Chapter 31: Letters
December 20, UC 0079 - "Sylvie, you shouldn't be up yet," Max said quietly as he spotted her walking unsteadily across the hallway. Her only reply was a cold stare. "Even if you're mad at me, don't let that cloud your judgement," he continued coldly, "Even if the docs said you could be up and running in only four days, it's best to get some rest. Especially while things are quiet." "Whatever," she replied back in an equally cold tone, "But I still have a job to do..." "Erghh... excuse me?" John interrupted as he joined the two. "John!" both of them warned angrily. He always just seemed to have perfect timing... "This is a quick one, alright?" he replied meekly, "The Clark has returned from its supply run to Side 6, and I have letters..." "For me?" Sylvie asked rather excitedly. She had sent her letter with the Clark when it had left two days ago to get some non-military supplies from Side 6, but she couldn't believe that they'd reply THAT fast... "Yeah, from one Andrea Gressier..." John started as he handed her an envelope. Sylvie smiled lightly, but felt disappointed. She sighed, she missed her sister, but she so much wanted to hear from her father... "And one Philip Gressier," he finished with a grin as he showed her a very thick envelope. Her father obviously had many things to say. Sylvie stopped almost motionless for a moment, partly shocked, mostly overjoyed. So he did care, after all, she thought to herself, and she felt as if she'd ben resurrected from the grave. So much so that she was quickly wrapped her arms around John and gave him a hug. "Thanks John!" she told him with a smile as she grabbed the letter. "Uhhh... yeah," he replied, embarassed, "Now please get off me before somebody notices..." Sylvie angrily pushed him away and stared at him icyly. Sheesh, she thought, did he have to be so damn blunt and insensitive even at a time like... "And I already have somebody waiting for me, mind you," he explained, "So please..." "You already have a girlfriend?" she asked, surprised, he didn't seem like... "Sort of," he replied quickly, lest he start blushing, "Don't tell me you are jealous..." he countered, his mouth forming an evil grin, before Sylvie slapped him in the left cheek. "Idiot..." she told him told him coldly, while John massaged his cheek. Serves you right! she thought, you have such an enormous chin to say that... "I have other things to attend to now..." Max interjected before starting to walk away. He'd seen the little conversation go on in front of him, and despite Sylvie's anger at him he couldn't keep himself from being a little happy for Sylvie. That father and daughter pair had serious problems to work out... "Uh, Max..." John started. "Leave him alone," Sylvie interrupted sternly, "We have nothing to talk about anyway." "Is that why you hugged me instead of him?" he added jokingly, to which Sylvie replied with a SECOND slap, this time on the right cheek, "Hey, stop it!" he pleaded, "Just go read the damn letters already!" "Good idea, John," she replied, as she quickly turned away and started walking to her room.
John sighed. He was really beginning to wonder how the hell Max had ever... "Sir, are you certain about these orders?" Colonel Jefferson asked as he scanned through the letter handed to him by General Wavell. The orders contained in it seemed rather... unconventional. "Yes, Colonel, I am certain. Are you questioning our Commander-in-Chief Giren?" Wavell replied coldly. "Well, at least we'll be out of this hell-hole soon," he replied. He was surprised that the Federation Fleet hadn't attacked them yet in the past week, but maybe because they were just plain exhausted. A week of intensive combat operations could do that to a crew... or maybe they were just being cautious after the last time... "Any additional problems, Colonel? And can you handle the Wilhelm?" the General asked. Jefferson considered it for a moment. The plan was for the Wilhelm and three of the remaining Musais to return to Granada, largely to distract the enemy fleet, while the Bremen and the Bismark were sent to a top-secret base in Side 2 to help defend it. He'd served in Musais all his career, but he shouldn't have much problem with a Tibe..."No problems, Sir. Just wish me luck."
