Half an hour before the start of the Operation Starlight Picnic,
According to the displays, they were entering the Thermosphere layer, which was around 250 kilometers away from the ground, at the speed of 20,000 kilometers per hour. Even though he couldn't be sure, Tolle could imagine the drop pod would glow due to air friction. Because of that, they would have problems communicating with Archangel and the rest of the fleet even without the N-Jammers.
Even though everyone was wearing anti-flash gear, the temperature inside the drop pod was quite cool, unlike what he heard about the first drop pods ZAFT used at the offset of the war. The heat shield protected the inside from the outside temperature. It also had a heat pump system to transfer any excess heat to the outside through a water-to-steam evaporator. Each mobile suit had its cockpit support system switched on, just in case.
Only Mu's Skygrasper was at risk, but with his knack of making the impossible possible, Sai was sure the man would survive the reentry just fine if anything happened to the drop pod.
"This is Saber One. Saber Flight, status report,"
"Saber Two, ready,"
"Saber Three, all green,"
"Saber Fouer, ready to go," Tolle replied. Meanwhile, they were approaching the Mesosphere level, and the automated braking system kicked in, reducing the reentry speed to 5,000 kilometers per hour or around mach 4.
"They will not expect us to drop in on them, so don't forget to say hi," Mu said. "Don't want to be rude,"
"Being rude is the last thing on my mind," Kira said.
"Yeah. I wish I will be rudely awakened from this nightmare,"
"Hey, at least your cockpit can rotate to adjust, so less complaint, please?"
"You're being paid more, Sir," Despite the irreverent reply, Tolle had to admit that Mu's position might be slightly uncomfortable for the man. Buster, Strike and Aegis had a rotatable cockpit design. For reentry, all three cockpits were adjusted so that all pilots would face away from the direction they're traveling. If Sai was to describe the feeling, it was akin to dropping on his back. The Skygrasper was arranged with its nose facing up in the drop pod. That meant Mu was also facing upward. However, the three mobile suits had dampening mechanisms that far exceeded the fighter's spartan cockpit.
"Entering Stratosphere," Sai announced.
The carefree expression on Mu's face was gone, replaced by the professional one. "Look alive, people,"
The reentry pod disintegrated as all three mobile suits and a Skygrasper deployed, letting their momentum bring them to the Area of Operation. Even from far above the landing location, Tolle could see the effect of bomblets had on the ZAFT's base they were attacking. As part of an attempt to soften the target, the task Force had dropped over 200 tons of bombs through 25 drop pods. Each conical-shaped thing began their slow reentry with the wider side facing downwards. The arrangement would create an enormous drag that would eventually cushion them against shockwave and heated shockwave layer. This, in turn, would reduce the heat enough for the units' heat shield comprising fiberglass layered with asbestos textolite to cope with.
As expected, their atmospheric entries were detected and tracked by the ZAFT base. According to the intelligence gathered, so confident of its capability to handle aerial attack, the base only had short range air interception capability which was fulfilled by a few visually guided anti-air missiles and close-in weapon systems. While such an arrangement would defend against normal aerial targets, they lacked the range required to intercept the drop pods.
In response, ZAFT would launch its mobile suits squadrons to destroy them. However, by the time it launched its first mobile suit, some units had reached 10,000 meters altitude above sea-level. One by one, the drop pods would shed their protective skins, revealing the submunitions inside them. A centrifugal dispenser inside each of them would eject the submunitions in a way to ensure maximum coverage of firepower. Each of the submunitions would scan the area beneath them using a combination of heat detection and visual processing to determine their targets. The submunitions would then select the target it would approach. While there were cases of multiple munitions targeting a single target, that was intended.
At this stage, attempts by the base defense as well as its mobile suits to shoot down the submunitions were almost useless, as the amount was too overwhelming. Not a few mobile suits fell prey to the munitions in their desperate attempt to shoot down as many as they could. Multiple fireballs began appearing all over the base as the Operation Starlight Picnic had officially started. It was those fireballs that Tolle saw from his position.
"Saber Flight, tally ho!" Mu said, detecting the number of hostile units down below.
