Orb Saviors
Written by,
William R. Woods
Deathzealot, or
deathzealotzero
Foreword:
This is a small short I wrote years ago that I only recently found once more and in the process of touching it up with a Grammarly Check and a few edits. So I hope you all enjoy this bit.
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Control Room
ZMSHecates
15:22 Local Time
June 15, CE71
In the darkened control room of the ZAFT Submarine Hecates, a new Olympus Class Heavy Submarine Carrier, its commander stood with a frown as he eyed the images displayed on the nearby monitors showing various scenes taken from several robotic observations buoys his submarine had launched to observe the battle. The commander, one Commander Brian Carter, was very torn about this battle for Orb happened to be his homeland after all, but he was still a ZAFT officer, and Orb had refused any ZAFT support.
"Commander! The Alliance Fleet is pulling back," a shout came from one of the various technicians manning the observation station. Commander Carter blinked at this before turning to the station seeing images displayed showing the fleet pulling back.
"Are they all-out retreating?" he asked trying to keep hope out of his voice.
"Negative Sir. Looks like only a temporary withdrawal," the same tech reported a moment later making Commander Carter sigh before staring at the images displayed with a thoughtful look on his face for a plan was starting to form in his crafty mind. He knew that it would be an issue to many in ZAFT that he had helped Orb even after they refused any support from ZAFT but he was a man on a mission to save his homeland.
"What about the Orb forces, are they pursuing at all?" he asked most likely knowing the answer already but had to ask to make sure for the plan that started to form in his head.
"Orb forces are withdrawing to the mainland, and are not pursuing at all sir," came the report soon after making him nod before turning slightly to look over at another man in the black uniform of a senior officer of ZAFT, standing in the room looking over the shoulder of the Hecates sonar tech.
"Captain Goddard a word if you please," the Commander called out to the man making him turn to look over at the Commander. The man one Ian Goddard the Captain of the Hecate was an old friend of the Commander and another Orb native who had followed him into ZAFT for several reasons. Captain Goddard nodded to his commander and friend before nodding to the nearby hatch to the Captain's Stateroom before leading the way towards the hatch. A few moments later Commander Carter placed his uniform cap onto the table followed by the cap of the Captain symbolizing it as a talk between friends not between officers.
"Ian I am starting to get a crazy plan in my head, and I am going to need your support for it to work," Brian started off with a sigh as he took a seat. His friend stared at him with narrowed eyes for he was quite aware of the so-called crazy plans of his friend and they were indeed crazy making him a bit leery.
"First what is this plan Brian?" he asked with a frown eying his friend as he took his own seat. Brian only chuckled before closing his eyes and leaned his head against the nearby piece of hull.
"Well, you heard that the Alliance is withdrawing which shall leave them vulnerable to a say a surprise attack on their carriers. Not mention they wouldn't be suspecting this for they are focused on Orb, not ZAFT right now," Brian mentioned with a small smile on his face knowing what was coming from his longtime friend.
"Are you fucking insane Brian!? You stood in that Control Room this morning with me reading the message from Marine Command in Copernicus saying we are not to interfere in the battle at all!" Ian exploded with a slap of his hand onto the table between the two old friends.
"I know you want to help Orb, hell so do I, but we are members of ZAFT Brian. Therefore, we have to follow orders!" Ian continued on in a softer tone and a sigh as he stared off in into distance. Brian only opened his eyes and stared at his friend with a grin.
"But that is the beauty of the plan Ian! They wouldn't be in Orb Waters during our attack but back into international waters making our earlier orders come back into play," he explained with a broad grin on his face. Ian stared back at Brian in surprise knowing that their earlier orders were to harass any Alliance shipping from Hawaii to Japan in an effort to curb any attacks on either Kaohsiung or Victoria Spaceports after the successful Battle of Panama.
"That is true Brian however while we can take out their carriers and giving the Alliance Pacific Fleet a major setback that is not stopping them sending yet another fleet to attack Orb again in a week. Remember the Alliance still has the Fourth Naval Fleet docked at Okinawa. While much of the Eurasian Pacific Fleet was lost at JOSH-A, they still have some Naval Forces left at Vladivostok. Either way, Orb is lost," Ian mentioned making Brian sigh before tilting his chair back slightly and looking up at the ceiling of the room.
