Tale Three: Lieutenant James Keffer – RGM-79L GM Light Armour – Operation Star One
Lieutenant James Keffer's GM Light Armour stood on the hull of a Columbus transport. The monitors in his cockpit gave Keffer a superb view of the Earth Federation Space Forces fleet ranged against the space fortress A Baoa Qu. The forward elements of the fleet had already begun the attack and it would only a matter of time before Keffer's unit was in position to make its move.
Then it came, the green light to go. Around him the standard GMs activated there thrusters and kicked off the hull of the Columbus. Keffer gently coerced a slow climb out of his GM Light Armour; he didn't want to waste fuel by dashing around like a madman. He was joined by the three other GM Light Armours that made up his 'hunting' party. Keffer had been given the nickname White Panther because he was known to stalk his enemies before killing them; a stylised white Panther head on a hexagonal black background quickly became his personal insignia.
He keyed in the squadron communication channel, he wanted to give them at least one last message before minovsky particles made it impossible. 'Okay Panthers this is the big one try to stick together but if we get separated try to look after the little ones. I'll see you all on the other side.'
'Copy that Panther Leader.'
'Yes sir.'
Confirmed Panther Leader.'
Keffer heard the replies; he could feel the fear in their voices. They were all scared, they had barely escape Solomon with their lives and now they had to fight a battle that promised to be even more deadly. Even Keffer, the grimfaced veteran of Loum, had a feeling of dread growing in the pit of his stomach.
'I was piloting a crappy Sabrefish back than. Now I've got a machine that can take the fight to Zeon properly.'
Keffer shook his head and brought down the visor of his pilot's suit. They were closing in on Zeon defence lines. There were swarms of GMs, Balls and all manor of GM variations closing in on the line which seemed to have just as many mobile suits but with a far greater variety of types. He could various different types of Zaku as well as Rick Doms and even a scattering of the new Gelgoogs.
Suddenly Keffer brought his GM Light Armour up to full speed and set course for a pack of Zaku IIs. The Zaku IIs spotted Keffer's approach and started to fire at him with their machineguns but Keffer was moving to fast for them to get a clean lock on. Keffer pulled his targeting scope out, as the twin crosshairs locked onto the first Zaku II Keffer squeezed the trigger. The torrent of mega particles leapt forth from his beam gun and lanced through space; the beam caught the Zaku II in its torso but it narrowly missed the reactor. Instead of exploding the Zaku II was sent spinning off but it was defiantly dead. Keffer quickly changed targets and let his crosshairs lock on again. This time he blasted the head off a Zaku II before placing beam right through the cockpit.
Then, as quickly as they had approached, they were past the Zaku IIs. Keffer checked his side monitor and saw that his wingman was still with him and the young pilot had even managed to bag a pair of Zaku IIs himself. Rather than going back and finishing off the last pair of Zaku IIs Keffer decided to continue on towards A Baoa Qu. Out of the corner of his eye Keffer saw a Rick Dom firing its bazooka at point blank range at a turret on a Magellan class battleship, then a GM emerged from beneath the battleship and slashed the Rick Dom across its chest with a beam sabre. Off to another side he saw a Zaku II kicking a damaged Ball into a nearby GM. A shudder ran down is spine, this was desperate fighting.
Out of the broiling melee a Gelgoog came hurtling towards Keffer's GM Light Armour. Keffer deftly avoided the first few beam rifle shots. Keffer tried to turn his GM quick enough to get around the Gelgoog but the Zeon mobile suit's high speed made that difficult. Keffer sent the GM into a climb and then span it back down, he succeeded in catching the Gelgoog off guard but the pair of shots he fired missed their mark.
Suddenly the Gelgoog pulled out its twin beam sword and took a swipe at Keffer's GM. In reply Keffer activated his own beam sabre and blocked the attack. Keffer back off slightly but then rallied quickly and launched into a series of jabs aimed at the Gelgoog. The Gelgoog seemed to hesitate and Keffer deduced that the pilot wasn't particularly adept at melee fighting. He didn't get a chance to press his advantage as a pin point mega particle beam nailed the Gelgoog right in the centre of its chest. Keffer looked around to see where the beam had come from. Off to his right a GM Sniper II appeared and dropped a hand onto the GM Light Armour's shoulder.
'Thanks for playing decoy White Panther.' Just as quickly as the GM Sniper II appeared it jetted off and merged into the general background.
'Damnit Cole! That was meant to be my kill you good for nothing Earthnoid!' Keffer knew that the sniper would never be able to hear him but it felt good to release some of his pent-up tension.
