A/N: Shout-out to Dragonngo for helping me write this story. He's been a massive help when it came to introducing plot elements and helping me move the story forward.
KnightOfZaku: Here we're going to see a slight shift in tone for her (forced on Lilith's part, as she just wants to be put back on active duty).
Clpsealion: You're in luck! This chapter introduces the Semovente Corps from MS-IGLOO!
June 12th, UC 0079
As it would turn out, Rose wasn't lying about keeping Lilith in the base. For the past week, almost every sortie began the same way, Lilith would get in her pilot's gear and head to the hanger as if she was going. Rose would intercept her, and prevent her from boarding a mobile suit. Lilith would argue, and Rose would sternly bring up the rank difference between them. Lilith would finally relent and glare at the team as they sortied. Considering this was their second week in service, this was not a good outlook for the new team.
"Shit…it seems like we can't stop them at all." Vanessa complained, the group had agglomerated as they left the hangar to return to their barracks "We're one team, and all we've been doing is endlessly covering retreats and defending our positions. Like we're the butt-armor of the army."
"And we can never seem to catch up with the Zeon Devils either," Helios mentioned.
The 'Zeon Devils', rumor had long come from the Thunderbolt Sector about a new formation of the very best of the Zeon pilots, capable of wiping out entire divisions by themselves and led by none other than Zeon's resident wonder boy - The Black Knight.
"Yeah...we get a call from the frontline and show up, only to find the place littered with bodies, flooded with mooks, and not a single whiff of an ace." Helios mentioned.
"Honestly…I think the word ghost would be more apt for them. It's like they know exactly when we're about to arrive, and scatter before then. It's really too eerie."
"Not much we can do about it." Kayla, another pilot in the squad, shrugged.
As the team left the hangar, Rose remained in a contemplative silence all the way to their barracks.
Rose sighed, branching off from the rest of the teem and electing to head for her office to write up a report, when she was suddenly startled when she nearly ran into Lilith, waiting outside her office.
"Oh it's just you Lilith…" Rose sighed, but her eyes narrowed. "Is this about you being taking off active combat? If so, I'm not changing my-"
"Here." Lilith cut her off, thrusting a mug of liquid in her face.
Rose raised an eyebrow, "What…is this?"
"Coffee." Lilith said simply, as if that explained everything.
"I know but…why?" Rose asked her,
"I thought you might need it." Lilith deadpanned,
Rose raised an eyebrow, quite suspicious of the entire situation. For one, Lilith never went out of her way for anyone, she wasn't rude per se, just curt and unapproachable. Secondly, with hair that seemed to be perpetually afflicted by bedhead, a long shaggy bang of it covering her right eye, and everpresent eye-bags, she looked more-likely to be plotting a murder than anything else. A reputation only furthered by her insane levels of hatred for anything Zeon-related (something which scared the ever-loving shit out of Rose, considering she was a noble from Side 3).
"Is this like - poisoned or something? Or laced with rohypnol or the like?" Rose joked,
"It's just coffee." Lilith said again, clearly not phased by the jabs, or prehaps simply not understanding them. Rose couldn't really tell.
"Alright…" Rose finally took a sip and nodded with approval. "It's not bad, it could use more sugar, but I like it."
Rose took another, deeper and longer, sip of her coffee before heading into her office only to be followed inside by Lilith.
"Uh…Lilith?"
"I want to help."
"You don't even know what I'm going to do." Rose pointed out,
"I want to help." Lilith said again, slightly more insisting.
'What is this woman's goal?' Rose racked her brain for answer, was Lilith some kind of cougar that was into young girls? Rose purged that thought immediately, with her horrible attitude and slasher appearance, Lilith wasn't scoring any time soon, not that she'd showed any interest in scoring anything aside from a shot at a Zeon-
Then it hit her.
"Ooohh~" Rose put two and two together, and finally figured it out. In hindsight, it was absurdly obvious.
"Are you actually trying to bribe me into putting you back into combat operations?" Rose asked, and Lilith stood stotically, but the slight wince Rose saw revealed everything.
"Oh my god you are." Rose sipped at her coffee, "Know what, fine. I need this. Between Colmatta and everything…shit, do what you want."
Lilith nodded, showing no signs of panicking at being figured out, Rose sighed, and sat down to do a report.
As Rose wrote her report, Lilith continued to stand vigilantly near the door. Admittedly, it was more than a little concerning. By now, a normal person would've quietly slipped away, but Lilith had made it clear that she was not going anywhere.
To be honest, it was actually somewhat disconcerting. She was literally just…standing there. Doing nothing but watching Rose work.
'Well, if she's here now…might as well take advantage of it.' Rose cleared her throat,
"I could really go for some coffee right now." Rose said loudly, and almost instantly, Lilith actually bowed and left, assumably for the break room.
"Well, she should be gone for a few minutes." Rose sighed, returning to her report
It was less than two before she returned with a hot cup of coffee.
"I assumed you'd want more, so I made ten extra cups."
"Ten?!" Rose cried out incredulously,
"You're young. You're going to drink alot of coffee, aren't you?" Lilith pushed the cup into her hands, and Rose sighed before accepting it and taking a sip.
Her eyes widened in shock as she could've sworn she had an out of body experience.
"Lilith." Rose looked down at the coffee in amazement.
"Yes?" She asked,
"Please keep doing this." Rose begged,
Lilith was absolutely taken aback, but looking down at her commander's pleading blue eyes…
She closed her eyes, and sighed.
"Fine."
June 14th, UC 0079
"Is it just me, or does the commander seem…I dunno, more…?" Kayla scratched her head, looking for the right words.
"More upbeat. Energetic." Helios said from his bunk, "Definitely."
