Chapter 20
CE 73, December 5th, Terchova, Slovakia, South-East Europe
Afternoon 13 42
Both Slash ZAKU Warrior and Sword Dagger L moved as grey blurs on the battlefield, leaving a massive dirt and dust cloud trail behind as Kaguya and Grace traded blow for blow in a high-speed running melee battle; the beam poleaxe of the Slash ZAKU Warrior tracing a brilliant path of light through the air, lashing out in lightning blows, even as the Sword Dagger L's anti-ship sword parried strike after strike in a blinding display of sparks.
The Slash ZAKU Warrior dug its right foot in, letting the Sword Dagger L sweep its anti-ship sword over its head as it ducked and came to a stop; it smashed the OMNI MS backwards with a push from its polearm's shaft and came in with a quick slash from the right. The Sword Dagger L stabbed its anti-ship sword into the ground in front of it, stopping the blow in its tracks, and Grace was forced to jump backwards as Kaguya drew the Sword Dagger L's beam sabre and slashed outwards, missing the ZAFT MS by mere inches.
Beam shots slashed through the air as Grace fired her Slash ZAKU Warrior's beam gatling guns, the rapid rounds tracing a path of destruction towards Kaguya's Sword Dagger L.
Not bad, Grace thought, as the Sword Dagger L's legs lighted up with thruster fire, and the mobile suit skated across the land to avoid the beam rounds. The beam poleaxe's beam blade cut a line of fused glass into the ground as Grace moved her mobile suit to match the Sword Dagger L's movements, the mobile suit deftly swinging the long-reaching weapon around it. But your machine is no match for mine, and neither your skill!
The Slash ZAKU Warrior brought its beam poleaxe down in a diagonal strike, matched only by the Sword Dagger L bracing its anti-ship sword against its body as the two heavy-duty weapons met in a clash of high-powered energy blades, the plasma leaking from each of the weapons' containment fields in uncontrolled, wild arcs of energy and plasma.
Shards of glassy composite, fused from soil exposed to the heat of weaponized plasma, fragmented from the ground as the Kaguya gritted her teeth. "Nice try," she muttered, her voice barely above a whisper's, as the Sword Dagger L strove hard, back thrusters firing, and the Slash ZAKU Warrior began to be pushed back; cutting the power, the Sword Dagger L suddenly back-stepped, letting the Slash ZAKU Warrior slide its weapon to the side and drive its own blow into the ground.
Grace barely avoided being crushed in her cockpit as the Sword Dagger L's left arm came up in a dangerously fast uppercut; the tip of the mobile suit's rocket anchor scratched a long gouge into the paint of the ZAKU's torso. Grabbing onto the arm with her ZAKU's left hand, the Slash ZAKU Warrior pulled itself towards the OMNI mobile suit, both machines crashing into each other as they entered grappling stance.
Kaguya glanced at her HUD; slowly but surely, the enemy was driving a wedge into the center of the Manhunters, and were pushing them in individual directions. Are they aimng to divide us? Kaguya wondered, as the Slash ZAKU Warrior's shoulder shield slid into place and reached for its beam tomahawk; Kaguya's Sword Dagger L grabbed the ZAKU's wrist in a lock, letting its anti-ship sword fall to the ground.
Both mobile suits grappled in a frenzy of movements, their quick steps throwing up large clouds of debris everywhere. Grace made a sound of frustration as her Slash ZAKU Warrior tried to aim its beam gatling guns, but the Sword Dagger L kicked out with its right leg and sent the bulkier ZAKU unit reeling back. The Sword Dagger L aimed and fired its rocket anchor rearwards, the device gripping the blade of the anti-ship sword; moments later, the weapon was flying upwards as Kaguya wrenched the sword free of the ground.
The Sword Dagger L stretched out its hand, only for the sword to fly through the air and not towards its grip as the Slash ZAKU Warrior pushed itself up and boosted forward, its shoulder shield slamming into place to form a battering ram that barely missed mangling the head of Kaguya's unit, which had responded by falling backwards. Reaching out with its free right hand, the Sword Dagger L grabbed the torso of the Slash ZAKU Warrior, pulling it close, before tucking in one leg and sending it tumbling skywards and over its head as it pushed the ZAKU mobile suit off. The cable of the Sword Dagger L's rocket anchor drew taut as it pulled the anti-ship sword past the Slash ZAKU Warrior.
