C towards the Peer Gynt. Matthew turned into a formation with Thomas; both Dra-Cs begun to emit high amounts of thrust as their monoeye's looked forward. They both sped off to their carrier.
The Peer Gynt and the Tisch were in a tight formation, the two proceeding towards earth. The Peer Gynt carried the Dra-C mobilesuits, aswell as the Tisch that carried 4 Dra-C suits. Both ships were painted a dark olive green. With the symbol of Zeon painted on their bows. The Peer Gynt released its guide beacon, the mobilesuit recovery doors opened, the Dra-Cs moved into position. Matthew rubbed his eyes, he lined the mobilesuit up with the recover claw attached to the launching rail, and the red mobilesuit bay was filled with countless technicians and mechanics. "Auto Pilot now engaged." The massage came onto the screen, both Dra-Cs begun to move inside.
On the left side of the mobilesuit hanger, Luis stood firm and tall looking at Thomas's Dra-C being pulled in. "I have only known him for a bit under a month, already I feel honored." Luis watched Thomas's Dra-C stopped, he knew Matthew was already hunkered down. As the Dra-C begun to stop, the cockpit hatch opened. Peaking out, Thomas noticed the Dra-C under him. He grinned as he kicked off the chest plate of the mobilesuit and towards the airlock door. Waiting a second, the door opened. He stepped inside and closed it. He sunk to the floor, both feet planted to the ground. The door to the one of many hallways opened. There were many doors around the mobilesuit hanger. He turned to the one closest too the airlock door. Opening it, the room was a brightly lit room, with many crewmembers sitting in chairs at the controls of the catapult and hanger. The looked at him for a moment and turned back to their duties. "I have the performance data for the Dra-C. I will have to admit, it's pretty good." He walked towards the control board, placing a floppy disk containing combat data on the Dra-C's performance. He saluted the men and moved towards the door. "Lieutenant," Thomas stopped and turned his head towards the voice. " Please wait in the briefing room, someone will be along to speak with you." Thomas looked surprised; he opened the door and stepped through. "What would they want with me?"
He lowered his head thinking he was in trouble, walking down the long ghost gray hallway, he moved towards an iron door, with a crumbling sticker saying "Briefing Room. Authorized personnel only." He pressed his finger up against the button to open the door. The door slid open, stepping inside Thomas clicked the lock's on his helmet. Removing his helmet, he sat it down on the long metallic table. A few minutes later, a tall looking man in a Lieutenant's uniform looked at him, with a pair of round black glasses and a brown battle helmet, the man held a clip board in his hand. "I suppose you're Lieutenant JG Thomas Harper? Is that correct?" Thomas nodded, keeping his eyes on the man. "You're being promoted to full Lieutenant, and you're in command of the first Dra-C squadron. I'm your commanding officer, Commander Gunmand. Your Dra-C is being fitted with a command antenna and the mobilesuit will be improved in speed and firepower. Just give the Chief technician your modifications and he will make sure they will be done." He slid the clipboard across the metallic table and exited the room. "Great, a command unit. Just what I always wanted." He chuckled for a moment and begun taking down ideas. Moments later, his squadron mates entered the room. Luis looked to Thomas taking down notes. "Hey Tom, we heard the news. So you're the squadron leader? Your getting a fancy mobilesuit upgrade, you lucky bastard!" Thomas turned and looked at him. "I wish I was, problem is I'm going to be drawing the most fire once we enter combat."
He turned back to the clipboard and went back to work. Luis looked to Matthew and Jonathan. "I suppose we should celebrate, luckily I have been saving a cheap 6 pack of beer in my locker." Matthew's eyes widened. "You had beer all this time and you neglected to tell us!" Jonathan looked towards Thomas at the table thinking of what to add to his Dra-C. "Guys, I'm going to go to bed for a quick nap. We will be on combat alert soon." Jonathan waved and walked out of the room. Luis frowned. "Damn, that kid is never any fun. Well, Matt, I suppose its just us. Matthew turned his head and looked down. "I have a physical. I have to be in sickbay soon." He walked out the door, leaving Luis with a large frown on his face. "Give it up Luis, it's clear they are not the party types. Let me finish this and we will have a cold one." Luis's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "All right, I'll see if I can get some cups with ice." He grinned and walked out the door. "I suppose I will go with the 60 mm vulcan cannon and the pair of 20 mm vulcan cannons on the shoulders, also with the Zaku spikes on the shield. With a Zaku command antenna, I must show my nobility on the battlefield. Well, I suppose I should turn this is." He stood up, pushed in the metal chair and walked out the door. Luis, looked at Thomas for a moment, he scratched his head and sighed.
