Relevant Notes Will Be At The End Of The Chapter
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Mobile Suit/Mass Effect
Episode 21:
Silent Run
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While the escape from the ruins of the Bullhead Line to Cassafaronga Station might have been slow, it also had no shortage of things to do in the meanwhile. Someone had to watch the RADAR screen, or go out for repairs, or even stand outside as a visual sentry. It was slow, but also tense and kept him on edge.
The current cruise -going from Cassafaronga Station, through one of the Sanggan Belt's smaller crossings, and then finally Risima Station- should have been more pleasant for Captain Tai Wen-Li... but reality couldn't be further from the truth.
For one, Captain Tai Wen-Li wasn't the actual Captain of the ship he was aboard. That honor fell to Captain Robert Lapp, commanding officer of the battlecruiser Akuo. He wasn't even the XO either, since that duty fell to Lieutenant Commander Julius Minsk. No, today Tai was merely a passenger on the Akuo.
As a guest aboard the ship, Tai hadn't much in the way of things to do. As much as he was tempted to kick back and relax, the thought of him relaxing while everyone was on high alert didn't sit well with him. With that in mind, Tai ingratiated himself with the Akuo's kitchen staff, helping cook for the crew and keeping himself busy... much to Captain Lapp's chagrin.
"I'll never get you, Tai." Lapp shook his head as Tai poured him a cup of tea.
The auburn haired CO of the Akuo had an amused look as he watched the teacup before him fill up.
"You should be resting, you know?" Lapp continued. "Take some time off to relax, especially with everything going on. You're going to need all that strength once you start working on Old Amber."
Tai simply gave an easygoing smile as he sat down and proceeded to pour himself some tea.
"Yeah, but it doesn't feel right." He said, sighing. "What am I supposed to do? Torture myself with Thunderbolt Wars or watch all 100 episodes of Cosmic Age 'till my eyes bleed... while everyone else risks their lives to get me to Risima Station?"
"Well, that sounds like a ball of a time!" Lapp shrugged. "If you don't mind taking command of Akuo for a while, I think I'd do just that."
A scowl formed in Tai's face when he heard Lapp say that.
"I'd do it happily if you'd read something else other than that historical fanfiction crap!" He said, disgusted at the thought of his friend reading Thunderbolt Wars.
"It's a good series, Tai." Lapp cheekily responded, only for Tai to respond with a huff.
Lapp turned the subject to something else, knowing that egging his friend further with Thunderbolt Wars was only going to end up with Tai throwing tea at his face. As the conversation continued, with the two captains talking about a variety of subjects to pass the time. However, it wouldn't be long until the intercom rang and interrupted the two.
"Captain Lapp, we'll be clearing the Sanggan Belt soon." LC Minsk called.
"Ah, that'll be our queue." Lapp said.
"Our queue?" Tai questioned.
"Yes, our... or would you rather stay cooped up in here?"
The captain weighed his options, though it was an easy one. Between sitting here being bored, and sitting in the guest seat in the bridge... well, only a fool would choose to pass on front row seats.
"Yeah, you're right." Tai said, straightening up his uniform as he got up from his seat.
Lapp lead the way, with the guest captain following closely behind. Granted, Tai was well acquainted with the layout of a Nikos Class Battlecruiser, given he was the commanding officer of the Akuo's sister ship. He really didn't need a guide to get around. Moreover, Lapp had also told Tai to make himself at home... but still, it wouldn't do for Tai to overstep his boundaries.
They arrived in Akuo's bridge only a few minutes later. The officer's lounge in a Nikos Battlecruiser was rather close to the bridge - an intentional design decision meant to minimize the chances of the ship's officers being stuck too far from their posts to quickly get to battlestations. The bridge itself was nothing quite special, being a slightly upsized version of the bridges found in a Chariot Class Cruiser. Lapp hurried along towards the command seat while Tai sat down on one of the observer seats in the rear. The two took their seats just in time for the Akuo to clear the asteroid belt.
"Sanggan Belt is now behind us." LC Minsk reported.
"Thank you, Commander." Captain Lapp said, settling into the raised command chair. "I'll take it from here."
Outside the seemingly endless lines of asteroids orbiting the system's star slowly fell behind, with wide open space now far ahead.
"All ships, initiate Phase 3 of the operation!" Lapp gave the order. "Disengage inertial dampeners and proceed with inertial flight. Disperse Minovsky particles at half combat density. Remember our mission: We have to protect the Arsinoe at all costs!"
