Patriot-112: Here we are folks! Another chapter from your favorite group of Gundam Fans. The others are busy right, so I'm making this intro myself. Also, there will be a very gruesome at the end of this chapter, which is meant to introduce a very... sadistic original character.
Anyway, besides that, let's continue!
Chapter 4: Dancing with Angels Part 2
May 18th, 2014 AD/ CE 71
Alaska Coastline
Tom grinned as he looked out over the ocean as a modified, massive ice breaker approached their position. When the fighting began the underground Canadian Military had appropriated the Coast Guard Vessel and fashioned it into a Battleship reinforce their lagging fleet. "Captain Johnston, this is Captain Brown, I hear you have a bit of a flat tire."
Tom chuckled as he held his radio up. "Something like that Captain, mind giving us a bit of a tow?" he asked.
"Not a problem, sending out some of my boys with chains," Brown informed as several inflatable boats left the Modified Icebreaker; heading for the beached carrier. "So we now got a carrier for use, huh, it'll be good to get on the offensive again."
"Tell me about it, what's the latest intel?" Tom asked as the soldiers got to work chaining up the carrier to be towed.
"Well, we got a rather sizable EA fleet heading for that new chain of islands that appeared," Brown reported. "We are also are getting reports of a group of Americans that joined forces with them. One other report is saying that the leader of the refugee's from Edmonton that you're interested in is there as well."
"Really?" Tom asked, his eyebrow raising. "Any news on how the fighting is going?"
"Rather well, considering. They seem to be fighting them off with some assistance." Tom had an idea about who was assisting, that was for sure. It was either ZAFT or the Archangel. His bets were on the latter.
"I think we can tip the odds even further against the EA," Tom informed, looking over to their newly acquired Carrier. "Corporal, bring me the good captain we captured and have communications get ahold of the General, we've got some scheming to do."
Meanwhile - San Joaquin Pocket
California, United States
"YEEEHAW!" Jordan shouted as he sped across the battlefield in the now fully charged Schwarze Calamity, as he fired his beam rifle at a duo of Strike Daggers that jumped up at him, only to be gunned down before he spun around, and sliced a 105 Dagger in half. "This is what I was born to do!"
The battle was going even better than expected. With the arrival of Takeshi's group, along with the surprise arrival of the extra US Troops, and their ZAFT escorts lead by the Justice, the EA forces were soon finding themselves in a much harder fight than they anticipated. While Kira and Athrun fought off the Extendeds, and Patriot was holding off Rena, that left just the grunts to him and the others.
"Okay, then…" he said, he said gripping the controls. "Time to deliver the pain!"
With that, he went toward a group of four Strike Daggers lead by a Duel Dagger. The first to spot him was one of the Strike Daggers, which turned around and drew its beam rifle out, opening fire. However Jordan just brought up his shield and blocked the attack as he sped forward, firing his own beam rifle at a second Strike Dagger that was moving too slow, and got blown to pieces.
He then put away his rifle before drawing his beam saber once again as he approached the first Strike Dagger as he sliced off the unit's left arm, which was holding the beam rifle in it. However the Strike Dagger then dropped the shield in its right arm, drawing out its ES01 Beam Saber before charging at Jordan, only to be bashed away by Jordan's shield as he sliced off its second arm. It fired its 75mm head vulcan but Jordan kicked him to the ground.
"Stay down!" he growled out before he jumped into the air, avoiding the fire from the two remaining Strike Daggers and Duel Dagger, and landing behind the first Dagger. He grabbed it by the head as he ripped off the Beam Saber on its back, activating it before he tossed it at the second Strike Dagger, hitting it in the head and causing it to fall backwards. Without a main Camera, the Dagger retreated.
He then crushed the Dagger's head with the Schwarze's hands, and swinging his own beam saber, he sliced off the machine's right arm - taking the beam rifle with it. The second dagger retreated, leaving just the Duel Dagger to contend with as it fired off its Railgun at him. Jordan ducked under the attack before he shot the thrusters forward, tackling the Duel Dagger to the ground.
"You're good," a voice on the Radio said, causing Jordan to blink in surprise that it was coming from the Duel Dagger, and that it was somewhat of a Russian accent. "I must ask, how long have you been piloting Mobile Suits?"
Jordan chuckled a bit. "Would you believe me if I said this is only my second mission in this thing?" he said, before he grunted a bit as the Duel Dagger kicked him in the torso a few good times. Though the Trans-Phase armor held of course, it still rattled the inside of the cockpit.
Jordan in return punched the Duel Dagger in the face a few good times, knocking the machine away. The Duel dagger fired its missiles at him, but Jordan gunned them down with the Schwarze's CIWS vulcans. "Impossible," the Russian pilot said. "You're piloting that machine like you've known it all your life!"
"I'm just lucky that way, I suppose," Jordan said as he brought out his beam saber once again.
"Hmm… maybe…" the Russian said, as he drew his own Beam Saber in return. "You are good… but you can't possibly hope to stand against the entire Atlantic Federation, let along the entire Earth Alliance. Even if we fail this time… we will be back, larger than ever."
Jordan was silent for a moment, before he smiled a bit. Not knowing that he and the Russian were on an open channel, he spoke. "Well, you know what I say to that?" he asked. "I say the Earth Forces can go Dance with the Angels!"
With that said, Jordan charged, his Beam Saber raised just as the Duel Dagger charged towards him. The two charged before they both swung, and suddenly the two machines were standing behind one another, both having completed their swings, now in a hunched position.
Then, the Duel Dagger's right arm fell off and exploded, and a chunk of the Aile pack of the Calamity fell off.
"Damn," the Russian growled, Jordan hearing the sounds of warning alarms on the other side. "Looks like I underestimated you… but next time you won't be so lucky, boy… " The Duel Dagger jumped away. "Either way… I look forward to our next fight, young man!"
Jordan sighed as he looked around and saw the majority of the EAF beginning to fall back.
"It looks like they had enough," he said to himself, before thinking 'But they'll be back.'
With D.J., he was busy still fighting Rena, as she attempted to slice him down the middle with one of her swords, but the EA Ace was surprise when the 105 Dagger lifted it's arms in an x-block, stopping the sword swing before he grabbed the Sword Calamity's arm and brought it down on its knee, breaking the arm at the elbow.
"GODDAMMIT!" Rena shouted, now more than pissed, especially as the 105 Dagger then shoved her away, forcing her to try and regain her balance.
"Lieutenant Imelia!" a voice called out, as she saw two Strike Daggers arrive, firing at the 105 Dagger, forcing it to jump back. "We need to fall back! Command is issuing a retreat while we still can!"
Rena growled a bit as she stood the Sword Calamity back up, staring at the 105 Dagger that once again managed to escape her. "We'll meet again..." She said, before she jumped the Calamity up, following her comrades in their retreat.
Jessica's eyes widened as she heard that over the radio. "You heard her, guys! They're gonna fall back! We need to press this home!" she shouted.
"On it!" the team cried.
Steven, Vanessa, Tony, and Ben sped out from the trees as did Jessica. The five tanks met up and formed a V formation as they opened fire from their guns to press home the retreat option.
Dylan took down another Dagger as it attempted to retreat, but left his back open to an attack by another one, this one having deployed its' two beam sabers. Luckily for Dylan, Ron had long since hammered watching their teammates' backs into their heads, and the saber-wielding Dagger was blasted by Tanner's Launcher Dagger. "You owe me for that, Dylan!" A railgun round shot past the Launcher Dagger's head, and Dylan eyed the clearly pissed off Forbidden, which was firing at Tanner's machine. Beams were useless, as Ron had told them. Dylan then hatched a plan involving those beam boomerangs: take out those railguns at range. "Hey, asshat!" He holstered the anti-ship sword and pulled out both boomerangs. "Knock-knock, asshole!" The Sword Dagger swung the boomerangs at the Forbidden, actually managing to hit and damage the railguns to the point where they couldn't be used. That also made the beam-bending Hresvelgr plasma cannon useless, as while it could be fired, hitting a moving target became a LOT harder.
