Chapter 26

Unsung Senpai- Yeah, I understand. Ramba Ral. Who knows? Will he die before he shows Amuro that Zeon soldiers are people too? Or will he do that before he dies? Who knows? Well, except me.

Dragon lord Syed 101- Not really. You'll see.

Robo Reader 21- Thank you for that clarification. Actually, I used the term Combat Fatigue because that was the term used before PTSD. Along with Combat Stress Reaction and battle fatigue. Ya know to get rid of the more modern terms.

R reyes- I don't know why she did it. I'm no writer but that seems out of character of her to do something so suicidal, but I'm no professional writer.

No, I haven't thought of doing a 00 Gundam Story. The next story I'm doing is an Elder Scrolls/ Harry Potter Crossover. And before anyone says anything, no. It's not going to be a Harry Potter is the Dragonborn or something like that. It's going to be a Harry Potter adoption-like story with some slight deviances from the typical adoption story.

Sayla

"Gundam, launching!" Yelled Sayla as the Gundam was launched from the catapult and straight into combat. Yelling out in shock, Sayla braced herself as the Gundam landed far lower to the ground than she thought. She tried to correct it, but it failed and the result was the Gundam crashing into the desert sand. Groaning as a result of the crash, Sayla recomposed herself as she recovered from the crash. "I thought that I got it right with the simulations. Guess it doesn't matter now." Taking a moment to hold the bile back as a result of the crash landing, Sayla managed to recompose herself fully. "Alright, now I just need to contact the Zeon forces. Hopefully, they'll listen to an open radio wave." Just before she could open an open channel, the Gundam detected incoming enemies. Turning to her left she saw a Zeon Zaku II coming to her left. Gasping out in shock, Sayla couldn't do anything as the Zaku fired its machine gun at her, peppering the Gundam with bullets. Fortunately, the armor of the Gundam was too strong, even for the Zaku's machinegun, thus little damage, if any, was received.

Sayla, realizing that she has to fight back, returned fire with the Vulcan guns. Unfortunately, her aim was off and she just fired into the air, hitting nothing. The Zaku, upon realizing this, continued to fire upon the Gundam with complete impunity. Annoyed that she was missing with the Vulcan guns, she fired the beam rifle on the Zaku. Yet she missed with the beam rifle as well. Sayla was stunned at this.

"My aim is fine so what's wrong?" Asked Sayla as she kept firing the beam rifle blindly into the enemy, wasting shot after shot. Ramba Ral, in his Gouf Mobile Suit, saw this and couldn't help but chuckle.

"This pilot." Said Ramba Ral after finishing his laughter. "Total amateur. So, I'm going to take you out." With that Ramba Ral ordered his two teammates to give him cover fire. As his two Zakus fired upon the Gundam, keeping it suppressed, Ramba Ral charged at the Gundam. Stunned at the new enemy Mobile Suit charging brazenly at her, Sayla managed to raise the Gundam's shield up just in time to block an attack from her opponent's whip-like rod that came from its right arm. A follow-up attack, however, caused her and the Gundam to crash into the ground. Ramba Ral was about to deliver an electrical surge to the Gundam to disable it when he was suddenly hit with a barrage from the Guncannon and Guntank, both of whom came out of the White Base to assist Sayla.

"Oh, that girl is so going to get it from Bright after this." Said Kai as he kept firing on the new enemy Mobile Suit while Ryu and Hayato kept the Zakus busy.

"Just keep the enemy off her Kai!" Yelled Ryu as he piloted the Guntank while Hayato fired its weapons. "If that new enemy Mobile Suit gets close to her, she's a goner!"

"Yeah, same with us!" Yelled Kai as he kept firing on the new Mobile Suit, who now began to dodge his attacks while regrouping with its Zaku allies.

"A mid-range support Mobile Suits and a long-range one too. Hmm…sure looks tough." Said Ramba Ral as he looked at the two arriving Mobile Suits. "Hm, neither possess close-range weaponry. Should be easy for me to take them out. Cozun! You keep the white one suppressed! Acous! You deal with the tank-like one! I'll deal with the red one!"

"Yes sir!" Yelled Cozun and Acous before firing on their ordered targets. Ramba Ral, meanwhile, charged at the Guncannon.

