Chapter 42

CE 74, April 8th, ZAFT submarine carrier Iron Response, offshore Dakar, Senegal, African Community

Night 01 37

Commander Grace Sakerfield kept her breathing stable as she focused on the thoughts within her mind. The sound of someone entering the briefing room failed to shake her out of her reverie until a voice called out her name.

Turning to look, she saw Captain Alan Reidr, his expression shadowed by the low lightning of the room. "Mediating?"

"Just clearing the mind," Grace replied. "Do we have a situation?"

"It's intermittent, but the ship captain is convinced that we have something of note out there." Alan took a seat beside his subordinate. "It's huge, dwarfing even our submarine carrier by one and a half times. There're other signals around it too, smaller. Profile snapshots match the silhouettes of Delaware-class attack submarines, and they seem to be keeping formation around something unidentifiable."

"A superheavy submarine? I don't recall OMNI Enforcer operating something like that." Grace remarked.

"Neither do I. Sub captain wants us to move to yellow-one alert."

Grace got off her seat. "Might as well ask us to sit in the cockpit, then."

"We should at least pay the captain a visit first," Alan said. "He wants to brief us on the possible actions."

"What about the others?" Grace asked.

"I might get the rest of the unit up if we need to go to land," Alan replied.

The two long-running pilots of Raider Team stepped onto the submarine bridge, taking their place alongside the captain and another man whom Alan recognized as the commander of the aquatic mobile suit team stationed on the Iron Response. The captain, Shiya Ren, had his cap off, and the lights of the tactical screen on the display table in the center of the bridge illuminated enough of his face to show his lines of age and wear. The other mobile suit team commander, Joran Vecks, nodded at Alan, his visage similarly lighted as Captain Shiya's; Alan returned the gesture.

"Raider Team Commanders Alan Reidr and Grace Sakerfield reporting, Captain." Alan said. "What do you need to brief us about?"

Captain Shiya gestured at the tactical screen, currently kept up-to-date with a remote probe wired to the Iron Response as it crept far beneath the waves, and the operating plane of her tracking targets. "The size of it is pretty self-explanatory. The Delawares must be keeping formation to escort something. That thing in the center is what worries me."

"Do you think it's a supersub, sir?" Joran asked.

"Our intel doesn't match up, but the possibility is pretty much guaranteed," Captain Shiya said. "After all, I doubt Blue Cosmos was very forthcoming with whatever research and development they were doing during the time they spent hiding behind OMNI."

"If it was just the subs, we might be able to take the fight to them," Captain Shiya said, pacing to the controls of the nearby submarine crew, checking through their readings in person. Alan and Grace followed behind him as he continued speaking. "But on the off chance that whatever they're escorting can fight back, we'll be in deep shit. And while the latest modification to the Delawares that we know of allows them to carry one aquatic mobile suit each, we don't know if that unknown has more hidden in its holds."

"Maybe that's just an OMNI task force," Alan suggested. "If we flag them with an identification request…"

"We simply don't know. ZAFT intel just sent us details on counter-LOGOS operations happening over the Eurasian mainland; large-scale naval action, in particular, took place a couple of days ago near France." Captain Shiya turned around to regard the two pilots. "Even a general broadcast can be traced. If those are hostile, we'll have given up our stealth."

Joran smirked and shook his head, his casual gesture a sardonic contrast to his next words. "No doubt they'll swarm us then. In the worst-case scenario, four ASHs will hardly be enough."

Captain Shiya sighed, nodding in agreement. "I've decided; the tracking will continue for now. We won't intervene directly unless it concerns our mission; right now, getting to Angola is our higher priority. But be on standby. We need to be ready for anything."

"Understood," Alan replied. "Raider Team will assemble for further orders."

"Roger," Joran affirmed. "Orca Team will be on standby."

