Sorrows
Author's note: Just so people are aware, I started into the stories of Gundam with the three novels and then a smattering of the later series (083, 080, 08th). So my take of the UC Gundam universe is heavily influenced by those grim books with their psychic New Types. I was actually very appalled at the actual series and never managed to slog through them. Maybe the movie versions of Gundam will be more tolerable. (I actually went 'didn't Amuro die in the One Year War?')
-
Alex set her Gundam on auto-walk for a minute. She had to stop the worst of her bleeding or she wouldn't last an hour. With shaking fingers, she ripped ragged strips of cloth of the Zeon uniform she had already wadded up against it and inserted them into her wound. Another pressure bandage was applied hastily. Blood soaked fingers took the control yokes with trembling fingers.
-
Ten minutes later, her breathing filled the Gundam's cockpit, pained and ragged. The controls in front of her wavered in and out of focus.
"Momma! Look at the flowers!" a very young Alexis called out as she ran into the old cabin. Her mother scooped her up with a laugh.
Alexis Pierce grit her teeth and forced her eyes open. She opened the little medical kit of the Gundam, under her seat. It took three attempts to pick up an emergency adrenaline ampule. With a sudden jerk, she slammed it into her leg hard enough to trigger it. Her eyes went wide as the drugs hit her system. Her heart rate spiked.
"Why did Daddy have to leave?" a slightly older Alexis asked, looking away from a small tombstone in the family graveyard up the hill from the old cabin.
"God needed him to watch over you from heaven, honey," her mother said sadly.
"GRRRRAAAAAAAAA!" she shouted. She wasn't going to die. Her mother's life was not going to be thrown away, wasted for her own worthless one. Dials and LED readouts wavered in her sight. She forced herself, with gritted teeth, to stay working. Walking, navigating, checking her power-plant. She had definitely down something very bad to it starting it like she had again. She just hoped it would keep working.
A buzzing finally intruded on her. She stared stupidly at the laser com signal for a full minute. She finally remembered to turn on the receiver. Federation codes were implemented.
"Unknown Gundam, you are ordered to stand down. Shut down your system or we will fire upon you. This is your last warning!" the male voice said authoritatively over the short range radio.
She fumbled for the com, switching on her transmitter. "I surrender! I surrender!" she called out hoarsely even as she stopped her advance. "I need a medic."
-
Athena Wills stormed into the hospital. "Where is she?" she demanded.
Timothy Larson and Spike Montoya followed quickly behind her.
A nurse walked up and intercepted her. "Sgt. Pierce is still in surgery. It was touch and go, but I think she is past the worst of it," he said. "From what we can tell, she got hit by some shrapnel from a grenade."
"And what is he doing here?" Athena said tightly, pointing at a soldier wearing Captain rank chevrons who was staring at the operating theater.
"He's from Fleet Intelligence-"
Wills narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. "Thank you. Please let me know the moment she is out of surgery and awake." She set her shoulders squarely and over to the other intelligence officer. She stopped and looked back at the other two pilots. "Larson, Montoya? I need you to find something else to do for about an hour." She turned back to the other officer and saluted him. "Captain? I am Captain Wills and CO of the 85th Squadron."
With a grumble, Tim and Spike walked just a bit away towards the drink vending machine. "I guess we don't need to know," Spike muttered in complaint. Tim just chuckled.
With a tone just a meticulous edge from sneer, he saluted back. "Ah, Captain Wills. I hear you are still awaiting refit after your last... battle. I am here to take charge of Mrs. Pierce and transport her to headquarters for debriefing."
"May I see your orders?" she asked politely.
"I'm sorry, you do not have high enough clearance to view those orders. I have already cleared it with Major Thompson," he replied with a tight smile.
"That is not possible-" she started to say when he cut her off.
"So you want to be brought up on charges of insubordination, Captain?" he snapped back.
"No, sir. But it would be impossible for me not to have a high enough clearance to see you orders, as I have Alpha Top Secret class clearance."
The captain blinked, then lashed out with a punishing fist that caught her in the neck. Just thirty feet Tim spat out his coffee at that. He stared stupidly as the intelligence officer fumbled for his holstered pistol. With sudden determination, he started to move forward. As the gun was pulled, Tim reacted without instinctively and threw his cup of coffee right into the captain's face.
