Gundam 00: Phoenix
Federation Strike
Arabian Sea, September 4, Ptolemaios II
Nena listened in to what the Princess Marina Ismail talking about the current state of her current country. From the looks of things the entire country looked like it was about to collapse with the warring factions in the country fighting each other and the economy that was in complete shambles due to its unwillingness to join the ESF.
And speaking of Azadistan, it reminded her the Rising Phoenix had a base right near its border. She wondered what was going on around there now. Flint was currently stationed there and Wesker would be coming in about a day or so depending on the weather and the difficulty of reaching the base without drawing Federation attention.
"I would like to return to my country," Marina then said. "I'm needed there. Even if it doesn't settle all the matters such as the disputes between Rasa's conservatives and the reformists I have to be there for my country's sake. It needs a leader in these dark times who trying to better the situation."
Nena noticed the princess hands slowly trembling. She really must care about her own country to return despite its current situation and how dangerous it with the Federation just right outside the country. If she appeared she'd likely either be killed or imprisoned again if she was caught.
She then noticed Setsuna give the princess a nod of approval. "We'll set a course for Azadistan," he said to her with no arguments coming from any of the members of the crew.
Hearing this Nena then jumped into the conversation. "If we're heading to Azadistan we could stop at the Rising Phoenix base right outside its border. It'll be a good place to stop by and if the A-laws or Federation manage to catch up with us I'm sure they'll be ready to support us if we can make contact with them."
Ian thought for a moment before he agreed with her. "I'll set a course to their base. If there's a place to start from we might as well help them try to rid A-Laws from the area and maybe we'll gain some information if we do so." He then stepped out of the room with Lasse.
Before Ian could step out his daughter, Mileina, popped out through the door and turned to Princess Marine Ismail and Setsuna with a smile and wide eyes.
"Excuse me for asking, but are you to lovers by any chance?" she asked.
Immediately they both replied back with exactly the same answer causing Mileina to frown.
"Hm, so my female intuition was wrong after all."
Nena sighed. "You seriously believe that? Half the time you're not even right," she said to her.
"Hey, that's not true at all, I mean, I was right when I asked if you still had a crush on Setsuna after all these years," Mileina stated.
"I think that's kind of a given thanks to the fact she kissed him upon seeing him," Tieria said plainly.
Nena gave weak laugh. "That kiss was years ago." She then gave Setsuna a light, playful shove. "Besides, it's not like he notices anyone else who would have interest in him. He's too busy trying to fix this world with his Gundam."
"There's no point in sitting around until this world is finally at peace," Setsuna simply replied back. "And there's not much for me to do in this world then try to accomplish that with Gundam. I'm simply a destroyer who knows how to fight to end conflict." He then left the room leaving the others just to stare back at him. "Oh," he then began as he turned back to the others, specifically Nena. "I do notice you, it's just I'm not interested."
Mileina giggled. "You just got denied, now you really don't have any chance with him. Looks like you'll have to find some one else to think about." She then left the room leaving Nena annoyed by what she had just heard.
"Does he truly believe that?" Marina then asked both Nena and Tieria. "That fighting will bring about the end of conflict?"
After hearing what the princess had said Nena turned and said, "It's kind of sad when you think about it. He'd never have a normal life; he just simply wouldn't fit into society if war was ever eradicated. But I guess it's what drives him to be completely dedicated to the eradication of war."
Middle East, September 4, Azadistan Border
Sergei observed the cragged, rocky hills. If the Rising Phoenix was hiding somewhere in the region it had to be here. Everywhere else was simply too open and they would never be able to construct a base to house a moderate force without being detected unless they'd done it somewhere around here where it was very easy to hide in small naturally carved out caverns and then carve them out to eventually house a base.
The enemy, however, would never expose themselves intentionally and reveal their base. He needed to strike first to draw them out of their positions if they were here.
Sergei turned to one of his men. "Have mobile suit teams deploy and comb the area. We won't be able to locate the enemy from up here. Have the Gobi do the same as well. Should any contact be found signal for reinforcements."
"Yes, sir." The officer complied with his orders as instructions began being passed to the pilots.
