Chapter 15
CE 73, November 28th, Mobile Suit Combat Simulator Room A-1, OMNI EUROCOM Mannheim Base, Germany, Central Europe
Evening 19 59
Sheryl winced as a combination of machinegun fire and beam shots rained down on her; Caleria's 105 Dagger had a weapon in each hand and was proficient enough in using it to deal death from the skies. To her side, Guy's Launcher Dagger L was scorched, its armor blackened in several places. Her Oracle Lance's shield was a smoking wreck; it would be suicide to depend on it any further.
"Well, they got us pretty well covered," Guy said, as the two Manhunters leapt into action, a cannon shot from across the mountain impacting where they were moments ago. "What are you going to do?"
Sheryl chewed her lower lip. "That idiot," she hissed. To Guy, her reply was a hasty one. "Screw that. We'll do things our way."
Guy chuckled. "Alright. I got your back."
The Oracle Lance scrambled down the slope of the mountain, with the Launcher Dagger L close behind. Halfway down, both mobile suits paused and to unleash a quartet of smoke grenades. A wave of grey clouds rolled over both units and down to the foot of the mountain, even as far as the village where the leaders of both teams were currently engaged.
The 105 Dagger circled overhead, Caleria uncertain of where Sheryl had hidden herself in the chaotic chase that had followed. Caleria cursed herself for forgetting that she wasn't facing run-off-the-mill OMNI troops. "Blizzard Two, Blizzard Four," she asked. "You have anything for clearing a smokescreen?"
Karl quickly ran through his options. "Nothing that clears a smokescreen, but…" he swapped out the magazine for his Dagger L's Mk. 39 cannon, inserting a fresh one inside. "… I do have plenty of shrapnel rounds."
"That's fine," Caleria said. "I need you to fire on these three poin-"
A bright green flash filled the cockpit as a beam lanced up, striking the 105 Aile Dagger on its left shoulder; the mobile suit spun from the explosion that occurred a second later, as the thrusters in the left shoulder ignited from the heat.
"Glancing shot!" Caleria said, gritting her teeth as she fought to keep the mobile suit balanced.
Karl was quick on the uptake; a terse acknowledgement was followed by a shrapnel round, the airburst round sending self-forging fragments punching holes into the smoke clouds. A green lance of light answered in a heartbeat, the shot cutting close enough to Karl's unit that his machine's heat meter rose by a substantial amount.
"Damn," Caleria said. "She's good...!"
In the village, the Manhunter Command ducked behind another low-lying building as the barrel of the Hyperion G's back-mounted Forfanterie beam cannon erupted in a burst of light, sending a stream of green accompanied by the whine of high-powered beam weapons over his mobile suit's head. In Ray's cockpit, the simulator replicated the effect of the screen fizzing up from magnetic wave interference caused by a near-miss, and the cockpit temperature even rose by several degrees.
Ray returned fire with his unit's beam carbine, but the shot glanced uselessly off the Hyperion G's handheld shield; Esther didn't even activate the unit's beam shield. "A poor choice, Lieutenant," Esther said, as the light- and dark-blue unit strode towards the Manhunter Command. "You can't match me in close-quarters. Range was your only option, but your team's marksman seems to be occupied."
From the corner of his eyes, Ray saw a beam lance out and take the 105 Dagger in the shoulder. If Esther was bothered by it, she did a job of hiding it well as she continued to press the Hyperion G's advantage over Ray's unit. "I don't need cover to take on one enemy in close-quarters," Ray said, drawing his Dagger L's remaining beam sabre. A brief tangle earlier, right after Kaguya had been taken out, had saw the Hyperion G easily overpowering the Manhunter Command; a quick strike had sent the Manhunter Command's severed left arm crashing into a small house, along with its beam sabre. Though Ray didn't fear getting in close, he was, however, not confident of his ability to survive a second tussle with the prototype machine.
Beam sabre met beam sabre, and electricity arced across the frames of both Mobile Suits as they met in close combat. Despite the equal weaponry in use, the Hyperion G's mechanical strength was greater, and within the next second Ray found his unit being pushed back.