The cool air that circulated within the Iron Response was still for the most part, as Alan and Grace left the bridge, parted ways with Joran, and walked through the passageways towards the flight hangars, low red lights illuminating their way as they talked, Alan having ordered the rest of the squadron to assemble there. "We've been spending the days since the battle at Heaven's Base running small-scale support for infantry in North Africa or else doing nothing but watch while the regular forces pull back to the main bases," Grace said, her arms crossed as she kept pace with Alan, slowing down and moving behind him only to let the occasional other crewmember past them by. "It's about time we got some major action."

"ZAFT isn't interested in anyone that isn't Djibril or part of his inner circle. The Earth nations can have them if they want." Alan replied. "With the World Security Treaty effectively null and void, there's no need for us to stand on a war footing with any of the Earth nations. And just at the right time; the military is exhausted after the Berlin Incident and the Battle of Heaven's Base. We're in no position to go rampaging around other people's borders."

"So you say," Grace remarked. "But we still ended up seconded as support to the African Community anyways."

"The conventional forces are in need of rearmament and recovery." Alan said. "Sucks to be us, but that's why we're with the First Strike Corps."

Grace snickered softly, the sound almost inaudible beneath the clanking of their boots on the metal grating of the walkways. "If only pride could double as sustenance."

CE 74, Date & Location unknown

Time unknown

Vlitz Dyald felt the crunching of loose gravel underneath his boots as he picked his way around the ruined streets of Saragossa, Spain, dimly aware of the physical impossibility of his current locale and situation. The chaotic cuts of shattered bricks and stone, occasionally interrupted by the twisted remnants of reinforced concrete, gave him a sense of nostalgia nonetheless, as well as a base emotion underneath in his subconscious.

That base feeling quickly welled up as anger, as he caught sight of a scene all too familiar to him; soldiers of the Eurasian Federation bounded across the landscape of destruction, the fastest amongst them armed with primitive powered exoskeletons that offered great moving power but little more protection that strapping plates of metal across their bodies.

Vlitz dimly noted that he seemed to have crossed several streets in the span of seconds; the ruined buildings took on a different yet remembered silhouette as he continued following the soldiers. They ducked and weaved amongst the bombed-out husks of homes and shops, collateral damage left behind as ZAFT attempted their push towards the first HQ of OMNI, located in Geneva, Switzerland, while the Eurasian Federation strove to stop their advance.

During the first war, the Eurasian Federation, at great cost, had stalled ZAFT at the battleline that history would later remember as the Saragossa Defence Line. ZAFT forces frequently ran probing attacks and raids against the defence line as the war wore on, even after the headquarters had been shifted towards JOSH-A in Alaska. Although the strategic situation never wavered, the tactical scope did, and the city of Saragossa had exchanged hands by force, between ZAFT and the Eurasian Federation Forces several times, until it had become a no-man's land.

The report of an explosion echoed around the stumps of buildings as Vlitz sought out the source of the sound. A Fortrestra Long Dagger stepped forward, railgun still crackling with electrical charge, its shield damaged with multiple heavy weapon hits, as it regarded the fallen GINN OCHER, cockpit bored through and evidence of bazooka and rocket hits on its joints clear as day. Around the downed ZAFT units were several Eurasian infantry, amongst them the powered exoskeleton-wearing individuals Vlitz had first remembered. He squinted; one of the soldiers he recognized. He knew who he was, he knew that he worked together with that soldier in the present, but despite the surefire familiarity, the name continued to eluded his memory, like as though his hands were trying to grasp mist.

Vlitz moved his gaze from the soldier to the group's leader; he didn't question how he knew, but that he simply did. A stab of pain lanced through his mind; he knew that the man was dead today. Vlitz grimaced as he knelt down; the pain was steadily building into a headache as his mind processed the faces of those he saw.

Save the first soldier, he knew they were all dead today.

He saw the leader reach out and beckon someone forward; from a nearby building, two young teenagers, a boy and a girl, approached. He recognized both of them, especially the boy, whose face he recognized as his own.

