Chapter Nine

Axis Zeon Endra-class cruiser Mirandra, The Side 3 Border Region, L2
15th October UC 0087

There was a polite knock on the door to Commander Anthony Curran's personal wardroom. As fitting his status as the Mirandra's captain Anthony's wardroom was surprisingly spacious and rather luxurious when compared with the rest of the ship. As well as the usual dinning table there was also a set of sofas and even a dartboard. On the walls was a selection of art from some of the most prominent artists in Side 3 from before the War of Independence. One of Anthony's favourites was Walter Heim's evocative oil painting of early colony construction. It served to remind him of the fragility of the colonies.

There was, however, still knocking at the door so Anthony finally responded and allowed the person to enter. Seeing that it was his old friend Warren Luther he leapt up from his seat to shake Warren's hand.

"Warren it is so good to see you again properly," said Anthony offering a seat to his friend. "I'm sorry we couldn't talk properly yesterday but you know how it is. Operating within Federation territory is still somewhat risky so it is demanding a lot of my attention."

"There is no problem sir, it gave me an opportunity to freshen up," replied Warren.

"Please, Warren, none of that sir crap. There is no need for formalities between us. We've known each other too long for that," insisted Anthony.

"As you wish. I must say Anthony you are doing rather well for yourself," commented Warren. "This ship is rather more impressive than that old rust bucket of a Musai you were driving when I last saw you."

"Yes she is a fine ship isn't she," said Anthony proudly. He hadn't expecting getting the Mirandra at all. There had been plenty of far better qualified people above himself on the pecking order. Apparently Lady Karn herself had something to do with his selection. "She was fresh off the construction line when I got her. Of course that meant it took us a month to get her space worthy and then another three weeks training the additional crew members. Dear god they were awful. I swear they are recruiting kids nowadays."

"Are things that bad at Axis?" asked Warren as he took a sip from the drink provided for him by the serving staff that were hovering around at the back of the room.

"There is still overcrowding although the officials refuse to acknowledge it," replied Anthony. "They have been increasing the recruitment recently though I suspect it is just alleviate the pressure on civilian housing by cramming recruits into the barracks."

"I recall some talk of trying to repatriate civilians to Side 3 upon our official return to the Earth Sphere," said Warren. "I didn't hear anything about it while working for the assembly. But of course they were all petrified of the mere idea of Axis returning."

"From what I understand. There is going to be no repatriation program until Lady Karn has secured our complete control of Side 3," said Anthony. "Frankly it's a bloody stupid idea. We need to offload as many of the civilians as we can."

"So enough of this dreary business. How is your good loving wife?" asked Warren.

"Oh please Warren you know full well that love has nothing to do with my relationship with Maria," replied Anthony sharply. "The only thing she loves about me is my rank of Commander and all the privileges that gets her."

His marriage to Maria Seaward a year and a half previously had not been a matter of love. It was a marriage ordered by the Axis government. A decree had been passed to ensure the future manpower supply of Zeon and thus all eligible males and females were duty bound to provide as many children as possible. The policy was causing a childcare nightmare back at Axis but that was something Anthony did not have to deal with. His union with Maria had produced a son for the regime. However Anthony had not seen his now eight month old son, named William by his mother, since the day he was born. Anthony had rather mixed feelings about the child. Naturally he was proud to be a father however the boy had not been conceived out of any love between the parents. If anything he felt rather sad for William having to grow up in a world where conflict was constant.

"Even so she is very attractive," commented Warren. "You got lucky there. You could have ended up with a real dog of a woman like poor old Fettel did."

The conversation was disrupted by a knock at the door. Anthony beckoned the knocker to enter and Warren noted it was a rather young looking crewman.

"Sorry to disturb you Commander but we have just received a coded transmission from headquarters," reported the crewman as he held out the printout.

"Thank you Miles you are dismissed," Anthony took the printout and began reading it while Crewman Miles made a quiet exit. "Seems like our lords and masters want us to do a spot of snooping."

"Oh?"

"Yes. They want us to spend some time investigating the Corregidor shoal zone," said Anthony. "Intelligence suggests that the AEUG are using the area. They want us to find out what for."

"From what I understand they used it to train some of their pilots," replied Warren. "The Republic managed to infiltrate a spy into the AEUG. The mission was to find out if they really were trying to restore the Zabi family like the Titans have been saying. He spent some times at their Sweetwater base and did training in the shoal zone. Naturally he never found out where Sweetwater is exactly but he did recognise Corregidor."