The Hyperion G thrust forward, the beam sabre piercing the left shoulder block of the Manhunter Command in a shower of molten material; this time, the entire wrecked limb came off, the sound of tearing metal resonating throughout the cockpit as the powerful beam blade burned the connecting shoulder joint into liquid splatters. Ray grunted and pressed on, the Manhunter Command swinging its beam sabre in from the right.
Without missing a beat, the Hyperion G bent down, Ray's slash going wide; drawing its second beam sabre in a swift motion, the strike was aimed directly at the Manhunter Command's cockpit. Despite being in a simulator, Ray involuntarily drew in a sharp breath as the cockpit filled with a blinding pink light.
On the outskirts of the village, the Oracle Lance and Rolan's Hyperion G stared each other down in a running-gun battle. If the smoke from the mountainside was bothering him, he gave no indication; Guy, whom Sheryl had entrusted with her unit's rifle, had managed to lure Caleria into the firing arc of his Agni beam cannon, the powerful shot rending the entire left side of the 105 Aile Dagger. Far away from Sheryl and Rolan, the heavy weapon specialists of both teams were engaged in a cannon duel, powerful artillery shots matched by searing blast after searing blast of the Launcher Dagger L's Agni cannon.
"Sorry, Lieutenant," Rolan said, the Hyperion G and its beam submachinegun at the ready, "but our Captain prefers a bout of honour with your commander. Don't take it personally that I'll be the one winning this round."
"Says you," Sheryl said, her mouth twisted into a half-smile, and the Oracle Lance hefted its beam carbine. "We shall see."
The Hyperion G immediately set off at a dash, rapidly closing the distance between the two units even as its beam submachinegun spat out a storm of rounds. Sheryl managed to get one shot off, but even a head-on shot could not do much more than distort the surface of the Hyperion G's beam shield. Ducking under the Hyperion G's arc of fire aimed at its torso, the Oracle Lance shifted its grip on the carbine; holding it by the butt and the front barrel section, Sheryl's unit slammed into the Hyperion G with its left shoulder block.
The impact was jarring; for the people outside, it seemed as though the simulator pods containing Rolan and Sheryl would break off their hydraulics, and for Sheryl inside, her teeth rattled in her head; she gritted her teeth. Stopping the Hyperion G's own boost forward had been no easy feat.
Rolan grinned, somewhat taken aback by this sudden inrush tactic. "Well, now! So much for 'team sniper' in your profile files!"
The Hyperion G dodged a swinging strike and jumped backwards as the Oracle Lance's left arm reached to its right side, a beam saber slashing through where the Hyperion G had been moments earlier.
Sheryl didn't have time to regain her wits, however, as Rolan's unit leapt off from where it hand landed, bringing a beam sabre down in a slashing stroke. Out of instinct, Sheryl moved the Oracle Lance right with a side-boost and a jump, and the mobile suit narrowly missed having its left leg sheared off with a beam sabre.
"Fast reflexes," Rolan grunted as the Hyperion G turned with shocking speed to face its opponent, beam submachinegun tracking the Oracle Lance, "but if you're stuck in close-quarters forever, you'll never win!"
Dirt exploded up from the ground as the Oracle Lance slammed its right foot into the ground to steady itself and brought its rifle up to bear. A brilliant green lighted up the area in-between both mobile suits and faded just as rapidly, as the Hyperion G lowered its shimmering beam shield, its beam submachinegun still firing from behind the protective shimmer. Sheryl's Oracle Lance continued moving; to stop was to be defeated.
"Not going to work, Lieutenant," Rolan said, as his own unit readied its beam cannon. "Not a ghost in chance."
"Ain't over 'till the fat lady sings," Sheryl said, even as her mind ran through several options; her two remaining EMP grenades would be worthless against a foe that would be guaranteed to be protected, and her Oracle Lance's beam carbine lacked the direct power to punch through the newer mobile suit's defences.
That left one option. Rolan arced an eyebrow as the Oracle Lance charged forward again, its grip in the same melee stance, holding out the rifle like a close-contact blunt weapon.
"I'm the Manhunters' designated marksman," Sheryl said. "That means that being a marksman isn't the only thing I know how to do well."