"You son of a bitch!" Shani shouted, and then prepared to go after the Dagger, only for him to feel intense pain coursing through his body.
"AAAAHHHH!" he shouted in agony, as Orga began to suffer the withdrawal of the combat drugs.
"Oh shit! We're out of time!" the Calamity pilot shouted. Immediately afterwards, the two Extendeds turned around, and sped away from the combat zone, moving as fast as they could back towards Atlantic Federation lines.
"They're falling back!"
"Yeah, but not for long, they'll be back once they regroup."
"One thing is sure, we're not gonna make it easy for them."
"Who cares? They're running! We did it! We won!"
Across the Comm Channels, the cheers of victory were heard, as the EA forces were running scared across the lines. And now with the Freedom and Justice proving extra support, it was unlikely that they'd be coming back in such forces very soon.
Jordan sighed as he leaned back in his seat, watching as the EA forces ran. "We did it…" he muttered with a smile. "We actually pulled it off..."
Jordan looked at the screens around him, as he saw the results of the battle. There were a lot of EA mobile suits and vehicles that were destroyed, along with a few American vehicles and MS among them, however he was glad that the number of wrecked EA hulks outnumbered the American ones, telling him that if anyone took the most casualties, it was the Earth Forces.
One thing that caught his attention was when he spotted a 105 Dagger with an Aile Striker Pack, and a Sword Striker Sword, Shield and Beam Boomerang - recognizing it as Takeshi's unit. It was standing on top of a hill, watching the EA forces retreat.
Jordan walked the Schwarze Calamity forward, up the hill until he was standing next to the 105 Dagger, watching the EA forces as well. "You alright?" he asked Takeshi. The battle was so intense he hadn't gotten a chance to actually introduce himself to his online friend.
"Yeah…" Takeshi replied. "Nowhere near done, though… this won't end until the EA and Blue Cosmos are unable to tear any more families apart…"
Jordan nodded. "Yeah…" he said. "They need to be stopped, no matter what… sorry to hear about your family though, Takeshi. Would've loved to have met them if what you told me about them is true."
The Dagger turned to face the Schwarze Calamity, cocking its head as a symbol of its pilot's confusion. "I take it we met before?" he asked.
Jordan chuckled a bit. "Yes, well… just not in person… Azure Tempest," he said with a small smirk.
Takeshi gave a slight start at that, realizing just where he'd met the pilot before. "Are you 117Jorn or Patriot-112?" he asked.
Again, Jordan laughed. "The former, of course," he said. "117Jorn at your service, great to meet you in person, Takeshi. Wish it were under better circumstances."
Takeshi sighed. "You and me both," he said. "Still, I'm not going to wallow in sorrow. I won't let the EA do as they please any more, I won't let them separate any more families." He paused for a moment. "The EA and Blue Cosmos are one of the great Evils of this world… and to face them, I need to be more than I am now. I must become… I must become the Sword that Cleaves Evil." In the cockpit, a small smile came to his face at the title, as he realized just who he had to expy, just what character meshed the best with him in this situation…
"And you're not going to do it alone," Jordan said. "We're going to destroy the Earth Alliance… all of us, together. And replace it with something better…" He frowned a bit. "The people of earth have had their souls dragged down by gravity for far too long… it will be up to us to correct that mistake."
Takeshi grinned. "Nice Char Quote there," he mused. "Anyway, let's get these things parked, and bring in the rest of my convoy. I think we've all got a bit of catching up to do."
"That we do," Jordan said, nodding. "Tell your guys to head on into base, you can land on the Archangel if you need repair and the such." He then pressed the comm again. "Yo, Patriot! You there?"
"Yeah, I'm here!" said the pilot of the custom painted Dagger, and Jordan saw he was carrying an anti-ship sword, with said weapon resting against the shoulder. "And I got a new toy, courtesy of Rena Imelia!" The online buddies had united, none of them were dead and Patriot even got a new weapon. All in all, it was a good day. Well, except for Ron blacking out in the middle of the fight due to stim abuse. But they didn't know that Ron had been taking stims. Not yet, at least.
Later - Archangel Hangar
Once all of the EA forces had either withdrawn or been captured, the US Forces, along with the help of their new arrivals began scavenging through the battlefield for salvage. Looking for Mobile Suits that could be repaired and put back to use, as well as parts that could be used to maintain the machines they already have. Not to mention other samples of Alliance technology such as their Linear tanks and crashed F-7D's, anything that could be of use.
Now, the Schwarze Calamity, along with Takeshi and Patriot's 105 Daggers had landed on the Archangel, shortly after the Justice, Freedom, and the other ZAFT and Orb machines had landed.
"Wow," Takeshi said as he looked around the hangar of the Archangel. "I knew you'd captured some Mobile Suits, Jordan, but I wasn't expecting you guys to have an EA battleship."
Jordan chuckled a bit. "That was pure luck, actually, and it's not ours, obviously," he said. "Belongs to some EA deserters, left after some battle up in Alaska at a place called JOSH-A. Mentioned something about the EA deeming them 'expendable' for some reason."
Takeshi nodded, knowing what battle Jordan was talking about and what he meant, but also knowing it was best to keep up a charade that they didn't know anything. "I see," he said. "Well, good to know that we at least have some people on our side for this." At that point, he saw a familiar-to-him head of red hair come up the boarding ramp into the Archangel. "Ah, Linda!" he called out to her, getting her attention.
"Ah, Takeshi," Linda greeted as she shifted the box of assorted electronics she was carrying. "Glad to see you made it through the battle."
"Yeah," he said, before waving her over. "Come on over, I want you to meet someone! This is a good friend of mine, Jordan Tackett, though I know him better from his Fanfiction Username of 117Jorn. Jorn, this is Linda McTavish, who my convoy picked up while we were at Nellis."
"Nice to meet you, Miss McTavish," Jordan said nodding as they shook hands. "Like he said, my name's Jordan Tackett, though my friends call me Jorn."
"Nice to meet you," Linda greeted. "They've got us techs loading up onto the Archangel here, apparently we're shipping off to space."
"Not for a while, I suppose," Jordan said, shaking his head. "If I understand their technology correctly, the only way for ships like the Archangel here to launch into space would be to use something called a Mass Driver. And the only ones available to them are in Victoria, Kaohsiung, and at a nation called Orb. And with all of the Earth Forces in the area… we're not going anywhere till we kick them out of California for good."
"Sounds like a tall order," Takeshi remarked. "Though, part of me thinks it might be easier to load up onto the Archangel and that transport you have, blast our way to the coast, and from there make our way to Pearl Harbor - from what I've heard from my convoy commander, the Hawaiian Islands are still under our control, and I think they'd be a good place to regroup and plan a counterattack."
Jordan smiled a bit as he motioned his head for them to follow. "The General is way ahead of you - in a sense," he said as they walked through the hangar. "You're right about Hawaii - they got off almost scot free when our worlds collided. I asked one of the Archangel's pilots about it, and he said that Pearl Harbor and Hawaii haven't been a military installation since something called the Reconstruction War - their version of World War III. 'Cause of that, most of the US Pacific Fleet stationed there is A-Okay. Better yet, ships of the US 3rd Fleet stationed at San Diego that survived the merge have fallen back there. They've got a good number of carriers still serving last I heard, and with enough manpower to put them and all other military assets they have to good use. And we already have a plan in motion to retake Los Angeles - we take LA back, California is as good as ours."
Takeshi smiled. "Very nice," he said. "I'm looking forward to helping out, and hopefully getting my hands on a better Mobile Suit - my Aile/Sword Dagger is a good machine, but I think I'd like something specialized for close quarters, rather than a general purpose model with close-combat equipment packs." He then cast a glance up at the Schwarze Calamity. "And if I could get something as high-performance as yours seems to be, I'd definitely like that."
Jordan chuckled as he glanced up at his MS. "I got her by pure luck, really," he said. "But I love her all the same." He then glanced at the Justice and Freedom, where he saw the pilots of the respective machines had finally left after securing themselves in the hangar.
"That red one was a latecomer to the battle, wasn't it?" Linda asked, even though she and Takeshi both knew who it was.
