Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: An Equal and Opposite Reaction
Phase – 03
ZAFT frigate Archimedes, Suzuhara Squadron, The Debris Belt, LaGrange Point 3
1st May C.E. 70
Christopher Bishop was buzzed into Commander Ichiro Suzuhara's office by the Commander's aid, Elizabeth Bartley. This was the first time that he had been called to the commander's sanctuary. It had been a little over two weeks since the squadron had been formed and Christopher could tell that the Commander was slowly stamping his presence onto the room.
'Ah Mister Bishop. Thank you for coming so promptly.' said Ichiro Suzuhara from behind his desk. 'I understand you have the nickname 'Jaygee' because some of the other pilots think you have the temperament of someone bearing the rank Lieutenant Junior Grade.' Christopher grimaced slightly at his commanding officers use of that annoying nickname. 'Well I believe it is time to give that nickname some substance.'
'Sir?'
'Mister Bishop I'm transferring you to the Tesla. Once there you will take up the position as the commander of mobile suit operations.' said Commander Suzuhara swiftly. 'You will be taking Mister Franklin with you as well, from our training exercises I know you two work well together. You'll also have two of the new pilots,' Suzuhara searched around his desk for the appropriate paper before continuing. 'Phil Hammond and Giles Brandreth. I'm giving you this opportunity to try and mould the Tesla's mobile suit teams into a better fighting unit, their performance in training has been less then desirable.'
'Yes sir, thank you for giving me this chance sir!' said Christopher, he could hardly hold back his excitement. This was his big chance to demonstrate his abilities as a leader.
'I requested a supply of M68 Pardus missile launchers. The Tesla should have gotten theirs during the last supply stop we made.' said Suzuhara. 'When you get over their make sure they are fitted to all the GINNs. The Pardus launchers might not be the best but they'll give our GINNs an added punch, we'll probably need them for our mission.'
'Might I ask what that is sir?'
'I suppose I can tell you now.' said Suzuhara. He started to stretch and scratched behind his left ear. 'As I'm sure you're aware we are currently cruising around The Debris Belt just off LaGrange Point 3. Well our mission is to disrupt Earth Alliance supply convoys headed for the Artemis space fortress. The National Defence Committee believes that our attacking the convoys will cause the Earth Alliance to devote more resources to defending them.'
'You mean we're to draw the enemy anyway while the rest of our forces attack some where else sir?' said Christopher. 'If that's true then it's quite the burden on the squadron.'
'I don't think anyone has missed the rumours about a new offensive against the Earth Alliance's Luna facilities. I'd say it is pretty safe to assume they are hoping we'll draw off some of the Luna forces to cover the convoys.' replied Suzuhara. 'And yes it is a heavy burden for the squadron but I'm sure we'll be able to overcome it, after all we made it through our first mission without the squadron being destroyed. That's better than my first ever mission. You'd better run along and get Mister Franklin over to the Tesla its only a matter of time before we find our first victims.'
---
It didn't take very long at all to find the first Earth Alliance convoy; in fact Christopher only had about twenty minutes to enjoy his new command on the Tesla before the enemy were sighted.
Ichiro sat in the cockpit of his GINN. He ran through the last few checks before the machine would be ready to launch. The thermal readings they had gotten off the convoy indicated that there were five cargo ships being escorted by three escort ships and one cruiser. For twelve GINNs it was a pitifully soft target but Ichiro knew that this was going to be the easiest it would be. So far the convoy had failed to detect the ZAFT warships. Ichiro would have preferred to have waited a little long to allow Christopher time to settle in but the new Lunar offensive was set to begin in three days; therefore he had to begin operations as quickly as possible.
The sub monitor to Ichiro's left displayed the layout of the battlefield. The Tesla was slowly changing its position to the relative up of the convoy and for its part the Archimedes' was moving to the relative down. In a three dimensional environment like space it was important to try and manoeuvre to a position where you could exploit an enemies weaknesses. Most captains within the Earth Alliance were two dimensional thinkers and Ichiro planned to take advantage of that.
Captain Philips' image appeared in another one of the sub monitors. 'The Tesla reports ready Commander.'
'Excellent Captain, I think a ten second barrage will suffice. We want to capture the cargo ships though, the Committee wants us to analyse what supplies Artemis is supposed to be receiving.'
'Affirmative Commander.'
The image of the captain disappeared. Ichiro flicked through his communication channels and stopped at Alpha Three. As he opened up the channel the image of the young pilot Timothy Stone appeared on the sub monitor. 'Mister Stone this is your first combat mission right?'
'y-yes sir.' stammered the seventeen year old rookie pilot.
'Well stick close to Mister Barns once the battle begins.' said Ichiro; he was trying to reassure the nervous rookie. 'There's no need to try and be a hero.'
'Yes sir!'
