Chapter 3

CE 73, November 7th, OMNI Enforcer Armed Convoy, 7 kilometres north-west of Petra; Jordan

Night 01 20

Max had decided to retreat to a safe distance to watch the inevitable fireworks when he saw the Dagger Ls blow a hole into the mountainside, only for the mountainside itself to return fire. Unfortunately, the insurgents had also taken the chance to pour out of whatever tunnels they had dug for themselves, and Max now found himself under fire from twenty different directions, after one of the insurgents, equipped with night vision, had spotted them. Now, Jake was trying to patch Burton's shoulder wound, and the three infantrymen hid behind a rock barely large enough to conceal all of them.

Just then, his comm unit crackled to life. "Hunter Leader to Scout Team Bravo," Ray's voice filtered through. "Report your status."

Max grabbed his unit. "We're engaged in infantry action, sir. We requested reinforcements, but they still haven't arrived."

"Set your comm units to fire signal bursts," Ray instructed. "I'll relay your signals to the reinforcements. I'll be sending a Dagger L over as well." To Sheryl, he gave new orders. "Hunter Two, I need you to assist Scout Team Bravo; we'll be approaching the tunnel from their vector. Make sure not to get hit."

Through the video feed in Ray's HUD, Sheryl gave a thumbs-up. "You want it; you've got it, sir." The Oracle Lance burst from its cover, its strides leaving footprints in the ground.

Max did as he was told. Soon enough, the firing refocused at something else; a Dagger L, specifically, the Oracle Lance. The unit poked its head out from cover; machinegun fire bounced off its head armour and bulletproof visor, but otherwise did nothing. Sheryl reciprocated by sending a burst of CIWS fire into the darkness, towards where the gunfire originated from. Max could hear the screams of people hit by the Oracle Lance's M2M5 "Todesschrecken" 12.5mm gun.

Max's comm unit crackled again. "Keep your heads down," Sheryl said. "I'm not done cleaning the front porch yet."

The Oracle Lance continued firing into the darkness whenever it spotted returning fire. Max blinked furiously as he tried to clear his vision of the flashes. "How's Burton?"

In the darkness, Max saw Jake's silhouette wipe his hands on his pants. "He'll live," the corpsman said. Burton didn't speak, but grunted and gave a thumbs-up sign at Max. It wasn't long before Max spotted the rest of his squad moving into his position behind him.

"Good job, Bravo Team," Sheryl said. "Looks like they've decided to retreat into the house. Just hang back and let us do the heavy lifting now." Max could see two more Dagger Ls moving into position behind the first.

Max winced as a bright green beam lanced out from the tunnel again. There was a pause, and Agni fire answered the beam's challenge, a multicoloured shot fired down the tunnel. Another green lance of energy split the night sky as Scout Team Bravo picked themselves up and rejoined their squad.

"Let's get in while they're distracted," Ray said. The three Dagger L units slowly moved down the slope and positioned themselves along the edge of the tunnel.

Ray risked a look into the comparatively well-lit service tunnel, a simple, gently- sloping construction set up to allow a service lift to move from top to bottom, and vice versa. True to his thoughts, and to Kaguya's analysis, it was a beam cannon, and a repaired, single-barrelled older-model turret at that, hooked up to several power generators.

To his dismay, several CIWS turrets and missile launchers on wall mounts dotted the walls leading down. The terrorists had even erected crude, movable blast shields along the floor and ceiling of the tunnel, using remote-controlled wheeled industrial exoskeletons, presumably to block indirect attacks; if Ray had decided on tossing grenades down the chute from farther away, he would have burned through quite a number of them before landing a lucky hit. He ducked back as one of the CIWS units sent a stream of rounds at his Dagger L's exposed head.

But this time, Ray had more people to command. The Agni's beam lanced out again, this time hitting an interior section of the wall. The three Dagger Ls held their shields up as the return fire cut the air perilously close to their units. Ray saw the frame temperature of his Manhunter Command skyrocket, before slowly cooling down.

"Hunter Leader to Hunter Two," he said, and flashed his Dagger's eye units thrice. "Down the hatch one at a time, if you'll please."

