Sortie-02 – Starship Troopers
OMNI Churchill, Approaching Lagrange Point 2.
Shortly After The Gulnahan Ravine Battle.
James Macintosh hated ship deployments. Having spent most of his service career in the spacious lunar bases of the Alliance Forces, warships seemed extremely claustrophobic to him. It didn't help that the refitted Nelson warships were somewhat claustrophobic, a result of the modifications made to give them capacity to carry mobile suits rather than comparatively tiny Moebius mobile armours. Having just departed Arzachel, the hangar felt packed, with four Windams aboard ship, plus their Striker Packs. It slightly frustrated Lieutenant (JG) Macintosh that he was now subordinate to a man who was quite comfortable aboard this warship, whilst he was distinctly uncomfortable.
"C'mon, Jamie! You flew Ess-Dees during Elvis, how can you be so uncomfortable on a ship? At least our suits ain't lashed to the hull this time around, ya know." exclaimed Lieutenant O'Riley, who was maddeningly cheery for a supposedly war-weary pilot.
"It's because of Elvis I hate ship service… that damned Genesis thing still gives me nightmares." Macintosh replied, shuddering slightly at the memory of the Second Battle of Jachin Due. "'sides, the Strike Dagger was far more fun to fly, more of a 'seat of pants' experience than these refined Windams."
Stephen couldn't help but laugh at the remark, even though he too remembered GENESIS all too well. "Hey, if you wanna be fodder for a GuAIZ, let alone them new models, be my guest! Might as well fly a Moebius!"
With a devilish grin, James floated towards his Windam, the standard OMNI colours almost shining in the well-lit hangar bay. Musing at how suicidal piloting a Moebius would be even when the GINN was ZAFT's only mobile suit, his gaze drifted to the other pilot's machine, newly minted in its custom scheme. The white was replaced with light gray, the green with red, and the blue was simply darkened. The shield matched, too. The custom-painted machine also carried a second, spare beam rifle, since O'Riley had been destroying rifles since the War with his "shotgun blast" firing mode. He'd first used it in a last-ditch situation at Jachin Due, when his battered and broken Strike Dagger was on the verge of being destroyed by an ace in a black GuAIZ. Though it led to his killer special shot, the veteran pilot hated the Strike Dagger for this moment; having been told the GAT-01A1 105 Dagger he received for a few months before receiving a Dagger-L was the intended design of the Strike Dagger, O'Riley had been furious beyond words at the cheapness of OMNI Enforcer, sending troops to fight for the survival of Earth and Naturals in sub-par mobile suits while spending billions on a handful of prototypes.
In the meantime, the pilot with the customised Windam was chatting with his two wingmen, Andrew Bishop and Emmanuel Panther. What they were talking about was a mystery to Macintosh, but it couldn't have been particularly funny, as none of them were smiling. Probably something to do with the upcoming mission.
After the war, a joint mission by the Alliance and PLANT had begun the process of moving destroyed space colonies at Lagrange Point 4 to L2 above the Daedalus Base, so that they could be repaired and reassembled, patching together ruined O'Neill cylinders to form new colonies. Nobody quite new why, the Coordinators were quite happy to build new PLANT types, and so many Naturals died on Earth during the War that Copernicus City would hardly be stretched to capacity. James suspected it was simply a way to demonstrate the peaceful uses of OMNI and ZAFT after the Junius Treaty was signed.
Either way, those colonies now served a practical purpose. The twenty-four year old pilot had no idea what that purpose was, but either way, massive sections of old cylinders were being dragooned into military service by the Alliance. James' personal theory was to use them as staging bases to resupply ships and mobile suits from Arzachel or Daedalus on their way to PLANT.
The rumour mill says the cylinders are gonna be fitted with Geschmeidig Panzer, but that makes no sense, unless they're going to use them as gigantic movable shields… mused O'Riley, based on what he had just been told by his wingmen. The rumour mill was always a good place to listen to, if one toned down its wild claims a few notches.
With that in mind, the pilot headed for his mobile suit, wanting to be ready for the fight.
Lagrange Point 2.
The Following Day.
"Lieutenant, we've found a Laurasia in the debris field, looks to be scouting out Daedalus. Engage and destroy them!" ordered the ship's captain, a cowardly man who had already gained a reputation for letting the Churchill's mobile suits do all the work, then claiming credit for a successful mission.