---
The pair of Laurasia class frigates opening barrage was deadly efficient. Torrents of high energy particles spewed forth from the massive 937mm beam cannons. The two escort ships that flanked the convoy were the first to fall victim to the ZAFT gunners; both ships vanished into giant fireballs. Almost instantly the Archimedes and Tesla launched their mobile suits; both groups of mobile suits tore threw space as if part of some sick race to get to the centre of the Alliance formation first.
The remaining Earth Alliance warships were quick to deploy their Moebius mobile armours. The big cruiser at the head of the convoy opened fire with its beam cannons, hoping to either down the incoming mobile suits or hit their base ships. At the rear of the column the last remaining escort ship began to speed up to support the cruiser, the little escort ship's weapons were better suited to closer ranges than the cruisers. The precious cargo transports attempted to make a run for it but well placed beams from the ZAFT frigates discouraged them from venturing far.
---
The four Moebius mobile armours from the escort ship positioned themselves between the mobile suits from the Archimedes and the convoy. Ichiro couldn't decide whether the Earth Alliance pilots were incredibly brave or insanely foolish; ZAFT statisticians estimated that it took at least five Moebius' to down a single GINN. The four Moebius' opened fire with their linear guns but the ZAFT mobile suits were far too agile to be hit by a weapon with such a slow rate of fire. Ichiro dropped his crosshairs over the first Moebius, as commander of the unit it was only right that he be the first to get a kill. He pressed the trigger and watched the tracer bullets steam out towards the hapless mobile armour; its armour plating was no match for the special armour piercing bullets Ichiro's machinegun carried. Ichiro whipped his GINN around the exploding Moebius and carried on towards the convoy, he was letting the Beta Team handle the mobile armours for he had bigger fish to fry.
Ichiro's Alpha Team buzzed two of the cargo transports bridges before closing in on the escort ship. Ichiro knew that tying to destroy an escort ship with just a machinegun wasn't easy, although he had managed it in the past. However his team mate Colin Barns was equipped with a M68 Cattus 500mm recoilless rifle; this bazooka-like weapon had more than enough firepower to knockout the escort ship.
Ichiro looped his GINN around the hull of the escort ship, coming down over the bridge and letting ripe with a volley of bullets that perforated the forward 76mm Vulcan gun turret. Suddenly his GINN was rocked by a series of very close explosions. He span the GINN around to see that he'd inadvertently allowed himself to stray into the line of fire for the escort ship's missile launchers.
'I know you told me to stick close to Mister Barns but I thought it would be okay for me to watch your back as well sir.'
It took Ichiro a few seconds to realise what had happened. Timothy Stone had shot down the missiles just before they had a chance to hit Ichiro's GINN. 'Not a problem at all Mr Stone.' said Ichiro as he regained his composure. 'Now let's see if we can't soften this thing up for Mister Barns.'
'Yes sir!'
The two GINNs split apart and Stone fired off two of the missiles from his Pardus launchers into the hull of the escort ship; both of them penetrated the deck armour but only caused moderate damage. Ichiro used one of his Pardus missiles to blow the doors off one of the missile launchers that had targeted him. Once the armoured doors were gone he racked the missiles inside with machinegun fire which caused the whole launcher to explode. For his part Colin Barns placed a 500mm round through the escort ship's bridge before pumping two more into the engine block. All three of the GINNs zoomed clear as the whole ship vanished in an enormous explosion.
---
Attacking from the relative up of the convoy Christopher's formation of mobile suits had to take a lot more fire from the convoy's escorts. That being said the ZAFT GINNs skilful avoidance of the beams were a testament to their pilot's abilities. The Moebius' launched from the cruiser rose to meet the incoming mobile suits. Christopher grinned, this was what he was looking forward too; he pressed a few buttons on his control console that caused his GINN to gesture with its right arm. This was the signal for the Delta Team to continue on and deal with the cruiser while Christopher's own Gamma Team would destroy the mobile armours.
The Delta Team slowly began to peel off while the Gamma Team accelerated towards the Moebius'. As the four Moebius' closed in they opened fire with their fuselage mounted Vulcan gun, then the lead two Moebius' began to fire off their wire-guided missiles. Christopher killed his forward momentum and then threw his GINNs to the right and he opened fire on the incoming missiles. Speeding up again he dived towards the mobile armour and let ripe with his machinegun; the armour piercing bullets easily punctured its skin and caused it too explode.
To his left Christopher could see Franklin blasting apart one of the Moebius' with his M68 Cattus 500mm recoilless rifle. The third Moebius along managed to evade Phil Hammond's attack and coil around to the side of Franklin's GINN. The audacious Moebius fired its linear gun twice. The first high speed projectile missed its target by the narrowest of narrow margins while the second sliced through Franklin's Cattus recoilless rifle, destroying the weapon.
Christopher swore and inverted his GINN as he came up over Franklin's GINNs. His MMI-M8A3 76mm heavy assault machinegun rained fire down upon the unsuspecting Moebius mobile armour. On the far side of the group the new pilot Phil Hammond recovered from his first failed attempt at downing an enemy and finished off the last Moebius with some superb marksmanship.
