Chapter 17

Robo Reader 21- I honestly thought he was in his late twenties at most. I guess that makes the most sense though. All criticisms have been taken into consideration and updated. Thank you.

Warmachine375- Why would he make puns, you fool? I don't think it even fits Fernando's character to make puns. And you were complaining about Chief's character before. Yet you're making Fernando OOC.

No. Ramba's on the chopping block. Or not. Or is he? I don't know.

9/2- Updated due to Robo Reader

Ramba Ral

Upon landing on Earth's surface, Ramba Ral checked his new Gouf Mobile Suit systems. Upon finding that everything was more than acceptable, Ramba Ral checked with his wingman.

"Cozun. Acous. Stay together, alright. This is our first battle on Earth. The rules are different here than in space so don't get to spread out." Said Ramba Ral. After getting confirmation from his wingman, Ramba Ral contacted Hamon. "Hamon, how are we doing with our fuel reserves?"

"We can do another five minutes, but then we have to leave, my dear." Said Hamon from the hanger of the Zanzibar. "The Komusais have already left, so it's only us."

"Hm, very well." Said Ramba Ral. "Keep providing us covering fire. It seems the enemy knows what they're doing when it comes to ship-to-ship fighting." After getting confirmation from Hamon, Ramba Ral ordered his men forward, but carefully so as to not led them straight into enemy fire or an ambush.

Meanwhile

Amuro

"Okay, we're in position." Said Amuro as he was out in front with Kai while the Guntank was staying near the White Base to provide long-range firepower. "So what are we supposed to do?"

"We're not here to win a battle." Said Master Chief, having gone over to Sayla so he can speak to Amuro and the others. "We're only here to fend the enemy off, potentially destroy them if we're fortunate. So, you don't need to run off to engage the enemy. Just simply protect the ship and cover each other. Just hold your positions and don't stray too far from the ship. It's providing you protection from the enemy ship. The material that composes your armor may be able to protect you from Mobile Suit-sized weaponry, but it won't protect you against ship-sized weaponry. So, stay near the ship at all costs. Understand?"

"Yes sir." Said the Mobile Suits pilots with varying degrees of enthusiasm.

"Good." Said Master Chief before ending the transmission. He looked at Bright. "Are you okay, Captain?"

"Of course." Said Bright as he looked at the Master Chief, who stared at him, awaiting a further response. "I'm just worried about what the enemy has in store for us. They attacked us while they were doing a reentry into Earth's atmosphere. They're bold and daring. I fear what they'll do next and what lengths they'll go to destroy us." Master Chief can see that Bright was still panicking a bit. Less than before, but still panicking and thus spoke to him about it.

"Sir, panicking will only serve to help the enemy. You have to remain calm. You're the commander in charge. The crew relies on you to get them through and defeat the enemy. You have to remain calm at all times. If they see you panicking, they may lose heart and that'll affect their performance."

"I know that." Said Bright as he looked at Master Chief while Lilith walked next to him. "But it's not as simple as you think. I can't just force myself to remain calm when something doesn't go our way or when the enemy gains the upper hand. I just can't. I'm not like you apparently. How can you remain calm?"

"I remain calm because I have to." Said Master Chief. "People rely on us to get them through battles alive. To see their families again. That alone should be enough to make a commander want to carry on his duties. To be the thing that his soldiers can rely upon that can get them back to their families and friends alive. Sometimes you'll fail to do so, yes, but if we don't try at all, then we're sending people to their deaths. Do you understand?"

"I…I understand." Said Bright as he looked at Master Chief. Seeing the green armored soldier looking at him after that speech filled him with confidence and he felt like his usual self again. Taking a deep breath, Bright looked out at the battlefield with a gauze of a commander who knew what he was doing. Satisfied, Chief also looked at the battlefield before them. Upon doing so, he spotted the enemy Mobile Suits. Two green single-eyed mechs with machine guns led by a single blue single-eyed mech. This one seemed unarmed beyond a simple shield, but Master Chief knew that there was more to this thing than meets the eyes. Bright must have noticed it too as he spoke out in surprise.

"I've never seen that type of Zeon Mobile Suit before." Said Bright in awe at the blue Mobile Suit. It looked like a Zaku, nearly identical besides the blue color scheme, but there were enough differences to signify that it was a completely new type of Mobile Suit.