"Yeah. At first, it was like she was perpetually tired and stressed, not rude or anything, but she always yawned one or two times during debriefings. But that's practically evaporated now." Jonathan nodded,
"Might have something to do with that thermos," Vanessa stated,
"Thermos?"
"Yeah. Ever since yesterday, she's never let go of that thing."
The team fell silent, a drastic conclusion coming in their minds.
"...Is the commander taking drugs?" They all said at once.
Rittmeister Airfield Debriefing Area
"Alright, we have a problem." Major Colmatta pointed at a map,
"The Zeon ground forces have set up an artillery base behind enemy lines, which consists of several Dabude-Class land-battleships among everything else. As you might expect, this proves a problem for several reasons. For one, we can't bring up our own battleships, as the Alpine terrain makes it practically impossible for that, essentially, we're with our backs to a wall with a door far too small." He explained,
"For that reason, we're launching an airborne assault on the camp. The objective is to destroy the camp, then breakthrough to friendly lines." Michael explained,
Rose raised a hand, "Is the 01st MS Team expected to take up this operation?"
"Yes-"
"Called it." Rose reclined back,
"-but not alone." Nodding to a group of people in pilots suits to the back.
"Lt. Commander Rose Sahalin, meet Lt. Colonel Federico Czariano, commander of the Semovente Corps."
"...Semovente Corps?" Rose asked,
"Lt. Colonel Czariano here has been commanding a special raiding corps that has been giving Zeon a bloody nose across the pond."
"North America? Then why here?"
"We were." Federico interrupted, "But since you have been ripping Zeon a new one virtually all across the Earth Sphere, there hasn't exactly been enough to do for the rest of us." He laughed, and Rose chuckled at the compliment,
"Just don't slow us down Lt. Colonel." Rose replied cheerily.
"Please. You're not the only one with mobile suits."
"...mobile suits?" Rose raised an eyebrow,
Colmatta cleared his throat, "Yes. The Semovente Corps is notorious for their usage of captured and repaired MS. Actually, they're technically the first mobile suit formation in the E.F.F,"
"Hear that blondie? We're older in something other than age." Czariano said confidently,
"Watch your mouth, or the Zeon might not be the only people I rip a new one for." Rose said jokingly,
"Right, right." Federico placed his hands up, "Anyway, I'm happy to be working with you."
"Yes yes that's all well and nice." Michael interrupted, "But unfortunately, with the arrival of the Semovente Corps we only have about two days to prepare, and that's pushing it."
"Two days? We haven't trained to do paradrop operations!" Rose said in surprise,
"Your mobile suits can fly. Suck it up." Michael rolled his eyes,
Rose tch'ed and Czariano placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her to sigh.
"...Fine. Two days it is." Rose threw her hands up,
As forces of the 01st MS Team and Semovente Corps left the briefing room, Rose led the 01st MS Team out.
"Sheesh. What are the brass thinking?" Kayla complained, "They run us ragged defending the frontline, now they want us to go behind the frontline?"
"If they cared, they wouldn't send us to do this." Rose pointed out, "However, we have to just roll with the punches."
"Hey, look on the bright side. At least we're getting support this time." Jonathan joked, and the members of the 01st MS Team chuckled.
"Yeah, that's a nice break." Vanessa nodded,
"Something we won't be getting for a while." Rose interrupted, "I hate to be a hard-ass, but we need to hit the simulators immediately. I'll see if we can get some practice with the Medea's, but no promises."
"Damn…oh well." Jonathan shrugged, "You heard the woman, time to grind on sims."
The following day…
"Seven! I need that!"
In response, the young girl stuck her tongue out at him from atop the Weasel APC, "You spend too much time working on your mobile suit! I'll stop running if you let me repair it for once!"
Ryan looked around awkwardly at the soldiers around him, shooting him looks of quiet amusement.
"Give it up." Gaia patted him on the back, "The girl is feeling lonely."
"You're supposed to be on my side." Ryan deadpanned, and Gaia shrugged as if to say: 'What can I do?'
"Besides!" Johnny came up from behind him and threw an arm around his shoulder, "You're such a stick-in-the-mud sometimes Commander! We're on Earth! Enjoy the view, perhaps once we've conquered the mountains here, we can come back here to ski!"
Ryan shrugged him off, "...Fine, you can help work on my mobile suit."
"Really?" Seven's eyes brightened, and she slid down the Weasel and looked up at Ryan, who sighed and nodded.
"Yay!" Seven skipped off happily, leaving Ryan to sigh in exasperation.
"Sometimes I feel like I'm running a daycare rather than a military unit…" Ryan said,
"Even so, Seven is a great operator and an even greater engineer." Char came up to him,
Gaia tensed at his presence, and Ryan sighed before addressing Char.
"I can't argue with that." Ryan shrugged,
"Anyway, Admiral Kellerne wanted to see you."
"Yuri? What for?"
In response, Char shrugged and Ryan scratched his head. "Alright. I'll see him in a bit."
Ryan made his way to the command tent, where Yuri was stewing over some paperwork. Ryan respectfully saluted, but Yuri waved him off.
"Honestly, you Sahalins are all the same. All work and no fun." Yuri said jokingly, "Anyway, I have a job for you, a little less complicated than your other ones since it's within our own lines."
Ryan raised an eyebrow, and Yuri continued.
"I need you to escort an artillery group into position. I'd normally set a detachment of my own men on it, but with the Valkyrie wreaking havoc across the frontline, I'd hate to send a unit out of position."
"I can do that." Ryan nodded,
"It's four Dabude-Class and a company of Zaku Cannons." Yuri explained, "When's the soonest you can move out?"
"Give us some time to resupply fully, likely within the next two days."
Yuri thought about it, then nodded. "Right. Two days then."
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