AN: Well here we are with the next chapter and I do hope that I will continue to update this story at a more consistent pace in the future. After all no one enjoys those lengthy pauses between updates, least of all me but after all this is just a mere hobby and does not pay my bills. So of course life must come before writing, that said I do believe that this chapter will prove enjoyable to those that thought the prior chapter, a bit short and lacking in tension and action.
After all, all the players have assembled on stage and its time for the raising of the curtain.
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam although I do think I'd do pretty well with the licence to be honest
Sword of Zeon Chapter Five: Return to the Battlefield
Tianjin Offshore Platform 1, Bohai Sea Northern China, Earth
July 20th, 0091 UC, 179 Nautical Miles Offshore
Zeon Remments Asian Headquarters
0500 Hours
Sleep still clung to him, the scarce handful of hours that he had taken for himself to refresh himself and keep his body at peak performance was far to little but he had abandoned a normal sleep cycle long ago, there was far too much to do in a given day to waste time on something as unneeded as sleeping if you could go without. He got his required four hours and little else, anything more was a luxury at the moment, one they could not afford. After all, if he was sleep deprived he wouldn't be in his peak of condition, piloting, leading, his command required that he set some time aside for it if nothing else but all the same, it was something only done out of necessity.
That was what found him in the command chamber this early morning, with the sun still yet to even rise in the sky, one message to his personal room, and here he was. Sleep abandoned.
"They've found us." Dieter murmured to himself without heat as he gazed dispassionately at the radar screen. It had been expected of course, truthfully them taking this long had been more then he had initially been hoping for back on the raid at California Base. They had bought almost a month, and with the raid on Lisbon done, it was time to move onto stage two regardless, yes this was fine. More then fine, with the Federation response this delayed, it wouldn't be all that difficult to slip away once they had broke through this assault force and once more and begin the next tier of objectives.
It would be a shame to abandon what had been their Earthborne Headquarters for near on a year now yet all the same it was yet another needed sacrifice on top many that had already been rendered in the holy service of their cause. Gazing down upon the screen and picking out the slowly moving blips upon the sonar scans, his brain revved into a familiar pace of calculations and strategy, this would be a difficult battle. Fighting it openly was doomed to failure from the onset, that was obvious just from what the passive sensors were reporting, six incoming submarines, multiple seagoing vessels...untold amounts of air support and other potential factors left a foul taste in his mouth that had little to do with the injections and serums he had been subjected to less then a day before.
Still though there was little else to do in this scenario. What must be done, would be done and damn the consequences. At the end of the day, they were all expendable, Olympus was the only thing that mattered, the only thing that could matter, without they were all doomed to die sooner or later at the hands of the Federation regardless. They would have to move on to the mainland and link up with their remaining forces and concentrate themselves once again, otherwise they'd merely be picked off grouping by grouping by the Federation, even assuming they managed to break out here and now.
With a grim air of determination he turned to the base CO a man whom had sworn himself to his cause more then two years prior with the conclusion of the Neo Zeon War, a former squadron commander late Principality who had been on duty since the following afternoon with a glint of steel and fire within his weary and aged brown eyes he spoke. "Place the facility on primary alert, prepare all mobile suit teams for combat actions, and begin evacuation procedures 1 through 4. I want this base ready to be scuttled by 1300 hours." He issued the command and without waiting for the confirmation that would undoubtedly be barked by the officer and his adjutants with an obvious limp he pushed himself away from the bank of sonar and radar screens and monitors and strolled out into the all but barren and abandoned corridors and all of the offshore platform.
Eight hours, they had to hold the Federation off for eight hours.
He bit into his lip as he continued away from the command room, thoughts drifting to the coming battle. Could they do it? As the assembled soldiers of the station went into action, as the very scenario they had been drilling for months for came to pass, could they do it? They had transport enough away from the base, they merely needed to be securely loaded with the needed supplies and personal, and that simply would take time. The mobile suits and warheads would take the longest, but there was no way in hell he'd leave yet more Zeon technologies behind for the Federation to scavenge from, it had already picked the bones of the Principality clean long ago, it'd steal no more from Haman's Neo Zeon.