"The blue one?" Asked Master Chief as Lilith looked in awe at the three machines while also being slightly intimidated by their appearance. It was like those single eyes were looking straight at her, staring into her soul. Judging her.

"Correct." Said Bright. "The green ones are Zakus. Zeon's standard Mobile Suits. Our team can easily beat those, but I don't know about this one."

"Agreed." Said Master Chief. "Tell our Mobile Suits to engage the enemy with caution. We don't know the full capabilities of this new Mobile Suit. In addition, they have to stay near the ship and each other, otherwise they'll be easy pickings for the enemy." Bright nodded in agreement at that before ordering Sayla to relay those orders. As soon as they were relayed, their Mobile Suit team moved to engage the enemy. Gundam, which Master Chief and Lilith learned was the best Mobile Suit they had all around, fired the first shot. Firing its rifle, a bright pink beam of energy launched itself from the rifle towards the Zakus and the new Mobile Suit.

Seeing the pink beam of energy, Master Chief recalled what it was. After the bomb situation with the Gundam, Master Chief had earned the trust of the crew, allowing him to venture around the ship without an escort. Same with Lilith and Fernando. It was because of this that Master Chief saw the Gundam in its full glory along with the Guncannon and Guntank along with their armaments.

While the Guntank was armed with conventional weapons that Chief was familiar with, like missiles and long-range cannons, the Guncannon and Gundam were equipped with interesting weapons. Both suits were equipped with something called a beam rifle, which fired energy beams at their targets.

Energy weapons weren't something that Chief was unfamiliar with as both the Banished and the Covenant wielded energy weapons extensively to deadly effect. Even the UNSC had energy weapons, more so after the Human-Covenant War. But to have a more primitive society have access to them interested Chief. Joy even more so.

Without giving away the fact that he was from an alternative universe as he wasn't sure he should tell the White Base crew that, they didn't need that headache, he asked an engineer how beam weapons worked. He wasn't sure if it was his size or because the engineer trusted the Spartan, but the engineer told Master Chief the science behind Mobile Suits.

Intrigued that this humanity made their own energy weapons from these Minovsky Particles, Chief learned much about the explanation. Not only how these beam weapons work, but also why Mobile Suits were seen as effective.

Apparently, Minovsky Particles rendered long-range weapons, or at the very least weapons that utilized radar guidance, ineffective. This forced engagements, while there were Minovsky Particles, to be done at visual ranges or have a spotter give targeting information for long-range weapons. With those restrictions, the effectiveness of certain weapons changed considerably. Now he could see why such large mechs were useful. Without long-range artillery or missiles taking them out, all of which require radar guidance, Mobile Suits have little to fear of being taken out without contributing something to a battle. Now he saw why these people considered Mobile Suits effective weapons and why they were so concerned about the Gundam being destroyed. That and other reasons that he has yet to know about.

When he asked Joy if Minovsky particles would affect UNSC or even Banished scanners and radar, she said she wasn't sure. Accounting for the massive technological gap between this humanity and the UNSC, she doubted Minovsky particles could affect UNSC standard radar and scanners. Though, she needed to test that theory with the Pelican and even Chief's suit. Not to mention actually looking into the science of it all. As for Banished equipment, she very much doubted it on account of the even more enormous technological gap between this humanity and the Banished. But like she said, she needed to test it out and they didn't exactly have Banished scanners to test it all out.

Regardless, Chief had been told that the beam rifle rivaled the power of a beam cannon mounted on a space warship so it shouldn't have any problems destroying these Mobile Suits. At least, if the beam hit. Which it didn't as the Zakus and the new Mobile Suit dodged the attack before returning fire at the Gundam and Guncannon, both of whom were at the frontlines. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on whose side you're on, the ranged weapons of the Zeon Mobile Suits weren't able to do anything to the Federation Mobile Suits. Even the new Mobile Suit, which seemed to have guns mounted inside the fingers of one hand, wasn't able to do anything to the armor of its opponents. This was on account of both the Guncannon and Gundam being armed with Luna Titanium Alloy.