Thomas walked towards the Chief's office on the lower levels of the ship, just under the mobilesuit catapult. "This place seems cozy." That paranoid feeling followed him along the hallway. He stopped infront of the chief's door. Straightening up he pressed the button, with a small beep the door slid open. It appeared to be a small gray office, with a sloppily built iron desk, with only a small light to provide illumination. A dark hair colored man behind it looking into a small laptop. Thomas cleared his thoughts and looked at the man. The Chief looked up from his laptop and narrowed his eyes. "Sorry, this will only take a second Lieutenant. Please sit down, I'll be with you for a second." Thomas looked for the closest chair and sat, he looked around the office. Pictures of the Peer Gynt in the shipyards of Mahal and then its refit at the Garden of Thorns. The Chief gazed up and looked to Thomas. "I suppose you have your refit requests along with your Squadron name and Executive officer selection?" Thomas gave him the clipboard. "I'm going for the 60 mm vulcan cannon, the shoulder vulcans and the Zaku spikes on the shield. I also want a high- speed output with a longer combat range. I value speed as much as I value weapo...." The Chief stopped him before he could finish. "I'm sorry, but we have no more special secondary weaponary. With the deployment moved ahead of time, we didn't bring with us spare mobilesuit parts. I can however, have the technical department replace the 40 mm with a 90 mm mmp-80 Zaku sub machinegun. That and it gives your mobilesuit a manipulator. I can also have the mobilesuit fitted out with external propellant tanks. With our recent dealings with contractors gone into hiding they are in much supply. The range will be extended, so will speed. You might not be as agile."
Thomas frowned, he wanted to balence out his mobilesuit the best he could. He lowered his head then raised it again as a thought came across his mind. "Instead I have a better idea. Just somehow boost the range add the external propellant tanks. I have a better idea. Do you have any spare gatling guns onboard. a 50 mm gatling gun would do nicly. The Chief looked at him, "he turned his laptop over to face him." What we can do is, basicly add a smaller version of the gatling shield on the MS-07B3 Gouf Custom. Yet it will be attached directly to the arm. In terms, its a mini gatling shield. I believe I can have that manufactured." He turned his laptop around. He spoke softly, "Have you thought of a squadron name?" Thomas snapped his fingers, after thinking for a moment. "No, I have no squadron name yet. I believe will stick with Blue Squadron for the time being."
He looked to Thomas as he started stroking the keys on his laptop. "Well, Lieutenant, I will have it done in about 6 hours. It will be done before you cover Lieutenant Gato's rear-end. Go and get some rest." Thomas saluted the Chief; he gave somewhat of a half-assed salute back as he begun to get the modifications in order. Thomas exited the room, looking towards the hallway he went down, he begun to walk towards his quarters. "In 3 years, I go from grunt to Lieutenant. Amazing enough I'm piloting a drag racing MS with a mini-gun and a glow stick for weapons. Life can be really strange at times." He chuckled too himself as he marched too his room. That day, he kept his mind on more important things.
Thomas moved away from his thought's, he focused on the big picture.He thought for a moment on what his mobilesuit would look like once it was finished. He grinned at the thought and walked into his quarters. Opening the door, he noticed Jonathan sleeping in his bunk in the back of the room and Luis drinking a bottle of booze at the metallic table in the center of the room. Thomas nodded and walked further into the room. "Where is Matt, Luis?" He sighed and sat in his bunk, putting a knee to his chest looking agitated. Luis shurgged and took another swing from the long bottle. "I suppose he's off in sickbay, I think they want to breed us." He chuckled once at the thought looking to Jonathan. "Breed us?" He shook his head and sighed. "I suppose we are the most wreckless and have enough guts to pilot those "flying coffins." Thomas laughed and closed his eyes, he felt tired and annoyed that such much responsibility was put on his shoulders. He dozed off looking at Luis drink himself away.