"Yes I know that Ian but it will give Orb time, for if I know Lord Uzumi and believe me, I do then he has some plans on continuing the fight somehow for remember Orb still has the Space Station and the Orb Space Defense Force left. Not to mention this may have the Eurasians finally back out of the Alliance due to JOSH-A, remember those intelligence reports, my friend. If we go through with this attack then Orb has time to further its plans for they are now in the war," Brian explained with a sigh making Ian nod for the two of them were good friends with Uzumi's daughter Cagalli, so they knew Uzumi had some sort of plan. Ian also remembered the particular intelligence report that mentioned the Eurasian Federation was threatening to pull out of the Alliance due to the disaster at JOSH-A.
"Alright Brian the idea itself is sound, but now we need to make into an actual plan," Ian finally said after several moments making Brian smile brightly for that is how it always worked. Brian would come up with the brilliant out-of-the-box idea and Ian would help in smoothing out the rough edges.
Main Briefing Room
ZMS Hecates
18:30 Local Time
A few hours later found the two officers in the main briefing room of the Hecates watching as the twenty pilots of the ship started to file into the room. Unlike a regular Vosgulov Class Submarine Carrier, the Olympus Class Heavy Carrier sported sixteen marine mobile suits and only four aerial mobile suits. When the last pilot took his seat, Ian nodded to the crewmen at the door who closed the door and dimmed the lights.
"Alright everyone settle down the briefing shall start in a few moments," Ian called out before taking a step back and let Brian have the center stage.
"Good evening pilots! I know you all are confused on what this is all about. Well, I am here to say that we are going to do something both stupid crazy and to kick some Alliance ass," he said with a small grin on his face making the pilots look at him in shock before they turned their entire attention to their Commander. He was once again thankful that the ZAFT Marine Commander Marshall Gerald Hayse allowed him to personally pick every single member of his team for his mission. Therefore every single pilot and crewmen of the team not members of the organization's Radical Faction, with them all members of the moderates or just simply neutral therefore no anti-Natural craziness which he was thankful mostly for Ian and the other Natural-born members of the crew. This is thanks to ZAFT such a small force compared to the Earth Alliance, which allowed them to recruit Oceanian raised Naturals into their ship crews.
"That said I like to introduce you to Operation: Big Damn Heroes," he mentioned as he smirked over at Ian. Who only rolled his eyes at the operation name wondering where his Commander had got it from before turning his attention along with the pilots to the screen showing an image of the Alliance Fleet now assembled along the Orb Border and more importantly in international waters.
"In an hour we are going to launch a surprise attack on the Alliance Fleet now gathered along the Orb border, more importantly, an attack on their carriers. For if we take them out, it shall give the Earth Alliance Combined Pacific Fleet a large setback for any plans they may have for retaking any of our captured Mass Drivers. We also get to wipe out some of their more experienced mobile suit units as well. Which is a huge plus in my book," Brian mentioned with a grin which made the gathered pilots look on in shock before quickly overcoming it and starting to look pleased for they hadn't liked the idea of holding back like this. Brian was pleased to see this for he expected a few would protest at his decision. After a moment he turned to start a series of slides showing images of the Alliance Fleet, with the large forms of the carriers highlighted.
"Alright, these are images taken from a Spy Plane when the fleet left Pearl Harbor, as you can see here the Alliance sports thirteen Spengler Class Carriers which according to our intelligence carries twelve mobile suits a piece along a reduced flight group of twelve Spearheads. The fleet also sports these six Tarawa Class Marine Landing Ships, which according to the same intelligence now carries twenty-four mobile suits. Two of the Tarawa Class ships have already been destroyed by the Orb Naval Forces according to our earlier observations," he mentioned as he pointed out the carriers to his pilots making them nod and start taking notes.
"Basically we are going to split the squadron into teams of two, each team will have two targets to hit. Even then the remaining four Tarawa Class are considered to be secondary targets only targeted if we have time for we are only doing a hit and fade mission here, so I don't want any heroics. That said any questions?" Brian said as he went on with the briefing before looking around seeing a few raised hands. With a sigh, he nodded to a tall man in the back of the group knowing what was coming.
"Sir, what about the DINN Team? Are we going to be held back during this mission?" Nathan Chance, the leader of the ship's small DINN team, asked with a heavy frown on his face.