The formation shifted almost immediately, from the single file line that Akuo had lead through the Sanggan Belt, to a protective formation with the repair barge Arsinoe in the middle of the diamond shaped formation. At the front point was none other than the Akuo herself, while Chariot Cruisers made up the other three points in the diamond. Connecting the four points were eight Curran Destroyers, with two filling the gap between each point.
Tai watched as each ship took up their positions near flawlessly - an impressive feat given the ad hoc nature of this formation. By his memory, only one of the Chariots and two of the Currans had ever directly worked under Lapp's command, with the rest being survivors from other formations. It was a testament to the skill and training of each ship's commanding officer that they've been able to work together efficiently... though a little voice in the back of the blonde captain's head asked whether or not that would hold up once they entered combat.
"Phase 3 formation assumed!" Commander Minsk reported. "ETA to Risima Station... thirty three hours!"
Even though they were in empty space now, Lapp's squadron was still flying slow. Escorting an unarmed repair barge meant they were essentially fighting with one hand tied behind their backs... which in hindsight made it a good thing that Tai wasn't put in charge of this mission. His preference for proactive and aggressive maneuvers was completely antithetical to the mission at hand. No, Lapp's more measured and defensive style was better suited to escorting Arsinoe.
Time passed quietly as Lapp's squadron continued onwards. Evading the enemy's patrols had been a much easier affair than expected. In the brief bursts of contact that Cassafaronga Station had with the Inner Sphere, it would seem that the defenders in space had managed to hold the line, forcing the enemy to divert their forces from patrols to active combat. Congressional Forces in the Inner Sphere have managed to isolate the enemy's planetary entry corridor to the airspace above the Xinzhou continent, which hamstrung their efforts to pacify Shanxi itself. This isn't to say that the alien's planetary efforts were going poorly... reports have suggested that Xinzhou itself was largely under alien control, with a full invasion of Deguo already under way. There were also reports of alien landing parties reaching the Linfeng continent while scouting forces were detected around the Luliang archipelago. The Congressional Navy hasn't reported a major incursion towards Luliang, but they were on high alert regardless. This left the Shouzhou continent as the only region in Shanxi left untouched.
On the side of the aliens, they appeared to be wary of trying to shift the status quo in the Inner Sphere. Despite their superiority in numbers and holding control of the largest crossing point in the Sanggan Belt, they've yet to try and destroy the Inner Sphere fleet in a pitched battle. The only conclusion that Tai could come to was that they most likely didn't have the numbers to totally break the Inner Sphere fleet... or at the very least, they felt like they didn't.
Whatever the case, Tai understood the strategic level decisions both sides have been making in the Inner Sphere theatre. Neither side felt confident that they could break the enemy's strength without incurring severe casualties, which for the Congressional Forces meant the total collapse of Inner Sphere defense efforts, while for the aliens this meant that Congressional Forces could potentially break out of the Inner Sphere and rendezvous with the Outer Sphere Fleet.
Knowing this, Tai came to appreciate Admiral Lohengrinn's daring and ambitious plan... not that he'd admit it.
The aliens needed superior numbers to balance out the Congressional Forces' advantage in firepower. Therefor, logic dictates that the CSF needed to consolidate its forces in the system and defeat the enemy in detail... which wasn't possible at the moment, with the aliens besieging Shanxi and running riot around the Outer Sphere. Lohengrinn's plan to bring the two CSF fleets together would leave the Outer Sphere exposed for a time, but would undoubtedly bring the tactical numerical superiority needed to turn the tide... the concern now was if they could mop up the enemy forces in the Inner Sphere before reinforcements from the enemy's Asteroid Base could arrive.
This made the reactivation of the Dragon Class Battleship, Shanxi's one and only Amber Celica, extremely important. While a modern Nikos Battlecruiser certainly carried more firepower than a Dragon -it had two more hyper mega particle cannons than the older battleship, after all- the higher energy overhead from a Dragon Class' reactors meant it could still fire at a comparable rate. Moreover, Old Amber's mobile suit carrying capacity was double that of the Akuo, meaning it could take a much more flexible role in the battlefield. The part about MS capacity was particularly important, considering Shanxi had no carriers of its own and the Congressional Forces needed every edge it could get.
Speaking of every edge...
"Captain Lapp." Tai spoke up from his guest seat. "May I make a suggestion?"