Agile bastard, Kaguya thought, as the Slash ZAKU Warrior landed feet-first and proceeded to fill the air with beam shots. The Sword Dagger L fired its thrusters and retracted its rocket anchor, and the anti-ship sword slid towards the dodging mobile suit, dislodging dirt as it went; picking it up, the mobile suit braced the heavy weapon against itself, grip held close, one hand balanced on the solid blade in an overhead stance, as the loud whine of its leg thrusters started up again.
We can play this all day, Grace thought aloud, licking her dry lips in anticipation as the Slash ZAKU Warrior un-holstered its beam rifle and readied its beam tomahawk. As long as you fall by the end of this…!
CE 73, December 5th, Terchova, Slovakia, South-East Europe
Afternoon 13 49
Guy and Sharyl moved their MSes, the two Dagger Ls speeding through the trees as the ZAFT units unleashed hell upon them. A GuAIZ R and a pair of ZAKU Warriors, a Blaze and a Gunner, kept up with them, each shot placed towards the center of mass of the two OMNI units. Only their experienced reflexes kept them dodging, and even as Sheryl returned a quick shot, the ZAFT units remained unfazed, their net of fire drawing tighter and tighter.
"They're separating us!" Sheryl said. "We need to give these guys the slip!"
"I concur," Guy said. "Hunter Two! I'll make a gap. Break out from there!"
Sheryl was quick to reply, and even quicker with her controls; her Oracle Lance had barely touched ground when it lept into the air again, a beam shot fusing the ground into superheated glass a second after she took off. "What about you?!"
"We're not running! We'll force them to divide their attention!" Guy replied. "Get ready!"
Even as Sheryl shouted her acknowledgement, Guy's Launcher Dagger L had its weapon ready; pushing off into the air in a boosted jump, its Agni multi-phase cannon loosed a thunderous blast that nearly took the Gunner ZAKU Warrior head-on, had the mobile suit not side-stepped in time. In one leap, the Oracle Lance was in the air, its thrusters burning white-hot to propel the mobile suit over the three ZAFT units.
The Launcher Dagger L was not a balanced suit by any means; Guy's unit tumbled backwards, thrusters flaring as its pilot sought to bring it under control. Likewise, the Gunner ZAKU Warrior suffered from similar problems; it had lost its balance from the sudden sidestepping of Guy's attack, and could not fire without risking its position.
The GuAIZ R aimed at Guy, while the Blaze ZAKU Warrior shifted Sheryl's Oracle Lance into its sights.
A heartbeat later, the Blaze ZAKU Warrior hastily backed away from its rifle, as a green beam lanced down from the sky and cut into the body of the weapon; even in a high-G action, Sheryl's shot had connected, albeit not with the target she wanted. The ZAFT unit quickly put up its shield, the heavy equipment shielding its delicate sensors from the blinding blast a second later, as the beam rifle's magazine overheated and exploded almost instantaneously. A second shot impacted into the dirt as the ZAKU Warrior's thrusters fired, its pilot moving the mobile suit out of the way of Sheryl's second shot just a second before it hit.
The GuAIZ R fired, its weapons slinging a literal hail of railgun shots, beam shots, and rocket rounds at Guy's machine. Letting physics take hold, Guy activated every thruster on the Launcher Dagger L's right side; the machine flipped over at a nauseating speed, and planting the machine's right foot on the ground, the OMNI unit pushed off, backpack thrusters alight as it widened the distance between the ZAFT units and itself.
Guy pressed the trigger, and the Agni cannon let loose a second, shorter blast, one that placed the unit into a backflip. The Launcher Dagger L's manoeuvring thrusters fired, and within a few short seconds Guy's mobile suit was righted again; planting its shield into the ground, its shoulder cannon and CIWS guns roared, the OMNI mobile suit weathering the bullet assault and intercepting the few rockets that were in its range. A wave of detonations filled the sky as the Launcher Dagger L's automatic weapons found their targets.
The ZAFT mobile suits scattered as Sheryl and Guy abandoned accuracy in favour of fire volume; the Launcher Dagger L rained beam shots from its carbine in addition to its shoulder gun, while Sheryl had both of the Oracle Lance's beam rifles out, and was squeezing off shots as fast as she could.
Guy allowed his mouth to twist into a smile. "Let's have a little re-enactment of 8.8 here, shall we?"