"Also, prepare the ship for combat, have all hands to battle stations for both ground and Ariel assault," Sergei then added, his wish quickly being carried out.
I know you're here, Rising Phoenix, and we'll make sure that we push you out of here, Sergei said to himself in his head. Today it'll be the Federations turn to strike a key blow, for both the people and the Earth Sphere Federation.
Heading down to the hanger, Flint made sure his flight suit was ready to go. It became harder to make sure everything was secure with the amount of equipment his flight suit came with, just as a precaution if he was ever forced to bail out or he was shot down. But he did feel some safety from wearing this heavier outfit. He now understood why Daveral liked the heavier suits over the lighter ones.
Flint had barely settled in for less than a day and already it seemed like their base had been found as troops were racing past him carrying equipment outside or signalling others to get ready without having to raise the base alarm.
"All forces prepare for combat, Federation battleships in the region. I repeat Federation battleships in the region," the base's commander announced through the speakers. "Do not engage unless ordered. We'll let the Federation pass through. We can't afford losing our position, but we will strike back if they do find us."
"At least it makes it so the base won't be crushed if we down one, later on," Flint muttered to himself as he reached the Pegasus.
One of the engineers came up to him. "All systems are nominal, you're good to go," he pointed with a thumbs up out before clearing the area along with the rest of the engineer team.
Quickly Flint boarded his machine and started up the systems, but made sure not to fully activate his Gundam in case the start up of the GN Drive gave off traces of particles which had a small chance of being detected, not something he wanted to risk now.
As Flint waited impatiently for what to happen next, he wondered if this substantial force was here because of Katharon leading them here or just simply coincidence.
Katharon members from the region were still here discussing matters with the Rising Phoenix commander figuring out what each side wanted and if it was possible for either to back each other up. There were many doubts, however, to what Katharon could provide.
Katharon's equipment was outdated and in the upcoming fights, they would be nothing more than minor distractions to the enemy who would wipe the floor with them in most battles. There would be no way to properly outfit them with what they have. The Rising Phoenix could not lend Katharon equipment when the current situation demanded that the Rising Phoenix be a full strength for present and future.
Rumbling from above then could be heard as the hanger shook causing Flint to focus on the current task at hand.
Was the hanger shaking due to its built in position being blasted or were there mobile suits stomping the ground right above them?
The answer soon came to his question as the front door of the hanger was slagged by a particle beam which punched right through and almost into the Pegasus if it weren't Flint immediately using reserved particles to erect a GN Field for protection.
Flint looked at the aggressor which had announced its presence. Outside of the hanger stood a single GN-X III which then took off, away from the entrance.
Just as Flint was about to pursue, Willard came up on screen.
"Flint, you'll have to head out first so our Phantoms can sneak out before we can assist," Willard told him. "Stealth mode is no use when our planes kick up dust from the hanger entrance."
"Roger that, just be sure not to leave me hanging for too long," Flint acknowledged as the GN Drive of the Pegasus roared to life with his machine rocketing out of the hanger.
Immediately particle beams greeted him from multiple GN-X IIIs that were waiting outside when the Pegasus roared out of the hanger, weapons at the ready.
In response, the Pegasus activated it field as in charged towards the closest machine with its physical blade ready for a quick strike.
The GN-X III, however backed off and out of the blue, the Gundam he had faced only a few days ago appeared as it intercepted his blade with its own before it managed to overpower him for a second causing him to be pushed back and back into the open where he once again came under particle fire.
With all these particle beams limiting his room to manoeuvre Flint could only growl in annoyance wondering where his support was. This was their territory, yet he was fighting the enemy by himself.
Flint then dropped his GN Field, despite the heavy fire around him, for a second and fired at one of the GN-Xs several times which tore through one of its legs and through its head before he the raised the GN Field around him back up.
His machine suddenly was sent downwards straight after he raised the field to his surprise which pushed him down in his seat. The Serene had come up behind him and had kicked his machine in the back.
"Damn it, you guys are leaving me hanging!" Flint exclaimed exasperated by the fact he was the only thing in the air from the Rising Phoenix. "Is there anyone who can help me?"