Spike was just spinning when saw that and yelled out stupidly, "He's going to shoot her!"
The assailant pawed at his eyes to get the stinging liquid out even as Tim did a perfect tackle, knocking them both to the ground. With a bang, the gun went off. Spike landed on top of the two, lashing out with his fists.
-
Alex looked up as Athena walked in. "Captain?" she asked softly. She was in quite a bit of pain, but she should be back on her feet in just a week. The wonders of modern medicine.
"Sergeant Pierce," she replied with a nod. "I have orders and directives from Jaburo." She handed the papers to the wounded soldier.
With trepidation, she opened them. Were they going to cashier her? Send her to prison for giving the enemy secrets. Alex started to read them, expecting her commanding officer to start explaining. Her forehead crinkled as she read further. "Are these orders correct?"
"Yes. You will answer to myself or Jaburo High Command directly. Someone within our own military is trying to... suborn you or eliminate you," Athena said as she looked out the window, hands behind her back. Her voice had turned very hard and cold. "Your loyalty to the Federation is beyond question."
"But I failed. I'm weak. They kidnapped my mother... forced me to explain things about the Gundam," the blonde-haired pilot said softly.
"We know about your mother. The 15th Armored regiment overtook the Paris governors' quarters last night. Her remains were recovered. The loss of their Mobilesuits that were supposed to be guarding it forced the Zeon to retreat eastward earlier than expected." The shorter woman turned abruptly. "Any soldier can be broken... with the right lever. From documents that we recovered from General Kluz Doman, it is quite apparent that you were in a very poor position and playing dumb. And he didn't have a high opinion of you, even if they thought you were a New Type."
"I don't know how- I don't trust myself!" she blurted out. Maybe if she didn't let herself feel anything any more. Make herself into a uncaring block of stone.
"You will. I promise you that," Athena declared looking Alex directly... eye to eye.
-
"Hey, Sarge! I hear they are going to be lettering you out of this glorified hospital soon! Got to love modern medicine!" Tim called out as he slipped into Alex's room.
Spike just gave Tim a gloweringly look. "We managed to sneak some hootch," he said, palming the small bottle.
Alex just grinned. "I probably shouldn't. They've got one more round of blood tests and I think I might get into a bit of trouble if they spot some alcohol in it!" Her grin faltered, as she thought back to her mother's own battles with the bottle. It had been especially bad after her father had died.
"No long faces!" Tim ordered. "We need you in tip top shape to keep us alive! Like you did at that Zeon base in Old Germany and in Fort Collins."
"Yup. Our lucky invincible angel! The Intel guys are still scratching their heads over that ambush in Old Germany. Damn Zeeks had us pegged six ways to Sunday in a corral with the warmed up branding-iron to say they owned our bitch asses!" Spike enthused, taking a swig of his moonshine he'd smuggled in. Waste not, want not!
"I think I'm growing taller and more hairy by the second. Soon I'll be one of those Texas Ranger that always get the bad guy," she said with a laugh.
Tim just smiled. "Ha! If only things were that simple! But we have to get past this war and to the peace. My sister needs a solar system where she can raise her kids! That's what I'm fighting for!"
"Hear hear!" Alex responded, holding up her little plastic cup of water to toast.
"Peace!" Tim cried out, echoed by Spike and Alex.
-
Alex sat with the 85th as the Medea Transport was carrying them further east towards the battlefront. She was being brought up to speed. The Brittania deployment, of which the 85th Squad was part of, had managed to overrun France and now in Eastern Europe after they had taken over the German base that she had been captured at weeks ago.
"Listen up, folks!" Captain Athena Wills called out. "We are being diverted to help defend a diversionary battleship, a Big Tray class ship. All that they have local is a single squad, the Experimental Unit."
"Experimental Unit?" Spike asked.
"A group of hot-shot pilots tasked by Jaburo to figure out tactics and strategy for using the new Mobilesuits," she explained. "They got the first GMs and a Gun Tank."
"I think we've done okay by ourselves," Alex said tentatively, trying to sound like her old forceful self. Tim gave her a worried look. She blocked out his feelings, the concern was just too painful to her psyche.
"Oh, yes. Very much so. Jaburo is quite please with our progress. We'll be making contact with a Big Tray class battleship in just a half an hour-" Athena continued, laying out their plan.
