"God damn it..." Natalie muttered as she finished hearing the report. The recon flight was gone, and had not even managed to get her one bit of solid information. She could now only assume the absolute worse had happened at Subic, but without solid proof...

"Port Moresby, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Torrington are still "evaluating" the situation mam, while Asiatic HQ at Peking has not responded to our requests," Hawkins reported as he handed her the replies from the four biggest military bases in the area, "They seem to be more concerned with the situation in Hong Kong City*. I'm afraid that they all probably would not be lending us any support until..."

"It's too damn bloody late," Natalie muttered to complete Hawkins's statement, "And if those damn rebels get away..."

"It's going to be us who's going to take the blame... AGAIN," Ivan added tiredly.

Natalie nodded her head in reply in an equally tired way, before giving Hawkins a "please shoot me now" look. Hawkins tried to suppress a grin.

"Mam! Permission to speak freely!" a new officer requested a bit too loudly in the now being crowded control room. It was the 16th's newest incompetent addition, Hasegawa.

"What is it Lieutenant?" Natalie muttered in reply as she continued to give Hawkins the same look, and nearly caused him to chuckle outloud. Natalie felt like following. Hawkins, despite his demeanor, still had a great sense of humor. Maybe it was because of all the damn Monty Phyton and Rowan Atkinson classics he kept on watching...

"If the enemy is indeed present at Subic, then we must seek them out and engage them in combat," Hasegawa responded, "To do nothing would allow our enemies to score a victory without having suffered any retribution in return."

"He who know himself, but not the enemy, will only have an even chance of winning, Lieutenant," Hawkins reminded coolly, "Or has Njmegan's curriculum gone so backward that they even forget the classics?"

"No mam," Hasegawa replied evenly, though worrying that he was now exhausting his commanding officer's patience with him, "But as your nation's S.A.S. had once proudly boasted, "Who Dares, Wins"."

"Well, perhaps Njmegan is not so backward after all..." Hawkins replied with a slight grin as he saw Natalie roll her eyes slightly. Though they had both... met eye to eye on most things, Natalie hated regimental mottos and histories, "relics" according to the senior female officer, while he almost worshipped them. However... "But still, Lieutenant...."

"Sir, I think we've managed to get a reply from Peking," Ivan reported as the computer printed out the message, "It's from Lieutenant Colonel Wilkins mam," Ivan added worriedly.

Natalie could hardly disguise his disgust at the mention of Wilkins's name. Lieutenant Colonel Robert Wilkins, she remembered. Titans officer, exactly three months senior to her. And a real son of a *****.

B****** she thought on. Sylvie had been last assigned to Wilkins, starting about ten months ago, and thanks to that racist moron her best friend was dead a mere seven months later. Dead by a self inflicted head wound. One brought on by increasing "pressure" from her commanding officer. The only consolation in that was that her corpse had been quickly cremated, hopefully finally setting her soul free to finally allow her to be with her beloved Max, before it could be carted off to a Newtype Lab to be desecrated by some dumb scientist fascinated with their new "specimen". Bad rumors were coming out of those labs, and she could only shudder at the thought of seeing Sylvie alive in one of those labs...

"You're not going to believe this mam..." Ivan reported as he quickly scanned through the message, before handing it over to Natalie, "The Colonel is ACTUALLY sending help, and giving us the go ahead for pursuit..."

"Really?" Natalie asked, adding a lot of sarcasm in her tone, before reading the message for herself, and feeling disgusted as she went through the lines. Wilkins had always seen her as only one of two things: an annoyance, and somebody to use to get credit. And right now she was going to be used for the latter. She felt like tearing the paper in her hands to itty bitty little pieces, with it holding the imaginary image of Wilkins...

"Mam! So shall I prepare my platoon for immediate departure?" Hasegawa declared enthusiastically.

"Fine..." Natalie replied, before deciding to just crumple the message and sent it flying to the nearest waste bin, "Get the battalion together. We move immediately."

---------------

Subic Military Base

June 30, UC 0087

1100 hours Zulu

"Looks like everybody's in a hurry now Captain..." Olivia Sondergard observed after stepping off her Jet Core Booster, "How's the repairs coming sir?"

"Scott's engineering crews are almost done, Liv," Jean replied and using his ace fighter pilot's nickname, "And so are we. We're just packing everything up now. Damn all those prisoners, it took us over twelve hours to get them to that prison in Olongapo. if we hadn't had to transfer them all..."

"We'd be no better than the Titans if we killed them all in cold blood," Olivia reminded, before watching a maintenance crew start refueling and rearming her fighter. Probably the last one this base would ever service. She sighed lightly at that, as like Jean, she was a former Federal officer, and fighting former comrades in arms was difficult, "Besides which, we ARE drawing a couple of enemy units from pursuing those Jaburo survivors in Hong Kong right? Makes me want to stay here for a while longer to give those guys a safer ride out of here."