With all the enemies in the immediate area dealt within Christopher brought his GINN close in to Franklin's in order to determine the status of his friend. 'Are you okay in there?'
'Yes sir.' replied Franklin bitterly. 'I'm sorry I lost the Cattus sir.'
'Yeah well you're an idiot for doing that.' said Christopher; he tried to make it sound less important that it was. 'We'll see what the Commander has to say about that.' He viewed the wreckage that was now spread around the three GINNs; he could see at least one linear gun that wasn't too badly damaged. 'We might be able improvise.'
With assisting indirect fire from the Tesla and Archimedes the Delta Team were able to subdue and destroy the Earth Alliance cruiser. Christopher thought it was foolish for the Naturals to keep on fighting despite being outnumbered and clearly outmatched. The cargo transports were already signalling their surrender and not long after a signal came from Commander Suzuhara for the Gamma and Delta teams to return to their ship.
---
ZAFT frigate Tesla, Suzuhara Squadron, The Debris Belt, LaGrange Point 3
1st May C.E. 70
Christopher's GINN was the last to land in the Tesla's hanger, Christopher felt it was important for the mobile suit commander to the first out and last in. After he unbuckled his harness and released the cockpit hatch the paused momentarily to order a deckhand to have the ships chief mechanic meet him in the pilot's locker room as soon as possible.
When Christopher entered the stark white locker room he could see that the other pilots had already began changing out of their pilot's suits.
'I can't believe we made it through a battle without losing anyone.' declared Michael Hicks; he was the senior pilot in the Delta Team. He had been the Tesla's mobile suit commander before Christopher was transferred over and deeply resented being sidetracked. 'Suzuhara made it sound like we'd lose half the squad every battle.'
'You make it sound like a bad thing Mister Hicks.' said Christopher from his position near the door. He came further into the room and placed his helmet on the seating section. 'I believe you can attribute our success to the training Commander Suzuhara has put us through.'
The hanger door to the locker room opened and the chief mechanic stepped into the room. 'You wanted to see me sir?' he asked.
Christopher turned to greet the man. 'ah yes good. Franklin was careless enough to allow his Cattus to be destroyed. I thought you might be able to improvise and rig him up one of those linear guns as a replacement.'
The chief mechanic scratched his chin with his left hand as he pondered the situation. 'I suppose we could put together a bracket and mount it on the shoulder that would make it steadier than carrying it freehand and it would leave both hands free if needs be.' he said finally. 'With Franklin's help I think we can get it done in about an hour and half.'
'Excellent. Franklin you go with him and get it ready.' said Christopher. 'Hammond you're to stay on alert with me, the rest of you get some rest. I expect we'll be going out on another sortie before long.'
---
ZAFT frigate Archimedes, Suzuhara Squadron, The Debris Belt, LaGrange Point 3
3rd May C.E. 70
Ichiro Suzuhara scratched an itch just under his right ear; he then turned back to the meeting that was going on in his office. He had summoned the two ship captains and Christopher Bishop to discuss their progress and what to do next. Today was the day that the grand ZAFT offensive aimed at the Earth Alliance Ptolemaeus crater
lunar base was scheduled to begin.
'It's clear from the battles we've fought so far that we have indeed caused the Earth Alliance to strengthen its escort forces.' said Captain Foley. 'Shouldn't we return to base so that we can be redeployed to Luna?'
'It's true that more Alliance warships are being used to defend the convoys.' said Captain Philips. 'However looking at the markings they are all from the Eurasian Federation and not the Atlantic Federation. We were meant to draw Atlantic Federation forces away from Ptolemaeus crater, not Eurasian Federation forces from Artemis.'
'It appears the Atlantic Federation has left its ally to defend its own convoys.' said Ichiro. 'Perhaps they aren't as unified as we thought.'
After the battle on the 1st they had intercepted another similarly guarded convoy later in the day, the result had been pretty much the same. The ZAFT forces took what they wanted from the cargo and then destroyed the rest, allowing the cargo transports to carry on to Artemis to serve as a warning. The 2nd saw another two convoys fell victim of the Suzuhara Squadron, these both sported double the number of escorts and while a few of the GINNs were damaged none of Ichiro's pilots were seriously injured or killed.
'So what you're saying is that we've failed in our mission because we couldn't draw off any of the Atlantic Federation ships?' said Christopher.
'That's not entirely true sirs.' said Elizabeth Bartley from her seat perched at the edge of Ichiro's desk. 'We have gathered a lot of information on the types of cargo being sent to Artemis. All our pilots also gained a lot of combat experience, which will set them in good stead for future battles.'
'Ms Bartley is correct.' said Ichiro. 'This hasn't been a total waste. Our orders were to disrupt the convoys until the offensive on Luna began; since that has begun I think we can start winding up here.'
The communication monitor on Ichiro's desk suddenly began flashing. Ichiro moved in his seat to receive the message. 'Suzuhara here, what is it?'