"Yeah, it was," Takeshi replied. "Was it an EA deserter like this battleship was?"
"I don't think so," Jordan said, playing along. "His flight suit looks more like the ones those ZAFT guys wore… he probably works for them if I were to guess."
The two nodded as the two pilots, with their helmets removed touched the floor of the hangar bay and looked at each other for a moment before they began to walk toward each other.
Jordan knew this scene all too well. The only difference was that the meeting was originally on a beach in Orb, instead of the hangar of the Archangel like it was right now. Kira and Athrun had just left their respective Mobile Suits, each of them now walking towards one another, thinking of all the friends they had lost to one another over the past few months since January, all while the rest of the Archangel crew watched in silence.
Takeshi knew the scene, too, and took a quick glance around… yep, there was Cagalli, off on the sidelines, but looking like she was ready to glomp either of the two at any time.
The two stopped walking as they now stood face to face with one another, eye to eye. It felt like a minute had passed before they were interrupted by a familiar "Tori" sound as he and Athrun looked up, to see Birdy land on Kira's shoulder.
Kira looked at the small bird, before finally he smiled a bit as he looked at his friend. "Hi, Athrun." He said, simply.
Athrun's fist clenched for just a brief second, before he loosened up a bit as he smiled a bit as well. "Hi, Kira," he responded.
It was after they said their hellos that Cagalli broke from the crowd, shouting to them before she glomped the two friends.
"Uh, Cagalli?" Kira said in surprise.
"Oh you guys!" Cagalli shouted, her eyes watering slightly. "You guys are such idiots!"
Both Kira and Athrun couldn't help but chuckle as Cagalli held them.
Jordan looked at the scene with a small smile on his face.
'This is definitely one of those moments.' he thought as he continued to watch.
"You gotta admit," a voice said, and Jordan turned saw D.J. standing next to him, "moments like these when old friends who were trying to kill each other, reconcile."
Tanner and Dylan walked toward the two, clearly wanting to talk to them. "Uh, Patriot and Jorn, right?" Dylan said. "Ron said that we should talk to you guys if he wasn't available." He glanced over his shoulder, just as Titanic's tank crew dragged his unconscious body out of the Abrams. "And he's not exactly available at the moment."
They set him down on the hanger deck while Steven ran to get a gurney to get him to sickbay: he was too heavy to carry all the way there. "Holy shit, this guy weighs a ton!" Steven muttered.
"He said he was 260 pounds!" Jessica said.
"Geez…" Jordan said. "What the hell happened to him?"
"Don't know," Dylan said, shaking his head. "He wouldn't talk about what happened back in North Bay. And he stayed up later and was always awake before everyone else, like he never slept."
That reminded Jordan of something. Ron carried a 2-liter Coca-Cola bottle full of juice with him at all times. He even brought it with him into the Dagger. To the best of his knowledge, it was still in the cockpit. 'Ron isn't THAT stupid,' he thought. 'He wouldn't have done that.'
Then again when he thought about it, it did explain why he was so bitchy and his berserker phase during the battle. He would have to find that bottle and have the doctor test it for any kind of drugs.
"Well, with the battle over it will be a while before the EA can assemble a force for a second attack," Jordan said. "And if what you guys told me is true about the shit you went through to get here… Ron needs all the rest he can get now."
D.J. nodded in agreement at that. "Yep and saves us from headaches," he said, and then looked at Ron's dagger, having remembered the same thing as Jordan. "I believe I'll get that Coke bottle."
"You do that," Jordan said nodding. "Takeshi, Linda, you two best follow me to meet the General. He'd probably want to meet you so we can discuss where you guys will be stationed at - and what role you will play in the next battle."
"Right," Takeshi said, with Linda nodding. "Lead the way, Jorn."
20 minutes later
Jordan brought the two to the command center near the Save Mart Center, where there was a gathering of Mobile Suits that were captured from the EA. The pilots of the machines were disembarking, while technicians began working on maintenance of the Mobile Suits, with some help from volunteers from the Archangel who were teaching them how to maintain said machines.
Takeshi and Linda followed the Schwarze Pilot into the Command Center, where inside the General was looking at a map of California and surrounding states. Small figures which represented their positions - and those of the Earth Forces were present on the map.
General Toolan looked up, and nodded as he saw Jordan walk in. "Jordan," he said. "Good work out there. Somehow we managed to hold the line, thanks to your friends." He looked at Takeshi and Linda. "Who are they?"
Jordan gestured to Takeshi. "This is Takeshi Yamato," he said. "This is the pilot of the 105 Dagger of the group who contacted us at Nellis. And with him is Linda McTavish, from the same group."
The General nodded. "Good to have you here," he said. "Your forces certainly saved our asses in that fight, not to mention Sergeant Bakers team with those ZAFT machines… I had almost listed his entire company KIA. Either way, having you here now should make life easier for us now."
"Thank you, sir," Takeshi said with a nod. "Linda might not be a soldier, but she's a pretty good physicist, and has helped me figure out some of the variables for proper configuration of my machine's OS."
"The world can be broken down into ones and zeros," Linda declared. "After learning things like that, computer programming algorithms are easy."
The General nodded. "Good, we can use her help to get our machines and pilots squared away," he said, before he sighed. "But, I've got good news, better news, and bad news. The good news is we managed to establish communications with High Command - they've re-established themselves at Austin, Texas, and are managing to coordinate the remaining US Forces across their defensive lines along the south. And the better news is that they've been taking your examples, and have been capturing a number of Earth Forces mobile weapons."
Jordan and the others smiled. "That's good," he said. "Great even, means future battles aren't going to be so one-sided anymore." He then frowned. "But… what's the bad news?"
The General sighed as he sat down in his chair. "Command… in all their infinite wisdom," he said with sarcasm laced in his voice. "Has issued new orders to me and our forces here… they've outlined new plans for Operation: Forty Niner… they want us to retake San Francisco, use it as a staging area to retake Los Angeles and San Diego."
Jordan and the others blinked in surprise, before his eyes widened. "Wait… by ourselves?" he asked. "Sir, we may have Mobile Suits, but… me and D.J. did recon around that area. San Francisco is like fucking Normandy at this point! It's crawling with Earth Forces, and it's their base of operations for every attack they've launched against us!"
"I told them the same thing, but they didn't listen," the General said with a sigh. "They're hoping that with the firepower of the Archangel, those advanced 'Gundam' Type Mobile Suits, as well as the other machines we've gathered will be enough to pierce through their defenses." He sighed. "Thankfully, there is some good news with that… in order to help us in retaking San Francisco, Command says they're going to send assets from Pearl Harbor to help us in the attack, including assets from the 3rd Fleet."
Jordan sighed. "This isn't good…" he muttered before he sighed. "Then again… they are right that taking San Francisco would go a long way in taking the rest of California back." He looked at the General. "When do they want us to attack?"
"Three days from today," the General said. "Command hopes that we can catch the Earth Forces off guard with a sudden counter-attack just a short time after their recent assault. "
"Could work," Takeshi remarked. "We'll need to be quick about it, though - if we take too long, they'll get reinforcements from other areas, and we'd be in trouble. It'll have to be blitzkrieg at its finest."
"My thoughts exactly," The General said, nodding, before he sighed. "You'd best tell the rest of your boys, Jordan, Takeshi. You need to get as much rest tonight as you can, because tomorrow we mount up and mobilize, and the day after that… the 3rd Fleet arrives, and the Operation begins."
Jordan nodded as he saluted. "I'll inform Patriot and the others," he said. "They probably won't like it though, but orders are orders I guess."
"I'll need to see about getting my machine painted," Takeshi informed, "but that shouldn't take too long."
The General nodded as he returned the salute. "Dismissed," he said as the trio nodded before they left the Command Center.
Later that Day
D.J. sighed as he sat down on a folding chair, removing his O.D. boonie hat as he wiped the sweat off his face. He had taken the Coke bottle which was still half full and delivered it to the Archangel's doctor. Now he was waiting for the results.
