Mobile Suit Gundam: Lives on the Line
Chapter 5: Battle in the Pouring Rain
As the night came it got colder, though the drop in temperature wasn't significant it was enough that when combined with the near torrential rainfall it did make for one miserable soldier or in this five miserable soldiers in the form of the 4th Team. Without the sun's warming rays the rain could chill a man too his bones even in the usually hot and humid jungle. Brian stood outside his mobile suit, staring up at it. In the darkness the humanoid machine had an eerie almost disturbing look about it. He found himself transfixed by the MS's eyes until the sound of his teammates snapped him out of his trance.
"Hey Brian, get over here!" called Gatey, who was hunched over a portable heater. To his side sat Rob; still stuffing himself with the beans they had leftover from dinner. Across from them sat their new Commander and Private Raj. They all camped alone in the jungle, awaiting their next orders. They had found a small Zeon encampment previously unknown and had been staking the camp out for the past two or three hours, out of the range of their sensors of course. Their trio of suits was now hidden along with the Hovertruck in the dense brush.
"Sitting around sucks. I'm tired of waiting" Tenser groaned, tossing an empty beer can aside. Just sit, watch and wait was what they were told to do, until the brass decided their fate. The silent monotony was broken suddenly by a beeping noise from within the Hovertruck. Raj leapt up, and clambered into the cockpit of the truck. He reemerged seconds later with a worried look on his face.
'Uh ... commander that was the base and they want us to wipe out that camp" he said, visually shaken by the unfortunate news. Commander Eve Ketari slowly rose to her feet and unfurled a map onto a tree stump in front of her teammates.
"Alright, let's get down to business, we've identified two, maybe three Zakus in the area along with several fixed guns, a frontal assault even under the cover of darkness would be complete suicide, so do any of you have any suggestions? She said pointing out each detail on the map.
"That's different." Brian mumbled.
"What is?" Eve asked.
"Usually our old commanders would have ordered us to attack from the front, probably hoping one of us would die in the process." He nearly growled, the anger clearly evident in his voice.
"Like I said before, things are going to be done different now" She assured him. "Okay here's my plan, Rob you're our long-range specialist, so I want you to lay down some covering fire on the Zeons. CPO Nikolas you go around to the side, move in and fire at will. During the confusion, I'll come in from the other side and sweep through what's left. Let's do this, okay?" Brian and Rob nodded in agreement and scaled up to their respective cockpits. Both started up and began to move out.
"Rob, begin firing in ten, were on radio silence from now, so good luck guys" Eve's voice crackled over the intercom before fading away. Brian maneuvered his suit through the brush, thinking to himself. SO far the commander seemed to know what she was doing. He could clearly see the base know, and he had already locked on to one of the three Zakus. He patiently waited for the shots that would signal the start of the battle. He peered at his clock; according to it the time had come. As if on cue, a huge explosion ripped through one of the emplacements, blowing it into countless pieces. More shots followed soon after sending the Zeke's into disarray. He grinned, just as planned, nice going commander he thought to himself. His MS stood up and he too opened fire on the Zaku he was aiming at. Time after time his machine gun hit its mark. The Zaku's pilot attempted to turn the suit around, but it was all in vain, a bullet pierced his cock pit killing him instantly. The suit toppled over soon after. Brian fired wildly into the base adding to the confusion.
"Whooooo-ha!" he yelled into his intercom. On the other side of the camp, Cmdr. Ketari also sat in waiting. She had seen the opening shots as well as the machine gun fire from Nikolas. So much for radio silence she thought. Up to this point her plan was going smoothly, the two-pronged assault had went perfectly. It was now her turn, she raced from her hiding spot and into the, as her suit would go. The two remaining Zakus were returning fire on Brian's position, their backs turned to Ketari. She ignited her beam saber and cleaved through the closest enemy, one that had been damaged by Rob's initial barrage. The saber cleaved through its right arm and continued until it had completely sliced the machine in half. The torso hit the ground, sparked and exploded violently moments later. The last Zaku turned and trained his gun on her Gundam, letting loose a volley of shots. Eve raised her shield in time to block the fire. The Zeon pilot dropped his gun, and drew his Heat Hawk, charging Eve's position. She followed suit by dropping her shield and barreling at the incoming mobile suit. Their two weapons clashed, but the superior saber won out, it sliced through the Heat Hawk and cut deeply into the Zaku's shoulder, causing it to stumble backwards. Eve thrust forward once more to end the duel. The rest was elementary, without the Zakus to back them up the turrets all surrendered. The final tally, three Zakus destroyed as well as two bunkers.