O'Riley resisted the temptation to tell the man what he thought, simply replying with a by-the-book "Yessir!" and a move to prepare for launch.
With its Aile Striker attached, O'Riley's machine was moved out to the portside catapult, with Macintosh's own Sword Windam on the other side. As the catapult confirmed ready, the two mobile suits shot out from the ship, soaring gracefully through debris-strewn space as Bishop and Panther caught up in their Doppelhorn Windams. The enemy, it seemed, comprised six of the enemy's new machines, Zakus or something similarly silly; five were green, but the sixth was a deep shade of crimson. Two had huge thruster-laden backpacks, two with huge cannons deployed under their right arms, one with a pair of Gatling guns over its shoulders and a second shoulder shield, and one with what appeared to be a big satellite on one shoulder and a big antenna in its hands…
"Dammit, that must be the recon machine! Hope it hasn't seen us…" O'Riley muttered, as he felt the adrenaline building. "Okay, everyone! Hit antenna-boy first with everything you got, then let's nail the escorts and mothership and head home!"
Three confirmations came in, but the hotshot pilot was barely paying attention, already training his sights on the ZAFT machine with the satellite shoulder. As he achieved a lock, hoping his comrades had too, he ordered, "Okay, now!"
Four beams struck out from each Windam's beam rifle, as well as a quartet of heavy shells from Doppelhorn barrels. The recon MS didn't stand a chance, its torso pierced in multiple places by green beams; the machine had already exploded by the time the cannon rounds arrived. Of course, this grabbed the attention of the other ZAFT pilots in a way few other things could – most of them unmentionable in polite conversation. Tracking the source of the beams, all the two Blaze ZAKU Warriors, two Gunner ZAKU Warriors, and a lone Slash ZAKU Phantom prepared to do battle.
The lead ZAKU pilot, a red-coat with a penchant for close combat named Kevin Stockdale, found himself thoroughly frustrated. The pilot of his team's Command ZAKU CCI had been so focused on checking out the Alliance's Daedalus Base he hadn't paid attention to the bigger picture, and it cost her life; Christina Shackle had been his lover, and he fully intended to avenge her upon these new Natural toys.
"New mission, people: Kill the bastards!" he exclaimed over the squad channel in an unnaturally rich voice, knowing his people would know what to do. Sure enough, the Blaze units pushed above the Gunners with him, as the long-range units opened fire with their long "Orthos" beam cannons, aiming for an early knockout blow. No such luck, but they did scatter the formation of new-model Daggers or whatever they were.
Knowing the Gunner ZAKUs would provide covering fire when needed, Stockdale readied himself for the upcoming fight. Signalling with his suit's left hand, he brought his red ZAKU Phantom into formation with the green ZAKU Warriors mounting the Blaze Wizard, all three firing their rifles as they charged.
"Damn!" muttered O'Riley, opening his comms channel. "I'll take the red guy, you three stay out of the Launcher-wannabes range and take down those backpack bastards!"
Wordlessly, all three of his subordinates went about their jobs. Bishop and Panther made full use of their dual cannons to bracket their targets, whilst Macintosh chose instead to head for the fire-support units. It made sense, his melee-oriented machine would have a distinct edge over them; the laser edge of an anti-ship sword, in fact. In the meantime, O'Riley himself had a task to be getting on with…
Firing successive blasts from his beam rifle, he threw the Aile Windam through a complex series of twists and turns, making sure to stay well away from the rapid barrage of beams spraying from the ZAFT machine's over-the-shoulder cannons. Neither pilot could get anywhere with the criss-crossing green beams, but neither was particularly willing to engage in close combat; O'Riley because the Gatling beam guns terrified him, Stockdale to keep the unknowing Natural unaware of the huge beam axe his suit was carrying. The dance continued…
In the meantime, James Macintosh charged towards the mobile suits with the big guns, beam rifle firing away. Unfortunately, his opponents proved adept at putting their shoulder shields between his blasts and their cockpits, which the Windam pilot found rather annoying. Storing his rifle, Macintosh grabbed the beam boomerang from his suit's left shoulder, where its mounting replaced the upper shoulder piece and its thruster. Hurling the unusual-but-deadly weapon, he succeeded in catching one ZAFT pilot way off guard, the beam blade bisecting the mobile suit at its waist. In its explosion, retrieving the boomerang, he didn't notice the fallen machine's comrade, until its long-range beam cannon fired. Fortunately, the Windam's shield intercepted the beam just in time, but was destroyed in the process. Fortunately, the shield missiles didn't explode. Small mercies, Macintosh noted.