"You may." Lapp answered.
"It may be wise to send a single mobile suit team ahead of the main fleet." The guest Captain started. "Three machines, one of them equipped with an EWAC pack, cold launched."
Cold launched, meaning that the mobile suits would essentially be flung towards its target destination using the strength of the ship's catapult alone. The MS would proceed with inertial flight only, minimizing its heat signature and sensor silhouette, giving it a sort of quasi stealth function.
"Sending a team out could tip the enemy off to our location." Lapp challenged. "What's the end game?"
"To scout the route ahead and to make contact with the Inner Sphere Fleet." Tai stood firm. "I don't believe we'll be able to reach Risima Station completely undetected. I suggest we should take precautions, calculate how far we can go before getting detected by the enemy, and rendezvous with allied forces before then."
Lapp listened carefully to Tai's suggestion, then gave it deeper thought of his own.
"A sound plan, but I will make one addition." The Akuo's CO finally said. "We'll send out two teams, each with a Gunstrike equipped with an EWAC Pack. Commander Minsk, I'll leave the details to your wisdom."
The flaxen haired LC saluted the captain before heading off towards the pilot ready room.
Things around Akuo's bridge settled down again, but Lapp turned to Tai and casually raised a few questions.
"The 'ole gut giving you a bad feeling again?" The auburn haired captain asked to his friends.
"Something like that." Tai gave a wry smile.
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Magarius sat quietly behind his work desk in the Ashtareus. He was reading through intel reports from all over the theater, a privilege he had as a Commodore of the Turian Navy. He wasn't quite sure how Fleet Intelligence managed to create a language cipher so quickly... Well, he suppose it didn't really matter now. Fleet Intelligence was able to eavesdrop on the enemy's conversations and glean invaluable intel from it - intel Magarius could use to save lives. For that, he was grateful and wasn't really going to question it.
Something he was going to question though, was the increase in enemy convoy raiding efforts further out from the Sanggan Belt.
It would appear that the enemy has figured out the different safe travel lanes used by the Expedition's convoys. The Humans were able to concentrate their forces and strike at the convoys when they were at their most isolated, far away from Coalition reinforcements that were spread thin trying to cover the entire system. However, Magarius was starting to notice a pattern.
Previously, it was obvious that the enemy was merely attacking based on opportunity. The attacks didn't have much of any patter, only that they attacked where the supply convoys were furthest from patrol routes. Now though, they were becoming bolder, more brazen... but more importantly, more structured.
That's right, more structured. Magarius has started to notice a pattern in their attacks. He thought it to be mere coincidence at first... most other officers did too... but after reviewing the data thrice now, he was convinced.
The Humans were drawing the Expeditionary forces away from Chenxing's Pass. It was difficult to come to that conclusion, but careful examination of the intelligence presented lead Magarius to that conclusion... but the question was, why?
Try as he might, but the only answer the Commodore could come up with was that the Humans were planning an attack there.
It didn't make a lot of sense... Fleet Intelligence estimates speculates that the enemy doesn't have the numbers to launch that kind of operation... but what if Fleet Intelligence was wrong? What if the enemy did have the numbers? It was certainly not impossible that it was the case. Difficult, but not impossible. After all, Admiral Solusa stated that the state of the art Salarian Fleet she commanded couldn't form an impenetrable net around the relay. While they've managed to hold against the enemy's probing attacks, a handful of formations were starting to slip past. She's already petitioned for reinforcements from Arterius... but that's where things were getting complicated.
Arterius was part of the Old Breed. So was most of his staff officers and subordinates. Old Breed officers had a tendency to subscribe to the age old 'Decisive Battle Doctrine', which emphasized drawing the enemy's main force into a massive set piece battle meant to annihilate them. With the enemy's fleet wiped out, Allied forces were then free to operate with total impunity, without fear of a large force swooping in to throw a wrench into the operation.
This was how the Krogan Wars was won. Admiral Aximand of the Turian 9th Fleet used himself as bait, luring Warmaster Yorgal's main fleet deep into Coalition territory, before springing his trap and calling upon four more Coalition fleets to surround the Warmaster. The Krogans fought tooth and nail, taking many Coalition sailors down with them, but after three days of near non-stop fighting not even Krogan tenacity could overcome such overwhelming material superiority.