CE 73, December 5th, Terchova, Slovakia, South-East Europe
Afternoon 14 03
Lightning arcs danced across the space in-between the two mobile suits as the Blaze ZAKU Phantom and the Dagger L Manhunter Command clashed, beam sabre to beam tomahawk. The two units matched blow to blow, strike to strike, even as their mobile suits moved across the forests of Terchova, their weapons searing the air as the behemoths swung them with all the speed and killing intent their pilots could muster.
Trees and branches were scorched from their places as the Manhunter Command brought its beam sabre in a quick sweep from below, hitting the beam tomahawk of the Blaze ZAKU Phantom as it brought it downwards in a quick block. The containment fields of both beam weapons overlapped for an instant, the minute lapse in the beam particles' magnetic prison enough to send a fresh wave of electricity dancing across the machines' surfaces and their surroundings, accompanied by a deadly wave of brilliant-pink energy particles.
Both mobile suits barely held their stance before they pushed off against each other. Embers danced through the air, the swirling remnants of leaves and plant material ignited by their weapons and tossed into the air by their rampage. The land around them was splashed with brilliant orange, scattered fires licking at the trees and foliage. The direct impact of a beam weapon would burn through and fuse any remaining material into a shiny slurry that could be best described as glass; ambient heat from those weapons, however, was more than enough to set off a fire.
Ray Feric let out the breath he had been holding, sparing a second to assess his condition. The Manhunter Command's shield had taken a severe beating from the ZAFT unit, which was holding both its beam tomahawks. The ZAFT pilot had been extremely willing to fight close in and dirty; more than once had Ray's mobile suit stumbled backwards, its armor dented, as the Blaze ZAKU Phantom had broken from a deadlock by swinging its shield units on their joints, throwing his mobile suit off-center. In the right situation, the ZAKU's protective equipment made effective bashing weapons, and it was made worst by the fact that the pilot currently facing Ray not only had two, but was well-versed in how to use them that way as well.
Both mobile suits faced each other, circling amidst a firestorm surrounding them, each one locking their gaze on their opponent. Ray still had the squadron channel open, and could hear his subordinates on the line, but he tried to push those thoughts out of his mind; one slip, and he would die to this ZAFT pilot in the blink of an eye.
Both mobile suits had lost their beam rifles, Ray having disarmed his opponent by closing in, and the ZAKU having done the same to him by boldly stepping into melee range, axes whirling through the air. Unlike the ZAKU Phantom, Ray's unit still had its CIWS, but Ray had given up the tactic after two tries, having found out that the ZAFT pilot was unfazed by the low-caliber gunfire. Likewise, the ZAFT unit had exhausted its store of missiles, Ray having successfully feinted an escape only to switch directions and close in again.
Radio contact with Kim's platoons and the radar truck had ceased long ago, as had contact with the other MS teams within the area. He could only hope that they had better luck than him.
Just as Ray was contemplating whether to attack or attempt to retreat, the Blaze ZAKU Phantom charged, its leg thrusters blazing as the ZAFT unit leapt straight at him. Pushing down a swear word from his lips, Ray met the attack head-on, the Manhunter Command barely holding steady as the ZAKU Phantom brought both beam tomahawks down on the shield. Any idea Ray had of taking the chance to counterattack was foiled; the blow was so heavy that he couldn't get a good stabbing angle, and the Blaze ZAKU Phantom set its feet against the shield, pushing off, and sending the OMNI unit further backwards.
Deciding to roll with the blow rather than grind against the ground, Ray let the Manhunter Command fall backwards, using the shield to quickly prop his mobile suit up at the right moment. The decision turned out well, as the Blaze ZAKU Phantom, rather than use the lapse in stability as a chance to pounce on him again, choose to stay back this time, the two mobile suits circling each other once more as fires licked at their feet.
There was a short pause; a brief interruption in the Blaze ZAKU Phantom's otherwise fluid motion that made every muscle in Ray's body tense up. The next moment, the ZAKU Phantom had flung the beam tomahawk in its left arm; the weapon sped in an arc, barely missing embedding itself into the Manhunter Command's head as it struck deep into the shield, and Ray charged, his mind set on taking advantage of this small gap in the ZAKU's defences.