"Great job guys, I'm proud of you." Eve said, a smile lighting up her face. "Imagine the looks on our reinforcements faces when they see that we managed to wipe the Zeons out."
"Don't think you've won us over that easy, commander." Rob cautioned wagging a finger at her.
"I didn't expect to, not this quickly Tenser, just consider this my first test." She answered.
"A test that you passed with flying colors, Eve." Brian said. "You're already a step ahead of our other commanders, wouldn't you agree"? He turned to Gatey, who was occupying himself by picking over the remains of one of the downed Zakus.
"Yea, she actually survived the first battle!" He laughed, looking over a hunk of metal before throwing it back to the ground. Rob grumbled audibly, Brian couldn't make out what he said, but he was sure it was a yes. The commander was impressive, to say the least. She said they would win and they did, Rob just didn't want to openly agree. Not yet anyway.
"However, commander like you said this is just one step in the right direction." He still hated to admit it but she was slowly but surely winning not only him over but the rest of the team as well. Dustin Raj's head poked out from the inside of the Hovertruck.
"Hey Cmdr. Ketari, we're to head back to base now" he called down.
"Alright, let's get going, CPO Nikolas, I need to talk to you in private when we get back."
"No problem," With that the team returned to base, grabbed a quick bite at the mess hall and called it a night. That is except for Brian Nikolas, who couldn't think of any reason good or bad, why the commander would need to see just him. But he would find out soon enough. He entered Eve's "office" which was more or less a side room in the main building used by team commanders when they need to talk to team members in private.
'Sit down, Brian, this is important." She motioned a seat, which he took. 'I want you to answer truthfully."
"Sure, what is it?" He asked.
"You're a member of the Zeon, aren't you, CPO Nikolas?
"What! How did you know?
End Chapter 5
How can this be? A member of the 4th teams a spy, and the main character no less. Is it true? Tune in for the next chapter to find out!
Chapter 5: Battle in the Pouring Rain
As the night came it got colder, though the drop in temperature wasn't significant it was enough that when combined with the near torrential rainfall it did make for one miserable soldier or in this five miserable soldiers in the form of the 4th Team. Without the sun's warming rays the rain could chill a man too his bones even in the usually hot and humid jungle. Brian stood outside his mobile suit, staring up at it. In the darkness the humanoid machine had an eerie almost disturbing look about it. He found himself transfixed by the MS's eyes until the sound of his teammates snapped him out of his trance.
"Hey Brian, get over here!" called Gatey, who was hunched over a portable heater. To his side sat Rob; still stuffing himself with the beans they had leftover from dinner. Across from them sat their new Commander and Private Raj. They all camped alone in the jungle, awaiting their next orders. They had found a small Zeon encampment previously unknown and had been staking the camp out for the past two or three hours, out of the range of their sensors of course. Their trio of suits was now hidden along with the Hovertruck in the dense brush.
"Sitting around sucks. I'm tired of waiting" Tenser groaned, tossing an empty beer can aside. Just sit, watch and wait was what they were told to do, until the brass decided their fate. The silent monotony was broken suddenly by a beeping noise from within the Hovertruck. Raj leapt up, and clambered into the cockpit of the truck. He reemerged seconds later with a worried look on his face.
'Uh ... commander that was the base and they want us to wipe out that camp" he said, visually shaken by the unfortunate news. Commander Eve Ketari slowly rose to her feet and unfurled a map onto a tree stump in front of her teammates.
"Alright, let's get down to business, we've identified two, maybe three Zakus in the area along with several fixed guns, a frontal assault even under the cover of darkness would be complete suicide, so do any of you have any suggestions? She said pointing out each detail on the map.
"That's different." Brian mumbled.
"What is?" Eve asked.
"Usually our old commanders would have ordered us to attack from the front, probably hoping one of us would die in the process." He nearly growled, the anger clearly evident in his voice.
