Tale Nineteen: Lieutenant Sofia Saxe-Coburg-Gotha - GAT-02L2 Dagger L - Sometime after the Battle of Gulnahan Ravine
Lieutenant "Saxy" Sofia Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was somewhat less than happy. Her day seemed to be going from bad to worst. It had started with a rather annoying escort mission to the Atlantic Federation Arzachel base. As if simply going there wasn't bad enough her departure was substantially delayed by the Atlantic cruiser Churchill cutting in line. Now, hours later, Sofia's home base of Herschel was under attack. Six Nazca destroyers had approached the small Eurasian controlled Lunar crater from the direction of Arzachel. Yet another reason for Sofia to hate the Atlantic Federation they had allowed the ZAFT ships to approach Herschel unmolested. The entire garrison was being called out for the defence even the two large Agamemnon battleships, Franz Josef and Frederick the Great, were floating above the base.
From Sofia's position, flying just ahead of the Allenby, it looked like there was an angry mass of ZAFT mobile suits levelled against the Eurasian forces. Of course the Eurasian Federation garrison actually outnumbered the ZAFT attacks however the garrison was outfitted exclusively with Dagger Ls. Much to Sofia's annoyance her computer was registering that at least half of the enemy forces were new models. These 'ZAFT Armed Keeper of Unitys' that so many people were talking about. Sofia couldn't help but think that was a silly name for a mobile suit and the acronym was just as daft. In light of these opponents Sofia had finally been convinced to load her Dagger L up with a Striker Pack. The lack of any real ranged weapons on the Sword Pack had forced her into choosing the Launcher one instead. She thought the "Angi" hyper impulse cannon was far too bulky and cumbersome but the firepower it brought to bare was impressive.
A head of Sofia and the Allenby a screen of ten Drake class escort ships had formed up. They lacked any real staying power against the Nazca destroyers since they didn't have any beam cannons. However the impressive missile and torpedo batteries they possessed gave them considerable barraging power. As if to prove the point all ten of the Drakes opened fire with all their missiles and torpedos. Sofia watched as they streaked out through space towards the ZAFT forces. She doubted they'd do much damage. ZAFT had good pilots more than capable of dealing with missiles. The main point of the attack was to break up their formation and shake their confidence. As the Drakes drifted back into formation with the Nelson cruisers the scores of Eurasian mobile suits charged towards the attacking ZAFT machines.
As the two forces closed to within firing range they set upon each other with a murderous rage. All along the battle line explosions flared as mobile suits died. Anyone studying the conflict could clearly note that there were by far more explosions in the Eurasian ranks. Sofia brought about her "Angi" hyper impulse cannon. Silently she cursed its weight and then carefully targeted the weapon. She pressed the trigger and watched the multi-coloured beam tear through space. It struck the GuAIZ R she had aimed at just off centre. The beam ripped the torso in half sending scraps of debris flying off in all directions. Off to Sofia's right a Doppelhorn equipped Dagger L was gunned down by beam rifle fire. She twisted her Dagger and let rip with the 120mm anti-ship vulcan cannon mounted on the right shoulder of her machine. The heavy anti-ship shells easily penetrated the armour of the poor GuAIZ R that had felled her comrade. Almost immediately Sofia was forced to falter and bring her small shoulder shield into play. A pair of GuAIZ Rs swept down upon her. She tried her best to block what attacks she could but regrettably a stray beam struck the left leg of her machine and severed it at the knee. Swearing loudly, and in no less than three languages, Sofia desperately attempted to rebalance her Dagger L. Swinging the "Angi" around wildly she accidentally fired it. The beam blasted off the legs of one of the GuAIZ Rs. To aide her a pair of Dagger Ls swept down and finished off the GuAIZ Rs with well placed beam carbine fire.
As she caught a brief respite she watched as one of the Nazcas was utterly destroyed by the heavy guns on the Franz Josef. Regrettably the Eurasian ships were taking a battering as well. Three of the little Drakes had been destroyed and even the Allenby had been hit but she was battling on. It was at that time that Sofia noticed something odd. Far above the Lunar surface and far above the battle she spotted what looked that thruster trails. If the enemy attacked from above they would have a virtually clear run at the entire fleet. Despite the damage to her machine Sofia directed her Dagger L to investigate.
It did not take very long at all for her computer to pick up the six enemy targets above her. It registered that all six were ZAKUs. Three of them had the striker packs that intelligence called Blaze and three had Gunner packs. The Gunner ZAKUs had more than enough firepower to decimate the fleet and there was little Sofia could do the warn them. The N-Jammers were in full flow so she couldn't get a radio message out. She had no option other than to fight. So that was what she did. Quickly aiming the "Agni" hyper impulse cannon she squeezed off a shot that caught one of the Gunner ZAKUs completely unaware. Apparently the ZAFT mobile suits had failed to spot her Dagger L. Unfortunately the destruction of their comrade alerted them to her presence. The three Blaze ZAKUs swarmed into towards her. All three of them fired off a fearsome barrage of missiles from their Blaze packs. The barrage caused Sofia to back off as quickly as she could. Her 120mm anti-ship vulcan spewed fire and the vulcan shells ripped through the missile swarm destroying most of them. Unfortunately two of them got through. Swearing loudly Sofia detached her "Agni" cannon and threw the long green weapon at the incoming missiles. Fortunately for the European pilot the missiles struck the cannon rather than her Dagger L. She whipped out her M703K beam carbine and started her counterattack. She fired off three shots in quick succession that all hit the lead ZAKU but were blocked by its shield. Sofia couldn't help but notice that the shield was barely scratched.
The two remaining Gunner ZAKUs did not even bother to hang around to see what would happen to Sofia. They charged off after the fleet and to Sofia's horror they both planted beams through the hull of the cruiser Alsace. At the same time it appeared that the Blaze ZAKUs did not fear Sofia at all as the lead suit took great pleasure it blasting off her Dagger's right arm. Sofia could hear her heart pounding louder than it had ever done before. She knew she was certainly going to die. There was nothing she could do to prevent it. She was entirely at the mercy of the ZAFT pilot. She only hoped they make it quick. And then something quite unusual happened. As if out of no where a hail of heavy missiles appeared. The ZAFT mobile suits were caught entirely by surprise. They might have been the latest technological marvel to come out of PLANT but there was little they could do against missiles designed to penetrate warship armour. All five of the ZAKUs were struck down with ease. Then to Sofia's surprise the allied ship deactivated it's mirage colloid cloak and revealed itself to be the Girty Lue. The mighty blue warship charged on towards the ZAFT vessels and fired all six of its massive Gottfried cannons. Three of the Nazcas were felled in a single volley. With help from the remaining Eurasian ships the last two were finished off with ease and suddenly all the ZAFT mobile suits were feeling from the scene. All Sofia could do was float aimlessly in her damaged Dagger L. It galled her to think that she'd been saved by an Atlantic ship and one controlled by the Blue Cosmos no less.
End of the Tale