Chapter 23: Roots"What did they say?" Lieutenant Colonel Killing asked angrily from his desk. He was in charge of Granada base at the moment while the base commander was off to a meeting in Side 3, and now THIS. "They're requesting for more reinforcements, Sir," the aide reported coolly, "The base had far more formidable defenses than expected." "Request denied," he replied coolly. "I'm sure that you'll change your opinion once you see this," Cecilia Irene suddenly interjected as she entered his office and handed him a document. Killing quickly scanned the document. It was from Giren Zabi himself, ordering him to give whatever assistance necessary to the Side 2 fleet. Well, he thought, in that case, "Very well then. Send them what they need." "Good, here's the list," Cecilia replied with a slight smile as she handed him a data pad. It was a long one, but the top of the list immediately caught his attention, "Even the..." "Yes, any problem?" "No, none at all." "Good, tell them to change course immediately. I have other matters to attend to now..." she finished as she stepped out of the office. Her intelligence chief was waiting for her. "So, the Federation agent is dead?" Cecilia asked the intelligence chief. "Yes, the team falied to search him, and the Federation had obviously provided him with a suicide pill. The guards who failed to prevent him from killing himself have already been arrested," he replied coldly. "Any possible list of agents he was working with?" she inquired. "Only one, but the evidence is pretty weak. His niece, Mei Lin Chow," he reported. "Why haven't you arrested her?" she asked, slightly annoyed. "Her brother is an ace, Captain Ming Chow. We want to make sure first, since we aren't sure how her brother might..." "Just arrest her and find out what she knows," she replied testily, "Or do YOU want to end up sharing her fate?" The intelligence chief simply nodded. But there was one last thing... "What do we tell Ming?"
"Make something up, and make sure to blame the Feddies. Revenge is a good motivation." "How many did we lose?" Brigadier General Dolvich inquired. "Five GMs. Four from my group. The defense force has suffered far more badly. Fifty percent losses," Colonel Patterson reported. "Don't worry the Colombus resupply ship Gorbachev should be departing Luna Two right about now, and we ought to get replacements for the losses," Dolvich reminded. "But it'll take five days, the Zeeks would only take three," he replied. If nothing goes wrong, he didn't add.
"That's why we have to get the enemy fleet before then, Colonel." "Gorbachev here, we're ready to launch on the hour," the Gorbachev's commanding officer reported. "Hold it Gorbachev, your orders have been cancelled," the Luna Two controller responded. "What the hell?! Look, if we don't launch now Malta Base will be in real trouble. What is the brass thinking?"
"I have no idea. But orders are orders. Stand down, I'll call you when something comes up." "So who will be my instructor?" Sylvie asked rather anxiously as she entered the GM Trainer's hangar. Why the hell was she being made into a pilot NOW? She thought. It was her wish to be a fighter jock like Maurice, but she didn't want to go out in a combat zone with only a crash course... "I am," Max replied quietly as she joined her.
Sylvie's blood chilled as she felt something like a knife slice through her guts. She sighed... this was how she'd gotten to know Max before the war. She'd been a headstrong girl back then. Never listening to anybody, doing what she wanted. Then one day...
August 30, UC 0078 - "Hey miss, want to come with us?" a voice asked behind her. She turned, and saw to her dismay a trio of Federal soldiers, all of them drunk, heading towards her. She sighed, there were just so many damn bozos like this in the EF... "Come on... now don't you..." "Sorry boys, but I still have a lot of things to do," she replied quickly as she turned around. She immediately felt somebody grab her arm. "Look, don't ignore us missy..." one of the soldier replied coldly. Sylvie was about to kick the guy off when she realized that the three had already surrounded her. She was physically strong, years of track and field training had made sure of that, but she wasn't sure if she could take on all three of them... even if they were drunk. She quickly searched around for somebody to help her, but it was already late at night, and there wouldn't be... She suddenly felt something that she had never really felt before. Fear. She was alone, and she couldn't win against this three. She'd put up a fight, but she'd be beaten in the end... she gulped and closed her eyes... hoping... Suddenly, she felt the grip on her arm loosen, and a body falling on the ground. She belatedly opened her eyes and turned around, and caught sight of the man who had come to her rescue. He wore a pilot's uniform, and had a bright, handsome... but ultimately kind face. One that almost left her breathless. Before she could say anything he pushed her away and took on the two remaining drunks. Both went down in under a minute under his strong punches. "Are you alright?" the man suddenly asked her. Sylvie just kept looking at him, unresponsive. Not knowing what to say. Not knowing if she was in shock or not... "Hello?" the man asked in a playful tone, "They haven't hurt you yet, I could tell. What's wrong?" "I... sorry... I was out of it for a moment," she replied in a rather embarassed tone, "I probably could've taken them myself you know..." she continued, just to reassert herself. "Yeah, looks like it. Looks like you've had some physical training under than frame of yours..." he observed. Sylvie frowned angrily at that. She didn't like to be eyed like that... "Hey, cool down. Jeez I was trying to pay you a compliment," he explained, "Anyway, what the HELL are you doing out here so late at night?" "None of your business, classified stuff," she replied defiantly. "Oh, you military too? I'm Lieutenant Max Harper of the 27th Squadron," he explained as he showed his insignia, "How about you, which unit are you from?" Max? Is that his name? she thought. Hey what are you waiting for? she told herself, he's asking for your name Sylvie... "I'm... Lieutenant Sylvie Gressier. Chief Communications Officer, EFSFS Amerigo." "Oh, so your from the fleet eh? Not me, I'm just militia," he explained, "A weekend warrior so to speak. But I think I could escort you to the base if you want to..." "No, I think I can handle that," she replied defiantly. Come on Sylvie, she told herself, the guy just saved you, couldn't you be nicer? "Right, but I'm going there anyway so..." "Alright then, fine... come with me..." she replied, raising her hands in surrender.
