Mobile Suit Gundam: Road to Axis

The year is UC 0081, it's been two years since Zeon's defeat of the OYW. Zeon has no strong holds, and all their fleets are all but dead. However, a secret Manufacturing plant on the dark side of the Moon still remains. Its loyalty lies with Zeon, and they have newly designed Zeonic Mobile Suits. Fortunately there is one more fleet that can use these new model Mobile Suits . . . The Mars Fleet

Chapter 9: Preparations
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> February 13, 0081
Blitzkrieg
1334

"I want to know why you came back!" Andrea yelled, slamming her hand into a nearby desk. "I know you wouldn't come back on your own. Did you get orders from Axis?"

In front her were the other three captain's. Lt. Colonel Caris Ran sat to her right, eyes closed and his chin up, like a stubborn child. Colonel Riko Schneider in front of her, wanting to know why they came back just as badly as Andrea did. To her left, Lt. Colonel Taylor Malone. He was the only one talking.

"You want to know why we came back?" Everyone turned their heads to Caris, who finally spoke, "We were ordered to."

"By who?" Riko asked him, rubbing his chin.

"Maharaja Khan." Caris said, quietly.

"Did he give you a reason why?" Andrea said, sitting back on her chair.

"No, but Taylor and I have a few theories. One being, she doesn't want the Feddie's to find where Axis is. They are sniffing on our asses you know." A few chuckles broke the tension in the room, "Two, they don't give a damn about us anymore. Face it, Andrea, we're useless."

Andrea tensed up, she knew they were useless. She calmed back down, and decided to see what everyone else wanted to do, "What do you think we should do?" Andrea twined her fingers together in her lap, awaiting their responses.

"Go back to Mars." Caris said, snickering.

"**** off, Caris. I sure as hell am not going back there." Taylor said, furiously.

Carefully, Riko spoke, "We could surrender." he said, not so sure of his words.

"Are you sure you want to do that, Riko?" Andrea asked, perking her eyebrow up.

"No." he replied, softly.

"I say we kick those Feddie's asses and go to Axis anyway." Caris said, confidently, while standing up.

"You said it yourself Caris, they may not give a damn about us anymore." Andrea said, sending Caris back to his seat.

"So, we should still kick their asses." Taylor said, nodding his head. He was older than all three of them and wiser. His thinning grey hair, combed to the right, over his shiny scalp. He may not have noticed it, but all three of them took his words very seriously, though they did rank over him.

Andrea swivelled her chair back around to him, resting her head on her palm. "How should we do that, Taylor?"

"We need to take out their main ship. That's were most of their force lies." he said, opening his eyes to reveal the gentleness within him. His rough, scarred exterior was nothing like him. He was soft and gentle, and if that could shown from anything, it was his gentle green eyes.

"That ship alone can outnumber our mobile suits." Caris said, childishly.

"Caris, shut up." Riko barked, turning his head a little. Caris growled within but realized he was acting like a spoiled child. He didn't want to hear about Taylor's strategy, he wanted them to listen to him.

"If you'll let me explain, Caris." Taylor said, walking over to the monitor, "May I?" he asked of Andrea, softly.

"Sure."

"Thank you." he bowed, like an obedient Knight to his Queen.

"Old man, give it a rest." Caris said, rolling his eyes.

"Caris!" Riko shouted, standing up, getting ready to smack Caris.

"Riko calm down, let him be childish. I have things to show you." Taylor said, bringing the monitor to life. He picked the pointer off of the rack and brought up the Feddies current locations.

"You had this planned didn't you?" Andrea said, smiling.

"Sort of, I was going to show it to my men." he put the end onto the White Scar, "As I am sure most of you know, this is their heart. From what I gathered, it carries seven mobile suit's and has quite a bit of firepower. It's said, that it's the same line of ship as that of the White Base, which almost singlehandedly defeated Zeon in the One Year War. I'm sure that if we can sink this ship, then we can take the other two down with little ease."

"Sounds good and all, but have been in combat with that ship?" Andrea asked.

The man hung his head and sighed, "No ma'am."

"Okay we get your basic theory, now sit down and I'll take it from here." Andrea said walking over to him. He handed her the pointer, as he drifted back to his chair, "We all know that this ship is their 'heart', but their mobile suits still outnumber us."

"Not true, ma'am. Sorry to interrupt, but we managed to destroy three of their mobile suits. If we use the back-up Rick Dom II's then we'll each have 12 mobile suit's for combat." Riko said, proudly.