Keffer noticed that his wingman had returned from dispatching a Rick Dom. It looked as though the other GM Light Armour had taken some damage; he was half tempted to order the pilot back to the carrier to get it repaired. The GM Light Armour's were fragile machines, not designed to take a lot of punishment. However the decision was made for him when a hail of machinegun bullets ripped through the torso of the damaged GM Light Armour. Keffer was sure that the pilot couldn't possibly have survived. Yet another friend I have to bury.
He could see the culprit, it was a Zaku II F2 painted black and yellow. 'Oh an ace, this is going to be fun.' A grim smile set upon his face, but there was a niggling feeling at the back of his mind as if he'd seen this Zaku before. Keffer forced himself to cast aside any doubts he might have, he had to do this.
The Zaku II F2 was armed with a 90mm machinegun and was spraying bullets at Keffer's GM but he was too nimble to be hit. His own counterattacks failed to get results; the Zaku II F2 was able to dodge at just the right moment to avoid being hit. Keffer cursed under his breath but didn't give up; he pressed his attack forcing the Zeon ace to back off. A wild shot from his beam gun caught the right knee of the Zaku II F2 causing the mono-eyed machine to shudder violently. The Zaku returned fire and scored a hit to the beam gun. Keffer instantly threw the damaged weapon away and readied his beam sabre.
Taking advantage of the momentary pause in the Zeon's attack, due to the need to replace the ammunition clip, Keffer surged forward towards the enemy mobile suit. He threw the sabre into a wide swipe and then dramatically swept it back in a shorter arch that sliced through the Zaku II F2s left arm. The Zeon pilot didn't allow the loss of the arm distract him, he rallied perfectly and let rip with his 90mm machinegun at the Federation mobile suits vulnerable flank. The 90mm bullets tore through the thin armour plating of the GM the head of destroyed first before the spare of bullets continued down through the GMs body.
Keffer hammered on the GM Light Armour's controls but the whole system was dieing. One of the side monitors exploded and showered the cockpit with glass. He swore loudly expecting the final blow to come any second. However nothing happened, Keffer waited a little longer and still nothing happened. All the monitors were offline so he couldn't tell what was happening. Cursing again he undid the straps that held him in place he then triggered the hatch release and exited the cockpit.
The GM Light Amour was drifting in a tint pocket of calm within the middle of one of the greatest space battles in history. The yellow and black Zaku II F2 had disappeared; Keffer surmised that the pilot must have thought he was dead already and in a strange sort of way he did feel dead. For the second time in the year he was left drifting in space while surrounded by terrible bloodshed.
'Call yourself an ace do you? You could have at least finished the job properly!'
End of the Tale
Lieutenant James Keffer's GM Light Armour stood on the hull of a Columbus transport. The monitors in his cockpit gave Keffer a superb view of the Earth Federation Space Forces fleet ranged against the space fortress A Baoa Qu. The forward elements of the fleet had already begun the attack and it would only a matter of time before Keffer's unit was in position to make its move.
Then it came, the green light to go. Around him the standard GMs activated there thrusters and kicked off the hull of the Columbus. Keffer gently coerced a slow climb out of his GM Light Armour; he didn't want to waste fuel by dashing around like a madman. He was joined by the three other GM Light Armours that made up his 'hunting' party. Keffer had been given the nickname White Panther because he was known to stalk his enemies before killing them; a stylised white Panther head on a hexagonal black background quickly became his personal insignia.
He keyed in the squadron communication channel, he wanted to give them at least one last message before minovsky particles made it impossible. 'Okay Panthers this is the big one try to stick together but if we get separated try to look after the little ones. I'll see you all on the other side.'
'Copy that Panther Leader.'
'Yes sir.'
Confirmed Panther Leader.'
Keffer heard the replies; he could feel the fear in their voices. They were all scared, they had barely escape Solomon with their lives and now they had to fight a battle that promised to be even more deadly. Even Keffer, the grimfaced veteran of Loum, had a feeling of dread growing in the pit of his stomach.
'I was piloting a crappy Sabrefish back than. Now I've got a machine that can take the fight to Zeon properly.'
Keffer shook his head and brought down the visor of his pilot's suit. They were closing in on Zeon defence lines. There were swarms of GMs, Balls and all manor of GM variations closing in on the line which seemed to have just as many mobile suits but with a far greater variety of types. He could various different types of Zaku as well as Rick Doms and even a scattering of the new Gelgoogs.
Suddenly Keffer brought his GM Light Armour up to full speed and set course for a pack of Zaku IIs. The Zaku IIs spotted Keffer's approach and started to fire at him with their machineguns but Keffer was moving to fast for them to get a clean lock on. Keffer pulled his targeting scope out, as the twin crosshairs locked onto the first Zaku II Keffer squeezed the trigger. The torrent of mega particles leapt forth from his beam gun and lanced through space; the beam caught the Zaku II in its torso but it narrowly missed the reactor. Instead of exploding the Zaku II was sent spinning off but it was defiantly dead. Keffer quickly changed targets and let his crosshairs lock on again. This time he blasted the head off a Zaku II before placing beam right through the cockpit.