A succession crisis began after Warmaster Yorgal's death at the hand of Admiral Aximand. The Coalition used this opportunity to rally their forces and destroy the disorganized Krogan forces in detail. Pitched battle after pitched battle, the mighty Krogan forces were destroyed in successive battles which decisively turned the tide of the war in their respective theaters. It was when Krogan naval superiority had been crushed to the point of no recovery that Coalition Forces turned their efforts to liberating occupied territories.
It was an impressive display of galactic scale organization, which let Coalition Forces seize the strategic initiative from the Krogans.
Magarius -having observed the Expedition's overall strategy- realized that Arterius was trying to replicate Aximand's success... though admittedly at a much smaller scale. He was trying to find the opportunity to destroy the majority of the enemy's fleets in a large decisive battle so that he could the Navy's efforts to ground support. It was a fine plan on paper, but it largely fell flat given that the enemy appeared to have no intentions of playing the same song.
It was only after extensively reviewing the Expedition's strategy and looking over the intelligence reports that a chilling thought wormed its way into the Commodore's mind... one with very serious implications.
What if the Humans knew of Admiral Arterius' desire for a decisive battle?
Even if it was unlikely, Magarius couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't far from the truth. Even the Humans must've figured out by now that they held the advantage in smaller scale engagements. Coalition strategists calculate that they'd need a four-to-one advantage at minimum to stand a good chance at winning, meaning that engagements between a handful of ships on each side invariably means that the Humans would outgun their Coalition counterparts.
The attacks were inching closer and closer to the Coalition's outer staging point - that Salarian factory ship that had been embedded into the resource asteroid, The Forge, had become the nucleus of this whole operation. Its rapid conversion from a factory ship to an entire production complex was a drastic measure, meant to alleviate much of the Expedition's logistical woes. By all accounts it did its job right... but this has introduced a different issue.
Because The Forge has become such an integral part of keeping the Expedition going, Coalition forces were forced to keep a significant force around it at all times.
So, if the enemy were inching closer towards The Forge... well, Magarius guessed it was only a matter of time until Arterius concluded that the enemy was preparing to assault the asteroid base. If that were the case, then it wasn't out of the question that the Admiral would withhold the bulk of the Expedition's forces around The Forge, while the enemy moved to attack Chenxing's Pass.
It was doubtful that the enemy had the numbers to mount a direct assault against Chenxing's Pass, but the fact remains that it increasingly looked like that was the direction the Humans were going.
The Commodore furrowed his browplates in frustration and rubbed his forehead.
If he were in the Humans' stead and trying to make this plan work, what would he do?
Magarius went into deep thought, staring at a digital map of the Shanxi System as he did. With the enemy's forces divided and isolated the way that they were, it was unlikely that either one could manage a breakthrough on their own...
But what if they attacked together?
Organizing that kind of operation would be difficult to pull off, given the astrography of the Shanxi System. A messenger with details of the plan, either from the Inner Sphere going out, or the other way around, would have to deliver the plans to their counterparts. With the major crossing points already occupied by Coalition forces, only a small formation could possibly get through. They'd be harder to detect, and Magarius wasn't confident his own forces would be enough to scour the entire Inner Sphere to intercept that messenger.
He could bring it up with Arterius and Fleet Command... but would they even listen to him? He worried that they wouldn't. Magarius stepped on a lot of toes before his punishment posting to the Skyllian Sector. The Commodore sincerely doubted that the owners of those toes were any happier now that he had been vindicated and promoted. It certainly didn't make any things better that most of those that Magarius had angered were Old Breed officers... many of which were now part of Arterius' staff.
"That's going to make things difficult." The Commodore muttered to himself.
Begrudgingly, Magarius decided that he'd have to take matters into his own hands. After a few moments of thought, he decided the course of action he would need to make.
The Commodore pressed a button at his desk, which automatically made a call to the Ashtareus' bridge.
"Captain Garadon." Magarius spoke. "Contact Captain Jamus of the 12th Patrol Squadron, the one from our reserves. I'll brief them from the conference room."
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Unbeknownst to Magarius, sending out the 12th Squadron the way he did had dire unintended consequences. While it had been the logical choice to try and verify his own suspicions, what happened was the 12th ended up tipping off Lapp's Squadron early. The recon MS that was launched on Tai's suggestion managed to detect the the picket line, and adjust their course accordingly. By the time the Turians had realized what was going on, it was far too late. Lapp's Squadron had rendezvoused with another CSF Squadron, at which point they had become too powerful for Magarius to take on alone.
