Chapter 39
CE 74, March 22nd, Nantes Underground Garrison surface region, Nantes, France, Eurasian Federation
Morning 10 54
The main lift complex of the Nantes Underground Garrison was a hexagonal building that housed an internal central tower and four heavy-duty lifts. Lined up to four of the edges of the building interior, Captain Ray Feric of the Atlantic Federation Armed Forces' Special Response Unit, 108th Armor Tactics Squadron Manhunters, watched from his position on one of the lifts as the Eurasian Federation troops prepared to sortie. Having checked the platforms for sabotage, Eurasian troops were currently hard at work activating the lift system on the surface end.
"I still can't get over the fact that we're essentially goading them into collapsing the lift platforms or the lift shaft." Lieutenant Sheryl Camelot muttered. "I know the Manhunters have a cosmic tendency to get into suicidal situations, but walking into one knowingly is another matter altogether."
"Really? I didn't think this could be worse than your untrained attempt to sneak into Heaven's Base?" Ray replied.
"Yeah, well, infantry don't carry beam weaponry as standard," Sheryl shot back.
"That is one of the hoped-for strategic objectives," Lieutenant Guy Leon interjected. "If they collapse the main entrance shaft to try and pre-empt us, they'll be forced into using one of the shoreward exits. The Eurasian forces are diverting all reinforcements there; they'll be jumped as soon as they see sunlight."
"All this just because we're running a concurrent objective to lure out some submarines," Sheryl sighed.
"A shoreward assault to rescue troops is the best time to try and bag one of them." Ray said. "There's no way they'll let themselves get lured into open battle while at sea. And the longer we leave those things running about, the higher the odds they'll start aiming at coastal areas for revenge strikes."
Ray glanced at the Eurasian forces; like them, the Manhunters, they arranged their MS teams into groups of four, with two per lift. Following Ray's advice, combat engineers had worked with the pilots to salvage whatever equipment they could get from their fallen friends and foes.
The forces that had countered the initial Blue Cosmos advance were mainly made out of line troops, and carried little in the way of additional options such as Striker Packs. Even with the salvage efforts, Ray counted only six individual units with Striker Pack capability, and even then their equipment was partial; the others were outfitted with an assortment of the regular heavy weaponry, extra equipment such as shields, or with extender blocks, such as battery packs.
The infantry were being reserved for a second descent attempt. At the bottom of the lift shaft was a central staging area for regular operations, a hall with a perimeter large enough to easily set up firing positions for several squadrons of battle tanks or MSes, and still have enough space for their infantry support. If the MS teams failed to secure the primary lift area, there would be no meaning in sending infantry down to clear out the base; in the wide open staging area they would only be cut down by whatever the enemy had prepared.
The indicator light for the allied band lighted up. "All forces, operation commencement is in 60 seconds. All support forces clear the platform. Lifts are powering up."
"Sabre Leader, roger."
"Hache Leader, roger."
"Lance Leader, roger."
"Hunter Leader, roger."
Ray reached for a comm switch; both their lingering air support and Dover HQ were already notified of the operation, but one last note never hurt anyone. "Hunter Leader to Argo Leader. "The assault operation as of now is t-minus 60 seconds; we will be out of direct contact for an indeterminate amount of time. Give our regards to Dover."
"Roger Hunter Leader," the reply came. "Good hunting. Argo Leader out."
Control operators milled in the central control tower, situated near the roof of the lift building; in better times it would have been a quiet place with no more than a handful of operators, but now Ray could see that the place was packed with personnel, amongst them the commanding officer of the Eurasian forces here, Colonel Ellard Karon.
The sound of heavy-duty mechanism locks in motion reverberated around the location as the lifts prepared to descend, warning sirens filling the area with an auditory riot. Retractable barricades painted in yellow and black sprang up around the perimeter of each lift, creating a temporary wall slightly taller than a battle tank, but of little deterrence to a standing mobile suit. The movement was slight at first; then it grew enough for Ray to register a sudden sensation in the pits of his stomach, as the lifts sped up to their regular descent speed.