"Is this spy still in the AEUG?" asked Anthony.

"No. He was killed during the AEUG's attack on Jaburo." replied Warren. "A shame really. He was quite a nice chap."

"Well no matter. If it is used for training we will do a quick fly by. I can't image any trainees causing us any problems."

---

AEUG transport ship Queen of Von Braun, The Corregidor Shoal Zone, L2,
20th October

The Queen of Von Braun had quite a small crew area when compared with other transport ships like the Federation's Columbus class. It was after all only a transport ship more suited to inter-Side commerce. This annoyed Lieutenant Marcus Cole quite a lot. It was rather difficult to do training missions in such cramped conditions. The Queen of Von Braun had more than enough room to carry the six GM IIs of the trainees along with his own GM Sniper Custom and Lieutenant Keffer's Rick Dias. However that impressive carry capacity came at the expense of the crew quarters. It was fortunate that Sweetwater was only a few hours away from the shoal zone he hated to think what it would be like spending several days on the Queen of Von Braun.

The metal door to the supply room that was doubling as a briefing room slid open and Marcus walked inside. The room was occupied by the six trainees pilots. They were all young and completely inexperienced when it came to mobile suit piloting. All but one of them were spacenoids who hadn't even tried piloting a mobile pod. The one who did have mobile pod experience was a lunarian who had briefly worked the docks in Granada. Half of the group were women. Personally Marcus thought that women shouldn't have to fight and that it was a man's job. They had improved a lot since Marcus had first met them but, unlike the group being shepherded by Jason Raynor, they hadn't advanced as far as trying Nemos yet.

"Okay everyone I'm glad to see you are all wide awake," he said as he moved to the front of the room. "Today we will be making another run through the shoal zone. Unlike last time however this will be a live fire exercise. Yes you heard me right it has been decided that you lot are ready to fire live ammunition." There was a general murmur of excitement through the group. They had been dying for a chance to try out real combat. "Lieutenant Keffer has kindly volunteered to go into the zone first to seed a series of automated drones. The drones are armed with low power beam guns. Make no mistake they are still powerful enough to destroy your GM IIs so don't piss around while you are out there. Now Lieutenant Keffer and myself will be in the zone throughout just in case anything goes wrong and you need help."

---

Pilot trainee Arnold Dent eased his GM II off the crude deck of the Queen of Von Braun. With careful thruster control he set off into the debris field. Around him his fellow trainees were spreading out. They were all determined to be the first one to get a 'kill' on one of the drones. Arnold especially so he didn't want to be upstaged by one of the women in the group. He thought they were acting a bit too big for their boots. He was particularly annoyed with Raima Sen she was a stubborn, stuck up little cow of Indian decent. She was continually undermining Arnold's position within the group. Just because she had a little experience in piloting a mobile pod she acted like she was somehow superior.

After fifteen minutes of flying the sensors on his GM II recorded an explosion roughly ten kilometers away across the debris field. Arnold swore loudly when the computer displayed who had scored the first kill. It was that bitch Raima. He knew he'd never live this down. Raima was the sort of person who'd rub it in whenever she got the opportunity too.

Arnold hammered his foot down on his main thruster peddle. He used far more force than was really necessary and it caused his GM II to rocket through the debris field faster than was safe to do so. In the back of his mind the rational portion of Arnold's personality knew he was being far too reckless in an environment that was potentially deadly. However it was the irrational and very angry part of his mind that was apparently giving the orders. As such he was rather surprised when he looped around a wrecked Salamis class cruiser and came face to face with one of the drones.

The drone fired both of its beam guns at once. The short red beams struck the GM II's shield as Arnold was able to position it just in time. The thin layer of anti-beam coating on the shield prevented it from being totally destroyed but Arnold knew that it would virtually useless against any other beam attacks. To prevent having to worry about that he quickly aimed his beam rifle and fired. The first beam shot tore through the drone's video camera targeting system. The next two shots ripped through the main body of the drone causing it to explode.

