Chapter 37
CE 74, March 22nd, Nantes Underground Garrison surface region, Nantes, France, Eurasian Federation
Morning 06 01
Captain Ray Feric blinked the last of his faitgue out of his eyes as he triple-checked the systems of his mobile suit. Clamped in the drop rail of a superheavy MS transport aircraft, the viewscreens flickered as they returned status reports on the internals of the GAT-05+RM101A Vanguard Gladius.
There was a loud bang as something ricocheted off the hull of the aircraft. The airframe shook momentarily, and Ray flipped a side-panel switch as the cargo crew chief of the transport opened a link to his unit.
"We're 20 seconds to the zone! You ready?"
From the corner of his eye, Ray caught an acknowledgement light flashing green. "Hunter Three. All green." Lieutenant Guy Leon said.
"Hunter Two, on station." Lieutenant Sheryl Camelot reported. The air transports could only hold two mobile suits, and Sheryl was reporting in from another aircraft nearby.
"Hunter Leader, squad reports all green. Punch the hatch, chief."
There was a distinct cacophony of grinding mechanisms as the rear bay doors of the transport craft opened. For a moment, a flash filled the interior; the nearby detonation of a missile cast sharp shadows into the aircraft's hangar bay. From the sight afforded by the open bay doors, Ray saw streaks of smoke and light as they crossed the distance between ground and sky, anti-air and air-to-surface weapons on their way to their intended targets.
"10 seconds to drop location!" The crew chief said.
Two days ago, the Atlantic Federation Special Response Unit had been quickly transported to Dover Base in Britain, where they had been further prepared for the operations they would expect as reinforcements for their Eurasian allies; an early attack launched by the Blue Cosmos elements on the western coast of France, however, had forced a rapid scramble to support the French regional forces. Atlantic command had initially hoped to be on the ground before the Eurasians launched their assault; now, however, 3 different air squadrons carrying the special teams of MS pilots were en route to their locations; the outskirts of Nantes, Brest, and Dinan.
"Eurasian Federation high command has put forward a formal request for our assistance," Rahabinod had explained yesterday night in the emergency briefing. "Most of their veteran battle strength is positioned in northeast Europe against Blue Cosmos remnants entrenched there after the Berlin attack. Had they enough time, they'd be joining us here, but as things stand the only obstacle between the western shores and the Blue Cosmos forces in France are the regular units."
"Would we be enough to turn the tides, though?" One of the pilots had asked. "We're a force totaling less than a full battalion. Even with allied assistance, we'll be operating against division-level strength."
"The Eurasian Federation has agreed that they will shoulder the brunt of the fighting," Rahabinod replied. "But they don't have the power to put in place an effective push, not without disproportionate losses. Attrition will waste much of their strength away unless we go to ground and surgically deal with the enemy."
"That might explain Blue Cosmos' sudden change of heart," Major Venna Calis said. "The threat of the French front being reinforced with the northern veteran units must have pushed them to act." She eyed the wide-screen tactical display, its light casting a blue hue over all those present in the darkened briefing room. "Still, if the Eurasian Federation forces can't hold the line, there's no point in us showing up; we'll be backing up a pile of corpses hundreds of miles from any reasonable support."
"France regional command has nearly emptied their bases to keep Blue Cosmos from overrunning the garrisons keeping watch over the western holdouts. Reinforcements are en-route to the regions, even as we speak." Rahabinod said, tapping against the screen. "Even if they haven't broken out through the enemy siege by then, your mission remains unchanged. Take the access bases to the garrisons. If you can't hold it, destroy it. At the very least, we must delay Blue Cosmos from escaping."
"Too bad it had to end this way," Guy had remarked. "I'm sure some of them aren't too willing about this."
"Command has already issued them an ultimatum, offering amnesty for any regular unit willing to betray their Blue Cosmos commanders." Rahabinod replied. "None of them took… or managed to take up our offers of disarmament, so it's back to Plan A we go."
The situation was that of a multi-front race. As the SRU frantically prepared for deployment, they received periodic updates; the Eurasian Federation Land Forces had stabilized the French front and were responding to the Blue Cosmos incursions in force, and the Eurasian Federation Navy was likewise racing southwest through the Dover Straits and northwest out from the Mediterranean to cut off any potential escape by sea. The overarching view was that the Blue Cosmos attack had been planned as a cover for their evacuation, which was assumed to be arriving earlier than expected; the Eurasian Federation counter-response was aimed to push them back into their holes, while the Navy expected to fall upon the expected missing Orcinus-class carrier submarines if they were in the zone.