While he was waiting he picked up the FAL he borrowed from Bruce's collection. The battle rifle worked well for him, but he was beginning to feel that he needed to replace it, and soon. He believed in the concept that weapons that were still useful shouldn't be replaced, but he was also a realist. He sighed again, as he placed the rifle in his lap.
"I think I need to get either an AK, AR-15, or any sort of rifle," he said with a little bit of remorse. "You did good, ya old thoroughbred."
"Who says it still can't?" a voice said, and Patriot turned to see Jordan enter the room. "I can understand where you're coming from. My SKS-M worked good… but it's just not my kind of rifle. However that doesn't mean it can't still be used." He shrugged. "Look at Mobile Suits, for example - there's no doubting they're the future for combat in our world. However, just because Mobile Suits are used, things like tanks, infantry, and such can still be useful. Look at the Universal Century - hell, look at our world now! Jessica and her team are causing some serious damage with their own tanks. Everything has value… even if others would like to disagree."
"I know what you're saying," a female voice said as Jessica stepped into the room. "But Ron seems to think not."
"Yeah," Jordan said shaking his head. "His reasons are justified, but I don't agree with them most of the time." He then looked at the two. "Anyways, got some news for you guys… in a few days we're mobilizing - destination San Francisco."
Jessica looked at him in surprise. "Hold on," she said. "That means that we're going to start bringing the fight to the EA and AF, right? Won't that mess things up for us? I mean, isn't the place like a fraggin' fortress now?"
"Not in the slightest, Titanic," Jordan said, referring her to her username. "We've got good defenses - but the longer we stay here, the quicker we'll run out of supplies. Food, ammo, medicine… we're gonna run out eventually if we stay here. If we can retake San Francisco, then we have access to their ports and the San Francisco Airport. With those we can start shipping in supplies from the rest of the U.S Military and our allies."
He then sighed. "However, taking San Francisco is the real problem," he said. "Me and Patriot have done a few good scouting rounds of the city. Their defenses compared to ours is like comparing a hill to a mountain range. They're dug in deep with defenses. If we want to pull this off… we need all available hands on deck for this one, even with the 3rd Fleet supporting us in the operation. "
Jessica pursed her lips as she thought about it. "If that's the case...then we may need to do something a bit more… unexpected…" she said. "And I have an idea."
She pulled an old map out of her pocket and laid it out. "On our way here, we stopped and grabbed a map from someplace further back. This may be of some help with the idea I have planned." She pointed at several major road junctions. "Look. In WWII, the Soviets cut off the Germans at Stalingrad, right? Well, I was thinking of pulling the same thing. But by having the major road junctions cut off. We have some serious firepower coming in with 3rd Fleet, right? I was planning on having them fire at these road junctions, effectively reducing them to rubble and cutting off any possible reinforcements from coming into the city. Or at least delaying them. This will buy us some time to attack the city and take the airport and the port. This way we can effectively render them sitting ducks until it's too late."
She then looked up at Jorn and Patriot. "I don't know if it'll work, but at least it's a shot."
Jordan looked at the map. "It sounds good on paper, but there are a few problems," he said. "The positions you're pointing out are guarded - but only by small forces. Striking them wouldn't really do much to the enemy's main force, plus even if you bombard the positions, it doesn't cut the enemy off. They can move around craters you know."
"I know. But what I'm saying is this could do something, if we strike it at the same time as when we start our attack. Cause confusion," she said.
"It wouldn't cause much," Jordan said shaking his head. "It's like Ron said - the Earth Forces aren't stupid. If we start bombarding them, it would only make them more alert." He pointed at the map. "My plan is more effective and simple. Our best bet is to have our forces advance up through San Jose, using Route 101. We've scouted that area out before, and was a major pathway US Forces in San Francisco used to get out of the area and back to where we are. However at the same time, since then the Earth Forces have set up defenses at Gilroy and Morgan Hill. They're relatively light. However if we act quickly we can catch them off guard before they can report in to command. By the time we take them, we can start advancing through San Jose, and into the San Francisco bay area."
He then pointed to the area around San Francisco. "The real trick is securing both sides of San Francisco Bay, while also dealing with the Earth Forces fleet that had taken up residence in the area," he said. "Thankfully, the General sent me a message that the 3rd Fleet will launch an Amphibious attack in coordination with our attack - strike the EA forces both from behind and up front. The Fleet itself will provide artillery support when it can, but it will focus most of its efforts on killing the Earth Forces fleet in the bay." He grinned a bit. "Thankfully, their fleet is still in the bay. Meaning if we play our cards right… we can trap their fleet in the bay, and turn it into a good old fashion turkey shoot. There is only one way in or out of the bay, and that's through Golden Gate, making it a bottleneck for their forces."
Jessica narrowed her eyes at the plan. "I understand what you're saying. And I do agree that it is simpler, but how are we supposed to deal with any reinforcements coming up from San Diego, LA, and the northern flanks of the city? That's what we need to deal with." She pointed at the roads crossing the water. "We need to prevent any forces coming in from the north and south and east." She then looked at him directly. "How do you factor that in?"
"Well…" Patriot said, getting their attention. "We can do what the 6th Rangers and the Filipino guerrillas did during the Cabanatuan POW Camp Raid, where the Rangers attacked the camp, while the guerrillas held up any IJA reinforcements from reaching the Camp."
Jordan sighed. "You guys are forgetting that San Diego and Los Angeles are to the south, and San Francisco is to the north," he said. "The distance between them is roughly 500 Kilometers. And even then, they are too busy with fighting US Forces in Arizona - keeping them from linking up with us - to send aid to San Francisco, especially after their failed attack today. Attacking when we are now may actually be a blessing in disguise, since they are probably still reeling from their recent defeat, taking into account for the losses they've taken."
"Still need to be careful, though. Any small number of AF, even if it's just tanks, can be a big pain in the ass." Patriot said, clearly knowing that a smaller force can make a larger one fall back in a route, like the Confederates did at Chancellorsville. "We're gonna need some more firepower in order to deal with that."
It was at that moment that a person came up to them, which was one of their BSF Guerillas, dressed in a Polish Army BDU. He was about 17, and carried a M14 rifle on his shoulder.
"There you guys are! I've been looking all over for you!" the guerilla said.
"What is it?" Jordan asked. "Is something wrong?"
The trio became confused by the smile on the teen's face. "Actually, it's best you come yourself," he said, causing the three online friends to blink and stood up and followed the guerrilla to a Dodge M880 pickup truck painted in woodland camo. The teen Guerilla and Jordan got in the cab, while D.J. and Jessica jumped in the back and then the truck started and took off.
Few hours later
Tamarack Forest, Backbone Mountain
After a few hours of driving, the truck came to a stop - arriving at the base of the mountain. Around them were a few other trucks that had been mounted with machine gun turrets on them, with other members of Black Sword manning the area, keeping a watch for movement.
The group stepped out of their own truck, as they approached what they were all guarding - a large steel door built into the side of the mountain. "What the heck is that?" Jordan asked as they approached it.
"We found it just yesterday, along with a squad of the National Guard." said one the teens. "We saw some Army markings along with a DoD symbol near the door."
Jordan raised an eyebrow as they approached the massive door. "Have… you been able to open it?" he asked. "And do we have any idea what's on the other side?"
The teen then pointed over to a group of men dressed in Army ACU uniforms, as they tinkered what looked like a control panel.
"The National Guard guys have been at it since we found it," he said and the group walked over to the Guardsmen. "Any luck with that you guys?"
The National Guard continued working without looking up. "Making progress…" he said. "This thing is pretty dated… whatever this place is, its been around since the 1950's or 60's."
D.J. looked at the panel and then the DoD seal. "Must be a fallout shelter for V. like the President or any other government official," he said, and another Guardsmen nodded at that.
"That's what we figured, as well," he said, a loud clank was heard from the door.
"Voila!" he shouted, as the door began to creak open, letting out a loud groan as the door which has likely not been used for a long time were re-opened into the darkness before them.
Jordan, D.J and the others were the first to walk in, their weapons raised as they checked the inside. "Can't see a damn thing..." Jordan muttered. "Anyone got a light?"
