Chapter 2
My Doga's thrusters roared with power as they propelled the suit out of the hanger and into space. The dull gray of the colony fell away to the black blanket of space, sparkling specks of white dotting it. For a brief and fleeting second, I was able to fully immerse myself in the glorious sight of the last frontier.
And then the peace was shattered by a stream of flak fire streaking in front of my ship. Out of the corner of my eye I could see two warships, a Salamis Kai-class and a Clop-class if I had to guess, that were moving at a decent clip down from the front end of the colony, and they were spewing out a torrent of flak fire as they moved.
"Break, Break, Break1" I shouted into the squad's comms, pulling the Doga into an upward climb. The other three suits right behind me. Up and up the four of us went, the occasional flak fire whizzing by our suits. Then we were above the colony entirely and could see the battlefield.
The cockpit began to light up, with the Doga quickly interposing enemy IFFs on the rear side of the colony. Thanks to the short sensor range I was in, the suit was able to identify not just the warships but most of the mobile suits that were flying in escort formation around them: GM IIIs and Jegans.
So this really was Londo Bell then.
As I overlooked the combat zone, my suit trilled in alarm. I saw the lead Federation ship, the Salamis Kai-class, fire one of its mega particle cannons in a high arc, overshooting all combatants. I briefly fired my verniers to rotate my Dogas field of view.
Now that I was, slightly, facing the opposite direction, I could see what the beams had been a warning warning shot. Just off the side of the colony were six Neo Zeon ships. Enhancing their image I could see that all but three small green ships, Endras or Musais maybe, were dead in the water. The other three stood out starkly with their bright red hull colors. I couldn't identify the two smaller ships with just a glance, but the largest ship? I knew that ship.
"So that was where you went to." I whispered fondly as I took in the sight of the dreadnought. She was still quite heavily damaged and was missing more than a few weapon turrets but it was still the Rewloola. Just as impressive as the first time I saw her on screen. And when I first took command of her.
That probably made the two red ships around her Musaka cruisers.
Well no wonder the Federation/Londo Bell ships weren't currently unleashing hell on the obviously off guard fleet(might be a bit too lofty title for six ships). The capture of a ship with as much propaganda significance as the Rewloola, the flagship of Char himself, would be a major win for the Federation.
Another trill from the Doga took my attention to the space inbetween the approaching Federation ships and the Neo Zeon fleet. So that's where the rest of the mobile suits from the hanger had gotten to, looks like they're forming a picket or defensive line.
My lips curled downwards. Bah, they're playing defensively in a tactical situation that demands a quick response.
A second pair of mega particle beams were shot high. From my vantage point I could see the Federation's mobile suits beginning to gather into an offensive formation.
"Right listen up." I called out to my companions. "Our target is now the enemy mobile suit formation. Pazzi get in contact with our comrades and tell them to attack after we've broken their formation."
My fellow Geara Doga pilot gave his assent and I could finally hear some shouting from his side of things before reporting back that the main Zeon force would be right behind us. I checked the Doga's HUD for the name of the Dreissen's pilot as I had been too distracted by space to hear her name. Jess, apparently.
"Me and Jess are going to break their formation, Pazzi and Treble use your firepower to keep them scattered and ensure a path is open for the reinforcements. Copy."
Three positive answers were sent my way.
"Okay, Jess, keep up with me. Let's Go!" I called out before angling my Doga so that it was facing directly down and then spooling up the main thrusters to their maximum output. This action resulted in some serious G-forces being put on me, as I charged straight for the Federation mobile suits; the fast Dreissen right on my tail.
Three seconds until we were on top of them.
Breath in, Breath out. Let instincts take over.
Two seconds. I could pick out the different models of mobile suits in front of me. Time to pick a target I guess.
Breath in, Breath out. You'll know what to do.
One second. RGM-89 Jeagan. A targeting reticule appeared over the unaware Jeagan as I brought my beam machine gun up.
Fight, soldier.
A quick series of rapid fire thuds sent vibrations through the cockpit as the rifle spit out its deadly munitions. The rounds tore clean through the head and torso of the Jeagan and the reactor must have been hit too because as I went past it the suit exploded in a ball of purple flames. At the edge of my vision, I saw Jess use her beam lancer to spear the GM III that had been to the left of my targeted Jeagan. It too exploded in a purple ball as its reactor went critical.
Faintly I could hear screams and panicked questions being hurled through the open comm systems, with some strange automated message undercutting them.