Sheryl bared her teeth in a wide smile. "With pleasure," the younger officer said, as her Dagger L ripped grenades from makeshift holders on its side skirt armour, and tossed first one, then two, and then three grenades down the tunnel with surprising accuracy, each toss done with less strength than before. The EMP grenades tumbled through the air, Sheryl's angles sending the blast panels scrambling futilely to catch the munitions, and with a bright flash they exploded in order, three expanding fields of blue EMP waves encompassing the length of the tunnel. Most of the wall-mounted defensive equipment was enveloped in the blast; sparks could be seen on the CIWS units, and Ray assumed that the missiles in the box launchers within the EMP zone were now non-functional as well. A few of the further turrets, however, remained intact.

"Now! Storm the front!" Ray shouted over the comm. He shifted his Manhunter Command's movement to the highest gear possible and stormed down the tunnel, beam carbine spitting out shots at key targets with as much accuracy as he could muster, while the mobile suit's shield shook from the few missiles impacting it. Behind him, Kaguya was doing the same thing, and he saw that the beam cannon, now smoking, sported a neat cluster of holes in its cannon housing, courtesy of Sheryl's own opening salvo. Sheryl herself continued to fire as fast as she could, sending the people at the bottom of the tunnel scrambling for cover.

Reaching the bottom of the tunnel, Ray, Kaguya and Sheryl fanned out. Ray looked around warily; he was painfully aware of the harsh lighting in the cavernous and cluttered underground hangar casting dark shadows everywhere. Cargo boxes half the height of a Dagger L were stacked on each other, creating a hiding spot big enough for an MS. It was as though the place was set up that way.

Kaguya felt the low rumble before her ears heard the whine of thrusters. "Contact!"

A GINN burst out from behind a cargo crate, handheld rifle blazing. In its other arm it held a sword. Kaguya's Dagger L held up its shield, taking both the bullets and the sword blow that followed. Without a word, Kaguya dropped her Dagger's rifle, and in a single motion drew her beam sabre and sliced through the GINN's waist section, just a few centimetres lower from cutting through the cockpit. The moneyed unit toppled over in two halves, flames streaming out of its body.

Ray looked around. Surely they had more GINN units. He looked as Kaguya's Dagger L knelt near the GINN. "Hunter Four to Hunter Leader," Kaguya said. "This GINN… there was no pilot inside. It's automated."

Before Ray could ponder what that meant, a beam shot flew past Sheryl's Dagger, slagging the wall section that it hit. Sheryl turned around and fired off a shot, but her assailant unit was much faster than the GINN that Kaguya had dealt with. All they could see was its silhouette as it dashed off .

"A ZAKU?" Sheryl said, incredulity evident in her tone. "This is making less and less sense!"

Though Ray had only a second to see with his own eyes, it was indeed a Blaze ZAKU Warrior, one of ZAFT's newest units. In a straight comparison, it would take two Dagger Ls to match a ZAKU Warrior. The question burning in Ray's mind, however, was how local insurgents were apparently fielding the latest in ZAFT weaponry, and how were they capable of piloting it. Did they get lucky and capture one, then proceed to upload a Natural-use OS into it without having the programming mess up? Or are there Coordinators amongst them?

Ray fired one last shot as the ZAKU sped into a service tunnel, leg thrusters blazing. Adding to his prior thoughts, the ZAKU was nearly jet-black where it should be green, with deep-red outlines on the rims of its shoulder and head armour. If his experiences in the Bloody Valentine War were anything to go by, custom colours usually mean that their pilots were special in some way.

The trio proceeded cautiously through the hangar bay. "Infantry teams Alpha, Bravo and Charlie," Ray signaled. "Secure the tunnel and move down. Guy, you're on guard. Blow up any MS that tries to interfere with the troopers. To all forces, the combat area is extremely cluttered. Proceed cautiously and watch out for traps."

"Aye sir," Guy said, his Dagger L hefting its beam carbine. Behind them, forty-five men quickly moved into the hangar bay, and entered the various personnel-sized entrances scattered around.