Though under the watchful eye of the Turians, Lapp and his reinforcements reached Risima Station without further incident. Magarius had cursed himself for that mistake, but at the very least he knew that whatever plans the Humans had up their sleeves, it would come from Risima.
A complicated situation arose. The Congressional Forces were able to proceed with their plan to break out of the Inner Sphere, but the Expeditionary forces now knew where any future operation would come from... which wasn't much, considering Risima Station was the military center of the Inner Sphere. With all of this intel in hand, Magarius was able to convince Arterius to send reinforcements, to besiege Risima Station, and hopefully put an end to the Human's plans before it could be enacted.
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"Your arrival's put us in a bit of a bind, Captain." The tired voice of Admiral Meslam spoke. "You do understand that, right?"
Meslam, who's graying hair had only gotten grayer since Tai last saw him, appeared to be utterly exhausted. Given the unenviable situation he had been put in, the Captain could only empathize... though relaying Commodore Autumn and Admiral Lohengrinn's message certainly didn't help.
The Admiral, Captains Tai and Lapp, as well as several other important officers were gathered in a large conference room in the Space Force HQ, deep within Risima Station.
Tai had just finished presenting the plan that Commodore Autumn and Admiral Lohengrinn had drawn up, explaining the roles that the Inner Sphere Fleet needed to play in order for the operation to succeed. What the plan asked of Admiral Meslam and his forces were high, but should they succeed...
"I understand, Admiral." Tai stood firm.
The Commodore had entrusted him with this mission. He can't afford to fail her. Not a second time.
"But still, this is the best chance we have at breaking the enemy's stranglehold of the Inner Sphere." He continued. "Once we've regained control of Chenxing's Pass, the aliens in the Inner Sphere will be trapped and cut off from resupply. We'll be able to deal with them at our-"
"We've heard your presentation, Captain... and I do agree that it's our best chance." Meslam sighed, rubbing his temples as he leaned back into his chair. "But still, this is a very tall order. Risima has been under near constant attack since the aliens breached the Sanggan Belt. We're just about holding the line with the numbers we have. A major offensive on Chenxing's Pass will require a drastic shift in the balance of power in the Inner Sphere."
The meeting would end shortly afterwards with the conclusion that the enemy presence in the Inner Sphere needed to be severely weakened before any offensive operation could be launched. Lapp's Squadron of twelve ships wasn't the shot in the arm the Inner Sphere Fleet needed to break the enemy, but it was a start. Over the course of the next few days, Lapp and his ships would sortie from Risima Station, probing the enemy's strength and trying to figure out where they were weakest.
On the other hand, Tai was busy overseeing Old Amber's restoration efforts. As Commodore Autumn and Admiral Lohengrinn both predicted, Risima's shipyards have been too busy running maintenance on active duty ships to continue working on the old Battleship. The Arsinoe was the only way for the project to continue, which made the repair barge an absolute Godsend.
Fortunately, a lot of the heavy lifting had already been finished. If all things went right -which Tai hoped it would- Old Amber could join the Inner Sphere Fleet in a few weeks' time. This meant that the Captain had ample time to find ways to break the enemy's strength. He would frequently visit the Space Force's archives, to try and find anything that can possibly give the CSF the edge they needed. He delved into ongoing and cancelled weapons research, even checked on what few Federation Era documents he could access. Many of them could've given the Congressional Forces the edge they needed, but none were on hand, in either Shanxi or Risima Station. A few could've been fabricated from scratch, but that would take too much time and resources, so the Captain skipped those as well.
Days would go by, with Tai hopping back and forth between Arsinoe and Risima Station to do his research. It was only when Tai felt like he was scraping the bottom of the barrel that he finally found a lead he could work with.
Activating the work terminal in the office he had commandeered, he rang up the Arsinoe's comms officer.
"Lieutenant Ure, please put out a query on the status of Atlas Point's Director, Lena Eilling." He said. "I have a few questions for her."
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Contact with Congressional Forces in Shanxi's orbit had been spotty ever since the aliens began their full scale invasion of the planet. With the CSF's constant dispersal of high density Minovsky Particles, calls between Argus and Risima were few and far in between, relegated to a small window of a few hours every single day. This meant that transmissions not critical to the war effort were restricted. Civilians weren't allowed to make calls, only email that had to pass through the military's war time sensors. Government officials were limited to fifteen minute calls, and only for emergencies. The military took the lion's share of the bandwidth, which was to be expected given the current circumstances.