Having barely slowed down to eliminate the Jeagan, I pierced further into the Federation formation letting loose with my weapon as I did. The Jeagan that was directly under my first target got its left arm and leg blasted off. Before the wounded machine could recover, I slammed the feet of my Doga onto its torso and cut my thruster's power down and fired once, then twice directly into the cockpit. The excess forward momentum making it so that I rode the now dead Jeagan like a snowboard deeper into the Feddies formation. The sound of missiles detonating heralded the arrival of Pazzi and Treble behind us.
All this had happened in a blink or two of the eyes, maybe. Probably seemed like our suits had appeared out of thin air(or was it space now?) to the Federation we would tear out of the other side of the formation and fly out of weapon range before an effective response could be mustered. Classic boom and zoom. Now that we were inside their formation, me and Jess were kinda stuck in it until Pazzi's reinforcements arrived.
A pair of foxes in the hen house then.
I pushed off the dead Jeagan and roared towards a GM III that had brought its rifle to bear. It fired off a volley but it was poorly aimed, only scoring off the Doga's shoulders. I threw my machine gun over the left hand and drew the suit's beam sword-axe, in axe configuration, and wound up for a devastating blow into the GMs side.
Danger! Left Side! Time warped and slowed to a crawl.
A charging Jeagan, beam saber ignited and poised to shishkebab me. Potential solutions were proposed and disregarded in the span of a second. Well that would work I guess.
Then everything snapped back into place. Several things happened.
One- I threw my beam machine gun straight at the Jeagan's beam saber.
Two - I floored the acceleration and threw the machine into a corkscrew spin, still heading towards the panicking GM.
Three - The Jegan's beam saber hit and tore through the thrown weapon. Right. On. The. Magazine.
The resulting explosion's force pushed me so that instead of taking the GM head on, I went under its feet. Ignoring the warning alarms the Doga was sending to me, two verniers had been destroyed in the explosion, I pulled up and moved the controls akimbo, making the Doga twist like a seal. My axe scored through the main thrusters of the GM and tore its head clean off.
"Tch." Not a kill but still another enemy out of the fight. I was rather exposed after crippling the GM, perfect position for the third Jeagan to strike, but as I saw with grim amusement, it looked like Jess was too much for the Jegan pilot as her Dreissen had made swiss chess out of it with a sustained burst from her tri barrel beam cannon.
Me and Jess linked back up, moving our suits back to back, sure that the Federation was about to bear down on us with everything they had.
Except they weren't. The Federation was being torn to shreds by a force of five zeon mobile suits, made up the same models as my squad. One or two of the Feddies choose to stand their ground while the majority fled back to the relative safety provided by their motherships guns. The ones that stood got to add to the growing debris field outside Colony Kudelia.
"Regroup on me." I transmitted to my squad.
Yet our side wasn't without losses. The reinforcing suits only numbered five according to their IFFs but they had started with eight, and neither I found out, was my squad as only Pazzi's Geara Doga joined up with my Geara Doga and Jess's Dreissen.
"Treble?" I at least had to ask.
"He didn't make it sir." Pazzi relayed to me. "One of the Feddies managed to nick his anti-ship missiles and that set off a chain reaction."
Shit, we just lost the equivalent of a tank destroyer in terms of sheer firepower along with a fully trained mobile suit pilot.
"Then let's make sure his sacrifice is not in vain Savior." I responded.
"Of course." said Savior.
The three of us then flew off the new frontlines of the action which ended up being in front of Londo Bell ships. A little too close to the mega particle cannons for my comfort if I was honest.
"Savior, pass me one of your Sturm Fausts." Savior took the requested explosive from his suit's waist and 'passed' it over to me. A deft hand on the controls made it so that the Doga's left hand caught the Sturm Faust.
"Thanks."
Signalling my wingmen to stay close, I passed through the Neo Zeon line and into the now very small no man's land between us and the Federation. This allowed me to get a better view of the remaining enemies. Only five Federation mobile suits that had rejoined their ships were at full combat effectiveness.
Due to us being easily distinguishable now, we were immediately hailed by the Federation ships. On an open channel no less.
"I'll handle this." I said using the Zeon comms to speak to both the mobile suits and the ships. Wasting no time, I accepted the hail and leaned back in my seat. As soon as the hail had been accepted, a voice blared through.
"This is the Lisbon of Earth Federation's Londo Bell Task Force, I demand to talk to whoever is in charge at once!" A loud voice demanded. I idly noted that it came from the Salamis Kai-class. Before I responded, another voice came over the line.
