It's kind of ironic that so many authority figures don't command respect like they used to. That's what happens when you divorce actions from consequences, something liberal extremists are known to do. What's ironic is that everyone WANTS some respect, but we've all forgotten how to EARN it.
-- Captain Noah Bright

Chapter 7: Cowboys and Indians

- February 6, UC 0084 -
- 0945 hours (CST) -
All four main guns of Zeon heavy cruiser fired at once in a broadside towards the Federation ships, and once again their shots scattered among them nowhere close to a hit. Captain Shiden was sure to note that their gunners still couldn't get an accurate reading on them with the Minovsky jamming so thick; his failure to open fire clearly frustrated them beyond words. "Cruiser groups, fan out to either side and commence firing as soon as you have a definite target. Give them a four minute barrage, then shift positions!" Shiden waited for the two cruisers to move up ahead of the Tarawa before he made his own move, "Showtime, Lucy! Get underway!"

Lucy checked her systems one more time, making sure for the last time that the replacement leg was synchronized with the rest of the system, "Yosh... Let's go, Mike!"

"Launching!" Mike's mobile suit fired first, Lucy's was just a few seconds behind it and joined it in space.

The catapult truck slid back into position for the next mobile suits; Chase stepped onto the track and squatted down while Lieutenant Dyson did the same in the opposite hangar. "By the way, Rico," Chase said absently, "About your uncle,"

"What about my uncle?"

"What's the deal with him and Naomi anyway? Any time they're in the same room together..."

"Long story. If you get me drunk enough I'll tell you sometime."

"Got some history huh? What'd he do, steal her teddy bear?"

Rico pushed the foot petals and launched into space. Chase followed suit, but made a note to keep an eye on him in the near future.

Captain Shiden made sure the last of their mobile suits were out of the ship before he made his next move. "Helm, come about to 1-8-0, minus fifteen! Full combat speed!"

Lieutenant Browning chuckled at his radar station. "Trying a boomerang sir?"

"Why not? We have the element of surprise, and besides we took out that sniper, what are you so worried about?"

Browning folded his arms behind his head and turned his attention back to his monitors. "Who's worried? Did I say I was worried?"

"That's the spirit!"

The Ensign Holland at the comm. station jumped out of his chair suddenly, "Captain, number three Core booster's powering up for launch!"

"Wha... The core booster? Who's piloting it?"

The young officer listened for a few moments, then raised a brow in surprise. "One of the mechanics. Uh... Sergeant Amonte, I think it was?"

"The new guy? Interesting. Does he know what he's doing?"

"Doubtful."

The Captain Shrugged absently, already guessing that Lucy had made prior arrangements for this and simply forgotten to till him about it. Sometimes I wonder if this really IS a military outfit... "Alright, have the Hunley and the Memphis move forward and commence firing immediately."

Browning looked at his monitors in confusion. "Uhhhh... sir, we still don't have a clear visual on the enemy ship."

"Extrapolate from the Minovsky particle distribution and take your best guess. I only need the shooting, not the hits themselves!"

"Yes sir..."

"Only try not to make it obvious! These aren't amateurs here!"

Lieutenant Browning sighed in frustration and the comm. officer relayed all of the orders to the two cruiser captains in short summary, "Tarawa to all ships, probe firing procedures!"

The Zeon fleet was already making its own preparations. The Tivvay class cruiser Titov in the middle of the formation was broadcasting Minovsky particles like there was no tomorrow when the huge double doors at the bow of the ship opened. The two Rickdom Snipers launched first, joined after a few moments by the Zaku teams of the two supporting Musai cruisers alongside the ship. Duncan's ReGelg launched last of them all and moved in behind the formation, quieting his mind to get a sense of the enemy's movements. As soon as he stopped in space, a combined barrage from at least three double beam cannons cut through space, crossing nowhere near any of his warships but close enough to him to make him flinch. He calmed himself and tried again to feel out the enemy, but it was no use now. Too many distractions to concentrate... He would have to do this the hard way. "Rickdom Squad, move forward and engage the enemy. Zaku teams, you're on backup in case any of them get past us!"