'Sir we've detected another convoy.' reported the bridge officer. 'Eight transports escorted by eight escort ships, four cruisers and one Agamemnon class carrier!'
'Very well, thank you for the report.' replied Ichiro, he deactivated the monitor and then turned to the assembled men. 'Shall we take one last scalp before we leave?'
---
The ZAFT mobile suits swarmed forth from their frigates with Ichiro's dark blue and silver GINN at the head of the formation. The Earth Alliance escorts with the convoy were a lot sharper than those with the other convoys as they had already begun deploying their Moebius mobile armours. From the number of Alliance warships Ichiro estimated that there would be roughly sixty Moebius', which meant his pilots would have to down at least five each unfortunately that was also the alleged 'magic' number of Moebius' needed to down a GINN.
Ichiro watched the Moebius' deploy into roughly two groups, the first moved to head off the ZAFT mobile suits while the second smaller group stayed with the convoy. He couldn't help but smile, the Earth Alliance was actually making things easier for him. A warning light in Ichiro's cockpit warned him that they had entered the effective firing range of the Earth Alliance's linear guns, but he ignored this and pushed on. As the mobile armours came into range of his MMI-M8A3 76mm heavy assault machinegun he pressed the trigger and sent a hail of bullets racing towards the lead Earth Alliance weapon. To Ichiro's surprise the Moebius was able to avoid at the last moment by spinning off to the right. When it stopped spinning the Moebius fired its linear gun. The electromagnetically propelled projectile miraculously grazed the right hand side waist of Ichiro's GINN, damaging the integrity of the armour plating.
Ichiro swore as his GINN rocked with the hit. 'You think you're so damn tough you Natural bastard!' he yelled as he drew his MA-M3 heavy blade and jabbed it down through the Moebius' cockpit. Ichiro's own breathing reverberated around his helmet, that skilled pilot had rattled him it had been a while since he'd come across a natural that good. Not to mention the fact that he and all the other pilots were bone-weary and, as Elizabeth had put it, he'd been acting grouchy for most of the day.
All along the battle line Moebius' were being downed by the Suzuhara Squadron while from further behind the frigates Archimedes and Tesla were peppering the Earth Alliance convoy with fire. The pinpoint accurate gunnery of these two frigates had already downed a pair of escort ships and crippled a cruiser.
---
David Franklin enjoyed using his linear gun. He had come to appreciate the simplicity and effectiveness of the Earth Alliance weapon. It was just as good at destroying mobile armours as his old M68 Cattus 500mm recoilless rifle had been and it even had a larger ammunition capacity. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to keep it once this mission was over but he hoped so, he'd grown attached to it.
A Moebius came screaming in from his left firing its vulcan guns. Franklin shifted his GINN back slightly and allowed the Earth Alliance mobile armour to swoop past him. He lined up the linear gun and fired; the electromagnetically propelled projectile tore through the rear armour plating and smashed its way through the innards of the mobile armour. The luckless Moebius continued to hurtle through space before it disintegrated into shards of scrap metal.
Another Moebius swooped in close to his GINN. Rather than simply letting it pass Franklin decided to jump his mobile suit onto the top of the mobile armour. He had done this before and Commander Suzuhara had reprimanded him for it, however he thought it was far too amusing to give it up. Landing on the Moebius he swung his linear gun about to point straight down as it came into place he pressed the trigger. The projectile punched through the mobile armour's armour and then came out the other side of the Earth Alliance weapon. Franklin kicked off the stricken Moebius before it exploded.
---
Ichiro brought his GINN to a rest in the hanger of the Archimedes. After the opening exchange the battle had carried on at a furious pace before the Eurasian Federation commander lost his nerve and fled on his Agamemnon class carrier. Only one of the cruisers and a pair of escorts ships managed to join the Agamemnon, Ichiro wasn't sure how many of the Moebius' managed to escape however he was pretty sure it wasn't a great number; he had personally downed at least eight of them. Miraculously none of his GINNs had been destroyed and, while a few of them had new scratches and dints, none of the pilots were hurt.
His GINN had received a further hit on its left thruster binder. He could only assume the Alliance pilots were getting better, or that he was getting careless. He'd prefer it to be the former but deep down he suspected it was the latter.
'Welcome back Commander.' said Elizabeth. Her kind face appeared in the sub monitor to his left. 'The Alliance forces have left our immediate area of operations.'
'Thank you Elizabeth.' said Ichiro as he directed his GINN into its cradle. 'Instruct Captain Philips to plot a course back to PLANT, we're finished here. I want to get back quickly.'
'Yes Sir I will.' replied Elizabeth in her soft dulcet tone.
'Oh and Elizabeth can you arrange a meal for me?' added Ichiro. 'I'm famished.'
----
Next Phase:- Exhausted from their missions near Artemis the Suzuhara Squadron return to PLANT. However on the way there the Earth Alliance begins a counteroffensive on Luna. When the Melchett Squadron gets mauled by Earth Alliance forces the Suzuhara Squadron is thrown into the gap in the line with orders to hold no matter what the cost.
