CE76
OMNI Military Base
Rhineland
Central Europe
Yzak slammed his laptop shut and exhaled deeply. Finally that damned report was done and he could get some rest. Glancing at the clock hung on the wall, he got up from his seat, feeling the cramps that had spread from his butt to his legs.
Taking awkward steps to the door, Yzak left his office and headed down the corridor, returning the salutes of lower ranked OMNI personnel along the way.
Finally, he reached Shiho's quarters and rapped his knuckles on the door. Shiho opened the door and let him through.
"If I ever have to another of those reports..." groaned Yzak.
Shiho laughed, it wasn't everyday Yzak had something to moan about.
Shiho:" You signed up for this."
Y:" Woman... don't remind me!"
Shiho laughed again before leaning her head on his shoulder. Yzak smiled and wrapped an arm around his girlfriend's waist. Neither spake a word, just wanting to enjoy the moment while they could. Time flew by, but neither moved as they gradually fell asleep beside each other.
CE76
Unknown subterranean location
Russia
Eastern Europe
Lt Simmons woke up to the sound of a door swinging open. After their capture, Lt Simmons and his men had been dragged by soldiers in full combat gear, faces covered by balaclavas.
Despite demands for the unknown hostiles to identify themselves, their captors had ignored them as they were dragged to prison cells.
Sgt Pavlov had tried to resist, inspiring the others to do the same. However, it was short lived as one of the guards simply smashed his teeth and rib age with his rifle butt. Any hopes of resistance ended at that moment.
A shadow played itself across the wall, heralding the arrival of one of the guards. Three of them appeared, unlocking the gate of Lt Simmons's cell. One of them blindfolded him and two of them dragged him out by the armpit. Their journey seemed to go on forever, passing through several corridors, stairs and descending elevators. Simmons found himself unable to trace the route mentally as it was just too long.
Finally, a door was unlocked and he was led in and sat down on a chair. One of the guards removed the blindfold and Simmons found himself in an interrogation room. Guards were present at all corners of the room and one of them sat across the table from him, in full combat gear and he also wore a balaclava like the rest.
What was it with these people that they wore bulletproof vests and helmets even in their own base?, though Simmons. It wasn't as if they were under imminent attack.
The guard across looked at him coldly and lifted his pen.
"Name, rank and unit.", spat the guard.
Lt Simmons:" Lt Simmons Gregorovich and that's all I'm saying."
Simmons's head snapped to the side as he flew off the chair on to the floor. Before he could recover from the blow, the guard responsible dragged and slammed him back into his seat.
Guard:" Unit"
Lt S:" Blue Cosmos."
The guard beside him slammed his rifle butt into him again. Simmons doubled over in pain.
Lt S:" What the hell is wrong with you?! I told you what you wanted to hear from me!"
G:" Obviously you're Blue Cosmos. So is almost everyone in the Atlantic Federation's armed forces." What's your unit? You do not wear a uniform which means you're probably special ops. Which one?"
Simmons looked at him, confused. Why did this man think he was in OMNI?
Lt S:" I'm not in any special ops unit. I'm just a Blue Cosmos operative."
G:" Blue Cosmos paramilitary then?"
Lt S:" Yes."
G:" Tell me what you know of OMNI and Blue Cosmos paramilitary unit positions"
Lt S:" I don't know anything about that."
The rifle butt slammed into his gut again.
Lt S:" Damn it! Stop hitting me for things I don't know about!"
G:" Don't waste our time, give me your positions."
Lt S:" I don't know!"
The interrogation guard hissed in irritation and changed the subject.
G:" What does the Earth Alliance and Blue Cosmos know about us? How many of our bases have you found?"
Lt S:" I don't even know who you guys are!"
G:" What was your mission? To find on of our bases?"
Lt S:" No. I was sent to attack a power plant to pressure OMNI forces here."
Lt Simmons was hit again.
