Chapter 24: Carnage"Recto, Have you finished gathering the data?" Captain Karl asked worriedly. Every minute they stayed in that location increased their chances of being detected. And they would have to fight alone if they were. "Alright, done! I've plotted the data, I've got positions on the major ship units and possible alternates. Let's leave," he replied. Karl scarcely nodded in agreement before signalling the 44th to start its withdrawal. Fred and Juan were the first to leave, closely followed by Maurice and the EWAC. He followed them, while Max stayed a few seconds longer to cover them all. "Max!" Sylvie whispered into the radio, "Come on!"
Max simply nodded as he too left his position. The Zeon fleet never knew that they were there. "Has the data been gathered?" Brigadier General Dolvich inquired. "Yes. Give us twenty more minutes to prepare a fire and assault plan. Another ten to brief the crews, Sir," his aide reported.
"Good. Let's show'm what we're made of." "Are they there yet?" Cecilia asked Lieutenant Colonel Killing in his office. "Yes, but the forces we sent are..." "Are you questioning our judgement? I hope not because if Major General Kishiria..." "No, mam," he replied quickly, "How could you even ask me that?" "Just making sure." she replied with a smile, "Sieg Zeon!" she finished, before turning away to leave.
Killing watched her leave, and growled. It was for Giren Zabi, but he now had his own problem: how was he supposed to attack the base at Libo? he thought to himself. A wicked thought suddenly entered his mind. Of course, they haven't signed the Antarctic Treaty yet, have they? All he had to do was to "arrange" an excuse using the Cyclops Team and that Newtype Gundam. Too bad for Steiner, and the rest of Side 6 for that matter.* "Is everybody set?" Major Nick Terrance, commander of the Federation fleet's MS force, asked as he took his place in the line. It was a testament to their excellent planning that there were none, "Alright then! We launch in one minute!" John nodded with some enthusiasm to that. The 44th wasn't going to be part of the initial assault, they were being held in reserve and for fire support along with the battleship Albuquerque and three other Salamis cruisers. Beside him, the Albuquerque's massive guns were already trained out, aimed at an unwary target. Suddenly, the guns spoke in one dreadful voice as they opened fire. A volley of red purple beams arced out towards an unfortunate Musai. The Musai was totally unprepared, and it exploded into a massive white fireball. Announcing to both sides that the battle had begun in earnest. The rest of the beams fired by the ships were less effective. Two Musais were damaged along with a Tibe, but no other Zeon ship had suffered significant damage. As the Federal line began to advance, those undamaged ships fired back, scoring hits on the lead Salamis cruisers, the Monmouth, the Ulm, and the Austerlitz. The Monmouth took three hits, each destroying a forward turret, and it quickly dropped out of formation and began to fall back, fire still trailing her. The Ulm was more fortunate. A single hit knocked out her port forward turret, but the rest of the ship was intact. The same could not be said though, of the Austerlitz. She took seven direct hits in under a minute, and by the end of it all of her forward guns had been destroyed and her engine disabled. Then seemingly down for the count, the Zeon ships began to search for more worthy targets. But before they could do so the Federation MS force had closed on their position, and a wild melee had begun around the Zeon ships. Jean was in the midst of that melee, and wished Willis hadn't been killed in the battle earlier. The Federation had more men and better equipment, but Zeon troops had more experience. The GM's computer was able to compensate for that slightly, but only slightly. He quickly saw a GM go down to bazooka fire from a squad of three Zakus, before the squad was wiped out by a volley of beams from the Brandywine and the Saratoga. A squad leader Zaku entered the fray, but one burst from his 90mm killed it before it could do some damage. But before he could react a pair of Rick Doms appeared, and fired on a GM just behind his. It exploded, and he only belatedly realized that it was the one belonging to the MS commander, Nick Terrance. "****! The Major is dead!" a rookie GM pilot screamed as he turned around to flee. A bazooka shell killed him before he got far. Another panicking GM pilot followed him and was downed as well. That, he thought, was enough. "Alright! Shut up you cowards! Pull yourselves together and keep fighting!" he ordered, and his booming voice was enough to make a trio of fleeing GMs to turn around and fight. That was fortunate for him, because one of them was able to kill a Rick Dom aiming a bazooka right at him. But he wasn't sure of the situation... yet. "Command, how's the attack going?"
"Major Gearing here. Looks like we're winning. I count two more dead Musais," the Monmouth's skipper reported, "Wish I could join you... but my shi..." the message was cut midword and replaced by static. And suddenly there was yellow beam fire coming from the OTHER side of the field... "The Monmouth is down!" the communications officer aboard the Albuquerque reported. "Who...who got her?" General Lidell inquired in a meek tone. "It didn't come from the direction of the enemy fleet..." "Damn it then w..."