The other MS teams disappeared from view, and soon enough even the top of the lift shafts shrunk, receding into the distance overhead along with the operation sirens. On the lift carrying the Manhunters, the floor was illuminated only by the floor lights, casting faint shadows across the feet of the three Gladius mobile suits. The warning lights arranged at regular intervals across the barricades afforded no help in illumination; they were orange for easy visibility, but little usable light for illumination of their surroundings emanated from them. Sparks occasionally sprung from the corners of the lift platform as they continued their descent, the only reminder that the entire surface that they stood on were supported at those four points by the lift's movement rails.
"I'm almost tempted to reach out and touch the wall," Sheryl said, the joking tone in her voice weak.
"This lift shaft is older than any of us here," Ray warned. "Well-maintained as this place it, I would not, for reasonable assumptions."
Guy thumbed through the comms settings. "I've only got local pings on comms, Hunter Leader. That's normal, right?"
"The place is shielded, even the tunnels, and not just by the thickness of its walls." Ray said. "Comms between here are all physical lines or only local; and for its definition of local, it depends on whether you've got a barrier in-between your talking target and you."
"So we're isolated until we reach the bottom," Sheryl sighed. "Nice ambience this place has."
Ray's grip on the control sticks tightened as he adjusted his hands. "It won't last. Whether it reaches the bottom first or we-"
A gout of flame burst from one of the corners as an explosive, planted on one of the wall rails, detonated; flames licked outwards at the Manhunters for an instant before they swiftly passed the point of the explosion. There was a heart-stopping sound of wrenching metal as the mechanisms on the platform's movement rails caught on the wreckage, followed by the remnants of one of the lift's rail clamp brakes raining down onto the platform as a reminder of what had just transpired. The platform dipped precariously towards its damaged side, and the three mobile suits began to slide across the platform.
The Lightning Gladius stretched out its arms, stance wide. "I guess it's now!"
"We're not even halfway through the descent!" Guy gritted his teeth as he fought to keep the Launcher Gladius stable. "If they bottom the lift out on us now-"
There was a second explosion as another detonation claimed a second rail clamp, diagonal to the first. The lift platform tilted and accelerated even further.
"No," Ray said, fighting to keep the Vanguard Gladius upright. "They probably have more explosives planted along the entire shaft." The mobile suit ignited a beam sabre in its right hand, the blade casting a purple glow onto the lift surface as its blade shortened to no longer than a knife-length for a mobile suit's proportions. "They're probably going to force us to enact thruster maneuvers, expecting us to try and keep to a safe landing; then, they'll collapse the whole shaft down on us while we're still mid-air. We'll be crushed under the debris, and they get to mop us up and stop the rest of us from coming down."
Ray ignored a third explosion as he stabbed the beam sabre into the platform at an angle, twice. A sudden jerk destabilized the mobile suit enough to force Ray into letting go of the weapon to stabilize itself against the platform, the beam sabre deactivating as it vanished into the dark air above them, the Vanguard Gladius dug its hands into the impromptu handholds, the material of the platform surface still glowing at the edges cut into it by the beam sabre. "If they want to give us an express ride down, we'll take it!"
Sheryl and Guy did the same, their mobile suits pulling themselves close to the platform surface as a fourth explosion finally destroyed the remaining rail clamps' braking mechanisms.
Sheryl gave a short laugh. "Yeah, I agree! I've got some choice words for their service department! How are you holding up, Hunter Three? Was 8.8 as exciting as this?"
"Close enough!" Guy replied. "I'm not really a fan of scare rides, though!"
Ray eyed the readout on the screen as the mobile suit's altitude computer attempted to compensate its displays for the sudden speed increase. "We're reaching one-fifty meters and closing!" Ray said. "Hunter Two! We'll take first landing. In three!"
Sheryl breathed in, her expression set in concentration.
"Two!"