Missiles then were sent streaking through the sky by the dozens from the Federation battleship towards him with the enemy mobile suits backing off to give the barrage some space.
"Oh, really?" The Pegasus then began to shoot down the missiles with its shield-mounted carbine, spraying dozens of shots in the missiles' direction.
Particle beams, however, whipped towards him through the air. The beams impacting against the Pegasus before it could raise its field.
Flint gritted his teeth but not before letting out a growl; this was simply ridiculous.
Finally, to his relief, Flint saw several signatures emerge from below which sped towards the enemy missiles; they were Rising Phoenix missiles while clouds of AA battery fire could be seen pitching in with the destruction of enemy missiles that had him marked
Shockwaves boomed from the resulting collisions through the air decorating the skies with clouds of smoke, explosions and debris and finally, he could see some weapons finally being turned against the mobile suits.
The GN-X IIIs then took evasive manoeuvres and moved in to destroy the AA batteries, but the Serene charged at the Pegasus.
Quickly Flint retaliated, firing several shots off at the Serene before raising the Pegasus' blade which locked with his enemy's.
The Serene's thrusters then kicked into life as did its GN Drive, hoping it could overpower him with the same move.
"Do they want me to activate Trans-Am?" Flint wondered outloud with a mutter as the Pegasus was forced back until, with a quick jolt of the controls, his machine spun around to the Serene's side, his blade ready to strike down on his foe.
To Flint's dismay, however, the Serene zoomed right by him during the second his machine had spun around the Serene stopping the Pegasus from making contact with the machine as it transformed into its mobile armour form and roared off into the distance and then made a pass at him with its cannons.
The Pegasus evaded the two blasts, but instead of heading for the Serene, he raced off towards one of the GN-Xs. He couldn't handle this thing himself, he needed Willard and squadron to back him up. What he could do was defend the Rising Phoenix position from being overwhelmed.
The GN-X Flint had locked on to spun around to and prepared to draw its beam saber, but in that split second the Pegasus had gone full speed and reached the GN-X with its blade tearing into the top half of the machine before it exploded while the Pegasus emerged from the explosion heading after new prey.
Erica snarled at the sight of the Pegasus taking down one of her comrades as she began to catch up with her opponent.
Her teammates could handle the defenses but she needed to keep this Gundam away from them so they could actually do their job. It hard enough for them to do their task with the missiles and AA fire blanketing the skies, but with a Gundam which outclassed them in aspects, it was nearly impossible.
She accelerated the Serene and race towards the Pegasus firing the particle cannons off as the Seren rolled through heavy AA fire.
The two particle beams were evaded, but it didn't matter as she prepped the Serene's transformation system, ready to pounce on the target from the skies.
"I've gotcha now!" she shouted with a gleeful smile as her machine transformed and raised its blade ready for the kill.
Just then, an explosion behind the Serene sent it plummeting forwards and the Pegasus responded to the falling mobile suit by raising its own blade for the kill.
Erica eyes slightly widened in shock and surprise as she regained control of her machine and deflected the blade of the Pegasus with her own before firing the wrist-mounted Vulcans pushing her opponent back.
Looking through the skies and at her tactical map, Erica wondered what the hell had just hit her.
Another nearby explosion then rattled her cockpit causing her to grip her controls and then immediately transformed the Serene back to mobile armour mode.
Now, on her tactical map, she saw three of those new Ace Phantoms appear out of the blue and were now chasing after her, their engines roaring through the air as they fired off their railguns at her.
Erica grunted as a round hit the Serene, but didn't manage to go through. "Oh, you want to play, then let's play!" she exclaimed, eager to take on the fighters as the Serene banked right through the air; the Serene now aligning itself to engage one of the Phantoms head on.
Dozens of railgun rounds came towards her but she skillfully weaved through their line of fire with ease and then fired the two particle cannons in retribution causing two of the fighters to break off while the one in the center was forced to pull up which she continued to chase after.
The Serene then fired its particle cannons again causing the Phantom to manoeuvre again, but as it evaded the Serene transformed using the speed from its mobile armour form to propel itself through the air at breakneck speed and was now upon the aircraft with its blade.