"The DINN Team will remain on stand-by in case of any troubles during the mission, for I don't want to risk surfacing the Hecates to launch your team. Remember this is a hit and fade mission. That said I promise you some action soon Nathan," Brian answered with a frown and a sigh making the DINN pilots grumble before Brian nodded to the next pilot.
"Sir, do we know if the Alliance has any of their Marine Mobile Suits that they are reported to have?" one of the younger pilots asked with a frown making a few of, the older veteran pilots scoff at that. While it was true that the Alliance had Marine Mobile Suits, they didn't sport the experienced pilots that the ZAFT Marine sported, not mention the Alliance Marine Mobile Suits weren't built with Marine Combat in mind. Brian only frowned at this before exchanging looks with Ian before sighing.
"The answer to that is simple we don't know, but from what we have observed they haven't used any as of yet during the Battle. That maybe just because Orb doesn't look to have any of their own Marine Mobile Suits," Brian answered with a shake of his head making the pilot frown before nodding with a sigh.
"Which I think is kind of dumb on their parts. They are an island nation, after all, it would be wise to have some sort of Submarine Force, but they don't," Pilot Roger Davies mentioned with a snort, making the other pilots laugh in agreement. Davies was one of the few Oceanian Coordinator pilots who had volunteered for ZAFT service. Brian frowned down at the pilot, not pleased at the remark about his home but let it slide.
"Any other questions?" he asked out loud looking around at the gathered pilots and nodded seeing no one else raising a hand.
"Alright then here are the team assignments," Brian mentioned a moment later after bringing up a new image on the screen showing the break-down of the squadron's team assignments. He noticed the pilots quickly taking notes down on the assignments and their assigned targets.
"Sir you aren't joining us?" one of the pilots asked with a frown noticing that the Commander's name wasn't on the list. Brian smiled down at the pilot before shaking his head.
"No, for I never scored high on the Aquatic Mission Simulations sadly, therefore, Pilot Anderson will be leading the squadron during the attack. I will be standing by in my CGUE along with the DINN Team in case we are needed," he explained with a nod to the form of Pilot Fiona Anderson, the led pilot of the ship's Marine Team, who nodded at this with a small smile on her face.
"That said you have your assignments pilots you are dismissed and good hunting," he called out and watched as the group started to leave the room behind. He traded a look with Ian before making his own way to the hanger to get his own Mobile Suit ready.
International Waters
19:20 Local Time
Underneath the now darkened water of the Pacific Ocean, the forms of sixteen ZAFT Marine Mobile Suits cruised along at a distant clip heading towards the distant forms of the Alliance Fleet. The mono-eyes of the mobile suits flashed around their tracks as they approached the fleet keeping an eye out for any surprises. A few moments later found the form of Fiona Anderson's UMF-5 Zno transformed into its deadly mobile suit mode directly underneath one of the floating carriers. She grinned before opening a channel with the rest of the squadron.
"Team One is now in position at first target," she announced and started to listen as the rest of the teams reported their readiness.
"Jeez! Freaking idiots are not even keeping a sonar watch!" her wingmate said with a snort the same Roger Davies. Fiona nodded at this as she looked at her sonar screen seeing nothing at all, making her shake her head in disgust at this. It was now all too easy for without the anyone keeping a sonar watch, the Fleet wouldn't know they were coming till they started the attack.
"All teams report they are in position," the distantmobile suit operator said a few moments later.
"Alright everyone begin the attack!" Fiona called out before sending her mobile suit upwards towards the bottom hull of the Spengler Class Carrier Brooke and with a slash of her claws opened a large hole in the ship before she fired her phonon masers into the hole to damage the vulnerable equipment inside the hull. She then followed up this attack with firing her torpedoes at the hull to further the damage. Slightly towards her right, she saw Davies using his own torpedoes to blast a hole into the hull of the sister ship to the Brooke the Williams before firing his GOOhN's Photon Maser into the holes to further the damages. Further off in the distance she could see the explosions from the rest of the squadron as they went through their own attacks on their assigned target. Looking upwards she saw the form of her target listing to the port and fired the rest of her torpedoes at the ship.
"Woah! The escorts just lit off their sonar and are now pinging trying to find us! I believe it's time to scram before they start rolling charges on top of us," Davie reported with a curse making Fiona look over to see her sonar screen bleeping harshly at her. She nodded as she eyed the form of one of the mentioned escorts as it started to move in an erratic pattern.