In the village center, Ray fought back the urge to yell as his Manhunter Command was sent reeling back the fifth time. He'd managed to avoid vital hits even as they came within millimetres of the Manhunter Command's cockpit, but he couldn't keep it up forever; with every opportunity he grasped Esther made sure to turn it into a trap, and his unit was covered in scorch marks and plasma scaring.
In contrast, the Hyperion G was nigh untouched, and Esther hadn't even touched the unit's beam submachinegun. "Well, it was a good showing while it lasted," Esther said. "Your failing, Lieutenant, is not taking advantage of your team's capabilities to cover each other."
"There's nothing wrong with my strategy. Each team member has a role to play," Ray said.
Esther shot him with a glare through the video feed. "Not with your numbers and equipment. Don't be an idiot, Lieutenant," the Hyperion G begun to widen its paces as it advanced on the Manhunter Command, "Your team would work better as a flexible fighting force, one that fights a battle with people performing actions depending on what needs to be done, than having them use fixed positions and roles during combat." Beam sabre met beam sabre, but Esther's Hyperion G effortlessly flung Ray's unit aside, and the impact caused his unit to lose its grip on its beam sabre, sending the heavy cylinder smashing into a nearby house, the magnetic field of the blade flickering out of existence; the leftover plasma energies scorched over the wall of a nearby house before they fully dissipated. "I don't know what happened to you, but if you want to continue working at Mannheim," The Hyperion G towered over the Manhunter Command, beam sabre poised over its cockpit, "Then you better get your act together. You and your teammate could have taken me out, had you not gotten distracted during the battle's start."
Ray pursed his lips, recalling how he had turned to look at the mountainside where he had stationed Sheryl during the start of the battle when it came under fire, and neglected covering Kaguya's unit. "I did."
Esther's face was unreadable. "Defiant of criticism to the end. In this case, you're not a person I would want fighting alongside me."
The Hyperion G never got to strike, however, as an alarm sounded out. Esther looked to the left only to see a billowing cloud of dirt expand from the base of the mountain, at the edge of the village. Out of it flew Rolan's Hyperion G, and its beam shield fizzled as a flurry of beam shots hit it.
"Blizzard Two," Esther said. "Looks like you've gotten rusty."
"Sorry, ma'am," Rolan said, "but I must admit that Hunter Two is quite the feisty pilot when pushed." The Hyperion G ended its boost jump next to Esther's unit, the two light-and-dark blue prototypes covering each other with their beam shields. Only then did Ray notice that Rolan's unit was missing several fingers on its right hand and its beam submachinegun.
Out of the settling dust cloud strode the Oracle Lance, the barrel of its beam carbine smoking; her unit's left hand had had been chopped off at the wrist joint, and one beam saber was missing from its rack. "Perfect," Sheryl said. "Two enemies in the same place."
"Blizzard Two, take flank," Esther said as her Hyperion G tossed its beam submachinegun to Rolan's Hyperion G and charged with both beam sabres. "You can ignore the other unit."
"You got it, ma'am," Rolan said, catching the weapon and firing it with one hand.
"Hunter Two! Put some distance between you and them!" Ray shouted as the Oracle Lance ducked behind the now-ruined church, the beam shots gouging out molten rock from what remained of the structure.
"Shut up!" Sheryl said. "Enough it enough, dammit!"
Rolan's Hyperion G rounded the cover that the church provided, guns blazing. Standing her ground, the Oracle Lance fired, its beam shot lancing out to shatter the right knee joint of the still-moving Hyperion G even as beam fire dug into its left side. The Oracle Lance stumbled as its right leg took damage, but did not go down.
"What the-" Rolan said, even as his mobile suit crashed into a bakery face-first. "First the marksman holds her own in close-combat, and now a super-accurate shot!"
"The Hyperion G's beam shield is powerful, but a unit in motion can't shift its equipment position easily to cover every exposed corner because of movement inertia, especially on land. In that aspect, that's a flaw shared by the ZAKU Warrior…" Esther thought out loud, even as her unit leapt over the cover that the Oracle Lance was hiding behind, beam sabres at the ready. "So you managed to take advantage of that loophole? Impressive."