While Chief was diffusing the bombs on the Gundam sometime ago, Joy took the liberty to scan the Gundam's metal alloys to see what it was made out of. And she was glad she did as she found it was armored with an alloy of different make to those that she knew within her own database. While that was interesting to her on its own, she had found that the alloys of the Gundam were significantly stronger than those found in the Pelican. While it wasn't as strong as the Titanium-A armor found in UNSC warships, even the weakest of version found in the Human Covenant War, it did surpass those used in a UNSC Scorpion tank, the primary main battle tank in the UNSC arsenal. Making the Gundam difficult to put down as Joy put it. It seemed the Guncannon was also armored with the same substance as the two Mobile Suits weren't even fazed by the attack and returned fire with support from the Guntank. Even the White Base itself was armored with The White Base was focusing its attack on the enemy ship, which did the same thing. Explosions occurred everywhere around the ship, causing dust and debris to fly up in the air before falling down.

The Zeon Mobile Suits, seeing their ineffective ranged attacks, changed strategy. Throwing a few Mobile Suit-sized grenades, the Zakus put out a field of explosions that enabled the new suit to close in on the Gundam and Guncannon. Seeing this, Master Chief wondered what it was doing when it suddenly dodged a barrage of attacks from Gundam and Guncannon, who began to panic fire at the new suit as it got closer to them. Seeing this, Master Chief noted this and knew he had to train those pilots more. He then watched as the new suit let loose a thick cable from an underslung launcher on its right arm. The cable attached itself to the Gundam's left leg and sent lose an electric shock that caused electricity to flow throughout the Gundam. This caused Lilith to cry out in concern for the pilot as the attack caused the Gundam to fall to the ground as the new mech pressed the attack.

Seeing this, the Guncannon fired on the new Mobile Suit with its beam rifle and shoulder-mounted cannons. This caused the new enemy Mobile Suit to quickly disengage from the Gundam and instead attack the Guncannon, which panicked fire again in an attempt to get the new Zeon Mobile Suit away from it. While all this was happening, the two Zakus were conducting suppressing fire on the Guntank, preventing it from helping its allies for fear of hitting them.

Seeing the Guncannon struggling to go against the new Mobile Suit, Chief told Bright to fire a small barrage of missiles around the new Mobile Suit. Bright agreed, seeing the Guncannon struggling against the new Mobile Suit, and ordered a barrage of missiles be sent to get the Guncannon safely away from the blue Zaku-lookalike. While the order was underway, Master Chief looked at the Zeon Mobile Suits fight and he was impressed a bit with how they operated.

Whoever the pilots were, they were highly trained as they were operating their mechs in a well-coordinated fashion. Much more than the White Base's Mobile Suit team as they seem to still be trying to do things on their own and are struggling to keep themselves from panicking based on what Master Chief saw. Things that he'll have to rectify later. If they survive.

In the meantime the order for a missile barrage was relayed and soon a barrage of missiles was sent at the new Mobile Suit and the Guncannon. Seeing the incoming missiles, the blue Zaku lookalike jumped out of the way as the missiles landed all around the Guncannon's location. At the same time, the Gundam, having recovered from the shock attack, fired on the new Mobile Suit, forcing it back even further. Landing between the two Zakus, the three Zeon Mobile Suits must have decided that enough was enough and retreated.

Confused at this, Bright wondered why they retreated when suddenly the Zeon cruiser got closer to the White Base. Seeing this, Bright ordered their fire to intensify as the enemy ship hovered above a patch of land. While Bright and the others weren't able to see, Chief saw the three Zeon mobile suits being picked up by the enemy cruiser via a cable. While this was happening, the enemy cruiser suddenly activated four large spotlights that blinded everyone that looked out the window. Chief's visor managed to adjust in seconds from the suddenly bright light and thus he saw the enemy cruiser leaving. While everyone was wondering on why the Zeons suddenly left, Master Chief guessed they were either out of fuel or this was a simple probing attack. To gauze their capabilities in order to see what they're up against should they face each other again. It could also have been a simple test of that new Zeon Mobile Suit. Or it could even be all three.

Regardless of the reason, Master Chief had some work to do with the pilots of the White Base. Given what he saw, he'll need to train the pilots a bit further. Specifically on how to keep calm when an enemy was coming right at you.

Later

"They did alright." Said Lilith as she looked at Master Chief as the two conversed with one another on what happened. After the enemy ship fled, the White Base crew fixed their engine enough to get them moving again and thus flew away from the area. Of course, they'll need to settle down soon in order properly fix it, but it was enough for them to get moving for now. "I fail to see the problem."