Guy flexed his fingers, the grip on his controls tighter than ever.
"One!"
Time seemed to momentarily pause as Ray's voice left his throat, his sight on the altitude display, his focus on nothing else but the mobile suit's controls.
"Now!"
The Vanguard Gladius let go from its grip on the platform, shoulder and torso thrusters igniting in a brilliant light to push the mobile suit away from the falling platform. The thrusters on its feet followed next, reorienting the mobile suit to a vertical position. Its back thrusters fired last, their power aimed downwards to slow the mobile suit to as close a reasonable descent speed as was possible for its leg actuators to withstand.
The dark confines of the lift shaft gave way to a well-lit artificial cavern easily three times the height of the average mobile suit, the light of which occupied Ray's attention for all but one second; then the lift hit the ground in a resounding crash of debris, cracking into half over the now-ruined remnants of the impact absorbers below. The Vanguard Gladius landed feet-first amongst the carnage with all the finesse of a brick being flung into a puddle, standing its ground on the lift area with its shield held up front as the ground heaved and cracked under the impact. Beside Ray, the Lightning Gladius did the same, the force of the landing sending dust and smoke outwards as it aligned its shield cover in the same direction as Ray's. The cacophony was deafening even through the mobile suit's sound detectors as the other lift platforms crashed down, the near simultaneous impacts sending shockwaves across the entire hangar that shook Ray to the bone.
Even before Ray could identify any enemies, the familiar whine of beam rifle fire began to fill the acoustic detectors. A louder blast answered them; Guy's Launcher Gladius, all thrusters burning, dropped below the ceiling of the underground lift bay and immediately answered with a blast from its Agni hyper impulse bazooka, using the data gathered by the Lighting and Vanguard Gladius in the scant difference in time between their descent to plot its arc of fire. The powerful beam blast raked across the ground, only briefly stopped by having to melt through one of the supporting pillars that housed a now-useless lift rail from the shaft that the Manhunters had descended through, to hit the far end of the hangar bay, where Ray could now see two squadrons of mobile suits positioned at, alongside various other armored support.
A second passed as the roiling energy ate through metal and armor composite; then the detonations followed, with nearly half the armored vehicles and one mobile suit engulfing the group in flames. From the inferno nine mobile suits charged, seven regular Dagger Ls and two Sword Dagger Ls of the Atlantic Federation's 17th Division, their shields forward and the barrel-ends of their beam rifles alight with return fire, as they advanced towards the platforms' end of the hangar, intent on negating the Launcher Gladius' range and firepower advantage in close-quarters battle. The others hung back, discarding melted shielding and protective equipment as they attempted to re-form their battle lines behind their set-up cover.
The Launcher Gladius finally landed, the Agni bazooka swinging back onto its backpack mount. Ray waited for a brief moment as the Vanguard Gladius' motion sensor registered movement above it; the mobile suit stretched out its hand, and caught a beam sabre as it fell into its palm.
"Manhunters! Engage!"
White flames wreathed the back of the Vanguard Gladius as it leapt forward at the approaching enemies in a boosted jump. The nearest Dagger L held up its shield to block the beam sabre strike it expected, only for the Vanguard Gladius to meet shield with shield in a destabilizing strike and plunge its beam sabre through the enemy's unprotected side. Tossing its victim aside, Ray charged the next enemy, a shot from the Vanguard Gladius' back-mounted beam gun stopping the opponent short as the blast hit its shield dead-center while the mobile suit closed the distance.
The Dagger L still had its shield held fast and facing forward when the Vanguard Gladius stepped into range and bludgeoned it with its own shield in a backhand strike. The force of the blow sent the Dagger L reeling backwards; before it could recover, the Vanguard Gladius' back-mounted beam gun struck it in its torso with a well-aimed shot, and a gout of flame ballooned out as the mobile suit's midsection exploded.