CE 74, April 8th, Orcinus-class submarine supercarrier Magna Coercitor, offshore Dakar, Senegal, African Community

Night 01 49

Major Geroda Rells watched as the biotechs adjusted settings and parameters on the multiple neural-influencing machines that were currently hooked up to Vlitz, his scalp completely devoid of the thick mat of hair that had been there just days ago. Circular man-machine interface connectors had been stamped into his head, the flesh and skin around the artificial control devices still red-raw, the ugly circular scars along the rim of the devices proof of his recent operation and forced accelerated healing. His expression was twisted into one of pain, although his body made no movement. Beside Geroda stood Captain Hanna Ignas, her expression inscrutable as she watched the proceedings, the illuminated panels of the equipments casting flickering shadows across her face and her hair curls.

"So the connectors will increase control capacity?" Geroda asked.

The head technician nodded. "That is correct. A single mind will be able to take control of a full squadron; or more, if required."

"The hardest part was surgically inducing the artificial imbalance. With that done, the procedure is almost complete." The head technician said to Geroda. "It's was worried about the candidate pool when it became apparent that we couldn't pick up as many pilots as we liked at Dinan, but luckily for us, he'll more than make do."

"The technique is still unproven, isn't it?" Geroda said. "I have doubts on how effective it will be."

"It's assured," The technician replied. "Lodonia was not used to hold only child samples, although the project had been quickly taken off from the site shortly before its… self-compromise. Nevertheless, with every adult conversion test case we've improved the yield of aggression and fighting capability from recipients of the procedure. Your volunteer will have no issues taking the fight to the enemy."

"I'll take your word for it, head tech," Geroda said. "How long will the neural readjustment take?"

"Not long. Several minutes more."

"Good. I'll report it to the captain then."

"Please do," the head tech said, turning to his colleagues. "We'll keep him sedated until the call comes."

Geroda and Hanna left the main medical suite of the Magna Coercitor, striding through the passageways towards the bridge. Crewmembers hastily made way as they passed by; none wanted to get involved with the brooding Phantom Pain pilots.

At length, Geroda spoke. "Do you think I should have stopped him, Hanna?"

Hanna remained silent as they rounded a corner and stepped into the main lift that would take them to the bridge. Her reply was soft enough that Geroda had to strain to separate it from the background noises of the submarine equipment.

"Do you think you could have?"

It was Geroda's turn to stall for a reply in silence as he pondered the implications of Hanna's words. "No. No, I don't think so. Not if you had already failed to do so."

"Then it's his choice. We can't sway him from it."

Geroda glanced as Hanna's face as the lift ground to a stop, only to be greeted with her usual stony countenance. The doors hissed open, and Hanna stepped out first. Geroda followed wordlessly as he prepared to brief the captain on their planned operation.

CE 74, April 8th, Dakar Spaceport, Senegal, African Community

Night 01 58

Major Adar Dalleou had spent years working in the Senegal military, even through both Bloody Valentine Wars. Today, however, was the first time the war had come up close and personal to him. He watched as Atlantic Federation Major Nain bint Aamir finished speaking with her subordinates over the comms; her next gaze fell squarely on him. "The escapees are approaching the spaceport. How are the road closures and evacuation going along?"

"We've bringing up the rear to ensure that civilians don't wander into the spaceport," Adar said. "After that… I already have my infantry ready. If these terrorists are as well-armed as you say they are, we can only take them head-on here."

"I didn't set Dakar Spaceport as a battleground just because I like it here," Nain said. "The Blue Cosmos remnants are more than capable of eliminating small groups. There's no sense letting them bleed us before a major confrontation."

Nain's agents had combined their efforts with local armed units to carry out raids in force, striking at suspected positions where the remnants might have been hiding at. According to her intelligence sources, the Blue Cosmos members here had been seeded to ferment rebellion and anti-Coordinator feelings so as to put as big a thorn as they could in ZAFT's side; with the fall of Heaven's Base, their side endeavor had suddenly become one of the last routes of escape from Earth.