Once the Medea Transports landed, the 85th Tactical Squad started unloading their Mobile Suits. Lieutenant Matt Healy whistled as he saw the significant reinforcement. "Is that a Gundam?" he asked brightly. It looked a bit different than he'd expected. It didn't have the standard paint job for the RX-79(G) class. Where it was supposed to be dark blue, it was sky blue with gold highlights. Maybe it was one of the prototypes.
"That's the 85th Tactical Unit. They've been one of the other first units to help with tactical doctrine," Corporal Noel Anderson said as she looked up from some paperwork she was working on. "They have a very impressive record. I thought that a regular squad only rated a sergeant or lieutenant?"
"I've heard rumors that there's something special about this unit," Lt. Matt Healy said. "Or rather, there is someone special. A Zeon defector. A New Type."
"A New Type? I thought those were just something that the Zeon made up for propaganda?" Noel replied, sharing a worried glance with 03rd's maintenance tech.
"Lieutenant Healy? I am Captain Athena Wills," the shorter woman said as she walked up and saluted. Matt quickly saluted her back.
"I didn't think we'd get any reinforcements in time to save the Big Tray," Larry said from his cockpit of his GM. No Gun Tank for this mission was required. He was overlooking where the two officers were discussing tactics.
-
"The Rik Dom will dominate the field of battle! Your Zaku are relics!" the new Zeon lieutenant yelled out as he set his Rik Dom skimming towards the Big Tray. The two Goufs with him lifted off and sped ahead of his still ground based mecha on their skimmers.
The Foreign Legionnaire, Kim Bederstadt, just shook his head. "I guess we'll follow on the ground." Far in the back. Wouldn't want to steal someone's limelight, he thought with a snort.
The two Goufs were flying towards the Big Tray when the lead Gouf was sliced in half by some sort of beam weapon from a sky blue Gundam. The second Gouf was winged, knocking off his shoulder armor by a 30mm cannon shot by the sniper GM on the top of the Big Tray masquerading as General Revil's Big Tray, The Unconquered.
The Zeon were totally shocked, this was nothing like what they were expecting. Below them the wounded ground battleship in the valley opened fire with every cannon at its disposal. The few remaining tanks added their ineffectual fire, but it was the mass of Mobilesuits that were the overwhelming danger. There were five mobilesuits visible. FIVE!
"I'll show you the power of superior technology!" the pilot of the Rik Dom shouted as he skimmed around the rugged hills. "Your Federation pieces of junk are no match for Zeon technology!" He ignored the main battle tanks. Those Mobilesuits looked far more lethal. One of the GMs was slow to duck and his mega-bazooka shattered its entire right side.
"He's too fast! He got me!" Spike shouted in pain.
Ken swore as he heard the surviving Goulf pilot screaming for backup support from his Foreign Legion squad. He turned his Zaku of to the east and made line-of-sight to the flatbed trucks that had driven them to this location. "Contact base and tell them that the Big Tray has been severely reinforced. It must be a high priority defense point! Maybe some Federation leadership is in there!"
"Yes, sir!" was the startled reply.
"Men, follow me!" Ken shouted. His Zaku squad started to pound gravel towards the far off fight. "We'll show them that experience matters more than fancy new suits!"
2nd Lt. Matt Healey moved to support, firing a few shots at the Rik Dom while watching the Gouf zoom by overhead, trying to avoid being shot down. The Gouf leaped from his flying sled and slammed into the side of the Big Tray, where Athena met him, beam saber in hand. The Gouf barely blocked the beam saber with his heat sword for a split instant. The inferior weapon was melted, but did deflect the attack.
"Surrender! You are outclassed!" she shouted.
The Gouf pilot replied with his action, lashing out with his electrically charged whip, trying to incapacitate her. A quick double swiped of her GM's beam saber and she first disarmed him and then disarmed him of his remaining arm. She then pointed the saber in the center of his stomach, where the pilot likely sat.
"I won't repeat myself again!" Athena said coldly.
The Gouf pilot opened his hatch, holding his hands up to signal his surrender.
That was when Ken and his two Zaku squad-mates arrived. Ken's eyes opened in surprise. They had already taken out the second Gouf? "Lay down some suppressing fire!" he shouted. The older Zaku's machine guns churned, sending GMs scattering.
