A/N: Here it is people! The Battle of Loum!

Edit A/N: Thought I corrected all that, Guess not!

KnightOfZaku: The Black Tri-Stars (canonically) during Operation Odessa, which is before the events 08th MS Team, so likely he will be reassigned without any conflict.

Guest: We'll get to poor Cima soon. And - spoiler alert - I don't plan to have her follow down such a tragic fate like in 0083.

Battle of Loum Part I: The Black Knight

L1, Side 5 - Loum

"Keep firing! Don't get caught between the salvos of multiple ships!"

A Musai Class Early Production fired it's main Particle Cannons, only to be hit in the left hangar by two shots from a Magellan Class.

Meanwhile, a sleeker new Musai swerved and gave a Salamis Class a drifting broadside, ripping straight through it's hull and causing it to explode, but the Musai itself was destroyed by four beams, each impacting the bridge, hull, and hangars.

A Chivvay II fired Anti-Ship missiles, impacting a Lepanto-Class and completely destroying it, but another two Magellans fired at it from both sides, sending crossing beams that tore through both sides of the ship.

Gattle Fighters engaged in dogfights with Federation FF-3F and FF-S3 Saberfish

Z.S.A.F Valkyrie, Grand Admiral Dozle Zabi's Flagship

"This is it! Time to change formation!" Grand Admiral Dozle yelled, "It's do or die!"

As the order was transmitted, the Musai's began to shift.

E.F.S.F Nereid, Flagship of the Kaningan Vanguard Fleet

Brigadier General Rodney Kaningan smiled, "It's over Zeons." He raised his voice, "The enemy is trying to change formation! Focus fire on outlying ships and work your way into the core!"

The E.F.S.F fleet responded to the orders, firing upon various ships that were either too heavily damaged or simply too slow to respond to the sudden formation change.

Valkyrie

Dozle gripped a hand rail, nearly crushing it.

"Admiral Dozle! My ship is lost, Good Hunting sir!" would be Captain Arvin Arlet's last words as the Solomon was hit with a direct shot to the bridge, sending explosions throughout the ship that tore it apart.

Dozle looked up, tears flowing freely down his cheeks, "I won't forget your deaths...ever! Get us turned around! Don't let the struggle of our rear guard be in vain! Set target - General Revil's main fleet!"

Nereid

"The Valkyrie and the remnants of the fleet are turning around!"

'A retreat maneuver? Then again...they could be attempting to regroup with reinforcements.' Kaningan made a decision, "Send out our fast pursuit units, everyone else regroup and reestablish the formation."

Tianem Fleet

"Sir! Coded message from Kaningan Fleet!" An lieutenant walked up to Admiral John Tianem

"Read it."

"Yes sir! 'Initial Engagement has ended in tactical victory! Location of Dozle Fleet currently unknown, maintaining pursuit!'"

Tianem looked forward, "I see…" 'Dozle's disappeared? I don't like this.' He looked towards the lieutenant, 'However, we do outnumber them. They've likely pulled back to the cover of the colonies, and are regrouping there…'

FF-S3R Recon Type Saberfish 'Duckbill'

"Damn it." Private Harris Jacobsen tapped his monitor, "With all the jamming scanners and radar are practically useless."

"We'll just scan visually then." His wingman Odello shrugged,

"Speaking off, I think I see nozzle plumes!"

"Probably our forces reaching the frontline, we're getting low, let's check them out." Harris banked the Duckbill towards the mysterious fleet, and before they knew it, a Chivvay-Class was on top of them.

"What the?!" Harris yelped, "Shit! Those are Musais! We're in the middle of the enemy!" He tried opening a comm link to the E.F.S.F Gran Colombia, their mothership.

"Gran Colombia! This is Duckbill, can you read me?!" Static, "Colombia are you there?!" He tch'ed, "Damn Minovsky!"

Z.S.A.F Deside - Flagship of the Special Assault Force

"Sir, unidentified Recon Craft, most likely enemy scout. Should I send out our MS units?" A lieutenant mentioned

"Not worth the trouble, leave it be. They're stranded out here." Admiral Dozle said dismissively

"This could present a problem…" The lieutenant gulped,

"We stick to the plan nonetheless."