This is why Director Eilling had been somewhat surprised when Agent Hedder notified her that someone in Shanxi needed to speak with her on video call.
"Director Eilling, we don't have a lot of time, so I'll apologize in advance and go straight to the point." Tai immediately said as soon as the call connected.
"Of course, Captain Wen-Li." Eilling nodded.
"The Congressional Space Forces are in need of a weapon to shift the balance of power in the Inner Sphere." Tai continued. "In Risima Station's archives, I've found files regarding a cancelled weapons project that I believe could serve this purpose."
The Captain certainly didn't mince words, Eilling thought to herself. A weapon to shift the balance of power in the space battle over Shanxi? The Director mentally rifled through the list of things that Captain Wen-Li could be referring to. A few came to mind, some of which she was already working on in the Argus Labs.
"Which one did you have in mind, Captain?"
"Project Longinus." He said plainly.
Project Longinus. That Captain Wen-Li was looking for this weapon specifically was both surprising, and unsurprising at the same time. It was a weapon project that was undergoing development late in the Secession Crisis. If completed, it would have been one of, if not the most power weapons ever put on a warship. This sort of firepower was once seen as desirable to cow Secessionists into submission, but the end of the Crisis meant that the Congressional Forces no longer needed a weapon of that caliber.
"I see." Eilling nodded as she understood the full implications of what Captain Wen-Li was asking for.
"With that kind of firepower, the Space Forces can thin the enemy's numbers advantage in a single strike." He stated. "Well, as long as the weapon works as advertised, at the very least."
"Well, Captain, you're in luck. The only surviving Longinus Prototype was stored right here, in the Argus Labs." She told him. "We have all the facilities needed to bring the weapon back to working condition, so rest easy."
"Thank you, Director." Wen-Li nodded. "I'll let you get to work immediately."
But before the Captain could end the call, Eilling remembered one last detail she needed to ask.
"Before we part ways, which ship do you plan on mounting the weapon on?" The Director asked. "The old testbeds are long gone at this point. Knowing where and how this weapon will be used would make my job a lot easier."
"Ah, I was going to send you a complete document later, once I've sorted out some of the details, but I suppose it wouldn't hurt to send you some of the drafts now."
A few seconds later, Eilling's computer notified her that she had received an encrypted file. Opening it with her credentials, she found that inside it were a few rough sketches on what Captain Wen-Li envisioned for the Longinus Prototype.
In the sketch, the weapon was mounted onto a bracket and grafted onto the bow flightdeck of a battleship. Approximations of wiring and piping linked from the prototype towards points which Eilling recognized as Minovsky Particle channels mean to feed the ship's various beam weapons. Now she understood the general outlines of Captain Wen-Li's plan.
"The Amber Celica is the only ship in the Inner Sphere that has the energy overhead to power that massive weapon." He pointed out, a playful expression crossing his face. "With this, even those kilometer long Dreadnought types of theirs will have something to fear.
-000-
Deep in one of Baise Base's many briefing rooms, an eclectic mix of Army Rangers, Space Force Pilots, a few Navy Marines, and finally civilian pilots from Sunfish Logistics. Illuminated only by the holographic projector's light, Colonel Knapfstein explained the strategic situation to those of us in the room.
"Now that the 77th Mobile Regiment has arrived, Baise Base is in a good position to defend itself from further enemy attacks." The Colonel, who had deep red hair and sharp features, spoke. "Captain Petrovsky, I know we aren't without our differences, but I cannot thank you enough for helping hold this facility."
The Ranger Captain silently nodded, his only signal of acknowledgement.
"With that being said, I do believe that your talents will be wasted defending this base." Knapfstein continued.
The Colonel manipulated the holographic projection so that it zoomed in on the area around Port Tsingtao. As he did so, red and green blips which signified enemy and allied forces respectively, began to appear. I could clearly see that a mass of red blips were beginning to surround and close in on the city. There were plenty of green blips on display, but despite their numbers the enemy still outnumbered the defenders significantly.
"The CIS has identified and verified the objective of the enemy's main force - Port Tsingtao." Knapfstein explained, breaking down the graphics in the projection. "Currently, the only ground units holding the city are the 303rd Army Division, supported by a group of Space Force Marines from the Shanxi 13th Squadron."