"Roger!" Kira, Sai and Tolle answered simultaneously as the three mobile suits and the Skygrasper continued their fast descent until at the very last possible moment before braking, the three mobile suits deploying their parachutes while the Skygrasper simply used its aerodynamic to change its vector. The flight took the opportunity of the overall chaos to land almost unchallenged and started to take down the defenders. Not few mobile suits fired their machineguns at the trio, only for the bullets to bounce off harmlessly. Slowly abut surely, Strike, Aegis, and Buster pushed their way through the defeated carcasses of ZAFT mobile suits. The fight continued almost forty minutes and along the way, special forces drop pods also landed near them and joined in the fight. While defending ZAFT mounted a fierce counterattacks, Saber flight and the special operation detachment have almost secured the targeted area, one of the two landing strips large enough for a transport airplane to land.
"Alcon, alcon, alcon. This is ZLCA-X1 Archangel, come in,"
Mirriallia's face wasn't clear, her voice was full of static, and she wasn't talking to him, but to Tolle, it was the most beautiful video, his personal bias notwithstanding. While Archangel was still in orbit, the fact that it managed to contact the expeditionary force was a welcome relief that caused motivation to swell up in him.
Being made of ships designed for space combat, the orbital task force lacked orbital bombardment capabilities. The task force's beam weapons couldn't be used to fire on ground targets, as the shots would lose most of their energy before reaching the targets. They did have some missiles and railguns, but they would burn up during reentry. However, it did have an important role, which was to feed information and intelligence to the expeditionary force and the nearby Eurasian Command Headquarters.
"Be advised Archangel has cleared re-entry and will deploy to AO. I say again, Archangel will deploy to the AO,"
"Saber One, what the heck does that mean?" Tolle uttered.
"It means your girlfriend is coming in with the cavalry, you lucky stud,"
Few minutes later the legged ship arrived, having dropped almost straight to the battlefield. Its arrival roused the morale of the expeditionary force, intensifying the battle to retake Gibraltar. The ship also served as a mobile air defense platform when it almost single-handedly shot down an artillery barrage using its CIWS platform. A few ZAFT units tried to engage to attack the hovering ship, but their efforts were futile as the laminated armor allowed it to shrug off their attacks. Retaliatory Gottfried and Valiant shots quickly dissuaded, and in many cases prevented, them from trying again.
Tolle was surprised by the decision to have Archangel land, as it wasn't covered during the briefing. He would later learn that the decision was made due to the fluid nature of the battle and there was a need to consolidate the expeditionary force's tactical gain quickly by having the ship provide direct support. But at that time, having Archangel, and by extension Mirriallia, certainly made him fight more resolutely.
Meanwhile, distracted by Archangel's heavenly descent, the ZAFT defenders failed to react to more drop pods landing, which included mechanized special forces and a logistic team.
"Battery packs and ammos on the ground," Kira said as Strike moved to the location where the logistic team had landed. The mobile suit then kneeled next to one battery while holding its left shield in front of the cockpit in a defensive position.
"Saber Three, as planned," Mu instructed.
"On it," Sai said, as Aegis moved to the location. The red mobile suit then grabbed the battery with its left hand.
"Saber Fouer, cover,"
"Pop smoke," Tolle communicated to the nearby troops, who acknowledged the request by firing smoke grenades to cover both Aegis and Strike. Meanwhile, the latter powered down while simultaneously popping open the door to its battery compartment in its torso area. Aegis then pulled out the battery from the compartment using its right hand and then inserted the battery in its left hand. The whole thing took not over two minutes at most. Kira reactivated Strike, and then did the entire process to Aegis, taking over five minutes because of Aegis' complicated design. Once the transfer was done, Aegis was reactivated. "Saber Three and Saber Two operational,"
"Alright. Saber Fouer, your turn. Saber Three, covering fire if needed,"
"Copy," Tolle said as he moved Buster to the battery replenishment site. Because of its reliance on projectile weapons, Buster also had to replace the spent munitions, changing the spent cartridges, and swapping empty missile launchers with loaded ones. Although Buster had to be powered down and deactivated during the replacement, Tolle still had access to the basic life support and communication system. After a while, the computer beeped, showing that the process was completed and Tolle reactivated Buster. The computer showed that the energy level was at 96.1% while most of the munitions have been replaced, safe for the CIWS system, which required a more elaborate maintenance system.