The blade slid right through the fighter like a hot knife through butter as the mobile suit graced past the fighter splitting it into two pieces sending one half spinning through the air while the other exploded into a bright fireball.
She then dived down towards another one of the fighters and fired her machine's wrist-mounted Vulcans. The fighter attempted to evade as it tried to weave through the fire-storm with its engines accelerating it to its top speed, but one shot managed to hit the fighters wing before it could escape.
The fighter was sent spinning out of control and slowly turned into a fireball before it nose dived into the hills below. In the corner of her eyes as she began heading back after her main priority she saw a chute slowly descending down through the air.
"What a lucky guy," Erica thought.
As she head back after the Pegasus Erica grinned with satisfaction. Those fighters wouldn't be easy for the Rising Phoenix to replace with all their sophisticated systems and they were just so lightly armoured that all she had to do was touch them with even a light particle beam and they would be downed. This would probably help in the long-run of their operations.
"Corporal Sierra where are you?" she heard one of the Federation pilots call out to her. "This Gundam is tearing us apart out here."
"I'm on my way!" Erica instantly replied as she then raced down towards the Pegasus' location which was signalled by a mobile suit explosion.
Upon catching a glimpse of the Pegasus which trailed out of the fiery explosion, Erica fired the wrist-mounted Vulcans causing the Pegasus to shift its attention and evade the hail of shots while she quickly closed in.
Finally, she had her target back where she wanted as she slashed out at the Pegasus causing it to raise its blade in self-defense only for the blade to be pushed aside and immediately she had the wrist-mounted Vulcans fire at the Pegasus as it backed away which impacted against the machine before it returned fire.
One of the shots from the Pegasus glanced the left shoulder of the Serene which slightly shook the cockpit, but everything else for the Serene seemed to be fine.
Just need to keep you alone for this to succeed. Erica then charged once more at the Pegasus.
The blade slammed against the Pegasus' before she then twirled around right to the back of her opponent and then lashed out at the Pegasus. The blade pieced through Pegasus' shoulder plate and into its arm causing an explosion which ripped apart the Gundams right arm.
She grinned, at this rate both her opponent and a major part of the Rising Phoenix would be defeated this day and it would definitely earn her much praise prove that she was a super soldier to those who may look down on her.
In the hills multiple weapon systems were being used to desperately defend the base against both the mobile suits and the battleships. The endless bark and roars of the weapons drowning out all but the loudest cries from the people operating them.
"What? I didn't get that, say again!" Viper heard an operator scream near his hidden vantage point as a heavy fixed artillery piece fired at one of the battleships.
The shell exploded against the battleship's hull with a result. Smoke could be seen bleeding out of the ship's wound which was a gaping hull against its bow.
Immediately after the first shell had struck the artillery gun fired again and struck one of the ships GN Cannons knocking it out of action.
Just as the crew prepared to fire the third shell, several gunshots through the roar of multiple guns then shot out through the air as the crew was sent diving for cover.
"We've got Feddies!" a soldier roared as Rising Phoenix troops began returning fire from their dug-in position.
Their defense, however, barely lasted even a second as a rocket from one of the Federation soldiers struck the artillery gun causing it to explode violently as the shell loaded inside detonated killing the soldiers around the gun instantly.
Viper cursed and with a single press of the trigger, the Federation soldier with the launcher went down who then fell to the ground, dead.
"It's no good when they're so close to us, not to mention there's more of them then us!" Viper stated as he shot a Federation soldier in the chest causing him to tumble backwards. "Josh, have command given any orders other then to hold our position?" he asked.
Josh signalled for Viper to wait as he listened in on the radio before he covered the receiver with his hand. "They want our all units at position Senator to pull back and head to position Galileo to the escape tunnels!" he shouted. "All vital personnel are evacuating through the tunnels, but if we want to get out we need to hurry back there! They'll be sealing them off if the Federation gets too close!"
"Good, I was getting sick of the Federation shooting us up," Viper said out loud as he fired a round which sent a Federation soldier ducking behind a large rock for cover.
Bullets then began to slam against Viper's position causing both men to stay low as bits of stone was chipped away all around them.