"This place is as cluttered as hell," Sheryl muttered, pushing aside empty cargo boxes half her mobile suit's height, as the team proceeded down a large service tunnel they found linked to the equally-cluttered hangar. "You would think that they knew how to clean up... or they left them behind to slow us down. Still, this place is pretty impressive… did the insurgents dig all this rock out themselves?"

"It's probably an old underground base from the Unification Wars," Ray replied. "This place doesn't have any OMNI markings, and some of those fixtures look too old to have been fixed here during the Bloody Valentine War."

The trio proceeded down the service tunnel a while more, when Kaguya felt an unease. "This is Hunter Four," she said. "Sir, something here isn't right."

Sheryl had to join in as well. "Hunter Two here. It's suspicious. The last time we fought them, they were using GINNs and Strike Daggers that looked as though they could fall apart at any time. And that was before we used the Lieutenant Colonel's explosives." Sheryl pushed another stack of cargo boxes out of the way. "They've recovered too well and too fast."

Ray motioned for all of them to stop. "I share your sentiments," he said. "But all the more we need to clear them out." He looked around for any suspicious signs. "That ZAKU Warrior worries me especially-"

Ray noticed a blinking red light behind Kaguya's unit, and his blood ran cold. "Fall back!" Ray opened his comm channel. "Hunter Three, cover the troopers! Retreat from the hangar!"

A thunderous roar rang out as explosions rocked the service tunnel. Debris rained down on the three Dagger L units.

Ray saw rocks collapse over the service tunnel entrance. "Shields up!" he shouted into his comm. We're going to sit this one out!" He saw Sheryl and Kaguya's units hold up their shields above their heads. At least they still trust me even after having been led into a trap was his last thought as a particularly heavy impact caused Ray head to slam against the back of his helmet. The hit was heavy enough that Ray's vision exploded into brightness for a brief moment, before the blackness swallowed him up.

CE 73, November 7th, OMNI Enforcer Armed Convoy, 7 kilometers north-west of Petra; Jordan

Night 02 11

Ray awoke to the flashing console lights in his darkened cockpit. When the initial mental disorientation passed, the first thing he did was to wiggle his toes. Once he felt them move within his boots, he moved his fingers on the side of the cockpit until he found an indent. He pulled on it, revealing a fold-out keyboard for command inputs.

Ray keyed in an order for an automatic ping for his teammates' status even as he tested out the controls of his Dagger L. The computer returned green signals for Sheryl and Kaguya's machines, indicating that their units still functioned, at least. Guy's status remained unconfirmed.

Ray was testing the vision settings and was wondering if the main head cameras were busted, until the debris cleared off his mobile suit's head. Ray was wondering what had caused the debris to move, when he found himself face-to-face with a mono-eye.

Even as force of habit had Ray jamming his trigger finger down to fire the Manhunter Command's head CIWS, another part of his brain screamed at him to fire thrusters on full burn. He did, and the mobile suit shot out of the debris, causing the mono-eye to waver in an unbalanced manner.

Ray struggled with the controls as he landed, fighting to keep the Manhunter Command's left foot from sinking into the debris. A beam rifle shot lanced past him, and he gave up trying to keep balance in favour of shielding himself. Thankfully, the mobile suit's shield was still on its arm, although he had lost the rifle. The next shot connected squarely with the shield, throwing the customized Dagger L onto its back.

The mono-eyed unit moved forward, seemingly unconcerned by the unfair position his Manhunter Command was in. On-screen, the tactical display automatically activated the mobile suit's low-light sensors, painting a humanoid patch of crimson on Ray's HUD. Ray aimed and fired his Dagger L's CIWS again, but a shoulder shield slid into position from the left of the enemy unit, blocking the rounds from damaging the delicate head camera. From the flashes of the CIWS, Ray noted that it was a ZAKU Warrior, the same one back then. The ZAKU raised its rifle.

Just then, an arm shot out from under the debris, and grabbed onto the ZAKU's left leg pipe. The unit toppled from the sudden pull, and another Dagger L burst from the pile of rock behind the ZAKU, bringing a beam sabre at minimal power down on the ZAKU's torso. The short beam penetrated into the cockpit of the mobile suit, killing the pilot, but thankfully leaving the fuel tanks untouched.