"Roger that. You sense anything Duncan?"

He tried one last time to feel the enemy out, and once again was interrupted by an entirely random burst of cannon fire from the warships off in the distance. Once again the barrage fell far wide of the Zeon vessels, but this time all three ships took aim and fired a return broadside. Just for a moment Duncan felt his teeth clattering. Return fire? What the hell is the Captain thinking? As expected, the return barrage from the Federation vessels was far more accurate than before, with the gunners now tracing the shape of the Zeon barrage to guess the position of their ships. One beam crossed less than twenty over the bow of the Titov, and the battle cruisers four main guns answered back immediately. Duncan was beside himself at the display. "Captain Emeril, hold your fire! You're giving away your position!"

Emeril's face appeared on the monitor, grinning mischievously as always with the same grotesque smirk crossing his lips diagonally. "Your old man put you here to fly mobile suits, kid. You do your job, I'll do mine." The cruiser's guns fired another barrage, joined this time by a spread of missiles from the forward launchers.

"Captain, I'm warning you...!"

"What was that, kid? Couldn't hear you, your voice is breaking! Call back when you finish puberty, over and out!"

"You stupid son of a...!" At the same time he closed the radio link, three beams of energy crossed in front of his face. He tracked the source of the shots and grinned at the image; two GMs were closing in his attack group with beam guns drawn, just on the edge of scanner range. It amazed him that their aim had been so close from so far away. "Frankie, Gretta, gimme some cover fire! I'll handle these punks!" Both Rickdoms fell in behind him with MMP-80 machine guns in hand as Duncan's ReGelg turned towards the GMs. These were obviously the same two who'd survived the Merrimac, and something about cutting down the survivors of that doomed vessel made him feel charged with excitement.

For some reason, Lieutenant Dyson got that very impression as the ReGelg closed in. Initially he was nervous about having to fight this machine, but from its behavior it was maneuvering exactly like it was supposed to. "You know what to do, April. Just hold out for a few seconds."

"I can manage. We'll make it look convincing..." The two GMs split wide from each other as the ReGelg closed and both locked weapons at once. They waited until they were close enough and then both fired at the same time. Duncan sidestepped both beams at once, then dodged between and around the next shots before locking his own weapons on April's mobile suit. The beam rifle fired twice, both shots chomping off massive sections of her shield. April's beam gun fired again, joined with a burst from her head vulcans, but Duncan's next shot sliced cleanly through the left radiator in the chest. Her reactor shut down immediately, but the propellant tanks exploded under the armor and scattered the left side of the torso into space dust. The suit fell away, spinning randomly in space with flames jetting out from the side of the torso as the pilot opened the hatch and leapt out for dear life.

"Shit, April...!" Dyson fired three more quick blasts; the ReGelg made only the slightest movements, dodging the beams by no more than a half of meter in every case. "Damn, he's just playing with us!"

"Calm down, Rico! Break right and down when I tell ya!" It was wishful thinking on Chase's part that the enemy suits might not have noticed them approaching, but whether they noticed or not would be a moot point in exactly three seconds. Lucy and Mike's Gundams were keeping pace with the core booster and the Guncannon standing on its back until now, which gave him a certain sense of security he was now forced to part with. "Ready... break now!"

The GM dodged left under full thrust, and from that same direction the Zeon suits were met head-on by a hail of beam rifles. None of the shots were hits, they weren't supposed to be. It was nothing more than an announcement to the enemy of their arrival. Duncan, once again, took this exactly as we was meant to. "Screw this! Gretta, Frankie, finish that GM for me! I'll handle the Gundams!"

"Both of em? Deuce, don't get carried away just cause..."

