Chapter 8

Fielding walked the bridge, surveying it. He looked up, out the front viewport of the cruiser, seeing the one of the many massive colonies that made up Side 3.
"Sir, I have received a transmission from Admiral Joesphf Bently," informed LeGraud.
"Bring it up on screen," replied Fielding, looking up where the screen appears.
"Fielding," spoke Bently with a heavy English accent, "smashing job on the Side 3 takeover."
"Thank you, Sir," replied Fielding, "only doing my job."
"Keep up the good work and I will put you in for a promotion at Headquarters," congratulated Bently.
"That is very generous of you, Sir," answered Fielding, awestruck by Bently's gesture.
"Can't wait for you and your crew to return to Solo-" said Bently, being cut short by violent hit to the cruiser's starboard engine.
Fielding lost his balance, falling down, and striking his forehead of his chair, splitting his brow open. He climbed to his feet as the ship rotated port from the hit.
"Where the hell did that come from," questioned Fielding, wiping blood from his brow.
"Heading 2-2-3, starboard," informed LeGraud, bringing the image up on screen.
A lone USC cruiser appeared, headed straight for them.
"Damage report," ordered Fielding, blood dripping from his wound.
"Starboard engine is at 10 capacity," informed Priss, looking at a diagram of the ship on a screen.
Another USC cruiser appeared, then another, and then another.
"Sir, multiple enemy cruisers are appearing out of nowhere," said LeGraud.
"They must be using cloaking devices," thought Fielding, "All hands to combat status, this is not a drill," he commanded.
"Activate all online cannons," stated Priss, watching the USC Cruisers close in on the crippled EMF ship.
The cannons began firing at the enemy cruisers, slowing them down, but not destroying them because of superior shielding.
"Cannons are ineffective, Sir," said Priss, watching the beams dissipate on the enemy cruisers.
"Ensign, hard starboard, 90 degrees," commanded Fielding, his uniform spattered with blood from his brow.
"Yes, Sir," replied Ensign Summers, maneuvering the cruiser into a headlong state against the enemy ships.
"What are you doing, Sir," questioned Priss, running up to him across the bridge.
"Saving our asses," replied Fielding.
"I know what you are thinking and it is suicide," informed Priss.
"Don't question my authority, LTJG. Priss," Fielding replied with a stern look.
"I know my place, Sir, but, this will get us killed for no reason," conversed Priss.
The Captain pulled out his service automatic and pointed it in Priss's face, unlocking the safety.
"I suggest you stand down, Priss," informed Fielding, "I am in charge, not you."
Priss backed away from Fielding, hands up.
Fielding holstered his pistol and continued control of the ship, all eyes darting back to their stations.
"As soon as those enemy cruisers are in range, fire the bow cannons at full capacity, divert all sub-critical power to front shields," commanded Fielding, sweating from nervousness.
The crippled EMF cruiser fired the cannons, 2 white-hot streaks of light hit the lead USC cruiser, creating a fireball that quickly subsided in the vacuum of space.
"One confirmed kill, Sir," informed LeGraud.
"Continue targeting sequences on all remaining enemy vessels," said Fielding, watching the cannons obliterate another cruiser.
The USC cruisers returned fire in barrage style, most beams dissipated on the EMF cruiser's shields, but a few found their way to the hull of the ship, creating craters in the hull.
"Airlock breaches in sectors 1,2, and 5, Sir," informed LeGraud, studying the ship diagram.
"Seal all airlocks and hatches, emergency lockup status," replied Fielding, looking at LeGraud.
"Yes, Sir," obeyed LeGraud, keying in sequences on the computer.
The remaining 4 USC cruisers were closing in on the EMF ship.
"Sir, main cannons are offline," informed Priss, coming back to his post, "they are in cooling sequence now, next firing sequence is E.T.A. 3 minutes."
"Damn it," swore Fielding, pounding his fist on his bridge chair.
3 of the enemy cruisers ruptured violently into fireballs, sending debris through space.
"Where in the hell did that come from," questioned Fielding, as the source came on screen.
"Sorry we took so long," said a captain of one of the reinforcement cruisers, one of nearly 40, all coming in to guard Side 3.
"Thank God you came," replied Fielding, his ship badly damaged.
"You guys look like hell," replied the Captain, "We will come link up and help you out,"
"Gladly," replied Fielding, sitting down in his chair.