Phase – 03
ZAFT frigate Archimedes, Suzuhara Squadron, The Debris Belt, LaGrange Point 3
1st May C.E. 70
Christopher Bishop was buzzed into Commander Ichiro Suzuhara's office by the Commander's aid, Elizabeth Bartley. This was the first time that he had been called to the commander's sanctuary. It had been a little over two weeks since the squadron had been formed and Christopher could tell that the Commander was slowly stamping his presence onto the room.
'Ah Mister Bishop. Thank you for coming so promptly.' said Ichiro Suzuhara from behind his desk. 'I understand you have the nickname 'Jaygee' because some of the other pilots think you have the temperament of someone bearing the rank Lieutenant Junior Grade.' Christopher grimaced slightly at his commanding officers use of that annoying nickname. 'Well I believe it is time to give that nickname some substance.'
'Sir?'
'Mister Bishop I'm transferring you to the Tesla. Once there you will take up the position as the commander of mobile suit operations.' said Commander Suzuhara swiftly. 'You will be taking Mister Franklin with you as well, from our training exercises I know you two work well together. You'll also have two of the new pilots,' Suzuhara searched around his desk for the appropriate paper before continuing. 'Phil Hammond and Giles Brandreth. I'm giving you this opportunity to try and mould the Tesla's mobile suit teams into a better fighting unit, their performance in training has been less then desirable.'
'Yes sir, thank you for giving me this chance sir!' said Christopher, he could hardly hold back his excitement. This was his big chance to demonstrate his abilities as a leader.
'I requested a supply of M68 Pardus missile launchers. The Tesla should have gotten theirs during the last supply stop we made.' said Suzuhara. 'When you get over their make sure they are fitted to all the GINNs. The Pardus launchers might not be the best but they'll give our GINNs an added punch, we'll probably need them for our mission.'
'Might I ask what that is sir?'
'I suppose I can tell you now.' said Suzuhara. He started to stretch and scratched behind his left ear. 'As I'm sure you're aware we are currently cruising around The Debris Belt just off LaGrange Point 3. Well our mission is to disrupt Earth Alliance supply convoys headed for the Artemis space fortress. The National Defence Committee believes that our attacking the convoys will cause the Earth Alliance to devote more resources to defending them.'
'You mean we're to draw the enemy anyway while the rest of our forces attack some where else sir?' said Christopher. 'If that's true then it's quite the burden on the squadron.'
'I don't think anyone has missed the rumours about a new offensive against the Earth Alliance's Luna facilities. I'd say it is pretty safe to assume they are hoping we'll draw off some of the Luna forces to cover the convoys.' replied Suzuhara. 'And yes it is a heavy burden for the squadron but I'm sure we'll be able to overcome it, after all we made it through our first mission without the squadron being destroyed. That's better than my first ever mission. You'd better run along and get Mister Franklin over to the Tesla its only a matter of time before we find our first victims.'
---
It didn't take very long at all to find the first Earth Alliance convoy; in fact Christopher only had about twenty minutes to enjoy his new command on the Tesla before the enemy were sighted.
Ichiro sat in the cockpit of his GINN. He ran through the last few checks before the machine would be ready to launch. The thermal readings they had gotten off the convoy indicated that there were five cargo ships being escorted by three escort ships and one cruiser. For twelve GINNs it was a pitifully soft target but Ichiro knew that this was going to be the easiest it would be. So far the convoy had failed to detect the ZAFT warships. Ichiro would have preferred to have waited a little long to allow Christopher time to settle in but the new Lunar offensive was set to begin in three days; therefore he had to begin operations as quickly as possible.
The sub monitor to Ichiro's left displayed the layout of the battlefield. The Tesla was slowly changing its position to the relative up of the convoy and for its part the Archimedes' was moving to the relative down. In a three dimensional environment like space it was important to try and manoeuvre to a position where you could exploit an enemies weaknesses. Most captains within the Earth Alliance were two dimensional thinkers and Ichiro planned to take advantage of that.
Captain Philips' image appeared in another one of the sub monitors. 'The Tesla reports ready Commander.'
'Excellent Captain, I think a ten second barrage will suffice. We want to capture the cargo ships though, the Committee wants us to analyse what supplies Artemis is supposed to be receiving.'
'Affirmative Commander.'
The image of the captain disappeared. Ichiro flicked through his communication channels and stopped at Alpha Three. As he opened up the channel the image of the young pilot Timothy Stone appeared on the sub monitor. 'Mister Stone this is your first combat mission right?'
'y-yes sir.' stammered the seventeen year old rookie pilot.
'Well stick close to Mister Barns once the battle begins.' said Ichiro; he was trying to reassure the nervous rookie. 'There's no need to try and be a hero.'
'Yes sir!'