A loud explosion erupted in front of the OMNI mobile suit; Ray had just a moment to realize that he had been set up into closing the distance, the blast from what was no doubt one of the ZAKU Phantom's grenades obscuring his forward view, when he felt an impact on the shield; the ZAFT unit had charged him, and the impact had dampened the Manhunter Command's advance. The Blaze ZAKU Phantom wrenched its tomahawk free, and stuck out its left leg, the blow tripping up the OMNI mobile suit into falling forward. This close, any motion would force both mobile suits to knock against each other, and the pilot of the Blaze ZAKU Phantom knew that well; the ZAFT unit slammed, full-body, against the lighter OMNI unit, sending it flying. Ray barely brought the mobile suit to a standing position after a roll, only to see the ZAKU Phantom charge, axes held facing front and crossed.
Ray brought the Manhunter Command's right arm up, aiming for the ZAKU's torso, knowing full-well that his move was all-too-easily a textbook manoeuvre, as his mobile suit's left arm reached for its beam sabre; the Manhunter Command's CIWS guns blazed, brilliant flashes reflecting off its visor, but the ZAKU Phantom continued forward. The ZAFT unit, however, suddenly planted a foot into the ground and kicked off in another direction, as seconds later, a forest-patterned blur dashed past Ray's position to chase after the Blaze ZAKU Phantom.
The Wild Dagger, Navana Landro's unit, stopped short and jumped backwards as the ZAKU Phantom boosted upwards, letting a few grenades fall; seconds later a firestorm engulfed both OMNI units as the napalm grenades detonated. Retreating out of range of the raging fires, both units stopped as a second Wild Dagger landed. Aaqil bin Said looked around him, whistling as he took in the carnage. "You people really gave this place a thrashing."
"Not good enough to tip it in my favor, apparently," Ray grunted, righting his unit. "Thanks, Hunter Two."
"Anytime," Navana replied.
Ray turned to look around. "What about the SAM sites?"
"Our units have been bolstered with further reinforcements from surrounding regions. They've spearheaded a third assault against the enemy lines," Aaqil replied. "We've changed from knocking on their front door to pushing their lines in with an all-out assault. The SAM net's down sufficiently, thanks to all of us hammering on it; we've found a command centre and overran that, too, and from what scattered reports that we were able to pick out of the airwaves, it seems like the Blizzard Squadron got one too. We're keeping some low-flying aerial support, but the fighters are still grounded, for now."
Ray looked around. "Damn this combat jamming," he hissed, pulling of his helmet; sweat flecked the interior of the cockpit as he tossed the headgear behind his seat. He punched the controls for an open cockpit feed; all he got on the Manhunters' channel was a burst of static.
"Hunter Leader to all Hunters! Respond! Hunter Leader to Blue Leader!"
All that answered his hails was the static of a lost connection. Ray sighed, and ran a hand over his sweat-flecked face. "Alright, Howling Spears. We're in this now." He set the Manhunter Command off at a run. "Let's find those command centres and knock a bigger hole in their detection net," he said, as the two Wild Daggers fell in, and quickly overtook to a distance in front of, his unit, "and be rid of this farce of an insurgent movement once and for all."
CE 73, December 5th, Terchova, Slovakia, South-East Europe
Afternoon 14 33
Alan Reidr's Blaze ZAKU Phantom boosted through the forest, the trees of the ridge in the distance growing closer as he sped towards the last known location of his second-in-command, Grace Sakerfield.
He had ordered the Roksova to bombard his previous location, but he had been late in getting that order across, and he was sure that without anything impeding them, the OMNI pilots would have no trouble avoiding that bombardment from a mile away. His only hope was that it would force them to backtrack, even for a little while. The last time he had fought the custom Dagger L, he had been on the attack; it had been so much easier with the element of surprise on his side. This time, the pilot was all too willing to play the same game and tactics as himself; had it been a stronger model, Alan was sure that the fight would have been much, much closer.
Disable him, he says, Alan mused. Easier said than done. It's an entirely different matter, considering that the element of surprise is no longer on our side, and those pilots have been operating for far longer than us in this mission... not to mention that they've already seen us in action once.
The appearance of Grace's unit, her Slash ZAKU Warrior, against the backdrop of the sky, disfigured with columns of smoke both far-off and close by, was quickly marred by an OMNI unit cresting the same ridge, and bringing a large sword down upon the ZAKU. Even as the two mobile suits swung their weapons at each other, Alan could tell that Grace was on the losing end; his subordinate was able to shoulder the first blow, but not the follow up, as the OMNI unit stepped in and slammed its shoulder against the heavier ZAFT unit, before swinging its sword at the Slash ZAKU Warrior again.
