Chapter 9: Prepositioning"So what is the mission, Sir?" Captain Dave Anderson asked wearily as the briefing began. "Very well, I know you are all tired, but this is a mission of utmost importance," Col. Sean Patterson replied, "As you all know, for the past several months Zeon submarines have been actively disrupting Federation operations in the South China Sea. They have been sinking valuable ships and supplies bound for Australia, India and Vietnam. For a while we haven't been able to figure out why they have been so effective since their main base is far away in Hawaii. However, last week a Flat Mouse spy plane flying over the Philippine island of Palawan took these photographs before disappearing," the Colonel then turned on a projector. It displayed a few blow up photographs. Although not immediately noticable due to some well-done camouflage, it clearly showed a Zeon naval base, with enough pens for up to three submarines as well as a tiny airstrip for a few fighters and recce craft. "Damn... how long did they have that base there?" Seargent Fred wondered quietly out loud. He shook his head. Dumb*** intelligence has done it again. "This base we have determined, despite its small size, is a very important facility for Zeon because it obiviates the need for their South China Squadron to return to Hawaii for resupply, as well as providing reconnaisance for its subs. Worse, we have determined that a significant number of Zeon units that have retreated from Odessa may be heading for this base for reinforcement and resupply. Currently, as we have found from a few reliable guerilla ground assets in the Philippines resistance, the base is lightly defended by conventional ground forces. Essentially, the force is composed of two squads of three Zaku-type mobile suits each, eight Dopp-type fighters, three recon planes, and approximately eight tanks and other ground vehicles. Unfortunately, it is highly likely that there is at least one Zeon sub in the area. And it is highly possible that it maybe escorted by as many as four underwater-type MS. And these are the new ones." Sylvie winced at that. The new Zeon underwater machines were impressive. Most were equipped with beam weaponry that most units could only dream about, and a hit from a beam was enough to ruin ANYBODY's day... "Unfortunately for us though, this base has been built around very rough and rocky terrain. A parachute or air-lift operation is simply not an option. Those Zeon *******s may have considered that when they built this base. So it'll come down to an amphibious operation. We'll be escorted by what's left of the Pacific Fleet." "Umm, begging you pardon sir," Dave asked nervously, "If a Zeek sub or MS manages to get near the fleet, I think we're toast. The Pacfleet's record is not exactly encouraging..."
"Captain, that is why we have these." Patterson then changed the image displayed by the projector. It was an image that would have struck fear into the hearts of even the most stalwart of Zeon's soldiers. It was a trio of RX-79(G)s, Gundams. "Are you SURE these things have been sealed well enough?" John Paul asked for the seventh time. It was bad enough that the Skate would lose one of her two anti-sub Fanfans to fit this monstrosity into the ship, but it would be even worse if the damn thing sank like a rock... "Look, SERGEANT," the chief engineer replied very testily, "This is a state of the art mobile suit. The damn best thing in the Federal arsenal. This is the replica of the suit that took out Garma Zabi, and you learn to respect it!" "Yes, Sir, but ground is VERY different from sea," John replied, "One leak, and poof! Your state of the art Gundam or whatever will be another decoration for the sea bed." "I've QUADRUPLE checked the damn thing! It'll dive up to 50 feet, can operate underwater for about 30 minutes and has underwater-capable weaponry. AND IT'LL BE A LOT MORE HELP THAN YOUR STUPID FANFAN!" the chief engineer shouted. He'd finally reached the end of his patience.
"Fine, Sir, I just hope that you didn't forget to seal anything like the joints or the thing won't even be able to MOVE underwater at all." John then watched as the chief's face turned deep red in anger before stomping back to the mobile suit, screaming for a few engineers to help him with something. John chuckled, some people just never learn. And in a war, that often got you dead. "That's good, Sir, and those Gundams seem to be impressive machines, but we're a tank battalion, not ground pounders. I really don't think landing with a bunch of Type 61s on a hot LZ is a good idea," Captain Karl suggested thoughtfully. Even though he was now in the artillery, Karl had already served in almost all the different arms of the army, and he was one quick learner. "That is correct, Captain," the Col. replied coolly, "And we do not have a detachments of marines to support us. However, we have contingencies, and I'll now outline them in the plan," he pressed the switch on the projector and it displayed an overhead map of the area. "Once we arrive in the target area, our LSTs will begin to head for this beach," he said as he pointed at a narrow strip of sand, "Before we land, however, the guerilla forces will destroy the main power plant here," pointing to a large, rectangular building, "Hopefully, to disable most of the defense grid, those that survived the naval and air bombardment, of course. Oh, and according to the guerillas they will use two captured Zakus for the attack, and they'll withdraw once the plant has been taken down, but watch your fire. I don't want us taking down a friendly. They say their MS are painted in brown, while the enemy units are green, so it should not be much of a problem to distinguish the sheep from the goats."