"Oh come on!" Yelled Kai as he saw the blue Zaku-like Mobile Suit coming at him. Knowing that it was capable in close combat and his Mobile Suit wasn't, Kai tried backing away from the Mobile Suit while firing off the Guncannon's shoulder-mounted cannons. Unfortunately, this left Ryu and Hayato without support, and thus they had to deal with a Zaku by themselves. Using its superior mobility, the Zaku kept dodging the Guntank's attacks while firing back. If it weren't for the Guntank's Luna Titanium armor, it would be in trouble.

"Damn!" Yelled Ryu as they endured another barrage of bullets from the Zaku. "Sayla! Open the comm circuit! We need support!"

"She's not responding Ryu!" Yelled Hayato as he kept firing at the Zaku, who kept on dodging. "I think the comm circuit is shut off or something!" Ryu was about to swear when they endured another barrage from the Zaku. While enduring the attack, they suddenly received a transmission from the White Base.

"Guntank! Be advised, support is on its way!" Yelled Marker as he monitored the battle and saw how poorly their forces were doing.

"Support!?" Yelled Ryu upon hearing this. "From what!?" He couldn't hear the explanation from Marker when the Zaku attacking them suddenly threw out a Mobile Suit-sized grenade towards them. Seeing this, Ryu tried to back off from the attack, but the Guntank's slow movement prevented them from escaping it entirely. Thus, the grenade managed to put them out of commission temporarily.

"Ryu! Hayato!" Yelled Sayla upon seeing the Guntank being taken down by a Zaku. Knowing that it was typical for those two boys that were piloting the Guntank, Sayla was about to open fire on the Zaku attacking the Guntank when she suddenly received a drop kick from the Zaku attacking her followed by the Zaku's heat hawk being slammed into the Gundam's right arm, which held its beam rifle. Though the heat hawk didn't go straight through as the pilot wanted, it still disabled the arm, rendering it useless. The Zaku pilot then proceeded to grab the Gundam's head and began manhandling it.

"Ha!" Yelled Cozun as he had his Zaku keep the Gundam still by grabbing its head. "Lieutenant! This pilot is literally incompetent! They're letting me do this and not doing anything to get out!"

"I see." Said Ramba Ral as he saw what Cozun was doing. Something like that was something that wouldn't happen under normal circumstances, but the pilot of the Feddie Mobile Suit must have been newly trained or something because Cozun was handling the White Mobile Suit with ease. "Try and capture that Mobile Suit Cozun! I'll be able to give a helping hand once I'm done with this one!" He then emphasized his point by launching his heat rod against the Guncannon, wrapping it around the Guncannon's left arm, and sending an electric shock against the Guncannon, causing Kai to scream out as the shock coursed throughout the Guncannon.

"No! It's going to explode!" Yelled Kai as he tried to do anything to save his life, but couldn't on account of the electric shock attack of the Gouf's heat rod. Grinning at what was happening, Ramba Ral was about to deal the finishing blow when his Gouf suddenly received a hit to its right leg. It didn't destroy the leg, but the attack did cause the Gouf's leg to be disabled because of the damage received and force Ramba Ral's Gouf to the ground on account of its damaged leg.

"What!" Yelled Ramba Ral as the attack registered in his mind and he was falling to the ground. His shock was so great that he ended up freeing the Guncannon from his heat rod, saving the Mobile Suit from an explosive demise. Grunting as his Mobile Suit hit the ground, Ramba Ral checked his systems to find the auto balancer was disabled and that the right leg was now disabled, meaning his mobility was seriously hampered. Stunned at the damage he received to his Mobile Suit's leg, Ramba Ral was trying to figure out what happened when he suddenly received another hit to his Gouf. This time to the main camera. Grunting as he felt the attack, Ramba Ral saw that he lost his main camera. That loss combined with his lost leg meant he had to retreat. Cursing his luck, he retreated from the battlefield. As he did so, he contacted his Zaku pilots.

"Acous! Cozun! Retreat now! My Mobile Suit is damaged by an unknown assailant!" Yelled Ramba Ral as he retreated.

"What!?" Yelled Cozun as he heard this while breaking one of the Gundam's main cameras. "What do you mean lieutenant? What assailant!?"

"Just get out of there!" Yelled Ramba Ral as he fled. Hearing the urgency in his superior's voice, Cozun complied and was about to retreat when his Zaku was suddenly hit with a bright red light that appeared for a brief second before disappearing in the next. The bright red light hit his Zaku's left leg, hitting a vulnerable section of the leg. Thus, it sent the Mobile Suit crashing into the ground.