"We're over the zone!" The crew chief yelled. "Send 'em out!"
Ray heard a sound not too unlike a gun going off as the three-point clamp built up speed along the ceiling rails. In less than 3 seconds, the Vanguard Gladius was shoved out of the aircraft, and on his viewscreen the well-lit metal of the hangar floor was instantly replaced by the dark contours of a land just before dawn, broken up by flashes of anti-air gunfire and the weapons of ground troops going head-on against each other. Above, one of the transports arced away, putting distance between the combat zone and them.
The comms channel crackled, and a link with the remaining transport was established. "This is transport and support craft flight commander Argo Leader. We will remain on station for air intel and data station relay for Dover Operations Center. The feed is tactical-data only, Hunter Leader, but we can pipe change of orders from the HQ if the need arises."
"Roger, Argo Leader, Hunter Leader copies." Ray replied. "Manhunters out."
The mobile suit hurtled through the air before being quickly pulled back by two triplet sets of parachutes opening from its additional shoulder equipment. To the front and left, Ray saw the outline of two mobile suits in similar situation; Guy and Sheryl's units joined his, a Launcher Gladius and a Lightning Gladius taking up their positions.
"Hunter Two, launch clear," Sheryl said.
"Hunter Three, same," Guy replied.
"Acknowledged," Ray said, pulling up a map of the region on his tactical screen. With a single hand motion he drew a simple line from their predicted landing point to the entrance of the underground military base that was their primary target.
All underground bases they were briefed about had at least 3 entrances, but thankfully for Ray, word had gotten through that the Eurasian Federation had found the two side entrances and deployed forces to secure them; they were sealed at the moment, which made it easier to set up a watch on them for any suspicious movement.
The trouble was the main entrance, which had the largest lift capability of all of them. Sealing the sides would mean nothing if the Blue Cosmos troops could hold the main entrance free long enough to evacuate the base. "HQ has ID'd the Blue Cosmos forces stationed at Nantes as the Atlantic Federation Armed Forces, 17th Combined Division. They've got the usual; mobile suits, fighters, armored vehicles; there's a lot of them, but nothing too out of place for us. We'll keep things simple; we land, bust our way to the main door, and then hold the position until told otherwise. Nothing gets to step in, nothing gets to leave."
While the other two locations got two squadrons each, the Manhunters were alone; other units were being pulled from all over to Dover Base, but they had yet to be made ready; until then, the Manhunters would have to rely on their own skills to take this location.
An alert lighted up on all three of their displays as anti-air radars in the vicinity picked up on the new targets. Flashes of anti-air gunfire appeared moments later, as well as warning chimes as missiles approached.
"Shit! We're still 300 meters from release altitude…!" Guy cautioned.
"Don't waste flares on those," Ray replied. "Cut the lines!"
A brief show of sparks showered from the shoulder-mounted parachute equipment of the three Gladius MSes as the reinforced clamps released them from their MS payloads. Almost immediately, Ray felt his stomach flatten itself upwards as the Vanguard Gladius plummeted through the air.
Thrusters fired as the Vanguard Gladius tracked an incoming missile; its head-mounted CIWS guns flashed, the armor-piercing rounds knocking the guided munition off-course just meters away from the mobile suit. It spiraled into the night sky before exploding, illuminating the visage of the Vanguard Gladius for a moment.
A single large flash dominated Ray's vision as Guy's Launcher Gladius took aim with its Agni hyper impulse bazooka, and fired. The roar of the anti-ship energy beam cannon was audible even in the enclosed cockpit of Ray's MS, and Guy swept the stream across the ground, the detonation of vehicles and other targets trailing behind the beam blast's path.
The Vanguard Gladius adjusted its stance as a beam shot lanced upwards from the ground, the green-hued energy washing over the shield of the mobile suit. Cutting power to the thrusters, the Vanguard Gladius made its last 100 meters to the ground in a heavy impact; however, the next shot from the enemy, a Dagger L, overshot its target as Ray threw his unit into a forward run, the mobile suit ducking under its opponent's aim.
