Chapter 13: From the skies above, from the seas below
August 1, UC 0087. 0555 hours Zulu. AUEG Cruiser O'Bannon. High Earth Orbit. "Trajectory plotted, beginning orbital
insertion..." Ming reported as his orange Rick Dias slowly approached the
blue sphere that was Earth, "Two minutes before deploying our
ballutes..." "Confirmed Ming," Colonel Jefferson replied over
the radio, "Good luck, and good hunting." "Have any of you tried this before...?" Erich
asked a little nervously from the cockpit of his GM II. "First time too, but I heard from a couple of guys who
were part of the Jaburo assault that it's one hell of a ride," Yun replied
a bit cockily, "Just get ready to start shooting once we hit the ground.
We're landing on a hot LZ, so keep your fingers tight on the trigger." "Alright, cut the chatter already..." Ming ordered
as he took a look at the timer, "One minute thirty to ballute deployment
and counting..." --------------- "Sir... we're reading increased densities of Minovsky
particles coming from the east side of the base..." an aide reported to
the base commander who was now directing the exercises from Port Moresby's
control tower, "Radar has as of yet been unable to confirm what's causing
it." "Launch two more squads of GM IIs," the commander
ordered, "Could be those rebels again, and we can never be too
careful..." "What the hell is that?!" a lookout suddenly
screamed as he pointed to a long, white object streaking right over one of the
base's main hangars. A series of explosions followed as the missile dropped a
set of cluster bombs over the hangar and ripped the thinly armored structure
and the Mobile Suits being serviced in it apart, just as the missile aimed its
main body at a massive fuel tank. An AA position sprang into action and sent
tracers in its direction, but the poorly aimed shots fell short as the missile
impacted the tanks and turned several thousand barrels worth of aviation fuel
into a massive explosion that took out two of the base's communication towers
as well. More explosions followed as another missile found its mark. "Missile attack!" the commander exclaimed as one
of the AA gun positions, this one just being manned by its crew, exploded from
a direct missile hit, "Scramble all units and get every AA gun into
action! And call in any anti-submarine units in the area to..." "Sir! Our Mobile Suits report that they are being fired
upon by vehicles of the Hover Tank Battalion!" a radio officer reported in
a panicked voice, just as a trio of heavy artillery shells landed a few yards
from the tower itself, "Their artillery is targeting our command and
control facilities!" "Evacuate the tower!" the commander ordered,
"Evacuate!" "Too late!" an aide screamed as he pointed out the
window. It was another missile, this one heading straight for them... --------------- "Command tower is gone! Take down the unit
commanders!" Major Anderson ordered as he watched the base's main control
facility disappear after taking a direct missile hit. Things were going well,
as his forces were now rapidly outflanking and destroying much of the base's
facilities, but there were still a few active enemy units to contend with, "Target
GM II, one o'clock!" "Yes sir!" his gunner responded as he fired a
shell that took off the GM II's head. It fired back, but Anderson's driver was
already quickly moving out of the way and evaded the beam fired in return,
before the gunner fired a second shot that finished the job that he had
started. Beside Dave, a pair of Type 82 Bs rushed forward and aimed their 30mm
cannons at an emplaced gun position. Firing their heavy auto cannons, they
quickly suppressed the gun position as both APCs deployed their infantrymen to
deal with it. A well-placed shot from another Type 82 A however, quickly obviated
the need for the infantrymen to bother with the position anymore, and the
infantrymen quickly proceeded to occupy a hitherto unoccupied bunker instead. "GM IIs coming around the right flank sir!"