"I'm not! I can handle those clowns, you two handle the other Feddies!"

Gretta sighed and moved away to engage Dyson. "Roger. Be careful, now..."

"Why does everyone keep telling me that?! Stop talking back to me and do your damn job!" Duncan moved forward to face the oncoming three enemies and took a quick headcount. The twin Gundams from before were there, along with the Guncannon kneeling on the back of a core booster like some bizarre magic carpet. "He learns fast," He laughed to himself, "He was too slow last time, so this time he hitches a ride." In all fairness, he decided, it was best to nail the Guncannon first and put the suit out of its misery. But the instant his weapons locked on, the core booster slammed its afterburners and the twin Gundams opened fire with beam rifles, arm gatlings and head vulcans in a wild spray, obviously a distraction but more than effective in doing its job. For just a few seconds he had to stop and raise his shield to cover himself, and in that few seconds the core booster and the Guncannon shot past him like a lightning bolt on the way to their real objective. It only took him half a second to realize he had just been baited. "Oh shit... Captain Emeril, you've got incoming mobile...!"

"Shut up, Kid! I'm sick and tired of all your whiney..." The core booster dove in through the defensive fire from the point defense guns, past one of the surprised Zakus guarding the ship, straight towards its underside to sink two cannon shells and a beam rifle into its underside gun turret. Emeril felt the ship girating under his feet and frowned at the damage report scrolling on the main screen. "Oh that... um... thanks for the warning, Marquis."


- 1012 hours, (CST) -
The standoff continued, with the three Gundams and two Zakus all standing next to the blown-open blast doors leading into the main base facility on the top of the mountain. The tunnel on the other side was sloped deep down into the mountain for hundreds of meters, and thanks to Eric's unit under ground the only thing between them and their opponents were a pair of amphibious suits wielding beam cannons. It would not have been that hard to destroy the two Hygoggs and capture the facility, not with a full clip of high explosive bazooka shells and Brian's 300mm cannon working for them, but Naomi got the distinct impression it would make their job easier to merely hang out around the corner of the great battleship opening and pretend to put up a fight. She wondered seriously what the enemy was doing now; Samir's 180mm was already out of ammo and he was down to the last magazine on his machine gun. She looked at her watch boredly one more time and added some numbers together, sighing. "Guys, let's call it a day. They're obviously not launching it any time soon."

The two desert Zakus fired another burst into the tunnel and then ducked back around the corner as the mobile suits fired back with their beam cannons. Samir looked at his own watch and suddenly agreed. "Your man Swanson already cut off the main chamber from the rest of their base. There's no way they're just loading supplies. If they were gonna launch the ship, they would have done it by now."

Brian stood his mobile suit and nodded in agreement. "This really IS getting annoying. You know, we wouldn't even have this problem if the Tarawa had made it on time."

"Well they didn't, so deal with it." Naomi came to her own feet and changed packs on her bazooka to high explosive, but in the middle of the action suddenly changed her mind. "Hey Brian, you like westerns?"

"Western what?"

"Movies. You know, with the cowboys and Indians fighting on the hills and stuff?"

Brian searched every reference in his memory but could find nothing to relate to that. "When was America ever at war with India?"

"Oh, never mind..." She dropped her bazooka next to the tunnel entrance and drew one of her beam sabers. "CHARGE!" She shouted into the radio, then turned suddenly and slammed on the thruster power, flying into the cave in a mad bull rush. Brian reacted on pure instinct; his thrusters lifted him off the ground and he rushed out from concealment into the opening of the tunnel right behind her, firing his cannons blindly as he entered and praying for a miracle.

Both shells hit the ground in front of them, blinding both with a blast of dust as. Naomi's Gundam rushed towards them in blue and white blur. Her beam saber flashed through the air, then flashed again behind the second suit; both Hygoggs hit the ground at roughly the same time, each sliced in half in a different axis to miss any and all vital components of the machine itself. "Too slow, Anderson. They're both mine."