"Guerillas, wonderful..." Karl muttered. Like most officers, he distrusted guerilla units. Too unreliable. Well, he hadn't heard much about the Philippine resistance so MAYBE they aren't so bad... Cynthia Patterson watched quietly as a pair of Zaku II-Js moved within a hundred meters of her Zaku. Painted in a low visibility brown color scheme devised by one of the guerilla's engineers, her unit was hard to spot, but not impossible. For a full minute, she held her breath as they slowly scanned the area. Then they turned and resumed their patrol, and Cynthia was able to breathe again. "Close one, eh, Cynth?" Lt. Shoji Yamagata asked from the cockpit of his own Zaku. He was her commanding officer, and the leader of the southern western Philippine resistance. It was an extremely weird situation. Around her, a platoon of thirty men, native Filipinos all of them, were under Shoji's direct command. It was weird because the last time these people had fought a guerilla war, it was against the Japanese. And Shoji was a 100% Japanese Earth Federation officer that got stuck here when the Zeeks invaded. Fortunately, there was little friction within the resistance, partly because these troops were very loyal to the EF for naming them as one of the few "native" populations and letting them stay on Earth, but mostly because Shoji was a smart officer, even if he was just a Lieutenant. "Yeah, but I hope those morons at High Command would assault this place sooner. Man, we have been reporting this base for months and those intel guys seem to just toss our reports down the waste basket!" she snarled. "Just concentrate on the mission, and pray we don't see any Gaus or Fat Uncles bringing reinforcements for the base or..."
"We are screwed, big time." "Finally, when the landing comes, the GMs will go in first before being reinforced by the tanks. Hopefully, the GMs will be able to take most of the enemies out, and the tanks will only have to be around for clean up and garrison duty. Any further questions?" the Colonel concluded. "Sir, how long before the landing operation?" Dave asked. "Thirty-six hours. Unless something breaks down." Dave then nodded wearily. He hated the ocean. Drowning was just a horrible way to die... "Any more questions?" There were none. "Good. We still have two hours before we get to the LSTs, get yourselves rested and organized. That goes for you Dave, we only have fifteen tanks, you'd better reassign your excess crew members. Dismissed."
Dave nodded. He then pulled out a roster and began making notes on it. Well, at least they'd be able to fully crew the Type 61s... "THERE! HAPPY!?" the chief asked at the grinning John. "Well, yes. Now if they could only get here a little earlier then I'd be overjoyed," John replied. "I see you two still get along well," Major Alfonso declared as he joined the two men, "The plane's will be here in two hours. J.P., you talk to the pilots and help brief those guys when the time comes, alright?" "No problem sir! I'll get right on it!"
"Sure..." the chief muttered angrily, "If they don't kill him first..." "Sir! Enemy submarine contact is changing course. It's now heading west sir. Is this some sort of Federal trickery sir?" Dirk asked his skipper. Colonel Mathew took a quick glance at the chart, his eye quickly wandered off to the Vietnamese coast. He smiled, "No, let's keep following her. XO, are you aware of any Zeon units in the area they are heading for?" "Sir, only one. The Crimea. She was damaged last week and she's limping home. She has a pair of Gogs for escorts. Want her to patrol a bit?" "Yes. Get the bouy ready, send them: "Possible transit of major enemy fleet elements in East Vietnam area. Vital to destroy ships if encountered. Request Crimea to patrol area."" "You really think they'll head that way, Sir?" "They have to know we are reinforcing the base by now. The attack must come from Vietnam. Hopefully, the Crimea will be able to stall them long enough so that the Iberia and her new load of underwater MS can reinforce us."
"Aye aye, Sir." An instant later a bouy was ejectted from the Kamchatka's sail. It reached the surface a minute later. "Huh?" "What is it?" Skipper Ken Mason asked. The young sonar man looked around. Was he hallucinating all those sounds? The rest of the sonar crew didn't seem to... "Well?" Ken asked again.
"Nothing sir."