He never finished that last sentence. Before he could a volley of beams engulfed the bridge, and everybody on it was killed instantly. "Oh my God..." John said as he saw a devastating volley of beams hit the Albuquerque. Her top superstructure, including the bridge, was almost totally destroyed. She was still intact but... A second massive volley suddenly hit the battleship in her midsection. The Magellan broke in half, and the rear end exploded not soon after as the reactor cooked off. Nobody except perhaps those in the forward compartments could have survived. But any chance they had was soon extinguished by yet another volley of beams. This one vaporizing any remaining remnants of the Albuquerque. "****! New contact bearing 0-8-7! I count three ships. How the hell did they get there?!" he reported in a shocked tone. The Zeon reinforcements had come from nowhere, coming from an area that was supposedly mined by the defense force. Before he could even make out the designations for the three ships, another volley of beams came, and the cruiser Normandy disappeared in a blinding flash. "****! Screw the identification! Start evading!" Major Miles, former XO and now skipper of the Johnston, ordered. His decision proved wise, as the Johnston barely evaded a volley of missiles sent in her direction. The Ramillies, the ship beside her, was less lucky. Two turrets were gone, and her aft superstructure badly damaged. And they had not yet even fired back. "I've got a visual!" Max reported in an excited tone, "Two are Musais. The third is a new ship, classify as modified Gwajin type. Their MS escorts are attacking!" And just as he said, several bright objects began to head towards them at high speed. There were at least fifteen of them, John saw, and many were not just Zakus... "Contact for help!" Major Miles ordered, "We need help fast!"
"Dear God, What have we gotten ourselves into..." Karl muttered as he saw the objects come closer and closer... Jean watched as a Zeon Tibe class cruiser tip over and explode from all the hits it had suffered, but he was beginning to believe that would be their last hurrah. Fifteen additional mobile suits had just reinforced the beleaugered Zeon forces, and they were clearly veteran pilots. The remains of a GM and two more Balls lying just beside him was testament to that. And he was seriously considering... "This is Brigadier General Dolvich, begin to withdraw in pre-arranged intervals," the commanding General ordered, "Fall back to the Bravo Line!"
Jean barely had to nod in agreement. The rest of the GM force began to fall back while he and another GM gave them covering fire. As he was about to leave, his companion took a hit and exploded. A second rocket barely missed his own GM, before covering fire from the ships forced the enemy MS to take some cover. But he knew this was just the easy part... "We got suckered. We got ****ing suckered!" John declared angrily as Sylvie frantically tried to find some cover. Zeon had INTENTIONALLY let them attack, only to counterattack their weakened rear areas in an attempt to surround their fleet. Most of the fixed defenses were gone now, expertly taken down by the enemy MS force, and the three Zeon ships were beginning to advance on their positions... "Johnston here, I would really like some assistance now!" Major Miles pleaded. The Johnston hadn't been hit yet, but the Ramillies was crippled, and he couldn't keep the wolves away for much longer. "Spruance here, give us five minutes! Reserve Balls and Sabre Fish are on their way, too!" Colonel Patterson encouraged.
Miles had just nodded when another volley of beams hit the Ramillies. And just like that, she was gone. And the Johnston was alone, outnumbered, and seriously outgunned. ****, he thought. But he wasn't about to go down THAT easy. "Target Musai! Fire!" he ordered. The volley hit, and the Musai was now trailing smoke. But the enemy MS were heading straight for him... Ming took aim at the surviving Salamis class cruiser. This ship proved a lot more resolute than her other sisters, but now her time had run out. Almost everything had gone according to plan, and the new battleship Bismark** and her complement of Home Defense Corp pilots were proving to be a great help. But this kill, would be his...