"Yeah, that's true," Jean agreed as he also took a look at Olivia's Jet Core Booster, "Be careful out there before we link up again for the next "big push" though Liv. I'd hate to go in without having you for air cover."

"And just make sure you blow this place up right in the Titan's faces sir," Olivia replied as she gave Jean a slight grin, before starting to head towards her now refueled and re-armed fighter, "See you in a couple of weeks sir."

"Yeah, be seeing you too Liv," Jean replied as he watched her strap herself into her fighter's cockpit. He waved as she sealed the cockpit shut, before heading for the nearest shelter. The new VTOL engines on her JCB had been known to be hazardous to the ground personnel's health...

---------------

"All six Mideas are in the air, the Fly Manthas are launching now," Saigon base's control tower reported to Eagle 01, the lead Midea now flying in the air and the new mobile headquarters to Natalie's 16th Battalion. And considering how untrained her ground personnel and pilots were these days, she was amazed they hadn't suffered any accidents...

"We've done a couple of final checks on our Quells and Hizacks mam, they're all in perfect condition," Hawkins reported as he emerged from the cargo compartment, though with a look of disapproval in his face. Though they did have, at the very least, well-maintained equipment, most of it was not the best nor newest in the current Federal arsenal. The Quell was already three years old in a time when development time was measured in months or even weeks, while the Hizack was more of a cheap stopgap unit to supplement the superior GM IIs. Of the twenty or so Mobile Suits in the battalion, a mere five were the latest GM IIs, and that five carried all the beam weapons the battalion had. 

To make matters worse, Hawkins thought on, their core group of pilots were green, and they had no specialized amphibious equipment whatsoever other than antiquated Don Escargot sub-hunting aircraft escorting them, while Subic had a TON of amphibious gear for AEUG to get their greedy hands on. Also, AEUG was believed to be composed of almost entirely of veteran pilots, and the attack force at Subic may even be equipped with a number of new AEUG-developed Mobile Suits which were equipped with something akin to Luna Titanium armor. He had discussed that disturbing detail with Natalie several times before the strike force had been launched, and both agreed that attacking Luna Titanium clad Mobile Suits with Hizack and Quell machine guns would prove to be a harrowing, if not utterly suicidal, prospect for most of the battalion. Hawkins let his worry show by sharing a look with Natalie.

Natalie nodded as she watched Hawkins share him his worried look, before turning to the radioman, "Have any of our requests for additional equipment been approved?"

"Not yet mam," the radioman replied, "Support is coming, but most won't get here before we get to Subic. The closest group is two platoons of improved Aqua GMs, but they're an hour behind us."

"How about my request for beam weapons and bazookas?" Natalie asked impatiently.

"None can get to us before we hit the base either mam," the radioman reported grimly, "One of our sister battalions** are trying to scrounge up a couple of those old Gundam Ground Type beam rifles and to try to use them for our Quells, but they can't get any of them to work yet, and even if they could, the e-caps on them need a few hours worth of recharging. Sorry mam," the radioman added.

Great... Natalie thought. Without beam rifles her men might as well be bank robbers fighting Superman. Or in Hawkins's view, a bunch of peasants fighting a knight in full plate mail with pitchforks and wooden clubs. She returned a look to the equally worried Hawkins. Both were wishing that somehow, it really all was just a false alarm...

---------------

"Charges are all set sir!" Lieutenant Richard Honour reported as he handed Captain Jean a timer. Now with a flick of a switch, one man could now turn what had taken two thousand Federal engineers three months to complete into a neat pile of unidentifiable rubble. After his sterling performance in sinking two enemy submarines, Richard was getting enthusiastic at the prospect of detonating an entire base...

"Nicely done Lieutenant," Jean replied approvingly, "Get yourself on the X-7. We're moving out immediately..."

"Sir!" a runner suddenly reported as he dashed to Jean, "Radar is picking up a big air formation heading for the base!"

"How far away are they?" Jean asked coolly as he signaled Honour to get his sub ready. The look on the runner's face made him worry a bit...

"They're still four or five hours away sir," the runner reported, "We can't tell with the current range. But it's BIG sir. Really big. Maybe battalion strength or more..."

"Then it's a good thing we're leaving..." Jean replied as he signaled his men to follow him to the docks. Their ride was already waiting for them.

---------------

Three stinking hours in this plane... one of the 16th's Flatmouse*** pilots thought as his aircraft flew ever closer to the base at Subic. Only a day before he had been having a rather enjoyable life in the Madras base, and now he was finding himself flying straight into a combat zone with only two incompetent Sabrefish pilots as escorts. Wonderful. Why the hell did those AEUG rebels have to...

"Flatmouse 01, are you over the target area?" Colonel Dolvich inquired, an hour behind the Flatmouse in her command Midea.