G:" Stop lying. We know about your propaganda campaign to deceive us. Your story about the Earth Alliance fighting Blue Cosmos isn't working."
Lt Simmons was lost. What age were these guys living in?
Lt S:" Its the truth."
The guard had had enough.
G:" Take him down to the labs."
CE76
Unknown subterranean location
Russia
Eastern Europe
Dragging a half dead Lt Simmons down to the lower levels, the guards entered a giant room filled with tanks. Looking up, Lt Simmons found row upon row of more tanks lining up the walls all the way up to the tiny black spot that was the ceiling. There were humans in those tanks, suspended in a fluid of some sort and many wore respiratory masks. Some were fully grown men, others children or fetuses. Curiously, some of the figures in the tanks looked familiar.
The guards laid Lt Simmons on an operating table and chained him down to it. One of the scientists came up to him, clothed in the regalia of a surgeon. The scientist whipped out a tablet and keyed in a command. Moments later, a scanner above the operating table brought up a detailed report of his physical condition on the tablet screen. Satisfied, the scientist attached a sort of wireless handset to his right ear. Lt Simmons looked to his left and saw a man in a tank. Squinting his eyes, Simmons tried to identify the familiar figure within.
As his memory kicked in, Lt Simmons's eyes widened. It was Sgt Pavlov. But that was not what horrified him. Sgt Pavlov wasn't just in that tank, he was also in the one beside him. Simmons blinked his eyes to clear the hallucination, but the image never changed. Sgt Pavlov was no longer an individual and realization dawned on Simmons.
The people in the tanks before were his team... and their clones. Simmons looked at the scientist in panic and outright anger.
Lt S:" What have you done to my men? What are you doing to me!"
The scientist looked up at him before returning his gaze to the tablet.
Lt S:" What atrocities have you committed against my men?"
The scientist ignored him and before Lt Simmons could speak again, he tapped the tablet screen once. Lt Simmons screamed in agony as a electric shock starting from his right ear spread to his body, jerking it spasmodically. The device on his right ear melted and molten metal entered his blood stream through two injectors piercing his flesh. Veins appeared across his face as the molten metal travelled through his face and all the way up to his brain.
Once the molten metal had spread to the different parts of his brain, it solidified and established a connection with a mind control network, stripping away Lt Simmons's free will and wiping away all of his memories. Combat protocols and doctrines were implanted in his brain along with Zeonic psychological indoctrination. Within 3 minutes, Lt Simmons, like the rest of his men was no more.
The scientist and a few orderlies carried the newly converted slave soldier that was once Lt Simmons and placed him in a stasis tank like his men, joining many other men from the remnants of ZAFT personnel left behind during the first war, who had voluntarily given their lives for the cause of Zeon, ready to be cloned.
CE76
Sacremento Mountains
34km from Holloman Air Force Base
New Mexico
USA
The Sacremento Mountain range in New Mexico were famous for hiking and its beauty. Unbeknownst to the world, a secret Zeon base lay underneath the mountains. Ventilation shafts were cleverly hidden in the faces of cliffs and the outer surfaces of giant steel blast doors were covered by layers of natural rock formation. One of these blast doors opened now, revealing the runway like a beast opening its gaping maw. Klaxons blared and lights along the runway lit up. Within the mountain past the runway lay the air base.
Constructed after the base below the mountain range was completed, the airbase was one of many hidden in the mountains. With the movement of the Axis and Neo Zeon fleets, it was only a matter of time before the Earth Alliance knew about the invasion. OMNI's deep space and orbiting satellites would give them advanced warning of any approaching force beforehand. It was therefore imperative that their eyes and ears were taken out of the equation if the invasion was to maintain the element of surprise.
To accomplish this, the 033rd special operations mobile suit regiment had been tasked with a daring mission. The same team now sat in the cockpits of their RGM-79LV Nightseeker II GMs, waiting for their VolPHAU transports to launch.