The remaining Dagger Ls stopped short at this point, both sensors and visuals hampered by the heat and light; but from the inferno the Vanguard Gladius charged, followed by its allies, a seeming-unstoppable trio of heavyset titans that had just effortlessly blew through their comrades.
The leading Dagger L had barely started to advance to meet its foes when it fell backwards, not unlike a human that had been standing in the way of a battering ram. The electricity had yet to dissipate from the barrel-mouth of the Lightning Gladius' railgun rifle when Sheryl switched targets, another shot that filled the immediate area with a blinding flash and sent a Dagger L toppling to the ground, hole punched into its torso.
Guy's Launcher Gladius closed distance with another Dagger L, the enemy mobile suit staggering backwards behind its shield, under bursts of fire from the hip block-mounted beam guns heavy-fire Manhunter mobile suit. By the time the Blue Cosmos unit decided to retaliate, the outcome had been decided; the Launcher Gladius battered its shield-block aside, and its autocannons began roaring incessantly, the large-caliber rounds smashing through armor and electronics into the Dagger L's upper torso to turn it into a ragged mess at point-blank range. Another Dagger L that attempted to circle around and strike from the back stopped short as the Launcher Gladius turned to track the new target; twin impacts of explosive shells threw the Dagger L backwards as Guy fired his mobile suit's shoulder-mounted gun launchers. Before the Dagger L could get back up, beam shots perforated its body, and fire burst from the seams in its joints shortly after.
Ray stopped short as an alert panel appeared on his HUD; the seismic sensors had picked up a suspicious wavelength from above their position. "Manhunters! Hold position!"
Three Dagger Ls remained, holding their shields together as they backtracked towards the lift bay's main entrance. Heavy blast doors slid into place from both ends, obscuring what lay behind, as the mobile suits backed through the entrance, just as the light of thruster fire came into view behind the Manhunters, and the remaining mobile suits of the Eurasian Federation forces dropped through the remaining lift shafts, stumbling off the rubble of the platforms as quickly as they could manage.
"They must have boosted off the platform early on to be so late to the fight," Sheryl smirked.
"Hey, more for us, right?" Guy replied.
Moments later, concrete and metal debris poured downwards from the shafts, the cascade tossing stray gobs of material everywhere. The Gladius Vanguard turned to face its shield towards the lift shafts, deflecting a piece of twisted metal, as the deluge continued; by the time it stopped, the dust in the air was thick enough to render visual sensors useless.
"Just look at all the debris," Static crackled on the squadron band as Sheryl spoke, courtesy of the heavy dust interference in the air. "There's no way regular infantry can fight in this, they'll be snorting concrete powder every step of the way."
"Lifts are busted for the foreseeable future anyways," Guy added. "Scratch the optimistic part of this plan."
"Then we'll drive the enemy before us and force them to open the shoreward gates," Ray replied. "Hunter Leader to all. What's your status?"
"Hache Squadron is green," Lieutenant Colonel Len Kadinger replied.
Major Jahn Heres was next. "Sabre Squadron is active. No casualties."
"Lance Sqaudron all active," Major Andre Faroque said. "What's the plan?"
"The enemy has retreated from the main loading bay," Ray said, activating the map on the allied link. "There is one main spinal tunnel leading from the main entrance that will eventually separate into the shoreward entrances."
The map changed to highlight the additional rooms that were situated next to the main tunnels, all of them large enough to accommodate armored vehicles or mobile suits. "Enemy reinforcements will likely be waiting for us down the length of the tunnel at select chokepoints, or within the primary vehicle depots and storage hangars. We'll seal their entrances if we can; otherwise, we might have to contend with clearing out those hangars before we proceed. They can sit in their ambush points for as long as they want to."
Major Heres studied the map. "If we push down the length, we can still take the entire base and not be able to open the auxiliary entrances. We have to assume that distributed controls from the command centre are already prepared to be cut off. They can just hang out of reach and cut and run the moment we get in range. Their buddies in the command room can then shut any nearby doors on us."