The roar of engines then screamed through the hills drowning out the gunshots sending a shockwave which had Viper and his spotter duck down even lower into their cover.
As the fighter passed by a loud grinding could be heard as a broken GN-X III tore up the ground with an ear-splitting sound of twisting metal before it settled where the gun had originally been and now right infront of Viper and blocking his field of view but also causing the Federation soldiers to cease fire.
Viper then got up and signalled for Josh to move using the tunnel system they had to quickly reposition to where they were needed.
As he ran down the tunnels numerous soldiers could be seen either heading out into action or dragging in the wounded towards the tunnels that led out of the base.
It was a terrible sight with men suffering massive burns or shrapnel. Some didn't even have limbs or faces to speak due to the particle blast from the GN-Xs and the two battleships overhead as Viper saw a medic only shake his head at one of those soldier who had utterly been mutilated before moving onto the next wounded soldier.
It was tragedy that people couldn't be saved, but there was just nothing Viper or his partner could do about other then maybe uttering a short prayer for those who would soon pass away.
Within a minute Viper, his spotter and several other soldiers who had received the order left one of the tunnels and exited to see three CIWS systems continuing to fill the skies with shells filling the air with their near never-ending shrieks.
Hundreds of casing were spread across the ground with the weapon crews constantly reloading the ammo hungry weapons who were dug in with sandbags and particle disruption smoke being vented into the air to limit the damage the enemy could do from the air.
A soldier then signalled to them. "Get out while you still can, tunnels there!" he gestured to a tunnel with dozens of people heading into. "Leads all the way Outpost One!"
Immediately Viper turned and headed for the escape tunnels and his salvation. There would be no fighting retreat for most of them especially not with simple rifles against walking death machines. This base, even if they did hold, was lost. Federation forces would overwhelm them in another hour with their position dialed in and it was better to be a coward and live to fight another day then die a pointless death.
Two Ace Phantoms roared through the air firing their missiles at one of the battleships before breaking off with a burst of flares and chaff to minimize the amount of fire the battleship would bring on them in response.
The missiles impacted against one of the cannons causing an explosion to shoot up, ripping through one of the battleship's lower bow guns.
Upon seeing the cannons go up into flames, Willard noticed the signal from one of his comrades disappear off screen. They were now down two fighters in total in his small squadron.
Their air strength was also severely undermined by the fact they had limited numbers and most of the older fighters were no longer as effective against the newer generation mobile suits even with the special ammunition. They simply did not age well in this new era of warfare.
"Willard, that mobile armour got Blake and it shot down Gyver, should we handle it before it gets the Pegasus?" Jeff questioned as the Phantoms were now soaring back to the main battlefield with their remaining comrade forming back up with them.
"We can't take it head on," Carlos then stated, having witnessed his teammates being shot down. "This thing can actually keep up with us and it's giving the Pegasus a beating! Just look!"
On his HUD, Willard saw the Pegasus trying to fend off the Serene; every time Flint tried to counter-attack with the Pegasus against the Serene only ended up with the Serene skilfully dodging or deflecting the blow.
Willard narrowed his eyes at the Serene. "It looks we'll have to take the risk, Carlos. We've got to bail Flint out; I've just received orders we're preparing to pull back, but command is going to be pissed if we leave him and his machine behind. Engage the machine using Attack Pattern Talon."
"Understood, boss, moving to engage," Carlos announced as his Phantom and Jeff's broke off from formation and began heading for the mobile suits flanks.
The HUD on the Phantom locked onto the Serene and with the confirming 'ping' Willard launched a single missile at the Serene.
The Pegasus put up its shield as the missile detonated near the Serene pushed it through the air before it came under fire from Carlos and Jeff whose Phantoms struck at the mobile suits flanks with their railguns.
Instantly the Serene soared up quickly gaining altitude as the Phantoms passed by and it prepared to fire at one of them with its wrist-mounted Vulcans, but Willard fired of several shots interrupting the machine from targeting his allies which punched right through the one of Serene's folded wings and its left arm.
The Pegasus then raced towards the machine, firing its carbine to in an attempt to finish off the Serene before it could get a lock on him, but one of the battleships fired its particle cannons which separated the two machines from each other.
