Chapter 6: Shattered Peace
The morning was a beautiful one, one of the nicest since the war had started. The rain had ceased, and as a result of the downpour, the area had cooled down considerably. However, none of the slowly gathering crowd of pilots, officers, and mechanics took much of a notice of the weather. The call had gone out pretty early for all of the base personnel to assemble outside the huge MS hangers. Apparently there was an important announcement or some big news; the crowd was abuzz with everyone talking at once about what it could possibly be about. Everyone both dreaded and heralded any news that was important enough to gather the entire base. It could be could or bad depending on whom you asked, there was more than enough grist for the rumor mill. Brian was roused roughly from his sleep by Eve, who he decided was way too chipper for 6:21 in the morning. He barely had enough time to dress, but as soon as he did, he went out into the hall and was joined by teammate Gatey, who was in full uniform as usual.
"You know what's goin' on?" Brian asked, leaning over to lace up his boots. Pat scratched his head and shrugged his shoulders.
"Hell if I know, they never tell us until we get there."
"Maybe the war is over?' It wasn't a question that was not meant to be answered, both were all to well aware that the war was probably far from over. Although it helped to hope sometimes. The silence from the sudden depression of the two comrades was broken by a booming shout that echoed down the hall. IT was the unmistakable voice of Robert Tenser in one of his daily bad moods. The shouting grew louder as the pair saw Rob walk down the hall, literally pulling the struggling Raj along with him. Apparently, when Dustin had woken Rob, he made it seem like the Red Comet himself was assaulting the base, and boy did he get pissed.
"We'd better get going, just in case Dustin falls down and is dragged on the ground all the way to the assembly." Gatey said, smiling. They took off after their teammates. When they reached the reached the mass gathering Brian looked out amongst the crowd for a familiar face. He found one, in the handsome visage of his cousin: "Gorgeous" Chris Gerbels, the 4th team's chief mechanic.
"Hey Chris!" Brian called out. "What's up?"
"Something real bad happened a ways from here." Chris answered. Brian trusted the good-looking man more than anyone else he knew, and as a result he was one of the only people who knew his cousin's darkest secret. Almost as if on cue the P.A. system crackled to life, quickly quieting the crowd. Major Fossey's voice boomed out over the area. His tone was low and somber.
"May I please have your attention? I would like to inform you all of the tragic event that occurred late last night. As some of you may already know, a small village that had been forcibly occupied by the Zeon has been completely wiped out. The townsfolk had valiantly risen up against their barbaric captors and were massacred, every man, women and child. For those of you who ask why we fight the Zeon, this is your answer. We fight to stop these horrific acts from happening and to free both the earth and it's people! Now you are all to go out and inspect your Mobile suits, and get them ready, because we are not going to let those bastards perpetrate crimes like this and go un-punished! Thank you!" The crowd erupted with a massive cheer that echoed far throughout the base. It had climbed to reach a fervor, a near riot as the gathering of personal vented their feelings. Brian looked at his teammates around him; they were as fired up as they possibly could be. He too was feeling the horrified, and pissed off at what had happened and he was eager to pay his enemies back. The people dispersed in a hurry, heading towards their stations as the furor died down. Eve stood in front of her men, a look of pride and excitement on her. Obviously the Major's speech had affected her the same way it did the entire base.
'Alright, guys let's get going, I want those suits in top shape when we go kick some Zeke ass!" She shouted. The five men whooped their agreement and they all literally sprinted to their MS's. She hurried after them; her spirits boosted even more by the morale of her charges.
The trio of Mobile Suits kneeled down behind makeshift scaffoldings, one that was erected just for this type of occasion. As team leader it was one of her jobs to assist in the overseeing of the team's MS's. The boy were proud of their weapons and in her opinion rightly so. For what they lacked in general discipline, they more than made up for it with combat skills, and the MS showed it. Both Brian and Rob piloted RX-79 Ground Battle Gundams, though Rob's was perennially fitted with a storage container, befitting his support role for the team. The former GM Sniper pilot preferred the long-range support role to close combat. Brian was also an expert gunner, but he favored machine guns and Beam rifles to bazookas, and rocket launchers. Eve on the other hand piloted a ground combat-fitted GM. She unlike her gun-crazy comrades was very proficient at "hand-to-hand" MS combat. She believed that the GM was just a little bit more maneuverable, albeit a little less tough than it counter-parts.
"Pick up the pace." She called up to the various techs and mechanics bustling around the trio of suits. "Make sure they're all refueled, and also reload the Vulcans for each." One of the mechanics turned to look at her and shouted an okay. She recognized him as their Chief mechanic, Gerbels. Her first impression of him was that he was just an air-head only interested in meeting women, and that he only got he job somehow because of his relation to Brian. But as she had seen he was more than a capable mechanic, he could work wonders with a damaged MS. She smiled to herself, just another example of don't just a book by its cover. She heard someone call out her name and saw her Hover-truck operators walking over to her.
"All work on the Hover-Truck is complete commander" Pat reported. Gatey was an odd little man, from what she had learned he hated Mobile Suits, which is why he drives the HT, but he has never given any reason why. "What's our next assignment Eve?"
"Well, we have the honor, of being the first team to search the are around the destroyed village for any lagging Zeon units." She said. "We're to start out in a few hours and be there late this afternoon."
"We're going to teach those Zeon a lesson" he smiled
"Yes, we are."
End Chapter 6
Next Time: The team has been once again ordered into combat, but what will happen when they reach their destination? Stay tuned and find out!