Chapter 12: The Monster's Lair"Alright, Cynthia, we only have three stürm fausts, make it count," Shoji cautioned.
"Yes, Sir, don't worry, I never miss," she replied as she aimed the captured disposable Zeon bazooka at the power plant. It had been built right on the side of a mountain making it hard to destroy from above, but not from the side. As the power plant's concrete structure centered on her sights, she fired.
"What in the world..." one of the base's Zaku pilots exclaimed as a bright trail of smoke suddenly appeared out of the rocky ground. What followed was a huge explosion coming from the direction of the main power plant. He looked at it, and saw that it had been badly damaged, though still operational. He quickly searched the area were the smoke trail had come and aimed his machine gun...
"****!" Cynthia exclaimed. Her aim was perfect, but it was tougher than she thought. She quickly picked up her second round and aimed. She fired even as a Zaku from the base began to open fire on her.
The pilot of the enemy Zaku was shocked to see a second rocket streak towards the plant. He watched as the second stürm faust finish the job of the first as it completely demolished the power plant. Predictably, all the lights on the base went out, and he quickly turned back to the source of the fire, eager for revenge. But all he saw was a flash. "Serves him right..." Cynthia exclaimed as the Lieutenant fired a five round burst that killed the enemy Zaku. She had been hit, but the damage wasn't serious. But the BIG problem was that the other Zakus had spotted them now...
"Damn, looks like we're going to have to fight. Guerilla troops, open fire!" Shoji ordered. Around him, the rest of the guerillas began to fire their own hand-held anti-tank weaponry at the Zeon vehicles sprawled along the base. A Kyui personnel carrier would be the first to die. A hit right on its central gun mount broke the craft in two, killing the driver and gunner instantly. The infantry men began to dismount, but then the fuel tank exploded, engulfing the whole squad in flames... "What the hell is going on?!" General Kenning asked as all the lights in his base suddenly went out, followed by a series of explosions on the other side of the base. "Sir... guerillas! We have guerillas attacking the base!" an aide reported.
"Damn it, get ready to anni..." the General started before a squadron of three Fly Manthas suddenly flew right over the command center and released their bomb loads. A second later, the command center disappeared in a massive fireball, and all hopes for any semblance of a coordinated defense disappered with it. "Looks like the party is starting," JP commented as explosions began to fill the base, "No sonar contacts as of yet, want us to join in the party, Sir? We still have five minutes to landing..." "Tell the five-inch mount were you think it'll be useful, Magic," the Major ordered.
"Alright! Five-inch gun, we're going to have some more action for you... aim for..." The beach was beginning to fill with smoke from all the explosions, Sylvie saw. The landings ought to go well... she hoped. Suddenly, the Skate's guns began to fire on the shore. She was surprised since they weren't part of the fire plan, "Skate what are you..." A bunker on shore suddenly exploded from a five-inch shell hit. Two more followed in the space of a minute, and then fire shifted to a Zaku crouching in a foxhole. Three direct hits reduced it to scrap. "Making your job easier, Army," a familiar voice responded. It was that guy again... GREAT! "What about the existing fire plan..."
"Only killing the stuff the fly boys missed. Magic out," the voice replied in a light tone. Sylvie looked at the receiver and thought about banging it on the ground, that moron... "Damn it... we CAN'T hold on for much longer..." Shoji muttered. Three Magella Attacks and another Kyui were burning, but three Zakus were nearing their positions and he had no prospect of holding them for long. "Sir, I think I have the fleet's frequency..." Cynthia reported just as she used her shield to block some machine gun fire, "We have to ask them for help!"
"Do it!" "What the..." Magic said as he heard what seemed to be a very familiar voice over the radio. "Damn it, get off this frequency!" the comms officer shouted, "This isn't..." "Comms, give the transmitter to me!" Magic said as he grabbed the radio. The comms officer looked incredolously at John as he pushed him away. What the heck was this guy up to now? "Hello, hello, this is EFS Skate, who are you?" Magic asked. "This is Cynthia Patterson of the Philippine resistance! For pity's sake we need help out here!!!" "Cynthia...? My God... Hold on! Give us your coordinates right now!" "What the hell?" the Major asked angrily at JP. He was getting out of line. "I KNOW her, Skipper, she's definitely EF. Probably the guys who took out the plant for us. Sir, we need to help them!"
The Major considered the situation for a moment. Ordinarily, they NEVER did this but they DID owe the Philippine resistace some..."Alright, contact the ground commander!" "Sir, I have flash traffic from Skate requesting support for some... Guerilla units?" an aide reported to General McCampbell and Col. Patterson. "Damn, they know we can't help them..." General McCampbell said firmly. "Wait... who are the guerillas?" the Col. asked. "Sir, its from a civilian named Cynthia..." "Sir, I think we do owe them one, do we not?" the Colonel said quickly. "Damn it Sean! You know I can't..."