"What time is it?" Thomas rubbed his eyes and rose from bed. He looked around and saw no one in the dark room. He noticed a small clock on the table that said "10:30pm." The first thing that came to Tom's mind was, "what is it I'm supposed to be doing right now?" He slapped his hand on his forehead and stood up quickly. "Damnit! I forgot about the damn mission briefing." He rushed to his locker and begun to dress. Walking out the door with his shirt loosely on and his pants halfway zipped up. He finished dressing in the hallway, he pressed his hands against himself and smoothed out the wrinkles in his uniform and entered the briefing room. "Attention on deck!" The room stood and turned attention to Thomas, with a half smirk on his face he gave a sloppy salute and sat down. "Sorry for the late arrival, I overslept." Looking at him, his squadron members.
Thomas stood up infront of a large television built into the wall. He turned and a map of the Earth appeared. He held up a small remote and the mood smoothened out. "All right, our mission is to form a perimeter around the Tisch. The Tisch will be launching the Komusai that will drop off and pick up Lieutenant Gato. If we spot any Federal ships, the Peer Gynt will take care of them. All we are to do is take care of any mobilesuits or cargo vessels that come along. We have no room for error, any questions?" Thomas looked around the room as Luis raised his hand, tilting his head back looking towards Thomas. "Sir, will we be expecting any Feddies during this mission?" His eye's gazed into Thomas's as he waited for an awanser. "Most likely, after the Lieutenant returns command expects at least a fleet of 2 - 3 ships to intercept us. Right now the only ships that can intercept us are Salamus class ships. Are there any other questions?" He looked around the room, into there eyes noticing unrest in them. "All right, now lets move out." He saluted and exited the room, following him closely his squadron members. Thomas walked silently, Matt at his side with Luis and Jonathan behind.
A steady flow of hydraulic fluid pushed the mobilesuit launch doors open. Inside the cheery red room moved with excitement. The gray launch racks extended from the mobilesuit bay. "Mobile Suits now launching, all personal clear the deck!" Inside of the small control room a group of people busy preparing to launch the Dra-C's. The Peer Gynt turned 20 degrees as the mobilesuits inside begun to start up. Inside of the cockpits, the pilots thought of their missions ahead. Thomas looked up as he was pressed back against the cockpit seat and launched into space. One by one, the mobilesuits from the Tisch and the Peer Gynt launched. A slight beep echoed through all 8 mobilesuit's cockpits. Thomas grinned as he turned his head to look at the earth. "All mobilesuits, spread out. Blue 2 (Matthew), stay on my 6. Blue 3 (Luis), cover the Peer Gynt from behind. Blue 4 (Jonathan) cover the Komusai. All right guys, lets earn our paychecks!"
"Son of a bitch!" Luis yelled, as he turned his head to look at Thomas's unit. Pressing the communication button he franticly spoke. "Commander, we have 3 Space Combat Gundams. Someone tipped the Feddies off!" Thomas turned his head, the monoeye turned and zoomed in on the approaching threat. "Damn, there on to us. All units, form up into pairs. Matt and I will take the first two, Luis and Jonathan take the other. They only have 100 mm machine-guns. Just be careful, they have a chest vulcan and possibly a mini- missile launcher." He leaned forward and banked hard. "Matthew, stay on my 4 O'clock. I'm going to need you on my back." Matthew looked ahead, keeping his eye's focused mumbling something. "Remember the simulations, keep your eye on the Feddie."