Z.D.C Jotunheim

Engineering Lieutenant Oliver May watched as a FF-S3R passed the ship,

'A Federation craft? Should've been shot down.' He shrugged,

"Hey! Engineering Lieutenant!" Lt. Colonel Monique Cadillac railed up to him, "Shouldn't you be preparing the Jormungand for assembly?"

"The Minovsky reactors are perfect, and we're in transit right now so unless you want us to tow it, there isn't much we can do."

Monique tch'ed, "Shouldn't be slacking off here."

"Pretty quiet, eh Ortega?" Mash asked,

"Yep," He agreed, "They don't know what's about to hit them…"

Right as he said that, two streaks, both red and black respectively, shot passed the main line.

"Char and Ryan are at it again...aren't they?" Gaia sighed, ever since the fainting episode at Island Iffish, Ryan's performance had actually increased rather than decreased. He could even keep up with Char, who'd become dubbed the 'Red Comet'. As such, he'd received Ace status far sooner than the rest of the Tri-Stars, and was now a Lieutenant. Admittedly, Gaia was somewhat perturbed by his sudden jump in rank and skill, and was sure that he'd eventually take over the squad, but at the end of the day had no overall problems with it, as long as he didn't flaunt it over the rest of the squad.

Ryan's MS-06R-1A Zaku II rapidly beeped as it scanned and targetted more and more battleships, frigates, and cruisers. Everything shuddered around him as he pushed his suit to 2.7x normal speed, slightly behind Char which was at 3x normal.

Despite this high performance, he wasn't really into the battle. Simply put, what happened at Iffish still bothered him, and prevented him from giving his all.

Nonetheless, he was still a formidable opponent, as the Federation would soon discover.

E.F.S.F Ananke - Flagship of the combined Federal Forces space fleet

"Sir." A lieutenant approached General Revil, "We just received a forwarded transmission from the Gran Colombia it says-"

"Damage to the 5th Battleship Squadron!"

"What?!" Revil leaned towards the lookout,

"I see fire! And- there's another flash! That's the Terrestal!"

Revil stood up fully, "Possible enemy attack!" The lieutenant shouted,

"Sir! We just received this transmission from the flanks where Tianem's fleet is, Kaningan lost Dozle's fleet!"

"What?!" Revil tch'ed,

The bridge of the Ananke descended into chaos, "Enemy is at approximately five o' clock! Behind us!"

"The Terrestral's sister ship - the Forrestal - has been destroyed!"

"Deploy cruiser squadron towards five o' clock!" Revil ordered, and that was his mistake.

By forcing the cruisers to abruptly turn around, this forced them to slow down, leaving them vulnerable to not only the Special Assault Regiment that flanked them from A Baoa Qu, but also from Dozle's fleet, who was rapidly closing in from the front.

"Enemy forces...twelve o' clock!" The radarman backed away from his screen, and looked out the bridge, where a line of Musai's and Gwazine's were rapidly closing the distance,

Valkyrie

"Enemy 500 meters and closing!"

"Full attack speed! Dead ahead!" Dozle Zabi ordered "Spread out and fire! Deploy our MS reserves!"

Z.A.F Herja

Erika Lynne, now a Colonel, was in command of the Special Assault Regiment launched from .

"Ma'am! Dozle's fleet has engaged the enemy!"

Erika smiled, "Move forward, we'll hit them from the rear!"

"But Colonel...our force consists of Zanzibar's and Musais!"

"Nonetheless, it's our duty to back up the Mobile suits."

Z.D.C Jotunheim

"Have we received targeting data yet?" Monique asked

"No Lt. Colonel."

"Hold position, tell the Jormungand to standby."

Ananke

"CIC has been hit! We're blind!"

"Give the order to turn around…to all fleets." Revil shrugged on a suit, "Where's Kaningan?"

"Unknown sir!"

Captain Johnny Ridden rapidly closed in on the main body of Federation Forces, his Zaku worked overtime to detect the increasing amount of targets.

"Let's do this." He smirked, rushing straight at a Salamis Class, he ripped it's bridge open with his Heat Hawk, before pulling out a Bazooka with his free hand and firing into another Lepanto Class. Both ships exploded,

A Saberfish tried to sneak up on him in vain, as Johnny sensed him before hand, and pumped it full with bullets.

He then launched towards a Lepanto Class, and slashed it with a Heat Hawk. He then raised his hawk at a Magellan Class, and buried it into it's rear engine, overloading it and causing it to explode.