"Please sir." "Alright, one minute to go! See you all on the beach!" Captain Karl said as the LST neared the beach. "Sir! Emergency traffic! Guerilla unit have not yet withdrawn. We have to help them as best as we can..." Sylvie reported. "Damn it! What the hell is going on?!" Karl demanded. "They got pinned on the way out, Sir..." Karl mumbled a curse. It was a cardinal rule that you never changed plans at the last minute. But, looking at the rising sun in front of him, he DID owe them, and he always paid back his debts, "Alright, Troops, you heard her! Let's do it!" "Twenty seconds to go..." Earl reported, "Be careful, there is still one shore battery left..."
The ship was suddenly rocked by an explosion as a shot from that shore battery hit the Galahad. "Alright, take it out first. Ten seconds to go..."
The gun crew of the last surviving turret on the beach watched as the LST beached itself on the bank. They were alone, command was not responding to any of their requests, but they were determined to kill some of the invading enemy before they died. They aimed the guns right on the landing door just as it slowly began to open, when suddenly one of the GMs used its thrusters and lept right above them, too high for them to hit, and opened fire... "Wow..." Sylvie said in amazement just as she watched the Captain take out the last turret on the beach. Several Magella Attacks appeared in the distance, but then a combined volley of 100mm shells by all three GMs reduced them to scrap.
"Alright, Maurice! Clear the beach of enemies! Max, follow me!" the Captain ordered, his GM moving slowly towards the direction of the guerillas. All hell was breaking loose on the base, Mathew thought as the reports came in. But the Iberia and Kamchatka had finished the underway replenishment operation in record time, and they were now about fifteen minutes from the base. "Sir, don't worry. My team can handle them," Yoko told him confidently. "Yes, I know, but I still don't like that second Zogop extending arms suit thingy that you have..." "Zogok, Sir, prototype close-combat suit," Yoko explained, "Don't worry, the pilot is one of the better ones in my team, Keith Milton." "Right, right... but what exactly do you do? I've never heard of you before, and the list of aces is pretty short." "You'll have to wait twenty years, Sir, and for some, maybe never. That's all you need to know."
"Yeah, but we're not too bad, too, you know..." he didn't add. "Trust the EF to leave us hanging like this..." Cynthia moaned as a rocket killed three members of the guerilla team. Seven men were dead now, and more were injured, and they were running out of ammo. They did manage to damage one more Zaku, but the other two were now using bazookas to pepper them with rocket fire, and she only had one stürm faust left to respond. Wonderful. She aimed it at the nearest Zaku and centered it in her sights. She fired, but the Zaku managed to evade just in time. Damn it! She thought, she almost had... A burst of fire suddenly hit the Zaku and dropped the suit dead on the ground. The burst was followed by another which killed the second Zaku, while a final burst from the Lieutenant's machine gun finished off the third. She turned to see a pair of MS she had never seen before. "You the guerillas?" a German voice asked them. "Yes, I am Lieutenant Shoji Yamagata of the Philippine resistance, formerly of the 19th Battalion. Who are YOU?" "Captain Karl Grunther of the 44th Tactical Mobile Suit Company." "Thank you Sir for bailing us out..." "Merely returning the favor, need help for the wounded?" he asked. "Appreciated."
"Sylvie! Get your truck up here now! We have a lot of wounded men..." "Wow..." Dave Anderson said as his Type 61s landed on the beach. They were hardly needed at all. A GM was already guarding the beach for them to land, and so far it seemed that there would be pretty much nothing to do for this operation, seeing all the burning wrecks about them. "Sweep the area for stragglers, and be careful," Col. Sean ordered over the radio.
"Alright! You heard the Colonel. Sweep in groups of two. Atkins, you come with me." "Back on the job again, Magic?" Major Alfonso asked. "There might be one more Zeon sub out there, Skipper," John replied coolly as he adjusted his headphones. "You think he'll come back?"
"Its probably the Kamchatka sir, she ALWAYS comes back." "Good luck, Colonel," Captain Nagato said as she launched her Zugock just five miles from the now seperated Federation fleet.
"Good luck to you too, Captain," Mathew replied. The enemy fleet had been split. A carrier, a cruiser and two subs to the west and two tin cans and LSTs to the east. Their plan called for the subs and two MSMs, a Gog and an Acguy, to attack the carrier while the four other MSMs attacked the landing force. It was a feasible plan, and he just hoped that they could pull it off. He had faced dangerous missions before, but now he could not afford to fail. "What the...?" JP said, "OH ****! Did I just hear a transient?" "They are here?" the Major asked. "Not sure, what's the story on the Veneto?" "No contacts, according to its skipper," the XO reported. "I think we should launch the Gundams now, just in case" JP said quietly.