"Six more minutes mam," the pilot replied as he checked his speed and location, "There's a pretty strong westerly wind and cloud cover that's hampering visibility. No enemy units encountered as of yet..."

"But STILL be careful," Natalie warned, "The last flight we sent disappeared right around that area. Keep your eyes peeled."

"Yes mam..." the pilot replied but not feeling any comfort. His eyes suddenly widened as something came to view right in front of him...

---------------

"Thanks for the vegetables Carlos..." John Recto said with a nod as he finished counting off the packages in farmer's barge, before handing him a not of authorization, "The Aranque market is already waiting for these goods, and has sent a Hover Truck to pick them up. You ought to get a good price today..."

"Thanks John..." the Carlos replied as he filled out a few other extra forms. Though an inconvenience, smuggling was known to be rampant in these areas, and making all of your deals legitimate by contacting the harbormaster was proving to be a good boost for one's reputation.

"Oh... and Carlos..." John started as he nervously eyed the farmer, "You live near Olongapo don't you?"

"You want to ask about the attack?" the Carlos asked.

"Yeah... what happened out there?" John inquired.

"Not really sure," the farmer replied, "But we do know that Subic was hit, hard. Probably by those Kalaba or AEUG people. Didn't affect me all that much really, those AEUG guys were careful enough not to hit the town, but the phone lines got shot I think. I'm surprised you didn't know though. I think our mayor cabled Manila to inform them of the situation."

"Oh... maybe the announcement just got delayed or something..." John replied, though feeling that his suspicions of Mayor Fernendez were more than justified, "But anyway, you need any help out there? I mean, you did just get hit hard and all..."

"Nah... not really," Carlos shrugged, "I'd keep my eyes peeled though. Those AEUG people may still be lurking around here..."

---------------

"They are going to shoot me for this..." Natalie muttered to herself as she saw the extent of the damage those AEUG rebels had left for them. Or could it really be called damage at all? she thought. The base was literally gone, and all that was left were a menagerie of crater holes where the most important buildings should have been. And to make matters worse...

"We've confirmed that the rebels have stolen one of the subs mam," the radioman reported, "Along with some new amphibious equipment. We're also getting reports that a couple hundred prisoners were moved to Olongapo city, and we're sending a detachment to investigate the matter now..."

"And to shoot any dissidents along the way..." Hasegawa added quietly with a savage grin on his face.

"There shall be no shooting of "dissidents" while I'm in command Lieutenant," Natalie reprimanded harshly, "And no reprisals against the populace unless there is due cause, understood?"

"As you wish, mam," Hasegawa replied, though with a look of disapproval in his face, "But it seems that our tardiness has caused the enemy to escape."

"We'll see..." Natalie replied with a frown as she picked up the radio and contacted her Don Escargots. The hunt was about to begin...

---------------

June 30, UC 0087

Somewhere in Side 1

"Who the hell is she?" a prison guard asked as he took a peek at their new prisoner. Not only did the woman look like a cold, ruthless person, but she was flanked by FOUR heavily armed Titans officers. But even so, the expression on her face seemed to tell him that four of those guys might not even be enough to keep her in this place...

"None of your concern," the senior Titan officer answered for the guard, "And unless you want to have your neck broken by her, stay away from her. We will be keeping her here for only a few weeks..."

Only a few weeks? the woman thought. A few weeks until you begin your petty attempts to steal me away to be your tool for destruction? I think not. For no matter how much you may desecrate my mind and body, no matter what you steal from me, you will never have my soul...

"Get moving!" one of the four Titan guard bellowed before savagely hitting the prisoner in the back of her head with his nightstick. She collapsed on the ground, but did not fall unconscious. Annoyed at seeing the prisoner not getting up on her own, a second kicked her viciously in her belly, and caused her to collapse on the ground once more...

Pain? she thought. Do you really think you can enslave me by inflicting more mortal pain? Are you so foolish as that? She then rose up on her own, her eyes full of defiance. Eyes whose depth seemed to pierce the souls of all around her, and making some of her captors feel the need to take a step back...

Pain is my domain, for I have become its mistress.

Your mind games are mere words to me, for they cannot stop my will.

And one day... all of you shall know the true meaning of fear... 

This I swear...

---------------

* June 29 was the date of the Titans attack on Hong Kong, in which Camille would eventually meet up with Four Murasame. Hmmm... I wonder why didn't anyone notice? ^_^.

**This is of course, the Kojima Battalion ^_^. Just a slight 08TH MS Team reference.

***Flatmouse are pre-OYW vintage spyplanes featured in the MSV collection. 

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Notice: This fic and all its contents are copyrighted by Thomas E. "Zinegata" Ting. No part of this work may be taken by any other person without permission from the author. Gundam and all related trademarks are owned by Bandai and their respective companies.