"Flint, we've got to pull back to these coordinates," Willard told Flint as his Phantom regrouped with what was left of his squad.
"Roger that," Flint replied back, obeying the orders with the Pegasus activating Trans-Am to quickly leave the battlefield. "You think enough of men and equipment are actually going to escape from this to continue on with the plans?"
"Don't know, we'll just have to find out," Willard answered back with a sigh as he watched the base fade away in the distance. There was just nothing more that could be done with their numbers and present state.
Turkmenistan, September 4, Katharon Base
A man walked into Klaus' small command centre breathing heavily having run here who took a few moments to recover.
"Yullen, what's the matter?" Klaus asked as the man raised himself back up with a look of dread on his face. "Did something happen with the Rising Phoenix?" he then questioned more firmly in this response.
"K-Klaus, the Rising Phoenix base, it's gone," Yullen said back to him handing Klaus a report coupled with images. "We were just leaving when the Federation struck. Omar and Manuel were still there when they struck. "
Klaus sighed as he took a seat. "With their major base of operations destroyed that leaves us as the major target once again. There's only so much the Phoenix can do without a base and I'm willing to bet they lost most of their supplies in that battle. They won't be able to commit much if they can't keep their forces supplied, an issue which we can barely keep in check." He then looked at Yullen. "Try and locate where they've retreated their forces to and figure out what's their next move. If they launch any sort of counter- attack against the Federation we should at least help them in some form."
Yullen, however, raised his hand in objections. "We've already sent out some of our people to find Celestial Being and the princess. It's not wise to send more forces out until they return. My people barely got back here. We're already risking the position of this base, we can't afford to lose ours like the Phoenix just did," Yullen explained to Klaus, voicing his concern. "We should wait to see if Omar or Manuel radio us back on the situation."
Within a few moments of pondering Klaus nodded his head in agreement, seeing Yullen's view. "Now that just leaves the question of what are we to do now? Together with the Rising Phoenix we may have been able to put up a tenacious resistance, but now our only hope against the Federation may just lie solely with Celestial Being. Though if Jean One's information is correct Shirin's group should be coming upon Celestial Being's mothership."
Gulf of Oman, September 4, Ptolemaios II
Everything was relatively quiet on the bridge of Ptolemy as it came closer and closer to the coast of Azadistan. In less than an hour or so, they would be there.
Mileina let out a yawn as she stretched in her seat. "This is so boring just watching over the ship at this depth; I don't get why we're even so far down below. If anything does happen it'll take alot of time to resurface and launch the Gundams," she complained before looking back at her console.
"Which is why you're supposed to be watching out to see if there is anything down here," Feldt replied back in slight annoyance, still staring at her console.
"But it's so boring watching for nothing," Mileina answered in a whiny voice.
"Well let's hope it stays that way," Lasse then said. "Federation Forces may not be operating here, but for the A-Laws, you never know and if they are, they're going to be all over us when we resurface near the coast of Azadistan."
Mileina suddenly then sprung up from her seat and stared into her console. "I'm picking up an enemy carrier launching several mobile suits, it seems like they've found something."
Lasse turned his head to her. "Any idea what they're heading for?"
"We can't tell from down here," Feldt then said to Lasse causing him to swing his head around to face her. "If my projections are correct we'll either have to change our course or resurface and take those mobile suits on."
"Well we can't risk Ptolemy revealing its location, but I don't want A-Laws committing another atrocity we can stop; how about we have our Gundams launch and if things get to dicey out there we can surface, have our Gundams return then dive back down to avoid retaliation," Lasse suggested.
Silence filled the bridge on the crew wondering what to do until Feldt nodded her head along with Mileina giving the go ahead.
From that point, the Ptolemaios began to climb as preparations to launch its mobile suits began.
Author Notes: Finally dug up my old Atlas so I can actually figure out where places are in the world and I guessed where the Katharon base may be, abit too lazy to watch the episode again. Also no Allelujah, sorry, but he's temporarily out of action. I found it strange how he had those massive black rings around his eyes yet they were gone by the next episode. Sure he's a super soldier, but he had been imprisoned for a very long time. Anyways please leave a review.