"Enemy mobilesuits approaching sir!" Graddle looked forward and slowly leaned and stood up. "All ships come about, begin anti-MS fire. Do not hit our mobilesuits!" The Helm officer slowly turned the wheel towards port, the ship slowly leaned towards port. The Tisch's gun-turrents slowly turned, yellow bolts of mega particles streamed throughout space, causing the Federal mobilesuits to avoid. The Peer Gynt followed with 120 mm machine-gun fire, yellow traces all around the ship, forcing the mobilesuits to stay away from the Tisch and Peer Gynt. Graddle gripped the command chair tightly. He turned his head quickly to the Communications officer. "Jam their radios, we can't let the Federal Forces find out about this operartion!"
Thomas focused more on the enemy than he did Anaval Gato. "Let the Tisch's guns cover Gato, lets focus on those Feddies!" Cheers over the radio followed as the four mobilesuits charged on. Thomas pressed hard down on the foot peddles. A higher output of thrust each second as the G forces pressed down upon Thomas. Pulling into a diagonal left dive, Thomas sprayed off a burst of 50 mm gatling fire upon the lead Federation mobilesuit. A few explosions shook the mobilesuits, the Gundam raised the GM shield it carried and fired the 100 mm machine-gun in response to the threat. Blue propellant lit up the area as long traces of it gave away the mobilesuits positions. Thomas and Matthew where separated, Thomas lost him as soon as the first 100 mm shells were fired. Yellow traces exploded infront of Thomas as he moved away from the tailing Gundam. "Damn, I can't shake this bastard!" 100 mm fire sped past Thomas, his Dra-C pulled a 180 degree spin. Waiting for his chance, he sped upwards letting the Gundam fallow him. Cutting his engines in a 180 degree spin, he activated his beamsaber. Quickly inverted himself, at the last second, exposing his suits chest as the beamsaber slashed from right to left, penetratin deeply into the Gundam's chest. Yellow plasma and minovsky particles filled the Gundam's cockpit as the Dra-C sped by destroying the Gundam,which was just cut in half. Spreading it's debris to the four winds.
"Matthew where the hell are you?" Luis looked franticly, looking for the other two Feddies. The Dra-C's monoeye sped around on it's track looking for enemy units. An explosion caught Luis's eyes. He noticed Matthew in a beamsaber duel with the "02" unit of the Federal Gundam team. The endless flashes from the beamsaber's was the only thing they saw. The enemy Gundam had one beamsaber out, possibly because it ran out of ammunition for it's 100 mm machine-gun. Matthew charged forward, firing the vulcan gun at random places. Shots harmlessly splashed against the Gundam's head, instead the Gundam stopped and opened it's arms. A stead flow of yellow traces sped by in a straight line. Without much time, a click was heard. Followed by two more he ran out of ammunition. "02, pull out of there. They have us out manned and outgunned. Will come back for these Zeon bastards later!" The Gundam released several flair shots and turned tail and ran. Just then, a massive bright light sped by them, the Komusai 2 had managed to slip past them.
Their mission was only to protect the Komusai, but the side objective was to eliminate all Federal members in the area. The four Dra-Cs formed into a tight formation. Thomas leading, with Matt on his rear position. Luis and Jonathan fallowed closly behind. Thomas clicked several switches turning his head to look at his views. "All units listen up. With Gato descended to earth we have a new objective. Those Feddies have information that could doom this entire operation, seek and destroy. Break in pairs, Matt with Jonathan, myself and Luis. Lets nab us some kills!" He closed the cockpit, pressing down on the foot peddles hard, thus sending the Dra-C forward at an alarming rate.
"Damn these Zeeks don't know when to quit!" Yelled the Lt. Cmdr. He was apart of the 101st recon team. Assaigned suped up Ground Combat Gundam's for space. He and his wingmate, kept in close formation. His wingmates guns were dry, yet the other had half left. "Their coming up on us fast, I'm reading 40 mm vulcan guns as their primary gun weapon. They can't hurt us from distance but in melee their deadly!" Yelled the leader. His wingmate increased thurst, it was clear he was going to run out of fuel soon. Their mobilesuit's resembled Ground Combat Gundams, excpet their foot pads and backpacks were slightly altered with more thruster and vernier mounts. Unit 01 was leading, while 02 was speeding past hoping to run into their carrier and get picked up.