"Alright, Sylvie..." Sylvie sighed as the memories came back. They'd become friends during that long walk that night. And they'd gotten to know each other even better when Sylvie started taking pilotting lessons under him. And she still missed those days... so very dearly. More than Max would ever know... "Sylvie, are you even listening?" Max asked in a rather annoyed tone. "Oh... sorry Max. I was just thinking..." "I know what you're thinking about. Just forget about it, if you don't listen to this lecture carefully you might end up dead." She looked at his eyes. They were so cold now. Even to her. No matter how much I wish, she thought, we could never go back. Ever. No matter how I still feel... "I know, don't worry about me. What were you saying again?"
He sighed before starting again, "Alright, Sylvie..." "Alright, we attack tomorrow. Anything else?" Dolvich asked the officers gathered around the table. One raised his hand. It was Unger. "General, Sir, do I really have to..." "Yes Lidell. I know you haven't had much battle experience, but the Albuquerque will be part of the battle." Stop being a damn yellow bellied coward, he didn't add.
"Yes, Sir..." "Alright, Fred, come clean with me, what's up with Sylvie and Max?" John asked as he entered his cabin. "Umm... John, I'm just new to this outfit. I have no idea what's bugging those two," he replied rather nervously, "And this really isn't any of our business..." "If Sylvie caves when we're out there, I'm DEAD. I don't know **** about pilotting, and I'm pretty sure that Sylvie cares an awful lot about Max. So what happened?" "I told you, I don't know! The only one who probably knows anything is Maurice, and I doubt that..." "Thanks Fred, see you later..." John replied as he started to walk towards the door. "John, don't tell me..." "WATCH ME."
"Oh boy... this is going to get real ugly, real quickly..." Sylvie muttered a curse as she tried to manuever the GM Trainer back into the dock. The heavy shield / radar array taken from Eric's GM certainly did not help. To make it worse the only weapon the Trainer had was a single beam sabre and a 90mm machine gun. But an EWAC unit's job was to observe, not to fight. And at least the GM's computer did a lot of complicated maneuvers for her. Including landing. "Not that bad for a first try," Max commented. In fact, he thought, she was a natural. But he didn't want her to become overconfident. "Thanks. A few more days and I think I can be a regular..." she replied. "If we have a few days left that is," Max muttered quietly. "What do you mean?" Sylvie asked, surprised. "We're probably going to make a push against the Zeon troops tomorrow. We have a slight numerical edge now. The brass will want to take advantage of it." "Wait a minute! You nearly got killed yesterday and now..." "Sylvie, I already told you. There's nothing left between us. Concentrate on keeping yourself alive. John too," he then got up and began to climb out of the cockpit.
Sylvie cast her eyes down towards the floor. To you maybe, she thought, but not to me... Why is it Max? she wanted to ask. Was it because of Maurice? "Huh? Well... we're just old friends, that's all," Maurice replied in a confused tone, "Why do you ask?" "Ummm.... nothing, it was just a bet!" Fred replied before John could speak again, "Bye Maurice!" he continued as he dragged John out of Muarice's room. "Fred!" John complained. "STOP IT ALREADY!" Fred growled, "Don't you trust Sylvie?" "As much as she trusted me the first time we met," he replied. Which of course, meant no. "Oh great..." he replied, "Then just rely on prayer I guess..." "Guys..." Maurice suddenly interjected as she also stepped out of the room, "Is this about Max and Sylvie?" Fred slapped his hand into his forehead. Max and Sylvie were REALLY going to kill them now... "Yeah..." She smiled, "Don't worry about them. Trust me. And John, Sylvie won't fold. She's a strong lady. Takes a woman to know," she finished with a wink. "I sincerely hope so..." John replied with hardly any enthusiasm. His life depended on it. Literally. "Sergeant Chan!" a new voice suddenly called. It was the Captain. "Yes Sir!" Fred replied quickly. "We're going to launch an attack tomorrow. Inform the men," he then turned to leave.
Fred nodded, and he could only watch as John deflated in front of him.
The 44th had an early awakening the next day. They would be part of the recon element to sniff out the Zeon defenses, and Colonel Patterson was a little worried. And of course, the EWAC GM would be at the ahead of the team. John muttered a curse as he checked his GM's EWAC systems. They were green. He was glad the engineers had done a swell job in making the conversion properly, but that wasn't his real worry. "Hi John, nervous?" Sylvie asked as she entered the cockpit. "Yeah, I hope I don't wet my pants," he replied. Sylvie laughed, "And I hope you remember our job." "Don't worry... I'm still too new to try any tricks," she replied.
"Wanna bet?" "Alright men, try to remain covered," Captain Karl advised as they began to near the Zeon positions. Behind them, the Federation ships were scattering Minovsky particles to help mask their presence from radar, but an alert lookout could still spot them. And if one did... "Rifle here, I've got visuals on the enemy ships. Starting a count now," Max reported. He was close enough to shoot now. Too bad it wasn't show time yet. "Head up, friendly bombardment coming in," Sergeant Fred reminded. Behind them, several Federation cruisers began to open fire on the enemy positions, mainly to distract them from the reconnaisance effort. A few Zeon guns responded, but most remained silent. "EWAC here," John reported, "I can't see anything worth a damn with radar, but I've got visuals too. I'm plotting their positions now." It was a difficult task, he reflected, but the GM had the right tools. Including improved optics newly installed in the mono sensor and another one attached in the radar shield itself. "I count eight ships," Max reported, "Two Tibes and the rest Musais. Looks like they're launching a few Zakus out for a patrol now. We may have to get out of here soon." "I'm almost done..." John reported. But something was bugging him a little, but he didn't know what...
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. |