The Rik Dom pilot was getting upset. The Feddie clowns were ruining his moment in history! He skidded sideways, surprising another GM pilot. Tim managed to block the beam saber with his shield for a second. Dropping his gun, he pulled his own saber, but the Rik Dom was already out of range.
"Dammit!" Tim shouted. That was when Ken sent him sprawling onto his face with his Zaku.
"Sorry, kid," Ken said, even as his heat axe slammed down. He triggered his jumpjets to leap away even as the GM exploded.
"TIM!" Alex shouted as her Gundam exploded over the Big Tray on flaming thrusters from her sniper position. Everything started throbbing and pulsing. Where there should have been the concern or pain from her friend... was nothing.
She twisted in mid-air to focus on the Zaku with the Zeon symbol on its forehead. It then ducked back in retreat behind the Rik Dom that was causing a problem to the rest of the squad. "Out of my way!" she screamed. In that one moment of hatred, she swept away all of her previous thoughts of not feeling her enemy's feelings. The enemy's presence in front of her pulsed and throbbed within her mind, even as her movements slammed into higher gear.
"You are too slow-" the Rik Dom pilot started to crow, when the Gundam slammed into the ground right in front of the Big Tray.
Three beams strobed from the beam rifle even as it rocketed forward, the backwash smashing it forward as fast as his nuclear thrusters. His right arm and leg were cut cleanly off even as the Rik Dom's head disintegrated.
The Gundam's knee smashed into the remains, knocking the Rik Dom onto its back while barely slowing down.
"What the hell?" Matt Healy shouted. That was-
Noel Anderson eyes were just wide in surprise from where she was in the shattered control room of the big tray battleship. "That was impossible. No one can be that good, can they?" The Gundam pilot's anger was almost palpable. Was that the power of New Type?
"Don't worry, Sarge! I've got you covered," Zurm said even as his Zaku bracketed the Gundam dead to rights.
The Gundam's GM shield snapped out, sweeping almost all the bullets from the Zaku from hitting anything critical. "DIE!" Alex screamed, even as she blasted towards him with her beam cannon. The shot mostly missed, only shearing his shoulder shield off as he frantically dodged.
"Zurm, get out of there!" Ken shouted. "Use your grenades to cover our retreat." He followed his own advice, dropping a grenade between him and that insane pilot.
The grenades blanketed the whole area, blocking her view and sending her back in momentary retreat. By the time the area cleared, the Zaku were running fast. The only thing she could see were the two air-flyers that the Goufs had arrived on. In a fit of anger, she fired her beam cannon at the one that was further away, instantly destroying and damaging the other one with its explosion. It started belching smoke as it barely cleared the hill.
The psychic shriek of terror from a young girl struck Alex like a trip-hammer to the center of her forehead. Her Gundam stopped instantly as she was psychically assaulted by May Kauwin, a 14 year old prodigy technician onboard the crippled air-flyer, whose arm was lacerated as the pilot of the air support ship crashed-landed her ship as far from the battle as possible. For his heroic efforts, the pilot was rewarded by being impaled by a tree branch that had broken thru the cockpit window, killing him instantly! But May would live and even be recovered by Ken and his troops.
Matt's face was terribly grim as he over saw the devastation of the attack. One pilot killed in action and another wounded. As far as he was concerned, they had totally failed.
Such a different view from General Revil and the rest of the Earth Federation Forces Joint Chiefs.
-
"It was all my fault, Captain Wills," Alex said later in private to Athena. Her back was ramrod straight.
"Sergeant Pierce, it is always easier to look back over what you did in the past and think 'I should have done this' but it is never that easy." Athena stood up. "At ease. That's a direct order. I concurred with your decision to try and limit your sensitivity, due to what happened to you in France. My God, woman, they killed your mother! You're allowed to be human!"
"But Tim- I couldn't save him! Because of my selfishness, he's dead!" she cried out, even as her shoulders started to shake.
"Alex, there's a hard truth that all soldiers must face. You can't save everyone. We are fighting for our very survival and our principals. Never lose that hate for seeing friends and enemies die. Never become so callous about death, but accept that you can only save those that you can. Without you, Tim and Spike probably would both be dead in Colorado. You saved their lives then and let Tim become the soldier he wanted, to make a difference in this world." The smaller woman put her hand on her shoulder.