He'd die before it could even take a singular bolt from one of his precious machines.
"Commander, order all squadron leads and tactical coordinators to the briefing room in fifteen minutes." The officer in question merely offered a grim nod and salute of complying with the command before going about to follow out and complete the orders he had been assigned. They had been preparing for this day for months, drills, simulations, even mock battles when the weather and conditions favored it but...as they had all found out back during the first war, there was only so much you do to teach and instruct about war from drills and simulations...
He could only hope, only hope that it would in the end, be enough of a difference here to matter. If the evacuation to the mainland failed, then Olympus would die here with them, and that was unacceptable, so despite whatever it may cost them here and now, a victory was needed.
Juneau Class Submarine Clorinda
The Bohai Sea
Off the Coast of Northern China, Earth
July 20th, 0091 UC
0600 Hours
"That must be it..." Steven muttered as he continually looked over the updating satellite images that had slowly been filtering in over the course of the prior hour. It made sense of course, an offshore platform was the most logical staging point for the raids that had been conducted on North America and Europe. They had been naval based assaults in both instances, with the Zeon machines raising upward off the sea at near proximity of the early warning radar scans, with the advent of the M particle, conventional detection methods had fallen by the wayside, but all the same these assaults had been clear in their intent. To put to torch all the Federation held dear to itself, one of its few surviving cities withstand the fury of the Zeon invasion more then a decade ago and perhaps even more importantly one of its principal bastions of strength on Earth.
But here they were, they had finally tracked them back to their bolthole, and there was nothing standing in the way save whatever defenses they could muster. Perhaps though unlikely they could take them unaware, but he doubted it the particle density out in the Pacific while present was not anywhere near high to completely blanket any passive scans that could be done at range, no and if they blanketed the area in them before their assault they'd be potentially forgoing any surprise they might have retained, this battle at the very least initially would favor the defenders until they could sortie all their machines and begin a proper assault. Then the sheer weight of their numbers and firepower would see the last pathetic dregs of their would be war die in its cradle.
They'd defeat these Zeon bastards here and now, it would end now, before they killed anymore civilians. Before they even could dream of putting another of the cities of earth to flame again, before they could ever even have the gall to strike at the Federation in one of its military bases. No, it would end here, it had to end here, and he would be damned if it didn't.
Without needing any further prompting he hit the key to trigger general comms across the sub. "To all hands, this is the acting commander of this op, Lieutenant Steven Liu I am ordering all hands prep for combat stations, we are entering condition red, I repeat all hands prep for combat stations we are entering condition red...we found the bastards." His finger withdrew from the key and he let out a sigh. It had take them for longer then he would have preferred but they had done it, they had tracked the butchers of Lisbon to their hiding place, and with the combined force they had assembled for this retribution, there would be nothing less of this hidden bastion of power the Zeon had constructed in the Pacific come night fall.
No more waiting, no more second chances, no letting them slink off into the dark and remote places of the world again, the Zeon remnants here would all be dead by the end of this day. He swore it to himself as a prayer. Let these Zabi worshiping fanatics finally join their oh so glorious leader in Hell.
I once dreamed of a future free of the scourge of war, in the aftermath of the One Year War when we had finally defeated the Zeon, driven them back into the darkest recesses of our solar system. I had thought for a time, it would lead to actual peace, the Republic of Zeon formally rejoined the Federation and was placed under the auspices of its control...for the first time in a decade all the Sides were once again reunited, the Federation was made whole again. I was hero, I was raised through the ranks, fast-tracked to promotion after promotion for the skill and valor displayed through the conflict with the Principality Still though I should have known as I for the first time in nearly a year returned to Dublin it wasn't to be, even as I put down my weapons and tried to make a life as a soldier in a world finally for the first time in a year without war I should have known.