"I don't need your praises," Sheryl said, sending another shot into the struggling Hyperion G; Rolan's unit exploded in a shower of fire and shrapnel. Even as two beams sabres swept down, the Oracle Lance shifted its hold on the beam carbine, thrusting the weapon's butt upwards to smash into the Hyperion G's head from below. "And besides, it was the Lieutenant who taught me this!"
The rifle butt smashed into the lower section of the Hyperion G's head with a crack, the impact causing Esther's cockpit view to momentarily lose focus and blank out. That didn't stop Esther's charge, however, she adjusted her stance, her right arm striking upwards. The arms of both mobile suits struck each other as Sheryl threw her unit forward in a last-ditch manoeuvre, with the beam carbine knocked out of her unit's hands. Drawing the Oracle Lance's second beam saber, Sheryl lashed out at the Hyperion G.
Esther herself was quick; blocking the blow with the Hyperion G's right saber in a backhand grip, its left struck upwards, severing the Oracle Lance's remaining arm at the elbow joint. Weaponless, but not completely armless, the Oracle Lance swung its left arm in a hook, the stump striking the Hyperion G and sending it stumbling to its left.
"Sheryl," Ray said, his tone urgent. "You can't win this in a close-quarters fight!"
"I'll pick my own victories, Lieutenant," Sheryl growled, "Because you were the one who taught me how to pick my victory fights!"
"Enough banter," Esther said coldly. "This ends here."
Engaging its back thrusters, the Hyperion G overpowered its opponent, violently pushing the Oracle Lance back, its arm slamming into the mobile suit's right side, causing Sheryl's unit to trip over a low-lying building. Dust rose from the ground as the mobile suit crashed into the cobblestone street, and Sheryl shook her head to clear herself of the disorientation even as she wrestled with the controls to put her mobile suit back on its feet.
The Hyperion G grabbed onto the Oracle Lance, and with another blast of its thrusters the two units sped through several streets, ending with a crash into a steep section of the mountainside. When the smoke and dust cleared, the Oracle Lance was on its back, inert. Esther's Hyperion G rose over its opponent, and both beam sabers rose in preparation for a killing stroke.
The Hyperion G's backpack unit exploded in a splash of molten material, as the Manhunter Command grabbed the Oracle Lance's fallen carbine and fired it from the hip. Showers of sparks erupted from its well-abused right arm, but Ray's unit stood the test. His relief was short-lived, however, as the Hyperion G changed targets and rushed him.
"Leader-" Sheryl began.
"Fine," Ray growled. "I get it."
The Hyperion G swept into the Manhunter Command's sword guard as fast as Esther could manage; but the strikes from twin beam sabers hit nothing as Ray pivoted his unit back and leftwards on its right, forward-placed foot, tossing away the beam carbine. The mobile suit stepped back for an instant, and Esther widened her eyes as the Manhunter Command's left foot pressed against the ground. The screen fizzed and went blank as the black-grey mobile suit stepped forward before Esther could regain her guard, and slammed its beam saber through the cockpit of the Hyperion G.
"Simulation end," the operator's voice filtered in. "Manhunter Team wins this round."
CE 73, November 28th, Mobile Suit Combat Simulator Room A-1, OMNI EUROCOM Mannheim Base, Germany, Central Europe
Evening 20 31
Ray let out a long breath that he had been holding as the simulator screen darkened. Both teams had proceeded to fight another three rounds, and after their narrow win by leader knockout in the first round, the Manhunters had proceeded to get overwhelmed by the sheer advantage of Blizzard Team's two Hyperion Gs in the second and third rounds, before clinching a balanced victory in the final match.
Despite that, however, Ray felt better than he had in weeks. "Sheryl," he said, as he got off the bulky machine, "good work today."
"Hm, sir?" Sheryl said, her expression breaking into a sneaky smile. "Wasn't it because of your strategies?"
This was what Ray found hardest to confront; but then again, he had been brought before the gate, and no amount of excuses would let him run. Sheryl, and in a way, Ray himself, had won their first round by bringing back the Manhunters' variable fighting tactics; abandoning strategic specializations in the face of adapting to a superior enemy. Although they had lost the next two rounds, the Manhunters, revitalized, had managed to press their advantage in the third until only Esther was left standing.
