Chapter 13: The Clash"Come on, come one, just a little more to the left..." Captain Karl said as he aimed at the speeding Dom. A further pair of reinforcing Type 61s had fallen victim to it, and he was in no mood to lose any more men. Just as it entered its sights, it strafed violently to the right and avoided his sights completely, and fired its last rocket at Harper. Max tried to evade, but his leg was caught by the rocket, and his GM collapsed to the ground.
"Damn it! This ******* is an ace!" Cynthia screamed as her rounds fell short. The Dom then drew its heat sword and started to head right for her...
"What the hell is happening everywhere?!" Maurice asked angrily. Everything was blowing up, and she had no idea what was happening. Sylvie wasn't responding, Max wasn't responding, the fleet wasn't responding. What the hell was going on? And still she and a pair of Type 61s had not been ordered off the beach. She looked at the Fanfan now hovering over the water, seemingly hunting for something below the water...
"Damn you..." Juan moaned angrily as he tried to rebalance his RX-79 properly. Some systems were out, but the tough Luna Titanium armor on it needed a lot more than that to pierce it. "Extending arms, huh?" Juan thought as he waited for the Zogok to make its next move. "Got'm!" the Fanfan's sonarbuoy operator reported, "****, he's awfully close to our Gundam..."
"Crap, to hell with it! Launch torpedoes!" "Keith, behind you!" Yoko warned as she saw a quartet of torpedoes were dropped on the water by the Fanfan. She quickly fired her left arm's custom beam gun into the air. Normally, Zugocks only had shell-based weapons, but she had a customized unit with a beam gun and a multiple missile pod in her back. Her good aim was rewarded by an explosion. Keith had heard her warning, but he was in too good a position to finish off the enemy MS. It was a Gundam alright, he reflected, but it was still just another MS. He aimed right at its damaged chest and extended his arms again... Juan was waiting for this. As the arms came, he suddenly grabbed the left one with both his arms. The second continued on and cracked his torso, but no matter as he held the Zogok firmly with the sheer power of his MS. It frantically tried to extricate itself, but then one by one all four torpedoes hit it in the back, severely damaging the MSM. Juan then pulled out his second beam sabre, and before it could react, Juan slashed the Zogok's already weakened hull in half. "Don't look down on me..." Juan said quietly, putting his beam sabre back to its knee compartment as the remains of the Zogok exploded. "Keith!!!" Captain Nagato said angrily as she charged the Gundam. She was going to avenge him, she thought angrily, as she fired her beam gun at Juan's Gundam, severing it left arm. She fired two more, missing the first but damaging the head with the second. Then she charged straight for it, intending to finish it of by gutting it open with her Zugock's claws. Juan coughed as water began to ingress into his MS. The hits had finally caused some of the water-proof seals to give way, and pretty soon his Gundam would sink to the ocean bottom. But he still had one trick up his sleeve. He picked up a button with the words "Emergency" on it...
Yoko grinned savagely as she prepared to poke the Gundam with her claws. Suddenly, the Gundam held up its right arm along with its clip-on shield to block her attack. The shield was shattered, but the Gundam was saved. Suddenly, the Gundam grabbed her with its good arm, and she felt herself accelerating towards the surface...
Well, Fred Chan thought, that kid sure as hell was creative. He saw Juan grab the Zugock by the arm and used his emergency power to send both of them flying into the air and into the beach. In fact, Fred reflected, it was one hell of a good idea. The Gundam WAS a ground type MS, and it was still better used on land. "Alright you ugly whatevers! Come get me!" he shouted as he rocketted his own Gundam out of the water. He was quickly followed by the two MSMs a moment later. "What the..." Maurice said as she saw a RX-79 fly into the air dragging a new black enemy MSM with it, followed by another Gundam Ground Type and two more rather strange looking MSMs... "MAURICE! HELP!" Juan cried as he began to wrestle with the angry Zugock. The Zugock poked his Gundam right in the chest, severely damaging it, but then he fired a combination of flares and vulcans from his chest weapons right on its mono-eye. The MSM was stunned for a moment, and Juan kicked the Zugock off, then drew his beam sabre in preparation of a final blow. But Yoko wasn't about to get herself beaten that easy. She fired her multiple missile pod - which would later be carried onto the still unbuilt Hygogs - right on the beach. A swarm of rockets peppered the Federal Forces, killing one of the Type 61s and damaging all three MS. But Juan's Gundam was still operational, and he charged the Zugock. The Zugock had no shield to defend itself, and so she did the next best thing, a counterattack. Yoko smashed her suit's right arm into the Gundam's chest, but before it could power down it had managed to stab her suit as well, toppling both their machines down into the ground. Both Juan and Yoko stared at each other's machine intently, waiting for a catastrophic explosion that would finish them both off... But no explosion came. Being in prototype MS, both had been unfamiliar with their adversary's unit, and thus both had missed each other's reactor, though in Juan's case only by a whisker. But they were both in no mood to see if their tremendous luck would hold, and they quickly began to bail out of their now immobile suits. Maurice and Fred though, were still in the thick of it. The Juagg in the background had fired another volley of 320mm shells, missing them both but killing the surviving Type 61. Meanwhile, the Acguguy was enganging them BOTH with its heat-rod filled arms, and the tentacle-like melee weapons were proving to be difficult to beat.