Again Caris spoke, "Thank you for that information, Riko." He said, sarcastically.

Andrea paid no attention to their bickering and continued, "As I was saying, we should try and draw the white ship away from the others. From there, we'll destroy the Salamis ship's. That should single out the white ship and then we should be able to defeat it." she was shocked to see Riko stand up and approach her.

"I have a better and more clean-cut way of doing it. Instead of trying to draw this ship out, we should just go at it head on." Caris mumbled something to himself as Andrea and Taylor stared blankly at Riko, "Let me explain, we should send Taylor, with Japa's squadron onboard, along with Joachim's, to the rear of their fleet. While the three of us gain their attention. We'll have to broadcast a lot Minovsky particles so they won't notice Taylor. From behind, Taylor will open fire on the Salamis' and send out the mobile suit's. This should distract the white ship as we open fire on it."

"I think it'll work." Caris said, turning their heads. They were all shocked to see Caris didn't say some sarcastic comment.

"So do I." Taylor said, grinning, "But, can Joachim and Japa work together?"

Andrea and the rest of them stared at him, wide-eyed, "Oh, I forgot we picked you up at Luna. To answer your question, yes they work great together. They're practically unbeatable actually." Andrea said.

"Sorry." Taylor blushed and the rest of them calmed back down.

"All right, we know what we're going to do. Now, when is this going to happen?" Riko said.


"It will begin 72 hours from now. This should give us enough time to head back to the Earth Sphere. Report back to your ships and change their course. Try to avoid Side 3, though. They might still be a little angry with us." Everyone snickered and filed out of the room.'That went better than I expected.' she said to herself, as she floated out of the room. To her right she saw Taylor, leaning against the wall, "Is there a problem, Taylor?" she said smiling.

He blushed, "No ma'am. I was just wondering if you wanted to," he paused. He could feel himself to perspire, "sit down and talk sometime." He breathed out as he finished, relieved.

"I'll think about it." she said, winking at him, and giggling as she coasted down the hall.'God, I'm acting like a little girl. What's wrong with me?' she said to herself. She may not have known it, but she was relieved that they were ordered away from Axis. She didn't want to go; she wanted to go to Earth. She wanted peace, she didn't like fighting. She could feel herself warm up as Caris said they should go back to Mars.
- - - - - -
White Scar
Bridge
1648

Nasaki sat patiently in his command chair. He felt a lot of stress come off him as he saw Tom defeat that Gelgoog. He could feel the victory approaching,'Now we have the advantage over those Zeek's. I'll make sure they don't defeat me again.' he said as Tom entered the bridge.

"Lieutenant, I must comment you on your sortie. I'm glad to have you hear." Nasaki said, turning to see him enter.

"That's what I want to talk to you about, sir." Tom replied.

Nasaki gestured him to come near him, "What is it?"

"I need a different mobile suit." Tom said, looking up at him.

Nasaki's eyes opened as he looked at him through the corner of his eye, "That GM is the latest Federal Forces mobile suit. What's wrong with it?"

"It doesn't fit my style. I would rather have raw power than break-neck speed."

"So, you want a Guncannon?"

"No, that's too slow. I didn't say I wanted something slow. I said I didn't want something that specialize's in speed. Something. . .Like a Gundam."

The word "Gundam" brought Nasaki's head down to Tom's, "We have no Gundam."

"Don't give me that bull****, Nasaki. You know damn well that they're developing a Gundam in Side 3." Tom said, furiously.

"It's nothing more than a rumor, Tom. Leave it at that." Nasaki said, calmly.

"We'll see." Tom said, walking out of the bridge. Nasaki growled and jumped down from his chair, and bounced off the floor out the door. He turned the corner and saw Tom floating down the hall, "Tom!"

Tom landed at the corner and turned to see him, "What?" he said, impatiently.

"I know about the Gundam, Tom. But, they aren't going to field it. It's being made solely for experiment with new systems." he said.

"Why didn't you tell me that in there?" he replied, folding his arms, causing a crease to appear in his tan uniform. His collar was pulled up and the he wore the Lieutenant's badge proudly. He held his head high, and demanded respect from his peers, friend or comrade.

"Only a few high ranking officer's stationed in Side 3 know about its development. I was one them." he tensed, remembering about the Zeon attack on Side 3. "Luckily, those Zeek's that attacked didn't know which colony it was in."