Drawing the "Schwert Gewehr" sword from its back mount, the Windam charged, ducking and diving away from red-white beams as it did so. The first slash missed the enemy machine's main body, but at such close range, the mono-eyed robot was defenceless, unable to bring its cannon to bear, and seemingly lacking internal weapons. Raising the sword to a horizontal level, James thrust the sword's tip through the torso just below the cockpit. Pulling the blade out, his Sword Windam was already diving back into the fight as the second hapless opponent exploded.
Bishop and Panther were having very little success in taking on the pair they were taking on. It seemed the backpacks they mounted gave them greater speed and agility than the Windam, particular with their machines encumbered by the Doppelhorn Striker. Panther's machine had already lost its right leg to a lucky shot, and Bishop's was scorched by several near-misses with the small missiles stored in the top of the backpack. It was at that moment, however, that the commander broke off, apparently fleeing the red machine. In truth he was, but the two pilots were convinced he was joining them. A beam rifle blast from the Aile Windam decapitated one of the round-headed enemies, and kept it off balance long enough for Andy Bishop to finally take it out with the missiles mounted in his suit's shield, both scoring direct hits on the cockpit.
Emmanuel Panther, feeling confident, charged the second machine, hoping to catch it off guard. Unfortunately, his luck wasn't that good, as the ZAKU, rifle abandoned, hurled its beam tomahawk with blinding speed, the pink blade spectacularly penetrating the Windam's cockpit and frying its pilot instantly. Bishop, enraged, fired his rifle a half-dozen times in quick succession, penetrating the enemy's torso in multiple places, its explosion outshining that of Panther's machine.
Shocked, O'Riley froze. "Emmanuel!" he cried out, shocked at the loss of one of his long-serving wingmen. In his frozen state, he didn't notice the leader's red machine approaching behind him, until a pair of explosions shook the Aile Windam. One was the left wing of his Aile Striker being torn off, and the top of his Windam's left shoulder melting. The other, mercifully, was the enemy's beam rifle, sliced in half by a superbly-timed beam boomerang. Turning its attention to Macintosh, the blood-coloured machine spat beams from the shoulder Gatlings, simultaneously grabbing its impressively large beam axe. As it charged, James threw his Windam forward too, sword drawn for a fight.
Firing his CIWS guns, Macintosh tried to get the bulky red enemy off-guard. No such luck, as it continued unabated. Bringing his sword down, the enemy blocked with its axe, before breaking off. Another burst of CIWS fire was just as ineffective, and the melee continued in a series of swings, blocks, and retreats. Finally, a mistake was made. Over-estimating the size of swing he needed, James' Windam swung its massive sword too far, leaving it vulnerable. Taking advantage, Stockdale swung his axe down, cutting through the exposed plain metal edge of the anti-ship sword, before a flowing upward swing cut the Windam in half.
O'Riley saw the explosion, but this time shock didn't freeze him, instead enraging him. Abandoning his shield, he took the spare beam rifle in the Windam's left hand, firing trademark shotgun blasts from both guns at the same time. In a dazzling green light show, the scarlet ZAFT weapon had its legs ripped off in a stunning fashion. Before he could fire again, the Coordinator pilot retreated, his mothership already turning to withdraw… towards two frigates, not one. Stephan cursed, "I'm screwed now…"
Moments later, a series of thruster flares sped up from the lunar surface, green and yellow-orange blasts streaming forward from them even as white exhaust trailed behind. Two teams of Dark Dagger-Ls had launched from Daedalus, to join the fight. The original Laurasia was retreating, having recovered its sole surviving mobile suit. One team fired Mk.39 cannons in staggered volleys, repeating a one, two, three pattern as they hammered at the ZAFT frigate, desperately firing its own weapons in defence. The other team, with M703K beam carbines, fended off a sextet of GuAIZ-Rs with aplomb, the older machines no match for special forces Daggers. In the face of this firepower, the new Laurasia too prepared for retreat, two of its mobile suits surviving to return to their mothership.
"Come on, Andy. Let's get back to our ship." O'Riley was tired, drained by death and devastation. I hope top brass have a damned good reason for wanting these pieces of colony... the thought gained momentum as he remembered the rumour mill; combined with six Dark Dagger-Ls being sent from Daedalus, things did seem to be highly rotten in the region of space…