---
The pair of Laurasia class frigates opening barrage was deadly efficient. Torrents of high energy particles spewed forth from the massive 937mm beam cannons. The two escort ships that flanked the convoy were the first to fall victim to the ZAFT gunners; both ships vanished into giant fireballs. Almost instantly the Archimedes and Tesla launched their mobile suits; both groups of mobile suits tore threw space as if part of some sick race to get to the centre of the Alliance formation first.
The remaining Earth Alliance warships were quick to deploy their Moebius mobile armours. The big cruiser at the head of the convoy opened fire with its beam cannons, hoping to either down the incoming mobile suits or hit their base ships. At the rear of the column the last remaining escort ship began to speed up to support the cruiser, the little escort ship's weapons were better suited to closer ranges than the cruisers. The precious cargo transports attempted to make a run for it but well placed beams from the ZAFT frigates discouraged them from venturing far.
---
The four Moebius mobile armours from the escort ship positioned themselves between the mobile suits from the Archimedes and the convoy. Ichiro couldn't decide whether the Earth Alliance pilots were incredibly brave or insanely foolish; ZAFT statisticians estimated that it took at least five Moebius' to down a single GINN. The four Moebius' opened fire with their linear guns but the ZAFT mobile suits were far too agile to be hit by a weapon with such a slow rate of fire. Ichiro dropped his crosshairs over the first Moebius, as commander of the unit it was only right that he be the first to get a kill. He pressed the trigger and watched the tracer bullets steam out towards the hapless mobile armour; its armour plating was no match for the special armour piercing bullets Ichiro's machinegun carried. Ichiro whipped his GINN around the exploding Moebius and carried on towards the convoy, he was letting the Beta Team handle the mobile armours for he had bigger fish to fry.
Ichiro's Alpha Team buzzed two of the cargo transports bridges before closing in on the escort ship. Ichiro knew that tying to destroy an escort ship with just a machinegun wasn't easy, although he had managed it in the past. However his team mate Colin Barns was equipped with a M68 Cattus 500mm recoilless rifle; this bazooka-like weapon had more than enough firepower to knockout the escort ship.
Ichiro looped his GINN around the hull of the escort ship, coming down over the bridge and letting ripe with a volley of bullets that perforated the forward 76mm Vulcan gun turret. Suddenly his GINN was rocked by a series of very close explosions. He span the GINN around to see that he'd inadvertently allowed himself to stray into the line of fire for the escort ship's missile launchers.
'I know you told me to stick close to Mister Barns but I thought it would be okay for me to watch your back as well sir.'
It took Ichiro a few seconds to realise what had happened. Timothy Stone had shot down the missiles just before they had a chance to hit Ichiro's GINN. 'Not a problem at all Mr Stone.' said Ichiro as he regained his composure. 'Now let's see if we can't soften this thing up for Mister Barns.'
'Yes sir!'
The two GINNs split apart and Stone fired off two of the missiles from his Pardus launchers into the hull of the escort ship; both of them penetrated the deck armour but only caused moderate damage. Ichiro used one of his Pardus missiles to blow the doors off one of the missile launchers that had targeted him. Once the armoured doors were gone he racked the missiles inside with machinegun fire which caused the whole launcher to explode. For his part Colin Barns placed a 500mm round through the escort ship's bridge before pumping two more into the engine block. All three of the GINNs zoomed clear as the whole ship vanished in an enormous explosion.
---
Attacking from the relative up of the convoy Christopher's formation of mobile suits had to take a lot more fire from the convoy's escorts. That being said the ZAFT GINNs skilful avoidance of the beams were a testament to their pilot's abilities. The Moebius' launched from the cruiser rose to meet the incoming mobile suits. Christopher grinned, this was what he was looking forward too; he pressed a few buttons on his control console that caused his GINN to gesture with its right arm. This was the signal for the Delta Team to continue on and deal with the cruiser while Christopher's own Gamma Team would destroy the mobile armours.
The Delta Team slowly began to peel off while the Gamma Team accelerated towards the Moebius'. As the four Moebius' closed in they opened fire with their fuselage mounted Vulcan gun, then the lead two Moebius' began to fire off their wire-guided missiles. Christopher killed his forward momentum and then threw his GINNs to the right and he opened fire on the incoming missiles. Speeding up again he dived towards the mobile armour and let ripe with his machinegun; the armour piercing bullets easily punctured its skin and caused it too explode.
To his left Christopher could see Franklin blasting apart one of the Moebius' with his M68 Cattus 500mm recoilless rifle. The third Moebius along managed to evade Phil Hammond's attack and coil around to the side of Franklin's GINN. The audacious Moebius fired its linear gun twice. The first high speed projectile missed its target by the narrowest of narrow margins while the second sliced through Franklin's Cattus recoilless rifle, destroying the weapon.
Christopher swore and inverted his GINN as he came up over Franklin's GINNs. His MMI-M8A3 76mm heavy assault machinegun rained fire down upon the unsuspecting Moebius mobile armour. On the far side of the group the new pilot Phil Hammond recovered from his first failed attempt at downing an enemy and finished off the last Moebius with some superb marksmanship.