"Maurice, we might need more than just two suits to beat this guy..." Fred said worriedly. Unfortunately, there were none available. Captain Karl was still busy trying to take down the Dom that had earlier come from nowhere, and he was now pretty much alone. The Dom's last attack had chopped of the legs of the remaining guerilla Zaku, and Dave's remaining Type 61s were simply useless against the speedy new unit, despite all their attempts to help. "Are you alright?" Sylvie asked as she opened the Zaku's cockpit. Inside, a young lady with long brown hair moaned angrily as she tried to get herself up. Somehow, she seemed very familiar to Sylvie... "Don't... don't mind me..." Cynthia said in a pained voice. She had been injured some, but not much, "What about YOU?"
Sylvie felt some more tears in her eyes and quickly wiped them away, "I'll be alright when we get that muderer," Sylvie said as she pointed to the Dom, just in time to see it slice another Type 61 in half. "ATKINS!" Dave screamed as his wingman was sliced in half by the Dom. He angrily ordered his gunner to fire at the Dom again, only to miss, "Damn it gunner! Give me the controls..." "Yes sir..." the gunner nervously replied. Dave adjusted the aim of the Type 61 a little just as the Dom began to duel with Karl's GM. It was maneuvering like mad, but he was bent on revenge, and he was beginning to have a feel for his enemy. The Dom strafed to the right again, and he adjusted the aim a little more. A second later the loading of the Type 61's next batch of shells was completed, and if his intincts were right... Karl fired off another burst at the Dom as it tried to charge him. It strafed again to evade, but this time a pair of 150mm shells finally hit it, on its right foot, and the Dom toppled on the ground. Karl fired one more burst to finish it off, finally avenging his comrades. "Alright!" Dave screamed as he saw the Dom cook off. "We finished the guy off. But we still have a few problems. MSMs are on the beach according to Sergeant Chan." "Alright, let's go," Karl said as his GM began to make a dash for the beach, followed by the three surviving Type 61s.
As they left, Sylvie looked back at the burnt out wreck that was her Type 74. Yeah, she thought, we got that guy alright, but not soon enough, not soon enough...
"Looks like this is it..." Col. Patterson said quietly. The Sierra Madre had been hit by a torpedo and two missiles, and was now almost immobile and incapable of launching aircraft. The Veneto was better off, but just barely with one torpedo hit. And the battle going on below was just about to finish its course... Captain Lars kept firing at the Acguy even as it evaded his shots. It was too fast, but he didn't care anymore. He was outnumbered, outgunned and determined to take as many of them to hell with him. The Acguy stopped for a moment allowing him to shoot at it, but it evaded again and he missed. Suddenly, its wingman Gog smashed into his suit and began to swing its arms right at him.
"Take this!" he screamed as he aimed the torpedo gun right at its face. But then the no ammo indicator began to blip inside his suit, and he could only watch as the Gog started to rip his suit to shreds... "They have got that enemy MSM," Dirk said as his sonar equipement registered a reactor explosion, "Shall we finish off the carrier?"
"Alright, tubes 1 to 6, fire!" the skipper ordered. "Six torpedo wakes, heading right at us..." a lookout reported in a resigned tone.
"Well, it's been a pleasure Sean..." General McCampbell said. "Sir, torpedoes going for the Sierra Madre!" the lead sonar man aboard the Veneto reported. "Engineering, what's the best speed we can do?" the Captain asked. "Thirty four knots, give or take..."
"Alright, full speed ahead! Put us between the Sierra Madre and the torpedoes!" "What the hell? Veneto what are you doing?!" General McCampbell asked as he saw the cruiser start interposing itself between the Sierra Madre and the torpedoes. "Good luck Sierra Madre..." was the only reply. Suddenly, six huge plumes of water appeared on the Veneto side. An instant later the cruiser disappeared in a blinding flash... "I'm afraid that they probably have just died in vain..." Sean said grimly. Alone, the Sierra Madre was pretty much helpless against two enemy submarines... "Sir, two MSMs are almost on top of us..." the sonar chief reported, "I think... what the?!" Suddenly, two rockets flew right over the Sierra Madre. But these were not anti-ship missiles. They were ASROCs. Anti-Submarine Rockets, half torpedo, half rocket, it was used to attack enemy submarines from longer ranges. The rockets burned out right over the enemy MSMs and splashed into the water. The sonar display soon showed to bright green lines indicating two torpedoes in the water, heading right for the MSMs. Both hit. "Hot damn! One enemy MSM is down, another is damaged! It has to be..." the chief said.