It wasn't so much as Grace slowing down or a lack of effort, but Alan swore that the OMNI unit was almost anticipating Grace's movements. Hefting one tomahawk, his Blaze ZAKU Phantom hurled the impromptu weapon at the OMNI unit, hoping to ease the pressure on Grace.
To his shock, the OMNI unit, which he could now clearly see as a Sword Dagger L, stood its ground; it bent its body, the tomahawk missing by scant centimetres, and in a movement that Alan swore was just as fast as any veteran Coordinator's, flung its own beam boomerang at Alan's unit; the throw was quick, an almost-straight shot that left Alan no choice but to use his shields to take the blow head-on. The impact knocked him off-course, and the Blaze ZAKU Phantom was forced to land from its boosted cruising.
The beam boomerang spun through the air, its inbuilt thrusters flaring to keep the non-conventional weapon flying, towards the Sword Dagger L, and in a swift motion, the machine caught it, even as it continued its assault against Grace with the unwieldy anti-ship sword held by only one arm. Alan quickly realized that the pilot had placed Grace's Slash ZAKU Warrior in-between both of their line of sight. "Raider Two! Fall back!"
Alan knew that Grace tended to lose herself in battle, but the reply was not something he expected to hear out of his normally calm and collected subordinate. "I can take it down!" Grace snarled, feedback in the radio link marring her voice even further. "Don't interfere with m-"
Alan set an edge to his voice. "Grace! That's an order!"
For a moment, the movements of the Slash ZAKU Warrior froze, and Alan feared that the OMNI mobile suit would take the chance to kill his closest compatriot before he could get to her.
Then the moment was past; leaping backwards in a boosted jump to avoid a sword-thrust from the Sword Dagger L, Grace's unit landed right beside Alan's. He noticed that other than the beam polearm, the Slash ZAKU Warrior was missing most of its other weapons; one of its back-mounted cannons had been cut off, and the entire unit was covered in scratches and nicks, evidences of close calls too many to count.
Far off, Alan could see that the OMNI unit was not better off; its armour was no longer in any conditions to take hits. But Grace was more than his second-in-command; she had fought alongside him for nearly the entire duration of the Second Bloody Valentine War, and throughout the two years since then up until now.
It was the first time he had seen her with an opponent who could actually push her back in single combat.
The comm link fizzed once, and Grace's voice came online. "Apologies, commander, for stepping out of line. What are your next plans?"
Alan watched as the Sword Dagger L turned tail, disappearing over the ridge. "We're going to be pulled into long attrition battles at this rate. They're definitely different from when we fought them during their journey to Gulnahan."
Grace was silent for a moment. "Will you order the mission to be scrapped?"
"I would not be here in the first place. We're precision forces, not cloak-and-dagger agents," Alan said. "But that choice is not mine to make. We're here, unofficially, to help NEFA break free from the Eurasian Federation. If the Eurasian Federation simply chooses to retreat from their territories in the face of our advance, then it can't be helped, but they're beginning to choose to fight quite bitterly the more we try to close in on their core territories."
"We can't move too boldly. Right now, the precarious situation is that the Eurasian Federation is unwilling to commit to a long war. If we're too forceful with our presence, their member nations will rally together once again, and we'll end up facing a combined OMNI front. If that happens, we'll never be able to keep Gibraltar, let alone forcing them to capitulate."
"I understand, sir," Grace said.
Alan kicked his unit's thrusters to their full power, the ZAKU Phantom's form lifting off the forest floor. "I'm ordering a general recall," he said, as his Blaze ZAKU Phantom shot into the sky in a powerful boosted jump. "Converge at the Roksova. We'll rearm. There is no longer a need to play lures or deceit; we'll get NEFA to tell us where they're going to converge... then, we'll see if ZAFT Intelligence decides to stick their neck in further."
CE 73, December 5th, Terchova, Slovakia, South-East Europe
Afternoon 14 54
The Launcher Dagger L fired its Agni beam cannon, the powerful weapon crossing a distance of four kilometres in the time it would take for him to blink. The blast slammed into the ground, throwing up a copious amount of dust, and Guy clicked his tongue in frustration; he was aiming for the GuAIZ R, which had avoided his blast by a close margin. The three ZAFT units that Sheryl and he had fought were now out of range, jetting over the mountain ridges within a minute.
"They're turning tail," Sheryl remarked. "Kind of odd for them to do that."