"Argh!" Yelled Cozun as his Zaku went to the ground, unable to move.

"Cozun!" Yelled Ramba Ral upon hearing this. He was about to contact Acous when he suddenly heard some yelling from Acous on the radio followed by an explosion. "No! Damnit! Hamon! The attack was a failure! Retreat and come pick me up!" Hamon, upon hearing that, cursed before ordering the Gallop to retreat. They had been fighting with the Trojan Horse while their Mobile Suits fought against the Federation ones, meaning both ships were unable to provide assistance to their mechs. At least that was what Hamon thought.

"Clamp! Call the retreat." Said Hamon as Clamp did what he was ordered to. Soon the Gallop was moving out of range of the Trojan Horse's guns and moving to pick up Ramba Ral's damaged Gouf. "This was a disaster of a battle. Both Cozun and Acous were taken down by the enemy and the enemy haven't received many losses. This battle means that we'll have to rely on M'Quve even more than we originally thought."

"Yes, Miss Hamon, but…" Clamp started but stopped, causing Hamon to look at him.

"Yes?" Asked Hamon, causing Clamp to continue.

"We…we had that new ship, the Zanzibar? Why didn't we bring it with us?" Asked Clamp, referring to the ship that they used to enter Earth's atmosphere and in their initial battle with the Trojan Horse. Hamon just narrowed her eyes at him.

"You know very well that we can't be irresponsible with a prototype ship that's still being tested." Said Hamon as she scolded Clamp. "If we lost that ship, Dozle will have all our heads. Especially when those given to Kycilia and Gihren are used for more…insignificant operations. Besides, with Ramba Ral, Dozle has faith that we have sufficient enough resources to accomplish our duty. You should know this, Clamp. After all, you fought with him since the war began."

"I know. I just…think it's unfair considering the Trojan Horse's complement of Mobile Suits and the ship itself." Said Clamp as he looked at Hamon, causing her to nod.

"Yes, I suppose you're right." Said Hamon as she looked forward. "Our battles will be noticeably more difficult if we don't receive support from Captain M'Quve." Clamp just grumbled in acknowledgment at that. It was then that Hamon saw Ramba Ral's Gouf waving at them, on the ground and its main camera damaged, and relief flooded her features. "There he is Clamp!"

Meanwhile

Master Chief

"Nice shooting, Chief." Said Joy as Master Chief laid down the weapon he used against the Zeon Mobile Suits. "That should show them that mechs aren't the only thing that can win battles." Master Chief said nothing as he looked at the Guntank moving again and towards the damaged Guncannon and Gundam.

The trio of Mobile Suits of the White Base performed poorly in that battle. That was the only word that Master Chief can describe without being too harsh. The Gundam, despite its power, was taken down by a single Zaku with no issue on the Zaku's side. Guntank was forced on its own against a single Zaku, where it showed it was awful against Mobile Suit opponents. Guncannon was at fault for this, leaving the Guntank unsupported and against an opponent that it wasn't meant to face on its own. Granted, it was forced to because of the blue Zaku-like Mobile Suit, but the fact that Kai panicked and left Guntank alone when it could have supported him against the blue Zaku was no excuse to the Spartan. At least, if he was a regular soldier and he wasn't. So, the Spartan can give him some slack. Some. Even more so when it was clear that it was the pilot of the Gundam that was at fault for this. Sayla Mass. The radio operator of the White Base.

He didn't know why she did what she did, but her actions have put them all in danger. If it weren't for him, the trio of Mobile Suits of the White Base would have been defeated and left the ship vulnerable to destruction or even capture. All of them would have been either killed or captured by the Zeons as a result. And for what? He had no idea and he was going to get an answer from the girl, no matter how poor her reasoning was.

Looking at the weapon he used against the Zeon Mobile Suits, Master Chief recalled what he did and how he managed to accomplish it.

Truth be told, his part in the battle would have been nearly as effective if it weren't for Joy. Prior to all this happening, Joy had scanned the Zaku Mobile Suit that they acquired from the island with the Banished troops. Although it was clearly worn down from age and showed clear signs of modifications to keep it running, it still provided vital information on the weak points of the Zaku II mobile suit. And it was those weak points that Master Chief targeted with the only weapon he had that was capable of damaging a Mobile Suit with certainty. The M6 Spartan laser.