Nain tapped her communicator. "Cudgel Leader? How do things look?"

"My squads are ready at our share of the expected ingress points, Scryer Leader," Master Sergeant Kim Rassare replied. "Unless the blue boys try cutting fences or the onsite staff collaborate to let them in, we'll see 'em coming, alright."

Adar Dalleou turned to answer an incoming call of his own, frowning as he realized the voice of the call was not that of his second-in-command, who was supposed to be leading one of the teams stationed at the spaceport in person. "Who's on the line? Where's Captain Jacem?"

"This is Second Lieutenant Sallia," the voice replied. "Jacem… Captain Jacem got shot and is now receiving emergency treatment. It was Lieutenant Bergues who did him in. We have him restrained."

Adar felt his blood run cold at the answer. "Understood. Lieutenant Sallia, you have command of this group. Keep with the last known order."

Adar mentally processed the reports as he contacted his armed groups one by one, both the groups at the spaceport, and the groups on the chase with the OMNI agents. Another group chasing the Blue Cosmos agents had a Blue Cosmos sympathizer reveal himself, although with significantly less disastrous efforts; the OMNI operatives accompanying them had helped in subduing him before greater damage could be done. As he finished confirming the statuses of his officers, he noticed Nain looking at him.

"So they've sprung their attempts?"

Adar pushed down the ire rising within him; that Blue Cosmos sympathizers were in his group was his fault first and foremost. "We have the situation under control. Did you already know this would happen?"

"There's a key difference between sympathizer and real agent, Mr. Dalleou," Nain replied. "Sympathizers get desperate if they perceive their cause to be under attack. To answer your question, yes. But what purpose would it serve for me to walk in here and demand that you carry out a sweep and purge?"

"If I knew-"

"Even if you knew you would have to spend weeks weeding them out, weeks none of us have. I have no interest in sympathizers; they can't sustain themselves without the enemy agents stoking the fires." Nain's voice took on a hard edge. "I did say that the agents had been here for at least a year when I first set foot here. Sympathizers are likely spread throughout Dakar itself."

Adar swallowed once, a bead of sweat running down the side of his face as he contemplated the consequences.

"It's an unfortunate fact that none of us have the luxury of time. Cleaning up in the shadows is always a messy affair."

Nain paused to tap her communicator, its flashing light indicating an incoming transmission. Even before Kim's voice filtered through, however, she already knew what it would be about.

CE 74, April 8th, Orcinus-class submarine supercarrier MagnaCoercitor, offshore Dakar, Senegal, African Community

Night 02 01

Gerodawas already in the cockpit of the Jet Dagger L prepared for him when the captain of the Magna Coercitor's voice appeared on the intercom. "Major? The transmission is up."

"Understood. Floggers will undergo launch preparations."

Humming filled the interior of his cockpit as he flipped switches and brought systems from standby to online. As the main screens switched on, Geroda caught sight of Vlitz being wheeled across the hangar by the lab technicians. The formerly aggressive and boisterous pilot sat limply in his wheelchair, still heavily sedated, as they pushed him towards the underwater launch bay.

Geroda forced himself to look elsewhere, and brought up Hanna on the intercom. "Flogger Three, status report."

"Flogger Three is ready," Hanna replied. "Awaiting launch orders."

Save Hanna, Vlitz, and Geroda, the rest of the squadron had been shed in battle. First at Heaven's Base, then as support for their beleaguered allies at the rescue from Dinan. And now, even Vlitz was gone from their fold as well.

"Roger," Geroda said, switching channels to the Magna Coercitor's bridge. "Flogger Leader to Enforcer, we're ready."

The reply was almost instantaneous. "Acknowledged, Flogger Leader."

