Chapter 14
"Robotech Cavalry"
After UN Spacys Admiral Ranma Saotome broadcast to both EA and Zaft Forces requesting not to fire on their fleet, several Zaft battlegroup continued on towards the Space Fortress as its own defense forces were wipe out.
Zaft Forces
Minerva Battlegroup
Captain Talia Gladys watches a live broadcast from Messiah, as the last of its defenders were annihilated by the aliens called 'Minbari' and another race called 'Centauri' as the UN Spacys called them.
When the Minbari have finished the last ship and mobile suits, the alien's then turned their weapons fire on Messiah itself next. They started destroying weapon emplacements, bombing every port and entrances while avoid damaging the crash Sharlin.
The alien's weapons not only destroyed their missile launcher and laser batteries, it also penetrated deep into the base interior causing atmospheric decompression inside the base, and anyone were unable to find shelter dies thru suffocation.
The Minbari also mercilessly started shooting down escape pod and shuttles that tried to evacuate the fortress and life signs in damage ships and mobile suits were viciously cut down with not a hint of mercy or remorse.
10 minutes after the first battle, communications in all forms from Messiah have ceased,
The Fortress went silent and the Minbari went into a spherical defense around the Messiah at 200 kilometers and a second line 100 kilometers inside the sphere as one of the Sharlin is trying to pry out the one crash on the Messiah.
When Minerva saw the mercilessness of their enemy, the Minerva's Battlegroup and two other battlegroup's approached Messiah at full burn and ready to engage the new enemy with the full might of Zaft. But as they got close to Messiah, they came under a hail of powerful beams that are fusion based where a direct hit will certainly end the life of a ship.
In response, one of the Zaft's battlegroup which is just ahead of Minerva battlegroup, begun firing their main guns the moment they were in range of their target. At the range of 3,000 kilometers, it would be easy for their Laser Designators to get a good lock on, but as they watch their weapons fire path, something was very wrong.
Every shot they made have missed their target by as much as 50 to 100 kilometers. Their aim was off the mark and thinking that it was calculation error they repeated their attack, the result was still the same. And now, the Minbari return fire along with swarms of Sentri fighters that cuts them down.
Minerva's Battlegroup
10,000 kilometers from Messiah Fortress, the Minerva's Battlegroup is only 7,000 kilometers behind the first battlegroup. They watch in horror to what is happening to the first group via type laser beam communication broadcast from a dedicated commander of that group, explaining what went wrong as his ship and a few remaining others is fighting for their lives.
"There is some kind of stealth field around the alien ships that our LD can't get a lock on because its distorting the LD targeting beams and we're also detected some sort of gravitational anomaly around the ships. We believe that it's some sort of energy field, most probably a barrier of sort,"
Another fusion beam rock the ship again as it struck at the engine room and this time he knows that this is the end, so he gave a final warning
"Be cautious in approaching them, whatever they are using for a targeting system, our N-Jammers seems to have no effect and watch out for their fighters they've defeated most of our mobile suits as if they…" the signal disappeared abruptly, everyone look outside and see the reason why
A flash of light from the distance, signals the death of the last ship of that battlegroup. Captain Gladys and the crew stood up from their seat and saluted in respect to the commander of that brave battlegroup.
For Gladys, she felt like her heart sunk down to her feet for the loss of that group and the information they sent at the cost of their lives made her determined to fight the aliens and avenge the death of their comrades
Up to the end, they sent as much information that they could send about the aliens that prove helpful but also made their job difficult. According to the first battlegroup sensor analysis, their LD (Laser Designators) shows lock on but it was false when they began firing against the aliens which is the biggest problem, because their main weapons rely on the system to hit a target properly.
Without it the LD systems, they will have to fight the aliens in a close quarter battle between ships by visual targeting, and it's a battle they will surely loose since they saw what happened to the defenders at Messiah, for the aliens weapons can burn thru Zaft armor easily and their fighters seems to be stealth capable.