The M6 Spartan laser was a weapon created by the UNSC during the Human-Covenant War. Created by the GUNGNIR project, a program made to create supplemental materials for the Spartan II program, the M6 Spartan laser is one of the few directed energy weapons in humanity's arsenal and still is to this day. Bulky and heavy, the Spartan laser was a deadly weapon against both infantry and vehicles, no matter their affiliation. It required a few seconds to charge, something that can leave the user exposed and vulnerable to counterattack, especially when people can see the targeting laser of the weapon and use it to find the user, but when it is fired, it just destroys. Whether it be Titanium-A of the UNSC or the Nanolaminate armor of the Covenant races, it didn't matter. The laser fired from the M6 Spartan laser can go right through any vehicular armor. Even the armor of a Covenant phantom, the alien hegemonies premium dropship, was nothing to the M6 Spartan laser. Thus, the armor of the Zakus and that other Mobile Suit meant nothing to the Spartan laser. That being said, the penetrating power of the weapon meant nothing if it can't hit anything important in the Mobile Suits, especially with how large they were. Thus, using the data gathered from Joy's scans of their captured Zaku, Chief targeted weak points of the Zakus he knew of.

Fortunately, the data Joy gathered from their captured Zaku was useful, and Chief managed to cripple and even disable the Mobile Suits he targeted. Targeting their legs, Master Chief used half of the M6 Spartan laser's battery to acquire both the range and power he needed to significantly damage the enemy Mobile Suits while in the safe confines of the White Base. Getting closer will just put him at unnecessary risk and by the time he got into position, their Mobile Suits would have been defeated. Thus, he adjusted the power rating of the Spartan laser to increase the power and range of the weapon at the cost of the number of shots he could fire before the battery needed to recharge or replace. With it adjusted, he aimed and fired at the blue Mobile Suit's leg to save Kai before he was killed.

Just as he and Joy expected, the legs of the Mobile Suits were vulnerable, and attacking key joints of the legs rendered the Mobile Suits disabled and unable to move or at least as efficiently as they'd been shown to do before. Their exterior cameras were also a vulnerability and losing both forced the blue Mobile Suit to retreat because of the damages it received. With the Spartan laser's current battery used up, Master Chief ejected its first battery clip and grabbed a new one he got from the Pelican.

Prior to coming to this alternative universe, Master Chief and Fernando saved a squad of UNSC troopers from a Banished attack. The UNSC troopers had a cache of UNSC equipment. Equipment they were glad to share with the Spartan II upon him saving them from the Banished. That cache of equipment contained a few Spartan lasers with additional battery packs for them. Needing more adequate anti-vehicle weapons, Master Chief took two Spartan lasers with him along with a few batteries in case he needed to switch batteries for the lasers quickly. Since then, they've been useful in helping the Spartan in eliminating Banished vehicles that the standard UNSC rocket launcher just couldn't be relied upon to deal with. So, grabbing a Spartan laser and a few battery packs, Chief went to assist the White Base's Mobile Suits in fending off the Zeon Mobile Suits.

While he did manage to disable the blue one, he, unfortunately, couldn't destroy it as by the time he finished changing the Spartan laser's batteries, it escaped and the Zaku attacking the Gundam was about to finish it off it seemed. Thus, Master Chief focused on it as it was about to escape. Taking down one of its legs and causing it to crash into the ground. With that one down, Master Chief focused on the one attacking the Guntank. This time focusing on the reactor of the Zaku as it was far away enough from the Guntank that he could aim for its reactor and not risk collateral damage on the Guntank as he learned early on from Bright that Zaku's contained a nuclear reactor. Aiming at where the reactor was located, Master Chief aimed at the Zaku and fired. The bright red laser of the energy weapon pierced right through the Zaku's armor and hit the reactor, causing it to go critical and explode, taking the Zaku and its pilot with it. Thus, with the enemy either retreating, destroyed, or disabled, Master Chief saved the White Base's Mobile Suits. As well as showcasing that Mobile Suits aren't everything on a battlefield. And it seemed that the damage he inflicted on the enemy Mobile Suits was enough to send the Zeons into a retreat as the Guntank was now moving to pick up the Gundam with the Guncannon following shortly behind. With the situation now, more or less, contained, Master Chief went to the nearest intercom to speak with Bright. One, to tell him to bring the disabled Zaku and its pilot into the ship before the enemy can scuttle the Mobile Suit and the pilot can escape. Two, to tell him about the solution to Amuro's PTSD problem that Lilith suggested, albeit reluctantly. And three, to ask why Sayla was allowed to enter the Gundam and launch in the first place. He doubted Bright would have had her be the temporary pilot of the Gundam when she was just the communications officer of the White Base when there were actual, experienced pilots on the ship. That meant she snuck off the bridge and piloted the Gundam without permission. That was unacceptable. He knew this was a traditional warship but still. That stunt could have gotten them all killed. And it nearly did with how poorly she piloted the Gundam. Walking over to the nearest intercom, Master Chief contacted the bridge and spoke to Bright.