"Hang on, got some switches here..." another BSF member said, "Let's try… this one."
With that a series of lights switched on, showing the edge of a balcony and the tops of staircases, in front of them. They could see the back of the wall which was a very good distance away from them.
"Wow, this place is big!" D.J. said in awe.
Jessica let out a whistle. "What is this place? And what's in here?" she asked.
"Only one way to find out..." Jordan said, shouldering his rifle as he continued to walk forward. "Come on. Let's see what this place is. We're burning daylight. "
The others followed his example as they walked toward the end of the balcony, and what they saw made their eyes widen so much that they may pop out of their sockets.
"Ho-ly SHIT!" was what almost everyone was saying at what they were seeing. Down below them were rows and rows of tanks, lots and lots of tanks - specifically ones of the Patton series from the M48 to the M60, along with numerous other vehicles from the Cold War era.
D.J. gave out a low whistle at what he was seeing. "Now that's a lot of tanks," he said, while everyone nodded at that.
Managing to snap out of it, Jordan then turned to one of the Guardsmen. "I… don't think this is a simple VIP bunker," he said. "Send word to the General. I think he should know about this." The guardsman nodded as he rushed back to inform the General.
Jessica nodded. "That is a ton of firepower…" she murmured. "And I thought the M1A3 was formidable…"
"Question is what is all of this stuff doing here? And these tanks look as if they just came out of a factory. I don't see a speck of rust on them," Patriot said.
"Probably never seen action," Jordan said, as he eyed the tanks. "These tanks are covered with dust… I doubt anyone has been down here for a long time." He turned to the rest of the BSF members with them. "I want everyone to start searching this place, top to bottom!" he said. "I want to know what exactly this place is, why it's here, and just how large it really is! Also have someone check those tanks! See if they're still serviceable!"
The guerillas then dispersed as a few of them descended down the stairs while others went off in different directions to inspect the base. Then Jordan, D.J., and the rest then began to go down the stairs themselves looking at the large number of tanks and utility vehicles.
"Definitely Patton series..." Jordan muttered as his hands grazed the armor of one of the Tanks "Looks like an M48…" he looked around, "Others look like their of the M60 variant… that means this place has to of been around since 1950's at least, just like the Guardsman said…"
"Could they help out in the fighting?" Jessica asked, as Jordan looked at the Tanks.
"Possibly," he said. "Even though the M48 was retired in the 1990's by the US Army, they're still in service in other minor countries like Iran, Greece, South Korea, and Taiwan. Same for the M60's… they usually use 90mm to 105mm Guns depending on what variant they were, so they could damage Mobile Suits…" He sighed. "But, no matter how we put it… these things are pretty out-dated. Wouldn't last in a one-on-one fight, but if we used them like we do our current tanks in supporting and hit-and-run roles… we can use them."
D.J. nodded at that, as they continued to look at the rows of tanks until finally arriving and spotting the utility vehicles, which were mainly Willy's Jeeps, all of them covered by clear plastic tarps.
"There's enough for a whole Armored Corps here," Jessica said, and D.J. nodded.
"Yeah…" he said, "…plus some extra"
"Hey!" a shout came from the other end of the room. "Come over here! We found something!"
Jordan nodded to the others as they rushed over to the source of the voice, where BSF members were gathered around a small door which was now opened. The trio stepped inside, and their eyes widened as they saw the contents inside. Jordan began to develop a face-splitting grin.
"Oh hell the fuck yes…" he muttered, at the sight of dozens upon dozens of weapons all neatly lined and piled up around them. M16's, M14's, even AK series and other Russian firearms were within the room. MPi-KM's, AKM's, AK-74's, AK-47's, basically every single weapon weapon from the Warsaw Pact to the Early NATO days was in that room.
D.J. then walked over and picked up a AKMS underfolder, and pulled back the bolt of the weapon and he blinked.
"What the fuck? There's still grease in these things, they never been fired!" he said incredulously, as he then slung the gun over on his shoulder.
"Well, considering that I doubt there's ever been any fighting here until recently, they never needed to be fired." Jordan said as he slung his SKS-M as he picked up an M14 Rifle with a scope mounted on top of it. He checked the rifle as he aimed down the scope, before he grinned "At least now they're going to be put to good use."
D.J. nodded, as he looked around some more before he spotted a stack of crates. Moving over to them, he saw what looked like Arabic writing and the flag of Libya.
"Hey Jorn, take a look at this." he said, as Jorn came over with the M14 slung over his shoulder and he looked at the crates before he blinked.
"Libya?" he said confusedly. "What are crates from Libya doing here?"
"I don't know..." D.J said, as he tried to pry one of them open. It was easier than he though as the Crate snapped open, and the two looked inside to see its contents. And their eyes widened to see 5 RPG-7 rocket launchers, with backpacks each carrying 4 rockets.
"Ho-ly shit! How the hell did the DoD get a hold of these?" D.J. said, before he blinked and saw what looked like a pamphlet and took it out.
"What's it say?" Jordan asked, as D.J read through the Pamphlet's contents, as he blinked in surprise again.
"Its… a good faith letter," he said, "Its says these crates were meant for the Real Irish Republican Army."
"The RIRA?" Jordan asked in surprise, "What are those doing here then?"
"The reason they're here Tackett is because they were bought from the British after they were seized."
Everyone turned and saw General Toolan and a group of Marines.
"General, you know something about this place?" D.J. asked and the General nodded his head.
"Just rumors actually. Back in the 80's and early 90's when I was still a Lieutenant," Toolan said, as he picked up an M4 carbine. "This place serves as one of several emergency arms depot bunkers, which also serves as a place for weapons the military didn't need, but couldn't destroy. Not only that, but it also served as a VIP Bunker and Mountain Fortress."
"From what I heard," he continued as he walked down the lines of weapons, "after the Cold War ended with the Soviets collapsing, places like these were decommissioned, and basically mothballed, largely forgotten in most US records. But as you can see, they never bothered to remove all of the supplies they had brought here, likely so that if a need for this base did arise again, it could be brought back up to operational status quickly without moving supplies in."
"Any idea how large this place really is, sir?" Jordan asked. "I feel like we've only just started seeing what this place has to offer."
"I wouldn't know," The General said shrugging "But you're right that this is likely just the start of the base… by my best guess at what most American-made bunkers during the Cold War were like… this place could be as small as just a few Kilometers of Tunnels, to taking up the whole damn mountain range from here to Yosemite, running more than hundreds of Kilometers around."
The eyes of the two widened at that.
"Shit, Sir…" D.J. said. "Now that is big."
Toolan nodded at that. "Like I said, it's just a theory," he said, before he smirked. "But one thing is for sure. You boys found us a gold mine."
Jordan was about to say something when one of the guerillas showed up, and after saluting the General, turned back to Jordan and D.J.
"Hey, we found something you guys want to see," he said with a smile.
Jordan looked at the others, as the General nodded before they followed the Guerilla through the tunnels of the underground fortress. They traveled for a few good minutes until finally they reached a large opening, causing the others to look around in surprise.
"What the…" D.J. muttered. The opening was massive - probably about the size of a pair of Aircraft Carriers' flight decks. And that wasn't all, as lined up in the room were numerous more vehicles, specifically Helicopters and other VTOL craft including UH-1N Twin Hueys, AH-1 Cobras, and unless Jordan was mistaken, near the back he saw a few Harrier IIs, and even five Mi-24 Hind-Ds.
"It's… some sort of hangar…" Jordan muttered as he looked at all of the aircraft inside. "There's all sorts of helicopters in here… but how do they get out?"
"Up there," the guerrilla said, pointing up. "A chunk of the mountain opens up to allow VTOL craft in and out. We tested it out, and the system still works. And that's not all. Some of our guys went deeper in the base and they reportedly found some sort of tank factory down below. It's got tons of incomplete M60's on old production lines."
D.J. blinked at that. "You're kidding, this place also has a factory?" he said, and another guerilla nodded.
"We're not, and take a look at the Hinds," he said, and the group looked at the Hind, especially the wings and noticed the rocket pods were those found on the Cobra and Apache.
