The Council

Nurame Kaga, leader of the Wolf, sat cross-legged on the dirt, the orange flames dancing in front of him. A break in the tongues of fire revealed Leo Posavatz.

The young leader of the Shark had a jagged scar on his right cheek, and his hair was cut short, less than a centimeter, to make the rigors of living fathoms beneath the ocean's surface slightly more bearable.

To Nurame's right was Helmut Boer, an Afrikaner, the descendants of the Boer guerilla warriors, leader of the Cobra.

Slightly apart from the group sat Miro Sirkonov, his face shrouded in a balaclava, a poisoned dart gun hidden beneath his tight fitting jump suit.

Nurame stroked his white beard, "A great dilemma has delayed our military advance, what is your explanation, Leo?"

The Russian man put a sour look on his face and sub-consciously traced over the scar with his fingers, "The enemy coastal guards have been watching the area, I suspect a recon submersible on routine patrol spotted the base and reported it."

Miro shook his head slowly and spoke, "The enemy does not patrol those waters, there was an information leak, and I can assure you that the Bat shall seek out the traitor before anymore harm can come to your operations."

"How can I trust a dishonorable spy, Miro?" Leo sneered back.

"Silence! Any arguing between us is pointless, the matter at hand is that the enemy knows of the presence of the Shark in the Atlantic. This is not acceptable."

Nurame turned to Leo, "Can your mobile suits punch a hole through the coastal guards lines and escape?"

Leo sighed, "It is difficult to say, but at most I can get at the most, say, five regiments out, with minimal damage. Perhaps more could escape and break the enemy lines, but they would suffer casualties that I cannot afford."

Nurame nodded, "Five regiments is plenty. Miro, can you and Helmut do a joint op and cripple some of the guard MS's, perhaps a squadron at least?"

Miro looked at Helmut and seemed to study him carefully. Then he turned to Nurame, his grayish eyes giving him an eerie appearance, "Yes."

"Very good. Contact me after you have weakened the enemy lines and my second in command shall deploy the 55th Sohei."

"The Sohei?" Leo asked in surprise, "Perhaps a more elite unit is preferable, such as the White Fangs?"

"The Sohei are not the cream of the crop, but they are the most fanatical warriors in the Wolf, hence the name."

"Yes, yes I know that Nurame, the Sohei were a sect of warrior monks in Japan during the Sengoku Jidai period. I do not spend my free time studying troop movements, you know."

Nurame smiled slightly before Leo continued, "A fanatical unit simply may not get the job done. The Sohei's once perfect record was tainted at the skirmish of the Caspian Sea. Sohei warriors went berserk in the midst of a fierce and decisive small battle, causing many losses to our side. Should the same event replay itself, many warriors of the Shark and the Wolf will be lost."

Nurame raised his hand, "My order stands, the Sohei will assist you Leo, I have need for the White Fangs elsewhere, a much more important operation where their skill and self-restraint will be needed."

Leo nodded slowly, "All right then."

Miro stood, silently as always, his evasion skills so honed that he instinctively moved noiselessly.

"I must go. Helmut, I shall contact you when I get back to the cave of the Bat."

"Ja, Herr Sirkonov," Helmut replied, his accent thick.

Miro bowed his head to the group and then retreated into the darkness, his footsteps making no sound.

Leo turned his head to face Nurame, "How is the operation to kidnap Chang Sun-Tzu progressing?"

The old man shrugged, squinting into the fire as if searching for something, "I have received no information from the team, but if they are keeping to the schedule, Chang Sun-Tzu ought to be in the possession of the Wolf."

"But they are not out of the woods yet," Helmut piped up, "the Black Telsons are stationed in the area, and unless at least four of them can reach the MS cache we have there, many, many warriors of the Wolf will die."

"Yes, the Black Telsons are the best Chang Lo Kai's army has to offer. Elite pilots in the best suits ever designed. Reminiscent to the gundam pilots many years ago. . ."

"Do not be fooled by their skill," Leo said, crossing his arms over his barrel like chest, "they have been trained to fight Mobile Suit to Mobile Suit. A quick and nimble opponent on the ground will be a greater nuisance than an entire regiment to them."