"Nasaki," he said, resting his hand on his shoulder, "if you want to get rid of those Zeek's, you'll get me that Gundam." He pushed off Nasaki and floated down the hall.

"Tom, you're asking for a lot, but I'll try."
- - - - - -
Tirpitz
1430

Sgt. Richards finally filed into the Briefing Room onboard the Tirpitz. He sat in his usual seat, looking at the seat next to him, remembering his friend, McIlwee. He could start to feel the tears well up in his eyes, he shook them away as Riko walked into the room.

Riko gazed at McIlwee's cold seat, also. Rage built up, but was soon drowned away by the tears in his eyes. He didn't bother to shake them away, he knew Richards felt the same way. Instead, he let them trickle down his cheek, and float in the zero gravity of the ship. Tiny sparkles, but he brushed his hand through them, "I know, Richards, I'll miss him too. We can't just stop because of his death, though, and you know what I mean."

"Yes sir." he said, straightening himself.

"All right, after arguing with the other ship Captain's, we have decided to fight the Feddies until we are destroyed." Richards stared at him in awe.

"Sir, why are we doing this?"

"We have been told by Axis not to proceed. They said if we entered the Asteroid Belt they would open fire on us." he sighed, "So, we decided to stay around Earth and fight."

"God damnit. Couldn't we just surrender and live at peace?" Riko drifted over to him and grabbed him by the collar, lifting him from his chair.

"You want Adam's death to be in vain, damnit? I don't and I will find the son of a ***** who killed. Say something like that again, and I will kill you." his anger was evident, and Richards was defeated.

"Yes sir."

"Now, we are going to try and toast those Feddie's one last time." he released his hold on Richards and went back to the monitor. He hit in a key on the key panel, and the monitor showed a black grid. The four Musai's near the left border and the Federal ships near the center. Dotted trajectories leading behind them and another one straight towards them, "We're going to send the Schrecklich, with Lt. Japa's team onboard, to the rear of the Feddie pack. We'll screen their radars with Minovsky particles, while the Schrecklich attacks. We will also be attacking from the front. It begins in less than 72 hours."

"Do you think it'll work?"

"I'm not sure, but I know we'll at least be able to down one of the ships." he said, gathering the manila folder from its resting spot on the desk, "Dismissed."
- - - - - -
Schrecklich
1432

"So, Joachim, what do you think this is all about?" Ensign Merold said, as he entered the briefing room.

"Why do you think I know, Merold?" he said, faintly.

"Sorry, sir. I thought since you were our commander, that you wou-"

"Don't worry about it, Merold." he opened his eyes, as Taylor's feet clanked off the metal floor.

"Okay, I'm going to make this quick, I have some things to attend to." he rustled thru his materials, searching for the pointer. "Damn thing, where is it." he slammed his fist on the desk and it rolled onto his lap. "All right," he said, flicking the monitor online, "Here is our current location. Here are the Feddie's. You can see a number of trajectories, but we will be taking the one that sweeps to the rear of the pack. After we are behind them, The Blitzkrieg, Tirpitz, and the Verte will screen us with Minovsky Particles. Undetected, we will attack from the rear. We should at least be able to sink one ship."

"With just two mobile suit's and a Musai?" Merold questioned.

"No, Lt. Serscu's team will come onboard our ship and attack. Munn will join us in his Rick Dom II. Any other questions?"

"Which ship are we going to attack?" Joachim spoke.

"One of the Salamis' in the rear." Taylor replied.

"No, we should attack the white one. If that sinks, then so will the Salamis'."

"These are direct orders from Andrea. I have no say in this; but, if I did, we would surly attack the white ship." he said, flopping into his seat, exhaling. He leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes. After a few moments of silence he spoke, "WE will attack the white ship. Japa's team is capable of sinking a Salamis. We'll concentrate our fire on the white ship. Instead of attack the bridge, Joachim, annihilate the hangar's onboard. There is less than 72 hours until the mission starts, get some rest, and get prepared."
- - - - - -
Verte
1448

The Briefing Room onboard the Verte was full of laughter. Even Caris was laughing. Of course, he had been one of the instigators, with Raye of course. Caris' laughter eventually died down, along with the others.