"Looks like it's been modified to use NATO weaponry instead of Russian ones…" Jordan observed as he looked at the aircraft. "Probably for the best either way…" He then looked around the hangar, as he smirked. "Is this the only hangar here?"
"We don't know," the guerrilla said, shrugging. "Could be, this place is pretty damn big from what we've found so far… why?"
Jordan turned to the others, still smirking. "Guys… I think we may have found our new Central Command," he said. "With hangars this size, we could store all of our Mobile Suits in here rather than keeping them out in the open… not to mention this place is way more secure than the store we're using as an HQ now. And if we can convert that tank factory to manufacture parts for Mobile Suits…"
Jessica's eyes widened as she grasped the importance of the hangar. "You have a point," she noted. "I mean, this place is buried deep enough, not to mention if it has all that possible tunnel space, and the hangar size…" She turned to face Jordan. "This place could also be defended against the EA and AF both if they tried to attack."
D.J. nodded, as he smirked. "Like our own Jaburo…" he said, and then hummed in thought.
"I agree," the General said nodding. "This place is far more easy to defend… assuming we can't take San Francisco, this will be the best place for us to fall back to. And we can use it when we prepare to take San Diego and Los Angeles."
The three friends all smirked at that. Knowing that this place will help them greatly in the future.
"I say we all move in," said D.J. "This place is big enough for everyone, assuming it has enough barracks for people to sleep in."
"Considering how big this place is, I gamble it does," Jordan said, nodding. "We can alw
ays make more room for Swordbase."
Everyone nodded at that.
"Well, let's continue to look around, there has to be more stuff in this place," D.J. said, and the group split up while Toolan turned to the Marines and began giving orders to look around the area.
Hours later
Many people, both military and civilian, came to the entrance of the old Cold War bunker, all of them surprised that it even existed. D.J., Jordan, and the other BSF guerillas and military had looked through the rest of the base, and made some interesting discoveries.
As they had expected, the base was very large, taking up over 100 Kilometers worth of tunnels filled with numerous different rooms from mess halls, medical facilities and barracks to motor pools and helicopter hangars - the former of which they found out there were three helicopter hangars built into the base.
As for space, thankfully there was more than enough to account for not just the military personnel, but also for the civilians as they were allowed to live inside the safety of the bunker rather than risk staying outside. While some civilians opted to remain outdoors in RV's and trailers, they were sure to relocate themselves within the perimeter of the base.
They also managed to locate the hub of the bunker, which was reminiscent of the Nerve Center from COD: Black Ops, of course the computers were old, but the radar screens were still functioning.
From the armory, they managed to count at least 40,000 small arms and 10,000 other weapons. They also managed to discover numerous surpluses of freeze-dried food, medical supplies and other needed material to keep them running for quite a while. And along with the battalion's worth of Patton-series tanks, other utility vehicles, and many different types of helicopters.
They had also discovered another storeroom which contained field gear, including some old M1 steel helmets.
The doctor on the Archangel also found out that Ron had, indeed, put stims in that bottle of his. Why Ron, who knew better than to use drugs of any kind, had been taking them since practically the beginning of the war on the 9th, no one knew: even Tanner and Dylan didn't have any idea why. Of course, they planned on interrogating him as to why the second the intelligent dumbass woke up.
Also, with the discovery of the abandoned tank factory within the fortress, engineers from the US as well as the Archangel volunteers were working at converting it to begin building the parts necessary to repair and manufacture Mobile Suits. They said it would be a while for the factory was in working order, but they would be working around the clock on it after the upcoming battle.
One thing was for sure, their odds just went up extremely.
Jordan was in one of the hangar bays, watching as the Mobile Suits were brought inside the base through the hangars. They had to clear out some of the Helicopters in the hangar to make room for the Mobile Suits, but it wasn't anything too troublesome as there was still plenty of room inside. Jordan was sitting on some crates stacked next to where the Schwarze Calamity now stood, and sitting next to him was, surprisingly, a classical guitar.
With everything that had been going on ever since the merge of their world and the Cosmic Era, Jordan had been finding new ways to keep himself occupied when there was nothing else to do. Since there was little to no power, playing games on the Xbox 360 was out of question for now. But during one of their early missions, Jordan found the guitar in a bombed out town in good condition, so he took it and brought it back with him. Since then, he had been learning how to use it properly, using what he remembered from what his brother taught him when he'd want to use his guitar.
Thinking about that brought a bit of a sour note to Jordan, as he thought about his family back to the east. While South Carolina was still under United States control, there was still a lot of fighting that went down over there upon the initial merge. He could only hope that his family was alright - let alone his family that was in Earth Forces-occupied Ohio and Kentucky. He was worried sick about his mother, father, brother, sister-in-law, his niece, his nephew… everyone.
Jordan shook his head as he picked up his guitar, wanting to think about something else. He gave the strings of the guitar a small string, before he closed his eyes and began to play one of the few guitar songs he could play so far.
Meanwhile - Elsewhere in the Hangar
Meanwhile, after helping with the move and after things had calmed down a bit, Athrun and Kira were finally able to sit down in the hangar and talk to one another.
"However, that's..." Athrun said, and Kira shook his head.
"Yes, I'm aware of the difficulties," he said, before Cagalli showed up, bringing them some drinks. "Thanks," he said as he handed one to Athrun. "Anyways, but I also believe that it can't be helped. I believe what Cagalli's father says to be true. Should Orb side with the Earth Forces, the Atlantic Federation will take advantage of them and attack the PLANTs. And the same thing if Orb decides to side with ZAFT."
Kira shook his head. "But that won't help things one bit," he said. "I can no longer live with that. That's why I…"
"But you…" Athrun began to said, but Kira shook his head before he looked towards the ground.
"I killed a comrade of yours," he admitted, causing Athrun to flinch a bit. "A Personal friend… but I never knew him… and it's not as if I wanted to kill him." He then glanced back at him. "You killed Tolle," he said, "but you never knew him either. And it's not as if you wanted to kill him, was it?"
Athrun was quiet for a moment before answering. "No..." He said, "But… I tried to kill you..."
"Same here," Kira said, causing Athrun to look at him in surprise with wide eyes. "Athrun..." He looked up at where the Freedom and Justice now stood. "It would be great if we lived in a world where we didn't have to fight. If only we could live forever in such a world."
He paused for a moment, as he thought about the times he had before Heliopolis was attacked, when life was simple and not all about war. "But…" he said. "This war continues to spread..."
Athrun frowned a bit, as he remembered what his father told him when he received the Justice, about needing the power of Nuclear Energy, with the N-Jammer Canceller.
"At this rate, the PLANT's and the Earth Alliance will have no choice but to destroy one another." Kira said, causing Athrun to look at him in surprise again. "Therefore, I've decided to fight. Because, although it was to protect others, I have already pulled the trigger. Are we destined to fight each other again?"
"Kira…" Athrun muttered, as he looked at his friend, remembering the words of Lacus Clyne at the theatre before he left the PLANTs.
BGM: 'Reignite' By Malufenix
However, before either of them could say anything more… they heard something, the sound of slow guitar music being played, opting both them and Cagalli to look up in surprise. "Where…" Cagalli muttered.
Hope, can drown, Lost in Thunderous sound.
Fear, can claim what little faith remains.
Kira and Athrun stood up, knowing they've heard that voice before, opting them and Cagalli to search for the source.
But I carry strength from souls now gone,
They won't let me give in…
They walked through the hangar for a while, before they came upon where the Schwarze Calamity stood, and surprisingly where they found Jordan sitting on some crates, playing on a guitar with his eyes closed, singing.
I will never surrender,
We'll free the earth and sky.
Crush my heart into embers,
and I will reignite…
I aha… I aaaha… I aaahaai
I will reignite.
Jordan just continued playing on the guitar, not noticing that slowly a crowd was beginning to form around him. He was just focusing on singing that song, that one song he's loved for quite a while.
Death, will take, those who fight alone.
But, united we can break, a fate once set in stone.