"Good," he replied with an evil smile. This ought to satisfy that Cecilia while I go about my plan... "Sieg Zeon!" "Where is the Side 2 fleet?!" Cecilia Irene asked the commander at Granada angrily. The commander, a loyal member of Kishiria Zabi's staff, was a lot more difficult to work with than Killing... "They say they are still having difficulties, but they are returning today," the commander replied simply. "They were supposed to have been recalled FIVE days ago..." Cecilia fumed. "Actually, I have received a document from Commander-in-Chief Giren telling me otherwise," he replied matter-of-factly as he showed her a signed letter from the Zeon leader. "What!?" she replied before controlling her temper, "Very well then, I'll check," she concluded as she switched off the videocom. "Mam, I'm sorry but we have other matters to attend to..." her aide reported meekly. "What now?" she asked wearily. It had been a hectic week since the Federation fleet had launched from Jaburo... "Lt. General Dozul is asking what has happened to his shipment of MS-14s and the necessary components to complete his Big Zam... I've tried to explain but..."
"Alright, alright... patch him through," she replied without much enthusiasm. Dozul Zabi's angry face appeared in the video screen a second later, obviously VERY pissed off... "Maybe we should have attacked them," Jean thought as he observed the Zeon positions, but with just a slight numerical superiority afforded by the Gorbachev's reinforcements and the sobering lesson of their first assault the brass had generally called for a halt to offensive operations except for the occassional artillery bombardment. But now something was up, he could feel it... "They seem to be cutting down on their patrols, eh Jean?" now Major Karl asked as he pulled his Guncannon beside Jean's GM, "You don't think they're leaving, are you?" "Maybe we ought to ask for a recon patrol?" Jean suggested.
Karl nodded, "Alright, let's request for one. Call Colonel Patterson." Her father's letter wasn't actually that long, but there was a different reason why the envelope was so thick. He had also included pictures. She read the letter again. It was short, but... "Sylvie, I'm sorry that I always made you feel responsible," the letter said. "Responsible for your mother's death and my own anger and sadness. But the truth is, I'm proud of you. Even if you were always so rebellious and headstrong you reminded me of your mother. And I hope that one day you could finally come home so we can have a talk. But for now, here's something from your past. I'm sorry that I'd never shown this to you before, that I made you think that you weren't loved. But I hope, now you could really understand how I feel about you, my daughter." Sylvie looked at the pictures. They were of a baby girl being held lovingly by thirty year old man. Pictures of her as a child in the arms of her father. Sylvie wiped away a tear in her eye. She had never thought that her father had held her like that... that he could actually show her that he cared... He'd always been racked by grief after mother had died, and her sister had always told her stories of how her dad had been so much happier when she was around. Was I... really hating myself for causing him so much sadness? she thought to herself. Did he really love me, but I couldn't accept it because I hated myself so much? Could... could I be doing the same thing to Max? "Excuse me, Sylvie, are you there?" a familiar voice declared over the intercom. It was John, AGAIN. "Yeah John, what?" she replied without much enthusiasm. "We're being ordered out on a recon patrol. Are you up to it?" the voice asked, partly worried.
She sighed. She wanted to lay back and read the letters some more. But they would still be here when she got back, wouldn't they? "Alright, give me five minutes." "Well, Sir, what do you think?" Colonel Patterson asked his superior. "Zeon may be up to something, but maybe they're recalling their forces. Operation Star One is in full swing now you know," Brigadier General Dolvich reminded. Or maybe the Gundam had scared the hell out of them, he didn't add. Its little battle at Side 6 had become well-known among the crew thanks to a video that the Gorbachev had brought back with it, and he was sure Zeon knew about it, too.
The Colonel nodded. He just hoped that the recon team wouldn't run into trouble... "Umm... Max... I have to..." Sylvie started as she met Max in the hangar. "No need to apologize," he replied quickly and coolly, "Just do your job," he then turned and boarded his GM Sniper. "Yeah... right..." she muttered. "Idiot!" she didn't add. "Here I am about to apologize and you brush me off. You really don't care, do you?" "Come on, Sylvie, let's get this job done," John encouraged as he began switching on the EWAC GM's systems. It was amazing, he reflected as the systems blinked green, that the sensitive radar array was still functional after everything it has been through...