Anavel Gato's own Zaku II High Mobility Type launched itself into the fray. It was a strange mix of colors, with blue, the standard green, white, and purple all making appearances.

"Sieg Zeon!" He shouted, diving on and cleaving a Lepanto Class into two. He then proceeded to turn his chest Vulcan on an offending Saberfish, before charging at a Salamis Class and firing into it's engine with a bazooka, as it exploded he grabbed a Saberfish in passing and tossed it at a Magellan's engine, the Saberfish exploded first, and though the Magellan initially seemed undamaged, the engine soon ruptured, and exploded.

Shin Matsunaga threw his heat hawk at a FF-S3 Saberfish, tearing it in two. He calmly took a shot at a Lepanto Class with his ASR-78 and fired at it's bridge. Cocking the rifle, he fired again, this time at a Salamis-Class vessel, once again, he scored a critical hit as the Salamis rippled with explosions from the inside.

He proceeded to grab his floating heat hawk and reactivate it, just in time to have a perfect shot at a drifting Salamis Class, he slashed it multiple times, causing it to explode. He then whirled around and fired his machine gun at a Saberfish, destroying it.

Ramba watched the Tri-Star's at work, and smiled. "This old man needs to catch up!" He launched himself at a Magellan class, cutting it with his blue Zaku I's Heat Hawk. He then grabbed his ASR-78 and fired at a Lepanto, finishing it fairly quickly.

He grabbed a Saberfish and slammed it into a Salamis engine, destroying them both. "Honestly Feddies, too easy!" He yelled as he slammed his Heat Hawk into another Salamis.

Gran Colombia

"CATCC here, Ensign Sahalin you're cleared for launch!"

"Ensign Sahalin, Saberfish, launching!"

As she launched she looked around, a white mobile suit proceeded to pump shells into a Salamis, while a crimson and black MS slashed a Magellan's engine open.

"Bastards…" She felt no sympathy for her former countrymen, especially after the highly publicized colony drop they'd executed. Pushing the thrust forward, she charged towards the scene.

"Ensign! Don't break off!" Her squadron XO shouted, but Rose ignored him. Diving straight on a Zaku II, she finished it with a missile to the head, turning the Saberfish's nose up sharply, she fired at another Zaku I and riddled it's crotch with bullets.

"Jackasses!" She banked sharply, leaving her Saberfish flying in a position with it's wings pointing straight up and proceeded to ambush another Zaku hitting it directly in the cockpit with a missile.

"She's...incredible." One soldier gasped as she destroyed a Zaku II with her Saberfish

"A Valkyrie on the battlefield…" Another said as she finished off a Zaku I

"Hey Gaia! That's the Ananke isn't it?" Ryan smiled

"Yeah...thinking what I'm thinking?" Gaia smiled

"Let's take her down!" Ortega cheered, charging at the Ananke, Gaia took the first shot, planting a direct shot through the hull.

Ryan came next, accelerating rapidly, he cleaved a mark right across the ship with his Heat Sword.

Ortega then came in and fired at it's engine, disabling the ship,

"I'll finish her off!" Gaia yelled, slicing the bridge in half right as escape pods left the ship. "More targets! Nice-" He began to take aim, but Ryan moved in front of him,

"Wait. Take a look, that one has officer's markings."

"Revil?" Gaia thought, then gasped, "Aaahhhh. I see now,"

"Bingo. Black Quad-Stars move in for the capture!" Ryan told them. As they got to that, Ryan loaded his remaining five rockets. 'Five rockets...five kills!' He charged at a Magellan, it desperately tried to evade him and destroy him with AA but to no avail. He fired directly down on it's bridge, eliminating it.

He then soared toward the next battleship, he didn't even spend a minute. Gaia watched in amazement as he twisted and turned around it.

"A true Black Knight."

Ryan softened it up with his sword before finishing it with his bazooka. In rapid succession he fired rockets into the two battleships beside the second one, each rocket impacting the engine and bridge respectively.

Finally, he rushed at a final Magellan, slicing it open with his sword, he used it to turn himself around as it was jammed in the ship, and fired a rocket into it's rear.

It was only when the smog cleared when he noticed the barrel of a Salamis-Class's main gun aiming right at him.