"We'll have to keep our advance at a believable rate, slow enough that they believe they can still regroup for an escape ahead of us." Ray replied. "But I don't think it will be much of an issue; they still outnumber those of us here by five to one in mobile suit combat. As for entrances," The Vanguard Gladius tilted its head at the Launcher Gladius. "No need to worry about that."
"Then we better get started as soon as possible," Len said. "First order of business is to get the tunnel entrance from here open."
"I'll handle that," Ray offered. "Hunters, let's get that door down."
The three Gladiuses of the Manhunters stepped forward towards the middle blast door, beam sabres flickering to live in their hands. Four of the massive blast doors were arrayed across the end of the loading area, wide enough that almost all of the OMNI mobile suits could have walked through them side-by-side.
Vapor clouds rolled outwards from the blast door as Ray and the rest went to work, the beam sabres searing a line through the heavy fixtures. The other mobile suits waited, shields held forward, as they cut through the last of the bay door; with a kick, the Vanguard Gladius sent it toppling back with a resounding crash, blasting debris and dust over the gathered units.
A hole had been cut through the blast doors, tall enough for a single mobile suit to move through. The OMNI units approached cautiously, but no reply was forthcoming.
"I'll take first movement," Ray said. The Vanguard Gladius advanced through the hole, shield held up and beam carbine pointed forward; Ray's gaze turned as the mobile suit's sensors pulsed, the reflection of radar waves painting simulated edges across the displays, creating a layout of whatever was laid out in front of him.
The new area was cavernous considering that it was a tunnel; the ceiling was easily two times the height of a mobile suit. Rail cart tracks were laid out across the ground, placed aside a general pathway that was wide enough to fit six mobile suits side-by-side. Pillars were arrayed on both sides and in the middle of the tunnel; in the gaps in-between them, Ray could see even more of the same layout. Abandoned tools and equipment littered the ground; Ray turned the settings, and the mobile suit's displays overlaid a heat-map onto the viewscreen, the receding traces of heat into the far darkness showing the transport rails that the enemy had last used.
"Hache Leader to Hunter Leader, how's the situation?"
"No movement. Hunter Leader to all, clear to proceed."
The OMNI units filed through the opening, weapons held at the ready. As the last mobile suit made it through, the lights in the loading area shut off, leaving the units in total darkness.
"All units, slow approach," Len ordered. "Don't want to be stepping blindly into any traps."
The troop of mobile suits edged along, their pilots acutely aware of how even their best attempts at silence would be a cacophony for anyone that was determined enough to listen. Nevertheless, for a while no reply was issued by their enemy, as the OMNI mobile suits picked their way across the cavernous, obstacle-strewn transport tunnel as carefully as they could manage.
The entrances and corridors that branched out from the main tunnel that formed the bulk of space for the Nantes Underground Garrison were many and varied in sizes as the mobile suits passed them by. Over seventy years ago, they would have led to barracks, storage rooms and warehouses, computer centers; even greenhouses and materials fabrication rooms designed to utilize using what would have been cutting-edge technology back then to feed, house, and equip its assigned army and the surrounding civilians rescued from the nearby cities.
The OMNI units weren't concerned with those facilities, but they had set beam sabres to door seams, or pulled down access stairs, to reduce the chances of pursuit and ambush by anti-armor infantry. There would be time to knock down those doors later on; and if there were any infantry that had hoped to catch the MS teams unawares, they were now sealed in.
The combined forces' main concern were the large entrances that led to machinery hangars. Despite the size of the main shaft hangar, it had been little more than a holding area for deployment, and a place to effect minor repairs and rearmament efforts; the main hangars would be where most of the equipment would have been stored.
Each time the group chanced upon such an entrance, they had no choice but to make sure it was clear. Prior to the attack, the French forces had obtained data on which of the hangars and rooms were last known to be active locations, and which were sealed or locked. Ray had hoped that the data would expedite their advance, but that plan had quickly fallen apart when they found sealed hangars that were expected to be open, and those that had been active, with their blast doors shut tight.