"They did do well." Said Master Chief, agreeing to that. "They obeyed orders and didn't pursue the enemy when it was clear it would be foolish to do so, but they panicked when that new Mobile Suit got close to them. It left them open to attack by an experienced pilot. We'll need to rectify that, especially if that new Mobile Suit is a new frontline unit for the Principality of Zeon. Or that particular unit of Zeons comes back to face us. This time with better knowledge on our capabilities. Not to mention being better prepared." Lilith pursed her lips at that. She was about to make a suggestion when they suddenly heard one of the operators speak out.

"Sir, we're receiving a public broadcast on all frequencies. It's from Side 3." Said Marker, causing Bright to raise an eyebrow, wondering what this could mean. Seeing no harm in it, Bright ordered it to be played. This soon caused a man in his mid-thirties, wearing a Zeon military uniform to appear on the front monitor of the bridge. Bright, upon seeing the man, recognized the man from the broadcast to be Gihren Zabi, the Military Commander-In-Chief of the Principality of Zeon military. Wondering why he was making a public broadcast that was being broadcasted on all available frequencies, he soon got that answer when Gihren spoke.

"We have lost a great hero to our nation in this month." Said Gihren Zabi as he started whatever rhetoric he had to say. "My brother Garma Zabi was slain in battle not too long ago. Slain in the line of duty by the Earth Federation. Though our hearts are ripe with sorrow and grief, this does not foreshadow an end to our righteous and glorious cause." As the man was speaking, Amuro and a few others made it to the bridge. Upon hearing the broadcast, the teens were confused on what was going on, causing Bright to explain the situation. As he did so, Lilith shifted uncomfortably as she heard Gihren speak. She didn't know the man or his name, but the way he was speaking and how he said it left her uneasy. And that unease continued to grow as he continued to speak.

"Compared to Earth Federation the national resources of Zeon are less than one-thirtieth of theirs. Despite this major difference, how is it that we have been able to fight the fight for so long? It is because our goal in this war is a righteous one. It's been over fifty years since the elite of Earth, consumed by greed took control of the Earth Federation. We want our freedom. Never forget the times when the Federation trampled us! Beaten us. Killed us!"

Meanwhile

Ramba Ral

"That Gihren. Sure knows how to make a speech and get people to love him. I'll give him that." Thought Ramba Ral as he and Hamon watched Gihren's speech from their Zanzibar cruiser. They were flying to the nearest Zeon base when Gihren's broadcast was picked up by them. Naturally, they decided to watch.

"We, the Principality of Zeon, have had a long and arduous struggle to achieve freedom for all citizens of our great nation. Our fight is sacred, our cause divine. My beloved brother, Garma Zabi, was sacrificed. Why? The war is at a stalemate. Perhaps many of you have become complacent. Such a lack of compassion is worthy of scorn and disgust." Said Gihren, causing Ramba Ral to sigh while Hamon narrowed her eyes.

Meanwhile

Jega

"Humans and their insatiate need to make themselves look better than their enemies. To disguise their true intentions with fake intentions like freedom. Pathetic." Thought Jega as he and a few other Banished officers were listening in on the broadcast of Gihren Zabi via a primitive human contraption that was called radio. If Jega remembered correctly. It had been found in one of the spoils they took from the human village. It had been broken on the way here, but one of their Huragok repaired it for no good reason. An idiotic Jiralhanae tried to punish it for that, but Jega stopped him. Not only were the Huragok far too valuable to be hurt beyond what the control yokes can do, but it actually did something that can benefit them immensely. The radio can be used to help them learn about the larger world out there without uncovering themselves to more humans. That and the radio may give them valuable insight into human activities in the area. Reason more to have the Huragok fix the radio and have it merge into whatever surviving computer equipment they have, which was surprisingly a lot, given the state of the base when they came upon it.

Unfortunately, all the radio gave them was so far worthless things such as music and weather predictions. Neither of which were of interest to the Banished. They had tried to find more, but they couldn't find anything else. Jega had theorized that either there was little to no military activity in this region or that the human militaries here are keeping silent on their activities to prevent information from being leaked.