The Dagger L attempted to switch to a beam sabre as the Vanguard Gladius closed in, but the heavier MS was still faster; the resounding impact of Ray bringing his mobile suit's shield into a direct strike against the enemy's front momentarily sent it off its feet to land in a shower of dirt more than two dozen meters behind.
The Dagger L struggled up and lashed out with a beam sabre in a stabbing strike; before the stroke could even connect, however, the Vanguard Gladius stepped in close and bashed its arm swing astray with its shield, its own return blow with its beam sabre sending the enemy MS' head sailing into the air. A second downward slash saw the Dagger L's left arm and leg spin free from its own body, and it toppled backwards heavily onto the ground.
Beside Ray, Sheryl's Lightning Gladius landed, the railgun extended in sniper mode, the barrel crackling with energy. The mobile suit raised the weapon, and lightning momentarily lighted the area up as she fired; a heartbeat later there was a distant explosion as Sheryl's shot found its mark.
"Radar reads three more mobile suits over that slight crest," Sheryl said, marking the area on the squadron data-link. "Regular Dagger Ls, but they have additional armor and heavy weapons."
"No change in plans," Ray replied. "We'll take the elevation and hit them from above."
The mobile suits of the Manhunters broke into a moderate run. Ray crested the small hill and sighted Sheryl's targets; three Dagger Ls, armed with additional reactive plating, and carrying bazookas. They faced away from the three Gladius MSes, slinging fire at the Eurasian forces contesting the primary front.
Guy took the first shot; his Launcher Gladius' hip-mounted beam guns struck his target in its lower torso, the shots eating through the enemy's hip block chassis from behind. Before the other two MSes could turn, Sheryl and Ray fired; the center target fell backwards, head missing, as the Vanguard Gladius' shoulder cannon spat a brilliant green shot to follow, gouging out almost everything on its target's upper torso, while the Lightning Gladius fired its railgun rifle in normal mode; the impact of the strike sent Sheryl's target crashing into the dirt, a hole punched through its upper torso.
"Not a lot of resistance here," Sheryl remarked, as they pushed onwards through the gaps in-between the gently undulating terrain, the distant sounds of battle a backdrop in their transmissions.
"They're spread out over a larger area," Guy said. "Good for us. They might not even know we're here yet."
"… hear me? This is the 7… We're pinned d… … enemy artillery at-"
The connection was gone as abruptly as it appeared, but the Manhunters had heard it nonetheless. "I have a fix on the transmission location," Guy said, setting the location for the distress signal. "They're a bit off the route, but it's still near enough."
"ID shows them as the 711th Armored Brigade, Army, French Regional Guard, Eurasian Federation forces." Sheryl replied. "One of seven armored units in the area, according to the briefing."
Ray eyed the map grids. "Got it. Hunter Leader to Argo Leader, do you read?"
"Argo Leader, I copy," the reply came from the Manhunters' transport, still high up in the skies. "Sending data on enemy assault position."
"They're poised to assault and occupy a tactical area," Ray said, circling the general area that the transmission was last heard from, as the Manhunters' data-link updated itself with additional information from their air support. "The incline will make it ideal for artillery to set up and start blasting away."
"I'll take point and break their formation. Follow in close behind me; target at will, all weapons free!"
The main thrusters of the Vanguard Gladius glowed, then roared, as Ray pushed the mobile suit into a boosted jump. Thruster fire washed over the ground as the MS leapt upwards, its rocket engines propelling it upward and forward at speeds it could have never reached by running alone.
The enemy Windam turned to see a dark-hued shape crash into the ground in front of it. The pilot could barely register what had just appeared when a beam sabre flashed to life, taking the right forearm of the Windam off at its elbow.
The enemy mobile suit stumbled back, head-mounted CIWS blazing, for all the good it would do; a beam sabre strike ate through most of its lower torso, sending it crashing into the ground, as Sheryl and Guy joined Ray.
The location was occupied by a battery of 6 liner artillery vehicles and a single armored ranging radar vehicle; seconds before, their barrels had worked hard to keep up a barrage of artillery. Now, however, the armored vehicles had lowered their guns and apparatuses, tracks and wheels spinning desperately in a last-ditch attempt to get away, while the three remaining mobile suits - a Windam and two Dagger Ls - assigned to guard the vehicles rushed to meet the enemy.