The battle raged on throughout the early half of the morning, but petered out after that. Despite that, Saber Flight remained involved in the fight, although their involvement got less and less since they had to be recharged, and in the case of Mu's Skygrasper and Tolle's Buster, rearmed. It was a good thing that the mission planners dropped in a field resupply team, fully loaded to carry out such things as it would have sucked to run dry and empty in the middle of the enemy territory.
The coordinated attacks by Eurasian tri-services also ensured pressure was applied on the enemy that prevented the effort to retake the captured positions. When the night came, the Earth Alliance advance team had properly dug in and solidified their defensive perimeter around the captured base.
The lull in fighting allowed Sai some moment of introspection. It was claimed artificial light was invented so that business owners could run their businesses at night to wring as much profits as they could from their workers. Sai wasn't sure if that was true, but he was sure that there were some evil military leaders who decided night warfare was something to pursue and implement. Because of their infinite wisdom, he would have to spend the night in the middle of an ongoing battle as ZAFT elements were trying to recapture the area. While the rest of the team was going to stay on guard all night, Mu ordered a scheduled watch, saying that all of them needed to rest for the next day.
It was fortunate that the hangar where he would be staying wasn't hit by the initial bombardment, Sai thought to himself. What made it better was that the hangar was empty and hadn't been used for quite some time. Because of that, there wasn't anyone there when a recon team came across it.
He wished that he and his team was back at the Archangel, but the ship had to redeploy further away from the area while the Saber Flight remained in the AO in case an insomniac ZAFT commander decided to make everyone's life miserable by deciding on a night offensive.
Sai looked at the deactivated Aegis, which was connected to a generator, and waved at the maintenance crew working on the mobile suit. While he would prefer Kojiro and his people doing the maintenance, they had to remain on Archangel. Besides, the current crew was doing the routine work of replacing all the normal wear and tear parts, not major repair work that required Kojiro's involvement. The watch showed less than two hours before he was slated to replace Tolle and Buster. Too short to sleep, but just enough for a meal and some relaxation. Seated by a small light, Sai worked to tear some wrapping off a small container.
"Can I join you?" Kira said, carrying a similar-looking package.
"Sure," Sai said as he opened the container, poured some water, and replaced the lid. "What did you get?"
"Borscht and bread. You?"
Sai didn't answer, but waited until steam started coming out of his container. He opened the lid and fished two opaque pouches of different sizes. He cut open the bigger pouches and poured the content on a nearby plate before repeating the same process for the smaller one. The smell wafted throughout the area.
"Rice and curry?" Kira asked.
"Yup, the best one," Sai said as he fished for a spoon, "The Japanese one. Probably has a lot of them serving with the Foreign Legion at one time,"
"How lucky. Want to trade?"
Holding his plate with one hand, Sai pointed toward Kira's container with his spoon. "Eat your veggies, Kira," he said before eating.
Kira groaned in disappointment, but did as he was told. After heating his own food, he joined Sai in eating. The two ate in silence for a while until Sai lowered his plate and then pushed it toward his friend. "Let me have the soup and bread,"
"Are you sure? No take backs!"
"Of course not! Just give me," As he had expected, Kira eagerly swapped his food and took the offered curry rice. Sai took a spoonful of the soup and his eyebrows raised in surprise. "This tastes good!" He turned toward Kira, only to be greeted with the sight of his friend eagerly scarfing the food. Sai smiled and looked at his own food. "Thanks for adjusting Aegis for my use, Kira,"
Kira stopped eating, "I did what I had to. Besides, when you and Tolle decided to pilot the mobile suits, I know that my friends need to have the best tune-ups,"
"The best for your friends," Sai lowered his bowl of soup. "Thanks. I really appreciate that thought. But I think I'm really a terrible friend,"
"Terrible friend? What do you mean?"
"Even though I call myself your friend, I'm not like Tolle. I'm jealous of you because you're special. You can do a lot of things. When I see you do things I can't, I sometimes ask myself, 'Why bother?'"