A Jiralhanae had been considering just destroying the thing after it gave them useless information for so long when the broadcast of Gihren Zabi began. Hearing the voice of Gihren give the speech was enough to stay the Jiralhanae's hand and inform Jega about this development. As the speech may give them information on the humans here and other things that they may use. So far, though, all it did was give them disappointing information. Like the human speaking was a fool that masked his real intentions with noble ones.

Jega could see the lies that can from the mouth of the human, even if he couldn't see his face. He was simply making a grandiose speech to entice his people. This Principality of Zeon, to continue fighting. He wasn't mourning his supposedly beloved brother. He was using his death as a way to accelerate his own goals. Just like how the prophets used the Covenant for their own goals and ambitions.

Scoffing as the speech continued, Jega wondered how humans can buy into this garbage before leaving to find something to do. Just as he was about to leave, however, the speech finally gave him something the Banished can use.

"The Earth Federation has polluted our most cherished planet for their own greed. We must send them a message, but not composed of words. We have wasted too much time with words. We need action now. The earth side elite must be taught a strong lesson for their evil corruption. This is only the beginning of our war. We have been putting more and more money into our efforts towards making our military stronger than ever. The Earth Federation has done the same. Creating mobile suits of their own in a desperate attempt to win this war! Many of your fathers and brothers have perished valiantly in the face of a contemptible enemy. We must never forget what the Federation has done to our people! My brother, Garma Zabi, has shown us these virtues through our own valiant sacrifice." As the speech went on, Jega turned to the radio, his interest piqued along with the Banished soldiers.

"Mobile Suits." Said Jega as he thought about what these Mobile Suits are and how useful they can be to the Banished. "Now that is something useful."

Meanwhile

"By focusing our anger and sorrow, we are finally in a position where victory is within our grasp, and once again, our most cherished nation will flourish. Victory is the greatest tribute we can pay to those who sacrifice their lives for us! Rise, our people, Rise! Take your sorrow and turn it into anger! Zeon thirsts for the strength of its people! SIEG ZEON!" He said the last two words with a fist raised in the air. With that the broadcast was soon followed up with a chant, praising Zeon over and over again. Bright just sighed before telling Mirai to shut it off.

"Ridiculous. He's manipulating everyone's emotions in Side 3 to gain support for the war. He claims to be fighting for independence but at the same time, he'll sanction actions for colony drops on earth and killing countless civilians. It's despicable." He then sighed, calming himself. "Mirai, set course for Odessa. We can't afford to delay." Mirai, a little unnerved from the speech, simply nodded and set a course for Odessa. Everyone else, however, was a bit unnerved by the speech. Amuro and the other teens were unnerved by the fervor and almost fanatical speech of Gihren Zabi at the end. Amuro, in particular, was scowling, realizing that Gihren was a monster.

Lilith was also unnerved. Perhaps more so than everyone else. The speech from Gihren reminded her of Belos. More so than Master Chief did. While Belos wasn't nearly as charismatic as this Gihren seemed to be, he was still a master manipulator and speaker of words like this Gihren was. His silver tongue was effective and he used it well, carefully speaking his words to ensure no one can see past his public persona and he put enough show to his people that mask his true personality. His capabilities to lie and manipulate were effective and she can attest to that.

He had manipulated her to serve him after she had cursed her sister. Made her his puppet for years until she finally realized the truth. Even when she saw him for what he truly was, he still manipulated people. He had manipulated everyone in her home, the Boiling Isles, into thinking he was a benevolent and just ruler when in actuality he was a tyrant that will do anything to get what he wanted.

Feeling shame fill her as she remembered her service with a manipulator like Belos, Lilith then looked at Master Chief and saw that he wasn't reacting much to Gihren's speech and chant at all. In fact, he hadn't moved at all since he first watched Gihren's speech. Seeing this caused Lilith to wonder if he was just an emotionless person. Throughout the short time she knew him, he never once lost his persona of a calm and calculating machine. Never once did he remove his armor and helmet to let people see what he looked like underneath it all. And he never once panicked when the Gundam fell to the ground from the attack on the new Mobile Suit. She was starting to think he wasn't even remotely human. Despite Fernando claiming he was, the more time she spent with him, the more she was certain that he wasn't human.

Every human she met was livelier than him. Heck, even that man from the broadcast was livelier than him. So why wasn't he like the other humans? What caused this?

"Just what could cause a human to be as stone cold as you?" Thought Lilith as she looked at Master Chief. "What happened to you?"