The Nightseeker II GM was a specialized special operations mobile suit derived from the RGM-79 GM, one of Zeon's mainstay mobile suits. With its improved sensor suite and low heat signature, it stood a good chance of infiltrating or surprising an enemy strongpoint unnoticed. For further camouflaging purposes, the white of their suits were painted grey to match the black of their thruster packs on their torsos and their enhanced visors.
Despite having a huge force for the invasion, high command was not taking any chances. The fleets had to get as close as they could before being discovered if a long drawn out battle was to be avoided. As such, it now fell to the 033rd SpecOps MS Regiment to disable the space surveillance network of OMNI.
The men of the 033rd SpecOps MS Regiment knew what was at stake and that all eyes were on them now. Across the world, the men and women of Zeon waited anxiously for word of the operation's outcome. As the launch clearance lights above the runway turned green, the VolPHAU transports launched out of the mountain and turned towards their destination.
The VolPHAU transports of the 033rd were also special variants of the original transports. With improved sensors, a full ECM suite, stealth and mirage colloid generators, the specialized transports were the 033rd's best bet at getting to their target undetected. Once the transports had cleared the runway, the mirage colloid generators were engaged to prevent detection by roaming civilians.
As soon as they flew above the mountains, the Electronic Countermeasures Officers engaged their stealth generators and monitored their screens for enemy interceptor and radar activity. While the mirage colloid generators hid the planes from visual sight, it also generated an electromagnetic field that distorted incoming radar signals, which would then be absorbed by the specially coated surface of the transports, thereby cloaking the planes from radar view. This same system was used by the Blitz Gundam during the First Bloody Valentine War, but this was a smaller and simplified version necessary for the uncomplex and comparatively small aircraft. While it could be cloaked from radards and visual sight, the nature of landing an aircraft sometimes required controllers on the ground to see the aircraft and as such either the visual or anti-radar cloaking could be turned off individually. As a result of its simplified components, the system did not work as effectively as the original and thus there was a chance that they would be detected.
The transports ascended up to the skies, masking the noise of their engines from the unsuspecting world below.
CE76
Holloman Air Force Base
Alamogordo
New Mexico
USA
Holloman Air Force Base was anything but isolated. Built within the city of Alamogordo, the base was home to OMNI's 4th Space Control Squadron (SPCRS), a part of the 21st Space Wing and a major player in the space surveillance network. Providing real-time data on movements across the world and in space, the 4th SPRCS was responsible for the safety of the Atlantic Federation mainland. Despite being a high security base, the fact that it was surrounded by the city meant that security focused more on espionage rather than conventional attacks. Mobile suits and tanks within the base were powered down in their hangars and infantrymen slept peacefully in their bunks.
The base, filled with defence forces was considered to be well protected, but the 033rd would soon show how unprepared they were.
The VolPHAU transports flew high above the city, ECM officers nervously watching fighters and radar signals on their screens, praying that their mirage colloid system wouldn't fail.
10 minutes to the base, the transports flew just above the skyscrapers in preparation for their drop operation. Flying above the city, the base was now in sight, the pilots tensed as they drew closer. 500m out, a shrill tone resounded within the cockpits of the aircraft. They had been picked up by radars.
The ECM officers worked fast, jamming the base's communication network, radars and tracing their locations before passing the information to the mobile suit teams. Pilots dropped to nap-of-the earth altitude as per the emergency plan, a high altitude drop no longer viable with their detection.
The mobile suit pilots made last minute checks and moved to the cargo ramp, ready to jump out. The base personnel had not yet truly figured out what was going on, not believing that they could be under attack. Radar specialists attempted to dial up their signals and conduct diagnostic checks to eliminate the interference. No alert had been issued yet, and men strolled the base as if it were any other day, mistaking the incoming flight of transports that had turned off the visual cloaking function of the mirage colloid generators as one of theirs.