I should have known it was only the interim to the next series of conflicts that would shake the Federation to its core in the coming decade. I should have known the minute that I had met him again at A Baoa Qu, for if the Black Phantom could survive the Zeon Raid on Side One, and the fall of the Principality's final Space Fortress whom else could have walked away from the war as well? I had plenty of time to consider that of course when I was tossed into the brig of Zeon Musai as it made its way to the Lunar Base at Granada in the aftermath of the collapse of the Principality and although I was only a prisoner of war for a little over a week...Its still something that should have made me see.
The war will never end for some people, it doesn't matter how many treaties are signed, what some official or politician says, it doesn't matter about the lack of standing orders or even if the state issued you your uniform even exists.
For some the war will never end.
Memoirs of Major(RT) Meryl O'Sullivan Accounts of the One Year War and Beyond-Unpublished
Tianjin Offshore Platform 1, Bohai Sea Northern China, Earth
July 20th, 0091 UC, 179 Nautical Miles Offshore
Zeon Remments Asian Headquarters
1100 Hours
Smoke wafted in the air from his cigarette bit between his teeth as he looked upon what had been his home for almost the entirety of the prior year, soon enough to be abandoned to the Federation though nothing would be left standing in the ruins of course. Scorched Earth had been their modus operandi for more then a decade at this point, nothing could be allowed to fall into enemy hands if it could be helped and he'd be damned if he'd surrender the Tianjin to them intact. Ash fell from the flaming tube of paper and tobacco as a electronic beep suddenly intruded upon his musings of his soon to be abandoned quarters. 'Probably Yuuka she always was the type to worry, especially now that the Federation have tracked us back here and will begin opening fire in all earnest any second now. ' The ranging shots that had fallen short or beyond the massive superstructure of the offshore plant had alerted them to the Federation's arrival but the waves of missiles that came after had rained down fire upon the plant, erupting hellstorms of death across its narrow metal passages and upper gantries and galleries. Nothing had penetrated past the third armored layer however, and with the structure holding up well to the bombardment, it was only a matter of time before the Federation did what it always did...focus firepower.
The base wouldn't survive it, just as he had been predicting since he had come to the very sad realization that they couldn't conduct the war from their home here, no they'd have to keep mobile until they rejoin their primary force in space. Even with their planned linkup with their forces in the Gobi tied into that, that was them just regrouping with the forces that had ravaged Lisbon and burnt the proud city to the ground, no the additional forces wouldn't allow them to stand fight, not even close to it. No until stage two of Olympus was completed, they'd be forced to continue to fighting their running battle against the Federation.
"Captain where are you?" Yuuka's voice broke into his commline as he gazed downward at the two-way on his belt for a few seconds longer before bringing his hand down and grasping the plastic construction and raising it to his head, hitting the center button and speaking into it, allowing it to transmit rather then merely receive. "My quarters." He responded evenly as he opened his personal footlocker pushing aside old ribbons and medals, books and reports and hefted the simple wooden box he had come to receive, this package not even a foot in width and perhaps only twice that in length was what he had come to retrieve along with his personal normal suit and other personal effects.
"Your quarters?" She responded with an obvious hint of both alarm and confusion.
"Yes. There were somethings I couldn't leave behind..." He let his voice hand in the air as scarred and thin gloved fingers ran their way across the smooth material of the wood of the box before lifting the lid and revealing its contents to himself, a slight curve of his lip was his only reaction.
Inside were yet another memento of better days, better times, a time when he had actually looked forward to the future, saw what could await them all as humanity finally found its proper balance. Inside were twelve long cut paper tube like cylinders, Cigars to be specific, given to him way back in later December of UC 0079 all those years ago as a gift. A early Christmas gift offered to him for services rendered to the rulers of the Principality, Gihren specifically. Given to him just days before A Baoa Qu and Solomon, something that the old Supreme Commander of the late Principality had dubbed a offering of victory. He checked over the small humidifier unit within the box, rolling the tiny portion of plastic too and fore, noting the moisture that beaded upon it with satisfaction he resealed the box, locking in place the clasps back.