"This is Rifle, launching!" "Whoa! Juan... easy..." Fred warned as Juan's Space-Type GM Command made a series of radical turns. "Sorry, but wow... this thing is really something else," he replied. Lighter and possesing more maneuvering verniers than an ordinary GM, the Command was one sweet machine to fly, once the pilot finally got the hang of it, that is. "Alright, enough. Let's move out," Major Karl ordered. Behind him, Max and Sylvie were already trailing them, covering them and collecting data, respectively. Juan nodded as he darted across the no-man's land between the fleets, careful to keep himself under cover at all times. He was worried they would get spotted, but so far the enemy line was quiet. In fact too quiet. There was something fishy... "Ummm... sir, I think we'd better stop now," John reported. "What is it, Recto?" he replied sternly, "What have you found?" "A Musai, Sir, but I don't think she's really a Musai..." he reported rather sheepishly. "What the hell do you..." the Major started before John forwarded him an image. It was the familiar shape of a Zeon Musai class cruiser alright, hidden carefully between some pieces of wreckage. But there was something wrong... "It's a Musai, but where the hell are its guns?" "It's a decoy, Sir," John explained, "If you'll look carefully there's an awful lot of holes on the hull, and its "reactors" are cold. Besides, Sir, look carefully at what's just beside it." Karl focused his attention at the area just beside the Musai. He blinked hard as the image was poor, but soon he realized what it was, "It's a mine. ****, looks like they HAVE left, and mined the place before they did." ****! he thought, how the hell could they have let them slip pass us that easy?!
"In any case Sir, let's call the engineers. Looks like we've been had..." The enemy fleet hadn't caught up, Jefferson thought. The months spent with the raider fleets had given him plenty of experience with mines and decoys, and it looked as if he'd employed them profitably again. But now he was going to have to leave the Bremen now, along with its crew... "Good luck Ming, take care of the Bremen for me," Jefferson told his best pilot as the time for their parting came. Most of the mobile suits were going back with him to Granada, but not the Mobile Suits aboard the Bremen. They would be staying with their parent ship in its journey with the Bismark. He sighed, he would really miss his old ship... "Don't worry, Sir, I'll make sure she comes back to you in one piece," Ming replied with a smile, "Just as long as that Wavell keeps his promise of getting me a new mobile suit." "I'm sure he will. I read that the base has an awful lot of neat stuff," he explained, "Improved Zakus and Rick Doms, even a Gelgoog or two. They can probably spare you one good unit." "Yeah, maybe they could even fix up my R-Type," Ming replied rather somberly. "Look Ming, forget it already. You just got unlucky back there, it's not your fault..." "Yes Sir, but it would be nice if I could've sold it to a museum after the war or something," he replied with a grin. The R-Type Zakus were really that rare, after all, though he doubted Zeon would let him keep it... "But whatever unit I get, I'll try not to disappoint you."
"That's the spirit, Ming! That's the spirit!" the Colonel finished with a wide grin. "Give us a day. Day and a half tops. These mines are dangerous you know," the chief engineer reported to Colonel Patterson as he finished surveying the newly laid minefield. "Great, and that Zeon fleet is going to get away..." the Colonel growled, "What do we do now, Sir?" Brigadier General Dolvich paused to think before answering. He doubted the enemy fleet was going straight to Solomon, especially after all the battle damage it had suffered. Most likely they would go to Granada first, THEN make their way to Solomon. The problem was, it would bring them out of his jurisdiction... He sighed, there was only one course of action, and one the fleet wouldn't like, "We let them go. I think the main fleet can handle them." "But Sir!" Colonel Patterson protested.
"By the time we clear those mines, they'll be half way to Granada by then. In fact they're probably already halfway there already. Once the mines are cleared, we'll begin patrols around Side 2. They may get out of here in one piece, but we sure as hell aren't going to let them come back."
December 22, UC 0079 - From here, it looked just like a tiny pebble, but Major Alfonso knew very well it was much more than that. It was the space asteroid fortress of Solomon, and the Borodino was heading for it at maximum speed. Behind him was the rest of the Federation fleet.
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. |