Roaring right over the base, the lights in the cargo bay turned from amber to green and the 033rd SpecOps MS Regiment jumped out, thrusters igniting to soften their landing. Landing all across the base, the 033rd didn't waste time, firing first at the pre designated radars and then at any combat equipment lying around that could be used against them. Men and women screamed as the unthinkable happened. They were under attack.
Some of the Night seekers attacked the defence force's hangars, destroying any mobile suits or tanks within. Others went on a rampage across the airfield, taking out aircraft before they could launch and securing the airstrip.
Two mobile suit teams went straight for the satellite network centre, one of them dismounting and entering the facility. Storming their way through the building, the men made short work of any guards or personnel and cleared the rooms one by one in search of their prize. Finally, they found the very object of their mission, a small black box that held the key to the invasion's success. Grabbing the Attack characterization Module, the men ran for the Satellite Surveillance control room, where the 04th Space Control Squadron monitored the country for threats on earth and in space. Attaching cables to the ACS module, the men downloaded the entire satellite network into it as others set up explosives on all the important equipment to cover their tracks.
The team left the building and entered their mobile suits once more, triggering the explosives and thus destroying any evidence if their handiwork. Several Nightseekers with bazookas fired at the lower quarter of the building, causing the building to collapse on itself.
All around the base, other important military buildings were collapsed as well to give the impression that the objective was to destroy the base's offensive and surveillance capabilities and mask their true intentions. The 033rd now initiated their egress, making a run for the airstrip, where their transports were landing. While the attack took place, the transports had not been idle, continuing to watch the fighters for any sign of an alert being raised. None deviated from their routes, thanks to the constant jamming of the base's communications and the fighter radars. As soon as the pilots received word that the ACS module had been secured with the necessary data, they had set a course taking them on an approach path to the airstrip and circled while waiting for the time to extract the mobile suits. When the teams sent word of their egress, the pilots set course for a landing approach and spaced themselves far apart in a staggered manner for the planes to land as soon as one had finished loading and left. The first team up was the one with the ACS module, prioritized above all. As soon as the last mobile suit entered into the cargo bay, the pilots took off down the runway and closed their cargo ramps during takeoff as another landed, recovering the next team.
Within the space of half an hour, the 033rd had secured their objectives and broke the myth of security of Holloman Air force base. The transports flew off into the dark of the night, activating their mirage colloid fields fully once more. The 033rd celebrated their victory within the transports, Mobile suit and aircraft pilots alike yelling whoops of joy, knowing that they had made history.
CE76
12km off Naval Base Guam
Western Pacific Ocean
While the 033rd Special Operations Mobile Suit Regiment raided Holloman Airbase in New Mexico, another unit prepared its own operation to secure Zeonic naval superiority and surprise.
Ten Vosgulov-class submarines prowled the seabed of the pacific ocean, weaving through the narrow valleys of the ocean bed to avoid detection. Vessels of the 2nd Strike fleet, the submarines had left their Pacific Ocean bed base just three hours ago on a course for the OMNI naval base on Guam.
While the submarines had made it through the surveillance network unnoticed, their captains weren't taking any chances. OMNI warships prowled the high seas along with underwater mobile suits, protecting vital installations like Guam from enemy attack. Surprise was the key to victory.
Within the launch hangars of the submarines, the mobile suit pilots of the 7th Naval Special Operations Mobile Suit Regiment and the 8th Independent Tactical Air Squadron waited beside their mobile suits. Zee Zulus and Juaggus stood rigidly at attention, awaiting their pilots to bring them into the maelstrom of battle.
The Zee Zulu was a naval version of the Geara Zulu, featuring ballast tanks, fins, and hydro jets for water propulsion. Boasting an impressive array of weaponry from heat claws and knives that could shred any mobile suit to pieces to a beam machine gun, the Zee Zulu was a fearsome mobile suit on land and under the sea. For these reasons, the Zee Zulu was well favoured by the Zeonic Naval Marines and the Naval Special Operations forces. Given their mission, the Zee Zulu was definitely the mobile suit for the job.