In the bridge of the Magna Coercitor, the captain began barking orders. "Operation Inferno is now in action. All Delawares are to drop their assault payloads and accelerate to battle speed! Intrusion target is Dakar Spaceport!"

"Arm all torpedo and side launchers! Once Cryptmasterhas been launched underwater, the Magna Coercitor will surface with the Archeron, Erebus, and Lethe, and enact air defence for aerial launch!"

Streamers of gas bubbles whirled upwards and away as each of the Delawares jettisoned a cylinder from their rear bays. The Delaware-class' rear bay, normally used to house remote-controlled aquatic drones and other deployable equipment, had undergone postwar modification after the First Bloody Valentine War; they were enlarged to accommodate either an aquatic mobile suit and supporting equipment, or a single assault torpedo, an armored casing that was large enough to house a mobile suit in itself for sea-to-shore assault.

The ten assault torpedoes floated down and away from their parent submarines for a distance, before their hybrid motors kicked in, propelling them at great speed as they arched towards the surface.

Amidst the flurry of activity surrounding the submarine fleet, a large object descended from beneath the Magna Coercitor's flooded underside bay. The supercarrier submarine's side doors opened, disgorging four Forbidden Blue and two Forbidden Vortex amphibious mobile suits. Accompanied by three Delawares, the Magna Coercitor began its ascent, leaving the large object to rocket away after the assault torpedoes.

CE 74, April 8th, Vosgulov-class submarine carrier Iron Response, offshore Dakar, Senegal, African Community

Night 02 05

The soundless alarm immediately snapped Alan out of his reverie as the lights that decorated the corners of the waiting room strobed, sending flashes of red through his sight. The room's communicator panel flashed its own transmission light as he stood up. "Raider Leader here."

"Captain Shiya here. Enemy sub fleet has gone loud, very loud. We have acoustic and far-range silhouette confirmation of assault torpedoes. Estimated trajectory is Dakar Spaceport."

"So those are most likely Blue Cosmos forces then," Alan said. "We have to do something; they'll run the spaceport into the ground in minutes with a force of that size."

"I concur. Take your forces and prepare for aerial insertion into the spaceport." Noise filled the background as Captain Shiya spoke to someone else. "New info. We've lost the front probe; last transmission was an attack by an OMNI mobile suit model, a Forbidden Vortex."

"Naval forces as well," Fredric Koherg said, standing beside Alan.

"Iron Response will deploy forces to handle the underwater enemies once we launch your squadron off," Captain Shiya said. "Be advised, Raider Squadron will have minimal support after launch. I'm withdrawing to maximum distance and enacting a four-zone order; there's little to be gained by tossing this vessel into direct combat until ZAFT has been alerted to the situation."

"Understood," Alan said. "Raiders will proceed to launch preparations."

"Four-zone… " Amano Suzuki, Raider Four pondered for a moment. "That really is quite a way off. We'll definitely be out of range of missile support."

"Forget missile support," Raider Five, Larry Falke, interjected. "They'll have their hands full with the underwater enemies, and I'm not talking about just the aquatic mobile suits."

"Twelve Delawares and the unknown super submarine…" Fredric mused. "This might get ugly."

"Regardless of what stands ahead of us, we do what needs to be done," Alan said. "There's no point in us joining up with the ZAFT forces in Angola to fry the small fish if we have Blue Cosmos remnants in strength here, right now, carrying out a terrorist attack on a civilian locale."

"Raiders! Deploy!"

CE 74, April 8th, offshore Dakar, Senegal, African Community

Night 02 07

Vlitz awoke to the interior of a spacious cockpit, viewscreens showing nothing but dark sea water all around him. He shook his head to clear his thoughts; he was already awake way before that, but he wasn't "active", as though he was a spectator with front-row seats to his own sight and mind.

Now, however, he felt invigorated. The control sticks and pedals in the cockpit felt as though he had used them before, although he couldn't exactly recall when. Nor could he remember exactly when he had piloted a craft with such a different cockpit layout before, but that didn't matter now.