He had never gotten around to smoking what would have gone to a victory celebration had the war gone the other way. And so the best hand rolled and fine cut Tobacco Zum City could produce had sat within this box, awaiting the chance for them to once more bear their original purpose. Victory over the Federation.
He planned smoke one upon the completion of Olympus. It would be for all that had been lost for Zeon, Gihren, Delaz, Gato,Rinton, Burns, all the rest that had died back during the war and all the years since. That would be their victory, the rebirth of their homeland would begin with the ignition of a cigar dating back to its death. No one could claim he didn't have a spark of the dramatic within him, no one.
He responded to Yuuka softly but a moment later. "Don't worry, I'll be along shortly." He offered, he was done here regardless, having claimed what he had come to.
Letting the half smoked cigarette slip through his gloved hands to the floor below he stomped upon it once with his leather boot before he let out a held breath. "Right its time." And with a grim determination and professionalism that stemmed from more then a decade of repetition the former Principality pilot garbed himself for war.
Smoke and oxidizing metal filtered through his normal suit's visored helm hardened plastic screen and he waved it, fire and destruction dominated much of the corridor behind him. The result of to his eye a barrage of beam cannon fire that had torn through the outer plate, burned itself inside, rupturing and consuming sheet metal, pipe work, and electrical wiring until it had hit the very passage behind him. He had been but perhaps half a minute slower, that'd be him lying among the dead in the rear corridor, all the same he eyed the charred and ashen corpses that littered the hall, he gazed absently upon for the space of a seconds, soaking in the sight. Burned each and every one of them into his memory. They would not be forgotten, not by him, not as they had been by the Republic, by history itself, no he would not forgo the honor and dignity of those lost to the cause of Zeon.
They were yet more dead of Zeon for the Federation to answer for at the end of this. The smoke drifted across his sealed helm as yet another cascade of klaxons and alarms washed through the base, the intercom reporting yet more damage done to the stucture, the battle outside was raging, most of his forces either committed to the defense or preparation for their departure. Thankfully the command room hadn't been hit yet, with the nexus of their command and control still operational he could still direct forces remotely in the field without taking to the skies himself, though it was becoming blindingly apparent that was what was needed.
He had quite the mobile suit, the result of months and years of research, testing and development under Nakamura, one of the most brilliant engineers and mobile suit designers he had ever had the pleasure to work alongside and after its first sortie out during the assault on California Base, it had proven itself quite able for earthborne operation. So with that in mind he began forward once more, his pace increasing with every stride down the corridor, he had to see to the state of the hangars anyway, if their escape craft were able to lift out or not was the primary concern after all, the fueling and loading had been ordered but with the state of things at the base, who knew if the men assigned to the task were even still breathing...but they had to hold the Federation off, they had to push them back and buy the time needed for the evacuation.
Otherwise they would all die here and Olympus with them.
Tianjin Offshore Platform 1, Bohai Sea Northern China, Earth
July 20th, 0091 UC, 179 Nautical Miles Offshore
Zeon Remments Asian Headquarters
MS-14J ReGelgu V2 'Fintergeist'
1200 Hours
He had simply been too quick, too fast to intercept, he doubted he had been a blip on the radar of his prey for perhaps more then six seconds before he had engaged him. Nakamura had been quite correct about the Finstergeist. Double the thrusters, double the thrust, his earth based speed while likely never compare to what this beast could achieve in orbit or in the dark void of space... but it still proved quite impressive, according to the technical readouts it was faster by base then even Neo Zeon's Zaku III line and was comparative in speed to the Federation's Jegan line which had only come online a little over two years prior back during the Federation's war with Haman Karn and Neo Zeon.