Graddle looked out of the main bridge window. The gun fire from both ships had stopped, seeing both enemy units fleeing away. Graddle looked to see an Ensign standing behind him with a clipboard. The Ensign, was roughly 5 feet tall, long brown hair in a pony tail and jade green eyes. He handed Graddle the clip board. "Sir, I have the results of the battle." Graddle raised and eyebow, he turned his head and looked at the Ensign. "The Tisch has used up 25% of its anti MS ammo. While we have used up 10% of ours. The Feddies lost one mobilesuit of unknown type while our mobilesuits are hunting down the other two." Graddle thought for a moment and turned to look back out at the pursuit. "Ensign, radio blue sqaudron commander. Tell him to use whatever methoids nescessary to prevent those suits from escaping. If possible I want him to capture the mobilesuits. Make it a priority one transmission." Graddle turned away, handing the Ensign the clipboard and sat into his seat. The bridge crew chose to ware their normalsuits while Graddle did not. He looked troubled, most likly hadn't slept for days. He buried his thoughts into a datapad.
Thomas raised an eyebow as his communication unit recieved a priority one transmission. He acitvated the comm to see the Ensign Graddle had just spoken too. Thomas released a slit smirk to see the Ensign worry about getting the communication right. "Captain Graddle wants Blue Squadron to distroy or capture the enemy units. He would prefer you to Capture them. This becomes your first priority." Thomas thought for a moment, how would he capture two recon mobilesuits with mobilesuits that could hardly fight off a GM? Thomas looked back into the screen. "Tell the Captain we will do the best we can. Harper out." After he closed off the massage he turned his head to see Matt closly on his right. "Blue Squadron, this is Blue Leader. Carrier wishes for us to capture enemy units. Aim only for their camera units, once they are blind they can't fight. The second unit appears to be running out of fuel, so focus only on the first.
"Lead, this is Blue 2. Why does carrier wish for us to do that?" Matt looked to his left looking at the command unit. Its new weaponary made him envyous. Thomas replied in a low voice, "I'm unsure but we do as we're told. Blue 2 with me, we will blitz the first. Blue 3 and 4 fallow the second unit. Attack camera units only. We want the pilots alive." Without any questions, the group went foward. Thomas and Matt kept into a tight formation, while Luis and Jonathan moved away towards the faster enemy unit. It wasn't long before the first unit had caught onto their plan and sharply turned and righted itself opening fire with its 100 mm machinegun fastly running out of ammo. Thomas raised the Dra-C's shield, the shells almost punching though while he moved to avoid the rounds he forced Matt to move away. When the Gundam ran dry, it threw the gun stright at Thomas's mobilesuit. He moved out of the way letting it float away.
The pace quickened as Unit 02 ran out of propellant, leaving it easy killings for Luis and Jonathan. "Blue 4, move 50 degrees outward, incase the pilot bails I'll need you to pick him up!" Luis turned his sights onto the Gundam fastly coming into range, it turned around and pulled its beamsaber. The pink blad illuminating the cold blackness of space. In seconds, the two where in melee combat. Luis activated the beamsaber, the Dra-C was in point black as the Gundam striked. Luis deflected the blade with the mobilesuit's beamsaber pushing the hand it was held in away. He thrusted the 40 mm vulcan gun foward putting it merly a foot away from the Gundam's exposed face and he fired until the barrel was overheated. When the muzzle flashes dissapeared, the Gundam's face looked as if it went one on one with a colony! Unit 02, disabled and blind harmlessly floated away after being mauled in the face with a 40 mm vulcan gun. Luis grinned, yet alarms flashing all around the cockpit due to the vulcan gun's overheat and the gun's depletion of ammo. He pressed the communication wide band to reach the Feddie pilot. "To the enemy unit, consider yourself a prisoner of the Delaz Fleet!" Thats all there was to it, the enemy pilot was faced with defeat. It shut down all systems except life support. Luis marked the enemy unit as friendly and waited for the recorvery vehical to come to the area.