"Flo…" He cleared his throat once, annoyance momentarily fleeting across his thoughts as he caught himself before he used the wrong callsign. "Cryptmaster is on station. Proceeding with insertion."

"Good luck, Cryptmaster. Enforcerout."

Vlitz leaned forward, unaware of the combat drugs coursing through his veins, thinking nothing of the interface cables now running from the cockpit into his head and back, through the modified ports in his helmet and pilot suit, the cables merely awaiting the moment that the tactical computer of his unit started feeding his mind the relevant battle data. One imperative rose above all others in his mind, drowning out the last of those lingering thoughts that could still be said to be his own.

Tonight, he would shower the lands with red.

CE 74, April 8th, Dakar Spaceport, Senegal, African Community

Night 02 10

"Deployment orders," Captain Ray Feric said, turning to face the rest of the Manhunters as he stowed him comms unit. "The enemy is on approach. The agents suspect powered suit support for the enemy."

Lieutenant Sheryl Camelot, listless until just a moment ago, jumped up and slammed her fist into her open palm. Similar sounds could be heard from the room adjacent to the Manhunters as the Senegal army pilots no doubt got the same orders. "About time. Let's finish this!"

"Is there something wrong?" Lieutenant Guy Leon asked.

Ray looked up at his fellow pilot, realizing that he had froze in place for a moment despite giving the order to move out. "No, nothing. I'm good."

"You think there's something off about the enemy composition?" Sheryl pressed.

"I'm not surprised that they have powered suit support here," Ray said. "But if they knew enough to escape from their hiding places and safehouses, surely they'd know we'll be waiting here in force. Why commit to heavy action nonetheless? They could do more damage dispersing into the cities."

"Desperation?" Sheryl ventured. "Hell if I know; but these people are now cut off and out of options. I wouldn't be surprised if they think they're at a dead end."

"Perhaps," Ray said, although he didn't really believe his own words. "Perhaps."

CE 74, April 8th, Dakar Spaceport, Dakar, Senegal, African Community

Night 02 11

Dakar Spaceport had three primary means of entrances; the public halls that processed civilian flights, as well as four cargo gates that allowed for bulk movement of goods. It was at one such gate that Kim led the counterattack, her forward soldiers reporting that they had just spotted ten heavyset trucks barreled forward on the road. From the allied band she could hear similar proclamations made by the Senegal army infantry guarding the other gates, although it seemed that the hammer would fall the heaviest at Kim's side.

"Is that them?" Staff Sergeant Yohann Fauser asked.

"No one's supposed to be on those roads," Kim said, tapping her communicator. "Cudgel Leader to Scryer Leader, I have contacts coming up the eastern gate. Requesting action order."

There was a pause, then Nain's voice came through. "Our agents are veering off now. Those are our targets; take them. Manhunters and the Senegal mobile suit squadrons are inbound with fire support."

"Cudgel Leader, I copy." Kim closed the link. "Troops! Once they get in range, give it to 'em!"

Kim had arranged her forces in a standard defensive formation, spread around reinforced concrete security and cover blocks set-up across the four-lane road earlier in the day. Her troops lined the sides amongst concrete cover blocks or stationary fire shields; she expected the enemy firepower to be great, and had accordingly reminded her soldiers that the cover provided by the nearby office and administrative buildings of the airport could only take so much.

A minute had barely passed when the first of the trucks crashed through the shut gate, embedding itself into the primary security barrier that had been raised across the road; secondary detonations wreathed the front of the vehicle in fire as the hidden explosives strapped to its front fired, the shaped charges blowing a hole in the barriers.

Kim tapped her comm unit. The showy display was just the beginning; she didn't want her unit to aid the attacking Blue Cosmos troopers in any way by attacking too early. "Hold fire! Those are just sacrificial units!"

Staff Sergeant Hanson Warbeck gripped his weapon tighter, yelling to make himself heard to the soldiers nearest to him. "For a bunch of desperadoes, they sure have a lot of toys to spare!"