Ray heaved a sigh of relief as the second Dagger L reached into the debris and pulled on the arm, revealing a dusty but otherwise undamaged Sword Dagger L. "Hunter Leader to all units," Ray said. "Status problems?"

"Hunter Two reporting. None here," Sheryl replied. "Good going with the ZAKU's leg, Kaguya."

"I just did what I could," Kaguya replied. She tested out her Dagger L's controls. "Hunter Three reporting. Seems like my left arm is out of action."

"Noted," Ray said, just as a beam of light pierced the gloom. Guy's Dagger pushed down the debris that had blocked the tunnel off. "This is Hunter Three. Is anyone in there?"

"All green, Hunter Three," Ray replied. "Any injuries on your side?"

Guy, or rather his Dagger L, shook its head. "Surprisingly, only the tunnel was rigged. The infantry squads have secured the hangar; they have teams sweeping the interior sections." Guy paused to listen to a transmission. "It seems like they've found the control room. They're disabling the bombs right now."

Ray opened a private like to Sheryl. "How long was I out?"

"5 minutes."

"And you were all awake by then?"

"It seems like there weren't enough explosives, seeing as how there's still a semblance of a tunnel here," Sheryl said. "Sakamoto was the one who woke me; her unit was trapped just a few meters from mine. I'd never thought an MS tapping on another's leg armour could be so loud."

Ray kept silent as he weighed his options. "Hunter Two, I'm switching you with Hunter Three," he said. "We're going to press down this tunnel further. It seems that it still hasn't collapsed yet; I want to see if there's anything at its end."

"Roger that," Guy and Kaguya replied. Guy's Dagger L widened the hole leading to the service tunnel and entered, and Kaguya's Dagger L bumped fists with Guy's before both units went to their respective tasks.

Ray motioned for them to follow his unit. "It seems that something here is capable of tracking our signals." Ray thought back to Sheryl's description of how Sakamoto had woken her, as well as his signal ping and how the ZAKU had found him easily. "From now on, physical signals only." He reached into the debris a few meters where his former position was, and pulled out a beam carbine.

Ray shook the gun. Dust scattered from its frame, but the weapons link to his mobile suit's systems showed that it was undamaged otherwise. Beside him, Sheryl's Dagger L was hefting its custom rifle, and on Guy's Dagger L, the 120mm Anti-Ship Vulcan spun for a brief moment. The Manhunter Command held up its carbine and tapped the gun once.

Sheryl's and Guy's Dagger Ls gave thumbs-up signs, and the three units proceeded down the dark tunnel.

CE 73, November 7th, OMNI Enforcer Armed Convoy, 54 kilometers east of Petra; Israel

Night 02 25

The last of the crumbling sounds faded into the darkness as Guy's Dagger L stepped into a debris-free patch of the tunnel. Seems like the rigged section ends here, Guy thought.

The Manhunter Command was in the lead position; Guy saw it hold up its left hand and point a finger forward, then two, then three. Then it opened and closed its hand unit twice, ending with a clenched fist that it held in the air for three seconds. Spread out and cover all forward vectors. Be careful.

More crates littered the area, but this time, the squad moved around them instead of pushing them somewhere else; nevertheless, the footsteps of the Dagger L units echoed, almost painfully so, down the tunnel. Guy's unit walked past a section of the wall with a side path. It was barely large enough to fit an MS through.

Guy pulled his controls back as fast as he could, and his Dagger L staggered back; a blade split the air where his Dagger's torso had been seconds ago. A GINN OCHER stepped out; its right hand held a sword, while its left hand had a rifle… and it was squarely aimed at Guy.

The rifle's only shot went wide as Guy's Launcher Dagger opened up with its shoulder vulcan, the large-calibre rounds tearing the GINN's gun arm off at the elbow. The GINN tried to swing its sword around, but it only sealed its fate; the 120mm bullets etched a path across the GINN's torso and its right shoulder, blasting its sword arm off at the shoulder joint. Guy didn't miss a beat; he followed up with a shield smash into the GINN's torso, where its cockpit was. The crunch sound echoed down the tunnel, chasing after the rapidly-fading noises of gunfire.