Just hold the line until the end,
'Cause we will give them hell…
Jordan began to quicken his pace slightly, keeping with the beat of the song as he closed to the end.
I will never surrender,
We'll free the earth and sky.
Crush my heart into embers,
and I will reignite.
I aha… I aaaha… I aaahaai
I will reignite.
I aha… I aaaha… I aaahaai
I will reignite.
Jordan's song came to a close as he finished his last notes, as he opened his eyes, before blinking as he saw a bit of a crowd having formed around him. "Oh, uhh…" he said a bit nervously. "You guys, uhh… heard that?"
Jessica was surprised at his singing. "You… I didn't know you could sing like that…" she murmured.
Takeshi was fighting to keep his jaw from dropping. "That… that was on par with the likes of JAM Project…" he breathed.
Jordan blinked as he looked at them, before he shook his head. "Nah, I can't be that good..." he said. "I've only been doing this stuff for a week."
D.J. only smirked. "Don't cut yourself short, Jordan. If you could, and started a career, you could already have a few golden records by the end of the year," he said.
"You're actually not that bad," Athrun said with a shrug. "Lacus would probably say you're pretty good."
Jordan blinked. "Who's Lacus?" he asked, continuing to play the role of ignorance even though he knew damn good and well who Lacus was.
"She's… a friend of mine," Athrun said. "She's also the PLANT's number one Pop Star Idol."
"I see…" Takeshi remarked. "I wonder how she'd compare to JAM Project, or even singers from Anime, like Sheryl Nome…" He already knew that answer, at least as far as he was concerned - Lacus' songs were good, but they lacked the fast-paced energy that JAM Project's songs, and even Sheryl's songs, had - but he still needed to play the role of ignorance… not to mention he didn't want to say anything in Kira or Athrun's presence that they could take as an insult to Lacus' talents.
Jordan scratched the back of his head nervously. "Well, I doubt I'd ever be as good as her if she's that famous…" he muttered. "I'm not that good…"
D.J. could only shake his head as he muttered something along the lines of "confidence issues".
"Either way, man. You make a real morale booster," he said. "Who knows, maybe Miss Lacus can ask you to participate in her concerts."
"I doubt that..." he muttered before he shook his head. "Anyways, I think we should finish up whatever needs to be finished… we've got a big day tomorrow after all."
Jessica nodded. "Yeah. The sooner we get things done here the better. We have an operation to carry out."
Archangel sickbay
The human body could take a lot of punishment before it finally decides to give you the finger and shut down on you. In Ronald Pinkerton's case, a light case of malnutrition and heavy stimulant use knocked him out in the middle of a major battle. Of course, Ron was a big man: all he really needed was time to recover from it. That wouldn't prevent him from having the biggest headache in the history of headaches, though.
"My fucking head…" Ron muttered as he finally came too. "What the hell happened last night?" He shook slightly before noticing that he wasn't in his bed back in North Bay. He seemed to be in a hospital room. Wearing a hospital gown. "Christ, it's fucking cold."
"Glad to see you are awake, Mr. Pinkerton," a voice said, as Ron looked up and saw the Archangel's doctor standing there with a clipboard. "You're up earlier than I expected. How are you feeling?"
"Like shit, how else?" Ron growled, as he was not exactly happy. "Doc, I've lost a lot of weight over the past year, so I'd like you not to strip me down next time. It's fucking cold in here."
"It's perfectly fine," the doctor said, and Ron rolled his eyes.
"For YOU," he countered. "I still haven't gotten used to not having an inch or two of fat keeping my body heat in. So, if it's not too much trouble, I'd like my clothes back."
"Right next to you," the doctor said, pointing to the chair next to his bed where his clothes were neatly piled up. "Though I hope you will be able to answer why you thought it wise to add stimulants into your grape juice, Mr. Pinkerton."
'Saw THAT coming,' Ron thought with a sigh. "I won't lie to you, but it's a complicated story," he said. "I was the only one who had any idea what we were doing for some reason, and I had to take command of a military convoy. I couldn't sleep, so… stims. Bad idea and I knew it, but what choice did I really have?"
"You're not telling me the whole story." The Doctor said.
'Right, like you'd want to know you're from an alternate universe that just so happens to be publicized as an anime and manga series here,' Ron thought as he shook his head. "Take what you can get, Doc," he said. "My problems are mine and mine alone."
The Doctor sighed as he shook his head. "Just don't try something like that again," he said. "And I highly suggest you get some rest for today and tomorrow, because I've heard the day after tomorrow the attack on San Francisco is going to begin."
"Trojan War, part two," Ron muttered. "Christ, why didn't they just shoot me?"
Meanwhile, Back in Bagram Air Base
Afghanistan
Equilateral Union
Patricia sighed in irritation as she, along with most of the base personnel who were 'interned' by the E.U. troops, sat near one of the hangars as they waited for their captors' commander. While waiting she talked to some of the troops, asking what was happening. What she was told chilled her to the bone.
After recovering from that bit of information, though, she had an increasing desire to kill the son of a bitch who caused this slowly, painfully and repeatedly. Don't ask about that last part. Still, they had a MAJOR problem. The United States were getting their asses handed to them, although a few lucky rebel forces had managed to deal some damage to them. Even so, OMNI Enforcer, the military arm of the state that she had learned was called the Earth Alliance, was planning on crushing those 'terrorists' with the utmost speed and efficiency once something called ZAFT was dealt with. Until then, the US would be something like the Pacific War: a war of containment and nothing else.
'What a total cluster fuck,' she thought. 'I bet neither the Doc or myself had predicted this to happen.'
"Colonel Patricia Rosen, if I'm correct?," a voice said, and she looked up and saw one of the E.U. soldiers, an officer by the looks of it.
Patricia sighed as she stood up. "That would be me," she said. "What do you want?"
"The Base Commander wishes to speak with you," the E.U. soldier said. "Please, follow me." It wasn't that she had an actual choice. She could either obey or the heavily armed men could and would kill her with what she assumed were 7.62mm assault rifles. She was human and thus that rather annoying sense of self-preservation kicked in. Didn't mean she was happy about it.
"Fine," she said. "Let's get this over with." She followed the man out of the room and toward the commander's office. Armed men were everywhere and escape was more or less suicidal.
A few minutes later, as she was now inside the Base Commander office, where she found Anton was sitting in a chair across from the commander. Sitting across from him behind the desk was the man - who she made the correct assumption was the base commander. He was a man appearing to be of Filipino descent surprisingly, with short crew cut black hair and brown eyes appearing to be in his late thirties or early forties. He was wearing a light brown colored dress uniform, which was standard among this 'Equilateral Union'.
The Base Commander looked up at the woman, and gave her a small smile. "Ah, you must be Colonel Rosen, correct?" he asked as he stood up, extending his hand in greeting. "Colonel General Emilio Mendoza, pleasure to meet you."
Patricia looked at him in surprise for a moment. The base commander was more… welcoming than she expected him to be. However nonetheless she extended her own hand and shook his "It's, uhh… nice to meet you, too, General," he said.
"Indeed," Emilio said. "First off, I apologize for our… encounter earlier today, but you have to understand things have been very hectic around here, and a lot of my men are on edge."
Patricia sighed at that. "I had seen that, I'm just thankful your men are not that great marksmen." she said tiredly.
"I'm glad they missed actually," Emilio said before he sighed, as he sat down. "I spoke with your friend here, as well as having a word with the… American forces we've captured here, and we've discovered that you are the highest ranking officer here… and this is why I brought you here."
Patricia blinked at that. "But... what about the Commandant of the…" she began to say but Emilio sighed.
"Unfortunately, he was killed in the confusion, when the command building was hit by stray shell fire, along with his command staff." he said, and Patricia was shocked by that. "But that's aside the point Colonel, since we both have bigger things to worry about… has anyone told you what is going on?"
Patricia sighed. "Just the basics… as strange as it all sounds still…" she said. "Two worlds colliding like this?"
