Tale Fourteen: Lieutenant Karl Curran - ZM-S06S Zoloat – The Zanscare Assault on Side 1
Lieutenant Karl Curran tried hard to stop himself from laughing. Spread out in front of the space colonies of Side 1 was a motley collection of old mobile suits and even older warships. It was a rather pathetic and disorganised force but that was to be expected from the remnants of the Earth Federation Space Forces. Today was going to be another great victory for the mighty Zanscare Empire. The time had come to show the poor ignorant fools of Side 1 the true light of Queen Maria's love and help them overthrow the shackles of the archaic Earth Federation. Karl's black and yellow Zoloat stood expectantly on the catapult of the Callisto class cruiser Rienzi he was stationed on. He was ready to kill all those who failed to believe in Queen Maria even if he had to burn the entire Side to do so.
It was the enemy who opened fire first. The capital ships of their ragtag fleet opened up sending torrents of mega particles soaring through space. It was not a unified affair but moved rapidly along the Federation line as each ship suddenly realised that the fighting had begun. Off to the Rienzi's port side the Siciliano was unlucky enough to take a direct hit to its mobile suit hanger before it could activate its beam shield. The beam breached the reactors of all the mobile suits lined up in the hanger causing them all to explode violently. Before long all that was left of the Siciliano was a rapidly disappearing blob on the Rienzi's radar screens. Along the Zanscare battle line a few other ships were hit but none fatally. There was a pregnant pause with the Federation barrage petering out as their main guns worked through their recharge cycle. The Zanscare reply was deadly efficient with every ship firing at once. From his vantage point Karl could see far more explosions among the Federation vessels than there had been against his side. Then the order to launch came and Karl couldn't have been happier.
Karl's distinctively coloured Zoloat raced down the Rienzi's mobile suit catapult and out into space in no time at all. The other machines in his squadron fell into formation behind Karl's Zoloat. They knew that he wanted to lead the charge himself and none of them dared to get in his way. Karl was an officer that liked to lead from the front no matter how dangerous it might be. Karl's father was highly placed in the Gatie Party and could have secured his son any rank or position in BESPA. However all Karl wanted to do was pilot mobile suits. Therefore his father pulled enough strings to get him the rank of lieutenant and a squadron of mobile suits to command.
Then in an instant the mobile suit battle was joined. It was obvious to Karl that the Federation forces were completely outmatched. The most advanced machine in their line up, that his sensors could detect, were the antiquated Javelins. Karl readied his beam rifle. A single shot was all that was needed to put the first Federal mobile suit out of it's misery. The Federal dogs were hardly worth the effort of killing them. However it was a job that had to be done. A pair of blue Javelins attempted to hem Karl's Zoloat in unfortunately for them Karl's machine was far more manoeuvrable. He deftly span the Zoloat out of the feeble trap while letting rip with his torso mounted vulcan guns. The bullets from the multi-barrelled projectile weapon tore through the head of one of the Javelin's before it could raise it's beam shield. The remaining Javelin fired off it's two shot lancers but Karl battered them away with his beam shield as though they were nothing.
Karl decided that perhaps he could have a little fun with this Feddie. A few quick button presses on his control sticks activated the Zoloat's beam strings. All five of the wires zoomed out from their housing and ensnared the Javelin. Moments later thousands of volts of electricity was sent coursing through the Federation mobile suit disabling most of its systems. Karl laughed as the Javelin jerked wildly then went limp. Karl took his opportunity to give the Javelin's head a good hard kick. The head came away easily and was sent spinning off. Little did Karl realise that roughly ten minutes later the remains of the Javelin's head would smash into the crew compartment of a Sinope patrol craft and kill everyone on board.
All around Karl the battle raged. The mighty Zanscare Forces were cutting a bloody swath through the Federation battle line. Naturally it was not without sacrifice. Here and there a careless pilot was caught off guard and duly killed. It was Karl's opinion that anyone stupid enough to be killed by this trash got exactly what they deserved. He finished off the Javelin with a swift kick to the cockpit. It crushed the flimsy armour and pilot alike.
"Oh please, you have to be kidding me," Karl exclaimed as he saw a trio of Heavyguns emerge from the conflagration and approach him. The Heavygun was a relic from a bygone age. For Karl it was proof of just how pathetic the Federation really was. He brought his beam rifle up and squeezed off one shot that tore through the solid shield that the lead Heavygun used to defend itself. Karl fired again and the shot went straight through the grey mobile suit's torso. The remaining two Heavygun's dropped their beam rifles in favour of sabres.
Karl liked a good duel as much as anyone so he stowed his rifle and switched to his beam sabre as well. The Federal machines kept at a respectful distance at first. Their pilots were not totally stupid. They tried to bracket the black and yellow Zoloat but it was not easy, Karl was an expert pilot. With sabre out for a heavy blow one of the Heavyguns rocketed in with all its force. Karl was just able to block the blow with his own sabre but the two machines remained locked. Not wishing to loose the advantage the Heavygun let rip with its head vulcans; the machine-guns tore chunks out of the Zoloat's armour and shattered the glass protecting the Zoloat's main camera. Karl swore loudly and, almost too late, noticed what the other Heavygun was doing. It was about to impale his Zoloat. For a moment or two Karl did genuinely panic but years of hard training kicked in to save himself. With a single movement he activated his beam shield and released the lock on it's shoulder mount. The whole shoulder pauldron extended outwards on an armature and as the beam shield flared into life it sliced straight through the waist of the Heavygun. The Federal suit's beam sabre blinked into lifelessness as the whole upper body drifted away from its legs. The remaining Heavygun was quite clearly shocked by the fate of its comrade and Karl took advantage of that shock to break the sabre lock. Barely a moment later he sliced two great chunks out of it's torso.
"Curran to Rienzi. Have suffered minor damage. I am returning for repairs," he declared over the radio. "Ensign Smith, continue the attack."
End of the Tale