"Jesus Christ, Lieutenant! You could've at least warned me!" Brian opened the visor in the interface helmet and wiped the sweat out of his eyes. "I think now I know how Izumi feels about..."

"Duck." She said suddenly.

"Huh?"

"DUCK!" Just for emphasis, Naomi fired a short burst from her vulcans straight over Brian's head. He took the hint and bellied out on the side of the slope just as four massive blasts from a beam cannon enflamed the air of the tunnel right where he had been standing. All four beams cut through the twisted metal of the blown-open launch doors at the top of the mountain, and in another moment a set of rockets at the bottom of the tunnel roared to life. "Is that enough warning for you, Anderson?"

Ryo and Samir both poked their heads into the tunnel in curiosity, and then both jerked away from the opening as the Zanzibar class cruiser shot out of the entrance like a one gigantic missile. The exhaust from the rocket boosters sent all of the suits sprawling on the dust on the top of the peak while their pilots struggled to control their pounding hearts. Ryo took a few moments to catch his breath and then groaned, "I guess they were launching it after all."

Samir looked through the cloud of smoke around them at the already faint light at the end of a rising column of smoke. "Yeah, it looks that way."

"I'd call this mission accomplished. The Trafalgar can take it from here."

Samir looked back into the tunnel, searching through the smoke for any sign of movement. "Baby Doll? You okay?"

Naomi answered with her beam rifle, cutting a wide channel in the smoke and burning off the antenna on the top of his head, shaving most of the paint and half an inch from the top armor. "This is your last warning! Stop calling me that or this beam rifle is going straight up your ass!"

"I'll try and remember that." The smoke started to clear after a few moments and Samir walked into the tunnel after her, finally stopping next to the two halved Hygoggs lying at her feet. The pilots were probably still alive, though clearly both of them lacked a means to leave their cockpits from the position of the wreckage. "How many kills is that for you, Naomi?"

"Twenty three, including these two." She knelt her suit down next to the wreckage and turned one of them over in its side, giving her hands just enough room to pry open the cockpit hatch. "Samir, time for you to do your thing. We'll move ahead and check out the base, and as soon as it's secure, it's all yours."

Samir chuckled. "Don't enjoy yourself TOO much Bab... er.. Naomi."

"I'll try not to, but remember I love my job." Naomi turned and started down into the smoke-filled tunnel while Ryo and Brian scrambled to follow along behind her. She waited until she was out of earshot of Samir's suit before she tapped both Gundams on the shoulder so their words could not be overheard. "I'd be surprised if anyone was left here. They probably evacuated everyone onto that Zanzibar before launch."

Ryo nodded in agreement. "That's why it took em so long to launch the damn thing."

"Exactly. Either way, it's out of our hands now. If we do find anyone, try to bring em in alive, otherwise this base is as good as captured now."

Brian looked around the tunnel as they descended deeper into the mountain. Even through the strange ghost world of the psycommu monitor, this place looked deserted, disused, long abandoned by whoever it was who had just left it. There was no sign that anyone had ever been here in the first place. "Why do I get the feeling this base was setup pretty recently?"

"I noticed that too. In fact, all their defenses looked like... well..."

"Makeshift." Ryo finished for her. "Those trenches were dug in a pretty big hurry. And the gun turrets... you know, none of them had dedicated ammo storage. Almost like they were set up within the past couple days."

"Yeah." By now, Naomi had added it all up, and she even scolded herself for not seeing it sooner. In hindsight she knew how obvious it was even from the beginning, so obvious that even a blind girl could—and had—seen all the holes in the mission background. More bullshit from our beloved overlords. I'm sick of them jerking me around like this... "Anderson, look for a transmitter or something we can use to contact the Tarawa. Ryo, try to link up with Eric's team and look around for supplies. We need food, fuel and ammo in case the ship can't get to us right away."