Ray forced the controls forward, and the Vanguard Gladius charged, shield held forward. "Manhunters, engage!"
A second Windam's attempt to stymie Ray's advance fell short as the Vanguard Gladius fired its thrusters, impacting into the enemy mobile suit with the flat front of its shield. The Windam was brutally thrown aside as Guy and Sheryl advanced against two other Dagger Ls, leaving Ray a clear shot at the artillery vehicles.
The Vanguard Gladius' back-mounted beam gun angled forward, spitting a green spear of light that impacted squarely into the middle of the enemy vehicle formation. The blast from the high-powered beam shot flipped the nearest vehicles, getting in the way of the others; the Vanguard Gladius' head-mounted CIWS flashed to life a second later, raking the remaining vehicles with armor-piercing rounds that caused them to burst into flames as equipment, fuel tanks, power cells, and ammunition storages were hit.
Light flared behind the Windam as it used its thrusters to right itself. Charging, it drew its beam sabre; Ray moved a step backwards to his right, and the beam saber strike missed its mark. The Vanguard Gladius re-ignited the beam sabre in its right hand and swept the blade through the Windam's right shoulder joint from behind, sending the limb soaring through the air as it was violently separated from its owner. Its other arm brought the top edge of the heavy shield in a swift strike to the Windam's left side, battering the mobile suit into the ground. The Windam struggled to rise, soil falling off its frame; its CIWS guns flashed, but only briefly, as the Vanguard Gladius stepped forward swiftly to end the fight, impaling the Windam through its upper torso. Stepping away from the silenced mobile suit, Ray checked his rear camera feed, where Sheryl and Guy had dispatched their opponents, smoke rising from beam shot holes.
Ray opened the allied full-band. "This is the 108th ATS Manhunters of the Atlantic Federation Special Response Unit. 711th Armored Brigade, can you read me?"
The reply was choppy, but held. "This is Sabre Leader of the 711th. You're the Atlantic reinforcements? Good timing, but I hope you're only the first of many to come."
"We share the same hope, but I bring no guarantee of it. When did the attack start? What's the status of Objective Alpha?"
"We're pushing onwards to it," Sabre Leader replied. " It's been over two hours since Blue Cosmos attempted to hit our lines. Command decided that we'll roll straight from defensive action to the operation itself."
"Not bad," Sheryl remarked. "Outfought the bastards at an unearthly hour and now they're moving the schedule up to stomping their shit in."
"At a high price, though," Guy replied. "Latest data indicate that they're shouldering a casualty rate of 28%. But the decision to hold served them well, all the same."
In the distance, Ray saw the elements of the 711th advance into view; an armored column of battle tanks, with self-propelled anti-air vehicles bringing up the second armored line. Behind them were eight mobile suits, Dagger Ls outfitted with a variety of heavy weaponry, although none of them carried Striker Packs.
"Roger that," Ray replied. " Manhunters will advance ahead of you to take out entrenched positions if required; we'll advance through the enemy to the entrance to the Nantes Underground Garrison. See you there."
"Sabre Leader reads. Good hunting."
The Manhunters proceeded onwards, no longer concerned about keeping stealth; the thunderous footfalls of the three mobile suits were the least of their concerns, as the morning sunlight gradually casted itself over the landscape.
In the approaching dawn light, Ray saw the full extent of the carnage; with rampant jamming and the cover of night, uncountable armored vehicles and mobile suits alike had been separated from their allies and destroyed, their corpses strewn over the area. The green grass of the ground was scored with weapon scars of every kind imaginable, from explosives-dug impact craters to the glinting, fused silicate material formed by beam weapon strikes. Every now and then, a crashed aircraft could be seen. Whatever fields and forests the region had were ruined by the multitude of vehicle tracks, debris, and furrows gouged out of the ground.
And still, the battle raged on. Cannon rounds from tanks and artillery crossed the area, and aircraft still dueled each other in the skies.
"So much for dawn being the bringer of hope," Sheryl muttered. "I liked it better when everything was covered by the night."