"This is Major Alfonso of the Skate! Ready to do some serious hunting!" "Sir... classify new contact as Type 65 destroyer... my God, it's number 3! THE K2!" Dirk reported. "Kraken Killer..." Skipper Mathew Conrad said quietly. "Alright, let's get her first before finishing off the carrier!" "Sir, torpedo tubes have not yet finished reloading!" the XO said.
"But we may be able to distract them a bit, let's do it!" "Two contacts, captured M-class sub number 6 Iberia and Yukon class submarine no. 17. The Kamchatka..." JP said quietly. "It's gonna be serious, Sir..."
"It always is Magic, it always is..." Major Alfonso replied. "Let's take the Iberia first." "Tubes 4 to 8, fire!" Col. Ivanovich ordered. Five torpedoes were launched out of the monster-like form of the submarine, all heading straight for the Skate. But the Skate fired a torpedo at the Iberia herself, and Yevgeni was forced to cut the control wires to evade. Both ships launched decoys, and all six torpedoes fired by both sides ended up going after the decoys. Yevgeni muttered a curse. "Alright, we'll try again... get ready to fire tubes 1 to 3..."
"SIR!" the lead sonar man screamed, "New sonar contact, right behind us!" "Alright," Ken Mason said as the final computations on the fire control computer were made, "Tubes 1 to 6, FIRE!"
The U-35 had been fortunate to survive the torpedo that had hit it earlier, and now they were going to get back at that Zeon ******. Six torpedoes ejected themselves from the U-35's hull and headed straight for the Iberia. "Lucky break..." Magic said as he saw the six torpedoes heading for the Iberia. "Let's make sure, fire tube 5!" the Major ordered.
"Done sir! It's heading straight and level, let's get the Kamchatka now..." "Damn it..." Conrad said angrily as all seven torpedoes closed on the Iberia. A moment later a bright green blotch appeared on the sonar display, and that was that. "Tubes 1 and 2 are ready, Sir!" the XO reported.
"Tube 1, go for the Kraken Killer. Tube two, sink that U-class," Mathew ordered. "Oh ****! Torpedo in the water!" the junior sonarman screamed as a torpedo closed on them. Now they were really in trouble. The U-35 had lost almost all of its maneuverability, and with a torpedo going for them, it was pretty much over... "SURFACE!" Skipper Ken Mason ordered. "Sir?" the XO asked.
"Better swimming than dead XO..." "Fire tube 6, snapshot!" Major Alfonso ordered, "Prepare for radical manuevering!" "Sir! Delay that order! She's not evading!" "What?! Is she trying to die or something?" the Major asked. "Taking both of us with her. She's not cutting the control wires!" "****! What do we do?!" "I don't know... sixty seconds to impact!"
"Sir! Torpedo wake bearing 1-1-3!" a lookout reported. "If we die, we die for a good cause," Col. Mathew told his worried crew. It was his last trump. Anything else meant death without any retribution.
"Torpedo two has hit the enemy sub!" "FLOODING! FLOODING!" the chief engineer reported as an explosion jolted the U-35 just as it broke to the surface.
"All hands, abandon ship!" Ken Mason ordered as the crew began to scramble out of the hatches. "One down, one to go..." Magic said quietly. The torpedo wake was getting closer and closer... "Any ideas, Magic?" the Major asked. "No... not yet..." he'd missed her a lot... but now... "Damn it, we can't outrun it, we can't outmaneuver it, we can't shoot it..." "Wait a minute... sir, the point defense gun!" John said in a moment of triumph. "What the hell are you talking about?!" the Major demanded. "Sir, the anti-aircraft gun! Tell the crew to fire manually at the torpedo's wake!" "Will it work?" the XO asked. "If you can see it, you can shoot it," JP advised. "Only one way to find out..." the Major said as he contacted the gun crew.
Outside, the six-barreled point defense / anti-aircraft gun aimed itself at the incoming torpedo. Originally designed to shoot down missiles and aircraft, it was now being used in a role it has not been used in since the Second World War. The crew aimed at the incoming torpedo and fired, causing several plumes of water to appear in front of the torpedo. The first burst missed, as did the second, but then one shot in the third volley hit the torpedo, right on the fuel tank. The torpedo exploded just 40 yards from the Skate. "That's a new one on me..." Dirk said as he heard the torpedo explodes from the Skate's guns.
"It's alright Dirk, and I'm sorry..." "HIT!" Magic announced as the screen blossomed for one last time, "Score that one for the good guys!" "Alright! But we still have much to do. Start rescuing survivors immediately!" "What about that Acguy?" the XO asked. "Looks like he's giving up. Wise decision," JP explained, as he pointed to the sky. The reinforcing planes had finally arrived.
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. Fighter pilots make headlines, bomber pilots make HISTORY ! |