"But he's still dead!" she anguished.
In a soft voice, Athena said, "Open your mind, let you feel my emotions. If not for yourself, then for me."
"But-"
"Try."
Alex let down the barriers she had built up after the battle down. First was the caring, sympathy and compassion of Athena Wills, overlaying her own feelings of grief and loss. It was unconditional. Tears started to leak out, then a torrent as sobs shook her. She needed to feel that caring feeling from Athena, she realized. Breaking all military protocol, she grasped her senior officer in a tight, desperate hug and drowned her tears on her shoulder.
And then she started healing.
-
"Listen up!" Captain Athena Wills called out over the loud thrum of the transport on their headset. She and Alex were in the first Medea transport. The rest of the 85th was in a second transport. "We've just received information that a prototype Federation cruiser for deploying mobilesuits has been cut off. They are in desperate need for supplies and relief."
"Oh, great. Into the fire again," Spike cat-called. He spared a quick glance to his friend Alex. She was trying to hide it, but she was still hurting over losing her mother and then Tim.
Alex rolled her eyes. "Lt. Healy and his team are going to try and draw these fighters off our tail. So be nice to the nice people playing distraction."
Lt. Matilda Ajan interrupted with, "Lt. Healy and the 03rd Unit are away. And it looks like they are drawing pursuit."
Captain Wills nodded. "Thank you, Lieutenant. Pilots, I want you to have your mobilesuits prepped for launch once we have rendezvous with the White Base."
-
The flotilla of Medea transports landed near the critically damaged White Base Carrier Pegasus in a clearing of tall trees. All of the young volunteer soldiers cheered as Lieutenant Matilda Anja appeared. Even the moody Amuro Ray brightened up, even after all his recent problems. The supplies she was bringing would be very welcome.
Supplies started to unload on trucks, heading to the battered ship, when the first flat-bed with a Mobile Suit appeared.
Up on the bridge, Fraw Bow leaned over the edge to get a better look. "That's a mass production Gundam, isn't it, Captain Noa?"
The young lieutenant, who was only provisionally the captain, nodded. "Yes, but I thought they had lost their mobilesuit escort. They ran into a bit of a firefight on the way over here."
Back outside, the pilots of the prototype Project V mobilesuits from Side 7 were discussing things. Kai Shiden was grousing about the newer suits. "That's a mobile suit? It looks like a cheap knock off for a Gundam."
Amuro Ray just gave him an odd look. He was turning back just in time to see another suit trundle by. This was definitely not a mass produced Gundam. It looked almost identical to his own mobilesuit. "Another Gundam?"
The deck crew looked on from the front launching bays of White Base as the new mobilesuits were set up under camouflage netting. Amuro stared at the oddly colored Gundam, with it's sky-blue instead of deep-blue of his own Gundam.
Kai nodded. "Yeah. I thought you were the only one, but I guess the Federation has been moving things up. I'm just glad I'm not in a GM though." Just as he said that, a standard GM appeared on its flatbed.
Sayla Mass walked up behind Amuro and coughed to get their attention. "Amuro? Kai? Captain Wills wants to talk to you. She's in the captain's quarters with Captain Bright."
She led them back inside White Base and to the captain's door. She opened the door. "Lt. Noa? Captain Wills? Ensign Ray and Shiden."
Bright Noa nodded, waving them in. Amuro noted Captain Wills and a very young seeming sergeant eying him curiously. He frowned as he seemed to feel something, but it eluded him after a moment.
"Lt. Noa?" Alex said, looking intently at the female rating crew that was turning to leave. "I think she needs to stay."
"Sergeant?" Athena asked while raising an eyebrow.
Alex continued staring at the blonde who was looking quite nervous. She could feel she was hiding something, but felt no malice.
Amuro's brow was furrowed. He felt like he was on a precipice of a great discovery. He could feel something from the sandy-haired officer mobilesuit pilot.
"Sergeant?" Athena asked again patiently.
"Oh, sorry. Yes. She needs to be here." Alex shook her head.
Sayla slipped on her mask of indifference. "Of course." Inside, her heart was beating. Were they about to uncover her dark secret?
"Close the door. Captain Wills?" Bright said, turning the meeting over to his senior officer.
"At ease." Athena turned to the four officers of White Base. "What do you know about New Types?"