Crackling air, energy and heat washed across his monitors as he descended downward towards his target, the flare and bloom of his suit's thruster rigging alighting the midday sky like a second sun. His suit's right hand pulling its beam saber free from its housing rack on the suit's armored skirt. Even now it appeared as if the quarry was moving in slow motion, its beam rifle fire towards one of his comrade suit's a older Zaku Cannon model finally found home and puncturing through the suit and erupting out of its back with a torrent of smoke and flame as the friendly suit disappeared off of his IFF array as it plummeted off the steel superstructure into the awaiting brine water below. It was only then he realized, that the Feddie pilot knew what was about to befall him, with rapid movement the GM tried to bring up its beam rifle, his thrust system trying to correct to bring itself up into a lateral firing arc, effective but it was far too late.
As his beam saber bisected the mass production GM Command down the middle he couldn't help but grin slightly within his helm as the sparking wreckage of the machine behind him fell in fiery chunks to the ocean surface below. It had been far too long since he had taken to a proper battlefield himself, far too long since he had reapplied the coating of Feddie blood that had so long since stained his hands a firm and potent crimson so long ago. "Damn I missed this..." He let out a hiss of breath as his words slipped through tightly clenched lips. This was where he belonged, the fury of the battle raged all about him, and to him it was something so profound, so beautiful words could scarcely describe its majesty with any hope of doing it justice.
As he pulled back on his sticks and forced his suit into an upward ascent to avoid sporadic beam fire and missiles bursts it as if he had returned, back to A Baoa Qu, back to Solomon, for just a few brief heartbeats it was if he had never left, that if he bothered to turn up his gaze to the sky above, he'd not seen the crystal blue and white of the sky and clouds, or the raging orange of the sun, but the dark inky blackness of space, with A Baoa Qu just lurking off somewhere in the distance. The battle of all time being waged around it, two forces committed to seeing the other destroyed, anything and everything they had left to fight with being thrown at the enemy. For just those few brief heartbeats as fire consumed the skies and the sound of oceanic swells and waves were drown out by gunfire and explosions, he was back there, watching the Zeonic State burn to the ground. The thing he had sworn his life to the defense, the greatest nation to ever be crafted by the hands of man in their relatively short history.
The rage, the indignity of that day, it had never faded, never abated, through time and distance he had been able to isolate it, bury it from himself but even then it was just a few inches below the surface, with one good kick it could spring back. And here in now in today in the Yellow Sea it would be awakened. These Federation puppets would die to preserve their master's wealth and luxury? So be it, they could all die here and from their corpses he would build a bridge straight to their corrupt masters and wipe them from this galaxy in the purifying flame of nuclear annihilation. As the black armored form of his custom Regelgu banked with flaring verniers burning to avoid a sudden burst of fire from one of the approaching warships deck mounted beam emitters he kicked the power to his thrusters down to barely what would be able to keep him aloft in the air and twisted into a turn and cut back across, leaving his beam rifle squarely yet another GM, this time a II from what he could make out from the frame, one pull of the trigger sent a radiating lance of green light through its central torso, coring out the suit and erupting in a gout of liquefied flaming metal and black electrical smoke as it burst through its rear armor.
Watching the now doomed enemy mobile suit plunged deep into the rough waters that awaited it for a moment, he then turned his attention back to the battlefield proper. 'That makes two...out of the sixty or so suits we registered, its not bad for not even two minutes work...' His grin once more resurfaced with avengeance, he really had missed this. A quick glance downward to his internal fuel and ammunition monitors confirmed he had another twenty nine shots in the current "magazine" before the E-Cap cartridge had to be replaced, and he had another four of those on his rear ammunition rack, not to mention more then a hour's worth of charge on his beam saber. He had even yet to make usage of his wrist mounted beam projectors that had replaced the 20mm machine cannons that had been affixed to it originally all those years ago. So obviously they maintained as well at their peak operational outputs, yes indeed he had ammunition to burn, and that was good.