With all the enemies in the immediate area dealt within Christopher brought his GINN close in to Franklin's in order to determine the status of his friend. 'Are you okay in there?'
'Yes sir.' replied Franklin bitterly. 'I'm sorry I lost the Cattus sir.'
'Yeah well you're an idiot for doing that.' said Christopher; he tried to make it sound less important that it was. 'We'll see what the Commander has to say about that.' He viewed the wreckage that was now spread around the three GINNs; he could see at least one linear gun that wasn't too badly damaged. 'We might be able improvise.'
With assisting indirect fire from the Tesla and Archimedes the Delta Team were able to subdue and destroy the Earth Alliance cruiser. Christopher thought it was foolish for the Naturals to keep on fighting despite being outnumbered and clearly outmatched. The cargo transports were already signalling their surrender and not long after a signal came from Commander Suzuhara for the Gamma and Delta teams to return to their ship.
---
ZAFT frigate Tesla, Suzuhara Squadron, The Debris Belt, LaGrange Point 3
1st May C.E. 70
Christopher's GINN was the last to land in the Tesla's hanger, Christopher felt it was important for the mobile suit commander to the first out and last in. After he unbuckled his harness and released the cockpit hatch the paused momentarily to order a deckhand to have the ships chief mechanic meet him in the pilot's locker room as soon as possible.
When Christopher entered the stark white locker room he could see that the other pilots had already began changing out of their pilot's suits.
'I can't believe we made it through a battle without losing anyone.' declared Michael Hicks; he was the senior pilot in the Delta Team. He had been the Tesla's mobile suit commander before Christopher was transferred over and deeply resented being sidetracked. 'Suzuhara made it sound like we'd lose half the squad every battle.'
'You make it sound like a bad thing Mister Hicks.' said Christopher from his position near the door. He came further into the room and placed his helmet on the seating section. 'I believe you can attribute our success to the training Commander Suzuhara has put us through.'
The hanger door to the locker room opened and the chief mechanic stepped into the room. 'You wanted to see me sir?' he asked.
Christopher turned to greet the man. 'ah yes good. Franklin was careless enough to allow his Cattus to be destroyed. I thought you might be able to improvise and rig him up one of those linear guns as a replacement.'
The chief mechanic scratched his chin with his left hand as he pondered the situation. 'I suppose we could put together a bracket and mount it on the shoulder that would make it steadier than carrying it freehand and it would leave both hands free if needs be.' he said finally. 'With Franklin's help I think we can get it done in about an hour and half.'
'Excellent. Franklin you go with him and get it ready.' said Christopher. 'Hammond you're to stay on alert with me, the rest of you get some rest. I expect we'll be going out on another sortie before long.'
---
ZAFT frigate Archimedes, Suzuhara Squadron, The Debris Belt, LaGrange Point 3
3rd May C.E. 70
Ichiro Suzuhara scratched an itch just under his right ear; he then turned back to the meeting that was going on in his office. He had summoned the two ship captains and Christopher Bishop to discuss their progress and what to do next. Today was the day that the grand ZAFT offensive aimed at the Earth Alliance Ptolemaeus crater
lunar base was scheduled to begin.
'It's clear from the battles we've fought so far that we have indeed caused the Earth Alliance to strengthen its escort forces.' said Captain Foley. 'Shouldn't we return to base so that we can be redeployed to Luna?'
'It's true that more Alliance warships are being used to defend the convoys.' said Captain Philips. 'However looking at the markings they are all from the Eurasian Federation and not the Atlantic Federation. We were meant to draw Atlantic Federation forces away from Ptolemaeus crater, not Eurasian Federation forces from Artemis.'
'It appears the Atlantic Federation has left its ally to defend its own convoys.' said Ichiro. 'Perhaps they aren't as unified as we thought.'
After the battle on the 1st they had intercepted another similarly guarded convoy later in the day, the result had been pretty much the same. The ZAFT forces took what they wanted from the cargo and then destroyed the rest, allowing the cargo transports to carry on to Artemis to serve as a warning. The 2nd saw another two convoys fell victim of the Suzuhara Squadron, these both sported double the number of escorts and while a few of the GINNs were damaged none of Ichiro's pilots were seriously injured or killed.
'So what you're saying is that we've failed in our mission because we couldn't draw off any of the Atlantic Federation ships?' said Christopher.
'That's not entirely true sirs.' said Elizabeth Bartley from her seat perched at the edge of Ichiro's desk. 'We have gathered a lot of information on the types of cargo being sent to Artemis. All our pilots also gained a lot of combat experience, which will set them in good stead for future battles.'
'Ms Bartley is correct.' said Ichiro. 'This hasn't been a total waste. Our orders were to disrupt the convoys until the offensive on Luna began; since that has begun I think we can start winding up here.'
The communication monitor on Ichiro's desk suddenly began flashing. Ichiro moved in his seat to receive the message. 'Suzuhara here, what is it?'
'Sir we've detected another convoy.' reported the bridge officer. 'Eight transports escorted by eight escort ships, four cruisers and one Agamemnon class carrier!'