"I…" Ray begun, searching for a way out of this.
"Leave him be, Camelot," Kaguya said, approaching from behind. "I think enough has been said during battle today."
"In your case, it would be shown," Rolan joked, walking over from the other side of the room. "I can't believe you laid waste to me and Caleria that quickly in the second round."
"You're not bad yourself," Guy said, joining the group. "I was thoroughly fooled in the third round when we traded punches in bombardment. The Hyperion G might be a great multirole machine, but to use it effectively… well, I'd say it takes a decent pilot at least."
With the match over, the people who were watching begun to leave. All had come to see how well the base's newcomers would match up against their favourites, and most were convinced that both sides had shown enough skill to be reliable.
Caleria joined Ray and the rest. "Miss Camelot!"
Sheryl turned. "Sheryl is fine, er…"
"Just call me Caleria," she said. "I was wondering if I could get some combat tips from you."
"Me?" Sheryl said in surprise. "I don't know much…"
"I'm sure you do," Ray added in. "You both play the integral role of firepower support during a battle; it would be good to exchange ideas or two."
Sheryl shot him a look that he couldn't determine, but Ray just shrugged and nodded towards Caleria. As Sheryl let herself be taken into the group conversation, Ray slowly backtracked, until he was well away from them.
"Feeling off today, Lieutenant?"
Ray turned to see Esther standing behind him. "No, ma'am," he replied. "Just…"
"Just confused?" Esther finished his sentence for him. "That the way your comrades play to their strengths isn't the way you envisioned them to do so, that the way they fight isn't the way you wanted them to?"
"Something like that."
"Command is like that," Esther said, leaning against the nearby wall. "It's a mark of a good commander to make use of innate strength, and finding ways to apply them to a situation." She turned to gaze at Ray. "I don't know what happened or what is happening, but I've gone through your records, and your showing since first joining us has been below expectations. You've managed to surpass expectations with this bout, however." She cracked a small smile. "In hindsight, what I've just said sounds weird. I can see that your veteran status is well-earned; you know what you're doing."
"I understand," Ray said. "Thank you, ma'am."
"... Don't be mistaken thinking that this was solely to give you a boost," Esther said as she turned to rejoin her subordinates. "I need to see where my own team stands as well, and you've given me a good idea of what I should do to prepare them for war."
Esther walked a short way before she turned back. "Did you really teach Lieutenant Camelot how to do advanced rifle fighting in a Mobile Suit?"
"I did teach her how to create chances to put some distance in-between her and an opponent," Ray replied. "It was to offset one of her old habits of charging in straight."
Whether it was a smirk or an amused smile on Esther's face, Ray couldn't decide. "I see," she said. "Well, keep up the good work."
Later that night, Sheryl found Ray sitting on the front gate of the Manhunters' hangar.
"A surprise to see you here, sir," she said, careful to keep her voice level.
"We're off duty hours now, Sheryl," Ray said. "First names are fine. How about you?"
"I was testing out a rifle setting during the simulation and I thought I would work pretty well, so I wanted to recalibrate the Oracle Lance before calling it a day," Sheryl paused, and sat down beside him. "Well, what other moves are you planning now?"
Ray as silent. "Keeping alive, I guess. And perhaps settle that data chip someday."
Sheryl laughed, a clear sound in the silence of the hangar blocks. "You're morose as always."
Ray merely grinned. "It's to balance out your over-enthusiasm."
Sheryl drew her knees closer towards her body. "I wonder how the rest are doing now. Rahabinond, Yoko, Aaqil, Navana, Mendez… we got most of the ground crew, but as for some of the others who fight alongside us, we're scattered to the winds."
"Wherever they are," Ray said, leaning back on his arms to stare at the starry night sky, "I'm sure that they're facing equal or greater troubles than us. But knowing them, they're probably fine."
The two were silent until Ray decided that now was as good a time as any. "Sheryl… I'm sorry. For doubting your abilities."
"That apology is owed to everyone in the Manhunters, Ray," Sheryl said. "Not just me."