With a dry voice, Sayla spoke up, "Zeon Zum Deikun postulated that mankind would evolve once we left the cradle of mother Earth. Most people don't believe in him."
Athena grinned at Sayla, turning the stern officer into a grinning urchin that just happened to be wearing an officer's uniform. "Well, he was right while being wrong in a lot of particulars."
Sayla looked dumbfounded. "What?"
"Zeon has been researching into New Types and we thought we were very far behind, until we discovered our New Types." Athena was not surprised when Amuro interrupted.
"Who was the first?" the young man asked morbidly.
"Why, you, of course, Ensign Amuro Ray!" Athena held her grin for one more second, then turned more serious. Pointing out Alex, she continued, "Sergeant Peirce was our second potential New Type. She detected a Zeon sneak attack before anyone else, by sensing the Mynovski particles that were being spread around."
Kia's eyes bulged, even as he protested loudly, "But that's impossible!"
Sayla and Amuro were thinking similar thoughts, but were uncertain. They had both felt unusual things at times. Bright just listened intently, while narrowing eyes as he took in the suddenly flustered sergeant.
"It should be, yes. The exotic particles have no reaction to any chemical receptor, they just quantumly distort electro-magnetic waves, specifically radio and to lesser extents other frequencies, even such frequencies a light." The petite blonde officer looked intently at all of the members of White Base's crew. "High Command has had to radically rethink the thoughts behind the New Type phenomena. We know it isn't related to being in space-"
"It isn't?" Sayla exclaimed. Her father was so wrong?
"Well, not directly to being in space. Mynovski particles occur naturally in space, in very minute amounts. The Earth's atmosphere absorbs these minute amounts quite easily. According to some egg-heads that Jaburo dug up, empathy and telepathy may be related quantum entanglement or some scientific gobbldygook," Athena said, shrugging helplessly. "But, with Alex here, we finally have demonstrated proof of heightened mental abilities. And from the reports that we managed to decipher from White Base, we think that Amuro has had several instances of heightened awareness. Alex at least had training in how to pilot a mobilesuit before she was in combat."
"I'm not sure that I like the idea of mental powers being used in war," Bright finally said slowly.
"It's too late for that. We have sources that say Zeon has already made several breakthroughs in New Type abilities and technology. The Zeon are close to another war machines that might invalidate all of our efforts to catch up from their creating the Mobilesuit. We don't want another One Week War. We've lost enough people to the murdering bastards!" Athena snapped out while slamming her fist on the table. "And by damn, we are not going to allow it if I have anything to say."
"You don't think the Zeon would break the Treaty of Antartica, do you?" Amuro asked worriedly.
Alex interjected abruptly with, "What do you think? What do you feel?" She looked at Amuro intently then Sayla. "You know the answer, don't you. You can feel it."
Kai huffed at being ignored. But it was Sayla that finally spoke. "They would, if they thought they could get away with it. Their rulers are monsters."
"Monsters that would do anything to win," Athena said finally. "The only reason that they didn't continue using nuclear and biologic weapons was that they didn't have enough to really finish the job... and the Federation did."
Bright almost shivered. Even he was starting to feel something momentous. "So what do we do?"
"Among the equipment that Lt. Matilda Ajan brought with us is some test equipment based on reports from Sergeant Pierce. We think it might allow us to figure out how strong the New Types on this ship are," Athena said. "I need you to sign these orders and paperwork for your security clearance. Under no circumstances are you to reveal this information to the enemy. The fate of the Federation depends on it."
-
Even as the White Base was being busily repaired for emergency takeoff, three black and purple suits were skimming towards the crippled vehicle. They were being sent to deal with a new threat from the Federation. They were confident in their success, using the latest in Zeon mobilesuit technology, the Rik Dom. They had been training extensively for this.
They were the Black Stars, a trio of Zeon ace pilots that had captured General Revil during the One Week battle. It was one of the most crushing and public humiliations against the Federation's morale after the massive battle and shocking number of death on both sides along with all of the civilians.
"So you guys ready to bag a Feddie Ace?" the lead pilot asked on the laser com.
"Born ready! You know that!" was the catcalled reply.
The federation soldier in the tree stayed very still as they waited for the laser signal to transmit the oncoming direction of the three Rik Doms. A few minutes later, the Doms zoomed around a small hill, catching sight of the white ship. The Pegasus was a very strange ship indeed. It looked very modular to the leader of the Black Stars.