Upon reaching the surface, the bouy sent a second long encrypted transmission to fleet command. There, it was quickly evaluated, then approved. The message was then quickly forwarded to the Crimea. It was hot and humid when they landed. Not the favorite climate of those who were from the colonies, but Sylvie was used to it. And she was a bit excited. She'd never seen a ship that plied over the oceans before, and they looked majestic even in their dull grey color scheme. "Welcome to the Pacific Fleet," a voice greeted them. Sylvie turned and saw a dark skinned Major and a short, brown, smiling Sergeant, "Hello, I am Major Alfonso. You are the 44th Tactical Mobile Suit Company, correct?" "Yes, Sir, umm... he's the commanding officer," Sylvie replied pointing to Captain Lars who was now surrounded by the rest of the 44th's crew. "Guess so," Seargent John Paul said as he quickly eyed the petite, young, brown haired radio officer. "Yes, SEARGENT, and please remember to to call me mam," Sylvie replied. "Yes, mam," he replied with a grin. "Alright, Major, I would like to have my men briefed now," Captain Lars interjected as he joined the group along with the rest of the crew. Alfonso nodded, "Okay, this is Technical Sergeant J.P. Recto. Just call him by his call sign Magic or JP if you forget his surname. He'll run you through the operational guidlines aboard the ships. I will now meet Col. Patterson so Recto, take over." "Aye aye, Sir," John nodded, "Alright! Now I'm going to explain a few rules to all of you..." He looked around first as was his habit with newcomers. There were four pilots, including the Captain, and three crew for the Type 74. Seven in all, seems few for a company. "First and foremost, all of you SHALL follow the orders of the ship crew, regardless of rank. I know all of you are landlubbers and I don't want you doing anything stupid to the operation of the ship, even if you outrank them sirs and mam," he said, looking right at Sylvie, "Second, THINK QUIET! Being noisy might get us detected and dead, very quickly. Finally, keep a lookout on the sea. You see any ripple, you see ANYTHING that you can't identify, report it quickly. It just might be a periscope you saw. Now, for your assignments..." John looked at a file he was carrying, "Pat Summers, Earl Williams, Max Harper and Sylvie Gressier will be on the LST Galahad. Fred Chan, Juan Ignacio and Captain Breivik will be on the Wahoo, Skate and Veneto respectively to pilot the Gundams. Any questions?" "Very well, Sergeant, I think we can handle things now..." Lars replied in a deep, annoyed tone. "Thank you, Sir, I'll be leav'n now..." John replied as he turned to leave. "Upstart..." Lars said just as John pulled out of earshot, "Alright, you know your ships, get to them!" "For once," Sylvie commented, "I agree with the Captain. That Seargent talks pretty big for his rank..." "Actually Sylvie, I think he's earned it," Earl replied. "WHAT?!" Sylvie asked angrily. She wasn't touchy about rank but that guy was... "Ever hear of the Skate? The Big Game Hunter of the Pacific?" Earl asked. "Well... yes..." Sylvie said as she tried to remember the details... a famous sub-hunter of some... "He's the lead sonar man aboard the Skate, Sylvie," Max explained quietly, "He's definitely an expert on sub-hunting. Callsign suits him, Magic indeed... Be glad, we'll probably make it in one piece to Palawan." Sylvie looked incredolously at Max. That scrawny little idiot was the one who was killing all those Zeek subs? No way...
"Believe it, Sylvie, believe it," Earl interjected with a wide grin. "You know, John, I really should be a lot stricter with you..." Major Alfonso warned. "Sorry, Sir, but it's better so they'll listen to the crew more. Remember the time we escorted the Austin and..." "Yeah, that dumbass landlubber Lieutenant kept shouting at his men so that a Zeek sub overheard us. Good thing you blew that sub away." "AFTER it sank the Austin. A damn waste, Sir, an awful lot of good kids on that ship." "Yeah, and you'd better make sure we don't let that happen again."
"I'll do my best sir." "Hey wait a minute," Sylvie said as she boarded the Galahad, "There are THREE GMs here. Who's going to the other two?" "I am, and I'll be commanding you." Sylvie looked behind her and saw Captain Karl. "You, Sir? I didn't know..." "I pilotted a captured Zaku for around three weeks before they were finally able to ship it back to Jaburo for inspection. I didn't do badly, I managed to rack up five kills in fact," the Captain explained. "Oh..." Sylvie had often wondered how the Captain had risen so quickly up the ranks since she had rescued him at Baikonour that dark March day. Obviously, that was one of the reasons. "What about the third GM?" Max asked quietly. "Hello, Max! Miss me?" a female voice suddenly asked that surprised Sylvie. She turned to meet a beautiful woman with shoulder-length black braided hair. "Oh, hello Maurice," Max replied with what almost approached a smile. Maurice Evans was a childhood friend of his, and the only one who was still alive. "Nice to meet you all again. I was hoping that I could finally get a chance at MS pilotting, I've been working on it for a few weeks," Maurice said with a smile. Like Max, she was practically an orphan now, and meeting an old friend was a rarity for her. "Yeah, Maurice, I was wondering when you'd finally get your shot. Those high command idiots have kept you in the fighter force long enough," Sylvie said thoughtfully.
"Good to see all of my crew members know each other well. Get to your cabins now and rest. I'll brief you in a few hours," the Captain finished for them. Sylvie nodded as she yawned. Well, at least she'd get more sleep. As long as Pat kept his big mouth shut that is.
"Alright, we are off!" John Paul declared as the Skate passed out of the cove. Behind her, a long cable was already being streamed from her stern. It was a towed-array sonar, basically a giant microphone, used to listen for enemy submarines. It was a lot better than hull-mounted sonars since it wasn't interferred by its own ship's sounds. John put a pair of headphones on and started to listen for enemy subamrines that might be lurking nearby. The first leg of their journey would take them to a fairly dangerous area, known to veteran Federation sailors as the Tin Can Graveyard. Beneath the waves a hundred nautical miles away, the Zeon submarine Crimea was patrolling the waters east of Vietnam. A hunting ground of Zeon submarines, its sea bottom was littered with the wrecks of dozens of Federation ships. Another hundred miles away was the Federation submarine U-35, and a still unseen foe trailing her...
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. "The reactions that surface ship officers display when meeting snakes and submarines are basically the same. They either want to kill it, or run away very quickly. NOW." Submariners consider enemy territory as "Target Rich Environements"... - Harpoon Strategy Guide |