After all, he still had to ensure that at the very least the stronghold held for another thirty minutes or so for the complete evacuation of personal, equipment and mobile suits from the base was completed. Once that time period had elapsed and the process was completed, they would withdraw with their surviving forces to the Chinese coast-lands and from there push into Beijing to link up with their incoming forces in the Gobi. Once they arrived in that great desert, they could position themselves for stage two of his little scheme for revolution and overthrow of the most powerful government in recorded history.
Juneau Class Submarine Clorinda
The Bohai Sea
Off the Coast of Northern China, Earth
July 20th, 0091 UC
1200 Hours
'They are holding their own despite the weight of numbers against them...' It was an impressive if ultimately futile sight he was bearing witness to, the Zeon forces that had erupted from their base like spores from a fungal bloom had thus far more or less been able to contend with their first wave, but with the second being prepped and readied as they fought, it would be only a matter of time until they had completely routed this force. Even now, their once proud base and fortress, the offshore platform was burning, ebon black chemical clouds erupting forth from it like puss from a wound as a continued stream of missile, bullet and beam fire tore into its superstructure, the fact it was still standing, little lone still returning firing was impressive. It also gave credence to the notion that was not some recent acquisition, no, they had been based here for a long while, the defenses and reinforced armoring of their base supported as much.
He watched through the various video recordings as one by one the Zeon machines went down first an ancient and weathered Zaku II fell from the support gantry alongside the superstructure of the platform itself its torso alight in orange flame and liquefied metal as a beam round tore through its center mass and in all likelihood killed the pilot as well, and then a more modern and odd acquisition a Titan's era Hizack suffering the same fate as its less modern and more antiquated cousin a salvo of beam rifle fire tore through its center mass, bolts of light burning away plates of armoring and as it was all but bisected at the waist and erupted in a hellish conflagration. Bright had proven himself right despite the man's questionable history his tactical mind was clearly quite astute given that he had predicted that the initial summary of their force had been a bit...lacking. Thus far they had been engaged with a little over ten mobile suits, with their own overwhelming number while they were suffering losses, more then he'd care for they were still carrying the day. Still though it was time for him to take to the field, Captain Bright while having given his council as oversight for the mission, at the end of the day, this was still strictly a Federation military affair, not Londo Bell.
It'd be he who delivered the deathblow to these Zeon remnants, not the vaunted Hero of the One Year War.
"Technical Specialist Kapra, have my GM III begin being prepped." He turned to the Adjutant Communications and Technical Officer whom had been observing this whole sordid affair alongside him.
"Of course Lieutenant. Though the chief engineer wanted me to remind you that, you are just using an upgraded GM II Chassis." The man's once solemn and stern mask cracked for an instant an warm smile broke across as he concluded his quip. "He hopes that you will return it to base in a more intact state then when you last had it come back." Steven couldn't help it barked out a short laugh before shaking his head, to clear it of the bubbling laughter that still threatened to erupt. "I'll keep that in mind Technical Specialist."
"Right, well keep me informed of any development I am going down to the launch platform." It was time he finally took to the battlefield himself, a seasoned hand such as him there would only speed the inevitable.
Tianjin Offshore Platform 1, Bohai Sea Northern China, Earth
July 20th, 0091 UC, 179 Nautical Miles Offshore
Zeon Remments Asian Headquarters
MS-14J ReGelgu V2 'Fintergeist'
1200 Hours
"All forces still active on defense grids been immediate disengagement, I repeat, all forces begin immediate disengagement." They had held the Federation off as long as they could, despite them lacking the sheer number and firepower of the enemy, them having the Tianjin fortified and reniforced had allowed them to stave off the assault, the additional armoring and inbuilt weaponry and sensors had made this a battle they could and would withstand, though of course the losses had still been greater then he would have preferred. Out of his nearly thirty mobile suits stationed aboard the Tianjin more then ten had been lost in the hectic fighting that engulfed the Bohai this day, though admittedly much of them were suits far from modern and thus utterly worthless in a strategic sense. No the true loss came from the pilots dying, the majority of his fighting force was comprised of veterans from either the Neo Zeon War or the Zeon War of Independence more then a decade ago. Losing pilots that had potentially been in their machines for more then a decade, would hurt them in the coming days, his newer forces simply couldn't compete with that level of experience and knowledge of the battlefield.