"Looks like we caught them with their pants down. Take out that bridge!" he ordered even as his Rik Dom skimmed over the rough hills.
The Mobile Suit hatch opened, readying to launch a bright red suit that looked like it had dual cannons built into its shoulders. It dodged the first mega-bazooka shot from a Rik Dom which spiraled to strike the heavy armor of the Pegasus.
"Yahooo!" yelled the second Rik Dom pilot as he skirted a small rocky outcropping. A finger stabbed down just as he cornered it, with devastating affect. A heavy land-mine exploded, shooting deadly fragments into the thrusters of the Rik Dom's right leg. The thrusters died, sending the Rik Dom stumbling. "What the hell?"
"Open fire!" Captain Athena Wills shouted, even as the camouflaged Gundams and GMs fired from their crannies, but the two mobile Rik Doms jinked left-right-left again to dodge the trap, taking only minor damage.
The grounded Rik Dom was a sitting duck as he was literally hammered off his feet and onto his back, his mega-bazooka exploding and covering the area in debris.
"Marg!" the ace leader shouted. He had heard that the 'Horse' had been resupplied, but not reinforced to this degree. There where at least three Gundams and three GMs on top of that Gun Cannon that was moving into position. "Retreat!"
"I'm going to take out that ship before I do. Cover me while I go in! All I need is time to fire one Bazooka right into the bridge!" his final last wingman said. His Rik Dom was skating along the ground, avoiding all of the attacks adroitly.
Alex could almost feel the hate emanating from the Rik Dom, it's intensity rising even as its mono-eye flashed. It's going to for the Pegasus! He's going to try and kill the bridge!
"No he isn't!" Amuro screamed. The RX-79 prototype leaped into the air on its way to intercept the Rik Dom. His beam rifle was dropped after missing thrice, but his swiftly deployed beam saber cut the mobilesuit in half.
The Rik Dom lost containment spectacularly, rocking the ship and blistering its armor.
"That's not possible! How could we lose to them!" the leader of the Tri-Stars asked, even as he tried to retreat. But there was just nowhere to go, the enemy had him bracketed. First the Hyper-Bazooka shattered, then exploded. Then his Rik Dom's left shoulder disintegrated from a beam spray shot.
Once his leg thrusters were damaged, he was done for. The Rik Dom staggered like a punch-drunk prize-fighter. One final blast from a sniper cannon ended it, sending the Rick Dom to the ground on its face.
The White Base Carrier Pegasus had survived mostly unscathed.
-
The last major Zeon stronghold on Earth, Odessa, was falling to their enemy. Ken was a professional enough soldier to not mince words. They were getting their asses kicked. While the GMs that the Feddies were fielding in large numbers were nothing special, they were effective. A little better than Zaku. That was it.
There were just a lot of them. A hell of a lot them. And that didn't even count the massive amount of Feddie tanks. He hadn't thought there were this many on the entire planet. The Feddies were really pulling out all stops on this attack.
"Retreat! Regroup at Point Delta!" Ken shouted to his Zaku squad.
"We're running out of places to retreat!"
"Tell me something I don't know!" the sergeant snapped out. Wait. That Gundam! He knew that mobilesuit. It was that crazy pilot from the Big Tray that they had later found out to be a diversion, but far too late.
The sky-blue and white Gundam was being a holy terror on the field of battle, almost blurring out of the way of a Gouf that attempted to hit it with heavy machine gun fire.
"My god!" one of Ken's Zaku pilots whispered.
Alex leaped left, then right, easily dodging the machine-gun fire. Urgency was building within her. A turning point in the war was coming up. Her breath was becoming raspy, even as her eyes were heavily dilated.
Captain Wills tried the com again. "Sergeant Pierce, what is your status?" She and the rest of the expanded 85th Tactical Squad were trying to follow Alex, but she was running far ahead of them. The only reason she wasn't panicking was that the devastation she was leaving in her path. The rest of them were merely cleaning up behind her. But she was getting worried her soldier's state of mind. All of a sudden, she'd just headed off like some demented robotic jack-rabbit. An armed and dangerous one at that!