"Whatever it is, I'm thankful for it," Guy replied. "Now we need to link up with Hunter Four, then find out where did we get separated from Hunter Leader - "
There was a burst of static as a new comlink established itself. Guy thumbed the switches, transferring the signal to a shared secure line. "This is Hunter Three of the 108 ATS Manhunters to unknown allied signal carrier. Identify yourself."
"Zephyr Leader of the 3367th ATS, first flight, OMNI Cezch Guard. We've been sent to locate your position and update your situation."
As they spoke, four Jet Dagger Ls appeared over a ridgeline, their bodies brushing the treetops in nape-of-earth flight. Landing beside Guy's Launcher Dagger L, the leader unit gestured towards the direction where the ZAFT units had fled. "Do you want us to keep tabs on them? We can chase them with low-level flight if you need us to."
"No need to," Guy said. "We need to hold ground superiority. But thanks for the offer anyways."
"No problem, Hunter Four," the pilot replied. "OMNI forces are currently gathered in an encirclement zone around NEFA's assumed combat zone. Two command centres have been hit, leaving one left." Zephyr Leader paused for a moment. "OMNI command recommends you to continue with the mission. They believe that only with the last command centre down will the threat of aerial wipeout be assuaged. We'll be joining your unit for the time being."
"Well, nice to have you in," Guy replied.
"Likewise," Zephyr Leader replied. "Zephyr Two, Five, Six, I've uploaded search vectors in your data. NOE flight only; the sooner we find the command centre, the faster this will be done with."
Sheryl's unit took her place beside Guy's as the Jet Dagger Ls lifted off the ground, splitting their directions. "Looks like OMNI is getting ready for a final push," she said. "Do you have contact with Ray?"
"Still nothing," Guy replied. "I hope he got away."
Sheryl bit her lower lip in frustration, but said nothing.
CE 73, December 5th, Terchova, Slovakia, South-East Europe
Afternoon 15 19
Captain Esther Granmark swept her gaze over the forest, most of which was reduced to smoking black ground, littered with broken trees and other debris.
For most of the duration of their battle, they had faced an immense shelling from far off, but Esther's squadron had persevered and forged their way ahead. The Blizzards' willpower had rewarded them well; they had found one of the SAM command centres and had destroyed it, along with the forces guarding it. From a recent report, she had also heard that the Howling Spears had found a second relay station.
From Wallace's report, there should only have been three SAM relay points across this area; setting up more would not benefit the enemies' anti-air defence net in any way. Esther mentally counted off the encounters; with one under her forces, another under the Howling Spears, that left the area that Ray's team was supposed to cover.
It was expected that their team might have been slower, as the only advantage to their name was their specialized firepower; they had neither the Blizzard Squadron's defence, in the form of two Hyperion Gs, nor did they have the mobility of the Howling Spears, with their Wild Daggers. Still, Esther considered it too much of a coincidence that they would meet a ZAFT squadron this far out.
"Thinking about something, ma'am?" Rolan Brego's voice cut in.
Esther tapped a control to check if the link was private; it was. "Something about ZAFT being in this area troubles me. So far, they've not moved beyond the lines in Turkey. What would their forces be doing all the way out here?"
"Their bases might not have moved, but their forces are certainly not lacking in mobility, if that's what you mean," Rolan replied. "Thanks to the 3367th ATS, and our own experiences, we know that they're likely to have a land battleship somewhere beyond the ridge. How they managed to get it this far is anyone's guess, but with NEFA's strength in this region, we can't be certain that anything beyond this point still remains Eurasian Federation territory."
"So NEFA is but the frontlines, and every square mile from here to Turkey is possible insurgent territory?" Esther said.
"That's what I'm getting at, ma'am." Rolan replied. "If the Turkish regional government could so boldly secede from us, it makes sense that the other nations could do the same."
"What a bunch of troublesome, naive idealists," Esther sighed. "Well, the good thing is that we took minimal losses in this first-stage skirmish. NEFA's commander deployed their forces well, but be it linear tank or mobile suit, their bunch of insurgents-turned-operators were way too inexperienced to take advantage of the terrain for their own good. "
"It's true that we've thrashed most of what they've stolen from Trecin Base, and then some," Rolan said. "But we've seen nothing of Kasavok's three ace cards."
"The three squadrons from Trecin Base, eh?" Esther remarked. "That's true as well. But he can't keep them held back forever. Sooner or later, he'd going to deploy them in battle, and we'll have to have a right and proper battle to kick the living hell out of them. If we're so allowed."