Arnold felt triumphal satisfaction sweep through his body. The computer confirmed that he was the second person to destroy a drone. It might not be first place but it was better than nothing. Unfortunately for Arnold that feeling did not last long as he computer reported that six unidentified mobile armours were approaching his general area. As they came into visual range he noted that they looked like flying claws and that five of them were bright pink. The last one of painted black and yellow. Suddenly Arnold felt very alone.

---

The six Gaza-Cs from the Mirandra slowly encircled the hapless GM II. For all but one of the Axis Zeon pilots this was their first encounter with a mobile suit that wasn't home grown. Anthony Curran was, of course, a veteran of countless mobile suit battles. He had racked up thirteen mobile suit and sixteen mobile pod kills during the One Year War during some of the bitterest fighting. It annoyed Anthony that his pilots were so green. He knew full well that the AEUG had been fighting the Titans for months now and they were certain to be building up lots of experience.

"What should we do with this one Commander?" asked Justin Sleet. It was an interesting question Anthony had to admit. Their orders had been to observe the AEUG training regime within the shoal zone. It didn't mention anything about contact with the enemy. They had quite unintentionally stumbled upon the lone GM.

"We can not allow the AEUG to know that we have penetrated this close to their headquarters," said Anthony. "Mr Sleet you have permission to terminate the target."

"Y-yes sir!," stammered Sleet. His voice was full with the strange combination of fear and excitement.

Anthony wondered whether he had ever sounded like that. Eventually he decided that he must have. These young pilots were getting a positively tame introduction to mobile suit warfare. His first mission had been Loum. He still suffered from the nightmares.

Justin Sleet activated the transformation function on his Gaza-C. The pink machine swiftly changed from mobile armour mode to the tall and lanky mobile suit mode. The other Gaza-Cs backed off partly to give Sleet room to work and partly to make sure they were outside of the blast radius. The main thing that Justin would remember about his first kill was that the GM II didn't even react when he fire his knuckle buster. There was no attempt to dodge or block the shot. Justin rationalised the odd behaviour by believing that the enemy pilot was even greener than he was.

---

Lieutenant James Keffer's black Rick Dias stood on the shattered engine pylon of a Musai cruiser. The majority of the debris in the Corregidor shoal zone were the remnants of colonies and captured Federation vessels. During the One Year War the Principality of Zeon used the shoal zone as a testing ground for both pilots and machines. Now of course there was a lot of Zeon debris mixed in as well. After the war efforts had been made to try and clean up the space lanes which resulted in existing shoal zones getting more debris dumped into them.

None of this bothered James Keffer as he was currently snoozing lightly. He couldn't explain it but lately he had been feeling abnormally tired. The Valiant's doctor hadn't been able to find anything wrong with him and suggested it might be a mental problem. By his nature James was a man of action. He thrived in an dynamic environment of action. Therefore the garrison duty at Sweetwater was severely hampering his normal life style. The only thing that resembled excitement, if you could call it that, came during training missions and they were pretty grim.

"Queen of Von Braun to Lieutenant Keffer please respond," the voice of the control aboard the transport ship rattled around the Rick Dias' cockpit. They were more than loud enough to wake James.

"Yeah, what is it?" he asked as he blinked the sleep from his eyes and scanned his controls and monitor.

"We've lost contact with one of the trainees. Dent's GM disappeared shortly after destroying a drone. It's possible the debris is blocking our signals," reported the Queen of Von Braun. "Please check out the area and see what is happening."

"Roger that Queen. I'll go find your errant schoolboy," James eased his Rick Dias off the damaged Musai. The attack mobile suit's thrusters flared briefly to provide sufficient momentum to push it deeper into the debris field.

It took James about ten minutes to reach Dent's last know coordinates. At first nothing seemed unusual. He spotted the wreckage of a drone easily enough and he was about to move on when something caught his attention. There was a damaged GM foot slowly rotating a few meters away from a wrecked Salamis. It was green, the same shade of green used by the AEUG.

"Damnit," James muttered under his breath as he quickly discovered more bit of Dent's GM II scattered around the area. Judging from the level of damaged he could tell that it wasn't a drone that destroyed the GM. Something far more powerful was lurking in the shoal zone. Unsurprisingly his thoughts darted back to August but he put them to rest immediately. There couldn't possibly be another one those things. Either way he wasn't having much luck with subordinates and shoal zones lately.

"Queen of Von Braun this is Keffer. Dent's dead. His GM II has been destroyed." reported James. "Order all the trainees back to you. There is something powerful in here with us."