Ken yelled out, "Retreat to that ridge to the right!" He was already moving, but he could see that Gundam changing direction and heading towards where he had just called a retreat to. It was screaming danger to him in an instinctual way that he could not ignore.
"Change orders! Just retreat from that fucking Gundam!"
"Gottadefeattheenemy...gottadefeattheenemy..." she repeated, over and over again as her personal mantra against the pain in her heart. She very nearly lost her focus, seeing that hated Zaku with the forehead emblem. Alex could take her revenge for Tim's death... or she could do something to end the war faster. She suddenly skidded to a halt right at the ridge. Her hands started adjusting the power outputs by feel. "Almost there. Can't let the bastards get away."
-
Colonel M'Quve snarled at his operations officer. "How long until we can launch?" He was on the bridge of the Zanzibar class cruiser, fighting to fall in despair over the ground battle going on outside the ship.
"The Madagascar will be ready to launch in just fifty minutes, sir!" the officer reported.
M'Quve frowned as he looked over the display on the ground battle. Did they have fifty minutes? He forced himself to release the tension in his shoulders. Not even the Feddies would be able to break all the way through his lines.
Suddenly, he frowned as a small section of the battlefront turned crimson suddenly. Then the second battle line followed, then just moments later, the third line behind it. It almost looked like the Feddies had somehow broke through the perimeter defense. "Lieutenant Vorbs, what is going on in sector Delta-Thirty?" he yelled out.
"It's being over run, sir! The men are screaming about some sort of Federation super-weapon!" Vorbs looked up from his console.
"Launch the Madagascar immediately! We'll show the damn Feddies that we won't be backed into a corner!" the head officer of Odessa yelled out.
"Our Minovsky Craft system is not fully repaired! This early offensive caught us unawares!" the XO of the Madagascar called out. "We had to repair the system even to hope to make it back into space!"
That diversion over the Feddies battleship had really cost them, setting back carefully planned defenses into total disarray. M'Quve watched the breach widen as someone on the Federation side took full advantage of the break, getting in behind defenses and breaching the line in more and more places.
It was becoming a rout.
Something about the first break in the line was not making sense to him though. He studied it for a second before he drew the line of the breach all the way towards the center of the base... right to this hanger! "All men, man you guns! All mobilesuit pilots, prepare to launch!" he suddenly called out.
-
Amuro grinned, even as he felt the pulse of the battle. Something had totally thrown the Zeon back on the defensive. And he was finally giving some payback for all those unending attacks upon the Pegasus. Up ahead, two Zaku IIs were busy holding their ground and defend the huge, armored hanger doors. He nailed the left Zaku with his beam rifle and charged the second one while drawing him beam saber, knowing that it's heavy machine-gun would not even do more than mar the paintjob on his Gundam.
With a sweep, he cut off both of its legs and then its gun arm. Then he trod inside Odessa Base itself, seeing where two Zanzibar cruisers were being readied for takeoff. Six Zeon mobilesuits were busy trying to defend the cruisers from the opposite hanger doors where another Gundam was trying to break through.
'Alex!' Amuro thought to himself. He suddenly leaped forward, even as his beam rifle clipped a Rick Dom. The other mobilesuits, all Goufs, suddenly scattered. That proved their undoing, as the other Gundam managed to make it in and behind cover.
'Amuro, we have to keep those ships from launching!' Alex sent silently. Her Gundam suddenly lurched out, melting the shoulder off another Gouf.
The Gundam pilot nodded, even as he charged under the space cruisers. Even as he continued to fire with his beam rifle, his left arm pulled out his backup beam saber. With a sweep, he started to drag the weapon along the bottom of the cruiser. It started to have secondary explosions from his attack, totally gutting its effectiveness.
M'Quve was shouting orders when the Eldreen exploded, rocking the Madigascar off of its landing pads. "No, it can't end like this!"
"Sir, the rest of the base is over run! Only five percent of the Heavy Lift Rockets were even able to attempt to escape and most of those were shot down."
"This is a disaster of the highest order!" the commander shouted.
That was when an explosion rocked his ship again as a beam disintegrated the poor navigator at the front of the bridge. Then two mobilesuit hands ripped the front of the bridge open.
"Surrender immediately, or be destroyed!" the menancing pale-blue Gundam ordered, even as a racheting whine came from its head.
"We surrender! We surrender!" came the order.