Kim's troops kept their gazes locked just as the rest of the enemy convoy caught up, machinegun and rifle rounds punching scars into the front of the armored trucks as they slammed into the line of security barriers with similar results. Troopers wearing light powered armor evacuated from the rear, dashing for the sides of the road.

"Fire!" Kim ordered.

The OMNI troopers opened up with their weapons, the reports of rifle fire echoing around the area. Kim saw a Blue Cosmos light armor trooper take a hit to their torso; the soldier fell, arm clawing at their chest plate, as the other troopers ignored the casualty and continued moving forward and into better positions.

The second line of trucks then arrived; these had their its front replaced with additional armor, bashing through its comrades with ease, and mangling what was left of the security barricades into the ground as they crashed their way into open ground.

Kim motioned behind her; from the rear of the position, Corporal Stancha Melshim nodded, and two troopers crouched into position. Readying their rocket launchers, they fired, twin streaks of fire and smoke that slammed into the first vehicle to make it through. The vehicle swerved, evading one rocket by a hair's breadth only for the second to slam into its side, and the blast sent the truck rolling, parts flying through the air as it smashed against a nearby wall.

Gouts of flame washing over the doomed vehicle, and there was a moment of silence broken only by the crackling of flames. The moment passed as the rest of the enemy convoy made it in. Their rear hatches slammed open, disgorging more enemy infantry; heavily-armored Blue Cosmos troopers strode through the firestorm to charge the OMNI lines, while regular infantry armed with sharpshooter weapons flitted from cover to cover to find good firing positions. The cacophony of gunfire filled the area as both sides opened fire in earnest.

Kim looked around, spotting her target; from behind one of the trucks emerged the hulking form of a Guti powered suit, the track-footed battle exoskeleton wielding an anti-tank rifle in addition to an over-shoulder gatling gun and a short-tube grenade launcher with a drum magazine. It rose to full height as its head-unit camera lights swiveled, looking for an appropriate target. "Launchers! Forget the trucks! Prioritize the Gutis!"

Sparks flew from its feet as the Guti's feet-mounted mobility tracks activated; the first rocket missed it, while the second's proximity detonation only scorched its paint as it barreled sideways. The Guti crouched, as much for momentum as for stability, as it hefted its anti-tank rifle and fired.

Kim pulled the soldier beside her down as she pushed backwards; the edge of the reinforced cover block exploded, showering them both in concrete chips.

"Cudgel Two to Leader!" Yohann said on the comms, the sound of gunfire from his transmission creating a surreal form of echo on Kim's ears as the transmission replayed sounds she had already heard with her own ears. "You okay?!"

"Head still attached to neck!" Kim replied, hollering to make herself heard over the orchestra of carnage currently going off around her. She cuffed the soldier beside her on his shoulder, motioning for him to fall back. "Cudgel Leader to Squad 1! Fall back to the second line! Squad 2 and 3, covering fire!"

Kim rose back up, taking aim and firing almost immediately. A Blue Cosmos trooper caught her burst of gunfire , head snapping back as her rifle shots penetrated the front of his skull to pulp brains. A chatter of gunfire answered her, and she ducked momentarily, crouch-walking towards the next set of cover blocks. "Cudgel Leader to Scryer Leader! What's the situation on the other gates?"

There was a pause before the answer came. "They're holding," Nain replied. "Wait. Update; Gate 2 has been broken through. The Senegal infantry are falling back to secondary defensive positions. How many Gutis are at your position, Cudgel Leader?"

Kim made it just behind new cover as Nain finished her query, and she looked up to see if she could spot anymore of the powered suits. The sight made her curse despite the open comms; three more Gutis had appeared, one of them mirroring the first's armaments, while the other two swapped the anti-tank rifles for a right-arm mounted submachinegun with a left arm-held slab shield. "I got four of the fuckers on my end!"