"At once sir!" was the reply from the transport ship's communications officer.

He switched his communications channel over to his squad frequency. "Cole we've got trouble. Dent is dead. I want you to cover the trainees as they evacuate,"

"My god, that's terrible." replied Cole. "What about you sir? Do you think it was the Titans?"

"It could be. I'm going to investigate," said James as he piloted his Rick Dias through the debris field. "I'll catch up with the rest of you."

"Roger that sir, good luck!"

---

Raima Sen felt sick. She was shocked to hear of Dent's death. Less than half an hour ago she'd been teasing him in the locker room on the Queen. Now he was dead. He might have been an annoying and highly strung individual but she had considered him a comrade in arms. Of course she knew that in war people died. However when one of those people was someone you knew quite well it suddenly brought the severity of the whole situation into focus.

Suddenly a powerful beam rocketed past Raima's GM II. It missed by little more than a metre. Raima screamed and without thinking threw her GM off in some random direction. That blind manoeuvring saved her life as the next shot passed through where the GM had been. When she recovered her composure enough he turned around to see where the attacks had come from. Six strange mobile armours were approaching through the debris field. For some reason they reminded her of the crabs she had seen during her visit to Earth eight years ago. She didn't wait to find out who they belonged to. She just began firing her beam rifle.

One of the mobile armours broke off from the rest and closed in on her. It was not deterred by her attempted attacks. This mobile armour was different from the other as it was painted black and yellow. To her surprise as it approached it transformed into a mobile suit. Finally she was able to land a shot on the new mobile suit however it simply shrugged off the shot from the GM IIs glorified beam water pistol. She fully expected to by join Arnold Dent at any moment so it came as something of a shock to see Lieutenant Keffer's Rick Dias appear from nowhere and shoulder barged the black and yellow mobile suit.

Keffer's voice crackled over Raima radio moment later. "Withdraw at once Raima. I'll deal with this."

It took her a few moment to recover and remember herself. "But sir, I can't leave you."

"I said withdraw! That's an order trainee!" bellowed Keffer. "You are no good to me in that piece of excuse for a machine."

"Yes sir!"

As Raima's GM II retreated James positioned his Rick Dias between her and the mobile armours. Just looking at them he had a feeling that they were not Titans machines. They certainly weren't from the Federation or the Republic. That left just one candidate. That black and yellow mobile suit was worrying him as well. The last time he had seen that black and yellow chequered pattern had been at the Battle of A Baoa Qu. Some people within the Federation Forces had given it the nickname Storm Lord on account of its storm-like ferocity in battle. Only later, much later, did James learn that the Storm Lord was in fact Anthony Curran his old childhood friend from Side 5.

James' hand darted over his communication panel turned off all the encryption software and opened a channel. "Hello Anthony. We haven't spoken in some time."

---

Of course Anthony recognised the voice. It was impossible to forget. It did however take him by surprise. After all what were the chances of them meeting again like this after all these years? Anthony did not believe in God but sometimes he did wonder if there was something up there pulling the strings.

"Well who'd have thought it. The Federation's little pawn all the way out here," Anthony sneered. "What is the great defender of the Federation doing in the AEUG?"

James didn't reply. Anthony had his Gaza-C slowly circle around the black AEUG mobile suit. His computer identified it as a Rick Dias.

"Could it be that you've finally come around to my point of view," said Anthony. "You understand now that the only way to make the Federation act is through violence."

"You are wrong Anthony. As a member of the Federation Forces it is my duty to protect the Federation from all enemies both external and internal." said James finally. He knew it was a risky strategy but if he could keep Anthony talking that might give the trainees time to escape. "The Titans are oppressing the spacenoid population and that has to be stopped. The AEUG aren't trying to overthrow the Federation. We just want to stop the Titans."

"But what has happened to your much vaunted democracy?" demanded Anthony. "You told me once that the Federation could solve all its problems through the Assembly. Are you not usurping the Assembly's power with your military action?"

"I won't deny that the Federal Assembly has lost its way," replied James. "It merely needs setting back on the right track."

"Commander what should we do about the other AEUG mobile suits?" asked Justin Sleet on a private channel.

"Hunt them down and kill them," ordered Anthony. "They do not deserve to live."

"Yes sir!"