"Alright Magic, launch them now." "Earl, need any help back there?" Sylvie asked as she dressed the wounds of one of the guerillas. Earl was a far better medic than her, and was thus inside the Type 74 bandaging up a more seriously wounded trooper with the help of Pat. What help he could given that is... "This is Captain Anderson, we have cleared out most of the base, seems pretty empty except for dazed Zeon troops," the Type 61 commander reported over the radio. "Well, after all the shellshock, who wouldn't be dazed?" she thought. She looked back at her Type 74 to get an answer from Earl, just in time to see a rocket streak towards it and explode, sending her and everybody near it flying into the air. She hit the ground hard, and looked up, only to see in her horror that her Type 74 had been blown to pieces. She rushed towards it, but was quickly stopped by one of the guerillas. "WHAT THE HELL?!" Karl screamed as he scanned the area. A second shot then exploded one of the guerilla's Zakus, but his eyes quickly found its source and opened fire. A single, fat, black-painted MS sprang out from the rocks and started to hover on its feet. Damn it! He thought, it's that prototype again... "Damn you!" a female voice suddenly screamed as the second guerilla Zaku opened fire on the fast-moving enemy unit. Her shots fell short as the rest of the team began to open fire on it.
Sylvie was dragged to a foxhole by one of the guerillas even as she tried to stop tears from rolling down her eyes. "Pat... Earl... Damn it!" "What the..." JP said as they finished launching the Gundams, "There are still enemy units on shore! They say it's one of the pro..." Suddenly, just as the Wahoo had finished launching her own Gundams, a series of explosions ripped through its hull and exploded the destroyer.
"Ahh ****!" JP screamed as he automatically turned on the Skate's active sonar. The result was a remarkably fuzzy contact, but he had four enemy MSMs in the water. Very bad news. "What was that explosion?" the skipper of the U-47 demanded. "Sir, the Wahoo just blew up we..."
Suddenly, the screeching sound of metal being torn open reverberated all around them. An instant later, water rushed in. "What the..." Skipper Ken Mason said as he heard an explosion very close to his ship. "Sir! We have enemy MSMs in the water! We have to move!" the junior sonarman screamed. "Flank speed! Chief, what about you?" "I don't hear anything!" An explosion gave lie to that statement as a torpedo impacted the U-35. "Damage report!" Ken ordered.
"We're losing power! We are going down!" "Stupid, stupid, STUPID!" John growled angrily at himself just as the wreck of the Wahoo disappeared beneath the waves. He should have used his active sonar a lot earlier. Now they were alone against four MSMs and... "Sir! The Sierra Madre is screaming for help! Both subs are down, Veneto has been torpedoed!" the comms officer reported excitedly. "Damn it..." the Major said angrily, "Alright! Let's get out into the open ocean and support the carrier!"
"Sir, suggest we leave the Fanfan behind to support our the Gundams..." "Be careful, everyone," Captain Nagato cautioned as they spotted the two Gundams now struggling in the water, "Alright, Juagg and Acgugay, attack the one on the left. Zogok, follow me. We'll take the other one." "No problem, mam!" Keith Milton replied as he charged his Zogok at the nearest enemy MS, Juan's RX-79.
"Eat this!" Juan screamed as he fired on the closing enemy suit. Being in shallow water, there was plenty of light to help him spot the weird looking red-painted monster. But the enemy was fast, too fast, and his torpedoes missed. As the distance closed Juan discarded his torpedo launcher in favor of a beam sabre. Being underwater, it was less effective, but it was the only thing he had. The suit then stopped just out of arm's length as Juan frantically tried to maneuver his craft underwater. He was totally shocked to see both arms extend and smash their razor sharp edges right into his suit...
"What the hell... " Sergeant Fred Chan said as he saw the Zogok's arms extend like an accordion and hit Juan's Gundam in the chest. He wanted to help, but he was in big trouble right now. Two new enemy MSMs were on him, and his Gundam couldn't maneuver worth a damn underwater. As a result his left hand was gone from a direct missile hit from the support-type MS, and he was even now frantically trying to keep the tentacle like hands of the second from shredding his suit to pieces. It was like fighting a pair of giant squids, he thought angrily as his suit was hit by one of the tentacles causing some damage. There had to be a better way... On the Vietnamese coast several hundred miles away, the Federation's 47th Air Group recieved a frantic call of help from the carrier Sierra Madre. Within minutes two flights of Don Escargot sub-hunting planes took off from its base's lone runway, closely followed by another flight of Dep Rog bombers.
Notice: This story and all related material is copyrighted by Thomas E. "Zinegata" Ting, no part of this story may be taken by any other person. If you wish to use any material, please contact me first. Gundam and all related trademarks are owned by their respective companies. |