'Visual Targeting' Gladys groans in the only means they have to fight the enemy 'That means we need to get as close to them as possible to get a good shot at them"
"Arthur"
"Captain"
"What's the maximum effective range of our visual targeting systems?" she ask and he answered
"To hit a target using visual at max effective range is about a thousand kilometers at most, fifteen hundred would be stretching it, and anything pass that is next to impossible" he answered his captain, and now Arthur felt himself getting cold and worried of why his captain ask him that
Gladys looks at the faces of her crew and sees how worried they are now. At that moment, Minbari fusion beams were streaking by at 100 kilometers from their position and getting closer every shot. Clearly, their adversary is doing a form of ranging shot at 10,000 kilometers.
Gladys presumes that they are beyond the maximum range of the aliens targeting capabilities and that 4,000 kilometers is possibly the limit of their firing range but most likely its farther than that.
The crew waits for their orders as their captain weigh her options. A minute later she gave an order
"Ahead full, go to Zigzag maneuvers, ready the anti-beam depth charges and prepare to launch the mobile suits the moment we get in range," She said and added "Call all ships to scatter and do the same, we need get as close as we can to engage the enemy"
"Yes Captain"
The Minerva and her battlegroup of 25 ships have spread out from their wedge formation and then went into high speed zigzag move towards the aliens. The tactic was to avoid the same fate of the first group as being in close proximity with each other would be too much of an easy target, spread out will make it difficult. At least, that's what they believe.
The Minbari however, has little problem in targeting them as Minerva's battlegroup entered their kiling zone at 5,000 kilometers, and once they were in that zone, Minerva's losses started to climb.
Within the next 5 minutes after crossing that point of no return, the battlegroup's numbers dwindled down, as many are damage or destroyed and the other battlegroup fall back due to heavy damage. Many in Minerva's have thought that this was suicide as they try to get closer to the maximum effective range for their main guns for them to engage the enemy, and halfway there, some of them pulled back to a safe distance.
Still amazingly enough, 15 ships got as close as they can get.
"Cease all approach!" Gladys ordered
"Aye, Captain" his XO nodded he spoke to the comm and the battlegroup stops and immediately begun targeting.
"Commence firing and launch all of our mobile suits!"
The battlegroup open fired and then immediately move away from their position to avoid being targeted.
Immediately Zaft MS were being launched and headed for the Messiah below the battlegroup bombardments. 120 Mobile Suits led by the Shinn Asuka new Mobile Suit, the ZGMF-X42S 'Destiny' Gundam and are now coming to engage squadrons of fighters.
Zaft warships are able to get some good shots at the alien ships and while they maneuver around, they fire anti-beam depth charges in front of them as their thermal sensors give a 5 second warning for any incoming beams, and are able to protect them enough to avoid destruction.
Most of the volley of Zaft beam guns and missiles took direct hits on the enemy and they cheered from the good hits they made but then, the cheers died down. For to their shock and dismay of their commanders, their enemy still remains despite their massive attacks.
The reason was just as they suspected that the alien ships are protected by an invisible barrier and that their weapons were too weak to pierce thru it.
In horror, Gladys watches a Laurasia ship is lost as its anti-beam depth charges faded too fast which let a fusion beam go thru it and lanced to death the Laurasia class ship.
Talia bit her lip in seeing another one of Zaft ship destroyed; it was to hold her tear from falling as another good friend on that ship is lost. She slammed her fist on the armrest in anger as their initial attack was next to useless, yet she hasn't give up the fight.
"Arthur! Fire the Tristan and Isolde again!" she ordered and her XO nods in acknowledgement and relayed the order to the gunnery crew
"Ready Tristan 1 and 2 Load up Isolde!"
Minerva's gunnery crew who operates the guns manually complied and prepared to fire again as ordered. The Tristan's powers were increased and the Isolde explosive yield also, as they hope that this will give a better result.
The beams and projectile shot was able to make a good hit but was partially block by the Minbari Gravitic shields and those that got thru are weakened and absorbed and dispersed by the crystalline hull doing little damage to the ship.
"Blast it!" Talia cursed and made fist in anger as their weapons is still having little affects on their foe. "Continue firing as long as it takes!" she ordered persisted to continue to fight.