"But Sai, just like I'm different from you, to me, you're different from I am. I may be able to do things that you're unable to, but you can also do things that I'm unable to,"
"Such as?"
"Huh?"
"Things that I can do that you're unable to do. Lift heavier objects? Reprogram the OS faster?" After a full minute of silence, Sai chuckled. "So, I can lie to protect the feelings of others, but you're unable to? Is that what you're saying?"
"No, I mean…"
Sai's chuckle became a laugh. "You're a dork, Kira,"
"Hey!"
"Don't say something just because you believe it sounds beautiful. Say something you really believe, and it will sound beautiful,"
"I see. That makes sense… hey, wait a minute! You're saying something that sounds beautiful just now!"
"But I do believe in it. Otherwise, it would have sounded condescending, and even worse, a sign of arrogance and hubris,"
"That sounds familiar,"
"Because that came from someone who made avoiding 'pride comes before a fall' a life mission that it twisted the personality in another direction and became prideful and arrogant about that as a result?"
"Say that again?"
"Do you know the Westermarck effect?" Sai said, suddenly changing the topic.
"No," Kira replied.
"They say that due to reverse sexual imprinting, people tend not to be attracted to their childhood friend,"
"They don't?" Kira said in surprise, "I thought an 'osana najimi' or a childhood friend would have a lot of compatibility. I mean, there are few cases in the mangas and animes where the main character ended up with the childhood friends,"
Sai put his hands on his face while his body shook because of silent laughter. After regaining control of himself, he put down his hands and grinned. "Kira, you're really doing a good job of making me not wanting to be you right now,"
"Because I'm a dork?"
"You said it this time, not me," Sai's smile softened. "But an adorable one, I guess. Someone who's driven by his or her own emotion, and in the process, becomes oblivious to everything else. A dork,"
"I'm not sure I like this label you're coming up with,"
"Do you know that, when I was small, I thought that it's possible to become a Coordinator?" Sai nodded upon seeing the look he received by that statement. "Become, and not turn into, as in you can literally study your way into becoming one,"
Kira looked uncomfortable as he said, "Sai, I'm not sure that can happen,"
"Of course not. I know that now, and you don't have to feel bad, since it's not something you have any control over. But it was what I thought at that time. So, when I was small, I knew this airhead that did a lot of random things," he said as he recalled a four-year old red-haired girl running around doing things such as putting flowers in his hair and chomping on random grass just to find out about it's taste. "One time, the airhead offered me a slice of mud pie, before taking it back and put it in her mouth, and then immediately spat it out, saying that it needs to be baked first,"
"I think the whipped cream or ice cream have to be added later, after it had cooled off,"
"Kira, it was a literal mud pie, as in something fashioned from mud,"
"I'm embarrassing myself more and more, aren't I?"
Sai smiled a bit before turning serious. "Anyway, that changed when I'm 6, around 10 years ago. The airhead's mother passed away. So shocked by the tragedy, the airhead fell sick, spending almost a month in a hospital. I tried to visit almost every day but was turned away by the caretakers. In the end, the end, the airhead recovered, but when we met for the first time after that, I could see that she had changed. It was as if getting sick turned her into a Coordinator,"
"That's not how it works,"
"I was a stupid 6 years old. Here I am with more years added, but still stupid. Anyway, seeing someone suddenly becoming less annoying and more thoughtful was something amazing, and I thought that was what the adults were referring to when talking about Coordinators."
Kira lowered his plate. "Sai, I may be wrong, but it seems you're talking about Flay,"
Sai wanted to smack his forehead in disbelief. "Yes, I was,"
"Why did you tell me this?"
"To make you think,"
"About what?"
"That, you have to find out,"
His friend hesitated for a moment, but then steeled himself. "I'm not judging you, but it's just that I'm curious. Why did you leak the information?"
Upon hearing the question, Sai looked at the half-finished soup in his hand. "I tried to convince myself that I was jealous. But maybe I want her to take notice of me,"
There was also the fear and concern that he felt when he saw her behave in a manner that could only be described as totally pragmatic, psychotic. He recalled his confrontation with Flay recently, where she admitted she made him the center of her world. But for all the time he knew her after her mother's death, all she cared about was her work. Not a few times, she passionately told him how communication technology was the way forward in the current era, how her father's company would build the largest communication network in the world, to honor her mother's previous work. Nothing was mentioned about him and where he belonged in her eyes.