"Roger, I'm on it." The three suits came to the bottom of the tunnel and Brian started into the large chamber around them, now empty except for a few badly disfigured Zaku tanks with long robotic arms, obviously used recently for repairs to the cruiser that had just launched.

Brian broke contact to get started on his rounds, but Ryo paused just a bit out of curiosity. "Lieutenant Wilson, I just wanna clear something up so there's no misunderstanding. This is the second time you've popped an enemy suit right in front of me without so much as a warning and I really do not appreciate it. If it happens again, it will be the last time."

She was both surprised and amused by the comment. "Are you threatening me, Izumi?"

"That depends on you. If it happens again, it's a prophesy, otherwise it's just idle chit chat. You understand, right? This is more than just a pet peeve, it's my ass on the line..."

She chuckled mischievously, still not taking him seriously. "Look Izumi, I'm not in this to hunt down Zabis. I don't know about ideals or politics, I'm not interested in your opinions and I don't give a shit about your pet peeves, your ass, or the line it's sitting on. I suggest you stop whining like a little kid focus on your job from now on."

"Thanks for the tip, Baby Doll..."

In a split second flat her mood flew from playful to seething rage. "Lieutenant Izumi, I'm commander of this unit, I've given you your orders, and if you back-talk me just one more time, I'll drop a colony on your ass! Does that clear things up for you?"

Ryo sighed and decided to move on. "Yes, Ma'am." He turned without another word and proceeded on with the mission, all the while looking back over his shoulder. It was done now, it was out of his hands. It was only a matter of time, sooner or later one of them would end up dead. I don't get it, he thought, leaving her behind in the main chamber, What is it about her that pisses me off so much?

"It's the fact that I'm a complete asshole, Izumi." She answered for him.

"That could be... wait a second!" He checked his com frequency shortly and made doubly sure; the channel wasn't open, and he didn't remember saying it out loud. He gave it just a moment's thought, then decided to put the incident behind him and forget it ever happened. "Must be Earth-sick or something. Now I'm hearing things."


- 1025 hours, (CST) -
All three Zakus fired a desperate spread from their machine guns as a deterrent, hitting nothing and only serving to amuse Lucy as she closed in for the kill. As usual, she waited until she was close enough to the enemy suit, almost point blank range before she pulled the trigger and put the beam straight into the Zaku's cockpit. Mike helped himself to the next one in line, firing from far behind her and blasting the suit to bits with one well placed bazooka shell. There was nothing between them and the Musai now, so both of them slowed their approaches and Lucy took the first shot. Three quick blasts from her beam rifle ripped open the forward gun turrets, and Mike joined in with three rockets into the main hull. Explosions rocked the frame of the light cruiser as the rockets hit home and the cruiser began drifting in space, effectively disabled now and out of the fight. "Scratch one Musai...!"

A single Rickdom and two Zakus darted out from behind the spinning cruiser and each fired a long burst from their machine guns. Lucy locked onto one of the Zakus, but this time when she pulled the trigger the pilot swerved to the side out of her line of fire. "Shit, these pilots are experienced, not your average rookies!"

Mike tossed away his bazooka and took his beam rifle in hand. "Now it's getting interesting... hey Chase, hurry up with that Tivvay, will ya?"

"I'm trying, but that bigass Gelgoog is really doggin us!" The core booster came around again several miles behind the cruiser, flying well ahead of the ReGelg's beam rifle as it turned for another attack run. Kelly made sure to be patient with the fighter, feeling the extra weight of the Guncannon on his back and the sluggish feeling of the controls. "We'll be coming up the rear this time, Fokker. You ready?"

The engine lights of the heavy cruiser were glowing fiercely in front of them as the fighter straightened out. It wouldn't take much to disable the ship, just one well placed cannon blast or missile up the tailpipe would do the trick. Then again, with the ReGelg on their tail they wouldn't have much of a window to aim before it gave them much the same treatment. "Kelly, let's separate and go at it one at a time!"