"Ahhhhh Shit! They nabbed my wingman." The Lt. Cmdr inside Unit 1 yelled as he had little more than 50 rounds of vulcan ammo and a 50% powered beam saber. He kept jumping in different directions, darting like a shooting start to stay away from the two Dra-Cs closing on him. They were now entering a debris field, this debris field was mostly colony wreckage from Operation Britian with several Salamus and Musai wrecks in. Most of the hulks, which had been picked clean for parts floated their showing off their battlewounds. The Gundam unit, now with scorch marks upon its chest area used the debris to hide.
"Matt hes gone into the debris field, scramble pattern 001. We will wait for him to make his move. Use infared sensors to find him. Most the debris in this area most likly are cold so it wouldn't be hard to find him." He closed off all communication and shut down most of his high heat generating systems allowing his thrusters to move him into a hiding location. He switched to infared sensors scoping the debris for the enemy mobilesuit. Slowly, Thomas and Matt scanned the area, making quick and deep sweeps. However, this Feddie was clearly a vet pilot.
Slowly, each unit moved thoughout the debris field looking for one another. Matt had drifted far into another area while Thomas stayed in his looking for the Gundam. Meanwhile, the Gundam pilot had done the same, but not equipped with infared sensors. Thomas floated slowly, the monoeye sliding on its track picked up what looked like a Federal mobilesuit. "gotcha!" He yelled as he sped foward engaging his beamsaber. He slashed 3 times at the unit, making a diagnal pattern. The beam quickly darted thought the mobilesuit. However, it did not explode. It turned out to be a Zanny mobilesuit. The kitbash of a Zaku and an early GM. It floated away as proximity sensors picked up a Gundam moving in from behind. "Shit hes behind me!" Thomas, franticly turned about, his mellow green eyes focued onto the screen as he saw the Gundam attempting to lunge the beamsaber at him. Thomas reversed the speed sharply as the Gundam's saber came within 2 feet of the armor melting the paint and scorching the area black. He turned the Dra-C 180 degrees to face the Gundam. Beamsaber still activated his saber and the enemy's clashed releasing a white light that could be seen for miles. Matt could only look on as he moved as fast as he could through the debris.
Thomas was now fighting franticly, a saber move here or there keeping the enemy away from his weakly armored mobilesuit. He moved backwards 10 feet and darthed upwards towards the north just before the Gundam fired the last of its ammo turning a lifeless hulk that used to be a Pazock class suppy vessel into swiss cheese. Thomas regained himself and focused the suit to be facing the Gundam which was now below him. Sweat dripping from his face, debris floating in between them. Thomas made his move, putting the shield to cover the Dra-C's exposed chest. He watched as the Gundam did the same, at the last second the Gundam attempted to pull to the side and lunge it's saber into the Dra-C's side. Yet Thomas moved sharply to counter, his beamsaber, striking the other with much force knocking it out of the Gundam's hand and into space. The Gundam off balence was no defenceless as Thomas charged in fiercly, position is spiked shield he slammed it down with full force onto the Gundam's exposed and bulky cockpit. It crumpled the armor in and with that it shattered the moniters in the cockpit sending shards of glass into the enemy pilot's body killing him in a very painful way.
"Enemy unit inactive!" The sensor officer aboard the Peer Gynt announced. Graddle, this time looked up and over to the sensor officer. He raised his left arm, pointing it at the helm. "Full speed ahead, we must recover all mobilesuits. Inform the Tisch they will be taking onboard our Dra-Cs. Inform security to past guards along the mobilesuit deck. We will take aboard the enemy mobilesuits. Once all mobilesuits are recovered set corse for home base!" The determination in his voice made the Helm officer shake in his boots. As he carried out his orders.
As they landed one by one, the mobilesuits were greeted by countless many personal floating around. Thomas opened the cockpit hatch, the beamsaber still heated from overuse, as he pushed out of the cockpit he smiled and saluted. He raised his arm towards the ceiling infront of the Dra-C. "Sieg Zeon!" They each raised their arms, following in the chant. As they chanted, Anaval Gato had descended to earth. In the next week, they would be on the road to war.....
Next Chapter: "Glory to Zeon!"