The open hangars were easy to check; if they were empty, there was little chance of a serious attack from them, and their only worry would be anti-armor infantry. So far, Ray and the group had not encountered so much as a mostly-intact wreck. The sealed rooms, however, presented a problem; the noisy mechanisms of the blast door were sure to alert any forces of the 17th Division waiting on the other side, and having to unlock them in the first place would slow them down even more than they already were. As with all diversionary paths from the main tunnel, the group sealed the door seams of any such side hangars they encountered with their beam sabres on low settings. If there were any infantry trapped behind, they'd have to find another way out; and if it was an ambush with mobile suits, there would at least be seismic and sensor warnings as the sealed doors would force them to cut through both sets of blast doors before they could catch up to the group.
The linear nature of the main tunnel ensured that every little left to chance was a marked increase in the risks of being ambushed from behind; if they had let themselves get caught in a two-way crossfire, the possible results would be disastrous. To further complicate matters; some sections of the main tunnel had their blast doors drawn down; the group had zigzagged across the width of the tunnel many times as they proceeded. Others had all of their blast doors shut tight; Ray had opted to only utilize Guy's Launcher Gladius in the most tedious of obstacles, instead choosing to have the task force take turns cutting through the fully-sealed segments of the main tunnel. Each time a blast door fell with a resounding crash, Ray winced internally.
Ray had hoped to have sensor range impeded only by distance; now, however, they could only see as far back as the last set of drawn blast doors, their range severely curtailed. Even anti-armor infantry would be a threat if they weren't careful.
"Another one," Major Faroque remarked. "The fifteenth one we counted… the last one on our route."
"We're almost to the split," Major Heres said, to his squadron members. "Let's seal this one and solve the mystery of our missing enemies."
"Roger that."
Three mobile suits from Sabre Squadron stepped forward, the short plasma blades of their beam sabres a far cry from the weapons' usual output, lighting up the mobile suits with a dim glow and casting shadows into the surroundings. As they set the blade to the door seam, the material began to bubble and melt, running down the center of the closed entrance. There was no need to seal the entire length of the seam; halfway down was more than enough to field-weld the two doors together-
The resonant sound of grinding gears had barely registered on the pilots' mind when the blast doors opened just enough for an anti-ship sword to be thrust through the gap. One of Sabre Squadron's mobile suits was thrown backwards as the hardened tip of the heavy blade gouged out its left side, and the wounded mobile suit stumbled backwards.
"Contact!" Major Heres yelled.
The stiffening silence at once gave way to a discordant mixture of sounds as the mobile suits leapt into action. Another Dagger L pushed through the rapidly-opening hangar doors; lunging forward, it locked shields and beam sabre with the second of Sabre Squadron's mobile suits that had been sealing the door. Runny composite dripped down the hangar doors as they were forcibly separated by the enemy mobile suits on the other side.
Ray let his instinct take over his response. "Hunter Two! On me!"
Major Heres charged into the melee from one side, shortly after followed by Ray from the other. The first Dagger L that had rushed out staggered backwards as the momentum of Jahn's unit carried both of them across Ray's vision. The Vanguard Gladius thrust forward with its shield, deflecting a blow from an anti-ship sword as it placed itself in-between its allies and the enemies spilling from the hangar.
The sound of armor composites clashing reverberated around the area as the Vanguard Gladius slammed its shield into the opponent, the sound of joint motors joining the orchestra of battle resonating throughout the vicinity as Ray's mobile suit pushed the Blue Cosmos Dagger L back through the hangar entrance.
Within the hangar, a third Dagger L waited, beam rifle raised; any chances of using it, however, was severely curtailed as the Vanguard Gladius barreled into the room, sweeping its target along with it. The Dagger L took aim nonetheless; a heartbeat later its beam rifle and the arm holding it exploded as Sheryl's Lightning Gladius followed in behind, beam carbine barrel glowing red. A second shot sent the Dagger L crashing backwards, an immaculate hole, edges glowing, in its upper torso.