Suddenly, he felt a sudden jolt as his R-Type Zaku took a direct beam hit. He was surprised, and it took him a while to realize that his left forearm was gone. He muttered a curse while he evaded a second beam fired at him. Then he spotted his assailant. The yellow white GM that had once evaded his grasp... "Follow me!" Maurice taunted as she began to run away from the enemy ace. The longer she distracted that guy, she thought, the more targets Max could take down. And he certainly did not disappoint. Max aimed his first shot at the now familiar shape of an squadron leader Zaku and fired. This time he missed, and the Zaku began evasive maneuvers, but the second shot blew him apart. He fired a third shot at a Rick Dom. The beam pierced right through the mobile suit's reactor and hit a second Rick Dom behind it. Both went down. Two more Rick Doms followed them and took aim at him, but then Juan and Fred suddenly snuck up behind those two and took them down with two bursts of fire before coming under heavy bazooka fire. Another Rick Dom appeared in front of him, but Max took him down as well. "****! I need help," Maurice screamed as the R-Type caught up with her. She fired her beam rifle at it, but missed, and the angry R-Type hacked the rifle in half with his heat axe. Maurice produced her own beam sabre and began to square off with the Zaku, but suddenly a Rick Dom appeared right behind her... Max saw that, and started to bring his rifle around. He didn't notice that a Rick Dom was coming up right below him, bazooka already trained out... But Sylvie did, and over John's protests she quickly discarded the radar shield and entered into the fray, firing her 90mm at the Rick Dom as she did so. But most of her shots missed, and just gave notice to the Rick Dom of her position. To her horror she watched the Rick Dom turn around and aim the bazooka at HER. "****!" John screamed. This was it... Cynthia... But before it could fire a beam pierced right through the Rick Dom from above. It was from Max, who had killed it using his beam pistol. But he had no time to celebrate, and he immediately turned around and aimed for the Rick Dom going for Maurice, hoping... He was too late. The Rick Dom fired a rocket straight into the Light Armor's back, and it hit. Maurice felt a sudden jolt from behind her and realized that her life was over. Mother... Father... Ken... I'll be seeing you now, she thought as she felt the flames begin to engulf her cockpit. And Max... goodbye. Her cockpit was engulfed in a massive white fireball a moment later, and her GM disintegrated from the explosion. Max screamed in rage as he saw that, and fired. Revenge was his, as the Rick Dom took a hit right in the reactor and exploded, showering the R-Type with fragments. Max took aim at the R-Type, but before he could another Rick Dom arrived and sent a rocket in his direction. He tried to evade, but his left leg got hit by the shell. He aimed again, but by then both mobile suits had fled.
Behind him, Sylvie looked on in shock. A single thought kept entering her mind. What have I done? "Ming, are you..." Mike asked worriedly as he saw the damage on the R-Type. "I... I was too complacent. Damn! But thanks, Mike, you saved me back there," he replied.
"Hey, just returning the favor. Now let's go. Let the Home Defense Corp*** boys take them on." Fred snarled in frustration as he realize the extent of the damage he had suffered. An arm and a leg was gone. And so was his bazooka. But at least Juan got the Rick Dom that hit him, and the rest of the enemy MS force was now thinking twice before charging them again. Unfortuantely, the big battleship guns were still firing at them, and if help didn't come soon... "Johnston, what's your situation?" Captain Karl suddenly asked. He had been hit, too, and his 240mm cannon was gone. But otherwise his team was still lucky. "Don't make me press my luck," Major Miles muttered to no one in particular as the Johnston took a scratch hit. His ship fired back, and the shots finished off the Musai they had damaged earlier. But there was still that big, bad battleship... and its Musai escort. Suddenly, a single mega particle beam tore right through the escortting Musai. The ship exploded, scattering debris all around the Gwajin-like ship, "Good enough for you, Miles?" the Colonel suddenly inquired. "Yeah, thanks sir. But there's still that... " Before he could finish a volley of beams narrowly missed the Spruance. The volley continued on behind the Spruance and struck the Austerlitz instead. The cruiser disintegrated from the force of the hits. Damn it, Miles thought, their gunner must be a decendant of Buffalo Bill or something!
"Fall back to the Alpha line. We've had it," Colonel Patterson explained as the Spruance approached the Johnston. Behind him were the battered remnants of the 17th Fleet, still being pursued by the enemy mobile suit force. The wrecked hulls told the tale. This round was going to Zeon, by how much though, was still a matter to be decided.
In the depths of Malta Base, a group of engineers rapidly unpacked the Base's demolition charges. But the leader of the group was worried. This wasn't just an ordinary demolition charge. It was a NUKE. But not just any nuke. It was a captured Zeon one. What the hell was the brass thinking? he thought, as he started checking its systems. They were all green. All it needed now was for the final activation code. To be used only when Zeon forces came within sight of Malta Base... Lieutenant General Nicolo Zander grinned as he read the report on the enemy reinforcements to Malta. All he had to do now, was to wait...
Remarks: - *Yes, most of this comes from Gundam 0080 OVA. The date at this point is December 7, two days before the Cyclop Team's attack. Whew, cut my timing a little close! ^_^* - **The Bismark is another one of my ship creations. More on that in the next chapter ;) . - ***I've taken the liberty to take some of the elite (but little known) members of the Zeon's Home Defense Corps who were usually stationed at Side 3. These men report directly to Giren Zabi, sort of his personal elite shock troops. Most famous is probably Eric Mansfield from the MSV texts. Thanks to the Gundam Project for this little tidbit!
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. |