Ray and Sheryl backtracked to Guy's position and covered him with their shields as Guy dragged the GINN to a solid wall section, and pulled off its mangled cockpit hatch.

There was no pilot inside. Ray saw Guy's Dagger L hold up an open palm and shake it thrice.

The entire thing was getting more and more mysterious. Apart from the two GINNs and the ZAKU, it didn't fit in with the data Rahabinod had sent earlier that night; that the insurgents had at least ten mobile suits of varying type. As well, there was way too little effort put into this. The Manhunters were right in their base; the last time, they had Strike Daggers throwing themselves at the OMNI troops in the hopes that they could tangle the Dagger Ls down long for their comrades to shoot at, and men climbing all over their mobile suits trying to sabotage anything they could get to. Ray remembered the unlucky soul that had dropped from above in an attempt to sabotage the Manhunter Command's sensors, only to hit the front of its CIWS while it was still firing.

The trio moved forward, and hit a wall. Ray's Dagger ran its hand over the wall and over two seams. He turned back to Guy and Sheryl and pointed at his beam sabre. Both Daggers nodded back and crouched in firing positions.

Ray's Dagger took out its beam sabre; a pink blade of energy flashed to life. Ray slowly jammed the sabre into the wall, and cut a rectangular section of the wall out, making a hole as the Manhunter Command kicked the lone section down.

The moment the hole appeared, gunfire poured in. Ray barely managed to avoid getting splashed by a literal rain of 76mm rounds and beam rifle shots as he ducked behind his shield, bullets and beams bouncing off. Behind the door, eight units, GINNs, Strike Daggers, and even a ZuOOT fired at the hole in the sealed bulkhead; thankfully, the ZuOOT was missing its shoulder cannons.

Sheryl saw the Manhunter Command put its hand behind its back and display two fingers. It then opened and closed them four times.

Sheryl gave a small smile as she ripped two fragmentation grenades free from their clips, and tossed them in. Ray saw the canisters roll to where two Strike Daggers were standing behind a stack of crates, their beam rifles spitting out shots. One of the Strike Daggers looked down.

Metal exploded upwards in a semicircular area as the grenades flung self-forging fragments all over the two units. One Strike Dagger, unable to support itself on damaged leg joints, collapsed backwards; the other stood silent, shrapnel embedded in its torso. Some of the other units had stopped firing; presumably, their pilots were shocked and looking at the blast.

From the hole that Ray had cut out, three Dagger L units returned fire. The Manhunter Command blasted away with its beam carbine, while Guy's Launcher Dagger L fired its own carbine from its left hand; its right vulcan gun roared, spitting out 120mm rounds that pockmarked the cargo boxes used for cover. Sheryl's Oracle Lance immediately targeted the ZuOOT, her rifle creating a neat pattern of three holes in the ZAFT MS's torso; the ZuOOT fell silent, its mono-eye going dark.

The firefight was short, but brutal, as the Manhunters methodically placed each and every shot into a critical area. One of the Strike Daggers attempted to block a beam round, but the high-energy shot from Sheryl's custom rifle pierced through its shield and burned through the mobile suit's cockpit. A third GINN went down, frame smoking from multiple bullet holes and a beam shot to the left leg joint. Ray's Dagger L hit a Strike Dagger in the right shoulder, the impact sending the unit reeling into the open, where Guy claimed another victim with his unit's shoulder vulcan.

As Ray's last shot felled the last remaining Strike Dagger, the entire area went silent. Ray initiated a full scan of the area; while thermal was useless, the walls were free of out-of-place electronic signatures, and did not look rigged this time. Ray maneuvered his Dagger L through the 14-meter hole, and stepped into the second hanger. Unlike the first one, this one was clean. Another tunnel linked the hangar to the land above; surprisingly, Ray didn't see any trucks laden with terrorists trying to escape.

Ray paused and picked up a round object from where a GINN had fallen, and spotted something unusual. It was holding a rifle that it wasn't supposed to; that of a ZAKU Warrior's beam rifle. The ammunition clip for the beam weapon had fallen from the rifle when it fell.