"Hey, those are our guys!" Rosen called out.
"That means the Risima and the rest made it to Port Tsingtao." Verns nodded.
"But where'd they go?" I then asked. "Shouldn't they be on station providing fire support for the defenders?"
"I was getting to that." Knapfstein asserted himself before continuing. "An alien attack force was detected moving through the Northern Aster Sea and is predicted to land in Northern Deguo, most likely around the Neue Emden Municipality, but we're not ruling out that they'll make landfall around the Hoffnung industrial zone further east. The 13th, as well as most of the Pike Flotilla, were dispatched to intercept and we don't expect them to be back until the end of the week."
After taking in all the information, Petrovsky now spoke.
"I'm guessing this is where we come into play." The Ranger captain spoke.
"You would be correct." Knapfstein nodded. "With Baise Base secure for the foreseeable future, it would be wise to redeploy the 212th Ranger Company to Port Tsingtao."
Looking around, I found that most in the room agreed with the Colonel's assessment. The Rangers were an offensive tool, better served for taking the fight to the enemy. Their talents were definitely wasted if they were left to simply mill about.
"That sounds all well and good," the 212th's second-in-command, Lieutenant Lang, spoke up. "but transporting an entire Ranger Company plus vehicles across the entire continent isn't going to be easy."
"Well, Lieutenant, that would be where you're wrong." The Colonel countered. "Mister Fosh, I'll leave the rest of the briefing to you."
The portly man -who while wearing a pilot's jumpsuit and with his unkempt hair looked a far cry from his more manicured appearance back at Yuu Liang Spaceport- stood up and thanked the Colonel before continuing the presentation.
"After some discussion with Colonel Knapfstein, my pilots and I have agreed to help transport the 212th Company from Baise Base to Port Tsingtao." He explained. "We have plenty of payload space to carry the entire company. We also have the range to take a longer, safer route through Deguo's southern coastline."
A green line began to trace a path on the holographic map. It went southwards from Baise Base, traversing the western forests before turning sharply towards the east once the flight reached the southern coastline. There, the air convoy would fly just off the coast until turning north towards Port Tsingtao itself. The flight plan would have them enter their airspace from behind friendly lines, meaning they should be able to rely on allied air cover to keep them safe... well, as safe as it was possible for civilian planes to fly into an active warzone, at least.
"This is still very dangerous." Verns was the first to speak up on those concerns. "You're using civilian Super Garudas, your only defense system are flare dispensers and a civilian grade Minovsky Particle dispenser. If the situation along the southern coast changes for any number of reasons, you'd have no way to defend yourselves."
"You are correct on this matter, Lieutenant Hedder." Mister Fosh nodded eagerly. "We knew that when we first took the assignment to transport the 77th Regiment that we'd be flying straight into danger and that we'd have very little means to defend ourselves. Your timely intervention has saved us all, Lieutenant... which is why I'd like to ask you and your team to come with us to Port Tsingtao."
Verns froze for a moment at the suggestion, and it took me a moment to realize why.
Of course, Verns grew up in Port Tsingtao. Normally you'd expect someone to be more excited to go out and protect their hometown... but I then remembered the falling out Verns had with his father. Moreover, seeing his hometown in flames and invaded by an alien force certainly would add to that pressure. With things being as stressful as it is now, I'm not sure how things would turn out.
I quietly put my hand on his and gave him a gentle squeeze for encouragement. He looked at me and smiled, a quiet nod given as a sign of appreciation. Verns steeled himself before giving an answer.
"We'll be happy to escort you." He answered.
-000-
A/N: So I decided to slow things down this episode and do more setup, both for the next episode and for the series endgame. Next episode will be the Battle of Port Tsingtao proper, featuring more of Petrovsky and his Army Rangers, as well as some new toys that Director Eilling brought with her to the Risima.
Also decided to skip over Lapp and his squadron evading Magarius' patrols for pacing reasons. I didn't think it'd be necessary to get into too much detail into it so I just gave a few paragraph's worth of explanations.
Also also, 'Cosmic Age' is basically the in universe name for Gundam SEED (which is considered alternate history fiction). I felt that since Gundam Thunderbolt exists as the comic book series 'Thunderbolt Wars' in this fic, I thought it was only fair that other Gundam AUs should exist as in universe media as well.
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THIS WORK IS CROSSPOSTED ON FFNET AND AO3