A cockpit alarm sounded in the Vanguard Gladius; on the data-link the three shared, incoming projectiles had been detected. Specks of light flickered on the horizon; seconds later, twin cannon round impacted into the ground in-between the three Gladius units as they split their formation, the radar unit on the Lightning Gladius extending from its back even as the cloud of debris encompassed their position. Charging out from the shower of dirt, the back-mounted radar on the Vanguard Gladius twisted on its mounting as Ray attempted to find the enemy's firing arc. "Hunter Two! Do you have a return trajectory?"
Sheryl's Lightning Gladius strode out from under the last of the falling dirt, its back-mounted radar fully raised. "I have the shot. Stand by."
Falling to one knee, its railgun unfolded into sniper mode; raising the weapon, Sheryl waited for a second before firing; in the blink of an eye, the railgun's barrel flashed, and the round was away, the electrical arcs emitting from the barrel the only remaining visual indication of its firing as the projectile arced into the distant horizon. Three seconds passed before Ray saw the unmistakable plume of an explosion in the distance.
"Good shot," Guy said. "Hit something important, by the looks of it."
"Important enough to piss off the survivors," Ray said, as approach alerts began appearing on the viewscreen. "Manhunters, incoming! Look sharp!"
Lines of vapor streaked straight into the air, evidence of mobile suits in the distance engaging in boosted jumps. Sheryl fired again; one of those lines ended in a fiery explosion as her shot found its mark, debris raining back down to the ground.
IDs appeared on Ray's viewscreen and HUD as the nearest mobile suits entered engagement range. Three Windams and a Aile Dagger L were his nearest targets.
A stream of autocannon fire forced the group to scatter; Guy's Launcher Gladius turned to track his chosen target, the Aile Dagger L, as it frantically dodged left. One of the Windams brought its shield up just in time to take the shoulder beam gun shot from Ray's Vanguard Gladius head-on, the pressure wave of the energy shot slowing it down enough that it had to push against it to maintain its advance, its feet digging marks into the soil underneath itself.
The other two Windams opened fire, their beam rifles hurling green bolts of energy at Ray's position. Shifting slightly to block an incoming shot, Ray opened fire against the Windam on his right, both back-mounted gun and beam rifle answering his enemies with rapid strikes of beam shots as Ray closed the distance between them.
The second Windam turtled behind its shield, attempting to break away; a plume of thruster fire lit up the back of the Vanguard Gladius as Ray chased his target down. The lighter Windam was no match for the sheer weight behind the Vanguard Gladius as Ray hit its shield with a backhand strike, the force of the blow breaking its stance easily. With the closest target tossed to the side, Ray turned to target the first Windam that had been forced back by his shot, now gunning straight for him, beam rifle raised; there was a burst of electricity from the Vanguard Gladius' hip block as Ray fired a rocket anchor, the wired clamp biting onto the Windam's beam rifle as the beam blade stabbed deep into the gun, rendering it useless.
To his left, the third Windam took aim, only for it to be violently thrown onto its side; Sheryl's work, the barrel of her Lightning Gladius' railgun in standard mode crackling with electricity. The shot had buried itself into the chassis of the Windam, snapping its hip block; the mobile suit struggled to get into a firing position for one last time as the Lightning Gladius switched to its beam carbine, and fired.
Bereft of its ranged weapon, the Windam facing Ray continued its charge, sweeping out its beam sabre with a horizontal slash; Ray stepped forward and to the side before the pilot could complete the movement, causing the Windam to overshoot its strike, the beam sabre cutting through empty air. The Vanguard Gladius' left arm ejected its shield; reaching back to grab the Windam by the back of its head, it drew a beam sabre and plunged it through the upper torso of the Windam in a single move, leaving the machine to slump into the ground.
The remaining Windam rose as fast as it could, desperate to get back into a fighting stance; its right leg exploded as a beam rifle shot burrowed through the armor from behind, followed by a second explosion at its back that hurled it forward and back onto the ground, this time to stay. Behind it, Guy's Launcher Gladius held its beam carbine, barrel glowing from the recent shot; wisps of smoke curled from both shoulder-mounted vulcan guns and one of its accompanying gun launcher tubes. Some distance away, a nondescript pile of debris burned at the end of a loose trail of shattered parts; Ray barely recognized the maneuver wings of an Aile Striker Pack jutting out from the mangled pile.
"There's a lot of them without equipment packs," Sheryl remarked. "I thought the supply of Jet Strikers would be universal, at least."