Sai had many chances to stop before he leaked that information, but at each step, he didn't, because he was afraid that she was beyond caring; so focused as she was on her research that she forgot how to feel. The betrayed look she had when she found out left Sai without the doubt that underneath the façade, was the naïve girl who confidently said that she would become his wife one day while sitting on his back after tripping him down. However, he had proven himself wrong at the cost of their friendship.
"She was upset about it," Kira said.
"That's the understatement of the year. But you're right. Now, we made peace, even if we can't go back the way it was before," Sai knew he was trying to find something that didn't exist, but he always felt that there was an underlying tension between Flay and Kira, something that was absent from his own relationship with her. He believed her words that she and Kira met for the first time when she moved to Heliopolis to register at the college, but there was something off. All suspicions aside, the fondness that she displayed toward his friend was certain. Was it because Kira was a Coordinator? Sai stomped down his jealousy. He already had his chance and wasted it. "I hope she recovers, and I wish the two of you all the best, Kira,"
"Thanks,"
In Miriallia's opinion, the current nickname 'Three Wise Monkeys' described Mu, Murrue and Natarle fittingly, in the sense that they were wise, though no one dared said that to their face, especially the 'Marchem That' Natarle. Mu proved himself tactically on battlefields, quickly adjusting for lack of or inaccurate information to come up with a plan on the fly. Murrue was very calm and collected in the face of enemy fire that saw the enlisted crew on the bridge balking in shock. As for Natarle, Miriallia wondered how she ended up on Archangel and not serving under someone as Admiral Halberton.
"Contact the Joint HQ and forward the coordinates," the said person barked to her.
"Yes, Ma'am," Miriallia said as she carried out the order.
"Incoming flight of DINNs," Kuzzey reported from his console. "Twenty, heading one ninety, altitude twelve hundred feet, four hundred fifty knots,"
"Load up eight Korinthos, heading one zero, altitude one two, launch elevation one five, terminal guidance to infra-red homing, seven seconds after launch. Single barrage. Gottfried one and two, aim at heading two zero, elevation three two. On my mark!"
"Copy," Romero said as he quickly followed the order given typed in the order.
"CIC, get Buster to snipe at the flight, fire at will. Repeat seven times. Relay its vector to the friendlies,"
"Yes, Ma'am," Miriallia said as she contacted Tolle. "Fire and repeat seven times," she repeated as she sent the order to him before sharing the flight's vector to nearby units through the ship's Link-16.
Two seconds later, the first shot was fired by Buster.
"Ready," Romero reported.
"Fire Korinthos!" Natarle said after Buster fired the second shot.
"Firing Korinthos!"
There was a slight shaking as the Archangel launched all eight anti-air missiles at the targets.
Buster fired another shot.
"Fire Gottfried!"
The ship's two twin beam cannons fired in the indicated direction. One shot clipped the wing of a DINN, sending it spirally downward, although the other three missed their marks. However, in their haste to evade the beam shots, the ZAFT flight didn't notice the eight Korinthos coming their way. A missile hit the left shoulder of a DINN while another missile hit the torso of another. The single surviving DINN quickly got to the ground level, presumably to evade any anti air missile. In the pilot's haste to do so, he failed to ensure the area he was landing in was clear of any hostile unit. The DINN quickly became a target of opportunity to a nearby allied platoon, which quickly fired three anti-armor missiles at it, overwhelming and destroying it.
"All enemy…," Kuzzey began, but he was quickly interrupted by Natarle.
"Hostile," she corrected. "Don't make that mistake again,"
"Yes, Ma'am. All hostiles are off radar," Kuzzey said.
"In battle, there are no enemies, only hostiles," Murrue said kindly. "We don't want to start calling everyone an enemy, do we?"
"Yes, Ma'am,"
With that, Miriallia turned her attention toward the CIC console, watching all friendly units visible on it. A heavy transport aircraft had just landed on the runway and was quickly taxiing off it to make way for another one, which would land in another three minutes. Each plane would either carry tanks, troops, or supplies, which would strengthen the buildup in the area.