All the same though, they had held them off and with their transport craft finally prepared and loaded up for departure, they would begin immediate withdraw from the field, that was why he was still out here, someone had to keep the Federal forces busy while the remaining defenders retreated back to their duty stations and boarded the transports. His ReGelgu raised upward its right arm and let loose a barrage of yellowish green tinted energy from its beam projectors, the multiple bolt shaped projectiles sailed through the brightly light afternoon sky sinking into their target another of the Federation's GM II's, cleaving into its armored body, piercing into its torso resulting in a conflagration of heated metal and flame bursting through its back as the remaining projectiles sank lower and lower as the barrage of nearly twenty individual beams struck into its joints and modular frame, separating the suit's left leg at its jointed hip and casting it along with the rest of the flaming wreckage into the sea below. His machine shuddered slightly as it made contact with the reinforced steel girder work of the Oil Platform's superstructure, by just result of reflex his fingers already flew to the the munition storage, individual E-Cap cells clinked free of the projector's internal magazine, the smoking spent cartridges clanged as they struck the reinforced steel of the structure as yet more cells were fed into the magazine.
As potent and powerful as the beam projector was, its reliance on multiple E-Caps was by far its largest weakness, it took time to reload it, time that was impossible to find in direct combat, hence why he had returned near to the Tianjin before unleashing it, trying to reload this while under direct assault from dozens of Federal suits would have been impossible, thankfully due to the bloody nose they had handed the Federation, they were in the process of regrouping. With more then two squads of their machines outright destroyed and perhaps another three damaged and forced to retreat back to their own ships for repair and refit...yes indeed, using the projector now had made all the sense in the world, after all, he had plenty of time to reload to pick off those too stupid to retreat back to the relative safety of the perimeter of the Federation ships holding just a little over three kilometers out from the Tianjin.
Still though even though they had claimed the lives of a dozen or more Federation pilots these days and forced another dozen or so to withdraw...the enemy once they regrouped would overwhelm, they would unleash anything and everything had left, and the Tianjin would fall within the hour, it was as much to their own ability, skill and power that they had withstood this storm as it was due to the overconfidence of the Federation. Indeed he thought grimly. 'If they had came at us firing, out of the gate, using their own overwhelming firepower and numeric superiority, they would have killed us all by now...' It would have cost them severely of course, perhaps they would have lost even more then they would have by now had they unleashed such an assault, but all the same...they would have won.
But the chance for a Federation victory this day was gone, long gone, even now he could register through the crackling monitors of his onboard active radar suit that the majority of his defending forces were withdrawing to the interior of the platform, undoubtedly to board the transport craft that would speed them to mainland China within the hour.
Yes indeed, the Federation had their chance, and they had squandered it, it was now time for them to flee to their reinforcing allies in the Gobi, link up with them and once they had done that, it was time to move onward to stage two of this operation. But...before that, he would bleed the Federation a little more this day, after all, if they allowed the Federation to regroup too quickly, there was no doubt they would pursue them, and for all the merits of his plan, that was its weakest element undoubtedly. The Federation being allowed to pursue would inevitably lead to their own deaths and failure, and that could not be allowed.
So he would see to it personally.'I am coming for you Feddies, the Black Phantom of Zeon has returned!' With that thought in mind his ReGelgu's enhanced thruster module lit once and the machine propelled itself forward off the armored superstructure of the Tianjin and into the midday sky of the raging battlefield. As the G-Force compressed and forced his restrained body against the piloting seat, he couldn't help but grin as the blood was forced downward into his gut as he twisted the machine outward, this was a thing of perfection and beauty, while it was not capable of true independent flight within atmosphere, its controlled "glide" certainly could cause people mistake its outright thrust potential for outright flight.