Sheryl opened her comm unit. "An MMI-M633 beam rifle," she said, nodding towards the ZAKU-use rifle. "This is a rather nasty surprise… maybe ZAFT or their sympathizers were supplying these people?"

Guy's Dagger knelt beside the Strike Dagger that was felled with the 120mm vulcan. "Hunter Three here. These have pilots," the older man said. "It seems like the information from the Lieutenant Colonel was correct after all."

Ray was about to answer when a transmission from Kaguya interrupted him. "Hunter Four reporting. The infantry squads are done, sir." Kaguya paused. "They've managed to capture 12 prisoners and secure or clear 90% of the base."

Ray looked up at the secondary hangar's control room as the troopers burst into an empty room, guns raised. Ray gave a salute of thanks with his Dagger L, and one of the men reciprocated the action.

"So that leaves one question," Ray said. "Where did they get a ZAKU?"

Sheryl had opened a video channel and was about to say something when beam rounds lanced into the room from the tunnel that led up to the surface of the land. One of them hit the control room that the OMNI soldiers had just vacated mere seconds ago; Ray could see a bloodied trooper get hauled away through the remains of the half-slagged door.

"Take cover!" Ray put his shield in front of him. He realized his mistake seconds later, as a blast erupted from the service tunnel they just exited; rocks and metal pieces the size of the Manhunter Command's head flew out, propelled by a blast of such magnitude that Ray guessed could only be caused by additional explosives embedded in the walls… combined with the self-destruct sequence of the ZAKU that they had left behind there.

In the chaos, no one noticed a green-suited person escaping through the very exit of the tunnel to the surface. The ZAKU Phantom that had fired the shot flashed its mono-eye once, and quickly boosted off.

Under normal circumstances, Ray would have wondered why the ZAKU had retreated when it could have taken the chance to finish them off in the confusion. Right now, however, he was more concerned with taking as little damage as possible.

"Hunter Leader to all forces, status report," Ray shook his head to clear the disorientation. Despite being in a mobile suit, the shockwaves from the explosion were strong enough to topple the Dagger Ls with ease, had they not stood their ground. "Infantry, report any casualties."

"We're all still alive," the reply came back. "A couple of people got serious cuts and burns, but nothing fatal otherwise. We've cleared and secured over 95% of the area in his base, so there should be very little risk of an enemy attack."

"Understood. Gather your men and the prisoners, and pull out of this area." Ray switched his comm channels. "Hunter Four? Anything on your end?"

Static filled the line as the Manhunter Command tried to establish contact. Moments later, the video feed displayed Kaguya's face. "Nothing here. The explosion did not cause any secondary or tertiary damages. " Kaguya looked to the side of her screen. "Major Nain is on the line… she's ordering all forces to pull back."

"Understood," Ray said. He took off his helmet and heaved a sigh of relief, undoing his pilot suit's neck brace. "Hunter Leader to all units. Good job today, people. Mission accomplished."

CE 73, November 7th, OMNI Enforcer Armed Convoy, 54 kilometres north-east of Petra; Israel

Morning 06 49

Nain rubbed her temples, trying to get rid of the throbbing pain. Paper cups, all containing dregs of instant coffee, littered the metal table in the cabin that she worked in.

Sighing, she moved over to look out of the window and the scenery zooming past, the rising sun casting shadows everywhere. The convoy had cleared camp and moved off the moment first light broke through the sky, almost a half hour ago. Trailing behind the command truck that Nain was in were the four trailers holding the Dagger L units.

She had spent the better part of the night pondering the ramifications of the intelligence that the Manhunters had brought back. It wasn't unusual for insurgents to be in possession of mobile suits, even GINNs, but the fact that the Manhunters had fought two ZAKUs had complicated matters. Though she was OMNI, Nain was inclined to believe that ZAFT's laws on MS sales were not as lax as those from the various nations' that comprised the Earth Alliance; for a ZAKU to be under the control of some backwater insurgents due to a mere monetary transaction on the black market was a laughable concept.

That, and the fact that the insurgents were the same one that they had just done in two months before the Break the World Incident, had Major Nain rubbing her temples in irritation. Nain had read through the data that Rahabinod had sent over; the group had spent two years cobbling together their MS forces prior to Sinai Base's offensive. The recovery of their organization in such a short time was downright impossible.