Rolan chuckled. "It'll be a right and proper battle, alright, seeing as we're all special forces. The only thing that matters is how we're going to keep them from pressing their technological advantage."
CE 73, December 5th, Terchova, Slovakia, South-East Europe
Afternoon 15 43
Aaqil stopped his Wild Dagger just shy of the ridge, the natural land patterns protecting the three mobile suits in the group from being discovered by any radar systems scanning the horizon. "We've already covered most of the regions in this area. Taking into consideration the SAM distribution pattern and the network's arrangement, this is the only zone left that could harbour the last relay point."
Ray got off his mobile suit, grabbing a pair of binoculars as he stepped off the cockpit lift winch and only to the soft forest floor; for a brief moment, he was reminded of all the destruction that was being wrought through the forest. Thankfully, they had encountered little to no resistance on their journey here; he wasn't sure if the rest of the Manhunters, scattered by the fighting, had received his message, but with long-range direct communications shut off, there was no other option. If everything went well, they would meet up in ten minutes at a point four kilometers from here, before launching their assault.
Leaving the Howling Spears to stand guard, he dodged past trees and under branches to stand on the ridgeline of the Terchova region. Hunkering down into a prone position to minimize his chances of exposure, Ray directed his binoculars beyond the ridge.
The afternoon sun was slowly arcing towards the west as Ray took in the sights. From where he was, the terrain sloped down, green as far as the eye could see, until his sight glanced upon a small clearing some distance off; Ray estimated it to be at least five kilometres out, or more. Raised on a tower was a sensor array, and surrounding it were mobile suits; without looking further, Ray surmised that underneath the trees were also armored vehicles and anti-MS infantry teams.
As his gaze moved, Ray saw the men in question arrayed before his binoculars. He could tell that they were no mere insurgents. They moved with practiced ease, with purpose, even while keeping their bodies relaxed. "Looks like we found those guys from Trencin."
"Are we going to rope the Blizzards in on it as well?" Navana asked.
"No. At least, I hope we won't need to. I can guarantee that if we hit this place, it's going to erupt like a beehive in a matter of moments," Ray said. "I'll run a distraction assault and draw them out some. You guys speed in and destroy the tower. If Lady Luck allows it, we'll retreat to a safe distance and call in the rest of OMNI for reinforcements. We're going to have to face them at any rate; if they're willing to rush out, we'll do them the favor and annihilate them where they stand."
"Understood. I'll send a message over just in case." Aaqil said.
Ray was about halfway back to his mobile suit when a burst of static almost had him tearing off his portable comm set in shock. It was linked to his mobile suit; whatever it was, it had to be close. Ray quickened his steps as much as he dared to in the uneven terrain, and adjusted the volume of his headset.
"-mmand to Hunter Leader, come in!"
Ray grabbed onto the cockpit lift winch, scrambling into the cockpit of the Manhunter Command even as he switched to the mobile suit's onboard comms. "Hunter Leader is on station. Repeat again."
"-ter Leader, it's a t- -they're waiti-"
Ray's countenance twisted into an expression of frustration and anger. The last thing he needed was jamming to get in his way, but he'd heard enough to know what was about to come to pass. He'd experienced it enough times during the First Bloody Valentine War and the later USSA War of Independence.
The Manhunter Command's cockpit doors closed as Ray fired up the systems. "Howl Leader, Howl Two, we're switching locations! There's a high chance that we've been compromised!"
"I heard that as well," Aaqil replied. "Should we-"
"Incoming!" Navana interrupted. "It's... above us!"
The Manhunter Command looked up, just in time to see a crimson mobile suit angle downwards from the skies; Ray instantly recognized it as the Rosso Aegis he had fought. Accompanying it were two blue aircraft, bi-winged, and uncharacteristically large; Raider Full Spec models.
"All forces! Scatter!" Ray shouted.
The enemies dived, and the ridgeline erupted in a blazing maelstrom, decorated with the blinding flash of air-to-ground weapons fire.
Afterword:
What was supposed to be a short and sudden hiatus turned into a long and sudden hiatus. But unfinished stories don't sit well with me.
Anyways, the story in this corner of the Eurasian Federation continues to unfold. This is about around the same time frame as the Minerva is moving about in the seas south of Europe (I would assume) skirmishing with the Orb Expeditionary Fleet and Kira and co.