Miriallia could never have foreseen that the Operation Starlight Garden was the precursor to the Alliance staging the attack to retake Gibraltar, thinking the operation was intended to allow supply to be sent out through the Victoria mass driver. Then again, the ZAFT military planners probably deduced the same since they would have sent out another fleet to capture the orbital quadrant if they knew what would happen. They would, but by then it would be too late.
"Do we have any sighting of ZAFT's mobile suit?" Natarle's voice broke Mirriallia out of her thought.
"None so far," Mirriallia answered.
"Do you think they have more?" Murrue asked, with the question clearly aimed at Natarle.
"Not many," Natarle said. "The tactic we used was effective in wiping out most of ZAFT's mobile suits. They would certainly adapt, and this tactic may become fewer effectiveness in the future,"
"Or they may use the same tactic in the future," Miriallia pointed out.
"That is possible," Natarle said, conceding the point. "However, we excel at high-low doctrine compared to them,"
Using a combination of a few high-end units and many low-end units to fight against an adversary's force, consisting mostly of high-end units. The current operation certainly showed the effectiveness of such an approach. The tactic was not something new and novel since it was used for thousands of years. Before there were mobile suits, foot soldiers had fought together with horse cavalry, war elephants, tanks, aircraft, helicopters, and all kinds of high-end assets. The reason was simple: there was no way to equip everyone with the said assets. Besides, even if it was possible to equip everyone with tanks or mobile suits, it was inefficient to do so. A platoon of infantry was certainly weak when compared to a GINN. However, Miriallia had just witnessed the so-called weak platoon brought down a GINN using cheap anti-armor missiles.
Three hours passed and more than twenty aircrafts had landed. There were already two battalions, one tank company and a combat logistics group with more to come. From there on, more and more planes would only keep landing, dropping their load, and flying off. Cut off from sending reinforcement via sea, the Eurasian had built a Gibraltar Air Bridge.
Miriallia knew it was premature to proclaim it, but Gibraltar had been retaken. However, looking at everyone on the bridge, she couldn't some sort of happiness in their eyes, only relief. The battle to retake Gibraltar wasn't their battle. Murrue, Natarle and the rest of the enlisted personnel came from Atlantic Federation while she and Kuzzey came from Orb.
It was a job to all of them, a job that they completed successfully, but still a job.
TERMINOLOGY
Alcon: All concerned
AO: Area of Operation
Tally ho: Hostile detected
A/N
1. I reused a scene from one of my earlier stories, MS Gundam SEED Spectrum: Twilight, which in turn used a scene of LOGOS' bombardment on ZAFT's base in Fallen Angel. Instead of Carpenteria like in that story, I decided on Gibraltar, since it falls under the realm of Eurasians Confederation. Besides, this story is inspired by real live event, and when it is written, one of the prevalent global issues is in Europe; the other one is in East Asia.
2. In case someone is wondering, I can't continue the MS Gundam SEED Spectrum: Twilight as it shares a lot of DNA with Gundam Seed Momentus, especially the main point of the story. For example, Fallen Angel's main point is love and sacrifice, Soaring Above is redemption and acceptance.
3. The Gibraltar Air Bridge was a reference to the Berlin Airlift operation by the Allies from 1948 until 1949 (German: Berliner Luftbrücke, lit. '"Berlin Air Bridge").
4. Borscht is a sour soup dish common in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. Normally contains meat and vegetables, though there are variations.
5. Orb Union was depicted as a Pacific Island with Japanese-influenced culture. Therefore, despite Sai having a non-Japanese name, he would be more familiar with the Japanese version of curry.
6. Based on the location, I would say Orb was inspired by Kiribati or Nauru, since they are near to its depicted location. However, location aside, perhaps the creators drew inspiration from Palau, which was a Japanese colony once upon a time, and have some Japanese settling there after WW2.
7. This chapter was inspired by the three sacred treasures. Tolle represents the sword (valor), Miriallia represents the mirror (wisdom), and Sai represents the jewel (benevolence).