As Minerva's Battlegroup continued their assault, and no one was backing down or turning away and run. The battlegroup fought on. Preoccupied in dealing what was in front of them that, they did not notice that a squadron of 12 Sentri fighters have sneaked up from behind the battlegroup unnoticed until someone saw them.
"Incoming fighters from behind range 200!" shouted frantically by a radar officer who is watching their aft screens using thermal scanners
"They got behind us? Arthur!" Talia shouted frantic and Arthur knows what to do
"Lay down a CIWS suppression fire. Dispar and Neidhardt, fire now!" the XO shouted his order but it was a second too late.
The Sentri fighters that sneaked from behind the battlegroup have shot down most of Minerva's remaining ships and one Sentri with its Laser cutter extended, have cut away the right wing section of the Minerva and a second one peppered the Minerva with 35mm particle beams destroying one Tristan, two CIWS and missile launchers.
Meanwhile
'Destiny', 'Legend' and 'Impulse' along with GINNs, Goufs and Zaku are fighting the Sentri fighters as they harass the Minbari ships as much as they could. Lunamaria Hawke who is in the Impulse suddenly noticed Minerva and the other ship is in serious trouble.
"Shinn! Rey! The Minerva is in trouble!" she shouted at them
The two stop as they adjusted their monitors to see the Minerva and the Battlegroup being swarmed by the Sentri
"We have to fall back Shinn or we will loose the ship!" Lunamaria shouted frantically
"Alright, everyone, we'll pull back to the Minerva, Destiny and Legend will cover your back" he said and angrily bang the console as he hates to retreat
"Damn it!"
As Shinn let the others pull back to their Battlegroup, they were immediately being pursued by the Sentri, but Destiny and Legend block their path.
---
The Centauri Sentri fighters are relatively medium armed vessel, possessing two 35mm Ion Guns and 2 cutting lasers at the edge of the wings along with 4, 5kiloton yield fusion based missiles which is something that Zaku pilots have badly discovered first hand, when they shot just one of them like they do with EA Mobile Armor missiles.
On the first engagement 15 Sentri fighters launches 2 x 5 kiloton yield fusion missiles each against a formation of 100 Zaft Mobile Suits that's approaching them.
Zaft was unaware that the missiles were nukes until they shot them just less than 20 feet in front of them.
The resulting multiple nuclear explosion destroyed half of Zaft Mobile Suits and damaging a few others in close proximity of the blast. In the chaos, the Warships and Sentri took the advantage by attacking Zaft ships and MS before Zaft can get their bearing and counterstrike.
Sentri fighters came close to a Zaft Warships, cutting them in half with their cutters as it was disabled by the nuclear blast. Other Sentri's went after the surviving Mobile Suits as they are still affected nuclear radiation
The Centauri Sentri fighters are very fast and agile and with the help of an onboard AI computer, it assists the pilot do incredible evasion maneuvers. The Sentri became even more lethal as it now possesses Minbari 'Stealth' system that the Minbari shared.
The Stealth of the Sentri's has made it impossible for Zaft to track them properly which made the fight more difficult for them. the Stealth abilities of the Sentri were well exploited by the centauri as they show an innovative way of using their Stealth.
In the beginning of the battle between the Minerva and the aliens, a squadron of Sentri fighters, painted in deep black and hiding among debris and their stealth to hide their location farther from the fleet and doing nothing to attract any unwanted attention as they watch and wait for any incoming.
They watch and waited for Minerva's Battlegroup pass by near their location undetected and when they were far enough, the Sentri followed them at a good distance until Minerva began its assault.
The Sentri's decided to attack when all of their attention is focused in front, and by the time Minerva notices them, it was already too late.
---
"Lousy Bastards!" Shinn screamed angrily as another Nazca exploded from a 5kiloton missile strike just as the first group of Zaft MS got back to defend their ships but they are too late. The Sentri Squadron did their job as every ship in their battlegroup was either destroyed or badly damage, including the Minerva
Shinn's'Destiny' Gundam suddenly stops turns around to charge at one of the Sharlin. Shinn's anger made him go into SeeD mode, and opens up a volley of weapons fire at close range while he evade anti-fighter barrages. Shinn kept the offensive on even as Destiny were getting more and more hit by anti-fighter guns causing many of it's systems getting severely taxed as it soak up more damages in the assault.