The Juaggu was an assault amphibious mobile suit like the Zee Zulu, albeit without hands. Instead it had three Vulcan cannon fingers on each arm, complemented with four mega particle cannons on its torso all of which were capable of tearing mobile suits to shreds. With its massive and rapid fire cannons, the Juaggu was an ideal heavy fire support unit for amphibious units, capable of laying down suppressive fire on the enemy while others advanced.
The 08th Independent Tactical Air Squadron was present in this operation as air support for the naval teams if things got too hot for them to handle. Their DINNs would provide perfect aerial cover should the situation get out of hand. Commanders prayed that they would not have to call them in. But both teams were still too far out to be deployed unnoticed, so until then all they could do was wait.
CE76
Naval Base Guam
Guam
Western Pacific Ocean
The OMNI naval base on Guam was a vital asset in the pacific SOSUS network, safeguarding a huge swathe of ocean in OMNI's pacific theatre from attack. Any attack up against the naval bases on the mainland and the pacific fleet anchored at Hawaii would be detected by the Guam naval base long before their attack had commenced. Protected by the pacific fleet, there was not much for the OMNI personnel on Guam to fear. None could come close to Guam, or so they thought.
CE76
6km off Naval Base Guam
Western Pacific Ocean
Throughout the small fleet of Vosgulovs, captains gave orders on the intercom for the mobile suit pilots to man their stations. Pilots scrambled from their seats and jumped into their cockpits, mobile suits coming to life. As soon as the 7th Naval Special Operations Mobile Suit Regiment reported that they were ready, captains gave the order for the underwater hangars to be flooded. Hatches to the ocean beyond opened, revealing the mobile suits within, ready to launch. At a given command from the flagship, thirty Zee Zulus and ten Juaggus launched out into the sea, heading towards the Guam naval base.
The forty mobile suits spread out as they entered the harbour, hydrofoils at minimum power to pass under anchored or moving ships silently. Then, the Zee Zulus found their first obstacles. Forbidden Vortex mobile suits swam under the ocean to protect the harbour. A mass produced version of the forbidden Gundam and the successor of the Deep Forbidden mobile suit, it was produced to counter Z.A. underwater mobile suits like the GOOhn and ZnO. Their Geschmeidig Panzer energy deflection armor rendered beam attacks useless and had fearsome weapons. Their maser cannons, torpedoes, built in scythes on their shields and tridents made them fearsome opponents, as many Z.A.F.T pilots found out. The Forbidden series of mobile suits proved formidable in battle, being more than a match for Z.A.F.T mobile suits.
As expected, a few of the mobile suits guarded the approaches to the docks and the SOSUS surveillance centre beyond. The Zee Zulus slowly crept up to the flight of Forbidden Vortexes from below, waiting for the opportune moment to strike.
CE76
20m from the dry docks
Naval Base Guam
Western Pacific Ocean
Lieutenant Linda Jackson of the 6th Naval Mobile Suit Team brought her flight of five Forbidden Vortexes to the approaches of the docks, the start of their patrol route. Born to a family of military lineage in California, her father had been a naval captain of an Arkansas-Class Cruiser in the First Bloody Valentine War while her uncle had been a pilot of a Deep Forbidden mobile suit. Unlike her father, she felt the need for complete control and as such had chosen the route of a naval mobile suit pilot like her uncle before her.
Compared to other officers, her military career was rather lacklustre. She had participated in the battle for Rhode Island, where OMNI had taken on the Blue Cosmos insurgents who had turned the island into a fortress in a titanic clash. The battle at sea had lasted just 4 days, but it had been just as fierce and brutal as the land battle that followed. Naval mobile suits had clashed underwater, the skill of the Blue Cosmos pilots and their knowledge of the terrain aiding them in holding back OMNI's forces. Casualties had been severe for both sides. Lt Linda herself had downed seven mobile suits during the battle. Six weeks after the battle began, the Blue Cosmos forces were finally defeated, but at a huge cost.