"They've probably run dry or run out of parts after being under siege for this long," Guy replied.
"Good for us," Ray finished their thoughts. "It's enough work trying to push through all of them."
Moving from the area, the Manhunters quickly overtook the original position of their latest opponents. There was a divot blown into the crest of the hill, evidence of the trajectory of Sheryl's return shot; behind it was the wreckage of a Windam outfitted with a pair of 500mm recoiless gun from a Doppelhorn Striker Pack. The railgun round had blown through its cover to hit the mobile suit squarely in the torso.
On the viewscreen, Ray watched as Eurasian Federation units converged on the entrance to the underground base. The allied units ringed a short distance away from the entrance and around it, but were all positioned too far to consider the entrance to be under control. Ray checked the aerial data-link; enemy units were positioned around the entrance in a semicircle.
"They're not approaching," Sheryl remarked.
"There must be some fierce resistance from the 17th Division," Ray said. "Let's not be late."
The gentle elevation in the region was just enough to hide crouching mobile suits over a distance; it didn't take long before the man-made monolith that was the entrance to the underground base came into view. A hexagonal building just over 4 stories tall served as the main lift building, ringed with pavement around; Ray remembered from the briefing that the base was due to be decommissioned by CE 79. The location was a holdover from the Reconstruction Wars over half a century ago, and had mainly been used as a deep storage facility since.
The hidden cover slabs usually kept underneath the concrete ground had been raised, lining the perimeter of the base in rows facing outwards; Ray saw one take a cannon round directly, the impact leaving it damaged on its outward face but otherwise still standing. From behind the cover blocks, the units of the 17th Division returned fire, either directly or indirectly; the metal cadavers of Eurasian Federation armored forces and mobile suits littered the eastward area in no small numbers. From behind whatever cover they could manage, Eurasian troops returned fire.
Guy gave a low whistle. "The French have been keeping the base up-to-date, at least-"
"Hache Leader of the 255th Armored Brigade to unknown units south-west! Identify yourselves!"
The Manhunters stopped short, just behind a slight slope that only offered enough cover from line-of-sight up to the lower torso of their mobile suits, as they placed their shields forward.
"This is the 108th ATS Manhunters of the Special Response Unit, Atlantic Federation," Ray replied. "We're taking up position to assault the enemy's primary location."
"You'll be taking up position for suicide," the reply came. "Reinforcements are always welcome, but don't bother trying to cross the kill-zone now; they'll just cut you down mid-route."
"I can see why they got stuck here," Guy said. "Update from Argo Leader; take a look at this."
Ray watched as new map data was overlaid on his own screen. Ringing the east-facing side of the lift building were six mobile suits; fully-equipped Doppelhorn Windams, their 500mm cannons firing constantly. One of them turned towards the Manhunters.
"Appreciate the heads-up, Hache Leader," Ray cautioned, as he changed comm settings. " Hunter 2! I'll leave the long-ranged battles to you. Hunter 3! Let's knock down their door!"
Guy's Launcher Gladius hefted its Agni hyper impulse bazooka, following close behind Ray as the Vanguard Gladius charged forward. "Acknowledged!"
Sheryl's answer was that of a railgun round that soared above their heads, the round striking the Doppelhorn Windam's cover slab with impressive force, punching through the hardened supercarbon exterior shielding and multiple layers of protective materials to bury itself well into the metal-braced reinforced concrete interior. The thickness of the concrete held it up for just an instant; then the cracks revealed themselves, and large chunks tumbled off its front and onto the ground, leaving the enemy mobile suit with less protection than it had before.
As Guy and Ray approached the base entrance, other mobile suits stepped up to meet their challenge; from behind cover, five mobile suits emerged, all Dagger Ls. The Vanguard Gladius charged forward, shield held fast against the enemy projectiles; the Launcher Gladius, however, stopped, its foot twisting into the ground as it stopped its previous momentum.
"Hunter 3! Engaging cover fire!"
Hefting the Agni hyper impulse bazooka, there was a brief whining in the nearby air as the cannon's spark chamber charged up; stray shots hastily directed against this new target bounced harmlessly off the Launcher Gladius' shoulder and arm shields as Guy let loose a blast of beam energy that washed over the outermost blast covers on the perimeter.