"You're doing better than the locals, then," Nain said. "Continue-"

Nain's words were lost in the gravity of the following situation. Puffs of smoke billowed above the Gutis as they fired their grenade launchers, lobbing fragmentation grenades at Kim's troops. Kim paused only to cut the comms before she hollered a warning, yelling at her troops to clear the targeted areas. Infantry scrambled in the short period of time before the explosives fell amongst them.

Kim did her best to push the heartstopping roars of impact explosions out of her mind, propping up one soldier bleeding from a gash in his side and exhorting him to limp towards the rear. "Rockets! Focus on the lead Guti! I'm marking it on the squad link! Hose it down with saturation fire if you have to! Squad 2, take on their sharpshooters! Squad 1 and 3, cover fire!"

Behind the front battle, Stancha gave his orders. "First Guti, shield unit, position left! Fire!"

Several rockets arched over OMNI infantry positions as Kim led her soldiers against the Blue Cosmos foot soldiers. The leading Guti was pelting Hanson's squad's position with automatic fire from both its shoulder and arm-mounted weapons when it realized its impending fate; the slab shield was raised into position just in time to take the first rocket, the munition reacting against the shield's ablative armor to form a fiery cloud in front of the powered suit.

Kim had ordered saturation fire for a reason; the multitude of explosions that fell upon the Guti did what just one had failed to do, and the fourth rocket to make impact penetrated a place on the shield that already had its reactive armor piece spent. The anti-tank blast shot through the shield to slam into the Guti's front; while the powered suit withstood the impact, its stance was destabilized long enough for one of the last few rockets to make contact with its head unit. The Guti detonated from within as the rocket warhead penetrated the suit's cranial armor, killing its occupant instantly, and the last two rockets sent its way formed the powered suit's funeral pyre as they detonated.

Kim paused her own shooting just long enough to appreciate the handiwork of her rocket troops for a moment. Hefting her own rifle, she returned to placing shots downrange as the Atlantic Federation soldiers fought to contain the incursion. "All squads, continue action! Cover fire, pin 'em down! Rockets, keep at it; I want those Gutis stopped!"

In the ensuing chaos of battle and carnage, none of the OMNI troopers were able to notice one lone Blue Cosmos trooper running in the opposite direction of the firefight. In her hands was a launcher tube; setting it perpendicular against the ground, she set it to fire. There was a blast of smoke as the charge propelled its payload into the sky; moments later it unfurled, and a radio transmitter drone floated high into the sky, joining three other such unmanned small craft in the local airspace to broadcast their positional data and aerial reconnaissance information for any expectant listeners.

Afterword:

Blue Cosmos finally launches their assault on this corner of the world for a nefarious purpose only they know of. Something new here is their deployment of the Guti powered suit; considered obsolete with the introduction of mobile suits, they're nonetheless still as effective against infantry and light armor now, as they undoubtedly must have been in the years before mobile suits stepped up. I've considered if I should have upgraded Kim's squad with a few powered armors of their own, but even if I'd given them stock-standard Gutis, I'm cautious of the possibility that I might end up "upgrading" the good guys too much, especially when they'd just experienced a schism with most of their good and/or unique tech up to then being torn away to serve Blue Cosmos. The Manhunters and the Special Response Unit might be fielding advanced technology, but for the general feel of the rest of the OMNI forces, outside of a few select special-purpose loyalist units, I want to keep most of them as being stuck with having to make do with the lower-end weapons left behind.

Vlitz's memories of Saragossa is part of a bit of background I've always had in mind for both

Tales of the Cosmic Era and Grayscale World, but I never got around to fleshing it out for various reasons. It's inconsequential by this point in the story, but being the largest zone of attrition and siege in the European theater of action during the First Bloody Valentine War, it still serves as an originating point for the Flogger Squadron characters, as well as a temporary stop zone for another character in Tales of the Cosmic Era.