Emilio nodded, sighing. "Yes… it's caused quite a lot of confusion across the world, the Equilateral Union being no exception," he said. "However recently fighting has died down across the countries that the EU's territory crosses over, and we've managed to negotiate something of a cease fire and peace with the nations such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Papua New Guinea. We have similar reports coming from our allies in Scandinavia, managing to work out a truce with Norway, Sweden, and Finland."
Patricia nodded her head. "That's good… right?" she asked, and the Commander nodded.
"For the most part, yes," he said before he sighed again. "But the rest of the world? …not so much. Though the Oceanian Union has managed to secure a truce between them, Australia, and ZAFT, nations that are still part of the Earth Alliance are still in intense fighting. The Eurasian Federation, Atlantic Federation, South African Union, and Republic of East Asia… fighting in those areas hasn't died down a bit except in former REA-controlled Japan. Which… makes this situation even more complex."
Anton decided to speak up. "The General told me that the Earth Alliance, while wanting to get back to the war with ZAFT, needs to secure its own borders before it can launch any more attacks on them," he said. "Russian Forces have either fallen back to Siberia along with what's left of the military and political forces of Central Asian countries, the Middle East is well… the middle east, and Europe isn't in a necessarily good boat either. Most of them having either retreated south into Africa, north into Scandinavia, or in the case of France, Germany and such, west to England - who've managed to have some luck in kicking the Atlantic Federation out of the UK area."
"I'd assume its because they're so focused in North America, they're not too concerned with a nation like the UK," Emilio said. "England isn't necessarily important too the Atlantic Federation because their attention is directed right at North America… but the Earth Alliance is turning their gaze elsewhere now… towards us."
Patricia blinked at that. "What?" she asked.
"The Earth Alliance wants this war to come to an end," he continued. "So, they are trying to 'rally' all of the people of Earth to their cause, saying that as nations of the Earth Sphere, we are obliged to serve them to fight ZAFT and the PLANTs. In short: they're trying to bully the Equilateral Union and Scandinavia into joining the EA for their little 'Crusade' against ZAFT."
Patricia was suspicious about that.
"What more can you tell me more about this so-called 'Alliance'. Since our worlds have merged, I need to know about yours as much as possible," she said.
"It was formed about two years ago, after our universe's UN was killed at the Tragedy of Copernicus on the moon," Emilio said. "People posted the blame towards ZAFT and the PLANT's since their leader at the time, Siegel Clyne, wasn't present at the meeting. So the Earth Alliance was formed as a replacement… and as a means to have an excuse to go to war with ZAFT."
Patricia's eyes narrowed a bit. "Sounds to me they're fascists," she said and Emilio nodded.
"Right on that one. They're being controlled by racists who were formerly an environmentalist group, called Blue Cosmos," he said. "This whole war was started because of their opposition to the Coordinator controversy - Coordinators being humans who are artificially enhanced while in the embryonic stage to be faster, stronger, and capable of processing more information than naturally born humans. ZAFT is a civilization made almost completely out of Coordinators."
Patricia could only blink at that. "Racism because of Genes? Now that's a pathetic excuse to go to war over," she said, and Emilio sighed.
"That's exactly what our countrymen, the Scandinavians, and the Orb Union agree to," he said. "When this war began, we wanted no part of it. We, in a sense, adopted Orb's policy of not getting involved, not aiding either side no matter what. Besides, even if we did we would've been crushed, after the Reconstruction War 70 years ago, the only nations with any worthwhile militaries were the Atlantic Federation, Eurasian Federation, Republic of East Asia, and the Orb Union. If we got involved, we'd be stomped over."
He leaned back in his chair. "But now… things are changing," he said. "With the new alliance the EU has secured with the other nations now under its control, we have multiple militaries to call upon. The EA wants to annex the EU into the Alliance, meaning if they annex us, they annex the nations within our borders, and that's something none of us want."
He looked at the Colonel. "And that… is where you come in, Colonel," he said. "You have the highest rank of the American troops here, meaning you command them, you can tell them what to do - I can't. And if - or rather when the EA make their move towards us, we need all the help we can get against them."
Patricia gaped a little at that.
"I… I'm flattered you want me to take command of the troops here. But I was originally sent here to Afghanistan to replace my predecessor of a top secret project," she said.
Emilio rose his eyebrow at the mention of a 'Secret Project', however he did not press the subject, as he simply smiled. "Oh come on," he said. "You didn't reach the rank of Colonel for nothing, you have leadership qualities, I know it."
"Well... a four plane formation when I flew F-16s, but not a full squadron, let alone a battalion or regiment!" she said.
"Even so, you are a leader," the General said. "And we need those leadership skills so we can fight the Alliance and keep them out of the Equatorial Union."
It seemed foolhardy at best and suicidal at worst. But her duties to her country were clear. Patricia sighed. "Alright," she said. "As long as my people are freed, you've got my help."
Emilio smiled as he nodded. "Good, and it will be done," he said. "All the men and women here who belong to the United States shall remain under your command, I'll send word to my troops to free the men and give them back their weapons and gear… they're going to need it."
Patricia nodded. "Thank you." she said. "Now, I need to find a way to contact home."
Meanwhile
Somewhere in Mexico
A small column of six Atlantic Federation half-trucks, and three jeeps, was moving through the arid landscape of Mexico. There were also at least two platoons of infantry flanking the convoy as dust filled the air, making a few of them cough in irritation. In the jeep that was in the middle of the group, two EA officers, a Captain and a Lieutenant, looked across the dry countryside.
The Commanding Officer then spoke into the radion to halt, and the convoy stopped. He then wiped the sweat off his face as he asked his lieutenant.
"See anything?" he said in exhaustion, and the Lieutenant answered.
"No, captain," he said with a shake of his head.
"Fucking cactus. Fucking heat. Fucking country..."
Before they could continue their conversation, a rocket hit the lead truck and destroyed it. "What the fuck?!" Another rocket hit the second to last truck, and 7.62X39mm Soviet rounds started coming their way. "Who the fuck is shooting at us?! Mexican Army or something?!"
"Fucking Mexicans used US equipment!"
"Then who the fuck is shooting at us?! Terrorists?!" One brave soul popped his head out of cover, spotting the people shooting at them. They didn't wear uniforms. They were in civilian casual clothing. "I think they're civies!"
"Not for long! Where the fuck are those Mobile Suits?!" The radio operator from the now-destroyed lead vehicle shook his head. "Most are too far away to help!" A grenade (an RGD-5, to be exact) landed a few feet away. "Aww, fu-" Poor bastard didn't even get to finish his sentence before he was shredded by the deadly weapon. The operator was killed 30 seconds later due to having several shards of shrapnel cutting into several key veins. He bled out. The leader of the convoy wasn't so lucky. He lived to suffer something FAR worse. He woke up a few minutes later, tied up and naked. With a man holding a machete nearby. (A note to the squeamish: SKIP THIS if you can't take it.)
"Por lo tanto, usted es el gran mal de la Alianza Terrestre hemos escuchado mucho acerca de?" a voice speaking in Spanish said.
"Oh, FUCK."
"Esto servirá como un mensaje para que hijos de puta." He put the oversized knife to the commander's skin and began cutting into the skin, slowly but surely peeling it off. The pain was unbelievable, but he wouldn't be alive much longer to feel it as the man slit the OMNI Enforcer commander's throat, killing him within 15 seconds. He continued to skin the dead man, removing the skin completely before putting the corpse onto a cactus and tying it to the large spiky plant.
"Jefe, what about the other gringos who are still breathing?" one of the other men said, and the machete-wielding man examined his weapon, before speaking.
"Kill them all, and these Alianza Terrestre bastarda will still stop coming," he said casually, and walked off. A couple minutes later, the sounds of gunshots and screams echoed across the Mexican desert.
Patriot-112: Oh boy, it appears we have an unsavory character in Mexico.
Ron the True Fan: Drug cartels. I do not support them, but this is going to get fun… for us.
117Jorn: THIS is why my mom did NOT want to go to Mexico for her vacation…
Takeshi Yamato: And part of why I've never even thought of going to the place.
Titanic X: Anyway, be sure to keep your eyes on this for the next chappie!
All: Ja ne!