Shinn vented all his anger on the attack on the Sharlin, ignoring Destiny's cry for help as he continues firing his guns at point blank range.
Shinn's persistence did manages to breach thru their shield and damaging a small section of the armor and was about to give another volley at that damage when his Phase Shift Armor went down suddenly, just as an anti aircraft gun blow Destiny left arm off which took him out of the fight.
Shinn ignored Destiny warnings that it was loosing power to the Phase Shift rapidly. The sustained damages and many of Destiny's systems were overloading and overheating until they burned out.
Falling back, Pilot Lt. Shinn Asuka was still angry and frustrated as he punched his console with his fist at the lost chance of taking down one of the alien ships
"Dammit! What will it take to kill these bastards!?"
Still blinded by anger, Shinn did not notice Destiny's threat warnings. Thermal sensors detected 2 of the black Sentri was painting him and was about to fire their missiles at him. It was then that, just before the Sentri could launch their missiles, something screamed in Shinn's head
"Pay attention Shinn! Two bogies are painting a target in front of you!"
"Wha-what?" the voice in his head got him off his anger mode for a moment, look at his screens and instruments that he finally sees two heat signatures of enemy incoming
"Oh Shoot!" he step down on the thrusters to race away from the enemy incoming as he cannot defend himself in his condition.
Jut then, two beams passing several meters from Shinn's Destiny, destroyed the two Sentri simultaneously and then, a short range communication burst from someone told him
"Shinn, your Gundam is in no condition to fight return to the Minerva at once!"
"Who the…that voice" Shinn recognize the voice and knew who it was
Streaking pass Destiny is a red white and blue colored mobile armor leading a squadron of blue and yellow gold stripe fighters carrying the UN Spacy emblem. They scattered and engage the black Sentri fighters and they are not the only one.
From the void of space, hundreds of VF-17 and VF-19 fighters came passing by the Minerva's battlegroup at incredible speed and headed towards Messiah, just as another group from the opposite side of Messiah has begun to engage the Minbari warships with ferocity.
MSF-Z006 Zeta Gundam is leading the charge of UN fighters. The Veritech's scatters to go after their own targets and unlike the mobile suits, they had no problem dealing with the Sentri.
Zeta sped towards the alien fleet taking out Sentri that blocks its way while Judah picks a target.
Judah picks a Primus
Zeta approaches the nearest Primus, evading anti-aircraft fire with relative ease then transformed to MS mode, pulled out Zeta XBR-M99 A7 hyper beam rifle which doubles as a large beam saber and in a stabbing position he rocketed towards the Primus hull.
Zeta broke thru their gravitic shielding and buried its Saber all the way to the hilt on the Primus Hull.
"Judah?" Lunamaria Hawke muttered to herself in the Impulse Gundam Shinn, Rey, and the rest of Zaft MS Corp watch in awe, as this one mobile suit, gotten thru the alien's defenses and wreck havoc.
Quickly, Zeta Gundam destroyed a pulse cannon emplacement with his 60mm CIWS mounted on the head and his forearm grenade launchers blowing nearby missile launchers and close in weapons emplacements that is a threat to him.
"Welcome to the Delta Quadrant ya buncha jerks!" Judah shouted
Zeta tightly hold on the beam saber still embedded on the Primus hull and then he rocketed the length of the Primus hull with it's saber still embedded, causing massive internal damage inside the Primus by the time Zeta flew away.
The Primus ship is badly damage, but still held its defensive positions and it was still able to fire some of its remaining guns to fire at Zeta and missed.
Judah felt the threat to his life before the sensors alerted him and quickly adjusted his flying as beams came close to mere inches from hitting the hull.
"Damn! That ship still has some fight left in them" Judah immediately put the Zeta into an acrobatic maneuver as more shots are fired at him and it did not let up.