another vehicle commander quickly reported as he turned his Type 82 A's turret
around and aimed at the first GM II. He fired a shot that went through the GM's
lower torso, wrecking the unit, but then its two companions managed to fire
back and scored a hit on the tank's ammunition compartment. Tank and crew were
quickly blown apart, and Dave swore as he suffered his first casualties. "Bravo Company, give'm a missile volley!" Dave
ordered as he watched five Type 82 Bs take the approaching GM IIs by flank,
some of them skimming over the ocean's surface due to the lack of space, and
fired off a volley of anti-tank rockets. One of the GM IIs took a hit in the
head and exploded its mono sensor, before a second missile hit it in the knee
and immobilized the Mobile Suit. The third GM II was more resolute though, and
the sole missile that found its mark had been deflected by its shield. It
quickly fired back with its beam gun, and scored a hit on one of the attacking
Type 82s. The fast moving Hover APC was hit on one of its engines, and it
quickly lost control and jumped into the air, before tumbling upside down and
crashing into a massive heap that skidded to a stop only yards away from
Anderson. Two injured men came out of the back, but none followed. Each Type 82
B had carried twelve men. "Take down that ****er!" Dave growled as he signaled
his radioman to help the two injured men. Another volley of missiles went after
the still active GM II, but the pilot managed to evade this second set and fire
an equally fruitless volley in return. Before he could try anything further
however, a light blue beam suddenly went right through the GM II's cockpit, and
the Mobile Suit quickly slumped dead. "Sorry I'm late Major," Yoko declared as she
allowed her Zugock to come to view, "Casualties?" "Two vehicles lost," Anderson reported quickly,
"Plus a few more damaged. But my recon units are pushing towards the
Titans base with a company and a half in support..." "Send the whole battalion up there now," Yoko ordered
as she made one quick check of her location on the map and wished that her
informants were very accurate this time, "You'll be getting more help
soon..." "What about the stragglers still around here
Yoko?" Anderson asked as a Type-82 B opened up on an enemy bazooka team,
"Who'll handle them?" "They will," Yoko replied as she pointed towards
the east. A trio of Midea Kais appeared in the horizon, bringing in more AEUG
troops for the assault. --------------- "You must be insane!" a Titans Corporal screamed
into the radio set as he finished hearing a report from Port Moresby. He'd been
bored out of his skull in all of his months here guarding nothing, but now... The sound of heavy artillery screeching through the air
suddenly resounded around him, and before he could react, a massive 300mm shell
landed right on top of him. He was quickly disintegrated by the ensuing
explosion. "****... this is serious..." Titans 1st Lieutenant
Gina Devereux thought to herself in her jungle-green Marasai as she saw the Corporal
disappear in the blast, and felt herself feeling the fear she had felt in
Odessa back in 79' serving in the 71st Battalion's command Big Tray. A petite,
blond haired woman, she had risen through the ranks to earn a respectable
enough rank in an organization that protected the planet she loved, but now
that she was being confronted by blood and death once again... A shell suddenly exploded right on top of her Marasai and
quickly sent her crashing back to reality from her trail of thoughts. She was afraid
that she had just suffered severe damage, but to her surprise, her Marasai was
relatively untouched, Perhaps that armor Anaheim had provided wasn't too bad
after all... Around her, she realized, the rest of the Company wasn't
doing as well. Though the two other Marasais had suffered little damage, two of
the eleven GM IIs were out of action thanks to the initial artillery barrage,
with three more severely damaged. The base itself was doing better though, as a
better manned air defense system had allowed them to stop many of the incoming
cruise missiles, and she told herself that was supposed to comfort her. It
didn't work. "Tanks are coming in," the Captain suddenly
reported over the radio as several Type 82s came to view, "Hold your fire
until they get within range and don't waste a shot. Make sure we give all of
these traitors a quick death." Traitors who worked with us for over a month... Gina thought
as she spotted several more of the Type 82s, and feared that she might know
some of the people that were in them right now. She shook that uncomfortable
thought from her mind as she took aim at one of the approaching enemy vehicles.