"Thank you Raye, for the laughter. Now, we get down to what I called you here for." The pilots in the room straightened to attention, and stopped laughing all together. "We are going to partake in a mission that might help us beat this little Federation fleet." the monitor flickered, and a total of seven ships appeared. Four were Zeon, three were Federation. A cluster of trajectories was shown, with one ending up at the rear of the Federation pack, "We're are going to turn around and fight the Federation. Before we accomplish that, though, the Schrecklich is going to follow the trajectory to the rear. Lt. Serscu's team will be onboard it, along with Lt. Hyldebrand's. We'll screen the battlefield with Minovsky Particles, allowing the them attack undetected. We'll attack them from the front. We should, at the least, be able to sink on of their ships. It begins in less than 72 hours. Dismissed."

His mean, knowing he wouldn't answer their questions, left the room. Caris leaned back in his chair, and heaved his heavy feet onto the top of the nearby desk. He entwined his fingers, and rested his head on the palm of his hands, "I wonder if we'll go back to Mars. . ."
- - - - - -
Blitzkrieg
1705
Messhall


Japa sit quietly towards the back of the messhall, tapping his finger on the table, with the other supporting his head. The hot foods on his tray were still steaming, and hadn't been touched yet. The silverware was still on the napkin, no fingerprints anywhere to be seen. He watched as the personnel jeered each other, and the others ate.'I hate this. It's always the same. I come in here, let my food sit here, and watch the others, wishing they would accept me. They can't, though.'. He moved his attention to the entrance, to see a white haired women enter. Andrea. Japa straightened himself, picked up his fork, and shoved the prongs into the meat.

"Hey, Japa, mind if we sit here?" Troike said, setting his tray on the tabletop. Japa nodded, and Bock sat down.

"Do you know why Andrea is down here?" Bock said, shoving a mouthful of carrots into his mouth, juice still dripping off of them.

"No clue. I always thought she ate in her quarters." Troike replied, jamming his straw into the milk carton.

"She does. She isn't here to eat, she has something to tell us." Japa said, sipping the coffee on his tray. He looked past the two heads of Troike and Bock, and saw Andrea walking over their table, "Straighten up." Both men looked surprised, but saw Japa's eyes following someone. They immediately knew it was Andrea.

"Mind if I sit here?" she said, softly.

Troike made a swift kick, under the table, to the chair next to Japa. Sending it out, allowing Andrea to sit, "Please do."

"Thank you."

"It's my pleasure." Troike was obviously flirting, and Japa noticed this. He shot Troike a glare.

"I'm sure you know I didn't come here to eat. I have some information no one knows yet." They looked at Japa, he was right.

"On what?" Japa said, stabbing the meat a number of times with his fork.

"We going back to the Earthsphere." All three men stopped what they were doing, "Don't make a scene. No one knows yet."

"Why the hell would you want to go back there?" Bock said, downing the last of his milk.

"We're going to try and defeat the Feddie's that are after us, and then. . ." she trailed off.

"You don't sound sure of yourself, Andrea." Japa said, lightly.


"We don't know what we're going to do after we defeat them. Raye said we could go back to Mars."

"I know I'm going back to that ****ing planet. I hated it in the first place." Troike said, jamming his fork into his meat.

"Calm down, Troike, we're not going back there. I said, we don't know what we're going to do." she yawned and rubbed her eyes, "For our next mission you're going to be transferred to the Schrecklich. I said we're going to turn around, well we are also going to attack the Federal ships after us. The Schrecklich is going to go around to the rear, and attack from there. We'll cover you by screening the field with Minovsky Particles. You will then commence your attack. Lt. Colonel Malone should give you more orders when you arrive. You have less than 72 hours to arrive and until mission start. Don't procrastinate to long." she got up out of her chair and began to walk out of the Messhall.

The three men continued to eat, in silence. All of them were discouraged a little, they wanted to go to Axis. They don't want to be lead by the Federation. No one said anything, but they all thought the same thing 'Why aren't we going to Axis?' raced through their minds. Until finally, the suspense was to much for Bock to handle.

"Why aren't we going to Axis?" he said, quietly.

"I don't know, but we should probably head over to the Schrecklich soon, so we have time to prepare." Troike replied.

They both looked at Japa, "Go get ready, I'll be there." Both men grabbed their trays and walked to the disposal. Japa remained seated. He stared at what was left of his meat, "Finally we'll fight them head on. I'll prove that we should have done this in the first place. God damn Feddie's, making us run away. I'll kill them all."