'Very well, thank you for the report.' replied Ichiro, he deactivated the monitor and then turned to the assembled men. 'Shall we take one last scalp before we leave?'
---
The ZAFT mobile suits swarmed forth from their frigates with Ichiro's dark blue and silver GINN at the head of the formation. The Earth Alliance escorts with the convoy were a lot sharper than those with the other convoys as they had already begun deploying their Moebius mobile armours. From the number of Alliance warships Ichiro estimated that there would be roughly sixty Moebius', which meant his pilots would have to down at least five each unfortunately that was also the alleged 'magic' number of Moebius' needed to down a GINN.
Ichiro watched the Moebius' deploy into roughly two groups, the first moved to head off the ZAFT mobile suits while the second smaller group stayed with the convoy. He couldn't help but smile, the Earth Alliance was actually making things easier for him. A warning light in Ichiro's cockpit warned him that they had entered the effective firing range of the Earth Alliance's linear guns, but he ignored this and pushed on. As the mobile armours came into range of his MMI-M8A3 76mm heavy assault machinegun he pressed the trigger and sent a hail of bullets racing towards the lead Earth Alliance weapon. To Ichiro's surprise the Moebius was able to avoid at the last moment by spinning off to the right. When it stopped spinning the Moebius fired its linear gun. The electromagnetically propelled projectile miraculously grazed the right hand side waist of Ichiro's GINN, damaging the integrity of the armour plating.
Ichiro swore as his GINN rocked with the hit. 'You think you're so damn tough you Natural bastard!' he yelled as he drew his MA-M3 heavy blade and jabbed it down through the Moebius' cockpit. Ichiro's own breathing reverberated around his helmet, that skilled pilot had rattled him it had been a while since he'd come across a natural that good. Not to mention the fact that he and all the other pilots were bone-weary and, as Elizabeth had put it, he'd been acting grouchy for most of the day.
All along the battle line Moebius' were being downed by the Suzuhara Squadron while from further behind the frigates Archimedes and Tesla were peppering the Earth Alliance convoy with fire. The pinpoint accurate gunnery of these two frigates had already downed a pair of escort ships and crippled a cruiser.
---
David Franklin enjoyed using his linear gun. He had come to appreciate the simplicity and effectiveness of the Earth Alliance weapon. It was just as good at destroying mobile armours as his old M68 Cattus 500mm recoilless rifle had been and it even had a larger ammunition capacity. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to keep it once this mission was over but he hoped so, he'd grown attached to it.
A Moebius came screaming in from his left firing its vulcan guns. Franklin shifted his GINN back slightly and allowed the Earth Alliance mobile armour to swoop past him. He lined up the linear gun and fired; the electromagnetically propelled projectile tore through the rear armour plating and smashed its way through the innards of the mobile armour. The luckless Moebius continued to hurtle through space before it disintegrated into shards of scrap metal.
Another Moebius swooped in close to his GINN. Rather than simply letting it pass Franklin decided to jump his mobile suit onto the top of the mobile armour. He had done this before and Commander Suzuhara had reprimanded him for it, however he thought it was far too amusing to give it up. Landing on the Moebius he swung his linear gun about to point straight down as it came into place he pressed the trigger. The projectile punched through the mobile armour's armour and then came out the other side of the Earth Alliance weapon. Franklin kicked off the stricken Moebius before it exploded.
---
Ichiro brought his GINN to a rest in the hanger of the Archimedes. After the opening exchange the battle had carried on at a furious pace before the Eurasian Federation commander lost his nerve and fled on his Agamemnon class carrier. Only one of the cruisers and a pair of escorts ships managed to join the Agamemnon, Ichiro wasn't sure how many of the Moebius' managed to escape however he was pretty sure it wasn't a great number; he had personally downed at least eight of them. Miraculously none of his GINNs had been destroyed and, while a few of them had new scratches and dints, none of the pilots were hurt.
His GINN had received a further hit on its left thruster binder. He could only assume the Alliance pilots were getting better, or that he was getting careless. He'd prefer it to be the former but deep down he suspected it was the latter.
'Welcome back Commander.' said Elizabeth. Her kind face appeared in the sub monitor to his left. 'The Alliance forces have left our immediate area of operations.'
'Thank you Elizabeth.' said Ichiro as he directed his GINN into its cradle. 'Instruct Captain Philips to plot a course back to PLANT, we're finished here. I want to get back quickly.'
'Yes Sir I will.' replied Elizabeth in her soft dulcet tone.
'Oh and Elizabeth can you arrange a meal for me?' added Ichiro. 'I'm famished.'
----
Next Phase:- Exhausted from their missions near Artemis the Suzuhara Squadron return to PLANT. However on the way there the Earth Alliance begins a counteroffensive on Luna. When the Melchett Squadron gets mauled by Earth Alliance forces the Suzuhara Squadron is thrown into the gap in the line with orders to hold no matter what the cost.