Leading her Forbidden Vortexes to the waters beyond, Lt Linda began their patrol. Not there was anything to defend against really. The Blue Cosmos had been quiet in the sea, placing their focus on holding their land bases.
"Lt Linda, I thought I saw something ahead of me", warned Petty Officer Moore.
Lt Linda frowned. Her pilots were still rookies and often got confused with the nature of underwater combat.
Lt Linda: "Its probably just a shadow of one of our ships, if not its one of our submarines."
" I don't think...", Lt Moore never finished his sentence. From below the flight of Forbidden Vortexes, Zee Zulus sprung up and attacked. The first one came up behind Lt Moore, mono-eye glaring with murderous intent and plunged its heat dagger right over his suit's shoulder into his cockpit.
Lt Linda looked on in horror as Lt Moore's suit lifelessly sank to the bottom of the ocean. Four other assailants attacked Lt Linda and her squad, and Lt Linda shook herself from her stupor. Combat reflexes kicked in and Lt Linda jerked her mobile suit to the left as a Zee Zulu rushed her from below and swiped its dagger right where she had been. Reacting quickly, Lt Linda swung her trident in a wide arc, knocking the dagger out of the Zee Zulu's hand and made a thrust midsection. The Zee Zulu pilot was just as fast, swiping its heat claw at her trident and deflecting the blow before charging in within her guard.
Lt Linda pushed her suit backwards and transformed it into its high speed assault form, unsheathing her shield scythes and swinging them left and right to keep the Zee Zulu away. The Zee Zulu simply matched blow for blow with its heat claws, undaunted by the display of weaponry. Lt Linda fired her photon maser cannon on her backpack, the shot charging for a brief second before unleashing a red beam. The Zee Zulu pilot was quick, dodging his suit out of the way from certain destruction. Lt Linda cursed at the pilot's quick reflexes that had saved him, although he had lost his left heat claws and a large gash travelled up his left arm.
Lt Linda thrust her trident again, missing the Zee Zulu as it shifted right and suddenly launched itself at her. Lt Linda swiped her left scythe shield at it, but the Zee Zulu smacked it aside with its heat claws and continued its charge, barrelling into her suit. Lt Linda's Forbidden Vortex was knocked back and the Zee Zulu charged in for the finishing blow. Lt Linda fired her photon maser cannon and a stream of torpedoes at it in desperation. The Zee Zulu made a dash below her and came up behind her. Lt Linda spun around and brought up her shields just in time to block the Zee Zulu's heat claws. To her left she could see Petty Officer Harrelson's suit sliced in half by heat claws. Too panicked to do so earlier, Lt Linda radioed the base as she deflected the incoming blows. So engrossed was she in alerting the base and blocking the Zee Zulu's blows that she did not see another come up behind her and plunge its heat claws straight into her cockpit.
No longer having the element of surprise, the Zeon mobile suits rushed their objectives in an attempt to complete their mission.
CE76
Guam Naval Command Headquarters
Naval Base Guam
Guam
Back in the control room of Guam Naval Command Headquarters, a communications officer yawned in his seat as he stretched his legs, waiting for the next shift to take over him and his men. Life sure was peaceful on this island, other than the communication between the ships and the command centre. Suddenly, an urgent and desperate voice burst through his headset.
Lt Linda: "This is Lt Linda, 06th Naval Mobile Suit Team! We are under attack! Guam is under attack! I repeat! Guam is under ..."
The line went dead, but the words she had shouted didn't die out in the heads of the communications officer and his crew. The officer slammed the alert button and contacted his superiors, tracing Lt Linda's last known position in an attempt to locate the enemy forces.
Throughout Guam Naval Base and the seas under the immediate aegis of her protection, navy personnel rushed to their ships and stations as the klaxons and explosions throughout Guam sounded the unmistakable and impossible... Naval Base Guam was under attack.