"Damn!" cursed the Wolf manning the radar in the Hummer. "What?" Katsuhiro demanded, jumping down from his perch to look at the display.

The sweeping arm passed over the upper area, six dots flashed. "MS?" Katsuhiro asked.

With a gulp the man replied, "Oh yeah."

Sighing Katsuhiro leapt back up and manned the .50 caliber. I'm getting to old for this, he though as the dots on the horizon grew bigger by the second.

Tai-i(captain) Tadamune Uesugi clicked on his commlink with the other five warriors in his wing of MS's. "The limo has the prince, do not fire upon it! The Hummer has a .50 cal gun on its top with 360 degree firing arc. It may not be much but don't take any chances. Aim carefully and if you have too, move in close and use your beam sabers."

The MS's piloted by Tadamune and his men were known as Montezumas, a state of the art weapons platform designed only three years ago.

It was armed with two hard hitting weapons, the plasma cannon and the concussion mortar. The plasma cannon had to charge to reach its full capacity, but it could be fired in short burst and still do moderate damage. A fully charged plasma shot could rip a hold through four- foot thick armor plates.

The concussion mortar was the more powerful of the two, but many pilots felt the delivery time and long reload delay hampered the weapon, making it ineffective. Rigorous training was the only way to use the concussion mortar effectively. An ace pilot could decimate an entire base in seconds with several well-placed shots with the mortar.

Tadamune squeezed down on the fire control joystick and he heard the whine of the plasma cannon charging. He adjusted a dial to make the cannon cease charging at 75%. Higher charges effected the projectiles speed and range.

He lowered the crosshairs onto the Hummer, then adjusted his aim so that the reticule trailed a few yards ahead of the target. The display projected onto his helmet's visor flashed a message, PLAS CANNON AT 75%.

The cannon spat out a slag of molten plasma, ripping through the air at 2000 feet per second.

Black asphalt showered up as the shot dug a crater into the surface of the road, a glowing gold ball pulsated for a second before cooling.

Tadamune held down the trigger to begin charging as his wingmen fired their own shots. All of them hit the road except one. A stray shot sheared through a lamppost. The metal structure toppled onto the sidewalk, sparks showering from the broken wire.

Before Tadamune could fully charge his cannon, a white finger of smoke shot out from the rear of the Hummer. The MS to his right suddenly dropped, bouncing over the black top several times, smoke pouring out of its cockpit.

He released the trigger and a plasma shot burst from the muzzle of the cannon, missing the Hummer by a long shot, "Flight, break off! Break off! They've got some sort of rocket launchers!"

Another missile streaked past a Montezuma, narrowly missing the MS.

As his men broke off, Tadamune pushed his Montezuma into a dive, pulling off at the last second. A trio of rockets leapt from the Hummer, zipping past Tadamune and into three more mobile suits of his charge.

"Tai-i, break off! What the hell are you doing?!" Tadamune broke his commlink with his wing and adjusted the dial on his plasma cannon to 100%. They're close enough, I can get them at this range.

As the meter ticked off 98% on the charge, the Hummer suddenly took a sharp right into a narrow alleyway.

Tadamune slammed on the brakes as followed. He heard the armor on his MS's arms being scraped away as it bounced back on forth between the two building.

His grip on the trigger loosened and the plasma cannon unleashed a burning round.

Murasame averted his eyes as the enemy Montezuma's plasma shot went astray and hit the wall, tearing deep and shooting out a column of fire.

He grabbed the last rocket launcher from the bin under the seat and shouldered the weapon. Not exactly sniping, but close enough.

The Montezuma surged out from the roiling blaze, a small shot charged in its plas cannon.

Murasame squeezed down on the trigger and the rocket launched from the tube, a white streak of smoke trailing the projectile.

Tai-i Date Tadamune grunted as the force of the rocket forced him back into his seat. Somehow he had survived the direct hit on his mobile suit's cockpit, but all the armor plating was shredded from the vital area. His Montezuma twisted in mid air so it was facing away from the escaping enemy.

Smoke leaked from the cockpit. As the thick haze cleared and Tadamune ceased coughing, he checked the damage display. It flickered and interference crackled over the small monitor. He the de-gausser and the magnetism vanished, but the screen was still difficult to make out. After studying it for a moment, he learned that his Montezuma was totally inoperable.