Then, as quickly as they had approached, they were past the Zaku IIs. Keffer checked his side monitor and saw that his wingman was still with him and the young pilot had even managed to bag a pair of Zaku IIs himself. Rather than going back and finishing off the last pair of Zaku IIs Keffer decided to continue on towards A Baoa Qu. Out of the corner of his eye Keffer saw a Rick Dom firing its bazooka at point blank range at a turret on a Magellan class battleship, then a GM emerged from beneath the battleship and slashed the Rick Dom across its chest with a beam sabre. Off to another side he saw a Zaku II kicking a damaged Ball into a nearby GM. A shudder ran down is spine, this was desperate fighting.
Out of the broiling melee a Gelgoog came hurtling towards Keffer's GM Light Armour. Keffer deftly avoided the first few beam rifle shots. Keffer tried to turn his GM quick enough to get around the Gelgoog but the Zeon mobile suit's high speed made that difficult. Keffer sent the GM into a climb and then span it back down, he succeeded in catching the Gelgoog off guard but the pair of shots he fired missed their mark.
Suddenly the Gelgoog pulled out its twin beam sword and took a swipe at Keffer's GM. In reply Keffer activated his own beam sabre and blocked the attack. Keffer back off slightly but then rallied quickly and launched into a series of jabs aimed at the Gelgoog. The Gelgoog seemed to hesitate and Keffer deduced that the pilot wasn't particularly adept at melee fighting. He didn't get a chance to press his advantage as a pin point mega particle beam nailed the Gelgoog right in the centre of its chest. Keffer looked around to see where the beam had come from. Off to his right a GM Sniper II appeared and dropped a hand onto the GM Light Armour's shoulder.
'Thanks for playing decoy White Panther.' Just as quickly as the GM Sniper II appeared it jetted off and merged into the general background.
'Damnit Cole! That was meant to be my kill you good for nothing Earthnoid!' Keffer knew that the sniper would never be able to hear him but it felt good to release some of his pent-up tension.
Keffer noticed that his wingman had returned from dispatching a Rick Dom. It looked as though the other GM Light Armour had taken some damage; he was half tempted to order the pilot back to the carrier to get it repaired. The GM Light Armour's were fragile machines, not designed to take a lot of punishment. However the decision was made for him when a hail of machinegun bullets ripped through the torso of the damaged GM Light Armour. Keffer was sure that the pilot couldn't possibly have survived. Yet another friend I have to bury.
He could see the culprit, it was a Zaku II F2 painted black and yellow. 'Oh an ace, this is going to be fun.' A grim smile set upon his face, but there was a niggling feeling at the back of his mind as if he'd seen this Zaku before. Keffer forced himself to cast aside any doubts he might have, he had to do this.
The Zaku II F2 was armed with a 90mm machinegun and was spraying bullets at Keffer's GM but he was too nimble to be hit. His own counterattacks failed to get results; the Zaku II F2 was able to dodge at just the right moment to avoid being hit. Keffer cursed under his breath but didn't give up; he pressed his attack forcing the Zeon ace to back off. A wild shot from his beam gun caught the right knee of the Zaku II F2 causing the mono-eyed machine to shudder violently. The Zaku returned fire and scored a hit to the beam gun. Keffer instantly threw the damaged weapon away and readied his beam sabre.
Taking advantage of the momentary pause in the Zeon's attack, due to the need to replace the ammunition clip, Keffer surged forward towards the enemy mobile suit. He threw the sabre into a wide swipe and then dramatically swept it back in a shorter arch that sliced through the Zaku II F2s left arm. The Zeon pilot didn't allow the loss of the arm distract him, he rallied perfectly and let rip with his 90mm machinegun at the Federation mobile suits vulnerable flank. The 90mm bullets tore through the thin armour plating of the GM the head of destroyed first before the spare of bullets continued down through the GMs body.
Keffer hammered on the GM Light Armour's controls but the whole system was dieing. One of the side monitors exploded and showered the cockpit with glass. He swore loudly expecting the final blow to come any second. However nothing happened, Keffer waited a little longer and still nothing happened. All the monitors were offline so he couldn't tell what was happening. Cursing again he undid the straps that held him in place he then triggered the hatch release and exited the cockpit.
The GM Light Amour was drifting in a tint pocket of calm within the middle of one of the greatest space battles in history. The yellow and black Zaku II F2 had disappeared; Keffer surmised that the pilot must have thought he was dead already and in a strange sort of way he did feel dead. For the second time in the year he was left drifting in space while surrounded by terrible bloodshed.
'Call yourself an ace do you? You could have at least finished the job properly!'
End of the Tale