"James you are more a fool now than you have ever been," said Anthony conversationally. All around him the other Gaza-Cs were starting to move. The Rick Dias didn't move. "Even though you are presented with irrefutable evidence of the Federation's terminal corruption you still cling to these foolish ideals of democracy. Your precious Federation created the Titans. They are you own devil and the only way you can defeat them is to take up arms against the Federation."

"The Federation only created the Titans in response to spacenoid terrorism. You can not blame people for wanting to protect themselves." replied James. He was concerned about the leaving Axis mobile suits but there wasn't anything he could do about them. Without information on these machines he had no idea if he'd be able to take down even one of them let alone six.

"You are defending the actions of the Titans?" asked Anthony. There was a mixture of surprise and disbelief in his voice. "Those butchers?"

"Of course not. I'm merely saying that I understand the reasoning for their existence," countered James. "Yeah they are butchers but they learnt all the tricks of the trade from your Principality."

"You should be careful of what you say my old friend," said Anthony as he levelled his knuckle buster at the Rick Dias. "Your mobile suit might be fat with armour but I bet it can't withstand this."

It was Keffer that fired first. The round streaked out of the Rick Dias' clay bazooka and struck the shield protecting the Gaza-C's left arm. As the explosion cleared it was obvious that the Axis mobile suit was not badly damaged. The shield had be rendered more or less useless but the arm still operated. Anthony replied by firing his knuckle buster but Keffer had already started evasive manoeuvres.

---

The green and white GM II for Raima Sen sped as fast as it could through the debris field towards the Queen of Von Braun. To say that she was desperate was something of an understatement. Through the minovsky interference her radar was showing the five mobile armours gradually catching up with her. So far she'd worked out that they were much faster than her GM but there manoeuvrability was terrible. They kept having to go around dense pockets of debris rather than weaving through them. This was pretty much the only advantage she had.

"Raima can you hear me? This is Lieutenant Cole. Where is Lieutenant Keffer?" The words came as a massive relief to Raima. If communications were coming through this clear then she had to be close to the Queen.

"I-i don't know sir. He told me to retreat while he held them up," she stammered. "There are five of these strange transforming mobile armours behind me. I think Lieutenant Keffer is holding up their leader."

"Just keep them coming." ordered Cole. "We've got something special planned."

"Yes Sir!"

The remaining minutes it took to reach the Queen dragged for an eternity. It was however resolutely worth it. As she rounded a wrecked Magellan the Queen of Von Braun was a welcome sight indeed. However she could only see Lieutenant Cole's old GM Sniper Custom. The other trainees in their GM IIs were nowhere to be seen. Cole's suit was standing on the main hold of the Queen with his beam launcher at the ready. It was about that time when Raima worked out Cole's plan. Unfortunately it meant that she had to be the bait but considering what was happening that wasn't really all that surprising. The assumption was that the enemy would be concentrating on Raima's GM too much to notice Cole's sniper mobile suit or that the other four GM IIs were concealed in the debris ready to spring an ambush.

Right on cue the five mobile armours rounded the same Magellan that Raima had just passed. Raima's GM II peeled off to the left and at the same time Cole fired. With pin point accuracy the beam launcher's shot caught the first pink mobile armour right in the middle of it's groin. The armour plating held up against the onslaught for a moment or two but eventually buckled. The beam launcher was a lot more powerful than the GM II's rifle and therefore the enemy mobile armour didn't stand a chance. It seemingly started to disintegrate before finally exploding. In reaction to this the pink mobile armours attempted to scatter. However despite the impressive speed the mobile armours had decidedly unimpressive manoeuvrability. Cole didn't expect to hit anything with his second shot in these situations you rarely did. However this time it scorched down the topside of one of the mobile armours. The enemy mobile weapon was far from destroyed but it now had a lengthy burn mark.

"Now everyone attack!" ordered Cole. Moments later the four hidden GM IIs emerged from their hiding places.

---

A stray beam shot hit the forward magazine of the derelict EFSFS cruiser Hinchinbrook. The rushing torrent of mega particles ignited ancient munitions from a conflict long dead. The Hinchinbrook's tortured superstructure finally gave up trying to hold the ship together as a series of terminal explosions raced through the hull for the second time in eight years. The Hinchinbrook's explosive second death played backdrop to the dual of two other relics of that long dead war.