"Like I said before, things are going to be done different now" She assured him. "Okay here's my plan, Rob you're our long-range specialist, so I want you to lay down some covering fire on the Zeons. CPO Nikolas you go around to the side, move in and fire at will. During the confusion, I'll come in from the other side and sweep through what's left. Let's do this, okay?" Brian and Rob nodded in agreement and scaled up to their respective cockpits. Both started up and began to move out.
"Rob, begin firing in ten, were on radio silence from now, so good luck guys" Eve's voice crackled over the intercom before fading away. Brian maneuvered his suit through the brush, thinking to himself. SO far the commander seemed to know what she was doing. He could clearly see the base know, and he had already locked on to one of the three Zakus. He patiently waited for the shots that would signal the start of the battle. He peered at his clock; according to it the time had come. As if on cue, a huge explosion ripped through one of the emplacements, blowing it into countless pieces. More shots followed soon after sending the Zeke's into disarray. He grinned, just as planned, nice going commander he thought to himself. His MS stood up and he too opened fire on the Zaku he was aiming at. Time after time his machine gun hit its mark. The Zaku's pilot attempted to turn the suit around, but it was all in vain, a bullet pierced his cock pit killing him instantly. The suit toppled over soon after. Brian fired wildly into the base adding to the confusion.
"Whooooo-ha!" he yelled into his intercom. On the other side of the camp, Cmdr. Ketari also sat in waiting. She had seen the opening shots as well as the machine gun fire from Nikolas. So much for radio silence she thought. Up to this point her plan was going smoothly, the two-pronged assault had went perfectly. It was now her turn, she raced from her hiding spot and into the, as her suit would go. The two remaining Zakus were returning fire on Brian's position, their backs turned to Ketari. She ignited her beam saber and cleaved through the closest enemy, one that had been damaged by Rob's initial barrage. The saber cleaved through its right arm and continued until it had completely sliced the machine in half. The torso hit the ground, sparked and exploded violently moments later. The last Zaku turned and trained his gun on her Gundam, letting loose a volley of shots. Eve raised her shield in time to block the fire. The Zeon pilot dropped his gun, and drew his Heat Hawk, charging Eve's position. She followed suit by dropping her shield and barreling at the incoming mobile suit. Their two weapons clashed, but the superior saber won out, it sliced through the Heat Hawk and cut deeply into the Zaku's shoulder, causing it to stumble backwards. Eve thrust forward once more to end the duel. The rest was elementary, without the Zakus to back them up the turrets all surrendered. The final tally, three Zakus destroyed as well as two bunkers.
"Great job guys, I'm proud of you." Eve said, a smile lighting up her face. "Imagine the looks on our reinforcements faces when they see that we managed to wipe the Zeons out."
"Don't think you've won us over that easy, commander." Rob cautioned wagging a finger at her.
"I didn't expect to, not this quickly Tenser, just consider this my first test." She answered.
"A test that you passed with flying colors, Eve." Brian said. "You're already a step ahead of our other commanders, wouldn't you agree"? He turned to Gatey, who was occupying himself by picking over the remains of one of the downed Zakus.
"Yea, she actually survived the first battle!" He laughed, looking over a hunk of metal before throwing it back to the ground. Rob grumbled audibly, Brian couldn't make out what he said, but he was sure it was a yes. The commander was impressive, to say the least. She said they would win and they did, Rob just didn't want to openly agree. Not yet anyway.
"However, commander like you said this is just one step in the right direction." He still hated to admit it but she was slowly but surely winning not only him over but the rest of the team as well. Dustin Raj's head poked out from the inside of the Hovertruck.
"Hey Cmdr. Ketari, we're to head back to base now" he called down.
"Alright, let's get going, CPO Nikolas, I need to talk to you in private when we get back."
"No problem," With that the team returned to base, grabbed a quick bite at the mess hall and called it a night. That is except for Brian Nikolas, who couldn't think of any reason good or bad, why the commander would need to see just him. But he would find out soon enough. He entered Eve's "office" which was more or less a side room in the main building used by team commanders when they need to talk to team members in private.
'Sit down, Brian, this is important." She motioned a seat, which he took. 'I want you to answer truthfully."
"Sure, what is it?" He asked.
"You're a member of the Zeon, aren't you, CPO Nikolas?
"What! How did you know?
End Chapter 5
How can this be? A member of the 4th teams a spy, and the main character no less. Is it true? Tune in for the next chapter to find out!