"Negative Lisbon, the Creed is taking point." A much more calm, and younger too, voice said. "Neo Zeon forces why have you violated our ceasefire and assaulted us during a negotiation?"
"Oh?" I said inquisitively. "Is the copious use of munitions near a colony how the Federation negotiates?"
The first voice from the Lisbon went quiet, and the voice from the Creed whispered a faint "Impossible."
Captain Rick Jones, LBS Creed
"Impossible." I whispered in horror. "You're dead."
That voice. It couldn't be… he was declared dead! He should be dead!
A chuckle came from the line. "Dead am I?" The sound of dull patts. "Well I feel quite alive captain. Any other concerns about my health you wish to ask? And you never answered my question."
I gritted my teeth. Damn the Lisbon and its captain for getting spooked.
He was mocking us, I realized. "Where is that signal coming from CPO Mack?"
The rest of the crew, all veterans of the Second Neo Zeon War and the Axis Shock looked as dumbfounded as I probably did.
"We're talking to a red mobile suit, captain. Geara Doga model." Mack said hoarsely.
"Bring it up on the monitor!" I barked. Yep there it was. A red mobile suit, rifle in hand and beam axe drawn.
No, no, no! This was not Char! It was some kind of voice modulator that made the pilot of that suit sound like Char, because it wasn't a modulator then Char was alive, which means Amuro Ray was alive. Amuro Ray would be in Zeon hands. But it wasn't Char, so it's fine.
My heartbeat slowed down slightly once I realized that this was only another Zeon trick. I had to remember my mission.
That damn fake voice came back. "Mhm, no more questions? Very well, let's get down to business."
"Let's." I growled out through clenched teeth. "Neo Zeon forces, we are requesting your surrender as had previously been arranged. You may have caught us off guard by attacking unprovoked, but reinforcements have already been dispatched to our location. It would be in the best interest of you and your men if you laid down your arms before they arrive." There, lay our hands out for them to see and maybe these Zeon fanatics will finally see that it's the end of their line.
"I wasn't made aware of any arrangements to surrender, and neither were my comrades." the imposter replied.
"Probably because they didn't want to provoke this exact kind of reaction from you people!" I pounded my fist on my chair's armrest in emphasis. "Everytime calmer heads look to be able to finally put this to rest, fanatics like you crawl out of the woodworks and stop it. Well not this time!"
"So your terms are surrender or be annihilated?" The imposter calmly asked.
"As directed by my superiors, yes." Oh how I had just wanted Bright to just give us a shoot on sight order but the man had said that the capture of the Rewloola, along with some crucial scientific data, was something that couldn't be passed up.
"Well," The imposter drawled "Since you so kindly shared your demands, it would be rude not to respond."
Was he joking?
"You will surrender to us, the Zeon forces stationed at Colony Kudelia, at once. You have my solemn vow that all members of the crews will be treated in accordance to all applicable conventions, until such a time that you can be exchanged back to the Federation." He was not joking. The nerve of this guy.
"Is that all?" I sarcastically asked.
"Yes. You have 30 seconds to decide captain. Make the right call." The smug, arrogant prick responded. My fists started to shake from how hard I was clenching them in my fury, and my face felt hot.
"No need to wait, you damn Zeon. The answer is no, a thousand no's." I carried on in a rant. "No self respecting Federation captain would ever, ever surrender his ship to a bunch of people who have already lost and refuse to see reason! And you! You damn imposter will be the first to die if you do not surrender this instant!"
Panting, I turned to CPO Mack. "Status of the red mobile suit."
Mack brought up the various camera feeds on his screen. "No signs of movem-wait. The suit is aiming at what appears to be a Sturm Faust at the bridge. It's firing!" He called out.
"Blast it with mega particle cannons! Scatter all mobile suits!" I threw my arm out. "Let's space these Zeon bastards once and for all!"
I smirked. As if a Sturm Faust would ever be able-
Boom.
I ended up becoming an ace on my first battle, or fight I guess. Three mobile suits and two ships, at least that's what the Doga's counter in the upper right corner said. I guess destroying the bridge of a ship counts as a kill.
I felt so very tired, as my Doga was guided back into the hanger on the colony, the operational ships not being ready to receive suits according to Jess.
As much as I want to crawl back to that refurbished office bed and sleep for a week, I reckoned that wish was a long way off. Why? Well that labcoat over at the back of the hanger looked awfully familiar.
Considering what that Federation captain had ranted about, it's time to clean house.