Solid rounds were one thing, but energized plasma was something that the slabs were at best only a moderate defense for, and were never intended to stop it for long. A weapon meant for ship-to-ship combat, the Agni bazooka had no issue with melting any material down into slag with terrifying ease, accomplishing with a portion of its power what it had taken a full charge of the Lightning Gladius' railgun to do. The Launcher Gladius swept its firing arc over the enemy with a sustained blast; the middle three Dagger L's fell as their bodies were slagged by direct exposure, molten material blown onto the ground, leaving their lower bodies to topple. The fourth ducked behind cover in a futile attempt to save itself; Guy focused the plasma blast onto the cover block, and moments later was rewarded with an explosion as the blast punched through the center of the block to hit the enemy mobile suit, melting it down from the torso. The cover block crumbled from its sides as the plasma ate away its center, runny material slag dripping out of the block and onto the base's tarmac.
The last Dagger L backpedaled futilely as the Vanguard Gladius shot it in the torso. Leaving it to fall by itself, Ray maneuvered into the forest of concrete cover, and turned the corner of the later block to be rewarded with the sight of a Doppelhorn Windam. The enemy barely had time to react as Ray hosed it with beam shots; the opponent machine stumbled backwards as its systems failed from the merciless barrage, before finally crashing to the ground, smoke and flames pouring out from underneath its armor.
Sheryl and Guy were already in motion by the time Ray's next orders followed. "Manhunters! Staggered advance!"
The Vanguard Gladius turned to see another Doppelhorn Windam back away from its position. It emerged into open space, shield held forward against Ray; then a projectile struck it from the side, the force of the impact blowing its torso into a shower of shattered parts. The remaining loose parts toppled to the ground in a mix of Doppelhorn Striker guns, arms, and legs.
By now, the attention of the remaining Windams were focused squarely on Ray. The Vanguard Gladius broke into a loping run as it ducked beside a cover block, beam shots melting chunks off the cover slab. The edges of the shadows casted by the cover blocks momentarily sharpened as a second blast of Agni bazooka fire raked through the area, the high-powered beam catching another two mobile suits out in the open as they crossed towards Ray's position.
With Guy taking up support fire just outside the base, Sheryl's Lightning Gladius crossed the distance to reach the perimeter of the base in a single boosted jump. Beam carbine hefted, the Lightning Gladius stormed down the path formed between the nearest cover blocks, Sheryl's precise firing putting down another Dagger L that attempted to fight back. Guy followed closely behind, the Manhunters forming a battle line that felled any unit from the 17th Division as they swept through the enemy position, the pilots momentarily catching sight of their compatriots as they advanced through the columns of cover blocks.
By now, the remaining mobile suits defending the base entrance were aware of the threat from their flank, although it would avail them little. The Gladius mobile suits of the Manhunters stepped through the unnaturally-uniform forest of artificial cover, their non-reflective dark-grey mobile suits seemingly untouched by the morning light, as their wake left a trail of destroyed enemy units behind. With the artillery and anti-air cover gone, the Eurasian Federation forces were quick to capitalize on their new advantage, and in short order the exterior of the Nantes Underground Garrison base was taken by the combined OMNI forces.
Ray turned the Vanguard Gladius's camera view towards the dark interior of the access lift building as the Eurasian Federation forces policed the survivors. Of the six units deployed against the 17th Division, five had survived; three of them were now gathering at here, the 711th and 255th Armored Brigades amongst them.
"One more time underground," Sheryl eyed the lift platforms with a skeptical look. "If only we could just wheel a couple of nuclear warheads down there…"
"Blue Cosmos should never have been allowed access to such a location in the first place," Ray replied, as he reached for a flashing comm switch in the cockpit, indication of an incoming communication from the Eurasian forces. With the primary access route taken, they now had to face the second part of their mission, and the critical edge by which success and failure would be judged; coordinate with the Eurasian Federation forces to enter and clear the actual underground base. "Here's our chance to fix this mistake the right way."
Afterword:
The next arc returns to Europe, mainly to go a while off the main SEED Destiny story to showcase what it might be like in the time period between the Heaven's Base battle and the subsequent assault on Orb. I hope this gives an idea of what it would be like following a global split, and helps in bolstering the significance of what a schism with Blue Cosmos and LOGOS would entail with the Atlantic and Eurasian Federations, since in the original series the focus very quickly turns to other issues.