"Time to silence these guys for good," commented Rush, as he took aim with Gundam Dreadnought's Twin Dober Gun, firing 2 rounds at the communications array, leaving nothing more than a smoking crater.
"Our work here is almost done," commented Rachel, destroying several tanks with Vulcan fire.
"I'm picking up nothing else on my scanners," informed Rush, looking at his radar screen.
"I'll send a transmission to camp to come in and take over," replied Rachel.
"So, now what?" questioned Rush, look around at the havoc they just reeked.
"Follow me," said Rachel, as she hit the thrusters in her suit and took off through the air.
"Right behind you," replied Rush, taking off in the same manner as Rachel did.
"Where we going?" questioned Rush after a brief period of silence, as they skimmed the treetops at high speed.
"To the next meeting point Dr. Ciao sent me the coordinates to," she replied, sending him the coordinates to his suit's HUD.
"Gotcha," said Rush, cruising right behind her.

"How much longer until we reach Earth?" questioned Brandt, watching space debris from past ages fly by.
"At our current speed, we should be in Earth's atmosphere within 4 days, maybe 3, but that is pushing it, Sir," replied the pilot, studying his control panel.
"Set this ship to Autopilot at this speed, we shouldn't have any problems with space scum, if you know what I mean," commented Brandt, turning towards the pilot.
A Comm officer approached Brandt, holding a data disk.
"What's this?" questioned Brandt, taking it from him.
"A report from a Captain Thomas Fielding," replied the Comm officer, "it must be important, it came all the way from Side 3."
"That is a good distance from here to send to me, so let's see," Brandt commented, putting the disk into his personal PDA.
The disk contained everything from the beginning attack on Side 3 all the way up until the reinforcements from Solomon arrived, including the unidentified reentry capsule the MS training facility launched.
"Wow," commented Brandt, scrolling through the report, "a lone, battle-damaged cruiser against 8 USC Heavy cruisers, and survived, I must meet this Captain Fielding."
"What do you think was in that capsule, Sir?" questioned his X.O., walking over, interested on what was going on.
"Probably a prototype mobile suit they didn't want us to see or capture," replied Brandt, "they think we are stupid."
"Anyways," continued the X.O., "about your suit."
"What about it?" questioned Brandt, looking at him funny.
"Nothing is wrong," replied the X.O.," it is just that we haven't touched it since you returned from Side 7, so no repairs or resupplies have been undertaken on it."
"Don't worry about it," said Brandt, "I have it under control, just keep anyone who doesn't have clearance to that bay away from it, which includes everyone except me, you, and my personal maintenance crew."
"Yes, Sir," replied the X.O., continuing his routine checks on the bridge.
"Earth," thought Brandt, "I haven't seen it in nearly a year, being out here, usually patrolling the ass end of nowhere, can't wait to get home."

Rachel stopped and landed Gundam Cydra in a small clearing, just big enough for her suit to fit in.
"Here we are," she commented, looking around with her suit.
"Ok," replied Rush, confused, "what now?"
All of a sudden, her suit disappeared below the treeline.
"Where did you go?" Rush questioned, not knowing how in the hell she did that.
"Step forward about 20 feet and you will find me," Rachel keyed in over the communication system.
He did so, his suit fell on its back almost, and begun sliding down an almost vertical rock wall.
"Holy shit!" exclaimed Rush, trying to keep the suit from slamming into the ground below.
He landed the suit, almost destroying the servo motors located in legs from the impact.
"Easy, killer," commented Rachel, deactivating her suit and opening the cockpit, "we don't have the supplies to make field repairs."
"I could have used a little more warning though," replied Rush, beginning the shutdown sequence on Gundam Dreadnought.
He lowered to the ground on the wire lift, looking at the rain forest like tree canopy above them.
"Perfect hiding spot," informed Rachel, walking towards him, "The rock formations mask our signatures on radar."
"So," replied Rush, " we are basically invisible, correct?"
"Yep," stated Rachel, "Go look for some firewood while I start setting up camp."
"Ok, be back in a little while, just call my radio if you need me for something."
"Don't take forever," she warned, "It gets cold fast around here."