Ray's opponent strove against the Vanguard Gladius' shield, its left hand groping for its spare beam sabre. With both mobile suits in close contact and unable to strike effectively with their handheld weapons, the Vanguard Gladius struck upwards with its left knee, the superheated energy blade of the mobile suit's spare beam sabre activating to bore upwards and through the Dagger L's cockpit block.
New warnings lighted up on his HUD as Ray spied enemy infantry retreating out of the hangar from the regular access hatches, bright splashes of color on the display's heat sensor overlay. A few of them paused to fire heavy weapons; the Vanguard Gladius ducked as rockets missed their target. Sharp lights flashed through the dark hangar in answer, surfaces momentarily illuminated, as both Sheryl and him opened fire with their mobile suits' CIWS; a few rounds struck home and on Ray's heat sensor display, brief patches of color momentarily splattered in haphazard fashion before rapidly fading away. However, there were too few dead to account for the group; he was sure that the bulk of them escaped.
"Hunter Three to Hunter Leader," Guy's voice sounded over the comms. The background static that buzzed in Ray's ears couldn't mask the thumping sound of explosions. "Enemies attacking from behind; exoskeletons and anti-armor infantry. It's not much, but there's no way they'd try and unsettle us with just those-"
"Hache Leader to all units!" Lt. Colonel Kadinger interjected. "Contact straight front! Enemy mobile suits, six of them!"
The sound of beam weapons going off momentarily drowned out the OMNI pilot's voice. "-I repeat, two Dagger Ls with heavy weaponry! There's a Blu Duel leading them!"
"About time they made a move," Ray said, hands tight on the controls as he turned the Vanguard Gladius around, back towards the hangar doors. "Looks like the trap is set."
"Surely they don't think that infantry support is enough to drive us into their mobile suits?" Sheryl asked.
The OMNI forces were trapped in the middle, scorched and battered shields held fast against a deluge of enemy fire from behind half-closed blast doors and heavy debris strewn across the tunnel. Guy supported the two mobile suits from Hache Squadron on the rearguard, bursts of fire from the Launcher Gladius' shoulder vulcan guns slamming heavy rounds into the ground and blast doors to keep the infantry from positioning for a clear shot; at the front, the mobile suits of Lance Squadron arranged themselves in close formation, crouched down to prevent the enemy from hitting anything vital on themselves. Major Faroque directed his own units forward; one of his Dagger Ls hefted a Mk. 39 heavy cannon and fired, the shot impacting on a blast door as the intended target, the Blu Duel, ducked behind it.
"We have two choices," Ray replied. "We secure the rear, although infantry will find it easy to slip in and out of the paths that line the main tunnel. In the meantime, the enemy will strengthen their own rearguard in front of us… or breakout of the tunnel at least."
"It's not like we can turn back," Guy interjected. "Doesn't sound like much of a choice for us."
"Yeah, so let's give Blue Cosmos what they want." Ray said, starting towards the enemy mobile suits engaged with Lance Squadron. "For their own sakes, they better hope they can run fast."
Afterword:
Thecombined OMNI forces begin their jaunt through the closest equivalent to an underworld in this chapter. It's much like the Manhunters' earlier battle in the story against an insurgent hideout, except with a far better-armed opponent.
I don't know if the Cosmic Era actually has such bases, but underground forts like those seen in UC are always a construct of fiction that I liked. The concept of an armed bunker isn't entirely fictional either, just scaled to match the sizes and uses of mobile suits, and this particular example differs from the one in the early chapters in both its intended scope and use. The idea was that such bases were conceived and built under the shadow of the Reconstruction War, the conflict that eventually ushered in the Cosmic Era calendar; some are still maintained for use by their respective nations, but as given in both existing examples in this work, it's possible for them to be turned to other uses when the original host nation loses control of such facilities, giving the settings a usable dark locale/dungeon segment for conflict purposes.