Kelly did a double take at his radio. "Are you nuts?! If I leave you here, the big Gelgoog will just...!"

"You've got missiles, I'll draw his fire until you can get the shot off!"

"What if he goes for ME first?"

"Then I'll take the shot myself! C'mon, Kelly, I thought you techies were proud of your machines!"

The comment struck Kelly where it hurt, and all at once his decision was made. "We'll split once we get close. He can't shoot BOTH of us down... at least, I don't think he can..."

The Titov's point defense guns opened fire as the core booster came around again; Kelly nearly broke his arms trying to maneuver the heavily laden fighter to avoid their guns. The ReGelg was closing in from behind them now. They were almost there… "Go, Chase!" Kelly shouted out.

Chase released the locks and pushed off from the fighter's back. Duncan watched them split up and paused in a split second of indecision. Aw man... just get one of em.... He passed the Guncannon at full throttle and kept after the core booster, lined up a shot on his beam rifle and fired several quick blasts from his beam rifle. His fourth shot clipped the core booster's right engine, knocking the craft into a spin as it passed over the Titov's bridge. "Gotcha! How do you like tha..."

Both shells from the Guncannon scored a direct hit on the softest spot on the ReGelg's armor. The explosion ripped open the back of his mobile suit, completely destroying his vernier pack and knocking the ReGelg aside like an insect in a hurricane. Duncan felt his controls go limp, and through the flickering, static-filled monitors he watched impotently as the Guncannon rushed overhead and fired its cannons again and again into the rear of the heavy cruiser. All of them hit their mark; the starboard side of the ship's engine hull split like a pea pod and spat an enormous geyser of flame into space. Captain Emeril came up over the radio almost immediately, "Dammit! Marquis, we've lost our starboard engines! What the hell are you doing out there?!"

Two Zakus from the cruiser groups came into range with machineguns blazing. The Guncannon broke off from the cruiser to fight them off, but the damage to the Titov had already been done. Duncan tried powering up his suit again, but there was no response from the system. The explosion had cut the fuel lines to his reactor and he was completely out of power, no hope of a restart. "Well this is just wonderful! Damn, I wouldn't be in this position of Vanessa was still…" he sensed it before he saw it: a twin beam reached out from the empty space directly ahead of them, crossing just over the bow of one of the Musai cruisers alongside of the Titov. Duncan squeezed his controls tighter than ever and opened a radio line with any power he had left. "Gorbachev, Do NOT return fire! You wanna get killed?!" All three of the Musai's forward guns and missile launchers fired back without missing a beat, a full barrage sent right back to the source of the enemy fire. Their shots missed their mark by a hundred meters, but now the Tarawa's gunners had a definite target. Both of the mega particle cannons adjusted their aim slightly, charged up and opened fire.

Duncan watched the beams like a field goal, lancing out from that tiny spec in the distance to strike their target dead on. Both cannons scored direct hits, one through the Musai's second gun turret and the other through the main bridge. The ship burned in space for a few moments until its fuel tanks exploded, swallowing more than half of it in blinding fireball. He watched this with the same detachment, until without warning something flash boiled in his heart and drove him into a blinding rage. "This is not fair! We've been training for this since the end of the war, I've given up everything for this battle, and these morons just pop in out of nowhere and we can't even scratch em! THIS IS NOT FA... huh?" He sensed her at the same time she sensed him, a shining light in the distance right where the enemy beam cannons had fired from. It was like a spotlight, singling him out from the rest of the world, alone in the universe with no one else but him and... "Th-That's impossible! I sank the Merrimac, how could she...?! What the hell is going on?!"

Vanessa felt it at the same time, but to her it felt much more familiar. "Weird. That feels like... that's just like the Elmeth pilot, only so much more... oh man, Deuce wasn't exaggerating!"