James fired the last round from his clay bazooka at Anthony's machine. However the Axis pilot was able to avoid it with a careful side movement. Cursing as he did so James threw the now useless bazooka away and pressed the button on his floating seat to switch to a beam pistol. As an afterthought he also grabbed a beam sabre with his suit's free hand but didn't activate it yet. The enemy machine fired its powerful beam cannon-like primary weapon again. James avoided the shot and returned fire with his beam pistol.

Neither pilot was making any headway. Anthony was able to overcome his machine's technological weaknesses with sheer piloting experience but it still lagged behind the Rick Dias. James was forced to admit it had been quite some time since he had faced an opponent with so much skill and experience. Therefore he wasn't faring as well as he would normally. He supposed that it might also have something to do with the pilot he was facing. During the One Year War he had sworn to kill Anthony for his crimes and had gone on to fight him a couple of times however he had never actually known it was Anthony. Now when the time finally came it was a quite strange feeling.

"What's wrong Panther something got your teeth?" sneered Anthony. James found it quite surprising that the radio was still working.

"Just warming up!" grunted James. He fired a snap shot that grazed the Axis mobile suit's left leg. "I wouldn't want this moment to fade too quickly."

The two machines twisted and turned trying to get a better vantage point. They zoomed in and out of wreckage from the war that had destroyed their lives. It was a chilling reminder to both of them when a stray shot hit a ruined Salamis. A still airtight compartment must have been breached as a half dozen limp normal suited bodies were sprayed out into the debris field. The next shot from Anthony's knuckle buster finally struck home. As it did so it tore off the Rick Dias' right leg entirely.

---

Scott Forrest could spot a disadvantageous situation from a mile off and he was right in the middle of one. The death of Steve Bokkes to the very first shot of the engagement had unnerved all the Axis pilots. They had all been to the academy together and had been friends. Now Bokkes was dead and the rest of his team mates were scurrying for their lives. Scott couldn't understand it. They'd been told that the AEUG were training new recruits in the shoal zone but the GM IIs were able to keep the Gaza-Cs separated. All the Axis training had been centred around tight formations of many mobile suits. Not only did this allow them to maximise firepower but also gave protection to the inexperience pilots.

The blasted AEUG sniper fired again. It's powerful beam came ruinously close to Scott's engines. Fortunately it didn't cause any damage but it was enough to shred the last remnants of his morale. He didn't even bother to inform his comrades of his decision he just took off in the direction of the Mirandra. Before long he was joined by the rest of the Axis mobile suits.

---

Anthony smiled at the sight of the Rick Dias loosing it's leg. There was something about the AEUG machine that was ever so slightly unsettling. It reminded him far too much of the Rick Dom. He readied himself to fire another shot to finish off the damaged suit. However he was caught by surprise as the Rick Dias was far from finished. It's beam pistol flared three times. The only one shot hit the Gaza-C, striking it on the right shoulder. The more worrying thing however was the fact that the Rick Dias was heading straight at Anthony at full thrust with it's beam sabre activated. Naturally Anthony tried to evade but it was far too late. He cursed the lacklustre manoeuvring capabilities of the Gaza-C as the beam sabre was plunged into its chest. Anthony wasted no time in triggering the ejector system that sent the Gaza-C's cockpit zooming safely from the dying mobile suit.

The black AEUG mobile suit lost its right arm as the Gaza-C exploded. James having neglected to let go of the beam sabre quickly enough. Anthony did not see this as he drifting cockpit was picked up by one of the retreating Gaza-Cs. The Axis Zeon forces were retreating with their collective tails between their legs.

---

Axis Zeon Endra-class cruiser Mirandra, The Corregidor Shoal Zone, L2

Anthony Curran sat on a bed in the Mirandra's infirmary. His green officer's jacket was draped over his shoulders as an attractive young nurse was applying a bandage to his head. He had received a minor injury while rattling around inside his cockpit. The main doors to the infirmary opened and in walked Warren Luther. The black haired intelligence office came to a stop by Anthony's bed and stood wit his hands clasped behind his back.

"I will get revenge for this insult Warren," said Anthony bitterly. "I am going to make James Keffer suffer."

"Of course sir," replied Warren. "We will make it our top priority. What are we to do with the pilots, sir? They all ran away."

"Half rations for a month and combat exercises five times a day with live ammunition," declared Anthony. "They too will suffer the consequences of their actions."

---