She had trained for much of her life for this moment, and she couldn't just... "Steady..." the Captain ordered as more enemy
tanks came to view. "Too many..." one of the platoon leaders observed
nervously as another group of tanks came to view. "Steady..." the Captain repeated, knowing that
with such a numerical disadvantage they had to make every shot count. Another ten seconds... Gina thought, and I might be killing
people... Dear God what do I do? "Steady..." the Captain repeated again as he
centered his sights on the lead Type 82, and wished that he had picked out a
command vehicle... Concentrate... Gina thought to herself as she aimed
nervously at her own target, I have to do this... I have to do this when the
Captain finally orders us to... "Fire!" --------------- Dave arrived just in time to see three of his lead vehicles
take beam hits and disappear in a series of explosions. Two more took hits and
began to trail smoke, one of them quickly overturning before setting itself on
fire. Several of the heavy Type 82 As quickly fired back, and managed to
collect a pair of GM IIs in return, but then the line open fired again and took
down two more of his vehicles and damaged a third. Quickly halting their
assault, the surviving Type 82s quickly pulled back into the jungle, out of
sight of the enemy Mobile Suits. "Report!" Anderson growled angrily as he saw
another Type 82 return with smoke billowing out of its rear compartments. His
82s were good, but they were not invincible. Especially against entrenched
Mobile Suits. "Enemy Mobile Suits entrenched in a defensive line just
outside the base," one of the company commanders reported back, "Took
us by surprise, and the artillery didn't hit'm as bad as we thought. I've sent
half of Charlie to the right to try to flank them, but they haven't shown up
yet." "Alright, get me the artillery platoon and have them
raining more death on those positions ASAP," Dave ordered as he took a
quick look at the enemy positions himself through his binoculars. Yoko and her
little company was still nowhere to be seen, "Where's O'Connor's
paratroops?" "Still trudging through the jungle," the radioman
responded, "But their GM IIs should be here in five minutes. Submarines
are reminding us to prepare for a second missile volley in..." "Sixty seconds," Dave finished, "I
know." --------------- They had decided to fall back, Gina thought partly to her
relief, but she was now being torn between her fear and anger. Fear of seeing
more of them, and anger at the lost of two more of her fellow pilots. Her trail
of thought was interrupted as she noticed something coming around on their
left... "Flank attack!" Gina warned as she pointed at a
column of Type 82s trying to sneak into the base through their seemingly
undefended left flank. She fired off a shot, damaging one of the tanks, before
several hidden gun turrets deployed themselves and opened up on the approaching
column. The base had numerous hidden turrets and hangars holding additional
units for added defense, and, fortuitously as it proved, only _Titans_
personnel had been informed about any of them and not any of the other attached
garrison units. Two of the tanks exploded as they took heavy caliber gun hits,
a third disappeared from a well-aimed shot by the Captain, while the remaining
two quickly pulled out of sight. Gina almost ventured on a slight smile knowing
they had beaten another attack off, but her relief was to be short lived.
Unknown to her, three AEUG Mobile Suits had just entered the rear section of
the base, and no one was there to stop them... --------------- "Set yourselves up..." Ming ordered just as his
team arrived in the rear of the Titans base. Their landing had gone fairly
smoothly, the initial cruise missile attack having masked their orbital landing
to the air defense network, but it had taken longer than he wished to get to
the base from their LZ, and he knew men were dead as a result. He shook his
head as he aimed his Clay Bazooka at the nearest emplaced AA position. He
didn't have time for guilt right now, and if didn't want more men getting
killed, he had to do his job... "Ready here," Yun reported from his Nemo as he
aimed a specially packed Sturmfaust at a SAM battery, "Captain, once we
blow these AA positions..." "Target enemy Mobile Suits," Ming ordered,
"Starting from those on the right. Erich, ready?" "Rea...ready sir," Erich replied as he armed his
own weapon. "Alright, on my signal start firing," Ming ordered
as he anxiously centered his sights at the emplacements, and found his heart
beating wildly as he saw men moving in and out of the emplacement. He shook his
head and tightened his grip on the controls. There was no turning away from
this now... "Commence firing!" --------------- Gina was totally surprised when several explosions rocked
the base behind her. As she turned around to meet the enemy, a volley of beams
headed right towards her and the rest of her Company, instantly killing two GM
IIs and damaging the Captain's Marasai. She searched for the enemy herself, but
then a cruise missile flew right over her and began dropping cluster munitions.