CE76
Naval Base Guam
Guam
They came out of nowhere, mobile suits jumping out of the water and attacking any target close by. Ships on the move or sitting at port exploded as Zee Zulus slammed their heat claws through their vulnerable undersides or fired their beam machine guns from land. Taking a few swipes at towers or turrets that made up the dock defences, the Zee Zulus detached their rifle pods and slammed them into the ground, the impacts registering in the pod sensors and opening to give access to the beam machine guns.
Carnage ensued as the Zee Zulus and Juaggus fired their weapons all over the place, destroying turrets, ships and mobile suits. Under the cover of the suppressive fire put up by other squads of Zee Zulus and Juaggus, one team charged the headquarters itself. Windams and Dagger Ls charged the protective cordon the Zee Zulus and Juaggus put up, hiding behind whatever cover they could find.
Two Windams jumped across thirty five metres from a Juaggu, beam rifles blasting away inaccurately from the rapidity of their jump. But the Juaggu simply held its ground blatantly out in the open as the beam shots blasted chunks of road or buildings next to it. Landing hard on the ground, the Windams brought their shields up and took aim, preparing to destroy the heavy support unit. The Juaggu simply raised its Vulcan cannon fingers and fired a steady but ferocious stream of cannon shells straight at them. The windams were knocked back as the rounds battered their shields and finally penetrated through to their torsos and legs, blowing both up in bright fireballs as their reactors detonated.
A Dagger L attempted to charge the Juaggu from the right as the Windams caught its attention, but the Juaggu turned its torso and fired its four mega particle cannons, dissecting the Dagger. On the opposite street, A Windam was blown apart by a stream of beam bullets from a Zee Zulu firing from behind the cover of a building. All around the base, the same scene was repeated, Zee Zulus holding their lines well behind cover and expertly taking out enemy forces attempting to assail them while Juaggus laid down monstrous suppressive fire that kept good portions of the enemy back or laid waste to entire squads of mobile suits outright.
Ships blew up as some of the mobile suits fired at them, preventing their use to counterattack and repel the assault. Still, the battle could not last long in Zeon's favour, soon fighters and aerial mobile suits from Guam's airbase further inland would give OMNI air superiority and if that happened, the tide would turn against the Zeon forces. Already, their positions were being shelled by artillery and mobile suits equipped with Doppelhorn striker packs, intent on destroying their cover.
The assault team had already fought its way to the headquarters and entered the building, covered by another team. The building was filled with guards albeit stunned by the attack to react quickly. The Zeon pilots moved fast, knowing that they had limited time. Crashing through the control room, the pilots executed the personnel within with precise shots, careful not to harm the equipment. One of the pilots jammed wires from a sonar box into a terminal and started downloading data of the SOSUS network from the mainframe.
As the download began, other pilots took up defensive positions or went about setting explosives on the equipment. As soon as the download finished, the box was yanked from the wires and the pilots sprinted out of the building, shooting any stragglers they found. Busting out the front door, they came to the sight of a Zee Zulu slamming a handful of heat claws straight into a Windams gut, narrowly avoiding its beam saber swinging in a downward cut. Already, Windams with jet striker packs were already in the fight, launching missiles or beam shots at the Zeon mobile suits.
Scrambling into the cockpits, the pilots triggered the explosives, destroying the mainframe and turned their mobile suit weapons on the base of the building. The headquarters of Naval Base Guam, the symbol of OMNI's stature and power in the Western Pacific Ocean, collapsed in on itself as its supports failed. Radioing their comrades, the assault team and its cover squad dashed for the sea, firing at any hostile units or even buildings just to create a scene of mayhem to deceive the enemy of their true objectives.