One of the Zakus from the cruiser group moved up alongside the ReGelg, grabbing it by one arm to drag it back to the Titov's MS bay as it retreated. Still, Duncan's attention was focused on that little light shining on him from the distance. It grew brighter as he looked at it, expanded towards him like some gigantic object coming to crash into him. As it got closer he could make out some details, variations in color, dark spots, light spots, shapes... there was something in the middle of it, a human form suspended in the air with one arm stretched towards him. He recognized her from somewhere, there was something about her that sent a strange feeling spiraling up and down his spine. "It really IS you... Alicia?" He said aloud, somehow expecting she could hear him.

Alice moved carefully on down the corridor towards the end of the bulkhead, reaching a spot as far forward of the ship as she could get. Something strange had appeared in her sightless world, a strange object glowing to her, calling her to it like a moth to a flame. Duncan was the only thing she could see in the world, a single bright object in a void so empty even darkness couldn't fill it. His question came to her in an echo, and her answer returned to him the same way, "Just who are you anyway? Why do you keep calling me like this?"

"Calling YOU? What are you talking about? You're the one who..." At this point he noticed the doors of the MS bay closing in front of him. It was strange, he hadn't even noticed the others had brought him in. He'd been so focused on her that the rest of the world had vanished to him. With the shift in concentration he pulled away from her, and just like that her image disappeared from his mind and he from hers.

Captain Shiden had seen the explosion of the Musai from the hundred mile distance between them, and the heat signature from the Titov's engines indicated the Zeeks were running away with their tails between their legs. He couldn't have wished for a more satisfying payback for the Merrimac. "Mr. Holland, any word from the front?"

The comm. officer turned around with a satisfied grin. "Observation unit reports one enemy cruiser and six mobile suits destroyed, two cruisers heavily damaged and retreating. Gundam 802 and 803 are in pursuit."

"Negative, that'll be enough for one day. Signal all ships to return to base immediately." The signal flares launched ahead of them a few moments later, the visual cue for the Gundams to pack it in and pick up any lost comrades or Zeon prisoners. It was all done now, and the time had come to move on to more important issues. "Garcia, plot a course for de-orbiting maneuvers as soon as the mobile suits are all recovered. Our little trip to Earth has been delayed long enough."

The helmsman started plotting vectors for entry, but then thought twice about it. "You want me to plot a window that takes us to the drop zone?"

"Don't bother, the fighting will be over by then. Just put us somewhere in the continent and we'll move in from there."

"You got it, Captain."


- 1821 hours (CST) -
It always took the same amount of time for Gwen to answer her calls, twenty-eight seconds right on the nose. Any longer and it was to be assumed she wasn't answering at all, and of course Naomi would immediately hang up the phone. This time she counted off with anticipation, not sure whether or not she even wanted to talk to her now but knowing perfectly well how much she needed to. Twenty-five... twenty-six... twenty-seven... twenty-eight...

The monitor clicked on, not showing anything at first but the far wall and a Zeon flag, but after a few moments a face rose from the bottom of the frame and stared into the screen squinty eyed. "Wha... who is it?" She said yawning.

"Were you asleep? Didn't mean to wake you up..."

Gwen suddenly surged into consciousness and rubbed her eyes back into focus. "Oh... uh... hey Naomi. What's going on?"

She'd seen that look before. It was no ordinary cat-nap. "You've been drinking again, haven't you?"

"Titans'll do that to you. Anyway, what's up? I know you didn't call me worried about my liver."

"No shit, I'll be happier when you're dead. This is sort of a business call."

"Intelligence?"

"Yeah."

Gwen straightened up and rubbed her eyes again with her palms. "Fine, what's the question?"

"Do you or any other Zeon guerillas in the Earth sphere have any presence on Earth?"

"Marquis doesn't, but I know a few groups that do. Why?"

Naomi leaned forward a bit. "Which groups, exactly?"