Later

White Base bridge

"This was beyond unacceptable, Sayla." Said Bright as he paced around in front of the ashamed-looking Sayla. Behind her was both Mirai and Master Chief, the former boring a look of disappointment at Sayla. "What was the point of your actions, Sayla? What were they? Were you trying to prove yourself? That a woman can pilot as well as a man? Was that it?"

"Yes sir. That was my only reason." Said Sayla as she looked at Bright. Upon hearing that reason, Master Chief looked at her. Though she put up a convincing act, Master Chief and Joy saw that she was lying. If it wasn't because of Chief's armor then it was because of how rigid and tense she was while she spoke. As well as how poor of an excuse her lie was. A part of Chief wanted to tell Bright that she was lying, but he refrained for now. This was something he'll speak to Bright in private, away from Sayla.

"I can't believe you, Sayla. I thought you were smarter than that." Said Bright as he looked at Sayla, buying into her lie. "You're just fortunate that our ally was able to save you and the others today. Otherwise, we would all either be dead or prisoners of war right now. Do you understand that?"

"Yes sir." Said Sayla, genuinely ashamed of herself for what happened on the battlefield today.

"I think that's enough Bright." Said Mirai as she looked at the captain of the ship. She then looked at Sayla. "Given the circumstances, you'll be given a light sentence for what you did. Three days in the brig should be sufficient enough." Master Chief knew that sentence wouldn't fly in the UNSC for what Sayla did, but choose not to comment on that for now. With that declaration, Bright ordered Ryu to take her away to the brig. Once Ryu and Sayla were gone, Master Chief spoke.

"She was lying, Bright." Said Master Chief as he looked at Bright, who just sighed.

"I figured you were going to say that." Said Bright. "As did I. I just don't know what it could be. Why would she do something so reckless? And so abruptly as well? It just doesn't match what she's shown before."

"Whatever it is, I'll make sure to find out." Said Master Chief. "Her actions today have put everyone in jeopardy and we need to know why."

"If you do find out, I'll appreciate it if you reveal it." Said Bright as he looked at Master Chief, who simply nodded. "In the meantime, let's discuss this potential cure you have for Amuro's combat fatigue. You said that Lilith has a potential cure for it?"

"Yes, but she's hesitant on using it. I asked her to come here to explain it to you and to see what your thoughts are on using magic to help Amuro." Said Master Chief. "The boy is apart of your crew and it's only right that you have a say on something that may potentially endanger him."

"Really?" Asked Bright in surprise upon hearing this. "I assume it's magical in nature." Upon seeing Chief nod, Bright frowned and pursed his lips in thought. On one hand, he wasn't really sure it was a good idea to rely on something that he had only fairly recently discovered and still had no idea how lethal and powerful it was. Especially something that he thought, just a few weeks ago, was just pure rubbish. But on the other hand, Amuro was suffering from his combat fatigue and they needed him now or else things will only continue to go downhill from here. He was their best pilot and they needed him piloting the Gundam if today was any indication of how much they needed him piloting their best Mobile Suit. Sighing as he thought it over, he told Master Chief that he'll hear what Lilith has to say about using her magic to cure Amuro before making his decisions.

"That's the right call, sir." Said Master Chief as he nodded his head. "Lilith was hesitant on using her magic to fix Amuro. Given she's the expert in magic, it'd be wise to consult her first on what to do." Bright nodded at that and waited for Lilith to arrive. As he did so, he thought about Sayla and her reasoning for doing what she did today.