"I know. But I think I own it especially to you." Ray replied. "I just want everyone to make it out of this conflict safely."
"People die in combat, Ray," Sheryl said softly. "They don't choose to, but it finds them. If I die tomorrow, I won't even be remembered as a tragedy; I'll just be another statistic in the list of many."
"But that's why I'll fight," she continued. "Peace is a goal to be chased, but for soldiers like us, we chase objectives. The objectives of preventing ZAFT from getting a foothold, both on our land and in the hearts of our people. The objective of preventing insurgents from rising up as and when they like, creating a third power that doesn't play by rules formed to safeguard the lives of our people."
Ray was quiet. "I know."
"And yet, you straitjacketed us into those fixed roles of sniper, gunner and specialist and demanded that we stay there."
Ray looked forward, into the hangar opposite. "I don't want to see more comrades die, Sheryl, not if I can help it. Every time someone dies, someone whom I've fought alongside, it feels as though someone just kicked me in the heart with a boot. It feels terrible, having to write condolence letters to their relations. Nothing I could say or write would ever be able to bring them back."
Ray turned to face Sheryl. "Panama. Onogoro. Boaz. Jachin Due. The debris field at Lagrange Four. The forests of South America. And very nearly at Suez and Reipertswiller. Except for the last two, those were places where I were in that people died under my command. And Suez was only because Nain was overall in charge of things that their deaths are not on my head." He struggled to keep this tone neutral as the faces of his dead comrades started to flash though his mind. "I can't ever forget the dead, Sheryl. They haunt my mind whenever they like it, and when they do, I'm constantly reminded on how their deaths could have been prevented. With the current Manhunters, I just want to cover all bases."
"Ray…" Sheryl said.
"I just want to leave no regrets," Ray said. "Especially not in this current team."
And after a pause, in a tone barely above a whisper only a micro-recorder could have picked up, he added, "Especially..."
Sheryl turned to look at Ray. "... did you say something?"
"It's nothing, Sheryl," he stood up. "Better calibrate that rifle, it's getting late."
Sheryl smiled. "I know, Ray."
As Sheryl entered the hangar from the side door, Ray called out to her. "Sheryl. Thanks for opening my eyes."
Sheryl nodded, and the night was silent again as the two went their separate ways.
CE 73, November 28th, Female Barracks Sector, OMNI EUROCOM Mannheim Base, Germany, Central Europe
Evening 22 21
Kaguya set the data pad down, her work done for the day. She had been looking through the combat records of the simulator battles, especially her own, in order to see if she could fight differently, and after several different reruns of the same videos over and over, she was sure that she had everything down.
Her thoughts drifted back to the encounter in Sinai, where she had fought with the Slash ZAKU Warrior. Both of them had started out testing each other with quick strikes and blows, but as the fight wore on Kaguya found it harder to keep herself from lashing out. The end of the fight had seen both of them simply smashing their weapons against each other, and only her background training had allowed Kaguya to slip in critical strikes that let her grasp victory. As the memory of the fight played out in her mind, her hands unconsciously found their way to the katana she always brought with her as a memento, her grip tightening on its hilt.
Another performance like what happened against the Slash ZAKU Warrior was unacceptable and dangerous if she had to deal with an opponent's backup as well, if Kaguya wanted to keep to her duty. She had studied her fight with Esther's Hyperion G, trying to find the core of every move she used; she had wanted to find a way where her Sword Dagger L could defeat a faster, lighter or just plain better opponent.
Kaguya switched off the lights and lay down on the bunk bed, feeling her muscles relax and loosen. Sheryl was in the hangar, and Kaguya let her mind sink into the silence, the absence of another person, as she thought back to the fights. Esther's strikes were quick and precise, and Kaguya admired her for it; both used different styles of the sword as befitting their background, but the ways at which they went about dealing with their opponents in close-combat were similar.
And, Kaguya thought as her mind drifted into the darkness, it would be good to have a contingency ready against them. Just in case…
Afterword:
Finally! The end of that little rivalry. Not sure how the tension would be taken, but hopefully, it did manage to display the dynamics between Ray's mindset and those whom we would be working with in the near future.