"I do believe we had our fun boys and girls! It is time to head back to the Hecates! Let's move," she ordered turning her mobile suit back into Swim Mode before racing off towards the waiting submarine with the rest of the squadron following behind her. They left behind the Alliance fleet in chaos with all of the carriers burning as they started to sink with their valuable cargo of mobile suits onboard. Already debris began to splash into the water including an intact Spearhead Fighter. A massive explosion announced the collision of the AFS Powell with the nearby AFS Kidd, a Danilov class Destroyer, backlighting the racing forms of the sixteen ZAFT mobile suits. The dark and murky form of the ZMS Hecates swam into view of the ZAFT pilots and quickly unloaded her sixteen torpedo tubes towards the Alliance Fleet sowing more chaos into the fleet, and destroying three Danilov class Destroyers and a pair of Fraser Class Frigates. After recovering her mobile suits, the form of the Hecates slowing started move towards a nearby chasm to hide from any pursuing force. The Mission was a complete success for both ZAFT and Orb but was quite a bloody nose to the Alliance Pacific Fleet.
Main Meeting Room
Orb Underground Command Bunker
June 17, CE71
A day or so later found the entire upper echelon of the Orb Union met in the main meeting room of the underground Command Bunker. This included the white uniformed forms of Captain Murrue Ramius, and Commander Mu La Flagga of the Mobile Assault Ship Archangel, to talk about the surprise attack on and later the retreat of the invading Alliance Fleet.
"All in all according to our remaining shore observation stations, the Alliance lost twelve of their carriers, and the rest badly damaged. The Alliance also lost several other ships in the fleet including five Danilov Class Destroyers and three Arkansas Class Cruisers with many other ships damaged in some form or another. While the bulk of the Alliance fleet was pretty much intact, the loss of the majority of the carriers forced the Alliance to retreat. As of yet, we do not know who attacked the Fleet or the reason why. However, thanks to the attack Orb Intelligence believes that we have about two weeks or so of extra time before the Alliance manages to send the Fifth Naval Fleet at Okinawa to attack us. In our present state we will have no chance of pushing them back," a man in the uniform of the Orb Intelligence Directive reported to the rest of the room. The many officials and officers of the Orb Defense Force started to talk to each other about this report while the forms of both Lord Uzumi Nara Attha and his brother Chief Representative Homura Dara Attha quietly spoke to one another. A few moments later saw Uzumi finally standing up in front of the entire room which made the rest of the room start to quiet down.
"It is the decision of the Orb Union Government to use this extra time to complete the civilian evacuation, and focus our efforts on gathering our remaining forces in space. We have accepted the offers from both Kingdom of Scandinavia and Copernicus City on housing our refugee population which shall be split between these two locations along with the Space Station Ame-no-Mihashira and our Resource Asteroid Facility Avalon at Lagrange Three," he announced making a few of the officials start to mutter angrily.
"Yes we would be abandoning our home to the Alliance, but what choice do we really have. You all heard the report from the Intelligence Directive, for the Alliance still has Forces that they can use against us. We don't have the forces to push them back," the Lion of Orb mentioned with a sad shake of his head.
"What about negotiating?" a voice asked out loud from one of the officials making Lord Uzumi glower at the mention of negotiating.
"We had been requesting to talk with the Alliance before the start of hostilities, after their withdrawal, and after their retreat but they have refused to speak with us. Therefore, we must move forward without any further negotiation," he mentioned with a sigh making a few of the officials shake their heads.
"That said everyone like mentioned we shall be moving much of our future operations into space. We shall be using the extra time we received thanks to our mysterious helper to finished the final details on the last two Izumo Class ships. Morgenroete has also reported that the next production run of our Astrays will be completed by that time as well and that the retool of Ame-no-Mihashira Factories we are completed in a few days time which will allow us to produce further war material as needed. However, even then we shall remain in a defensive stance with our Space Defense Forces split between the protection of the Avalon Resource Asteroid and Ame-no-Mihashira. At least till we are directly attacked once more or to bring this war to a close. That is all, dismissed," Lord Uzumi mentioned before dismissing the whole group with a sigh before wondering what the future may bring for his nation now that they were being run out of it.
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Author Notes
Well here is a small little short I did a few years ago on a whim and never really did anything with. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I loved writing it.