Tadamune pounded the armrest and cursed his enemies with every word he knew.

"Chu-i(Lieutenant)! They got Tadamune!" yelled an excited pilot over the comm.

"Damn! Group, break off and return to base, I'm going to kill those bastards!"

Chu-i Mark Adams throttled his Montezuma and armed his concussion mortar. Carefully he took aim at the speedy Hummer. It had turned back onto the main road and was trailing after the speed limo.

As his reticule flashed he stabbed down on the pick button.

The boom of the concussion mortar shook the Hummer. Katsuhiro swore as he heard the high pitched whistle of the approaching shell.

He kicked the door out, arming himself with a rifle. Before he could leap out though, the shell slammed into the center of the Hummer, tearing the thick metal hide apart like paper.

In an instant the vehicle was converted into a roaring inferno. Katsuhiro threw Murasame out, the younger man clung to his beloved sniper rifle as he stumbled away from the burning wreck.

The huge warrior jumped clear of the Hummer as the Montezuma assault mobile suit screamed over head.

Five others moved clear of the shell of the Hummer. Katsuhiro motioned for them to head down the alley. He heard a moan come from the Hummer. He hesitated a second then took a few steps towards the Hummer.

A man crawled out, his back aflame. He fell onto the asphalt and raised his hand, his mouth moving as if he was trying to speak.

Katsuhiro shook his head and backed away as the man collapsed. The stench of charred flesh filled Katsuhiro's nostrils as he turned and left the scene.

"All right, does everyone understand the plan?" Renard asked. The eight surviving members of the Wolf nodded, Katsuhiro and Murasame more slowly than the others.

As Renard and the other Wolves left, Murasame turned to Katsuhiro, "Why do we get assigned to watch this whelp?" he asked indignantly, motioning to the prince.

Katsuhiro shrugged, his face no expressing the feeling of annoyance he felt, "No time to complain, let's just get out of here, I'm sure that the local CHMS(Chang Hegemony Military Service)leaders has dispatched an infantry squad to search for us."

Renard swung himself up over the ledge, crouching low so that only the top half of his head peeked over the building. He was high above the city street, and only years of conditioning himself kept him from succumbing to acrophobia.

Content that the area was clear, Renard vaulted onto the rampart and took a deep breath. The yakuza lord mustered all the courage he had ever had and leaped out into the empty space.

He landed squarely on the building. Sighing with relief. His left eye twitched as something red and bright penetrated the corner. It took him a nanosecond to realize what it was.

He dove for cover as the bullet zipped over head, chunks of concrete spraying as it hit the ground a few feet behind him.

Sniper, damn!

The red laser dot appeared on his hand and Renard rolled out of the way as a round zinged into the concrete.

He saw a flash of urban camo as the attacker quickly changed his position. He's good too!

The sight appeared again, this time above Renard. He stayed low and moved to the left, but this is what the sniper had expected him to do.

Renard yelped as the bullet passed straight through his upper arm. A crimson spot appeared on the ground where the bullet ricocheted.

Out of bullets, good!

Renard scrambled for the door and kicked it off its hinges, barreling down the stairs two at a time. His mind raced as he heard the sound of a helicopter rotor.

There was a zip and a thud like combat boots touching down. Renard heard a deep voice echoing through the corridor.

"Squad, let's move out!"

Renard put on a burst of speed, skidding to a halt a T-shaped intersection. He sprinted down the new hall, latching onto a door- frame and groping for the handle.

"There he is, get him!" bullets saturated the area as the infantry squad opened up with their German built MP5 sub-machine guns.

Renard stumbled into the dark room, locking the door behind him. He heard the squad leader pounding on it and shouting to his men. "Go-cho(Corporal) get an entry explosive on here!"

The young Go-cho efficiently rigged up the explosive, and stepped back and triggered it.

As the wood splintered, the squad leader moved forward, his MP5 raised and his finger around the trigger.

A yellowish light flashed in the darkness of the room. A metallic fist broke through the wall and came flying at the squad. "Holy shiiiiittttt!" cried out the Go-cho as the Montezuma plastered what was left of the men against the opposite wall.