Nain set down the stack of papers, and tapped the metal table as she collected her thoughts. There was only one possibility left, but she was loath to admit it; if ZAFT had really armed the local terrorists to harass the local OMNI forces, then the Lohengrin Gate would be on their own. Sinai Base's own forces notwithstanding, the Gate could kiss the OMNI battle group sailing up the Gulf of Suez goodbye if the terrorists had significant mobile suit forces. Nain had seen video records of the Minerva's fight against the OMNI fleet outside of Orb's territorial waters; it was the unit that ZAFT had fielded, the Impulse, that gave her pause to the Lohengrin Gate's ability to hold the line. The Gate was well-fortified, but Nain was sure that the Impulse's ability to separate and change equipment on the fly would be of paramount importance in the upcoming battle.

All that could wait, however. Nain set herself down on the couch in the room and set her watch alarm to 07 20. Right now, she wouldn't wake up even if every colony from the PLANTs decided to rain upon the surface of the planet.

CE 73, November 7th, OMNI Enforcer Armed Convoy, 58 kilometres north-east of Petra; Jordan

Morning 07 05

Alan Reidr, the commander of the Deep Strike Corps team operating in this region, watched the convoy pass him by. Though he was well-hidden, he kept his trigger finger ready, just in case. Experience had taught him that people living in harsh conditions tended to be better overall than the majority… like how four OMNI units last night stormed the terrorist base with zero losses.

As he watched the convoy roll past his position, he resisted the urge to fire his Gunner ZAKU Phantom's M1500 "Orthros" long-range multi-phase beam cannon. He was sure that there were eyes waiting for a signal. One twitch from him and all four Dagger L units would be on his position; despite the ZAKU Phantom's superior technology, he wasn't sure that he could take on four Dagger Ls, not with all four seemingly customized and outfitted with specialized weaponry.

It was a shame about Boris Cullen, he thought. The young pilot had volunteered to accompany the terrorists that Alan had made contact with; while they were outfitted with old surplus ZAFT and OMNI hardware, once the terrorists were done with the OMNI forces, ZAFT's troops in the vicinity and at the Mahamul Base would be next for "extermination". Alan had figured that trying to kill two birds with one stone might work; deal with any incoming OMNI forces, and placate the local insurgents; if OMNI dealt with them first, then there was no great loss. Unfortunately, Boris had tried to finish off the Dagger Ls by himself before the plan was through, and he lost. Alan nearly lost another team member in trying to deny the Dagger Ls the ZAKU Warrior that Boris had left behind.

Alan pushed the thoughts of his deceased comrade behind. The young man had been an orphan of Junius Seven, but his drive for revenge and hot-blooded attitude irked Alan, who preferred careful analysis and surgical execution during combat. He returned to watching the convoy head off, and out of sight.

Alan's ZAKU Phantom was about to push itself off its prone position when Alan noticed a person in a ZAFT pilot suit motioning to him. He put the ZAKU into a kneeling position and opened his cockpit hatch. "Anything from your side, Sakerfield?"

Grace "Butcher of Carpentaria" Sakerfield, his second in command since the formation of this team three years ago, and a fellow veteran, shook her head. "Seems like this is it." She looked at the horizon. "If we're taking them out, then we need to do it now, Captain."

"Negative," Alan replied. "We're not going to win with a single Gunner and a Slash ZAKU… not from this position and time, at any rate." He returned into his cockpit. "Rendezvous with our support. We'll take them on at a more opportune moment."

Grace saluted. "Aye sir."

Alan moved his ZAKU into a slow walk as he watched his subordinate board her Slash ZAKU Warrior. Soon, he thought. Three days to the assault on the Lohengrin Gate. Once Fredric returns from his other mission, we'll cut off this part of their reinforcements by then.

Afterword:

Alan Reidr and his comrades from Tales of the Cosmic Era have finally made it in here. A core group of veterans all around to match our protagonists, I hope I didn't go overhand in making them appear as some sort of reverse-Kira Yamato.