Zeta Gundam's moves thru the dozens of beams crisscrossing its path was graceful as a swan and as fast to avoid them like a bat as though he can actually see where will the beams be coming from, and avoiding them with just a few inches of space to spare.
Zeta flight thru the firestorm was like a dance from everyone's point of view and it was spectacular as Zeta changes one mode to another according to the pilot's command. For Judah Ashta point of view, everything seems so slow to him as he adjusted every move and every turn of Zeta as he maneuvered right above the Primus.
When Judah transformed Z to soldier mode as he's Primus pulled out his hyper beam rifle and aimed at the location of the ship bridge.
TARGETTING LOCK his HUD (Head Up Display) is blinking at him with short tones as He takes aim at the location where the Primus command and control bridge is located. The crosshairs lined up with TARGET LOCK with a long tone…Judah squeezes the trigger for one single shot.
"Arividerchi, Centauri" Judah said darkly
Judah set his rifle to HML Mode or Hyper Mega Launcher Mode. The rifle transformed itself to hold the energy build up for one single powerful shot. The Hyper Mega Launcher would be compared to the devastating effect of the Positron cannon.
One powerful shot blew a 30 meter wide hole thru the Primus, that single shot alone ended the life of the pride of the Centauri navy as it drift away lifeless.
The beam also hit a Vorchan engine section that is just underneath the Primus and destroying it is an added bonus, though it was not even Judah intent to do so.
It was a one shot two kills
Returning to fighter mode, Zeta headed towards the Minerva and made contact with them. Talia and the others was stunned of what Zeta just did and just then their communication acted up and opening up a screen revealed one well known Spacy Pilot.
"Is everyone alright?" Judah ask worried
"J-Judah" Talia said sounded stunned with her heart jump a beat in just seeing him again and he smiled at her
"Glad to see you again Captain Gladys, oh excuse me" Judah replied
Judah stops Zeta and went into soldier mode, turned around with his rifle pointed and fired three shots that destroyed 3 Sentri coming from behind him just a second after his threat board lit up. Amazingly, he did not even inquire where the threat was coming from and yet he just reacted, as though he knows where they were.
"Still more incoming" he said
Zeta turned to his left side, fired seven shots into space and destroyed 7 more Sentri with amazing accuracy.
Zeta continue to fly towards Minerva while Judah adjust some of the systems as he feels like Zeta was slowing 'Mann! I can't believe how sluggish the reaction Zeta is right now, I gotta have this fix' he thought
Judah doesn't yet realize it but, there is nothing wrong with Zeta. The reason why Zeta seems so slow to him is that he's getting much faster, his newtype power is getting more pronounced as his reaction is faster than his machine can adapt with him. In fact, Zeta self learning systems is trying very hard to follow Judah's actions as much as it could, as Judah is now getting faster.
Judah then returns to talk with the Minerva with a concerned look on his face
"Captain, you have to move your fleet away from here now; it's not safe for you to stay here," he said as he position his Gundam in front of the Minerva facing the Messiah
"WE are keeping them occupied for now, Captain Gladys so you have to order a retreat"
"Reatreat? Judah I can't do that, I can't abandon" Gladys replied
"You don't have a choice Talia!" Judah snaps back "your battlegroup have sustained heavy losses, and your ship is heavily damage, to continue now is suicide"
Just then, Judah noticed an alert message from a UN Ship "Incoming weapons fire!" he shouts as a huge beam of energy from 200,000 kilometers away from Minerva's right side while facing Messiah with the same distance, struck a Sharlin and reduced it to component atoms, and in its wake, a Vorchan got caught in its wake.
"Oh My God" Talia muttered as their main screen shows the destruction of one Sharlin and several others, then the screens adjusted to see where it came from
"Magnify the image"
Flying faster than any ship is a kilometer long arrow shape vessel moving and flying like a fighter plane which is amazing, for they have never seen a ship that big that can move that fast, as a second volley from what they believe to be the primary armaments like Minerva's 'Tannhäuser', destroyed another alien ship, a Primus and Tinashi at 100,000 kilometers.
In just the first 2 minutes of entering battle, UNS Hawaii scored 4 ships
TBC