Chapter 8: Hunter, Hunted
Nov 12, UC 0079. A lone Federation's Type 65 destroyer steamed quietly into a secluded Vietnamese cove. The Type 65 wasn't a particularly powerful unit, being similar in configuration and mission as the 20th Century's Kidd class general purpose destroyers. This Type 65, however, was special. To Zeon, she was known as the Kraken Killer. To the Federation admirals, she was the Skate. To the rest of the admiring Federation Navy, however, she took the nickname of her WWII namesake, The Big Game of the Pacific. One of the few Pacific Fleet units to survive after the initial Zeon attack at Hawaii, she had not only managed to survive, but also thrive in a war that has rendered surface ships all but obsolete. Her bridge was already decorated by four red submarine sihouettes painted in recognition of the four enemy Yukon class submarines she had sunk since the start of the war. Now though, was the time for her final cruise. "There's the Skate sir," a lookout reported from the the top of the Himalaya class carrier Sierra Madre.
"That is quite reassuring," Major General Marc McCampbell replied. It was nice that they would get the big game hunter to escort them in what would be the Pacific Fleet's final deployment. Sheltered in the cove was the last major concentration of surface ships left in the Pacific Fleet. For the past several months he had seen the fleet get decimated by Zeon submarine and air forces, and now the introduction of effective amphibious mobile suits have made them all the more vulnerable. In fact last week enemy underwater MS had sunk one of his cruisers and sent another cruiser and a battleship back to the yards, and high command was now seriously considering keeping his ships in port. Thanks to the victory at Odessa however, they would have one final opportunity to score a decisive victory against the Zeon forces before that happened. The Pacific fleet would not just go quietly into the night... "There they are, Sir," Technical Sergeant John Paul Recto observed as the Skate entered the cove. "Yes, John," Major Adolfo Jose replied, "So, Magic, are you ready? We might find ourselves going one of those sea-monster type subs you know." John nodded as his face broke to a wide grin. "Magic" was his unofficial nickname. He got that nick for being able to "magically" detect well-hidden Zeon subamrines as the Skate's lead sonar and radar operator. He was a major reason why the Skate was the hunter instead of the hunted. He was the "eyes" of the ship, and those eyes were very sharp. Whether his skills came from his formidable Filipino naval ancestry (every generation had at least one sailor in the family) or his lucky charms though, he really didn't know, but it seemed that it just came naturally to him. And he'd get himself some more Zeek subs before they kept him locked up in port.
John began to scan the cove once again. They were all here. The carrier Sierra Madre, the cruiser Venneto and the destroyer Wahoo. Behind them three LST, landing ship tanks (or LARGE SLOW TARGETS) were being loaded with improved Type 61 tanks and three GMs of the 89th company. It was taking a while since their crews hadn't arrived yet and they were relying on backup drivers to load them up. He wondered what was taking so long... after all it was faster to travel by air... The pilot of Midea 508 was now a little edgy. It had already been bad enough that he'd been delayed two hours by bad weather at Jaburo, but now he faced a far more serious threat. Eight miles to his north a fierce air battle was raging between a a group of Zeon's Dopps and a few Federation's Tin Cods. The Zeon force was a raider unit that had been launched from California to harass Federation supply lines. It was usually just a minor annoyance, but the battle was a little close, and he was carrying important cargo. The forty men of the 89th company and a trio of underwater type GMs. The orders said that this was top priority stuff, and needed to get through at all cost... "Sir, I think we've managed to clear the air battle..." his radar techie reported. The pilot had just nodded when an explosion suddenly rocked his Midea. "What the hell was that!?" he shouted as he looked at his controls.. Two engines were dead, and he was rapidly losing altitude... "AHH!!! Where the hell did they come from!? Oh ****! Two Dopps!" the radar techie reported.
"Bail, NOW!" the pilot screamed as he pulled up on the stick to try to gain altitude. He never made it. More explosions rocked his plane, and the Midea rapidly disintegrated around him... "Sir! Midea 508 has been shot down!" a radio technician based in Jaburo reported. "Dammit! What the hell were those Tins doing!?" now Major General Alexander Dolvich asked in an angry tone. "Sir, a couple of Dopps from Hawaii jumped them. Tins are reporting no survivors."
Alexander looked at his screen angrily. He needed those men and equipment, desperately. Last week they had finally located a Zeon submarine base in the southern Philippines island of Palawan that had been harassing their troops in Vietnam. Now it was important to destroy it before Zeon was able to use it as a resupply point for its retreating forces from Odessa. He had scrapped up just enough units to take it, but only just. Now he had a deficit to fill. He scanned all available units in the area. He might be able to borrow a few RX-79s from the nearby Federation forces to offset the loss of the three Aqua GMs. Not exactly underwater MS but... Unfortunately he still needed men to crew the tanks and MS. His eyes wandered off to a trio of Mideas now flying over Madras... "Sir, would you please tell me what our new assignment is about?" Captain Lars asked as he entered the Colonel's compartment in the front of the Midea. Also in the room was Major Martel. "Classified information, Captain..." Major Martel warned. "Don't worry Major, I think he deserves to know," the Colonel cautioned. Martel looked incredolous for a moment, then nodded and looked away. It was a sign that he was officially not hearing anything. "We are going back to space, Captain. Our launch off point is Jaburo." "Yes sir, thank you sir," Lars replied with a smile. That was what he always wanted. "And Lars, keep your cool alright?" the Colonel warned.