Juneau Class Submarine Clorinda
The Bohai Sea
Off the Coast of Northern China, Earth
RGM III
July 20th, 0091 UC
1200 Hours
The beam rifle was pressed into place against the rear of his mobile suit, firmed implanted into its charging rack with a satisfying clink of connecting metal upon final preperations for loadout were being completed, hurriedly but of course with the disciplined professionalism that one would expect from crews that had been performing operations of this short for the last half decade or even longer in some cases.
"We will begin surfacing within five minutes for mobile suit team launch. Prepare hands prepare for change to depth and assume surfacing duty stations." Intercom message blared across the holds of the submarine repeating its message of surfacing, while it was dangerous to raise upward out of the water and expose itself to the chaos of the battle above, as long as they were submerged, they could just disgorge their compliment of MS to join the fight and that was no longer acceptable to the Lieutenant who had been placed in command of the assault on the Zeon platform, while that had been a move of some contention, ultimately with the Londo Bell ceding operational control to the normal Earth Forces, it had been the result. Steven Liu was after all a decorated and experienced Federal pilot, even if he have a dubious history with the Titans, so giving him command of the operation had been only natural.
That was at least Steven's own thoughts on the matter, whether or not it matched reality was irrelevant to him, this wasn't some assignment that he had taken on to slap some pointless medal on his chest in its aftermath, no this was him quenching the fires that could ignite into another raging inferno if not put out quickly. This band of Zeon remnants had struck the Federation in one of its strongest defensive locations, not to mention they were undoubtedly tied to the assault on Lisbon just days before, no if this could be stopped here and now before it became another Neo Zeon War, he would be the one to stop it. Because it had to be stopped, the Federation as it stood now could ill afford yet another massive conflict on the back of the prior two it had suffered just a few years beforehand, and that was undoubtedly why they were acting now...
Not to mention there was O'Sullivan to consider as well, the former Titans Commander Earth Forces Major had gone and defected to this band of terrorists, and if her defection was genuine and he had no cause to question otherwise...Undoubtedly she would have informed them all of just how tenuous and perilous a situation the Federal military was in these days in the aftermath of the Civil War and Haman Karn's own war just two years ago. That was how he was to go into battle this day, as the banks of controls, gauges and meters began to light up, one after another, as the panoramic monitors switched on casting the cockpit in the pale glow of the camera feed as they projected a near perfect representation of his surrounding area.
They had to be stopped here, and he would stop them here.
"We will begin surfacing within three standard minutes for mobile suit team launch. Prepare hands prepare for change to depth and assume surfacing duty stations." Three minutes and the Clorinda would surface, three minutes and he and his team would take to the field and put these Zeon dogs down once and for all, three minutes...and he could potentially be facing Major O'Sullivan, he stilled the rapid beating of his heart with a few controlled breaths and shook his head to reestablish control, he couldn't be driven by emotion here, he was facing veterans today. These were not mere insurgents or disenfranchised people dissatisfied with the Federation, these were the old enemy, the plague of Zeon rearing itself once more.
As his machine hummed as its reactor roared to its full output power he knew that today would be the day that these vermin were finally put to the torch, in the aftermath of their nuclear attack on California Base, it was only just. There would be no offer of surrender today, no quarter given, both sides knew, both expected it, today would be the end of it.
One Way or another.
AN: Well I got to admit that I am glad I actually got this chapter out despite the sheer length of time it took for me to finally get around to finishing it off and uploading it. Did you know that more then half of this done in October before I just got swamped and my time just evaporated? Its a shame I will readily admit, but at the very least here, it is for you all to enjoy, consider it a late Christmas Present eh?
Anyway with that all said, I do hope you enjoyed the chapter and remember to favorite, follow and offer a review(I really enjoy reviews)
Till Next Time!(Though hopefully not as long until then eh?)
-Reborn Akatsuki