Throughout the operation, Zeon mobile suits destroyed ships, hangars and any military building or equipment essential for the base's defence or offensive operations to create the illusion that the mission was to neutralize the base's threat and thus OMNI's military power in the region. As the assault team made its exit and radioed their success, the cover squads began a withdrawal to the sea, jumping into the water squad by squad. As the last squad jumped in, a tank round blew off a Zee Zulu's leg, forcing it to crash face first into the water. Another Zee Zulu grabbed it by the armpit and dragged it underwater under cover of a Juaggu, which kept the enemy forces back with a barrage of cannon fire.
The mobile suits raced back to their Vosgulovs outside the harbour unchallenged, the majority of OMNI's mighty warships nearby having been disabled or destroyed. Recovering the last of the mobile suits, the Vosgulovs turned about and sped away as fast as they could. Behind them, Naval Base Guam burned.
22km away from Guam strike force, 2nd Strike Fleet
Western Pacific Ocean
News of the attack reached the warships out at sea away from Guam as soon as the alert had been sounded. These warships were out at sea on patrol duties, and now they turned back towards the base in an attempt to reinforce and defend it. If they could get there fast enough, they could catch the enemy from behind and surround them. But Zeon had already prepared for this eventuality. Vosgulov, Mad Angler and Jukon class submarines were positioned to provide a cordon around Guam, ensuring that any enemy vessel would be detected. These submarines that had been shadowing the enemy ships now played their part in the operation, either launching aquatic mobile suits such as Z'goks, Z'gok Es, Zaku Mariners, ZnOs, and GOOhns or firing torpedoes themselves to attack the enemy ships. Torpedoes blew holes in ships below the waterline, ensuring their demise. Claws ripped gashes underneath ships and beam fire detonated ammunition magazines aboard. Enemy submarines fared no better, mobile suits easily outmanoeuvring and outfighting them on every front.
Still, a single flotilla of Fraser frigates and two Spengler aircraft carriers managed to slip through, inadvertently blocking the strike fleets escape route in waters without reefs or natural rock formations to mask their escape. The ships were well-armed for anti-submarine warfare, but the most feared of all were their complement of anti-submarine helicopters capable of sinking the submarines with well-placed torpedoes and the enemy naval mobile suits that would put up a fierce fight. There was no choice, the Vosgulovs surfaced and launched their mobile suits under the cover of a hail of missiles. The DINNs of the 08th Independent Tactical Air Squadron launched up into the air from their vertical launch bays, ready to take on the fighters and helicopters of the opposing fleet. Below the water, the amphibious mobile suits once again sallied out for battle, tired as their pilots were and mobile suit power perhaps just enough for the fight.
The enemy fleet put up a hail of CIWS fire against the wall of missiles, destroying a great many of them. Still, two frigates were hit but not downed. In the air, the DINNs slammed into the wall of fighters and Jet Striker Windams, skilfully avoiding the enemy missile barrage and engaging in dogfights that lit up the sky. The DINN pilots were skilled, taking down the inexperienced crews of the fighters and Windams in droves. Below the ocean, the Zee Zulus and Juaggus, attacked the enemy fleet. Blasting torpedoes with their weapons, the mobile suits returned fire and engaged in close quarters fighting. There were only six Forbidden Vortexes, but now the enemy knew where they were and a constant stream of torpedoes and depth charges were launched, making the battlefield much more hazardous.
Taking potshots at the fleet, the two damaged frigates blew up as several mobile suits hit their mark from below and the DINNS finally got through the enemy air cover, strafing the enemy ships in attack runs. Within fifteen minutes, it was all over. Their mobile suit complement recovered, the Vosgulovs sped to the safety of their waiting fleets and their bases.
All around the world, Zeon bases listened in on the reports from their command centres about the simultaneous operations. Base personnel fidgeted while working uncomfortably, awaiting news of success...or failure. Then, the intercoms came alive, announcing the success of the operations. Soldiers cheered and hugged one another, unable to contain their joy at the success of the first phase of the invasion. Years of waiting had finally paid off, yielding their first real victories in the drive to retake earth from the hands of Blue Cosmos. Soon, the real battle would begin. But the men and women of Zeon were ready. They had been for years.