Gwen thought for a moment through the throbbing hangover. "I don't know where they are exactly. There's the Stingray Fleet in the Pacific, Captain Leena's platoon in Alaska, Midnight Fenrir units in Africa..."

"Anything in Afghanistan?"

Gwen blinked slowly. "Afghanistan? Is that supposed to be funny?"

"Is that a no?"

She chuckled on the monitor, obviously knowing something Naomi didn't. "The only base the Zeon ever DID have there was demolished by the Trojan Horse right before Operation Odessa. We didn't have a presence in Afghanistan DURING the war, let alone four years later! With all the guerilla activity around there, you wouldn't last six months before somebody raided you."

"So there's nothing there? Not even... say... the Hindu-Kush mountains?"

"Not that I know of, and I know most of them."

Naomi leaned forward again and leaned on the wall next to the monitor. "Gwen, if you're lying to me..."

"Why would I lie to you? You can always tell anyway."

That much was true, and with the business part settled it was time for one or two personal issues. "Anna's birthday is next week."

"No, really?" Larson said disdainfully. "Look, I may be the one person in the world you hate the most in the universe but I'm not stupid and I'm not heartless... not completely anyway... I mean, I do care about people, you know that."

"Of course you do. Just not to me or my family or anyone else you've screwed over in your glamorous way."

"Naomi, please..."

"You know, I can't even figure out why I keep talking to you. You betrayed all of us, you left us to die like animals while you ran away and lived the high life in some fancy space colony. By all rights I should be fabricating evidence as a reason to come after you with a squad."

Gwen reached for the control panel and just managed to stop herself from cutting the feed. "Okay... okay..." she took a few breaths to keep from loosing her temper."There isn't anything I could say or do to redeem myself, is there?"

Naomi shook her head. "Not since you blew off Anna's funeral."

"We were at war. My unit was fighting in the Loum Cam..."

"Loum Campaign my ass, you still could've been there. We both know the fighting was over by the time you heard about it."

Gwen tried to keep the tears out of her eyes, not wanting to show weakness in front of her. "I'll keep trying."

"And I'll keep telling you to go to hell."

"Then that's how it'll be. Take care, Naomi..."

"Eat shit and die, Gwen Larson!" Naomi slammed down the handset and the monitor snapped off and closed the channel. She waited a few more moments to call up the Tarawa, but out the corner of her eye noticed Samir leaning in the doorway, obviously and non-discretely eaves dropping. "What would you do, Sam?"

Samir fished through his pocket for a box of cigarettes. "I'd follow the Koran."

"I'm not religious."

"I don't blame you. If I'd been through half the shit you've experienced, I'd stop believing in miracles myself. Then again, you ARE still alive, maybe there's something else to it?"

Naomi chuckled at him. "I've never felt the touch of God. Death, yeah, but never God. The only reason I'm alive is because of an old man named Himura Fuchida and the fact that I'm so damn stubborn."

"Amen to that."

The signal finally connected and Ensign Holland's face appeared through a haze of static. "This is Tarawa, we're receiving you."

"801 reporting. Operation successful, we've taken the base. Request ETA on extraction."

"We're just beginning reentry maneuvers over the Arabian Peninsula. We'll rendezvous at the following coordinates in about seven hours, over and out."

"Roger that." The screen went dark, and Naomi wrote the coordinates on the back of her hand with her pen. "Well Samir, it's been fun."

"Like the good old days. Glad to see we've both moved on to bigger and better things over the years."

Naomi chuckled again. "Bigger things? You went from a Galbadly to a Zaku-I and call it an improvement?"

"Well I'm with a greater cause now. This little corner of the world is a lot safer with us controlling it."

Naomi rolled her eyes and headed out of the comm. room. "You know, the Titans say the same thing about the colonies. Maybe we should've stuck to Galbaldys?"

Samir lit his cigarette as she left, staring at the wall and letting her words sink in. "You could just be right about that."