The exploding munitions quickly knocked her to the ground, as well as damaging
or suppressing most of her other comrades. By the time she had managed to stand
back up again, the base had become a shambles, as missile after missile slammed
into every building in sight... --------------- Something is going on... the lone woman in the base's brig
thought as she felt the ground rumbling below her... or more correctly, above
her. She really didn't know as she was now sensing things by touch alone, as
those *******s had seen it fit to blindfold, gag and chain her when they did
their little "experiments" last night. More like self-gratifying
torture, she thought, remembering with ever more shame on how easy it was they
could make her scream and break down now. She suddenly felt something cold and
hard pointed to the back of her head. "Sorry Subject V, but it seems we're going to have to
cut your transformation short," a voice told her as she heard the sound of
a gun being cocked, "Too bad, but orders are orders..." And that is one order that I may actually welcome... Subject
V thought as she calmly took what she thought would finally be her last breath.
Take the shot you *******, I'll be seeing you in Hell... What she heard next was the muffled sound of a gunshot, followed
by a body falling to the ground... --------------- "Too bad for you too, but orders are orders..."
Yoko whispered as she made sure her latest victim was well and truly dead,
before turning to the subject of her little quest: Subject V. Also known as the
Valkyrie of Revo. Captain Sylvie Gressiere. Sylvie had begun to thrash about as she realized her
assailant was dead, and Yoko was quick to help her in her attempts to get free,
quickly pulling off the blindfold and the gag, before starting to work on the
locks on her chains. Sylvie then took one quick, interrogating look at her
before speaking. "Who are you?" Sylvie asked as her eyes locked on
Yoko. Her eyes seemed lifeless, Yoko thought to herself, but they weren't
filled with fear as she had expected. Instead they were filled with grim
determination, and Yoko ventured on a smile realizing that this little job may
have been very, very worth it after all.... "I'm rather disappointed you have forgotten about me
Subject V," Yoko replied, "Don't you remember our meeting on..." "I remember," Sylvie replied quickly as she
finished searching her memory, "Yoko Nagato, captured in the Philippines
late 79'. But that tells me nothing. Friend or foe?" "At the moment, I'm a friend, Sylvie..." Yoko
replied, deciding to try the nice approach for the moment, "I'm
currently..." "Then state how we are allies," Sylvie replied
dryly before she could finish as she worked herself free from the last of her
chains, "Merely calling me by more former name will not suffice. It means
nothing to me now." "The Titans are your enemy, aren't they?" Yoko
reminded, slightly piqued at her remark. Couldn't she even show a little
gratitude? "And I am currently affiliated with AEUG, so..." "The enemy of your enemy is your friend," Sylvie
finished quickly, before suddenly reaching out and grabbing Yoko's gun. Yoko
was too surprised to react, and before she knew it, Sylvie had twisted the gun
around and was aiming the gun at HER, "And how do I know this is not
another Titan lie to make me do their bidding?" "You don't," Yoko replied a bit nervously, shaken
at how easily Sylvie had taken her weapon from her, just as the ceiling above
them began to shake as something above ground exploded, "But I think it's
pretty obvious that a real attack is going on, isn't it?" "Yes," Sylvie replied coldly, before pulling the
trigger. Another lifeless body quickly slumped dead on the ground... --------------- I have another, slight What Cost for Freedom reference here.
Anybody care to guess what it is? ^_^. And yes, I'm going to have to cut this a little short.
Muhahahahahaha ^O^. I know, I'm evil sometimes ^O^. --------------- Notice: This fic and all its contents are copyrighted by Thomas E. "Zinegata" Ting. No part of this work may be taken by any other person without permission from the author. Gundam and all related trademarks are owned by Bandai and their respective companies. |