Lars just nodded before snapping to a salute and turning to leave. He grinned, he could finally show the brass how good he was... "The Kamchatka, eh?" John Paul remarked as he read the intelligence report. The enemy's sub guarding the base was the Yukon class sub Kamchatka. And she was very bad news. She hunted destroyers for a living, and six dead tin cans had demonstrated that she was good at it. "Yes, at least the sea monster subs are all in Hawaii," Adolfo replied. Ordinarily, only officers had a briefing like this, but John was his eyes and often his aim. Despite the rank, Adolfo had often found himself working for HIM. Besides, two other cruisers and a Himalaya had already run afoul of the Kamchatka, and it was better he knew. John nodded before speaking again, "Sir, what about the replacements for the Aquas we lost?"
"The General is working on it." Sylvie was trying to sleep. It was a already a difficult thing to do in a bumpy and cramped Midea, but with all the conversations going around her, it was impossible. The 44th was a relatively new outfit, and its members had not really gotten to know each other yet. She wanted to be part of the conversation, too, but she had stood watch on the radio for the past three days, and her body was screaming for sleep. Pat though, had plenty of sleep. "So, Juan, where are you from?" Pat asked. "Side 6, Riah. I sort of wanted to join the war after all that the Zeeks had done for the other colonies, guess I should have stayed at home." "Oh?" Earl interjectted, "Sylvie is from Side 6 too, from Libot I think. Joined the military despite the objections of her father..." "EARL!" Sylvie shouted angrily, she had heard that. And she didn't want others to tell her life story for her. "Come on Sylvie, you told us..." Pat replied. "I told you guys, but I didn't want you to spread that..." "Ohhh..." Pat said with an evil grin on his face, "You see, Juan, she's really a headstrong girl so don't ask her out. She says only her older sister understands her and she's the old mai..." Pat's story was suddenly interrupted by a tin cup thrown right on his forehead. "PAT! You are dead you hear me?!" Sylvie said angrily, her shoulders still reeling from the force of the throw. "Sylvie, calm down..," Earl cautioned as he tried to keep himself from laughing at Pat's now horribly pained face, "We're going to be working for the 44th now, remember? We have to know each other a little better. But then again the way Pat told it, well...." "Could you keep it down?!" Captain Karl moaned. Ordinarily, he would have tolerated it, but he was in a bad mood. He was being transfered from the 71st away from his men, and that was bad enough. What made it worse was the fact that the letter from his wife still had not come in the mail call yesterday. She really must have left him, he thought. Well, at least his troopers and the rest of the 71st was now being transfered to Jaburo. Probably for training duty. About time. "Sorry sir," replied Seargent Fred, "Alright, keep it down guys, especially you, Pat." "Sorry, Sarge. And, hey Sarge, what about you? Where'd you come from?" "Oh, me? Lhasa, Tibet. A scholar of the old texts and a reserve tanker." "You, Sir, a scholar?" Juan asked, it was almost hard to believe. "Uh-huh. You shouldn't be surprised. The Captain was a military historian before the war in fact. Until the Zeeks nuked his home at Side 5 that is..." "Fred..." Sylvie warned quietly and pointed at Max. He had been quiet all the time, looking out of a window. "Oh, sorry mam. I think we'd all better get some rest, no?" They had all just nodded when the Captain suddenly burst into the room. "Alright troops! Get ready for an emergency assignment. We are to report to Pacific Fleet command for a special operation they are about to launch. Briefing in 25 minutes. Get ready!" He then turned and left.
"So much for my sleep..." Sylvie muttered. "Conn sonar, I think I may have an enemy submarine contact," reported Zeon Sonarman 1st class Dirk Pearson. "Give me range and type," Kamchatka CO Colonel Mathew Conrad replied coolly. "U class, range is over 9000 yards. Too far for a good firing solution, she's heading north, what should we do, Sir?" The Colonel considered his situation. He had been patrolling the southern Philppine sea in anticipation of a Federation attack on his base. The problem was, intelligence had no idea were the enemy fleet was, and this could be a decoy, or the real attack. He checked the enemy ships's course, then quickly made his decision. "XO, let's trail her..."
The XO nodded and issued a series of commands. Hopefully, the enemy sub had not detected them yet...
On the Federation submarine U 35, a junior Federation sonarman thought he heard something. He considered reporting it to the skipper Col. Ken Mason. He decided against it. The rest of the sonar crew had not detected anything, and surely they were more experienced than he... General Alexander watched the digitized display as several icons slowly marched to their destinations. It was a scratch team, but far better than nothing. To replace the experimental GMs he had borrowed three RX-79s and had them rapidly sealed to allow for limited underwater combat. Not much, but good enough. They would have the support of two subs pulled from their patrol missions, the U 47 and U 35. But the real problem was the crews. Fortunately, he had found the remnants 71st battalion to crew the tanks and the 44th company for the MS. It was quite intersting since the ground commander would now be Col. Sean patterson, and he was planning to have him as a subordinate very soon...
Consistency notes:
- the Kidd class is a anti-sub and anti-air destroyer. A four ship class in the US Navy that were initially meant for Iran. Very good general purpose units though it is rather weak in anti-surface armament;
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. "There are no warriors in Zeon!" - Revil "To submarines, there are two types of ships. Submarines, and Targets..." |
